The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-06-15

| nile 10 trade with them-a climate of supreme and
| almost miraculous salubrity-a natural frontier o.
mountain ramparts-a triple barrier OF mountains
| to give her military impresnablllty'
! Having cleared away the errors which under
valued the country and pointed out the advantages
peculiar TO it, | now come TO another advantage
common 10 all North America, and long since the
cherished vision Of my young Imaginatlen' Rus,
sian empress said of the Crimea: Here lies the road
to Byzantium. say to my fellOw-citlzens: Through
the valley Of the Columbia lies the North American
road TO India. TWenty-eght years ago | wrote
something on this head and published ii. A quar-
ter of century Of experience and observation has
given me nothing to detract from what then wrote
! -nothng TO add, except derived rom the prog
ress of the arts, and especially omnipotent steam.
The trade the East has always been the richest
jewel in the diadem Of commerce. All nations, in
all ages have sought 1t; and those which obtained
It, share of 1t, attained the highest degree
Of opulence, refinement, and power The routes
through which Il flowed fertiized deseps, sad built
up cities and Kingdoms amidst the sesoati0n OF
rocks and sands. Phencia, Egypt, Persia, were
among the ancient thOroughfares Of this commerce.
ConstantBople and Alexandria among It's modern
| channels; and Venice and Genoa IN the south, and
BrIges and Antwerp in the NORTH the means Of It's
dis rbuton over Europe. All grew rich and pow
| erful upon it and with wealth and power, came
civilization and refinement. The Cape of Good
Hope became the recent route with wealth TO its
discoveries, the Portuguese, and to all their rivals
and folowers-the Dutch, English, French, and
| others.
The commerce Of Asia, always dazzling TO the
Oriental nations, became the intense object Of de-
sire to the western Europeans, from the time that
the crusaders visited Constantnople and Vasca di
Cana doubled the Cape of Good Hope. The daz.
zng attraction Of this commerce was the cause OF
the discovery Of the New World. Columbus go.
ing west TO Asia was arrested by the intervention OF
no iuJn Ann From his dau 10 he
skill and power have exerted themselves to get
round or through this formidable obstacle All the
| attempts to discover northwest passage were so
many attempts TO discover a western road To India
All the discoveries Of the French among the interior
lakes and great rivers OF North America were with
the same view. La Sale, the great French dscoy.
erer, parting from his friends eight miles from Mon
trea for his last yord exclaimed, La Chine (Chi.
na,) as the word which displayed the object and
end OF his adventurous enterprise; and by that
name the spot is known to this day He had all
the qualities Of great discoverer but he kne "
not how Ia cOncIliae he feelings Of his people, and
'r a sacrifice 20 their resentment on the Arkansas.
The Jesuit fathers, courageous and pOus mission
aries, to whom the world was inde tied for all its
| carly knowledge of the interior Of North America
u am speaking only ofths INTERIOR seeing the wa
| ters Of a thnusaed lakes held in equilibrium on a
vast plateau in the centre of the continent, from
which three great rivers went off north, south and
east, 10 the hllhnlC, nearing the InuanS speak
of a river of the west in their language Oregan-a
| opeIIIng which Humboldt folows-naturaly sup
posed that, from the same plateau a fourth great
river went of west, end actually skeched an Ore.
gan from Lake Wnepec to the Pacific, still to be
seen on some old maps They were right in the
fact Of the river though mistaken in its source; and
his is the first knowledge which history has of
Oregon
Mr.. Jefferson, that man OF rare endowments and
common sense-of genius and judgment philosophy
and pructIce-whose fertile mind was always teem-
ing with enterprises beneficial to his species: this
rare man, following up the grand idea Of Columbus,
and taking up the unfinished enterprise of La Sale,
and anxious TO crowd into his administration gal
ixy Of brilliant events, sasly proectedhe discovery
If an inland route to the Pacific oceas. The Mis-
souri, river to be one long link in this chain OF
| communication: the Columbia, or any other that
might serve the purpose, on the other side of the
| mountains, was to be another. Lewis and Clark
were sent out TO discover commercial route to the
| Pacific ocean; and judiciously was their enter
| prise conducted, that their return route must be-
come, and forever remain, the route of commerce:
the route further SOUTH through the South Pass near
latitude a. will be the travelling road; but COM
merce will take the water line of their RETURN cross
| ing the Rocky mountains in latitude A. through the
| north pass.
With the exception Of a small part of the route,
the Hudson Bay Company now follow, and have
followed for thirty years, the route Of Lewis and
| Clark, These eminent discoveries left the Column
bia river near the mouth Of LeWls's fork, went
up the Kooskooske, thence over high mountain
to the forks of Clark's river; and thence through
| the north pass to the great falls of the Mis-.
souri,. The Hudson Bay Company have discov-
cred better route to Clark's river, following the
| Columbia higher up, and leaving it at the Upper
Falls, in latitude about 4Si and where they have
established their depot for the mountain trade, called
Fort Colvie. From these falls it is sixty miles
overland Clark's river, whence the river is nav
| igable to its forks, three hundred miles up and
within one hundred and fifty miles Of the great falls
Of the Missouri. Along this route the Hudson Bay
Company have carried on their trade for near thirty
years, quite through to the east side of the
| Rocky mountains; paying no duties, using our rv-
err and territories, poisoning the minds of the In
dams against us, and exhausng the country of its
| furs. Their goods arrive OF Fort Vancouver In
ships from London-ascend the Columbia to Fort
ColvilIc in batteaux-make portage of sixty miles
to Carks river, the lower part of that river being
unfit for navgatIon then ascend Carks river to its
forks, three hundred miles, and thence to the head
waters of the Missouri. The only part of this
route with which | have but little acquaintance is
the sixty miles of portage from the upper falls of tho
Columbia to the point where Carks river can bt
navgated. 1t may be mountainous; but that it j,
practicable, is proved by the fact that the Hudson
Bay Company have used it for thirty years; that il
is the best route, is proved by the further fact tina
long acquaintance with the country has not induced
them to change it. With this slight deviation, tn,
Hudson Bay Company follow the return route o
Lewis and Clark and this will be the route OF
commerce to the end Of time.
The Columbia river is decricd for it's avigation-
not by the British, who know its value, and strug
gle to maintain its possession, but by those who sc,
the whole country beyond the Rocky mountains
through the medium Of depreciation. 1t is
even in state of nature, practicable river TO
navigation. The tide flows up it one hundred ant
eighty miles and to that distance there is ship nav
igation. Batteaux ascend it to Fort Colville, a
the upper falls, making more, or fewer, portages
according to the state of the water; and beyond tina
point they still ascend TO the "Boat Encampment
opposite the head Of the Athabasca; where pas
in the mountains leads to the waters of the Froze
ocean. Periodically, the river is flooded by tn
melting Of the SHOWS in the mountains; and the
many Of the falls and rapids are buried in dee
water, and no trace of them seen. This is eve
the case with the Great Falls, where pitch of TWEEN
ty-eght feet, at low water, disappears wholly unde
the food. Sixty feet is the rise, and that annua
e and punctual. No ice obsructs its surface; n
r sunken trees cucumber its bottom. Art will in
. prove the navigation and steam. vessels will ur