# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 21/The Early Explorations and the Origin of the Name of the Oregon Country

THE EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF THE OREGON COUNTRY
By William H. Galvani
I. The Early Explorations
It is certain that long before the voyages of Captains Gray and Vancouver they (the Spaniards) knew at least a part of the course of that (the Columbia) River which was designated in their maps under the name of Oregon. Gabriel Franchere's Narrative of the Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811–14, Page 113, note.
It is an undisputed historic fact that our earliest explorers and settlers, long before the keen contest for supremacy began between England and Spain, were Spaniards. It is likewise a fact that for some strange and unaccountable reasons the Spanish government, until the middle of the Eighteenth century, carefully avoided the use of the name America in their histories and official documents in not one of which can the word be found. It is furthermore as certain and historically fully accepted that the declining power of Spain directed its active colonizing efforts towards the West Coast of North America; and, whether anyone is inclined to question the early voyages of the Portuguese navigator, Cabrillo, in the Spanish service, who discovered Cape Mendocino in 1542, or those of the Greek pilot Apostolos Valerianus of Cephalonia, commonly known as Juan de Fuca, who, in 1592, is supposed to have approached the straits now bearing his name, the voyages of Sebastian Vizcaino up to the 43rd parallel as early as 1603 are certainly unquestionable ; that based largely on the result of his explorations and actual surveys, as recorded in his journals, he recommended certain places for settlement and naval stations; that for some reasons the Spanish Government deliberately concealed the ​accounts of that expedition; that the first party of Spanish emigrants under Rivera reached San Diego on May 14th, 1769; and that before 1775 the Spanish colonies in upper California enjoyed an abundance of means of subsistence, such as fruits, cattle, and agricultural products; and that between 1774 and 1779 three exploring voyages of the west coast were made by order of the Spanish Government and under the direction of the Marine Department of San Bias, at the entrance of the California Gulf, established for the purpose of promoting active exploration of the Northwest Coast.
The Russians, having in 1711 subjugated the whole of North Asia, were looking for more something beyond their recently fixed ocean boundaries further east in the direction of the Spanish, French and British settlement in America. To this end were directed the efforts of Bering and Tchirikoff during the years 1728–1729, and of Lieutenant Synd, Captains Kremnitz and Levascheff between 1766–1774. But, like the Spanish Government, the wise men who governed Holy Russia for some reasons systematically suppressed all accounts of these voyages until 1774, when J. L. Staehlin, Councillor of State to Empress Catherine, prepared a circumstantial account of the principal voyages between 1741 and 1770 from the original records in possession of the Russian government.
While Spain and Russia were thus actively engaged in securing by right of discovery and possession the extension of their sovereign claims on the Northwesterly coast of America, Great Britain, it seems, directed every possible effort towards consolidating her interests on the Eastern or Atlantic coast. In 1771 Samuel Hearne, an agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, acting under its instructions to investigate the Northwest Country, made three journeys between 1769 and 1772; ​he discovered in 1771 a river in the northwest section of America not emptying in the Atlantic or Hudson Bay, but somewhere to the west. This changed considerably the pre- vailing notions regarding the Northwest country. Likewise the publication in 1778 of Captain Jonathan Carver's "Travels Throughout the Interior Parts of North America in 1766," in which the Great River of the West was for the first time mentioned under the name of Oregon, contributed somewhat to the general awakening of Britain in Northwestern projects for settlement, etc. Accordingly Captain James Cook, on his return to England from his second voyage of circumnavigation, in obedience to instructions from the British Government, sailed from Plymouth on July 12th, 1776, on the Ship Resolution, accompanied by Captain Charles Clarke, on the Ship Discovery, and a number of other officers and crews. He was not to touch upon any part of the Spanish dominions, and, if he should do so by some unavoidable accident, to give no offence to any of the inhabitants or subjects of his Catholic majesty. He was "with the consent of the natives to take possession in the name of the King of Great Britain of convenient situations .... but, if he should find countries so discovered to be uninhabited, he was to take possession for his sovereign by setting up proper marks and inscriptions as first discoverers and possessors." In obedience to these instructions he proceeded by way of the Cape of Good Hope, New Zealand and Otaheite to the Coast of New Albion which he was to reach in the latitude of 45 degrees. He discovered the Sandwich Islands, was near the 44th degree of latitude on March 7, 1778, and a little beyond the 48th parallel on March 22, he was opposite the projecting point of the Continent which he named Cape Flattery.
