{"AIPUUID":[{"label":"AIPUUID","value":"f8677609-def8-4aee-bbdd-bcdf42cde527","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#identifierAIP","classmap":"oc:DigitalPreservation","property":"oc:identifierAIP"},"iri":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/terms#identifierAIP","explain":"UBC Open Collections Metadata Components; Local Field; Refers to the Archival Information Package identifier generated by Archivematica. This serves as a link between CONTENTdm and Archivematica."}],"AggregatedSourceRepository":[{"label":"AggregatedSourceRepository","value":"CONTENTdm","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/dataProvider","classmap":"ore:Aggregation","property":"edm:dataProvider"},"iri":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/dataProvider","explain":"A Europeana Data Model Property; The name or identifier of the organization who contributes data indirectly to an aggregation service (e.g. Europeana)"}],"AlternateTitle":[{"label":"AlternateTitle","value":"A history of the Pacific Northwest","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/alternative","classmap":"dpla:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:alternative"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/alternative","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; An alternative name for the resource.; Note - the distinction between titles and alternative titles is resource-specific."}],"CatalogueRecord":[{"label":"CatalogueRecord","value":"http:\/\/resolve.library.ubc.ca\/cgi-bin\/catsearch?bid=1611345","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/isReferencedBy","classmap":"edm:ProvidedCHO","property":"dcterms:isReferencedBy"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/isReferencedBy","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; A related resource that references, cites, or otherwise points to the described resource."}],"Collection":[{"label":"Collection","value":"British Columbia Historical Books Collection","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/isPartOf","classmap":"dpla:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:isPartOf"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/isPartOf","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included."}],"Creator":[{"label":"Creator","value":"Schafer, Joseph, 1867-1941","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/creator","classmap":"dpla:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:creator"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/creator","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; An entity primarily responsible for making the resource.; Examples of a Contributor include a person, an organization, or a service."}],"DateAvailable":[{"label":"DateAvailable","value":"2016-03-09","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued","classmap":"edm:WebResource","property":"dcterms:issued"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; Date of formal issuance (e.g., publication) of the resource."}],"DateIssued":[{"label":"DateIssued","value":"1905","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued","classmap":"oc:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:issued"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/issued","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; Date of formal issuance (e.g., publication) of the resource."}],"Description":[{"label":"Description","value":"\"A U.S.-oriented study used for many years as a text book in schools for grades 7 to 12, and in some colleges.
'Brief but reliable. One of the best books for general use':- K. Judson. Early days in old Oregon, p.269 (no.288). Reprinted 1906 and 1909, ref. Smith.\"-- Strathern, G. M., & Edwards, M. H. (1970). Navigations, traffiques & discoveries, 1774-1848: A guide to publications relating to the area now British Columbia. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 262.","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/description","classmap":"dpla:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:description"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/description","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; An account of the resource.; Description may include but is not limited to: an abstract, a table of contents, a graphical representation, or a free-text account of the resource."}],"DigitalResourceOriginalRecord":[{"label":"DigitalResourceOriginalRecord","value":"https:\/\/open.library.ubc.ca\/collections\/bcbooks\/items\/1.0228087\/source.json","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/aggregatedCHO","classmap":"ore:Aggregation","property":"edm:aggregatedCHO"},"iri":"http:\/\/www.europeana.eu\/schemas\/edm\/aggregatedCHO","explain":"A Europeana Data Model Property; The identifier of the source object, e.g. the Mona Lisa itself. This could be a full linked open date URI or an internal identifier"}],"Extent":[{"label":"Extent","value":"xvi, 321 pages : maps, illustrations, photographs, advertisements ; 20 cm","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/extent","classmap":"dpla:SourceResource","property":"dcterms:extent"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/extent","explain":"A Dublin Core Terms Property; The size or duration of the resource."}],"FileFormat":[{"label":"FileFormat","value":"application\/pdf","attrs":{"lang":"en","ns":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/elements\/1.1\/format","classmap":"edm:WebResource","property":"dc:format"},"iri":"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/elements\/1.1\/format","explain":"A Dublin Core Elements Property; The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource.; Examples of dimensions include size and duration. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the list of Internet Media Types [MIME]."}],"FullText":[{"label":"FullText","value":" \nA HISTORY OF\nTHE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\n 105\u00b0 Longitudel\nf?ft?\nEast 190\u00b0 ^^Lo'nf.tnde W\nLest from 1\nGreenwich.\n(The different Scales used shouj\n 3 noted with particular care.)\n A HISTORY\nOF\nTHE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nBY\nJOSEPH SCHAFER, MX.\nHEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON;\nSOMETIME FELLOW IN HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN;\nJOINT AUTHOR OF STRONG AND SCHAFER'S \" GOVERNMENT OF THE\nAMERICAN PEOPLE\"; AUTHOR OF \"THE ORIGIN OF THE SYSTEM\nOF LAND-GRANTS IN AID OF EDUCATION,\" ETC.\nWITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS\nTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY\nLONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.\nI905\nAll rights reserved\n\u2014\n COPYRIGHT, 1905,\nBy THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.\nSet up and electrotyped. Published May, 1905.\n'\/So |f\u00a7\ncj\n Ets\nFREDERIC G. YOUNG, A.B.\nProfessor of Economics and Sociology, University of Oregon\nWHOSE WORK AS SECRETARY OF THE OREGON HISTORICAL\nSOCIETY FROM THE TIME OF ITS FOUNDATION HAS\nSIMPLIFIED THE TASK OF EVERY INVESTIGATOR\nIN THE FIELD OF NORTHWESTERN HISTORY\n PREFACE\nThis little book is an attempt to relate, in\nsimple, readable style, the impressive story of\ncivilization building in the region once called\nOregon, but now known as the Pacific Northwest. The boundaries of this territory embrace\nthe three states of Oregon, Washington, and\nIdaho, the first of which, as the oldest member\nof the sisterhood, retains the original name of\nthe whole.\nThe division into states should not disguise\nto us the fact that northwestern history is\nmore remarkable for its unity than its diversity. And only by treating it as one rather\nthan three distinct movements can a correct\nview of the whole be obtained. This principle\nwill unquestionably hold good for all matters\nsave the purely political; in order to treat\nthese fully, it would of course be necessary to\nconsider each of the three states by itself.\nIt has seemed to me, however, that after\npassing the intensely interesting period of the\nvii\n Vlll\nPREFACE\nOregon provisional government, politics should\noccupy only a very few pages in so small a\nvolume. The organization and operation of\nnew state governments in this region differs\nlittle from similar activities in other territory\nbelonging to the United States. But the processes by which the wilderness was subdued,\nhomes multiplied, cities built, commerce extended to all parts of the world, and a great\ncivilization developed in this remote and once\ninaccessible portion of our continent, \u2014 these\nare not mere replications of what had previously taken place elsewhere. The unfolding\nof these processes, under the special physical\nconditions prevailing here, gives to the history\nof the region a charm belonging to itself alone.\nI have, therefore, adopted the plan of treating\nthe early period with considerable fullness, devoting to it fourteen chapters, and making the\nremaining five chapters practically a sketch of\nprogress in the Pacific Northwest from 1849\nto the present time.\nIn preparing the book, I have naturally\ngained much assistance from the works of\nearlier writers in the same field, especially\nfrom those volumes of the H. H. Bancroft\nIMIffliWflJBHMHt&Bigl\n PREFACE\nseries which relate especially to this region.\nBut it has been my rule not to rely upon secondary authorities, unless compelled to, except\nin matters of secondary importance. For the\nmost part it has been possible, with a large\nexpenditure of time and effort and through the\ngenerosity of many kind friends, to procure\nthe actual sources. Moreover, a mass of documents, fortunately discovered in the course of\nthese researches, will now be used for the first\ntime in this volume, and more fully in my\nforthcoming | History of the Pacific Slope and\nAlaska.\"\nMuch as I would like to mention here the\nnames of all who gave any assistance during\nthe performance of this task, the limits of space\nmake it impracticable to do so. In some cases\nthe service was necessarily slight, but uniformly\nrendered with heartiness and good will; in\nothers it was of considerable moment, and in\na few instances absolutely essential to the success of the work.\nFor the use of indispensable sources I am\nunder special obligations to Professor F. G.\nYoung, secretary of the Oregon Historical\nSociety, and to Mr. George H. Himes, the\n X\nPREFACE\nassistant secretary; to Reuben Gold Thwaites,\nLL.D., superintendent of the Wisconsin Historical Library, and Mr. Isaac S. Bradley, the\nlibrarian; also to Hon. C. B. Bagley of Seattle,\nand Hon. F. V. Holman of Portland. Some\nthings of considerable importance were secured\nthrough the courtesy of those in charge of the\nMissouri Historical Society, St. Louis; the\nState Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia ; the Mercantile Library, St. Louis; the\nKansas Historical Society, Topeka; and the\nCalifornia State Library, Sacramento.\nTo the Hon. H. W. Scott, editor of the Portland Oregonian, I am indebted for suggestions\nwhich proved very helpful in determining the\ngeneral plan and scope of the work; and to\nDr. J. R. Wilson, principal of the Portland\nAcademy, for a critical examination of the\nmatter and form of the book. Several of my\ncolleagues at the University, Miss Camilla\nLeach, Professor F. S. Dunn, and Professor\nH. D. Sheldon, read portions of the manuscript and offered valuable suggestions. Mrs.\nFlorence Baker Hays of Boise, Idaho, collected for me a portion of the matter appearing\nin the Appendix. Nearly all of the proofs have\n PREFACE\nXI\npassed through the hands of Rev. E. Clarence\nOakley, of Eugene. My wife, Lily Abbott\nSchafer, has given me assistance and encouragement at every stage of the work.\nIt is pleasing to reflect that by a fortunate\nchance this little volume makes its appearance\nvery near the time (June i, 1905) set for the\nopening of the World's Fair at Portland, Oregon. Since the exposition was planned to\ncommemorate tire achievement of Lewis and\nClark, its intimate relation to the subject of\nthis history is apparent. If the book serves\nto contribute, even slightly, to that powerful\nhistorical impulse which the Lewis and Clark\nExposition illustrates, and especially if it shall\npromote a more intelligent interest in northwestern history among the youth of this region,\nfor whom it is primarily intended, I shall feel\namply repaid for the labor bestowed upon it.\nJOSEPH SCHAFER.\nUniversity of Oregon,\nEugene, March 20, 1905.\n CONTENTS\nPreface \t\nCHAPTER\nI. Early Explorers of the Pacific Coast .\nII. The Northwest Coast and Alaska\nIII. Nootka Sound and the Columbia\nIV. Early Explorations Westward\nV. Origin of the Lewis and Clark Expedition\nVI. Opening a Highway to the Pacific\nVII. A Race for the Columbia River Fur Trade\nVIII. The Hudson's Bay Company\nIX. The Oregon Question .\nX. Pioneers of the Pioneers\nXI. The Colonizing Movement .\nXII. The Great Migration .\nXIII. The First American Government\nXIV, The Opening of a New Era\nXV. The Northwest and California\nXVI. Progress and Politics, 1849-1859\nXVII. The Inland Empire\nXVIII. The Age of Railways .\nXIX. The Pacific Northwest of To-day\nAppendix\t\nIndex \t\nxiii\non the Pacific\n ILLUSTRATIONS\n\/Map of United States .\nThe Mission of San Carlos, near Monterey\nTereoboo, King of Owyhee, bringing Presents\nCook ....\nNootka Harbor, 1788\nI The Sea-otter .\nThe Mouth of the Columbia\nMap of North America, 1788\nThomas Jefferson\nMeriwether Lewis\nWilliam Clark .\nGreat Falls of the Missour\nMultonomah Falls\nThe Rocky Mountains\nThe Dalles\nThe Gorge of the Columbia\nClark's Map of the Transcontinental Route\n\"''Astoria ....\nFort Okanogan .\nFort Walla Walla .\nDr. John McLoughlin, 1824\nMap of the Columbia\nFort Vancouver\nOld Mission House, Oregon\nTsimakane Mission .\nSweetwater Gap, on the Oregon Trail\nXV\nFrontispiece\nPAGE\n\u2022 \u2022 \u2022\n8\nto Captain\n24 ^\n30\n35\n39^\n47\n59\n70\n71\n79\n81\n83\n86\n87\n91\n. 103\nin #\n116\n. 117\n. 118 .\n. 120\n. 150\n\u2022 157\n. 181\n \nXVI\nILLUSTRATIONS\nA Buffalo Hunt ....\nThe Old Trail along the Sweetwater .\nMt. Hood ......\nGovernor George Abernethy\nMount Rainier from the South .\nGeneral Joseph Lane\nSutter's Fort in 1849 ...\nGeneral Isaac Ingalls Stevens .\nCceur d'Alene, 1853 .\nPack Train on Mountain Trail .\nFort Benton, 1853 ....\nView of Portland ....\nPhysiographic Map of the United States\nHenry Villard .....\nJames Willis Nesmith\nFalls of the Spokane . . .\nView of Seattle ....\nPAGE\n188\n A HISTORY OF\nTHE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC\nNORTHWEST\nCHAPTER I\nEARLY EXPLORERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST\nIt is a far cry from the Isthmus of Panama Scope of the\nto the icy capes above Bering's Strait; and the chaPter\nexplorations which unveiled that long coast line\nform a thrilling chapter in the history of our\ncontinent. The story opens on the 25 th of\nSeptember, 1513, when Balboa, surrounded by\nsixty Spanish companions, stood on a peak of\nthe Darien Mountains and gazed, with the rapture . of a discoverer, upon the waters of the\nSouth Sea. It closes two hundred and sixty-\nfive years later, when Captain Cook rounded\nI the Northwestern point of all America,\" and\nnamed it Cape Prince of Wales. The earlier\nportion of these explorations, covering nearly\none hundred years, will be treated in the present chapter.\nBalboa, on first beholding the Pacific, made importance\na formal declaration that all its coasts belonged, discovery S\nby right of discovery, to the king of Spain.\nFour days later he reached the shore at the\nGulf of San Miguel, and repeated the cere-\nB I\n\u2022\n.\n uni2*t\u00abtttt*a*st*ti>.\nA HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe search\nor a strait\nmony of taking possession, this time marching\ninto the surf at the head of his party. While\nsuch formalities usually have little effect upon\nthe course of history, the discovery itself was\na great triumph for the Spanish government.\nSince the time of Columbus, their navigators\nhad been searching among the West Indies,\nand along the Atlantic coast of South and\nCentral America, in the blind hope of finding\nan open passage to the Orient. They failed\nbecause, as it was supposed, nature had sown\nislands so thickly in this part of the ocean\nthat it was very difficult for ships to pick their\nway among them. The numerous failures had\ndiscouraged many; but when Balboa reached\nthe open sea by marching overland a few miles\nfrom the Darien coast, no one any longer\ndoubted that a convenient westward route\nexisted. It was generally supposed that this\nwould be found to the north of the Isthmus.\nMagellan soon afterward proved that there\nwas a way around South America, but it was\nvery difficult, and far out of the direct course\nfrom Europe to eastern Asia. The necessity\nstill remained, therefore, to find a \" strait,\" and\nthe discovery of the Pacific stimulated the\nsearch in an extraordinary manner.\nDuring the entire history of navigation no\nmere idea or hope has been followed out with\ngreater persistence. The belief in a strait\n EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST\nbecame almost universal among commercial\npeoples, and to find it was the ambition of\nseafarers throughout the world. It was this, in\npart, which brought out so quickly the geography of the Atlantic coast of North America,\nand induced so many explorers to enter the\nwater courses leading to the interior of the\ncontinent. Each newly discovered estuary,\nevery deep indentation of the coast, was confidently expected to afford the coveted highway ; until, as we shall see, after a long series\nof failures by Spaniards and others in the south,\nthe British mariners turned to seek a Northwest\nPassage in the region of Hudson Bay.\nThe people most interested in the search for Reasons for\na strait during the sixteenth century were the ffp\u00a3nnf\no J the Pacific\nSpaniards. Portugal had been the great rival coast\nof Spain in the effort to find a water route to\nthe Indies, and her famous navigator, Vasco da\nGama, had opened the way around Africa while\nColumbus and his followers were vainly trying\nto reach Asia by sailing west. The Portuguese\nhad a monopoly of this route, and were growing\nrich from the profits of the spice trade with the\nMoluccas. In order to share in this commerce\nit was necessary for the Spaniards to complete\nthe western highway to the Orient by the discovery of the indispensable strait. As a foot-\ning had been obtained on the Pacific coast of\nCentral America it was determined to follow\n *frt\u00bbn*fflig1ngHi3B6t5IS!IPlWff*iti4t|ifcttit:\nA HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nBalboa\nand his\nsuccessors\nMexico\nup the search from that as well as from the\nAtlantic side.\nThe first ships to sail upon the South Sea\nwere launched by Balboa himself in the year\n1517. They were built on the Panama coast,\nsome of the timbers for their construction having been carried across the mountains on the\nbacks of Indian slaves. The hundreds of natives who perished under the lash during this\nterrible march constituted the first bloody sacrifice to the Spirit of the Western Sea. Aside\nfrom building the vessels very little was achieved\nby Balboa. He coasted along the shore for some\ndistance, gathered gold and pearls from the\ntribes in those regions, and returned to the\ncolony on the opposite, side of the mountains\nwhere he was put to death by political enemies.\nAbout six years later, however, two other Spaniards explored northwestward from Panama as\nfar as the Gulf of Fonseca, discovering Lake\nNicaragua. This, it was hoped, with the\nstream flowing from it to the Atlantic, and a\nvery short canal through the level ground on\nthe west, might give them-a passage from ocean\nto ocean. Thus early (1523) was suggested the\nidea of an interoceanic canal.\nBy this time the Spaniards were in possession\nof the rich valley of Mexico, where Cortez had\nrecently overthrown the power of the Aztec\nconfederacy. It was the most important terri-\n EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST\ntory of the New World yet brought under subjection by Europeans. The land was rich, its\nresources were varied, and the position it occupied between the two seas was a commanding\none. The colony planted in Mexico- became\na center for new explorations, carried on both\nnorth and south, by land and by sea.\nCortez, ever on the lookout for opportunities Cortez\nr r ,i i_ ii* *Tj_ t becomes an\nor turther conquest, sent his military expedi- expl(\ntions toward the west, and soon learned of a\ngreat ocean which he judged to be the same as\nBalboa's South Sea. The news made a deep\nimpression upon his imagination. Military successes had already brought him riches, and a\nfame which reached to all countriqs of the civilized world; but Cortez saw that here was the\ngateway to greater wealth and a more enduring\nrenown. By exploring the Pacific he expected\nto find many islands abounding in gold and\nother riches. He hoped, also, to reach the\nMoluccas, and above all, he was anxious to find\nthe strait so ardently desired by the king of\nSpain. He therefore established a naval station on the west coast of Mexico and soon\nbegan sending expeditions toward the north.\nSome of his ships were lost, and large sums\nof money spent, but no very important results\nwere obtained until 1539.1 In that year Cortez\n1 The southern end of the California Peninsula was discovered in 1534. It was supposed to be an island. The attempt to\nplant a colony there failed.\n ^SJPJ55Sj2ji\nA HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nAlarcon's\nvoyage\nsent out Ulloa, with three ships, to trace the\nMexican coast northward. One vessel was\nsoon lost. With the two remaining the mariner held his course till he approached the head\nof the Gulf of California. Tacking about he\nnow passed along the shore of the peninsula\nto the cape which forms its southern extremity.\nRounding this dangerous headland he beat up\nthe outer coast as far as Cedros Island (latitude\n28\u00b0). From this expedition Ulloa and his flagship never returned, although the surviving\nvessel reached Mexico in the following year.\nCortez meantime returned to Spain (1540) and\ndied there a few years later (1547).\nReaders of. early American history are familiar with the romantic story of Coronado: how\nhe was dispatched from Mexico, in 1540, in\nsearch of the mythical golden cities, or Cities\nof Cibola, of which rumors had recently been\nbrought from the north. At this time the\nviceroy of Mexico was Cortez's rival, Mendoza;\nand he, in order to increase the chances of\nCoronado's success, sent a fleet under Alarc^on\nto support the land expedition. Alarc^on reached\nthe head of the Gulf, as Ulloa had done before\nhim, and, leaving his ships at the entrance to\nthe Colorado River, ascended the stream in\nsmall boats as far as its junction with the Gila.\nThis proved that the land stretching toward\nthe southwest was a peninsula and not an\n EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST J\nisland. The name California, now known to\nhave been derived from a sixteenth-century\nSpanish novel, was first applied to the country\nabout this time. In its original use it signifies\na fabulous island, situated not far \"from the\nterrestrial paradise,\" and inhabited by a gigantic\nrace of women.\nWhile the outlines of the California Gulf and Voyage of\n\u25a0n - \u2022 i i i i ii a.i i Cabrillo and\nPeninsula had been made known, the explora- Ferei0\ntions thus far had revealed no part of the present western coast of the United States. The\ntime was come for another forward movement\ndestined to carry the Spaniards many leagues\nfurther toward the Arctic Sea.' Viceroy Mendoza had recently become much interested in\nexploration, and was not to be outdone by\nCortez, the patron of Ulloa. In 1542 he commissioned Cabrillo to explore the coast northward along the peninsula. This navigator\npassed Cedros Island, and on the 28th of September anchored in a good harbor which received from him the name of San Miguel, but\nwas later called San Diego. So far as we know\nthis was the first visit of white men to the\ncoast of Upper California. Cabrillo had two\nships and supplies for a long cruise. After\nsurveying the new-found harbor, he proceeded\nleisurely northward, anchoring at a number of\npoints. He showed much interest in the landscapes presented by these strange coasts, and\n 8 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nnoted the ever changing forms of the mountains, plains, and valleys. The natives, too,\nreceived a share of Cabrillo's attention, and he\ndescribes the habitations, dress, food, and canoes\nof those that came most directly under his eye.\nAfter examining the coast as far as Monterey,\nfWmi\nThe Mission of San Carlos, near Monterey.\nand perhaps somewhat farther, Cabrillo was\ndriven southward to San Miguel Island, where\nhe died, January 3, 1543. The chief command\nnow fell to the pilot, Ferelo, who, like Cabrillo,\nwas an able navigator, ambitious to win fame\nfor himself and glory for his sovereign. Carrying out the dying command of his superior,\nFerelo sailed northward. On this cruise the\nvessels passed up the coast beyond Monterey,\n EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST\n9\nnates the\nacific coast\npossibly to the parallel of 42\u00b0, though probably\nnot quite so far. Thus the first thirty years of\nSpanish exploration along the Pacific gave to\nthe world a map of that coast from Panama to\nnear the northern boundary of California.\nSpain was now by far the most powerful state Spain domi\nof Europe, and her sovereign, Charles the Fifth, I\nthe greatest king in Christendom. It was not\nstrange, therefore, that she should attempt to\nmonopolize the New World, or that other\nnations, like France and England, should be\nslow to lay claim to those regions. Spaniards\nwere exploring the Atlantic coast, as well as the\ninterior of North America; under Magellan\nthey had already rounded the southern continent, and discovered a passage \u2014 although a\ndangerous one \u2014 to the Pacific; they were\nreaping a golden harvest from the mines of\nPeru and Mexico.1 The Pacific Ocean, west\nof the two Americas, was practically a Spanish\nsea. No other power seemed likely to disturb\nthese waters, unless some easier passage from\nthe Atlantic should be found than the treacherous Straits of Magellan. Men felt as secure on\nthat long coast line, stretching through more\n1 Soon after this the Spaniards also began a regular trade with\nthe Orient by way of Mexico and the Philippine Islands. Magellan had discovered the Philippines on his famous voyage around\nthe world, and lost his life there. About 1564 Spain began to\ncolonize the islands, and then a trade sprang up which became\nvery important.\n IO A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nOrigin of\nDrake's\nexpedition\nthan a hundred degrees of latitude, as they did\nin the interior of Spain itself.\nIn this agreeable delusion Spanish colonists\nand merchants along the Pacific whiled away\nthe peaceful years till a new generation came\nupon- the stage of history. Then suddenly an\nevent occurred which startled them from their\nrepose. This was the buccaneering voyage of\nSir Francis Drake, which took place in the\nyears 1577 to 1580. Drake was one of those\ndaring English seamen who made the reign of\nQueen Elizabeth as famous for its maritime enterprise as it became for its literature through\nsuch men as Shakespeare and Spenser. He\nsailed from Plymouth with five ships December 13, 1577, having first secured Elizabeth's\nconsent to carry on private war against the\nhated Spaniards in the New World. The voyage is described in a quaint, interesting manner, by the chaplain of the expedition, Francis\nFletcher, whose book has been published under\nthe title, u The World Encompassed by Sir\nFrancis Drake.\" Fletcher naturally makes a\nhero of the Captain, describing him as a brilliant\nleader in battle, a stern but righteous judge, and\na commander whose will few dared to disobey.\nAt times he could be the jovial companion of\nsailors and officers, drinking and carousing\nwith as little conscience as the rest. But\nwhen danger threatened, or death seemed\n EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST II\nimminent, he could also lead them in their\nprayers, and preach the hopeful doctrines of\nthe Christian church.\nNearly a year passed, after leaving England, His voyage\nbefore the ships emerged from the Straits of %ori-V e\n* o racifac coa\nMagellan; and as they did so a furious storm\ndrove them hundreds of leagues into unknown\nsouthern waters, and made it impossible for them\nto keep together. The remainder of the long\ncruise was made by Drake in the single ship\nGolden Hind, the other vessels all forsaking\nhim. For many months he plowed the waters\nalong the coasts of South and Central America,\ncommitting depredations which would be incredible except for the defenseless condition of\nthe Spaniards. Not satisfied with attacking\nships on the high seas, and forcing them to\nsurrender, he ran into the harbors, where vessels of all descriptions were collected, and where\nthey were supposed to be perfectly safe from\nharm. Sometimes he set fire to ships and fled;\nagain he would capture rich cargoes, and get\nsafely away before the Spaniards could offer\nthe least interference. But the larger part of\nhis booty was obtained by the capture of Spanish \"treasure ships.\" One of these yielded\nhim enormous wealth in bar gold, silver, gems,\nand plate. The vessel was called the Caca-\nfuego or Spit-fire: after her capture a Spanish\nwag suggested that she be rechristened and\nSt\n 12 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ngiven the more appropriate name Caca-plata,\nSpit-silver. In these exploits the English captain and his men showed all the bravery and\ndaring for which the corsairs of the time were\nnoted; they also showed some of the less amiable qualities belonging to men of their class\nthe world over.\nNew Albion One of the objects of Drake's expedition was\nto find the passage leading from the Pacific to\nthe Atlantic. Accordingly, after his ship was\ngorged with plunder, he made sail to the north,\nrunning up to the parallel of 42\u00b0, or perhaps\n430. By this time, we are informed, the men\nbegan to suffer severely from the cold, although\nit was midsummer, and therefore, on the 17th\nof June (1579), Drake ran into a very good\nharbor in latitude 38\u00b03o'. It is supposed that\nthis was the opening just above San Francisco\nwhich modern geographers call Drake's Bay.1\nIn the California harbor, Drake repaired his\nvessel as well as he could and prepared for the\nlater cruise. He made some explorations toward the interior, and gained great influence\nover the natives about the bay, who begged\nhim to remain in the country. They agreed,\nas the narrator declares, to accept the English\n1 There is no probability that the Englishman saw the great\nharbor of northern California, although some writers have\nstrangely sought to derive its saintly name from this terrible\nsea rover.\n EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST 13\nqueen as their sovereign. Drake went through\nthe formality of taking possession of the land in\nher name, and called the region \" New Albion,\"\npartly on account of the white banks and cliffs\nalong the shore, partly to fix upon it a name\nsometimes applied to the Island Kingdom\nacross the seas. We know very well that almost, if not quite, the entire coast line seen by\nDrake had been skirted by Spanish navigators\nfrom Mexico a generation earlier; yet he pretended to believe that the Spaniards had never\n\"had any dealing, or so much as set foot in\nthis country, the utmost of their discoveries\nreaching only to many degrees southward of\nthis place.\"\nInstead of continuing the search for a pas- The return\nsage into the Atlantic, the Englishman decided t0 Ensland\nit would be wiser to carry his cargo into safe\nseas by the least dangerous route. He knew\nthe Spaniards in the south would be guarding\nthe coast, as well as the Straits of Magellan.\nDrake therefore struck boldly across the Pacific,\nrounded the Cape of Good Hope, and accomplished the second circumnavigation of the\nglobe. His ship reentered Plymouth harbor on\nthe 26th of September, \"in the just and ordinary reckoning of those that stayed at home.\"\nThe seafarers had of course gained a day.\nQueen Elizabeth was so well pleased with the\nexploits of her valiant captain that she visited\n 14 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nVizcaino's\nexpedition\nDrake's ship, examined the treasures on board,\nand before leaving the deck conferred upon\nhim the honor of knighthood.\nDrake's voyage produced great consternation\namong the Spanish colonists, and many plans\nwere made to prevent others from committing\nsimilar outrages. One scheme was to explore\nthe coast of Upper California, and establish\nforts at one or two good harbors. This was important for commercial reasons, also, as the ships\ntrading to the Philippines, on their return to\nMexico along the California coast, needed some\nplace to refit. Sebastian Vizcaino, a Spanish\nnavigator, made the necessary explorations in\n1602-1603. He advised the government to\nfortify both Monterey and San Diego harbors,\nbut nothing was done for many years. The\nexpedition of Vizcaino marks the end of the\nearly period of exploring activity on the Pacific\ncoast. The seventeenth century, and the first\nhalf of the eighteenth, saw no discoveries.\nThe \" Manila ships,\" as the vessels trading to\nthe Philippines were called, were almost the\nonly Spanish craft to approach the coast of\nUpper California during that long interval.\nThe tribes and peoples seen by Cabrillo, Drake,\nand Vizcaino, continued to war among themselves, in their barbarous way, unchecked by\nthe presence of a superior race. California\nremained a wilderness.\nL\\ \\\n CHAPTER II\nTHE NORTHWEST COAST AND ALASKA\nThe one hundred and sixty years following The decline\nthe voyage of Vizcaino witnessed great changes bpaln\nin the relative power of Spain. Her decline\nbegan toward the close of the sixteenth century,\nand in 1588 the English fleet, officered by superb seamen like Howard and Drake, destroyed\nthe Spanish Armada, which had threatened the\nruin of England. From this time the other nations of Europe no longer feared Spain, and three\nof them,\u2014 England, France, and Holland,\u2014\u25a0\nbegan to colonize the New World. The found-\ning of Jamestown in 1607, Quebec one year\nlater, and the trading post at Manhattan Island\nin 1613, gave each of these states a foothold\non the Atlantic coast, all of which had been\nclaimed by Spain under the name of Florida.\nIn the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth\ncenturies England was enabled, largely through\nthe growth of her navy, to outstrip all of the\nother colonizing powers, and to gain at last\nthe entire eastern half of North America. Holland was forced to give up her colony in 1664;\nand France gave up Canada, together with the\n15\n Her unsafe\ncondition on\nthe Pacific\ncoast\nThe remedy;\nnorthern\nexpansion\n16 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ncountry between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, in 1763. Spain was pushed down into\nthe peninsula of Florida, remaining there till\n1763, when she was compelled, for a time, to\nretire beyond the Mississippi.1\nThese changes seriously affected the position\nof Spain on the Pacific coast. Her people\nfeared that Great Britain would attack them\non that side as they had already successfully\ndone on the Atlantic. British navigators were\nat this time earnestly trying to discover the\nNorthwest Passage from Hudson Bay to the\nPacific. Should they be so fortunate as to\nfind it, and gain a-foothold on the west coast,\nthe days of Spanish supremacy would be numbered. This was one of the alarming conditions which roused the Spaniards from their\nsleep of a hundred and sixty years. Another\ndanger threatened from the north, where the\nRussians had already made various discoveries,\nincluding Bering's Strait and some points on\nthe coast of Alaska. There was nothing to\nprevent these hardy northerners from pushing\ndown the coast line at their own good pleasure.\nBut the people of Mexico, supported by the\nSpanish government, now showed themselves\ncapable of making extraordinary exertions for\nthe safety of the state. They proposed a great\nplan of northern expansion, which included\n1 During a brief period, 1763-1783, England controlled Florida.\n\u25a0imumgmB\n THE NORTHWEST COAST AND ALASKA\nthree points. First, they were to plant colonies and build forts at the harbors of San\nDiego and Monterey, as Vizcaino had recommended in 1603. Next, the entire region of\nUpper California was to be brought under\nSpanish rule. Lastly, they were to undertake\nfurther explorations by sea from Monterey to\nthe vicinity of the Russian settlements on the\nNorth Pacific. In connection with the plan\nof conquest it was decided to establish a\nnumber of missions, such as already existed\nthroughout the California Peninsula, for the\npurpose of Christianizing the northern Indians.\nFather Junipero Serra, a devout Franciscan\nfriar, was placed in charge of the missionary\narrangements.\nEarly in 1769, two ships were sent north- planting the\nward to the harbor of San Diego, and at the Callforma\n0 missions and\nsame time two companies of colonists, each presidios\nwith a herd of cattle, marched overland from\nthe northern missions of the peninsula. The\ntotal number of persons setting out by land and\nsea was two hundred and nineteen; but when\nthe expeditions reached their destination it was\nfound that only one hundred and twenty-six\nremained. This heroic little band hoped to\nconquer the vast stretches of wilderness comprised within the present boundaries of California. On the 16th of July (1769) they founded\nthe first of the series of missions at San Diego,\nc\n 18 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nJuan Perez\nand the\ndiscovery of\nthe Northwest Coast\nwhere a fort, or presidio, was also established.\nMonterey was occupied in the following year,\nthe harbor fortified, and the mission of San\nCarlos begun. This place became the capital\nof Upper California, Year by year other missions were established, that of San Francisco,\nthe sixth in number, dating from October, 1776.\nAs soon as the work of colonization was well\nunder way the leaders turned their attention to\nthe explorations, which were a part of the great\nplan for extending the influence of Spain toward the north. The first expedition was intrusted to Juan Perez, a naval officer of first\nrank, who had been in charge of the California\nfleet. His ship was the Santiago, one of the\nfew vessels whose names deserve to be recorded in a history of the Pacific Northwest.\nWhen all was in readiness for the departure,\nthe officers and men gathered on the shore\nwhere some of the priests celebrated mass, and\nnext morning (June 11, 1774) the Santiago was\ntowed out of the harbor.1 For a number of\ndays she drifted southward under adverse winds,\nand it was not till the 5th of July that the 42d\nparallel was passed. Thereafter Perez sailed\nsteadily northward far from shore, intending\n1 Two priests accompanied the expedition, and fortunately\neach of them left us a diary giving a detailed history of the\nvoyage. This brief account of the voyage is prepared from these\njournals.\n THE NORTHWEST COAST AND ALASKA 19\nto reach the latitude of 6o\u00b0 before making\nland. But running short of water, on the 15th\nof July he put about to the east, and five days\nlater reached the coast near the southern limits\nof Alaska. He named the place Santa Margarita. Many Indians came off from shore\nin their canoes, but they were very timid and\nonly gradually gained courage to approach the\nship. This shows that the sight of white men\nwas new to them. After a time they brought\notter skins, mats, and nicely woven hats made\nof rushes, to exchange for cast-off clothing,\nknives, beads, and ribbons. These Indians had\namong them a few iron rings and other metal\ntrinkets, which some suppose to have come\nfrom the far-off British trading post at Hudson Bay. In that case they must have been\npassed on from one tribe to another across the\ncontinent.\nAlthough his instructions required Perez to Theexpiora-\nreach the parallel of 6o\u00b0, he decided that the northern6\ncondition of his vessel and crew would not coast\npermit him to go farther. He therefore turned\nto explore the land southward to California.\nAfter running along the coast about six degrees, he entered a \" C \"-shaped harbor just\nabove the present American boundary line\n(490) which he named San Lorenzo. Here,\ntoo, the natives were afraid of the Spaniards;\nbut when their timidity was overcome, they\n 20 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nHeceta's\ndiscovery\nwere glad to exchange, the most beautiful otter\nskins for bits of ribbon or a few worthless shells.\nFrom San Lorenzo the course of the Santiago\nwas almost continuously southward. At frequent intervals she was so close inshore that\nthe land stood clearly revealed to those on board.\nOn the 27th of August, after an absence of two\nmonths and a half, the good ship anchored safely\nin the harbor of Monterey: \" Thanks be to\nGod,\" the pious chronicler exclaims, | who has\npermitted us to arrive most happily at this port,\nalthough we suffer the disappointment of not\nhaving gained our chief end, which was to go\nas far north as sixty degrees of latitude, there\nto go ashore and raise the standard of the holy\ncross.\"\nPerez had made a general exploration of the\nentire Northwest Coast, from the parallel of 42 \u00b0\nto 540 40', but he had failed to reach the region\nvisited by the Russians.1 In the following year,\ntherefore, a new expedition was fitted out, this\ntime under the command of Captain Bruno\nHeceta. One of his vessels was the already\nfamous Santiago, the other was a small ship\nnamed the Sonora. Heceta sailed under instructions to reach the latitude of 65 \u00b0. At a\npoint near Fuca's Straits (Point Grenville) he\n1 The term \" Northwest Coast\" is usually applied to the region\nbetween these parallels, and includes what now is comprised in the\ncoasts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.\n THE NORTHWEST COAST AND ALASKA 21\nlanded and went through the ceremony of\ntaking possession of the country. Soon after\nthis he decided for no. very good reason, so far\nas we can see, to return to California. On the\n17th of August, while running southward along\nthe coast, he discovered \"a bay with strong\neddies and currents, indicating the mouth of a\nlarge river or strait.\"1 Heceta did not enter this\nstream. Had he done so the River of the\nWest might to-day be known under a different\nname from that with which we are all familiar;\nfor there is no doubt that the Spanish navigator\ndescribes the bay at the mouth of the Columbia.\nThe Sonora, commanded by Cuadra, had been cuadra\nseparated from the flagship, and when Heceta reaches\nr . r . . latitude 580\nturned southward her intrepid captain was left\nto follow his own inclinations. He first ran\nmany leagues to the west, and then veering\nabout northward, finally saw (in latitude 570)\nthe snowy peak of a great mountain, to which\nhe gave the name of \u00a7 San Jacinto.\" Opposite\nthis he landed, and for the second time the\ncoast of the North Pacific was formally claimed\nas a part of the dominions of Spain. Before\nturning southward he reached the latitude of\n580. Since the Russians had already seen\npoints in Alaska from the 65th to the 60th\nparallels, this voyage nearly completes the\nfirst general exploration of the Pacific Coast.\n1 The quotation is from Bancroft, \" Northwest Coast,\" I, p. 163.\n 22 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nOrigin of\nCook's\nexpedition\nWe have now reached an important turning\npoint in the history of the Northwest Coast.\nThe fears of the Spanish were about to be\nrealized; for in 1776 the British government\nresolved to send to the Pacific the first explorer\nto enter those waters from England since the\nvoyage of Sir Francis Drake. The object of\nthe new expedition was to find a passage eastward, around the northern end of North\nAmerica, from Bering's Stratt. During the\nearly part of the seventeenth century Great\nBritain had sacrificed valuable lives in the\neffort to find a Northwest Passage from the\nAtlantic into the Pacific. Henry Hudson, for\nexample, perished in the great bay which bears\nhis name; but all to no effect. Then, for\nmore than one hundred years, very little was\ndone. About 1750 the subject of the Northwest Passage came up prominently once more\nand could never afterward be dismissed. By\nthis time it was known that North America\nwas separated from Asia by a strait which\nextended north and south; for the Danish\nnavigator, Vitus Bering, while exploring for\nthe Russian government in 1728, had passed\naround the northeastern point of Asia, and a\nfew years later (1741) had crossed over to\nthe coast of Alaska. It was also known that\nthere was open sea far to the northwest of\nHudson Bay; for in the years 1769-1772\n THE NORTHWEST COAST AND ALASKA\n3\nSamuel Hearne, who was sent out by the\nHudson's Bay Company, had traversed a thousand miles of wilderness from the Hudson's\nBay post on Churchill River, and traced the\nCoppermine River to its outlet in a northern\nocean. This encouraged the British govern-\nment to begin the search once more, starting\nfrom two opposite points, Baffin's Bay on the\neast and Bering's Strait on the west. For the\nsecond part of this enterprise they selected\ntheir greatest explorer, Captain James Cook.\nHe had distinguished himself during the preceding half-dozen years by the discovery of New\nZealand and other islands in the South Pacific,\nand by exploring the coasts of Australia. He\nwas fitted out in the most complete fashion\nwith two excellent ships, the Discovery and the\nResolution. The latter, his flagship, was the\nvessel in which Cook had made his long cruise\nin the Pacific during the years 1772\u20141774.