# Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 18/Hall Jackson Kelley, Part 2

HALL JACKSON KELLEY—Prophet of Oregon
CHAPTER FIVE
En Route—Boston to Vera Cruz
Failure only seemed to strengthen Kelley's determination to effect his purpose. "I planned anew, enlisting a small party, chiefly with a view of having travelling companions. I now lay my route through Mexico, via Acapulco and the Sandwich Islands."
"That circuitous route, instead of a direct one across the Rocky Mountains, was wholly induced by a desire of effecting some arrangements with officers of the Mexican government and distinguished individuals in that country, relative to the lumber and fish trade between the Columbia River and the Mexican western ports, and for extending, in proper time, my colonizing operations into High California; and, also, by a desire of turning the attention of the people in the cities of Mexico to some better system of education than had ever been adopted by them; and generally, to such internal improvements, moral and physical, as would most likely lay a better foundation for freedom, and multiply in their land the conveniences and comforts of life."
His troubles continued, and there were further delays. This part of the narrative can be best stated in his own words:
"Late in the spring [of 1832] I left [Washington] for N. R to complete arrangements for my final departure for the other side of the continent.
"On my arrival at Palmer, and within sight of home, where my loved family dwelt, I was arrested by an officer, who served upon me a precept which had no foundation in justice, ​and was only designed to detain my person and plunder my property. I was manacled, and taken to the village, to the door next to my home, where my companion and children came to greet me; yet did they grieve at my afflictions, and their hearts were sorrowful at what was being done imto me. This attack was from an unscrupulous hireling, in the shape of a lawyer, living in a dark alley in the city of Boston. . . . Unwilling to tarry, to contend in law, and delay the enterprise, I answered the demand, unjust as it was, and so freed myself from the clutches of my cruel pursuers.
"A few days later I was threatened with another suit, which had the same design.
"To avoid the delays and vexations which these proceedings would necessarily cause me, I left the place for Boston, from whence I sent for my family and effects. Before the latter could be removed, they were plundered to the amount of several hundred dollars.
"These brutal acts were not instigated by my townsmen, but by brutish men from Boston whose object was to prevent progress in my undertaking. In view of a contemplated long absence, I did not forget to provide sufficiently for the support of the dear ones of my household, making arrangements with friends who had this 'world's goods' in abundance, and who were accustomed to show kindness and to give good cheer.
"The time for my departure drawing near, I went to Bradford, where my family resided, to take the painful leave. The moment of parting arrived. My companion looked sober; and probably felt sad, though her affectionate regards had been somewhat alienated by deceiving monsters, who had ill advised her. My children, young, unconscious of the nature of the parting, were cheerful about the room. My heart was burdened, and I could scarcely speak a sorrowing good-by. Taking my valise, I left; and, when beyond hearing, grief burst forth, and I wept aloud. I proceeded to Boston.
​"The journey was a lonely one, and tiresome. My days now were all eventful, and every moment seemed to bring increased cares and anxieties. Just before my final departure for Oregon, I took a few days to go about Boston, and solicit from the munificent contributions to my funds, which I feared would be inadequate for my purposes, since my enemies, by their cunning and cruelty, had made so frequent drafts upon them. I called upon a wealthy merchant in Beacon street. It was in the afternoon of Thanksgiving day, when I hoped to find him in good spirits, and disposed to make me a donation. But I was disappointed. He replied to me as follows: 'I am interested in the commerce of the Pacific, being part owner in two ships now on that ocean. The merchants have had a meeting, and are determined to prevent your breaking up their trade about the Pacific.'
"Left Boston for Oregon the first of November, 1832. Having provided a vessel for the party and the transportation of my effects to New York, I joined the party in that city; there tarried two or three weeks, occupying what was called the parsonage house, in Stuyvesant street, with the party. After a few days a band of desperadoes at midnight, beset the house, and attempted to force an entrance; first, at the windows, and then at the door, but not succeeding, they soon hastened away.
"A short time after, two men came to my quarters, one calling his name Foster, the other giving his as Lovett. They said they wished to emigrate to Oregon; and would like to accompany me thither; that they were printers by trade, and had money which could be immediately collected to procure outfits, and to meet expenses; and, with a view of giving me proof of their sincerity, took me to a printing office, which they represented as their place of business. They were well dressed, and of insinuating manners. But the sequel showed them to be accomplished and adroit villains, ready to perform ​any act affecting my person, plans, or property, however atrocious or hazardous. . . .
"Learning that a vessel was about to sail for the Sandwich Islands, I applied to the benevolent owner for a passage thither, for a son of mine belonging to the party. A free passage was at once generously offered him. As he was of tender years, and fearing that he would not well endure the fatigues of the land route, I was glad of the chance to provide for him a sea voyage. He was to wait at the Islands, until my arrival with the party from Acapulco.
"The party with my effects embarked for New Orleans. Myself proceeded to Washington."
While in New York he obtained on credit money for expenses and presents for the Indians. Religious societies gave him Bibles and books and tracts; and individuals also contributed. Upon his arrival at Washington he communicated with the state department, asking for authority to explore Oregon and setting forth the plans of his expedition, although he had already been informed by the secretary of war that the decision in the matter lay with congress and not with the executive. From William S. Archer of Virginia, chairman of the house committee on foreign affairs, he received assurance that public protection would be given to any settlement which he might make in the Oregon territory. From the house committee on ​library he obtained a set of United States statutes. Edward Everett was a member of both committees, and his cooperation was probably the cause of these favors.
Kelley also made formal application to the Mexican government through Jose M. Montoya, chargé d'affaires at Washington, for permission to enter the port of Vera Cruz with a vessel free from port charges, to land his effects, and to transport them across the country to Acapulco without liability of any kind to the revenue laws. Montoya agreed to forward the letter, and he also countersigned the passport which Kelley obtained from the state department. Thus equipped Kelley left Washington for New Orleans on March 1, 1833, proceeding by the Cumberland road and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers under a grant of free passage from the post office department. To continue from his narrative:
"At New Orleans I again met the party provided with good quarters at my expense. . . .
"Two of the party, who a few days before leaving New York were known to be destitute of money, and poorly clad, whose passage I had paid, were now found dressed in new and costly apparel, and had plenty of money. Without the remotest cause of action, they brought, one after another, suits at law against me, until I was harrassed with five such cases. The Foster and Lovett who joined the party in New York, resorted to acts of felony, forging several papers; one, a draft of fifteen hundred dollars in my favor on J. Ogden, a wealthy merchant of New Orleans, purporting to have been drawn by a friend of mine in Wall street. New York. . . .
"Getting access to my property in storage, they stole over a thousand dollars of it, and started with it for Texas. Fortunately, they were on the same day overtaken, brought back, examined before Judge Perval, and with the crime of larceny labeled to their character, were committed to prison, where, doubtless, it was the divine purpose they should realize a portion of the reward of evil doers. After a day and a night ​imprisonment, they sent for me. My ears ever being open to the cries of distress, whether of the human or the brute race, I hastened to the window looking into the place of their 'tor- ment.' They besought me with tears to intercede in their behalf, and obtain their release. I did so, importuning the public authority which had committed them, and they were released . . . . I . . . required from them a written con- fession of their guilt. They gave it, though reluctantly, sol- emnly pledging never again to trouble me, then left, but not to keep their pledge. Straightway, using the freedom which humanity had just given them, they proceeded to carry out new plans and plots of treachery and revenge.
"By anonymous letter and other ways I was threatened with assassination, did I not hasten from New Orleans.
"Those two blood-thirsty pursuers finding a vessel ready to sail for Vera Cruz, in conformity, doubtless, to the counsel of others in connivance, embarked for that port; there to lie in wait, and destroy me if they could. Before sailing, having had permission to enter the store house where my effects were deposited, and receive a chest belonging to one of them, not- withstanding their solemn pledge to cease from troubling, they managed to abstract from my packages a chest similar to theirs, packed with articles designed for Indian presents, of the value of over $200, leaving their own, which contained nothing of value, in its stead. I was present, but being near-sighted, and my mind filled with anxieties, I did not, at the hurried moment, notice the difference between them.
"I was surprised, but not frightened at this threatening aspect of the enemy's power. Finding a spirit to vex and to destroy me infected most of the party, I gladly dismissed them ​all, and, having adjusted my business as best I could, I secured a passage to Vera Cruz in the schooner Gen. Lafayette, Capt. Hoyt.. . .
"The Capt. had suddenly changed the day for putting to sea, having determined to sail earlier than the time appointed for that purpose. Although my goods were brought to the levee, agreeable to a previous understanding, and the freight had already been paid, he refused to receive them. I was not to be foiled in that way. Being cramped for time, a few half dollars from my pocket, brought aid from the bystanders, and my effects were rushed on board, with the exception of about two hundred dollars' worth, including the body and hind wheels of a wagon, which were left and lost.
"As the vessel was leaving her moorings, seizing the last opportunity, I leaped on deck, there to endure still greater indignities and sufferings than had been experienced on shore.
"I will not stop to mention all that I suffered on that passage. During most of the voyage the sea was boisterous, and the heavens were darkened with clouds and storms. Although I had purchased as good accommodations as the schooner afforded, yet was I denied a retreat to any place not open to the angry heavens. No reasoning, no appeals to justice or mercy could abate the rigor of this brutal treatment. Fourteen days and nights I lay on the quarterdeck, terribly seasick, and exposed to the worst of weather, sometimes drenched in salt water, and again in fresh. A portion of my freight remained on deck by the side of the bulwarks, exposed to the breach-making sea. This much was greatly injured, so that a part having lost its value was thrown overboard, and a part less injured was given to the poor at Vera Cruz. The language of the Capt. was uniformly abusive, and his whole conduct unfeeling towards me.. . .
"Something more should be said of the captain. He was illiterate, ill-bred, ill-tempered, and intemperate, also.. . .
"An occurrence happening on the 2d of May nearly proved fatal to the vessel and the lives of all on board. At early dawn ​a Spanish gentleman comnig on deck, cried out, 'Land! land!' Our frail bark was fast nearing the rocky shore, which was not more than 50 or 75 rods distant. Fortunately, the fog, which had enveloped it, was now rising. The helmsman had just time to wear ship, and save being dashed upon the rocks. A similar occurrence happened on the 10th. In the evening, returning from a trip to or near the bay of Campeche, while the captain was in one of his stupefactions, we heard the breakers roar and could see their foaming crests. They were close by on the lee bow. The mate wears about and goes to sea. The captain, who was in his berth, being informed, raised himself partly up and said, 'I can't help it.'
