ONE OF THE more interesting things about Oregon history is how much of a role “colorful characters” played in it.

Until a few dozen years ago, historians didn’t much like talking about the contributions of prostitutes, swindlers, shanghaiers and other underworld characters to Oregon’s history, preferring to talk about brave pioneers and clean-living homesteaders and noble missionaries and such.

So it’s no surprise that the name and identity of the first woman of European extraction to set foot in the Oregon territory has gone mostly unremarked. Her name was Jane Barnes, and she was, in every sense of the word, an adventuress.

That she made it into the historical record at all is a real testament to what an interesting person she must have been. (Astoria, Clatsop County; 1810s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2409e.jane-barnes-adventuress-669.507.html)