diff options
Diffstat (limited to '41493-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 41493-0.txt | 16528 |
1 files changed, 16528 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/41493-0.txt b/41493-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d9e74f --- /dev/null +++ b/41493-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16528 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41493 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + On page 80, "mearly" may be a typo for "merely". + On page 98, "could't" may be a typo for "couldn't". + The text refers to both "The Dalles" and "the Dalles". + On page 160, "ever charge" may be a typo for "every charge". + On pages 178 and 179, Rev. Waller's name is spelled Alvan then + Alvin. + On page 274, "Lahiana" may be a typo for "Lahaina". + + + + + THE + QUARTERLY + OF THE + OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY + + VOLUME IV + MARCH, 1903-DECEMBER, 1903 + + EDITED BY FREDERIC GEORGE YOUNG + + J. R. WHITNEY, STATE PRINTER + SALEM, OREGON + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + + +SUBJECT INDEX. + + PAGE + Astoria, The Educational History of. Alfred A. Cleveland 21-32 + + Astoria, Social and Economic History of. Alfred A. + Cleveland 130-149 + + Baker, Dorsey S.: A Pioneer Railroad Builder. Miles C. + Moore 195-201 + + Bancroft, The Origin and Authorship of the Pacific + States Publications: A History of a History. William + Alfred Morris 287-364 + + Calapooia, The Upper. George O. Goodall 70-77 + + Captain of Industry in Oregon, A Pioneer (Joseph Watt). + James R. Robertson 150-167 + + Centennial, The Lewis and Clark. F. G. Young 1-20 + + Corrections, Some. F. G. Young and H. S. Lyman 86-87, 286, 409 + + Civil War, Oregon and its Share in the. Robert Treat + Platt 89-109 + + Code of Oregon, History of the Preparation of the First. + James K. Kelly 185-194 + + Cone, Anson Sterling, Reminiscences of. H. S. Lyman 251-258 + + Documents:-- + + First Installment--Two Whitman Sources: "Arrival from + Oregon"--an editorial from the _New York Daily Tribune_ + of March 29, 1843, and "Cruising in the Sound"-- + communication to the _New York Spectator_, April 5, + 1843; newspaper excerpts relating to the Oregon + emigration movement 1842-1843 168-184 + + Second Installment--Oregon material taken from file of + an Independence (Mo.) and Weston (Mo.) paper for + 1844-1845 and from other papers in that vicinity 270-286 + + Third Installment--Letter of Jedediah S. Smith, David + E. Jackson, and William L. Sublette (1830) giving an + account of the taking of the first wagons to the Rocky + Mountains and of the Hudson Bay Company post, Fort + Vancouver, also operations of Company in Oregon Country + & excerpts from St. Louis papers, 1832-1848, on the + migration to and settlement of Oregon 394-409 + + Early Days in Oregon, Glimpses of. Charlotte Moffett + Cartwright 55-69 + + Easts, Two, The Great West and the. Henry E. Reed 110-129 + + Economic History of Astoria, Social and. Alfred A. + Cleveland 130-149 + + Educational History of Astoria, The. Alfred A. + Cleveland 21-32 + + Holman, Joseph, Short Biography of. Dictated by himself 392-394 + + Hopkins, Mrs. Rebeka, Reminiscences. H. S. Lyman 259-261 + + Independence (Mo.), Excerpts from papers of 270-286 + + Indian Tradition, Minto Pass; Its History and an. John + Minto 241-250 + + Indian Wars of Southern Oregon. William M. Colvig 227-240 + + Industry, a Pioneer Captain of, in Oregon. (Joseph + Watt) 150-167 + + Jackson, David E., Letter of, with Jedediah S. Smith + and William L. Sublette 395-398 + + La Bonte's, Louis, Recollections of Men. H. S. Lyman 264-266 + + Lane County, Early Schools in. Jos. H. Sharp 267-268 + + Lewis and Clark, The, Centennial. F. G. Young 1-20 + + Minto Pass: Its History and an Indian Tradition. John + Minto 241-250 + + Montures on French Prairie, The. S. A. Clarke 268-269 + + Oregon and Its Share in the Civil War. Robert Treat + Platt 89-109 + + Oregon, History of the Preparation of the First Code of. + James K. Kelly 185-194 + + Oregon, Indian Wars of Southern. William M. Colvig 227-240 + + Pacific States Publications, The Origin and Authorship + of the Bancroft. William Alfred Morris 287-364 + + Papers, Pioneer, of Puget Sound. Clarence B. Bagley 365-385 + + Paternalism, An Object Lesson in. T. W. Davenport 33-54 + + Puget Sound, Pioneer Papers of. Clarence B. Bagley 365-385 + + Railroad Builder, A Pioneer: Dorsey S. Baker. Miles C. + Moore 195-201 + + Rees, Willard H., In Memoriam of. John Minto 386-391 + + Reminiscences Anson Sterling Cone. Mrs. Rebeka Hopkins, + Mrs. Anna Tremewan, and Louis La Bonte 251-266 + + San Francisco. From Walla Walla to Captain John Mullan, + U. S. A. 202-226 + + Schools, Early, in Lane County. Jos. H. Sharp 267-268 + + Social and Economic History of Astoria. Alfred A. + Cleveland 130-149 + + Smith, Jedediah S., Letter of, with David E. Jackson + and William L. Sublette 395-398 + + Southern Oregon, Indian Wars of. William M. Colvig 227-240 + + Sublette, William L., Letter of, with David E. Jackson + and Jedediah S. Smith 395-398 + + Tremewan, Mrs. Anna, Reminiscences of. H. S. Lyman 261-264 + + Walla Walla, From, to San Francisco. Captain John + Mullan, U. S. A. 202-226 + + West, The Great, and the Two Easts. Henry E. Reed 110-129 + + Weston (Mo.), Excerpts from papers of 270-286 + + Wood, Tallmadge B., Letters of 80-85 + + + + +AUTHORS' INDEX. + + + PAGE + _Bagley, Clarence B._--Pioneer Papers of Puget Sound 365-385 + + _Cartwright, Charlotte Moffett_--Glimpses of Early Days + in Oregon 55-69 + + _Clarke, S. A._--The Montures on French Prairie 268-269 + + _Cleveland, Alfred A._--The Educational History of + Astoria 21-32 + + _Cleveland, Alfred A._--Social and Economic History of + Astoria 130-143 + + _Colvig, William M._--Indian Wars of Southern Oregon 227-240 + + _Davenport, T. W._--An Object Lesson in Paternalism 33-54 + + _Goodall, George O._--The Upper Calapooia 70-77 + + _Jackson, David E._--Letter of, with Smith and + Sublette 395-398 + + _Kelly, James K._--History of the Preparation of the + First Code of Oregon 185-194 + + _Lyman, Horace S._--Reminiscences of, Anson Sterling + Cone; Mrs. Rebeka Hopkins; Mrs. Anna Tremewan; Louis + La Bonte 251-266 + + _Lyman, Horace S._--Some Corrections 86-87 + + _Minto, John_--Minto Pass: Its History and an Indian + Tradition 241-250 + + _Minto, John_--In Memoriam of Willard H. Rees 386-391 + + _Moore, Miles C._--A Pioneer Railroad Builder: Dorsey S. + Baker 195-201 + + _Mullan, Captain John_--From Walla Walla to San + Francisco 202-226 + + _Platt, Robert Treat_--Oregon and Its Share in the + Civil War 89-109 + + _Reed, Henry E._--The Great West and the Two Easts 110-129 + + _Robertson, James Rood_--A Pioneer Captain of Industry + in Oregon (Joseph Watt) 150-167 + + _Sharp, Jos. H._--Early Schools in Lane County 267-268 + + _Smith, Jedediah S._--Letter of, with Jackson and + Sublette 395-398 + + _Sublette, William L._--Letter of, with Jackson and + Smith 395-398 + + _Wood, Tallmadge B._--Letters of 80-86 + + _Young, Frederic George_--The Lewis and Clark + Centennial 1-20 + + + + + THE QUARTERLY + OF THE + OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY. + + VOLUME IV. MARCH, 1903 NUMBER 1 + + + + +THE LEWIS AND CLARK CENTENNIAL. + +THE OCCASION AND ITS OBSERVANCE. + + +Much that seems favorable, and not a little that is clearly +unfavorable, has come to the Lewis and Clark Centennial because its +date is just a year later than that of the Louisiana Purchase +Centennial. A striking advantage in this close succession is, however, +still to be used. It is the idea of a centennial at Portland in the +Columbia Valley in the very next year following one at Saint Louis on +the Mississippi that needs to be exploited. In this close succession +of these two centennials of the access of the American nationality to +regions of which one lies far beyond the other we have the key to the +fullest interpretation of the national significance of the anniversary +of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Nothing else could so tellingly +exhibit the basis for a peculiar national interest in our anniversary +as the fact that it is virtually contemporary with that to be observed +at Saint Louis. The purchase of Louisiana bears practically the same +natal relation to the western half of the Mississippi Valley that the +Lewis and Clark expedition does to the Pacific Northwest. This the +average American citizen no doubt finds it hard to realize. Oregon, +however, can boast age over the other commonwealths west of the +Mississippi, excepting only Missouri and Iowa and they are barely +older. + +The western half of the Mississippi Valley has far outstripped us in +material development. Nevertheless, considering the conditions of +isolation under which the people of Oregon have labored they can be +justly proud of the progress that has been made here in all lines of +endeavor. Saint Louis will be justified in vaunting in 1904 the +achievements and results of a century of development in the region of +which she is the metropolis; but Portland, as the metropolis of the +Pacific Northwest, would have been culpably derelict if she had not +undertaken an observance of the centennial of the Lewis and Clark +expedition that shall emphasize to the nation and to the world the +significance of the occupation of the Pacific coast by the American +people, and to foster the aspirations of one of the most favored +sections on the face of the earth. The basis of our claim to a +national recognition of our anniversary is something more solid than +the fact that we have added what we have to the material strength of +the nation. The secret of the unparalleled effort that Oregon proposes +to make for the observance of the Lewis and Clark centennial lies +deeper than a mere feeling of exultation over material development and +the hope of advertising our resources to the world. + +The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition has clearly two unique and +complementary missions. It should bring fully into the national +consciousness the historic services through which this nation attained +an outlook upon the Pacific comparable with that on the Atlantic, and +the significance of this to the future of the American people. It +should address itself to the peculiar problems of progress on this +coast and thus mark an epoch in the added impetus, the better +organization, and the higher aims it gives us as a people; rightly +planned it would be an exposition of patriotic national services and +of the problems of largest social progress--an exposition of western +history and western problems. + +The Lewis and Clark expedition and the Oregon movement, or the +American movement to the Pacific, which the Lewis and Clark expedition +initiated, have not yet had anything like an adequate interpretation +in American history. Oregon represents the greatest opportunity in our +national life--an opportunity that the fathers of Oregon made as well +as seized. A sequel to the Oregon opportunity, or rather a part of it, +were the immense gains south of the forty-second parallel on the +Pacific Slope. Through the Oregon opportunity realized this American +democracy has a territorial basis for supremacy among the nations of +the world, and this nation and all mankind will profit from it to the +end of time. The Louisiana Purchase was not an opportunity made, but +only one accepted when it was tossed into the nation's lap. The Oregon +opportunity, as it stands in history and in promise for the future--in +what is realized and in what is only potential--is in its import only +second to the American opportunity. It had to do with the winning of a +domain that made our nation four-square and continental, with a +national territory commensurate with the spirit and possibilities of +the American people. + +The development of the situation on this coast, which the Lewis and +Clark expedition converted into America's opportunity, was something +like this: Four hundred years ago this continent lay unoccupied save +by a race destined to melt away before the onslaughts of the sturdier +European. The Spaniard, schooled by eight centuries of crusading +against the Moor, whom he had finally driven from Spanish soil, was in +the moment of victory, when his hands were free and spirit exultant, +pointed by Columbus the supposed way to the Indies, long-famed for +unparalleled riches. Spanish hopes were high and the cavaliers came +on. + +They passed by the West Indies in quest of gold. Cortes and Pizarro +found something of their hearts' desire in Mexico and Peru. So on they +pressed down the west coast of South America and up the west coast of +North America and across the Pacific; but the vigor of the Spaniard +was about wasted. He hung helplessly to his outposts on the flanks of +the Pacific Northwest. At the beginning of the last quarter of the +eighteenth century he rallied and sent vessels up and down the coast +of Oregon; but