BASH FORD 
 
OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 CHINA AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 Crown 8vo, $2.50 
 
 GOD S MISSIONARY PLAN FOR THE WORLD 
 
 12mo, net, 75 cents 
 
 CHINA AND METHODISM 
 
 16mo, net, 35 cents 
 
 WESLEY AND GOETHE 
 
 16mo, net, 25 cents 
 

 & 
 
 AL 
 
 \ 
 
 B E RTA\ 
 
 l 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 i c 
 
 Foil 
 Niscra; 
 
 T A N A 
 
 Th^JDalles 
 
 r< 
 
 *& *>">?* 
 
 <\X$&~; 
 
 CSalero) 
 
 E G 
 
 O N !\ I D A H O 
 
 iVy 
 m 
 
 CAilFORNJA i 
 iajo 
 
 THE OREGON COUNTEY 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 The Story of How the Line was Run Between 
 Canada and the United States 
 
 BY 
 JAMES W. BASHFORD 
 
 Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 THE ABINGDON PRESS 
 NEW YORK CINCINNATI 
 

 Copyright, 1918, by 
 JAMES W. BASHFORD 
 
 The Bible text used in this volume is taken from the American Standard 
 Edition of the Revised Bible, copvright,-1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and 
 is used by permission. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 PREFACE 7 
 
 I. THE INDIANS* SEARCH FOR GOD 19 
 
 II. JASON LEE 36 
 
 III. THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY AND GREAT 
 
 BRITAIN 45 
 
 IV. DR. MCLOUGHLIN 59 
 
 V. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 70 
 
 VI. THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 81 
 
 VII. OREGON PIONEERS 109 
 
 VIII. EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 127 
 
 IX. MISSION WORK 148 
 
 X. LEE AROUSES THE EAST 160 
 
 XI. THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 173 
 
 XII. FROM INDIANS TO WHITES 185 
 
 XIII. LEE S SUN SETS 203 
 
 XIV. MARCUS WHITMAN 232 
 
 XV. MARCUS WHITMAN (CONCLUDED) 255 
 
 XVI. RESUME 268 
 
 APPENDIX 1 287 
 
 APPENDIX II 298 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 301 
 
 INDEX.. . 305 
 
CALIFORNIA 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE aim of this book is to portray the deeds which 
 determined the boundary line between Great Britain and 
 the United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific 
 Ocean. When the contest began, Mexico owned the south 
 western portion of North America as far north as 42 
 the northern boundary of California; and Russia owned 
 Alaska and a portion of the mainland, which both Great 
 Britain and the United States in 1824 recognized as ex 
 tending as far south as 54 40 . Originally, therefore, 
 the contest involved the question as to how the territory 
 west of the Rocky Mountains between Russia on the north 
 and Mexico on the south should be divided between the 
 United States and Great Britain. The entire region was 
 known as The Oregon Country. The area embraced 
 443,871 square miles of territory, 1 a territory considerably 
 larger than the whole Atlantic Coast east of the Appala 
 chian Mountains, a territory whose climate and whose 
 mineral and agricultural resources make its natural value 
 as great as that of any equal amount of territory in eastern 
 North America or western Europe. Moreover, as this 
 territory lies within the Pacific Basin the largest and 
 the last great world basin to be developed probably its 
 political and strategic value eventually will become great, 
 just as coastal lands in the Atlantic Basin and in the 
 Mediterranean Basin are of great importance to-day. 
 
 The line of division of this territory between the United 
 
 1 Chambers s Encyclopaedia, Philadelphia, 1884, vol. ix, p. 647. 
 
 7 
 
/PREFACE 
 
 States and Great Britain, which was suggested hy our 
 government in 1818, 1824, 1826, 1843, and 1845, was the 
 extension to the Pacific Coast of the boundary line run 
 ning from the Lake of the Woods to the Eocky Mountains, 
 that is, the 49th parallel of north latitude. This proposed 
 line would give to the United States 286,541 square miles 2 
 of this territory and Great Britain 157,330 square miles. 
 The United States did not make any settlement upon the 
 157,000 square miles. Hence, as shown by the offers of 
 our government, the United States at first was willing to 
 surrender all claims to the territory north of the 49th 
 parallel and to settle the question easily and speedily by 
 the extension of that parallel from the Eocky Mountains 
 to the Pacific Coast. We could readily afford this line 
 of division because it gave the United States the larger 
 and better portion of the territory in dispute. Great 
 Britain five times rejected the 49th parallel of latitude 
 as the boundary line, and she finally accepted it in 1846 
 because she realized that the only alternative was war. 
 The bitter and defiant feeling existing against Great 
 Britain as the result of the wars of 1776 and 1812, the 
 erection of forts and the exercise of civil and military 
 authority by officers of the Hudson s Bay Company over 
 British subjects and Indians as far south as the Mexican 
 border, at last provoked Americans to claim authority as 
 far north as the Eussian border; and the bitterness and 
 excitement became so great that the Democratic party 
 won the election of 1844 with the campaign cry, "Fifty- 
 four Forty or Fight." Hence, the entire region of 443,000 
 square miles again became involved in the conflict. 
 
 3 Hammond, Atlas, part ii, p. 140. 
 
 8 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The struggle, known as the Northwest Boundary dis 
 pute, clearly emerged into consciousness at the convention 
 of Ghent in 1818, which provided for the joint occupation 
 of the territory, became serious on the union of the North- 
 West Fur Company with the Hudson s Bay Company in 
 1821, and the establishment of Fort Vancouver on the 
 Columbia River in 1824-25, rapidly developed on the 
 erection of forts by the Hudson s Bay Company south 
 of the 49th parallel, and the entrance in 1834 of American 
 missionaries into the Columbia River valley, became acute 
 on the organization of the Provisional Government of 
 Oregon in 1843, and nearly involved the two nations in 
 war in 1846. 
 
 It is because the Oregon Missions, including the Con- 
 gregationalists, the Presbyterians, the Dutch Reformed, 
 and the Methodists, helped to solve the problem; it is 
 because Jason Lee, of the Methodist Mission, and Dr. 
 John McLoughlin, of the Hudson s Bay Company, helped 
 to solve the problem without a war, helped to solve it in 
 a manner which gave each of the two great Anglo-Saxon 
 races a place upon the Pacific for the struggles of the 
 twentieth century; and it is because these missions strug 
 gled for the conversion, the preservation, and the uplift 
 of the Indian race, that our share in the Oregon Missions 
 is the most important joint home and foreign missionary 
 enterprise of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 We make bold to take our readers into our confidence 
 and tell how this book originated. It is a growth rather 
 than the result of a deliberate plan. When I was pastor 
 at Auburndale, Massachusetts, 1881-84, I met some rela 
 tives of Cyrus Shepard, a member of the first group of 
 missionaries to Oregon; they were living in the adjoining 
 
 9 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 town of Weston, where I occasionally preached. From 
 them I first heard the story of the work of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in Oregon. The story greatly stirred 
 me, and upon obtaining the address of Daniel Lee, another 
 member of the first group, then living at Caldwell, Kansas, 
 I wrote him for confirmation and for fuller facts. I 
 received letters from Daniel Lee and later from his son, 
 the Eev. William H. Lee. The facts thus gathered seemed 
 of such importance that I spent considerable time in the 
 Boston Public Library studying the material bearing upon 
 the Oregon question in order to verify the statements and 
 interpret them. I here first learned of the noble part 
 which the American Board had played in the settlement 
 of Oregon. During my study of the subject, Professor 
 William I. Marshall, of Chicago, lectured at the Auburn- 
 dale church and spent the night in our home, and did 
 much to stimulate my interest, especially in the problem 
 of Dr. Whitman s services to the government, in which 
 he then believed. Out of the personal narratives and the 
 letters and the volumes read grew an address on missions, 
 which I delivered at the church in Auburndale in 1882. 
 
 Reports of the address reaching my district superintend 
 ent, Willard F. Mallalieu, I was made one of the speakers 
 on missions at the Sunday evening session of the New 
 England Conference of 1883, and revised the address and 
 delivered it in Music Hall, Boston. Chaplain C. C. 
 McCabe heard the address and requested it for publication. 
 I furnished him the manuscript under the title "A Ro 
 mance of Missions." He told me later that he had sold 
 between twenty and thirty thousand copies of the tract. 
 The narrative thus far covers the first result of my interest 
 in the Oregon Missions. 
 
 10 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 But my interest had been aroused to such an extent 
 that I continued year after year reading upon the subject. 3 
 In my reading I found five points of view emerging. The 
 conflicting views led to the consultation of additional 
 volumes in the Congressional Library at Washington, in 
 the library of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, in 
 the library of the British Museum, and in the library 
 of the University of California, which contains the great 
 collection upon the Pacific Coast made by H. H. Bancroft. 
 The volumes by Mowry, Nixon, Barrows, Eells, and Gray 
 emphasized indeed, overemphasized the work of Dr. 
 Whitman to the neglect of other factors in the struggle. 
 The volumes of Lee and Frost, of H. K. Hines, and of 
 Atwood 4 did the same for Jason Lee. The volumes by 
 Mrs. Dye, and the monumental works of H. H. Bancroft, 
 justly honor Dr. McLoughlin, but depreciate other actors. 
 The volumes by the English writers, George Bryce, Will- 
 son, and Fitzgerald, magnify the work of the Hudson s 
 Bay Company at the expense of the other parties, includ 
 ing Dr. McLoughlin. The lives of Tyler and of Benton 
 magnify the work of American political leaders and of 
 the American government. I became convinced that the 
 various parties were portraying the work of the actors in 
 which each was interested, and that I also had fallen into 
 partisanship through partial knowledge. My dissatisfac 
 tion with the tract published in 1884, my desire to render 
 justice to the men I had overlooked, and a strong convic 
 tion of the value of the story for instruction and inspira- 
 
 8 See Bibliography. 
 
 4 Dr. Atwood s gathering of data showing Jason Lee s influ 
 ence on the newspapers of the Middle West is an exceedingly 
 valuable piece of work. 
 
 11 
 
PREFACE 
 
 tion led me in 1910, twenty-six years after the first tract 
 was published, to furnish the Pacific Christian Advocate 
 a brief history of the Oregon Missions. In these articles 
 I attempted to set forth in a balanced form the services 
 of the various actors who contributed to the solution of 
 the problem. At that time I had not seen any volume 
 distinctively recognizing the work of each factor which 
 contributed to the settlement of the Oregon problem and 
 setting forth the claims of all the factors in due propor 
 tion. But I was convinced that a fair treatment of the 
 subject demanded such a recognition. 
 
 We have read carefully all we can find on all sides of 
 the question. We appreciate the earnestness and, in gen 
 eral, the good motives of the champions of the respective 
 views. We join with Professor Bourne and Mr. Marshall 
 in correcting the extravagant claims originally made in 
 behalf of Dr. Whitman s services. In the natural reaction 
 from exaggerated claims we have tried not to fail in 
 recognition of such influence as Dr. Whitman may have 
 exerted upon the administration at Washington, and es 
 pecially upon the American people. 
 
 H. H. Bancroft s Works on the Pacific Coast are a monu 
 ment of great foresight, of untiring industry, and of unself 
 ish expenditure of time and money in collecting sources 
 which were rapidly disappearing. Mr. Bancroft has a pas 
 sion for gathering and publishing facts, and this determina 
 tion to tell the truth and the whole truth gives great value 
 to his writings. We think that his volumes reveal de 
 pendence upon the labors of others with a lack of sufficient 
 oversight to give unity to the writings published under 
 his name. This defect grows out of the greatness of his 
 enterprise. He has produced over fifty volumes, many 
 
 12 
 
PREFACE 
 
 of them running from five hundred to seven hundred 
 pages in length. No author can personally create so large 
 an historical literature involving literally tens of thou 
 sands of historical references. It must be said, however, 
 that while these various books reveal the style and in some 
 measure reflect the views of the different writers, they 
 are distinguished by rare accuracy in their historical refer 
 ences and by a lofty purpose molding them throughout. 
 Possibly the author of the volumes has not examined with 
 sufficient care all the material relating to early settlements 
 in Arizona, New Mexico, etc. But the most serious defect, 
 and in our judgment the only serious fault, of Bancroft s 
 volumes is the bias sometimes revealed in his judgment 
 of the various actors. While an historian not only has 
 the right, but is under the obligation to publish all the 
 facts which reveal the character of a public man whose 
 life he is portraying, he should follow the golden rule 
 in going back of these facts and determining the motives 
 which prompted them. At this point Mr. Bancroft some 
 times reveals a cynical tendency which is to be deplored. 
 We have an illustration of this tendency in the controversy 
 which arose between him and the Society of California 
 Pioneers. The Rev. Myron Eells criticizes Mr. Bancroft s 
 rebuttal of the high claims set up for Dr. Whitman. To 
 establish his claim that Mr. Bancroft is an unfair his 
 torian, he cites Bancroft s expulsion from honorary mem 
 bership in the Society of California Pioneers. Dr. Eells 
 writes: "Mr. Bancroft was an honorary member of the 
 Society. In October, 1893, charges were made against 
 his histories. . . . His name was by vote stricken from 
 the roll. At the next meeting of the Society this was 
 reconsidered in order to give Mr. Bancroft an opportunity 
 
 13 
 
PKEFACE 
 
 to defend himself, and a committee was appointed to take 
 the matter in charge. Seven counts were prepared against 
 him, to sustain which his books were witnesses. In these 
 counts he was charged with having distorted the facts 
 and truth of history, maligned the memory of many of 
 the men conspicuous in early events, . . . and of having 
 a spirit of prejudice and seemingly malignant dislikes 
 and hatreds of the men about whom he had written." 5 
 "Mr. Bancroft was requested to appear before a committee 
 of the Society and answer the charges. He failed to 
 appear, and another time was set when he also failed to 
 appear. A third time was set which he likewise ignored, 
 whereupon, February 5, 1894, when eighty members of 
 the Society were present, his name was unanimously 
 stricken from the roll of honorary membership of the 
 Society." 6 
 
 We appreciate the indignation with which Mr. Bancroft 
 and his co-workers witnessed the misrepresentation of Dr. 
 McLoughlin s motives and some injustice done him 
 throughout his life by American citizens, by some mis 
 sionaries, and for a time by the governments of Oregon 
 and the United States. We appreciate too the moral 
 indignation with which they witnessed the later struggles 
 of certain representatives of the churches, including the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, to secure valuable land 
 grants from the government in return for spiritual services 
 
 6 Eells, A Reply to Professor Bourne s "The Whitman 
 Legend," p. 26. 
 
 8 Ibid., pp. 26-27. Dr. Eells bases his statement upon a 
 pamphlet of thirty-seven pages published in February, 1894, 
 entitled The Proceedings of the Society of California Pioneers 
 in Reference to the Histories of Hubert Howe Bancroft. 
 
 14 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 rendered by their predecessors to the Indians and the 
 pioneers. The tendency of all such efforts is to com 
 mercialize Christianity, to lead to extravagant claims in 
 behalf of spiritual workers, and to drag into the mire of 
 controversy the memories of dead heroes and heroines. 
 But in the reaction we think Mr. Bancroft went too far 
 not in publishing facts but in misinterpreting them. Our 
 readers will be prepared for his occasional misjudgment 
 of the efforts of missionaries from reading his false and 
 antiquated estimate of missionary work in general, though 
 even here he shows a desire to be fair: "The missionaries 
 of the several denominations who played so prominent a 
 part in the settlement of Oregon and of other sections of 
 the Northwest Coast were, in the main, intelligent, honest, 
 well-meaning men, who sought to do the best for them 
 selves, their families, their country, and their God. . . . 
 I am prepared to do honor to the pioneer missionaries of 
 the Northwest, Catholic and Protestant, for I believe them 
 to have been single-hearted men and actuated by the purest 
 motives, though I must be permitted to take exception to 
 such acts as appear to me unwise, impolitic, or unjust. . . . 
 Speaking generally, all missionary effort is a failure. . . . 
 Missionary effort seeks to lift the savage mind from the 
 darkness of its own religion, which God and nature have 
 given it as the best for it, and to fix it on the abstract 
 principles of civilized belief which it cannot comprehend. 
 It seeks to improve the moral and material conditions of 
 the savage when its very touch is death. The greatest 
 boon Christianity can confer upon the heathen is to let 
 them alone/ 7 This utterly false philosophy of history 
 
 7 Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, vol. i, pp. 548- 
 549. 
 
 15 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 led Bancroft at times to fail to do justice to the motives 
 of men employed in what he regarded as a Quixotic enter 
 prise. But it will be easy to point out his bias where it 
 threatens any injustice to the characters which we are 
 portraying. We cannot sufficiently express our personal 
 indebtedness to Bancroft s volumes or our appreciation 
 of the man who has undertaken and has carried to a 
 successful issue so monumental a service to the people 
 of the Pacific Coast. Besides, we are sure that he too 
 has striven honestly according to his judgment to set forth 
 in balanced form the work of the various actors in the 
 drama. Moreover, his occasional unjust exaggeration of 
 faults in our heroes helps to correct the tendency to drama 
 tize history, which all historians fall into, and which most 
 of us as readers demand. We instinctively create heroes. 
 The American Revolution, with all its glorious conse 
 quences, is credited to Washington, the Civil War to Lin 
 coln, while we fail to give the just meed of praise to the 
 minor actors whose sacrifices made possible the triumphs 
 of our heroes. Hence, if we tarry in our exaltation of 
 the missionaries to narrate the achievements of others; if 
 Bancroft forces us in portraying the services of Lee and 
 Whitman to descend from the heights, to abate much of 
 partisan claims in their behalf, to recognize their blunders 
 and their limitations, or even to engage in controversy 
 over them, we trust that the disappointment of our readers 
 over delays and diversions in the story will be overborne 
 by their growing conviction that our narrative is rooted 
 in reality. The desire to justify this conviction in dealing 
 with controverted questions is our only excuse for burden 
 ing our pages with references to authorities. 
 
 We are deeply indebted to our secretary, the Rev. Joseph 
 
 16 
 
PREFACE 
 
 P. MacMillan, whose passion for accuracy led him to a 
 large amount of research as to dates, names, and details 
 found in the volume. Doubtless mistakes will yet be dis 
 covered, but we do not think any serious error of fact will 
 be found upon any controverted subject. 
 
 We have called this book "The Oregon Missions," be 
 cause we have given the most space to the missionaries. 
 We have done this, first, because we think their work the 
 most important single factor in securing without a war 
 the wise division of this territory between Great Britain 
 and the United States; and, second, because their work, 
 and especially that of the Methodists, is the least known. 
 
 It is due to Methodism that one of her greatest heroes 
 should be reclaimed from the unfair estimate in which 
 Bancroft s portrayal leaves him and placed before the 
 world in his true proportions. It is also due to the 
 strongest Protestant church in Christendom that her 
 writers rise above provincialism and place Methodist men 
 and movements in due perspective with the men of other 
 churches and the great movements of the nation and the 
 world. 
 
 In a word, the desire to recognize clearly, even if we 
 do not fully portray, the services of each group of actors 
 in the Oregon drama is one of the motives which have led 
 to the writing of this volume. Incidentally we wish to set 
 forth for the Methodist Episcopal Church the work of 
 one of her great missionaries while the materials are avail 
 able for placing these services upon a plane beyond reason 
 able controversy. But the determining motive which led 
 to the writing of the volume was the desire growing through 
 thirty years to show how the Divine Providence guided all 
 the complex forces engaged in the struggle to such a di- 
 
 17 
 
PREFACE 
 
 vision of this territory as conserved justice, preserved peace, 
 advanced civilization and gave each of the English-speak 
 ing nations a position on the Pacific Coast of inestimable 
 value for the struggles of the coming centuries. 
 
 18 
 
CHAPTER I 
 THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 HISTORY will recognize that the Indians themselves by 
 a visit to Saint Louis helped start the movements which 
 created the Oregon Missions and precipitated the struggle 
 for the possession of the Oregon Country. Despite the 
 efforts of the missionaries,, and in part by reason of those 
 efforts, the visit of the Indians caused their own more 
 speedy death. Their cry for light brought the missionaries 
 to their side; the reports sent home by the missionaries 
 brought the hunters and trappers and settlers with fire 
 arms, liquor, and lust, which hastened the decay of the 
 Indian race; the missionaries themselves by digging and 
 plowing up the ground and leaving ditches and furrows 
 for pools of water, and by providing schoolhouses for the 
 children and advising homes for the Indians, unwittingly 
 contributed to the more rapid spread of malaria and of 
 tuberculosis, which swept off their Indian wards like a 
 plague. Christians mourn all the more deeply the out 
 come for the Indians, since their visit to Saint Louis 
 originated in the highest impulses which can move the 
 human soul. 
 
 One afternoon in the winter of 1831-32 three Nez Perces 
 and one Flathead Indian appeared on the streets of Saint 
 Louis with a request which no white man had ever heard 
 before. 1 They came, they said, from the land of the 
 
 1 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 54, 55. 
 
 19 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 setting sun; they had heard of the white man s God, and 
 they wished to learn how to worship Him. 
 
 General William Clark, then Indian agent resident at 
 Saint Louis, had become acquainted with these tribes on 
 the famous tour of exploration of the Columbia River 
 region by Captain Meriwether Lewis and himself in 1804- 
 06. He accordingly tried to teach them what he regarded 
 as the true Christian doctrine, but, in accordance with his 
 religious views, he did not deem it wise to give them the 
 Bible. 
 
 In 1832 the United States government sent William 
 Walker, Jr., a Christian halfbreed of the Wyandot nation, 
 from Ohio to Missouri to select lands to which the Wyan- 
 dots could be moved. On reaching Saint Louis, Walker 
 called on General Clark and presented his credentials. 
 While discussing the mission upon which he was sent, 
 General Clark remarked that three Indians from the West 
 were now in another room ill, and that the fourth member 
 of the company had died recently. On Clark s invitation, 
 Walker went into the room to see these Indians, and soon 
 learned from them and General Clark that they had made 
 a journey of some two thousand miles to secure the Bible. 
 Was there a suggestion of Divine Providence in the fact 
 that this government official with Indian blood in his 
 veins, three hundred miles from home, should meet these 
 searchers after God, two thousand miles from their home, 
 and that a United States general should tell a Methodist 
 Indian agent of the pagan Indians wish to learn the way 
 of eternal life ? The story deeply stirred William Walker, 
 and he at once wrote a letter to- G. P. Disosway, a Meth 
 odist merchant of New York city. Walker appealed to 
 Disosway because Disosway had helped furnish the funds 
 
 20 
 
THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 to support the mission among his Wyandot brethren, just 
 as in 1819 he had helped form the Missionary Society ^.of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Disosway sent 
 Walker s letter to the Christian Advocate and Journal 
 and Zion s Herald, with an appeal for help written by 
 himself, both of which appeared in the issue of March 1, 
 1833. When President Wilbur Fisk, of Wesleyan Uni 
 versity, Middletown, Connecticut, read Walker s story, it 
 was like fire shut up in his bones. He sounded through 
 the Advocate a trumpet blast: "Hear! Hear! Who will 
 respond to the call from beyond the Rocky Mountains?" 
 He called for two young men, unencumbered by families, 
 and with the spirit of the martyrs, to throw themselves 
 into the Indian nation, learn the language, teach them 
 Christianity and farming and civilization. He added in 
 closing that he had one of these young men in mind, "of 
 whom I can say, I know of none like him for the enter 
 prise." 2 
 
 Varying accounts of the cause of this strange Indian 
 journey are given, and probably some knowledge of the 
 true God had reached the Indians through several sources : 
 
 (1) In Walkers letter to G. P. Disosway he says that 
 General Clark gave the following as the reason of their 
 journey: Some white men passing through the Indians 
 country had witnessed their religious ceremonies. One 
 of the white hunters told them that their mode of worship 
 was wrong and displeasing to the Great Spirit. He added 
 that the white men far to the rising sun had a book 
 containing directions. The Indians called a council and 
 said: "If this be true, we must know more about it; it 
 
 2 Quoted by Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 25. 
 
 21 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 is a matter that cannot be put off." 8 As a result of this 
 council four of their chiefs were sent on the long journey. 
 
 (2) The Rev. Samuel Parker in his Journal of an 
 Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains attributes 
 the knowledge which the ISTez Percys had of Christianity 
 to Pierre C. Pambrun, one of the agents of the Hudson s 
 Bay Company, a man of the Roman Catholic faith; 4 and 
 this testimony is repeated by Lyman in his History of 
 Oregon. 5 
 
 (3) E. W. Sehon, of Saint Louis, on seeing Walker s 
 letter in the Christian Advocate and Journal and Zion s 
 Herald of March 1, 1833, narrating the story of the In 
 dians search for God, was greatly interested and called on 
 General Clark and showed him the account. Later he 
 wrote a letter which was published in the Advocate of 
 May 10, 1833, in which he says: "General Clark informed 
 me that the publication which appeared in the Advocate 
 was correct, and that the cause of the visit of the Indians 
 was: Two of their number had received an education at 
 some Jesuitical school in Montreal, Canada, and had re 
 turned to the tribe and endeavored as far as possible, to 
 instruct their brethren how the whites approached the 
 Great Spirit. A spirit of inquiry was aroused, a deputa 
 tion was appointed, and a tedious journey of three thou 
 sand miles was performed to learn for themselves of Jesus 
 and him crucified. . . ." 6 This third account is inaccurate 
 in the use of the word "Jesuitical" for "Jesuit," and in 
 
 8 Quoted by Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 25. 
 
 4 Quoted by Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 110. 
 
 5 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. iii, p. 85. 
 
 8 Quoted by Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 27. 
 
 22 
 
THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 making the length of the journey three thousand miles, in 
 stead of approximately two thousand miles, and it differs 
 from Walker s report of General Clark s statement of the 
 cause of the journey. But General Clark s information that 
 the Indians gained some knowledge of God through Indian 
 students returning from Catholic schools probably was 
 gained by interviews with the Indians subsequent to his 
 statement made to Walker; and it is reenforced by the 
 experience of the Rev. Samuel Parker, who found a young 
 Indian who had attended school in the Red River settle 
 ment able to translate for him as he preached to a group 
 of Nez Perces and Spokanes. 7 Parker also observed the 
 Indians preparing, according to Roman Catholic custom, 
 to place a cross at the head of the grave of an Indian 
 child which they had just buried, but he objected to their 
 doing this. 8 The return of Indian students from a Chris 
 tian school is a very probable source of some Indian knowl 
 edge of the true God. 
 
 (4) The Roman Catholic bishop of Saint Louis, in a 
 letter written October 20, 1839, to the General of the 
 Society of Jesus at Rome, says that as early as 1812 some 
 Catholic Iroquois from Canada settled among the Flat- 
 heads and taught them religion, and that about 1830, 
 again in 1832, and once more in 1839, Flatheads or 
 Iroquois-Flatheads came to Saint Louis for more light. 9 
 Probably the Iroquois immigrants were an additional 
 source of Nez Perce enlightenment. 
 
 Inasmuch as Hee-oh-ks-te-kin s speech shows that the 
 
 7 Quoted by Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 122. 
 
 8 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 115. 
 
 9 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. i, p. 287. 
 
 23 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 object of the Indians visit to Saint Louis was to get the 
 Bible, which the Catholics do not use in public worship 
 or furnish to their members, the Indians apparently were 
 influenced by the statement of the Protestant hunter as 
 well as by earlier Roman Catholic teaching. At any rate, 
 Protestant missions on the Pacific Coast and the settle 
 ment of Oregon at the time and in the manner in which 
 it took place were due to the journey of the Nez Perce and 
 Flathead Indians to Saint Louis in 1833. The genuine 
 ness of Hee-oh-ks-te-kin s speech has been questioned. We 
 cannot trace it back of the Eev. H. H. Spalding a Presby 
 terian missionary who first published it about 1865, as he 
 claimed it was originally delivered by the Indian. The 
 brevity and eloquence of this speech in comparison with 
 Mr. Spalding s style lead to the conviction that the basis 
 of the speech is genuine. We have included the speech 
 in Chapter XVI the "Resume," so that our readers 
 may see it and form their own conclusions. 
 
 But the Indians contributed more to the missionary 
 settlement of Oregon than the single visit to Saint Louis. 
 Two Indian boys of the Flathead tribe, with their heads 
 flattened according to the custom of the tribe, were brought 
 to Massachusetts by Captain N. J. Wyeth on his return 
 in 1833 from his first trip to Oregon, and he kept them 
 until he returned to the West in 1834. Jason Lee, of 
 whom we shall learn later, with the genius for friendship 
 and for securing cooperation which characterized him in 
 all his enterprises, induced Captain Wyeth and the two 
 Indian boys to attend a mass meeting in Bromfield Street 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, Boston, in November, 1833. 
 Wilbur Fisk, Jason Lee, and Captain Wyeth spoke, and 
 the two Indian boys were introduced and created great 
 
 24 
 
THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 enthusiasm all of which led to an offering of $120 for the 
 mission to the Indians. Thus the Indians helped to secure 
 the funds which made possible the Methodist participation 
 in the Oregon Missions. 
 
 The Indians made a further contribution to the Oregon 
 Missions. When Jason Lee returned from Oregon in 1837, 
 he brought with him three half-Indian boys, sons of 
 Captain Thomas McKay, whom he placed in Wilbraham 
 Academy. He also brought two other Indian boys named 
 William Brooks and Thomas Adams, whom he planned 
 to put into school later, but through whom first he hoped 
 to interest the church in the evangelization of the Indians 
 in the Oregon Country. Both boys proved interesting 
 speakers, and Brooks especially helped Lee greatly in 
 awakening the enthusiasm which secured funds for the 
 Mission and led to emigration to Oregon. At a public 
 meeting in Washington, Brooks spoke for the first time 
 in English. Among other things he said, "Indians must 
 have agreement in writing that white man do not sell 
 whisky to Indians; white man make it, and white man 
 must drink it." Immense applause greeted this remark. 
 A woman in another audience asked him why the Indians 
 followed the foolish custom of flattening the head. He 
 answered: "All custom; Indian make flat the head. . . . 
 You," looking at her and putting his hands on his waist, 
 "make small here; customs differ; all custom." 
 
 As Brooks turned from his witty answer and began to 
 portray his people s ignorance of God and of the way to 
 heaven, and their lonely lives, he burst into tears and the 
 audience was deeply stirred, and money was freely offered 
 for the evangelization of Oregon. Like multitudes of his 
 brothers and sisters in Oregon, Brooks could not stand 
 
 25 
 
THE OBEGON MISSIONS 
 
 the sudden change from outdoor to indoor life, and he 
 was stricken with tuberculosis. He was taken to a beauti 
 ful home in New York city, but Christian comforts could 
 not compensate for the sick lad s loneliness. 
 
 "I want to go home/ he said. 
 
 "To your home in Oregon?" asked Jason Lee, bending 
 over him. 
 
 "No," he replied, "to my home in heaven." 
 
 Who doubts that the keen-witted Indian boy, by his 
 eloquent speeches and his lonely death, helped stir the 
 hearts of Methodists to make the large contributions which 
 that church put into the Oregon Missions? 
 
 But the greatest work which the Indians did for the 
 encouragement of the missionary societies and the churches 
 was their response to the efforts of the missionaries. Never 
 before had these Indians known white men who came to 
 them solely for the Indian s welfare, as did the Lees, the 
 Perkins, the Spaldings, the Whitmans, and the Eoman 
 Catholic missionaries; and their responsiveness to mis 
 sionary efforts was often remarkable. One Indian boy in 
 the Hudson s Bay Company s school, taught by Solomon 
 Smith at Fort Vancouver, mastered reading, writing, and 
 Daboll s arithmetic in eleven months. 10 Large numbers, 
 old and young, heard the gospel and readily accepted the 
 Christian faith. The total number of those who responded 
 to the preaching of the Methodists aggregated several thou 
 sand. Many of them backslid and many died, but a 
 remnant remained faithful. H. K. W. Perkins kept a 
 diary which he sent home. In 1841 the Missionary Society 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church published tract No. 
 
 10 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 162. 
 
 26 
 
THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 300, entitled, "Wonderful Work of God Among the In 
 dians of Oregon." It consisted of extracts from Perkins s 
 diary showing the conversion of over eight hundred In 
 dians at Wascopam (The Dalles) in the revival of 1839. 
 Daniel Lee records the following prayer of one of the 
 Indians who had been converted: "0 thou great God on 
 high, we now pray to thee. Our fathers knew thee not; 
 they died in darkness, but we have heard of thee. Now 
 we see a little. Truly we are wretched; our hearts are 
 blind, dark as night; our ears are closed; our hearts are 
 bad, full of evil, nothing good. Truly we now pray to 
 thee. make us good; put away our bad hearts; give 
 thy Holy Spirit to make our hearts soft! make our 
 hearts good, all good, always good ! Now we desire thee ; 
 come into our hearts now come. Jesus Christ, thy 
 Son, died for us, Jesus, wash our hearts ! Behold and 
 bless. Amen." 11 Tens of thousands of copies of the 
 tract containing the extracts from Perkins s diary and 
 this prayer were circulated. 
 
 The Rev. Gushing Eells, of the American Board, reports 
 that the Indians in his station sometimes spent whole 
 nights repeating the Lord s Prayer, portions of the Bible, 
 and the words of the missionaries, and that as many as 
 two thousand Indians at one time made a public confes 
 sion of sin and promised to serve God. 12 He adds that 
 many of them evidently had no clear idea of what they 
 were doing; yet not a few gave evidence later of genuine 
 conversion. The Rev. Mr. Eells s report shows that there 
 were large revivals among the Indians under the labors 
 of the Presbyterians and Congregationalists of the Ameri- 
 
 11 Quoted by Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 99. 
 "Warren, Memoirs of the West, D. 11. 
 
 2? 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 can Board as well as under the Methodist missionaries. 
 Reports of these large revivals were sent East and con 
 tributed to the reenforcement of the Missions and to the 
 American settlement of Oregon. 
 
 There are indeed calamities which lead to the downfall 
 of a nation or a race ; and a reading of Francis Parkman s 
 The California and Oregon Trail, with his careful por 
 trayal of the daily life of the Indians among whom he 
 lived for months, shows that in 1846 the buffalo already 
 was disappearing from the Western plains and that with 
 the disappearance of the buffalo the Indian must become 
 a farmer or else that the race was doomed. His picture 
 of the degrading habits of the Indians was more than 
 confirmed by the observations of other travelers living in 
 the regions farther west. But while Parkman s depressing 
 picture was a true characterization of the majority of the 
 Indians, nevertheless missionaries, hunters, and trappers 
 found many exceptions to the rule. An illustration of the 
 splendid natural qualities of the Indian is found in Saca- 
 jawea, the Indian wife of Toussaint Chaboneau, who 
 served as guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition during 
 the most dangerous part of their journey. A yet stronger 
 illustration is found in the Indian wife of Paul Dorion. 
 Wilson P. Hunt had charge of John Jacob Astor s first 
 party of American fur traders. Just below the point where 
 the Boise enters the Snake River ? Hunt built a trading 
 post on an island in the Snake River and left it in charge 
 of Paul Doripn. Soon after Hunt and the fur traders 
 left this little post it was attacked by Indians and every 
 man killed save one white man, and he was severely 
 wounded; only Dorion s Indian wife, now a widow, and 
 her two children were left unhurt. After the attacking 
 
 28 
 
 2 
 
THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 party withdrew Madame Dorion placed the wounded white 
 man on a horse and she mounted another horse with her 
 two children, and they succeeded in escaping from the 
 little island and hiding in the woods. The man died that 
 night, and the next morning the Indian woman dug the 
 best grave she could with her knife and gave the body 
 honorable burial. She then traveled west as rapidly as 
 possible with one child before her and the other child 
 behind her on one horse, while she led another horse with 
 a bark rope. She was compelled, in order to escape the 
 vigilance of the Indians, to avoid the trails, and travel on 
 such lines as her Indian instinct enabled her to find until 
 she reached the Grande Ronde. The winter was coming 
 on and already the snow was too deep for further travel. 
 Accordingly, she selected a sheltered spot, killed her two 
 horses, skinned them, and made the best tent possible 
 with the two hides and the rushes which she gathered 
 from the marsh. She dried the meat of the horses and 
 tried to keep the children alive during the winter. One 
 of the children died, but she bore her grief like a stoic. 
 In the spring she took the remaining child, Baptiste 
 Dorion, on her back, and traveled on foot through the 
 snows of the mountains toward the Walla Walla region, 
 and from there on to Fort Vancouver. What finer ma 
 terial for missionary work can any nation or race furnish ? 
 Sacajawea, the Indian woman who served as guide to the 
 Lewis and Clark expedition, has been immortalized in 
 bronze. Surely, Madame Dorion deserves an equal monu 
 ment. 
 
 But the highest proof of the power of Christianity 
 among the Indians was the lasting character of some of 
 the conversions. It is true that most of the Indians back- 
 
 29 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 slid, but many reversions to the original type characterize 
 every great religious revival among all races of men. In 
 deed, Matthew Arnold finds the key to Isaiah s writings, 
 the key to the history of Israel in general, and the key 
 to the history of the human race, in the doctrine of "The 
 Remnant." Isaiah s hope is based on the conviction that 
 a remnant shall be saved and this was the only hope of 
 all the Jewish reformers after the ten tribes abandoned 
 the religion of Jehovah and the other two tribes were 
 honeycombed by pagan practices. Certainly, a remnant 
 among the Indian converts remained true to God. Dr. 
 Hines, in his Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, 
 records meeting, about 1868, a score of Indians, converted 
 in the great revivals of 1839-40, who were still leading 
 consistent Christian lives. He even mentions meeting 
 Indians in 1898, fifty-seven years after the revival of 
 1841, who still "held the beginnings of their confidence 
 steadfast unto the end." 13 Mrs. Eliza Spalding Warren, 
 daughter of the Rev. H. H. Spalding, presents a summary, 
 whose origin she cannot trace, but which she thinks is 
 substantially correct, of the achievements of the American 
 Board missions from the founding of the missions down 
 to the Whitman massacre eleven years later. "The cows 
 brought by the missionaries had multiplied into numerous 
 herds; the sheep given by the Sandwich Islanders had 
 grown into flocks. 14 In the school which Mrs. Spalding 
 
 13 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, pp. 
 165-169. 
 
 14 At the time of the massacre Whitman had at Waiilatpu, 
 not counting the other stations, about one hundred horses, 
 two hundred cattle, and two hundred sheep (Bancroft, History 
 of Oregon, vol. i, p. 739, note). 
 
 30 
 
THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 taught there had been five hundred pupils. A church of 
 one hundred members had been gathered. The language 
 had been reduced to writing. A patriarchal government 
 had been established. They had adopted a code of laws. 
 The Sabbath was observed." 15 The Rev. H. H. Spalding 
 returned to Idaho in 1862, fifteen years after the Whitman 
 massacre, and found still faithful to Christ some Indians 
 who had been converted during his early ministry. Mr. 
 Spalding supported himself by farming, but did consider 
 able mission work among the Indians. In 1871 he was 
 again appointed a missionary to the Nez Perce Indians 
 this time by the Presbyterian Board; and he died among 
 his spiritual children August 3, 1874. During the last 
 three years of his life he baptized over nine hundred In 
 dians. 16 Indeed, the original Indian church which Mr. 
 Spalding organized in 1838 still exists in the Lapwai 
 Indian Presbyterian Church, with a full-blood Indian as 
 pastor and more than one hundred steadfast Indian mem 
 bers. As a matter of fact, God deals with the human 
 race as individuals even more than as families or nations 
 or races. 
 
 Probably the accounts of the revivals and of the early 
 successes of the Protestant missions among the Indians 
 were too highly colored, and the missionaries slowly dis 
 covered that they were dealing with a diseased and de 
 graded race. But, despite the condition of the race, or, 
 rather, because of their critical condition, because of the 
 rapid disappearance of the buffalo and the necessity of 
 the Indians speedily learning farming to avoid perishing 
 from the earth, there were all the more reasons for the 
 
 "Warren, Memoirs of the West, p. 11. 
 "Ibid., p. 34. 
 
 31 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 unceasing prosecution of mission work among them. The 
 results, as seen at the close of three generations, demon 
 strate that there were many individual cases of superior 
 character still existing among the Indians, and that the 
 gospel among the Indians, as among all other peoples, is 
 able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God 
 through Christ. Jason Lee, Gustavus Hines, Cyrus Shep- 
 ard, Gushing Eells, Marcus Whitman, and H. H. Spalding 
 were right in maintaining down to the end of their lives 
 their unabated faith that many Indians would accept 
 Christ and that he would prove the power of God unto 
 salvation unto all who believed. Despite the sad lack of 
 faith which characterized the Methodist bishop who 
 ordered Lee s retirement and the lack of faith upon the 
 part of the secretaries of the American Board and of the 
 Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in hastily closing these missions, despite the Indian wars 
 in the Oregon Country which suspended missionary work 
 for years, despite the slowness of Protestant Christianity 
 in resuming its Indian work, and the low standard of 
 civilization demanded by the Eoman Catholic missionaries 
 among their wards, there has survived a remnant of the 
 Indian race which will yet prove an honor to our country 
 and to Christianity. The remnant would have been much 
 larger had not the faith of the. churches failed. It is 
 worse than idle, it is false and misleading to speak of an 
 entire race as decadent, then use that phrase to excuse 
 our failure to evangelize that race. Christ s command is, 
 "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations." 
 Every person is degraded and decadent without the 
 inner Christ. No case is hopeless which looks to Christ 
 for help. Some souls are more deeply steeped in sin and 
 
 32 
 
THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 less willing to accept Christ than other souls ; and a larger 
 proportion of hardened souls may be found in some 
 families, cities, nations, races^ than in others. The latest 
 teachings of evolution, according to Weismann, of Ger 
 many, and Professor E. C. Conklin, of America, are that 
 acquired habits, good or evil, are not transmitted. In 
 any case, salvation is the gift of God through grace by 
 faith, and multitudes more of the Indians would have 
 experienced it had the churches not lost faith and aban 
 doned obedience. As it is, an impartial review of the 
 history reveals the fact that not the American people or 
 the churches of any or all faiths, but the Indians them 
 selves were the primary occasion of the Oregon Missions. 
 
 Another fact must be borne in mind in estimating the 
 indirect service of the Indians to missions; their needs 
 in the Wyandot Mission at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in 
 1816-19, led to the formation of the Missionary Society 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which later developed 
 into the Board of Home and the Board of Foreign Mis 
 sions. The article in the Encyclopaedia of Missions on 
 the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 opens as follows : 
 
 "The conversion of a colored man by the name of 
 Stewart, and his subsequent work among the Indians, 
 profoundly stirred the Methodist Episcopal Church and 
 was the first impulse for the formation of the Missionary 
 Society for the whole church." 17 Under the Divine Provi 
 dence an ignorant and degraded mulatto, John Stewart, 
 called into being the society which to-day in every State 
 in the Union, in Alaska, Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Philip- 
 
 11 The Encyclopaedia of Missions, 2d ed., 1904, art, "Meth 
 odist Episcopal Church Missions." 
 
 33 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 pines, and in thirty-four nations is helping make good 
 the divine declaration that God made of one blood all the 
 nations of the earth. It is interesting to recall that three 
 of the best-known men who ever worked for the salva 
 tion of the Indians David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards, 
 and John Wesley all passed through the greatest spiritual 
 crisis of their lives in 1738. These men were far removed 
 from each other and without knowledge of each other s 
 inner struggles. But all were under the guidance of the 
 Holy Spirit, and under his guidance became unconscious 
 co workers in the kingdom of grace and glory. One hun 
 dred years later 1838 are Whitman, Spalding, and Lee, 
 representing the same three churches: worthy successors 
 of this apostolic group in the struggle for the conversion 
 of the Indians. But eighty years after Wesley and twenty 
 years before Lee, we find a providential link in the mulatto, 
 John Stewart, whose heroic sacrifice for a dying race called 
 forth the two great missionary societies of Methodism. 
 
 October 11-12, 1916, there was celebrated at Upper 
 Sandusky, Ohio, the one hundredth anniversary of John 
 Stewart s mission to the Wyandots. Not in honor of 
 James B. Finley, in whose veins ran the best blood of the 
 white race and whose scholastic training harked back to 
 Princeton University; not in honor of Charles Elliott, 
 panoplied with the best scholastic training of Europe ; but 
 in honor of the Indian- White-Negro, John Stewart, devoid 
 of learning and sodden with drink and resolved on suicide, 
 led, almost constrained, by the Holy Spirit into a Meth 
 odist prayer meeting, converted by the grace of God, trans 
 formed into a missionary by the Holy Spirit, and called 
 by the voice of God to serve the Indian race, was this 
 celebration held. Governor Willis, Bishops Anderson, 
 
 34 
 
THE INDIANS SEARCH FOR GOD 
 
 Edwin H. Hughes, and Herbert Welch; Professor R. T. 
 Stevenson, who has recovered for posterity this heroic 
 chapter in the history of our church ; 18 Dr. F. M. Thomas 
 for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; I. Garland 
 Penn for the Negro race; Mrs. Bishop Thirkield for the 
 women; Dr. A. C. Kynett, descendant of one of the mis 
 sionaries to the Indians, and representing the Board of 
 Home Missions and Church Extension, distinguished 
 visitors from Ohio and other States, gathered to honor 
 the memory of this humble man. The monument is built 
 with stones taken from Tymochtee Creek near by, and 
 on the plate is a title which no man in Methodism can 
 even claim to share with this man of mongrel blood, chosen 
 by God as the visible sign of our divine call to serve all 
 the races of mankind : 
 
 JOHN STEWART, 
 
 APOSTLE TO THE WYANDOTT INDIANS 
 
 FATHER or MISSIONS or THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
 
 CHURCH. 
 
 18 1 am indebted for this paragraph largely to Professor 
 R. T. Stevenson s Introduction to the History of the Wyandott 
 Mission of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. 
 
 35 
 
CHAPTER II 
 JASON LEE 
 
 "THE early history of the Methodist Church [in Oregon] 
 is the history of the first American colonization [in that 
 State]/ Bancroft. 1 
 
 The Indians who visited Saint Louis in search of God, 
 Dr. McLoughlin, the Hudson s Bay Company, and the 
 British government, the Oregon pioneers, and the mission 
 aries of the American Board, all contributed to the settle 
 ment of the Oregon problem. But neither the Hudson s 
 Bay Company, the British government, nor the govern 
 ment of the United States, alone established civilization 
 in that land. The early settlers would have established 
 civilization in due time, as other leaders aside from the 
 Puritans in due time would have introduced civilization 
 into New England. But the decisive factors in introduc 
 ing Christian civilization into Oregon, and one of the 
 most influential factors in settling the whole Oregon prob 
 lem when it was settled and as it was settled, were the 
 Oregon Missions, embracing the work of the American 
 and Methodist Boards. The significance of the work of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Board is recognized by the quota 
 tion made above from the great historian of the Pacific 
 Coast. Again Bancroft writes: "The Methodists have 
 been foremost in propagating their principles by means 
 of schools, as the history of Willamette University illus- 
 
 1 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 677. 
 
 36 
 
JASON LEE 
 
 trates. In new communities these means seem to be neces 
 sary to give coherence to effort." 2 Unquestionably the 
 American Board contributed much to the introduction of 
 Christian civilization into the Oregon Country. Again, 
 the United States government without the aid of any 
 church was able to take possession of the Columbia River 
 basin, and unquestionably it was the United States govern 
 ment and no church which in the end did take possession 
 of the country. We are inclined to think that no boundary 
 line south of the forty-ninth parallel of latitude would 
 in the end have been acceptable to the people of the United 
 States. But it was largely due to Jason Lee, to the infor 
 mation he furnished, to the newspapers whose support he 
 enlisted, to the plans of emigration which he proposed, 
 to the land bills which he suggested, to the tide of emigra 
 tion to the Pacific Coast which he started, to the petitions 
 to Congress which he originated, to the influence which 
 he exercised directly upon the Missionary Society, and 
 indirectly in the halls of Congress and upon at least 
 two administrations, that the United States government 
 secured Puget Sound territory. He is the young man to 
 whom President Fisk referred in Chapter I. He had 
 been a student under Fisk at Wilbraham Academy in 
 1828 ; he was teaching in Stanstead, and awaiting a sum 
 mons to missionary work among the Indians when Fisk 
 issued his trumpet call in 1833. 
 
 Jason Lee was born June 27, 1803, at Stanstead, which 
 is now within the bounds of Canada. He was of American 
 blood and of Revolutionary stock. John Lee, the 
 ancestor of Jason Lee, came to America at the age of 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 678. 
 
 37 
 
THE OEEGON MISSIONS 
 
 thirteen with the family of William Westwood. The 
 Westwood family, including John Lee, was among the 
 first fifty-four settlers of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 
 1635 the Westwoods and Lee, with others, under the 
 leadership of Thomas Hunter, became the founders of 
 Hartford, Connecticut. Soon after John Lee was twenty- 
 one years of age he joined eighty-four others in the pur 
 chase of two hundred and twenty-five square miles of land 
 of the Indians in the Connecticut Valley. This land is 
 now occupied by Farmington, Southington, Bristol, Bur 
 lington, New Britain, Berlin, and Kensington. The old 
 chart is still in existence which shows the boundaries of 
 John Lee s land. The descendants of John Lee served 
 the country in several Indian wars, and seventeen of them 
 participated in the struggle for American independence. 
 Colonel Noah Lee raised a regiment of Green Mountain 
 boys and fought in important battles. Another descend 
 ant, Captain Nathan Hale, General Washington s trusted 
 officer, became the martyr spy. The Eev. Edward Everett 
 Hale, the Eev. William Allen Lee,, at one time president 
 of Dartmouth and later of Bowdoin College; General 
 Kirby Smith, of the Confederate Army; the Hon. Thad- 
 deus Stevens, of Congressional fame; the Eev. Louis 0. 
 Lee, president of the Theological Seminary of Marash, 
 Turkey, under the American Board; and Justice William 
 Strong, of the Supreme Court of the United States, are 
 among the descendants of John Lee. Jason Lee was 
 descended from John Lee through David Lee, born in 
 Farmington in 1674; Jedediah Lee, born in Northampton 
 in 1697; Elias Lee, born in Northampton in 1723; and 
 Daniel Lee, born in Willington, Connecticut, in 1753. 
 Daniel Lee, Jason Lee s father, was a soldier in the Eevolu- 
 
 38 
 
JASON LEE 
 
 tionary Army, fought at the battles of Lexington, White 
 Plains, and Long Island, and was a pensioner under the 
 act of 1818. He was one of a large number of emigrants 
 who went from the Connecticut Valley to New Hampshire 
 and to northern Vermont, where he settled in 1797 on 
 land which was supposed to be within the United States. 
 Here Jason Lee was born. Down until the Ashburton 
 treaty of 1842 this land was a part of the United States, 
 and the Lee family paid taxes to the United States. When 
 the line was finally run in 1843 it crossed the Lee farm, 
 and Daniel Lee s house was left a stone s throw north of 
 the line. 3 
 
 Jason Lee was six feet, three inches tall, one inch below 
 the height of Abraham Lincoln, powerfully built, stoop- 
 shouldered, rather awkward and slow in movement. The 
 pictures of Lee resemble in a rather striking manner 
 those of ex-Justice Hughes in head and beard and firm 
 set jaws, though Lee s hair was light and the general ex 
 pression of his face was not so severe as that of Mr. 
 Hughes. Bancroft describes him as of "light complexion, 
 thin lips closely shut, prominent nose, and rather massive 
 jaws; eyes of superlative spiritualistic blue, high, retreat 
 ing forehead, carrying mind within; somewhat long hair, 
 pushed back, and giving to the not too stern but positively 
 marked features a slightly Puritanical aspect; and withal, 
 a stomach like that of an ostrich, which would digest any 
 thing. . . . Though not devoid of worldly ambition, he 
 was sincere and sound to the core. Strong in his posses 
 sion of himself, there was nothing intrusive in his nature. 
 Though talking was a part of his profession, his skill was 
 
 Atwood, The Conquerors, pp. 206, 207. 
 
 39 
 
THE OKEGON MISSION S 
 
 exhibited as much in what he left unsaid as in his most 
 studied utterances. Frank and affable in his intercourse 
 with men, he inspired confidence in those with whom he 
 had dealings and was a general favorite/ 4 
 
 President Fisk wrote to Jason Lee telling him of the 
 Indian cry for light, and the young teacher accepted as 
 providential the call to become a missionary to the Oregon 
 Indians, was admitted to the New England Conference 
 and ordained. After his selection Lee was kept in the 
 Eastern States nearly a year waiting for an emigrant train 
 to the West, in the meantime addressing churches and 
 securing money to finance the enterprise. During the 
 year Bishop Emory opened the way for him, and he visited 
 Washington and secured the indorsement of President 
 Jackson and the secretaries of state and war, to found a 
 mission in the Oregon Country, then under the joint 
 occupation of Great Britain and the United States. This 
 meeting gave him access to the heads of the United States 
 government throughout his missionary career. In the 
 meantime Jason Lee selected his nephew, Daniel Lee, a 
 minister in the New England Conference, and Cyrus 
 Shepard, a teacher, of Lynn, Massachusetts, to accompany 
 him. These three men, under the auspices of the Meth 
 odist Episcopal Church, joined Captain N. J. Wyeth, of 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was going west to found 
 a fur company, and they started from Saint Louis on their 
 long journey April 28, 1834, although Jason Lee had 
 bidden his friends farewell and left home three and a half 
 months earlier. Philip L. Edwards and Courtney M. 
 Walker, of Eichmond, Missouri, were also engaged as 
 
 4 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 57. 
 
 40 
 
JASON LEE 
 
 teachers, and joined the caravan when it passed through 
 Independence, Missouri. Walker agreed to teach for one 
 year, and after his term expired he entered the service 
 of the Hudson s Bay Company. 
 
 The mission group crossed the plains with a company 
 of some seventy men, largely hunters and fur traders, 
 two hundred and fifty horses, and some cattle taken by 
 the missionaries. One night when the horses were stam 
 peded and every one expected the Indian warwhoop to 
 sound, Jason Lee led a few of the bravest men in recaptur 
 ing the animals; and from that hour no man doubted 
 the courage any more than he had previously doubted the 
 piety of the Methodist preacher. "Looks as though he 
 were well calculated to buffet difficulties in a wild coun 
 try," wrote Townsend, one of his fellow travelers. 5 
 
 Bancroft says of Lee s fellow laborers, Daniel Lee, 
 Cyrus Shepard, Courtney M. Walker, and P. L. Edwards: 
 "Nor were his associates broad-collared, long-haired, Puri 
 tanical prayer-mongers, but wide-awake, hearty, and 
 sympathetic men, bent on saving souls and having a good 
 time." 6 
 
 On June 15, 1834, the travelers reached the summit of 
 the Rocky Mountains, soon after passing which the mis 
 sionaries changed to a company under the leadership of 
 Captain Thomas McKay, an American hunter and trapper, 
 because Captain Wyeth and his men planned to stop and 
 erect a fort, which Wyeth named Fort Hall, at the junction 
 of the Oregon and Missouri with the Canadian and Utah 
 trails. When the Indians from the Columbia River region, 
 
 6 Townsend s Narrative, p. 24. Quoted by Bancroft, History 
 of Oregon, vol. i, p. 61, note. 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. 1, p. 61. 
 
 41 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 who were with Captain McKay, learned that Lee was 
 journeying to the Oregon Country to teach the Indians 
 a knowledge of the true God and how to worship him, 
 they expressed great joy, and presented him with two 
 horses. Jason Lee secured permission to preach to Captain 
 McKay s men, as he had done to Captain Wyeth s, and 
 preached the first Protestant sermon west of the Rocky 
 Mountains July 27, 1834, at the point where Captain 
 Wyeth built Fort Hall. The need of religion and the 
 slight impression of the sermon alike are shown by the 
 fact that the company adjourned from the service to a 
 horse race, in which one of the men was thrown from his 
 horse and killed ; and Jason Lee conducted the first Ameri 
 can Protestant funeral service west of the Rocky Moun 
 tains on the next day. Captain McKay s company reached 
 Fort Vancouver, on the north bank of the Columbia River 
 and six miles from the mouth of the Multnomah or Wil 
 lamette, September 16, 1834. 7 Here Jason Lee preached 
 the first Protestant sermon on the Pacific Coast September 
 28, 1834. December 14 Lee baptized the first ingathering 
 of his mission, consisting, not of full-blood Indians, but 
 of four adult members of the Hudson s Bay Company 
 and seventeen half-breed children. This was the first 
 ingathering of Protestant converts on the Pacific shore. 
 
 Meanwhile what had become of the remaining Nez 
 Perces, and where was the tribe which was seeking light? 
 After leaving Saint Louis for the West in 1833, the two 
 Nez Perces fell in with George Catlin, the famous painter 
 of Indians. But, with Indian stoicism and reserve, they 
 did not mention the object of their visit. Indeed, Catlin 
 
 T Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 63. 
 
 42 
 
JASON LEE 
 
 on his return East denied the whole Saint Louis story 
 until he wrote General Clark and learned that the Indians 
 came for the Bible and that he gave them Christian in 
 struction, but did not give them the Book. It will interest 
 readers and add to the romance to know that Catlin, with 
 out knowing that these Indians were to become historic, 
 enriched his gallery with their portraits, which are num 
 bered 207 and 208 in his collection in the Capitol at 
 Washington, D. C. After parting from Catlin one of the 
 two Indians died, and only one of the four reached the 
 tribe, and he only to announce that the white men would 
 not give the Indians the Book of Heaven. Worse still, 
 Jason Lee on the trip out learned that the Flathead 
 Indians were engaged in constant and bitter warfare with 
 the Blackfeet Indians, and that they had been nearly 
 annihilated, that they had been driven back into almost 
 inaccessible mountains some two hundred miles north of 
 his route, and some six hundred miles east of the Pacific 
 Coast. But the clothing, books, and the farming utensils, 
 garden seeds, and seed grain with which Lee was to intro 
 duce Christian civilization had been shipped on the May 
 Dacre around Cape Horn to Fort Vancouver; and the 
 missionaries must go on to Fort Vancouver for their goods, 
 then induce the Coast Indians, if possible, to carry their 
 goods and farming utensils in boats some five hundred 
 miles east, and then on horses or on their backs northeast 
 into the almost inaccessible mountains of Montana. The 
 task was well-nigh impossible, and the Methodists with 
 heavy hearts journeyed down the Pacific slope to Fort 
 Vancouver away from the special field of service to which 
 they supposed God had called them. The romance of the 
 movement was beginning to fade away, and the whole 
 
 43 
 
THE OBE00N MISSIONS 
 
 affair seemed a miserable Methodist fiasco in which zeal 
 had outrun knowledge. Did you ever think that the Bible 
 says nothing of Paul on crossing into Macedonia finding 
 the identical man who appeared to him in the vision? 
 But Paul found Macedonian heathen and concluded that 
 he had a mission. So Jason Lee found pagan Indians in 
 abundance in the Willamette Valley, including numerous 
 Nez Perces, which tribe furnished three of the four In 
 dians who made the journey to Saint Louis and to whom, 
 as well as to the Flatheads, he had been sent. He also 
 found Chinooks and other Coast Indians with flattened 
 heads, thus possessing the very sign by which he expected 
 to recognize the Indians to whom he was called. 8 He 
 also found members of the Hudson s Bay Company who 
 had not heard the gospel preached for years, and he was 
 thus enabled to become a jfoissionary to the white race as 
 well as to the Indianj,g!rSo, feeling that he was sent of 
 God and that he wj^in touch with the larger portion of 
 those who had sufmmoned him, he decided to stay; and 
 the four missionaries began work among the Indians in 
 the Columbia River basin in October, 1834. 
 
