History of Oregon (Bancroft)/Volume 1/Chapter 9

by Frances Fuller Victor

CHAPTER IX.

PROGRESS OF EVENTS.

1839–1841.

The Peoria Party—Incidents of the Journey—Farnham Arrives in Oregon—Return of McLoughlin from London—Dissatisfaction of Missionaries and Colonists—Petition to Congress—Belcher's Expedition—Extent of Canadian Jurisdiction—More Immigrants From Illinois—Missionaries Continue to Arrive—The Newell Party—Missionary Hospitality—Spaulding's Report—Wilkes on the Coast—The 'Star of Oregon'—Overland Exploration to California—Sir George Simpson at Fort Vancouver—Mofras' Mission—The Red River Settlers.

I have termed Jason Lee a Methodist colonizer, but he was in reality more than that. His well-directed efforts in behalf of his church could not, in their effects, be restricted to that body. They were, in fact, quite as likely to fire the imagination of the adventurer as to stir the pious zeal of the sectarian, while the discussions which they had provoked in congress attracted the attention of all classes. The first ripple of immigration springing from Lee's lectures at Peoria was in the autumn of 1838. It will be remembered that one of his Chinook boys, Thomas Adams, was left there ill. Tom was proud of being an object of curiosity to the young men of the place, and was never better pleased than when supplementing Lee's lectures with one of his own, delivered in broken English helped out with expressive pantomime and dilating upon the grand scenery of his native country, the wealth of its hunting-grounds, and the abundance of its fisheries. Rude as Tom's descriptions were, they stirred the ardor of his hearers, and suggested to certain ambitious young men the project of establishing a commercial depot at the mouth of the River of the West.

A company of fourteen persons was formed, numbering among its members Thomas J. Farnham, Joseph Holman, Amos Cook, Francis Fletcher, R. L. Kilborne, Sidney Smith, J. Wood, C. Wood, Oakley, Jourdan, and, later, a Mr Blair. The necessary outfit for the journey, costing each man about a hundred and sixty dollars, was soon secured, and all being ready to start, the adventurous little band gathered before the court-house, where a prayer was offered in their behalf. Their motto was 'Oregon or the Grave,' and they bore it aloft upon a flag presented to them by Mrs Farnham, their captain's wife, who accompanied, them one day's march. Their declared intention, upon reaching the Columbia, was to take possession, as American citizens, of the most eligible points, and make settlements.^[1]

So now, having pledged themselves never to desert one another, they set out from Peoria about the first of May 1839, and proceeded to Independence, where they took the trail to Santa Fé. They had not been long on the way before Smith received a shot from his rifle in drawing it from the baggage, and having previously rendered himself obnoxious to several of his companions, it was proposed to abandon him. The proposal was denounced by Farnham and some others, and the disagreement thus occasioned caused the breaking-up of the party. When eight weeks on the journey Farnham resigned the command; and two of the best men having joined some Santa Fé traders, the company fell into disorder. At Bent Fort, on the Arkansas River, where Farnham arrived the 5th of July, the company disbanded. Bent Fort is often mentioned by early travellers to Oregon. It was situated eighty miles north by east from Taos in New Mexico, and was first called Fort William, but soon took the name of the three brothers who owned it. It was erected in 1832, and was a place of considerable consequence, being a parallelogram of one hundred by one hundred and fifty feet, with adobe walls several feet in thickness and eighteen feet in height, with a large gateway closed by strong doors of planking. The wall, which was surmounted by two armed bastions, enclosed several buildings, shops, and a warehouse. The country in which it was situated being a dangerous one, about sixty men were required to perform the duties of the place, including that of guarding the fort and the stock belonging to it.^[2]

For men so lately swearing such fidelity, this was a bad beginning, but Farnham was not disheartened. On the 11th of July, the malecontents left the fort for another establishment of the Bents, on Platte River; and Farnham with three sound and good men, and one wounded and bad one, as he expressed it, resumed his journey to Oregon. His companions were Blair, one of the Woods, Smith, and a Kentuckian named Kelly, who was engaged as guide.^[3]

Smith recovered rapidly, and about the middle of August the party reached Brown Hole, on the head waters of Green River, where was St Clair's fort called David Crockett. Here Kelly's services ended, Oakley and Wood determined to return, being so persuaded by Paul Richardson, a mountain man of some notoriety, who gave a dispiriting account of the Oregon country in order to secure volunteers for his own party about to start for the Missouri frontier. With only Smith and Blair for companions, and a Shoshone guide, Farnham pushed on to Fort Hall, then in charge of C. M. Walker. They arrived there September 1st, and remained three days, after which, with fresh horses and provisions, they proceeded, and in ten days reached Fort Boisé, where they were kindly entertained by Mr Payette of the Hudson's Bay Company.^[4]

Proceeding thence, an Indian guided them down the west bank of Snake River fifteen miles, to some boiling springs; thence to the narrow valley of Burnt River, up which they passed through charming little nooks, to a branch of Powder River, whence, after resting under the Lone Tree,^[5] they passed into Grand Rond Valley; and thence over steep hills to the foot of the Blue Mountains; then through a belt of forest, along grassy ridges, up and down hills made difficult by loose masses of broken rock, through tracts of tangled wood, and along the face of cliffs overhanging mountain torrents, coming at last to grassy swells, and finally to the long descent on the western declivities of the mountains, which brought them to the beautiful rolling plains at the head waters of the Umatilla and Walla Walla.^[6] Here Farnham fell in with a Cayuse on his way to Whitman's mission, and deciding to accompany him, they arrived there the 23d day of September, while Smith and Blair proceeded to Fort Walla Walla. Blair spent the winter at Lapwai, and Smith obtained employment from Ewing Young in the Willamette Valley.

After a pleasant visit at Waiilatpu, and a call on Pambrun at the fort, Farnham resumed his journey to the Dalles, the 1st of October. He spent a week with Lee and Perkins, and became imbued with the prevailing Methodist sentiments concerning British residents. On the 15th, in company with Daniel Lee he took passage for Fort Vancouver, having narrowly escaped the wrath of the Dalles Indians for forcibly recovering some of his property which had been stolen.^[7]

At the Cascades they encountered McLoughlin, lately returned from England, the doctor being probably some distance behind the express which had brought him from Canada.

Lee presented his newly arrived friend to McLoughlin, who straightway invited them both to the fort, where they arrived late on that evening, the 18th of October. Farnham, who had been forced to exchange his clothes for horses, was amply supplied by his host, even to a dress-coat to appear in at dinner. He made a favorable impression on the inmates of Fort Vancouver,^[8] where he remained till the 21st, learning much concerning the country and the fur trade, which he afterwards turned to account in a number of works published under different titles, but containing much of the same matter.^[9]

His observations in the Willamette Valley were confined, like those of Mr Slacum, to the settlements. He visited a number of persons at the Mission, among them Bailey, White, and Leslie, Jason Lee being absent. During his stay there several American citizens unconnected with the Mission consulted him as to the probability of the United States taking them under the protection of its laws. These persons complained that they were not protected, that foreigners domineered over them, drove American traders from the country, and made them dependent for their clothing and necessaries on another nationality. They wanted to know why the United States permitted these things. "I could return no answer," says Farnham, "to these questions, exculpatory of this national delinquency; and therefore advised them to embody their grievances in a petition, and forward it to congress." They took his advice, and gave him a memorial to forward to Washington, signed by sixty-seven citizens of the United States, and persons desirous of becoming such.^[10]

The petition set forth that the signers settled in Oregon under the belief that it was a portion of the public domain of the United States upon which they might rely for the blessings of free institutions, and for armed protection; but that so far as they knew, no such benefits had been extended to them; and that therefore they were at the mercy of the savages around them, and of others that would do them harm.^[11] They complained that they had no legal protection except the self-constituted tribunals, originated by an ill-instructed public opinion, and sustained only by force and arms. They declared that the crimes of theft, murder, and infanticide were increasing to an alarming extent, and they were themselves powerless to arrest the progress of crime in the territory and its terrible consequences.^[12]

Having made this appeal on account of their helpless condition, congress was artfully reminded of the richness of the country in soils, pasturage, timber, and minerals; and also that a British surveying squadron had been on the Oregon coast for two years, employed in making accurate surveys of all its rivers, bays, and harbors.

The latter allusion referred to the expedition of Sir Edward Belcher, then Captain Belcher, who commanded the English surveying squadron in the Pacific. Belcher's attention was fixed at this time, however, not on Oregon, but on the Russian possessions. The attempts of the Hudson's Bay Company to get a footing there had up to this period occasioned a feeling of hostility, which led the Russians not only to fortify at Stikeen, but to have a sloop of war in readiness to repel invasion. The English, not to be behind in a show of strength, sent the Sulphur and the Starling to survey the Pacific coast, a business which occupied the expedition from 1837 to 1840. The only reference to Oregon in Belcher's instructions was contained in a single paragraph. "Political circumstances have invested the Columbia River with so much importance that it will be well to devote some time to its bar and channels of approach, as well as its inner anchorages and shores." The few Americans in Oregon may have regarded the advent of this British man-of-war with suspicion, but the English company at Fort Vancouver showed no elation, nor made the British captain more welcome than the American missionary or traveller.^[13]

There was as yet no reason to desire governmental interference. The Americans were not yet overstepping the boundary fixed in the British imagination as their rightful limits; and perhaps Douglas foresaw that the presence of a war-vessel would alarm them, and lead them to call upon their government.

Captain Belcher, on his side, was outspoken in his contempt for the unmilitary appearance of forts George and Vancouver. "No Fort Vancouver exists," he says; "it is merely the mercantile post of the Hudson's Bay Company."^[14] And the captain's sneer was just, inasmuch as the total armament of Fort Vancouver at this time consisted of a little three-pounder.^[15]

Belcher, like Simpson, Dunn, and Beaver, blamed McLoughlin for encouraging so many missionary settlers.^[16] Indeed, it is evident that while the Americans feared British influence, the English were no less alarmed about American predominance.

