Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/322



Our Oregon history is not a detached narrative. The various stages of discovery, exploration, fur trade, acquisition, migration, settlement, Indian subjugation, gold activity, transportation, industrial progress, each forms a story, each linked with the others and with the annals of the world and of our nation. Hence, the investigator finds large part of the materials to be outside Oregon libraries; in the governmental departments of the national capital; in the collections of historical societies of Missouri, Nebraska, Montana, Kansas, Wisconsin, California, South Dakota, and Washington state; in missionary and seafaring documents of New England; in exploration and diplomatic records of London and Madrid. Scrutiny of the materials gives two distinct ideas: First, of the immensity of the field and the variety of the record, much of it yet unused; second, of the need of industry and talent, both historical and literary, in bringing the history to authentic and public reading.

In preparing this paper, the writer finds it impossible to present anything that is new. The best he can do is to shift the viewpoint of survey. We hear nowadays a great deal about "canned" thought; just as we read about "canned" music and "canned" fruits. The writer has used the results of the labor of others, especially of Charles W. Smith, associate librarian, University of Washington Library, and Eleanor Ruth Lockwood, reference librarian, Portland library, who have compiled lists of authors and materials. He is also indebted to Nellie B. Pipes, assistant secretary and librarian of the Oregon Historical Society, for many valuable suggestions.

When first contemplating the subject of Oregon history