the same vessel, passed through the entire length of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca. In 1791 Captain Gray returned to the coast, and discovered and explored and gave his name to Gray's Harbor. It was in this same year also that he discovered and ascended the Columbia river about thirty miles. In 1805 Lewis and Clarke reached and explored the coast from the land side, having crossed the continent for that purpose. Meanwhile the title of the United States to the whole region watered by the Columbia river was further fortified by the settlement of Astoria, at the mouth of that river, by Mr. J. J. Astor, in 1811, and the title was perfected as against any European power by the treaty of Florida with Spain in 1819, which expressly ceded to the United States all the rights, claims and pretensions of the King of Spain to any Territory north of the forty-second parallel of north latitude. The Hudson's Bay Company attempted to take possession of it between 1825 and 1830, and from 1828 to 1841 it was held in joint occupancy by Great Britain and the United States, without prejudice to the title of either. The Ashburton Treaty of 1845 finally settled the right of the United States to the Territory up to the line of 49° north latitude, except at the Straits of San Juan de Fuca and the Gulf of Georgia. It was understood by that treaty that the American title took to the middle of the channel of those waters; but as there were several channels and some valuable islands in controversy, the matter was definitely and finally settled by arbitration in 1873, the Emperor of Germany being arbiter. American settlers began to come into the Territory in 1845. It was originally a part of Oregon Territory, but was organized as a separate Territory in 1853, and had a severe Indian war in 1855. From 1859 to 1863 it included most of Idaho Territory, but since that time it has had its present boundaries.

Conclusion. It may be inferred from our sketch of Washington Territory that we regard it as a very desirable region for immigrants who desire to engage in farming, stock-raising, the preparation of timber or lumber for the market, or the packing and exportation of fish. Its mining districts are not yet developed to such an extent as to justify any immigration to them, but for

the other pursuits, and for many of the trades, there is certainly no section of "Our Western Empire which offers greater opportunities for success to an enterprising and energetic man. As to the best route thither there is some room for an honest difference of opinion now, and will be more in a few months. Probably the best plan now is to take passage for San Francisco either by rail or by the Isthmus of Panama. From San Francisco a steamer may be taken for Portland, Oregon, and if by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's line, and it is desired to go to Eastern Washington Territory the immigrant can purchase a through ticket to Walla-Walla, or to any point on the Pend d'Oreille division of the Northern Pacific, or to the termini of the narrow gauge railroads from Ainsworth, Walla-Walla or Wallula. If, on the other hand, his destination is to any point in Western Washington, he should not go on to Portland, Oregon, but land at Kalama some forty miles nearer the mouth of the Columbia river, and take the Northern Pacific thence to Olympia, Tacoma or Wilkeson. If his destination is to Western Washington he may, if he chooses, take the Puget sound steamer from San Francisco and land at Bellingham bay, Port Townsend, Seattle, Tacoma or Olympia. These routes are long and somewhat wearisome, but safe and without other difficulties. There will soon be two other routes available. The best and most direct will be by way of the Northern Pacific, either from Duluth or Chicago, through Minnesota, Dakota, Montana and Idaho, which will traverse Eastern Washington diagonally from northeast to southwest, cross by one branch (the Cascade Mountain division) from Eastern to Western Washington, and make its terminus at Tacoma on Puget sound, while the Columbia River division will follow the north bank of the Columbia, and sending a branch to Portland, Oregon, traverse by the Pacific division the greater part of Western Washington. More than one-half of this long route is already completed, and with the ample funds they have at command this company will probably have the whole in operation by the spring of 1883.

The other route by the Union Pacific and Utah and Northern, in connection with the Oregonian railway (limited), is not yet fully

SITUATION OF WYOMing terrITORY.

1213

laid out, but will probably penetrate Southeastern Washington, and its principal connections will be with Portland, Oregon. With the completion of these lines Washington Territory will be as easily and readily accessible as Utah, Nevada, New Mexico or Arizona, and for a quiet and pleasant home much more desirable.

CHAPTER XXI.

WYOMING TERRITORY.

SITUATION-BOUNDARIES-Length and BREADTH-FORM-Area-TopoGRAPHY -MOUNTAINS-ELEVATION OF VARIOUS POINTs-Rivers, Lakes, etc.—ReMARKABLE CHaracter of its Drainage—Its Waters Discharged inTO THE PACIFIC BY THE COLUMBIA RIVER, INTO THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA BY THE Colorado, INTO THE SALT LAKE BASIN by the Bear River, INTO THE UPPER MISSOURI BY THE MADISON AND GALLATIN, Into the Middle of Missouri BY THE YELLOWSTONE AND BIG CHEYENNE, INTO THE LOWER MISSOURI BY THE NIOBRARA AND PLATTE, AND INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO BY ALL THESE— GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY-COAL-PETROLEUM-GOLD AND SILVER-Other METALS-MINING OF PRECIOUS METALS NOT MUCH DEVELOPED MARBLE AND OTHER MINERAL PRODUCTS-FORESTS, SOIL AND VEGETATION-ZoÖLOGY— CLIMATE-Meteorology of Cheyenne-AgriculturAL PRODUCTIONS AND STOCK-RAISING-MANUFACTURES AND MINING-MINING PRODUCTS-RailWAYS, EXISTING AND PROJECTED-POPULATION AND ITS DISTRIBUTIONEDUCATION-RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS-COUNTIES-AREA-POPULATION IN 1880, AND VALUATION IN 1877-PRINCIPAL TOWNS-OBJECTS OF INTEREST— THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK MADE A SEPARATE CHAPTER-HISTORICAL NOTES-EARLY SPANISH OCCUPATION OF WYOMING-DISCOVERY OF ARASTRAS AND SPANISH BUILDINGS-FATHER DE SMET-CAPTAIN BRIDGER-HIS OCCUPATION RUNNING BACK TO A TIME "WHEN LARAMIE PEAK HADN'T BEGUN TO GROW"-ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY-INDIAN CONFLICTS-THE CUSTER MASSACRE-ADVANTAGES OF WYOMING FOR CERTAIN CLASSES Of ImmiGRANTS-PROSPECTS IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