In their petition to congress the American settlers also alleged that the British government had recently made a grant to the fur company of all the lands lying between the Columbia River and Puget Sound, and that the company were actually exercising acts of ownership, opening extensive farms,^[17] and shipping to foreign ports vast quantities of the finest pine lumber.^[18]

Such was the memorial for which Leslie, superintendent of the Mission pro tem., and Bailey, an attaché of the same institution, were responsible, whatever Farnham had to do with drawing it up. Farnham remained among the hospitable missionary families until the middle of November, when he repaired to Fort Vancouver to wait for the departure of the company's vessel, the Nereid, in which he embarked for the Sandwich Islands early in December. When he reached Oahu he addressed a letter to the United States secretary of war, in which he informed the government that the Hudson's Bay Company had taken upon lease, for a term of twenty years, the exclusive right to hunt, trap, and control by law the Russian possessions in America, Sitka only excepted, possession to be given in March 1840; that the British government had granted a large tract of land to the English fur company, which was making grants and sales to individuals; that the company was making large quantities of flour to supply the Russians, with whom it had a contract for a term of years; was getting out lumber for California and the Hawaiian Islands,^[19] and opening extensive farms in the Cowlitz Valley. He mentioned the arrival of the English emigrants, and stated as a significant fact that among them was a gunner, for whom he could see no use, as the company confessed there was no danger from the Indians in the vicinity of their forts; he also alluded to a rumor that the fur company had cannon buried on Tongue Point, above Astoria, where they had built a house,^[20] and referred to the English surveying squadron, and a report that Captain Belcher had declared England's claims to the Columbia River to rest upon priority of discovery. Though not all true, there was much in his communication of interest to the United States.

Among other things, he stated that the Canadian settlers in the Willamette and Cowlitz valleys were favorable to the American claim, and would yield willing obedience to American law—an assertion that required modification. The French Canadians were by nature an amiable, light-hearted, industrious, and well-disposed people, ready to submit to authority, and fond of a quiet life. They were by training rendered obedient to the officers of the fur company, and even more so to the teachings of their Catholic priests. They were friendly to the American settlers, and looked up to the missionaries. They had been promised a square mile of land when the United States should extend jurisdiction over them. So far they were favorable to American institutions; but should McLoughlin and their priest counsel them to withhold their support, they would obey notwithstanding the temptation of free farms. Such was the character of all the company's servants who settled in the country.^[21]

It was not true that the British company controlled by law the Russian possessions in America, or strove to govern the American settlers in the Willamette Valley.^[22] By an act of parliament the laws of Canada were extended over British subjects in the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, but this was never enforced so far as Russians or Americans were concerned. Even a Canadian could not be dealt with in Russian territory.^[23] But jealousy of the Canadian jurisdiction led the Americans to appoint as justice of the peace among themselves, in 1838, David Leslie. So that without any legal authority whatever Leslie was dispensing justice in the Willamette Valley at the very time that he and Farnham complained that there was a justice of the peace at Fort Vancouver, in what the company held to be British territory, and he actually tried a British subject for theft not long after.^[24]

Farnham's report on the country itself was not pleasing to the colonists, who spoke of him with disrespect after the publication of his Travels.^[25] He disparaged the climate, which was too dry in eastern and too moist in western Oregon; he found the forests, where they existed, too heavy, and in other places not heavy enough; and the mouth of the Columbia unfit for the purposes of commerce.^[26] Holding these opinions, it is no wonder that he departed from the country without attempting to carry out the purposes for which the Peoria company was formed.

Four other members of the original party reached Fort Vancouver in the following May, just when the Lausanne, bearing the reënforcement of Jason Lee, touched her landing. These were Holman, Cook, Fletcher, and Kilborne. They had proceeded leisurely from post to post of the fur-traders, and been compelled to winter in the Rocky Mountains. When they reached Fort Vancouver they were clad in skins, bare-headed, heavily bearded, toilworn, and sadly travel-stained, yet looking so boyish and defiant, that the ship's company at once set them down as four runaways from homes in the States. McLoughlin, with his usual kind impulse, at once sent them to the dairy.^[27] Like Farnham, these four seemed to have given up all thought of their projected city at the mouth of the Columbia, and were content to be incorporated with the settlers of the Willamette.^[28]

The Peoria company were not the only adventurers who made in 1839

'The first low wash of waves, where soon
Shall roll a human sea.'

A second party, eleven in number, started from Illinois this season, and followed the same route as the first, but did not reach Oregon as a party.^[29] As if missionaries were not likely to outnumber the natives in Oregon, the North Litchfield Association of Connecticut, in 1839, fitted out two young men for that field of labor. They were Rev. J. S. Griffin and Asahel Munger. Munger was already married; Griffin found a young woman at St Louis who was willing to join her fortunes with his, and who married him at a moment's notice, as seems to have been the fashion with missionaries of that period. Placing themselves under the protection of the American Fur Company, they proceeded to Westport, Missouri, where they were joined by several persons bound for California.^[30]

This company, like Farnham's, quarrelled by the way. The missionaries as well as the secular travellers lost their patience and good temper, and even the ladies of the party were not without their little differences.^[31] From revelations made by Gray, and newspaper articles published by Griffin several years later, we learn that the Snakes stole some of the missionaries' horses, and that Griffin wanted to leave Munger and his wife at Fort Hall, on this account. The animals were recovered, however, and a conciliation effected. They all finally reached the Presbyterian missions in safety.^[32]

In 1840 came another party of missionaries, of the Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Harvey Clark, A. T. Smith, and P. B. Littlejohn, each with his wife. They designed to sustain themselves independently of the orders of any board, but failed to find any field for their labors, and after remaining a year at the missions in the interior, settled on the Tualatin plains. Littlejohn returned to the States in 1845, but Clark and Smith subsequently became leading citizens in the country.^[33] With this party also arrived the first family of avowed emigrants that came to Oregon or the Pacific coast. It consisted of Joel P. Walker, wife, and five children, all of whom went to California in 1841,^[34] and Herman Ehrenberg, who had led, and continued to lead, an adventurous life in several parts of the continent. He went to the Hawaiian Islands soon after reaching the Columbia River.^[35]

Some weeks after the missionaries had left Fort Hall a council was held there by certain hunters and trappers, now without occupation and destitute through the dissolution of the American Fur Company. This corporation had broken up that same year without making provision of any kind for their servants. Most of these men had adopted their vocation in youth, and now, in the prime of life, were almost as poor as when they took to the mountains—a fact due in part to the policy of the company, but in a large measure to their own improvident habits.^[36]

As it was now absolutely necessary to seek the settlements in order to live, seven of them determined to go to Oregon with their Indian wives and children, about their only worldly possessions, and begin life anew. Their names were Robert Newell, C. M. Walker, J. L. Meek, William Craig, Caleb Wilkins, William M. Doty, and John Larison. Newell, Meek, and Wilkins decided to make for the Columbia River by the route discovered the previous year, and already spoken of. Newell had two wagons, which he had taken as payment for guiding the Clark party from Green River to Fort Hall;^[37] Wilkes had another which had been left by Walker, and these they resolved to take with them. Ermatinger approved the plan and purchased one of Newell's wagons, which he furnished with horses and employed Craig to drive, thus becoming interested in the undertaking. Meek was engaged to drive Newell's remaining wagon, and Walker drove his own.

Loading the little train with their scanty possessions, the party, having been joined at the last moment by a German named Nicholas, set out on the 5th of August, and despite the great difficulties of the road, reached Waiilatpu in good season, and with the frames of their wagons intact, though they had been forced to throw away the beds.^[38]

Craig remained in the upper country and settled at Lapwai, while Meek, Newell, and Wilkins proceeded to the Dalles on horseback, leaving their wagons to be brought on at the first opportunity.^[39] Newell owned a few poor footsore cows which had been left by the passing missionaries at Fort Hall, and these he drove with him toward the Willamette Valley.

They reached the Dalles on a Sunday, and, fully expecting a cordial reception, at once called on their countrymen, Lee, Perkins, and Carter. But, to their surprise, the doors were closed against them, and no one appeared to give them welcome. They encamped at some little distance from the Mission, and were shortly afterward visited by Carter, who explained that he and his friends did not receive visitors on Sunday; at the same time he hospitably invited his famishing countrymen to partake of a meal of spiritual food at the evening prayer-meeting. They went, inwardly cursing rather than praying, and amused themselves with the antics of Jandreau, a lively Frenchman who accompanied them. This facetious personage had no particular love or reverence for the missionaries, though he affected to be suddenly smitten with an overwhelming sense of guilt, and kneeling down poured forth in tones of deep contrition what the missionaries, in their ignorance of the language, took to be a fervent prayer. The mountain men, however, recognized it to be one of Jandreau's campfire stories, and impiously mingled their coarse, smothered laughter with the rapturous hallelujahs and amens of the preachers.^[40]

Possibly the mountain men would not have thought the missionaries so churlish had they better understood that the orthodox plan of settlement in those days excluded from Oregon the renegades of civilization from the Rocky Mountains,^[41] and scarcely admitted the right of the frontiersmen of the western states to settle in the Oregon Territory. Later in the history it will be seen how the missionaries succeeded in the struggle to maintain this predominance.^[42]

Our unwelcome colonists now drove their stock along the river as far as Wind River Mountain, where the natives assisted them in crossing to the trail on the north bank, down which they continued until opposite the mouth of the Sandy, when they recrossed to the south side, and drove the cattle through the woody northern end of the Willamette Valley to the mouth of the Clackamas below the Willamette Falls, where Newell and Meek arrived in December, travel-worn, wet, hungry, and homeless, and altogether beneath the notice of the missionaries, who very unwillingly sold them a few potatoes.

There was now nothing to do but to seek at Fort Vancouver the relief denied by the Americans. They easily obtained supplies from the fur company, whereupon they crossed to the west side of the Willamette River, and driving their cattle through storm and mire to the Tualatin plains, there selected farms, and erected cabins for their families. They were joined soon after by the other mountain men, Doty, Walker, Wilkins, Ebberts, and Larison, forming, with the independent Presbyterian missionaries, Griffin, Clark, Smith, and Littlejohn, with their families, a rival settlement to that on Chemeketa plain.^[43]

There was an arrival by sea in 1840 of an American vessel, the Maryland, belonging to the Cushings of Newburyport, with whom Jason Lee was in correspondence the previous year. The Maryland was commanded by John H. Couch, who came to establish a fishery on the Columbia.^[44]

The petition of the colonists forwarded to congress by Farnham in the winter of 1839–40 was followed by a report from Captain Spaulding of the Lausanne, in which the British fur company was charged with avarice, cruelty, despotism, and bad government, in terms even more violent and exaggerated than Farnham had ventured to use.^[45]

Such grave accusations, made so boldly and repeatedly, at length stirred the government to some show of action. The secretary of war could not be expected to know that the patriotic Spaulding spoke only from hearsay, or that all these communications drew their aspiration from the same source, the Methodist Missions. The result was, therefore, that instructions were despatched to the commander of the United States exploring squadron in the Pacific to visit the Columbia River, and ascertain how much ground really existed for the complaints so frequently made to congress concerning the hardships imposed by a foreign corporation upon citizens of the United States.

