Clark's Drawing of White Salmon Trout

This is a copy of a sketch made by William Clark in February 1806, while Expedition members were at Fort Clatsop near the mouth of the Columbia River. The drawing depicts coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), which Clark identified as a “white salmon trout.” It is one of many sketches Clark made of the plants and animals Expedition members had seen during their journey from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean.

By June 1803, President Thomas Jefferson had given Meriwether Lewis lengthy written instructions on what information he was to gather on the Expedition. One of those instructions was to describe the “animals of the country generally, & especially those not known in the U.S.,” as well as other “objects worthy of notice” such as “the soil & face of the country, its growth & vegetable productions…and…mineral productions of every kind.”