Captain Cook's voyage proved an epoch-making achievement, both from a geographical viewpoint and also from his discovery among the natives at Friendly Cove of a number of articles of ​Spanish manufacture. By determining accurately the principal points on the Coasts of Asia and America he made it possible for the first time to ascertain the actual extent of these continents and the degree of their proximity to each other All subsequent voyages, as far at least as the subject that is before us, need not concern us ; and, whether we recognize or reject the validity of the Papal concession of May 4th, 1493, as a legitimate basis for Spanish claims to sovereignty, we can not deny that the Spaniards were the first discoverers' and settlers of the West Coasts of America, at least as far North as the 56th parallel of latitude. It nevertheless led to the first controversy and to subsequent contests between Great Britain and Spain respecting the Northwest Coasts of America in 1790, and in which contests British perseverance finally won over Spanish clericalized rule.
In addition to the above documentary evidence of the voyages of discovery and settlement, the following recorded incidents of later travelers are of unusual interest and importance and show the unmistakable presence of Spaniards in the Oregon Country. Under date of January 1st, 1806, there is recorded in the journal of Lewis and Clark's Expedition a visit from the Clatsops; and that "Among this nation (the Clatsops) we have observed a man about twenty-five years old, of much lighter complexion than the Indians generally; his face was even freckled, and his hair long and of a color inclined to red. He was in habits and manners perfectly Indian; but, though he did not speak a word of English, he seemed to understand more than the others of his party; and, as we could obtain no account of his origin, we concluded that ​one of his parents at least must have been completely white."
A similar incident is recorded by Franchere under date of May 8th, 1812, when in the vicinity of Point Vancouver the party met a kindly old blind man and they were told by their guide that "he was a white man and that his name was Soto . . . . he was the son of a Spaniard who had been wrecked at the mouth of the river ; that a part of the crew on this occasion got safe ashore, but were all massacred by the Clatsops, with the exception of four who were spared and who married native women ; these four Spaniards, disgusted with the savage life, attempted to reach a settlement of their own nation toward the South, but had never been heard of since; and that when his father and his companions had left the country he himself was yet quite young."
Such in brief is the interesting story of the early efforts of the Spaniards to explore the Western slope of the New World, to establish permanent settlements on the 'Pacific Coast, and to insure the sovereignty of His Catholic Majesty the King of Spain all of which, like her whole world empire, vanished from the face of the earth and apparently forever. Sic transit gloria mundi.
II. ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF OREGON
The beginning of things or the rise of symbols for things has always been an item of great interest to the mind of man. Hence, it is that history, dealing in matters pertaining to this world, and also theology, dealing with speculations relating to all other worlds, are so prolific. And, indeed, it is but quite natural that it should be so for it is only in the light of the past of the race that the mind of man can suggest an explanation for the present state of things ; and, again, from the union of the two, the past and the present, we may have a glimpse into "the never ending flight of future days."
That is why history and theology are so prolific; it is our deep concern in the future for in life, as Byron so well ​observed, "there is no present" that makes it so. That is why every subject had been handled, time and again, by everyone who thought of having a thought, or a capacity of transcribing and interpreting facts or fancies, into words and phrases. Hence, it is that history, or the romance of history, includes not only persons, events and places that had an actual exist- ence, but also detailed accounts of events that never happened, wonderful biographies of persons that never existed, and graphic descriptions of places that no geographer ever located, nor mortal eye had ever seen. We thus seem to know more of what we suppose had happened thousands of years ago than we do of what actually transpired but a few years ago, or, indeed, of what is going on right now, before our very eyes, so to speak.
It is my purpose to deal here with the derivation of a symbol or word a matter, it is true, not so important as that of an actual or tangible thing. That word is OREGON, and the fact that the subject, every now and then, receives some attention from editors, statesmen, historians and even poets must be my apology for submitting the following observations:
Without going much into detail, I beg to remark here that the various explanations for the derivation of the name of Oregon have absolutely no foundation. Chief among these explanations are the "wild thyme" myth, an herb of unusual abundance found here by early explorers, but which herb has, with the advent of civilization, so mysteriously disappeared. Then comes the story of Jonathan Carver, who, while among the Indians on the waters of the Upper Mississippi, in 1766-68, was informed by them that they heard of far-away tribes to the Westward, in a territory by the name of Oregon, which according to them meant the "great River of the West," as if that, even assuming this to be absolutely correct, is sufficient of an explanation for the actual origin of that name.
