Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 11/Number 3
THE QUARTERLY
of the
Oregon Historical Society
CONTENTS
T. C. ELLIOTT— Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader - - 229-278
T. W. DAVENPORT— The Late George H. Williams - - 279-285
F. G. YOUNG— Financial History of the State of Oregon— IV— Public
- Expenditures ------- 286-306
DOCUMENTS — Letter and Circular of Information for Prospective Emigrants to Oregon - - - - - 307-312
GEORGE H. HIMES— Appointment of Dr. Marcus Whitman as Guardian of the Sager Children ----- 312-313
NOTES - - - 314
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THE QUARTERLY
OF THE
Oregon Historical Society.
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[Copyright, 1910, by Oregon Historical Society]
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On November 29th, 1847, at Wai-i-lat-pu, six miles west of where the City of Walla Walla, Washington, is now located, that worthy missionary and Oregon pioneer, Marcus Whitman, was murdered, an event anticipated even earlier by others then residing in Oregon who knew the existing conditions. But unexpectedly and unfortunately the murder became a massacre; Mrs. Whitman was killed also, and with her twelve others, immigrants who were located at the Mission for the Winter. And the remainder, women and children, over fifty in number, what of them? Confined to the adobe buildings of the Mission and closely watched by sullen and vengeful Indians of both sexes, they were held as captives for a whole month, shut off from outside communication and uncertain of their fate,—one of them in fact carried away to the lodge of Chief Five Crows, forty miles distant.
But about December 20th a change was noticed in the demeanor of the Indians, and on December 29th the captives were released and escorted to the Fort of the Hudson's Bay Company, twenty-five miles westward on the Columbia river, arriving there at evening. The man who had accomplished their ransom and who stood anxiously at the gate of the Fort to receive them was Peter Skene Ogden, then the ranking Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at the Columbia river headquarters, Vancouver, who, immediately upon hearing of the massacre, had hurried up the Columbia over two hundred miles to the rescue. What wonder that the name of Mr. Ogden has been held in kind remembrance by the survivors of this massacre and their descendants, and the pioneers of Oregon! The story of his life must be somewhat incomplete, but such facts as have been gathered together reveal a man of unusual force and character who was intimately connected with many stirring events of the early history of "Old Oregon" and British Columbia; and a leader whose responsibilities were often great because he was the field officer chosen to execute the most difficult tasks and command the most perilous expeditions. The telling of that,story will fix definitely the dates of extensive explorations in the "Old Oregon" country, and the origin of some of its names, and will include mention of many people prominent during the period of the Hudson's Bay Company's supremacy on the Columbia.
The name Ogden is an honored one in both England and America. It is of Saxon origin, derived from the words Ock and Dean, meaning Oak Vale or Valley, and suggestive of length of years, sturdiness of frame and strength of character. There are in America two prominent branches of the family: the Fairfield Branch of Connecticut, and the Elizabethtown Branch of New Jersey; and it is to the seventh generation of the latter Branch that Peter Skene Ogden belonged. He was descended from, John Ogden, known as The Pilgrim John Ogden, who came from England about the year 1642 and settled first at the easterly end of Long Island, where he founded the present city of Southampton, but about 1668 removed to New Jersey, and there he and his descendants acquired estates where the cities of Elizabethtown and Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 231 Newark now stand. The family was one of the most promi- nent in the latter community at the time of the breaking out of the War of the Revolution. Peter Skene Ogden was born in the city of Quebec, Lower Canada, in the year 1794, the more exact date not yet having been traced. His father was then judge in the Admiralty Court at Quebec and a leading citizen among the Union Empire Loyalists then residing in Canada. His mother (a second wife of his father) was Sarah Hanson (Ogden) from Livingston Manor, near New York City, a woman of fine attainments and property in her own right. She was a sister to Capt. John Wilkinson Hanson of the British army. Peter Skene Ogden's grandfather was Judge David Ogden, a grad- uate of Yale College in the class of 1728, and mentioned by one historian as the first thoroughly trained lawyer to reside in the State of New Jersey, and a man of prominence and influence in the City of Newark. Peter Skene Ogden's father, "The Hon. Isaac Ogden, was doubtless born in Newark, N. J. He graduated in the first class that went out of King's (College), now Columbia Uni- versity, chose the law for his profession, and became a dis- distinguished jurist. Newark tradition says that at the out- break of the Revolution, his father, Judge David Ogden, and all his sons took the patriotic side, and that the son Isaac Ogden delivered a stirring address to a mass meeting from a platform extended from the second story of the old court house, Newark. * * * But in the latter part of 1776, the old Judge and his sons, Isaac, Nicholas and Peter, affiliated with the Royalist party and their property was condemned and sold during the war. However, Isaac's brothers, Abra- ham and Samuel, remained staunch and active patriots." "Judge Isaac Ogden was said to have built a store on the northeast corner of Broad and Market streets, Newark, where the First National Bank now stands. His house in Newark was alternately the residence of the British General and the American Commander, as either party happened to be sue232 T. C. Elliott. cessful. In this way his young family became subject to all the horrors attending a residence in the seat of war. But his loyalty to the mother country becoming pronounced, he sought safety as a refugee in New York; and when the British evacuated that section in 1783, he abandoned his property and prospects and took his family to England. There is every evidence that, like his father, he was honest in his con- victions, for several biographers represent him as a man of sterling integrity and of great moral worth. "The sufferings he had undergone and the sacrifices he had made, together with his learning and legal ability, attracted the attention of the English government, and after the close of the war, he was appointed Judge of the Admiralty at Quebec by King George III. in the year 1788. He at once re-crossed the ocean and established his family in Quebec, where his natural energy of character enabled him to retrieve much of his losses, although his salary was small in meeting the demands of the rank he was obliged to assume." (This quotation is from "The Ogden Family," a genealogical work prepared with great care and labor by the late Wm. Ogden Wheeler, from which other facts relating to the family are also drawn.) The two brothers, Abraham and Samuel, who supported the side of the colonies, deserve mention. The former re- sided at Morristown, N. J., and his house became head- quarters for General Washington during one period of the New Jersey campaigns — he was a close adviser of the Gen- eral, and his little son David became a favorite of the General, and a companion on the daily ride among the troops. The story is well authenticated that upon one occasion Gen- eral Washington engaged in a playful fencing contest with the little boy and by accident scratched his hand with one of the foils and then and there shed the only blood drawn from him during the war. After the war Abraham Ogden became District Attorney for New Jersey and a member of the State Senate, and at his death in 1798 was one of the most promiPeter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 233 nent lawyers in the state. Samuel Ogden, and his nephew David, became interested in land purchases along the St. Lawrence out of the tracts ceded by the Iroquois Nation, colonized those tracts and the city of Ogdensburg took its beginning and name from them. These facts and traditions concerning the antecedents of Peter Skene Ogden are related somewhat at length because of their inherent interest, and also because they indicate the kind of blood that ran in his veins and the opportunities and associations he was depriving himself of in undertaking and enduring the hardships common to the life of a fur trader. We can also understand why his father and mother gave him the family name Peter, after that of the uncle who had remained loyal to the crown, but who had died before 1794. The name Skene came to him from outside the family. Among other prominent U. E, Loyalists then residing in Quebec were the Skenes, formerly of Skenesboro (now Whitehall) on the shores of Lake Champlain in New York state. These two families, the Ogdens and the Skenes, had been possessed of large properties and accustomed to the luxuries of life and were living in Quebec in circumstances limited for people of their social station, and a common bond of sympathy existed between them. Andrew Skene was also a jurist, and became god-father to this, the youngest son of Judge Ogden. Hence the middle name which is properly spelled SKENE, but in later years was spelled indiscrim- inately Skeen and Skein by the man who bore it, because he said it looked better and he enjoyed a little variety in life. Judge Isaac Ogden was, very soon after 1794, by the recom- mendation of Lord Dorchester (then Governor General of Canada), appointed to be one of the Puisne Judges of the District of Montreal, and at once removed his family to that city, and it was there, persumably, that the boyhood and youth of his son Peter Skene were spent. There is no record as to those years, although the record as to a brother, Charles Richard, three years his senior, is that he, Charles, "was 334 T. C. Elliott. educated by Rev. Mr. Doty of Three Rivers and Mr. Shakel of Montreal, where he studied law. In 1812 he began to prac- tice," etc It is not unreasonable to suppose, there- fore, that the Rev. Mr. Doty or some other vicar or rector (the family were devout members of the Church of England) tried a hand at educating young Peter Skene. However that may be, neither any such influence or the overwhelming prepon- derance of biblical names among his ancestors induced him to become a clergyman. His was a restless and imperious spirit which demanded a life of activity and adventure. The call of the wild" to a young man in Montreal in those days was not the quest of gold or the sailing of the seas or the raising of stock on the plains, but the trading for furs. The men of wealth in Canada were the shareholders in the fur companies ; there was a reputed romance to such a life as well as a pros- pect for future gain and prominence. A fur trader would he be! And, moreover, just then was gently heard that special call to the region beyond the Rocky Mountains just being opened up to the fur hunters through the explorations of Lewis and Clark, Simon Fraser, David Thompson, Joseph Howse and others. Between the Northwest Company of Can- ada and the "Gentlemen Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson's Bay," known generally as the Hudson's Bay Company, the rivalry was already intense and it was not a rivalry in trade only, but in exploration and discovery. Begin- ning with 1800 both the chief explorers, David Thompson for the Northwesters and Jos. Howse for the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, began to feel their way to the summit of the Rockies and soon after along the head waters of the Columbia. We already know of David Thompson on the lakes of the upper Columbia and in the beautiful valleys of the Kootenai and the Pend d'Oreille and the Skeetshoo (Spokane) from 1807 to 1812, and in future years we shall probably learn that Joseph Howse was not far behind. The adventurous spirit of young Peter Skene then might well be drawn toward the fur trade and the romantic lands of the Columbia. Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 235 It has been suggested that the early years of Peter Skene were spent in dissipation and that he left the parental roof without the consent or knowledge of his parents. We prefer to think the contrary in the absence of any detailed informa- tion. The record is brief, but clear enough. It comes from the late Archibald McKinlay, his son-in-law, and from the late Elwood Evans, of Tacoma, both of whom took it from Peter Skene himself. It is this: In the year 181 1, that is, at the age of seventeen, in the Spring he entered the service of the Northwest Company as clerk; previous to that he had begun the study of law, and previous to that he had been in the employ for a short time of John Jacob Astor as a clerk. This takes him pretty well back toward boyhood, and as to that period — well, what real boy is not mischievous! Where he was employed by Mr. Astor is not stated, but presumably in Montreal. In 1810 the organization of the Pacific Fur Com- pany had been completed and the activity of that enterprise was at Montreal rather than New York. The partners and employees of that company took their start, both the overland party and those going by sea, from Montreal. Peter Skene's oldest brother, David, twenty-two years his senior, was al- ready a leading solicitor in Montreal and a few years later was one of the chief counsel for the Northwest Company in their litigation with Lord Selkirk. It is entirely reasonable to suppose that the family were influential in favoring the strong and wealthy Canadian fur company in preference to the more hazardous enterprise of Mr. Astor. 1 In Southern Athabasca there is a lake and an island, both called Isle a la Crosse ; and each of the two fur companies had a fort on the island. Sir Alex. Mackenzie tells us the occa- sion for this peculiar name : "This lake and fort take names from the island mentioned, which received its denomination from the game of the cross which forms a principal amuse- ilt may be stated with confidence that it was not Peter Skene Ogden who was supercargo of the Lark, Mr. Astor's vessel that was wrecked near the Sandwich Islands in 1813. That was Nicholas Gouverneur Ogden, a distant cousin, who afterwards represented the Astor Company in China. 236 T. C. Elliott. ment among the natives." Earlier fur traders (probably the Frobishers in 1775-6) had found the Indians there playing a game which afterward became the national game of Canada. Another explanation given is this : here the canoe routes divided or crossed, that north to the Athabasca District, and that west to the Rocky Mountains. Just where Peter Skene Ogden began to earn his thirty or forty pounds per year during his apprenticeship as clerk of the Northwest Company we do not know, but presumably he spent the entire seven years at and in the region of Fort Isle a la Crosse. This was a rather more pleasant fort than others because less isolated; and the Cree Indians thereabouts were a superior tribe. The rival fur companies were then opposing each other bitterly. That was the period of the Seven Oaks Massacre on Red River. Ogden had his hand in some of the acts of violence, which were not limited to the Red River neighbor- hood by any means, and he was of an age and disposition to be recklessly active in behalf of his own company. Hon. Donald Gunn, in his History of Manitoba, writing of the loss of two lives at Fort Isle a la Crosse in the Winter of 1814-15, says (pp. 121-126) : "The consequence was that the servants of the Northwest Company, among whom Samuel Black and Mr. Peter Ogden, acted a conspicuous part when at leisure, amused themselves by annoying and insulting their neigh- bors, at times encouraging if not commanding their men to set their nets adrift, and at other times cutting them into pieces — not forgetting to pay occasional visits to the Hudson's Bay Company's House, where their conduct was often highly improper and unjustifiable." And right here, for the sake of diversion, let us note a further companionship of Messrs. Ogden and Black, twenty- one years later, recorded in a letter of Archie McDonald's at Colvile in January, 1837, to John McLeod: "With your two friends of old, Ogden and Black, I made the trip to the sea last summer. There we found the usual bustle not at all diminished by the presence of a new transport ship from EngPeter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 237 land, a very superb vessel intended for the coast. In this Skokum Ship, as the Chinooks call her, the Isle a la Crosse Gents and myself were treated with a delightful cruise round the mouth of the Wilamette before her final departure for the coast of Finlayson." This refers, of course, to the trial trip of the steamer Beaver on the Columbia river in 1836. By far the most picturesque and at the same time quite ac- curate account of conditions in general and Mr. Ogden in particular at Isle a la Crosse is the one inscribed by that red- headed artist with the pen, Ross Cox, in his book entitled, "Adventures on the Columbia River." Ross Cox in the spring of 181 7 journeyed East with the express from Ft. George on the Columbia to Fort William and Montreal. He wrote : "June 26th (1817). Beaver River at this place branches into several channels. We took the principal one, and at eleven A. M. arrived at its termination, where it enters the lake of Isle a la Crosse, nearly opposite the fort. Stopped here for half an hour pour se faire la barbe, and make other little arrangements connected with the toilet. These being completed, we embarked, but having the fear of the Crees before our eyes our progress was slow and cautious across the lake, until our avant-couriers announced to us that the flag of the Northwest Company floated from the bastions, and that all was safe. The Chanson a l'aviron was instantly struck up, and at one P. M. we reached the wharf, where we were met by Messrs. M'Murray and Ogden, who were in charge of the fort. Those gentlemen had also heard the rumoured intention of the Crees to attack the establishment, but they were of opin- ion that the attempt would not be made. They had only eight men under their command; but the place was surrounded by strong palisades, and flanked by two bastions, which, although not very beautiful specimens of fortification, would have puz- zled a battalion of Indians to take. The Hudson's Bay Com- pany had a fort on a point of land running into the lake, which was not more than a quarter of a mile distant from our establishment. It had been taken the preceding winter by 2 3 8 T. C. Elliott. the Northwest Company, and at the period of our arrival there were about twenty men prisoners in it, and upwards of one hundred and twenty women and children, besides dogs innumerable. They were miserably supplied with provisions, and all seemed dejected and emaciated. Their principal reli- ance for food was on the lake ; and when the fish failed, their chief support was tripe de rocher. I conversed with some of the men. They were from the Orkneys, and wished they were safe home again. They spoke in no nattering terms of the treatment they had received from their captors ; but admitted that such of the Northwesters as had been made prisoners by their party fared no better We remained a couple of days at the fort to refresh the men, and were hospitably entertained by our hosts, on excellent white fish and tea without sugar. One of those gentlemen, Mr. Peter Ogden, was nearly related to a high judicial functionary, and in early life was destined for the same profession. The study of provincial jurisprudence, and the seignorial subdivisions of Canadian property, had no charms for the mercurial temperament of Mr. Ogden; and, contrary to the wishes of his friends, he preferred the wild untrammeled life of an Indian trader to the "law's delay," and the wholesome restraints which are provided for the cor- rection of over-exuberant spirits in civilized society. His ac- counts of his various encounters with Orkney men and Indians would have filled a moderate sized octavo, and if reduced to writing would undoubtedly stagger the credulity of any person unacquainted with the Indian country; and although some of his statements were slightly tinctured with the prevalent fail- ing of La Guienne, there was vraisemblance enough through- out to command our belief in their general accuracy. In a country, however, in which there is no legal tribunal to appeal to, and into which the "king's wit does not run," many acts must be committed that would not stand a strict investigation in Banco Regis. 