America's race to take Oregon and forge Pacific empire laid out in book by historin Michael Golay

Cougar Face
   The opening up of Oregon and California is brilliantly explained by author Michael Golay in a book as he rediscovers some of the major individuals making the westward trek for American empire in the race for Oregon. American settlers were in a race against tie to prevent the British from expanding in coveted forests of the pacific Northwest and drawing upon letters, diaries, and published memoirs author Mr Golay writes a book called "The Tide Of Empire" and basically looks at how the Native Americans of Oregon were basically screwed over. The area in particular researched in this chronicle is the Colombia river area home of the Cayuse Indians.  This book does a good job looking at the Whiteman missionary in Oregon Country and the eventual Whiteman mission massacre which marked the beginning of the end of the natives in Oregon country and increased demands of the pioneers for immediate territorial recognition and path to state hood in the Union. The scale and imagination of John Charles Fremonts' exploration and creating a map and path of travel to this country is also examined in great deal and makes up a large section of Michael Golay's work . People were on the move and in the 1840's disregard for the land rights of the indigenous people were at a high level and missionaries provided little to quell this encroachment and in many arts encouraged it as much.

The tensions at Whiteman's mission is pretty much revealed as more and more natives of the Pacific Northwest realized that they were going to be quickly replaces as natives in the old Northwest of Ohio country generations before. This book retells in precise detail the exploration and adventure of many invading pioneers into other peoples lands and how the United States and Britain carved up the land from both natives and fellow European empires trying to make inroads in this territory from Mexico and Russia.

The many  trapping companies and their inroads into this region also is a focus of this book as it develops a interesting look into the role the corporation goes into exploration in seeking of profits through other peoples misfortunes and loss. Mr. Golay is one of the country's premier historians having written several books and his depth and knowledge of the flathead Indians of the Colombian River area is deserving of its own future book and something I wish he had written more in this book. The flatheads were the major native group in Oregon most affected by the swarming tide of white civilization that looked down on the natives unique cultural trait of flattening infants heads as an identity and look as ahhh one would put a tattoo on their arm today.