CHAPTER SIX
En Route—Across Mexico
Even to-day a trip across Mexico is attended with delays and difficulties. The foreigner is met with suspicion, and, if He be an American, with positive dislike. Nothing but a fanatical belief in his mission could have led Kelley to disregard or at least underestimate the obstacles to be encountered in passing through that country before the day of railroads, in the midst of pestilence, brigands, and civil war. Yet this is what he undertook to do in 1833, alone, encumbered with baggage, and ignorant of the language of the people. His account of his experiences in Mexico is especially complete, and it will be given here in his own words as far as possible.
"Landing at the port of Vera Cruz, Lovett, the treacerous actor at New Orleans, called on me to offer his greetings, and to tender his services in repacking my effects, and preparing for my early departure from that place of pestilence and death. . . . His cunning and insinuating manner drew to him some friends, and there were some about him, friends to nobody. To have suggested to others my bad opinion of him would have exposed myself at that time to the assassin's power. Indeed, being privately reminded of ingratitude at the time of embarkation at New Orleans, his jealousy was aroused, and he told me with great emphasis, if I named any circumstance exposing his character in that place, I must do all my repenting at Vera Cruz, and be prepared for the worst results. However, not intimidated, I gave him wholesome advice, forbade his taking a step with me into the interior, or traveling the same road the same day. . . . In view of this threatening aspect of things, I was not wanting in circumspection and civilities, both in regard to this villain, the captain, and their accomplices.
"Soon after my arrival, a snare was laid by him, which he and a colored man, his associate, were unable to spring upon ​me; artfully attempting to draw me into a dark hole in the city, unquestionably with the design of taking my life.. . .
"The following transactions seemed to indicate that the captain and the officers of the customs were each to share in the plunder of my property. Some days after the cargo of the vessel was discharged, one of the sailors informed me that a package of my stuff was found concealed under old rigging in the hold. It consisted of such pieces and remnants of cotton and woolen fabrics as would be useful to me in Oregon, and was worth from $100 to $150. My anxiety was to know how to get possession of the goods without prejudice to my character. I had no disposition to smuggle, or to do a dishonorable act. To bring it publicly on shore, it was said, would endanger the vessel; or to bring it clandestinely, would afford a plausible reason for supposing it merchandise for that market, which was far from being the fact. I was told that, for a reward, a custom house officer would bring the package to me. An engagement was made. The property was brought between two suns, and left at the place appointed, and twenty silver dollars were paid for doing the business. It appeared like a fair and legal transaction, but, with the officer, it was smuggling, under revenue laws made and provided for that purpose. . . .
"On landing, having engaged boarding quarters, and got my passports endorsed by proper authorities, I turned my thoughts to my baggage, which was of much value, a portion of it needful for present use. Some of it was in loose packages. Most of it was placed in the custom house for safe keeping, until my departure thence, agreeable to the advice of the American consul. In view of my ill health, lonely condition and the distracted state of public affairs in that country, he thought it would be unsafe at the hotel. Unskilled at that time in the Spanish language, I had no direct communication with the revenue officers, but it was understood on my part, and also, I supposed, on the part of the consul, that it would be readily and freely given up when called for. . . . With the hope of obtaining some indemnity from the captain for my losses, ​which he had carelessly or wantonly caused me, I delayed my departure over two weeks. . . .
"I hastened arrangements for resuming the journey, and called for the property deposited in the custom house. To my surprise, it was refused, on the ground of a requisition of custon house duties. I had never, at home or abroad, declined to render 'unto Caesar the things that were Caesar's,' but to pay a tax in Mexico on property not dutiable, I unhesitatingly declined to do. A bond would have been given, if requested, guarding against the sale of so much as a single article in that country. . . .
"After several days of entreaty, through the consul, explaining the object of my journey, giving my reasons for taking that circuitous route to Oregon, and presenting the passport from the State Department of the United States, the cupidity of the revenue officers relaxed a little, and I was permitted to select four packages from the eight. The amount of duties demanded was nearly the invoice value of the property. By what rule of calculation, or principle of right they had fixed upon any specific amount of tax, or had taxed at all, I could not understand. . . .
"In the proper construction of the passport furnished me by the State Department of the U. S. A., protection should have been given both to my person and property. But protection was given to neither."
On May 27, 1833, Kelley left Vera Cruz by stage and arrived the following day at Jalapa, where he remained eighteen days, familiarizing himself with the country round about. From Jalapa he wrote to Anthony Butler, the American chargé d'affaires at the city of Mexico, complaining of the detention of his property at Vera Cruz. He proceeded on foot to Puebla, and after three days left by stage for the City of Mexico.
Almost the first man he met upon his arrival was Foster, ​
104 Fred Wilbur Powell
who was boarding at his expense, having some of his papers upon which an arrangement to that effect had been made with the proprietor of the stage house. This charge was paid upon threat of seizure of baggage; but Kelley refused to pay for Foster's passage from Vera Cruz or for his lodgings. His baggage was attached, and the irrepressible Foster laid claim to some of it, but the magistrate decided the matter in Kelley's favor.
Kelley then transferred his quarters from the stage house to the Washington hotel, which was the only other public house open to foreigners. The proprietor was an American, and "among the guests there were Col. Austin, the founder of the first settlement of the Americans in Texas, Col. Hodg- kiss and Gen. Mason from Virginia, and several other distin- guished Americans. Their purpose in that country was to bring about the annexation of Texas to the United States." Upon invitation of the American consul, James S. Wilcox, Kelley spent several weeks as his guest at his residence on Lake Chalco, a short distance from the city.*
At the American legation Kelley renewed his appeal for the release of his goods, 1)ut was told that there was little likelihood of favorable action by the Mexican government, a prediction which was in accord with the fact.*
Unlike most zealots, Kelley seems to have been incapable of giving his whole attention to his main project. When he left New England the enthusiasm for railroads was at its height.
3 Settlement of Oregon, 36-9.
4 Letter of Anthony Butler to Carlos Garcia, secretary of state, Tuly 11, 1833, and reply of Garcia, September ly, 1833, in 25 cong. 3 sess. H. ex. doc. 351:481-3, 487. Butler declared that the action of the customs officers was not only in vio-
? purposes, instead of Seing designed solely for the personal use of the individuals orming the expedition, yet^ in such event, the object being merely to land the goods at one port, and, passing through the countrv, to trans-ship them at another, the treatv provides that such merchandise would be entitled to drawback; that is to say. that the bond given for duties, if the goods were sold within the republic, shall DC cancelled and delivered up to the owner, upon the reshipment of the merchandise. If, however, the articles landed by Mr. Kellv be examined, they will be found to consist of implements of agriculture, tools for difiFerent branches of the mechanical profession, and remnants of coarse goods, such as are indis- pensably necessary tor persons forming a new settlement in a wilderness entirely removed beyond the limits of civilization." According to Kellev, his loss at Vera Gnu amounted to $1150. — ^Kelley, Narrative of Events and Difficulties, 7. ​If railroads were good for New England, why not for Mexico also?
"While exploring the country between Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico, I became satisfied of the feasibility of a railroad route between one and the other of those places. Desirous of seeing Mexico benefited with the same kind of institutions and improvements as those effecting such great things for my native New England, I planned and advised that improvement—especially would I have internal improvements commenced without the least possible delay, in a country, where the common people were but little in advance of the heathen; where most of the roads were in a state of nature, and the earth bore but few marks and evidence of civilization dwelling there.
"The improvement suggested by me was a topic of frequent conversation with Wilcox . . . and with other enterprising foreigners. It was one of the subjects of a communication to President Santa Anna, describing, according to my apprehension, what would be the utility of railroads."
In the midst of all his troubles, this strangest of mortals was open-eyed and active in studying the natural phenomena about him. The plants, animals and minerals received his careful attention, and his curiosity as to the heights of mountains must be! served. He also interested himself in the welfare of the natives, and vaccinated some of them. "I lost no time, neglected no opportunity, relaxed no effort to do the good I had proposed to do in that country." He even indulged in recreational activities, a fact for which he half apologized.
"I engaged in no idle amusements, expended not so much as a dollar 'for that which is naught,' yet occasionally I took a game at checkers with my distinguished fellow-boarders at the hotel, and once did I attend the theatre to witness a bullfight, and learn concerning that ancient, barbarous custom. ​Neither the games nor the visit to the theatre were without some benefit to me."
His more important business, however, was not forgotten. With singular lack of understanding of the attitude of the Mexican government toward the intrusion of Americans upon its domain, 'While in the City of Mexico he made arrangements to become an empresarias for settling the interior of Alta California with emigrants from his own and other civilized lands, intending to commence the work, when the tide of emigration to those western shores should set high, and it should be practicable to take that position." These arrangements, he admitted, were made only "in part," and while they were made with "public authority," we are not told as to the officer who was approached or his reply. His health having become impaired, he made no attempt to enter into any arrangement with the Mexican government to encourage trading relations with the settlers on the Columbia.
His observations on the instability of the government and needs of the people are quite as applicable to the conditions of to-day. In a letter written on August 24, 1833, to J. B. Thornton, he said, "The civil outbreaks and commotions constantly occurring in Mexico are not likely to result in any beneficial effects to the people. The fundamental principles of government must be different, more in harmony with the principles of Christianity. The policy of the governing power must be changed. Under present circumstances, while the whole nation is living in sottish ignorance, without schools for the youth, and without a heaven-taught ministry, unenlightened and inexperienced, as to practical freedom and the blessings of Christian civilization, that policy should be more arbitrary, and the government less republican. . . .
"Mexico should have more light, and the sympathy of neighbors. Other nations should help her. It would be right, ​that her elder sister republic, the powerful and opulent United States, should help her, and make her a loan of a few millions of money, to be applied exclusively in laying the foundations of freedom just described. Unless such a foundation is laid, and the monsters, ignorance and superstition, are driven from the land, political delusions, clandestine disorders, war and bloodshed and human sufferings will continue."
