INTRODUCTION

Prophecies: "Fixity of residence and thickening of population are the prime requisites of civilization; and hence it will be found that, as in Egypt where great civilization was developed in a narrow valley hemmed in by deserts, and in Greece limited to a peninsula bounded by the sea on one side, and mountains on the other, when the Caucasian race, starting from India and pursuing its western course around the earth, shall reach the shores of the great Pacific ocean, it will dam up in the strip of country between the Rocky Mountains and the sea, and there in the most dense population, produce the greatest civilization on the earth." (From the Vestiges of Creation, 1838, anonymous, but supposed to be written by Robert Chambers, of Edinburgh, Scotland. fact written before the emigration wave started for Oregon.)

It was in

“I say the man is alive, full grown, and listening to what I say, who will yet see the Asiatic commerce traversing the North Pacific ocean-entering the Oregon river-climbing the western slope of the Rocky Mountains-issuing from its gorges-and spreading its fertilizing streams over our wide extended Union!

"The steamboat and the steam car have not exhausted all their wonders. They have not yet found their amplest and most appropriate theatres-the tranquil surface of the North Pacific ocean, and the vast inclined plains which spread east and west from the Rocky Mountains, the magic boat, and the flying car are not yet seen upon the ocean, and upon the plain, but they will be seen there; and St. Louis is yet to find herself as near Canton as she is now to London, with a better and safer route by land and sea to China and Japan than she now has to France and Great Britain." (Extract from an address by Thomas H. Benton, U. S. Senator, at St. Louis, October 10, 1844, eighteen months after his fellow citizens of Missouri had started to Oregon with their wives, children and ox teams to take the country from the British.)

The settlement of Old Oregon, embracing all the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, north of California and up to Alaska, being the result of a long series of explorations by sea and land covering three hundred years from 1506 to 1806, is the most interesting story of the entire settlement of North America. The history of this great territory is both national and local. Apparently the last grand movement of the German Indo-European race of men in its all-conquering march from farthest East to farthest West, the history of Oregon is not only national in its fundamentals but also finds its original root-graft in the oldest of the virile tribes of men. The same Providence that cast the Mayflower on the rockbound shores of New England to land the Pilgrim Fathers in a new world, inspired the men and women and furnished them with the faith and courage to overcome mountains, deserts and savage tribes and plant Christianity, civilization and laws in the wilderness of Old Oregon.

And whatever of difference there may be in the local coloring which differentiates Oregon from all other of the forty-eight states of the Grand Republic,

it is entitled to its history, its origin, and its influence in moulding the general mass. So that this book is written not only to inform the newcomer to Oregon, but also to arouse an interest in the boys and girls in all the Oregon schools to read and find in the history of their state a more exciting and instructive story than they can find in any other country or in any creation of the most gifted imagination.

For more than three hundred years the territory of Oregon was a prize for which the most powerful nations in the world contended. And for this country one after another, Spain, Russia, France and England played the rights of discovery, the game of diplomacy and the bluff of threatened war; and all of them to see in the end the final word and the rightful decision rendered, almost wholly by half a hundred American farmers in the Willamette valley. Such a page of exciting incident, unlooked for surprises, and far-reaching consequences cannot be found in the history of any other state or nation.

Born to a conscious existence of its dignity as an organized community of civilized men, and influenced by the antecedent dangers and trials through which the community fought its way to recognition by congress, it is not singular that there should be found here types of men and women, and a civil government with laws and institutions out of the ordinary; and if not admitted to be superior it has for originality and force challenged the attention and led the champions of reform throughout the nation. A state isolated from the rest of the great body of the American people by two thousand miles of mountains and arid plains that can accomplish these results and secure this position among the states of the Union is no ordinary community, and must have a history at once both unique and forceful to an extraordinary degree.

To search out facts from twenty thousand pages of printed matter heretofore issued to the world as veritable history of Oregon, a great deal of which is uncertain, much of it romance and not a little of it in dispute, is the task set before the author. In taking up this task no bias in favor of or against any person, society, creed or party can be allowed to have any influence whatever. The truth of history, and justice to all the actors in the great drama of life to be recorded, must be the unwavering guide.

