Father Wilbur and His Work. 23 merged in the Oregon Conference, in 1853. 3,11 of this work, Wilbur was an active participant ; his duty led him into close contact with public affairs, and his activities were not confined entirely to the immediate work of the Christian ministry. On September 11, 1863, a joint convention of the Legisla- tive Assembly of the State of Oregon was held at Salem, Or., to elect a successor to Benjamin Stark, whose senatorial term would expire March 4, 1864, and Benjamin F. Harding, of Marion County, was chosen. James H. Wilbur was nominated as a candidate before that convention. He was appointed superintendent of teaching at the Yakima Indian Reservation in i860, and was continuously in the Indian service for about 20 years. From the position of superintendent of teaching he was promoted by President Lincoln to the position of Indian Agent. It will be remembered that the Yakima Indian Reser- vation was established near old Fort Simcoe, an abandoned military fort, and that the Indians there assembled were from various tribes of Western Washington, but chiefly the Yakimas on the north bank of the Columbia River. Wilbur had the confidence of the authorities at Washington, and in 1873, during the Modoc Indian war, he was appointed peace commissioner with A. B. Meacham and T. B. Odeneal, charged with the duty of attempting to negotiate a treaty of peace with the Modoc Indians. They were to meet at Link- ville, February 15, 1873, but Meacham declined to serve with Odeneal or Wilbur, or either of them, and Jesse Applegate and Samuel Case were appointed in their stead. At that time Wilbur was Indian Agent at Fort Simcoe. Applegate ac- cepted his commission, but subsequently resigned, and he characterized the peace commission as "an expensive blunder." It is enough to say that it failed in its mission, and there are those who believe that if Wilbur had been allowed to serve with Meacham, his knowledge of Indian character would have enabled him to negotiate the peace treaty, and would have avoided the subsequent treachery of the Modocs and the mur-
der of General Edward R. S. Canby.----