Unforeseen delays having made it impossible for him to be at Acapulco at the appointed time, he now decided to go instead to San Bias via Gaudalajara.
"Just before leaving the city, and proceeding onward, Col. Hodgkiss, a countryman distinguished in the war of 1812, presented me with an elegant sword, a testimonial of his respect for me; and perhaps partly in view of the perilous journey to be pursued along the roads at that time known to be infested with banditti. . . . The consul presented me with two noble mules, and a theodolite. . . .
"My personal arms were a light gun, a brace of pistols, and the sword just presented me. In the baggage were three guns and other weapons such as are usually used in human slaughter. Thus was I accoutred in complete Cossack panoply. . . .
"Just before resuming the journey, two strangers, a French gentleman and a countryman from Philadelphia, Giredot and Keyser, came and proposed to accompany me to Gaudalajara. Their company was very acceptable, and proved to be of much benefit to me. I was now ready to go forward.
"Just as I was leaving, when outside the gate, Foster introduced to me a savage looking man whom he called Frederick, and who was going, he said, to San Bias, and desired to travel with me; said he would assist in driving the burthened animals. I consented, believing a refusal would be of no avail; that Foster had picked him up for an accomplice in carrying out his bloody purpose. I learned afterwards by the French gentleman that he was a foot-pad, and associate with the highwaymen in that portion of the country.
108 Fred Wilbur Powell
"My servant engaged in the city to take charge of the mules, and to serve as a guide, at the end of two days refused to go farther. I settled with him, paid him his price, and for a further compensation he plundered my baggage of some small articles, not, however, of much value. After four days, Gire- dot and Keyser, finding it too tiresome to travel in a slow walk, and impatient to go forward, left me. They had travelled with me two or three hours in the morning, and then hastened to their night quarters. Foster and Frederick were now my only servants and guide. At eight o'clock in the evening, after a hard day's journey, having missed the road, I stO(^d, pitched my tent by the side of the path and unburdened the mules. Early the next morning I started in search of some populated place for food and provender for the beasts, and also for infor- mation as to the right road. After traveling nearly a league I entered a village, went from house to house, but the doors were kept closed ; none cared to give me answer — ^not so much as a cup of water. Returning to the encampment, I ordered the animals to be got ready to leave. While in the tent mak- ing ready the baggage, Foster, outside, called out, 'Robbers are coming.' Looking out, I saw ten or fifteen men, variously armed, near approaching. To show non-resistance, I grounded my gun at the tent door. The supposed robbers came up in front, their captain advanced, and with trembling hands stooped down and picked up the gun. Then, full of courage, called out Bamos, bamos. On my coming out, he demanded my side-arms. They were now silent for a while, as though waiting for a reinforcement. Soon I saw, under a cloud of dust, a crowd of women and children. They came and seated themselves in a line on the ground. All fears of their having bad intentions were now dispelled. They were silent Four men, on horseback arrived ; one was the Elcelde of the village where I had just been so unsuccessful in finding friends. He addressed to me a few words, all of which I did not tmder- stand. I then exhibited the traveling passport given me by the chief executive of the United States, and a letter from a dis​
Hall Jackson Kelley 109
tinguished countiyman, stating the objects of my sojourn in Mexico. These papers were translated into his own language. He read them and bowed. I bowed also, and we shook hands. Among the women was a fair and thoughtful looking old lady, who had come prepared with tortillis and fruit to relieve our hunger. She uncovered a basket, and, looking kindly at me, said, 'Senora, toma.' We partook of her bounty; though I had fasted twenty-four hours, was not hungry, but Foster ate much, and ate like a dog on the point of starvation. This lady I supposed to be the mother of the Elcelde. ... I thought I could see an excellent spirit in her. . . . After opening a package of Indian presents, I addressed her, 'Senora, toma (take),' and gave her in return, lace and ribbons, with which she seemed pleased, ten times the value of what had been received. The Elcelde and his suite having conducted me to the right road, bade me good-by, and returned to their village, and I proceeded on my route.
"After two days reached Yula, where I found my two fellow travelers awaiting my arrival. Here I passed two or three days in exploring the region about the city, most of the time in the market place, studying human nature, observing the manners and customs of the people, and seeking knowledge, and picking up memorials of antiquity. History informs us that the Annuhac tribe, the earliest aborigines of Mexico, in their migration southward from the place of their landing on the American shores, made Yula their first stopping place. After two or three days, with my companions in company, I again moved forward. . . .
"In Curetero I delayed one day, bought a horse, and there were stolen from my effects articles of six or eight dollars value. The baser sort of the natives are much given to thiev- ing, and practice with wonderful skill the sleight of hand, and can steal before the eyes of another without his knowledge. Though I kept a constant watch over my property, yet I was constantly losing. My fellow travelers have again left me and gone ahead to hunt rabbits, I passed through Salais, and put up ​
no Fred Wilbur Powell
for the nig^t in a puebla, three leagues beyond that place. The hunters were with me, and we made a good suj^r on rabbits.
"About the middle of the next day reached Salamanca. Out- side of the town a man on horseback met me and said he would conduct me to a mason and to the Custom House. At the latter place my passports and papers were examined. The custom house officer said I was imlawfuUy carrying four guns. I replied that the passports gave me a right to carry them. He said, however, I might sell one of them to his son, then stand- ing at the door, and proceed on with the three. Accordingly, one was offered to the lad at half its value. But this was not the thing; the gun he wanted without price. I took back the passport and walked out, returned to the inn and ordered the servant to make ready to leave. The marshal now brought forward a large horse, which he offered to exchange for a gun. The animal, on examination, was discovered to be blind in one eye and to be badly foundered. It was more than two hours before I could get rid of these insolent officers of the govern- ment. I finally got out of the city, but had not proceeded half a league when a man came in great speed, offering to sell his horse for a gun. I assured him I had no wish to buy, and desired him to leave. At length, with much difficulty, I induced him to wheel about and leave me. He hastened back to report, no doiibt, to the officer of the customs. I began to think I had now escaped the heathen city; but alas! in less than an hour afterwards, whom should I see following but him who was a few hours before so courteous and attentive to me in the city. He comes to renew his attempt to rob me of the gun. He first said he must have the gtm and $4.00 for the horse offered me. He demanded it— demanded me to stop and turn back ; seized hold of my bridle, flourished his sword and discharged his pistol, crossing the path ahead of my horse, and again, the third time, discharged the pistol.
"To get rid of his troubling, I proposed to submit the matter to the Elcelde of the next village. It was nearly dark before we reached one. Providentially, I met there my two friends. ​
Hall Jackson Kelley HI
Giredot, conversant in the Spanish language, and serving me as an interpreter, stated the case to the magistrate, and the robber was ordered to turn back and pursue me no further. In the morning the Padre, whom I believed to be an honest man and disposed to deal justly with me, proposed to buy the gun, offering me for it a large and powerful tooking horse, apparently without a blemish. His price was fifty dollars; mine the same. An exchange was at once made, and I pro- ceeded on my way.
"The new steed proved to be but partly domesticated — wild and difficult to manage. About noon, meeting three armed men on horseback, whom I supposed to be robbers, I dis- mounted, holding my gun in the right hand and the bridle reins in the left. They passed on the off side, and pricked the animal with a sword, causing him to jump; and he escaped, leaving me with a distocated little finger. Making a circuit of a few rods, he set his head towards the place of his former master, taking along with him a valise mailed back of the saddle, containing a small amount of money, some jewelry and valuable papers. I was now in trouble, and feared I should not easily get out of it. I was alone — my two friends had gone ahead, and neither Foster nor Frederick, having charge of the mules, and unacquainted with the roads, were suitable persons to hunt for the horse. Looking about, I saw at no great dis- tance an Indian standing in front of his habitation. I called to him and offered him a dollar (three or four were in my pocket) to find and bring back the runaway animal. He was at once upon the track, and in two hours returned with the horse, but without the valuables. He reported that the valise was hanging on one side of the animal with one end cut open, emptied of its contents. I proceeded on several leagues to a large town, where I stopped for a day to give rest to the lame and wearied animals. My friends, G. and K., were overtaken at this place, and rode in company with me, as they had pre- viously done, one or two hours in the morning, and then took their final leave of me. I again, however, met them on my ​
112 Fred Wilbur Powell
arrival at Gaudalajara. Foster and Frederick, while ascend- ing a hill, cut each of them a stick and hastened forward with one of the mules and a horse, laden with my tent, a gun and some other light articles, leaving me to drive the other, which was lame, and traveled slow. Having passed the summit of the hill, and out of sight, they also took their final leave. They probably believed they had already betrayed me into the merci- less hands of robbers in the mountains just ahead, who would make an end of me. Frederick doubtless had so planned, being acquainted, as I had been given to understand, with the banditti infesting that portion of the country, and having had in the cities through which we passed communication with some of the highwaymen, looking after such wayfaring travelers as they would like to make their victims. I was now alone, unac- quainted with the road, and it seemed almost impossible for me to go forward. I proceeded on a mile or more, hoping to find some habitation. Leaving the packed animals, I rode to the summit of a swell of land. I saw in the distance a cabin, and approached near it. A man came out, seized a stone and advanced towards me. I made enquiries of him concerning the way to Gaudalajara and for some person to guide me thither. He pointed out the right road, but thought it unsafe for me to travel. It led over a mountain, the same in which I had been told were a band of robbers. I left him, and on my way to the mules, another man was seen coming from the direction of the moimtain. He rode up to me, and inquired as to my condition, spoke kindly, as though he would have me believe him a friend ; had a crucifix in his bosom as though a Christian man. I asked him if he would conduct me to Gaudalajara; said he would for two dollars a day. I consented to give it. Taking charge of the mules, he led on the way. . . . On the summit, at the distance of a few rods, were seen five armed men on horses, looking steadfastly at me. The g^ide said, 'Lahombres malos.' Among their weapons was the lasso, the most effectual one used in their line of business. I raised my gun as though about to make demonstration. They seemed as motionless as ​
Hall Jackson Kelley 113
