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One wonders what would have happened to a band of Mexicans riding into Missouri on horses stolen from the Missourians, showing by their manner that they were contemptuous of the Missourians, fraternizing with the native enemies of the settlers, renaming the rivers, insisting on choosing their own course through the territory, and, as they went, gathering the natural wealth of the country.
In the end this tolerance of invasion lost the magnificent empire of the Pacific slope. Jedediah Smith had opened the gate, and Mexico was never able to close it.
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