'My legal primer,' said Ogden, 'says that "necessity has no law," and in this place, where the custom of Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 239 the country, or as lawyers say, the Lex non scripta, is our only guide, we must in our acts of summary legislation, some- times perform the parts of judge, jury, sheriff, hangman, gal- lows and all !' " While at Isle a la Crosse, Mr. Ogden took unto himself a wife, as was the custom among the fur traders, an attractive daughter of the Cree nation, and his first son was born on January 18th, 181 7, and named Peter, of course. This son was educated in the Protestant school at Red River and en- tered the H. B. Company's service and died in 1870 while still in that service. His eldest son (named Peter Skene) had died suddenly and both were buried the same day and in the same grave. The two fur companies were in 181 7- 18 engaged in legal struggles at Montreal and we are told that the Northwesters did not hesitate to send some of their men to remote districts so as not to have them available at the trials. The famous Coltman-Fletcher Report to Gov. Sherbrooke (by him trans- mitted to England) mentions one tragic incident in which Ogden had a part near Isle a la Crosse in 1817, and says: "A bill of indictment was issued against Ogden for this." This may have been the occasion for the departure of Mr. Ogden for the Columbia the following year, for there is where we get our next glimpse of him. It is a fact worthy of emphasis that the partners of the Northwest Company were, as far as now known, the first explorers of and the first traders on the upper Columbia river. When the Pacific Fur Company's brigade ascended the Columbia in the summer of 181 1 to establish their posts in the interior they found there already built and doing busi- ness, Spokane House, Kootenai Fort, Flathead or Saleesh House, and perhaps a Fort at the mouth of the San Poll. And in the spring of 181 8, when Peter Skene Ogden came sweep- ing down the river on its flood waters, the Northwesters con- trolled the river from source to mouth without opposition. James Keith was then the senior partner in charge at Fort 240 T. C. Elliott. George and harmony did not prevail there, if the few accounts we have are correct. The Columbia river immediately below Wallula passes through what is now known as the Gap, formed by high cliffs on either side. Just below the Gap, in fact in it, a small island is located. The two rocky cliffs were known to the fur traders as McKenzie's Head and Ross's Head, so called after the two* men who built Fort Nez Percees, or Fort Walla Walla as more gen- erally called, in July and August, 1818. Passing down the river that spring, Mr. Ogden camped at the mouth of the Walla Walla river, but was attacked by the natives and com- pelled to take refuge on this island, "where he made a stand and completely routed the Indians." (Lieut. Drayton, of the Wilkes Expedition, visited the spot in company with Mr. Ogden in 1841 and the Wilkes account is our authority.) This occurrence was one of the deciding factors to deter- mine the immediate erection of the new Fort along the middle Columbia river and the selection of that particular place for its location. According to one authority, Mr. Ogden was one of the party who assisted to build it, but we think this incorrect.. There are but few records of that day to refer to, but it can with reasonable certainty be said that during the years 18 18- 19 Mr. Ogden's headquarters were at Fort George (Astoria), and that he led trapping parties from there into the country between the Columbia and Puget Sound and around the har- bors north of the Columbia. We have as authority for this his own conversations as reported by Lieut. Wilkes; there is also the family tradition that his second son, Charles, born September 19th, 1819, first saw the light of day on the lower Columbia. There were a good many Iroquois Indians in the country at that time, employed by the Company or free trap- pers. The Iroquois were a troublesome lot to get on with. Mr. Ross in his "Fur Hunters" relates one experience of the Fall of 1 81 8 that took place in the Cowlitz neighborhood when Mr. Ogden and a band of Iroquois were compelled to flee for Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 241 their lives back to Fort George. The result of that escapade was a grand wedding at Fort George in April, 1819, at which the daughter of Chief How How, of the Cowlitz tribe, became the wife of one of the gentlemen of the fort. Whether Mr. Ogden was the groom we do not know, but bashfulness would not have been a prevailing hindrance. The record is silent, also, as to his presence at another event at Fort George on October 6th of 1818, when J. B. Prevost, special commissioner of the United States, arrived in H. M. ship Blossom, and went through the formality of raising the Stars and Stripes over the fort, an occurrence that seems to have been viewed in the light of a joke by the participants, but really was of considerable importance in the claim of the United States to the Oregon Country." As Peter Skene Ogden was learned in legal phrases, the first lawyer to reside in Oregon we may say, let us romance a little and suppose that he was present and entered a demurrer to the proceeding. In 1820, Mr. Ogden acquired an interest in the Northwest Company. Among the family papers is one yellow and worn and bearing the written signatures of all the partners of the Northwest Company present and voting (some very promi- nent names of the fur trade) at the annual meeting held at Fort William in July of 1820, reciting the transfer to Peter S. Ogden of one share in the company and his admission as a partner. That year he appears to have been in charge in the Shuswap country, for in a report written from Thompson river (British Columbia) in 1823 by John McLeod, who was then there, it is stated in regard to the Indians living on a certain branch of the river that "Mr. Ogden three years ago made an attempt to send freemen up this North river, but in consequence of some dissension that broke out amongst them they returned (having) been 40 miles up the river." This statement is as yet the only direct reference found as to his whereabouts in 1820 and 182 1, but from his familiarity a 242 T. C. Elliott. little later, with the Flathead country and the Spokane country, it is probable that he was also in service at those interior forts. In the spring of 1821 at London the principal owners of the Northwest Company and of the Hudson's Bay Company were compelled by circumstances to bury their differences and merge their interests in the form of what we would now call a trust. Right then began that "gigantic monopoly" to which the more pious of the American settlers in Oregon took such exception, but which, by the irony of fate, actually con- tributed more than any other one factor to the peaceable set- tlement of the "Oregon Question" in favor of the United States. This trust took the name of the older and larger of the two companies, and the news of its formation reached the Colum- bia in the fall of the same year. To the Northwesters actually in the service, both on the Columbia and in the Indian coun- try, this news caused chagrin and wonder. They had put forth their best efforts, and most of them had endangered their lives for the Northwest Company, and now it seemed to have been wiped out. Peter Skene Ogden evidently pro- posed to know where he stood as to future prospects, and the following year, 1822, he departed for Lower Canada and London, under leave of absence. Another reason may have taken him to England. His father had been obliged to relinquish active service as a "Jus- tice of the Court of the King's Bench" (to use the words of his will) 1 in 1818 and retire to England for medical treatment, and was in fast declining health. Perhaps the father longed for a sight of his youngest son and sent for him. At any rate, among the family papers appears a letter written in trembling hand at Taunton, England, addressed to Mr. Peter Ogden, London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, London, as follows: ijudge Isaac Ogden was not Chief Justice at Montreal, as often stated. Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 243 Taunton 9th March 1823. My Dear Son ; The thought that we were separating forever in this world was so afflicting that I found myself unequal to take leave of you in Person, and indeed to bid you adieu in this mode fills my heart with grief which I cannot express. You have my blessing and my prayers that God of his great mercy & good- ness may watch over, preserve & keep you in all your perils & dangers to which you will be exposed. And that he will give you grace to be grateful for all the benefits & favours he may vouch safe to bestow on you, that you may repose your trust & confidence in him, and that through the whole course of your life you may be vigilant & careful to keep his com- mandments, to have a lively faith in our blessed redeemer, and finally through his merits & atonement you may be eternally blessed & happy. You will as often as you have leisure think on these things, and that you may benefit & profit by those reflections, as being apointed (?) to your present & future welfare. Let me recommend to you to be careful of your health and not to expose yourself to danger unnecessarily. You will of course be exposed to many in the discharge of your duty, but let me entreat you not to court them or be a volunteer in any hazardous enterprise for which you will get little thanks & credit. I think my health daily improves. I have not yet ventured out, the weather is too cold for me to go abroad, but I hope will soon be milder. I long much to receive a letter from you. I suppose I shall receive one tomorrow. I am interrupted by a visit from Col. Plenderlist ( ?). Your mother Sister & Pering (?) are well & all join me in best wishes that God may preserve & keep you. Believe me to be most affect'ly & truly, Your Father, I. Ogden. You will be pleased to tell my friends to whom you have letters that they were written on the 5th of March, as I forgot to date them. The year following the father died and by his will Peter Skene inherited with the other children one-eighth of the estate. So our Mr. Ogden had a real taste of civilized life and that in the capital city of the kingdom. London Coffee House 244 T. C. Elliott. was a fashionable place then and his photo, presumably taken there, reveals a striking man. We wonder whether returning through Canada he was not tempted to remain there. His brother, Charles Richard, was already becoming very promi- nent, and a little later became attorney general of Canada and a leader politically. Another brother, Isaac, was an army officer for many years and afterward sheriff at Three Rivers. Peter Skene himself was vivacious, active and fond of com- pany and a natural leader. But the call to him was still the call to the open, and to the Pacific slope. So on July 23rd, 1823, we find him at York Factory on Hudson's Bay ready to take charge of the Express to the Columbia, after the annual council that year. The difference between the service and fare at the London Coffee House and that on this journey by "Canoe and Saddle" must have been very appreciable. Instead of roast beef for dinner it was pemmican, with some grease to help it go down easily ; and for breakfast it had been pemmican, and for supper would be pemmican again. The party did not find provisions along the way as expected and had to subsist for a time on "berries and 6 or 8 fish caught each day with 6 or 7 fathoms of net made out of a skein of twine they happened to have along." Even horseflesh was not to be had until they sent across country to Edmonton for some. Mr. Ogden took sick because of the lack of food and worry and was delirious for a time, but recovered. The record of this journey across more than half of our continent has been preserved to us in the journal of John Work, the clerk of the party, and it would be of interest to follow it day by day, but not to the purpose of this narrative. They passed the "height of land," as the continental divide was always designated in those days, on the 10th of October, and were at Boat Encampment on the Columbia on the 13th, where they met according to appointment the fall express from the Columbia bound east. With that party was Alex. Ross on his way east to quit the service, but Mr. Ogden Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 245 delivered to him a letter from Gov. Simpson which turned that gentleman back again to take charge of the Snake Expe- dition that fall. (Of this we learn in his "Fur Hunters.") Down the Columbia the party go in three boats and reach the "Forks of Spokane" on the 21st at evening, three months from York Factory. Flere Mr. Birnie from Spokane House and Mr. Kennedy with 21 men start down the river for Fort George, and Mr. Kittsen, Mr. Ogden and Mr. Work set out for Spokane House on the 25th. And there evidently Mr. Ogden remains for the winter. Spokane House, nine miles northwest of the present city of Spokane, even then a center of activities (although soon to be abandoned for a more favorable location at Kettle Falls) — what was its attraction? Mr. Ross gives a rather highly colored view of it : "There all the wintering parties, with the exception of the northern district, met. There they all fitted out; it was the great starting point. * * * At Spokane House, there were handsome buildings ; there was a ball room even and no females in the land so fair to look upon as the nymphs of Spokane ; no damsels could dance so gracefully as they; none were so attractive. * * But Spokane House was not celebrated for fine women only ; there were fine horses also. The race ground was admired, and the pleasures of the chase often yielded to the pleasures of the race. Alto- gether Spokane House was a delightful place." We insert this reference to Spokane House because it is appropriate to this period in our narrative. Either just now or a few years earlier Mr. Ogden has taken unto himself another wife, a remarkable woman from the Spokane tribe of Indians (if fam- ily tradition is correct), who became a dutiful mother to his children and afterward resided at Ft. Vancouver and for some years at Oregon City. During the sixties, she removed to Lac la Hache in British Columbia and died there in January, 1886, at the age of ninety-eight years. She was a step-daughter of old Francois Rivet, of the Lewis and Clark party, who took up a claim on French Prairie in Oregon, and she was heir to 246 T. C. Elliott. a portion of that claim. Could she have been a charming widow when Mr. Ogden married her? She was six years his senior in age. The following spring, 1824, the journals of Mr. Work assist us again: "April 15th, Thursday, clear, fine weather. Left Spokane House early on horseback, accompanied by Mr. Ogden and Mr. McDonald (Finan) and in company with the men and horses loaded with furs for Spokane Forks, there to embark for Ft. George." And again: "Sat. May 1st. The brigade, consisting of 7 boats, left Oganogan for Wallawalla, wrought by 63 men and loaded with the Spokane and Thomp- son river veterans and a number of passengers." They arrived at Fort George the morning of the 13th. The annual ship from London was late that year and the partners waited as long as possible, but (the journal continues) — "Tues. Aug. 3rd, Early in the morning Messrs. Dease, Ogden, and McLeod accom- panied by Kennedy came to the boats which were already loaded. The three former embarked and proceeded up the river for the interior." They reached the mouth of the Spo- kane on the 25th of August (a quick passage), and Ogden proceeded to Spokane House with 80 loaded horses. Soon an Indian brings the message from Fort George that the ship has arrived and back down the river again they go to Fort George, but are again at Spokane Forks on the 21st of Octo- ber. And here we note an interesting item, the arrival of important people in "Old Oregon." The journal reads: "Oct. 2 1st (1824) The property and all the Spokane men but two were sent off to Spokane in charge of Mr. McDonald. Mr. Ogden remained with me and the remainder of the extra men to wait for the express. Oct. 27th. The express arrived in the afternoon, 2 boats with Governor Simpson, Dr. McLough- lin, Mr. McMillan, Mr. Dears and Mr. McKay. October 28th. The Governor, Dr. McLoughlin, Messrs McMillan, Ogden and McKay went off to Spokane. * * * Oct. 30th. The gentlemen returned from Spokane. Sunday, Oct. 31st. Em- barked about 11 o'clock with the Governor and Mr. McMillan Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 247 in one boat and Mr. McLoughlin and Mr. McKay in another for Fort George. * * * Mr. Ogden and the people for Spokane removed to proceed to their destination." We thus mark the arrival of Dr. McLoughlin on the Colum- bia and the company in which he came, but leave that party at Okanogan, where Gov. Simpson wrote on Nov. 1st to John McLeod, who was at Thompson River, among other things the following: "While at Spokane House we received letters from Mr. Ross and the report he gives of the Snake Expedi- tion is favorable * * * and Mr. Ogden proceeds imme- diately to the Flat Head Post in order to outfit and conduct it back to the Hunting Grounds." So here we have the record of the beginning of Mr. Ogden's five years in charge of the brigade to the Snake Country, then considered the most dangerous and most important field in which the Hud- son's Bay Company operated. We should not omit to men- tion that Gov. Simpson (probably) brought out with him a parchment from the Hudson's Bay House, Fenchurch Street, London, certifying to the appointment of Peter Skene Ogden as a Chief Trader by the Directors of the Company at their meeting in March, 1824. (That parchment, dated March 3d, 1824, is still in the possession of the family.) Mr. Ogden was winning his spurs early, thirty years of age, and only thirteen years in the service ; many of the older clerks waited for years for such a promotion. Flathead Post or Fort of those days was located about where Thompson Falls, Montana, on the line of the Northern Pacific R. R. is now situated. And we are fortunate to be able to quote, by the courtesy of Miss Agnes C. Laut, from her transcript of the Journal of Alex. Ross for the year 1824, as follows : "Friday, 26th Nov. From Prairie de Chevreux myself and party arrived at this place (Flathead Post) in the afternoon which terminated my voyage of 10 months to the Snakes. Mr. Ogden and Mr. Dears with people and outfit from Spokane reached (this) place a few hours before us. Saturday. 27th. All hands building. Mr. Ogden handed me 248 T. C. Elliott. a letter from the Governor appointing me charge this place for the winter. Mr. Ogden takes my place as chief of Snake Expedition. Sat. nth Dec. Finished equipping" the Snake hunters. Monday 20th. Statement of men under Mr. Ogden to go to the Snake Country. 25 lodges, 2 gentlemen, 2 inter- preters, 71 men and lads, 80 guns, 364 beaver traps 372 horses. This is the most formidable party that ever set out for the Snakes, and Snake Expedition took its departure. Each beaver trap last year in the Snake Country averaged 26 beav- ers. Was expected this hunt will be 14100 beaver. Mr. Dears goes as far as Prairie de Chevroux." Their course was through the valley of the Bitter Root river, passing by the mouth of Hell Gate canyon, the present site of Missoula. The next word we have of him is when John Work in- scribes in his Journal at Okanogan on July 26th, 1825 : "A little past noon an Indian arrived from Spokane with a note from Mr. Birnie and a packet which had recently reached that place from Mr. Ogden dated East Branch of the Missouri 10th July. * * * A series of misfortunes have attended the party from shortly after their departure and on the 24th of May they fell in with a party of Americans when twenty- three of the former deserted. Two of this party were killed, one by the Indians and one by accident, and the remainder of the party are now coming out by the Flat Heads." This fixes for the first time, as far as known to the writer, the date of an unprofessional proceeding on the part of a band of trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, then controlled by Gen. Wm. H. Ashley, of St. Louis. By distributing liquor among Ogden's men a general desertion was brought about, but this was apologized for a year or so later, as other jour- nals show. The H. B. Co. did not then allow liquor and cards to be carried by their men or used in their camps ; the only drinking allowed was at times of festivity or "regale". But the Americans were much more free and easy. Mr. Ogden did not come out by way of the Flathead Post after all but by way of the Snake River route, already estabPeter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 249 lished by Mr. Mackenzie in 1819, arrived at Fort Walla Walla on Nov. 9th ; there Chief Factor John McLoughlin was im- patiently waiting for him and at once (Nov. 21st) started him off again for another year's exploration and trade. But it is not the purpose of this narrative to follow closely these five years of trade and exploration and exposure and danger among the thieving Snakes (how he did despise them !) and the treacherous Blackfeet and wandering Piegans, not to mention the various other tribes. The Snake Country stretched from the Three Tetons on the east to the Cascades and Sierras on the west, and hardly a tributary stream in that whole stretch of country was overlooked by this indefatigable trader. Much of the time was spent in the eastern portion, near the Port Neuf river (so named after one of his men) which Ogden declared the best beaver country on earth, but all the winter of 1825-6 he was exploring the rugged coun- try of eastern Oregon around the head of the John Day river and from there crossed to the Snake by way of Burnt river, and nearly starved to death reaching there ; and in the fall of 1826 he led his trappers to Malheur and Harney lakes and then ascended the Des Chutes and crossed the height of land to the waters of what he called the Clamitte, and further on to a river he called the Sasty, after the Indians found there, with a high snow peak visible to the westward to which he gave the same name; and toward spring turned to the northeast across the plains of southern Oregon to the head waters of the Malheur and followed that to the Snake ; this time additional discomfort was the presence of so much salt or alkali water. The fall of 1828 he penetrated into the regions of what he called Unknown River and the trappers afterward called Ogden's river, but known to us as the Hum- boldt, and from there struck eastward to the shores of Great Salt Lake which he skirted around to the northward, con- tributing more than the usual number of horses to the kettle for subsistence, and finding Indians who ran from him and evidently had never seen a white man before. He returned
