Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-08-08
(By j. II. T. RYMAN)

(By j. ii. T. RYMAN)
The origin of the word Oregon, while
not as yet entirely settled, has, through
the very recent searches of Mr.. r. c
Elliott of Walla Walla and DR.. Johr
Thomas Lee of Madison, Wis, fixec
Its first written use. The early eXplana-
ton of Joaquin Miller, for it's origin
Aura Aqua" gently-falling water, anc
the second, also a Spanish d~erivative
Cregones, blg-eared men, applied by
the early missionaries to the native
Indians, have been discarded by his
torical students.
Captain Jonathon Carver issued in
1778 his Travels Through the Interior
Parts OF North America in the years
1766-67 and SO. This work of Carver,
q first edition Of which now lies be-
lore me, has within recent years been
the subject Of much historical criticism.
The late Professor Bourne of Yale in
the American Historical Review char
acterlzed Carver as an unletterd Con-
nectlcutt shoemaker and soldier, but
IN closing admitted Carver was the
source rather than the author of the
travels. Dr.. Reuben Gold ThWaites,
IN his wisconsin 1908" follows Profess
sor Bourne in calling him an ignorant
shoemaker. DR.. Lee has found a letter
IN the Boston Chronicle of February
%, 1768, by Carver to his wife at Mon
tague, Mass, written from Michilli-
mackinac, September "a, 1857, which
corroborates that the Johnathon Carver
who wrote and had published his
travels was a nan Of intelligence and
accurate observation.
First For Oregon
In fhtc nov A., v,~rJ O.a--- l. c.
used in print. On page nine, he speaks
Of the head of the four great rivers
about the center of the continent: The
river Bourbon (Saskatchewan), Missis-
sippi, ST. Lawrence and the river Ore
gOn, or River of the West that falls
into the Pacific ocean,. Recently both
Lee and Elliott, through searches in the
London colonial Office, are satisfied be-
yond doubt that Carver was the source
and author OF the Travels" DR.. Lees
Investigations had reference to the
work as a whole; the explorations of
Carver having to do particularly with
the present states Of Wisconsin and
Minnesota, while the study of my
friend, Mr.. Elliott, was narrowed to
tracing to sources the first use of the
word Oregon. In a recent number of
the Oregon Historical Quarterly he
prints from the archives of the colonial
Office, London, the petition of Major
Robert Rogers for equipment and stores
to seek by land the existence of a
northwest passage. Rogers as we'll as
Carver, had seen much service along
the Great Lakes. In this proposal of
Rogers, he incorporated the route he
would follow, namely: From the Great
Lakes toward the head of the Missis-
sippi and thence to the river called by
the Indians Ouragon, which flows into
a bay projecting into the Pacific
ocean,"
This petition was filed in the London
offices August IL, 1865. The Elliott re-
searches also disclose that Carver was
particularly delegated by Rogers to
make surveys and maps and that Car
yer had all of Rogers memoranda.
the work moves back to Rogers but
world.
Valuable Maps
In the Carver book are two valuable
maps showing sources of the MISSISSIPPI
pi. where his adventures of 1766-67 and
SO actually happened, to which he
adds the western geography purport-
to be founded on the statements of
Indians to him. These maps emphasize
one thing to which I will later refer
In the origin of Indian names and that
Is the Indian horizon was extremely
Northwest of White Bear lake
in northwestern Minnesota, on his
second map, he locates a smaller lake,
the outlet of which he designated
Heads of Oregan." In the text he
spells it Oregon.
Both in the Rogers petitions and later
IN the Carver petition and in the book
the word is spelled Oregon, Ourigan
and Ouragan, not uncommon in the
Elliott concludes that, owing to the
and Sioux Indians story
to the Ottawas of the River of the
West, its supposed rise being in Mime
sofa, and flowing westward where bliz-
yards in winter and tOrnadOeS IN sum-
mer prevailed, old Pontiac in describ-
Ing 1t to Major Rogers had called 1t
Ouragon, the same as Ouragan, a
word meaning windstOrm or
hurricane.
Carver in his report of this attempt
to penetrate to the Pacific, while &C
his failure, adds that he
accomplish the situation (source)
Of the heads Of the four great rivers
of each other. namely the river
Bourbon (Saskatchewan), waters of
the st. Lawrence, the Mississippi and
the river Oregon or River Of the West
falls into the Pacific at the straits
Of Aman.
While the foregoing is now accepted
as the original use of the word, there
as to where Pontiac got the
word Ouragon for the River of the
West. The Elliott theory for it's origin
Pontiac's description to Rogers
In their 1761 conference Of its rise and
course and his acquaintance with brOk-
en- French has much to commend it.
This evidence Is wholly external.
John E. ReeS Of Lapwai on the Nez
Perez Indian reservation, who has been
reared among the ShoShonis and Is
conversant with their
language and its idioms, presents in
the December number of the Quarterly
internal evidence adequately acceptable
TO me as to the origin of this much
discussed word.
Accepting that Pontiac received his
story Of the mythical River Of the West
rom the Sioux and communicated 1t
Rogers and that Carver either got
,he word from Rogers or through d.
rect contact with the Chippeways or
Sioux, the derivation of the word as
serted by Rees Is more than plausible.
The Shoshonis, during the early
BART of the 18th century, we're driven
rom the plains skirting the eastern
base of the Rockies into the our
aims and valleys and were conversant
With the headwaters Of the rivers hav-