October
THE WEST
i .j
HISTORICAL ADVENTURES ON THE
PACIFIC COAST
THE SPANIARDS DISCOVER THE ENTRANCE TO
THE COLUMBIA.
V MRS. r. f. VICTOR.
Such hints ns Russia had given,
again stimulated the Spanish govern
ment in Mexico to attempt the per
manent settlement of Upper California.
Between the years 1769 and 1780 they
planted eieht colonies Hotwtpn
Diego and Santa Clara, and it is notice
able that they remained, up to the time
of the American conquest, the only
settlements of any importance in the
whole of California. They are all
known by the prefix "San" to their
names, each one having a patron Saint
of its own.
It was reported that the Viceroy, in
rdering the settlements at different
points, remarked that if St. Francis
wanted one he should show them (his
officers) his bay! Accordingly, when
the two overland expeditions, with
herds of cattle, had arrived at San
Diego, to meet the supplies arriving by
sea, Gaspar de Portola set out again
with a colony, and cattle, for the Bay
of Monterey; but marching cast of the
Coast Range, he passed by Monterey
without seeing it, and arrived at Drake's
bay, which at once received the ap
pellation of San Francisco, and which,
oddly enough, was in or about the lati
tude ofthcharborofthat name entered
by one of their vessels two hundred
years before. So the Saint got his
settlement after all !
These Spanish settlements had a
struggling existence for a dozen years
or so; but finally, by the cultivation of
the land around the missions and forts,
and the increase of cattle, became com
fortable and independent. From the
stock driven from Mexico to San
Diego, and from San Diego to San
Francisco and Monterey, descended all
those immense herds of cattle which
roamed wild over the California plains
seventy years later, when the first
American settlers of Oregon made an
expedition to the Sacramento valley for
the purpose of purchasing of the Span
iards a herd to stock the Wallamet
valley; and trouble enough they gave
their new masters, too, who would al
most as willingly be attacked by
"grizzlies" as chased by "Spanish
cattle," and who were compelled to
teach the wild cows to be milked by
tying together their hind legs, after
tying their horns to the feaccl
Having accomplished, after a period
ol two hundred years, the actual settle
ment of their California possessions, the
Spanish authorities began once more to
prosecute their enterprises to the north.
In 1774 an expedition left San Bias,
on the Mexican coast, consisting of one
vessel only the Santiago officered
by Ensign Juan Perez as commander,
Estevan Martinez, pilot, and Friars
Pena and Crespi, chaplains. Chaplains
were usually also the historians of an
expedition. The Santiago was ordered
to proceed as far north as the 60th par
allel, and thence to make a careful sur
vey of the coast southward as far as
Monterey. The season proving a
stormy one, it was June before the ex
pedition left Monterey, going north,
and the 18th of July before land was
discovered, in latitude 54 deg. Perez
noted that the land extended to the
south as far as the eye 'could reach,
from this position, but terminated to
the north in a high point, which he
named Cape Santa Margarita. A
range of snow-covcred mountains, which
he could see in the interior, were also
called Sierra dc SanCkristoval. The
Copjrtjbl ltlC. bj I. sunuil. All rifhu
of rtpubll.Mnz mcrvMl.
land thus discovered is now called
Queen Charlotte's Island, and the point
is v-apc North.
Perez did not proceed further north,
but returned from here southward, and
kept the shore in sight for one hundred
miles, trading with the natives who
came off in their boats, eager to ex
change rich furs for knives, shells, or
old clothing. Being driven to sea, he
did not sight land again until he came
into latitude 4914 deg., where a deep
bay was discovered, with a high point
on cither side of the entrance. The
description given by the chaplains is
interesting, and establishes the claim of
the Spanish to the first discovery of
Vancouver's Island. A lively trade
was carried on with the natives. Friar
Pena speaks of them as having lighter
complexions than the other aborigines
of America, and also of their superior
skill and intelligence. Their dress,
like that of the Indians farther north,
was of skins; but their hats were made
of plaited rushes, curiously painted, and
pointed at the top, where a knob was
added by way of ornament, and per
haps of use also. These extinguisher
hats are to be seen occasionally even to
the present day, and attest the faithful
ness of Pena's description.