- 5°
T. C. Elliott. in the spring and summer (1829) across that same region, enduring heat and dust and narrowly escaping from rascally Indians we know as the Modocs ; but telling those Indians (on May 29th, 1829) that in three months he would see them again, he started homeward to Fort Nez Perces, which was always the point of departure and return. Of the last four of these expeditions we are in possession, through the cour- tesy of Miss Agnes C. Laut, of copies of the original jour- nals kept by Mr. Ogden and on deposit in the H. B. House at London (see Vols. 10 and 11 of the Oregon Historical Quar- terly). The data that he obtained was used by Arrowsmith, the famous map maker of London, on his maps published during the thirties and forties which were dedicated to the "Hon'ble Hudson's Bay Company/' and commonly used by the fur traders at their posts. There are many names yet remaining through the regions he explored that appear in his journals, but the only locality still named after him is that in Utah, where there is an Ogden Hole, Valley, River, Canyon and City, though it remains yet tq^ be definitely de- termined what special circumstance led the American trap- pers to so designate that locality or when the circumstance occurred. There is little doubt as to his having been the ear- liest explorations of the region around the westerly and north- erly end of great Salt Lake, and as to the localities bearing his name, the following letter, written on the 7th of May, 1909, by Mr. Charles F. Middleton, of Ogden, Utah, will be sufficient authority: "I settled in Ogden in 1850, and have grown up with the town. * * * Ogden 1 was named after Mr. Ogden of whom you write, both as to the river and city. * * * Ogden Hole, or as some used to call it, Mr. Ogden's Hole, is a low divide about seven miles north of center of Ogden City. It used to be the only route over which the trappers and Indians traveled into and out of Ogden valley which lies directly east and north of Oregon City." iAs to the name Ogden this positively proves that the name was already there when the first settlers arrived in 1849-50, but as to the location of "Ogden's Hole," and the occasion for that designation, other explanations are given and will be further mentioned in connection with the Ogden Journals. Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 251 Archibald McDonald, writing from Ft. Langley to Edward Ermatinger in March, 1830, remarks that "He (i.e. Francis Ermatinger) and Ogden with large parties are now to the Southward". And Mr. Ogden, himself, writing to John Mc- Leod from Vancouver on March 10th, 1881, states modestly: N "I was not so successful in my last years Trapping as the year preceding although I extended my trails by far greater distance to the Gulph of California but found beaver very scarce, and unfortunately below the main Dalles of the Colum- bia my own Boat was engulphed in a Whirlpool and 9 men were drowned. I had A most narrow escape". This (and Chap. I of "Traits" hereafter mentioned) is the extent as yet of our record of the expedition under Mr. Ogden that left Fort Nez Perces in the early fall of 1829 and visited California and returned in the summer of 1830. From the data appear- ing on the Arrowsmith maps it is fairly certain that he kept to the east of the Sierras most of the way down, and we can well imagine what sort of experiences he passed through. But we must remember that the name California on British maps then applied to all the region belonging to Mexico south of the 42nd parallel, and not to the California we now know as such. The letter of Mr. Ogden 's last quoted from continues : "On my arrival here I found from the Committee's Letter I was appointed to form an Establishment at a place called Nass about 10 degrees to the Northward of this and was to have sailed last Fall but an infectious fever made its appearance amongst the natives and carried off upwards of two hundred and our servants unfortunately took it and for three months we had not one at our command and we are now again making preparations for this same place. I know not what success I may meet with there but I am not of opinion our wealth will be increased". This letter is signed Peter Skein Ogden. After six years of life on the hurricane deck of a cayuse Mr. Ogden was ready for any change of scene, of climate and of die* - , but we may easily imagine that it took a little 252 T. C. Elliott. time for his legs and digestion to become accustomed to this change, which required him to cross the Columbia River bar periodically and remain on board ship part of each year. The departure of the expedition James Douglas mentions in a letter written to John McLeod from Fort Vancouver in March, 1832: ' The Nass party left us in the early part of last April. * * * They were greatly retarded on the passage by contrary winds and in consequence did not reach their destination before the nth of May." And a letter of Duncan Finlayson's of the same date reports : The coasting trade is progressively improving; it turned out last summer about 3000 Beavers, exclusive of other valuable furs, but the loss it sustained in the death of Cap. Simpson will be seriously felt. * * * he departed this life at Nass on the 2nd of September (1831). * * * Our people appear to be firm- ly seated down at Nass. * * * n and we have it in mind to extend our settlements along the coast, the best and most judicious plan we can adopt for the purpose of wresting that trade from the grasp of the Americans who have so far monopolized it". The Fort built in the summer of 183 1 was at the mouth of the Nass River and was named Fort Simpson in honor of the Captain who died there as just noted. In the summer of 1834, however, the location was changed to a point forty-five miles further down the inlet, not far north from the present Prince Rupert of the Grand Trunk Pacific. The following year the location of a post was selected further south on Milbank Sound near the mouth of the Bellacolla, which stream Alexander Mackenzie had followed to the Pacific in 1793; this fort, was named Fort McLoughlin. The American monopoly which Mr. Ogden was expected to break up and succeeded against so well had to be met with its own methods and means of trade. This is evidenced by the following entry in a journal kept by Wm. F. Tolmie the 14th August, 1833, at Nisqually on Puget Sound: "A ves- sel is soon to be dispatched to the Southward for a supply of tobacco and rum, etc. The latter article is expended and Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 253 consequently the trade has been stopped at Nasse and Mil- bank." It is hinted in history that trading vessels from Bos- ton and vicinity dealt profitably in rum in other parts of the world also. To the credit of the H. B. Co. be it said that by agreement with the Russian-American Fur Co. some years later liquor was abolished as an article of trade with the Indians of the coast. The same journal entry by Dr. Tolmie says : "H. B. Ship Cadboro arrived from/Milbank Sound with news. * * * Mr. Ogden has gone northwards to Stikeen with the Llama and Vancouver, which place he is to survey." That took him beyond the Russian boundary and into the trading territory of the Russian-American Fur Company at New Archangel (Sitka), but the plan was to build a fort upon the Stikeen river above the thirty league limit. Dr. Tolmie was trans- ferred to Fort McLoughlin that fall and the following spring joined Mr. Ogden's expedition (outfitted at Fort Vancouver) to the Stikeen, and his journals for June, 1834 (the originals of which are in Victoria, B. C), relate in detail the exchange of courtesies with the Russian officers off the mouth of the river and the attempts of Mr. Ogden to bluff his way past their vessel and rude block house, and the decision finally to abandon the enterprise and return southward. Hubert Howe Bancroft seems to have had access to this same source in writing his History of the Northwest Coast and the inci- dent is told by him with considerable accuracy and need not be repeated here. But that it became an item for discussion and comment among the fellow traders of Mr. Ogden is manifest from another letter which follows, the answer to which could it be found would be even more interesting to read : official Stuarts Lake Western Caledonia George Simpson Esq 20th Feby, 1838-- Governor in Chief of Ruperts Land Sir Had I last year called upon you for your opinion respecting my conduct in the discharge of my duty as con254 T. C. Elliott. nected with the Stikine Expedition, you might probably then have considered the application as premature - The circum- stances in which that affair was enacted have now, however, been thoroughly investigated and in justice to myself in com- mon with the Gentlemen attached to the Expedition under my command, I can no longer defer doing so. Reports, I am in- formed are current throughout the Country insinuating that I acted with "too much caution" or in other words with coward- ice, whence it would appear that an impression is entertained by many that the failure of the expedition in question is attributable to unworthy conduct on my part. Under the unfavorable aspect which opinion has apparently assigned with regard to the share I bore in the transactions alluded to, I deem, it proper, nay indispensible [sic] — to call upon you for an official answer to the following queries which, in justice to all concerned, I doubt not will unhesitatingly be acorded answer viz: Whether the part I adopted under the peculiar circumstances wherein I found myself placed, of with- drawing without having carried into effect the instructions I had received, be attributable to cowardice or not? Again: What in the opinion of Gov. Pelly and yourself, is the line of action I ought to have pursued in order to avoid the foul stigma which has been so' charitably affixed to my name ? And finally : Whether, even admitting the question of my physical desparity to have been less obviously unfavorable to me, I could, without infringing on the provisions of the Convention, or consistently with the duty which I owe to myself as well as the Gentlemen who accompanied me, have acted in a manner more conducive to the ultimate interest of the Concern of which I am a member? I remain, etc. P. S. Ogden. Of his arrival in the Columbia again in 1834 we have this item from J. K. Townsend's Narrative. Mr. Townsend was, in December of that year, on board a H. B. Co. vessel en route for the Sandwich Islands and had been bar bound in Baker's Bay several days: "On the morning of the nth, Mr. Hanson, the mate, returned from the shore, and reported that the channel was smooth; it was therefore deemed safe to attempt the passage immediately. While we were weighing anchor, we descried a brig steering toward us, which soon Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 255 crossed the bar, and ran up to within speaking distance. It was one of the Hudson's Bay Company's coasters, and as we were getting under weigh, a boat put off from her, and we were boarded by Mr. Ogden, a chief factor from one of the Company's forts on the coast. He informed us the brig left Nass about the first of October, but had been delayed by con- trary winds, and rougty boisterous weather. Thus the voy- age which usually requires but about eight days for its per- formance occupied upwards of two months. They had been on an allowance of a pint of water per day, and had suffered considerably for fresh provisions. Mr. Ogden remained with us but a short time, and we stood out past the cape". One further item regarding the three and one-half years on the coast is w T orth mentioning. It was then that the first circulating library of the Pacific Coast was started. The record is that the Gentlemen of the coasting trade contributed to a fund and had brought from England the latest books and magazines and circulated them from one post to another. In his journal Dr. Tolmie speaks of receiving from Mr. Ogden the Life of Edmund Burke and Franklin's First Journeys to the North. Mr. Townsend was a trifle in error as to Ogden being then a chief factor, but it was only a month later that he arrived at that honor. The parchment showing his ap- pointment is dated at H. B. House, London, January 1st, 1835. The promotion was accompanied with the assignment, to the command of the New Caledonia District with head- quarters at Fort St. James on Lake Stuart ; the post established by Simon Fraser in 1806. This district extended from the Coast Range eastward, and included all streams drained by the Fraser river. As a young man Mr. Ogden is described as being a little below medium height and broad between shoulders and hips, but very muscular and quick in action, such a man as it would be unpleasant to line up against in a foot ball match. When in the Snake country he had complained of being reduced to skin and bones by the life there, which was calculated to make 256 T. C. Elliott. him a man of sixty in a few years, he said. But sea air and food and an occasional potion, perhaps, seems to have agreed with him, for we are told that the Indians of New Caledonia stared at him as the fattest man they had ever seen. New or Western Caledonia was an extensive region of mountain peaks and valleys and prairies, of beautiful lakes and swift rivers, and of curious Indians, — different from those of the Snake country. The road thither left the Columbia at the Okanogan ; there the "property" was transferred to the backs of horses, often several hundred in number, and the pack trains went winding their way northward to the Thomp- son river at Kamloops, and thence on through the mountains to the northern forts, five or six in number. Later this be- came the famous Okanogan mining trail. There was also a trail from Fort Col vile up Kettle river, a route now traveled by the steel rail locomotive ; but few goods were taken in that way. It is not purposed to relate incidents of the nine years spent in charge of New Caledonia. Father Morice has treated that period quite amply in his "History of the Northern Interior of British Columbia." Mr. Ogden took his family with him to Lake Stuart; a daughter named Euretta (whose mind was clouded) and his youngest son named Isaac were born there. To some extent he introduced farming in the district but the main article of food the year round was dried salmon. Every spring he made the journey to Fort Vancouver to sit as a member of the Board of Management, which Gov. Simpson had organized, perhaps as a means to curtail the authority of Dr. McLoughlin. Mr. Ogden appears to have been pretty close to Gov. Simpson during all of his career. We will next quote from the Narrative of Lieut. Chas. Wilkes of the U. S. Exploring Expedition, who met Mr. Ogden in June, 1841, at Vancouver: "At Vancouver, I was again kindly made welcome by Dr. M'Laughlin, Mr. Douglass, and the officers of the establish- ment. During my absence, Mr. Peter Ogden, chief factor of the northern district, had arrived with his brigade. The fort had, in consequence, a very different appearance from the one Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 257 it bore when I left it. I was exceedingly amused with the voyageurs of the brigade, who were to be seen lounging about in groups, decked in gay feathers, ribands, &c, full of conceit, and with the flaunting air of those who consider them- selves the beau-ideal of grace and beauty ; full of frolic and fun, and seeming to have nothing to do but to attend to the decorations of their persons and seek for pleasure; looking down with contempt upon/ those who are employed about the fort, whose sombre cast of countenance and business em- ployments form a strong contrast to these jovial fellows. "Mr. Ogden has been thirty-two (twenty-three) years in this country, and consequently possesses much information re- specting it; having travelled nearly all over it. He resides at Fort St. James, on Stuart's Lake, and has six posts under his care. "The northern section of the country he represents as not susceptible of cultivation, on account of the proximity of the snowy mountains, which cause sudden changes, even in the heat of summer, that would destroy the crops. "His posts are amply supplied with salmon from the neigh- boring waters, that empty themselves into the sounds on the coast. These fish are dried, and form the greatest part of the food of those employed by the Company during the whole year. Their small-stores of flour, &c, are all carried from Colville and Vancouver. Furs are very plenty in the northern region, and are purchased at low prices from the Indians : his return, this year was valued at one hundred thousand dollars, and this, he informed me, was much less than the usual amount. * * * "The day before I left the fort, Mr. Ogden informed me that he had made arrangements to take me as far as the Cowlitz Farm in his boat, on my way to Nisqually, and desired that I would allow Mr. Drayton to accompany him up the river as far as Wallawalla. To both of these arrangements I readily assented. "About ten o'clock, we were all summoned to the great din- ing-hall by Dr. M'Laughlin, to take the parting cup customary in this country. When all were assembled, wine was poured out, and we drank to each other's welfare, prosperity, &c. This was truly a cup of good-fellowship and kind feeling. This hanging to old Scotch customs in the way it was done here is pleasant, and carries with it pleasing recollections, especially when there is that warmth of feeling with it, that 2 5 8 T. C. Elliott. there was on this occasion. After this was over, we formed quite a cavalcade to the river-side, which was now swollen to the top of its banks, and rushing by with irresistible force. "On reaching the river, we found one of Mr. Ogden's boats manned by fourteen voyageurs, all gaily dressed in their ribands and plumes; the former tied in large bunches of divers colours, with numerous ends floating in the breeze. The boat was somewhat of the model of our whaleboats, only much larger, and of the kind built expressly to accommodate the trade; they are clinker-built, and all the timbers are flat. These boats are so light that they are easily carried across the portages. They use the gum of the pine to cover them instead of pitch. "After having a hearty shake of the hand, Captain Varney, Mr. Ogden and myself embarked. The signal being given, we shoved off, and the voyageurs at once struck up one of their boat-songs. After paddling up the stream for some distance, we made a graceful sweep to reach the centre, and passed by the spectators with great animation. The boat and voyageurs seemed a fit object to grace the wide-flowing river. On we merrily went, while each voyageur in succession took up the song, and all joined in the chorus. In two hours and a half we reached the mouth of the Cowlitz, a distance of thirty-five miles. * * * "On the second day, our voyageurs had doffed their finery, and their hats were carefully covered with oiled skins. They thus appeared more prepared for hard work. * * * "On the 19th we reached our destination. On our approach, although there were no spectators, except a few Indians, to be expected, the voyageurs again mounted their finery, and gaily chaunted their boatsong. "Mr. Ogden had been one of the first who travelled over this part of country, and he informed me that he had seen the whole country inundated by the rise of the river. This, however, can but rarely occur, and could only be the result of a sudden melting of the snows when accompanied with violent rain-storms." * * * And again from the same Narrative later : "The brigade, after remaining at Wallawalla till the 8th, took their departure. In taking leave of Mr. Ogden, I must express the igreat indebtedness I am under, for his attentions and kindness to Mr. Drayton, as well as for the facility he offered him for obtaining information during their progress up the Columbia. I am also under obligations to him for much interesting information respecting this country, which he gave without hesitation or reserve. He was anxious that Mr. Drayton should accompany him to Okonagan ; but as this route had just been traversed by another party, it would have been a waste of the short time he had to spend about Walla- walta. Mr. Ogden is a general favorite ; and there is so much hilarity, and such a fund of amusement about him, that one is extremely fortunate to fall into his company."
