# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 17/Correspondence of the Reverend Ezra Fisher, Part 4

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
150 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
(Continued from page 76, March Quarterly.)
Our governor has dispatched an express to California, 141 hop- ing that the bearer of dispatches will find part of our Pacific squadron in San Francisco Bay, who may afford us protec- tion till an express shall reach Washington and our hitherto too tardy government may give us security in the midst of the heathen. It is feared by many that the Jesuit priests were obsequious to the horrid massacre of Dr. Whitman and family. 142 I hope to be able to send you the whole corre- spondence relative to this subject. By this unexpected prov- idence, it is feared that every Protestant mission to the In- dians west of the Rocky Mountains will be broken up. At least they must be discontinued for the present, while Ro- manism holds undisputed sway over all those savage minds. Should not this fact furnish an argument sufficiently power- ful to arouse the sympathies of the friends of missions to new efforts in behalf of the degraded sons of the western plains and mountains, and especially as we trust the time is at the door when our national government will give protec- tion to the lives of the missionaries of the churches? I will assure you, dear brother, as a philanthropist and a Christian minister, I earnestly desire and devoutly pray that our national government will lose no time in extending her excellent laws over our Territory. 143 Our laws, although as much respected as could reasonably be expected, are ineffi- cient in the punishment of crime. The public mind is un- settled constantly, hoping for a better and more complete code of laws; difficulties in relation to land claims will be multiplying and afford fruitful sources of litigation and our relations to the savages will be subject to repeated discon-
141 The overland passengers did not succeed in getting through to California. The letters to California were finally forwarded via the brig "Henry," which sailed after the above was written. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 1:679.
142 The long and unfortunate debate over the question of Catholic influence in the Whitman massacre is here reflected.
143 The reference is here, of course, to the laws passed by the provisional government organized in Oregon pending the extension of the protection of the United States over the colony. ​
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tent till our government treats with them for their lands. They have long been told that the Boston Hy-as Tyee (Chief) will come next year and pay them for their lands till they say their turn-turn (heart) is sick and they do not know but they shall mimmelus (die) before the Boston Hy-as Tyee comes. Our Indian neighbors like to have the Bostons settle among them and give them two or three blankets, a gun or a horse for a section of land and are fond of trading with the Whites, yet they are like children in their tradings with the Whites. They have generally great confidence in the honesty of the Whites till they are aroused to jealousy .by some designing person.
March 24th You will probably learn the state of our Indian relations to a later date than this through the me- dium of the return party who will leave the settlements for the States about the 20th of April, and will probably pass sufficiently near the Cayuse nation to learn the state of the war.
I have just received yours under date of April 1st, 1847, which came to the Islands on board the Medora, and will just state that it affords me great pleasure to learn that God still reigns in your anniversaries. May you ever be able truthfully to adopt the language of the Psalmist, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell to- gether in unity." I sometimes almost envy you those heav- enly entertainments, yet our Heavenly Father has other- wise ordered it and I would not challenge the wisdom of His counsels. Since I commenced this package God has been graciously pleased to give us more than usual intimations that He has not entirely withdrawn His favors from us. Last Lord's day we organized a little feeble church in Clat- sop Plains consisting of seven members, three males and four females, 144 , and on Monday one of my neighbors sent for me to call and see him. I found him laboring under a deep sense of his condemned condition and he said, "I tell you,
144 This church became extinct in a few years. Mattoon, Bap. An. of Ore. 1:8. ​
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Mr. Fisher, I am a miserable, wretched sinner." The work of grace appeared most distinctly marked, from a conviction of his exceeding sinfulness in the sight of God to that of a full surrender of himself to God and the exercise of faith in a crucified Redeemer. Tuesday, about 5 P. M., hope sprang up in his soul and immediately he arose from his bed, which he had scarcely left for twenty minutes after Sabbath night, and bowed in the presence of his family and a few Christian friends in prayer. He still enjoys the consolation of a hope which fills the minds of his neighbors with surprise. . . . May God give me grace to improve this providence to His glory. All I will now say on this subject is that I find num- bers of our impenitent fellow citizens acknowledging that they have been unusually affected under the preaching of the Word the past winter. We can but feel an additional as- surance that the Spirit's silent, yet powerful influence has attended the preached Word the past winter. We feel great- ly the need of grace, lest these indications of divine favor pass away unimproved. Pray for us in Clatsop and in Ore- gon that we may quit ourselves as missionaries of Jesus Christ as well as missionaries of the churches.
I wrote you a large package by the Brutus and entrusted it to the care of Elder Gary. I also wrote in November by the bark Whiton, Captain Getston 145 a package of three sheets in which I made a regular report from August to No- vember. But I have recently learned that that ship is char- tered for a transport to the Pacific squadron and I fear the letter will be miscarried or be long delayed. We suffer great inconvenience in rendering the amount your Board appro- priate to our support available when needed, but hope to have a regular mail direct from this place to New York as soon as next winter. We shall then be able to make our reports and receive remittances from you timely so as to ob- viate the necessity of the too frequent interruptions of our missionary labors by the imperious demands of our families
145 Gelston, not "Getston." Oregon Spectator, July 22, 1847. ​
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for the bare comforts of life. I know your Board cannot call in question our earnest desire to labor exclusively in the ap- propriate duties of a minister, but, if you will just advert to your books and count up the amount of remittances and then reflect that we have been already in the field two years, you will not wonder that we are compelled to be by far more secular than is desirable. I have received in these two years only about $70 from your Board. Could I have been in Illi- nois and received remittances quarterly, I should have been enabled to devote myself wholly to the work. These are unavoidable providences which will soon be succeeded by a direct and certain communication. I do not complain, but regret that your Board must be driven to the necessity of feeling that your missionaries are doing comparatively little in Oregon.
