Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-05-02
WHITMAN WILDRIDE
1t Was Worth Three Stars to tn
American Flag.
SAVED US VAST TERRITORY

SAND MlIeS from oregon TO WaSninS-
ton Made by a Brave Man and the
Results Which Followed In Its Wake.
The ride of Marcus Whitman was
over snow capped mountains and along
dark ravines. travelled only by savage
men. 1t was plunge through icy riv
ers and across trackless prairies, a
ride of 1000 miles across a 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 eight
cen miles on calm night in April tc
arouse a handful of sleeping patriots
and thereby save the powder at Con-
cord?
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 1905, under Jefferson'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 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 coded to it by Russia and
also by the Vancouver surveys of 1892.
The Hudson's Bay company establish
ed a 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.
II was III 1000 that LII. w u1lIAdA anu
a man of 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 state.
To Of hi 1iYsfxy Gxy0 re
old In his journeys to and fro for
the mission he soon saw the vast pos
Sibilities of the country. and he saw.
too. that the English were already ap-
prised of this and were rapidly pour
ing into the territory. Under the terms
of the treaties Of 1918 and 1923 it was
the tacit belief that whichever nation
atty settled and organized the splen-
did territory would hold it. If Eng
land and the English fur traders had
been successful In their plans. the
three great states of Washington. Ore
gon and Idaho would now constitute a
part of British 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 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
family conceive. His feet were frozen.
he nearly starved, and once he came
very near to losing his life. He kept
pushing right on, and at the end of
five terrible months he reached Wash
ington.
He arrived there worn. bearded,
strangely picturesque figure, clad en-
tirely in buckskin and fur, typical
man of the prairies. He asked audi
ence 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 Ore
gon.
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 resources of
that western territory. He told them
of its great rivers and fertile valleys,
its mountains covered with forests
and it's mines filed with precious
treasures. He showed them that 1T
was a country worth keeping and
that it must not fall into the hands OF
the English. He spoke as man in
spired, and his words were needed.
What followed-the organization of
companies of emigrants, the rapid set
tlement Of the territory and the treaty
made with Great Britain in 1916 by
which the forty-ninth parallel was
made the boundary line west of the
Rocky mountains-are matters Of his
tory.