The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-04-23
When the United States Nearly
Lost the State Of Oregon.
AMERICAN LOYALTY REWARDED.
Story of Marcus Whitman - His Trip
Across the Continent and Return
with EmIgrants-Great Britain Was
Observation-Disclosures Tyler Listened.

Blood will tell" is often said.
There is no better blood in New
England than that which flowed
in Marcus Whitman's veins. A
descendant of John Whitman of
Weymouth, Massachusetts,, he was
connected with the most sterling
families Of the East, who today
have no more honored name than
his upon their rolls, says the Chi
cago Advance of recent date.
It was Marcus Whitman who
saved the state of Oregon to the
United States and the story of his
struggles is told as follows: The
ownership of Oregon Territory
vas at that time undetermined.
The traders of the Hudson Bay
Company were in control, and their
intention was to win that vast
country for Great Britain. Opposed
to them in that purpose was the
little band of missionaries. In the
fall of 1912 Marcus Whitman
learned that a company of British
settlers were making their way
down from the Saskatchewan to
take possession Of Oregon.
The Ashburton Treaty was un-
der negotiation, and Whitman
knew that no American statesman
realized in the slightest degree the
value of that country to the United
States. On the Sd of October he
started to ride across the continent
for Washington, in order to pre-
vent the cession of Oregon to Great
Britain. He was accompanied by
an Indian guide and one young
white man. Winter was coming
on the journey was considered an
impossible one; his wife and his
Inconsistencies besought him
not to go. 81 am going" he said,
and he went.
When they reached Fort Hall,
on the Snake River, in Idaho, they
found that the usual trail was i'm
passable. eve will strike for the
Santa Fe trail,' said Whitman. It
was q thousand miles out of their
way. To the south, accordingly,
they turned, through an unbroken
wilderness. Through snow and ice,
over mountains which bore no
names, across half-frozen rivers
which no white man had ever
seen, exposed to indescribable
perils and hardships, they pushed
on. On the Sd of January, 1843,
they reached Bent's Ford, on the
Arkansas River, Whitman's face
and hand and feet badly frozen,
but an open trail now lay before
them. Whitman did not stop a
day, but rode on towards Wash
ington, telling people as he rode
about the fertility of Oregon and
promising to lead train of set
tiers back on his return. He
reached Washington, March Sd.
Mr.. Webster, then Secretary of
State, received him with indiffer-
ence. Of what use was Oregon ?
He was about to trade it to Great
Britain for a cod.fishery, and did
not care to listen to the fur-clad
pioneer. Whitman went to Presi-
dent Tyler. who was more inn
pressed. Tyler promised that if he |
could be shown that Oregon was
accessible for settlement from the |
United States, it should not be |
coded to Great Britain. Hurrying
On to Boston, where he persuaded |
the American Board not to abandon
their mission at Waiilatpu, as they
had decided to do, Whitman started
west again. That summer, 1843,
he led back across the continent
and through the Rocky Mountains
the first wagon-train which ever
reached the Pacific Divide, two
hundred wagons, almost a thous-
and immigrants. From the Walla
Walla Valley he led them to the
colonizing Oregon,
and saving it for the United States.
One man had saved an empire.
Then " hitman took up his mis-
zion work as before. No one had
'ealized that he had done a deed of
fame.