Page:History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana.djvu/11



my History of the Northwest Coast I have brought down the annals of Washington, Idaho, and Montana to the end of the fur company regime, in 1846, at which time the question of boundary between the possessions of Great Britain and those of the United States was determined, the subjects of the former power thereupon retiring from the banks of the Columbia northward beyond the line of latitude 49°. In the History of Oregon I have likewise given much of the early affairs of the territory treated of in this volume, that territory for a time being a part of Oregon; just as in the history of Washington much is given of the history of Idaho, and in the history of Idaho much of Montana.

Under the term Northwest Coast I originally included all that vast region of North America north of the 42d parallel and west of the Rocky Mountains, Alaska alone excepted. When, in 1846, the southern line of British Columbia was determined, all that remained was called Oregon. Later, from Oregon was set off Washington; from Washington was set off Idaho; and from Idaho, for the most part, was set off Montana. Thus for some part of the history of Montana we look to the annals of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and the Northwest Coast; for part