Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/110

108 along a more practical route to the Willamette Valley than the newly discovered route by the way of Barlow Pass; and a plan was devised for a new emigrant road into Oregon. This road was to leave the old Oregon road at Fort Hall, then to follow the Truckee and the Humboldt River, to cross the Modoc and the Klamath country and the mountains into the Rogue River Valley, then pass through the Umpqua Canyon onward into the Willamette Valley. By incredible effort with ax and saw, ropes and chains, in 1846 emigrants with their wagons and teams came over the Southern Oregon route which they developed into a widened trail; but which later was made into a practical wagon road.

Settlement of the Oregon Question. Americans had come to Oregon in such numbers that they began to dominate the country, north as well as south of the Columbia—a condition which the British fur traders did not overlook. Also the agitation of the Oregon question throughout the United States so interested the American people that many became unwilling to accept the 49th parallel as the north boundary of Oregon. When James K. Polk, in 1844, was chosen President, it was believed that the national campaign shibboleth—"Fifty-four forty or Fight," had much to do in electing him. Also the Oregon question was given prominence in the President's inaugural address. However, the United States exhibited willingness to compromise on the 49th parallel, an offer which the British minister courteously refused. Congress then voted to put an end to joint occupation in Oregon; but to avert war, the President, upon the advice of John C. Calhoun, opened the question with Great Britain again, and that nation, in June 1846, agreed to accept the 49th parallel as the boundary. Upon the advice of the Senate, the President signed the treaty, June 15, 1846 by which Oregon was distinguished as the first and only American territory that the United States of America has acquired on this continent without either bloodshed or cash purchase.