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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthoda. rrata to pelure, n d □ 32X 5 6 y: V '<^ s I A^^ ' 'I'll' IT mi ii iii |i>i [i gr tMt OF {'-*■ OBEGdN AND CALlTOBNIA, i*V ^s; ^ -. AST *mt OtHEE TRREnORIES tai THE Liif' u'* dH!*' i-tiar COAST op north ameeioa; iLI.D8T|tATX0 BY ^A ' NEAt AND BEAUTIFUL MAl* Ol^^lttOSE COUNTRIES. sf" 1 '-"JB stei ROBEBJ'OREUKHOW, 1 t .''l,''i«N»'>)J»» ^,.^ ■-*•>>_ ,,; -i— - ^ ^ N ' I '/ >^f ^i/.i7' r;/' 77//; ' ■ '>r..i*f :. wssTiCtBi^ 4 iiias^ii^Li: roMTJOJis o^f .** ^ . 90 •xsissr3.'nwf» « i4#tftl the (%i^«tonviif ((f Miwwa*^^-^ >:oitTii-wEST roAST or xViMKuar /vv// /Ir /'rJ- j/^//'/r/7//rj /'// (ry/r/'r'// 'J^/ /Mnm M- (,n>n/r I/.Mrn/f/o/i/, Em/mm/ /n' E.F.Woothvtin/ Z'/M/^/" Xoto. --./'/><■/'/"'■''■'• "^'^■'"'■/' f'"' """"■■' "rr"-"' "' f'^'' ^'"''"' "^ ^^' .\^"r.'"'' fJli' /.l/,'//l'llfS lln/li'i' 8 Ltmgltude West 53 fktmi WsMhin^n ^J>/fy -ritiht Momd aemding to law. «« \j», ■- • T^'^i HiAi. K»ir*^- 4 t or: , s <•• ''^^' Ti^ '*"twir*v, s ^ _.#»»'^^ »^t»^ N^ir., \ ">JS1 '•-^^ir' /,-K, S*^ ■si r f i- ;( •>.:*p-^"^4,-.. #. -Vn„' % -A'- *," ..'SSs '4£).^ JVORTH- -^^ ^^■ %./ /] TKANSLATOH ANl t\ THE V GEOGRAPHY or OREGON AND CALIFORNIA, AND TBK OTHER TERRITORIES ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA; ILLUSTRATED BY A NEW AND BEAUTIFUL MAP OP THOSE COUNTRIES, BT ROBERT GREENHOW, TBANSLATOB AND LIBBABIAN TO THE DEPABTMENT OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATE8 ; AUTHOB OF A IlISTOBY OF OBEGON AND CALIFORNIA. - % 4 BOSTON: • PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, . '• BY FREEMAN AND BOLLES. , ^ 184 5. ' « I mil jrrifHt^ ''^■'*'" - ^W.-IM^PffPi^^it^ '^'■sT^j^n*/^'' ^ Copyright secured according to law, in the District of Columbia, in 1845. BOSTON: t>RlNTKD BY FREEMAN AND B0LLK8, WABHIMOTOM aTBEXT. ^ TABLE or CONTENTS. GEOGRAPHY OF THE WESTERN SECTION OF NORTH AMERICA. GENERAL VIEW. Great Natural Divioions of N. Amerioa, 3 — Coasts on the Pacific and the Arctic Seas, 4 — Mountain Chains of the Pacific Section — Far- West Mountains, 5 — Rocky Moun- tains — Blue Mountains, 6 — Climate of the Pacific Section — Lalces, 7 — Rivers, 8 — Central Regions of ti, America — Animals and Vegetables of the Pacific Section — Na- tives, 9 — Establishments of civilized Nations, 10 — Political Limits, 11. CALIFORNIA. Extent and Divisions — Gulf of California, 12 — Pearl Fishery — Sonora and Sinaloa, 13— ^ Peninsula of California— Its Climate, Soil, Productions, and Animals, 14 — Aborigines — Ports and Mexican Settlements, 15 — Continental or New California — Its Extent, Soil, Climate, 16 — Ports and Mexican Settlements — San Diego, Santa Barbara — Monterey, 17 — San F'rancisco — River Sacramento, 18 — Bodega — Cape Mendocino, 19 — Interior Regions — River Colorado — Utah Lake, 20. OREGON. Natural and assumed Boundaries, 21 — Strait of Fuca, 22 — Columbia River — North Branch, 23 — South Branch — Main Trunk, 24 — Far- West Mountains, 23 — Westernmost Region of Oregon, 26 — Blue Mountains — Middle Region — Easternmost or Rocky Mountain Region, 27 — New Caledonia, 28 — North-West Archipelago, 29 — Aborigines, 30 — Hudson's Bay Company's Establishments, 31 — American Settlements, 33. RUSSIAN AMERICA, Citent and Limits — Russian American Company, 3fi — District of Sitka — Sitka or New Archangel — District of Kodiak, 37 — Cook's Inlet — Prince William's Sound — Mount St. Elias — Aliaska — Aleutian Islands — Michaelof District, 38 — Kamtchatka — Kurilo Islands, 39. Sandwich Islands, 39 — Marquesas Islands- uniting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 41 . ■ Society Islands, 40 — Project! for Canali 203775 wm GEOGEAPHY OP THE WESTERN SECTION OF NORTH AMERICA. GENERAL VIEW. North America borders upon three great divisions of the ocean : the Atlantic on the east — the Arctic on the north — and the Pacific on the south and west — each of which receives, either directly or through its gulfs and bays, the superfluous waters from a corresponding great section >f the continent. These three great sections of North America are unequal in extent, and different in the character of their surface. At least one half of the continent is drained by streams entering the Atlantic ; and of that half, the waters from the larger, as well as the more fertile portion, are carried by the Mississippi into the Mexican Gulf Of the other two sections, that which borders on the Arctic Sea is probably the more extensive. The Atlantic and the Arctic sections present each a large proportion of sur- face, nearly plane, and comparatively little elevated above the sea ; and the line of separation between them is so indistinctly marked as to be, in many places, imperceptible. The Pacific section, on the contrary, is traversed in every part by steep and lofty ridges of highland ; and it is completely divided from the other portions by a chain of mountains, extending, in continuation of the Andes of South America, from the Isthmus oi ?inania, north-westward, to the utmost extremities of the con- tinent i- ' ■: I direction. Of ' , At) ,r»tic coast of America it is unnecessary here to speak partici 1 The irregularity of its oatline, the numerous gulfs and bays enclo. oc; . - >* sinuosities, the great rivers flowing through it into the sea, the archipei > ,,>p in its vicinity, and all its other characteristic feature**, may be found minutely described in many works. The only parts of this coast, to which reference will be hereafter made, are those surrounding th , Gulf of Mexico nnd Hudson's Bay, as many of the most important discoveries on the western side of the continent have been effected in consequence of the belief in the existence of a direct navigable communi- cation between those portions of the Atlantic and the Pacific. The Pacific coast extends from Panama, near the 9th degree of latitude,* wes<";ird and northward, without any remarkable break in its outline, to * .» '! vitutected and restrained by British laws, under an act of Parliament extending the jurisdiction of the Canada courts over those countries, so far as relates to subjects of that nation. The citizens of the United States, on the contrary, are deprived of all protection, and are independent of all control; as they are not subject to British laws, and their own govern- ment exercises no authority wliatsoever over any part of America west of th(! Rocky Mountains. In California, south of the 38th degree of lati- tude, are many colonies, garrisons, and missionary stations, founded by the Spaniards during the last century, and now maintained by the Mexi- cans, who succeeded to the rights of Spain in 1821. They are all situ- ated in the immediate vicinity of thp coasts, the interior regions being, as yet, almost unknown. It is worthy of remark, that California, though thinly inhabited by a wretched, indolent population, is the only part of the Pacific section of North America which can be considered as regularly settled, — which possesses an organized civil and social system, and where individuals hold a property in the soil secured to them by law. Each of these four nations claims the exclusive possession of a portion of the territory on the Pacific side of America, north of the Californian Gulf; and each of them is a party to some treaty with another, for the temporary use, or definitive sovereignty, of such portion. Thus it has been agreed, by treaty, in 181Q, between the United States and Spain, — renewed, in 1828, between the United States and Mexico, — that a line, drawn from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, in the course of the 42d parallel of latitude, should separate the dominions of the former power on the north from those of Mexico on the south. It was, in like manner, agreed, in 1824, by convention between the United States and Russia, that the former nation should make no establishments on the coasts north of the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes, and that the latter I I bol sec an({ Mf GENERAL VIEW OF THE GEOGRAPHY. n jortion [Torn i an ibr the it has lain, — la line, lof the jformer In like and >n the latter should make none south of the same line; but this convention was neu- tralized, and, in fact, abrogated, by a treaty concluded between Russia and Great Britain in the following year, by which all the territories of the main land and islands, north and west of a line drawn from the latitude of 54 decrees 40 minutes, north-westward, along the ' -Thlands bordering ♦he Pacific coasts, to Mount St. Elias, and thence due north to the Arctic Sea, were to belong to Russia, while all east and south of that line were to be the property of Great Britain. Thus, on the western side of North America, two lines of distinct boundary, or partition, each traversing the whole breadth of the Pacific section, have been recogniy-ed ; the one between two powers, Great Britain and Russia, the other between two different powers, the United States and Mexico, — neither of which is, however, admitted by the third power, claim- ing, also, the possession of territories contiguous to it. Of the vast di- vision of the continent and the adjacent islands between these two lines, no spot has yet been assigned, by mutual agreement, to any civilized nation. The United States claim the territories northward from the 42d parallel, and Great Britain claims those extending south and east from the other line, each to a distance undefined, but so far as to secure for itself the whole, or nearly the whole, of the regions traversed by the Colum;).u River. The American government has more than once proposed to adopt the forty-ninth parallel of latitude as the dividing line; the British have, however, constantly refused to assent to that or any other arrange- ment which should deprive them of the coasts and territories north of the Columbia River ; and neither nation being willing to recede from its pretensions, all the countries claimed by both, west of the Rocky Mountains, remain, by convention between the two governments, con- cluded in 1827, free and open to the citizens or subjects of both. Such is the present political condition of the Pacific regions of North America. This anomalous state of things cannot, however, endure much longer. The people of the United States are rapidly colonizing the fertile portions of the territory on the lower Columbia ; and no one acquainted with their character can suppose that they will submit to be deprived of their political birthright in those countries, while they have the slightest prospect of vindicating it. Having presented this concise general view of the western section of North America, its divisions will now be described in detail, beginning with the most southern, under the heads of California, Oregon, and Rus- sian America. CALIFORNIA. I! The name California was first asairrncd, by the Spaniards, in 1536, to the great peninsula which extends on the western side of North America, from the '.Wd degree of latitude, southwardly, to and within tiie limits of the torrid zone; and it was afterwards made to comprehend the whole division of the continent north-west of Mexico, just as that of Florida was applied to the opposite portion on the Atlantic side. At the present day, California is usually considered as including the peninsula, and the territory extending from it, on the Pacific, northward, as far as the limits of Oregon, or the country of the Columbia River ; Cape Mendocino, in the latitude of 40 degrees 19 minutes, being assumed as the point of separation of the two coasts. The Mexican government, however, re- gards the 42d parallel of latitude as the northern limit of California, agreeably to the treaty concluded between that republic and the United States of America in l!