of Christopher Columbus. Its greatest use in the Pacific Northwest is as the name of the great river. Captain Robert Gray, in the American vessel Columbia, on May 11, 1792, at 8 a, m. sailed through the breakers and at 1 p. m. anchored in the river ten miles from its mouth. On May 19, Gray gave his ship's name to the river. (United States Public Documents, Serial Number 351, House of Representatives Documents 101.) This was the American discovery and naming of the river. Prior to this, the river's existence had been suspected and other names had been suggested. In 1766-1767, Jonathan Carver, while exploring among the Indians of Minnesota, wrote about a great river of the West and called it Oregon, a word which he may have stolen. On August 17, 1775, Bruno Heceta, Spanish explorer, noted the indications of a river there. He called the entrance Bahia de la Asuncion, the northern point Cabo San Roque and the southern point Cabo Frondoso. Later Spanish charts showed the entrance as Ensenada de Heceta and the surmised river as San Roque. In 1788 John Meares, English explorer and fur trader, sought for and denied the existence of the Spanish river Saint Roc. He called the Spaniard's San Roque Cape Disappointment and the entrance he changed from Bahia de la Asuncion or Ensenada de Heceta to Deception Bay. That was the situation when Captain Gray made his discovery. In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie, of the North West Company of Montreal, made his memorable journey to the western coast. He came upon a large river which he said the Indians called Tacootche-Tesse. This afterwards turned out to be Fraser River, but for a time it was confused with the Columbia. Captain Meriwether Lewis mapped it as a northern branch of the Columbia, spelling it Tacoutche. William Cullen Bryant in his great poem Thanatopsis, 1817, revived and gave wide circulation to Oregon as the name of the river. Another literary name was Great River of the West, which, of course, did not disturb Columbia as a geographic term. Oregon Historical Quarterly, volume XXII, December, 1921, contains the "Log of the Columbia" by John Boit. This furnishes many interesting details of the discovery of the mouth of the Columbia River by one who was there at the time. The first examination of the Columbia River for the U. S. Coast Survey was made in 1850 by Lieut.-Commanding Wm. P. McArthur, U. S. N. For account of this survey and McArthur's comments on the Columbia River see OHQ, volume XVI, No. 3, September, 1915, which contains an article by Lewis A. McArthur. This article, among other things, contains the first hydrographic notice ever published by the Coast Survey for the Pacific Coast. It is entitled No. 3 Columbia River, Oregon, and gives sailing directions for entering the Columbia River as far as the harbor at Astoria by Lieut.-Commanding Wm. P. McArthur, U. S. N., assistant in the Coast Survey.
Corvin CREEK, Morrow and Wheeler counties. This stream heads in the extreme northeast of Wheeler County and flows northeast into Morrow County, where it joins Porter Creek. Its waters eventually find their way into North Fork John Day River. Colvin Creek bears the name of John Colvin, who had a homestead on the stream about a half mile east of what is now the Heppner-Spray Highway and about 18 miles south of Hardman. The spelling Colivin is wrong.
COMBS FLAT, Crook County. On October 18, 1947, Remey Cox of Prineville wrote as follows: "Combs Flat is a benchland area embracing most of sections 13 and 36, township 15 south, range 17 east. It was ema we SC