Anything that our brethren or sisters can send us as ar- ticles of clothing, and especially in cloth, either woolen or cotton, will greatly assist us. I shall make a request that you forward articles of clothing and common household fur- niture and books to the amount of my salary, or nearly so, up to this time the first opportunity after this. I have pur- posed to write you on the subject of the manners and cus- toms and the general character of the people and, from time to time, give a general description of the various detached portions of the country, and the present embarrassments which our colony have to encounter, but this I cannot do at this time. I will simply give my testimony in general terms to the climate. After having spent two years and a half below the Cascade Mountains, I think I have never ex- perienced so salubrious a climate, even in Vermont or Massa- chusetts, and never in my life have I seen so few persons suffering under the influence of disease, in proportion to the number of population. This remark holds emphatically true on the coast. Slight colds seem to be the only prevailing disease, except it be contagious diseases. The measles have prevailed among us this winter and have swept off a very ​
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considerable number of the natives, who have suffered long from the venereal. Our soil is generally productive and yields a generous return to the labors of the husbandman. Yet it is not to be forgotten that we are far removed from the civilized world and consequently the few merchants in Oregon sell their goods of a very ordinary quality at very exorbitant prices, often one, two and three hundred per cent and, in some instances, more than a thousand per cent in advance of the first cost, among which I will name castings, edged tools, nails and all iron wares, coffee, cotton, cloth, leather boots and shoes, hats, cotton and woolen cloth. As yet there is no competition in trade. Much has been said and written of the changes of the mouth of the Columbia. I will venture to remark, upon the best authority, that the harbor within the mouth of the Columbia is one of the easiest of access and the safest in all North America. The last fifty times the bar has been crossed with no other accident than the loss of the anchor of the brig Henry. For further proof on this subject, I would refer you to Mr. Blain's 145 " 8 letter to Honorable Thomas Benton, published in his three days' speech in the U. S. Senate on the subject, "The United States' Title to Oregon in 1846." The publishing of that let- ter in the commercial periodicals in our Atlantic cities would contribute something to the encouraging of commerce in Oregon.
We hope to organize an association in June next in the Willamette Valley. 340 We are beginning to need one or two more efficient missionaries in the Willamette Valley. I have chosen my position as advantageously as I could near the mouth of the Columbia and promise seems to indicate that it is too important to be abandoned. The population is gradu- ally, but constantly, increasing. We have no doubt but the government will make the first national improvements at the mouth of the Columbia, and we think it rather probable that
i45-a Rev. Wilson Hlain, editor of the Oregon Spectator, Oregon City.
146 For the organization of the association, see the letter of Sept. 20, 1848, and Mattoon, Bap. An. of Ore. I:i8. ​
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the commercial town will be near the mouth of the river. These considerations have exerted no small influence in the decisions I have made. At this time we have no other min- ister in the county and there is labor sufficient to occupy the time of one man, although we are farther from the main settlements on the Willamette than is desirable. We need practical, active, common sense preachers, with warm hearts and sound minds, and the churches will soon be able and willing to contribute something for their support.
March 25th. The indications of divine favor appear to wear a favorable aspect and another of my neighbors seems not far from the Kingdom of Heaven. Tomorrow is the Sab- bath and we hope and pray that the Spirit's power may accom- pany the preached Word.
Br. Johnson is making some efforts to build a meeting house in Oregon City. I have not yet learned with what suc- cess. He will probably write you the particulars. 147 Br. Vincent Snelling should be aided, if your Board can make an appropriation for him to labor with the Yam Hill church and the churches in that part of the Valley. Should our next immigration be large, as it probably will, we shall greatly need help in the ministry and a colporteur to travel, preach, sell books, visit and address Sabbath schools. The present and a few coming years are of very great importance in re- lation to all coming time in Oregon. They will constitute the formative period of our Territory, both civilly and moral- ly. Small, immediate results will probably control interests of vast importance to all coming years. Our influence as a denomination should not be lost on the Pacific for the want of a few men and a little means. Your Board will not neg- lect Upper California. There can be little doubt but two mis- sionaries should be sent, as soon as you can find the men, to labor in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay, should that sec-
147 This building, the first Baptist meeting house west of the Rocky, Moun- tains, was completed late in 1848, or early in 1849. Mattoon, Bap. An. of Ore. 1:6. See also the diary of the author dated July 2, 1848, and enclosed in the letter of March i, 1849. The building was situated on Thirteenth and Main streets. ​
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tion of country become a territory of the U. States. 148 Br. Ross, a member of Br. Evart's church, is there selling goods. I cannot close this without once more recommending to our Atlantic brethren, who wish to be instrumental in form- ing the character of some of the most important future states in the Union, to come and labor with us. Very soon the facilities for immigration will be greatly increased, and per- haps no new portion of our whole country will afford a more inviting field for usefulness and enterprise than the one fronting the vast Pacific. Would to God we could make some of our efficient deacons and private brethren arouse to a conviction of duty on this subject and induce them to come over and help us. At the present time it will require less sacrifice in time and property to sail from New York or Boston in October or November for the mouth of the Colum- bia than it does to immigrate by land from Illinois and Iowa in the spring. The farmer leaving your port in November may plant and sow Oregon soil in May, without spending a winter on expense before he can cultivate the soil. Time admonishes me to lay down my pen.
As ever yours, in gospel bonds,
EZRA FISHER.
March the 29th. We still see increasing evidence that the Spirit of the Lord is over us, and although Sabbath was very rainy our congregation was good and solemn. We learn of another case in which we begin to cherish hope a lad of thirteen years. Some backsliders are awakening. Our prayer meetings are becoming interesting. O, for a preparation of heart to lead God's people into the knowledge of every Chris- tian duty and to win sinners to Christ, our all compassionate Saviour !