^2^. California is naturally divided into two portions — the peninsular, called Old or Lower California — and the continental, or New, or Upper Califor- nia, the line of separation between which runs nearly along the 32d parallel of latitude, from the head or northern extremity of the Californian Gulf, westward to the Pacific. The Gulf of California will be first considered. This Gulf, called by the Spaniards the Sea of Cortes, but more commonly the Vermilion Sea, (Mar Vermejo,) is a great arm of the Pacific, which joins that ocean under the 23d parallel of latitude, and thence extends north-eastward, be- tween the American continent on the east and the Californian peninsula on the v/est, to its head or termination, near the 32d parallel, where it receives the waters of the Colorado and Gila Rivers. Its length is about seven hundred miles ; its breadth, at its jimction with the Pacific, is one hundred miles : farther north, it is somewhat wider, and, still farther, its shores gradually approach each other, until they become the banks of the Colo- rado. It contains many islands, of which the largest are Carmen, near the 25th degree of latitude, Tiburon and Santa Ines, near the 29th, and some others at the northern extremity. The western or peninsular coasts of the gulf are high, steep, and rocky, offering very few places of security for vessels ; and not a single stream which deserves the name of a river enters it on that side. The eastern or continental shores are generally low, and the sea in their vicinity is so shallow as to render the navigation along them dangerous. The peninsular coast of the gulf has long been celebrated for the great size and beauty of the pearls contained in the oysters which abound in the sea on that side ; and the search for those precious stones has always formed the principal employment of people of civilized nations in that quarter The pearls are procured, with much danger and difficulty, by GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA. 13 1536, to America, limits of the whole if Florida le present [J, and the the limits Jocino, in point of tvcver, re- Jalifornia, he United liar, called er Califor- £r the 32d palifornian called by lilion Sea, I at ocean Iward, be- linsulaon It receives >ut seven hundred its shores [the Colo- lien, near J9th, and lar coasts security l>f a river fenerally ivifffition Ihe great lound in always in that hilty, by Indians, who dive for them to the depth of twenty or more feet, and of whom a large proportion are annually drowned or devoured by sharks. A company, formed at London in 18"J5, sent Lieutenant Hardy to the Calilbrnian coast, with two vessels, carryinij diving-bells, by the aid of which it was expected that the pearl fishery might be conducted more safely, as well as profitably, than by the ordinary means; but, unfortu- nately, it proved that the oysters always lie in crevices of the rocks, to which no access can be had by persons in the diving-bell, and the enter- prise was, in consecjuence, abandoned. The value of the pearls obtained appears to be trifling when compared with the time and labor employed in the search for them. In 1825, eight vessels engaged in the business col- lected together five pounds of pearls, which were worth about ten thousand dollars. Occasionally, however, a single stone is found of value sufiicient to afford compensation for years of fruitless labor; and some of the rich- est pearls in the regalia of Spain are the produce of the fishery in the Californian Gulf The territory extending east from the Californian Gulf to the summit of the great dividing chain of the Anahuac Mountains, forms two politi- cal divisions of the Mexican republic, of which the northern is called Sonora, (a corruption of Senora,) and the southern Sinaloa. These countries are, as yet, thinly inhabited : from the general productive- ness of their soil, the salubrity of their climate, and the number and rich- ness of their mines of gold and silver, they seem calculated for the .support of a large population, for which the gulf, and the many rivers owing into it from the mountains on the ea^l, will fifford the means of communi- c»ting with other lands. The port of Guaymas, in Sonora, in latitude of ^ legrees 40 minutes, is said to be one of the best on the Pacific side merica. Mazatlan, in Sonora, at the entrance of the Californian viMii, has been, hitherto, more generally frequented; but it is neither so secure as Guaymas, nor is the territory in its vicinity so productive or healthy. South-east of Mazatlan, in latitude of 27 degrees 29 minutes, is San Bias, the principal commercial port of Mexico on the Pacific, one of the hottest and most unhealthy spots on the globe ; and still farther, in the same direction, are Navidad, Acapulco, and the harbor of Tehuante- pec, all celebrated, in former times, as places of trade, but now decaying and deserted. The peninsula of California is about one hundred and thirty miles in breadth where it joins the continent, under the 32d parallel, that is to say, nearly in the same latitude with the city of Savannah, in Georgia. Thence it extends south-eastward, varying, but generally diminishing, in breadth between the Pacific on the west and the Californian Gulf on the east, to its termination in two points — Cape San Lucas, the south- westernmost, in latitude of 22 degrees 52 minutes, corresponding nenrly with that of the city of Havanna, in Cuba — and Cape Palmo, tiO miles east by north of the other, at the entrance of the Californian Gulf Continental California extends, upon the Pacific, from the 32d parallel of latitude, where it joins the peninsula, about seven hundred miles northwest- ward to Oregon, from which it is divided, nearly in the course of the 42d parallel, — that is, nearly in the latitude of Boston, — by a chain of highlands called the Snowy Mountains, the Sierra Nevada of the Spaniards. Its boundaries on the west are not, as yet, determined politically by the Mexican government; nor do geographers agree with regard to its I i ■ i 14 GEOGRAPHV OF CALIFORNIA. natural limits in that direction. By somo, it is considered as embracing, like Chili, only the territory between the Pacific and the summit of the great mountain chain, which borders tlie western side of the continent : others extend its limits to the Colorado; while others in'lude in it, and others again exclude from it, the entire regions drained by that river. The only portion occupied by the Mexicans, or of which any distinct ac- counts have been obtained, is that between the great chain of mountains and the ocean ; the country east of that ridge to the Colorado appears to be an uninhabitable desert. The Californian peninsula is merely the southern portion of the great westernmost chain of mountains, prolonged through the Pacific. It consists entirely of high, stony ridges, separated by narrow, sandy val- leys, and contains no tracts of level ground of any extent. At its southern extremity, the earth is sometimes visited by showers in the sum- mer, but never at any other period of the year : near its junction with the continent, rain is seen only in winter ; and in the intermediate por- tion, many years in succession pass by without the appearance of a drop of water from the heavens, or indeed of a single cloud, while the rays of the sun, thus uninterrupted in their passage, produce a heat as intense as that in any other region of the world. Under such circum- stances, as might be supposed, the springs of water are few and slender, and the surface is almost every where destitute of vegetation. The peninsula is, on the whole, an irreclaimable desert: yet, wherever irri- gation is practicable, the productiveness of the soil is extraordinary ; and the little oases formed by the passage of a slender rivulet through a narrow, sandy defile, may thus be made to yield all the fruits of tropical climes in abundance, and of the finest quality. The southern portion of the peninsula contains several mines of gold, which have been worked, tiiough not extensively. The only mine as yet discovered in conlinental California is one of gold, situnted at the foot of the great westernmost rtinge of mountains, on the west, at the dis- tance of twenty-five miles from Angeles, the largest town in the country. It is said to be of extraordinary richness. The animals originally found in California were buffaloes, — though in ■ "nail numbers, compared with those east of the Rocky Mountains, — deer, ciK, bears, wild hogs, wild sheep, ocelotes, heavers, foxes, and many oih^rs, generally of species ''ifferent from those in the Atlantic regions of the continent. Sea otters were lery abundant on the northern parts of the coasts, but they have disappeared. Cattle and horses were introduced by the Spaniards from Mexico, and have increased in an extraordinary de- gree, particularly the cattle, with which the valleys near the coast of the continental portion are covered. One of the scourges of this country is the rhapul, a kind of grasshopper, which appears in summer, especially after a mild winter, in clouds resembling the locusts of Southern Asia, destroying every vegetable substance in their way. The aborigines of California are placed, by those who have had the best opportunity of studying their character and disposition, with the Hottentots, tht P.cvagonians, and the Australians, among the hwest of the human race : those of the continental portion being considered less fero- cious, but more indolent and vicious, than the natives of the peninsula. The Spaniards made many attempts, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to found settlements iji the country, all of which proved 4 a '^ o i ti fc 1 b 1 11 es ct i m >i , (1. ■4 PS i wj m GEOCKAPHY OF CALIFORNIA. 15 bracing, lit of the intinent : n it, and lat river, jtinct ac- lountains ppears to the great iific. It landy val- At its the sum- tion with diate por- ince of a while the a heat as li circum- i slender, on. The •ever irri- nary ; and through a )f tropical Bs of gold, ine as yet the foot the dis- country. lough in — deer, ly oihprs, ns of the rts of the duced by nary de- ist of the auntry is specially |rn Asia, had the Iwith the 1st of the less fero- hiinsula. jnteenth proved abortive; until, at length, in 1G99, the Jesuits, by permission of the king of Spain, undertook to convert the natives to Christianity, and to initiate i them into the usages and arts of civilized life. With thi^ view they .^ formed a number of missions, near the cast coasts of the peninsula, and, I by untiring assiduity, they had succeeded partly in their objects before I 17GS, when the Jesuits were, in execution of a decree issued at Madrid, % expelled from the Spanish dominions ; their establishments were then 'I confided to the Dominicans, under whose charge they have since re- ,1 mained with little advantage in any way. * The number of persons in the peninsula at present has been variously % estimated; from the best accounts, it dues not exceed five thousand, of ^ whom a small proportion only are Mexicans, and very few are of European oriffin. The principal places now occupied by the Mexicans are — Loreto, formerly the principal mission of the Jesuits, and now the capital of Old California, a miserable village of about two hundred persons, situated near the gulf, opposite the Island of Carmen, in latitude of 25 degrees 14 minutes — La Paz, on the Bay of Pichilingue, a little farther south, the port of communication with Mexico — and Port San Jose, near Cape San Lucas, where an establishment has been recently formed in a plain, watered ., by a slender rill. From these places, small quantities of tortoise shells, dried M meat, cheese, and dried fruits, the latter said to be excellent, are sent to San Bias, in Mexico, or sold to trading vessels which occasionally enter the gulf during their tour along the coasts. There are several other spots on the gulf offering good harbors for vessels, though they present no facilities for settlements; among which the principal is the BayofMuIege, near the latitude of 27^ degrees. On the west, or Pacific, side of the peninsula no settlement has ever been formed or attempted by a civilized nation. This coast offers many excellent harbors, but the want of fresh water in their vicinity must ever prove an effectual < istacle to their occupation. The principal harbors are, the Bay of La Magdalena, in latitude of 25 degrees, which is separated from the ocean by the long island of Santa Margarita, and appears to stretch much farther inland than had been supposed ; the Bay of Sebas- tian Vizcaino, under the 28th parallel, eart of the Isle of Cedars; Port San Bartolome, called Turtle Lay by the British and American traders , and Port SanQuintin, an excellent harbor, with fresh water near it, in lat- itude of 'M) degrees 20 minutes, called by the old Spanish navigators the Port of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, which was rediscovered in 1800 l)y Captain O'Kean, a fur-trader from Boston. At the distance of a hundred and twenty miles from this coast, under the parallel of 28 degrees 45 minutes, is the small, rocky island of Guadelupe, the existence of which, after it had been denied by many navigators, has been ascertained. Northward from the peninsula, the great westernmost chain of moun- tains continues nearly parallel with the Pacific coast, to the 34th degree of latitude, under which rises Mount San Bernardin, one of the highest peaks in California, about forty miles from the ocean. Farther north, the coast turns more to the west, and the space between it and the sum- mit line of the mountains becomes wider, so as to exceed eighty miles in some places; the intermediate region being traversed by lines of hills, or smaller mountains, connected with the main range. The principal of these inferior ridges extends from Mount San Bernardin north-westward to its termination on the south side of the entrance of the great Bay of IS' '■ I i . 