The natives had, besides, articles
made of copper and iron, a fact which
greatly surprised the Spaniards, who
could not learn that they had any inter
course with foreign nations. The su
perior skill of the Indians of that part
of the coast is well known at present,
and is accounted for by ethnologists on
the ground that these people are the
debris of the civilization of Central
America, some of the arts of which,
especially carving In stone or wood,
they have preserved. There is cer
tainly a strong resemblance in their
language as well, though the designs
used by them in carving appear quite
as much Japanese as Central American.
Friar Pena also gave a fair accdunt of
the bay which they had discovered,
and named Port San Lorenzo, and
which afterwards was called Nootka
Sound by the English. The two capes
were named respectively Santa Clara
and San Estevan,bo of which names
are since changed.
Ensign Perez did not tarry long at
this afterwards famous port, but kept
on down the coast, discovering Mount
Olympus, which he called -Santa
Rosalie, but not seeing the entrance to
the Strait of Fuca, nor to the Columbia
river. In reading the accounts of so
many Spanish cxjieditions, the wonder
is ever present that they made so few
important discoveries. Probably the
meanness of their outfits, and the un
scientific character of their officers,
must he made to account for the evi
dent fact. Spain was then, as she is
now, behind all the rest of the world in
scientific knowledge; and if old Spain
were so, how much more her remote
Mexican provinces.
Yet, when the Viceroy had received
the report of Perez, he very per
sistently, at least, sent out another ex
pedition in the Santiago, under the
command of Captain Bruno Heceta,
who was accompanied by Perez as
ensign. The Santiago was accompan
ied by a small vessel commanded by
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Zuadra.
The vessels proceeded in company,
nuking a landing in a small bay be
tween 41 deg. and 41 deg., which re
ceived the name of Part Trinidad, and
where the officers took formal possession
of the country for the King of Spain.
They remained nine days at this place
miking themselves acquainted with the
natives, whose manners and customs
they very well described. I.cai in" a
tuv nnxmmi vi 111c
place, the expedition proceeded to sea
again, Dut tnc winds prevented their
keeping near the shore, and they did
not come in sight of land until they
had reached latitude 48 deg. 27 min.,
from which point they began to examine
the shore southward, looking for the
strait discovered by Fuea,
Fuca, in his report, had placed the
straits between 47 deg. and J.S derr..
which error misled his successors. Be
sides, the whole library of the Santiago
consisted of one chart, by a French
geographer, Bcllin, who must have
been gifted with second tlirht to have
known any thing about the coast and
V encgas' History of California. One
cannot help regretting that Heceta,
since he came so near the strait, should
not have found it. lie must have been
surprised as well as disappointed in the
result; and though it is not the business
of explorers to be governed Ivy charts
but to make them yet it is quite natu
ral 10 iook ior a tiling 111 the place
where it is said to be.
But missing the object of his search
was not the worst of his misfortunes.
The vessels hnd conic to anchor near
the land to take on fresh water, at a
place called Point Grenville on our
maps, Dut irom what happened there
named by Heceta Punta de Martires
Point of Martyrs. 1 laving sent seven
01 tne men ashore in the only boat be
longing to the smaller vessel, they were
immediately attacked and murdered;
after perpetrating which act of atrocity
the Indians surrounded the schooner in
canoes, and were with great difficulty
prevented from boarding her. A small
island near the anchorage was named
Isla de Dolores Isle of Sorrows and
a similar massacre occurring on the
mainland opposite, twelve years after
wards, when the crew of a ship from
Ostend were ashore, it was afterwards
known as Destruction Island.
Ileccta was disheartened by the loss
of seven of his men, the illness of
others, and also by the wretched con
dition of the schooner Sonora, com
manded by Bodega, and would hai e
returned at once to Mexico; but neither
Bodega nor Perca would consent with
out a further effort to attain the object
of the expedition, and tin- vesn-ls-wfir
put on a northerly course. Before they
had proceeded fnr, however, one of
those storms that seemed always to
rage on the North Pacific, separate. I
the vessels, and Heceta, glad perhaps
of an excuse, turned homeward. The
first land he made Was On the south
west coast of Vancouver' Island, hut
he failed to discover Port San Lorenzo,
otherwise Nootka Sound. Again he
came to the coast just below the Strait
of Fuca, without seeing it, although
looking for it.