\nCook's instructions were issued on the 6th\nof July (1776), and he sailed on the 12th of the\nsame month. He was ordered to enter the\nSouth Pacific, and after making some further\nexplorations in those waters, to run to the\ncoast of \" New Albion.\" He was then to explore northward to 65\u00b0, and endeavor to find\na way from Bering's Strait into the Atlantic.\nAside from their main features, thfe instructions\nare interesting in two other particulars. The\nCook's\ninstructions\n 24 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nfirst is the allusion to Drake's pretended discoveries of two centuries earlier; the second\nis the date, which Americans will recognize\nas strangely near the time when the English\ncolonies on the Atlantic declared their independence of the mother country. It would\nalmost seem as if Great Britain was making\nTereoboo, King of Owyhee, bringing Presents to\nCaptain Cook.\nHe discovers\nthe Sandwich Islands\nhaste to gain an empire on the Pacific which\nmight partly recompense her for losses on the\nopposite coast.\nAfter spending about eighteen months in\nsouthern waters, Cook sailed northward, and\nearly in January, 1778, discovered a group of\nislands to which he gave the name of his\npatron, the Earl of Sandwich. Two months\nlater he came in sight of the Oregon coast in\n THE NORTHWEST COAST AND ALASKA 2$\nabout latitude 44\u00b0. He then ran up the coast\nto the 47th parallel, where he commenced a\ncareful search for a strait. An old tradition,\npublished in England as early as 1625, declared that an Italian pilot, Juan de Fuca, had %<*m*c\nonce entered an inlet on this part of the coast,\nand sailed without interruption through to the\nAtlantic. This was exactly the sort of passage for which the British were seeking.\nCook examined the supposed locality of the\ninlet with great attention but no success. He\nwas convinced that the story of Juan de Fuca\nwas a myth, like so many other mariner's tales.1\nIn about latitude 49\u00b0 Cook probably entered From\nthe identical harbor which Perez had named San Nootka\nbound\nLorenzo. To this he gave the now well-known northward\nname of Nootka Sound. Hundreds of Indians\ncrowded around the vessel in their canoes,\nbringing skins and furs for barter with the\nsailors. Hoisting his anchors and steering\nnorthwest, Cook saw San Jacinto Mountain, so\nnamed by Cuadra three years before. To this\nthe Englishman gave the new name \" Mt.\nEdgecumbe,\" by which it is still known. In\nlatitude 6o\u00b0 he saw another towering peak,\nand learning that the Russians had given the\nname \" St. Elias \" to some point in this vicinity,\n1 A few years later (1787) an inlet was found in this latitude\nby Barclay, another Englishman, and named after the Italian\npilot of the sixteenth century, the Straits of Juan de Fuca.\nA-vi~* 7v)j\nJ ?%**~**\n 26 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nDeath of\nCaptain\nCook\nThe map of\nthe Pacific\ncoast completed\nhe applied it to the imposing mountain whose\nglistening summit is such a conspicuous landmark to all mariners sailing along the coast of\nAlaska. In a way it separated the explorations\nwhich had been carried on by the Russians at\nintervals since 1728 from those recently made\nby the Spaniards. Cook held his course northwestward, searching the coast for an eastward\npassage, and finally sailed through Bering's\nStrait. It was the 9th of August, 1778, when\nhe reached \" the northwestern extremity of all\nAmerica,\" in latitude 65 \u00b0 48'. Directly opposite he found the northeasternmost point of the\nAsiatic continent. The former he called \" Cape\nPrince of Wales,\" the latter \" East Cape.\" It\nwas already too late in the season to attempt a\npassage through the northern sea, and therefore Cook turned southward to spend the winter\nin the new tropical islands discovered at the\nopening of the year. Unfortunately, through\nsome misunderstanding with the inhabitants\nof Hawaii, the great captain was attacked and\nkilled by these barbarians, February 16, 1779.\nCook was not the discoverer of the Northwest Coast. That honor belongs to the Spaniards, while the Russians were first on the\ncoast of Alaska. But in 1778 there were no\ncarefully drawn charts to show what had already been achieved. Many rumors, and a few\nwritten statements, containing a mixture of fact\n THE NORTHWEST COAST AND ALASKA 27\nand fable, were all that the English navigator\nhad to rely upon. His exploration was, therefore, independent of all the preceding, and his\nsurveys were more accurate than any which had\nyet been made. While much still remained to\nbe done in the way of filling in details, it is no\nmere fancy to say that Cook had completed the\nwork which Balboa began. The map of the\nwestern coast line of our continent had been\ntraced, amid mighty perils by sea and shore,\ntesting the valor of seven generations.\n \\c\nCHAPTER III\nNOOTKA SOUND AND THE COLUMBIA\nFirst sale of\nsea-otter\nskins in\nCanton\nThe voyage of Captain Cook had one result\nwhich neither he nor the British government\nforesaw. At various points along the Northwest Coast, as Nootka Sound and Cook Inlet,\nthe natives crowded about the ships to exchange sea-otter and other skins for any attractive baubles the white man cared to sell.\nNo one suspected the true value of these furs,\nand those who made the purchases intended\nthem merely for clothing. But when the ships\nof the exploring squadron touched at Canton,\nChina, on the return voyage to England, officers and men sold the remains of their otter-\nskin garments, and a few unused furs, at prices\nwhich seemed almost fabulous. \" Skins which\ndid not cost the purchaser sixpence sterling,\"\nwrites one of the men, \" sold for one hundred\ndollars.\" The excitement on shipboard was\nintense. The crew wished to return at once,\nsecure a cargo of furs in the Northwest, and\nmake their fortunes. When the officers refused, they begged, blustered, and even threatened mutiny, in order to gain their object, but\nof course in vain.\n2s\nHBHB\n NOOTKA SOUND AND THE COLUMBIA\n29\nbecomes\ninterested\nin the Northwest Coast\nThe discovery of the value of sea-otter skins The world\nin the Canton market instantly changed the\nthought of the world with respect to the Northwest Coast. The region abounded in furs, but\nthus far had not been visited for commercial\npurposes. Great Britain and Spain had sent\ntheir navigators into these waters for other\nreasons. The one desired to explore the coast\nin order to confirm her ancient claim of sovereignty over it; the other hoped to find, half\nhidden by some jagged cape, the long-sought\nhighway to the eastern sea. When the news\nof this commercial discovery reached Europe\nit created widespread interest, and erelong\nships flying the colors of England, of France,\nand of Portugal, began regularly to visit the\nNorthwest Coast. Those of Spain and of the\nUnited States soon followed. In a few years\nmen of every nation could be found among\nthe crews that searched the coves and inlets,\nwherever the presence of Indian tribes gave\npromise of a profitable trade.\nThe first of these trading craft arrived from Early fur\nthe coast of China in 1785. It was a small\nship, apparently flying the Portuguese flag, but\ncommanded by an Englishman, James Hanna.\nHe secured a cargo of five hundred and sixty\nsea-otter skins, which, on the return to China,\nwere sold for more than twenty thousand dollars. No season passed thereafter in which the\nflrv*-^-^-)\ntrade and its\nresults\nf\n 30 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nnatives living on the best-known harbors of the\nNorth Pacific were unable to dispose of their\nfurs. Gradually the traders explored new portions of the coast, and thus, year by year, other\ntribes were brought under the influence of the\ntrade. In the course of the first ten years\nNootka\nSound\nM&.\n*W%I 'llL JSP\nS^dSLki^l^jA^m\nNootka Harbor, 1788.\nLaunching the Northwest America,\nthis commercial activity gave rise to two most\ninteresting historical episodes, to which we\nmust now give attention. They were the\nNootka Sound controversy and the discovery\nof the Columbia.\nNootka Sound, lying just north of the 49th\nparallel, contained several of the best harbors\nthus far discovered in the Northwest. With\n NOOTKA SOUND AND THE COLUMBIA\n31\ndeep, quiet water, and high rugged shores, it\nafforded ideal anchoring places for ships arriving in distress after the long and often stormy\npassage across the Pacific. Its favorable location on the line of coast made it convenient,\nalso, as a center for trading expeditions carried\non to the north and south. As a result, this\nplace became a kind of international resort for\nships engaged in the fur trade.\nWe have not forgotten, however, that the Spanish\nentire coast was claimed by Spain. Her title rJP ts, .\nJ r threatened\nwas as old as the discovery of Balboa, who took by Russia\npossession of all the coasts of the Pacific as he\nstood upon the mountain peak in Darien. It\nhad been strengthened at an early time by the explorations of Cortez, Ulloa, Cabrillo, and others;\nand later by the conquest of California, the\nnorthern voyages of Perez, Heceta, and Cuadra.\nBut in spite of all theories of sovereignty, the\nRussians, who discovered Alaska and the adjacent islands, had already pushed down the coast\nto the parallel of 6o\u00b0, and according to rumors\nwhich had floated southward were threatening\nto go farther. Something must be done to stop\nthese encroachments. In 1788 the Spanish\ngovernment sent out a squadron under Martinez and Haro to gather exact information con\ncerning the doings of these Northerners. The\\\nv\n^.J*\ndid not find a Russian settlement at Nootka, as u*yCf',rV\n.-v\nv^ ^\nthey had feared, but met traders of that nation %^\nN\nK*\n\/v>-\n The Nootka\nSound\ncontroversy\n32 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nfarther up the coast who spoke as if there was\na plan to take possession of this important harbor. The Spaniards learned, also, that Nootka\nwas the favorite rendezvous for the British and\nother ships engaged in the northern trade.\nOn the return of the Spanish fleet to\nMexico it was at once decided to send the\nsame officers to the upper seas in the following\nyear, with instructions to fortify Nootka Sound.\nThis was done, but in carrying out his orders\nCaptain Martinez seized two British vessels belonging to a company represented by Lieutenant John Meares.1 This incident occurred in\nthe summer of 1789, and resulted in a diplomatic controversy and preparations for war by\nboth Spain and Great Britain. When the contest was ended by the so-called Nootka Convention (November 29, 1790), Spain was no longer,\neven in theory, the sovereign of the Northwest\nCoast. By this treaty she gave up her exclusive claims, and acknowledged that British subjects had equal rights with her own to trade or\nmake settlements \" in places not already occupied\"; that is, anywhere north of California.\nThe settlement of the Nootka Sound controversy bad special importance for the United\n1 Two other vessels were temporarily detained, but as these\nfloated the Portuguese flag and were taken under different circumstances from the ships mentioned above, it is sufficient merely to\nallude to them. The vessels over which the controversy arose\nwere the Princess Royal and Argonaut.\n NOOTKA SOUND AND THE COLUMBIA\n33\nStates. It not only secured rights of trade Effect upon\nfor British subjects, but practically opened the !?e Umted\nNorth Pacific to the commerce of every nation.\nSpain never took an active interest in the fur\ntrade, and after 1790 she withdrew down the\ncoast to California. England, too, on account\nof the long European wars which began about\nthis time, found little chance, during the next\ntwenty years, to follow up the advantage she\nhad gained. In the meantime, the North Pacific may almost be said to have become an\nAmerican lake. The keen traders and dauntless whalers of New England, coming up around\nCape Horn, had taken possession, and were\nreaping a rich reward. Let us trace the origin\nand some of the most noteworthy results of this\nnew activity on the Pacific coast.\nWhen Captain Cook sailed from Plymouth John\n(England) in July, 1776, he had on board his Led^ard\nflagship an American named John Ledyard.\nThis young sailor was a native of Connecticut,\nwho had spent his youth in \" the land of steady\nhabits \" without finding any steady or settled\nbusiness to suit his taste. An adventurer by\nnature, he was always looking for new and\nexciting enterprises. As a youth he attended\nDartmouth College, then a small school, located\nbeyond the bounds of settlement on the upper\nConnecticut. Ledyard intended to prepare for\nmissionary work among the Indians; but after\nD\n 34 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nHis services\non Cook's\nexpedition\nspending some time at college he gave up this\nplan and decided to leave the institution. He\nhad been a peculiar boy in school, and he was\nmore peculiar in his manner of getting home.\nFelling a great tree on the bank of the river,\nhe hollowed it out to make a canoe; then, with\na bearskin for a bed and a few books as his\nsole companions, this enterprising navigator\nactually accomplished the long river voyage\nfrom Hanover, New Hampshire, to Hartford,\nConnecticut.\nA little later he made up his mind to become a seaman, and secured a place on a ship\nbelonging to the British navy. Being in England when Cook's expedition was preparing, he\ncalled to see the great captain and was given the\npost of corporal of marines. His services on\nthe long voyage were of great value. He was\nvigorous, alert, intelligent, and good-natured;\nwas always ready to take more than his share\nof the hard duties; and went at them with\nenthusiasm if they promised any novelties.\nWhile the ships were in northern waters he\nvolunteered to explore the island of Onalaska,\nand in Hawaii amused himself by climbing the\nloftiest mountain peak of the island. From\neach expedition he brought back important\ninformation.\nAfter the fleet returned to Great Britain\nLedyard was transferred to a warship, bound\nmamigHHg\n NOOTKA SOUND AND THE COLUMBIA\n35\nurn\nfor Long Island Sound. This was just at the His ret\nclose of the Revolutionary War. The treaty of tradingpr\u00b0i-\n. . ect ; goes to\npeace had not been signed; but the fighting Europe\nwas over, and the young corporal felt morally\njustified in leaving the ship. He escaped to\nhis old home, found the mother he had not\nseen for eight years, and related to admiring\nThe Sea-otter.\nfriends his thrilling stories of adventure. But\nhe was not yet prepared to settle down. Indeed,\never since the sale by Cook's men of the sea-\notter skins in Canton, which Ledyard witnessed, he had burned with enthusiasm to\nengage in the fur trade of the Northwest Coast.\nHere was the opportunity to gain both fame\nand fortune. If he could only get some American merchant to furnish a vessel, with the\n ass\n36 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nnecessary equipment, he might be first in the\nfield and secure the cream of the trade. In\ntrying to carry out his project, Ledyard interviewed the merchants of Boston, New York, and\nPhiladelphia. It was hard to persuade these\ncautious men of business to undertake so dangerous a venture. Finally Robert Morris, then\nthe greatest merchant of the United States,\nagreed to adopt the plan and enter into a partnership with Ledyard for carrying it out. We\ncan imagine the enthusiasm with which our\nadventurer set about his preparations. These,\nhowever, did not proceed far. Either because\nno suitable vessel could be secured, or for some\nother reason, the arrangement with Morris\ncame to naught.1 Ledyard now determined to\ngo to Europe in the hope of finding, in Spain\nor France, the mercantile support which he,\ncould not obtain in his native country. Before\ngoing he published (Hartford, 1783) a little\nbook which gave to the world the first general\naccount of Cook's voyage. By this means and\nby his personal activity among American merchants he no doubt aroused considerable interest in the Pacific Northwest; and therefore, in\nspite of his ill success, it was not long before\n1A ship called the Empress of China was, it seems, engaged ; but for some reason her destination was changed and she\nwas sent to China direct in 1785. This vessel opened the Chinese trade with our eastern cities.\nmm.\n NOOTKA SOUND AND THE COLUMBIA\n37\nbia and the\nLady\nWashington\nothers were making similar plans for conducting a trade from Boston to the Northwest Coast\nand to China.\nIn 1787 several Boston merchants fitted out The Coium\ntwo small vessels, the Columbia and the Lady\nWashington, with cargoes of trinkets, bright-\ncolored cloth, and blankets for the Indian trade.\nThey left Boston on the 1st of October, under\nthe command of John Kendrick and Robert\nGray. The ships were separated on the voyage\nup the Pacific coast. The Washington traded\nwith the natives, visiting Tillamook and other\nports, and entered Nootka Sound on the 16th\nof September. There Captain Gray found two\nBritish ships and witnessed on September 20\nthe launching of the Northwest America, con-\nstructed by Lieutenant Meares, the first seagoing vessel built on the Northwest Coast.1\nThree days later Kendrick arrived in the\nColumbia, and the Americans prepared to\nspend the winter at Nootka Sound.\nWhen spring came both vessels sailed out Trading\nto trade along the coast and had a successful c\u2122se*\n0 Co turn ota\nrhe\ncruise. Mr. Haswell, one of the officers, tells saiistoCi\nrus in his diary that they purchased two hun- *n *\u00b0\nJ J tr Boston\ndred sea-otter skins of one tribe in exchange\nfor a chisel. We do not wonder when he\nuna\n1 These British ships were the Felice and iphigenia. The\nlatter, with the Northwest America, was detained by the Spaniards. All these vessels carried the flag of Portugal.\n 38 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWTEST\nLater voyage to the\nNorthwest\nCoast\nadds, \" I was grieved to leave them so soon, as\nit appeared to be the best place for skins that\nwre had seen.\" Aside from securing a good\ncargo, the Americans explored along Queen\nCharlotte's Island, and gained a large amount\nof information about the coast both north\nand south of Nootka. Toward the end of this\nsummer all the furs thus far collected were\ntaken on board the Columbia. Captain Gray\nthen sailed in her to China. He sold his cargo,\nloaded with tea, and turning his prow westward,\nfinally reached Boston (August, 1790) by way\nof the Cape of Good Hope. This was the\nfirst time that the flag of the young American\nRepublic had been borne around the world.\nAfter unloading his tea, Grav was sent back\nto the Pacific, where he traded up and down\nthe coast during the summer of 1791, much as\nhe had done two years before. The following\nwinter was spent in the harbor of Clayoquot.\nThere he built a small vessel, the Adventure,\nand in spring resumed his trading excursions\nwith the most important and unexpected result.\nAs Gray ran southward along the coast he\ndiscovered (May 7) Gray's Harbor, where he\nwas attacked by the natives; and on the nth of\nMay (1792) entered the mouth of a great river\nin latitude 46 \u00b0 10'. This he named \" Columbia's River,\" in honor of the good ship which\n 3\nW\n<*;\nO\nu\n39\n NOOTKA SOUND AND THE COLUMBIA\n41\nfirst stemmed its mighty current. The Colum- Discovery of\nbia remained in the river ten days, shifting her * er? '\nJ \u00b0 bia River,\nanchorage several times, and ascending the May u,\nstream to a point \" about thirty miles' above I792\nthe bar. Gray \" doubted not it was navigable\nupwards of 100\" miles. Many Indians in their\nbark canoes were constantly about the vessel,\neager for trade. Some of the ship's men filled\nthe casks with water; others tarred and painted\nthe ship; still others were engaged in making\nand repairing irons. It was a busy time, those\nMay days of 1792, when the estuary of the\nColumbia first became the scene of commerce\nconducted by civilized man.\nWe can but marvel that this great discovery Failure of\nshould have been left for the American trader, A,ece a'\n' Meares,\nwhen the government expeditions of Great Cook, and\nBritain and Spain had been cruising along\nthose shores for many years. In 1775 the\nSpaniards had actually discovered the bay at\nthe mouth of the Columbia; but while Heceta\nsuspected the existence of a river, he failed to\nenter the stream itself. Thirteen years later\nLieutenant Meares, the English trader, who\nfigures so prominently in the Nootka Sound\naffair, sailed along the line of breakers just outside the bar. He named the indentation which\nhe saw \" Deception Bay \"; and so far from discovering that it was in fact the estuary of a\n;reat river, Meares went out of his way to\nVancouver\nQ\n r\nBroughton's\nexploration\n42 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ndeclare \" that no such river as St. Roc exists,\nas laid down on Spanish charts.\"\nCaptain Cook passed up the coast in 1778\nwithout suspecting the presence of the river,\nand just two weeks before Gray made his\nfamous discovery, Captain George Vancouver\nexamined carefully the very opening through\nwhich the river pours its continental flood into\nthe ocean. Vancouver noted simply \" the appearance of an inlet, or small river, the land\nbehind it not indicating it to be of any great\nextent; nor did it seem to be accessible for\nvessels of our burden.\" With this reflection,\nand the statement that he did not consider \" this\nopening worthy of more attention,\" he continued his northward voyage. A few weeks later\nJ o\nhe received, at Puget Sound, the news of Gray's\nwonderful discovery.\nVancouver sent Lieutenant Broughton to the\nColumbia in October, and through him explored\nit to Point Vancouver, about one hundred miles\nfrom the bar. He made light of Gray's exploit,\ntrying to show that the trader had not entered\nthe river proper, but only the inlet at its mouth.\nThe world has been more generous than this\ndistinguished British navigator. It honors the\ncaptain of the Boston trading ship as the real\ndiscoverer of the Columbia, and ranks his\nachievement as one of the noteworthy events\nin the history of the Pacific Northwest.\n CHAPTER IV\nEARLY EXPLORATIONS WESTWARD\nSince the first planting of colonies along the The west-\nAtlantic coast, the search for a strait had often flowillgriver\ntaken the form of a search for a west-flowing\nriver. At first it was supposed that North\nAmerica was very narrow, and that the larger\nstreams falling into the Atlantic must have\ntheir sources near others, flowing westward.\nThe problem of a water way to the Pacific\ncould be settled, therefore, by connecting the\nheadwaters of an east and a west flowing\nstream. It was with this thought that King\nJames required the first English colonists to\nexplore the rivers of Virginia for their western\nconnections.\nBut nature appeared to favor the French, Frenchmen\nrather than the English colonists, with an open \"^JV\nhighway across the continent. Within a few Mississippi\nyears after the founding of Quebec, Champlain\nhad explored the Ottawa River and reached\nLake Huron. Shortly afterward he sent his\nagent, Jean Nicolet, westward up the lakes to\nvisit the Indian tribes in what is now Wisconsin. There the French learned of a great river\n43\n 44\nA HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nEffect of the\nexploration\nto the west, which they rejoiced to think would\nafford the long-sought passage to the South\nSea. In 1673 Joliet and Father Marquette set\nout to explore this river. They launched their\nbark canoes at Green Bay, ascended the Fox\nRiver, and crossed over by a very short portage to the Wisconsin. The descent was easy,\nand in a few weeks they were floating along\nupon the broad current of the Mississippi.\nThey hoped it might carry them to the South\nSea, either at the Gulf of California or some\nmore northerly point. By the time they reached\nthe mouth of the Arkansas, however, the explorers were convinced that the Mississippi was\nan Atlantic river, and that its course was almost\ndirectly southward to the Gulf of Mexico. A few\nyears later (1682) La Salle descended to its outlet, and took possession of the river and valley\nfor the king of France.\nThe exploration of the Mississippi gave an\nentirely new idea of the magnitude of North\nAmerica. A stream greater than any of those\neast of the Alleghanies was flowing through\nthe land for two thousand miles, and draining\na vast territory whose very existence had been\nunknown. From the eastern mountains great\ntributaries, hundreds of miles in length, added\ntheir waters to its flood. Other large rivers\nentered from the west, and these doubtless had\ntheir headsprings far away in unknown regions,\n EARLY EXPLORATIONS WESTWARD\n45\nlying toward the setting sun. The shore of\nthe South Sea, so vividly present to the imagination in these early times, receded westward\na thousand miles. Instead of reaching it by a\nstream interlocking with the James, the Potomac, or the Hudson, the problem now was to\nfind a west-flowing river near the sources of the\nRed, the Arkansas, or the Missouri.\nIt was not long after the French gained control of the Mississippi valley, before the Missouri came to be looked upon as the great river\nhighway to the west. French traders and\ntrappers ascended its turbid waters, and gathered information from the Indians about its\nupper streams. Men were always looking for a\nway to the Pacific, and even with no prompting\nfrom natives or others, would have constructed\nin imagination a river flowing from near the\nhead of the Missouri to the South Sea. But\nthere were several good reasons for believing in the existence of such a stream. In\nthe first place, the Spaniards as early as 1603\nclaimed to have found a large river entering\nthe Pacific near the southern boundary of the\npresent state of Oregon; and for more than\ntwo hundred years they had known of a similar stream flowing to the Gulf of California.\nTheir sources had never been seen, and it\nwas reasonable to suppose that they could be\nreached from the upper Missouri. Besides,\nThe Missouri and\na western\n Jonathan\nCarver's\ntravels\n46 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nthere were traditions among the Indians about\nrivers flowing toward the sunset; and early\nin the eighteenth century, so the story runs,\nan old chief who lived on the Lower Mississippi,\ntraveled for many moons in this direction until\nhe reached the western ocean. French missionaries, from the time of Marquette, dreamed\nof carrying the Gospel to the tribes on the\nwest-flowing river, and other Frenchmen hoped\nto establish a line of trading posts connecting\nthe Mississippi with the South Sea. It was in\npursuing this project that Verendrye, in 1743,\ndiscovered the Rocky Mountains in the country of the upper Yellowstone.\nWe now come to one of the most picturesque\nfigures in early western exploration,\u2014the American traveler, Captain Jonathan Carver. He was\na Connecticut man, who had joined the Colonial\narmy during the war against the French (1754\u2014\n1763), and had performed good service. When\nthe war closed, he decided, so he says, to undertake a journey to the far west with the hope\nof making discoveries useful to the government. On this expedition Carver was absent\nmore than two years, from June, 1766, to October, 1768. He visited the Great Lakes and\ncrossed over by the Fox and Wisconsin to the\nMississippi. At the Falls of St. Anthony (St.\nPaul, Minnesota) he expected to prepare an\nexpedition for the purpose of ascending the\n\"mi ttM.MA*t*aj.!Lmmi\nmgmwaiaMBiiMUigiiHPff\n EARLY EXPLORATIONS WESTWARD\nMissouri and seeking for the River of the West.\nBeing disappointed in these arrangements he\nwent up the St. Peter River and wintered among\nthe Sioux. From these Indians he probably\nlearned some details concerning the geography\nm\n9\n>&\u2022!?\u00ab\nM^MffB^\n&n \"v ko^^-i\nWfoe &H\n3\nO\nW3\nW)\n...\n\u00a3\nu\nt\/3\nJ3\n-4-1\n>\u2014i\no\n\u00a3\nU)\nH\nT3\np|\n\u00ab\n&\nJ3\nO\n1)\nS\nJ3\n\u20224->\n1-1\nN\nrt\nK\/l\nu\ni-H\na\nu\ny\nU)\nc*\nw\n.a\nw\n4-1\nH\na\no\n\u00ab*H\nc\n builds rort\ndepartment. One of his first steps was to Vancouver,\nabandon Fort George and to establish new * 24_I 25\nheadquarters at Point\nVancouver.1 Here\nwas an ideal location\nfor a trading center.\nThe Willamette, entering the Columbia\na short distance below, had its sources\nnearly two hundred\nmiles to the south;\nthe Cowlitz opened\nan avenue for trade\ntoward Puget Sound;\n. .. r , ~ Dr. John McLoughlin, 1824.\nwhile tor the Columbia itself, breaking through the Cascades a\n' CD CD\nfew miles above Vancouver, the site was the\nbest that could be found. On a fine prairie\nabout three quarters of a mile from the river,\nMcLoughlin built the first Fort Vancouver,\nand occupied it in 1825. Four years later\nanother establishment was built on the low\n1 The point reached and so named by Broughton in October,\n1792.\n Il8 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nground near the river bank. It was simply\na stockade made of posts about twenty feet\nin length, inclosing a rectangular space thirty-\nseven rods long by eighteen rods in width,\nwhich contained all the principal buildings, including Dr. McLoughlin's residence. The servants of the company, with their Indian families\nLorfg.West 120 ofG>\nu*&\nFl<*\u00a3\nBow\nL.\n-50i\nfc,\n'*>\u201e\nm\nMt.Olyi#fk0\n1.1'\nBuUftneh\nSfloO'\n,a\u00bb*\nH Rainier'\nKettle\nFalls\nFt\n,0olv5H\u00b0\n6tt^e-\nspati\"\nted\n\u00ab&\n\\\u00bb\nC?\nftglw><\ntsIee-S.,\n\u00bbosaualiy\u00b0Pu\u00a3r\u00ab*'{iv\\L\nC.Disapppmtmennl ; -*r^i<^\nCOLUMBIA BlV$Ws*?T\\K.i.Mi,%\nj.Lookout!\ntfiVaf)\n45-\nSdljn\no\u00bb\n'45\nlU>a\nVs\nm\nHbod.\nA.\n<2^\nK\nMAP OF oWti\nTHE COLUMBIA\nC.Orford or Blanf{\u00a7f\n*8\nUeffe\nrson\n'$T\nCh\n\u00ab)i JOT\niW*\"\"\ni\nPfW\nWis\nW*f\n;*\u00ab\n?t\ni\u00ab*^\n\u25a043\nand friends, lived just outside, where in course\nof time a considerable village grew up. Such\nwas the famous Fort Vancouver, round which\nclusters so much of the romance, as well as\nthe more sober history, of early Oregon.1 Dr.\n1A fascinating picture of life at this western emporium of the\nfur trade is given by Mrs. Eva Emery Dye in her \" McLoughlin\nand Old Oregon.\"\n THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY\nMcLoughlin remained in charge of the establishment for twenty-two years, managing the\ncompany's business with rare success; and by\nhis firm control over the Indians of the entire\nOregon country, his kindness and hospitality\nto American traders, missionaries, adventurers\nand colonists, richly deserving the title, \" Father\nof Oregon,\" bestowed upon him by the pioneers.\nVancouver was the clearing house for all the The fur\nbusiness west of the Rocky Mountains. Here Vancouver\nthe annual ships from London landed supplies\nand merchandise, which were placed in warehouses to await the departure of the boat brigades for the interior; here was the great fur\nhouse, where the peltries were brought together\nfrom scores of smaller forts and trading camps,\nscattered through a wilderness empire of half\na million square miles. They came from St.\nJames, Langley, and Kamloops in the far northwest ; from Umpqua in the south; from Walla\nWalla, Colville, Spokane, Okanogan, and many\nother places in the upper portions of the great\nvalley. Hundreds of trappers followed the\nwater courses through the gloomy forests and\ninto the most dangerous fastnesses of the\nmountains, in order to glean the annual beaver\ncrop for delivery to these substations. We do\nnot know precisely what the total business\namounted to; but in 1828 a visitor to Vancouver (Jedediah Smith) learned that McLoughlin\n 120 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nhad received during the year thirty thousand\nbeaver skins, worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, besides a large quantity of other\nfurs.\nAside from the fur trade, which was the\nprincipal business, Vancouver was also the center of other activities. By 1828 a fine farm had\n*3\u00a3T\" \"^Mfc**\"\nFort Vancouver.\nbeen opened on the prairie about the fort, and\nfields of wheat, oats, corn, peas, and barley\nflourished in the rich soil of this favored locality. As the years passed, more and more land\nwas brought under cultivation, until the farm\naggregated several thousand acres, \" fenced into\nbeautiful corn fields, vegetable fields, orchards,\ngardens, and pasture fields, . . . interspersed\nwith dairy houses, shepherds' and herdsmen's\n THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY\ncottages.\"x In 1814 the Isaac Todd brought to\nthe Columbia from California four head of\nSpanish cattle; the Astor people already had\na few hogs, obtained from the Hawaiian Islands, and also several goats. These were the\nbeginnings of the live stock interest of the\nNorthwest. In 1828 the Vancouver pastures\nfed about two hundred cattle, fourteen goats,\nand fifty horses; while ranging the surrounding woodlands were about three hundred swine.\nThe numbers of all kinds of animals increased\nwith surprising rapidity. At first it had been\nthe intention merely to raise grain and vegetables for the use of the establishment itself;\nbut in course of time a large amount of wheat\nwas sold to the Russians, and to American\nwhalers in need of supplies. There was a flour\nmill at the fort, and on a neighboring stream\na large sawmill, which not only produced lumber for home use, but also an occasional cargo\nfor shipment to the Hawaiian Islands. The\nfort had its mechanics, representing all the\nordinary trades, \u2014 smiths, carpenters, tinners,\ncoopers, and even a baker. Several coasting\nvessels had been built by the carpenters prior\nto 1828. J\nAlthough business was the first consideration\nCD\nat Vancouver, and Dr. McLoughlin tolerated\n1 Quoted from Dunn, \" The Oregon Territory and the British\nNorth American Fur Trade,\" Philadelphia, 1845, p. 107.\n 122 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nSocial\nlife at\nVancouver\nno idlers, yet, on the whole, life was pleasant\nthere. The officers were nearly all well-educated gentlemen, who enjoyed good living,\nbooks, and agreeable company. Their dining\nhall at Vancouver was not merely a place where\nthe tables were supplied with good food, but\nthe scene of bright, intelligent conversation,\nconducted with perfect propriety, and pleasing\nto the most refined guests. The wives of the\nofficers were usually half-caste women, yet in\nmany cases they are said to have been excellent\nhousekeepers and good mothers. They and\ntheir children did not eat with the men, but\nhad tables in a separate hall. In other respects\nhome life was much as it is in ordinary communities. The children spent most of the\nsummer season out of doors, engaging in all\nmanner of sports, and gaining special skill in\nhorsemanship. In the winter a school was often\nmaintained at the fort.1 Religious services were\nconducted on the Sabbath, either by McLoughlin himself or by some visiting missionary or\npriest. The village had its balls, regattas, and\nother amusements, rendering it a place of much\ngayety, especially about June, when the brigades\nof boats arrived with the up-river traders, and\n1 John Ball, a New England man who came with Wyeth in\n1832, taught the first school at Vancouver in the winter of 1832-\n1833. He raised a crop of wheat in the Willamette valley in the\nsummer of 1833.\n THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY\ntheir crews of jovial, picturesque French voya-\ngeurs.\nFort Vancouver dominated the fur trade of The mo-\nOregon almost as completely as if the country ^E^d of\nhad actually been the private property of the the Hud-\nHudson's Bay Company. When American coiS\ntraders began to enter the Columbia valley,\nthey soon found themselves at the mercy of\nthis great monopoly which controlled the\nIndian tribes, possessed unlimited capital, and\ncould afford to raise the price of beaver skins\nto ten times their ordinary value in order to\ndrive out a competitor. While McLoughlin\ntreated all strangers well and even generously\nat Fort Vancouver, he permitted no interference with the trade, which his strong position\nin the country enabled him to control. We\nmust now inquire by what right these British\nsubjects had come into possession of the Pacific\nNorthwest, and how their presence affected the\nrights and interests already secured in this\ncountry by the people of the United States.\n>mpany\n CHAPTER IX\nTHE OREGON QUESTION\nHow the\nOregon\nquestion\narose, 1817\nThe war that ruined Astor's trading project\nwas closed by the treaty of Ghent in December, 1814. The governments of Great Britain\nand the United States agreed that | All territory, places, and possessions whatsoever, taken\nby either party from the other during the war,...\n[should] be restored without delay. . . .\" Mr.\nAstor seems to have thought that since his fort\non the Columbia had been taken possession of\nby a British warship, the Northwest Company\nought now to give it up, together with the surrounding country. He was not yet prepared\nto abandon an enterprise which had so deeply\nexcited his interest, and he urged the United\nStates government to secure the restoration of\nAstoria. In July, 1815, six months after the close\nof the war, the American Secretary of State\ngave notice to the British government that\nthe Columbia would be reoccupied under the\ntreaty; and two years later (September, 1817)\nour government ordered Captain Biddle (ship\nOntario) to go to Astoria and \" assert the claim\nof the United States to the [Oregon] country in\n124\n THE OREGON QUESTION\na friendly and peaceable manner. * . .\" When\nthe British minister at Washington, Mr. Bagot,\nlearned of this last act, he entered a protest,\ndeclaring that Astoria was not one of the\n\" places and possessions' referred to in the\ntreaty, since the fort had been purchased by\nBritish subjects before the Raccoon entered\nthe river. Nor was the Columbia valley \" territory . . . taken . . . during the war,\" but\na region \" early taken possession of in his\nMajesty's name, and . . . considered as forming\npart of his Majesty's dominions.\"1 Here was\na sharp conflict of claims between the United\nStates and Great Britain, which required twenty-\nnine years to settle, and is known in history as\nthe Oregon question.\nThe first point to be agreed upon was as to Formal\nwhich nation had the right to occupy the country at the time, setting aside the greater question of the final right of ownership. Here,\ncertainly, the Americans had the advantage;\nfor although Broughton may have taken formal\npossession in October, 1792, nothing had been\ndone by the British government or people\nbetween that date and the year 1811 to make\ngood their claim to the lower Columbia. On\nthe other hand, the American trader, Gray, had\nrestoration\nof the\ncountry,\nOctober 6,\n1818\n1 It was claimed that Lieutenant Broughton took formal possession of the Columbia country when he entered the river in\nOctober, 1792.\n 126 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nFirst treaty\nof joint\noccupation,\nOctober 20,\n1818\nshown Broughton the way into the river; Lewis\nand Clark had explored from its fountains to\nthe sea; and Astor had taken and held possession till the events of the war forced him to\nretire. Whatever rights Great Britain may\nhave gained as a result of explorations north\nof the Columbia, the planting of forts on tributaries of this river, or the mapping of the coast\nnorth and south of the estuary, the plain fact\nremained that Americans had been in possession of the territory at the mouth of the river\nwhen the war came, and therefore they ought\nto be in possession after its close. The British\ngovernment admitted the force of these arguments, and on the 6th of October, 1818, their\nagents at Fort George allowed Mr. J. B.\nPrevost to run up the American flag.1 This\nwas the formal restoration of the territory to\nthe United States, and meant that Americans\nwere now at liberty to occupy it if they chose\nto do so.\nTwo weeks later, October 20, 1818, diplomatic representatives of the two countries\n1 Prevost had been appointed joint commissioner with Biddle,\nand sailed with him on the Ontario to Valparaiso. Thence\nBiddle proceeded to the Columbia and took formal possession of\nthe country, Aug. 9, 1818, though no British officer there had instructions to hand over the fort. Meantime, however, Prevost\nlearned that such instructions had been issued, and, being invited\nby a British naval officer to accompany him northward, he sailed\nto the Columbia and received possession.\n THE OREGON QUESTION\n127\nconcluded a treaty in which the Oregon question was mentioned. At that time there was\nno dividing line between the territories of\nGreat Britain and the United States west of\nthe Lake of the Woods, and it was agreed to\ntake the 49th parallel as the boundary from\nthis point to the crest of the Rocky Mountains.\nThe British diplomats wished to establish a\nboundary west of the Rockies as well, whereupon the Americans offered to extend the line\nof 490 to the Pacific Ocean. This the other\nparty declined, thinking that it would not give\nGreat Britain all the territory she could reasonably claim, and indicating that they thought the\nColumbia River should form the dividing line\nfrom the point where the 49th parallel crossed its\neasternmost branch to the sea. The American\ngovernment was not willing at this time to\npress its claim, and so we accepted a provision\nfor the \"joint occupation\" of the Oregon country for a term of ten years. This meant simply\nthat Englishmen and Americans had an equal\nright to trade and settle in every part of the\ncountry; but that neither the one nor the other\ncould have absolute control over any part of\nit till the question of ownership should be determined. The treaty also guarded the rights\nof other nations.1 It is well to remember that\n*At this time neither Spain nor Russia had formally given\nup their claims to territory in the Oregon country. In 1819,\n 128 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nLack of\ninterest in\nthe Oregon\ncountry.\nBryant and\nKelley\nin this first diplomatic discussion over Oregon,\nthe United States was willing to accept the 49th\nparallel as a boundary, while Great Britain would\nprobably have been satisfied with the Columbia.\nOn many accounts it seems very unfortunate\nthat the question could not have been settled\nin 1818 by dividing the country on the 49th\nparallel as was done after so much wrangling twenty-eight years later. Possibly a little\ngreater determination on the part of our government might have brought this about, and\nsaved us the long quarrel with Great Britain.\nBut the fact is that very few people were\nthen giving the slightest thought to the far-\noff region beyond the Rockies. Bryant wrote\nof it in 1817 as,\u2014\n\" The continuous woods\nWhere rolls the Oregon and hears no sound\nSave his own dashings.\" l\nhowever, when Florida was purchased by the United States,\nSpain yielded to our government all her rights north of the 42d\nparallel of latitude, so that whatever rights she may once have\nhad in the Oregon country henceforth belonged to the United\nStates. Five years later an agreement was made between the\nUnited States and Russia by which the two nations established\nthe line of 540 40' as a boundary for trading purposes. Thus the\nquestion of the ownership of the Oregon country was left to be\nworked out between the people of the United States and the\ngovernment of Great Britain.\n1 Because of the popularity of the poem \" Thanatopsis,\" in\nwhich the lines appeared, the name \" Oregon\" was brought prominently before the country. Bryant obtained the word from\nCarver's Travels.\n THE OREGON QUESTION\n129\nOnly one person seems to have been fully\nalive to the fact that we had rights there which\nought to be carefully looked after. This was\nCD J\nan eccentric Boston schoolmaster named Hall\nJ. Kelley, who began now to agitate the Oregon\nquestion.\nIt may be that some of Kelley's pamphlets or John Floyd\nletters reached men connected with the United ^r^uces\nthe Oregon\nStates government. At all events, on the 20th question in\nof December, 1820, a young Virginian by the December\nname of John Floyd brought the question for- 20> l82\u00b0\nward for the first time in the Congress of the\nCD\nUnited States. He wished \"to inquire into\nthe situation of the settlements on the Pacific\nOcean, and the expediency of occupying the\nColumbia River.\" In January, 1821, he made\na report on the subject of our rights west of\nthe Rockies, and a little later presented a bill\nfor planting a fort at the mouth of the Columbia, and for granting lands to settlers.\n' CD CD\nIt was many months before Floyd was able The first\nto get a hearing; but in 1822 he brought in consces'\ncd cd 7 cd sional de-\nanother bill which aroused much interest in bate on\nCongress and drew the attention of the country \u00ab*?