On July 5, 1841, the seamen and Marines of the Wilkes Expedition hold the first Fourth of July celebration in the Puget Sound region. The men are from two expedition ships anchored in the sound off th...
On July 18, 1841, the 18-gun U.S. Navy sloop USS Peacock wrecks at foot of the promontory marking the north side of the Columbia River's entrance. The partially submerged sandspit there becomes Peacoc...
During August and September 1841, the United States Exploring Expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (1798-1877), carries out a hydrographic survey of the Columbia River from its mouth to ...
On May 2, 1843, following the first major influx of settlers, American citizens in "Oregon Country" meet to organize a provisional government for self-rule. The act challenges the Hudson's Bay Company...
On December 1, 1843, Englishman James A. Scarborough (1805-1855) settles at Chinook Point on the Columbia River in what will become Pacific County, Washington. Scarborough will file a Donation Land Cl...
On August 20, 1845, two days after being passed by Oregon's Provisional Legislature, the act creating Vancouver District, a huge area north of the Columbia River including what will later become Washi...
In late October 1845, Michael T. Simmons (1814-1867) of Kentucky, Iowa, and Missouri settles at Tumwater near the Falls of the Deschutes River. Tum-wa-ta is a Chinook Jargon word for strong water or w...
In November 1845, George (1790?-1863) and Isabella James (c. 1809-1866) Bush and their five sons settle near Tumwater on a fertile plain that comes to be known as Bush Prairie. They and their party, w...
On December 25, 1845, Esther Clark Short (1806-1862) arrives at the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver in what will become the city of Vancouver, Clark County. She, her husband Amos Meade Short (18...
On June 15, 1846, Britain and the United States sign the Treaty of Oregon establishing the 49th parallel as the primary international boundary in the Pacific Northwest. Since 1818, the entire region, ...
In October 1846, Edmund Sylvester and Levi Lathrop Smith stake a joint claim to 320 acres on Budd Inlet at what will become Olympia. Smith choses a two-acre clearing to build a 16-foot-square log cabi...
On Saturday, November 27, 1847, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Walla Walla, Augustin Magliore Alexander Blanchet (1797-1887), and John Baptist Abraham Brouillet (1813-1884) leave Fort Walla Walla and es...