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328 JOHN E. REES

being Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia in 1811, which proved to be the first permanent settlement on the Northwest Coast, after which subordinate posts were estab- lished on the Okanogan, Spokane and Willamette rivers. During the war with England, the British, in 1813, took Fort Astoria and the subordinate posts. 31 But the United States was vic- torious in this war and was able to stipulate in the Treaty of Ghent, which ended this war in 1814, that "All territory, places; and possessions whatsoever, taken by either party from the other during the war .... shall be restored without delay", 32 but England was loath to surrender back this fur trading post just as she refused, for years after the Revolu- tionary War, to give possession, to the United States, of the frontier fur posts to which America was entitled by treaty rights. From England's refusal to restore Fort Astoria to the United States arose the Northwest Boundary dispute which agitated both nations henceforth until 1846, when it was ad- justed by placing the boundary at the 49th parallel. 33

Lewis and Clark's Journal was published in 1814, giving a glowing description of the country over which they had tra- versed, including the "Great Columbia Valley", which report made a deep and lasting impression upon all who read it. But this country, while legally belonging to the United States, under the Treaty of Ghent, was still in the hands of the British. As the British had failed to give up Astoria, Secretary Monroe, in 1815, six months after the treaty had been signed, made a demand on the English Minister to restore, to the United States, this post, to which request the English gave no heed. From this date began the agitation for the American posses- sion and occupation of the Northwest Coast, Hall J. Kelley, of Boston, being the first party to call popular attention to this subject. Until this time, this region was called the "Columbia River Country"; the "Shores of the Pacific"; the "Country Across the Rocky Mountains" ; the Northwest Coast" ; the "Western Coast of America"; or the "Country Westward of the Stony Mountains", but Kelley, being a school teacher and

31 Irving's Astoria.

32 Malloy's Treaties, Conventions, Etc., I. 613.

33 Von Hoist's Constitutional History, III, Chap 2.