Page "Cascade Range" Paragraph 14

Exploration and settlement of the Cascades region by Europeans and Americans was accelerated by the establishment of a major trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company ( HBC ) at Fort Vancouver near today's Portland, Oregon.

From this base HBC trapping parties traveled throughout the Cascades in search of beaver and other fur-bearing animals.

For example, using what became known as the Siskiyou Trail, Hudson's Bay Company trappers were the first non-natives to explore the southern Cascades in the 1820s and 1830s, establishing trails which passed near Crater Lake, Mount McLoughlin, Medicine Lake Volcano, Mount Shasta, and Lassen Peak.