 Let us leave the Methodists founding their work among 
 the Indians while we devote several chapters to the other 
 actors in the drama. We believe that the study of all the 
 factors in the problem will show that God was in the 
 movement, that he aimed at and accomplished, largely 
 through the missionaries, a far greater work than they 
 had dreamed of. 
 
 8 Irving, Astoria, p. 67. 
 
 44 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY AND GREAT 
 BRITAIN 
 
 The Hudson s Bay Company. The Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany was organized in London in 1670 for trading pur 
 poses; but, like the famous East India Company and like 
 the British North Borneo Company of to-day, it was, 
 authorized to exercise military and civil authority, and 
 even to make wars and to conclude peace in the name of 
 Great Britain, over the territory which it occupied. \ The 
 charter granted the company "complete lordship and 
 entire legislative, judicial, and executive power." 1 Great 
 Britain, in the Nootka Sound Convention of 1790, had 
 compelled Spain to grant her equal rights in the Pacific 
 Northwest; and on Spain s virtual abandonment of the 
 country a little later Great Britain, through the Hudson s 
 Bay Company, exercised control over the Northwest coast 
 from the Russian possessions down to the Mexican posses 
 sions from 1790 to 1818. In 1821 the Hudson s Bay 
 Company and the North- West Fur Company of Montreal 
 were consolidated by an act of the British Parliament; 
 and Parliament granted the enlarged Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany dominion and exclusive rights to the trade for the 
 "Indian Territories," expressly declaring that these terri 
 tories included all the wilderness of British North America 
 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xiii, p. 853a. 
 45 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 west of and including Rupert s land. Thus the Hudson s 
 Bay Company "ruled the western world through seventy- 
 five degrees of longitude, from Davis Strait to Mount Saint 
 Elias, and through twenty-eight degrees of latitude, from 
 the mouth of the Mackenzie to the borders of California, 
 dominions second in size to Russia alone among the com 
 pact organizations of the world." 2 "| It is true that under 
 an act of the British Parliament in 1821, the authority 
 of the Canadian government was extended over all British 
 subjects throughout this territory. 3 But even Dr. Mc- 
 Loughlin seldom sent a man to the Canadian courts for 
 trial and punishment. He ordered an Indian tied to the 
 cannon at Fort Vancouver and whipped; and a Canadian 
 committing the same offense was punished in the same 
 manner. 4 Other agents of the company disregarded the 
 law more fully than did Dr. McLoughlin. An Indian was 
 reported to James Douglas, whom McLoughlin trained 
 as his successor, as having committed murder. Douglas 
 shot the Indian without trial as he lay concealed under a 
 bundle of skins. 5 The murder of Dr. McLoughlin s son 
 John by a Canadian while the young man was in charge 
 of Fort Stikeen possibly shows that the young ruler abused 
 his power. 6 
 
 The restoration of Astoria to American authority and 
 the treaty of 1818 containing the clause providing for 
 joint occupancy followed the war of 1812, and confirmed 
 
 2 Chambers s Encyclopaedia, Philadelphia, 1884, vol. v, p. 448. 
 
 3 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 235, 236, and 581. 
 * Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 378. 
 
 5 Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 368, 369. 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 236, note. 
 
 46 
 
THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY 
 
 the legal right of the United States to the control of all 
 American citizens and subjects in the Oregon Country. 
 
 Bancroft says: "It was not true that the British com 
 pany controlled by law the Eussian possessions in America, 
 or strove to govern the American settlers in the Willamette 
 Valley. By an act of Parliament the laws of Canada were 
 extended over British subjects in the territory west of 
 the Eocky Mountains, but this was never enforced so far 
 as Eussians and Americans were concerned." 7 This state 
 ment is carefully guarded, and in its guarded form, it is 
 in the main correct ; but three facts must be borne in mind 
 for a clear knowledge of the difficulties which emerged 
 between the American and British settlers. 
 
 First. In Canada the Company built throughout her 
 wide domain forts, trading posts, and factories, from 
 which she exercised military and civil authority over both 
 the Indians and the whites. After crossing the Eocky 
 Mountains she extended her forts south of the 49th parallel 
 into the Oregon Country. She erected Fort Vancouver 
 on the north bank of the Columbia in 1824-25, and Fort 
 Boise in what is now Idaho in 1834. Through Fort Boise 
 she deprived Captain Wyeth of all the trade with the 
 Indians at Fort Hall, and practically drove him from the 
 field, but softened and hastened his departure by buying 
 his fort in 1836. In addition to these three forts, she 
 erected Forts Disappointment, George, Okanogan, Koo- 
 tenai, Flat Head, Cowlitz, Nisqually, Colville, Walla 
 Walla, and Umpqua. Through these thirteen forts, 8 or 
 fortified trading posts, all of them south of 49, and some 
 
 7 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 235, 236. 
 
 8 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 109. 
 
 47 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 of them four hundred miles south of that parallel, she 
 ruled as far south as the then northern border of Mexico, 
 not only her employees, but the Indians occupying the two 
 countries; and she continued this rule from 1821 down 
 to the appointment of Dr. White in 1842 and the estab 
 lishment of the provisional government in 1843. 
 
 Second. Although joint occupancy by the subjects of 
 Great Britain and the citizens of the United States was 
 provided for by the treaty of 1818, nevertheless citizens 
 of the United States, through the failure of Congress to 
 provide for them a government, entered that country as 
 isolated trappers and hunters, without either financial or 
 governmental backing, and thus were led, though reluc 
 tantly, to depend upon the Hudson s Bay Company for 
 the maintenance of law and -order. Occasionally, indeed, 
 as in ordering Ewing Young not to distill and sell liquor, 
 and in tearing down the log house of Alderman and 
 Williamson and in threatening to send Williamson to 
 York Factory for trial before a British justice, the Com 
 pany attempted to impose British authority upon the 
 Americans. In the first of these three cases the moral, 
 though not the legal, right was clearly on its side. In 
 the second, tearing down the log cabin of Alderman and 
 Williamson, opinion was much divided, the Executive Com 
 mittee of the American Provisional Government deciding 
 in favor of McLoughlin. But John Minto and H. S. 
 Lyman, both of them intelligent and fair men, claim, with 
 good reason, that Alderman and Williamson had a better 
 right to the one square mile of land which they claimed 
 north of the Columbia River than the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany had to the thirty-five miles east and west, which 
 it claimed along the north bank of the Columbia "as far 
 
 48 
 
THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY 
 
 back as their stock traveled." 9 Moreover, in Williamson s 
 case, James Douglas s threat to arrest an American citizen 
 and send him in chains to York Factory for trial before 
 a British justice of the peace was full of danger. 
 
 Third. The Hudson s Bay Company s method of deal 
 ing with white American competitors usually was not by 
 attempting to impose British law, but by the far harsher, 
 though strictly legal, process of utterly destroying their 
 trade through competition, and thus driving them from 
 the country. She treated all American visitors with rare 
 hospitality, but she exercised her legal right of refusing 
 to trade with all American companies and of refusing to 
 trade with all Indians who ventured to trade with Ameri 
 can companies. She thus drove, one after another, nine 
 American fur companies from the field. 
 
 An illustration of the policy of the North- West Fur 
 Company, which occupied the north of the Columbia River 
 from 1814-21, 10 is its treatment of John Jacob Aster. 
 In 1811 Mr. Aster had sent a ship around Cape Horn and 
 a company of sixty men across the continent to found 
 Astoria some twelve miles east of the entrance of the 
 Columbia River. On February 15, 1812, Wilson P. Hunt, 
 and a few companions, out of the sixty men who started, 
 succeeded in reaching the mouth of the Columbia and 
 founding Astoria, having suffered great hardships on the 
 way. Mr. Aster had taken into his company some British 
 subjects from Canada, among them Duncan McDougal, 
 who betrayed him. War between the United States and 
 Great Britain broke out in 1812. The North- West Fur 
 Company sent the Isaac Todd around the Horn with a 
 
 8 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ili, p. 391, note. 
 10 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 292. 
 
 49 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 letter of marque to capture and destroy Astoria, and also 
 J. J. McTavish and seventy-five men across the continent 
 to take charge of the stores and pelts after the post should 
 be captured by the Isaac Todd. McTavish arrived October 
 7, 1813, before the ship; all his provisions and ammuni 
 tion were exhausted and he was thus at the mercy of 
 Astor s company. Mr. Hunt had gone to the Sandwich 
 Islands and Duncan McDougal was in charge of the post. 
 McDougal was one of Aster s partners and the one whom 
 Astor had intrusted with legal authority to represent him. 
 So far from resisting McTavish s claims and preserving 
 the property of Astor, he sold the post and all its stores 
 to the North- West Fur Company for $80,500, 11 although 
 there were rumors that the furs were worth $1,000,000, 12 
 probably altogether too high an estimate. After the sale 
 McDougal was taken into partnership with the Company, 
 the Company thus revealing her participation in Mc- 
 Dougal s betrayal of Astor. McDougal was regarded by 
 the Americans as a traitor, by the British as a cheat, and 
 by the Indian Concomly as a squaw. 13 A little later the 
 British armed ship Raccoon arrived, formally captured 
 Astoria, raised the British flag, and renamed the post Fort 
 George. Mr. Hunt on arriving from the Sandwich Islands 
 on February 15, 1814, and finding all the goods sold and 
 the post in the hands of Great Britain, took ship April 3, 
 1814, back to the Islands and on to the United States. 
 April 4, 1814; all the Americans who had belonged to the 
 
 11 Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, vol. ii, p. 331. 
 
 12 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 293. 
 
 18 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 294. But it should be added that Ban 
 croft, History of the Northwest Coast, vol. ii, pp. 221-225, 
 stoutly defends McDougal. 
 
 50 
 
THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY 
 
 post started back east overland. Fortunately, this formal 
 capture compelled Great Britain under the terms of the 
 treaty of peace to restore Fort George to the United States 
 and the name was changed back to Astoria. The entire 
 venture proved so costly and unfortunate that Mr. Astor 
 made no further attempts to trade on the Columbia, and 
 the post practically reverted to the North- West Fur Com 
 pany. After the erection of Fort Vancouver, during the 
 winter of 1824-25, Astoria became a small trading post. 
 These methods of banishing American competitors 
 through monopoly of trade and through establishing mili 
 tary and civil authority over her own white people and 
 over the Indians were unchallenged until the Methodist 
 missionaries, who did not desire to buy furs or sell goods 
 to the Indians, settled south of the Columbia in 1834, 
 and until the missionaries of the American Board settled 
 at Lapwai, Idaho, and at Waiilatpu, Washington, in 1836, 
 and until the Methodists began preaching north of the 
 Columbia in 1838 and settled there in 1839. Apparently, 
 the arrival of the American missionaries, who did not 
 come for trade, was entirely unexpected. Dr. McLough- 
 lin, with no orders from his superiors in London, with the 
 innate kindness of the Christian gentleman, with the 
 loneliness of the wilderness upon him, and with his par 
 ental interest in the spiritual welfare of his Canadian 
 servants and of his Indian wards, welcomed these mis 
 sionaries and showed them every kindness. There was no 
 occasion for the Hudson s Bay Company to call upon the 
 missionaries to obey British law, for their conduct was 
 within all civil law. But a little later there was occasion 
 at times for the Hudson s Bay Company to exercise au 
 thority for the protection of American citizens from the 
 
 51 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Indians, and such authority was always promptly exer 
 cised. When a few white Americans gathered around the 
 missionary post for safety, the question of sovereignty be 
 came perplexing. Dr. McLoughlin apparently at first 
 suggested that Jason Lee, supported by himself, should 
 exercise such authority as was necessary over American 
 citizens, as he exercised authority over the British subjects 
 and the Indians ; and Lee, instead of taking the office him 
 self, appointed the Rev. David Leslie justice of the peace 
 to represent American authority. 
 
 It was a condition and not a theory which confronted 
 the Hudson s Bay Company. Her officers well knew that 
 the Columbia River Basin could not remain a game pre 
 serve and at the same time become an American settle 
 ment. Already the Company had been driven west stage 
 after stage by the advance of British and of American 
 civilization; and it was now defending its last intrench- 
 ment on the Pacific Coast, south of the Russian game pre 
 serves. But under the treaty of joint occupation the 
 Company had no right whatever to exclude American 
 missionaries from this region. In these conditions Dr. 
 McLoughlin and the chief officers of the Hudson s Bay 
 Company in the Oregon Country pursued the only honor 
 able and the only wise course. A struggle against these 
 men who were not competitors in the fur trade would 
 have revealed so plain a purpose to violate the treaty pro 
 viding for joint occupation that it speedily would have 
 led to war ; and war with the United States any time after 
 1830 in all probability would have terminated in the 
 American occupancy of the land. Besides, Drs. John 
 McLoughlin and William Frazer Tolmie, Mr. Edward 
 Huggins and Mr. Heron were Christian men and felt their 
 
 52 
 
THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY 
 
 responsibility for the spiritual welfare of both the whites 
 and the Indians. Dr. McLoughlin always observed the 
 Lord s Day at Fort Vancouver, and while he remained an 
 Anglican read the services of the Established Church 
 every Sunday with impressive reverence. 14 Dr. Tolmie 
 and Mr. Heron observed Sunday at Fort Nisqually and 
 held the first service ever conducted on the Northwest 
 Coast for Indians in December, 1833. Dr. McLoughlin 
 established a school for the half-breed children of the 
 officers and employees of the Company, to which some 
 Indian children were admitted; and Solomon Smith, a 
 citizen of the United States who came to Oregon with 
 Wyeth on his first trip in 1832, was employed by the 
 Company to teach the children of Fort Vancouver Eng 
 lish branches, singing, deportment, and morality, before 
 a missionary arrived. The directors of the Company in 
 London were humane when humanity did not interfere 
 with dividends. At and around their posts in Canada 
 they encouraged the Roman Catholic priests to go among 
 the Indians and baptize them, in order that the children 
 of the forest might attain felicity in another world; but 
 the directors did not plan that the Indians should reach 
 civilization in this world. The school at Fort Vancouver 
 was due to the humanity of Dr. McLoughlin and was 
 conducted without orders from and probably without the 
 knowledge of the directors in London. 
 
 As directors of the Company in London learned of the 
 presence of American missionaries in their game preserves, 
 they recognized the danger to their trade and also to the 
 sovereignty of the British nation. About the same time 
 
 14 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 10. 
 
 53 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 there was a call from the French-Canadian Catholics in 
 the Oregon Country for the spiritual ministry of men of 
 their own race and tongue and church. Hence the Com 
 pany arranged, in 1838, for the transportation of two 
 Catholic priests, probably hoping that they would take 
 possession of the religious field, as the Company had taken 
 possession of the land politically and commercially. The 
 competition of the Protestant missionaries and the priests 
 soon aroused the savage Indians to such an extent as 
 revealed the danger of pushing out the Protestant mis 
 sionaries by taking possession of their fields. How Dr. 
 McLoughlin s conduct in ever admitting the Protestant 
 missionaries to the field was regarded in London later is 
 seen in the following editorial utterance of Fisher s Co 
 lonial Magazine for January, 1843: "By a strange and 
 unpardonable oversight of the local officers of the Com 
 pany, missionaries from the United States were allowed 
 to take religious charge of the population ; and these art 
 ful men lost no time in introducing such a number of their 
 countrymen as reduced the influence of the small number 
 of British settlers to a minimum." 
 
 The religious struggle for the conversion or baptism of 
 the Indians inevitably developed into a political struggle 
 for the possession of the lower Columbia between the 
 Hudson s Bay Company and the Methodist missionaries 
 who came out in 1834, while the missions in the upper 
 Columbia region led to a more serious struggle between 
 the representatives of the Hudson s Bay Company and 
 Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding, who came out in 1836; 
 the reports of the missionaries in both cases bringing per 
 manent American settlers to the country. Indeed, before 
 the arrival of settlers the efforts of the missionaries in 
 
 54 
 
THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY 
 
 behalf of American authority were reenforced by a few 
 American hunters and trappers who came and went ac 
 cording to their desires. 
 
 Meantime Dr. McLoughlin received orders from Londonv 
 not to sell to the Indians or the missionaries any hoes or 
 spades or plows or cattle, thus showing that the directors 
 of the Company were fully committed to the plan of keep 
 ing the Indians as well as the whites back from any settled 
 civilization. The orders seemed to Dr. McLoughlin, with 
 his large heart and broad sympathies, severe, but he carried 
 them out. The Hudson s Bay Company, through the kind 
 ness of Dr. McLoughlin, supplied the needs of the Meth 
 odist missionaries until they were able to provide for 
 themselves, "even although," in the words of the Encyclo 
 paedia Britannica, "it is the manifest interest of monopo 
 lists to retard the advance of civilization toward their 
 hunting grounds." 15 It was this fundamental difference 
 in aim between a fur company desiring to keep the coun 
 try in its wild state as a vast game preserve and a mission 
 ary party desiring the speedy Christianization and civiliza 
 tion of Indians and whites, their settlement upon the 
 lands, and the establishment of homes, which led to diver 
 gent policies and brought on the scarcely concealed con 
 flict between the Company and the Protestant mission 
 aries. The Hudson s Bay Company, as was entirely 
 proper, made an earnest effort to secure the territory for 
 its own government, Great Britain. It must be recognized 
 that the Company also, by preserving order around its vast 
 domains, among the Indians, among its own employees, 
 and in part by maintaining order and furnishing food, 
 
 15 Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xiii, p. 853a. 
 
 55 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 shelter, and medicine to Americans who reached Fort 
 Vancouver, contributed to the maintenance of peace and 
 of the existing civilization within the Oregon Country. 
 
 Great Britain. The first white man to cross North 
 America was Alexander Mackenzie. He accomplished the 
 great journey and reached the Pacific Ocean July 23, 
 1793, at the mouth of an inlet called the Cascade Canal, 
 north latitude 52 20 . In his narrative he tells of the 
 Indians calling the mountain range which he crossed the 
 Shining Mountains, or Mountains of Bright Stones. The 
 Indians thus named these mountains to distinguish their 
 bare, stony sides from the mountains covered with forests. 
 The British modified the name into Stony Mountains 
 and the Americans transformed the name Stony Moun 
 tains into the more imposing title, Rocky Mountains. 
 Thus Mackenzie gave to the world the first translation of 
 the Indian name for our greatest mountain range. He 
 advanced the geographical knowledge of North America 
 over a wider area than any other human being. Credit 
 a British subject with the heroic feat of first crossing the 
 North American continent. 
 
 The British government often appointed the agents of 
 the Hudson s Bay Company justices of the peace, so that 
 they might exercise civil authority. We do not think 
 these agents were blamable for stretching their authority 
 at times. The lives of all the white men American as 
 well as British often depended upon the prompt exer 
 cise of strong authority, and the United States govern 
 ment had failed to provide any civil authority whatever. 
 Hence in times of crisis the representative of the Hudson s 
 Bay Company and the government pursued the only 
 practicable course. History shows that, in general, they 
 
 56 
 
 m 
 
THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY 
 
 left the Americans to control themselves and, as already 
 mentioned, encouraged Jason Lee through David Leslie, 
 to exercise authority over the American settlers in the 
 Willamette Valley. Moreover, they generally induced the 
 Indians to punish their own criminals. The lack of 
 American authority in Oregon was due to the failure of 
 Congress rather than to opposition by the British govern 
 ment or the Hudson s Bay Company. But history also 
 shows that, as a matter of fact, British authority was the 
 only authority exercised south as well as north of the 
 Columbia River down to 1843. We must credit Dr. Mc- 
 Loughlin and the British government with success in 
 securing 157,000 square miles out of the 443,000 square 
 miles of the disputed territory, whereas had the issue 
 reached a forcible decision, Great Britain probably would 
 have lost it all. So far from regarding this outcome as 
 proof of overreaching on the part of the Company or the 
 British government, it seems to us a demonstration rather 
 of the foresight, the firmness, and also of the fairness of 
 the British government, and especially of Dr. McLoughlin. 
 Upon the whole, the British government surpassed the 
 United States government by providing for the legal 
 control of her own people and of the Indians, without 
 necessarily trenching upon our rights. The Hudson s 
 Bay Company, under Dr. McLoughlin, upon the whole, 
 exercised the large authority committed by the government 
 to the Company with wisdom. The disappointment of 
 the British people over the loss of the Puget Sound 
 region sprang out of ignorance of the situation and led 
 to unjust criticism of the government, of the Company, 
 and especially of Dr. McLoughlin. Unless the American 
 missionaries, the American pioneers, and the United 
 
 57 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 States government had wholly failed, the British govern 
 ment in the final treaty could not have gained a single 
 foot more of the territory than she did secure. Indeed, 
 had it not been for the good judgment and fine character 
 of Dr. McLoughlin and for the Divine Providence, the 
 British government would not have retained a foot of 
 ground on the Pacific Coast. But that calls for another 
 chapter. 
 
 58 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 DR. McLOUGHLIN 
 
 LYMAN in one of his noblest passages says, "The old 
 Oregon from California to Alaska and from the Pacific 
 to the Rocky Mountains, had already attracted the thought 
 and obtained the action of the brightest men of all na 
 tions: Cortez from the Spaniards, Drake and Cook from 
 the English, La Perouse from the French, Peter the Great 
 and Catherine II from the Russians, Ledyard, Jefferson, 
 and Astor from the Americans." To these he adds John 
 McLoughlin, whom he ranks among the heroes. 1 
 
 John McLoughlin was born October 19, 1784, in Parish 
 La Riviere du Loup, one hundred and twenty miles below 
 Quebec, Canada. His father was born in Ireland and 
 his mother, of Scotch parents, in Canada. 2 He was a 
 giant in body, mind, and -heart, being six feet, four inches 
 in height, of fine physical proportions, and of character 
 matching his body. In the case of Dr. McLoughlin and 
 Jason Lee, we see two giants contending for the possession 
 of an empire. Young McLoughlin secured a good general 
 education in Canada, then completed a thorough medical 
 course in Scotland. He entered the service of the North- 
 West Fur Company of Montreal and was retained by the 
 Hudson s Bay Company when the two companies were 
 
 1 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 354. 
 
 2 Holman, Dr. John McLoughlin, p. 23. 
 
 59 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 consolidated. In due time his skill as a physician, his 
 business abilities, his political sagacity, and his sterling 
 character raised him to the post of chief factor of the Com 
 pany on the Pacific Coast. In this capacity he exercised 
 political and commercial authority over some 443,000 
 square miles of territory, and he used his authority in a 
 kindly manner, but in the highest interests of the Com 
 pany. He was wise, usually self-possessed, and he had 
 a genius for friendship. His Company and the American 
 settlers drifted into the sharpest political and commercial 
 competition. But while Dr. McLoughlin enforced some 
 harsh decrees adopted by the directors of the Company in 
 London, he himself never lost the instincts of a physician, 
 the principles of a just man, nor the charity of a Chris 
 tian; and he rendered all with whom he came in contact, 
 including his American competitors, innumerable acts of 
 service. Though at times, on orders from London, he 
 refused to sell Americans certain kinds of goods either 
 on credit or for cash, yet he seldom if ever refused credit 
 to an American settler. We are sorry to add that some 
 of these settlers failed to pay their debts, though they 
 became able to do so, and Dr. McLoughlin bore the loss. 
 
 When Captain N. J. Wyeth visited the Columbia River 
 region in 1834, following the custom of the great majority 
 of New England grocers of that time, he included liquors 
 in the goods which he shipped to the mouth of the Colum 
 bia for sale. Dr. McLoughlin s Journal contains the 
 statement: "From morality and policy I stopped the sale 
 and issue of spirituous liquor to the Indians, but to do 
 this effectually I had to stop the sale of liquor to all whites. 
 In 1834, when Mr. Wyeth, of Boston, came, he began by 
 selling liquor, but on my assuring him the Hudson s Bay 
 
 60 
 
DR. McLOUGHLIN 
 
 Company sold no liquor to whites or Indians, he immedi 
 ately adopted the same rule." 3 The facts show the moral 
 initiative of Dr. McLoughlin and the good judgment of 
 Captain Wyeth in following the Doctor s example. Jason 
 and Daniel Lee owed Dr. McLoughlin undying gratitude. 
 When they arrived at Fort Vancouver in 1834 Dr. Mc 
 Loughlin wisely advised Jason Lee to settle in the Willam 
 ette Valley and teach the Indians religion and farming. 
 The advice was in the interests of the Company, which 
 desired all the white settlers to be gathered into one loca 
 tion south of the Columbia and under the Company s super 
 vision. But the founding of the Mission in the Willamette 
 Valley was even more advantageous to the missionaries 
 than to the Company. Dr. McLoughlin also invited Jason 
 Lee to preach at Fort Vancouver where, as we have already 
 seen, he soon baptized four adults and seventeen half- 
 breed children. In March, 1836, he presented Lee with 
 a purse of $130, which he had collected from his own 
 helpers, with a prayer for the blessing of "our heavenly 
 Father, without whose assistance we can do nothing, that 
 of his infinite mercy he may vouchsafe to bless and prosper 
 your pious endeavors." 4 The Willamette Valley proved 
 to be a large region, remarkable for the mildness of 
 its climate and the fertility of its soil. In 1838 Lee 
 started back to the States to report to the Missionary 
 Society and the government, and to bring more American 
 recruits. These recruits, in the very nature of the case, 
 would tend to drive away the fur-bearing animals upon 
 which the Company depended for its profits, and they 
 
 3 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. i, p. 215. 
 *Hines, Oregon: Its History, Condition, and Prospects, p. 
 16. 
 
 61 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 would also tend to strengthen the hold of the Americans 
 upon the country which Dr. McLoughlin desired for Great 
 Britain. Some three months after Jason Lee s departure 
 Lee s wife died in childbirth, and Dr. McLoughlin sent 
 a courier at his own expense all the way from Fort Van 
 couver to Westport, Missouri, to overtake the preacher of 
 the gospel and inform him of the death of his wife and 
 the infant son. Again, when Jason Lee returned to Oregon 
 in 1840 with fifty-two American men, women, and chil 
 dren a number which openly challenged the supremacy 
 of the Company Dr. McLoughlin received him with his 
 old-time friendship and hospitality, assuring him that 
 there was always room enough at Fort Vancouver for 
 "Jason Lee and all of his." Again, when Daniel Lee, 
 under the long winter rains of the Oregon coast and his 
 heavy labors and responsibilities, developed tuberculosis, 
 Dr. McLoughlin sent him at his own expense to the Sand 
 wich Islands, and thus enabled him to recover his health 
 and to live and work for half a century longer. 
 
 In 1838 Lee told McLoughlin of his desire to open a 
 mission station at Fort Nisqually, about twenty miles 
 below what is now Tacoma and one hundred miles north 
 of the Columbia, and within the territory to which the 
 Company laid special claim for Great Britain. Dr. Mc 
 Loughlin must have recognized that this proposal involved 
 some danger to British supremacy in the Puget Sound 
 region; nevertheless, he was so influenced by his desire 
 to see the Indians saved and by his friendship for Jason 
 Lee that he wrote to A. C. Anderson, then in charge of 
 Fort Msqually, directing him to open the way for Lee 
 to establish a station there. The Rev. David Leslie and 
 W. H. Willson were sent to select a site and erect build- 
 
 62 
 
 4 
 
DE. McLOUGHLIN 
 
 ings. They arrived April 10, 1839, and were welcomed 
 by the Hudson s Bay Company s factor; and on April 17, 
 1839, the first tree was cut for the mission buildings. 5 
 When Lee, in 1840, sent the Rev. J. P. Eichmond, M.D., 
 and his family to preach and teach among the Indians at 
 Fort Nisqually, Dr. McLoughlin wrote another letter to 
 Dr. Tolmie, requesting him to loan Dr. Richmond cows 
 sufficient to supply the mission with milk, and to use his 
 kindly offices in making the mission comfortable. It was 
 in recognition of Dr. McLoughlin s early services in invit 
 ing Lee to settle in the Willamette Valley, in inviting him 
 to preach and baptize converts at Fort Vancouver, and in 
 raising the subscription for him, that Lee wrote to the 
 Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 as follows on March 28, 1837 : "At the special request of 
 Dr. McLoughlin, I am about to send him a note of intro 
 duction to you. Would it not be well to present him a 
 certificate of life membership in our Missionary Society? 
 We have been obliged to draw frequently upon him for 
 medicine, for which he refuses to take any remuneration. 
 I mentioned in my last letter that I was fully convinced 
 that this country would be settled at no distant period." 6 
 It was by such services not only to the Lees but to other 
 Americans that Dr. McLoughlin displayed his manliness 
 and at the same time advanced the permanent interests 
 of his Company and his country, for fairness and kindli 
 ness are political and business assets of real value. Lyman 
 writes, "It is stated that the cargo of the annual ship sent 
 from the Columbia to England was worth 200,000 sterl 
 ing. ... It is thought that during its occupancy of the 
 
 8 Meeker, Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound, p. 488. 
 Atwood, The Conquerors, pp. 54, 55. 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Columbia Valley as much as twenty-eight million dollars 
 worth of furs were sent to the London stockholders." 7 
 In the Oregon Country that is, the region west of the 
 Rocky Mountains between 42 and 54 40 north latitude 
 Dr. McLoughlin declares that since 1826 the Americans 
 had outnumbered the British. 8 Again,, he declares that 
 as early as 1826 there were as many as five hundred Ameri 
 can trappers on the Snake River. 9 We think Dr. Mc 
 Loughlin made an overestimate of the number of Ameri 
 cans west of the Rocky Mountains, though he doubtless 
 possessed, through his own hunters and trappers who 
 traversed the entire region, better data than any other man 
 for a correct estimate. The total number of American 
 immigrants in the Willamette Valley at the end of 1841 
 was perhaps no more than four hundred. 10 It was not 
 until after the arrival of Dr. White s party in 1842 that 
 the Americans in the Willamette Valley were able to 
 carry the measure for the provisional government, and 
 then only by the aid of two or three Canadian votes. 
 But Dr. McLoughlin was forced to consider the entire 
 region which he governed, and in this region, as a whole, 
 with bold and resolute Americans outnumbering the 
 British, and with the American nation occupying the 
 adjoining portion of the continent, kindness was a far 
 wiser policy than harshness. We have striking illustra 
 tions of the opposite policy which Dr. McLoughlin, under 
 the spur of the London directors, enforced in two or three 
 
 7 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 375. 
 8 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 500, note. 
 "Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 374. 
 10 Garry, Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, vol. i, p. 370. 
 
 64 
 
DE. McLOUGHLIN 
 
 cases. We condense the account from Bancroft. 11 On 
 the arrival of the American immigrants in 1844 Dr. Mc- 
 Loughlin refused Michael T. Simmons permission to live 
 in Fort Vancouver with his family during the winter of 
 1844-45 unless he would agree to settle south of the 
 Columbia River. Simmons at once decided that the north 
 side of the Columbia River was more desirable ; he secured 
 a log house for the winter and in the spring of 1845 set 
 out for Puget Sound with five other American men. Dr. 
 McLoughlin s enforcement of his claims against Henry 
 Williamson and Isaac W. Alderman provoked conflict and 
 threatened to develop into war. Dr. McLoughlin possibly 
 was within his technical rights because his Company 
 already was using for pasture the land to which William 
 son and Alderman laid claim, and he was sustained by 
 the provisional government of Oregon. Alderman espe 
 cially was a violent and unprincipled character who was 
 killed in 1848 in California "under circumstances that 
 justified the homicide." 12 "Thus," as Bancroft well ob 
 serves, "by an effort to avoid the censure of the directors 
 of the Hudson s Bay Company in London, some of whom 
 had influence with members of the British cabinet, by 
 keeping American settlers south of the Columbia River, 
 McLoughlin provoked their opposition and hastened the 
 beginning of their occupancy in the region about that 
 beautiful inland sea, which the Company had no doubt 
 at that time would come into the possession of Great 
 Britain." 13 Had some other man been chief factor, and 
 had he not been harsh but simply firm and unyielding in 
 
 11 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 458-465. 
 
 12 Ibid., vol. i, p. 459, note. 
 
 13 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 464-465. 
 
 65 
 
THE OEEGON MISSIONS 
 
 maintaining what he considered to be the legal rights of 
 his Company and. his country, such firmness would have 
 been regarded by the Americans as harshness and would 
 have led to a struggle which, judging by the wars of 1776 
 and 1812, must have resulted in defeat for Great Britain. 
 Again when the inevitable struggle arose on the Pacific 
 Coast and the loss by the British of the territory north 
 of the Columbia became evident, Dr. McLoughlin saw 
 to it that the disappointment of the officers and employees 
 of the Company and of British subjects did not precipitate 
 bloodshed between them and the American settlers. Dr. 
 McLoughlin saved for Great Britain far more of the land 
 embraced in the original territory than a hard-headed 
 chief factor could have secured. It will be remembered 
 that the political campaign of 1844 in the United States 
 was carried on with the winning party using as its cam 
 paign cry, "Fifty-four Forty or Fight." The Democratic 
 party, which was the war party, won by a large majority, 
 and by this campaign cry was committed to the extension 
 of the American boundaries as far north as the Eussian 
 possessions. While the sober judgment of the Democratic 
 leaders never approved this extreme claim, and while these 
 leaders did not really desire to add to the United States 
 large territory to the north which they feared would ex 
 clude slavery, yet with their campaign cry and pledges, a 
 single harsh act on Dr. McLoughlin s part might easily 
 have precipitated a war with the United States for the 
 entire territory up to the Eussian line. 
 
 Another important fact must be borne in mind. The. 
 purchase of Alaska and the settlement of the Alaskan 
 boundary gives the United States a coast line along the 
 southern border of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands almost 
 
 66 
 
DR. McLOUGHLIN 
 
 the entire distance across the Pacific, as far west as 
 Chicagof Harbor, Attu Island, 186 47 west longitude, 
 that is, almost to the borders of Asia. 14 Nor is this 
 stretch of sea coast across the north Pacific valueless. On 
 the contrary, it abounds in harbors like Resurrection Bay, 
 Chiginig Bay, Denmark Bay, Dutch Harbor, Unalaska 
 Bay, Constantine Harbor, Kiska Island and Bay, and 
 Chicagof Harbor, each of which is open all the year and 
 is large enough to hold a large navy. The report of the 
 recent survey of these harbors by the United States has 
 been pronounced the most important geographical in 
 formation of this century. For strategic purposes these 
 harbors are of incalculable value. With this coast line 
 across the northern borders of the Pacific Ocean along 
 the shortest route to Asia, and with our harbors in the 
 Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, Panama, and along the coast 
 from Mexico to British America, we are sure that the best 
 interests of the United States and of Christendom were 
 conserved by Great Britain securing the fine harbors on 
 the coast from 49 to 54 40 ; and we do not know any 
 man in the Hudson s Bay Company, in Canada, or among 
 the British statesmen of that day who could have held 
 this territory for Great Britain aside from John Mc- 
 Loughlin. The fiery Douglas, who became MeLoughlin s 
 successor, would have lost it in the first controversy with 
 Americans. 
 
 Finally, when the directors of the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany in London criticized Dr. McLoughlin for his gener 
 ous treatment of Americans, his self-respect led him to 
 resign his office, thus surrendering his almost unlimited 
 authority over a territory four times as large as Great 
 
 "Nelson s Encyclopaedia, art., "Alaska," 
 
 67 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Britain, and his income of $12,000 a year. Moreover, 
 through these very acts of humanity and real statesman 
 ship, Dr. McLoughlin came in the end to be regarded by 
 the directors of the Hudson s Bay Company in London 
 and by the people of Great Britain as a traitor to his 
 country. Indeed, the feeling that he was an outcast 
 from his own country led him to throw in his lot with the 
 Americans and become a citizen of Oregon. But the 
 Americans in Oregon had suffered too much from the 
 monopoly of the Hudson s Bay Company and had become 
 too partisan to treat the head of that Company on the 
 Pacific Coast with justice, not to speak of generosity. 
 Even the Methodists, including, as he believed for a time, 
 Jason Lee, whom he had trusted more fully than any other 
 man among the Americans, appeared to betray him in 
 his old age; and he bitterly resented the "jumping" of 
 a part of his claim to the site of Oregon City by a member 
 of the Methodist Mission in 1840. As we show in Chapter 
 XIII, entitled "Lee s Sun Sets," Lee supported Mc 
 Loughlin at the cost of the support of his fellow mission 
 aries and at a time when he greatly needed their support. 
 The Oregon Legislature later accepted Lee s view. But 
 the restitution by the Oregon Legislature of Dr. McLough- 
 lin s rights did not come until after his death; and the 
 noble old man lived his last years, as he himself said, "a 
 man without a country," and died in loneliness September 
 3, 1857, at Oregon City, at the age of seventy-three. 15 The 
 disappointing close of John McLoughlin s life with his 
 lonely death is one of the tragedies of the Oregon Country. 
 For more than a century Great Britain and the United 
 States have failed to recognize him. Believing that citi- 
 
 15 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 130. 
 
 68 
 
DR. McLOUGHLIN 
 
 zens of all countries in the long run desire to render justice 
 to their fellow citizens, we anticipate the time when British 
 historians will honor the memory of John McLoughlin 
 as the man who saved her the northern section of the 
 Oregon territory and secured his country an everlasting 
 position on the Pacific Ocean. We trust the time will 
 come when citizens of Oregon and the United States will 
 recognize him as an American citizen and raise a monu 
 ment to the memory of the man who knew how to yield 
 an empire to the arbitrament of justice and to the inevita 
 ble march of civilization, and who thus gave our country 
 her just rights without a bitter war. Lyman, in opening 
 his sketch of over seventy pages of Dr. McLoughlin s 
 career, writes this wise and just estimate of the leader of 
 the British forces for the possession of an imperial do 
 main: "It almost forces itself upon one to say . . . that 
 a period of twenty years of uncertainty and dispute over 
 a territory that was felt to carry with it the empire of 
 North America, and even dimly that of the Pacific Ocean, 
 could have been covered under no other hand than that 
 of McLoughlin without drenching the soil of Oregon with 
 blood." 16 Surely, the time will come when the people 
 of Great Britain and the United States Protestants and 
 Catholics all will join in honoring the memory of the 
 man whose sense of justice and whose Christian kindliness 
 conserved not only the highest interests of his country 
 and his church, but of humanity as well, and who, by his 
 services, his position, and his character, looms as the 
 largest single factor in the early history of the Northwest 
 Coast. 
 
 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 357. 
 69 
 
CHAPTER V 
 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 THE Roman Catholic Church has been noted for its 
 work among the Indians. In time her work has extended 
 from the earliest settlements in the New World down to 
 the present moment and in area over both North and 
 South America. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, 
 that the Roman Catholic Church became a factor in the 
 settlement of the Northwest Boundary dispute, and a 
 still more important factor in the subsequent life of the 
 Indians. The presence of the Methodist and American 
 Board missionaries in the Oregon Country naturally led 
 the French Canadians to desire missionaries of their own 
 faith. Accordingly, the Hudson s Bay Company furnished 
 transportation to Oregon for Fathers F. N. Blanchet and 
 Modeste Demers in 1838. The Methodist missionaries 
 had told the Indian women not to live with the white 
 men unless the white men would marry them ; and several 
 French- Canadian men and Indian women had been mar 
 ried by the Methodist preachers. On his arrival in Oregon 
 Father Blanchet told his members that their marriage by 
 the Methodists was not lawful, and under the influence 
 of the priests many of the Canadian employees were re 
 married. Father Blanchet describes how in a struggle 
 against the Methodists he Christianized some of the most 
 depraved Indians in a few days. Again he records his 
 success in baptizing eleven children and inducing their 
 
 70 
 
THE EOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 parents to forsake the Methodists. Father De Smet, in 
 1841, visited the Flatheads, after their return to the Upper 
 Columbia, some of whom the American Board mission 
 aries had awakened. On returning from them he founded 
 the Mission of Saint Mary, long one of the most successful 
 Indian missions in the Northwest. During the struggle 
 between the Protestants and the Roman Catholics Dr. 
 McLoughlin joined the Roman Catholic Church, Novem 
 ber 18, 1842, and the priests won a notable victory in 
 bringing him back into the church of his childhood. 
 Father Blanchet, who had held the rank of vicar-general 
 of the Oregon Mission, was raised to the rank of arch 
 bishop, Oregon being erected into an apostolic vicariate 
 by Pope Gregory XVI December 1, 1843. Later it was 
 erected into an ecclesiastical province with three sees 
 Oregon City, Walla Walla, and Vancouver Island; the 
 first was allotted to the archbishop, the second to his 
 brother, the Rev. A. M. A. Blanchet, canon of Montreal, 
 and the third to the Rev. Modeste Demers, who had suc 
 ceeded Archbishop Blanchet as vicar-general. Archbishop 
 Blanchet went to Europe after his consecration by the 
 Archbishop of Quebec, and met with great success in 
 securing funds and fellow workers for the Oregon Mission, 
 his plea being that in conjunction with the missions in 
 Mexico, which included California, he was saving the 
 entire Pacific Coast to the Catholic faith. By November, 
 1847, he had three bishops, fourteen Jesuit priests, four 
 oblate priests, thirteen secular priests, and thirteen sis 
 ters, aside from the lay brethren, whose numbers are not 
 given. 1 The Catholics, as well as the Methodists, had a 
 
 1 Bancroft, History of Oregon, yol. i, p. 328. 
 
 71 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 larger number of lay missionaries than clerical. Arch 
 bishop Blanchet s plans were farseeing and statesmanlike; 
 and he and the Catholic missionaries put forth heroic 
 efforts to carry these plans out. It should be freely recog 
 nized also that the Roman Catholic missionaries by very 
 widely extended and long-continued labors among the 
 Indians contributed to the peace and safety of all the 
 inhabitants of the region. 
 
 As recorded in EelPs "Marcus Whitman," the Cay- 
 use Indians on November 29, 1847, attacked Dr. Whit 
 man s Mission station at Waiilatpu, murdered Dr. and 
 Mrs. Whitman and twelve other persons and took the 
 remaining white women prisoners. Surviving members 
 of white families slaughtered in the Whitman massacre 
 of 1847 believed down to their death that the Roman 
 Catholic missionaries tolerated, if they did not encourage, 
 in the superstitious Indians the conviction that Dr. Whit 
 man and the missionaries were spreading the disease which 
 was sweeping them from the earth; and that it was this 
 superstitious conviction of the Indians which aroused them 
 to the massacre. Just following the massacre Vicar- 
 General Brouillet arrived at the Waiilatpu Station. Father 
 Brouillet was assigned for the night by the Indians to 
 the home of one of the murdered missionaries. All night 
 long the air was rent with the shrieks and groans of the 
 white women, with whom the Indians were sating their 
 lust. There was no protest by Father Brouillet against 
 the satanic conduct of the Indians. The next morning, 
 while the bodies of the slaughtered white men still lay 
 unburied, and the women and girls were yet crying in. 
 their distress, Father Brouillet assembled the Indians who 
 were present at the massacre and baptized their children. 
 
 72 
 
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 The fact is undisputed, Father Brouillet himself relating 
 it to Mr. Spalding. Two or three days later, Miss Bewley 
 was forcibly put upon a horse and carried to the Umatilla 
 to be the wife of Five Crows, a Cayuse chief, who under 
 Dr. Whitman had professed the Protestant faith. Her 
 sworn testimony, taken before Squire Walling at the trial 
 of the murderers at Oregon City in 1848, shows that on 
 being brought to the Umatilla the C M se chief received 
 her in his lodge. In response to her c ^aties, the chief 
 told her that she might go over to hu hoase of the priests 
 and that he would come for her at i^ght. Accordingly, 
 she went over to Bishop Blanchet s house and met Bishop 
 Blanchet, Vicar-General Brouillet, two priests, and three 
 French laymen seven white men in all. Five Crows 
 came for her that evening, but she refused to go and spend 
 the night with him. After the chief returned to his lodge, 
 Bishop Blanchet urged her to go and be the wife of Five 
 Crows, and Vicar-General Brouillet ordered his servant to 
 take her over. "I fell upon my knees," she said, before the 
 priest. 0, do pity me, save me; don t give me up to the 
 Indians, but shoot me. He arose and brushed away my 
 hands, and said to the servant to take me away. I then 
 sprang toward the two young priests, holding my hand 
 appealingly, but they said nothing and moved not a hand, 
 and the servant, half-dragging, half carrying me, hurried 
 away." 2 
 
 We have read the evidence furnished by H. H. Spalding 
 in the series of lectures given by him and printed in the 
 Albany (Oregon) Democrat in 1867-68, in which Mr. 
 Spalding charges the Roman Catholic missionaries with 
 
 a Warren, Memoirs of the West, p. 134. 
 
 73 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 complicity in this massacre. Bancroft holds that Spald 
 ing s mind was unbalanced by the seven days of exposure 
 and suffering and fear through which he passed in escap 
 ing from the Indians- near Waiilatpu the day following 
 the massacre and during the journey to Lapwai, and that 
 he remained unbalanced upon this subject. 3 The Rev. 
 Myron Eells, while accepting Spalding s accusation against 
 the Roman Catholic missionaries and his claim that Dr. 
 "Whitman saved the Oregon Country to the United States, 
 nevertheless recognizes six important errors in a brief 
 statement by Mr. Spalding in regard to Whitman saving 
 Oregon ; and he accounts for these vital errors in matters 
 of fact on the ground that Mr. Spalding s mind was un 
 balanced on some topics by the massacre. 4 The Rev. H. K. 
 Hines, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, after stating 
 that some writers, including W. H. Gray, charged the 
 massacre almost wholly to the influence of the Roman 
 Catholic missionaries, adds: "The consensus of later and 
 calmer judgment, however, has been that, while the pres 
 ence of the Roman Catholic missionaries in the country, 
 with their always unrelenting and unconcealed opposition 
 to Protestantism, had a strong influence on many of the 
 Indians against the missions and the missionaries, they 
 did not seek or advise the destruction of the mission in 
 this awful way. The controversy on this theme has been 
 very extended, and we cannot enter upon it in this book. 
 Still, it would not be fair to the unstudied reader if we 
 did not say, that, after many years of examination, and 
 a personal acquaintance with all the chief actors in the 
 events of that thrilling era in Oregon history except Dr. 
 
 1 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 665, note. 
 4 Eells, Marcus Whitman, pp. 236-238. 
 
 74 
 
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 Whitman himself, including the Catholic priests and the 
 leading characters of the Hudson s Bay Company, such 
 seems to us to be the most reasonable conclusion of his 
 tory." 5 Bancroft says, "The position of the priests was 
 made ground for serious accusation." 6 He recognizes that 
 the sworn testimony at the trial convicts the priests of 
 acquiescence in the brutal assaults of the Indian men upon 
 the white women and girls, but adds in apology for the 
 conduct of the priests, "It is difficult to see how they could 
 have interfered without first having resolved to give up 
 their mission and risk their lives." 7 He adds that at least 
 one American man who had been wounded fled and left 
 his wife and children in the hands of the Indians. 8 In a 
 word, Bancroft admits the facts as to the extreme lust 
 and brutalities of the savages and the acquiescence of 
 the priests, but accounts for them, not through any de 
 liberate purpose upon the part of the priests to abandon 
 the Protestant missionaries to their fate, but through a 
 fear so craven that white men and women, Protestant as 
 well as Catholic, acquiesced in almost any acts which 
 would save their lives. 9 We are clear in our conviction 
 that the massacre was not planned or deliberately encour 
 aged by the Roman Catholic priests. On the contrary, 
 when Vicar-General Brouillet, the morning after the 
 massacre, met Mr. Spalding on his way to Waiilatpu, he 
 told Spalding of the massacre, thus enabling him to turn 
 
 8 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, pp. 
 485-486. 
 
 6 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 663. 
 
 7 Ibid., vol. i, p. 663. 
 
 8 Ibid., vol. i, p. 663. 
 Ibid., vol. i, p. 663, note. 
 
 75 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 back toward Lapwai and save his life; and Brouillet was 
 savagely rebuked by the Indians for giving Spalding warn 
 ing. Moreover, the fact that Brouillet told Spalding of 
 his baptism of the Indian children and burial of the dead 
 whites shows that Brouillet was not conscious of guilt in 
 this conduct. Surely, a Catholic priest would not confess 
 his sins to a Protestant minister and then help to preserve 
 the life of that minister and thus enable him to bruit 
 his Catholic brother s crime to the world. Brouillet testi 
 fied that he expected to be murdered for joining another 
 white man in burying the bodies of the missionaries, and 
 he did come near being killed because of his warning to 
 Spalding; nevertheless, he warned the living and took 
 part in this act of reverence for the dead. We can under 
 stand how a priest, fearing that he might be murdered 
 for joining another white man in burying the bodies of 
 the whites, believing in the efficacy of baptism for eternal 
 salvation and anxious to snatch some brands from the 
 burning, decided to baptize the children before joining 
 in burying the bodies of the victims of the massacre. We 
 are compelled to say that the acts of most of the white 
 men agents, priests, and Protestants were unheroic and 
 cowardly. For the first few hours, and perhaps for the 
 first few days after the massacre, it was a sad illustration 
 of the sudden savagery of the Indians blazing out and of 
 panic upon the part of the whites overcoming their sense 
 of duty; it was another case of Peter denying his Lord. 
 It is well for us all that Jesus graciously forgives and 
 restores; and the Catholic priests showed by their later 
 life-long hardships and sufferings and victories that, 
 though stampeded in a crisis, yet, like Peter, they were 
 capable of heroic living and dying. 
 
 76 
 
 m 
 
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 Turning from the sad incidents connected with the 
 massacre to the general attitude of the Hudson s Bay 
 Company toward the Roman Catholic Church, Dr. Mc- 
 Loughlin s union with that church and the transportation 
 of Fathers Blanchet and Demers to the Pacific Coast by 
 the Company leaves no doubt that the Company at first 
 welcomed the Roman Catholic aid, probably on the ground 
 that the priests would leave the Indians longer in their 
 hunting and trapping stage; though a little later, when 
 sectarian strife aroused the Indians to savagery and re 
 sulted in the slaughter of the Whitman group, the Com 
 pany refused free transportation to additional priests. 
 The Hudson s Bay Company had the legal right to follow 
 its own interests as far as they did not conflict with the 
 treaty of joint occupancy or the claims of humanity, and 
 the priests had the right to enjoy the advantages which 
 the favor of the Company gave them. 
 
 It has been claimed for the Hudson s Bay Company and 
 the British and Canadian governments that they never 
 expatriated the Indians, as the United States government 
 has done. This claim is true, and is greatly to their credit. 
 It has been claimed with some show of reason that the 
 slower pace at which the priests- led their wards toward 
 civilization preserved more Indians alive than did the 
 faster pace of the Protestant missionaries. Probably there 
 is truth in this claim. It has been claimed further, that 
 the Company, the British government, and the Roman 
 Catholic Church elevated the half-breed Indians to equal 
 political rights with the white men, and lifted the mixed 
 race to the white man s stage of civilization. The first 
 part of this claim is true, but the latter part is not true. 
 
 Summing up the whole case: The conduct of Bishop 
 
 77 
 
THE OEEGON MISSIONS 
 
 Blanchet, Vicar-General Brouillet, and Mr. McBean, the 
 Hudson s Bay Company s agent, was unheroic ; white men 
 at their best would not have been guilty of such cowardice. 
 But, unfortunately, in the panic neither Protestant nor 
 Catholic white men were at their best. But Peter Skeen 
 Ogden, of the Hudson s Bay Company, acting upon the 
 instructions of James Douglas, the chief factor, aided by 
 one of the priests, later purchased and delivered the cap 
 tive women and children from the Indians. We must also 
 give the Eoman Catholic Church credit for resuming its 
 missionary work earlier, after the massacre and Indian 
 war, and prosecuting it more earnestly than the American 
 Board, the Presbyterian Board, or the Missionary Society 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church. We are glad the 
 Protestant churches repented of their sins of omission and 
 later resumed missionary activities, and that they have 
 since done good work in saving the remnant of the Indians. 
 That the work of the Roman Catholic priests was, upon 
 the whole, more helpful to the Indians than the work of 
 Protestant missions we do not believe. Horace S. Lyman s 
 volumes have the general indorsement of an associate 
 board of editors composed of Harvey W. Scott, the famous 
 editor of the Oregonian; Charles B. Bellinger and Fred 
 erick G. Young, men of high standing and character in 
 Oregon. After reviewing the whole history of missions 
 down to the present time, Lyman reaches this conclusion: 
 "That the effects of the Catholic teaching were more salu 
 tary upon the Indians than had been those of the Protes 
 tant, as has been contended by a number of historians 
 of this State, may be doubted." 10 We ourselves doubt the 
 
 10 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. iii, p. 422. 
 
 78 
 
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 superiority of the method of dealing with the Indians 
 adopted by the Hudson s Bay Company, the British and 
 Canadian governments, and the Roman Catholic Church. 
 Of the 209,766 Indians in the United States in 1916, 
 31,665 were members of the Protestant churches, 67,176 
 were adherents, and 17,771 were in the Sunday schools. 
 The Sunday school scholars in a measure duplicate the 
 church members. But these statistics show that substan 
 tially one half of the Indians in the United States are 
 affiliated with the Protestant churches. 11 Of the remnant 
 of the Indians preserved, 209,766 are found in the United 
 States and 105,492 in Canada. 12 These numbers show 
 that the slow and partial method of advancing the Indians 
 in civilization has not resulted in the survival of a larger 
 
 "The Missionary Review of the World, October, 1916, p. 
 
 776, gives the following statistics of Protestant missions 
 
 among the Indians: g g 
 
 Members. Adherents. Scholars. 
 
 Baptists 5,408 13,582 1,220 
 
 Congregationalists 1,331 3,000 463 
 
 Methodist Episcopal 2,500 6,000 1,750 
 
 Methodist Episcopal, South 2,875 7,187 766 
 
 Presbyterian, North 8,955 18,319 7,915 
 
 Protestant Episcopal 6,982 10,000 1,500" 
 
 Others 3,614 9,088 4,157 
 
 Totals 31,665 67,176 17,771 
 
 These figures show that nearly one half of the 209,000 sur 
 viving Indians are members or adherents of some Protestant 
 church, and that of this number the Presbyterians have the 
 largest number of church members and the largest number 
 of adherents, and that the Protestant Episcopal Church ranks 
 next. 
 
 12 World Almanac, 1917, p. 519. 
 
 79 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 number of Indians in Canada than in the United States. 
 We have read, though we cannot recall the authority, that 
 the rate of increase to-day is not so rapid among the In 
 dians of Canada as among the Indians of the United 
 States. On the other hand, the original Indian population 
 of Canada was smaller than that of the United States; 
 and Canada probably has preserved a larger proportion 
 of the aboriginal population than we have. Again, the 
 American schools in which the Indians living in the 
 United States have been educated, while more largely 
 taught by Roman Catholics than by Protestants, are sup 
 ported by the United States government and not by Ro 
 man Catholic gifts. The government spent $4,391,000 
 for Indian education for the year ending June 30, 1916. 13 
 Consequently, credit for this work belongs to the United 
 States government rather than to the Roman Catholic 
 or to any Protestant church. Moreover, the fact that the 
 Indians in the United States are making more progress 
 than the Indians of Canada is due to larger opportunities 
 in the United States than the Canadian government is 
 offering them. Possibly their advance in civilization and 
 in their acceptance of republican institutions is due to 
 Protestant rather more than to Roman Catholic influences. 
 All students of the Indian race must give credit both to 
 Roman Catholic and to Protestant missionaries for its 
 preservation ; and it is safer as well as more modest to leave 
 to Christ on the Judgment Day the apportionment of the 
 praise which belongs to each of these heroic bands of 
 workers. 
 
 18 World Almanac, 1917, p. 519. 
 
 80 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 WE shall not take time to discuss the claims of the 
 United States to the entire Oregon Country through Cap 
 tain Robert Gray s discovery of the mouth of the Columbia 
 in 1792, through our purchase from France in 1803 of 
 the Louisiana Territory and of the entire French claims 
 to the Northwest Coast, through the Lewis and Clark ex 
 ploration of the Columbia River region in 1804-06, through 
 the founding of the trading post of Astoria in 1811, 
 through our purchase from Spain in 1819 of Florida, and 
 of the entire Spanish claims to the Northwest Coast based 
 on the Spanish discoveries. Suffice it to say that both the 
 United States and Great Britain presented plausible 
 claims to the entire coast. The United States had a better 
 title than any other nations could show to the valley of 
 the Columbia, comprising the coast as far north as per 
 haps the 49th parallel of north latitude. But even this 
 rich region "the United States all but lost by reason of 
 the indifference of the American Government and people." 1 
 
 To understand clearly the early indifference of our gov 
 ernment to this coast we must remember that one fact of 
 vast importance in determining the value of the Northwest 
 Coast seems at that time not to have been recognized by 
 
 1 Bruce, Romance of American Expansion, p. 108. 
 
 81 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 our government or people. The Japan Current, or Black 
 Current, raises the temperature of Oregon and Washing 
 ton just as the Gulf Stream raises the temperature of 
 England, Ireland, and Scotland. But we can find no hint 
 of any recognition of this fact by American statesmen 
 between 1800 and 1830. The Great Lakes, for several 
 hundred miles, form a natural boundary between the two 
 nations and carried the boundary line as far south as the 
 forty-second degree and north almost to the forty-ninth 
 degree at the western end of Lake Superior. An erroneous 
 impression from certain old maps led the commissioners 
 at the treaty of Ghent to believe that the 49th parallel of 
 latitude was the boundary line drawn in 1718 between the 
 British and French claims west of the Great Lakes. 
 Hence from the mouth of Pigeon River on Lake Superior 
 the line was carried northwest to the Lake of the Woods 
 and then extended along the 49th parallel from the Lake 
 of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains by the Convention 
 of 1818. The northern boundary of Vermont, New Hamp 
 shire, and Maine ranges from 45 to 47 north latitude, 
 and Americans knew how cold and rugged and inho&pitable 
 were these northern regions. Lewis and Clark reported 
 that the Western country was mountainous from the Rocky 
 Mountains to the Pacific Coast. While Americans from 
 their knowledge of the northern counties of New Hamp 
 shire and Maine did not esteem a mountain region north 
 of 45 of any practical value, nevertheless, for the sake 
 of showing the world that they would not yield anything 
 to Great Britain, they were determined to run the bound 
 ary line across the mountainous regions to the Pacific 
 Coast along the parallel of 49, which they thought France 
 and Great Britain had agreed upon in 1718, and which 
 
 82 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 Great Britain and the United States had agreed upon as 
 far as the Rocky Mountains in 1818. This was four de 
 grees, some two hundred and forty miles, north of the 
 Vermont line. In the mountain region of the Pacific 
 Northwest what possible object could there be in going 
 still farther north? Hence, our government offered Great 
 Britain the 49th parallel as the boundary line from the 
 Lake of the Woods to the Pacific Coast at the Convention 
 of 1818. But Great Britain would not agree to run the 
 boundary along that line any farther than the Eocky Moun 
 tains. This line was accepted to the mountains and a 
 clause written into the treaty whereby the disputed territory 
 west of the Rocky Mountains was to be jointly occupied 
 by both nations for ten years, without jeopardizing the 
 claims of either. In order to assert ourselves against 
 Great Britain, and especially to offset the extreme British 
 claim to the territory between the 49th parallel and the 
 Columbia River, Richard Rush, our minister to Great 
 Britain, in 1824 set up the claim that the territory of the 
 United States extended as far north as 51 degrees; but 
 modified this to a claim for the 49th parallel. On June 19, 
 1826, Henry Clay, then secretary of state, wrote to Albert 
 Gallatin, our minister to Great Britain, directing him to 
 propose the termination of joint occupancy and offer lati 
 tude 49 as an ultimatum. But Great Britain rejected 
 the offer. 
 
