This engaging popular history details the settlement of the Oregon Territory, from the 1792 Columbia fur-trading expedition that discovered the great river of that name, to the great migrations of the mid-19th century. Golay, the author of five previous books on 19th-century America, introduces pivotal figures in the quest for a Pacific Empire, such as John McLoughlin, of the Hudson Bay Company, who ruled the Oregon Territory during the 1820s and 1830s. During much of that period, neither the British nor the Americans had full control of the area, but soon thereafter Americans pushed up the Columbia and across the Plains. Finding passes through the mountains, many of these settlers and explorers earned the title of "pathfinder." Golay limns balanced portraits of many explorers, including one of John Charles Fremont (the celebrated "pathfinder of empire") that does justice to him and his intrepid wife Jessie. He also profiles Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, the best-known martyrs among the new territory's missionaries. Golay ably chronicles the expansion that established the American claim to the Pacific Northwest, as well as the devastating consequences for the Native Americans who preceded the European settlers. The quality of the writing and the depth of the research make this book a valuable read for anyone interested in 19th-century American history. B&w illustrations and maps.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
In examining our nation's trans-Mississippi expansion in the nineteenth century, there is always the temptation to focus on "sudden," dramatic episodes such as the Louisiana Purchase or the Mexican War. The strength of this book is that it views this expansion as a slow but steady process that began before, and often proceeded independently of, such well-known events. Golay, who has written five books about nineteenth-century American history, concentrates on the American exploration and settlement of the Oregon country and California before the Civil War. As Golay illustrates, Americans were interested in the Pacific coast almost from the nation's birth. A decade before Jefferson expressed his hopes for an "empire of liberty," American commercial and war ships were active in the coastal waters of the Oregon country. Golay coherently describes the complicated and often treacherous competition between American and British fur companies, and his accounts of the tribulations of idealistic but native missionaries, including the doomed Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, have the air of genuine tragedy. An excellent addition to collections on the history of the American West. Jay Freeman
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