In view of so many uncertainties in regard to my former letters on board the Whiton reaching you, I think best to
148 Rev. O. C. Wheeler was appointed to California in 1848 by the Home Mission Society. Soon afterward, Rev. H. W. Read was appointed, but stopped in New Mexico on his way out. Bap. Home Missions in N. Am., 1832-1882, p. 339. ​
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give you a bill of goods which I wish you will have pur- chased and forwarded at your earliest convenience. I wrote on board the Whiton for one set of Fuller's works. We need Psalmists and you may send me one dozen, unless you find some friends who will donate them. If second-handed, they would be very gratefully received. I requested you to make an effort to have the A. B. Publication Soc. donate some books for ministers' libraries and Sunday schools and for- ward them to me. I also ordered at that time one bolt of dark calico, ten pounds saleratus put up in an earthen or glass jar, one hat for me (the thread enclosed in this is the circumference of my head), one tin reflector for baking bread, 15 yards of red woolen flannel and 20 yards canton flannel. Please send us one cheap bureau, one good com- mon tea set, one set of plain knives and forks, one set of small dining plates, one common sized deep platter, six half- pint tumblers (a good article), three or four patent wooden pails, one ten-gallon brass kettle, bailed, one box of bar soap, ginger, spice, cinnamon and cloves, two pound each, two Ibs. of best quality African capsicum, two Ibs. black pepper, two bolts of coarse cotton sheeting, three bolts of good, firm, dark calico, one bolt of plaid linsey, 20 or 25 yds. of yellow flannel, 12 yards of red flannel, one pilot cloth over- coat large enough for you, to set easy, suited to a new coun- try and a rainy winter, 15 yards of heavy cadet cloth or dark colored satinet and six yards of black satinet, a good, fine article, four yards of black kerseymere, six pairs of colored woolen half hose, domestic, two pounds of woolen stocking yarn, two pair of women's black worsted hose, two pair of white cotton hose, women's; one cheap fur cap for a boy 15 years old, two lapped leghorn bonnets, trimmed, five yards of Irish linen, three linen handkerchiefs, two silk pocket hand- kerchiefs, two black silk handkerchiefs, two brown linen table cloths, 10 yards of brown toweling, one glass lamp, 13 yards of black silk lustre alpaca, 15 yards of black cambric, and cotton wadding enough to stuff one cloak, five yards of ​
158 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
brown Holland, two pounds of candlewicking, six cakes of shaving soap, one pair heavy calfskin men's shoes, No. 9, two pair of women's shoes, calf skin, No. 4^, two pair of moroc- co shoes, No. 4, two pair of boys' shoes, heavy kip, Nos. 5 and 6, two pair of girls' shoes, calf skin, Nos. 1 and 2, two pair children's calf skin, Nos. 10 and 11. Our climate is wet and we need thick, firm leather. Also send one school geog- raphy.
March 31st. In the purchase of these articles, you will please have regard to our income and the climate in which we live.
Our late news from the Indian war is of a favorable char- acter and we hope the war will terminate in a few months at longest. Yet a few unfavorable occurrences may involve us in a general Indian warfare. Present prospects for an abundant wheat harvest are very flattering. I must close this, as the last opportunity to send it to the return party will be in a day or two and I have to answer several private letters.
Yours with esteem,
EZRA FISHER, Missionary in Clatsop Plains, Oregon.
Received August 14, 1848.
Clatsop Plains, Clatsop County, Oregon Ter.
Sept. the 20th, 1848. Rev. Benjamin M. Hill,
Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc. Very Dear Br. :
All the letters which you sent me on board the ship Ma- tilda were probably received on board the brig Mary Dane, 149 together with thirteen boxes of goods and books shipped on board the same ship. I suppose the other box was shipped
149 "Mary Dare," not "Mary Dane." She belonged to the Hudson Bay Com- pany and arrived from the Hawaiian Islands, where she had probably received these goods from the "Matilda," the latter part of August, 1848. Bancroft, Hist. of Ore. II: 43 . ​
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directly to Br. Johnson, as I find it was designed for him. I shall forward this by the Brig Henry to the Pacific squad- ron now on the coast of California, hoping it will reach you; yet I am in so much doubt that I shall not venture to for- ward my report from March 8th up to this date, which is now partially made out. We are expecting a government steamer in the mouth of the Columbia in a few weeks, by which I will forward you my report, together with an an- swer to all your inquiries. I will then write to all the socie- ties and individuals who have so kindly sympathized with us in these ends of the earth. The goods and books will afford us great relief and the donors will be held in grateful, lasting remembrance. May God reward them.
