lift or deepen the waters
of the reef, then at eight in the morning, all sails set like a bird on
wing, drove straight for the narrow entrance between reefs and sand.
Once across the bar, he saw the mouth of a magnificent river of fresh
water. He had found the River of the West.

Gray describes the memorable event in these simple {237} words: "May
11th . . . at four A.M. saw the entrance of our desired port bearing
east-southeast, distance six leagues . . . at eight A.M. being a little
to windward of the entrance of the harbor, bore away, and ran in
east-southeast between the breakers. . . . When we were over the bar,
we found this to be a large river of fresh water, up which we steered.
Many canoes came alongside. At one P.M. came to (anchor). . . ."

[Illustration: A View of the Columbia River.]

By the 14th, Gray had ascended the river twenty or thirty miles from
the sea, but was compelled to turn, as he had taken a shallow channel.
Dropping down with the tide, he anchored on the 19th and went ashore,
where he planted coins under a tree, took {238} possession in the name
of the United States, and named the river "Columbia." On the 20th, he
crossed the bar and was out again on the Pacific. The most of men
would have rested, satisfied with half he had done. Not so Gray. He
headed the _Columbia_ north again for the summer's trade in what is now
known as southern Alaska. Only damages to the _Columbia_ drove her
down to Nootka in July, where Don Quadra, the new Spanish commander,
and Captain Vancouver were in conference over those English ships
seized by Martinez. To Quadra, Gray sold the little _Adventure_,
pioneer of American shipbuilding on the Pacific, for seventy-five otter
skins. From Spanish sources it is learned Gray's cargo had over three
thousand otter skins, and fifteen thousand other peltries; so the
second voyage may have made up for the loss of the first.

[Illustration: At the Mouth of the Columbia River.]

On October 3 the _Columbia_ left America for China; and on July 29,
1793, came to the home harbor of Boston. Sometime between 1806 and
1809, Gray died in South Carolina, a poor man. It is doubtful if his
widow's petition to Congress ever materialized in a reward for any of
his descendants. Kendrick, eclipsed by his brilliant assistant, was
accidentally killed in Hawaii by the wad of a gun fired by a British
vessel to salute the _Lady Washington_. From the date 1793 or 1795 the
little