Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/183



XXI

On the twenty-second of December, 1836, the American brig Loriot from Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands, approached Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia. The vessel bore William A. Slacum, commissioned by the President of the United States to "obtain information in relation to the settlements on the Oregon River." "The wind was high from the westward," he says, "and the bar presented a terrific appearance, breaking entirely across the channel from the north to the south shoals." But the passage was attempted, the bar safely crossed and Slacum was within the confines of the Oregon country. After a stay of just a month and a day the Loriot was again descending the Columbia on her return voyage with the intention of going via California. Outward bound the vessel had on board, in addition to the people who had come in on her, Ewing Young with ten other Oregonians under his leadership who were setting out as representatives for the recently organized Willamette Cattle Company to secure an