who discovered the columbia river
Captain Robert Gray, May 1972. Discovering the Columbia River, May 1792 ... The Columbia River was given the name it bears today in May 1792, by American Captain Robert Gray, after his ship, the Columbia Rediviva. On May 11, 1792, Captain Robert Gray entered the mouth of the Columbia River. He explored 20 miles up the river as far as Grays Bay, a bay named for him later in the year by Lieutenant William Broughton of the Vancouver Expedition, who crossed the bar and traveled 100 miles up the Columbia.