A state road construction project near the mouth of the Columbia River has been delayed after archaeologists unearthed a rich trove of Indian artifacts and trade goods, including stone tools, arrowheads and glass beads.

This is the second time in less than two months that plans for a state transportation project have been forced to change course because of important Indian finds.

Work on rerouting a segment of Highway 101 across the river from Astoria was to begin on Monday. The realignment will create room for a nine-acre waterfront park commemorating Station Camp, the westernmost encampment of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The artifacts were unearthed in the past month during a pre-construction archaeological survey. Consultation is now under way with the Chinook Indian Nation, whose ancestors' use of the land may be documented by finds at the site.

"We are trying to get some more information on the archaeology, and until we do we are not going to go out there and start plowing through dirt," said Colleen Jollie, tribal liaison for the transportation department. "We want to do the right thing and the best thing and make sure the Chinook Nation continues to be part of the entire project."

Jollie said she is optimistic the project will be delayed, not stopped. The $1.1 million project is intended to realign a substandard curve on Highway 101. Currently, Highway 101 hugs the shoreline of the Columbia River from the Astoria Bridge to the Fort Columbia Tunnel.

Last month, the transportation department left a major construction site in Port Angeles, after spending $58 million on a dry-dock project that inadvertently unearthed more than 300 intact skeletons of the ancestors of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, and Tse-whit-zen, an ancient Klallam village.

Artifacts found at the Highway 101 site may document the first contact with Indians in the area by fur traders. The discoveries so far include what may be the planks of a seasonal structure used by the Chinook people; hearths; house posts; and trade goods, including Chinese coins; English ceramics; gun flints; and musket balls and a lead seal, probably from a bale of furs.

Some of the early fur trade near the mouth of the Columbia occurred in about the 1790s and continued for decades.

"It's a wonderful window into the meeting of two cultures," said Doug Wilson, archaeologist with the Fort Vancouver National Historic Reserve.

Gary Johnson, chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation, said the state's decision to delay the project is the right choice. "That's our home territory, and our largest village and we certainly couldn't have bulldozers and heavy equipment in there, that's just not acceptable. We need to take time to see what they have found."

The road was intended to be moved in time to open a new National Park Service park to commemorate Station Camp. It is significant in the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark story because it is there that the Corps of Discovery at last had full view of the Pacific Ocean in November 1805. The explorers knew they had reached the end of their 18-month westward journey, begun at the request of President Jefferson.

Johnson said his people were probably not at the site when Lewis and Clark came through because they would have already moved to snug, inland winter camps.

The site is also where the members of the Corps of Discovery, including Sacagawea, the expedition's Indian guide, and York, Clark's black slave, voted on the decision to over-winter at Fort Clatsop instead of journeying back to take shelter with the Nez Perce in Idaho.

Chip Jenkins, superintendent of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, headquartered at Fort Clatsop, said the recent finds are exciting.

"What the archaeologists are now finding means ... the national significance of Station Camp is now even higher, and from what we are learning from the archaeologists, it will allow the Chinook people and the state of Washington to tell a much more accurate and broader story than just the story about 18 days of Lewis and Clark in Pacific County.

"The site is embodying a pretty compelling sweep of history, which is wonderful."

David L. Nicandri, director of the Washington State Historical Society, said that delaying the work is "the right thing to do.

"I am kind of philosophical about this. In 15 or 20 years, no one will care whether full development took place in 2005. We are taking the long view of things. Sometimes being a historian has occupational benefits."

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com