been the result had Vancouver, as he should have done, discovered and entered the Columbia River prior to Gray. But the inquiry arises nevertheless. The United States, in its official correspondence with Great Britain, strenuously insisted on its right to the portion of the Oregon Country drained by the Columbia River by reason of its discovery by Gray. Although that was only one of the claims urged, it was an important factor in the final adjustment, by the boundary treaty of June 15, 1846, of the rights of the United States to that part of the Oregon Country south of latitude forty-nine.
The mouth of the Fraser River is practically a delta, its several exits running through what is apparently a sand island, as viewed from the Gulf of Georgia. On the twelfth and thirteenth of June, 1792, Captain Vancouver's two vessels were anchored in the Gulf of Georgia a short distance south of this delta. June 12 he started to explore in a yawl. He discovered and named Point Roberts, at the south of the delta. Proceeding along the delta, he came, early on the morning of June 13, to Point Grey, which he named. This is the extreme northern point of the delta and the southern point of English Bay, immediately south of what Vancouver named Burrard's Canal, now known as Burrard's Inlet. This delta Vancouver named Sturgeon Bank. In his Voyage, Vancouver says this delta has the appearance of an island, but he continues: "this, however, is not the case, notwithstanding there are two openings between this point [Point Roberts] and Point Grey. These can only be navigable for canoes, as the shoal continues along the coast to the distance of seven or eight miles from the shore, on which were lodged, and especially before these openings, logs of wood, and stumps of trees innumerable."
Certainly this should have shown Vancouver that there was a large river near and that these openings were connected with it. The spring and summer freshet was on in the Eraser, as it was in the Columbia River, when Vancouver was at the mouth of the Columbia, April 27, 1792. At the mouths of each of these rivers the water was discolored, as is shown in
