Sacagawea Insists on Seeing the Whale

When word reached Fort Clatsop that a whale had beached near present-day Cannon Beach, Clark organized a party to obtain blubber and oil. Sacagawea insisted on going — one of the few times she asserted herself in the expedition record.

“She observed that She had traveled a long way with us to See the great waters, and that now that monstrous fish was also to be Seen, She thought it very hard that She Should not be permitted to See either.”

Clark allowed her to join the party. They crossed Tillamook Head and found the skeleton of a whale about 105 feet long on the beach near Ecola Creek. They managed to purchase about 300 pounds of blubber and several gallons of whale oil from the Tillamook people — a welcome addition to their monotonous diet of elk and fish.