16 GEOGHAPIIY OF CALIFORNIA. San Francisco, near the 38th degree of latitude, where it is called the San Bruno Mountains. Between this range and the coast run the Santa Barbara Mountains, terminating in the north at the Cape of Pines, on the south-west side of the Bay of Monterey, near the latitude of S6i degrees. North of the San Bruno Mountains is the Bolbones ridge, bordering the Bay of San Francisco on the east; and still farther in the same direction are other and much higher lines of highlands, stretching from the great chain, and terminating in capes on the Pacific. The southernmost of these regions of continental California, between the Pacific and the great westernmost chain of mountains, resembles the adjacent portion of the peninsula in climate; being very hot and dry, e.xcept during a short time in the winter. Farther north, the wet season increases in length, and about the Bay of San Francisco the rains arc almost constant from November to April, the earth being moistened dur- ing the remainder of the year by heavy dews and fogs. Snow and ice are sometimes seen in the winter on the shores of this bay, but never farther south, except on the mountain-tops. The whole of California is, however, subject to long droughts ; thus little or no rain fell in any part of the country during 1840 and 1841, in which years the inhabitants were reduced to the greatest distress. Among the valleys in this part of California are many streams, some of which discharge large quantities of water in the rainy season ; but no river is known to flow through the maritime ridge of mountains) from the interior to the Pacific, except perhaps the Sacramento, falling into the Bay of San Francisco, though several are thus represented on the maps. The valleys thus watered afford abundant pasturage for cattle, with which they are covered : California, however, contains but two tracts of country capable of supporting large numbers of inhabitants, which are, that west of Mount San Bernardin, about the 34th degree of latitude, and that sur- rounding the Bay of San Francisco and the lower part of the Sacramento ; and even in these, artificial irrigation would be indispensable to insure success in agriculture. The earliest settlements in continental California were made by the Spaniards, in 1769, immediatf^ly after the expulsion of the Jesuits from the peninsula. These establ'^hmentd were at first missionary and military ; the charge of converting the natives being committed to the Franciscans, while forts and garrisons were placed at various points, for the occupation and defence of the country. Towns were subsequently laid out and settled, and farms were cultivated, for the most part by natives, under the direction of the friars and oflicers. All these establishments declined considerably after the overthrow of the Spanish power, in consequence of want of funds, and the diminution of the authority of the priesthood; but, on the other hand, the commerce of the country has increased, and many vessels, principally from the United States, resort to its ports, bringing manufactured articles, in return for which they receive hides, tallow, and other raw productions. In 1835, the number of missions was twenty- one, and of the towns seven, to which were attached about twenty-three thousand persons, mostly of the pure aboriginal race, and many of mixed breed. Since that time several missions have been abandoned, while the towns have increased in number and population. The most southern settlement on the Pacific side of California, and the I GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA. 17 is called the aast run the the Cape of the latitude re, bordering in the same etching from rnia, between resembles the hot and dry, he wet season the rains arc loistened dur- vv and ice are never f irther a is, however, ly part of the abitants were streams, some eiison ; but no tains from the illing into the i on the maps. le, with which icts of country are, that west and that sur- Sacramento ; ble to insure made by the [suits from the jand military ; Franciscans, lie occupation llaid out and res, under the Ints declined nisequence of psthood; but, td, and many Irts, bringing pides, tallow, was twenty- I twenty-three ,nv of mixed while the ;i rnia, and the first established by the Spaniards, is San Diego, a small town of tliree hun- dred iuliabitants, situated about a mile from the north shore of a bay which counnunicates with the ocean, in the latitude of ;W degrees 41 niiuutcs. The bay runs about ten miles eastward into the land, being separated from tlie ocean, in its whole length, by a ridge of sand, and affords entrance to vessels of any size, which may anchor safe from all winds within a mile of the northern shore. The passage leading into it is defended by for- tifications which, if properly armed and manned, might render the harbor completely secure from all attacks by sea. The mission stands about seven miles from the town, in a valley, through which a torrent rushes in the rainy season. About sixty miles farther north-west is San Juan, a small place on an unsafe and inconvenient harbor, in latitude of 33 degrees 27 minutes; and somewhat farther in the same direction is San Pedro, on a bay open to the south-west winds, but sheltered from the north-west. The country in the immediate vicinity of these places is sandy and barren, yielding little besides grass for cattle; in the interior, however, on the north-cast, is the wide tract already mentioned, extending to Mount San Bernardin, which is said to be of great fertility wherever it is properly irrigated, producing wheat, vines, olives, and fruits of various kinds. In this tract, at the distance of thirty miles north from San Pedro, stands Pueblo de los Anffcles, the largest town in California, containinir a thou- sand inhabitants; and near it the mission of San Gabriel, the vineyards of which formerly yielded a large supply of good wine. From Port San Pedro the Californian coast runs westward, more than a hundred miles, to (Jape Conception, a point situated in latitude of 34 de- grees 22 minutes, as much dreaded by navigators, on account of the violence and frequency of the storms in its vicinity, as Cape Ilatteras, near the same parallel on the eastern side of the continent. Opposite this part of the coast are the Islands of Santa Barbara, eight in number, of which four, called Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente, contain from twenty to fifty square miles of surface each; the others being mere rocks. Between the Island of Santa Cm/ and tiie main land on the north is the channel of Santa Barbara, oi tie north side of which, the town, fort, and mission of Santa Barbara arc iiiated, in a sandy plain, stretching from the coast to the Santa Barbara rangf of mountains. The harbor is an open roadstead, sheltered from the north and west winds, which there prevail from November to March, but atfording no protection against the south-westerly storms, which are so vio- lent and frequent during the remainder of the year. At the distance of a hundred miles north of Cape Conception, the Santa Barbara Mountains end, as already said, in a point called the Cape of Pines, (Punta de Pinos,) in latitude of 30 degrees 37 minutes; between which and another point, twenty-four miles farther north, called Cape New Year, (Punta de Nuevo Ano,) is included the extensive Bay of Mon- uiey. This bay lies in an indentation of the coast, almost semi-circular; its southernmost part is, however, separated from the ocean by tiie point of land ending at the Cape of Pines, and thus forms a cove, near the Bouthernmost part of which stands the town of Monterey, or San Carlos de Monterey, the seat of government of California. The town is a wretched collection of mud-built houses, containing about two hundred inhabitants; the castle, as it is termed, and the fort on the Cape of Pines, are merely mud walla, behind which are a few old guns, all ineffective. 3 18 GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA. 1; 1 1 ! ; f The mission, situated three miles south of the town, in a valley, through wliich runs the torrent of San Curinelo, embraces extensive buildings, but is in a ruinous state, and nearly deserted. The surrounding country possesses a good soil and a delightful cli- mate, and might be rendered very productive by irrigation, for which two small rivers, flowing from the mountains, offer abundant supplies of water at all times; it, however, remains uncultivated, and scarcely any article of food is obtained from it, except the meat of the cattle covering the valleys. From the eastern shore of the bay, a sandy plain extends eastward to the foot of the San Bruno xMountains, traversed by a river called the Buena- ventura, which is erroneously represented, on some maps, as flowing through the great ridge from the interior countries. North of the bay, at a little distance from Cape New Year, is the mission of Santa Cruz, to wliich vessels commonly resort for water and provisions; and farther in the interior, beyond the San Bruno range, is the town of Branciforte, one of the largest in California. The next remarkable headland on the coast north of the Bay of Mon- terey is that called Punta de los Reyes, or the Cape of Kings, composed of high white cliffs, projecting into the Pacific, under the 38th degree of lat- itude ; when seen from the north or the south, it presents the appearance of an island, being connected with tiie main land on the east by low ground. A few miles south of this point are two clusters of rocky islets, called Farellones, immediately east of which. The Bay of San Francisco joins the Pacific by a passage or channel two miles wide, and three in length, under the parallel of 37 degrees 5.) minutes, nearly in the same latitude with the entrance of Chesapeake Bay, and the Straits of Gibraltar. From this passage the bay extends northward and southward, surrounded by ranges of high hills, and con- taining some of the most convenient, beautiful, and secure harbors, on the Pacific, and, indeed, in the world. The southern branch of the bay extends south-eastward about thirty miles, lerminiting in thit direction in a number of small arms, receiving streams fiom the hills. Its average breadth is about twelve miles ; and it may be considered as occupying the bottom, or northern extremity of a long V illey, included between the San Bruno Mountains on the west and the Bol bones ridge on the east. Farther up this valley, in the south, are the large Lakes of Tule, which communicate with each other and with the bay during the rainy season, and are said to be surrounded by a delightful country, containing a numerous population of natives. The northern branch of the bay becomes contracted, near the entrance, into a strait, beyond which is a basin, ten miles in diameter, called the Bay of San Pablo. A second passage, r died tlic Strait of Carquines, connects this basin with another, containing maiiv islands, into which empty the Sacramento, and one or two smaller streams. The Sacramento rises among the mountains of the great westernmost chain, near the 41st degree of latitude, and is said to receive a branch flowinji through those mountains from the east. Thence it flows, in a very tortuous course, about three hundred miles, southward, to its entrance in the Bay of San Fran- cisco, being navigable by small vessels to the distance of more than one hundred miles from the bay. The lower part of the country traversed by It is an alluvial plain, parts of which are prairies, while others are cov- ered with forests of noble trees, principady oaks, and the whole appears to ajuwiwiu ag r'*!j.« wg f^' ^yw OEOORAPHY OF CALIFORNIA. 19 ley, through e buildinrrs, 3lightful cli- )r which two lies of water ly article of the valleys, tward to the the Buena- as flowing f the bay, at ita Cniz, to d farther in iciforte, one Say of Mon- ;omposed of egree of lat- appearance east by low rocky islets, or channel ' 37 degrees Chesapeake bay extends s, and con- larbors, on lirty miles, iig streams it may be of a long st and the south, are r and with ^ided by a 'es. entrance, Icalled the arquines, ito which tcrainento the 4Ist igh those [se, about [an Fran- Ithan one rersed by lire cov- hpears to be well adapted for the support of a large population. The other rivers falling into this basin are the San Joaquin from the south, and the Jesus Maria from the north, both inconsiderable streams. In the country around this bay, settlements and cultivation have ad- vanced more than in any other part of California. Near its southern ex- tremity are the town of San Jose and tlie mission of Santa Clara, in a delightful region, producing grains and fruits of various kinds in pro- fusion, and affording pasture to numerous herds of cattle. On the northern branch are the missions of San Raefael, and San Francisco Solano; and many small establishments for farming or grazing have been formed at other points. The town, mission, and fort of San Francisco, are all situated near the south side of the passage connecting the bay with the Pacific, on a plain at the termination of the San Bruno Moun- tains. The principal anchorage for vessels is a cove a few miles south of the entrance-passage, between the western shore of the bay and the Island of Yerba Buena, where a settlement has been commenced by the English and Americans, who conduct nearly all the trade of that part of California. Near Cape de los Reyes, on the north, is the entrance of the Bay of Bodega, which thence extends northward and southward, a few miles in each direction. On the shore of the northern branch, the Russians, in 181'2, formed an establisl. nent, chiefly with the view of supplying their settlements farther north with grain and meat; and some years after- wards, another, called Ross, was made by the same nation, on the coast of the Pacific, thirty miles north of Bodega, in latitude of 3.S degrees 33 minutes, near the mouth of a small stream, named by them the Slavinka Ross. In 1838, each place contained a stockaded fort, enclosing maga- zines and dwellings for the officers, and surrounded by other buildings, among which were mills, shops for smiths and carpenters, and stables for cattle ; and in the neighborhood of Bodega, farms were worked, from which several thousand bushels of wheat, besides pease, and other vegetables, butter, and cheese, were annually sent to the trading posts in the north. These establishments proved constant sources of annoy- ance to the Spaniards, and to their Mexican successors, who did not, however, venture to attempt to remove them by force; in 1841, they were abandoned by the Russians, who transferred all their interests in that quarter to a company or party composed of citizens of the United States, and others, eipially determined to resist the authority of Mexico. Cape Mendocino, which appears to be the n.atural point of junction of the coasts of California and Oregon, is the most elevjited land near the Pacific in that quarter. It consists of two high promontories, situated about ten miles apart, of which the southern and the most elevated is situated under the parallel of 40 degrees 19 minutes, nearly in the same latitude with Sandy Hook, at the entrance of the bay of New York ; and is believed to be the western termination