 A revelation of the ignorance of intelligent Americans 
 of the value of the Oregon Country is furnished by the 
 following facts: May 22, 1818, President Monroe ap 
 pointed Albert Gallatin and Richard Rush to represent 
 the United States in fixing the boundary line between the 
 two countries. These men were instructed to propose the 
 
 83 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 extension of the 49th parallel to the Pacific Ocean. But 
 John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, wrote them : "Save 
 pretensions, there is no object to any party worth con 
 tending for." 2 In February, 1825, Senator Dickerson, 
 of New Jersey, said: "Oregon can never be one of the 
 United States. If we extend our laws to it, we must 
 consider it as a colony." 3 Again he showed that it would 
 take four hundred and sixty-five days to make the journey 
 from Oregon to Washington and return, and would cost 
 each representative $3,720 for the round trip. 4 Congress 
 man Tracy, of New York, said: "No scheme can appear 
 more visionary than that of an internal commerce between 
 the Hudson and Columbia. The God of nature has in 
 terposed obstacles to this connection, which neither the 
 enterprise nor the science of this or any other age can 
 overcome." 5 Senator Winthrop, of Massachusetts, in 
 1845, asked: "Are our Western brethren straitened for 
 elbow room, or likely to be for a thousand years? . . . 
 The West has no interest, the country has no interest, in 
 extending our territorial possessions." 6 
 
 Thus our statesmen stood for a boundary line along the 
 49th parallel because they felt sure that this gave us all 
 the land on the north Pacific Coast which could possibly 
 be of any value ; and we consented to the joint occupation, 
 from 1818 onward, of the entire region west of the Rocky 
 
 1 Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, vol. ii, p. 336. 
 
 Quoted by Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, vol. 
 ii, p. 361. 
 
 * Ibid., vol. ii, p. 425, note. 
 
 8 Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 345-346, note. 
 
 Quoted by Barrows, Oregon, the Struggle for Possession, 
 p. 200. 
 
 84 
 
 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 Mountains, because we thought the territory probably 
 worthless and because we felt confident that later we could 
 maintain our claim as far north as the 49th parallel if we 
 so desired. 
 
 A second fact which more than any other prevented the 
 United States claiming all that she might have claimed 
 under our ownership of the French and Spanish claims 
 and our own discoveries, was that ours was the first really 
 prominent attempt in all history to establish a republic, 
 and that Europe was skeptical of the experiment. All 
 Americans believed that the real danger to the republic 
 would arise from the falling apart of widely separated 
 States with diverse and even antagonistic interests. These 
 fears were by no means wholly speculative but grew out 
 of the dangers threatening the republic in the Whisky 
 Insurrection, the Burr conspiracy, etc. Hence, as con 
 servative patriots, our statesmen were much more anxious 
 that the republic with its existing immense reaches of 
 territory should be consolidated into a strong nation than 
 that we should strive to enlarge our borders by semimili- 
 tary conquests. Leaders in both houses of Congress who 
 favored the acquisition of the Oregon Country, at first 
 contemplated the planting therein of an American colony 
 which should later become a second republic, rather than 
 the incorporation of that distant land as an integral por 
 tion of the United States. When Astor communicated to 
 President Jefferson his plan to establish a trading post 
 at the mouth of the Columbia, the President replied that 
 he "considered, as a good public acquisition, the com 
 mencement of a settlement on that part of the west coast 
 of America, and looked forward, with gratification, to the 
 time when its descendants shall have spread themselves 
 
 85 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 through the whole length of that coast, covering it with 
 free and independent Americans, unconnected with us 
 but by ties of blood and interest, and enjoying, like us, 
 the rights of self-government." 7 It is clear from this 
 sentence that President Jefferson did not at that time 
 contemplate the extension of the authority of the United 
 States over the Pacific Coast, but, rather, the formation 
 of another republic "unconnected with us but by the ties 
 of blood and interest." Again, Congressman Baylies, of 
 Massachusetts, during the second session of Congress of 
 1822, replied to the objections made on the floor that our 
 republic could never extend so far west as the Columbia 
 Eiver by advocating, not the formation of a territorial 
 government for the country, but an American colony ; and 
 Congressman Floyd s bill of January 19, 1824, provided 
 for a military colony for the Oregon Country. 8 H. H. 
 Spalding, the American Board missionary at Lapwai, 
 Idaho, wrote as late as April 7, 1846 : "Soon this little, 
 obscure point upon the map of the United States will be 
 come a second North American Republic, her commerce 
 whitening every sea and her crowded ports fanned by the 
 flags of every nation." 9 Mr. Roosevelt in The Winning 
 of the West, speaking of our purchase in May, 1803, of the 
 Louisiana Territory, says: "Napoleon forced Madison and 
 Livingston to become the reluctant purchasers not merely 
 of New Orleans, but of all the immense territory which 
 
 7 Quoted by Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. i, 
 p. 41. 
 
 8 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, pp. 629- 
 631. 
 
 Quoted by Bourne, Essays in Historical Criticism, pp. 
 18, 19. 
 
 86 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 stretched vaguely northwestward to the Pacific. Jefferson 
 at moments felt a desire to get all this western territory; 
 but he was too timid and vacillating. . . . Madison felt 
 a strong disinclination to see the national domain extend 
 west of the Mississippi ; and he so instructed Monroe and 
 Livingston." 10 Again Mr. Roosevelt writes : "The Federal 
 ists of the Northeast, both in the Middle States and in 
 New England, at this juncture behaved far worse than the 
 Jeffersonian Republicans. . . . The Northeastern Fed 
 eralists, though with many exceptions, did as a whole 
 stand as the opponents of national growth. . . . They 
 showed that jealous fear of western growth which was the 
 most marked defect of Northeastern public sentiment until 
 past the middle of the present century." 11 The conspiracy 
 of Aaron Burr apparently justified the fears of the people 
 in the older sections of the country that the people of the 
 West would establish an independent republic. Even 
 General James Wilkinson, at that time head of the United 
 States army and governor of Upper Louisiana, was in 
 volved for a time in Burr s plot; 12 but seeing that it was 
 doomed to failure, he withdrew and revealed the whole 
 scheme to President Jefferson. Mr. Roosevelt maintains 
 that the significance of Burr s conspiracy is due to the 
 fact that it was one of several similar escapades which 
 indicated a general tendency on the part of the frontiers 
 men at that time to found a western republic. Indeed, 
 
 "Roosevelt, Winning of the West, part vi, pp. 208-209. 
 But see for a juster view of Jefferson, Bruce, Romance of 
 American Expansion, pp. 24-50. 
 
 11 Ibid., part vi, p. 211. 
 
 u Lamb s Biographical Dictionary of the United States, vol. 
 vii, p. 595, 596. 
 
 87 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Sam Houston a little later did form an independent re 
 public out of that portion of Mexico called Texas. 
 
 This attitude of the western frontiersmen is explained 
 but not justified by the fact that Quincy and other oppo 
 nents of expansion went so far as to threaten a dissolution 
 of the Union on their part on the ground that the contract 
 establishing the nation was being violated by the addi 
 tion of so much territory in the West and South. These 
 known dangers and these serious conditions prevailing in 
 the Northeast and the Southwest led even General Jackson 
 in 1825 to express the opinion that our safety as a republic 
 lay in a compact territory and a dense population. Also 
 Senator Benton in 1825, despite his hatred of Great 
 Britain and his larger knowledge and greater appreciation 
 of the West, in view of the danger threatening a republic 
 extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, said in one of 
 his speeches: "The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may be 
 named as the convenient, natural, and everlasting barrier. 
 Along this ridge the western limits of the republic should 
 be drawn, and the statue of the fabled god Terminus 
 should be erected on its highest peak, never to be thrown 
 down." Fortunately, Senator Benton later outgrew this 
 narrow conception of the boundaries of the United States. 
 Here, then, were the two fundamental considerations which 
 determined American policy on the Pacific Coast during 
 the first third of the nineteenth century: first, an entire 
 and inevitable ignorance of the value of the country north 
 of the 49th parallel of latitude or even of the 45th ; second, 
 a grave fear that the republic would fall to pieces of its 
 own weight if extended over boundless stretches of terri 
 tory and made up of sections with diverse and conflicting 
 interests. 
 
 88 
 
 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 But despite the lack of knowledge by American states 
 men of the fine climate and the natural value of the North 
 west Coast, the United States government was not so negli 
 gent of this western territory as some advocates of the 
 missionary claim to the preservation of Oregon maintain. 
 The following summary shows that whatever the influences 
 which contributed to these actions, some statesmen were 
 far more active in regard to our Northwest boundary than 
 most writers upon the Oregon question have realized : 
 
 1. President Jefferson asked for an appropriation for 
 the Lewis and Clark expedition, which was granted, and 
 the expedition was sent in 1804-06 and explored these 
 northwestern regions as far as the Pacific Coast. 
 
 2. In 1814 the government published a partial report 
 of the Lewis and Clark expedition which awakened interest 
 in the Oregon question. 
 
 3. At the Convention of 1818, as already noted, our 
 government proposed that the 49th parallel be the bound 
 ary line from the Lake of the Woods to the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 4. December 19, 1820, Congressman Floyd, of Virginia, 
 made the first motion in the House for a committee of 
 inquiry into "the expediency of occupying the Columbia 
 River and the territory of the United States adjacent 
 thereto." The motion prevailed, and Floyd, Metcalf of 
 Kentucky, and Swearingen of Virginia were appointed. 
 
 5. January 25, 1821, Floyd s committee reported, re 
 viewing the history of the discovery of the northwest 
 Pacific Coast, maintaining the validity of the United 
 States s title to sovereignty, the value of the coast for 
 trade, the possibilities of trade with China, and presenting 
 a bill to occupy the territory, extinguish the Indian title, 
 and establish a stable government. The bill passed the 
 
 89 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 second reading, was referred to the Committee of the 
 Whole, and held over to December 10, 1821, when a second 
 committee, consisting of Floyd, Baylies of Massachusetts, 
 and Scott of Missouri, was appointed. 
 
 6. January 18, 1822, the second committee reported a 
 bill similar to the first one. The bill passed the second 
 reading and came up for discussion in the second session 
 of Congress for 1822. On December 17, 1822, Floyd made 
 the first Congressional speech on the Oregon question, 
 which is reported to have fallen flat on the members. 
 Then Baylies spoke, showing the value of the fish and 
 lumber trade and advocated the establishment of an Ameri 
 can colony. A general debate followed and the bill was 
 lost by a vote of one hundred to sixty-one. 
 
 7. At the next session of Congress, in 1823, another 
 committee of seven was appointed with Floyd as chairman. 
 January 19, 1824, a bill was introduced authorizing the 
 erection of a territorial government and granting a section 
 of land to each head of a household who settled in the 
 Oregon territory. This bill, after discussion at intervals, 
 passed the House December 23, 1824, by a vote of one 
 hundred and thirteen to fifty-seven, and was sent to the 
 Senate February 25, 1825, where it was tabled after dis 
 cussion. 
 
 8. In 1824 the United States concluded a treaty with 
 Eussia fixing the southern limit of all claims by her as 
 against the United States at 54 40 ; before this treaty 
 Eussia had claimed the territory as far south as 51. 
 
 9. The United States offered the 49th parallel again in 
 1824, but the offer was rejected. 
 
 10. In 1826 our government again proposed the 49th 
 parallel as the boundary line ; again rejected. 
 
 90 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 11. Great Britain having rejected our offer, an agree 
 ment for joint occupation of the territory for an indeter 
 minate time was renewed August 6, 1827. Indeterminate 
 occupation was by this agreement accompanied by the 
 provision that joint occupation could be terminated by 
 either party giving one year s notice. 
 
 12. In August, 1831, Edward Livingston, secretary of 
 state, directed Martin Van Buren, our minister to Great 
 Britain, to open a discussion with a view of settling the 
 Oregon question. Nothing of importance came from this. 
 
 13. In response to information which Lee sent back to 
 Washington in 1834-35, and especially to representations 
 made by Hall J. Kelley, Mr. William J. Slacum, connected 
 with our naval service, was sent by the government to 
 visit the Columbia River region. Slacum arrived Decem 
 ber 22, 1835, in the brig Loriot. During his five or six 
 weeks 5 stay he spent most of the time with Jason Lee in 
 the Willamette Valley. With Lee s aid he compiled the 
 names of all the white settlers in the valley. Lee wrote 
 a petition for the establishment of a territorial govern 
 ment for Oregon by the United States, and Slacum went 
 with Lee and helped secure the signatures of the ex- 
 employees of the Hudson s Bay Company to the petition 
 by assuring them that the government would recognize 
 and validate their titles to their farms. Slacum carried 
 this petition back and presented it to Congress in 1837. 
 On information largely furnished by Lee, Mr. Slacum 
 prepared a very favorable report of the extent and value 
 of the country. 13 Mr. Slacum also encouraged the organ- 
 
 11 See Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ... in 
 Relation to the Territory of the United States beyond the 
 Rocky Mountains. 
 
 91 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 ization of the Willamette Cattle Company, invested some 
 money for himself through Lee, loaned Lee money to 
 invest for the Methodist Mission in the Company, and 
 carried Ewing Young, P. L. Edwards, and the employees 
 of the Company in his brig to San Francisco without 
 charge save for food. Slacum s report helped to create 
 public sentiment, and especially to awaken senators and 
 representatives to the value and importance of the country. 
 The facts which Lee provided in earlier letters and in 
 Slacum s report in regard to the climate and the extent 
 of the fertile lands of Oregon were a revelation to Congress 
 and did much to shape its subsequent action in regard to 
 Oregon. 
 
 14. February 7, 1838, Senator Linn, of Missouri, intro 
 duced a bill for the occupation of the Columbia Eiver by 
 a military force, for the establishment of a port of entry, 
 and the extension of the revenue laws of the United States 
 to the Oregon Country. In his speech he showed the vast 
 sources of wealth in that country awaiting development 
 under the protection of our government. The bill was 
 referred to a select committee of which Linn was chairman 
 and an elaborate report was presented to the Senate on 
 June 6. Despite the efforts of Benton and Linn, the bill 
 failed to pass the Senate. 
 
 15. December 11, 1838, Linn presented a second bill for 
 the occupation of Oregon and the protection of the citi 
 zens of the United States residing there. Fearing that 
 the success of this measure would work to our disadvantage 
 in negotiations pending with Great Britain, the bill was 
 finally referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations; 
 but five thousand copies of the bill and of information 
 relating to Oregon were printed for public distribution. 
 
 92 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 16. Early in 1839 a resolution was being considered 
 by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs for the 
 occupation of Oregon. The Committee did not recom 
 mend the establishment of a territorial government because 
 they were "anxious to observe the letter and spirit of the 
 treaties between the United States and Great Britain." 14 
 The report was accompanied by communications from the 
 secretary of war and the secretary of the navy, Lee s letter 
 to Gushing and the memorial which Lee brought from 
 Oregon, Slacum s report, memoirs from Wyeth and Kelley, 
 a letter from the secretary of the Oregon Provisional Emi 
 gration Society, organized at Lynn, Massachusetts, through 
 letters by Cyrus Shepard and the personal influence of 
 Lee. Ten thousand copies of this report with its illu 
 minating documents were printed and spread broadcast, 
 and they contributed largely to the emigration to Oregon. 
 
 17. December 18, 1839, Linn called the attention of 
 the Senate to a series of resolutions relating to Oregon 
 which were referred to Linn s committee. The committee 
 offered March 31, 1840, a substitute bill asserting the title 
 of the United States to Oregon, authorizing the President 
 to take necessary measures for the protection of persons 
 and property of the United States residing in that terri 
 tory, and granting each white male inhabitant of the 
 territory over eighteen years of age, one thousand acres 
 of land. Bancroft speaks of this liberal grant of land 
 being the chief feature of the bill and as being the sug 
 gestion of Jason Lee. 15 This bill of 1839, with its pro 
 visions for a grant of one thousand acres of land to each 
 male inhabitant eighteen years old, perhaps more than 
 
 "Quoted by Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 373. 
 15 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 374. 
 
 93 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 any other single cause created the emigrations to Oregon 
 of 1841-43. 
 
 18. In 1838 the government, influenced by these reports, 
 sent out an exploring expedition to the Pacific Ocean. The 
 squadron consisted of two sloops of war, a brig, a ship, 
 and two tenders, under the command of Lieutenant Charles 
 Wilkes, who during the Civil War startled the South, the 
 United States, and Great Britain, by seizing Mason and 
 Slidell on the British mailship Trent. The company con 
 sisted, in addition to the members of the navy, of several 
 naturalists and botanists, a mineralogist, taxidermist, 
 philologist, etc., and the cruise occupied four years. 16 It 
 made a thorough exploration of the Northwest Coast and 
 of the Columbia River region ; and the report added largely 
 to the scientific knowledge of the regions visited. It is 
 interesting in this connection to note that the Rev. Dr. 
 Richmond, of Nisqually, and Captain Wilkes celebrated 
 the Fourth of July at the Nisqually Mission in 1841, at 
 which the Hudson s Bay Company s officers, the mission 
 aries, the ships officers, one hundred marines, and four 
 hundred Indians constituted the audience. The Declara 
 tion of Independence was read by a sergeant of marines, 
 the Scripture by Captain Wilkes, the prayer was offered 
 by Dr. Richmond, the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "My 
 Country, Tis of Thee," were sung under the lead of the 
 marines, and the oration was delivered by Dr. Richmond, 
 in which he uttered the sentence : "The whole of this 
 magnificent region of country, so rich in the bounties of 
 nature, is destined to become a part of the American re 
 public." Dr. McLoughlin was expected to attend the 
 celebration. Perhaps it was just as well for his peace of 
 
 "Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, p. 398. 
 
 94 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 mind that he did not reach the Fort in time to attend the 
 first celebration of Independence Day ever held west of 
 the Rocky Mountains on territory which he confidently 
 claimed for the British government. 17 
 
 19. In 1839, while Lee was still in the East securing 
 recruits for Oregon, the Rev. David Leslie prepared an 
 important petition or memorial to the government signed 
 by himself and some seventy others, setting forth the 
 great value of the country and the necessity for the im 
 mediate extension of the authority of the United States. 
 This was the third petition for the extension of the au 
 thority of the United States over Oregon all of them 
 framed and forwarded by the Methodists. Through the 
 general information now reaching Washington, of which 
 the letters and representations of Lee and the petition of 
 the settlers were a part, the government in 1842 sent 
 Lieutenant John C. Fremont to select sites for military 
 posts from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains. 
 It was on this tour that Fremont explored the South Pass 
 the eastern gateway of the Rocky Mountains and in 
 1843 visited the Pacific Coast, where he was the guest of 
 the Methodist missionaries at The Dalles. Fremont made 
 a report which was of much scientific value and doubtless 
 helped the administration to stand firm for the 49th 
 parallel in the treaty of 1846, although the report was 
 not published in time to help in the campaign of 1844. 
 
 20. December 7, 1841, the President and secretary of 
 war recommended the establishment of military posts as 
 
 "Wilkes Narrative embraces three volumes. Our sketch 
 is a brief summary of Chapter XL of Clarke s Pioneer Days 
 of Oregon History. The account of the celebration is from 
 Atwood, The Conquerors, pp. 118, 119. 
 
 95 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 far west as the Rocky Mountains. In accordance with 
 this recommendation, but advancing beyond the Presi 
 dent s recommendation, Senator Linn introduced a bill 
 December 16, 1841, for the occupation and settlement of 
 Oregon and a grant of six hundred and forty acres of 
 land to every white male inhabitant eighteen years or over 
 who should cultivate the land for five years. This pro 
 vision was along the line of Jason Lee s recommendation 
 to Caleb Gushing, and with his recommendation embodied 
 in Linn s bill of 1840; it kept alive the expectation of a 
 land grant to every emigrant to Oregon and thus encour 
 aged the emigrations of 1842 and 1843. The bill also pro 
 vided for the extension of the civil and criminal jurisdic 
 tion of Iowa over all the territory west of the Missouri 
 River and east of the Rocky Mountains from the northern 
 boundary of Texas, and also over all the country west of 
 the Rocky Mountains between latitude 42 and 49, but 
 provided for the delivery of criminal British subjects to 
 the Canadian authorities. The arrival of Lord Ashburton, 
 the British plenipotentiary, led to the postponement of 
 the consideration of the bill in order that Mr. Webster 
 might be unembarrassed in his negotiations with Lord 
 Ashburton over the boundary line. The treaty framed by 
 Webster and Lord Ashburton disappointed the nation by 
 failing to touch the Oregon question. Resolutions from 
 the assemblies of Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri were sent 
 to Congress urging the immediate occupation of the coun 
 try by the United States as far north as 49. Petitions 
 from Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, New 
 Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and the "Mississippi Valley," 
 poured into Congress calling for action. Senator Linn 
 now pressed his bill with great ardor, and the debate en- 
 
 96 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 listed the best talent of the Senate Benton, Buchanan, 
 Linn, Phelps, Sevier, Walker, and Young favoring it, 
 and Archer, Berrien, Calhoun, Choate, Crittenden, and 
 McDuffie opposing it. It finally passed the Senate Febru 
 ary 3, 1843, by a vote of twenty-four to twenty-two, but 
 failed in the House. 18 
 
 21. In 1842 President Tyler appointed Dr. Elijah 
 White, sub-Indian agent for the country west of the Rocky 
 Mountains. This was the first attempt of the government 
 at Washington to establish civil authority west of the 
 Rocky Mountains, although British authority had been 
 extended over British subjects and Indians as early as 
 1821. 
 
 22. Meantime the failure of the Webster-Ashburton 
 treaty to include the settlement of the Oregon question 
 led Great Britain to instruct her minister to the United 
 States, Mr. H. S. Fox, to bring up the question for friendly 
 adjustment. President Tyler in his message to Congress 
 of December, 1843, gave the impression that the United 
 States was forcing Great Britain to action, whereas Lord 
 Aberdeen observed, "It would have been more candid had 
 he stated that he had already received from the British 
 government a pressing overture, . . . and that he had 
 responded to the overture in the same conciliatory spirit 
 in which it was made." 19 
 
 23. This brings us to a remarkable and little known 
 episode in the history of our country. In 1842 President 
 Tyler and his secretary of state, Daniel Webster, formu- 
 
 18 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 378-380. See p. 380, 
 note. 
 
 19 Smith, England and America After Independence, pp. 
 290, 291. 
 
 97 
 
THE OKEGON" MISSIONS 
 
 lated a plan for the settlement of the Oregon question by 
 the United States s acceptance of the Columbia Kiver as 
 the boundary in return for Great Britain s consent to 
 Mexico s surrender to the United States of all her terri 
 tory from the 42d parallel down to 36 30 ; and also 
 to Mexico s release of all claims on Texas, which had 
 established its independence. Lyon G. Tyler, son of Presi 
 dent Tyler, his official secretary at this time and his 
 authoritative biographer, thus writes: "Even as early as 
 the special mission of Lord Ashburton the question had 
 been put, whether if Mexico would concede six degrees 
 south of our boundary of forty-two degrees across the 
 continent, so as to include the ports of San Francisco and 
 Monterey, England would make any objection to it, and 
 Lord Ashburton thought she would not." 20 The plan, or, 
 as it deserves to be called, the plot, is narrated at length 
 in the biography, but L. G. Tyler thus sums up the matter 
 in the Magazine of American History: "The policy of 
 the administration was to use Oregon as the handmaid to 
 California and Texas. . . . Writing to Webster, the Presi 
 dent discloses the scheme of a tripartite treaty between 
 the United States, Great Britain, and Mexico, whereby 
 Great Britain was to have the line of the Columbia Eiver, 
 we surrendering most of Washington Territory, the north 
 ern half of what was then Oregon, and taking in exchange 
 the much greater and more fertile equivalent of California, 
 down to 36 30 . At the same time the independence of 
 Texas was to be recognized by Mexico. Such a treaty 
 would satisfy all sections of the Union. Texas would 
 reconcile all to California, and California to the line pro- 
 
 80 Tyler, Letters and Times of the Tylers, vol. ii, p. 260. 
 
 98 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 posed for Oregon. As Mexico was at the time a mere 
 colony of Great Britain and largely in debt to her capi 
 talists, the assent of Great Britain was all that was neces 
 sary to the treaty, and this the latter was desirous, nay, 
 anxious to give. To accomplish this policy the President 
 contemplated sending Webster to England on a special 
 mission, but the subject halted before the Senate Com 
 mittee on Foreign Relations, and Congress expired before 
 taking action on the mission. The sole cause of failure 
 lay with Congress, which was as impotent a body of men 
 at this period, consuming the hours in shameless invectives 
 against the President and his secretary of state, and re 
 sorting to every endeavor to embarrass the government." 21 
 Webster was anxious to avoid a war with Great Britain 
 over the Oregon boundary because he knew that such a 
 war would destroy New England shipping and fall with 
 great severity upon his constituents. Besides, while Web 
 ster was provincial in his attitude toward the West, he 
 did not share American animosities against Great Britain, 
 but had a just appreciation of her institutions. Unfortu 
 nately, this was not the first or the last time in history 
 that strong nations have tried to profit by mutually de 
 spoiling a weak nation. The whole plot is fully confirmed 
 by John Quincy Adams s Memoirs. 22 Owing to the pres 
 sure of the Massachusetts Whigs, 23 who had renounced 
 Tyler and desired Webster to run as the Whig candidate 
 for the presidency, and possibly to Webster s uneasiness 
 of conscience over a proposed compromise which would do 
 
 21 The Magazine of American History, vol. xi, pp. 168-169. 
 "Adams, Memoirs, vol. xi, pp. 327, 340, 347, 351, 355. 
 "Wilson, The Presidents of the United States, pp. 207-209 
 (Sketch of Tyler by John Fiske). 
 
 99 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 a grave injustice to Mexico and would give the South the 
 immense region of Texas for the spread of slavery, Web 
 ster resigned from Tyler s Cabinet May 8, 1843,, and was 
 succeeded by Abel P. Upshur June 24, 1843, Hugh S. 
 Legare and William S. Derrick having filled the office in 
 the interim. 
 
 The next point which is clear is that between the failure 
 of Tyler s compromise, March 3, 1843, and October 9, 
 1843, Tyler changed his mind. On the latter date he 
 directed Upshur to write Edward Everett, our minister to 
 Great Britain, as follows: "The offer of the forty-ninth 
 parallel of latitude, although it has been once rejected, 
 may be again tendered, together with the right of navi 
 gating the Columbia River upon equitable terms; beyond 
 this the President is not prepared to go." 24 L. G. Tyler 
 as quoted above claims that the compromise failed through 
 the failure of Congress to act upon his father s plan be 
 fore its adjournment March 3, 1843. But Adams s 
 Memoirs show that Webster was still active on the compro 
 mise and approached General Almonte on it about April 
 1, 1843. 25 May 16, 1843, is the latest date at which we 
 can find traces of compromise activities. 
 
 While Lyon G. Tyler s statement that Mexico was at 
 that time a mere colony of Great Britain is very in 
 accurate, it is true that Great Britain opposed the aliena 
 tion of any land by Mexico on the ground that the Mexi 
 can government and people owed British citizens large 
 sums of money. It is quite possible also that British 
 statesmen, as well as Americans, were still influenced by 
 the animosities of 1776 and 1812, and that British states- 
 
 24 Quoted by Eells, Marcus Whitman, p. 197. 
 "Adams, Memoirs, vol. xi, pp. 340, 347, 351, 355. 
 
 100 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 men in general did not desire the enlargement of the terri 
 tory of the United States. Although Texas revolted and 
 set up a republic in 1835, and achieved her independence 
 in the battle of San Jacinto that year, and was gradually 
 recognized by other governments, Great Britain denied 
 her recognition until 1842. It is true that from 1839 on, 
 Great Britain believed that both Texas and Mexico had 
 a better prospect of avoiding aggression by the United 
 States if they were united in the bonds of friendship rather 
 than at war; and she urged Mexico to recognize the inde 
 pendence of Texas and make a friendly alliance with her. 
 On November 13, 1840, a treaty recognizing the independ 
 ence of Texas was signed by the British representative 
 in Texas; 26 but as Mexico sturdily refused to concede 
 the loss of this great territory, Great Britain refused to 
 ratify this treaty. But Lyon G. Tyler says that his 
 father s proposal to Great Britain to yield to her the entire 
 Puget Sound region, which was made through Webster 
 and Lord Ashburton early in 1842, was favorably received. 
 It is possible that Great Britain s recognition of the inde 
 pendence of Texas, June 28, 1842, 27 was a preparation for 
 her consent to the union of Texas with the United States. 
 
 Dunning mentions a fact which amply accounts for 
 Tyler s change of policy. He writes : "The first diplomatic 
 representative sent by Great Britain to Texas was an 
 ardent abolitionist, who began unofficial efforts to bring 
 about the emancipation of the slaves in Texas through 
 money loaned by Great Britain. ... In the course of 1843 
 Lord Aberdeen committed his government definitely to 
 
 M Garrison, The American Nation, vol. xvii, p. 96. 
 17 Ibid., vol. xvii, p. 96. 
 
 101 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 the policy of promoting abolition in Texas." 28 August 3, 
 1843, Upshur, our secretary of state, officially communi 
 cated that information to our charge d affaires in Mexico. 
 Lord Aberdeen, hearing this report, sent a dispatch De 
 cember 26, 1843, to the British minister at Washington, 
 contradicting the statement and declaring that England 
 had no intention of interfering with slavery in Texas, but 
 would leave that country free to make her own "unfettered 
 arrangements" concerning her own affairs. 29 But Tyler 
 believed the report of his secret agent, and it was this 
 belief which led to his abandonment of compromise in the 
 summer of 1843, and to his message to Congress in De 
 cember, stating, "The United States have always contended 
 that their rights appertain to the entire region of country 
 . . . embraced within 42 and 54 40 of north latitude." 
 Professor Garrison writes: "Putting all things together, 
 it seems certain that the information possessed by the 
 department of state at Washington in the summer of 1843 
 was such as to lead to the conclusion that British influence 
 was working strongly in Texas, and that it was one aim 
 of Great Britain to secure the abolition of slavery in that 
 republic. Tyler and Upshur therefore decided to fore 
 stall such an event by concluding a treaty of annexation 
 with Texas. The negotiations, so far as they are recorded, 
 began October 16, 1843." 30 Remembering that Tyler was 
 a Virginian, that while elected as a Whig he became a 
 Democrat and protected slavery, it is clear that the change 
 
 "Dunning, The British Empire and the United States, pp. 
 121-122. 
 
 29 Texas, State Historical Association Quarterly, vol. ix, pp. 
 29, 30. 
 
 Garrison, The American Nation, yol. xvii, p. 114. 
 
 102 
 
 6 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 from his gracious attitude toward Great Britain in 1842 
 and his proposed compromise of 1842-43 to his reckless 
 claim in the December message of 1843 of the entire 
 coast up to 54 40 , was a blow in revenge aimed at Great 
 Britain for discouraging slavery in Texas. It may be 
 well to add that Calhoun, our secretary of state, received 
 Lord Aberdeen s official denial of interference in the inter 
 nal affairs of Texas February 26, 1844, that the treaty 
 of annexation of Texas was made by Tyler and Calhoun 
 April 12, 1844, six weeks after the denial had been re 
 ceived; that April 19, 1844, seven weeks after the United 
 States had the official denial of the British government, 
 Calhoun instructed our charge d affaires in Mexico to 
 explain to the Mexican government our motives in the 
 annexation of Texas by stating "that the step had been 
 forced on the government of the United States in self- 
 defense in consequence of the policy adopted by Great 
 Britain in reference to the abolition of slavery." Thomp 
 son s narrative of the annexation of Texas, speaking of 
 the reports of Great Britain s motives with regard to 
 slavery in that State, well says: "The knowledge of their 
 falsification could not be concealed from the Senate, 
 although they were successfully hidden from the country, 
 and when exposed to that body they were found to be so 
 unjust to Great Britain that in order to condemn them 
 as emphatically as possible, it rejected the treaty by a 
 vote of more than two to one." 31 This was the first treaty 
 of annexation. 
 
 24. Great Britain now recognized the dangers inherent 
 in the American attitude; and Richard Pakenham, who 
 
 31 Thompson, Recollections of Sixteen Presidents from Wash 
 ington to Lincoln, vol. i, p. 229. 
 
 103 
 
THE OBEGON MISSIONS 
 
 had succeeded H. S. Fox as minister, was able in August, 
 1844, to secure a conference on the boundary line. Great 
 Britain proposed the 49th parallel to the Columbia, then 
 down the Columbia to its mouth, with a free port for 
 the United States either on Vancouver Island or on the 
 mainland above the mouth of the Columbia but below 
 latitude 49. 32 This proposal was promptly rejected by 
 our government. 33 
 
 25. February 3, 1845, a bill in favor of establishing a 
 territorial government in Oregon passed the House by a 
 vote of one hundred and forty to fifty-nine, but being 
 postponed when on the point of a vote, failed in the Senate 
 through lack of time. 
 
 26. July 12, 1845, President Polk, through Buchanan, 
 his secretary of state, despite the campaign cry on which 
 he was elected, but in view of the actions of his predeces 
 sors, again offered the 49th parallel from the Rocky Moun 
 tains to the Pacific Ocean, but it was promptly rejected 
 by Mr. Pakenham on July 29 without referring it to his 
 government. 34 This gave great offense to the American 
 people and again started the cry, "Fifty-four Forty or 
 Fight." December 2, 1845, Polk in his message to Con 
 gress favored inferentially 54 40 , and suggested that the 
 authority of the United States.be extended over all our 
 citizens in Oregon and that the President be given au 
 thority to give the year s notice for the termination of 
 joint occupation. 35 Both houses of Congress after pro 
 longed debate voted authorizing the President to give the 
 
 82 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 383. 
 
 83 Smith, England and America After Independence, p. 291. 
 "Johnson, America s Foreign Relations, vol. ii, p. 422. 
 
 85 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 422. 
 
 104 
 
 2 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 notice, and it was given May 22, 1846. On June 6 a 
 proposal arrived from the British government offering the 
 49th parallel as the boundary line. 
 
 But the settlement was by no means effected by this 
 late concession of Great Britain. "So strong was the 
 *fif ty-f our fort/ sentiment in the Senate that it was ques 
 tionable whether a treaty constituting the forty-ninth 
 parallel as the boundary would be ratified. ... In his 
 dilemma Polk turned to the one man who, he felt, coujd 
 save the day for him and for Oregon Benton, of Mis 
 souri. Already one of the most abused statesmen in the 
 country by reason of the bravery and honesty with which 
 he denied the right of the United States to any part of 
 Oregon north of the forty-ninth parallel, Benton cheer 
 fully accepted the added burden laid upon him. His 
 counsel to Polk was to fall back upon an obsolete custom 
 and request the Senate to give him, as President, its advice 
 upon the terms of the treaty to be negotiated. . . . Eagerly 
 Polk clutched at this straw. But, he nervously asked, 
 would the Senate take the desired action, a two-thirds vote 
 being requisite? Benton engaged that it would, and, to 
 make good his pledge, saw personally every Senatorial mem 
 ber of the opposition party the Whig party and secured 
 the promise of sufficient votes to carry the day over those 
 Democrats who, like Cass and Hannegan, would have all of 
 Oregon or none." 
 
 "June 10, 1846, the advice was asked. It was an 
 anxious moment for both Polk and Benton, facing a 
 torrent of angry invective and denounced as traitors to 
 their party and their country. For two days the storm 
 raged, and then, the Whigs- faithfully falling into line, by 
 thirty-seven votes to twelve the President s wishes were 
 
 105 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 met in a terse, businesslike resolution. Three days after 
 ward the treaty itself was signed by the Secretary of State 
 and the British Minister, and in another two days trie 
 Senate ratified it by an increased vote on each side forty- 
 one in favor of, and fourteen opposed to, ratification. In 
 such wise, nearly thirty years after he had uttered his first 
 protest against the presence of the British in the pleasant 
 lands about the Columbia River, did Thomas Hart Benton 
 triumph in the cause he had so stoutly advocated." 36 
 
 This review of the activity of our government shows 
 that the United States, however slow, played an important 
 part in the preservation of the most valuable portion 
 of the Oregon Country. But this conviction does not call 
 for any denial of the value and the providential character 
 of missionary work, any more than the conviction that 
 the American colonies eventually would have won their 
 independence had Washington never been born calls for 
 any denial of the greatness and providential character of 
 his service. 
 
 Moreover, we must bear in mind that popular govern 
 ments are moved by wide, deep currents of popular feel 
 ing, which, though sometimes unrecognized by contem 
 poraries and sometimes confused with temporary eddies, 
 nevertheless in the end control the national life. Two 
 such currents swayed the nation between the close of the 
 Revolution and 1850. For the first forty years the foun 
 ders and leaders of the republic were impressed and almost 
 overawed by the greatness of their task; and they were 
 willing to limit the republic in area for the sake of greater 
 unity in its aims and stronger prospects for its continu- 
 
 38 Bruce, Romance of American Expansion, pp. 134-135. 
 
 106 
 
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 ance. But Anglo-Saxon land hunger and the confusion 
 of greatness with bigness found expression as early as 
 1803 in the purchase of Louisiana by Jefferson, a strict 
 constructionist, and of Florida in 1819. This impulse 
 grew stronger and stronger, and even against the strength 
 of the earlier current it triumphed in the annexation of 
 Texas in 1845, in securing the larger portion of the Oregon 
 Country in 1846, and in the conquest of the northern 
 portion of Mexico in 1848. On the whole, it was this deep 
 undercurrent of expansion beginning as early as 1803 
 and sweeping the country from 1844-1848 which saved the 
 Puget Sound region to the United States. 
 
 Before turning from the government s services in behalf 
 of the Oregon Territory, it is not amiss to correct the 
 impression of her total neglect of the Indians. The trans 
 formation of the Indians from savage to civilized life 
 through conversion and education was the only possible 
 solution of their problem. The United States as a govern 
 ment could not take part in the evangelization of the 
 Indians. But the United States government did take part 
 in their education. She spent $4,391,000 in 1911, and 
 she is spending substantially that amount each year for 
 their education. As only 73,464 were eligible for school 
 attendance in 19 13, 37 this appropriation gives over fifty- 
 nine dollars annually for each Indian pupil the largest 
 appropriation made by any nation for the education of 
 her youth. For the education of the Indians from 1876- 
 1913 inclusive, the United States government spent $84,- 
 985,000. 38 Moreover, we should remember that the United 
 
 "Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1913, 
 p. 181. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 154. 
 
 107 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 States for all purposes, is spending over $16,000,000 a year 
 for her Indian wards; and she has spent from 1789 to 
 1916 on account of the Indian people, $598,701,294. 39 
 The United States government deserves the credit of tak 
 ing, after long hesitancy and much discussion, the just, 
 wise, and successful course in her struggle with Great 
 Britain and of at last adopting a humane and generous 
 policy in dealing with the Indians. 
 
 38 The World Almanac, 1917, p. 519, note. 
 
 108 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 "THIS gradual and continuous progress of the European 
 race toward the Rocky Mountains has the solemnity of a 
 providential event. It is like a deluge of men rising un- 
 abatedly and daily driven onward by the hand of God" 
 ( DeTocqueville ) . 
 
 It is impossible to portray the services of all the early 
 settlers in the Oregon Country who contributed to the 
 solution of our problem. As the lives of an unusual pro 
 portion of these actors in the drama ended in tragedy, let 
 us begin with one who, cherishing an unrealized ideal, 
 never set foot in Oregon. . 
 
 Jonathan Carver was born in Connecticut before the 
 Revolutionary War, and was consequently a subject of 
 Great Britain. He served the mother country in the 
 French war which resulted in the acquisition of Canada. 
 His ideal was, in his own language, "to ascertain the 
 breadth of the vast continent which extends from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific. . . " l He got no farther on his 
 westward journey than the headwaters of the Mississippi, 
 which he reached in 1766. He spent two years with the 
 Indian tribes of this region, and says, "From these nations 
 and my own observations, I have learned that the four 
 
 Quoted by Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 313. 
 
 109 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 most capital rivers on the continent of North America, 
 viz., the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the River Bourbon 
 Red River of the North, and the Oregon, . . . have 
 their sources in the same neighborhood. The waters of 
 the three former are within thirty miles of each other; 
 the latter, however, is rather farther west." 2 Credit 
 Jonathan Carver with contributing the name of the vast 
 region whose settlement we discuss, for this is the first 
 mention in books of the word "Oregon." 
 
 Among the intellectual children of Jonathan Carver 
 were John Ledyard and Hall J. Kelley, each of whom was 
 as odd and inexplicable as himself. John Ledyard was 
 born at Groton, Connecticut, in 1751. His father dying, 
 his mother in 1772 sent him to Dartmouth College to pre 
 pare for missionary work among the Indians. He was a 
 quaint, gentle, humane, humorous fellow, who undertook 
 study only to be passed by one professor to another; busi 
 ness only to fail; fell in love, only to be sent wandering 
 over the earth. He had a passion for travel, as Thoreau 
 for nature. Once he took a canoe which he had built in 
 Vermont and floated down the Connecticut with a Greek 
 Testament as a companion. Studying the book, he nearly 
 floated over Bellows Falls. After some months on Long 
 Island he made a voyage to Gibraltar and back, then went 
 to England as a sailor, and in July, 1776, entered the 
 British service under Captain Cook for Cook s third voyage 
 to the South Sea. On this voyage Captain Cook discovered 
 New Zealand and later the Sandwich Islands. Then Cook 
 sailed to the northwest coast of America, then through 
 Bering s Strait and made the important discovery that the 
 
 Quoted by Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 314. 
 
 110 
 
OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 supposed Northwest Passage did not exist, returned to the 
 Sandwich Islands, and was killed. The ship, with Led- 
 yard, again proceeded north for furs, which were sold at 
 Canton for a fabulous price; the ship returned to London 
 in October, 1780. The British government was deeply 
 disappointed over the discovery that there was no North 
 west Passage, but published the records of the voyage, 
 including Ledyard s notes, in 1784-85. Ledyard left the 
 British service when they attempted to force him into the 
 conflict between Great Britain and the colonies and re 
 turned to Long Island in December, 1782. He soon at 
 tempted to interest Americans in commercial enterprises 
 on the Northwest Coast, but not meeting with success he 
 sailed for Europe and finally reached Paris, where Louis 
 XVI was led by his statements to plan an expedition to 
 the Northwest Coast under La Perouse. Jared Sparks, 
 Ledyard s biographer, says he was the first either in Eu 
 rope or America to suggest a commercial voyage to the 
 Northwest Coast for trade in furs with China. 3 While in 
 Paris Ledyard met Thomas Jefferson and talked over his 
 plans with him, thus awakening the interest which led 
 to the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804-06, after 
 Jefferson had come to the presidency; so far as can be 
 learned, it was these conversations with Jefferson, and 
 especially Ledyard s history of his travels with Captain 
 Cook, published in the summer of 1783, which helped call 
 Jefferson s attention to the possible value of the North 
 west Coast and led to his letter to George Rogers Clark 
 of December 4, 1783, in which he asked whether Clark 
 would be willing to lead a party for exploring the country 
 
 8 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 69. 
 
 Ill 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 from the Mississippi to California. 4 It was George Roger 
 Clark s brother, William, who, with Captain Meriwether 
 Lewis, twenty years later made the tour of exploration. 
 Ledyard, with every enterprise with which he was con 
 nected failing, and dying of African fever while seeking 
 the headwaters of the Nile, fittingly ends his career in 
 tragedy. Yet, he awakened the great French navigator, 
 La Perouse, to the value of the Northwest Coast and fur 
 nished the political idealist, Jefferson, the information and 
 inspiration which enabled him largely to shape the destiny 
 of the nation. 5 
 
 We find Captain Robert Gray discovering and naming 
 the Columbia River in 1792, the three hundredth anni 
 versary of the discovery of America. Credit another 
 American with the greatest discovery of the Northwest 
 Coast. 
 
 The Missouri Fur Company was founded in 1802 and 
 established the first American settlement west of the Rocky 
 Mountains at Fort Henry on the headwaters of the 
 Snake River in 1809. But this post was abandoned in 
 1810 on account of the hostility of the Indians. 6 
 
 William Weir and nine more Americans trapped down 
 the Columbia River in 1809 ; they were the first American 
 group to winter on its lower waters. 
 
 Captain Winship, a new Englander, built and occupied 
 the first permanent residence on the Columbia River in 
 1810. 
 
 4 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, p. 113. See also Bruce, 
 Romance of American Expansion, pp. 30-36, for the view that 
 Jefferson already was an expansionist when Ledyard met him 
 in Paris. 
 
 * Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 63-80. Eells, Marcus Whitman, p. 145. 
 
 112 
 
OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 "Wilson P. Hunt, in the employment of Mr. Astor, 
 started with some sixty men across the continent, reached 
 the mouth of the Columbia River in 1811 with about one 
 half of them and founded the town of Astoria in 1812. 
 The death or falling out of the ranks of nearly one half 
 of Hunt s company reveals the tragic struggle through 
 which these heroes of the continent passed. It has been 
 asserted that two fifths of all the men engaged in the fur 
 trade west of the Missouri lost their lives ; though it should 
 be added that this large fatality was not wholly due to the 
 inherent hardships of the trader s life, but in part to 
 alcohol and to lust. 7 It should be further added that the 
 fur companies did not in any practical sense subdue the 
 wilderness, but they rendered invaluable service in ex 
 ploring vast regions, ascertaining the routes for the 
 pioneers, and guiding them on their early journeys. 
 
 Hall J. Kelley 8 was a graduate of Harvard, a Boston 
 schoolmaster, and a religious, political, and commercial 
 fanatic. He became impressed with the value of Oregon 
 from the report of Lewis and Clark published in 1814, 
 from some accounts of the Astor expedition, and possibly 
 from New England sailors who had sailed with Captain 
 Gray and others along the Pacific Coast. About 1815 
 Kelley began publishing articles in the newspapers on the 
 necessity of American occupation of the Northwest Coast. 
 In 1827 he issued under a title almost as long as the article 
 itself, "A General Circular to All Persons of Good Moral 
 Character Who Wish to Migrate to the Oregon Territory," 
 etc. This tract indicated that a society already had been 
 
 7 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. i, p. 83. 
 
 8 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 267-276; Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. 
 iii, pp. 71-82. 
 
 113 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 formed in Boston to promote the settlement of the North 
 west Territory; but this society was originated by Kelley 
 and existed, as did most of his schemes, chiefly on paper. 
 Between 1830 and 1833 Kelley spent two or three winters 
 in Washington trying to influence legislation upon Oregon. 
 He bored congressmen and probably had little influence, 
 at least we can trace no congressional action to his per 
 sonal initiation. He left for Oregon in 1833, but his 
 idiosyncrasies were such that all his party deserted him 
 at New Orleans. He, however, succeeded in making his 
 way to Oregon through California. The travel and ex 
 posure brought upon Kelley a very severe attack of malaria 
 and he owed much to the employees of the Hudson s Bay 
 Company. We are sorry to say that Kelley s egotism led 
 him to interpret this kindness as a bribe to silence on his 
 part. His vagaries made pioneer life impossible to him 
 and in a short time he returned East, praising the country, 
 furnishing some facts in regard to its possibilities, but 
 denouncing the tyranny of the Hudson s Bay Company. 
 After his return he lost his property and his mind became 
 unsettled. He left his family and died as a hermit in 
 1874 at the age of eighty- three. His permanent contri 
 butions are the early stimulus which his writings gave to 
 the settlement of Oregon and the names "Adams" and 
 "Jefferson" which he gave to two peaks of the everlasting 
 hills which guard the riches of the land. Despite all his 
 vagaries and the unfortunate termination of his plans, a 
 desire to render justice to Kelley s unselfish efforts led 
 Bancroft to write of him: "On the other hand, among 
 those who laid the foundations of Oregon s present institu 
 tions, of Oregon s present society and prosperity, I should 
 mention first of all the Boston schoolmaster, the enthu- 
 
 114 
 
OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 siast, the schemer, Hall J. Kelley, though he never was a 
 settler in the country, though he remained there but a 
 short time, under inauspicious circumstances, and departed 
 without making any apparent mark. It was he who, more 
 than any other, by gathering information since 1815 and 
 spreading it before the people, kept alive an intelligent 
 interest in Oregon; ... it was he, this fanatic, who 
 stimulated senators to speak for Oregon on the floor of 
 congress, and even shaped the presidential policy/ 9 Mrs. 
 Frances Fuller Victor also wrote of Kelley: "It is only 
 justice to agree with him that he set on foot by his writ 
 ings the immigration movement to the shores of the 
 Pacific in all its forms, whether missionary, commercial 
 or colonizing." 10 These estimates of Kelley s services 
 seem to us too high, though we sympathize with this lonely, 
 stricken man whose life, like the lives of his greater con 
 temporaries, ended in tears which watered the seeds for 
 future harvests. 
 
 Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth s services in visiting the 
 lower portion of the Columbia River in 1832, in leading 
 a company of Americans, including the first Protestant 
 missionaries, as far as the western side of the Rocky Moun 
 tains in 1834, in founding Fort Hall in 1834-35, and his 
 defeat by the Hudson s Bay Company, already have been 
 described. He deserves honorable mention among the 
 Oregon pioneers for contributing in a practical manner 
 to the early settlement of the country. 
 
 John Ball. Zion s Herald, of Boston, Massachusetts, in 
 
 9 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 67-68. 
 18 Oregon Historical Quarterly, .December, 1901. Quoted by 
 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. iii, p. 81. 
 
 115 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 its issue of December 18, 1833, reproduced an article from 
 the New York Observer under the caption, "Oregon Ex 
 pedition/ This article was evidently inspired by and 
 contained extracts from a letter by John Ball. The issue 
 of Zion s Herald for January 1, 1834, contains a second 
 article, consisting of a letter from John Ball again repro 
 duced from the New York Observer; and the Herald of 
 January 8, 1834, contains a third letter from Mr. Ball 
 this time reproduced from the New York Commercial 
 Advertiser. The writer, who came out with Captain 
 Wyeth in 1832 and taught the half-breed school at Fort 
 Vancouver in 1833, gives graphic sketches of Oregon, its 
 soil, climate, possibilities, and its commercial and political 
 importance to the United States. Bancroft gives Mr. Ball 
 the unique distinction of being the first American farmer 
 in the Willamette Valley. 11 As no other Americans set 
 tled near him and he disliked the Hudson s Bay Company, 
 he went on a whaling vessel to South America and eventu 
 ally settled at Grand Eapids, Michigan. 
 
 Captain O Neal. Probably influenced by Kelley s writ 
 ings, Captain O Neal, a Boston skipper, visited the Colum 
 bia about 1832 with the brig Llama, taking from New 
 England to the Columbia a large consignment of children s 
 toys and various interesting and useful contrivances which 
 greatly took the fancy of the Indians. Dr. McLoughlin, 
 for the protection of the Hudson s Bay Company, soon 
 found himself constrained to buy all that Captain O Neal 
 had left of his cargo, then he bought his ship, and finally 
 hired the enterprising captain. Thus the Hudson s Bay 
 Company transformed another rival into an employee, 
 
 11 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 75. 
 
 116 
 
OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 and Captain O Neal remained in the service of the Com 
 pany for thirty years. 12 
 
 Webley J. Hauxhurst was born on Long Island, New 
 York, received an excellent Christian training in a good 
 Quaker home, but, like many another young man, he was 
 seized with the "wanderlust" and strayed to California 
 and later went to Oregon with the Young and Kelley 
 party. The year after his arrival in Oregon he was 
 brought under conviction of sin by Lee s preaching and 
 by the earnestness of the Indian children s prayers, was 
 converted, joined the church, and remained a useful citi 
 zen of Oregon until his death. Being a millwright, he 
 erected for the Methodist Mission the first American grist 
 mill in Oregon and thus also made a practical and very 
 real contribution to the delivery of the Americans from the 
 Hudson s Bay Company s monopoly and to the advance 
 ment of the settlement in the Willamette Valley. 
 
 Dr. Elijah White s name and services should be re 
 corded among the Oregon pioneers. He went out originally 
 as a missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church; but 
 his character was not strong, and his obsequious manners 
 rendered him unpopular with the sturdy pioneers. He 
 fell into some misconduct with women, resigned under 
 charges, and returned East. But he brought back to the 
 East the latest information in regard to Oregon at a time 
 when national interest made such information of great 
 value. He said nothing of the charges against him or of 
 any difficulties with the settlers and the mission; he was 
 a physician, a man of intelligence, a good talker, and he 
 was enthusiastic over Oregon. In January, 1842, he 
 
 "Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. i, p. 199 
 
 117 
 
THE OBEGON MISSIONS 
 
 visited New York and called upon Messrs. Fry and Farn- 
 ham, owners of the Lausanne, which had carried out the 
 Methodist party in 1839-40. They gave him letters to 
 President Tyler and Secretary of State Daniel Webster; 
 Dr. White went to Washington and secured the support of 
 Senator Linn, who was the warmest and wisest supporter 
 of Oregon in Congress, and also of J. C. Spencer, secretary 
 of war; Jason Lee had suggested to the President that 
 he appoint an Indian agent and governor for Oregon. Dr. 
 White s standing in Oregon being not known, and he being 
 an intelligent professional man, a good talker, and an 
 enthusiast over Oregon, President Tyler acted on Lee s 
 suggestion far enough to appoint Dr. White sub-Indian 
 agent at Saint Louis with authority beyond the Eocky 
 Mountains. Dr. White was greatly pleased with the ap 
 pointment and at once" announced that he would return 
 to Oregon under appointment by the government. This 
 announcement rallied to him all who contemplated going 
 to Oregon. By enthusiastic labor on his part he increased 
 the company and several men joined the party while on 
 the journey, notably Francis X. Matthieu. With his 
 knowledge of the country and with the aid of guides he 
 succeeded in reaching Oregon in October, 1842, with about 
 one hundred and twenty-five persons, fifty-two of whom 
 were men. As these recruits were absolutely essential to 
 carrying the measure for the provisional government in 
 1843, it will thus be seen that Dr. White rendered a great 
 service to Oregon. While he never secured real moral 
 leadership in Oregon, and the political leadership of the 
 Americans passed to the provisional government, so far 
 as we can learn, under the responsibilities of his office, he 
 strove actively for the welfare of the people. Bancroft s 
 
 118 
 
OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 characterization of him as a sycophant, his statement that 
 the Western men disliked him for what they termed his 
 smooth-tongued duplicity, and the resolution of the Oregon 
 Legislature of 1845 that he was an unfit person to fill 
 any office in Oregon, amply justified Lee s request that 
 Dr. White surrender his credentials as a missionary. But 
 we accept Bancroft s final estimate of him: "Notwith 
 standing his faults, it cannot be said that he was ever an 
 enemy to good order or good government." 13 
 
 Ewing Young reached Oregon in the summer of 1834 
 with six out of the nine men who started with him from 
 California. A group of horse thieves had joined their 
 party before they left California, but parted from them as 
 they crossed the Oregon border. The details were un 
 known, however, to Governor Figueroa, of California, and 
 he believed that the Young and Kelley group were the 
 guilty ones. A message to this effect was sent to Dr. 
 McLoughlin by the governor, and the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany refused to have anything to do with the supposed 
 horse thieves. But while Ewing Young and Hall J. Kelley 
 and the other members of the company were not guilty 
 of stealing horses, Clarke in his volumes published as late 
 as 1905 charges them with a far more serious crime. We 
 have no ground for challenging Clarke s statement, and 
 we deplore the stain which it leaves upon the memories 
 of two men who, despite vagaries and serious faults, ren 
 dered good service to Oregon. After the horse thieves 
 separated from the company of which Young and Kelley 
 were in charge, several members of the group, including 
 Kelley, suffered from malaria so seriously that they re- 
 
 13 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 487, note. 
 
 119 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 tired to an island in the Rogue River for recuperation. 
 They thought they were concealed from all observation 
 by the Indians, but one day they were visited by two 
 friendly Indians who remained several hours with them. 
 Seized with fear that these two Indians might be spies, 
 and that in any case they would report their illness, the 
 white men, after brief consultation killed the Indians, 
 concealed their bodies, and resumed their journey; they 
 soon passed beyond the territory of the murdered Indians 
 and so escaped punishment. Kelley speaks of the com 
 pany as having killed several California Indians who hung 
 upon their rear, and added that Young approved of the 
 
 murders, saying they were a d d villains, and ought to 
 
 be shot." 14 Once in Oregon, Young, like Absalom, chafed 
 at neglect and entered into partnership with a member 
 of his party, Lawrence Carmichael, to start a distillery. 
 They secured one or two kettles and began their nefarious 
 business. Jason Lee at once organized the Oregon Tem 
 perance Society, wrote a petition in favor of temperance, 
 had it signed by every settler in the Willamette Valley, 
 called on Dr. McLoughlin who had already established 
 prohibition by edict and had offered to establish Young 
 in some honorable enterprise then wrote a friendly letter 
 to Young and Carmichael, setting forth the dangers of 
 liquor among the Indians and the whites, inclosing the 
 petition and urging them to abandon the distillery. Recog 
 nizing the expense they had already incurred, Lee offered 
 the sixty dollars which the signers to the petition had 
 subscribed for temperance work to repay Young and 
 Carmichael for their expenditures. Young was deeply 
 
 14 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. i, pp. 294-298. 
 
 120 
 
OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 impressed by the fairness and friendly spirit of Lee s 
 letter, by the petition couched in respectful terms and 
 signed by all the white settlers in the region, and especially 
 by the generous offer to refund the money already ex 
 pended, and he promised Lee that he would abandon the 
 enterprise, but declined with thanks the contributions. On 
 the other hand, Young declared: "McLoughlin s tyran 
 nizing oppression and disdain were more than the feelings 
 of an American citizen could support/ and declared that 
 the innumerable difficulties placed in his way by the Com 
 pany under McLoughlin s authority were the occasion of 
 his being driven to consider so objectionable a means of 
 obtaining a livelihood." 16 
 
 But Young did much to redeem himself by helping 
 organize the Willamette Cattle Company and by his notable 
 service in connection with it. v On the arrival of the Meth 
 odist missionaries in 1834 Jason Lee told Dr. McLoughlin 
 that he had driven two cows as far west as Fort Boise and 
 that he had left them there for use when he returned to 
 the Flathead Indians. When, on Dr. McLoughlin s advice, 
 Jasca Lee decided to settle in the Willamette Valley, Dr. 
 McLoughlin traded him two cows for the cattle at Fort 
 Boise, and loaned him seven oxen, one bull, and eight 
 cows, with the provision that all the calves should be re 
 turned to the Company as soon as weaned, and that the 
 older cattle should be returned when the company called 
 for them. Dr. McLoughlin rendered a similar kindness 
 to other settlers; but in all cases under the strict orders 
 from the governor and the directors in London he refused 
 to sell any cattle to anyone. This left all the American 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 99. 
 
