The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society (Vol. I, No. 2)

PRICE: THIRTY-FIVE CENTS PER MONTH, ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR Entered at the Post Office at Portland, Oregon, as second-class matter May 5, 1900.
Organized December 17, 1898
DIRECTORS
The Quarterly is sent free to all members of the Society. The annual dues are two dollars. The fee for life membership is twenty-five dollars. Contributions to The Quarterly and correspondence relative to historical materials, or pertaining to the affairs of this Society, should be addressed to F. G. YOUNG, Secretary . Eugene, Oregon.
Subscriptions for The Quarterly , or for the other publications of the Society, should be sent to GEORGE H. HIMES, Assistant Secretary . City Hall, Portland, Oregon.

THE QUARTERLY OF THE Oregon Historical Society.
Ascending the Columbia River to the junction of its two main branches, and each of these branches in turn to its source, a point is reached to the north well toward the fifty-fifth degree of latitude, and another point to the south not far from the forty-first degree. Lines drawn through these two points directly west to the Pacific Ocean would divide the Pacific Coast of North America approximately into three great historic divisions. Previous to the year 1792, the coast north of the fifty-fifth degree had been explored and in some sort settled by Russia, and the sovereignty of Russia over it recognized; the part south of the forty-first degree had been explored and settled by Spain, and the sovereignty of it had been conceded to Spain; the middle part of the coast having been explored by both Spain and Britain, but settled by neither, the sovereignty of this was yet in abeyance. If the lines supposed to be drawn from the utmost north and south sources of the Columbia to the Pacific now be extended eastward to the crest of the Rocky Mountains, the territory included between these two lines, the Pacific Ocean and the crest-line of the Rocky Mountains, will embrace the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, with a considerable part of the states of California, Wyoming, and Montana, together with the greater part of British Columbia. It is the settlement of the question of sovereignty over the region thus roughly defined that is the subject of this paper.