Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-12-02

Messrs. Houghtcn. Miffiin Il Co. of
Boston are publishing. under the edito-
rial direction of Horace +. Scudder. q
series of historical works under the gen.
eral title Of American CONFERENCE.-The.
The serie; 80 far as at present issued
comprises the following volumes. Viz
giuia-A history of the people. by John
listen Cooke. Oregon-The struggle
for pOss ssion, by william Barrows, d.
d. There are also in preparation Penn
slyvanis, by Hon. Wayne McVeagh:
South Carolina BY Hon. VIM. II. Tres
colt: Maryland. by VIM. Hand Browne,
and Kentucky, by Nathaniel Souihgate
Shaler. we have received AID read the
work entitled Oregon-The strog lie
for possession" Ii is a volume of 80
pages, and to every citizen OF Idaho,
Oregon and Washington, which for
many years were all included under the
general name Of Oregon, is instructive
and intensely Interesting. The history
begins With the treaty Of RyswIck IN
1891, when America was partitioEsd
among the then three great nation2-
Spain. France and Great Britain. Fo.-
lowing the history Of the several CLAIM
Of those conteL ding monarch!es, it 8
shown how Spain withdrew her assump-
ton to the Pacific Coast. north of the
present California line: how Russia be
came a contestant for the prize and
afterward wisely retired into the farther
north; how the English occupation
through the Hudson Bay Company be-
san and extended, and how the contest
vas ierceiy waged for nearly a century
between that great nation and the Uni
ted States, until the final settlement of
boundary between them i'll the Gulf of
Georgia was made at Berlin by En-
peror William in 1872 by designating
the "Haro Channel AS the line intend
ed by the treaty of 1916. The book is
strc ngly written. Its historic value is
unquestionably great, while its descrir-
tons of the events which for more than
a hundred years were the subject of
confe euce and treaty by the ruling
power, Of the world, are graphic and
absorbing il interest. The steady and
irresistible influence and power of the
Hudson Bay Company. its modes of
operation, its hostility to civilization,
the character Of its officers and employees
aud its logged opposition to the settle
meet of this grand Northwest region
are boldly and faithfully portrayed.
We quote paragraph on this subject:
To-day, as hundred years ago, the
dog sledge runs out from Winnipeg for
its solitary drive OF 80, or 1000 or even
200 miles. 1t gl.des silent rs a specter
over those snow fields and through the
solemn still forests. painfully wanting
in animal life. Fifty, seventy, an hun
dred days it speeds along, and as many
nights it camps without ire and looks
up to the same cold stars. At the inter
vening posts the sledge makes papse,
heaves to before some lone Pacific island.
1t is the same at the trader hut or fac
tory as when tho sledge mans grand
father drove up, the same dogs, the same
half breeds or vOyageurS to welcome
him, the same foul lounging Indians
and tbs same iHinkskin in exchange for
the same trinket. The fur animal and
its purchaser, and hunter, as the land
OF no IN hs, alrt-a unI.r
immutable, unprOgressive law of nature:
"A landscape where all things always
seemed the same
as among the lotus caters. Human pro-
gress and Indian civilization have made
scarcely more improvement than that
central silent partner in the Hudson Bay
COmpany-the beaver"
Following on, the travels, perils and
successes Of the early emigrants to this
"farthest vest are told. The bridal
tour Of DR., Whitman and his wife, who
with MIR. Spaldipg and dis young wife,
just from a bed of lingering sickness, in
the early spring q 1896 ct out on their
journey ot I500.miles across trackless
wilderness arriving At Fort Walla Walla
September ID of that year. four months
frCm tho Miss Duri, is Il record of sur
passing interest. Space precludes more
extended review. The work has the in
terest of novel, its descriptions are
superb, lis analysis and arrangement of
events and underlying motives clear and
apt. /, is work which should be III
tho house OF every resident OF the conn
try OF which it treats. 1t is ~ much a
history of Washington Territory as of
the present State of Oregon.