We will celebrate Christmas in Fort Clatsop’s Netul Room with a potluck dinner starting 4:30 p.m. on December 6, 2008, the eve of the 203rd anniversary of the Fort’s move-in day.

Our host will be Dave Szymanski, the superintendent of the Lewis & Clark National Historic Park, which comprises Fort Clatsop and 11 other sites in Oregon and Washington. Cultural Resource Officer Deborah Wood, who recently compiled a handy resource on Coastal tribes, will also speak. Dick Basch, the NPS staff liaison to Trail tribes and member of the Clatsop-Nehalem Tribe, will welcome us to his homeland and deliver the opening blessing.

Come earlier that day to visit other Lewis & Clark sites in the area and the new fort replica which is a must-see in the gathering darkness of December. The cost of the dinner is $5 per person to cover a Honey-Baked Ham. The chapter board will provide hot side dishes. Members are invited to bring appetizers, salads, or desserts. Bring your own table service and beverages. Coffee and tea will be provided. Please RSVP to Dick Hohnbaum (hohnbaum@aol.com) 503-390-2886, if you plan to attend. Pay at the door or mail it to Dick at: 6916 Wheatland Lane N., Keizer, OR 97303.

NOTICE: Given uncertainties in the marketplace, the November 22, 2008 fundraiser featuring Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs and an opportunity to view Mike Carrick's period firearms collection will be postponed. Watch this page for news of a future date.

Watch the Chapter website and your mail for a unique opportunity to meet Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, daughter of Undaunted Courage author Stephen Ambrose and an author in her own right. Hosted by Mike Carrick and his wife Beverly near Salem, the event (planned for the afternoon of Nov. 22 POSTPONED) will offer a close-up look at Mike’s extensive weaponry collection, including his latest acquisition: an air gun similar to Lewis’s. Mike will also let participants fire the rifle and examine other artifacts of the period.

Stephenie is on the Foundation’s board and lives in Helena, Montana where she and her family frequently traveled the Trail as she grew up. She leads her own expeditions on the Missouri. Her latest book is Why Sacagawea Deserves the Day Off and Other Lessons from the Lewis & Clark Trail. Stephenie will be accepting donations or pledges for the Foundation’s Third Century Fund, an endowment to help underwrite WPO, education projects, and other priorities.

Enlightening tours, programs and lectures focus on the region’s rich history on November 7, 8 and 9, 2008.

“Ocian in View,” an absorbing look at the Long Beach Peninsula’s provocative past, will return to the region on November 7, 8 and 9, 2008. The popular annual series of special events appeals to history buffs and cultural connoisseurs as well as anyone interested in the Peninsula’s unique heritage and natural gifts.

“I absolutely love ‘Ocian in View’ because I get to use every aspect of my training, education and life experience to explain what this area was like in the late 18th century,” said Washington State Historical Society tour guide Jim Sayce. “Rarely do we get to free our minds to take a fresh look at something in such depth.” Read More...

Cargo: Equipment and Supplies of the Lewis and Clark ExpeditionColumbia Gorge Discovery Center

5000 Discovery Drive
The Dalles, OR

You are invited to join the Oregon Chapter at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, Oregon. There will be a chapter board meeting at 10:00 am, followed by a visit to the new Lewis and Clark exhibit, “Cargo: Equipment and Supplies of the Lewis and Clark Expedition” at 11:00 am. Admission to see the exhibit is $5.50 per person. There will also be a special lunch available for around $8 per person at the center. We hope you will be able to attend.

Cargo: Equipment and Supplies of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

This unique, one of a kind, 4,000 square foot exhibition drawing on 16 years of original research to interpret the material goods involved in launching the expedition. Executive Director, Ken Karsmizki's research has revealed that roughly 30 tons of equipment was hauled by the 33-man expedition. Original inventories in the National Archives document that Lewis divided his equipment into seven distinct categories: Indian presents, arms and accoutrements, medicines, clothing, mathematical instruments, camp equipment and provisions, and transportation. The exhibit is built around these seven themes, and will present the cargo in two ways. First, the pile of cargo, ready to be loaded on boats in St. Louis, provides an immediate, dramatic impact as visitors contemplate the enormous amount of material. Crates, bundles, kegs, bags, boxes, cases, and packages provide a visual answer to the question: How much is 30 tons? Second, the details of what is inside all those containers is represented through the use of replicas and period objects. As visitors move through and read information about the diverse goods they are seeing, they will understand the rationale for bringing it all along for use, consumption, gift, and trade.

Follow the intrepid Roger Wendlick as we visit a site that Lewis & Clark considered “a favorable situation” for the Corps of Discovery’s 1805-06 winter camp.
Although the eventual site of Fort Clatsop on Oregon side at the mouth of the Columbia won the famous “vote”, come explore the alternative preferred by several Corps members, including Sacagawea.

This field trip begins at 10:00 a.m. at a large house two miles east of Mosier, Oregon, on the old Highway 30 (watch for Roger’s “pointy finger” sign on left).

We will hike less than a mile through an orchard to see the “L&C site that might have been.” Bring your lunch and water and dress for the weather.

For carpooling and lastminute details, contact Ellie McClure, 503-476- 4882 or email ellie.mcclure@gmail.com!