Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/363



JONATHAN CARVER AND THE NAME OREGON 351

Carver alone among all who explored, traveled, traded or baptised along the Mississippi River prior to and later than his time?

Very little attempt has been made to trace the name Oregon to a French source, but it is possible that, through continuous contact with French traders, the Indians could have said some- thing about the river which was passed along or interpreted in the tongue of a Frenchman or French-Canadian.

This theory is not new on the Pacific Coast, but was men- tioned by one of the editorial writings of the late Harvey Scott of Portland, Oregon, thus : "We believe it probable that the name Oregon arose out of some circumstances connected with the Western explorations of the French. Earlier than the English the French had pressed on westward from the Great Lakes to the Red River, to the Saskatchewan and to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. They were ranging the country of the Upper Mississippi in search of furs and for trade with the natives ; they were full of curiosity and active in inquiry about the great distant West and the unknown Western sea. Of this sea they possessed Spanish charts, and probably used among the natives the word Aragon as a homonym (synonym) for Spain." 11 This would really apply to either French or Spanish origin for the name.

One of the picturesque features of the fur trade, in Old Oregon, was the annual rendezvous of the trappers and traders and Indians in the valley of Green River in western Wyoming. During the period under discussion, similar scenes were an- nually enacted at Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin, where Captain Carver visited in May, 1767. He thus describes the place: "This town is the great mart, where all the adjacent tribes, and even those who inhabit the most remote branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble, about the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs to dispose of to the traders. But it is not always that they conclude their sale here; this is determined by a general council of the chiefs, who consult whether it would be more conducive to their interest to sell

ii The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, May 19, 1892.