1543

Bartolome Ferrelo sails north as far as the southwest coast of Oregon

Manila Galleon trade route opens across North Pacific

Sir Francis Drake allegedly visits Whale Cove​

Martin d-Aguilar sails along the Pacific Coast, sighting and naming Cape Blanco, reaching Coos Bay, and possibly sighting the Columbia River

According to Indigenous oral history and scientific evidence, a large earthquake in the Cascadia Zone triggers a tsunami, destroying Native villages on the coast​

San Francisco Xavier probably wrecks at Nehalem

Pierre Gaultier de la Verendrye leads first expedition into Oregon

First use of word "Ouragon" in Maj. Robert Rogers' petition to explore American West

Capt. Juan Perez sails to Northwest Coast for Spain​

Capt. Bruno Hezeta sees mouth of Columbia and names it Rio San Roque​

First smallpox outbreak among Oregon’s indigenous people

Capt. James Cook makes landfall at Cape Foulweather and discovers fur wealth of Northwest Coast

Capt. Robert Gray trades with tribes in Tillamook Bay

Marius Lopius, African traveling with Gray, probably killed at Tillamook

Capt. Robert Gray enters and names the Columbia River; Capt. George Vancouver expedition charts Columbia estuary; Lt. William E. Broughton names Mount Hood after British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood

Second smallpox outbreak among Oregon’s Tribes

Louisiana Purchase extends United States to Rocky Mountains

President Thomas Jefferson dispatches Lewis & Clark Expedition

Lewis & Clark Expedition explores lower Snake and Columbia Rivers and establishes Fort Clatsop

Lewis & Clark Expedition returns to the United States

John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company establishes Fort Astoria

Overland Astorians discover South Pass in Wyoming, later route of Oregon Trail

North West Company, a British enterprise, purchases Fort Astoria and names it Fort George​

First white woman to arrive in Oregon County, Jane Barnes, arrives at Fort George on North West Company’s ship; First domestic livestock imported by sea from California​

William Cullen Bryant refers to "Oregon" in poem Thanatopsis

North West Company establishes Fort Nez Perce; James Biddle and John Prevost assert U.S. interests in Oregon; U.S. and Great Britain agree to "joint occupancy"​ of Oregon

Adams-Onis Treaty cedes Spain's discovery rights north of 42 degrees to the U. S.

Hudson's Bay Company subsumes North West Company

U.S. and Russia agree to 50 degrees latitude as southern boundary of Russian interests; Dr. John McLoughlin begins long tenure as Chief Factor for Hudson’s Bay Company

Workmen build Fort Vancouver on Columbia River

First sawmill begins cutting lumber near Fort Vancouver

Jedediah Smith’s party travels overland from California; First grist mill starts making flour at Fort Vancouver​

Dr. John McLoughlin establishes claim at Willamette Falls near a preexisting Indigenous village which later becomes Oregon City

Fever pandemic begins calamitous death toll of tribes

Newspapers report four Indians from Pacific Northwest in St. Louis seeking missionaries; Capt. B. L. E. Bonneville arrives overland to trap and trade for furs on Columbia Plateau; Hudson’s Bay Company establishes Fort Umpqua at Elkton

First school opens at Fort Vancouver; First lumber exports by Hudson’s Bay Company to China​

Minister Jason Lee establishes Methodist Mission near Wheatland with the goal of converting Indigenous people to Christianity

First steamship Beaver begins service for Hudson’s Bay Company on the Columbia River; Lt. William Slacum mounts reconnaissance of western Oregon; Whitman-Spalding mission party arrives overland via Oregon Trail; Washington Irving publishes Astoria

Willamette Cattle Company drives livestock overland from California; Priests Blanchet and Demers arrive overland from Canada and celebrate first Catholic mass in the Pacific Northwest

Catholics establish mission at St. Paul; First printing press in the Northwest brought to Lapwai (now Idaho) from Honolulu and used to print a Nez Perce primer, the first book produced in the Pacific Northwest

Ewing Young’s death leads to public meetings; First Catholic boys’ school founded at Saint Paul; First ship, Star of Oregon, built by settlers

Methodist missionaries found the Oregon Institute in Salem, a predecessor to Willamette University; First brick building (a house) erected by George Gay in Polk County

First large migration of over 900 immigrants arrives via Oregon Trail; Lt. John C. Fremont mounts reconnaissance of Oregon Trail; “Wolf Meetings” lead to Provisional Government; Oregonians submit petition to Senate seeking U.S. jurisdiction​

First town plat surveyed at Oregon City; First Catholic girls’ school founded at Saint Paul; Acts to prohibit slavery and exclude Black and mulatto people from the Oregon Territory were passed and the "Lash Law" enacted requiring Black residents, "be they free or slave - be whipped twice a year until he or she shall quit the territory"

Meek Cutoff opens as alleged short cut to Oregon Trail; Estimated 3,000 overland immigrants arrive; Oregonians petition Congress for federal services; First Provisional governor, George Abernethy, elected; Francis Pettygrove and A. L. Lovejoy name Portland and commence plat of city

Barlow Road opens as toll route; Applegate Trail, alternative to Oregon Trail, opens; Oregon Treaty affirms U.S. sovereignty to Pacific Northwest; First newspaper on the west coast, Oregon Spectator​, founded in Oregon City

First Indian war, the Cayuse War begins at Waiilatpu (also known as the Witman Massacre); First postmaster, John Shively, named at Astoria; First English book, a Blue Back Speller, printed in Oregon City

Joseph Meek carries petition east seeking federal "patronage"; Organic Act creates Oregon Territory; James Marshall discovers gold in California; First U.S. Customs Service office opens in Astoria

First territorial governor, Joseph Lane, assumes duties; First Mounted Riflemen of U.S. Army arrive overland; First “Beaver” gold coins minted in Oregon City

Congress passes Oregon Donation Land Act; First capital punishment—five Cayuse men are hanged in Oregon City; Investors start printing The Oregonian​ in Portland