That section of Oregon watered by the Columbia river and its tributaries, was for a long time a subject of dispute between the United States and Great Britain. But by a treaty concluded at Washington, on the fifteenth of June, 1846, this long-pending question, which at one time seriously threatened to break the harmony existing between the two nations was put for ever at rest, by fixing the parallel of division between the respective portions, as given at the commencement of this description. There have been for some years several missionary stations at different points in Oregon, and since the settlement of the question of boundary, new ones have been established. It will be almost impossible to give an idea of the extensive fisheries in the rivers, and on the coast. They all abound in salmon of the finest flavor, which run twice a year, beginning in May and October, and appear inexhaustible; the whole population live upon them. The Columbia produces the largest, and probably affords the greatest numbers. There are some few of the branches of the Columbia that the spring fish do not enter, but they are plentifully supplied in the fall. The great fishery of the Columbia is at the Dalles; but all the rivers are well supplied. The last one on the northern branch of the Columbia is near Colville, at the Kettle falls; but salmon are found above this in the river and its tributaries. In Frazer's river the salmon are said to be very numerous, but not large; they are unable to get above the falls, some eighty miles from the sea. In the rivers and sounds are found carp-soles, salmon, salmon-trout, sturgeon, cod, flounders, ray, perch, herring, lampreyeels, and a kind of smelt called “shrow,” in great abundance; also large quantities of shell-fish, viz., crabs, clams, oysters, mussels, &c., which are all used by the natives, and constitute the greater proportion of their food. Whales, in numbers, are found along the coast, and are frequently captured by the Indians in and at the mouth of the straits of Juan de Fuca. Abundance of game exists, such as elk, deer, antelope, bears, wolves, foxes, muskrats, martens, beavers, a few grizzly bears, and siffleurs, which are eaten by the Canadians. In the middle section, or that designated as the rolling prairie, no game is found. In the eastern section the buffalo is met with. The fur-bearing animals are decreasing in numbers yearly, particularly south of the parallel of forty-eight degrees; indeed, it is very doubtful whether they are sufficiently numerous to repay the expense of hunting them. The Hudson's bay company have almost the exclusive monopoly of this business. They have decreased owing to being hunted without regard to season. This is not, however, the case to the north; there the company have been left to exercise their own rule, and prevent the indiscriminate slaughter of either old or young, out of the proper season. In the spring and fall the rivers are literally covered with geese, ducks and other water-fowl. In 1848, a bill passed both houses of Congress, and was approved by the president on the 14th of August, by which Oregon was erected into a territorial government, and soon after the necessary officers were sent out, and the government organized. OREGON CITY, the territorial capital, is situated about thirty miles up the Willamette river, and two miles above the Clackmas rapids, which prevent all navigation to the city. Few other places in the Union have such immense water privileges, and many large saw-mills are already in operation. The view we have placed on the opposite page, is from a drawing taken on the spot in 1847, since which time it has considerably increased. The population in 1850, was 702. PORTLAND, twelve miles below the falls may be considered as the port of OREGON CITY. Its trade with the Pacific towns, and also with those of the Atlantic, especially with New York, is prosperous and increasing. Population about 1,000. ASTORIA, near the mouth of the Columbia, referred to on a previous page, has a good harbor, and many natural advantages for becoming eventually a great commercial dépôt. At present, however, there are but a few buildings in the place. Astoria is a port of entry. one hundred miles below Clark's river. The Hudson's Bay company have several other trading posts in this territory. FORT NESQUALLY, on Puget's sound, is occupied by the "Puget's Sound Agricultural Company." Their farms are very extensive, and are kept in a high FORT VANCOUVER, on the north bank of the Columbia river, one hundred miles from its mouth, is the principal trading post of the Hudson's Bay company, west of the mountains. Ships draw-state of cultivation. They supply proing fourteen feet water, can ascend visions to the Hudson's Bay company's twenty miles further up the river. The servants west of the mountains, and exestablishment consists of about hundred port largely to the Sandwich Islands and houses enclosed by picket-fences, and the Russian post of Sitka. defended by armed bastions and a block- There are a few other small but thrihouse. A catholic church is the only ving villages and settlements in Oregon. building of note. The inhabitants are Since the discovery of gold in Califorchiefly South-Sea Islanders in the em- nia, a great demand has arisen for the ploy of the company. The establish- agricultural products of Oregon, and, as ment is on an extensive scale, and the a consequence, a commercial connexion centre of vast interests-all the compa- has been the result. The export of lumny's Indian trade being conducted here. ber has been large. This incipient comExtensive agricultural operations for merce will not be transitory-the dethe support of the traders, are carried mand for building materials is constantly on. The farm