In the work on the Northwest Coast, we again see Bancroft's predilection for early voyages. The first half of Volume I, including the Spanish explorations of the coast, belonged to Oak's field, and was written by him. Bancroft wrote most of the remainder of the two volumes, which included the maritime fur trade, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Astor enterprise, the Northwest and Hudson Bay companies, and the later American fur trade.
A hundred pages on the "Oregon Question" written by Mrs. Victor for Oregon were incorporated in the second volume of the History of the Northwest Coast. She had taken the American side of the case, a view with which Mr. Bancroft was not in sympathy. By his order, Mr. Oak rewrote the subject from an English standpoint. He added chapter fifteen, but to some extent made use of her work in preparing chapter sixteen. Mrs. Victor always claimed that he merely altered it, Oak himself that he rewrote it. The remainder of her manuscript was retained and printed as chapter eighteen.
The volume on Washington, Idaho, and Montana, was written wholly by Mrs. Victor, a task for which she was fitted by her work on early Oregon history.
The History of Oregon was also her work, a fact which has been known and fully recognized by prominent Oregonians since the day of its publication. She had contemplated writing such a work even before the beginning of Mr. Bancroft's project, and it was only a realization of her inability to compete single handed with the capital and other resources at his disposal which caused her to enter his employ. In collecting material within the state, she had the assistance of such pioneer families as her friends the Applegates and McBrides, and among others, of Judge Deady and Elwood Evans. Valuable data concerning Hudson Bay rule in Oregon were furnished her in a correspondence with Mr. A. B. Roberts and Mr. Allen, formerly of the Hudson Bay Company. (This correspondence is now in the possession of Mr. E. H. Kilham, of Portland, Or.) The work as written made more than two volumes, and condensation was necessary. A chapter on geology and mining was omitted by Mr. Bancroft; the disposal of the manuscript on the "Oregon Question" has already been noticed, and matter on the San Juan boundary dispute and the Modoc war was also incorporated in other volumes. Mrs. Victor considered the first volume of the History of Oregon as perfect as it could be made at the time. With certain features of the second she was not so well satisfied, the most prominent being the omission of the history of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, necessitated by Mr. Bancroft's failure to secure material, and certain changes made by him in her manuscript on Indian Wars in Southern Oregon in such a way as to throw blame upon the settlers (Mrs. Victor in [Salem] Oregon Statesman February 24, 1895). It is worthy of note that her history is the first to pass over the political results attributed to Whitman's ride by previous writers. The sheets of the Oregon history before they were issued were submitted to Judge Deady for his approval.
In the half of the History of British Columbia which he wrote, Mr. Bancroft utilized some of the material that he had collected in person. Bates prepared a fourth of the manuscript, and Nemos and Bowman together the remainder, Nemos writing some of the chapters and revising others.
The History of Alaska afforded Mr. Bancroft an opportunity for further research in the field of early voyages. He is credited with half of the volume, Bates with a third, Nemos a little, and Petroff about a fourth. Nemos places all of his own writing on this work and British Columbia together at a third of a volume.
A review of the facts shows that if we exclude the comparatively few interpolations and changes made by Mr. Bancroft, we can with assurance declare the authorship of all portions of the third volume of Central America, of the volumes on California, and of those on the North Mexican States, Arizona and New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, the Northwest Coast, Oregon and Washington, Idaho and Montana, and that we can give in general terms, though without being able to locate the exact parts done by individuals, the names of the authors of two volumes of Central America, and all of Mexico, Utah, British Columbia, and Alaska. In these works Oak and Nemos were agreed that there were scattered fragmentary bits aggregating several volumes so worked over by different writers in different ways as to render it impossible to determine the exact authorship.
Turning to a consideration of the individual field of writing, we find that of the twenty-eight volumes of history proper, Bancroft is to be credited with four, no one entire, Oak with seven and a half, Nemos five, no one entire, Mrs. Victor a little less than five, Savage over three, Peatfield one and a half, principally in small parts, and Bates one and a fourth. (This is a computation based exactly upon the facts as given, except in Bancroft's case.) Nemos upon the same basis makes the shares, except Savage's and Bancroft's, all slightly greater. He assigns to Oak between seven and a half and seven and two thirds volumes, to himself and Mrs. Victor over five each, to Peatfield about two, and to Bates one and a half. An actual count of the parts of volumes written by Bancroft gives a total of three and a half, but Nemos said that he took four as the number upon the authority of Oak. This would allow him a half volume of interpolations in the twenty-four and a half volumes done by others. Griffin, Petroff, Kuhn, and a man named Rasmus were the authors of fragments. Oak thought that the name was Erasmus, but said that Nemos who gave Rasmus was the better authority.
Concerning these facts in their main features, there is a complete agreement between Oak and Nemos, who together knew all the details which were to be known, and the evidence of the other writers fits exactly with their statements. The popular estimate of Hubert Howe Bancroft as the historian of the Pacific Coast, is founded upon the vague references and indefinite assertions of the Literary Industries within the pages of which there is nowhere to be found a straightforward statement that this man wrote more than a part of the works to which his name is attached. On the other hand, his own statements over his own signature admit that he did not pretend to be the author of what went out under his name. The ranking of Mr. Bancroft among historians of the United States is, therefore, an error, and what has appeared in the public press concerning an "Historian of the Pacific Coast," and a "Macaulay of the West," is legend pure and simple. Instead of one Pacific Coast historian who wrote the Bancroft volumes, there were eight.
As to the six supplementary volumes of the "Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft," which ended the series, Mrs. Victor had some means of determining the authorship. According to her notes, Savage and Nemos did a great deal of writing and revising. The Modoc War in inter pocula, a part of the chapter entitled Some Indian Episodes, was written by Mrs. Victor from notes obtained by herself on the ground. She also wrote some other matter for this volume. The remainder was done by Bancroft and his family, who also aided him much on Popular Tribunals.