his explorations were not determinate, and they were +not followed by occupation. Early in the eighteenth century the +Muscovite, advancing eastward across Siberia, had reached the shores +of the Pacific, and soon gained a foothold on our northern shores, +with designs on all this coast. England, too, was ready to have a hand +in the contest for this last great territorial prize on the North +American continent. Elated by her decisive victories over her mortal +enemy, France, and, by the treaty of Paris, 1763, the proud possessor +of all of the eastern half of this continent, of India, mistress of +the seas, conscious also of the great advantages that the invention of +the steam engine, the power loom and other machinery gave her, she +dispatched explorers to scan the different quarters of the globe for +new possessions. Captain Cook outlined the shores of Australia and of +many other lands of the south seas, and in 1778 was off the Oregon +coast. At the same time enterprising Britons were pressing westward +along the Great Lakes and overland toward this still available portion +of the continent. Thus, the progressive nations of the world were +closing in on this last choice imperial domain of the temperate zone +awaiting a pre-emptor--the possessor of which would be the natural +master of the Pacific. At this critical juncture the then young +American nation was fortunate in the spirit of maritime enterprise +among the merchants of Boston. Seeking the profits of trade in furs +which the voyage of Cook had revealed, they sent Captains Gray and +Kendrick to the North Pacific coast, and in 1792 Gray, in the ship +Columbia, performed the feat that secured to this country priority of +right to the basin of the Columbia. Still more fortunate was this +country at this time in having the prescient mind of Thomas Jefferson +devoted to its interests. While Gray's vessel was lying in the +Columbia he was getting up a subscription for sending explorers +overland to the Pacific. Even ten years before this he had proposed an +expedition to the Pacific under the leadership of George Rogers Clark. +He then had it in mind to head off an English enterprise of which he +had heard; but it was not until 1803, twenty years after his first +effort in this direction, that Jefferson succeeded in getting the +means for the first and by far the most important of our national +exploring expeditions--the Lewis and Clark. + +But this was not simply an exploring expedition. It represents better +than any other one event the expansion of this nation from the +Mississippi to the Pacific. The expedition was great not merely even +in what it symbolizes. It was grandly great in itself, in its +inception, and in execution. It was the herald of the American +democracy making its way across the continent to the Pacific, but it +was more. There was the highest nobility of purpose in its inception, +and matchless skill and fortitude in its execution. Not only in the +train of its consequences, but in every aspect was it glorious and +worthy of a national celebration. The burden of the special message of +January 18, 1803, through which President Jefferson secured an +appropriation for it, was the maintenance of the factory system, or +the trading posts, among the Indian tribes of the west. Jefferson +took keenest delight in a project to extend the bounds of knowledge +and which he hoped would open a water route of commerce across the +continent with Asia. Yet on the face of it the Lewis and Clark +expedition had primarily its inception as a means for promoting the +success of these government trading posts among the Indians. This +governmental policy, connected with the administration of the factory +system, was the one comprehensive, wise, and humane national effort to +raise a lower race to the plane of civilization. The idea was to +supply the Indian at cost, in exchange for his furs and other +products, the implements of husbandry and the comforts of civilized +life, at the same time to protect him from the demoralizing influences +of the vicious among the white men. The Lewis and Clark expedition was +thus in its origin associated with a work of the largest philanthropy, +"a system," says Captain Chittenden, author of "The American Fur Trade +in the Far West," "which, if followed out as it should have been, +would have led the Indian to his new destiny by easy stages, and would +have averted the long and bloody wars, corruption, and bad faith, +which have gained for a hundred years of our dealings with the Indians +the unenviable distinction of a 'Century of Dishonor.'" + +In his instructions to the leaders of the expedition Jefferson showed +the tenderest solicitude for the welfare of the red man. The +expedition could not have been in better hands. Captain Chittenden +says of it: "This celebrated performance stands as incomparably the +most perfect achievement of its kind in the history of the world." Dr. +Elliott Coues has this about it: "The story of this adventure stands +easily first and alone. This is our national epic of exploration." To +appreciate the unique skill of leadership in this expedition we need +but compare its success with the wretched failure of the "Yellowstone +Expedition" of 1820, which was to have gone over but a part of the +route of Lewis and Clark. This had an outfit many times more expensive +than that of Lewis and Clark and ten times as many men; but it went to +pieces before it got beyond what is now Omaha. + +Unique as the Lewis and Clark expedition was in its original purposes +and in its execution, the Oregon people are sponsors for the +celebration of its coming centennial anniversary mainly because of the +consequences with which it was fraught. Theodore Roosevelt, in his +"Winning of the West," speaks of it as opening "the door into the +heart of the West." His book has the date mark "1896." It was written +before the battle of Manila, and the treaty closing the +Spanish-American war which placed the Philippines permanently under +our care, before America's determining part in preserving the +integrity of China after the quelling of the Boxer insurrection. It +was written before President Roosevelt had set his eyes upon the +Pacific Northwest. If, after the latter days of this month (May), he +ever again has occasion to characterize the import of the Lewis and +Clark expedition, his dictum will be more like this: "It led to the +acquisition of the whole Pacific Coast, containing the fairest and +richest regions