Chapter X The Dismal Nitch and Middle Station Camp

The Dismal Nitch and Middle Station Camp

Here we are at the Dismal Nitch.   All along this shoreline was a series of little coves  called nitches. This one was simply chosen as a campsite and later an early settler put his name to it as Megler's Cove.

It sure looks benign today.   But on Nov. 10, 1805 Lewis and Clark were trapped there on  what was then a rocky shore with steep hills behind them at least four miles from the ocean.  A huge winter storm had roared in from the sea and for six long cold cold days they were pounded by rain, thunder, lightning, and waves.   

The crew took advantage of a lull in the storm and low tide on Nov. 12th to move their camp a short distance down the shore to a slightly more sheltered part of the cove at the mouth of a creek (now called Megler's Creek after an early settler). The Corps of Discovery  continued to hunker down there until the weather cleared on Nov. 15th. As Clark's journal noted: "About 3 o'clock the wind lulled and the river became calm, I had the canoes loaded in great haste and Set Out from this dismal nitch where we have been confined for 6 days."   And thereby hangs the name as the nitch became dismal. Below is the creek as it looks today.

Dismal Nitch is now a pull-off pocket park on the coastal highway and from it you have a nice view of the river and can walk a short distance down the shore to look at a  bronze monument of Lewis and Clark on Dismal Nitch.  

The relief is marvelously detailed and I wish I had a better picture of it. The section below shows Lewis's dog, York, Clark's slave, Clark (standing with rifle), Lewis (with his long staff and Tri-Corn hat, and Sacajawea with her baby. There are also members of the expedition in the background.



A section to the left illustrates attempting to charge  through rapids or waves in a canoe.

At the bottom we get a plaque saying we come in friendship and another with  an image of President Jefferson who sent the explorers on their journey..

From the dismal cove the party moved on downstream again until they reached what is now called Middle Village/Station Camp.  This was a Chinook Indian settlement for generations and a major salmon processing center in later years.  The Chinooks were the major controllers of the mouth of the river in terms of fishing, trade, and general commerce. The Lewis party camped here for ten more days after their debilitating experience at Dismal Nitch. 

The major Lewis and Clark event at the site was that this was the camp where the party debated on whether the north side of the river was going to be workable for their winter camp.  Finally a memorable vote was taken to leave the northern shore and try to find a better site on the south side for a winter haven.  The decision was made by vote and each member of the party had one vote. This became the first time in American history in which a black man (Clark's slave/servant  York), and a woman  (Sacajawea) voted on equal footing with every other member of the Corps of Discovery. A simple rock commemorates the decision.

We now will joint the Corps of Discovery as they moved to the southern shore of the river and where they built Fort Clatsop as their home for the rest of the winter of 1805.