David Douglas - Washington Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

David Douglas, the first naturalist to extensively collect in the Pacific Northwest. While gathering botanical materials for the Royal Horticultural Society of London, Douglas obtained specimens from the tree that today bears his name.
From 1825 go 1833, this intrepid Scotsman journeyed through the region by canoe, horse, and foot, often alone.
David Douglas (December 30, 1799 – 1834) was a Scottish botanist. The son of a stonemason, he was born in the village of Scone north-west of Perth. He attended Kinnoul School and upon leaving he found work as an apprentice gardener in the estate of the 3rd Earl of Mansfield at Scone Palace. He spent seven years at this position before leaving to attend college in Perth to learn more of the scientific and mathmatical aspects of plant culture. After a further spell of working in Fife (during which time he had access to a library of botanical and zoological books) he moved to the Botanical Gardens of Glasgow and attended botany lectures at the University of Glasgow. The Professor of Botany was greatly impressed with him and took him on an expedition to the Highlands before recommending him to the Royal Horticultural Society of London.

On behalf of Sir William Hooker of the RHS, the resourceful and often intrepid Douglas undertook a plant-hunting expedition in the Pacific Northwest in 1824 that ranks among the great botanical explorations of a heroic generation. The Douglas-fir, which he introduced into cultivation in 1827, is named after him. Other notable introductions include Sitka Spruce, Sugar Pine, Western White Pine, Ponderosa Pine, Lodgepole Pine, Monterey Pine, Grand Fir, Noble Fir and several other conifers that transformed the British landscape and timber industry, as well as numerous garden shrubs and herbs such as the Flowering currant, Salal, Lupin, Penstemon and California poppy. His success was well beyond expectations; in one of his letters to Hooker, he wrote "you will begin to think I manufacture pines at my pleasure". Altogether he introduced about 240 species of plants to Britain. He died in Hawaii at age 35 when he fell into a pit trap and was crushed by a bull that fell into the same trap or so the official story goes.
In 1896, 62 years after his death, the Hilo Tribune published an article titled, "Death of Prof. Douglas, a Bit Of History." Bolabola, a 70-year-old hunter who had lived (when he was ten) near Ned Gurney's house, told the reporter, "The haole (foreigner) was murdered, we all felt so at the time, but were afraid to say so and only whispered it among ourselves." Ten years later, the Hawai'i Herald reported an even more condemning rumor. A surveyor, A.B. Loebenstein, said he had heard from Native Hawaiians that Douglas was incautious enough to show some money when he was at Ned Gurney's house. The bullock hunter was seen following Douglas, but the natives were so afraid of Gurney, that they never dared tell of it. Gurney was said to have killed Douglas with an ax and then deposited his body in the bullock pit.

Marker Name: David Douglas Marker Type: Roadside Town name: Rockport Placer: WA State Historical Society Related website: [Web Link] Date marker was placed: Not listed

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