Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 25/Number 1
THE QUARTERLY
of the
Oregon Historical Society
Copyright, 1923, by the Oregon Historical Society
The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages.
THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL, 1849-1860[1]
By AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN
TRIALS OF THE EMIGRANT AND GOLD-SEEKER
During the earlier years of the period 1849-1860 the emigrant and gold-seeker almost monopolized the California and Oregon Trail. Mail and freight service were in their infancy. The years 1849-1854 may be well portrayed by a study of the fortune hunters and emigrants. Further unity is lent to such a period by the fact that, with a few minor exceptions, the route of the trail as established by the end of 1849 remained the same throughout the ensuing five years. The period of the late fifties saw the emigrant sharing the trail with stage-coaches and long trains of freight wagons. New routes were opened and the old ones improved. It is of the earlier years that this chapter proposes to deal.
Some idea of the extent of the migration over the trail is essential to an understanding of many of the conditions and problems which had to be met. It is not the purpose of this work to go into any detail as to why people followed the trail itself. It is well known that the lure of the gold diggings drew great hordes to California in the year 1849 and those immediately following. After the gold rush was over emigrants continued to go to the Golden State in order to develop her homely, though not less valuable resources. Cheap land served to attract the majority of the settlers of Oregon Territory;[2] religious motives, reinforced by the vision of a Garden of Eden in the midst of the desert, impelled the Mormon converts to make the long journey to the region of Great Salt Lake.[3]
Any statement of the number of people following the trail can be no more than a rough approximation, yet some such statement is necessary. On June 10, 1849, Major Cross estimated that there were about 20,000 people and 50,000 head of stock ahead of him, beyond the forks of the Platte. At Ft. Kearney, where a count was made, he learned that 4,000 wagons had preceded him on the south side of the Platte alone. Those on the north side could not be counted from the fort. A line of wagons extended up and down the river as far as he could see.[4] In the fifteen days, May 21st to June 5th, about 3,700 wagons passed Fort Kearney. At four people to the wagon this would mean nearly 15,000 people. By June 22 over 5,000 wagons had passed.[5] Very few people—about 400—went to Oregon.[6] Over 2,000 converts to Mormonism left England for Salt Lake City.[7] Of course these were not the only Mormons to cross the plains in 1849. The great majority of the migration went to California. The number taking the northern route, by way of Goose Lake, was estimated at from 7,000 to 9,000.[8]
The emigration of 1850 was probably larger even than that of 1849. By July 8, at Fort Laramie, 37,570 men, 825 women, 1,126 children, 9,101 wagons, 31,502 oxen, 22,873 horses, 7,650 mules and 5,754 cows were registered. Some 2,470 persons had hurried by without registering.[9] Langworthy reports, June 21st, at the upper crossing of the Platte, "We are now upon the main road over which all emigrants must pass, whether bound for Oregon or California. It is a nearly continuous, unbroken procession. We pass the ferrying place, leaving it three miles to the left. We learn that seven thousand teams have already crossed the ferry the present season. Thousands have crossed at various points below, and other thousands are now passing who do not cross the river at all.[10] Some 2,000 of the emigrants went to Oregon.[11] The remainder went to California and Utah, the great majority, of course, to the former place.
The emigration to California fell off greatly in 1851, though the Oregon and Utah emigrants were as numerous as before.[12] However, in 1852 the tide rose again and the trail was crowded. Over 23,000 people and 59,000 cattle passed Fort Kearney;[13] probably as many passed on the north side of the river, one emigrant estimated the total at 50,000.[14] J. H. Holeman, Indian agent in Utah, traveling up the Humboldt, passed an average of about 300 wagons a days for a distance of 400 miles.[15] Emigration to Oregon was the highest since 1847. [16]
The emigration of 1853 was not so great as that of the previous year, yet 3,700 wagons, 105,000 cattle and 15,000 people passed Fort Kearney.[17] Many followed the north bank of the Platte as usual and so are not included in this count. Kanesville was crowded with people in May and the river banks about the ferries on the Missouri, the Elkhorn and the Loup Fork were crowded with people waiting to cross.[18] No very definite estimate can be made for the following year. The governor of California placed the overland emigration for that year at over 61,000[19] but that included those who came by the southern route as well, and moreover too much reliance should not be placed on such figures. Probably the emigration of 1854 fell off little, if any, from that of 1853. Little more can be said.
In order to gain an adequate conception of the conditions confronting the emigrant we must be able to see the movement across the plains as a whole, yet not lose sight of the individuals. Without an understanding of the magnitude of the movement the details cannot be rightly understood, without some understanding of the details the story is colorless. To appreciate the conditions which the emigrants faced we must follow them in their journey from east to west.
From all over the East and the Middle West the crowds gathered at the outfitting towns along the Missouri. They came overlnad in covered wagons, or on steamboats, or partly by rail and partly by steamboat. In some cases, during the gold rush, special trains were run for the emigrants.[20] Many bought wagons and supplies at St. Louis and steamers carrying emigrants up the Missouri were loaded with wagons, mules, oxen and supplies, as well as with men.[21] In the spring of the year, before the grass was long enough to furnish food for the animals, the outfitting towns were crowded with emigrants. Hotels were full to overflowing and often all available camping space around the city was occupied.
At the outfitting towns the emigrants, if they had not already done so, bought their covered wagons, oxen, horses, cattle or mules, and supplies. Tents and firearms accompanied practically every party. The superflous articles can better be described later, when they will be more exposed to view. The great majority of the wagons were drawn by oxen. On a long journey they held out better than horses, though they could not be driven much over sixteen miles a day on the average with safety, while horses could be driven from twenty to twenty-five miles. Some companies took no wagons at all but packed their supplies on pack mules and either walked or rode horses themselves.[22] At the outfitting towns also the emigrants formed into companies, varying in number from a score or so to a hundred and fifty or more. Some of these were highly organized with a captain, lieutenants and other officers.[23] The gullible did not lack for sharpers to relieve them of their money. At Kanesville the Mormons sold worthless guide books and gogles made from common window glass, the former at from fifty cents to two dollars a copy and the latter at fifty cents a pair, to all whom they could persuade that those articles were indispensable on an overland journey.[24]
Soon after the trains were on their way across the plains the companies which had been so carefully organized on the frontier began to break up. Some wanted to go faster than others and soon left the slower members behind. Many of the companies consisted of heterogeneous groups which quarreled among themselves and forced
the companies to disband. Many large parties were forced to split up in order to secure grass for their stock. A company place might have sufficient grass for a small party was not enogh for a large one. By the time south pass was reached most of the large companies had broken up into smaller groups or disbanded entirely.[25] By 1852 the emigrants had begun to learn the lesson and over half of them joined no organized company, though small parties usually banded together from time to time. In fact there was one great train, some five hundred miles long and one wagon was seldom or never out of sight of others.[26]
The problem of crossing the numerous rivers and streams was one which occasioned considerable work and difficulty, and often delay. At Kanesville there were a number of ferries, yet emigrants often had to wait several days before their turn came to cross. Then they sometimes had to do the work of pulling the boat or scow back and forth themselves, by means of ropes fastened on the banks of the stream.[27] The cattle and other animals were forced to swim. In 1852 a steamboat ferried wagons across the river during a part of the season, carrying a dozen or more at a time.[28] Across the smaller streams bridges of brush were often built when they were too high to ford. The following extract shows another exigency which had to be met. "Started at 8 o'clock and went 11 miles to the ferry on the Loup Fork. The ferrymen were gone and the boat sunk. We attempted to raise it but found it so much damaged as to be unfit for use. We then took the road up the Loup Fork to the ford which is 48 miles from the ferry." 28
A party which arrived opposite Fort Laramie June 13, 1850, found that the ferry boat had been sunk a few days previous by some Californians who were on a spree. Rather than risk a crossing they followed the north bank of the Platte to the upper crossing near the Sweetwater. 29 Many met this emergency by using their wagon beds as ferry-boats. The stream was about sixteen feet deep and was very swift, the result was that six men were drowned within a day or so. 30 The expense of ferrying was not in- considerable. Major Cross reports that his expedition paid $4.00 per wagon at the Mormon ferry on the upper crossing of the Platte. 31 Langworthy reports five ferry- boats operating at that crossing in 1850. 32 In the same year the price of ferrying at Green River, on Sublette's route, was $7.00 per wagon. 33
Emigrants of 1853 found that a Mormon had built a bridge across Thomas' Fork of Bear River at the only available fording place in the vicinity. For the privilege of crossing he collected seventy-five cents per team and wagon. At the next stream they found a bridge at the only available fording place which reached only about two-thirds of the way across the stream. The toll there was twenty-five cents per wagon, but that was hardly paid "for service rendered." Some of the emigrants to Oregon listened to the ferryman's story of better grass on the north side of the Snake and crossed the river some
28 William Edmundson, "Dairy Kept by William Edmundson, of Oskaloosa, while crossing the Western Plains in 1850," The Annals of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. VIII, p . 519. 29 Jerome Dutton, "Across the Plains in 1850," The Annals of Iowa, Third Series, Vol. IX, p. 462. 30 Langworthy, op. cit., p. 55 . 31 Report of Major Cross, op. cit., p. 164. s2 Op. cit., p. 67. 33 Thomas W. Prosch, "Diary of Dr. David S. Maynard While Crossing the Plains in 1850," The Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. 1 . p . 55; also Dutton, op. cit., p. 467. distance below American Falls at $2.50 per wagon. At Fort Boise they had to recross at $8.00 per wagon. 34
By far the most fatal of all perils encountered was the cholera, which ravaged the plains from the Missouri to-the Rockies in 1849 and the early fifties. One estimate places the number of deaths in 1849 at 2,000, 35 another places those of 1850 at 5,000. 36 The latter is probably too high but it illustrates the terrible mortality. "In the Fifties the Asiatic Cholera crawled in upon the Plains, and like a gray wolf followed the wagon trains from the 'River' to the Rockies. In the height of the migration, from 4,000 to 5,000 emigrants died of this pestilence; and if there was a half-mile which the Indians had failed to punctuate with a grave, the cholera took care to remedy the omission." 37 With the exception of the fact that the Indians are probably credited with too many scalps this is a vivid picture of the destruction wrought by the dreaded disease.
At St. Louis, at the outfitting towns in Western Mis- souri, and on the steamboats the cholera wrought fearful havoc. In May, 1849, one steamer was abandoned and left tied to the shore of the Missouri River. 38 From Missouri to the region of the Sweetwater strong men succumbed to its fearful attacks. A few hours after being attacked they would be resting in a shallow grave by the roadside, probably to be dug up by the wolves as soon as darkness settled over the prairie. Those in the vanguard escaped the work of the scourge. 39 Those who followed the north bank of the Platte suffered much less than their neighbors across the river, 40 yet even on that side in 1852 a train
34 D. B. Ward, "Across the Plains in 1853," The Washington Historian, Vol. II , pp. 176-178.
35 McMaster, op.c it., Vol. VII, p. 602 .
36 Meeker, op. cit., p. 67.
37 Charles F. Lummis, 'Tioneer Transportation in America, Mc- Clure's Magazine, Vol. XXVI, p. 83 .
38 Report of Major Cross, op. cit., p. 128 .
39 Delano, op. cit., p. 112 .
40 Langworthy, op. cit., pp. 70-71, also Paxson, op. cit., p. 166. of eleven wagons was met returning to the states in charge of women, all the men having been stricken down by the cholera. 41 After the higher altitudes beyond Fort Laramie were reached the disease became less prevalent and after reaching the Sweetwater comparatively little trace of it remained.
Something must be said of the buffaloes. Great herds of them ranged the plains from Fort Kearney to South Pass. The emigrants on the south side of the Platte usually met their first herd a short distance beyond Fort Kearney! Those on the north bank often met them before passing the fort. By the early fifties the buffaloes beyond the pass were very few. 42 The first attempt of the un- initiated to bring some buffalo steak to camp usually resulted in a waste of bullets. If the hunter did manage to get within range the chances were that upon being shot the animal destined to serve as provender for the hunter and his hungry comrades would go lumbering off across the prairie, for a buffalo must not only be shot, but be shot in the right place before he will fall. The great crowds of emigrants served to make the buffaloes shy and they kept away from the banks of the river except to come for water. The first trains of the year often were detained by great herds crossing their path. 48
Another trial of the traveler was the rain. The jour- ney across the plains was made in the rainy season. The spring of 1849 was a particularly wet one. In the thirty- three days occupied on the journey from Fort Leaven- worth to Fort Laramie in May and June, Major Cross re- ports fourteen days in which it rained at least part of the time. 44 This made the road bad, especially between the Missouri outfitting towns and Fort Kearney. In the early days of the trip the emigrants cursed the rain and mud,
41 Meeker, op. cit., p. 68 .
42 Delano, op. cit., p. 114.
43 Stansbury, Exploration and Survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah, pp . 34-35.
44 Report of Major Cross, op. cit., pp. 127-157, passim. 10 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN after that they choked in the dust and prayed for rain. An Oregon emigrant of 1851 tells of a terrible storm of three days duration encountered at Fort Kearney, then closes with the remark, "After this rain, we had no more rain until we got to Oregon! !" 45 The rains filled the streams which were ordinarily forded to overflowing, forcing the emigrants to resort to improvised bridges and ferries. 46 To those accustomed to life in the states the storms of the plains were remarkable in their severity. Such ac- counts as the following are common. "During the night we were visited by a tremendous tempest, such as no person in our company had ever seen previously. The storm raged with unceasing fury from ten at night until four in the morning—six long hours. The heavens seemed on fire, so continuous was the lightning's blaze. Crashes of thunder followed each other in quick succession, shak- ing the earth and rolling in terriffic grandeur over the boundless plain. The elements were all in arms, and seemed waging a war of unsparing vengeance against all who were exposed to their attack. Both rain and hail fell in frightful quantities. A mixture of icy pebbles and water, at one time covered the ground to a depth of six inches. The winds blew a perfect hurricane, and every tent was blown down." The men were forced to take to the covered wagons when the tents blew down. Through it all the sentinels' guard on the stock singing out "two o'clock and all is wet !" 47 These storms often did more than merely beat down the tents and force their occupants to the wagons. They often caused the cattle and oxen to stampede and scatter over the prairie. On the night of May 29, 1849, a terrible storm broke upon the emigrants near the forks of the 45 Brooks, Quincy A., "Letter of Quincy Adams Brooks," Oregon His- torical Society Quarterly, Vol. XV, p. 213 .
- «Ibid., p. 211 .