On one of his trips from Fort St. James to Fort Vancouver he had the company of Father P. J. DeSmet (see his Letters and Sketches p. 217), who was en route to Europe and who wrote ; that he reached Colvile and "embarked on this river on the 30th of May (1842) in one of the barges of the Hud- son's Bay Company. Mr. Ogden, one of the principal pro- prietors offered me a place in his. I shall never forget the kindness and friendly manner with which the gentleman treated me throughout the journey, nor the many agreeable hours I spent in his company. I found his conversation in- structive, his anecdotes and bon mots entertaining and timely ; and it was with great regret that I parted from him."
At the time of his final departure from New Caledonia a written testimonial was presented to him in behalf of the gentleman of the district, the original of which is among the family papers, and reads as follows :
Fort. Alexandria Westn Caled.
Sir, 26th, April 1844.
To Peter Skeen Ogden, Esquire
Chief Factor of the Honble.
Hudson's Bay Company.
I have been honored with a communication from the several Gentlemen recently under your command in Western Cale- donia, wherein I am requested to adopt measures for convey- ing to you the testimony of their respect and esteem, under a very substantial form. But since a certain latitude has been vouchsafed to me upon this point, and knowing well, as I believe, your private sentiments in connexion with it, I have thought proper, under all the circumstances, to deviate from the form prescribed, and to tender you in the present shape the expression of our united esteem and regard. 260 T. C. Elliott. Permit me, therefore, in the name of the Several Gentlemen attached to this District, and in my own name, to express the Satisfaction which we have individually experienced while serving under your command ; and to bear testimony to that urbanity and friendly feeling which have throughout char- acterised your deportment towards us during the period of your administration — a period, it may be added, distinguished no less by the substantial increase of our private comforts than by the Several public improvements which you have so successfully planned and carried through. With our united good wishes for your health during the journey which awaits you, and for your safe return, I have the honor to subscribe myself, in the name of the Several Gentle- men of Western Caledonia. Dear Sir, Your most obedient and humble servant Alex. C. Anderson, Clk. H.H.B. Co. In the Spring of 1844 Mr. Ogden crossed the Rocky Moun- tains under a year's leave of absence, his first vacation since 1822 ; rather strenuous for a Britisher. Archibald McDonald mentions sending two sons, 12 and 14 years of age, in his care to Montreal, to be placed in a good school in Vermont. During the year he attended to matters of business connected with the estate of his mother, who had died, and visited rela- tives and friends in Canada and New York, and traveled in Europe. In the Spring of 1845 we fi n d him again at Red River returning to Oregon and assigned by Gov. Simpson to take charge of the Warre-Vavasour party, then just starting for the Columbia. The Earl of Aberdeen had asked Lord Metcalf, Governor General, and Sir Richard Jackson, Com- mander in Chief, in Canada, to detail two army officers to visit the "Oregon Country" incog., as travelers, and gather information for the use of the English government in the event of war, as the negotiation over the boundary question was then at an acute stage. As to this party the story is told in the Oregon Historical Quarterly for March, 1909, and need not be repeated here. A jolly time they had of it folPeter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 261 lowing the quicker route on horseback through what is now Banff National Park and across by Simpson's Pass, the same route followed by Gov. Simpson himself /and described in his "Journey Around the World." They reached Fort Van- couver late in August, after being only sixty days en route. And now we will pause to mention one of the first bunco games known to have been played in Old Oregon, at Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia river. Among the instructions given to Mr. Ogden by Gov. Simpson the most important was that relative to the taking possession of Cape Disappointment and the isthmus back of it. This was to be attended to> at once, ostensibly with a view to the formation of a Trading Post and Pilot's Look-out," but really for the use of the British forces, if need be. Fort George was to be abandoned and a trading post established at Baker's Bay ; a clerk named Richard Lane was sent from Red River with the party to be left in charge there. Pursuant to instructions, Mr. Ogden quickly and alone visited the Cape, but found there a rude house already erected and a man named James Sanler in possession, whom he at once bought off for the sum of $200.00. Upon visiting Oregon City to file the claim of the H. B. Co., Mr. Ogden found that two other persons, Messrs. Wheeler and McDaniel, were the real claimants, and that Sanler had been put there merely to hold possession for them. What Mr. Ogden may have said then and there is not recorded, but in a letter to Lieut. Warre on Oct. 2nd he re- ported his failure, and the willingness of Wheeler and Mc- Paniell to sell for $900.00, but his refusal to pay the price. Then followed a vigorous correspondence between Mr. Warre and Mr. Ogden, the former urging to buy and the latter declining to do so because not strictly authorized by the letter of Gov. Simpson, which distinctly stated that neither the cape or any other place was to be taken possession of "if already held by any citizen of the United States." On Feb- ruary 14th, following, however, Mr. Ogden informed Mr. Warre by letter that he had concluded to purchase and had 262 T. C. Elliott. done so as a cost of $1000.00, and had filed on the land in his own name, and from a further note by Lieut. Warre at Red River the following June, it is learned that Gov. Simp- son allowed the item as one to be repaid to Mr. Ogden by the H. B. Co. But we very much doubt whether Mr. Ogden ever again saw the color of the $200 paid to James Sanler. Later, in their claims against the United States Govern- ment, the Hudson's Bay Company included Cape Disappoint- ment at a value of $14600. From 1845 to the °f his death Mr. Ogden made Fort Vancouver his headquarters, and with the retirement of Dr.Mc- Loughlin became the ranking Chief Factor on the Columbia. He shared the management with James Douglas until 1849 when that gentleman removed to Victoria, after which he was the only Chief Factor on the Columbia until 1852 when Mr. Dugald MacTavish was transferred from the Islands to assist him. There is just a suggestion here and there of slight differences with James Douglas; at any rate the dignified and reserved Mr. Douglas looked especially after the affairs at Vancouver, while Mr. Ogden preferred the field duties and is often reported as "leaving for the interior." The trip up the Columbia seemed an every day occurrence to him and he was the best known white man to all the Indians west of the Rocky mountains. They knew him as "The Old Whitehead", and he was accustomed to give small presents to the older In- dians here and there in remembrance of some service per- formed in previous years. His canoemen and the servants knew him among themselves as "M'sieu Pete." In June, 1846, the National boundary was fixed at the forty- ninth parallel, and then began to arise important and perplex- ing questions regarding the properties of the H. B. Company within United States territory, their "possessory rights," as the treaty indefinitely recited. There were questions relat- ing to squatters on the lands claimed by the H. B. Company and there were unreasonable constructions of law by local customs officials in regard to the carrying of freight by the Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 263 H. B. Company's vessels, and the payment of duty upon goods transferred around from Vancouver to Nisqually. In the Spring- of 1849 United States troops began to arrive at Van- couver and their encampment was on the higher ground immediately behind the H. B. Company stockade under a formal lease at a pretty stiff consideration entered into be- tween Capt. Rufus Ingalls, Quartermaster, and Mr. Ogden. This lease continued for periods of six months at a time until Col. Bonneville (the Capt. Bonneville of Washington Irving) was instructed from headquarters at Benicia to lay out a military reservation one mile square, and this was sur- veyed so as to include the entire stockade and village of the H. B. Company. There was every occasion for serious fric- tion, at least in sentiment, for the H. B. Company was claim- ing a large amount of land along the river. But Mr. Ogden, although holding strictly to the rights of his company, man- aged to avoid conflict and was on the best of terms with the army officers. Fort Vancouver continued to be the supply point for the company's forts along the coast and at the Sandwich Islands, and the business with the Oregon settlers and the Indians of the interior continued to be large; and there were accounts to be collected from the early settlers. As manager of the largest business concern in the country Mr. Ogden's responsi- bilities were both varied and great. He came to be called Governor Ogden and many Oregon pioneers yet living recall him as "a short man, dark complexioned, witty and lively in conversation" and distinguished in appearance. Of those years we can not here speak in detail but will offer a few glimpses of him through contemporaneous documents. On October 5th, 1849, the mounted regiment of riflemen to Oregon arrived overland from Fort Leavenworth and their quartermaster, Maj. Osborne Cross, has this to say in his report : — "My duties had now come to a close and from this time to the nth of November I was employed in paying off the team264 T. C. Elliott. sters and collecting money ; which I was enabled to do through the kindness of Mr. P. S. Ogden, the chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who advanced money enough at par to finish my duties, besides turning over to Captain Engalls (should be Ingalls) a few thousand dollars for the use of the Department. The kindness of Mr. Ogden in many instances in accompanying the officers of the department, places it under many obligations to him". A little later, Hon. Thos. Nelson, chief justice of the supreme court of Oregon, to whom the secretary of state at Washington referred special duties, wrote : "The Chief Fac- tor of this Company, Gov. Ogden, is a gentleman of high standing, and much kindness and good feeling is manifested by him on all occasions towards the people of the United States." In August, 1850, a party of distinguished people arrived in Oregon and their experience is told in the words of Gen. James C. Strong, one of the party, who wrote thus : "I came in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn to San Fran- cisco, and from there in another sailing vessel to Astoria, Oregon, with Governor Gaines and family, General Hamilton, secretary of the territory, and family, and William Strong, judge United States district court, and family; landing at Astoria about the middle of August, 1850. "Great was their disappointment on finding that the little river steamer Multnomah, the only one plying on the Columbia at that time, and which they had been told would be there and take them up the river, was laid up for repairs, and that Cap- tain Hoyt had gone to San Francisco for new machinery. The Captain of the vessel could not be prevailed upon to go up the river, so how to get to their place of destination became a serious problem to the newly appointed territorial officers. "The next day after the landing, an attache of the Hudson's Bay Company came over from Scarborough point, and on learning the situation suggested that word be sent to Governor Ogden, of the Hudson's Bay Company, whose headquarters were at Fort Vancouver, asking him to send a bateau to us. "Governor Gaines at once wrote a letter to Governor Ogden, and this man, who could speak the Chinook jargon fluently, got an Indian to take it to him. Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 265 "It was a new and novel sight to all of us as we watched that Indian start off in his 'icht man' canoe for a trip of about 100 miles up one of the grandest rivers in the world, and how anxiously we waited to know the result, frequently walking up to Tongue point and scanning the large bay above. "There were quite a number of inhabitants living at Astoria, all of whom, treated us very kindly and told us that would be the quickest way of getting up the river, as it would be about three weeks before the mail steamer would arrive, and they lhad no doubt but that Governor Ogden would do the best he could for us. "In a few days a large bateau arrived bringing a cordial welcome from Governor Ogden." It may be added that when the next day a H. B. Company coaster called at Astoria to carry up the goods and baggage of this official party the U. S. Customs official there forbade the loading of it. In October, 1853, Mr. Ogden was extending courtesies to the family of Judge Pratt, who had recently arrived in Ore- gon, as shown by the following: Hon Peter Sken Ogden Linn Cit y> °- Yy. Oct. 20t 1853. Dear Sir, The grapes you so kindly forwarded from "Van Couver" placed me alike under obligations to the giver, and tended to decrease my dislike towards Oregon as a home. Your neigh- borly spirit in that particular deserves as it really receives a grateful remembrance. Little attentions of that kind it is out of the question to be insensible to ; and, I can do no less than to thank you sincerely for the favor — But if I am grateful for the first present, pray what should I be for the second consisting of two such fine Turkies. I must confess that the knowledge that such luxuries can be produced here in this country, enhances my opinion of it four fold — And now allow me to say I am quite embarrassed with the thought, how I shall repay your kind recollection of me. I need hardly add that we esteem as almost invaluable, and in some way or other my husband and self will make it a point to reciprocate these unmistakable tokens of good will, and in the meantime, I remain with a sincere respect, Most Truly Yours, Annie A. Pratt. 266 T. C. Elliott. The family relations of Mr. Ogden at this time we get a glimpse of through the following letter: "My Dear Sir :— "I was indeed truly glad to receive your letter yesterday and do most heartily congratulate you and Sarah on the birth of your daughter and still more that all are well. The name given to the young lady also gives me great satisfaction as it is one that is dear to me in every sense of the word as it again recalls to my remembrance the name of my dear de- parted Mother. We have so far no Express but am most anxiously looking for it — at all events at present as I am now situated cannot leave this before the 22nd. * * * I shall be glad to see the Old Lady here when she can leave Sarah with safety but not before. * * * I should like to see Janet with her sister and what she thinks of it. Yrs. Sincerely, Peter Skeen Ogden". (The Old Lady was his usual term of endearment for his wife ) . This letter was written at the time of the birth of his grand- daughter Sarah Ellen McKinlay, at "The Cliffs/' near Oregon City, on November 6th, 1851. His own daughter, Sarah Julia, had married Archibald McKinlay in June, 1840, and in 1846 Mr. McKinlay was promoted from command at Fort Walla Walla to a chief tradership in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's store at Oregon City. He became an American citizen and took up a donation claim (afterward deeded to David McLoughlin) just south of the town; his house on that claim is still standing. Because of its sightly location, Mr. Ogden named this residence "The Cliffs" and purchased from Mr. McKinlay (in the name of his wife) a small tract of the land upon which a house was built in 1852 for the wife and younger children to reside in. And if there be any suggestion that he was not faithful and tender to his family during these last years let this letter to Mrs. McKinlay testify : Lachine (Canada ), Oct'r 18th, 1852. My dear Daughter : — I was indeed truly glad to receive a letter from you and dear little Janette's kiss which you must mean for me; the tidings you report of all being in health, the Old Lady and all Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 267 the children, was indeed good news for me. At present I shall not write you a long letter but merely say I am truly anxious to see you all again and hope to be with you before next spring. * * * You say in your letter I will find warm hearts ready to receive me, in you particularly. My Dear Daughter, I never doubted it, and you are indeed often the subject of my thoughts. Now do not for one moment sup- pose that your Father will ever forget you ; if it has entered banish such an idea from your mind, but I do not think you ever formed such an opinion of me. I know your goodness of heart, and your Mother's also. Excepting when traveling I lead a very solitary, lonesome life and never go into society, indeed live more retired than I did at Vancouver. Now my dear daughter, may God bless you and all your children and your Mother and children. * * * Ever your affectionate Father. Peter Skeen Ogden. We diverge a moment to note Mr. Ogden's slight contribu- tions to literature. As a letter writer he was given to playful allusion and amusing fur trade gossip and we could wish that more of his letters were in existence. One he wrote from Western Caledonia to John McLeod in 1837 nas already been printed in full (in Vol. II p. 260 Washington Historical Quarterly) but reveals his style and a small part will be reproduced here : "When at Vancouver last summer I saw our Steam Boat and made a short trip in her. She cost fifteen thousand pounds but our commerce will soon repay us, at all events will have a decided advantage over our opponents, again last summer they, the Americans, had four ships there (i.e. on the N. W. Coast). * * * Amongst the many good things their honours from Fenchurch Street sent us last summer was a Clergyman and with him his wife, the Rev'd Mr. Beaver, a very appropriate name for the fur trade; also a Mr. & Mrs. Coppindale to conduct the Farm Establishment & by the Snake country we had an assortment of Am. Mis- sionarys the Rev. Mr. Spalding and Lady two Mr. Lees & Mr. Shepherd surely clergymen enough when the Indian population is so reduced but this not all there are also five more Gents as follows : 2 in quest of Flowers 2 killing all 268 T. C. Elliott. the birds on the Columbia & I in quest of rocks and stones all these bucks came with letters from the President of the U. States and you know it would not be good policy not to treat them politely they are a perfect nuisance — " etc. From his wide acquaintance and fondness for comradeship it is evident that he was quite a voluminous correspondent. Beyond his personal letters the extent of Mr. Ogden's literary work is not certain. In the Bancroft Collection there is a manuscript (dictated) by Mr. Jesse Applegate, who was one of the most intelligent and observing among the Oregon pioneers of the Forties, which states : "Peter Skeen Ogden wrote very extensively on the Indians — he showed the Mss. to Mr. Applegate ; it comprised his own early experiences ; he was the discoverer of the Humboldt river. We had no reading and Mr. Ogden gave it to me as a Winter's amuse- ment. It was full of interesting episodes. Mr. Applegate revised and made many suggestions. It ran back to the union of the two companies. Mr. Ogden brought it to Wash- ington Irving who undertook to edit it, but died before its completion." In the collections of the Oregon Historical Society, at Portland there is a letter by Mr. George T. Allan, for a long time a clerk at Ft. Vancouver and afterward a resident of Oregon, which reads : "Mr. Ogden possessed considerable ability as a writer and literary man, and wrote some very interesting sketches of his adventures in the Indian country, which I perused in manuscript and partly copied for him in 1849. I believe they were afterwards published, but I have never seen the book." And Mr. Archibald McKinlay, writing to Elwood Evans in March, 1882, says : — "Peter S. Ogden did publish a book. I never saw but one copy. I have the dedication written by Washington Irving dedicated to 1 Lady Simpson. It is in his own handwriting. It was more of what I would call a ro- mance." This introduction is extremely graceful. Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 269 There is, as far as yet appears, no reference in the family correspondence to any acquaintance with Washington Irving, but such an acquaintance would have come about very naturally during the year 1852 when Mr. Ogden was in New York and vicinity. And it is said of Mr. Irving that he did accumulate a number of manuscripts of this character but instructed that they be destroyed after his death, which oc- curred in November, 1859. The book referred to by Mr. McKinlay can hardly be the same as the writings described by Mr. Applegate, though it might be the part copied by Mr. Allan. It is readily identified as a small and now very rare little volume published in London in 1853 anonymously and entitled "Traits of American Indian Life and Character, by a Fur Trader." The style of its writing has little semblance to that of Mr. Ogden's letters, it is entirely lacking in that quaintness and humor so common to him, and it is quite im- possible to conclude that he would have personally edited it without the correction of certain contradictions as to dates, localities and facts. But the incidents related just as certainly refer to Mr. Ogden as the actor and relator and check closely with portions of his own career, and must have come from him. 1 In December, 185 1, Mr. Ogden left Ft. Vancouver in charge of a Mr. Ballenden and again started for Montreal; not this time by the familiar route up the Columbia, but by steamer to San Francisco and from there to the Isthmus of Panama and steamer to New York. His letter from there reports extreme heat on the steamer followed by extreme cold upon arrival and a preference for the climate of Oregon. He was wel- comed at the wharf in New York by his brother Henry, the father of that Wm. Seton Ogden who lived in Oregon for many years and who married the daugher of Thos. J. Dryer, the founder of The Oregonian. For family reasons this mar- riage was objected to by Peter Skene Ogden, who in a letter 1 For discussion of this see Appendix of 3rd Edit, of Hist, of No. Interior of B. C. by Father Morice. 270 T. C. Elliott. from Lachine ordered his subscription to "Squire Dryer's Paper", as he called it, stopped. This brother Henry had been for a time prior to 1839 employed as cashier in the New York custom house and was influential in political matters. He resided on nth street near Union Square, and in after years Peter Skene in various ways assisted him quite often. 1 He met Sir Geo. Simpson in Montreal en route to Wash- ington and followed him there to assist in official business of the Company. Then Sir George desired assistance in New York in the purchase of a cargo of goods for Vancouver, and the ship Henry Benton of 400 tons burden was chartered to bring the goods out. Afterward in June he again visited Washington to meet Supt. Anson Dart of the Indian Depart- ment and the Secretary of the Treasury regarding claims of the H. B. Company for goods furnished during the Cayuse War, but to his disgust was not given much encouragement. While then in Washington he met Mr. Elwood Evans, afterward the writer of a History of Oregon and Washington, and in a letter from there to Mr. McKinlay says : "What think you, who should be seated opposite to me at the (hotel) dinner table but our old Drayton of the Wilkes' Expedition ; he at first sight recognized me" etc. His letters mention meeting many of the army officers who had been stationed at Van- couver and had returned East. While in Canada his headquarters seem to have been at the H. B. Co. House at Lachine but he visited his brother Isaac at Three Rivers and his sister and nieces in Montreal and with his brother-in-law, Mr. Edward M. Hopkins, in- vested considerable of his savings (which had been accumu- lating at 4% with the H. B. Co. in London) in bank stocks in Canada. To landed investments he seems to have had no liking and an open rupture took place with his next older brother over some 5670 acres of land in the Gosford District which had turned out to be worthless. This brother Charles Richard Ogden was then residing in England, after 1 His only daughter yet living resides in Portland at the present time. Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 271 serving a term, as Governor of the Isle of Man. His career in Canada had been really brilliant but political changes had compelled a change of scene. Sir Geo. Simpson went to England that year and Mr. Ogden seems to have been waiting for some new appointment, for in a letter from Lachine to Mr. McKinlay in November he says : — "Before this can reach you young Miles from London on his way to teach them to keep accounts at Victoria will be with you and will give you all the particulars of my new arrangements — satisfactory to my feelings in almost every respect and I do hope will prove satis- factory to all concerned". Probably the new arrangement meant the transfer of Mr. MacTavish to Vancouver to assist him, although certain changes were taking place at Victoria incident to the retirement of Jas. Douglas from the Company's employ. After almost exactly a year upon the Atlantic sea- board he returned to the Columbia, of which journey the fol- lowing memorandum is found among his papers. "Feb. 5th (1853) Went on board the Steamer Georgia. Sailed on the 7th. Arrived at Aspinwall on the 16th in morning. Arrived at Panama at 8 oclk evening on the 17th. 19th Left Panama on the Steamship Tennessee for San Francisco^. Arrived at Accupulco [sic] on the morning of the 26th of February. Sun- day morning at 9 O'clk March 6th Steamer Tennessee stranded off Tellegraph Rock 4 miles north of the Heads. Monday Left the Wreck across the mountain for San Francisco. Ar- rived at the Oriental at one O'clock. Sunday March 13th Left for Oregon on steamer Columbia. 16th arrived at Astoria in the evening." An experience of this ship-wreck revealing the natural shrewdness of the man has been kindly furnished by Gen. Jas. C. Strong, (a brother of the late Judge Strong of Oregon) who is still residing in California. "Peter Skeen Ogden was one of God's noblemen. I had as good an opportunity to become acquainted with him, I think, as any American, as on his invi- tation, I occupied a room in the H. B. Co.'s stockade, and lived at his table a great deal of the time whenever I was in 272 T. C. Elliott. Fort Vancouver. He told me all about his shipwreck, and seemed to enjoy thinking how he outwitted the thieves. As he told it to me it was like this. The captain missed the en- trance to the bay of San Francisco by reason of fog, and he was wrecked on the rocks just north of the entrance. Mr Ogden had quite a large sum of money with him in gold coin. He wrapped this in some soiled clothing and put it in the bottom of a large valise and placed some more soiled clothing over it, and carried that on shore himself, leaving the rest of his baggage to take its chances with the others, much of which was brought ashore during the day. They were told it was not many miles to where they would get shelter and that they could walk there easily enough. His satchel was too heavy to carry, so he unlocked it, pulled some of the soiled clothing to the top, and let a pair of old half wornout shoes stick out of the satchel in plain sight, and leaving it unlocked as of no value, went with the other passengers to San Francisco. The next morning he came back with the wagons procured to bring the baggage and found, as he had anticipated, that the trunks had all been broken open and rifled, but the thieves had not touched his satchel, which laid on the ground just as he had left it." Other recollections of Mr. Ogden by Gen. Strong are of interest : — "I should not call Mr. Ogden's voice peculiar, it was neither falsetto, tenor or harsh, still it was an individual voice. * * * He did not have a hearty laugh but when pleased had a most peculiar little twist to his lips, one I shall never forget, it was an individuality. He was a well read man and frequently quoted from Shakespear, and some times from the Bible. * * * Mr. Ogden spoke three languages, English, French and Indian. He greatly amplified the Chinook Jargon by his acquaintance with so many words from the various Indian tribes with which he had lived." Returning to Fort Vancouver in the spring of 1853 Mr. Ogden again undertook the management of the H. B. Com- pany's business on the Columbia, which still continued to be Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 273 large. It was the principal wholesale house on the Columbia, and distributed goods to Fort Hall and Fort Boise, in Idaho and Fort Colvile in North Washington and the Indian traders of Southern Oregon. In the nearer by communities, The Dalles, Oregon City, Cathlamet, Chinook and Champoeg goods were sold on commission by former officers of the Company, Mr. Allan, Mr. McKinlay, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Birnie and others. But Mr. Ogden was in failing health ; his letters speak of internal disorders and a recurrent fever, pos- sibly beginning, as Mr. Evans states, though some exertion at the time of the stranding of the steamship Tennessee. The published notice of his death speaks of an illness of several weeks. These last weeks were spent at "The Cliffs" under the care of his wife and daughter and Dr. Barclay; death occurred on the 27th of September, 1854. Rev. St. Michael Fackler, the first Episcopal clergyman to reside in Oregon (Rev. Herbert Beaver excepted) officiated at the burial and his body was laid to rest in Mountain View Cemetery at Oregon City, where his grave may still be seen, a wild rose bush its only adornment, and the glistening peak of Mt. Hood its only monument. During his illness Dr. McLoughlin was a regular visitor at the bedside and urged upon him to permit a formal mar- riage ceremony with his wife. Mr. Ogden bluffly refused, saying that if his many years of open recognition of the re- lationship and of their children was not proof enough the empty words of man could not add anything of value. Surely enough this refusal occasioned long delay and much trouble in the settlement of his estate, for certain of the family in Canada and England began proceedings to break the will on the ground that there was no proof that he was ever married. A compromise was finally arranged, however, by Sir George Simpson, who was the executor. The will was executed at Fort Vancouver in June, 185 1, but described him as a resident of Montreal and was proven at Montreal. Probably this was because nearly all of his investments were in Lower Canada, 274 T. C. Elliott. although Sir Geo. Simpson, in one communication, suggested that it had been Mr. Ogden's intention to return to Canada to reside permanently. He always remained a British subject. His estate amounted to at least fifty thousand dollars. At the time of his death the oldest son, Peter Ogden, had advanced in the service of the H. B. Company to the rank of chief trader and was in charge of Fort Stuart, British Colum- bia, where his father had been before him. Many descendants through him still reside in various parts of Canada and some still continue in the service of the H. B. Company. The second son, Charles, remained a bachelor — seems to have been employed at Fort Vancouver for a time, and died at Lac La Hache in i38o. Another son, Michele, was a stockman and ranchman on the Pend d'Oreille river, and died on the Flat- head reservation where his descendants still live. A daughter Cecilia had married one Hugh Fraser, of unknown residence. The three younger children, Mrs. McKinlay, Euretta and Isaac resided at Oregon City. All of these children together with relatives residing in Canada and New York, were re- membered in the will. None of his direct descendants are known to be now living in Oregon ; but a niece, Mrs. Ogden Chase is a widow, residing near Portland. Archibald McKinlay, writing to El wood Evans in 1882, paid this tribute to Peter Skene Ogden : "He was undoubtedly a wonderful man. Whenever the Hudson's Bay Company had occasion to send any of their officers on a dangerous expedition Peter S. Ogden was sure of the berth. His even temper, his great flow of good humor and his wonderful patience, tact and perseverance, his utter disregard of personal inconvenience and suffering rendered him just the man for any difficult or dangerous task. He was greatly esteemed by his brother officers and nearly worshiped by his men and the Indians. * * * His last great and good work was when he went with a small party of men to liberate the poor women and children captured by the Cay uses after the Whitman massacre, a dangerous task and one which the Indians plainly Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 275 told him no other need have attempted." A brief mention of that event is appropriate before conclusion. On December 6th, 1847, * ate at evening a French-Canadian messenger arrived at Fort Vancouver in a canoe from up the Columbia bringing a letter from Wm. McBean of Fort Walla Walla giving the news and particulars of the massacre and captivity at the Whitman Mission. Mr. Ogden was first in- formed and at once went into consultation with Mr. Douglas. The problem presented to them was a complicated and per- plexing one. The location of the national boundary at the 49th parallel of north latitude had been determined by treaty eighteen months previous, the Whitman Mission was an American settlement and the legislative body of the pro- visional government of Oregon was at that very time in ses- sion at Oregon City only twenty-five miles distant ; but that government was physically powerless to begin and carry on a war against the Indians without calling upon the Hudson's Bay Company for even powder and lead, not to mention other equipment. Should the officers of the company take the initiative, or merely report the event to the Americans ? If the former alternative, could the company accomplish anything before the excitable Americans further angered , the Indians and rendered the Hudson's Bay Company's influence and methods futile? Would the Indians themselves desist from further bloodshed, or was this a general uprising ? But it was a situation calling for quick decision and action, and, just as in 1843, when the weary and destitute immigrants arrived at the Columbia, the call of humanity prevailed. The follow- ing morning Mr. Ogden was off for Fort Walla Walla with two bateaus manned by only the usual compliment of serv- ants and without any display of arms and was well on his way before the tidings of the massacre even reached Oregon City. Twelve days were consumed by the journey — not a rapid one for he proceeded as though on regular business and paid the regular toll of powder and ball to the Indians at The Dalles 276 T. C. Elliott. portage, and it was the 19th of December before arrival at the destination. Messengers were then at once dispatched to the Spokane country to learn whether the Indians of that quarter were still quiet, and to the chiefs of the Walla Walla, Cayuse and Nez Perces tribes to say that "The Old Whitehead" was at the fort and desired to speak with them, a message to them no doubt as welcome as it was imperative. It was the 24th inst. before he assembled them in council and only after he considered himself in possession of full information. Mr. Wm. McBean has re- lated to the writer some of the incidents of that day. It is the nature of the Indian to be deliberate in words and the council lasted all day; Mr. Ogden alone of the whites at- tended and in the end prevailed. This was the tenor of his speech to the Indians and of the reply of one of them, as re- ported by Mr. Ogden himself to the editor of the Oregon Spectator at Oregon City upon the return there in January : "We have been among you for thirty years without the shed- ding of blood; we are traders, and of a different nation from the Americans, who are of the same color, speak the same language, and worship the same God as ourselves, and whose cruel fate causes our hearts to bleed. Why do we make you chiefs, if you cannot control your young men? Besides this wholesale butchery you have robbed the Americans passing through your country, and have insulted their women. If you allow your young men to govern you, I say you are not men or chiefs, but hermaphrodites who do' not deserve the name. Your hot-headed young men plume themselves on their bravery ; but let them not deceive themselves. If the Americans begin war they will have cause to repent their rashness ; for the war will not end until every man of you is cut off from the face of the earth ! I am aware that many of your people have died; but so have others. It was not Dr. Whitman who poisoned them; but God who has commanded that they should die. You have the opportunity to make some reparation. I give you only advice, and promise you nothing Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 277 should war be declared against you. The company has noth- ing to do with your quarrel. If you wish it, on my return I will see what can be done for you, but I do not promise to prevent war. Deliver me the prisoners to return to their friends, and I will pay you a ransom ; that is all." To which Chief Tiloukaikt of the Cayuses replied: "Chief, your words are weighty, your hairs are gray. We have known you a long time. You have had an unpleasant journey to this place. I cannot therefore keep the families back. I make them over to you, which I would not do to another younger than your- self." Then followed five days of suspense until the captives were brought in, and two days more until the whites residing at Lapwai, Mr. Spalding and others, arrived. Mr. Ogden at the time thus wrote : "For two nights I have not slept, but, thank God, they are all safe and none have been maltreated." The party then at once set off down the river and none too soon because of the arrival of the news that some of the Ore- gon volunteers had arrived at The Dalles and the Cayuse war had begun. This, in brief, was the crowning event of Mr. Ogden's career, for which his name will be ever held in grateful re- membrance in Oregon. The official letter of thanks from Gov. Abernethy to him and his modest reply need not be reproduced here. Mr. Ogden's own religious affiliation was with the Church of England. Although he always rendered courteous treatment and support to the missionaries, both Protestant and Catholic, he had little faith in the permanency of religious influence upon the Indians. But it is stated, with- out verification, that a short time before the massacre he had sent to Mrs. Whitman, with his compliments, the material for a dress. Sojourners at the Lakeview Hotel (of which the courteous and generous Mr. A. B. Ferguson is the proprietor — Mr. Ferguson's wife was the Susan Ellen McKinlay already men- tioned as a babe and it was at this home that both Mr. and Mrs. McKinlay died) at Savona's Ferry, on Thompson River, British Columbia, are wont to inquire as to the identity of a large oil portrait hanging in the parlor, which bears on the back the following legend: "Stanley, Oregon, 1848. Mrs. McKinlay with compliments of the artist." This portrait represents Peter Skene Ogden as he is remembered by the survivors of the Whitman massacre.
Traveling eastward from Savona's by the Canadian Pacific Railway and when close to the continental divide of the Rocky Mountains looking to the north up the beautiful Yoho valley a massive peak appears that has been designated by the Canadian government as Mount Ogden (not, however, in honor of our hero). Its melting glaciers form a stream flowing to the south and westward as one of the sources of the mighty Columbia, upon so many of the waters of which Peter Skene Ogden, the fur trader and explorer, spent so many strenuous but happy days. And as these waters rush onward to the ocean they are joined and swelled by other glacial streams from that beautiful mountain of Oregon which will ever stand as a snow white sentinel over his final resting place in the Mountain View Cemetery at Oregon City. THE LATE GEORGE H. WILLIAMS
By T. W. Davenport.
In the Oregon Journal of April the 4th of this year, the same day on which the above named person departed this life, a staff editor of that paper gave quite a lengthy account of the public services of the deceased statesman, with an earnest desire, no doubt, to be entirely accurate in every particular. But, as often happens, there was an error or two which should be corrected, and I have waited four months for some one more intimately acquainted with Judge Williams than myself to make the correction.
I have felt so kindly to the Judge on account of the inestimable public services he performed at a time when the Nation was passing thru its most critical period, that I would not give voice or pen to lower the tone of what I might consider extravagant eulogy; but in this case, as the writer has credited him with services he never performed (I should say, charged him with acts of which he was not guilty), I am moved to the task of setting the matter straight before it is quoted as veritable history. The Judge was a member of the Convention which framed the Oregon Constitution, and the Journal writer made the statement that he (the Judge) made speeches in the convention in opposition to slavery and after the convention had finished its labors and before the vote was taken upon the organic law, he canvassed the Territory in advocacy of a free state. Now, neither of these statesments is true, and any one well acquainted with Judge Williams would set them down at once as being inconsistent with his known character.
