Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/105

Rh and Dixon made explorations about Cook's River, Nootka Sound, and Prince Williams' Sound for the King George's Sound Company in 1785-7. Dixon claimed to have discovered the region between 54° and 52° on the ground that it had not been seen by Cook, and he called the land he found Queen Charlotte's Island, although he did not prove the truth of his suspicions that this was not a portion of the mainland. Captain Meares wintered in 1786-7 at Prince William's Sound. Duncan and Colnett in 1787 explored about Queen Charlotte's Island and demonstrated the truth of Dixon's assumption. Berkley, as commander of the Austrian East India Company's vessel, discovered the Strait of San Juan de Fuca in 1787. In 1787-8 Captain Meares, in the employ of a Portuguese merchant, made his headquarters at Nootka, making expeditions from there, especially to try to find the great river said by the Spanish to be at about 46 N. L. He failed to do this and maintained that there was no such stream.

FRENCH EXPLORATIONS.

In 1786 La Perouse received elaborate instructions from the French government, by which he was commissioned, among other things, to explore the Northwest Coast of America. All he did, however, was to spend a short time in the neighborhood of Mt. Fairweather, whence he sailed for Monterey.

The year 1790 marks an important episode in the affairs of the Northwest Coast. By this time no nation and certainly no trader gave serious attention to the Spanish claim to exclusive rights along the entire litoral of the Pacific. English, American and Russian adventurers were drawn by the lucrative fur trade, and merchants of other nations were looking that way. Yet the Spanish government was unwilling to forego its pretensions; the Spanish commandant at the Island of Juan Fernandez was cashiered for allowing the American ship Columbia, Captain Kendrick, to leave after having put in for repairs ; the expedition of Martinez and Haro was sent particularly to