# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 16/Number 4

THE QUARTERLY
of the
Oregon Historical Society
VOLUME XVI DECEMBER, 1915 NUMBER 4
The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages
THE LAST STEP IN THE FORMATION OF A
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT FOR
OREGON IN 1845.
By ROBERT CARLTON CLARK.
In a letter dated August 30, 1845, written by Dr. John McLoughlin, chief factor of Hudson's Bay Company at Van- couver, he says : "We have yielded to the wishes and request of the respectable part of the people in this country of British and American origin by uniting with them in the formation of a provisional and temporary government having for its object the protection of life and property." 1
The act here described constitutes the last step in the forma- tion of a provisional government for Oregon. It will be the purpose of this paper to give an account of the motives lead- ing to this step.
In a former paper by this writer appearing in the Quarterly 21 the movement leading to the formation of a government for Oregon was described so far as it had taken place down to the election of officers in May, 1844. It was there shown that the first of the steps in this movement had been taken in 1838 when the American element elected magis-
1 From a letter, a copy made by Professor Joseph Schafer, of the University of Oregon.
2 Vol. 13, No. 2. ​
314 ROBERT CARLTON CLARK
trates for themselves ; the second in 1841 by the election of a larger body of officers; the third in 1843 with the placing of the government on a more definite constitutional basis. It was not, however, until 1844 that the British and Canadian citizens, resident in the Willamette Valley were brought into the union. By this fourth step a government embracing all the inhabitants and comprising all the territory south of the Columbia River was established. It was not, however, until the next year and by means of a special agreement with the Hudson's Bay Company officials and by forming a new consti- tution that the region north of the Columbia and its residents were brought into the bounds of the infant state. The story of this last movement will be related here.
At the time of the organization in 1843 of the Provisional Government for Oregon Territory by the settlers of the Wil- lamette Valley, most of whom were of American extraction, no attempt was made to give a definite northern boundary to the territory over which its jurisdiction was to extend. Oregon territory was to include all the region south of the northern boundary of the United States. The obvious intention was to avoid giving offense to the Hudson's Bay Company which had extensive land-holdings around Vancouver and elsewhere along the north bank of the Columbia River. The following year, 1844, after an understanding had been reached with the French- Canadian and other British subjects by means of which they were brought into the Provisional Government, a new legisla- tive committee meeting in June passed a law definitely fixing the Columbia River as the northernmost limit of the territory. Though a second session of the same body meeting in Decem- ber of the same year, after new men had arrived from across the Rockies with a report of the political campaign in the United States and the Democratic party's championship of the claim to Oregon with its slogan "Fifty-four, forty or fight," passed another act making the northern boundary line the parallel of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes north latitude, no attempt was then made to organize the region north of the ​
LAST STEP IN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 315
Columbia or in any way to extend a definite jurisdiction. The bolder spirits among the Americans might be inclined to lay claim to control over the whole of the Oregon region, yet until the Hudson's Bay Company through its officials recog- nized the authority of the Provisional Government over them- selves and the territory under their control such assertions were without practical effect. Indeed, until the British citizens within the Willamette Valley had given allegiance to the new government it was without authority over them. There were men among the Americans, cooler headed and more moderate, who realized the desirability of securing the consent of those whom they would govern. The government of 1843 had proven ineffective so long as the French-Canadians, constituting as they did, a compact body of settlement on the lower Willamette prairie, and other Britishers held aloof. In 1844 these had, by peaceful means, persuaded that their own best interests would be served, been brought into the union. Now to complete this union territorially the region north of the Columbia needed to be included, and to secure what was more important a political union of the people settled north and south of that river. The settlers north of the Columbia constituted, for the most part, those directly connected with the Hudson's Bay Company and in its employ about two hundred in number and those who had been brought into the country under the direction of the Company and who recognized a certain measure of authority and control by its officials. The Provisional Gov- ernment could scarcely hope to compel from these people obedience to its laws. It was the better part of valor and wisdom to secure from them also by peaceful persuasion a recognition of its authority, to form with them a definite union. This last act in the making of the Provisional Gov- ernment of Oregon was accomplished in August, 1845, by a formal agreement entered into between the Legislative body acting on behalf of the people of the Willamette Valley and the officials of the Hudson's Bay Company speaking for the people to the north of the Columbia. ​
316 ROBERT CARLTON CLARK
On the side of the inhabitants of the Willamette Valley, be- yond which the authority of the existing government could not be thought really to extend, there was a strong desire for an understanding with the Hudson's Bay Company that would secure its support. Those that thought of themselves as subjects of Great Britain were for the most part retired serv- ants of the Company and accustomed to look to it for direction. This is shown by the fact that they had joined the new organ- ization at the behest of Dr. John McLoughlin, its chief official at Vancouver. This element could not immediately divorce itself from a long habit of obedience and subservience. To secure itself from possible attack or submergence and from encroachment on its land by the ever-swelling tide of restless Americans it had been persuaded to join with them in sup- porting a government, but by this act they were not won away from allegiance to the Company and would consider a union that included that powerful organization a better guarantee of their own security.
A second factor that made for union from the side of the Provisional Government itself was the economic union that really existed between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Willamette Valley. The settlers of this region were very largely dependent upon the Company for the merchandise they needed and as purchasers of such surplus agricultural products as they had for sale. During this year 1845 the Willamette Valley was expected to have 50,000 bushels of wheat to market. 3
Many of the Americans had received assistance from the Company, which had furnished means of transpor- tation from the Columbia to their new homes, or had been given credit for food to tide them over the winter months and for seed to plant the first crops. Many of these perhaps owed their very lives to the generosity of Dr. McLoughlin. Not all of them were grateful for such help, and there was complaint against the Company that it was a monopoly and
3 Last Letter of McLoughlin, American Hist. Rv. 21:129. ​
LAST STEP IN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 317
was not always fair in its dealings. Yet facing- a real situa- tion they were compelled to recognize themselves economically dependent upon it and were not inclined to refuse the facilities it offered. Indeed the presence of the Hudson's Bay Company with its thorough organization for keeping in communication with the outside world was a great blessing to the early colo- nists, however grudgingly they may have recognized its value. By means of it they sent and received letters from their friends in the east. It served as a clearing house for commercial paper, its stores of manufactured goods were always complete, and it was ready to accept their surplus grain. Its mills ground the flour needed by the various settlements. There was a manifest advantage to these settlers to have the Company incorporated with them in a common government. It would not seem such an alien and hostile body attempting to crush out their very existence.
A third object of union would be found in the influence and control maintained by the Hudson's Bay Company over the hostile Indians that were to some extent a menace to the Willamette settlements. The Company traded widely with the Indians and had secured a certain measure of influence over them. It had shown no disposition to turn these Indians against the Americans, but it was manifestly to their interest to have a positive influence exerted upon these Indians to keep the peace. This desirable object was more certain to be secured if the Company became a definite part of the organ- ization responsible for maintaining order in the Oregon ter- ritory.
A fourth and perhaps the strongest of all the motives leading the Provisional Government to seek a union with the Hudson's Bay Company was that of poverty. The money necessary to keep a government going had thus far failed to materialize by means of taxing its citizens. The reluctance of the people to be taxed had led them at first to attempt to raise the needed expenses of government by means of voluntary subscriptions. This had proven a most miserable failure. No money was ​
318 ROBERT CARLTON CLARK
forthcoming. The next year, 1844, the Legislative Committee seeing that the government could not be sustained without a revenue imposed a tax on the people and sought to secure its payment by the provision that he who failed to pay should have no benefit from the laws nor be allowed to vote. So drastic a measure did not, however, succeed in producing funds sufficient to pay the upkeep of the new government. The appropriations for the year 1844 were but a little in excess of $900 and the revenues collected by end of year amounted to about one-third of this sum. 4
Though the population of the territory was increasing very rapidly, and its wealth in proportion, and deficiency in rev- enue might in a short time be made up it seemed to many a more speedy solution of the financial difficulty to secure the co-operation of the Hudson's Bay Company and from it and its supporters a payment of the taxes so difficult of collection south of the Columbia. For a wealthy corporation in their very midst, enjoying a large measure of monopoly over their industrial life, to take daily toll of their meager incomes, and to secure the benefits of the peace and order maintained by the government they had established while contributing noth- ing to its support, seemed to the political leaders of the infant state a very real grievance. Every effort ought therefore to be made to persuade the company that it owed a duty to help support a government that brought it such manifest blessings and a community that was to it such an important source of profit. This desire to make the Hudson's Bay Company a direct contributor to the revenues of the new government was to be not the least of the factors in bringing about its union with the Provisional Government.
A further circumstance that was contributing to the estab- lishment of better relations between the officials of the Hud- son's Bay Company and the American settlers who were the leaders in the new organization was the influx of new men from the United States and the consequent changing of the per-
4 Bancroft, Oregon 1 1443. ​
LAST STEP IN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 319
sonnel of the government. The elections were held annually and at the second election in May, 1844, only one of the old officers was re-elected and a majority of these elected to fill the three places on the Executive Committee and the nine members of the Legislative Committee came out to Oregon the preceding year, 1843. Only three of the members of these bodies were again chosen in 1845. The leading and guiding spirits in the legislation of 1844 and 1845 proved to be men who had recently arrived in Oregon, Peter H. Burnett and Jesse Applegate. These new men had less reason to feel an- tagonistic towards the Hudson's Bay Company than had those longer resident who had taken sides in the controversy that had arisen between McLoughlin and the Methodist mission over a land claim at Oregon City, nor did they share in the enmity felt toward the Company by so many of the older residents. (Shortess Petition in Holman, McLoughlin, 198.) The Provisional Government had originally been formed as an act hostile to McLoughlin and the Company. The new men exhibited a more conciliatory spirit and realized that the Pro- ivsional Government would be greatly strengthened by secur- ing the allegiance of the Hudson's Bay Company men. 5
Thus by the summer of 1845 these influences were working for the complete union of all elements residing in the country. On the part of the Willamette Valley settlers the advantages were clear. British subjects resident there would be better contented. Those that acknowledged allegiance to the United States realized that they were too remote to count upon the active protection of their own government and that it were better part of wisdom to placate than to defy the Hudson's Bay Company, upon which they were in so large measure de- pendent for their existence. Further the financial assistance that would come from collecting taxes from the men and property of the Company would make the running of the gov-
5 McLoughlin in Last Letter, p. 116, gives it as his opinion that Applegate and his friends were actuated by anxiety to prevent disorders in the country and to secure right to coerce and drive from Company's grounds American citizens by action of law. ​
320 ROBERT CARLTON CLARK
ernment easier and less of a burden to themselves. These con- siderations together with the growing ascendency of new men of conciliatory temper were to lead directly to overtures to the Hudson's Bay Company looking to a closer union.
At the same time Dr. McLoughlin and his associates were beginning to realize that such a union carried with it weighty advantages both for themselves and the Company and were therefore ready to meet more than half way the advances made by the officers of the Provisional Government. The motives actuating such a conclusion were in part personal to Dr. Mc- Loughlin himself and in part due to a conviction that the best interests of the Company would thus be served.
For Dr. McLoughlin himself, a conciliatory attitude towards the new government south of the Columbia River had seemed the better policy from its first inception. The favors he had shown Americans and assistance given them in establishing themselves in the country while prompted, no doubt, by purest philanthropy promoted as well his own interests. It was dis- tinctly to his advantage to cultivate friendly relations with these new settlers for they were making his property on the Willamette distinctly more valuable and more profitable. His land claim at the falls of the Willamette had been surveyed and platted out into a town named "Oregon City." He be- lieved this place "destined by nature to be the best place for commerce in this country." 6 This town had already be- come the most considerable settlement in the Willamette Valley. Lieutenants Warre and Vavasour, two British officers, reported to their government in October, 1845, a population for it of some three hundred people with a hun- dred dwelling houses and stores. The increasing population evidently made this town property more valuable. In addition McLoughlin had established grist and sawmills at the falls which became more profitable sources of revenue as the in- habitants of that region became more numerous. He could not feel altogether secure in his claim so long as he held
6 Last Letter, 129. ​
LAST STEP IN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 321
himself aloof from participation in a government that had been founded by men anxious to secure their titles to land and to prevent mutual encroachment on each other's holdings. He had been troubled with squatters on his land and a rival claim- ant, notably the Reverend Mr. Waller, whom he had bought off in April, 1844, by a payment of $500 and transfer of some of the lots at Oregon City. Dr. McLoughlin had also just paid five thousand five hundred dollars to the Methodist mis- sion for the lots claimed by that organization at Oregon City because as he says he could not "produce a legal test of pro- prietorship" and this ground was needed to "complete his Establishment." (Last Letter, p. 122.) He felt that there was serious danger of losing this property should the boundary settlement be favorable to the United States before he had secured a title the validity of which was at least as good as that of other settlers in the valley. True, the Legislative Com- mittee had, in 1844, repealed the clause in the land law of 1843 which had been directly intended to deprive him of this claim, but he had been made to feel in many trivial ways the hostility of the government. The legislature had even gone so far as to refuse him the privilege of constructing and operating a ferry across the Willamette. So long as he had no part in the government he could expect no favors at its hands.
Furthermore, there is evidence that McLoughlin had some ambition to assume a leadership over the people of the whole Oregon country and a confidence in his ability to win the respect and support of the American element. In short, he was moved by political ambition and a love for the power and influence that the governorship of the new state might give. In a letter written to Sir J. H. Pelly, November 15, 1844, Dr. McLoughlin predicts that if the boundary question is not settled by the two governments, Great Britain and the United States, the settlers in Oregon territory will declare an inde- pendent state "of which I might be elected head were I to retire among them." (Copy of letter in possession of Pro- fessor Schafer.) It would thus seem that McLoughlin was ​
322 ROBERT CARLTON CLARK
already contemplating the "retirement" that he actually car- ried out a year later and was looking forward to the fulfillment of an ambition for leadership. There is nothing in his char- acter to make such a conclusion improbable. He was of a dis- tinctly masterful temperament and might easily have under- estimated the difficulties in the path of such an ambition. The sequel was to prove something quite different from these an- ticipations. Thus it seems that motives of financial interest and personal political ambition may have been promoting Chief Factor McLoughlin to bring himself, his people and the property of his company under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Provisional Government.
To the Company's superior officers, however, McLoughlin in justifying his action in recognizing and uniting with the new government in August, 1845, advanced only those argu- ments that convinced him that such action best served the interests of the Company and British subjects in general. "We have yielded/' he says, "to the wishes of the respectable part of the people in the country, of British and American origin, by uniting with them in the formation of a temporary and provisional government designed to prevent disorders and maintain peace, until the settlement of the Boundary Question leaves that duty to the parent States" (from McLoughlin Letters of August 30 and November 20, 1845, copies made by Professor Schafer. The second letter is given as first part of Last Letter printed in American Hist. Rev. 21 :1 10-1 16.) To McLoughlin at this time the situation seemed critical. The property of the Company was subject to intrusion and attack, "exposed in the midst of a population living without the re- straint of laws." "A crisis was evidently fast approaching which would drive us to the painful necessity of yielding to the storm, or of taking the field openly, arms in hand, with means so unequal compared to those arrayed against us, as to leave no hopes of success." There seemed to him little hope of receiving any speedy or effective protection either from the British government or the Company, though he had represented ​
LAST STEP IN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 323
to both the dangers in the situation and made request for an armed vessel to be stationed in the Columbia. Until such protection could be afforded it seemed the better part of valor to enter into a union "for the purpose of mutual pro- tection, with the white population of the Willamette." "We decided on joining the Association both for the security of the Company's property and the protection of its rights."
To McLoughlin and his associates such a union seemed further desirable as means of safeguarding against evils for which no protection was offered if they remained isolated from the rest of the community. If the "Companys servants" de- serted and took refuge in the Willamette settlements they could not be arrested unless the Company thru its officials had some part in the association. There had been cases of such desertion. "Another powerful inducement arose from the considerable amount of outstanding debts we have in the Wallamette Settlement." These debts had risen during the previous year to the formidable total of $30,000. 7
The advantages of the union as a means of collecting debts are obvious. "Under the newly assumed political position we would have been cast entirely on the honour and good faith of our customers, as the law could of course only give protection to those who gave it support; but by joining the Association we can sue and attach the property of any man in this country who is indebted to the Company."
The Company's officials at Vancouver had been compelled to face the problem of keeping the bolder Americans from en- croaching upon its lands. A certain Henry Williamson had in 1844 gone so far as to build a cabin on an island in the river near Vancouver claimed and occupied by the Company. His cabin had been torn down and Williamson induced to with- draw. He and others like him McLoughlin thought so base as to stop at no crime. "They were determined at all risks to intrude upon the Company's land claim, and they made no secret of their plans if ejected by force. If not supported by
7 Last Letter, 123. ​
324 ROBERT CARLTON CLARK
their countrymen, they were to seek an easy revenge by firing our premises, destroying our barns, or such like deeds of cowardly villainy."
Thus we find urged as motives for bringing about a union of the Hudson's Bay Company through its officials with the Willamette valley settlers in the formation of government the need of preventing encroachments upon the Company's land and to safeguard its property from attack by hostilly disposed Americans. Such a union would offer an easier and more certain method for the collection of debts owed the Company and a means of bringing back its employees "tempted by the certainty of immunity and high wages in the Wallamette to desert the Service." There is evident alarm at the rapidly increasing number of Americans. An average of more than a thousand each year had come into the valley during the two years just past and some three thousand immigrants were expected to arrive during fall of 1845. Such alarm is indi- cated by McLoughlin's request to the British Consul General at Honolulu for a ship of war to be sent to the Columbia river. Promise of such support could not be secured and as by August "the season was so far advanced there was no reason to expect the arrival of any Government vessel on the coast" seemed so good "as to take part in the Association." Convinced of the benefits to be derived from union McLough- lin only needed to act upon the invitation that had been ex- tended by the Oregon Provisional Government. The way toward union had already been paved by action of that body. A first step towards union with the Hudson's Bay Com- pany officials had been made in June, 1845, by the election of Frank Ermatinger, manager of the Company's store at Oregon City and in official capacity its "Chief Trader" 8 to the office of treasurer of the Provisional Government. This was manifestly intended to indicate to McLoughlin and his asso- ciates the friendly attitude of the Willamette valley settlers. A second step towards union had been made by the change made
8 Gray's, Oregon, 424. Last Letter, 115, 128. ​
LAST STEP IN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 325
in the form of the oath by which the officials elected in June were inducted into office. The oath declared an obligation "to support the organic laws of the provisional government of Ore- gon, so far as they are consistent with duties as a citizen of the United States or a subject of Great Britain." This oath was later formally incorporated into the new constitution adopted by the people in July, 1845, and thus deprived the Provisional Government of its former national character. In its original form such provisional government had seemed to be estab- lished only until such time as the United States might formally assume jurisdiction over the Oregon territory and conceded nothing to the sentiments of citizens of other countries. The changed form of the oath made it possible for the Hudson's Bay officials and other British citizens to loyally support the new organization. The reorganization of the provisional gov- ernment on a more carefully worked out constitutional plan and the incorporation into the body of the constitution of a land law that had none of the features objectionable to McLoughlin or the Company as contained in the first measure enacted in 1843, paved the way for an offer of union. A better organ- ized government, with executive, legislative, and judicial de- partments carefully differentiated and the functions of each fully prescribed in a written constitution that had received approval of a large majority of the settlers at an election especially held for the purpose, seemed more stable and to offer better guarantees of stability and strength to enforce its decrees than the more loosely constructed government estab- lished in 1843. The newly established constitution may for this reason be considered as a third step in the direction of union. Afterwards came overtures of Jesse Applegate by means of private interviews and letter asking if "company will be willing to become parties to articles of compact by paying taxes." A visit of McLoughlin to Oregon City con- vinced him of the sincerity of the desire of the better part of the American element to secure the incorporation of the Company in the provisional government. A formal invita​
326 ROBERT CARLTON CLARK
tion sent by a committee of the legislature duly authorized on August 14, 1845, met with a prompt acceptance the next day, August 15, by McLoughlin and Douglas acting for the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, "to become parties to articles of compact."
The Company's officers did not, however, take such action and enter into such a compact without exacting certain condi- tions expressed and implied. Among the expressed condi- tions of the union stated in the letter accepting the invitation made by the legislature consent to the union is based on the provision that the Hudson's Bay Company be called upon to pay taxes only on such sales as may be made to settlers. 9 It is thus stipulated as a first condition that a special concession in taxation shall be granted. A second condition, demanded by McLoughlin and sanctioned by the Legislative Assembly, was that the region north of the Columbia river, which it had been proposed should be divided into two districts named Lewis and Clark, should be created as one district with the name Van- couver. 10
McLoughlin says that the "Ultra party were excessively an- noyed at this being called Vancouver's District, a point we in- sisted on carrying ; it appeared to them a concession of Amer- ican rights, and an avowal of the British claim to the north bank of the Columbia, but the tide set so strongly against them that their opposition was overpowered." A third condition of the union was that all rights of trade enjoyed by the Company should be maintained. A fourth implied condition and one rec- ognized by the changed form of the oath required of officers of the government, was in divesting the organization of all dis- tinctive national character so that it would not interfere with the duties and allegiance of Hudson's Bay Company's officers as British subjects. A fifth implied condition seems to have been that the majority of all the offices established for Vancouver's district should be given to Englishmen. At least of the first
9 See Holman in Quarterly, 13:133-4 and Last Letter, 114. In another letter quoted by Holman, ibid., McLoughlin says "on stock also like any other farmer."