\u00a3\u00ab\u25a0'\no J rloyds\nto the Oregon question. In the debate which speech\noccurred Floyd took the leading part. He was\none of those men who have the power of looking beyond the present, and seeing in imagination the changes likely to occur in future\nyears. Though he lived in Virginia, Floyd\nK\n 130 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nknew what was going on beyond the mountains, and was thrilled by the spectacle of\nAmerica's wonderful growth, which he believed\nto be due largely to her free system of government. In the space of forty-three years, he\nsaid, Virginia's population had spread westward\nmore than a thousand miles. He evidently\nbelieved it would not be long before Americans\nwould reach the Rockies, and stand ready to\ndescend into the Oregon country. This was a\nnew thought, just beginning to take hold of\nthe American people, and as yet quite startling\nto most men who, in spite of what had already\nbeen done, found it difficult to conceive of the\nAmerican population actually expanding till it\nshould reach the Pacific. But he only hinted\nat these things, knowing very well that most\nmembers of Congress would regard predictions\nof this kind as the merest folly. Floyd's main\nargument had to do with the importance of the\nColumbia River to American commerce. Our\npeople ought to have the benefit of the fur\ntrade now going to British subjects; many\nwhalers from New England annually visited\nthe Oregon coast and needed some safe port in\nwhich to refit and take supplies ; the trade with\nChina would be greatly advanced by maintaining a colony on the Pacific. He tried to show\nthat the Missouri and Columbia together would\nform a good highway for commerce across the\n THE OREGON QUESTION\ncontinent, and that the entire distance between\nSt. Louis and Astoria could be traversed with\nsteamboat and wagon in the space of forty-four\ndays.\nOther speakers also urged the commercial Mr. Baiiies's\nimportance of a fort at the mouth of the Co- rema.r^able\n1 . \u25a0: predictions\nlumbia. Mr. Bailies of Massachusetts declared\nthat in all probability there would one day be\na canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific\noceans, which would be an added reason for\nmaintaining a colony on the Pacific. Most\npersons feared that Americans going to this\ndistant land would separate from us and set up\na government for themselves; but Mr. Bailies\npointed out that such a canal would bind them\nclosely to us. Yet, if they should form an\nindependent American state on the Pacific,\neven this would be better than to have that\nregion pass into the hands of foreigners, or be\nleft a savage wilderness. 11 would delight,\"\nsaid the speaker, \"to know that in this desolate\nspot, where the prowling cannibal now lurks\nin the forest, hung round with human bones\nand with human scalps, the temples of justice\nand the temples of God were reared, and man\nmade sensible of the beneficent intentions of\nhis creator.\" The country, he said, had made\nmarvelous progress within the memories of\nliving men, and with the fervor of an ancient\nprophet he continued: \" Some now within\n The practical man's\nview of the\nOregon\nquestion\n!\nLl\n132 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nthese walls may, before they die, witness scenes\nmore wonderful than these; and in after times\nmay cherish delightful recollections of this day,\nwhen America, almost shrinking from the\nI shadows of coming events,' first placed her\nfeet upon untrodden ground, scarcely daring to\nanticipate the greatness which awaited her.\"\nTo show how the hard-headed, practical men\ncomprising the majority in Congress treated\nsuch idealists as Floyd and Bailies, we have\nonly to turn to the opposition speech of Mr.\nTracy of New York. He declared that there\nwas no real demand for a fort and colony on\nthe Columbia. No one had shown that it\nwould benefit commerce. It was visionary to\nexpect an overland commercial connection with\nthe Pacific Ocean. Military posts ought not\nto be used to draw population far away into\nthe wilderness, but merely to protect the frontier. Mr. Tracy had received accurate information about the territory along the Columbia,\nfrom men who had visited that region, and was\nsure that its agricultural possibilities had been\ngreatly overestimated. As a final argument,\nhe declared that the people on the Pacific and\nthose on the Atlantic could never live under\nthe same government. 1 Nature,\" said Mr.\nTracy, 1 has fixed limits for our nation; she\nhas kindly interposed as our western barrier\nmountains almost inaccessible, whose base\n THE OREGON QUESTION\nshe has skirted with irreclaimable deserts of\nsand.\"x\nOn the 23d of January, 1823, after along and Defeat of\nvigorous debate, Floyd's bill came to a vote in Foyds 1\nthe House of Representatives and was defeated,\none hundred to sixty-one. The time had not\nyet come for an American colony on the Pacific, because the government was unwilling to\nplant such a settlement, and the people were\nnot yet thinking of Oregon as a \" pioneer's land\nof promise.\" Only a few men, and those of\nthe rarer sort, looked forward to the occupation\nof the Columbia region as a step toward the\nestablishment of a greater America, with a\nfrontage on the Pacific Ocean similar to that\nwhich we then had upon the Atlantic.2\nWe must now turn from Congress, where Diplomatic\nOregon bills were brought up nearly every ses-\n1 From the time of Long's exploring expedition to the Rocky\nMountains (1819), the western portion of the Great Plains was\ncalled the \" Great American Desert.\"\n2 Strangely enough none of the speakers in the House seemed\nto suspect that we might not have a right, under the treaty of\njoint occupation, to plant a military colony at the mouth of the\nColumbia, or that Great Britain had an actual claim to the country which was protected by that treaty.\nOnly one man appeared to understand the situation clearly,\nSenator Benton of Missouri. He believed that if the British remained in sole possession of Oregon till 1828, the year that the\ntreaty of joint occupation was to expire, they would remain for a\nstill longer period ; and in a speech in the Senate he favored an\nAmerican colony on the Columbia as a means of maintaining our\nrights in the country.\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWTEST\nsion till the end of 1827, but always in vain, to\nsee what was being done for Oregon elsewhere.\nThe discussion of 1822-1823 had brought the\nmatter home to the people and the govern-^\nment in such a way that statesmen began to\nsee the importance of settling the question^\nAn attempt was made in the year 1824, but it\nfailed. Great Britain claimed a right for her\npeople to trade and make settlements in any,\npart of the Oregon country, admitting that our\ncitizens had the same, but no greater right.\nOur government, through Secretary of State, J..\nQ. Adams, claimed that we had a clear title to\nterritory on the Pacific as high up as 51 \u00b0, but we\nwere willing once more, as in 1818, to take the\n49th parallel. This first negotiation was conducted by Mr. Richard Rush. Two years\nlater the government sent over its most accomplished diplomat, Albert Gallatin. John Quincy\nAdams was at that time President of the United\nStates, and Henry Clay Secretary of State. It\nwas these three men who, under Gallatin's skillful leadership, had secured the favorable treaty\nof peace with Great Britain in 1814. Now.\nthey were all working together once more,\nthough in a different way, trying to obtain\ntreaties which should settle several important\ncommercial questions, as well as the Oregon\nboundary. Gallatin spent more than a year in\nLondon, had many long discussions with the\n\u25a0an\nBBH\n THE OREGON QUESTION 135\nBritish diplomats, and secured four separate\ntreaties, one of which, agreed upon August\n6th, 1827, referred to the Oregon question\nbut did not settle it.\nGallatin, like Rush, offered to extend the Gallatin's\n49th parallel to the Pacific as the boundary, [*ilu^baaye fl\nbut Great Britain insisted on her right to cause\nthe territory west and north of the Columbia,\nand no compromise could be reached. Her\nrepresentatives entered upon long arguments to\nshow that their government had rights below\nO CD\nthe 49th parallel. They denied that Gray's\ndiscovery of the river, or even Lewis and\nClark's exploration, gave Americans an exclusive right to the Columbia valley; and\nthey properly laid great stress upon the explorations which British navigators like Cook and\nVancouver had made along the coast north of\nthe river. But while these arguments had a\nmeasure of justice in them, there is reason to\nbelieve that Great Britain was simply determined upon delay in settling the question.\nHer subjects had expended large sums of\nmoney to develop the trade of that country;\nthey were in control, gathering their annual\ncargoes of furs, and the government was naturally anxious to protect their interests. Our\npeople had created no property rights in Oregon since Astor's time; very few had ever set\nfoot west of the Rockies, and it would probably\n 136 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nbe many years before they would be prepared to\nsettle in the country. Meantime the British\nfur traders might as well continue to profit from\ntheir advantages. But once let Americans\nrather than Englishmen come into practical\ncontrol of the Columbia valley, and the British\ngovernment would soon be ready to settle the\nquestion. Gallatin knew this, and so did President Adams. They were therefore the less\nunwilling to accept a simple renewal of \" joint\noccupation' for an indefinite time. America\nmust wait for the full establishment of her\nrights in Oregon upon the movements of the\nAmerican pioneers.\n CHAPTER X\nPIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\nWe have seen that in 1800 the region west of The west\nCD\nthe Alleghanies had a population of about three\nhundred and twenty-five thousand. Twenty\nyears later, when Mr. Floyd and a few others\nbegan to dream about expansion to the Pacific,\nthe West already contained more than two\nmillion people, nearly one tenth of whom (two\nhundred thousand) were living beyond the\nMississippi. The country had entered upon a\nperiod of marvelous growth. Many thousands\nof emigrants were crossing the mountains each\nyear, forests were leveled as if by a sort of\nmagic, and a single season often saw great\nstretches of wild prairie transformed into fields\nof wheat and corn. In such pioneer states as\nIndiana and Illinois the wild game was rapidly\ndisappearing from the river valleys as new\nsettlers entered to make clearings and build\nCD\nhomes. Many of the rude hamlets of twenty\nyears before had given place to progressive and\nwealthy towns, thriving upon the business of\nthe growing communities about them. Louis-\nO CD\nville, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and St. Louis\n 138 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe American fur\ntrade of the\nfar west2\nhad already become places of note, and controlled the commerce of the West much as\nNew York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore\ndominated the eastern section of the United\nStates. The western rivers were alive with\nnoisy little steamboats, one of which had recently ascended the Missouri to the mouth of\nPlatte River.1 Roads were being opened everywhere, and the Erie Canal was under construction from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.\nThe frontier of settlement was in the western\npart of Missouri, whence a trail had already\nbeen opened to Santa Fe, while others led far\ninto the great plains toward the west and\nnorthwest.\nBeyond the frontiers the trapper hunted\nthe beaver streams, and the trader carried his\ntempting wares to the Indian villages, much as\nthey had done twenty, fifty, or a hundred years\nbefore. Yet in some respects great changes\nhad occurred in the western fur trade. From\nthe time of Lewis and Clark's return and the\nopening of the Missouri River country, American traders had shown a strong disposition to\n1 The Western Engineer', employed as part of Long's exploring\nequipment in 1819.\n2 Under the above title Captain H. M. Chittenden has recently\ngiven us a remarkably complete, accurate, and interesting history\nof the fur trade throughout the great region west of the Missis*\nsippi. His book, which cost years of patient research, was published in 1902 (3 vols.).\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\n139\norganize for the better regulation of the business. The Missouri Fur Company, founded\nin 1808 for the purpose of controlling the trade\nof the Missouri River, was the pioneer of such\nassociations in the United States, and it soon\nmade St. Louis a great fur-trading center.1 But,\nwhile remarkably successful elsewhere, this\ncompany did not succeed after all in gaining\ncommercial possession of the upper Missouri,\nbecause of the hostile Blackfeet. In 1822 a\nnew company was organized at St. Louis by\nGeneral William H. Ashley, whose plan in the\nbeginning was to establish trading posts at\nfavorable points on the upper Missouri, like\nthe mouth of the Yellowstone, and keep agents\nin the country. The Blackfeet, however, could\nnot be pacified, and this method had to be\ngiven up. Ashley then adopted the policy of\nsending bands of trappers to form camps in\nthe best beaver districts, and trap out the\nstreams one after another.\nUnder leaders like David Jackson and William L. Sublette, these parties not only gathered the fur harvest of some of the Missouri Rockies\nfields, but traversed the country for great distances to the southwest, far into the Rocky\nMountains. Finally they entered the region\ntributary to the Columbia, and came into corn-\nAmerican\ntrappers\ncross the\n1 Astor tried to combine with this company, but was unable to\ndo so.\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\npetition with the traders and trappers of the\nHudson's Bay Company.1 It was the clashing\nof skirmishers. .Behind the one party was a\npowerful commercial organization, and a proud\nbut distant government jealous of their legal\nrights; behind the other was a rapidly expanding nation, whose people would one day be pre^\npared to follow the traders across the Rockies,\nand plant American colonies on the coasts of\nthe South Sea.\nIn 1826 General Ashley turned over his\nbusiness to Jedediah S. Smith, David Jackson,\nand William L. Sublette. The first of these\n(Smith) immediately set out from their Rocky\nMountain camp and with a few men crossed\nthe desert and mountains to California, arriving\nat San Diego in October, 1826. He remained\nin the country during the winter, and the following summer returned to Salt Lake. In\nspite of severe sufferings on his first trip, Smith\nwent back to California the same season, losing\nmost of his men at the hands of the Mojave\nIndians. In California he got together a new\n1 Several instances are recorded of American trapping companies getting the advantage of British parties in some way and\nsecuring their furs. In 1825 General Ashley got possession, for a\ntrifling sum, of about seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of Hudson's Bay furs. We do not know exactly how these peculiar feats\nof wilderness commerce were performed, though it is pretty certain that the free use of whisky upon opposition trappers was one\nof the means employed.\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\n141\nparty, and in 1828 crossed the mountains northward to Oregon. On the Umpqua River his\ncompany was attacked by the Indians and all except the leader and three others killed. Smith\nalso lost his entire catch of furs, his horses, and\nother property, so that when he arrived at Fort\nVancouver (August, 1828) he was in desperate\nstraits. Dr. McLoughlin received him kindly,\nsupplied all his needs, and even sent men to\nthe Umpqua to recover the furs stolen by the\nsavages. Nearly all were secured, and these\nMcLoughlin purchased at the market price,\ngiving the American trader a draft on London\nfor the sum of twenty thousand dollars. From\nVancouver Smith went up the Columbia to\nClark's Fork, and then to the rendezvous of\nhis company in the Rocky Mountains, having gained the distinction of making the first\noverland trip from the United States into California, and also the first from California to\nOregon.\nThe next spring (1830) Smith, Jackson, and Wagons\nSublette took the first loaded wagons into the p\u00b0s0s.\nRocky Mountains to the head of Wind River, Captain\nhaving driven from the Missouri along the\nline of the Platte and the Sweetwater. The\npartners reported that they could easily have\ncrossed the mountains by way of South Pass.\nThe discovery of this natural highway, so\nimportant in the history of the entire Pacific\n 142 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ncoast, must be credited to Ashley's trappers,\nsome of whom first made use of it in 1823.\nThree years later a mounted cannon was taken\nto Salt Lake by this route, and four years\nafter that loaded wagons crossed over for the\nfirst time to the west flowing waters. These\nvehicles belonged to the train of Captain\nBonneville, a Frenchman in the United States\narmy, who turned fur trader in 1832, hoping to\ngain a fortune like General Ashley. The\nstory of his romantic marches and long detours through the great western wilderness\nhas been charmingly told by Irving in his \" Adventures of Captain Bonneville.\" In the space\nof about three years he traversed a large portion of the Lewis River valley, and went down\nthe Columbia as far as Fort Walla Walla.1\nBut the gallant captain was no match for the\nshrewd American traders, or for the well-organized British company controlling the Columbia\nRiver region, and therefore his venture turned\nout a complete failure.\nIn the same year that Bonneville set out for\nthe West an enterprising Bostonian, Captain\nthe first trip Nathaniel J. Wyeth, also entered the Oregon\nto regon COuntry for the purpose of trade. Wyeth had\nlong been familiar with the writings of Hall\nJ. Kelley concerning Oregon, and in the sum-\n1 A few of his men, under Joseph Walker, went to California in\n1833-1834. Some of them remained there as settlers.\nWyeth's\ntrading\nscheme;\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\nmer of 1831 he arranged a plan to send a ship\naround Cape Horn while he, with a party of\nlandsmen, was to proceed across the * country\nhoping to meet the vessel near the mouth of\nthe Columbia. A company of Boston merchants furnished the vessel, which sailed in the\nfall of 1831. Wyeth gathered a small party of\nmen, formed a sort of \" Wild West\" camp on\nan island in Boston Harbor, greatly to the\nastonishment of most people, and in spring\nwas ready to begin the overland march.\nKnowing that the trip would have to be made\npartly by land and partly by water, the ingenious Yankee invented a machine which could\nbe used either as a wagon bed or a boat. This\nthe Latin scholars at Harvard College named\nthe \" Nat Wyethium.\" He found it less useful\nthan at first supposed and left it at St. Louis.\nAt that place Wyeth and his men joined a\nparty of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company\nunder William L. Sublette, with whom they\nmade the trip to the Rocky Mountains by\nmeans of a pack train. Here some of the men\nturned back discouraged, so that the last portion of the trip was made with only eleven\nmen. This little party reached Vancouver,\nOctober 24, 1832. The ship had not arrived,\nand they soon learned that she had been\nwrecked at the Society Islands. Wyeth therefore returned to Boston in 1833, leaving a few\n 144 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nWyeth's second expedition\nof his men, who became the first agricultural\nsettlers of Oregon. The business part of the\nenterprise had failed completely.\nBut Wyeth was plucky, and had great faith\nin the prospects for a profitable commercial\nenterprise in the Oregon country. The salmon\nfishery of the Columbia was a possible source\nof great wealth, and he proposed to couple fur\ntrading with it. He therefore induced the\nBoston partners to supply another ship, the\nMay Dacre, which was sent down the coast in\nthe fall of 1833. Wyeth himself made the trip\noverland once more in the summer of 1834.\nThis time he took a number of wagons from\nSt. Louis, with goods which had been ordered by the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.\nWhen the company refused to receive them,\nWyeth selected a place near the junction of the\nLewis and Portneuf rivers, where he built Fort\nHall and began trading with the Indians on\nhis own account by means of an agent left\nthere. He then passed on down the river,\nreaching Vancouver in September. Once more\nthe energetic captain was disappointed, for the\nMay Dacre, which had been expected to reach\nthe Columbia early in the summer, during the\nsalmon fishing season, came in tardily the day\nafter the land party arrived. Nothing could\nthen be done about fishing, so Wyeth sent her\nto the Hawaiian Islands with a cargo of timber,\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\n145\nwhile he spent the winter in trapping beaver\non the streams south of the Columbia, principally the Des Chutes. By the middle of February he was back at Vancouver, the guest of\nMcLoughlin. His trading plans were now all\nruined. Nothing could be done with the fur\ntrade in opposition to the Hudson's Bay Company. His trading establishment at Fort Hall\ndid not prosper, the fisheries and other commerce amounted to little. Wyeth lingered in\nthe country till the summer of 1836, when he\nreturned to Boston and soon closed out his\nbusiness in Oregon. Some of the men left by\nhim began the business of farming, with the\nassistance of the Hudson's Bay Company.\nThus Wyeth's enterprise is in a very real\nsense a bridge between the purely commercial\nera of northwestern history and the era of\nactual colonization.1\nBut there was also another motive, very\n1 Wyeth kept a regular journal, which has been preserved in\nthe family of one of his descendants. A few years ago the manuscript was sent from Massachusetts to Oregon and published\n(1899), together with a large number of Wyeth's letters, under\nthe editorial direction of Professor F. G. Young, secretary of the\nOregon Historical Society. The volume forms an invaluable\nsource for the study of conditions in Oregon, and the state of the\nwestern fur trade, during the years covered. A very rare book\non the first part of the first Wyeth expedition is the little volume\nby John B. Wyeth, published at Boston in 1833. Only a few\ncopies are now in existence. It is, however, being reprinted under\nthe editorship of Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D.\n Indian\nmissions in\nthe West\n146 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ndifferent from that influencing the fur trader,\nthat was drawing men into the great western\nCD CD\nwilds and on toward the Pacific Ocean. This\nwas the desire on the part of many good men\nto do something for the improvement of the\nIndians. There was nothing new in this any\nmore than in the fur trade; but in the one case\nas in the other the period we have now reached\nwitnesses a great expansion of effort and better\norganization. A few missionaries had labored\namong the Indians west of the Alleghanies since\nthe first settlers crossed those mountains, and\nsome of the tribes had made good progress in\nthe direction of civilization. With the purchase of Louisiana, however, it became the\npolicy of the government to induce those living\neast of the river to go to the new territory on\nthe western side in order to make room for the\nexpanding white settlements.1 Some crossed\nover freely, or at least with little objection, but\nothers refused to go. After a time the government undertook to remove them. This caused\ngreat distress among the Indians, and likewise\nproduced a mighty wave of sympathy for the\nred men. The newspapers recited their sufferings, and quoted the pathetic speeches of\n1 Writing of the significance of Louisiana shortly after the\npurchase, Jefferson said, \" It will also open an asylum for these\nunhappy people [the Indians], in a country which may suit their\nhabits of life better than that they now occupy, which perhaps\nthey will be willing to exchange with us\/'\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\n147\nIndian chiefs, forced to leave \" the land of their\nfathers, where the Indian fires were going out.\"\nMissionaries followed, without hesitation, to the\nstrange lands where \" new fires were lighting\nin the West,\" and soon a considerable number\nof devoted men were at work among the tribes\nCD\nliving between the Mississippi and the Rocky\nMountains. Some were laboring among peoples they had known east of the river; some\nsought out new fields on the Missouri, the\nKansas, the Platte, and other streams, where\nthey preached, taught the Indian children to\nread, and often induced the natives to till the\nsoil and live in permanent houses, instead of\nwandering about in pursuit of game. Sometimes the government employed the missionaries as teachers or Indian agents, and often\nassisted them by providing a blacksmith to\nmake tools and farming implements.\nSince these things were going on in many The Nez\nplaces throughout the West, and since a few Per.ces deters o gation to bt.\npersons like Hall J. Kelley had already been Louis\nwriting about the Oregon Indians in connection\nwith plans for settling that country, it is not\nstrange, but perfectly natural, that men should\nat last undertake to Christianize the tribes\nliving on the Pacific coast. A little incident\noccurring in 1831 or 1832 (the date is in doubt),\nwas sufficient to start the first missionaries across\nthe mountains. As the story goes, the nations\n cnmnssBf\nlUUIIJIUUgg!\noffi\nBeginnings\nof the\nWillamette\nmission\n148 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nof the upper Columbia had learned from British\ntraders something about the white man's reli-\nCD\ngion. Wishing to know more, the Nez Perces\nsent four of their leading men to St. Louis to\nsee General Clark, whom they remembered as\nhaving once visited their country, to ask for\n\" the white man's book of heaven,\" as the Bible\nwas called among them. These Indians, setting out on their strange and interesting\nO O CD\nmission, crossed the mountains and the plains\nin safety and reached St. Louis, where they\nwere kindly received by General Clark. Two\nof them died while in the city. The remaining\nJ CD\ntwo started for their own country in spring,\nbut one died before reaching the mountains.\nThe story of these four Indians, and their\nlong journey to the East in search of spiritual\nhelp and guidance, was soon published in the\nreligious papers and created the keenest interest.\nFirst to respond to the call for teachers was the\nMethodist denomination, which in 1833 commissioned Rev. Jason Lee to begin work among\nthe Flatheads.1 Learning of Wyeth's plan tG\nreturn to Oregon in spring, Lee arranged to\nhave all the provisions and equipments for\nthe new mission taken to the Columbia in\nthe May Dacre, while he and his nephew,\n1 The Indians who went to St. Louis were often spoken of as\nFlatheads, though in fact they appear to have belonged to the\nNez Perces branch.\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\n149\nDaniel Lee, and three laymen, Cyrus Shep-\nard, P. L. Edwards, and C. M. Walker, joined\nWyeth's overland party and made their way to\nthe Columbia. They decided, for various reasons, to let the Flatheads wait and to begin\nwork among the Indians on the Willamette.\nAll went down to Vancouver, arriving in the\nmonth of September, 1834. When the May\nDacre came in with their supplies, the missionaries explored the country for a suitable\nsite. \" On the east side of the river [Willamette], and sixty miles from its mouth, a location was chosen to begin a mission. Here was\na broad, rich bottom, many miles in length, well\nwatered and supplied with timber, oak, fir, Cottonwood, white maple, and white oak, scattered\nalong its grassy plains.\"1 They immediately\nbegan preparing materials for a house and\nwhen the rains of winter came had a respectable shelter. At the same time land was\nfenced for cropping, a barn built, and other\nimprovements made; so that the establishment took on the 'appearance of a prosperous\nwoodland farm.\nThe missionaries were not the only settlers The first\nin the Willamette valley. On arriving here cJf0^on\nthey found about a dozen white men already\n1 Lee and Frost's \" The First Ten Years of Oregon,\" reprinted\nby the Oregonian, Sunday edition, October 11 to January 10,\n1903-1904.\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\noccupying little farms, scattered along the river,\nwhere they lived in log cabins with Indian\nwives and families of children. Most of them\nwere former servants of the Hudson's Bay\nCompany who had either become unfit to\nrange the forest, or preferred to settle down to\ncultivate the soil and live a quiet life. Dr.\nMcLoughlin furnished them stock and provisions, as he did the men left in the country\nProgress of\nthe mission\nOld Mission House, Oregon.\nby Wyeth, receiving his pay in wheat when\nthe crops were harvested, and in young stock\nto take the place of full-grown animals which\nhe supplied. Here was the beginning of the\nfirst agricultural colony in Oregon, and it was\nthis mixed community into which the missionaries now came as a new influence, tending to\n' CD\nbring about better social conditions.\nFrom the first, the missionaries were more\nsuccessful in their efforts among the neighbor-\nCD CD\ning settlers than with the surrounding Indians.\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\nThey opened a school, maintained religious\nservices, and soon organized a temperance society which, partly through Dr. McLoughlin's\ninfluence, many of the white men joined. The\nIndian children were admitted to their school,\nand some of them made fair progress in learning. Orphans were adopted into the mission\nfamily from time to time, receiving in this way\ngreater benefits from their contact with civilization. In 1837 the mission was reenforced by\nthe arrival of twenty assistants sent from the\nEast in two vessels.1 New efforts were now\nmade to Christianize the Indians of the Willamette, and the following year a branch mission\nwas begun at the Dalles of the Columbia. This\nCD\nbecame an important station; but the work in\nthe valley did not flourish, for the natives were\na sickly, degraded race, almost beyond the reach\nof aid, and were rapidly dying off.\nLet us now see what was going on in other Parker's\nO CD\nportions of the Oregon country. The story of\nthe Nez Perces delegation to St. Louis had\naffected other denominations as well as the\n1 The first party arrived in May, and contained Dr. and Mrs.\nElijah White, with two children ; Mr. Alanson Beers, his wife\nand three children: three young women, Miss Pitman, who was\nsoon married to Rev. Jason Lee and who died the following year,\nMiss Susan Downing, who married Mr. Shepard. and Miss\nElvira Johnson; and one unmarried man, Mr. W. H. Wilson.\nThe second company, arriving in September, consisted of seven\npersons: Rev. David Leslie, wife and three children, Miss Margaret J. Smith, and Mr. H. K. W. Perkins.\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nMethodists, and in 1835 the American Board\nof Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent\nout Dr. Samuel Parker to inquire into the\nprospects for missionary work among the Oregon Indians. Mr. Parker was accompanied\nby a pious young physician, Dr. Marcus Whitman. Together they made the overland\ntrip from Liberty, Missouri, with a party of\nRocky Mountain trappers. Arriving at Pierre's\nHole, they found Indians of several Columbia\nRiver tribes, who all seemed anxious to have\nmissionaries settle among them. Thinking,\ntherefore, that the main point was now gained,\nDr. Whitman returned to the East to bring out\nassistants and supplies to begin one or more\nmissions. Dr. Parker went on, under Indian\nguidance, to the Columbia, arriving at Fort\nVancouver on the 16th of October. Here he\nspent the winter as the guest of Dr. McLoughlin, and when spring came set out for the upper\ncountry. He stopped at Fort Walla Walla,\nwhere he preached to a multitude of Indians.\nThen journeying up the valley of Walla Walla\nRiver he observed, some twenty miles from the\nColumbia, \" a delightful situation for a missionary establishment. ... A mission located on\nthis fertile field,\" he says, \" would draw around\n[it] an interesting settlement, who would fix\ndown to cultivate the soil and to be instructed.\nHow easily might the plow go through these\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\n153\nvallies, and what rich and abundant harvests\nmight be gathered by the hand of industry.\"\nFrom this place he went up the Lewis River,\nwhere he seems to have fixed upon another site\nfor a mission, and then struck off northward, exploring the beautiful valley of Spokane River.\nHere, too, were many Indians, who appeared to\nbe anxious for religious instruction. Later in\nthe year (1836) Dr. Parker sailed from Vancouver for the Hawaiian Islands, whence he\nreturned to the Atlantic coast by way of Cape\nHorn, reaching his home at Ithaca, New York,\nin May, 1837, after an absence of more than\ntwo years.1\nWhen Dr. Whitman returned to New York\nin the fall of 1835, with a report that the Columbia River Indians were eager for teachers,\nthe board at once commissioned him to superintend the planting of a mission in that country. He had some trouble to find helpers, but\nat last Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Spalding consented\nto go with Whitman and his newly married\nwife. Mr. W. H. Gray also joined the party.\nIt must have required a great deal of courage\nfor these two women to undertake the overland\ntrip, which thus far had been accomplished by\nnone but men. At Liberty, Missouri, the missionaries joined a company of fur traders, and\n1The following year Dr. Parker published his interesting little\nbook called \"An Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains.\"\nThe Whitman party of\nmissionaries\n Beginnings\nof the\ninterior\nmissions\n154 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ntraveled with them to the mountains. In addition to saddle horses and pack animals, Whitman had provided his party with a one-horse\nwagon. At that time there was no road beyond Fort Hall, but on account of Mrs. Spalding's feeble health, which made it impossible\nfor her to keep the saddle, he drove this vehicle as far as Fort Boise on Lewis River, thus\nopening a new stage in the wagon road to the\nColumbia.\nArriving at Fort Vancouver in September,\nthe women were left under the protection of\nDr. McLoughlin's family, while the men went\nup the river to begin the missions. On the\nWalla Walla River, about twenty miles above\nthe fort, was a place which the Indians called\nWaiilatpu, where the first establishment was\nbegun. In this prairie country timber was very\nscarce, and therefore the missionaries built their\nhouse of \" adobes,\" large brick made of clay and\nbaked by exposure in the sun.1 This finished,\nthe second station was begun on the Clear-\nCD\nwater, at its junction with the Lapwai, a short\ndistance below the point where Lewis and\nClark, in 1805, reached the navigable waters\nof the Columbia. The place was in the midst\nof the Nez Perces country, about one hundred\n1 These particular brick were twenty inches long, ten inches\nwide, and four inches thick, as Dr. Whitman wrote to a fellow-\nmissionary on Platte River.\n\u25a0*\n2313\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\nand twenty miles east of Waiilatpu. Mr. and\nMrs. Spalding took up their abode here while\nthe Whitmans remained at the Walla Walla\nstation.\nThe Indians of this country were far superior Expansion\nin every way to those of western Oregon, ~ t,e\"\/\nJ J CD SpOK\u00a3\nThey were wanderers during a good share of mission\nthe year, but the winters were usually spent\nin fixed places, where they could be reached\nwith ease. It was not long before many of\nthem became interested in the schools established at both missions for their benefit, and\nafter a time some were taken into the church.\nSpecial efforts were made to teach them to\ndepend more upon agriculture and less upon\nhunting, fishing, and the search for camas\nroots. It was easy to cultivate the soil in this\nregion, as Dr. Parker foresaw, so that the\nIndians were soon raising little fields of corn\nand patches of potatoes, which added much to\ntheir comfort and well-being. In the spring\nof 1837 Whitman planted twelve acres of corn\nand one acre of potatoes, besides peas and barley. A few cattle were early procured from\nthe East, and these multiplying rapidly, and\nbeing added to from time to time, soon developed into considerable herds, of which the\nIndians secured a share. In the fall of 1838\na small party came from the East overland to\nreenforce the up-river missions. It consisted\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nof Rev. Cushing Eells and wife, Rev. Elkanah\nWalker and wife, Rev. A. B. Smith and wife,\nMr. W. H. Gray and wife, and Mr. C. Rogers.1\nNow it was determined to occupy the northernmost of the three mission fields selected by Dr.\nParker, the Spokane country, where the families\nof Walker and Eells establish themselves in the\nspring of 1839.2\nThus the tribes of the interior country were\nat last brought under the influence of a few\nmen and women wholly devoted to their welfare, and understanding with a fair degree of\nclearness how to guide these barbarians along\nCD CD\nthe path of civilization. The task was stupendous; but the missionaries knew it was\nnot impossible, and labored with exemplary\ncourage. They preached to the natives as\nregularly as possible, gathered the children and\ntheir elders in the schools, translated portions\nof the Bible into the Indian language and\nprinted them on a little press, the gift jpf the\nHawaiian missionaries; they helped the Indians\nbuild houses for themselves, showed them how\nto till their fields and lead water upon the growing crops; they erected rude mills to grind\n1 Gray, who came to the Columbia in 1836 with Whitman and\nSpalding, had gone back to secure help, and was married before\nreturning.\n2 This place was known as Tsimakane. For a short time a\nstation was also occupied at Kamiah, on Lewis River.\n PIONEERS OF THE PIONEERS\ntheir corn and wheat. Work was more than\nabundant for these few men and women, yet\nthis only made their condition the more pitiable\nfor its intense loneliness. The families were\nso widely separated that visits required a great\ndeal of time, which could seldom be spared.\nOnce a year the men from the several stations\nTsimakane Mission.\ngathered at Waiilatpu to conduct the annual\nbusiness of the mission, and occasionally two\nor three families managed to be together for\na brief time. But for the most part they depended on letters sent by Indian carriers to\nkeep them in touch with their fellow-workers,\nand on trading or trapping parties to bring\nnews from down the river, where social life was\nso much brighter, and where ships came in from\n 158 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nforeign shores. Toward the end of the long\nsummer, when the corn was ripening in the\nfield, they looked with longing for the annual\npack train coming down from the Blue Mountains, which usually brought letters from friends\nin eastern homes, and sometimes a welcome\ntraveler or missionary.\n CHAPTER XI\nTHE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\nThe United States government, in all its Ten years of\ndepartments, dropped the Oregon question OS ^\"\nwhen Gallatin secured the second treaty of 1837\njoint occupation. For nearly ten years after\nthat date neither Congress nor the executive\nmade any move of importance toward settling\nthe dispute with England, or assisting American citizens to gain a foothold within the Oregon\ncountry. Yet this period, 1827-1837, is of great\nimportance in the history of Oregon because of\nthe doings of the first pioneers as described in\nthe preceding chapter. Trappers, traders, and\nmissionaries had entered the region; and while\nlittle impression was made upon the business\nof the Hudson's Bay Company, a few Americans remained to till the soil and to instruct\nthe Indians in religious things. This created\na bond between the United States and the distant Columbia which forced the government\nto take an interest in that country. The question of the future of Texas had also compelled\nthe United States to concern itself about the\nMexican territories, and at one time (1835)\n159\n 160 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nSlacum's\nvisit to\nOregon\nPresident Jackson was anxious to buy northern\nCalifornia in order to secure the fine harbor\nof San Francisco. Accordingly, he sent an\nagent, Mr. W. A. Slacum, to the Pacific to\ncollect information for the government, and on\nthis voyage the first official visit was paid to\nOregon.\nSlacum arrived in the Columbia River at\nthe end of the year 1836, with particular instructions from President Jackson to govern\nhis doings there.. He was to visit all the white\nCD\nsettlements on and near the Columbia, as well\nas the various Indian villages; to -make a complete census of both whites and Indians, and\nto learn what the white people thought about\nthe question of American rights in Oregon.\nBriefly, he was to | obtain all such information\n... as [might] prove interesting or useful to the\nUnited States.\" Mr. Slacum performed his\nwork with a good deal of thoroughness. He\nmade charts of the Columbia River, locating\nall the principal Indian villages; visited Fort\nVancouver to learn about the fur trade and\nother business of the establishment; and went\nup the Willamette valley to the Methodist\nmission, calling at nearly every settler's cabin\npassed on the way. He was pleased with the\ncountry, found the missionaries doing good\nwork among the French and other settlers,\nand became enthusiastic over the agricultural\n THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\n161\nadvantages of the Willamette valley. He pronounced it \" the finest grazing country in the\nworld.. Here there are no droughts,\" he says,\n\"as on the Pampas of Buenos Ayres or the\nplains of California, whilst the lands abound\nwith richer grasses both winter and summer.\"\nMr. Slacum believed that if the settlers could Thewnia-\nbe better provided with cattle, which were as \u2122ette Cattle\n1 Company,\nyet comparatively scarce, the prosperity of the 1837\ncountry would be assured; and with this idea\nthe Oregon people heartily agreed. The\nHudson's Bay Company, while generous in\nproviding farmers with work oxen, were not\nprepared to sell breeding stock freely, because\ntheir herds were not yet large enough to more\nthan supply their own needs. The only practical way to obtain more cattle was to bring\nthem overland from California, where the\nMexican ranchers were slaughtering many\nthousands each year for the sake of the hides\nand tallow which they sold mainly to Boston\nshipowners.1 There was one settler in the\nWillamette valley who was familiar with California, having lived there several years before\ncoming to Oregon. This was Ewing Young, a\nman of considerable talent and enterprise, who\n1 One of the most entertaining books on early California is\nRichard H. Dana's classic story, \" Two Years Before the Mast.\"\nIt gives an account of the author's experience while a sailor on\none of the \" hide and tallow \" ships trading along the California\ncoast.\nM\n?\n l62 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nnow headed a movement for bringing cattle\nfrom the South.1 Slacum encouraged the\nproject in every way, especially by offering to\ncarry to California without expense the men who\nwere to go for the purpose of securing cattle.\nAn association was formed, with Young at its\n7 CD\nhead, that took the name of the \" Willamette\nCattle Company.\" A fund of several thousand\ndollars was subscribed,partly by Dr. McLoughlin\nfor the fur company, partly by the Methodist\nmission, and the remainder by individuals.\nMr. Slacum himself took a small financial interest in the company. Ewing Young and P. L.\nEdwards, with a few others, took passage in the\nLoriot (Slacum's ship) to California, where they\nbought eight hundred head of cattle at three\ndollars apiece, and forty horses at twelve dollars apiece. After many vexations and hardships they arrived in the Willamette valley\nwith six hundred head of stock, the remainder\nhaving been lost by the way.\nThe bringing of these cattle, in the fall of 1837,\nmarks the opening of a new era for Oregon.\n1 Young was a noted frontiersman, originally from Tennessee,\nwho early began trading in New Mexico. From there he went to\nCalifornia in 1829 and came to Oregon overland with a few others\nin 1834, driving a band of horses. One of his companions on\nthis trip was the famous Oregon agitator, Hall J. Kelley, of\nBoston. Kelley had expected to bring out a colony to Oregon\nin 1832; but failing to secure colonists, he finally started on his\nown account, going to Mexico, thence to California, and finally with\nYoung to Oregon.\nsua\n THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\n163\nIt gave a great stimulus to stock raising, for\nwhich the country was specially adapted, promoted the prosperity of the settlers already\nthere, and, by the reports which soon traveled\neastward, caused many people in the Mississippi\nvalley to look with longing eyes toward this\nland of ease and plenty, thus preparing the\nway for the colonizing movement which was\nabout to begin.\nMr. Slacum returned to the United States Renewal of\nand made his report to the government. In \u00b0re\u00a3\u00b0n\n1 \u00b0 agitation in\nDecember, 1837, this document, so interesting Congress\nas the earliest particular account of the Willamette settlement, was presented to Congress\nand immediately aroused great interest. One\nof the points which Slacum insisted upon\nwas that the United States must never accept a\nnorthern boundary for Oregon that would give\nto the British government the great harbor of\nPuget Sound. In other words, his idea was\nthat we should hold out sturdily for the 49th\nparallel, already thrice offered, and refuse\nutterly to take Great Britain's offer of the\nColumbia boundary. This doubtless strengthened the determination of a few leaders in\nCongress to secure a law for the military\noccupation of the Columbia, similar to that\nwhich Mr. Floyd tried to obtain fifteen years\nearlier. At all events, the Oregon question now came up once more and remained\n Linn's bill\nand report,\nJanuary and\nJune, 1838\n164 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nbefore Congress, in some form.