Gary E. Moulton wrote in "The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark" (2002, editor, University of Nebraska Press):

"Apparently between Irrigon and Boardman, Morrow County, Oregon. Atlas map 75. The island could be Blalock Island, known as ama'ama'pa ("island") by the Umatillas. Archaeological work performed on Blalock Island in the late 1950s and 1960s has not yet been fully reported. There are several sites in this area of Plymouth, Washington, which are likely candidates for the numerous lodges noted by Clark."

From the Lewis and Clark Journals:

"... 3 miles to a few (bushes) willow Trees on the Lard. Side below the lower pt. of an Isd. Ld. opposit 24 Lodges of Indians Indiands fishing.    here we came too and camped, 19 of them on the Stard. Side & 5 on an Island in the middle of the river, about 100 Inds. come over ..." [Clark, October 19, 1805, first draft]

"... Encamped below an Island Close under the Lard Side, nearly opposit to 24 Lodges on an Island near the middle of the river, and the Main Stard Shor     Soon after we landed which was at a fiew willow trees ..." [Clark, October 19, 1805]

"... In the whole country around there are only level plains, except a few hills on some parts of the river. We went 36 miles and halted opposite a large Indian camp; ..." [Gass, October 19, 1805]

"... we came 36 miles this day and Camped on the South Side an Indian village on the opposite Shore ..." [Ordway, October 19, 1805]

Lewis and Clark's previous campsite was located at Spring Gulch Creek and their camp of October 20, 1805, was near Roosevelt, Washington.

According to "Oregon Geographic Names" (McArthur and McArthur, 2003):

"Irrigon (MORROW) ... Addison Bennett made up the name of the place from the words Oregon and Irrigation. Irrigon was the scene of a promising irrigation enterprise, hence Bennett's style of name. He was editor of the first newpaper in the place, called the Oregon Irrigation, later the Irrigon Irrigator. ..."

"... Starting in the 1840s emigrants opened up trails from the western boundary of the United States at Missouri and Iowa to the frontier territories in California, Oregon, Washington, and Utah. About 300,000 of those emigrants made their way over what was to become known as the Oregon Trail, from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon. In 1843, one group of nearly 1000 oxen-drawn wagons set out for the fabled green and fertile lands of the Willamette Valley. This “Oregon Fever” was further fueled by the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, which allowed married couples to claim up to one square mile of this virgin land. ... None of these trails were static or fixed in finite locations. Emigrants were always seeking alternative routes for reasons to suit their own purposes. Such was the case with the Oregon Trail. The main route generally followed the Snake River across much of southern Idaho. At the place called Farewell Bend, near Ontario, Oregon, the pioneers veered away from the Snake River, bidding it farewell as the name implies, and struck out overland across the Blue Mountains. Arriving at what is now the City of Echo, Oregon, the trail took several branches. The main trail proceeded westward through a stage stop called Well Springs and then onward to the Columbia River near The Dalles. Another branch of the trail followed the Umatilla River from Echo down to its confluence with the Columbia River at what is now the City of Umatilla. A third branch traversed down through present-day Umatilla Army Depot and joined with a Columbia River shoreline trail here at Irrigon. This trail segment intersects almost exactly at the campsite of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery, thus the city logo “Where Lewis and Clark & the Oregon Trail meet”. According to a Historic Resource Assessment published by the Bureau of Land Management in October, 2000, the Irrigon spur of the Oregon Trail was mapped by the General Land Office in 1861. Use of this alternate route enabled emigrants to gain access much sooner to the banks of the Columbia River where at one time a steamboat landing was situated near Irrigon. Irrigon became a railroad siding in the 1880s. Completion of the first transcontinental railroad in May of 1869 obviated much of the need for pioneers to migrate west via covered wagon, but [a] BLM report indicates that the Irrigon spur of the Oregon Trail continued to be used as a local connecting road until it was closed off by construction of the Umatilla Army Depot. Today all that can be seen of his old segment of the Oregon Trail is a couple of faint depressions, or swales, in the sand and sagebrush along Highway 730 on the eastern outskirts of the city." Source:    City of Irrigon website, 2014, "Irrigon History".

• Irrigon-Coolidge Ferry ...
• Irrigon-Paterson Ferry ...
• Irrigon Fish Hatchery ...
• Irrigon Grain Elevator ...
• Irrigon Marine Park ...
• Pelican Rapids ...
• Potlatch Plantation ...
• Umatilla Fish Hatchery ...
• Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge ...

The 1908 U.S. Geological Survey's Topographic Map "Umatilla" (1:125,000) shows the community of Irrigon, plus the ferry line across the Columbia connecting Irrigon, Oregon, to Coolidge, Washington. This ferry line is at the approximate location of today's Irrigon park and boat ramp. Coolidge, a community no longer in existence, was located approximately 7 miles downstream of Plymouth, Washington.

The 1942 U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor Coast and Geodetic Survey's "United States Coast Pilot, Pacific Coast", Serial No.649:

"Four ferries cross the Columbia River above The Dalles as follows: Biggs-Merryhill, 16 statute miles; Arlington-Roosevelt, 50 statute miles; Boulder-Alderdale, 65 statute miles; and Irrigon-Coolidge, 88 statute miles."

[More]

"... after brackfast we gave all the Indian men Smoke, and we Set out leaveing about 200 of the nativs at our Encampment; passd. three Indian Lodges on the Lard Side a little below our Camp which lodges I did not discover last evening, passed a rapid at Seven miles one at a Short distance below we passed a verry bad rapid, a chane or rocks makeing from the Stard. Side and nearly Chokeing the river up entirely with hugh black rocks,    an Island below close under the Stard. Side on which was four Lodges of Indians drying fish,—    here I Saw a great number of pelicons on the wing, and black Comerants. ..." [Clark, October 20, 1805]

Today these rapids are buried under the waters of Lake Umatilla, the reservoir behind the John Day Dam.