# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 17/Number 1

THE QUARTERLY
of the
Oregon Historical Society
The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST AS REVEALED BY THE EARLIEST JOURNALS.
O. B. Sperlin, Tacoma, Washington.
When Alexander Mackenzie in 1789 was exploring the great river which bears his name, he asked everywhere for information concerning the tribes west of the Rocky Mountains. He was told that natives on the river to the southwest which falls into the Belhoullay Teo or White Man's Lake were of gigantic stature, very wicked, and adorned with wings; that they fed on gigantic birds; and that they possessed the extraordinary power of killing common men with a look of the eye. These native reports of native contemporaries, even to the ​
2 O. B. SPERLIN
linking of "wings" with "very wicked," we now know to be fiction; but fiction no more misleading than when we let our concepts of "siwash," "buck," and "squaw" represent the orig- inal inhabitants of the Northwest. Other fiction more insid- ious has passed in the guise of truth for the last century more insidious because it has passed under the name of "historical" fiction; it has even been labeled, and has thereby libeled, his- tory.
"How would our history read, how would the story of the advance of white men into our country differ, if it had been written by Indians instead of by New England Puritans?" dramatically inquired an Indian neighbor 2 of ours at the organ- ization of the Northwestern Federation of American Indians. Historians have been prone to estimate the Indian by what he became after commerce had brought degradation and while government was bringing slaughter. The study of the native in his native life and character has been notably inadequate. To some, indeed, information for such study has seemed utter- ly inaccessible ; for Indians have left no monuments to per- petuate their history, no names ever to associate with their deeds. By the inexorable force of their sacred custom, when the hero died his name grew silent forever upon the lips of men; name and deed alike were lost in oblivion. Is so little known of the Indian before the white man came that we must depend upon fiction for our reconstruction of that era? Or is there a body of historical records still available but scarcely known through which we may forego fiction and get a glimpse of reality?
The purpose of the present study is to examine every known record of first contact between Indians of the Northwest and explorers and traders, in order to see what light, though ever so checkered, these original journals throw upon the char- acter of the native races: and to investigate in particular the Indian's hospitality, religion, probity, government, industry, and home, or his lack of these, and to review therewith his known
2 Henry Sicade: Tacoma, 1914. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 3
vices. It has been the pleasure of the writer to examine the original journals, either as transcripts or in published form, which describe upwards of one hundred cases of first contact ; and he is convinced that secondary authorities 3 in at least nine other cases are worthy of consideration. These one hundred and more cases cover the seventy years just preceding the end of the first year of Astoria. The writer is aware that cases of first contact between whole tribes and white men are re- corded as taking place even in his own state as late as 1852 ; 4 but he is of the opinion that by 1812 indirect influences radiat- ing from trading establishments and coasting vessels were sufficient (ever so little might be sufficient) to invalidate con- clusions based thereon. These cases, chronologically arranged following 1741 and preserving the (original tribe or band name in the comparatively few cases where the journalists used them, are as follows :
Chirikof among the Sitkas; Bering at Kayak Island and among the Aleuts ; Giotto f among the Koniagas ; Perez among the Haidas and the Nootkas; Heceta and Quadra among the Allequas and the Quinaults ; Heceta among the Clayoquots ; Quadra among the Sitkas and the Kaicanies ; Cook among the Nootkas, the Chugatches, and the Nuchusks; Arteaga and Quadra among the Ucalenzies; La Perouse among the Hoo- nids ; Barkley among the Pacheenas and the Quilliutes ; Dixon among the Yakutats, Hippas, Cumshawas, Massets, and Nin- stints ; Portlock among a northern band of Sitkas or the south- ern Hoonids; Meares among the Tatooches, Willapas, and Tlaoquatch; Douglas probably among the Sebassas; Duncan among the Skiddegats, Skedans, and Classets ; Gray among the Nasomahs, Umpquahs, Killamooks, Makahs, and Custas; Quimper among the Sokes, Tsomas, and Clallams ; Elisa among the Songhies; Gray among the Quatsinos and Skeenas; Nar- vaeth among the Sanech, Cowichens, Comux, and Nanaimos; Galiano and Valdez among the Namoose, Lummi, and Tacul- tas; Vancouver among the Hunas, Chimakum, Twanas, Saw-
3 Sec List of Authorities, Appendix.
4 Report Indian Affairs, 1857: pp. 327-9. ​
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amish, Nisquallies, Chebaulups, Duwamish, Snohomish, Skagets, Kwantlums, Clahoose, Squamishts, Nimkish, Ucletas, Coquilts, Necultas, and Quackolls ; Gray among the Chinooks ; Brough- ton among the Skilloots; Whidbey among the Chehalis; Mackenzie among the Sicanies, Tacullies, upper Atnahs, Dinees, and Bella Coolas; Lewis and Clark among the ShoshoneS, Tushapaws, Chopunish, Yakimas, Pishquitpas, Claquellas, Echeloots, Multnomahs, and Walla Wallas ; Fraser among the Natlahs, lower Atnahs, Chilkotins, Asketties, Hacamaughs, Neilgemughs, Achinrows, Swanemughs, Tahowtins, and Nas- quatins; Andrew Henry among the Bannacks; Thompson among the Kootenays, Saleesh, Skeetshoo, Kullispel, Spokanes, Ilthkoyapes, Simpoils, Nespelems, Methows, Sinkowarsin, Skummooin, and Palouse; Franchere among the Cowlitz; Ross among the Piscows, Chelans, Okanogans, and at Kam- loops; Stuart among the Shushwaps; Hunt among the Ban- nacks and the Cayuse ; and Harmon among the Babines.
How were these explorers and traders received, how enter- tained? We may recall at once the tragedies of Chirikof, Heceta, Captain Barkley, and Captain Gray; but do we then bear in mind that these are but four cases out of more than one hundred examined? As the immediate cause of the vio- lence must forever remain unknown in three cases of the four, may it not be more profitable to examine first the cases of favorable reception, where there are manners and customs embodied which may help to explain the disasters which are now so dark?
First, in regard to the mere ceremony of receiving a stranger, concerning which Jefferson specifically directed 5 Lewis and Clark to inquire: The "national hug" of the Shoshones; the discarding of moccasins and the outspreading of blankets ; the chief's harangue with its vociferated "oys" of approval; the ceremonial pipe of peace held to the four points of the com- pass, to heaven, then to earth ; the white robe thrown over the stranger's shoulders ; the community singing and dancing ; the
5 Original Journals: Vol. VII., p. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 5
making of presents; and among the Eraser River tribes the shaking of hands even to the extent of twelve hundred at a sitting many of these are common to many journals. But on the coast, as pictured by the earliest visitors, the bonfires gleam through the mist; the canoes put out from shore; the natives sing in time to the beat of a paddle on the gunwale; some occupants, as the earliest observer, Fray Crespi 6 quaintly puts it, "make movements like dancing" ; the canoes make three turns about the stranger ship; the birds' down flutters through the air like snow and floats upon the water ; the chief, orating and shaking his rattle, invites the visitors to his own harbor, for the neighboring tribes are all "peshak" or bad; and the cry "Wocash! Wocash!" in token of friendship rings out, so Vancouver 7 records, until the visitors are "almost stunned by their graduations." Cook 8 would call these Indians "Waka- shians" from the word which was so frequently in their mouths. If visitors meet natives on shore first, the latter stretch out their arms to the sky to show that they have laid aside their weapons; or they display the white robe or a tuft of white feathers, or they cross their arms to the sky in token of friend- ship. In a few cases, as Bering 9 among the Kayaks, Gray 10 among the Nesomahs, and Hunt 11 among some bands of Bannacks, the natives fled and could not be induced to return. Here is an unpublished account from the pen of John Hos- kins, 12 one of Captain Gray's journalists, which, though em- bodying none of these enumerated ceremonies, preserves and defines the spirit: "I was received at my landing by an old chief who conducted me with Mr. Smith to his house; seated us by a good fire ; offered us to eat and drink of the best the house afforded; which was dried fish of various sorts, roasted clams and mussels. Water was our drink, handed in a wooden box, with a large sea clam shell to drink out of; the chiefs
6 Crespi: Diarv.
7 Voyage : Vol. III., p. 307.
9 Lauridsen : Vitus Bering.
10 Haswell: p. 33.
11 Irving' s Astona. I a Narratire: p. 37. ​
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son attended me, opened my clams, roasted my fish and did various other kinds of offices in which he was pleased to en- gage. After this entertainment we were greeted with two songs, in which was frequently repeated the words, 'Wakush Tiyee a winna' or 'Welcome, traveling chief." Incidentally, while Hoskins and his fellow officer were thus entertained, his men, freed from the restraint of officers, managed to kick up a row, and the visitors from the Columbia fled into the teeth of a storm.
Indeed, when face to face with the "traveling chief," what wonder fills the native heart! "A very respectable old man sat down by me," writes Thompson, 13 "thankful to see us and smoke of our tobacco before he died, he often felt my shoes and legs gently as if to know whether I was like themselves." The Carriers received Mackenzie 14 with a mixture of astonish- ment and admiration. "Do not you white men know every- thing in the world ?" queried an Atnah chief when asked about the geography of the Tacooche Tesse. The Tacullies offered to pay Harmon 15 if he would bring fair weather when they were starting out on a journey. They thought that all who could read and write were supernatural beings. The Indians above the Falls of the Columbia thought Lewis and Clark came from the sky "rained down out of the clouds," White- house 16 puts it. The natives of Whidbey Island 17 showed in- expressible astonishment when they saw the white under Whid- bey's clothes. At Point Gray they examined Vancouver with the greatest curiosity. Indians on the Parsnip who had never seen white men waited for nine years in the neighborhood of one spot after Finley had turned back from that point in 1797 ; their curiosity was gratified when Fraser 18 came in 1806. The old Hacamaugh chief at the mouth of the Thompson River "often stretched out both hands through curiosity, in order to feel us," as Fraser 19 records. In some cases, notably those
13 Oregon Hist. Quart.: Vol. XV., p. 54.
14 Voyages: Vol. II., p. 167.
15 Journal: p. 301.
1 6 Original Journals: Vol. VII., p. 183.
17 Vancouver, Voyage: Vol. II., p. 162.
1 8 First Journal.
19 Journal: p. 182. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST
recorded by Mackenzie, Lewis and Clark, Fraser, and Ross, 20 the sick were brought to be healed and even the dead to be restored to life. The Cowlitz, according to Franchere, 21 lifted up the legs of their visitors' trousers and opened their shirts with amazement. The Haidas, when Perez first visited them, 22 placed their hands gently upon their visitors' breasts. The Spanish friars had on board an image of Our Lady ; the Haidas- touched it in greatest astonishment, to see whether it were alive. The astonishment at the sound of the rifles, at quick- silver, at the air gun, at the burning-glass, and even at Clark's negro servant York are well known. On the terrible rapids of the Fraser River, 23 a chief said that though Indians did not run the rapids, his confidence in the superiority of the whites was such that he would not hesitate to accompany them wher- ever they thought proper to venture. Many of the tribes on the Fraser 24 and the Columbia danced and sang all night when the white men first came.
The Indian's attitude at first was clearly that of admiration for superior beings, but not of worship of a supreme being. More valuable still, their attitude was uniformly and almost without exception friendly, until it had reason to be inimical. "Thank Heaven for the favors we find among this numerous people!" exclaims Thompson 25 with his usual fervent heart, after months of traveling among them. He had good reasons for that devout thanksgiving. "Frank," "communicative," "generous," "by no means beggarly," "friendly," "cheerful," "most hospitable," "good humored," and "sincere" these are some of the epithets from Lewis and Clark, and these honest observers are not alone. "They vied with each other in acts of kindness," writes Ross; "very friendly," "communicative," "very kind," "very hospitable," "very peaceable," "generous," and "charitable." "Confident," "respectful," "foremost in showing marks of greatest hospitality," "courteous," "liberal,"
20 Adventures: p. 133.
21 Narrative: p. 107.
22 Crespi: Diary.
23 Journal: p. 163.
24 journal: p. 182.
25 Oregon Hist. Quart. : Vol. XV., p.
199​
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and "good humored" writes Vancouver ; while "civil," "friend- ly," and "orderly" recur probably a hundred times in his jour- nal. "We never observed anything contrary to the most per- fect friendship and confidence which they repose in us," says Don Maurelle 26 of Heceta's landing at Trinidad Bay; "they were not only pleasant in intercourse but affectionate." Even concerning the Indians at the Quinault, where a detachment of Spaniards was cut off a few days later, the same journalist speaks of their great cordiality. "They seemed quite pleased at meeting us," says Eraser; 27 "happy to see us," "pleased in our company," "wished to be friendly to strangers," "they carried no arms, as testimony to our friendship." Of another tribe 28 he says, "Knowing our indiscretion, and dreading a like attempt [to run the rapids] they voluntarily transported our canoes overland to a little river beyond the rapids." Another tribe received him 29 and his men as if they had been long lost relatives. "One tribe," he 30 says, "did not expect us, but were so happy at our return that they lent us their canoes while they themselves went on foot to their villages." When Thompson was in desperate straits, due to the impassable condition of the torrential tributaries of the Kootenay, a chief, unable to get a volunteer to guide him, said that while he was alive the white man should not perish in the mountains for want of a guide and hunter. He went himself, and proved to be a noble, manly and humane guide.
In countless ways their actual treatment bore out these nu- merous and generous words of praise. Indians on Hood's Canal presented Vancouver 31 with fish, roots, and other articles of food "in such a way as to convince us that they had much pleasure in so doing." On Bute's Channel, when his 32 boats were in difficulty, they "voluntarily lent their aid to the utmost of their power, and were rewarded for their cordial disinter-
26 Harrington : Miscellany: Don Antonio Maurelle.
27 Journal: pp. j$7ff.
29 Tc
30 1,
31 V
ournal: p. 187. ournal: p. 192. ournal :
1: p. 210. /oyage: Vol. II., p. 91.
i* P. *3S​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 9
ested assistance." Near Point Mudge they threw cooked salmon aboard his 38 ship as it passed by. At Cape Orford they made the usual presents, and did not have the least idea of accepting anything in return. But when he 34 gave them beads,
34 Voyage: Vol. II., p. 24.
medals, etc., they stripped off and offered him their garments and offered these to him in return, and were astonished that they were to keep both the presents and their fur garments. When Lewis and Clark 35 were descending the Snake River, a band of Chopunish delayed their march to warn the travelers of the rapids and to pilot them through. David Thompson records presents of good roasted salmon, antelope meat, roots, moss bread, or berries, from nearly every tribe. He was usual- ly invited or urged to remain. The Palouse forced a present of eight horses on him, 36 with a war garment. The chief insisted that they did not wish any return for the present of horses, but that they knew the nature of a present. Thompson paid them with bills good at trading posts; but the natives could not understand how a piece of paper could contain the price of a horse. Ross, journeying up the Columbia, records presents of horses and salmon, and invitations, usually urgent, to remain with the natives over night or permanently. The Tushapaws, according to Whitehouse, 37 and the Chopunish, according to Gass, made presents of food to Lewis and Clark, though the captains class the latter as stingy. The natives of Whidbey Island, according to Vancouver, 88 "parted with their newly
38 Voyage: Vol. II., p. 286.
acquired friends with great reluctance." Broughton, 39 the first up the Columbia, speaks of warlike appearance, but com- mends orderly behavior, great civility, and utmost decorum. For the "Friendly Chief" among the Skilutes on the Columbia he named Friendly Reach and Parting Point. Broughton was supplied very liberally with salmon. At Gray's Harbor Whid- bey 40 found the behavior of the Chehalis "uniformly civil,
33 P. .269.
35 Original Journals: Vol. III., p. 117.
36 Ore. Hist. Quarterly: Vol. XV., p. 121.
37 Original Journals: Vol. VII., p. 149.
39 Vancouver's Voyage: Vol. III., p. 67.
40 Vancouver's Voyage: VoL III., p. 83. ​
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courteous, and friendly." When his boat was stranded, as he tells us, they were very kindly, and by signs and other means afforded them such assistance as soon conducted them into deep water, when they took their leave and departed. Among the Haidas Vancouver had only to sign to the Indians that he was going to rest and the tribe retired to a distance. The Nootkas importuned Captain Cook 41 to pay them another visit. The tribes of the Fraser were always desiring the explorer to discontinue and remain with them. He was given presents of roots, hazelnuts, skins, berries, excellent dried and fresh salmon, and sturgeon. Apprised of their approach, the chief came out to meet the visitors 42 with roasted salmon. "They gave us 40 salmon," he records, "and sent young men along with us to carry them, saying, 'The Indians above are poor.' " Even these "poor" Indians generously shared 43 what they had. Indians assisted at the portages with their horses and carried part of the baggage themselves. He 44 pitched his tent by native camps and enjoyed entire peace and security. Indians had only to notice that his 45 men needed new pairs of mocca- sins, and a coat of mail was usually presented to him for the purpose. On his return journey, so he 46 writes, "They assisted us in passing our baggage over, which was of greatest service to us, the portage being long and the weather extremely hot." Perez 47 was invited by the Indians to land and was shown a good harbor. At the Fraser River mouth in 1792 Indians gave mulberries and shellfish, and when they found that Galiano 48 and Valdez needed water they went to their village and brought some vessels full of it. The Indians on Valdez Island "allowed but few minutes to pass without trying to point out to us 49 the dangers we were going to encounter and the mode and oppor- tunity of triumphing over them." They accompanied the
41 Voyage: Vol. II., p. 286.
42 Journal: p. 212.
43 Journal: p. 212.
44 P. 182.
45 P. 214.
46 P. 218.
47 Crespi: Diary.
48 Sutil y Mexicana: pp. ssff.
49 Sutil y Mexicana: pp. 82ff. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 11
ship through the dangerous channel when the sun reached the proper place on the mountain tops; then they sent, without any request on the Spaniards' part, a canoe with a man and woman to guide them. Referring to the Indians of the Gulf of Georgia met by the Galiano and Valdez expedition, Espinosa 50 writes of "the joy on their faces when they met us, and the kindness with which they treated us." Quadra records of the Nootkas that he never experienced any vexation at the hands of the natives. Bering's journalist speaks of the profuse expressions of good will with which that explorer's men were received.
