, 1875-05-01
TIE pALLEs klISSl0N Gtk!ti.
9ur Missionary SOeIeiy and the Govern
uIcns

decision in favor of our Missionary
Society in the long contested case OF
It's claim TO the land on which the
city of the Dallcs, Oregon, is situated.
The history Of this claim is Of great
interest, and Is about this:
" This Society, 4 duly organized
corporation under the laws of New
York, established the station then
known As Wascopaw' in 1896 In
1919 it was in q prosperous condition,
having 4 church. dwelling houses,
barns, and other improvements, and
farm opened up and under cultivation.
This and the three stations Of the
American Board Ia corporation or
gani2ed under the laws Of MaSsaGhu
setts, at 'WaiIatpu,' at Clear Water.
aud Chim- mokain, On The Syokaue,}
were the earliest white settlements IN
Eastern Oregon. They induced, and
we're the auciei around which gather
ed the flood Of emigration from the
States, that opened up that section,
overwhelmed British influence, and
secured the Northwestern Territory
10 this country.
"The station was maintained hy
the Methodist Society uEinterrur:edly
till 1917, at which time the improve
mentS had been largely Increased, IN
number and value about one hundred
acres enclosed, and half of it nnder
cultivation, and the mission possessed
of herds OF neat cattle that pastured
on the enclosed grounds and the prairie
adjoining. Tba permanent improve
ments had cost fifteen or twenty thons-
and dollars, and the movable proper
ty was worth four thousand dollars
moro.
During all this time this whole
Northwestern Territory was held in
joint occupancy by Great Britain and
the United States, the boundary line
not being settled or defined. From
1881, when the American Missionaries
first penetrated this remote region,
contest was going on as TO which na-
ton should finally possess it, and that
probably depended upon the fact
which could first settle /: with e:ni
grants.
"The British corporation of the
Hudson Bay Company had extended
their posts and trading stations
through the country and occupied it
with their agents and employees.
The Jesuit priests, sent by the Cana
dian Catholic Church, and supported
by them, were regarded as encourag-
ing British influence. On the other
hand were the Missionaries OF the
American Board and OF the Methodist
Society, who had established their sta
tlonS among the Indians in the vari-
Gus parts Of the country, and who at
tracted thither the tide of emigration
that turned the scale in favor of our
government, resulting in the estab-
liShment Of the Provisional Govern
ment OF Oregon wholly American in
interest, which continued to exercise
all the functions of government over
the territory and its six to eight
thousand inhabitants, until the cree
ton Of the Territory of Oregon 10y
Congress by the act of August, 1875.
The solution Of the problem was
not wholly pacific. Tie active an
;2gonism, between the British on one
hand and the Americans OF the other,
tended to discourage and prevent
American emigration and prejudice
the Indians against the missionaries
and drive them from the country.
These efforts, it is alleged, bore their
fruit November 29th, 1917, when the
Indians with n few of the Hudson
bay Company's men, fell upon tie
station of the American Board at
w Naliatpu, where DIR. Whitman then
was. lie had done more than all
others to advance American influence
IN Oregon He il was who, in 1913,
organized and conducted the first
wagon train from the East over the
Hocky Mountains to that territory
and which, with It's one thousand
soaIS, virtually then and there settled
the mootea problem in favor Of the
United States. 1t is not surprising,
therefore, that he and his old station
were selected as the first objects OF tie /
storm OF savage fury thus evoked +
lie was muTdered-as were fourteen .
OtlerS-men, women and children, at .
the station, property destroyed, and .
the station broken uP. The massacre
lasted eight days, and terrible barbar-
tiles were praciised upon tie victims
and the helpless survivors.
Expeditions were Immediately Or
ganized and dispatched against the
other Protestant Missionary Stations
in that section, and an Indian war,
known IS the CayuSe war, ensued."
During the war with the Indians,
which broke ont in IS47, the mission
aries were driven away. The militia
~ occupied the DAiles for time As a
station. Oar land had before the war
been transferred to the American
Board of Commissioners for FOREIGN
Missions, but in 1919 was retransfer-
red to our Missionary Society. The
United States Government, in 1880
took possession of it as a military
reservation The laDd-6I0 acres
had, however, been previously sur
veyed by the Rev. WA. Roberts, Mis-
slonary Superintendent, and the entry
made according to law. Oar claim 10
the part OF the tract used by the mil.
itary was acknowledged by the Uni /
tel States, and $4,000 was awarded