10 Last Letter, 116, No. 21. ​
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officers named for the district, three judges and a Sheriff, only one was an American. One of the judges appointed was the chief factor of the Company, James Douglas.
In character, it will thus appear, the union partakes of the nature of a treaty and not a real incorporation either of the Company or its officers on the basis of entire equality with other members of the new state. The officers of the Company treat as equals with the duly elected officers of a government acting for the people living south of the Columbia; they demand certain terms as the price of their inclusion in a union to take in the territory both north and south of the river ; these terms are granted and upon the basis of these concessions the union is constituted. The character of the territory north of the Columbia as the special reservation of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany is thus in large measure preserved. A second character- istic of the union is suggested by the comment of McLoughlin who describes it as an "association that does not pretend to exercise authority over such persons as have not voluntarily joined it, and do not contribute to its support; neither does it extend protection to any but its own members." Or its description by the two British military officers who visited the Oregon country just after the union had been formed, as "an organization formed for the purpose of neutralizing the pre- ponderating American influence," "a compact independent of the United . States Government, one in which emigrants of all nations, willing to uphold the law in the country, and for the protection of life and property, are enrolled as members." 11
These descriptions seem to indicate that the jurisdiction of the government extended only to its own members. While established by the majority and its sanction disputed, according to McLoughlin, only by a few of the Americans of the very worst character, there was no purpose to coerce the minority who refused to join it. Furthermore it seems to have been as characterized by Ware and Vavasour, a "coalition" govern- ment without distinctive national leanings.
1 1 Last Letter, 1 1 6. Warre and Vavasour's Military Reconnoisance, Quarterly, 10:51. ​
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The advantages secured by the union seem to have been just such as had been anticipated. The Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and a subsidiary organization, the Puget Sound Agri- cultural Company, made contributions, during 1845 towards sustaining the infant state amounting, according to statement of McLoughlin, to $226.65. Since the agreement for the union was not made until August the officials of the Company had apparently agreed to be taxed on the sales of merchandise for the whole year. The amount contributed by the Company was about a fourth of the expenses of the Provisional Gov- ernment during the preceding year and two-thirds as much as that raised from all sources during 1844. Thus it will be seen the entrance of the Hudson's Bay Company and the contributions it made by way of taxes went far towards assur- ing the stability of the new government.
Nor was it altogether a one-sided bargain. To McLoughlin it was a matter for congratulation to have "secured the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company without embroiling ourselves or the British Government in vexatious disputes with a gang of low, contemptible vagabonds." He further expresses the opinion that the position of the Company has been greatly strengthened and danger of collision with the American ele- ment removed by joining in this union with the Provisional Government. The wisdom of such action is also commended by the two British military officers, Warre and Vavasour, who express the opinion that "a more judicious course could not have been pursued by all parties for the peace and prosperity of the community at large." 12
Immediately "full advantage of the laws of the Asso- ciation, in regard to land claims" was taken and the country around Vancouver surveyed and platted into nine lots, each of one square mile. These were registered in the office of the recorder of the territory under the names of officers and employees of the Company to be held for it. The requirements of the law as to survey, markings, and building of a hut on
12 Last Letter, 116. Warre and Vavasour, 51. ​
LAST STEP IN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 329
each plot were complied with. Thus the Company was assured of means of ejecting an intruder upon its lands by thoroughly legal methods. All other lands used by the Company could be covered by registered title in the same way. 13
The life of the Provisional Government after its extension to include the whole of the Oregon territory was to be too brief to determine whether all the benefits to the Hudson's Bay Company anticipated by McLoughlin were to be fulfilled. In the next year the boundary dispute between Great Britain and the United States was settled. The Provisional Govern- ment had, after this settlement, only to mark time until the Congress of the United States provided a territorial govern- ment. However, it will ever be one of the bright places in Oregon history to find that in spite of antagonism, jealousies, and mutual distrust, a spirit of conciliation and compromise prevailed to bring together all the residents of Oregon terri- tory, British and American citizens with the French Canadians, people of diverse religions and unlike temperaments, into a peaceful union for the purpose of maintaining a government "having for its object the protection of life and property."
13 Last Letter, 115. ​
JOHN MINTO
A TRIBUTE BY ONE WHO LOVED HIM
John Minto should have been his own biographer. Listen- ing to his charming description of old times in Clatsop, as we strolled over the downs beside the sea one summer's day in 1910, I earnestly besought him to write the story of his life complete with circumstance. He stopped in his walk, as was his manner when he would talk seriously, and expressed his astonishment and pleasure, that the story of his life could be of interest to anybody outside the small circle of his most intimate friends.
Fortunately he had already written much for the "QUAR- TERLY" and for many Oregon publications. We have, in these reminiscent papers, precious fragments of his wonderful story, told in his own simple, masterly fashion. It is for the very excellence his own hand imparted to his work that any other narrator must hesitate to attempt what he would have done so much better.
This is not intended as a story of his life, nor as an epitome of it. Something, rather, of recent fellowship with him, and recollections of incidents in my acquaintance with him, which was, to my regret, very limited, compared to that of hundreds of his own and later generations.
If one talked for a time with Mr. Minto he was certain to hear some reference to Robert Burns, or to some line from Burns' poems. He would tell you, if you asked about his "education", that the best of it was from the reading and knowledge and love of Burns. His first acquaintance with his favorite author was the finding in a ditch, when walking to his work, of a "signature" from the Poems, when John Minto was a lad. He shortly got a complete copy. Few men know Burns as he knew him. Nor was he wrong in attributing to Burns the greater part of his education. ​
JOHN MINTO 331
In my first acquaintance with him about 1900 we were soon matching quotations from Burns. I spent a night, rather than an evening, with him at Salem, soon afterward, and well may I wish such another but vainly. It was two in the morn- ing when we said good night; and our talk and song for it was a responsive celebration, the listener of us twain being ready with another when the speaker or singer had finished was nearly all from Burns.
What would have been the trend of John Minto's "educa- tion" if he had found a few leaves of Pope or Dryden, or Mrs. Barbauld ? Certainly he had gathered not a little from Thomas Campbell. His reading in his youth and early manhood was very limited ; but the comparative leisure of his life in Oregon, after having comfortably established himself and family on the farm of Chehulpum, gave him the opportunity which he had hungered for, and little that was good or great escaped him. The newspapers too a few of the best he not only read, but seemed to re-edit. He missed nothing of real im- portance in the news of the day, and especially nothing what- ever that related to Oregon. Our fisheries, coal, lumber, ship- ping matters in which, with his many active concerns, we might think he could have had little interest, were all important subjects to him, as was everything that related to the industries or products or history of Oregon.
We were passing Knappa in a train one day, and I called his attention to that fine promontory where the old hotel stands. I thought it the most charming spot in the hundred miles from Portland to Astoria, and asked him if he had ever noticed it. As though he had forgotten the place for fifty years he looked out upon the hill and said: "Why, I sowed the first seed that ever was planted on that ground."
He loved "the Willamette" as few ever loved it above all the state he knew so well ; but next the Clatsop Plains. He had gone thither in the early winter of '44, the year of his arrival in Oregon, with Captain Morrison and his family, to help row the boat they voyaged in borrowed from Doctor ​
332 JOHN GILL
McLoughlin and to help in getting the Morrisons established in their new illahee. 1
They began their journey at Linnton, where Captain Mor- rison had first intended to settle. The promoter of that early metropolis, McCarver, had already boomed and "founded" an important city on the Mississippi, and subsequently selected the site of Tacoma as the metropolis of the Sound country and did much to make it what he believed it would be. And he was not far wrong about Linnton. It is today a suburb of the greatest city of the Columbia.
When the Morrisons arrived at the head of navigation on the Skippanon, the winter day was closing. Between the landing and Solomon Smith's log cabin, which was to be their home for the winter, was a half-mile of swamp, knee-deep in mud and water, choked with thickets and fallen trees. Through this the family staggered in the twilight, Mrs. Mor- rison carrying a baby in her arms, to the blessed bit of high land where the station we know as Columbia Beach is now. The swamp and the thickets and briers and crowding alders are still there. One sees enough of them from the window of the train to pity any of God's creatures that even now might have to grope his way from Morrison's to the Skippanon at nightfall.
The place was very dear to John Minto. He had come with Morrisons the previous summer across the plains, and Martha Morrison had become the apple of his eye. I warrant he often sang Burns' beautiful song: "Mary Morrison," but fondly saying "Martha" in lieu of Mary. He went down there in his canoe from his claim in the hills south of Salem, courting; and when he married Martha he took her by a better trail to the canoe at the landing on the Skippanon and paddled with her across the bay, up the sheltered channels of the Cathlamet illahee; up the broad Columbia, with several "camps" along the route ; and then on again up the Multnoma, as our Willamette then was called (and that should be the
i A Chinook jargon word meaning country or home. ​
JOHN MINTO 333
name of Portland), to the home at Chehulpum hill. Of their life there he has left a fine record in his contribution to the HISTORICAL QUARTERLY of 1908.
The "Plains" invited settlement very early, doubtless because of interest in the missions of the Methodists and Presbyterians, both located as adjoining neighbors at Morrison, the Metho- dist being first, in 1840. "Clatsop" was the largest area of habitable prairie west of the Willamette, and was highly at- tractive for many reasons. The plains since that time have been robbed of much of their original fertility, and despoiled by intruding sands of the sea which have stolen hundreds of acres that were originally thickly covered with excellent grass. The forest, too, has encroached upon tilth and pasture, and has changed the wide, open aspect of the plains greatly, even within the past ten years.
As we sauntered down the old plains road, or through the Gearhart woods, or along the clean, hard beach he recalled many interesting facts connected with the early settlement of that part of Oregon ; of the Clatsop Indians and their habits ; of the great "Clatsop booms," when in the early days of the gold-seekers everything produced on the plains became sud- denly three- or five- or ten-fold dearer than ever before. "More people lived on the plains in 1850 than now," he told me.
We were crossing the Wohana and stood a moment on the bridge looking northward, where the river flows wide and deep in a beautiful meadow, with trees that grow parklike, set by Nature's skillful hand. "There was a mill near this spot in 1845," he said. Having known the locality very intimately for a dozen years, I was incredulous.
"What was the business of the mill?"
"Why, it was a sawmill, of course."
"But no white people lived within miles of the Wohana then. What was the market for the lumber ?"
"They used the product of the mill in building the houses at Clatsop, Skippanon and Morrison."
"What ! Hauled lumber over these miles of sand ?" ​
334 JOHN GILL
"No, certainly not; it was rafted up the Neacoxie to the nearest point to where it was to be used."
"Come! You couldn't float lumber a mile up Neacoxie."
"But they did, I assure you."
So we went down along the east bank of Wohana, and a little above the mouth of the Tidegate or Mill creek (as I had some- times heard it called) we found two "snubbing posts," nearly rotted away, which were used to hold sawed lumber from the mill until the tide served to carry it down to the mouth of Neacoxie, when on the next flood it would be floated up that creek to its destination.
Still the matter seemed inexplicable to me. I have often been along the course of Neacoxie since our argument and seen abundant proof of the truth of my friend's story. That river formerly drained Cullaby lake into the bay at the mouth of Wohana and Necanicum, and its valley for miles was a deep, long hollow between the outer dune which faces the sea and the next inland from that. In the prosperous days of the early '50s the settlers pastured too many cattle on the rich grass which then reached almost to the high-tide mark all along the shore. They fed the pastures to the very roots, broke through sod on the outer ridge in many places, and the strong winds began to undermine and cut away the outer dunes. The flying sand was mostly checked by the Neacoxie, sank to the bottom of its bed and constantly raised it higher, filling the former narrow valley to a breadth of a hundred yards in some places, the stream pouring thinly over the sur- face and catching more sand as it widened. Several lakes now occupy the old river-bed, dammed west of Clatsop station by this accumulated sand evidently to a height of twenty feet above the level when it was a tidal river.
When I bought a tract at Wohana for a summer home Mr. Minto wished to buy an acre north of mine and build a cottage there; but the owner would not give a deed to the shore of Necanicum, and without that provision he would not buy. He later thought of buying a tract on the northern slope of Tilla​
JOHN MINTO 335
mook Head, where the first bench rises above the stream from which we drank as we followed the old trail of Lewis and Clark, a little before emerging upon the stony beach.
We lingered among those venerable wind-racked trees that stand so valiantly as outguards of the forest of Tillamook, and it was easy to imagine Captain Clark and his frontiers- men padding along the ancient Indian trail that winds among them, on their way to Elk Creek. These, many of them, were old trees in Clark's day, and we fancied the astonishment of the explorers in that grove of grotesque titans. The story of Lewis and Clark was intimately familiar to him, and he de- lighted to trace their expeditions from Fort Clatsop through the plains country.
It was impossible to encourage him in his scheme to pioneer anew as a hermit on the base of Tillamook Head; had he carried out his intention hundreds of us would have been in daily concern for his welfare ; but we of Klahanee were always hoping he would overlook his riparian privileges and come to dwell near us on the shore. He rowed a boat down to our place from Seaside in the summer of 1910, against incoming tide, and after a pleasant call launched his boat again, dis- daining help, pushing her off and scrambling aboard like a jolly Tyne waterman when she was sliding into deep water, then rowing back against the current to Seaside.
Lest I take too much of your space, let me relate some inci- dents of our last companionship, the dearest and most vivid of our acquaintance.
On the day of the assembly of the 28th session of Oregon's Legislature he was waiting for me in the lobby of the House when we adjourned at noon. We walked down town together for lunch, and then he accompanied me to my desk for the grand ceremonies of the afternoon. The sergeant-at-arms announced "His Excellency, the Governor of the State of Oregon," and the newly-elected and the retiring governors ascended to the speaker's dais, followed by Governor Geer and Governor Moody, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the President of the Senate and the state officials. ​
336 JOHN GILL
Mr. Minto whispered that he would like to speak with Judge McBride as he passed from the House, so I stood beside him at the side of the aisle as the dignitaries came slowly down from the platform. As Governor Withycombe approached he took Mr. Minto by the hand and greeted him most cordially as "Uncle John," and told him how much he felt honored by his presence there. Governor West put his arm affectionately around the old man's neck and said: "I would have missed you more than anybody, Uncle John!" Governor Geer, Gov- ernor Moody, the Judges everybody paused to say a cordial greeting, and it was almost like a formal reception in honor of John Minto.
Half of those forty days he was there, waiting for me to go to lunch with him, and as we walked slowly down through the park or on the street, young men and old, his neighbors, greeted him with a respect and affection beautiful to see.
One night we went to Mr. McGilchrist's to celebrate Burns' anniversary. I had gone to Salem several times before as Mr. Minto's guest for this event. It was a jolly, hearty gath- ering. Eaton, Thorns and I were there from the House. The guest of honor, of course, was John Minto, the father of the Salem Burns Society. He read to us (but mostly from mem- ory) the "Letter to a Young Friend," "A Man's a Man for A' That," sang "The Lasses O," and by his happy comments upon the poet and his songs, so dear to every Caledonian and the world, made that evening (which we little thought to be our last with him) memorable to us all.
Consider, ye who knew him best, what he had been to Ore- gon for nearly seventy years, and recall if you can a man among all our great forebears so retiring, modest, unpretend- ing as he!
One afternoon he sat at my desk while the House was dron- ing away in dull routine, and I was not sorry that he fell asleep. Occasionally I glanced at him, and began to be alarmed when I observed that his chin had fallen upon his breast and his breathing ceased. I shook him by the shoulder, spoke in his ​
JOHN MINTO 337
ear and tried in vain to rouse him. The speaker saw that something serious had happened to Mr. Minto, and adjourned the House immediately. We wheeled him rapidly to an open window, opened his cravat and collar, called in a doctor from the Senate our own two of the House being absent and in a few minutes there was a sign of returning consciousness. He looked about him quietly a moment and then said: "Am I the cause of this disturbance, gentlemen?" A little later: "If this were passing, surely no man need dread it !"
Allen Eaton and I took him home, and when we arrived there attempted to assist him up the steps of Douglas Minto's house; but not he! "Let me alone, I can get on all right by myself!" And he went sturdily up the steps and bowed his thanks to us courteously from the landing.
Though we might have foreseen that his davs were num- bered, the news of his death, a few days after the adjourn- ment, was a shock to the whole commonwealth. A throng filled the spacious hall where the last words were said over him, a touching tribute to his memory being offered by his devoted friend, Judge D'Arcy. Death left upon his counte- nance an ineffable dignity and beauty. He was buried in the old pioneer cemetery beneath the oaks he loved and the tall laurel trees, still green, though it was February.
I walked alone in the sunset up the beautiful path through the park to the Statehouse ; fed the leaping trout in the foun- tain, as we two had often fed them; went into the silent halls where every step resounded, sat a moment in the chair he commonly occupied when he came thither, and thanked God as I walked back alone amid the darkening shadows of the trees, through which the winter stars were shining, that it had been my unspeakable privilege to be the friend of John Minto.
JOHN GILL. ​
INDIAN WORDS IN OUR LANGUAGE
By J. NEILSON BARRY.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck would chuck wood? might suggest the question as to what other variety of "chuck" there may be besides the little animal which has gotten itself into the calendar on account of its supposed curiosity in regard to its shadow. The Indian word o-t-c-h-i-g or w-e-j-a-c-k altered to woodchuck is an example of the many Indian words which have become incorporated into our language, and it is of interest to note how many things peculiar to America have retained their Indian names and also how many such words have also developed a significance altogether different from the original.
The Indian word w-e-j-a-c-k appears to have designated the fisher, or Pennants marten, the largest of the weasel family, but is now popularly applied to the moosack or ground hog, which latter term has so often furnished the punster with an alternate for sausage.
Chipmunk, the striped ground squirrel, is from the Indian word atchitamon, meaning head foremost, originally applied to the red squirrel on account of its manner of descending a tree so differently from a man or a bear.
Other animals, however, have retained their original names, the moose, or wood-eater, from its habit of gnawing the bark of trees; wapiti, the white rump; caribou, that paws the snow; skunk, coyote, quickhatch or wolverine, meaning hard to hit by the Indian archer, and cougar, which on account of its wide distribution is also designated in various localities as mountain lion, California lion, catamount or cat-of-the-moun- tains, panther, called by negroes in the south "de painter" and also puma in South America, from which country also we have obtained such Indian words as alpaca, llama, tapir, jaguar, chinchillar and peccary. ​
INDIAN WORDS IN OUR LANGUAGE 339
The scratches on a "coon tree" originated the Indian name arakun or racoon, while in the far west cayuse, the tribal name for the Indians around Walla Walla, Wash., is now applied to the Indian pony, elsewhere known by the Spanish word mustang.
Over half of our states have Indian names, Mississippi, the great river; Missouri, the muddy river; Wisconsin, the rapid river; Connecticut (Quinni-tukq-ut), the long tidal river; Min- nesota, the whitish river; Kansas, the smoky river. While the same word designating an Indian tribe has become Arkansas by the addition of the French word for bow, the pronun- ciation being obscured by the French spelling as in the case of Spokane and Willamette. Nebraska means shallow water, and Ohio the beautiful river. The same word in Japan signifies good morning, and the story is told of a traveler in the land of the Mikado, supposing that the salutation was an inquiry as to his residence, replied, "No, I come from Kentucky," which also is an Indian word of uncertain meaning, although popu- larly supposed to signify the dark and bloody ground. The meanings of Tennessee and of Oregon are unknown.
Alaska, the mainland, has the same meaning as Maine ; while Massachusetts was named from the blue hills of Milton. The derivation of Idaho from its snow-clad peaks is disputed. Wyo- ming is an Indian word for prairie. Michigan, which an Englishman once pronounced "my chicken," means fish weir, similar to Wallowa in Oregon. New Mexico retains an Aztec word which referred to a deity, and from those same people we have Arizona, the small springs, where silver was found in early days, and also Texas, which has the same significance, friends or allies, as Dakota. The captain of a Mississippi steamer is said to have given the names of states to the sleep- ing apartments on his boat from which the term state-room originated, and being loyal to his native state, named his own room by the pilot house Texas, which originated the expres- sion "Texas deck" and so became applicable to the sharp- edged surface of the cayuse on which so many of the early pioneers migrated to the Oregon country. ​
340 J. NEILSON BARRY
Alabama is an unusually pleasing Indian word and means thicket clearings in allusion to the agricultural efforts of the aborigines. The name of Indian tribes have been preserved in Utah ; Oklahoma, red people ; Iowa, sleepy ones, and Illinois, men, the two latter having French spelling. And lastly while Indiana is not of Indian origin, it refers to that race.
Other Indian place names have given rise to a class of words in our language which have entirely changed their original meaning. Hobo applied by early New Yorkers to the poorer whites who settled across the Hudson at Hoboken, the pipe country, where the Indians had obtained clay for their pipes, and in a similar way Tuckahoe, a vegetable substance eaten by Indians became an epithet for the poor whites of southern Virginia. Wabash, gleaming white, was applied to the river which flowed over limestone beds and became a synonym for cheat on account of alleged delinquencies of some of the first white settlers.