Before leaving this subject of treatment, let us examine all cases as Mackenzie's 51 treatment by the Burke's Canal Bella have little significance. We must exclude at the outset such cases of unfriendly reception, omitting only a few that seem to Coolas, for this was not a case of first contact; trading ships some months before, under "Bensins" and "Macuba" as the Indians remembered their names, laid the basis for Mackenzie's ill treatment. A similar case is Eraser's 52 trouble at the mouth of his river in 1808. Traders for fifteen years had called there. Nor need Quadra's 53 troubles in southern Alaska engage us long. In one case he ordered native canoes out of the harbor. "They made signs," he says, "that we were the people who ought to leave the harbor, which belonged to them." Later he had a fight with them and killed some of them. The fight was over two of his crew whom he thought they had taken prisoners. When the struggle was over and an ex- change of prisoners effected, he found to his chagrin that his men had not been stolen away by the Indians, but were at- tempting to desert him.
But we must consider for a moment Mackenzie's 54 tempest in a teapot among the Atnahs. He was not attacked, but hostile demonstrations threatened him until the matter was cleared
50 Sutil y Mexicana: p. 153.
51 Voyages: Vol. II.. p. 27$ff.
52 Journal: pp. 2O3ff.
53 Expeditions: p. 3 ooff.
54 Voyages: Chapt. VII. ​
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up. He had told them that he was going down the Tacooche Tesse to the sea. Suddenly he began a retrograde movement, to take a short-cut to the Pacific. His unheralded change of mind and the poor work of his interpreters came near costing him dearly. Harmon 55 among the Babines writes, "They came to meet us armed; they offered no offense, but showed that they could defend themselves." Franchere 56 records that McKay and Montigny when attacked by the Cowlitz "dis- played a friendly sign to the astonished natives, and invited them to land for a friendly talk; to which they immediately assented." Then the Astorians learned that the Cowlitz were at war with the Kreluits (Skilutes) ; and for the Kreluits the attack had all the while been intended. Eraser, 57 returning to the Hacamaughs, thought that their attitude had changed, and that they were treating him coldly, until he learned that they were actually starving, and the degree of famine caused the disagreeable gloom which had so forcibly attracted his notice. Meares's 58 longboat under Duffin was attacked by natives prob- ably at Nitinat, in 1788; but soon afterwards Duffin learned that these natives claimed Tatooche for chief, and Meares learned that Tatooche was at war with Wickananish, who was Meares's closest ally among the Indians. The Nitinats, there- fore, were at war with Meares in about the same way that the Japanese are at war with the Turks in the present war. Observe how, in these inimical cases, misunderstanding plays such a large part. " Misunderstanding through ignorance of the idiom may bring the most fatal consequences," writes Espinosa 59 of the Galiano and Valdez expedition. Hoskins 60 says on the same subject, "Too often it is the case that sailors when no officer is with them, from their ignorance of the lan- guage, either miscomprehend the natives or the natives them;
55 Journal: p. 282.
56 Narrative: p. 107.
57 Journal: pp. 213, 214.
58 Voyages: Appendix IV.
59 Sutil y Mexicana: p. 20.
60 Narrative: p. 38. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 13
thus each deeming [that] the other insulted, a quarrel ensues. As well in civilized as in savage governments, from small causes, great evils spring." Fraser 81 was cautioned that he should not take any village by surprise, or mischance might follow. Cook 62 describes the natives as quick to resent injury. Indians considered that all products of their country belonged to them; both Quadra 63 and Cook came near finding to their sorrow that all products included even water and grass.
There are but five cases of first contact along the coast (none in the interior) in which fatalities resulted. In 1788 Captain Gray 64 was sailing leisurely along the coast of Oregon, trading and provisioning when the wind was unfavorable for progress northward. Above Cape Lookout, probably at Killamook Bay, Indians in canoes brought out berries and boiled crabs which they furnished without payment, thus saving, according to Haswell, the lives of three or four sailors who were in the last stages of scurvy. Then the captain traded for furs, the natives taking whatever was offered without the slightest complaint. Several boat loads of wood and water were also taken aboard, the natives behaving with greatest propriety, but always armed and showing that they were armed. While waiting for a tide Coolidge and Haswell, officers, went ashore for their health. They took seven men ashore with them to get a load of grass and shrubbery for the livestock aboard. The Indians received them in a most friendly manner, invited them to their homes, and entertained them. One of the haymakers was Captain Gray's negro servant, Marcos, a boy from the Cape Verde Islands. He had stuck his cutlass into the ground. A curious or thiev- ing Indian pulled it out and started off with it. The negro boy, in spite of everything his comrades could say to the con- trary, dropped his load of grass, and screaming, pursued the thief. Other Indians soon surrounded him at the end of his chase. Haswell and Coolidge, out digging clams after their entertainment, heard the outcry, and ordered the chiefs to have
6 1 Journal: p. 160.
62 Voyage: II, 309.
63 Expeditions: p. 390.
64 Haswell: pp. 44-47. ​
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the cutlass and the boy brought back. The chief coldly indi- cated that if the white men wanted these, they should go get them themselves. The negro boy had caught the Indian by the collar, and was crying out to his companions that he had caught the thief. In the fight that followed, the negro was killed with knife and arrow ; and Gray's men, as they retreated to their boats, killed the leading Indians, and one of the white men was wounded with an arrow. Gray sailed away, and called the place Murderers' Harbor, a name which fortunately did not stick. Such fracases have happened the world over, wherever sailors go ashore ; and they need but little explana- tion. It may be noted here, however, that the Indians con- sidered the hay their property, and probably did not under- stand at first that it was to be taken without pay. Cook 65 had tried to cut grass at Nootka ; he paid the first proprietor liber- ally ; soon there did not seem to be a single blade of grass that had not a separate owner, and his pockets were forthwith emptied.
A second case of hostile treatment was that met with by Captain Barkley 66 of the Imperial Eagle at the mouth of the Hoh River in 1787, one year earlier than Gray's fight. While anchored between Destruction Island and the mainland, he hoisted out the longboat and sent it with a smaller boat in tow to go up the river whichh could be seen from the ship, his purpose being trade with the natives. The longboat was in charge of William Miller, the second mate; Mr. Beale, the purser, and ten men. The river was found too shallow, as expected, for the longboat ; and the smaller boat, with Messrs. Miller and Beale and four men, rowed away up stream, taking with them a sheet of copper for purposes of trade. These un- fortunate persons were never seen again, though every exer- tion was made by the longboat's crew to find them before re- turning to the ship. The next day a strongly armed party was sent from the ship in search of the unfortunate people. A landing was effected and careful search made. Some portions
65 Vpyag: II, 284.
66 Victoria Daily Colonist, Mar. 3, 1901, "Cruise of the Imperial Eagle." ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 15
of mangled and bloody clothing were found, but no part of the bodies or the boat. The dreadful conviction was forced upon the Imperial Eagle's crew that all had been murdered. Captain Barkley proceeded to China with a good collection of furs.
Another serious and mysterious case is recorded by Don Antonio Maurelle and Bodega y Quadra, 67 journalists of the Heceta expedition in 1775. The commander's ship was off to the south of the Quinault River, near Point Grenville. When the Spaniards landed and planted their cross, the natives pres- ent, in spite of this "insanity of civilization" were friendly and carried on pleasant intercourse. Quadra's tiny schooner lay some distance to the north, in a dangerous anchorage. Here also the natives were "tractable in disposition" and bartered skins with his crew. He 68 says : "I gave them beads, mirrors, and handkerchiefs, for which they endeavored to repay me with abundance of various fishes and whale flesh. After this reciprocal traffic I sent six men ashore well armed with the boatswain, to cut wood, timber for a cap which had split, and to replenish the water which we needed ; but disembarking for their tasks, more than three hundred Indians fell upon them by surprise, and as far as I could see, slew them ; for in the space of two hours I did not see in the midst of the tumult, more than one flash without report, from which I concluded that it was a misfire. I also noticed that two of my people started to swim to the ship, but if they were wounded, the coldness of the water or excessive loss of blood would prevent them from reaching it, and I am therefore in doubt whether they per- ished from drowning or by the hands of the traitors." As Quadra extricated his schooner, his men killed six of the Indians and sunk all their canoes in sight. He wished to return and make greater reprisals; but his superior, Heceta, over- ruled him. One month later, as Heceta without Quadra or a one of his men, was returning passed Point Grenville, ten Indians came off in a canoe to trade. Some of Heceta's sailors,
67 Barrington : Miscellany: Don Antonio Maurelle. 67 Expeditions: First Voyage, p. 285. ​
16 O. B. SPERLIN
pretending to recognize some of those engaged in the massacre, threw grappling hooks at the canoe, hoping to capture the Indians and hold them for ransom in case any of the four Spaniards might be captive. But the hooks only struck Indians in the back and did not hold the canoe.
In a last effort to locate the spot where the Spaniards made the first landing ever effected on the Northwest coast and planted the first of many crosses for the King of Spain, the late Mr. Gilstrap of Tacoma inquired of Quilliute Indians near the spot in 1908, to find out what tradition had to say. The oldest Indian, who claimed as usual to be over a hundred, said that he had been told that the Indians were celebrating in their potlatch house. The Spaniards were invited to partake of the feast. Then the Spaniards wanted to trade for dried salmon. Indians would not trade, for could potlatch treasures be traded? Spaniards began to take the dried salmon from the line anyway, and Indians fell upon them and killed them. This tradition has a great deal to contend with, for it very likely confuses the Spaniards' disaster with the loss of the seven men by Captain Barkley of the Imperial Eagle twelve years later, and it is also most likely that the disaster occurred among the Quinaults instead of among the Quilliutes. The river was named Martires and the Island to the northward was named Dolores by Heceta; the island was renamed Destruction by Captain Barkley, and the river six miles to the north was named Destruction River. Meares gave the river and bay what he understood to be the native name, Queenhithe ; it has since been known as Elihoh, and Ohahlat, and finally plain Hoh; and in all accounts since these early disasters, the natives of this re- gion have been known as among the most inoffensive along the coast.
The fourth known case of inimical treatment, alike serious and mysterious, was that of the Russian Chirikof 69 in 1741, in connection with the real discovery of the Northwest coast at least a day before Bering saw the high mountains of the St.
69 Davidson : Tracks and Landfalls of Bering and Chirikof. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 17
Elias Range. Chirikof needed water, and he desired to ex- plore for a harbor. He sent a boat manned by Demetrief and nine others, fully armed even to a small brass cannon, and a complete set of signals for every emergency. First came the signal that the boat had landed safely; next followed signal after signal for three days that all was going well. Then all signals ceased; day followed day and the boat did not return. Chirikof, thinking that the boat might have suffered damage in some landing, sent his sole remaining boat under Savelief and five men, with instructions that at least one boat should return immediately after the missing boat had been succored. The second was seen to land and the men were observed to start off; but the gloom of night came on and there was no preparation for return. In the morning two canoes, one large and one small, were seen to put from shore, and the cry was raised that the two boats were returning. Then Chirikof, anxious to be gone from the place of so much suspense, gave orders for all to be in readiness to sail. In the confusion of preparation no one seems to have noticed until the canoes were nearly alongside that they were filled with natives. Then the Russian sailors came thronging on deck until the natives, circling about the ship as was their custom in receiving strang- ers, were frightened by the numbers ; and with cries of "Akai ! Akai!" the Sitkas sped for shore. Then Chirikof, heartsick, cursed his ill stars that his men had frightened them off, for he felt that his missing men were likely prisoners and could be ransomed. He had no boats left with which to make a landing ; a storm came up, and he was compelled to run for the open sea. But the veteran loved his men, his followers for many years ; and when the storm was over he came back and coasted for some days, firing signals ; but no signs of either Indians or his lost men could he find. The council of officers voted to return to Avatcha, in Siberia.
Our American Captain Gray had more than his share of con- flicts with the natives, but the supposed fight at Gray's Harbor 70
70 Ore. Pioneer Association, Transactions, 1892, p. 80. ​
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(then known as Bulfinch's Harbor) reported by Porter in his paper before the Oregon Pioneer Association at the celebra- tion at Astoria, in 1892, of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Discovery of the Columbia River, seems to have been a mistake due to a geographical error. The fighting, done chiefly by Gray's side, occurred a year earlier, at a place called Chickle- set village on Bulfinch's Sound, not Bulfinch's Harbor. None of Gray's men were injured. Hoskins 71 tells the story in de- tail; and if there occurred a year later a second fight at a second Chickleset village situated on Bulfinch's Harbor as the first was situated on Bulfinch's Sound, then that was a marvel of nomenclature that the Bulfinch 72 extract made in 1816 from the Second Volume of the Log Book of the Ship Columbia should likely have mentioned. But Gray did have one 78 more encounter, fatal to three of his crew, seemingly some- where on Portland Canal, in 1791. Considerable familiarity had grown up between the crew and the natives, and it is not at all certain that this was a first meeting between the races; near-by regions had been frequented by traders for four years. A small detachment from Gray's crew, consisting of Caswell the first mate, Barnes, and Folger, had gone some little distance in the jolly boat to fish. They were cruelly murdered by the Indians. Gray recovered Caswell's body, and sailed away, naming the place, as previously at Killamook Massacre Cove, and the headland Murderers' Cape.
Such is the record ; practically all receptions were hospitable except these five. These were friendly at first, before trouble arose that proved fatal. Practically all of the journalists, even four of the five adverse cases, speaks in definite terms favorable to the natives. All these seem to be cases of first contact, and must not be confused with the hostile attacks and massacres later as in the case of the Boston and the Tonquin. We need only to read a few such journals as Ingraham's, Hoskins' or "A New Vancouver Journal" to learn that the trade relations
71 Narrative: pp. 37-39. 73 Proceedings: p. 87. 73 ProciinB: p. 75. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 19
had been be-deviled ten, yes even twenty, years before the fate of Astor's Tonquin; and some of our American traders whose names are now highly honored, were no whit less culpable than the slaughtering Promyshleniki, the coureurs des bois of the Russians.