 121 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 settlers in the Willamette Valley with only two cows and 
 these belonging to the Methodist Mission and not sufficient 
 to supply their wants. Young reported that cattle were 
 selling in California at three dollars per head; Jason Lee 
 offered Dr. McLoughlin $200 for a cow of the same breed 
 as those in California, but under strict orders from the 
 London directors Dr. McLoughlin declined the offer. 
 Young also reported that Russian ships coming down the 
 coast from their fur companies were paying one dollar and 
 fifty cents per bushel for wheat in California, whereas 
 the Willamette Valley farmers and the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany were in a struggle, the farmers holding five thousand 
 bushels of wheat in their granaries, because the Company 
 would pay them only fifty cents per bushel. Hence the set 
 tlers under the lead of the Methodists formed the Willam 
 ette Cattle Company. The company apparently took its 
 final shape after Mr. Slacum arrived with the brig Loriot 
 and offered to carry the managers of the company and 
 their employees to San Francisco without charge save for 
 food. As proof of his confidence in Jason Lee and in 
 order to encourage the company, Mr. Slacum offered Lee 
 $500 to invest in cattle. As nedther Lee nor the Mission 
 at that time had any money, he accepted the loan in the 
 name of the Mission and the cattle which he secured in 
 return for the $500 became the property of the Mission. 
 Mr. Slacum also invested $175 in the company under 
 Lee s direction, which entitled him to twenty-three head 
 of cattle at seven dollars and sixty-seven cents per head, 
 and these in turn, with their increase, yielded Slacum four 
 years later $860. 16 As Jason Lee had been impressed 
 
 1 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. i, p. 311. 
 
 122 
 
OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 with the honorable conduct of Young in giving up the 
 distillery without compensation, and was especially im 
 pressed with his practical ability, Young was made cap 
 tain of the company, while P. L. Edwards, of the Mission, 
 was made treasurer. Dr. McLoughlin, who felt deeply 
 humiliated over the orders of the company in London and 
 perceived that the settlers would import the cattle without 
 the consent of the Hudson s Bay Company, offered to take 
 for the Hudson s Bay Company half the stock in the 
 Willamette Cattle Company. All the settlers combined, 
 invested $1,100 in the company. Mr. Slacum invested 
 $175; Lee invested $500 for the Methodists, and Mc 
 Loughlin $900, according to Bancroft, though Daniel Lee 
 represents the total investment as $2,880. 17 We are sorry 
 that in the references to the Oregon Cattle Company 
 Hines, Slacum, and Daniel Lee do not mention Dr. Mc- 
 Loughlin s subscription, for it is another illustration of 
 Dr. McLoughlin the man rising above the restrictions 
 of his company; but had not Bancroft rescued the fact 
 from Dr. McLoughlin s papers, the world would have re 
 mained ignorant of another illustration of McLoughlin s 
 strength of character. Jason Lee accompanied Young 
 and his company as far as the Columbia River and had 
 prayers with them aboard the vessel before they set sail; 
 and as he was leaving the ship, Mr. Slacum handed him 
 an envelope containing fifty dollars as a token of his high 
 esteem. It was due to Ewing Young s good judgment in 
 buying live stock, it was due to Young s knowledge of the 
 route, and to his courage, energy, and ability as a leader 
 that the company returned in the fall of 1836 with six 
 
 1T Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 141-150. 
 
 123 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 hundred and thirty head of cattle, thus breaking forever 
 one of the greatest monopolies of the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany. Ewing Young deserves honorable mention as one 
 who helped to lay the foundations for independence and 
 wealth for the Americans in Oregon, but severe blame for 
 his sanction of the murder of two Indian guests. 
 
 Joseph Gale was a seaman, a mountain man, a free 
 trapper, an employee of the Hudson s Bay Company for 
 some years, and a settler in the Willamette Valley. Owing 
 to the shortage of live stock even after Young s trip to 
 California, and stimulated by the large profits of that trip 
 and the supply of ship timber in Oregon, there arose a 
 proposal in 1840 to build a schooner, sail her to San 
 Francisco, sell or trade her for live stock, and drive the 
 stock back to Oregon. John Canan, Ealph Kilbourne, 
 Pleasant Armstrong, Henry Woods, George Davis, and 
 Jacob Green formed a company and secured the promise 
 of Joseph Gale to join it as captain of the ship they pur 
 posed building when the work was so far advanced as to 
 assure its completion. Felix Hathaway, an excellent ship 
 carpenter, was hired to lay out, assist, and superintend 
 the building of the ship. The money and provisions of the 
 company failing when the ship was about half built, Hath 
 away quit its service, and Gale and Kilbourne finished 
 the schooner and launched her without accident. Dr. Me- 
 Loughlin refused to sell the necessary furnishings for the 
 ship on the ground that Gale, the so-called captain, had 
 worked for him for years and, in his judgment, knew 
 nothing about a ship; he said that the men were simply 
 building themselves a coffin. Captain Wilkes, of the 
 United States navy, whom the government had sent on a 
 scientific expedition to the Oregon Country, told Dr. Mc- 
 
 124 
 
OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 Loughlin, somewhat sharply, that he had had a talk with 
 Gale and knew him to be an experienced seaman, and 
 asked that the goods be charged to Wilkes s account. Cap 
 tain Wilkes then furnished Gale some questions and after 
 reading his answers licensed him to take charge of a ship. 
 Wilkes s license of Gale as a captain was as irregular as 
 Lee s appointment of Leslie as justice of the peace, but, 
 like Lee s appointment, it had necessity and the interests 
 of the country back of it, and was amply justified by the 
 results. Gale was accompanied by the other members of 
 the company with the exception of Davis and Woods; he 
 spent several days sailing up and down the Columbia train 
 ing the men to handle the ship and teaching them to steer 
 by the compass. When he dropped down near the mouth 
 of the river the men became deadly seasick and begged 
 Gale to take them back, but he slipped over the bar with 
 out damage to the ship and pushed into the Pacific, where 
 he immediately encountered a severe storm. Captain Gale 
 personally stood at the helm for thirty-six hours while the 
 men, in fear of death, obeyed his commands according to 
 the best of their knowledge and ability. After a voyage 
 of five days Gale brought them safely to San Francisco, 
 September 17, 1842. He and his partners traded the ship 
 for three hundred and fifty head of cattle ; and Gale wrote 
 a circular and sent it to several stations in California and 
 gathered forty-two men in all, with twelve hundred and 
 fifty head of cattle, six hundred head of horses, and nearly 
 three thousand sheep. The company started to Oregon 
 May 14, 1843, and on July 28, 1843, reached the Willa 
 mette Valley with slight loss of live stock and with neither 
 death nor accident befalling a single man on the trip. 
 It is one of the most daring adventures of daring American 
 
 125 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 adventurers recorded in history and ended in glory and 
 profit to all. Joseph Gale deserved his election as a mem 
 ber of the first executive committee of three to govern 
 Oregon. 18 
 
 "Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, pp. 616- 
 627. 
 
 126 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 THE recognition of the services of the men who helped 
 save Oregon demands the portrayal of four more pioneers. 
 One of these men, Ebberts, is a fine combination of trap 
 per, farmer, and public citizen. Two of them, Meek and 
 Drannan, remind us of Kit Carson and Daniel Boone, 
 while Thornton suggests what Abraham Lincoln might 
 have become had he gone to Oregon in the early days, as 
 once seemed probable. 1 The services of these men were 
 of a half-political, half-military character. Ebberts, Meek, 
 and Thornton helped to awaken the East and lead Con 
 gress to act on the territorial organization of Oregon, 
 while Drannan as chief of the scouts helped bring the 
 Modoc war to a conclusion. 
 
 George W. Ebberts, called from boyhood "Squire" 
 Ebberts, was born in Kentucky in 1810. He came from 
 the land of Daniel Boone. His family was in good circum 
 stances. He learned the machinist s trade, entered the 
 Rocky Mountains as a trapper in 1829, served six years 
 in the American Fur Company and three years in the 
 Hudson s Bay Company, and in 1838 worked during the 
 winter for the American Board mission at Lapwai, as a 
 blacksmith. Probably while there he married his Nez 
 Perce wife, who held his affection to the last and proved, 
 
 1 Charnwood, Abraham Lincoln, p. 95. 
 
 127 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 like McLoughlin s Indian wife, a helpmate entirely worthy 
 of her white husband. The Hudson s Bay Company would 
 tolerate no competition in fur traffic; so Ebberts, after 
 crossing into the "Willamette Valley in 1839, settled near 
 Champoeg, worked for the Methodists for a time, took 
 up land for himself and raised wheat and live stock, 
 and became a well-known citizen in good circumstances. 
 Though a poor shot, he was unrivaled in skill and courage 
 as a traveler and a trapper. He was the companion of 
 Meek in the dangerous journey across the continent in 
 the winter of 1847-48; was solemnly promised by Meek 
 that he should share equally in any compensation which 
 might be paid, received not a penny of the more than 
 $8,000 which Meek secured from Oregon and the United 
 States government, but gave eighteen months of his life 
 and $500 of his own money, and equally with Meek risked 
 his life in the service of Oregon and of the United States. 
 All honor to George W. Ebberts. 
 
 Joseph L. Meek was a Rocky Mountain hunter and 
 trapper who came with his Indian wife and children to 
 the Willamette Valley in 1840. Too poor to own a wagon 
 for himself, on this journey he drove a team for Robert 
 Newell from Fort Hall to Fort Walla Walla. This and 
 a second wagon owned by Newell and driven by himself 
 and a third owned and driven by Caleb Wilkins were the 
 first three wagons ever driven from Fort Hall to Fort 
 Walla Walla. Meek was a tall, lithe man, of black eyes 
 and swarthy complexion, of boundless courage and great 
 powers of endurance, and intense patriotism. He was fond 
 of drink, but was converted at the first camp meeting 
 for white men, held by Jason Lee in Oregon in 1843. He 
 soon backslid and lapsed into his old habits, though his 
 
 128 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 stronger and better nature frequently asserted itself. At 
 the convention of all the citizens of the Willamette Valley 
 held in 1843, when the vote for the provisional govern 
 ment was taken, the chairman, the Rev. Gustavus Hines, 
 after counting hands as best he could in the dense com 
 pany, was forced to declare the motion lost. Before the 
 British had the wit to move an adjournment of the con 
 vention, Meek s stentorian voice rang out calling for a 
 division on the question and summoning all who favored 
 the United States to follow him to one side of the yard, 
 while those favoring the Hudson s Bay Company and 
 British rule remained on the other side. For perhaps a 
 minute the old trapper, Francis X. Matthieu, was seen 
 standing in the center of the yard talking earnestly with 
 a Canadian settler, who had been an employee of the 
 Hudson s Bay Company. They then passed over to the 
 American side; the count was again taken and the vote 
 was found to be fifty-two for provisional government and 
 fifty against; the Americans won by two votes. 
 
 November 29, 1847, the Whitman massacre occurred 
 and was followed by the Cayuse war. The Roman Catholic 
 mission was temporarily paralyzed, even the Hudson s 
 Bay Company was awed, and the life of the entire Ameri 
 can community was hanging in the balance. It was of 
 vital importance to send news of the massacre and the war 
 to the government at Washington, and Governor Aber- 
 nethy paid Joseph Meek the rare compliment of selecting 
 him for this dangerous task. Governor Abernethy raised 
 what money he could toward the expenses of the journey, 
 Dr. Gary, then head of the Methodist Mission, advancing 
 $500. Immediately Meek asked for Ebberts as a com 
 panion, and Governor Abernethy, at Meek s request, gave- 
 
 129 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 the latter a letter to Ebberts begging him to undertake 
 the perilous journey with Meek. While Ebberts lacked 
 Meek s dashing leadership, he was known to be a far saner 
 and more reliable man, who probably would have more 
 weight in the halls of Congress and better judgment in 
 meeting Indians where life and death were hanging in 
 the balance. Besides, Ebberts as a man of substance was 
 able to pay his own way to Washington, as Meek was not. 
 Meek lifted up his hand and placing it on his heart swore 
 in the presence of Mrs. Ebberts that if "Squire" Ebberts 
 would go with him, he should be treated as an equal and 
 that he should share with himself in any compensation 
 which either the Oregon settlers or the United States gov 
 ernment might grant them. Ebberts accepted promptly 
 this appeal to his courage and his patriotism; and im 
 mediately the two brave men entered upon their task. 
 Their journey led directly through the country of the 
 Indians, who had already begun the war and who were 
 exceedingly anxious that no report of their massacre 
 should reach Washington. Meek and Ebberts left the 
 Willamette country January 4, 1848. They were obliged 
 to ride seven hundred miles farther than Whitman on his 
 famous journey because they were seven hundred miles 
 west of Whitman s station when they started. On reach 
 ing The Dalles they waited until nearly the close of Janu 
 ary for Gilliam s troop as- a guard. Gilliam accompanied 
 them with a regiment of men as far as Waiilatpu. Here 
 the party stopped and reburied the bodies of the Whitman 
 party which Father Brouillet and another white man had 
 covered lightly with earth, but which the wolves had dug 
 up and stripped to the bone. Meek reburied the skeleton 
 of his own daughter, which he recognized from the hair. 
 
 130 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 She had been in Mrs. Whitman s school and had been 
 killed with the rest of the victims. One hundred men 
 under Adjutant Wilcox accompanied Meek and Ebberts 
 as far as the Blue Mountains through the Cayuse Country. 
 From that point the Meek and Ebberts party consisted 
 of themselves, Owens, and four Americans returning to 
 the States. The snow was very deep and the weather very 
 cold, and two of the Americans dropped out at Fort Boise. 
 Here Meek adopted the red belt and the Canadian cap 
 of the Hudson s Bay Company employees. The Bannock 
 Indians, who were greatly stirred by the report of the 
 Cayuse war, saw Meek s party at a distance and at once 
 pursued them. But on drawing near and perceiving 
 Meek s cap and belt, they came up without firing. Meek 
 assured them that he was from the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany on the way to Fort Hall and that Captan McKay 
 was only a day s journey in the rear with a large body of 
 men, and goods for barter with them. On receiving this 
 news the Bannock chief ordered his braves to stand back 
 and permit Meek and his men to pass on. Meek re 
 ported the party of traders only a day s journey in the 
 rear in order to awaken the chief s desire for trade and 
 also to lead him to believe that if he murdered Meek and 
 his men, the massacre would be speedily discovered and 
 avenged. As Meek knew that his falsehood would soon be 
 discovered, he stopped at Fort Hall only for a meal and 
 then pushed on in a driving snowstorm so as to escape 
 the rage of the Bannocks. For two days the five men 
 struggled on in the snow on horseback, then made them 
 selves snowshoes of willow withes and abandoned their 
 horses. They had only the food they could carry, slept in 
 their blankets out of doors, nearly perished, killed two 
 
 131 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 polecats which served as food for two or three days, and 
 on the headwaters of Bear River fell in with Pegleg 
 Smith, a famous mountaineer, who had lost a leg fighting 
 the Crow Indians. Smith and ten men were herding a 
 drove of cattle which were living on the tall grass not 
 wholly covered by snow. Smith killed a cow and made a 
 feast and a dance for them with some Indian women. 
 The next morning with what beef they could carry they 
 started from Bear River for the headwaters of Green 
 River, then, crossing Muddy Fork, on to Fort Bridger. 
 Here Meek met Bridger, whose daughter had also been 
 at school at Dr. Whitman s and who also had been slain, 
 and whose bones Meek assured Bridger that he had re- 
 buried, thus greatly stirring Bridger s feelings. Hence, 
 Bridger, in order that Meek might aid to avenge their 
 common wrongs against the Cayuses, gave the travelers 
 his four mules and all the food they could carry. As there 
 were five men they took turns walking and now made more 
 speed, and in due time reached the South Pass. The snow 
 was very deep and two of the mules were lost in it, their 
 loss retarding the speed of the company. Besides, owing 
 to the deep snow, little game was to be seen, and the men 
 suffered much from cold and hunger as they journeyed 
 down the Sweetwater River to the Platte. At Red Buttes 
 they killed a single buffalo which had fallen out of some 
 herd and whose meat providentially kept them alive until 
 they reached the Platte. Here the traveling was better, 
 and they found game and thus reached a French trader 
 named Papillon. The Frenchman received them hos 
 pitably, and, stirred by Meek s story, furnished them 
 fresh mules and warned them against a body of hostile 
 Sioux at Ash Hollow, a hundred miles down the river. 
 
 132 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 They planned to pass the Sioux camp in the night, but, 
 owing to a blinding snowstorm, they ran into the Sioux 
 camp in the afternoon before they saw it. Providentially 
 another Frenchman named Le Beau, who was living with 
 the Sioux, saw the party first, preserved their lives, and 
 guided them safely through the camp. After bidding 
 farewell to Le Beau, they made a wide detour to throw 
 the Sioux off their track in case of pursuit. By hard 
 travel, with many hardships and through grave dangers, 
 the party reached Saint Joseph, Missouri, in a little over 
 two months from the time it started, as compared with 
 four months which Dr. Whitman spent on the Southern 
 route in 1842-43. Meek was soon out of money, having 
 spent it with a lavish hand. But a man in Saint Joseph, 
 to whom he brought a letter from his son, took Meek and 
 Ebberts in a carriage on to Independence, Missouri, where 
 Meek had a sister whom he had not seen for nineteen years. 
 A steamboat was just starting on its first spring trip to 
 Saint Louie, and the captain, on hearing Meek s story, 
 took him and Ebberts down the river without charge. 
 Meek had a wonderful story to tell; besides he was a 
 gifted liar, and had a positive genius for getting every 
 thing for nothing. He was a born actor, while his fertile 
 imagination gave hints of an uncouth and undeveloped 
 Mark Twain or Bret Harte. At the wharf in Saint Louis 
 Meek met a man named Campbell, whom he had known 
 in the Rocky Mountains, and told him a lurid story. 
 Campbell gave the story to the papers that night and the 
 next morning Meek awoke famous. The night of his 
 arrival at Saint Louis Meek telegraphed President Polk, 
 to whom he was known and, indeed, related, and soon 
 received an answer from the President bidding him come 
 
 133 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 at once to Washington. Two boats were starting the next 
 morning for Pittsburgh ; Meek picked out the Declaration, 
 mounted the hurricane deck, and in stentorian tones an 
 nounced the massacre, the heroic ride east, the summons 
 of the President to Washington, and displayed the tele 
 gram. He bade those going up the Ohio take the Declara 
 tion and he would tell them all the story. The Declaration 
 was crowded, and its rival ran up the river empty. As a 
 result, Meek and Ebberts had free transportation with 
 drinks thrown in. Meek and Ebberts reached Wheeling 
 after the stage had left for Cumberland, but Meek stretched 
 himself up to his full height of six feet two inches, and 
 announced himself in stentorian tones as "envoy ex 
 traordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the repub 
 lic of Oregon to the court of the United States/ This, 
 with his letter from Governor Abernethy and his telegram 
 from President Polk and his marvelous stories, led the 
 manager to order another team at once and send the two 
 envoys on their way. On the train, when the conductor 
 called for tickets, Meek played the part of an Indian with 
 no knowledge of the language, but showed the letter and 
 telegram and the conductor permitted them to ride with 
 out even the formality of a pass. At Washington Meek 
 went to the Coleman House, the most fashionable hotel 
 in the city. He at once attracted the notice of senators, 
 who paid him great attention. His remarkable stories, 
 his histrionic manners, and his telegram from President 
 Polk drew all eyes toward him. He demanded to be driven 
 to the President at once. The colored servant of President 
 Polk at the White House had known him in childhood, 
 and on recognizing him ushered him into the White House. 
 Meek was related to the President s family, and Knox 
 
 134 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 Walker, the President s secretary, also a relative, rushed 
 forward and saluted him as "Uncle Joe," and Meek called 
 him "Knox." He sent the secretary at once to the Presi 
 dent, who came out of a conference and greeted him 
 cordially. After a few words by Meek the President dis 
 missed the committee waiting upon him, gave Meek a 
 two-hours interview, then prepared a message and sent it 
 the very next day to Congress, calling urgently for relief 
 for Oregon. 2 The message was sent to Congress May 29, 
 1848, and this gives us May 28 as the day of Meek s and 
 Ebberts s arrival, making the journey from January 4 only 
 four months and twenty-four days the shortest journey 
 from Oregon to Washington on record at that time. 
 
 After remaining three weeks in Washington and dis 
 charging in full their task, Ebberts proposed that they 
 return home. But Meek had no thought of leaving so soon 
 his dear cousins at the White House. But he again 
 solemnly promised Ebberts to share with him any money 
 which the government might appropriate for expenses and 
 compensation. Ebberts started back to Oregon, and, on 
 account of being forced to work at times for wages in order 
 to complete his journey, was eighteen months on the trip 
 East and back, and the trip, as already narrated, cost him 
 $500 in addition to eighteen months time. On account 
 of Meek s relationship to the secretary of the President, 
 and to the President himself, he was freely received at the 
 White House, and at the suggestion of social friends was 
 fitted out in a dress suit, and with his handsome appear 
 ance and gift of story-telling became the social lion of the 
 season. Congress had been deeply impressed with Judge 
 
 J Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. 
 vi, pp. 2434-2436. 
 
 135 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Thornton and with the reliable statements of "Squire" 
 Ebberts. It voted $10,000 to cover the expenses of Thorn 
 ton, Meek, and Ebberts and for the purpose of a few pres 
 ents to the Indians; and it was understood that Thornton, 
 who must be absent about two years, was to have some 
 compensation for his services. The treasurer of the United 
 States on a certified bill of expenses paid Thornton $2,750 
 and gave Meek $7,250 and Ebberts and the Indians got 
 the balance! When Meek recovered from his indulgences 
 and returned to Oregon, he had nothing to divide with 
 Ebberts, and neither Ebberts nor his descendants have 
 received to this day compensation or expenses for one of 
 the most heroic rides in America. It is unnecessary to 
 add that neither Governor Abernethy nor the Methodist 
 Mission ever received back the money they advanced 
 toward Meek s expenses. Nevertheless, we are forced to 
 admit that, with the wit and manners and braggadocio 
 of a Falstaff, Meek had great courage and common sense 
 and power of initiative; and on account of his acquaint 
 ance and kinship with the President, no other man in 
 Oregon could have made this journey and secured govern 
 ment aid with equal speed and success. 
 
 Captain Drannan. 3 This scout and hunter was born 
 on the Atlantic Ocean, January 30, 1832, of French par 
 ents on their way to the United States. His parents dying 
 in a plague, the child grew up until he was fifteen years 
 old under the care of a bachelor and was then adopted by 
 the famous hunter Kit Carson. May 3, 1847, at the age 
 of fifteen, he killed his first wild turkey and a little later 
 his first buffalo. With his Uncle Kit, he met Indians 
 
 3 Drannan, Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the 
 Mountains. 
 
 136 
 
 i 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 and in addition to French and English, soon learned 
 enough of the Chinook jargon to converse with them. As 
 this jargon originated with the missionaries and the trap 
 pers of Oregon, he was thus early brought into contact 
 with them. 4 His Uncle Kit took him and a Mr. Hughes 
 into South Park to spend the winter in trapping. They 
 constructed a rude "dug-out" for their winter shelter. 
 Uncle Kit and Mr. Hughes then started back to the last 
 cache, twenty-one miles distant, for one hundred pounds 
 each of additional baggage, instructing the boy to kill a 
 young deer and prepare it for the late evening meal. While 
 hunting deer, young Drannan saw three Indians traveling 
 along the ridge in the direction of the dug-out. He had 
 heard his Uncle Kit tell of Indians robbing cabins, so 
 with a total lack of conscience, matched by an equal lack 
 of fear, the fifteen-year-old boy decided to kill the three 
 Indians. Crawling behind a log and taking careful aim, 
 he brought down the leader. The Indians fell to their 
 knees and carefully looked around. The wind blowing 
 from them and over the ridge on which the boy was lying 
 carried the smoke out of sight and he loaded his rifle, lying 
 on his back, as his Uncle Kit had taught him to do. When 
 the two Indians arose and were standing, bows and arrows 
 in their hands, looking for the enemy, he succeeded in 
 killing the second one, whereupon the third fled in great 
 terror. "I had never seen an Indian scalped, but had often 
 heard how it was done, so I pulled out my hunting-knife 
 and took their topknots and started for the dug-out, a 
 great hunter and Indian fighter in my own estimation." 
 As soon as the two men returned, the boy poured out his 
 
 * Drannan, Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the 
 Mountains, p. 42. 
 
 137 
 
THE OBEGON MISSIONS 
 
 story and showed his scalps, when Uncle Kit said, "My 
 boy, don t let me ever hear of your taking any such chances 
 again; not that I care for your killin the Injuns, but 
 you took great chances of losing your own hair." 5 A 
 little later, on meeting Fremont, the General asked whose 
 boy he was. "Uncle Kit replied that I was his boy, and 
 a first-class hunter and trapper, and he shoots Injuns 
 purty well. He then related the incident of my killing 
 the two Utes." 6 
 
 Again Drannan tells of Kit Carson, two other men, and 
 himself killing seven Utes who had stolen a band of horses 
 from the Arapahoe Indians, and each man receiving a 
 horse from the Arapahoes in return for their trouble and 
 risk. Mr. Drannan recognized good qualities in the In 
 dians and tells of two Pima Indians who, with himself, 
 restored a white girl whom this tribe had captured. He 
 adds, "These two young Indians seemed to be as kind- 
 hearted persons as I have ever met." 7 Captain Drannan 
 goes farther in his recognition of the good qualities of the 
 Indians, maintaining that General Eoss broke faith with 
 the Indians and that Captain Jack, the Modoc chief, was 
 treated unjustly by the whites. "While I am no friend 
 to a hostile, I believe in giving even an Indian that which 
 is justly due him, and I must admit that all through this 
 Modoc War I could not help in a measure feeling sorry for 
 the Modocs, particularly Captain Jack, for I knew that 
 through the negligence of soldiers upon Lost River while 
 there catching fish to keep his own people from starving, 
 
 6 Drannan, Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the 
 Mountains, p. 61. 
 8 Ibid., p. 68. 
 Ibid., p. 286. 
 
 138 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 he had been driven and dragged into this war, and I do 
 not believe to-day, nor ever did believe, that Captain Jack 
 ought to have been hanged." 8 Despite this testimonial, 
 Captain Drannan captured Captain Jack and turned him 
 over to the white men to be hanged. His sympathy was 
 much like the sympathy which he might feel for a mother 
 wolf or bear which died defending its young. 
 
 That men of the intelligence and character of Kit 
 Carson and Captain Drannan, honest men, men who used 
 liquor only as a medicine, men who saw the good qualities 
 of the Indians, who believed in a Divine Providence and 
 in a future life, could show such utter lack of conscience 
 in regard to killing Indians as to mention with pride the 
 number that they killed, Captain Drannan s reaching more 
 than forty, shows the need and the difficulties of mission 
 ary labor in the Oregon Country. We could duplicate this 
 utterly pagan attitude toward the Indians by scores of 
 similar stories. This sketch of Captain Drannan is needed 
 to reveal the prevailing attitude of American pioneers that 
 "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." It shows the 
 absolute necessity of Lee and Whitman inducing Christian 
 families to settle in Oregon in order that there might be 
 at least a partially Christian environment in which the 
 Indians might be converted and civilized. At the same 
 time it reveals almost insuperable barriers in the way of 
 missionary labor among the Indians. 
 
 J. Q. Thornton. Service of a high type was rendered 
 the territory of Oregon at Washington by J. Q. Thornton. 
 Mr. Thornton came to Oregon in 1846, where his character 
 and abilities led almost immediately to his selection as 
 
 8 Drannan, Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the 
 Mountains, p. 587. 
 
 139 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 a judge of the Supreme Court. Before the massacre of 
 Dr. Whitman and the Cayuse war, the unsettled state of 
 the country, the increasing hostility of the Indians, the 
 disturbances by the Molallas, by the Walla Wallas 9 at 
 Battle Creek and the Wascoes at The Dalles, the failure 
 of the government at Washington to recognize the pro 
 visional government of Oregon or to make any other pro 
 vision for the control of the Oregon territory, save the 
 appointment of Dr. White, which was not regarded seri 
 ously by the Oregonians, led Governor Abernethy, at the 
 request of some leading citizens, and especially of Dr. 
 Whitman, to appoint Judge Thornton a delegate to Wash 
 ington to secure favorable action for Oregon. 10 As busi 
 ness was transacted by barter, there was no money in the 
 treasury of the provisional government. But the Rev. 
 George Gary, superintendent of the Methodist Missions, 
 gave the Judge a draft on the Missionary Society in New 
 York for $150, and Noyes Smith gave or loaned Judge 
 Thornton fifty barrels of flour with permission to sell the 
 flour at San Francisco and use the funds. In addition, 
 Governor Abernethy, M. M. McCarver, and Samuel Parker 
 jointly signed a note for $300 which was given to Thorn 
 ton. Judge Thornton started by ship October 19, 1847, 
 and reached Boston May 14, 1848. When he arrived at 
 Washington he found that Mr. Ritchie, whose son had been 
 with Thornton in college, was editing the organ of the 
 administration; later Ritchie gave Thornton a very favor 
 able notice in the paper. Senators Benton and Stephen 
 
 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. iii, p. 301. 
 
 10 For the following account of Judge Thornton s services 
 I am indebted to Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. 
 ii, chap. 62. 
 
 140 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 A. Douglas called upon him and promised aid, and Doug 
 las introduced him to President Polk, who listened eagerly 
 to the news from Oregon. The news from the new govern 
 ment awakened public interest and admiration. "There 
 was an anomaly in the case of Oregon that commanded 
 the admiration of the world and secured for the represen 
 tative of this region universal attention and respect. A 
 handful of Americans, who seemed animated as much by 
 patriotic as personal feeling, had taken their leave of 
 civilized life, and with their household penates, had crossed 
 the wilderness of the mid-continent to make homes on the 
 banks of the Oregon. Their presence had settled the 
 dispute as to boundary and had terminated the long period 
 of joint occupancy. The world read of this immigration 
 to the Pacific with almost reverence for the few who dared 
 so much and had reclaimed the beautiful region by the 
 Pacific, not only from savagery but from British rule and 
 occupation. The advent in Washington of one of these 
 greater than Argonauts, as a representative of his fellow 
 Oregonians, who had only reached the national capital 
 by half circumnavigating the entire world, the fact of a 
 growing community so remote from trade that they had 
 no money and had only actual barter and exchange of 
 products to depend on all this cast a glamour of romance 
 over the much-voyaging representative of far-off Oregon, 
 and made his presence at Washington not only a welcome 
 event, but gave him influence and personal magnetism and 
 power that most fortunately for Oregon he proved him 
 self wise enough to use to good advantage." 11 
 
 Judge Thornton drafted a land bill giving a section of 
 
 11 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, pp. 702, 
 703. 
 
 141 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 land to the head of every family settling in Oregon and 
 setting aside two sections of every township for public 
 education. Congress on organizing the territories had 
 never granted more than one section of land in each town 
 ship for the public schools. She had just refused the 
 request of Wisconsin Territory for two sections of each 
 township for schools, and in the same bill which provided 
 for the organization of the Oregon Territory the organiza 
 tion of the Territories of California and New Mexico was 
 included, but with no grant at all for public schools. Judge 
 Thornton secured from Calhoun a promise not to oppose 
 the school grant in the bill. Calhoun said he preferred 
 no free schools, and he did not support the bill as a whole 
 because Thornton had incorporated in the bill admitting 
 Oregon the famous anti-slavery clause found in the Ordi 
 nance of 1787. Thornton incorporated the clause because 
 it was in the constitution adopted by the provisional gov 
 ernment and also embodied his own convictions. The 
 slavery interests approached Thornton with the promise 
 of unanimous support for the Oregon Bill if Thornton 
 would leave out the clause forbidding slavery. Thornton 
 refused, and the bill became one of the milestones in the 
 struggle in the United States Senate between the forces 
 of freedom and of slavery. Diplomatic representatives 
 from every court in Europe were present and the galleries 
 were packed to hear the two-hour speech of Senator Tom 
 Corwin, of Ohio, whose eloquence in extemporaneous 
 debate was equaled by few and excelled by none. Not a 
 sound was heard save an occasional catching of breath 
 by a listener, and not a movement was seen save an occa 
 sional twitching of the muscles of an opponent s face as 
 Corwin, beginning with the Ordinance of 1787 and closing 
 
 142 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 with the proposed constitution of the new territory, poured 
 forth his plea for human freedom. At the close of the 
 speech the Senate sat spellbound apparently for some time, 
 when, on motion, the body adjourned and the dazed com 
 pany slowly poured out of the Senate chamber. Thornton 
 says, "The elder Ritchie nervously laid his hand on my 
 shoulder, and with lips white as paper and quivering with 
 emotion said, A few speeches such as that would sever the 
 bonds of this Union. " 12 It was from the day of the 
 debate and the vote on the Oregon question that the thought 
 of withdrawal from the Union began to take formal shape 
 in the minds of Southerners, though it had often been 
 suggested before. 
 
 The debate was also the beginning of the break in the 
 Democratic party which resulted in Lincoln s election. 
 The provisional government having excluded slavery, 
 Douglas acted on his "Popular Sovereignty" theory, which 
 was the theory of territorial option on the slavery question, 
 and voted for the organization of the territory. But in 
 due time the organization of the Oregon Territory was 
 followed by the Dred Scott decision, which gave slavery 
 a national standing under the constitution and made it 
 the duty of Northern as well as Southern citizens to assist 
 in its preservation. Lincoln, who was a thousand miles 
 from Congress in an obscure law office in Illinois, saw 
 more clearly than Douglas the rift between Douglas s 
 position and the position of Calhoun, who antagonized him 
 in the Oregon struggle and who formulated the theory 
 legalized by Taney. Hence in the famous debate of 1858, 
 Lincoln asked Douglas a question which would force him 
 
 "Quoted by Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. iv, p. 81. See 
 also Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, p. 696. 
 
 143 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 either to antagonize the people of Illinois and miss the 
 Senate, or else to reveal the fundamental difference be 
 tween his view of "Popular Sovereignty" and the Calhoun- 
 Taney view then universal in the South, and thus miss 
 the presidency. Lincoln s friends were sure Douglas 
 would take the side of "Squatter Sovereignty"; they ad 
 vised him to hint that Douglas would prove the tool of 
 the Southern Democrats, but with no vision beyond the 
 senatorial contest begged him not to ask a question which 
 would give his rival the coveted opportunity to win the 
 support of Illinois. Lincoln, in the interest of honest 
 speech, which in the long run is wise speech, asked the 
 question; and Douglas s ready answer in favor of "Squat 
 ter Sovereignty" was received with tremendous enthu 
 siasm throughout Illinois and won him the senatorship. 
 Lincoln s friends in sorrow and anger felt that he had 
 been too honest and simple in debate; they told him that 
 he ought to have known Douglas would answer as he did, 
 and that he had lost the senatorship by his question. 
 "Yes," said Lincoln, with satisfaction, "and Douglas has 
 lost the presidency by his answer." Douglas should have 
 remembered that in 1848 the Southern senators Calhoun, 
 Foote, Butler, Hunter, Mason, and Jefferson Davis had 
 voted against his "Popular Sovereignty" plea on the Ore 
 gon question, and he should have foreseen that his answer 
 in 1858 would never be accepted by the South. But the 
 man with the double motive sees crooked. Simpleness 
 of heart is the price of vision; and Lincoln, not Douglas, 
 saw the fateful import of the latter s hasty answer in his 
 Freeport speech. 
 
 Thornton s refusal to compromise and the triumph of 
 his measure were due to a mind, a heart, and an ability 
 
 144 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 to win friends to his ideals somewhat resembling Lincoln s. 
 Without Judge Thornton s presence in Washington it is 
 clear that Oregon would not have received the grant of 
 two sections of land in each township for free schools; 
 without Judge Thornton s presence Oregon would not have 
 been admitted at all as a free Territory in 1848. His 
 influence with the members of Congress of both parties 
 proved strong and wholesome. 
 
 After the passing of the bill President Folk s secretary, 
 Knox Walker, brought George M. Sanders to Judge Thorn 
 ton s room, and after introducing him immediately with 
 drew. Mr. Sanders told Thornton that Sir George Simp 
 son had placed in his hands $75,000 to be used where it 
 would do the most good in procuring the sale of the Oregon 
 interests of the Hudson s Bay Company to the United 
 States government for $3,000,000; that a treaty had 
 already been drawn up by the administration for the pur 
 pose which was indorsed by the majority of the Cabinet; 
 that it was desirable for the Cabinet to act as a unit, and 
 that the opposing members would favor the purchase if 
 Thornton would write them a letter indorsing it. After 
 a conversation which Judge Thornton made two or three 
 efforts to close, Mr. Sanders offered him $25,000 if he 
 would write the note. Judge Thornton promptly opened 
 the door and ordered him out; then after due deliberation 
 he sent President Polk a note informing him that the 
 property was not worth one tenth of the amount asked 
 and that he had been offered a bribe of $25,000 to indorse 
 the scheme. That Thornton s estimate of the value of the 
 property was substantially just is shown by the fact that 
 twenty-one years later a period during which property 
 in a new territory usually trebles in price a joint commis- 
 
 145 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 sion of the two countries estimated the entire fourteen 
 pieces of property to be worth $650,000, and the United 
 States government paid that sum for them in 1869. 13 
 Knox Walker, the President s secretary, called the next 
 day, saying that on opening the letters to the President 
 he had found Judge Thornton s communication and 
 begged Thornton to withdraw it. Thornton refused, and 
 Walker, in his distress, told Meek, who was at the White 
 House, and who had already written a letter heartily 
 indorsing the purchase. Meek never could keep a secret, 
 and within a week he had taken the correspondent of the 
 New York Herald into his sacred confidence and told him 
 the entire story. Within a few days the story was pub 
 lished by that excellent newspaper. While executive ses 
 sions of the Senate are supposed to be secret, yet it is 
 believed that President Polk had sent the treaty purchasing 
 the interests of the Hudson s Bay Company to the Senate 
 for ratification, but that after the Herald s exposure he 
 withdrew it from the Senate. President Polk had on his 
 own initiative offered Judge Thornton an appointment 
 as federal judge of Oregon. But after sending his letter 
 to the President, Thornton found his welcome to the White 
 House at an end, and never received the appointment, and 
 never received a penny for his nineteen months service. 
 We submit that in ability, in character, and moral influence 
 the services of the unknown supreme court judge of the 
 provisional government of Oregon outweighed those of 
 the President and his Cabinet. 
 
 We have thus portrayed briefly the deeds of a few Ameri 
 cans who helped in the early discovery of Oregon, in the 
 
 "Johnson, America s Foreign Relations, vol. ii, p. 429. 
 
 146 
 
EBBERTS, MEEK, DRANNAN, AND THORNTON 
 
 early settlement of the country, in saving the land from 
 slavery, in laying broad foundations for education, in pre 
 venting a war with Great Britain, and in the preservation 
 of the Union. Time would fail us to tell of Abernethy 
 and Applegate, of Burnett and Nesmith, of Matthieu and 
 Sublette and Shortess, of Wilbur and Boyce, of Ebez, 
 Goldsmith, Hilles, Hines, Edwards, and Shepard, of Clarke 
 and Eells, of Kilbourne, Kelby, and Lang, of the Beers, 
 Belknaps, Campbells, Dennys, DeVores, of the Garrisons, 
 Helms, Holmans, and Howells, of the Parishes, Perkins, 
 Starrs, Smiths, Spaldings, and Wilsons, and the unnamed 
 women, "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 
 righteousness, obtained promises, . . . from weakness were 
 made strong . . . turned to flight armies of aliens. Women 
 received their dead by a resurrection : and others were 
 tortured, not accepting their deliverance; . . . And these 
 all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, 
 received not the promise, God having provided some better 
 thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not 
 be made perfect." 14 - 15 
 
 "Hebrews, 11: 33-35, 39-40. 
 
 18 For partial list of Oregon pioneers, see Appendix I. 
 
 147 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 MISSION WORK 
 
 "THE real colonization of Oregon, however, the move 
 ment which Floyd and Benton had so long hoped to see 
 under way, began two years later (1834) with the arrival 
 from the East of a small party of American missionaries 
 to the Oregon Indians/ 1 
 
 It is significant that H. Addington Bruce, the able and 
 conscientious writer who more fully than any other person 
 has set forth the services of Senators Benton and Linn and 
 Congressman Floyd, nevertheless says, "Yet, singularly 
 enough, until that time the great danger was that the 
 United States would, through sheer negligence, lose what 
 undoubtedly belonged to her." 2 And again, after describ 
 ing the rich territory involved in the contest, Mr. Bruce 
 adds, "This it was that the United States all but lost by 
 reason of the indifference of the American Government and 
 people." 3 Then, after portraying the hopelessness of the 
 efforts of Benton, Linn, and Floyd down to 1832, Mr. 
 Bruce introduces the Methodist missionaries with the 
 quotation placed at the head of the chapter. Mr. Bruce 
 was criticized for attaching too much importance to the 
 work of the missionaries, the critic writing, "It seems 
 probable that the future writers of Oregon history will not 
 
 1 Bruce, The Romance of American Expansion, p. 123. 
 1 Ibid., pp. 106-107. 
 8 Ibid., p. 108. 
 
 148 
 
MISSION WORK 
 
 emphasize a present popular belief that there ever was 
 great danger that through sheer negligence the United 
 States would lose what undoubtedly belonged to her." Mr. 
 Bruce, with abundant source material at his command, 
 thus answered his critic: "It may well be that some new 
 and important evidence will be adduced, but I do not 
 anticipate that it will revolutionize the present judgment 
 as to the principal actors in the impressive drama." 
 
 The facts confirm Mr. Brace s judgment and show how 
 the missionaries helped overcome the claim that the land 
 was worthless by furnishing the government information 
 in regard to Oregon; met the fear of a second republic 
 by demonstrating that there were no more loyal and de 
 voted citizens of the American republic than themselves 
 and the American settlers beyond the Rocky Mountains 
 who organized the provisional government of Oregon ; and 
 helped overcome the preponderance of the British in Ore 
 gon by creating the first tides of emigration, which enabled 
 the Americans barely to outvote the British in the crucial 
 struggle for the provisional government in 1843, but a fetf 
 months later gave them an overwhelming majority. 
 
 When the Methodist missionaries reached the lower 
 Columbia in the fall of 1834, they were surprised at the 
 mildness of the climate and were delighted with the great 
 extent and unsurpassed fertility of the Willamette Valley. 
 They found ex-employees of the Hudson s Bay Company 
 settled upon farms on what is now called French Prairie 
 and living with Indian wives. They found the supply -of 
 fish at the Willamette Falls and The Dalles of the Columbia 
 apparently inexhaustible. The large number of Indians 
 in the lower Columbia River basin, the fact that they were 
 at peace with the Hudson s Bay Company where the 
 
 149 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 missionaries could find relief in case of need and supplies 
 at all times the kind of welcome of Dr. McLoughlin, the 
 fact that it was practically impossible to carry back to 
 the Flatheads, seven hundred miles in the interior, supplies 
 which were coming by ship, and the presence at The Dalles 
 and Willamette Falls of Nez Perces, who sent three of the 
 four messengers to Saint Louis for the Bible, and of 
 Chinooks with flattened heads the providential sign 
 which the missionaries were looking for led Lee and his 
 colaborers to begin work among the Indians in the Willam 
 ette Valley. 
 
 They built at French Prairie a log house twenty by 
 thirty feet which served as a home for themselves and for 
 some Indian children, as a schoolhouse, and as a church 
 and hospital. While the others were building the house, 
 Cyrus Shepard took charge of the Hudson s Bay Company 
 school at Fort Vancouver, 4 where the achievements of an 
 Indian boy in reading, writing, and arithmetic had filled 
 the missionaries with enthusiasm. They opened a mission 
 school for the Indians in their new home as soon as it was 
 finished. 
 
 Lee wrote to the Missionary Society December 18, 1834, 
 telling of his change of base to the Willamette Valley and 
 of the number and apparent interest of the Valley tribes. 
 He gave an enthusiastic account of the country, of the 
 mildness of the climate, the fertility of the soil, and the 
 abundance of fish in the rivers. To enable the Mission 
 to care for the Indians and to become self-supporting as 
 soon as possible, he urged the Missionary Society to send 
 out a physician, a blacksmith, and several teachers. The 
 
 4 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. I, p. 80. 
 
 150 
 
 m 
 
MISSION WORK 
 
 church at home was sorry not to hear of the discovery 
 and conversion of the Flathead Magi who had visited Saint 
 Louis, and the people supposed that the Indians needed 
 preachers instead of blacksmiths. But the Society ac 
 cepted the judgment of Lee and his fellow workers and 
 began to search for more men and means for the Oregon 
 Mission. 
 
 In the spring of 1835 the missionaries, having completed 
 their house, inclosed forty acres of land, broke up part 
 of it and put it in wheat; the yield was forty bushels per 
 acre. This enormous yield, with equally remarkable yields 
 of the various vegetables whose seeds they had brought 
 with them and planted, revealed to the missionaries future 
 possibilities of the territory of which they little dreamed 
 when they started out to convert the Indians. But while 
 cultivating the land as a part of their program in order 
 to teach the Indians farming and for the support of them 
 selves and their Indian wards, and while sending home 
 stirring reports of the fertility of the soil, their energies 
 were engrossed in the Mission work. They built an addi 
 tion to their house equal to the original and filled their 
 building with Indian children, most of whom were orphans, 
 and continued teaching reading, writing, the truths of the 
 Bible, farming, and, in general, Christian civilization. 
 But their success was not equal to their hopes. 5 A clear 
 perception that the Indians must be taught to work in 
 order to achieve civilization, and that they could be led 
 to work only by example, constrained the missionaries 
 themselves to work at farming, in the erection of a barn 
 thirty by forty feet, and in the care of the home, as well 
 
 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 82, 83. 
 
 151 
 
THE OEEGON MISSIONS 
 
 as to engage in teaching and preaching. They arranged 
 for the Indians to study and recite half the day and to 
 work on the farm the rest of the time, thus anticipating by 
 a half century General Armstrong s wise method of civiliz 
 ing the red man. 
 
 As soon as Cyrus Shepard returned from teaching school 
 at Fort Vancouver he took charge of the school at the 
 Mission, and P. L. Edwards opened another school at 
 Champoeg, at or just above Willamette Falls. Teaching 
 school, preaching the gospel, religious conversations with 
 the Indian leaders, working on the farm, in the erection 
 of buildings, in the garden and in the home with their 
 Indian wards, and caring for the sick were the daily duties 
 of Mission life, week in and week out, month in and month 
 out, during all the years of missionary work on the Pacific 
 Coast. Narration of stirring incidents gives an entirely 
 false view of missions, if it leads or even permits readers 
 to lose sight of this daily discharge of routine duties which 
 is the substance of missionary life and service. 
 
 One of the first and most lasting services which Jason 
 Lee rendered to civilization on the Pacific Coast was the 
 abolition of a few cases of slavery which had already ap 
 peared. On the tour of exploration of 1804-06 Captain 
 Clark carried a Negro slave with him as a body servant. 
 The very month the Methodist missionaries reached the 
 Willamette Valley in 1834, Louis Shaugarette, a Hudson s 
 Bay Company trapper, died and left three half-breed 
 orphan children his wife having died some time before 
 and five Indian slaves. Shaugarette left a small amount 
 of property in addition to these slaves. Dr. McLoughlin 
 urged Jason Lee to accept the property, including the 
 slaves, and bring up the children in the home he was 
 
 152 
 
MISSION WOKK 
 
 building. Lee refused to administer the estate unless 
 the slaves were openly set free, and with the consent of 
 Dr. McLoughlin, who practically ruled the country, their 
 freedom was formally declared. 6 Dr. McLoughlin himself 
 had bought Indian children with benevolent purposes, and 
 as soon as they were able to work had begun paying wages 
 to them, the same as to the other Indians employed by him. 
 He approved Lee s action and was confirmed in his own 
 purpose of giving his purchased Indians their freedom. 
 Thus under the two leaders of American and British in 
 terests, slavery disappeared from the north Pacific Coast, 
 and Jason Lee helped to develop in this distant region a 
 civilization which in the later crisis contributed some share 
 toward the abolition of slavery and the preservation of the 
 Union. 
 
 We have mentioned in the chapter on the Oregon 
 pioneers Lee s organization of the Oregon Temperance 
 Society, which took place in 1835, and the success of his 
 effort to persuade Ewing Young and Lawrence Cannichael 
 to abandon the distillery project. As the missionaries now 
 came into longer and closer contact with the Indians they 
 recognized their filth, their immorality, and their diseases, 
 some caught from white men, others engendered by their 
 own filth and immorality. Bancroft says that more than 
 half the Indian children in the Willamette and Columbia 
 Valleys were infected with syphilis. 7 Above all, the mis 
 sionaries were impressed by the unconquerable laziness 
 of their Indian wards. The missionaries were forced, 
 much against their wishes, to recognize that the noble red 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 82. 
 1 1bid., vol. i, pp. 82, 83. 
 
 153 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 man looking for the white man s "Book of Heaven/ which 
 had fired their hearts and the heart of the church at home, 
 was not true to the existing realities. At times they won 
 dered whether they had not sinned in passing beyond the 
 seats of the Nez Perces and the Flatheads who uttered 
 the original cry for light, and settling in the Willamette 
 Valley; but they learned later that the experiences of 
 Whitman and Spalding in the interior were similar to their 
 own. They now saw that it would take years of patient 
 teaching, line upon line, precept upon precept, and, above 
 all, example after example in industrial training and in 
 Christian living, to bring the barbarous Indian nature up 
 to the nineteenth-century standard of civilization. They 
 had met great encouragement at the start ; the Indians had 
 been greatly stirred by the coming of the white men, who 
 apparently had no other aim in life than to help them, and 
 many Indians professed conversion and were baptized; 
 and some of the converts were displaying in their daily 
 lives some at least of the fruits of the Spirit. 
 
 During 1836 and 1837 there were twenty-three Indian 
 and halfbreed children in the home, ten of whom were 
 orphans, while eighteen adult Indians and half-breeds 
 attended school. Hence, in addition to the large numbers 
 who usually came to religious services, forty-one were re 
 ceiving daily instruction and being trained to become fel 
 low workers with the missionaries among their own people. 
 Most of them learned to speak some English and to read 
 sufficiently to spell out portions of the Bible for their 
 people. At first the Indians were eager to pray, but the 
 missionaries found that with their inveterate laziness they 
 regarded prayer as a magic method of securing food and 
 clothing without work. One day an Indian asked Perkins 
 
 154 
 
 2 
 
MISSION WORK 
 
 for a coat; Perkins replied, "You must work and earn 
 one." "0," said the neophyte, "I was told if I took your 
 religion, and prayed for what I wanted to have, I should 
 get it. If I am to work for it, I can earn a coat at any 
 time of the Hudson s Bay Company." 8 Another Indian 
 came one day and reported that his whole tribe had become 
 Christians and learned to pray. "My heart is full of pray," 
 he said, and fell upon his knees and began a broken prayer 
 which was very touching. But he stopped in the middle 
 of his petitions and demanded clothes. Thus the Indians 
 were perverting the most important means of promoting 
 the spiritual life and were using prayer as magic to obtain 
 food and clothing without work. 
 
 To meet the conditions which confronted them the mis 
 sionaries from the beginning attempted to impress upon 
 their Indian wards two doctrines: first, the necessity of 
 trusting in Christ and obeying him as the condition of 
 eternal salvation; and, second, the necessity of work, and 
 especially of farm work, to meet the competition of the 
 white race, which the missionaries saw would be drawn 
 to Oregon by the marvelous soil and climate. 
 
 At this point the missionaries were met by another dan 
 ger which confounded themselves as well as the Indians, 
 namely, the high death rate among their wards. Of the 
 fourteen children received into the home the first year, 
 five died, five through fear of death ran away, and of the 
 remaining four, two died in the second year. Thus out 
 of the fourteen children first received into the home the 
 missionaries had only two left at the end of the second 
 year of instruction. The history of the Indian students 
 
 8 Lee and Frost, Oregon, p. 230. 
 
 155 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 at Dartmouth College and at Hamilton College repeated 
 itself in an aggravated form in the Willamette Valley. 
 Twenty-five more children were received into the home 
 in 1836, and sixteen of these fell ill, apparently of malaria, 
 but the disease proved to be a form of diphtheria. Through 
 lack of accommodations and also in order to sepa 
 rate the sick from the well, all the stricken ones were 
 kept in a single room, and the death rate was fearful. 
 Evidently, the missionaries were justified in appealing for a 
 physician. 
 
 We have thus portrayed the difficulties which beset the 
 missionaries from the start in their effort to Christianize 
 and civilize the Indians. The Missions of the American 
 Board at Waiilatpu and at Lapwai opened in the same 
 encouraging manner as the Missions in the Willamette 
 Valley. Owing to the greater isolation of the Indians at 
 the missions of Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding and also 
 to the stronger constitutions of the less contaminated In 
 dians, those of the interior stations remained more con 
 stant in the Christian life for a few years than did the In 
 dians at The Dalles, French Prairie, and Champoeg. But 
 the reaction during the next ten years was greater among 
 the Indians of the American Board stations and resulted in 
 the massacre of the Whitman party. The missionaries 
 of neither Board realized at first how serious were the 
 difficulties; they still believed in the possibility of the 
 immediate salvation of the Indians and were frequently 
 encouraged in the belief that the Missions would prove 
 an incalculable blessing to the Indians of the Pacific 
 Coast. But they also believed, in the more rapid trans 
 formation of the pagan character and of pagan civilization 
 than New Testament experience, with its examples of lust 
 
 156 
 
MISSION WORK 
 
 invading Christian households and of drunkenness at the 
 Lord s Supper, warranted. 9 
 
 In response to Lee s appeal of December 18, 1834, there 
 arrived in May, 1837, the second missionary group. 10 This 
 group of reenforcements was soon followed by a third 
 group, who failed to catch the earlier boat, but reached 
 Fort Vancouver September 7, 1837. n The hearts of the 
 missionaries beat high with joy as they now looked for 
 ward to the speedy evangelization of the Willamette Valley 
 and the establishment of civilization within its borders. 
 The Misses Susan Downing, Elvira Johnson, Anna Pit 
 man, and Margaret Smith, and the Mesdames Alanson 
 Beers and Elijah White were the first American white 
 women to set foot on the Pacific Coast ; Mrs. Jane Beaver, 
 an English woman, came with her husband, the Rev. Her 
 bert Beaver, chaplain to the Hudson s Bay Company at 
 Fort Vancouver, in the summer of 1836. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Beaver returned to England in 1838. 12 Jason Lee was 
 informed by the Missionary Society that they had selected 
 Miss Pitman as a suitable woman for his wife ; and before 
 Miss Pitman sailed she received a hint that the Society 
 would not be offended if she married Jason Lee. Miss 
 Downing and Cyrus Shepard already were engaged. Hence, 
 some six weeks after the arrival of the boat a solemn service 
 was held : the baptism of some Indian children and adults 
 and the reception of the adults into the church, a sermon 
 
 9 1 Corinthians, 11: 21. 
 
 10 See Appendix I, under date of 1837, for Second Group of 
 Methodist Missionaries, pp. 287-297. 
 
 11 See Appendix I, under date of 1837, for Third Group of 
 Methodist Missionaries, pp. 287-297. 
 
 12 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 50-53. 
 
 157 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 on the sanctity of marriage, followed by the marriage of 
 Jason Lee and Miss Pitman, the service being performed 
 by Daniel Lee ; then Jason Lee united Cyrus Shepard and 
 Miss Downing in marriage, and later in the day he per 
 formed a similar service for a Hudson s Bay employee 
 named Charles J. Eoe and Nancy McKay, a half-breed 
 daughter of Captain McKay; the religious service closed 
 with a love feast, in which not only every Methodist spoke, 
 but several French-Canadian Catholics expressed sorrow 
 for their sins and their purpose to lead a new life ; Charles 
 J. Roe and Webley J. Hauxhurst were baptized and re 
 ceived into the church. Soon after the arrival of the 
 third group, 13 H. H. W. Perkins and Miss Johnson, who 
 had been engaged before sailing, were united in marriage. 
 On the arrival of this group, Lee extended the activities 
 of the Mission, establishing a station at Wascopam (The 
 Dalles) in 1838 with Daniel Lee and H. K. W. Perkins 
 in charge. In 1838 Jason Lee visited Nisqually, at the 
 head of Puget Sound, and planned a mission station for 
 that point. 14 
 
 The arrival of the white women, of a physician, a black 
 smith, a carpenter, of teachers, and, above all, of home- 
 makers added incalculably to the serviceableness of the 
 Methodist Mission. The Indians were witnessing priceless 
 demonstrations of the advantages of Christian civilization 
 and of Christian family life. Meantime American in 
 terests were being instinctively conserved. As already 
 narrated, the Hudson s Bay Company in 1838 furnished 
 transportation to the Roman Catholic missionaries to the 
 Oregon Country to win the hearts of the Indians away 
 
 "Atwood, The Conquerors, pp. 55, 56. 
 14 Ibid., p. 106. 
 
 158 
 
MISSION WORK 
 
 from the Congregationalists, the Methodists, and the 
 Presbyterians and thus remove the missionary motive 
 which had brought the Lees, Whitmans, and Spaldings 
 to Oregon. They proposed to solve the religious problems, 
 exactly as they had solved the commercial problem, by 
 capturing the field from their competitors. Indeed, so 
 confident was the Hudson s Bay Company of its triumph 
 in 1837 that it began to survey and plot a portion of the 
 country in Puget Sound for individual ownership. But 
 Lee also was forecasting the future. As early as January, 
 1837, he wrote the Missionary Society in New York: "I 
 am fully of the opinion that this country will settle ere 
 long, and if you can send us a few good, pious settlers, you 
 will aid essentially in laying a good foundation for the 
 time to come and confer incalculable benefit upon the 
 people, which will be felt by generations yet unborn." 15 
 Do you see the questions involved in the entrance of the 
 lower basin of the Columbia by the Methodists in 1834 
 and of the upper basin by the American Board in 1836 ? 
 
 15 Ibid., p. 129. 
 
 159 
 
CHAPTEE X 
 LEE AKOUSES THE EAST 
 
 "HE who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he 
 who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes 
 statutes and decisions possible or impossible." Lincoln. 
 
 We concluded the last chapter with Lee s letter to the 
 Missionary Society urging them on patriotic as well as 
 Christian grounds to send out settlers to Oregon. Lee did 
 not let the matter rest with the formation of an opinion^ 
 and the dispatch of a letter; he was emphatically a man 
 of action, and his actions display the energy, power of in 
 itiative, and willingness to take responsibility which char 
 acterize the leader of men. 
 
 The Methodist missionaries united in the conviction 
 that Lee himself ought to go East to explain the changing 
 conditions to the Society and the church, to secure more 
 recruits for the Mission, to induce American Christians 
 to come to Oregon as settlers, to impress upon the govern 
 ment the peril to the sovereignty of the United States 
 involved in her neglect, and to urge the administration 
 to provide protection for Americans., On account of the 
 condition of his wife Lee was very reluctant to leave her, 
 and it was only after much prayer and her approval and 
 blessing that Lee decided to make the trip. Before start 
 ing East he took further steps in the interest of the United 
 States. Already he had sent one petition to the govern- 
 
 160 
 
LEE AROUSES THE EAST 
 
 ment by Slacum. Now he and P. L. Edwards and David 
 Leslie, all members of the Mission, drew up a second peti 
 tion setting forth the extent and remarkable fertility of 
 the country, its mild climate, its certainty of speedy settle 
 ment, the advantage of the Pacific ports for trade with 
 China and India, and petitioning the government at once 
 to extend its laws over the territory. The passage in regard 
 to the trade with China and India sounds as if those mis 
 sionaries anticipated "the guns of Dewey at Manila," 
 whose reverberations sixty years later were heard around 
 the world. A convention of the settlers was called in 1838 ; 
 the prospects of the settlement were discussed, and the 
 petition was adopted and signed by twenty-two Americans 
 residing in the valley, including the nine missionaries and 
 J. L. Whitcomb, employed by the Mission as a teacher. 
 Lee s personal influence was such that in addition to the 
 American signers he induced nine French Canadians, ex- 
 employees of the Hudson s Bay Company, to sign his 
 petition for American government. This is the petition 
 mentioned in Chapter VI as the second petition; it was 
 presented to the Senate January 28, 1839, as the petition 
 signed by J. L. Whitcomb and thirty others. 
 
