ever made by civilized men in this part of the continent. Lewis and Clarke remained near the mouth of the Columbia until the 23rd of March, 1806, when they began their return, arriving at St. Louis in safety. on the 23rd of September, 1806, having traveled during the expedition more than nine thousand miles.

This expedition was of great value to the United States government, giving it right by discovery and exploration to all the country drained by the Missouri and the Columbia rivers and their tributaries.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

[Care has been taken in preparing the questions at the end of each chapter of this book to make them suggestive, not questions answered in the text, but rather questions requiring original thought and additional research.]

1. Why were the nations of Europe so anxious to find a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific?

2. What voyages were made in the North Atlantic to find this passage? In the North Pacific?

3. What benefit to Great Britain has the Suez Canal been?

4. What nation should build and control the Nicaragua Canal? Why?

5. How did the Spaniards attain their supremacy on the Pacific? When and how did they lose it? 6. Can Drake's treatment of the Spanish be justified?

7. What discoveries on the Pacific gave Spain

rights? Russia? Great Britain? The United States? 8. Why were no voyages made to the North Pacific from 1608 to 1768?

9. What line should have been the northern boundary of the original Oregon territory? Upon whose discovery is this claim based?

IO. Who first really re-discovered the Strait of Juan de Fuca?

II.

River?

Who first saw the current of the Columbia

12. What was the principal trade on the northwest Pacific coast? What nations engaged in it? Where did they generally take their cargoes? For what did they exchange?

13. Whose discoveries gave great impetus to this trade?

14. Why did not the French take as active a part in exploring the North Pacific as the other nations? What was the Hudson's Bay Company?

15.

16. Why was Nootka Sound the headquarters of the fur traders?

17. Had the state of Massachusetts the right to coin money in 1787? Why?

18. Were Meares' voyages of any benefit to the British government? Why?

19. What right does discovery give a nation?

20. Does a nation acquire the right to occupy and make settlements in a territory discovered by its people to the seclusion of the people of other nations? Does it attain sovereignty over the territory by the act of discovery?

21. What nation had the best right to the terri tory of original Oregon? Why?

22. Was Martinez justifiable in seizing the vessels of other nations at Nootka? Why?

23. To what nation should Queen Charlotte's Island belong? Vancouver's Island? Why?

24. Why did not Gray land and take formal possession of the territory he discovered, as Vancouver and other navigators did?

25. In what way did Gray show good taste in bestowing names?

26. When did Vancouver miss a great opportunity?

27. Why should the Indian names of places be retained?

28. Had Thomas Jefferson any authority to purchase Louisiana from Napoleon?

29. Was it a wise purchase?

CHAPTER II.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

39. Three Classes of Settlers. The territory of Washington was occupied by three classes of settlers: I. The fur traders.

The fur traders came first under the auspices of several companies, the principal of which was the Hudson's Bay Company, doing business under a charter granted by the British government. Their establishments were temporary, and in them the family did not exist. Hence the fur traders must be regarded not as actual settlers, but only as transient sojourners.

Then came the missionaries, who were sent by the church organizations to teach Christianity to the Indians. At first their establishments were not designed for colonization, but a few of them afterward formed the nuclei of permanent settlements.

The third class consisted of those sturdy yeomen, ever ready to leave their homes in the east and push out west on the wild frontier to build up new homes. The history of each class will be given in order.

40. Oregon and the Fur Companies. In relating the early history of the state of Washington we must necessarily include with it an account of the history

of Oregon, which formerly extended from the 42d degree of latitude along the Pacific to the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes, and eastward to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Immediately after the return of Lewis and Clarke three great fur companies were striving for possession of this territory-the Northwest Fur Company, organized at Montreal; the Pacific Fur Company, organized at New York by John Jacob Astor, and the old Hudson's Bay Company.

41.

Establishment at Fraser's Lake. In 1806 a party of the Northwest Company, under the command of Simon Fraser, crossed the Rocky Mountains near the passage of Peace River and formed a trading establishment on a small lake named Fraser's Lake, situated in latitude 54 degrees. This was the first settlement made by the Canadians west of the Rocky Mountains. It was merely a temporary trading post and not a permanent settlement. Other posts were established in the same country, to which the traders gave the name of New Caledonia, but it was a part of original Oregon.

Mr.

42. First Establishment on Snake River. Henry, an agent of the Missouri Company, established a trading post on a branch of the Lewis or Snake River, which was the earliest settlement on any branch of the Columbia. The hostility of the Indians and the difficulty of obtaining provisions caused this post to be abandoned in 1810.

43. Attempt to Form a Settlement at Oak Point. In 1819 the commander of the ship Albatross of