We organized an association on the 23rd and 24th of June last in Tualatin Plains by the name of the Willamette Bap- tist Association, consisting of five churches. I spent the last of June and the month of July in the Willamette Valley. Had the subject of an institution of learning under considera- tion with a few of the most judicious brethren. It strikes me that the central part of the Willamette Valley, near the head of what will be steam navigation, will be the place best adapted to meet the wants of the present population of Ore- gon, and will always be the center of heavy population. But we find no man who will secure a tract of land sufficient- ly large to meet all the wants of a literary instiution unless I go and buy or take a claim and donate the half of it to the denomination and enter upon the work of commencing and sustaining a school in connection with preaching. But in that event I must measurably abandon this point, which we feel is of vast importance prospectively. Probably $100 or $200 would purchase such a claim of 640 acres as would be desirable. But our laws in Oregon require actual residence within one year after recording such claim. I have been in great anxiety on this subject. One year more may probably put such an opportunity beyond our reach without a very considerable sum of money. Neither myself nor family have ​
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any inclination to change our place, unless we see a strong probability of advancing the general interests of religion by it. I can secure a tolerably eligible situation in the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia River, but at present it is re- mote from the great portion of the population, yet eventually I think it will become a commanding central point. But it will be difficult to induce our brethren to take this view on the subject. While this subject has been engrossing my anx- ious care, our whole community has been perfectly convulsed with the rumor of much gold in the valleys and hills of Cali- fornia. 150 The report has been often repeated and enlarged upon till more than half of the men of our Territory are either digging gold or on the way in quest of the treasure. The region in which it is found is variously represented as being from 120 to 200 miles in length and about 70 in breadth, and it is said that no limits have yet been found. Pure gold is found everywhere where the diggers break the earth and the amount a man procures per day varies from $10 worth to $240. The gold bears the appearance of having been fused and congealed in irregular forms and various sized pieces, from very small pieces (in form resembling wheat bran) to those of more than four pounds' weight. Sil- ver, quicksilver, platina, and even diamonds, are reported to have been found in this gold region; also iron ore, con- taining from 80 to 90 per cent of iron. I never saw so ex- cited a community. Gold is the rage, and it is to be feared that the farming interests in Oregon will suffer immensely; and all our manufacturing, commercial, social, civil, moral and religious interests must suffer for years. Indeed I think a greater calamity to our colony could hardly have been sent. California will fill up as by magic with a heterogeneous mass from every nation and tribe. Our congregations are fast
150 The news of the discovery of gold in California first reached Oregon early in August, 1848. Bancroft Hist, of Ore. 1:42,43. The account of the emi- gration of able-bodied men from Oregon to California is corroborated by contem- poraries. Ibid. 43. (James W. Marshall, an Oregon pioneer of 1844, who spent more than a year in Oregon prior to going to California, is credited with the dis- covery of gold there Jan. 24, 1848. News of the discovery of gold reached Yamhill county early in July, 1848, and William G. Buffum and wife left Amity, in that unty, early in August for the mines. Geo. H. Himes, Sec. Or. Pioneer Assn.) ​
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waning. But we suppose we shall receive accessions from the States to fill up in part the places vacated. Provisions on the Pacific coast must be scarce in less than eighteen months. Numbers of our brethren have gone to spend the winter at the gold mines and others will go in the spring, probably to make a home. You will see by this that no time should be lost by your Board in securing the labors of two or three efficient ministers for California. We feel that we, more than ever before, need grace to direct in these times of trial. God no doubt has a providnce in this. May we so im- prove under these trials that they shall eventuate in the promotion of the great interests of Zion, both here and in the ends of the world. Tomorrow morning I leave for the Wil- lamette Valley. Our brethren in Tualatin Plains have a protracted meeting appointed and I am strongly solicited to attend. But I must go with a heavy heart. Perhaps half the brethren there have gone for gold. I fear we shall labor in vain. Gold at this time is the people's god and how shall we be able to present the glories of the Redeemer's character in so attractive a light as to win the affections of those en- chanted with the immediate prospects of wealth? But God reigns and the hearts of all men are in His hands and He can use the feeblest instrumentality to show forth His praise. But I should not have chosen this time for special labor.
I remain your unworthy brother,
EZRA FISHER. Received June 11, 1849.
Clatsop Plains, Oregon Ter., Sept. 19, 1848. Rev. Benj. M. Hill,
Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc. Very dear Br. :
Your three letters under date of July 15, 1847, July 17, 1847, and October 15th, 1847, together with one bearing date Feb. 16th, 1847, with an envelope subscribed Sept. 25th, 1847, ​
162 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
were received on the 5th inst. by the Hudson Bay Company's brig Mary Dare, together with 13 boxes marked with a dia- mond and numbered 1 to 10 and A, B and D. I think the box marked "C" was shipped direct to Br. Johnson from Honolulu. Your letters cheered our spirits and the goods and books were most welcome messengers.
Beside the above named letters, I have received from you since I left Rock Island, April 12th, 1845, the following let- ters; one bearing dates Jan. 19th, and 24th, 1846, one com- mission No. 1081, April 1st, 1846, one letter Oct. 26th, 1846, and one 31st and November 13th, 1846, and one commission, No. 1170, April 1st, 1847.
I wrote you about the 15th of July, 1847, by the ship Bru- tus, to the care of Elder Gary, who assured me he would de- liver the letters in person; I next wrote you about the 1st of November, 1847, by the bark Whiton, Capt. Gelston, in both which I think I gave you a brief report of labors. I wrote again on the 8th of March, 1848, and reported labor from Nov. 1, 1847, to March 8th, 1848. These three sheets were forwarded by last spring's return party overland. I then reported nineteen weeks, preached twenty sermons, at- tended our prayer meetings, two religious conferences, pre- paratory to the constitution of a church, visited 40 families and individuals, two common schools, traveled 147 miles, one young married brother a licensed preacher in my field ; monthly concert of prayer is observed; $14 paid for my sal- ary; two Sabbath schools, 42 scholars, 10 teachers, one school, 100 volumes in the library ; the other 20 vols. I have one Bible class of eight members. We were then about to be constituted in a few days in Clatsop Plains. Had been en- gaged in building a hewed log school house 18 feet by 24 for "the purpose of school and public worship on the Sab. I had spent two weeks in that work.
I will now proceed to report from March 8th, 1848, to Sept. 19th, 1848. My field comprises Clatsop Plains and Astoria. I statedly supply two stations in these plains. My place of ​
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residence is Clatsop Plains, the community of Astoria as yet being too small to justify my fixing my location there. My post office is Astoria.
I have labored 28 weeks since my last report, preached 37 sermons, delivered two temperance lectures, attended 24 prayer meetings, visited religiously 96 families and individu- als, visited five common schools, obtained 22 signatures to the temperance pledge, baptized none, assisted in the con- stitution of the Clatsop church, no ordination, traveled, to and from my appointments 611 miles, seven persons were re- ceived by letter into the constitution of the church and one to the Santiam church. By experience none.
