Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/330

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292
Leslie M. Scott

in the fixing of the present boundary in 1846. On this subject American writers have desired to search the archives of the British foreign office and of the Hudson's Bay Company in London, but have made little progress. Contemporary British books setting forth the British side of the dispute were published in London, among them those of John Dunn, Thomas Falconer and Adam Thom, in 1844; Sir Travers Twiss, Charles Grenfell Nicolay, Edward James Wallace and Alexander Simpson, in 1846. The American argument is set forth best by Robert Greenhow in "History of Oregon and California," published in several editions, a book which has established itself as the first classic of this phase of Oregon history. Other contemporary books are those of Wyndham Robertson, 1846; Ephriam W. Tucker, 1844. Bearing on this subject, from the American side, are Caleb Cushing's report in Congress in 1839, Albert Gallatin's letters, speeches and lettters of John C. Calhoun, President John Quincy Adams' message on the negotiations in 1826, and letters and messages of Presidents Tyler and Polk; the writings of Edward Gaylord Bourne, William D. Fenton, Joseph R. Wilson, Edmund S. Meany, Andrew Fish, T. C. Elliott, Katherine B. Judson. The future will bring to light many documents on this important subject in Washington and London.

For introductory study of Oregon history, we commend Joseph Schafer's "History of the Pacific Northwest," as the simplest, most rapid and best balanced narrative, to be followed by Charles H. Chapman's "The Story of Oregon and Its People;" Sidona V. Johnson's "A Short History of Oregon," which is a condensation of Himes and Lang's "History of Oregon;" John B. Horner's "Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature," and finally by a perusal of Eva Emery Dye's "Stories of Oregon." The Schafer, Chapman and Horner books are written for school uses, the authors being trained educators.

The most monumental work on Oregon history, we may