of the great chain of the Snowy Mountains, which forms the southern barrier of the regions drained by the Columbia. This cape was formerly much dreaded by the Spanish navigators, on account of the storms usually prevailing in its vicinity ; but, those fears having passed away, the cape has lost much of the respect with which it was regarded by mariners. The interior of California, east of the mountains which border the coast, is imperfectly known. According to the vague reports of the 20 GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA. ''^!li Catholic missionaries and American traders, who have traversed it in various directions, the northern portion is a wilderness of lofty mountains, apparently forming a continuous chain, from the range which borders the I'acific coast to the Rocky Mountains; and the southern division is a desert of sandy plains, and rocky hills, and lakes and marshes, having no outlet to the sea. The heat of the sun in the plains is described, by all who have experienced it, as most intense ; and from their accounts it seems to be certain that this region, with the exception, perhaps, of the portion immediately adjacent to the Colorado River, must ever remain uninhabited. Tiie Colorado seems to be the only outlet of the waters of these terri- tories. It is formed near the 41st degree of latitude, by the junction of several streams, rising among the Rocky Mountains, of which the prin- cipal are the Sids-kadee, or Green River, and the Sandy River : thence flowing south-westward, it passes through a range of mountains where its course is broken by numerous ledges of rocks, producing falls and rapids ; after which' it receives the Nabaho, the Jaquesila, the Gila, and other large streams from the east, and enters the Gulf of California, under the parallel of ;J2 degrees. The country in the vicinity of this river, for some distance from its mouth, is flat, and is overflowed during the rainy season, when the quantity of water discharged is very great ; and high embankments are thus made by the deposit of the mud on each side, similar to those on the Lower Mississippi. IIow far the Colorado may be ascended by vessels from the gulf, is not known : from some accounts, it seems to be navigable for three or f)ur hundred miles; while, according to others, on which more reliance may be placed, obstacles to the passage of vessels occur much nearer to the sea. West of the Colorado, between the 40th and the 42d degrees of lati- tude, is a great collection of salt water, called the Utah Lake, probiibly the same which appears on the old Spanish maps, under the names of Lake Timpanogos and Lake Tcgayo. It is fed by several streams, the principal of which is the Bear River, entering on the north-east, after a long and tortuous course through the mountains. Near the northern- most part of this river is an extensive plain of white calcareous earth, on the borders of which are several springs of water, called the Soda or Beer Springs, highly charged with carbonic acid gas, and one, the temper- ature of which is but little below the boiling point. Around the Utah Lake are other collections of water, some salt, and having no outlet ; others fresh, and communicating either with the great lake, or with the Colorado. The principal of these is Ashley's Lake, situated about a hundred miles south of the Utah Lake, on the banks of which a fur-trading establishment, called Fort Ashley, was founded by the Americans, in 1827; but it has since been abandoned. Having thus presented the most remarkable features of California, those of Oregon, or the country of the Columbia next adjoining on the north, will be described. M tht n sed it in ountains, rders the jion is a laving no ;d, by ail counts it )s, of the T remain lese terri- nction of tlie prin- r : thence where its id rapids ; ither large le parallel e distance son, when yankinents 3 those on by vessels navigable on which sels occur ;es of lati- probably names of earns, the st, after a northern- earth, on Soda or e temper- salt, and Ithe great 's Lake, Ibnnks of pd by the ilifornia, on the 1 I OREGON Oregon is the name usually applied to the part of the western section of America, which is traversed and principally drained by the Columbia — from the supposition, no doubt erroneous, that this river was called Oregon by the aborigines in its vicinity. The political boundaries of Oregon have not as yet been fixed by agreement between the parties claiming possession of it. The govern- ment of the United States considers them as embracing the whole territory west of the Rocky Mountains, from the latitude of 42 degrees to that of 54 degrees 40 minutes ; the British have, however, refused to acknowl- edge the right of the Americans to any portion north of the Columbia River. Leaving this political question to be determined hereafter, a view will first be presented of THE COUNTRY OF TriE COLUMBIA. This country extends on the Pacific from the vicinity of Cape Mendo- cino, five hundred miles, to Cape Flattery, fit the entrance of the Strait of Fuca; from the eastern extremity of which strait, distant one hundred miles from the ocean, a range of mountains stretches north-eastward, about four hundred miles, to the Rocky Mountains, near the 54th degree of latitude, separating the waters of the Columbia from those of Frazer's River. The Rocky Mountains form the eastern boundary of the Colum- bia regions, for about twelve hundred miles, from the 54th to the 4'2d parallels ; and those regions are separated from California, on the south, by the Snowy Mountains, which appear to extend continuously from the Rocky Mountains, nearly in the course of the 41st parallel, about seven hundred miles westward, to the vicinity of the Pacific. It is not easy to define the.se boundaries more exactly, as the directions of the mountain chains are not accurately ascertained. The territory included within these limits, and drained almost entirely by the Columbia, is not less than four hundred thousand square miles in superficial extent; which is more than double that of France, and nearly half that of all the states of the Federal Union. Its southernmost points are in the same latitudes with Boston and with Florence; while its northernmost correspond with the north- ern extremities of Newfoundland, and with the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. The Pacific coast of this territory extends in a line nearly due north from Cape Mendocino to Cape Flattery; in which whole distance there is but one harbor, or place of refuge for ships, namely, the mouth of the Columbia River, near the 4(5th degree of latitude, and that harbor is very frequently inaccessible. The shores south of the Columbia are most perilous to navigators at all times; as they are every where steep and rocky, and bordered by shoals 22 GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. i .11 i ,!ni and reefs, on which the waves of the Pacific are driven with fury by the prevailing north-west winds. Vessels not drawing more than eight feet may, however, enter the Umqua, a small stream falling into the Pacific, in the latitude of 42 degrees 51 minutes, immediately north of a remark- able promontory called Cape Orford, probably the Cape Blanco of the old Spanish navigators. Small vessels may also find anchorage in a cove or recess of the coast, named by the Spaniards Port Trinidad, under the parallel of 41 degrees 3 minutes, about forty miles north of Cape Mendo- cino, and in some other spots; but no place on this coast can be said to offer protection to vessels against winds or waves. North of the Columbia, the coast is less beset by dangers; and it offers, immediately under the 47th parallel, one good port, for small vessels, which was discovered in May, 1792, by Captain Gray, of Boston, and named by him Bulfinch's Harbor, though it is more commonly called Gray's Harbor, and is frequently represented on English maps as Whid- bey's Bay. The only other spot worthy of particular notice on this part of the coast is Destruction Island, near the continent, in latitude of 47J degrees, so called by the captain of an Austrian trading ship in 1787, in consequence of the murder of some of his men by the natives of the adjacent country. The Strait of Fuca is an arm of the sea separating a great island from the continent on the south and east, to which much interest was for some time attached, from the supposition that it might be a channel connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific north of America. It extends from the ocean eastward about one hundred miles, varying in breadth from ten to thirty miles, between the 48th and the 49th parallels of latitude; thence it turns to the north-west, in which direction it runs, first expanding into a long, wide bay, and then contracting into narrow and intricate passages among islands, three hundred miles farther, to its reunion with the Pacific, under the 51st parallel. From its south-eastern extremity, a great gulf, called Admiralty Inlet, stretches southward into the continent more than one hundred miles, dividing into many branches, of which the principal jire Hood's Canal, on the west, and Puget's Sound, the southernmost, extending nearly to the 47th parallel. This inlet possesses many excel- lent harbors; and the country adjacent, being delightful and productive, will, there is every reason to believe, in time become valuable, agricul- turally, as well as commercially. There are many other harbors on the Strait of Fuca, of which the principal are Port Discovery, near the entrance of Admiralty Inlet, said by Vancouver to be one of the best in the Pacific, and Poverty Cove, called Port Nufiez Gaona by the Span- iards, situated a few miles east of Cape Flattery. That cape, so named by Cook, is a conspicuous promontory in the latitude of 48 degrees 27 minutes, near which is a large rock, called Tatooche's Island, united to the promontory by a rocky ledge, at times partially covered by water. The shore between the cape and Admiralty Inlet is composed of sandy cliffs overhanging a beach of sand and stones ; from it the land gradually rises to a chain of mountains, stretching southwardly along the Pacific to the vicinity of the Columbia, the highest point of which received, in 1783, the name of Mount Olympus. The interior of this part of America is, as already said, traversed by many great ranges of mountains, running generally almost parallel with each other, and with the coast : before describing them, however, it will ^i? I ' I i^=«« iiw**" GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. 28 ry by tho sight feet e Pacific, I remark- Df the old a cove or inder the e Mendo- e said to I it offers, 1 vessels, ston, and ily called as Whid- 1 this part de of 47J in 1787, latives of iland from s for some lonnecting from the •om ten to e; thence nding into 3 passages le Pacific, Teat gulf, riore than principal |hernmost, ny excel- oductive, , agricul- rs on the near the le best in he Span- io named grees 27 ;ed to the r. The iidy cliffs [ally rises c to the 783, the ;rsed by [llel with |r, it will * % be convenient to present a general view of the Columbia River and its branches. The Columbia enters the Pacific Ocean between two points of land, seven milca apart — Cape Disappointment on the north, and Cape Adams on the south, of which the former is in ihe latitude of 40 degrees 19 minutes, (corresponding nearly with Quebec, in Canada, and Geneva, in Switzerland,) and in longitude of 47 degrees west from Washington, or 124 degrees west from Greenwich. The main river is formed, at the distance of two hundred and fifty miles from its mouth, by the union of two large streams, one from the north, which is usually considered as the principal branch, and the other, called the Sahnptiu, or Snake, or Lewi^i's River, from the south-east. "J'hese two great confluents receive, in their course, many other streams, and they thus collect together all the waters flowing from the western sides of the Rocky Mountains, between the 4"^d and the 54th parallels of latitude. The northern branch of the Columbia rises in the Rocky Mountains, near the 53d degree of latitude. One of its head-waters, the Canoe River, runs from a small lake, situated in a remarkable cleft of the great chain, called the Punch Bowl, at the distance of only a few feet from another lake, whence flows the westernmost stream of the Athabasca River, a tributary to the Mackenzie, emptying into the Arctic Sea. This cleft appears to be the only practicable pass in the mountains north of the 49th degree of latitude, and through it is conducted all the trade of British subjects between the territories on either side of the ridge. It is described, by those who have visited it, as presenting 'scenes of the most terrific grandeur, being overhung by the highest peaks in the dividing range, of which one, called Mount Brown, is not less than sixteen thousand feet, and another, Mount Hooker, exceeds fifteen thousand feet, above the ocean level. At a place called Boat Encampment, near the 52d degree of latitude. Canoe River joins two other streams, the one from the north, the other, the largest of the three, running along the base of the Rocky Mountains, from the south. The river thus formed, considered as the main Colum- bia, takes its course nearly due south, through defiles, between lofty mountains, being generally a third of a mile in width, but, in some places, spreading out into broad lakes, for about throe hundred miles, to the latitude of 48J degrees, where it receives the Flatbow or M'Gillivray's River, a large branch, flowing, also, from the Rocky Mountains on the east. A little farther south, the