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discovered a great inlet on June 29 in latitude 48°39′. Touching the southern shore, he received a visit from Chief Tatooche. To the island at that point he gave the name Tatooche. That is now known as Tatoosh and on which are located the United States lighthouse and weather station.

On July 4 he espied a snow-capped peak in latitude 47°10' which he named Mount Olympus. The next day he discovered Shoalwater Bay, now known as Willapa Harbor. On July 6 he discovered a cape in latitude 46°10' which he hoped would be the Cape San Roque, mentioned by Heceta. Finding breakers in the bay beyond, he named it Deception Bay and the cape Cape Disappointment. He did not realize that this bay was the Oregon River, the Great River of the West, the St. Roc for which he was searching-the one now known as the Columbia. He wrote: "We can now with safety assert that no such river as St. Roc exists, as laid down in the Spanish chart." 13

Meany comments: "Again the Great River of the West held to her face the veil of ocean spray, although Jonathan Carver had invented for her the beautiful name of Oregon some 22 years before. The existence of the river was simply a guess on Carver's part while traveling among Indians in Minnesota, and the name itself seems, in the light of subsequent research, a pure but valuable invention." 14 Bancroft says that "The name sounded well, was adopted by the poet Bryant in his immortal Thanatopsis, and became permanent." 15

Capt. George Vancouver.-The explorations of Capt. George Vancouver, of the British Admiralty, left more definite evidence of his activities in western Washington than that of perhaps any other navigator. His expedition also strengthened the British claim to the Oregon country more than that of any other single explorer. These results were accomplished because of his accuracy in exploration and map-making and also because his reports were promptly published and widely distributed.

Vancouver had been an officer with Cook, whose voyages had stimu lated an interest in the fur trade. The British Government decided to send out a scientific exploring expedition and placed it in charge of Vancouver. On April 27, 1791, Vancouver examined Deception Bay and Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia, then not definitely discovered. Vancouver denied the existence of a river at that point. On the 28th he discovered a point farther north near the

13 Bancroft, op. cit., vol. I, p. 198.

14 Meany, op. cit., p. 27.

15 Bancroft, op. cit., p. 133.

present village of Moclips. He named the point Grenville after Lord Grenville. He followed through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the inland gulf which he named the Gulf of Georgia. To the southern end of this gulf he gave the name of Puget Sound in honor of Lt. Peter Puget who explored that region. The stretch of water between Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca he called Admiralty Inlet in honor of the British Board of Admiralty. On June 4 Vancouver landed on the site of the present city of Everett. He took possession of the whole territory around and named it New Georgia. The bay washing the shore immediately in front he called Possession Sound.

On April 30 his Lieutenant Baker called attention to a snow-capped peak which Vancouver promptly named Mount Baker. On May 8 Vancouver himself descried a lofty peak further south which he named in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. On his return trip southward he discovered and named Mount St. Helens.

Meany has traced the origin of some 75 names given by Vancouver in this northwest region.16 Among the additional prominent ones are Vancouver Island, Bellingham Bay, Hood Canal, Port Orchard, Port Towns(h)end, Whidbey Island. It is remarkable that so many of the names have persisted.

5. First American Explorers

Up to 1787 there is no account of any American discovery or exploration of the Northwest region. New England had many sailors and some of them were making history in voyages to the Orient and the Sandwich Islands. John Ledyard of Connecticut had been with Cook on his voyage to Nootka. Boston shippers began to hear of the profitable fur trade with the northwest.

Capt. Robert Gray.-In 1787 a company was organized to send two ships, the Columbia Rediviva, under Capt. John Kendrick, and the Lady Washington, under Capt. Robert Gray. It was to be pri marily a trading expedition. They took especially copper and iron implements which they expected to barter for furs. The Indians were so eager for the metal implements that on one occasion Gray received $8,000 worth of sea otter furs for an old iron chisel. On the cruise northward on August 14, 1788, they anchored in a bay at 45°27' north latitude. As there was a dangerous bar at the mouth, they thought it must be the Ensenada de Heceta or the River of the West. It was doubtless Tillamook Bay, off the northwest coast of

16 Meany, op. cit., p. 35.

Oregon. On the expedition Kendrick and Gray were at Nootka for some time. They made trips to the Orient, Gray being the first American to carry the Stars and Stripes around the globe.1

6. Crossing the Columbia Bar

In 1791 while coasting southward, Gray, then in command of the ship Columbia, after considerable difficulty crossed the bar at the mouth of the River of the West, and promptly named it the Columbia, in honor of his ship.18 That was on May 11, 1792. Four days before he had discovered a harbor about 60 miles to the north which he named Bulfinch Harbor, in honor of Dr. Charles Bulfinch, of Boston, one of the trading company sending the expedition.19 Appropriately that has since been changed to Grays Harbor. It is at the site of Aberdeen and Hoquiam. The entire county also has been named Grays Harbor County.

7. Across the Rockies to the Pacific

Alexander Mackenzie (British).—The first trek by white men from the midwestern plains of America across the Stony Mountains to the Pacific Ocean was accomplished by Alexander Mackenzie of the Northwest Company of fur traders. His feat was very significant in revealing the geographical relations of the East and the West and also the great difficulties to be surmounted by traveling the transmontane route. His discoveries and the British claims based upon them were destined to be of great importance in the later struggle over territorial sovereignty. Inasmuch as his journey was entirely in the territory allotted to Canada and not at all in the Oregon country no further discussion will be included here.

