Farming the Frontier
The Agricultural Opening of the Oregon Country, 1786-1846
of the agricultural development of the Oregon Country. Based on
extensive research in Hudsons’s Bay Company documents, missionary
records, and military and private papers, this book traces the crucial
transition of the Pacific Northwest from a fur-trading outpost to an
agricultural settlement -- a process which also saw the shift from
British to American jurisdiction in the area.
The amount and quality of research that have gone into Farming the Frontier are truly impressive.
Tables
Illustrations
Prologue: Opening the Oregon Country
Part One: Post Farming: Hudson’s Bay Company Agriculture This Side The Mountains
1. Governor Simpson's Economy: The Origins of Post Farming
2. Governor Simpson’s Reward: The Results of Post Farming
3. Physical Extremes: The Problems of Post Farming
Part Two: Company Farming: Puget’s Sound Agricultural Company Operations on the Cowlitz Portage
4. Grain for Alaska and Wool for England: The Origins of the Puget’s Sound Agricultural Company
5. Success and Failure: The Performance of the Puget’s Sound Agricultural Company
6. Half Shares and Mean Lands: The Problems of the Puget’s Sound Agricultural Company
Part Three: Homestead Farming: Pioneer Agriculture in the Willamette Valley
7. The Promised Land: The Formation of the Willamette Settlement
8. The “Garden of the Columbia”: The Success of Homestead Farming
Part Four: Mission Farming: Protestant and Catholic Husbandry on the Lower Columbia
9. The “Macedonian Cry”: The Advent of Missionaries
10. The Fruit of the Faithful: The Outcome of Mission Farming
11. Divine Testing or Demonic Tempting: The Obstacles to Mission Farming
12. From Noble Savage to Sturdy Yeoman: Indian Farming
Epilogue: Dividing the Oregon Country
Abbreviations
Sources for Tables
Bibliography
Notes
Index
