Pacific Northwest History - Essay Example

purchase of the lands between the Gila river and the present Mexican boundary” (White, p.4). These regions are surrounded by the great Pacific Ocean in the west and the river Missouri serves as a boundary in the east. In between lays rugged mountains, desert regions and the canyons. Dry and rugged, yet for centuries this very region have lured many a traveler, many a fortune seeker who all came to live in this new land making the very natural barriers open up as if they were gateways to these regions.

As Schwantes aptly frames it “an understanding of the main currents of Pacific Northwest history begins with an appreciation of the regions geographic setting, one of the most diverse natural landscapes in north America.life in the Pacific North-west revolved around supplying the world with raw materials – furs and skins, logs and lumber, wheat and a variety of agricultural commodities, fish and other seafoods, and precious and base metals” (Schwantes, p.4). Even before the whites arrived in the so called “wild west”, these regions were inhabited by the native Indians.

Their daily livelihood was based chiefly on fishing, hunting and agriculture to some extent. They often changed the scenario of the land by burning down trees to suit their needs and wants. Thus we find the “wilderness of the west actually inhabited by people of indigenous origin. As the early settlers, consisting of the Spanish, English, French, Russians and the Americans, came in droves in this new land of plenty there were many changes in the lives of these simple Indians. They understood the importance and profitability of the trade and bartering system and quickly moved into doing business with these foreign settlers.

As Lichatowich and Lichatowich tell us “exposure to the market economy changed the Indian attitude toward beavers and others. Furs were no longer a gift from