Before the Columbia River was flooded by the Dalles Dam, the upper end of the Long Narrows presented a formidable challenge to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In October 1805, after examining the place the Indians identified as the worst passage through the gut, Lewis and Clark concluded that it was too dangerous to pass without great risk, so they decided to portage their most valuable articles and run the canoes through. Clark recorded on October 25, 1805, that the first three canoes passed very well, the fourth nearly filled with water, and the last passed through after taking in a little water, bringing them safely below what he considered the worst part of the channel. On the return trip in spring 1806, the explorers found the Long Narrows even more formidable than during their descent the previous fall, and Lewis wrote that there would be no possibility of passing either up or down them in any vessel. They therefore portaged all their goods and equipment around the narrows, a difficult labor made easier by horses purchased for their impending overland journey. On April 18, 1806, Lewis wrote that they determined to make the portage to the head of the Long Narrows with their baggage and five small canoes, while the two pirogues could be taken no farther and were cut up for fuel. On April 19, 1806, John Ordway wrote that all hands packed the baggage past the portage, about two miles, and by evening had carried all the baggage and canoes to the head of the narrows above the village, where they camped.