OREGON MEANING, ORIGIN AND APPLICATION 329
familiar with Carver's Travels and Bryant's Thanatopsis, des- ignated the district the "Oregon Country", it being the first instance in which is found the name "Oregon" applied to the Columbia River Valley. Kelley became an enthusiast over the subject, making it the principal topic of his private con- versations as well as in public lectures, writing many newspaper articles and later, pamphlets on the obsessed theme and, in 1817, began to memorialize Congress on the American claim and occupation of the Oregon Country, calling the nation's attention to this desired object. 34
In 1817, Secretary Adams made a second request for the surrender of Fort Astoria, which the British had re-named Fort George, and in doing so displayed sufficient force, by dispatch- ing the U. S. sloop of war, Ontario, to the Columbia, to re-take the place if necessary. England gave up this post in 1818; however, she still maintained a string to the prize in the way of the "Joint Occupancy Treaty", whereby all lands west of the Rocky Mountains were to be "free and open" for ten years to the subjects of both nations' 35 which practically left the country still in the hands of the British subjects.
In the Sixteenth Congress, which met in December, 1820, was a member from Virginia, Dr. John Floyd, whose ancestors had been pioneer settlers, he having been born on the frontier of Kentucky. He knew well both Lewis and Clark, his cousin, Charles Floyd, having been a member of their expedition. At the same hotel in which he took quarters for the winter were Crooks and Farnham, men who had worked for Astor in estab- lishing Astoria. All being western men naturally became well acquainted and often exchanged ideas on the upbuilding of the West and with Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, often proposed and discussed the virtues of the Columbia River Country. As the result of such knowledge, Dr. Floyd was able to get a bill before Congress, "To authorize the occupa- tion of the Columbia river, and to regulate trade and inter- course with the Indian Tribes thereon", which bill, however, failed to become a law. In 1822, he introduced another bill
34 Oregon Historical Quarterly, XVIII.
35 Malloy's Treaties, Conventions, etc., I, 632.
