Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 19/The Spirit and Objectives in the Annals of Oregon

THE QUARTERLY of the Oregon Historical Society VOLUME XIX SEPTEMBER, 1918 NUMBER 3 Copyright, 1918, by the Oregon Historical Society The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pa^ee . THE SPIRIT AND OBJECTIVES IN THE ANNALS OF OREGON Oregon has an inspiring past and Oregon is again aglow in the making of history. The Oregon country furnished the stage for the culmination of westward exploration and pioneering of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The Spanish Latin and the Russian Slav participated in drawing aside the curtain of mystery that long veiled this quarter of the globe from the race of white men. Once revealed, the River of the West, the Oregon, became the Columbia with an imperial drainage area, both in extent and quality. Then the visions of a Jefferson, of a Ledyard and of a Kelley, made it the objective of adventurous plans of occu- pation. The enterprise of an Astor and of a Wyeth struggled desperately to establish here going centers of trade and indus- try. The fortitude of scores of fur traders of the Far West developed the details of the geographical features of the region. Here the intrepidity of countless pioneer home- builders and missionaries founded the nucleus of a common- wealth. And here the magnanimity of a McLoughlin main- tained peace under the severe strain of intense international rivalry, exhibiting human nature in its most revered mien. The annals of Early Oregon are thus charged through and through with the spirit of dauntless endeavor and will have keen appeal to the heroic in the natures of all succeeding 178 F. G. YOUNG generations of men. The assembling of the founders of Oregon involved a historic movement and a pageant on a scale, and with such stirring dramatic incidents, such that the founding of an Athens, a Rome, an England or a Massa- chusetts hardly compares with it in human interest. But the new Oregon community thus constituted was only a group or collection of individuals or families. These were to be merged into the organic unity of a commonwealth. A period of incubation was necessary for the genesis of the soul of a state. To have a part among the matured communities of its time it must first invest itself with the paraphernalia of a twentieth century civilization. Its fields were to be made pro- ductive. Its homes, schools and roads were to be built. Its cities organized and its institutions generally gotten into good working order. The chrysalis stage for Oregon is past. The Oregon com- munity has emerged full-fledged for its part in the world economy. Oregon annals as an integral buoyant part of our national life are again radiant. New motives and new objectives hold sway. A century ago Oregon was becoming a word to conjure with. It was beginning to stir the souls of the valiant. It was suggesting in turn the lure of the supposed Straits of Anian, affording a direct passage to the Indies ; of the wealth of fur on its coast and streams ; of the commercial opportunity in its facing of the Orient with its teas, silk and spices; of the salubrious climate and productive lands of the valleys of the Columbia basin with direct egress to the highway of the sea for reaching world markets. And' then there were too the perishing souls of the benighted natives the idea of the rescue of whom tugged at the heart strings of the deeply religious. Through these all Oregon drew the adventurous, the brave and ardent spirits from every clime. A century later or today we are not disappointed with spirit of the community having the historic antecedents constituting the annals of early Oregon. The representative world task now is not as it was a century ago that of approANNALS OF OREGON 179 priating a rich wilderness for the higher human purposes, but rather that of making democracy liberty and justice through enlightened loyalties at home among the nations of mankind. In this world crisis Oregon is always first with her contri- butions and endeavors towards having right make might. Thus the annals of the Oregon of today will shine as pure gold for all time and give inspiration to an ever rising humanity. They are precious and should be religiously preserved.