Some weeks after the missionaries had left Fort Hall a council was held there by certain hunters and trappers, now without occupation and destitute through the dissolution of the American Fur Company. This corporation had broken up that same year without making provision of any kind for their servants. Most of these men had adopted their vocation in youth, and now, in the prime of life, were almost as poor as when they took to the mountains—a fact due in part to the policy of the company, but in a large measure to their own improvident habits.[1]
As it was now absolutely necessary to seek the settlements in order to live, seven of them determined to go to Oregon with their Indian wives and children, about their only worldly possessions, and begin life anew. Their names were Robert Newell, C. M. Walker, J. L. Meek, William Craig, Caleb Wilkins, William M. Doty, and John Larison. Newell, Meek, and Wilkins decided to make for the Columbia River by the route discovered the previous year, and already spoken of. Newell had two wagons, which he had taken as payment for guiding the Clark party from Green River to Fort Hall;[2] Wilkes had another which had been left by Walker, and these they resolved to take with them. Ermatinger approved the plan and purchased one of Newell's wagons, which he
- ↑ Farnham gives a pathetic picture of one of these deserted mountain men, Joseph L. Meek, who afterward became as famous in the Oregon colony as he already was in the mountains. 'Meek was evidently very poor; he had scarcely clothing enough to cover his body; and while talking with us the frosty winds which sucked up the valley made him shiver like an aspen leaf. He reverted to his destitute condition, and complained of the injustice of his former employers; the little remuneration he had received for the toils and dangers he had endured on their account, etc—a complaint I heard from every trapper whom I met on my journey.' Travels, 127–8.
- ↑ Walker says that the guide of the Clark party was named Craig, but as Craig and Newell were together at that time, the difference is unimportant. I have a letter of Newell's which agrees with Walker in every particular but this.
Rita Mountains, Arivica, Cerro Colorado, and other parts of Arizona. He was a civil engineer and scientist of more than ordinary ability and reputation. The town of Ehrenberg, Yuma County, was laid out by him and named after him. He was killed at Palm Springs on the California desert. Yuma Arizona Sentinel, Feb. 23, 1878.
