Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/261

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Of all the centennial anniversaries of events occurring more than one century ago that have so thickly strewn the lives of the present generation, the one at which we are gathered possesses the unique distinction of celebrating the first contribution of the United States Government to the great work of exploring the surface of the earth, which was initiated in systematic form by Prince Henry of Portugal, almost five hundred years ago. Not only was the Lewis and Clark expedition the first that our government undertook, but it has retained a place higher in popular interest than its successors in the interior, like those of Pike and Long, or upon the ocean, like that of Wilkes.

Even more singular than this distinction of the Lewis and Clark celebration is the fact that in successive years should come the anniversaries of the acquisition of Louisiana and the exploration of the Oregon Country, one the greatest stroke of fortune in our history, the other, the execution of a long-considered project of Thomas Jefferson designed to open up the way for transcontinental commerce and to extend human knowledge. To what other president in our history has it been granted to bring to completion two such momentous achievements whose centennial anniversaries have been or will be celebrated with truly national interest and meaning? Of these two transactions the acquisition of the western half of the Mississippi Valley looms largest in our national history; but it redounds less to the credit of Jefferson than this great plan, so early framed and so promptly executed, when he