River Conference. On September 27, 1846, in company with William Roberts, who had been appointed superintendent of the mission, he sailed from New York on the bark Whitton, coming by way of Cape Horn to the Columbia River, and landed at Oregon City, June 22, 1847.
You will recall that the treaty of Washington was signed June 15, 1846, by which the United States and Great Britain settled the Oregon boundary, and although a provisional government had been established for the government of the then Oregon country, it was not until August 14, 1848, that the Congress of the United States created a territorial government embracing this vast region of country between the 42d and 49th parallels and the Pacific Ocean on the west, and the Rocky Mountains on the east. James K. Polk was President of the United States, and James Buchanan was Secretary of State, and acted as plenipotentiary for the United States, exchanging ratification of the treaty of Washington with Richard Packenham, representing Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. Wilbur and Roberts arrived 13 years after Jason Lee had established the Methodist Mission a few miles north of Salem, but Wilbur and Roberts came, not so much to extend and enlarge the work begun by Lee in an effort to bring religion and civilization to the Indians in this section, but rather to establish the foundation of a Christian civilization in this far-off country by the establishment of missions and churches and schools for our own people, who were then in increasing numbers coming to this section. Some of his co-workers of that early date who have left their impress upon the institutions of the church and of the state, were David Leslie, George Gary, A. F. Waller, Gustavus Hines, William Roberts and T. F. Royal, all of whom have passed away excepting Thomas F. Royal. Wilbur's only daughter was the wife of Rev. St. Michael Fackler, first Episcopal clergyman in the Oregon Country. Mr. Fackler was a native of Staunton, Va. He resided on a farm near Butteville, Marion County, for a time, and conducted services at Champoeg, Butteville, String-
