ers upon the bar, the history of western America
would probably have been very different.

In the seventeenth century the prospect seemed to be that Spain
would control the Pacific Ocean. She claimed, by right of discovery,
all the lands bordering upon this ocean and the exclusive right
to navigate its waters. Every vessel found there without license
from the court of Spain was, by royal decree, to be confiscated.

It is interesting, after all these years and with our present knowledge,
to look back and see how unreasonable were the claims of Spain.
In the fifteenth century the extent of the Pacific ocean was not
known. In fact, men's ideas as to the distribution of land and water
over the earth were so indefinite that it was at first supposed
that the islands which Columbus discovered belonged to the East
Indies.

The claims of Spain to the Pacific Ocean were based upon its discovery
by Balboa, but she never made any serious efforts to enforce them,
for the attempt would have involved her in war with all the maritime
nations of Europe. Spain lacked the ability to take advantage of
the great discoveries which her navigators and explorers had made,
and for that reason she merely looked on, though with jealous eyes,
when in the eighteenth century the ships of England, France, Holland,
and Russia entered the Pacific Ocean with a view to exploration
and conquest.

Determined at last to support their claim to the Pacific coast
of North America, the Spaniards began to realize the necessity
of exploring it more fully and of founding settlements. It was
their plan to take possession of the whole region between Mexico
upon the south and the Russian trading posts along the shores of
Alaska. As exploration by land was impossible because of mountain
ranges and deserts, the Spanish adventurers were forced to rely
upon the ocean, with all its uncertainties of storm and contrary
winds.

Between 1774 and 1779 voyages were made as far north as Queen
Charlotte's Island, in latitude 54 deg.. A station was established
and held for many years at Nootka Sound, upon the west coast of
Vancouver Island. The first expedition passed the Strait of Juan
de Fuca apparently without seeing it, although there was a rumor to
the effect that a broad opening into the land had been discovered
by a certain Juan de Fuca in 1592, while he was exploring in the
employ of Spain. The latitude of this opening, as he gave it, nearly
corresponds to that of t