under the American flag, and made inevitable the +American mastery of the Pacific and American supremacy among the +nations of the world." It is, surely, not preposterous to expect a +revision of the verdict of history on the significance of the Lewis +and Clark expedition. Henry Adams, than whom no scholar has done +better work on the history of the United States, in volume IV of his +history, with date mark, 1890, speaks of the Lewis and Clark +expedition in this wise: "The crossing of the continent was a great +feat, but it was nothing more. * * Great gains to civilization could +be made only on the Atlantic coast under the protection of civilized +life." Mr. Adams in this estimate seems wholly blind to the fact that +nations like individuals have opportunities presented to them which +seized may not give immediate results but which have an ever +increasing influence upon their destiny. In the Lewis and Clark +expedition this nation took the flood tide to world supremacy. Three +years ago, when American arms and diplomacy were exercising such a +determining influence on the problem of mankind in China, I heard +Prof. F. J. Turner of the University of Wisconsin, the highest +authority on western history, who writes so forcibly on the Louisiana +Purchase in the current number of the _Review of Reviews_, say, that +"the occupation of the Pacific Coast by the American people was not +only the greatest event in American history, but a great event in all +history." + +That the American movement Oregonward and Pacificward followed +strictly in the wake of the Lewis and Clark expedition has many +proofs. Even before Lewis and Clark reached Saint Louis on their +homeward journey they met parties of traders and trappers bound for +the heart of the wilderness from which they were returning. These were +acting on the information Lewis and Clark had sent back from their +Mandan winter quarters. A few months after they reached Saint Louis +the Missouri Fur Company was organized to conduct operations on the +Upper Missouri, that is, on the trail of Lewis and Clark. Four years +later John Jacob Astor organized the Pacific Fur Company, and devised +plans including a great emporium at the mouth of the Columbia, trade +with China on the west, with the Russian settlements on the north, and +a line of trading posts overland on the Lewis and Clark route. Astor's +scheme was a feasible one, but the war of 1812 came on and England +dispatched a vessel to capture the American post on the Columbia. +Before this reached Astoria the British sympathizers among Astor's +partners sold him out. Astor was probably the first to have a vision +not only of what the nation was to gain on this coast, but also of +what more might have been gained had President Madison been as bold in +regard to his enterprise as was Jefferson in the Louisiana purchase. +Had this been so Captain Chittenden thinks "the political map of North +America would not be what it is to-day," implying that there would +have been an uninterrupted American Pacific coast line from the +extreme north to the Mexican boundary. + +So far our rights to the region were based on priority in discovery, +in exploration, and in occupation; but now for a period of thirty +years the British Hudson Bay Company was to have almost undisputed +possession. However, the rights established by Gray, Lewis and Clark, +and Astor did not lapse and could not be set aside through occupation +by a mere trading company. During nearly all of this thirty-year +period the Boston schoolmaster, Hall J. Kelley, was agitating the +colonization of Oregon, and in 1832, and again in 1834, Nathaniel J. +Wyeth, with herculean effort, indomitable perseverance, and incredible +energy led expeditions to the Columbia only to meet with disaster when +with his slender means he was pitted against the mighty corporation in +possession here. With Wyeth came the first party of missionaries. The +"Mountain Men"--retired trappers--soon followed, seeking homes here; +and, beginning with 1842, annual migrations of thousands of Oregon +pioneers were on the way. The Lewis and Clark exploration had thus led +to a national movement--"the migration of a people," says Captain +Chittenden, "seeking to avail itself of opportunities which have come +but rarely in the history of the world, and which will never come +again." The route traced by these Oregon pioneers will some day be +restored as a national memorial highway, and will be celebrated in +song and story, every mile of which has the tenderest associations of +hardship and suffering, but also of high purpose and stern +determination; and yet the Oregon trail was in the strictest sense a +derivative of the Lewis and Clark trail. For nearly twenty years the +Lewis and Clark route up the Missouri River had been the only one used +to reach the Rocky-mountain wilderness, but in the fall of 1823 a +party of trappers, pushing westward from the Yellowstone and desirous +of avoiding the implacable Blackfeet on the Upper Missouri, turned to +the south and discovered in South Pass, an easy crossing of the Rocky +Mountains. The region beyond on the headwaters of the Green and Snake +rivers, and in the basin of the Great Salt Lake, was found to be rich +in furs. Henceforth to some point in this region the annual cavalcades +of the fur companies would come and there meet their own trappers, the +free trappers, and the Indians of all the interior country. This was +the annual rendezvous for trading, for the delivery of the season's +catch of furs, and for equipment for the next year's activity. In +making this annual round trip from Saint Louis the original route into +this transmontane country, the half-circle route along the Missouri, +was naturally abandoned for a great cut-off from the western borders +of Missouri to the South Pass. A direct route northwestward across the +plains of present Kansas and Nebraska to the Platte, up the Platte and +the North Fork and its tributary, the Sweetwater, was found to be the +finest natural highway in the world. To reach Oregon the pioneers took +this great cut off of the Lewis and Clark trail, and from its western +terminus on the upper waters of the Snake they had but to follow the +route of Hunt's Astor party until the original Lewis and Clark trail +was struck again on the Columbia. The Lewis and Clark trail was thus +the basis from which was developed the Oregon trail. + +During the forties, when the national movement was setting strongly +towards the