of 1621 in such log huts as could be hurriedly erected for their protection. About one hundred and fifty years after that event, one, Jonathan Carver, a collateral descendant of Governor Carver, wintered in a log hut not far distant from where the cities Saint Paul and Minneapolis now stand, with only an Iroquois Indian and French-Canadian voyageur as companions. He established friendly relations with the Sioux Indians then residing in that vicinity, and, eleven years later, in London in 1778, published a book in which are recorded his observations and experiences that winter and during the months immediately preceding and following, when he was traveling on the Mississippi River and its tributaries and on Lake Superior. In that book appears the first known record of the word Oregon,[1] as a name then applied to the river already called "River of the West" but afterwards officially designated Columbia. Thus, before the maritime discoveries of Perez, Heceta or Cuadra, of Cook or Vancouver and of Kendrick or Gray, and before the overland explorations of Mackenzie, David Thompson or Lewis and Clark, the name Oregon was spoken.
One important but undetermined item in the history of the Pacific Northwest relates to the origin of this name Oregon, as communicated by Jonathan Carver in his book, and presumably as set down by him in a journal in that winter of 1766-67. Did he hear this word while among the Indians of Minnesota? Did he see the name or something like it on some map or in the writings of some other person? Did he invent or coin it in his own mind when writing the book? These questions may never be positively answered, but a knowledge of the career of Jonathan Carver and of the conditions existing when he made his journey and was writing his book will assist in the forming of an individual opinion and a final answer may be in sight.
The history of the "Oregon Country" connects itself with that of the state of Missouri by the meanderings of the Oregon Trail, over which so many of the pioneer families of Oregon traveled with patience, fortitude and endurance. But in searching for the name Oregon, the path leads to the states of
Minnesota and Wisconsin and the scenes of Carver's travels There an answer to the first question must be sought- for if the name Oregon or something similar to it, was a spoken word among the Indians or the traders with whom Carver mingled, there is where he heard and made note of it, this whether its ultimate source may have been in the Spanish, the French, the English or the Native-American tongue. And the path then continues on to the famous trading post of Mackinac in Michigan and to London in England, where the other answers will more naturally be looked for. '
This discussion is not intended to include the last word upon the subject, but rather to bring within the reach of Oregon readers some of the results of modern research regarding Jonathan Carver and his book, and to place some interpreta- tions thereon; also to suggest some possible sources for his name Oregon. Source words other than through Carver do not concern us.
Strangely enough, until very recently, the date, place of birth and family line of Jonathan Carver have been quite as much a mystery as is his source for the name Oregon. Among other statements about him appear those of his biographer in London, Dr. John Coakley Lettsom, as follows: "Our author died on the 31st of January, 1780, at the age of forty-eight years, and lies interred in the Holy well- Mount burying ground," (Lon- don) ; and the place of birth is given as at Still water, Con- neticut. However, in March, 1920, in volume three and num- ber three of the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Dr. William Browning, of Brooklyn, New York, has quite conclusively shown from the "Vital Records of Weymouth" that Jonathan Carver was born at Weymouth, Massachusetts, on the 13th of April, 1710, and, at the age of about eight years, removed with his parents to Canterbury, Connecticut. Thus it appears that, while in the wilds of Minnesota in 1767, our traveler could have celebrated his fifty-eighth birthday, and at the time of death had nearly reached the allotted limit of three score
years and ten. Later in this discussion some explanation will
- ↑ This statement applies only to the word as now spelled.
