The Chinookans at the mouth of the river were first mentioned by
Robert Gray and his first mate,
John Boit, who visited the area on May 18, 1792. Soon after on October 21, the
Vancouver expedition visited the area, venturing past the
Columbia Bar. The Vancouver expedition described a village at Point Adams, noting the presence of
burial canoes. The first major European account to describe the Clatsop was the account of the
Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805. The expedition arrived in the fall and wintered in Youngs Bay. The expedition named their last encampment
Fort Clatsop after the tribe, whose nearest major village was approximately away. According to the journals of
William Clark, the Clatsop comprised about 200 people living in three separate villages, with large
longhouses constructed of
cedar planks. Clatsop members regularly visited the fort to trade furs and other goods for European manufactured goods. The Clatsop shared
salmon, berries, and hunting tips with the
Corps of Discovery. In contrast to the Corps' interactions with the
Plains Indians the previous winter, their interaction with the Clatsop was more limited. The two groups did not mingle for social occasions, and the fort was opened to trading only 24 days during the winter. Part of the reason may have been that the coastal tribes had an existing relationship with
British traders. The Clatsop and Chinook asked for higher prices from the American expedition for their goods at a time when the Corps' supply of "Indian gifts" had dwindled. Only two Clatsop, Coboway and Cuscalar, are regularly named in the Corps members' journals. The arrival of European traders to the Columbia River in the early 19th century allowed the Clatsop and other downriver Chinookans to obtain trade goods otherwise locked behind the long inland trade routes controlled by the upriver Chinookans, their historic rivals. From the 1830s-1850s, Clatsop society began experiencing a rapid decline after smallpox, measles, malaria, and other diseases ravaged the Columbia River. As the fur trade had become less important to Americans, the Clatsop had to adapt to these quickly changing conditions. Villages were abandoned and populations consolidated together, as tribes began to attempt to negotiate with the American government. In an 1851 treaty, the Clatsop tribe proposed to cede 90 percent of their land to the U.S. Government. This treaty was one of many in the Northwest that was never ratified by
Senate. Unlike other tribes, the members were not required to move to a reservation. They were one of the only tribes in Oregon that were not the focus of an organized effort to remove them from reservations. By the late 19th century, traditional Clatsop society as it was at the beginning of the century was all but gone. Many Clatsop by this point had merged with their southern neighbors, the Tillamook, and adopted the Tillamook language. == Culture and society ==