Page:How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon.djvu/20

16 the Mediterranean. For a long period it seemed as if their journey westward was ended; that they had reached their Ultima Thule; that the western limit had been found.

For many centuries the millions rested in that belief, until the great discoveries of 1492 awakened them to new dreams of western possibilities. At once and under new incentives the westward march began again. The States of the Atlantic were settled and the wilderness subdued. No sooner was this but partially accomplished than the same spirit, "the western fever," seized upon the people.

It seems to have been engrafted in the nature of man, as it is in the nature of birds, to migrate. In caravan after caravan they pushed their way over the Allegheny Mountains, invaded the rich valleys, floated down the great rivers, gave battle to the savage inhabitants and in perils many, and with discouragements sufficient to defeat less heroic characters, they took possession of the now great States of the Middle West. The country to be settled was so vast as to seem to our fathers limitless. They had but little desire as a nation for further expansion.

Up to the date of 1792, the Far West was an unexplored region. The United States made no claim to any lands bordering upon the Pacific, and the discovery made in the year 1792 was