though they had no power of action. A gun in the hands of a foreigner appears terrible to Mexican robbers, and they may have been intimidated by mine, and have thought it a less risk of life to capture me in some other place. I was not much frightened, but, thinking myself in an unsafe place, hastened to get out of it. I soon reached the foot of the mountain and a cluster of cabins (three I recollect), and there saw the five identical men whom I had just passed, still on their horses. I was ordered to dismount. The animals were stripped of their burdens and led to some place where I supposed they were supplied with provender. There were four women, but no children or young persons. With a good deal of presence of mind I made my conversation agreeable to them, spoke of my lonely travels, of robberies and of the loss of my money ; and made them presents, hair combs and scissors, which they seemed to think of great value. In return they gave me food — a bountiful supply of tortilles. Early in the evening they con- ducted me to the place of my lodging. ... I was comfort- able, and slept quietly and safely through the night The women had doubtless induced the men to change their pro- gramme of proceedings from a merciless to a more himiane one — ^to go on with me, and on the way, at some place of ambush, take possession of the mules and their cargoes, and let me go. In the morning I saw the men again on their horses leave the place. Soon after, the treacherous guide brought for- ward and made ready the animals and left with me. At the end of three or four leagues, in a lonely place, the conductor, who had appeared so honest and so much a friend, stopped the largest of the mules, the leading one of them, the one laden with the most valuable and bulky portion of the property, under pretense of adjusting the fastenings of the toad, and said to me, *Go on.' I did so, driving the other mule, then before me. After proceeding a few rods, and looking back, lo, both the mule and driver were missing. They had gone back behind somt, clumps of bushes near the roadside. Moving on some hundred or more rods, and leaving the mule near a lonely ​
114 Fred Wilbur Powell
house, I turned about with the determination to rescue the captured mule, even at the peril of life, if so it needs be. On the way I met the same five men in whose hands and power I had been the previous day and night. When opposite the homes where the mule driven forward was left, they discharged a pistol, which was a signal for the conductor to bring forward the mule and again join me. In a few minutes he was on the road hastening towards me, and now, with both mules, we proceeded on the way, and at the distance of a league, reaching a fording place at the head waters of the Rio Grande, empty- ing into the ocean near San Bias. It was a dark and soUtary place, and near nightfall; the path was narrow, flanked with thick bushes leading oblique to the river, and the men propos- ing to take my life lay concealed among them. No one could be seen crossing until quite on the hither bank of the stream. When the mules had come to the water's edge, the conductor, back of them, wheeled about and said, with an air of triumph, and, to me, a ghastly smile, 'I am going no further; are you going on ? Instantly two men were seen on horseback, close at hand. One of them said. Turn, and go with us,' and com- manded the conductor (speaking with authority) to drive along the animals. They had been apprised of the movements of the robbers, and had come to my help. . . . They belonged to the village called Argua Caliente, situate near the house where the mule had been left. It was not seen by me at the time of passing, owing to a swell of land which intervened, or I should there have stopped and freed myself from the company of my bloody pursuers. One of them was the Elcelde of the village. On the way I spoke of my enterprise — ^the rea- son of the sojourn in that country and the cause of my lone- liness. I tarried in that village two days, at the house of the Elcelde, by whom I was made the participant of the most gen- erous hospitality. I have not time to speak of the respect there paid me, or of the dance (Fandango) given in honor to the stranger so providentially in the village. Leaving the mules, fatigued and worn down by hardships, to rest, I proceeded on ​
Hall Jackson Kelley 115
to Gaudalajara, accompanied by one of the sons of my hos- pitable friend, where, after giving myself and horse a few days* rest, returned for them.
"The first thing after my arrival at Gaudalajara was to find my two runaway companions, and make search for the two villains who had robbed me of the horse and his valuable bur- den. Among the foreigners residing and doing business in that city were Terry and Sullivan, two of my countrymen. My first call was upon them. . . . Mr. Terry . . . said that a foreigner but a few days in the place had sold him a gun. He brought it forward, and it was the identical gun stolen. 'We will go,' said he, 'and see the man ; I know where he quar- ters.' Foster, at the first sight of me, seemed agitated and turned pale. Terry demanded of him the return of the twenty dollars paid for the gun. Foster replied, 'It is mostly gone to meet expenses.' He was told if he did not return it, he should be put where the dogs would not bite him. He handed Terry twelve dollars, sa)dng, 'This is all I have.' I then said to Fos- ter, 'You must immediately leave the place, and leave me for- ever, or I will commit you to the hands of the public authority as being a felon, a robber and the chief of rascals.' 'I will leave,' replied he, 'for San Bias, and there go on board the first vessel for the Sandwich Islands.' And he did leave, and so also did Frederick, but not until he had taken the tongue from the mouth of my best mule and ruined that noble and valuable animal. The gun and tent were restored to me ; but a cane, a present by Mr. Jewett, a countryman and friend residing at Jalapa, was lost." From Gaudalajara Kelley went to San Bias on the Pacific coast.**
Before leaving Gaudalajara, however, he called upon Rich- ard M. Jones, a son-in-law of Joseph Lancaster, who was principal of the state institute in which the instruction was conducted according to the Lancastrain method. Having ob- served the workings of this system in Philadelphia, Kelley
1 1 S^ttUnuni of Oregon, 42-50. Fotter went 00 to the Sandwich Islands and thence to Monterey, where he was drowned. "Here was an end of another of my mad pursuers," obsenred Kelley. — ^Ibid., SJ-j. ​
116 Fred Wilbur Powell
urged upon Jones the adoption of the Philadelphia plan. He had already communicated with President Santa Anna upon the subject while at the capital. But while we are told that Jones promised to exert his influence in favor of the plan in operation at the Manual Labor Academy of Pennsylvania, and while we know that the Lancasterian system was received with considerable favor in Mexico, there is no evidence that KeUeys influence counted for anything more than encouragement.**
12 Narrative of Events and DifHeulties, 75, Appoc. A. 87*9; Petition, 1866:4; Settlement of Oregon, K2. The system was esUbUsbed by law in the Pliiladel|>lita public schools in 18 18 bat abandoned in 1836. ​
CHAPTER SEVEN En Route— San Blas to Fort Vancxwver.
From San Bias Kelley continued his journey by water to La Paz on the gulf coast of Lower California and thence to Lorett. His course then lay northward by land to San Diego, where he arrived with a single guide on April 14, 1834.* Of his experiences on this part of the journey, much of it through a country that to-day is wild and forbidding, there is unfor- tunately little in the writings of Kelley to inform us.* That he collected "specimens of some of the precious metals of Lower California, which he put into the hands of that eminent geologist, Dr. [Charles T.] Jackson, of Boston,' he declared in one of his petitions to congress.'
While at La Paz he shipped his theodolite and some of his baggage to the Sandwich Islands. He also seems to have lost his "el^[ant sword." While in the wilderness of Lower Cali- fornia, he devised "an instrument for making astronomical observations," notwithstanding the imperative need of direct- ing his attention to matters terrestrial in a country whose thiev- ing natives almost aroused his admiration. "About the same time," he continued, "the breech of my gun was broken short off near the lock, and stolen by an Indian for its silver orna- ments. A new one was soon provided, by substituting, in part, a section of a wild bull's horn. It is a curious repair, and an obvious improvement in the gun stock — ^it has better shape and is more convenient for use."*
At Pueblo, near San Diego, Kelley met the man whose name was to be associated with his own in the history of the settle-
1 KcUcjr, Hist, of th* Stitltnunt of Oregon, S3'4>
2 'That portion of the n«rratiTC from the time of leayinff Gandlaxara to that of arriving at San Diego, owing either to mistake or inaorertence. or loss of manuscript . « . is wanting." — Ibid., xi n.
3 Kelley, PeHHon, 1866:4. "I found gold, rilyer and copper and other of the precious metals, in Lower California." — Sittltment of Oregon, 118.
4 Kelley, Mtmcriai, 18^:14. This gvm he presented to the Amherst college museum a ftw years before nia death. ​
118 Fred Wilbur Powell
ment of Oregon. This was Ewing Young, "a native of Ten- nessee, a man remarkable for sagacity, enterprise, and courage," according to Kelley. Young "had been twelve years a hunter about the wilds of Oregon, California and New Mexico ; and had lost, perhaps, some of the refinements of manners once possessed ; and had missed some of those moral improvements peculiar to Christian civilization." With him was a small party of hunters. "This was the man to accompany me; because, like myself, he had an iron constitution, and was inured to hardships. He was almost persuaded."*^
From San Diego Kelley took passage to San Pedro on the ship Lagoda out of Boston, and continued by land to Monte- rey, the seat of government.® His chief aim was to get some- one to accompany him. "The country between the 38th and 44th parallels appeared dark and threatening, no civilized men save hunters, as I could learn, had roamed there. To penetrate that trackless region alone seemed too hazardous. In hopes, therefore, of collecting a party of emigrants to travel with me, in whatever place countrymen could be found for hearers, I preached Oregon." His appeal was soon to be answered, for Young was then on his way to join him. "The last of June, 1834, he arrived at my encampment on the prairie, five miles eastward of Monterey, and consented to go and settle in Ore- gon, with, however, this express understanding — ^that if I had deceived him, woe be to me."^
There was much to be done, however, before the journey could be resumed. The matter of trading relaticMis demanded attention, and arrangements had to be made for supplies both for the long trip northward and for the settlers after their arrival on the Columbia. It was also necessary to obtain all available information as to the country yet to be traversed. As was his custom, Kelley sought out the leading men and laid his plans before them. "The Catholic priests in California
5 M^moriai, 1848: 13; Hist, of the Cohnisation of Oregon, 7; Settlement of Oregon, 56-9.
6 Settlement of Oregon, 54.
y Memorial, 1848:13; Settlement of Oregon, 59. ​
Hall Jackson Kelley 119
were a learned and hospitable class of men. I received from them not only facilities for traveling, but much valuable infor- mation concerning that country and its aboriginal inhabitants. I held a correspondence with the Rev. Fr. Felipe Ayroyo de la Cuesta of St. Miguel ; and Don Matias Montaiier of Qgedo ; and with Gen. Jose Figueroa, the political governor."® Both by letter and in person he sought to obtain Figueroa's patron- age and co-operation. He informed him of his ultimate pur- pose of founding a colony in the northern part of California, and asked that he might explore that country and prepare a map for the guidance of those who would wish to settle there. But the governor, while professing to be favorable to the pro- posal, declared that he was without authority to grant a license to prepare a map or funds for the proposed undertaking, and offered to send Kelley's letter with his endorsement to the Mexican government.® There had been delays enough already, however, and Kelley determined to push on.