northern branch unites with the Clarke or Flathead River — scarcely inferior, in the quantity of water supplied, to the other. The sources of the Clarke are situated in the dividintr rancre, near those of the Missouri and the Yellowstone, whence it runs north- ward, along the base of the mountains, and then westward, forming, under the 48th parallel, an extensive sheet of water, called the KullerspelmLake, surrounded by rich tracts of land, and lofty mountains, covered with noble trees; from this lake the river issues, a large and rapid stream, and, after running about seventy miles westward, it falls into the north branch of the Columbia, over a ledge of rocks. From the point of union of these two rivers, the Columbia turns towards the west, and rushes through a ridge of mountains, where it forms a cataract called the Chaudiere or Kettle Falls. Continuing in the same direction eighty miles, between the 48th and the 49th parallels, it receives, in succession, the Spokan from ! I 24 GEOGRAI'HY OF OREGON. (i ■r lill the south, and the Okinagan from the north, and, from the mouth of the latter, it pursues a soulluvard course fur one hundred and sixty miles, to its junction witii the great southern branch, near the 47th degree of latitude. Of the Sahaptin, or Lewis, or Snake River, the great southern branch of the Columbia, the farthermost sources me situated in the deep valleys or holes of the Rocky Mountains, near the 42d degree of latitude, within short distances of those of the Yellowstone, the Platte, and the Colorado. The most eastern of these head-waters, considered as the main river, issues from Pierre's Hole, between tiie Rocky Mountains and a parallel range called the Tetons, from three remarkable peaks, resembling teats, which rise to a great height above the others. Running westward, this stream unites successively with Henry's Fork from the north, and the Portneuf from the south. Some distance below its junction with the latter, the Lewis enters the defile between the Blue Mountains on the west, and another rocky chain, called the Salmon River Mountains, on the east, and takes its course north-westward, for about six hundred miles, to its union with the northern branch, receiving many large streams from each side. The principal of these influent streams are the Malade or Sickly River, the Boise or Reed's River, the Salmon River, and the Kooskooskee, from the east, and the Malheur and Powder River, from the Blue Mountains, on the west. Of these two great brahclies of the Columbia, and the streams which fall into them, scarcely any portion is navigable by the smallest vessels for more than thirty or forty miles continuously. The northern branch is much used by the British traders for the conveyance of their furs and merchandise, by means of light canoes, which, as well as their cargoes, are carried by the boatmen around the falls and rapids so frequently inter- rupting their voyage. The Lewis River and its streams offer few ad- vantages in this way ; as they nearly all rush, in their whole course, through deep and narrow chasms, between perpendicular rocks, against which a boat would be momentarily in danger of being dashed by the current. From the point of junction of these two great branches, the course of the Columbia is generally westward to the ocejin. A little below that point, it receives the Walla-Walla, and then, in succession, the Umatalla, John Day's River, and the Chutes or Falls River, all flowing from the south, and some others, of less size, from the north. Near the mouth of the Falls River, eighty miles below the Walla-Walla, are situated the Falls, or Chutes, as they are called, of the Columbia, where the great stream enters a gap in the Far-West range of mountains. Four miles farther down are the Dalles, or rapids formed by the passage of the waters between vast masses of rock ; and thirty miles below these are the Cascades, a series of falls and rapids extending more than half a mile, at the foot of which the tides are observable at the distance of a hundred and twenty miles from the Pacific. A few miles below the Cascades, a large river, called the Willamet, (the Multonomah of Lewis and Clarke,) enters the Columbia from the south, by two branches, between which is an extensive island, named Wappatoo Island, from an edible root, so called, found growing in abun- dance upon it. Twenty-five miles from the mouth of this river are its falls, where all its waters are precipitated over a ledge of rocks more than forty feet in height. Beyond this point, the Willamet has been # ''ft % 7l» tl oj dl GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. louth of the Lly miles, to I decree of lern branch Jeep valleys ude, within e Colorado, main river, 1 a parallel ibling teats, stward, this th, and the )n with the ains on the :ains, on the ed miles, to reams from Malade or er, and the er, from the eams which t vessels for 1 branch is eir furs and eir cargoes, lently inter- Fer few ad- se, through St which a lurrent. course of I below that Umatalla, from the mouth of [tuated the the great 'our miles [ge of the pse are the [if a mile, hundred ^illamet, from the named in abun- tr are its ;ks more las been traced about two hundred miles, in a tortuous course, through a narrow but generally fertile valley, to its sources in the Far-West chain of mountains, near the 4;}d degree of latitude. In this valley were formed the earliest agricultural settlements by citizens of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains; and, from all accounts, it appears to present greater advantages of soil and climate than any other part of the country drained by the Columbia. Descending the Columbia forty miles from the lower mouth of the Wil- lamet, we find a small stream, called the Cowelitz, entering it from the north; and, thirty miles lower down, the great river, which is nowhere above more than a mile wide, expands to the breadth of four, and, in some places, of seven, miles, before mingling its waters with those of the Pacific ; it, however, preserves its character as a river, being rapid in its current, and perfectly fresh and potable, to within a league of the ocean, except during very dry seasons and the prevalence of violent westerly winds. The Columbia may generally be ascended, by ships of three or four hundred tons, nearly to the foot of its cascades : the navigation, especially of the lower part, is, however, at all times, difficult and dangerous, in consequence of the number and the variability of the shoals; and it is only in fine weather that vessels can with safely enter or leave its mouth, which is guarded by a line of breakers, extending across from each of the capes. The other rivers which drain the parts of this territory near the sea are numerous, but generally small, the majority being merely brooks, which disappear during the dry season. The Umqua, near the 43d degree of latitude, and the Chekelis, which empties into Bulfinch's Harbor, are the principal of those streams; but neither of them offers any facilities for commercial communication. Of the chains of mountains traversing Oregon from north to south, the most remarkable is the westernmost, for which the name of Far-West Mountains has been here proposed, running northward from California at the distance of eighty or a hundred miles from the Pacific coast. Under the 49th parallel, where the base of the chain is washed by the easternmost waters of the Strait of Fuca, it is divided into three distinct ridges, one of which stretches north-east, to the Rocky Moun- tains, separating the waters of -the Columbia from those of Fraser's River ; another overhangs the sea-coast north-westward ; and the islands of the North-West Archipelago, which mask the shore of the contijient from the 49th to the 58th parallels, may be considered as a third ridge, extending through the sea. The principal peaks of this chain, in Oregon, are Mount Baker, near the 49th parallel. Mount Rainier, under the 47th, and Mount St. Helen's, the highest of the range, which rises, probably, not less than fifteen thousand feet above the ocean level, due east of the mouth of the Columbia. South of that river are Mount Hood, near the 45th parallel ; Mount Jefferson, so named by Lewis and Clarke, under the 44th ; Mount Shasty, near the 43d ; and Mount Jackson, a stupendous pinnacle, in the latitude of 41 degrees 40 minutes, which has been also called Mount Pitt by the British traders. Some of these peaks are visible from the ocean, particularly Mount St. Helen's, which serves as a mark for vessels entering the Columbia ; when seen from the highlands farther east, they present one of the grandest spectacles in nature. This chain is entirely of vol- I 26 GEOGRAPHY 01' OREGON. '»i ^11 'I ^'1( I ill.' canic formation ; and it must contain active volcanoes, as there are nu other means of accountini^ for the showers of ashes which occasionally fill! in many parts of Orejron, particularly in the vicinity of Mount St. Helen's. The latest of these supposed eruptions took place in 1834. The country between the Pacific coast and this westernmost chain consists, like the part of California similarly situated, of ranges of lower mountains, separated by narrow valleys, generally running parallel to the great chain, and to the coast. Its superlicial extent may be estimated at about forty-five thousand s(juare miles,* of which a small proportion only, not exceeding an eighth, is fit for cultivation. The climate, like that of California, is warm and dry in summer ; very little rain falling between April and November, though it is violent, and almost constant, during the remainder of the year. Snow is rarely seen in the valleys, in which the ground frequently continues soft and unfrozen throughout the winter. The soil, in some of these valleys, is said to be excellent for wheat, rye, oats, peas, potatoes, and apples ; fifteen bushels of wheat being sometimes yielded by a single acre. Indian corn, which requires both heat and moisture, does not succeed in any part of Oregon Hogs live and mul- tiply in the woods, where an abundance of acorns is to be found ; the cattle also increase, and it is not generally necessary for them to be housed or fed in the winter. The hills and the Hanks of the great moun- tains are covered with timber, which grows to an immense size. A fir, near Astoria, measured forty-six feet in circuinforence at ten feet from the earih ; the length of its trunk, before giving off a branch, was one hun- dred and fifty-three feet, and its whole height not less than three hundred feet. Another tree, of the same species, on the banks of the Umqua River, is fifty-seven feet in girth of trunk, and two hundred and sixteen feet in length below its branches. " Prime sound pines," says Cox, *' from two hundred to two hundred and eighty feet in height, and from twenty to forty feet in circumference, are by no means uncommon." The land on which these large trees grow is good ; but the labor of clearing it would be such as to prevent any one from undertaking the task, until all the other spots, capable of cultivation, should have been occupied. From the peculiarities of climate above mentioned, it is probable that this country cannot be rendered very productive without artificial irrigation, which appears to be prticticable only in a few places; and that conse- quently the progress of settlement in it will be much slower than in the Atlantic regions of the continent, where this want of moisture does not exist. About one hundred and fifty miles east of the Far-West Mountains is another chain, called the Blue Mountains, stretching from the Snowy Mountains northward to the 47th degree of latitude, and forming the * The Strait of Fuca, which bounds this region on the north, is in latitude of 48^ degrees ; find, assuming the 4'2d parallel as tne southern limit of the territory, its extreme length is 6i degrees, or less than four liiindrcd and fifty miles English. Its breadth — that is, the distance between the Pacific shore ana the great chain of mountains which forms the eastern boundary of this region — does not average a hundred miles; and, by multiplying these two numbers, forty-five thousand square English miles appears as the superficial extent of the westernmost region of Oregon. It has, however, been gravely asserted and repeated on the floor of the Congress of the United States, that the valley of the Willamet, which is but an inconsiderable portion of this region, contains not less than aixty tlwusand square miles of the finest land : and many other assertions, equally extravagant, have been made, and are be- lieved, respecting the vast extent of land in the country of the Columbia, superior in quality to any in the United Slates. OEOORAPHV OF OREGON. 