page_title: Methodist Mission in Oregon
section_title: Mission Bottom
hierarchical_section_title: Methodist Mission in Oregon / Early years / Mission Bottom
caption_attribution_description: English: The Methodist Mission in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, as it appeared in 1834.
context_page_description: The Methodist Mission was the Methodist Episcopal Church's 19th-century conversion efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Local Indigenous cultures were introduced to western culture and Christianity. Superintendent Jason Lee was the principal leader for almost a decade. It was a political and religious effort. Two years after the mission began, the church's Board of Foreign Missions described its intent to reclaim "these wandering savages, who are in a very degraded state, to the blessings of Christianity and civilized life." Alongside the missions founded in the region were several secular operations opened. These were maintained to allow for material independence from the Hudson's Bay Company, then the preeminent economic entity in the region among European descendants.
  The Methodists were active participants in the Oregon boundary dispute. Members of the mission were part of sending three petitions to United States Congress requesting that the United States extend its jurisdiction over the Pacific Northwest south of the Columbia River. The Methodist stations became important centers for local European-American politics as well.
context_section_description: Lee ignored the missionary board's instructions and set up a mission located 60 miles up the Willamette River from its junction with the Columbia. The original mission became known as either the Willamette Mission or Mission Bottom. Missionaries untrained in manual labor slowly built log cabins and a school before the first winter set in. Lee remarked, "Men never worked harder or performed less." At the request of the superintendent, the Board changed the Mission's designation to "Oregon Mission" on October 21, 1835. In March 1836, Rev. Lee wrote to Dr. Fisk telling of the need for tradesmen and farmers to relieve the staff of temporal duties. This resulted in additional members being sent in 1836 and 1837. In the same year the Methodists received a small donation from McLoughlin and other employees of the HBC, hoping that God would "bless and prosper your pious endeavours."
  Arriving in May 1837 at Fort Vancouver on the ship Diana was a party of seven adults and four children under the leadership of Dr. Elijah White. Included in the party was White's wife, William H. Willson, Anna Maria Pittman, Alanson Beers, Susan Downing, Elvira Johnson. Several marriages were soon contracted, with a double marriage ceremony of Jason Lee to Anna Pittman and Cyrus Shepard to Susan Downing occurring on June 16, 1837. A second group of a teacher Margaret Jewett Smith Bailey and two more ministers, David Leslie and H. K. W. Perkins, arrived at the Mission on September 7, 1837.
  As the number of members increased, missionaries added a large granary and hospital to Mission Bottom and eventually a small retail store was opened. Surplus manufactured goods were traded for items such as lumber or food stuffs with the French Canadian settlers and the Native Americans. The mission also began to provide for the protection of American immigrants in the area by appointing a magistrate and constable in 1838. John Sutter, while traveling to Alta California, visited the Mission Bottom over several weeks in 1838. Lee also preached, performed marriages and baptisms for the Catholic French-Canadian settlers of the French Prairie. There were no Catholics priests were yet in the Willamette Valley, thus the Methodists were the first priests to engage the French-Canadians. François Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers reached the region in 1838 and held the first mass at the St. Paul church in January 1839.
caption: The Mission Bottom in 1834.
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