Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/468

 ary 16, 1854, by the Territorial Legislature. It comprised the northeastern part of Washington (Twality) County as it was after Clatsop County had been created. It was named for the Columbia River, its northern and eastern boundary, and St. Helens is its county seat. The land area of Columbia County is 662 square miles (Bureau of the Census).

, northern boundary of Oregon. This is one of the most abundantly used geographic names in America. Aside from the beauty of the word, its history reflects efforts to honor the achievements of Christopher Columbus. Its greatest use in the Pacific Northwest is as the name of the great river. Captain Robert Gray, in the American vessel Columbia, on May 11, 1792, at 8 A. M., sailed through the breakers and at 1 P. M. anchored in the river ten miles from its mouth. On May 19, Captain Gray gave his ship's name to the river. (United States Public Documents, Serial Number 351, House of Representative Documents 101). This was the American discovery and naming of the river. Prior to this, the river's existence had been suspected and other names had been suggested. In 1766-1767, Jonathan Carver, while exploring among the Indians of Minnesota, wrote about a great river of the west and called it "Oregon," a word which he may have stolen. On August 17, 1775, Bruno Heceta, Spanish explorer, noted the indications of a river there. He called the entrance Bahia de la Asuncion, the northern cape San Roque and the southern point Cape Frondoso. Later Spanish charts showed the entrance as En señda de Heceta" and the surmised river as San Roque. In 1778, John Meares, English explorer and fur trader, sought for and denied the existence of the Spanish river Saint Roc. He called the Spaniard's San Roque Cape Disappointment and the entrance he changed from Bahia de la Asuncion or Enseñada de Heceta to Deception Bay. That was the situation when Captain Gray made his dis-