"... "Having now passed the sand bank," says Mr. Broughton, "I landed for the purpose of taking our last bearings; a sandy point on the opposite shore bore S.80E., distant about 2 miles; this point terminating our view of the river, I named it after Captain Vancouver; it is situated in latitude 45o 27', longitude 237o 50'." ... Previously to his departure, however, he formally took possession of the river, and the country in its vicinity, in His Britannic Majesty's name, having every reason to believe, that the subjects of no other civilized nation or state had ever entered this river before; in this opinion he was confirmed by Mr. Gray's sketch, in which it does not appear that Mr. Gray either saw, or was ever within five leagues of, its entrance ..." [Vancouver/Broughton, October 30, 1792]

Captain Vancouver believed that his Lieutenant was the first to journey up the Columbia River, as he considered the Lower Columbia River Estuary, as far as American Robert Gray traveled in May of 1792, only a bay.

"... The unclad keel of a long boat made of steel and painted red. It sits high over a walkway, and is supported by two pyramidal concrete bases with polished black granite facings, one under each end. The bases are on either side of the brick-walled walkway and the boat keel acts as an arch over it. The sculpture is placed in a plaza of sloping, rounded brick-topped walls. Set in one wall of the plaza is a series of three plaques. Starting at the top of the plaque on the proper right, a replica of the original charted map of the Columbia River continues across and down the other two plaques, to end near the bottom of the plaque on the proper left. ..."

The "Boat of Discovery" was created by artist, Jay Rood, and coincided with the bicentennial celebration of the exploration and naming of the Columbia River in 1792. The monument was dedicated on October 31, 1992.