47 Langworthy, op. cit., pp. 30-31 . THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 11 Platte. Hundreds of cattle were lost, many of which were never recovered. Some parties lost half their animals, others had only one or two yoke left. Some spent several days searching for their lost stock—sometimes finding them twenty or thirty miles off the road. 48 About two weeks later another such storm visited the region. 49 An exciting event in the life of those following the trail was a stampede. Sometimes the cattle or oxen would become frightened at night and suddenly go thundering along the river or across the prairie, stopping for nothing while the panic swayed them. One herd of some two hun- dred oxen stampeded along the Platte one night and were found the next day six or eight miles down the river, on an island in the middle of the stream. 50 Worse than this was a stampede during the day, when the oxen were yoked to the wagons. If the drivers tried to stop them while they were on the run they would turn short, upset the wagon and probably break their own necks, to say nothing of imperiling the lives of those in the wagons. The only way to manage a stampede was just to let the oxen run until they stopped of their own accord, which they usually did in a very few minutes. Then they would run in a straight line and little damage would result. 51 Like the rain, the dust was a respecter of none. It also was one of the common things which made life dis- agreeable for the emigrant. None could escape it, few fail to mention it when recording their experiences. When the Platte was left behind the dust began. On the Sweetwater, on Sublette's cut-off, on Bear River, on the Snake, along the Humboldt it was a frequent if not con- tinual irritation. On the Sweetwater Major Cross found it so thick that at times it hid his whole command. 52 On the Snake with the hot sun beating down, "We continued 48 Delano, op. cit., pp. 57 -58. 49 Report of Major Cross, op. cit., p. 149. 50 Langworthy, op. cit., p. 41. 51 Brooks, op. cit., pp. 211 -213 . 52 Report of Major Cross, op. cit., p. 168. 12 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN the march during the day through dust half-leg deep, for we had now struck a soil that was so light and spongy as to make it dangerous sometimes when riding over it." 58 Crossing Sublette's Cut-Off, Delano thus describes the last ten miles. "For about ten miles before reaching the river, the country became broken, and we passed several hard hills. There had been no rain here; consequently the dust was ankle deep. The wind blew a gale, and the impalpable powder filled our eyes and nostrils, our faces, hair, and clothes looked as if we had been rolling in a heap of dry ashes. Even respiration was difficult." 54 Usually there was a strong wind blowing from the west along the Humboldt and the emigrants had to literally eat, drink and breathe the dust which the wagons made by cutting up the parched earth. 55 Describing conditions near South Pass, Meeker draws the following picture: "The dust has been spoken of as intolerable. The word hardly expresses the situation, the English language contains no words to properly express it. Here was a moving mass of humanity and dumb brutes, at times in inextricable confusion, a hundred feet wide or more. Sometimes two columns of wagons trav- eling on parallel lines and near each other would serve as a barrier to prevent loose stock from crossing; but usually there would be a confused mass of cows, young cattle, horses, and footmen moving along the outskirts. Here and there would be the drivers of loose stock, some on foot and some on horseback .... Over all, in calm weather at times, the dust would settle so thick that the lead team of oxen could not be seen from the wagon—like a London fog, so thick one might almost cut it. Then, again, that steady flow of wind up to and through the South Pass would hurl the dust and sand in one's face
- Ibid, p . 192.
5i Op. cit., p. 122 .
- Ibid., p. 166 . THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL
13 sometimes with force enough to sting from the impact upon the face and hands." 56 If an emigrant escaped the cholera, crossed all the rivers in safety, if he was beyond the muddy region and a fortunate shower had laid the dust for a time, still the voracious mosquitoes hovered about to prey upon him. On the Big Blue, according to one account, they sang tenor at night while the wolves accompanied them with a blood- curdling baritone. 57 According to another they went over forty bushels to the acre in the vicinity of Fort Kearney. 58 If we are to believe an emigrant of 1850 the mosquitoes on the Humboldt were so thick and so large as to actually shut off the rays of the sun. 59 He probably could have overlooked that little inconvenience had not the creatures descended to more grievious sin. Some travelers could hardly find words to express the torment which the pests inflicted. Yet the words of one man, written near Fort Hall, speaks volumes—"Oh, God! The mosquitoes." 60 For fuel to cook their bacon, beans and fresh meat and to bake their yellow soda biscuits or bread the emi- grants used wood when available and buffalo chips, dry weeds, sage brush or the wood from deserted wagons at other times. Lack of fuel caused many a man to eat a -c old meal, or to crawl to bed supperless. Of much greater concern was the dearth of grass and good water. Much of the water along the route was high- ly impregnated with alkali and almost unfit for use. The comparatively small bodies of emigrants who crossed the plains and mountains prior to 1849 fared much better in securing grass than those of later years. When oxen and cattle began to follow the trail by the tens of thous- ands the problem of sustenance became a vital one. Those 56 Op. cit., pp. 57 -58. 57 Kenderdine, A California Tramp and Later Footprints, 58 Webster, op. cit., p. 51. 59 Stewart, op. cit., p. 183 . 60 Prosch, op. cit., p. 56. p. 21. 14 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN who left the frontier early in the spring might have to feed their stock on grain for a short time until the grass grew up, but after that they had a great advantage over the majority of the season's emigration. After a few thousand head of stock had passed the grass became very scarce and parties were found very often to drive their animals a considerable distance off the road for feed. If a particularly favorable camping site was found a company would occasionally lay over for a day or two so as to rest and recuperate their stock. The three most frequently mentioned articles in an emigrant's journal or diary are water, grass and fuel. When nothing better was available the emigrants had to drink out of mud puddles, buffalo wallows or what- ever happened to be at hand. One exclaims, "Many a drink of water did I take that I would not have washed in at home." 61 Another relates, "This forenoon we filled our water casks with what we knew to be the leachings off from the putrid carcasses of dead horses, mules, and oxen." 62 At Rabbit Springs, on the northern road to Cal- ifornia, in 1849 the migration was so heavy and the water so scarce that men stood in line with tin cups and dipped the muddy water up as it trickled into the bottom of the shallow wells which had been dug. Water for the stock was often out of the question there. 63 In the middle of the desert between Humboldt and Carson Rivers water sold for $1.00 a gallon in 1850. 64 The effect of poor and insufficient water and lack of grass bevame very evident long before the end of the trail came in sight. The course of the trail was marked with the skeletons and the dead bodies of cattle, oxen and horses, with abandoned property, and with wagons and 61 Dutton, op. cit., p. 460. 62 Harlan, op. cit., p. 57. 63 Delano, op. cit., p. 181 . 64 Stewart, op. cit., p. 184. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL the ruins of wagons left behind because they could be drawn no further. It was in the vicinity of Fort Laramie that the death of stock, the abandonment of property and the destruc- tion of wagons began to ocur on a large scale. After the major portion of the emigration of 1849 had passed the fort all the camp grounds in the neighborhood were strewn with clothing, bacon, pork, beans, provision of almost all kinds, and iron, the remains of wagons which had been burned. 60 Beyond the upper crossing of the Platte and the Sweetwater Major Cross observed at least fifty in a distance of twenty-two miles. 66 Along the Sweet- water many wagons were broken up and the supplies, such as were not thrown away, packed on the animals. Fine trunks, boxes and barrels fed the flames. Property valued.at $100—in the States—was none too good to warm the chilly owner in the evening. Dead stock was common. 67 About South Pass the number of dead cattle increased, due probably to the high altitude, lack of grass in the immediate vicinity and hard work. An emigrant of 1850 estimated that there were a hundred carcasses within a mile surrounding Pacific Springs. 68 Beyond the pass such death and destruction continued on all the various branches of the trail. Oregon emigrants had to throw away all superfluous articles, cut off part of their wagon bed to make it lighter and to leave some of their faithful oxen lying along the road to die, when they could go no further. 69 Along Goose Creek and thence along the road to Humboldt were abandoned wagons, log chains, iron bars, and other property. 70 On Hastings , 58. 65 Webster, op cit., p. «o. 66 Report of Major Cross, op. 67 Langworthy, of. cit.,- p. 71. 68 Harlan, op. cit., p. 48. 69 Prosch, op cit., pp. 57 -58. 70 Delano, op. cit., p. 152. cit., pp. 167-1 16 AMOS WLLIAM HARTMAN Cut-Off in 1849 Stansbury found abandoned wagons, great quantities of good clothing, trunks, books, tool- chests and other articles, both useful and otherwise. 71 Many animals perished on the barren stretches between the Humboldt and Goose Lake, on the northern road to California. 72 But death and destruction were at their worst on the forty miles of desert between the Sink of the Hum- boldt and Carson River. This was the last straw for many a poor beast, already worn out by the previous hardsip. An emigrant of 1850 states that the number of dead horses, mules, and oxen in the forty miles was estimated at 5,000 head. 73 Another emigrant of that year states that dead animals were so numerous that he had counted fifty within a distance of forty rods. 74 The putrifying carcasses made traveling very unpleasant and furnished breeding places for disease germs. As illus- trative of the immense number of dead animals which perished on the desert the experience of a small party of travelers in 1855 may prove helpful. Crossing at night when it was so dark that they could not see the road they kept on the beaten tracks by following the trail of bones and by listening to the sound of their horses hoofs on the hard beaten track. 75 But abandoned wagons and property also lined the road across the desert, besides being scattered profusely at points where the road entered and left it. An emigrant of 1850 estimated that there was an average of thirty abandoned wagons to the mile across the desert—a total of 1,200. Along the Carson River at the point where the road left the desert were an additional 2,000 within a space of six miles. Not over one-fourth of the wagons 71 op. Cit., p . 114. 72 Delano, op. cit., p. 184. 73 Edmunson, op. cit., p. 533. 74 Langworthy, op. cit., p. 148. 75 Remy, A Journey to Great Salt Lake City, Vol. 1 , pp. 56-57 . 76 Harlan, op. cit., pp. 58-60. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 17 that started for California would ever cross the moun- tains, he believed. 76 Many of the emigrants were forced to abandon their wagons after crossing a part of the desert, to drive their stock on to the Carson River for food and water, and then return and take the wagons the remainder of the distance. 77 Langworthy gives an excellent picture of the prop- erty and supplies which were thrown overboard. "The Desert from side to side, is strewn with goods of every name. The following articles, however, are peculiarly abundant: log chains, wagons, and wagon irons, iron bound water casks, cooking implements, all kinds of dishes and hollow ware, cooking stoves and utensils, boots and shoes, and clothing of all kinds, even life pre- servers, trunks and boxes, tin-bakers, books, guns, pistols, gun-locks and barrels. Edged tools, planes, augers and chisels, mill and cross-cut saws, good geese feathers in heaps or blowing over the desert, feather beds, canvass tents, and wagon covers." Speaking of the point where the road first touched the Carson after leaving the desert, he continues, "This point, on the river, bears the classic name of 'Ragtown.' The reason for the appellation is be- cause there are several acres here literally covered with rags, or clothing, either sound or tattered. The wood- work of thousands of wagons have been burnt at this place; the irons covered the soil for a considerable space around." 78 The Indians of the plains were of comparatively little trouble to the emigrants in the period 1849-1854 except for their habits of stealing and begging. The whites brought many of the Indian depredations upon themselves by shooting at the Indians to try their marksmanship or the range of their guns. 79 Some seemed to think no more about shooting an Indian than a wolf or coyote. The most 77 Dutton, op. cit., p. 473. 78 0p. cit., pp. 148-149. 79 Waugh, Autobiography of Lorenzo Waugh, p. 178. I 18 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN notable encounter of the period took place near Fort Laramie in August, 1854. An Indian killed an ox be- longing to a Mormon emigrant. A party of soldiers was sent out from the fort under an inexperienced young lieutenant to arrest the offending Indian and those who had eaten the animal. A fight ensued in which the lieu- tenant and his entire party of thirty men, with the ex- ception of one, were slain. 80 The Indians were also hostile along the trail to Oregon in 1854, attacking and burning trains. 81 The Indians along the Humboldt were very trouble- some in 1849, 1850 and 1851, as well as along the Carson. They hid in the willows or crept up on the emigrants in the dark, shooting and stealing all the oxen they could, and occasionally shooting an emigrant if they could do so with little risk to themselves. If pursued they would take to the mountains and trying to catch them was "very much like running down grayhounds with Bull dogs." 82 During the year 1852 these Indians were not so trouble- some. A trip of Indian agent J. H . Holeman down the Humboldt in the spring probably pacified them some- what. 83 The Indians along Pitt River, in Northern Cal- ifornia, caused considerable trouble. Their tactics were the same as those of the Diggers along the Humboldt. 84 Many emigrants were sorely in need of relief long before they reached California. Although piles of food were thrown away in the earlier stages of the journey, by the time the Humboldt was reached food was iij de- mand. In 1850 in particular, many emigrants had heard that too much food had been carried in the previous year so they went to the other extreme and many ran out of 80 Coutant, History of Wyoming, Vol. 1, pp. 322-323 . 81 Mary Perry Frost, "Experience of a Pioneer, " The Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. VII, pp . 123 -124. 82 Harlan, op. cit., p. 55 . 83 Report of J. H . Holeman, House Executive Documents, 35 Cong., 1 sess., Vol. X ., Doc. 71, Ser. No. 956, p. 156. M Delano, op. cit., pp. 211, 239-240. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 19 supplies. 85 Such conditions called for measures of relief. In 1849 there was no organized effort by the people of California for the relief of the needy. The head of the Pacific Division of the United States Army, Major Gen- eral P. F. Smith, took up the matter and put Brevet Major D. H . Rucker in charge of relief. About the middle of September aid was sent to those on the northern route and on the Truckee route. Few emigrants traveled the latter course in 1849 as the relief parties went to the Carson River route, where the need was much greater. Further aid was sent to the emigrants on this route in October. The chief difficulty was not lack of food but means of transportation. Aid was provided in the form of fresh animals and food where necessary. On the northern route many people suffered from scurvy. Indians drove off their cattle. When they reached the river valleys where the grass was good they were loath to travel fast or to leave any of their wagons or property behind. Most of them were finally herded safely to the region of Lassen's trading post, but a few got caught in snowstorms. 86 In the following years organized relief was furnished by the people of California. At Ragtown, on the Carson, in 1850, emigrants found abundant supply of flour sent by the Benevolent Society of Sacramento City. To those with money the agent sold the flour at twenty-five cents a pound. To those who were destitute he gave twenty pounds of flour each. 87 State authorities furnished it in lesser quantities. 88 That from Sacramento did not last long at the rate it was given away. In 1852 state officers were stationed near the Sink of the Humboldt to give away flour and other supplies to the needy, and others 5S Ibid., p. 236. 86 Senate Executive Documents, 31 Cong., 1 sess., Vol. XIII., Doc. 52, Ser. No. 561, pp. 96 -152. 87 Langworthy, op. cit. , p. 149. 88 Delano, op. cit., p. 239. 20 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN were stationed on the Carson for the same purpose. 89 Beginning with 1850 traders made their way into the Carson valley and the desert. Some bought up the tired and worn-out oxen of the emigrants, fattened them up along the Carson and drove them to California where they commanded a good price. In 1850 a tired ox would sell for from $1.00 to $8.00. 90 A meal at one of the trading posts cost $5.00. A man might sell what remained of the oxen which had carried him from the Missouri and not secure enough for a good meal. In 1852 there were several stations in the desert be- tween the Humboldt and the Carson where water and liquor were sold. The latter ranged in price from seventy- five to twenty-five cents a drink, according to quality. Trading stations were located all along the Carson. Prices were considerably lower than in 1850, but still very high. 91 The journey across the continent was not entirely a life of trials and hardship. There were pleasant days with beautiful scenery and an exhilarating atmosphere. But the days spent on the trail were predominantly days of toil and tribulation. If there was not rain and mud there was dust and mosquitoes, or both. In the moun- tains they were chilled to the bone at night and had to march under a burning sun at noon. If the irritations were more or less petty they were continuous and har- rowing. MAIL, PONY EXPRESS AND FREIGHT With the settlement of the Far West and the establish- ment of army posts along the trail, there arose a necessity for communication between East and West and for the transportation of supplies. The result was the estab- 89 Paxson, 7. Tumbull's Travels fron Plains to California, p. 205. 90 Harlan, op. cit., p. 58. 91 Paxson, op. cit., pp. 206-212 . the United States Across the THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 21 lishment of mail, express and telegraph service, and of great trains of freight wagons. Like the emigrants, these for the most part followed the great central route to the West. The first mail service was establshed in 1850, between Independence and Salt Lake City. Monthly trips were made beginning on July 1. From Salt Lake City, the service was soon extended to Sacramento, California. 1 By 1856 the mail contract had fallen into the hands of the Mormons, but it was taken from them in 1857, during the Mormon war, of which more will be said later. 2 During that trouble a weekly mail was instituted in order that more regular communication might be main- tained between the government and the troops in Utah. The time required to carry the mail from St. Joseph to Placerville 3 was thirty-eight days. 4 After the trouble with the Mormons was over, this service on June 30, 1859, was cut down to semi-monthly trips. 5 In May of that year the contract was taken by the firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell. 6 For many years the service was irregular and un- certain. The road was difficult in winter. The mail was frequently from two to four months late. 7 Due partly to this and to the strength of the South in Congress the main overland route was transferred to the Southwest in 1858. On September 15, of that year the Butterfield Southern Overland Mail began carrying mail from St. a Morton, Illustrated History of Nebraska, Vol. I, p. 93; Charles F. Lummis, "Pioneer Transportation in America," McClure's Magazine. Vol. XXVI, p. 84. 2 Burton, The City of Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to Cal- ifornia, p. 4 . 3 Senate Executive Documents, 36 Cong., 1 sess., Vol. Ill Doc 2 Ser No. 1025, p. 1412. ' 4 House Executive Documents, 35 Cong., 2 sess., Vol. II Pt IV Doc 2 Ser. No. 1000, p. 722. » • » •» 5 Senate Executive Documents, 36 Cong., 1 sess., Vol III Doc 2 Ser No. 1025, p. 1412. ' 6 Burton, op. cit., p. 4 . 7 House Executive Documents, 35 Cong., 1 sess., Vol. II Pt III Doc 2 Ser. No. 944, pp . 993-994.
