The
Columbia River
Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery
Its Commerce
By
William Denison Lyman
Professor of History in Whitman College,
Walla Walla, Washington
With 80 Illustrations and a Map
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1909
Copyright, 1909
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
TO MY PARENTS
Horace Lyman and Mary Denison Lyman
PIONEERS OF 1849, WHO BORE THEIR PART IN LAYING THE
FOUNDATIONS OF CIVILIZATION UPON THE BANKS OF
THE COLUMBIA, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR
| I see the living tide roll on, It crowns with rosy towers The icy capes of Labrador, The Spaniard’s land of flowers; It streams beyond the splintered ridge That parts the northern showers. From eastern rock to sunset wave, The Continent is ours. Holmes. |
PREFACE
As one of the American Waterways series, this volume is designed to be ahistory and description of the Columbia River. The author has sought toconvey to his reader a lively sense of the romance, the heroism, and theadventure which belong to this great stream and the parts of theNorth-west about it, and he has aimed to breathe into his narrativesomething of the spirit and sentiment—a spirit and sentiment more easilyrecognised than analysed—which we call “Western.” With this end in view,his treatment of the subject has been general rather than detailed, andpopular rather than recondite. While he has spared no pains to securehistorical accuracy, he has not made it a leading aim to settlecontroverted points, or to present the minutiæ of historical research andcriticism. In short, the book is rather for the general reader than forthe specialist. The author hopes so to impress his readers with themajesty of the Columbia as to fill their minds with a longing to see itface to face.
Frequent reference in the body of the book to authorities renders itunnecessary to name them here. Suffice it to say that the author hasconsulted the standard works of history and description dealing withOregon—the old Oregon—and its River, and from the voluminous matterthere gathered has selected the facts that best combine to make aconnected and picturesque[Pg viii] narrative. He has treated the subjecttopically, but there is a general progression throughout, and theendeavour has been to find a natural jointure of chapter to chapter andera to era.
While the book has necessarily been based largely on other books, it maybe said that the author has derived his chief inspiration from his ownobservations along the shores of the River and amid the mount