Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-09-05

bents Fort on the Arkansas, and follow
op toe Santa Fe trail. Here he il at A
orahcn OF the Arkansas; no material for
n'e only on the other side; thin ic-;
iapio correni; Whitm n liss fat on his
otck-wriQQlss himself across-s-cures
wood and pushes it back over the thin
Ice.
bsnts Fort half way: three month.
'h tue ssddls; bis 90 up lnion broken
ooVn ana left; nev outfit. After rest
ing Tour Gays the WHY Doctor takes the
s1ools again and scattess rumors of an
itninen-e emigration to O eIon. Meet
rs at "esiport On the Mis-oori next
June! GOod wagon road" As he came
nylnR mp tue trAIi be r'stTib9t d circu
tais, setting out the advantages and re-
sources OF this wandering FL Dorado
Next June We will meet yuur' In .1eh
enthusiasm he arrived Al 81. LDuis.
though nIppsd in his nose, toes, .nus
ahd lace, he could talk but oue business
the fate OF Oregon. " Westport next
Jane" Ia ths country passabl-?"
fAssaoie! We can i'm ,gIne him reply
Ing, l'ok at me; / have come through
in tue dead of wiut.r!' One look would
nave forevei been impressed upon the
meDorS: buffalo ove.cost aud hat;
o1ckskin breeches; for under garments
ana Vest; fur l.gginks; boot mocc4sias;
race SCARED with the bitter frost. Meet
as In June" and he is of for Washing
ton, where be arrives March 81. the
LAST OK THE SESSION,
And Just i've months from tbs day when
be spurred down the valley from Fort
Waila Wallal
Bat what of the treaty? Il had been
signed and proclaimed as the law of the
land two months before he bad set out,
and ratified while he was lost in the
MOUNTAINS. Four Thousand miles aud
Oregon left out! Will this weather
beaten, frost bitten man have salloped
to Washington for nothing? Not be.
de ride, through Washington about As
he had done over the mountains and up
the soathern trail; "early in June you
will meet ms" From department to
department to the Waite House, every
where. rumors are flying fast of a great
Oregon emigration. President and
Secretaries beoUme infected with his
enthusiasm. The British Premier pro
poses TO hold Oregon Tor EsRlish emf
grants. IL Marcus Whitman could get
his emigrants there, Daniel Webster pro
posed likewise to stand by them.
No meet for chase was ever called
which had in il such magnetic charm as
that June meet on the banks of the
Missouri. Whitman was there, over
seeing, organizing, electrlfying. People
were gathering from the north, east and
south. One man came from Tex.s
having received one of Whitman's fiy-
ing circulars at home.
The last wagon was packed and the
canvas stretched over the great hoops.
What proud moment il must have
been for the doctor to have seen two
hundred wagons wheel into line, with
o75 emigfants and 1900 head of cattle,
headed for the distant
HALF MYTHICAL OREGON!
No train ever 4d more elements of
strength; none a better COM rander.
The government deputlzed Capt. John
@. Fremont, with several companies of
troops, to act as an escort. The vigOr
Gus doctor preceded his escort 49 days.
After his gallant ride of 400 miles, he
felt ssfe enough with his company,
though more tn IN half of them were
women and children.
Every night they csmped IN the trail
with ~ nHon care as taeir military es-
oort 20 days behind them. Innocent
amusemehts aud social intercourse
marked the v-ning hours for ali but
the stern Whitman. Apart with his
guides aud maps he WAS planning for
emergeAcles which never arose, aud
thinking of but one thing-the safet,
of Oregon.
OF all the difficulties which beset his
a "A h.
jealousy aud hatred of the Hudson Bay
Company. Indians, rivers. mountains,
snoxs we're but gentle lrritations to thu
real trouble of eluding these sharpers.
Bitterly they repented having let the
old wagon through, seven years before,
and here were two hundred! lucy Ar
gued, persuaded. threatened. and tillt d
tOe minds of the emi9rants WITH terrible
stories of massacre and women IN oap-
tiyity. 1t almost seemed as II the ride
uad been IN vain, and perhaps 1t would
had it net been tor the assuring presence
of large delegation of friendly In-
dians, who had come to meet their
old teacher and escort hfm safely TO
his home.
And 81 the old wagon creaked and
Rroaned, rolled aud tossed, till II awuke
welcoming echoes IN the canyons OF the
Columbia.
Again the sound of horses boots is
breaking upon the ear of an affectionate
and sOlicItOus wife, aud Marcus WHIT
man IL riding fron the shadows of the
Cascade Mountains and Is soon IN her
are. s--three months from the Missouri
and elt ven mouths from the day when
he took stirrup for Washington and
vi nsaUan n, IL
day of September, lS43, he had br"uA ht
tfe first tidings OF hlnself since % O.
Der Sd, 1892, when he mounted his pony
for his Eastern ride. "a There followed
him into that splendid valley, In little
companies and in isng, weary tiIe, iaded
and battered, and mended after mount
ain style, two hundred smigrant wagons.
they emptied their families here and
there, the women and children; and
scattered all about were title and dogs,
while lsnk backwoodsmen. with the in
eyitable ride, lounged and strolled Aud
they continued to arrive even after the
light SHOWS of the countsy had come.
Ii Was the ARMY of occupation for Or
egon."
The question was settled; Oregon was
saved, and in three yea made she sub
ject of q satisfactory treaty. Bat. alas
..or her savior and his noble vifel No
vember 18th, 1S4S the ssddesE page of
Oreeon's Aistory-and about year af-
ter the treaty, they were massacred by
the Indians.
Revere, Sheridan, Whitman. Three
heroes of the saddle! One rode TO save
Lexington and Concord; one TO save an
almost fatal day in the Shenandoah;
one to save Oregon. Ali rode for their
country.
gHHcrlaN vaEvNa