- &%
' ' 22 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN Louis to San Francisco via Little Rock, El Paso, Yuma and Los Angeles. 8 While the Butterfield line was in operation only local mail was carried by the central route. In 1860 the cost of carrying the mail over the St. Joseph, Salt Lake City and Placerville route was over $200,000 and the receipts a little over $5,000. 9 The mail was usually carried in stage coaches drawn by mules. Passengers were carried in the coaches along with the mail. At first the only stations where mules were changed were Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger, on the line from Missouri to Salt Lake City. 10 The first regular stage from Salt Lake City to California was established in the summer of 1858. Major George Chorpenning secured a control in May of that year to transport mail and passengers, the passenger fare being $140, and the contractor receiving $130,000 annually. In March, 1860, this line was taken over by Russell, Majors and Waddell, who, it will be remembered, had taken over the St. Joseph-Salt Lake City line the previous year. On June 1, 1860, the stage from Salt Lake City to California was discontinued and the mail carried on mules. 11 Between St. Joseph—commonly called St. Jo—and Salt Lake City, there were fortyfive stations in 1860, where mules were changed and the passengers ate or slept. 12 The schedule time was twenty-one days and the stage coaches seldom made it in less than nineteen, though they could have done so. The reason given for not Hbid. , pp. 986-990; Lummis, op. cit., p. 84. driving more rapidly in summer was that the people of Salt Lake City would thus be led to expect as prompt mail service in winter, when the condition of the road 13 Ibid., p. 5. 9 Senate Executive Documents, 36 Cong., 2 sess., Vol. Ill, Pt. I, Doc. Ser. No. 1080, p. 436. 10 Burton, op. cit., p. 4 . 11 1bid., p . 511. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 23 rendered this impossible, as in summer. 13 According to Horace Greeley at least sixteen of the seventeen mail bags in the coach in which he rode to Salt Lake City were filled with public documents, such as Patent Of- fice reports. They were sent by the representative in Congress from Utah Territory under the franking priv- ilege^—printed and transported at public expense. 14 The mail stations were not very pretentious in appear- ance nor did they furnish the best of accommodations to the travelers. Mr. Burton describes one of them as follows: "At 12:45 p. m, traveling over the uneven bar- ren, and in a burning sirocco, we reached Lodge-Pole Station, where we made our 'noonin.' The hovel fronting the creek was built like an Irish shanty, or a Beloch hut, against a hillside to save one wall, and it presented a fresh phase of squalor and wretchedness. The mud walls were partly papered with 'Harper's Magazine,' 'Frank Leslie's', and the 'New York Illustrated News'; and the ceiling was a fine festoon-work of soot, and the floor was much like the ground outside, only not nearly so clean. In a corner stood the usual 'bunks,' a mass of mingled rags and buffalo robes; the center of the room was oc- cupied by a rickety table, and boxes, turned up on their long sides acted as chairs. The unescapable stove was there, filling the interior with the aroma of meat. As usual, the materials for ablution, a 'dipper' or cup, a dingy tin skillet of scanty size, a bit of coarse gritty soap, and a public towel, like a rag of gunny bag, were deposited upon a rickety settle outside." 15 This was not an exceptionally bad station. Along the Platte beyond Fort Laramie, Mr. Burton and his fellow travelers were forced to sleep in a barn which was "hardly fit for a decently brought-up pig." And among 12 Ibid., p . 511. 14 An Overland Journey to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859, pp. 188-189. 15 Burton, of. cit., pp. 66 -67. 24 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMIAN his fellow travelers was a federal judge who had for years been a minister at a European court. 16 It was with surprise and even a degree of astonishment that on the Sweetwater one station was encountered, conducted by a Mormon convert and his wife, in which "the table-cloth was clean, so was the cooking, so were the children." 17 White women, Indian squaws or half-breeds were not in- frequently found at these stations. Besides the poorly cooked meals, whiskey could usually be procured. For the privilege of traveling over this route with all its advantages, the sum of $175 was charged. 18 So much for the mail and stage-coach facilities from the Missouri to Salt Lake City. Except for the two years beginning in the summer of 1858 and ending June 1, 1860, travel by stage from Salt Lake City to California was impossible and single travelers sometimes accompanied Mormon traders or the mail carrier with his light wagon, or ambulance as they were often called. The mail route east of Salt Lake City followed the emigrant route. So much cannot be said for the route from that city to Cal- ifornia. Some description, therefore, of the new routes opened up now becomes necessary. Until 1858 the mail from Salt Lake City to California was carried over the regular emigrant roads in summer. But when Major Chorpenning secured the contract in 1858, he opened up a shorter route, to the south of Hast- ings'Cut-Off. From Salt Lake City, this route ran through Camp Floyd, forty-three miles to the south, a little to the west of the northern end of Utah Lake. Thence it'ran a little south of west to Fish Springs, about a hundred miles from Camp Floyd. The stage then followed a southwesterly course for a day's journey to Pleasant Valley, on what is now the border between Utah and Nevada. 19 ie Ibid., p . 95. 17 1bid., p . 155. 18 Ibid., p. 8 . 19 Greeley,o^. cit. , pp. 258-265. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 25 From Pleasant Valley, the road pursued a northwestly course across Shell Creek, through Ruby Valley, to Pine Creek, thence down that stream to its junction with the Humboldt at Gravelly Ford, some twenty-five or thirty miles below the place where Hastings' Cut-Off joined the main California trail. About fifteen miles from the mouth of the creek the road was forced to pass through a ter- rible canon. There were on this route only a few stations —s om e half-dozen in the entire distance of over three hundred miles from Camp Floyd to the Humboldt. After reaching the Humboldt this route followed the usual emigrant trail. 20 Though this route was over one hundred miles shorter than the emigrant trail from Salt Lake City to California by way of the City of Rocks, it still was not direct enough to suit the mail contractors. In the summer of 1859, Captain J. H . Simpson, of the Topographical Engineers of the United States Army, who had helped to work out Chorpenning's route in the previous year, made a second reconnaisance and opened up a new route which entirely avoided the Humboldt. 21 Much of this new route was al- ready well known to a Mr. Howard Egan, a Mormon guide, mountaineer and mail-agent. 22 To whomsoever the credit is due for the discovery of this route, it is certain that the mail contractor soon took advantage of it. In the fall of 1859, Major Chorpen- ning established a mail route which avoided the Hum- boldt. It followed the road which had been established in 1858 to Huntington Valley, but instead of following down Pine Creek to the Humboldt, it left the old road in Huntington Valley and struck off across country to the south, to what is now the southern part of Eureka County, Nevada. From there the route lay almost directly west across Simpson's Park, Reese River and Smith's Creek 20 Ibid., pp. 268-270. 21 Senate Executive Documents, 26 Cong., 1 sess., Vol. Ill, Doc. 2 ., Ser. No. 1025, pp. 847-855. 22 Burton, op. cit., p. 453. 26 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN to the Sink of the Carson River and the great emigrant road. 23 This was not exactly the route followed by Cap7 tain Simpson but it did not deviate from it to any great extent. Between Salt Lake City and Carson City, on the Carson River, there were twenty-one mail stations in 1860. 24 This new route was about one hundred and forty- five miles shorter than Chorpenning's route of 1858. 28 However, both these mail routes and the emigrant trail were closed by snow during the winter, at least until the route was lined with mail stations furnishing fresh mules at regular intervals. As a result, a southern route was opened up. San Bernardino was founded in 1851 by a party of Mormons on the site of the old Spanish mission in Southern California. It was intended partly to act as an outpost for Mormon immigrants enter- ing Utah from the west. Some time between 1851 and 1855, the southern trail was opened. It was used by the mail carrier, occasional emigrants and Mormon traders. In summer it was impassable, hence it was used only in winter and early spring. From Salt Lake City this trail led down the Jordan river to Lehi and along the eastern side of Lake Utah through Provo to Springville. Inclining somewhat to the west of south it passed through Payson and Nephi, crossed the Sevier River and struck across a desolate stretch of country to Fillmore, the capital of Utah Territory. Con- tinuing its way it passed through the towns of Beaver and Parowan to Cedar City. Just beyond the latter town was Panther Creek—in 1856 the last settlement on^the road to California. Beyond Panther Creek the trail crossed the rim of . the Great Basin and encountered the head waters of the 2S Ibid. , p p. 443-496.
- Hbid. , p p. 511-513.
26 Senate Executive Documents, 35 Cong., 1 sess., Vol. Ill, Doc 2 Ser. No. 1025, p. 850. 2e Bancroft, History of California, Vol. Ill, pp. 52-21 . 27 Kenderdine, A California Tramp and Later Footprints, pp. 126 -138; also Remy, A Journey to Great Salt Lake City, Vol. II, pp. 306-377. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL Santa Clara River. For eighteen miles the road followed this stream, through the territory of the troublesome Santa Clara Indians. Some distance below the north fork of the Santa Clara, the road reached the valley of the Rio Virgin, after crossing a mountain range. For forty miles it followed the Rio Virgin, crossing and recrossing the stream a dozen times or more. The country was dreary and desolate and the road sandy and difficult. Leaving the Rio Virgin and crossing Muddy River a stretch of some fifty-five miles without water was crossed. At the end of it was Las Vegas, a sort of oasis in the desert where the Mormons had established a farm to convert the Indians and to teach them agriculture. But by 1858 this was deserted. 28 Beyond Las Vegas the desert continued. The trail passed Cottonwood Springs and Mountain Spring, then crossed forty-five miles of desert to Kingston Springs and another forty miles of the same sort of country to Bitter Springs. The direction was southwestward and westward. A short distance beyond Bitter Springs the lower waters of the Mojave River where it sinks into the desert were encountered. Following the Mojave west and then southward the trail finally left it and crossed the Sierra Nevadas by Cajon Pass. San Bernardino lay but a short distance beyond. 29 Closely allied to the mail service was the pony express. During the winter of 1859-60, Mr. William Russell, of Russell, Majors and Waddell, was in Washington. While there, Senator Gwin of California persuaded him to es- tablish a swifter mail service for California. The pros- pect of a government contract for the handling of all trans-continental mail was held out. Mr. Russell con- 28 Remy, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 377-413; Kenderdine, op. cit., pp. 138 -156; Chandless, A Visit to Salt Lake, pp . 285-294; Clark, A Trip Across the Plains, in 1857, (Manuscript), pp . 41-44. 29 Remy, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 416-454; Chandless, op. cit., pp. 295-307; Kenderdine, op. cit., pp. 155-182; Clark, op. cit., pp. 4446. 28 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN verted his partners to the idea. 30 The route followed was the mail route already established—the great emigrant trail from St. Jo to Salt Lake City and the new mail route opened in 1859 from Salt Lake City to Carson River, thence by the old road across the Sierras. New stations had to be built, especially west of Salt Lake City. About 190 stations, 200 station-keepers and as many assistants, between 400 and 500 horses, and some eight riders were required. 31 By April 1, 1860, all was ready, and on April 3 the service began. The scheduled time was at first ten days from St. Jo to Sacramento—1950 miles; later this was reduced to eight days. The maximum weight of any mail was twenty pounds, but this was seldom reached. The price was $5.00 for each letter not exceeding one-half once; this was later reduced to $2.50. Service was weekly for a time but on June 1, 1860, semi-weekly service was instituted. 32 The pony express was not backed by the government. Russel, Majors and Waddell had the mail contract. They charged the price of $5.00, then $2.50, in advance of the regular postage, for special service. The express was used for the most part by merchants, though the British government also communicated with its Pacific Fleet by means of it. Financially the project was a failure. In a period of sixteen months, the deficit was in the neighbor- hood of $200,000. 33 Early in May, 1860, an Indian war broke out in the region of the Humboldt and Carson Rivers. Fortifications were erected at Virginia City, Silver City and Genoa. On May 12 a small band of volunteers was defeated by the Indians near the Truckee River and about forty-three 3 <>W. F. Bailey, "The Pony Express, series, Vol. XXXLV, p. 883 . 31 Ibid. , pp. 884-889; Majors, Seventy Years 184-185. 32 Bailey, op. cit., pp. 885-891.
- Hbid., p p . 890-891.