When the mineral springs known to the Indians as Saratoga became a fashionable resort, that name was applied to the potato chips which were first popular there, and also to the huge trunks in which the belles of that day transported their hoop skirts. In a similar way a fashionable coat was named from Tuxedo, wolf, in New Jersey, while Rockaway, sandy loam, in the same state became the name for a carriage. Conestoga in Pennsylvania, named from an Indian tribe, gave its name to the huge wagons used before the advent of rail- roads and also to the draft horses which drew the conestoga wagons, while a shortened form, stogie, is the name for a kind of cigar. Podunk, a neck or corner of land, has become familiar through its use by burlesque writers.
It is natural that the white men should have retained the Indian names of things peculiar to this country, such as ter- rapin, made famous by Uncle Remus ; mahogany, chinkapin, a small chestnut greatly prized by children in the south ; pecan, a nut of wider popularity; catalpha and pohickory, or hickory, which became the nickname for one of our presidents. Per​
INDIAN WORDS IN OUR LANGUAGE 341
simmon is another tree the bright rosy fruit of which has a most unpleasantly astringent effect upon the mouths of the unsophisticated who have been induced to try to eat one. Sequoia or redwood, and tamarack or hackmatack, are well known in the west, as well as the mesquit of the plains.
Everyone is familiar with potato, tomato, cocoa, chocolate, tapioca, gauva and ocrea. The delicious grapes, catawba and scuppernong preserve Indian names which were never so as- sociated by the red men. Tolu gum is popular with many, and camas is well known in the west. When a little boy asks the riddle : If you toss up a pumpkin what comes down ? he probably has no idea that squash is an Indian word.
Indian corn is now seldom called maize, but hominy is in common usage and pone, a cake of corn bread, is also used in the south, while succotash is everywhere used for stewed corn and lima beans. Samp, supawn, or Indian pudding, and sag- amite or sagimity are becoming obsolete. Johnie cake is a corruption of journey cake, formerly made by travelers in the woods who spread corn meal dough on a piece of wood and cooked it before the campfire, a custom probably learned from the Indians.
Indian words are often unpronunciable and the early set- tlers evidently decided that Indian sugar with any other name would taste as sweet so they called it maple sugar, unscrup- ulous manufacturers also called various substances "maple sugar" prior to the passage of the pure food law. The sounds emitted by the red men are not always capable of reproduction by white men, consequently some Indian usages were adopted without the names. It may be well enough to call a spade a spade, but the rules does not apply when an Indian has named a thing, this was probably the case with the snow shoe, the white men adopted the idea but they preferred an English ap- pellation; the same appears to have been the case with clam- bake, and the Indian game la crosse with its French name. Blazing a trail and girding trees to clear land also originated with the Indians. Indian file refers to a custom of the Indians ​
342 J. NEILSON BARRY
as well as burying the hatchet and the peace pipe, which also has a French name, calumet. The Indians wore a feather to commemorate an exploit which gave rise to our expression "a feather in his cap."
Probably few persons realize that our familiar Indian cent really represents the Goddess of Liberty, the designer having portrayed his little daughter Laura Keen with a Sioux head- dress instead of the traditional French liberty cap.
Tobacco is an Indian word as well as segar or cigar, as the French spell it, cigarette being also a French form. Nicotine is from a French name, Jean Nicot.
Tomahawk, totem pole, moccasin, wampum and hammock are familiar words, as also toboggan. A young lady after her first coast exclaimed that she would not have missed the thrill for a hundred dollars, but when urged to repeat the experience replied, "not for a thousand dollars."
From the Indians we get such words as canoe, pirogue, a dug out, kiak, the skin canoe of Alaska, as well as tepee, wig- wam, hogan, toopic and wickiup, the names for various houses among the Indians. Papoose, squaw and potlatch are familiar words, as well as such names for chiefs as sachem, sagamore, werowance, tyee and mugwump, which latter term has gotten into politics as has also the name of the Indian chief Tammany. Somehow Indian matters seem to end up in politics so it is fitting to close with caucus, originally an Indian council and another of similar significance pow-wow. ​
EARLY FARMING IN UMATILLA COUNTY*
By C. A. BARRETT.
Asked to prepare a paper on the early growing of grain in Umatilla County, the writer is aware of the difficulties con- nected therewith, as it seems the fact is evident that grain and corn, in a small way, were grown by the early settlers some years before anyone even thought of this section as a grain- growing community, therefore the question of who raised the first grain in Umatilla County will always be an open question.
I have confined myself in this paper to the period when actual settlement was made and the information contained herein has been secured from living witnesses, for the period prior to my own personal observations, which commenced with November, 1872.
PINE CREEK EARLY RENDEZVOUS.
I will confine myself to the period subsequent to 1863, although it appears that prior to this some grain had been grown for feed purposes.
In 1863 a man by the name of Dodge lived on Pine Creek, just below where the O.-W. R. & N. trestle now is. This point at the time was the stage station between Walla Walla and Cayuse, at the foot of Meacham Hill. This station was the rendezvous and principal camping ground for packers and freighters, water, grass and feed being available.
In 1863, after Dodge had laid in a supply of feed for the station, some packers in a spirit of hilarity caused the barn and feed to be burned, in settlement for which the packers paid Dodge $1500. In 1864 Dodge sold out to Taylor Green and the place has been known to all old-timers as the "Taylor Green" place ever since.
Society.
Paper read before the annual meeting of the Umatilla County Historical ​
344 C. A. BARRETT
Beginning with these dates I have traced the development of grain-growing with facts secured from living witnesses.
In the fall of 1862 one Tom Lieuallen settled at the point where Weston now stands, followed by the settlement at that place in 1863 by Andrew Kilgore, who, from my research, leads me to believe that to him was due the honor of raising the first grain for a livelihood and from a money standpoint. At the time Mr. Kilgore settled at Weston he bought a claim from Robert Warren (who later settled near Adams), trading him a yoke of oxen for his cabin and garden patch, which was situated at the spring near where the dwelling of G. W. Proeb- stel now stands.
STAGE ROUTE RECALLED.
Prior to 1865 the stage route between Walla Walla and Cayuse station had been along the old Dalles trail, crossing Dry Creek at the same point, the road now below Weston, by the Richards crossing of Wildhorse Creek (now Athena) to Cayuse station.
In the fall of 1865 the settlers at Weston, Lieuallen and Kilgore, decided to have the road changed and William Kil- gore, now living at Athena, plowed the furrow marking the road from where Milton is now located, by Blue Mountain station and Weston, ending on Wildhorse Creek at the John Harris place. This placed the stage route through Weston and from this time on farming slowly developed in the Weston country.
In 1864 Andrew Kilgore planted and harvested a small crop of wheat at the point where Weston now stands. This grain was cut by hand with a cradle, and threshed by being tramped out with horses, cleaned with a fanning mill, taken to Walla Walla and ground into flour at the Isaacs mill, then located at Walla Walla.
In 1868 several of the settlers in the vicinity of Weston and living on Wildhorse above the present town of Athena raised small fields of grain. That year the first threshing was done ​
EARLY FARMING IN UMATILLA COUNTY 345
with a small horsepower, hand feed machine by William Court- ney. He threshed grain for Andrew Kilgore, Henry Hales, James Lieuallen, Taylor Green, Thomas Linville, D. A. Rich- ards and probably a few others. Some of this grain was cut by hand with a cradle, some cut with a mower and rake and some cut with a hand rake reaper.
THRESHING MACHINE APPEARS.
In 1871 a man by the name of Snyder, living at Wildhorse Grove, just above Athena, bought the Courtney threshing machine and ran it in the Weston country. In 1872 William Kilgore and Tom Fuson bought and operated a small horse- power hand-feed thresher. Prior to this date several small farms had been opened up in the foothills around Weston. In 1871-2 the first header operated by parties living in this vicinity was owned by J. W. Stamper, who had settled just north of the present town of Athena.
In the period between 1863-1870 the settlers were few and these few paid more attention to stock interests than grain, but it is a fact that Kilgore, Green, Lieuallen, Hales, Barrett, Linville, Royse and possibly a few others did grow and thresh grain during these years.
In 1865 Lafe Warmoth had 20 acres of sod broken on land adjoining the City of Weston and planted to corn. Warmoth gave Taylor Green a pack mule to plow the 20 acres of sod and the planting of the corn was done by using an ax to cut the sod, dropping the corn by hand and covering same by the heel of the boot. Yet with this crude way of planting I am informed this field of corn made a satisfactory crop.
Many of the early settlers raised excellent fields of corn and demonstrated many years ago that corn would grow in this country.
In 1877 David Taylor raised corn, T. J. Kirk in 1878 and the writer in 1882 planted and harvested a good crop of corn on 35 acres of ground two and one-half miles northeast of Weston. ​
346 C. A. BARRETT
In the spring of 1870, J. C. Mays, father of Mrs. C. A. Barrett, of Athena, and W. B. Mays, of Pendleton, plowed and sowed 40 acres of wheat on his place at Weston, which place is now owned by J. M. Banister.
This grain was cut by hand with cradles and threshed with flails. Two of the men who helped cradle this grain are still living in this county, Henry Pinkerton, of Athena, and J. R. Brown, of near Pendleton. The grain was mostly used for flour and seed in the Weston vicinity. In 1871 Henry Pinker- ton had a small acreage of wheat, and William Nichols, of Milton, brought a header into the neighborhood and cut and stacked wheat, the grain afterwards being threshed by horse- power and hand-feed machines.
In 1866 my uncle, Charles Barrett, settled on Dry Creek, two and one-half miles northeast of Weston, and engaged in the stock business. He commenced raising wheat and oats shortly after this, the grain being cut for hay. About 1872-3, he cut and threshed quite an amount of oats and in February, 1873, the writer plowed 50 acres of ground for him, which was that spring seeded to oats, cut in the fall with a self-rake reaper and threshed, after being stacked. He also grew grain hay on the creek bottom for a distance of three-quarters of a mile up and down Little Dry Creek some years before this.
STOCK-RAISING CHIEF INDUSRTY.
Although stock-raising was still the principal industry, about this time the settlers near Weston and on the mountainside above Weston had commenced to plow up the sod and raise grain. The winter of 1874-75 an 18-inch snow fell, which stayed on the ground for six weeks and feed was scarce. At this date the writer was working for J. F. Adams on his stock ranch on Wildhorse, near where Adams is now situated. Mr. Adams being short of hay and not being able to buy sufficient hay, he bought up all the grain to be found in the Weston country, which consisted of two lots of wheat. One lot was ​
EARLY FARMING IN UMATILLA COUNTY 347
secured from Mr. Mays and the other from a Mr. Rinehart, who had opened up a farm about three miles east of Weston, well up the mountainside.
This grain was hauled by the writer on bob-sleds with a six-horse team, and fed to sheep at one of the Adams sheep ranches located near where the town of Felix now stands.
Thus it appears that all the available surplus wheat to be had in the winter of 1874-75 was fed out to one band of sheep. It was the custom to scatter the grain on the tramped snow and let the sheep eat it from the ground, afterwards to make trails to the hills and herd them and let them paw the snow from the large bunchgrass and feed on the grass.
IRRIGATION BEGUN IN 1869.
About 1869-70 one T. Dickenson commenced raising grain by irrigation at the junction of Dry and Pine Creeks, in the Hudson's Bay country. In the Fall of 1873 the writer hauled threshed oats for feed from the Dickenson ranch, and also wheat, and had the same ground into flour at the Miller mill at Milton, for use on the Adams ranch. This mill was built in 1872 by John Miller and is still operated by his three sons, Henry, John and William.
In the spring of 1884 the writer hauled a load of wheat from Weston, grown by Mr. Hartman (the father of Mrs. Lina Sturgis and the late Judge Hartman) and had the same ground into flour at the Indian mill on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, just below Cayuse station.
From the completion of the Dr. Baker narrow-gauge rail- road to Blue Mountain station, in 1879, the development of grain growing in the Weston- Athena territory was more rapid. Among the early settlers then growing grain were H. Mc- Arthur, R. Jamieson, T. J. Kirk, Robert Coppeck, P. Ely, William Pinkerton, Joe Lieuallen, Richard Ginn, Tom Price, O'Harra, Downing, Gibbons, Winn and others. These people had engaged in the growing of grain in a small way prior to ​
348 C. A. BARRETT
any railroad transportation in this country, when the nearest point was to haul the grain to Wallula and Umatilla landings, on the Columbia River.
HEADER BROUGHT INTO USE.
In 1878, the year of the Indian War, the section about Wes- ton had become mostly devoted to grain. The writer worked with the Edwards and Pinkerton threshing machine that har- vest, the outfit being a header and old-style hand- feed thresher. The grain was all measured in a half-bushel measure, placed in seamless sacks and hauled to a granary.
Up to this time but little headway had been made in opening up the bunchgrass country west of Athena, but settlement was being rapidly made in this territory. There had been some grain hay grown on Wildhorse Creek by stockmen, but the only threshing that had been done prior to 1878 that I am able to learn was by David Taylor, who raised a crop of oats on the creek bottom of what is known as the Jackson Nelson place, about one mile below Athena.
From 1874-78 there had been considerable settlement west of Athena and about 1877 David Taylor plowed about 40 acres of sod on his claim, three miles west of Athena, and planted it to corn by sewing the corn broadcast and harrowing the seed in. In the Spring of 1878 James Scott seeded this ground to wheat, which was cut and threshed that Fall, the cutting being done with a Buckeye wire binder, that is, wire was used to bind the bundles, instead of ties.
SQUIRRELS EARLY DESTROYERS.
From this time on the development of the main wheat belt of Umatilla County steadily, but slowly, advanced. For many years the squirrels were bad and it was nothing uncommon for the settler to go to the mountains after wood or posts and on returning the next day to find his small patch of grain all cut down by the squirrels. ​
EARLY FARMING IN UMATILLA COUNTY 349
One of the first men to engage extensively in grain growing west of Athena was Moses Woodward. Others were the Stones, Gerkings, Walker, Scotts, Keen, Grass, Johnson, Russell, Will- oby, Howell and Wilson.
In the territory west of Adams, the first farmers to con- struct a board cabin and break sod were James Damford and William Judkins, about 1874.
The first person to grow potatoes on the bunchgrass hill land west of Adams was Bob Warren, who, in 1860, had sold out at Weston to Andrew Kilgore. These potatoes were raised on what is now the Ralston farm, in 1874 or 1875. Some of the early grain growers west of Adams were the Reeders, Hales, MacKenzie*, Morrison and Howells. Americus Hale and William Reeder were two of the earliest bonanza farmers of the county, being located northwest of Adams.
Not until the completion of the railroad between Pendleton and Blue Mountain station, in 1884, and of the Hunt road from Wallula to Athena and Pendleton, about the year 1887, did the main wheat belt become fully developed. ​
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER
By JAMES O'MEARA.*
Biographical sketches of the adventurous and intrepid spirits who explored the vast wilderness and broad deserts which now constitute the States and Territories of the Pacific, and the whole region westward of the Missouri River, are befit- ting subjects for presentation to the people who inhabit this vast domain, and who therefore feel a deeper interest in its history ; and, in time these biographies will constitute one of the most interesting, and not the least important, of the various departments of the standard literature of the Republic; sim- ilarly as the lives of De Leon, of De Soto, of Champlain, of John Smith, and Roger Williams, and of Daniel Boone, and other early explorers and adventurers are regarded in con- nection with the discovery, origin, and settlement of the several divisions of the country lying eastward of the Missouri.
And in contrast with the myths and fables, the fiction and romance, and the obscured, confused and uncertain accounts and histories of the origin and foundation of the nations of the Old World, these clear-cut, authentic and entirely trust- worthy records of the New World are singularly fascinating, instructive and wholesome.
The world has been made conversant with the grand ex- ploration of Lewis and Clark to the Pacific shore of Oregon, and their tracing of the mighty Columbia and its chief trib- utaries the Clearwater and Snake rivers ; and the similar ad- ventures of Bonneville are perpetuated in the charming nar- rative of Irving. 1
on both sides were natives of Ireland and communicants of the Roman Catholic Church. When six years old he was sent to a parish school, where he continued as a student until ten years of age, and during the last two years of his school life he was a newsboy. Then he became an apprentice in a newspaper office, first as an errand boy and then a type setter. At the age of sixteen, he was employed as a reporter, and took a deep interest in the political discussions of that time, being a protege of Fernando Wood, who achieved a national reputation as a speaker, writer and shrewd politician between 1840 and 1860. In 1849 he sought a new field of endeavor by going to California and was connected with newspapers there until 1857, when he removed to Port- land and found employment as the editor of the Democratic Standard, a paper that was established in 1855 by Northrop & Rees, with Alonzo Leland as editor. In 1858 he ran for State Printer on the National Democratic ticket, but was defeated by Asahel Bush, the nominee of the regular Democratic ticket. In October, 1859, in company with a man named Freanor, as a partner, he bought the Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, and edited it until May, 1861. During this period the paper was violently pro-slavery in its sentiments, and was compelled to ​
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 351
But there are other explorers and pioneers of this vast western empire yet to be honored by tributes of enduring form, in manner commensurate with their exploits and their merits; and these contributions may most appropriately come from among the people whose fortunes have been happly di- rected hitherward more or less directly through the adventure and toil, the sagacity and self-sacrifice of these noble and in- trepid pioneers who first tracked the waste of wilderness and desert, and supplied to their countrymen the knowledge of the magnificent domain which is now peopled by the most enterpris- ing of their race, and has before it the promise of that still greater development which is so certain in the course of time to be fulfilled in its ultimate grandeur and glory ; when the many States of the Pacific shall be densely populated, and shall out- rank all others of the Union in the leading elements of pros- perity and wealth; and when San Francisco shall become the unrivaled possessor of the rich and enormous traffic of the Indies and China, together with that of the great island continent and the many islands of the broad Pacific.
In this spirit of the performance of this grateful duty, within the measure of the ability of the writer, this sketch of one conspicuous in his lifetime among these early explorers and pioneers is presented.
suspend for want of patronage. On August i4th, following, Mr. O'Meara, asso- ciated with a man named Pomeroy, issued the Southern Oregon Gazette. This paper was so denunciatory of the government that it was denied the privilege of the United States mails, and hence was compelled to suspend in a few months. After that Mr. O'Meara's' editorial services were confined for nearly two years to the Review at Eugene and the State's Rights Democrat at Albany, during which time he kept his remarks within due bounds.
The mining excitement in Idaho Territory in 1862-63 drew him to that section some time in the latter year, and he found employment as the editor of the Idaho World. During this time he was an important factor in the political affairs of that territory, and met a good many acquaintances of the early fifties in California.
About 1869 he returned to California and renewed his acquaintance with Ben Holladay who by this time was engaged in railroad operations in Oregon. In his characteristic manner he impressed Mr. Holladay with the need of an organ in Portland to advance his interests, notably in connection with political operations. This resulted in the establishment of the Oregon Bulletin, issued July 18, 1870, as an ostensibly Republican paper, and an ardent supporter of the political fortunes of John H. Mitchell.
After severing his connection with the Bulletin in 1875 Mr. O'Meara edited the Evening Journal in Portland for a few months, and then went to California. In 1887 he returned to Portland once more and edited the Daily News nearly two years. Then he returned to California, where he spent the remainder of his life preparing historical articles for the San Francisco Examiner and Argonaut and the Californian, an illustrated monthly which appeared for the first time in Decem- ber, 1891. He died January 23, 1903.
He was married in Salem, Oregon, to Miss Fanny Davidson, a pioneer of 1847, on September 5, 1860, who bore him two children, a son and a daughter, and the latter was a teacher in the public schools of Santa Rosa for many years. ​
352 JAMES O'MEARA
Joseph R. Walker, the discoverer of "Walker's Pass" through the Sierra Nevada chain, leading from the great basin into Tulare valley, was born in Knox County, near Knoxville, Tennessee, in the closing year of the last century.
His father had emigrated only the year before from Rock- bridge County, Virginia, and his new home in Tennessee was at that time barely an outpost of civilization, with an old block house, or fort, for the protection of the few settlers from the Indians.
At the age of nineteen years, Jo Walker, as he was com- monly called, moved with the family to Fort Osage, Jackson County, Missouri.
His father had died, and his brother, Joel Walker, two years his senior who died in Santa Rosa township, Sonoma County, about two years ago and himself were the main support of his widowed mother and sisters.
In 1821 he made his first steamboat trip on the "Expedi- tion," the first vessel of the kind that ever ascended the Mis- souri so far up as Council Bluffs; and the event was so im- pressed and retained in his memory, that he could narrate the details of it down to the close of his life.
One circumstance of the trip was the unskilled manner of loading the boat, by which she was made to draw only two feet of water forward, while aft she drew six feet.
But this great difference in the draft enabled them to make landings at low banks and shores with better facility than had she been on "even keel," as the boatman's phrase is.
Rafts and broadhorns were then the ordinary means of river navigation on the "Big Muddy" and the novelty of a steam- boat trip, in connection with the wonderfully increased speed of from six to eight miles per hour the best time for the crack steamboats of those waters in that early period of steam navi- gation had allured young Walker to the treat.
He had early developed a fondness for adventure and moun- tain life, and his home in the sparsely settled regions of his ​
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 353
nativity, and in the still wilder Missouri new territory, had enabled him to cultivate the chief requirements for that kind of life.
In his twenty-third year he joined a hunting and trapping expedition to the plains, with the intention of extending the perilous journey all the way to the Pacific coast, as the ac- counts of the explorations of Lewis and Clark each of whom had settled in Missouri after their famous trip across the continent to the Columbia River and the Pacific shore of Oregon, and subsequently became Governor of the Territory by presidential appointment had excited many to engage in similar expeditions.