contains about three on the increase, and that for breadstuffs thousand acres. The stock of cattle and and provisions will last as long as misheep is very large, and is rapidly in-ning is the chief employment in Califorcreasing in numbers and improving in nia. Some commercial intercourse is breed from the importation of European maintained also with the Sandwich stock. The mixed breed of sheep yields Islands and the Russian settlements on from twelve to eighteen pounds of fleece. the north. But with all these fortuThe mills and outposts of the fort ex-itous circumstances that have attended tend several miles above on the river. the first settlement of the territory, it The upper colony from the United must still remain much as it is-a mere States is situated on the Willamette riv-agricultural and pastoral country, unless er, ninety-four miles from its entrance some means of easy and rapid commuinto the Columbia. It consists of about nication can be maintained with the one hundred families, who raise consid-western states and the Atlantic coast. erable grain, and have about four thousand head of cattle, extensive fields of wheat, potatoes, peas, and vegetables, of all descriptions. They have hogs, poultry, &c., in abundance. FORT WALLAWALLA is on the south side of the Columbia, ten miles below the entrance of Lewis river. On the Willamette river, fifty-five miles above its entrance into the Columbia, is M'Key's settlement, and twelve miles above, is Jarvis' settlement, which contain about twenty families. FORT COLVILLE is on the south side of Clark's river, below the Ketile falls, just before it enters the Columbia. Here is a considerable farming establishment. FORT OKANAGAN is at the entrance into the Columbia of the river of that name, A railroad is the only solution of this Still TERRITORY OF MINNESOTA. THE early history of MINNESOTA is its head springs; while the waters of the involved in much obscurity, though Fa- Minnesota are entirely different in apther Hennepin in 1680, and Baron La pearance, being light-colored and clear. Hontan in 1689, both Frenchmen, visited The name is compounded of two words, that region, but subsequently gave nar-minne, "water," and sotah, "sky-colratives to the world, so strangely inter- ored." This poetical designation, "The mixed with the truth and seeming fable, territory of the sky-colored water," rethat little reliance was placed on their ceives additional ornament in the Dakostatements. It would seem on investi- tah name bestowed on the junction of gation, that for several hundred years the river with the Mississippi, that of the possession of the land was fiercely Mendota, or "Mingling of the Waters." contested by different Indian nations; This is also the appellation of the Indian mainly between the great tribes of Dako- trading-town at the mouth. tahs or Sioux and the Algonquins or The United States had little authority Chippewas. The latter, from their east- over this region till 1812. In 1816, a ern location on Lake Superior, about law of Congress excluded foreigners the falls of St. Mary, and earlier inter- from the Indian trade; and for the encourse with the French fur-traders, be-couragement of our citizens the military came first possessed of firearms, which gave them a superiority that enabled them to drive the Dakotahs from the rich midland hunting-grounds, rice and fish lakes, in the country about the head waters of the Mississippi. The dispossessed bands of the Dakotahs moved westward, sweeping in their progress, the Sheans, the Iowas, and other tribes from their lands; until, in the course of time, the fugitive Dakotahs of the Upper Mississippi, became the fiercest lords of the vast buffalo-plains of the Upper Missouri. By a treaty negotiated under the protection of the United States, at Fort Crawford, near Prairie du Chien, in 1825, between all the different tribes of the northwest, their respective boundaries were defined; and thenceforward comparative peace ensued between them. The name Minnesota is derived from the Indian name of the St. Peter's river, the principal local stream of the country. The Indians, living on its banks, called it thus on account of the different appearance of the waters from those of the Mississippi. At the junction of the two streams, the waters of the last-named river may be observed generally tinged of a chocolate color, derived from the extensive tamarac and pine swamps toward the north, in which it partly has post at Fort Snelling was established in 1819. Among the explorers of this country, the names of Pike, Carver, Long, Beltrami, Cass, Schoolcraft, Nicollet, Owen, &c.. will ever be intimately connected with its history. The honor of verifying the sources of the Mississippi belongs to Schoolcraft. Previous to the erection of Iowa into a state, all that portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi was included in Iowa territory, and that part immediately on the river was embraced in the county of Clayton. The organization of Iowa into a state threw all north of 43° 30′ without the bounds of any organized government. Little, if any, inconvenience resulted to the white inhabitants in the excluded portion, as it was entirely Indian country, and under the control of the United States laws "regulating trade and intercourse with the Indians." But in 1848, Wisconsin was admitted into the Union; and her boundary on the north and northwest being the St. Croix, cut off the principal portion of two organized counties of the territory of Wisconsin-viz., St. Croix and La Pointe-comprising a considerable population, one county-seat, and important interests engaged in lumbering and trading. The people of this portion of the " Territory of Wisconsin," thus suddenly deprived of a judiciary, |