The Century Magazine, new the Frontier, pp. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 29 killed. Volunteers and two companies of regulars soon arrived from California. By the end of May some 800 troops were in the field. On June 3 the Indians were de- feated in a battle along the Truckee and they caused little further trouble. But already every station of the pony express from the Carson River to Simpson's Park had been destroyed. Station-keepers were killed or forced to flee. The stations were burned and the horses killed or driven off. Service was suspended for several weeks. As a result of this war, Fort Churchill was built on the Carson River thirty-five miles below Carson City. 34 The year 1860 saw the beginning of what was to su- persede to a large extent the pony express. In November a telegraph line was completed between Omaha and Fort Kearney. 38 In the same year, the telegraph from Califor- nia reached Carson City36 . An account of the freighting activities of the great overland trail must be prefaced with at least a short story of the Mormon trouble of 1857-58 . In September, 1850, the bill was signed which created Utah as a territory. Her boundaries were California on the west, Oregon on the north, the summit of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Thirty-seventh parallel on the south. Brigham Young was appointed governor. Three judges of the Su- preme Court, the Attorney General and the United States Marshal were also appointed, two of the five offices being filled by Mormons. The Mormons were not well-disposed toward the Gentile officials and in September, 1851, they left the territory. New ones were appointed who suc- ceeded in living in harmony with the Saints. 37 In 1854 Young's term as governor expired. President Pierce offered the governorship to Lieutenant Colonel Steptoe who was then in Utah, but Young compromised Steptoe and forced him to decline the offer, and even to 34 Bancroft, History of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming, pp. 209-216 . 35 Morton, op. cit., p. 98 . 36 Bailey, op. cit., p. 887. 37 Linn, The Story of the Mormons, pp. 430-467. 30 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN sign a petition in favor of the re-appointment of Young. So Young continued to fill the office. But public feeling against the Mormons grew in the East as they learned more about the treatment of federal officers in Utah, the practice of polygamy, and the tendency to disregard federal authority. In July, 1857, President Buchanan appointed Alfred Cumming governor of Utah, at the same time appointing new federal judges. Troops were sent to the Territory to assure the maintenance of national authority. 38 In the fall of 1857, an advance party was sent to Utah under Colonel E. B. Alexander. This was followed later in the year by the main force under Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. The total number of troops sent in 1857 was about 2,400. 39 Governor Brigham Young defied the federal government. He forbade the entrance of armed forces into the territory, raised a Mormon force to op- pose any such entrance and placed the territory under martial law. Breastworks were thrown up in Echo Canon to block the road to Salt Lake City. The federal troops were forced to spend the winter in the vicinity of Fort Bridger. 40 In the spring of 1858 more troops arrived. But although the Mormons threatened to destroy the crops and everything of value in the settlements, and take to the mountains if the soldiers entered the territory, a com- promise was arranged and no fighting took place. Gov- ernor Cumming and the other federal officials were al- lowed to take up their duties, the federal troops were allowed to enter the Territory and the Mormons were par- doned for their opposition to federal authority. In the latter part of June, 1858, the army entered Utah and in July, Camp Floyd was established near the northern end of Lake Utah. 41 38 Ibid., pp. 467-478. 39 Bancroft, History of Utah, p. 522. 40 Linn, op. cit., pp . 386 -500. ^Ibid., pp. 500-516. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 31 By June, 1860, there were over 2,350 troops in the field in Utah, 275 at Fort Bridger and about 3,700 en- route. Of the latter some were subsequently recalled be- fore they had reached Utah and others were ordered to Washington Territory; one company of artillery and nine of infantry continued to Utah, and two companies of dragoons with ten batteries of artillery were stationed along the Platte. 42 By the summer of 1860, the number of troops had been reduced until but one or two hundred remained at Camp Floyd. 43 Although the freighting business over the trail had commenced some years previously, it was greatly in- creased by the Mormon trouble. Though there were smaller companies in the field from time to time, the great freighting company was Russell, Majors and Wad- dell. Alexander Majors began in the freighting business in 1848. He was occupied for the most part in carrying supplies to the different army posts in New Mexico, Col- orado and Utah Territories. Another firm also appeared in the field, Russell and Waddell. In 1855 the two firms combined under the name of Majors and Russell, but after three years, the firm name became Russell, Majors and Waddell. In 1860, Majors bought out his two part- ners. 44 Prior to 1858 the firm owned from three to five hund- red wagons and teams. In 1858, because of the necessity of supplying the Utah expedition, this was increased to some 3,500 wagons, 40,000 oxen and about 1,000 mules. Over 4,000 men were employed. During that year over 8,000 tons of supplies were sent to Utah. The wagons in which the supplies were carried cost from $150 to $175 each. After being unloaded at Camp Floyd they were taken to the suburbs of Salt Lake City, where they cov- ered acres of ground. A year or so afterward they were 42 Adjutant General's report, House Executive Documents, 35 Cong. , 2 sess., Vol. II, pt. Ill, Doc. 2, Ser. No. 999, pp. 780-783. 43 Burton, op. cit., p. 335. 44 Majors, op. cit., pp. 74 -77 . 32 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN sold to the Mormons for $10 apiece. The oxen were some- times driven to California and marketed. In the winter of 1859 the company attempted to winter 3,500 head in Ruby Valley in the present state of Nevada, with the result that a heavy snow covered the grass and only about 200 of the 3,500 survived. In 1857 the Indians ran off a herd of about 1,000 head of cattle belonging to the com- pany near Fort Kearney. 45 In the fall of 1858, on October 4 and 5, before the main body of the federal troops had arrived at Fort Bridger, a small party of Mormons under Major Lot Smith burned two unprotected supply trains, of about twenty-six wagons each, on Green River and a third one on the Big Sandy. Among other provisions, over forty-six tons of bacon, eighty-three tons of flour and four tons of coffee were destroyed. 46 Such were some of the larger aspects of the business. Prior to 1858 all supplies for the army posts along the trail were loaded at Fort Leavenworth. In 1858 an additional base was established at Nebraska City. 47 About twenty-six wagons usually formed a train. The comple- ment of men consisted of a driver for each wagon, a wagon-master, assistant wagon-master and a couple of extra hands. The demand for cattle became so great that unbroken ones had to be used to a great extent. A driver thus described the first attempt at driving a train of unbroken cattle which had finally been yoked up and was beginning to break corral. "It was life work for us to keep our wagons right side up. Twenly-six teams of nearly all wild cattle going in every direction— three hundred and twelve head of crazy steers pitching and bellowing and trying to get loose or get away from the wagon, and teamsters working for dear life to head them and keep from upsetting or breaking their wagons; 45 Ibid. , pp. 143-145. 46 Linn, op. cit., pp. 489-490. 47 Majors, op. cit., p. 77 . THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 33 and every now and then a wagon upsetting, tongues break- ing, and teams getting loose on the prairie." 48 By nine o'clock in the evening they had succeeded in getting some of the wagons a distance of two miles from the starting point. The rest were strung over the prairie with broken wheels or broken tongues or else were upset. Repairs had to be sent for and new teamsters hired— for with this initiation, over half of them had deserted. On the second attempt the day's journey was lengthened to four miles, with more mishaps. In six days the train managed to cover forty miles. 49 Yet in spite of such provocation the teamsters were expected to live an exemplary life. The following code of rules for employees was drawn up by Alexander Majors, first when he was in business alone and later as a member of the firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell. "While in the employ of A. Majors, I agree not to use profane language, not to get drunk, not to gamble, not to treat animals cruelly, and not to do anything else that is incompatible with the conduct of a gentleman, and I agree if I violate any of the above conditions, to accept my discharge without any pay for my services." 50 Sunday travel was avoided unless it was absolutely necessary to obtain grass and water. Bibles were even distributed to the men. 51 Mr. Majors seemed to live under the illusion that all these rules were faithfully obeyed, but Mr. Burton gives a rather different picture. He says: "I scarcely ever saw a sober driver; as for profanity, the Western equivalent for hard swearing—they would make the blush of shame crimson the cheek of the old Isis bargee." 52 One of the drivers themselves states that his comrades, with few ex- ceptions, "swore like pirates and stole what little there 48 Clark, op. cit., p. 3 . ±»Ibid., pp. 3 -5 . 50 Majors, op. cit., p. 72. 51 Burton, op. cit., p. 5 . 52 Ibid. , p. 5. 34 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN was to steal." They refrained from drinking only when there was nothing to drink. 53 Out on the prairies, life soon became tiresome and monotonous for both men and beasts. The spirit of the freighting trains is well portrayed by one who himself was a driver. "Our hardships began visibly to affect us, While in the early part of the journey, when our tasks had been comparatively light, the train would have mirth- ful scenes occasionally. Those were the times when we made short drives; when our diet was composed of some- thing else besides a monotony of bread and pork and pork and bread; and when, on account of the danger of new men deserting with their 'outfits,' the train officials were less exacting. But now it was different. Slowly and wear- ily we walked along beside our teams, which were as morose and desponding as their drivers. No sounds are heard as we move over the dreary waste but the dull grating of the wheels as they grind through the yielding sand, and the sharp crack of the whips, as the teamsters urge on the panting oxen. The miserable animals, ex- hausted by incessant labor and little to eat, move lifelessly along with heads bowed low, casting their tear-filled eyes imploringly for the mercy they seldom got, and sometimes, when completely worn out, they drop in their tracks, to swell the number of reeking carcasses and bleached skel- etons which line the road. The hearts of all were glad- dened at sight of the forming corral, and the oxen quicken their pace as they see it. We unloosen them and they are soon scattering over the sun-burned prairie, seeking to allay their hunger, while we go at our camp duties, get- ting our wood and water and otherwise preparing for supper. Silently and mechanically we go through our task, a feeling of weariness and sadness, not to say peevishness pervading all. Our campfires, which of old were the scenes of mirthful horseplay, songs and stories, 53 Kenderdine, op. cit., p. 20 . THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL 35 now see nothing but groups of grimy, care-worn men." 54 There was freighting between Utah and California both by way of the northern routes passing through Carson City and across the mountains and by way of the southern route to San Bernardino. But it did not attain the proportions reached on that part of the trail from the Missouri to Salt Lake City and Camp Floyd. This com- pletes the list of the activities of any great magnitude or importance on the trail aside from emigration.
- Ibid., pp. 66 -67.
JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL"
By RALPH S. KUYKENDALL
Executive Secretary of the Hawaiian Historical Commission
I
Much has been written about the Nootka Sound affair, and much more may still be written without exhausting the subject. From the standpoint of international politics the diplomatic battle waged in Europe is of the greatest interest, and that is the aspect of the matter which has hitherto received the most careful investigation. But from the point of view of human interest the happenings at Nootka and their various ramifications seem to afford a richer field of study. The present sketch is concerned with one of those ramifications, culminating in an incident that took place at the Hawaiian Islands in the spring of 1791.
The occurrences at Nootka and elsewhere which are essential to an understanding of this incident can be briefly stated.[29] Two English merchant ships, the Argonaut and the Princess Royal, engaged in the fur trade under the general command of James Colnett, were seized by the Spaniards in Nootka Sound in July, 1789, and sent under prize crews to San Bias. Colnett and his fellow prisoners were likewise taken to Mexico, where they were kept in rather liberal captivity for nearly a year. In the spring and early summer of 1790 the Viceroy of New Spain issued a series of orders providing for the release of the English prisoners and the restoration of the two ships. Only one of the ships, the Argonaut, being at San Bias at the time, Colnett was furnished with an JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL order on the Spanish commander at Nootka requiring the latter to deliver up the Princess RoyaP to him. Armed with this order from the Viceroy, Colnett sailed July 9, 1790, from San Bias for Nootka Sound in the Argonaut, having on board the surviving members of the crews of the two vessels. It is at this point that the present writer intends to take up the story; but before doing so, it will be well to note briefly what earlier writers have said on the special theme of this article. Greenhow, the pioneer in this field, in his History of Oregon and California 3 says that after his release Colnett sailed in the Argonaut for Nootka "to receive possession of the Princess Royal, for which he had an order. On arriving at the sound, Colnett found the place deserted; and, not knowing where to seek the sloop, he sailed for Macao, which he reached in the latter part of 1790. Thence he went, in the following year, to the Sandwich Islands, where the Princess Royal was re- stored to him, in March, by Lieutenant Quimper, the Spanish officer under whose command she had been em- ployed for nearly two years." Bancroft4 makes substantially the same statement, while Manning 5 says that on Colnett's "arrival at Nootka the Princess Royal was not there. June 11 of the next year she was dispatched from San Bias to be surrendered to Colnett or some other representative of the company in China. Colnett fell in with her and she was handed over at the Sandwich Islands." Each of the statements just noted contains one or more errors—errors which, it is true, are of no particular importance so far as the main purpose of these writers 2 This small vessel had been placed under the command of a Spanish naval officer, Manuel Quimper, and sent from San Bias to assist in the exploration of the northwest coast. 3 Second edition (1845), pp. 200 -201 . ^History of the Northwest Coast, I, p . 243.
- Op. cit., p. 359. 38
RALPH S. KUYKENDALL is concerned. To Greenhow and Bancroft and Manning that which relates to the Sandwich Islands is purely in- cidental. But the present writer has approached the sub- ject from the point of view of Hawaiian history, in an attempt to verify the assertion that the Princess Royal was surrendered to Colnett at the Hawaiian Islands. At the outset it may be said categorically that this assertion is not true. The writers who make it cite as authority a passage from a book written by Colnett him- self. 6 Colnett, however, does not claim that the Princess Royal was surrendered to him. All that he says on this particular point is contained in the following sentence in a footnote on page 101 of his book: "At length after thirteen months captivity, we obtained permission to sail, with orders to go to Nootka, and take possession of the Princess Royal, whose crew I had with me, although the Spaniards must have known it was impossible for me to have fallen in with her there, as appeared by the orders which the Spanish Commander had on board, when I met with him by accident sometime afterwards at the Sand- wich Isles." If one may hazard a guess, it seems probable that Greenhow, knowing that Colnett had an order from the Viceroy calling for the delivery of the Princess Royal to him, simply assumed that when he found the vessel the delivery was made, even though the meeting was acci- dental and under circumstances altogether different from those presupposed in the order. Bancroft and Manning have apparently been misled by Greenhow. The subject proposed for the present study may be best treated under three divisions: (1) the operations of Colnett from the time of his release to the time of his meeting with the Princess Royal at the Sandwich Islands; (2) the movements of the Princess Royal during the 6 A Voyage to the South Atlantic and Round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean . . . Undertaken and Performed by Captain James Colnett, of the Royal Navy, in the Ship Rattler. London, 1798. JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" 39 same or a somewhat longer period; (3) the circumstances attending and following the meeting referred to. II Colnet sailed in the Argonaut from San Bias on July 9, 1790, having on board the crew of the Princess Royal, which he expected to receive from the Spanish com- mander at Nootka Sound, Don Francisco Eliza. 7 He had also, with some difficulty, succeeded in obtaining from the Viceroy a passport which permitted him to trade at any place on the northern coast not actually under Spanish dominion. 8 From this point on Colnettte movements are difficult to trace with certainty. Greenhow, as noted above, indi- cates that he went from the northwest coast to China in the fall of 1790 and returned thence in the spring of 1791 to the Sandwich Islands, where he met the Princess Royal. Bancroft accepts Greenhow's statement. An ex- amination of the evidence, however, leads to a different conclusion. In the introduction of his book and in a long note on pages 96-102, Colnett gives an account of his operations during the period in question. He says that after his release from captivity in Mexico, "I now returned to Nootka, in the only vessel which remained to me; and, after suffering incredible hardships from a want of pro- visions, and the ship getting several times on shore, I procured another valuable cargo of furs and proceeded to China. ... I did not remain there, but, in a short time, set sail, and, at the request of those gentlemen who were joint agents with me, coasted for a market to the West side of Japan, nad East side of Corea." Soon after his return from the voyage along the coast of Japan, Colnett 7 Revilla Gigedo to Valdes (No. 6 Reservada), July 28, 1790. Copy (from Mexican Archives) in Bancroft Library. 8 Manning, op. cit., p. 357. m 40 RALPH S. KUYKENDALL sailed for England in a ship belonging to the East India Company. 9 The instructions for the voyage to Japan are dated at Canton, July 25, 1791. 10 Colnett gives no dates, except the one just noted, nor does he mention that he stopped at the Sandwich Islands on his way to China, his only reference to these Islands being contained in the statement previously quoted. In these statements there is certainly no ground for supposing that after his return from Nootka Sound to China, following his release from captivity, Colnett made another voyage to the Hawaiian Islands. It is however, reasonable to conclude that his arrival in China from Nootka occurred only a short time before the date July 25, 1791. Bearing these^faings in mind, let us examine two other statements by Colnett. Soon after the arrival of the Princess Royal at the Hawaiian Islands, in March, 1791, her Spanish com- mander, Don Manuel Quimper, received from the hands of Kaiana 11 a letter, in English, which was intended for several Englishmen then resident on the island of Ha- waii. Quimper gives a Spanish translation of this letter. Translated back into English it reads as follows: The natives inform me that there are three or four Englishmen among them. If you need anything with which I can supply you, write to me or let me know and I will send you that which you want; I with my ship have been a prisoner of the Spaniards for twelve months, but the king of England demanded that my ship and crew should be liberated, and they have paid the costs; the Spaniards are coming to this island immediately to make a settlement on it and so you should be careful because they will give no quarter, the same as at Nootka. The natives inform me of the Tabu Morea and that they do not wish to trade their hogs except for canons 9 Colnett, op. cit., Introduction. On the point of the furs obtained by Colnett, cf. Vancouver, Voyage (London, 1801), II, pp. 341-2. 10 Colnett, op. cit., pp. 101-102 . "Kaiana was the Hawaiian chief who was taken to China by Meares and who figures so largely in the pages of his book. Kaiana was known to all the early traders, by whom his character is variously estimated. He played an important part in local Hawaiian affairs. JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" and powder, which I cannot give at present; I am plenti- fully supplied and so have decided not to delay, as I have to be at Macao in two months. James Colnett. April 1. Farther along in his account of his operations at the Hawaiian Islands, Quimper states that the Argonaut, with Colnett in command, sailed from the island of Niihau for China at half past two on the afternoon of April 17. 