\nduring\nthe\nsucceeding ten years, till Oregon was effectively\nsettled by the pioneers, a favorable treaty obtained\nfrom Great Britain, and an American territory\ncreated on the Pacific coast.\nOf the many men who took part in the Oregon discussions, between the years 1837 and\n1843, none was more active or determined than\nDr. Lewis F. Linn, senator from Missouri.\nHe believed thoroughly in American rights\non the Pacific, was inclined to belittle the\nBritish claims, and insisted on the urgent necessity of taking military possession of the\nColumbia River. He proposed also to establish a territorial government for Oregon. His\nfirst bill for these purposes was presented to\nthe Senate in January, 1838, and in June Dr.\nLinn brought in a report on the Oregon question. This was a lengthy document, containing\na history of the events on which our right to\nthe Oregon country rested, and trying to show\nthat the British claim was not well founded.\nIn these respects it differed little from the\nearlier report by Floyd; yet on many points\nLinn was able to give information never before\npresented to the country. For example, he\ndescribed the road to Oregon, which had recently been traversed by two women in the\nWhitman-Spalding party. Many brief documents containing valuable information were\n.\u25a0\u25a0UHMIMW\n THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\nprinted as appendices to the report, which thus\nbecame a sort of text-book for the study of the\nOregon question. Thousands of copies were\nprinted, and in the next few years they were\ndistributed all over the country, especially\nthrough the West, with the result that numbers of men soon became interested in \" our\nterritory on the Pacific,\" as Oregon was frequently called.1\nOther influences were working to the same Jason Lee's\neffect. Jason Lee, the superintendent of the !5tu\nWillamette mission, returned to the United party\nStates in the summer of 1838 \"to obtain additional facilities to carry on . . . the missionary\nwork in Oregon territory.\" He traveled overland with a few companions, passing through\nthe frontier settlements of Missouri and Illinois,\nwhere he accepted invitations to lecture and to\npreach in the churches. A principal aim was\nto raise money for his missionary enterprise,\nbut incidentally Lee aroused a good deal of\nenthusiasm for the far-off country, so rich in\nnatural resources, where he had lived during the\npreceding four years, almost within sight of the\nPacific Ocean. At Peoria, Illinois, he left one\nof two Indian boys who had gone east with\nhim, and perhaps partly on that account a\nspecial interest was aroused at that place. In\n1 When the pioneers began to go to Oregon copies of Linn's\nReport were among the very few books taken across the plains.\n Petitions\nand\nmemorials\n166 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nthe following spring Mr. Thomas J. Farnham\nof Peoria, with a company of fourteen men,\nundertook the overland trip to Oregon. He\nfailed to keep his party together, and finished\nthe journey with but three associates. Farnham visited the Whitman mission, and later\nthe Willamette settlement, after which he took\nship to the Hawaiian Islands and to California.\nOn his return to the United States he published popular accounts of the Oregon country,\nas well as of California, which were widely read\nand helped to swell the rising tide of interest in\nthe far west.\nThe settlers in the Willamette valley intrusted Farnham with a memorial to Congress,\nasking that the protection of the United States\ngovernment might be extended over them.\nLee had carried with him from Oregon a similar petition, which was presented to Congress\nin January, 1839, by Senator Linn. It spoke\nof the fertility of the Willamette and Umpqua\nvalleys, the unsurpassed facilities for stock\nraising, the mild and pleasant climate of western Oregon, and the exceptional opportunities\nfor commerce. A special point was made of\nthe growing trade with the Hawaiian Islands,\nwhose people needed the beef and flour produced in the Willamette valley, and would\nsoon be able to exchange for them coffee, sugar,\nand other tropical products required by the\n THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\n167\nOregon settlers.1 \" We flatter ourselves,\" say\nthe thirty-six signers of the memorial, \" that we\nare the germ of a great state. . . . The country\nmust populate. The Congress of the United\nStates must say by whom. The natural resources of the country, with a well-judged\ncivil code, will invite a good community.\nBut a good community will hardly emigrate\nto a country which promises no protection\nto life or property. . . .\" Lee personally\nwrote a letter to Congressman Caleb Cushing\nof Massachusetts, in which he reenforced the\nstatements made in the petition.2 \" It may be\nthought,\" he says, \" that Oregon is of little im-\n1 The discovery of these islands by Captain Cook in January,\n.1778, proved of great importance in Pacific coast history. Their\nsituation made them the natural calling place for all vessels coming up the coast from Cape Horn, and also for ships crossing the\nPacific to or from China. When discovered, the several islands\nof the group were occupied by barbarous tribes, each independent\nof all the others. About the close of the eighteenth century there\narose a great chief called Kamehameha, who succeeded in uniting\nmost of the tribes, and in opening trade with the owners of ships\ncalling at the Islands. A prosperous era now began. In 1820\nAmerican missionaries established themselves at Honolulu, and\nsoon this place became a center of civilization affecting all the\ntribes. The relations of the Hawaiian missionaries with the American people in Oregon, and afterward in California, was always\nvery close. Visits were occasionally made to the Pacific coast,\nand, as stated in the last chapter, the Hawaiian missionaries presented those on the Columbia with a small printing-press, the first\never used on the Pacific coast of the United States.\n2 Cushing made a report to the House of Representatives\nin 1839 which in some respects supplemented the report made\nby Linn to the Senate the year before.\n 168 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nportance; but depend upon it, sir, there is the\ngerm of a great state.\" The Oregon people\ndesired from Congress two things: first, the\nprotection of the laws of the United States;\nsecond, a guarantee that they might keep the\nlands already taken up by them. Linn, Cushing, and other men made a faithful effort to\nobtain such laws; but the prevailing sentiment\nwas against them, and no bill passed either\nhouse of Congress till 1843.1\nWe have now to describe a movement arising outside of Congress in the summer of 1838,\nSociety; its which added largely to the effect of the agita-\norigin and . . , it* * r^ i \u2022 *-m \u2022\ntion begun by Linn and Lushing. 1 his was\nthe so-called Oregon Provisional Emigration\nSociety, organized at Lynn, Massachusetts, in\nAugust, 1838. The society was not a missionary organization purely, though most of its\nleading members belonged to the Methodist\ndenomination. Its aim was \" to prepare the\nway for the Christian settlement of Oregon.\"\nIt proposed to enlist several hundred Christian\nfamilies, send them to Oregon overland, and\n1 It was, indeed, a very difficult matter to draw up a bill for the\nextension of our national authority over Oregon without violating\neither the letter or the spirit of the treaty of joint occupation.\nMany members of Congress refused to support the bills presented\nby Linn and others because it was feared their passage might\nembroil us with Great Britain. See on this point the valuable\npaper of Dr. J. R. Wilson on u The Oregon Question,\" published\nin the Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, March and\nSeptember, 1900,\n THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\n169\nencourage them to make use of all the advan-\nCD\ntages for stock raising, commerce, fishing, etc.,\nthat the country afforded. But this was not\nto be the only aim of the settlement, for which\nthe founders of the society had \" nobler purposes in view.\" They believed it might be possible to Christianize the Indians, educate them,\nand make them citizens, of a new commonwealth in which they were to have all the rights\nand privileges of white citizens. The theory\nwas that while the Indians east of the Rockies\nhad already become hopelessly degraded, those\nin the Oregon country were still mainly sound,\nand if taken in time might be saved.\nThe society published a monthly magazine The\ncalled at first The Oregonian. The phrase ^\nand Indian s Advocate was afterward added\nto the title. It was edited by Rev. Frederick\nP. Tracy, of Lynn, Massachusetts, who was\nalso the secretary of the society. In the numbers of this magazine we find a large amount\nof information concerning the Oregon of\nCD O\nseventy years ago.1 The editor grew eloquent\n1 Apparently only eleven numbers were printed. It begins\nwith October, 1838, and ends with August, 1839. Files of this\npaper are very rare. The writer has seen and used two: the\nfirst is in the State Historical Library of Wisconsin, at Madison,\nthe other in the private library of Hon. F. V. Holman of Portland, Oregon. Doubtless there are others, especially in Massachusetts. It contains Linn's and Cushing's reports, a review of\nParker's book, letters from missionaries, and other matter concerning Oregon.\n tsm\nA HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nin the effort to set before his readers the possibilities of this great country. He called it\n\" the future home of the power which is to rule\nthe Pacific, . . . the theater on which mankind\nare to act out a part not yet performed in the\ndrama of life and government.\" Oregon's \" far-\nspreading seas and mighty rivers [were] to\nteem with the commerce of an empire\"; her\n\"boundless prairies and verdant vales [were]\nto feel the steps of civilized millions; . . .\" \u2014\nSuch enthusiasm, supported by much valuable information, must have produced considerable effect, since the magazine reached\n' CD\na circulation of nearly eight hundred copies.\nBut in addition to this the society also sent an\nagent into the western states to enlist emigrants,\nwho were to go to Oregon in the spring of\n1840. Nothing came of the colonizing scheme,\nalthough the plans had been carefully worked\nout. It is a most interesting fact that the society\nhad gained the good will of the Hudson's Bay\nCompany in London, and their promise to provide the Oregon colony with merchandise at\nrates to be agreed upon. The organization\nappears to have dropped into the background\nby the end of the year 1839. But by this time\nthere were little knots of men in various parts\nof the United States, \u2014 Pennsylvania, Ohio,\nMichigan, Indiana. Illinois, and Missouri,\u2014\nwho thought of forming emigration societies to\n THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\n171\ncolonize Oregon. There was some delay in\ncarrying out these plans; but the idea had begun to take hold of the popular mind, and a\nfew years would see the wagon trains gathering\nfor the wonderful journey across the continent.\nWe left Jason Lee busily at work in the Lee's mis-\neastern states raising money and men for his mis- slonai7 1\ncd J colonization\nsionary reenforcement. He was remarkably sue- scheme\ncessful, securing, with the help of the Methodist\nboard, the large sum of forty-two thousand dollars. He got together a company of over fifty\npersons\u2014men, women, and children \u2014 with\nwhom he sailed from New York in the ship Lausanne on the 10th of October, 1839. In the following May they reached the mouth of the\nColumbia from Hawaii, and on the 1st of June\nall were safely landed at Vancouver. Here the\nparty separated. One of the ministers, Rev. J.\nH. Frost, was sent to the mouth of the Columbia;\nRev. A. F..Waller took charge of a station at\nWillamette Falls; two others, Rev. W. W. Cone\nand Rev. Gustavus Hines, went to the Umpqua\nto begin a new mission, which did not succeed;\nMr. Brewer and Dr. Babcock, laymen, reen-\nforced the station at the Dalles; and Rev. J.\nP. Richmond, with his family and Miss Clark\nas teacher, went up to the station already begun\nnear Fort Nesqually on Puget Sound. The\nrest of them passed up the Willamette to the\ncentral mission near the present capital city of\n Visit of\nLieutenant\nWilkes\n\\>]2 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nSalem, where some took lands, and helped to\nchange this establishment into the true American colony it now became. About the same\ntime a number of Rocky Mountain trappers\nsettled in the valley, and still further increased\nthe American influence. The colony now contained more than a hundred people.\nIn the year 1841 Oregon received a visit\nfrom Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, commander\nof the Pacific Exploring Squadron sent out by\nthe United States government in 1838.1 Wilkes\ntook pains to travel through all the settled portions of the Willamette valley, and gives a detailed account of what he found there. Near\nthe mouth of the river was a group of young\nmen building a small vessel, which they called\nThe Star of Oregon, and which was afterward taken to San Francisco and exchanged\nfor cattle. At the falls were Waller's mission\nand a trading, or rather salmon-packing, station\nof the Hudson's Bay Company. At a place\ncalled Champoeg there were four or five cabins,\nin one of which Wilkes was entertained by an\nold seaman, named Johnson, who had fought in\nthe glorious naval battle between the Constitu-\n1 Two other noteworthy visitors to Oresron during: this year\nwere Sir George Simpson, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who was on his trip around the world, and a French diplomat, Duflot de Mofras, at that time connected with the French\nlegation in Mexico. Each wrote a book, in which some account\nof Oregon is contained.\n THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\n173\ntion and the Guerriere} Farther up the river\nwere observed \" many small farms of from fifty\nto one hundred acres, belonging to the old servants of the company, Canadians, who [had]\nsettled here; they all [appeared] very comfortable and thriving.\" Twelve miles above Cham-\npoeg dwelt the Catholic priest, Father Blanchet,\n\" settled among his flock, . . . doing great good\nto the settlers in ministering to their temporal\nas well as spiritual wants.\" The traveler\npassed a few more farms before reaching the\nfirst of the buildings belonging to the Methodist mission. Wilkes was entertained by Mr.\nAbernethy, whose family was one of the four\nliving in the \"hospital' erected by Dr. White\n\u2014 \"a well-built frame edifice with a double\npiazza in front, . . . perhaps the best building\nin Oregon.\" A ride of five miles brought him\nto \"the mill,\" 2 where he found \"the air and stir\nof a new secular settlement; . . . the missionaries [had] made individual selections of lands to\nthe amount of one thousand acres each, in the\nprospect of the whole country falling under our\nlaws.\" He was convinced that they were now\nmore interested in building up the country than\nin laboring further among the few remaining\nIndians. Neither did they care to leave the\n1 Johnson afterward built the first house in the city of Portland.\n2 This was near the present site of Salem.\n 174 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nRelations\nwith the\nHudson's\nBay\nCompany\nWillamette valley in order to find a more\nhopeful mission field, but preferred to remain\nhere and direct the future development of the\nnew colony they had done so much to create.\nAmong these people Wilkes heard much about\na plan to establish a provisional government for\nOregon. This he discouraged, believing that\nthere were as yet too few American settlers to\nmake the experiment a success.\nWilkes found some of his countrymen disposed to complain of the Hudson's Bay Company ; but he appears to have given little heed\nto these mutterings, knowing that there was\nno serious cause of trouble between the two\nnationalities. In a very real sense the American settlers were dependent upon the fur company, and owed to it much of the prosperity\nthey enjoyed. McLoughlin generously assisted\nthe newcomers with stock and supplies, advancing in this way large sums in the aggregate ; the fort was the regular market for all\nthe wheat and other surplus produce raised in\nthe valley, and its stores furnished all the groceries, clothing, shoes, and other manufactured\ngoods which brought homelike comforts to\nevery little cabin, and luxury to a few of the\nmore pretentious dwellings in the settlement.\nThe fur company, too, was the wall of defense\nagainst the Indians of the entire country without which Oregon could not have been settled\n THE COLONIZING MOVEMENT\nwhen it was by feeble parties of missionaries\nand others from the United States. It must\nnot be supposed that the British traders neglected to look sharply after their own commercial and national interests; but these were not\noften directly opposed to the interests of the\nsettlers. Moreover, the officers of the company\nin Oregon \u2014 McLoughlin, Douglas, Ogden, and\nmost of the others \u2014 were liberal and humane\nmen, inclined to deal fairly with the Americans\nwho had at least as good a right as themselves\nto be in the country.1 Therefore, in summing\nup the causes bringing about the colonization\nof the Pacific Northwest we must not omit to\nmention the presence on the Columbia of the\ngreat British trading establishment, which in\nmost respects served the purpose of protection\nand help to settlers as well as an American fort\ncould have done.\nThe year after Wilkes's visit, Oregon re- Dr. white's\nceived the first considerable party of the emi- comPai\\yof\ntL J 120 settlers,\ngrants coming from the United States by the 1842\noverland route. Dr. Elijah White, who had\narrived in the country in 1837, returned to the\nEast by sea in 1840. Soon after this the government began to think of sending an Indian\n1 They must have known, also, that if serious offense had been\nsriven to the American government in the ill treatment of their\ncitizens in Oregon, the government of Great Britain would be\nplaced at a disadvantage in the contest for territory in Oregon.\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nagent to Oregon, and early in the year 1842\nWhite was appointed to this position, with instructions to take out as many emigrants as\ncould be got together in the West. White\ndelivered lectures in various places, interviewed\npioneers in Missouri and elsewhere, and soon\nhad a company of about one hundred and\ntwenty men, who started from Independence,\nMissouri, in May, and made a successful journey across the mountains. The party took\nwagons as far as Fort Hall, using pack horses\nfrom this place to the Columbia.1\nWhile this company was on its way across\nthe plains, Lord Ashburton and Daniel Webster were discussing at Washington all the questions remaining unsettled between the United\nCD\nStates and Great Britain; and on the 9th of\nAugust, they signed what is called the Ashburton Treaty. Americans had hoped that the\nOregon question might be settled at this time;\nbut in the negotiations it was soon found that\nGreat Britain was not yet prepared to make\nconcessions, and the treaty omitted all mention\nof the matter.\n1 About the same time the government sent out Lieutenant\nJohn C. Fre*mont to explore a route into the Rocky Mountains.\nThis was the first of his \" path-finding \" expeditions.\n CHAPTER XII\nTHE GREAT MIGRATION\nMany people were grievously disappointed at The Oreg\neon\nthe outcome of the Webster-Ashburton nego-\ntiation, because of the silence of the treaty concerning Oregon. Yet, looking back from this\ndistance, it is difficult to see how any serious\nevil could result from a further delay in settling\nthe question. It had already waited a quarter\nof a century, during most of which time Americans had no interests in the region west of the\nRockies. Now they not only had the beginnings of an actual settlement in the Willamette valley, but everything foreshadowed such\na large emigration to the Columbia that our\nCD CD\nposition would soon be much stronger than\nthat of our adversary. The situation was a\nlittle like that on the Mississippi prior to the\nLouisiana Purchase; and just as Jefferson\nwanted time to plant strong American communities on the banks of this river before\nforcing an issue with France, so far-sighted\nstatesmen of forty years later were glad to\nsee the pioneers preparing for the journey to\nN 177\nsituation in\n1842\nBPB\n The\nprospect for\nemigration\nin 1843.\nWhite's\nletter\n rod\nA HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nOregon, because this would strengthen the\nAmerican claim as against Great Britain.1\nCD\nCertainly at the time the Ashburton Treaty\nwas signed American prospects were brightening. In the same month (August, 1842), Dr.\nWhite wrote a letter from the mountains in\nwhich he assured the frontiersmen that the\nOregon colony would prove successful, that\nhis company would reach the Willamette in\nsafety, and that a good pilot2 could.be procured\nto bring out a company the following spring.\nThis was doubtless one of the causes inducing\nthe pioneers to prepare for the overland march\nin 1843. But there were many others. The\nlong agitation in Congress, reports, speeches,\nnewspaper articles, and letters had given the pioneering class considerable information about the\nOregon country. They knew that the Willamette valley was a favored land for the farmer\nand stockman, possessing a rich soil, mild cli-\n1 President Tyler, writing three years later (October 7, 1845)\nto Mr. Calhoun, says that he hesitated to take up the Oregon\nnegotiation after the treaty of 1842, \"believing that under the\nconvention of joint occupation we stood on the most favorable\nfooting. Our population was already finding its way to the shores\nof the Pacific, and a few years would see an American Settlement\non the Columbia sufficiently strong to defend itself and to protect\nthe rights of the U. States to the territory.\"\n2 This term, ordinarily used to designate a person who steers\nships, or directs their course especially into harbors, was commonly employed sixty years ago by travelers in the Rocky\nMountains as an equivalent for the term \" guide.\"\n THE GREAT MIGRATION\n179\nmate, and such a combination of prairie and\nforest, with springs of pure water everywhere,\nas would make the opening of new farms peculiarly easy and pleasant. In the western states,\nthe settlers had suffered much for the lack\nof easy transportation, their crops bringing\nscarcely enough to pay for the labor expended\nupon them; but in Oregon they would have a\nnavigable river at their doors, and the ocean\nbut a short distance away. The market for\ngrain was said to be good, cattle were reported ?\nto be worth four times what they were bringing\nin western Missouri, and in each case the cost\nof production was very much less. Oregon, also,\nhad other resources, aside from these exceptional\nagricultural advantages. Her streams were full\nof the finest salmon, which might be packed\nand shipped at a good profit; splendid forests\nof fir and pine, extending down to the water's\nedge, invited the establishment of lumber mills ;\nand unlimited water power was at hand for all\nmanufacturing purposes. Such a combination\nof elements, the pioneers thought, would insure\nthe development of a prosperous state on the\nshores of the Pacific.\nFor several years, the western people had \"Hard\nexperienced continuous \" hard times,\" with low !mes'\nr 1 slavery,\nprices for everything they had to sell, and al- the spirit of\n. \u2022 , , ,1 \u2022 j- adventure,\nmost no opportunity to improve their condi- patriotism\ntion either in farming or other business. The\n 180 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nspirit of unrest on these accounts was widespread. Moreover, many persons in the southwestern states were beginning to feel very\nkeenly the evils of slavery, which was causing\nviolent agitation throughout the country, and\nwere anxious to remove their families beyond\nthe reach of its influence. But underneath all\nother motives was a distinctly American love\nof adventure, the product of generations of\npioneering. It was the spirit of the frontiersmen of the olden time: the longing to open\nnew \"trails,\" to subdue strange lands, and\nmake new settlements. True, men had abundant opportunity to \" move' without crossing\nthe western mountains. They might go\nfrom Ohio to Michigan, Wisconsin, or Iowa;\nfrom Kentucky to western Missouri, Arkansas, or Texas. But, while thousands were each\nyear doing this, such migrations after all were\nhardly satisfying to those remembering the\ndeeds of pioneer ancestors who had traversed\nthe 1 Wilderness Road' into Kentucky, and\nsettled in a wild region amid constant dangers\nand alarms from hostile savages. The stories\nof Boone, Kenton, Clark, and scores of others\nwere still recited around frontier firesides by\nold men and women who spoke out of their\nown vivid recollections of these border heroes.\nSuch tales fired the imaginations of the young,\nand prepared a generation of men for a new\n journey of two thousand miles through an uninhabited wilderness; the crossing of a vaster\nsystem of mountains than any of which the\nfathers knew; majestic snow peaks, deep, dark\ncanons through which the rivers rushed and\n 182 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nroared in their headlong progress toward the\nwest; tedious stretches of barren plain; valleys\nof enchanting loveliness; and at last the noble\nriver and the great, strange, inspiring sea!\nAdd to all this the belief, which many held,\nthat their going to Oregon would benefit the\nUnited States in its contest with Great Britain\nover territorial rights, and we have a combination of motives powerful enough to set hundreds of pioneers in motion.\nThe approach of spring (1843) found numbers of men in various sections of the country\npreparing for the march. The companies had\nbeen organizing for many months. Correspondence committees in western Missouri received\nnames of intending emigrants as early as September, 1842. An emigration agent from St.\nLouis, Mr. J. M. Shivley, spent the winter in\nWashington, kept the people of the West informed as to the progress of legislation respecting Oregon, and tried to induce the Secretary\nof War to provide a company of troops to escort the emigrants. Senator Linn once more\nbrought up his bill for the establishment of a\nterritorial government and the granting of\nlands to settlers. It passed the Senate on the 3d\nof February by the close vote of twenty-four to\ntwenty-two. Although afterward killed in the\nHouse of Representatives, the enthusiasm and\nhope aroused by the passage of the bill through\n THE GREAT MIGRATION\nthe Senate had much to do with starting new re-\nCD\ncruits to the place of rendezvous. So did, also,\nthe public meetings held in various places, like\nColumbus and Chillicothe, Ohio, and Springfield, Illinois, to discuss the Oregon question\nand to adopt resolutions urging Congress to\npass the Linn bill. A few men of large influence in the western communities had decided\nto emigrate, and they undertook to persuade\nothers by means of newspaper articles, personal\ninterviews, and public addresses. In Bloom-\nington, Iowa, the entire population appears to\nhave been affected by what men called the\nI Oregon fever \" ; they held several public meetings, organized an emigrating party, adopted\nrules concerning equipment, the route to be\ntaken, and other details of preparation for the\njourney.\nIndependence, Missouri, had for some years Organizing\nbeen the general outfitting place for companies\nof traders, trappers, and emigrants going to the\nfar West. The village lay a few miles from\nthe Missouri River, near the present site of\nKansas City, and was the radiating point for\nmany wilderness highways, including the great\nSanta Fe and Oregon \" trails.\" All the small\nparties from Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, as well as those from\nMissouri, gathered at this place. By the middle of May many had arrived, driving in from\nmarch\n 184 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nPeter H.\nBurnett;\nthe start;\nElm Grove\nall directions two, three, a dozen or twenty\nwagons at a time, with loose stock following\nbehind the train. They now made arrangements for the start, adopting a body of rules,\nand choosing a pilot to conduct them through\nthe mountains. The pioneers were then ready\nto move forward.\nProbably the leading man of this emigration\nwas Peter H. Burnett, a young lawyer from\nPlatte County, Missouri, who had done much\nto get the company together. He kept a diary\nduring the course of the journey, and on reaching the Willamette wrote a number of letters\nfor the New York Herald, giving an account of\nthe trip. Looking back from his far western\nhome to the time of beginning their march\nO CD\nfrom Missouri, and realizing both its difficulties\nand the significance of what had been done, he\nsays: \"On the 22d of May we began one of\nthe most arduous and important trips undertaken in modern times.\" The first camp, at\nElm Grove, on account of its strange pictur-\nesqueness, produced a strong impression upon\nthe mind of Burnett, as it probably did on\nothers. \" I have never witnessed a scene,\" he\nsays, \"more beautiful than this. Elm Grove\nstands in a wide, gently undulating prairie.\nThe moon shed her silvery beams on the white\nsheets of sixty wagons: a thousand head of\nJ CD '\ncattle grazed upon the surrounding plain ; fifty\n TTTira\nimimu\nTHE GREAT MIGRATION\n185\ncampfires sent up their brilliant flames, and\nthe sound of the sweet violin was heard in the\ntents. All was stir and excitement.\"\nBy the time they had crossed the Kansas Electing\nRiver (June 1) a good many others had ioined \u00b0\u2122?ers>\nw ' o J J division of\nthe company, which now numbered one hun- the\ndred and twenty wagons, nearly one thousand ompany\npersons of all ages, and more than five times\nas many animals. Stopping to complete the\norganization, Peter H. Burnett was chosen captain, J. W. Nesmith orderly sergeant, and nine\nothers designated to form a council. A few\ndays later, however, Burnett resigned, and the\ncompany was divided into two parts. Each\ndivision had sixty wagons; but one was composed mainly of those who had few or no loose\ncattle, and called \" the light column \"; while the\nother contained the owners of the herds, large\nand small, with which this emigration was en-\ncumbered, and took the name of \" the cow-column.\" There was a separate captain for each.\nThe leader of the second division was Cap- \"ADay\ntain Jesse Applegate, a man whom the people J?w_l e\nof Oregon delight to honor as one of the noblest column,\"\nof the pioneers. He is remembered as a states- A\nesse\nman, a surveyor, a pathfinder through the south- Applegate\nern mountains, and in general a leader in all\nthe varied activities of frontier life in the Northwest. But, fortunately, he was also a writer of\nelegant English prose; and one of the most\n Daybreak;\narousing\nthe camp\nCorraling\nthe stock\n186 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ndelightful productions of his pen is an account\nwhich he wrote in 1876 of a typical day on this\nlong march \" with the cow-column.\" Since\nthis essay gives us so lifelike a picture of the\ngreat emigration in motion toward the west,\nand since it describes the camping methods in\nuse for many years among trapping parties and\ntraders, as well as emigrants to Oregon and\nCalifornia, we cannot do better than to transcribe a portion of it.1\n\" It is four o'clock a.m. ; the sentinels on\nduty have discharged their rifles \u2014 the signal\nthat the hours of sleep are over \u2014 and every\nwagon and tent is pouring forth its night\ntenants, and slow kindling smokes begin largely\nto rise and float away in the morning air.\nSixty men start from the corral, spreading as\nthey make through the vast herd of cattle and\nhorses that make a semicircle around the encampment, the most distant perhaps two miles\naway.\n\" The herders pass the extreme verge and\ncarefully examine for trails beyond, to see that\nnone of the animals have strayed or been\nstolen during the night. This morning no\ntrails lead beyond the outside animals in sight,\n1 The paper was first read by Mr. Applegate before the Oregon Pioneer Association in 1876, and published in their proceedings : recently it has been reprinted in the Quarterly of the\nOregon Historical Society (December, 1900).\n THE GREAT MIGRATION\n187\nand by five o'clock the herders begin to contract the great moving circle, and the well-\ntrained animals move slowly towards camp,\nclipping here and there a thistle or a tempting\nbunch of grass on the way. In about an hour\nfive thousand animals are close up to the encampment, and the teamsters are busy selecting their teams and driving them inside the\ncorral to be yoked. The corral is a circle one\nhundred yards deep, formed with wagons connected strongly with each other; the wagon in\nthe rear being connected with the wagon in\nfront by its tongue and ox chains. It is a\nstrong barrier that the most vicious ox cannot\nbreak, and in case of attack from the Sioux\nwould be no contemptible intrenchment.\n\" From six to seven o'clock is a busy time; Getting\nbreakfast is to be eaten, the tents struck, the ]?adJ \u00b0r\nthe day s\nwagons loaded and the teams yoked and march\nbrought up in readiness to be attached to their\nrespective wagons. All know when, at seven\no'clock, the signal to march sounds, that those\nnot ready to take their places in the line of\nmarch must fall into the dusty rear for the day.\nThere are sixty wagons. They have been\ndivided into fifteen divisions or platoons of\nfour wagons each, and each platoon is entitled\nto lead in its turn. The leading platoon to-day\nwill be the rear one to-morrow, and will bring\nup the rear unless some teamster through in-\n 188 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ndolence or neligence has lost his place in the\nline, and is condemned to that uncomfortable\npost. It is within ten minutes of seven; the\ncorral but now a strong barricade is everywhere broken, the teams being attached to the\nwagons. The women and children have taken\ntheir places in them. The pilot (a borderer\nA Buffalo Hunt.\nwho has passed his life on the verge of civilization and has been chosen to his post of leader\nfrom his knowledge of the savage and his experience in travel through roadless wastes)\nstands ready, in the midst of his pioneers and\naids, to mount and lead the way. Ten or fifteen young men, not to-day on duty, form\nanother cluster. They are ready to start on a\nbuffalo hunt, are well mounted and well armed,\n THE GREAT MIGRATION\n189\nas they need to be, for the unfriendly Sioux\nhave driven the buffalo out of the Platte, and\nthe hunters must ride fifteen or twenty miles to\nfind them. The cow drivers are hastening, as\nthey get ready, to the rear of their charge, to\ncollect and prepare them for the day's march.\n\" It is on the stroke of seven; the rush to Breaking\nand fro, the cracking of whips, the loud com- camPJ for_\n0 i ward along\nmand to oxen, and what seemed to be the the trail\ninextricable confusion of the last ten minutes\nhas ceased. Fortunately every one has been\nfound and every teamster is at his post. The\nclear notes of a trumpet sound in the front;\nthe pilot and his guards mount their horses;\nthe leading divisions of the wagons move out\nof the encampment, and take up the line of\nmarch; the rest fall into their places with the\nprecision of clockwork, until the spot so lately\nfull of life sinks back into that solitude that\nseems to reign over the broad plain and rushing\nriver as the caravan draws its lazy length towards the distant El Dorado. . . .\n\" The pilot, by measuring the ground and The\ntiming the speed of the horses, has determined noonms\nthe rate of each, so as to enable him to select\nthe nooning place as nearly as the requisite\ngrass and water can be had at the end of five\nhours' travel of the wagons. To-day, the ground\nbeing favorable, little time has been lost in\nCD *\npreparing the road, so that he and his pioneers\n 190 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nSession of\nthe\n\"council\"\nThe drowsy\nafternoon\nare at the nooning place an hour in advance\nof the wagons, which time is spent in preparing\nconvenient watering places for the animals, and\ndigging little wells near the bank of the Platte.\nAs the teams are not unyoked, but simply\nturned loose from the wagons, a corral is not\nformed at noon, but the wagons are drawn up\nin columns, four abreast, the leading wagon of\neach platoon on the left, the platoons being\nformed with that in view. This brings friends\ntogether at noon as well as at night.\n\" To-day an extra session of the council is\nbeing held, to settle a dispute that does not admit\nof delay, between a proprietor and a young man\nwho has undertaken to do a man's service on\nthe journey for bed and board. Many such\ncases exist, and much interest is taken in the\nmanner in which this high court, from which\nthere is no appeal, will define the rights of\neach party in such engagements. The council\nwas a high court in the most exalted sense.\nIt was a senate composed of the ablest and\nmost respected fathers of the emigration. It\nexercised both legislative and judicial powers,\nand its laws and decisions proved equal, and\nworthy of the high trust reposed in it. . . .\n\" It is now one o'clock; the bugle has\nsounded and the caravan has resumed its westward journey. It is in the same order, but the\nevening is far less animated than the morning\n THE GREAT MIGRATION\n191\nmarch. A drowsiness has fallen apparently on\nman and beast; teamsters drop asleep on their\nperches, and even when walking by their teams;\nand the words of command are now addressed\nto the slowly creeping oxen in the soft tenor of\nwomen or the piping treble of children, while\nthe snores of the teamsters make a droning\naccompaniment. . . .\n\" The sun is now getting low in the west, Forming the\nand at length the painstaking pilot is standing evenms\n01 cd r o camp;\nready to conduct the train in the circle which nightfall\nhe has previously measured and marked out,\nwhich is to form the invariable fortification for\nthe night. The leading wagons follow him so\no o o\nnearly around the circle that but a wagon length\nseparates them. Each wagon follows in its\ntrack, the rear closing on the front, until its\ntongue and ox chains will perfectly reach from\none to the other; and so accurate [is] the measure and perfect the practice, that the hindmost\nwagon of the train always precisely closes the\ngateway. As each wagon is brought into position it is dropped from its team (the teams being\ninside the circle), the team is unyoked, and the\nyoke and chains are used to connect the wagon\nstrongly with that in its front. Within ten\nminutes from the time the leading wagon\nhalted, the barricade is formed, the teams unyoked and driven out to pasture. Every one is\nbusy preparing fires ... to cook the evening\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nmeal, pitching tents and otherwise preparing\nfor the night. . . .\" The watches \"begin at\neight o'clock p.m. and end at four o'clock a.m.\"\nCD\nThe daily routine, here so graphically described, must have become extremely wearisome to the pioneers and their families after\na few months spent upon the dusty, dreary\nThe Old Trail along the Sweetwater.\n\"trail.\" At the end of ninety-eight days, on\nthe 27th of August, the company reached Fort\nHall, the trading post built by Wyeth in 1832\nand afterward sold to the Hudson's Bay Company, which had become a famous way station\non the overland route. They were now on the\neastern border of the Oregon country, and two-\nthirds of the distance to the Willamette had\n THE GREAT MIGRATION\n193\nbeen traversed. The hardships already endured from storm, flood, and the unavoidable\nmishaps of the long journey across the plains\nwere very great; yet all were aware that the\nmost difficult portion of the trip was still before\nthem. Thus far the road had been comparatively good; at least, the wagons always had a\nJ CD CD J\nwell-marked trail to follow. But this practically\nterminated at Fort Hall, which was connected\nwith the lower country only by a pack trail.\nNo loaded wagons had ever passed the fort,\nand when the pioneers set out from their homes\nin the spring it was generally understood that\nA O CD J\nthe wagon road ended at this place. However,\nthey soon found that it would, be impossible to\nsecure enough pack horses to carry their families and property to the Columbia, as the small\nparties of previous years had done, and so it\nbecame necessary to go forward with the wagons\nJ CD CD\nat all hazards. The company was large, they\ncould send roadmakers ahead to prepare the\nway, and might be able to overcome even the\nworst difficulties by united effort. Besides, they\nhad with them Dr. Whitman of the Walla\nWalla mission, who had taken his light wagon,\nwithout a load, as far as Fort Boise in 1836,\nand who knew more about the possibility of\nopening a wagon trail through the region still to\nST CD CD CD CD\nbe traversed than any of the other men. Whitman felt certain they could succeed, urged the\no\n From Fort\nHall to\nWaiilatpu\ndown the\nColumbia\n194 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ncompany to make the venture, and offered to\nact as guide. His services to the emigrants\nfrom Fort Hall westward were very great, and\nare remembered with gratitude by the early\npioneers of the Northwest.1\nThey left Fort Hall on the 30th of August,\npassed Fort Boise September 20, and ten\nMt. Hood.\ndays later came in sight of the Grand Ronde,\nthe famous circular valley of the Blue Mountains. Its peaceful beauties are said to have\nso impressed the travelers, after the toils and\nhardships of the days spent in the desert, that\n1 The circumstances inducing Dr. Whitman to make the winter journey from his mission on the Walla Walla to Boston and\nWashington will be narrated in Chapter XIV.\n THE GREAT MIGRATION\n195\nsome broke into tears of joy as they looked\ndown upon it from the high plateau above.\nTen days later they reached Whitman's station,\nwhere many of them bought supplies of wheat\nand potatoes for the trip to western Oregon.\nA portion of the emigrants arranged to leave\ntheir cattle in the Walla Walla valley; some\ndrove herds overland; while the families, the\nwagons, and other property were taken down\nthe Columbia in boats and rafts. By the end\nof November all had reached the Willamette\nvalley.1\n1 Most of the sources from which this account of the great\nemigration is written were discovered by the writer while searching through files of old newspapers preserved at Madison, Wisconsin, St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri. A portion of the\nmatter thus found has been reprinted in the Quarterly of the\nOregon Historical Society, where it can be conveniently referred\nto. The most important single source for the journey is the\nBurnett Herald letters, reprinted in the Quarterly for December,\n1902. A series of other short letters appears in the Quarterly for\nJune, 1903, and still others in several recent numbers. The\nQuarterly, edited by Professor F. G. Young, secretary of the\nsociety, was begun in March, 1900, and has now completed the\nfifth volume. In it has already been gathered a large amount of\nvaluable source material relating \u00a30 the history of the Northwest,\nas well as numerous special articles by pioneers and others.\n CHAPTER XIII\nImportance\nof the\nemigration\nof 1843\nTHE FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON THE\nPACIFIC\nThe emigration whose organization and\nmovements have just been described marks a\nnew starting point in the history of the Northwest. Up to this time we have been dealing\nwith events which may be looked upon as\nintroductory; now we begin actually to see the\nprocess of state building on the shores of the\nPacific. Just as in Virginia the colony can\nhardly be said to have been planted prior to\nthe arrival of Delaware's party in 1610; as in\nMassachusetts it was the great company\nbrought out by Winthrop in 1630 which firmly\nestablished the English people, although the\nbeginnings of settlement already existed ; so on\nthe Pacific coast the emigration of 1843 closes\nthe period of experiment, and gives us a true,\nself-supporting American colony. In the\npresent chapter we shall do scarcely more than\npoint out some of the changes produced in\nOregon during the succeeding three years as a\nresult of this influx of new people.\nThe earliest attempts to form a provisional\n196\n FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON PACIFIC\ngovernment for the Willamette colony were Beginnings\nmade several years prior to 1843; but, as we of[he ^g1-\nI y ^\u00b0 ' -\u00a7Bm tation for a\nshall see, the organization was not put into government\neffective operation till after the new emigrants\narrived.1 When our people began going to\nthe country there were no American laws to\ncontrol their actions, and no government whatever except that\nwhich was exercised over British subjects by\nofficers of the\nHudson's Bay\nCompany. The\nmissionaries in\nthe Willamette\nvalley, and the\nother settlers\nwho gradually\ncollected there,\nregarded this as\none of their principal grievances,\nand repeatedly\npetitioned Congress to extend the laws of the\nUnited States over them. But, as we have seen,\n1 In the history of the Northwest the terms I emigrants | and\n1 emigration\" have commonly been used instead of | immigrants \" and \"immigration.'