qually, and made great progress. The American immigration of 1841 arrived in the fall of that year, and many settled near the Valley mission.
In 1840 a saw mill and grist mill was built for the needs of the mission on Mill creek, ten miles south of the mission site. On Mill creek was built later, the Indian manual training school, and a mission house. The site of these buildings was near the old woolen mill at Salem, and two of them are still standing; the oldest of these is a part of the residence of Hon. R. P. Boise, at 852 Broadway, Salem, and the hewn timbers of the building, according to the diary of Rev. Mr. Waller, who assisted in the work, warrant the belief that Jason Lee's hand wielded the broad-ax upon them. Around this new establishment, and because of it, the community which developed into the capital city of Oregon grew up.
The Indians of the Willamette had decreased in number constantly, and the central mission found its intended field of labor among the Indians less fruitful year by year; the white settlers were becoming more numerous, and the teachers and preachers of the mission saw larger opportunities offered. In 1842 at a conference of the mission it was determined to build a school at "Chemeteke," to be called the Oregon institute. This project was the conception of Jason Lee. The building erected was planned for great things. None knew so well as Jason Lee the certain future of the Willamette valley, destined to be perhaps the most populous valley of the Pacific coast. The building was completed in 1844, the missionary community contributing generously to the fund. It was seventy-five feet long, and three stories high. In the same year the missionary at "The Falls," Rev. A. F. Waller, completed the first church built in Oregon, still standing, at Oregon City, where during the four preceding years, a large community of Americans had settled.
Thus the work of the mission in the valley was directed to a new channel—the educational and religious care of the immigrants, streaming in constantly increasing trains into western Oregon.
Because of this natural diversion of the energies of the Willamette mission, some writers have considered its work a failure. Such a view would indicate that the holder of it considered it better to teach dead Indians than the young pioneers. No fair-minded reader and observer can fail to see the great and blessed influence of Jason Lee and his missionary contemporaries upon the people of the Willamette and other fields of their labors. As examples I only cite Salem and Forest Grove as representative cities of missionary origin, and largely populated still by the descendants and pupils and proselytes of Oregon missions. The parent societies did indeed discontinue their official support of the Indian missions, but the men who had come to Oregon to redeem the Indians never ceased to minister to them in every possible way.
Jason Lee in 1843 wrote to the New York missionary board: "My interest in the Oregon missions is not in the least abated. Oregon is still of immense importance as a field of missionary operations among the Indians."
This sketch necessarily omits details. Such as remain—unfortunately meager—are worth the reading. Rev. Dr. Hines (H. K.) has preserved what was possible in "Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest." Adventures which would fill hundreds of thrilling pages were left entirely unrecorded by Jason Lee and his companions. Their records are terse, omitting all but greater facts. Their hands clove to the plow and ax and paddle, rather than to the pen.
Enough has been said already to show Jason Lee's knowledge of Oregon's importance as a future territory of the United States, and enough to set at rest any doubt regarding his deep interest in "saving Oregon." In 1834 before he started upon his mission, he visited Washington and secured passports and credentials entitling him to the government's recognition and protection. Upon his return in 1838 he went as early as possible to Washington and presented to congress the memorial of the missionaries and settlers in Willamette, urging the government to extend its control over their territory. His addresses in the