Another solution is that offered by Junius Henri Brown, ​who, in 1842, in Hunt's Magazine, solves the great mystery by attributing the whole matter to a supposed tradition, said to have prevailed among the Indians near Lake Superior, of a mighty river of the name of Oregon, emptying its waters into the Pacific. Then, too, Bryant's celebrated "Thanatopsis," written in 1812, refers to the Columbia River as the Oregon "where rolls the O'regon, and hears no sound save his own dashings," Nor should we overlook Professor Josiah D. Whitney's theory of the derivation of the name of Oregon from Ore-jon, or Big-ear, a name supposed to have been applied to the Indians of the Northwest Coast by the early Spanish explorers.
Finally, we have more recently been treated to the latest effort of a most fertile imagination, and by not less a person than Joaquin Miller, the poet of the Sierras ; who, after thirty long years of contemplation and inquiry, made the startling discovery that the name of Oregon is derived from the Spanish Oye-el-agua ; hear the waters. Wonderful, most wonderful!
Herein is practically a complete list of the explanations for the derivation of the name of Oregon, explanations which to anyone of a historical or linguistic turn of mind explain nothing of its meaning, nor of its actual derivation.
In the absence of documentary evidence, there is but one way to get at the heart of this mystery. We must turn to the early settlers and to the homes they left behind them. Just as the Dutch, the English and the French on the Atlantic, or east coast of the New Continent, applied to their new homes the names of their former cities and districts, so, indeed, the settlers on the shores of the Pacific must have done likewise. Hence, since we have shown and indeed it is admitted on all sides that the first settlers on the Pacific were Spaniards, they, and they only, must have named the new territory, and after some spot most dear to their hearts. Undoubtedly among those Spaniards, who first settled in what has become known as the Oregon country, there were many who fled from Spain because of the political tyranny and ecclesiastical persecution of those ​days, so famous in Spanish history. It was a period when the number of those who fled from religious persecutions must have been enormous. The Kingdom of Aragon suffered and resisted those horrors possibly more than any other territory under Spanish rule. Religious refugees usually are more loyal to the old homeland and its traditions than any wandering adventurers, and when those refugees—or even if some of them were but ordinary adventurers in search of fame or fortune—landed in the Oregon country, they could not help finding here a picture so strongly resembling old Aragon. For be it remembered that the Kingdom of Aragon, which included Catalonia and Valencia, was noted for its long coast line, auspicious climate, beautiful valleys, rivers dashing with exulting song into the glittering sunshine, forest covered hillsides, and the majestic mountains of the Pyrenees with their snow-clad sentinels—all of which familiar scenes of beauty and grandeur they found here in their new abode. Under such circumstances it is but natural that they should have transferred the old name to the new home. Likewise, it is quite possible, as it had been suggested by my good friend, John Gill, who is one of the few well informed men on the subject of early Oregon history, that some bold hidalgos might have named the Oregon country after some Spanish ship by that name. In either case, if the Indians used this name in later years, it is not because of having invented it, but because they got this pure Spanish name from the Spanish settlers, and they retained it even though those Spaniards and Spanish names were doomed in the course of human events to disappear from the New World, because of the marvelous rise of New Albion at a time when rapidly decaying Spain was altogether too busy with burning heretics according to the policies of Torquemada and the Holy Inquisition. That is all there is to it.
Should anyone insist upon an explanation for the transformation of Aragon into Oregon, here it is, and it is simple enough. The chief, or primitive, vowels in the different Aryan languages are represented by "a," "i," and "u" (pronounced as ​in the Italian). To these primitive vowels all other vowels are traced as to a common source. This is recognized by the physiologist no less than by the linguist. The modifications, or gradations, of each were brought about under the influence of other vowels or consonants. In tracing these gradations we find that "e" and "o" philologically owe their derivation to "a" just as "ei" and "ai" to "i" and "iu" and "au" are traced to "u".
Hence, the first and the second "a" in Aragon, by the natural process and according to phonetic laws, have imperceptibly become transformed into "o" and "e". Examples of this are as numerous in modern languages as they are in Sanskrit, the mother tongue of all.
In the light of these few observations even the plea of "the poet of the Sierras," based upon "an orchestra of angels away up in yonder clouds, crying : Oye-el-agua—Hear the water"—must give way to an explanation based upon human sentiment and reason which somehow ever persists in perpetuating old familiar names, and to the fact that the name—Oregon—is certainly of most Spanish formation and sound, and especially so when it is supported by the principles upon which rests all linguistic development—ancient and modern.
