Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/22



14 LIEUTENANT HOWISON REPORT ON OREGON, 1846

were immediately transferred and assumed their appropriate duties.

It will be seen by the foregoing sketch that although my visit to Oregon was most unexpectedly prolonged to six months, it had notwithstanding offered very limited opportunities of ex- tending personal researches throughout the country. The offi- cers, in compliance with my orders, have individually furnished me with a written report of all the information that each had acquired deemed worth communicating, and I take this occasion to express my obligations to them for the aid thus rendered me a service alike useful to me and performed in a manner highly creditable to themselves. From these and the result of my own inquiries and observations, I .am enabled to put you in possession of the following information, which, though it may be deemed in many points trite and unimportant, I will not apologize for, as my instructions required a full and minute report, which "for its very fullness would be the more accept- able. (Extract from Mr. Bancroft's letter of August 5, 1845.)

During the summer months, from April until October, the winds on the coast prevail almost uninterruptedly from the west, inclining northerly in the afternoon, and the other part of the year they are generally from SE., S., and SW. ; the nav- igator will therefore know what course to adopt in approaching the mouth of the river. He cannot fix the cape, even when many hundred miles distant, better than on an ENE. bearing. He will be almost sure of a fair wind, as it seldom Mows from northeast any distance off shore. Cape Disappointment is in latitude 46 19' N., longitude 124 W. It is between six and seven hundred feet high, and can be seen in clear weather 30 miles. It juts prominently out into the sea, is a bold headland, and, if the weather be such as to allow an approach within 15 miles of it, cannot possibly be mistaken by persons at all experienced in adjusting a line of coast with the chart south of the Columbia. Soundings are very deep close in shore, while to .the north of the river you will have from 15 to 20 fathoms