Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/179

Rh and to aid the march of civilization. It is possible that this portion of Oregon will be acquired from the natives, in the same manner that portions of the United States have already been acquired—by force. And should it be so acquired, and when judgment comes upon the conqueror for conquest, there will be none upon whom it will fall more lightly, for there are no people who deserve more justly punishment for "all manner of wickedness" than the natives of the Rogue's River and Clamuth Valleys.

Not much attention has yet been paid to the North side of the Columbia by American settlers, owing to the uncertainty in regard to the claims of the two Powers that hold it in dispute; but notwithstanding this uncertainty, a small settlement has been formed by persons from the United States about twenty miles above Vancouver, on the North side of the River, in the confident belief that the United States Government would never relinquish any portion of her just rights. In several respects it is superior to the South. Immediately on the River it affords many more and better situations for settlement. At the falls of the Columbia, which must, in time become a place of some importance, the North side only can be improved. As the navigation extends forty miles above the Falls, and entirely through the Cascade Mountains, over which a good road cannot probably be made; a canal around the Falls will be a project which will deeply interest that whole country, as it will probably be the only means to facilitate the intercourse between the different portions of country lying above and below the Cascade Mountains, and the ingress and egress from and to the United States; and a canal can only be made, with any reasonable expense, on the North side. The vast amount of water power which the Falls will afford can be rendered available with profit only on the North side. Cape Disappointment, which can