Chronological Events - 1543 to 1850

1543

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

1565

Manila Galleon trade route opens across North Pacific

1579

Sir Francis Drake allegedly visits Whale Cove

1603

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

1700

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

1707

San Francisco Xavier probably wrecks at Nehalem

1738

Pierre Gaultier de la Verendrye leads first expedition into Oregon

1765 

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

1774

Capt. Juan Perez sails to Northwest Coast for Spain

1775

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

1775-1780

First smallpox outbreak among Oregon’s indigenous people

1778

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

1788

Capt. Robert Gray trades with tribes in Tillamook Bay

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

1792

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 

1801-1802

Second smallpox outbreak among Oregon’s Tribes

1803

Louisiana Purchase extends United States to Rocky Mountains

1804

President Thomas Jefferson dispatches Lewis & Clark Expedition

1805

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

1806

Lewis & Clark Expedition returns to the United States

1811

John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company establishes Fort Astoria

1812

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

1813

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

1814

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

1817

William Cullen Bryant refers to "Oregon" in poem Thanatopsis

1818

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

1819

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

1821

Hudson's Bay Company subsumes North West Company

1824

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

1825

Workmen build Fort Vancouver on Columbia River

1827

First sawmill begins cutting lumber near Fort Vancouver

1828

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

1829

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

1830

Fever pandemic begins calamitous death toll of tribes

1832

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

1833

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

1834

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

1836

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

1838

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

1839

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

1841

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

1842

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

1843

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

1844

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"

1845

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

1846

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

1847

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

1848

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

1849

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

1850

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

1851 to 1900