The history of the United States exploring expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes is given in another volume. It is only necessary to say here that the colonists were not well pleased with its result. They complained that Wilkes was entertained with marks of distinguished consideration by the officers of the fur company, and that he did not see affairs as the colonists saw them; and when the navigator declared openly that there was no urgent necessity for the interference of the United States government so long as they enjoyed their present peace, prosperity, and comfort, the settlers were disgusted. He visited, the settlers averred, the American settlements west of the Cascade Mountains, and other of his officers the inferior missions, without discovering the evils which formed the subject of so many petitions and reports.

It seems strange that since Jason Lee was at the head of affairs in the Willamette Valley, he should only have met Wilkes by accident, when the latter stumbled upon his camp at the head of Sauvé Island.^[46] After so many appeals to the United States government for the protection of its arms and the benefits of its jurisdiction, surely common courtesy would have dictated something like a formal reception. But in this instance, as was his custom, Lee left the execution of his designs and the appearance of responsibility to others, and set forth on an excursion to the mouth of the Columbia. If the colonists were in the situation represented to congress, he should have been making strenuous efforts to place the facts before Wilkes. The commander of the United States squadron was left, however, like any ordinary traveller, to go whither he pleased, and to form his own conclusions, which were, in the main, contrary to the tenor of the memorials which occasioned his inquiries.^[47]

One instance of so-called injustice Wilkes took occasion to right. While he was still at Fort Vancouver he received a visit from three young men, members of a party of eight, who were building a schooner to take them to California, as they were anxious to leave a country where there were no young white women to marry. The party consisted of Joseph Gale, who came with Young; Felix Hathaway, the only ship-carpenter among them; Henry Wood, who came to California in 1837 with the cattle company; R. L. Kilborne, of the Peoria immigrants; and Pleasant Armstrong, John Green, George Davis, and Charles Matts, who arrived some time between 1838 and 1840.

The company had obtained part of the material necessary to build their vessel, such as iron and spikes, by representing that they were wanted for a ferry-boat to be used on the Willamette. To obtain rigging they induced the French settlers to go to Fort Vancouver and buy cordage, pretending it was for use in their rude farm harnesses. These underhand proceedings coming to the knowledge of McLoughlin, naturally excited his suspicions. How could he know that these were not preparations for piracy on the Cali- fornia coast? He would have nothing further to do with them, and it was in vain that they afterward appealed to him. Wood, who was the least reputable person in the company, having given Edwards and Young much trouble on the way from California, took upon himself to intercede with McLoughlin, who answered him that without any papers he was liable to be captured as a pirate, adding: "And how do I know that you do not intend to become one?"

"Well, doctor," replied Wood, in much excitement, "you may keep your paltry rigging. But remember, sir, I have an uncle in the States, whom I expect here shortly, rich enough to buy you out, and send you all packing."

It was now McLoughlin's turn to become excited, in which condition he always stammered, or repeated rapidly the same word. "I am glad to hear so rich a man as your uncle is coming to this country. Who is it, Mr Wood? What's his name, Mr Wood? I should like to know him, Mr Wood."

"His name is Uncle Sam, and I hope you will know him!" retorted Wood as he withdrew.^[48]

When Wilkes had heard the story of the young men, and talked the matter over with McLoughlin, he paid a visit to their ship-yard. Becoming satisfied that all except Wood were of good character, he arranged with McLoughlin, after Wood was expelled from the company, to furnish them the requisite stores, chains, anchors, and rigging to complete the Star of Oregon. He gave them a sea-letter, and the first American vessel constructed of Oregon timber made a successful voyage to San Francisco Bay, under the command of Joseph Gale. She was there sold and the proceeds invested in cattle, which were driven to Oregon the following year, most of the company deciding to return and settle permanently in the Willamette Valley.

The loss of the Peacock inside of the bar gave Wilkes a bad opinion of the entrance to the Columbia River, and his account from first to last, being anything but flattering to the commercial prospects of the country, was particularly displeasing to those who were endeavoring to encourage trade. Finally, if anything may be certainly known from Wilkes' report of the colony, or the colonist's opinion of Wilkes, it is that he considered his visit uncalled for, from a political point of view, and that they felt themselves badly treated because that was his opinion.^[49]

Late in August a company was organized by Lieutenant Emmons of Wilkes' expedition for an overland exploring tour to California. The party consisted of eighteen officers and men, a number of the settlers, and certain immigrants.^[50]

Wilkes remained in the country until October, supplying the place of the lost Peacock by chartering the Thomas H. Perkins, an American vessel which arrived in the river with a cargo of liquor. To prevent its being sold to the Indians, the cargo had been purchased by McLoughlin, who also bought the charter; the latter he now sold at a low figure to Wilkes, who changed the vessel's name to the Oregon.^[51]

He sailed for California on the 5th, leaving of his command but one person, a negro cook named Saul, who deserted when the Peacock was wrecked,^[52] and settled near the mouth of the Columbia.

The year 1841 was remarkable for brief visits of exploration, rather than for any enlargement of the American colony. While Wilkes was still at Fort Vancouver, Sir George Simpson, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company's territories in North America, arrived at that post, having travelled from Montreal in twelve weeks, the whole journey being made in canoe and saddle.^[53] The principal objects of his visit to the coast were the inspection of the fort at Stikeen, leased from the Russian American Company, and the establishment of a post at San Francisco. After spending a week at Vancouver he proceeded to Stikeen, and was back again at the fort by the 22d of October.

Almost simultaneously with Sir George's return to Vancouver, the French explorer Duflot de Mofras arrived at that post from the Hawaiian Islands in the company's bark Cowlitz. In 1839 Mofras, then an attaché of the French embassy at Madrid, had been sent by his government to join the legation at Mexico with special instructions to visit the north-western portion of Mexico, together with California and Oregon, to report on their accessibility to French commerce, and to learn something of the geography of the country.^[54] Such, at least, was the ostensible purpose of Mofras mission, though there were some who suspected him of playing the spy for his government. Sir George was of this opinion, and he took no pains to conceal it, which so hurt the Frenchman's amour propre that he insisted upon paying for his passage in the Cowlitz and defraying all other personal expenses. Nevertheless it is possible that Simpson's apprehensions were not wholly groundless, at all events so far as Mofras' personal sentiments were concerned; for the latter in his writings concludes a discussion of the Oregon Question with the hope that the French Canadians might throw off the hated English yoke and establish a new France in America, extending from the St Lawrence to the Pacific, or at least a sovereign state in the federal union.^[55]

Simpson also speculated upon the future of the Canadian colony, of whose trade the Hudson's Bay Company was assured, and remarked that the American colony also was in a great measure dependent upon the company. But the representatives of two governments, and one corporation almost equal to a sovereignty, who visited Oregon this year, all reported favorably upon the moral, social, and material condition of the colonists.^[56] About the end of November Simpson and Mofras both sailed from Oregon for San Francisco Bay, in the bark Cowlitz, accompanied by McLoughlin and his daughter, Mrs Rae, who was going to join her husband, William Glen Rae, in charge of the new post of the company at Yerba Buena.

Just before Simpson's departure there arrived in Oregon a company of twenty-three families, or about sixty persons, from the Red River settlement, brought out under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company to settle on the lands of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. They had left Red River about the first of June with carts, of which each family had two, and with bands of cattle, horses, and dogs. The men and boys rode on horseback, and the women and children were conveyed in the carts with the household goods. The whole formed a procession of more than a mile in length. They started twenty-eight days in advance of Simpson, who passed them at Fort Carlton, on the Saskatchewan, and they arrived about the middle of October at Nisqually,^[57] where it was designed they should settle. But soon discovering the inferior quality of the soil in that region, they nearly all removed to the Willamette Valley, to the great disappointment of McLoughlin and other members of the Puget Sound Company.^[58]

The failure of the Red River settlers to remain on the lands of the Puget Sound Company defeated whatever political design the formation of that organization favored, and during the year after their arrival added a considerable number to the Willamette settlements.

CHAPTER X.

THE SUB-INDIAN AGENT'S COMPANY

1842–1845.

The Effect of Lee's Letter to Cushing—White Visits Washington—Plans of the 'Friends of Oregon'—White is Appointed Sub-Indian Agent for Oregon—He Raises a Large Company of Emigrants—Incidents of the Journey—A Canine Massacre—Dissensions in Camp—The Halt at Fort Laramie—The Sioux Take a Hand—Fort Hall is Reached—Reception by the Missionaries—White and the Colonists—Disgusted Immigrants—McLoughlin to the Rescue—Hastings Leads a Party to California.

The return to Oregon of Elijah White, some two years after his quarrel with Jason Lee had sent him to the States in disgust, has already been alluded to. The immediate cause of his return was peculiar, inasmuch as it was destined that the man who had practically been the means of driving him out of the country in disgrace should involuntarily be the means of bringing him back in honor. It will be remembered that when Lee wrote to Cushing in January 1839, he urged that the settlers and Indians in Oregon sadly needed the protection of the laws of the United States, and suggested that if a suitable person should be sent out as civil magistrate and governor of the territory, the settlers would sustain his authority.^[59] There can be little doubt that Lee hoped for the appointment himself; certainly nothing was further from his desire than that White should get it.

No action was taken in the matter at the time, but it was carefully kept in mind by those persons in the States who were interested in the affairs of Oregon. It was not until the Lausanne had returned and Captain Spaulding had presented his report according to the representations made to him by the missionaries, that the 'Friends of Oregon' began to regard Lee's proposition as feasible. But where were they to find the man for their purpose? It was desirable that the prospective governor should be thoroughly familiar with Oregon affairs, and as such Lee himself would probably have been the first choice; but he was on the other side of the continent, and they wanted their candidate on the spot, in order that he might personally plead his cause with the government, and also that he might take direction of an emigrant scheme which they had in contemplation.

In January 1842 White, who had for a year past been living at his old home in Lansing, chanced to visit New York, and while there called on Fry and Farnham, owners of the Lausanne, to whom he was favorably known. Here was the very man the Friends of Oregon needed. In the consultation which followed, it was arranged that White should proceed at once to Washington. He shortly afterward set out, armed with introductory letters from persons of note to President Tyler, Webster, and Upsher. On reaching the capital, he was presented to Senator Linn of Missouri, J. C. Spencer, secretary of war, and other high officials who were interested in the Oregon Question, and disposed to remedy the evils complained of by the colonists by adopting Lee's suggestion to send out a person to act as governor and Indian agent, though they recognized the fact that the commissioning of such an official was, under the existing treaty with Great Britain, a matter of much delicacy.

The plan was only partially successful. After considerable discussion the government decided that as the United States made pretensions to the territory lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, they might venture to send a sub-Indian agent into the country to look after the intercourse between the natives and citizens of the United States. But as to the office of civil magistrate or governor, that was a commission the president was not prepared to issue; though the settlers, if they chose to do so, could by mutual consent sustain the sub-Indian agent's claim to be regarded as a magistrate among them without definite authority from the United States.

