Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/11



LIEUTENANT HOWISON REPORT ON OREGON, 1846 3

30th CONGRESS, [HOUSE OF REPS.] MISCELLANEOUS 1st Session. No. 29.

OREGON.

REPORT

OF

LIEUT. NEIL M. HOWISON, UNITED STATES NAVY,

TO THE COMMANDER OF THE PACIFIC SQUADRON J BEING

The result of cm examination in the year 1846 of the coast, har- bors, rivers, soil, productions, climate and pop- ulation of the Territory of Oregon.

FEBRUARY 29, 1848.

U. S. FRIGATE SAVANNAH, San Francisco, California, February 1, 1847.

SIR : Want of opportunity has prevented me from commu- nicating with the commander-in-chief of the squadron since the month of June last.

I shall therefore do myself the honor on this occasion to report in detail my proceedings since that date, premising that the much regretted shipwreck of the vessel I commanded, with the loss of her log-book and all my papers, obliges me to draw upon memory for what is now respectfully submitted.

In obedience to orders from Commodore Sloat, then com- manding the Pacific squadron, I took the United States schooner "Shark" last April to the Sandwich islands, where she was thoroughly repaired and newly coppered. With my best exertions, this was not completed until the 23d of June, on the afternoon of which day I sailed for the Columbia river. Noth- ing more than usual occurred on this voyage. Made the land of Oregon on the 15th of July, about thirty miles north of the