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exploring expedition, under command of Lieut. Wilkes, visited 
Puget Sound and remained there several months, during which 
time the principal channels and harbors were surveyed. 
“ After the commencement of the present century there is no 
record of further operations within those waters until the es¬ 
tablishment, in 1833, of fort Nisqualty, near the head of Puget 
Sound, by the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1839, Father De¬ 
mers, one of the two pioneer Catholic missionaries to Oregon, 
visited and labored among the native Indian tribes of Puget 
Sound. In succeeding years he and others of the same faith 
continued those visitations ; no permanent establishments were 
attempted, but here they planted the sign of the cross at various 
points, and sought to mollify the asperities of heathen barbarity, 
paving the way for the white race peacefully to occupy those 
regions. At an early day the fruits of those zealous mission¬ 
aries can find its illustration on Whitby island, by the Indians 
erecting a large house, dedicated and devoted to the worship of 
the living God. In 1840, Rev. J. P. Richmond, of the Oregon 
Methodist Mission, located at Nisqually. During 1841, the 
United States exploring expedition, Capt. Charles Wilkes com¬ 
manding, spent the summer in exploring and surveying these 
waters. . . . But hitherto no attempt had been made to 
establish American settlements in the Puget Sound country.” 
— Evans. 
The vast country on the Pacific slope between 42° and 54° 40 
north, was, by the terms of the treaty of 1827, held in joint 
occupancy by the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of 
the United States. Several bodies of emigrants, principally 
Americans from the western States, had previously “ crossed the 
plains” and settled in the valley of the Wallamet. This 
humble germ, “ sown in weakness,” has been “ raised inpow T er.” 
The Hudson’s Bay Company held possession of the country 
north of the lower Columbia river, with their chief entrepot at 
the romantic town of Vancouver; they had also a chain of 
trading forts across the Puget Sound valley, even far into 
British Columbia. The diplomatic struggle was then raging for 
this “vale of paradise.” The British government made an 
earnest effort to secure the free navigation of the Columbia 
river, ostensibly in the behest of the Hudson’s Bay Company* 
but really for the absorption of Washington Territory. Mr. 
Webster, Secretary of State, conducted the negotiations, favor- 
