The purpose of the scholarship is to raise interest in Captain Robert Gray and the Pacific Northwest Trade.

Applications are available in the Tillamook County, Oregon high schools. Awards are made mid May to five seniors, from the Tillamook County, Oregon high schools whose essays illustrate the best understanding of any number of issues about Caption Robert Gray and the trade on the Pacific Rim. Essays should be a minimum of 500 words.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Gray's departure from Boston
• The long voyage at sea
• Entrance into Tillamook Bay
• Lady Washington
• Effects Gray's voyage had on American Indian nations
• American fur trade on the Pacific Rim
• Gray's second voyage to discover the Great Waterway of the West