Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-01-20
American Settlement of Oregon.
Establishment of the Oregon Mission,
under the auspices of the American
Board of Commissioners o. Foreign
Missions.
CONTiNUED.

CONTINUED.
Sir George Simpson, Governor of
the Hudson's Bay Territory, in his
voyage around the world in 1871 2,
While ut Walia Wu.ln. met DIR.
Whitman. TAis tholou,u adept in
knowledge OF Indian character notes
his views of that uugrateful race, to
whose mental and moral culture the Sc
missionaries were devoting their lives
anl labors. His statement must
confirm the belief that causes of dis
enlargement were substantial. They
forever relieve the mission from the
suspicion Of wearying by the way, or
aDatlnS their etforts. Says he: But
the ministers of the Gospel, more
| over had Il grievence peculiar to
! themselves, tor, instead of finding
/ the savages eager to embrace Chris
tianlty, as they had been led to ex-
pect, they saw supeIstitious, Jealous
aud bisoted people. They soon as
certained that they could gain con-
veris only by buying them; and they
were even reproached by the savages
on the ground, that, if they were
really good men, they would procure
guns and blankets for them from the
Great Spirit, merely by their prayers.
Ia short the Indians, discovering
that he uew religion did not render
them independent of the traders, any
NOR than their old one, regarded
the missionaries as mere failures, as
nothing better than impostors.
Yet these devoted men and women,
isolated from home and denying
themselves al the comforts of socie-
ty, laborcd on in their philanthropic
efforts to ameliorate these benighted
un3.a;fui creatures. At Waiilatpu,
the conduct Of the Indians towards
DR.. Whitman and Mr. Cray was at
times mosi inaoieut, but they were
restrained from outbreak by the in
tiucnce of Archibald Mckinley, ESQ,
IL. Is. Co. Chief trader, in charge of
Fort Walla Walla.
The Executive Prudential Com
mittee of the American Board had
been fully advised of these proceed
| inSs during the years 1912. So
discouraging had become the out
look. that the Board had issued the
order discontinuing the Waiilatpu,
Llpwai and Kamiah stations, recall
ing Rev. II. H. Spalding and Mr..
Gray, and directing DR.. Whitman
to close up and settle the business
OF the Southern branch, which in
Guided those stations and to join
Rev. Messrs. Eells and Walker al
Tshiinikan. Upon the receipt OF
this order, special meeting of the
mission was called at Waiilatpu, IN
September, 1912. NJ. Cornelius
Rodgers and Mr.. Gray having pre-
viously left the mission and settled
in Wallamet valley, there were pres.
ent Revs. Cushing Eells, Elkanah
Walker and Henry H. Spalding aud
DR.. Marcus Whitman. Its oblec,
was to decide whether the Cay
use and Nez Perez missionary sta.
) tons should be abandoned, or wheth-
er the endeavor should be made to
secure the revocation by the Board
of its order to dispense with the
three southern stations. DR.. Whit
man had resolved the Waiilatpu sta.
ton should be maintained even if il
necessitated his going i'll person to
the East. The Rev. Mr.. Spaldine
deeply interested in tho Nez Perez
tribe, had been very successful Sc
curing a large attendance of the
youth of both sexes at school, and
both he and his wife had keen sol
icitude to continue their labors.
DR.. Whitman submitted his pro-
position to proceed immediately tc
Boston, to lay before the Board
a true exhibit of the condition
and prospects of the stations the
Board had directed should be aban-
doned. Instead of breaking up the
Southern branch he maintained sucl
stations should be strengthened by
reinforcement. He would labor tc
secure an immigration of Christian
f.milies, TO settle in the vicinity O.
the several stations, that they NIGH
relieve the missionary of his secular
responsibility and thus afford hin
moro lime TO labor for the social ant
moral improvement of the Indian
He wished also minister for Waiilat
pu qualified to come in contact will
frontier men. He insisted that the
, country would soon be occupied by
Americans or foreigners; if by tho
latter it would be filled with Papists.
Waiiiatpu was on the line Travelled
by those who crossed the Rocky
Mountains en- route to the lower
Columbia and the Wallamet valley
DR.. Whitman appreciated the valu,
OF the country and the Importance
} of the station, and was not ready t
surrender the field either to Leathen
ism OF Romanism.
There was decided opposition t.
DR.. Whitman's proposed journey
which yielded only whom it became
evident that he would go, even i
such going should cause his sever
ance from the mission. Messrs
Eells and Walker finally united il
approval. Mrs. Whitman having
made preparation to remain at thu
Dalles during her husbands absence
DR.. Whitman accompanied by Gen.
A. l.. Loyejoy, started October 3
1912. He crossed The continent by
way of Salt Like, Taos and Santa
Fee, and arriving March 80, 1913, al
Boston. He labored earnestly Will
the Prudential Committee of the
Board, who censured his leaving biz
post, yet so strong were his rep:esen
tations that he secured q rescission
of the order. The two southern
stations of WaiiIa:pu and Lapwai
were respectively continued in the
i n