Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/436

420 The Lewis and Clark exploration that was fraught with as much of this glorious outcome as any single event can be should have its centennial anniversary appropriately celebrated; and what will be the most appropriate commemoration of the event through which our national attention was first directed to this Oregon and in which national representatives first trod this soil? That Lewis and Clark Centennial will be the most appropriate, which is the means of the largest, highest, and, therefore, most permanent good. It should be planned so that its central aim appeals to the deepest patriotism of the people of the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest is unique in its natural wonders. Their charm for the people of the East should be most effectively utilized. Our industries and commerce should receive from the fair, and congresses held in conjunction with it, the best impetus that science can give. Our position as the gateway to the Orient should make the exposition the occasion of the meeting of the Occident and the Orient. That meeting should be so carefully planned that the largest measure of mutual good in the interchange of products and ideas will result. The centennial, too, should leave a monument from which there would perennially radiate for all the people of this region the best light of research, of history, and of patriotic love for the welfare of the Pacific Northwest.

Peculiarly fortunate is it that the Lewis and Clark Centennial is to commemorate the natal date of a natural division of our country. The alacrity and zeal with which the sister states of the Pacific Northwest respond to Oregon's move for a celebration arise largely, no doubt, from the sentiment that unites those that had a common origin in this exploration, and that for half a century were undivided parts of historic "Old Oregon." This common history more than justifies their union in