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Show Oregon's Rlighly Columbia 2s CSJc! Izz Vast Esparo j Into Oregon pour the products of the Inland Empire, a region comprising com-prising 250,000 square miles in eastern east-ern Oregon, eastern Washington and northern Idaho. The Columbia river and its tributary, the Snake, are the waterway outlets for the products of field, forest and mine. Portland, the Rose City, is the capital capi-tal of that empire. On May 11. 1732. Capt. Robert Gray sailed into a broad river which he promptly named Columbia after the ship which had carried him from the east coast of the United States, down to the southern tip of South America and back up the Pacific Pa-cific coast. In Captain Gray's pockets were sea letters signed by Pres George Washington. From that day on the history of the Oregon country and the Columbia river are one and the same. I Through Pres. Thomas Jefferson's efforts, Lewis and Clark were commissioned com-missioned to explore the Oregon country in 1303. They reached the mouth of the Columbia, which is 14 miles wide, on Nov. 11. 1805, and built Fort Gassop, a site near the present city of Astoria. The Columbia provides important navigation facilities for more than 400 miles, and the Snake provides still more channel for shipping. |