 Jason Lee, with P. L. Edwards, then started East March 
 15, 1838, taking three half-Indian sons of Captain McKay 
 for an education and two full-blooded Indians to aid in 
 his campaign. Lee reached Dr. Whitman s station April 
 14 and spent Sunday, the 15th, with him. The conference 
 was full and brotherly, and it is incredible that Lee did 
 not tell Whitman of his plans for an American government 
 on the Pacific Coast as well as of his plans for securing 
 additional missionary reenforcements. Thus, Dr. Whit 
 man probably heard of Jason Lee s plans for American 
 
 161 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 control of the Pacific Coast four years before he started 
 on his famous ride to Washington. 
 
 Lee refused to travel on Sundays, maintaining that the 
 horses would cover as great a distance by one day of rest 
 in seven as by constant travel, and his convictions won 
 the company of pioneers with whom he journeyed to the 
 temporary observance of the Lord s Day. On the way 
 East it was learned that the rendezvous for American 
 traders this year had been changed to an island in the 
 Popo Agie, a branch of the Wind River, and, on account 
 of the danger, the other travelers decided that they would 
 not attempt to reach this rendezvous. Lee, however, with 
 greater courage, decided that if necessary he would ride 
 on alone to the meeting place ; one after another each mem 
 ber of the company decided to join him, so that he led 
 them through a particularly dangerous part of the jour 
 ney. 1 He met here five men and four women of the 
 American Board, the first recruits going to join Dr. 
 Whitman and Mr. Spalding; and they all united in a 
 mountain prayer meeting. On September 1 the company 
 was overtaken at the Shawnee Mission, near Westport, 
 Missouri, 2 by the courier referred to in Chapter IV, sent by 
 Dr. McLoughlin with a letter to Lee informing him that 
 the little son who had been born to him had died June 7, 
 
 1 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, pp. 
 154, 155. 
 
 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 170, says the mes 
 senger overtook Jason Lee at the Pawnee Mission near Council 
 Bluffs, Iowa; but Hines, a few years later, visited the Shawnee 
 Mission, at Westport, Missouri, and was shown by Mr. Johnson, 
 the superintendent, the room which Jason Lee occupied when 
 he received the news. See Missionary History of the Pacific 
 Northwest, p. 156. 
 
 162 
 
LEE AROUSES THE EAST 
 
 and that his wife had died June 26, 1838. Anna Pitman 
 Lee was the first white woman to die in Oregon, and her 
 death, far removed from her family and her early friends, 
 without proper medical care or nursing, and without her 
 husband s presence, was full of heroism. Dr. H. K. Hines 
 thus describes Lee s receipt of the news: "Late at night, 
 however, after he had retired to his room, and while he 
 was offering up his evening devotions, his door was un 
 expectedly alarmed. On opening it an unknown messenger 
 put into his hands a package of letters and immediately 
 retired. They were from Oregon, and one bore a black 
 seal, a fearful omen to his eye. He broke it with trembling 
 hand only to read in the first line that his Anna Maria 
 and her infant son were numbered with the dead. All the 
 light seemed to go out of his life in a moment. It seemed 
 only shadow ; dark, unrelieved, blinding shadow all around. 
 . . . The night was spent most mournfully; but in its 
 darkness the strong soul had received greater strength 
 from its wrestling with self and sorrow and God. In the 
 morning his dark brow had a deeper shade, his eye told 
 a tale of nightly weeping, but his calmed spirit breathed 
 out its wealth of trust. For the few days he remained at 
 this place his meek, chastened spirituality, his lofty faith 
 in God, his manly bearing in his sorrows, won all minds 
 and all gave him the throne of the good, great man in 
 their hearts." 3 
 
 At the Shawnee Mission Lee began preaching and 
 lecturing on the Oregon Mission and on Oregon. He made 
 a campaign like that of Peter the Hermit in the Dark 
 Ages, of Bishop Simpson of the Methodist Episcopal 
 
 8 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, pp. 
 156-157. 
 
 163 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Church in behalf of the Union, 1861-65, and of Bishop 
 McCabe in his lecture on Libby Prison a campaign based 
 on religion and patriotism. Lee spoke at Saint Louis. 
 His story of the Mission, the presence of the Indian boys 
 and the repetition in their native language of the Lord s 
 Prayer and portions of the Scriptures awakened great 
 enthusiasm, while his description of Oregon helped to 
 create the emigration which later saved the country to 
 the United States. Lee reached Alton September 13, 1838, 
 where the Illinois Conference was then in session. Un 
 announced and unexpected, he entered the church like an 
 apparition with his five Indians marching behind him. 
 The bishop presiding embraced him, and his speeches and 
 the Indian songs and prayers deeply stirred the audience. 
 The influence of Lee s speech and conversations finds voice 
 in the Alton Telegraph s issue of October 17, 1838, which 
 said: "Citizens of the West, will you tamely consent that 
 Oregon, one of the loveliest regions that nature ever be 
 stowed upon man, shall become a powerful country in the 
 hands of England ? If Oregon goes from us, the honor of 
 the United States goes with it. Never, no, never yield." 4 
 In the issue of November 9, 1839, it comments as follows 
 on the value of Oregon to the United States: "It would 
 become a grand thoroughfare to Asia and the countries 
 bordering on the Pacific Ocean. ... It would be of great 
 advantage to the Western States, and cause them to in 
 crease in population and industrial development and make 
 them the center of this great republic. . . . Nothing but 
 the power of Omnipotence could prevent the United States 
 from becoming the leading nation of the world/ 5 Evi- 
 
 * Quoted by Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 143. 
 Ibid., p. 144. 
 
 164 
 
LEE AROUSES THE EAST 
 
 dently, Lee had kindled the fires of patriotism as well as 
 of religion. 
 
 Jason Lee thus spoke at many places through Missouri, 
 Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and reached New York city 
 October 31, 1838, seven and one half months after leaving 
 the Mission. 6 Through the illness of one of the Indian 
 boys he had been detained a few weeks at Peoria, Illinois. 
 The detention, which he chafed under at the time, fell 
 out for the advancement of American influence in Oregon. 
 It enabled him to make the addresses and hold the per 
 sonal conferences with interested parties which helped to 
 start to Oregon the emigrations of 1838, 1841, and 1843 
 the emigrations which secured the region to the United 
 States. It was not Lee s visit alone which created this 
 tide of emigration, though he contributed to it probably 
 more than any other man. The first ripple of emigration 
 through Lee s initiative, but not by missionary support, 
 was felt at Peoria, Illinois, in the autumn of 1838. A 
 band of fourteen persons, among them Joseph Holman 
 and Robert Shortess, was formed during the fall and win 
 ter. Their motto was "Oregon or the Grave." They gath 
 ered before the courthouse about May 1, 1839, prayer was 
 offered for their safety and success, and they boldly set out 
 on their long expedition. They were followed a little 
 later by a small party from Quincy, Illinois, also inspired 
 by the speeches of Lee. 
 
 At Jacksonville, Illinois, the Rev. John P. Richmond, 
 M.D., was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He 
 was a man whom Lee at once greatly desired for Mission 
 work. He combined the qualifications of the minister, 
 the educator, the physician, and the statesman in a remark- 
 
 8 Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 67. 
 
 165 
 
THE OREGON" MISSIONS 
 
 able degree. He was a graduate of the University of 
 Pennsylvania and had completed a medical course in 
 Philadelphia. He was a member of two State Constitu 
 tional Conventions, was superintendent of schools for 
 Illinois for eight years, was speaker of the Illinois As 
 sembly when General John A. Logan and Chief Justice 
 Fuller were members of that body, and was a member 
 of the Illinois State Senate when Abraham Lincoln was 
 a member of the Assembly. 7 Lee s sermons on missions 
 and the songs of his Indian wards appealed to the heroic 
 element in Dr. Richmond s nature. He responded to 
 Lee s appeal to go to Oregon; and before starting West 
 helped by sermons and speeches to make southwestern 
 Illinois the classic ground for Oregon emigrants. Lee 
 gave him the most important station in the Mission 
 Nisqually, at the head of Puget Sound and not far from 
 the present site of Tacoma, the buildings for which had 
 been erected by the Rev. David Leslie and W. H. Willson 
 in 1839. Had not his discouragement over the disappear 
 ance of the Indians and the broken health of himself and 
 his family led to his resignation from the Oregon Mission 
 and a few years later to his retirement from the ministry, 
 Dr. Richmond would have proved Lee s strongest helper 
 in missionary and patriotic work. As it was, Dr. Rich 
 mond s decision led such men as Hillis, Kelby, Boyce, 
 Ebez, Goldsmith, Lang, Royal, and others to Oregon ; and 
 they contributed greatly to the upbuilding of the church 
 and the commonwealth. Dr. Richmond s interest in the 
 work continued unabated, as a letter published in the 
 Tacoma News of April 8, 1884, shows. 8 
 
 7 Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 110. 
 8 Ibid., p. 108. 
 
 166 
 
LEE AKOUSES THE EAST 
 
 Lee also spoke at Springfield, Illinois, and the Sanga- 
 mon Journal 9 in the issue of February 23, 1839, published 
 Lee s memorial to Congress. The issue of March 9 has 
 an article on the climate, fertility of the soil, and the 
 resources of Oregon; the issue of April 12 announces the 
 formation of the Oregon Emigration Society in Peoria, and 
 similar societies at Saint Charles, Missouri; Michigan 
 City, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; while the issue of October 
 12 had a long article describing the sailing of the Lausanne 
 with Jason Lee and the missionary party. Also the Illinois 
 State Begister, 10 then published at Vandalia, had an article 
 in its issue of September 21, 1838, based on one of Lee s 
 addresses and describing the mild climate and fertile soil, 
 the work of the missionaries, and the importance of the 
 country to the United States. Its issue of June 10, 1842, 
 contains an article saying: "For Oregon, the people are 
 in motion. . . . The expedition includes Dr. White, who 
 goes as government agent, and many of the most respect 
 able families of the West are now encamped near Inde 
 pendence, Missouri. . . " It is unnecessary to quote more 
 reports from the Western newspapers. It is interesting 
 to read that a few years later Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, 
 was offered the first appointment as governor of the Oregon 
 Territory, and through the interest which had been aroused 
 by the Illinois newspapers, was inclined to accept the 
 office, but finally declined it, on his wife s advice. 11 
 
 Jason Lee was not the only man who went to Oregon and 
 wrote enthusiastic letters back, not the only man who 
 
 Ibid., pp. 141, 142. 
 
 10 Ibid., pp. 142, 143. 
 
 11 Charnwood, Abraham Lincoln, p. 95. 
 
 167 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 returned East, but he is the only man, so far as we can 
 learn, the record of whose missionary and patriotic zeal 
 can be traced through twelve States from Missouri to 
 Massachusetts, from the District of Columbia to New 
 England, and who conducted a systematic campaign for 
 emigration to Oregon through the religious and secular 
 press. 
 
 The letters of Cyrus Shepard and of Susan Downing 
 Shepard, and possibly some contributions of Lee to Zion s 
 Herald, led the Methodists of Lynn, Massachusetts, to 
 organize the Oregon Provisional Emigration Society in 
 August, 1838. The Society published a monthly magazine 
 called the Oregonian, and secured three thousand members, 
 each of whom consented to an annual assessment of one 
 dollar. The four officers of the society were Methodist 
 preachers, and ten of the fourteen members of the Execu 
 tive Committee were also ministers, thus showing that the 
 movement was organized under Methodist influence and 
 is not the society reported as organized in Boston by Hall 
 J. Kelley. The great aim of this organization was to 
 induce Christian families to move to Oregon and save the 
 Indians by Christian example and neighborly aid. It was 
 a remarkable program in applied Christianity. 
 
 Under the treaty of joint occupancy, the conviction grew 
 on both sides that the sovereignty of the country eventually 
 would be determined by the predominance of British or 
 of American settlers. This conviction, along with later 
 developments along the line of this conviction, shows the 
 importance of Lee s work in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and 
 Ohio, New York and the New England States, and espe 
 cially the value of enlisting the newspapers in the cam 
 paign in favor of the Oregon Country and in favor of its 
 
 168 
 
LEE AROUSES THE EAST 
 
 control by the United States. The Peoria Party of 1839- 
 40, and the party with which Lee reached Oregon in 1840 
 were wholly due to his visit to the East in 1838-39 ; while 
 Dr. White s party of 1842 and the more than eight hundred 
 Americans who migrated to Oregon in 1843 were, in a 
 large measure, due to Lee s visit, to the petitions which he 
 sent to Congress, to the information furnished in part by 
 him and published by the government, to the land grant 
 bills; and to the newspapers of Illinois and neighboring 
 States which he largely enlisted in the Oregon enterprise, 
 which, indeed, continued the agitation long after his de 
 parture. 
 
 Caleb Gushing, chairman of the House Committee of 
 Foreign Relations, and one of the ablest lawyers in the 
 United States, received the second memorial which Lee 
 himself carried from Oregon; he wrote to Lee for fuller 
 information. Lee replied from Middletown, Connecticut, 
 January 17, 1839, giving the latest information in regard 
 to Oregon and his plan for securing the territory to the 
 United States by emigration. He closed the letter with 
 words which proved prophetic: "It may be thought that 
 Oregon is of little importance; but, rely upon it, there is 
 the germ of a great state." 12 We have already furnished 
 in Chapter VI some strong illustrations of Lee s influence 
 upon Congress. 13 
 
 But the most striking proof of Lee s influence was the 
 fact that the government granted him fifty dollars per 
 person out of the secret service fund to aid him in carrying 
 back the missionary party in 1839. 14 This amounted to 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 173. 
 18 Ibid., vol. i, p. 217. 
 "Ibid., vol. i, p. 177, note. 
 
 169 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 about $2,600. 15 Bancroft thus comments upon Lee s influ 
 ence with the government: "It is not necessary to follow 
 the action of Congress further, in this place. The refer 
 ence is here made to point out the agency of Jason Lee 
 in directing that action, and the strong influence he seems 
 to have wielded in Washington as well as with missionary 
 board. How much his suggestions, especially concerning 
 land matters, molded subsequent legislation will be made 
 evident in considering the action of the government at 
 a later period. A proof of the favor with which his 
 designs were regarded by the Cabinet is furnished by the 
 appropriation of considerable money from the secret serv 
 ice fund for the charter of the Lausanne, as related by one 
 of her passengers. Lee kept the secret, and so did those 
 who gave him the money, until the boundary question was 
 settled between the United States and Great Britain." 16 
 In view of the fact that the entire reenforcements of Lee 
 and of White were needed to establish the provisional gov 
 ernment and to secure the territory without a war, it is- 
 doubtful if our government ever made a wiser use of the 
 secret service fund than in helping pay for the ship which 
 carried Lee s band of emigrants to the Pacific Coast. 
 Jason Lee did not originate Congressional agitation in 
 behalf of Oregon. As shown in Chapter VI, this began 
 as early as 1821. But an examination of the Congressional 
 records shows that the first three petitions asking the 
 
 "Pacific Christian Advocate, April 20, 1904 (quoted by 
 Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 67), and Hines, Missionary His 
 tory of the Pacific Northwest, p. 201, say that $5,000 was ap 
 propriated from the secret service fund. 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 176, 177. 
 
 170 
 
 4- 
 
LEE AROUSES THE EAST 
 
 government to extend its authority over Oregon were 
 written by Methodists, and that nine of the twenty-six 
 measures inaugurated by the government, including four 
 of the nine bills introduced, were due in part at least to 
 Methodist initiative. 
 
 Lee s influence in New York is shown by the fact that 
 the Missionary Society accepted the fundamental changes 
 in its policy, namely, the change from pure evangelism 
 to applied Christianity and the adaptation of the Mission 
 in increasing measure to the whites while caring for the 
 Indians. The Society authorized Lee to procure and take 
 back every person whom he asked for, and gave him three 
 more ministers than Lee himself had included in his pro 
 gram. Upon the whole, the Society sent out with Lee, on 
 his return in 1839-40, thirty-three adults and nineteen 
 children, making fifty-two persons in all, of whom five 
 were ministers. 17 In addition, the Society authorized the 
 purchase of machinery for farming, including a threshing 
 machine, the iron works for a saw mill, for a grist mill, 
 and all kinds of merchandise, so as to render the mission 
 aries as far as practicable independent of the Hudson s 
 Bay Company and enable them to introduce Christian 
 civilization among the Indians and the whites. To accom 
 plish this task the Society made a grant to Lee of $42,000 
 for the machinery and merchandise, the outgoing expenses 
 and the salaries for the first year the largest grant ever 
 made to a single mission thus far in the history of the 
 Society. The Missionary Society, by this action, both 
 recognized and indorsed Lee s policy of introducing Chris 
 tian civilization into the country, both for the Indians and 
 
 See Appendix I, under date 1840. 
 171 
 
THE OBEGON MISSIONS 
 
 the whites, instead of the narrower policy of sending 
 ministers only to preach the gospel to the Indians. 
 
 One more illustration of Jason Lee s influence over men 
 of affairs is furnished by Bancroft. The Lausanne, which 
 Lee had chartered for the fourth group of Methodist re- 
 enforcements, reached Honolulu on April 11, 1840, and 
 remained there until the 28th. "During their sojourn, 
 Lee held a conference with Kamehameha III, relative to the 
 exchange of productions between the Island and Oregon, 
 and an informal treaty of commerce was entered into, to 
 the manifest pleasure of the king." This treaty of com 
 merce was between the Hawaiian government and the 
 Oregon Americans whom Lee represented. Lee with his 
 customary foresight was providing for the commercial 
 growth of the new commonwealth. 
 
 We believe this chapter makes clear the fact that Jason 
 Lee s influence upon the country, upon the government of 
 the United States, and upon the Missionary Society of his 
 church, was, upon the whole, far greater than even he 
 dreamed of exerting when he set out in 1838 upon his 
 lonely journey to the East. The Divine Providence is the 
 key to history, and human agents are effective as God 
 works in and through them. 
 
 172 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 S. A. CLARKE, who, upon the whole, is an exceedingly 
 fair writer, falls into a strange error as to the origin of 
 American local government in Oregon. Mr. Clarke s 
 defective and in part misleading account springs from his 
 reliance upon W. H. Gray, whose writings Bancroft charac 
 terizes as wholly unreliable. Gray s aim was to magnify 
 his work as the author of the provisional government of 
 Oregon. Gray did not need to misconstrue the earlier 
 work of the Methodists in behalf of civil government in 
 Oregon, much less did he need falsely to charge them with 
 opposition to organized American government in the Terri 
 tory; the facts show that the efforts of the Methodists 
 resulted in only a partial or incomplete government; that 
 the help of the so-called "Wolf Meeting" called by Gray 
 was needed, and that Gray was an effective and perhaps 
 the most effective promoter of the provisional government 
 of Oregon. Let us set forth fully, fairly, and in order, 
 the various steps taken for the establishment of American 
 government in Oregon. 
 
 1. The Methodists and other Americans called a meet 
 ing, which was held at the Methodist Mission at Cham- 
 poeg, February 7, 1841, 1 for the purpose of consulting 
 upon the steps necessary to be taken for the formation of 
 laws and the election of officers to execute them. Jason 
 
 1 Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 92. 
 
 173 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Lee was elected chairman of this meeting; and this meet 
 ing was held two years before the so-called "Wolf Meet 
 ing," which is often named as the first meeting held for 
 the organization of American government in Oregon. 
 
 2. Eight days after this meeting, February 15, 1841, 
 Ewing Young died. As he left considerable property and 
 as there was no American court of law in the Oregon 
 Country for the administration of the estate, at the close 
 of the funeral all present were asked to tarry and complete 
 the plans discussed February 7. 2 The meeting, like the 
 funeral, was held in the Methodist church and Jason Lee 
 was again chosen to preside, and Gustavus Hines, another 
 member of the Methodist Mission, was elected secretary. 3 
 Indeed, Bancroft says that the meeting of the 17th was 
 composed chiefly of the members of the Mission. 4 The 
 meeting passed resolutions to form a code of laws for 
 the government of the settlements south of the Columbia, 
 to admit to the protection of these laws all settlers north 
 of the Columbia not connected with the Hudson s Bay 
 Company, to form an organization with a governor, su 
 preme judge with probate powers, three justices of the 
 peace, three constables, three road commissioners, an 
 attorney-general, a clerk of the courts and public recorder, 
 a treasurer, and two overseers of the poor. The meeting 
 nominated a committee to frame the constitution and code 
 of laws and to nominate men for the various offices. 5 It 
 
 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, pp. 650, 
 651. See also Hines, Oregon: Its History, Conditions and Pros 
 pects, p. 418. 
 
 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 293. 
 
 4 Ibid., vol. i, p. 293. 
 
 Ibid., vol. i, p. 293. 
 
 174 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 will thus be seen that the meeting of February 17, 1841, 
 contemplated the organization of a full civil government. 
 The meeting adjourned to the 18th to hear the commit 
 tee s report. 
 
 3. February 18 the French-Canadians met with the 
 American settlers, "To propitiate and to secure the co 
 operation of the Canadians were the aims of the leading 
 Americans, as without them, or opposed by them, there 
 would be difficulty in organizing a government." "David 
 Leslie being in the chair with Sidney Smith and Hines 
 as secretaries, the minutes of the previous meeting were 
 presented and accepted so far as choosing a committee 
 to frame a constitution and code of laws was concerned. 
 The meeting chose as the committee F. N. Blanchet, Jason 
 Lee, David Donpierre, Gustavus Hines, Charlevon, Robert 
 Moore, J. L. Parrish, Etienne Lucier, and William John 
 son." 6 By making Father Blanchet chairman of the com 
 mittee the Mission party hoped to secure the French- 
 Canadian Catholic influence and to harmonize sectarian 
 differences. As Lee s was the one name considered for 
 the governorship, but as it seemed unwise to elect the head 
 of the Methodist Mission to this office, it was found ex 
 pedient to defer the election of a governor, and the con 
 vention proceeded to the choice of other officers. I. L. 
 Babcock was chosen supreme judge with probate powers; 
 George W. LeBreton clerk of the court and public re 
 corder; William Johnson, high sheriff; and Zavier Lada- 
 root, Pierre Billique, and William McCarty, constables. 
 . . . "Until the code of laws should be drafted Judge 
 Babcock should be instructed to act according to the laws of 
 
 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 293, 294. 
 
 175 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 the State of New York." 7 The convention then adjourned 
 to meet June 7 at Saint Pauls, the mission station of the 
 Roman Catholic Church. A partial territorial govern 
 ment was thus organized February 18, 1841, with a judge, 
 clerk of the court, sheriff, constables, and laws. 
 
 4. On reassembling June 7 it was found that Father 
 Blanchet, chairman of the committee, had not called the 
 committee together; on the contrary, he sent a letter to 
 the meeting asking to be excused from service. His with 
 drawal was taken, as was probably intended, to signify 
 that the Canadians had decided to take no part in the 
 organization of a government. Father Blanchet s resigna 
 tion having been accepted, "W. J. Bailey was chosen a 
 member of the committee, and the committee was in 
 structed to report to an adjourned meeting of the con 
 vention to be held on the first Thursday in October. 
 
 Prior to the October meeting, Dr. McLoughlin advised 
 against the organization of a government. Lieutenant 
 Wilkes was in Oregon in charge of an exploring expedition 
 for the United States government; he had been the guest 
 of Dr. McLoughlin and had been treated with great hos 
 pitality by the Hudson s Bay Company, and we believe he 
 was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Dr. Mc 
 Loughlin had placed guides and boats and all other aids 
 which it was possible to procure at the service of the 
 scientists of the party. It was natural, therefore, for 
 Lieutenant Wilkes to share Dr. McLoughlin s view, and 
 he also advised against the scheme. Bancroft says : "Find 
 ing themselves baffled at every turn, but encouraged to 
 believe that the United States government would soon 
 
 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 294. 
 
 176 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 extend its jurisdiction over them, the missionary party 
 now reluctantly consented to let drop their political scheme 
 for the present." 8 Nevertheless an incomplete but real 
 civil government had been organized by the settlers in the 
 Willamette Valley in the four meetings which we have 
 described; and an American government, independent of 
 the Hudson s Bay Company, was thus formed. Dr. I. L. 
 Babcock had been elected Supreme Court judge with pro 
 bate powers and during the next two years he was the 
 <f head and front of the infant State/ as Clarke himself 
 admits. 9 He administered the estate of Ewing Young to 
 the satisfaction of all concerned. 10 
 
 Owing to the opposition of the Hudson s Bay Company 
 and the Roman Catholics the convention probably did not 
 meet in October; at least no record of the October meeting 
 has been found. But the subject continued to be discussed 
 through the winter of 1842-43 by a debating society said 
 to have been organized in Oregon City for this purpose. 11 
 The question of establishing a government independent 
 of both the United States and Great Britain was said to 
 have been favored by Dr. McLoughlin and several Ameri 
 can colonists. Hastings, an American who came with 
 Dr. White s party, but was strongly opposed to White, 
 went so far as to offer a resolution in favor of the plan. 
 George Abernethy, treasurer of the Methodist Mission, 
 offered as a substitute the following : "If the United States 
 extends its jurisdiction over this country within four 
 years, it will not be expedient to form an independent 
 
 8 Ibid., vol. i, p. 296. 
 
 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, p. 655. 
 10 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 655. 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 296. 
 
 177 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 government This resolution was warmly discussed and 
 finally carried. 12 
 
 5. In the autumn of 1842 overtures were again made 
 to the Canadians to join in a temporary government, and 
 a meeting to consider the matter was held at French 
 Prairie. The Canadians declined, presumably upon the 
 advice of Dr. McLoughlin and Father Blanchet. Mc- 
 Loughlin saw that to aid or countenance the establishment 
 of a government owing exclusive allegiance to the United 
 States would be disloyal to his country and his Company. 
 Independent government would be preferable to this; 
 though there was danger that such an organization might 
 fall under the control of Americans and might enact laws 
 inimical to his unsettled claim to land at Willamette Falls, 
 south of the Columbia River. Hence he tried to avoid the 
 issue until the matter of sovereignty could be settled. The 
 Canadians made a formal reply, professing cordial senti 
 ments toward the Americans, declaring they were in favor 
 of certain regulations for the protection of persons and 
 property, and that they were willing to yield obedience 
 to the officers chosen February 18, 1841, although they 
 did not approve of all their measures. They declined to 
 address a petition to the United States to solicit aid until 
 the boundary should be established. They opposed taxa 
 tion, but favored a council or senate similar to the 
 Canadian Parliament. This answer was directed to the 
 sixth meeting to be held at Champoeg, March 4, 1843. 13 
 It will thus be seen that, while the opposition of Father 
 Blanchet, Dr. McLoughlin, and Lieutenant Wilkes pre 
 vented the meeting of October, 1841, for the adoption 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 297. 
 "Ibid., voL i, pp. 298, 299. 
 
 178 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 of a constitution, nevertheless the officers elected by the 
 American settlers in February, 1841, were accepted by 
 the Canadian settlers, and that a sixth meeting was called 
 for the further discussion and settlement of problems of 
 local government. It is thus clear that the plans for a 
 government started by the Methodists in 1841 had not 
 come to naught, that they had resulted in five meetings, 
 in the election of American civil officers whom the Cana 
 dians had accepted, and in plans for a sixth meeting. It 
 will also be recognized that Jason Lee was the moving 
 spirit in these five meetings. 
 
 6. At this point W. H. Gray, who had come West as a 
 mechanic and secular aid for the American Board Mission 
 in 1836, but who had resigned from that mission and come 
 on to the Willamette Valley in 1842, and who was em 
 ployed by the Methodist Mission as a carpenter and a 
 teacher, intervened. He wrote and circulated a petition 
 for a meeting of all the settlers February 2, 1843, at the 
 Oregon Institute, the Methodist school where Gray was 
 employed and was living. This meeting anticipated by 
 a month the sixth meeting called for March 4, and in 
 reality took its place. From this time forward Gray seized 
 the reins from Lee s hands and led in the struggle for the 
 provisional government. Owing to the discussion of Lee s 
 name for the governorship, he retired from the active 
 management of the meetings. But some were jealous of 
 his influence with McLoughlin and, as we shall see in 
 Chapter XIII, Lee was at this time unpopular with some 
 of the Methodists. These facts, together with all absence 
 of self-seeking on Lee s part and a general desire of all 
 to avoid factionalism and a general willingness to support 
 every effort looking toward American government, gave 
 
 179 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Gray his opportunity. It is only just to Gray to say that 
 he managed with wisdom the meeting of February 2, 1843. 
 This meeting appointed a committee of six to circulate a 
 notice for a meeting of all citizens in the Willamette Valley 
 at the home of Joseph Gervais on March 6 to devise means 
 for the protection of flocks and herds from the ravages of 
 wolves. 
 
 7. This became the seventh meeting held by the Ameri 
 cans in the interest of civil government. By general acqui 
 escence the meeting of March 4 was allowed to lapse with 
 the understanding upon the part of some at least that its 
 object would be considered at the "Wolf Meeting" of 
 March 6. As soon as the meeting of March 6 had agreed 
 upon a bounty for wolves, W. H. Gray, by an understand 
 ing with the chairman, introduced the subject of better 
 protection for the settlers as well as for their live stock, 
 and he made a very able plea for a committee of twelve to 
 devise or complete a plan of government. Gray s motion 
 prevailed, and the committee was appointed and reported 
 to the second meeting called at Gray s suggestion, but the 
 eighth meeting in the series in favor of a provisional 
 government. 
 
 8. The eighth meeting, which was held May 2, 1843, 
 was attended by the representatives of both the British 
 and American sides. After an earnest debate the meeting 
 voted 52 to 50 in favor of a provisional government, and 
 such a government was organized at the ninth meeting 
 held May 3. 
 
 Clarke says : "The most powerful opponents of organized 
 government were the Hudson s Bay Company and the 
 Methodist Mission." 14 Gray represents the Hudson s Bay 
 
 " Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, p. 660. 
 
 180 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Company and the Methodists, or practically Dr. McLough- 
 lin and Jason Lee, as having formed a government in 1838 
 and as preferring this autocratic government to a govern 
 ment of the people. As a letter by Mrs. Beggs informs us, 
 the Methodists and the Hudson s Bay Company had agreed 
 upon certain regulations for the settlement. But these 
 regulations wore in force in 1841, when the Methodists 
 started the forward movement for the organization of a 
 civil government. The Methodists would not have started 
 this movement had they been satisfied with the incipient 
 government of 1838 and opposed to the establishment of 
 a civil government by the settlers. W. H. Gray, upon 
 whose book Clarke depends, mistakes some criticisms of 
 his own plan of government, and of his indirection in 
 inducing Canadians to attend a meeting for the destruc 
 tion of wolves and then turning this meeting into a move 
 ment for American government, for opposition to the pro 
 visional government per se. 
 
 Against Clarke s statement, based on Gray declaring 
 that the Methodists were joined with the Hudson s Bay 
 Company as opponents of the provisional government, are 
 the following facts: 
 
 1. The Hudson s Bay Company and the Methodists far 
 outnumbered all other parties combined, and had they 
 been united in opposition to the provisional government, 
 such a government could not have been organized. 
 
 2. The Methodists started the movement for a pro 
 visional government in 1841, called six meetings between 
 1841 and 1843 in favor of the movement and took the 
 leading part in five of them. 
 
 3. After W. H. Gray succeeded Jason Lee in the leader 
 ship of the movement for American government, the Meth- 
 
 181 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 odists still cooperated, Dr. Babcock presiding at the sixth 
 meeting. 
 
 4. At the seventh meeting the so-called "Wolf Meet 
 ing" another Methodist, James H. O Neil, presided, and 
 five of the committee of twelve selected to formulate the 
 plan for the provisional government were Methodists. 
 
 5. At the meeting of May 2, 1843, when the provisional 
 government was adopted, a Methodist, Dr. Hines, was 
 chosen to preside. At the convention of May 3, when the 
 government was organized, Dr. Babcock, another Meth 
 odist, was chosen to preside, and one of the three members 
 of the Executive Committee was Alanson Beers, of the 
 Methodist Mission. Also W. H. Willson, of the Methodist 
 Mission, was elected treasurer of Oregon at the meeting of 
 May 3, 1843. We find also the name of A. E. Wilson, 
 who was elected supreme judge as a subscriber of thirty 
 dollars for the erection of the first Methodist church on 
 the Pacific Coast, thus showing that whether he was a 
 member of the church or not, he was a supporter of it 15 
 G. W. LeBreton, elected clerk of the court, had come to 
 Oregon through Lee s letters to the Cushings and is also 
 found in the list of subscribers to the Methodist Church. 
 Robert Shortess, elected a member of the committee to 
 draft laws, came to Oregon in the Peoria party through 
 the inspiration of Jason Lee and soon after was converted 
 and joined the Methodist Church. 16 Gustavus Hines 
 was chosen to deliver the address of July 4, 1843, and in 
 the absence of Dr. Babcock presided at the meeting of 
 July 5. This recorded activity of the Methodists in the 
 
 "Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, p. 
 254. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 255. 
 
 182 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 two meetings in which the provisional government was 
 organized of itself disposes of Gray s statement made 
 years later that the Methodists were opposed to the pro 
 visional government. 
 
 6. The Methodists furnished the house for the meetings 
 of the provisional government of May 16-19 and June 27, 
 28, and that of July 5. 17 Again, Clarke states that one 
 of the greatest obstacles to the success of the provisional 
 government was the unwillingness of the settlers to levy a 
 tax upon themselves for the support of it, but he adds: 
 "Messrs. Beers, Parrish, and Babcock [of the Methodist 
 Mission] engaged to see that board was provided them 
 [the lawmakers] ; and the old granary of the Methodist 
 Mission was offered as a legislative chamber. So the legis 
 lative department of the provisional government was put 
 into motion without a dollar s expense/ 18 
 
 7. When the Executive Committee gave way to a gov 
 ernor on June 3, 1843, George Abernethy, treasurer of 
 the Methodist Mission, was chosen governor, and held the 
 office during the four critical years until the United States 
 government sent General Joseph Lane to Oregon in March, 
 1849, as governor of the Territory. 19 
 
 8. Clarke furnishes the names of those who voted for and 
 against the provisional government. We cannot trace the 
 religious record of all these men. But so far as we can 
 analyze their record we find that seven of the fifty-two 
 who voted for the provisional government were Methodist 
 missionaries, four more were members of the Methodist 
 Church, five were subscribers to the Methodist Church, 
 
 "Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 305. 
 18 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, p. 662. 
 "Atwood, The Conquerors, p. 156. 
 
 183 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 though we do not know whether or not they were members, 
 six came out in the Peoria party as the direct result of 
 Jason Lee s speeches, seven came out with Dr. White as 
 the result of the influence of Lee and White and of the 
 land grant bill which Lee had suggested. One was an 
 attache of the Methodist Mission and married one of the 
 Methodist women who came as a missionary, while one 
 came out on the steamship Maryland as a result of Lee s 
 letter to Gushing. 20 
 
 Deducting three names counted twice, the record shows 
 that twenty-eight of the fifty-two voters in favor of the 
 provisional government came to Oregon or remained in 
 Oregon through the influence of the Methodist Mission. 
 On the other side we cannot find a single one of the fifty 
 men who voted against the provisional government who 
 came to Oregon through Methodist influence or was in 
 any way connected with the Methodists. What becomes 
 of the claim that the "most powerful opponents of organ 
 ized government were the Hudson s Bay Company and 
 the Methodist Mission"? Do you understand why Jesse 
 Applegate, noted for fairness and accuracy, in his mar 
 ginal notes on Gray s History of Oregon, characterizes 
 Gray s claim as the man who carried through the pro 
 visional government as "new to me" ? Do you understand 
 why Bancroft denounces Gray as unreliable, and sums up 
 the work of the famous convention which adopted the pro 
 visional government by saying, "The missionary party 
 had won the day"? and by the "missionary party" Ban 
 croft meant the Methodists, who were the only missionary 
 party in the Willamette Valley. 
 
 w See Appendix II. 
 
 184 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 FROM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 "They waste us aye like April snow, 
 
 In the warm noon we shrink away; 
 And fast they follow, as we go 
 Toward the setting day." 1 
 
 AFTER Lee s return to Oregon in 1840 he met the crisis 
 of his life. Hines says that Lee was amazed at the death 
 and departure of Indians from the Willamette Valley dur 
 ing the two years of his absence. Parrish says that five 
 hundred Indians died in the Willamette Valley in 1840, 
 and by Willamette Valley he means the neighborhood of 
 the Mission. The death of Indians in the Willamette 
 Valley is due to causes similar to those which Dr. W. F. 
 Wagner mentions in his introduction to The Narrative 
 of Zenas Leonard: "The introduction by the whites of 
 vices and diseases among the Indians, and particularly 
 the latter, undermined and sapped the vitality of the 
 natives, making them a mere shadow of their former 
 selves and a hopelessly degenerate race. . . . We have 
 already alluded to the destruction of wars among the In 
 dian tribes, . . . yet these wars were a mere bagatelle 
 when compared with the loss of life as a result of the 
 vices and diseases introduced by the white people." 2 Again, 
 
 1 Bryant, An Indian at the Burial Place of His Fathers. 
 
 2 Leonard, Narrative, pp. 37, 38. 
 
 185 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Dr. Wagner relates that smallpox was carried up the 
 Missouri by the steamboat Saint Peter in 1837. The 
 smallpox spread like wildfire. The epidemic of 1837 sur 
 passed anything ever known or heard of in the annals of 
 Missouri. 3 The Mandans caught the disease June 15, 
 1837, and were soon reduced from fifteen hundred or two 
 thousand persons to thirty. 4 The pestilence reached the 
 Blackfeet through the Crows, 5 and spread in all directions. 
 Dr. Wagner adds: "The mortality of this epidemic has 
 scarcely a parallel in the history of plagues, and fully 
 justifies the quotation from the work of Maximilian, The 
 destroying angel has visited the unfortunate sons of the 
 wilderness with terrors never before known, and has con 
 verted the extensive hunting grounds as well as peaceful 
 settlements of these tribes into desolate and boundless 
 cemeteries. " 6 "Others [plagues] in 1801-02 and in 
 1837-38, are estimated to have reduced the plains Indians 
 by one half." 7 The missionaries on the Pacific Coast 
 could not understand the blight of their hopes and the 
 destruction of their work apparently by the hand of God; 
 the Indians concluded that the white man s God was not 
 the Indian s God, and that they were being punished for 
 having abandoned their own Great Spirit. Hines, speak 
 ing of the condition of the Indians which confronted Jason 
 Lee on his return in 1840, says: "The Indian race was 
 melting away. Where two years before were populous 
 villages, there were now but scattered wigwams. The 
 
 Leonard, Narrative, p. 40. 
 Ibid., p. 43. 
 Ibid., p. 47. 
 
 Quoted by Leonard, Ibid., p. 48. 
 
 T Moffett, The American Indian on the New Trail, p. 7. 
 
 186 
 
FROM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 change was appalling to the superintendent and cast a 
 gloom over every mind." 8 The fact that the Indians did 
 not erect permanent houses or cultivate the land enabled 
 tribes and nations to migrate, and made such changes a 
 characteristic of Indian life. Parkman in one of the 
 fairest and most discriminating chapters upon the Indians 
 with which we are familiar says: "The Indian, hopelessly 
 unchanging in respect to individual and social develop 
 ment, was as regarded . . . local haunts mutable as the 
 wind." 9 The difficulty appeared among the Indians with 
 whom the Hudson s Bay Company traded as well as among 
 those of the Mission. Beckles Willson says that by the 
 Hudson s Bay Company the Cree Indians in all their 
 possessions were estimated at 1,000,000 in 1709, at 100,000 
 in 1749, and about half a century later at 14,000. 10 
 
 The gradual and increasing flow of whites into the 
 Willamette Valley which accompanied the death of the 
 Indians awakened the suspicion of the Indian chiefs; they 
 believed that there was a connection between the advance 
 ment of the one race and the disappearance of the other; 
 and they were reaching the conviction which made a clash 
 between the two races inevitable. Thomas Hill, a Delaware 
 Indian, who made his way across the plains in 1845, was 
 living among the Cayuse Indians near Dr. Whitman s 
 station, and at times at Dr. Whitman s home. During his 
 wanderings across the plains and his residence in the re 
 gions of the upper Columbia in 1844, he had told the 
 Indians the fate of his people in the East. He said 
 
 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, pp. 
 228, 229. 
 
 Parkman, The Jesuits in North America, p. 30. 
 "Willson, The Great Company, vol. i, p. 222. 
 
 187 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 that first, white religious teachers came; then, white set 
 tlers; then, war between the Indians and the whites; and 
 then, the disappearance of the Indians. He prophesied a 
 similar fate for the Indians of the Pacific Coast, if they 
 waited as did the Indians of the East until the white set 
 tlers became strong; and he urged upon the Indians im 
 mediate war for their altars and the graves of their sires. 
 Joseph Lewis, a half-breed Chinook, had been sent to 
 Maine for an education, and on his return West he became 
 an inmate of Dr. Whitman s home. Despite the kindness 
 of the Whitmans, Lewis remained an enemy of civilization. 
 He confirmed all that Hill had reported, and maintained 
 that the plague around Waiilatpu was due to Dr. Whit 
 man s poison; Lewis was largely responsible for the Whit 
 man massacre of 1847. The Canadian Iroquois employed 
 by the Hudson s Bay Company confirmed the reports of 
 Hill and Lewis in regard to the disappearance of the In 
 dians from the eastern portion of the continent. The 
 fears of the Indians were more than justified. Through 
 malaria, measles, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis already 
 they were a swiftly dying race; and they were a doomed 
 people unless measures of relief could be largely and 
 speedily adopted. The tragedy was heightened by the 
 fact that the very speed with which the Indians accepted 
 one part of the missionary program and the parents began 
 to live in houses and the children to study books, only 
 hastened the spread of tuberculosis. Apparently, the only 
 solution of the problem was on the part of the Protestant 
 missionaries large patience, provision for more outdoor 
 life, and less hastening and crowding of the Indians into 
 schoolhouses and dwelling houses; and upon the side of 
 the Indians a full acceptance of the missionary program, 
 
 188 
 
FROM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 namely, Christianity with its self-restraints, farming, 
 housekeeping, and education, and a firm adherence to that 
 program despite all temporary losses. 
 
 While Jason Lee little dreamed that the Indians would 
 disappear so rapidly, no one saw the inevitable conflict 
 more clearly than did he. He did not wait for the clash 
 to come, but attempted to prevent it by early and vigorous 
 action : 
 
 1. The chieftain Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox, or Yellow Serpent, 
 was greatly enraged against the whites because of their 
 brutal murder of his son. He had sent this son to the 
 Methodists on the Willamette, and the boy had learned 
 to speak English, and read and write, had been converted 
 and was living a Christian life. After he returned home 
 he went with his father to visit Captain Sutter, of Cali 
 fornia, on Sutter s invitation. During the visit some 
 cattle were gathered in by Yellow Serpent and some of his 
 men, and in the herd, part of which belonged to the In 
 dians, were a few cattle claimed by some white hunters. 
 The son was suddenly confronted by these white men in 
 the absence of his father and Captain Sutter; and the 
 whites demanded the immediate return of the stolen cattle. 
 The son replied, "I have spoken in favor of their return, 
 but my father is chief and he is absent." The son saw 
 that the white men intended to shoot him and asked time 
 to pray, and fell upon his knees. While praying he was 
 shot by a white man. His father, with a heart crying for 
 vengeance, returned to the region of Walla Walla. Here 
 he learned that Dr. Whitman had started East in October, 
 1842, and that probably he would lead back more white 
 men. The prospect of the incoming of more white enemies 
 awakened fear and bitterness in the chieftain s heart; and 
 
 189 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 some of the Indians now began to believe that the mis 
 sionaries who had come to them in the name of the Great 
 Spirit and professing a desire to help them were the secret 
 agents of white men who were coming to steal away their 
 lands. In view of these dangers, Jason Lee took his life 
 in his hand in a double sense and went boldly into the 
 Walla Walla country in the winter of 1842-43, sending 
 word to Yellow Serpent that he wished to meet him. On 
 this winter trip up the Columbia Eiver Lee came near 
 losing his life. The rise of the river, the floating ice, and 
 the blinding storms made the voyage exceedingly slow and 
 perilous. They had no shelter at night, and Lee and his 
 faithful Indian boatman very nearly died from hunger, 
 wet, and cold. Lee and Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox met on Febru 
 ary 7, 1843. Lee expressed his great sorrow over the 
 murder of the son, and condemned in strong terms the 
 brutality of the whites in that affair. In response to Yel 
 low Serpent s question as to whether the whites wished 
 peace or war, Lee, as recorded in his Journal, replied, 
 "That will depend largely upon yourselves/ In response 
 to the chieftain s question as to what effect the coming of 
 so many white people into the country would have upon 
 the Indians, Lee again answered as before, and added : "If 
 you imitate our industry and adopt our habits, your 
 poverty will disappear, and your people will have wealth 
 as well as we. Our hands are our wealth, and your people 
 have hands as well as we, and you only need to use them 
 properly in order to gain property." Lee illustrated by 
 pointing out the fact that the Americans, who had passed 
 through their country entirely destitute a few years be 
 fore, now through their industry had in the Willamette 
 Valley houses and horses and cattle and other property. 
 
 190 
 
FROM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 Yellow Serpent further asked if Dr. White, the Indian 
 agent, who had visited them at Walla Walla, intended to 
 give them presents. Lee answered, "To be always looking 
 for gifts is a sure sign of laziness, for the industrious 
 would rather labor and earn things than to beg them." 
 Lee appealed to the chieftain in proof of the fact that he 
 had taught the Indians two lessons from the start: first, 
 the way to heaven; and, second, the way of this life. He 
 insisted that from the beginning he had tried to impress 
 upon the Indians the necessity of tilling the soil and thus 
 meeting white men by the use of the white man s own arts. 
 So transparent was Lee s honesty, so unswerving his cour 
 age, that his winter visit to Yellow Serpent succeeded in 
 warding off from The Dalles a fatal attack from Indians 
 who could easily have overcome the whites. 
 
 2. Jason Lee had largely changed his own missionary 
 policy, and for a time he had almost revolutionized the 
 policy of the Missionary Society because he had seen 
 clearly that mission work among the Indians must con 
 sist largely of applied Christianity. Lee had gained soon 
 after entering Oregon the statesman s outlook, and he had 
 been used in a strange and providential manner to inaugu 
 rate enterprises which would create an American com 
 monwealth of whose glory he hardly dreamed. But he had 
 never been disloyal to the purpose which brought him to 
 Oregon, namely, the salvation and transformation of the 
 Indians. He remained to the last a missionary at heart. 
 It is true that he had encouraged settlers to come to Oregon 
 as American citizens and that he had written as early as 
 1837 to the Missionary Society urging them to encourage 
 such migration. It is true that he also asked during his 
 entire superintendency for more laymen physicians, 
 
 191 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 teachers, and artisans and for fewer preachers than har 
 monized with the views of the church at large. But Lee s 
 request for laymen was not that he might bring settlers 
 to Oregon in the guise of missionaries and with the mis 
 sion funds, and then use them to save Oregon to the United 
 States; his political aims were entirely subordinate to his 
 religious motives. His demand for laymen was based 
 upon his clear perception of the absolute necessity of intro 
 ducing applied Christianity, not merely preaching the 
 doctrines and administering the rites of the church. The 
 conviction was more and more borne in upon Lee by his 
 residence in Oregon that the very life of the Indian race 
 upon the Pacific Coast depended upon the Indians master 
 ing practical Christianity with its homely virtues of hon 
 esty, industry and chastity, and upon their mastering 
 at least the rudiments of education, including English, 
 arithmetic and hygiene, and upon their mastering house 
 keeping and farming, thus transforming their rude pagan 
 ism into modern Christian civilization. Moreover, he felt 
 that the crisis demanded the greatest speed upon the part 
 of the Missionary Society and the Indians before the race 
 melted away. 
 
 It was after Lee s return from the East in 1840 that 
 he made his most heroic efforts to save the Indians. Farn- 
 ham s criticism that Lee brought from the East more mis 
 sionaries than he could use, and that he brought them for 
 the purpose of securing Oregon to the United States, was 
 based upon an utter misconception of Lee s plans and was 
 thus wide of the mark. Dr. H. K. Hines, in his history of 
 the missionaries work, shows that Lee actually assumed the 
 spiritual oversight of sixty thousand square miles of terri 
 tory, as compared with sixty-six thousand in all New 
 
 192 
 
FROM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 England; and that with only forty adult missionaries, 
 of whom only twenty-three were men, he undertook to 
 Christianize and civilize the Indians over this vast region 
 and to build up on the Pacific Coast a New England for 
 the Indians and the whites alike. By our reckoning Lee 
 had in the Oregon Country, after his arrival in 1840, only 
 twenty-three men, of whom eighteen were married, and 
 five single women, and of this number only ten men and 
 five single women were on salaries after the first year, with 
 whom to supply preachers, teachers, physicians, farmers, 
 and home-makers for this entire region. Hence, Lee sta 
 tioned these missionaries throughout this immense stretch 
 of territory. It is indeed true that he placed them at 
 the very spots which later became American settlements. 
 But Lee sent his missionaries to these favored locations 
 because Indians most abounded there, and the same advan 
 tages which drew the Indians to these centers later made 
 them the cities of white men. 
 
 3. Again, Lee, in the hope of saving as many Indians 
 as possible, rendered our government a large service by 
 stationing Methodist missionaries in territory north of 
 the Columbia River, which territory down to that time had 
 been held unchallenged by the British. Lee visited Nis- 
 qually at the head of Puget Sound as early as 1838, met 
 many Indians there and after conferring with them de 
 cided upon it as a suitable site for a missionary station. 
 In April, 1839, David Leslie and W. H. Willson, a car 
 penter, went to Nisqually and again met and conferred 
 with many of the Indians and erected a log house eighteen 
 feet by thirty- two feet, for work among them. June 15, 
 1840, Lee appointed Dr. J. P. Richmond and his wife, 
 W. H. Willson and Miss Chloe A. Clark, a teacher, to the 
 
 193 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Nisqually mission. These missionaries antedated by five 
 years all other American settlers north of the Columbia, 
 in territory to which the Hudson s Bay Company claimed 
 an almost undisputed right. Mr. Willson and Miss Clark 
 were married by Dr. Richmond on August 28, 1842 the 
 first white couple married in what is now the State of 
 Washington; and Francis Richmond was the first Ameri 
 can child born north of the Columbia. 
 
 4. It was in connection with the crisis which the mis 
 sionaries felt was confronting the Indians a crisis involv 
 ing the very life of the race and in answer to prayers 
 rising at times almost to agony, that the great revivals 
 among the Indians broke out in the winter of 1839-40, 
 1840-41, and 1841-42. These revivals extended some fifty 
 miles up and down the Columbia and a long distance north 
 and south; and they affected more or less seriously many 
 of the Indians within this territory. The Indians at the 
 stations had received during the preceding years a sufficient 
 amount of Christian training and they had learned enough 
 in regard to Christian experience to prepare them for a 
 work of grace of the Methodist type. Hence the mission 
 aries witnessed among them what they believed to be a 
 genuine conviction of sin and the regeneration of their 
 hearts by the Holy Spirit such as would lead to the trans 
 formation of their lives. This gracious work reached its 
 culmination at the camp-meeting held at The Dalles in 
 1842, at which twelve hundred Indians were present and 
 Lee baptized one hundred and fifty converts, and admin 
 istered communion to between four and five hundred In 
 dians at a single service. The missionaries, with their 
 experiences limited to a more fully developed race, did not 
 yet fully realize that the Indians, with wills and spirits 
 
 194 
 
FEOM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 changeable as children and with passions strong and with 
 little training in self-control, would need long spiritual 
 discipline before the Christian lives of most of them would 
 become established. God s grace is sufficient for just such 
 cases, and those who proved loyal to the grace given them 
 revealed a supernatural power molding their lives. But 
 the majority of the Indian converts soon lapsed into their 
 lifelong habits of idleness and self-indulgence. 
 
 5. Lee also founded an Indian branch mission settle 
 ment a short distance from Willamette Falls in the hope 
 that the Indians, freed from contamination with the un 
 converted whites who visited the larger settlements, and 
 especially in the hope that the Indians thrown upon their 
 own resources and intrusted with self-government, would 
 develop a Christian type of civilization. In order to enable 
 them to buy machinery and some household utensils with 
 out debt, Lee raised $400 for them, securing five dollars 
 to twenty-five dollars each, from a considerable number 
 of American and Canadian settlers, he being the largest 
 contributor. The Indian Farm Mission was a failure, for, 
 though assisted in their farming, the Indians proved so 
 indolent and apathetic that they failed to earn their own 
 support, and soon drifted back to beg in the American 
 community. 
 
 6. Out of the fears which the failure of the Indian 
 Farm Settlement inspired grew the most heroic effort ever 
 made by the Oregon missionaries to provide for the preser 
 vation and uplift of the Indian race. At a meeting held 
 May 10, 1841, a committee was appointed to select a new 
 site for the Mission school. 11 At this meeting Lee pro- 
 
 u Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 201. 
 
 195 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 posed a Manual Labor Boarding School, into which the 
 young Indians should be taken, away from the barbarous 
 contaminations of the camp and trail. He proposed to 
 take the young people rather than mere children, and to 
 furnish them an education in which intellectual training 
 should be largely supplemented by domestic science for 
 the girls, by farming for the boys, and by general cultiva 
 tion of the arts of home-making and modern living. With 
 remarkable faith and self-sacrifice the Mission was re 
 moved from Chemawa to Chemekete, ten miles farther 
 south on the southern edge of the Chemekete plain, on 
 land which is now a part of Salem, the capital of Oregon. 12 
 Here was erected a building costing $10,000 for long the 
 largest and most imposing building on the Pacific Coast. 
 It contained a manual training department, recitation 
 rooms, a dormitory for the young men, and a dormitory 
 for the young women. Here the Indians of both sexes 
 were gathered in 1842-43, and the missionaries here made 
 their last and most heroic struggle to save a dying race. 
 Dr. Hines, with intimate knowledge of the movement, 
 writes: "It was a great and noble effort to stay the tide 
 of destruction that was setting in upon the red men of 
 the Willamette Valley, and showed the splendid stead 
 fastness of Mr. Lee and his colaborers to the original pur 
 pose for which the church had commissioned them at the 
 first the instruction and elevation of the Indian people. 13 
 In 1844 Dr. Gary had superseded Jason Lee. Unfortu 
 nately, he closed the Manual Labor Boarding School for 
 the Indians, according to Hines, against the judgment "of 
 
 12 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, pp. 
 232, 420, 421. 
 18 Ibid., p. 251. 
 
 196 
 
FROM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 the oldest and most steadfast and capable of the mission 
 aries." Dr. Gary, not waiting for experience to determine 
 his policy, but following the policy agreed upon by him 
 and the Missionary Society before he left New York, 
 namely, to close the Mission but to save Methodism the 
 property so far as practicable, sold to the trustees of the 
 Oregon Institute the property for $4,000. 14 Dr. Gary 
 by his sale of the Mission claim to the private corporation 
 sacrificed both the Mission claim and the claim of the 
 corporation to a square mile of -the property which is now 
 in the very heart of Salem, the capital of Oregon. 15 Had 
 he followed the advice of the older missionaries, and, above 
 all, had Jason Lee been present as superintendent, the 
 Methodists would have maintained the Manual Labor 
 School for the Indians, and the Missionary Society would 
 have received from the government land worth far more 
 to-day than the entire cost of the Mission. 16 That Jason 
 Lee and the older missionaries had not contemplated the 
 abandonment of the Indian young people is shown by the 
 removal of their entire Mission to an isolated station for 
 their Indian school and by putting $10,000 of personal 
 subscriptions into the Indian school building. That 
 neither Lee nor the older missionaries contemplated secur 
 ing the fine Indian school building for the use of their 
 own white children is shown by the fact that January 17, 
 1842, Lee called a meeting to plan a school in Chemekete 
 for the white children and that a committee was appointed 
 and $4,000 subscribed, all save $350 by the missionaries, 
 for the school building, and that a building was begun 
 
 "Ibid., p. 421. 
 
 15 Ibid., pp. 352, 353. 
 
 18 Ibid., p. 351. 
 
 197 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 and $3,000 were expended on it during 1843. 17 It should 
 be added that the Rev. Harvey Clark, an independent 
 Presbyterian missionary, was a member of the committee 
 to select a site for the building for the white children, and 
 that W. H. Gray, who had come from Waiilatpu to the 
 Willamette Valley, superintended the erection of the build 
 ing; 18 and it was in this original Oregon Institute build 
 ing, in what is now Salem not in the building later 
 known as the Oregon Institute, but then known as the 
 Manual Labor School, also in Salem that the famous 
 "Wolf Meeting" was held. 
 
 Dr. Hines called the year 1842 the New Era. It was 
 in this year, he says, that the Methodists generally per 
 ceived the failure of the great revivals to transform any 
 large proportion of the Indians, and that the increasing 
 tide of American emigration made necessary the turning 
 of the energies of the missionaries to the building up of 
 white civilization on the Pacific Coast, along with con 
 tinued care for the Indians. Dr. Hines writes : "Up to 
 1840 it had been entirely an Indian Mission. After that 
 date it began to take on the character of an American 
 colony, though it did not lay aside its missionary character 
 or purposes." 19 He wisely adds: "This change could not 
 be avoided, and it ought not to have been even if it could. 
 ... If they [the missionaries] came to convert Indians, 
 they came as well to plant the seed of Anglo-Saxon civili 
 zation in the soil of the decayed and decaying paganism." 20 
 
 37 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 201-203. 
 
 18 Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 202, 203. 
 
 19 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, p. 
 239. 
 
 20 Ibid., p. 239. 
 
 198 
 
 
 
FEOM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 As marking this transition, Lee conducted the first 
 camp-meeting for the white people in 1843. The number 
 was small, but the interest was great. Nineteen uncon 
 verted white men were present at the camp-meeting Sun 
 day morning. Before the evening service ended sixteen 
 of these had become Christians, among them Joseph L. 
 Meek, the Eocky Mountain hunter. This revival greatly 
 encouraged the missionaries in their work among the 
 whites, especially as the results, upon the whole, proved 
 more permanent than the great revival among the Indians 
 though it must be admitted that several of the men, 
 including Meek, soon fell again under the dominion of 
 their appetites. 
 
 Jason Lee and several of his brethren never abandoned 
 all hope for the Indians. As late as August 12, 1843, Lee 
 wrote the Society at New York: "With all the discourage 
 ments which I encounter, I feel it to be a duty to God and 
 the Board to say that our interest in the Oregon Mission 
 is not in the least abated. Oregon is still of infinite im 
 portance as a field for missionary operations among the 
 Indians/ 
 
 One can readily understand how a missionary, realizing 
 the infinite worth of each human soul and bound to these 
 Indian wards by nine years of unremitting devotion, could 
 write such a letter as this in the midst of his discourage 
 ments. And he was entirely right in maintaining, despite 
 the lapse of the majority of the converts, that the salvation 
 of this Indian remnant was of infinite importance. The 
 history of the Indians in Oklahoma and other States to 
 day, like the history of the remnant among the Israelites, 
 will yet vindicate Lee s prophecy. As Hines well says of 
 Lee and the other missionaries, "They clung to the In- 
 
 199 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 dians and the Indian missions with the tenacity with 
 which faithful men cling to the work in which they have 
 invested the love of their heart and the strength of their 
 life/ 21 The crisis was hastened by the death on January 
 1, 1840, of Cyrus Shepard, whom Bancroft regards as the 
 missionary most devoted to the Indians, by the return to 
 the States in 1842 of Daniel Lee and of Dr. Richmond, 
 whom we regard as two of Jason Lee s most efficient help 
 ers in the Indian work; and it was still further hastened 
 by the return to the States in 1844 of H. K. W. Perkins, 
 whom Bancroft ranks next to Shepard in devotion to the 
 Indians. 
 
