The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1934-08-02

two sides and by slough forming protection
on the third Arriving there on July IA. Wyeth
lost no time in getting to work on the fort
According to Townsend, part Of the men began
telling trees, collecting drift logs and making
corrals for their horses while the rest were sent
out to hunt for meat. Osborne Russell, young
ster from Maine who accompanied the party as
q trapper, records in his journal that "On the
18th we commenced the actual construction OF
the fort which was stockade eighty feet
square, built Of cotton wood trees set on end,
sunk two and one-half feet in the ground and
standing about fifteen feet above with two bas-
lions eight feet square at the opposite angles"
When the hunters returned on Saturday, July
28, they found the st0ckade virtually completed
and the men working on the houses inside. The
next day Wyeth invited Jason Lee, the leader of
the missionaries, to preach to the men and at
two o'clock that afternoon the whole party as
sembled In the shade Of cottonwood grove to
listen to the first sermon ever delivered within
the boundaries of the state Of Idaho.
On July 80 Mckay decided to leave for Fort
Vancouver and Lee and his followers, In order to
reach their new fields Of missionary labors the
sooner, joined them.
After the completion of the fort on August
and the f1ag-raising ceremony the next day,
Wyeth and his men commenced packing on Au-
gust to push on to the Columbia, leaving Fort
Hall in charge Of Mr.. Evans who kept with him
al men, IA horses and mules and three cows"
Thus began the history Of this famous fort.
AS for the later fortunes Of the leader and
others who had played part in Its building:
Wyeth continued on to Walla Walla where there
was happy reunion with his friend, Jason Lee
He reached Vancouver on September IA and was
again courteously received by Doctor McLough-
lin On the lower end Of Wapatoo island, later
called Sauve island he built another post which
he called Fort William. But during the next two
or three years, although he worked tirelessly,
the competition of the Hudson's Bay company
under the management of his FRIEND Doctor Nc
Loughlin, was too strong for him to overcome
So his enterprise for which he had had such
high hopes ended in failure. In 1887 Fort Hall
was sold to the Hudson's Bay company and Fort
William was left in charge of G. NJ Walker with
instructions to "lease it to some trusty person
for Is years." Then Wyeth returned to his home
town Of Cambridge to attempt to retrieve his
lost fortunes by going into the Ice business again.
In 1874 Jason Lee also went back to his home
town. Stanstead, in eastern Canada, and there he
died the next year. But his fame as the pioneer
missionary Of Oregon and the founder Of a school
which later became Willamette university was
already secure In 1857 Doctor Mclaughlin died,
verty-stricken and brokenhearted, a "Man
without Country" For the Hudson's Bay COM
pany had removed him from his position be-
cause he had not exerted himself to discourage
American settlement in the Oregon country and
his efforts to become an American citizen were
thwarted by Americans who remembered only
that he had once been an. employee Of British
company and who forgot how he had befriended
their fellow-countrymen when they were In dire
need.
In contrast to this sad ending to the man who
was once the emperor of the West" 1t is pleas
ant to record that when death had come to
Nathaniel J., Wyeth the previous year 1t had
found him once more prosperous man Of affairs,
oyan a before
name would be widely honored in connection with
the celebration of the fort which he founded
Fort Hall on the Oregon Trail.
@ by Western Newspaper Union