shares with Oregon the possession and use of the Columbia river. There are fine fisheries on the coast and excellent oysters, and these produce a considerable trade. Immense quantities of lumber are exported to all parts of the Pacific coast of both North and South America, and even to Buenos Ayres on the South Atlantic. The French come here for their best and cheapest masts and spars. Thus we see that this corner of the Republic brings to the common stock of national treasures some of its best and most valuable material of wealth, and is prepared to whiten the Pacific with the sails of the unlimited. commerce which is already beginning to grow up between us and the Asiatics. Puget Sound can float with ease the navies of the world on its peaceful bosom. The Northern Pacific railroad will originate here, probably, another great commercial emporium. Washington will, in due time, become a great and wealthy State.

Its area is about 70,000 square miles; and the population in 1870 was 23,901.

DACOTAH.

This territory received an organization and government in 1861. It contains 240,000 square miles; and is greater in extent than all New England together with the great and wealthy States of New York and Pennsylvania; and possesses some peculiar advantages.

The Missouri River passes from southeast to northwest diagonally through it, navigable for its whole length, a distance of more than a thousand miles; the Red River of the North skirts its eastern line, its valley being unrivalled for its richness, and adaptation to the growth of wheat. Except the extreme northern part it is said to have the dry, pure, and healthy climate of Southern Minnesota, with the soil of Central Illinois.

It is free from the damp, raw, and chilly weather prevailing in Iowa and Illinois, and from the embarrassments to agriculture often experienced in these States from excessive spring rains; while, in late spring and early summer, copious showers supply sufficient moisture to promote a rapid vegetable growth. The surface east and north of the Missouri is an undulating prairie, free from marsh, swamp, and slough, traversed by many streams and dotted with innumerable lakes, of various sizes, whose woody and rocky shores and gravel bottoms supply the purest water, and lend the enchantment of extreme beauty to the landscape.

It has all the conditions of climate, soil, and transportation, for the most profitable production of the two great staples of American agriculture, wheat and corn. West of the Missouri

the country becomes more rolling, then broken and hilly, until the lofty chain of the Rocky Mountains is reached. These mountains cross the southwestern section. A most desirable stock raising region is furnished here, and mining will flourish in the mountains. In 1870 it had a population of 14,181. Yankton is the capital.

ARIZONA.

The Spaniards visited the valley of the Colorado at an early day; but the distance from Mexico, and the warlike character of the Indians, did not favor settlement beyond what was gathered about the few missions that were constructed so as to answer for fortresses.

The part of this territory lying between Sonora, (of which it formed part,) and California was acquired to the United States by the Gadsden treaty, made with Mexico Dec. 30th, 1853. The American government paid $10,000,000 for it. A Territorial government was organized Feb. 24th, 1863, and embraced part of New Mexico, containing, altogether, an area of 121,000 square miles, or 77,440,000 acres.

Efforts had been made previously to settle the country and develop its mines; and an overland mail stage route was established. This proved a success; but the fierce hostility of the Apache Indians, and the desperate character of such whites. as had gathered there, fleeing from justice in California and Sonora, discouraged the immigration of law-abiding citizens; and the breaking out of the Civil War withdrew the soldiers in garrison there for the protection of the country. After the war the main stream of emigration followed the line of the newly opened Pacific railroad. The development of the mines required capital and machinery and, though they are thought. to be the richest in the world, nothing could be extracted from them by individuals without means. So the population has increased slowly, the census of 1870 giving 9,658.

It is a strange and somewhat fearful land; in great part a. region of desolate mountains and deep cañons. There are

many sections susceptible of cultivation that would produce immense returns under irrigation, but most of the efforts in this direction have miscarried from the desolating ravages of the Indians. The rainless season reduces the whole country to the semblance of a desert. It is, however, declared to have more arable land in proportion to its surface than New Mexico, or California; and will probably, in time, have a large and prosperous farming community. Cotton is easily cultivated, and sugar cane, in the lower parts, produces abundantly. Grains, vegetables, and melons are produced in the greatest possible perfection, and mature in an incredibly short space of time.

When the Apaches are subdued, and society is reduced to order, it will become a favorite resort of the thrifty farmers of the older States, and the diligent German and other foreign immigrants.

It contains many traces of a race that has disappeared; some of their dwellings yet remaining in a partially ruinous state. They were probably Aztecs, the race that ruled Mexico before the conquest by Cortez, or are more ancient still. Hideous idols are found, and various indications of a barbarous worship.

The completion of the Southern Pacific railway will introduce the hum of industry among its desolate mountains and along its numerous fertile valleys, and the acquisition of the mouth of the Colorado, a large river opening into the head of the Gulf of California, will give it a profitable commerce. Arizona lies south of Utah, to which it is superior in the number and size of its streams, its larger quantity of timber, and the amount of rain-fall in some parts, which is deemed, in some sections, sufficient to dispense with the necessity of irrigation.

IDAHO.

This territory was organized March 3rd, 1863. It originally embraced a vast territory lying on both sides of the main chain of the Rocky Mountains; but the eastern portion has since

been erected into the territory of Montana.

It has about 90,000 square miles of territory, and had, in 1870, 14,998 inhabitants.

Idaho has very little history prior to the organization of its Territorial government. Its chief attraction to settlers lies in its mines, as yet, and the population is floating, and, in large part, rough and sometimes disorderly. The difficulty of reaching it has prevented its rapid growth. It is exceedingly rich in the precious metals and this will, in time, attract a large population. The eastern and northern parts are very mountainous, abounding in wild and striking scenery and in natural curiosities. The soil in the southern, central, and western parts, is fertile, producing wheat and other small grain, and vegetables very successfully, but is unfavorable for corn from the late frosts of spring and the early cold of autumn. Snow falls to a great depth in the mountains; but the streams are numerous, and there is much choice farming land, which may, ultimately, serve to support its mining population.

It runs from the northern boundary of Utah to the south line of British America; Washington Territory and Oregon, lying west. When railroads shall render it accessible, and open the way for its treasures to a market, it will be filled with an industrious and hardy population who will find all the elements of a prosperity as great as any section of the Union enjoys. It has three beautiful lakes--the Coeur d'Aline, the Pen d'Oreille, and the Boatman-of some size, and navigable for steamers. Boisé City is the capital.

MONTANA TERRITORY

It lies among the Rocky

It lies

Was organized May 26th, 1864. Mountains, in part on the western slope, but extending into the eastern valleys; and contains the sources of the streams forming the Missouri river; while Idaho lies west among the Blue mountains where the tributaries of the Columbia rise.

Montana abounds in mines of gold and silver; and these are said to be much richer than those of California. The average