\" The custom will be preserved in\nthese pages.\nGovernor George Abernethy.\n 198 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe first\nstep\norganiza-\nthat body could not be induced to take any\naction. In 1840, with the arrival of the Lausanne company and the Rocky Mountain trappers of that year, the American party felt greatly\nstrengthened and began to talk of organizing\na provisional or temporary government on their\nown account, in the expectation of giving it up\nwhenever the United States should be prepared\nto extend its authority over the country. The\nFrench settlers, however, being attached to the\nfur company, remained satisfied with conditions\nas they were.\nEarly in 1841 an incident occurred which\nbrought out sharply the need of some regular\nauthority, and set in motion plans to secure a\npolitical organization. Ewing Young, the pioneer stockman of the Willamette valley, whose\nconnection with the cattle company has already\nbeen described, had, in the course of nine years'\nresidence in the country, become possessed of\na large herd of cattle and considerable other\nproperty. In February of this year he died,\nwithout making any provision by will for the\ndisposition of his estate, and so far as known\nleaving no heir. His neighbors were naturally\nCD CD J\nvery much interested in the case, and it is\nclaimed that those who gathered at Young's\nfuneral issued a call for a general meeting to\nO CD\nconsider what was to be done with this property. On the 17th of February, when the\n FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON PACIFIC 199\nmiscarries\npublic meeting occurred, resolutions were offered providing for a committee to draft a constitution and laws. This body was selected on\nthe 18th, and besides the settlers chose Dr. Ira\nL. Babcock of the Methodist mission to be supreme judge with probate powers. They provided also for a clerk of courts and recorder,\na high sheriff, and three constables. The\nmeeting then adjourned to the second Tuesday\nin June. Dr. Babcock, on the 15th of April,\nappointed an administrator for Ewing Young's\nproperty, this being, it is believed, the first official act of the Oregon provisional government.\nWhen the June meeting took place it was The plan\nfound that the committee appointed to draft a\nconstitution and laws had done nothing, not\neven so much as to meet for consultation. The\nreason was plain enough. In their anxiety to\ngain the support of the French settlers the\nmissionary party, which controlled the earlier\nmeetings, had succeeded in making the French\npriest, Father Blanchet, chairman of the committee. But he refused to take any interest in\nthe matter and failed to call the committee together. Blanchet now resigned, and his place\nbeing filled by an American it seemed that\nsomething would probably be done. The committee was instructed to meet on a particular\nday and report to a meeting of the settlers set\nfor October. But now a new obstacle appeared\nHHannasi\n \/\n200 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nin the person of Lieutenant Wilkes, wlio showed\nhimself decidedly opposed to the plan of a provisional government. The result was that the\nwhole matter was dropped for more than a year.\nIn the fall of 1842 Dr. White arrived as Indian agent, bringing his company of one hundred and twenty new settlers. Although the\nFrench party had also been strengthened, it now\nappeared to some of the Americans that the\ntime for action had come. The matter was\ndiscussed during the winter, and with the approach of spring a favorable opportunity arose\nto secure a public meeting. The settlers'\nherds had suffered much from the ravages of\nwild beasts, an evil which called for some\nmeans of exterminating the forest foes. On\nthe 2d of February, 1843, a group of persons\ngathered at the Oregon Institute appointed\na committee to \" notify a general meeting,\"\nwhich was held on the second Monday of\nMarch. The committee was prepared with\nresolutions advising that bounties be paid for\nkilling wolves, lynxes, bears, and panthers;\nthat a subscription fund be raised for that purpose ; and that officers be appointed to manage\nthe business. These being adopted, the more\nimportant and interesting resolution was offered,\nI That a committee [of twelve] be appointed to\ntake into consideration the propriety of taking\nsteps for the civil and military protection of the\n FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON PACIFIC 201\ncolony.\"1 This also received a favorable vote,\nand now the plan to create a provisional government was fully launched.\nOnly two months were allowed to intervene The provi-\nbetween the appointment of the committee and slonalg\u00b0y-\nx x l ernment\nthe meeting to consider its report. It was a voted at\ntime of great political activity in the settle- ^TT^f\nment. The French people were still generally\nMount Rainier from the South.\nopposed to the scheme, as they declared in a\nformal address to the colonists prepared about\nthis time, and many of the Americans were\nfar from enthusiastic. There was much uncertainty in the minds of the settlers as they\n1 This resolution was proposed by Mr. W. H. Gray, who was\nthen living in the Willamette valley, and who bore a prominent\npart in the affairs of the colony at this time.\n 202 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ngathered at Champoeg on the 2d of May.\nThe committee, however, reported in favor of\nestablishing a government. When a motion\nwas made to adopt this report, the vote was\nvery close and some one called for a division\nof the house. At this point arose the stalwart\nfigure of \"Joe' Meek, one of the most picturesque of the \" mountain men,\" and a person\nof considerable influence among certain classes\nin the community. Stepping out grandly in\nfront of the crowd of excited men he shouted:\n\" Who's for a divide ? All in favor of the report and of an organization, follow me.\" The\ncount was made, we are told, after half an hour\nof the greatest confusion, and resulted in fifty-\ntwo (52) votes in favor of and fifty (50) against\nthe resolution. So the project to organize a\nprovisional government was carried.\nThe officers recommended by the committee\nofficers; the were chosen before the adjournment. They\nJuly meet- . J J\ning were a supreme judge, a clerk and recorder,\na high sheriff (Joe Meek was very properly\nelected to this post), three magistrates, three\nconstables, a major and three captains of militia. A legislative committee composed of nine\nmembers was also chosen at this meeting, and\ninstructed to report a code of laws to be voted\non by the people July 5. The pioneers who\ngathered at Champoeg to hear a 4th of July\naddress by Rey, Gustavus Hines remained over\nElection of\n FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON PACIFIC 203\nto the next day and ratified the provisions of\nthe so-called First Organic Law.1\n\"We the people of Oregon Territory,\" so Agovem-\nthe preamble of this famous document recites, \u2122entby\nr l \" compact\n\" for purposes of mutual protection, and to secure peace and prosperity among ourselves,\nagree to adopt the following laws and regulations until such time as the United States of\nAmerica extend their jurisdiction over us.\"\nHere we have the well-known American method\nof forming a government by \"compact,\" or\nagreement. Two hundred and twenty-three\nyears earlier, when the Pilgrim Fathers met\nto draw up their \" Mayflower Compact,\" this\nprinciple was employed for the first time in\nAmerican history, and soon afterward the early\ncolonists of Connecticut followed it in their\n\" Fundamental Orders.\" When, at a later time,\nAmerican pioneers crossed the Alleghanies to\neastern Tennessee, and found themselves beyond the jurisdiction of any seaboard state,\nthey formed the \" Watauga Association.\" Similar pioneer governments were created in Kentucky, on the Cumberland River, and elsewhere.2\n1 This document, as well as the provisional constitution of\n1845, may be conveniently found in Strong and Schafer's \"Government of the American People,\" Oregon edition, Boston, 1901,\nAppendix.\n2 The people of Vermont, for example, had a government of\ntheir own, created by compact or agreement among themselves,\nfor fourteen years before the state was admitted to the Union.\n 204 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe emigration of 1843\nsaves the\nprovisional\ngovernment\nGovernmental\nimprovements made\nin 1844-\n1845\nThe Willamette settlers were following in the\nfootsteps of their ancestors.\nThe work of the pioneers at Champoeg was\nof very great importance in the history of\nOregon and the Pacific coast; for it called\nthe attention of men everywhere to the American colony in this region; it quickened the\ninterest of the United States government; and\nannounced to Great Britain that her subjects\nwere no longer completely dominant in the\nPacific Northwest. Yet, while the Americans\nthen in the country deserve great credit for\ntaking the first steps, these results were largely\ndue to the appearance of the great emigration\nin the fall. It changed the small American\nmajority into an overwhelming one; provided\nable political leaders, like Burnett, Applegate,\nMcCarver, Nesmith, Waldo, and Lovejoy; increased the property of the country; and gave\na feeling of security and stability which only\nnumbers can impart.\nThe government as adopted in July, 1843,\nwhile probably the best that could then be\nsecured, was in some respects very weak. Instead of a governor there was to be an execu-\nCD\ntive committee of three. The land law, which\nwas of greater interest to most of the settlers\nthan any other feature, was especially defective,\nbecause it allowed the Catholic and Protestant\nmissions to claim each an entire township, aside\n FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON PACIFIC 205\nfrom the*land their members held as individual\nsettlers. Lastly, there was no way to raise\nmoney for the support of the government\nexcept by private contributions, a thoroughly\ninefficient and always disappointing method.\nThe legislative committee of 1844, made up\nmainly of the newcomers, revised the entire\nsystem, providing for a governor, a house of\nrepresentatives, a more satisfactory judiciary,\na new land law permitting none but actual\nsettlers to hold claims, and above all a means\nof raising taxes to support the government.\nThis last was the keystone of their political\narch, as the leaders well knew, and they were\nwise enough to fit it exactly to its purpose.\nThe law required that every settler's property\nshould be assessed according to regular rates,\nand in case any one refused to pay the tax apportioned to him, he was to lose the right to\nvote and all other benefits of the government.\nIf his claim were jumped, the court could not\nrelieve him; if a thief were to drive off his\ncattle or slaughter them in the pasture, the\nsheriff and the constables would turn a deaf\near to his appeal for help. He would become\nan outlaw.\nIn these ways the provisional government Success of\nwas completed. The new scheme was adopted .e vr,ovl~\n1 -1 sional gov-\nby a large majority on the 26th of July, 1845, emment\nand Oregon at last had a constitution similar\nCD\n nmmm\nEffect of the\ngreat\nmigration\non later\nemigrations\n2o6 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nin most respects to that of an ordinary state.\nIt was a good government, \u2014 firm, just,, and\neffective in all its departments. The settlers\nsupposed it was to last only a few months, believing the United States was about to take\ncontrol of the country; but in fact this event\ndid not occur till nearly four years later. In\nthe meantime there was no reasonable cause of\ncomplaint against the government maintained\nby the sturdy, sober, order-loving pioneers\nthemselves.\nWhile these political matters were being\nsettled, western Oregon was filling up with\nnew people whose coming was due very largely\nto the success of the 1843 emigration. When\nthat company started, many thousands of people\nfollowed their movements with anxiety, not a\nfew regarded them as foolish adventurers, and\nHorace Greeley declared: \" This emigration of\nmore than a thousand persons in one body to\nOregon wears an aspect of insanity.\"1 When\nthey reached the Columbia in safety, proving\nthat loaded wagons could be taken through\nwithout serious difficulty, a great change in-\n1 New York Tribune, July 22, 1843. He feared that their\nprovisions would give out, their stock perish for want of grass\nand water, their children and women starve. \" For what,\" exclaimed Mr. Greeley, | do they brave the desert, the wilderness,\nthe savage, the snowy precipices of the Rocky Mountains, the\nweary summer march, the storm-drenched bivouac and the gnaw-\nings of famine ? |\n FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON PACIFIC 207\nstantly came over the thought of the country\nwith respect to Oregon. It was a startling\nthing to eastern people to be told, by a man\nwho had made the trip, \" You can move here\n[from Missouri] with less expense than you\ncould to Tennessee or Kentucky.\" Moreover,\nmany prominent pioneers wrote home giving\nfavorable accounts of the country. Burnett\nsaid, \" If man cannot supply all his wants here,\nhe cannot anywhere.\" Another declared: 1 The\nprospect is quite good for a young man to make\na fortune in this country, as all kinds of produce are high and likely to remain so from the\nextensive demand. The Russian settlements in\nAsia [Alaska ?], the Sandwich Islands, a great\nportion of California, and the whaling vessels\nof the Northwest coast procure their supplies\nfrom this place.\" McCarver found \" the soil\nof this valley . . . equal to that of Iowa or any\nother portion of the United States; . . .\" and\nT. B. Wood wrote, \" The prairies of this region\nare . . . equal to any in Missouri or Illinois.\"\nSuch letters were commonly printed, first in\nthe local paper of some western town, then in\nthe more widely read journals of the country,\nwith the result that Oregon took its place in\nthe popular mind by the side of Wisconsin,\nIowa, and Texas, as a territory possessing\nattractions for the home seeker.\nThe emigrating company of 1844 numbered\n 208 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe emigra- about fourteen hundred. The parties reached\ntionof i 44 |.ne ]y[jssourj frontier early in the spring and\nset out in good time. But the wetness of the\nseason caused many delays, so that they reached\nthe western slope very late, and mostly in want\nof provisions. A small party was hurried forward to bring supplies from the Willamette\nvalley, some bought food of the missionaries\non the Walla Walla, and even of the Indians,\nand finally, late in the fall, most of them reached\ntheir destination in a sorry state. The rains\nhaving already set in, there was no chance to\nprovide proper shelter, and many suffered great\ninconvenience, if not actual hardship. The\nearlier settlers were forced to listen to a good\ndeal of repining from the newcomers; but, as\none of them wrote, this \" only lasted during\nthe winter. In the spring, when the clouds\ncleared away, and the grass and flowers sprang\nup beneath the kindling rays of a bright Oregon\nsun, their spirits revived with reviving nature,\nand by the succeeding fall they had themselves\nbecome old settlers, and formed a part of us,\ntheir views and feelings, in the meantime, having\nundergone a total change.\"*\nCD CD\nIn the year 1845 Oregon received the largest\n1 Quoted from Burnett's \" Recollections of an Old Pioneer,\"\nNew York, 1880. The portion of this book relating to Oregon,\nwhich contains a large amount of valuable matter on early conditions, the emigration of 1843, etc., has been reprinted in the\nQuarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. V.\n FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON PACIFIC 209\nof the early emigrations, a body of nearly three The emigra-\nthousand people. They started, not in a single *g .\ncaravan like the earlier parties, but in com- horrors of\npanies of fifty, seventy-five, a hundred, or two \u00ab^.off >>\nhundred wagons. All went well till after they\npassed Fort Boise, where the emigrants encountered Stephen H. L. Meek, who offered to guide\nthem over a trail by way of the Malheur River,\nsaid to be much shorter than that commonly\nused.1 Unfortunately, about one hundred and\nfifty wagons followed him into the most barren\nJ CD\nand desolate country that eastern Oregon contains, and where as it proved there was no\nroad except an old pack trail. Stock perished,\nfood gave out, the emigrants became desperate\nin their anxiety to find water. When they\nreached a little oasis in the desert, they formed\na camp, while mounted men to the number of\none hundred scoured the country in every\ndirection for water, only to return at nightfall\nwithout finding it. This was continued for\nCD\nseveral days in succession. Meantime the\nchildren and the weaker adults were falling\nsick, and many of them were dying. In the\nmidst of this despair a galloping horseman\nbrought the glad news of the discovery of water.\nThe hated guide had found it. Grief was now\nturned to joy; loud shouts rang out; there was\nlaughing and clapping of hands. But some\n1 Sixty wagons had turned off at Fort Hall to go to California.\n 210 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nstood reverently silent, with bowed heads and\neyes brimming over with tears of thankfulness.\nThe stream found proved to be a branch of the\nDes Chutes River, along the course of which\nthe travelers passed down to the Dalles, whence\na few days brought them to the Willamette.\nThey had suffered the most terrible agony on\nthe route, wasted forty days of precious time,\nand worse than all, lost about seventy-five of\ntheir number.1 Those emigrants who followed\nthe customary route entered the valley at the\nusual time without serious mishap.\nThe population of Oregon, which was doubled\nby the arrival of the emigrants of 1845, now\nnumbered about six thousand, settled in five\ncounties, of which all but one were in the Willamette valley. They were Yamhill, Clackamas,\nTualatin, Champoeg, and Clatsop. In the election of 1845 the total vote for governor was five\nhundred and four. The following year it was\nmore than doubled, and a new county, Polk, had\nbeen added to the list of those lying south of the\nColumbia, while there was now also a county,\nnamed Columbia, north of the river.\nOrigin of the The new northern county has its explanation\nPuget Sound par^-jy jn ^g fac|- fo^t a few Americans were by\nPopulation\nof Oregon;\nits distribution\nthis time settled on the waters of Puget Sound.\nWhen the colonists first began coming to Ore-\n1 The names of thirty-four, nearly all adults, were printed in\nthe eastern papers of the next year.\n FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ON PACIFIC 211\ngon they were usually dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company for supplies, stock, tools,\nand in general everything necessary to start\nthem in farming. McLoughlin, believing that\nGreat Britain would at last come into possession of the region north of the Columbia, tried\nto prevent American settlers from taking claims\non that side of the river, directing them all to\nthe Willamette. For a time this plan worked\nwell, but when the best lands of the valley were\nall taken up, and Americans became so numerous in the country as to feel somewhat independent of the fur company, a few pioneers began\nto think of taking claims north of the river.\nOf the party which arrived in the fall of 1844 a\nfew men, under the lead of M. T. Simmons,\ntried to reach Puget Sound overland, but failing,\nreturned to the neighborhood of Vancouver,\nCD '\nwhere they spent the winter. The following summer Simmons started out once more, with six\ncompanions, made his way up the Cowlitz to the\nhead of navigation, and then westward to the\nlower end of the Sound. One of their fellow-\nemigrants of the previous year, John R. Jackson,\nwas already established in a cabin on the highland north of the Cowlitz, and the pioneers also\nsaw the large farm opened some years before\nby the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a\nbranch of the fur company. They were delighted with the prospects of the Puget Sound\n The Hudson's Bay\nCompany\naccepts the\nprotection\nof the\nprovisional\ngovernment\n212 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ncountry, with its splendid opportunities for\ncommerce and manufactories; and returning for\nhis family, Simmons settled, in October, on a\nclaim near the site of Olympia. Four other\nfamilies and two single men took claims in the\nsame neighborhood, and thus was the foundation\nlaid for a new community in the north.\nWhile these sturdy frontiersmen were hewing a road through the jungle north of Cowlitz\nLanding, the settlers in the Willamette were\nwinning their greatest political victory by inducing the officers of the fur company to bring\nthemselves, their people, and all the property of\nthe organization under the protection of the\nprovisional government. This was achieved\non the 15th of August. The monopoly, which\nhad dominated the affairs of the Northwest for\na quarter of a century, had at last sunk to a\nsubordinate position; and the Oregon question,\nso far as control of the country itself was concerned, had been settled by the pioneers.1\n1 McLoughlin made a special arrangement with the officers of\nthe government, whereby the company was to be taxed only on\nthe merchandise which it sold to settlers. Jesse Applegate is the\nman who negotiated this important agreement.\n CHAPTER XIV\nTHE OPENING OF A NEW ERA\nThe change which had occurred in the relations between Americans and Englishmen in\nOregon no doubt had its effect upon the British government at home. So long as the Hudson's Bay Company was in control west of the\nRockies, there was every reason, from their\npoint of view, to continue the principle of \" joint\noccupation.\" But the tables had at last been\nturned: American settlers were in full possession of the region south of the Columbia, and\nwere even beginning to open the forests north\nof the river. It must have been clear to Great\nBritain for these reasons that further delay in\nsettling the Oregon question would be wholly\nto her disadvantage.\nIn the United States a remarkable agitation\nhad begun in the spring of 1843. It was due in\npart to the failure of Linn's bill, and in part to a\nrumor that the government at Washington was\nwilling to give up the region north of the Columbia to Great Britain if she would persuade\nMexico to sell us northern California. Many\nlocal meetings were held in various parts of the\n213\nHow the\nsettlement\nof Oregon\naffected the\nOregon\nquestion\nThe Oregon\nconvention\nat Cincinnati, July,\n1843\n 214 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nOrigin of\nthe demand\nfor 540 40'\nas the\nnorthern\nboundary\nu Fifty-four\nforty or\nfight\"\nMississippi valley, and these resulted in the\ncalling of an Oregon convention at Cincinnati\nCD CD\nin July, 1843.1 Nearly one hundred delegates\nwere in attendance, and not only the Mississippi\nvalley\/but the entire country was interested in\ntheir proceedings.\nThis convention adopted resolutions declaring that the United States had an undoubted\nright to the country west of the Rocky Mountains between the parallel of 42 \u00b0 on the south\nand 540 40' on the north. In other words, the\nline established in 1824 to separate American\ninterests from those of Russia was regarded as\nthe rightful northern boundary of the United\nStates in the Pacific Northwest. This would\nhave shut Great Britain out from the territory\nwest of the Rockies, notwithstanding the explorations of her Mackenzies, her Thompsons,\nCooks, and Vancouvers; and would have left\nno beaver ground on the Pacific slope for her\ntraders, who had controlled the commerce of\nthat region for thirty years.\nThis was claiming too much for the United\nStates. But there was some slight ground for\nit, and besides many Americans were out of\npatience with Great Britain for refusing to\n1 The idea of a Mississippi valley convention to consider the\nOregon question originated at Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio Statesman for this period is the best source of information on the entire\nmovement. Its files were consulted in the library of the Wisconsin Historical Society at Madison.\n THE OPENING OF A NEW ERA\n215\naccept the compromise line of 490 so often\noffered. They therefore took up the idea of\nthe more northerly boundary, and insisted that\nthe country must go to war with our adversary\nrather than abandon any part of the \" Oregon\ncountry.\" The next year (1844), when the Democratic convention met and nominated James\nK. Polk for the presidency, the western delegates succeeded in making the Oregon question a part of their platform; and So it came\nabout that the entire country was treated to\nthe strange campaign cry of \" Fifty-four forty\nor fight,\" which probably helped somewhat to\nwin the election for Mr. Polk.\nAfter the failure to prjovide for the north- The Oregon\nwestern boundary in the Ashburton Treaty, qut!iSt\\on\nPresident Tyler had begun other negotiations\nwith the British government, but always in\nvain. On the 4th of March, 1845, he went out\nof office with, as he wrote, the \" one wish remaining unfilled,\" that he could have settled\nthe Oregon question. President Polk at once\ntook it up, declared in his inaugural address\nthat our claim to the Oregon country was undoubtedly just, and soon entered into a new\ncorrespondence with Great Britain. In spite\nof the Democratic platform and campaign utterances, he again offered to compromise on the\n49th parallel. When the British minister refused to accept the offer, Mr. Polk withdrew it,\n 11II \u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\n2l6 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nindicating that no further concession could be\nCD\nexpected from the United States. Later in the\nyear he asked Congress for authority to put\nan end to the treaty of joint occupation. This\nwas granted; but many prominent members\nlike John C. Calhoun, fearful that these steps\nmight lead to war, urged the President to give\nGreat Britain an opportunity to make some\noffer on her part, which he consented to do.\nThe tardy concession came at last, June, 1846,\nin the shape of an offer from the British government to settle the long dispute by taking the\n49th parallel as the boundary. The President\nsubmitted the question to the Senate, which advised him to accept, and on the 15th of June\nthe treaty was signed. The Oregon question\nwas now settled, and that in a way which was\nperfectly fair to all parties concerned.\nBefore the close of the year (December 3)\nthe people of Oregon learned of the signing\ngovernment of the treaty with Great Britain, and supposed\nthat the United States would at the next session of Congress establish a territorial government over them. This, indeed, was the desire\nof the President, and a bill for the purpose\nactually passed the House of Representatives,\nbut could make no progress in the Senate.\nThe reason was not far to seek. In drawing\nup the constitution for their provisional government the pioneers inserted the famous\n THE OPENING OF A NEW ERA\n217\nclause from the Ordinance of 1787, declaring\nthat \"neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,\nexcept as a punishment for crime,\" should ever\nbe permitted in the territory. This was made\na part of the Oregon bill presented by Stephen\nA. Douglas of Illinois, and very naturally\ncalled out the opposition of strong proslavery\nleaders like Calhoun.\nSo the congressional session of 1846-1847\nclosed with no provision for Oregon. The\nPresident felt a deep interest in this far western settlement, and caused Secretary of State\nBuchanan to write a letter to the Oregon\npeople encouraging them to expect favorable\naction at the next session of Congress (1847\u2014\n1848), which was already at hand when the\nletter reached the Pacific. Buchanan made no\nclear statement of the reason for the failure of\nthe Douglas bill. At about the same time,\nhowever, a letter was received in Oregon from\nSenator Thomas H. Benton, who threw the\nblame upon Calhoun, but declared: \" You will\nnot be outlawed for not admitting slavery. . . \u00bb\nI promise you this in the name of the South,\nas well as of the North.\" . . .\nIt was something to know that the leaders\nat the national capital still remembered them;\nyet the pioneers had been patient for a long\ntime, waiting for the government to give them\nsome sort of recognition; and now that the\nPresident\nPolk and\nSenator\nBenton\nencourage\nthe Oregon\npeople\nCongress\nagain asked\nto pass a\nbill; startling news\nfrom Oregon\n 218 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe up-river\nmissions\nand their\nproblems\nquarrel with Great Britain was closed, it was\nhard for them to understand why action should\nbe longer delayed. President Polk was as good\nas his word, recommending strongly to the\nnext Congress the passage of an Oregon bill.\nBut the opposition was at work once more, as\nin the previous year, and might have been\nequally successful but for a piece of startling\nnews carried across the mountains during the\nwinter that roused public feeling in favor of\nOregon, and practically forced Congress to act.\nThis was the report of the Whitman massacre,\ninto the causes and the history of which we\nmust now inquire.\nThe missions planted on the upper Columbia\nby Dr. Whitman and his associates in 1836 and\nthe years following were influenced very little by\nthe colonizing movement described in the preceding chapters. Their location on the broad\ninterior plains prevented them from quickly becoming centers of extensive settlements like the\nWillamette mission, so favorably located near\nthe coast. Therefore, while western Oregon had\nbeen growing into a state, the up-river missionaries were laboring faithfully to teach the elements of civilization to a horde of barbarous\nnatives. For a few years their success was\nsufficient to bring considerable encouragement.\nBut, as the novelty of the new life and teaching\nwore off, the interest also slackened; Catholic\n THE OPENING OF A NEW ERA\n219\npriests came into the country, teaching by different methods from those used by the Protestants, and this tended to disturb the relations\nbetween the missionaries and their wards;\nworse than all, a number of dissipated, renegade Americans wandered among the tribes,\ndoing all the mischief in their power.\nAt last discouragements mounted to such\na height that the American board at Boston,\nregarding the work in Oregon as almost a\ncomplete failure, passed a resolution to close\nthe missions at Waiilatpu and Lapwai, retaining only the one in the north.1 News of this\naction reached Dr. Whitman in the fall of 1842.\nA meeting of the missionaries was at once\ncalled, and an agreement reached that the\nmissions should not be given up. Moreover,\nDr. Whitman asked and received permission\nfrom the assembly to return to the East and\nlay the whole matter before the board in person.\nWhitman left his station on the Walla Walla\nOctober 3, 1842, with a single white companion, Mr. A. L. Lovejoy, expecting to cross the\nmountains before the snows of winter arrived.\nThis he might readily have accomplished had\nall gone well; but on reaching Fort Hall he\nlearned that the Indians were likely to arrest\nAction of\nthe American board\nclosing the\nsouthern\nmissions\nWhitman's\nfamous\nwinter ride,\nOctober to\nApril, 1842-\n1843\n1 This action was probably due to exaggerated reports of the\ndifficulties in Oregon written by one or two men formerly connected with the missions.\n mi\nWhitman in\nthe East\n220 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nhis progress if he should continue by the direct\nroad, and therefore he turned south, making the\nlong detour by Taos and Bent's Fort. On this\njourney winter overtook the travelers, violent\nstorms and deep snows impeded their march;\nwhile the biting cold, exposure, and lack of\nproper food would have destroyed any but the\nmost hardy pioneers. At last, early in January, they reached Bent's Fort, where Lovejoy\nremained till the following summer, while\nWhitman pushed on to St. Louis and thence\nto Boston and Washington.\nWe are fortunate in having two accounts of\nthis intrepid missionary when he reached the\nAtlantic coast.1 He wore his wilderness garb \u2014\nfur cap, buckskin trousers, and all \u2014 to the city\nof New York and into the office of the great\neditor, Horace Greeley, who described him,\nreferring to his clothing, as \" the roughest\nman we have seen this many a day.\" Again,\non board the steamboat Narragansett, going\nfrom New York to Boston, he impressed a\ntraveler as one of the strangest figures that\nhad \"ever passed through the Sound since\nthe days of steam navigation\"; yet, \" that he\nwas every inch a man and no common one was\n1 One is Horace Greeley's editorial, in the New York Tribune\n(daily) of March 29, 1843; the other a letter to the New York\nSpectator, published April 5, 1843. Both are reprinted in the\nQuarterly of the Oregon Historical Society for June, 1903.\n THE OPENING OF A NEW ERA\n221\nclear.\" At Boston he succeeded in getting the\nboard to withdraw its order to abandon the\nmissions. He wished them to send out a few\ngood families to settle about the stations as\nsupports to the missionaries. At Washington\nhe urged the Secretary of War to establish\nalong the Oregon trail a line of forts and\nfarming stations, which might serve as a protection against the Indians and also furnish emigrants with needed supplies. By the middle of\nMay he was back at Independence, ready to take\nup the line of march with the great company\ngathering there. We have already spoken of\nhis important services on the route.\nAlthough the Indians welcomed Whitman Decline of\nback in the fall of 1843, with every indica- ^ \u2122s|lons>\ntion of pleasure at his safe return, yet from\nthis time the missionaries gradually lost their\npower over the surrounding peoples.1 Their\n1 Mr. Spalding, indeed, wrote in June, 1843, that \"the cause\nof religion and of civilization has steadily advanced among this\npeople from the beginning.\" He declared that at his station\ntwelve Indians were members of the church, and more than\nfifty had been received on probation; the school, which was\nexceptionally prosperous, had increased from one hundred to\ntwo hundred and thirty-four, chiefs and other great men as\nwell as the children learning to read and to print. Sixty\nfamilies had each raised over one hundred bushels of grain?\nand the herds were increasing rapidly. There is scarcely a\ndoubt, however, that so far as the school was concerned, and\nprobably in other respects, Lapwai was at this time the most\nprosperous of the mission stations, and this report is the most\ncheering one that we get.\n 222 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe crisis\nreached,\n1847; causes\nof hostility\nletters thenceforth contained many complaints,\nshowing that conditions were becoming more\nand more disheartening. By the close of the\nyear 1845 it seemed to them that the only thing\nthat could save the missions was the settlement\nof Christian families in the country, as Whitman\nhad advocated for several years. But such help\nfailed to come, and the lonely workers in this\ngreat wilderness were left alone to meet the\nawful fate which was about to ingulf them.\nBefore the end of the summer of 1847 many\nof the Cayuses became so surly and insolent\nthat Whitman seems to have thought seriously\nof abandoning Waiilatpu and removing with his\nfamily either to the Dalles or to the Willamette\nvalley. Unfortunately this plan was too long\ndelayed. When the emigrants of that year arrived, many of their children were sick with the\nmeasles, a disease which soon spread rapidly\namong the Indians as well. Dr. Whitman\ntreated both the whites and the Indians; but\nwhile the former usually recovered quickly, the\nlatter, on account of their unwholesome mode\nof life, died off in alarming numbers. It is\nnot surprising that this was so, but it could\nnot be expected that the natives would understand the true reason for it. What they saw\nwas that Whitman was saving the whites and\nletting their own people perish. Nay, was he\nnot actually causing their death by administer-\n THE OPENING OF A NEW ERA\n223\nere, November 29, 1847\ning poison instead of the medicine he pretended\nto be giving them ? This suspicion, horrible to\ncontemplate, took fast hold upon the minds of\nthe Cayuses, and was the immediate cause of\ntheir determination to kill Dr. Whitman as\nthey were accustomed to kill sorcerers in their\nown tribe, who, as they believed, sometimes\ncaused deaths among them.\nThe blow fell on the afternoon of the 29th Themassa-\nof November, 1847, when Dr. Whitman, his\nwife, and seven other persons at the mission\nwere put to death in the most barbarous\nmanner. Five more victims followed within\na few days; while half a hundred women and\nchildren, largely emigrants who were stopping\nat the station, were held as captives in one of\nthe mission houses.\nThe savages supposed that by keeping control of these helpless ones they could save themselves from the vengeance of the white settlers\nin Oregon; for they gave out word that all captives would be put to death at the first news of\nwar from down the river. Fortunately, before\nthis came, Peter Skeen Ogden of the Hudson's\nBay Company arrived from Vancouver, pushing\nthrough at the utmost speed on learning of the\nmassacre., to try to save the captives. It was\nno easy matter to do this; but by exerting all\nhis influence and authority, Mr. Ogden finally\nRescue of\nthe\nprisoners\nsucceeded in\nransoming\nnot alone those at\n Declaration\nof war\n224 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nWaiilatpu, but the people at the Spalding\nmission as well \u2014 a total of fifty-seven persons.\nAll were taken down the river, finding friends\nand homes among the settlers of the Willa-\nCD\nnrette valley, where they were soon joined by\nthe missionaries from the northern station.1\nWhen the news of the massacre reached the\nWillamette valley (December 8), it produced\nthe wildest alarm. No one knew how far this\natrocity might be the result of a union among\nthe up-river tribes for the purpose of destroying\nall of the white people in Oregon. They proposed, however, not to wait till the Indians\ncould reach the valley, but to send a force of\nmen up the river at once. So great was the\nexcitement and enthusiasm that in a single day\na company of troops was raised, equipped as\nwell as possible, furnished with a flag made\nby the women of Oregon City, and hurried forward to the scene of danger. In a short time\nan entire regiment was provided, by means of\nwhich, in the space of a few months, the Cayuses were severely punished, and peace with its\nblessings* was once more restored to the Oregon colony.2\n1 A generation after these events took place Jesse Applegate\nalluded feelingly to this service of Mr. Ogden as \" an act of pure\nmercy and philanthropy, which money could neither hire nor\nreward.\"\n2 The Indians who committed the murders were afterward\nsecured, tried, and executed.\n THE OPENING OF A NEW ERA\n225\nBut the war was a severe drain upon the strong feel-\npeople. The provisional government had no J? nafginS\nfunds, and money had to be raised in order to\nkeep men in the field. The difficulty was nobly\nmet; well-to-do settlers, merchants, and others\nloaned money, and farmers generally furnished\nsupplies of grain, and other food. Large quantities of goods were purchased of the Hudson's\nBay Company, practically as a loan, although\nindividual settlers gave their notes by way of\nsecurity. It was generally expected that the\nUnited States government would take this\nburden of debt upon itself, this being the least\nit could do to make amends for leaving the\npeople of Oregon so long defenseless. At this\ncrucial time, when the colony was shrouded in\nthe darkest gloom, men remembered the numerous appeals which had vainly gone up from\nthis far-off valley to the national capital, and a\nfeeling of bitterness against a seemingly ungrateful government was mingled with their\ngrief and fears. Had Congress done its duty,\nso they believed, this evil would not have\nbefallen them.\nIn the excitement of those December days Last\nthe Oregon leaders prepared a ringing memorial to the national legislature, and started \" Joe \"\nMeek eastward to carry it to Washington.\n\" Having called upon the government so often\nin vain,\" they say, \" we have almost despaired of\nQ\nmemorial to\nCongress\n 226 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWTEST\nreceiving its protection; yet we trust that our\npresent situation, when fully laid before you,\nwill at once satisfy your honorable body of the\nnecessity of extending the strong arm of guardianship and protection over this distant, but\nbeautiful portion of the United States' domain.\nOur relations with the proud and powerful\ntribes of Indians residing east of the Cascade\nMountains, hitherto uniformly amicable and\npacific, have recently assumed quite a different\ncharacter. They have shouted the war whoop,\nand crimsoned their tomahawks in the blood\nof our citizens. . . . Circumstances warrant\nyour memorialists in believing that many of\nthe powerful tribes . . . have formed an alliance for the purpose of carrying on hostilities\nagainst our settlements. . . . To repel the attacks of so formidable a foe, and protect our\nfamilies and property from violence and rapine,\nwill require more strength than we possess\n... we have a right to expect your aid, and\nyou are in justice bound to extend it. . . . If\nit be at all the intention of our honored parent\nto spread her guardian wings over her sons and\ndaughters in Oregon, she surely will not refuse\nto do it now, when they are struggling with all\nthe ills of a weak and temporary government,\nand when perils are daily thickening around\nthem, and preparing to burst upon their heads.\nWhen the ensuing summer's sun shall have\n THE OPENING OF A NEW ERA\n227\ndispelled the snow from the mountains, we shall\nlook with glowing hopes and restless anxiety\nfor the coming of your laws and your arms.\"\nJoe Meek, accompanied by nine sturdy asso- The news\nciates, set out from the headquarters of the \"\\ as mg\"\n-1 ton\narmy at Waiilatpu on the 4th of March, 1848,\nand in just sixty-six days reached St. Joseph,\nMissouri. Six days later (May 17) he arrived\nat St. Louis, and now the dreadful story of the\nWhitman massacre was flashed all over the\nland, producing a feeling of sympathy and\nanxiety for the Oregon people that nothing in\ntheir previous history had been able to excite.\nMeek went to Washington and laid his dispatches before President Polk. They were at\nonce sent to Congress, together with 3, message\ncalling on that body to act, and act quickly, in\norder that troops might be hurried to the defense of Oregon before the end of the summer.\nCD\nNo great haste was possible, for the question\nof slavery was beginning to overshadow all else,\nJ CD CD '\nand the strongest passions were aroused on this\nsubject in the course of the debate on the Oregon bill. Yet so much general interest was\nCD CD\nfelt in the safety of Oregon that the measure\nJ CD\nwas finally passed, just before the adjournment\nof Congress, August 1 \\ after a continuous ses-\n^D CD *-'\nsion of twenty-one hours.\nPresident Polk signed the bill and appointed\nGeneral Joseph Lane of Indiana governor of\n 228 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe territory of\nOregon;\nGeneral\nLane governor\nthe territory of Oregon. Joe Meek was given\nthe office of United States marshal in the new\ngovernment. Gov-\n\u00a9\nernor Lane, Meek,\nand a number of\nothers started for\nOregon by way of\nSanta Fe and\nCalifornia late in\nAugust. They\nsucceeded, though\nwith much difficulty, in reaching\nSan Francisco,\nwhere the governor\nand marshal took\nship for the Colum-\nGeneral Toseph Lane. i \u2022 t^i \u2022 ^\nJ bia. I hey arrived\nat Oregon City March 2, 1849, and on the following day the new territorial government was\nproclaimed.1\n1 This was the day before Polk's administration came to an\nend. General Lane acted as governor less than two years, resigning in June, 1850. In 1851 he was elected to represent the\nterritory in Congress, and filled the office until 1859, wnen '1C\ntook his seat as one. of the United\" States senators from Oregon.\nIn 1860 he was nominated for Vice President on the ticket with\nJohn C. Breckenridge. He died in 1881.\n CHAPTER XV\nTHE NORTHWEST AND CALIFORNIA\nFor most Americans the history of the Conditions\nPacific coast had thus far been summed up California\nin the story of Oregon. The Mexican (until\n1821 the Spanish) territory south of the parallel\nof 42 \u00b0 had sometimes attracted the notice of\npublic men, and once or twice produced some\neffect upon the government's plans concerning\nOregon. But until about 1840 very little attention was paid to this vast province, where four\nor five thousand people were living in comparative idleness, scattered about through the\nvalleys and over the plains of that fair and\nsunny land. The principal occupation was\nthe keeping of herds, which required little\nlabor. The \" Boston Ships,\" as the American\ntraders were called, plied up and down the\nlong coast line, visiting the harbors and inlets\nwhere they exchanged groceries and manufactured goods for the cartloads of beef hides\nand bags of tallow brought down from the\nranches.