"With a party of nine men, I set off on the 8th of July for the land of my hopes. Young had fifty horses, each of his men had one or more, and myself had six, with a mule. My personal arms were a light gun, which was always in my hands, and always ready for action ; a brace of pistols, and a Spanish dirk. . . . Included in the mules' cargo were articles for Indian presents, such as cotton cloth scarlet velvet sashes, beads, etc., stationery, my journals and papers, a Nautical Almanac, thermometer, a compass, and an instrument . . . for making astronomical observations. . . .*® In a trunk made of a wild bull's hide were deeds, charts, historical accounts and other papers, showing myself to be in possession of a good title, which certain Americans, myself among them, had to the largest and fairest portions of Quadra's [Vancouver] Island, and also showing myself to be the attorney and advo- cate of the claimants.""
8 Memorial, 1848: 13.
9 PeHH(m, 1866: 4-5; Settlement of Oregon, 67-8.
10 Memorial, 1848:13-4.
1 1 Settlement of Oregon, 20.
​The number of men in the party is variously stated in the different accounts of this part of the journey. The same is true of the number of horses. This is not at all strange, for the numbers varied at different stages. It would seem also that the word "party" as used by Kelley included both himself and Young, while Young used it to define those who were subordinate to him. Young's account, as quoted by Kelley, follows:
"We set out from Monterey with seven men and forty or fifty horses, and on our way through the settlements bought some more. When we arrived at the last settlement, St. Joseph, we encamped there five days to get some supplies of provisions. I left the camp and went to the bay of San Francisco, to receive some horses that I had bought before leaving Monterey. . . . When we set out from the last settlement, I had seventy-seven horses and mules. Kelley and the other five men had twenty-one, which made ninety-eight animals which I knew were fairly bought. The last nine men that joined the party had fifty-six horses. Whether they bought them, or stole them, I do not know."
On the second day out from San Jose, a small band of men overtook the party. These were the men referred to in Young's statement. They were unwelcome, but there was no way to get rid of thm. Kelley declared, "I neither gave consent or dissent to their traveling with the party; for I could not prevent it; and Capt. Young did not object." Both Kelley and Young gave the number of newcomers as nine, but four evidently dropped out, for Kelley's later references to them give the number as five. These men Kelley characterized as "marauders," and the term was aptly chosen, as is evident from his account of what followed.
Kelley's Map of Upper California and Oregon, 1839 (Dept. of State).
posed to connive at their villainy, sought an opportunity to destroy me. One of them discharged his rifle at me, and very nearly hit the mark; and at a subsequent time the rifle was again leveled at me, but at the moment a word from Young staid the death-charged bullet. . . .^*
"Two of them had belonged to the party of twenty-five, under [Joseph] Walker [of the American Fur company], of whom Capt. Bonneville speaks in his 'Adventures Beyond the Rocky Mountains.' Walker's chief object had been, for more than a year, to hunt and destroy Indians. Those two persons themselves informed me about it, and spoke often of the black flag, and the rifle, and the arsenic. The other three were runaway sailors — may have been pirates ; they were now marauders and Indian assassins. I will illustrate. Some days after, crossing the [San] J[o]aquin river towards evening, we passed an Indian village ; three of the monster men, find- ing the males absent, entered their dwellings, ravished the women, and took away some of their most valuable effects, and overtook the party at the place of encampment. I saw in their possession some of the articles of their plunder. The next day, after proceeding two or three miles over the prairie, one of the party cried out, 'Indians are coming,' and there were fifty or more Indians advancing towards us. I turned and advanced towards them; the men in the rear of the animals were with me. The Indians halted and I halted, at the distance of perhaps two rods from the chief. He was tall, good-looking, stood firm and seemed undaunted before us. A red card was pendant from his plumed cap, he held in the right hapd his bow, and in the left a quiver. He addressed me as though he would explain what brought him and his men to that place. He spoke in the language of nature, and I thought I under- stood what he said. I addressed him, also, in the language of nature, by gestures and significant motions; tried to induce a retreat, and save the lives of his young warriors ; pointed to our rifles and to their bows, and to the ground ; and I tried to
14 SftHtm^nt of Oregon, $7, ​
122 Fred Wilbur Powell
have him understand that I was his friend and the friend of his people ; and that my men had given him occasion to pursue us, and provocation for revenge. My party seemed fierce for fight ; but were persuaded to let the pursuers retreat unharmed. The chief gave a word of command, and they turned about and hastened from us ; and he himself stood awhile, looking toward us as though he feared not death. Turning slowly upon his heel, he walked away. Two of the party started to follow, I begged they would not; they persisted, saying they would do him no harm. In fifteen or twenty minutes after this, I heard the reports of their rifles. On their return I inquired if they had shot the chief. The reply was, *No, we fired a salute' ; but, alas ! I saw among their effects the identical card, the bow, and the quiver, and I wept. After a few days I saw, on the opposite side of the Sacramento, ten or a dozen Indians. Young said 'they were hostile Indians.* They were the same Indians that had just escaped the bloody hands of the party, and were pursuing us to avenge the wrongs done them. Some days after this we crossed the river called American, and encamped on its banks, and the animals put to feed near by. "Nearly opposite the encampment was an Indian village, and till late in the evening was heard a doleful noise, and beat- ing on hollow logs. In the morning it was found that seven of our animals had been killed, doubtless by those provoked to pursue us. When the party were about to leave, seven Indians crossed the river twenty or thirty rods from us. Five of them ventured to come up to the camp ; the other two stood upon the bank, as though they were afraid to come. They were as naked as when bom, and bore with them presents — a bag of pinions, and salmon, just caught and nicely dressed. Standing in a semi-circle not more than ten feet distant from me, their orator began to speak and explain as to their innocence; and probably as to those who had killed the animals. Immediately one of the party (of the five marauders) said. These are the damned villains, and they ought to be shot.' *Yes,' said Young. No sooner said than they seized their rifles and shot down those ​
Hall Jackson Kelley 123
five innocent, and to all appearances, upright and manly men, and perforated their bodies with balls, while weltering in their blood. I heard but a single groan. Two or three of the party, mounting their horses, hastened to murder in like manner the other two, and they were shot while fording the stream.
"Now my conductor, looking sharply at me, said, 'Mr. Kel- ley, what do you think of this?' I felt it my duty to give an evasive answer : 'We must protect ourselves in the wilderness among hostile Indians.' Doubtless, if my answer had not been that way, I should have been also shot."**
Although Kelley had failed to obtain official permission to survey the country through which he passed, he made as thorough an examinaticm as possible and recorded the results of his observaticms. Upon the basis of these notes and of the information subsequently obtained in Oregon, he prepared a "Map of Upper California and Oregon," which in 1839 ^^ P^^ into the hands of Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts, chairman of the house committee on foreign affairs. According to his statement, this map "was examined by Col. Fremont, who explored the same country in 1837 ^^ '40 [1843-4], and was pronounced remarkably correct. It was the first ever made by an American of the valley of the Sacramento."** From the confusion of dates and from the fact that Fremont did not refer to diis map in any of his reports, it may be inferred that the examination of the map was made after Fremont's return and not before.
This map, together with a reproduction on a smaller scale, is now in the bureau of indexes and archives of the department of state, having been recovered by Kelley and transmitted to Joel R. Poinsett, secretary of war, under date of June 12, 1839. It is a rough draft, but as Kelley said in his letter, "It is the knotidedge imparted by the map that gives it value, and not the mere mechanical execution of it." Upon it a dotted line indicates Kelley's route through California and Oregon.
In California as in Mexico, the possibilities of development
15 Ibid., 108-10; tee ateo Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon, I, 99^7, ​
124 Fred Wilbur Powell
through the construction of railroads engaged Kelley's atten- tion, if we are to credit a statement first made eighteen or twenty years afterwards :
"While in California, in 1834, exploring the valley of the Sacramento, where, at that time, none, but wild men dwelt; and none but savage hunters roamed ; cogitating upon internal improvements, I planned a branch to extend from some point in the route, after the transit of the Rocky Mountains, to the Bay of San Francisco."^^
Meanwhile the "iron constitution" of Kelley, which had sus- tained him through pestilence-ridden Mexico and borne up under innumerable hardships, had become weakened, and he fell a victim to malaria.
"When exploring the low and pestilential tracts in the Southern region of the Sacramento valley,^ I contracted the fever and ague. It rapidly increased and soon became terrible. Just after . . . entering Oregon ... my party was providentially made to halt at the very moment when the ende- mic was having its worst effects upon me, and when I could no longer be borne on horseback. My strength had rapidly wasted, and at times I fainted and fell from the saddle.
"While in a thickly wooded mountain, it suddenly came on dark, and we were obliged to stop for the night in the midst of woods and thick darkness. Lowering partly down from the animal, I fell, the stones and leaves on which I fell composed my bed. In the morning it was found that some of the horses and pack mules had strayed away. We, however, proceeded on two or three miles, and encamped on an open stretch of ground. Capt Young, my conductor, and the men who had been of his hunting party, returned to the mountains to search after the lost animals. This caused a delay. The Ave marauders, who had attached themselves to my party, two days after leaving
17 Narrative of Events and Difficulties. 71 -a; SsttUmsnt of Oregon, 8. "This,** be continued, coincides with the yiews of the Hon. T. H. Benton, expressed in • speech made by him in Congress, upon the subject of a railroad to the Pacific."
1 8 "I crossed the rapids of the Sacramento at what was said to be its lowest ford, in latitude 39 deg. 35 min. Several of our horses were borne away by the torrent" — Blcmoir, 51. This was north of Butte Qty, on the line b etw e en Butte and Glen counties. ​
Hall Jackson Kelley 125
the Bay of San Francisco, remained in camp, and were jocose and profane about the fire. I was now shaking like an aspen leaf, prostrate and helpless in my tent.
