About Captain Robert Gray
Captain Robert Gray's discovery of the Columbia
River on May 11, 1792, proved to be highly significant to the new born United
States.
In 1803, eleven years after Gray entered the great river of the west on the
ship, Columbia Redivivia, the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase from
France.
During the Second term of President James Madison, 1813 – 1817, the United
States government sought official confirmation of the discoveries and
exploration conducted on the Pacific northwest coast by the American trading
expedition, commanded by Captain Robert Gray a quarter century before, thereby
laying claim to the entire territory drained by the Columbia River – the Oregon
Country.
The Columbia Redivivia, was the first American ship to enter the Pacific Ocean;
the first American ship to carry Pacific Northwest trade to China; and the first
American ship to circumnavigate the globe.
