the Columbia River. The story of the missionary movements among the Indians is of exceeding interest.

Four Indians from beyond the Rocky Mountains came to St. Louis in 1832, and interviewed General William Clark, then general agent of Indian affairs beyond the Mississippi. They asked him for the Bible and missionaries. In response to this request, several Christian denominations within a very few years sent missionaries to the Oregon country to work among the Indians.

Among them was Marcus Whitman, M.D.,' from the state of New York. He located on the Walla Walla River about six miles from the present city of Walla Walla in Washington. In the winter of 1842-43, Dr. Whitman made his famous overland journey from Oregon to Washington, D. C., to confer with the national government upon the interests of the Oregon country, and the next summer he helped to pilot a large caravan of pioneer settlers from our western frontier to Oregon. This large company included about eight hundred men, women, and children. their arrival, the Americans had a clear majority over the British settlers, and they set in operation a provisional government. This government, with George Abernethy as governor, was the only government of

On

'Dr. Whitman was brutally murdered by the Indians in 1847. A full account of his life may be found in the author's book, entitled, Marcus Whitman and the Early Days of Oregon.

that entire country until the territory was organized by Act of Congress and General Joseph Lane was appointed governor by President Polk. General Lane entered upon his duties March 3, 1849.

This great territory, formerly called the Oregon country, now embraces the three states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, with a considerable portion of Montana and Wyoming, altogether amounting to more than three hundred thousand square miles. It contains a population of more than one million. This is proportionately a small population, to be sure, averaging only three and a fraction per square mile, but the country is fertile, the climate salubrious, the productions of great value, and the population is increasing with great rapidity.

In a certain sense, Puget Sound may be considered as commercially the center of the world. The commerce between Europe and America on the one hand, and eastern Asia and Australia on the other, is rapidly increasing. Formerly this commerce was carried on by sailing vessels which doubled the Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Horn. The ship canal connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea now shortens this

route.

But in the future the commerce of Europe and America with the Orient will be largely across the Pacific from this country. Even to-day the tea which comes from China and Japan, not only for America, but for Europe as well, is brought directly across the

Pacific to Puget Sound, and thence by the Canadian Pacific Railway. By this route New York City is but twenty days from Yokohama.

Much of the commerce of America with eastern Asia has heretofore been through the port of San Francisco, but the route from New York to Yokohama or Pekin via Puget Sound is eight hundred miles shorter than by the way of San Francisco. If a carrier pigeon can be supposed to fly by the shortest line from Boston to Yokohama, that line would be over Montreal, James's Bay, near the middle of Hudson's Bay, and over the Arctic Ocean, passing a considerable distance north of Bering's Strait. The nearer any ship's path comes to that route the shorter it will be. It therefore seems more than probable that in the future the greater part of the commerce between the Occident and the Orient will pass through Puget Sound.

CHAPTER VIII

ALASKA

PREVIOUS

REVIOUS to 1867, Russia held the northwestern corner of our continent, then generally termed Russian America. Included within this extensive province were a large number of islands in the Pacific, most of them bearing the name of the Aleutian Archipelago. The mainland of the province lay principally within twenty-five degrees of longitude and included all the territory of North America on the Pacific coast north of 54° 40', while the islands stretched out towards the west as far as the Isle of Attoo, which lies in longitude 172° 26' east.

This country was discovered in 1741 by a Russian explorer, Captain Vitus Bering. Captain Bering was a native of Denmark, who entered the Russian navy at an early age, and became noted in a war against the Swedes. In 1725, he was placed in command of a scientific expedition to the Sea of Kamtchatka. On this voyage he ascertained that Asia was not joined to America, but separated by the strait which has ever since borne his name. The Russian government in 1732 appointed him Captain-Commander, and in 1741

he set out on a second voyage of discovery. It was at this time that he sailed along the northwestern coast of the American continent. On July 18th of that year, "he sighted a rocky range of coast, behind which towered lofty mountains, their summits white with perpetual snows. This was his first glimpse of what was afterwards known as Russian America. As a result of his voyage, the country was made known to Russia and that government immediately proceeded to take possession of it. Both Captain Bering and his crew were disabled by sickness, and on their return to Kamtchatka they were wrecked on the island of Avatcha, which has ever since been called Bering's Island. The captain died upon this island December 19, 1741.

As early as 1772, many Russian trading companies were engaged along this coast, and in 1776 Captain Cook, the English navigator, visited the region and reported the existence of otters in great numbers. This report stimulated Russian enterprise. The first permanent settlement was made in 1784, on Kadiak Island, and in 1790 the Russian government appointed a governor over the territory.

Just before 1800, a company was chartered, called the Russian American Company, and to it was granted the entire control of Russian interests in North America

for twenty years. Sitka was made a principal trading

post, and missions of the Greek Church were established