We know of no conversions since about the time of our last report. About that time three were hopefully converted. No young men preparing for the ministry. Monthly concert of prayer is observed at one of my stations. My people have paid during this period nothing for home missions, domestic missions, foreign missions, Bible or any other benevolent societies ; for my salary $12. Have so far advanced in our school house that we have a comfortable place for worship. Connected with my stations are two Sunday schools, ten teachers and 40 scholars, 125 volumes in each library. Bible class part of the time in the school ; six scholars. I wrote in my last informing you of an interesting state of religious feeling with several of our citizens. I sanguinely hoped dur- ing the months of March, April and May that we should have the satisfaction of administering the ordinance of bap- tism to three or four men, but soon the Cayuse war called off one young man, and in a few weeks two others who gave evidence of change being wrought in them removed to the Willamette Valley and the favorable omens passed off with- out any in-gatherings to the church. Our congregations, however, have generally been good for the amount of popu- lation. Our Sunday schools have been very uniform and our children appear unusually interested. ​
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Feb. 2nd, 1849. 151 Dear Brother Hill : The want of direct conveyance to New York has occasioned this long delay and I will now make up my report from Sept. 19, 1848, up to this time, making 19 weeks.
Preached 24 sermons, delivered no lectures on moral and benevolent subjects, attended 18 prayer meetings, four cove- nant meetings, one temperance meeting, visited 49 families and individuals, three common schools; baptized none; ob- tained two signatures to the temperance pledge; organized no church, no ordination, traveled 412 miles to and from my appointments; received no persons by letter, none by experi- ence; no person preparing for the ministry. Monthly con- cert of prayer is observed at one station. My people have paid nothing for missionary or other benevolent societies. Paid $45 for my salary. We have one Sunday school, six teachers, 24 scholars, 125 volumes in the library. No Bible class. I attend our Sunday school and usually explain the lessons ; distribute tracts and pamphlets among the children. We have entirely separated from the Presbyterians in our S. S. and congregation, or rather they have separated from us. Our congregations have diminished during the winter from the fact that numbers of our citizens are in the mines in California. Yet the people at home are quite as attentive to the preaching of the Word as usual. Part of our church will soon move to California and all the rest will spend next summer at least in the mines, except my family, and this is somewhat a specimen of the gold excitement throughout Oregon. But a small portion of the men will remain at home during the summer, except as they return to harvest their crops in July, Aug. and Sept. Many families will prob- ably leave for California, among which will be found more than a fair proportion of business men. Immediately on the confirmation of the report of much gold in California our
151 The letter of Sept. 10, 1848, was inclosed with this of Feb. 2, 1849, and with those of Sept, 2oth and Oct. iQth, 1848, was not received until past the middle of June, 1849. ​
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Methodist brethren sent one preacher 158 overland to the mines, and I understand that he is now preaching part of the time in San Francisco.
Yours, EZRA FISHER, Received June 19, 1849. Missionary in Oregon.
Clatsop Plains on the Pacific Shore, near Astoria,
October 19, 1848. Beloved Br. Hill :
On opening the most valuable box, No. 9, shipped from New York to me on board the ship Matilda, Oct. 15th, 1847, I found an inventory without either name or place attached to it, but we infer that the letter was directed to you and not to either of us from the sentence appended to the invoice in the following words : "The difference of $2.34 between the invoice and the letter to Brother Hill is owing to articles having been brought in after the letter was sent." The box contained the only shawl, boys' cloth cap, and a piece of bed- ticking that was sent us. The box was valued at $66.34. We regret that we have neither name nor place attached to the invoice, because it would afford us great pleasure to have addressed a line of grateful acknowledgement to the donors. The box was thankfully received and contained a number of articles of woolen clothing which are especially valuable in our climate, so cool in summer and so wet in winter. Any second-hand woolen clothes, when but partially worn, are always very useful where sheep are scarce and looms none. We have not more than two or three looms in all our Terri- tory. Thanks to Br. and Dr. Allen for the Mothers' Journal, the forwarding of the paragraph Bible and Testament and
152 Who was sent to California, th editors have not been able to find; Rev. William Roberts and Rev. J. H. Wilbur stopped there several weeks in 1847, on their way from New York to Oregon, and organized a church in San Francisco the first Methodist church on the Pacific Coast south of Oregon. In 1849, Rv. William Taylor and Rev. Isaac Owen were the regular appointees of the Con- ference in California. H. K. Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, p. 371, 386. (Rev. C. O. Hosford, a pioneer of 1845, who was licensed to preach in Oregon by the authorities of the Methodist Church, Rev. William Roberts, Superintendent, in the fall of 1847, was sent to California early in 1848. Hos- ford organized the first class-meeting in a short time, and that became the nucleus of the first Methodist church in California. Geo. H. Himes, Asst. Sec. Or. Hist. Society. ​
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other favors. I shall answer this letter before long. We re- ceived a bundle of 100 volumes of new Sunday school books from the Juvenile Soc. of the Sunday school in the Stanton Street Baptist Church. I shall answer Br. Cowan's letter as soon as time will permit. We received a package of new- Sunday school books, containing 300 volumes, and we regret to say we found no name nor bill attached to them, as we should be pleased to respond to the donors direct. We know they were obtained through your influence in the City. We regard them a valuable acquisition, especially as we have been obliged to sustain our school in this place with so few volumes of the A. Tract Soc.'s publications and other books less adapted to the capacities of children. We have been waiting and praying a whole year for just such an auxiliary. May the blessings of these ends of the earth come on the donors in the great day of the Lord! The periodicals, espe- cially of 1846 and 1847, were most gratefully received and we are still feasting richly upon their contents, whenever we have an hour of leisure, and we feast not alone. All our neighbors, and especially our Christian friends, find much to entertain them. The annual reports are all valuable, and we only regret that we have no more, as we have frequent occasions to meet prejudices surly through these matters of fact. You speak of procuring and forwarding a box of school books. Next to sustaining the gospel, you will render us the most essential service in a work of this kind. It is very much to be desired that the present system of popular school books in the States be introduced into all our schools in Oregon. And while so much effort is being made in the old states in behalf of pouplar education in the Mississippi valley, I trust a voice will be lifted up in behalf of the Pacific borders. Would to God that we had a Slade 152 " 8 to plead our cause on this subject in our Atlantic cities and towns. The importance of this subject is daily increasing our responsibilities and the rage of the gold mania is diminishing public sympathy for
