Mount Shasta,
California
Peter Skene Ogden's Snake Country Journals, entry of February 14,
1827:
| "Tuesday 14th. Wind blew a gale. If the ship destined for the
Columbia be on the coast in this stormy weather, I should feel
anxious for her. Having 40 beaver to skin and dress I did not raise
camp. It is a pleasure to observe the ladys of the camp vying who
will produce on their return to Ft. Vancouver the cleanest and best
dressed beaver. One of the trappers yesterday saw a domestic cat
gone wild. It must have come from the coast. All the Indians persist
in saying they know nothing of the sea. I have named this river
Sastise River. There is a mountain equal in height to Mount Hood or
Vancouver, I have named Mt. Sastise. I have given these names from
the tribes of Indians." |
Peter Skene Ogden was a chief trader with the Hudson's Bay Company.
In the period 1824-1829, he led five trapping expeditions to the "Snake
Country" -- the upper reaches of the Columbia.
| -- Excerpt from: Peter Skene Ogden's Snake
Country Journals, February 14, 1827, as copied by Miss Agnes C.
Laut in 1905 from original in Hudson's Bay Company House, London,
England, courtesy Oregon Historical Society, in digital format at
Library of Western Fur Trade Historical Source Documents Website,
June 2001 |
According to legend, about 1821, a Spanish explorer reported that
while climbing Mount Diablo near San Francisco he saw Mount Shasta. He
called it "Jesus and Maria" because of the double peaks. About this time
the Russians probably viewed Mount Shasta from the coast near Fort Ross.
Hudson Bay Company trapper, Peter Skene Ogden left Fort Vancouver and
journeyed through central Oregon, trapping beaver. The trappers wanted
fur from beaver, otter, and martins to export to England. They succeeded
over the course of several years to dramatically reduce the population
of these small fur-bearing animals. To this day it is rare to see these
animals. Ogden noted in his journal on February 14, 1827: "I have named
this river Sastise River. There is a mountain equal in height to Mount
Hood or Vancouver; I have named Mt. Sastise. I have given these names,
from the tribes of the Indians." However historians believe he saw the
Rogue River and Mount McLoughlin. Early maps portrayed today's Mount
Shasta variously as Mount Pitt, Mount Jackson, and Mount Simpson and
said that it was over 20,000 feet above sea level. For the most part,
the explorers and fur trappers traveled through the area but did not
stay for any length of time.
-- Excerpt from: Mount Shasta Chamber of
Commerce Website, 2002
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