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* ↑ Professor Geo. Davidson in his "An Examination of Some of the Early Voyages on the Northwest Coast of America from 1539 to 1603," identified with practical certainty some seventy points mentioned by the diary of Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo along the Coast, and placing the limit of the voyage at Rogue River, Oregon, though Ferrelo, Chief pilot to Cabrillo, gives the latitude 44 degrees. See his Introduction to Spanish Explorations in the Southwest 1542-1706, Edited by H. E. Bolton, New York, Charles Scribners' Sons, 1916.
* ↑ Though no record of Juan de Fuca's voyage has been found in the Mexican archives, the unsupported testimony of Michael Lock (an English Merchant who published the story in 1619, "the narrative was accepted by Raleigh and Purchas, and the latitude of the supposed channel and de Fuca's description of it correspond with surprising accuracy to the Strait that now bears his romantic name." K. Coman in Economic Beginnings of the Far West. Vol. I p. 8. New York, The MacMillan Co., 1912.
* ↑ The First Voyage, under Ensign Juan Perez, reached the 54th parallel on July 18, 1774; the Second voyage under Captain Bruno Heceta sailed March 15, 1775, discovered the entrance of the Columbia on August 15th, reached the 58th parallel, found it very difficult to proceed further and turned southward on November 20th (Heceta's Discoveries are unquestionable); and the Third voyage, under Captain Ignacio Artega and Lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, sailed on February 7th, 1779, returning on November 21st without, however, adding to what was accomplished by Perez and Heceta.
* ↑ The records are curious and interesting, but they throw very little light on the great geographical questions relative to the part of the world which then remained unsolved, and the accompanying chart only serves, at present, to show more conspicuously the value of the discoveries effected by other nations—Robert Greenhow, The History of Oregon and California and the Other Territories on the Northwest Coast of America, Chap. V, p. 138, D. Appleton, N. Y., 1845.
* ↑ Carver's account, in a general way, was made up from existing journals and histories his descriptions of the habits, customs, religion and language of the Indians of the Upper Mississippi are vague and contradictory, and for the most part repetitions from existing accounts. If it were not for his using the name Oregon for the Great River of the West his book of travels might have been forgotten long ago. As it is, it gave rise to the debatable question as to origin of the name first used by him.
* ↑ Captain Cook's Explorations extended as far as Icy Cape in latitude 70 degrees 29 minutes; thence, repassing Bering Strait, he left on October 27, for the Sandwich Islands, where this gallant English voyager was murdered by the natives on February 14, 1779. Captain Charles Clarke succeeded him, but he died near Petropaylovsk on August 22; John Gore next assumed command of the expedition, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, returning to England in October, 1780.
* ↑ "From the time of the emperor Constantine various grants, endowments, and donations of extensive territories were conferred by different princes on the bishops of Rome . . . That many of these are supposititious is generally acknowledged, whilst the validity of others, which are admitted to have existed, frequently rests merely on the temporary right of some intruder whose title was his sword, and who in many instances, gave the pontiff what he could no longer retain himself." Wm. Roscoe, the Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth (in 2 Vols.) Vol. I, p. 5, London, Henry G. Bohn, 1846.
* ↑ History of the Expedition of Captains Lewis and Clark in 1804–5–6. Reprinted from the Edition of 1814, with an Introduction and Index by James K. Hosmer, LLD., in two volumes,—(Vol. II, p. 110, A. C. McClurg, Chicago, 1903.
* ↑ This is corroborated by the late John Minto (b. Oct 10, 1822, d. Feb. 25, 1915, a pioneer of 1844, who in. 1846 met at Morrison's (now Columbia beach about 8 miles South of Astoria), the Indian Cullaby whom he found to be a son of the red haired and freckled faced Indian mentioned in the Journal of Lewis and Clark under date of Jan. 1, 1806.
* ↑ Franchere, Gabriel, Narrative of the Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811-1814, page 113.
* ↑ Winsor, in his "Narrative and Critical History of America," Vol. 7, p. 555, gives credit to Carver for first using the name of Oregon.
* ↑ "As to the name of Oregon, or the authority for its use, the traveller (Carver) is silent; and nothing has been learned from any other source, though much labor has been expended in attempts to discover its meaning and derivation; it was most probably invented by Carver."—Greenhow, Robert, (Translator and Librarian to the Department of State of the U.S.A.) The History of Oregon and California and the other Territories of the Northwest Coast of America, Chap. VI, p. 145, New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1845.
* ↑ Whitney, Josiah D., Names and Places, page 28. Cambridge, 1888.
* ↑ See, Morning Oregonian, October 21st, 1907.
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