Geographic Context of the Pacific Northwest

* The Borders

- The North = Canadian Border

- South = Klamath Mountains and Great Basin Desert

- East = Rocky Mountains

- West = Pacific Ocean

* Populous Regions

- Columbia River Valley

- Willamette River Valley (Portland , Eugene)

- Puget Sound Area (Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia)

- Most of population of region packed into 800 person per square mile locations

-> up and down the river valleys

-> leaves hinterland unspoilt looking

Eastern Plains (Richland, Wenatchee, Spokane, Lewiston)

* Isolating impulses

- Rocky, Klamath, and Bitterroot Mountains

- Difficulties of Oceanic exploration

- Leads to late exploration

-> Eastern Americas explored starting in early 1500s

-> PNW explored 1780s

* Forbidding impulses

- aside from timber and fur, not much immediately to recommend the place

- difficulty of easy access

- Plains Indians defended the cross-Rockies approach

- Spanish/Mexicans closed off South

-> they themselves were not prepared to move up

- Russians and Wind closed off the Pacific approach

-> Russians just opening up Siberia