Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/397



Teachers of history, who hold in their hands the scales of justice, should, above all others, strive to weigh carefully the claims of the individual men with whom they have to deal, and to place before their readers not only a few isolated facts, but the explanation of those facts, without which the student of history is but half educated, if educated at all.

That portion of the Northwest coast which was long known as the "Oregon territory" enjoys the distinction of having been fathered by more men with a greater variety of purposes and ambitions than any other of the family of commonwealths under the United States flag. First, there were the English and the American explorers, Gray and Vancouver, and Lewis and Clark, in the employ of their respective companies or governments, whose acts formed the foundation of opposing claims to the northwest, and particularly the region drained by the Columbia River. These form a class by themselves.

Then follows John Jacob Astor, pioneer of the fur trade—of commerce—on the River of the West. His claim to be the father of Oregon was filched from him by his English partners, who paid him forty per cent, of the value of his stock in trade, and assumed the sovereignty of the country occupied by them.