"The place of this encampment was upon the high land near the sources of the principal rivers watering the two coimtries, to settle which I had spent my best days, my fortune, and all my earthly comforts. Death appeared inevitable ; earth seemed at an end, and the portal of glory to be opening. Conversation in the camp paused. . . . Then, suddenly, another voice was heard. A stranger coming into the camp inquired, 'Where is Capt. Kelley?' He came to my tent and said he was Capt. La Flambois [Michel La Framboise], from the Colimibia River; and had been with his trappers to the Bay of San Francisco, where he had heard of me ; and that he had hastened to overtake my party, having had nothing more for his guide than the traces of our encampments. He kindly took charge of my effects,, and removed me to his camp. This good Sa- maritan first administered a dish of venison broth ; and then, in proper time, a portion [sic] of quinine. The third portion, taken on the second day, dismissed the endemic monster. After two days at that place I was able to stand upon my legs, but unable to walk. Before leaving . . . the Captain engaged an Indian chief to take me in a canoe forty or fifty miles down the Umpqua. At first the chief declined, saying, that the upper part of the river was not navigable. Finally, in view of a bountiful reward, he consented to try. In the morning I was placed on my mule, and borne six miles to the place of embark- ation. The chief at one end, his son at the other, and myself sitting upright in the centre of the boat, we floated swiftly along the current. The hoary-headed chief, with wonderful skill, descended the rapids. Often was he in the foaming stream, holding on to the bow to save the boat from pitching or sinking into the angry flood. The voyage was made in a day and a half, and there was much, in that time, to cheer my spirits, and give me strength. The heavens were serene, the air salubrious, and the country on both sides was charming. ​
126 Fred Wilbur Powell
At the landing, the faithful Indian received of my property a fine horse, saddle and bridle, a sahnon knife and a scarlet velvet sash, and was satisfied.*® Rondeau, whom the Captam had appointed to be my attendant and guide, was ready at the bank to conduct me, a few miles distant, to the camp of my new party. I mounted with a little help, and rode off, feeling like a new man.
"My journeying in that wilderness was full of interesting incidents and things terrible."*^
"On the 27th of October, I reached the end of a perilous journey of over 6000 miles — most of the distance without trav- eling companions ; and more than half, in wilderness or savage countries. Hardships had almost worn me out. Landed in front of Fort Vancouver. Capt. La Framboise assisted me out of the boat. With the help of his arm, I walked slowly and feebly to the fort, and entered a room at one end of the man- sion-house, opening from the court. After a few minutes, the chief factor, Mr. McLaughlin, came in — ^made a few inquiries about my health and business, and, ordering some refreshments, retired. None of his household, none of his American guests called, nor had any of them been seen at the river, or on the way to the fort No countryman, though many were in the house, came to sympathize in my afflictions or to greet my coming.
"After I had taken an hour of repose on a bed which was in the room, the Captain entered with compliments of Mr. McLaughlin, saying it would be inconvenient to accommodate with a room inside the fort, as they were all occupied, but I could have a room outside, and a man to attend upon me. Again, sustained by the arm of my friend, I was led to the place assigned me outside the stockade; and so was cast out from the fort, as though unworthy to breathe the same air, or to tread the same ground with its proud and cowardly in- mates. The house had one room, with a shed adjoining. The
19 "Which shows that he did not know how to trade with the Indians." — ^Ban- croft, Northwest Coast, II, 549 n.
9oSfttUm€nt of Orsgon^ 17-9; Msmorial, 1848: 14-5. ​
Hall Jackson Kelley 127
latter having been long occupied for dressing fish and wild game, was extremely filthy. The black mud about the door was abundantly mixed with animal putrescence. It was not a place that would conduce much to tfie recovery of health. It was, however, the habitation of a Canadian, a respectable and intelligent man, a tinner by trade."^
The immediate reason for this inhospitable reception at the fort where all comers had been made welcome, at least osten- sibly, may be best stated in the words of Dr. McLoughlin :
"As Gen. Flqueroa [sic], Governor of California, had writ- ten me that Ewing Young and Kelley had stolen horses from the settlers of that place, I would have no dealings with them, and told them my reasons. Young maintained he stole no horses, but admitted the others had. I told him that might be the case, but as the charge was made I could have no deal- ings with him till he cleared it up. But he maintained to his countrymen, and they believed it, that as he was a leader among them, I acted as I did from a desire to oppose American inter- ests. I treated all of the party in the same manner as Young, except Kelley, who was very sick. Chit of humanity I placed him in a house, attended on him and had his victuals sent him at every meal."^
Figneroas letter had been brought from Montgomery on the company's schooner Cadboro, which had made better time than Kelley's party, and so enabled McLoughlin to take the necessary steps to protect the interests of his company and of those dependent upon it. Warning notices were posted, and the Canadians were forbidden to trade with the members of the party .^ But Kelley declared that the accusing letter did not implicate him with the unwelcome marauders, and he main- tained that McLoughlin's action was based wholly upon the
31 Memorial, 1848: 15-6. **1 arriTed at VmncouTcr unwell, and was hospitably welcomed by Mr. McLaughlin, the chief factor. Medical aid was rendered me; a house in tlie village was furnished for my use, and all my physical wants were supplied; but \ was forbidden to enter the tortl" — Memoir, 60.
2Z McLoughlin. Defence, addressed to parties in London, Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, I, 195; also Bancroft, Northwest Coast, II, 550.
9Z Bancroft, Northwest Coast^ II, ssst; Hist, of Oregon, I, oi-a. Young demanded and received a retraction from Figueroa— Walker, Skctcn of Ewing Young, Oregon Pioneer Association, Transactions, 1880:57. ​desire to prevent the settlement of Americans on the Columbia. He claimed that Captain Dominis of the brig Owyhee of Bos- ton, who was in the Columbia in 1829, had communicated to McLoughlin information as to Kelle/s purpose to colonize Oregon, and that the chief factor at once prepared to protect the monopoly of his company by discouraging trade with Americans and by preempting the most desirable sites.^
Again it is necessary to record the defeat of Kelley; but again it must be said that while the result of his efforts was personal failure, the actual result was success. Through the American Society he had started the movement which led to the coming of Wyeth and demonstrated the practicability of the overland route ; he had aroused the churches to the oppor- tunity for work among the Indians, which led to the coming of the Lees and other missionaries. Now he had brought into the Oregon country nine men, most of them American citi- zens, who with Calvin Tibbetts were to remain as settlers, thus establishing American occupation and ultimate domination in that territory.*^ All this was not apparent at the time ; least of all to Kelley. To those at Fort Vancouver he appeared as a strange, almost pathetic figure; the wreck of a man in his prime, whose race was about run. In his Recollections of the Hudson's Bay Company, as quoted by Bancroft, George B. Roberts said: 'I remember the visit of Hall J. Kelley. He was penniless and ill-clad, and considered rather too rough for close companionship, and was not invited to the mess. He
a4S*ttitm€nt of Ortgon, 86-7; ColoniaaHon of Oregon, 6. H« alao said that Dominis Kare McLoughlin a copy of the General Circular; but that pamphlet was not issuea until 1831. We may well believe, however, that the Hudson's Bay authorities were informed of the movement for Oreson settlement in congress in iSaS, for they were men of sa^[acity, and it is unlikely that they failed to keep in touch with the British legation at Washington. It is possible also that Dr. McLoughlin may have learned of the movement for emigration from the American trapper and fur trader, Tedediah Smith, who was at Fort Vancouver from Augott, 1828, to March, 1820.— -Elliott, Dr. John McLoughlin and his guests, Washington Historical Society, Quarterly. Ill, 67-8.
25 The members of the party, in addition to Kdley and Young, were: Brandy- wine, Lawrence Carmichael, Elisha Ezeldel, Joseph GaJe, Webley John Hawkbur^ John Howard, Kilbom, John McCarty, and George Wlnslow. Ezekid was a wheelrigfat; Hawkhurst, a native of Long Island, was a carpenter; Gale was a native of the District of Columbia; Winslow was colored. The names are given in Bancroft, Oregon. I, I^TJ^ upon the authority of Gray, Oregon, xgx, supple- mented by Lee and Frost, Ten Years in Oregon, 129. Gray made no mention of Kelley. ​may have thought this harsh. Our people did not know, or care for, the equality he had perhaps been accustomed to. It should be borne in mind that discipline in those days was rather severe, and a general commingling would not do." Again, "Kelley was five feet nine inches hig^, wore a white slouched hat, blanket capote, leather pants, with a red stripe down the seam, rather otUri, even for Vancouver."^ To such straits had our dreamer come! But his "vision" had at last become a reality, and the lordly chief factor himself was soon to face it and to be overcome by it.*^ Somewhere it is written, "Some- times we are inclined to class those who are once-and-a-half witted with the half-witted, because we appreciate only a third part of their wit."
26 Bancroft, Northwest Coast, 11, 5S0.
2/ "I early foresaw that the march of civilixation and i>rogres8 of peopling the Anftencan Territories, was westward and onward, and that but a few years would pass awajr before the whole valuable countij b^ween the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, then used as hunting and trapping grounds, and as the resting place of native tribes, must become the abode ox another race — ^American. This could neither be successfully resisted, nor did I deem it politic or desirable to attempt it. In this spirit I prepared myself to encourage, hasten, and further what I thought would be not only attended with good, but inevitable ....
"From 1834 to the present hour, I have spared neither time nor means, but liberally used both, to facilitate the settling of Oregon by whites; and that it has been my good fortune to do much in years stone by to relieve distress and promote the comfort and happiness of immigrants, I may fearlessly assert, and for proof need only to refer to the candid and just Americans who first came to the
CHAPTER EIGHT
In Oregon—An Unwelcome Guest
It is difficult to account for Kelley's surprise at finding himself unwelcome at Fort Vancouver. For ten years he had lost no opportunity to assail the Hudson's Bay company, and he had every reason to believe that Dr. McLoughlin was fully informed as to his past activities and his plans for the future. The success of those plans would work irreparable loss to the company and the nation for which it exercised civil jurisdiction over the Northwest Coast. Yet he seems to have expected the chief factor to treat all differences between them in a lofty and impersonal manner^ and to accord to him all the courtesies due to an accredited diplomatic agent. Indeed he was not without credentials of a kind. In his baggage were papers showing him to be the attorney of the claimants to the lands on Vancouver Island bought of the Indians by Captain John Kendrick in 1791, but his immediate plan was to form a settlement on the Columbia. These papers were not presented to Dr. McLoughlin, but Kelley believed that they were examined and the rest of his baggage overhauled during his illness. At the worst he fared better than any of the others of his party, for while he was given food and shelter, such as it was, his followers received no favors whatever.