Pacific, Oregon was an uppermost subject in the thought, +and frequently in the plans, of a large portion of the people of this +country. Oregon pioneers were clinching our hold upon the Pacific +coast. The party slogan of "fifty-four forty or fight" in 1844 had +response deep in the hearts of a great majority of the people of the +northern part of the Mississippi Valley, and stirred the whole nation. +American influences and activities in California from 1846 on radiated +mainly from Oregon. Captain Fremont was sent out originally to explore +the best route to Oregon, and went to California from Oregon. William +Marshall, the discoverer of gold in California in 1848 was an Oregon +pioneer of 1844. Peter H. Burnett, the first governor of California, +was an Oregon pioneer of 1843. The exclusion of slave labor from the +mines of California was largely due to the "Columbia-river men." But +now at the close of the forties came the diversion of the national +interest from Oregon amounting almost to an eclipse of Oregon for some +fifty years. The annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, the gold +discovery in California, the opening of the Kansas and Nebraska lands, +the civil war, the development of the manufacturing industries, the +occupation of the Dakotas, absorbed in turn the main attention and +energies of the nation, leaving outlying Oregon in comparative +obscurity, with resources developing but slowly. + +Oregon's day, however, is dawning again. America's surplus energy is +no longer absorbed in gold mining in California, in occupying the +plains of Kansas, Nebraska, or the Dakotas. The overloaded passenger +trains to the Pacific Northwest tell unmistakably the nation's need of +this region. It needs our farm lands. It will more and more urgently +need our lumber and our water power and our outlook upon the Pacific; +and to whom do the American people owe the possession of these +incomparable and growing boons but to Lewis and Clark and to the +pioneers to whom Lewis and Clark pointed the way. Governor Chamberlain +was right the other night when at Boise he spoke of the Lewis and +Clark expedition as Jefferson's greatest act. Alongside the two +inscriptions on Jefferson's monument selected by him, namely, that he +was the author of the Declaration of Independence and that he was the +founder of the University of Virginia, posterity will fain inscribe +the fact that he was the promoter and organizer of the Lewis and Clark +expedition. + +The observance of the Lewis and Clark Centennial, therefore, is an +occasion in which the American people as a whole and through their +government have the largest reasons for generous participation. For +great was the Oregon opportunity to the nation and the Lewis and Clark +expedition was the key that opened it. All honor from the nation at +large is due to those who made this national opportunity and seized +it. The possession of the Pacific coast was the corollary and sequel +to the Oregon movement; but the Oregon movement itself was corollary +to nothing less than the spirit and vigor of the American people and +their foothold upon this continent. + +We have, then, a national occasion second only to that of Philadelphia +in 1876; and the first great mission of the centennial will be +realized when its occasion has been so interpreted and enforced that a +hearty and liberal participation in the celebration on the part of the +nation has been secured so that our American national consciousness +may fully realize what has been "the course of empire" with us as a +nation and what it is almost certain to be in the future. + +The accomplishment of the other mission of the exposition requires a +true interpretation of the problem of largest progress for the Pacific +Northwest. Expositions worthy of the name can not be "hit or miss" +affairs. They are not mere congeries of remarkable products. An +exposition should have an organic unity and a distinct aim. Its aim +must bear directly on the highest interests of the supporting +community. There are peculiar reasons for the exercise of the highest +degree of care and insight in the organization of the Lewis and Clark +Centennial Exposition. No people ever before invested so heavily in +proportion to their means as Portland and Oregon propose to invest in +the Lewis and Clark Centennial. No exposition was ever held in a +community so plastic, so completely in the making as are Portland and +Oregon. The current of common thought and effort is so strongly set +toward the Lewis and Clark Centennial that the very cast of Oregon's +civilization in the future will surely come from what is realized in +that event. The exposition will leave an inspired, unified, and +enlightened people, with ideals newly defined and elevated; or it will +be followed by more or less of humiliation, factional strife, +disgrace, blighting discouragement, with sordid ideals and disordered +social relations. + +Most auspicious was Oregon's response to the idea of a celebration. +Stronger faith in the good that may come from unity in action toward +higher things no other people has ever shown; and why should not +Oregon have faith in greater things for herself and the Pacific +Northwest? The Pacific Northwest bears almost exactly the same +relation to the rest of the nation east of us geographically, +historically, and economically that Greece bore to the Orient, and +that England bore to the continental nations of Europe. + +I take it, then, that the normal attitude towards the exposition +project is one that regards it as a serious undertaking, having +tremendous possibilities for making or marring much in the future of +Oregon. The exposition comes when Oregon is just at the flood tide of +new opportunities--opportunities that require twentieth century +enlightenment on the part of the masses if these opportunities are to +yield anything like unmixed good. Just as the Lewis and Clark +expedition was the key that opened the Oregon opportunity to the +nation so is the Lewis and Clark Centennial admirably adapted to +become the key to open the way to the highest development of +industrial democracy in the Pacific Northwest and to realize its +leadership in social progress on this continent. We have, I think, a +fine example given us by the authorities of Louisiana Purchase +Exposition of how to plan definitely an exposition to accomplish a +great purpose. The main idea with them is to make a world's fair for +the first time represent the world in epitome