All this having been explained to White, he was commissioned sub-Indian agent, with a salary of seven hundred and fifty dollars, and the guaranty that if Linn's bill, then before congress, passed, his pay should be raised to the full pay of an Indian agent, or fifteen hundred a year. He was also verbally given permission to draw upon government funds for the payment of necessary expenses in the discharge of his duties.^[60] His instructions were to lose no time in returning to Oregon, but to proceed at once overland, using by the way every reasonable effort to induce emigrants to accompany him. On reaching home the doctor arranged his affairs, and having been joined by two of his neighbors, and two sons of Thomas McKay, proceeded westward, making known his desire to raise a company for Oregon wherever he went, by advertising in the newspapers, and occasionally lecturing to interested audiences.^[61] At St Louis everything relating to Oregon was heard with attention, and the farther he progressed in the direction of Independence, the former recruiting rendezvous of the now disbanded fur companies, the greater was the interest evinced. From this latter place White made excursions through the country, travelling over the counties of Jackson and Platte, from which a large number of immigrants was gained, while others appeared at Elm Grove, the appointed rendezvous twenty miles south-west of Independence, who had come from Illinois and Arkansas, so that by the 14th of May one hundred and twelve persons were assembled,^[62] fifty-two being men over eighteen years of age.^[63]

White's company was not so favorably circumstanced as those which had preceded it and had travelled under the protection of the American Fur Company. He says that his heart sank when he began to realize what he had undertaken; and that it was not made more buoyant when Sublette assured him that there would be much difficulty in organizing and governing such a large party, and in conducting it successfully such a distance through a wilderness infested with hostile Indians tribes; but Sublette gave valuable advice with regard to outfit and regulations.^[64]

The train of eighteen large Pennsylvania wagons, with a long procession of horses, pack-mules, and cattle, set out on the 16th, White having been elected to the command for one month from the time of starting. According to the regulations, camp was made at four o'clock every afternoon when wood and water were convenient. After the wagons had been drawn up so as to form a circular enclosure, the animals were turned loose to feed till sunset, when they were brought in and tethered to stakes set about the camp. Every family had its own fire, and prepared meals in its own fashion. The evening was spent in visiting, singing, and whatever innocent amusement suggested itself. The women and children slept in the covered wagons, and the men under tents on the ground. A guard was stationed at night, and at the dawn, at a given signal, every one arose and went about his duties, the cattle being collected while breakfast was being prepared. When all were ready, the wagon which had taken the lead the previous day was sent to the rear, so that each in rotation should come to the front.

In this manner all progressed amicably until the company had turned off from the Santa Fé trail in a north-westerly direction to the crossing of the Kansas River. At this point White startled the company by officially recommending that all the dogs in camp be forthwith killed lest they should go mad upon the arid plains which they were now approaching. King Herod's edict anent the slaughter of the innocents could scarcely have called forth a louder wail of lamentation from the mothers of Judea than was evoked from the women and children of White's party by this proposed immolation of their canine pets and companions. Many of the men, too, protested loudly against the sacrifice; and although when it came to a vote most of them yielded to their leader's wish, yet the measure was so unpopular that it contributed largely to the election of L. W. Hastings as captain at the end of the first month.^[65]

At this same camp Columbia Lancaster lost a child, and as the mother was ill, the disheartened parents turned back to Platte City, their starting-point. The Kansas River, the South Platte, and other deep fords were made by placing boards across the tops of the wagon-boxes, on which the load was fastened, while above were perched the women and children. Soon after passing the South Fork, the company was overtaken by Stephen H. L. Meek, a brother of J. L. Meek, then in Oregon, and one Bishop, who was travelling for his health.

After Hastings was elected to succeed White, harmony no longer prevailed. The determination of the new commander to "govern and not be governed"^[66] divided the party into two factions, who marched in separate columns till Fort Laramie was reached on the 23d of June. Here they spent a week in refitting, and during that time Mr Bissonette, who was in charge of the post, managed to bring about a reunion by urging that the company would need its full strength while passing through the hostile tribes between Laramie and Fort Hall.

As the emigrants were told that it would be impossible for them to take their oxen and wagons through to Oregon, many sold or exchanged them for horses, the advantage being generally on the side of the fort people. ^[67] They also laid in a fresh stock of provisions, for which they had to pay at the rate of a dollar a pint for flour and a dollar a pound for coffee and sugar. Before leaving Laramie the company was joined by F. X. Matthieu and half a dozen Canadians, who had been in the service of the fur company east of the Rocky Mountains, and were now going to settle in Oregon. They had few supplies, but depended on game for subsistence. ^[68]

The company had now no guide for the remainder of the journey, Coats' knowledge of the country extending no farther than Fort Laramie; but they had hardly proceeded a mile from that post before they met Bridger and Fitzpatrick, of the fur companies, the former being on his way to the States with a large quantity of furs, and accompanied through the hostile country by the latter. As Bridger no longer required his services, Fitzpatrick was induced by White, who claims to have acted with authority, to guide the company to Fort Hall at the expense of the government.^[69]

The new guide soon had an opportunity to show his skill in dealing with the natives; for while at Independence Rock, where some of the party were ambitious to inscribe their names, Hastings and Lovejoy, who had fallen behind, were cut off by a party of Sioux, and narrowly escaped to camp after several hours of detention, the savages following, and being met by Fitzpatrick, who succeeded in arranging matters.^[70]

The Sweetwater was reached on the 13th of July, and here one of the company, a young man named Bailey, was accidently shot by another of the party. At this place all remained for several days to hunt buffalo and to dry the meat. The Sioux, who infested the country in considerable numbers, caused the hunters great annoyance, frequently robbing them of both horses and game, though they were kept at a safe distance from the camp. The last that was seen of them was on a tributary of the Sweetwater, where the principal chiefs were invited to camp and conciliated with presents.

As soon as they were clear of the enemy, White and a dozen others who were well mounted pushed on before, taking Fitzpatrick with them. This left Hastings in charge of the heavier portion of the train, without a guide, and accordingly caused much dissatisfaction. At Green River another division occurred. About half the original number of wagons was still retained; and now part persisted in cutting up their wagons and making pack-saddles, and travelling henceforth with horses. Heavy rain-storms hindered both parties, who arrived at Fort Hall about the same time. Here the emigrants were kindly received by Grant, who sold them flour for half the price paid at Laramie, taking in payment the running-gear of the wagons, which all now agreed to dispense with.^[71]

The company remained at Fort Hall about ten days, except White's party, who started a few days in advance. They lost a man, Adam Horn, the unfortunate cause of Bailey's death, at the crossing of Snake River below Salmon Falls.^[72] The doctor and his companions started with McDonald, a Hudson's Bay trader; but the pack-animals not being able to keep up with the fur company's cavalcade, the greater number of the party fell behind, while White and a few others proceeded with McDonald to Walla Walla. The route taken by McDonald and White after leaving Fort Boisé was the same as that described by Farnham, through Burnt River Cañon, and Grand Ronde Valley, and thence over the Blue Mountains, which they crossed in two days. From the foot of the mountains an Indian guided White to Whitman's mission. Hastings' party avoided the crossing of Snake River, proceeding along the south side of that stream as far as the lower crossing at Fort Boisé, where they came into the trail of the advance party. They also turned aside to visit Waiilatpu, where they were warmly welcomed by Whitman about the middle of September. Here they halted several days to recruit, and were kept busy answering the eager questions of the isolated missionaries concerning affairs in the States.^[73]

From Waiilatpu the emigrants proceeded without accident to the Willamette Valley, which they reached on the 5th of October, some by Daniel Lee's cattle trail from the Dalles, and others by the trail on the north of the Columbia, swimming their cattle to the south side when opposite the mouth of Sandy River.

White, who appears to have been anxious to reach the settlements as early as possible, arrived at Vancouver about the 20th of September. Considering the circumstances of his departure from Oregon, it was but natural that he should have some feeling of self-importance and exultation on returning as the first officer of the United States appointed in that country. But as his commission as governor, or rather magistrate, was only verbal, and depended on the will of the colonists, it was prudent at least to ascertain the sentiment of the people, and that, too, before the arrival of the Hastings wing of the immigration, whose influence was likely to be thrown against him.

The position in which White found himself on presenting his credentials to the colonists was not an enviable one. A meeting was called at Champoeg on the 23d of September, which was addressed at some length by the doctor, who gave such information as he felt himself authorized to give, as he expressed it, concerning the intentions of the government in regard to the colony, and the feeling of the people of the United States toward it. Resolutions were then passed, to the effect that the people of Willamette Valley were happy that the government had manifested its intention, through its agent, Doctor White, of extending jurisdiction and protection over the country; gratified that an Indian agent had been appointed to regulate and guard the interests of the natives; and pleased with the appointment of White, with whom they promised to cordially coöperate. They were also grateful for the liberal design of the government to lend its support to education and literature among the colonists. It would give them the highest satisfaction to be brought as soon as possible into this happy estate, and they desired that their views expressed in their resolutions might be transmitted to the government.^[74] There was nothing unfriendly in these guarded expressions, but it was soon remarked, with different degrees of acrimonious criticism, that White assumed powers not belonging to him, claiming to be virtual governor of the colony, whereas he had no commission except a letter of instructions as sub-agent of Indian affairs.^[75] The embarrassments of his anomalous position constantly increased. The missionary colonists, as has already been shown, were divided amongst themselves. Those who differed from Jason Lee as to the proper business of men in the employ of missionary societies had already begun to leave the country. Those who remained, especially those in the Willamette Valley, belonged to the Lee faction, and were opposed to the pretensions of White because Lee was opposed to them. The settlers belonging to the Mission were governed, as the uneducated classes usually are, by the opinions of the man with the best facilities for making himself popular, and although Jason Lee's popularity with this class was not what it once had been, he still controlled the majority of American minds in the Willamette Valley. This being the position of affairs, it required no little skill to avoid the rocks placed in the current which White was obliged to navigate by the determined and often underhand opposition of his former associates of the Methodist Mission.

The importance of White's immigration has never been fully recognized. First, the missionary historians, Hines and Gray, were inimical to White, each in his way damning him either with faint praise or loud condemnation. After them, writers on immigration, finding White ignored, fell into the habit of speaking of the company of 1843 as the first immigrants. Against this injustice the authors of several manuscripts protest.^[76] Hastings, who wrote so minutely about the journey, and who succeeded White in command of the company, mentions the name of his rival but once in his account of the migration, and then only to doubt his authority to employ a guide. From all of which we may learn that if a man desires to be properly represented in history, he must avoid coming in conflict with the ambitions of other men equally aspiring who may undertake the record of affairs.

