94 ROBERT H. BLOSSOM
myself for my country and to procure such regulations and laws as will best secure both the Indians aftd white men in their transit and settlement intercourse."
THE WHITMAN MASSACRE.
The first few years of missionary work was very encourag- ing. It was not long, however, before a spirit of hatred for the whites manifested itself. On November 29, 1847, occurred the horrible massacre of Dr. Whitman, his wife and twelve other persons. Mrs. Whitman was the only woman killed. Fifty-three women and children were held in captivity two weeks by the savages; among them being Eliza, the ten-year- old daughter of Mr. Spalding. Mr. Peter Skene Ogden, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, secured their freedom by paying a ransom in shirts, blankets, guns, ammunition and tobacco to the value of about $500. Mr. Spalding says that too much praise cannot be awarded Mr. Ogden for his prompt and judicious management of the captives' deliverance.
The leaders in this massacre were the Cayuse Indians, for whose welfare the Doctor and his wife had labored. The uprisi'ng is ascribed to the advent of the white man, whose numbers were rapidly increasing through immigration. The Indians said, "If the Americans come to take away their lands and make slaves of them, they would fight so long as they had a drop of blood to shed." They also had a superstitious dread that poison would be given them by the Americans. The mas- sacre was a prelude to the Cayuse War which followed in 1847-48.
CLATSOP PLAINS CHURCH.
The church of Clatsop Plains was organized on September 19, 1846, by Rev. Lewis Thompson a'nd hence could not be the first Presbyterian church organized on the Pacific Coast, as has been claimed. It must take second honors. "Honor to whom honor is due."
TRIALS OF A PIONEER PREACHER
The following is an extract from an interesting letter to the writer, which gives one some idea of the trials and tribulations of a country preacher during the church's formative period in early Oregon :
