CHAPTER IX
THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT
Ten years of official inactivity, 1827-1837. The United States government, in all its departments, dropped the Oregon question when Gallatin secured the second treaty of joint occupation. For nearly ten years after that date neither Congress nor the executive made any move of importance toward settling the dispute with England, or assisting American citizens to gain a foothold within the Oregon country. Yet this period, 1827-1837, is of great importance in the history of Oregon because of the doings of the first pioneers as described in the preceding chapter. Trappers, traders, and missionaries had entered the region; and while little impression was made upon the business of the Hudson's Bay Company, a few Americans remained to till the soil and to instruct the Indians in religious things. This created a bond between the United States and the distant Columbia which forced the government to take an interest in that country. The question of the future of Texas had also compelled the United States to concern itself about the Mexican territories, and at one time (1835) President Jackson was anxious to buy northern California in order to secure the fine harbour of San Francisco. Accord-
