EARLY HISTORY OF OREGON. 265 



territory, as applied to the entire country, intermediate be- 

 tween the dominions of Russia and Mexico, respectively — its 

 boundaries will be the Rocky Mountains on the east, the 

 Pacific Ocean on the west, the parallel of 54° 40' north lati- 

 tude on the north, and that of 42° north latitude on the south. 

 The entire superficies would thus amount to 501,600 geogra- 

 phical square miles. If, on the other hand, w T e accept the 

 north-western limit, which Mr. Greenhow has marked out for 

 " the Country of the Columbia," namely, the range of moun- 

 tains which stretches north-eastward, from the eastern extre- 

 mity of the Straits of Fuca, about four hundred miles, to the 

 Rocky Mountains ; separating the waters of the Of *jabia 

 from those of Frazer's River, it will include not less than 

 400,000 square miles in superficial extent, which is nearly 

 half of all the States of the Federal Union. 



Such are the geographical limits of the Oregon Territory, in 

 its widest and in its narrowest extent. The Indian hunter 

 roamed throughout it, undisturbed by civilized man, till near 

 the conclusion of the last century, when Captain James King, 

 on his return from the expedition, which proved so fatal to 

 Captain Cook, made known the high prices which the fur of 

 the sea-otter commanded, in the markets of China, and, 

 thereby attracted the attention of Europeans to it. The en- 

 terprise of British merchants was in consequence of Captain 

 King's suggestion, directed to the opening of the Fur trade, 



Oregon, seems to identify it either with the Flatbow, or with the Flathead, or 

 "lark's River, each of which streams, after pursuing a north-western course, from 

 the base of the Rocky Mountains, unites with a great river, coming from the 

 north, which ultimately empties itself into the Pacific Ocean, in latitude 46° 18' 0'(V. 

 The name of Oregon has consequently been perpetuated in this main river, as 

 being really the " Great River of the West," and by this name it is best known 

 in Europe ; but in the United States, it is more frequently spoken of as the 

 Columbia River, from the name of the American vessel, the "Columbia," which 

 really first discovered it in 1792, and anchored off Astoria, distant about ten miles 

 from the mouth of the rivei 