152-3 Gov. William L. Slade, of Vermont, President of the National Board of Popular Education. Geo. H. Himes, Asst. Sec. O. H. S. ​
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the general diffusion of knowledge. At present our old states must assume a part of this responsibility, or it is to be feared that Oregon and California will prove a curse to the Union. We want your books and, as far as practicable, the very same kind and date as those which are so richly blessing your whole Atlantic slope. But with books, we equally need teachers of moral worth and, if possible, of vital piety. Would to God we could make our feelings understood in the eastern and middle states, and we are sure we should see every ship from your ports to our coast crowded with men, and women too, who would become co-workers with us in this and every noble, philanthropic work. Could you but visit us and see and feel for yourself all we see and feel daily of our peculiar relations and temptations, you would strike a note that would not only call out a few boxes of goods to clothe the families of the missionaries already in the field, but would search out from their quiet, comfortable homes many a useful brother to share with us the toils and privations and, I will add too, the honors under God of trans- ferring to these western shores the blessings of general edu- cation and spiritual, practical religion. We are in perishing need of help. We need just such men as give efficiency to the churches at home. Then under God we can move for- ward in the cause of education and Christianity. But we will not despond ; we have counted the cost ; God is our helper and He has the hearts of His people in His hands. But I must close.
As ever yours,
EZRA FISHER.
On Margin. Help must be sent to California without de- lay if possible. I should certainly have spent part of this winter at San Francisco, Monterey, and perhaps have visited the mines, if I could have raised the funds to have paid my passage without digging at the mines.
Received June 18, 1849. ​
168 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
Clatsop Plains, Oregon Ter., Feb. 3d, 1849.
Rev. Benj. M. Hill. Dear Brother:
I closed my last yesterday on the subject of California and will continue to remark. I understand by Capt. of the Undine that Mr. Hunt, a Presbyterian minister, is preaching at San Francisco. 153 Besides these two, I think there is not a Protestant preacher in Upper California. In view of the extraordinary evolution of things in Oregon and the vast in- flux of population in California and the fact that a large por- tion of our Baptist brethren of Oregon will be at the mines throughout most of the summer, and in view of the strong solicitude of our members in Clatsop about to move to Cali- fornia that I should visit that territory at least next summer, and the advice of all the members of the church, and in view of the loss of the goods shipped on board the bark Undine the 21st of June, 1848, I have thought it might be my duty to visit the mines the coming spring and dig long enough to raise means to pay my passage and meet the present press- ing wants of my family, spend a few weeks in the American settlements and towns and return home perhaps in July or August. I do not know but this course may be regarded by your Board as outstepping the bounds of your instructions, but I feel a strong conviction that great and sudden and un- expected changes justify extraordinary action. I do not know that I have the first desire to dig in the mines one day and, if I could leave my family comfortable and go by water to San Francisco and other towns on the Bay and the mines, with no other care than that for God's glory on the Pacific Coast, my care would be greatly relieved. But I have not the means, and I cannot leave that interest without being able to make known the wants of that rapidly accumulating mass to your Board. I will keep an account of the amount of time lost in traveling and digging, if any, and report to
153 This was Thomas Dwight Hunt, of Honolulu, a Congregationalist. Ban- croft, Hist, of Calif. VII 1727. Several clergymen came in February, 1840. Ibid. ​
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your Board, or, should your Board disapprove of the enter- prise and think the cause of Christ better served by discon- tinuing my appointment the present year, I shall acquiesce, with the privilege of continuing a correspondence with you. I trust, however, that your Board will acquiesce in my views. I am quite sure, if you were here and knew all I know of the state of things in California, you would take the most prompt measures to acquaint yourselves with the wants of that territory and meet them. Oregon must be measurably stationary for a time, 154 while California will swarm with people and overflow with wealth, gambling and dissipation, and, unless our churches act with promptness and devotion and liberality, these inexhaustible treasures are given over into the hands of the Prince of Devils, California will be morally lost and will prove a capital scourge to our nation. It is only relatively that Oregon sinks in importance. No doubt she will become three-fold as valuable to the nation as she would have been, if gold had not been found in Cali- fornia. 155 Although all is in confusion in Oregon and our citizens and members are now going and coming so that it is difficult effecting anything permanent here just at this time, yet be assured that we need more laborers even here, that the efforts already made may be followed up, and under God we may expect a rich return. This, like all other ex- citements, will sooner or later settle and people and wealth Will flow back to Oregon with astonishing rapidity. We now need at least two efficient young men in Oregon who can be well sustained by your Board, and I know that an able young man now placed in San Francisco and liberally supported, another at Sacramento City (Sutter's Fort), another in the American settlements and a fourth at the mines would find
154 This was approximately true.
The immigration to Oregon in 1849 was about 400; in 1850, about 2000; in 1851, about 1500; in 1852, about 2500; while the increase in California during these years was about ten or twenty times this number. F. G. Young, The Oregon Trail, in Oregon Hist. Soc. Quar. 1:370. This estimate probably includes only those who came overland by the Oregon Trail.
