The table of latitudes given above will be of use in considering the various discoveries on the Oregon coast, and it will also indicate why it is impossible now to determine exactly what features each early explorer recorded since in some instances the headlands are not unlike and are near together. The matter of fog and low lying clouds must also be taken into account. For instance it seems incredible that Heceta could so accurately describe the mouth of the Columbia River, then miss Tillamook Head completely and hit upon Cape Falcon. Low lying clouds gathered over Tillamook Head might well account for this.
Cape Arago, Coos County. Cape Arago is the western point of a large headland just south of the mouth of Coos Bay. The northern point of this headland is Coos Head. It may have been discovered by Martin de Aguilar in 1603 and named Cape Blanco. See under Cape Blanco for a discussion of this matter. Captain James Cook sighted it on March 12, 1778, and named it Cape Gregory for the saint of that day. Since about 1850 this cape has been known as Cape Arago, and is officially so known by the U. S. Geographic Board. The compiler has been unable to ascertain why the name was changed.
Cape Blanco, Curry County. Cape Blanco is in north latitude 42° 50' 15" and is the most westerly point in Oregon, but not as some suppose, of continental United States. Blanco is a Spanish word meaning "white."
In 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino sailed from Acapulco at the head of an exploring expedition, and after one of his ships turned back at Monterey, Vizcaino in his ship and Martin de Aguilar in a fragata, quitted Monterey on January 3, 1603, sailing northward, but during a storm the two ships separated, and Vizcaino entered San Francisco Bay. After a few days he sailed up the coast alone, reaching a point that he named Cape San Sebastian on
