As already stated, the Hudson's Bay Company withdrew headquarters to the north of the present boundary after it became fixed in 1846. Meantime settlement, especially in the Willamette valley, was going on apace and cities and towns arose. Though the fur trade departed, the fisheries have remained and the city of Astoria has been reared chiefly on a diet of fish--for the salmon and sturgeon, as well as smaller fish, of the Columbia, were ever justly celebrated. Ships of all nations found their way in increasing numbers across that bar which has ever been the chief drawback to navigation to and from the Columbia. Across the broad river down which the express boat propelled by the light-hearted, gaily-singing voyageurs, made its way in former times, the swift express train now travels with passengers who mayhap have crossed the continent in less time than would, in the early days, have been consumed in a trip from Spokane to Fort Vancouver. C. O. ERMATINGER. FOOTNOTES: [212] Mr. C. O. Ermatinger, of St. Thomas, Ontario, the writer of this paper, is the son of the E. (Edward) Ermatinger and a nephew or the F. (Francis) Ermatinger who are mentioned in the entry on Monday, October 31st, 1825, of the Journal of John Work, which is printed in this Quarterly. Judge Ermatinger is a prominent member of the Elgin (County) Historical and Scientific Institute of Ontario, Canada. This paper was prepared for use in the East some years since; its publication in this Quarterly has now been kindly permitted.--T. C. Elliott. [213] The present writer's father. [214] Now deceased. The paintings were purchased I believe by Mr. C. B. Estes, M. P., of Toronto. [215] The writer's father. THREE DIPLOMATS PROMINENT IN THE OREGON QUESTION[216] English-speaking people throughout the world are preparing to celebrate the century of peace which was begun on Christmas Eve, 1814, by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. It is especially appropriate that here, in the Pacific Northwestern part of America, we should join in such a celebration, for it was by the Treaty of Ghent that the Oregon Question first entered the realm of diplomacy. There remained thirty-one years of struggle for sovereignty, during which war seemed imminent on more than one occasion, and yet, at the end of that period, the case was settled by diplomacy. Many men took part in that struggle, but it is the present purpose to call attention to three eminent American statesmen who were brought into contact with the diplomacy of the case at each important stage of its evolution. As a group, they deserve more credit than is usually accorded to them in Northwestern annals. Their names are John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and Albert Gallatin.