12 Captain Joseph Ingraham, of the Brigantine Hope, while off the west side of the island of Hawaii in May, 1791, received from the same chief Kaiana, a paper on which were written two certificates. The second of these certificates, as Ingraham copied it, reads as follows: NB. The above was obtained from Lieut. Kemp com- manding the Sloop Pss Royall (belonging to the Hon. South Sea Company, of England) and captur'd by the Spaniards in Nootka Sound in July 1789 and at this time navigating under Spanish colours and a pasport to Manila and from thence to Macao to be deliver'd up to the owners agents residing there—Capn. Colonett of the Argonaute who was also captur'd with the Sloop Pss Royall and de- tain'd till the 1 June 1790 prisoners togeather with the Officers and crews of both vessells—Was then liberated and the Officers and crews of both vessels were order'd on board the Argonaute to proceed to Nootka and take possession of the Princess Royall she being then employed in the Spanish service — The Argonaute proceeded to Nootka but the Pss Ropall had sail'd after a series of mis- fortunes and the loss of 34 men. 18 of which deserted & died in Spanish prison the other 16 died or were drown'd on the coast of America—Since the Liberation of the Argonaute she arrived in the bay of Tirooa [Kailua] Owhyhee—where the Pss Royall was then riding. Capn. Colonett has also been treated by Tianna [Kaiana] and Maiha' Maiha (Tommahommahaw) [Kamehameha] in every respect as he wish'd everything the Island produced being at his command Argonaute 4 April 1791. 13 12 Manuel Quimper to Viceroy Revilla Gigedo, July 15, 1791. A . G . I. (Seville), Estado, Aud. Mexico, Leg. 1 . Copy in Bancroft Library. 13 Joseph Ingraham,Journal of the Voyage of the Brigantine "Hope" (MS), entry for May 23, 1791. I have assumed that this certficate was written by Colnett himself, though if that is the case Ingraham has altered the orthography somewhat in copying it. It is of course possible that the certificate was written by some other person on the Argonaut, but that would not lessen its value in the present connection. 42 RALPH S. KUYKENDALL From all of this it seems clear that during the early part of April, 1791, Colnett was on his way to China, and it is reasonable to infer that he had just come from Nootka Sound or some other point on the norhtwest coast of America. What is contained in the letter and certifi- cate accords perfectly with the statements quoted from Colnett's book. On July 25, 1791, Colnett was at Canton, having recently arrived'from the American coast. Dur- ing the first seventeen days of the preceding April he was at the Hawaiian Islands on his way to China. If now we can locate him definitely a month or two earlier, we will have sufficient data to determine approximately his movements during the whole period in question. Under date of August 27,1791, Viceroy Revilla Gigedo forwarded to Count Floridablanca a packet addressed by James Colnett to the English ambassador at Madrid, with the statement: "In the port of Nootka the English- man James Colnett left with the Commandant Don Fran- cisco Eliza the accompanying packet ('pliego') with in- structions to send it to the ambassador of his government at Madrid." 14 Six days later the Viceroy wrote another letter to Count Floridablanca, in which he says: "On the 21st of August I received a leter which the English Cap- tain Colnett, commander of the ships which were captured at Nootka, wrote to me under date of February 28 of this year, a translation of which I enclose to Your Ex- cellency in the attached copy. It has seemed to me that I ought to reply to it, and I have done so in the letter which ... I enclose to Your Excellency . . ," 15 The natural con- clusion to be drawn from these two letters of the Viceroy is that on February 28, 1791, Colnett was at Nootka Sound, where he left with Commandante Eliza the letter addressed to the Viceroy and the packet to be forwarded 14 ReviHa Gigedo to Floridablanca (No. 43), Aug. 27, 1791. Copy (from Mexican Archives) in Bancroft Library. TMId to id. (No. 46), Sept. 2, 1791. Copy (from Mexican Archives) in Bancroft Library. JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" 43 to the English ambassador at Madrid. If we had Col- nett's letter to the Viceroy it probably would be decisive on the point, but unfortunately that letter has not yet come to light. Putting it down as in a high degree probable that Colnett was at Nootka on February 28, 1791, and taking into consideration the other evidence already adduced, we arrive at the following conclusions with reference to his movements between July 9, 1790, and April 1, 1791. First, that he spent the fall and winter in the fur trade along the coast, collecting that "valuable cargo of furs" which both he and Seiior Bodega y Quadra say he obtained before proceeding to China. It was with this in view that he had insisted on getting from the Viceroy a passport which would permit him to engage in that trade. The license from the South Sea Company under which he was operating was soon to expire 16 and if he intended to accomplish anything for his company it was important that he waste no time in making useless voyages across the Pacific. Second, that early in March, 1791, he sailed for China, arriving at the Hawaiian Islands about the end of that month. This account of Colnett's movements is in accord with all the available evidence, and it seems on the whole much more reasonable than the account given by Greenhow. Ill The Princess Royal after her capture arrived at San Bias on August 27,1789, 17 and apparently remained there until January, 1790, when she was dispatched to Nootka Sound as part of the squadron of Lieutenant Francisco Eliza, who was charged with the business of sustaining that northern Spanish outpost and of carrying on certain explorations. 18 The Princess Royal was commanded by 16 Manning, op. cit., pp. 296, 357. 17 Ibid., p. 341. x Hbid., p p. 351, 463; Bancroft, History of Northwest Coast, I, Chaps. 7and8. 44 RALPH S. KUYKENDALL Ensign Manuel Qumiper, and was assigned to the work of exploring the strait of Juan de Fuca. On this work Quimper was employed from the first of June until about the middle of August. He then sought to return to Nootka Sound, but unfavorable weather and the fear of shortage of supplies induced him, on the advice of his officers, to abandon that purpose and sail direct to Monterey, where he arrived September 1. From there, after a delay of some weeks, the voyage was continued to San Bias, in which port the Princess Royal cast anchor November 13, 1790. 19 This explains why the Princess Royal could not be delivered to Colnett at Nootka Sound. The unexpected return of the vessel to San Bias was a matter of dis- appointment to the Viceroy, as he explained in a letter to Floridablanca. "The unexpected arrival of this ship at Monterey . . . has frustrated my plans and desires in this matter." 20 In view of the failure to effect a delivery of the sloop to her English master, Thomas Hudson, 21 at Nootka Sound, some other plan had to be devised for the accom- plishment of that purpose. The Commandant at San Bias 22 suggested to the Viceroy the plan of sending the sloop to Canton with the otter skins which had been collected during the year for the benefit of the royal treasury, with the proceeds of which another vessel could be pur- chased for the return of the crew to Mexico. The Viceroy approved the first part of the suggestion, but considered it better that the skins should be sent to the governor of the Philippines and that their sale and the delivery of the sloop should be carried out by the agents of the Spanish 19 Manuel Quimper to Viceroy Revilla Gigedo, Nov. 13, 1790. A. G . I . (Seville), Estado, Aud. Guad., Leg. 1. 20 Revilla Gigedo to Floridablanca (No. 15), Nov. 26 , 1790. Copy (from Mexican Archives) in Bancroft Library. 21 Hudson was master of the Princess Royal but under the superior orders of Colnett, who was master of the Argonaut, and commander of the expedition. 22 Don Juan Francisco de la Bodega*y Quadra. jAMfes COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL Asiatic Company. The Spanish crew of the Princess Royal could then return to Mexico in the Acapulco ship and avoid the necessity of purchasing another vessel. This would be better, since ships brought from Asia had proved very expensive on account of the repairs that were always required. He accordingly gave the necessary orders to have this plan carried out. 23 The Princess Royal sailed from San Bias for Manila on February 14, 1791, in command of Ensign Manuel Quimper. By this voyage three distinct objects were to be accomplished. First, and of primary importance, was the delivery of the ship to her owners or their agents at Canton. Viceroy Revilla Gigedo wrote to the governor of the Philippines, Don Felix Berenguer, giving him ex- plicit instructions on this point. The delivery was to be effected by the factors of the Spanish Asiatic Company. At the same time the Viceroy wrote a letter to the owners of the Princess Royal, explaining why it had been im- possible to deliver the vessel to her master at Nootka Sound and requesting, in case they had any further claims to present on this account, that they address them directly to the king of Spain, who would see that justice was done. Secondly, Quimper was commissioned to make an ex- ploration of the Sandwich Islands. The Commandant at San Bias, Don Juan de la Bodega y Quadra, had repre- sented to the Viceroy the desirability and convenience of such an exploration, which could be accomplished on this voyage without any particular loss on time. At the same time it would be possible to get some information about a Spanish ship that was said to have been lost at those islands in 1783 or 1784. Quimper was instructed to find out regarding the commerce, situation, and natural prod- ucts of the Sandwich Islands and to secure the good favor of the inhabitants by kind treatment and by gifts of 23 Revilla Gigedo to Floridablanca (No. 16), (from Mexican Archives) in Bancroft Library. Nov. 46 RALPH S. KUYKENDALL various kinds. All of this would be useful in case other Spanish vessels found it necessary to stop at any of the ports of those islands. The third object of the voyage was the delivery to the governor of the Philippines of 3,356 otter skins which had been collected for the benefit of the royal treasury. The governor was instructed to send them promptly to Canton, there to be disposed of to the best advantage—either direct sale or exchange for quicksilver—by the agents of the Spanish Company. Two hundred and eight of these | skins had been obtained, in exchange for some sheets of I copper, during the course of the recent exploration by Eliza's squadron on the northwest coast. The others were the remainder of the skins purchased by the California missionaries under the old contract with Don Vincente Vasadre before the receipt of the king's order putting an end to that trade. 24 With instructions covering the various objects of her voyage the good ship Princess Royal proceeded on her way as Quimper says, "with all felicity," and on the twentieth of March came in sight of the island of Hawaii. 25 Three days later the vessel came to anchor in a bay on the west side of the island, where she was immediately surrounded by a multitude of canoes, each containing more men than Quimper had on board the Princess Royal. Several chiefs came to visit the Spanish commander, presenting him with a large quantity of sweet potatoes, sugar cane, hpgs, fowls, and other products of the country. In re- turn, Quimper distributed pieces of iron which he had brought along for that purpose. He learned that there 24 Revilla Gigedo to Floridablanca (No. 32), March 27, 1791; Id, to Lerena, March 31, 1791. Copies of both letters (from Mexican Archives) in Bancroft Library. 25 The account of the Princess Royal's visit to the Hawaiian Islands is taken, unless otherwise indicated, from Quimper's letter to Viceroy Revilla Gigedo, cited above, note 12. JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" were two Englishmen on this island 26 and two on the island of Maui. On March 25 Kamehameha ("Amejameja") visited the vessel and presented to her commander a "cloak, cape, and helmet made of exquisite feathers." Quimper recipro- cated by offering to the celebrated chieftijajn an iron chest and the best pieces of iron he had. Kamehameha, how- ever, informed him that those foreigners who had touched in his dominions had given him firearms. Thereupon Quimper had an old pistol brought out, but the wily chief was not to be put off with anything less than a good musket. Having obtained the coveted firearm, Kame- hamaha, with his customary generosity, kept the vessel supplied, during the remainder of her visit, with an abun- dance of fresh provisions. On the thirtieth, having completed his supply of water, Quimper got under way for the island of Maui, but being impeded by heavy north winds, concluded to seek the bay of Kealakekua to the south. Instead he came to anchor on the first day of April in the bay of Kailua, 27 and it was there that Colnett found him. IV Early on the morning of April 2 the natives informed Quimper that there was a ship at sail along the coast farther south. Shortly afterwards the chief Kaiana came on board with the letter (quoted in the earlier part of this paper) written by Colnett to the Englishmen who were 26 These were John Young and Isaac Davis. Cf. Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery, (London, 1801), III , 236-239, which gives an account of Colnett's ineffectual effort to rescue Young and Davis. 27 Quimper says that this bay was "nombrada por sus naturales Tara- tatua, y Dor mi de Vacario," but from other things which he says it is evident that it is not Kealakekua; the latter he calls "Karacacoa." Notice also the certificate quoted above from Ingraham's Journal, which speaks of the Argonaut as arriving "in the bay of Tirooa [Kailua] Owhyhee—where the Pss Royal was then riding." Freycinet {Voyage autour du monde. . . . Historique, Vol. II, p. 552), who visited Hawaii in 1819, says that this bay "se nomme indifferement Kayakakoua, Kairoua et Tairoua." Kailua is some twelve miles northwest from Kealakekua. 48 RALPH S. KUYKENDALL on the island. Thereupon Quimper wrote a letter to Col- nett informing him that the Princess Royal was on her way to Manila and thence to Macao to be delivered up to her owners. The Argonaut had by this time come in sight and from the way she was handled Quimper at first thought Colnett was afraid to bring the ship into the anchorage where the Princess Royal lay. He therefore —a nd this was certainly an evidence of his friendly dis- position—sent one of his officers, John Kendrick, Jr., in a small boat to pilot the larger vessel in. Colnett needed no pilot, but for other reasons he kept Kendrick on board the Argonaut for the time being. He brought his ship up to within a cable length of the Princess Royal, presented her broadside to the smaller vessel, and began ranging her guns on deck. From these operations and from information which the natives had brought to him, Quimper concluded that Colnett in- tended to fight. Nothing daunted, the Spanish commander appealed to his men and proceeded as unostentatiously as possible to get the sloop ready for action. He also called to Kendrick to return with the small boat, but the latter replied that Captain Colnett was dressing in order to come and pay his respects to Quimper. The Englishman failed to come, but hostile preparations continued. After a short time Quimper called again, this time remonstrat- ing with Colnett over the demonstration which he was making and asking him to state clearly what his intentions were. Colnett replied that he was sending the small 'boat with one of his officers. When this officer came on board the Princess Royal he handed to Quimper the following letter: Sir Argonaut, April 2, 1791. Your letter by Mr. Kendrik informs me that you are to convey the Sloop Princess Royal to Manilla and thence to Macao but as that is contrary to the Law of all Nations and particularly contrary to the Constitution of JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" 49 Great Britain whose Protection and License together with that of the Honble. Board of Marine I have now in pos- session and which I hope never to disgrace, I must act in conformity to it at the risk of my Life and will demand the Property of the Honble. South Sea Company—where- ever I find it. For which reason I have detained Mr. Kendrik until I know your determination—this Business I hope will be amicably settled between us to the Honor of both Nations and ourselves—whatever terms or Conditions you can ask with reason will be agreed to by Your Hble. Servant James Colnett, Lieut, of Royal Navy and Commander of all Vessels employd and to be employed for the time being for the Honble. South Sea Company of London. 28 Quimper could not make out the import of this letter, his interpreter Kendrick being detained on the Argonaut, but the officer who brought it had some knowledge of Spanish and from him he gathered that Colnett, being of higher rank than Quimper, held that the latter should go on board the Argonaut to discuss the matter. Quimper's instructions required him to pursue a conciliatory course and he accordingly passed over to the other ship, taking his papers with him. After examining the papers, Col- nett proposed that Quimper should go with him to Macao, but the Spanish offiicer gave him to understand that he would not depart one iota from his instructions, "sacri- ficing first [his own] life and that of all those under [his] command." This somewhat grandiose declaration seemed to bring the negotiations to an impasse. Colnett's officers advised him to fight, but Quimper held resolutely to his decision and announced that he was ready to fight if Colnett insisted on that mode of settling the dispute. The matter having arrived at this point, Colnett evi- dently concluded that in this instance discretion was the better part of valor. He withdrew his original demand 28 This copy of the leter is taken from the original which is in Mexico in the Archivo General y Publico, Sec. de Prov. Int., Tomo 153. Quimper gives only a Spanish translation of it. 50 RALPH S. KUYKENDALL and asked only that Quimper give him a copy of his passport so that he might have something to show his company. With this modest request Quimper readily complied. He then returned on board the Princess Royal, the two vessels exchanged salutes, and the controversy was at an end. On the sixth of April Quimper set sail for the leeward islands, leaving the Argonaut at Kailua. During the pre- ceding night one of the Spanish sailors, whose name is given as Martin Mariano, deserted from the Princess Royal and could not be apprehended. Quimper rather broadly intimates his belief that Colnett connived at this escape, but the English captain alleged that the missing sailor was not on the Argonaut and denied all knowledge of the matter. The Princess Royal passed by the islands of Maui and Molokai without stopping and on the tenth came to anchor on the south side of Oahu. On account of the heavy east wind no landing was made, but the natives supplied the sloop with water, wood and pro- visions of various kinds. The chief of the district, named Manono, 29 presented various gifts, including some pearls, 80 and gave Quimper an account of some recent happenings at the islands. Two days were spent here, two days in the passage to Kauai, and two days at anchor off the present village of Waimea in that island. On the sixteenth the Princess Royal crossed over to the island of Niihau, where the Argonaut was found at anchor. Quimper renewed his inquiries in reference to 29 This may have been Manono-Kauakapekulani, son of Kehekili, the famous king of Maui. Kahekili ruled Oahu also at this time, but was probably not on that island at the moment of Quimper's visit. 30 These pearls probably came from the arm of the sea now known as Pearl Harbor, the location of the U. S. naval station. JAMES COLNETT AND THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" 51 the missing sailor 31 and Colnett repeated the denial which he had previously made, adding the information that the deserter had not been seen on the island of Hawaii after Quimper's departure. During the afternoon of the next day the Argonaut sailed for Macao. The Princess Royal remained a day longer, Quimper having been told by the natives that there were on shore some fragments of a wrecked ship. Colnett also had told him that on his last voyage he had at this island bought a main mast, which he had used as firewood. The natives were requested to bring on board the Princess Royal a piece of the wrecked ship as verification of their story. In answer to this invitation they brought a root of a tree. Quimper concluded that it was time for him to go, par- ticularly as the season was advancing. He accordingly sailed for Manila on the eighteenth of April, arriving at his destination about the middle of June. Such in substance is the account which the Spanish offiicer gives of his voyage and of his meeting with Col- nett at the Sandwich Islands. The Englishman doubtless would have related the matter somewhat differently, but that could hardly change the general result. The ad- ditional bits of evidence which we have, such as those furnished by Ingraham and Vancouver, agree well enough with the account given by Quimper. We may appropriately bring this recital to a close with a few notes from the sequel. Of Colnett it is stated, on the authority of the chief Kaiana, that he visited the Hawaiian Islands again in the fall of 1791, 32 but this 31 One is led to wonder whether this sailor may not have been the Spaniard, who under the name of Francisco de Paula y Marin (commonly called "Manini"), figures so prominently in the agricultural history of these islands during the first part of the last century. It has never been learned definitely how or when Paula y Marin came here. R. C . Wylie, Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Relations, in 1850 spoke of him as coming to the islands "at a very early period, (it is believed in the Princesa Real, in 1791). " Transactions of the Royal Havoaiian Agricultural Society, Vol. I, No. 1, p. 46. 32 Vancouver, op. cit., I, p. 350; New Vancouver Journal (MS), entry for March 5, 1792. 'i 5& RALPH S. KUYKENDALL seems doubtful in view of Colnett's own statements quoted in the early part of this paper. The Princess Royal, after her arrival at Manila, was sent to Macao to be delivered up to her owners. She ar- rived there in a damaged condition, due to a storm, and neither the agents of Colnett and Hudson nor the English factors wished to receive her. The Spanish factors there- fore decided to sell the vessel at a legal and public sale, but the documents now in hand do not show whether or not the sale actually took place. The Chinese authorities at first threatened to confiscate the otter skins on the supposition that they belonged to the Russians, but finally placed them in the custom house to await a determination of the question of ownership. 33 Quimper and the Spamsn crew which had navigated the Princess Royal to Manila returned the following year to Mexico in the frigate San Josef y las Animas, arriving at San Bias, November 6, 1792. 33 Viceroy Revilla Gigedo to Aranda, Nov. 30 , 1792. Copy (from Mexican Archives) in Bancroft Library. W 34 "Noticia de Viage de Quimper de Manila," in Deposito Hidrografico
(Madrid), Libro b 3a, Tomo II. Copy in Bancroft Library. REMINISCENCES OF COLONEL HENRY ERNST DOSCH
By FRED LOCKLEY
Colonel Henry Ernst Dosch is one of Oregon's most useful citizens. I spent several recent afternoons with Colonel Dosch and the more I talked to him, the more I was impresed with the versatility of his knowledge. He is not only an authority on horticulture, but he has a profound knowledge of history, literature and of the traditions of the Old West, of which he was a part.
