The Forgotten Navigator of the Pacific Northwest
A call to honor Captain Robert Gray, the man whose discovery of the Columbia River and Grays Harbor secured the region for the United States.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Now that the names of the Columbia River and Grays Harbor are of world-wide notoriety, it is but proper for us, who are enjoying the results of the discoveries of the old navigator, to pay a passing tribute to the memory of the merchant-captain whose bold and adventurous voyages on the north-west coast resulted in the discovery of the Columbia river and Grays Harbor. In 1787, a company of Boston merchants fitted out the ship Columbia and the sloop Washington, placing the latter under the command of Robert Gray. On the 11th day of May, 1792, Gray crossed the bar and entered the noble river, giving it the name of his ship. Four days prior, he had discovered and entered Grays Harbor. While neither Congress nor the nation have seen proper to place the name of Robert Gray in the niche of fame, it seems appropriate that the people of Oregon and Washington Territory should contribute towards erecting a suitable monument. What could be more appropriate than a tall shaft, erected on the summit of the beautiful green hill at the mouth of the Columbia river, known as Scarborough Head?
“It seems to me to be both right and appropriate that the people of Oregon and Washington Territory should contribute towards erecting some suitable monument that will show the world that we at least are desirous to make such honorable mention of his name.”
Today, Captain Gray is remembered primarily through place names, but this 1861 call for a monument highlights how early settlers were actively constructing the region's origin myth. The debate over who 'discovered' the river remains central to understanding the colonial history of the Pacific Northwest and the displacement of Indigenous nations who had lived on those banks for millennia.
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