as a "going concern." +They thus express their main purpose: "As to the lesson for the world, +the Directorate desire to make a leading point. It is to show life and +movement. * * An attempt will be made to put the world before the eye +of the visitor, each exhibit being so displayed as to make plain its +story, its purpose, and its aim." And again: "The Department of +Education is made the first department of the classification in +accordance with the theory upon which the entire exposition is +founded. * * * Through education man comes to a knowledge of his +powers, and of the possibilities of life, and upon it are dependent +the processes which extend throughout all the fields of industry. This +correlation of the powers of the brain and of the hand of man, +extending throughout the entire exhibit scheme of the exposition, +will, for the first time in the history of expositions, afford a +strictly scientific basis for the collection and classification of +objects." And finally: "At Saint Louis, the prevailing characteristic, +it is intended, shall be life and motion, and the installation of +products and processes in juxtaposition. The classification is based +upon this plan, and its effects upon the proportions of the buildings +is noticeable in that Machinery Hall is relatively so small in area. +The machines through whose operation raw material is converted into +use and the processes employed in utilizing natural products will be +exhibited, so that not only will the fund of human information be +greatly increased, but suggestion will be made to students, +scientists, and inventors that will give still greater development +to genius in the following than in the preceding decade." + +The World's Fair, in this carefully planned purpose, affords a fine +model for the Lewis and Clark Exposition. But Portland is not simply +to do for the Pacific Northwest and the other peoples in close +economic and commercial relations with it what Saint Louis aspires to +do for the world. Saint Louis undertakes what was distinctively the +nineteenth century problem--that of mastery by man of the physical +forces of the world and of more nearly perfect adjustment to his +natural environment. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, with its World +Congress of the Arts and Sciences, and all of its exhibits arranged to +promote the development of invention and the application of scientific +methods to industry, has a great mission; and yet the peculiar field +which belongs to the Lewis and Clark Exposition gives it, if not a +greater mission, at least one more advanced--if you please a twentieth +century mission. Man in the Pacific Northwest has a peculiar problem. +All the science and art of the past are his legacy. They fairly press +in upon him in their appeal to him for utilization here. Man here has +a physical environment so rich and so diversified as not only to +invite the largest application of science and art, but also one that +demands the highest organization of associated effort. In other +words, the Pacific Northwest places man in such relation to history, +to nature, and to his fellow-man, as to promise him here, if his +inheritance is not sold for a mess of pottage, man's highest +development. It rests with the Lewis and Clark Exposition to rise to +the occasion. For it represents a first possible step in a grand +cooperative effort to develop a social environment here commensurate +with what nature has done for us. If for a ruthless, wasteful course +of social evolution that would never reach any desirable goal we would +realize one of steady, frictionless progress, with opportunities of +fullest life open to all, we must make the Lewis and Clark Centennial +fulfill its high mission. If the people of Oregon and the Pacific +Northwest do not persist in their determination to make this concerted +effort toward the inauguration of the highest policies of social +progress here it is hard to see what occasion can bring them so near +this mood again. It is the spell that the commemoration of a great +event and a great movement casts over them that will hardly be +repeated. The Lewis and Clark Centennial then is the flood tide of +opportunity. If it is not seized and we lapse again into mere +individualistic policies "all the voyage" of life in the future of the +Pacific Northwest will be bound in comparative "shallows and in +miseries." + +An exposition planned to meet the twentieth century needs becomes the +herald of an industrial democracy in which there is a completely +harmonious cooperation for the realization of the highest social +ideals. It is dawning upon us that publicity is the first condition of +relief from the trust evil. We need yet, however, to realize that +essential publicity or light is the talisman for developing a true +democratic spirit to which are disclosed ever expanding vistas of +possibilities. The first great duty of the exposition authorities is +to bring to the people of the Pacific Northwest the largest +enlightenment on the natural resources of this region. Taking our +timber resources as an illustration, we are painfully aware that the +timber holdings are not as widely and equably distributed among the +masses as one could wish; but we have many rich natural monopolies +which the whole people should share. They have common and incalculable +permanent interests in the forests of Oregon, in the water power of +our streams, in our facilities for irrigation, in the mines, and in +the ensemble of natural beauty here. Shall the great natural forest +areas in Oregon which may become the source of an ever increasing flow +of wealth for all time for the whole people be allowed, without state +forestry activity, to become mere waste places for weed trees? We are +told by Mr. Elwood Mead, Chief of the Division of Irrigation, that he +believes Oregon "has the largest area of unimproved land whereon +irrigation is possible of any State in the Union." Here is a great +interest in which most fortunately a policy of coöperation between the +state and the nation has been instituted. What could be more +propitious for the good fortune of the people than an active +coöperation between the authorities of the exposition and the United +States bureaus of forestry, irrigation, and the United States +geological survey in preparing an exhibit of the data on the interests +of the people of the State in these natural resources? With such +definite, earnest, and laudable purposes in view, Congress