Vancouver, Whistler & Vancouver Island - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 845

the southern parts of California and begun to explore the northern Pacific Coast in earn-
est. They were looking for the Northwest Passage, a fabled direct water route from the
Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. By 1774, Spanish frigates reached as far north as
the Queen Charlotte Islands, claiming the Northwest coast for the Spanish crown.
The British, not to be outdone, were also looking for the Northwest Passage. In 1778,
Captain James Cook explored the coast of present-day Oregon, Washington and British
Columbia, landing at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. With him was George Van-
couver, who in 1792 became the first European explorer to sail and chart the waters of
Puget Sound (and left quite a legacy - Fort Vancouver, Vancouver, BC, Vancouver Island
and Vancouver, WA, are all named after him). The Spanish attempted to build colonies
along the Northwest coast; however, European politics forced Spain to give up its North-
west claim to Britain in 1792.
The Americans entered the scene in 1792 when Captain Robert Gray spotted the
mouth of the Columbia River, where Astoria is today, through obscuring sandbars and
hazardous currents. He sailed up the great waterway, traded with the Native Americans
and named this great river the Columbia, in honor of his ship. The true importance of his
discovery would be realized later, when it supported US territorial claims to the area.
The daily logs of Lewis and Clark, as presented in Bernard DeVoto's carefully edited
Journals of Lewis and Clark, are full of wild adventures, misspellings and wonderful
candor.
Lewis & Clark
Like European explorers before them, Lewis and Clark came to the Pacific Northwest in
search of adventure - and the fabled Northwest Passage. It started in 1801, when US
president Thomas Jefferson enlisted his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, as leader
of an expedition to chart North America's western regions. The goal was to find a water-
way to the Pacific while exploring the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase and establish-
ing a foothold for American interests. Lewis, then 27, had no training for exploration but
couldn't resist this grand opportunity. He convinced his good friend, 33-year-old William
Clark, an experienced frontiersman and army veteran, to tag along. In 1804 the party left
St Louis, MO, heading west with an entourage of 40 adventurers.
The Corps of Discovery - the expedition's official name - fared relatively well, in part
because of the presence of Sacagawea. This young Shoshone woman had been sold to,
and become the wife of, Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper who was
part of the entourage. Sacagawea proved invaluable as a guide, translator and ambassad-