Smyrna times., 1899-08-09
A HISTORICAL RIDE.
IT WAS WORTH THREE STARS TO
THE AMERICAN FLAG.

suits which Followed In Its Wake.
The ride of Marcus Whitman was
ever snow capped mountains and along
dark ravines, travelled only by savage
men. 1t was plunge through icy riv
CrS and across trackleSs prairies, a
ride of 1000 miles across Il continent
in the dead of winter to save mighty
territory to the Union.
Compared with this. what was the
feat of Paul Revere, who rode IS miles
On a calm night in April to arouse a
handful of sleeping patriots and there
by save the powder at Concord?
Whitman's ride saved three stars to
the American flag. 1t vas made in
1912
In 1892, during the first administra-
ton of Washington, Captain Robert
Gray, who had already carried the
American flag around the globe dis
covered the mouth of the Columbia
river. He sailed several miles up the
great stream and landed and took pos
session in the name of the United
States.
In 1905, under .Tefferson's adminiStra-
ton, this vast territory was explored
by Captains Lewis and Clark, whose
reports were popular reading for our
grandfathers, but the extent and value
of this distant possession were very
slightly understood and no attempt ct
colonization was made, save the estab-
liShment of the fur trading station of
Astoria in 1911.
Strangely enough, England, too
claimed this same territory by virtue
of rights ceded to it by Russia and
also by the Vancouver surveys of 1892.
The Hudson's Bay company establish
ed number of trading posts and filled
the country with adventurous fur trad
erS. So here was vast territory, as
large as New England and the state of
Indiana combined, which seemed to be
without any positive ownership. But
for Marcus Whitman it would have
been lost to the Union.
1t was in 1886 that DR. Whitman and
man by the name of Spaulding, with
their young wives, the first white wo-
men that ever crossed the Rocky
mountains, entered the valley of the
Columbia and founded a mission of the
American board, They had been sent
out to Christianize the Indians, but
Whitman was also to build a state.
He was at this time 81 years old. In
his Journeys to and fro for the mission
he soon saw the vast possibilities of
the country, and he saw, too. that the
English were already apprised of this
;,,+1
ritory. Under the terms of the treaties
of 1918 and 1923 it was the tacit be-
lief that whichever nationality settled
and organized the territory, that nation
would hold it. If England and the
English fur traders had been success
full in their plans, the three great states
of Washington, Oregon and Idaho
would now constitute a part of Brit
ish Columbia. But it was not destined
to be.
In the fall of 1912 it looked as if
there would be a great inpOuring of
English into the territory, and DR.
Whitman took the alarm. There was
no time to lose. The authorities al
Washington must be warned. Hastily
bidding his wife adieu. DIR. Whitman
started on his hazardous Journey. The
perils hardships and delays he en-
cOuntered on the way we can but faint
ly conceive. His feet were frozen, hC
nearly starved, and once he came very
near to losing his life. He KEEP
pushing right on, and at the end Of fiv,
terrible months he reached Washing
ton.
He arrived there a worn, bearded
strangely picturesque figure. clad en-
tirely in bucksllin and fur. a typica
man Of the prairies He asked audienc
of President Tyler and Secretary o
State Webster and it was accorde
him. All clad as he was, with hi
frozen limbs, just in from his 400
mile ride, Whitman appeared befOr
the two great men to plead for Oregon
His statement was n revelation (
the administration. Previous to Whit
mans visit ii was the general idea /
congress that Oregon was a barrer
worthless country, fit only for will
beasts and wild men, He opened tn
eyes of the government to the limi
less wealth and splendid resources {
that western territory. He told thel
of it's great rivers and fertile valley
it's mountains covered with forests an
its mines filled with precious trea
ures. He showed them that it was
country worth keeping and that
must not fall into the hands of tt
English. He spoke as a man inspires
and his words were needed.
What follOwed-the organization {
companies of emigrants, the rapid Sc
tlement of the territory and the treat
made with Great Britain in 1916
which the fOrty-ninth parallel W:
made the boundary line west of IL
Rocky mountains are matters of hi
tory.
The foresight and the heroism of OF
man and his gallant ride had save
three great states to the Union.-Om
ha WOrld-Herald.
The Wise Man.