The history of Oregon has been so fruitful a field for writers of every description that it is safe to say that more pages, if not more books, have been written about this region, its discovery, its name, its missionaries, Indians, the trials and sufferings of its immigrants, its novel provisional government and its latter day new laws and politics, than about all the other states west of the Ohio river. From this vast storehouse of historical material it is plain that only so much as will give the general story and controlling facts and movements, can be included in a volume that the general reader will care to purchase.

In writing the history of a state a common plan has been to divide the whole period into parts or epochs, each limited by distinctive dates. To the reader desiring to know what took place at any given period this plan has its merits. But it has appeared to the author that in the case of Oregon the more instructive plan, especially to the younger readers whom it is desired to interest in this book, would be to divide the history into subjects, and then give all that is to be said on that subject in one chapter. By pursuing this plan it is believed that

there will be a relationship created between all parts of the narrative, so that each part will be more readily apprehended, more easily understood and longer remembered.

That the conditions of life and the environment of men and women—the individual merits of society-have at all times influenced and shaped the institutions of society, cannot be denied. And the best illustration of this universal principle can be found in the history of Oregon. The trials and dangers of the long journey from the Missouri river to Oregon; the presence of the unfriendly if not savage possessor of the land; the shadow of the foreign power in the background; all conspire to develop a people alert to assert and courageous to maintain their rights by organization, proclamation and defence. These characteristics of the mass developed traits in the individual no less marked and distinguishable. The independent fur hunter in lonely mountains, the pioneer farmer on the isolated prairies-all held themselves ready to defend the home or fly to the common defence. These hard circumstances developed in Oregon a race of men and women independent in thought and deed, courageous to insist on their rights and careless of wealth or fame.

It has been urged by some writers that there is a unity in all history of the human race. But if this were a uniform rule, there would not be the difference between nations and peoples, between wild tribes, half civilized barbarians and cultured races which is everywhere observable. That there is a unity in the history of all the nations on certain facts of development there can be no doubt. In fact no progress, or even existence, could be maintained without a unity of purpose for self-preservation, common defence, and the control of nature's storehouse of food and clothing. The history of Oregon shows a unity in the great trend of population to move westward-the American idea to organize government for common defence in which all the individual units of society will stand upon the same level and have the same voice in the compact. But this has no similarity to the governments set up by Spain in Mexico and all the South American colonies; nor is it akin to the colonial charters from English kings to the colonists on the Atlantic sea coast. The settlement of Oregon was exceptional and extraordinary, made so by the conditions and surroundings of the time and place; and its history cannot be judged by the rules and principles applicable to the history of states in general.

The highest and most valuable purpose of history should be to teach by actual example. If there is no lesson, no useful thought to the reader, then the history is of no more value than the every-day novel. If those who come after can learn nothing from those who have gone before, it is a waste of time to make up the record for any other purpose than selling the story as any story of fiction might be sold. But the historians of Oregon may justly point with pride to the illustrious history of the state, crowded with examples of the daring, courage, toils and homely virtues of its pioneer settlers; and to the wisdom, patriotism and heroism of its founders, state builders and law givers.

In the evolutionary race around the earth from east to west, the Oregonian Americans were the first to reach the Pacific and establish permanent institutions. The Spaniards came first, but their presence and influence was a blight and a curse upon the country. The Russians came next, but left no impression of any kind. The English came next, but their influence for the benefit of man

kind was practically limited to the life of a single man-John McLoughlin. The Americans came last, and founded states. Recognizing the beginning of the end of Spanish rule on the Pacific coast, Governor Pico, of California, said to his people:

"We are threatened with hordes of Yankee immigrants. Already have the wagons of that perfidious people scaled the almost inaccessible summits of the Sierra Nevadas, crossed the entire continent and penetrated the fruitful valley of Sacramento. What that astonishing people will next undertake, I cannot say; but in whatever enterprise they embark they will be successful. Already these adventurous voyagers, spreading themselves over the country that seems to suit their tastes are cultivating farms, establishing vineyards, erecting sawmills, sawing lumber and doing a thousand other things that seem perfectly natural to them."

Several volumes of biographies of Oregon men and women will accompany this historical volume. Many persons assume that these personal biographies are not valuable. But that is a mistake. All history is but the recital of the works of the men and women of the past. These personal biographies will be the mine from which will be drawn the facts for histories in the future. They are worth reading and we commend them to all subscribers for this book. Now for the story!