But it is pleasant to record that, since
he had so many failures, he really was
the first navigator to notice the en
trance to the Columbia River. Re
turning along the shore toward the
south, when in latitude 47deg. 17 min.,
he arrived, on the 15th of August, op
posite an opening in the land from
which rushed a current so strong as to
prevent hi entering it. Although be
lieving it to be the mouth of some
great river, he thought it might, per
haps, be the Strait of Fuca; thcrefoic,
he waited another day in the vicinity
with the hope of making a survey of
the place, but not finding it possible to
enter, he reluctantly stood out to
sea again. Not quite satisfied of the
nature of the opening, Heceta called it
Assumption Inlet. He also called the
present Cape Disappointment, Cape
San Roaut a name that was some
times applied to the river, after it be
came pretty well fixed in the minds of
navigators that a great river actually
did enter the Pacific in this latitude. A
still more general name In use, was the
Great River of the West, under which
nnme the Columbia was known long
before its waters had been seen by any
discoverer. Still later, it was spoken
of as the Oregon but that was by
overland explorers rather than naviga
tors. The report of Heceta, preserved
in the Hydiographical office at Madrid,
reveals the poverty of the expedition,
and relieves the commander from the
suspicion of cowardice. He savs: "1
did not enter and anchor at this port,
which in my plan I suppose to be
formed by an island, notwithstanding
my strong desire to do so; because,
having consulted the second captain,
Don Juan Petwt, and the pilot, Don
Christora Revilla, they insisted that I
ought not to attempt it; as, if we let
go the anchor, we should not have men
enough to get it up, and to attend to the
other operations which would thereby
be rendered necessary. Considering
this, and also that in order to reach the
anchorage, 1 should be obliged to lower
my long boat, (the only boat I had) and
to man it with at least fourteen
of the crew, ns I could not manage
with fewer, and also that it was then
late In the day, I resolved to put outv
and at the distance of three or four
leagues, to lay to. I experienced heavy
currents to the southwest, which made
it impossible for me to enter the bay the
following morning, as 1 was far to the
leeward."
The heavy currents were the waters
of the Columbia pushing his vessel to
the southwest ; but as he hnd no con
ception of the extensive mountain
country by which so great a river could
be feil, their strength puzzled as much
as it biitlled him. On the charU sub
sequently published at Mexico, the
mouth of the Colmnhia was put down
as Htceta'i Inlet. Two weeks after
this discovery, Ileccta had arrived in a
Mexican port; but Perez and Bodega
proceeded up the coast as high as 50'
deg. of latitude, naming different points
on land now known as Prince of Wales
Island, and southward again, naming a
small bay on the California const, Bade
go's Ray, n name which it still retains.
They then proceeded homeward, hay
ing really accomplished nothing of im
portance. Nothing of importance ever
was accomplished by the Spanish navi
gators after the settlement of Califor
nia, though they still struggle to ninin
tain the dignity of the home govern
ment. While Bodega was In the Nurtliern
seas, he bethought him of a story that
had gained currency more than a cen
tury before, of an expedition that had'
stnrled out from Callao, in Peru, to
which reference lias already been made.
The story ran that Admiral Fonte, in
this pin -nil, had discovered a great river,
which he called Rio de los Reyes
River of the Kings in latitude 53 deg.
north; that he ascended this river to a
great lake, which, on account of its
beauty, he named Lake Belle. This
lake wus dotted with inlands of greut
loveliness, while its shores were inhab
ited by a kind and hospitable people.
A town named Conassct was situated
on the south shore of this lake, at which
place the admiral left his vessel, and
taking with him a number of his crew,
ascended a river which flowed into it,
called Parmentier, and which connected
with another lake to the eastward.
This latter lake he named Fonte, and
called the strait which led from that to
the Ocean on the east, the Strait of
Ranquillo, after one of his captains.
Oc arriving at the eastern end of the
strait, where the open sea was, (the
Atlantic of course) he was told by some
Indians that not far off lay a great ship,
which he boarded. The only persons