155 The influx of gold-seekers to California gave Oregon a market for its lumber and farm products. Returning miners brought gold dust with them, and the author's prophecy of Oregon's share in the prosperity of California was ful- filled. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. 11:48-59. ​
170 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
profitable work in promoting the interests of Zion under the Captain of our salvation. I wish you to remember that the formation of our civil and religious character is at hand and vice in all its forms must reign, unless Zion's sons are awake. Just think of the advantageous position of San Francisco in relation to the whole Pacific trade. Where is there another such point to be occupied in all North America? Now hold the map before you. Think of the mountains of gold behind her, the influx of population from Upper and Lower Cali- fornia bordering the coast, the Pacific islands, and even China, swarming hither for gold, and then let me ask our dear brethren, Are we prepared to leave this point unoccu- pied for the want of a few hundred dollars? This picture is no fiction. Already the principal men of the Sandwich Is- lands are said to be in the mines digging gold, and I am in- formed that there are some from China, too. And how long will it be before almost every nation in Europe will be repre- sented there? All who go to the mines and return say the gold is inexhaustible and yields from one ounce of pure gold to six or eight pounds per day to a single laborer. What a point then is San Francisco for the men of God to take with Bibles and devotional books and tracts, sending them as upon the wings of the wind! Will your Board censure me then for pursuing the plan laid down in this sheet the coming summer, in the midst of this unsettled state of things in Oregon ?
I received yours of Jan. 22, 1848, giving the sum total of three boxes of goods shipped on board the Bark Undine, Thos. S. Baker, Master, on the 21st of January, 1848. The three boxes with cartage and insurance amounted to $122.74. The Undine is now in the Columbia. I understand that she suffered a partial wreck in passing Cape Horn and her goods were part thrown overboard and part sold as damaged goods somewhere on the Pacific coast south of this. Thus you see, dear brother, that God has been pleased, graciously no doubt, to deprive me and family of our dependence in clothing for ​
I
CORRESPONDENCE 171
the ensuing year, and it must probably be ten months before you will be able to recover the insurance and place the goods within my reach. The letters enclosed in the boxes with the periodicals are of course lost. I shall be obliged to write an- other sheet and enclose in this. I therefore close this by subscribing myself your unworthy brother,
EZRA FISHER.
N. B. Want of time prevents my writing more by this opportunity to California to meet the first mail steamer. But I will give you extracts from my Journal soon, some brief geographical notices, etc.
Yours, E. F.
Received June 19, 1849.
Clatsop Plains, Feb. 5th, 1849. Rev. Benj. M. Hill. Dear Brother:
That there may be no mistake in relation to the boxes shipped on board the bark Undine on the 21st day of Jan., 1848, I will give you the copy of the inventory as forwarded by you.
It appears that Thos. S. Baker sailed as Master and that Capt. James Bishop & Co. were proprietors. The Undine has changed owners and masters. It is to be hoped you have learned of the disaster and secured the insurance and for- warded me the same articles in kind before this time. But if not, I trust on the receipt of this you will secure the in- surance and forward the same articles in kind and quality, excepting the children's shoes. You will please get them all one size larger at least, as they are growing fast. I wrote on board the bark Whiton in the fall of 1847 ordering the fol- lowing: One set of Fuller's works, one dozen of the Psalm- ist, one bolt of dark calico, ten Ibs. of saleratus, one hat, one tin reflector for baking bread, fifteen yds. of red flannel and twenty yds. of canton flannel. ​
172 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
On the 8th of March, 1848, accompanying a report of nine- teen weeks, I ordered the following articles: (This was sent overland and I fear has not reached you. If you have not forwarded it, please omit the bureau and in the place send me a good cooking stove and pipe, as we are not able to have both at present.) . . .
Please send me the following articles, if I have the amount due me. Bill ordered Feb. 5, 1849: Six large tin pans, one set candle moulds, 2 tin pails with lids, six and eight quarts, 10 pint tin cups, 2 quart do., 2 tin coffee pots, one-half box of glass, eight by ten, 1 keg of nails, 8's, 6's and 4's, equal parts, 15 Ibs. nails, 10 penny, 1 nail hatchet with handle, 1 ax, 1 spade, with steel blade, 1 hoe, 1 small, plain looking glass, 1 set of dining plates, 1 set butter do., 1 pitcher, 2 quarts, 1 bolt cotton sheeting, heavy, 2 bolts dark, firm calico, 16 yds. black alpaca, or something suitable for ladies' dresses and cloaks, 12 yds. black cambric, 12 sheet wadding, 14 yds. good bed ticking, half Ib. good black sewing silk, 1 good cooking stove and furniture with 7 or 8 joints of pipe, 6 ivory fine combs, 6 doz. spools white cotton thread, 1 ream good cap writing paper, 1 box vegetable shaving soap, I pen- knife, 1 pocket do., 1 traveler's inkstand and 6 common cheap ones, 156 1 pair heavy calfskin boots, No. 10, 1 do. shoes, No. 9.
N. B. Samuel N. Castle, agent A. B. C. F. M. for Sand- wich Islands Mission, forwarded the 13 boxes shipped by you on the Matilda, charging $20.73 to me and to Br. Johnson $1.22, stating that he should draw on you for the same. Br. Johnson requests that you should take his proportion of this freight from the Islands to Astoria from your account charged to me and charge the same to him, which will prob- ably be about ten dollars. I have not the separate bills of freight as charged to him and me from N. Y. to the Sand- wich Islands. You have on your books and will confer a favor on me by apportioning the amount, $21.95, between us.
156 These cheap inkstands were probably for school ue. ​
CORRESPONDENCE 173
Cut the lower part of this half sheet and you have my entire bill.