The route proposed by the party led through New Mexico, at that time a province of Mexico, secured to the new republic by the treaty of Aquala, by which Spain had relinquished her dominions in that part of the New World to her former sub- jects ; and the Governor of the province was ill disposed toward Americans, either as adventurers or emigrants.
He consequently forbade the expedition from encroaching on his domain, and as his orders were supplemented by an ample military force, the unwilling expeditionists had no other alter- native than to submit, and the return to Missouri was con- sequently agreed upon, after a brief imprisonment of the whole party.
At that early period, however, the sagacity and enterprise of some who were engaged in trade in Missouri led them to attempt the opening of a route that should enable them to possess the rich traffic of the Mexican border ; and as Santa Fe had already become the chief trading post for that extensive region, that was made the objective point toward the accom- plishment of the scheme.
The aid of Congress was petitioned and in 1824 an appro- priation was voted by that body to survey a route from the Missouri border to that chief Mexican trading rendezvous, the route to be marked by the throwing up of small earth-mounds at suitable distances. ​
354 JAMES O'MEARA
Because of his superior qualifications for the service, Jo Walker was engaged as guide to the survey; and although the project was, in direct sense, a failure, it served, never- theless, as the "breaking of the crust," as Walker himself characterized it, for the subsequent use and benefit of the caravans or trains which annually conveyed the merchandise and established the lucrative traffic that so long made synony- mous the term of "Santa Fe trader" and the acquisition of large fortune, and secured to Missouri the immense profits and great advantages of that golden gateway to the wild territory of the distant West, in which was bred and inspired so much of that spirit of adventure and enterprise which has ever since directed its fearless energies to the exploration and settlement of the vast region on this side of the continent, then almost an unknown wilderness and waste, so far as the white race was concerned.
So well had Walker acquitted himself in the survey em- ployment, that on his return to his home he was elected sheriff of Jackson County, and in that capacity he developed his foresight as a true pioneer by his selection of a site for the county seat.
He named it Independence, characteristic alike of his ster- ling patriotism and his own free nature, and by that name the town is still known.
It was long famous as the point of departure for trains and emigration bound for New Mexico, Utah, California, and Oregon, as well as for its having been the chief trading and military post of the far western frontier.
His first term of two years having expired, Walker was honored by a re-election, and again creditably served the dura- tion of the term. Upon retiring from office, Walker returned to his more congenial mode of life, and in the pursuit of his love of adventure, joined also the occupation of trader in live stock.
He made long journeys from Independence into Arkansas and contiguous territory, and Fort Gibson was one of his points of traffic. ​
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 355
At Fort Osage in Missouri, early in 1832, while on one of these trips, he fell in with Captain B. L. E. Bonneville of the Seventh Regiment Infantry, U. S. A., then under leave of absence from Alexander McComb, Major General, command- ing the army, to enable him to explore the country to the Rocky Mountains and beyond, and whose remarkable adven- tures, while on that exploration, the genius of Washington Irving has so felicitously recorded in his enchanting works.
The casual meeting led to the enlistment of Walker as "sub- leader" or lieutenant in Bonneville's expedition, and he is thus sketched by Irving: "J. R. Walker was a native of Ten- nessee, about six feet high, strong built, dark complexioned, brave in spirit, though wild in manners.
He had been for many years in Missouri on the frontier; had been among the earliest adventurers to Santa Fe, where he had gone to track beaver, and was taken by the Spaniards.
Being liberated, he engaged with the Spaniards and Sioux Indians in a war against the Pawnees; then returned to Mis- souri and had acted by turns as sheriff, trader, trapper, until he was enlisted as a leader by Captain Bonneville."
At the same time was enlisted M. S. Cerre, an experienced Indian trader, and who had also been upon an expedition to Santa Fe. He, too, was engaged as a fellow-leader with Walker.
Bonneville's party left Ft. Osage May 1st, 1832, one hun- dred and ten men strong, the greater portion of whom were skilled hunters and trappers, inured to mountain life, and experienced in fighting Indians.
Captain Bonneville departed from the accustomed mode of using only animals for pack-trains, and outfitted also with wagons.
The American Fur Company and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company were at that time the competitors and rivals in the valuable traffic in furs and peltry through the wild regions of the West, and with the employes of these companies Walker and Cerre were well acquainted, as the two were likewise ​
356 JAMES O'MEARA
with the wilderness, in which they mainly pursued their excit- ing, hardy and oftentimes perilous vocation.
During the following October the Bonneville expedition reached the country of the warlike Blackfeet Indians, and from there Walker, with a band of twenty hunters, was dis- patched to range the region beyond the Horse Prairie.
At one of their camping places, while quietly enjoying their rest after a day of hard travel, and a hearty supper of the game they had killed, some sitting about the camp-fire, re- counting their adventures, others giving attention to their rifles and accoutrements, and Walker and a few more beguil- ing the hours at a game of "old sledge," they were suddenly surprised by the war whoop of a party of Indians, and had barely time to prepare for the instant onset of the savages, who shot into the camp a shower of arrows and had already seized upon the horses and pack mules to run them off.
Quick work with their handy rifles and the determined courage of the surprised band, in a little while turned the attack into a flight and the Indians were at last glad enough to make their escape from the deadly encounter without the animals they so much coveted.
Walker's coolness and intrepidity in the sudden hot dash, and his sagacity in directing the hurried plan of defense into mastery of the situation saved himself and his comrades from slaughter, and enabled them to get away from the scene in good condition, without serious wound or loss; but he was afterward more prone to adopt the very safest course from any repetition of the hazardous incident and he evermore hated "old sledge."
By his consummate skill in leadership and his equanimity and daring in moments of greatest difficulty and danger, as well as by his uncommon aptitude in mountain life and woodcraft, Walker became the most trusted and favorite among all in the expedition in the estimation of his chief; and hence, when the party reached the confines of what is now Utah Territory, to him Captain Bonneville committed the charge of the sub​
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 357
division to find and explore the Great Salt Lake, of which Bonneville had heard, and was most anxious to gain accurate information from a trustworthy source.
More than a year had now elapsed since the expedition had left Fort Osage, and Bonneville had resolved to continue his explorations to the Columbia and trace that mighty river of the northwest to its mouth and discharge intp the vast Pacific.
"This momentous undertaking," as Captain Bonneville him- self termed the exploration of the route and the survey of the Great Salt Lake, now entrusted to Walker, resulted dis- astrously, through circumstances against which it was im- possible for him to successfully contend.
With his forty men, he had left the main body at Green River valley late in July, and pushed westward toward their alloted destination, to be met and joined by Bonneville the ensuing spring or summer.
It was an unexplored country through which they were to force their way and meantime they were to trap for furs and hunt for their own subsistence.
Along Bear River and on the headwaters of the Cassie they hunted and trapped, gathered furs and laid in a store of buffalo meat and venison.
Away southward they could see, from their greater altitude, the shining surface of the Great Salt Lake they were to reach and report upon. But they could not find or trace any stream which led to it or was tributary.
Beyond and surrounding it were deserts and utter sterility. Any who have in these times traveled overland by railroad or otherwise through the Weber canyon, and become acquainted with the impracticability of surmounting the Wahsatch range, or suffered the fatigues of the desert which stretches from the Sierra Nevada mountains to that range, will readily under- stand why Walker's party, in that primitive period of the exploration of that inhospitable, barren, and then unknown region, were unable to accomplish their desperate and perilous mission. ​
358 JAMES O'MEARA
They were beset by hostile Indians nearly every day; and while upon the desert, they endured sufferings which can be adequately imagined only by the emigrants and others who have since similarly suffered frequent attacks by hostile In- dians, hunger, thirst, and the difficulty of subsisting their animals or themselves.
They were compelled at last to abandon the mission on which they were bent, to save themselves from perishing on the desert, and to strike for the mountain ridges to the north- ward.
They reached Mary's River, and there the Shoshones troubled them, pilfering their traps and game by day, and endangering their camps as they slept.
The killing of one of these thieving Indians caused such hostile conduct on the part of his tribe that the party were forced to leave that region and push their way across the mountains into California.
The Great Salt Lake expedition was a woeful failure ; but on that terrible journey into California Walker traced the Humboldt to the sink of the river, discovered Carson Lake, and also the lake and river which still bear his name, viewed Mono Lake from a distance, and crossed the Sierra chain not far from the headwaters of the Merced into the valley of the San Joaquin.
On the night of the extraordinary spectacle in the heavens of the "shooting stars," November 12, 1833, Walker and his party camped on the banks of the Toulumne River, and he was roused from his sleep in the dark of the early morning, by the comrade who shared his blankets, to look at what the terrified trapper exclaimed was "the d dest shooting-match that ever was seen !"
From the San Joaquin Valley he crossed the coast range to Monterey, and there wintered, much to the demoralization of his men.
Early in the spring of 1834 he started to rejoin Bonneville at the appointed rendezvous on Bear River, and there found ​
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 359
his chief in quite destitute condition from his long journey to the Pacific shore of Oregon, and his exploration of the Colum- bia and Snake rivers, and sadly disappointed at the failure of his next darling project, that upon which Walker had been sent.
It was arranged that Walker and Cerre should proceed on the homeward journey to Missouri, to superintend the con- veyance of the furs to St. Louis; and there ended Walker's connection with the Bonneville expedition.
After his return to Missouri, Captain Walker as he then became known, was quickly employed by the American Fur Company, and during the ensuing four years he remained in that employment.
These were four years of arduous toil, frequent privations, desperate encounters with hostile Indians, besides many hazard- ous adventures and bare escapes from death.
He then determined to pursue his favorite mode of life on his own account, untrammeled by contract obligations and un- restrained in his path of duty or pleasure.
The companion and congenial fellow of the most noted trappers and mountain men the Sublettes, Bridger, Hensley, Fitzpatrick, Williams, Carson and others of similar skill and worth he employed his years in hunting, trapping, exploring and pioneering thence onward, down to within a few years of his death, and became conspicuous among the few who volunteered their services, on many occasions, in guiding and escorting into California and Oregon the weary and perplexed and destitute emigrants who came over the plains to found new homes on this coast.
Hundreds of families of whom the heads are still living, or whose sons and daughters are now themselves advanced in life, with families of their own about them, throughout these Pacific States and Territories, owe their easier and safer jour- ney hither to his generous and prudent conduct.
He not only guided or directed them to the most feasible and least dangerous routes and through mountain passes, but he furthermore, in many instances, accompanied and gave ​
360 JAMES O'MEARA
them his protection and substantial aid into spots favored of Providence in soil and surroundings ; for he was acquainted with almost every trail and pass, conversant with Indian life and its dangers, and knew the most eligible portions of the country for settlement and homes.
It was not until 1850 that Captain Jo Walker discovered the pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains which leads into Tulare Valley, although others attribute the discovery to Jedediah S. Smith, as far back as 1825, while trapping in the service of the fur company of which General Ashley was the chief in command in the mountains ; and others still ascribe it to Ogden, the American in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, who is said to have found it in 1827; or to Ewing Young of Tennessee, a pioneer of Oregon, who died in 1841 ; or again, to William Wolfskill, an early pioneer of California, who passed through it, on his way farther westward, from an exploration of the Wahsatch Mountains at a subsequent period.
It is clear, at all events, that whomsoever discovered the pass, it was never utilized to the purposes of emigration and travel until it was made generally known by Captain Joseph Walker in 1850, when he pushed through it after his explora- tions in the country of the Moqui Indians, supposed to be a remnant of the ancient Aztecs, in which he saw the ruins of old and massive habitations, pyramids, castles, pottery, etc., which gave evidence of a very remote and advanced civilization.
These ruins he found between the Gila and San Juan rivers.
They are believed to mark the site of the great city of Grand Quivera, or Pecos, the most populous and grandest .of that race, now long extinct.
Walker found his way through the Pass from the Mohave desert into Tulare valley.
It was ten miles from plain to plain, and on his way he traveled along the headwaters of Kern River.
General Beale afterwards traveled the same region, going eastward by the southern route. ​
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 361
It was in 1844 that Captain Walker resolved to make his home in California, here in the territory where so many of his old and beloved comraades had fixed their abode.
That year he left for the states with a band of horses and mules, with a party of eight men to accompany him.
Colonel John C. Fremont was then in advance of him, on his return to the East, after his second expedition to this coast.
In his journal of that adventure under date of May 14th, Fremont says : "We had today the gratification of being joined by the famous hunter and trapper, Mr. Joseph Walker (the "Mr." would have roused the ire of the plain and modest old mountaineer), whom I have before mentioned, who now be- came our guide.
Nothing but his great knowledge of the country, great courage and presence of mind, and good rifles could have brought him safe from such a perilous enterprise," i. e., the journey he had made before he overtook Fremont.
Captain Jo Walker's very modest account of the "perilous enterprise" was to the contrary effect that he never felt that himself or his little party were in the slightest peril, for he and they were alike well mounted, well armed, and amply prepared for the long journey overland by themselves, with- out fear or thought of molestation from either the hostile Indians or perils of other sort.
And his idea of the quality, if not of the want, of the much- vaunted courage of the "Pathfinder," and of his skill as a "mountain-man," was not at all to the credit of that gold- medaled hero of his own exploits, whose memorable trip over the coast range, from the valley to Santa Barbara, forever dispelled the humorous fancy of those who indulged it, that mules never famish or die.
After having guided and accompanied Fremont to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, Walker continued his journey into Missouri in his own way.
But the following summer, at Fremont's solicitation, he again engaged with him in the trip westward to California, ​
362 JAMES O'MEARA
and his services were once more invaluable to that distin- guished adventurer.
The gold discovery in California had no charm for Captain Jo Walker. Although he valued money in his own provident and unselfish, unavaricious way, he was neither its slave nor its worshiper.
To accumulate and hoard it, when about him or known to him were any whose circumstances or necessities caused them trouble or privation, was averse to his great and generous nature.
He was not wantonly prodigal with gold, but he was never so fond of it as to make its acquisition the aim or end of his lifetime pursuit.
It was to him mainly the medium through which to com- fortably provide for his own simple wants, and to supply the necessities or relieve the sufferings of his friends, and the unfortunate whom he encountered mostly to cheer or assist.
His temperament and his mode of life prompted and con- firmed in him moderation in requirements and habits.
He was a democratic republican of the ancient, pure, and simple stamp, in principle and action, without the dross of the politician or the guile of the partisan in his nature or behavior.
General Jackson was his grandest of mortal heroes blessed with immortal name, and he remained always affectionately disposed to his native Tennessee, and to the "Old Missouri" of his early manhood.
He was alike temperate and frugal in his mode of life.
His was a notable figure in any group of men, even in his ripe age, as the writer of this tribute saw him in 1853, when he was prevailed upon to recount some of the eventful deeds and scenes of his active life for publication in the San Fran- cisco "Herald," which were graphically and gracefully pre- pared for the press by Mr. A. J. Moulder, at that time the assistant editor ; and in later years, so late as 1876, when again he was persuaded to communicate to Mr. R. A. Thompson ​
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 363
then associate editor of the Sonoma "Democrat," now county clerk at Santa Rosa a more extended account of his reminis- cences of mountaineering and Indian fighting.
His stature was as given by Irving and copied in this sketch, and his form was of massive mold for strength and endur- ance, as well as for activity.
He bore himself always as a man conscious of his own rights and proper dignity ; nor was he unmindful of the rights and condition of others.
He had the mettle of a hero, the simplicity of a child.
Captain Walker ceased from his accustomed toils and fatigues about ten years before his death, and made his home, in peace- ful contentment, with his nephew, James T. Walker, in Ygnacio valley, Contra Costa County, from which he occasionally paid visits to his elder brother, Joel, in Santa Rosa, and to prized friends in other parts of the state. But he was happiest in the quiet of that fond home, and there he died, October 28th, 1876.
His mortal remains repose in Alhambra cemetery in Contra Costa. He lived to the green old age of seventy-six years.
The soil of California has given final rest and sepulture to few more deserving of the respect and remembrance or homage of her citizens, for the measure of good works nobly performed from unselfish motives, and in self-sacrificing, generous spirit.
Among the roll of her honored pioneers, his name will be cherished, and the record of his life and of his beneficent serv- ices during his eventful career, as a worthy representative of the noble band with whom he maintained devoted fellowship, will be inseparably connected with the complete history of this state, to whose growth and greatness he and they so materially contributed in the period of its earliest occupation by Amer- icans, and its subsequent marvelous development toward high- est prosperity. ​
SPEECH OF MR. ELI THAYER ON THE AD- MISSION OF OREGON AS A STATE.
Mr. Speaker: My colleague (Mr. Dawes) who has just addressed the House, is unable to see how an honest Repre- sentative of the State of Massachusetts can vote for the admis- sion of Oregon. Well, in the exercise of charity, I can see how a Massachusetts Representative, both honest and patriotic, can vote against the admission of Oregon. He can do it by not comprehending the question, or he may do it in obedience to party dictation. I will now show my colleague how an honest Representative can vote for admission, if he will listen to my argument and the reasons which I shall give in defense of my position.
Mr. Speaker, I think this is a strange necessity that compels the Northern Representatives upon this floor to give the reasons for their votes for the admission of another free state into this Confederacy. Sir, I shall vote for the admission of the State of Oregon without hesitation, without reluctance and without reserve. So far as my vote and my voice can go, I would extend to her such a welcome as becomes her history, as becomes her promise for the future, and such as becomes our own high renown for justice and magnanimity a welcome not based on contemptible political calculation, or still more con- temptible partisan expediency ; but such a welcome as sympathy and friendship and patriotism should extend to another new state, such, sir, as becomes the birthday of a nation.
This people comes before us in accordance with the forms of law, and upon the invitation of this House; and it is too late to apply a party test upon this question. On the 19th of May last, a vote was taken in the Senate upon the admission of Oregon, and eleven Republican Senators voted for her admission, while six Republican Senators only voted against her admission; and, sir, I have not heard of any attempt on ​
ADMISSION OF OREGON 365
the part of the six Senators who voted for the rejection of Oregon to read out of the Republican party the eleven Senators who voted for her admission; and if that attempt is now to be made, we will see whether it is in the power of a minority of the people to read a majority out of the party.
But, sir, who are these people of Oregon, who come here now, asking admission? They are the pilgrims of the Pacific coast. If they are fanatics upon some subjects, we can refer to the pilgrims of the Atlantic coast, who also were fanatics upon some subjects. But, sir, if the pilgrims of the Atlantic coast finally became examples to the world in all that exalts our race, may we not hope that the pilgrims of the Pacific coast may yet become worthy of our esteem?
Nearly one-quarter of a century ago, in my boyhood, I studied the adventures of those men, who founded upon the western shore of the American continent what are now the cities of Oregon and Astoria. These men, who were then in the vigor of their lives, are now old men gray-haired and trembling with age. Their work of life is nearly completed; and this day they are sitting by their hearthstones, waiting to know what is to be the result of our deliberations ; waiting to know whether the proud consummation to which they have aspired for the last twenty years is now reached ; and whether Oregon, which, in toil and trial, in defiance of danger and of death, and with persistence and endurance such as belong only to our race, they have brought to her present proud and pros- perous condition, is now to be placed upon an equality with the original states of this Confederacy.
These are the men who have carried our institutions to the remotest boundaries of our republic. These are the veterans of the art of peace. American valor with conquering arms has carried our flag by Monterey and Chepultepec, until it was planted upon the halls of the Montezumas. But far beyond those halls have these heroes borne the victorious arts of peace. In the Territory of Oregon they have established our free institutions. There, sir, strong and deep, they have laid the ​
366 ELI THAYER
foundations of a free state, and they come here, like the wise men of the East, not asking gifts, but bringing gifts; in that respect unlike our military men, who expect and receive honors and rewards for their services. What do they bring? Why, sir, the trophies of their own labor, the evidences of their own worth. They present before us the cities and towns which they have founded. They present schools, churches, and work- shops. They bring all, all the products of their labor, and place them upon the altar of the Union, a pledge for the com- mon welfare and the common defense. And what are we doing here? Why, sir, quibbling about things which are com- paratively unessential, and which pertain exclusively to the people of Oregon, and not to us or our duties here ; quibbling about points which, if New York or Massachusetts were in the place of Oregon, would secure some votes on this side of the House against their admission. Massachusetts, which you know, sir, I never defend anywhere, even Massachusetts does not allow the negro to be enrolled in the militia of the State. These, then, are the men who come here ; and what if they have some ideas and sentiments with which we do not agree is that a reason why we should excommunicate them ; that we should have nothing hereafter to do with them ?
What law of reformation is this? It is the pharisaical law of distance, distrust, and derision. It is not the Christian law of contact, confidence and communion. The Pharisees denounced the Founder of Christianity as "the friend of pub- licans and sinners." That class would repel all who do not agree with them to the fullest extent. Shall we pursue a sim- ilar course in relation to the people of Oregon? Is it wise to do so? Is it expedient to reject their application on such grounds ?
What objections do Republicans present to this application? They say there is not sufficient population, and they claim that it is their mission to see that the Democratic party shall recover its consistency. At whose expense? At the expense of the consistency of the Republican party. I submit that it is ​
ADMISSION OF OREGON 367
better for the Republican party to preserve for itself the con- sistency which it possesses, rather than attempt to recover for the Democrats the consistency which they have lost.
