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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.
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