William Gilpin (governor) - Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

In 1843 he encountered John C. Frémont along the Santa Fe Trail and embarked westward with Frémont on his expedition to find a route over the continental divide. While passing through the region of present-day Colorado, he encountered evidence of placer gold in the region, but the information would go unused for at least another decade. When the party reached Walla Walla in the Oregon Country, Gilpin continued westward on his own while Frémont continued on to California. At the time, the Oregon Country was under joint administration by the United States and the United Kingdom, but in practical terms it was controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. Gilpin settled among the growing community of U.S. settlers in the Willamette Valley and became active in the organization of a provisional government. At the landmark convention at Champoeg, he helped draft a petition requesting support for the provisional government from the United States Congress Gilpin himself was charged with carrying the Willamette petition back east. On his way back through Missouri, he helped publicize the Pacific Northwest and stir up "Oregon fever". He delivered the petition to Congress in 1845, then wrote memoirs of his travels in the Pacific Northwest to emphasize its potential for trade and settlement.