It was well understood by the people of the Oregon Territory that the question of slavery therein would be decided by a popular vote, and that the functions of the constituent assembly in relation thereto would be fully performed when it had adopted a form of submitting it to the people. So it will be seen that speeches in the convention for or against slavery, as an institution, or as to its adoption or rejection by the people of Oregon, would have been wholly out of place and insultingly impertinent. And, as a matter of fact, no pro- or anti-slavery speeches were made in the convention by anybody.
Early in the session Jesse Applegate, a noted anti-slavery man, introduced a resolution to prohibit the discussion of the slavery question in the convention, and this resolution was very promptly and properly voted down.
This was a tactical blunder, and rather a strange move for the "Sage of Yoncalla" to make; and there is no accounting for it except upon the assumption that he feared a trick would be played, as in Kansas, and slavery be forced upon the people of Oregon without their consent. It may be inferred that he was alarmed by the selection of Matthew P. Deady, the most influential pro-slavery man in the Territory, to be president of the convention, and the further fact that democratic partisans were largely in the majority and reticent as to their intentions concerning slavery.
I never had any other opinion at that time, and have learned of nothing since contrawise, than that the Oregon democrats intended to conform to Stephen A. Douglas's Squatter Sovereignty doctrine and give the people of Oregon a square submission of the slavery question. Only one other tactical mistake was made during the session of the convention, concerning slavery. John R. McBride had promised his constituents that he would exert himself to place a clause in the constitution prohibiting slavery, and this was very summarily disposed of—voted down by the help of anti-slavery whigs who had promised him support. Likely Mr. McBride fulfilled his promise to his constituents in opposition to his better judgment, for to have grafted such a clause in the body of the instrument would have turned every pro-slavery voter into an opponent of the constitution as a whole—would have certainly insured its defeat at the polls and kept a free state out of the Union when the political strength of a free commonwealth was badly needed to withstand the forces of rebellion. So it may be seen that any diversion from the well understood, popular course, would have been disastrous to the cause of both union and liberty, and under the conditions then existing speeches in the convention relating to slavery would not have been tolerated a moment, and any one attempting such would have been rated as "non compos mentis." Evidently Judge Williams never attempted such a flagrant departure from common sense and the prevailing deference to the wishes of the Oregon electorate.[2]
After the constitution was placed before the people it would not have been out of place or inconsistent with the Douglas doctrine for the Judge to< have gone out canvassing for a free state. But he did not do it. His sole service for free institutions in Oregon was his eloquent and unanswerable free state letter printed in the Oregon Statesman on the 28th of July, a short time before the meeting of the constitutional convention.
Doubtless Judge Williams preferred free institutions among which he was born, reared and schooled; but, like most persons in the Northern states, having a strong desire for political promotion, never permitted his anti-slavery sentiments and preferences to interfere with his political aspirations. He accepted a federal judgeship in Iowa by appointment of President Pierce, a position he could not have reached unless he was known to be a National Democrat,—that is, an apologist for slavery or opposed to agitating the question; for at that time the democratic party was completely dominated by the slave power, and a man could not get the lowest position in the government, not even a chain carrier in a surveyor's gang, unless he was known to be, in the slang of the day, "sound on the goose."
In his speech at the celebration of the 40th year of Oregon statehood, he described his attitude respecting chattel slavery, by saying that having been brought up in the North he had imbibed prejudices against the institution,—a curious expression, indeed, and one which must be interpreted to mean a very mild and inoffensive phase of anti-slavery feeling. For we must remember that he was by natural endowment a deliberate, cautious, conservative,[3] time-serving, law-abiding individual, whose altruistic sentiments were not sufficiently strong to carry him out of his party to which he clung, despite its becoming an abject tool of the slave power, until its dissolution in the year 1861. He was by temperament and feeling unfitted to be an agitator, educator or a radical in the cause of human progression. He was not even a protester against the errors and perverse tendencies of his party, though he had the intellectual ability and oratorical force, if he had been of more heroic mould, to have exerted a modifying influence favorable to republican institutions.
Hence, he was not a strong and guiding partisan, the undeviating one whose services as an advocate were frequently employed to promote a partisan victory.
He must have believed slavery to be a great evil, moral, social and political; but he never publicly declared such a belief, thus ranking behind Webster, who did.
Still, this can be said in mitigation of Judge Williams' subserviency,—his party would not brook the freedom of speech that was tolerated by the whigs. But is it not discouraging to common humanity to see the great and powerful of the earth submitting themselves, like Sampsons, bound to neutral service which they knew to be detrimental to the public welfare? With what sadness of heart I look back to the time when the great New Englander, essaying to stem the tide of anti-slavery sentiment then voiced by Phillips, Sumner and other conscience whigs, make this declaration in the famous cradle of Liberty: "Fellow Citizens, I am a whig, a Fanueil Hall whig, a liberty-loving, Union-loving whig, and if you kill the whig party where shall I go?" At that time Lincoln The Late George H. Williams. 283 was a whig partisan, but before the year 1856, he had de- spaired of the party, was willing to see it die, and found a place to go, along with others of his fellow citizens who would no longer tolerate the noncommittal policy of the whigs. Doubtless, Webster, after the repeal of the Missouri Com- promise, would have found the same place and been free from the lets and hindrances of compromises with powers that were unfaithful to their obligations. But Judge Williams, regret it as we may, had not the power or courage to abandon the democratic party until it met the fate of the Egyptians who would not let the people go*. The great majority of men have a dominating pride of con- sistency as partisans — (stability of character they call it) — and perforce an abhorrence of change, of being called a quit- ter, a vaccinator. Human beings have an innate pride of con- sequence and power and there is a consequent dread of being stigmatized as trifling, small and easily moved. Really great- souled, great-minded men have this vanity. Lincoln and Washington were not free from it. And how common it is for men to vaunt their physical proportions rather than their vir- tues. Looked at rationally as a natural endowment for which its possessor is in no wise responsible and is equally void of praise or blame, size or power, or any other quality of mind or body should furnish no occasion for arrogance or swelling pride, and if this vain and simple feeling could be banished and a pride of civic achievement be substituted for it, very likely human society would be much the gainer by the ex- change. The death of the National Democratic party was a glorious resurrection to Judge Williams, for then began the services for which he will hold a place in American history. His previous career on the bench in Oregon and in Iowa was entirely commonplace, and his speeches in the latter state in favor of the election of Franklin Pierce to the presidency, being colorless as to human rights and the dangerous tendencies of the continued domination of the slave power, could not 284 T. W. Davenport. involve to the fullest his admirable gifts of speech and demon- stration. But after his advent to the ranks of the defenders of the Union and the supporters of the Lincoln administra- tion, — free from suppression at last, — he loomed grandly as a statesman. It will be recalled that Judge Williams was nominated by his greater admirer, President Grant, to the office of Chief Justice of the Federal supreme court and that the Senate re- fused to confirm the nomination. There was objection also in this, his home state, for which no* satisfactory reason was assigned then or since. There was an allegation that he did not, while Attorney-General of the United States, prosecute the Star Route exploiters and cotton smugglers as strenu- ously as some interested persons of much influence wished; but there was no allegation of fraud or venality against the Attorney-General, either in Washington or at home. Perhaps he was not as rigorous or venomous as his faultfinders de- sired; and if so, it must be remembered that it was more in accordance with his generous nature to end abuses than to punish to the limit those who were guilty of them. He was not fitted to be a relentless prosecutor, a "muckraker." The animus of the opposition came from ex-United States Senator Nesmith, of Oregon, who had been his opponent at the first senatorial election in i860 and who was chronically disposed to resent any proffers of advancement to his adver- sary. It was at Judge Williams' request that Gen. Grant with- drew the nomination, for the real opposition of the Senate was not to the Judge himself and related to social matters which he could not remedy or publicly explain. Society at Washing- ton has something to do with official promotion there, and especially if it invades the harmony of the supreme court circle. I have been induced to write this last explanatory para- graph for the reason that one of the officers of the Oregon Historical Society lately wished to know my opinion as to the inside reason for the rejection of the appointment by the Senate. I believe only two members of the constitutional convention are now living, ex-United States Senator L. F. Grover and William H. Packwood, of Baker City. Being desirous of fortifying my statements by the evidence of a participator in the work of the convention, I addressed a letter to Mr. Grover and received the following answer:
Portland Oregon
May 18th 1910
Hon. T. W. Davenport
Silverton Ogn.
My Dear Sir.
I was in attendance daily during the Constitutional Convention and can confirm your recollection of the fact that the late Judge Williams did not make any speeches on the slavery question. But he did write an able letter on the subject which was published in the Oregon Statesman. This fact may have given rise to the reporter's mistake. I will also add that I have no objection to the use of my name in the controversy. Yours very truly,
L. F. Grover.
FINANCIAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OREGON— IV
PART III
PUBLIC EXPENDITURES
Chapter One.
Social Significance of the State's Expenditures.
The State's Finances Viewed as a Whole. — In the interest of a clearer and more comprehensive view of Oregon's finances, it is advisable at this stage of our sketch of them to dwell a moment on the fundamental processes in Oregon's commonwealth housekeeping. An attempt will be made to so characterize them that they can be kept in the mind's eye in their essential relations throughout the remainder of this discussion.
In Part Two the salient features of the system of taxation in use in Oregon, with the changes introduced from time to time, and the varying practices followed in the state's land policy, were outlined. In these two sources, the taxes and the proceeds from its public lands, the organized life of the commonwealth has its support. It is proposed now to trace the application of the revenues derived from these sources. The use of them in public expenditures exhibits the purposes of the people that are served by the government. These public expenditures reveal the course and development of the commonwealth life.
A people does not tax itself or have occasion to utilize a public domain except as it has needs to meet or aims to realize. These community needs and commonwealth ambitions and aims are fundamental and initial to all financial systems and policies. They impel to organization and out of them financial arrangements and finances emerge. It would seem then that they should have been noticed first in a discussion of the finances of a state. So would they had our subject been the large one of the characterization of the essential life of the commonwealth. However, as the subject in hand is the restricted one of the presentation of the financial means in their relation to the commonwealth's life, it was thought advisable as a first step to bring these financial means into view through the discussion of taxation and of the use of the state lands.
These finances thus brought into view should now be made a tell-tale. A system of taxation rightly presented should have illustrated the ideas and sense of social justice of a people and its skill in adjusting the burden of the support of common interests, and the discussion of a state's land policy should have exhibited its thought pertaining to the common welfare as affected in land-ownership ; but a discussion of the expenditures of the revenues obtained from these sources should yield a yet deeper insight into the essential life of the commonwealth. The relative proportions of the different lines of expenditure give comparative measures of the community's interests along these lines, or at least the relative extents to which these several interests are appreciated. The total public expenditures in their ratio to the total resources of the people in their annual collective incomes, measure the collective interests that the people unite to promote. The growth of the public expenditures in a like manner exhibits the pace of expansion of the common needs and activities — or at least the proportion of the social income the people have a mind to divert to them. These are some of the characteristic purposes to be served through an examination of the development of the public expenditures of Oregon.
Modern political communities do not, however, in their public expenditures limit themselves to what they can afford to divert from their current social incomes. Conditions develop in a state, either of imminent danger to public safety or of possible public advantage in the creation of great permanent improvements, that call for the immediate command by the government of extraordinary amounts of revenue,— larger than the people can spare from their private affairs. Recourse to public credit is then wise as well as virtually necessary. A public debt is incurred. An account of the successive uses by a state of its credit thus reveals the character of its policy in meeting such crises or opportunities. Public expenditures at these times are not restricted to the means afforded by taxation and the public domain, but additional support is sought through loans, and the burden of repayment is shifted in part upon posterity — and justly so, for posterity had a stake in the perpetuation of freedom or in the construction of the improvement which will remain for its use. A sketch of the use of public credit in Oregon thus comes appropriately as an integral part of a complete account of its public expenditures.
Furthermore, the whole process of taking this portion of the social income as revenue from the people who have pro- duced it, and of applying it safely and economically to the purposes they intended it to serve, requires the highest degree of public efficiency. There is first the determination by the legislature of the amounts needed for public purposes and of the ways and means of supplying these amounts. Rightly determined, the total sum diverted from the use by the people in their homes and in their business will just suffice for the public purposes in hand. Then there is the handling of this revenue while in transit from the pockets of the people to their service as the support of the public servants and public activities. Great waste and loss are certain without skillfully devised and honestly conducted treasury administration. An avoidable deficiency of revenue causes embarrassment and impairment of service; while, on the other hand, a large unused surplus fosters extravagance, and means that the people are being deprived of the use of their hard-earned wealth. What the records reveal pertaining to financial legislation in Oregon and the handling of the resources of the treasury must thus come in for attention. Skill and economy in these matters involve public interests of great magnitude. Bungling and neglect through lack of appreciation of the measure of the interests at stake no people can afford.
Let us assume that the discussion of Oregon's system of public revenues in chapters one and two of Part Two sufficed, in a measure, to bring before the mind's eye the flow of means utilized in the past life of the state. We desire still such a review of the remaining phases of the state's experience with its finances as will enable us to pass judgment on what constitutes the right ordering of them; and the discus- sion should also suffice to shed as much light upon the course of the commonwealth's life as financial records are adapted to give. To attain these purposes an examination of the public expenditures, the public credit and budgetary legislation and treasury administration, respectively, in Oregon is in order.
The Flow of Public Expenditures. — It will give the aid of concreteness to conceive of public expenditures as a flow, a stream of wealth passing through the state treasury. This flow has its largest source by far, as we have seen, from the annual income of the tax-payers. Only a small part of it in Oregon comparatively has come from the state's public domain, either as income from sales or as the income of interest from the loan of trust funds accumulated through previous sales. These two tributaries quite distinct in character thus make up this volume of public funds flowing into the state treasury. Initially, these revenues from taxation and from the land funds alike have their sources in the annual social income of the Oregon people, — from the net product secured by them from the soil, the rivers, the mountains and the factories. A portion of this collective surplus is diverted to the state treasury. The main part of it being used for the individual, the family, the local institutional and governmental needs. In this discussion we are concerned only with that particular portion diverted through the action of representative agencies of the people to the state treasury and consumed as public expenditures.
Several things are to be noted about this flow of wealth into the state treasury destined for public expenditures. First, that it should increase in volume as the years go by in a state increasing in numbers and wealth is most normal. It is, however, worth while to mark particularly the variations in the rate of expansion of this flow as it keeps pace with the growth in population and in wealth. More significant still is the apportionment of this flow of funds by the legislatures for different public purposes as they directed the diversion of it from the whole volume of social income. It is, for instance, a matter of much moment, whether these funds as they pass from the treasury is used in growing proportions for the mere protection of person and property through appropriations for the militia, the courts and the policing officials, or whether they are applied rather in more rapidly increasing sums to provide conditions under which the production of wealth will be facilitated. Most promising of all for the future welfare of a people if the expansion of well-applied expend- itures is greatest for public service affecting the conditions of life and enlightenment. The tendencies exhibited by the items of a significant classification of a state's expenditures answer queries like these concerning the rise or decline of a people. It is, of course, not so much what a people spend as the efficiency they develop in their public service that counts. There is hardly a limit to the amount that may be judiciously applied by a community in public expenditures if efficiency in using them increases correspondingly. The really vital question about public expenditures centers on the returns they yield the people. Improvement in the efficiency of its public agencies a people must have in this age of growing interdependence or that people is doomed.
The growth, the direction that this growth takes, and the efficiency of the public expenditures are among the leading matters to be inquired into in an examination of the treasury records of a state.
Chapter Two.
The Growth of Public Expenditures in Oregon.
Expenditures and Population. — The variations in per capita cost to the people of Oregon through the past half-century of their state government is a matter of some significance. In comparing the growth of public expenditures with the growth of population caution is needed against taking the numbers secured for per capita expenses through the successive decades as by themselves measuring the burden of the support of the state organization. If, for instance, it were found that five dollars of the average individual's income were taken by the state now, though only one-half that sum had sufficed for the state's share in the earlier decades, the conclusion should not be drawn that the cost of the support of the same public service is twice now what it had been. Universally is it true that public agencies are doing more for the citizen now than formerly. It should be noted in this connection that public business is normally one of decreasing cost. As the numbers of a people increase, the per capita cost of their public service should decrease. The reluctance of the Oregon people during the fifties to assume the support of a state organization was based upon sound views of the cost of public service : it showed clear recognition of this principle. But not even the strongly individualistic early Oregon was to realize an actual diminishing cost per capita of its state government with its increasing numbers. The scope of the state's activities widened quite regularly. More and more duties were assigned to an increasing number of state officials. A rising rate of per capita state expenditures was inevitable. As elsewhere, the stream of wealth diverted to the state treasury in Oregon has been growing more rapidly than has the number of its people. Other evidence, however, than this fact will be required if judgment is to be passed upon the economy and efficiency of Oregon's state government. The individual's increased power of production in the Oregon of today compared with that of the sixties and the higher standard of living would, other things equal, justify a measure of increased per capita cost.
