[88] Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) entered the navy as a midshipman (1818). He rose to a lieutenancy, and in 1838 was placed in charge of an expedition composed of five vessels dispatched to explore Southern seas. After visiting the Pacific islands, the squadron (1841) explored the Northwest Coast, Wilkes personally visiting the Columbia and Willamette. Appointed to the rank of captain (1835), Wilkes was commander of the vessel that in the War of Secession stopped the steamer “Trent,” and took therefrom the Confederate envoys Mason and Slidell. During the remainder of the war he was in charge of the West India squadron. Retiring in 1864, two years later he attained the rank of rear-admiral. The report of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition was not published until 1845, when five volumes were issued; later, other editions brought the number up to eighteen. In 1842, however, a Synopsis of the Cruise of the United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838, ’39, ’40, ’41 and ’42 was published at Washington. From this version Farnham evidently made his extracts.—Ed.
[89] What are now known as the Olympic Mountains, in northwest Washington. The term “Claset” was first employed by Vancouver (1792), who bestowed upon what Cook had called Cape Flattery, the name Point Classet, from an adjacent Indian village of that name; see George Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery (London, 1801), ii, pp. 46-48.—Ed.
[90] By the Klameth (Klamath) is intended the present Siskiyou Mountains, which branch off from Sierra Nevada toward the coast in about latitude 42°, the boundary between California and Oregon. The country between the Rockies and California had not then been explored, but there was an erroneous idea of a transverse chain of mountains which was confused with the Sierra Nevada; see our volume xxviii, p. 305, note 182.—Ed.
[91] Vancouver Island was long supposed to be a portion of the mainland. Its insularity was not proved until 1792, when both Vancouver and the Spanish ships circumnavigated it. At the request of the Spanish envoy, it received the name Quadra and Vancouver Island (see Vancouver, Voyage, ii, p. 357); but the length of the appellation has caused the first part to be dropped. See our volume xxviii, p. 33, note 10.
Queen Charlotte Islands (now proved to be two) were first visited by the Spaniards in 1774. Dixon, an English navigator, named the group in 1787, giving his own name to the channel north of the island. The Americans, in ignorance of Dixon’s prior discovery, named the island for Washington (1789); see our volume xxviii, p. 38, note 16.—Ed.
[92] Johnstone Straits, named for one of Vancouver’s lieutenants who first discovered the passage thence to Queen Charlotte Sound, are on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, separating it from the mainland.—Ed.
[93] Gonsalez Lopez de Haro was pilot of two expeditions dispatched by the Spaniards (1788, 1789) to watch their interests on the Northwest Coast. An expedition of discovery passing from Juan de Fuca Straits into the Gulf of Georgia (1790), gave to the channel the name of Lopez de Haro. This appears on Vancouver’s map as “Canal de Arro.” During the boundary dispute (1858) between the United States and British Columbia concerning the islands at the entrance of Juan de Fuca Straits, the Canal de Haro acquired much prominence as a limit to the United States claim. The matter was submitted to the decision of the German emperor, who gave the award in favor of the United States (1872), hence Canal de Haro became an international boundary.—Ed.
[94] The three largest islands off the mainland east of Hecata Strait and Queen Charlotte are Princess Royal, Pitt, and Banks.—Ed.
[95] The fort upon Vancouver Island was founded at its southern extremity—not at Nootka, or at Clayoquot Sound just below. Built in 1843, the aboriginal name Camosun was soon changed to Victoria, in honor of the British sovereign. When Oregon passed to the United States, Victoria became the presumptive capital of British territory, and thither James Douglas, chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, removed. In 1849 the island of Vancouver was ceded to the fur company on condition that a colony of British subjects be established thereon. Accordingly Victoria was platted in 1851, and two years later had a population of three hundred. The place was incorporated in 1862, and is now the capital of British Columbia. It is a substantially built town, picturesquely situated by the seashore, and possesses a mild climate.—Ed.
[96] Probably Athabasca Pass, for which see ante, p. 30, note 23. McGillivray’s Portage is the route less than two miles in length between the headwaters of Kootenai River and those of the Columbia. See De Smet’s Oregon Missions, post, p. 209, note 109.—Ed.