Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/52



Oregon Territory, when first the term came into use, embraced the same somewhat undefined region which in these Pacific States histories I have denominated the Northwest Coast; namely, the lands lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and extending northward indefinitely from the forty-second parallel of latitude. Later the name Oregon was applied to a narrower area.

In surface and climate it is varied; in resources limitless, though its possibilities are little known. There is grand and beautiful scenery in every portion of it; some wild and rugged, some treeless and lonely; altogether a magnificent stretch of primeval wilderness. It is divided longitudinally by the Cascade Mountains, one with the Snowy Range of California 2em