Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/19

Rh Before this reached Astoria the British sympathizers among Astor's partners sold him out. Astor was probably the first to have a vision not only of what the nation was to gain on this coast, but also of what more might have been gained had President Madison been as bold in regard to his enterprise as was Jefferson in the Louisiana purchase. Had this been so Captain Chittenden thinks "the political map of North America would not be what it is to-day," implying that there would have been an uninterrupted American Pacific coast line from the extreme north to the Mexican boundary.

So far our rights to the region were based on priority in discovery, in exploration, and in occupation; but now for a period of thirty years the British Hudson Bay Company was to have almost undisputed possession. However, the rights established by Gray, Lewis and Clark, and Astor did not lapse and could not be set aside through occupation by a mere trading company. During nearly all of this thirty-year period the Boston schoolmaster, Hall J. Kelley, was agitating the colonization of Oregon, and in 1832, and again in 1834, Nathaniel J. Wyeth, with herculean effort, indomitable perseverance, and incredible energy led expeditions to the Columbia only to meet with disaster when with his slender means he was pitted against the mighty corporation in possession here. With Wyeth came the first party of missionaries. The "Mountain Men"—retired trappers—soon followed, seeking homes here; and, beginning with 1842, annual migrations of thousands of Oregon pioneers were on the way. The Lewis and Clark exploration had thus led to a national movement—"the migration of a people," says Captain Chittenden, "seeking to avail itself of opportunities which have come but rarely in the history of the world, and which will never come again." The route traced by these Oregon pioneers will some day be restored 10