II. The causes of failure of the Protestant missions, the causes of Indian wars, and the causes that must tend to the utter destruction of the Indian race on the American continent. III. The adverse influences that the early settlers had to contend with in coming to and settling in the country, fully explained. IV. A concise history of the early settlement of the country, a short sketch of many of the public men in it, their public character and proceedings, and the organization of the provisional government. V. The mining and agricultural interests of the country. There are two grounds upon which every fact is based:-- 1. Personal knowledge, observation, and participation in what is stated for one-third of a century. 2. The written and printed statements of others, so compared that conclusions are intended to be without a possibility of truthful contradiction; thus making this a standard history of the country for the time included within the period from its discovery by Captain Robert Gray to 1849. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. First discovery of the river.--Natives friendly.--British ship.--Brig _Jennet_.--Snow _Sea Otter_.--The _Globe_.-- _Alert._--_Guatimozin._--_Atahualpa._--Lewis and Clarke.-- Vancouver.--Hamilton.--Derby.--_Pearl._--_Albatross._--First house built in 1810.--Astor's settlement.--The _Tonquin._-- Astor's Company betrayed to the Northwest Company. Page 13 CHAPTER II. The country restored.--The order.--Description of Astoria.-- Different parties.--Northwest Fur Company.--Astor's plan.--Conflict of the two British fur companies.--The treaties.--The Selkirk settlement.--Its object.--The company asserts chartered rights as soon as united. Page 20 CHAPTER III. English Hudson's Bay effort to secure Oregon.--British claim to Oregon.--Dr. McLaughlin's relation to the company.-- Treatment of Red River settlers.--A mistake.--Sir Edward Belcher.--Duplicity of the Hudson's Bay Company.--A noble man.--An Englishman's opinion of the Hudson's Bay Company.--Sir James Douglas's testimony.--J. Ross Browne.--Duty of an historian.--Cause and effect. Page 27 CHAPTER IV. Care of Great Britain for her fur companies.--Columbia Fur Company.--Astor's second fur company.--Major Pilcher's fur company.--Loss of the ship _Isabel_.--Captain Bonneville's expedition.--Cause of his failure.--Captain Wyeth's, 1832.--Indians ask for missionaries in 1833.--Methodist Mission.--Fort Hall established.--Fort Boise. Page 36 CHAPTER V.