The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-11-22
THE HERO OF OREGON
NOW MARCUS WHITMAN SAFED
THREE STATES TO HIS COUN1RY.E

the Wilderness and statesmen's Indiffer-
ence Finally Overoome-The Coming
Commemorative Services In All the Con-
Eregational Churches.
What Marcus Whitman, NJ. D., mis-
sionary of the American Board to the
Indians, accomplished for the United
States is to be a leading theme in the
Congregational churches on November
2S. Not only the American Board, but
the Congregational Education society,
Boston, and Whitman college, Oregon,
are Immediately interested.
I.
1t is the morning of the Sd of October,
1912. In front Of his cabin, at the little
mission station of Waiitatpu, in the
valley Of the Columbia in the great
Oregon country, stands man on whose
pluck and courage depends the fate Of
an empire. His name is Marcus Whit
man. He is prepared for a three thou
sand mile ride, mostly through an I'M
broken wilderness, with hostile Indians,
dangerous mountain passes, unknown
storms and unforded rivers to encoun-
ter; but he goes to add three states to
his country's territory and he does not
shrink. 1t is six years since he crossed
the Rockies with his bride, brought
from way back in York state to aid
him in his work among the Indians, to
whom he was sent by the American
Board as medical missionary. Faith
fully and well has he worked among his
dusky charges; but another duty calls
him now. The British and the Ameri-
cans have a treaty for the joint occupa-
ton of the northwest territory. The
former, represented by the Hudson Bay
company, than which a greater monop-
oily providence never permitted or man
tolerated, know the value of those 271.-
900 square miles Of fertile land, and
propose to push in enough immigrants
to hold it for the British flag. The lat
ter are listening to the words Of Daniel
Webster, as he rises in the United
States senate to say: What do we want
with the vast, Worthless area; this re-
gion of savages and wild beasts, of des-
erts, of shifting sands and whirlwinds
of dust, of cactus and prairie dogs? To
what use could we ever hope to put
these great DESERTS or these endless
mountain ranges, impenetrable and COW
cred to their base with eternal snow?
What can we ever hope to do with the
western coast, a coast of three thou
sand miles, rock-bound, cherries and
uninviting, and not a harbor on it?
What use have we for such a country
Mr.. President, I will never vote one
cent from the public treasury to place
ho so CT i,ooJ 10
ton than 1t is now
1t is Marcus Whitman's work to re-
verse all this, and save his country from
the blunder into which her ignorance
is leading her. 1t was only the other
day that he was up at Fort Walla Wal
la to see sick man, and stayed to din
ner with his English friends. While
eating their repast Hudson Bay COM
pany messenger dashed into the room
from Fort Colville, $50 miles up the Co
1umbia, with the news that a colony of
140 Englishmen and Canadians were on
their way to the Oregon country. Ur
went the hat of one impulsive young
Britisher and he shouted: "Hurrah fol-
Oregon; we have got the country;
America is too late"
He never made a greater mistake
Those few words were all that was nee.
essary to confirm Whitman in his con.
viction that Washington must be warn.
ed or the Stars and Stripes would new
err float on the breezes of the Pacific
coast. And so he stands here on this
October morning conscious of the perils
before him, but equally conscious of the
Importance of the territory at stake
The railroads are few in number an6
confined to the eastern states There
are no transportation facilities to the
west of the Mississippi, and only the
most meagre on the other side Of the
great river. To the south all the ter
ritory beyond the line of the Louisiana
purchase, from California east to Tex
as, Is Mexican soil. A modern telegraph
line is an unheard Of thing anywhere
John Tyler Is president, and the Ash
burton treaty is being negotiated Will
a last farewell to his wife and his mis-
sionary comrades Whitman and one
companion, A. L. Lovejoy, mount theil
horses for the long ride.
II.
Eleven days later Whitman and
Lovejoy ride into Fort Hall, $40 miles
from Waiitatpu. They have followed
. The lHuldE LIhil jill llle way, SdpI1Al
Grant Is the commander at Fort Hall
and he knows Whitman only toe we'll
Grant was put there to keep out immi-
grafton from the states. The Hudson
Bay company wanted to keep that re-
gion to trap in. Little did they care
for civilization. There was more money
in furs. And so Captain Grant had or
hand q choice supply of the most dire
full stories of deserts and disaster with
which to turn aside intending immi
grants to the California hills and val
legs. He had tried them all on Whit
man Elk years ago, but to no avail
Whitman was going to Oregon, and he
went. Grant remembered all this as he
greets Whitman. and shrewdly suspects
that some mission of no good to British
interest calls the sturdy pioneer to at.
tempt a journey to Washington in the
face of a western winter of blizzard an6
famine. '"The Sioux and the Pawnees
are at war;" says Grant. "It is sure
death to venture among them. The
snow in the Rockies is already twenty
feet deep. The trail is obliterated You
will never be able to find your way. Il
is suicide to think of going to the states
now. Wait until spring.