First Across the Continent | Page 2

the next winter at
Owyhee, where, in February of the following year, he was killed by the
natives.
All these explorers were looking for chances for fur-trading, which was
at that time the chief industry of the Pacific coast. Curiously enough,
they all passed by the mouth of the Columbia without observing that
there was the entrance to one of the finest rivers on the American
continent.

Indeed, Captain Vancouver, a British explorer, who has left his name
on the most important island of the North Pacific coast, baffled by the
deceptive appearances of the two capes that guard the way to a noble
stream (Cape Disappointment and Cape Deception), passed them
without a thought. But Captain Gray, sailing the good ship "Columbia,"
of Boston, who coasted those shores for more than two years, fully
convinced that a strong current which he observed off those capes came
from a river, made a determined effort; and on the 11th of May, 1792,
he discovered and entered the great river that now bears the name of his
ship. At last the key that was to open the mountain fastnesses of the
heart of the continent had been found. The names of the capes
christened by Vancouver and re-christened by Captain Gray have
disappeared from our maps, but in the words of one of the numerous
editors(1) of the narrative of the exploring expedition of Lewis and
Clark: "The name of the good ship 'Columbia,' it is not hard to believe,
will flow with the waters of the bold river as long as grass grows or
water runs in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains."
(1) Dr. Archibald McVickar.
It appears that the attention of President Jefferson had been early
attracted to the vast, unexplored domain which his wise foresight was
finally to add to the territory of the United States. While he was living
in Paris, as the representative of the United States, in 1785-89, he made
the acquaintance of John Ledyard, of Connecticut, the well-known
explorer, who had then in mind a scheme for the establishment of a
fur-trading post on the western coast of America. Mr. Jefferson
proposed to Ledyard that the most feasible route to the coveted
fur-bearing lands would be through the Russian possessions and
downward somewhere near to the latitude of the then unknown sources
of the Missouri River, entering the United States by that route. This
scheme fell through on account of the obstacles thrown in Ledyard's
way by the Russian Government. A few years later, in 1792, Jefferson,
whose mind was apparently fixed on carrying out his project, proposed
to the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia that a
subscription should be opened for the purpose of raising money "to
engage some competent person to explore that region in the opposite

direction (from the Pacific coast),--that is, by ascending the Missouri,
crossing the Stony (Rocky) Mountains, and descending the nearest
river to the Pacific." This was the hint from which originated the
famous expedition of Lewis and Clark.
But the story-teller should not forget to mention that hardy and
adventurous explorer, Jonathan Carver. This man, the son of a British
officer, set out from Boston, in 1766, to explore the wilderness north of
Albany and lying along the southern shore of the Great Lakes. He was
absent two years and seven months, and in that time he collected a vast
amount of useful and strange information, besides learning the
language of the Indians among whom he lived. He conceived the bold
plan of travelling up a branch of the Missouri (or "Messorie"), till,
having discovered the source of the traditional "Oregon, or River of the
West," on the western side of the lands that divide the continent, "he
would have sailed down that river to the place where it is said to empty
itself, near the Straits of Anian."
By the Straits of Anian, we are to suppose, were meant some part of
Behring's Straits, separating Asia from the American continent.
Carver's fertile imagination, stimulated by what he knew of the remote
Northwest, pictured that wild region where, according to a modern poet,
"rolls the Oregon and hears no sound save his own dashing." But
Carver died without the sight; in his later years, he said of those who
should follow his lead: "While their spirits are elated by their success,
perhaps they may bestow some commendations and blessings on the
person who first pointed out to them the way."
Chapter II
-- Beginning a Long Journey
In 1803, availing himself of a plausible pretext to send out an exploring
expedition, President Jefferson asked Congress to appropriate a small
sum of money ($2,500) for the execution of his purpose. At that time
the cession of the Louisiana Territory had not been completed; but
matters were in train to