The Washington Historical Quarterly
VOLUME V. 1914

The Washington Historical Quarterly

Board of Editors

• Clarence B. Bagley, Seattle.
• W. D. Lyman, Walla Walla.
• J. N. Bowman, Seattle.
• T. C. Elliott, Walla Walla.
• Frank A. Golder, Pullman.
• Ceylon S. Kingston, Cheney.
• Edward McMahon, Seattle.
• Thomas W. Prosch, Seattle.
• Oliver H. Richardson, Seattle.
• O. B. Sperlin, Tacoma.
• E. O. S. Scholefield, Victoria, B. C.
• Allen Weir, Olympia.

Managing Editor

EDMOND S. MEANY

Business Manager

CHARLES W. SMITH

VOL V, NO. 1 JANUARY, 1914

ISSUED QUARTERLY

Contents

THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

University Station

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Entered at the Post-office at Seattle as second-class mail matter.

The Washington University State Historical Society

Officers and Board of Trustees:

• Clarence B. Bagley, President
• Judge John P. Hoyt, Vice-President
• Judge Roger S. Greene, Treasurer
• Professor Edmond S. Meany, Secretary
• Judge Cornelius H. Hanford
• Judge Thomas Burke
• Samuel Hill

PRINTING DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Vol. V., No. 1 January, 1914

The Washington Historical Quarterly

GEORGE WILKES

The republication of George Wilkes' History of Oregon, begun in the Quarterly in October, 1906, is completed in the present issue.

In several ways the book or pamphlet is of much historical importance. It was prepared by a journalist rather than a historian, and with a sincere desire to give accurate information regarding the Oregon Country and the best means of getting there, and without expectation of gain in its publication.

At a time when railroads and railroading were in their infancy, Mr. Wilkes was among the first to realize the importance of long and connecting lines of rail communication, and so far as I have been able to ascertain was the first to publicly advocate the building of a line from the Atlantic to the Pacific by the National Government. He argued against land grants or subsidies to private individuals or corporations. The government ownership of the proposed road was the central idea of part I of the book. It was published in New York in 1845. In 1847 he published another pamphlet entitled "Proposal for a National Rail-Road to the Pacific Ocean, for the Purpose of Obtaining a Short Route to Oregon and the Indies." The latter repeated many of the arguments of the earlier work, in fact had little new material. Both are exceedingly scarce at the present day.

In the preface to the book, Wilkes says: "The second part of the work consists of a journal, prepared from a series of letters, written by a gentleman now in Oregon, who himself accompanied the celebrated emigrating expedition of 1843. They make no pretensions in their style, but are merely simple, conversational epistles, which in their familiar, offhand way, furnish a large amount of useful practical information to the emigrant, and much interesting matter to the general reader. The author has done scarcely more to this portion than to throw it into chapters, and to strike from it such historical and geographical statistics as had been drawn from other sources, and arranged in the preceding portions of the work. These letters fell into his hands after the adoption and commencement of his original design; and adapting them to his purpose, by linking them with his own mss., a deal of research was saved him by the valuable and peculiar information they contributed."

Mr. Wilkes did not disclose the name of the writer of the letters, and in fact their authorship was never formally announced, but internal evidence proves they were written by Peter H. Burnett.

Mr. Burnett was born in Nashville, Tennessee, November 15, 1807. The family removed to Missouri in 1817. He was almost entirely self-taught, as in his childhood and youth he had little opportunity of going to school. When about 26 years of age he began the study of law, but continued in other business