The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-06-15

The discovery of the Columbia by
an American navigator was of high
Importance, inasmuch as it furnished
the United States its original basis of
claim to what is known as "the Ore
gon country" out of which the states
of Oregon, Washington and Idaho and
parts of Montana and Wyoming have
been carved.
Sailed in 1887.
Nearly two years before George
Washington was inaugurated as the
first president of the United States,
Captain Robert Gray started upon a
voyage on which he visited the Pacific
coast at the mouth of the river now
named the Columbia, although he did
not make sure at the time that he
came so near discovering a great rlv-
er. Two American vessels, the Co
lumbia Rediviva, Captain John Ken
dirk, and the Lady Washington, Cap
tain Robert Gray, sailed from Boston
September 30, 1887 with cargoes OF
goods for the Indians. They rounded
the Horn and sailed up the Pacific
coast to Nootka sound, their object
being to engage in the fur trade of the
great Northwest. The two vessels,
however, we're separated by a storm
soon after passing Cape Horn, and the
Lady Washington reached the Oregon
coast in August, where, near the 46th
parallel, Captain Gray ran his ship
aground in attempting to enter an
arm of the sea which he had already
explored in small boats for some miles,
and which he believed to be the stream
then vaguely known as the River Of
the West-now the Columbia. The
ship was attacked by Indians and one
seaman was killed and the mate was
wounded. This attack caused the
ship to put out to sea again. Histor-
ians differ as to wherther Gray actu-
ally visited the mouth of the Colum-
bia on this voyage. Greenhow holds
that the fight with the Indians took
place in the Columbia, but Bancroft
il inclined to the belief that it was
Tillamook Bay. The Columbia and
the Lady Washington both anchored In
Nootka Sound until the next spring,
returning to Boston on August 10,
1870.
Adventurous NayigatOrs.
It should be remembered that at
this time there we're many adventur-
GUS navigators who were eager to dis
cover the mouth of the great river of
the west. They believed it to be the
Pacific end of a mythical northwest
passage" extending across the CONT.
nent from Hudson's Bay. Many years
before, the British government had
offered prize of 1000 pounds to the
navigator who would discover this
passage, which for century had been
supposed to exist. The Hudson Bay
company, which hele the Crowns
charter granting II exclusive right to
trade in the whole of interior and
Western North America above the
Spanish possessions discouraged any
attempts to find this passage from the
Hudson bay side, and the navigatora
made sarch for it ON the Pacific coast.
Captain James Cook, tho most fam
GUS British navigators of his time,
had sailed only 80 days after the de-
claration of American Independence,
in the shape of discovering the i'm
aginargy passage. On the 18th OF
January, 177S, he discovered the Ha-
waiian Islands, which he named the
Sandwich islands In honor Of the first
lord of admiralty, Resuming his
eastward course, Captain Cook en-
countered the coast of "New Albion, "
otherwise Oregon, near the 4ith par
allel, far south OF the Columbia. Sc
we're storms drove him far out to sea
and he did not reach land again until
he was . degrees north Of the mouth
of the Columbia.
The New Country.
Cook returned to England after
four years of voyaging, and the ac-
counts Of his expedition aroused great
interest, Great Britain being eager to
annex the new country on the Pacific,
England, Russia and France each dis
patched expeditions to explore the
region more thoroughly and to share
in the fur trade of Nootka sound.
Captain John Meares, British navi-
gator, sailed In vessel to engage In
the fur trade on his own responsible
ity, and during his voyage he found
an opening in the coast which he
named Deception bay" but which
undoubtedly was the mouth of the
Columbia. Meares, however, did not
discover that II was river and sailed
away. Had he made the discovery,
Great Britain might now be the pos
SCISSOR of all the rich territory sur
rounding and including the Lewis
and Clark exposition site.
But CAPTAIN Gray remained only six
weeks in Boston after returning from
his first voyage, starting for the north
Pacific again on the 2Sth of Septem.
ber, 1890, this time in command of the
ship Columbia Rediviva. Gray reached
Vancouver island the next June
About the same time Captain George
Vancouver Of the British royal navy
began a series Of voyages up and down
the Pacific coast, for purposes Of ex-
ploration. In April, 1892, he reached
Deception bay" and made some OBJ
servations, falling in a little later
with the Columbia few miles south
of the straits Of Fuca. Captain Gray
freely informed the Briton as to his
own observation, but Vancouver de-
clined to believe in the existeanCe Of
the river of the west. Once more
Great Britain sailed away from an i'm
minent discovery Of great Importance.
Sailed SOuthward.
Leaving Vancouver In the straits OF
Fuca, Captain Gray sailed southward
In the good ship Columbia, and on
May entered port which he named
Bullhnch harbor, in honor of one Of
the owners of his vessel. Many Indi-
ans surrounded his vessel, rowing
out in their big dugout canoes. Gray
warned them to keep off, but they nd
vanced, and he opened fire on them.
1t is this incident which George Dav
idson has illustrated in his curious
drawing, which gives a most remark,
able rendering of the heights and
headlands at the mouth of the Colum-
bia river. On the llth of May the
Columbia safely crossed the bar and
entered at last the mighty river, upon
which Captain Gray bestowed the
name of his ship. He cast anchor lC
miles up the river, and a few days
later he proceeded 10 miles farther up
the Columbia, got into the shoal water