Then, sir, in relation to this qualification of population, what is the position of the Republican party, and what has it been? This party, by its Representatives, voted for the ad- mission of Kansas under the Topeka Constitution, with less than one-half of the present population of Oregon. The Re- publican party in the House, with one exception, so far as I know, voted for the enabling act inviting Oregon to come here, with a Constitution, to be admitted as a state. I have no dis- position, and there is no need, to inquire here what is the population of Oregon; for, as a Republican, I am pledged to no rule on this subject.. I opposed, as did my colleague, and my friends on this side of the House, the restriction which was put upon the Territory of Kansas. We protested against it then, and protest against it now. We have no sympathy whatever with that restriction, and are ready, at any time, to give an honest vote for its repeal.
Another objection is urged against the clause in the Consti- tution of Oregon which excludes negroes and mulattoes from that Territory; and, in addition, provides that they shall not bring any suit therein. It is said that this is in contravention of the Constitution of the United States. This I do not admit. But what if it is ? The Constitution presented by the people of Oregon is not submitted to our vote. We cannot amend it; all we have to do about it is to see that it is republican in form. If it is unconstitutional, it is not in the power of Congress to impart to it the least vitality, and it will fall by its own weight. But gentlemen argue here, as if we could by our votes give life and power to an instrument in violation of the Constitution of the United States. Sir, this argument is weak and futile, Congress itself derives its own vitality from the Constitution, and how can it impart a greater vital force than it has re- ceived ? The stream cannot rise above its source.
But should the Constitution of Oregon be proved uncon- stitutional before the proper tribunal, then, sir, will it follow ​
368 ELI THAYER
that we have violated our oaths, by admitting Oregon into the Union with that organic law? By no means. We have not sworn that the people of Oregon shall support the Constitu- tion of the United States. We have sworn to support it our- selves, not that anybody else shall do so.
But, sir, this provision is no more hostile to the United States Constitution than are the laws of Indiana and Illinois, which exclude free negroes and mulattoes from their bound- aries. Certainly not. It is no more to exclude the suit of the man, than to exclude the man himself. Is the negro less than his suit? I contend that he is greater than his suit. The greater contains the less, and the statutes of Illinois and Indiana are as unconstitutional as is the provision of the Oregon Con- stitution. But it does seem, at the first view, that it was a wanton and unprovoked outrage upon the rights of these men who are excluded from that state. I think there is a real apology for the action of the States of Illinois and Indiana. They are in close proximity to the institution of slavery. They are under the shadow of the dying tree of slavery, and its decaying limbs are constantly threatening to fall upon their heads; and I cannot censure them for taking such means as they see fit to protect themselves from such imminent peril. I am not disposed to call into question the right or constitution- ality of their action.
Is there no apology, then, for the people of Oregon? Have they committed a wanton and unprovoked outrage upon the rights of negroes and mulattoes, in excluding them from that Territory ? I say that there is an apology, and that it consists in this : they believed that they were obliged to choose between a free-state constitution with this provision, and a slave-state constitution without it. There were three parties in the Terri- tory at the time this constitution was made and adopted. There was the Free-State party, which was composed of Free-State Democrats and Republicans. There was the Pro-Slavery party, in favor of a slave state. There was, between these two, a very considerable party, supposed to hold the balance of power, ​
ADMISSION OF OREGON 369
and that party I may characterize as the anti-negro party. They said that they would sooner vote for a slave state than for a free state with a constitution admitting free negroes and mulattoes. They preferred to have slaves in Oregon rather than free negroes ; and it was for the purpose of securing their vote for a free state that the Republicans and Free-State Demo- crats inserted and advocated this provision. The leading Re- publicans of that Territory advocated the adoption of the Con- stitution containing this provision. Mr. Logan, who received every Republican vote for United States Senator, advocated, on the stump, the adoption of the Constitution with this clause. What was the vote? Why, sir, this clause of the Constitu- tion had a majority of seven thousand five hundred and fifty- nine votes; while the Constitution itself had a majority of only four thousand votes. The Democratic majority in the Terri- tory, as shown in the election of a Representative to this House, was only one thousand six hundred and thirteen votes. Then it is proved, by the official record, that the Republican party combined with the Free-State Democratic party to sanction and ratify this provision of the Constitution which is here called in question. There is also abundant evidence, outside of the record, to satisfy any one that such is the fact. This, then, is the apology for the action of the people of Oregon on this question. What Republican, or what friend of free states, is justified under these circumstances, in voting to exclude the people of Oregon from this Confederacy on account of this provision, which is only an expedient, and not a thing for practical use? It is very easy, at this distance, to censure the people of Oregon, and to pronounce judgment against them, but such judgment may be neither wise nor just.
"Then at the balance let's be mute,
We never can adjust it; What's done we partly may compute,
But know not what's resisted."
But, sir, there is another objection urged from certain quar- ters, with great pertinacity. I mean the objection to the suf​
370 ELI THAYBR
frage of aliens. The Constitution of Oregon, in respect to alien suffrage, is certainly more stringent than the law of some of the States of the Union, and less stringent than that of others. It is the same as the Territorial law has been dur- ing the last ten years. It requires a residence of twelve months in the United States, and of six months in Oregon. It re- quires that the sworn declaration of an intention to become a citizen of the United States shall have been on file at least one year. What was the inducement for that encouragement of aliens? The wages of labor are now, and have been, in Oregon, double what they are on the Atlantic coast ; and I ask, would it be expedient or wise for Oregon to drive away from her borders the emigration from Europe, on which she has to rely for developing the resources of the country ? Certainly not. Such a policy would have been disastrous in the extreme to the young state. It was wise and prudent, therefore, for Oregon to invite and encourage that immigration which she so much needs, to develop her great resources, and to secure for her the products of her natural wealth.
These, sir, are among the plausible and ostensible objections that have been urged on this side of the House against the admission of Oregon. There is yet another argument: that Kansas has been excluded from the Union by the action of the Democratic party; and that, therefore, Republicans ought to exclude Oregon. The argument amounts to this: that we should abuse Oregon because the Democratic party have abused Kansas. Now I, for one, am quite content that the record of the Republicans, in respect to Oregon, should be better than the record of the Democratic party in respect to Kansas. I am quite content that the record of the Democratic party, in respect to Kansas, should be just what it is; and I do not think it is possible very much to improve the Republican record, or to impair the Democratic record. Are we to sacrifice our own political principles and advantages, for the sake of compelling the Democratic party to consistency of action? Are we bound, as a party, to sacrifice our own consistency in ​
ADMISSION OF OREGON 371
doing so? Certainly not. I think the Republican party has another, and, to my mind, a less difficult mission to perform, and that is, to preserve its own consistency.
These are some of the palpable objections that have been urged on this floor. I come now to some for which I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hughes). He has pre- sented to the House some secret objections which the Repub- licans are said to have to the admission of Oregon. The first is, that the Republicans are opposed to the admission of Oregon because it is a Democratic State. Now, sir, does not the gen- tlemen from Indiana understand that the Republican party is not so devoid of sagacity as to fail to see that to reject a young state for the reason that it is Democratic would make it Democratic forever ? Does the gentleman from Indiana find anything in the history of the Republican party which justifies such conviction of its stupidity, as would lead him to say that the Republican party, as a party, is opposed to the admission of a free state because her people had chosen such politics as seemed to them best? Does he not see that sagacious Repub- licans, finding that the Republican party in Oregon is now in a minority of only a few hundred votes, understand that if Oregon be admitted by their action, and were thus set free from the influence of Executive patronage, she would very soon become a Republican State?
But further than that: the gentleman brings up another secret reason why the Republicans would oppose the admis- sion of Oregon. That secret reason is, that, in case of the failure of the people to elect a President, and in case of that election coming to this House, there will be a vote from Oregon against the Republican candidate, which may procure his defeat. Now, does not the gentleman from Indiana under- stand that any such position of the Republican party would secure its defeat? That if it were stupid enough to take a position against the admission of free States, because their Constitutions were not universally approved, it would require more than the vote of one state, either in Congress or out of ​
372 ELI THAYER
Congress, to help or harm the prospects of the party ? I thank the gentleman from Indiana for the secret reasons which he has given, and which I have thus far been enabled to prove too absurd and impolitic to influence the action of the Republican party.
There are certain principles which, in my opinion, should govern the House on a question of the admission of a state. First, the Constitution must be republican in form. Second, there must be sufficient population; what number may be sufficient, must be left to the discretion of Congress. Third, the proposed admission must be shown to be for the benefit of the contracting parties; to be best for the state applying, to be best for the Confederacy. Let us look at these principles, and see how they should affect the vote on the admission of Oregon. First, then, is the Constitution presented by Oregon republican in form?
I will here send to the Clerk's desk a quotation from an authority which is justly and generally respected by Repub- licans an extract from a speech of Senator Seward, made in the Senate of the United States last May, upon this very ques- tion.
The Clerk read, as follows:
"I think there is nobody who doubts that the people of "Oregon are today ready, desirous, willing, to come in. They "have made a constitution which is acceptable to themselves, "and a Constitution which, however, it may be criticised here, "after all, complies substantially with every requirement which "the Congress of the United States, or any considerable por- "tion of either House of Congress, has ever insisted on in re- "gard to any state.
"It seems to me, therefore, to be trifling with the state of "Oregon, trifling with the people of that community, and to be "unnecessary, and calculated to produce an unfavorable im- "pression on the public mind, in regard to the consistency of "the policy which we pursue in admitting states into the Union, "to delay or deny this application. For one, sir, I think that ​
ADMISSION OF OREGON 373
"the sooner a territory emerges from its provincial condition "the better ; the sooner the people are left to manage their own "affairs, and are admitted to participation in the responsibilities "of the government, the stronger and the more vigorous the "states which those people form will be. I trust, therefore, "that the question will be taken, and that the state may be "admitted without further delay."
Mr. Thayer : So much, then, in relation to the first principle which should govern our action in the admission of states. And what, sir, concerning the other? How will it affect this present Confederacy of States, to admit the Territory of Ore- gon ? Why, gentlemen talk here as if we were discussing the question of admitting some new and unheard of race of mon- sters and cannibals into the Union ! Sir, is not this injustice to the people of Oregon? Will they contaminate this Confed- eracy? Just as much as their mountain streams will con- taminate the Pacific ocean. I tell you, they may be inferior to us in education, in refinement, and in etiquette; they may not appear as well in the drawing-room as some of our Eastern exquisites; but in the sturdy virtues of honesty, of fidelity, of industry, and of endurance, they are above the average of the people of this Confederacy. I regret that the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Washburn) the other day deemed it ex- pedient to call the pioneers of our national progress "inter- lopers, runaways and outlaws." I affirm, concerning American citizens in any territory of the United States, and in any new state of this Confederacy, that they are above the average of the population of the old States, in all that makes up manly and virtuous character. They have my sympathy, and never will I oppress them by my vote or my voice.
But, sir, what if the people of Oregon were really as bad as the most unfavorable construction of their Constitution, and the speech of my colleague (Mr. Dawes) would represent them to be, then what should we gain by refusing them ad- mission into the Union? If the objectionable features in their Constitution are their true sentiments, and are placed in the organic law for use, and not for expediency, then surely the ​
374 ELI THAYER
evil is deeper than the ink and parchment of their Constitu- tion. It is in the hearts of the people, and will not be eradi- cated by any harsh treatment that gentlemen on this floor may recommend. I doubt whether you will effect the salvation of the people of Oregon by heaping curses on their heads, or by excluding them for unworthiness. You mav send them away from the door of the Capitol, but they will go thinking less of you and less subject thereafter to your influence. They may come again with a hypocritical constitution, trusting to effect by statute law what you would not allow in organic law. They may not come at all, or they may come with a constitution tolerating slavery. Discouraged and repulsed by Northern votes finding no sympathy where they had most right to expect it, they might not be able longer to resist the Slave- State party in the Territory, acting under the Dred Scott de- cision. Is it not right, therefore, for the lovers of freedom to advocate the immediate transition of Oregon from the con- dition of a territory in which slavery is lawful, to the condi- tion of a state in which it is forbidden ? Which do we choose, a slave territory or a FREE STATE?
But, sir, there is another argument which may influence some members who doubt the security of this Union of States. By this act which I now advocate, we shall bind firmly to the old states, by indissoluble bonds, the remotest portions of our possessions. This will make secure all intermediate parts of the national domain.
This, then, may be grateful assurance to such as want assur- ance about the permanency of the Union. For myself, I have not much respect for any such assurance, but I do have an utter contempt for any doubts on the subject. This Union, Mr. Speaker, is not a thing to be argued for and advocated; it is a thing settled, fixed and determined. Far transcending in importance the temporary convenience of any one state or of all the states, it is in our hands, a trust, not for our posterity only, but for the world. We are bound to deliver it unim- paired to succeeding generations, and we WILL so deliver it. THE UNION IS AND WILL BE. ​
ADMISSION OF OREGON 375
If, then, there is a great gain to the Confederacy, is it not also better for the people of Oregon themselves that she should be admitted into the Union ? Is it better that they should remain under the tuition of this Federal Government a non- resident government or that they should govern themselves? Why, sir, to contend against the advantages of self-govern- ment would seem to me unsuited to this place, and not to comport well with the history of this Republic ; for the origin of this nation was a protest against a non-resident govern- ment, and our history should be. For one, sir, I have no faith in that kind of government being exercised over Anglo-Saxons anywhere, and least of all have I faith in that kind of gov- ernment being exercised by Republics anywhere; and, there- fore, to relieve a portion of our people from what I consider a curse the curse of a non-resident domination I will cheer- fully vote for the admission of Oregon.
Sir, this non-resident control is a relic as it was an invention of ancient tyranny. It has come down from the history of the old Romans, who had proconsuls in Judea, in Spain, in Gaul, in Germany, and in Britain; and England has copied their example, and sent Governors and Governor Generals to India, and to this continent also. But we protested successfully against that kind of government by the war of the Revolu- tion; and I look forward to the time when every portion of our national domain shall be free from it ; when we shall have no provincial dependencies whatever; when we shall have nothing but a combination of equal and sovereign republics. Then, sir, we may bring the duties of this Government to a position where they will be, as was well said last session by the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Curry) : "Few and simple, ' as they should be.
It is in accordance with this view that I shall oppose anything that leads to complications that shall multiply or extend our provincial dependencies.
I shall oppose all protectorates over foreign countries; all military occupations and military usurpations; all annexation ​
376 ELI THAYER
of territory, except as independent sovereignties acquired and at the same time admitted into the Union by treaty stipulations as states equal to any in this "Confederacy. It will never do for us to imitate the despotisms of Europe. We must adhere to the original, simple plan of this Confederacy, which did not contemplate provincial dependencies, or armies and navies, necessary for their acquisition and control.
So far as we deviate from the simplicity of the plan of the fathers, just so far shall be advance towards danger, disaster and destruction.
But, Mr. Chairman, I did wish to review the action of the minority of the Committee on Territories in relation to this question, but my time has nearly expired, and I can only refer to it.
They have reported the bill of the majority with an addi- tional provision repealing the clause of the English bill re- stricting the right of Kansas to come into the Union with a less population than ninety-three thousand. Now, sir, I had sup- posed that the gentlemen of the minority of the committee would have voted for the bill which they have reported, but speeches have been made by two of the gentlemen who signed that report (Mr. Grow and Mr. Granger) in which they went off on an altogether different line of reasoning. They have talked about the unconstitutionality of the Constitution of Oregon, and about its invasions of human rights, without con- fining themselves at all to the argument of their minority report. They argue that whoever may vote for the admission of the state will properly be held responsible for all these out- rages. And now I wish to know for what consideration the signers of that report are willing to ignore all these revered human rights, invaded and ruined by the Constitution of Oregon ? I have their reply in this report. On one condition they are willing to sanction all these outrages; and that con- dition is, that a certain act concerning Kansas shall be repealed. If the report is in good faith, there can be no other conclusion.
REVIEW
The author of this description of the historical and scenic setting of the Columbia River Highway was the consulting engineer in its location and construction. He measured up to the opportunities that this connection with this achievement gave him. He soon became enamored with the views such a highway along the Columbia where it breaks through the Cascade Range could command. Also as he was engaged in the arduous work of running the lines for the determination of the location of the road his thought was naturally turned back to the experiences of the explorers, the missionaries and the pioneers who were compelled to use this route to reach the Coast country. This vanguard of exploration and settlement elicited his sympathy and gave the essential background of human interest to the wealth of scenic beauty arrayed along the wonder stretch of the Columbia gorge.
Nature in her disposition of the natural features of the earth's surface has not been given to running her mightiest rivers at right angles to and athwart her loftiest mountain ranges. Great drainage channels and watersheds regularly lie more or less parallel with each other. But in equatorial Africa and with the Columbia we have the exceptions. The combination of the Columbia and the Cascade Range with its snow-capped sentinels set across each others pathway was tried in our quarter of the globe and a most unique wealth of scenic grandeur was the necessary result. A road along this part of the Columbia to serve its highest purpose could be located and built only by an engineer whose vision caught, as did Mr. Lancaster's, the best that was here displayed and who would run his highway lines accordingly. Furthermore, ​such an engineer would become possessed with the purpose to have all the people of the Pacific Northwest and the tourist even from the uttermost parts of the earth experience the exquisite thrills that had enraptured him. This is the motive that brought forth this finely conceived and elegantly executed book.
But if the sublime in nature can have association with heroic achievements of man so much deeper, more substantial and lasting is the joy the scene inspires. About half of the volume is taken up with the portrayal of the human experiences associated with this route. This story is told through the use of excerpts from the journals kept by the missionaries and pioneers as they were buffeted on the waves of the Columbia, trudged through the thickets along its banks, or climbed and crossed the Cascade range to the south of Mount Hood. The test came too as the culmination of a summer of hardship on the plains, generally when winter was full upon them. The accounts by Mrs. Marcus Whitman and by Mrs. Elizabeth Dickson Smith Geer are especially effective and graphic, the latter only is pathetic.
The volume is embellished by many cuts of Indian characters and of historical relics. The author in selecting these materials, especially the excerpts from the pioneers' journals, had the valuable assistance of the Curator of the Oregon Historical Society and the use of its collections.
The color photographs of the Columbia scenes are simply superb.
Correspondence of the Reverend Ezra Fisher
Pioneer Missionary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Oregon
Edited by
SARAH FISHER HENDERSON
NELLIE EDITH LATOURETTE
KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE
Rock Island, Ill., Aug. 29, '44.
Through the appointment of the Iowa Baptist Convention, at this late date, I proceed to give you a brief outline of the wants of the Baptists in this growing territory. . . . At this time the population of this territory is but a fraction less than 90,000 souls, occupying a region of country about 120 miles from east to west, and from the mouth of the Des Moines to Prairedes Chien [Prairie du Chien], and soon the entire territory from the Mississippi to the Missouri will give place to civilization. Lee County contains 9900 souls, several flourishing villages on the rivers, two churches, and four preachers who work on their farms. Des Moines has 9109 souls. Five or six openings for Baptist preaching. Burlington, with a population of 2000 souls and about 15 Baptist members, is wholly neglected. A Baptist church might here be easily collected. Louisa Co., 3,238 souls, one church and one Baptist minister. Van Buren Co., 9,019; facilities for agriculture and manufactories are very great; at present two Baptist ministers. Keosauqua, an important point, has a church greatly needing a minister, and the ministers in this county have to spend a portion of their time in other counties. Henry County contains 6,017 souls. Elder Burnet has organized a church in the county seat in the midst of about 700 souls, and preaches half of his time with this church. Most of this county is destitute of Baptist preaching. Jefferson County contains 5694 souls almost entirely destitute of Baptist preaching, except occasionally, and that rarely, when a Baptist minister travels that way and preaches a sermon to a few scattered Baptists and others who gladly hear the Word. Two small churches were recently organized in this county, but the county town is entirely neglected by our ministers. Baptists have joined other churches temporarily (a bad business) because they have no Baptist preaching. Washington Co. contains ​
CORRESPONDENCE 381
3120 souls. Br. Elliott some time ago visited this county and baptized a few. A church, in a somewhat flourishing" condi- tion at the county seat, needs a pastor immediately. Muscatine County, 2882 souls, with a church at Bloomington, is about to settle a pastor. In this county are several interesting open- ings for Baptist preaching. In the above named churches are two licensed preachers who might be rendered quite useful as preachers, but are obliged to pursue their ordinary occupa- tions. Scott County has 2750 souls, two churches and one minister. Davenport, without Baptist preaching, has a popu- lation of 1000. Johnson and Cedar Counties, with a popula- tion of 5166, and Linn, with a population 2643, have four churches and a number of important settlements with but one ordained minister. Clinton and Jackson Cos., with a population of about 3000 souls and two organized churches and probably another soon to be constituted at De Witt, have no ordained minister and only the occasional labors of Elder Brown. DuBuque has 4052 souls, one church at the seat of Justice and an ordained minister. The remaining counties, together with the new purchase 50 miles in width extending the entire length of the Ter. from north to south, the southern portion of which is becoming thickly settled, for a new country, with farms from 10 to 100 acres already under cultivation, contain a population of at least 22,000 souls with but one Baptist minister and two small churches, although there are a very considerable number of brethren and sisters scattered through this region, like sheep without a shepherd, anxiously desiring and praying that God send them the faithful missionary who will collect them into churches and administer to them the ordinances of the gospel. Now, dear brother, what does this territory need? Do we not need one man in each of these counties, at least? Do we not need one minister in each of the important towns . . . who can devote himself entirely to the work . . . assigned him ? Then, if we could have a few of our ministering brethren who would like to settle their rising families on farms, so that they could devote a portion of their time to preaching the Word ​
382 EZRA FISHER
and gathering up churches and at the same time bless Zion, their own families and their own souls . . . the labors of such brethren would be appreciated. Perhaps more than all, we need wise lay brethren to move to our Territory for the sake of doing GOOD. Men of prayer, good works, and FAITH too, who are well established in the doctrines of the gospel, who know well how to sympathize with the ministry and devise and execute plans by which the ministry may be kept constantly employed in their peculiar calling. Now let us ask you, Will our ministers and deacons and churches in the older and more favored portions of our land compare our destitution and prospects for usefulness with their own and then, in the fear of God, ask what they can do for us? By order of the convention. EZRA FISHER,
Chairman of the Committee.
