Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 12.djvu/277

 DOCUMENT Report on the Territory of Oregon {By Charles Wilkes, Commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 The Wilkes expedition was a world cruise. It was to demon- onstrate the safe sailing- routes and commercial opportunities open to American shipping on the high seas, that is, in those regions which would naturally be covered in passing from the eastern shores of this country, via Cape Horn, around the world. The islands of the Pacific were to be given special attention. In the long list of his instructions we find that he was to "direct course to the Northwest Coast of America, making such surveys and examinations, first of the territory of the United States on the seaboard, and on the Columbia river, and after- wards along the coast of California, with special reference to the Bay of San Francisco, as you can accomplish by the month of October following your arrival." But Lieutenant Wilkes' examination of the Oregon Country was altogether more extended and purposeful than these meagre instructions seemed to call for. The Puget Sound country was given a careful examination; a party was sent east across the mountains ; from Fort Vancouver another party was dispatched overland to California. Immediately following his departure from the Northwest Coast, he sent from Honolulu to the Navy Department, No- vember 24, 1841, a preliminary report on the Oregon Terri- tory, promising a complete statement of what his examination had revealed as soon as he returned to New York. His sense of responsibility in the matter was expressed in his first report as follows : "Having been well aware of the little information in possession of the Government relative to the northern sec- tion of this country [Oregon], including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with its extensive sounds and inlets, I thought it proper, from its vast importance in the settlement of the boundary