eceive added literary attention. And it is reasonable to suppose that
the stranger within our gates will find interest in such literature,
provided it be of the right sort, just as Oregonians must welcome a
sound addition to the State's bibliography, written by an Oregonian.

So, because I like the spirit of the following pages, admire the method
of their presentation, and deeply desire to promote the success of all
that will tend toward a larger appreciation of Oregon's possibilities, I
recommend this book to the consideration of dwellers on the Pacific
Coast, and those who desire to form acquaintance with the land it
concerns.

[Illustration: hand written signature]

_Governor of Oregon._

SALEM, OREGON,

_January 20th, 1915._

PREFACE

Often enough a preface is an outgrowth of disguised pretentiousness or
insincere humility. Presumably it is an apology for the authorship, or
at least an explanation of the purpose of the pages it introduces.

But no one is compelled to write a book; and, in truth, publishers
habitually exert a contrary influence. It is a fair supposition,
therefore, when a book is produced, that the author has some good reason
for his act, whether or not the book itself proves to be of service.

Among many plausible apologies for authorship, the most reasonable is,
it seems to me, a genuine enthusiasm for the subject at hand. If one
loves that with which the book has to do the desire to share the
possession with readers approaches altruism. In this case let us hope
that the enthusiasm, which is real, and the virtue, which is implied,
will sufficiently cloak the many faults of these little sketches, whose
mission it is to convey something of the spirit of the out-of-door land
they picture--a land loved by those who know it, and a land of limitless
welcome for the stranger who will knock at its gates.

The Oregon Country, with which these chapters are chiefly concerned, has
been the goal of expeditioning for a century and a quarter. First came
Captain Robert Gray in 1792, by sea. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark,
twelve years later, tracked 'cross country from the Missouri to the
mouth of the Columbia. In 1810, the Astor expedition, under Wilson and
Hunt, succeeded, after hardships that materially reduced the party, in
making its way from St. Louis to the Columbia and down the river to the
mouth, where was founded the town of Astoria. Finally, after a
half-century of horse-an