Winchester Virginia Republican

Where is "the west?" A few years since, the inhabitants of our Atlantic cities were accustomed to speak of our town as being the remote point of civilization,—the "jump off place" in the great valley of the Mississippi—beyond which no man in his right mind, and having a clean conscience, would think of adventuring. What a transformation has been effected? Now, we begin to think of our city as soon to be the centre—perhaps the capital—of this extensive confederacy. For hundreds of miles to "the west" of us, the land teems with inhabitants. The hand of industry is there. Comforts and luxuries abound. A vigorous communication is kept up between ourselves and "these remote parts," as we are already accustomed to call them. It is, indeed, impossible to put any limit to this spirit of adventure. Even now, the formation of a settlement at the mouth of the Columbia river, is regarded as so entirely feasible, that many persons have enlisted in the enterprise. Space seems about to be annihilated by the exertions of the hardy pioneers of our western settlements.—Missouri Republican.