97 ire are no ccasionally Mount St. 1834. nost clinin ;s of lower alic-l to llic tiinatcd at rtion only, ike that of g between during the which the lie winter, ivheat, rye, sometimes I heat and i and mul- found ; the hem to be reat moun- ze. A fir, Dt from the 9 one hun- ;e hundred he Umqua md sixteen I says Cox, and from The clearing task, until occupied, that this irrigation, at conse- an in the does not untains is Snowy ming the jde of 484 rritory, its glish. Its chain of average nd square f Oregon, norress of nsiderable the finest A are be- iperior in western wall of the valley of the Lewis, the great southern branch of the Columbia. North of the 4Tth degree are other ridges, which appear to be continuations of the Blue INlountains; but they are less defuied, and arc distinguished l)y other names. The region between the Blue and the Far- VV est Mountains embraces several tracts of country comparatively level, and some valleys wider than those of the Pacific region ; the soil is, however, less productive, and the climate less favovai le for agriculture, than in the places similarly situated nearer the ocean. The most exten- sive valleys are those traversed by the streams flowing into the Columbia from the .south, between the Far-West lange and the Blue Mountains, particularly the VV^ilhi-Walla, and the Falls or Chutes Jlivors: the plains, as they are called, though they are rather tracts of undulating country, are on both sides of the northern branch of the Columbia, between the 4<3th and the 49th parallels of latitude. The surface of the plains consists generally of a yellow, sandy clay, covered with grass, small shrubs, and prickly pears ; in the valleys farther soutii, the soil is somewhat better, containing less of sand and more of vegetable mould, and they give sup- port to a few trees, chiclly sumach, cotton-wood, and other soft and u.se- less woods. The climate of this whole region is more dry than that of the country nearer the Pacific ; the days arc warm, and the nights cool ; but the want of moisture in the air prevents the contrast of temperature from being injurious to health, and the country is represented, by all who have hiid the op])ortunity of judging by experience, as being of extraordi- nary salubrity. The wet season extends from November to April; but the rains are nfithcr frequent nor abundant, and they never occur at any other period of the year. In the southern valleys there is little snow; farther north it is more common, but it seldom lies long, except on the heights, liiu] r such circumstances, it will be seen that little encourage- ment is ofl. red ''ir the cultivation of this part of Oregon. On the other hand, the phiuis and valleys appear to be admirably adapted for the support of cattle, age of communication between the Pacific and the Atlantic ; and the true geogrnphical character of the islands, which had previously been r-^garded as |)arts of the continent, was thus ascertained. Tlie British, under Vancouver, made the most complete examination of the archipelago, and bestowed on the islands, channels, capes, nnd bays, a number of names, nearly all drawn from the lists of the Britisu royal family, peerage, and parliament, some of which still retain their pl.ices on maps, though few of them will probably be used when those parts of An erica are occupied by a civilized population. Of the interior of tlie islands little is known; but from all accounts, they are generally rocky and barren. The climate of the southernmost nl lil III st thi in| cc iui thi GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. 29 perature in 1 grains or )e the most River, and re tlie hills soil of the •he country parallel of rivers, and scarcely a ized people rther south, pal support , communi- esnel's, and ig but shal- , extremity, jnetrated by mountains le open Pa- kfill be here of islands, about seven 1, which ex- lat is to say, e in number n fifty thou- line o: ten, 'he largest .st to north- considered h the great ias are the in their ind inlets ; [arrow and [during the Ihiefly with \n between :tpr of the [continent, the most |e islands, from the of which ly be used lion. [accounts, Ihernmost islands appears to resemble that of the western region of Oregon, except that it is less dry in summer ; farther north, the rainy season increases in length, but the accompanying increase in the coldness of the atmosphere neutralizes any advantages for cultivation which might be derived from the more constant supply of moisture. Wood, however, seems to be every where abundant near the coasts ; and this may prove important, as the channels of the archipelago offer great facilities for communication by steam vessels. It has been already said that Russia claims all the coasts and islands north of the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes. The islands south of that line which are here considered as attached to Oregon, lie in three groups. The southernmost group embraces one large island and an infinite number of smaller onei^ extending from the 4yth parallel to the 51st, and separated from the continent, on the south and east, by the channel called the Strait of Fuca. The main island received, in 1792, the long and inconvenient appellation of Island of Quadra and Vancouver, in virtue of a compromise between a Britisii and a Spanish commander, each claim- ing the merit of having ascertained its insulation. It is the largest in the archipelago, and, indeed, on the whole west coast of America, being about two hundred and fifty miles in length, by an average breadth of forty-five miles. On its south-western side are several large bays contain- ing islands, among which are some good ports, formerly much frequented by fur traders. The principal of these places is Nootka or King George's Sound,' opening to the Pacific in the latitude of 49i degrees, between Woody Point, on the north, and Point Breakers, on the south; and otfer- ing a safe harbor for vessels in Friendly Cove, about eight miles from the ocean. Ner. Nootka, on the east, is another bay, called Clyocpiot; far- ther in the same direction, at the entrance of the Strait of Fuca, is iVitti- nat ; and within the strait are several other harbors, generally protected by small islands. Nootka Sound was, in 1T89, I'm.- scene of occurrences which gave to it much celebrity, as they first rendered the north-west coasts of America the subject of dispute and convention between the governments of European nations. Queen Charlotte's Island, so called by the British, or Washington's Island, as it was named by the Americans in 178*^^ forms the centre of another group, situated between the latitudes of 52 and 54 degrees, at a considerable distance from the continent. The principal island is of tri- angular foiin, and is rather smaller in superficial extent than the Island of Quadra and Vancouver, though larger than any other in the archipelago. Its north-western extremity received from the Spanish navigator Perez, who discovered it in 1774, the name of Cape Santa Margarita, but ia now generally known as Cape North; the north-east end was calird by the Americaus Sandy Point, and afierward, by the Spaniards, Cape Invisi- ble ; the southern extremity is Cape St. James. The island presents a number of bays, affording good harbors, which were first examined, sur- veyed, and named, by tlie American fur traders ; and afterwards received from British and Spanish navigators the appellations usually assij^ned to them on maps. The principal of these bays are, on the northern side, Hancock's River, the Port Estrada of the Spaniards, near Sandy Point, and Craft's Sound, or Port Mazarredo, a little farther west ; on the Pacific coast are Port Ingraham, near North Cape, and Magee's Sound, in the latitude of 52^ degrees; on the eastern side of the island are Ift» ,Ml 30 GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. Skilikis. in latitude of 53 degrees 20 minutes, Cuinmasliawa, a few rniles farther south, aud still farther in the same direction. Port Ucah and Port Sturges. Tlie country around some of these places, especially Hancock's River and Magee's Sound, is described by the American fur traders as fertile and beautiful, and enjoying a milder climate than any other parts of the north-west coasts. The Princess Royal's, Burke's, and Pitt's Islands form a third division of the North- West Archipelago, lying near to each other and to the con- tinent, immediately east of Queen Charlotte's Island. They are all small and rocky, and nothing worthy of note appears in the accounts of them. To the aboriginal inhabitants of Oregon it would be inconsistent with the plan of this work to devote much attention. They are all savages; and they make no figure in the history of the country, over the destinies of which they have not exerted, and probably never will exert, any influ- ence. The principal tribes are the Chitsops and Chenooks, occupying the country on each side of the Columbia, near its mouth ; the Klamets and lullamucks, of the Umqua; the Classets, on the Strait of Fuca; the Kooianics, and the Salish or Flatheads, of the country about the northern branches of the Columbia, and the Shoshones, the Sahaptins or Nez-perces, the Kayouses, Walla-Wallas, and Chopunnish, who rove through the resjions of the Lewis branch. These tribes differ inhabits and disposition only so far as they are affected by the mode of life which the nature of the coimtry occupied by them respectively compels them to adopt ; the people of the .sea-coasts, who venture out upon the oce^n, and attack the whale, being generally much bolder and more ferocious than those of the middle country, who derive their subsistence l)y the quiet and unexciting employments of fishing in the river and digging for roots. Amonir the peculiar li;il)its of some of the tribes should be mentioned that of compressing the heads of their infants by boards and bandages, so ns materially to alter their sliape ; which induced the discoverers of the country to apply to those people the nanie of Flathead Indians. This custom appears to have prevailed chiefly among the tribes of the lower Columbia, and but little among those dwelling on the northern branches of the river, to whom the api)ellati(m of Flatheads is, however, at present confined. 'JMie Blackfeet, so much dreaded by travellers in the middle region, chiefly inhnbit the country east of the Rocky Mountains, on the Yellowstone, and the Missouri above its falls, and annually make in- roads upon the Shoshones and the Chopmniish, whom they rob of their horses, their only wealth. The principal tribes in the country north of the Columbia regions, are the Chilcotins and the Talcotins, between whom the most deadly hostility subsists. The natives of the North-West Ar- chipelaiTo are the most cmining and ferocious of all these savages; par- ticularly those of the vicinity of Nootka, who appear also to be the most intelligent. The number of the aborigines of all those territories cannot be ascertained, but it is supposed not to exceed thirty thousand, and is every where diminishing. Among these people, missionaries of various Christian sects have long been laboring with assiduity, though, as it would seem, from all accounts, with little advantage. The Roman Catholics have made the greatest number of converts, if we assume the reception of baptism as the test of conversion: whole tribes submitting at once, qn the first summons, to the rite. The Methodists and Presbyterians employ themselves chiefly in If til SI w| ve of] Pr| to[ adi GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. »1 a few miles ih and Port Hancock's r traders as other parts lird division to the con- ire all small ts of them, isistent with all savages; he destinies t, any influ- 1, occupying the Klamets it of Fuca ; y about the D Sahaptins I, who rove er in habits f life which pels them to ; ocetin, and ocions than l)y the quiet ng for roots. 3 mentioned »andages, so lercrs of the nns. This the lower n branches at present the middle liiis, on the make in- ob of their lorth of the vcen whom i-West Ar- ages; par- )e the most ries cannot Lind, and is imparting a knowledge of the simplest and most useful arts, and have thus induced some of the natives to engage regularly in agricultural pur- suits ; but the poverty of the soil generally renders their efforts in this way unavailing. The last-mentioned missionaries also endeavor to con- vey religious and literary instruction to the Indians through the medium of their own languages, into which books have been translated and printed in the country. Perhaps it would be better to teach the natives to speak and read English ; but the other system has been generally adopted by American missionaries in all parts of the world. The civilized inhabitants of Oregon are, as already mentioned in the General View, either citizens of the United States or servants of the British Hudson's Bay Company : the latter body enjoying, by special grant from the government, the use of all the territories claimed by Great Britain west of the Rocky Mountains, as well as the protection of British Iciws, in virtue of an act of Parliament ; whilst the citizens of the United States remain independent of all authority and jurisdiction whatever. The establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company have been, until recently, devoted exclusively to the purposes of the fur trade: but, within a few years past, several farms have been laid out and worked, under the direction of the agents of the company; and large quantities of timber are cut, and salmon are taken and cured, for exportation to the Russian possessions, to Mexico, and to the Sandwich Islands. The furs are ob- tained partly by hunters and trappers, in the regular service of the com- pany, but chierty by trade with the Indians of the surrounding country ; and they are transported from the different establ'shments in the interior, either to Montreal or to York Factory on Hudson's Bay, or to Fort Van- couver on the Columbia, whence they are sent in the company's vessels to London. The goods for the trade, and the supply of the establish- ments, are received in the same manner ; the interior transportation being performed almost entirely in boats, on the rivers and lakes, between which the articles are carried r-i the backs of the voifagrurs or boatmen. The regular servants of the company, in the territories west of the Rocky Mountains, are, a chief factor, two chief traders, and about four hundred clerks, traders, voyagcurs, &lc. ; besides whom, nearly as many laborers from Canada and from Europe are employed