HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE STATE.

Older communities in the eastern states are apt to think of the State of Washington as being so young that its history is only in the formative period. Of course, in some respects this is true. For three dozen years the commonwealth was on probation as a territory, and since that period there has been but a single dozen of years of statehood. During those four dozen years the nation has passed through some of its most important epochs of history, such as the culmination of the KansasNebraska struggle, the great Civil War and the consequent period of reconstruction. Washington was too young and too remote to experience a very large or very active participation in those stirring events, and yet there was some contact with that portion of national history, and back of that period there lies a history that must not be overlooked. Besides the thrilling record of explorations by land and by sea, the settlers passed through the trials, dangers and sufferings incident to all occasions when civilized races have come in contact and into conflict with savage or barbarous races occupying a desired region. In these experiences of the pioneer settlers of Washington may be traced the experiences or history of the successive settlements of America's receding frontier. As Kentucky was a colony of Virginia and her neighbors, as Ohio was a colony of New England and Virginia, so Washington was a colony of numerous eastern states. A recent French writer has said that a colony is to history what a mountain is to geology. It brings past forms to view. From such a view point, the study of our own State history is sure to be of interest to thoughtful readers, and it is likewise sure to grow in importance as the knowledge of the broader national topics deepens through constant research.

For the purposes of the work now in hand it will be best to trace the subject in outline. Every reader will know that future students and writers will delve into the sources for fuller information about each of the topics touched.

VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY.

It is quite familiar to every reader that in the latter half of the fifteenth century Spain and Portugal were the great exploring nations. Their successes caused Pope Alexander VI to issue his famous bull dividing the new worlds between those two powers, and thus we find Portugal working around the Cape of Good Hope to the east and Spain pushing across the Atlantic to the new world, and across that new world to the new ocean which extended on to that "east," which in the new partition was supposed to belong to Portugal. Of course, the world soon realized that the two nations thus favored could not enjoy their wealth without dispute, and other explorers appear. Let us consider each of these as they have come to our own northwestern shores and thus commenced our recorded history.

Spanish Voyages.

The Spaniard enters our subject with all the glamour of mediæval brilliance of raiment and accouterment, and with an utter abandon toward unknown and untried danger. Twentyone years after Columbus made his first voyage Balboa discovered the South Sea," and on September 29, 1513, boldly took possession for the crown of Spain of all the lands and islands washed by it. Six years later two great events occurred: Magellan started on the first voyage around the world and Cortes went to Mexico. The latter's great feat of conquering the Aztecs was duplicated by Pizzaro among the Toltecs of Peru from 1526 to 1531. Cortes ruled his new province from 1522 to 1530, when his power was divided, though for ten years more he held command of the army. At the end of that time he returned home, received a very cool greeting from Emperor Charles V, and died in obscurity, December 2, 1547. During the decade 1530 to 1540 he caused to be made some important discoveries. His sailors crept along the coasts of the Pacific toward the north and he chose for the new lands a name that had first appeared in a Spanish romance in 1510. The name California comes from two Spanish words meaning "hot furnace," and was applied to the new lands under the direction of Cortes in 1535.

In 1539 Ulloa sailed along the coasts of lower California, and others followed him until the larger expedition of 1540-1543. This was in command of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who has the

honor of being the first to sail along the whole coast of California. He named the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Point of Pines at the mouth of Monterey bay, and entered the harbor of San Diego. After breaking an arm he sailed south to an island now called San Miguel, but which he called "La Isla de la Posesion." Here he died of his injuries on January 3, 1543, and his last words were a command to his "piloto," Bartolome Ferrelo: "Sail northward at all hazards." This command was obeyed, and on March 1, 1543, Ferrclo passed the 42d degree of north latitude and was thus the first white man to gaze upon the soil of old Oregon.

In 1603 three Spaniards-Sebastian Vizcaino, Martin Aquilar, Antonio Flores-visited our coasts, but did no work that has endured.

Juan Perez in 1774 reached the latitude of the present Sitka and coasted toward the south. He had been instructed to make no settlements, but to take possession of the land and pick out the best places for settlements. Cape North on Queen Charlotte island he called "Punta Santa Margarita." What we know as Forrester island he called "Isla Santa Christina," and Point Muzon he named "Santa Maria Magdalena." On the 7th of August he made a "landfall ” at a place which he called "San Lorenzo," but which we know as Nootka sound. He was the first white man to visit that place, yet the Indians who came out in their canoes held up bits of iron and copper and by pantomime signified that they wanted to trade for more. On August 10th he sighted a snow-white mountain which he called Santa Rosalia. Fifteen years later an English captain renamed it Olympus. The records claim that he was driven back from what has since been noted as a rainy country by thirst.

The next year, 1775, Bruno Heceta and Bodega y Quadra made a famous voyage along our coasts. Heceta had the flagship Santiago, and Quadra had a little schooner, the Sonora, only 36 feet long, 12 feet wide and 8 feet deep. They had 106 men in the party, and were ordered to sail and explore as far as 65 degrees of north latitude. They discovered and named Point Trinidad in northern California, and on July 13th they reached the vicinity of the present Point Grenville on the Washington coast. On July 14th Captain Heceta, Padre Sierra, Surgeon Davales, Second Pilot Cristobal Reveilla, landed, erected a