Lewis and Clark (American).-The second expedition made by white men westward across the Rocky Mountains, or Stony Mountains as they were earlier known, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean was made by Lewis and Clark in 1804-06. This was the first transmountain expedi tion to the Northwest by Americans. This venture was conceived by Thomas Jefferson. As early as 1783 Jefferson had been trying to have such an expedition conducted. Prof. Frederick J. Turner discovered a letter dated December 4, 1783, written by Jefferson to George Rogers Clark, in which he said:

I find they have subscribed a very large sum of money in England for exploring the country from the Mississippi to California. They pretend it is only to promote knowl

17 Meany, op. cit., p. 41.

19 Bancroft, op. cit., vol. I, p. 260.

1 Bancroft, op. cit., vol. I, p. 259.

edge. I am afraid they have thought of colonizing into that quarter. Some of us have been talking here in a feeble way of making an attempt to search that country but I doubt whether we have enough of that kind of spirit to raise the money. How would you like to lead such a party? Though I am afraid our prospect is not worth the question.20

Twenty years later the younger brother, Lt. William Clark, was one of the two to head that epoch-making expedition.

Bancroft says:

Thomas Jefferson was the father of United States explorations. While lesser minds were absorbed in proximate events, his profound sagacity penetrated forests, and sought to reveal the extent and resources of the new nation. To this he was moved not less by circumstances than by his broad and enlightened judgment.21

Twenty years after his letter to George Rogers Clark, Jefferson as President brought his scheme to fruition. He recommended to Congress on January 18, 1803, that provision be made for an expedition to explore the Missouri to its source, and thence to cross the continental highlands to the westward flow of waters, and to follow them to the Pacific. The measure was approved by Congress. For the task he chose as commander, his private secretary, Capt. Meriwether Lewis, and as second in command Capt. William Clark, cousin of George Rogers Clark.22

On April 30, 1803, the purchase was made by Jefferson from Napoleon of the entire Louisiana Territory for $15,000,000. This acquisition made the expedition doubly attractive and important.

On the 14th of May, 1804, the party of 45 started from St. Louis up the Missouri River. The number varied at times according to the number of Indian guides secured at different points, also because 1 man died, 1 deserted, and the military escort of 6 and 9 boatmen were sent back after reaching the Mandan Indian territory. Thirty-two belonging to the party went on from there. At Fort Mandan they took on as an interpreter a Frenchman, Charboneau, and his Indian slave wife, Sacajawea, who has since become famed in story. A beautiful statue of her, designed by Alice Cooper, was unveiled in Portland at the time of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition.

It would be interesting to recite in detail the exciting and romantic adventures of this expedition but space will not permit. These brave explorers followed the Missouri to its headwaters in the Stony Mountains, found the crest of those mountains where the waters divided, some to be carried to the Gulf of Mexico, some to the Pacific. After

Meany, op. cit., p. 49.

21 Bancroft, op. cit., vol. II, p. 2.

Bancroft spells Clark's name Clarke.

discovering a narrow pass they followed the tortuous and rocky canyons of the Snake River out onto the plains of Idaho and eastern Washington to the confluence of the Snake with the River of the West, the mighty Columbia (later so named). They descended this river in boats, portaging around the dalles and cascades. "On the 7th of November, 1805," says Bancroft, "they beheld to their great joy the horizon line of the Pacific Ocean." 23

They wintered on the south bank of the Columbia at a place which they named Fort Clatsop. This is not far from Astoria and the mouth of the Columbia River. Some, though not very considerable explora tion was made of the adjacent territory. The return trip was started on March 23, 1806. Many landings and side trips were made on the journey up the Columbia, especially near the present site of Longview and Castle Rock in Washington. Quite extended explorations were made of the lower Willamette and the territory adjacent to the present site of Portland. They espied Mount Jefferson, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Hood. President Jefferson's name was bestowed upon the first. On leaving the Columbia near Umatilla they again recrossed the Walla Walla region probably passing near to the present towns of Touchet, Waitsburg, Clarkston in Washington and Lewiston, Idaho.

8. Congress Authorizes Scientific Expedition

Capt. John Wilkes.-In 1838 Congress authorized a scientific expe dition to the northwest country which meant much for the final adjustment of sovereignty claims. It was also of great import in enabling future emigrants to know the resources of the region. The expedition under command of Lt. Charles Wilkes, of the United States Navy, was directed to go to Rio Janeiro, Tierra del Fuego, Valparaiso, the Navigator group of islands, Fiji Islands, if possible to the Antarctic region, the Hawaiian Islands; then survey the northwest coast, examine the Columbia River, note especially the bay of San Francisco. After this they were to visit the coast of Japan, then the port of Singa pore. The final return to the Atlantic coast was to be via Cape of Good Hope.24 Mention will be made here only of the part of the expedition relating especially to the future State of Washington.

While the primary objective of the expedition was commercial its most valuable contribution was doubtless scientific and educational. A large staff of men of science, some of great distinction, accompanied the expedition. The group included Charles Pickering, Joseph P. Couth

Bancroft, op. cit., vol. II, p. 49.

24 Bancroft, op. cit., vol. II, p. 668.

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