on the farms, and Indians are occasionally engaged when wanted. The factors, traders, and clerks, are, for the most part, Scotchmen or Canadians; the hunters and other regular servants are nearly all half-breeds. The company maintains on the Pacific coasts one steamer and six or eight sail vessels, all armed, and three large ships conduct the connnunications between the Columbia and London. The establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company are generally called forts, and are sufficiently fortified to resist any attacks which might be expected. Those beyond the Rocky Moimtains are in number about twenty-two, of which several, including all the largest, are near the coasts. Fort Vancouver, the principal of these estid)lishments west of the Rocky Moimtains, is situated near the north bank of the Columbia, at the distance of eighty-two miles in a direct line from its mouth, and about one hundred and twenty miles following the course of the stream. The fort is simply a large, square, picketed enclosure, containing houses for the residence of the factor, traders, clerks, and upper servants of the company, magazines for the furs and goods, and workshops of various .A***-'"^ 32 GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. ^'■1 ii\ r4 im If i' kinds; immediately behind it are a garden and orchard, and behind these is the farm, of about six hundred acres, witli barns and all other necessary buildinsr.s. West of the fort are the hospital and houses for the voyagcurs and Indians; about two miles lower down the river are the dairy and pii^fTcry, with numerous herds of cattle, hogs, &lc. ; and about three miles above the fort are water-mills for grinding corn and sawing plank, and sheds for curing salmon. The number of persons usually .attached to the post is not less than seven hundred, of whom more than half are Indians of the country, the others being natives of Great Britain, Canadians, and hall-breeds. The whole establishment is governed nearly on the plan of one of the small towns of Central Europe during the middle ages; the stockade fort representing the baronial castle, in which the great digni- taries of the company exercise almost absolute authority. Fort George, at the distance of ten miles from the Pacific, on the south bank of the Columbia, occupies the site of a trading establishment calhid Astoria, formed by the Americans in 1811, which was taken by the British during the war in 1813, and, though subsequently restored in virtue of the treaty of Ghent, has never since been re-occupied by citizens of the United States. The first Duildings were destroyed by fire in 1820 ; after which, some small houses were erected by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany on the same spot, where a trader and three or four other persons generally reside. Fort Umqua is near the mouth of the Umqua River, which enters the Pacific about a hundred and eighty miles south of the Columbia, and affords a harbor for small vessels. Fort Nasqually is at the mouth of a little river emptying into Puget's Sound, the southern- most part of the great bay called Admiralty Inlet, which extends .south- wardly into the ctmtinent from the Strait of Fuca : near it the Hudson's Bay Company has large fai.ns, which are said to be in a prosperous condition ; this pi. ice is also the seat of a Roman Catholic mission, under the direction of a bishop iii nnrtihiis, (the bishop of Juliopolis,) whose influence is, no doubt, important to the company, as the majority of its servants are of that religion. Fort Langley is at the entrance of Fraser's River into the easter.'i extremity of the Strait of Fuca, in lati- tude of 40 degrees 25 minutes; farther north is Fort M'Loughlin, on Milbank Sound, and Fort Simpson, on Douglas Island, in the North- VVest Archipelago, in latitude W.) degrees. The company has moreover made an agreement with the Russians, who claim the coasts and islands north of the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes, by which the British traders enjoy the exclusive use of the coasts of the continent, extending from that parallel to Cape Spenser, near the 58th degree ; and a post has been in consequence established near the mouth of the Stikine, a large river emptying into the channel called Prince Frederick's Sound, in the latitude of 5G degrees 50 minutes. In the interior of the continent, the Hudson's Bay Company has on the Columbia, above its falls. Fort Walla-Walla, or Nez-Perce, on the ea.st side of the northern branch, near its confluence with the southern; Fort Olunagan, at the entrance of the Okinagan River into the north or main branch ; Fort Colville, near the Kettle Falls ; and some others, of less consequence. On the Lewis, or great southern branch, are Fort Boise, at the mouth of the Boise, or Reed's River, and Fort Hall, at the en- trance of the Portneuf North of the Columbia country are Fort Al- exandria, on Fraser's River, and others on the lakes, which abound in ll GEOGRAPHY Oi' UREGON. 33 ;hind these • necessary voyageurs dairy and tliree miles plank, and ched to the ire Indians adians, and he plan of J ages ; the rreat digni- fic, on the tablishment s taken by restored in by citizens re in 1820 ; i Bay Com- her persons iqua River, 3s south of Vasqually is le southern- tends south- le Hudson's I prosperous lie mission, Juliopolis,) he majority entrance of uca, in lati- oughlin, on the North- s moreover and islands the British extending a post has me, a large lund, in the has on the Ion the east Ihern ; Fort Irth or main Iters, of less Fort Boise, at the en- |e Fort Al- abound in that part of the continent. All these are, however, on a very small scale, and seldom contain more than two or three clerks or traders, and a few Indians or hali-breed hunters. The citizens of the United States in Oregon, previous to 1843, did not probably exceed four hundred in number, nearly all of whom were estab- lished as farmers, graziers, or mechanics, in the valley of the Willamet, and on the Walla-Walla; very few being engaged in any commercial pursuit. Their condition appears to have been prosperous, in conse- quence, there is reason to believe, of their industry, economy, and morality, rather than of any particular advantages offered by the country. The Protestant missionaries reside on the Willamet, at the Falls of the Columbia, near Walla-Walla, in the Spokun and Kotanie countries, and in some other places, where they labor for their own support, as well as for the improvement and conversion of the natives. The first printing press, west of the Rocky Mountains, was set up at the Walla-Walla mission, in 1839 ; on it books are now printed from types set up by na- tive compositors. The Roman Catholics, from Missouri, have also several stations, principally in the regions of the Clarke River, in which thev appear to be laboring diligently for the advancement of their own religicm. The number of American citizens in Oregon was, however, nearly quadrupled, in the latter part of 1843, by the arrival of more than a thou- sand persons — men, women, and children — from the Mississippi val- ley;* and a still greater number went thither in the following year. These emigrants will, most probably, likewise establish themselves in the Willamet valley, or on the UiiKjua, in which regions there is a sufiiciency of good land for the support of more than a hundred thou- sand persons; and they will be able at once to obtain the means of subsistence, as the majority of them have been doubtless accustomed from their childhood to the labors and privations incident to the settle- ment of a new country. Few of them will be disposed to fix their residence in the territory north of the Columbia, which is claimed by Great Britain, until the question of right between that power and the United States shall have been definitively determined. The trappers and hunters from the United States have been compelled, in consequence of the exclusive measures adopted by the Hudson's Bay Company, to quit the regions of the Columbia, and confine themselves to the nortli-western part of California, about the head-waters of the Colorado River and the Utah Lake. In the summer of each year, they repair, with the produce of their labors, to certain places of rendezvous, where they meet the traders, bringing clothes, hardware, arms, ammu- nition, groceries, and other articles, from Missouri ; and an exchaniro of merchandise is effected to the benefit of both parties. The principal ren- dezvous is on the banks of the Sidskadee or Green River, one of the con- fluents of the Colorado, situated near the western extremity of the great gap in the Rocky Mountains, called the South Pass, through which all the communications between the regions of the Mississippi on the one side, and Oregon and California on the other, are conducted. • According to an enumeration made at their encampment on the Big Blue River, •oon after their departure from the Missouri, the numbers of the emigrants in 1843, were 553 males and 449 females, of all ages, making a total of 1000. They car- ried vrith them 121 wagons, 296 horses, 698 oxen in draught, and 973 loose cattle. 84 GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. These commiinications are effected entirely by land ; for, although the unoccupied territories of the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, are traversed by the Missouri, and its great tributaries the Yellow Stone, the Platte, the Kanzas, and the Osage, and further south, by the Arkan- sas and Red rivers emptying into the Mississippi, these streams afford few facilities, either for travel, or for the trf civilized nations, respecting them ; with abundant notices of dates and authorities. Among the proofs and illustrations annexed, arc copies of all the treaties above mentioned, and of many other documents, throwing light upon the history, some of the most important of which are thus for the first time published. The Geographical Sketch which has been writ- ten anew for this edition, and much enlarged, contains, it is believed, the most full and correct view of the territories on the western side of North America as yet presented. The Map embraces the whole division of the continent west of the Mexican Gulf, Lake Superior and Hudson's Straits; including .also the coasts of the Arctic Sea, a part of Asia, and the Sand- wich Islands ; it is in size, 24 inches by 20, beautifully engraved on cop- per, from a drawing made under the eye of the author, from the most re- cent authorities on every part. The table of contents, which is annexed, has been, as well as the Index, carefully drawn up, so as to afford every facility for references. On the other side of this leaf will be seen a specimen page of the his- tory ; the Geographical Sketch and documents, are printed in the type used for this advertisement. 120 HECETA DISCOVERS A GREAT RIVER. [1775. 50th degree of latitude, (on the south-west side of the great island of Vancouver and Quadra,) and, passing by the Port San Lorenzo, (Nootka Sound,) discovered in the })revious year by Perez, he came on the coast of the continent near the 48th parallel, without observ- ing the intermediate entrance of the Strait of Fuca, for which he, however, sought between the 47th and 48th parallels. Thence he ran along the shore towards the south, and, on the 15th of August, arrived opposite an opening, in the latitude of 46 degrees 17 min- utes, from which rushed a current so strong as to preven* his enter- ing it. This circumstance convinced him that it was tiie mouth of some great rive.-, or, perhaps, of the Strait of Fuca, which might, have been erroneously placed on his chart: he, in consequence, remained in its vicinity another day, in the hope of ascertaining the true character of the place ; but, being still unable to enter the opening, he continued his voyage towards the south.