\nSometimes sailors, attracted by the easy life Americans\nof the Calif ornians, deserted from these vessels California\n229\n 230 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nCaptain\nSutter and\nSutter's Fort\nand became residents in the country. Other\nAmericans came overland as hunters and\ntrappers, like Jedediah Smith, Ewing Young,\nand the Walker party sent out by Captain\nBonneville. Many of them remained to marry\nnative women, secure grants of land, and become citizens. After a time the region became\npretty well known among the class of frontiersmen who were beginning to go to Oregon, and\nin 1841 the first emigrant train made its way\noverland, partly by the Oregon trail, to the\nSacramento valley. Thereafter the annual\nmigrations to the far West were usually\ndivided, a portion branching off at Fort Hall\nto go to California, although Oregon still received by far the larger share.\nIn 1839 Captain John A. Sutter, formerly a\nsoldier in the Swiss army, went to California\nby way of Oregon, and in 1841 he secured from\nthe Mexican governor eleven square leagues\nof land in the Sacramento valley. He built a\nstrong fort of adobes on the site of the present\ncity of Sacramento, began raising grain and\ncattle on a large scale, and also traded with\nthe Indians for furs. Sutter employed a number of Americans upon his estate, and by\nfurnishing supplies to others enabled them to\nsettle in this interior section of California.\nThe fort was on the main emigrant routes\nfrom the United States and Oregon, which\n THE NORTHWEST AND CALIFORNIA\n231\nhelped to make it in a few years the center of\nthe most important American community in\nthe country.\nThe Mexican government was not strong R\nduring this period even at home, while the war\ngreat distance to California from the Mexican\ncapital, the difficulties of communication, and\nthe scattered condition of the population made\numors\nof\n.in nliiiiriljiJLi^Tf^T'^\nSHfflS\n%m\nmmi\n:*sffie\u00bbe^!lP\u00bb^32!S5\nflJ^SfrSse^hS\"\n^Ssm^sa\nSutter's Fort in 1849.\nher rule in this province so feeble as to be\nalmost ridiculous. The result was numerous\nrevolutions, in which the Americans usually\ntook part, and such a state of political unrest\nthat men accustomed to a settled and strong\ngovernment could scarcely be blamed for wishing a change. The interest which the United\nStates already had in Oregon, the continued\nemigration of her people by sea and land to\nCalifornia, the letters written back by these\n 232 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nemigrants, the reports of official visitors and\nthe books of far West travelers produced a\nfeeling that our country must finally become\npossessed of the southern as well as the northern section of the Pacific coast. After 1836\nthere was always danger of war between the\nUnited States and Mexico over the question\nof annexing Texas to the Union, thus increasing the feeling of uncertainty respecting California. It was well understood that in case\nof hostilities this province would doubtless be\ncaptured by the American fleet.1\nThe Bear By the spring of 1846 there were several hun-\nag evot, ^Ye(^ Americans scattered through the country,\nJune, 1540 cd J'\nthe most numerous body of them in the vicinity\nof Sutter's Fort. Lieutenant John C. Fremont, the \" Pathfinder,\" with his surveying\nparty, had wintered in California, where he came\ninto conflict with the government authorities.\nHe then marched north toward Oregon, but\nturned back from Klamath Lake on receiving\na visit from Gillespie, a secret agent of the\nUnited States. The settlers about the fort\nbecame convinced from his actions that war\nhad broken out, and some of them decided that\nit would be the proper thing for them to declare\n1 In 1842 Commodore Jones, believing that war had broken\nout between the two nations, actually took possession of Monterey\nand hoisted the American flag. He gave up the place a few\nhours later on learning his mistake.\n THE NORTHWEST AND CALIFORNIA\n233\nCalifornia independent of Mexico. This they\ndid at Sonoma, June 14, 1846, raising the\nfamous lone star flag with the rudely painted\nfigure of a bear upon it (the \" Bear Flag \").\nNow followed an armed conflict, which might The war of\nperhaps have been avoided, between the United iqu\nStates and the Californians. Fremont took\na prominent part in it, as did also Commodore Stockton of the American fleet. The\nUnited States government sent General Kearny\nto California by way of Santa Fe, and after a\nfew months of fighting the territory came definitely into American hands. When the treaty of\npeace was signed, February 2, 1848, the conquest was confirmed to us. A military government had already been established, the laws\nchanged somewhat in accordance with American ideas, and a new system of administration\nsubstituted for that formerly maintained by\nMexico.\nIt was expected that these changes would The gold\npromote the prosperity of California, which' 'ry\nmight at last hope to become a rival of Oregon\nupon the Pacific coast.1 But no one dreamed\n1 When the Bear Flag Revolt occurred, Captain Sutter (who\nwas a German Swiss and never mastered the English language\nperfectly) wrote exultantly to a friend, \" What for progress will\nCalifornia make now!\" The manuscript letter from which this\nis quoted is in possession of Mr. P. J. Healy of San Francisco,\nwho kindly permitted the writer to examine his valuable collection.\n 234 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe news\nreaches\nOregon,.\nAugust,\n1848\nof the wonderful transformation about to take\nplace. On the 24th of January, ten days before\nthe treaty of peace was signed, James W. Marshall made his world-famous discovery of gold\non the American River, some fifty miles above\nSutter's Fort. He and Captain Sutter wished\nto keep the benefits of the find to themselves,\nbut the secret escaped, as great secrets usually do, and in a few weeks the inhabitants\nof California were hurrying north with shovel\nand pan, hoping to wash quick fortunes out of\nthe sands brought down from the mysterious\nSierras. So great did the I rush ' become that\nat San Francisco and other towns ordinary\nlines of business were suspended, stores, warehouses, and even printing offices were deserted,\nvessels touching at San Francisco had to remain in port because the crews escaped to\nthe mines. Picks, shovels, and pans rose to\nfamine prices.\nBefore the summer closed news of the discovery had reached Oregon, producing an\nexcitement scarcely less intense than that\ncaused by the Indian war just ended. Resolutions were instantly taken, plans made, and in\na few days a company was on its way southward. Soon a regular tide of travel, on foot,\nby pack train, and wagon, set in across the Sis-\nkiyous. Oregon lost within a single year a\nvery large proportion of its male inhabitants.\n THE NORTHWEST AND CALIFORNIA\n235\nSome of the most prominent men passed into\nthis new emigration; for example, Peter H.\nBurnett, soon to become the first governor of\nCD \u2022\nthe state of California. When General Lane\nand Joe Meek reached San Francisco on their\nway northward, they saw numbers of Oregon\nmen, some of whom, leaving the Willamette\nvalley or Puget Sound almost penniless, were\nalready returning to their families with thousands of dollars in gold dust.\nThe news was carried across the Rockies, The \"Forty\nand before the arrival of winter hundreds, thou- mners ; r\nprogress of\nsands, on the Atlantic coast were preparing for California\nthe voyage to Panama, expecting to cross\nthe Isthmus and take ship to San Francisco.\nOthers in the interior impatiently waited till\nthe grass should start in the spring, when\ntwenty-five thousand persons, in an almost\ncontinuous caravan, moved westward to the\nvalley of the Sacramento. But this was only\nthe beginning. Month after month, and year\nafter year, the excited multitudes pressed on to\nthis new El Dorado. All were looking for the\ngolden treasure; but while most men sought it\nin the river drift, many took the surer methods\nof carrying supplies to the mines, or of cultivating the soil in order to produce flour, bacon,\nfruit, and other necessities which during the\nCD\nearly years of the gold rush brought such fabu-\nJ J CD CD\nlous prices. Hundreds of new occupations\n 2\\6 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\no\nSan Francisco the\ncommercial\ncoast\nwere opened, and fortunes made in the most\ndiverse ways. No young western community\nhad ever been advertised as was California\nduring these years; and few, even of the most\nprosperous, had grown as rapidly as she.\nThe mining camps were soon extended so as\nto embrace a large portion of the territory west\nemporium of of the Sierras; towns like Stockton and Sacramento grew up as interior supply stations;\nwhile San Francisco, at the great harbor of\nCalifornia, rose at one bound to be the place of\nchief importance among Pacific coast seaports.\nHere was the emporium of all the trade of this\nrapidly growing population, having relations\nwith the eastern coast, with Mexico, Central\nand South America, Australia, Hawaii, and in\ngeneral all countries interested in the trade of\nCD\nthe great gold-producing territory which fortune had recently tossed into the lap of the\nUnited States. Men from the eastern cities\nemployed their capital and their business skill\nin building up at San Francisco great commercial establishments, whose influence has\nbeen felt throughout the later course of Pacific\ncoast history. They did not confine themselves to California, but came northward to the\nColumbia River, to Puget Sound, and the\nCD '\nsmaller harbors along the Northwest Coast; to\nthe interior districts of the Oregon country,\nwherever opportunities for profitable commerce\n THE NORTHWEST AND CALIFORNIA 237\ncoast\nhistory\nwere to be found. San Francisco's population\nof a few hundred in 1848 grew by i860 to\nmore than 56,000, in another decade it became\n150,000, and by 1880 exceeded a quarter of a\nmillion.\nWe cannot follow this wonderful movement change in\nin detail, but it is easy to see that the discovery t\/T5co!1crse\n' J J of Pacific\nof gold produced startling changes in the relations between the northern and southern sections of the Pacific slope. When the Oregon\nbill was before Congress in the spring of 1848,\nsome wished to couple with it a bill for a California and a New Mexican territory also; but\nothers declared that the \"native-born\" territory\nof Oregon should not be unequally yoked with\n\"territories scarcely a month old, and peopled\nby Mexicans and half-Indian Californians.\"\nTwo years after this incident California had a\npopulation, mainly American, of 92,000 and\nwas ready for statehood, ten years later she had\n380,000, and in another decade more than half\na million; while the territory of Oregon, which\nin 1850 included the entire district west of the\nRocky Mountains and north of California, had\nin that year less than 14,000 people. By 1870\nthe Pacific Northwest, then divided into the\nstate of Oregon and the two territories of\nWashington and Idaho, had a total population of only 130,000 as against California's\n560,000.\n California\novershadows\nthe Northwest\n238 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThese facts tell the story of how the natural\ncourse of the Pacific coast's development was\nchanged by the magic of gold. The long list\nof American explorers, traders, and mission-\n*aries, whose deeds and sacrifices glorify the\nearly history of the Pacific Northwest, were\nlargely forgotten by a nation entranced with\nthe story of the \" Forty-niners.\" The far-\nreaching influence of Oregon as the oldest\nAmerican territory on the Pacific coast faded\nquickly from the memories of men. The\nOregon Trail was already deep worn through\nthe sand hills along the Platte and Sweetwater,\nBear River, and the Portneuf, by the wagons of\nthe Oregon pioneers; it was lined with the\ncrumbling bones of their cattle, and marked by\nthe graves of their dead; yet instantly, after\nthe passage of the thronging multitudes of '49,\nit became the \" California Trail,\" and to this\nday most men know it by no other name.*\nCalifornia, in a word, so completely overshadowed the Northwest in wealth, in commerce, and in population, that to the people of\nthe country in general this state has seemed to\nbe about all of the Pacific coast.\n CHAPTER XVI\nPROGRESS AND POLITICS, 1849-1859\nThe relations between the Northwest and California's\nCalifornia were naturally very close. Those ^ebttothe\nJ J Northwest\nOregon men who went to the gold mines were\nseasoned pioneers, who had already partly\nconquered and civilized one great section\nof the Pacific coast. They were a valuable\nelement in the new and mixed population that\nnow poured into the southern territory, helping\nto bring order out of disorder, and to establish\nan effective government for the new state as\nthey had already done for their own colony.\nIt is of course impossible, as well as unnecessary,\nto measure California's debt to the Northwest\nduring the early years of the gold rush; but it\nwas undoubtedly very great.\nOn the other hand, there is much truth in NewCaiifor-\nthe claim that the rapid development of Cali- ma ePsto\nK \u25a0*\u25a0 create a new\nfornia gave an entirely new aspect to life in the Northwest\nNorthwest. The first effect of the gold discovery was to draw away one half or perhaps\ntwo thirds of the able-bodied men of Oregon,\nand to leave the country with insufficient labor.\n239\n 240 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nto cultivate the fields already opened. But\nthis was only a temporary drawback. The\nmines afforded a wonderful market for everything the northern region could produce.\nPackers visited the farms, buying up the surplus flour, meat, lard, butter, eggs, vegetables,\nand fruits. A large number of boats entered\nthe Columbia, ascending to the new village of\nPortland on the Willamette, where they took on\ncargoes of provisions as rapidly as these could be\ncollected from up the river. Cargoes of lumber\nwere carried away from the mills already established, and these proving insufficient to meet\nthe demand, others were built and put into\noperation at various points along the Columbia.\nFarmers, merchants, laborers, manufacturers,\nspeculators, in fact all classes of settlers in\nOregon, reaped a magnificent harvest from the\nfilling up of California, and the new wealth of\ngold. Debts were canceled, homes improved,\nand the conditions of life made easier and more\npleasant than they had been in the strictly\npioneer time ; new enterprises of all sorts were\nstarted in the Willamette settlement, machinery\nwas imported for the use of the farmer, roads\nopened, and steamboats placed upon the rivers.\nThe new territorial government, which fortunately came just at the beginning of the new\nage, was of great benefit to the people in many\nways. Among other things it enabled them to\n PROGRESS AND POLITICS\n241\nmake some provision for a system of common\nschools,1 and to secure for this region a cheaper,\nmore frequent, and regular mail service. Under\nthese circumstances the population increased\nmuch more rapidly than formerly; in spite of\nthe glittering attractions of California property-\nrose in value and general prosperity prevailed.\nWhen the discovery of gold was first reported Prosperity\nin the autumn of 1848, there were only a few gothjPuget\nsettlers on Puget Sound, most of whom were colony\nengaged in making shingles and getting out\ntimber for the Hudson's Bay Company. This\nwas almost their only means of securing the\nsupplies needed to support their families.\nAbout twenty-five of the men immediately set\nout for the gold mines, leaving a very small\nremnant of population in the country. In a\nfew months many of them returned with an\nabundance of money, to be used in making\nimprovements. Samuel Hancock tells us that\nwhen he came back to Olympia in the fall of\n1849, after spending a year in the mines,\n\" everything bore the impress of prosperity.\"\na\nAmong other things\nO CD\ngrist mill had been\nJThe pioneers of the Northwest showed commendable enterprise\nin the establishment of high-grade schools, the earliest of which\nwas the Oregon Institute founded by the Methodist missionaries\nat Salem in 1841. It afterward grew into the Willamette University. The second was Tualatin Academy, the beginning of\nPacific University. Common schools were also maintained by\nprivate subscription before the public school system went into effect.\nR\n 242 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nBeginnings\noflumbering\non Puget\nSound\nThe discovery of\ncoal\nerected, which was of great benefit to the community.\nThe settlement on Puget Sound received\nspecial benefits from the great demand for\nlumber which came from San Francisco and\nthe other California towns. No portion of the\nPacific Northwest was better fitted by nature to\nsupply this need; for here the forests usually\ncame down to the water's edge, while many of\nthe smaller inlets, some of them excellent harbors for ocean vessels, afforded the very best\nsites for sawmills. Early in the year 1849 the\nbrig Orbit put into Budd's Inlet (Olympia)\nfor a load of piles. This was the beginning of\nthe lumber trade with San Francisco. In a\nshort time mills were running near Olympia\n(Tumwater), at the mouth of the Dewamish\n(Seattle), at Steilacoom, Cape Flattery, New\nDungeness, Port Townsend, and other places.\nWith lumber selling at sixty dollars per thousand feet, as it did for a time, the business was\nimmensely profitable.\nAside from lumber the California communities were in great need of fuel, and the people\nof San Francisco made anxious inquiries about\nthe possibility of getting coal near the harbors\nof the Northwest'Coast. An inferior quality\nhad been found north of the Columbia before\n1850. In 1851 Samuel Hancock began searching near Puget Sound, and with the help of the\n PROGRESS AND POLITICS\n243\nnatives found what seemed to be an important\ndeposit of this useful mineral. Other discoveries were made at later times on Bellingham\nCD\nBay, near Seattle, and at other points all convenient to good harbors. Some of these were\nsoon worked, with the result that thousands of\ntons of coal were shipped to San Francisco\nannually. All of these things brought about a\nvery prosperous condition in the little colony.\nSince the country south of the Columbia increase in\nhad been settling up for a comparatively long popu\ntime, the lands there had been pretty carefully\npicked over; and this fact, together with the\ncommercial advantages of Puget Sound, caused\nsome of the emigrants of these years to go\nnorthward in search of homes. The lumber\nmills gave employment, while the explorations\nin search of coal, and for other purposes, were\nbringing to light new farming lands in the\nrich valleys back from the Sound, where the\nsettlers now began to take claims. But for\nseveral years little progress was made in agriculture, flour and seed grain actually being imported from San Francisco at great expense in\nexchange for a portion of the lumber sent\nddwn. The census of 1850 gives 1111 as the\ntotal population north of the Columbia. Three\nyears later a special enumeration showed 3965-\nIn that year, for the first time, Puget Sound\ndrew a considerable part of the emigration to\n 244 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nAgitation\nfor a territorial\nthe Northwest, thirty-five wagons crossing the\nCascades by a new road which the northern\nsettlers had opened from the Yakima River to\nOlympia.\nThe people about Puget Sound found themselves completely separated from those on the\ngovernment Willamette, and living as it were in a world of\ntheir own. This was due largely to the difficulty of communication between the Columbia\nRiver and the Sound. The feeling was\nstrengthened by the fact that all -the regular\ntrade of this section was with San Francisco.\nSince their situation rendered them independent of the Columbia River commercially, they\ncame to believe that their country should also\nhave a separate government. Agitation for\ndividing the territory began in 1851, and the\nnext year matters were brought to a head. In\nSeptember, 1852, a newspaper called the Columbian1 was begun at Olympia for the purpose of advocating the project, and one month\nlater (October 27) a meeting was held which\ndetermined on choosing delegates to a convention. This was to decide whether or not to\n1 Files of this paper, from September, 1852, to December, 1853,\nthe entire period of its existence, as well as complete files of the\nPioneer and Democrat, and the Pu^et Sound Herald, were con-\nsuited in the private library of Hon. C. B. Bagley of Seattle.\nThe writer also obtained from Mr. Bagley the loan of his files of\nthe Washington Statesman, Walla Walla, which proved invaluable for the study of the early history of the \"Inland Empire.\"\n PROGRESS AND POLITICS\n245\nask Congress to erect the district north and\nwest of the Columbia into a territorial government. Although some of the people living\nalong the river, to whom Oregon City was\nmore convenient than Olympia, objected to the\nplan, the proposed meeting was held on the\n25th of November, and a memorial asking for\nthe change sent to General Lane who then\nrepresented the territory in Congress. On the\n15th of January, 1853, the Oregon legislature,\nsympathizing with the demand of the northern\nsettlements, adopted a similar memorial; but\nbefore this reached him Lane had introduced a\nbill for creating the territory of Columbia. It\npassed on the 10th of February, 1853, with the\nname Washington substituted for Columbia, a\nchange with which the people of the new territory were very well satisfied. . General Isaac I.\nStevens, who had been commissioned to survey\na northern route for a Pacific railroad, was\nappointed governor. He arrived at Olympia\non the 26th of November, 1853, and the new\norganization was put in operation.1\n1 General Stevens was a trained soldier and engineer, a graduate of West Point. His success in finding a practicable line\nfor a railroad immediately gave him great influence with the people of Washington, who believed thoroughly in the future of\ntheir section. He served as governor till 1857, was then elected\ndelegate to Congress from the territory, remaining in that position till the breaking out of the Civil War, when he went to the\nfield of action. He was killed while gallantly leading his divi-\n 246 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nBeginnings\nof settlement\nin southern\nOregon\nThe\nUmpqua\nvalley\nAs the gold discovery promoted the prosperity of the Willamette valley and Puget\nSound, so it also led to the planting of new\ncommunities in other favorable districts of the\nNorthwest. The region known as southern\nOregon contains the two important valleys of\nthe Umpqua and Rogue rivers. It had already become known to the pioneers, partly\nthrough explorations for a southern emigrant\nroad made in 1846 under the direction of Jesse\nApplegate. A portion of the emigration of\nthat and the following years came to the Willamette over this route; and when Oregon men\nbegan going to the gold mines of California, the\ncountry became still better known. Wagons\nand pack trains, men on foot and on horseback, were continually passing back and forth;'\nso that it was not long before a few individuals,\nimpressed with the beauty of the landscape, the\nexcellence of the grass and water, and the opportunities for farming and stock raising, began\nto think of locating claims in these valleys.\nJesse Applegate, who was the most noted\nexplorer of southern Oregon, was himself led\nto settle in Umpqua valley.1 In the spring\nsion at Chantilly. The \" Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens,\" by Hazard\nStevens, 2 vols., Boston, 1900, gives a full account of his services\nand much valuable matter on the history of the Northwest.\n1He founded and named the town of Yoncalla, which became\nhis home. General Lane also took a claim in this valley, near\nthe town of Roseburg, and spent his declining years in retirement.\n PROGRESS AND POLITICS\n247\nof 1850, he with a number of others organized\na company to take up lands and establish town\nsites. It happened that while these pioneers\nwere making their way down toward the sea,\nthey met a party of Calif ornians who had\nentered the Umpqua by ship for the same\npurpose. The two companies thus accidentally brought together formed a new association\nwhich undertook to colonize the Umpqua\nvalley. Settlers and miners quickly overran\nthe region. The county of Umpqua, embracing the whole of southern Oregon, was created\nby the territorial legislature in 1851.\nThe valley of Rogue River received settlers Rogue\nabout the same time, and here the influence a^ethe\nof gold discoveries was strongly felt. California southern\nminers had already prospected the Sierras to\nthe borders of the Oregon country; and just\nat the close of the year 1851 rich placer mines\nwere discovered on Jackson Creek, a branch of\nRogue River. A new rush began, Californians\nand Oregonians both taking part in it, so that\nin a very short time the village of Jacksonville\nhad a population of several hundred, and a\nnumber of other mining centers were estab-\nCD\nlished in the same neighborhood. Settlers\npushed in at the same time to take up the\nfertile lands along the Rogue River and its\nbranches. While these things were going forward in the upper portions of the valleys of\n Indian outbreaks;\nthe Rogue\nRiver War\n248 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nsouthern Oregon, settlements were also begun\nnear the mouths of the rivers, especially at Port\nOrford and about Coos Bay. The discovery of\ncoal near Coos Bay gave it a large trade with\nSan Francisco. The various centers of population were connected with one another by means\nof mountain roads or trails; the interest in gold\nmining stimulated emigration, and a population\nof several thousand people was soon to be found\nwithin this territory, which at the beginning of\nthe California gold rush was an absolute wilderness, occupied by native barbarians.\nWhen the early missionaries and settlers\ncame to Oregon they found the Indians under\nthe control of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company,\nwhose officers were able to secure for the whites\nsuch lands and other privileges as the Indians\nhad to bestow. The company w^s very successful in preventing conflicts between the two\nraces. Only rarely were the settlers molested\nby the natives during these years, the most\nnotable exception being the Whitman massacre\nin 1847. When the United States took control, in 1849, the situation had become more\ndifficult to handle. Settlers were by this time\nbecoming numerous; the Indians had begun to\nfear for the safety of their lands, and they were\nnot yet convinced of the national government's\npower. Soon afterward troubles began, especially in the newly occupied territory of\n PROGRESS AND POLITICS\n249\nsouthern Oregon, where miners and travelers\nwere occasionally murdered, and settlers driven\nfrom their lands. In some cases, it must be\nconfessed, the whites were to blame as well as\nthe red men. But the time soon came when the\ntribes of southern Oregon were ready to go on\nthe war path, and then hundreds of innocent\npersons suffered the untold horrors which have\nalways marked such savage outbreaks. Men\nwere shot down on the highway or in the field;\nat dead of night unprotected families were besieged in their cabins, the men killed outright,\nthe women and children enslaved, and homes\nburned to the ground; sometimes whole settlements were either massacred or driven away.\nThis war, usually called, from the most terrible\nof the tribes concerned in it, the Rogue River\nWar, began in 1851. It lasted, with some intermissions, till 1856, when the Indians being\nremoved to reservations the settlers were at\nlast secure in the possession of their homes.1\nSouthern Oregon was not the only section other\nof the Northwest to suffer from the uprising Indianwars\nof the natives during this period. On Puget\nSound, too, the Indians began to murder white\nmen as early as 1850, though no general outbreak occurred until several years later. In\n1 In this war General Lane performed most important services\nfor Oregon, both as warrior and peacemaker. The Indians stood\nin great awe of him.\n A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\n1854-1855 General Stevens, as superintendent\nof Indian affairs, made treaties with nearly all\nof the tribes both in eastern and western\nWashington, and it was supposed that these\nwould put an end to all conflict between the\ntwo races. But as a matter of fact the natives,\nseeing the country filling up with white people,\nwere about ready for a general war in defense\nof what they considered to be their own country. The situation here was not different from\nthat which brought on the great Indian wars\nin other sections of the United States. Just\nas New England had its King Philip's War,\nand the middle West its struggles with Tecum-\nseh and Black Hawk, so the people of the Pacific\nNorthwest, when settlement threatened to crowd\nthe Indians off their lands, were forced to meet\ngreat combinations of native tribes under Chief\nJohn, Leschi, Kamiakin, and others. Except\nin southern Oregon, these wars came mainly\nin the years i8ss--i8s8. They included many\nharrowing incidents, like the murder of the\nCD '\nsettlers in White River valley near Puget\nSound, the daring attack upon the little village.\nof Seattle in the spring of 1856, the slaughter\nof the emigrants on the Malheur River, and\nmassacres at the Cascades. The United States\ngovernment maintained troops at various places\nthroughout the Northwest, and in some cases\nthese rendered most effective service during\n PROGRESS AND POLITICS\n251\nthe Indian war; but their numbers were too\nsmall to meet the great emergency, while difficulties arose between the territorial officers\nand the military commanders that caused the\nburden of the war to fall mainly upon the\npeople themselves. Volunteer companies were\ncalled into the field, who with some severe\nfighting and much attendant hardship were\nable to bring this distressing period to a\nclose. The Indians here as elsewhere found\nit necessary to accept the bounty of Congress\nin the shape of a reservation, with pay for the\nlands which they gave up to the government.\nMost of the treaties went into effect in 1859.\nSeveral years prior to the close of the Indian The Oregon\nwars, the question of statehood for Oregon be- constltu\"\n* \u00b0 tional con-\ngan to be seriously discussed, and in 1856 a bill vention,\nfor admitting the territory into the Union was cug,ust}\u00b0\ncd J September,\nintroduced in Congress by General Lane. 1857\nThough this failed, another bill passed the\nHouse at the next session, authorizing the\npeople to frame a state constitution. It did\nnot pass the Senate, but the legislature of Oregon Territory had already provided for submitting the question of holding a convention to\nthe voters at the June (1857) election. It was\ncarried by a large majority, delegates were\nchosen from the several counties, and on the\nthird Monday in August the convention met\nJ CD\nin the town of Salem. September 18 a state\n 252 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nconstitution was adopted, which being submitted\nto the people was ratified by a vote of 7195 in\nfavor to 3195 against. The state government\nwent into operation in July, 1858, although Oregon was not formally admitted to the Union till\nthe 14th of February, 1859.1\n1 The population of Oregon in i860 was 52,465, and of Washington Territory, 11,594.\nGeneral Isaac Ingalls Stevens.\n CHAPTER XVII\nTHE INLAND EMPIRE\nThe Indian wars of the Pacific Northwest, Extent and\nlike those of New England, western New York, charfcter of\n\u00b0 the Inland\nand various sections of the Mississippi valley, Empire\nwere followed by a period in which population\nspread rapidly over previously unoccupied territory. Thus far settlement had been practically\nconfined to the region between the Cascade\nMountains and the Pacific, including the Willamette valley, Puget Sound, the Cowlitz and\nColumbia districts, the valleys of southern\nOregon, and a few points near the seacoast.\nThis was only a small part of the Oregon country, the eastern section, from the\" Cascades to\nthe Rockies, containing more than three times\nas large an area. Above the point where the\nColumbia breaks through the Cascades, one\nhundred and ninety miles from the sea, it re-\nceives branches from the north whose sources\nlie far beyond the American boundary of 490,\nothers from the south rising below the 42d parallel, and still others from every part of the west\nslope of the Rockies between these two boundary- lines. They drain an American territory\n253\n 254 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nIts agricultural\npossibilities\nbegin to be\nunderstood\nembracing about two hundred thousand square\nmiles, nearly one fourth larger than the combined areas of the New England states, New\nYork, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. A portion of it is occupied by the forested ranges of\nthe Bitter Root and Blue mountains; but in\ngeneral it is a region of great plains, relieved by\nwooded valleys and gently sloping hills. The\nclimate, soil, and productions, all vary greatly\nfrom those of western Oregon, and the natives\nwere superior to the western Indians in intellect\nas well as in strength, energy, and warlike valor.\nOwing to the light rainfall over the greater\nCD CD CD\nportion of the Inland Empire, some early travelers pronounced the entire region unfit to be\nthe home of civilized man. But the missionaries proved tha\u00a3 the natural grasses afforded\nexcellent pasturage for cattle and sheep,1 and\nthat the soil in many places would produce\nbounteous crops of grain and vegetables even\nwithout irrigation; while with an artificial\nsupply of water surprising results could be\nobtained. Several of the valleys, like Walla\nWalla and the Grand Ronde, which lay in the\npath of the emigrants to Oregon, attracted the\nattention of the pioneers at an early time by\n1 Dr. Whitman wrote in October, 1847, Just before his death:\n\"The interior of Oregon is unrivaled by any country for the\ngrazing of stock, of which sheep is the best. This interior will\nnow be sousrht after.\"\n THE INLAND EMPIRE\n255\nthe evident fertility of their lands; and as early\nas 1847 it seemed certain that the first of these\nwould soon be occupied by farmers. But the\nWhitman massacre of that year destroyed these\nprospects, and another decade was to pass away\nbefore plans of settlement could be resumed.\nIn the meantime other sections of the Inland\nEmpire were beginning to receive attention on\naccount of the rich farming lands they were\nsupposed to contain.\nWhen General Stevens reached Olympia, in General\nNovember, 1853, after completing the survey of oJ^enss\nthe northern railroad route, he declared to the tions\npeople of Puget Sound that there were several\ngreat stretches of territory in eastern Washington which invited settlement. \" I can speak\nadvisedly,\" he says, \" of the beautiful St. Mary's\nvalley just west of the Rocky Mountains and\nstretching across the whole breadth of the territory; of the plain fifty miles wide bordering\nthe south bank of the Spokane River; of the\nvalley extending from Spokane River to Colville ; of the Coeur d'Alene Prairie of six hundred square miles; the Walla Walla valley.\nThe Nez Perce country is said to be rich as\nwell as the country bordering on the Yakima\nRiver.\"\nHis treaties with the native tribes soon after- The Indian\nward were * expected to throw some of these ^^ts^settie-\ntracts open, and other treaties made about the ment\n 256 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nsame time with the Indians of eastern Oregon\nlooked to the settlement of portions of that\ncountry. But when the Indians went on the\nwar path in 1855 this entire region, except a\nsmall district protected by the military post at\nthe Dalles, was once more closed to the peaceful tiller of the soil. The prairies and open\nriver valleys, instead of being dotted over with\nsettlers' cabins or the white-sheeted wagons of\nCozur dAlene, 1853.\nemigrants, were traversed in all directions by\nlong files of marching men, and troops of gallant cavalry. Yet this only served to make the\nwhole country more familiar to the people of\nwestern Oregon and Washington, and to increase the desire to settle there as soon as the\n. Indian troubles should be over.\n THE INLAND EMPIRE\n257\nBy this time (1859) there was an additional Gold hunt-\nmotive for emigration to the Inland Empire, ^s east of\n0 r the Cascades\nEven before the Indian war there had been\nmore or less prospecting for gold in the eastern\ncountry, and in 1855 discoveries were made at\nColville, though at that time little could be done\nwith them. In the years 1857-1858 occurred\na rush to Fraser River in British Columbia.\nFor a time it was supposed this region would\nprove very rich; but soon disappointments\ncrowded upon the Americans who had gone\nthere, and a great outpouring took place. The\nmen who left these mines spread over and\nprospected large sections of the eastern country,\nwith results only less wonderful than those obtained in California ten years earlier. Rich\ngold districts were opened near Colville ; on the\nClearwater, Salmon River, Boise River, John\nDay's River, Burnt River, Powder River; the\nOwyhee, Kootenai, Deer Lodge, Beaverhead;\nthe Prickly Pear, and other places. Californians\nstreamed northward as Oregonians had gone\nsouth in '48 and '49. Mining camps grew in\na few months to towns of several thousand\npeople, and sometimes disappeared quite as\nrapidly, when richer diggings were opened\nelsewhere, or water for gold washing failed.\nBy rapid stages the prospectors passed up the\nseveral branches of the Columbia, until they\nstood once more upon the summit of the\n 258 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nCarrying\nsupplies to\nthe mining\ncamps\nRockies, this time coming from the west. At\nSouth Pass, Helena, and many other camps,\nthey met and mingled with the crowds of gold\nseekers arriving from the East. These were\n\" tenderfeet\" to the rugged men who had spent\ntwelve or fifteen years in the mining districts\nof California, British Columbia, eastern Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and who rather\ngloried in the name \" yonder siders,\" applied to\nthem by the other class.\nWhen the miners turned toward the northeast the pack trains headed in the same direc-\nPack Train on Mountain Trail.\ntion, carrying the eager gold seekers with their\noutfits, and following from camp to camp with\nregular supplies of bacon and flour, picks,\nshovels, pans, quicksilver, and other necessities of the business. From ten to fifty horses\n THE INLAND EMPIRE\n259\nor mules usually made up the train, though\nsometimes more than one hundred animals were\nemployed. They were loaded with packs varying from two hundred to four hundred pounds.\nAt first many of these trains set out from the\nWillamette valley directly, crossing the Cascade\nMountains; but in a very short time (as early\nas 1862) the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, with headquarters at Portland, made ar-.\nrangements for carrying goods up the river\nas far as old Fort Walla Walla, then as now\ncalled Wallula. Intermediate points were The\nDalles and Umatilla Landing.\nAt Walla Walla, located a few miles above waiiaWaih\nthe site of the Whitman mission, a military ^g^dis-\n1 J tributmg\npost had been established in 1856, which soon center\ndrew about it a small settlement. This place\nnow became the distributing center for a mining region embracing nearly the whole of the\neastern country. The Dalles sent goods up\nthe John Day valley; Umtilla carried to Powder River, Owyhee, Boise Basin, and a few\nother places in eastern Oregon and southern\nIdaho; but Walla Walla sent its pack trains\nnot only to most of these camps, but to4 Colville, Kootenai, the Salmon and the Clearwater,\nthe Prickly Pear and the upper Missouri. The\ntrails radiated in all directions from this little\ntown, and during the packing season long lines\nof horses and mules were ever coming and\n 260 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe\nMontana\ntrade by\nsteamboat\nand wagon\ngoing. In winter the feeding yards of the\nvalley were filled with poor, worn creatures,\nwhose scarred backs and ugly girth marks\nproved the class to which they belonged.1 The\npackers themselves were an important social\nelement in Walla Walla and Wallula, sometimes\ngiving grand balls which the entire community\nwould attend. Many of them were enterprising young men who have since made themselves\nfelt in business and professional life.\nThe Columbia River, though affording with\nits branches over two thousand miles of navigable water, is divided into sections by frequent\nnatural obstructions like the Cascades, Dalles,\nGreat Falls, and Priest's Rapids. As the interior trade grew, the navigation company\nbuilt boats on section after section, until it\nbecame possible to go from Portland to Lake\nPend d'Oreille on the North Fork almost wholly\nby water. This development resulted in part\nfrom the opening of trade with the Rocky\nMountain country. Active mining operations\nbegan in what is now Montana, but then\neastern Washington and western Dakota, in\n1862. The earliest diggings were located west\n1 The number of pack animals maintained in the valley is\nalmost incredible. In the winter of 1866-1867 between five hundred and six hundred were kept within seven miles of Wallula.\nDuring ten days in the month of July, 1869, when times were\ndull, trains aggregating five hundred and fifty-nine packs were\nfitted out at Walla Walla.\n THE INLAND EMPIRE\n26l\nof the Rockies, but soon rich discoveries were\nmade east of the mountains also. Packers\nfrom Walla Walla crossed over at once, carrying hundreds of tons of supplies at very great\nexpense. A military road, from Fort Benton\non the upper Missouri to Walla Walla, had been\nconstructed between the years 1859 and 1862,\nunder the direction of Captain John Mullan.\nIt was always passable for pack trains, but soon\nFort Benton, 1853.\nfell into such a state of disrepair that loaded\nwagons could not safely pass over it. Soon\nthe demand became loud for the reopening\nof this highway. Work was done upon it at\nvarious times, with the result that many wagons,\ndrawn by six or eight pairs of mules, carried\nflour and bacon, produced in the Willamette\n 262 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nCompetition\nbetween\nEast and\nWest; rapid\ngrowth of\nPortland\nAgriculture\nin the Walla\nWalla\nvalley\nvalley, from the head of navigation on the\nColumbia to Helena on the Missouri, a distance of only about six hundred miles.\nPacific coast commodities now came into\ncompetition with those brought from St. Louis\nin many little steamboats; and thus the predictions of Mr. Floyd were in a way fulfilled: a\ncommercial route had been opened across the\ncontinent by steamboat and wagon. The city\nof Portland, as the western emporium of this\ntrade with the Inland Empire and Montana,\nentered upon a period of rapid and substantial\ngrowth, which has continued almost unbroken\nto the present time.\nFrom the beginning of this migration toward\nthe interior, the most favorable portions of the\ncountry were eagerly sought after by those wishing to engage in agriculture or stock raising.\nThe rapid progress of mining stimulated this\nmovement, so that in spite of the long delay\nin beginning the settlement of the Inland Empire, a farming population finally spread over\nits fertile valleys and plains much more rapidly\nthan would have been the case if no gold rush\nhad occurred. The first district to be occupied\nwas the Walla Walla valley, where the presence\nof the United States military post afforded a\nhome market for products, and where the lands\nwere not only fertile but easily tilled, comparatively well watered, and conveniently near to\n THE INLAND EMPIRE\n265\nthe Columbia River and the lower settlements.\nIt will be remembered that this valley was about\nto be occupied in 1847, when the Whitman massacre suddenly drove all whites west of the Cascades. A few pioneers held claims there at the\noutbreak of the later Indian war, and these had\nto be abandoned also. When the treaties were\ncompleted in 1859, many persons were ready to\ntake up lands in the country, while the emigration of that year furnished several hundred\nsettlers.1 In 1860 Walla Walla County had 1300\nwhite people, and within the next six years the\ngovernment surveyed about 750,000 acres of\nland in the valley, most of which was immediately taken up for agricultural purposes. The\nchief crop was wheat, which yielded at the rate\nof forty to fifty bushels, and was turned into\nflour for export to the numerous mining camps\nsupplied from this center. In 1865 the amount\nthus sent out was 7000 barrels. At the same\ntime other products, like hay, onions, potatoes,\nand wool, were shipped down the river. In\n1870 Walla Walla County had 5174 inhabitants. By that time the valley was fairly well\nsettled, containing many beautiful farms, with\ncomfortable and even handsome dwellings, sur-\n1 The Olympia Pioneer and Democrat of September 30, 1859,\nsays that eight hundred emigrants had settled in the Walla Walla\nvalley, while twenty families had taken claims on the Yakima, and\nthirty on the Klickitat and through the country from the Dalles\nto Fort Simcoe (on the Yakima).\n Settlement\nof the\nGrand\nRonde\nvalley\n266 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWTEST\nrounded by gardens, fruit orchards, and ornamental trees.