The treasury statistics of public expenditures in Oregon show the following averages of per capita cost during the first four decades and the first six years of the last decade:[4]
| '60-'70 | '70-'80 | '80-'90 | 90-'00 | '00-'06 |
| $1.63 | $2.52 | $2.32 | $2.57 | $2.92 |
Expenditures and Wealth.—Comparisons similar to the above, in which statistics of population and state expenditures are used, may be made by taking the property valuations and the public expenditures. Since throughout nearly the whole period of statehood the almost exclusive source of state revenues was the general property tax, the state levies from year to year indicate how the state's needs grew in comparison to the growth of wealth.
These tax levies for state purposes were as follows:
| Year. | Mills. | Year. | Mills. | Year. | Mills. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 | 1875 | 5 1/2 | 1892 | 5 |
| 1859 | 2 | 1876 | 5 1/2 | 1893 | 7 |
i860. . . .2 1877. ...,7 1894. . . •4 3/10 1861.. . .2 1878. ...7 1895... •3 1862. . . .2 1879. ...7 1896. . . •4 3/io 1863.. •3 1880. ...7 1897... •4 1864. . •3 1881. ••5 1/2 1898. .. •3 1/2 1865.. ••5 1/2 1882. . ••5 1/2 1899... •5 7/io 1866. . ••5 i/ 2 1883. ..5 6/10 1900. . . .6 3/10 1867.. . .5 1/2 1884. . . .4 6/10 1901 . . . •5 7/io 1868. . . .5 1/2 1885. . ••3 7/IO 1902. . . .6 51/100 1869. . ••5 1/2 1886. . ..3 1/10 1903... .5 13/100 1870. . ••5 1/2 1887.. . .2 1/20 1904. . . .7 6/100 1871 . . ••5 1/2 1888. . ••5 i/5 1905. .. •5 45/ioo 1872. . ••5 1/2 1889. ..4 1906. . . .2 21/1000 1873. • ..5 1/2 1890. ..6 1907. . . . 2 4/10 1874. . .♦5 1/2 1891. . .-4 12/35
A uniform rate of taxation from year to year indicates of course the expenditures are just keeping abreast of the state's development; a small levy means that the state's wealth is gaining" on the cost of government, and a high rate the converse.
This table of the state levies has damaging limitations as an index of the relation between the growth of public expenditures and of wealth in Oregon,—and I shall proceed immediately to point out these limitations,—still it should suffice to give something of a line on this relation in a state making little use of public credit and confining itself, too, almost to the present time, to a general property tax for state revenues. The conditions preventing its being a true index are the following:
- The levies did not yield revenues regularly covering the expenditures from year to year. During the first half of the seventies, for instance, a comparatively large volume of floating indebtedness was accumulated.
- Under-assessment, though continuous, was yet varied as to the degrees to which it was carried at different times; thus the total valuation of the state in 1893 was about $168,000,000; in 1900 it was only $118,000,000; the material progress of the state in the interim had been slow yet substantial.
- Sources of revenue supplementing the general property tax have been brought into requisition, especially in recent years. The light that this table of state levies is fitted to give on the course commonwealth life in Oregon will be best available after we have before us some idea of the extension of the state's public activities and the use it has made of its credit.
Expansion of State Activities in Oregon.—The statistics given relating to the average per capita expenditures of the state government in Oregon, and those of the number of mills on a dollar levied from year to year for state purposes on a valuation not amounting to more than from one-third to one-half of actual values,—with exemptions for indebtedness allowed most of the time,—these give striking proof that the state government activities in Oregon have been kept within a most restricted range.[5] This stinting of the state government in Oregon, or,—viewing it from a different standpoint,—this failure of the people of Oregon to make the most of their state organization as a means of co-operation in promoting their common welfare, can be accounted for as the result of the combined influence of several conditions that obtained hereto a peculiar degree.
The Oregon community was a frontier community to a degree, and for a length of time, nowhere else paralleled in this country. Such a community cannot from the nature of things get much out of its state organization—except to use it as an agency directing the common defence. The frontier communities of the Middle West, it is true, did attempt great things with their state organizations, but Oregon became a state just in time to profit by their sad experiences and did take full warning.
In determining the boundaries of the different states of the Pacific Northwest the suggestions of the natural features of the region were defied. Unity of geographical conditions was ignored. The penalty is of course paid in the absence of unanimity and in the lack of vigorous and efficient commonwealth life. Outlying sections of the different states that were unnaturally joined to the main portions take little interest in the main lines of state policy and are almost constantly entertaining projects for a revision of the boundaries.
Physical features in this region are prevailingly of a titanic mold and communities with limited resources are daunted and great undertakings for the common welfare are well-nigh out of the question. Projects rather of the nature of avoiding than of overcoming the obstructions to navigation of the Willamette at its falls and of the Columbia at the cascades, and the dangers at the mouth of the Columbia, were tackled in a way by the state.
The habit of a people whose progenitors for several generations back had largely participated in the van of the westward movement accorded with a let-alone policy by the state. There were no men of the Alexander Hamilton type in the state constitutional convention, though there were some able exponents of the ideas of Jefferson.
These conditions inherent in the people and in the environment discouraged any vision of possible achievement through commonwealth effort. The ultra-individualistic tendencies were at their climax when the state constitution was formed. jit took the hue of the times. Its provisions of severe restriction of state action have been the molds determining the cast of state policies. The constitution has been retained unchanged in these features through half a century.
The following restrictive provisions are characteristic:
"The legislative assembly shall not loan the credit of the state, nor in any manner create any debts or liabilities, which shall singly or in the aggregate with previous debts or liabilities exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars, except in case of war, or to repel invasion, or suppress insurrection . ."[6]
(There is a similar county limit of five thousand dollars.)
"No tax shall be levied, or money of the state expended, or debt contracted for the erection of a statehouse prior to the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five."[7]
"Provided, That no part of the university funds, or of the interest arising therefrom, shall be expended until the period of ten years from the adoption of this constitution, unless the same shall be otherwise disposed of by the consent of congress for common school purposes."[8]
Such strait-jacket features in a constitution were no doubt salutary so long as the people were closely limited in economic resources, in purposes cherished as a commonwealth and in the administrative efficiency they could command. But the status fixed by such constitutional restrictions is, nevertheless, primitive and hidebound. The natural effect of the retention of the letter of a constitution which changing conditions was rendering archaic was bad. It forestalled an open rational policy of public improvement. It did not bring into play the test of public utility upon schemes to get money from the state treasury, but, on the contrary, gave advantage to the methods of the log-roller. Surreption has won all too frequently. This has meant spasmodic policies which are wasteful to the last degree. For instance, four state normal schools were brought into existence, not in the development of a consciously espoused and avowed state policy, but because one locality after another was able through its delegation at the legislature, using approved methods of combination in securing votes, to> get recognition and then an appropriation for a local institution for a series of years, support not only for maintenance but also for buildings. But when the temper of the legislature changed there was trouble, with the upshot that all were left without support and closed. Similar policies have been pursued with roads and canals, fraught with waste and injustice.
The constitution, however rigidly restrictive, would admit of some expansion of state activities, and the evolving social conditions and special resources to be developed would determine the duties that a progressive state must assume. The aid of higher education was imposed upon the state, as it were, through national grants of land to aid in the establishment of a state university and an agricultural college. The prevailing sentiment with regard to the support of a state university from the proceeds of taxation is indicated in the suggestion in the constitution of a desire to have the university land funds diverted to aid of the common schools. A more positive provision to this effect would have been inserted had there been any hope that Congress would accede to such a step. The location of the institution, instead of being determined by any clear and definite purposes affecting the interests of the state as a whole, was decided by the bid of the community that showed highest appreciation of the advantage of being the home of the institution. Appropriation of state funds for the support of the institution were at first justified on the score that they were reimbursements for losses suffered from the land fund of the university due to careless administration by the state. As recently as the nineties a governor who was reelected reiterated arguments in his messages for withholding state support from the university and the state agricultural college. In a somewhat similar grudging spirit did the state come to assume its normal attitude of responsibility for the dependent and unfortunate classes. Its more recent biennial budgets show now that it has fully committed itself in all these directions.
Almost equally hesitating was the public opinion of the state in its recognition of the function of the state government to secure conditions of justice and equity through the regulation of the power of monopolies and through the keeping up of the plane of competition. A railroad commission and a bureau of factory inspection are, however, now supported in good working order.
The more tangible interests of the people have been more sedulously fostered. A consistently liberal policy has been displayed towards agencies promoting improvement of the basic industry, agriculture. Fish and game, subject to common exploitation, are cared for. The social and business advantages that accrue from a growing population, and from a larger utilization of now vast idle resources, have been anticipated and comparatively large outlays of state funds have been made to advertise these resources to the world with the view of increasing immigration.
A table of classified expenditures of the state government exhibiting more in detail the course of development of this side of the state's budgets will be found in the appendix to this sketch. From it the comparative costs of the different lines of the state service as they have expanded can be readily ascertained.Salaries, Fees and Perquisites of State Officials.—Oregon's state government has been one virtually limited to the functions of securing law and order. With a government of this type the degree of economy actually realized is largely determined in the salaries and other emoluments received by the different state officials.
The elements of the situation that has existed here almost from the beginning of the period of statehood in regard to this matter affords a unique side-light on the ways of the Oregon people. What with the language of the constitution specifically fixing the salaries, with the repeated efforts of the legislature to get the people to ratify amendments increasing, or opening the way to increase, these salaries; their refusal, and then the realization through legislative enactment, first in one form, then in another, of what the people had denied — could anything be more anomalous than all this? It proves clearly enough that the Oregon voter is obdurately parsimonious and that he is hugging the delusion that with his rigidly fixed and meagre constitutional salaries he is securing economic state service. Not unlike the fabled ostrich is he, believing itself protected with its head alone buried in the sand. The legislature first submitted an amendment in 1864 to grant the legislative assembly power to "at any time alter or modify the salaries of any officers provided for in the constitution . ."[9] This was defeated at the polls. Again in 1872 an attempt was made by the legislature to bring about a change in the constitution. This time it took the form of specifically naming the higher salaries to take the place of the sums fixed by the original document.[10] This again failed. Once more in 1887 the legislature tried to have the constitution changed; this time, as in 1864, the aim was to have the legislative assembly empowered to fix these salaries.[11] But the people were obdurate. During all this time, however, the state officials were receiving compensation in excess of their constitutional salaries. Perquisites for specific duties assigned as the state institutions were developed, pay for serving on commissions created and fees for performing acts authorized by law—compensation of the several forms, frequently a number of sources in each form, aggregated a liberal and, for some officers, extravagant allowances. In addition to these different forms of emoluments there were frequently additional sums available for traveling expenses and the habit was not lacking of using passes though charging up the regular fares to the state. During this era of perquisites and fees from 1863 to 1907 the language of the constitution remained as follows: "They shall receive no fees or perquisites whatever for the performance of any duties connected with their respective offices "Their plea in exoneration was that the added pay was for extra duties imposed. Furthermore, although the constitution placed the annual salary of the governor and the secretary each at fifteen hundred dollars and that of the treasurer at eight hundred, it did not append the words "and no more" as with the "three dollars per diem" of the members of the legislature and therefore the sums named in the constitution it was held were intended as the minimum salaries. This latter argument receives some weight from the record of the proceedings of the constitutional convention.
The system of perquisites was inaugurated in 1862 through the appointment of the governor as superintendent of the penitentiary with the duty of examining "into the general affairs of the penitentiary at least once in every three months." His expenses in visiting the institution and "a salary of four hundred dollars per annum" were allowed him. In 1870 the opportunity was seized to develop a full-fledged fee system for the secretary of state and the treasurer in connection with the creation of a system of taxation and supervision of foreign insurance, express and brokerage companies.[12] Abstracts of the features of the systems of perquisites attached to each office for extra duties assigned are given below:
Perquisites of State Officials.
Governor.
The office of governor, to which a constitutional salary of $1,500 has attached from the beginning, was granted perquisites as follows:
$400 as superintendent of the penitentiary, 1862-1864.
$200 as prison inspector, 1864-1876; the governor was relieved from the duties of the superintendency of the penitentiary in 1864, but retained the position of prison inspector.
$300 as prison inspector, 1876-1878. (The extra $100 of this biennium was for expenses.)
$200 regular flat allowance as prison inspector from 1878 on until 1907.
Additional perquisites were granted and continued as follows:
$100 as member of board of trustees of state insane asylum, 1882; increased in 1895.
$250 as member of the Oregon Domestic Animal Commission, from 1889 on.
$250 as trustee of Reform School, 1893.
$250 as trustee of Deaf Mute School, 1893.
$500 as member of Board of Public Works, 1893; increased in 1895.
$400 additional appropriation for salary as asylum trustee.
$500 additional appropriation for salary as member of Board of Public Works, 1895.
In addition to the above the governor quite regularly received traveling expenses when on state business. He received no fees.
A flat salary law was passed in 1905, to go into effect January 1st, 1907, making the salary of the governor $5,000.
Secretary of State.
The office of secretary of state, to which a constitutional salary of $1,500 has attached from the beginning, was granted continuing perquisites as follows:
Public Expenditures. 301 $100 as trustee of the insane asylum, 1882. $250 as member of the Oregon Domestic Animal Commis- sion, 1889. $250 as trustee of Reform School, 1893. $250 as trustee of Deaf Mute School, 1893. $500 as member of Board of Public Works, 1893. In addition to the above perquisites the secretary of state was allowed to retain some very lucrative fees which are ex- plained below. Provision was quite regularly made for his expenses while engaged with any of his public duties. The flat salary law of 1905 fixed his compensation at $4,500. State Treasurer. The office of state treasurer, to which a constitutional sal- ary of $800 has attached from the beginning, was granted con- tinuing perquisites as follows : $100 as trustee of the insane asylum, 1882. $250 as member of the Oregon Domestic Animal Commis- sion, 1889. $500 as member of the Oregon Board of Public Works, 1893. In addition to the above perquisites the treasurer received certain fees and retained the interest that he might make the funds in the treasury earn for him through depositing them with banks. The flat salary law of 1905 fixed his compensa- tion at $4,500, and he is compelled to turn interest received into state treasury. Justices of the Supreme Court. The provisions of the constitution pertaining to the salary of the justices of the supreme court has remained unchanged and is as follows: "The judges of the supreme court shall each receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars. They shall receive no fees or perquisites whatever for the performance of any duties connected with their respective offices; and the compensation of officers, if not fixed by this constitution, shall be provided by law." 302 F. G. Young. In 1872, however, it was provided "That there be and hereby is allowed to each of the Justices of the Supreme Court doing Circuit Court duty, the sum of one thousand dollars per annum, to defray the traveling and other incidental expenses to which said Justices may be subjected in the execution of their official duties." In 1878 when relieved of the work of circuit judges their salaries were again fixed at $2,000. In 1889, however, an increase of $1,500 was again provided for in their salaries. The reasons assigned at this time were the additional expenses that would be incurred in holding a term of court away from capital required now for the first time, and the expenses in- volved in preparing duplicates of opinions, a syllabus of points in each decision, indexes, etc., etc. In 1903 the compensation for these additional expenses and services was raised to $2,500. Their salary thus stands at $4,500, notwithstanding the lan- guage of the constitution given above. The fees that went into the pockets of the secretary of state and the state treasurer were much more lucrative than their perquisites for extra duties. As samples of the earlier fees received by the secretary of state we have the following: $25 for recording and issuing certificates of deposits required of foreign insurance companies with the state treasurer; $10 for issuing license to life insurance agents ; 5% commission on all sales of stamps required to be affixed to insurance policies ; in 1887 4° % of the annual license of $100 required of all life and accident insurance companies. Then there were the fees for issuing commissions to notaries public ; fees for recording and filing articles of incorporation ; profits on the transcribing of the session laws and the journals. This list is not complete, but will suffice to indicate the character of this source of the secretary's income. Recently suits were instituted to compel those who had filled this office since 1895 to disgorge. Judg- ment was secured in a state circuit court for over $100,000 against the incumbent from 1899 to 1907. The state supreme court reversed the decision of the lower court. The higher Public Expenditures. 303 court did not in its opinion pass upon the question as to whether the constitution prohibits state officers from receiving fees in addition to their constitutional salaries. It disposed of the question at issue as follows : "Assuming without deciding, that the compensation is fees and perquisites and within the inhibition of the constitution, then the acts authorizing them are clearly void, to that extent, and cannot be construed as authorizing the collection of them for the use and benefit of the state." It seems strange that with a people so boastful of their political efficiency a court should content itself with a judgment so negative and incomplete or that it should be allowed to do so. It did hold that the compensation author- ized by the legislature for transcribing the laws and journals was lawful, for it was not compensation for personal services but was pay for the expense of having such records tran- scribed. Again, one must ask why was the court so silent con- cerning the profits pocketed by the secretary in connection with this duty assigned him? The state treasurer, too, was not forgotten when the fee system was established in 1870. He was allowed one-eighth of one per cent on all amounts required to be deposited with him in connection with the .sureties required of foreign cor- porations. From 1870 to 1874 he was allowed one-half of one per cent of all moneys received by him as state treasurer towards compensation for an "assistant treasurer." Of course arrangements were made to secure an equitable division be- tween the treasurer and his "assistant" of the sum thus se- cured, as the treasurer had the naming of the assistant. The main source of the income of the state treasurer, however, arose from the fact that he had charge of the state's funds and did not until 1907 have to account for any interest he might re- ceive from the banks with which balances were deposited. It is well authenticated that the candidates of the majority party before a recent election each spent from $20,000 to $23,000 in his campaign. 304 F. G. Young. The flat salary law that went into effect in 1907 provides very liberal salaries for all these officials and turns the fees they collect into the state treasury. But the language of the constitution fixing the salaries which former legislatures tried repeatedly to have changed still remains. There is surely virtue in an open and candid facing and acknowledging of con- ditions as they are. It cannot but be demoralizing for the youth of the state to be perpetually confronted with the spec- tacle in which the highest officials of the state in order to draw salaries at all commensurate with the value of their services must and do wink at the plain, evident meaning of the state constitution. In connection with the income that has attached to the office of state printer there is a situation quite distinct. The state printer's office is like those that have been noticed in being provided for in the constitution, but different in that his com- pensation is left to be determined through the rates estab- lished by the legislature for the state printing. So his income, however inordinate, does not involve a gross violation of the plain meaning of the language of the constitution. The schedule of rates allowed by the legislature ha^ve been such that the incomes of the state printers during the last two or three decades have been of prodigious proportions. It is the general concensus that $15,000 a year at least have been their average profits. The failure of the people to get eco- nomic public service of this class has been due mainly to lack of effective publicity. Neither the private citizen nor the average legislator has had data available from which to deter- mine how princely the proportions of the state printer's in- come. No doubt the methods of machine politics have, when necessary, been used to balk efforts of legislative reform of this official's compensation. Despite the intent so strongly emphasized in the discussions of the constitutional convention on the matter of salaries, and so clearly exhibited in the constitution that was retained intact for half a century, the people of Oregon have paid dearly for Public Expenditures. 305 their public service. This experience is only one of many un- toward and inevitable results of a distorted and perverted view of what a people have at stake in their state government. In- stead of looking upon the state organization as embodying opportunity and a precious heritage of common resources, it was regarded as an incubus to be shackled and repressed. State activities were viewed as involving consumption of resources with little if any redeeming outcome of production of either service or commodity. Public offices were but prizes in the game of politics, won by the few, the party leaders. These prizes the people had gotten into the ineradicable habit of putting up. With such a view of the essential character of the whole state establishment the sole achievement through which credit and acclaim might be won would be that of retrenchment. When a thing is regarded exclusively as a drain or outlay the effecting of any diminution of that outlay is the highest serv- ice. The state officials responded to this prevailing idea. Their only boasts were those of economy. This single criterion of merit is reiterated in all the state reports. This view of their state government, and the consequent attitude of the people, bore in themselves the causes of their own re-enforce- ment. The people could not help being sensible of what the government took from them for expenditures. This was ob- trusive and tangible. The service secured' in return, limited quite closely to the securing of law and order in a naturally law-abiding community, was not only intangible but also almost imperceptible. Receiving from this attitude of the peo- ple none of the higher rewards of public service, ardor and zeal in that service could not exist. The generous-minded and the competent were repelled from that service. It was mainly coveted by the shrewd, the designing and commercially minded. Constructive and conserving achievement failed to be realized. Intrigue and combination reigned and the mercenary motive was dominant. Ways of legitimatizing the appropriation to themselves of a goodly share of the public funds passing through their hands are contrived by those who under these conditions aspired to public positions. All this financial experience of the people of Oregon with regard to the compensation of the officials came about through the inadequate appreciation by the people of the means at hand in their state organization of promoting their common welfare.
