Once across the bar, he saw the mouth of a magnificent river of fresh
water. He had found the River of the West.
Gray describes the memorable event in these simple {237} words: "May
11th . . . at four A.M. saw the entrance of our desired port bearing
east-southeast, distance six leagues . . . at eight A.M. being a little
to windward of the entrance of the harbor, bore away, and ran in
east-southeast between the breakers. . . . When we were over the bar,
we found this to be a large river of fresh water, up which we steered.
Many canoes came alongside. At one P.M. came to (anchor). . . ."
[Illustration: A View of the Columbia River.]
By the 14th, Gray had ascended the river twenty or thirty miles from
the sea, but was compelled to turn, as he had taken a shallow channel.
Dropping down with the tide, he anchored on the 19th and went ashore,
where he planted coins under a tree, took {238} possession in the name
of the United States, and named the river "Columbia." On the 20th, he
crossed the bar and was out again on the Pacific. The most of men
would have rested, satisfied with half he had done.
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