"I was born at Meinz-on-the-Rhine, June 17, 1841," said Colonel Dosch. "My father's name was John Baptiste Dosch. My mother's maiden name was Anna Busch. There were seven children in our family, of whom I am the eldest. I was named Ernst after my father's brother,
Colonel Ernst Dosch, who was Colonel of the Hungarian
Blue Hussars. Another brother of my father's, my uncle
Anton, was Colonel of the Red Hussars. My uncle was a
government official in the Customs Department. My
father was a classmate with Bismarck, which later proved
to be a most fortunate thing for him, for in 1848, during
the German Revolution my father organized a regiment
to resist the Prussians. When the revolution was ruthlessly suppressed by the Prussians, the revolutionists had to run for their live—some went to Switzerland, while a great many emigrated to the United States. My father,
on account of having been a classmate of Bismarck's,
was allowed to stay in Germany. Many of the revolutionists, the best blood of Germany, came to the United States and settled at Belleville, 20 miles east of St. Louis.
During the Civil War there were at least 10,000 German
turners from St. Louis, Belleville and the country thereabouts, who enlisted in the Union Army and gave a good account of themselves, as they kept Missouri in the Union.
"I came to America in 1860, when I was between 18 and 19 years of age. My father was well-to-do, so when I was a boy I had a private tutor. Later I went to the Colege of Commerce and Industry for four years. I graduated from the engineering department. At that time it was the custom to pay for apprenticeships, so my father paid for an apprenticeship for me in a commercial house. The honor men in the schools and colleges were compelled to serve but one year instead of three in the Grman Army. As I was an honor man, I was only required to put in one year of service. I wanted to come to the United States, but on account of the requirements for military service, I could not leave unless I could pass the examination for reserve officer. I passed this examination successfully and secured a passport which entitled me to be absent for one year, after which I was required to come back and serve in the German Army. I had not been in the United States long till the Civil War broke out and I at once enlisted in Fremont's bodyguard. In the early days of the Civil War, the military service was honeycombed by political intrigue and favoritism. An intrigue was formed against Fremont, and General Hunter was sent to relieve him. This was just on the eve of an attack on the Confederate General Price. Price in the mix-up escaped, and Hunter was superseded. Fremont's bodyguard were discharged after our fight at Springfield, October 25, 1861, in which I was wounded, and I went to St. Louis and re-enlisted in the 5th Missouri Cavalry. Captain Nathaniel Lyon, a loyal and able officer was in command of the St. Louis Arsenal. St. Louis was full of Southern sympathizers. The Confederates were seizing arms, ordnance and supplies wherever they were located in the South, and as the governor of Missouri favored the secessionists had it not been for the energetic action of Captain Lyon, the arsenal at St. Louis would have fallen into the hands of southern sympathizers. Governor Jackson ordered the militia into camp in the vicinity of the arsenal. These men were armed with guns sent up from Baton Rouge. Many of the militiamen wore badges of the Confederate Army. Captain Lyon, learning that they were going to try to seize the arsenal, surrounded the militia and demanded their surrender. The next day after the surrender of the state troops, Captain Harney arrived in St. Louis and assumed command. Shortly after this Captain Harney became Brigadier General of the First Brigade of Missouri Volunteers. Among the officers who distinguished themselves in the operations in Missouri at this time were Colonel Siegel and Colonel Osterhaus. After the bloody battle of Wilson's Creek in which General Nathaniel Lyon was killed, I was ordered to take a squad of men there to bring back his body. We served as the honor guard. Before long I became Sergeant-Major and was acting adjutant of the regiment. When our Colonel resigned, I commanded the regiment. After receiving my honorable discharge at the end of my enlistment, a comrade of mine, Fred Keisel, told me that there was a freight train at Omaha, belonging to Kimball and Lawrence, loading supplies to take to Salt Lake City. Henry Lawrence wanted a book-keeper and also a drygoods clerk for his store in Salt Lake City. I was engaged as the book-keeper and Fred as the clerk. When we got to Omaha we found that the wagon boss was short of drivers. He offered Fred and me $20 apiece if we would serve as bullwhackers and drive four yoke of oxen. We accepted the job. At that time Omaha had about 40 buildings, my recollection now being that most of them were saloons, livery stables or blacksmith shops. I will never forget our trip across the plains. About 100 miles out of Omaha we came across a store kept by a half-breed French-Canadian. For the next 400 miles there was no settlement of any kind. The prairie, covered with wild flowers, stretched unbroken in all directions to the far horizon. In all directions we could see countless herds of antelopes, while at times the buffalo seemed to blacken the rolling land waves in the distance. Prairie chickens and sage hens were abundant. We were 58 days making the trip to Salt Lake City. We reached there in the summer of 1863. Fred settled in Salt Lake City, became a state senator, built up a large business in Salt Lake City and Sacramento and became wealthy. Salt kake City did not appeal to me, so with six other young men, I decided to go on to California. We bought a wagon and a yoke of oxen and headed westward.
"On the way out from Omaha, near Laramie, we met Jim Bridger, a very likeable and reliable man. I also met Bill Hutchison and Bill Hickman. Bill Hickman is the author of a book in which he tells his experiences while serving as one of Brigham Young's 'destroying angels.He was a fanatic, and being quite ignorant, he believed anything and everything that Brigham Young told him. Just ahead of us there was a wagon train which was traveling fast. We were rapidly overtaking them but we never saw them, that is, alive. At the head Of the Humboldt Divide, we found where the members (of this party had dug trenches to resist attack. The (horses, women and girls had all ben taken, the men had been killed and we found their bodies lying beside the burned wagons. The massacre had evidently occurred a couple of days before, and all that was left to tell the tale was a lot of wagon tires, thimble skeins and chains and mutilated bodies. Three days before this massacre 300 Indians in war paint had overtaken us, stopped us and looked through our wagon and then gone on. Evidently they were after the wagon train ahead, which they overtook and destroyed.
"When on my trip westward from Salt Lake City, I got to Virginia City, I landed a job at road building, and some time later I became a Wells-Fargo express rider.
"Probably there never was a town which was more wide open than Virginia City," said Colonel Dosch. "The saloon men, barkeepers and gamblers were the aristocrats of the community, and their vassals were blacklegs, road agents and thugs. When I struck Virginia City, my money had about run out, so I took the first job that offered, which was a pick-and-shovel job. They were building a road over the Pass and I was put on as one of the worknem. Having graduated from an engineering course in a technical school in Germany, I showed the foreman how to lay out the road so we could go over the hill on an easy grade. Pretty soon the supervisor came along and asked who had laid out that road. The foreman pointed me out, so Mr. Moore came to me, and when he found out that I was a college man he said, 'We can find plenty of men to do pick-and-shovel work. You should have a better job than this. If you were only a good rider I could get you a job on the pony express.' I told him I had served in the cavalry so I could qualify as a rider. He told me to report to the Wells-Fargo Company in Virginia City to take the run from Virginia City to Friday Station on Lake Bigler, as Lake Tahoe was then called. I rode from Virginia City to Gold Hill, Silver City, Pioneer and to Carson, where I changed horses. Then to a Mormon station and over the hill to Friday Station. I changed horses three times on this thirty-three mile run and was required to make the run in three hours. I carried letters only, for which the Wells-Fargo Company received 25 cents each. The regular stage left at 7:00 A. M. for Placerville. We left at 4:00 P. M., overtaking the stage at Placerville. A narrow gauge railroad ran from Placerville to Sacramento. By using the pony express the business men gained one day in time, thus speeding up their correspondence. I became well acquainted with Samuel Clemens, better known to the general public as Mark Twain, who was a reporter on the Virginia City Enterprise at that time. He was a likeable chap. He used to come around and say, 'What do you know in the way of news today? Anything exciting happen on the run today?' Once in a while I would have a good item of news for him, though as far as that goes, there was no shortage of news in Virginia City, as they had a man for breakfast almost every morning. One night as I was making my run, my horse shied out to one side and would not pass a clump of several juniper trees along the road. I finally forced him back into the road and then I discovered why the horse had shied. From each of these small trees was suspended a man with a rope around his neck, and on each of their chests was pinned a notice from the Vigilance Committee. You should have seen the clearing out of Virginia City after that lynching bee. At another time as one of the saloon men in Virginia City came to his door to see me start out on my run, a man stepped out and shot the saloonkeeper through the heart. Instantly the barkeeper shot the murderer, who also fell fatally wounded, but before he cashed in his checks, he shot the barkeeper and also killed him, so inside of sixty seconds there were three dead men. The alkali dust on my run from Virginia City to Friday Station was so bad that I began bleeding from my lungs, so I had to give up the run. I went to Sacramento and took passage on the Cosmopolitan for San Francisco. This boat, the Cosmopolitan, is now at Seattle and is used as the Bluebird is here, for dancing. I tried to land a job at San Francisco, but jobs seemed hard to land. For three days I slept on the wharf and lived on crackers and cheese. Finally I became desperate and decided to enlist on the frigate Saranac, which was in the bay and which had a recruiting office in the city. I passed the recruiting office at least a score of times and every time I stopped to go in I would shy off and think, 'Maybe something will turn up,' and sure enough when I had just about reached the end of my string, I ran across Henry Garth who had come across the plains with me. Henry didn't have much more money than I had, which was none at all, but he had an uncle at Petaluma. He suggested that we go to Petaluma, as he knew his uncle would give us both a job. We made our way there and Henry asked his uncle for a job for us both. Henry's uncle threw him out bodily and told him to beat it, so we had our walk for nothing. I went to the hotel and told the proprietor I was broke and wanted to stay with him and would pay as soon as I got a job. He told me that he could get me a job and that I could board at his hotel. He sent me to the manager of a match factory there, which manufactured these old-fashioned sulphur matches, you remember the kind—there were 100 of them in a block. The manager gave me a job and told me to report for work next morning. That night I was awakened by a lot of excitement, and getting up I found there was a big fire. I dressed hurriedly and when I got out on the street, I was told that the match factory was on fire. It was a total loss and I was out of a job. I went down to the wharf where I found a sloop called the Harriet Lane was about to sail for San Francisco. I asked the captain for a chance to work my way to San Francisco. He said that he was loaded with potatoes and that I could go to San Francisco with him and that he would give me a job unloading the potatoes and pay me for it, so I got aboard. When we reached San Francisco an officer was waiting for the boat and attached it for debt, so tht job went glimmering. I began to think I never would be able to get work. I began a systematic campaign for a job and finally landed a job with a pick and shovel on the site now occupied by the Palace Hotel. We were paid $1 a day for ten hours work. A Chinaman brought us our lunch in a big pan, which we set on the sidewalk and each man dipped in and helped himself. The sand we were shoveling away was loaded on cars and hauled off to make a fill. A rather interesting thing in connection with my job here was that the engine used in hauling the sand away that I was shoveling onto the cars, was later sent to be used as the first engine on the portage road at the Cascades. It was a small engine and the rails used on the portage road were wooden rails with iron straps. When the Lewis & Clark Exposition was held here in Portland I met Mr. Hughes. He introduced me to Mr. Elliott, who had been the engineer when I was working for $1 a day in San Francisco. He was a brother-inlaw of Leland Stanford. The little engine used at the Cascades had been shipped back to San Francisco as a historic souvenir of the early days of San Francisco. I told him that we would like to have this engine exhibited at the Lewis & Clark Fair, as it was the first engine used in Oregon. He fixed it up in fine shape, gave it to me with his compliments and paid the freight on it to Portland. You probably remember seeing it standing beside the 120-ton engine of the Union Pacific at the Lewis & Clark Fair. As it was my personal property, I turned it over to the Oregon Historical Society when the Lewis & Clark Exposition closed and I understand that it was allowed to go to rack and ruin. It is too bad, as it should have been preserved because of its historical interest. After working ten days at this job in San Francisco at $1 a day, I couldn't stand the hotel off any longer, so I applied for my money. I was told that they paid off at the end of the month and not before, and that if a person didn't work a month they received no pay, so I quit then and there. I met an old-time acquaintance named Bendel of the firm of Tilman & Bendel, wholesale grocery merchants, who nearly laughed himself sick when he saw me, for my clothes were pretty well shot to pieces. He handed me $20 and told me to come around to his store. The merchants at that time had an agreement not to employ men who had not been passed upon by the secretary of the employment association. I invested my $20 in clothes and went up to see the secretary. He talked with me a few minutes and offered me my choice of seven different positions. It was a case of 'it never rains but it pours.' Here I had been running my legs off for a job without being able to land one and now I could have my choice of jobs. He told me that A. Cohn & Company were operating seven stores and he advised me to accept a position with them. H . F. Bloch was the head of the firm. He put me to work making out bills. Their store in San Francisco was known as A. Cohn & Company. They also operated one in Portland under the same name on the corner of Pine and Front streets. Their store in The Dalles was Known as Bloch,Miller & Company. They operated one in Walla Walla under the