of the education of our children and youth. Our system of public instruction must be depended on as the main agency in this work. The materials of the early history of Oregon arc very rich and abundant. Indeed the amount of material is almost an embarrassment; and he who begins an address, which necessarily must be brief, can do no better than t<> imitate the manner of the epic cyclist, who, in his invocation of I he muse, asked to be instructed or permitted to begin anywhere at any part of the story.
By invitation I am to-day to give a short account of the beginnings of our history, at this place where those beginnings were made. This locality was the destination of our very first pioneers. Here was the scene of their work. Here, in the vision of the poet, was the band of pioneers, founders of commonwealths, the first low wash of the waves of migration, where soon was to roll a great human sea. We are approaching the end of the first centenary cycle of this movement and the beginning of the second. It is especially fit therefore, that new interest in our history should now be awakened.
In preparation for the Lewis and Clark Centennial there will be much to say and do, till that event shall have been disposed of. During the next four years Oregon, and we trust, neighbor States, also, will be busy with it. We had the centennial of discovery in 1892. when Professor John Fiske was here and delivered his admirable address on the achievement of Captain Gray in his good ship Columbia. We are now soon to have the centennial of the exploration which confirmed to us the great country reached by the discovery. The history of these transactions, as the beginning of American empire on the Pacific Coast, is a record of profound interest. It has its place among the events of first importance in the development of the United States.
The Spaniards, earliest navigators along the shores of the Pacific, missed the Columbia River, and never penetrated the great estuary since known as Puget Sound. Nevertheless, it is well attested that tho Spanish navigator, Heceta, in August, 1775, was off the mouth of the great river, noted its position