Upon the same authority it is said that most of the immigrants were disappointed in the country. They found themselves more than two thousand miles from the land of their birth, without houses to shelter them, destitute of the means of farming, without provisions or clothing, surrounded by unfriendly natives, and without the protection of their government. What wonder, then, if discontent prevailed?^[77] McLoughlin did his best to relieve this feeling, engaging many in labor at fair wages, and furnishing goods on credit to those who could not make immediate payment. The Mission, also, which was in need of laborers for the contemplated improvements, employed many mechanics. Thus out of the industry of this handful of energetic Americans sprang up Oregon City in the winter of 1842–3. There were thirty buildings in the spring of 1843, where before the immigration there had been but three or four.^[78] From this it would seem that most of the men with families, and some without, settled at Oregon City.^[79]

But there were others among the immigrants who could not be prevented from leaving Oregon by proffers of well-paid labor or other consideration. Why, it is difficult to say. They had had as yet no opportunity of estimating the resources of the country or the advantages which might accrue to them by settling in it. Possibly Hastings was responsible for it. He and White had been at enmity throughout the overland journey, and as the latter carried a government appointment, Hastings may have thought that his ambition would be more fully gratified by seeking fresh fields. Wherever Hastings went his adherents were willing to follow, and the result was that he started for California in the spring with about a third of the adult male members of the original company, together with a number of women and children.^[80] The party rendezvoused at Champoeg, and began their march on the 30th of May. Nothing occurred to interrupt their journey until Rogue River was reached, where the savages crowded about them in large numbers, proffering the use of their canoes in crossing. The travellers accepted the offer, but prudently divided their armed men into two parties, half being on the farther side to receive and protect the goods, and half left to protect the families which had not yet crossed. In this manner, by great watchfulness, and occasionally driving the natives back by discharging a gun, this dangerous point was safely passed.

Several days' travel below Rogue River they encountered a company en route to Oregon, headed by J. P. Leese and John McClure. The meeting was the occasion of serious discussion, both parties encamping in order to consider the relative merits of the two countries. The result was, that about one third of Hastings' party turned back to Oregon with Leese and McClure.^[81] Hastings' company, reduced to sixteen armed men, proceeded to their destination, being twice attacked by Indians, once at Shasta River, and again on the Sacramento, with no other damage than the wounding of Bellamy, and the loss for several days of two men who became separated from the company, and who, having exhausted their ammunition narrowly escaped death from starvation. At Sutter Fort all were kindly received and cared for, and Hastings, after remaining a short time in California, during which he gathered much floating information regarding the country, published a narrative of his travels and observations for the benefit of succeeding emigrations.^[82]

