LEGACY - The Westward Movement - Oregon Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This sign was located at the summit viewpoint at Pilot Butte State Park


Marker Name: ”The Westward Movement”
Marker Text: Pilot Butte was a beacon for travelers.
On a day sometime in the year 1813, an Indian lookout, from one of several tribes summering in this vicinity, might have “hiked the butte” and from here observed an exploration party moving along the banks of the Deschutes River. The 1813 date, having been carved on a volcanic tuff boulder near the river, has been credited with indicating the presence of the first Euro-Americans in this vicinity.
From 1813 to 1835, fur trappers from the Hudson Bay Company at Fort Vancouver and the John Jacob Astor Company at Astoria searched for beaver along the waterways of Central Oregon. Other trappers of that time included Finian McDonald, Thomas McKay, Peter Skene Ogden, and Nathaniel Wyeth.
On December 4, 1843, the John C. Fremont Expedition, while mapping the West, camped in Shevlin Park, just west of here. They were headed south and were already experiencing difficult winter travel conditions.
This volcanic landmark had been called Red Butte, then later Pilot Knob. Diary sources from the 1853 Elliott Wagon Train mention “Pilot Butte by the River.” By the early 1860s, when military wagon trains traveled the Huntington Wagon Road between The Dalles and Klamath Falls, the common name Pilot Butte was entrenched. That route passed near the western base of the butte.

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