Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/56

44 Oregon Territory was disputed ground. The claim of the British was "geographically based." The east and west line of the Saskatchewan River had, at a very early date, carried English explorers in Canada to the northern arm of the Columbia among the Selkirk Rockies. Discovery of the mouth of the river, by an international principle, established by the British themselves, gave the great stream to the United States; but the northern source was in the hands of the British.

Expansion moved naturally down stream. Trading posts were already established on the near Canadian waters; wealth, organization and strong political backing gave the British company an effectiveness which that of Astor lacked. By 1834 the Hudson's Bay Company had fortified every strategic point, and when the American emigrants began to come in, it was evident that possession would be contested.

Economic conditions were an important influence in determining the type of colonists to settle in the territory. Per example, about the time of the great immigrations, the New Orleans market was so overstocked that farm produce sold at a very low figure. The farmers of the Mississippi Valley disposed of their farms and, without a regret, joined the westward movement. They wanted a seaboard State and a market for their goods.

In the maritime world Oregon was destined to become an important factor. Fort Vancouver was the market and base of supplies for the fisheries of the North Pacific and for the fur sealers of the Bering Sea. The Orient was a great market for American products and also a great source of supply for America to draw upon, and through Oregon was to be opened the path to the Orient.

In an analysis of the influences affecting the course of civil government in Oregon, a prominent place should be given to that slow, yet powerful, westward movement of population. "It consisted of a people aggressive and assertive of their own wants, and of their ability to get them."