The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-02-05
iii / TE|TI2IL
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structure and never dreamed that it
would be reared as monument to his
memory. Whitman was born in Rush
vile, Ontario county, N. Y, Sept. 4,
1902 He studied in Berkshire Medical
institute, Pittsfield, Mass, and in 1884
was appointed a missionary physician
to Oregon by the American board. Ore
gon was then a vast, unexplored terri
tory, comprising what are now the
states of Oregon, Washington and Ida
no. DR.. Whitman, Rev. Henry n.
Spaulding and their young wives start
ed for Oregon in 1886. When they
reached Fort Laramie, the agents of the
Hudson Bay company, who were work
ing hard to save Oregon to Great Brit
ain, warned the missionaries that no
wagon train could possibly cross the
Rocky mountains. These agents had
succeeded in preventing settlers from
proceeding beyond Fort Laramie in wag
ons, well knowing that if wagon trains
from the United States crossed the
great divide the United States govern
ment would exert itself to claim Ore
gon.
Whitman and Spaulding disregarded
the warnings of the Hudson Bay people
and refused to abandon their wagons,
their wives were undaunted by the per-
lis of the proposed journey, and the
four missionaries, led by Whitman,
pushed on over the Rocky mountains.
crossing through the South pass, which
Fremont used six years later, and reach
ed Fort Walla Walla in safety. The
women were the first members of their
sex to make the perilous trip, and Whit
mans was the first wagon to cross the
great divide.
After several years residence in Ore
gon Whitman saw that the British were
discouraging American immigration by
harping on the inaccessibility Of Oregon
with a view to securing the territory
for themselves, and learning that the
Webster Ashburton treaty concerning
Oregon was then under consideration he
determined to ride to Washington and
lay before the president the Importance
of clinging to Oregon. He set out on
horseback through the vast mountain
wilderness Oct. 8, 1912, and three
months later, after enduring many hard
ships, reached St. Louis. where he learn
ed that the Oregon question was still
unsettled On March 3 he reached Wash
across the continent in five months and
soon demonstrated to President Tyler
| that Oregon was accessible and well
worth saving, despite the fact that John
! G. Calhoun had declared that Oregon
was ''God forsaken country" and not
worth a pinch Of snuff.
At President Tyler's request Whit
man volunteered to demonstrate the ac-
feasibility of Oregon by guiding wag-
on train across the great divide. At In
dependence, Mo, he found 200 wagons
and 1000 people en- route for the west,
! and month later the army Of pioneers,
with Whitman at their head, arrived at
! Fort Walla Walla.
At Waulatpu, Or, Nov. 90, 1847,
Whitman, Mrs. Whitman, their two
adopted children and ten other pioneers
were treacherously slain by the Cayuse
Indians. Their bones we're gathered to-
| gether years later and buried in great
grave, which is unmarked, save by a
| picket fence. Rev. DIR. Gushing EeIls
followed Whitman to Oregon and in
| 1859 decided to perpetuate Whitman s
memory by founding Whitman college.
| The college was opened Oct Is, 1866,
and has suffered many vicissitudes.
True to the memory Of Whitman. DR..
Eells made many sacrifices to pay the
institutions debts and keep it running.
He succeeded in securing an endowment
of 81, 600 and died in 1893. D. E
Pearson of Chicago has since become in
terested in the college, has offered $50.
900 toward $500, 900 endowment, and
Rev. DR.. S. B. L. Penrese, the new
president of the college, is now labor
ing hard to raise the remaining $780,
600.