1. Peoria, Illinois, Register, May 4, 1839
2. Farnham's Travels, 65–6.
3. Farnham describes Blair as an elderly man, a mechanic, from Missouri. 'A man of kinder heart never existed. From the place where he joined us, to Oregon Territory, when myself or others were worn with fatigue or disease or starvation, he was always ready to administer whatever relief was in his power. But towards Smith, in his helpless condition, he was especially obliging. He dressed his wound daily. He slept near him at night, and rose to supply his least want.' Smith he calls 'base in everything that makes a man estimable,' and says he had an alias, Carroll. Travels, 36–7, 120. In Oregon Smith was nicknamed Blubber-mouth. Gray's Hist. Or., 187.
4. Farnham here observed a cart, made out of a one-horse wagon, which Payette said had been brought there from Connecticut by the American missionaries; but which was in fact the cart made by Whitman out of his light wagon in 1836. 'It was left here,' says Farnham, 'under the belief that it could not be taken through the Blue Mountains. But fortunately for the next that shall attempt to cross the continent, a safe and easy passage has lately been discovered by which vehicles of the kind may be drawn through to Walla Walla.'
5. 'L'arbre seul' of the French trappers. Burnett says with regret that the emigrants of 1843 cut down this noble pine. Recol., 124–5.
6. By comparing Farnham's Travels, 142–5, with Burnett's Recol. of a Pioneer, 123–6, it will be seen that the routes travelled in 1839 and 1843 were identical, with the difference that for wagons it was necessary in some places to make a détour to avoid some narrow ledges, or too abrupt elevations.
7. Farnham gives an account of his skirmish with 40 Indians, to obtain possession of the leather portions of his saddle and bridle which had been taken out of Lee's workshop, in parts, through a window. In the fray the chief drew his pistol and Farnham his rifle, but no blood was shed, though the Indians were much excited; the chief refusing to allow his men to assist in carrying Lee and Farnham's goods to the canoes. Their conduct on this occasion was the cause of Lee's purchase of arms and amnunition elsewhere alluded to. See Farnham's Travels, 161–3.
8. Alexander Simpson, a relative of Sir George and a clerk of the company, of whom Farnham said some amusing though kindly things, describes Farnham as possessing much dry humor, considerable intelligence, consummate impudence, and indomitable self-reliance. 'He talked grandiloquently and acted shabbily.' Perhaps Farnham's wit had pricked the Englishman's egoism.
9. His Travels to the Rocky Mountains, from which I have quoted, was published in 1841. Subsequently he published the same with additional matter about California and the interior of the continent, under the following titles: Travels in the Great Western Prairies, the Anahuac, and Rocky Mountains, and in the Oregon Territory; Pictorial Travels in California and Oregon; Travels in the Californias, and Scenes in the Pacific Ocean, Life in California. He also wrote the History of Oregon Territory; It being a Demonstration of the Title of the United States of North America to the Same, with a map; and a work entitled Mexico, Its Geography, People, and Institutions, with a map. His geography is superannuated, but his personal observations are amusing and instructive, by reason of their literalness and simplicity. After many adventures he settled in California, where he died in 1852.
10. Farnham's Travels, 175. Wilkes says that Farnham wrote the memorial from suggestions furnished him by Dr Bailey. Wilkes, who also visited Bailey, probably received his information at first hand, which renders it eliable. See Wilkes' Nar., iv. 388, note.
11. In Gray's Hist. Or., the 'others that would do them harm' is printed in capitals. As I have not seen the original of the document I cannot say if the memorial made it so emphatic; but in either case, the inference is clear that the Hudson's Bay Company was meant.
12. There had not been a murder among the white men since the killing of Thornburg four years previous. Thefts of some small articles may have occurred, but probably by the Indians. To charge infanticide, except on the Indian women, who also practised it, was to create a scandal about the only white woman in the country, those of the Mission. Wilkes mentions that an opinion had gone abroad that vice prevailed at Vancouver; but he felt compelled to give his testimony to the contrary; that he saw no instance in which vice was tolerated in any degree. Wilkes' Nar., iv. 355.
13. 'Belcher,' says Roberts, 'thought himself slighted, but I think Douglas was only carrying out his orders.' Recollections, MS., 8.
14. Belcher's Voyage, i. 295, 298.
15. Matthieu's Refugee, MS., 18.
16. Belcher's Voyage, i. 297. 'By a strange and unpardonable oversight of the local officers, missionaries from the United States were allowed to take religious charge of the population; and these artful men lost no time in introducing such a number of their countrymen as reduced the influence of the British settlers to complete insignificance.' Boston Miss. Herald, Dec. 1866.
17. As if that were not what the Americans were doing on the south side of the Columbia. But as to the government making grants, it could no more do so than the American government, before the boundary should be defined. The Agricultural Association could not even incorporate before the crown of Great Britain became possessed of the territory; so that actually the Puget Sound Company was on about the same basis as the Methodist Mission; one was under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the other of the Methodist Missionary Society, and neither had nor could have any real title to the lands they held.
18. 26th Cong., 1st Sess., Sen. Doc. 514; Gray's Hist. Or., 194–6. The only saw-mill of the company at this period was that above Vancouver, which turned out about 3,000 feet daily.
19. In his letter Farnham says the company's mill turned out 3,000 feet of lumber every 48 hours instead of every 24.
20. Mr Birnie had a potato-field on Tongue Point, but whether simply to raise potatoes, which did not grow well at Astoria, or to hold this promontory for some other purpose, is not known.
21. 'They are now all out of service and renewing their endless lives on the plains—part American, part English, some Indian, and still all French. Blessings on the Jeans, the Jaques, the Baptises, the Jeromes!' Portland Oregonian, Nov. 11, 1854; Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1876, 36.
22. Farnham said in his Travels, 175-6, what he did not venture to say to the secretary of war, namely, that the American settlers 'were liable to be arrested for debt or crime, and conveyed to the jails of Canada, arrested on American territory by British officers, tried by British tribunals, imprisoned in British prisons, and hung or shot by British executioners!'
23. An example of this want of jurisdiction in Russian America was furnished shortly after Farnham was in Oregon. McLoughlin's son John was sent to Fort Stikeen, where he was placed in charge. But he was young, and did not know how to manage his men, one of whom murdered him. When Sir George Simpson visited the company's posts in 1841–2 he arrested the murderer, who was a Canadian, but did not know how to bring the criminal to justice, as neither Canada nor Russia had any court of criminal jurisdiction in the country. He took the criminal to Sitka, but as the crime was not committed there, nothing could be done with him. Simpson's Nar., ii. 182; Hist. Northwest Coast, this series.
24. This was in 1841. A canoe, in which were some of the goods of Mr Kone's family, was upset in the Willamette River, and a box containing some of Mrs Kone's clothing, coming ashore, was picked up by a Canadian, whose wife, an Indian woman, appropriated it to her own use. This led to the arrest and trial of the responsible party before the missionary judge.
25. Niles' Register, lviii. 242. Wilkes, in his Narrative, iv. 388, says they were dissatisfied with his not putting the memorial, and his letter to the secretary of war, into his book. Gray, in Hist. Or., 186–7, is very abusive of him, and says he was expelled from the Peoria party, which, according to Holman, one of the seceders, is not true.
26. 27th Cong., 3d Sess., Sen. Doc. 102.
27. Holman's Peoria Party, MS., 1–4.
28. Joseph Holman attached himself to the Mission as a carpenter, and married in 1841 Miss Almira Phelps, as already mentioned. In 1843 he took a land claim near Salem, and farmed it for 6 years. Subsequently he was merchant, penitentiary commissioner, superintendent of the construction of the state-house at Salem, and president of the Pioneer Oil Company at that place. Holman was born in Devonshire, England, in 1817, and emigrated to the United States at the age of 19, and to Oregon at the age of 22. Portland West Shore, Nov. 1876; Portland Standard, July 2, 1880. Holmans Peoria Party, MS., is a narrative of the adventures of the 4 young malecontents who abandoned Farnham on account of Sidney Smith, and agrees substantially with Farnham's account up to the time they separated at Bent Fort. Holman's dictation was taken by S. A. Clarke of Salem in 1878, and contains several facts which do not appear in any printed authority. Of Holman's companions, Fletcher settled in Yamhill County, where he died. Cook survived him at Lafayette, in that county. Kilborne went to California in 1842.
29. The name of one of this party has been preserved, that of Robert Moore, who reached Oregon in 1840. He was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1781, of Irish parentage. He removed to Mercer County, where he married Margaret Clark. They were the parents of 10 children. Moore served in the war of 1812; and in 1822 emigrated to Genevieve County, Missouri. He was a member of the legislature of that state, and advocated free-state doctrine. In 1835 he removed to Illinois, where he laid out the town of Osceola; but becoming enamored of the far-off Oregon, left his family and sought the famed Willamette Valley. Selecting a claim on the west side of the falls, he made himself a home, which he called 'Robin's Nest,' where he was joined by his family, and where he spent his remaining days, having acted well his part in the early history of the country. He died September 1, 1857. Oregon Argus, Sept. 12, 1857; Wilkes' Nar., U. S. Explor. Ex., iv. 370; Address of M. P. Deady, in Or. Pioneer Assoc, Trans., 1875. Another pioneer of this period was a Rocky Mountain trapper, named George W. Ebberts, who settled in Oregon in 1839, where he was known as Squire Ebberts, or the Black Squire. He was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, June 22, 1810. At the age of 19 he engaged with Wm Sublette to go to the mountains as a recruit. He served 6 years in the American Company, and 3 years in the Hudson's Bay Company, leaving the mountains in the autumn of 1838 and wintering at Lapwai. Farnham describes an interview with him. Seeing a white man on the bank of the river above the falls of the Willamette, he went ashore to speak to him, and found him sitting in a drizzling rain by a large log fire. He had already made one 'improvement' and sold it, and was beginning another. He could offer no shelter, and took Farnham across the river to the log cabin of William Johnson, which contained a fireplace and a few rude articles of furniture. Ebberts finally settled in the Tualatin plains, with several other mountain men who arrived a year or two later. Brown's Miscellanies, MS., 22. Ebberts' Trappers Life, a manuscript narrative of scraps of mountain adventure and pioneer life, shows a man without education, but full of good fellowship, brave, and frank. Ebberts lived in the Tualatin plains. William Johnson, above mentioned, was a Scotchman. He had been in the naval service of the United States. Subsequently he became a trapper in the Hudson's Bay service, and when his term expired settled near Champoeg, and took an Indian wife. By her he had several children, to whom he gave such educational advantages as the country afforded. Wilkes' Nar., U. S. Explor. Ex., iv. 371–2; Farnham's Travels, 173. Johnson died in September 1876.
30. Farnham, who fell in with these persons at Fort David Crockett in Brown Hole, says one had the lofty intention of conquering California, others of trading, farming, etc., on the lower Columbia, and others to explore the wonders of nature on the shores of the Pacific. Travels, 120. The names of this party were William Geiger, J. Wright, Peter Lassen and Doctor Wislizenus and a German companion. A second party for California consisted of D. G. Johnson, Charles Klein, William Wiggins, and David D. Dutton. Two of the California adventurers turned back at Fort Hall, no guide for California being obtainable, but the others accompanied the missionaries to Oregon, where, when the Lausanne arrived in the following spring, Lassen, Dutton, Wiggins, Wright, and John Stevens took passage for California and settled there. Sonoma Co. Hist., 458; Sonoma Co. Hist., 61–2; San José Patriot, in S. F. Bulletin, June 5, 1879. The Germans probably went overland to California, as their object was to explore. Johnson sailed for the Hawaiian Islands.
31. Farnham's Travels, 120.
32. Griffin and wife wintered at Lapwai, and Munger and wife at Waiilatpu. Geiger, who with Johnson declared they were sent by people in the States to take observations of the country relative to immigration, being unable to explore it as he had hoped, consented to take the place of Shepard in the Methodist Mission school, which he retained until the arrival of the reënforcements of the following year, when he joined the mission at Waiilatpu, but afterward went to California. Munger and wife wintered at Waiilatpu and Griffin and wife at Lapwai. Griffin was a man lacking in good judgment; he had, moreover, an unkindly disposition, and in the matter of religion was little less than a fanatic. Early in the spring of 1840 he and his wife set out for the Snake country with the idea of establishing a missionary station and stock-farm. They were accompanied only by a native guide, who deserted them at Salmon River. After several weeks of painful travel they reached Fort Boisé, and were kindly received by Payette. Griffin's experience had damped his ardor for pioneering in the Snake country, and he returned to Waiilatpu. In the autumn of the same year he went to Vancouver, remained there as the company's guest during the winter, and in 1841, with McLoughlin's assistance, began farming on the Tualatin plains. Lee and Frost's Or., 210. Notwithstanding the favors Griffin received from the company, he afterward became one of its most bitter opponents, partly because McLoughlin had embraced the Catholic religion. Victor's River of the West, 377–8. Munger remained at Waiilatpu until near the middle of 1841. He was a good carpenter and useful to Whitman; but about that time the latter noticed that Munger showed signs of mental derangement, and fearing the effect of this on the natives, he suggested to the missionary that he return to the States. Munger started with his wife and child and a single male companion, May 13, 1841. Finding the American Fur Company broken up at Green River, he turned back to Oregon, and going to the Willamette Valley, began working for the Mission at Salem. Here his mental affliction grew worse, until finally he determined to work a miracle to convince the world of his inspiration, and nailing one of his hands to the wall above the fireplace in his shop, so roasted himself in the fire that he died within three days. Lee and Frost's Or., 211; McLoughlin's Private Papers, MS., ser. 2; Astoria Marine Gazette, June 13, 1866; Gray's Hist. Or., 185; Simpson's Nar., i. 161.