His resentment at the attitude of his countrymen is more easily understood. At the time of his arrival, there were at Fort Vancouver seven men who had accompanied Wyeth on his second expedition, and their presence in that country was the result, direct or indirect, of his efforts. These men were the Lees and their three lay associates, Thomas Nuttall, the celebrated botanist who had served as lecturer and curator at Harvard, and John K. Townsend, a young naturalist. Jason Lee was born in Canada of American parentage, and Nuttall ​was an Englishman, but their associations had been with American interests. Like Kelley, Nuttall held the degree of A. M. from Harvard. Of these men Kelley said, "There were some of my countrymen at that time at Vancouver, the recipients of the generous hospitality and favors of Mr. McLaughlin. Though for several months within five or six minutes of my sick room, yet none of them had the humanity to visit me."
The first person who visited him was Young, but "his call was not so much to sympathize as to speak of the personal abuse just received from Dr. McLaughlin." To Kelley the absence of active sympathy in Young was the result of the misrepresentations of slanderous tongues, but Young may have had in mind the difference between the real Oregon and the place so glowingly pictured to him by Kelley at Pueblo and Monterey. That the man was not taken at his own rating is undoubtedly true, for who could understand him, least of all those who were his adversaries? "Before I had been long in the country," he declared, "I learned that the factor and his agents were preparing in every artful way to render my abode there uncomfortable and unsafe. The most preposterous calumnies and slanders were set on foot in regard to my character, conduct and designs. . . . Seeing that falsehood was making such sad work with my character, and that calumny and mockery were the order of the day, I addressed to John McLaughlin, Esq., a manifesto, prepared, of course, with a feeble hand, declaring myself not to be a public agent acting by authority from the United States, as represented at Vancouver ; but to be a private, and humble citizen of a great nation—moved by a spirit of freedom, and animated with the hope of being useful among my fellow men." Just how this communication was calculated to effect a reconciliation does not appear. That it did not soften the heart of the chief factor is certain ; for when in the latter part of November Kelley requested a ​passage to the Sandwich Islands in one of the company's vessels, he met with a refusal, although he was willing to pay whatever might be reasonably required. Nor would Dr. McLoughlin have any business transactions with him. When a silver dollar was sent to the company storehouse for certain necessary articles desired by Kelley, the articles were not forthcoming under the pretense that the money was not genuine. "The dollar was current, and the metal pure," naively remarked Kelley.
When he was able to get about, some of his party visited him and asked him to plat out the land on the site which he had chosen for a settlement. "A day for that service, two or three weeks off, was appointed; but, prior to its coming, other visits were made of an unfriendly nature. . . . Also two letters were received from the party, threatening my life, if seen on the Wallamet. All things considered, I thought it prudent to keep from that quarter." One of these letters was from Young.
Yet there were those whose attitude was not unfriendly. '^Those who treated me with respect were the Indians and the common people. The Rev. Jason Lee privily called, at times, and talked freely of obligations of himself and the public to me, always expressing his haste. Mr. Stuart, now in the British Parliament, whose mind differed from other minds at Vancouver, something as light differs from darkness, honored me with his society and expressions of his kind regards—not fearing the displeasure of Mr. McLaughlin."
About the first of February, his health being improved, Kelley began to make exploring excursions about the Columbia and to collect all available information as to the geography and economic characteristics of the country, with particular reference to the activities of the Hudson's Bay company and to the possibilities of blocking those efforts through an influx ​
134 Fred Wilbur Powell
of American settlers and traders. He later made a survey of the Columbia river from Fort Vancouver to its mouth and recorded the results upon his map of Upper California and Oregon, to which reference has been made in the preceding chapter.® This was not an instrumental survey, however, for his theodolite was then at the Sandwich Islands. The results of his observations were later presented to congress in a me- moir, which will receive attention in later chapters.*^
Dr. McLoughlin naturally kept himself informed as to all of Kelley's movements, for here was a man who openly chal- lenged his authority. Said Kelley : "All my movements were watched. . . . Had I been willing to place myself under the control and direction of the Company, all would have been peace ; but so long as I was disposed to act independently, as an American on American soil, seeking authentic information, for general diffusion, and pursuing the avowed purpose of opening the trade of the territory to general competition, and the wealth of the country to general participation and enjoy- ment, so long was I an object of dread and dislike to the gasp- ing monopolists of the Hudson's Bay Company. My abode in Oregon was thus rendered very disagreeable."**
It is interesting at this point to note the interpretation of Dr. McLoughlin's attitude as given by Mrs. Frances Fuller Victor :
"It was not altogether Kelley's Mexican costume that excluded Kelley from Vancouver society. Other travelers who had arrived in unpresentable apparel had been made present- able by the loan of articles from the wardrobes of the factors and partisans resident there at the time. It could not be said either that Kelley was uninteresting or uneducated. Quite the contrary, indeed. What he had to tell of his adventures in Mexico and California must have been just the sort of tales to while away winter evenings in Bachelors' Hall.
"I fancy the situation was about this : McLoughlin was pre-
9 Memoir, 55; Mtmoriai, 1848:16; Pttition, 1866:5.
10 S«« Appendix.
11 Memoir. 60. ​
Hall Jackson Kblley 135
pared to dislike KcUey even without Governor Figueroa's con- demnation, on accotint of his published denunciation of the Hudson's Bay Company. He was under no obligation to admit him to the society of the fort, although he would not have him suffer sickness and hunger under the shadow of its walls. The fact that he was an American while giving him a patriotic excuse, if not motive, for ignoring claims on his compassion, also, on the other hand, furnished a politic motive for indulg- ing his natural humanity. For at that time there were several Americans being entertained at Vancouver. . . . The treaty rights of Wyeth were not disputed, nor were the scientific observations of the scholars o[q)osed. It was Kelley, as colon- izer and defamer of the company, who was unwelcome, even after it was evident that there was no stain upon his character.
"This was perfectly understood by Kelley, and it was not McLoughlin's disapproval of him which wounded his sensitive pride. It was the conduct of his own countrjrmen, . . . Nuttall, who was a Cambridge man, was well acquainted with Kelley's writings, owing to them, Kelley believed, his idea of studying the botany of Or^on. But Nuttall, as well as the Lees, thought too highly of his privileges at Vancouver to risk them by acknowledging this fact. And Wyeth, who was not like himself, an educated man, never having learned to spell correctly, or to introduce in his writings capitals and punctua- tion points where they belonged, and who had led as far as Vancouver as many free Americans as had Young and himself — ^Wyeth, who when in Massachusetts was one of his prospec- tive colonists — ^was on the Columbia River utterly indifferent to him.
"This treatment of Kelley by his countrjrmen must have been construed at Vancouver as condemnatory, although its shrewd and magnanimous chief may have guessed a little at its meaning and sought to make amends by unremitting care of the sick and neglected man.'^
This statement may be somewhat unfair as to Nuttall, whoise
ij Victor, Hall J. Kelley, oiie of the fathers of Oregon, Oregon Historical Society, Quarterly, Ih, 393*^ ​
136 Fred Wilbur Powell
interest in his surroundings were wholly scientific, and whose shyness was proverbial. As to the Lees, Daniel, the younger, seems to have occupied a secondary position, while the abler Jason was wrapt up in plans of a singularly material nature for one whose sole errand in that country was the Christian- izing of the natives. Certainly he does not appear to have had that disinterestedness which should distinguish those who would assume to lead others to a higher spiritual level. As far as the available records show, Wyeth, who had first arrived at Fort Vancouver on September 23, 1834, did not come into contact with Kelley until several months later. The circumstances of their meeting are thus set forth by Kelley :
"About the middle of February, I went into the fort to in- quire after an acquaintance who had just come from the upper parts of the Columbia; and was met by McLaughlin himself, and told that the person whom I wished to see was engaged. The door was then insultingly closed upon me. The next day, the acquaintance with a countenance sadly changed from former days, came into my cabin and strode across the floor. Sternly looking towards me, he uttered these words, viz., 'Well, Kelley, how did you get here?' After making some abusive remarks, he walked out. His only object seemed to be to afflict, and to fill my soul- with sorrow.**
Social ostracism, embargo, and espionage at length turned Kelley's thoughts toward departure, and when he had remained long enough to collect sufficient information he decided to return home. "The loss of my property on the route had obliged me to vary my original plans, and limit my enterprise to such an examination of the country as would enable me to enlighten the American public on my return to the United States. I remained, therefore, in Oregon no longer than was
I Z Narrative of Events and Dif Acuities, 58. "One man, however, called to abuse me — ^to say that he was against me — I should find no friends in that country, and I had better hasten out of it" — Memorial. 1848:16. Wyeth'a sole reference to Kelley, in his journal, reads under date of February la, 1835: "xath. In the morning made to Vancouver and found there a polite reception and to my great astonishment Mr. Hall J. Kelly. He came in co. with Mr. Young from Monte El Rey and it is said stole between them a bunch of horsea. Kelly it not received at the Fort on this accotmt as a gentleman a house is given him and food sent him from the Gov. taU but be is not suffered to mess here." — Young, Correspond- ence and Journals of Nathaniel J. Wyeth, aso. ​
Hall Jackson Kelley 137
needful to satisfy myself on the desired points of inquiry ; and so long as I did reiriain, I was treated very much like a pris- oner of war, although not subject to actual confinen;ient. . . . I ought, in justice to myself, to state that it was not disap- pointment, in regard to the natural advantages of Oregon, which prevented my forming a i)ermanent connexion with that region; but I was impelled by a determination to do all in my power, by constant effort in the United States, to lead our Government to extend over Oregon that paternal care which alone is needed to render it the very nucleus of emigra- tion, and the most attractive portion of our national domain.