P. S. Send no more goods by the Sandwich Islands. Bill continued from the other page: 1 bolt Kentucky jean, 1 pair thick, men's shoes, No. 6, 2 pairs stout, ladies 5 morocco shoes, Nos. 4 and 4^2, 1 pair misses' shoes, calf skin, No. 2^2, 1 do No. 1.
Yours respectfully,
EZRA FISHER.
Clatsop Plains, Oregon Ter., Feb. 8th, 1849. Rev. Benj. M. Hill. Dear Brother:
Yours under date of October 15th, 1847, presented some of your views of the importance of making an early attempt to lay the foundation for a denominational school which should eventually mature into a college and theological seminary. I was greatly cheered to learn that some of our Eastern breth- ren were beginning to think on that subject. This is a cause which is far from being among the least of my cares. And, first, from selfish motives I am called upon to be awake to this work. My rising family and that of a respectable num- ber of our brethren imperiously demand that something be done, and that soon, or our children must be distressingly neglected. And, secondly, such is the character of a large portion of our Oregon Baptists that, as a denomination, we cannot be efficient and secure a great amount of public con- fidence till we can find some benevolent enterprise at home in which we can enlist their sympathies. This will be likely to be a work around which all will rally from personal in- terest more readily than any other benevolent enterprise now before the Christian public. Through this medium I would hope to call into our Territory more liberal-minded men from the older states. It is true that we have a respectable number of Baptists who appreciate the importance of an edu​
174 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
cated ministry and who pray for the universal spread of the gospel by the direct effort of the church, yet the larger por- tion of our brethren have never seen it so done in Israel.
Thirdly, we owe it to our rising territory to perform our part in the formation of our national character. I spent four or five weeks last summer in traveling through the Willam- ette Valley 157 preaching and privately laying this subject before our brethren, and I rejoiced much to find so many who responded cheerfully to the views that I presented. I then thought some central point in that valley on the banks of the Willamette, or near it, in view of the circumstances, would be the most desirable position. Afterward, when we heard a report of much gold in the vicinity of the Columbia River, 158 both Br. Johnson and myself thought we might as well make an effort on these Plains (Clatsop). We, how- ever, learned that the parties who went to Powder River to explore for gold brought home nothing but mica, or pyrates of iron, and the whole tide of immigration and commerce turned towards California. I, therefore, was compelled to yield to the popular opinion everywhere rife that Oregon must unavoidably be thrown back at least two or three years. Our lovely little church in Clatsop Plains will every one but my own family go to California, and all think it is my duty to go this summer, and some are very solicitous that I move my family there. In view of all these circumstances, nothing more can be done the present season than to fix on a loca- tion, and that is somewhat hazardous. Yet with the present development of the country, both here and in California, I think, if anything is done this season, I shall be strongly in- clined to favor the commencement of this work somewhere near the point on the Willamette where steam navigation will terminate, say about 70 or 80 miles above Oregon City. I am strengthened in these views from the facts that the Wil- lamette Valley is the largest body of rich farming land in Oregon, and the scenery remarkably picturesque; that the
157 There was as yet no uniformity in the spelling of this name. See note 71.
158 These discoveries were not largely utilized until the sixties. G. H. Himes. ​
CORRESPONDENCE 175
large bodies of farming land on the Umpqua, the Clamet 159 and Rogue rivers will be the next settled after the Willam- ette, and that there must be a great thoroughfare opened from the falls of the Willamette River to the gold mines on the Sacramento River in California before many years. Wagons already travel it with convenience.
You ask how a site may be secured? I know of but one way at present, and that is to find one, two or more brethren interested in the enterprise to take or purchase claims cov- ering the site wanted and then pledge themselves either to donate or sell the necessary amount of land to a board in trust for the denomination.
My feelings last summer were so much enlisted on this subject that I became half-inclined to make a claim in refer- ence to this specific object, change the field of my labor and pledge half of said claim to the demonination. I, however, thought of the time and money expended by your Board to sustain me at the mouth of the river and of the little feeble church here, and, by the advice of Br. Johnson and the absence of all counsel from your Board, I concluded to let matters rest for the present.
Now this complete confusion into which the entire com- munity, both in Oregon and in California, are thrown by means of much gold being found in the latter territory will probably compel me to take my family to the Willamette Valley and work toward this object, in connection with that greatest of all works, the preaching of the gospel, or comply with the wishes of some of the best members of this church and remove to the vicinity of San Francisco Bay; or it is possible, but hardly probable, some good brethren may move to this place. I leave this matter with the great Head of the Church and trust His providence may mark out plainly the path of duty. I need much the advice of your Board on this subject, and trust I shall have it in three or four months. From the present movement of things I think a
159 Ktamath. See note too. ​
176 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
large portion of the enterprise and business talent of Oregon will be thrown upon the Sacramento River and San Fran- cisco Bay. What proportion of our Oregon brethren and their families, I cannot now tell. But of one thing I am con- fident, ministerial help and educational help must be sent to Oregon and California from the States or little will be done. My lungs are beginning to fail me ; Br. Johnson has a numer- ous family and cannot do everything; the means necessary to sustain a family in Oregon the present year will be nearly twice as much as it was last year, and it is exceedingly doubt- ful whether the liberality of the people on the Pacific will keep pace with the increase of their wealth unless they have the gospel sanctified to them. Sin and iniquity are making fearful strides in California since the commencement of gold digging, if all reports are true. How exceedingly desirable that these unparalleled treasures be consecrated to the ser- vice of the Lord in the universal spread of the gospel. As ever I subscribe myself your unworthy brother,
EZRA FISHER. Received July 3, 1849.
ERRATUM.
On page 5, line 15, in the paper entitled "The Indian of the Northwest as Revealed by the Earliest Journals," published in the March number of this Quarterly, the word "graduations" should be "gratulations."