name of Schwabacher Brothers and the name of their Boise store was Schwabacher Brothers & Frank. They also had a store in Placerville and one in Colville. Mr. Bloch, after trying me out for a short time, told me to report to Bloch, Miller & Company at The Dalles. At that time there were two steamers a month plying between San Francisco and Portland. I came on the Panama, of which Captain Connor was the master. It took us seven days to make the trip. At that time there was only 15 feet of water on the Columbia Bar and as the Panama was fairly heavily loaded, it bumped on the bar three times in crossing. I landed at Portland on Sunday, April 9, 1864, getting off at the Allen & Lewis wharf at C street. I stopped that night at the New York Hotel. Their rooms were 25 cents a day. In those days it was well known up and down the coast as the 'two-bit' house. Next morning at 5:00 A. M. I took the boat for The Dalles, of which Captain John R. Wolf was master. In 1864, when I started to work for Bloch, Miller & Company, they had the only stone building in Oregon and also the largest store in the state. We handled general merchandise and miners' supplies and we also operated a warehouse for transferring goods by pack train to the mines. The Dalles had a population at that time of not less than 2,700, and it was always thronged with transients on their way to and from the mines. There was more life in The Dalles in a day than there was in Portland in a month. I was put in charge of buying the gold dust. This doesn't sound as if it would be a very responsible job, but it was, for it wasn't merely a 62 FRED LOCKLEY matter of weighing out the dust—it was a matter of de- ciding how much we could pay for it and make a reason- able profit. Gold dust from districts where there was silver in which the gold dust had a certain alloy of silver was worth $10 an ounce, while the gold dust from Canyon City or Florence was worth $17 an ounce. If the gold dust came from a district where there was copper, it had a different color and commanded a lower price. I averaged to buy $50,000 worth of gold dust a month, which was sent direct to the mint in San Francisco. Most of the saloons and merchants at The Dalles accepted gold dust in payment for their wares and sold the dust to us. In those days The Dalles was a wide open town. It was never a tough town like Virginia City. George Clayton ran the biggest gambling house in eastern Oregon there. You could get action on your money through poker, faro, three-card-monte, or you could bet your money on the small horses. Cigars were fifty cents and drinks two-bits. In fact, a quarter was the smallest coin used. Mary St. Clair, who was known from British Columbia to Old Mexico, was one of the famous characters of The Dalles in those days. She would charge you $20 a bottle for champagne, but she would hand the money over to anyone who needed it just as cheerfully as she took it. She had a heart as big as an ox, and if anyone was sick, she was the first one to offer help and the last one to leave. Vic Trevitt ran the Mt. Hood saloon just across from Mary St. Clair's place. Vic really ran a sort of gentleman's club. He wouldn't allow a drunken man in the place, neither would he allow gambling. He wouldn't stand for a rough house nor rough talk. In fact, you saw very few drunken men in The Dalles in those days. Everyone went heeled, so there was very little fighting, for in case of trouble it was a case of who was quickest on the trigger. It made people a little cautious about starting anything. So much gold dust was coming in that the citizens started an agitation for a mint, and in 1865 Congress appropriCOLONEL HENRY ERNST DOSCH 63 ated $100,000 and a contract was let for the building of the mint. The rock was brought from Mill Creek, about five miles from The Dalles. After the first story was completed, Congress decided that the mint at San Fran- cisco was sufficient and sold the site and the building for'a song. In 1864 The Dalles was the trading center for a large part of Idaho, Montana, and eastern Wash- ington. Merchants came from Boise, Walla Walla, Mis- soula and many other points to secure their supplies from the merchants of The Dalles. While The Dalles had a permanent population at that time of over 2,500, its floating population frequently was two or three times that number. Among the well-known men in The Dalles in that day were Joseph Wilson, Z. F . Moody, Judge Humason, Judge Gates, Judge D. D . Hidden, Dr. Shack- leford, Dr. Bryan, Dr. Hoffman, Frank Dodge, agent of the O. S. N . Co., Nick Sinnott, who with Hanley kept the Umatilla House, and by the way, the Umatilla House in those days was a regular mint. They took in more money over their bar than all the other hotel in The Dalles put together. Those were the days when the Oregon Steam Navigation Company also made money hand-over-fist. They charged $60 a ton on freight from Portland to The Dalles. Fare was $20 and meals were $1.00 . The boats were always crowded to capacity with passengers, so that meals were being served continuously, and, of course, the bar on the boat was .busy all day long. They don't serve meals anymore, such as were served in those days. They used to serve ham and eggs, tenderloin steak, fried potatoes, venison, hot cakes and coffee for breakfast. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company had a monopoly on the Columbia River. Frequently a steamer would make from $3,000 to $5,000 on a single trip. The record profit was made on May 13, 1862, when one boat made a profit of over $10,000. The principal stockholders of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company were W. S . Ladd, R. R . Thompson, Simeon G. Reed, Jacob Kamm, J. C . Ains64 FRED LOCKLEY worth, B. F. Bradford, L. W . Coe, Benjamin Stark, Rich- ard Williams, George W. Hoyt, Josiah Myrick, and some others. Captain John H. Wolf, with whom I made my first trip to The Dalles, was one of the best-known-mar- iners on the Columbia River run. In the middle sixties he was in command of the New World. Among the well- known steamers of the day were the Wilson G. Hunt, the Carrie Ladd, the Express and the Cascades. The New World ran from Portland to the Cascades and the Hassalo from the Cascades to the Dalles. After putting in a year at The Dalles, I went to Canyon City. This was in 1865. I went into partnership with John Snively, who ran a pack train, and William Claflin. My partners furnished the capital and I furnished the experience. We carried a $25,000 stock and we complied with the universal custom of those days of selling our goods at double what they eost us. This rule did not hold good in the case of flour, for we sold flour sometimes as low as 55 cents a pound, and when you know that the freight from The Dalles to Canyon City was 55 cents a pound, you will realize that we sold it for the cost of transportation and were out the orignial cost of the flour. However, we made up the loss on other things. When I went there Grant County had recently been organized. Canyon City was largely settled by the left wing of Price's army. They had left Missouri and most of them had been southern sympathizers. W. Lair Hill was county judge and Tom Brents was county clerk. At the next election Mike Goodwin, a saloonkeeper, was elected county clerk, and as he knew nothing about the duties and could not afford to neglect his saloon, he made me his deputy. C . H. Miller had been elected county judge. He had been an express messenger, a miner, had tried his hand at running a newspaper, had lived with the Indians, and when I knew him first, he was a de- voted admirer of Byron. He tried to imitate Byron in every way, even to limping like Byron. I was his unwil- ling victim. He was constantly writing poetry and com- •# ing into my office to read it to me. He was a picturesque character for he wore his hair long and wore high boots, tucking the trousers in one boot and letting the other trouser leg cover the boot. He was really a pretty able lawyer and a very genial man, but I wasn't very crazy about his poetry. He sent his verses to the Times-Mountaineer at The Dalles, publishing it under the name of John Smith, Jr. Later he ran a good deal of his verse in the Blue Mountain Eagle at Canyon City under his own name of C. H. Miller. Still later he adopted the name of Joaquin Miller, and when he went to England, his picturesque attire and his western manners made a big hit. His wife, Minnie Myrtle Miller, to my mind, was a better poet than her husband, but her verse has never been published except in newspaper form.
"On July 10, 1866, I was married to Marie Louise Fleurot, who was born in France and who came to Port- land in 1857. She attended St. Mary's Academy in Port- land for eight years. Her father and mother ran the French Hotel at Canyon City. This hotel was next to my store and there I became acquainted with my future wife. We were married by Father Macklin, a fine, big-hearted Irish priest. After having been in Canyon City for about five years, one August day—and it was 104 in the shade—one of the buildings caught fire. Canyon City, as its names indicates, is in a canyon, and the flames swept from building to building and within a short time the city was like a roaring furnace. Two hundred and fifty five buildings were reduced to ashes, among them our store. In 1870, when I was burned out at Canyon City, I came to Portland. Having had no insurance on my store or stock of goods, I was broke and had to get something to do. At that time Judge Otto Kramer's father ran a store here. He gave me a job as porter and janitor at $40 a month. After a while I was promoted to salesman at $75 a month, and later my salary was raised to $100 a month. When Mr. Kramer sold out I 66 FRED LOCKLEY became head book-keeper at $150 a month. Still later I became manager of the store at $300 a month. Eventually I became one of the partners of the firm with Ben Selling and Frank Aiken. We sold out ni 1890. For 21 years I had worked steadily without taking a vacation and my health had become greatly impaired. I bought the ranch on which I now live, and drinking the water from the iron spring here and working outdoors restored my health completely. I had always been fond of nature and so took up horticulture as a hobby. I sent to France, Germany, England and to various other places for walnuts, as I believed that the Willamette Valley was adapted to grow- ing walnuts, although all my friends thought I was crazy. I bought 17 acres here at Dosch Station on Dosch Road 36 years ago. It is part of the old Clinton-Kelly donation land claim. When I was a boy in Germany the students of our school made two walking trips a year, spending a week at a time studying botany, horticulture and forestry. We stopped overnight at farmhouses or slept in barns. When I came to my place here, I remembered how greatly I had enjoyed studying horticulture and botany as a boy, so I began experimenting along horticultural lines. I made my vegetable garden support my family while I experi- mented with various fruits and nuts. I discovered that the reason that English walnuts had not done well in Oregon was that the right variety had not been brought here—that in many cases the male walnut blossom had bloomed and the bloom had dropped off before the female walnut flower blossomed. For 15 years I worked away at developing best types of walnut trees for the Willamette Valley and finally introduced the Franquette and Mayette walnuts. Then I began talking walnut growing. Charlie Ladd put out a lot of walnuts and so did Mr. Prince at Dundee. Then the McGill and McDonald nursery commercialized it and introduced them widely. Today California is send- ing to Oregon to secure Franquette walnut trees. From the few acres I planted for experimental purposes, the COLONEL HENRY ERNST DOSCH industry has grown until we now have 14,000 acres here in the Willamette Valley set to walnuts. No I didnt make any money on it—in fact, I didn't expect to make money. I did it for the love of it and to introduce a new industry to Oregon. I helped organize the Oregon Horti- cultural Society 40 years ago. Dr. J . A . Cardwell, an en- thusiastic horticulturist, became the first president of the society and continued as president for 20 years. E. R . Lake, now of Washington, D. C, was the first secretary. I am the sole surviving member of the State Horticultural Society of Oregon, organized 20 years ago. I am also the only member of the State Board of Horticulture appointed 34 years ago by Governor Pennoyer. I am now serving my fourth term as secretary of the State Board of Horti- culture. My first term was served as successor to George Lambertson. I next succeeded John Minto. H. M . Wil- liamson was then elected and served for 11 years. In 1888 I served as post commander of Garfield Post G. A . R. This post was organized 42 years ago and there are only three of the 36 charter members now living. Judge J. H . Northrup, H. F . Lamb and myself. Prior to the World's Fair in Chicago I went to Salem and secured the passage of a law authorizing the appoint- ment of a commission to represent Oregon at the World's Fair. Governor Pennoyer had no use for commissions. He told me that he would appoint a commissioner, but that I would have to serve alone and he could thus place responsibility. When the legislature passed the law which I had urged, Governor Pennoyer vetoed it. Once more I went to the bat with the legislators and the bill was passed over his veto, and I was authorized to name the commissioners. One of the first men I named was Dr. J. A. Cardwell, for no one in Oregon was more entitled to a place on the commission than Dr. Cardwell. Oregon took sweepstakes for the entire United States on grain. Look up the records of the World's Fair and you will find that we took 17 gold medals, receiving the highest awards along many lines. I handled Oregon's exhibit at the Omaha Exposition. Not only did I receive no salary for this work, but it cost me $1,200 of my own money, but I was glad to contribute not only my time but my money towards advancing Oregon's interests.
While at Omaha some railroad men were attracted to Oregon's exhibit of timber. Later they bought timber from Oregon to build 20 miles of trestles. Some boat builders, who operated on the Susquehanna River, were also greatly attracted by our timber exhibit and they later sent to Oregon and bought lumber for the building of 200 river barges. We also made a very decided impression on eastern markets with our shingles and dried prunes.
From Omaha I went to Buffalo in 1900, and if you will look up the records of that exposition you will find that no other state took as many prizes as Oregon.
The next place where I was installed and was in charge of Oregon's exhibit was at Charleston, South Carolina. We had here a timber 74 feet long and 3 feet square which came from the Eastern & Western Lumber Company's mills. Originally it had been 115 feet long and 3 feet square, but they had to cut it down to 74 feet to get it through a tunnel which was built on a curve in Montana. I also had there a timber 20 feet long and 9 feet in diameter. This had 365 rings, showing it was 365 years old. A prominent official of the German government thought these two big timbers had been specially prepared and he tried his best to see where they were joined together. He couldn't believe it possible that we grew timbers of this size. I told him that he could place an order for a thousand such sticks and the Portland mills would fill his order. I gave him a letter to a Portland lumberman. He came out to Portland, discovered that I had been teling the truth, and purchased a cargo of bridge timbers. He has been back to Portland several times since and has been one of our best customers.