When the Lewis and Clark expedition came below the Cas- cades, according to Whitehouse, 74 they found an Indian who could "curse some words in English." It is reasonably certain that this Indian had to learn English in order to do this curs- ing; for the natives had no language for taking the name of their god in vain. In fact, many of these early journalists could not make out definitely whether the Indians had any god at all. Of course this was due to the brevity of the observa- tions in many cases, and to the fact that Indians had no temples, no priests, no public worship in the usual sense. Most tribes went no further in naming their god than to call him the Good Spirit or even the Great Mystery; just as our greatest English philosopher has called God the Unknowable. Thompson, who was with the Indians longest and met as many new tribes intimately as any explorer not even excepting Vancouver, says that their religion was simple and natural, without sacrifices or superstitions. They acknowledged a Great Spirit who dwelt in the clouds to be the master of everything. Mackenzie 75 says that their religion was of a very contracted nature. Of the Bella Coolas 76 he says that they believed in two spirits, Good and Evil ; they tried to conciliate the one and avert the enmity of the other. Harmon 77 says of the neighboring Tacullies that they have a very confused and limited idea of the existence of a supreme being, but that they believe in the immortality of the soul. The Nootkas readily permitted Jewitt, 78 a prisoner from the plundered ship Boston, to worship his own god in his own way. He 79 says further that the Indians "believed in a Supreme Being, the Great Tyee of the sky." Lewis
74 Original Journals: Vol. VII., p. 187.
75 Voyages: Vol. II., p. 24.
76 Voyages: Vol. II., p. 313.
77 Journal: 293.
78 Adventures: Chapter IX.
79 Adventure*: p. at 6. ​
20 O. B. SPERLIN
and Clark report that the Shoshones "implore the Great Spirit for protection." Ross 80 records that the Okanogans believed in a good and an evil spirit, both invincible. Practically all journalists agree with Cook 81 that Indians paid no religious homage to their carved images. Lisiansky 82 says they believe in a Creator of all things, who, when angry, sends down dis- eases. Mosino, 83 the scientist with Quadra at Nootka, says, "They recognize the existence of a God the Creator and Pre- server of all things ; a malignant being, author of wars, sick- ness, and death; they abominate this odious origin of their calamities, as they venerate and exalt the good God who has created them." Don Antonio Maurelle, 84 learning that In- dians had a plurality of wives, inferred "with good cause," so he says, "that they were atheists."
La Perouse, 85 the French explorer, could not find the least trace of any worship, though he had said previously that before the natives came on board they seemed to address a prayer to the sun. His stay was brief, however, and his ob- servation centered chiefly on externals. Malaspina 86 thought that because Indians thought he was worshipping the sun with his astronomical instruments they treated him with greatest con- sideration. Quadra 87 also saw indications of sun worship, though otherwise he saw not the slightest trace of idolatry. Haswell 88 reports great adoration to the sun, and the belief in a "supreme god and a Deavle." Thompson says that the sun, moon, and stars were divinities, above all the sun, who made the lightning, thun- der and rain. By the most painstaking observers prayer was oft- en seen and described. Haswell 89 reports that he had "seen old people appear to pray with great fervor and shed tears." Thompson 90 describes the chiefs as they made short prayers at
80 Adventures: p. 288.
8 1 Voyage: II, p. 318 and 334.
82 Voyage: p. 243.
83 Sutil y Mexicana: Vol. II., p. 137.
84 Harrington: Miscellany: Don Antonio Maurelle.
85 Voyage: Vol. II., p. 144 and p. 88.
86 Voyage: p. 160.
87 Expeditions: p. 318.
88 Voyage: p. 86.
89 Voyage: p. 87.
90 Ore. Hist. Quarterly: XV.,
pp. 42ff. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 21
their receptions to him. Jewitt 91 reports that before a whaling expedition the Indians passed a day alone in the mountains to sing and pray to their god. Each fasted for two days; then the whole crew fasted for a week, bathing and rubbing their bodies several times each day. He 92 records that on many other occasions they repaired in secret to the woods to pray; and that bathing was always a ceremony of prayer. He 93 came upon women miles from any village, with eyes shut and face turned towards heaven, praying; this going alone into the woods to pray was frequent. Lewis and Clark 94 say that the wonderful fireworks display among the Chopunish of setting the fir tree on fire was a kind of prayer to bring fair weather to the traveler's journey. Thompson 95 reports of nearly all of his tribes that they danced "that we might be preserved on the strong rapids"; "for our good voyage and preservation to the sea and back again"; "each dance ended with a kind of prayer for our safety." "All their dances," he says, "are a kind of religious prayer for some end." "They never assume a gay, joyous countenance, but always are of serious turn, with often a trace of enthusiasm." "They con- tinually kept blessing us, and wishing us all manner of good visiting them, with clapping their hands and extending them to the skies." Again he says that their worship was in dancing. Ross 96 says of the same tribes that on all solemn occasions they have a short prayer, though there are no places of worship, public or private. When Galiano and Valdez 97 laughed at Maquinna's prayer for good weather for their ship to sail, they were rebuked by the natives. As they 98 were leaving Neah Bay the chief Tetacus, when the ship was becalmed, "turned to the point from which we wanted the wind to come, became serious, stretched out his arms, and began to move his fingers ; he now closed one down, then all down, then put out two,
91 Adventures: p. 180.
92 Adventures: 216.
93 Adventures : p. 217.
94 Original Journals: Vol. V., p. 159.
95 Ore. Hist. Quarterly: Vol. XV., Nos. i and a.
96 Adventures: p. 288.
97 Sutil y Mexicana: p. 22.
98 Sutil y Mexicana: p. 37. ​
22 O. B. SPERLIN
then raised one, and left it thus for a short time, and during all this he remained in a sort of abstraction which indicated that he was praying mentally." Harmon" reports that the Carriers, when the sun was eclipsed in 1811, "took their hands full of swans' down and blew it through their hands towards the sun, imploring that great luminary to accept the offering thus made him, to be put on the heads of his sons when en- gaged in dancing, and to spare the Indians."
Ideas 100 of future life varied with different tribes and even with individuals. Haswell 101 records that they supposed their departed friends became guardians and senders of the fish animals that are of most service to them. "They think it gives the deceased great pain to cut particular fish with a knife, and that they send no more if it is allowed of." Jewitt 102 says that at death, property of the deceased was burned, destroyed, or buried, not that it might accompany him to the spirit land, but to keep people from the temptation to speak his name. Ross 103 says that the deceased's property was burned or de- stroyed, otherwise the spirit would never be at rest. Most journalists agree with Franchere 104 that Indians believe in a state of future existence. Thompson records several cases which show how the idea of "Life after Death" was deep- rooted in every nature. Indians like other races were all super- stitious in one way or another. The superstitions were strong- est regarding the salmon, the universal food, even for the inland tribes of the Northwest, the failure of which meant starvation. "Salmon do not like the smell of iron," the Dinees declared to Mackenzie ; 105 they said the same thing of venison, that the salmon would smell it and come no more. When one of his men threw a deer bone into the river, a native instantly dived, brought it up, and burned it. So they would not let him use his astronomical instruments, for fear he might
99 Journal: p. 207.
100 Alexander Henry: Travels.
101 Voyage: p. 86.
1 02 Adventures: p. 174.
103 Adventures: p. 321.
104 Narrative: p. 250.
i 5 Voyages: Vol. It., p. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 23
frighten the salmon away. Thompson at Kettle Falls found that these things were not superstition, but based upon the fact that salmon ran off when any pollution was thrown into the river. Farther down the Bella Coola, Mackenzie was re- quested not to discharge fire-arms for the same reason. If a Nootka ever ate bear meat, according to Jewitt and others, he abstained from eating salmon for two months, or the salmon would hear of it and come no more. Lewis and Clark 106 report that at the Falls of the Columbia, the first salmon was divided up, one piece for each child in the camp, to hasten the arrival of the salmon run. Ross 107 says that for the first ten days the salmon among the Chinooks must not be cut crosswise nor boiled, but roasted; must not be sold without the heart being taken out, and must be eaten the same day they are taken from the river. Franchere 108 adds that if these regulations were not observed, the river would be obstructed and the fishing ruined. Many similar superstitions are recorded by later ob- servers. The salmon played such an important part in their lives that no wonder the cry, "Salmon have come! Salmon have come!" was caught up with joy and uttered with ani- mation by every person in the village, as told so graphically by Harmon. 109 .
Music was closely related to religion. A common method of expressing joy was drumming with sticks on roofs and sides of houses ; but the Indian had a better way of expressing his deeper religious feelings. The chants of the Hoonids reminded La Perouse 110 of the "plain songs" of the churches of France. "The air of these songs greatly resembled those which I have heard sung in the Roman Catholic Church," writes Har- mon. 111 . Mackenzie speaks of the Atnahs' soft, plaintive tones, and modulation that was rather agreeable; it had, he said, somewhat the air of church music. Hoskins 112 reports that by
106 Original Journals: Vol. IV., p. 300.
107 Adventures: p. 97.
1 08 Narrative: p. 260.
109 Journal: p. 223. no Voyage: p. 88. in Journal : p. 305. 1 1 a Narrative : p. 99. ​
24 O. B. SPERLIN
1791 the Spaniards had been among the Tatooches endeavor- ing to convert them to Christianity. The chief said that he and several others had been baptized, as had several of their children. This ceremony he went through, as also the chant- ing of some of their hymns with the most serious religious air: "Though it was in broken Spanish [Latin?] and Indian, yet he imitated the sounds of their voices, their motions, and religious cants of their faces to a miracle, at the same time condemned our irreligious manner of life." These early bap- tisms by Catholic priests solve the strange mystery which troubled Galiano and Valdez 113 next year when they heard Tetacus (Tatooche) call his favorite wife "Marie"; which the chief pronounced over and over till he convinced the Spanish commanders that it was the real Christian name. After a musical concert by natives for a chief who had been sick for a long time over the death of his daughter, Hoskins 114 asked whether the music did not annoy the sick chief; the sick man replied that the music was very pleasing to him; for, he said, "a few nights since the moon when he was asleep told him that if he had have had a great deal of singing his child would not have died, and unless he himself had he would also die ; there- fore he every day should have a concert." "Superstitious wretch," cries Hoskins, "but thou art a child of nature !" Marchand 115 calls singing among the Indians a social institution. The lan- guage of song 116 was different from the language of conversa- tion. The Indians of the north coast seem to have been espe- cially fond of music, and proficient in the art as they under- stood it. "Sutil y Mexicana" 117 informs us, "Maquinna found fault with our trills and all music in which the soft langour of b flat predominated, saying that the one who trilled seemed to be shivering with cold, and the other sang like a man half asleep." Mosino 118 says, "Chief Quicomasia, having heard some of our instruments, said that they did not please him, as
1 13 Sutil y Mexicana: p. 3off.
114 Narrative: p. 113.
115 Voyage: I, 350. n6Tewitt: Adventures: p. 129.
1 17 Vol. II., p. 151.
118 Sutil y Mexicana: Vol. II., p. 151. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 25
they seemed to resemble the songs of the birds, which amuse the ear, without touching the heart." He 119 further records that chiefs had no use for poetry and music except to praise their god and celebrate the deeds of illustrious living heroes ; but music, he said, was used "profanely among the Plebeans." Cook 120 says that these Indians were fond of music and sang in the exactest concert, great numbers together. Their songs were slow and solemn, the variations numerous and expres- sive, the cadence and melody powerfully soothing. Mar- chand 121 says that all beat time, and that they have so true an ear that never more than a single stroke is heard. Meares 122 was charmed with the music of the Tatooches, "for its simple melody of nature ; proceeding in perfect union and exact meas- ure from 400 voices; it found its way to our hearts." The unknown author of "A New Vancouver Journal" 123 thus com- pliments Maquinna's entertainment of song, dance, and panto- mime: "Thus ended this entertainment in which there was something grand and curious and well worth coming the dis- tance from Nootka to see alone." Fray Crespi, 124 hearing the Kaicanies sing, exclaims "By the air we knew that they were pagans!"
To sum up: All except the French observer La Perouse agree that the Indians believed in a good spirit ; that there were no temples, no idols, no priests; that there was little public worship; that prayer was common, especially in retirement; that though they believed in "Life after Death," their ideas of that future life varied; and that music was usually asso- ciated with religion.
That Indians were honest and faithful to their word is re- corded and exemplified by most of the journals. Mackenzie 125 reports that they were remarkable for honesty. The wretched Sicanies left the beaver skins as promised stuck up on a pole,
119 Ibid: p. 151-
120 Voyage: II., p. 310.
121 Voyage: I., p. 351.
1 22 Voyage: p. 157.
123 Wash. Hist. Quarterly: V., p. 305.
124 Crespi: Diary.
125 Voyages: II., 35. ​
26 O. B. SPERLIN
so that when he 126 returned two months later he found the skins there and completed the first beaver trade debt overland west of the mountains. All the four journalists of the Lewis and Clark expedition speak of the Shoshones as extremely honest, and instance the lost tomahawk that was returned with- out the asking, and the borrowing of knives and kettles, always carefully returned. Whitehouse 127 called the Tushapaws "the honestest savages we have ever seen." Lewis and Clark 128 speak warmly of the Walla Wallas' act of integrity in bring- ing to them the steel-trap that was left behind ; they call them the most hospitable, honest, and sincere people met with in their voyage. Thompson shows of the Upper Columbia tribes that they were usually truthful and did not tell more than they knew of local geography. Fraser, 129 following Indian geogra- phy, laid out the first highway in British Columbia in 1807. Duncan, 130 first among the Makahs, was given the first Indian information of Puget Sound, which Vancouver three years later put to proof. Vancouver calls the Chickamun and many other tribes honest in trade and traffic. Captain Cook 131 says that in his trading with the natives there was the strictest honesty on both sides. Of the Muchusks on Cook's Inlet he says, "They trafficked with our people for some time, without ever giving us reason to accuse them of any act of dishonesty." The author of "A New Vancouver Journal" 133 says that not- withstanding a treacherous, piratical disposition, the chiefs behave with some degree of honor to those with whom they make bargains. He cites: "Wicananish amongst others fre- quently receives in advance from the masters of vessels (par- ticularly one Kendrick) the value of from 50 to 100 skins to be paid in a certain time, which hitherto he has commonly fulfilled, and when the Butterworth and Jenny were together in
126 Voyages: Vol. II., p. 102 and p. 329.
127 Original Journals: VII., 150.
128 Original Journals: IV., 345.
129 First Journal.
130 Descriptive note to Dalrymple's Map, 1790, sketched by Duncan, and bowing entrance to Straits of Juan de Fuca.
131 Voyages: II., p. 270.
132 Voyage: II., p. 393.
133 Wash. Hist. Quarterly: VI., 64. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 27
that part I have understood that they could not purchase a skin, as Wicananish was making up a quantity he owed and had likewise made a promise to the person he was in debt to to keep all the skins for him over and above the sum due, that he collected."
Fraser 134 records that the Atnahs brought to Mr. Quesnil a pistol which he lost while out riding. He says that while many things were left loose and scattered about in such a manner as to afford all opportunity to the natives, nothing went astray. He cached most of his goods and put away his canoes in the presence of the Indians. Then he 135 made another cache, unknown to the natives. The latter was torn open by wild animals; the natives saved what they could for him. 136 The articles in the caches left in their charge were safe, for Indians had continually attended to their safety during his absence. Another cache was kept safe by another tribe, though the keepers were on the verge of starvation. "They deserved much credit for abstaining," he 137 says. He rewarded the keeper, who immediately divided with all his tribe. Once on his trip two Indians overtook him 138 with a piece of iron his men had forgotten ; and iron was like gold to them. At another point, as he 139 was coming back up the river, natives restored to him various articles which had been lost in the wreck of a canoe going down. Espinosa 140 writes of the exactness with which all the Indians fulfil their contracts. He relates that Natzapa, on Vancouver Island, asked sundry individuals of the packet San Carlos for sheets of copper and other objects on credit to take to the Nuchiwases and obtain skins. "He had the misfortune to upset his canoe. He lost his wife, whom he loved dearly, his own property, also that of the other people which he was taking. It would seem that in such sad circum- stances he might easily have excused himself from paying his
1 34 Journal: p. 167.
1 35 Journal: 167.
1 36 Journal: 215.
