The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1875-01-15
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THE PIONEER GOvERaMEaT OF
OREGON. ot

HfH5 VnbuVNs HNN-y tll8 fI
The commencement Of settlement
and civil government in the country
now comprising the Pacific States
and Territories, is an interesting
subject, and, as time passes on, and
we are removed further from the pc
Rod in which those events occurred,
it will command greater yregard and
excite still deep interest. California,
invested with the magni6cence Of her
inexhaustible treasure, may be said
to have sprung at once, perfect and
complete, into the sisterhood Of
States, SO brief was her pupilage. 1T
was different with her compeer, Ore
gon. There was nothing Minerva
like about the birth of her political
sovereignty. She was in.several ways,
and under peculiar circumstances, an
independent offspring. The title OF
the soil, which had been held IN joint
occupancy by the United States and
lGie1t Britain, was only determined
in 1S46-years, a complete date at
least, after settlements had been
commenced within her borders and
she reached her majority only after a
full minority Of twenty-one years.
| Not until that length Of time from
the first mifestations of political sig
nifcance in her social life did she as
sumo her position as a State in the
Union. There were no discoveries OF
precious metals to attract the world
and immigration to her fertile and
secluded valleys, Agriculture, the
industry of the husbandman, was
to make her wealth the plow TO
open up her golden haryests. Ore
gon has experienced three different
characters Of government. First,
the pioneer or provisional, after
wards the Territorial, under the ju-
risdicti6n of the United States, and
now the superior authority OF the
State. The first was government
as good and sufficient for all practi-
cal purposes at the time Of its exist
ence, and as much respected, as
either of the others. While the pub
lie interests were sedulously sub
served, the highest regard was mani
tested for individual rights. The
law has been supreme, its majesty
held inyiolale always in Oregon,
since The first enactment by the pio-
neers. Wise in its simplicity, potent
in the measure of justice and right
enbedied and maintained, its funda-
mental principles were the same as
those which Sustain the jurisprudence
of to-day. Twelve years before
California became q State, Oregon
was maintaining her settlements in
the valley of the Willamette. The
first Americans who remained per
manently in the country, went there
With Captain Wyeth, Of Boston, IN
1882. Their object was to trap, and
and trade with the natives for pei
Etries. But upon the abandon
nent Of his enterprise by this
gentleman, few years .subse-
quently, a number Of his men be-
came settlers. The brothers Lee and
Others, Of the Methodist mission,
] reached Oregon in 1884. The Rev.
l DIR. Whitman and Rev Mr.. Spauld-
inc. of the American Board OF For
eign Missions" with their wives, az
rived in 1886. These ladies were
the first white women who crossed
the Rocky Mountains, and their chill
dren were the first white American
children born in the country. The
Rev. r. N. Blanchet, now Bishop
with Father Demerse, of the Catho
lie mission, located there in 1885
The missionaries the world over have
been the pioneers. With love in
effable for their Masters work, ant
a zeal that the most formidable cir
cumstances have been unable to de
press, ready to give up their lives !
requisite for She advancement of theii
holy cause, they press forward, track
ing the desert, encounterlng the
perils of disease and savage enmit.
with invincible fortitude, to extenc
the blessings of the gospel to tn,
benighted of all lands. What hav'
they not accomplished, apart iron
their special vocation, for the benefi
: , of the world, in the collection an
dissemination of valuable and I'M
portant information concerning nev
A and unknown countries-as philo
Ilogers, geologists, botanists and gen
eral historians?
Our purpose in this paper is no
TO narrate, even partially, the suffer
ing and loss of life incurred in tn
! progress e Of settlement in Oregon
/ In this respect it may be sufficient t
/ remark that its history contains
i full proportion Of the incidents Q
>. sacrifice and yielding up of life, aki
to martyrdom, usual in reclaimin
new and remote sections in an Ind
l. an country. Our idea is simply t
1t give brief account of the proces
Of the formation Of civil governmeI
= on the north Pacific coast. We car
not refrain, nevertheless, from
mere mention here in passing, th'
after a residence Of thirteen yeal
among them, devoted to their educi
ton in religion and the useful art
the estimable DR.. Marcus Whitma
I and his amiable wife, with other
were murdered, under circumstance
of the most revolving cruelty, by Il
<, Cayuse Indians, on the 29th OF n,
&C yenber. 1847. DR.. Whitman di
more perhaps, than any other pc
son to encourage Immigration an
= otherwise forward the interests
the Territory wherein he had mac
ID his home. His mutilated RENAL
4agg we're buried near the place where
% fell. No monumental stone recor'
p the faithful service and untlme
= death Of a most worthy Christi'
gentleman.