this new world and finding our ample harbors, soon this little, obscure point upon the map of the world will become a second North American Republic, her commerce whitening every sea and her crowded ports fanned by the flags of every nation."[1] The letter contained nothing about the supposed crisis in 1842-43.
In 1851 Anson Dart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon, in response to instructions from Washington to investigate large claims against the government, made by the American Board of Missions, for losses sustained at their several mission stations in upper Oregon at the time of the massacre of Dr. Whitman and family and others in the fall of 1847, started on a tour of inspection from Oregon City, May 30, accompanied by Elkanah Walker as interpreter. June 17th, he arrived at the site of the Whitman mission. His special report on the mission losses seems not to have been printed, but his account of the journey says nothing as to Whitman's political services in behalf of Oregon. If he had heard of them he could hardly have failed to note what he had heard in this general report, nor, if the story existed at that time, could he have failed to hear of it, for he was attended on the journey by one of Whitman's colleagues, Elkanah Walker, and at an earlier time he had had under his direction H. H. Spalding as Indian Agent at Umpqua.[2]
In 1853, Isaac Ingalls Stevens was appointed Governor of Washington Territory. He was enthusiastic over the development and exploration of the region, and before going thither he devoured all the books about it that he could find, and learned all that he could by correspondence with citizens of Oregon and Washington.[3] In the course of one of his journeys he passed the site of the Whitman mission and makes this entry in his diary Nov. 5, 1853: "Mr. Whitman must
