Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/389

 of Upper Klamath Lake, and is fed by streams from the east side of Aspen Butte. These features and others so named in the state are distinguished by the presence of that beautiful tree, the quaking aspen, or populus tremuloides.

In his History of the American Fur Trade, General H. M. Chittenden says: "Another species of the genus populus was the populus tremuloides, the quaking asp, or the tremble of the French. The superstitious voyageurs thought this was the wood of which the Cross was made and that ever since the crucifixion its leaves have exhibited that constant tremulous appearance which has given rise to the name. The wood of the quaking asp was preferred by the trappers as a fuel for cooking, because it had little odor and did not taint the meat."

, Clatsop County. The name Astoria is full of historic significance, for about it is woven the story of the discovery, exploration and development of the great Oregon country. It was here that Captain Robert Gray discovered the mouth of the Columbia River and gave to the United States its claim to the title of the territory. It was here that Lewis and Clark passed the winter of 1805-6 and it was here that the first commercial settlement of Americans was made on the Pacific Coast in 1811. This settlement was the direct result of the organizing of the Pacific Fur Company in 1810 by John Jacob Astor of New York, and it was fitting that his name should be given to the company's initial enterprise.

John Jacob Astor was born in Germany in 1763, and after four years in London, came to New York when he was 20. By his energy and industry he grew to be a leading figure in the commercial life of the city, where he died on March 29, 1848, leaving a large fortune, part of which founded the Astor Library. The bibliography of John Jacob Astor's relations with Oregon is unusually large. Washington Irving's Astoria strays from the