Convinced That A Considerable River Must
Drain The Region To The South, Captain Clark Went Back Alone And Penetrating
The Intricate Channels Among The Islands, Found The Mouth Of The Multnomah,
Now Better Known As The Willamette.
He was surprised to find that the depth
of water in the river was so great that large vessels
Might enter it.
He would have been much more surprised if he had been told that a large city,
the largest in Oregon, would some day be built on the site of the Indian huts
which he saw. Here Captain Clark found a house occupied by several families
of the Neechecolee nation. Their mansion was two hundred and twenty-six feet
long and was divided into apartments thirty feet square.
The most important point in this region of the Columbia was named
Wappatoo Island by the explorers. This is a large extent of country
lying between the Willamette and an arm of the Columbia which they called
Wappatoo Inlet, but which is now known as Willamette Slough. It is twenty
miles long and from five to ten miles wide. Here is an interesting
description of the manner of gathering the roots of the wappatoo,
of which we have heard so much in this region of country: -
"The chief wealth of this island consists of the numerous ponds in
the interior, abounding with the common arrowhead (sagittaria sagittifolia)
to the root of which is attached a bulb growing beneath it in the mud.
This bulb, to which the Indians give the name of wappatoo,[1] is
the great article of food, and almost the staple article of commerce on
the Columbia.
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