N. B. I learn that 1500 souls have crossed the Rocky Mountains this summer for Oregon. 67 Please let me know if the Board will appoint Br. Johnson to go out with us next spring? We have a promising young Br. in this place from Mass, by the name of Stone, whom I think this Church will invite to become their pastor when we leave.
Yours, E. F.
Rock Island, 111., Sept. 16, 1844. Dear Br. Hill:
Should providence open the door, we expect to leave for Oregon early next spring with the companies that will then go out to Oregon and California. I should like to know whether the Board will be willing that the appointment shall be so made that the services shall commence at the time of our departure.
67 McLoughlin placed the number of the immigrants of 1844 at 1,475. Ban- croft, Hist, of Ore. 1:448.
George H. Himes, as. a result of extensive researches, believes it to have been only 600 or 700. British officers in Oregon in 1845-6 placed it at about 1000. Documents Relative to Warre and Vavasour's Military Reconnoisance in Oregon, 1845-6, ed. by Joseph Scrafer, in Ore. Hist. Soc. Quar. X:u. ​
CORRESPONDENCE 383
You will allow me to repeat the earnest request that Br. Johnson be appointed, if practicable, to accompany me. My views of the importance of the enterprise are in no way dimin- ished. A company will go to California next spring, 68 among which will be several valuable Baptist families, who will settle with the companies that have gone before them on the Sacramento River near San Francisco Bay. Is it not time that the Baptists had two missionaries west of the mountains to look after the rising interests on the Pacific? Our health is tolerably good, but sickness is becoming more frequent than it has been this season.
I shall forward my quarterly report by the next mail.
Yours truly,
EZRA FISHER.
P. S. Please write me soon and let me know the wishes of the Board respecting the contemplated mission.
Yours, E. F.
Rock Island, 111., Sept. 17th, 1844. Rev. Benj. M. Hill,
Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc. Dear Br :
I proceed to make my report for the first quarter under the appointment bearing date May 1st. . . .
I have preached thirty-five sermons, attended sixteen prayer meetings, five conference meetings, seven covenant meetings, and traveled three hundred and twenty-five miles. We have no conversions to record within our congregations. Baptized none. Received three by letter. Have made seventy-five pas- toral visits and attended one funeral, a member of this church. Monthly concert is attended with this church. Visited one common school. Obtained no signatures to the temperance pledge. We have one young brother fitting for college; as
68 The first important overland immigration to California from the United States was in 1841. Bancroft, Hist, of California IV:263.
The overland immigration of 1845, the preparations for which are here men- tioned, numbered about 150. Ibid. IV:57i. ​
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yet he has not avowed his intentions for the ministry. Organ- ized no church. No minister ordained. Received sixty-five dollars toward my support ($65.00). Received nothing for any of the missionary, educational or other benevolent so- cieties. We have received nothing from any of the auxiliary societies towards my salary. One Bible class, about 15 scholars. Three Sunday schools, about 15 teachers, sixty-five scholars, and about 150 volumes in the libraries. Done nothing to the meeting house since my last report.
The Campbellites are making great efforts in this place and vicinity to draw off members of other denominations, and, in view of all the circumstances, I have thought it my duty to deliver a lecture each Sabbath on the doctrines and ordinances of the gospel; thus far they seem to awaken an interest by confirming the brethren and eliciting the attention of the com- munity. Amid the flood of error with which we are surrounded, we greatly need the truths of God's Word exhibited in the spirit of meekness and zeal of the primitive Christians. Truly we need the wisdom of the serpent as well as the harmless- ness of the dove. I have never witnessed in any place in the valley so much determined opposition to the Baptists, as such, as in Rock Island and vicinity. Perhaps I have never felt more forcibly . . . the thought that the gospel and the whole gospel is God's appointed means of accomplishing his purposes in bringing sinners to repentance and establishing the churches in the truth than during the past quarter.
In the midst of our labors and trials, I have one great con- solation, that I, in common with all the missionaries of your Society, have the prayers of hundreds of thousands of God's dear people. Yours respectfully,
EZRA FISHER, Missionary.
I am waiting with some solicitude to hear from you relative to the subject of Oregon.
Cannot Br. Johnson be appointed to go out with us ?
Yours, E. FISHER. . . . ​
CORRESPONDENCE 385
Rock Island, 111., Nov. 5th, 1844. Rev. B. M. Hill.
Dear Br. : Yours of Sept. 27th was duly received, and I now take pen to answer it, together with other communica- tions which it becomes my duty to make in the same sheet. The Board of the Ifowa] Conv. understands the course your Board has pursued in relation to Br. Seeley's tour last spring and are satisfied, I believe.
On this subject of my going to Oregon next spring, I would state that my views have in no way altered as regards the im- portance of carrying the Gospel of Christ there immediately and, unless some special providence intervenes, we shall make our arrangements to leave this place some time in the month of April next. The question whether the time of our service commences when we leave this place or when we arrive at the field of our future labor will not be material with me farther than the settlement of the question whether the amount will enable me to devote myself to the work of the ministry un- impeded by secular labor. I trust my ruling desire is to render the greatest possible service to the cause of Christ; I feel perfectly willing to refer that matter to your Board.
I have never asked what were the views of the Board re- specting the time of the transmission of the funds to me for my services during the year after our arrival. I suppose, how- ever, that such would be the distance and difficulty of regular communication from Oregon to N. York and so long a time must necessarily intervene between the time of making my reports and that of receiving funds in answer to said reports, your Board would advance to me the amount agreed upon for one year before taking our departure from this place. Your Board may possibly know of some convenient and safe way of transmitting drafts so that they may reach us seasonably to prevent us from being reduced to sufferings for the want of the common comforts of life. 69 I intended to have laid that subject before you personally while at Syracuse last fall, but
69 See note 72. ​
386 EZRA FISHER
it did not occur to my mind when I could have an interview with you. Br. John Peck however advised me personally. He thought in this case it would be the pleasure of the Board to advance the year's salary before we left Iowa. I have just received a letter from Br. Johnson still expressing a strong desire to accompany me to Oregon, informing me that you say, if money can be raised, he can be appointed to go with me, provided he can receive a recommendation from the Executive Board of the Iowa Baptist Convention. This being the case, I laid the subject before said Board on the first instant, and the Board passed the following resolutions :
1st. Resolved that this board cordially recommend Elder Hezekiah Johnson as a most suitable man for the A. B. H. M. Soc's. Board to appoint as a missionary to Oregon to ac- company Elder Ezra Fisher to that field next Spring.
2d. Resolved, that the Secretary be instructed to accom- pany this recommendation with a brief description of Elder Johnson's qualifications for a missionary in a new country. In complying with these instructions, I will simply state that I am confident I give the sentiment of every faithful Baptist in Iowa who knows him when I say that Br. Johnson's uni- form ardent piety, his strong perceptive and comparing powers, his originality of thought, his familiarity with Bible doctrines, the facility with which he defends them, exposes error in the spirit of the gospel, and the long experience he has had as a faithful pioneer of the West in planting and fostering churches, as well as enduring hardships and privations, render him eminently qualified for the work of a missionary in a new coun- try, where error is rife and counsellors are few. Without de- traction from the merits of all our worthy brethren, I speak the sentiments of all when I say he is regarded as one of the few fathers of our denomination in Iowa. I have long known him and taken great pleasure in his counsels. Your Board will not wonder then when I repeat the earnest request that Br. Johnson may be appointed to accompany me. Will you think ​
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of from 7000 to 10,000 souls in Oregon within two days' ride from the mouth of the Willamette, 71 speaking the English language, and that number fast increasing from the western, the eastern and middle states, without a single Baptist preacher, and will not your Board appoint this one more missionary that we may follow the example set by our blessed Saviour of sending out his disciples by two's? If no other way can be devised, will your Board not encourage Br. Johnson to circu- late in New England and raise the requisite funds during the winter? God knows what is best, and, if my importunity is too great, I know he will pardon and I trust you will do the same.
I attended the Davenport Association the second week in Oct. at Marion, the county seat of Lynn County, Iowa. The session was harmonious and one of more than usual interest and some tokens of divine favor were manifest. Collections were taken in aid of the home and foreign missions. We trust a lasting blessing will follow. On Saturday before the fourth Sab. in Oct., we organized a new association in this place known by the name of Rock Island Baptist Association, in- cluding but four churches, but an extent of territory more than 100 miles in length on the Mississippi.
Although the weather was unfavorable, the scene was truly pleasing, and on Sab. a collection was taken in favor of home missions amounting to four dollars and sixty cents. I will forward you the minutes of said association when published.
70 This number was largely over-estimated. In his letter of Feb. 27, 1846, written after he reached Oregon, the author places the population at five or six thousand, and this was after the population had been about doubled by the immigration of 1845. Deducting this, the population in 1844 would be between two and three thousand. Bancroft places it at the latter figure. Hist, of Ore. 1:508. G. H. Himes thinks it was 1,200 or 1,500. Lieut. Piel gave it as 3,000 before the coming of the 1845 immigration, and Warre and Vavasour gave it as 6,000 after the immigration came. See J. Schafer in Ore. Hist. Soc. Quar. X:53.
71 The origin and the original form of the name Willamette are obscure. G. H. Himes finds the meaning of "Green Water" given it in two early, entirely independent sources. If these sources are reliable, it is an Indian name and the present spelling closely approximates the original sound. See also in the spelling: Bancroft : Hist, of N. W. Coast II:6o, 61, where a summary of different author- ities is given. ​
388 EZRA FISHER
I have used the above named $4.60 and will deduct the same from my next draft.
Your unworthy br. in Christ,
EZRA FISHER,
Sec. pro tern., Iowa Bapt. Conv.
Rock Island, 111., Dec. 16th, 1844.
Corresponding Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc. Dear Br. Hill:
It becomes my duty in the order of God's providence to make my second quarterly report.
My time has been devoted almost exclusively to the work during the quarter, and more than an ordinary portion of my time has been spent in associations and convention. During the quarter I have preached twenty-eight sermons and partici- pated in almost all the public discussions which have come before the public meetings of our denomination, such as home and foreign missions, Bible cause, publication cause, education, etc. Attended twenty weekly prayer and conference meetings, as the church in this place sustains both a weekly prayer meet- ing and conference meeting, which have been well sustained through the season. Attended four covenant meetings and two church meetings, four meetings of the Board of the Iowa Con- vention, traveled five hundred and forty miles. I have no evidence of any case of hopeful conversion during the quarter, yet we have had the satisfaction of seeing an increased atten- tion in several instances in our congregations. I have bap- tised none. We have received three by letter during the quarter. I have made sixty-five (65) pastoral visits. We sustain the monthly concert in the church in this place instead of our week- ly prayer meeting. I have visited two (2) common schools. Obtained no signatures to the temperance pledge. No young men preparing for the ministry. Neither organized a church or assisted in ordaining a minister. Assisted in the organiza- tion of an association in this place. Have received about fifty ​
CORRESPONDENCE 389
dollars toward my support, on the subscription for my salary, received four dollars and sixty cents, the amount of a collec- tion taken up at the organization of the Rock Island associa- tion for the cause of Home Missions, and nine ($9) dollars from the home missionary society in the Mt. Pleasant church, Henry County, where I preach once a month; have received nothing for the Foreign Missions, Bible Publication or Educa- tion Societies.
We have one Bible class of about fifteen scholars, and three small Sabbath schools. The one in this place is quite small and quite interesting; about thirty-five children and ten teachers. The one with the Mt. Pleasant church comprises both young and old and is quite small. . . . The other is sustained by a Br. Gillmore, twelve miles south of this. It has about thirty children. The church in this place are now making an effort, and I think it will be successful, to finish the house we purchased last summer. This has engaged part of my time the past week.
I have during the quarter attended the Davenport Associa- tion and the convention at Canton in this state. On the whole, although we have witnessed no marked tokens of divine favor, yet we think the churches are becoming more consistent, exer- cising a better discipline, and evince a laudable growth in the Christian graces, and I can but feel a degree of assurance that God will soon appear in answer to the prayers of his people to revive his work with us. ...
All of which is respectfully submitted.
EZRA FISHER, Missionary at Rock Island.
N. B. Yours of Nov. 29th came to hand today, informing me of the appointment of Br. H. Johnson to accompany me to Oregon. The intelligence rejoiced my soul. May God favour the decision of your Board and greatly bless the enterprise. We are making every arrangement to leave as early as the tenth of April, should the All Wise permit. ​
390 EZRA FISHER
I will answer partly your proposed questions. I verily be- lieve the enterprise is of God and trust he will prosper it and fondly hope the time is not distant, when we shall see churches in Oregon able and ready to sustain the gospel and even carry it to others. Your Board will readily see that I can give you no definite answer. I am willing to confide that matter to the wisdom and integrity of the Board, when they shall have learned the true state of the cause by an actual survey of the field.
I should hope never to encumber the cause of missions with any obligation to support my family, while my labours are un- profitable. As soon as we can open the way for our support in Oregon, it will be our greatest pleasure to see your Board directing their aid to other and more destitute fields. As it relates to remittance after the expiration of the first year, should your Board think it for the honour of the cause to continue my services, I think, were you to permit us to make drafts at the expiration of each semi-annual report on your treasurer, or on yourself, we could sell those drafts by endorsing them our- selves, as I understand there is a merchant from Boston doing business at Oregon City at the falls of the Willamette. 72
Yours, E. F. . . .
Rock Island, 111., Jan. 10, 1845. Rev. B. M. Hill,
Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc. Dear Brother :
In my quarterly report of December 16th I promised to write you soon and give the Board in brief my views of the plan of our future operations in Oregon, should God graciously per- mit us to labor in that field.
We expect to find our field of labor, so far as our denomi- nation is concerned, in an entirely new and unformed state; we shall consequently find everything to do or things will be
72 This is possibly a reference to F. W. Pettygrove, the Oregon City agent of A. G. and A. W. Benson. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 1:417, 422.
Money could also have been sent by Hudson Bay Company's drafts. ​
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left undone. We know some Baptist members have emi- grated to that country 73 and others are going, but it is reason- able to suppose they are scattered. Should Br. Johnson accept of the appointment, which I trust he will, I would suppose we should select two of the most favorable positions to reach the greatest amount of inhabitants, on or near the navigable waters and as near each other as circumstances will admit, so as to enjoy each others' counsels and, as circumstances permit, labor in public, and in these places make it our great business to establish churches in the apostolic order.
I presume we shall find, in exploring the field, more points of importance that we shall be able to visit monthly on the Sabbaths. I think it probable we may find it our duty to establish something like circuits which we may reach period- ically, while others more remote may demand occasional visits. I trust we shall feel that our great business will be preaching the Word both publicly and from house to house. Yet in a country where education is unprovided for by law, 74 and where every false religionist is propagating his dogmas through the medium of schools, it seems almost indispensible to the greatest and most permanent usefulness of the gospel minister that he become the guardian of youth and patron of moral and re- ligious education. The Pope of Rome has already appointed a Bishop of Oregon and has sent out two ecclesiastics, and with these fathers are to be sent seven female missionaries and a number of priests. 75 I therefore think that, at an early
73 A number of Baptists, prominent among whom was David T. Lenox, had come to Oregon with the immigration of 1843. Lenox and a number of others settled on Tualatin plains and there organized in May, 1844, a Baptist church. This was the only Baptist church in Oregon until 1846. The Rev. Vincent Snelling, a Baptist minister, came with the immigration of 1844, and was, as far as is known, the first Baptist clergyman in Oregon. C. H. Mattoon, Baptist Annals of Oregon I:i, 2, 39, 43. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 1:421, 466.
74 The author was right as to the absence of public state instruction. This did not come until much later. The first school in Oregon supported by a public tax was opened in Milton, near St. Helens, Columbia County, September 15, 1851. G. H. Himes; Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 11:35; I:2oi, 325.
75 The first Catholic priests came to Oregon m 1838. One of these, Blanchet, was created Archbishop of Oregon in 1843. In 1844 a company of five priests, a number of lay brothers, and six sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, came from Europe. The "two ecclesiastics" referred to by the author were possibly Fathers Blanchet and Demers, who had come in 1838. Several others, notably Rev. P. J. De Smet, came to the country between 1838 and the arrival of the party of 1844. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 1:315, 327​
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period, schools should be established under pious teachers, and, as soon as practicable, one should be founded on liberal prin- ciples, adapted to the wants of the country and especially to the demands of our own denomination, which should rise with the demands of the people till it shall eventually furnish the means for a complete education. Should congress pass the land bill, which has so long been before both branches of our national legislature, 76 I trust we shall find friends to the Baptist cause sufficient to carry out such a plan without materially detracting from our ministerial usefulness.
While other denominations are directing their energies to evangelize the natives and half-breeds, 77 I think Baptist mis- sionaries should not look on with indifference in this work of blessing the remnants of these once numerous tribes. If any- thing more can be done, a way may be opened for the suc- cessful introduction of missionaries in the most favored posi- tions and thereby effect a great saving of time and expense to the cause of missions. I will not multiply. But you will allow me to say that Upper California is becoming a place of great attraction to western emigrants, and among them are Baptists who will ever pray for the ordinances as they were delivered. I am personally acquainted with some of these, who are inquiring whether the Home Missionary Society will not appoint them as missionaries. We shall become acquainted with these brethren, in our journey, and a correspondence at least may be kept up with them by which we may learn the wants of that country. We hope soon to form churches which will relieve your Board, in part at least, of sustaining us, and it shall be one part of our duty to teach the brethren that the gospel is a sacrificing system. As to the amount it may re- quire from your Board to enable us to live the second year,
76 There had been at several times bills before Congress providing for grants of lands to settlers in Oregon. The reference here must be to the Atchison bill in the Senate, and possibly to an Oregon bill in the House neither carried. No Oregon donation land grant act was passed until the famous act of 1850. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 1=379, 384, 386, 388; II =260.
77 The reference here is, of course, to the earlier Protestant missions in Oregon those of the Methodists and of the American Board. He seems here not to be thinking of the Roman Catholic missions to the Indians. ​
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so far as I am concerned, it shall be left to your Board and myself to decide when God shall in his wisdom make known to us our duty. I expect, if I am faithful to God, you will appreciate it; if not, your aid in my support must necessarily cease. Your Board will give me their instructions and make known their wishes.
We are making preparations for the journey. The winter yields us the hope at least that we shall have an early spring. We must be ready to leave this place as soon as the first day in April. It would be desirable that the draft of which you speak in yours of Nov. 29 should be here by the first of March
Yours as ever,
EZRA FISHER,
P. S. I made my last quarterly report on the 16th of Dec. and requested you to forward me a draft of thirty-six dollars and forty cents ($36.40) for the two last quarters, after de- ducting $13.60 which I have received in this region.
N. B. I have one farther request. Will your Board for- ward me a draft for my services with this people up to the first of April when the other draft is forwarded and let me mail my report just before I leave? I will here say that my time will be necessarily somewhat interrupted in making preparations for the journey, but I hope to be able to spend most of the time in the ministry.
Yours,
E. F.
Rock Island, 111., March 14, 1845. Dear Br. Hill:
I proceed in brief to make out my quarterly report for the quarter ending this day, being the third quarter of the year.
I have labored all the time, except so much as has been necessary for me to make preparations for our journey to Oregon; and these labors have made much larger drafts on my time than they would in N. Y. where everything can ​
394 EZRA FISHER
be readily obtained and every brother is ready to give timely assistance. I have spent no time in my private business be- yond the above named labors, and they probably have cost me 135 miles' travel and three weeks' time, yet I have met all my regular preaching appointments and most of the prayer meeting appointments, but my pastoral visits have been neg- lected, to my grief. But such must be or I must abandon the desired enterprise. Preached 21 sermons and have been assisted by several visiting brethren on Sabbaths; 12 prayer meetings, 8 conference meetings, 5 covenant meetings and traveled 124 miles ; no hopeful conversions among my people ; none baptised; received none by letter. Monthly concert is attended at one place, Rock Island church. Made 48 religious visits. . . . Assisted in the organization of the Pine Bluffs Church in the south part of this county on the first Sabbath in February, and in the ordination of Br. Cyrus G. Clarke as their pastor. Addressed the church on the occasion and gave the charge to the candidate. . . . Received nothing from any auxiliary soc. toward my support, but about $30 . . . from subscriptions. Have one Bible class and about 12 scholars, two Sabbath schools and about 50 scholars and 7 teachers. The church at Rock Island are making ar- rangements to finish the house they purchased last summer and will probably be able to occupy it by June next.
I wrote you about two months ago requesting you to for- ward in advance of the report the amount of my salary up to the first of April in a draft in connection with the advance draft for my salary next year. But as yet I have received neither. Will you forward me the draft immediately, if you have not done it.
