The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-03-30
For the state Right. Democrat.
LECTURES BY REV, H. n. SPAULDING
Early Oregon NHissI IOns.--Thefr Inn.
pOrtance In Securing the Coum-
try to Americans. Spa
CEUMBER fIrrEEN.1

vldlng ground between the waters of the Pa.
oiiic and those Of the Atlantic. The ascent
and descent Is so gradual as 10 make it diff.
cult to ascertain this spot. With profound
gratitude we bowed before the God of those
snow capped mountains md returned Him
our hearty thanks for Ills sustaining, pro.
tecting care over us--Eor lis food sent 10 US
bly, esngs@@sss IS o.. ] espsse.Il,, Mss.
Spaulding, in her sinking, feeble gtate) to
His protecting land for the remaining part
of the journey. And, standing us We did,
upon the summit of those sly.buill noun.
tniGs, with the bright forms Of Elliott, Of
Brainard, Of Buder and Worcester-early
missionaries to Indians on the Atlantic
shores--almost in sight, bending over the
peariy gates Of heaven to bid us God.speed,
We especially commended and consecratcd
our mission, to be commenced somewhere in
| the yet far off West, TO Him who had sent
four Indians from beyond the mountains to
the ''rising SUM- with the Macedonian cry
for the Book Of God aud missionaries 10
teach il. The moral and physical saepc was
grand and thrilling. Hope aud JOY bcamcd
from the face Of my dear wife, though pains
rncked her frame. She tecined to receive
new strength. "Ia il reality or dream, F"
she exclaimed, that after five months Of
hard and painful journcyings, | am alive
aud actually standing on the summit Of tho
/ Rocky Mountains, where yet the foot Of
white wonau has never trod?p And when
she aud Mrs. Whitman mounted their weary
horses and crossed thc dividing line, they
bade iarwcll forever u the civilized world
and to FAR distant parents and friends, whose
eager eyes had followed them 10 the shades
of the Rocky Maintains. which Lad closed
IN behind them, but whose pray egs. with the
prayers Of christian friends ia 81. Louis.
Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, kiusman, Hudson,
PfattsbuFgh. Angelica aud Utica, thoy know
still followed them. And holding thr Ian.
ner Of the cruss in one hand and the West.
eru Star of Empire III tile other, they step
ped down into this then vast unknown,
brooded over BY the moral darkness Of ages,
expanding FAR to the North, aud 10 the South.
aud 10 the occail . waves, unbroken rs yet by
thc voice Of white woman.
This passage Of the Rocky Mountains by
these two women. is, on many accounts,
without a parallel in the annals ofour Amer.
lean women. Too much praise, as | have
LeiOre said, cannot be- awarded 10 those self.
denying mothers of the Methodist mission.
who. Il; the call Of their devoted leader, the
pioneer Lee. als0 bid farewell to friends and
sweet home, and By sea voyage around Cape
| Horn "a! II 900 uilles, came 10 assist him in
preaching Christ IL the natives and Of kind.
ling thu torch &c civi;zssivfs "a .:@ t.nrg VII.
lamcttc Valley. But they had friend at
the end of that journey who had told them
before they started, by his report, that they
we're coming 10 grain and bread in album.
dance at Vancouver. aud merchandise and
a sOil and climate favorable to- civilization
/ Neither Of these important facts we're known
10 our women when they made up their
miuds 0 lndcria he journey. Tie moth.
ers and wives on board the May Flower" s"
when they stopped on the bleak shores of
| New England. in the storms of mid. winter,
had nothing but doubt and darkness before
them; but they had been driven from sweet
home bY the hand Of persecution, while our
ladies had cheerfully sacrificed home, and
| against lhe remUnstranccs Of friends and
mountain men. The seven missionary Ia.
dies who cheerfully bid farewell to home and
friends, ia 1920, to seek, BY sea voyage OF
900 miles around Cape Horn, home ON
the Sandwich Islands-to erect there the
standard of the Cross-had darkness and
doubt before them and the perils Of the sea
4 around them but they had their daily food
on board, and they were excused from the
wear and tear of tOiling up mountains.
through burning sands, sick or well. The
perils from the sayages, and the hardships
| and losses, and the starvations attendant up.
on the overland route, have often been cx-
| perienced by some Of the mothers who have
| followed them over this same route from
year to year, ] have no doubt, 10 an extent
equal 10 the suferings of our wives But
there were certain features attached to their
Tourney that never has aud never could har.
rass and eat into the very soul Of any mother
who has followed them. The constant sus-
4 pense, the burning and ever increasing un-
certainty of everything before them, the
thick darkness and the vast unknown into
which they were plunging deeper and deeper
every dny. When and where their journey
would end-whether among friends or foes.
When, If ever, would they eat bread again
Where would be the next yard of cloth fol
clothing, or would we have to depend on tho
skin of beas.s? No person living can evel
have an idea Of the burning anguish of my
soul, for months, and until we were fairly
over the mountains and began to get correc
information concerning the English trading
posts at Fort Vancouver. The difference be
tween crossing the mountains then and now
) reminds one of the difference between tn,
/ passage of proud steamer now from Liver
pool to New York, and that of Columbu
when he turned the head of his vessel upor
the trackless, unknown Atlantic, and bic
adieu to the shores of Europe. The momen
the cry was heard, on that momentous night
: from the man on the look out 'Land no =
5 all the darkness, uncertainty and fear tha
had weighed down upon that wonderful man
came to an end, and could never be felt again
by any who might follow him over the SAM
mighty deep. And so when our ladies alight
: cd from their worn-out horses at the end o
2 their journey, and stepped upon the bank
: of the long g-sought Columbia, and founr
bread, and fields, of wheat, and merchan
disc, and christian hearts, and civilization
, begun-the thick darkness and the weigh
of uncertainty came to an end also, never +
be felt by those who might follow.
The "South Pass is wonderful work o
Providence. A natural gateway though tn
mountains, presenting no difficulties to
stage route or railroad indeed, the roa,
is less rugged in the "Pass" than it is eas
or west of it, with ridge to pass muc
sleeper and nearly 1000 feet higher (abov
! the sea- between Green and Bear rivers. =
The "Pass constitutes the vallies of Littl
4 Sandy on the west, and Sweet Water on th
east, with Wind River Mountains on tn
' north, clustering around several high peaks
white with perpetual pnows-the highest Q
, which has since received the name of Ere
mont's Peak, !" and was measured by him i
, 1912 and found to be 1850 feet above th
sea /; while "Long Peal" which can be see
I to the south and at the head of South Platte
: is 5000 feet. And Browns Peak go
miles to the north, is found by Mr.. Thomp