The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-11-03
A HISTORICAL RIDE.
IT WAS WORTH THREE STARS TO
THE AMERICAN FLAG.

Marcus Whitmnn'x wild and PERIL
Gus Journey of 1000 Miles From
Oregon to Washington md the Re-
suits which Followed In Its Wakc.
The ride Of Marcus Whitman was
Sver snow capped mountains and along
dark ravines. Travelled only by savage
men. 1t was a plunge through Icy riv.
ers and across trackless prairies. a
ride of 1000 miles across Il continent
In the dead of winter to save a 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 was 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 1903. under .Jefferson's administra-
ton, this vast territory was explored
by Captains Lewis and Clark. whose
reports were popular reading for u
g%randfathers. but the extent and value
Of this distant possession were very
slightly understood. and nc attempt at
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 1902.
The Hudson's Bay company establish
ed a number Of trading posts and filed
the country with adventurous fur trad
ers. So here was a 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 ana
a man by the name of S%paulding. 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 35 years old. In
his Journeys to and fro for the mission
he o 0 saw the vast possibilities Of
the country, and he saw too, that the
English were already apprised Of this
and were rapidly pouring into the ter
ritory. Under the terms of the treaties
of 1918 and 1898 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 peer 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 importing Of
English into the territory, and DR..
Whitman took the alarm. There was
no time to lose. The authorities at
Washington must be warned. Hastily
bidding his wife adieu, DR.. Whitman
started on his hazardous Journey. The
perils, hardships and delays he en-
countered On the way we can but faint
~ conceive. His feet were frozen. he
nearly starved, and one he came very
near to losing his life. He kept
pushing right on, and at the end Of five
terrible months he reached Washing
ton.
He arrived there a worn, bearded.
strangely picturesque figure, clad en-
tirely in buckskin and fur, a typical
Of President Tyler and Secretary of
State Webster. and it was accorded
him. All clad as he was, with his
frozen limbs. just in from his 1000
mile ride, Whitman appeared before
the two great men to plead for Oregon.
His statement was a revelation to
the administration. Previous to Whit
mans visit it was the general idea In
congress that Oregon was a barren,
worthless country, fit only for wild
beasts and wild men. He opened the
eyes of the government to the limit.
less wealth and splendid OF
that western territory. He told them
Of it's great rivers and fertile valleys
It's mountains covered with forests ana
it's mines filled with precious treas
ures. He showed them that it was a
country worth keeping and that 1t
must not fall into the hands of the
English. He spoke as a man inspired.
and his words were needed.
What followed-the organization Of
companies Of emigrants, the rapid set.
Element Of the territory and the treaty
made with Great Britain in 1876 by
which the forty-ninth parallel was
made the boundary line west Of the