5
The First Description of Mt. Hood
By Lieutenant William Robert Broughton
On the morning of October 29, 1792, Lieutenant William Robert Broughton left the Chatham at anchor in the mouth of the Columbia and in a small craft sailed over a hundred miles up the stream, to about the present site of Washougal. To the east and high above the Cascades, Mt. Hood was first seen by Broughton. His description, the earliest ever to be made of Oregon's famous mountain, was preserved by Captain Vancouver in his Journal of this voyage.
A very distant high snowy mountain now appeared rising beautifully conspicuous in the midst of an extensive tract of low, or moderately elevated land, lying S. 67 E. and seemed to announce a termination of the river.
The next day the Lieutenant again sighted the mountain and further described it:
The same remarkable mountain that had been seen from Belle Vue point, again presented itself, bearing at this station S. 67 E.; and though the party were now nearer to it by seven leagues, yet its lofty summit was scarcely more distinct across the intervening land which was more than moderately elevated. Mr. Broughton honored it with Lord Hood's name; its appearance was magnificent; and it was clothed with snow from its summit, as low down as the high land, by which it was intercepted, rendered it visible.
6
"Multnomah River"
By Captain William Clark
Of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark we all know. The story of their adventure has been characterized as "our national epic of exploration." Certainly none other was ever so checked and double-checked by journals, records, diaries, notes and memoranda en route. It was about the most literary-flavored party that ever set forth to reveal an unknown land. If it had failed, the wise ones