Respectfully submitted,
EZRA FISHER, Missionary at Rock Island.
N. B. I have received no letter from you since the 29 of Nov. In a letter of the 4th of Nov. you informed me that my salary would be paid in advance about the month of ​
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Feb. or March and in one you requested me to make every preparation necessary [for the Oregon journey.] I have done so as far as my means will allow and am now waiting with great anxiety to receive the drafts to enable me to finish the outfit. The little property I had I sold at a great sacrifice and the outfit is more expensive than I anticipated, but, if the draft or drafts reach this place in season, we can be ready in ten or twelve days for the journey; we are anxiously ex- pecting them every mail. We ought to be on the way as soon as two or three weeks from this at farthest, but must stay till your instructions reach me here. 78 The 4th of April is the day fixed upon for our departure from this place. We feel that we need greatly the prayers of your Board, especially that Heaven may bless the mission. I am more and more convinced of the importance of the enterprise and that God only can sustain and give us success. You will forgive my importunity. I know not how to lay over on suspense another year. I fear I am too solicitous ; if so, may God forgive. Br. Johnson is probably on his way at this time to Independence, Missouri, where I hope to join him, God permitting.
Your unworthy brother in, Christ,
EZRA FISHER.
March 14, Evening. Just received my commission and regret that I had not known three weeks ago that in this case your Board would not have violated their usual . . . rule. I shall stay in this place till you forward me the order, or order N. B. Stanford to receive the draft for me and order it paid, which I think he will do. In this case, I shall write you to that effect before leaving.
Yours in the gospel,
EZRA FISHER.
78 The emigrants for Oregon left as early in the Spring as possible to reach Oregon before the winter rains. Some left as early as March, others as late as May. See Johnson and Winter, in Ore. Hist. Soc. Quar. VII :68. ​
396 EZRA FISHER
Rock Island, 111., March 22d, 1845. Dear Br. Hill:
I received the commission dated Feb. 1st and 28th, and read it with mingled emotions of pleasure and regret.
By that it appears there is some little misunderstanding be- tween you and me relative to the time when my quarterly re- ports become due. I know the commission under which I have been laboring the last nine months was dated the 1st of May; but, my time of service under the former appoint- ment of six months not having expired till the fifteenth of June, I have made all my quarterly reports to correspond with that date. Hence my quarterly report which you ex- pected to be due the first of Feb. was not due till the 15th of March. Yet, not having heard from you after my inquiry of January 10th, I prepared my report one day before the time in order to get it into the mail at as early a date as practicable, and on that evening the commission appointing me a missionary to Oregon arrived, in which you stated that you would hold back the draft of $300 a few days. I greatly hope that I shall find it in the office on the arrival of the next mail, as the time has now arrived that traveling is tolerably good and I have exhausted all my pecuniary means in the preparation for the journey at a great sacrifice of my prop- erty, and that cheerfully, and have already incurred as many debts as I dare till the draft arrives; yet I have to buy all my flour, some clothing and other articles which must be procured before we start. You may judge what my anxiety must be on the arrival of every mail when I find that it con- tains nothing for me. I wrote a letter and put it in the hands of Br. Byron of Dubuque, which you have undoubtedly re- ceived before this.
I forgot to state the sum which will be due me on the first of April, but you will see that it will be $29.00, by a reference to my report. I have made arrangements with Mr. Napoleon B. Buford to take the draft out of the post office and order it paid in his own name instead of mine. When you receive ​
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an order from me to pay $29 to N. B. Buford on a draft given for my services up to the first day of April, you will please pay the said $29 and take the draft, whatever may be the face of the draft, without any power of attorney from me to said Buford.
Yours under date of Nov. 14th, 1844, says : "Yours of 16th of Sept. was laid before our Ex. Board at their last meeting and your request to have your salary commence at the time of your starting for Oregon was agreed to." But in the commission you state, "for the period of twelve months to receive three hundred dollars from the said Board, or at that rate per annum, the time to commence as soon as you reach the territory, the above sum to cover traveling expenses and salary and you to derive the remainder of your support from the people among whom you labor."
Now I have sacrificed at least $300 in preparation for the journey, and my pecuniary means are so reduced that I must break at least $100 or $150 on the salary to be ready to start ; and then we have a wilderness of 2500 miles to cross, with not a single church organization to receive us and provide even our bread. Now I leave your Board to say whether of the two letters shall define the time in which my salary shall commence. The sacrifice is made and I shall go, God being my helper, and do what I can. I do not faint or feel dis- couraged. It is not absolutely certain whether we go by Council Bluffs or Independence, Missouri. 79 You will do well to address me one letter to Independence to the care of Eld. Hezekiah Johnson, and another to Council Bluffs, immediately on the reception of this. I suppose you are advised that Mr. Zuron [Jason] Lee 80 has been at Washington the past winter
79 These were convenient points on the frontier for reaching the Platte River Valley, along which was the first part of the trail to Oregon. Independence had for some years been the rendezvous for those starting west on the Santa Fe trail, and in fact to all points in the Rocky Mountain region and beyond. Overton Johnson and W. H. Winter, Route Across the Rocky Mountains, in Ore. Hist. Soc. Quar. VII :6s. Bancroft, Hist, of Arizona and New Mexico, 329.
80 Jason Lee, prominent in the Methodist mission in Oregon, had been in the East since May, 1844, on business connected with Oregon and the mission. He died March 12, 1845. The Methodist Institute, the forerunner of Willamette University, was organized in February, 1842. Wm. D. Fenton and H. W. Scott, on Jason Lee, in Oregon Hist. Soc. Quar. VII 1237, 239, 263. See also note 95. ​
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for the purpose of obtaining a grant of land in Oregon for an Oregon Institute Methodist, of course. You will be let into the secret by turning to the President's message, with the accompanying documents, from page 492 to page 495 inclusive. Please be at the trouble to obtain it from some of the political printing offices in your city and read it. Then ask the Baptists of the United States if it is not time for Baptists to look to Oregon.
Yours respectfully,
EZRA FISHER.
Rock Island, 111., March 31st, 1845. Dear Br. Hill:
At the request of the members of the Board of the Iowa Convention, I now sit down in great haste and in the midst of confusion and a little anxiety, to write you a private letter, presenting in brief the views of the members of the local board in Davenport relative to the future operations of your Board in Iowa. We have been contemplating our field of labor with a prayerful interest, but we cannot do less than feel emotions of gratitude for the liberal patronage your Board has extended to it. Yet we feel convinced that all your funds are not the most judiciously appropriated. . . . We believe that the present year you will expend from $1300 to $1700 in the bounds of our convention, including Rock Island Asso- ciation, and yet numbers of the most important fields of labor are entirely unreached Burlington, and at present Iowa City, Fort Madison and the entire county of Lee, with a pop- ulation falling but little short of 10,000 souls. It is the decided opinion of the brethren of the Board that some changes ought to take place, so that these points may effectually be reached and the cause sustained in them.
We think there is another defect, although we are far from charging your Board as being in any measure the cause, yet we think you may be the cause, when the defect is pointed out. The appropriation of just $100 per annum to your missionaries irrespective of the place they occupy and other ​
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contingencies, with a few exceptions, we think, might be im- proved upon. We cannot find it in our hearts to disapprove of the appointments of your missionaries, except, perhaps, in one or two instances. Yet we feel that moer regard should in- future be had to the position the missionary occupies. We know of instances where we think $50 would afford as much relief to a missionary's family as $100 or $150 would, were the same man to occupy another and more important field. . . . We then would say that we would recommend the appointment of missionaries with appropriations varying in proportion to circumstances. If a minister is to sustain the cause in Burlington or Fort Madison or Galena or Blooming- ton, he must have more than $100 from your Board, or we think little that is permanent will be effected, and you will retain in the older states those very men for the want of whom the cause must suffer in our Territory. We think in a few cases appointments might be made with an appropriation of but $50 from your Board, and through that medium you might be enabled to do more towards fully sustaining men in more important points. Could you visit our prairie country and see its peculiarities, you would feel the force of these views. The great amount of labor must be performed in the populous points and from these reach less populous places.
We hope at our next anniversary to effect another object, to wit: That the convention will be prepared to instruct her Board not to recommend the appointment of ministers to labor in the bounds of any church who will not pledge themselves to raise a sum equal to 25 cents for each member to aid the present Society over and above the amount they pledge for the support of their minister direct.
We have now two applications pending which are not ap- proved, either for want of information relative to the applicant or from informality in the application, which may soon be in your hands. You understand this is a private letter and will not therefore publish it.
One word respecting myself. I received the commission more than two weeks since, but as yet the draft has not reached ​
400 EZRA FISHER
me, and tomorrow companies from this state will commence their journey and we have fixed on next Thursday to leave this place, but must wait till the draft reaches us. We have disposed of all our little possessions and all our furniture at about half their value, to be ready, and are still in suspense whether we shall be able to enter upon our anticipated field of labor. We sometimes fear the draft is in the bottom of the lake or has miscarried. You may imagine with what anxiety we wait each returning mail and what are our feel- ings of disappointment as we return from the office unpro- vided for. We try to feel that the hand of the Lord is in all this. Sometimes I feel to say "Thy Will, O Lord be done." Yet our constant prayer is, If it please Thee O Lord, grant us the desire of our hearts and give us seasonably the means necessary to the prosecution of our journey. Should the next mail bring the draft, we must be delayed a few days beyond the appointed time. You have undoubtedly forwarded the draft before this.
Yours truly, EZRA FISHER.
N. B. Perhaps it is not the will of the Lord that I should go; if so, I should submit, yet my heart is in the work and it will be time enough for me to learn that fact when I find the door is shut. Till then, I am bound to act up to a con- viction of duty in view of the importance of the field before me. Should the draft go back to you with my name on its back, you will not pay it till you hear from me by letter, as I shall write you immediately on the receipt of the draft that you may learn the time of our departure.
E. FISHER.
Rock Island, April 5th, 1845. Dear Br. Brabrook:
At the request of Dr. Witherwax and others I take my pen to address you a line in great haste. The church in Davenport are still destitute and perhaps have been rather ​
CORRESPONDENCE 401
difficult to please as a whole, yet they greatly need a minister, and the Territory as much need a leading mind in the denom- ination who may exercise a father's care and kindness toward our esteemed young brethren in the ministry. Now I hardly know what to write you. I would not draw you away from a very responsible and important post to occupy a less im- portant one. Yet, should you determine to settle as a pastor, I feel greatly desirous that an effectual door may be opened for you in Iowa. The church at Davenport and in this place cannot unite in the support of one man ; each would claim the services and residence of the minister. And the field is so wide in this vicinity that our brethren feel that they must have a man all the time on this side the river. Perhaps they judge correctly. I have no doubt from the acquaintance I have with the brethren in Danevport that they are prepared to give you a unanimous call to settle with them, provided they can raise the means for your support.
The Church in Bloomington will probably be left destitute before long, at longest in the month of June. It is the object of this letter to elicit from you a reply to a few questions. Are you determined to continue in your present agency? If not, would you regard it duty to settle in Iowa, provided you could be supported at a commanding point? Should the churches of Davenport and Bloomington unite in giving you a call, could you consent to supply the two churches thirty miles asunder, but with an excellent road on the bank of the river? Dr. Witherwax says their church would wait six months, if they knew you would settle with them at the ex- piration of that time. He also thinks that your support might be raised by adopting that plan. Please write Dr. W. in answer to this, as I shall probably be on our long journey before you will be able to have a letter reach this place. We are only waiting a draft from N. Y. which we are expecting every mail. Do not fail to attend our convention at Bloom- ington the first of June. May God direct you according to his holy will. Pray for us that our enterprise may be under ​
402 EZRA FISHER
the fostering care of the Almighty and be greatly blessed of the Lord.
Yours in gospel bonds,
EZRA FISHER.
N. B. Please stir up Brs. Bailey, Sherwood, Rogers and Crane to attend our convention.
Done by request of those who love the cause of Christ in Iowa.
Davenport, April 12th. Dear Br.:
We are now here on our way for Oregon. We feel alone, as Br. Johnson does not go this spring, in consequence of the ill health of his wife. But if God is with us, all will be well. You see by Br. Witherwax's letter the state of feelings of this church in relation to you. I trust God will direct you. You will not fail to attend the convention at least. I failed of taking up the collection for the magazine, as I expected, through a variety of causes, but will leave the money with Dr. W. for the two volumes. I would be glad to have it here after sent to me to Oregon, if you can direct; if not, it must be discontinued at present. Should you finally think it your duty to come to this territory, perhaps you will do well not to expect anything positively from Bloomington.
Yours truly,
EZRA FISHER.
P. S. The brethren here wish to have you come to this place and devote your labors entirely to this place and the immediate vicinity.
Yours, E. FISHER. Addressed on back:
Elder Brabroook,
Upper Alton, 111. ​
CORRESPONDENCE 403
Rock Island, 111., April llth, 1845. Dear Br. Hill:
Yours of March 29th came to hand the last mail. I had made arrangements with Br. E. F. Calkins to advance the funds on the drafts and consequently we were almost ready for our long and laborious journey. Our clothing and pro- visions are all loaded and we expect to cross the river early in the morning. I am almost worn down by the fatigues of preparation, but trust with common blessings to improve when once on our journey. We hope to be able to reach Independence before the last company leaves for Oregon. 81
I will make the report up to the present from March the 14th in brief. I have preached eleven sermons. Spent most of my time in preparation for my journey. Delivered one public address at the request of the citizens of Davenport on the subject "Agricultural and Commercial and Moral Pros- pects of Oregon." Attended six prayer and two conference meetings. Visited six families. Attended Sabbath school twice and addressed the school once. Received three dollars towards my salary. All the remaining ... I am pained to say my press of business obliges me to leave unattended to. I regret exceedingly that I should have been the cause of the slightest disquietude, either to yourself or the Board. I trust I have the soul of a Christian and would not willingly wound the feelings of an enemy, much less those of the guardians of the cause of American Baptist missions. If I know my own heart, I have only sought explanations, and the farthest possible would I be from censuring either you or the Board. You say we do not find any memorandum of a letter of the 4th of Nov. I have a letter now in my hand dated the 4th of Nov., 1844, and in the one under date of Nov. 29 you state : "I wrote you on the 2d instant etc." Now I think you may find your memorandum by referring to the 2nd of Nov. instead of the 4th. After leaving Syracuse, where I last parted with you personally, I did not
8 1 See mote 78. ​
404 EZRA FISHER
reach Iowa so soon by some weeks as I expected in con- sequence of the extremely bad traveling. Your appointment was here some time before my arrival. I consequently re- ported from the time I commenced labor in the territory and not from the time of the date of the commission, and when I received the commission of the 1st of May I finished the six months' service before I commenced reporting under that commission, and I suppose there is the place where originated all our misunderstanding. I therefore supposed my former reports had been acceptable, hence I supposed you would not expect a quarterly report before the 15th of March. Had I known your expectations I should most cheerfully have reported the 1st of February. You sent me a draft of $41.67, yet according to my calculation but $31.70 would be my due up to the present date and but $29 up to the 1st of April. As the expense of my outfit has been much greater than I ex- pected and the sum I will have to take with me after the making of the outfit is so small, I concluded to order the whole paid and will be willing to make the deduction from the next appointment's salary, should your Board request it. I shall start from this place with about $240.00 and we shall be at about $50 charges in getting to Independence. In view of my pecuniary situation the friends in this place gave me a collection for my personal benefit amounting to about $8.70, after preaching a sermon on the subject of the Oregon Mission, and after a similar manner the people in Davenport raised me about $11.60, as a token of sympathy for me in the sacrifice they regard me now making. I name this that you may see that our friends here approve of our undertaking and bid us God speed. I regret exceedingly that Br. Johnson will not go this year.
Yours, EZRA FISHER.
N. B. I trust I shall soon have a fellow laborer, and that I now have the prayers of all the members of the Board. I feel often greatly to distrust my adaptation to so important ​
CORRESPONDENCE 405
an enterprise, yet I trust God is my helper, and only through his strength shall I prove a blessing to the cause of our precious Redeemer.
Yours E. F.
St. Joseph, 82 Missouri, on the East Bank of Missouri River,
May 14, 1845. Dear Br. Hill:
We left Rock Island on the 5th of April. Spent the Sabbath in Davenport, where I preached twice. Were affectionately received by the brethren, and on the 7th commenced our journey, after singing a missionary hymn and publicly com- mending ourselves, and the mission we anticipate to the care of Him who rules the hearts of men, being accompanied on our way two miles by three brethren and seven miles by another. Rested and preached [on Sabbaths] except the last, when we were obliged to pitch our tent, on the preceding evening, two miles from timber in the midst of a broad prairie. Our journey has been fatiguing, yet on the whole our health has improved. We have now 14 wagons in com- pany and suppose there are at least 50 behind; yet, lest we may be disappointed in failing to fall in with their company, we have judged it prudent to move over into the Indian Territory immediately. And now while I am writing in my tent some of the teams are crossing the Missouri river. We find our route will be something more than 100 miles nearer and at the same time impeded with less water courses than it would have been by Independence. Therefore I suppose I have failed of receiving an important letter from you. I trust, however, that you will forward me a letter to Oregon City, Oregon Territory, by ship, through the medium of the Methodist Mission Agency in your city, so that I may receive it on my arrival at that place.
82 St. Joseph and other points along the Missouri in this vicinity, such as Independence, Liberty and Westport, were frequent points of rendezvous, as they were convenient places from which to start up the Platte Valley, the emi- grant route. See also note 79. ​
406 EZRA FISHER
The spirit of immigration is great this year, yet it is im- practicable to tell exactly the number of souls which will cross the mountains this summer. 83 200 wagons have already passed this place and the immediate vicinity, and probably twice that number have passed Independence. It is judged that from 5000 to 15000 souls will pass the mountains this summer. Br. Johnson probably will not go this summer, yet I trust that he will next spring. If not, I think your Board will not delay to have a missionary ready next spring for Oregon. I am more and more convinced of the importance of the enterprise and desire to become more like our Divine Master in temper and activity in His cause. But God must bless, or all is in vain. The care of the camp at this particular time urges brevity. When we arrive at Fort Laramie I will probably write you again. I hope to be able to keep a journal through my journey.
Yours in great haste,
EZRA FISHER.
Indian Territory, Nemaha Agency, 25 miles west of St. Joseph,
Mo., May 23, 1845. Dear Br. Hill:
At the suggestion of Br. Johnson, I submit to you the pro- ceedings of the meeting of the New London Emigration Company for Oregon, of which Br. Johnson and myself, with our families, form a part.
At a meeting of the emigrants convened at this place, on motion Elder E. Fisher was called to the chair and J. H. Rinearson was appointed secretary.
On motion a committee of seven were appointed to draft a constitution and rules for the government of the company on their way to Oregon, to wit: Ezra Fisher, A. Hackelman, Eckenburg, Knox, Gallaheir, Hezekiah Johnson and Wm. Bruck. Adjourned to 2 o'clock P. M.
83 The immigration to Oregon in 1845 was the largest up to that time. Bancroft says that it numbered about 3,000. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 1 1508. About 150 more went to California. Bancroft, Hist, of Cal. IV 1571. British officers in Oregon in 1845-6 estimated the immigration at 2,000. Warre and Vavasour, ed. by J. Schafer, in Ore. Hist. Soc. Quar. X:so. ​
CORRESPONDENCE 407
2 o'clock P. M. company convened; the chairman called to order. The committee submitted the following constitution and rules which were unanimously adopted : 84
CONSTITUTION.
Article 1st. This Company shall be called the New London Emigrating Company for Oregon.
Art. 2d. All persons uniting with company shall be bound by the regulations hereinafter provided.
Art. 3d. All male members over the age of sixteen years shall have the right to vote in the business transactions of the company.
Art. 4th. The officers of this company shall consist of a Captain, Lieutenant, Orderly Lieutenant, Sergeant of the Guard, Engineer and a Committee of Five, who shall be elected each four weeks; except the Engineer and Sergeant of the Guard, who shall be appointed by the Captain.
Art 5th. Captain to maintain good order and strict discipline, and to enforce all rules adopted by this company. It shall be the duty of the Lieutenant to take charge of the cattle and to call out a sufficient number of men and boys not engaged in driving teams to drive and take care of the loose cattle, and he shall be subject to the order of the Captain. It shall be the duty of the Orderly Sergeant to keep a fair roll of the names of all the men subject to duty. It shall be the duty of the Engineer to remove any obstruction in the road and select the most suitable places for encampment. It shall be the duty of the Committee to settle all matters of difference between two or more persons in said company, according to the evi- dence in the case. Any person or persons that may feel them- selves aggrieved at the decision of the Committee shall have the right of appeal to the company, provided that parties in dispute shall not be allowed to vote, and a decision of a ma-
84 It was customary for the emigrant parties to adopt constitutions. One of the emigration of 1844, for instance, was published in the New York Herald in January, 1845, and the author may have seen it, for the two constitutions resem- ble each other in many ways. Ore. Hist. Soc. Quar. 111:407. ​
408 EZRA FISHER
jority of the voters shall be final except in criminal cases, which shall require a vote of two thirds.
Art. 5th. Those who have loose cattle shall provide hands to drive in proportion to the number owned.
Art. 6th. Any person attaching- himself to this company shall be bound not to take more than one quart of ardent spirits to each person in his family, and in no case shall any individual let it be known to the Indians that there is any in the company; and it shall be the duty of the judicial com- mittee to examine each wagon to see that this article is not violated.