\nFor many years the emigrants to Oregon had\npassed with regret the beautiful valley of the\nGrand Ronde, nestled so peacefully among\nthe Blue Mountains. After all danger from\nthe natives had been removed, and the Walla\nWalla country partly filled up, settlers began\nto take claims in this attractive region, notwithstanding its distance from the sea. A few were\nleft there by the emigration of 1861, but it was\nthe great company of 1862 which finally occupied the country. About two thousand, so the\nnewspapers of the time declare, remained in\nthe valley, while the rest, some eight thousand,\nwent down the Columbia. The first winter\nwas one of great privations; but the next summer a crop was raised on the newly broken\nlands, which furnished an abundance of provisions. La Grande was the principal town, and\nsoon became the county seat of Union County,\nwhich included the Grand Ronde within its\nboundaries. From the first it was a place of\nconsiderable importance, being the supply center for the valley until other towns, like Union,\nSummerville, and Oro Dell, divided the territory\nwith her. A wagon road built in 1863 connected the Grand Ronde valley with Walla\nWalla for trading purposes, while other roads\nand trails made it possible for this upper settle-\n THE INLAND EMPIRE\n269\nment to send its products to the mines of Boise\nvalley, Owyhee, and other places. The abundance of timber on the slopes of the Blue Mountains, and the fine water power of the mountain\nstreams, promoted the building of sawmills, of\nwhich there were four in 1864. A description\nof the valley, written in the spring of 1868, indicates that excellent progress had been made\nin the first five years after settlement began.\nI The waste prairie has changed to fenced and\ncultivated farms, and in all directions the handiwork of intelligence and industry is visible.\nComfortable houses and outhouses have been\nbuilt, orchards planted; from the poor emigrant\nhas sprung the well-to-do farmer.\" County roads\ncrossed the valley in all directions, while two\ngood toll roads had been built through it. The\npopulation of Union County in 1870 was 2552.\nThese two illustrations of the Walla Walla other agri-\nand Grand Ronde valleys are sufficient to cultural\nJ settlements\nshow how population spread over the fine farming districts of the Inland Empire during the\nyears immediately following the gold rush to\nthis region. Many other districts had a similar history. Boise valley, Powder River, the\nClearwater and Spokane, the high valleys of\nwestern Montana, \u2014 all had their farming communities, producing such supplies as the mining districts could use. The Yakima valley\neast of the Columbia was situated much like\n 270 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nthe Walla Walla, and was settled about the\nsame time. By 1870 the amount of produce\nseeking a market from the upper Columbia was\nalready larger than the demand to be supplied\nin that country, although only a small fraction\nof the tillable lands had as yet been taken up.\nThe people needed better means of transportation, in order that they might ship their wheat\nand flour down the river to a larger and more\nstable market. The entire inland country\nwaited impatiently for railroads to connect its\nscattered communities, and to afford the much-\ndesired outlet to the sea.1\n1A short line of railroad, from Walla Walla to Wallula, was\nfirst projected as early as 1862; but it was not until 1868 that\nactive work was begun upon it. The road was completed in\n1874, largely through the energy and financial enterprise of\nDr. D. S. Baker. It was the first railroad in the territory of\nWashington.\n CHAPTER XVIII\nTHE AGE OF RAILWAYS\nThe Inland Empire was not alone in de- The North-\nmanding railroad facilities at this time. The Test \u25a0\n\u00b0 , demands\nentire Pacific Northwest was as yet altogether railways\nlacking in this important means of development, and by 1870 the people of that section\nwere everywhere insisting that railways be built.\nMany years earlier, when the Oregon question\nwas still unsettled, and when emigration to the\nColumbia by means of wagons and ox teams\nhad but just begun, several schemes were\nbrought forward for the establishment of a\ntranscontinental line to extend to some point\non the lower Columbia, or to Puget Sound.\nOne such project was presented to the public\nin 1845-1846 by Asa Whitney. He proposed\nto build the road on condition that the United\nStates government grant to his company a belt\nof land sixty miles wide, stretching from Lake\nMichigan to the Pacific Ocean. Another\nscheme was to make the road a national one,\nthe funds for construction to come from the\nsale of lands along the line. This was advocated by Mr. George Wilkes, of New York,\n271\n 272 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nPacific\nrailway\nsurveys,\n1853-1857\nThe first\nPacific\nrailway\ncompleted,\n1869\nwho in 1845 wrote a book on the subject,\npetitioned Congress, and asked the support of\nstate and territorial legislatures in favor of his\nproject.\nA few years later the rush to California gave\nrise to plans for a road to San Francisco Bay.\nThomas H. Benton was one of the earliest\nadvocates of this line. In 1853 surveys wrere\nbegun by the national government along three\ndifferent routes \u2014 one to cross the Rockies by\nway of South Pass, one at a point south of that\nplace, and another far to the north, near the\nhead waters of the Missouri. When General\nStevens surveyed the last-named route, he pronounced it by far the most feasible of all, and\nthe people of the Northwest began to think\nthat the first transcontinental railway might\nbe built through their section, notwithstanding California's greater wealth and population.\nBut the times were unfavorable for railroad\nbuilding, because of the great struggle between the North and South over the question of slavery, which occupied the attention\nof the whole country and finally led to the\nCivil War.\nWhile this conflict was raging\/however, the\ngovernment made provision (1862) for the first\nof the transcontinental railways by chartering\nthe Union Pacific Company to build westward\nfrom the Missouri, and the Central Pacific to\n THE AGE OF RAILWAYS\n273\nbuild from the Pacific coast eastward. The\nrapid development of California between the\nyears 1849 and i860 made San Francisco the\nnatural terminus rather than either of the northern ports so much discussed twenty years\nearlier.1 The central route was chosen because\nthis was the most direct line to northern California. The road was to cross the Rockies at\nSouth Pass, follow the Humboldt River, and\nenter the Sacramento valley by the old California Trail. The work of construction was\nsoon begun at both ends, and pushed forward\nas rapidly as possible. Great numbers of Chinese laborers, who had begun to come to California shortly after the gold discovery, were\nemployed on the western division. Finally, on\nthe 10th of May, 1869, the two sections were\nbrought together at Promontory Point, fifty\nmiles west of Ogden, Utah, where the ceremony of driving the golden spike completed\nthe gigantic undertaking.\nThis event marks an era in the history of iheraii-\nj-i t> ' n 1. tm j. j. \u2022 way marks a\nthe Pacific coast. 1 hat vast region, once so ue'v era\nwidely separated from the remainder of the\ncountry, was now brought into close touch with\nthe other sections, and began to share fully in\n1 Sacramento, at the head of navigation on the Sacramento\nRiver, was called the terminus of this road; but the line was at\nOnce extended to San Francisco, which became the terminus in\nfact.\n 274 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe Northwest still\nunprovided\nwith rail-'\nways\nthe life of the nation as a whole. The journey\nfrom the east coast to San Francisco by way\nof Panama had required three and a half weeks;\nit was very expensive and extremely unpleasant.\nBy the overland stage the trip was still more\ncostly and difficult. But at last, with the completion of the railroad, the Mississippi valley\nhad been brought within a week's journey of\nthe Pacific; travel to the far West was cheap\nand pleasant; mails became frequent and regular ; many varieties of western products began\nto be sent east in exchange for manufactured\ngoods. Above all, a new movement of emigration set in to the Pacific coast which resulted\nin planting many of the most delightful farming\nand fruit-raising sections of California, and, as\nwe shall see, brought about important changes\nin the Northwest as well.\nYet, in spite of the indirect benefits which\nit brought to the people of the Northwest, the\nCentral Railway was not at all sufficient for\ntheir needs. It barely touched the Oregon\nterritory at the southeast corner, without actually reaching any part of the settled area. In\norder to make it of great use to this section,\nother roads would have to be built through the\nCD\nNorthwest connecting with the Central. The\nroutes for such branch lines were clearly\nmarked out by nature. One was the old emigrant road from the Columbia to Fort Hall,\n THE AGE OF RAILWAYS\n275\nalong which Wilkes had proposed to carry his\nnational railroad in 1845; the other was the\nwagon route which had been opened from the\nColumbia by way of the Willamette, southern\nOregon, and the Siskiyou Mountains to the\nSacramento valley.\nSeveral years before the Central Railway The Oregon\nwas completed, California parties began survey- fomia^aii-\ning this line to the Columbia; and although way, 1868-\n1887\nnothing came of it at the time, other schemes\nand surveys were set on foot which finally led\nto railroad construction in Oregon. In April,\n1868, ground was broken at Portland for two\nroads, one to run on the east side, the other\non the west side, of the Willamette River.\nFive years later the East Side Railroad\nwas completed to Roseburg, in the Umpqua\nvalley, thus bringing the southern Oregon\ncountry into connection with the Willamette\nand the Columbia. From this point the process of construction was very slow, the southern portion being finally completed in 1887 to\nconnect with the Central Pacific.\nMeantime, in 1874, Mr. Henry Villard be- Henry\ncame interested in this line and in the railroad tJ \" Jl\"\ndevelopment of the Pacific Northwest generally, railways\nHis first grand enterprise was the opening of\nrailway transportation along the Columbia; on\nthe south bank, connecting Portland with The\nCD\nDalles, the Walla Walla country, and eastern\n 276 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nOregon. To bring this about he organized,\nCD CD CD '\nwith the enterprising Portland men who controlled the navigation of the Columbia, the\nOregon Railway and Navigation Company.\nThe line was first built to Baker City, in the\nHenry Villard.\nPowder River valley, and later extended to\nmeet the Union Pacific at Granger, Wyoming,\nrunning practically along the old emigrant trail\nup the Lewis River valley. Before this plan\ncould be fully carried out, Mr. Villard also\nsecured control of the Northern Pacific, which\nhad been in process of building from Duluth\n THE AGE OF RAILWAYS\n277\nat the western extremity of Lake Superior for\nseveral years. The union of all these interests\nunder his management gave a mighty impulse\nto railroad development, such as the country\nhad never before seen. Construction was\nhurried forward at utmost speed both from the\neast and from the\nwest, and on the 8th\nof September, 1883\n(in western Montana),\nthe last spike was\ndriven bv Mr. Villard\nin the presence of a\nthrong of visitors\nfrom both coasts, and\nfrom nearly every\ncountry of the Old\nWorld.1 One of the\norators on this occasion was Senator J.\nW. Nesmith, of Oregon, who as a young\nman had crossed the plains in the great wagon\ntrain of 1843. The early settlers of the Northwest had spent the best years of their lives\n1 \" The Memoirs of Henry Villard,\" 2 vols., Boston, 1904, contains a very interesting sketch of the railroad history of the\nNorthwest to the time of completing the Northern Pacific. The\nearliest railways in Oregon were portage roads around the obstructions in the Columbia River and were owned by the Navigation Company at the time Villard took control.\nJames Willis Nesmith.\n 278 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nLater railroad build\ning\nDistribution\nof population about\n1870\nunder pioneer conditions; but fortunately many\nof them lived to see the dawning of the new\nday made possible by their labors and sacrifices.\nRailroad building did not cease with the\nyear 1883, but has been almost continuous from\nthat time to the present. The main line of the\nNorthern Pacific, the Columbia and Lewis\nRiver road, the new Great Northern line to\nthe Sound, the connection northward with the\nCanadian Pacific and southward with the Central Pacific, form the outlines of a system which\nhas gradually been extended, by means of\nbranches, into many new productive regions of\nthe Northwest. The results, while marvelous\nin themselves, are only such as had long been\nforetold by those familiar with the resources of\nthe Northwest, and with the effects produced\nby railroads in other parts of the United States.\nThis becomes plain when we compare the slow\nprogress of the Northwest during the early\nperiod with the rapid development which has\ntaken place in the past thirty-four years, and\nespecially in the past twenty-one years, since,\nthe completion of the Northern Pacific.\nIn 1870, when this great movement was just\nbeginning, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho had\na combined population of 130,000, of which\n91,000 belonged to Oregon and only 24,000 to\nher northern neighbor. Almost exactly one\nhalf (64,200) of the total population of the North-\n THE AGE OF RAILWAYS\n279\nOregon\nwest was still living in the Willamette valley,\nwhich even without railroads always had an\noutlet to a seaport market. The other half was\nwidely distributed, in southern and eastern\nOregon, along the coast and the Columbia River\nin both Oregon and Washington, and through\nthe numerous mining camps of Idaho.1 The\nmetropolis of the Northwest was Portland,\nwhich boasted 8293 inhabitants \u2014 an increase\nsince the census of i860 of 5425.\nThe great valley of western Oregon was in The wn-\n1870 the only district of this entire region ^Ueyand\nthat was fully settled by an agricultural popu- southern\nlation; and even here, while the lands were\nnearly all occupied, large portions of them\nremained untilled. The grain raised on the\nfarms was shipped down the river to Portland\nin steamboats, and great herds of cattle were\ndriven across the mountains to supply the mining camps as far east as Montana, and to stock\nthe ranches now beginning to be established\nin many portions of the Inland Empire. The\ntowns of the valley, aside from Portland, were\nall mere villages, centers of an agricultural\ntrade. Southern Oregon, where farming, stock\n1 Southern Oregon had about 12,000 people, eastern Oregon\n10,500, the coast and Columbia River districts 4250. The counties bordering on the Sound had one half of the 24,000 people in\nWashington, while the region east of the Cascades had 7000 of\nthe remainder. Idaho contained 15,000 people (lacking one),\nscattered through a score or more of mining camps.\n 280 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nLumbering\non Puget\nSound;\nsocial conditions\nraising, and mining were all carried on together,\nwas enjoying a fair degree of prosperity; but\nhere also, as on the upper Columbia, no great\ndevelopment in agriculture was possible without railroads to open up a wider market for\nthe products of the soil. The Coos Bay\ndistrict had already become famous for its coal,\nand in 1874 sent 45,000 tons to San Francisco.\nPuget Sound was acquiring a world-wide\nreputation for its manufactories of lumber.\nSoon after the opening of the California market,\ncapitalists from the East and from San Francisco began here the establishment of those\nenormous lumbering plants which have been\nthe wonder of so many visitors to the Pacific\ncoast. The small water-power mills of the\npioneering time sank into insignificance or\nceased to exist; while monster steam mills,\nplanted at a few of the most favorable points,\npractically monopolized the business. Each\nof the great sawmills supported a settlement,\nmade up at first almost entirely of the company's\nemployes. After a while, with the occupation\nof the farming lands in their vicinity, some of\nthese grew into important market and shipping\npoints. But the towns of western Washington were for a long time behind Walla\nWalla both in wealth and in population. In\n1870 Olympia, the largest of them, had but\n1200 people, while Seattle had 1100, and\n THE AGE OF RAILWAYS\n28l\nTacoma 73. As late as twenty years ago\nSeattle had scarcely outgrown the conditions\nof a village. There was some talk of connecting this region by rail with Oregon on the\nsouth, and with the Inland Empire on the\neast. But nothing had as yet been done, and-\nthe Sound country was almost completely shut\noff from all other sections of the Northwest.\nSocial conditions had been very unsatisfactory\nin the little lumbering communities, because\nthere were so many single men without homes,\nand but few families. This difficulty was keenly\nfelt, and very unusual efforts were made to overcome it. In 1866 a shipload of young women\nwas brought to Seattle from the East. This led\nto the planting of many new homes, promoted\nfarm life, and brought about a great improvement in the character of the settlement. Puget\nSound and the entire Northwest owe a debt\nof gratitude to these excellent women, many\nof whom, fortunately, are still living to enjoy\nthe prosperity which their coming to this far-\noff coast did so much to create.1\nSuch, briefly, was the situation of the Northwest at the beginning of the railroad age. It\nCD CD CD\nwas a region containing a score or more of dis-\ntinct settlements, most of which had little in\nGeneral condition of the\nNorthwest\nin 1870\n1\" They have proved a blessing to every community from the\nCowlitz north to the boundary line.11 C. B. Bagley in Quarterly\nof the Oregon Historical Society, March, 1904.\n 282 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nRailroad\nbuilding\nattracts\nemigration\ncommon with any of the others. Each went\nits own way, producing what it could, selling\nwhat it might, in the mines, in San Francisco,\nand in Portland. Because there was little\nintercourse between the sections, there was a\ngood deal of jealousy and ill will. Politically\nthe Northwest was now divided into three\nparts, Idaho having been set off as a separate\nterritory in 1863; but the lack of unity within\nthe separate divisions made possible numerous\nschemes for changes in boundaries, the creation\nof new territories, and so on. At one time\nthere was a plan to unite the Willamette valley\nand Puget Sound into one state, making\nanother of the entire inland country; again\nit was proposed to annex the Walla Walla\ncountry to Oregon; to unite northeastern\nWashington with northern Idaho, and make a\nseparate state of this; to attach southeastern\nWashington to southern Idaho and eastern\nOregon.\nThe railroads soon produced a great transformation in almost every respect. The men\nwho were responsible for the construction of\nthese lines were especially anxious to attract\nemigrants to the Northwest, in order to develop its great resources and thus create business for the roads. Emigration bureaus were\nformed in cities of the Atlantic coast; pamphlets describing the advantages of the country\n THE AGE OF RAILWAYS\n283\nwere distributed broadcast; and northwestern\nfarm lands were widely advertised in the newspapers. As a result the population of this\nregion began to increase with great rapidity as\ncompared with the period prior to 1870. As\nalready stated, the total for that year was 130,000.\nIn the ten years from 1870 to 1880 there was an\naddition of 152,500; in the next decade 465,000;\nwhile from 1890 to 1900 the gain was 330,000.\nIt is interesting to note that, while California\nwas far in advance of the Northwest when the\nperiod began, and continued to lead for another\nten years, her increase since 1880 has been\nvery much less. From 1870 to 1880 she received 304,447; in the next decade 343,436;\nand in the last 271,655. In other words, during the twenty years from 1880 to 1900 this\nnorthern region gained 795,000 people as\nagainst California's 615,000.\nThe growth of cities is yet more striking. The growth\nThirty-four years ago Portland was the only ofcities\ntown approaching. 10,000 population. It was already flourishing, but from this time its progress was remarkable. The census of 1880\ngives the city 17,577; that of ten years later\n46,385 ; and the last (1900) 90,426. On Puget\nSound the village of Tacoma, with 73 inhabitants in 1870 and only 1100 in 1880, leaped\nby 1890 to 36,000. During the last ten-year\nperiod, however, very little gain was made, the\n\u25a0\n 284 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\ncensus of 1900 showing only 37,714. Seattle\npresents the spectacle of a town which has\ngrown in twenty years from a village of 3533\npeople to a city of 80,271 people. This surprising result is due largely to the railroads,\nalthough Seattle has in recent years gained\nenormously on account of the trade with\nFalls of the Spokane.\nAlaska. East of the Cascade Mountains,\ntowns have of course grown less rapidly; but\nthere has been substantial progress in all three\nof the states comprising the Pacific Northwest.1\nIdaho in 1900 had two cities of over 4000\neach: Boise, 5957, and Pocatello, 4045; eastern Oregon had two: Baker City, 6663, and\n1 Washington was admitted into the Union on the nth of\nNovember, 1889; Idaho on July 3, 1&90.\n THE AGE OF RAILWAYS\n287\nPendleton, 4406; and eastern Washington two,\nWalla Walla and Spokane. The first of these\ncontained 10,049 inhabitants; the latter, 36,848.\nConsidering that Spokane is an inland town, Spokane\nher history has been an extraordinary one. A \u00abpai0uSe\u00bb\nfew pioneers settled on \"Spokane Prairie' as country\nearly as 1862, and stores were opened near the\nbridge to supply the wants of miners going\neast into the mountains. But for some years\nthe place remained very insignificant. In 1880\nit had but 350 inhabitants. The rapid growth\nsince that time is due mainly to the fact\nthat the railroad opened up near Spokane one\nof the most wonderful wheat-raising districts\nin the world, the so-called \" Palouse \" country,,\nstretching southward toward Lewis River.\nHaving a magnificent water power in its falls,\nSpokane quickly became a great center for the\nmanufacture of flour, as well as a distributing\npoint both for the rich agricultural region to\nthe south and the mining districts to the north\nand east.\n CHAPTER XIX\nTHE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OF TO-DAY\nThe present\nan age of\ntransformation\nThe development of every country depends\nupon the number, ability, and enterprise of the\npeople inhabiting it. The Pacific Northwest\nhas been especially fortunate in the character\nof its settlers, who were men and women of\nthe best class from almost every portion of the\nUnited States. Until very recently, however,\ntheir numbers have been so limited that it has\nnot been possible to make use of more than\na small portion of the natural resources which\nthis region affords. As the early traders devoted their energies to securing furs of wild\nanimals, so the early settlers, coming a few\nthousand annually with ox teams, were interested mainly in obtaining good farms, on which\nto raise grain and cattle. Although some of\nthem desired to do so, they were unable to\nmake much use of the almost limitless forests\nof excellent timber, the valuable fisheries of\nthe coasts and rivers, and the opportunities for\nmanufacturing so lavishly provided by nature.\nAnd so it has been down to the present time.\nMen have come to the Northwest primarily for\nits free lands. The quantity of these which\n288\n THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OF TO-DAY 289\ncould be taken up and converted into farms at\nslight expense was so vast that until now the\nincrease in population has resulted mainly in\nan enlargement of the cultivated areas. While\na few towns have grown with wonderful rapidity, increasing-trade, rather than manufacturing,\nhas been the chief cause. Now, however, the\npopulation and wealth of the Northwest have\nboth reached the point where a rapid development of all kinds of resources becomes possible;\nand the astonishing activity manifested everywhere is proof that this country is undergoing\na great transformation. From a people pursuing agriculture and commerce as almost the\nonly interests, they are changing rapidly to a\ncomplex society, engaged in a multitude of different occupations.\nGood beginnings have already been made in Manufactur-\nmany lines of manufacturing. Flour and lumber l^dl\nare being exported to the markets of the world; pects\nmanufactures of iron, wool, and paper have\nreached large proportions; salmon canning is a\nleading industry of the coast region; and shipbuilding has attained great prominence.1 But\n1 From the earliest settlement of the country the Columbia River\nand Puget Sound districts have been engaged in this important business, for which their situation probably affords greater advantages\nthan are possessed by any other portion of the United States.\nMost of the vessels thus far constructed have been of wood ; but\nthe launching of the battleship Nebraska at Seattle on. the 7th\nof October, 1904, proves that the Northwestern shipyards are\nalready equipped for building the heaviest iron ships.\nu\npros-\n 290 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nConditions\nof life in the\nsmaller\ntowns\nin most of these lines there is room for almost\nindefinite expansion. For example, the Northwest has the greatest body of standing timber\nnow to be found in the United States. The\nforests of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota\nare rapidly disappearing, while the demand for\ntimber in the middle West and the East is\nincreasing. The result is a wholly new activity\nin northwestern lumber, marked each year by\nthe establishment of many new mills in every\nportion of the country, and a rapidly growing\nexport trade.\nThe lumber business here, as in the older\nstates, has been a pioneer among manufacturing industries. Plants for the manufacture\nof excelsior, furniture, wagons, and carriages\nnaturally group themselves around the lumber\nmills; while the successful establishment of one\nline of industries always tends to attract others\nto the same locality. These influences have\nhelped to build up the interior towns, many of\nwhich now begin to take on the appearance of\ncities. They are providing themselves with\nthe modern conveniences, such as electric lighting, water, and sewer systems; streets are\nscientifically graded, and in a few cases electric\nrailways have already been built. Socially, also,\nthese smaller places are following in the footsteps of the large seaport cities of the Northwest, which in turn keep close touch with the\n THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OF TO-DAY 291\ngreat centers of population on the Atlantic\ncoast. Churches, benevolent societies, and\nfraternal orders are everywhere; the common\nschool system is well developed, and high\nschools, until recently confined to the larger\nplaces, are at present being established in all\ntowns of any importance.1 The movement for\ntown and school libraries, local historical societies, commercial clubs, women's clubs, and\nother means of intellectual, moral, and scientific\ndevelopment, has already produced good results.\nThe rural districts have been less fortunate.\nMost of the farms are large, even in the well-\nsettled sections, thus scattering the population\nthinly over the country. Moreover, roads have\ngenerally been bad, making it difficult for\nfarmers to communicate with each other, or\nwith the neighboring towns. In short, farm\nlife, while independent, healthful, and profitable\nin a financial way, has here as in many other\nplaces been a life of comparative isolation,\nwith all the drawbacks incident to that fact.\nA strong movement for good roads has recently\nbeen inaugurated; rural mail delivery prevails\nalmost everywhere; and many lines of telephone\nhave been established. Just at present there is\nImprovements in\nfarm life\n1 There are also numerous academies and colleges maintained\nby private or denominational means, while each of the three states\nhas its agricultural college, its normal schools for the training of\nteachers, and its state university.\n 292 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nThe irrigation movement\na decided interest in the building of electric\nrailway systems, a movement which promises to\nproduce a great improvement in the conditions\nof farm life. At the same time th.e methods of\nagriculture are changing, grain raising in many\nplaces giving way to dairying, hop raising, and\nfruit growing, all of which tend to break up\nthe over-large farms, and to draw the country\npopulation more closely together.\nOne of the most significant movements of\nthe present time is the development of irrigation schemes, in which the national government,\nthe state governments, and private parties are\nall taking an active interest. The Inland\nEmpire contains immense stretches of otherwise excellent land which receives naturally\ntoo little moisture to produce paying crops.\nMuch of this is so located that water can be\nsupplied artificially; and when this is done a\npreviously desert spot is instantly transformed\ninto a garden. Some of the most charming\ndistricts of the Northwest, like Payette valley\nin Idaho, the Yakima valley in Washington,\nand Hood River in Oregon, illustrate the\nCD '\neffects of irrigation. There are now on foot\nwell-matured plans of reclamation, which, when\ncompleted, will provide homes for nearly half a\nmillion people on lands till now covered with\nsage brush. The present extraordinary growth\nof Idaho and eastern Washington is explained\n THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OF TO-DAY 293\nby this fact. But this is not all. The benefits\nof irrigation are becoming so well understood\nthat the fruit growers and dairymen of southern\nOregon are employing it in order to overcome\nthe disadvantages of their long dry season;\nand even in the Willamette valley, where the\nrains continue longer in spring and begin earlier in fall, ditches are being opened to irrigate\nordinary farm land. The possibilities presented by this newly awakened interest are far-\nreaching. Under irrigation a few acres will\nO CD\nsupport a family, and indeed large farms are\nout of the question. The general adoption of\nthis method of agriculture would mean the fre-\nquent division of the present farms and the multiplication of homes, with all the advantages of\na dense population over a sparse one.\nWe have thus indicated some of the forces The new\nnow at work tending to transform the Pacific *?eiSs lu\no the North-\nNorthwest, and to give it the importance which west\nthe vastness of its territory and multiplicity of\nits resources have long foreshadowed. Its ad-\nCD\nvantages are becoming understood, and the\nregion is at last beginning to receive that full\ntide of immigration for which it waited longer\nthan any other great section of the West. It\nis a movement of both capitalists and laborers.\nSome are attracted by the opportunities for\nagriculture; some by the rich and extensive\nmineral deposits awaiting development; and\nw\n 294 A HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST\nothers by their interest in commerce and manufacturing. Thoughtful men everywhere have\nbeen impressed by the advantage which this\nregion is acquiring from the extension of American commerce in the Orient; from the prospective construction of the Panama Canal; and\nfrom the plans now matured for opening the\nColumbia River beyond the Great Falls, so as\nto allow large vessels to penetrate far beyond\nthe Cascade Mountains and bring the Inland\nEmpire to the sea.\nBlending of Just at this time, when growth in all material\nthe two ages things is proceeding at so rapid a rate, and when\nthe people of this great section are turning their\neyes with joyful anticipation toward the future,\nthe historic past is likewise claiming for itself,\nthrough the centennial anniversary of Lewis\nand Clark's exploration, an increased measure\nof attention. This is one of the fortunate things\nin the present situation; for if the spirit of the\npioneer age, its rugged independence, strong\nhomely virtues, and wholesome aspirations, can\nbe carried over and blended with the best the\nnew time gives, the future greatness of our\ncivilization in the Northwest is assured.\n APPENDIX\nGOVERNORS OF OREGON\nProvisional Government\nDavid Hill, Alanson Beers, and 1 , - -c ^ o. <. , o..\nJoseph Gale . . . . . . } Ist Exec- Com\" l8\u00ab to l844\nP-w tSbT'' \u00b0' RUSSeU' aQd > ** Exec. Com., 1844 to 1845\nW. J. Bailey j ^* ^\u00b0\nGeorge Abernethy June 3, 1845, to March 3, 1849\nTerritorial Government\nJoseph Lane March 3, 1849, to June 18, 1850\nKintzing Pritchett .... June 18, 1850, to Aug. 18, 1850\nJohn P. Gaines Aug. 18, 1850, to May 16, 1853\nJoseph Lane May 16, 1853, to May 19, 1853\nGeorge L. Curry ...... May 19, 1853, to Dec. 2, 1853\nJohn W. Davis Dec. 2, 1853, to Aug. 1, 1854\nGeorge L. Curry Aug. 1, 1854, to March 3, 1859\nState Government\nJohn Whiteaker\nA. C. Gibbs .\nGeorge L. Woods\nLa Fayette Grover\nS. F. Chadwick\nW. W. Thayer\nZ. F. Moody\nSylvester Pennoyer\nWilliam P. Lord\nT. T. Geer .\nGeorge E. Chamberlain\nMarch 3, 1859, to Sept. 10,\nSept. 10, 1862, to Sept. 12,\nSept. 12, 1866, to Sept. 14,\nSept. 14, 1870, to Feb. 1,\nFeb. 1, 1877, to Sept. 11,\nSept. 11, 1878, to Sept. 13,\nSept. 13, 1882, to Jan. 12,\nJan. 12, 1887, to Jan. 14,\n. Jan. 14, 1895, to Jan. 9,\n. Jan. 9, 1899, to Jan. 14,\nJan. 14, 1903, to\t\n295\n 296\nAPPENDIX\nGOVERNORS OF WASHINGTON\nTerritorial Government\nIsaac I. Stevens 1853 to 1857\nFayette McMullen 1857 to 1859\nR. D. Gholson 1859 to J86i\nW. H. Wallace 1861 to 1862\nW. M. Pickering 1862 to 1866.\nGeorge E. Cole . 1866 to 1867\nMarshal F. Moore 1867 to 1869\nAlvin Flanders 1869 to 1870\nEdward S. Salomon 1870 to 1872\nElisha P. Ferry 1872 to 1880\nW. A. Newell 1880 to 1884\nWatson C. Squire 1884 to 1887\nEugene Semple 1887 to 1889\nMiles C. Moore 1889\nState Government\nElisha P. Ferry 1889 to 1893\nJohn H. McGraw 1893 to 1897\nJohn R. Rogers 1897 to 1901\nHenry McBride 1901 to 1905\nAlbert E. Mead 1905\nGOVERNORS OF IDAHO\nTerritorial Government\nWilliam H. Wallace\nCaleb Lyon . . .\nDavid M. Ballard .\nSamuel Bard\nGilman Marston\nAlexander H. Connor\nThomas M. Bowen\nThomas W. Bennett\nDavid P. Thompson\nMarch 10, 1863, to Feb. 26, 1864\nFeb. 26, 1864, to April 10, 1866\nApril 10, 1866, to March 30, 1870\nMarch 30, 1870, to June 7, 1870\nJune 7, 1870, to Jan. 12, 1871\nJan. 12, 1871, to April 19, 1871\nApril 19, 1871, to Oct. 24, 1871\nOct. 24, 1871, to Dec. 16, 1875\nDec. 16, 1875, to July 24, 1876\n APPENDIX\n297\nMason Brayman July 24, 1876, to Aug. 7, 1878\nJohn P. Hoyt Aug. 7, 1878, to July 12, 1880\nJohn B. Neil July 12, 1880, to March 2, 1883\nJohn N. Irwin March 2, 1883, to March 26, 1884\nWilliam M. Bunn .... March 26, 1884, to Sept. 29, 1885\nEdward A. Stevenson . . . Sept. 29, 1885, to April 1, 1889\nGeorge L. Shoup April 1, 1889, to , 1890\nState Government\nGeorge L\nShoup . .\nN. B. Willey . . .\nWilliam J. McConnell\nFrank Steunenberg\nFrank W. Hunt . .\nJohn T. Morrison . .\nFrank R. Gooding\n1890 to 1891\n1891 to 1892\n1893 to 1897\n1897 to 1901\n1901 to 1903\n1903 to 1905\n1905\nU. S. SENATORS FROM OREGON\nDelazon Smith Feb. 14, 1859, to Nov. 3,\nJoseph Lane Feb. 14, 1859, to March 3,\nEdward D. Baker March 4, 1861, to Oct. 21,\nBenjamin Stark Oct. 21, 1861, to Sept. 11,\nBenjamin F. Harding . . . Sept. 11, 1862, to March 3,\nJames W. Nesmith .... March 4,1861, to March 3,\nGeorge H. Williams .... Marcji 4, 1865, to March 3,\nHenry W. Corbett .... March 4, 1867, to March 3,\nJames K. Kelley March 4,1871, to March 3,\nJohn H. Mitchell March 4, 1873, to March 3,\nJohn H. Mitchell March 4, 1885, to March 3,\nJohn H. Mitchell . March 4, 1901 (term expires March 3,1907)\nLa Fayette Grover .... March 4, 1879, to March 3,\nJoseph N. Dolph March 4, 1883, to March 3,\nGeorge W. McBride .... March 4, 1895, to March 3,\nHenry W. Corbett (Appointed by Governor, not seated; 1897)\nJoseph Senion Oct. 8, 1898, to March 3, 1903\nCharles W. Fulton, March 4, 1903 (term expires March 3, 1909)\n *^\n298\nAPPENDIX\nU. S. SENATORS FROM WASHINGTON\nWatson C. Squire .... March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1897\nJohn B. Allen ...... March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1893\nJohn B. Allen . . (Appointed by Governor, not seated; 1893)\nJohn L. Wilson March 4, 1895, to March 3, 1899\nGeorge Turner March 4,1897, to March 3,1903\nAddison G. Foster .... March 4, 1899, t0 March 3, 1905\nLevi Ankeny . . March 4, 1903 (term expires March 3, 1909)\nSamuel H. Piles . March 4, 1905 (term expires March 3, 1911)\nU. S. SENATORS FROM IDAHO\nWilliam J. McConnell . . . January, 1891, to March 3, 1891\nGeorge L. Shoup January, 1891, to March 3, 1901\nFred T. Dubois March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1897\nHenry Heitfeld March 4, 1897, to March 3, 1903\nFred T. Dubois . March 4,1901 (term expires March 3,1907)\nWeldon B. Heyburn, March 4,1903 (term expires March 3, 1909)\nCONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES FROM\nOREGON\nTerritorial Period\nSamuel R. Thurston .... Feb. 15, 1849, to April 9, 1851\nJoseph Lane June 2, 1851, to Feb. 14, 1859\nStatehood Period\nLa Fayette Grover .... Feb. 15, 1859, to March 3, 1859\nLansing Stout . . . . . . March 4,1859, to March 3, 1861\nGeorge K. Shiel March 4, 1861, to March 3, 1863\nJohn R. McBride March 4, 1863, to March 3,1865\nJ. H. D. Henderson .... March 4, 1865, to March 3, 1867\nRufus Mallory March 4,1867, to March 3,1869\nJoseph S. Smith March 4, 1869, to March 3,1871\nJames H. Slater March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1873\nJoseph S. Wilson , t , \u2666 . (Died before qualifying, 1873)\n APPENDIX\n299\nJames W. Nesmith .... March 4,1873, to March 3,1875\nGeorge A. La Dow .... (Died before qualifying, 1875)\nLa Fayette Lane Oct. 25, 1875,t0 March 3, 1877\nRichard Williams March 4, 1877, to March 3, 1879\nJohn Whiteaker March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1881\nM.C.George March 4,1881, to March 3,1885\nBinger Herman March 4,1885, to March 3, 1899\nW.R.Ellis March 4, 1893, to March 3,1899\nThomas H. Tongue, March 4,1897, to Jan. 11,1903 (died in office)\nMalcolm A. Moody .... March 4,1899, to March 3,1903\nBinger Herman, June 1,1903 (present term expires March 3,1907)\nJohn N. Williamson . . March 4, 1903 (present term expires\nMarch 3,1907)\nCONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES FROM\nWASHINGTON\nTerritorial Period\nColumbia Lancaster 1854 to 1855\nJ. Patton Anderson 1855 to 1857\nIsaac I. Stevens 1857 to 1861\nW. H. Wallace 1861 to 1863\nGeorge E. Cole 1863 to 1865\nA. A. Denny 1865 to 1867\nAlvan Flanders 1867 to 1869\nS. Garfielde 1869 to 1872\nA. B. McFadden 1872 to 1874\nOrange Jacobs 1874^1878\nThomas H. Brents 1878 to 1884\nC. S. Voorhees 1884 to 1888\nJohn B.Allen 1888 to 1889\nStatehood Period\nJohn L. Wilson March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1895\nW. H. Doolittle March 4, 1893, to March 3, 1897\nS.C.Hyde March 4, 1895, to March 3,1897\nW. L. Jones, March 4,1897 (present term expires March 3,1907)\nJames Hamilton Lewis . . . March 4,1897, to March 3,1899\n 300\nF. W. Cushman . .\nWilliam E. Humphrey\nAPPENDIX\n. . March 4,1899, to Nov. 4,1905\nMarch 4, 1905 (present term expires\nMarch 3, 1907)\nCONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES FROM\nIDAHO\nTerritorial Period\nWilliam H. Wallace .... March 4,\nEdward D. Holbrook . . . March 4,\nJacob K. Shafer March 4,\nSamuel A. Merritt .... March 4,\nStephen S. Fenn March 4,\nJohn Hailey March 4,\nGeorge Ainslie . . . . . March 4,\nTheodore F. Sinsriser\nMarch 4,\nJohn Hailey March 4,\nFred T. Dubois March\n1864, to\n1865, to\n1869, to\n1871, to\n1873, to\n1877, to\n1879,to\n1883, to\n1885, to\n4, 1887,\nMarch\nMarch\nMarch\nMarch\nMarch\nMarch\nMarch\nMarch\nMarch\nto Jan.\n3, 1865\n3, 1869\n3> 1871\n3,1873\n3,1877\n3, 1879\n3, 1883\n3, 1885\n3, 1887\n, 1890\nStatehood Period\nWillis Sweet\nEdgar Wilson .\nJames Gunn\nThomas L. Glenn\nBurton L. French\n. January, 1890, to March 3, 1893\n. March 4, 1893, to March 3, 1897\n. March 4, 1897, to March 3, 1901\n. March 4, 1901, to March 3,1903\nMarch 4, 1903 (present term expires\nMarch 3, 1907)\n Abernethy, George,\nLieutenant Wilkes, 173;\nernor, see Appendix.\nAdams, John Quincy, relation to\nOregon Question, 134, 136.\nAgriculture, 61; among Indians,\n65> H7> I55~I56\u00bb 221; at Van\"\ncouver, 120, 121; possibilities of,\non Columbia overestimated, 132;\nbegun by Wyeth's men, 145; at\nor near Willamette Mission, 149\u2014\n150; at interior missions, 152,\n155, 156, 22 f; in Willamette\nvalley, state of in 1841, 173\u2014\n174; advantages of, for, 160-\n161, 178-179, 206-207; effect of\ngold discovery on, 210; state of\nabout 1870, 279, 292, 293; on\nPuget Sound, 211,212, 243, 281;\nin southern Oregon, beginnings\nof, 246, 247, 280; irrigation, effects on, 293; in Inland Empire,\npossibilities tested by missionaries, 254, 255; testimony of General Stevens, 255; development\ndelayed by Indian War, 255-\n256; promoted by mining, 262;\nin Walla Walla valley, 262-266;\nin Grand Ronde\n269; other inland sections, 269\u2014\n270; development waits on railways, 270, 280; effects produced\nby railways, 282\u2014285; new conditions in, 286, 289, 291-293.\nAfrica, way around, opened by\nVasco da Gama\n> o*\nwise, 121; southern boundary\nfixed, 128, 207; Seattle's trade\nwith, 284.\nAlbatross, 112, 113.\nAlbion, New, 12, 13.\nAlleghany Mountains, crossing of,\nby pioneers, 58; communication\nwith East, 61.\nAmerica, Central, 2, 3.\nAmerican Board of Commissioners\nof Foreign Missions, sends Dr.\nParker to Oregon, 152. See\nMissions.\nAmerican Fur Company, organized\nby Astor, 100. See Astor.\nAmerican Philosophical Society,\nJefferson's connection with, 50,51.\nAnian, Straits of, mentioned by\nCarver, 49.\nApplegate, Jesse, \" A Day with the\nCow-Column\" quoted, 185-192;\n204; negotiates with H. B. Co.,\n212; on P. S. Ogden, 214; in\nsouthern Oregon, 246\u2014247.\nArctic Ocean, new knowledge concerning, gained by Hearne, 23,\n48; by Mackenzie, 97.\n101\n 302\nINDEX\nArgonaut, British vessel seized by\nSpaniards \u2022 at Nootka Sound,\n32-\nAricara villages, visited by Hunt's\nparty, 106.\n\"Ark,\" or flatboat, used on Mississippi, 61.\nArkansas River, 44, 45.\nArmada, Spanish, destroyed by\nBritish seamen, 15.\nArmstrong, Captain John, tries to\nexplore the West, 56.\nAshburton, Lord, makes treaty\nwith United States for Great\nBritain, 176.\nAshley, General William H., organizes Rocky Mountain Fur\nCo., 139; secures H. B. Co. furs,\n140; and the discovery of South\nPass, 142.\nAssiniboin River, 97.\nAstor, J. J., plans Western fur trade,\n100; see Columbia River fur\ntrade; urges U. S. to secure\nAstoria after treaty of 1814,\n124; tries to combine with Missouri Fur Co., 139.\nAstoria, founded, 103; described\nby Franchere, 103 ; emporium\nof Columbia River fur trade,\n103-114 ; bought by N. W. Co.,\nand afterward taken by the\nBritish warship Raccoon, 113;\nname changed to Fort George,\n113 ; restoration to U. S., 126.\nAthabasca River, 97.\nAustralia, Cook explores, 23;\ntrade with California, 236.\nBabcock, Dr. Ira L., goes to\nDalles mission, 171; elected\nsupreme and probate judge by\nWillamette valley settlers, 199.\nBaffin's Bay, 23.\nBagley, C. B., private library of,\n244; quoted, 281.\nBagot,\nBritish minister to\nU. S., protests against the Ontario's being sent to Columbia, 125.\nBaker, Dr. D. S., builds Walla\nWalla and Columbia River Railway, 270.\nCity, 276, 284.\nBalboa, discovers Pacific Ocean,\n1, 2 ; explores, 4, 27.\nBall, John, with Wyeth, first school\nteaclier in Oregon, 122.\nBear, grizzly, Lewis's encounter\nwith, 80.\nBear Flag revolt, 232-233.\nBear River, trail along, 238.\nBeaver, abundance of, on Columbia, 95.\nBeaver, Astor's second ship to\nColumbia, 107 ; sails to China,\n112.\nBeers, Alanson, and family, 151.\nBellingham Bay, coal found near,\n243-\nBenton, Thomas H., on Oregon\nQuestion, 133 ; writes letter to\nOregon people, 217; advocates\nrailroad to San Francisco Bay,\n272.\n , Fort, 261.\nBent's Fort, 220.\nBering, Vitus, Danish navigator in\nservice of Russia, discoveries,\n22, 31.\n Strait, 1; discovery of, 22,\n23, 26.\nBible, inquiry for, by Columbia\nRiver Indians, 147-148.\nBiddle, Captain, dispatched to\nColumbia, 124, 126.\n , Nicholas, edits Lewis and\nClark's journals, 93.\nBighorn Mountains, crossed by\nHunt's party, 166.\nBitter Root Mountains, crossed by\nLewis and Clark, 85, 86.\n INDEX\n303\nBlackfoot Indians, attitude toward Hunt's party, 106 ; 139.\nBlack Hawk, 250.\nBlanchet, Rev. Father, mission of,\nin Willamette valley, 173 ; attitude toward provisional government, 199. .\nBlockhouses, Fort Mandan a series\nof, 78.\nBlue Mountains, timber of, 269.\nBlue Ridge Mountains, Jefferson's\nhome near, 50.\nBoise, population of, 284.\n , Fort, 194, 209.\n valley, mining in, 257, 259;\nagriculture in, 269.\nBonneville, Captain, fur trader,\noperations in Oregon country,\n142.\nBoone, Daniel, 50, 58, 76; interviewed by Bradbury, 106 ; 180.\nBoston Ships,\" on California\ncoast, 229.\nBoston merchants, engage in the\nfur trade of N. W. Coast and\nChina, 37-39.\nBradbury, English naturalist, his\n\"Travels in America\" quoted,\n106.\nBrewer, -, missionary assistant,\ngoes to Dalles, 171.\nBritish Columbia, gold rush to,\n257-\nBroughton, Lieutenant, enters Columbia River, 42 ; takes possession of country for Great Britain,\n125-126.\nBryant, William Cullen, popularizes name \" Oregon,\" 128.\nBuchanan, James, writes to Oregon people, 217.\nBuffalo, herds seen by Lewis and\nClark, 78; in camp at night,\n80; hunted by emigrants, 189.