and the +Administration would respond to the claims of the Lewis and Clark +Exposition in a very different spirit from that with which they have +met recent expositions. + +By means of models, relief maps, photographs, drawings, charts, and +graphic representations generally, along with congresses and the +discussions by the press, the people, and their legislators, would +come to take an intelligent and far-sighted view of these great +inheritances of theirs. A whole summer given to the exposition of the +people's interests in their common heritage, with the use of the best +art of illustration, representation, and elucidation, would awaken a +living interest so that they would make sure of their rights, conserve +an equality of opportunities and make our natural resources yield +their highest social utility. Our experience with our state school +lands shows that such a fortunate condition is absolutely impossible +without the influence an exposition could exert toward an +enlightenment on our public inheritances. + +The Municipal Exposition at Dresden, Germany, during this summer, +gives a suggestion for a municipal department for our exposition that +would work a transformation in our civic spirit and enlightenment. How +glorious it would be for Oregon if the Lewis and Clark Fair Clubs +would in dead earnest determine to possess themselves of the +philosophy of city making, and to do their best to control municipal +activity in Oregon so as to make it conserve highest economic and +æsthetic ends and bring about rational unity in all municipal +development and foster an architectural spirit. Why not commission a +delegate to Dresden? Why not begin to make wholesome, beautiful, and +edifying the Oregon village and city, so that, as a whole, each may be +a positive joy forever? The same strenuous idealism would find a rich +field in the affairs of our counties and of our school districts. The +Oregon farm must come in for as many meliorating influences as the +Oregon town. All that good roads, graded schools, traveling libraries, +neighborhood telephones, and model farm establishments can do to +elevate the social conditions of farm life will be greatly furthered +by the exposition; but the problem that is fundamental with the +people, both of the town and of the country, pertains not merely to +sharing the unearned increment of the natural and artificial +monopolies, but also to participation in the gains of all capitalized +industry. It is the problem of "peopleizing" the industries. Corporate +organization and management should be a department of the exposition. +By the elimination of all the unnecessary risk in investments in +corporation securities through effective governmental regulation and +supervision the people may gain control and reap the large profits of +capitalized industry. The exposition will have its highest mission in +securing to the people an interest in the gains and a share in the +control of our industrial organizations. + +The next generation of Oregonians will not be found wanting in their +ardor for the welfare of the state as a whole, in patriotic zeal for +the betterment of all the conditions of life here and in aspiration to +give the Pacific Northwest leadership in social progress if the +schools are furnished the story of the Oregon opportunity as it was +made and realized. This, as told by the actors themselves, should be +compiled and distributed to the districts. The highest pitch of +emulation to the mastery of this story and interest in the aims of the +exposition may advisedly be secured by a system of prize essays on +important topics pertaining to Oregon's development. + +This outline of the features that the exposition might include does +not debar from it popular and recreative attractions. It does not slur +the exhibition of the remarkable products of the farm, the orchard, +the mine, the river, the forests, and the factory. The ideas +emphasized will only give these products multiplied significance, +bringing them into vital relations with life that is more than meat, +drink, and wear. An exposition thus rationally planned will be the +poor man's greatest hope. If he loses the aid it would give him toward +the right solution of the social problem the odds are terribly against +him in the race for an equitable distribution. Such an exposition +would go far toward securing an open door to an equality of +opportunity for all in Oregon. To block the organization of such an +exposition would not be far from social suicide for the masses. + +The dominance of economic forces in progress is becoming more and more +exclusive. It devolves upon the people to comprehend fully the living +forces, and, by comprehending them, put themselves in position to +control them and mold them to the higher uses of conserving an +equality of opportunity for all. The Lewis and Clark Exposition lends +itself wholly to this great mission. It is hard to see how a means +quite so propitious will be available again. + + F. G. YOUNG. + + + + +THE EDUCATIONAL HISTORY OF ASTORIA, OREGON. + + +The study of the school history of Astoria is of interest to the +student of education in that it reveals a condition different from +that of some of the other cities of Oregon, particularly those of the +Willamette Valley. In the latter, private and public schools struggled +for the mastery, with the private school far in the lead for many +years.[1] In Astoria, on the contrary, the public school idea had a +firm hold from the beginning and asserted itself as soon as the +establishment of a public school was possible. The history of +Astoria's educational progress, covering a period of fifty-two years, +is chiefly the story of the beginning and gradual development of a +system of public schools. There is traceable, however, something of +the conflict, so prominent elsewhere, between the public and the +private school idea. + + +PRIVATE SCHOOLS. + +Astoria's first school, started in 1851, was of necessity private, +owing to the fact that the school law, passed in 1849, was practically +inoperative, and, in consequence, no public money was available. In +the summer of 1851 the Rev. C. O. Hosford, a Methodist minister, at +the earnest solicitation of some dozen parents, opened a school near +the corner of Eighth and Bond streets, in a small two-room building, +erected for use as dwelling house for the teacher, and schoolhouse.