PREFACE.
Whoever reads my book will discover that the author is no hasty observer. In fact, I have been up and down the coast a good deal, and have studied it from many points of view, from Mexico to British Columbia. I have, during different periods of residence in the East, had occasion to notice and to regret the want of knowledge of this northwest corner of the United States, and some years ago published "All over Oregon and Washington," which is now not only out of print, but out of date, owing to the immense strides in improvement made by these two commonwealths since the era of railroads.
It was frequently suggested to me to revise and republish that book, but upon devoting a summer of travel to the acquisition of new facts, I found that practically a new book would have to be written. This is here presented. If readers of the former detect some familiar passages, they are those I found necessary to preserve, because I did not see how they could be omitted without injustice to my subject. To the majority I have little doubt that the whole will be what I have meant it to be,—instructive.
