Houses in "this open Countrey"

On October 17th, 1805, along the Columbia between the Snake and Walla Walla Rivers, William Clark wrote:

The Houses or Lodges of the tribes of the main Columbia river is of large mats made of rushes, Those houses are from 15 to 6o feet in length generally of an Oblong Squar form, Suported by poles on forks in the iner Side, Six feet high, the top is covered also with mats leaveing a Seperation in the whole length of about 12 or 15 inches wide, left for the purpose of admitting light and for the Smok of the fire to pass which is made in the middle of the house. - The roughfs are nearly fiat, which proves to me that rains are not common in this open Countrey. (Clark, from Moulton V.5, 290)

Related pages:

Houses in "this open Countrey"  |  Mat Lodges of the Columbia Plateau |  "A Village of Pish-quit-pahs"
Horses Among the Pish-quit-pahs  |  Walla Walla Lodges |  Horses of an "Excellent Race"
The Village of "Broken Arm"  |  Choppunish Horses