Excerpt from Washington, West of the Cascades, Vol. 1: Historical and Descriptive; The Explorers, the Indians, the Pioneers, the Modern

Fiction at its best is infused with nothing finer than the history of the State of Washington. And from the day when adventurous white men first set foot upon its soil we have the record - an incomparable one. For more than a hundred years the diary of its development is known.

The aim of this work shall be to set forth the record in a new dress, adding to the recital material that has not been in book form, and bringing it as nearly as possible up to date.

It is the intention to give considerable attention to the romantic period of over land travel and the first settlements. They were a race of giants were those men and women who braved the wilderness to plant an empire on the Northwest coast. Their sufferings never can be told in full. What brought them here? What is there in the American blood that ever hastens us to the farthest place? Why did the pioneers leave or ignore the thousands of rich acres of the middle west and drive to the coast?

Especial attention will be given to the founding of cities and towns and to their development. The creation of this rich commonwealth is the work of a little more than sixty years, and it is the intention to point out some of the forces and many of the personalities that figured in the process.

Old Fort Vancouver, blessed with a background rich in history; old Fort Steilacoom, the center of activities through the horrors of the Indian war; Olympia, the birthplace of the state, scene of the first settlement north of the Columbia River and prolific in romantic history; these are the spots around which the narrative of Washington, in its early reaches, must revolve, and the effort will be made to add something to their picturesqueness.

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