Henry Warre (c. 1860)
Unknown photographer, William Francis Gordon, copyist. From Te Papa Museum of New Zealand. Image is in the public domain.
As a defensive measure in a possible war with America at the end of 1844, Sir George Simpson suggested a military reconnaissance of the Oregon Territory. Lt. Henry Warre (1819–1898) and Lt. Vavasour were selected, and the two officers traveled from Montreal to Fort Vancouver on a “sporting expedition” led by Peter Skene Ogden. As part of his secretive instructions, Warre made sketches documenting indigenous people of that era.[1]Henry Warre, Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory (Barre, Massachusetts: Imprint Society, 1970), 7–8).
Pages with the Artist’s Works
The life and times of these three explorers intertwined in a number of odd and interesting ways, often brought together by far-reaching hand of Thomas Jefferson. Tracing these connections opens a window onto every conceivable aspect of the period.
After trading for horses with Sacagawea’s people, the expedition turned north and then west, on what would indisputably be the most exhausting and debilitating segment of the entire journey, the passage across the Bitterroot Mountains.
December 9, 1805
The Necanicum Clatsop Village
Fort Clatsop, Astoria, OR Looking for a place to make salt, Clark meets three Necanicum Clatsops who take his group to their village at present-day Seaside, Oregon. At the main camp, work begins to make a “small fort.”
March 30, 1806
Prospects for a settlement
As they paddle through an area dense with Multnomah and Watlala villages, they see Cascade Mountain snow peaks, fertile land, and the best prospect for a large settlement west of the Rocky Mountains.
November 28, 1805
"O! how Tremendious"
Tongue Point, Astoria, OR The rain continues, the party has no way to keep dry, the hunters have no success, and in the afternoon a “Tremendious” wind storm arrives. Clark calls it a disagreeable situation.
“the Ocian is imedeately in front and gives us an extensive view of it from Cape disapointment to Point addams,” reported William Clark on 15 November 1805. But he saw no ships at anchor. Nothing.
Notes
| ↑1 | Henry Warre, Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory (Barre, Massachusetts: Imprint Society, 1970), 7–8). |
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