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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1887)
THE RIVER OF THE WEST. 100 er, though in his narrative he lays claim to a more extended journey westward. In 1776, in London, he published an al leged account uf his adventures, which has been proved to consist chiefly of ex tracts from the previous narratives of the French explorers and missionaries. In this account he calls the River of the West, the Oregon, the first use of that name ever made in literature. He does not claim to have seen the river, but to have received information in regard to it from the Indians. It was this name whose poetic sound, associated with the idea of an almost unknown wilderness of forest and mountain, gave Bryant in spiration for these lines in "Thanatop sis:" Take the winjra Of morning, the Ilarcan dwrt iierre, Or low thyself in the continuous wood Where roll the Oregon, ami hear no wound, Save liin own danhingH One year before Captain Carver pub lished his book, and thus added a new name to this River of the West, the mouth of the stream was observed by a Spanish navigator. On August 15th, 1775, Captain Bruno Heceta, command ing the Santiago, while returning along the coast from a voyage of exploration to the northward, noticed an opening in the land, from which flowed a stream of water with great force. He endeavored to enter, but the current baffled his ef forts for an entire day. He naturally supposed it to be the Rio de Aguilar, but as he could not enter sufficiently to prove that it was a river, he called it an inlet, and entered it on hi chart as the Ensenada de Asuncion. The point of land to the north he christened Cabo de San Roque, and that to the south Cabo de Frondoso. The next adventurous navigator to observe and attempt to en ter the Columbia, was Captain John Mearea, an Englishman engaged in the fur trade. In his teas!, the FeUc A d- rmturcr, he arrived off the mouth of the river on the sixth of July, 1788. After making several vain effort to ap proach tho shore, he concluded that the inlet was only a shallow lay, and named it Deception bay. He also changed the name of the promontory of Kan Roque, to Cape Disappointment, and entering on his journal tho conclusion that "there is no such river as that of Kt Roo exist as laid down on the Hjuntsh chart, he sailed away, disapjiointed. In 17W Captain Oeorgn Vancouver, in the i'jmviti, and Lieutenant W. R. Broughton, in the Chatham, appeared on the Oregon const, and after a vain search for tho River Aguilar, arrive! off the Columbia on April 27th, but after olwerving the entrance, came to the con clusion that it was but a tmy, into which one or more small rivers discharged their waters, and consequently, sailed away, deeming it unworthy his further attention. Two days later he fell in with the American ship ('alumina iV7. n'm, commanded by Captain Robert Gray, who told him that he was positive there was a great river discharging into Deception bay, as he hail endeavored for several days to enter it, and hail been prevented by tho forco of the current. Vancouver was still incredulous, and they separated. On May lllh, 17W, the Columbia cross! the lmr, and sailing U n miles up the stream, cast anchor in the broad estuary Mow Tongu point To the great river he thus proved to exiat, Oray gave the name of hi vesmd. He also bestowed the name Hancock um the cape previously called Han Roque by HeoU, and Disappointment by Captain Meare. Cape Frondoso he rwbriatened Point Adams. He remain! nine ilsys, during which time be sailed up th river twenty-five mile from the bar. On the nineteenth of the following October, Vancouver again appeared off th mouth of the river, provided with a rough map