portion of America by land. This was looked. upon as visionary, but in 1766 Carver undertook an exploring expedition in which he followed the Minnesota River for some two hundred miles. The interest of this journey to us lies in the fact that Carver heard much from the Indians regarding the "Shining Mountains," as the Rocky Mountains were termed, and that he learned of the Oregon, or "River of the West," which is now the Columbia. It occurred to him that by ascending the Missouri it might be possible to cross to the head waters of the Columbia. But official indifference prevented the attempt. This idea was carried out nearly forty years afterward by Lewis and Clark. Twenty-five years later a Scotchman, Alexander Mackenzie, crossed the continent to the Pacific, but his route lay farther north, through what is now Manitoba and British Columbia.

On the Pacific coast the Spaniards held California, but they knew little of the Northwest. This was reached by the famous explorer, Captain Cook, who visited Alaska in

1778. Vancouver, another English explorer, sailed by the mouth of the Columbia without entering it; this was left for American enterprise. In 1787 some Boston merchants sent Captain Robert Gray in the sloop Washington and Captain John Kendrick in the ship Columbia around Cape Horn to the northwest coast to trade for furs, which were to be exchanged for silk and tea in China. So far as Gray was concerned the journey was successful, and after exchanging ships with Kendrick, Gray returned by way of China in the Columbia, which was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe under the American flag. On this first voyage Gray nearly lost his ship on the bar of an unknown stream, probably the Columbia. On his second voyage, in 1792, he entered and named the great river. His discovery was earlier than that of Vancouver and formed the basis of the subsequent claim to Oregon urged by the United States against Great Britain. Gray was followed by other

1 H. H. Bancroft argues for the discovery of the Columbia by Heceta in 1775, but Gray's discovery is generally

traders, and in a few years a regular trading post was established near the mouth of the Columbia.

While a knowledge of these northwestern explorations is desirable, it should be understood that Oregon, as the northwest beyond the Rocky Mountains was called, was not included in the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase extended only to the Rocky Mountains, but, as it was important to find a way across and to explore the Columbia to the sea, the task of finding a route to the Pacific was included in the instructions to Lewis and Clark.

accepted. The rival claims of Gray and Vancouver and their relation to the Oregon question are not essential here.

CHAPTER IV

THE AMERICAN WESTWARD MOVEMENT

Advancing beyond the Alleghenies. Settlement rather than exploration or exploitation. Experiences of the pioneers. Their way to the sea blocked by Spanish control of the mouth of the Mississippi. How the Spaniards ruled New Orleans.

After the long periods of desultory Spanish exploration, of French trading expeditions and attempts at military and commercial occupation which have been sketched in the preceding chapters, the history of Louisiana shows the influence of Americans bent upon actual settlement of the country to the westward of the Alleghenies.' The downfall of

1 McMaster's "History of the People of the United States," Vol. II, and Roosevelt's "Winning of the West" give picturesque accounts of the pioneers and the significance of their movement. Hinsdale's "The Old Northwest," Winsor's "The Mississippi Basin (1697-1763)" and "The Westward Movement (1763–1798)" may be consulted with profit.

French power on this continent brought the beginning of another era in the history of Louisiana. But the operation of the forces represented in the American westward pressure was delayed, first by the Revolution, and then by the fierce opposition of the southwestern and north

western Indian tribes

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK

who fought to hold the Middle West. In spite of all obstacles the way was opened by the rifles of the soldiers and frontiersmen who followed George Rogers Clark, Anthony Wayne, and other leaders in

Close behind them

the winning of the West. came a swelling tide of migration across the Alleghenies. The sound of the axes and rifles of the American pioneers along the eastern tributaries of the Mississippi marked the opening of a new epoch in the history of the West.