them passed up the Willamette to the central mission near the present capital city of Salem, where some took lands, and helped to change this establishment into the truly American colony it now became. About the same time a number of Rocky Mountain trappers settled in the valley, and still further increased the American influence. The colony now contained more than a hundred people.
Visit of Lieutenant Wilkes. In the year 1841 Oregon received a visit from Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, commander of the Pacific Exploring Squadron sent out by the United States government in 1838.^ Wilkes took pains to travel through all the settled portions of the \A'illamette valley, and gives a detailed account of what he found there. Near the mouth of the river was a group of young men building a small vessel, which they called The Star of Oregon, and which was afterward taken to San Francisco and exchanged for cattle. At the falls were Waller's mission and a trading, or rather salmon-packing, station of the Hudson's Bay Company. At a place called Champoeg there were four or five cabins, in one of which Wilkes was entertained by an old seaman, named Johnson, who had fought in the glorious naval battle between the Consti ^ Two other noteworthy visitors to Oregon during this year were Sir George Simpson, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who was on his trip around the world, and a French diplomat, Duflot de ]\Iofras, at that time connected with the French legation in Mexico. Each wrote a book, in which some account of Oregon is contained.
