American Perception of the Beaches of the Pacific Northwest by Gustav Volz
The United States circa 1882 was a fascinating country with one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Being just a few decades past a devastating civil war, the country was now flourishing in its Second Industrial Revolution. With this growing economy, the American people were looking for any way to find individual prosperity, and in doing so, came to the idea of moving westward. Throughout the 19th century, the United States settlers moved west, following the ideology of manifest destiny. Manifest destiny proclaimed that American settlers had a divine purpose to settle west until they reached the sea. In combination with manifest destiny and the economic growth opportunities present, the American people viewed the Pacific as a land of new growth and the first person source “The Pacific North-west : a guide for settlers and travelers” from 1882 shows just that.
This guide book was written by E. W. Sackett & Rankin in 1882 and was created by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. In the time that this book was written and published, there were thousands of people moving into the new Northwest territories Oregon and Washington. These territories were very unknown to the general public of the United States which is the surface level reason for why this guidebook was written. The guidebook provides valuable information about everything you could possibly need to know about the new Oregon and Washington territories, and the best ways to approach exploring and settling there. The book contains detailed drawings of proposed new settlements and buildings that are meant to give the readers of the book an idea of what these new territories could become. Furthermore, the book goes into great detail about the topography of the area. There is detailed information about the mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, and forests of the new territories. This is important because it allows settlers to both have a good understanding of what their potential new land looks like, but also what the best ways to actually travel through this new frontier may be. The audience of this book is more complex than it may seem at first glance. The authors, quite obviously, are writing this book for people that are interested in settling the new Washington and Oregon territories and that are potentially interested in journeying all the way up to Alaska. An audience that is less obvious however is the people of the United States that do not plan on immediately immigrating to the new Pacific Northwest. A standard American citizen is most definitely part of the target audience of this book because the book is attempting to convince the people of the United States of the economic opportunities that exist on the Pacific side of the country. The book spends many pages detailing the industry opportunities in these new territories, both on the Pacific beaches of the region and in the coastal mountains of the region. What can be drawn from this book carrying this general purpose is that the American people might be uninformed about the Pacific, but are definitely intrigued by the economic opportunities of journeying to the Pacific beaches.
This source fits into the larger picture of the history of the Pacific worlds because it outlines the change in the way that people interacted with the Pacific and the other civilizations around the Pacific.
For thousands of years, the Pacific Northwest has been a hub for trade and economic activity among Native American tribes. The Sea is My Country by Joshua Reid is a book that goes into great detail about the Makah tribe of the Pacific Northwest. Reid’s main idea in this book is that the Makah are a tribe that has controlled and survived off of the Pacific Ocean for thousands of years. The Makah revolve their entire life and culture around the sea, and when European colonizers come to settle the area in which they live, the Makah chiefs resist losing control of the sea. The Makah were able to resist the white settlers because of the trade network they set up. They created an environment in which they were the only ones able to exploit the Pacific for its goods and dominated the region economically. This theme of the Pacific being a place of economic prosperity parallels the argument in “The Pacific North-west : a guide for settlers and travelers” by E. W. Sackett & Rankin. While these two books are similar in geography, they are very different in what exactly they are writing about. Both books are speaking of economic dominance, growth, and prosperity in the Pacific Northwest coastal region. The difference lies in which perspective this economic utilization is coming from. In "The Sea is My Country", the perspective is of the Makah Native Americans, and in “The Pacific North-west : a guide for settlers and travelers” by E. W. Sackett & Rankin, the perspective is of the citizens of the United States moving westward. This is important because it provides an explanation as to why the Americans in 1880 believed the Pacific Northwest to be a region of economic prosperity with a historical backing. The American settlers were keen to move to the new Oregon and Washington territories because there was economic opportunity to be had as proven by the Makah Native Americans for thousands of years prior.
Another author that has work that is very important in understanding the application of “The Pacific North-west : a guide for settlers and travelers” by E. W. Sackett & Rankin is Kevin Waite in his book West of Slavery: A Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Railroad. The main ideas of this book are that the American people of the South and the North had very different ideas about what they wanted when it came to westward expansion. The southern states were far more passionate in advocating for westward expansion and the building of a transcontinental railroad than the northern states. There are a few reasons for this, the main reason being that the Southern states were extremely reliant on trade to grow their economy and political power. A transcontinental railroad would both physically expand the south as well as bring more goods and people in and out of the south, fostering economic growth. That is important in regards to the Oregon and Washington territories mentioned in “The Pacific North-west : a guide for settlers and travelers” because a transcontinental railroad will allow trade networks with Asia to be established. The guidebook created by the Northern Pacific Railroad company outlines the fact that China is a trading powerhouse and that the United States would greatly benefit from a trade agreement with China. The guidebook also outlines the railroads built across the Pacific Northwest. If these railroads were built, it would greatly reduce the time needed for trade ships to reach Asia. Below is an image of Astoria Oregon, one of many trading cities on the Oregon coast. Cities like these are described throughout the guidebook to provide evidence to the reader of the economic activity along the Pacific Beaches of the Oregon and Washington territories. The railroads depicted in Waite’s book are a very important aspect in the trade in cities like Astoria because of the time it took for Americans to travel across the country. The building of the railroads across the United States and within the Pacific Northwest was the most crucial step of the process of creating trade relationships with China that bolstered the economy of the entire Pacific Northwest.
The guidebook created by the Northern Pacific Railroad company tells the story of the modern trade culture that was created across the Pacific. Throughout history, the Pacific has always been a place of beating culture on the side of the Americas, the side in Asia, and within the ocean in the island nations of Oceania. Trade across the water has always been extremely prevalent, but when this source was created it symbolized the instance in history that the trade across the Pacific was really cemented. Before the era in which the Pacific Northwest was being settled, the trade between China and the United States was occurring but not extremely solidified. After the era of settling the modern-day west coast of the United States, Chinese-American trade was as locked in as it ever will be. This source was created in an extremely momentous time in the economic maturing of the United States and China trade relationship, and thus is how it fits into the history of the Pacific.
There is much to be learned from a deep analysis of “The Pacific North-west : a guide for settlers and travelers” by E. W. Sackett & Rankin, and this paper barely scratches the surface. The guidebook depicts the American idea of what the Pacific is; that being a land of great economic potential. The historical artifact also demonstrates the growth of trans-pacific trade with its depictions of coastal trading ports. Finally it demonstrates the trading growth of the United States itself with its descriptions of the railways built across the United States to move both goods and people back and forth, fostering economic growth. There will always be more to learn when investigating a primary source that is over one hundred and forty years old, but what has been discovered about the American ideas of the Pacific in 1882 is certainly fascinating.
Source Citation
Sackett & Rankin, E W. The Pacific North-West: A Guide for Settlers and Travelers: Oregon and Washington Territory. Land Dept., Northern Pacific Railroad Co.?, 1882.