WYOMING is one of the central Territories of "Our Western Empire," both in its position on an east and west line, and in its relations to the States and Territories north and south of it. It lies between the 41st and the 45th parallels of north latitude, and between the 104th and 111th meridians of west longitude from Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by Montana, on

the east by Dakota and Nebraska, including in the northeast a considerable portion of the Black Hills region; on the south by Colorado and Utah; and on the west by Utah, Idaho and Montana. Its length from east to west is 335 miles, its width from north to south is 276 miles. It is a perfect parallelogram, all its boundaries being astronomico-geographical lines. Its area is 97,883 squares miles, or 62,645,120 acres, of which, up to June, 1879, only about one-seventh had been surveyed.

Topography. The main divide of the Rocky Mountains, which, after traversing Northwestern Montana, turned suddenly southwestward and formed the southeast boundary of Idaho, separates again into two chains at the Yellowstone park, and enters Wyoming from the northwest in two distinct and nearly parallel ranges, the easternmost being known as the Shoshone range, and the westernmost as the Wind River range. Near the forty-third parallel, the Big Horn Mountains, a somewhat lower range from the north-northeast, meets them almost at a right angle, and from this point to the Colorado line both ranges break into a number of mountain groups extending in all directions, and rendering it difficult to define which has the best right to the name of the main range of the Rocky Mountains. Among the groups of this confused mountain mass may be named, beside the Big Horn range already mentioned, the Owl Creek Mountains, a spur of the Shoshone range, the Rattlesnake Mountains, and the Laramie Mountains, still farther east; the Sweet-Water and the Seminole Mountains, which seem to be continuations of the Wind River range. Near the forty-second parallel these mountain ranges subside into an elevated plateau from 8,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea, with occasional elevated summits, rising again to higher elevations on either side of the North Park in Colorado. This elevated plateau extends westward and southwestward to the foot-hills of the Bear River range on the west, and the Uintah Mountains on the south, both in Utah Territory. In the southeast there are the Medicine Bow Mountains, and some isolated peaks, like Laramie Peak, Iron Mountain, the Red Buttes, etc.; and in the northwest the Heart Mountains and the isolated peaks of the Yellowstone Park. In the northeast, east of the Big Horn

MOUNTAINS, rivers anD LAKES.

1215 and north of the Laramie Mountains, there is an extended plateau of 4,000 to 7,000 feet elevation, rising at the east into the Black Hills, and in the northeast and north to the Powder River range and the Wolf Mountains.

The highest elevation in the Territory is probably Snow's Peak, in the Wind River Range, which is reported as 13,570 feet; the next is Gilbert's Peak, 13,250; Cloud Peak probably exceeds 13,000; and Lake Carpenter, in the Big Horn Mountains, is 11,000 feet above the sea. The average elevation of Yellowstone Park is 7,403 feet. The highest summit in the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills is Harney's Peak, 7,700 feet, while Red-Buttes, in the southeastern part of the Territory, is 7.336 feet, and Laramie City, 7,123 feet. Laramie Peak is 10,000 feet and possibly a little more.

Rivers and Lakes.-No State or Territory of "Our Western Empire," or of the United States, is drained by streams which find their way to such widely separated seas, as Wyoming. In the northwest and west the Shoshone lake and its outlet through Jackson lake, the Gros Ventres creek, and the John Gray river, are all tributaries to the Lewis fork of Snake river, itself one of the constituents of the Columbia river, and these waters find their way to the Pacific by that route. In the southwest Bear river traverses Uintah county for fifty miles, and, flowing northnorthwest around the range of the same name, turns suddenly south and discharges its waters into the Great Salt lake of the Utah Basin. Far up in the Wind River range the Green river has its sources, and receiving ten or a dozen affluents, flows southward through Northwestern Colorado and Eastern Utah to its junction with the Grand river, with which it forms the Rio Colorado of the West, and discharges its waters into the Gulf of California. In the northwest of the Territory we find the Madison and Gallatin, two of the sources of the Missouri, both rising in the Yellowstone National Park; the Yellowstone river, the largest tributary of the Missouri, rising in the Wind River Mountains, and traversing Yellowstone National Park and the Yellowstone lake; East fork, Clarke's fork, the Big Horn river and its numerous branches; the Tongue river, the Powder river and