 All admit that Jason Lee and his compeers showed no 
 lack of practical foresight, or, we would prefer to say, no 
 lack of divine guidance, in shaping the Christian civiliza 
 tion of the Northwest Coast for the white people who were 
 increasingly occupying the region. In October, 1843, 
 Lee, in writing to the Society, assured its members that 
 the mission had also vast possibilities for the white race. 
 "On one point I have not a shadow of doubt, namely, that 
 the growth, rise, glory and triumph of Methodism in the 
 Willamette Valley are destined to be commensurate with 
 the growth, rise, and prosperity of our infant, but flourish 
 ing and rapidly increasing settlement." These last two 
 quotations from Lee mark the two thoughts which during 
 his career were uppermost in his mind: the salvation and 
 civilization of the Indians, the salvation and civilization 
 of the whites. But the faith of the missionaries in the 
 Indians and their heroic efforts to save them show not 
 
 21 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, p. 
 360. 
 
 200 
 
FROM INDIANS TO WHITES 
 
 alone the clearness of their judgment, but the largeness 
 of their hearts and the greatness of their devotion to a 
 dying race. While they believed that the whites would 
 certainly come to the country, they did not think the In 
 dians must disappear. And, indeed, there never was any 
 divine reason for the doom of the entire race. A spiritual 
 kingdom depends upon the spirit of each member; hence 
 God always deals spiritually with individuals, not with 
 races. The promise from of old has been, "But now I will 
 not be unto the remnant of this people as in the former 
 days [when it knew not God] , saith Jehovah of hosts. For 
 there shall be the seed of peace; the vine shall give its 
 fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the 
 heavens shall give their dew ; and I will cause the remnant 
 of this people to inherit all these things." 22 
 
 It is true that a decaying race, as the Indian race was 
 at that time, coming into contact with a strong but half- 
 Christian race, as the white race was and is, speedily 
 adopts the vices of the stronger race ; and only slowly, and 
 as individuals, masters its virtues. This makes all the 
 more solemn the responsibility of the white races in the 
 world. Hence it was true that after the great revivals 
 of 1839-42, and after the later struggles of the mission 
 aries in founding the Manual Labor School, they still saw 
 a majority of their converts sink into the grave and a 
 portion of the remnant lapse back into paganism. But 
 a remnant was saved, and it has survived; and it is in 
 creasing faster than the Negro population of the United 
 States. The commissioner of Indian affairs reported re 
 cently that the Indians in the United States numbered 
 
 "Zechariah, 8: 11, 12. 
 
 201 
 
THE OREGON" MISSIONS 
 
 137,000 in 1900 and 209,000 in 1916. It constitutes the 
 seed through which Almighty God will perpetuate the 
 Indian race. And the glory of Gustavus Bines and Cyrus 
 Shepard, of H. H. Spalding and Harvey Clark, as well as 
 of Jason Lee and Dr. Whitman, and the Eoman Catholic 
 priests, is the survival of that remnant which shall yet 
 become the glory of the American aborigines. 
 
 202 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 JASON LEE "the peer of any man who adorns the roll 
 of modern workers in the Church of Christ/ Bishop 
 Matthew Simpson. 
 
 Jason Lee s affairs now rapidly drew to a crisis. While 
 the results of his services constitute an epoch in the his 
 tory of the church and an honorable incident in the his 
 tory of his country, yet the years 1840-1843 broke his 
 health and ended in his death. 
 
 Lee s personal tragedy was precipitated by a colossal 
 blunder on his part; and the tragedy is in part due to the 
 fact that the blunder was the result of an absorption in his 
 work, a lack of thought in regard to himself or his own 
 personal interest, which often characterizes men engaged 
 in great tasks. We are amazed in Lee s case over his mis 
 take as to the time of his second marriage, as we are 
 amazed in Wesley s case over his blunder in the choice of 
 a wife. Neither man reckoned wisely with those domestic 
 influences which often prove the making or marring of 
 a career. Lee learned of the death of his first wife while 
 at Westport, Missouri, on his journey to the East. Our 
 readers will remember that immediately after learning 
 of her death, perhaps in part to drown his sorrow, Lee 
 plunged into the work of awakening interest in the Indian 
 race and in Oregon. Before he left Westport, he gave the 
 
 203 
 
THE OEEGON MISSIONS 
 
 first of the series of lectures which were to arouse Missouri, 
 Iowa, and Illinois and to start emigrant trains to Oregon. 
 
 But the white women in Oregon were not engrossed in 
 public affairs. Moreover, Anna Pitman Lee was the first 
 white woman on the Pacific Coast to die; and she died 
 honored and loved by all her associates. The hearts of all 
 the settlers were greatly stirred; we can easily imagine 
 how deeply moved were the women in that distant settle 
 ment, and how in the intervening two years, they thought 
 often of Jason Lee s loneliness and sorrows. Mrs. Lee 
 had been given Christian burial; but everybody in the 
 Mission and in the Willamette Valley expected a memorial 
 service on Lee s return to them. 
 
 Meantime other friends in the East, who did not know 
 Lee s first wife, who did not fully appreciate the tragedy 
 of her death, but who marked the loneliness of Lee when 
 he was not absorbed in his work, saw the need of a com 
 panion for him during the coming years and suggested 
 to him the wisdom of a second marriage before going back 
 to those distant wilds. The name of Miss Lucy Thomp 
 son, of Burlington, Vermont, was mentioned as that of a 
 suitable helpmate. Following his own impulses and the 
 advice of his friends in the East, and with no foresight 
 whatever of the shock that would come to his friends in 
 Oregon, fifteen months after the death of his first wife, 
 and just before sailing for the Columbia, without the 
 slightest hint to his friends in Oregon, Lee was married 
 to Miss Thompson. After the first terrible surprise and 
 reaction on the part of Lee s friends in Oregon over the 
 unexpected second marriage, Mrs. Lucy Thompson Lee 
 won universal respect and love by her unselfish Christian 
 character. If Lee was to take a second wife back to Oregon 
 
 204 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 he made a wise selection in Miss Thompson, or had the 
 good sense to accept the wise selection largely made for 
 him by his friends. We may add that on the birth of her 
 first child, a daughter, she died March 22, 1842. 
 
 But Lee overlooked the embarrassment in which he 
 inevitably placed himself, his friends in Oregon, and his 
 second wife by his marriage before he returned to the 
 Willamette Valley. Lee had not met these friends since 
 the death of his first wife; he had had no opportunity to 
 hear from them the story of her devotion to him between 
 his departure for the East, and her illness and death, and 
 the messages she had left for him; and he could not now 
 tell them of the agony through which he had passed when 
 the messenger brought the news of her death and the 
 death of their son. Bancroft thus portrays Lee s painful 
 announcement of his second marriage to his friends: 
 "Jason Lee . . . took a canoe and went in advance to the 
 Mission. When there he handed over the ship s list of 
 passengers, headed by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Jason 
 Lee, that he might notify his old companions that he had 
 returned with another wife. He made no remark on the 
 subject, and nothing was said to him. Deeply stirred had 
 been the sympathies of his old associates as they thought 
 of his return to his desolate home; and now the revulsion 
 of feeling was so great that the supremacy of Jason Lee 
 in their hearts was thenceforth a thing of the past." 
 
 This revulsion of feeling speedily led to misunderstand 
 ing of Lee s present motives. First of all, the new mission 
 ary party was entirely too large to be absorbed by the few 
 missionaries already on the field and led by their experi 
 ence to accept those modifications of early ideals and 
 illusions with which young people enter upon mission 
 
 205 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 work; and Dr. McLoughlin and others noticed that they 
 did not enter into the spirit of the older workers or fully 
 accept their point of view. Like most new missionaries, 
 they failed to anticipate the discouragements inherent in 
 the very nature of missionary work. The ground of mis 
 sionary activity is the fact that pagan races are on a lower 
 plane of spiritual,, moral, intellectual, and physical life 
 than are Christian people; but the new missionary never 
 quite realizes how much is involved in this statement until 
 he faces the actual conditions of paganism. Experience 
 on the field leads older missionaries to accept lower stand 
 ards of physical comfort, and a mixture of manners which 
 often offends the taste of new missionaries. Experience 
 in the field sometimes broadens the sympathies of older 
 missionaries and leads them to a recognition of truth in 
 a pagan faith or of reason for a pagan custom which the 
 younger missionary regards as inconsistent with his ideal 
 an ideal narrower and sometimes loftier, than that of 
 his older brothers. In some cases it is true that long 
 contact with a lower civilization dims the vision of the 
 ideal, and the older missionary has a lesson to learn from 
 his younger brother. A period of reaction and discourage 
 ment is almost inevitable on entering a mission field. 
 When the number of new recruits is large, it is almost 
 impossible to prevent this discouragement finding voice 
 among themselves and giving rise to complaints to the 
 friends at home and often to the missionary authorities. 
 Thus a large influx of new missionaries always involves the 
 possibilities of a tragedy. In this case the tragedy was 
 rendered imminent by the fact that the Mission to the 
 Indians began with the belief that the Indians could be 
 transformed by sudden conversion into the equals of the 
 
 206 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 white race; and that it was undertaken with the purpose 
 of thus transforming the Indians, while work among the 
 whites was regarded as purely incidental. It is true that 
 the early missionaries wrote back repeatedly that the white 
 work was bulking larger and that the Indians were suffer 
 ing much from disease. The very fact that out of the 
 fifty-two men, women, and children whom Lee brought 
 out for his work in 1840, only five were ministers was a 
 demonstration on its face that the new group were to un 
 dertake the settlement of the country and work for the 
 whites as well as for the Indians, and, above all, that the 
 new Christian settlers were slowly to mold the Indians 
 to higher ideals by their example in Christian homes and 
 industries. But the church at home, and even the mis 
 sionaries on coming to Oregon, still cherished the old 
 ideal of transforming the Indians suddenly into civilized 
 people equal to the whites. There seemed to be little 
 recognition upon the part of anyone that even the white 
 races have been many centuries in reaching their present 
 stage of Christian civilization. Hence when the group 
 of 1840 reached Oregon and saw how rapidly the Indians 
 were disappearing from the Willamette Valley and the 
 whites supplanting them indeed, how largely the Indians 
 already had disappeared they almost felt that Lee had 
 misled them as to the purpose of their coming. The 
 tragedy of Lee s premature second marriage was that the 
 marriage in advance of any memorial service a marriage 
 which rendered any memorial service impossible shocked 
 his old friends and lost him their moral support at the 
 very time when he most needed it to lead the missionaries 
 in the transition which was inevitable, if civilization in 
 Oregon was to become in any sense Christian. Jason Lee s 
 
 207 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 influence over the missionaries in Oregon began to suffer 
 almost as if Lee himself were to blame for the doom be 
 falling his wards and for the change in the work to which 
 the missionaries must more and more adapt themselves. 
 Jason Lee and Dr. Whitman each, after their conference 
 on Lee s journey to the United States in 1838, urged the 
 wisdom and necessity of bringing Christian laymen and 
 their families to Oregon as a home mission field in the 
 expectation that they would become self-supporting on 
 reaching their destination, and that as Christians helped 
 by the church to new opportunities for their own families 
 they would by precept and example teach the Indians to 
 become Christian citizens and to establish Christian homes. 
 The American Board had sent out at first one layman. 
 But Dr. Whitman in his hurried trip to the East in 1842- 
 43 did not succeed in inducing his Board to give him a 
 single additional layman. Jason Lee had far more influ 
 ence with his Society, and brought back Abernethy as 
 steward and Miss Lankton as stewardess; Babcock as a 
 physician; Misses Clark, Phelps, Phillips, and Ware and 
 Thomas Adams, the Indian young man, as teachers; 
 Campbell and Olley as carpenters; Judson as a cabinet 
 maker ; Parrish as a blacksmith ; and Brewer and Raymond 
 as farmers. But when some of the missionaries sent to 
 the more distant posts saw that of the fifty-two men, 
 women, and children, including himself and wife, who went 
 to Oregon in 1840, thirty-two 1 were left in the Willamette 
 Valley, they blamed Lee for an unequal distribution of 
 the force. But the laity, most of whom remained in the 
 valley, were expected to support themselves and by example 
 
 1 Lyman, History of Oregon, rol. iii, p. 188. 
 
 208 
 
 m 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 and by Christian helpfulness show the Indians what Chris 
 tianity means. Including himself, who was superintend 
 ent of the entire Mission; Leslie and Walker, the two 
 ministers; Abernethy, the treasurer and storekeeper for 
 the entire Mission; Miss Lankton, the stewardess for the 
 school; and one woman teacher, there were only six per 
 sons supported by the Missionary Society for work in the 
 Willamette Valley, a section of his field which was about 
 the size of Massachusetts. 2 Surely, this was not an ex 
 travagant appropriation for so large a field. But the death 
 and the flight of the Indians led some of the laymen forth 
 with to give themselves wholly to secular pursuits, blaming 
 Lee for the lowering of the ideal with which they had 
 come to Oregon. Besides, it was impossible that the Mis 
 sionary Society and Lee as the prime mover should make 
 this radical change from the accepted missionary program 
 of the period without serious criticism upon the part of 
 the more conservative Christians and some reflections 
 upon motives upon the part of the world. Hence the 
 criticism of Lee and the Missionary Society by so good 
 and so great a man as President Olin, of Wesleyan Uni 
 versity, and the appointment, by Bishop Hedding, of Dr. 
 Gary to supersede Jason Lee, are not to be wondered at, 
 though greatly to be deplored. Long experience of failures 
 in Indian missions conducted on the old lines, General 
 Armstrong s later success along the very lines laid down 
 by Lee, and Booker T. Washington s success at Tuskegee 
 among the Negroes, more than confirm the wisdom of Lee s 
 and Whitman s plans. 
 
 Near the close of 1843, Lee, without the knowledge that 
 
 2 Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xx, p. 242c. 
 
 209 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 he had been superseded, had heard enough complaints 
 during the three years since his return to recognize the 
 necessity of once more going East to explain the latest 
 changes in the conditions of Oregon and the corresponding 
 changes in the work of the missionaries. On reaching 
 Hawaii in 1844 on his way home he learned that he had 
 been superseded, and left Hawaii February 28, and arrived 
 in the United States in time to reach the General Confer 
 ence in May of the same year. But the General Conference 
 of 1844 was in the throes of its great struggle over slavery 
 the struggle which resulted in the division of the Church 
 and had no time to think of a Mission in a distant part 
 of the country. Lee was advised to go to Washington and 
 report progress to the government, and meet the Mission 
 ary Society after the General Conference. That his efforts, 
 as a whole, in Washington had not been in vain is shown 
 by the report of the secretary of the interior, Columbus De 
 lano, later in a decision awarding the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church the property at The Dalles, on which Jason Lee 
 had established one of his missions: "From 1834, when 
 the American missionaries first penetrated this remote 
 region, a contest was going on as to which nation should 
 possess it; and that probably depended on the fact as to 
 which could first settle it with emigrants. The Hudson s 
 Bay Company, the Catholic missionaries, and the British 
 government were on one side; on the other side were the 
 missionaries of the American Board and the Methodist 
 Society who had established their stations among the 
 Indians and who attracted the tide of American emigration 
 that turned the scale in favor of our government, resulting 
 in the establishment of the territorial government of Ore 
 gon, wholly American in interest, which exercised all the 
 
 210 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 functions of government until the erection of the new 
 Territory of Oregon by Congress." The United States 
 through this official representative thus recognized the 
 services of the American churches. 
 
 Jason Lee appeared before the Missionary Society July 
 1, 1844, and explained that he had carried out the exact 
 policy he had outlined to them when he had written from 
 Oregon in 1834 asking, not for ministers, but for a physi 
 cian, a blacksmith, a farmer, a carpenter, and teachers, 
 and that the Missionary Society had indorsed his policy 
 by sending him the very persons he asked for a physician, 
 a blacksmith, a carpenter, two women teachers, and one 
 minister. Again, he pointed out that on his visit to the 
 East in 1838-39 the Society, after hearing his report, ques 
 tioning him as to his plans, and discussing the subject 
 fully, accepted his policy, and sent him back to the Mission 
 with the machinery, merchandise, etc., for which he had 
 asked and with thirty-three adult missionaries, of whom 
 only five were ministers. He showed that the changes which 
 had now taken place in Oregon, the strange and sudden 
 disappearance of the Indians, and the increase of white 
 emigration made the plans which they originally adopted 
 in 1834 and readopted in 1838-39 almost perfectly adapted 
 to the new conditions which now confronted them. The 
 Eev. A. F. Waller s article, published in the Christian 
 Advocate and Journal of May 19, 1841, and his own long 
 letter published August 25, 1842, had told them of the 
 rapid disappearance of the Indians through smallpox and 
 other diseases. He maintained that had he or the Society 
 foreseen the changes which were coming, they could not 
 better have adapted their plans to the conditions which 
 now faced them in Oregon. The facts which Jason Lee 
 
 211 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 presented to the Society amply vindicated his foresight; 
 and the conviction grew upon the members that, as Lee 
 maintained, the credit for the adaptation of the Mission 
 to the changing conditions was not due to any human 
 foresight but to the Divine Providence. At the close of 
 Lee s address his personal vindication was complete. Prob 
 ably had not the Eev. George Gary already been sent to 
 the field, the Society would have continued Lee in charge 
 of the Mission. Lee, with real modesty and unselfishness, 
 bowed to the decision of the Society and announced his 
 willingness to return and serve under Dr. Gary. The 
 Society gladly accepted his offer, but urged him to remain 
 East for a few months for the recuperation of his health 
 and the collection of funds for the Oregon Institute. He 
 visited Wilbraham, Massachusetts, where he held a public 
 meeting in the interest of Oregon; and then his nephew, 
 Daniel Lee, at North Haverhill, New Hampshire, where he 
 again spoke on his favorite theme ; he then returned to his 
 old home at Stanstead for a few weeks of rest before start 
 ing for Oregon. But his eleven years of toil and exposure, 
 the loneliness of his homeless life, the burdens of the Mis 
 sion and of the country, broke his Herculean frame; he 
 felt keenly the complaints of the missionaries in Oregon; 
 above all, the implied reproach of his brethren of the Mis 
 sionary Society and of the church nearly broke his heart; 
 and he found himself rapidly falling a victim to tubercu 
 losis probably contracted from his Indian wards. We 
 must remember that Lee s second wife had died, and that 
 he was burdened by domestic sorrow as well as by the 
 complaints of his brethren. His brethren assured him 
 that they had not meant to hurt his feelings ; but the lonely 
 man could not grip life again, and he sank into the grave 
 
 212 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 March 12, 1845 one of the most statesmanlike and heroic 
 figures in missionary annals. 
 
 Unfortunately, Jason Lee not only suffered at the close 
 of his life, but his memory has suffered since his death 
 by the unworthy detraction of careless writers. Mrs. Dye 
 has made an unfair portrayal of Lee s relation with Dr. 
 McLoughlin; and even a man with the general knowledge 
 of the whole field, and the passion for facts which charac 
 terizes Bancroft, has permitted one of the writers of his 
 history to give the following mixed estimate of Lee s charac 
 ter, which inevitably leads the reader to condemnation 
 for which the writer escapes the blame: "I would not 
 present Jason Lee as a bad man, or as a good man becom 
 ing bad, or as worse now, while tricking his eastern direc 
 tors and cheating McLoughlin out of his land, than while 
 preaching at Fort Hall or seeking the salvation of the 
 dying Indian children. He was the self-same person 
 throughout, and grew wiser and better if anything as years 
 added experience to his life. He was endeavoring to make 
 the most of himself, to do the best for his country, whether 
 laboring in the field of piety or patriotism; and if on 
 abandoning the missionary work and engaging in that of 
 empire-building, he fell into ways called devious by busi 
 ness men, it must be attributed to that specious line of 
 education which leads to the appropriation of the Lord s 
 earth by ministers of the Lord, in so far as the power is 
 given them. In all these things he sought to do the best, 
 and he certainly was doing better work, work more bene 
 ficial to mankind, and more praiseworthy, as colonizer, 
 than he had formerly achieved as missionary." 3 "How 
 
 8 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 214. 
 
 213 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 he justified the change in himself no one can tell. He 
 certainly saw how grand a work it was to lay the founda 
 tion of a new empire on the shores of the Pacific, and how 
 discouraging the prospect of raising a doomed race to a 
 momentary recognition of its lost condition, which was 
 all that ever could be hoped for the Indians of western 
 Oregon. There is much credit to be imputed to him as 
 the man who carried to successful completion the dream 
 of Hall J. Kelley and the purpose of Ewing Young. . . . 
 Taken all in all, and I should say, Honor to the memory 
 of Jason Lee." 4 "That he had the ability to impress upon 
 the Willamette Valley a character for religious and literary 
 aspiration, which remains to this day; that he suggested 
 the manner in which Congress could promote and reward 
 American emigration, . . . " 5 the facts make clear. 
 
 The references found in Bancroft s volumes derogatory 
 to Jason Lee may be summed up in the statements: (1) 
 that Jason Lee was angry with the Rev. David Leslie and 
 left him for at least a year without an appointment and 
 with no support for himself and five motherless children 
 because Leslie had the temerity to differ from him in his 
 discharge of Dr. White from the Mission; 6 (2) that Lee 
 played the hypocrite while cheating Dr. McLoughlin out 
 of land at Willamette Falls; 7 and (3) that Lee was worldly 
 and ambitious, and deceived the Missionary Society and 
 misappropriated a large amount of their funds. 8 In con 
 sidering these charges it is only fair to bear in mind Ban- 
 
 4 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 221. 
 8 Ibid., vol. i, p. 220. 
 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 196, 197. 
 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 203-225. 
 8 Ibid., vol. i, p. 220. 
 
 214 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 croft s condemnation of all missionary work mentioned in 
 the Preface and the criticism of ministerial training and 
 of ministers in general in the quotation made above. 
 
 In regard to the first charge: the picture drawn in 
 Bancroft s volume of Dr. White furnishes justification for 
 Lee s conclusion that White ought to sever his connection 
 with the Mission. But there is not a line of evidence 
 adduced in proof of the statement that Lee left Leslie 
 without an appointment because Leslie favored White. 
 The facts are these : As the statement in Bancroft s volume 
 itself makes clear, Leslie s wife died in February, 1841, 
 leaving him with five motherless daughters to support and 
 educate; 9 but the writer does not state that the mother 
 of these children was the aunt of the Rev. Bradford K. 
 Pierce, D.D., long the able and beloved editor of Zion s 
 Herald of Boston, and that these children were, therefore, 
 Dr. Pierce s cousins. These motherless children were thus 
 connected with one of the finest New England families 
 and were sure of care and education, if Leslie could only 
 take them or send them to New England. Leslie was, 
 therefore, at his own request, left without an appointment 
 in 1842 in order to take his children to Hawaii and, if 
 possible, send them from there on to New England. We 
 find no record that he was left without a salary ; the pres 
 ent custom of the Missionary Society in such cases is to 
 provide half salary and traveling expenses ; though it may 
 not have acted so favorably in the early days. Cornelius 
 Rogers, who had been a member of the American Board 
 Mission, and had been honorably released from the Mis 
 sion, had come to Oregon, had met the Leslie family, and 
 
 "Ibid., vol. i, p. 190. 
 
 215 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 had fallen in love with Leslie s oldest daughter. He pro 
 posed marriage to her after the family had gone aboard 
 the brig Chenemas to sail for Hawaii. Mr. Rogers s pro 
 posal was accepted and the marriage service was performed. 
 Then with a mother s- interest this eldest daughter, with 
 the full consent of her husband, begged her father to leave 
 the two youngest sisters with her, and Mr. Leslie consented. 
 This left him with only two daughters to provide for 
 instead of five. Nevertheless, he went on with these two 
 daughters to Hawaii and placed them in school there until 
 he could send them back to New England. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Rogers, with the youngest of Mr. Leslie s daughters, were 
 drowned at Willamette Falls five months after their mar 
 riage, that is, early in 1843. Another one of Dr. Leslie s 
 daughters died in Hawaii. Leslie returned to Oregon in 
 1843. Later he himself married and provided a home for 
 the two remaining daughters. This simple recital of the 
 facts ought to set at rest the charge that Jason Lee left 
 a brother missionary, who had five motherless children 
 to care for, without any visible means of support because 
 Leslie differed from Lee in his estimate of Dr. White. 
 This baseless assumption of Lee s jealousy is rendered 
 forever impossible by the fact that when Lee decided to 
 return to the East in 1843, that is, within a year of the 
 time when it is alleged "Lee punished Leslie," he selected 
 Leslie of all men in the Mission to represent him in his 
 absence, and appointed him acting superintendent of the 
 entire Mission. What fuller refutation is needed of the 
 baseless charge of Lee s ill treatment of Leslie ? 
 
 The second charge, that Lee cheated Dr. McLoughlin 
 out of land at Willamette Falls, is equally baseless. Dr. 
 McLoughlin had and exercised despotic power over the 
 
 216 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 employees of the Hudson s Bay Company, controlling not 
 only their service but their conduct outside their hours 
 of labor. The charge against Jason Lee is based on the 
 assumption that he had and exercised an equally despotic 
 authority over the lay missionaries, and especially the 
 ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The charge 
 rests on the further supposition that Lee, Waller, Parrish, 
 and the other Methodists at Willamette Falls were in a 
 conspiracy to cheat Dr. McLoughlin out of his claims. 
 The evidence as cited by the writer in Bancroft s History 
 shows that Lee openly always favored McLoughlin s claim, 
 that he disagreed with most of his Mission at that point. 
 But it is assumed that this is a part of the conspiracy and 
 that Lee played the hypocrite in order to deceive McLough 
 lin ; that he had the power to control the Methodist minis 
 ters not only as to their appointments, but in all their 
 acts as citizens, and that had Lee sincerely desired to sup 
 port McLoughlin s claim, he would have prevented the 
 Eev. A. F. Waller, a Methodist minister whom Lee sta 
 tioned at Willamette Falls in 1840, ever laying claim to 
 the land in dispute. A careful analysis of the facts even 
 as stated by the writer in Bancroft fails to convict Lee 
 of falsehood, of hypocrisy, or of attempting to perpetrate 
 the slightest injustice upon Dr. McLoughlin. The story 
 of conflicting claims to the ownership of Willamette Falls, 
 set up by Dr. McLoughlin and by Waller, is a long one, 
 and much has been written on each side. Lee believed 
 in the justice of Dr. McLoughlin s claim. But a majority 
 of the Methodists then on the ground, with all the facts 
 before them, supported Waller s claim. Congress dealt 
 generously with the early settlers of Oregon by making 
 grants to most of them, but Congress also, even after 
 
 217 
 
THE OREGON" MISSIONS 
 
 Waller s claim had lapsed, rejected Dr. McLoughlin s 
 claim. The Legislature of Oregon, with all the facts 
 before it, rejected Dr. McLoughlin s claim for years, and 
 in so doing it reflected the general judgment of the citizens 
 at that time. But Lee stood out against the overwhelming 
 majority of the Americans and supported McLoughlin s 
 claim. The story of the claim in brief is as follows: Dr. 
 McLoughlin recognized the great value of these Falls and 
 laid claim to them in the name of the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany as early as 1829 and began some improvements on 
 them. But the Company objected to the location of a mill 
 south of the Columbia River on the ground that they 
 purposed making this river the dividing line between the 
 two countries. 10 Later McLoughlin determined to build 
 a mill at the Falls for himself, and it is said that he 
 erected several houses and a mill race. 11 McLoughlin s 
 attempt to claim land south of the Columbia being strenu 
 ously opposed by some of his British friends, he decided, 
 about 1838, to relinquish the land and waterpower to his 
 stepson, Thomas McKay. Later still he decided to keep 
 it himself, and he built a house to replace improvements 
 destroyed by the Indians, and openly claimed the right of 
 preemption. Upon the whole, it seems to us that Mc 
 Loughlin had maintained a claim to the land and water- 
 power at the Falls superior to that of any other man, and 
 that his claim should have been granted by Congress. 
 Waller s claim rested on the ground that neither McLough 
 lin nor any representative of McLoughlin ever had lived 
 at the Falls, that he himself was the first white man living 
 upon and actively occupying this land, and that he (Wal- 
 
 10 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 217. 
 
 11 Ibid., vol. i, p. 203. 
 
 218 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 ler) was an actual bona fide citizen of the United States, 
 whereas McLoughlin was an alien and the agent of a 
 "foreign corporate monopoly." 12 It is stated by Ban 
 croft 13 that Felix Hathaway, in the employment of the 
 Mission, began in 1841 to erect a house on an island below 
 the Falls a part of the land included in McLoughlin s 
 claim; and that McLoughlin on speaking to Waller about 
 this trespass was assured by Waller that he had taken a 
 claim lying below McLoughlin s claim and that Hathaway 
 then discontinued building a house on the island. I can 
 not find that Lee had any connection with Hathaway s 
 attempt to erect this building or that Hathaway was em 
 ployed by Lee, who was superintendent of the Mission. 
 So far as we can learn, Lee s first connection with the case 
 was in the autumn of 1842, when Dr. McLoughlin told 
 him of the report that Waller intended to dispute his 
 claim. 14 Lee, after consulting Waller, assured McLough 
 lin that Waller had no such design. Later in the year 
 McLoughlin again appealed to Lee. On Lee going to 
 Waller a second time, Waller insisted that Lee had not 
 understood him correctly, though Lee understood him 
 exactly as McLoughlin understood him in McLoughlin s 
 first interview. Lee now learned for the first time that 
 Waller intended to contest McLoughlin s claim. Hence 
 Lee wrote McLoughlin in answer to his second complaint 
 as follows : "From what I have since heard, I am inclined 
 to think I did not understand Mr. Waller correctly, but 
 I am not certain it is so." 15 We are not attempting to 
 
 12 Ibid., vol. i, p. 215. 
 
 13 Ibid., vol. i, p. 204. 
 "Ibid., vol. i, p. 205. 
 
 "Quoted by Bancroft, Ibid., vol. i, p. 205. 
 
 219 
 
THE OEEGON MISSIONS 
 
 clear Waller, but to vindicate Lee. Had Lee possessed the 
 power to control Waller s acts as an American citizen, then 
 Lee was responsible for his failure to do so and for the 
 pressure of Waller s claim against McLoughlin ; and Lee s 
 letter to McLoughlin had in that case been deceitful. But 
 everyone at all familiar with Methodism knows that no 
 superintendent of a mission and no bishop in that church 
 has the slightest authority to interfere with the civil or 
 political rights of any minister. He has the authority to 
 appoint him to his work; and the minister is compelled 
 to accept the appointment given or else withdraw from 
 the Conference, though not from the church. Lee s addi 
 tional statement in his letter to McLoughlin is correct: 
 "You will here allow me to say, that a citizen of the United 
 States by becoming a missionary does not renounce any 
 civil or political right. I cannot control any man in these 
 matters, though I had not the most distant idea when I 
 stationed Mr. Waller there that he would set up a private 
 claim to the land." 16 Hence, instead of starting with an 
 entirely false theory of the power of a superintendent of 
 missions and charging Lee with hypocrisy, the writer in 
 Bancroft s History should have known that the laws of 
 the church relieve him of all responsibility for Waller s 
 action in filing this claim. It is true that six Methodists 
 and three other citizens of the Falls joined with Waller 
 in 1841 in the organization of the Island Milling Com 
 pany, which in 1842 erected a sawmill on the disputed 
 claim. 17 It must be borne in mind that Lee had lost the 
 sympathy of the missionaries by his second marriage ; that 
 already several of the missionaries had sent home com- 
 
 16 Quoted by Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 205. 
 
 17 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 206, 207. 
 
 220 
 
 J> 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 plaints against him; that apparently one of the grounds 
 of complaint was Lee s inclination to surrender what they 
 regarded as their rights as American citizens to Dr. Me- 
 Loughlin, the head of a Company which they claimed was 
 unjustly usurping authority over the Oregon Country. 
 This charge against the Hudson s Bay Company appears 
 in the petition of 1842 written by Shortess, who was a 
 Methodist. 18 Again, Lee said that a compromise which 
 was rejected by the Mission party and others composing 
 the milling company, was a fair and liberal offer on Mc- 
 Loughlin s part. 19 Again, when Lee and J. L. Parrish, 
 of the Methodist Mission, were visiting Fort Vancouver 
 in 1843, and Parrish affirmed at the public table that he 
 never heard of McLoughlin s claim to the island before 
 the milling company began the erection of the sawmill 
 upon it, Lee immediately corrected him, saying, "I at 
 tended your first or second meeting, and it is the only 
 meeting I attended, and I told you that McLoughlin 
 claimed the island." 20 This shows clearly that Lee was 
 present at one meeting of the milling company; that in 
 that meeting Lee told the company that McLoughlin 
 claimed the island, and that despite the information given 
 them by Lee, the company erected a sawmill on the claim 
 in dispute. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church by the action of either 
 Lee or Leslie as superintendent of the Mission, probably 
 by the act of Leslie on his knowledge of Lee s judgment, 
 removed Waller from Oregon City to The Dalles, thus 
 compelling him to abandon his claim, through failure to 
 
 18 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. I, pp. 207-209, note. 
 
 19 Ibid., vol. i, p. 213. 
 
 *> Quoted by Bancroft, Ibid., vol. i, p. 214, note. 
 
 221 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 continue his residence at the Falls. 21 We do not believe 
 that Waller was removed from Willamette Falls in order 
 to destroy his claim. It is probable that his business 
 affairs at Willamette Falls- were injuring his usefulness 
 as a minister at that station. But his transfer to The 
 Dalles was due to the need of ministerial help at that point. 
 Daniel Lee and his wife, who were stationed at The Dalles, 
 sailed for home in April, 1843. This forced the problem 
 of The Dalles upon Jason Lee before he sailed for home 
 probably early in 1844. Toward the close of the summer 
 of 1844 Perkins also left The Dalles for the East. Hence 
 either Jason Lee before sailing, or Leslie some time after 
 Jason Lee sailed, appointed Waller to The Dalles to con 
 tinue the work in that mission; and Waller, like a loyal 
 Methodist minister, accepted the appointment and went 
 to The Dalles, thus sacrificing his claim at the Falls. 
 Hence, either Lee or Leslie, or more probably both com 
 bined, by changing Waller s appointment removed that 
 bar to McLoughlin s claim. 
 
 We have the following additional assurance of the 
 friendship of Jason Lee for Dr. McLoughlin and of his 
 fairness toward the French-Canadian settlers : In Congress 
 a persistent effort was made, especially against McLough 
 lin, by limiting the grant of six hundred and forty acres 
 of land in the proposed Oregon land grants to citizens of 
 the United States. But Bancroft says that "Linn s land 
 bill, which was suggested by Jason Lee himself, had no 
 clause preventing foreigners of any nation from becoming 
 citizens of Oregon, but bestowed on every white male 
 
 "Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, p. 
 355. 
 
 222 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 inhabitant six hundred and forty acres of land. McLough- 
 lin accordingly had that amount surveyed to himself in 
 1842. . . ," 22 
 
 It would be far more plausible to charge Lee with a 
 weak surrender to McLoughlin and injustice to Waller. 
 Because of Waller s removal to The Dalles, neither he nor 
 the Methodist Mission in the end set up a rival claim for 
 the grant of Willamette Falls. Dr. McLoughlin s petition, 
 therefore, went before Congress with no rival claimant. 
 How, therefore, is it possible to maintain that Lee con 
 tributed to McLoughlin s failure to receive the favor which 
 he asked of Congress? Congress, however, refused Mc 
 Loughlin s petition and granted the Falls to the State of 
 Oregon toward the endowment of a State university. Dr. 
 McLoughlin then petitioned the State of Oregon to grant 
 him the Willamette Falls site. The Oregon Legislature 
 refused the petition and voted to grant the claim to the 
 State university. Many years later, though unfortunately 
 not until after Dr. McLoughlin s death, the State reversed 
 its early decision and made a grant to Dr. McLoughlin s 
 estate. 
 
 We hold, with Lee, that morally Dr. McLoughlin was 
 entitled to the site which the Island Milling Company, a 
 majority of whom were Methodists, claimed. But Jesse 
 Applegate, whom Bancroft commends so highly for his 
 accuracy and fairness, held that McLoughlin s claim to 
 the site of Willamette Falls was invalidated by the posi 
 tion taken by the Hudson s Bay Company. After narrat 
 ing the efforts of Dr. McLoughlin in 1844-45, under orders 
 of his company in London, to keep Americans from set- 
 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. 1, pp. 217, 218. 
 
 223 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 tling north of the Columbia, and of Dr. McLoughlin s 
 tearing down the log house which two Americans had 
 built on some uninclosed land, just north of the river, 
 claimed by the Hudson s Bay Company and used by them 
 for the pasture of their cattle, Bancroft gives the following 
 resume of Applegate s comments: "The British in Oregon 
 had also a local weak point to defend. They had been 
 ordered by the Board of Management (the London officials 
 of the Hudson s Bay Company) to remove their establish 
 ment on the south side of the Columbia to the north side, 
 but had not done so, and were occupying territory supposed 
 to belong to the United States, when they forcibly ejected 
 an American citizen from the territory they claimed for 
 Great Britain." 2 * 
 
 A summary of the recorded facts in regard to Dr. Mc 
 Loughlin s claim furnishes clear proof of Lee s fairness 
 and his friendship for McLoughlin: (1) He accepted a 
 quit claim deed from McLoughlin for the lot at Willamette 
 Falls on which the Methodist church was located, thus 
 legally recognizing McLoughlin s claim to the Falls; (2) 
 he located the Methodist claim for land at the Falls out 
 side of McLoughlin s claim, thus again recognizing the 
 validity of that claim; (3) he corrected Parrish s state 
 ment that he, Parrish, did not know McLoughlin claimed 
 the island; (4) he asserted that the compromise proposed 
 by McLoughlin and rejected by the Methodists was fair; 
 (5) he refused to insert the word "American" before 
 "settler," which he was asked to do in order to exclude 
 McLoughlin and other Britishers from the land grants 
 made to settlers in Oregon; (6) he maintained these views 
 
 M Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 463. 
 
 224 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 and performed these acts against the sentiment of his 
 fellow missionaries, of the local community, of the Oregon 
 Legislature, and of the United States Congress. Indeed, 
 Lee s support of McLoughlin was one of the causes of that 
 opposition to himself by members of the Mission which led 
 to his own downfall. It is a pity that a man should be 
 represented after his death as a hypocrite in the trans 
 action in which in some measure at least he sacrificed the 
 support of his followers, at a time when this failure cost 
 him his own position, through his loyalty to a friend of 
 an alien faith and a foreign nation. 
 
 As to the third charge that Lee was worldly and ambi 
 tious, that he deceived the Missionary Society in New York 
 and misappropriated missionary funds the facts disprove 
 it as fully as they disprove the two former charges. In 
 regard to the claim that Lee misappropriated missionary 
 funds: a careful study of the charge shows that all the 
 writer in Bancroft s history means by this ugly charge is 
 that Lee used for white work money which the Society 
 appropriated for work among the Indians. Even the 
 writer does not mean that Lee appropriated to his own 
 use any money contributed for mission work. On the 
 contrary, the writer recognizes that with many oppor 
 tunities to make wise investments, Lee remained a poor 
 man to his death. She records the fact that the last letter 
 which Lee wrote practically gave his own daughter, with 
 out property, to Dr. and Mrs. Hines, who had cared for 
 her since her mother s death and coveted the privilege 
 of bringing her up in their own home and allowing her 
 to bear her father s name; and that the next to the last 
 letter which Lee wrote was one bestowing upon the Oregon 
 Institute the small amount of property which he possessed, 
 
 225 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 thus showing his unselfish devotion to his church and the 
 Mission down to the hour of his death. 
 
 What is left of the charge, namely that Lee deceived the 
 Society in New York and used for white men money sent 
 for the Indians, is wholly disproved by the record. So 
 far from Lee deceiving the Society, it was with their full 
 knowledge that he took to the field in 1839 the mixed 
 group of preachers, teachers, physicians, mechanics, and 
 farmers, with their wives and children. The facts were 
 not only discussed in detail and unanimously adopted by 
 the Society, but they were spread before the church. If 
 the writer in Bancroft had consulted the Christian Advo 
 cate and Journal, he would have found spread out in the 
 pages of the official organ of the church in its issue of 
 December 21, 1838, a sort of proclamation by Nathan 
 Bangs, the secretary of the Missionary Society, setting 
 forth to the entire membership of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church the program in detail, stating clearly that the 
 plans as unanimously approved by the Society embraced 
 a gristmill and a sawmill with all necessary building ma 
 terials, tools, and implements ; authorized Lee to take out, 
 in addition to this machinery, $5,000 worth of goods; 
 provided for Lee to take out, in addition to five preachers, 
 six mechanics, four farmers, a missionary steward or 
 treasurer and a stewardess, one physician, and five teachers, 
 and suggested that men be selected whose wives were 
 competent to teach the Indian children ; and, finally, that 
 of the five preachers as many as possible be physicians also. 
 The proclamation stated that $30,000 were needed to cover 
 the initial expenses of materials, cost of passage, and 
 salaries for the first six months. 24 This appeal by Dr. 
 
 24 Atwood, The Conquerors, pp. 68, 69. 
 
 226 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 Bangs, spread before the church, shows how wide of the 
 mark is the charge that Jason Lee deceived the Methodist 
 people, much less the Society, which unanimously adopted 
 his program. As a matter of fact, Lee secured $37,000 
 from the church, which with the $2,600 received from the 
 secret service fund of the government, made $39,600 
 $9,000 more than the amount originally called for. The 
 only item in the budget over which there was any secrecy 
 was the gift of the government, and the government did 
 not wish this gift published lest it prejudice her negotia 
 tions with Great Britain. But Lee entered the gift in his 
 Journal with all other gifts, and on the other side of the 
 account entered the money as paid out in securing passage 
 for the missionaries to Oregon. We account for the charge 
 that Lee tricked his Eastern directors on the theory that 
 the brilliant author of the chapter in Bancroft had no 
 conception of the common sense of the folks called Meth 
 odists, or the methods of modern mission work, but thought 
 that the managers of the Missionary Society were pious 
 ninnies who believed only in sermons and tracts, but would 
 raise their hands in holy horror over the common sense 
 methods of Lee and Whitman, of General Armstrong and 
 Booker T. Washington. 
 
 It was a time of transition, and there were grounds for 
 honest differences of opinion as to the proper mission 
 policy for work among the Indians, and we do not wonder 
 that Christian men, and especially writers who had never 
 devoted serious thought to mission problems, became con 
 fused over the issues. But there were only three possible 
 solutions for the Indian problem which confronted the 
 American churches: 
 
 First is the attitude which the historian of the Pacific 
 
 227 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Coast, H. H. Bancroft, takes: "Speaking generally, all 
 missionary effort is a failure. . . . The greatest boon 
 Christianity can confer upon the heathen is to let them 
 alone." 25 This view is of a piece with the principle which 
 for half a century dominated the secular thought and 
 sometimes the conduct of the frontier settlers, and found 
 expression in the proverb, "The only good Indian is a 
 dead Indian." We are ashamed to add that during three 
 centuries of contact with the Indians the churches, by 
 their neglect of the Indian race, largely have acted upon 
 Mr. Bancroft s view. This view is essentially pagan and 
 is a century out of date. 
 
 The second policy, which, could it have been embodied, 
 might have proved best for the Indian race, was their 
 separation from the white race until they approximated 
 the white man s stage of civilization. As the white races 
 required centuries to pass from their first knowledge of 
 the gospel to their present stage of civilization, probably 
 the Indians could not have compassed the journey in a 
 century. But such a separation of the two races could 
 not be achieved by the churches; it demanded government 
 action. The United States government seriously con 
 templated this policy; and again and again she initiated 
 it by establishing reservations for the Indians. But two 
 grave difficulties prevented the success of government 
 reservations. Great Britain as well as the United States 
 recognized the Indians as a separate nation by making 
 treaties with them. It was, however, inconsistent with 
 our theory of personal freedom and also a violation of our 
 recognition of the sovereignty of the Indians, and repug- 
 
 25 Bancroft, History of Northwest Coast, vol. i, p. 549. 
 
 228 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 nant to the wishes and ideals of the Indians, for the people 
 of the republic to compel the people of a sister nation to 
 remain upon one side of an imaginary reservation line; 
 theoretically the Indians had a greater right to cross the 
 line of reservation and revisit the scenes of their childhood 
 and the graves of their fathers and to remain in the United 
 States as settlers than the people of Russia and Italy and 
 Spain. With the conception of the untrammeled sov 
 ereignty of nations and of personal and religious freedom 
 which prevailed in the United States down to the twentieth 
 century, the second solution of the problem was as im 
 practicable as the first was pagan. Moreover, no political 
 party during the last century could have continued in 
 office any length of time if it had attempted to maintain 
 against the encroaching whites a reservation for the In 
 dians sufficiently large to give them a fair opportunity to 
 pass from the hunting to the farming stage of civilization ; 
 the second solution of the problem was impossible. 
 
 The third and only other solution of the Christianization 
 of the Indians possible to the churches of the United 
 States was that proposed by Jason Lee and Marcus Whit 
 man and for a time adopted by our Missionary Society. 
 It was indeed revolutionary; it seemed extravagant; it 
 involved an abandonment of the old lines between sacred 
 and secular callings; it rested back upon the conception 
 that not the life of the minister only but of every Chris 
 tian is a plan of God. But in the inevitable and the speedy 
 settlement of the Oregon Country, and especially of the 
 Willamette and Columbia River Valleys, by the whites, 
 what other course was open to Jason Lee and Dr. Whitman 
 except to urge the missionary societies to send preachers 
 and teachers and Christian carpenters and blacksmiths 
 
 229 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 and physicians and farmers into the country as rapidly as 
 possible, make plain and attractive to the Indians applied 
 Christianity, and thus, through example and cooperation, 
 through regeneration and education, lift the Indian race 
 to a plane where it could compete with the incoming 
 whites ? It has been said that the Missionary Society was 
 extravagant in asking for $30,000 to aid Lee in 1839, and 
 that any aid of Lee by the government trenched upon the 
 independence of church and state. But in view of the fact 
 that it was only four years from the time of Whitman s 
 appeal to his Board until he and Mrs. Whitman were 
 massacred and the three glimmering torches of civilization 
 which the American Board had kindled in the upper basin 
 of the Columbia went out in darkness, that it was only 
 nine years from the time the Methodist missionaries set 
 foot in Oregon until the American whites were there in 
 force and the provisional government was established, and 
 only thirteen years until their missions also were closed 
 by the Indian war, the verdict of history will be that all 
 the churches, Protestant and Catholic alike, should have 
 moved with far more energy and speed along the only line 
 possible to prevent the impending crisis. 
 
 In the missionary annals of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church Jason Lee bears the same relation to Melville B. 
 Cox as in our early history Bishop Asbury bore to Bishop 
 Coke. Coke was the prophetic dreamer; Asbury realized 
 Coke s dream. So Cox was a splendid prophecy of the 
 triumphs of the Kingdom. He entered Africa with com 
 prehensive plans and flawless consecration on March 9, 
 1833. Four months and twelve days later he lay dead 
 upon the field, leaving the church only his heroic summons, 
 "Let a thousand fall before Africa be given up !" Lee 
 
 230 
 
LEE S SUN SETS 
 
 had barely time to hear this dying cry for Africa before 
 taking up the march toward the western shores of America. 
 There he became in fact what Cox was in splendid purpose 
 the man who set the stamp of his life, as well as the glory 
 of his death, upon the missionary enterprises of the church. 
 Well may Bishop Simpson in the Cyclopaedia of Methodism 
 pronounce him "the peer of any man who adorns the roll 
 of modern workers in the Church of Christ." 
 
 231 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 "Upholding, like the Ark of God, 
 
 The Bible in their van, 
 They went to test the truth of God 
 
 Against the fraud of man. 
 They trod the prairie as of old 
 
 Their fathers sailed the sea, 
 And made the West as they the East 
 
 The homestead of the free." 
 
 WE have portrayed the work of seven factors in the strug 
 gle : of the American Indians ; of the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany ; of the Roman Catholic Church ; of the British gov 
 ernment; of the United States government; of the Ameri 
 can pioneers; of the Methodist Episcopal Church. We 
 have yet to describe another important factor. 
 
 In its early history the American Board of Commis 
 sioners for Foreign Missions represented the Congrega 
 tional, the Dutch Reformed, and the Presbyterian 
 Churches of the United States. This Board, like the 
 Methodist Missionary Society, had been stirred by the 
 appeal of the Nez Perces and Flatheads. The Presby 
 terians, whose representative had attended and spoken at 
 the farewell meeting held in New York for Jason Lee, 
 were not behind the Methodists in a desire to evangelize 
 the Indians. But tempering their zeal with caution, the 
 Dutch Reformed Church at Ithaca, New York, sent out 
 
 232 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 in 1835 the Eev. Samuel Parker with directions for a 
 preliminary survey of the field before locating a mission. 
 By arrangement of the American Board the Eev. Mr. 
 Parker met at Saint Louis Dr. Whitman, who was going 
 out for the Presbyterian Church on the same mission. 
 They traveled together in a company of white trappers 
 from Saint Louis as far as Green River. On meeting? 
 representatives of the Nez Perces at Green River and 
 learning that the Methodist missionaries had passed be 
 yond their country, Dr. Whitman in his zeal resolved to 
 return at once to the States and bring out reenforcements 
 in the spring of 1836 and go to work among these Indians. 
 Mr. Parker consented to Dr. Whitman s return, but he 
 continued with the hunters and trappers and Indians and 
 reached Fort Vancouver October 16, 1835 a year after 
 the Methodists arrived. 1 He visited the mouth of the 
 Columbia River and the Willamette Valley, spent f the 
 winter at Fort Vancouver, where he originated the custom 
 of assembling the Canadians twice each Sunday and read 
 ing to them in French a portion of the Scriptures and a 
 sermon, went back in the spring to Fort Walla Walla, 
 selected Waiilatpu and Chemekane as future stations for 
 mission work; he then returned to the States by way of 
 Vancouver and Honolulu, reaching Ithaca May 23, 1837, 
 having traveled twenty-eight thousand miles. 2 In 1838 
 he published his Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond 
 the Rocky Mountains. Through this book Parker made 
 a real contribution to the knowledge of Oregon at a time 
 when such knowledge was greatly needed. He thus made 
 a double contribution : first, to the cause of missions, and, 
 
 1 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, pp. 104-112. 
 
 2 Ibid., vol. i, p. 124. 
 
 233 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 second, to the American settlement of Oregon. Owing to 
 its issue in 1838, four years before Dr. Whitman s trip 
 to the East, and to the sale of fifteen hundred copies within 
 a few years of its issue, Mr. Parker s volume did more to 
 awaken the East and secure emigrants for Oregon than 
 did Dr. Whitman s famous trip to Boston and Washington 
 in 1842-43. 
 
 Dr. Whitman returned to Boston from Green River and 
 reported the facts and received authority from the Ameri 
 can Board to secure reenforcements for work among the 
 Nez Perces and Flatheads. He appealed successfully to 
 Miss Narcissa Prentiss, daughter of Judge Prentiss, of 
 Prattsburg, New York, to become his bride. They were 
 married in February, 1836, and with his wife he set out 
 on his second trip West February 6. At Pittsburgh they 
 met the Rev. H. H. Spalding and his wife, who were on 
 their way from Oneida County, New York, as missionaries 
 to the Osage Indians. After due consideration and prayer 
 the Spaldings accepted the urgent invitation of the Whit 
 mans and changed their plans from the Osage to the Nez 
 Perces Indians. At Liberty, Missouri, the four were 
 joined by W. H. Gray, previously referred to, a single man, 
 who had been engaged by the American Board as a me 
 chanic and secular aid to the mission. Dr. Whitman had 
 been furnished by the Board with blacksmiths tools, some 
 carpenters tools, a plow, grain, and garden seeds, etc., for 
 making the Mission as far as possible self-supporting. At 
 Liberty they .bought wagons, pack mules, horses, and six 
 teen cows. Dr. Whitman succeeded in taking his wagon 
 as far as Fort Boise; this is the first wagon ever taken 
 beyond Fort Hall. 3 The missionaries went past the In- 
 
 s Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 133, note. 
 
 234 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 dians to whom they were sent and on to Fort Vancouver, 
 which they reached September 13, 1836. There the two 
 women remained while the men went back to explore the 
 country. Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman were the first 
 white women to cross the Rocky Mountains, going over 
 the South Pass, six years before Fremont gained fame as 
 "The Pathfinder" by describing it; the two brides enjoyed 
 one of the longest wedding journeys on record. The men 
 left Fort Vancouver on the return tour of exploration 
 November 3 and reached Waiilatpu, six miles from what 
 is now Walla Walla, November 14. In accordance with 
 the Rev. Samuel Parker s judgment, Dr. Whitman de 
 cided to settle here among the Cayuse Indians. After con 
 structing temporary quarters, W. H. Gray was left here 
 while Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding went ninety miles 
 farther east to Lapwai, about ten miles from what is now 
 Lewiston, Idaho, which they reached November 28. Mr. 
 Spalding decided to settle here among the Nez Perces 
 Indians. In 1837 Mr. Gray returned to the East for re- 
 enforcements, married, and came back to the mission field, 
 bringing his wife and accompanied by the Revs. Gushing 
 Eells, A. B. Smith, Elkanah Walker and their wives, and 
 Mr. Cornelius Rogers. The Revs. Gushing, Eells, and 
 Elkanah Walker settled among the Spokanes at Cheme- 
 kane, not far from Fort Colville, on a site which had been 
 selected for the mission by the Rev. Samuel Parker. We 
 believe the Rev. A. B. Smith and wife settled at Kamiah. 
 As a matter of fact, after investigating the conditions on 
 the field, no Protestant or Roman Catholic missionary 
 considered it wise to found a mission among the scattered 
 Flatheads in the mountains of Montana. 
 
 The missionaries at Lapwai and Waiilatpu built log 
 
 235 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 houses, broke up the land, sowed grain and planted garden 
 seeds, and carefully attended to the horses, sheep, and 
 cattle; at the same time they began preaching to the In 
 dians, teaching the Indian children to read, and the older 
 people to break up the land, build houses and do house 
 work. Mr. Spalding erected at Lapwai a gristmill and 
 a sawmill, both of which proved of great service. Dr. 
 Whitman had a small mill consisting of a spherical 
 wrought-iron burr, four or five inches in diameter, sur 
 rounded by a counterburred surface of the same material, 
 run by water, in which he could grind flour enough in 
 a day to last the large family, including the Indian chil 
 dren whom he soon had on his hands, for a week. Mrs. 
 Whitman started a school at Waiilatpu which contributed 
 greatly to the civilization of the Indians. A Presbyterian 
 church was organized at Lapwai in 1838 and another at" 
 Waiilatpu about the same time. The church at Lapwai 
 is still in existence with a full-blood Indian pastor, and 
 is the mother of Presbyterianism on the Pacific Coast. 
 The Presbyterian Church, since the separation of the work 
 of the two churches, has shown greater perseverance and 
 accomplished more for the remaining Indians than any 
 other Protestant church. 4 
 
 In starting schools and also in teaching the Indians 
 farming the American Board followed in the footsteps of 
 the Methodist Mission, because similar conditions called 
 forth similar efforts. The native church of the American 
 Board at Honolulu sent Mr. Spalding a printing press in 
 1839, Mr. Hall, one of the printers of Honolulu, bringing 
 it and teaching the missionaries at Lapwai how to operate 
 
 4 See footnote 11, page 79. 
 
 236 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 it. This was the first printing press west of the Rocky 
 Mountains. The members of the American Board at 
 Boston, like the members of the Methodist Missionary 
 Society at New York, were surprised that their mission 
 aries were so soon engaged in teaching, farming, milling, 
 weaving, etc., instead of being completely absorbed in 
 preaching the gospel. During the next few years the 
 Board also was hard pressed to secure funds for the Mis 
 sion. From its start in 1835 to its close in 1847 the Mis 
 sion is reported to have cost the Board over $40,000. 
 
 Again, like Jason Lee, Dr. Whitman gradually became 
 interested in saving the Oregon Country to the United 
 States. As already narrated Lee visited Dr. Whitman on 
 his first trip to the States in 1838, carrying with him the 
 second petition for the establishment of the United States 
 government in Oregon. Lee remained with Whitman over 
 Sunday and was enthusiastic over the possibilities of the 
 Willamette Valley, while Whitman was equally enthusi 
 astic over the fertility of Waiilatpu. Dr. Whitman was- 
 stirred over the coming of the Roman Catholic mission 
 aries to Oregon in 1838, and especially over the arrival 
 of some eighty emigrants, including women and children 
 from the Red River Country in 1841. 
 
 Dissensions having arisen between Dr. Whitman and 
 Mr. Spalding, Whitman decided to resign. But the acci 
 dental drowning of Dr. Whitman s daughter, June 23, 
 1839, brought the missionaries together in sorrow, and 
 their dissensions were temporarily healed. But Cornelius 
 Rogers resigned from the Mission in 1841 and went to the 
 Willamette Valley, and W. H. Gray resigned in October, 
 1842, and also went to the Willamette Valley. On Dr. 
 Elijah White s return to Oregon in 1842 with about one 
 
 237 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 hundred and twenty-five emigrants, he brought with him 
 a letter from the American Board to Dr. Whitman. On 
 account of the cost of the Missions and the dissensions of 
 the missionaries this letter instructed Mr. Spalding to 
 return East. 
 
 The fate of the Mission was hanging in the balance; 
 for the letter of the Prudential Committee which Dr. 
 Whitman had received not only recalled Mr. Spalding and 
 wife, but also advised the return of W. H. Gray and wife 
 and the Rev. A. B. Smith and wife, and the closing of 
 the stations at Lapwai and Waiilatpu and the continuance 
 of only one station, that at Chemekane. This station was 
 not far from Fort Colville, was six miles north of the 
 Spokane River and about one hundred and twenty-five 
 miles north of Waiilatpu and fully that distance off the 
 main line of emigration then setting toward the Columbia. 
 The Spokane Indians were less intelligent and enterpris 
 ing than the Cayuse Indians and the Nez Perces, 5 and 
 farming at Chemekane was not so successful on account 
 of the frosts. 6 As Mr. Rogers and Mr. and Mrs. Gray 
 already had resigned and gone to the Willamette, and the 
 Rev. A. B. Smith and wife, both broken in health, had 
 resigned and gone to the Sandwich Islands, the recall of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Spalding would decrease the missionary 
 force by seven. Besides, J. D. Paris and wife and W. G. 
 Rice and wife, who had been sent out by the Board in 
 1840, had located at the Sandwich Islands. Obeying the 
 orders from the Board would leave only six on the field, 
 namely, Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Eells, 
 Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Walker, with no prospect of reenforce- 
 
 8 Eells, Marcus Whitman, p. 123. 
 6 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i. p. 339. 
 
 238 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 ments. The Mission was facing a crisis. This was Dr. 
 Whitman s chief and sufficient motive for the journey East. 
 Whitman, Spalding, Eells, and Walker met at Waiilatpu 
 September 26, 1842; their dissensions were composed and 
 Dr. Whitman resolved to return to Boston and consult 
 with the Board before closing Mr. Spalding s station. In 
 addition to the missionary motive, Dr. Whitman wished 
 to see the government at Washington and hasten its efforts 
 to preserve the territory to the United States. He wished 
 also, if possible, to secure some American, Christian emi 
 grants for Waiilatpu. These also were worthy and impor 
 tant motives for the journey. 
 