"While yet in Oregon, about the time of embarkation for home, I planned to return to that country, and form a settle- ment at New Dergeness [Dungeness] ... on the south side of De Fuca's Sea, and on the westerly side of Port Dis- covery."***
Arrangements were finally made, how is. nowhere stated, that Kelley should be given a passage on the Hudson's Bay brig Dryade, Captain Keplin, to the Sandwich Islands. This was not the only favor that was received. "The chief factor of the company presented me with a draft of seven pounds sterling, payable at the Sandwich Islands. A part, however was paid at Vancouver, in articles of comfort." Thus the embargo had been removed. "This was kind, and I felt grate- ful for it."*«
Fortunately it is possible to reproduce here a fragment from Kelly's journal, in which he recorded in characteristic fashion his experiences at the outset of the voyage :
"March 15, went on board the Dryade, about to sail for the Sandwich Islands, was promised a berth in the cabin, but received one in the steerage — thankful to receive one any- where.
"The cabin boy informed me that breakfast was ready in the
14 Memoir, 6o-z.
15 Ssttlsm^nt of Oregon, xj4<
i€Narraiivf of EvonU and DifUculHos, so; ftl>o Memoir, 60. ​
138 Fred Wilbur Powell
steerage. I went down. One of the sailors filled a tea kettle with boiling water, into which he put some tea, and offered me the use of a tin pot which was really too dirty for any animal but a pig to eat from. The tea being sweetened with molasses, was too unpalatable for my drinking. Some coarse ship bread, and cold boiled beef served in a small wooden tub, was all I saw, and more than I tasted of.
^'Dinner — the cold beef and coarse bread returned, and a pudding composed of flour and mashed potatoes, half baked, clammy and heavy, without plate, knife or fork. . . . Had a wakeful night — suffered much — attributable to the miser- able accommodations and grub.
"Breakfast — ^Tea sweetened with molasses, and cold salt beef without vegetables.
"Went on shore, built a fire, and sat down by it — reflected on past adventures and present ills of life. I do not despair. The rectitude of my conduct, and an ever approving conscience sustains the heart and keeps the courage up. How disagree- able it is to be made the ccnnpanions of ignorant and sordid- minded men I To me it is misery indeed; but I must suffer their insolence, and accommodate myself to circumstances."^^
In one of his petitions to congress, additional details were given:
"Head wind retarded, for several days, the descent of the vessel to the ocean; which circumstances gave him an oppor- tunity to make particular examinations of the river, and col- lect materials for a correct map of the same. He had pre- viously made examinations. ... He was terribly seasick through the voyage. The food furnished him was scant, and unsavory. The sailors at times spat upon his bed and wearing apparel, and in diverse ways injured, or destroyed, the exposed articles of his effects. To render his situation in the highest degree distressing, after having retired to rest, the sailors in the steerage were in the practice of filling the place with tobacco smoke, raising high the wicks of the lamps, bringing
17 Mtmoriol, 1848:16^. ​
Hall Jackson Kelley 139
down the scuttle door, and keeping the room close. It was a suffocating time. The condition of him, who had never used a particle of tobacco, and was reduced to great physical debility, is hardly conceivable to any but himself. . . . Inquiries were often made of the captain. Why all this abuse? The uniform reply was, 'I must obey orders'."^*
Of his experiences at the Sandwich Islands, we know but little. That he was at Towaihai, Hawaii, 6n June 26, 1835, is evident from an affidavit relating to Kendrick's land pur- chases whidi he obtained from John Ybung, an old resident, and upon which his name appears as one of the witnesses.^^ Kelley's own account is confined to the following:
"At the Islands he was favored, by his noble-hearted coun- trymen resident there, with every facility for examining that group, and making historical and philosophical inquiries. In the month of October, he embarked on board the whale ship Canton Packet for his native land."*^
Little is told of the homeward voyage, but that little is enough to show that Kelley was ever alert to gain information. "During the sea voyage of six months on board the ship Can- ton Packet every fair day and moonlight night, my attention was turned to explorations of the starry heavens, and the abtruse regions of science; and all the while continued to study the book of nature, and that interesting little book ever in my hand, open and read with intense desire to know God and his handiworks."^
(To be continued)
18 PetUion, 1866:8-6; Utmorial, 1848:17* We are told by competent medical authority that *Hhere u a physical ai well ai intellectual memory."
19 Bulfinch» Memorial, 7-8.
flo Pgtition, 1866:6. "I, alto, curtorily, explored lome of the Sandwich lalanda. particularly Owyhee, of which I conitructedt a map." — SeitltmnU of Oregon, 119.
OBITUARIES By Geo. H. Himes
DAVID WATSON CRAIG
In the death of Mr. Craig at the home of his son, Mr. F. S. Craig, Salem, on December 17, 1916, at the ripe age of eighty-six years, four months and twenty-two days, there passed away a man who was an important factor in the early educational and political life of Oregon.
He was born near Maysville, Mason county, Kentucky, July 25, 1830. His father, a physician, was of Scotch ancestry, but a native of Virginia, and a classical scholar. His mother was Euphemia Early, a second cousin of Gen. Jubal Anderson Early, prominent on the Confederate side during the Civil War.
Mr. Craig's parents removed to Palmyra, Mo., in 1839 and to Hannibal in 1841. On May 25th of that year he went into the Hannibal Journal office as an apprentice and remained four and a half years. One of the type setters was Orion Clemens, an older brother of Samuel L. Clemens, who afterwards became a national character in American literature under the pen name of "Mark Twain." He also learned to set type in the same office, beginning in 1848.
Early in 1846 Mr. Craig went to Illinois and worked in Quincy, Peoria and Springfield. In the latter place he remained four years an an employee of the Illinois State Journal, Simeon Francis, editor, serving as compositor, reporter, editorial writer and telegraph operator. Before leaving Hannibal Mr. Craig began reading law, and all spare time in Springfield was thus employed, part of the time in the law office of Lincoln & Herndon. When he thought himself sufficiently prepared he applied for admission to the bar, and passed an excellent examination by B. S. Edwards, John T. Stewart and
* ↑ Kelly, Hist. of the Colonization of Oregon, 20–1.
* ↑ Kelley, Narrative of Events and Difficulties, 69–70. Hist. of the Settlement of Oregon, 42. As early as February 12, 1832, however, Kelley, wrote to Edward Livingston, secretary of state, setting forth the impracticability of conducting an expedition including women and children overland via St. Louis later than the month of June, and inquiring as to a feasible route across Mexico.
* ↑ According to Temple (Hist. of the Town of Palmer, 266) to Gilmanton with her children to live with Dr. Kelley.
* ↑ Having gone by land in order that be might acquire some household effects," which he had left at Three Rivers,—Colonization of Oregon, 21.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 24-7; also Colonization of Oregon, 21–2 Masters, United States, VI, 112, citing United States Gazette, January 4 and February 8, 1833. Kelley says nothing further about his son.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 113.
* ↑ Letter to Secretary Livingston, February 23, 1833. In this letter Kelley said: "The prevailing motive I have for settling on the Columbia river is to aid in carrying the principles of civilization into that uncultivated part of the earth. For this object, I have shipped many enterprising persons, and my own effects—I have sent before me my own son of inexperienced and tender years. For this object I have left to the care of friends an affectionate wife and three small children. I have denyed myself, for a season all social and domestic enjoyments; and am the subject of suffering privations and great hardships; and, finally, for this object. I now live, or if its accomplishment requires the sacrifice, I am ready to give myself a martyr." Under date of February 27, he transmitted a copy of the "emigrants' covenant" to Livingston.
* ↑ "The executive can give no aid to individuals in their efforts to establish a colony upon the Oregon river. Our laws make no provision for the occupation of the country, nor tor any negotiations with the Indians for that purpose. Congress alone can authorize the measure proposed."—Letter of Lewis Cass to Kelley. Niles' Register, XLII, 388 (1832) from the Boston Courier.
* ↑ Narrative of Events and Difficulties, 70; Colonization of Oregon, 23; Petition, 1866:3; Settlement of Oregon, 113.
* ↑  "New Orleans, March, 37th, 1833.  "Dear Sir:—I accidentaly overheard yesterday, some of your Oregon company forming a conspiricy against you, and are determined to take your life either by some means or other, others thought it would be most too rash an act and had better take you up tor swindling, and that they considered a very easy matter according to the lawyers account.   "I am realy afraid that your life is very much at stake, and now take my advise, and leave the country as soon as possible if you want to come off with a sound head. "I remain, "A frnd." —p. 29.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 27-31; Colonization of Oregon, 23-6.
* ↑ Kelley, Hist., of the Settlement of Oregon, 31–6.
* ↑ Lovett, the "monster villain," remained at Vera Cruz, where he soon died of yellow fever.—Ibid., 32.
* ↑ Kelley, Narrative of Events and Difficulties, 74-5, 85-92. "Shortly after my return to Massachusetts [in 1836], I had the satisfaction to learn, that the road had been commenced. It does not follow, as a thing in course, that the undertaking originated from anything I had said; but. there is a possibility; yes, a probability, and some strong indications of such being the fact."—Ibid.. 76.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 36, 39, 41.
* ↑ Kelley, Petition, 1854:3; Narrative of Events and Difficulties, Appx. A, 89-92.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 66; Petition, 1866:4.
* ↑ Narrative of Events and Difficulties, 70.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 40-1.
* ↑ Santa Cruz was one of the settlements visited.—Kelley, Memoir, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Territory of Oregon, supplementary report, 50, 25 cong. 3 sess. H. rep. 101.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 56–7; also Bancroft, Hist. of the Northwest Coast, II. 548n. The latter is probably based upon Kelley's account. Kelley said that there were "120 valuable horses and mules which mostly belonged to Young."—Colonization of Oregon, 7. But he failed to say when they had that number.
* ↑ Kelley, Hist, of the Settlement of Oregon, 20; Petition, 1866:6; Bulfinch, Memorial, 9–11, 26 cong. 1 sess. H. doc. 43.
* ↑ Kelley, Memorial, 1848:16.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 58–9.
* ↑ Kelley, Memoir, Committee on Foreign Affairs, supplemental report, Territory of Oregon, 60, 25 cong. 3 sess. H. rep. 101.
* ↑ Kelley, Narrative of Events and Difficulties, 37–8.
* ↑ Ibid., 56.
* ↑ Settlement of Oregon, 58.
* ↑ Memorial 1848:16.