r was to
induce the government to send sheep and cattle to the Indians. In a letter to his brother written from the Shawnee mission May 27, 1843, on the eve of his joining the emigrants in the westward journey he writes :
"Sheep and cattle, but especially sheep, are indispensible for Oregon. . , . I mean to impress the secretary of war that sheep are more important to Oregon than soldiers. We want to get sheep and stock from the government for the Indians instead of money for their lands. I have written of the main interests of the Indian country."
"My plan, you know, was to get funds for founding schools and to have good people come along as settlers and teachers, while others might have sheep of their own along also."
This passage in Whitman's letter is explained by a letter of the brother-in- law to whom he wrote, J. G. Prentiss. Mr. Prentiss says: "His project was, so far as tBe Indians were concerned, to induce the government to pay them off for their lands in sheep and leave them to be a herding people. Hence in his letter to me he wrote about a secret fund controlled by the cabinet."
In seeking to draw upon this fund for the Indians he was but following the Methodists and the Catholics in their several missions. All seemed to feel jus- tified in drawing upon this fund to aid them in their secular work for those whom they justly regarded as the nation's wards.
Of the three main objects of his journey Whitman seems to have regarded the safe conduct of the immigration on his return as the most important, pos- sibly because it proved to be the most obviously fruitful of results. Nor did he over estimate the importance of the success of that immigration. Ten times larger than any former immigration, cumbered with wagons and herds besides, it might easily have ended in disaster. But if successful, it insured still larger immigrations in the future, and would satisfy those cautious and hesitating statesmen who were waiting to be shown that Oregon was accessible before voting measures for the relief and protection of the few scattered settlers already there, and offering inducements to others to follow.
It does not seem, either, that Whitman claimed a larger share in the conduct of this immigration than was actually his. Prominent members of the com- pany have fully justified his claim. M. M. McCarver, writing within a month after his arrival in Oregon to A. C. Dodge, member of congress from Iowa, says :
"We had less obstacles in reaching here than we had a right to expect, as it was generally understood before leaving the states that one third of the dis- tance, to-wit, from Fort Hall to this place, was impassable for wagons. Great credit, however, is due to the energy, perseverance and industry of this emi- grating company, and particularly to Dr. Whitman, one of the missionaries of the Walla Walla mission, who accompanied us out. His knowledge of the route was considerable and his exertions for the interest of the company untirmg."
Years afterward when the pioneers of Oregon began to recall the beginnings of their state, other members of the immigration of 1843 t)ore like testimony to the services of Dr. Whitman. One of these was J. W. Nesmith, orderly ser- geant of the company, and afterwards a United States senator from Oregon, In an address before the Oregon Pioneer Association at its annual reunion in 1875 he said:
"Beyond that [Fort Hall] we had not the slightest conjecture of the con- dition of the country. We went forth trusting to the future and doubtless would have encountered more difficulties than we did had not Dr. Whitman overtaken us before we reached the terminus of our guide's knowledge. He was familiar with the whole route and was confident that wagons could pass through the canyons and gorges of Snake river, and over the Blue mountains, which the mountaineers in the vicinity of Fort Hall declared to be a physical impossibility. Captain Grant, then in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Hall endeavored to dissuade us from proceeding further with our
