INTRODUCTION 



development of all the lands around the borders of 

 the Pacific, the rise of Alaska and the North, the 

 opening of Kussia's new highway from Europe across 

 Siberia to Asiatic shores, the building of the Isthmian 

 Canal, with the cheap and ready access it will give to 

 both the American and European coasts of the Atlan- 

 tic these great events all prophesy the rapid settle- 

 ment of western America during the twentieth cen- 

 tury. It lies there now a clean, blank page, awaiting 

 the makers of history the goodly heritage of our 

 people. 