137 Journal: 219.
138 Journal: 184. 1 38 Journal: 184.
140 Sutil y Mexicans : p. 155. ​
28 O. B. SPERLIN
creditors ; but in accordance with his ideas of rectitude he took upon himself the entire weight of his misfortunes and worked incessantly until he had paid all that he owed." Here, from a Spanish scientist, observing Indian life, we get an exact parallel to the heroism of Sir Walter Scot when he assumed all the half million debt of his firm when the crash came, and paid it all by his own heroic labor.
Of course Indians would pilfer and steal ; and the more they associated with coasting traders the more the propensity grew. Curiosity, "childish curiosity/' according to Cook, 144 played a strong part in the earliest thefts. Vancouver 142 records an attempt to steal a note-book which of course the Indians couldn't read. Nothing so fascinated the natives as a scrap of writing. This pilfering went so far among the Chugatches as a plan to plunder Cook's 143 ship, the Discovery ; and if Spaniards set up an astronomical observatory ashore, "their importunity and their inclination to steal," remarks Navarrete, 144 soon made it necessary to move the said observatory on board again. 145 .
Government among the Indians seems to have been loose and simple, but sufficiently efficient. Quadra 146 on the coast found all submitting to the old men of the tribe, and appar- ently living in good harmony. Malaspina 147 likewise found chiefs the venerable old men of the tribes; but according to Cook 148 the chiefs were not always elderly men. Many of the inland tribes had two chiefs, one the civil, and the other the war chief. The former was the real head of the tribe. Lewis and Clark 149 observed that the creation of chiefs is due to their ability, bravery for a war chief being a prime requisite; that the influence of the chiefs is only such as they win, for each individual is his own sovereign master. Captain Chanal 150 of
141 Voyage: II., p. 312.
142 Voyage: Vol. II., p. 273.
143 Voyage: II., p. 360.
144 Sutil y Mexicana: Vol. I.
145 See also Malaspina: pp. is6ff.
146 Expeditions: p. 3i8ff.
147 Voyage: p. 155.
148 Voyage: II., p. 334.
149 Original Journals: Vol. II., p. 370.
150 Voyage: I., 358. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 29
the Marchand expedition, thought the chiefs were chosen be- cause of ability in trade. No chief has power over the property of individuals. Ross 151 says that the chief's control is nom- inal; the Indian maxim is that Indians were born to be free, and that no man had a natural right to the obedience of an- other. There is no coercive power to back the will of the chief, yet he is seldom disobeyed. He seldom interferes in family affairs, the ordinary routine of daily occurrences. Every morn- ing at daybreak he rides or walks about the village and har- angues as he goes; the business of the day is then and there settled ; but he never interferes with the affairs of individuals. This custom of the morning harangue is preserved to this day; the chief in this determines the movement of the camp as a whole, hunting parties, fishing, etc. Weightier matters always are brought before a council, a government by the most important men of the tribe. These councils are ceremonial and always orderly. After the chief has opened the matter, coun- cilors speak to the point, always one at a time and earnestly and orderly. Mackenzie 152 found the Dinees quiet and peace- able, never making any incursions into the lands of their neighbors. Lewis and Clark 153 report the Shoshones and other tribes very orderly, not prone to crowd around or disturb. Captain Chanal 154 says that in traffic they were orderly, no con- fusion, no disputes, neither eager, urgent, noisy nor importu- nate. Thompson, except at The Dalles, invariably reports that the Indians behaved well, and were under the control of the chiefs. Navarrete 155 tells us that Indians deal kindly among themselves, and do not allow themselves to be carried away with anger. Jewitt 156 says that there are no violent quarrels between citizens.
There is no compulsion in going to war. Thompson de- scribes the Kullyspell Indians' customs of mustering, which may be regarded as typical. If a small group is anxious to
151 Adventures: p. 293.
152 Voyages: Ch. IX.
153 Original Journals : III., p. 14.
1 54 Marchand : I., 359.
155 Sutil y Mexicana: Vol. I.
156 Adventures: p. aao. ​
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get up a war party, the individuals put white earth on their heads, and for a few days pretend to be crying for relatives and friends who have fallen in raids by the enemy. If the tribe favors war, others put on white earth and pretend to cry. The movement gets so strong that the chief calls a council. If the council decides adversely, the wearing of white earth probably ceases ; if favorably, two good agents are sent to the next tribe who are friendly. These emissaries go about their work in the new tribe just as the original white-earth wearers in their own tribe ; the same process is carried through. But if the tribe is against, any who please as individuals may join the war party. The tribes or parts of tribes thus confederated for this special war now elect a war chief. If later events show that the party is too weak for war, the end and aim is probably changed to the next most dangerous and therefore most glorious exploit ; namely, horse-stealing. But even in this, to fulfill vows, some blood must be shed, if it is only that the chief cuts his own arm.
A noteworthy feature of Indian government was the scarcity of punishments, especially their aversion to corporal punish- ment. Most tribes never punished their children, for they said that it cowed and broke the spirit of the boy to whip him. They objected strenuously even to flogging of white men by white men under the then current military code. When Jewitt 157 explained to a chief whose brother was insane just how insane people were whipped in England to restore their sanity, the chief reluctantly ordered his brother whipped by Jewitt's brutal companion ; but when the chief saw his brother writhing in pain from the white man's lash, he ordered the proceedings stopped, and said that if there were no other way to cure him but by whipping, he must remain mad. The Indian died, haunted by the spirits of the white men he had slain when the crew of the Boston were massacred. Harmon 158 once had the temerity to flog an Indian; in his own words, he "chas- tised the chief severely with a yardstick." It looked much like
157 Adrentures: p. 177.
1 58 Joormal : p. 207. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 31
a mistake for a while ; but next day "the Indian came back and now considered that he was my wife! He thanked me for what I had done, for it had given him sense!" A blow, especially in public, is considered a most serious disgrace. Indians, though great rovers, were greatly attached to their place of birth, and would not leave that region willingly for any part of the world. They were contented and cheerful, he 159 says, in the midst of severe privations.
Indian tribes on the coast usually held slaves ; among inland tribes slavery was not so frequent. Slaves were either pur- chased or taken in war. Most of them were well treated, and were about as well off as their masters. Ross says that mas- ters were kind and indulgent to their slaves. In paddling the canoe, and in hauling the net, masters always took a hand with their slaves. In most tribes women did much of the drudgery and routine, although some tribes, as the Carriers 160 and the Yakimas, men took a large share in the work of women. Captain Chenal 161 observed that the men reserved for themselves the more laborious work. Indians, even the men, if you please, were industrious except when food was in great abundance and the climate mild. Ross says that the Okanogans were always employed and industrious. Thomp- son says that the Indians west of the Rockies prided them- selves on their industry and skill in doing anything. Cook 162 says that everything they have is as well and ingeniously made as if they were furnished with the most complete tool-chest; and worthy to be put in competition with the most delicate manufactures of the known world. Even the degenerate Carriers, according to Harmon, 163 , were glad to be given work to do. They were indolent from habit, he thought, not from nature. Hunting, fishing, traffic, and sometimes war, occupied the men; root-gathering, berry-picking, garment making, and household cares occupied the women. Shell money or hiagua,
159 Journal: p. i&afi.
1 60 Harmon: p. aga.
161 Marchand: I., p. 361.
162 Voyage: II., 373. 374-
163 Journal: p. S. ​
32 O. B. SPERLIN
beaver skins and beads were the mediums of exchange; but copper, iron, and sea-otter skins were financial standards along the coast. Indians were skilled traders before white men came, according to all accounts, and within a few years, according to Marchand, 164 the most skilled of the white race had little to teach them. This trading often called for traffic over moun- tain ranges, as from the Okanogan 165 to the Puget Sound or Whulge over the Cascade Mountains; or passed great river obstructions, as on the Columbia at The Dalles.
Though their tools were crude and limited, Indians were skilled in many lines of carving, boat-making, and fabricating implements for fishing, hunting, and storing provisions. In praise of their physical skill we have many notable accounts. Fraser, 166 describing their chase after wild sheep, calls them really expert. "They run full speed among the perpendicular rocks; which had I not ocular demonstration I could never have believed to have been trained by any creature, either the human or the brute creation ; for the rocks appear to us (which perhaps might be exaggerated a little from the distance) to be as steep as a wall ; and yet while in pursuit of the sheep they bounded from one to another with the swiftness of a roe ; and at last killed two in their snares." Jewitt 167 describes the wonderful skill of the Nootkas in taking the whale, the "King's Fish." The coast tribes, both men and women, were accorded the position of the best canoe managers ever seen; the plains and mountain tribes, both men and women, were noted for their extremely good horsemanship. In fleetness of foot one Indian proved as swift as Drewyer and Reuben Fields, the best that Lewis and Clark 168 could trot out. At Priests Rapids Thomp- son 169 saw an old man who ran nearly as fast as a horse, a marvel to him and his men. Fraser 170 describes the wonderful skill of Indians in scrambling the "Jacob's Ladder." "They
1 64 Voyage: Vol. I., p. 286.
165 Ross: Adventures: p. 291.
1 66 First Journal.
167 Adventures: pp. 122 and 178.
1 68 Original Journals: V., p. 117.
169 Ore. Hist. Quarterly: XV., 55.
170 Journal: p. 211. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 33
went up and down these wild places with the same agility as sailors do on board a ship."
Lastly, let us consider the most intimate of all, the Indian family relationship. Polygamy was permitted, but was not the usual state, and was unknown among a few tribes such as the Red Fish Dinees 171 and the Yakimas. Thompson gives us a most enlightening account of polygamy more so than any of the other journalists. He ascribes the cause of it to the wife rather than to the husband ; unless she or her husband have widowed relatives who live with them in the same tent, the wife is unable to do the work when the family comes. A second wife is necessary because of the great amount of work. Then, too, friends when dying often bequeath wives to certain bosom friends who they know will take care of them in the sense of providing a living for them. Sometimes an Indian man would thus have four or five wives, willy nilly except the first ; often the burden of supporting so many was very great, and the work necessary to ward off starvation was done in a quiet spirit of heroism.
Indian children in a family were few, from two to four, due to hardships endured by mothers. Mackenzie 172 says that Indians considered the state of women in labor as among the most trifling occurrences of physical pain, and were justified in this apparent insensibility. All other testimony was to the same effect. Marriages occurred while the parties were com- paratively young. The betrothal was usually arranged and presents given by parents years before. Sometimes these betrothals were broken, and much misery and strife resulted. Most tribes of the interior esteemed chastity a virtue, viola- tion of which was punished with death. Thompson cills the Saleesh a fine race of moral Indians, the finest he had ever seen, and he was a strict judge. Alexander Henry, Junior, 178 said the same thing of the Saleesh, and he was undeniably a degenerate. Chastity was not always a virtue among some of the coast tribes, especially among the lower and slave classes.
171 Mackenzie, Voyage*: Ch. VIII. 1 73 Voyages: Vol. IL, p. 16. i?3Nw Ljht: Vol. II., p. 710. ​
34 O. B. SPERLIN
Hoskins 17 * reports that Gray's crew found women exceedingly modest; nothing could tempt them to come on board ship. Dixon 175 records a sensitiveness in regards to incontinency which is certainly not surpassed among civilized peoples. "The New Vancouver Journal" 176 contains the following record: "The women are very modest in their behavior, and cannot bear the most trifling attacks of gallantry. An indelicate word will often bring tears to their eyes; but as there are few societies without a bad member or two, so it was here." Jew- itt 177 was sure that sailors gained a wrong impression of Indian chastity at some harbors, due to the fact that some masters prostituted their slaves. Other evidence indicates that Jewitt was right. The earliest explorers, La Perouse among the Hoonids excepted, give strong testimony to Indian virtue. Ross, 178 who ought to know, as his lifelong companion was an Okanogan woman, says, "The women have in general an engaging sweetness, are good housewives, modest in their demeanor, affectionate and chaste, and strongly attached to their husbands and children. Each family is ruled by the joint will or authority of husband and wife, but more particularly by the latter." Chenal 179 says that husbands usually consulted their wives before concluding a bargain. Mackenzie 180 says that though women are as slaves, their advice is sought in everything except matters relating to woman's domestic situa- tion. Clark 181 says that among the Shoshones women "are held more sacred" than among any they had seen east of the Rockies.
Family love was a strong feature of Indian life. Natives were fond of their children, says Mackenzie, 182 but careless in their mode of taking care of them. Maquinna came near killing Jewitt's companion in captivity, for striking his son. Indians, as said before, did not whip their children; shame
1 74 Narrative: p. 43.
175 Voyage: p. 227.
176 Wash. Hist. Quarterly: VI., 61.
177 Adventures: p. 131.
178 Adventures: p. 295.
179 Marchand: I., p. 360.
180 Voyages: II., 26.
181 Original Journal: III., p. 10 ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 35
and the ridicule of other children in the open camp punished them. The family members usually lived together in greatest happiness, according to Lewis and Clark. 183 The Chopunish and the Multnomahs, they wrote, respected old age with ven- eration. Mackenzie reports the same of the Atnahs. Has- well 184 reports the "collections of contributions at the chiefs house, from which it was carried in procession to the home of the deceased and presented to the widow and children. Like donations, they say, are always practiced on similar occasions." Ross 185 describes the strong family attachment among the Okanogans, and the special favors shown to the young in giving them always the new and clean dress. Husbands, he says, were kind and indulgent. Thompson says that women and children were treated with kind attention. Vancouver calls the tribes he met "happy, cheerful people." Fraser 186 describes a guide who refused to go with him, alleging that his wife and children would be subject to starvation. When this was provided against, he went. The Hacamaugh 187 chief had his old and blind father carried by attendants and intro- duced into the council room and given every attention. Espinosa 188 describes at length the warm affection and regard for each other among the family of Tetacus, probably none other than the great chief Tatooche. Wife-beating, as among white people, was not unknown; but a blow in public was beyond the power of endurance, as Thompson's Journal clearly shows. In this particular case it led to suicide.
Indians were strong on bathing ; but the custom of painting the face, body, and hair, and the lack of soap, more than offset the effects of frequent bathing. Jewitt 189 says that the Indians bathed once a day winter and summer, and scoured the paint off with rushes. Mackenzie 190 reports that Indians bathe frequently ; and that small boys, as usual, are continually
183 Original Journals: III., p. 126.
1 84 Voyage: p. 87.
185 Adventures: p. 297.
1 86 Journal: p. 162.
187 Eraser's Journal: p. 183.
1 88 Sutil y Mexicana: II., 36. ​
36 O. B. SPERLIN
in the water. The sweat-bath was an institution among the inland tribes described by all but a few journalists. Lewis and Clark 191 record that the Clatsops washed their hands, evidently a noteworthy event. The same writers describe Indians as fond of hot, 192 cold, and vapor baths, and speak in highest terms of the cleanliness of the Chopunish. Thompson testifies likewise for the Saleesh and numerous other tribes, as does Ross for the Okanogans, and Cook for the Chugatches. Filth was, however, one of the deplorable features of Indian life, not at all in keeping with many other traits of character. Cleanliness among but few tribes was next to godliness in the associations of the sweat-bath, fasting, and prayer. Even the lice-eaters, however, accounted for their filthy custom on the ground of gratitude.
Although Indian vices were fewer than those of white people, they had certain vices which all agree were native to the race, for white men found them when they first came. One from which they suffered most was a combination of gluttony, waste, and improvidence. There were regular seasons of abundance and famine; only few tribes had sufficient foresight to make ample provision against the season of scarcity. Another vice was gambling, the passion for which led to almost unbeliev- able sacrifices. Suicide was rare among the men; and even among the women and slaves, where life was the hardest, it was not very common. Cannibalism was rare ; most tribes, notably the one 193 here in the neighborhood of Tacoma, held the idea in abhorence. Indians made fun of white men for eating dog and horse meat, so common among the Astorians and North- Westers ; some fish-eating tribes even held venison in the same abhorrence. Intoxication, later the Indians' bane, was un- known at first, and was stoutly resisted as shameful and down- right disgraceful. We have shown how in cases of first con- tact Indians regarded white men as superior; but they were soon undeceived in some respects. Drunkenness of the white
191 Original Journals: III.
193 Original Journals: III and IV.
193 Vancouver: Journal: II., p. 136. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 37
men was the immediate cause. Consider the following account from Harmon: 194
"Jan. 1. Indians asked if they might remain at the fort and see our Canadians drink. The Canadians began to drink and quarrel; the natives became apprehensive, and hid under the beds; they thought the white people had run mad, and ap- peared not a little surprised at the change. It was the first time they had ever seen a person intoxicated."
With this it may be well to compare a scene from the pen of Alexander Henry, Junior, 195 which, although east of the moun- tains, represents the Indian after the fire-water had been intro- duced and forced upon the Indians :
"April 30. * * * Indians having asked for liquor and promised to decamp and hunt well all summer, I gave them some. Grande Grieule stabbed Capote Rouge; Le Boeuf stabbed his young wife in the arm; Little Shell almost beat out his old mother's brains with a club, and there was terrible fighting among them. I sowed garden seed."
What a blessing had the trader sowed nothing but garden seed that thirtieth of April! There were noble men among the traders who resisted with all their might the urgency of their eastern partners that fire-water be used as the most profitable article of trade. One such was the great geographer David Thompson. He made a law of his own that no alcohol should cross the mountains in his company. He wished to be free from the sad sight of drunkenness and its many evils ; but his partners insisted that he must take it, and sent him two kegs. He deliberately loaded these upon the most vicious horse he could find, which vicious horse rubbed his load against rocks and trees until he was rid of it. Then Thompson wrote to his partners, telling them what he had done and promising to do the same with all they might send him.
To many of these generalizations there is one locality that is an exception, the region along the Columbia from The Dalles to the Cascades. Explorers and traders, going in either direction, always noted a change here. The experience of one
194 Journal: p. 196.
195 New Light: Vol. I., p. 143. ​
38 O. B. SPERLIN
can be duplicated many times over. Franchere, Henry, Cox, Ross, Irving, Thompson, Lewis and Clark all have their word of condemnation for the Indians of The Dalles or Cascades. The worst elements among the natives seemed to flock here, till the place became the emporium of vice. The mouth of the Columbia and many other places soon became vice-ridden after the advent of the traders; but The Dalles seems to have been so from the beginning.
This is a composite record, a record of observations by ex- plorers, traders, scientists, surveyors, friars, adventurers, cap- tives, lieutenants, clerks, and sergeants. Some of the expedi- tions, like those by Perez, Vancouver,' and Lewis and Clark, have three or four journalists, which are in substantial accord. They agree in giving the Indian a better bill of character than has usually been manifested by historians, Bancroft possibly excepted. They show that the Indian received the strangers hospitably, that they practiced a simple, unostentatious religion, that they were men of honor, of simple industry, and physical skill, that their government was simple but efficient; and that the home embodied strong attachments, though it exhibited at times improperly apportioned burdens. Indian vices, not necessarily crimes, were such as improvidence, gambling, and occasionally cruel treatment of enemies; but we cannot justly charge the race with the alleged crimes of treachery, drunken- ness, nor with atheism nor idolatry.
These conclusions are not radical nor startling; but if they have brought even a modicum of justice to the so-called vanish- ing race, they are worth while. We all know the story of Sacajawea, the Bird Woman of Lewis and Clark. Two cities of the west have honored her with worthy monuments. That in Portland reveals the unconquerable courage of the west; that in St. Louis portrays patience that endures to the end. But I have often wondered what of the thousands of others as faithful, as patient, as hard working, and as noble as she, who have not had a world renowned expedition to celebrate and commemorate their virtues. If we could but notice these vir- tues more, might we not take a juster view of the widely heralded vices? ​
APPENDIX
LIST OF JOURNALS CITED.
Barkley, Frances Hornby. Journal of the Imperial Eagle, 1786, etc. Transcript in Provincial Archives, Victoria.
Bodega y Quadra. Expeditions in 1775 and 1779 towards the West Coast of North America. Translated from Anuario de la Direction de Hidrografia, Ano III, 1865. Transcript in Provincial Archives, Victoria.
Bulfinch, Charles. See Gray, Robert.
Clark, William. See Lewis, Meri wether.
Colnett, James. Voyage to the South Atlantic and round Cape Horn. London, 1798.
Cook, James, and King, James. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean undertaken for making discoveries in the Northern Hemi- sphere performed in H. M. Ships the Resolution and Dis- covery in the years 1776-1780. London, 1784.
Cox, Ross. Adventures on the Columbia River, including the narrative of a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. London, 1832.
Crespi, Fray Juan. Diary of the Expedition of Perez, 1774. In "Documents from the Sutro Collection," published by the Historical Society of Southern California. Los Angeles, 1891.
Dalrymple, Alexander. Charts of the Northwest Coast of North America. London, 1789-1791.
Dixon, George. Voyage Round the World, but more partic- ularly to the North- West Coast of America, performed in 1785-1788. London, 1789.
Dixon, George. Remarks on the Voyages of J. Meares. Lon- don, 1790.
Dixon, George. Further Remarks on the Voyages of J. Meares. London, 1791.
Duffin, Robert. Journal. In Meares's Voyages.
Espinosa y Tello. Relacion del viage hecho por las Goletas Sutil y Mexicana, en el anno de 1792, para reconcer e estrecho de Fuca. Madrid, 1802. ​
40 O. B. SPERLIN
Fraser, Simon. First Journal, April 12, July 18, 1806. A copy of the transcript in the Bancroft Collection. Copy in the Provincial Archives, Victoria.
Fraser, Simon. Letters from the Rocky Mountains from Au- gust 1, 1806, to February 10, 1807. Transcript in the Pro- vincial Archives, Victoria.
Fraser, Simon. Journal of a Voyage from the Rocky Moun- tains to the Pacific Coast, 1808. In Masson's Les Bourgeois de la Compagne du Nord-Ouest. Quebec, 1889.
Franchere, Gabriel. Narrative of a Voyage to the North- West Coast of America in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814. Translated and edited by J. V. Huntington, New York, 1854.
Galiano, Dionisio Alcala. See Espinosa.
Gass, Patrick. Journal of the voyages and travels of a corps of discovery 1804, 1805, and 1806. Pittsburg, 1807.
Gray, Robert. Log-Book of the Ship Columbia in her voyage from Boston to the North-West Coast of America, from September 28, 1790, to February 20, 1792. Photostat copy in the University of Washington Library.
Gray, Robert. Extracts from the Second Volume of the Log- Book of the Ship Columbia. In "Transactions of the Twen- tieth Annual Reunion of the Oregon Pioneer Association for 1892." Made by Bulfinch in 1816. Portland, 1912.
Harmon, Daniel William. Journal of Voyages and Travels in the interior of North America extending nearly to the Pacific. Andover, 1820.
Haswell, Robert. Voyage round the world on board the Ship Columbia Rediviva and Sloop Washington, 1787, 1791-92. Transcript in the Provincial Archives, Victoria.
Henry, Alexander. Travels and adventures in Canada and the Indian territories between the years 1760 and 1776. New York, 1809.
Henry, Alexander, Junior, and Thompson, David. New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest ; the manu- script journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thomp- son 1799 1814. Edited by Coues. New York, 1897.
Hoskins, John. Narrative of a Voyage to the North West Coast of America and China, 1790-1793. Transcript in the Provincial Archives, Victoria. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 41
Ingraham, Joseph. Journal of the voyage of the Brigantine Hope from Boston to the Northwest Coast of America, 1790- 1792. Photostat copy in the University of Washington Library, Seattle.
Jewitt, John Rogers. The Adventures of John Jewitt; only survivor of the Ship Boston, etc. Edited by Robert Brown. London, 1896.
La Perouse, Jean Francis. Voyage round the World in the years 1785-1788. London, 1798.
Ledyard, John. Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage. Hart- ford, 1783.
Lewis, Meriwether, and Clark, William. Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806. Printed from the original manuscripts. Edited by Thwaites. New York, 1904-5.
Lisiansky, Urey. Voyage round the World in the years 1803-6. London, 1814.
Mackenzie, Alexander. Voyage from Montreal through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. London, 1801.
Malaspina, Alessandro. Viaje politico-cientifico del mundo 1789-1794. Second Edition. Madrid, 1885.
Marchand, Etienne. Voyage round the world 1790-1792. Edited by Fleurieu. London, 1801.
Maurelle, Don Antonio. Journal of a voyage in 1775 to ex- plore the Coast of America, northward of California. In Barrington's Miscellanies, pp. 469-534.
Meares, John. Voyages made in the years 1788 and 1789 from China to the Northwest Coast of America. London, 1790.
Meares, John. Authentic copy of the Memorial to the Right Honorable William Wyndham Grenville, etc. London, 1790.
Meares, John. An Answer to Mr. George Dixon, etc. Lon- don, 1791.
Pefia, Fray Tomas de la. Diary of the voyage of Perez, 1774. In "Documents from the Sutro Collection." See Crespi.
Portlock, Nathaniel. Voyage round the world in the years 1785-88, performed in the King George. London, 1789.
Quadra. See Bodega y Quadra.
Quimper, Manuel. Segundo Reconocimiento, 1790. Trans- cript in Provincial Archives, Victoria. ​
42 O. B. SPERLIN
Ross, Alexander. Adventures of the First Settlers on the Ore- gon or Columbia River, 1810-1813. London, 1849.
Shelekhof, Gregory. Voyage of a Russian Merchant 1783-
1787. No title page. Sutil y Mexicana. See Espinosa in list of Journalists and
Navarrete in list of Authorities.
Tello. See Espinosa y Tello.
Thompson, David. Voyage to the Mouth of the Columbia. Edited by T. C. Elliott. In Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. XV, Numbers I and II.
Thompson, David. See Alexander Henry, Junior. Valdez. See Espinosa.
Vancouver, Captain George. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World, 1790-1795. London, 1802.
Washington Historical Quarterly. "A New Vancouver Jour- nal." Edited by E. S. Meany, Vol. V., Nos. 2, 3, 4, and VI., No. 1.
Whitehouse, Joseph. Journal. In Vol. VII of Original Jour- nals of Lewis and Clark.
AUTHORITIES CITED.
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of the Northwest Coast. San Francisco, 1884.
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Alaska. San Francisco, 1886.
Chittenden, Hiram Martin. American Fur Trade of the Far West. New York, 1902.
Coxe, William. Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America. London, 1780.
Dalrymple, Alexander. Charts of the Northwest Coast of North America. London, 1789-91.
Davidson, George. Tracks and Landfalls of Bering and Chir- ikof on the Northwest Coast of America, 1741. Private publication. San Francisco, 1901.
Irving, Washington. Astoria ; or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. Philadelphia, 1836. ​
THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 43
Lauridsen, Peter. Vitus Bering. Translated from the Danish by Julius E. Olson, 1889.
Porter, Edward C. The Ship Columbia and the Discovery of the Oregon. New England Magazine, Boston, 1892.
Porter, Edward G. The Discovery of the Columbia River. In "Transactions of the Twentieth Annual Reunion of the Oregon Pioneer Association." Portland, 1912.
Walbran, John T. The Cruise of the Imperial Eagle. A Lec- ture before the Natural History Society of British Columbia. Victoria Daily Colonist, March 3, 1901. ​
A TRIBUTE TO JOHN MINTO*
By WILLIAM GALLOWAY.
On this the 157th anniversary of the birth of the great Scotch poet, Robert Burns, I am asked to say something of another poet, writer and Oregon pioneer, Hon. John Minto, who never let the natal day of "Bobby" Burns pass without celebrating the occasion with song and feast.
I knew Mr. Minto intimately from my childhood and can never think of him without associating him with two other noted pioneers of Oregon born under Britain's flag Dr. John McLoughlin, born in Canada, and Hon. F. X. Matthieu, also a native of Canada. These three pioneers were bosom friends and co-laborers in laying broad and secure the foundation of our young commonwealth. Their remains lie on the banks of the beautiful Willamette they loved so dearly, and no men more loyal to the American flag or American institutions ever breathed the pure air of heaven.
Mr. Minto was a native of England, born in 1822, crossed the plains to Oregon in 1844 and settled near Salem where in 1847 he married Martha Ann Morrison, a pioneer of 1844. Of this worthy pioneer woman it can be truly said she was of the highest stamp of American womanhood and was no man's inferior. Of this happy union there were eight children born, three only surviving, being valued residents of Salem, their native city. Minto was born of the common people, lived the life of the people he so loved and died with a last prayer for the supremacy of the plain people. He often said "We have too many paupers and too many idle rich, but not enough of the great mass of the common people who move the world civilly, morally and financially."
Our constitution written by our pioneer fathers is the most enlightened and progressive of any state constitution in the
Address delivered at Robert Burns memorial exercises held at Salem Janu- ary 25, 1916. ​
A TRIBUTE TO JOHN MINTO 45
union. Our civil and criminal code, enacted by our early legis- latures of which Mr. Minto was often a member and always a valued adviser, has done more to break down sex distinctions under the law than that of any other American state. Those pioneer legislators who had toiled for six or seven months crossing the plains with their wives and children in their ox teams, had learned the value and superiority of true woman- hood, hence under the laws of Oregon there is no sex distinc- tion in the possession of property. A woman in Oregon can hold land in her own name, can sue and be sued, can administer upon the estate of her deceased husband, and is the legal guardian of her own children, she pays taxes and has a voice in saying how those taxes shall be expended. In Oregon no sex inequality or sex inferiority is recognized by law, and it can be truthfully said that no man living or dead has done more to incorporate those sacred and inalienable rights of the people into our statutes than our departed and beloved friend, John Minto.
Mr. Minto was a most retiring man who accepted office and position of public trust as a duty imposed upon citizenship. He was eminently qualified and might have filled any office in the gift of the people of his adopted state. He preferred his muse and worked solely in developing the latent resources of his state. He was a pathfinder in searching for highways and means of communication with other sections of this great northwest and the eastern states. I believe Mr. Minto. would have preferred the honor of discovering an advantageous moun- tain passageway for egress from and ingress to the Willamette valley or the improvement of some species of our domestic animals than the honors of a membership in Congress.
In politics Mr. Minto was a Democrat until the Civil War, when he associated himself with the Republican party, though he was never a strict partisan in any sense. He was a member of the Odd Fellows and Elk orders, and when he passed away was the oldest member of those orders in the state.
Mr. Minto was a student to the very last moment of his long and useful life. He read and wrote continuously and has ​
46 WILLIAM GALLOWAY
left his impress upon every page of Oregon history. He loved the birds of the air and the beasts of the forest, yes, every- thing in nature from the flowers of the valley to the snow- capped peak of Mount Hood. With such a soul and heart it is but natural that the writings of the great Scotch poet Burns should have held first place in his literary affections.
Mr. Minto died at the age of 92 years, beloved by all who knew him or had ever felt the inspiration of his pen and muse. ​
DID THE RETURNING ASTORIANS USE THE SOUTH PASS?
A Letter of Ramsay Crooks.
Contributed by HARRISON C. DALE.
On June 29 or 30, 1812, a party ostensibly under the command of Robert Stuart, carrying with them letters and papers for Colonel Astor, set out from the recently erected post, Astoria, to return overland to the states. Stuart was accompanied by Ramsay Crooks, Robert McLellan, Benjamin Jones, Francois Le Claire (or Le Clerc), and Andre Vallee. Following up the Columbia and the Snake, familiar country to them all, for they had traversed it only a few months before, they encountered, August 30, just below Caldron Linn, Joseph Miller and three others, who had been detached from the main party of over- land Astorians at Andrew Henry's abandoned post on upper Snake river, the previous October. These men related how, during the winter, they had traveled far to the south and east of Henry's post and then, with the approach of spring, west- ward again until they had been discovered by Stuart and his party. 1 They now proceeded together, but in a few days Mil- ler's companions abandoned the rest of the party. Miller now undertook to pilot the remainder on their journey eastward, but, as it happened, his services were not particularly valuable. Under his direction, they followed the Snake some distance until they reached a country of great sandy plains. On Sep- tember 7, they abandoned the Snake and, still under Miller's guidance, wandered in a vague fashion until they reached a river to which they gave his name. 1 This stream they ascended until September 12. They then turned east over a range of
i Washington Irvin i Bear river accor"
ng, Astoria, Philadelphia, 1841, II, ia8. ding to Irving, Ibid., II, 134, and, wit!
i Bear river according to Irving, Ibid., II, 134, and, with a query, according to Coues, Henry-Thompson Journals, Nw York, 1897, II, 8*4, note. ​
48 HARRISON C. DALE
hills 2 and then north along a large branch of Miller's river coming in from the north. 3 Up this they traveled, the first day, twenty-five miles, and the next, twenty-one miles, encamp- ing on the margin of a stream flowing north. 4 . Two days more brought them to a stream "running due north which they concluded to be one of the upper branches of Snake River/' 8 This stream they descended about a hundred miles. 6 Abandon- ing the river, they struck northeast across the Teton range, forded several streams, including the left fork of the Snake, and, bending their course constantly to the east and southeast, finally, on October 11, found themselves "encamped on a small stream near the foot of Spanish river mountain." 7 They crossed this elevation on the twelfth, reaching on the other side a stream a hundred and sixty yards wide. 8 on the seven- teenth, they passed two large tributaries of this stream rising in the (Wind River) mountains to the north, and, on the eighteenth, a third tributary. 9 On the nineteenth and twentieth they continued their course, striking a large Indian trail run- ning southeast which they had crossed on the fifteenth. 10 Con- tinuing in general in a southeasterly direction, they followed this trail during the nineteenth and part of the twentieth, but when they found it turning northeast, they abandoned it, con- tinuing their own way southeast. Next day, the twenty-first, however, they turned north northeast, striking the trail again. That day they made fifteen miles ; on the twenty-second they made only eight but they crossed a divide. The twenty-third, they reached a stream running south southeast, which they concluded could not, however, be a tributary of the Missouri. 11 Accordingly they turned due east all that day and on the twenty-
2 Preuss range ( ?)
3 Smith's fork or Thomas fork, according to Coues, Ibid., loc. cit.
4 Salt river, Coues, Ibid., loc. cit.; Chittenden, American Fur Trade, New York, 1902, I, 209; Irving, Ibid., II, 138.
5 Irving, Ibid., II, 137.
6 South or left fork of Snake river. 91 miles, Coues, Ibid., loc. no miles, Chittenden, Ibid., loc. cit.
7 Irving, Ibid., II, 153. The southern spur of the Gros Ventre range near the sources of Green river.
8 Green river, Coues, Ibid., loc. cit. Chittenden, Ibid., I, 210.
9 The Sandy (?), Irving, Ibid., II, 159.
10 "Probably the regular highway down Green river valley," Chittenden Ibid loc. cit.
11 Irving, Ibid., II, 165. ​
DID ASTORIANS USE SOUTH PASS/ 49
fourth and twenty-fifth. The next day, the twenty-sixth, how- ever, brought them to the Sweetwater on the Atlantic side of the continental divide.
Elliott Coues in his edition of the Henry-Thompson journals concluded that "the pass they made can be no other than the famous South Pass of the Rocky Mountains." 12 The same year, however, in reviewing a new edition of Irving's Astoria, he concluded that they followed a course "very near South Pass perhaps within twelve or fifteen miles of it, where they wandered off the Indian trail which would have taken them through the pass, and kept about southeast till they had headed the Sweetwater entirely. They then struck east, south of that river, and finally fell on it lower down." 18 In the light of this, the evidence of Ramsay Crooks, one of the leaders of the expedition, is poignant.
In 1856 the newly formed Republican party nominated John Charles Fremont for President and among the many qualifica- tions for this high office which his supporters urged was his alleged discovery of the South Pass. Ramsay Crooks was an old man at the time, residing in New York City. Vigorously hostile to Fremont politically and sickened by this fatuous distinction of which the Republican papers were boasting, he was moved to write the following letter to Anthony Dudgeon of Detroit. 14 The value of the letter lies not in the proof that the returning Astorians came through the South Pass, for in all probability Elliott Coues was quite right in concluding that they missed the actual pass, but rather in the firm conviction of one of the leaders and the last of the party that the return- ing Astorians were the first to discover this famous gap in the continental divide.
12 Elliott Coues, New Light on the Early History of the Great Northwest, New York, 1897, II, 884, note.
13 The Nation, LXV, 499*-, New York, 1897. This change of view he was induced to make after a discussion of the problem with Major Chittenden, Coues, Forty Years a Fur Trader, New York, 1898, 29, note.
14 This letter was published in the Detroit Free Press, copied by the Detroit Advertiser, and recopied from that paper by the Deseret News of November 5, 1856, from which I take it. H. C. D. ​
WHO DISCOVERED THE SOUTH PASS?
The Detroit Advertiser having asserted that Col. Fremont was the discoverer of the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, a correspondent of the Detroit Free Press denies the truth of statement and the editor of that journal publishes the follow- ing letter from Ramsay Crooks, Esq., of New York:
"New York, June 28, 1856.
My Dear Sir : Just as I was about closing my letter to you of yesterday's date, I received the Detroit Free Press of the 21st inst, containing a laudation of Col. John C. Fremont taken from the Detroit Advertiser of the previous day and which (if it had been true) is not, in my humble opinion, a very important item in making up the essentials of such a man as should become President of this glorious confederacy.
I, however, presume it is intended to exhibit him as endowed with uncommon intrepidity and daring in exploring so wide a region, surrounded by savages and grizzly bears, thereby proving great firmness of character, so very desirable, but unfortunately so very rare in the head of a great nation.
But even if the Colonel had discovered the 'South Pass,' it does not show any more fitness for the exalted station he covets than the numerous beaver hunters and traders who passed and repassed through that noted place full twenty years before Col. Fremont had attained a legal right to vote, and were fully his equals in enterprise, energy, and indomitable perseverance, with this somewhat important difference, that he was backed by the United States treasury, while other ex- plorers had to rely on their own resources.
The perils of the 'South Pass,' therefore, confer on the Colonel no greater claim to distinction than the trapper is entitled to, and his party must be pressed very hard when they had to drag in a circumstance so very unimportant as who discovered the 'South Pass/
Although the Free Press conclusively proves that the Colonel could not be the discoverer of the 'South Pass/ the details are not accurate and in order that history (if it ever gets there) may be correctly vindicated, I will tell you how it was. ​
WHO DISCOVERED SOUTH PASS? 51
Mr. David Stuart sailed from this port in 1810 for the Columbia River on board the ship 'Tonquin' with a number of Mr. Astor's associates in the 'Pacific Fur Company/ and after the breaking up of the company in 1814, he returned through the Northwest Company's territories to Montreal, far to the north of the 'South Pass/ which he never saw.
In 1811, the overland party of Mr. Astor's expedition, under the command of Mr. Wilson P. Hunt, of Trenton, New Jer- sey, although numbering sixty well armed men, found the Indians so very troublesome in the country of the Yellowstone River, that the party of seven persons who left Astoria toward the end of June, 1812, considering it dangerous to pass again by the route of 1811, turned toward the southeast as soon as they had crossed the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and, after several days' journey, came through the celebrated 'South Pass' in the month of November, 1812.
Pursuing from thence an easterly course, they fell upon the River Platte of the Missouri, where they passed the winter and reached St. Louis in April, 1813.
The seven persons forming the party were Robert McClel- land of Hagerstown, who, with the celebrated Captain Wells, was captain of spies under General Wayne in his famous In- dian campaign, Joseph Miller of Baltimore, for several years an officer of the U. S. army, Robert Stuart, a citizen of Detroit, Benjamin Jones, of Missouri, who acted as huntsman of the party, Francois LeClaire, a halfbreed, and Adre Valee, a Canadian voyageur, and Ramsay Crooks, who is the only sur- vivor of this small band of adventurers.
I am very sincerely yours,
RAMSAY CROOKS.
Anthony Dudgeon, Esq., Detroit, Michigan." ​
DOCUMENT
A HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY CONTRACTi
AN AGREEMENT, made this First day of March in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty, between John Macphail in the Parish of Loch, in the County of Ross in Scotland, of the one Part, and The Gov- ernor and Company of Adventurers of England, Trading into Hudson's Bay, by William Fraser Tolmie, 2 their agent, of the other Part, as follows :
The said John Macphail hereby contracts and agrees to enter into the Service & Employment of the said Company in North America in the capacity of Shepherd & Cattleherd and that he will embark when thereunto required on board such Ship or Vessel, as shall be appointed by or on behalf of the said Com- pany and proceed to and for
the Term of one years to be computed from the said Embarka- tion and for such further time as hereinafter mentioned and faithfully serve the said Company as their hired Servant in the capacity of Shepherd and Cattleherd and devote the whole of his time and labour in their Service and for their sole benefit, and that he will do his duty as such and perform all such work and service by day or by night for the said Company as he shall be required to do and obey all the orders which he shall receive from the Governors of the Company in North America or other their Officers or Agents for the time being. And that he will with courage and fidelity in his said station, in the said Service defend the property of the said Company and their Factories and Territories and will not absent himself from the said service nor engage or be concerned in any Trade or Employment whatsoever except for the benefit of the said Company and according to their Orders And that all Goods
1 The original agreement is among the Fort Nesqually papers now in the possession of Mr. C. B. Bagley, of Seattle, Washington, who has kindly permitted this copy to be made. T. C. E.
2 Dr. William Fraser Tolmie (Inverness, Scotland, Feb. 3, 1812; Victoria, B C., Dec. 8, 1886) after two years' absence in England and Scotland took charge of the H. B. Co. Fort Nesqually on July 5, 1843 (succeeding Mr. Angus McDonald) and remained there until July, 1850, when he was transferred to Victoria, B. C. Dr. Tolmie in 1846 represented Lewis County in the Legislature of the Provisional Government of Oregon. T. C. E. ​
A HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY CONTRACT 53
obtained by Barter with the Indians or otherwise which shall come to the hands or possession of the said John Macphail shall be held by him for the said Company only, and shall be duly delivered up to the said Governors or other Officers at their Factory or Trading post without any waste, spoil, or in- jury thereto. And in case of any wilful neglect or default herein he shall make good to the said Company all such loss or damage as they shall sustain thereby to be deducted out of his wages. And that the said John Macphail will faith- fully obey all laws, orders, and regulations, established or made by the said Company for the good government of their Settlements and Territories And at all times during the resi- dence of the said - in
North America, he will defend the rights and privileges of the said Company and aid and support their Officers and Agents to the utmost of his power and the said John Macphail further engages and agrees that in case he shall omit to give notice to the Governor or Officers of the said Company in North America one year or upwards before the expiration of the said Term of One Years of his intention to quit their serv- ice and return to Europe, then that he hereby promises and engages to remain one year longer & also until the next Ship in the Service of the said Company shall sail from thence to Europe as their hired servant in North America upon the like
terms as are contained in this Contract And the said
also engages and agrees that
in case the said Company shall not have any ship which will sail from North America for Europe immediately after the expiration of the said term of One years or of such further term as hereinbefore mentioned then he hereby promises and engages to remain in the Service as a hired Servant of the said Company in North America until the next Ship of the said Company or some Ship provided by them shall sail from thence to Europe upon the like terms as are contained in this Con- tract provided always that the said John Macphail further agrees to keep watch & ward and perform such other work in the navigation of the Ship of the said Company in which he shall be embarked on the outward and homeward voyages as he shall be required to perform by the Commanding Officer of the said Vessel.
And the said William Eraser Tolmie on behalf of the said Company hereby engages that upon condition of the due and faithful service of the said John Macphail in like manner as aforesaid but not otherwise the said John Macphail shall re​
54 A HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY CONTRACT
ceive from the said Company after the rate of Forty-five Pounds Sterling per annum to commence from the 1st day of March, 1850, as aforesaid, and up to the day of his embarkation from thence to Europe in one of the Ships of the said Com- pany's Service or in any Ship provided by them.
Provided always, and it is hereby expressly agreed between the said parties thereto, that it shall be lawful for the Gov- ernor or Governors or other Officers of the said Company in North America at any time during the said term of One years or such additional term as aforesaid to dismiss the said John Macphail from their Service and direct his return from thence to Europe in one of the Ships in their employment or in some ship provided by them and in such case his wages are to cease from the day of his embarkation for Europe. And further that in case the said John Macphail shall at any time during this Contract desert the Service of the said Company or otherwise neglect or refuse duly to discharge his duty as such hired Servant as aforesaid then he shall forfeit and lose all his wages for the recovery whereof there shall be no relief either in Law or in Equity.
In Witness whereof the said parties have hereunto set their hands.
WILLIAM ERASER TOLMIE.
his JOHN X MACPHAIL.
mark
Signed in the presence of : ADAM BENSTON.
(10 Decmr 1845)
John Macphail to have as Rations, 1 Ib. Tea, 8 Ibs. Sugar, 40 Ibs. Flour, 84 Ibs. Beef, per month.
To have permission to visit Vancouver during summer '50 after woolpacking is completed and then if required to take
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
Clatsop Plains, Clatsop County, Ore., July 23, 1847.
Dear Brother Hill:
Your favors of October 26th and November 13th were received June the 20th, and read with great pleasure, they being the first communications I have received from your pen since I left Rock Island, Ill., although I have written about half a quire of paper to you. One letter, however, of yours reached Oregon City; but our letters are all forwarded by private conveyance, and it was lost. It was the one which came on board the Brig Henry, Captain Kilburn, from Newberryport. The pamphlets and papers, which were sent on board that ship, were also lost. But Brother Johnson received his letter sent at the same time. The boxes of goods which you forwarded on board the Bark Whiton, Captain Geleston, will probably be here in two or three weeks, and will be very gladly received, as we are brought to rather straitened circumstances. In view of the small number of inhabitants at Astoria and the difficulty of sustaining my family there, we moved to these plains (Clatsop) about the first of May last. This I did by the advice of our Baptist friends in the Territory. Yet here we are compelled to devote most of the week providing the bread that perishes. Yet I think our position is as favorable to the promotion of the cause of truth as any I could have taken in Oregon after the one which Brother Johnson occupies. The future commerce of the country must pass within a few miles of us, and we feel strongly confident that a port of entry will be established near the mouth of this majestic Columbia, and other public works must necessarily go forward in our county as soon as we have a territorial government organized by the United States Congress. At present we have but a small population in this county. In view of the time being so near at hand when this must probably become a command​ing point, I think you and the Board would approve of my course, were you in Oregon to see and judge for me. I am building a temporary log cabin this summer, which, together with raising my provisions, confines me at home. Yet I intend by the help of God to spend four or five weeks in the Willamette Valley the coming fall. When once we get into our house, I could probably support my family with two hundred dollars a year, with the industry of the family and what I should receive from the people, and be able to devote myself entirely to the ministry of the Word, should there be any way opened whereby you can with certainty make remittances, principally in articles of clothing and furniture such as will be indispensable to our comfort. We trust the time is near when the present difficulties under which we labor will be obviated by the establishing of a regular mail route across the mountains and by a frequent communication by shipping from this place to New York and other Atlantic ports. I trust before this the terms of a permanent peace are negotiated between our nation and Mexico. O when will the adorable Prince of Peace forever terminate the horrors of war! I trust that tolerance to the gospel will be gained to all the country which our nation may acquire, but there is efficacy in our gospel to gain this victory at incomparably less expense, both of money and sufferings.
It is greatly to be regretted that we are situated so far from your relief that we are obliged to leave our appropriate calling to procure our daily bread, and I have often asked the question why our hands must be bound, when there is so much to do for the cause of our Redeemer in Oregon. It is not because the people refuse to hear the gospel from our lips; and God is my witness that it is not because I delight in secular pursuits, at least while on every hand we see so much need of the undivided, unremitted labors of a devoted gospel ministry. But while we lie in this situation, other denominations of Christians are beginning to lay a foundation for future influence, and among them the Roman Catholics are the most numerous and the best sustained by far.
58 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
We are in daily expectation of the arrival of a vessel freighted with Roman missionaries, priests, teachers, nuns and missionary funds to the amount, it is said, of $130,000 to be expended in Oregon. Can we, must we labor five or six days with our hands and then, when the Sabbath re- turns, go worn down in body (and shall I say in spirit) and but half prepared to the place where God is to be publicly worshipped and there meet the congregations and proclaim to them the words of Eternal Life? But God is our helper, and His promise does not fail. Even in these trying circum- stances we often feel an assurance of the Divine presence in the little groups to which we preach.
You request me to be specific in making my reports ac- cording to the instructions contained in our appointments. I must be honest in this matter. For the last six months my labors have been principally confined to the Sabbath ; my visits of a pastoral kind have been few. In our county we have not sustained a prayer-meeting; but we are beginning to make an effort to sustain the monthly concert. On our removal to these plains, we immediately organized a Sabbath school and Bible class in connection with the Presbyterians. There are about twenty-five Sabbath school children and I have a Bible class of about ten middle-aged and young men. Mrs. Fisher and our daughter have each a class. We have a small library of about thirty volumes and expect to obtain an addition from books sent out by the Massachusetts S. S. Society. We have made this temporary arrangement and addressed the corresponding secretary of the A. S. S. Union, soliciting a donation of books. Our Sabbath exercises are conducted as follows: Preaching at 11 o'clock A. M. ; inter- mission; Sunday school, after which we spend about an hour in singing.
Our plains extend from the mouth of the Columbia River along the beach south about fifteen miles, and, for the sake of our Sabbath school, we have deemed it expedient to meet and preach with the Presbyterians, the Presbyterian minister ​
CORRESPONDENCE 59
occupying one Sabbath and I the next, alternately. 128 I preached a few Sabbaths at 5 P. M. in the south part of the plains, but it was soon found that a want of time com- pelled us to abandon the evening preaching.
Our congregations are about fifty, on an average. We have not yet taken any measures to organize a Baptist church in this place, there being no male members but myself, yet we think we shall do something on that subject this season. We meet in a little log school house, about 16 feet square, in which my daughter teaches a small day school of about 15 children. I have obtained no signatures to the temperance pledge in the form in which you published it, 129 but the frequent instances of violation of the laws by introducing ardent spirits among the Indians and selling to the Whites without license, induced the settlers to call a meeting, which resulted in every man but two or three signing a pledge that we would hold our persons and property in readiness to prevent the unlawful introduction and sale of intoxicating spirits into our county. Little is drunk in the county except by the Indians and a few Whites who are as regardless of principle as the savages themselves. Perhaps I can say with certainty that for the last four weeks we have had more than usual attention to the preaching of the Word, although we learn of no instances of hopeful conversion. We feel a strong assurance that a great change externally has taken place among the inhabitants of these plains within the last six months. A general desire to maintain good order in society is apparent.
The people generally have not been accustomed to aid in the support of the gospel, and as yet they have everything to do to open their farms and provide their families with clothing, which would be regarded very indifferent, even on the frontier territories east of the mountains. I find neigh-
128 This Presbyterian minister was probably Lewis Thompson, a native of Kentucky, who came to the Pacific Coast in 1846 and settled on Clatsop Plains Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. II: 680.
129 Temperance sentiment was strong in early Oregon. There was a pro- hibition law from 1844 to 1846 and a large proportion of the population was in favor of prohibition even after there was no law on the statute book to that effect. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. I: 281, 437, 537-9; II: 37. ​
60 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
bors kind, but it will require years to place them in even comfortable circumstances. Consequently we cannot expect much support immediately from the people. We have one sister who has furnished us with more than half our butter this summer. The people help me some in building my house.
On the subject of education our citizens manifest a very laudable spirit. We should have erected a school house suitable for a school and meeting house this summer, but for the extreme pressure of business to prepare for the coming summer.
July 26 I have just learned that the Brutus is to leave the first favorable wind and Elder Geo. Gary 130 is to return to New York on board with his wife. I therefore have but a few minutes more to write, and much to write. I must there- fore close this package in a few minutes and carry them ten miles, deliver today and return.
I have several times stated to you the sum with which we could be sustained by taxing every power of economy, and even parsimony, without our reach. But were we to be liberated to devote ourselves as freely to the ministry as our brethren in New England and New York, with all their aid of deacons, deaconesses and pious, devoted lay members, it would require a sum not less than from $400 to $600 per year. And why should we not give ourselves wholly to the work? Is it because the labors of a missionary in Oregon are less important than those of a local pastor in the churches at home? Your Board and the churches wish to hear the most cheering news of our success as ministers. You wish our pens ably wielded in the description of the country as it relates to its geography, physical resources, natural history, manners and custotms of the people, and in short everything which will contribute to scatter light and awaken an interest on the subject of our new territory, and all this is right. But how can this be done by men loaded with secular cares and worn by daily labor to procure what would be a poor subsistence
130 Rev. George Gary came to Oregon in 1844 and was superintendent of the Methodist Mission in Oregon, 1844-7. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. I: 39, 218; II: 677. ​
CORRESPONDENCE 61
in the States? If I have one object for which I desire to live more than all others, it is to see the cause for which Christ empoverished himself making the people of Oregon rich. That this may be done, we must labor in every moral depart- ment which relates to the well being of a new republic where vice rolls in like the waves of the ocean.
I hope to be able to write a few more sheets which will reach Elder Gary at the Sandwich Islands.
I wish you to forward me most of the amount appropriated for my support in such articles of clothing as we shall order, as far as practicable. A few dollars in money seem indis- pensable, perhaps twenty, which you will probably send in gold or silver in the box of goods you send. Hereafter direct all boxes and packages for me to Astoria.
Please send us the following articles, as far as practicable and in accordance with the directions of the Board :
Two bolts of good common sheeting, unbleached.
Twelve yards of good bed ticking.
Two webs of good common calico, dark colored.
Twenty yards of linsey for children's winter dresses.
Two pairs of women's calfskin shoes, suitable for an Oregon winter, no. 4.
Two pairs of good slippers, no. 4.
Two pairs of stout calfskin shoes, men's, no. 9, suitable for winter rains.
Two pairs of boys' shoes, stout, nos. 3 and 1 4.
Two pairs girls' shoes, nos. 1 and 2. Two pairs of girls' shoes, nos. 12 and 13, little children's numbers.
Twenty or twenty-five yards of Kentucky Janes.
One dark shawl of worsted, or some kind of woolen text- ure, adapting the price somewhat to our income.
One dress coat black cloth; I think no doubt that one which would fit you will fit me, but guard against expenses, 131
131 It was the frequent custom of the author, in ordering from the East, to specify that the clothes should fit Rev. Benjamin Hill, as the two were about the same size. ​
62 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
let it be substantial, but it may be much coarser than would be called for in your city.
Ten yards of satinet.
One dollar's worth of good spool thread.
One card of shirt buttons.
Hooks and eyes, pins, sewing needles.
Two fine combs.
50 cents' worth of tape, sewing silk, pants and vest buttons.
1 pair of cheap fire shovel and tongs.
1 pair of plain andirons.
One cheap set of teacups and saucers.
Six common dining plates, four bowls.
One spider, called skillet in the West, for frying meat.
One pair of silver set spectacles.
15 or 20 pounds of coffee.
One two-quart pitcher, plain.
Two cheap linen table cloths, white.
Give my thanks to Br. Everts for the Bible Manual. Bi*. Johnson has received his.
I am now on board the Brutus and in great haste. Elder Gary has engaged to deliver these sheets in person and will probably give you some interesting descriptions of the state of things generally in Oregon.
I will just say that I have received a letter from a Brother Ross, 132 a member of Br. Evert's church, who is in California. He is engaged in a Sabbath school at San Francisco Bay, and strongly solicits ministerial aid. From all the information I can receive, I am of the opinion that a faithful missionary or two should be sent to California immediately on the receipt of the intelligence that it is added to the United States. I am,
Yours as ever,
EZRA FISHER.
1 32 This was Charles L. Ross, who came by sea to California in 1847. H was prominent in San Francisco for a number of years as a merchant, land owner, and public-spirited man. Bancroft, Hist, of Cal. V: 704. ​
CORRESPONDENCE 63
Missionary at the mouth of the Columbia River.
Should you have opportunity to forward any boxes or packages to the Islands and not directly to this place, you can direct to me to the care of E. O. Hall, Financier for the A. B. C. F. Missions at Honolulu, Oahu, and pay the freight and they will probably reach me in safety.
Received Jan. 17, 1848.
Clatsop Plains, Oregon, Oct. 20th, 1847. Rev. and Dear Br. Hill :
The Bark Whiton being about to sail for N. Y. in a day or two, I take this opportunity to address you a line, which I trust will reach you in three months, as Captain Gelston pro- poses crossing the Isthmus and sending his ship around the Cape.
The two boxes of goods which you forwarded me on the Whiton were duly received, and the accompanying letters. I have delivered half the Bibles and Testaments, pamphlets and periodicals, and half of the goods which you forwarded to me, without my order, to Br. Johnson.
The Bibles, Testaments, periodicals and reports were most gladly received and read with eagerness not only by myself and family, but by the surrounding community. They seemed to transport us to the shores of civilization and the regions of Christian enterprise, after years of seclusion. I carry with me a few tracts and religious periodicals each Sabbath, and give away the tracts and request the periodicals to be returned for further circulation. I give away no tract without enjoining upon the receiver the importance of reading it.
Your letter of January 19th and 24th was received last week, but the periodicals are still behind; probably lost. I have just returned from a tour of four weeks in the Willam- ette Valley. I found rather an interesting state of things in Tualatin Plains. A gradual work of grace has been in progress in those plains since last June. Since last January, Brother Vincent Snelling has baptized fifteen into the fellowship of the church in that place, two of whom were the fruits of a series ​
64 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
of meetings held last year during my residence there. Some three or four more will be baptized next month. Religious interests are wearing a more favorable appearance on Yam Hill River and on the Rickreal. Two have been added to the former church and others will probably unite soon with each of the above named churches. The Methodists and Congre- gationalists in the Willamette Valley have received some acces- sions. The Campbellites are industriously engaged in making proselytes. We have no unusual interest in this place; our congregations are good for the number of people in the com- munity and a marked attention is given to the preaching of the Word. O that God would give me more of the spirit of my station ! We have not yet constituted a church in this place, and shall probably delay organizing until spring, unless we should see that the time has come to arise and build before that time. We are having some accessions to our population on the coast by the present emigration now arriving, and some- what expect one or more Baptist families to settle with us.
Since the first of last August I have labored about half of the time directly in the appropriate duties of the ministry, and the remainder of the time in providing for the immediate wants of my family; preached 13 sermons; delivered two lectures; attended one prayer-meeting; one covenant meet- ing; visited religiously 20 families and 12 individuals; visited no common schools ; baptized none ; obtained no signatures to the temperance pledge; neither assisted at the organization of a church nor the ordination of a minister; have taught regularly a Bible class of 10 scholars, except four Sabbaths of my absence ; distributed about 500 pages of tracts, 10 Bibles and 20 Testaments ; traveled 450 miles to and from my appoint- ments ; received no person either by letter or experience; no cases of conversion in the field of my labor; no young men preparing for the ministry. The monthly concert is not sus- tained in Oregon. My people have paid nothing for missions, Bible societies or other societies; for my support $5. Con- nected with my labors is one Sunday school conducted by Bap- tists and Presbyterians; 30 scholars and six teachers, two ​
CORRESPONDENCE 65
of whom are Baptists; and about 40 volumes in our library. As soon as the opening of spring we design establishing our preaching meetings and Sabbath school separate.
I have repeatedly explained to you the reason of fixing my location at the mouth of the Columbia at so early a date in the history of the country. It is simply from its local import- ance and not because we have a large population in our vicinity at present. But our population is increasing gradually and are among the most intelligent and enterprising of Oregon, and I am greatly mistaken if our population and enterprise do not rapidly increase after next summer. I think the commer- cial mart of our territory must be at Astoria, or near the mouth of the Columbia. My present plan of operation is to spend the rainy season in this vicinity and, during the best part of the year, for traveling and collecting congregations, spend two or three months in traveling and preaching in the Wil- lamette Valley till they are better supplied with preachers and, if time permits, to visit Pugets Sound during the summer and, should our brethren settle there, which they probably will the coming season, raise an interest there, with the blessing of Him without whom we can do nothing. This point and the Sound must become the great commercial points in Oregon. We have now four Baptist ministers in the territory, besides Br. Johnson and myself, who will probably settle in the Wil- lamette Valley above Oregon City 183 and, although they have not enjoyed great advantages, they will probably be able to preach to the churches now formed and sustain the religious interests, with the assistance which Br. J. and myself can render them, till other ministers shall arrive, if God goes with them. A large portion of our Baptist members are from the upper part of Missouri and have not been much accustomed to exercise themselves in Christian enterprises, consequently it is too much to expect that they immediately engage in Sab- bath schools and other benevolent efforts with the facility and
133 There arc records of only three ministers Rev. Vincent Snelling, Wm. Porter, and Richard Miller besides the author and Mr. Johnson. The fourth wa possibly James Bond, who was licensed but not ordained. Mattoon, Bap. An. of Ore. I: 43, 58, 59. Minutes of Wittamette Bap. Assn. of Oregon, for 1848. ​
66 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
perseverance of men trained from their youth in this kind of work. Besides, many of them were just able to raise means sufficient to bring their families across the mountains and they have everything to do to give their families a competent living. Yet we have some happy exceptions ; may God greatly multiply this class. We have fixed upon the third week in next June to organize an association and trust by that time we shall have seven or eight churches to go into that organization. I think Br. Vincent Snelling ought to receive an appointment with a salary of $100 or $150. He is a faithful, worthy brother. I informed him that it would be expected that the churches which he supplied would request the Home Mission- ary Society to assist them in sustaining him and specify the amount they were able to do. He manifested a reluctancy to lay the subject before the churches, lest it might arouse some prejudice, as the churches were not altogether missionary in their views. I replied that I should be unwilling to constitute churches which would be likely to excommunicate me for carrying out the great principles of the gospel plan of salva- tion. Yet I thought he was unnecessarily timid, and I should apprehend no unpleasant consequences in presenting the sub- ject in a mild and affectionate manner. I leave the subject with your Board, hoping on the whole that Br. Snelling may receive your patronage. I can assure you he is a zealous, worthy brother.
As it relates to California, I think our Board should spare no time in finding a judicious, practical preacher to locate at the most favorable point on San Francisco Bay. Our whaling vessels and merchant and war ships are almost constantly enter- ing and leaving that Bay and, should our Government retain Upper California, there must be places of importance imme- diately springing up on that spacious harbor. Br. Ross, a member of Br. Evart's church of your city, is there, and per- haps he has already applied to you for a minister.
Baptist peculiarities must be vindicated in Oregon. Our Pedo-baptist and Campbellite neighbors are mooting the subject of baptism, and especially of communion. May we have ​
CORRESPONDENCE 67
grace to present these subjects as gospel truths in the love of the gospel of the Blessed Saviour.
Brother Johnson received a letter from you informing us that the Board had voted to increase our salaries to $200 each, which I hope will enable us to give ourselves entirely to the work, after three or four weeks which must be spent, on my part, in rendering my house tolerable for the winter.
I wrote you in July by Elder Gary, on his return to New York. (He will probably deliver the package in person.) In those letters I ordered you to forward me some articles of clothing and other articles. Should you receive this in sea- son to forward a few other articles with the box before ordered, you will please put up twelve yards of Canton flannel, fifteen yards of red woolen flannel, six or eight pounds of saleratus or pearlash put it up in a box or jar; four pounds of candle wicking; a tin reflector for baking bread; a hat, cheap, sub- stantial, 23^2 inches around the outside under the band; one set of Fuller's works bound in sheep. 134 I very much need a commentary of the Bible, having disposed of both of mine before leaving the States on account of the transportation across the mountains, but I do not know but I shall make my orders exceed my income. Put up also one additional web of substantial dark calico. We hope the Baptist Publication Society will forward us a few of their publications, such as exhibit the peculiarities of the denomination and others of a devotional character, such as memoirs of eminent Christians, as a donation, if they can. The people here need religious reading. Probably some books of the above named character might be sold. Can you not obtain and forward us more tracts, as our stock will be exhausted before we shall get returns from this ?
My family are in good health. Indeed, we have had no sickness on the coast with the whites since the settlement of the country. Providence has given us one of the most salubri-
134 The works of Andrew Fuller (1754-1815), a famous Baptist (Englh theologian. McClintock and Strong, Cyc. of Bibl. Theol. and Eccl. Lit. Ill: 6< The edition asked for was probably that published in Philadelphia, edited
lish) 692.
probably that published in Philadelphia, edited by Joseph Belcher. O. A. Roorbach, Bibliotheca Americana, p. 209. ​
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ous climes on earth. No doubt the whole territory is more healthy than any portion of the United States of the same extent of territory. Although we have small districts contig- uous to inundated lands somewhat subject to bilious attacks in the summer, yet no New Englander, or even any person east of the Allegheny Mountains, has anything to lose in point of health in emigrating to Oregon.
I design spending some time next winter in giving you a general description of the country its physical resources, the manners and customs of the people and the improvements of the country in manufactures and commerce. At present, however, I will only repeat substantially what I have more than once written to my friends in the State, that, although the face of the country below the Cascade range of moun- tains is generally broken, except in the valleys of the rivers, yet I think there is less waste land than is found in the same extent of country in New England 1 , and the soil will not suf- fer in comparison with that of New York, and portions of this district probably equal the finest parts of the great West- ern valley. Almost all our hill and mountain lands are rich and almost entirely free from stone and it is generally believed that the timbered land will produce better than the prairies when once it is cleared. The timber, although of an enormous growth, is generally so filled with balsam or pitch than when green it is fallen by fire and, with comparatively little chopping or piling, the fire consumes it, so that land may be cleared fit for the plough as easily in Oregon as in New York.
As far as my observation has extended, the lands bordering upon the coast possess the richest, deepest soil and produce the most abundantly where they are sufficiently level to be cultivated. Few countries can be found in the world which will produce vegetables in greater abundance, or of a more delicious flavor, than the lands on the coast of Oregon so far as they have been tested. Although little is known in the state of Oregon except the far-famed Willamette Valley, yet it is my opinion that the soil on the coast, wherever it is sufficiently level for cultivation, will by far surpass that val​
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ley in producing every kind of vegetable, and perhaps will not be inferior to it in the growth of wheat. Oats and barley flourish remarkably well on the poorest lands on the coast. The whole coast country will undoubtedly become one of the finest countries in the world for rearing cattle, horses and sheep, when once its forests are removed 1 and the grasses are introduced. We only want our coast to be occupied with the industrious, enterprising farmers of N. Y. and N. England to make it one of the most desirable countries in the world. The whole coast region is so tempered with ocean spray and timely showers during the whole of the summer months that it is almost entirely exempt from the severe droughts to which the country is so much subject east of the Coast range of mountains.
The general impression has been made abroad that there is little good land susceptible of settlement near the sea board. But I think it will be found that there is about as much good land suited to farming purposes in the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia as there is in the vicinity of the Hudson River. And bordering Pugets Sound, including Whitby's and other islands, are many fine tracts of very rich land well adapted to agricultural purposes. And perhaps a very considerable tract of the finest, richest land in Oregon may be found on the coast between the mouth of the Umpqua River and the south- ern boundary of the Territory. Indeed, I am informed by those who have traveled the coast that there is not a stream putting into the ocean south of the mouth of the Columbia but affords some good land for settlement.
I have given you these brief facts, hoping and praying that they may come under the eye of many a pious brother, and sister, too, whose spirit may be moved to come over and labor with us in the glorious work of giving a moral and relig- ious character to the thousands of our own countrymen who now people Oregon and the millions who will soon people the Pacific shores. Cannot some of our excellent deacons and praying, working, young married brothers and sisters be in- duced to come and become our fellow laborers in this delight​
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ful clime and in this most delightful and important work? Is not the great Head of the church now pressing the question to the very heart of our members of our lay brethren? Will they not go and plant the seed and cultivate the tender plants in the garden of the Lord? How important the position in relation to half the globe, and that yet unevangelized ! How important the position in relation to the commercial world, if the half is even realized which our national government anticipates ! Will not many of our praying brethren heed the call and come and work with us in the morning of our exist- ence in Oregon ? Everything is to be done, if this part of the country is to be saved from the reign of idolatry , the tyranny of skepticism and the dominion of the Beast. I must close this and hasten to write a few lines to our private friends.
Yours respectfully,
EZRA FISHER.
N. B. We shall establish the monthly concert in these plains next month. Romans are sparing no pains to secure the influence and wealth of Oregon to their church ; their priests are all Jesuits. May all our brethren in the States pray for God's blessings to rest on our labours. Will you not use your influence in encouraging our lay brethren to come and settle with us? I can almost assure them that they will never regret the sacrifice they must make at the first, if they will first count the cost, in the fear of the Lord, and wait on Him, after their arrival, before they get dis- heartened. Many on their arrival, seeing things so new and different from the more improved parts of the country they have left, become soon dissatisfied, before they have tried a winter and a summer in Oregon. But few, very few, remain dissatisfied more than six or eight months. When once they feel the bracing, salubrious atmosphere of the summer and see the generous returns for their labor, they soon form a strong attachment to the country, and nothing but the want of im- proved society and a love of relatives and friends left behind will induce them to look back with desire to the land of their ​
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youth. These inconveniences must be remedied by the habitual efforts of every philanthropist and Christian.
Yours truly, E. F.
Received May 6, 1848.
October 31, 1847. Dear Br. Hill:
We are all in health. Winter rains are just commencing. Crop of wheat in the upper country is light by means of an unusually dry summer, but on the coast all crops are usually good, droughts seldom affecting the coast seriously. The present immigration is numerous, the number of wagons be- ing generally estimated at about 1,000, and about 4,000 souls. 135 Perhaps they have had more than a usual share of sickness and suffering on the road. Hundreds are yet on the last part of the journey. More than 1,200 or 1,500 wagons should never attempt to cross the mountains in one year, and they should not be incumbered with more loose cattle than is necessary for ample teams and milch cows. Sheep stand the journey best of all domestic animals and are the most useful when here. Emigrants from the eastern and^ middle states should come by water, if they can submit to a long sea voyage. Please enter the enclosed letters in the post office immediately upon reception of this. I send you a package of three sheets, by Captain Gelston, containing my report from August first. Shall spend some time during the rainy season in writing you.
Our general prospects in Oregon are brightening. Com- merce is increasing rapidly and a general impulse is given to every branch of business. We earnestly hope the U. S. Congress will provide for us a_ government the coming ses- sion. 136 I trust your Board will provide for California imme- diately on the U. S. securing that territory to her jurisdiction. A colporter preacher jointly sustained by the A. Bapt. Publica- tion Society and the H. Mission Board, with a supply of books and tracts, would be an invaluable accession- to Oregon. I
135 Bancroft says the number of persons was between 4000 and 5000. Hist, of Ore. I: 623.
136 Oregon was given a territorial government in 1848. ​
72 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
have written Br. Malcom on that subject. Oregon is in perish- ing need of this very kind of instrumentality. Will not our eastern Baptists give this Ter. the first colporter, with his supply of books adapted to every age and condition of man in the formation of a moral and religious character? You may think me enthusiastic. Well, be it so, I am quite sure you could not be less so, were you here to see and feel our wants as I do. We must have the Psalmist 137 here ; a few dozen would sell and these would prepare the way for hundreds more. Yours respectfully,
EZRA FISHER. Received May 6, 1848.
Clatsop Plains, March the 8th, 1848. Dear Br. Hill:
The last communications I received from you were under date of October 2nd and 31st and Nov. 13th, 1846, per Bark Whiton, and I reported by the same bark up to November 1st, 1847. I also saw a letter to Br. Johnson, which I think was brought through by the immigration of 1847, in which was stated the fact that the* Executive Board had voted to increase our salary to $200 each, which fact I acknowledged in my last. The Bibles and Testaments appropriated by the City Bible Society have been of essential service in supplying the destitute and relieving the wants of our Sabbath schools and Bible class. The tracts have been earnestly sought and read with much interest, both by parents and children, and no doubt they have been blessed of God as an efficient auxiliary to the ministry of the Word and Sabbath school instruction. My portion of this stock of tracts is more than half gone and I have promised Brother Vincent Snelling some. By the bless- ing of the All Wise, I propose spending about two months of the approaching summer in the Willamette Valley. I am there- fore using them sparingly that I may take a package along with me. I earnestly hope you will not fail to have more forwarded,
1 37 The "Psalmist" was a Baptist Hymnal by Baron Stow and S F. Smith. McCHntock and Strong, Cyc. of Bibl. Theol. and Eccl. Lit. VIII, 745. ​
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at least yearly. I made a feeble appeal to the Corresponding Sec. A. B. P. Society in behalf of books, both for Sab. schools and the ministry, and also recommended the appointment of a colporter for Oregon who should be a preacher. I trust that appeal will be heeded and call forth a hearty response, not simply from that society, but from the churches. After last writing, I found a note from you on the margin of a pamph- let informing me for the first time of my being made a life member of the A. and F. Bible Society. Assure Br. Allen that it would afford me great pleasure to receive a line from him informing me through what medium my name has been enrolled! in that list of worthy names which have contributed so much to publish that blessed Book unadulterated for the nations of the earth. The Bible is above all price. May God grant the unknown donor a disciple's reward and bless the offering to the everlasting joy of many souls. As for myself, I am utterly unworthy this token of respect. As I expect to forward this by the return party who will probably leave early next month, and it is somewhat uncertain whether it will reach you, I must defer writing much that would be interesting and proceed to state a few of the most important facts.
I send you herein a report of my labor from the first of Nov. last up to the present date. My labors have been con- fined to Clatsop County. Since my last report I have thought best to divide my labors on the Sabbath. Accordingly I preach one Sabbath at my own house (a log cabin 18 feet by 24) in the south half of these plains, and the alternate one in the north half of the plains. I have labored nineteen weeks, but part of my time I am compelled to devote to the immediate wants of my family. I preached 20 sermons, delivered no lec- tures, attended four prayer meetings and two religious con- ferences preparatory to the constitution of a church. Visited religiously forty families and persons, two common schools. Baptized none. Obtained no signatures to the temperance pledge. Have assisted in organizing no church nor the ordi- nation of any minister. Traveled 147 miles to and from my appointments. None received by letter, none by experience and ​
74 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
we know of no cases of conversion. We have one young mar- ried brother licensed to preach by a church in Iowa. 188 The monthly concert of prayer is observed at my house. My people have paid nothing for missions, Foreign, Home or Domestic. Nothing for the Bible cause. Publication Soc. nothing. Edu- cation Soc. nothing. For my salary fourteen dollars. Con- nected with my station are two Sunday schools, 42 scholars and ten teachers and, in one school, 100 volumes recently donated by a friend, in the other 20 volumes. I have also a Bible class with eight pupils. We have commenced building a hewed log house for a school and meeting house, 18 feet by 24, and will be able to use it as a place of worship within six or eight weeks. This may appear to your Board too trifling and unimportant to be named in a report, but, could you experi- ence all the privations of a new country as I am doing, you would look upon this effort as a valuable acquisition to our spiritual comforts and an important monument to the progress of civilization within the deafening roar of the Pacific's surf. I have regarded it an object so desirable to be accomplished that I have already devoted more than two weeks' time in labori- ous efforts through rain and shine in this work. May God be graciously pleased to make it a nursery of science, a fountain of morals, a birthplace of souls and a spiritual lighthouse to guide the pilgrims to the haven of rest. We have appointed the 13th and the 19th of the present month to meet for the con- stitution of a church in the plains and have invited our sister churches to send us their delegates to sit in council with us on the occasion. We hope a foundation is being laid here for future lasting usefulness. God only knows. Our congrega- tions have been usually good through the entire winter and Sabbath schools well attended and, although we can record no signal display of Divine grace, our apparent changes seem to indicate the Divine favor. I have seldom felt a deeper sense of the responsibility of the ministry and the importance of establishing correct moral and religious principles in a new
138 This was James Bond, who lost his life by an accident in 1849. He had come to Oregon in 1847. Mattoon, Bap. An. of Ore. I: 8. ​
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and rising community than during the last winter. We greatly need the prayers of the churches that we may reap ere long a gracious harvest. Our communities are surrounded by heathen and 1 no one can tell the excessively immoral influence which the heathen exert on a civilized community. And then the number of professors are few, consequently but few re- straints are imposed on the impenitent. Added to this, the fact that we are at present involved in an unpleasant Indian war with the Cayuse tribe inhabiting the country along the foot of the Blue Mountains, south of the Columbia River, keeps the people in a state of excitement unfavorable to the cultivation of the Christian graces. The apparent cause of the difficulty seems to have originated in the fact of the last year's immigrants having brought the measles among the Cayuse Indians. Many sickened and died with them and the flux. The Indians, ever jealous and credulous, suspicioned Dr. Whit- man of poisoning them. It seems a treacherous half-breed who had been educated by the missionaries and resided in Dr. Whitman's family circulated the report that he had overheard the doctor and Mr. Spaulding discussing the subject of the best method of exterminating the Indians. Finally, about the 30th of November, one of the most inhuman tragedies which the history of savage cruelty has ever recorded was perpe- trated in open day. Dr. Whitman, his excellent wife, Mr. Rodgers, a young man of unblemished character and engaging manner, studying for the ministry, and ten other persons were brutally butchered by the very chiefs who had long manifested great confidence in the Dr., and for whom he has so long labored and sacrificed almost all the blessings of civilization to ameliorate their conditions and direct their whole tribe to the glories of Heaven through a crucified Saviour. About thirty men, women and 1 children were then taken captive and reduced to Indian slaves, and the females suffered the most revolting acts of savage violence in the presence of their own husbands and fathers and mothers, against which no entreaties or remonstrances were of any avail for more than a month, till Mr. Ogden, one of the chief factors of the Hudson Bay Co., ​
76 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
proceeded with twenty-two men from Fort Vancouver and redeemed the captives and brought them to Oregon City. Mr. Spaulding and family rave been rescued from imminent danger and! are now in the Willamette Valley. Messrs. Eels and Walker have not yet been heard from. Fears are entertained that they, with their families, may be cut off. Yet, as they are in the Spokane country, it is hoped they will find a place of refuge at Fort Hall in case of imminent danger. 139 Our legisla- ture was in session at the time of the news of the horrid massa- cre reached the settlements, and one company of about fifty men was immediately sent to The Dalles above the Cascade Mountains to secure the friendly relations of the Indians in that vicinity, and early in January five more companies were raised, put under the command of General Gillham and marched into the Cayuse country. Our troops have had two engagements with the Indians before reaching the Cayuse country, in which some fifteen or twenty Indians were killed and one of our men wounded. 140 Probably before this time there has been a general battle, if the Indians will risk an en- gagement in the open fields. It is generally hoped that we shall escape a general Indian war. The Hudson Bay Company exerts a great influence with the Indians, most of the officers and servants having taken Indian wives, and their interests and influence will be of a pacific character. Yet we do not feel our- selves altogether safe, living as we do in the midst of small tribes. We feel that our only confidence is in God and in His ^iands we surrender ourselves and our little ones daily. We ire waiting with great anxiety.
1 39 This account of the Whitman massacre is on the whole correct. The date was November 29th and soth. Walker and Eells stayed in the Spokane Country until Spring, protected by the Indian chief. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. I: 666. Cornelius Gilliam, not Gillham, was the commander of the territorial troops. Ibid I; 676.
1 40 The one wounded was Wm. Brry. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. I: 703.
* ↑ This paper was read before the Annual Meeting of the Members of the Oregon Historical Society, December 18, 1915.
* ↑ For this study I have found my greatest and most valuable storehouse in the Provincial Library at Victoria, British Columbia. Mr. E. O. S. Scholefield, Provincial Librarian, has done more to unearth needed material than I had imagined could be accomplished. His extensive knowledge of Northwest history has guided me, his kindness and helpfulness have more than encouraged me. I wish to express my deep appreciation of the Provincial Library and my sincerest thanks to Mr. Scholefield. Mr. Charles W. Smith, of the Reference Department of the University of Washington Library, has also been a genuine help to me on numerous occasions. In the earlier stages of the investigation I drew heavily upon the Northwest collections of the Tacoma Public Library, the Seattle Public Library, and the Washington State Historical Society. For the Transactions of the Oregon Pioneer Association I am indebted to Mr. George H. Himes, Curator of the Oregon Historical Society. To Mr. T. C. Elliott, of Walla Walla, I am very grateful for being permitted to examine the proof-sheets of Thompson's autobiography, in process of publication by the Champlain Society of Toronto.
* ↑ This was William K. Kilborn. The "Henry" is a familiar figure in Oregon history of this time. See Bancroft, Hist. of Ore. I: 414, 679-80; II: 24, 43 48.
* ↑ Galston, not Geleston. For the return voyage of the "Whiton" see Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. I: 620.