EARLY VOYAGES ON THE NORTHWESTERN COAST OF 



AMERICA • 



PROFESSOR GEORGE DAVIDSON, PH. D., SC. D., ETC. 

 {President of the Geographical Society of the Pacific) 



Preliminary Remarks. 



The geodetic work of the United States Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey was extended to the Pacific seaboard in 1850, at a time 

 when the geography of the coast was very imperfectly known, 

 and when the names of capes, bays, rivers and islands were in 

 much confusion. 



Part of my duty, in the' initiation of this public work, consisted 

 in the determination of the latitude and longitude of the head- 

 lands, islands, harbors, rivers, rocks and dangers, and in the 

 geographic reconnaissance of the coast line from the Mexican 

 boundary to the forty-ninth parallel. 



While in command of the surveying brig Fauntleroy I entered 

 upon the self-imposed task of writing a Coast Pilot for California, 

 Oregon and Washington. Very naturally my early interest in 

 the old explorations became intensified as I sought to give the 

 authority for each discovery and for each name ; and I made 

 many special examinations of the narratives that were then 

 available for the identification of doubtful localities. This work 

 continued with more or less directness until I was gathering the 

 material for rewriting the fourth edition of the Coast Pilot,-'^ and 

 when I had familiarized myself with every mile of our own coast 

 and had a fair acquaintance with the ocean coast of Lower Cali- 

 fornia as far as San Jose del Cabo. Along the whole seaboard 



* United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. F. M. Thorn, superintend- 

 ent, Pacific coast. Coast Pilot of California, Oregon and AVashington. 

 By George Davidson, assistant U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Fourth 

 edition. (Entirely rewritten . ) Washington ; Government Printing Office,' 

 1889. 4to ; 721 pp. and 464 views. 



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