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The new material accumulated during the past twelve years since the original publication of the History of the Pacific Northwest has rendered necessary not a mere revision of that work but on many essential points a complete rewriting of it. This is notably true of the chapters dealing with the history of the Oregon boundary negotiation between the United States and Great Britain. It is true also of parts of the balance of the early part of the work. Moreover, since the movement in this comparatively new region is very rapid and a single decade sometimes revolutionizes conditions, it was felt to be necessary to add special chapters on the Progress of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, and Social and Political Change. With this additional matter it would seem as if the story of the Pacific Northwest were in this book brought down to the actual present.

The author is under great obligations to the management of the Record Office at London, England, for permission to use files of papers relating to the Oregon Question; to the late Ambassador Whitelaw Reid for his courtesy in securing for him access to all available materials in London; and to Lord Stanmore for permission to examine and use papers of