April 22, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



549 



question was whether Great Britain or the 

 United States owned the territory which 

 now comprises western Montana, Idaho, 

 Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. 

 Much bitterness and angry contention fol- 

 lowed before the 49th parallel was, in 1846, 

 finally agreed upon as the boundary. The 

 debates in Congress and in Parliament dur- 

 ing the years 1842-1846, and articles in 

 leading journals and reviews, after gener- 

 ously discounting their partisan overstate- 

 ment, clearly portray the then prevailing 

 knowledge, or rather, should I not say, the 

 prevailing ignorance, as to the whole region 

 west of the Mississippi. 



Mr. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, in 1844, 

 in the House of Representatives, cited with 

 approval these words spoken by Benton, in 

 the Senate, in 1825 : 



" The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may 

 be named without otfence as presenting a 

 convenient natural and everlasting bound- 

 ary. Along the back of this ridge the 

 western limits of the Republic should be 

 drawn, and the statue of the fabled god 

 Terminus should be raised upon its highest 

 peak, never to be thrown down." 



On January 25, 1843, Senator McDuffie, 

 of South Carolina, speaking of the country 

 now embraced in the two Dakotas, Ne- 

 braska, Kansas, and thence northwestward 

 to Oregon and Washington, said : 



" What is the character of this country? 

 Whjj^, as I understand, that seven hundred 

 miles this side of the Rocky Mountains is 

 uninhabitable, where rain scarcely ever 

 falls — a barren and sandy soil — mountains 

 totally impassable, except in certain parts. 

 Well, now, what are we going to do in such 

 a case as that? How are you going to 

 apply steam? Have you made anything 

 like an estimate of the cost of a railroad 

 running from here to the mouth of the 

 Columbia? Why, the wealth of the Indies 

 would be insufficient ! You would have to 

 tunnel through mountains five or six hun- 



dred miles in extent. Of what use will this 

 be for agricultural purposes ? I would not, 

 for that purpose, give a pinch of snuff for 

 the whole territory. I wish it was an im- 

 passable barrier to secure us against the 

 intrusions of others. If there was an em- 

 bankment of even five feet to be removed, I 

 would not consent to expend $5 to remove 

 that embankment to enable our population 

 to go there. I thank God for his mercy in 

 placing the Rocky Mountains there." 



A writer in the Westminster Revieiu, in 

 1846, thus describes the great plains of Ne- 

 braska, Kansas and Oklahoma : 



" From the valley of the Mississippi to 

 the Rocky Mountains the United States 

 territory consists of an arid tract extending 

 south nearly to Texas, which has been called 

 the Great American Desert. The caravan 

 of emigrants who undertake the passage 

 take provisions for six months, and many 

 of them die of starvation on the way." 



Indeed, the question much debated at the 

 time was : Is Oregon worth saving ? Both 

 Winthrop and Webster were of opinion 

 that the government would be endangered 

 by a further enlargement of territory. Mr. 

 Berrien declared that the region under dis- 

 cussion was a barren and savage one, as 

 yet unoccupied, except for hunting, fishing, 

 and trading with the natives, while Mr. 

 Archer said the part near the coast alone 

 contained land fit for agricultural purposes, 

 and there were no harbors which were or 

 could be rendered tolerable. And yet, out 

 of all this hot debate and war talk, there 

 emerged in 1846 peace, Oregon and the 

 forty -ninth parallel. And out of all the 

 ominous mutterings in 1898, and the fever 

 heat that is now at the danger line, there 

 will emerge— I am not a prophet, but let 

 us hope, there will emerge — white-winged 

 peace, honorable to Spain and to us, justice 

 for all, and freedom for Cuba. 



Three years later came the discovery of 

 gold in California. Then California, as now 



