HISTORY OF OREGON.
CHAPTER I.
OREGON IN 1834.
The Northwest Coast and the Oregon Territory—Physical Features—Mountain Ranges and Rivers—The Imperious Columbia—Distribution of Vegetation—Climate—Sunshine and Rain—Post-plantings of Civilization—Fort Vancouver—Its Lord Paramount—The Garden—Hospitality—Money, Morality, and Religion—Fort George—Fort Nisqually—Forts Langley, Umpqua, and Walla Walla—Okanagan and Colville—Forts Hall and Boisé—Fort William and Wapato Island—The French–Canadian Settlement—Missionaries, Traders, Farmers, Horse-dealers, Scientists, and Fur-hunters as Empire-builders—Origin of the Term Oregon.
The Oregon Territory, when first the term came into use, embraced the same somewhat undefined region which in these Pacific States histories I have denominated the Northwest Coast; namely, the lands lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and extending northward indefinitely from the forty-second parallel of latitude. Later the name Oregon was applied to a narrower area.
In surface and climate it is varied; in resources limitless, though its possibilities are little known. There is grand and beautiful scenery in every portion of it; some wild and rugged, some treeless and lonely; altogether a magnificent stretch of primeval wilderness. It is divided longitudinally by the Cascade Mountains, one with the Snowy Range of California
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