 Owing to dissensions, Dr. White s party had broken into 
 two sections. A. L. Lovejoy, who later rose to eminence 
 in Oregon, was with the Hastings section of the party. 
 He was left behind by Hastings to search for a lost com 
 panion; and when he reached Waiilatpu Hastings had 
 gone on, so he remained at the Mission for about a month. 7 
 As the route was clear in Mr. Lovejoy s memory, Dr. 
 Whitman urged him to return East with him; and, after 
 some thought, Mr. Lovejoy consented. October 3, 1842, 
 they mounted horses and with three pack mules and a 
 faithful dog started East. From a human point of view 
 it did not seem possible that the journey could be made 
 during the winter, when there would be little food for 
 the horses and not a house to shelter them for the twenty- 
 five hundred miles, save at the trading posts. But Dr. 
 Whitman felt that God would help them, and they set out 
 bravely on the journey. In eleven days they reached Fort 
 Hall, six hundred miles southeast, although they rested 
 Sunday. Averaging sixty miles a day was proof that 
 
 7 Ibid., voL i, p. 262, note. 
 
 239 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 the men realized the danger of the oncoming winter. At 
 Fort Hall, Captain Grant of the Hudson s Bay Company 
 assured them that the Cheyennes and the Pawnees were 
 at war and that it was sure death to cross their country, 
 and that the snow was already falling on the mountains 
 to the south. 8 As both routes seemed thus closed, Captain 
 Grant advised them to return to Waiilatpu or else to stay 
 with him until spring. Dr. Whitman declined his advice 
 and kind offer, but decided to take the old Spanish trail 
 from Fort Hall to Santa Fe instead of crossing the moun 
 tains over the South Pass and then going down the trail 
 along the Platte and the Missouri to Saint Louis. They 
 hoped thus to escape hostile Indians; they would be bear 
 ing southeast to Santa Fe and thus hoped for warmer 
 weather; and they hoped they could procure guides from 
 point to point. They took their first guide at Fort Hall. 
 They encountered terrible snowstorms in the mountains 
 between Forts Hall and Uinta which caused much loss of 
 time. With a new guide they pushed on to Fort Uncom- 
 pahgre, where another guide was obtained and they started 
 for Taos, New Mexico. After four or five days of travel 
 they encountered a western blizzard and were forced to 
 stop four days in a canon, feeding their horses on the bark 
 of the cottonwood trees and sleeping without a tent for 
 shelter. They then attempted to go on, but were driven 
 back by snow and wind and spent three days more in the 
 canon, making seven days delay caused by this blizzard. 
 Their next effort to advance was equally dangerous; the 
 landmarks were covered with snow, the guide admitted 
 that he had lost his way, they made but little progress for 
 two or three days, and finally the guide refused to lead in 
 8 Eells, Marcus Whitman, p. 158. 
 
 240 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 any further advance. As Lovejoy showed signs of exhaus 
 tion from the journey West and the severe trials of the 
 return trip, Dr. Whitman advised him to stop in the canon 
 for recuperation (?) while he went back with the guide 
 to Fort Uncompahgre. At the Fort Dr. Whitman s im 
 perious will overcame the frightened half-frozen guide s 
 prophecy of sure death, and a second guide started out 
 with Whitman. After seven days of lonely waiting in 
 the canon, Lovejoy was delighted at Whitman s return 
 with a new guide. As the storm had abated they again 
 set forth, but at a snail s pace on account of the deep snow 
 and the severe cold. They came to Grand River, which, 
 despite its swiftness, was frozen a third of the way over 
 on each side. The new guide despaired and said they 
 could not cross the stream. Dr. Whitman rode his horse 
 out upon the ice and Lovejoy and the Indian prodded the 
 horse with poles and he advanced until the ice broke and 
 horse and rider were plunged into the stream. They were 
 carried down the river, but, breaking the ice with a pole 
 until he came to thick ice, Dr. Whitman succeeded in 
 landing and then in helping the horse out. Lovejoy and 
 the Indian pushed the two pack mules in and then followed 
 themselves; and by divine favor all, including the dog, 
 got over safely. January 12, 1843, was so cold that many 
 people throughout the West perished in the blizzard. The 
 little company was encamped in a mountain canon. The 
 guide protested against moving, but Dr. Whitman was 
 determined to start. Soon wind and snow blinded them 
 and chilled them to the bone. The animals refused to 
 travel against the storm, and animals and men turned 
 back toward the camp which they had left an hour or 
 two before. But the tracks soon filled with snow so that 
 
 241 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 they could not tell the direction, and after a short time, 
 men and animals were lost. They huddled together for 
 shelter, and Dr. Whitman, despairing of their lives, dis 
 mounted, knelt in the snow, and commended them all to 
 God. While the doctor was praying, the guide noticed 
 one of the pack mules prick up its ears. He stopped the 
 doctor and started the mule forward. The mule moved, 
 at first with hesitation, but presently taking a course 
 down the mountain it led them to the ravine and up to 
 the very embers of the fire which they had left in the morn 
 ing. Whitman and Lovejoy dismounted and helped down 
 the guide, who was partially frozen. The doctor and Love- 
 joy were also badly frost-bitten. After waiting several 
 days until the storm had abated they pushed forward 
 again. Their provisions now gave out and they killed the 
 faithful dog, which had stayed the seven lonely days with 
 Lovejoy in the canon; later they killed one of the mules. 
 (We hope that mule s spirit went to heaven, and the dog s 
 too; and the hope is in line with the teaching of John 
 Wesley, who believed that animals in some higher form 
 will enjoy a future life.) 
 
 When they reached Taos they were so frozen and ema 
 ciated with hunger that they rested two weeks; the horses 
 were unable to travel farther and they exchanged them 
 for fresh ones. But they had now passed the points of 
 greatest danger and the remainder of the journey promised 
 to be comparatively warm and safe. But, strange to say, 
 between Taos and Bent s Fort, Dr. Whitman came nearest 
 to death. 9 Suddenly learning that a party was leaving 
 
 9 (Note discrepancies in Lovejoy s letter in Clarke and 
 Eells.) Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, pp. 425-427, 
 Eells, Marcus Whitman, pp. 156-158. 
 
 242 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 Benf s Fort for Saint Louis in a few days, Dr. Whitman 
 bought the best horse he could procure, and, leaving Love- 
 joy to come on at a more leisurely pace, he attempted to 
 catch the Bent s Fort party. Thus far the doctor had 
 rested every Sunday and had held morning and evening 
 prayers. But without observing Sunday he now tried to 
 overtake the party. A day or two later Lovejoy started 
 on, and after four days of travel reached Bent s Fort, 
 there to learn with dismay that the party had started 
 on to Saint Louis two days earlier, but that Dr. Whitman 
 had not overtaken them or been seen at all. Sending on 
 a courier to ask the party to wait, Lovejoy started out 
 to search for the lost doctor. On Friday evening the 
 doctor reached the Fort greatly worn out physically, and 
 mentally bewildered. His loss of the trail and his close 
 call to death were attributed by him to the fact that he 
 traveled on Sunday. Joining the party a little later, the 
 journey was made safely to Saint Louis and on to Wash 
 ington. 
 
 History records few more heroic journeys than this ride 
 by Dr. Whitman of about one hundred and fifty days, from 
 Waiilatpu to Washington. Lovejoy was his companion on 
 the dangerous part of the journey, but decided to wait at 
 Bent s Fort until the doctor s return, and they met again 
 at Fort Laramie in the spring of 1843. This ride and 
 the ride which "Squire" Ebberts and Joseph L. Meek 
 made in 1847-48 from Willamette Falls to Washington 
 are the two most heroic horseback journeys in American 
 history. 
 
 Many people had decided to go to Oregon in the spring 
 of 1843 through the campaign in favor of Oregon started 
 by Jason Lee during 1838-39, through the distribution 
 
 243 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 of Congressional documents, the editorials and news items 
 in the newspapers, and especially through the provision 
 in the bills before Congress for the grant of a square mile 
 of land to every man over eighteen years of age who became 
 a settler in Oregon. Dr. Whitman encouraged those pro 
 posing emigration and doubtless influenced a few more 
 to start by announcing that he was returning in the spring 
 and would help pilot the company across the plains and 
 mountains. 
 
 The Tyler administration in 1843 was hesitating be 
 tween a compromise with Great Britain and a demand on 
 Mexico for the surrender of the northern portion of Cali 
 fornia and of Texas, or a demand on Great Britain for the 
 49th parallel from the Eocky Mountains to the Pacific 
 Coast. In considering Dr. Whitman s part in this struggle 
 we are face to face with a long and bitter controversy over 
 matters of fact. On the one side it is affirmed that Dr. 
 Whitman on learning that Lord Ashburton had reached 
 Washington for the purpose of making a treaty with our 
 government settling boundaries between Canada and the 
 United States, left Waiilatpu October 3, 1842, making his 
 journey East in the winter time in order that he might 
 influence the action of the United States government in 
 regard to Oregon; that he went direct from Saint Louis 
 to Washington, reaching that city March 3, 1843, 10 that 
 he met Daniel Webster, the secretary of state, President 
 Tyler, and the entire Cabinet; 11 and that as the result of 
 these meetings President Tyler promised to stop .nego 
 tiations relating to Oregon until Dr. Whitman could 
 
 10 Barrows, Oregon: The Struggle for Possession, pp. 174- 
 177. 
 
 "Eells, Marcus Whitman, p. 160. 
 
 244 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 demonstrate the feasibility of a wagon road to the Colum 
 bia; that Dr. Whitman helped to create and then led in 
 safety the company of over eight hundred emigrants to 
 the Columbia in 1843, and thus contributed more than 
 any other American to secure Oregon to the United States. 
 On the other side it is pointed out that the Ashburton 
 treaty was signed August 9, 1842, nearly two months 
 before Dr. Whitman left Waiilatpu, and that Lord Ash- 
 burton had sailed back to England; that the plain cause 
 of Dr. Whitman s visit to the East was the letter from 
 the American Board brought to Waiilatpu by Dr. White 
 in September, 1842, and the crisis in the affairs of the 
 Mission. The advocates of this view maintain that there 
 was no treaty pending between the United States and 
 Great Britain relating to Oregon in 1843, when Dr. Whit 
 man is said to have visited Washington and called upon 
 Webster, Tyler, and the Cabinet; that the claim of his 
 great services in saving Oregon was never put forward 
 until 1864, twenty-one years after the supposed service was 
 rendered; that those who put it forward have been con 
 victed of numerous mistakes in their statements as to 
 facts of history, and that the whole claim may be justly 
 characterized as the "Whitman Legend/ The leaders in 
 supporting Dr. Whitman s claim are Spalding, Barrows, 
 Clarke, Eells, Gray, Lyman, Mowry, and Nixon; the lead 
 ers among the opponents are Bancroft, Bourne, Marshall, 
 Evans, Hines, Scott, and Mrs. Victor. The claim was 
 first put forward by H. H. Spalding in 1864. In 1865 
 the Rev. G. H. Atkinson called the attention of the Rev. 
 S. B. Treat, secretary of the American Board, to Spald- 
 ing s statement. Mr. Treat expressed doubt as to the 
 reliability of Spalding s statements, but on Dr. Atkinson 
 
 245 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 asking him to write the Kev. Gushing Eells for confirma 
 tion and mentioning the great value of the story for mis 
 sion purposes, Mr. Treat wrote, and upon Mr. Eells s con 
 firmation, the statement was put forth at the annual meet 
 ing of the Board at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1866. 12 
 The statement produced a profound impression upon the 
 audience and was widely reported in the newspapers. It 
 was stoutly reaffirmed by W. H. Gray, History of Oregon, 
 in 1870, by H. H. Spalding in 1871 (Exec.-Document 
 No. 37, 41st Congress, 3rd Session), by the Rev. Myron 
 Eells in a pamphlet published in 1883 and in one pub 
 lished in 1902 in reply to Professor Bourne, and in his 
 volume on Marcus Whitman, published in 1909. 
 
 Originally we accepted the statements made in favor 
 of Dr. Whitman s claim, and our pamphlet, A Romance 
 of Missions, published in 1884, presents his services from 
 this point of view. After reading the volumes upon both 
 sides of the controversy we are constrained to the con 
 viction that while Dr. Whitman rendered real, important, 
 and lasting services to the emigrants who went to Oregon 
 in 1843, and real service to the country, the claims put 
 forth on his behalf were far beyond the facts. 
 
 We reverse our early opinion reluctantly and only in 
 the face of what seems to us overwhelming evidence. The 
 early story furnished a remarkable illustration of the in 
 fluence of a single missionary in helping keep an invaluable 
 territory under the sovereignty of the United States by 
 one of the most heroic rides in history. But that the 
 evidence against the claims of Spalding, Gray, Barrows, 
 Nixon, Mowry, and Eells in behalf of Whitman is con- 
 
 " Eells, Marcus Whitman, pp. 202, 203. 
 
 246 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 vincing to those who look up evidence is shown by the 
 fact that the following writers who originally lent their 
 authority and gave currency to the claim put forth for 
 Dr. Whitman have changed their convictions: Mrs. F. F. 
 Victor gave currency to the story of Dr. Whitman s re 
 markable achievements in her River of the West, pub 
 lished in 1870, but later openly repudiated the claim in 
 Bancroft s History of Oregon, of which she is largely the 
 author. 13 The Rev. H. K. Hines introduced to the Meth 
 odist public the story of Whitman s saving Oregon in an 
 article published in The Ladies Repository about 1869. 
 Thirty years later in his Missionary History of the Pacific 
 Northwest he no longer supports the claim of Dr. Whit 
 man s services in saving the country, which he had em 
 bodied in the early article. 14 William J. Marshall first 
 accepted through Dr. Mowry in 1877 the story of Dr. 
 Whitman s remarkable services to the government. In 
 November, 1884, he gave the first expression to his doubts 
 of Whitman s special services to the nation, and later 
 made the fullest refutation yet published of these claims 
 in the two volumes entitled The Acquisition of Oregon, 
 published in 1911. In addition the following authors of 
 textbooks on the history of the United States who had set 
 forth the services of Dr. Whitman to our government have 
 accepted the conclusions of Bourne and Marshall and have 
 announced their purpose to omit or revise their accounts 
 of Dr. Whitman s services to the nation : J. B. McMaster, 
 H. E. Scudder, D. H. Montgomery, W. F. Gordy, A. F. 
 
 13 Bourne, Essays in Historical Criticism, p. 36 (see also 
 pp. 23, 25). 
 
 14 Hines, Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, pp. 
 464-474. 
 
 247 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Blaisdell, Mrs. A. H. Burton, and John Fiske. 15 Mr. 
 Fiske in his centennial oration on Astoria, Oregon, em 
 bodied the story of Dr. Whitman s remarkable services to 
 the country. But after Professor Bourne s publication 
 of the Legend of Marcus Whitman in the American His 
 torical Review, January, 1901, Fiske wrote him: "You 
 have entirely demolished the Whitman delusion. ... I 
 am sorry to say that I was taken in by Barrows and 
 Gray." 16 Here are the names of ten writers who at first 
 accepted the story of Dr. Whitman s services to our gov 
 ernment in saving Oregon to the United States, each one 
 of whom now repudiates that claim. On the other hand 
 we do not know a single recognized historian who has been 
 led by the sifting of evidence to accept the claims put 
 forth by H. H. Spalding and maintained by Dr. Eells. 
 
 But as Dr. Eells does not accept the verdict of these 
 historians, an examination of his views becomes necessary. 
 An analysis of all the facts and an examination of the 
 theories advanced to explain the facts forces us to the 
 conclusion that Whitman s visit to Washington in the 
 winter or spring of 1843 had no decisive influence upon 
 the administration, though we think it had an influence 
 in shaping public opinion in the presidential election of 
 1844. 
 
 The advocates of Dr. Whitman ask why he took the 
 great risk and passed through the great hardships of the 
 winter journey if his only or chief aim in going East was 
 to save the Mission, whereas on their theory that it was 
 essential for him to reach Washington before the adjourn 
 ment of Congress March 3, 1843, there is ample ground 
 
 15 Bourne, Essays in Historical Criticism, p. 51, note. 
 
 16 Ibid., p. 51, note. 
 
 248 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 for the risk and the hardships. The reply is twofold: 
 First, we have the definite reason for the immediate start 
 given by Mrs. Whitman in her letter of September 30, 
 1843, written at the time when the facts and reasons were 
 clearly in mind and also written when there was no dream 
 of controversy. When Dr. Whitman decided to go East 
 two courses were open to him. As it was the last of 
 September, he could remain at Waiilatpu until the spring 
 and make the journey in the spring and summer of 1843. 
 But in that case he could not return in 1843, for he could 
 not cross the continent and return during a single summer. 
 On the other hand, he could start East immediately and 
 by reaching Saint Louis in December he could go on to 
 Boston and Washington in the winter, and start back in 
 May and reach his family and work by the fall of 1843. 
 If he started East about October 1, he would be absent 
 from his home and his work only a year and would resume 
 the work, with reenforcements as he hoped, in the fall 
 of 1843. If he started in the spring of 1843, he could 
 not get to work on the new basis before the fall of 1844. 
 Anyone who has studied Dr. Whitman s character knows 
 that he was of the Eoosevelt type quick to reach a de 
 cision, full of courage, and energetic in action. With this 
 situation before us, read this sentence in Mrs. Whitman s 
 letter to her parents, written September 30, 1842, and 
 sent by her husband: "He wishes to cross the mountains 
 during this month, I mean October, and to reach Saint 
 Louis about the first of December." 17 Here is Dr. Whit 
 man s program stated by his wife four days before he 
 started. Had they followed the northern trail, as they 
 
 " Ibid., p. 98, note. 
 
 249 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 expected to do when they started, and rested on Sundays, 
 they had forty days of travel to December 1. By exchang 
 ing horses at two or three of the posts and averaging forty 
 miles a day they could have reached Saint Louis by Decem 
 ber 1, which was the time fixed in Dr. Whitman s program, 
 as stated by Mrs. Whitman. In view of these considera 
 tions Mrs. Whitman s statement of his plans written only 
 four days before he started answers the question as to why 
 Dr. Whitman started East as late as October. It was the 
 report of James Grant, the agent of the Hudson s Bay 
 Company at Fort Hall, that on account of the bitter war 
 between the Indians the northern route was impossible 
 which led Whitman to choose the southern route diago 
 nally through the mountains instead of crossing them at 
 South Pass. This change of route, the lack of knowledge 
 of the new route, together with the exceptionally severe 
 winter, delayed their arrival at Westport, Missouri, until 
 February, 1843. 18 Here, then, is the clear and decisive 
 reason why Dr. Whitman started East October 3, 1842, 
 instead of waiting until the spring of 1843. 
 
 That there was another reason for Dr. Whitman s haste 
 in his desire to reach Washington before the adjournment 
 of Congress March 3, 1843, is a matter of controversy. 
 The statement originally made by Dr. Barrows that Dr. 
 Whitman reached Washington before the adjournment of 
 Congress on March 3 is no longer maintained by Eells in 
 his latest volume, Marcus Whitman (1909). We think it 
 would be to the advantage of the claim that Dr. Whitman 
 exercised a decisive influence upon President Tyler if we 
 could place his visit to Washington as late as May, 1843, 
 
 "Bourne, Essays in Historical Criticism, p. 86. 
 
 250 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 as we shall show a little later. But let us first analyze the 
 claim still maintained by Dr. Myron Eells in his volume 
 on Dr. Whitman that the doctor was instrumental in 
 changing the plan of Webster and President Tyler in 
 regard to the boundary line between the United States 
 and Canada. 
 
 Dr. Eells, in the latest, most elaborate, and ablest de 
 fense of the view that Dr. Whitman secured to the United 
 States at least the territory lying between the Columbia 
 River and the 49th parallel, says : "Soon after the Ashbur- 
 ton treaty was signed in August, 1842, Lord Aberdeen 
 had, through H. S. Fox, the British minister at Wash 
 ington, consulted with Secretary Webster about resuming 
 negotiations on the Oregon question. This was October 
 18, 1842. On November 25, following, Mr. Webster had 
 replied, saying that President Tyler concurred in the 
 suggestion and would make a communication to our minis 
 ter in England at no distant day. The next letter extant, 
 however, is dated nearly a year later October 9, 1843. 
 Then Hon. A. P. Upshur, who had succeeded Mr. Webster 
 as secretary of state, wrote Edward Everett, our minister 
 in London saying: The offer of the forty-ninth parallel 
 of latitude, although it has been once rejected, may be 
 again tendered, together with the right of navigating the 
 Columbia River upon equitable terms: beyond this, the 
 President is not prepared to go/ Why was this delay of 
 nearly a year? It certainly gave time for the President 
 to know practically that the immigration which Dr. Whit 
 man had promised to lead through was a large one, and 
 so that Oregon could be peopled overland from the United 
 States. If this is not so, can anyone answer the question, 
 Why, when the President had said he would make the 
 
 251 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 Oregon question the subject of immediate attention, and 
 promised that at no distant day, a communication would 
 be sent on the subject, none is now on record for nearly 
 a whole year?" 19 Hence Dr. Eells says in the conclusion 
 of his pamphlet: "Just how much of Oregon was saved, 
 the writer has never decided, but for nearly twenty years 
 has stated, The whole or a part of it/ The papers found 
 in regard to the trade for California and Webster s state 
 ment point to that part north of the Columbia River. But 
 the statement of Sir Robert Peel, Dr. Whitman s letters, 
 and the ideas of Judge Strong and some other western 
 statesmen point to all of the then Oregon." 20 
 
 Why do we not accept Dr. Eells s view? Simply be 
 cause Dr. Eells is entirely mistaken as to the facts. Web 
 ster, indeed, promised the British minister on November 
 25 that the President would make a communication to our 
 minister in London at no distant date. Dr. Eells says, 
 "The next letter extant, however, is dated nearly a year 
 later, October 9, 1843." The facts show that so far from 
 delaying a year through Dr. Whitman s influence or any 
 other influence, on November 28, 1842 only three days 
 after Mr. Webster promised that the President would com 
 municate with our minister in London Mr. Webster sent 
 Mr. Everett the promised communication upon the subject 
 of Oregon. 21 This indisputable letter of Mr. Webster s 
 entirely disposes of Dr. Eells s hypothesis that after Web 
 ster promised immediate attention and a communication 
 at no distant date, the President was induced by Dr. 
 
 "Eells, Marcus Whitman, p. 197. 
 
 10 Eells, A Reply to Professor Bourne s "The Whitman 
 Legend," pp. 119, 120. 
 
 31 Webster, Private Correspondence, vol. ii, pp. 153-154. 
 
 252 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 Whitman to delay the reply for nearly a whole year in 
 order to learn before answering of the success or failure 
 of Dr. Whitman s effort to lead emigrants to Oregon. 
 
 Again on January 1, 1843, Webster approached General 
 Almonte, the Mexican minister to the United States, on 
 a tripartite solution of the boundary line between Great 
 Britain, Mexico, and the United States. 22 Mr. Webster 
 approached General Almonte a second time about April 1, 
 urging his acceptance for Mexico of this solution of the 
 boundary lines between the three governments. 23 Dr. Eells 
 no longer insists upon the statement of Barrows that Dr. 
 Whitman reached Washington before Congress adjourned 
 March 3, 1843, but simply that he reached Washington 
 some time during March. This is also the view of Bourne ; 
 but in this case the fact that Webster is still pushing for 
 the settlement the first days in April and along compro 
 mise lines which yielded to Great Britain all north and 
 west of the Columbia Eiver shows that President Tyler 
 is not in the least observing any supposed promise made 
 to Dr. Whitman in March to postpone further considera 
 tion of the question until Whitman can lead a great 
 migration across the plains and mountains and demon 
 strate the practicability of the wagon road to the Columbia. 
 Mr. Webster resigns his position as secretary of state on 
 May 8, 1843, and the President asks Attorney-General 
 Legare to assume the portfolio until he can select another 
 secretary of state. But President Tyler does not even wait 
 until he can select a successor to Webster, but on May 16, 
 1843, he asks Legare to resume negotiations over the Ore- 
 
 22 Adams, Memoirs, vol. xi, p. 340 (see also Tyler, Letters 
 and Times of the Tylers, vol. ii, pp. 260, 261). 
 28 Adams, Memoirs, vol. xi, pp. 351-355. 
 
 253 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 gon boundary. 24 It is not only the entire absence in all 
 the printed documents of 1843, of any reference to Dr. 
 Whitman s visit, the entire absence of a line of evidence 
 that President Tyler made any promise to Dr. Whitman 
 to postpone negotiations until he could learn of the out 
 come of Whitman s proposal, but it is the positive, written, 
 contemporary evidence that the government was carrying 
 on negotiations over the Oregon boundary, and that Tyler 
 and Webster after the time assigned by all of Whitman s 
 friends for his visit to Washington were trying to secure 
 a compromise in direct conflict with Whitman s views that 
 discredits the contention of Barrows, Nixon, Gray, Mowry, 
 and Eells, of Whitman s influence over the Tyler adminis 
 tration in the spring of 1843. 
 
 "Bourne, Essays in Historical Criticism, p. 83, note (see 
 also Tyler, Letters and Times of the Tylers, vol. iii, p. 111). 
 
 254 
 
CHAPTEE XV 
 
 MAECUS WHITMAN 
 (CONCLUDED) 
 
 WHAT service did Dr. Whitman render to the govern 
 ment and the people of the United States by his trip to 
 the East in the winter of 1842-43? 
 
 , If we turn from speculation to Whitman s correspond 
 ence, we get authoritative statements from his own pen as 
 to the services he rendered by his trip : 
 
 1. In a letter to the American Board dated Waiilatpu, 
 November 1, 1843, he says, "If I never do more than to 
 have been one of the first to take white women across the 
 mountains and prevent the disorder and inaction which 
 would have occurred by the breaking up of the present 
 emigration, and establishing the first wagon road across 
 the border to the Columbia Eiver, I am satisfied." 1 Dr. 
 Whitman thus sums up his services to the country in 
 three items, neither of which has the slightest connection 
 with the great service assigned to him by Barrows, Eells, 
 and others. 
 
 2. In a letter to the Hon. James M. Porter, secretary 
 of war, received at the War Department June 22, 1844, 
 Dr. Whitman narrates the complete success of his trip 
 West and dwells upon his service in piloting the emigrants 
 
 bourne, Essays in Historical Criticism, p. 91. 
 
 255 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 to Oregon, incloses a bill for Secretary Porter to put before 
 Congress, but makes no reference whatever to any agree 
 ment with the President and the Cabinet to the effect 
 that the President was to delay signing a treaty relating 
 to the Oregon boundary until Dr. Whitman could report 
 whether or not he had discovered a wagon road to Oregon. 
 This testimony is negative, but as Porter was a member 
 of the Cabinet, failure to refer to an agreement with the 
 Cabinet which would have been well known to them both 
 is practically decisive against the existence of any such 
 agreement. 2 
 
 3. In a letter to the Eev. L. P. Judson, written Novem 
 ber 5, 1846, a trifle over three years after Whitman re 
 turned to Oregon, 3 Dr. Whitman says: "I had adopted 
 Oregon as my country, as well as the Indians for my field 
 of labor, so that I must superintend the emigration of 
 that year [1843], which was to lay the foundation for 
 the speedy settlement of the country if prosperously con 
 ducted and safely carried through; but if it failed and 
 became disastrous, the reflex influence would be to dis 
 courage for a long time any further attempt to settle the 
 country across the mountains, which would be to see it 
 abandoned altogether. ... I have returned to my field 
 of labor, and on my return brought a large immigration 
 of about a thousand individuals safely through the long, 
 and the last part of it an untried, route to the western 
 shores of the continent. ... It is quite important that 
 such a country as Oregon should not on one hand fall 
 into the exclusive hands of the Jesuits, nor on the other 
 
 2 Eells, Marcus Whitman, pp. 336-343. 
 8 See Transactions Oregon Pioneer Associations, 1893, p. 
 200. 
 
 256 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 under the English government." 4 Here is the statement 
 made by Dr. Whitman himself of the services which he 
 rendered the government in 1843. In this statement he 
 lays the whole emphasis upon his guidance of the emi 
 grants of 1843 to Oregon; he does not mention any agree 
 ment with the President to be guided in signing or not 
 signing some supposed treaty by the success or failure 
 of this expedition. 
 
 4. If Dr. Whitman had a secret agreement with our 
 government affecting international affairs, prudence would 
 have prevented the publication of the fact until after the 
 treaty was signed, though in this case he could safely have 
 mentioned the fact to his Board and especially to Secre 
 tary Porter, who was supposed to be a partner to the agree 
 ment. But in Dr. Whitman s letter of April 1, 1847, to 
 the American Board, which reveals his knowledge that 
 the treaty had been signed and Oregon secured to the 
 United States, he again fails to refer to any agreement 
 with President Tyler. In this letter, in which Dr. Whit 
 man tried to justify to the Board his trip East, it seems 
 to us incredible, had he been able to secure any agreement 
 with the President and the Cabinet by which they made 
 a treaty relating to Oregon dependent on his success in 
 leading a band of emigrants across the mountains, and 
 had he, as he claims in the letter, successfully led such a 
 band to Oregon, that he should have failed to mention 
 this greatest single service any citizen of Oregon could 
 have rendered the United States. But the letter of April 
 1, 1847, simply reiterates and emphasizes the fact that his 
 service consisted in guiding safely to Oregon the emigra- 
 
 4 Quoted by Eells, Marcus Whitman, pp. 182-183. 
 
 257 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 tion of 1843. It says: "I often reflect on the fact that 
 you told me you were sorry I came East. It did not then, 
 nor has it since, altered my opinion in the matter. Ameri 
 can interests, acquired in the country, which the success 
 of the immigration of 1843 alone did and could have 
 secured, have become the foundation of the late treaty 
 between England and the United States in regard to 
 Oregon, for it may be easily seen what would have become 
 of American interests had the immigration of 1843 been 
 as disastrous as have been the two attempts in 1845 and 
 1846 to alter the route then followed. The disaster was 
 great again last year to those who left the track which I 
 made for them in 1843, as it has been on every attempt 
 to improve it, not that it cannot be improved, but it 
 demonstrates what I did in making my way to the States 
 in the winter of 1842-43, after the third of October. . . . 
 Anyone can see that American interests as now acquired 
 have had more to do in securing the treaty than our 
 original rights. From 1835 till now it has been apparent 
 that there was a choice of only two things: (1) The in 
 crease of British interests to the exclusion of all other 
 rights in the country, or (2) the establishment of Ameri 
 can interests by citizens." 5 This elaborate defense of his 
 action makes no reference to any agreement with Tyler 
 and his Cabinet, but holds that the treaty of Polk in 1846 
 securing the Puget Sound region was due to his service 
 in guiding the emigrants to Oregon in 1843. 
 
 5. A final letter by Dr. Whitman defending his return 
 to the States is addressed to the American Board and is 
 dated October 18, 1847, about six weeks before his death. 
 
 8 Quoted by Eells, Marcus Whitman, p. 183. 
 
 258 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 In it he makes no reference to any agreement with Presi 
 dent Tyler. He says: "Two things, and it is true those 
 which were the most important, were accomplished by 
 my return to the States. By means of the establishment 
 of the wagon road, which is due to that effort alone, the 
 emigration was secured and saved from disaster in the 
 fall of 1843. Upon that event the present acquired rights 
 of the United States by her citizens hung. And not less 
 certain is it that upon the results of emigration to this 
 country, the present existence of this Mission and of 
 Protestanism hung also." 6 In this letter Whitman men 
 tions the two most important services accomplished by 
 his return to the States: the establishment of the wagon 
 road and the preservation of the emigrants of 1843 from 
 disaster. Upon these two services he claims hung two 
 important results: the securing of the country to the 
 United States and the preservation of the American Board 
 Mission and of Protestantism upon the Pacific Coast. 
 We thus have clear, straightforward statements by Dr. 
 Whitman in five letters dating from a few weeks after his 
 return to Oregon to within six weeks of his death showing 
 what he regarded as his great service to the United States 
 government and people. Dr. Whitman s statements in 
 these five letters do not furnish the slightest support to 
 Dr. Eells s view that Dr. Whitman had an agreement with 
 President Tyler and the Cabinet by which Tyler was not 
 to sign a treaty sacrificing any portion of Oregon until 
 he could hear of the success or failure of Dr. Whitman s 
 effort to guide a party to Oregon. The absence of all 
 testimony by Whitman in the five statements of his serv- 
 
 Eells, Marcus Whitman, p. 231. 
 
 259 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 ices as to this agreement with the President is to us con 
 clusive evidence that no such agreement existed. Dr. 
 Whitman s services were considerable; they consisted in 
 the encouragement, warning, medical aid, help, and guid 
 ance furnished to the largest body of emigrants which up 
 to that time ever started for Oregon, and they consisted 
 further in a clearer demonstration than ever before that 
 a national highway for wagons was feasible from Saint 
 Louis to the Pacific Coast. Here, then, in an authoritative 
 form is Dr. Whitman s definition of his services. 
 
 We must not press even these two claims too far. Dr. 
 Whitman did not create the emigration of 1843. Ban- 
 croft says: "The discussions in Congress and the popu 
 larity of Linn s bill, with the missionary efforts herein 
 narrated, resulted in a pronounced emigration movement. 
 It began in 1842, when a hundred persons followed 
 Elijah White westward." 7 Bancroft connects Jason Lee, 
 not Dr. Whitman, with the Linn bill and the Congressional 
 documents whose circulation started the emigration of 
 1843. Dr. Eells thinks that Dr. Whitman may have in 
 duced one third or two fifths of the emigrants of 1843 
 to start to Oregon. Owing to the fact that Dr. Whitman 
 reached Saint Louis only three months before the emi 
 grants started on their journey, and owing to the slowness 
 with which any message from him could have reached 
 these emigrants scattered through four or five States, and 
 owing to the slowness with which farmers were able to 
 sell their land, collect their money, and make arrange 
 ments for the journey, Bancroft s view that the emigra 
 tion of 1843 was largely the result of the earlier agitation 
 
 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 391. 
 
 260 
 
MAECUS WHITMAN 
 
 is far better founded than Dr. Eells s view. Nevertheless, 
 it is entirely reasonable that some hesitating families were 
 encouraged to enter upon the journey by hearing of Whit 
 man s arrival and of his proposal to guide a band of emi 
 grants back to Oregon in the spring of 1843. 
 
 Again, we must make Dr. Whitman s claim to the guid 
 ance of the company on the long journey a modest one. 
 Bancroft shows that on May 20, 1843, twelve miles 
 west of Independence, Missouri, the emigrant body adopted 
 the usual rules for parties crossing the plains and elected 
 Peter H. Burnett captain, and J. W. Nesmith orderly 
 sergeant, and nine others as councilmen to assist in settling 
 questions, and employed Captain John Gantt, a former 
 army officer, now a "mountain man," as official guide to 
 Fort Hall. 8 Clearly, Captain Gantt, not Dr. Whitman, 
 was the guide from Independence to Fort Hall. As the 
 company embraced men who later became leaders of the 
 State, Burnett becoming a judge of the Supreme Court of 
 Oregon and later governor of California, and Nesmith 
 becoming a United States senator from Oregon, and Jesse 
 Applegate, who later led one division of the emigrant band, 
 becoming a prominent citizen of Oregon, it is very prob 
 able that these men under the guidance of Captain Gantt, 
 who had frequently made the journey, would have reached 
 Fort Hall in safety had not Dr. Whitman been with 
 them. Captain Burnett resigned at the end of eight days 
 because the large company failed to observe his regula 
 tions. Bancroft states that the resignation evidently pro 
 duced an effect upon the company, because William Martin, 
 who was chosen in Captain Burnett s place, held the com- 
 
 8 Ibid., vol. i, p. 395. 
 
 261 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 mand for the remainder of the journey. But it is signifi 
 cant that after Burnett resigned, William Martin, not 
 Dr. Whitman, was elected captain. It shows that the 
 company was not relying upon Dr. Whitman for leader 
 ship. The size of this body of emigrants making any 
 Indian attack extremely hazardous for the Indians, and 
 the fact that Captain Bennett Eiley with his artillery 
 had severely chastised the Indians a few years before and 
 frightened with his cannon even more than he had hurt 
 them, preserved the company from serious danger of In 
 dian attacks during the journey. 
 
 Remeau, one of the Hudson s Bay Company s guides, 
 met the band of emigrants at Fort Hall, where Captain 
 Gantt s term of service expired, and offered his services 
 for the remainder of the journey. Dr. Whitman expressed 
 the judgment that with his Cayuse Indians who had just 
 come over the trail and met him at the Fort, and with 
 his own recollections of the trail which he had traversed 
 the previous October, he could guide them without charge 
 the rest of the way in safety; hence the councilmen did 
 not think it necessary for the party to take the extra 
 expense of Remeau as a guide. Remeau knew the trail 
 far better than did Dr. Whitman; and he showed his fine 
 character by sitting down with Dr. Whitman, after the 
 emigrants decided not to employ him, and working out 
 the entire course from Fort Hall to Dr. Whitman s home; 
 he indicated each camping place, the distance between 
 camps and each difficult portion of the road. With Dr. 
 Whitman s recollection of the route from his journey of 
 the preceding October, and with Remeau s sketch of the 
 route, Dr. Whitman safely guided the emigrants from 
 Fort Hall as far as Grande Ronde River, that is, about 
 
 262 
 
MAKCUS WHITMAN 
 
 three hundred miles. At this station other Indians from 
 Spalding s station met him with a letter informing him 
 of the illness of Mr. and Mrs. Spalding; and from Grande 
 Ronde Dr. Whitman hurried on, and the company was 
 guided safely by Sticcas, a converted Indian chief who had 
 the full confidence of Dr. Whitman. With Remeau one 
 of the best guides of the Hudson s Bay Company at 
 Fort Hall to guide them, it is practically certain that the 
 company would have come through safely had not Dr. 
 Whitman been with them. Nevertheless, it was with Dr. 
 Whitman s presence, advice, and encouragement all the 
 way, and his guidance from Fort Hall to Grande Ronde 
 that the company safely made the journey. They had 
 started a little late and Dr. Whitman s unceasing exhorta 
 tion was, "Travel, travel, travel." 9 The snow began to 
 fall upon the mountains by the time they reached the 
 Grande Ronde Valley; and the missing of the trail at any 
 part of the journey, or even delay in following the trail, 
 would probably have been attended with serious conse 
 quences. It is easy to say and it is probably correct that 
 the Federalist would have been written had Madison not 
 been able to contribute a single article, but such a con 
 sideration will not rob Madison of his share of the fame 
 for that remarkable interpretation of our constitution. So, 
 while it is probable that this company of strong Ameri 
 cans, under such leaders as Burnett and Nesmith and the 
 regular guides, would have reached their destination in 
 safety, we ought not to rob Dr. Whitman of his share in 
 encouraging and inspiring the eight hundred emigrants 
 in making the remarkable journey of 1843. 
 
 Jesse Applegate, A Day with the Cow Column, quoted 
 by Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, vol. ii, p. 55. 
 
 263 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 We think that Dr. Whitman also deserves credit for 
 inducing the emigrants to take their wagons to Oregon. 
 At this point he claimed too much for himself. In the 
 spring of 1830 wagons were first used instead of pack 
 animals on the northern route. They had been used long 
 before that date on the Santa Fe trail. These northern 
 wagons followed what was known as the Oregon trail and 
 went as far as Wind River, Wyoming, before Dr. Whitman 
 made his first journey. 10 Wagons also had been taken 
 from Wind River on to Fort Hall, Idaho. Dr. Whitman 
 was the first man to take a wagon from Fort Hall on to 
 Fort Boise, Idaho. It must also be borne in mind that 
 in 1840 three Americans, Robert Newell, Joseph L. Meek, 
 and one other man, had taken three wagons belonging to 
 Newell all the way from Saint Louis to Walla Walla, a 
 few miles beyond Dr. Whitman s home at Waiilatpu. This 
 was three years before Dr. Whitman induced the emigrants 
 to take their wagons on to Waiilatpu. So far from Dr. 
 Whitman being the first man to take a wagon across the 
 continent, he was the first man to take a wagon from 
 Fort Hall to Fort Boise less than a tenth of the distance 
 from Saint Louis to the Pacific, and by no means the 
 worst part of the journey. Moreover, the Hudson s Bay 
 Company s guide, Remeau, joined Dr. Whitman in advis 
 ing the emigrants to take their wagons with them. Again, 
 in the company was William Fowler, who had made the 
 journey before and who, according to Jesse Applegate, 
 had a better knowledge of what ox-teams could do with 
 wagons than had Dr. Whitman. 11 Worse still, on reach 
 ing Waiilatpu, Dr. Whitman advised the company to leave 
 
 10 Leonard, Narrative, p. 27. 
 
 11 Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. i, p. 399. 
 
 264 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 their wagons and cattle in the Walla Walla Valley for the 
 winter and that a few men return and take them down in 
 the spring. Dr. Whitman told them that the Indians 
 had burned off the grass and that the cattle would perish 
 if they attempted to take them through that autumn. But 
 Dr. Whitman s advice proved harmful and almost danger 
 ous. Part of the emigrants left their cattle, and one or 
 two groups of them were delayed on the journey and 
 nearly perished from hunger 12 a condition which would 
 have been avoided had they taken their cattle with them. 
 On the other hand, those who took their cattle, found 
 abundance of grass. 13 But the fact remains that it was 
 Dr. Whitman s advice and encouragement which more 
 than any other single influence led these eight hundred 
 emigrants to take their wagons from Fort Hall to Waii- 
 latpu. 
 
 In addition to these two services, can Dr. Whitman 
 be credited with any further service to the government? 
 Dr. Whitman s letter addressed to the Hon. James M. 
 Porter, the secretary of war, received at the War Depart 
 ment June 22, 1844, and now on file there, opens with 
 the sentence, "In compliance with the request you did me 
 the honor to make last winter while at Washington, I 
 herewith transmit the synopsis of a bill, ..." etc. This 
 proves conclusively that Dr. Whitman visited Washing 
 ton. It is certain that this visit did not affect the Ash- 
 burton treaty, which was signed before he left Waiilatpu. 
 
 We have already pointed out in Chapter VI, on "The 
 *United States Government," that President Tyler from 
 the time of Lord Ashburton s visit to Washington in 1842 
 
 12 Ibid., vol. i, p. 410. 
 18 Ibid., vol. i, p. 405. 
 
 265 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 down to May 16, 1843, was busy carrying through a dis 
 graceful plot by which the United States and Great Britain 
 were to rob Mexico of the northern portion of her territory. 
 If, therefore, Whitman s visit to Washington had taken 
 place during the latter half of May or any time before 
 October 9, 1843, the date of Secretary Upshur s letter to 
 our minister in London stating that the President would 
 not yield any territory below the 49th parallel, we might 
 possibly attribute the final abandonment of the compro 
 mise plans to Whitman s influence over Tyler. But Perrin 
 B. Whitman says that his uncle, Marcus Whitman, bade 
 goodby to his mother and left Middlesex, New York, for 
 Oregon April 20, 1843. Besides, Dr. Whitman, in his 
 letter to the secretary of war, received at the War Depart 
 ment June 22, 1844, speaks of his visit to the secretary 
 "last winter." All the facts constrain us to put this visit 
 in March. It is simply impossible, therefore, to make 
 Dr. Whitman s visit the decisive factor in determining 
 Tyler s change of policy, since the efforts to compromise 
 by the surrender of the territory to Great Britain con 
 tinued for two months after Whitman s visit. Moreover, 
 Dunning and Garrison both assure us that Tyler s change 
 of policy was due to information furnished him in the 
 summer of 1843 by a secret agent whom he had sent to 
 Great Britain to the effect that Great Britain was attempt 
 ing by the offer of a liberal loan to induce Texas to abolish 
 slavery; and that it was Tyler s anger over the supposed 
 meddling of Great Britain with slavery in Texas which 
 led to his abandonment of compromise in the letter of 
 October and the message of December, 1843. 
 
 We have tried to state clearly and fairly all the facts 
 on both sides, and our readers can form their own judg- 
 
 266 
 
MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 ment. Our own conviction is as follows: First, Dr. Whit 
 man is entitled to great credit for inspiring, encouraging, 
 helping to guide, and furnishing medical aid to the great 
 company of over eight hundred emigrants who went to 
 Oregon in 1843; second, to Dr. Whitman more than to 
 any other man belongs the credit of inducing the eight 
 hundred emigrants to take their wagons to Oregon. When 
 the eight hundred settlers wrote back to friends in all 
 parts of the United States that they had taken their 
 wagons through, the government and the people knew that 
 a wagon road from the Mississippi to Oregon was prac 
 ticable; third, Dr. Whitman s visit to Washington was not 
 the decisive influence which led President Tyler to change 
 his policy, and turned that compromiser into a braggart 
 and a bluffer; it would not add to Dr. Whitman s fame 
 to even share in producing this political tergiversation. 
 But it is correct to credit the emigration to Oregon in 
 1843 with considerable influence in the interjection of 
 the Oregon issue into the campaign of 1844, and the 
 carrying of the election at least partly upon that issue. 
 Fourth, and above all, it must be said of Dr. and Mrs. 
 Whitman, that their power of initiative made them leaders 
 among their Indian wards; that in addition to teaching 
 the Indians by precept and example the arts of farming, 
 housekeeping, milling, etc., their kindness of heart turned 
 their station into a school, a hospital, and an orphanage. 
 Finally, it must be added that the martyrdom at Waiilatpu 
 November 29, 1847, of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman gave the 
 last, full proof of their devotion to their country and their 
 church, to the Indians whom they loved, and the Master 
 whom they followed, and placed their names high on the 
 roll of Christendom. 
 
 267 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 RESUME 
 
 OUR aim throughout the book has been to portray the 
 actions which determined how the territory west of the 
 Rocky Mountains, lying between Russia on the north and 
 Mexico on the south, was divided between the United 
 States and Great Britain. We have tried to point out the 
 work of the leading factors in determining that division. 
 For the sake of a deeper and clearer general impression, 
 let us now summarize our work. 
 
 1. THE AMERICAN INDIANS 
 
 One afternoon in the winter of 1831-32 three Nez 
 Perces and one Flathead Indian appeared upon the streets 
 of Saint Louis with a request which no white men had 
 ever heard before. They came, they said, from the land 
 of the setting sun. They had heard of the white man s 
 God. They wanted the white man s Book of Heaven. 
 
 General William Clark, then in command of the mili 
 tary post of Saint Louis, had met similar tribes in his 
 famous journey to the Columbia River with Captain Meri- 
 wether Lewis in 1804-06. A kind-hearted Christian man, 
 he tried to tell the Indians the doctrines of the Roman 
 Catholic Church necessary to salvation; but he did not 
 deem it wise to give them the Bible. 
 
 268 
 
RESUME 
 
 Two of the four Indians died from the hardships of the 
 journey and the other two, homesick and disappointed, 
 prepared to return. General Clark made them a ban 
 quet and bade them Godspeed. Hee-oh-ks-te-kin, a Nez 
 Perce, replied in a speech, which made a deep impression. 
 The genuineness of the published speech has been a subject 
 of much controversy. We have no data which contradict 
 Rev. H. H. Spalding s claim that the speech is genuine. 
 But the late date of its publication 1865 together with 
 the many inaccuracies in Mr. Spalding s narrative of the 
 Whitman massacre, throw doubt upon this claim. Upon 
 the other side the brevity and style of the speech sug 
 gest its Indian origin. If genuine it is the highest example 
 of Indian oratory, as Lincoln s Gettysburg speech is the 
 highest example of American eloquence. It deserves to 
 rank with Jeremiah s Lamentations in its longing for the 
 knowledge of the eternal world. 
 
 "We came to you over a trail of many moons from the 
 Setting Sun. You were the friend of our fathers who 
 have all gone the long way. We came with one eye partly 
 opened for more light for our people who sit in darkness. 
 We go back with both eyes closed. How can we go back 
 blind to our blind people ? We made our way to you with 
 strong arms through many enemies that we might carry 
 back much to them. We go back with both arms empty 
 and broken. 
 
 "Two fathers came with us. They were the braves of 
 many winters and wars. They were tired in many moons 
 and their moccasins wore out. We leave them asleep by 
 your great water and wigwam. 
 
 "Our people sent us to get the white man s Book of 
 Heaven. You took us where you worship the Great Spirit 
 
 269 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 with candles, but the Book was not there. You showed 
 us images of the Good Spirit and pictures of the land 
 beyond, but the Book was not among them to tell us the 
 way. We are going back the long, sad trail to our people 
 of the dark land. You make our feet heavy with gifts 
 and our moccasins will grow old carrying them. But the 
 Book is not among them. When, after one more snow 
 we tell our poor, blind people in the Big Council that we 
 did not bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our 
 old men or our young braves. One by one, they will rise 
 up and go in silence. Our people will die in dark 
 ness and they will go on the long journey to other 
 hunting grounds. No white man will go with them and 
 no white man s Book to the way plain. I have no more 
 words." 
 
 But while the Indians apparently failed, the journey 
 was not in vain. William Walker, Jr., a Methodist half- 
 breed of the Wyandot tribe, was sent by our government 
 from Upper Sandusky to Saint Louis to arrange for the 
 transfer of the Wyandots to a reservation farther west. 
 General Clark told Walker of the strange request of the 
 Indians and introduced him to them. Walker sent a 
 letter East which was published in the New York Chris 
 tian Advocate and Journal. This awakened the Meth 
 odist Church and led to the first mission to the Oregon 
 Indians. Moreover, the conversion of many Wyandots 
 and the deep need of this and other tribes led to the 
 formation of the Missionary Society of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church which raised and spent $200,000 in the 
 evangelization of the Oregon Indians. The account of 
 this strange journey by the Indians also led the American 
 Board, then representing the Congregational, the Dutch 
 
 270 
 
RESUME 
 
 Reformed, and the Presbyterian Churches, to send out 
 Marcus Whitman, Samuel Parker, and H. H. Spalding 
 one by each denomination who rendered providential serv 
 ice to the Indians and to the United States government in 
 securing Oregon. Under the divine providence, the Ameri 
 can Indians inspired the founding of the Oregon Mis 
 sions. 
 
 2. HUDSON S BAY COMPANY AND GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 Impartial history will not fail to recognize the far- 
 seeing and heroic efforts which the Hudson s Bay Com 
 pany, the British government, and above all, Dr. Mc- 
 Loughlin put forth in the early discovery and control of 
 the Oregon Country. Our record also shows that the 
 Hudson s Bay Company built eleven forts and trading 
 posts in what is now American territory and exercised 
 authority over the British, the Indians, and occasionally 
 the Americans, over the entire Pacific Coast from the 
 Russian possessions to California then the northern 
 province of Mexico. We have written in vain, if our narra 
 tive has failed to show the firmness, promptness, financial 
 ability, and Christian spirit of Dr. McLoughlin, who 
 ruled a country second in size to Russia alone among the 
 compact organizations of the world; secured immense 
 profits for his Company, a just and rich portion of the 
 vast territory for Great Britain, and who led her without 
 a war to make the inevitable surrender of the larger and 
 richer portion of the country to the United States. We 
 accept Lyman s estimate of the wisdom of McLoughlin s 
 administration: "It may be said too that he gave to 
 America all she could have gained by war, and that he 
 saved England all that could have been saved by war." 
 
 271 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 "He ruled for twenty years a country as large as Charle 
 magne s as absolutely and as worthily as Charlemagne." 1 
 
 3. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES 
 
 No one can read the story of Fathers Brebeuf, Chau- 
 monot, Gamier and Jogues, of Hennepin and Marquette, 
 of Blanchet and Demers, without recognizing that the 
 Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada, in the Mississippi 
 Valley, and on the Pacific Coast equaled and often excelled 
 in heroism and untiring efforts the pioneers, hunters, and 
 Protestant missionaries. Most of the Catholic missionaries 
 came from France; and the French names, Champlain, 
 Superior, Prairie du Chien, Saint Louis, Vincennes, and 
 New Orleans, are the imperishable records of their jour 
 neys and their labors. The escape from capture of Marie 
 Baptiste and her two-months journey alone and that of 
 another Algonquin woman 2 equal the stories of Mrs. 
 Chaboneau and Mrs. Dorion, and show equally fine ma 
 terial for Christian missions among the Indians whom the 
 Roman Catholics reached. But the slaughter of the Iro- 
 quois by their savage neighbors, the fact that an over 
 whelming majority of the converts among the Catholic 
 as among the Protestant missionaries accepted Christianity 
 as a magic power to deliver them from hunger and dangers 
 and abandoned it when they discovered that it did not 
 furnish miraculous relief, above all the disappearance of 
 the Indians as a whole, left the Roman Catholic mission 
 aries in the larger portion of the United States only a 
 
 1 Lyman, History of Oregon, vol. ii, pp. 354, 355. 
 J Parkman, The Jesuits of North America, pp. 405-414. 
 
 272 
 
RESUME 
 
 few French names as the evidence of their influence upon 
 the civilization of the country. The Roman Catholic 
 Church worked longer and more continuously in behalf 
 of the Indians, she brought a larger number of mission 
 aries to the field, and she made conditions of church mem 
 bership more acceptable to the Indians than did the 
 Protestants; consequently she has enrolled a larger num 
 ber of converts. But because the Roman Catholic mission 
 aries chiefly came from France, or from French-Canada, 
 and represented a foreign nation and an autocratic form 
 of civil and religious life, they contributed almost nothing 
 to the shaping of the civilization which now prevails 
 throughout the continent. Francis Parkman thus sums 
 up their work in one section of the country, and his judg 
 ment applies equally to the whole of the United States: 
 "The Jesuits saw their hopes struck down ; and their faith, 
 though not shaken, was sorely tried. The providence of 
 God seemed in their eyes dark and inexplicable ; but from 
 the standpoint of liberty, that providence was as clear 
 as the sun at noon. Meanwhile let those who have pre 
 vailed yield due honor to the defeated. Their virtues shine 
 amidst the rubbish of error like diamonds and gold in 
 the gravel of the torrent." 3 
 
 4. THE UNITED STATES 
 
 During the first forty years of our republic our peoples 
 did not realize that the Japanese Current raises the tem 
 perature of Oregon and Washington as the Gulf Stream 
 raises the temperature of England and Ireland. The 
 founders of the republic deemed the Oregon Country a 
 
 Ibid., pp. 552-555. 
 
 273 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 mountainous waste with cold and inhospitable shores. 
 They believed that the Rocky Mountains presented an 
 impassable barrier to the further progress of western 
 migration. They regarded even the country west of the 
 Mississippi as largely composed of the Great American 
 Desert. Moreover, our fathers believed that the republic 
 would fall to pieces of its own weight if they attempted 
 to extend it across the continent, with such widely sepa 
 rated peoples and such diverse interests. On account of 
 these conditions American statesmen were in serious dan 
 ger at first of losing the Oregon Country. But despite 
 these apparently insuperable obstacles to the possession 
 of a fair share of the Oregon Country by the United 
 States, careful search of the records has shown that a few 
 congressmen and senators and at least four Presidents 
 Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson, and Polk put forth states 
 manlike efforts to make secure American rights in the 
 country, and that in the end the United States succeeded 
 in her purpose. 
 
 5. THE OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 The United States owes a very large debt of gratitude 
 to Captain Gray and John Jacob Astor and N. J. Wyeth, 
 to Kelley, Gale, Ebberts, Meek, and Thornton, and to 
 Christian pioneers of the type of Hall, Royal, Whitcomb, 
 Gray, Shortess, Babcock, and Abernethy, whose services 
 and sacrifices helped the nation to secure her magnificent 
 position upon Puget Sound and to lay the foundations 
 for that influence upon the Pacific Basin which America 
 will exercise for all time to come. That American civili 
 zation is as promising as it is on the Pacific Coast is due 
 to the silent labors and sufferings of heroic men and 
 
 274 
 
RfiSUMfi 
 
 women who lived unheralded lives and rest in unvisited 
 tombs. 
 
 6. MARCUS WHITMAN 
 
 We are sorry that facts which can no longer be set aside 
 compel the rejection of what now seem to be partisan 
 claims in behalf of Dr. Whitman, and to a lower estimate 
 of Dr. Whitman s services to the nation than we held for 
 many years. But a survey of all of the facts leads to an 
 even higher estimate of heroism and unselfish devo 
 tion to the Indians and to the Kingdom upon the part 
 of both Dr. and Mrs. Whitman than we had formerly 
 realized. 
 
 After long investigation we are clear that Dr. Whitman 
 did not lead our government to modify her treaty with 
 Great Britain and thus secure for us the Puget Sound 
 region, and in this judgment we are following the over 
 whelming majority of American historians. Dr. Whitman 
 did not induce any considerable number of the eight hun 
 dred emigrants who went to Oregon in 1843 to start upon 
 that journey, and he was their official guide during only 
 a small portion of the way. But Dr. Whitman, with A. L. 
 Lovejoy, did make, during the winter of 1842-43, one of 
 the most heroic journeys recorded in history; he did visit 
 Washington and confer with Webster and President Tyler, 
 and he possibly exercised a slight influence upon the 
 administration; he did encourage some citizens to start 
 on the famous journey to Oregon, and he accompanied 
 that famous band of emigrants, ministering to the sick, 
 encouraging the down-hearted and inspiring the farmers 
 to take their wagons through the mountains. He did 
 hasten their journey, and the largest band of American 
 
 275 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 emigrants which down to that time had ever crossed the 
 Rocky Mountains made the journey to the Pacific Coast 
 in safety. Not Dr. Whitman but this great migration of 
 settlers by sheer weight of numbers insured the continu 
 ance of the provisional government. Moreover, the success 
 of this great migration to Oregon deepened interest in the 
 Oregon problem, helped to shape the Democratic platform 
 of 1844 and to carry the election on a platform which 
 secured the 49th parallel as a boundary line to the Pacific 
 Ocean. But Dr. and Mrs. Whitman did lead in the intro 
 duction of education, modern medicine, farming, and 
 Christian civilization into that vast inland region lying 
 between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast, 
 ministered to thousands of roaming Indians in the gospel 
 and in applied Christianity, and sealed their ministry by 
 death as the first Christian martyrs west of the Rocky 
 Mountains. No exaggerated claims are needed to place 
 Marcus and Priscilla Whitman s names on the martyr roll 
 of Christendom. 
 