\nBurnett, Peter H., helps raise emigrating company, 184; quoted,\n184-185, 207, 208; letters to\nN. Y. Herald, 195 ; \" Recollections,\" 208; goes to California,\n235-\nBurnt River, 257.\nCabrillo, Spanish explorer, explores\ncoast of California, 7, 8, 14, 31.\nCalhoun, John C, and Tyler, 178;\nopposes Oregon Territorial Bill,\n216, 217.\nCalifornia, origin of name, 6; discovery of, 7 ; coast explored, 7,\n8,9; Drake in, 12, 13; Vizcaino explores, 14; planting of\npresidios and missions, 16, 17,\n18; northern explorations from,\n18-21; ranches in, 161; conditions about 1846, 229 ; Sutter's\nFort, 230; Mexican War, conquest of California, 231-233;\ngold discovery and its effects,\n234-238;. on N. W., 239-248;\nrailroad built to, from the East,\n272-273 ; from Oregon, 275 ;\nrecent growth of, compared with\nthat of N. W., 283.\n , Gulf of, explored, 6, 7 ; mentioned, 44, 45.\n Peninsula, discovery, attempted colony, 5 ; missions in,\n17.\nTrail, 238.\nCanal, Erie, 138.\n , Interoceanic, first suggested\nrn 1523, 4.\nCanton (China), becomes center\nof the N. W. fur trade, 28.\nCape, East, named by Cook, 26.\n Flattery, saw-mill at, 242.\n of Good Hope, 13, 38.\n Horn, 33.\n Prince of Wales, 1, 26.\nCarver, Captain Jonathan, travels\nin the West, 46-47; uses the\nname \"Oregon,\" 47; his map,\n 304\nINDEX\n48-49; plan to seek the N. W.\nPassage, 49.\nCascade Mountains, divide the Oregon country into an eastern and\na western section, 253; broken\nthrough at one point by the\nColumbia River, 117, 253.\nCascades of the Columbia, passed\nby Lewis and Clark, 89 ; obstruction to navigation, 260.\nCatholics. See Missions and Blanchet.\nCattle Company, Willamette, formation and effects of, 161-163.\nCauldron Linn, 107.\nCayuses. See Whitman massacre.\nCedros Island, reached by Ulloa, 6.\nCelilo, or Great Falls of Columbia\nRiver, 89 ; obstructs navigation,\n260; canal around, 294.\nCentral America, passage through\nsought, 2, 3, 4.\nCentral Pacific Railway, 273. See\nRailways.\nChamplain, French explorer, 43.\nChampoeg, visited by Wilkes, 172 ;\nsettlers' convention at, to adopt\na plan of self-government, 202-\n204.\nCharles the Fifth, 9.\nChillicothe, town in Ohio where\nOregon meetings were held in\n\\ 1843, 187.\nChina, trade with, in furs begun,\n28; from U. S. opened, 36;\nLedyard's plan to trade with,\n36-37; Boston merchants send\nColumbia to Canton, 37 ; Astor's\nproject, 1 oi; Beaver sails for,\n112; Russian trade with, 101 ;\nthe China trade and Oregon\nquestion, 130 ; Chinese laborers\nbuild Central Pacific Railway,\n27 j.\nChinook Indians, trade with Lewis\nand Clark, 90.\nChittenden, Captain H. M., writes\na history of the fur trade, 138.\nChurchill River, 23.\nCibola, Cities of, 6.\nCincinnati, 137.\nCities, growth of, in California,\n236-237 ; in N. W., 283-285.\nCivil War, effect of, on Pacific railroad projects, 272.\nClackamas, county of, 210.\nClark, George Rogers, Jefferson\nwrites to, about a transcontinental expedition, 52.\n , John, fur trader of Astor's\nparty, builds Spokane House,\nno.\n , Miss, missionary teacher,\ngoes to Nesqually mission, 171.\n\u2014, William, selected as com\npanion by Lewis, 71 ; early\ncareer of, 71\u201472; brother of\nGeorge Rogers Clark, 71 ; relations with Lewis on the journey,\n72 ; appointed Indian agent for\nthe West, 92; receives Nez\nPerces visitors, 198; death, 92.\nSee Lewis and Clark's Expedition.\nClark's Fork, of Columbia River,\n85; D. Thompson builds fort\non, 109 ; Astor's men on, no ;\nreached by steamboats, 260.\nClatsop, county of, 210.\n , Fort, camp of Lewis and\nClark in Oregon, 90.\n Indians of lower Columbia,\n90.\nClay, Henry, 134.\nClayoquot Harbor, Columbia winters in, 38 ; Tonquin destroyed\nin, 104-105.\nClearwater River, Lewis and Clark\nembark at, 86 ; Lapwai mission\non, 154; gold mining on, 257,\n259 ; agriculture on, 269.\nCceur dAlene Prairie, 255.\n INDEX\n305\nColleges, in the N.W., 241.\nColorado River, discovered by\nAlarcon, 6; alluded to, 44, 45.\nColu?Jijbia and Lady Washington,\non N. W. coast, 37-42.\nColumbia River, first seen by\nHeceta, 21 ; Carver's lack of\nknowledge of, name \" Oregon \"\napplied to, 47 ; entered by Gray\nin ship Columbia, given vessel's\nname, 38-39 ; sought by Mackenzie overland, 97\u201498; explored by Lewis and Clark,\n69-93 > occupied for trading\npurposes by Astor, 99\u2014114; controlled by N. W. and H. B.\nCos., 114-123; American traders\nvisit, 139\u2014145; missions planted\non, 145-158 ; beginnings of\nAmerican colonization on, 144,\n149-150; British desire boundary at, 127, 135, 211; main\nportion of river falls to U. S. by\ntreaty of 1846, 216; navigation of, 260; improvement of,\n294.\n fur trade, begun by Astor\nparty in 1811, Astoria built,\n102-103; N. W. Co.'s agents\nbuild trading posts on upper\nColumbia, but arrive at mouth\nof river too late to prevent\nAmerican occupation, 108-109 >\nship Tonquin destroyed, 104\u2014\n105; Hunt's overland party, 105\u2014\n107; ship Beaver arrives at\nAstoria, 107; Fort Okanogan\nfounded, 109-110; expansion of\ntrade, no\u2014in ; news of war,\neffect of, 111-113; N. W. Co.\nin control, trade renewed, 115 ;\nH. B. Co. absorbs N. W. Co., 116;\ndominates fur trade of northern\nhalf of North America, 116; Dr.\nJohn McLoughlin in charge on\nthe Columbia, 117; builds Fort\nVancouver as western emporium,\n117\u2014118; description of fort and\nbusiness at, n 8-123; monopoly\nmethods, 123, 145; value of the\ntrade, 120.\nColumbus, town in Ohio where an\nOregon convention was agitated\nin 1843, ^3f 214.\nColville, trading post at, 119; mining near, 257, 259.\nCommerce, influence of East India\ntrade on explorations, 3, 5 ;\nSpanish, with Philippines, 9, 14;\nof trans-Alleghany country with\nNew Orleans, 61, 62; cut off\nby Spaniards, 63; influence on\nLouisiana Purchase, 63\u201464; a\nhighway for, to the Pacific, see\nLewis and Clarke Expedition\nand Oregon question ; Wyeth's\ncommercial scheme, 142-145 ;\nbetween Hawaii and Oregon,\n166, 169, 170; Fort Vancouver\nas a market, 174; facilities for,\nin early Oregon, 179, 207; on\nPuget Sound, 212; in California,\n229; importance of San Francisco, 236; her commercial influence on N. W., 236-237, 240,\n241, 242, 243 ; of Puget Sound,\n242, 243,244; of Inland Empire,\n258-260, 262, 265, 266, 270; of\nsmall towns, 279; of Spokane,\n285; causes growth of cities,\n289; Montana trade, 260-262;\nof Portland, 262-279, 283; commercial development of Puget\nSound, 283-284; world commerce of Pacific N. W., 289, 294.\nSee Columbia River Fur Trade\nand Missouri River.\nCompact, government by, illustrated by Oregon provisional\ngovernment, 203.\nCone, Rev.\n171.\nW.\nmissionary,\n 306\nINDEX\nCongress. See Oregon question\nand Oregon, Washington, and\nIdaho territories.\nConstitution, 102, 172-173.\nConstitutional convention, in Oregon, 255 ; adoption of Constitution, 260.\nCook, Captain James, explores\nN. W. Coast, 22-27, 28, 42, 48.\n Inlet, in Alaska, 28.\nCoos Bay, settlements begun at,\n248; coal mining at, 280.\nCoppermine River, explored by\nHearne, 23.\nCoronado, 6.\nCortez, Hernando, explores Pacific\ncoast, 4, 5, 6, 7; 31.\nCoues, Dr. Elliott, historian, his\nmuster roll of Lewis and Clark's\nparty, 75; editor of journals, 93,\n108.\nCouncil Bluff, named by Lewis and\nClark, 77.\nCowlitz River, 117.\nCox, Ross, I Adventures,\" etc., 114.\nCuadra, Spanish navigator, on N.\nW. Coast, 21, 25; 31.\nCushing, Caleb, report on Oregon\nquestion, 167, 168.\nDakota, 260.\nDalles of Columbia, or Long Narrows, 89; native fish market,\n94; 171, 256.\nDana, Richard H., \"Two Years\nbefore the Mast,\" 161.\nDarien, 1, 2.\nDartmouth College, Ledyard attends, 33, 34.\n\"Deception Bay,\" named by\nMeares, 39.\nDemocratic convention, 1844, endorses \"Fifty-four-forty,\" 215.\nDes Chutes River, Wyeth traps\nbeaver on, 145; followed by\n1845 emigration, 210.\nDiscovery and Resolution, Cook's\nships, 23-26.\nDouglas, James, factor of H. B.\nCo., 175.\n , Stephen A., introduces Oregon Territory Bill, 217.\nDowning, Susan, missionary, 151.\nDrake, Sir Francis, cruise in\nPacific, 10-14.\nDu Bois River, Lewis and Clark\ncamp at, 75.\nDunn, John, \"Oregon Territory,\"\netc., quoted, 121.\nDye, Eva Emery, author of\n\"Conquest,\" 75; \"McLoughlin\nand Old Oregon,\" 118.\nEdgecumbe, Mt., discovered, 21;\nnamed, 25.\nEdwards, P. L,, with Lee, 149;\nin Willamette Cattle Co., 162.\nEells, Rev. G, missionary at\nTsimakane, 156.\nElizabeth, Queen, 10, 13.\nElm Grove, emigrant camp at,\n184.\nEmigration, to Kentucky, Tennessee, etc., 58; necessary for safety\nof Mississippi River, 65; to Missouri valley, 76; no need to\ncross Rockies, 94; few had\ncrossed in 1827, 135; settlement of Oregon question waits\nupon, 136; to middle West,\n1820, 137, 138; early settlers\non Willamette, 149, 150; to\nOregon stimulated, 163; political conditions favoring, 167;\nOregon Provisional Emigration\nSociety, 168-170; Jason Lee\npromotes, 171, 172; condition\nof emigrants of 1841, 172-174;\nWhite's company, 175, 176;\nthe great emigration, 177-195;\ncauses of, 177-180; organization, 182, 184, 185, 190; the\n INDEX\n307\nmarch, cow-column, 185-192;\nat Fort Hall, 192, 193; the road\nwestward, 193, 194; Whitman\nas guide, 194; reaches Willamette, 195; sources for, 195;\neffect on provisional government, 196, 204; on later emigrations, 206, 207; of 1844,\n207-208; of 1845, 208-209;\nnew road followed, 209\u2014210;\nlater, see Puget Sound, California, Inland Empire, Southern\nOregon, Railways.\nEmpress of China, ship which\nopened the China trade, 36.\nEngland, 15, 28, 29, 33, 34,\nJ2'\nExploration of Missouri and Columbia valleys. See Lewis and\nClark Expedition, Missouri River,\nand Columbia River.\n of the North. See Hearne,\nSamuel, and Mackenzie, Sir\nAlexander.\nof the Pacific coast, by Balboa\nand his companions, from Panama\nto the Gulf of Fonseca, 4; by\nCortez, from Mexico to the California Peninsula, 5; by Ulloa, to\nlatitude 280, 6; by Cabrillo and\nFerelo, to about latitude 420, 7-\n9; by Drake, 10-14; by Vizcaino, 14; by Russians in Alaska,\nto about 6o\u00b0, 16, 21, 22; by\nPerez, from Monterey to about\n540 40', 18-20; by Heceta and\nCuadra, to about 580, 20-21; by\nCook, from 440 to above Cape\nPrince of Wales, 22\u201427.\n\u2014 of the West, by Champlain\nand Nicolet, from Canada to\nWisconsin, 43-44; by Joliet,\nMarquette, and La Salle, to the\nGulf of Mexico, 44; Verendrye\ndiscovers the Rocky Mountains,\n45-46; the French hope to reach\nthe Pacific via the Missouri and\na west-flowing river, 45-46;\nCarver in the West, see Carver.\nFarnham, T. J., visits Oregon, 166;\nwrites on California and Oregon,\n166.\nFelice, British ship seized by Spaniards at Nootka Sound, 37.\nFerelo, Spanish explorer, with Cabrillo, 7, 8.\nFisheries, whale, on N. W. Coast,\n130, 207; Wyeth's salmon fishing project, 144,145, 169; value\nof, 179, 289.\nFlathead Indians, mission planned\nfor, by Methodists, 148; traders\namong, 109, no.\nFletcher, Francis, historian of\nDrake's voyage, 10; quoted,\nI3;\nFlorida, 16; Jefferson tries to buy\nWest Florida, 64; purchase of\nFlorida, 128; Spanish rights on\nPacific granted to United States\nin treaty with Spain, 128.\nFloyd, Charles, with Lewis and\nClark, dies on journey, 77.\n , John, begins Oregon agitation\nin Congress, 129; speech on\nOregon bill, 130\u2014131; his predictions fulfilled, 262.\nFonseca, Gulf of, reached from\nPanama, 4.\nForests of the N. W. See Lumbering.\n\"Forty-niners,\" 235.\nFox River, 44.\nFrance, 9, 15, 43-46; attempt to\ncontrol the West, 63; sells Louisiana to U. S., 68.\nFranchere, Gabriel, clerk of P. F.\nCo., \"Narrative,\" 102-103, Ir4>\ngoes to Canada, 113.\nFranciscans, founders of California\nmissions, 17\u201418.\n 3o8\nINDEX\nFraser, Simon, British explorer,\ndescends Fraser River to the\nPacific, 98.\n River, Mackenzie navigates,\n97-\nFremont, John C, first \"path-\nfinding\" expedition, 176; in\nCalifornia, 232, 233.\nFrost, Rev. J. H., missionary, 171.\nFuca, Juan de, legend of, concerning strait, 25.\nFur trade, of Canada, begun by\nChamplain, 43; plan of French\nto trade across the continent,\n46; British H. B. Co. organized,\nits trade, 96-97 ; N. W. Co. succeeds French traders of Canada,\n97; its westward operations, 97-\n98; Mackenzie's trading project,\n98; Northwesters threaten to take\npossession of the Columbia, 98.\nSee Columbia River, Hudson's\nBay Company, and Northwest\nCompany.\n , of the N. W. Coast, begun\nby Cook's men, 29; British\ntraders, Hanna, Meares, etc., 29\u2014\n32; occasions the Nootka Sound\ncontroversy, 32-33; Americans\ninterested in N. W. Coast, Ledyard's trading project, 35-36;\nBoston merchants send ships\nto the N. W. Coast, 37-39. See\nColumbia River.\n , of the United States, as old\nas the American colonies, influence of, in early times, 95-96;\ngovernment trading houses, 65;\nlack of organization prior to\nLewis and Clark's exploration,\n96; effects of exploration on, 100,\n138-139. See Astor, Columbia\nRiver, and Missouri River.\nGallatin, Albert, negotiates treaty\nwith Great Britain, 134-136,159.\nGama, Vasco da, 3.\nGenet, French minister to U. S.,\nhis plans, 63.\nGeorge, Fort. See Astoria.\nGillespie, Lieutenant A., with Fremont in California, 231.\nGolden Hind. See Drake.\nGood Hope, Cape of, 13.\nGovernment, first American, on the\nPacific. See Oregon provisional\ngovernment.\nGrand Ronde valley, entered by\nHunt, 107; crossed by emigrants, 194; settlement of and\nconditions in, 266-267.\nGray's Harbor, discovered by Gray,\n38; native of, reports Tonquin\ndisaster, 104.\nGray, Robert, on ship Lady Washington, 37; on Columbia to China\nand to Boston, 38; discovers\nColumbia River, 38-40.\nGray, William H., with Whitman,\n153; goes East and returns with\nwife, 156; helps form provisional\ngovernment, 201.\nGreat Britain, 16; sends out Captain Cook to explore N. W.\nCoast, 24, 29; Nootka convention, 32, 34, 48, 49, 53; interest\nin the West, 64, 109, 111; and\nthe Oregon Question, 124-126,\n163, 164, 168, 175, 176, 177-\n178; hopes to secure northern\npart of Oregon, 211; U. S. willing to give it up, 213, 214, 215;\nconcedes 49th parallel boundary,\ntreaty, 216.\nGreeley, Horace, quoted, 206; editorial on Whitman, 220.\nGreen Bay, 44.\nGreen River vallev, 106.\nGrenville Point, Heceta takes possession for Spain at, 20.\nGuerriere, 173.\nGulf of Mexico, 44.\n St I93~I94-\nHancock, Samuel, 241, 242.\nHanna, James, begins N. W. Coast\nfur trade, 29.\nHaro, Spanish sea captain, 31.\nHaswell's diary, quoted, 37.\nHealy, P. J., owner of California\nmanuscripts, 233.\nHearne, Samuel, explorations of,\nCoppermine River, 23, 48.\nHeceta, Spanish navigator, 20; discovers Columbia River, 21, 31,\n39-\nHelena, mining camp at, 258.\nHenry-Thompson Journals, The,\"\n109, 114.\nHines, Rev. Gustavus, missionary,\n171; address at Champoeg, 202.\nHolman, F. V., 169.\nHolland, 15.\nHood River valley, illustrates effects of irrigation, 292.\nHoward, British sea captain, 15.\nHowse Pass, discovered by D.\nThompson, 108.\nHudson Bay, 16; port at, 19; York\nFactory, 116.\nHudson's Bay Company. See Fur\ntrade of Canada and Columbia\nRiver fur trade. Description of\nthe trade at Hudson Bay, 97;\nconflict with N. W. Co., Red\nRiver Colony of Lord Selkirk,\n116; consolidation with N. W.\nCo., 116.\nHudson, Henry, perishes in the\nsearch for Northwest Passage,\n22.\nHumboldt River, route of Central\nPacific Railway, 273.\nHunt, Wilson Price, partner of\nP. F. Co., 105; gathers party for\nColumbia, 105; the overland\njourney, 106-107; sails from\nAstoria in ship Beaver, 111;\ntrade at Sitka, 112; goes to\nHawaii, 112; to Columbia, atti-\ntude on affairs there, 112-113;\nleaves Columbia River, 113.\nIdaho, mining in, 258, 259; agriculture, 269; plan to unite northeastern Washington with northern Idaho, etc., 282; admitted\ninto the Union, 284; cities of,\n284; population in 1870, 279;\npresent extraordinary growth of,\ndue in part to irrigation, 292.\nIllinois, Oregon emigration movement in, 170, 183.\nIndependence, town in Missouri,\nstarting point of emigration parties going to Oregon, California,\nSanta Fe, etc., 183.\nIndian affairs, for the West, Clark\nin charge of, 92.\n War, Cayuse, causes of, 222-\n223; the Whitman massacre,\n223; captives ransomed, 223-\n224; the Oregon provisional\ngovernment proclaims war, 224;\npreparations and military operations, 224-225; effect on Congress, 225-227; the Rogue River\nWar, causes and results, 248-\n249; other wars, 249-251; effects\non emigration to Inland Empire,\nfH 256.\nIndians, California, 8, 13, 17, 18;\nNorthwest, 19, 20. See Fur trade,\nMissions, and Indian War.\nInland Empire, source for the study\nof, 244; discussed, 253-270; its\nextent and character, 253-254;\nagricultural possibilities, 254-\n255; effect of Indian War on\nsettlement of, 256; discovery of\ngold in and its effect, 257-258;\n\" tenderfeet \" and \"yondersid-\ners,\" 258; pack trains, 258-260;\nsteamboats on upper Columbia,\n \/\n3io\nINDEX\nwagon roads, 260\u2014262; competition between St. Louis and\nPortland for Montana trade, 261\u2014\n262; agriculture in Walla Walla\nvalley, 264-266; in Grand Ronde\nvalley, 266, 269; railroad agitation, 270.\nIowa, emigration from, to Oregon,\n183.\nIphigenia, British ship, seized at\nNootka by Spaniards, 37.\nIrrigation, employed by missionaries at interior missions, 156;\ndevelopment of, in Pacific N. W.,\n292-293.\nIrving, Washington, \"Astoria\" referred to, 106, 107, 114; \"Captain Bonneville,\" 142.\nIsaac Todd, N. W. Co.'s ship, arrives at Fort George, 115; brings\ncattle to Columbia River, 121.\nJackson, Andrew, President, interest in Pacific coast, 160; sends\nSlacum to Oregon, 160-161.\n\u2022' ' , David, fur trader, 139, 140,\n141.\n, John R., settles near Puget\nSound, 211\nJackson Creek, in southern Oregon, gold found on, 247.\nJacksonville, Oregon, founded, 247.\nJames the First, instructions to\nLondon Co. about exploration\ntoward the Pacific, 43.\nJamestown, 15.\nJefferson, Thomas, two sources of\ninterest in the West, 49-51; his\nletter to Steptoe, 51-52; letter\nto G. R. Clark, 52; relations\nwith Ledyard, 53-56; \u2022 with Michaux, 56; concerned for safety\nof the Mississippi, 63-64; tries\nto buy New Orleans and West\nFlorida, 64; connection between\ndefense of the Mississippi and\nJefferson's plan to extend the\nIndian trade, 64-66; and the\nproposal to send an exploring\nexpedition up the Missouri, 66;\noutline of the message of January 18, 1803, which provides for\na government expedition \" to the\nWestern Ocean,\" 64-67; Jefferson buys Louisiana, relation of\nthis incident to the proposed expedition, 68; sends Lewis and\nClark, 69-93.\nJohn, Chief, 250.\nJohn Day's River, mining in, 257;\npacking to, 259.\nJohnson, Elvira, missionary, 151.\n , seaman, settled at Champoeg, 172.\nJoliet, French trader and explorer,\n44.\nJones, T. Ap. C, commodore, takes\nMonterey, 232.\nJoint-Occupation, Treaty of, 127;\ndefinition of, 127; 2d Treaty of,\n136.\nJournals of Spanish priests with\nPerez, 18; Jefferson's instructions to Lewis concerning, 72;\npublication of Lewis and Clark's,\n93; Thompson's, 108; Henry-\nThompson's, 109, 114; Wyeth's,\nedited by F. G. Young, 145.\nKamiah, interior mission, 156.\nKamiakin, Indian chief, 250.\nKamtchatka, 54.\nKamloops, fort of H. B. Co. on\nFraser River, 119.\nKansas City, 183.\nKansas River, traders from, seen\nby Lewis and Clark, 76.\nKearny, General S. W., in California, 233.\nKelley, Hall J., begins Oregon agitation, 129; influences Wyeth,\n142, 147; visits Oregon, 162.\n Utititgt&t\nINDEX\n311\nKendrick, Captain John, 37.\nKenton, Simon, 180.\nKentucky, early settlement of,\npopulation in 1800, 58.\nKlamath Lake, Fremont returns\nfrom, to California, 232.\nKlickitat, 265.\nKootenai, fur-trading station, no;\nmining region of, 257, 259.\nLa Charette, Boone's home, 75,106.\nLady Washington, ship, on N.W.\nCoast, 37.\nLa Grande, town in Grand Ronde\nvalley, 266.\nLane, General Joseph, appointed\ngovernor of Oregon Territory,\nsketch, 227-228; 235; introduces Washington Territory Bill\nin Congress, 245; services in\nRogue River War, 249; settles\nin southern Oregon, 246; 251.\nLangley, fort of H. B. Co. on\nFraser River, 119.\nLapwai. See Missions.\nLa Salle, explorer of the Mississippi, 44.\nLedyard, John, early life, 33-34;\nwith Captain Cook, 34; back to\nAmerica, seeks support for trading expedition to N.W. Coast, 35-\n36; publishes account of Cook's\nexpedition, 36; in France, 53-\n54; meets Jefferson, 55; plans\nto explore North America from\nNootka Sound eastward, 55;\nhis Siberian journey, 55\u201456; in\nAfrica, death, 56.\nLee, Rev. Daniel, missionary, with\nJason Lee, 149.\n\u25a0 , Rev. Jason, founds Oregon\nmission, 148-149; returns to the\nEast, 165; his influence on Congress, 167; raises colonizing\nparty for Oregon, reaches the\nColumbia on Lausanne, 171.\nLeschi, Indian chief, 250.\nLeslie, Rev. David, missionary, 151.\nLewis, Captain Meriwether, early\nlife, 69-70; Jefferson's private\nsecretary, 70; character, 70;\nchosen to lead exploring expedition, 69; return journey to Washington, 92; governor of Missouri\nTerritory, mysterious death, 92.\nSee Lewis and Clark's Expedition.\n and Clark's Expedition, origin of, 57-68; appointment of\nleaders, 69-71; instructions, 72^\n74; preparations, the party, 74\u2014\n75; the start, 75-76; Indian\ncouncil, 77; at Fort Mandan,\n78-79; from Mandan to the\nRockies, 79-82; Shoshones, Sacajawea, 82; the west slope of\nthe Rockies, 82-86; on the Columbia, 86-89; reach the Pacific,\n.89; at Fort Clatsop, 89-90; return journey, 92; sources for the\nstudy of, 93.\n River, discovered and named\nby Clark, 85 ; name \" Snake\nRiver\" not used in this book,\n85.\nRiver Desert, 107.\nLiberty, Missouri town, outfitting\nplace for trapping parties, 153.\nLinn, Dr. Lewis F., U. S. Senator\nfrom Missouri, active in behalf\nof Oregon, his report on, 164-\n165; 166; 168; his bill passes\nSenate, 182; popular agitation\nto secure passage through the\nHouse, 183, 213-214.\nLivingston, Robert R., instructed\nto buy New Orleans and West\nFlorida, 64.\nLolo Trail, followed by Lewis and\nClark, 85.\nLovejoy, A. L., companion of Dr.\nWhitman, 219, 220.\n:' -,ta\u00ab-t\"7r\u00abr\n 312\nINDEX\nLouisiana, conditions in Lower, 63,\n64; purchase of, 68 ; transfer of\nUpper, witnessed by Captain\nLewis, 75.\nLouisville, important western town,\n137-\nLumbering, exceptional advantages\nfor, in Pacific N. W., 289-290;\nearlier development, see Manufacturing.\nMackenzie, Sir Alexander, explores\nMackenzie River, also a route to\nPacific, 97 ; fur-trading project\nof, 98, 99 ; nearly realized, 116.\nMackinac, Hunt secures men from,\n105.\nMagellan, Spanish navigator who\nfirst rounded South America, 2.\nMalheur River, 209, 250.\nMay Dacre, Wyeth's ship, 144,\n148-149.\nMayflower Compact, 203.\nMammoth, Jefferson's efforts to get\nbones of, 51.\nMandan, villages visited by St.\nLouis traders, 75; reached by\nLewis and Clark, 78.\n , Fort, Lewis and Clark's camp,\nwinter of 1804-1805, 78-79,\nManufacturing ships, 4; first built\non N.W. Coast, 37, 38, 49 ; ark,\nor flatboat, 61; Lewis and Clark\nbuild canoes, 86; ships built at\nVancouver, 121 ; on Willamette,\nStar of Oregon, 172; on upper\nColumbia, 260; importance of\nshipbuilding industry, 289 ; lumber mills, at Vancouver, 121 ;\nopportunities for, in Willamette\nvalley, 179 ; erection of, promoted by gold rush to California,\n240; on Puget Sound, beginnings of, 242 ; later development\n.of, 280; in Grand Ronde valley,\n269 j flour mills, at Vancouver,\n121 ; erected by missionaries\non upper Columbia, 156 ; The\nMill (Salem), 173; in Walla\nWalla valley, 265 ; special development at Spokane, 285;\nother lines of manufacturing,\n289-290.\nMarquette, Father, French priest\nand explorer, 44, 46.\nMarshall, J. W., discovers gold in\nCalifornia, 134.\nMartinez, Spanish navigator, seizes\nBritish ships at Nootka Sound,\n3l-32-\nMcCarver, M. M., 204; quoted,\n207.\nMcLoughlin, Dr. John, arrives at\nFort George, 117 ; builds Fort\nVancouver, 117; management\nof fur trade, 117\u2014123; entertains Jedediah Smith, 141,\nWyeth, 145, Dr. Parker, 152,\nthe Whitman party, 154 ; equips\nmen for farming, 150 ; promotes\ntemperance society, 151 ; subscribes to the Willamette Cattle\nCo., 162; makes loans of stock\nand supplies to American settlers, 174 ; tries to prevent them\nfrom settling north of the Columbia, 211 ; accepts the provisional government, 212.\nM'Dougal, D., P. F. Co. partner,\nno.\nMeares, Captain John, N.W. Coast\ntrader, ship seized by Spaniards,\n32, 39-\nMeek, Joe, first sheriff of Oregon,\n202; sent to Washington, 225,\n227; appointed U. S. marshal,\n228, 235.\n , Stephen H. L., misguides\nemigration of 1845, 2\u00b09'\nMendoza, Viceroy of Mexico, sends\nAlarcon, Cabrillo, and Ferelo to\nexplore Pacific coast, 6, 7.\n INDEX\n313\nMexico, 4, 5, 6, 9.\nMichaux, Andre, has project to\nexplore the West, failure, 56.\nMissions, in Lower California, 17 ;\nin California, planting of, 17\u2014\n18; French project for on\nPacific, 46; in middle West,\n146-147 ; the Nez Perces delegation to St. Louis, 147\u2014148.\n\u25a0 , Methodist, in Oregon, beginnings on Willamette, 148-\n149; influence on Willamette\nsettlers, 149\u2014150; progress of,\n151 ; reinforcements, 151, 165,\n171\u2014172 ; expansion of effort,\n171\u2014172; becomes a colony,\n173.\n , Congregational or Presby\nterian, Parker's tour into the\nOregon country, 151, 153 ; mission sites chosen, 152, 153 ; the\nWhitman party, 153 ; journey of,\n154; begins two stations, 154-\n155 ; expansion of work, 155,\n156 ; social conditions, 156\u2014158 ;\nproblems of, 218, 219 ; action\nof American Board, see Whitman ; decline of, 1843 to 1847,\n221, 222; the Whitman massacre, 222, 224; break-up of\ninterior missions, 224.\n\u2014, Catholic, in Willamette val\nley, 173 ; political influence of,\n199 ; in interior, 218, 219.\nMississippi River, 16 ; explored\nby French, 43-44; geographical effect of, 45; Missouri branch,\n45\u201446 ; West dependent on, 61,\n62 ; early commerce of, 61, 62 ;\nopposition of Spain on, 62, 63 ;\nJefferson's interest in, 63-68.\nSee Lewis and Clark's Expedi-\ndition.\nMissouri, Oregon emigrations rendezvous in, 153, 183, 208.\n1 River, see Mississippi ; prom\nises a route to the Pacific,\n45-46 ; Carver's plans, 47, 49 ;\nexploration of, see Lewis and\nClark's Expedition; a commercial route to the Pacific, 130,\n262 ; fur trade of, 96, 97, 100,\nI38, 139, 141 ; road from, to\nWalla Walla, 261 ; railroad\nroute to Pacific, 272.\nM'Kenzie, Donald, fur trader with\nAstor and N. W. Co., no, in,\n115, 116.\nMofras, Duflot de, visits Oregon,\n172.\nMoluccas, importance of spice\ntrade with, 3, 5.\nMonopoly. See Hudson Bay Co.,\n123.\nMonroe, James, helps secure treaty\nwith France in 1803, 64.\nMonterey, harbor discovered, 8;\nfortified mission at, 18; base\nfor northern explorations, 18-20.\nMontreal, Astor secures men from,\n105, 109.\nMorris, Robert, favors Ledyard, 26.\nM'Tavish, J. G., N. W. Co. fur\ntrader, brings war news to\nColumbia, in ; secures transfer\nof Astoria to N. W. Co., 112-\n113-\nMullan, Captain John, builds Mullan Road, 261.\nNapoleon, secures Louisiana from\nSpain, 57; sells to U. S., 68.\nNebraska, battleship built at\nSeattle, 2S9.\nNelson River, route of fur trade to\nHudson Bay, 98, 99.\nNesmith, J. W., with 1843 emigration, 185; 204; at Northern\nPacific Railroad celebration, 277.\nNetal River, now Lewis and Clark's\nRiver, site of Fort Clatsop, 90.\nNew Archangel (Sitka), 101.\n 314\nINDEX\nNew Orleans, the market for the\ntrans-Alleghany West, 61 ; Jefferson tries to buy, 64.\nNew York, Astor seeks to center\nfur and China trade at, ioo-ioi.\nNez Perces Indians, send delegation to St. Louis, 147-148; 151,\n154.\nNicaragua Lake, discovered, 4.\nNicolet, Jean, French trader, 43.\nNolan, Philip, Jefferson writes to\nabout wild horses, 51.\nNootka convention, treaty between\nSpain and Britain, 32.\n\u2014\u2014\u2014 Sound, discovered by Perez,\n19; Cook names, 25; and the\nColumbia, 28-42; first sale of\nsea-otter skins in Canton, 28;\neffects of, 29; early fur trade,\n30; Nootka Sound the center\nof, 30-31 ; Russia pushes down\nthe coast, 31 ; Spanish rights\nthreatened, 31 ; Spain fortifies\nNootka Sound, 32; Spaniards\nseize British vessels at Nootka,\n32; the Nootka Sound controversy and its settlement, 32-\n33; influence upon American\ninterests in the Pacific N. W., 33.\nNorth Dakota, Fort Mandan in, 78.\nNorthwest America, first sea-going\nvessel built on N. W. Coast, 37.\n Coast, definition of, 20; and\nAlaska, 15-27.\n Company, origin and growth\n\u00b0f> 97 '\u25a0> occupation of the country west of the Rockies, 97-98,\n108-109; acquisition of Astoria\nas a result of the War of 1812,\nIII-113 ; consolidation with\nH. B. Co., 115-116.\n\u2014 Passage, 3, 16, 22.\nOgden, Peter Skeen, factor of\nH. B. Co., 175 ; saves Waiilatpu\ncaptives, 223, 224.\nOhio, population in 1800, 58;\nOregon meetings in, 183, 213-\n214.\n Statesman, newspaper, source\nof information on Cincinnati\nOregon convention of 1843, 214.\nOkanogan, Fort, founded by Astor\nparty, in.\nOlympia, beginnings of, 212 ; prosperity after the gold rush, 241,\n242 ; territorial government begun at, 245 ; population in 1870,\n280.\nOnalaska, or Unalaska, Ledyard\nexplores, 34.\nOntario, warship sent to Columbia,\n124, 126.\nOrbit, brig which began the lumber trade from Puget Sound to\nCalifornia, 242.\nOregon Historical Society, publications of, 145, 195, 208, 281.\n , origin of name, 47, 128.\n provisional government, early\npolitical conditions, 197; first\nstep toward self-government,\n198-199 ; cause of failure, 199-\n200; new agitation, the \" wolf-\nmeeting,\" 200; Champoeg meeting, 201-202; officers chosen,\n202; the first organic law, 203;\ngovernment by compact, 203;\nweakness of the first provisional\ngovernment, 204-205; saved by\nthe great emigration, 204-205;\nits final success, 206; the H. B.\nCo. accepts its authority, 211-\n212; effect on Oregon question,\n213; undertakes a war against\nthe Cayuse Indians, 224; terminates, 228.\n question, situation on Columbia when War of 1812 came,\n108-113; sale of Astoria to N.W.\nCo., 113; taken by Raccoon, 113;\nquestion of its restoration under\n INDEX\n315\ntreaty of Ghent, 124; British\nrights first asserted in 1817,125;\nU. S. to have right of possession\nof Columbia till question of\nownership could be settled, 125\u2014\n126 ; Joint-Occupation Treaty,\n126-127; first discussion of\nboundary, 127-128; lack of\nnational interest in Oregon,\nBryant's \"Thanatopsis,\" Kelley's\npamphlets, 128-129; in Congress, 129; Floyd's resolution,\nreport, and bill, 129; second\nbill, debate, Floyd's argument,\n129-131; Bailies's predictions,\n131-132; Tracy's \"practical\"\nviews, 132 ; defeat of bill, 133 ;\nBenton's Senate speech, 132;\nfirst diplomatic discussion over\nOregon, 134; second diplomatic\ndiscussion, Gallatin, 135-136;\nreasons for failure, 136; the\nquestion dropped, 1827\u20141837,\n159; Slacum in Oregon, 160\u2014162;\nreport, 163; Oregon discussion\nresumed in Congress, Linn's bill\nand report, 164-165; Jason Lee\nin the East, T. J. Farnham's visit\nto Oregon, petitions and memorials, 165-168; Cushing's report,\n167; Oregon Provisional Emigration Society, 168-170; local\nemigrating companies, 170 ;\nLee's colony of 1840, 171-172 ;\nOregon in 1841, 172-175 ;\nWhite's company of emigrants,\n1842, 175-176; the Ashburton\nTreaty, 176; the great emigration\nof 1843, 177-195; see Emigration.\u2014 Establishment of provisional government for Oregon;\nsee provisional government. \u2014\nEffect on Oregon question, 213;\nOregon convention at Cincinnati,\n213-214 ; \" Fifty-four-forty,\"\n214-215 ; Polk President, his\nattitude, 215; Britain offers compromise, 216.\n\u2014 State, agitation for statehood,\nadoption of Constitution, and\nadmission into the Union, 251\u2014\n2C2\n\u2014 Steam Navigation Company\nopens river trade with Wallula,\n259; extends operations on upper\nColumbia, 260, 262; becomes the\nOregon Railway and Navigation\nCo., 276.\n\u2014 Territory, President Polk\nrecommends creation of, 216,\n218, 227; bills for, 216, 218,\n227; slavery influence in Congress opposes, 217, 218, 227;\npassage, 227 ; General Lane,\nfirst governor, 227; government\ninaugurated, 228 ; terminates,\n252.\n\u2014 Trail, 238.\nOregonian and Indians Advocate^\n169.\nOregonian, The Sunday, of Portland, Oregon, reprints Lee and\nFrost's \" First Ten Years of Oregon,\" 149.\nOrient, trade with, from Pacific\nN.W., 295. I j\nPacific Fur Company. See Astor\nand Columbia River Fur Trade.\nPalouse, wheat-raising region of\nPacific N.W., 285.\nPanama Canal, affects Pacific\nN. W., 294.\n , Isthmus of, 1, 235, 274.\nParker, Dr. Samuel, A. B. C. F. M.,\nmissionary, explores Oregon,\nI5I~I53-\nPeace River, ascended by Mackenzie, 97-99.\nPedlar, ship used by Hunt, 113.\nPen d'Oreille, Lake, N. W. Co.\nfort at, 109; navigation to, 260.\n 3i6\nINDEX\nPerez, Juan, explores N. W. Coast,\n18-20, 31.\nPerkins, Rev. H. K. W., missionary, 151.\nPhilippines, discovered by Magellan, conquest and commerce\nwith, 9.\nPioneer and Democrat, Puget\nSound newspaper, used as\nsource, 244, 265.\nPitman, Miss, 151.\nPlatte River, Oregon Trail along,\n141, 185, 238.\nPocatello, city in Idaho, population of, 284.\nPolk, James K., elected President,\n213; settles Oregon question,\n214.\nPopulation, of middle West about\n1800, 58; in 1820, 137; of Oregon, in 1841, 172; in 1846, 210;\nof California, in 1850 and i860,\n237; of the N. W., in 1850 and\ni860, 237; of Oregon and\nWashington, in i860, 252; of\nthe Inland Empire, 266, 269;\ndistribution of, in N. W., about\n1870, 278-280; later growth,\n283\u2014285; prospects for increase\ndue to irrigation, manufacturing,\netc., 292-294.\nPortland, a new village at time of\nCalifornia gold rush, 240; emporium of trade to Inland Empire, 262; metropolis of the\nN. W., 1870, 279; progress of\npopulation, 283.\nPortneuf River, trail along, 238.\nPort Townsend, lumber mill at, 242.\nPortugal, 3; flag of, used by\nBritish N. W. traders, 29, 32.\nPowder River, mining on, 257,\n259; agriculture on, 269.\nPrevost, J. B., receives Columbia\ncountry from British at Astoria,\n126.\nPrickly Pear River, 259.\nPrincess Royal, British ship seized\nby Spaniards at Nootka, 32.\nPuget Sound, Fort Nesqually and\nMethodist Episcopal mission on,\n171; first settlement on, 210\u2014\n212; California miners from, 235;\ncommercial progress of, 236,\n241; lumbering on, 242; discovery of coal, 242\u2014243; increased population, 242, 244;\ndemands separate territory, 244,\n245; project of railroad to, 271;\npopulation on, 279; lumbering,\n280, 281; social conditions, importation of women from the\nEast, 281; growth of cities on,\n283, 284.\n Agricultural Company, 211.\n Herald, used as source, 244.\n\" Quarterly,\" of Oregon Historical\nSociety, 195, 208, 281.\nRaccoon, British warship, takes\nAstoria, 113.\nRailways, 61; inland country waits\nfor, 270; Walla Walla and Columbia River line, 270 ; age of,\nin Pacific N. W., 271; early\nPacific railway projects, Asa\nWhitney, 271; George Wilkes,\n271\u2014272; influence of Civil War\non, 272; first Pacific railway\ncompleted to San Francisco Bay,\n273; effect of, 273-274; insufficient for N. W., 274; connecting lines planned, 274, 275;\nOregon-California Railway, 275;\nHenry Villard, 275-277; Oregon Railway and Navigation Co.,\n276; Northern Pacific completed, 277; later railway building, 278; effect of, 278-285.\nResolution and Discovery, Cook's\nships, 23.\n INDEX\n317\nRiver of the West, early ideas concerning, 43-44; relation to Missouri, 45, 46; Carver's report\nand map, 46\u201449; Jefferson and,\n53. See Columbia.\n\" Rocky Mountain Exploration,\"\nby Reuben Gold Thwaites,\nquoted, 72.\nRocky Mountains, Verendrys discovers, 46: crossed by Lewis\nand Clark, 82; difference in\ncharacter of east and west slopes,\n82, 84, 92; Mackenzie crosses\nby Peace River, 97; David\nThompson crosses by Howse\nPass, 108; eastern boundary of\nOregon, 127; a supposed inaccessible barrier to westward\nemigration, 132; explored by\nLong, 133; American fur traders\nenter, 139; Jedediah Smith\ncrosses to California and to Oregon,. 140-141; wagons taken\ninto, 1830, 141; discovery of\nSouth Pass, 141; first wagons to\ncross, 142; road opened to Fort\nHall, 144; completed to Columbia, 1843, J93*\nRogers, Rev. C, missionary, 156.\nRogue River valley receives settlers, 247.\n War. See Indian War.\nRoseburg, Oregon and California\nRailway completed to, 275.\nRoss, Alexander, eterk of P. F.\nCo., at Okanogan, th<\nFur\nHunters,\" quoted, no; 114.\nRush, Richard, negotiates with\nBritain on Oregon, 134, 135.\nRussia, explorations of, in Alaska,\n16, 20, 22, 25; government of,\narrests Ledyard, 54; treaty with\nU. S., 128; Astor's trade with\nRussians in Alaska, 101, 112;\nH. B. Co.'s trade'with, 121.\nSacajawea, guide to Lewis and\nClark, 75, 82.\nSacramento valley, 231.\nSalem, origin of, 172, 173; constitutional convention at, 251.\nSalmon River, Captain Clark descends, 85; mining on, 257, 259.\nSan Carlos, mission of, 18.\nSandwich Islands, Cook discovers,\n24; account of, relations with\nOregon and California, 167.\nSan Diego Harbor, discovered, 7;\nnamed, 14; fortified, mission at,\n17, 18.\nSan Francisco, becomes the commercial emporium of Pacific\ncoast, 236; population, 237.\nSan Jacinto (Mt. Edgecumbe), 21,\n25-\nSan Miguel, Gulf of, where Balboa\n- reaches the Pacific, 1; Bay of,\nlater called San Diego, 7; Island\nof, 8.\nSanta Fe, possible route to Pacific\nby way of, 53.\nSanta Marguerita, a discovery made\nby Perez, 19.\nSantiago, exploring ship of Perez\nand Heceta, 18, 20.\nSaskatchewan River, 97.\nScribner's Magazine cited, 90.\nSea-otter, importance of, 28, 29,\nandff.\nSeattle, beginnings of, 242; shipload of women arrive at, 281;\nher marvelous growth in twenty\nyears, 284; battleship Nebraska\nbuilt at, 289; importance of\nAlaska trade, 284.\nSelkirk, Lord, founds Red River\ncolony, 116.\nSerra, Father Junipero, founds California missions, 17.\nShepard, missionary, 151.\nShe Whaps River and Lake, fur\ntrade upon, no.\nttx* iiAtinn!i*ili:\n 3i8\nINDEX\nShively, J. M., Oregon emigration\nagent at Washington, 182.\nShoshone Indians, aid Lewis and\nClark, 82.\nSiberia, Ledyard's journey in, 55.\nSierras, gold found in, 234.\nSimmons, M. T, pioneer settler on\nPuget Sound, 211, 212.\nSimpson, Sir George, governor of\nH. B. Co., 117; visits Oregon,\n172.\nSiskiyou Mountains, crossed by\nOregon men going to California,\n234;\" railway across, 275.\nSitka, 101.\nSlacum, W. A., sent to Pacific coast,\n160; visits Willamette valley,\n160-161; promotes cattle company, 161-162; returns to U. S.\nand reports, 163.\nSmith, A. B., missionary, 156.\n , Jedediah, 119; visits California, 140; crosses to Oregon,\n141; attacked by Umpqua Indians, 141; at Vancouver, 141;\ntakes wagons to Rocky Mountains, 141.\nSnake River. See Lewis River.\nSociety Islands, Wyeth's ship\nwrecked at, 143.\nSonora, Cuadra's ship, 20, 21.\nSouth Pass. See Rocky Mountains.\n Sea, discovered by Balboa,\n1, 2; explored, 5, 44, 45.\nSowles, Captain, in charge of ship\nBeaver, 112.\nSpain, her power on the Pacific, 9,\n10; decline of, 15, 16; plans of,\n16, 17; executes plans, 17-21;\ngives up exclusive claim to N. W.\nCoast, 32; treaty with U. S., 128.\nSpalding, Rev. H. H., joins Whitman, 153; wife an invalid on\njourney, 154; they settle at\nLapwai mission, 154-155; his\naccount of the mission, 221.\nSpectator, The, New York newspaper used as source, 220.\nSpokane, beginnings of, and account of development, 285.\n House, P. F. Co. trading\nstation, built by Clark, in.\n River, no. '\nStar of Oregon, a vessel built on\nWillamette, m 1841, 172.\nSt. Elias, named, 25.\nSteptoe, Jefferson writes letter to,\nStevens, General Isaac I., appointed\ngovernor of Washington Territory, 245-246; sketch of, 245-\n246; opinion of inland country,\n255; explores Northern Pacific\nRailroad route, opinion of, 272;\nhis treaties with Indian tribes,\n255-256; \"Life of,\" by Hazard\nStevens, 246.\nSt. James, H. B. Co. fort, 119.\nSt. Louis, Captain Lewis at, 75;\nimportant western trade center,\n138, 139.\nStock-raising, beginnings of in\nN.W., 121; advantages of Willamette valley for, 160; Willamette Cattle Co., 161-163;\nfavored land for, 178; in Inland\nEmpire, 254, 279; dairying,\n292; in southern Oregon, 246,\n280.\n1 Strait,\" the search for a, 2, 3.\nStrong and Schafer, \" Government\nof American People \" cited, 203.\nStuart, David, P. F. Co. partner,\nbuilds Fort Okanogan, 109-110.\n , Robert, P. F. Co. partner,\nsent East from Astoria, wanders\nin Rocky Mountains, 110.\nSublette, William L., Rocky Mountain fur trader, 139,140,141,143.\nSutter, Captain John A., settles in\nCalifornia, 230, 233, 234.\nSutter's Fort, 230-231.\n INDEX\n319\nTacoma, beginnings, population in\n1870, 281; rapid growth, 283-\n284.\nTaos, 220.\nTecumseh, Indian chief, 250.\nTennessee, population in 1800,\n58.\n\" Thanatopsis,\" popularizes the\nname \" Oregon,\" 128.\nThompson, David, geographer of\nN. W. Co., appears at Astoria,\n108; discovers Howse Pass, 108;\nplants forts on upper Columbia,\n109; opposes P. F. Co., 109;\njournal quoted by Dr. Coues,\n108.\nThorn, Captain Jonathan, in charge\nof Tonquin, 102; at mouth of\nColumbia, 103; at Clayoquot,\ntrouble with Indians, death, 104,\n105.\nThree Forks, of the Missouri,\nLewis and Clark at, 81.\nThwaites, Dr. Reuben Gold, quoted,\n72; publishes plan of Fort Qat-\n. sop, 90; edits Lewis and Clark's\njournals, 93; John B. Wyeth's\nbook, 145.\nTonquin, Astor's first ship to the\nColumbia, 102; loss of men at\nmouth of river, 103; northern\ncruise, destruction of, 104-105.\nTracy, Rev. Frederick P., editor\nof Oregonian and Indian*s Advocate, 169.\n , of New York, speech on\nFloyd's bill, 132-133.\nTrappers, American, sent to Rocky\nMountains by Ashley, 139; come\nin contact with H. B. Co. trappers, 139\u2014140; party of settlers\nin Willamette valley, 172.\nTribune, the New York, cited,\n206, 220.\nTsimakane, mission on Spokane\nRiver, 156. See Missions.\nTualatin, County, in Oregon, 210;\nAcademy, 241.\nTurner, Professor Frederick J.,\n\" Significance of Frontier,\"\nquoted, 95, 96.\nTyler, President John, quoted on\nOregon question, 178.\nUlloa, Spanish explorer, sent out\nby Cortez, 5, 6, 7, 31.\nUmatilla Landing, 259.\nUmpqua, Fort, 119.\n valley, settlement of, 246-\n247; railroad to, 275.\nUnion Pacific, 276. See Railways.\nVancouver, Captain George, 42.\n , Fort. See Hudson's Bay\nCompany.\nVerendrye, discovers Rocky Mountains, 46.\nVillard, Henry, interested in Oregon railways, 275; organizes\nOregon Railway and Navigation\nCo. to build line up Columbia\nvalley, 276; secures control of\nNorthern Pacific Railroad, 276;\ncompletes Northern Pacific Railroad, 277; \" Memoirs of,\" 277.\nVizcaino, Spanish explorer, in California, 14, 15, 17.\nWaiilatpu. See Missions.\nWaldo, Daniel, 204.\nWalker, C. M., with Jason Lee,\n149.\n , Rev. Elkanah, missionary at\nTsimakane, 156.\n , Joseph, leads portion of\nBonneville's men to California,\n142.\nWalla Walla River, Fort Walla\nWalla-at mouth of, 115 ; mission\nsite selected on, 152-153 ; mission on, 154.\n valley, settlement of, 259,\n260, 261 ; development, 262,\n w*s\n320\nINDEX\n265-266 ; military post in, 259 ;\ncommercial activity of Walla\nWalla town, 259-260; importance of, 280.\nWaller, Rev. A. F., missionary at\nOregon City station, 171.\nWallula, 270.\nWar of 1812, effect on Oregon, see\nOregon question.\nWashington Statesman, source\nused, 244.\n\u2014\u2014 Territory, included in early\nOregon, see Oregon Territory,\nColumbia River, and provisional\ngovernment ; early settlement,\nsee Puget Sound ; agitation for\nseparate territory, 244; first\nnewspaper, 244; first territorial\nmeeting, 244 ; second meeting,\nmemorial to Congress, 245 ;\nLane's bill for creation of the\nTerritory of Columbia, 245;\namended and passed, 245 ; General Stevens governor, 245 ;\ngold inH see Mining and Inland Empire ; becomes a state,\n284.\n , State of, admitted, 284;\ncities of, 283, 284, 285 ; effects\nof commerce and of irrigation,\n289, 292.\nWayne, Anthony, 71.\nWebster, Daniel, concludes Ashburton treaty, 176.\nWestern Engineer, steamboat\nused by Long's exploring party,\n138.\nWhite, Dr. Elijah, comes to Oregon, 151, 173; appointed Indian\nagent, takes emigrants to Oregon, 175-176, 200.\nWhitman, Dr. Marcus, with Dr.\nParker, 152 ; brings missionaries to Oregon, 153-154 ;\nfounds interior missions, 154-\n155 ; guides emigration of 1843,\n193-194; reasons for his famous\nwinter ride, 218-219; difficulties\nand hardships on journey, 219,\n220; missions decline, 221-222 ;\nthe Whitman massacre, 223;\nWhitman's opinion of inland\ncountry, 254.\nWhitney, Asa, his railroad project,\n271.\nWilderness Road, 58, 180.\nWilkes, Lieutenant Charles, in\nOregon, 172-174.\n , George, plans national railroad to Pacific, 271-272, 275.\nWillamette Cattle Company, 161-\n163.\n , Indians of, a sickly, degraded\nrace, 151, 173.\n Mission. See Missions.\n- valley. See Emigration and\nStock-raising.\nWilson, Dr. J. R., on Oregon\nquestion, 168.\n\u2014\u2014, W. H., missionary, 151.\n. Wind River Mountains, crossed by\nHunt's party, 106, 141.\nWisconsin Historical Society,\nlibrary of, used, 214.\nWood, Tallmadge B., quoted,\n207.\n\" World Encompassed, The,\"\nFletcher's account of Drake's\nvoyage, 10.\nWyeth, Nathaniel J., interested in\nOregon, 142; trading project,\n143 ; first journey to Columbia,\n143; return to Boston, second\njourney, 144 ; plans ruined, 145 ;\ninfluence on settlement of Oregon, 145 ; his journals and letters, 145.\nYakima valley, settlement of, 265 ;\nagriculture in, 269 ; an irrigated\nsection, 292.\nYamhill County, Oregon, 210.\n INDEX\n321\nYellowstone River, described by\nLewis and Clark, 80.\nYoncalla, founded and named by\nJesse Applegate, 246.\nYork, Captain Clark's negro servant, 75.\nYork Factory, 116.\nYoung, Ewing, organizes cattle\ncompany, 161-162; death, estate, 198-199.\n , Professor F. G., edits Wyeth's\njournals, 145 ; Quarterly^ 195.\nYoung's Bay, 90.\ntfcai&t tut t*?n.2.t.e-f: \u00a3* \u00a3\u2022;\u00a3\u2022\n Tarr and McMurry's Geographies\nA NEW SERIES OP GEOGRAPHIES IN TWO. THREE, OR FIVE\nVOLUMES\nBy RALPH S. TARR, B.S., F.Q.S.A.\nCornell University\nAND\nFRANK M. 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