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

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gently slopDg 10 the shores-in readiness OF access
TO the sea- being in the very edge of the ocesn-lH
freedom from ice IN winter and great heats IN sum
mer-ln steadiness Of winds and currents-in free
dom from shelters outside Of the harbor, where en-
emy's ships or fleets in time of war can hide, and
lie IN wait for returning outgoing yesses-in
number extent, and safety of anchoring places, suf
hcient for any number and any class of vessels, Inn
mediatey within the harbor-in defensbiity, be-
ing from the nanowness Of the mouth and the high
points which overlook it, susceptible of absolute
defence. And in this respect, the mouth Of the
Columbia stands out pre-emlnently distinguished
all the rivers Of the Atlantic, and most Of those
of the world. No seven mouths, like the Nile, or
three like the Mississipp-no broad outlets through
low sands and marshes-nO wide expanse of water
at its mouth, but bay within, large enough TO hold
ten thousand vessels, narrow gate TO enter the sea,
and promOnOres each side TO receive batteries To
defend IT, In short, in state Of nature, without
pilots, lighthouses, buoys, beacons, steam tow
boats, an excellent pert: with these advantages,
superior TO New York for every vessel, from the
merchant service 10 the ship-ot-the-line. Such Is
the harbOr at the month of the Columbus which
has been underyalued for several reasons; among
others, to find an argument for going to $40 40 10
search for harbors In the depths Of volcanic chasms,
often too deep for anchorage, too abrupt for APP
proach and always seated in sterl lands to which
geography has attached the name of Desoatlon.
Like the other disadvantages attributed TO the Co
lumbia, that of the harbor at the mouth Of the river
yanishes at the touch Of examination not only
yanlshes, but turns out to be one OF It's great and
positive superiorites | would read the statements
Of Mldshipman Blair, and the pilot, Mr.. Maglnn,
but find them too long for a place in speech:
they will appear in an appendix. All the caPacl-
ties Of this harbor are well known to the British.
Ohen have their government vessels surveyed IT.
three times that | know Of and never with dis
Parsgng report. But why argue' While speak,
the work is going on. Vessels have heen entering
the port since 1924 period Of ifty-six years
without pilots, lights, buoys, beaeons, steam tow
boats: without any of the aids which the skill and
power Of civilization gives to port. They are en-
terng II now and, counting from its first discovery,
there is not a day IN the year, nor hour in the
day, or in the night, in which they have not entered
Il, and entered it safely. A few have been
wrecked, and very few; the great mass have
entered safely, and this In a state Of ma
ture What will il be, then, when aided like the es-
ablished ports Of the civilized world2
The carrying trade between eastern ASIA and
western America will be another Of the advantages
belonging to the Columbia. 1t ia the only position
between the isthmus of Darien and Behrings
straits on which a naval power can exist. Mexico
has no timber, few ports, and none of the els-
ments Of ship building. The Lower California is
the same. Northern California, with the bay OF
San Francisco, and the magnificent timber Of the
Sierra Nevada, is now shown, by the discoveries of
Captain Fremont, to be geographically appurtenanr
to the Columbia, and IN time must obey its destiny
The Columbia river is the seat of great naval pTe
eminence; magnificent timber-the whole tide water
region Of the. river, $50 miles in length, fit for
continuous p.yard-supplied with everything
from above-secure against the possibility of hostile
approach from below. North of the Straits of
Fuca it is continued volcanic desolation, where
ships will hardly go, much less be built During
three hundred years, II has remained and still re-
tha Harel Ict If e..
alone have seated themselves upon some of its
hyperborean islands. There is no seat for nava
power on the western coast of North America ex
cept on the Columbia. The Aaiatics have no taste
for the sea; they never seek the great ocean. The
people on the Columbia, then, will berthe carriers
almost exclusively, between eastern Asia and its
myriad of islands, one side, and all Mexico,
California, and Northwest America on the other;
and rich will be the profits Of such carrying. set
it down as another Of the great advantages of The
Columbia.
The grasses Of the country, indigenous az they
are, and in the wild state, named by Captain
Fremont among its natural advantages, sources
Of national and individual wealth, and the means Of
changing the mode of military operations, by dis
pensng with the heavy commissariat of European
armies. Horses for the men to ride on, and cattle
for them to feed on, would both find their supper
IN these grasses, and permit the most rapid and ex-
tended movements Of mounted gun-m9D, cavalry,
anu noi sc itHI'iJ' Lie
Refering to my journal particular descriptions and
for sectional boundaries between good and bad districts
only say, general and comparative terms that r
that branch OF agriculture which implies the cultivation
grains and staple crops it would be Inferior the Atlantic
states though many parts are superior for wheat while il
the rearing Of hocks and herds it would claim high place
Its grazing capabilities great and indg
grass there, element Of national and nhvidua
wealth may be found In fact the valuable grasses begir
within hundred and fifty miles of the Msso frontier
and extend to the Pacific Fast Of the Rocky
it is the short curly grass which the buffalo de
En,lI nhn ht,Ha lnA
still good when dry and apparently dead West of thos
mountains, it is larger growth in clusters and henc,
called bunch grass and which has second fall growth
Plains and mountuns both exhibit them; and have seer
good pasturage at elevation of thousand feet
this spontaneous product the trading travelling
find subsistence for their animal and in military
atoms number OF cavalry may be moved and any
supported on long expeditions and winter in thu
| sheltered situations lP. 277)
| Mary, its advantages are vast, and are graoh
cay sketched by Captain Fremont In his extend
ed explorations, he has viewed the country under
every aspect of natural or physical geography, and
thus presents under its military aspect in state OF
| nature:
whole breadth Of the country, breaking through all thu
ranges, and entering the Drawing its waters from
of degrees of latitude in the Rocky mountains
which collected into stream by three main forks
U.ewss Cark's, and the North fork the centre
the Oregon valley this great river thence proceeds by
single channel to the while its three forks lead each
pass in the mountains, which opens the way into the in
|
this region, gives immense value TO the Columbia 1t
mouth the only inlet and outlet and from the sea- il
three forks lead the passes in the mountains is there
fore the only line OF communication between the Pacific
auI the interior of North America and all operations
commerce., of national social intercourse mus
be conducted upon il. This gives value beyond estma
ton AMI would involve rreparablc injury ifost In thi
unity and nccnaton of its waters the Pacific side of
continent differs entirely from the Atlantic side where thu
waters of the Allegheny mountains dispersed into
rivers having their different entrances into the
opening many lines Of communication with the interior
The Pacific coast is equally different from that of thu
Atlantic The coast of the Atlantic is low and open in
dened with bays sounds, and river osuares
accessible everywhere and opening by many channels int
the heart the country The Pacific coast the contrary
high and compact with few bays and but that
into the of the country The immediate coast is wha
the call ,onbolld little within II Ia skired H.
two successive ranges OF mountain standing rampant
the and the interior country and to get throug
which there is hut gate and that narrow md easily de
Tended This structure Of the coast hacked by these w
ranges Of mountains with its concentration and unity
gives to the country immense military strength
and will probably render Oregon the most impregnabl
country in the world"-tpp, Gi-5)
: Commercially, the advantages of Oregon will b
great-ar greater than any equal portion of the Al
lantic States. The eastern Asatics, who will b
their chief customers, are more numerous than on
customers in western Europe-more profitable t