PUGET SOUND 



ciers, some of which come well down into the 

 woods, and never, so far as I have heard, has 

 been climbed, though in all probability it is 

 not inaccessible. The task of reaching its base 

 through the dense woods will be likely to prove 

 of greater difficulty than the climb to the 

 summit. 



In a direction a little to the left of Mount 

 Baker and much nearer, may be seen the island 

 of San Juan, famous in the young history of 

 the country for the quarrels concerning its 

 rightful ownership between the Hudson's Bay 

 Company and Washington Territory, quar- 

 rels which nearly brought on war with Great 

 Britain. Neither party showed any lack of 

 either pluck or gunpowder. General Scott was 

 sent out by President Buchanan to negotiate, 

 which resulted in a joint occupancy of the 

 island. Small quarrels, however, continued 

 to arise until the year 1874, when the peppery 

 question was submitted to the Emperor of 

 Germany for arbitration. Then the whole 

 island was given to the United States. 



San Juan is one of a thickset cluster of is- 

 lands that fills the waters between Vancouver 

 and the mainland, a little to the north of Vic- 

 toria. In some of the intricate channels be- 

 tween these islands the tides run at times like 

 impetuous rushing rivers, rendering naviga- 



217 