DOCUMENTS
Letter and Circular of Information for Prospective Emigrants to Oregon.
The following letter was written to Col. William M. King, who, in 1847, was a resident of one of the interior counties of New York. Col. King came to Oregon in 1848, arriving at Portland late that fall. Being a lawyer by profession, he soon became a prominent character in the early annals of Portland. In addition to his law business he engaged in general merchan- dising, and had as a partner a man named Mr. Kittredge. The circular referred to in the letter follows :
Independence, Missouri, March 2d, 1847.
Sir:—
Your letter of the 12th inst. was reed, by last mail. I send you the within circular, which has been prepared with some care and from which you can gain most of the information which you desire.
I will, however, add that mules and oxen are much better adapted to crossing the plains than horses, as they have to subsist entirely on grass. Mules, from present appearances, will be worth $40 to $50 each and oxen from $30 to $40 per yoke. Flour will be $2.25 to $2.50 per bbl. Corn meal 25 cents per bushel ; Bacon about 6 cts. per lb. Sugar & coffee each 10 cts. to 12 cts. per lb. You can purchase wagons here suitable for the expedition at from $80 to $90 each. You should try and be here by the first of May so as to be certain to be ready by the time the grass gets up. I have no doubt but that there will be a very large emigration leaving here for Oregon this spring. There are a number already here.
I am, Dear Sir,
Your obedient servant,
To. Geo. W. Buchanan, P. M.
Wm. M, King, Esq., 3 o8 Documents. Oregon and California. For the Western Expositor. Mr. Editor: Knowing the interest which you take in com- mon with other citizens in facilitating the progress of emi- grants to Oregon and California, I feel assured that you will devote a column of your paper to giving publicity to such in- formation as I may be able to communicate, for the benefit of those desirous of emigrating to the shores of the Pacific. Twelve months since it devolved upon me to answer the vast number of communications from persons in every State in the Union, who addressed the post-master at this place making enquiries on the subject of emigration to Oregon and California, at which time I took pains to glean from every reliable source information on that subject, and I find of late, much additional evidence to confirm me in the belief that the knowledge, which I then imparted to emigrants, was cor- rect. I then recommended emigration to those countries as prom- ising a rich reward to the pioneer, and much more readily can I now do so, since the difficulty then existing between this government and Great Britain in regard to the boundary of Oregon is settled, and the laws of the United States are ex- tended over that territory. Late accounts inform us that the forest is giving way to extensive fields, the country is already dotted over with flourishing towns and villages, the immense water power of the Columbia and her tributaries supersede the necessity of steam, and the country can now boast of some of the best merchant mills, her commerce is in the most flourish- ing condition and the country in its vast extent of territory embracing almost every variety of soil and climate, has already assumed an importance among the nations of the earth. Look too, at California, and see the change a year has wrought in her destiny. There roamed the wild Mexican, as wild and untutored as the mustang he bestrides, governed by Documents. 309 no law save that of tyranny, upon the principle that "might makes right," he too' has changed to the respectable and indus- trious "ranchero," and as he looks upon the Stars and Stripes that flutter in the breeze, toils on in the full assurance of pro- tection from the new government, the laws of the United States have there taken the place of the despotic edicts of tyran- nical governors, the right of trial by jury is extended to all, the American flag by Com. Stockton and Capt. Fremont, has been placed upon every town in both California, and where — ? let me ask has our banner ever been planted, that the march of civilization did not speedily follow. That the country on the other side of the Rocky mountains and the great valley of the Mississippi will ere long be connected by rail-road is not the wandering of a chimerical brain, but will as certainly be accomplished as we remain a free and united republic. Let the skeptic go back to* the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock, suppose a panoramic view of the vast wilderness on this side the Alleghany mountains were then presented to them, how many would have been found among them who would have believed that such a change could take place. There is almost nothing too great for American industry to achieve, her energies never sleep, and each succeeding anniversary develops something new in literature, the arts and sciences. "No pent up Utica contracts our powers," but the march of improvement is onward and will never cease until the shores of the Pacific and Atlantic are united by rail-road, and that which is now a wilderness and occupied by the savage, will be made to flourish and blossom like the rose. For the benefit of those wishing to emigrate, I will give some information which may be valuable to them in making prepara- tion for their journey across the mountains. The emigrating company that will start from Independence the coming spring, from present appearances, will be large, and all persons should endeavor to rendezvous at this place or vicinity at least by the first of May next, in order to form a thorough organiza- tion and start by the tenth, or at least fifteenth of that month. 3io Documents. Wagons should be light but strongly made and drawn by two or more yoke of oxen or by four mules, cows are just as good to work and are worth four times the amount in Oregon that they are here. 2,000 lbs. should be a full load for a wagon, no furniture whatever should be taken, blankets and quilts should supply the place a feather beds, and tin ware that of crockery, a good part of the provision stores should be flour and pilot bread, at least 150 lbs. bacon, the same of flour — 20 lbs. salt, 40 lbs. sugar and 20 lb. coffee to each person, but it is well for every one to take a large supply of both sugar and coffee, as much more will be used on the prairie than here, and any overplus can be disposed of at an excellent price at the differ- ent trading posts which will be passed on the route. Strong and durable clothing should be provided, and some tools, such as axes, saws, augers, spades, hoes, &c, as well as a few ploughs. For further information of the emigrants and to save them the expense of high freight on the Missouri in the spring, I will connect with this letter a synopsis of the resources of our town and surrounding country, giving a correct list of the number of mercantile houses, the mechanic shops and other business houses, in our town as well as the state of agri- culture in Jackson county, — to commence. — We have in the town of Independence 18 Dry Goods establishments 9 Family Grocery and provision 3 Confectioners and Bakers a 3 Clothing store 2 Tin and sheet iron 2 Watch, Clock and Jewelry stores, 1 Boot and shoe 3 Drug 3 Harness and Saddler shops 5 Boot and Shoe-maker 5 Tailoring " 2 Gun-smith " Documents. 1 Hatter Shops 2 Ox Yoke Maker " 3 Extensive livery stables, 2 Hotels, the most extensive this side of St. Louis, 47 Blacksmith forges, with between some four and five hun- dred hands employed, directly and indirectly in the manufac- ture of wagons. I give merely the establishments in which the emigrants will feel interested. In the neighborhood of the town are four good steam mills doing an extensive business. Provision of every kind is low here owing to the large crop of last year. Wagons, mules, oxen, provisions, and all necessary outfit for emigrants can be obtained here at much less price than elsewhere when you add cost and carriage. I am enabled to state candidly the facts from the information gathered of dif- ferent emigrants in the last four years who had made their purchases before arriving at this point. This is the great starting point for all the westward bound, whether their destination be Santa Fe, Chihuahua, the Rocky Mountains, Oregon or California, and may justly be termed the "Great Emporium" of the West. Our farmers, merchants and merchanics are industrious in their zeal to vie with each other in furnishing at the lowest rate the best articles wanted by the emigrant or trader, and although like all other com- munities there are some who are guilty of dereliction from the path of rectitude, yet our community will compare with any in point of morals and probity. I see that you have given notice through your paper that an Oregon meeting will be held here on the first Monday in March next. I know it would be useless to recommend that meeting to pass a resolution that all emigrants while they sojourned with us should be treated kindly ; for the hospitality of our citizens is proverbial, but I would suggest that suitable persons be appointed to await upon all emigrants and give them information as to outfit even in the minutest particular before they launch out on the broad road to the Pacific. 312 Documents. The unthinking mind may value too lightly the emigrant to west of the Rocky mountains, but like the pioneers in the Mississippi valley, they are laying up for their posterity a treasure and a name engraven upon the everlasting tablets of their country's recollection. Even upon the top of the highest mountains of Switzerland the proud bard of England sung of the immortality of "Gen. Boon, backwoodsman of Kentucky," and other generations are destined to read to some mighty Daniel in the farthest west that which will add to the galaxy of heroes already departed. Independence, Mo., February 15, 1847. Appointment of Dr. Marcus Whitman as Guardian of the Sager Children. (While examining the earliest probate records of Clackamas county, Oregon, recently, I found the following relating to the appointment of Dr. Marcus Whitman as guardian of the Sager children, the parents of whom died on the plains in the summer of 1844, while on the way to Oregon. Capt. William Shaw and his wife, notwithstanding they had a large family of their own, took charge of the seven orphan children, and provided for them as best they could until the Whitman Sta- tion, near Walla Walla, Washington, was reached, and placed them in the care of Dr. Whitman and wife, who took care of them until the fearful massacre of November 29-30, 1847, occurred. Then Dr. and Mrs. Whitman and twelve others were killed and fifty-three women and children taken prisoners, from which condition they were rescued through the instru- mentality of Peter Skene Ogden, the head of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. — George H. Himes, Assist- ant Secretary, Oregon Historical Society.) Klackamas District, 3d June, 1845. J- W. Nesmith, Judge. Now on this day came Marcus Whitman, of this district, and represents as follows : That Henry Sager, late of the State of Documents. 3i3 Missouri, died, as it is said, on or about the 30th day of August, 1844, while on his journey immigrating to Oregon, and that one William Shaw did then take possession and charge of the goods, chattels and effects of the said Henry Sager, deceased, and also took charge of the children of Henry Sager, which were as f ollows : John C. Sager, Francisca Sager, Catherine Sager, Elizabeth M. Sager, and Matilda Jane Sager, and Han- nah L. Sager, and Henrietta Sager, all, as it is said, under the age of fourteen years, and furthermore, that the said Wil- liam Shaw did, on the 6th day of November, 1844, deliver up to Marcus Whitman at his station, all the goods, chattels and effects belonging to the estate of the aforementioned Henry Sager, deceased, together with the aforesaid children, all to remain with said Marcus Whitman until further arrangements could be made. And now the said Marcus Whitman requests that a guardian may be appointed to said orphan children by the court, and also that measures may be taken to secure the estate of Henry Sager, deceased, for the use and benefit of his heirs. Whereupon the court appointed B. Nichols, Solomon Eades, to the said Marcus Whitman. The appraisers, after being and Edmund B. Magruder to appraise and fix the value of said estate of the said Henry Sager at the date it was delivered up sworn, returned the bill of appraisement, which amounted to the sum of $262.50. Whereupon the said Marcus Whitman gave bonds for double the above sum and was appointed guardian of the above named children, subject to, and accountable to, the probate judge of Oregon. (Signed) J. W. Nesmith, Probate Judge of Oregon. The above is a true copy of the records in my office, this 8th day of September, 1845. J. E. Long,
Secretary. NOTES
At the September meeting of the Board of Directors of the Society action was taken to secure a fitting expression at the annual meeting of the members on the services of the late Harvey W. Scott to the cause of history in Oregon. Mr. Scott was the Society's first president and always manifested deepest interest in its welfare.
The matter of the commemoration of Astor's enterprise for the commercial conquest of the Pacific Northwest during the approaching centennial anniversary year was also considered at the September meeting of the Board of Directors. A committee of the Board has taken up the project with the authorities having the movement in charge at Astoria. The suggestion for having the observance of this centennial take the form of pageantry has elicited inquiries from Harvard University. Those most successful with New England celebrations of this character are interested.
The committee on a permanent home for the Society is active. It will no doubt be able to report substantial progress to the annual meeting.
THE OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Organized December 17, 1898
FREDERICK V. HOLMAN . . . President
JOSEPH R. WILSON . . . Vice-President
F. G. YOUNG . . . Secretary
CHARLES E. LADD . . . Treasurer
GEORGE H. HIMES. Assistant Secretary.
DIRECTORS
THE GOVERNOR OF OREGON, ex officio.
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, ex officio.
Term expires at Annual Meeting in December, 1910.
ARTHUR C. BOGGESS. MILTON W. SMITH.
Term expires at Annual Meeting in December, 1911.
MRS. MARIA L. MYRICK, CHARLES J. SCHNABEL.
Term expires at Annual Meeting in December, 1912.
MRS. HARRIET K. McARTHUR, GEORGE H. HIMES.
Term expires at Annual Meeting in December, 1913.
FREDERICK V. HOLMAN, WM. D. FENTON.
The Quarterly is sent free to all members of the Society. The annual dues are two dollars. The fee for life membership is twenty-five dollars.
Contributions to The Quarterly and correspondence relative to historical materials, or pertaining to the affairs of this Society, should be addressed to
F. G. YOUNG, Secretary, Eugene, Oregon.
Subscriptions for The Quarterly, or for the other publications of the Society, should be sent to
GEORGE H. HIMES, Assistant Secretary, City Hall, Portland. Oregon.
- ↑ Read as the Annual Address before the Oregon Historical Society at Portland, Dec. 18th, 1909.
- ↑ Contemporary reports of the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention in the Oregon Statesman and in the Oregonian bear out Mr. Davenport's contention.—Editor Quarterly.
- ↑ This word is used to indicate a kind of caution and adaptation to circumstances or conditions which is akin to sagacity.
- ↑ In securing these per capita averages of state expenditures the annual distribution of the income from the different trust funds was not taken into account. These annual distributions, beginning with the first in 1872, have grown from about $40,000 to more than $250,000. Included with the expenditures from the other sources the per capita expenditure series would then show a slightly accentuated tendency to increase.
- ↑ The assessed valuations and the estimates of the Federal census of the wealth of Oregon for the different decades are a follows: State National
- ↑ Article XI, Section 7.
- ↑ Article XIV, Section 2.
- ↑ Article VIII, Section 5.
- ↑ Memorials and Resolutions, 1864, p. 15.
- ↑ Laws of Oregon, 1872, p. 217.
- ↑ Laws of Oregon, 1887, p. 353.
- ↑ The incipient beginning was in 1864 with the allowance of a $2.00 fee for recording a trade-mark by the Secretary of State.