The Lifeline of the Oregon CountryFurs is what brings us, remarked an early trader in the Oregon Country, adding, however, that the difficulty of getting the necessary supplies will continue to operate against it, located as it was, on the worst side of the Rocky Mountains. Fortunately, the discovery in 1805 by Lewis and Clark that the Columbia River was navigable by canoe or boat to the Pacific led to the logistical linking of the New Caledonia and Columbia Districts by means of the