Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/189

 THE QUARTERLY of the Oregon Historical Society VOLUME XIX SEPTEMBER, 1918 NUMBER 3 Copyright, 1918, by the Oregon Historical Society The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pa^ee. THE SPIRIT AND OBJECTIVES IN THE ANNALS OF OREGON Oregon has an inspiring past and Oregon is again aglow in the making of history. The Oregon country furnished the stage for the culmination of westward exploration and pioneering of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The Spanish Latin and the Russian Slav participated in drawing aside the curtain of mystery that long veiled this quarter of the globe from the race of white men. Once revealed, the River of the West, the Oregon, became the Columbia with an imperial drainage area, both in extent and quality. Then the visions of a Jefferson, of a Ledyard and of a Kelley, made it the objective of adventurous plans of occu- pation. The enterprise of an Astor and of a Wyeth struggled desperately to establish here going centers of trade and indus- try. The fortitude of scores of fur traders of the Far West developed the details of the geographical features of the region. Here the intrepidity of countless pioneer home- builders and missionaries founded the nucleus of a common- wealth. And here the magnanimity of a McLoughlin main- tained peace under the severe strain of intense international rivalry, exhibiting human nature in its most revered mien. The annals of Early Oregon are thus charged through and through with the spirit of dauntless endeavor and will have keen appeal to the heroic in the natures of all succeeding