Art. 7th. When the company may have opportunity to hold religious assembles, any person violating the rules of decorum or disturbing such worshiping congregation shall be taken into custody by the judicial committee and shall be dealt with according to its decision; and it shall be the duty of the company to rest on each Sabbath except in cases of emergency.
Art. 8th. This constitution may be altered or amended at any regular meeting of the company by a vote of two thirds of the legal voters.
Br. Johnson and family are here and our company will move forward tomorrow.
Our company consists of 50 wagons, 214 souls, and about 666 head of cattle. 275 wagons have already passed this point before us, and about 1000 souls. It is uncertain how many have left Independence. We have heard of one company which left that place with 500 wagons and another which have left, the number not yet learned at this place.
We have in our company 30 Baptist professors, including Br. Johnson's family and my own, 5 Methodists, 2 Presby- terians, 2 Cumberland Presbyterians, 5 Associate Reformed Presbyterians, 2 Seceeders, 1 Anti-missionary Baptist, 1 Campbellite Baptist and 1 Dunkard Baptist. ​
CORRESPONDENCE 409
Last year an Elder Snelling from the Platte country moved to Oregon with a small organized Baptist church. 85
Yours respectfully,
EZRA FISHER.
N. B. Will you publish this entire in the Baptist Advocate. I suppose our company is the first that ever observed the Lord's day in crossing the Rocky Mountains. We feel that we need your prayers.
The Indian Agent, Major Wm. P. Richardson, has rendered us every facility and has invited us to participate in the hospi- tality of his family. His wife is an excellent Methodist lady. We have been here one week. In about 150 miles we shall probably find a hard gravel road and short buffalo grass, salt enough for our stock. You will probably hear from us when we reach Fort Laramie, 650 miles from this.
Yours truly,
EZRA FISHER.
We are all in good health and the company in fine spirits. I spent last Sabbath with the Presbyterian Mission at this place and preached once, and, on Wednesday last, attended prayer meeting at his place and we had an affecting scene. I addressed the meeting about twenty minutes. Mr. Hamilton, the superintendent, is a godly man.
Fort Laramie, 86 Indian Territory, July 10, 1845. Dear Br. :
By the grace of God we have been preserved through dangers and fatigues about 1000 miles on our journey and we are now in comfortable health, although Mrs. Fisher has had a slight attack of the fever occasioned no doubt from exposure and excessive fatigues on the Platte river. The multiplied labors of the camp and the great anxiety of the emigrants
85 See note on letter of Jan. 10, 1845. This was either incorrect informa- tion, or the church disbanded on or before reaching Oregon, as the first Baptist church in Oregon was organized in May, 1844. The next two were organized in 1846.
86 Fort Laramie was not the present city of Laramie, but was a fur traders' post on the south side of the Platte, near its junction with the Laramie fork. ​
410 EZRA FISHER
opportunity of performing- anything like missionary labor on our way. In this respect we are somewhat disappointed, yet we hope to exert in some measure a restraint over them which will be salutary hereafter. When we left the Nimaha Agency, we hoped to be able to influence the company in which we then were to rest on the Lord's day, but we soon found that every circumstance was construed into a case of emergency, except those manifest providences in which it became impracticable to move. You can have no conception of the influence such a journey exerts for the time being to progress on their journey almost entirely preclude the upon the character of moral, and even professedly Christian men. Every man's interest seems to conflict with that of his neighbor, and still they must live in a community to a certain extent. We have preached but three Sabbaths since we left the Nimaha Agency, and been constrained, notwithstanding every remonstrance, to travel a few miles, sufficient to throw the camp in confusion every other Sabbath. But the days of this pilgrimage are comparatively short, and we hope and trust the trials will the better fit us for faithfully serving our common Lord in the land to which we are directing our steps. May Almighty God grant us the desire of our hearts.
Our roads since we crossed the Missouri river have been the best we ever saw in any country, and at present our greatest fears are that the long season of drought will render the feed so poor and scarce that our cattle will suffer. We have suffered but little for want of water as yet, and we are now approaching a region of springs and perpetual snow, so that we have but little to fear from that score. We expect it will be at least twelve or thirteen weeks more before we reach the field of our future labors, and we know not whether we shall be able to write you again till that time. I am now writing seated on a buffalo robe in the open air under a scorching sun. (I would suppose the thermometer would range between 86 and 96), with the bottom of a fallen wash tub in my lap for a table and in the midst of the con- fusion of the camp. You must therefore tax your patience ​
CORRESPONDENCE 411
in deciphering these hieroglyphics. Our wagons are now un- dergoing repairs, having become shrunk almost beyond your conception by protracted and excessive heat from the sun and sand. Probably in two days we shall be on our line of march. As near as we can calculate, about 600 wagons are in advance of us and probably about 100 are behind us, and it will be almost a fair estimate to reckon 425 souls to every hundred
waggons. 87
Yours in haste,
EZRA FISHER.
N. B. Br. Johnson and family are with us and in good health. He requests me to say that as he is preparing a letter for the Cross and Journal and his time is all employed in that and the multiplied cares of the camp, he cannot write at this time. He sends his respects to yourself and Board.
Your, E. F.
Snake River, 7 miles above the Salmon Falls, Oregon Terri- tory, Sept. 12th, 1845.
Dear Br. Hill:
I this day am happy to meet Dr. White, 88 the Indian agent for Oregon, on his way to your city and Washington. It affords us peculiar pleasure to state to you and your Board that by the abounding grace of the All Wise God, Br. Johnson, myself and our families have been preserved through a fatiguing journey of about 2000 miles by ox team and that we are now in health and within about 670 miles of our journey's end. The fatigues of our journey perpetually press- ing upon us forbid our doing much directly by preaching the word of God, yet we hope soon to be placed where we may labor directly for the temporal and spiritual welfare of the new and rising colony with whom our interests are soon to
87 This estimate was apparently nearly correct. See note 83.
88 Elijah White, M. D., had arrived in Oregon in 1837 as a member of th Methodist mission. He was appointed United States sub-Indian agent for the Oregon Country in 1842. He was now on his way to Washington bearing to Congress a memorial of the Legislature of the Provisional Oregon Government, and on business concerning his office. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. I:iSS. 54, 481-6. ​
412 EZRA FISHER
be identified. We feel as much as ever interested in the en- terprise and our hopes are as high, although we feel con- vinced that we will have to meet all the peculiarities of a new country.
May God give us grace to acquit ourselves faithfully in his fear. Dr. White gives a flattering account of the colony, as you will learn by a personal interview with him, which you will doubtless have. I have but a moment's time to write as our camps are on the eve of moving and Dr. W. is in the same condition.
We hope to reach the place of our destination in about 8 weeks, if God will give us a share in your petitions to the Father of all our blessings, that we may have grace to plant and water churches in the true apostolic spirit.
I have not time to write to our relatives in the state of N. York. You will confer a favor on us and them should you insert a note in the Baptist Register stating that we are all in health.
Yours respectfully,
INDEX
INDEX ​
INDEX TO VOLUME XVI
Baptist church, _first in Oregon, 75-6. eecher, M of, 2760.
Beecher, Mrs. Harriet Foster, obituary
n, 75- , obiti
Block house at Cascades attacked, 12. Bolon, A. J., Indian Agent, mission of
inquiry among Yakima Indians results
in death, 6-7.
California gold, influence of, in Illinois in 1850, 62.
CELILO CANAL, early plans for getting boats around Tumwater falls and rapids below, 1874-1893, 109-10; the project of a boat railway, 1895, 109- 110; The Dalles-Celilo canal recom- mended and actual construction begun in 1905, no; State of Oregon and Open River Association completes portage railway, 115; Open River Transportation Company supplements, 1 1 6-2 1 ; move for continuing contract for work on canal, 119-20; what an open Columbia means, 122-4, 130-1; construction of canal, 123, 127-8; cost of canal, 126-7.
Celilo, origin of name, 135.
CELILO PORTAGE RAILWAY, motive in building, 113; legislative appropriation for, supplemented by work of Open River Association in securing right of way, 113-4; celebration of comple- tion of, 114, 127; purposes served by railway, 15, 21.
Chinookan family of Indians, 135.
COLUMBIA, THE, AMERICA'S GREATEST HIGHWAY THROUGH THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS TO THE SEA, 377-8.
Columbia River, The, described, 133; obstructions in the lower, removed, 134; Indian tribes along course, 135-6; Lewis and Clark expedition traverses lower, 137; occupation of upper region of, by missionaries, 147-9.
COLUMBIA RIVER, THE, STORY OF THE, 181-203; discovery of, 181-2; explor- ation by Lewis and Clark, 182; fur trading era on, 182-4; era of mis- sions on, 184-6; use of, by gold hunters, 186-7; Idaho settlements, 188- 92; meaning of opened river, 192-5.
COLUMBIA, THE, OPEN, celebration of the, 107-8.
Cram ? Captain Thomas Jefferson, me- moir of, reflects on the character of
the people and country of the Pa- cific Nortl
lorthwest, 19-2*.
DALLES-CELILO CANAL CELEBRATION, AD- DRESS OF WELCOME at Wallula May 4, r 9i5 175-80.
DALLES-CELILO PORTAGE, THE ITS HIS- TORY AND INFLUENCE, 133-74; Lewis and Clark party make first portage on the north side, 1805, 137; Darid Thompson makes first portage on south side, 1811, 137; first shipment of freight across by Astor party pro- ceeding toward interior post, 1811, 138; "Express" annually crosses in March beginning in 1813, 139; the annual passage to and fro by the "brigades" of fur traders, 140; Mrs. Narcissa Whitman's description of passage, 140-1; descriptions of port- ages made by Drayton of the Wilkes' expedition, by Sir George Simpson and by Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 142-7; David Douglas' experience at, 147; passing of it by the pioneers, 149-50; Governor Stevens outlines methods of transportation to serve campaigns against Indians, 150-3; use of portage by settlers and gold hunters, 153-7; construction of the Dalles-Celilo Port- age railroad, 157-8; control of portage by the Oregon Steam Navigation Com- pany, 158-70; with building of rail- road, 1882, use of portage for a time ceases, 170-2; building of the Portage Railroad by the State of Oregon with the aid of the Open River Association,
Dalles City occupied as town site, 1852,
26; incorporated, 26. Deady, Matthew P., decisions of, quoted
on the Methodist mission claims to
The Dalles town site, 26-32; Wm. H.
Packwood's recollections of, 44-5. Denny, Miss Margaret Lenora, obituary
of, 2760-0.
Fisher, Reverend Ezra, lineage of, 67; early environment of, 67-8; education of, 68; work at Indianapolis, 70-1; work at Davenport, 72-3; starts for Oregon, 1845, 73-4; privations and discouragements of, during first year in Oregon, 77-8; missionary work on Clatsop Plains, 1848-9, 79-80; goes to mines in California, 80; in charge of Baptist school and church at Oregon City, 1849-51, 81-2; exploring agent for Home Mission Society, 1851-5, 82-5; Mrs. Fisher dies, 1852, 83; per- sonal characteristics of Reverend
[415] ​
INDEX.
Fisher, 83-6; pastor of Santiam church, 1856-9, 86; takes up work at The Dalles, 1861-72, 87-90; corres- pondence describing work at Musca- tine, Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, 111., 91-104; correspondence describing conditions in Oregon on ar- rival in autumn, 1845, 278-81; view of importance of field he is entering upon as missionary, 280; educational situation, 281-3; statement of condi- tions and needs of his field, 284-310; population, church facilities and needs of country bordering on the Missis- sippi river in Illinois and Iowa in 1844, 379-405; organization for trip across plains and incidents en route, 405-13-
Garnett, Major, Southern sympathizer, placed in command of Fort Simcoe, 14; has charge of one of the two forces sent to punish Indians in up- per Columbia region, 22-3.
H
Haller, Major, leads disastrous expedi- tion among Yakima Indians, 7.
Hogg, Colonel T. Egenton, the origi- nator of the scheme of the Yaquina railroad and the promoter of it, 229- 45; obstacles encountered in financing it, 235.
Hudson's Bay Company secures and re- tains friendship of the Indians, 2,
Indians in the Pacific Northwest, their first ideas of the white man, 1-2; their experiences with the Hudson's Bay Company, 2; apprehension caused by actions of American missionaries and settlers, 3.
INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON TERRI- TORY, 1-23; beginning of the reserva- tion policy in the Pacific Northwest, 4; the Sound treaties and the Walla Walla council of treaty, 4-5; effect upon Indians of gold discovery in the Cplville country, 6; first murders committed by Yakima Indians, 6; J. A. Bolon, Indian agent, killed, 6-7; disastrous Haller expedition, 7; Rain's expedition a failure, 7-8; Col. J. K. Kelly takes force to Walla Walla that encounters Indians, 8-9; losses sus- tained by whites in Sound country, Q-IO; re-enforcement to whites in Sound country, 10-11; Seattle at- tacked, 1 1 ; lesson taught the ma- rauding northern Indians, 12; block house at Cascades attacked, 12; Col- onel B. F. Shaw leads expedition through Nachess Pass, holds council with Nez Perces, 13; defeats trouble- some band at Grand Ronde, 13; Col- onel Wright traverses Indian country with force and establishes Forts Walla
Walla and Simcoc, 13-14; cost of war and how met, 15-16; Indians renew depredations upon miners in 1858, 21; Colonel Steptoe among them in Col- ville country but overwhelming num- bers compel his retreat, 21-2; Colonel Wright and Major Garnett lead forces that punish these Indians, 22-3; bru- talities of whites in this war, 23. INDIAN WORDS IN OUR LANGUAGE, 338- 42.
K
Kelly, Colonel J. K., leads mounted vol- unteers up the Columbia to Walla Walla who encounter Indians, 8-9.
Lewis and Clark expedition the first white men to traverse lower Columbia, 137.
M
Me Arthur, Wm. P., Lieutenant U. S. Navy, conducts Pacific Coast Survey of 1849-50, 246-74; enters navy, 246; commands vessel on expedition to Everglades, Florida, 246-7; detailed to Coast Survey, 1848, 247; navigates ship Humboldt from Panama to San Francisco, 249-50; delay in getting men to man vessel Ewing for sur- vey, 250-1; conditions in San Fran- cisco and California in 1849 described, 252-3; dilatoriness of Government dis- courages, 253-4; account of progress of survey along coast of California and Oregon, 254-60; dies on trip near Panama, 260; tributes of Professor Bache and Lieutenant Bartlett to, 260- 3; writings of, in "Notices of West- ern Coast of United States," 263-74.
McLoughlin, Dr. John, several state- ments of, relative to considerations that made participation by British element in Provisional Government advisable, 313, 320-1; letter to Sir J. H. Pelly indicates some thought of political leadership in Oregon, 321.
METHODIST MISSION CLAIM TO THE DALLES TOWN SITE, 24-32; transfer of the American Board of Foreign Mis- sions, 1847, 24-5; re-transfer to Meth- odist Mission Society, 1849, 28-9.
MINTO, JOHN, A TRIBUTE TO, BY ONE WHO LOVED HIM, 330-7; a special student of Burns and of Oregon, 33; aids in establishing Morrisons on Clat- sop Plains, 331-2; throws light on early conditions and development of Clatsop Plains region, 323-5; receives spontaneous reception at opening of 28th Legislative Assembly of Oregon, 325-6.
N
Nash, Wallis, Vice-President of the Yaquina Railroad, gives estimate of sums expended on that project, 230; has charge of location of road, 236; gives explanation of conditions which
[416J ​
INDEX.
wrecked the enterprise, 244; incor- porates the Co-Operative Christian Federation, 1906, 245.
Nesmith, Colonel J. W., leads six com- panies of mounted volunteers into In- dian country, 8.
O
O'Meara, James, biographical sketch of, 350-1.
OREGON EMIGRATING COMPANIES, THE, ORGANIZATION OF THE, 205-27; analogy between westward movement of Amer- ican people and Teutonic folk migra- tions, 205; general conditions under which migrations of pioneers were un- dertaken, 206; the emigrating socie- ties, 207-11; membership qualifications and terms of acceptance, 211-3; prob- lems of discipline with the individual- istic and of maintenance of sufficiently compact movement to insure safety, 213-8; administration of offenses against discipline and in cases of in- fractions of law, 218-20; tendency to- ward disintegration, 220-4; emigrant governments in operation, 224-7.
P
PACIFIC COAST SURVEY, THE, 1849-50,
Packwood, Wm. H. Reminiscences of, 33-545 probable name was Duncan, 33- 4; westward course of Packwood fam- ily, 34-5 J Sabbath observance custom- ary, 35; recollections of schooling, 36- 7; early farming and industrial condi- tions witnessed, 37-40; enlists in Mounted Rifles, 1848, 42; is detailed to escort General Wilson to California, 43; trips across plains in 1849, 42-52; recollections of conditions in Califor- nia, 52-4.
Prosch, Thomas W. and Mrs. Virginia McCarver, obituaries of, 276a-276c.
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT FOR OREGON, THE LAST STEP IN THE FORMATION OF A, IN 1845, 313-29; McLoughlin states considerations that led to, 313, 320-3; the five steps in the process of secur- ing the complete establishment of the Provisional Government, 312-3; the fixing and the shifting of the northern boundary line of its jurisdiction, 314- 5; the influences that induced the American element to favor this last step, 315-9; the advantages of incor- poration secured to McLoughlin and his associates, 319-23; procedure thru which last step was consummated, 324- 6; conditions exacted by British party in return for allegiance given, 326-8; mutual advantages realized, 328-9.
R
Rains, Major Gabriel J., in charge of military affairs along the Columbia, 7; leads expedition into Indian country that fails, 7-8.
Reed, John, starts across continent with letters from Astor party at Astoria, but Indians at Celilo seize his mail box and rifle, 139.
Shaw, Colonel B. F., sent by Governor Stevens across mountains with force to fight Indians, holds council with Nez Perces and defeats troublesome band at Grand Ronde, 13.
SPANISH AND FRENCH RELICS IN AMER- ICA, 55-60.
Steptoe, Colonel, placed in command of Fort Walla Walla, 14.
Stevens, Governor Isaac I., first gov- ernor of Washington Territory, makes treaties with Indians, 3-5; has charge of operations of volunteer forces in Washington, 13; has trouble with court in Pierce county, proceeds against Chief Leschi, 18.
THAYER, ELI, SPEECH OF, ON THE AD- MISSION OF OREGON AS A STATE, 364- 76; characters of Oregon settlers, 365-6; answers objections of Repub- lican party to admission of Oregon, 366-72; principles that should govern Congress on the question of the ad- mission of a state, 372-4; going to nation and to people of Oregon through admission, 374-6.
The Dalles Methodist Mission estab- lished by Reverends Daniel Lee and H. K. W. Perkins in 1838, 124; sold to Dr. Marcus Whitman by Mr. Gary, 1847, 24-5; included in military re- serve, 1850, 25.
Thompson, David, discovers source of Columbia, 1807; and first to traverse entire course of river from source to mouth, 1811, 134; first to portage on south side around Celilo falls, 137.
Trimble, Dr. Wm. J., author of "The Mining Advance Into the Inland Em- pire," 275-6.
u
UMATILLA COUNTY, EARLY FARMING IN, 343-9; early settlement at Weston, 343 ; first grains probably raised by Andrew Kilgore, 1863, 344; first threshing machines used, 1868, 344-5; early corn crops, 345; surplus wheat fed to stock, 347; irrigation begun, 1869, 347; completion of Baker rail- road, 1879, stimulates grain raising, 347-8; header brought into use, 1878, 348; loss through depredations by squirrels, 348-9.
Volunteers to fight Indians called for in Oregon and Washington, 7; par- ticipate in Rains expedition under command of Col. J. W. Nesmith, 8.
W
Walker, Captain Joseph R., 350-63; a native of Tennessee, 352; engages in steam boating, 352; joins expedition into Santa Fe country, 353-4; .serves
[417] ​
INDEX.
as sheriff of Jackson County, Nev., 354-5; enlists in expedition under Captain Bonneville, 355-6; undertakes exploration of route to Great Salt Lake, 357-8; engaged by American Fur Company, 1834-8, 359-6o; makes Walker's Pass" known, 360; joins Colonel Fremont's party, 361; later life in California, 362-3.
"White River Massacre," 9.
"Willamette," origin of, 59.
Wool, General John E., regarded as petulant fault finder, 18-19; Governors and Legislatures make formal com- plaint, 19.
Wright, Colonel George, assumes com- mand of region drained by the Co- lumbia, 10 ; leads expedition into Yak- ima country, 13-14; disregards instruc- tions of General Wool, 19; leads suc- cessful expedition against Indians of upper Columbia, 32-3.
Yakitna War, 1-23.
Yaquina Railroad, The, 228-45; the aims and fate of the project, 228-9; the ele- ments of the fantastic in the scheme, 229-30; the route utilized, 230-1; sub- sidies granted the project, 230-1; rail- road building activity of that era, 232; prospectus of the company, 233-4; ob- stacles met in financing the project, 235; completion to Corvallis cele- brated, 236; early operation of the road, 226-7; extension to Cascade Mountains, 237-8; troubles of road in insolvent condition, 239-40; successive receiverships, 241-4; sale of property to A. B. Hammond, 244-5; Hammond sells to E. H. Harriman, who conveys to Southern Pacific Company, 245.