* On the opening in the coast thus discovered Heceta bestowed the name of Ensmada de Asuudon-\ — Assumption Inlet ; calling the point on its north side Cape San Roque, and that on the south Cape Frondoso — Leafy Cape. In the charts published at Mexico, soon after tjie con lusion of th'^ voyage, the entrance is, however, called Ensenada de Heceta — Heceta' s Inlet — and liio de San Roque — River of St. Roc. It was, undoubtedly, the mouth of the greatest river on the western side of America ; the same which was, in 1792, first entered by the ship Columbia, from Boston, under the command of Robert Gray, and has ever since been called the Columbia. The evidence of its first disco"'3ry by Heceta, on the 15lh of August, 1775, is unquestionable. From Assumption Inlet, Ileceta continued his course, alon'^ the shore of the continent, towards the south, and arrived at Monterey, with nearly two thirds of his men sick, on the 30th of August. In his journal, he particularly describes mnny places on this port of the coast which are now well known ; such as — tlic romarkablr promon- tory, in the latitude of 45J degrees, with small, rocKy islets in front, named by him Caj^,y. Falcon, the Cape Lookout of our ma|)s — the flat-topped mountain, overhanging the ocean, a little farther south, noted, in his journal, as La Mesa, or The Table, which, in 1805, * Spc extract from the Journal of Hoccta, among the Proofs and Illustrations, under the letter E, in the latter part of this volume. i The 15th of August is the day of the Assumption, and the 16th is the day of St. Roque, or Roc, and St. Jacinto, or Hyacinth, according to the Roman Catholic calendar. TABLE OF CONTENTS, t. GEOGRAPHY OF THE WESTERN SECTION OF NORTH AMERICA. GENERAL VIEW. 1 Great Natural Divisions of N. America, 3 — (,"oasts on tlie Pacific and the Arctic Seas, 4 — Mountain Ciiains of the Pacific Section — Kar-\Vost Mountains, 3 — Kocity Moun- tains — Blue Mountains, 6 — Climate of tho I'acific Section — Lal^os, 7 — Hivcrs, 8 — Central [tegions of IN. America — Animals and Vei;etal)ies of the Pacific Section — Na- tives, 9 — Establish.nentsofcivilized Nations, 10 — Political Limits, II. t CALIFORNIA. Extent and Divisions — Gulf of California, 12 — Pearl Fishery — Sonora and Sinnloa, 13 — Peninsula of California — Its Climate, Soil, Productions, ai.d Animals, 14 — Aboriijines^ Ports and Mexican Settlements, I.) — (Joiitinental or New .California — Its Kxteiit, Soil, Climat IG -^ F'orts and Mexican Settlenients — Snn Diepo, Santa Barbara — Monterey, 17 — San Francisco — River Sacramento, Ifi — Bodega — Cape Mondociiio, 19 — Interior liegions — River Colorado — Utah Lake, ^0. OREGON. Natural and assumed Boundaries, 21 — Strait of Fuca, 22 — Columbia River — North Itrauch, 23 — South Branch — Main Trunlt, 2' — Far- West Mountains, 2j — Westernmost Picaion of Oregon, 26 — Blue Mountains — Middle Region — F.a3ternmost or Hocky Mountain Region, 27 — New Caledonia, 2(1 — North-West Archipelago, 2D — Aborigines, 30 — Hudson's Bay Company's F.stablishraents, 31 — American Settlements, 33. RUSSIAN AMERICA. Extent and Limits — Russian American Company, 3fi — District of Sitka — Sitka or New Archangel — District of Kodir.k, 37 — Cook's Inlet — I'rince William's Sound — Mount St. Elias — Aliaska — Aleutian Islands — Michaelof District, 38 — Kamtchatka — Kurile Islands, 39. Sandwich Islands, 39 — Marquesas Islands — Society Islands, 40 — Projects for Canalt uniting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 41. C XIV CONTENTS. HISTORY OF OREGON AND CALIFORNIA, ETC. CHAPTER 1 . TO 1543. Proliminary Observations, 45 — Efforts of the Snaiiiards to discover Western Paasatfes to India — Successive Discoveries of the West Indies, the North American Continent, the Eastern Passage to India, Brazil, and the Pacific Ocean, -U't — Search for a navigable Pas- sage connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans — Supposed Discovery of such a Pas- sage, called the Strait qf ^nirtn, 4-7 — Discovery of Magellan's Strait and the Western Passage to India, 't8 — Conquest of Mexico by Cortes, who endeavors to discover new countries farther north-west, 50 — Voyages of Maldonado, Ilurtado de Mendoza, Grijalva, and Becerra, 54 — Discovery of California — Expedition of Cortes to California, 55 — Pre- tended Discoveries of Friar Marcos de JNiza, 59 — Voyages of Ulloa, Alarcon,and Cabrillo, 60 — Expeditions of Coronado and Soto, lil — The Spaniards desist from their Efforts to explore the Worth- West Coasts of America, G5. C H A P T E R 1 1 . 1543 TO 1608. The Spaniards conquer the Philippine Islands, and establish a direct Trade across the Pacific, between Asia ancl America, 6() — Measures of the Spanish Government to prevent other European Mations from settling or trading in America, G8 — These Measures resisted by the English, the French, and the Dutch — Free Traders and Freebooters infest the West Indies, 70 — First Voyages of the English in the Pacific, 72 — Voyages of Drake and Cav- endish, 73 — Endeavors of the English to discover a JNorth-West Passage from the Atlan- tic to the Pacific, 77 — False Reports of the Discovery of such Passages, 78 — Supposed Voyages of Urdaneta, Maldonado, and Font^, 79 — Voyage of Juan de Fuca, S'i — Expedi- tions of Sebastian Vizcaino, 90 — Supposed Discovery of a great River in North- West America, 93, CHAPTER Hi. 1608 TO 17G8. The North-West Coasts of North America reiTinin nearly neglected during the whole ol this Period, 96 — Efforts of the English and the Dutch to find new Passages into the Pacific — Discovery of Hudson's Bay and Baflin's Bay, 97 — Discovery of the Passage around Cape Horn — Establishment of the Hudson's Bay Trading Company — Endeavors of the Span- iards to settle Califoniia unsuccessful, 98 — The Jesuits undertake the Reduction of Cal- ifornia, 99 — Establishments of the Jesuits in the Peninsula, 100, and their Expulsion from the Spanish Dominions, 106. CHAPTER IV 1769 TO 1779. A First Establishments on the West Coast of California founded by the Spaniards, 108 — Dis- pute between Spain and Great Britain respecting the Falkland Islands, 111 — Exploring Voyages of the Spaniards under Perez, 114, Heceta and Bodega, 117, and Arteaga and Bo- dega, 125 — Discovery of Nootka Sound, Norfolk Sound, and the Mouth of the Columbia River, 120 — Importance of these Discoveries, 124. CONTENTS. XT CHAPTER V 1711 TO 1779. Discoveries of the Russians from Kamtchatka — Voyages of Bering and Tchirikof to the Arctic Sea ard to the American Continent, 129 — Establishments of the Russian Fur Tra- ders in the Aleutian Islwd*, 1:-^ — Vovaffes of Synd, Krenitzin, and Levashef, 137 — F'irst Voyage from Kamtchatka to China, made by Polish Exiles under Bcnyowsky, 138 — General Inaccuracy of the Ideas of the Russians respecting the Geography of the northernmost CoasU of the Pacific, before 1779, 139. to [the [as- fafl. !rn lew va, re- lo, to CHAPTER VI 1763 TO 1780. Great Britain obtains Possession of Canada, 140 — Journey of Carver to the Upper Missis- sippi, 141 — First Mention of the Oregon River, 142 — Inaccuracy of Carver's Statements, 144 — Journeys of Hearne through the Regions west of Hudson's Bay, 143 — Voyage of Captain Cook to the North Pacihc, 147 — His important Discoveries m that Quarter, and Death, 157 — Return of his Ships to Europe; Occurrences at Canton during their Stay in that Port, 138. CHAPTER VII 1780 TO 1789. er by ist V- II- !d i- it Commercial Results of Cook's Discoveries. ICO — Settlements of the Russians in America, 161 — Scheme of Ledyard for the Trade of the North Pacific, 1G2 — Voyage of La P«'rouse, 1G3 — Direct Trade between the American Coasts and Canton commenced, 165 — Voyages of the English Fty Traders — Re-discovery of the Strait of Fuca, 171 — Voyage of Meares, who endeavors to find a great River described by the SpaniardK, 175 — First Voyages from the United States to the South Pacific, and to "Canton, 179 — Voyage of the Columbia and Washington, under Kendrick and Gray, from Boston to tiie North Pa- cific, 180. CHAPTER VIII, 1788 AND 1789. Uneasiness of the Spanish Government at the Proceedings of the Fur Traders in the Nortli Pacific, 183 — Voyages of Observation by Martinez and Haro to the Russian American Settlements, 185 — Remonstrances of the Court of Madrid to that of St. Petersburg, against the idleged Encroachments of the latter Power, 18(i — Martinez and Haro sent by the Viceroy of Mexico to take Possession of Nootka Sound, 187 — Claims of Spain examined, 188 — Seizure of British and other Vessels at Nootka by Martinez, 191 — C*- >tain Gray, in the Washington, explores the East (^oast of Queen Charlotte's island, ar. enters the Strait of Fuca, 199 — kendrick, in the Washington, passes through the Strait of Fuca— Return of the Columbia to the United States, 200. CHAPTER IX. 1790. Controversy between Great Britain and Spain respecting the North-West Coasts of America and the I^avigation of thn Pacific, 202 — The Owners of the Vessels seized at Nootka apply for Redress to the British Government, which demands Satisfaction for the alleged Outrages, S!03 — Spain resists the Demand, and calls on France for Aid, agreeably to the XVI CONTENTS. Family Compact, 207 — Proceedings in the National Assembly of France on the Subject, 208 — Spain engages to imleninify the Uritisii Cor the Property seized, 205 — Further De- mands of" Great Britain — Designs of Pitt against Spanish America, 20C — Secret Mediation of France, through which tho Dispute is settliid, 209 — Convention of October^ 1790, called the Nootka Treaty, 210 — Proceedings in Parliament, and Reflections on this Con- vention, 211. CHAPTER X 1790 TO 1792. Vancou' er s" t by the British Government to explore tho Coasts of America, and receive Possession of Lauds and Buildings agreeably to the Convention with Spain, 2iG — Passage of the VVashington, under Kendrick, through the Strait of Fuca, in 1789, 218 — Nootka re- occutiied by the Spaniards, 220 — Vovages of Fidalgo, Quimper, Elisa, Billings, Marchand, and Malaspiiia. 221 — Voyages of me Ameii(;an h ur Traders, Gray, Inijraham, and Ken- drick, 22-1! — Discovery of the VVashington Islands by Ingraham, 22G. CHAPTER XI. 1792 TO 179C. Vancouver and Broughton arrive on the American Coasts in 1792, and meet with Gray, who informs them of ins Discovery of the C()luml)ia River, 23.'$ — The Strait of Fuca surveyed by Vancouver, Galiano, and Valdes, 238 — Negotiations between Vancouver and Quadra at Nootka, 21.3 — Vancouver's Injustice to the Americans, 2W, 21.8, 256 — Broughton's Ex- amination of the Lower Part of the Columbi^i River, 2 17 — Vancouver's Proceedings at the Sandwich Islands, 219 — Ho completes the Survey of the North- West Coasts of America, and returns to England, 25.5 — The Spaniards akindon Nootka, 2o7 — Conclusions with Regard to the Dispute between Groat Britain and Spain, and the Convention of 1790, 258. CHAPTER XII. 17S8 TO 1610. ^ ' Estiblishmcpf of the North-West Fur Tradin;; Company of Montreal, in 1781,2^1 — Expedi- tions of Mackenzie to the Arctic Sea and to the Pacific Coast, 2(13 — The i'rade between the North I'licific ("oiists of America ami ('anto.i coii(hicted almost exclusively by Vessels of tho United States from I7lt6 to 181t, "KJti — Establishment of the Russian American Company, -269 — Its Settlrmmts and Faciories on tho American Coasts, 270 — Expedition of KruHor-iern tlirougli the North Pacific, 272 — Proposition of the Russian Government to that of the United States, witli Regard to the Trade of the North Pacific, 275. CHAPTER XIII ltJ03 TO 1806. Cession of Louisiana hv Franco to the United States, 27fi — Inciuirins as to tho true Extent of Louisiana, 277 — I'.rroneous Supposition that its Limits towards the North had been fixed by Commissaries ag.-oeably to the Treaty of rtre(^ht,281 — President Jefferson seudn Lewis and Clarke to examine the JVIisHDiiri and Columbia, 28-1-— . Accoant of their Expedi- tion from the Mississippi to the Pacific, 285. CONTENTS. XVU CHAPT'SU XIV 1806 TO 1815. First Establishments of the North- West Company in the Countries north of the Columbia, 290 — Pacilic Fur Company formed .it iSew York, iD- — I'laa of jts Founder, 293 — First Expedition from New York in the Tonquin, Wo — Foundation of Astoria near the Mouth of the Columbia River, 296 — March of the Party under Hunt and Crooks across the Continent, 298 — Arrival of the Beaver in the (."olumbla, 299 — Destruction of the Ton- quin by the Sav.Tpcs, M) — War between tlie United States and dreat Britain fatal to the Kntcq)rise, ^)1 — Kstabhdhnicnts of the I'aciiio (,'onipany sold to the North- West Com- pany, 3tXl — Astoria taken by tlie Britibh, JOl — Dusolutiou of the Pacific Company, J05. CHAPTER XV 1814 TO 1820. Restitution of Astoria to the United States by Great Britain, a|?reeably to the Treaty of Ghent, 309— Alleged Reservation of Rights on the Part of Groat Britain, 310 — First Ne- gotiation between the Governments of (ireat Britaie and the United States respecting the j'crritorivs west of the Rocky Mountains, and Convention for the joint Occupancy of thosi' 'J'erritorif's, 311— •Florida Treaty between Spain and the United States, oy which the I, alter acquires the Title of Spain to the North-West Coasts, T13 — ("olonel Long's exploring K.xpedition to the Rocky Mountains, 322 — Disputes between the British North- West and Hudson's Bay Companies, Sit — Union of those Bodies — Act of Parliament extending the Jurisdiction of tlie Canada Courts to the Pacific Countries, 325 — R'issian Establishments on the North Pacific, 327 — Expeditions in Search of Northern P.issages between the Atlantic and the Pacific, 32G — Death of Taniahamaha, and Introduction of Christianity into tlic Sandwich Islands, 329. CHAPTER XVI. 1820 TO 1828. A Bill reported by a Committee of the House of Representatives of the United Stales, for the Occupation of the Columbia River, ;i'31 — Ukase of the Emperor of Russia, with Regard to the North Pacific (.'oasts. 332 — Negotiations between the Governments of Great Britain, Russia, and the United States, 33.') — Conventions between the United States and Russia, and between Great Britain and Russia, 3H —Further Negotiations between the United States and (ireat Britain relative to the North-West Coasts, 3H- — Indefini'j Extension of the Arrangement for the joint Occupancy of the Territories west of the Rocky Moun- tains, by the British and the Americans, 3^1. CHAPTER XVU 1823 TO 1843. Few Citizens of the Unit'^d States in the Countries west of the Rocky Mountains between 1813 and 1!523, ;J3<) — Trading Expeditions of Ashley, Sublette, Smith, Pilclier, Pattie, Bonneville, and Wyeth, .'JoT — Missionaries from the United States form Establishments on the Columbia, 3fi0 — First Printing Press set up in Oregon, %l — Opposition of tne Hud- son's Bay Compaiiv to the Americans; how exerted, '.Hj'J — (Jonlroversy between the United States and Russia, .'V)2 — Dispute between the Hudson's Bay and the Russian American (Companies; how terminated, 363 — California, ;}(i3 — Capture of Monterey by Commodore Jones, .'i63 — The Sandwich Islands, ."Vi'J — Proceedings of the Missionaries, 370 — Expulsion of the Catholic Priests, and their Reinstatement by a French Force, 372 — The Sandwich Islands temporarily occupied by the British, 374 — Exploring Eipe- dition of the Americans under Wilkes, 375. XVIll CONTENTS. C H A I' 1 i: 11 X V 1 1 I , ld.l2 TO 1845. Excitnninnt in thn United States rospcrtinp Oregon, ;(7G — Bill in tlin Senate for the imme-