The early Spaniards founded the pueblo of Los Angeles in its present location, because at this point the Los Angeles River carried an abundance of pure water which could be led out in ditches to irrigate the fertile bottom lands in the vicinity. Partly because it became a railroad centre, and partly because it is surrounded by rich valleys, Los Angeles has grown with great rapidity and now stands next to San Francisco in size among California cities.
San Diego, which has a harbor next in importance to that of San Francisco, has grown more slowly, because of the greater difficulty in developing water systems for irrigation, and because access is not so easy on account of the enclosing mountains. However, it must in time become the second commercial city of the state.
Mountain barriers make travel from one portion of California to another somewhat difficult. Mountains separate San Francisco and the Great Valley of California from all other portions of the continent. Nature seems to have planned here a little empire all by itself. But engineering skill in the construction of railroads has overcome the barrier upon the north which separates California from Oregon. The Sierra Nevada range upon the east has been crossed at Donner Pass, and upon the south an outlet has been found through the Tehachapi Pass.
In the state of Oregon, the city of Portland ranks first in importance. Why did not Astoria or Fort Vancouver develop into the metropolis of the Columbia basin?
Astoria, which was founded in the early part of the last century, has a spacious and well-protected harbor, but it has no large tributary agricultural valleys. Moreover, the greater number of deep-water ships pass it by, and go as far up the Columbia as possible to take on their loads of grain.
Fort Vancouver, on the site of the old Hudson Bay trading post, is practically at the head of deep-water navigation upon the Columbia, but there seems to be no particular reason why trade should centre here, and this town also has been left behind in the march of progress.
The earliest settlements in western Oregon were made upon the Willamette River, which drains a large and extremely fertile valley. Near the point at which this river joins the Columbia, the city of Portland sprang up. This town occupies an ideal position. It is accessible for deep sea vessels, and has communication by river boats with the Willamette Valley and the upper Columbia River.
In the eighteenth century, when sailors were looking for a passage across the northern portion of the continent, an opening was found extending into the land between Vancouver Island and Cape Flattery. It was at first thought that this was the desired waterway, but various navigators, among them Vancouver, explored the body of water into which the Strait of Fuca opened, only to find that every branch and inlet terminated in the land. Puget Sound is nearly enclosed by water and is so large as really to form an inland sea. Its long arms reach out in three directions among the most heavily timbered valleys and mountain slopes of the United States.
The cities of Puget Sound had a later start than most of the other cities of the Pacific coast, for this portion of the old Oregon territory was for a long time claimed by the English, and during that period was peopled only by Indians and trappers. In 1846 the present boundary was established, and Puget Sound passed into the possession of the United States.
Because of the dense forests, agriculture could not play an important part in the development of the sound region for some time. Lumbering was naturally the leading occupation. This industry could be carried on all the more advantageously because of the innumerable inlets penetrating the land.