 7. JASON LEE 
 
 In regard to the work of Methodists in the Indian 
 Missions, the record shows that the Wyandot Indians were 
 the occasion leading to the organization of the greatest 
 society in Methodism, now represented by the Board of 
 Home and the Board of Foreign Missions; that Jason 
 Lee met President Andrew Jackson and secured the 
 indorsement of the President, the secretary of state and 
 the secretary of war for the founding of our Mission in 
 Oregon; that the Methodist Mission was the earliest mis 
 sion, Protestant or Roman Catholic, organized in Oregon, 
 and that Jason Lee preached the first Protestant sermon, 
 
 276 
 
RESUME 
 
 baptized and received into the church the first Protestant 
 converts on the Pacific Coast; that he was in touch with 
 the heads of the United States government in 1833, 1838, 
 1839, and 1840; that the Methodists drafted the first three 
 petitions to our government to extend its authority over 
 Oregon ; that some nine of the twenty-six measures which 
 the government inaugurated, including four of the nine 
 bills introduced into Congress, were connected in some 
 measure with Methodist initiative; that Jason Lee sug 
 gested the land grants which from 1838 onward were 
 incorporated in all the bills relating to Oregon and which, 
 with his speaking tour through twelve States and the 
 newspaper campaign he inaugurated, were the chief causes 
 of those large emigrations to Oregon which saved the 
 country to the United States; and that the President of 
 the United States granted Lee, from the secret service 
 fund, aid to lead out, in 1840, the largest body of mission 
 aries and emigrants which to that date had entered Oregon, 
 and that these emigrants, with the one hundred and 
 twenty-five which Dr. White, an ex-Methodist Missionary, 
 led to Oregon in 1842, made possible the provisional gov 
 ernment of 1843 ; that while W. H. Gray, a Congregational 
 layman, took the lead in the final step for a provisional 
 government, the Methodists were the influence back of 
 him making possible this government., and that the first 
 governor, treasurer, and judge of the Supreme Court were 
 members of our church. It was the struggle in the Willam 
 ette Valley of the preacher and the school teacher, of the 
 farmer and home-maker, against the trapper and the 
 hunter ; and the Methodists were the leaders of civilization 
 in that struggle. The simple story of his deeds places 
 Jason Lee s name high on the bead-roll of prophets and 
 
 277 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 martyrs begun in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews and not 
 yet concluded. 
 
 8. DIVINE PROVIDENCE 
 
 Above all the efforts of all the parties in this struggle, 
 a study of the facts must more and more impress upon 
 all students of the problem the conviction of a Divine 
 Providence operating in human affairs. 
 
 (1) The patient, heroic, but very discouraging labor 
 of Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries, chiefly in 
 the Oregon Country, has resulted in the salvation of a 
 remnant of the Indians which gives promise of yet pro 
 ducing the reformers and lawgivers and prophets of that 
 race, as the remnant of Judaism under God produced the 
 Saviour of the world. 
 
 (2) The inspired author of the first Gospel mentions 
 as a token of the divine favor that Peter caught a fish 
 and found in its mouth a shekel, some sixty cents, by 
 which he was enabled to pay the temple tax of Jesus and 
 himself. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River 
 have sometimes yielded as high as $15,000,000 in a season, 
 and they will average $5,000,000 a year perpetually. 
 Would not Saint Matthew to-day find a larger illustration 
 of the divine favor? A million and a quarter of people 
 now live in the American portion of the Columbia water 
 shed. This region yields annually $200,000,000 worth of 
 grain, minerals, lumber, fish, fruits, and garden products, 
 with only a fraction of its resources yet utilized. A terri 
 tory larger than New England, with a far milder climate, 
 facing the most populous part of the globe, with unsur 
 passed harbors, and with boundless possibilities, is God s 
 way of saying to Christians of the twentieth century 
 
 278 
 
RESUME 
 
 "Manifold more in this time, and in the world to come 
 eternal life." 
 
 (3) But this fine territory with its large material 
 products is not God s only answer to the efforts of the 
 Oregon missionaries and pioneers. After the arrival of 
 the emigrants in the fall of 1843, the Americans in the 
 Columbia Valley outnumbered the British three or four 
 to one. But the British were so reluctant to yield the 
 country between the Columbia River and the 49th parallel 
 that Great Britain did not sign the treaty until 1846. No 
 one dreams that the Puget Sound region would have been 
 yielded June 15, 1846, had not more than a thousand 
 Americans, through the efforts of Lee and Whitman, 
 and Dr. White, poured into Oregon before the treaty was 
 singed. 
 
 (4) January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in Cali 
 fornia. Since negotiations for our Oregon boundary had 
 dragged on from 1818 to 1846 and Great Britain was 
 exceedingly loath to give up the claim to the territory 
 even then does anyone believe that, had she waited until 
 gold had been discovered and reports of untold wealth had 
 spread like wildfire, she would have signed away her claim 
 without a war? 
 
 (5) But there is another important factor which made 
 it necessary that the claim should be settled not only before 
 the discovery of gold in 1848, but during the first half of 
 1846. We were on the verge of war with Mexico indeed, 
 we were in a war with Mexico; the battle of Palo Alto 
 was fought May 8, 1846, and the Oregon treaty was not 
 signed until June 15, 1846. Had the news of the Mexican 
 War reached Great Britain before she had dispatched 
 instructions to her minister in Washington to sign the 
 
 279 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 treaty, that treaty in all human probability would not have 
 been signed in 1846. Instead of confining our forces to 
 Mexico alone, the United States would have been forced 
 to struggle with two nations at once; and this would 
 have prolonged the war until the discovery of gold in 1848. 
 The discovery of gold on the Pacific Coast would have led 
 Great Britain and Mexico to redouble their efforts to hold 
 their claims. Each of the events of this drama presses 
 upon the heels of its predecessor. It is probable that only 
 the settlement of Oregon through missionary initiative, 
 which resulted in the yielding of the claims to the Puget 
 Sound region in 1846, saved us from war with Great 
 Britain, the strongest nation on earth, in addition to the 
 war we were then waging with Mexico. These Nez Perce 
 and Flathead Indians were as truly sent by God as were 
 the visions of the man of Macedonia; and Jason Lee and 
 Marcus Whitman were following plans as providential 
 as were those of Paul when ne invaded Europe with his 
 faith. 
 
 (6) But the acquisition of territory of large extent and 
 boundless wealth and the avoidance of war with Great 
 Britain were not the only results which missionary enter 
 prise helped to achieve; the church sent her sons to bless 
 others; indirectly they secured the greatest blessings for 
 ourselves, that is, for the American people, including our 
 Negro fellow citizens. Jason Lee, with the cooperation 
 of Dr. McLoughlin, effected the abolition of the last traces 
 of slave owning by white men on the Pacific Coast in 1834, 
 twenty-seven years before the great war of 1861-65. Down 
 to the Mexican War the United States included thirteen 
 free States with 361,000 square miles of territory, and 
 fourteen slave States with 635,000 square miles, not count- 
 
 280 
 
RfiSUME 
 
 ing Texas. 4 The party leaders on both sides knew that 
 the area of the United States north of the Mason and 
 Dixon line and east of the Mississippi embraced 417,000 
 square miles as compared with 474,000 south of the line. 
 But the northern territory consecrated to freedom was 
 increasing in population and wealth more rapidly than 
 the southern territory. Moreover, the northern boundary 
 of the United States was carried north by the Great Lakes 
 and extended from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky 
 Mountains along the 49th parallel ; whereas Mexico owned 
 Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Cali 
 fornia, with portions of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and 
 Wyoming, that is, almost all of what is now the southern 
 
 4 The list and area of States admitted into the Union be 
 fore the declaration of war with Mexico in 1846 is as follows: 
 FREE STATES SLAVE STATES 
 
 Connecticut 4,965 Alabama 51,998 
 
 Illinois, 56,665 Arkansas 53,335 
 
 Indiana 36,354 Delaware 2,370 
 
 Massachusetts 8,266 Florida 58,666 
 
 Maine 33,040 Georgia 59,265 
 
 Michigan 57,980 Kentucky 40,598 
 
 New Hampshire 9,341 Louisiana 48,508 
 
 New Jersey 8,224 Maryland 12,327 
 
 New York 49,204 Mississippi 46,865 
 
 Ohio 41,040 Missouri 69,420 
 
 Pennsylvania 45,126 North Carolina 52,426 
 
 Rhode Island 1,248 South Carolina 30,989 
 
 Vermont 9,564 Tennessee 42,022 
 
 Virginia 42,627 
 
 13 361,017 West Virginia 24,170 
 
 14 635,586 
 
 West Virginia and Virginia were united in 1846. 
 
 281 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 area of the United States west of the Mississippi. Hence, 
 Mason and Dixon s line, separating the free from the 
 slave territory, if extended west of the Mississippi, would 
 have left almost the entire area on the side of freedom. 
 Texas was annexed and the Mexican War was begun to 
 redress this balance and secure this southwestern territory 
 for slavery. Had the United States surrendered Wash 
 ington and most of Oregon to Great Britain (and Calhoun, 
 Jefferson Davis, and other Democratic leaders voted against 
 the organization of the Oregon territory), then the terri 
 tory secured by the Mexican War would have given slavery 
 the larger area west, as well as east, of the Mississippi. 
 
 It is true that some American pioneers had settled in 
 Texas; and these pioneers claimed that Texas had con 
 ducted a successful revolution and had won her independ 
 ence from Mexico ; and Texas s independence was acknowl 
 edged by Great Britain as well as by the United States. 
 But as we showed in Chapter VI, Great Britain possibly 
 was induced to recognize the independence of Texas by 
 the proposal of Tyler to surrender the Puget Sound region 
 in return for British connivance in our annexation of 
 Texas and seizure of Mexican territory. At any rate, it 
 is clear that the United States through the Mexican War 
 robbed a weaker nation of an immense territory, partly 
 for the purpose of extending slavery. A few years later 
 the people of the United States, North and South alike, 
 paid dearly in blood and money and tears for our injustice 
 to the Mexicans and to the Negroes. An impartial his 
 torian declares: "No previous war had ever in the same 
 time entailed upon the combatants such enormous sacri 
 fices in life and wealth." 5 
 
 6 Charnwood, Abraham Lincoln, p. 361. 
 
 282 
 
RESUME 
 
 But the securing to the United States of 286,000 miles 
 of the Oregon Country in which the last traces of slave- 
 owning by white men had been abolished, gave to freedom 
 even after the annexation of Texas, etc., the larger area 
 west of the Mississippi. This was the divine significance 
 of the struggle upon the part of missionaries and pioneers 
 and the United States government for the Oregon Country. 
 It is significant, and suggests divine influence in the affairs 
 of men and nations, that while a great majority of the 
 Southern members of Congress followed Calhoun and 
 Davis in opposing the bill organizing the Oregon territory 
 with its anti-slavery clause, nevertheless the bill passed 
 through the vote of such Democrats as Benton, Linn, and 
 Douglas, who placed patriotism above sectional interests. 
 To-day the South perceives as clearly as the North that 
 not human wisdom or strength, but Divine Providence 
 abolished slavery and preserved the Union. California, 
 which became part of the United States as the result of 
 the war with Mexico, waged in part at least for the exten 
 sion of slavery, and Oregon, made sure to the United 
 States in 1846, poured their men and money into the 
 Union side in that great struggle. Suppose that this 
 western territory had been held by foreign powers, or 
 that at the time of the contest over slavery we had still 
 been battling for Texas and the gold fields of California 
 and the Puget Sound region against Mexico and Great 
 Britain combined, humanly speaking, it would have been 
 impossible to free the slaves and preserve the Union in 
 1865. The Divine Providence is the key to history. 
 "Manifold more in this time, and in the world to come 
 eternal life." 
 
 (7) But the salvation of a remnant of the Indians, the 
 
 283 
 
THE OKEGON SESSIONS 
 
 possession of a large and invaluable territory, the avoid 
 ance of war with Great Britain, the preservation of the 
 Union, and the abolition of slavery, were not the only 
 blessings which the early settlement of Oregon under mis 
 sionary impulse helped to secure to the United States. 
 The forces for the last great struggle in human history 
 are now gathering around the Pacific Basin. The struggle 
 of the twentieth century largely will determine what race, 
 what language, what civilization and what religion shall 
 become most influential in this great Basin during the 
 remainder of earthly history. The United States and 
 Great Britain by their positions on the Pacific Basin 
 already are playing large parts in that struggle. Because 
 these two nations are contributing in some measure to a 
 Christian type of civilization, it is of incalculable advan 
 tage to all races that they settled the Oregon problem in 
 such a manner as to give both of them good harbors on 
 the Pacific Coast. Only future centuries can reveal the 
 significance of the peaceable settlement along the eastern 
 shores of the Pacific of two great peoples one holding 
 Seattle and Tacoma and the other Vancouver and Victoria, 
 both peoples speaking the same language, governed by the 
 same ideals and aiming in some measure at least to embody 
 Christian principles in the civilization of the largest basin 
 of our earth. 
 
 It is because the Eoman Catholic and the Congrega 
 tional, the Dutch Eeformed, Presbyterian, and Methodist 
 missionaries labored to save the Indian race and, under 
 God, did save a remnant of that race; it is because the 
 combined efforts on each side led to a fair division of this 
 territory without a war, and in such a manner as to place 
 the two great Anglo-Saxon races side by side on the 
 
 284 
 
BfiSUME 
 
 Pacific Coast for the struggle of the coming centuries; 
 and it is because these tasks were accomplished without 
 war but with a heroism unsurpassed in the records of 
 human history, that Oregon Missions take their place 
 among the modern "Acts of the Apostles." 
 
 W. A. Mowry and 0. W. Nixon have shown great ability 
 in telling the world of the heroism of Marcus Whitman, 
 H. H. Bancroft, S. A. Clarke, and Horace S. Lyman have 
 surpassed Mowry and Nixon by recognizing the heroic 
 services of other actors in the drama. Professor Bourne 
 and Mr. Marshall discharged a loyal duty to the church 
 and to the nation by correcting the indefensible claims 
 made in behalf of Dr. Whitman, while at the same time 
 they recognized the lofty character of the missionaries 
 and their valuable service in behalf of Christian civiliza 
 tion in Oregon. H. Addington Bruce has made a valuable 
 contribution in setting forth the great services of our 
 statesmen, while at the same time recognizing the services 
 of the missionaries. We would not take a leaf from the 
 laurels with which any of the heroes of American history 
 have been crowned. But impartial history owes to Mrs. 
 Whitman and Mrs. Spalding, the first white women to 
 cross the Eocky Mountains; impartial history owes to 
 Mrs. White and Mrs. Beers, the first white women to 
 establish homes on the Pacific Coast; to Solomon Smith, 
 Cyrus Shephard, P. L. Edwards, Susan Downing, and 
 Elizabeth Johnson, the first white school teachers on the 
 Pacific Coast; to Harvey Clark, who founded the Uni 
 versity of the Pacific; to Daniel Lee, one of the two first 
 Protestant preachers on the Pacific Coast; to Anna Pitman 
 Lee, the first missionary woman dying for posterity on the 
 Pacific Coast; and, above all, to Marcus Whitman and to 
 
 285 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Jason Lee, who, Mke Moses, led their peoples to the 
 promised land, but were not permitted to enter in them 
 selves laurels not less green and lasting than those upon 
 the brows of the Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 When the population of that golden coast rises to 30,- 
 000,000 and Victoria becomes the Glasgow, and Seattle, 
 Tacoma, San Francisco, and Los Angeles the Liverpool, 
 Antwerp, Hamburg, and London of the boundless com 
 merce of the Pacific, may not the landing place of the first 
 missionary ship, Lausanne, become the Plymouth Rock 
 of the Pacific Coast, and Willamette University and Whit 
 man College be their Harvard and their Yale ? Will there 
 not arise a Buchanan Read or a Longfellow to sing of 
 rides more heroic than Sheridan s, of more spiritual sig 
 nificance than that of Paul Revere ? Will not some spirit 
 ual descendant of M^rs. Hemans arise to sing of the second 
 Pilgrim Band who left home, not for freedom to worship 
 God themselves but to carry light to those who sat in dark 
 ness, and who, while struggling to save a dying race, mar- 
 velously helped their own? "For the eyes of Jehovah 
 run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show him 
 self strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect 
 toward him." 
 
 286 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 NAMES OP SOME OF THE OREGON PIONEERS 
 
 This list is not complete. We have included all the Ameri 
 cans whose names we could find down to and including those 
 who voted for the provisional government, as narrated in 
 Chapter XI. Imperfect as the list is, it is by far the com- 
 pletest list of Oregon pioneers which, so far as our knowledge 
 goes, has been hitherto compiled. 
 
 Lewis and Clark Expedition 1805 
 
 Degie, Philip. 
 
 DeLoar (Lyman III, 251). 
 
 Rivet, Francis. 
 Arrived on Tonquin 1811 
 
 Thomas McKay. 
 Astor party 1812 
 
 Cannon, William. 
 
 Dorion, Madame. 
 
 Dorion, Baptiste. 
 
 Dubruil. 
 
 Gervais, Joseph. 
 
 LaBonte, Louis. 
 
 LaFramboise, Michel. 
 
 Lucier, Etienne. 
 
 McKay, Jean Baptiste Deportes. 
 
 Montoure. 
 
 Revoir, Antoine. 
 
 The above are believed to belong to the Astor party, though 
 not all of them have been identified. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1818 
 
 Birnie, James. 
 
 Latta, William. 
 
 287 
 
THE OREGON" MISSIONS 
 
 Pichette, Louis (Bancroft I, 74, says settled in Valley, 1832). 
 
 Ogden, Peter Skeen. 
 
 Scarborough. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1821 
 
 Plumondeau, Simon (Lyman III, 264). 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1824 
 
 Douglas, James (later Sir James). 
 
 McLoughlin, Dr. John. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1824 to 1828 
 
 Connell. 
 
 Dease. 
 
 Ermatinger, Frank. 
 
 Manson, Donald. 
 
 McKinlay, Archibald. 
 
 Pambrun, Pierre C. 
 
 Work, John. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1828-29 
 
 Felix Hathaway, saved from wreck of H. B. Co. vessel 
 William and Ann. 
 
 James M. Bates. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 18SO 
 
 Dunn, John. 
 
 Roberts, George B. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1881 
 
 Finlayson, Duncan. 
 
 Others of Hudson s Bay people of unknown date, but believed 
 to nave come before 1832 
 
 Belaque. 
 
 Chamberlaine. 
 
 Charlevon. 
 
 Dubois, Andrew. 
 
 Dupre, Francis. 
 
 Fancault. 
 
 La Chapelle, Andre. 
 
 Payette. 
 
 Pournaffe. 
 
 Quesnel, Francis. 
 
 288 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 Rondeau. 
 
 Shaugarette, Louis. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1832 
 
 Allen, George T. 
 
 McLeod, John. 
 
 McNeill, William. 
 N. J. Wycth party 18S2 
 
 Abbot Killed by Bannock Indians. 
 
 Ball, John. 
 
 Breck, W. 
 
 Burditt, S. 
 
 Sargent, G. f died 1836. 
 
 Smith, J. Woodman. 
 
 Smith, Solomon Howard. 
 
 St. Clair. 
 
 Tibbets, Calvin. 
 
 Trumbull, G. 
 
 Whittier. 
 Independent 1832 
 
 Captain O Neal Clarke, vol. I, p. 199. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1833 
 
 Tolmie, Dr. William Frazer 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1834 
 
 Rae, William Glen In Calif, from 1841 till death in 1846. 
 N. J. Wyeth party of 1834 and First Group of Methodist Mis 
 sionaries 
 
 Edmunds, J., mentioned by Methodists, probably came with 
 this party. 
 
 Edwards, Philip L., Methodist missionary-teacher. 
 
 Hubbard, Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 Lee, Daniel, Methodist missionary, retired to States August 
 14, 1843. 
 
 Lee, Jason, Methodist missionary. 
 
 McCrary, Richard. 
 
 O Neil, James H., converted and joined Methodist Church. 
 
 Richardson, Paul, guide; did not remain in country. 
 
 289 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Roe, Charles J., mentioned by Methodists, probably came 
 with party. 
 
 Sansbury. 
 
 Shepard. Cyrus, Methodist missionary-teacher. 
 
 Thornburg, killed by Hubbard in self-defense in 1835. 
 
 Walker, Courtney M., contract teacher for Methodists for 
 one year, and others. 
 Young and Kelley party 1834 
 
 Brandywine. 
 
 Carmichael, Lawrence. 
 
 Ezekiel, Elisha. 
 
 Gale, Joseph. 
 
 Hauxhurst, Webley J., built first gristmill in Willamette 
 Valley in 1834; converted January, 1837, and joined Methodist 
 Church. 
 
 Howard, John. 
 
 Kelley, Hall J. 
 
 Kilborn. 
 
 McCarty, John. 
 
 Winslow, George (colored). 
 
 Young, Ewing. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1834 (about) 
 
 Anderson, Alexander Caulfield. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1835 
 
 McLeod, Donald. 
 1835 
 
 Bailey, Dr. William J., an attache of Methodist Mission; 
 married Margaret Smith. 
 
 Gay, George. 
 
 Turner, John. 
 American Board missionaries 1836 
 
 Gray, William H., layman. 
 
 Spalding, Henry Harmon, minister, and wife. 
 
 Whitman, Dr. Marcus, medical missionary, and wife. 
 Second Group Methodist Missionaries May, 1831 
 
 Beers, Alanson, blacksmith, wife and three children. 
 
 Downing, Susan, engaged to marry Cyrus Shepard. 
 
 290 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 Johnson, Elvira, teacher. 
 
 Pitman, Anna Maria, later married Jason Lee. 
 
 Whitcomb, J. L. 
 
 White, Elijah, physician, wife and two children; left mis 
 sion summer of 1840 on Lausanne. 
 
 Willson, W. H., carpenter. 
 Third Group Methodist Missionaries September 7, 1837 
 
 Leslie, David, minister, wife and three daughters. 
 
 Perkins, H. K. W., minister, left Mission in late summer 
 of 1844. 
 
 Smith, Margaret, teacher. 
 Second Group of American Board Missionaries 1838 
 
 Eells, Cushing C., minister, and wife. 
 
 Rogers, Cornelius, layman, drowned February 4, 1843. 
 
 Smith, Asa B., minister, and wife; left about 1841 or 1842 
 for Sandwich Islands. 
 
 Walker, Elkanah, minister, and wife. 
 First Group of Roman Catholic Missionaries 1838 
 
 Blanchet, Francis Norbert, priest. 
 
 Demers, Modeste, priest. 
 1838 
 
 Conner, James. 
 
 Williams, Richard. 
 
 Independent Missionaries Sent Out by Congregational Asso 
 ciation 1839 
 
 Griffin, J. S., minister, and wife. 
 
 Munger, Asahel, minister, and wife. Worker for American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at Waiilatpu, 
 released by Whitman. Worker for Methodist Episcopal Church 
 at Salem. Became deranged and committed suicide. 
 Bent by Congregationalists of Hawaii with First Printing 
 Press 1839 
 
 Hall, E. O., printer. 
 1839 
 
 Eakin, Richard H. 
 
 Ebberts, George Ward. 
 
 291 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Geiger, William; worked for Methodists 1839-40, and then 
 for American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at 
 Waiilatpu; later went to California. 
 
 Johnson, D. G. 
 
 Johnson, William. 
 Peoria Party Arriving in 1839 and 1840 
 
 Blair, W. 
 
 Cook, Amos. 
 
 Farnham, Thomas J. 
 
 Fletcher, Francis. 
 
 Holman, Joseph; joined Methodist Mission; married Elmira 
 Phelps. 
 
 Kilborne, R. L. 
 
 Moore, Robert. 
 
 Smith, Sidney W. 
 
 Shortess, Robert; converted under Methodist preaching. 
 Independent Missionaries 1840 
 
 Clark, Harvey, minister, and wife. 
 
 Littlejohn, P. B., and wife, layman; returned in 1845. 
 
 Smith, Alvin T., layman, and wife. 
 1838 to 1840 
 
 Armstrong, Pleasant; possibly came through Lee s influence. 
 
 Davis, George. 
 
 Green, John. 
 
 Matts, Charles. 
 
 Thompson, Phillip. 
 Hudson s Bay Company 1840 
 
 Barclay, Dr. Forbes. 
 
 Grant, James. 
 
 McBean, William. 
 1840 
 
 Craig, William. 
 
 Doty, William M. 
 
 Larison, John. 
 
 Meek, Joseph L. 
 
 Newell, Robert. 
 
 Wilkins, Caleb. 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 Ebberts Mentions These Men as Being in Country About 1840 
 Kernard, John. 
 Graves, W. H. 
 Severn. 
 
 Gray Mentions These Men as Being in Country About 1840 
 
 Altgeier. 
 
 Wilkinson, George. 
 Second Arrival Roman Catholic Missionaries 1840 
 
 Pierre J. De Smet, priest, went with lay missionaries and 
 
 sisters. 
 Fourth Group Methodist Missionaries June 1, 1840 
 
 Abernethy, George, treasurer of mission, wife and two 
 children. 
 
 Adams, Thomas. 
 
 Babcock, Ira L., physician, wife and one child. 
 
 Brewer, Henry B., farmer, and wife. 
 
 Campbell, Hamilton, carpenter, wife and one child. 1 
 
 Carter, David, teacher. 
 
 Clark, Chloe A., teacher. 
 
 Frost, Joseph H., minister, wife and one child. 1 Resigned 
 February, 1843. 
 
 Hines, Gustavus, minister, wife and one child, sailed for 
 States August 14, 1843. 
 
 Judson, Lewis H., cabinet-maker, wife and three children. 
 
 Kone, W. H., minister, and wife. 
 
 Lankton, Orpha, teacher. 
 
 Lee, Jason, minister, and wife. 
 
 Olley, James, carpenter, and wife. 
 
 Parrish, Josiah L., blacksmith, wife and three children. 
 
 Phelps, Almira, teacher; married Joseph Holman. 
 
 Phillips, Elmira, teacher; later married W. W. Raymond. 
 
 Raymond, W. W., farmer, and wife. 
 
 Richmond, J. P., M.D., minister, wife and four children; 
 retired to States September 1, 1842. 
 
 Waller, Alvan F., minister, wife and two children. 
 
 Ware, Maria T., teacher. 
 
 1 Hines and Atwood say one child, Bancroft says "children." 
 1 Hines and Bancroft agree ; Atwood does not mention a child. 
 
 293 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 Roman Catholic Missionaries 1841 
 
 Mengarini, Gregorio, priest. 
 
 Point, Nicholas, priest. 
 
 Three lay brothers. 
 
 Other Roman Catholic lay brothers, and also sisters came, 
 but we do not know their names or the dates of their arrival. 
 
 1842 
 
 Brainard, Peter. 
 
 Osborn, Russell. 
 
 Prettyman, Francis W. 
 
 Trask, Elbridge. 
 
 Wilson, Albert E. (actual date of arrival not mentioned; 
 in country in 1842). 
 Dr. White s Party October, 1842 
 
 Arendell, C. T. 
 
 Barnam. 
 
 Bellamy, C. W. 
 
 Bennett, Van daman. 
 
 Bennett, Winston; one of the Bennetts had family. 
 
 Bridges. 
 
 Brown, Gabriel, and family. 
 
 Brown, James. 
 
 Brown, William. 
 
 Burns. 
 
 Clark, Patrick. 
 
 Coats, Q. N. 
 
 Coats, James. 
 
 Coombs, Nathan. 
 
 Copeland, Alexander. 
 
 Crawford, Medorem. 
 
 Crocker, Nathaniel. 
 
 Daubenbiss, John. 
 
 Davis, Samuel. 
 
 Davy, Allen. 
 
 Dearum, John. 
 
 Force, James, and family. 
 
 Force, John. 
 
 Foster. 
 
 294 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 Gibbs, Joseph. 
 
 Girtman, and family. 
 
 Hastings, Lansford W. 
 
 Hoffstetter, John. 
 
 Hudspeth, J. M. 
 
 Jones, Hardin. 
 
 Lewis, Rueben. 
 
 Lovejoy, A. L. 
 
 Matthieu, Francis Xavier; joined party at Laramie. 
 
 McKay, Alexander. 
 
 McKay, John. 
 
 Meek, Stephen H. L.; joined party at South Fork. 
 
 Morrison, J. L. 
 
 Moss, S. W. 
 
 Paul, "Dutch." 
 
 Perry, J. H., and family. 
 
 Pomeroy, Dwight. 
 
 Pomeroy, Walter, and family. 
 
 Robb, J. R. 
 
 Shadden (Sheldon), T. J., and family. 
 
 Sumner (Summers), Owen, and family. 
 
 Smith, Andrew, and family. 
 
 Smith, A. D. 
 
 Smith, Darling. 
 
 Towner, Aaron. 
 
 Storer, Adam. 
 
 Turnham, Joel. 
 
 Weston, David. 
 
 White, Elijah. = 52 men. 
 
 White says 112 in party when organized and increased 
 to 125; McLoughlin says 137, probably includes mountain 
 men who joined; Medorem Crawford says 105 in party; 
 Lovejoy says there were about 70 armed men; Fremont 
 says there were 64 armed men; Hastings says there were 
 80 armed men. 
 1842 
 
 Berthier, Francis. 
 
 Ganthier, Pierre. 
 
 295 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 Matte, Joseph. 
 
 Moison, Thomas. 
 
 Remon, August. 
 
 Senecalle, Gedereau. 
 Roman Catholic Missionaries 1843 
 
 DeVos, Peter, priest. 
 
 Hoeken, Adrian, priest. 
 
 Three lay brothers. 
 
 Bancroft Mentions Following Hudson Bay Men, but Does Not 
 Give Date of Their Arrival. 
 
 Ballenden, John. 
 
 Lewes, John Lee. 
 
 Maxwell, Henry. 
 
 McDonald, Angus. 
 
 McDonald, Archibald. 
 
 McTavish, Dugald. 
 
 Simpson. 
 
 List of French-Canadians in Oregon. Taken from the Books 
 of F. X. Matthieu. 
 
 Arcouette, Amable. 
 
 Aubichon, Jean B. 
 
 Auchibon, Jean Lingras Alexis. 
 
 Bernabe, Joseph. 
 
 Boivers, Louis. 
 
 Bonafante, Antoine. 
 
 Briscbois, Olivier. 
 
 Dalcourse, Jean B. 
 
 Deguire, Baptiste. 
 
 De Lord, Pierre. 
 
 Depot, Pierre. 
 
 Donpierre, David. 
 
 Du Bois, Andre. 
 
 Ducharme, Jean B. 
 
 Felice, Antoine. 
 
 Gregoire, Etienne. 
 
 Laderoute, Xaxier. 
 
 Laferete, Michelle. 
 
 Langtain, Andre. 
 
 296 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 La Platte, Alexis. 
 Le Course, Pierre. 
 Lor, Moyse. 
 Maloine, Fabien. 
 Pagnon, Luc. 
 Panpin, Jean B. 
 Pap in, Pierre. 
 Osant, Louis. 
 Pariseau, Pierre. 
 Sanders, John. 
 Servans, Jean. 
 Vandalle, Louis A. 
 Vandalle, Louis B. 
 
 297 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 LIST OF PERSONS WHO VOTED FOR THE PROVISIONAL 
 GOVERNMENT OF OREGON 
 
 SHOWING THEIR RELATION TO THE METHODIST MISSION 
 
 Armstrong, P. M. May be "Pleasant Armstrong." Indepen 
 dent, 1838-40. 
 
 Babcock, Ira L. Physician. Fourth Methodist missionary 
 party, 1840. 
 
 Bailey, W. J. 1835. "An attache 1 " of the Methodist Mission. 
 Married Margaret Smith. 
 
 Beers, Alanson. 1837. Second Methodist missionary group, 
 p. 4. 
 
 Bridges, J. L. 1842. White s party. 
 
 Burns, Hugh. 1842. White s party. 
 
 Campo, Charles. Possibly persuaded by Matthieu to vote with 
 Americans. 
 
 Cannon, William. 1812. Probably Astor party. 
 
 Clarke, Harvey. 1840. Independent missionary. 
 
 Cook, Amos. 1839. Peoria party. 
 
 Crawford, Medorem. 1842. White s party. 
 
 Davy, Allen. 1842. White s party. 
 
 Doughty, W. P. 
 
 Ebberts, George W. 1839. Independent. 
 
 Fletcher, Francis. 1839. Peoria party. 
 
 Gale, Joseph. 1834. Young and Kelley party. 
 
 Gay, George. 1835. Independent. 
 
 Gray, William H. 1836. Whitman party. Subscriber to 
 Methodist Church. 
 
 Griffin, J. S. 1839. Independent missionary. 
 
 Hauxhurst, Webley J. 1834. Young and Kelley party; con 
 verted 1837; joined Methodists. 
 
 Hill, David. 
 
 298 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 Hines, Gustavus. 1840. Fourth Methodist group. 
 
 Holman, Joseph. 1839. Peoria party; joined the Methodist 
 Church. 
 
 Howard, John. 1834. Young and Kelley party. 
 
 Hubbard, Thomas J. 1834. N. J. Wyeth party; subscriber to 
 Methodist Church. 
 
 Johnson, William. 1839 (date uncertain). 
 
 Judson, Lewis H. 1840. Fourth Methodist group. 
 
 Le Breton, George W. 1840. Came on Steamship Maryland, 
 through Jason Lee s influence with Gushing; subscriber to 
 Methodist Church. 
 
 Leslie, David. 1837. Third Methodist group. 
 
 Lewis, Rueben. 1842. White s party. 
 
 Lucier, Etienne, 1812. Astor party. 
 
 Matthieu, Francis Xavier. 1842. Came with White party. 
 
 McCarthy, William. 
 
 McCrary, Richard. 1834. 
 
 Meek, Joseph L. 1840. Independent. 
 
 Moore, Robert. 1839. Peoria party. 
 
 Morrison, John L. 
 
 Newell, Robert. 1840. Independent. 
 
 O Neil, James H. 1834. Wyeth party; converted and joined 
 Methodist Church. 
 
 Osborn, Russell. 1842. Independent. 
 
 Parrish, Josiah L. 1840. Fourth Methodist missionary group. 
 
 Pickernel, John. 
 
 Robb, J. R. 1842. White party; subscribed to Methodist 
 Church. 
 
 Shortess, Robert, 1839. Peoria party; converted under Meth 
 odists. 1841, on Building Committee of Church and a sub 
 scriber to the church. 
 
 Smith, Alvin T. 1840. Independent missionary. 
 
 Smith, Sidney W. 1839. Peoria party. 
 
 Smith, Solomon H. 1832. Wyeth party; subscriber to Meth 
 odist Church. 
 
 Tibbets, Calvin. 1832. N. J. Wyeth party. 
 
 Weston, David. 1842. White party. 
 
 Wilkins, Caleb. 1840. Independent. 
 
 299 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 Willson, W. H. 1837. Second Methodist missionary group. 
 Wilson, A. E. (About) 1842. Subscriber to Methodist Church. 
 
 SUMMABY 
 
 7 Methodist missionaries. 
 
 4 Members Methodist Church. 
 
 5 Subscribers to Methodist Church, but not positively 
 
 known to be members. 
 
 6 Came out in Peoria party direct result of J. Lee s work. 
 
 7 Came out in White s party result of Lee s speeches and 
 
 White s efforts. 
 1 An attachS of the Mission. 
 1 Came out on Steamship Maryland, direct result of Lee s 
 
 work. 
 
 31 3 counted twice = 28 of the 52 votes for provisional 
 government are directly or indirectly due to Methodist influ 
 ence in Oregon. 
 
 300 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 ADAMS, JOHN QUTNCY: Memoirs Comprising Parts of His Diary 
 from 1795-1848, Charles Francis Adams, Editor. Philadel 
 phia, 1874-77. 
 
 APPLEGATE, JESSE: A Day with the Cow Column in 1843. Over 
 land Monthly, i, 127. 
 
 ATWOOD, A.: The Conquerors. Cincinnati, 1908. 
 
 BANCROFT, H. H.: History of Oregon. San Francisco, 1886-88. 
 
 BANCROFT, H. H. : History of Northwest Coast. San Francisco, 
 1884. 
 
 BARROWS, WILLIAM: Oregon: The Struggle for Possession. 
 Boston, 1884. 
 
 BENTON, THOMAS H.: Thirty Years View. New York, 1865. 
 
 BOURNE, E. G.: Essays in Historical Criticism. New York, 
 1901. 
 
 BROUILLET, J. B. A.: Authentic Account of the Murder of Dr. 
 Whitman. Portland, 1869. 
 
 BRUCE, H. ADDINGTON: The Romance of American Expansion. 
 New York, 1909. 
 
 BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN: Poetical Works of, Household Edi 
 tion. New York, 1893. 
 
 BRYCE, GEORGE: The Remarkable History of the Hudson s Bay 
 Company. London, 1900. 
 
 CHAMBERS S ENCYCLOPEDIA, American Edition. Philadelphia, 
 1884. 
 
 CHABNWOOD, G. R. B.: Abraham Lincoln. New York, 1916. 
 
 CLARKE, S. A.: Pioneer Days of Oregon History. Portland, 
 1905. 
 
 DRANNAN, W. F.: Thirty -One Years on the Plains and in the 
 Mountains. Chicago, 1908. 
 
 DUNNING, W. A.: The British Empire and the United States. 
 New York, 1914. 
 
 DYE, EVA EMORY: McLoughlin and Old Oregon. Chicago, 1900. 
 
 301 
 
THE OREGON MISSIONS 
 
 >*--HE3ELLs, MYRON: A Reply to Professor Bourne s "The Whitman 
 Legend." Walla Walla, 1902. 
 
 EELLS, MYRON: Marcus Whitman, Pathfinder and Patriot. 
 Seattle, 1909. 
 
 ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Eleventh Edition: Articles on 
 "Oregon," "Hudson s Bay Company," etc. 
 
 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MISSIONS: Articles on "Methodist Episcopal 
 Missions." New York, 1904. 
 
 FARNHAM, THOMAS J.: Travels in the Great Western Prairies, 
 the Anhuac and Rocky Mountains, and in Oregon Territory. 
 New York. 1843. 
 
 FINLEY, JAMES B.: The History of the Wyandott Mission. 
 Edited by R. T. Stevenson, Cincinnati, 1916. 
 
 FITZGERALD, JAMES EDWARD: Charter and Proceeding of Hud 
 son Bay Company, with Reference to Vancouver s Island. 
 London, 1849. 
 
 GARRISON, GEORGE P.: Westward Extension (vol. 17, The Ameri 
 can Nation). New York, 1906. 
 
 GEER, T. T.: Fifty Years in Oregon. New York, 1912. 
 
 GRAY, W. H. : A History of Oregon, 1792-1849. Portland, 1870. 
 
 HAMMOND, C. S.: Atlas of the World. North America. Ham 
 mond & Co., New York. 
 
 HINES, GUSTAVUS: Oregon: Its History, Conditions and Pros-, 
 pects. New York, 1859. 
 
 HINES, H. K.: Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest. / 
 Portland, 1899. 
 
 HOLMAN, FREDERICK V. : Dr. John McLoughlin. Cleveland, , 
 1907. 
 
 IRVING, WASHINGTON: Astoria. London, 1839. 
 
 JOHNSON, W. F.: America s Foreign Relations. New York, 
 1916. 
 
 LAMB: Biographical Directory of the United States. Boston, 
 1903. 
 
 LAUT, AGNES C.: Pathfinders of the West. New York, 1907. 
 
 LEE, DANIEL, and FROST, J. H.: Ten Years in Oregon. New* 
 York, 1844. 
 
 LEONARD S, ZENAS, Narrative. Edited by W. F. Wagner, M.D. 
 Cleveland, 1904. 
 
 302 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 LYMAN, HORACE S.: History of Oregon. New York, 1903. 
 LYMAN, WILLIAM D.: The Columbia River. New York, 1909. 
 MARSHALL, WILLIAM I.: Acquisition of Oregon and the Long 
 
 Suppressed Evidence about Marcus Whitman. Seattle, 1911. 
 MCELROY, R. M.: The Winning of the Far West. New York, v 
 
 1914. 
 MEEKER, EZRA: Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound. Seattle, 
 
 1905. 
 MITCHELL, JOSEPH (publisher) : A Missionary Pioneer, or A -. 
 
 Brief Memoir of the Life, Labours, and Death of John 
 
 Stewart (Man of Colour), Founder Under God of A Mission 
 
 Among the Wyandotts at Upper Sandusky, Ohio. New 
 
 York, 1827. 
 MOFFETT, THOMAS C.: The American Indian on the New Trail. 
 
 New York, 1914. 
 MOWRY, W. A.: Marcus Whitman and the Early Days of 
 
 Oregon. Boston, 1901. 
 NELSON: Encyclopaedia. New York, 1911. 
 NILES WEEKLY REGISTER, 1821-1846. Philadelphia. 
 NIXON, O. W.: How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon. Chicago, 
 
 1895. 
 PARKER, REV. SAMUEL: Journal of an Exploration Beyond the 
 
 Rocky Mountains. Ithaca, New York, 1838. 
 PARKMAN, FRANCIS: The California and Oregon Trail. New , 
 
 York, 1849. 
 PARKMAN, FRANCIS: The Jesuits in North America. Boston, 
 
 1891. 
 RICHARDSON, JAMES DANIEL: Messages and Papers of the . 
 
 Presidents. Washington, 1899. 
 ROOSEVELT, THEODORE: The Winning of the West. New York, 
 
 1902. * 
 
 SMITH, EDWARD: England and America After Independence. 
 
 Westminster, 1901. 
 THOMPSON, RICHARD W.: Recollections of Sixteen Presidents 
 
 from Washington to Lincoln. Indianapolis, 1894. 
 THWATTES, REUBEN GOLD: Early Western Travels. Cleveland, 
 
 1905. 
 
 303 
 
THE OKEGON MISSIONS 
 
 TYLER, L. G.: Letters and Times of the Tylers. Richmond, ^ 
 
 1884-96. 
 VICTOR, FRANCES FULLER: All over Oregon and Washington. ; 
 
 San Francisco, 1872. 
 
 VICTOR, FRANCES FULLER: River of the West. Hartford, 1870. * 
 WARRBN, ELIZA SPALDING: Memoirs of the West. Portland, t/ 
 
 Oregon, 1915. 
 WEBSTER, DANIEL: The Private Correspondence of, Fletcher 
 
 Webster, Editor. Boston, 1895. 
 
 WILLSON, BECKLES: The Great Company. London, 1900. 
 WILSON, JAMES G., Editor: The Presidents of the United States. 
 
 New York, 1894. 
 
 304 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, cited, 97, 102 
 
 Abernethy, George, 129, 136, 
 140, 183 
 
 Adams, J. Q., cited, 84, 99 
 
 Aim, 7 
 
 Alaska, purchase of, 66f.; 
 harbors, 67 
 
 Alderman, I. W., dispute with 
 H. B. Co., 48, 65 
 
 Almonte, General, 100 
 
 American missionaries, 9 
 
 Americans, in Oregon Coun 
 try, 64 
 
 Anderson, A. C., 62 
 
 Anderson, W. P., 34 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, cited, 30 
 
 Ashburton, Lord, and Oregon 
 boundary, 96, 98, 101 
 
 Astor, J. J., trading venture, 
 49ff. f 85 
 
 Astoria, 46, founded, 49, 51 
 
 Atlantic Basin, 7 
 
 Auburndale, Massachusetts, 9 
 
 Babcock, I. L., 175, 177, 183 
 
 Ball, John, 115, 116 
 
 Bancroft, H. H., estimate of, 
 12ff.; and Society of Cali 
 fornia Pioneers, 13f.; esti 
 mate of missionary work, 
 15, 36f.; estimate of Lee, 
 39, 41. 
 
 Baylies, Congressman, cited, 
 86, 90 
 
 Benton, Thomas, cited, 88; 92, 
 105, 106, 140 
 
 Bewley, Miss, treatment by 
 Indians and Catholic mis 
 sionaries, 73 
 
 Blanchet, A. M. A., becomes 
 bishop, 71 
 
 Blanchet, F. N., in Oregon, 
 70; archbishop, 71; visits 
 Europe, 71; chairman, 175; 
 resigns, 176 
 
 Bromfield Street Church, 24 
 
 Brooks, William, cited, 25, 26 
 
 Brouillet, J. B. A., vicar gen 
 eral, 72; conduct after mas 
 sacre, 72f. 
 
 Bruce, H. A., cited, 105f., 148 
 
 Burr, Aaron, conspiracy of, 
 87 
 
 Calhoun, John C., 103, 142, 
 
 143 
 Carmichael, Lawrence, and 
 
 distillery, 120 
 Carson, Kit, 136ff. 
 Carver, Jonathan, 109f. 
 Catlin, George, 42f. 
 Champoeg, school at, 152; 
 
 meeting at, 173 
 Chemekete, mission at, 196 
 
 305 
 
INDEX 
 
 Christian Advocate and Jour 
 nal and Zion s Herald, 21, 
 22 
 
 Clark, George Rogers, 111, 112 
 
 Clark, Harvey, 198 
 
 Clark, William, 20; expedi 
 tion of, 89, 111 
 
 Clarke, S. A., 173 
 
 Conklin, E. C., cited, 33 
 
 Corwin, Tom, 142, 143 
 
 Gushing, Caleb, and Lee, 93, 
 169 
 
 Delano, Columbus, cited, 210f. 
 Demers, Modeste, in Oregon, 
 
 70; bishop, 71 
 Derrick, William S., 100 
 De Smet, Pierre J., 70f. 
 Dickerson, Senator, cited, 84 
 Disosway, G. P., 20, 21 
 Dorion, Madame, story of, 28f. 
 Douglas, James, kills Indian 
 
 murderer, 46; 78 
 Douglas, Stephen A., 141, 
 
 143f. 
 Drannan, William P., 136ff. 
 
 Ebberts, George W., 127ff. 
 Edwards, P. L., 40, 92, 123, 
 
 152, 161 
 Eells, Gushing, cited, 27; 235, 
 
 238 
 Eells, Myron, defense of Spal- 
 
 ding, 74; defense of Dr. 
 
 Whitman, 251ff. 
 Elliott, Charles, 34 
 Everett, Edward, 100 
 
 Figueroa, Governor, and 
 Young and Kelley party, 
 120 
 
 Finley, James B., 34 
 
 Fisher s Colonial Magazine, 
 cited, 54 
 
 Fisk, Wilbur, cited, 21, 24 
 
 Floyd, Congressman, 86, 89, 
 90 
 
 Fort Colville, 47 
 
 Fort Cowlitz, 47 
 
 Fort Disappointment, 47 
 
 Fort Flat Head, 47 
 
 Fort George, 47, 51 
 
 Fort Hall, 41 
 
 Fort Kootenai, 47 
 
 Fort Nisqually, 47, 53; mis 
 sion at, 62f. 
 
 Fort Okanogan, 47 
 
 Fort Umpqua, 47 
 
 Fort Vancouver, 9, 42, 47, 53 
 
 Fort Walla Walla, 47 
 
 Fox, H. S., 97, 104 
 
 Fremont, John C., 95 
 
 French Prairie, 150; meeting 
 at, 178 
 
 Gale, Joseph, 124ff. 
 
 Gallatin, A., 83 
 
 Gary, George, 129, 140, 196, 
 197, 209 
 
 Gray, Robert, 112 
 
 Gray, W. H., 74, 179ff., 198, 
 234, 235, 237 
 
 Great Britain, care for sub 
 jects, 56f.; treatment of In 
 dians, 77; Mexico and 
 Texas, 98ff. 
 
 306 
 
INDEX 
 
 Hauxhurst, W. J., 117, 158 
 
 Hee-oh-ks-te-kin s speech, 269f. 
 
 Heron, Mr., 52, 53 
 
 Hill, Thomas, 187f. 
 
 Hines, Gustavus, 129, 174, 175, 
 182 
 
 Hines, H. K., cited, 30; judg 
 ment of Spalding and mas 
 sacre, 74f. 
 
 Holman, Joseph, 165 
 
 Houston, Sam, 88 
 
 Hudson s Bay Co., 8, 9; its 
 charter, 45; its authority, 
 46ff.; forts, 47; forbids sale 
 of liquor, 48, 60f.; dealings 
 with competitors, 49; and 
 Catholic missionaries, 77; 
 opposition to American 
 missionaries, 53ff.; value of 
 trade, 631; plots Puget 
 Sound country, 159; re"- 
 sume-, 271f. 
 
 Huggins, Edward, 52 
 
 Hughes, Edwin H., 35 
 
 Hunt, W. P., crosses conti 
 nent, 49, 113 
 
 Indians, visit to Saint Louis, 
 19, causes of, 21ff.; Iro- 
 quois, 23; contribution to 
 Oregon missions, 25f . ; 
 prayers of, 27, 154f.; reviv 
 als among, 27, 30, 194; in 
 the Willamette Valley, 44; 
 first service for, 53; and 
 Roman Catholic mission 
 aries, 53f.; Cayuse, 72; in 
 Protestant Churches, 79; 
 
 and United States govern 
 ment, 107; Flathead, 150; 
 Nez Perce", 150; diseases of, 
 153, 1551, 185ft; resume", 
 268ff. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, cited, 88 
 Jefferson, Thomas, cited, 85f., 
 
 89, 111, 112. 
 Johnson, William, 175 
 Joint Occupancy, 46ff. 
 
 Kelley, Hall J., 91, 93, 110, 
 
 113ft, 119, 168 
 Kynett, A. C., 35 
 
 La Perouse, 111, 112 
 
 Lapwai, church at, 31 
 
 Le Breton, George W., 175, 
 182 
 
 Ledyard, John, 110ft 
 
 Lee, Daniel, 10; 40; illness, 
 62; 158; 200 
 
 Lee, Jason, 24; influence of, 
 37; birth, 37; ancestors, 
 37ft; description, 39t; call 
 to service, 40; visits Wash 
 ington, 40; his associates, 
 401; starts west, 401; two 
 noteworthy sermons, 42; 
 first converts, 42; relations 
 with McLoughlin, 61ff.; and 
 American occupation, 63; 
 and Slacum, 911; letter to 
 Gushing, 93, 96, 169; land 
 grant bill, 93; opposes sale 
 of liquor, 1201; and Wil- 
 
 307 
 
INDEX 
 
 lamette Cattle Company, Lewis, Meriwether, expedition 
 
 121ff.; correspondence with 
 Missionary Society, 150f., 
 199, 200; opposition to slav 
 ery, 152f.; marriage of, 158; 
 starts east, 160ff.; at Waii- 
 laptu, 161f.; death of wife, 
 and child, 162f.; preaching 
 and lecturing, 163ff.; aid 
 from government, 169f.; 
 influence with Missionary 
 Society, 171; at Honolulu, 
 172 ; Champoeg meetings, 
 173ff. ; visits Peu-peu-mox- 
 mox,189ff. ; change of policy, 
 19 If.; opens Indian Farm 
 Mission, 195; opens Manual 
 Labor Boarding School, 
 196; conducts first camp 
 meeting, 199; second mar 
 riage and its effects, 203ff.; 
 last trip east, 209f.; vindi 
 cation of, 211f.; death of, 
 212f.; criticism of, 213ff.; 
 and David Leslie, 215f.; 
 and McLoughlin s claim of 
 land, 216ff.; relations with 
 Missionary Society, 225ff.; 
 possible missionary poli 
 cies, 227fL; resume, 276ff. 
 
 Lee, William H., 10 
 
 Legare", Hugh S., 100 
 
 Leslie, David, appointed jus 
 tice of the peace, 52; at 
 Nisqually, 62f., 193; peti 
 tion, 95, 161; 175; and Lee, 
 215f. 
 
 Lewis, Joseph, 188 
 
 of, 89, 111. 
 
 Lincoln, A., 143f., 167. 
 
 Linn, Senator, bills, 92, 93, 96; 
 Elijah White, 118. 
 
 Livingston, Edward, 91. 
 
 Lovejoy, A. L., and Dr. Whit 
 man, 239ff. 
 
 Lyman, H. S., cited, 48, 631, 
 69, 78. 
 
 Mackenzie, Alexander, crosses 
 continent, 56 
 
 Mallalieu, Willard F., 10 
 
 Marshall, W. I., 10 
 
 Massacre, Waiilatpu, contro 
 versy over, 72ff.; judgment 
 of, 74ff.; 129, 130 
 
 Matthieu, F. X., 118, 129 
 
 May Dacre, the, 43 
 
 McCabe, C. C., 10 
 
 McDougal, Duncan, associa 
 tions with Astor, 49ff. 
 
 McKay, Thomas, sons of, 25, 
 41 
 
 McLoughlin, John, treatment 
 of Methodists, 51f.; Sabbath 
 observance, 53; opens 
 school, 53; birth, 59; educa 
 tion, 59; career, 59ff.; for 
 bids sale of liquor, 48, 60f.; 
 relations with Lee, 61ff.; 
 disputes with Simmons, 
 Williamson and Alderman, 
 65; his notable services, 
 65f.; resigns, 67; becomes 
 American citizen, 68; un 
 just treatment by Ameri- 
 
 308 
 
INDEX 
 
 cans, 68; death, 68; tribute 
 to, 69; joins Catholic 
 Church, 71; Willamette Cat 
 tle Co., 12 Iff.; and Gale, 
 124f.; and slavery, 152f.; 
 opposes provisional govern 
 ment, 176ff.; Willamette 
 Falls land dispute, 216ff. 
 
 McLoughlin, John, Jr., mur 
 der of, 46 
 
 McTavish, J. J., at Astoria, 
 50. 
 
 Mediterranean Basin, 7 
 
 Meek, Joseph L., 128ff., 146, 
 199. 
 
 Methodist missionaries, and 
 Catholic missionaries, 70f.; 
 reach Willamette Valley, 
 149 ; commence teaching, 
 15 If.; arrival second group, 
 157; third group, 157; in 
 fluence in organizing pro 
 visional government, 181ff. 
 
 Mexico, possessions of, 7; and 
 Texas, 98ff. 
 
 Minto, John, cited, 48 
 
 Missionary Society of Meth 
 odist Episcopal Church, for 
 mation of, 33; relations 
 with Lee, 225ff. 
 
 Missouri Pur Co., 112 
 
 Monroe, James, 83 
 
 New York Herald, 146 
 Nisqually, mission at, 158, 166 
 Northwest boundary dispute, 
 9 
 
 North-West Fur Co., 9; buys 
 Astor post and stores, 49ff. 
 
 Ogden, P. S., 78 
 
 O Neal, Captain, 1161 
 
 Oregon Country, area of, 7f.; 
 Americans in, 64; vague 
 knowledge of, 81ff.; Con 
 gressional activities, 89ff. 
 
 Oregon missions, influence of, 
 36f. 
 
 Oregon Provisional Emigra 
 tion Society, 93, 168 
 
 Oregon Temperance Society, 
 120 
 
 Pacific Basin, 7 
 
 Pacific Christian Advocate, 
 
 articles in, 12 
 
 Pakenham, Richard, 103, 105 
 Pambrun, Pierre C., 22 
 Parker, Samuel, cited, 22; 
 
 140, 233 
 Parkman, Francis, on Indian 
 
 life, 28 
 
 Penn, I. Garland, 35 
 Perkins, H. K. W., diary of, 
 
 cited, 26f. 
 
 Pitman, Anna, arrival in Ore 
 gon, 157; marriage to J. 
 
 Lee, 158; death of, 162f. 
 Polk, James K., and Oregon 
 
 boundary, 104ff.; and Meek, 
 
 133ft; and Thornton, 141, 
 
 145f. 
 Porter, James M., and Dr. 
 
 Whitman, 255f. 
 Princeton University, 34 
 
 309 
 
INDEX 
 
 Provisional Government, 
 173ff. 
 
 Richmond, J. P., at Nisqually, 
 63, 193f., 200; meets Lee, 
 1651 
 
 Roman Catholic missionaries, 
 53f.; 70ff.; and Methodists, 
 701; and Whitman mas 
 sacre, 73ff.; resume", 2721 
 
 Romance of Missions, pub 
 lished, 10 
 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, cited, 
 861 
 
 Rush, Richard, 83 
 
 Russia, possessions of, 7; 
 treaty with, 90 
 
 Sacajawea, 28 
 Sanders, George M., 145 
 Sehon, E. W., cited, 22 
 Shaugarette, Louis, death of, 
 
 152 
 Shepard, Cyrus, 40, 93, 150, 
 
 168; death of, 200 
 Shortess, Robert, 165 
 Simmons, M. T., dispute with 
 
 McLoughlin, 65 
 Simpson, Sir George, 145 
 Slacum, W. J., in Oregon, 911 ; 
 
 report, 93; Willamette Cat 
 tle Co., 122ff. 
 Smith, Sidney, 175 
 Smith, Solomon, teacher, 26, 
 
 53 
 Spalding, H. H., 24; work of, 
 
 31; charges against Catho 
 
 lic missionaries, 731; judg 
 ment of, 741; cited, 86; 
 meets Whitman, 234; at 
 Lapwai, 235ff. 
 
 Stevenson, R. T., 35 
 
 Stewart, John, 33ff. 
 
 Texas, controversy over, 98ff. 
 
 Tairkield, Mrs. W. P., 35 
 
 Thomas, F. M., 35 
 
 Thornton, J. Q., 139ff. 
 
 Tolmie, W. F., 52, 53 
 
 Tracy, Congressman, cited, 84 
 
 Tyler, John, cited, 97; and 
 Oregon boundary, 98ff. ; and 
 Elijah White, 118; and Dr. 
 Whitman, 244ff. 
 
 Tyler, L. G., cited, 98, 100 
 
 United States, early indiffer 
 ence to Oregon Country, 
 81ff.; Congressional activi 
 ties, 89ff.; treaty with Rus 
 sia, 90; treatment of In 
 dians, 1071; aids Lee, 1691; 
 resume", 2731 
 
 Upper Sandusky, celebration 
 at, 34 
 
 Upshur, A. P., succeeds Web 
 ster, 100; cited, 100, 102 
 
 Van Buren, Martin, 91 
 
 Wagner, W. F., cited, 185 
 Walker, Courtney M., 40 
 Walker, Knox, 1341, 1451 
 Walker, William, Jr., 20 
 
 310 
 
INDEX 
 
 Waller, A. F., 211, dispute 
 with McLoughlin, 217ff. 
 
 Warren, Eliza Spalding, cited, 
 30 
 
 Wascopam, mission at, 158 
 
 Webster, Daniel, and Oregon 
 boundary, 96, 98ff.; and 
 Elijah White, 118 
 
 Weir, William, 112 
 
 Weismann, August, cited, 33 
 
 Welch, Herbert, 35 
 
 Whitcomb, J. L., 161 
 
 White, Elijah, appointed sub- 
 Indian agent, 97; work of, 
 117ff.; 215 
 
 Whitman, Marcus, murdered, 
 72; 140, 232ff.; meets Par 
 ker, 233; Spalding, 234; at 
 Waiilatpu, 235ff.; famous 
 ride, 239ff.; controversy 
 over, 244ff.; services to Ore 
 gon country, 255ff.; resume", 
 275f. 
 
 Wilbraham Academy, 25, 37 
 
 Wilkes, Charles, at Nisqually, 
 94, assists Gale, 124f.; op 
 
 poses provisional govern 
 ment, 176 
 
 Wilkinson, James, 87 
 
 Willamette Cattle Company, 
 12 Iff. 
 
 Willamette Valley, Indians 
 of, 44; Methodist mission 
 aries reach, 149; fertility 
 of, 151 
 
 Williamson, Henry, dispute 
 with H. B. Co., 48, 65 
 
 Willis, Governor, 34 
 
 Willson, W. H., at Nisqually, 
 62f., 193f. 
 
 Winship, Captain, 112 
 
 Winthrop, Senator, cited, 84 
 
 Wyandot Mission, 33 
 
 Wyeth, N. J., 24, 40; forbid 
 den to sell liquor, 601; 93, 
 115 
 
 Young, Ewing, forbidden to 
 sell liquor, 48; 92; 119ff.; 
 death of, 174 
 
 Zion s Herald, 115f. 
 
 311 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 MAR 2 6 1991 
 
 APR 
 
 DEC 10 1962 iia A?a 01 
 
 
 JAH 21*65 - 
 
 
 LD 21A-50^3, 6i 
 (C7097s]0)476B 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
.... 
 
 . C .,.?."* ELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 C 3 1 2 1 fl 3 7 7 
 
 "40549$ 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY