Whidby Island and the mainland. American geographers conferred the
honor transferring the name from the waters explored by the Spaniard to
the land he never saw.
[305] Reference is here made to Captain Joseph Ingraham, who had been
at Nootka in 1788 as a mate with Kendrick and Gray. With the latter he
returned to Boston in the Columbia and then accepted command of the
Hope, sailing from Boston September 16, 1790. He was successful in the
fur-trade, wintered in China and returned to Nootka as stated in 1792.
[306] Vancouver's brief account of this strange murder is not much
different in conclusion. Both accounts leave the case shrouded in
mystery.
BOOK REVIEWS
THE MINING ADVANCE INTO THE INLAND EMPIRE. By William J. Trimble,
Professor of History and Social Science in North Dakota Agricultural
College. (Madison, Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin, 1914. Pp.
254.)
This monograph, which was written as a thesis for the doctor's degree
while Mr. Trimble was a fellow at the University of Wisconsin, is
an epic in spirit, though a work of historical and economic science
and expressed in prose. It is the thrilling and romantic story of a
movement which, because it eventuated in the creation of civilized
society and political order, is of kin with the swarming of the
Teutonic peoples into the Roman Empire.
Specifically, it is a study of the beginnings of mining for precious
ores in the territories now known as the Inland Empire, and also in
parts of the regions adjoining this territory. In addition, it studies
laws and institutions originating from the mining industry. It is
a significant symptom of appreciation of the Pacific Northwest and
especially of this inland district by old institutions of learning east
of the Rockies.
Investigation of the subject was rendered feasible through use of such
libraries as those of the University of Wisconsin, the University of
California, the Province of British Columbia, the Historical Society
of Oregon, the Historical Society of Montana, the University of Idaho
and the private collections of Mr. Bagley of Seattle, Mr. Howay of New
Westminster, Mr. Justice Martin of Victoria and others; and through
the generous cooperation of personal authorities on our northwestern
history as Professor Frederick J. Turner of Harvard University, Judge
Howay of New Westminster, Mr. Elliott of Walla Walla and others. It
opens with the statement that the decade following 1858 brought the
expansion of American mining on a large scale for gold and silver into
many parts of our mountainous area.
Who first discovered gold here is not known. But the vicinity of Fort
Colville, Washington, saw the occurrence of a movement in 1855 which
ushered in the golden age of the Inland Empire. The miners labored
under measureless disadvantages. Supplies were scant. From Puget Sound
there were no suitable roads. Steamboating on the Columbia had only
begun. The Indians frequently proved a baffling obstacle at first. But
the friendship of the Nez Perces for the whites and the policy of
peace pursued by this tribe became a determining factor in the wars
with the natives and the development of this new country. In justice
to the Indians it is due to admit that conditions for which they were
not responsible made the situation ripe for desperate measures on their
part.
On November 23rd, 1857, the miners in the neighborhood of Colville
effected a rude governmental organization. In 1858 the stern measures
of Colonel George Wright brought just and lasting peace to the
Indian country and cleared the way for pushing forward the frontier
of civilization. In 1861 the final fixation of the boundary between
British Columbia and Washington drew clearly the artificial line of
different governments where, as Professor Trimble exhaustively and
conclusively demonstrates, nature had made one country. Consequently,
the political differentiation contributed to making the construction of
the famous old Mullan Road in every way an important matter. This noble
highway of empire, not unworthy of comparison with Rome's Appian Way,
was completed in 1862 at a cost of $230,000 for its 624 miles of length.
In a few years the carriers on the Columbia enjoyed an immense and
profitable traffic in the transportation of miners and their supplies.
Professor Trimble's description of steamboating on the rivers of
the Inland Empire is intensely vivid and interesting. In 1861 came
the great movement of miners into these new fields. Among the most
important of the localities they entered were the Nez-Perce and
Salmon-River districts in northern Idaho.
A swiftly accelerating stream of travel started in 1861 for the
new mines. A new era of development began. The Portland Oregonian
then predicted that there would follow "tremendous stampedes from
California, a flood of overland immigration and vastly increased
business on the Columbia." The shrewd forecast of the sagacious editor
was fulfilled to the foot of the letter.
Of the total yield from the mining districts in northern Idaho it is
impossible to secure exact figures. A conservative estimate would
put the production from the time of discovery until 1900 at about
$50,000,000, of which probably $35,000,000 were obtained before 1870.
In this connection Dr. Trimble rightly directs attention to the fact
that the mines of eastern Oregon have not yet received the study that
their importance as builders of that part of the state would warrant.
The mines of the Boise basin in Idaho not only were rich and easily
worked, but were so situated as to encourage homemaking and the
up-building of a permanent community. Soon towns with stable interests
and staple industries arose. The mining founders of Boise showed
themselves to be exceptionally enterprising and farsighted men.
As the Caribou, British Columbia, mines had shown that in placer fields
the individual, once a camp was established, could do little except
labor for some one else or in lieu of this prospect for new fields,
some form of organized or cooperative effort being essential to the
development of mining, even in its simpler stages; so now the War-Eagle
quartz-mines of Idaho, remote and newly born, called for outside
capital and for science.
The mining advance gave occasion for the creation of British Columbia,
Idaho and Montana as political units. In considering the societies that
owe their origin to mining it is essential to remember that almost from
the moment of discovery cooperation is indispensable in the development
of gold-fields and also that the individualism of placer-mining
frequently is greatly exaggerated. In the period now under review "the
lone prospector" was much of a myth. This and similar seemingly small
matters are among the many observed by Dr. Trimble's microscopic eye,
which also is not wanting in telescopic range, that show how thoroughly
he has surveyed his field and with what scrupulous science he has
interpreted all his facts.
Prospecting generally was done by organized parties numbering anywhere
from five to fifty men. These companies consisted of experienced
miners, who usually had already mined in California. Careful
preparation in advance was made. An expedition might travel for weeks
or even for many months, studying the geology of the land as carefully
as professors from great universities and prospecting wherever
promising indications presented themselves. When diggings that seemed
to afford reasonable likelihood of profit were found, claims were
staked out. The plan of the miners' camp corresponded more closely
to that of a town than to that of a country district. This feature
is another of several which prove that combination, cooperation and
organization formed basic features in the work of the miner. It is not
the least of the merits of Dr. Trimble's monograph that it enables and
in fact compels the lay reader unacquainted with the ways of miners to
see that their social and governmental activities were a seed of the
political commonwealth and rendered its existence and growth inevitable.
The discoverers of pay-dirt as a rule had to return for supplies to
some commercial center. Here the news of a find invariably leaked out
and generated a stampede to the new field. Merchants and packers pushed
freight-caravans ahead with strenuous but reasoned energy. The man who
rushed a well supplied set of teams into a new community was certain
to reap great profits. Before much work was performed by the miners at
their Eldorado they held a mass-meeting and organized the community.
A judge, recorder and sheriff were elected, and laws for the camp
enacted. The political instinct of the English and the Americans for
government and ordered society was prompt to manifest itself.
Men who had been schooled in the Californian camps not only had learned
to mine skillfully, but turned spontaneously to the form of political
organization that the mines of that golden commonwealth had developed.
This was the case no less in British than in American communities.
Work on claims ceased and universally or almost universally in winter,
but might stop at other times, such as seasons of drouth, when want
of water handicapped operations. The arrangement gave the miners an
opportunity to visit home or to pass the winter at such towns as Boise,
Lewiston or Portland. Men seldom thought of making homes for themselves
at the Mining camps. But a considerable number would usually remain
there through cold weather, and in deep diggings actual mining could
still be carried on.
The miner's lot was a most laborious life. It did not consist in
picking large, loose nuggets from streams and in spending most of the
time on fun or adventure. There were cabins to build--and the skill
of American axmen, especially of the Missourians, was greatly admired
by English observers--ditches to be dug, flumes and sluices to be
constructed, and lumber to be obtained.
The skill of the pioneer Californians in every industry stood out
preeminently. Everywhere their methods and judgment were held in high
esteem. At Orofino they superciliously sneered that the Willamette
farmers in the mines did not know how to sift gold from the dirt, but
the Oregonians could have retorted that they were not Californian
experts at losing their gold in gambling. But placer mining then, in
spite of such skill as that of the Californians, was wasteful work. Men
mined to make the maximum of money in the minimum of time. The enormous
expensiveness of operation and transportation rendered it profitable
to work only the richest gravel. In 1868 Ross Browne, who knew mining
conditions better than any other American then living, declared that
"since the discovery of our mines there has been an unnecessary loss
of more than $300,000,000 of precious metals. The question arises
whether it is not the duty of government to prevent, so far as may be
consistent with individual rights, this waste of a common heritage in
which not only ourselves but posterity are interested."
The early mining communities whose economic basis was placer mines were
unstable, and this is a fact of social importance. For the purpose of
overcoming this instability business men, the more substantial miners
and governmental authorities everywhere turned their attention to
quartz. Working quartz claims and building quartz mills required the
use of capital and of corporate methods. The significant development
of mining in the Inland Empire during 1860-70 consisted in the
supersedure of the surface methods of the placer by quartz mining and
in the working of deep placers by corporations. The individual working
in informal organization had free play, but his day was passing.
Individualism began to become submerged, capital to become foremost and
corporate methods to enter.
What was the total of the product from the labor and capital
invested in the mining advance? Until 1867 there was no governmental
attempt in the Inland Empire, though there was in British Columbia,
to gather statistics. Express companies, however, especially the
Wells-Fargo, were a fairly trustworthy source of information. George
M. Dawson's estimate for British Columbia and Ross Browne's for the
Inland Empire are regarded by Dr. Trimble as falling well inside the
truth. British Columbia during 1858-67 inclusive is believed to have
produced $26,110,000 of the precious metals; Idaho, Montana, Oregon
and Washington together from the beginning of mining to the close of
1867 to have yielded $140,000,000. Montana led with $65,000,000. Idaho
followed with $45,000,000 and Oregon with $20,000,000. Washington
brought up the rear with $10,000,000. After deducting the probable
production in western Oregon, because this territory lies outside the
regions considered by Professor Trimble, the grand total for British
Columbia and these four American commonwealths during the decade of
1858-67 appears to have aggregated $156,110,000.
In order to value this stupendous yield aright, it must be borne
in mind that nearly all of it was an economic surplus and also in
such shape as to be transformed with ease into the commodities of
civilization. Consequently civilization's material body sprang forth
full panoplied from those early mining communities. This aspect of
the mining advance--a phase too frequently forgotten these days--gave
the first civilization in the Inland Empire a compelling power and
a vitalness that were out of all proportion to the relatively small
number of the miners who originated that civilization. This life and
energy contributed greatly to the swift development of this Inland
Empire after the railroads arrived. The production of so huge and
mobile an economic surplus as $156,110,000 of the precious metals helps
to explain the greatness of the immigration in the eighties into these
mining commonwealths. The farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant and
the banker of the Pacific Northwest during the past generation owe a
great debt to the miner of the sixties of the last century.
Nor these only. The nation also is deeply indebted to the economic
development wrought here by mining in those far days. The Inland
Empire's production of gold during the terrible years of 1861-5, when
the republic was pouring out blood and treasure like water to save its
life, had great effect in supplying those financial sinews of war on
which so largely depended the credit of the United States.
Thus Dr. Trimble threshes out to the last straw the bearings of mining
upon government in the Inland Empire, upon agriculture, grazing,
transportation and many other interests. What he has done is really
to write a history of civilization in these states during their
intermediate era.
Every page presents evidence of his competence and trustworthiness. He
inspires confidence thro his candid confession that "the student of
the history of a section may overrate its importance. * * * It may be
that revaluation by comprehensive historians will be necessary." There
speaks the historical conscience that rates loyalty to the fact as the
supreme good in writing history. But this student has done his work so
judicially and with such scholarship, that it will not require to be
done again. It is an honor to him and his university and an invaluable
service to the Pacific Northwest.
FREDERIC PERRY NOBLE, PH. D.
Spokane, Wa., June, 1914.
* * * * *
MASTERS OF THE WILDERNESS. By Charles Bert Reed, M. D. (Chicago, The
University of Chicago Press, 1914. Pp. 144.)
This beautifully printed and illustrated little book should find
many readers among those who care for the beginnings of American
history. Its scope and purpose are well revealed by the brief
table of contents as follows: The Masters of the Wilderness, a
study of the Hudson's Bay Company from its origin to modern times;
The Beaver Club, some social aspects of the fur trade; A Dream of
Empire, the adventures of Tonty in old Louisiana.
Dr. Reed has assembled his material in very readable and
entertaining fashion. For the benefit of those who wish to
pursue the subjects further he appends a brief but serviceable
bibliography. The book is one of the Chicago Historical Society's
Fort Dearborn Series.
EDMOND S. MEANY.
THE UNITED STATES FEDERAL INTERNAL TAX HISTORY FROM 1861 TO 1871. By
Harry Edwin Smith, Ph. D., Instructor in Economics, Cornell University.
(Boston, and New York; Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914. Pp. XIX, 357.)
This useful and valuable volume is one in the series which owes its
existence to the generosity of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, of Chicago,
and the one which received the first prize of $1,000 for the year 1912.
Dr. Smith came to the University of Washington this fall to take up
work in connection with the newly established courses in commerce.
His book is a carefully worked out and scholarly presentation of a
difficult and involved subject. The treatment of the subject by Dr.
Smith has made easy for the student to get access to the facts for they
are all grouped about the separate and single phases of the subject.
Following an introduction a chapter is devoted to each subject, as for
example the "Direct Tax," "The Income Tax," "The Inheritance Tax," and
"Stamp Taxes."
The closing chapters, XI and XII, present concretely "The Influence
of Internal Taxes on the Import Duties," and the "Administration" of
the whole system. Students interested in these subjects owe a debt of
gratitude to Dr. Smith for the masterly and painstaking way he has made
available a world of badly scattered material. Nineteen statistical
tables give in graphic way the statistical side of the study. An
exhaustive bibliography and an adequate index complete the volume.
EDWARD MCMAHON.
* * * * *
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT IN CALIFORNIA, 1846-1850. By
Cardinal Goodwin, M. A. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1914. Pp.
359. $2.00.)
This book covers the period of California history from 1846 to
1850, dividing the period into three parts. It deals first with
the period from the American acquisition of the territory to the
meeting of the constitutional convention; then follows the history
of the constitutional convention; and the last part deals with the
organization of the State government.
Much new material has been used and consequently many accepted facts
and interpretations have been proven fallacious. One of these errors
was the great influence of New York on the constitution; but Goodwin
finds that Iowa contributed about seventy of the hundred and thirty-six
articles and New York only twenty. He also has found new material which
explains the entrance of the slavery question into the State: a Texan
using his slaves for mining claim registry.
The book is well written; it is, however, a bit broken and irregular
in its story through following carefully the chronology of events. The
conclusion is very disappointing as a resume of the whole book, of the
valuation of the new material and of the events.
J. N. BOWMAN.
* * * * *
PROCEEDINGS OF THE WASHINGTON BANKERS' ASSOCIATION. NINETEENTH ANNUAL
CONVENTION, 1914. (Spokane, Shaw & Borden, 1914., Pp. 232.)
This volume, compiled by W. H. Martin, the Secretary of the
Association, gives the Proceedings of the 1914 Convention, held in
Walla Walla. All similar records of the proceedings of Washington
associations become a part of the institutional history of the state.
Of special interest in the present volume is an article on the History
of the Walla Walla Valley by Allen H. Reynolds.
THE SEATTLE MUNICIPAL WATER PLANT; HISTORICAL, DESCRIPTIVE,
STATISTICAL. By John Lamb. (Seattle, Moulton Printing Company, 1914.
Pp. 316.)
This report upon the Seattle Municipal Water Plant is a model for
clearness and completeness. It is well printed and well bound and
contains many excellent illustrations. It gives a surprisingly full
account of the early water systems antedating municipal control.
THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. A PHILOSOPHICAL INTERPRETATION
OF AMERICAN HISTORY. By Roland G. Usher, Ph. D.. author of
"Pan-Germanism," Etc. (New York, The Century Co. 1914. Pp. 413.)
An attempt by a well known writer to present for the general reader a
lucid account of the results of American History without over-burdening
him with the details and processes by which these results were obtained.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES. (Urbana,
Illinois, 1913-1914.)
Three of these Studies have been received: The West in the Diplomacy of
the American Revolution by Paul Chrisler Phillips, Ph. D., Assistant
Professor of History in the University of Montana; The Development
of Banking in Illinois, 1817-1863, by George William Dowrie, Ph. D.,
Assistant Professor of Economics in the University of Michigan; A
History of the General Property Tax in Illinois by Robert Murray Haig,
Ph. D., Instructor in Economics in Columbia University.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By Matthew Page Andrews, M. A.
(Philadelphia and London, J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. XVII. 378,
XLVIII.)
A text book for schools in which the subject matter is up to date but
the arrangement, proportions and printing are decidedly behind the
times.
WRITINGS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Edited by Worthington C. Ford. (New
York, The Macmillan Company, 1914. Vol. 3, 1801-1810. Pp. 555. $3.50
net.)
Volume I of this important work was noted in this Quarterly for April,
1913, page 131 and Volume 2 in the issue for January, 1914, page 61. At
the chronological rate followed it is likely that the next volume will
reach the time when the distinguished statesman began his work on the
Oregon question.
THE BALKAN WARS, 1912-1913. By Jacob Gould Schurman. (Princeton,
Princeton University Press, 1914. Pp. 140. $1.00 net.)
This timely work by the distinguished President of Cornell University
is divided into two parts: Turkey and the Balkan States and The War
Between the Allies. Each part is supplied with a map and the book
carries an adequate index. Interest in the work will, of course, be
enhanced by the present war in Europe.
THE PHYSICIAN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. By Norman Moore, M. D., Fellow of the
Royal College of Physicians. (Cambridge, England, University Press,
1913. Pp. 57.)
This is the Linacre Lecture, 1913, in St. John's College, Cambridge. It
is issued in the same attractive form that characterizes all the works
from the Cambridge University Press. Those in the medical profession
will find the book illuminating.
WRITINGS OF WASHINGTON RELATING TO THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. (Washington,
The Columbia Historical Society, 1914. Pp. 258.)
This may be called a source book on the subject indicated as there is
no attempt at narrative or connective matter. The letters are simply
reproduced. However, the source of each letter is shown and there is
a preface by the compiling committee. The book is Volume 17 of the
society's records.
THE YEAR BOOK OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1911-1914. By R. E. Gosnell.
(Victoria, B. C., by authority of the Legislative Assembly, 1914. Pp.
406.)
This is a reprint of the elaborate Coronation Edition of 1911.
Statistics for the years 1911, 1912, and 1913 have been added, bringing
those useful features down to date. In the beautiful pictures, as well
as in the compiled facts, there is much to serve the historian of the
Pacific Northwest.
AN ARTILLERYMAN'S DIARY. By Jenkin Lloyd Jones. (Madison, Wisconsin
History Commission, 1914. Pp. 395.)
This extensive work gives the rich details of one part of Wisconsin's
remarkable participation in the Civil War. The book is embellished
with portraits, the frontispiece being a portrait of the distinguished
author. The work is listed as Wisconsin History Commission: Original
Papers, No. 8.
A HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. By Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan. (New
York, The Macmillan Company, 1914. Pp. 669. $5.00.) This elaborate
history of Washington City carries maps and plans and a copious index.
All citizens are interested in this subject, and this new work will
undoubtedly find its way to the reference shelves of all the best
libraries.