33. Centennial history of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University, in Portland Oregonian, Feb. 12, 1876.
34. Walker had expected to meet a company of forty persons ready for Oregon, but was disappointed. According to his Narrative, MS., it was the promise of land held out in Linn's bill which caused the movement. His history belongs properly to California, but since he set out for Oregon, he may be claimed as its first regular overland immigrant with a family. He, like the missionaries, had two wagons. The fur company had thirty carts. The wagons came as far as Fort Hall only. Walker was born in Goochland County, Virginia, in 1797, and like all the western men, kept moving toward the border, first to Tennessee, then to Missouri. When only seventeen he enlisted under Jackson to fight Indians in Alabama, and subsequently in the Seminole war in Florida. In 1822, with Stephen Cooper, he engaged in trade with the Mexicans at Santa Fé, and thus began what afterward became such an important branch of commerce. Finally he settled in Sonoma County, California. There is a manuscript Narrative by him, in which he says little of Oregon, except that his daughter Louisa who was born at Salem, January 14, 1841, was the first child of American parentage born in that territory, a statement which is erroneous.
35. Herman Ehrenberg emigrated to the United States from Germany at an early age. He was at New Orleans when the Texan war broke out, and was one of the few of the New Orleans Grays who survived the defeat of Fannin and the barbarous massacre of prisoners after the battle of Goliad. After the war ended he returned to Germany, and induced a large emigration of his countrymen to Texas. In 1840 he was in St Louis, and determined to cross the continent with a party forming for that purpose. From Oregon he went to the Hawaiian Islands, and after wandering for a few years in Polynesia, went to California and joined Frémont in his efforts to free that country from Mexican rule. The Gadsden purchase next attracted his restless nature, and in 1857 he settled near Tubac, and engaged in silver-mining in the Santa Rita Mountains, Arivica, Cerro Colorado, and other parts of Arizona. He was a civil engineer and scientist of more than ordinary ability and reputation. The town of Ehrenberg, Yuma County, was laid out by him and named after him. He was killed at Palm Springs on the California desert. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, Feb. 23, 1878.
36. Farnham gives a pathetic picture of one of these deserted mountain men, Joseph L. Meek, who afterward became as famous in the Oregon colony as he already was in the mountains. 'Meek was evidently very poor; he had scarcely clothing enough to cover his body; and while talking with us the frosty winds which sucked up the valley made him shiver like an aspen leaf. He reverted to his destitute condition, and complained of the injustice of his former employers; the little remuneration he had received for the toils and dangers he had endured on their account, etc—a complaint I heard from every trapper whom I met on my journey.' Travels, 127–8.
37. Walker says that the guide of the Clark party was named Craig, but as Craig and Newell were together at that time, the difference is unimportant. I have a letter of Newell's which agrees with Walker in every particular but this.
38. Newell's Letter to E. Evans, Feb. 27, 1867; Evans' Letter to A. McKinlay, Dec. 27, 1880.
39. This did not occur till 1842, when Newell had his taken to the Tualatin plains, it being the first wagon that crossed the plains from the Missouri to the Pacific.
40. Victor's River of the West, 282–3; Portland Herald, March 3, 1867.
41. Petition of 1838, in 25th Cong., 3d Sess., H. Supt. Rept. 101.
42. It would not be fair to assume that every individual belonging to the Methodist Mission was selfishly indifferent to all other classes; but that the missionaries as a body entertained and practised exclusive sentiments, I have already shown from documentary evidence. There is much additional evidence in the statements of the western people who came across the plains; some in long anecdotes, others in terse sentences. See more particularly Waldo's Critiques, MS., 15; Walker's Nar., MS., 16, 17; Minto's Early Days, MS., 25–6; Morse's Wash. Ter., i. 60–1; Nesmith's Address, in Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1880, 19–22.
43. Robert Newell was born near Zanesville, Ohio, March 30, 1807. His father removed to Cincinnati when he was a lad, and apprenticed him to a saddler The death of his father left him his own master when about eighteen and to gratify a love of adventure, he engaged with Smith, Sublette, and Jackson, to trap beaver in the Rocky Mountains. With little education, but fair talants and good principles, he contrived not to be ruined by the lawless associations which were fatal to so many. For some trifling surgical performances in the mountains he received the title of doctor, which he always retained. Applegate says of him: 'He was brave among the bravest, mirthful without being undignified, prudent and sensible, and of unquestioned veracity.' He is well spoken of by Evans, in Hist. Or., MS., 342–3; by Ebberts, in his Trapper's Life, MS., 20; by Burnett, in his Recollections, MS. i. 115, 132–4 and by other authorities. While in the mountains he took to wife a Nez Percé but in 1846 he married Miss Rebecca Newman, of Marion County, Oregon. His connection with the early history of the country was honorable. In 1867 he removed to Lewiston, Idaho, where he died November 14, 1869.   Joseph L. Meek was a native of Washington County, Virginia, born in 1810. His mother's name was Walker, of the same family as the wife of President Polk. Meek, however, grew up without education on a Virginia plantation, and being troubled because his father contracted a second marriage, ran away and joined Sublette at the same time with Newell and Ebberts. The friendship formed between the two young adventurers lasted through their lives, and Meek, who outlived Newell several years, sincerely mourned him. Unlike Newell, Meek was excessively frolicsome, and enjoyed shocking sedate people. While undoubtedly brave and magnanimous, he missed much of the consideration really due his exploits, through his habit of making light of everything, including his own feelings and acts. He possessed a splendid physique, a magnetic presence, wit, courtesy, and generosity. His wife was a Nez Percé, who outlived him. He died June 20, 1875. Victor's River of the West, 41–3; Burnett's Rec. of a Pioneer, 157–61, 173–4; Hillsboro Independent, June 24, 1875; S. F. Call, July 25, 1875; S. F. Post, June 22, 1875; Portland Oregonian, June 24, 1875; Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1876. William M. Doty died June 1872. C. M. Walker settled on the Nestucca River in Tillamook County. Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1880, 58. Ebberts mentions John Kernard, W. H. Graves, and one Severn as being in Oregon at this time, and Gray mentions George Wilkinson and a man named Altgeier. Hist. Or., 192.
44. McLoughlin's Private Papers, MS., 2d ser. 7; Lee and Frost's Or., 272–3. Couch was unsuccessful in this undertaking, and after having sold his vessel at the Hawaiian Islands, returned to Newburyport, leaving in Oregon George W. Le Breton, a young man of intelligence and respectability, who settled at the falls of the Willamette, and attached himself to the anti-Hudson's Bay or American Missionary party. Having learned the condition of trade in Oregon and its requirements, Couch returned there in 1842 with a new brig, the Chenamus, named after a Chinook chief living opposite Astoria, and leaving a stock of goods at Oregon City in charge of Albert E. Wilson, who came out in the Chenamus, and Le Breton, employed his vessel in trade with the Sandwich Islands, as had been arranged in the informal treaty between Jason Lee and King Kamehameha III.; the whole business being under the name and auspices of Cushing & Co. Couch continued to manage the business of Cushing & Co. until 1847, when he returned to Newburyport by way of China. In the following year he engaged with a company of New York shipping merchants to take a cargo of goods to Oregon in the bark Madonna. Captain Flanders sailed with him as first officer, and took command of the Madonna on reaching Oregon, while Couch took charge of the cargo, which was placed in store and sold in Portland. The two captains went into business together in 1850, and remained at Portland up to the death of Couch, April 1809. Besides his business, Couch owned a land claim which proved a source of wealth, being now a part of the city of Portland. His wife and family came from Massachusetts by sea in 1852. His children were all daughters, and the three elder married Dr Wilson, C. H. Lewis, merchant, and Dr Glisan, all prominent citizens. S. F. Bulletin. May 1, 1869.
45. H. Rept., 27th Cong., 2d Sess., 56–61.
46. Wilkes Nar., iv. 365.
47. It is easy to see from Wilkes' remarks on the Columbia River and the Willamette Valley, in vol. iv. of his Narrative, that he was well informed of all the causes of complaint, from the treatment of Ewing Young to the report that cannon were buried on Tongue Point, and from the representations of the tyranny and vices of the fur company to the pleadings for American institutions; for all these subjects are there brought up and answered. He did not sympathize with Waller's complaint of the fur company's monopoly of trade, because he could not help feeling that it was 'unsuited to the life of a missionary to be entering into trade of any kind,' and that complaints against the Hudson's Bay Company 'came with an ill grace from the members of a mission who are daily receiving the kindest attentions and hospitality from its officers.' He visited some of the settlers, and was visited by others; dined with Father Blanchet at the Catholic mission on French Prairie; visited Abernethy at the old mission; criticised the manner in which the Mission people left a patent thrashing-machine in the middle of the road, 'where it had evidently been for a long time totally neglected,' and mentioned that a thousand bushels of wheat had been lost through neglect to harvest it, and that about all the Mission premises there was absence of repair and neatness, 'which he regretted to witness.' He expected to find an Indian school, but saw no natives except 4 who were employed as servants. On inquiry he was told that there were about 20 at the new mission; but when he arrived there he was informed that the pupils were not in a condition to be inspected. In short, he found the missionaries interested in anything rather than missionary work; and especially anxious about the establishment of a temporary government, which he discouraged. But of this I shall have more to say hereafter.
48. Applegate's Views of Hist., MS., 29–30. This story the doctor used often to repeat with much enjoyment.
49. Gray's Hist. Or., 204; Swan's Northwest Coast, 377.
50. The immigrants were Joel P. Walker, his wife, sister, three sons, and two daughters, who arrived in Oregon the previous autumn; and Burrows, wife and child; Warfields, wife and child; and one Nichols, who I think crossed the continent with Bidwell's California company in 1841 as far as Fort Hall. The settlers who went to California with Emmons were Henry Wood, Calvin Tibbetts, and Henry Black, who came to Oregon in 1840, and Molair and Junass. Tibbetts returned with cattle in 1842, probably joining Gale's party.
51. Lee and Frost's Or., 302; McLoughlin's Private Papers, MS., 2d ser. 4; Farnham's Travels, 452–3; Wilkes' Nar., U. S. Explor. Ex., v. 121. See also Hist. Northwest Coast, this series.
52. Saul was long known in Oregon as the master of a craft, a cross between a Chinese junk and a fore-and-aft schooner, which plied between Astoria and Cathlamet, carrying passengers, live-stock, and other freight, and supplying a necessity in the early development of the country. Overland Monthly, xiv. 273.
53. Simpson's Nar., i. 1–172.
54. Mofras, Explor., i. preface, 33–74.
55. Mofras, Explor., i. 294; Greenhow to Falconer, 6; South. Quart. Review, xv. 218; Dwinelle's Speech, 5, in Pioneer Sketches.
56. Simpson estimated the whole population of the Willamette Valley in 1841, American and French, at 500 souls, 60 Canadians and others with Indian wives and half-breed families, and 65 American families. Nar., i. 249. Spaulding gave the number of American colonists at 70 families. 27th Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Rept. 830. Wilkes gave the numbers of white families at about 60. He also has the number of cattle in the Willamette Valley at 10,000, worth $10 a head wild, and much more for milch cows or work oxen. This estimate of the riches of the colonists in cattle is probably too high, though some herds had been driven from California since 1837. Simpson placed the number of cattle at 3,000, horses at 500, besides an uncounted multitude of hogs. Even the lower estimate would give an average of 24 cattle, 4 horses, and plenty of pork to each family. Simpson also stated the wheat raised in 1841 to be 35,000 bushels from 120 farms, or about 300 bushels to each farm, with a due proportion of oats, barley, pease, and potatoes. The price of wheat in 1841, after the Puget Sound Company had opened its farm on the Cowlitz, was 62½ cents per bushel, for which anything except spirits could be drawn from the company's stores, at 50 per cent advance on London cost. 'This is supposed,' says Wilkes, 'all things taken into consideration, to be equal to $1.12 per bushel; but it is difficult for the settlers so to understand it, and they are by no means satisfied with the rate. Nar. U. S. Explor. Ex., iv. 390; Simpsons Nar., i. 250. The wages of mechanics in the Willamette Valley were $2.50 to $3 a day, common laborers $1, and both difficult to procure at these prices. It could not reasonably be said that under these conditions the colonists were suffering any severe hardships. For other accounts of the colony at this time, see Nicolay's Or. Ter.; Blanchet's Hist. Cath. Ch. in Or.; Evans, in Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1877; Bond, in 27th Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Rept. 830.
57. Gray, in Hist. Or., 288, places the arrival of the Red River immigrants at Fort Colville in September 1842, one year after they passed that place. George T. Allan, a clerk of the company at Vancouver, who accompanied Simpson to the Sandwich Islands, went to Colville to meet them before Sir George returned from Stikeen. Roberts' Recollections, MS., 70; Tolmie's Puget Sound, MS., 24; Evans' Puyallup Address, in New Tacoma Ledger, July 9, 1880. Simpson speaks of treating their guide, a Cree, to a short trip on the steamer Beaver, on the sound, while he was at Nisqually in Oct. 1841. Nar., i. 241.