In 1903 I went to Japan to see if I could persuade COLONEL HENRY ERNST DOSCH Japan to make an exhibit at the Lewis & Clark Fair. They had appropriated $800,000 for an exhibit at St. Louis and I wanted them to appropriate a further sum of $200,000 to bring their exhibit to Portland. I found that it would be hopeless to have the measure passed by the Japanese Diet. The only thing left to do was to use a little diplomacy. I had a warm friend and advocate in one of the Japanese officials, and succeeded in securing the appropriation. As an indication of their appreciation of my work, I had conferred upon me the Order of the Sacred Treasure which is a military decoration and at that time very few had been bestowed upon foreigners. In 1903, while in Japan, I met Baron Chinda and Baron Komura. They told me of the trouble they were having from Beri-Beri.. The Japanese soldiers and peas- ants were eating rice from Cochin-China. This rice cost two and three-fourths cents a pound. I said, 'Why do you not buy Louisiana rice? You can get it at the same price and your soldiers and citizens will not get Beri- Beri from it.' Possibly a year after that I was sent to New Orleans to invite Louisiana to take part in our ex- position, and as I went into the St. Charles Hotel I no- ticed three Japanese sitting in the lobby. As they caught sight of me they rose, bowed low, and one of them said, 'Are you not Colonel Dosch?' Looking at him closely I recognized him and remembered his name, which was Watta Napa. I said 'Yes, my name is Colonel Dosch and you are Watta Napa. You are the chief clerk in Baron Komura's office.' He said 'Do you remember, Colonel Dosch, teling Baron Komura about Louisiana rice?' I had almost forgotten the circumstance. I thought a mo- ment and said, 'Yes, but nothing ever came of it.' He said, 'Oh yes, very much came of it. I have just dispatched a shipload of rice from here and am planning to contract for the entire crop.' As a matter of fact, they did purchase that year's crop of Louisana rice, and the Japanese70 FRED LOCKLEY Russian War was fought on Louisiana rice. Not only that but the price of rice advanced from 2% cents to 7 cents a pound, so it brought a great deal of prosperity to the planters of Louisiana. The high price of rice also caused the introduction of rice growing into Texas. So you see that no man liveth unto himself alone. "Once more, I had almsot forgotten the incident when I was notified that I had been given the title of Baron and the Japanese government was bestowing upon me the Decoration of the Rising Sun. The first man to re- ceive this decoration in the United States was President Eliot of Harvard. I was the second one to receive the decoration. Colonel Roosevelt was the third, President Taft the fourth, General Pershing the fifth, and a few months ago it was bestowed upon W. D . Wheelwright, so there are only six men who have had this decoration bestowed upon them in the United States—so I am in j good company. The decoration carries with it many im-1 munities and privileges in Japan. At the time I had charge of the Oregon exhibit in Japan I was fortunate in making many warm friends among the Japanese. "At the Lewis & Clark Fair I was director of ex- hibits and privileges and was also in charge of the Oregon exhibit at the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition, and I helped prepare and organize the Oregon exhibit for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. "You asked me a moment or two ago about my child- ren. I have had ten children. Our first child; Marie Louise, was born in Canyon City and died when she was a little girl. Ernest Pierre, my next child, is with a steamship company here in Portland. Lily died eight years ago. John Baptiste and Henry Ernst, our twins, died when they were three years old, of whooping cough. My daughter Camille and my little grandson were killed I four years ago at Bertha Station by a collision between two electric trains. Arno was my next boy. The next children were twins, Roswell and Walter. Walter died COLONEL HENRY ERNST DOSCH as a child, and Roswell, who was a sculptor and who was a member of the faculty of the University of Oregon, died not long ago. He was a lieutenant in the World War. Marguerite and her husband, David Campbell, who is head of the censervatory of music, with their two little girls, live with me here in the old home. "Arno you knew well when you were on the Pacific Monthly. Arno was born here in Portland, attended the Portland academy, then went to law school and read law with Williams, Wood and Linthicum. He was admitted to the bar when he was twenty years old. They tell me he made a brilliant record at the Harvard Law School, graduating there in three years. Returning to Portland he decided that he preferred to be a journalist so he went to work for Harvey Scott and was a reporter on the Ore- gonian for four years. Later he became editor of the Pacific Monthly. From here he went to San Franicsco and worked for a while on the Bulletin. Later he started a magazine there called "The East and West." From San Francisco he went to New York City. Young Pulitzer and young Page, who liked Arno, were writers, and who were his chums at Harvard, helped him secure a position writ- ing special articles for the Worlds Work. Arno was in Belgium before the Germans invaded it in 1914 and was there and all over Europe during the four years of the war. He also visited Russia, Egypt, Greece, and now is in Germany writing special articles which appear daily in the papers of the United States. "In 1866 I joined the Order of Odd Fellows and in
1888 I was elected Grand Master of Oregon." A HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY CONTRACT FOR HAWAIIAN LABOR
GEORGE VERNE BLUE, Instructor in History, University of Hawaii
(Translation)
Honolulu, Feb. 11, 1840.
An agreement between M. Kekuanaoa^) and G. Pelly. < b >
Kekuanaoa allows Mr. Pelly to take sixty men to the Columbia River, to dwell there three years and at the end of the said term of three years Mr. Pelly agrees to return them to the island of Oahu. (c >
And if it shall appear that any of the men have died it is well; but if they have deserted by reason of ill-treat- ment, or remain for any other cause, then Mr. Pelly will pay twenty dollars for each man [who may be deficient].
COMMENT
The short agreement here reprinted discovers practice common during the regime of the various fur companies. Nevertheless it is the only document of the sort which has yet come to light in the Hawaiian Archives. 1
The document offers some slight indication of what part the Sandwich Islanders, as they were then commonly called, may have had in the peopling of the Northwest coast or in the reclamation of the Oregon country from savagery. The Hudson's Bay Company drew its servants from widely extended seats of origin. Delaware and
O)Kekuanaoa was Governor of Oahu. He was a chief of the third rank and father of the king, Kamehameha III. The latter derived his- right to the crown through his mother. (*>) George Pelly was the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company in Hon- olulu when a factory was established there in 1834. (c)Oahu, the capital island of the kingdom. .Although the kings orig- inally came from Hawaii, and enjoyed living on Maui, the one good natural harbor in the group determined which island should be both commercial and political center. ^^The Territory of Hawaii posesses an Archives Department housed on the capital grounds in a building specially provided. It dates from 1906, though funds for it were appropriated in 1903, and is the only star/* or territorial building to exist purely for the collection, storing and. preservation of archives. Iroquois Indians mingled with men of the South Seas in its employ, and with Canadian voyageurs and Scotch factor served out their lot, even if this meant, as it sometimes did, death in the wilderness.
The Hawaiian strain seems to have vanished quickly and to have left no appreciable reminder behind, but there can be no doubt that over an extended period of time they were present widely scattered in the Oregon country in numbers which must have been a goodly percentage of the entire foreign population and that they served in an important economic capacity. This vanished factor of the colonial and pre-colonial periods is worth some little study, which cannot here be made, but whose posibilities may be briefly indicated.[30]
It would be interesting to state just who were the first Hawaiians to visit the Northwest Coast, exactly when, and in whose ship. Certainly it can be said that there was no connection before 1778 in which year Cook's voyage linked the Hawaiian Islands to the Pacific Northwest. For the next half century, however, the times were few when Hawaiians were either not present in the Oregon country, or going to it, or returning from it. They furnished valuable recruits to the explorers and traders who followed in Cook's wake, and to the whalers who followed them. A plan to massacre Gray while he was delayed at Nootka Sound in ship-building was averted through the keenness and loyalty of a Kanaka servant.[31]
In Meares' Voyages made in the years 1788-89, the English captain relates how, sailing from Canton on his second voyage he had with him several Kanakas whose curiosity to see the world had taken them to China and who were going to return home with him via the Northwest coast. While at Nootka Sound (evidently the International meeting ground in this pre-colonial period) the Hawaiian chief Tianna (Kiana?) met in conference with the Indian chieftan Maquilla. Conversation was made possible through Comekela, an Indian who had been in Hawaii and could act as interpreter.[32]
During these years some few islanders may have strayed to shore, tired of the discipline of ship routine, or enticed by Indian life and have remained there, mingling with the natives of stream or forest. Such an accession while possible, would have been largely negligible, and actual emigration from the kingdom of the Kamehameha's to the Oregon country may well enough be dated from the Astoria venture.
Twelve Hawaiians were enlisted by the partners accompanying Captain Thorn to serve evidently as boatmen, their skill in the water having greatly excited the admiration of the adventurers. Three times as many were desired but the size of the Tonquin would not permit of this, although another twelve were enlisted to form part of the ship's crew. The tragedy that overtook the Tonquin on the Northwest Coast must have linked in common fate New England sea captain and barbarian islander. The twelve who were enlisted for service with the Company were to remain three years, and in addition to their keep were to receive one hundred dollars in merchandise.[33] This was in January-February, 1811.
These first immigrants were doubled almost a year later (October, 1811) by the ship Beaver whose captain shipped another twelve for the service of the factory.[34] What became of them during the misfortunes of war is not related, but doubtless they served out their term in A HAWAIIAN LABOR CONTRACT 75 the employ of the Northwesterners and set a precedent for future importations under the H. B . C . regime. In 1824 a number of Hawaiians took part in the McMillan expedition ordered by Governor Simpson to explore the coast from Astoria to the mouth of the Fraser river. 7 Numbers of the Hawaiians continued in Oregon as boatmen, laborers, gardeners, millmen, 8 miners, 9 cooks and at least one preacher. An abundant pioneer literature refers to them as acting in these vocations, either as em- ployees of the Hudson's Bay Company, or as independent citizens. 10 7 Bancroft, Northwest Coast, II , p. 464. 8 Ross, Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon and Columbia River. (1843). Ross mentions their suffering from cold. The H. B . C . sawmill in 1838 used 28 men, chiefly Kanakas, (Sen. Doc, 25 Cong., 2nd sess., Vol. 5, doc. 470; Je. 6, 1838. 9 "Mining Laws of Jackson County. " Ore. Hist. Quarterly, XXIII, p. 139, n. 3. 10 Nisgually Journal," in Washington Historical Quarterly, 1920 , ff . , passim. (ii)Deady, History of Oregon, MS. in Bancroft Library, U . of Calif. (iii) Harvey, Life of Dr. John McLoughlin, MS. Bancroft Library. (iv) Anderson, "Vancouver Reservation Case," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, VIII, p . 223. (v) Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, I, p. 539. This gives a mention to the Hawaiian (Kanaka) influence. The above are some of the more important sources in the bibliography
I have collected on the subject. —G. V. B. MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO GOVERNOR THEODORE T. GEER
By JUDGE PETER H. D'ARCY
In the death of Honorable Theodore T. Geer, the tenth governor of the state of Oregon, the people have lost a true and tried friend.
He was an honored son of Marion county, having been born on a farm in the Waldo Hills near Silverton, on March 12, 1851. He remained on this farm until arriving at the age of fourteen years, when he moved to the city of Salem and was a pupil at the Old Institute school. The writer of this article attended the same school with Governor Greer while he was in Salem. After a brief time here he moved to Union county in eastern Oregon, where he remained until 1877, when he came back to the Waldo Hills farm.
In 1880 he was elected as one of the representatives of the legislature for Marion county. In 1889 he was again elected as one of our representatives in the legislature. The people of Marion county, having implicit confidence in his integrity, elected him the third time as a representative, at which session, on account of his ability as a presiding officer and knowledge of parliamentary law, the members selected him as speaker of the house.
In 1891, at a special invitation, he made fifteen political speeches in the state of Ohio. Mr. Geer was an able stump speaker and debater.
In 1896 he was elected as a presidential elector and conveyed the electoral vote to the electoral college in the city of Washington.
In 1898 he was unanimously nominated as republican candidate for governor. At the ensuing election he was elected by a handsome majority, indicating the high es- teem in which he was held by the people of the state.
GOVERNOR THEODORE T. GEER Governor Geer's record as governor was an enviable one. He discharged the duties of the office with marked ability and to the satisfaction of our people. After the expiration of his term as governor he en- gaged in newspaper work, being editor of The Statesman for a time. He was well adapted for the position of editor, as he was a writer of ability. His book, "Fifty Years in Oregon," is a fine pioneer history of the settlement of our state. It shows what talent Mr. Geer had for reminis- cences and events which transpired in our early history. It is on interesting record of the formation and growth of Oregon. Governor Geer was a pioneer and came from a-noted pioneer family, his parents and many of his relatives taking part in the pioneer settlement of this common- wealth. In his political career he was untiring in his efforts to accomplish for the people every possible good. He was sincere and honest in demanding what was right and just for the welfare of our citizens. No governor of our state discharged the responsible duties of his office better than Governor Geer. His acts were in accordance with the highest dictates of the gentleman and the well wishes of his constituents. Marion county and the state of Oregon will long remember his ability and loyalty to our growing state. His education in the schools was somewhat limited, but through his individual and earnest efforts as a student he acquired a splendid knowledge of the world which caused him to be well equipped for the duties he was called upon to discharge in the various private and public positions in life. The beautiful and classic surroundings of his home in the Waldo Hills tended to inspire him with an ambition which was commensurate with his ability to fill. Mr. Greer was a charming personality. He was 78 JUDGE PETER H. D'ARCY voted and constant in his friendships. His personal in- tegrity was never questioned. Full of the milk of human kindness, his soul entered into the troubles and trials of unfortunate people whose lot was not cast in pleasant places. Among the pioneer element, of which he was an honored representative, his memory will long be cherished for his admirable qualities of heart and intellect. His death is a distinct loss to the state. Our pioneer friend has solved the problems of this life, passed to the Great Beyond to take his place with the innumerable throng. His conflicts are over. In halls of state he stood for many years, Like fabled knight, his forehead all aglow! Receiving, giving sternly, blow for blow! Champion of right! but from eternity's far shore Thy spirit will return to join the strife no more. Rest, farmer-statesman, rest; thy busy life is o'er.
- ↑ A thesis submitted to the faculty of the Graduate College of the State University of Iowa in part fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. "The Trials of the Emigrant and the Gold-Seeker,, and "Mail, Pony Express and Freight" constitute chapters V and VI.
- ↑ Meeker, Ventures and Adventures of Ezra Meeker or Sixty Years of Frontier Life. p . 40.
- ↑ Linn, The Story of the Mormons, pp. 410-415.
- ↑ Report of Major Osborne Cross, Senate Executive Documents, 31 Cong., 2 sess., Vol. 1, Doc. 1, Ser. No. 587, pp. 148-149.
- ↑ McMaster, A History of the People of the United States, Vol. VII, pp. 601-602.
- ↑ F. G. Young, "The Oregon Trail," The Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 1, p. 370.
- ↑ Linn, op cit., p. 416.
- ↑ Report of Brevet Major D. H. Rucker, Senate Executive Documents, 31 Cong., 1 sess., Vol. XIII, Doc. 52, Ser. No. 561, p. 140.
- ↑ McMaster, op. cit. Vol. VIII. p . 58 note.
- ↑ Langworthy, Scenery of the Plains, Mountains and Mines, pp. 66-67.
- ↑ Young, op. cit., p. 370.
- ↑ McMaster, op. cit., Vol. VIII, p. 65.
- ↑ Ibid., Vol VIII, p. 65.
- ↑ Meeker, op. cit., p. 65.
- ↑ Report of J. Holeman, Senate Executive Documents, 32 Cong., 2 sess., Vol. 1, Doc. 1, Ser. No. 658, p. 442.
- ↑ Young, op. cit., p. 370.
- ↑ McMaster, op. cit., Vol. III, p. 66.
- ↑ J. A. MacMurphy, "Thirty-three Years Ago." Transactions and Reports of the Nebraska State Historical Society, Vol. III, pp. 274-275.
- ↑ Greeley, An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859, p. 369.
- ↑ Webster, The Gold-Seekers of '49, p. 24.
- ↑ Delano, Life on the Plains and Among the Diggings, pp. 14-15.
- ↑ Webster, op. cit., pp. 36-38.
- ↑ Delano, op. cit., p. 23; also Langworthy, op. cit., p. 21.
- ↑ Langworthy, op. cit., p. 19.
- ↑ Delano, op. cit., p. 117; Langworthy, op. cit., pp. 29-40; A. W. Harlan, "A Journal of A. W. Harlan While Crossing the Plains in 1850," The Annals of Iowa, third series, Vol. XI, p. 36, J. M . Stewart, "Overland Trips to California in 1850," Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California and of the Pioneers of Los Angeles County, Vol. V, p. 176.
- ↑ Meeker, op. cit., pp. 50-51.
- ↑ Thissel, Crossing the Plains in '49, p. 21.
- ↑ Meeker, op. cit., p. 62.
- ↑ The best account of the Nootka Sound affair is the monograph by W. R. Manning, "The Nootka Sound Controversy," in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1904, pages 281-478.
- ↑ An article entitled "Early Relations of the Sandwich Islands to the Old Oregon Territory," by Guy Vernon Bennett in the Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol. IV, pp. 116-126, is a good example of what may be done in this little known field. It summarizes commercial, religious and political relationship, and uses reliable sources.
- ↑ Op cit., p. 120.
- ↑ The interview did not result in any international amity between the two barbarian peoples; Maquilla disliked Tianna for being larger than himself, and the latter despised the Indians for their small size and cannibalistic tendencies. Voyages, (1790), pp. XXXIX, 28, 209-210.
- ↑ Irving, Astoria, (rev. ed. 1864), p. 75.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 356.