58. Fitzgerald, one of the party, says that 'the treatment they received from Dr McLoughlin was such that after having been nearly starved under the paternal care of that gentleman, they all went over to the American settlement of the Willamette Valley.' Hudson's Bay Company, 14. This is more than even Gray can indorse, who says that to his certain knowledge McLoughlin extended to the Red River settlers every facility within his power; but that other leading members of the company were domineering and tyrannical, which was the cause of their leaving the supposed English portion of the territory. Hist. Or., 30. Applegate, in his marginal notes on Gray's history, says: 'The Red River settlers made no complaint of ill treatment, but removed from the sound to the Willamette because of the superiority of the soil and climate. Lee and Frost give the same reason. Or., 216.
59. 25th Cong., 3d Sess., H. Rept. 101, Supplement, 4.
60. See bill for relief of Elijah White, and report of committee of the senate dated Feb. 2, 1846, in White's Concise View, 64–6.
61. White gives the following glimpse of his emigration efforts: 'Last night all the other appointments were taken up to hear me lecture on Oregon, and as the weather was fine and travelling good, the noble church was filled, the pulpit lined with ministers of all denominations, and I talked an hour and a half with all my might.' Ten Years in Or., 142–3; White's Early Government, MS., 22, 24.
62. It is not to be believed that these emigrants from afar came at the doctor's call. Probably they had already begun to move in the direction of Oregon, and hearing of White's party, joined it for safety. This opinion is sustained by Crawford.
63. Their names are as follows: Thomas Boggs, Gabriel Brown, William Brown, James Brown, Hugh Burns, G. W. Bellamy, Barnam, Winston, Bennett, Vandeman Bennett, Bailey, Bridges, Nathaniel Crocker, Nathan Coombs, Patrick Clark, Alexander Copeland, Medorum Crawford, A. N. Coats, James Coats, John Dearum, John Daubenbiss, Samuel Davis, Allen Davy, John Force, James Force, Foster, Joseph Gibbs, Girtman, Lansford W. Hastings, John Hoffstetter, J. M. Hudspeth, Hardin Jones, Columbia Lancaster, Reuben Lewis, A. L. Lovejoy, S. W. Moss, J. L. Morrison, John McKay, Alexander McKay, Dutch Paul, Walter Pomeroy, J. H. Perry, Dwight Pomeroy, J. R. Robb, T. J. Shadden, Owen Sumner, Andrew Smith, A. D. Smith, Darling Smith, A. Towner, Joel Turnham, David Weston, Elijah White. Of these, 10 had families, as follows; Gabriel Brown, Mr Bennett, James Force, Mr Girtman, Columbia Lancaster, Walter Pomeroy, J. W. Perry, T. J. Shadden, Owen Sumner, and Andrew Smith. But Hastings gives the force of armed men as 80; and Frémont as 64. Crawford says the whole number of emigrants was 105. The largest number given by any authority is 160. Love joy says about 70 were able to stand guard. White's statement that there were 112 persons in the company when it organized, and that this number was augmented on the road until it reached 125, is probably the most reliable, and agrees with the account given in Lee and Frost's Or., 257. McLoughlin, in his Private Papers, MS., 2d ser. 7, puts the number at 137, but he probably includes a party of mountain men who joined the emigrants at Fort Laramie. The authorities on the subject are: White's Ten Years in Or., 144; White's Emigration to Or., MS., 18; Strong's Hist. Or., MS., 33; Hastings' Or. and Cal., 6; Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 20; Lovejoy's Founding of Portland, MS., 4; Bennett's Narrative, in San José Pioneer, May 26 and June 2, 1877. Gray says there were 42 families, and makes the whole number of persons 111, but only names two of them. Hist. Or., 212. The names of many of the adult emigrants must have been forgotten, the register having been lost after the death of the secretary, N. Crocker, soon after reaching Oregon. Mrs Ann Perry, wife of J. W. Perry, died in June 1879. Salem Weekly Farmer, July 4, 1879.
64. The resolutions adopted were substantially as follows: That every male over 18 years of age should be provided with one mule or horse, or wagon conveyance; should have one gun, 3 pounds of powder, 12 pounds of lead, 1,000 caps, or suitable flints, 50 pounds of flour or meal, 30 pounds of bacon, and a suitable proportion of provisions for women and children; that White should show his official appointment; that they elect a captain for one month; that there be elected a scientific corps, to consist of three persons, to keep a record of everything concerning the road and journey that might be useful to government or future emigrants. This corps consisted of C. Lancaster, L. W. Hastings, and A. L. Lovejoy. James Coats was elected pilot, and Nathaniel Crocker secretary. Moreover it was ordered that H. Burns be appointed blacksmith, with power to choose two others, and also to call to his aid the force of the company; that John Hoffstetter be appointed master wagon-maker, with like power; that the captain appoint a master road and bridge builder, with like powers; that a code of laws be draughted, and submitted to the company, and that they be enforced by reprimand, fines, and final banishment; that there be no profane swearing, obscene conversation, or immoral conduct allowed in the company, on pain of expulsion; that the names of every man, woman, and child be registered by the secretary. White's Ten Years in Or., 145–6.
65. Lovejoy's Portland, MS., 3. It appears that after all the measure was only partially carried out.
66. Hastings' Or. and Cal., 6, 9.
67. They disposed of their wagons and cattle at the fort; selling them at the prices they had paid in the States, and taking in exchange coffee and sugar at one dollar a pound, and miserable, worn-out horses, which died before they reached the mountains. Mr Boudeau informed me that he had purchased 30, and the lower fort 80 head of tine cattle, some of them of the Durham breed.' Frémont's Expeditions, 40–1.
68. F. X. Matthieu was born in 1818, and in 1837, at the time of the Canadian rebellion, was clerk in a store in Montreal. Being a rebel, he employed his leisure in purchasing and shipping arms to the centres of rebellion, and was obliged at last to quit Canada, which he did in 1838. He went first to Albany, New York, and afterward to St Louis, where he engaged with the American Fur Company to trade in the Yellowstone country; and subsequently made an expedition to Santa Fé, from which place he rejoined the fur company at Fort Laramie in 1841, and traded for one year with the natives in the Yellowstone region. But the natives being furnished with rum became too savage and dangerous to deal with, and Matthieu decided to go to Oregon with the emigration. Two of the Canadians with him were Peter Gauthier and Paul Ojet. Matthieu went to Étienne Lucier at Champoeg, where he remained two years, working as a carpenter or farmer as circumstances required. In 1844 he married and settled at St Pauls as a farmer. When the gold fever broke out he went to California for a time. He was afterward elected constable and justice of the peace under the provisional government of Oregon. In 1878 he dictated to my stenographer an account of his adventures, which, under the title of Matthieu's Refugee, MS., furnishes several items of interest and importance to this work.
69. Hastings says that White had no authority to employ a guide at the expense of the government. Or. and Cal., 9. Lovejoy, who was Hastings' lieutenant, says the same. Founding of Portland, MS., 7. White undoubtedly had verbal assurances that the necessary expenses of his expedition would be paid, see Letter of J. C. Spencer, in White's Ten Years in Or., 322–5, and was encouraged to expect the protection of Fremont's exploring expedition, which did not, however, leave the frontier until the 10th of June, nor arrive at Laramie until the 15th of July, when White's party had been a week gone.
70. Lovejoy's Portland, MS., 9–18; Hastings' Or. and Cal., 11–17; Whites Ten Years, 155–7.
71. White's Ten Years in Or., 164; Hastings' Or. and Cal., 20; Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 24. Attempts have been made to show that the Hudson's Bay Company's officers did what they could to obstruct immigration from the States, and purposely exaggerate the difficulties in order to induce the emigrants to sell their oxen and wagons at a sacrifice. That such was not the case is proved by Grant's kindness to White's and other parties. He sold them provisions low, and so far from trying to get their wagons, he assured them that they could travel with them as far as Walla Walla without serious interruption. It was their own fault that they did not take his advice.
72. Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 23.
73. Lovejoy, who was of Hastings' party, had been left behind to search for a lost companion. When he reached Walla Walla, Hastings had gone, so he remained at the mission, and in the following month was engaged to accompany Whitman to the States.
74. White's Ten Years in Or., 168–70.
75. Hines says: 'The subject of organizing a government was again revived in September 1842; but Dr White, who was now in the country as sub-agent of Indian affairs, contended that his office was equivalent to that of governor of the colony. Some of the citizens contended that the doctor's business was to regulate the intercourse between the Indians and whites, and not to control the whites in their intercourse among themselves.' Or. Hist., 421; Applegate's Views, MS., 35; Moss' Pioneer Times, MS., 4.
76. Moss' Pioneer Times, MS., 10, 11; Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 17; White's Early Government, MS., 19.
77. Hastings' Or. and Cal., 22.
78. Moss' Pioneer Times, MS., 29.
79. Medorum Crawford went to Salem, and taught the Mission school during its last session, after which he returned to Oregon City and entered upon the business of transporting goods around the Falls with ox-teams for the greater convenience of the settlers above the portage. He was born in the state of New York, being 21 years of age when he came to Oregon. He married in 1843 Miss Adeline Brown, who came in the same company. Mrs Crawford died in June 1879, leaving 6 children. Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 4. This manuscript was dictated from memory. It agrees in the main with other accounts of the emigration of 1842, and refers to many Oregon matters. Sidney W. Moss assisted in building the original Oregon Institute on Wallace's prairie. He was born in Bourbon County, Indiana, March 17, 1810, was a stone-mason by trade, and finally took up his residence at Oregon City. He appears, from his Pictures of Pioneer Times, to have been a man of strong biases, giving his opinions incautiously, though in the main his statements were correct. He was of a literary turn, and was interested in founding the first association for mutual improvement in Oregon in the autumn of 1843, called the Falls Debating Society. Moss says that while on the way to Oregon, and during the winter of 1842, he wrote a story called the Prairie Flower, which he gave for publication to Overton Johnston, an emigrant from Indiana, who returned to the States in 1843; and that it fell into the hands of Emerson Bennett, who polished it, and published it as his own, securing considerable fame thereby, as it was the first of a series of those sketches of border life which afterward became popular. Bennett subsequently wrote a sequel, Leni Leoti. Moss' Pioneer Times, Oregon City, 1878, is a valuable manuscript treating ably of a great variety of historial topics, chiefly relating to Oregon City. David Weston, a blacksmith associated with Hubbard, with born in Indiana, July 4, 1820. He became a worthy citizen of the young commonwealth, serving though the Cayuse war. He died Dec. 19, 1875. Salem Farmer, Jan. 1876. Manning settled on a farm near the old Mission, where he lived 7 years, but went to California in 1849. Sonoma Co. Hist., 612. Crocker was drowned in the Willamette in February 1843, as mentioned in a previous chapter.
80. Hastings gives the whole number as 53, and of men bearing arms 25. J. M. Hudspeth, who was born in Alabama February 20, 1812, 'a civil gentleman,' as Moss says, was one. Sonoma Co. Hist., 478–9. N. Coombs, who settled in Napa Valley, was another. He died December 1877. Antioch Ledger, Jan. 5, 1878. T. J. Shadden is also mentioned. He returned to Oregon and settled in Yamhill County. Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 29. Among the rest were W. Bennett, V. Bennett, O. Sumner, A. Smith, A. Copeland, G. Davis, S. B. Davis, John Daubenbiss, G. W. Bellamy, H. Jones, and Mr Bridges. Four of these had families. San José Pioneer, May 26, 1877. Gray remarks that Hastings relieved the colony of a number of not very valuable settlers, referring to the fact that they were furnished by McLoughlin with supplies for their journey to California, for which the most of them neglected to make payment to Mr Rae at San Francisco as agreed. McLoughlin's Private Papers, MS., 2d ser. 8. But the subsequent career of these men proved them no worse in this respect than some who remained in Oregon.
81. McClure was from New Orleans, where, according to Moss something happened to cause him to leave that part of the world. He settled at Astoria, his land claim forming a part of the town site, and married a native, a sister of the wife of George Winslow, colored, of the many aliases, whose business as 'medical doctor' was so unfeelingly broken up by Dr Barclay, at Oregon City. James John, M. C. Nye, James Dawson, and Benjamin Kelsey, his wife Nancy and one daughter, were of the California emigration to Oregon. The Kelseys did not long remain, but returned to California; and Dawson was drowned in the Columbia River in 1847. San Joaquin Co. Hist., 15; Sutter Co. Hist., 25.
82. The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California, Containing Scenes and Incidents of a Party of Oregon Emigrants; A Description of Oregon; Scenes and Incidents of a Party of California Emigrants, and a Description of California, with a Description of the Different Routes to those Countries, and all Necessary Information Relative to the Equipment, Supplies, and the Method of Travelling., By Lansford W. Hastings, leader of the Oregon and California emigrants of 1842. Cincinnati, 1845. This compendious title to a book of 152 pages sufficiently explains the nature of its contents, which are written in a fair style. Hastings was from Detroit, Michigan. He is described as a man of practical talent, but of a selfish and arbitrary disposition, and is charged with having wormed himself into the command. Lovejoy's Portland, MS., 3. He headed an expedition, says Moss, to some southern island, Pioneer Times, MS., 8; and Lovejoy adds that he married a Spanish lady. Hastings Emigrant Guide was republished in 1849 at Cincinnati, and bound with a number of other pamphlets on the same subject, under the title of A History of Oregon and California.