[2] +This little pioneer school had an enrollment of ten pupils, and was +supported by private subscription. Public sentiment favored a public +school, and its modifying influence is seen at this time. No tuition +was charged the individual pupil, but the parents contributed toward +the support of the school each according to his means rather than in +proportion to the number of children he sent to the school. Mr. V. +Boelling, in addition to furnishing the schoolhouse and residence for +the teacher free of charge, contributed twenty of the forty dollars +paid monthly to the teacher.[3] The school was in session during the +months of June, July, August, and September.[4] + +It is probable that between the closing of this school and the +starting of the public school proper there were other semi-public +schools.[5] Private schools were a necessity in Upper Astoria, owing +to the small number of families there and the lack of means of +communication between the two parts of the town. There were at least +two private schools here prior to 1859, and they were patronized by +the children of three families.[6] That this was done in at least one +case from necessity, rather than choice, is shown by the fact that one +of the patrons of these schools, T. P. Powers, a few years later, was +the prime mover in the establishment of the Upper Astoria public +school.[7] Miss Pope and Mrs. H. B. Morse were two of the teachers +employed in these schools. + +In 1864 the first school that was in any sense a rival of the public +school was started. The Grace Church Parish School became the rallying +point for the first opposition to public education. This support alone +would perhaps not have been sufficient to maintain it; but it also +filled a place in the educational field which the public school seemed +unable to occupy. That there was a real need for the school is +apparent from the class of pupils that attended it. Large pupils who, +owing to lack of early advantages, were far behind in their classes +and who would have preferred to remain away rather than be classed +with children much younger than themselves, and pupils advanced beyond +the studies offered at the time by the district school, made up a +large part of the number in attendance.[8] Latin, algebra, natural +philosophy, and other advanced subjects were taught, and pupils for +these studies came from the public school which had just previous to +this time decided to exclude all branches beyond those usually taught +in a district school.[9] + +This school was opened in the old "Methodist Church" situated on the +corner of Fifteenth Street and Franklin Avenue, and was in charge of +the rector of the Episcopal Church, Rev. T. H. Hyland. Mrs. Hyland, +who had been a teacher in the East, taught most of the classes.[8] The +school was supported entirely by tuition fees which were $7 per +quarter of thirteen weeks. Three quarters were taught each year, and +the attendance ranged between twenty and thirty pupils.[8] + +Rev. Mr. Hyland was appointed to the Astoria parish while it was a +missionary station and so received no salary from the home +congregation. The parish school was started chiefly as a means of +revenue to help pay for the maintenance of the church.[8] Former +pupils testify to the excellence of the school and to the popularity +of its founders and teachers. + +In 1866 the school moved to the rear of the church on Commercial +Street, between Eighth and Ninth, and continued regularly until the +departure of Rev. Mr. Hyland and wife in 1878.[8] + +During the fall and winter of 1876-77 a night school, at which +bookkeeping, writing, and arithmetic were taught, was taught by Mr. +Kincaid in the Gray building.[10] + +In 1878 there were at least four private schools in Astoria. Mrs. +Maxwell Young taught a school of twenty-five pupils in a building +where St. Mary's Hospital stands.[11] Miss Cora VanDusen taught a +summer session in the building near the southeast corner of Tenth and +Duane streets, which was rented by the school board and furnished to +Miss VanDusen free of charge during the vacation of the public +school.[12] When the public school opened in the fall this school was +moved to the room formerly occupied by the parish school. Professor +Worthington, principal of the public school, taught a private school +of six pupils. The fourth private school was taught by Miss Johnson. + +The increase in the number of private schools was due to two causes: +dissatisfaction in some quarters with some action of the principal of +the "lower town school,"[11] and the great increase in the school +population. The latter cause was no doubt the more potent. At this +time there were over five hundred children of school age in Astoria. + +In 1881-82 Miss Hewett conducted a private school at Grace Church, +with an average attendance of twenty-six pupils and an enrollment of +forty-six. + +From 1886 to 1895 Miss Emma C. Warren conducted a private school on +Exchange Street, between Eleventh and Twelfth. This was by far the +largest and most pretentious private school ever opened in Astoria, +and yet represented only to a very small degree the idea antagonistic +to the public school. All the grammar grades were taught, and also +classes in advanced subjects, including Latin and German.[13] This +school occupied to a great extent the place that should have been +filled by a public high school. With the establishment of the high +school in 1890-91 its field of usefulness was greatly limited, and in +1895 it was merged into the high school by the employment of the +principal, Miss Warren, as the head of the department of English and +English Literature, and the entrance of most of the pupils of Miss +Warren's school into the high school.[13] + + +THE PUBLIC SCHOOL. + +The earliest schools of Astoria were supported by private funds, yet +the payment of any fixed sum was not made a condition for entrance. +They were supported by private subscription for the benefit of all the +children of the town. + +In 1854 District No. 1 was established, and included a large tract of +land bounded by Young's River, from the falls to its juncture with +Columbia, the Columbia River and a zigzag line starting near +Thirty-eighth Street, and connecting the Columbia River with the +Young's River Falls.[14] To this district, in October of the same +year, was paid the sum of $20, all the school money then +available.[14] The next year, under the revised law of 1853-54, the +county fund yielded more, and District No. 1 received $104.77. A part +of this amount was from tax, and the rest from fines.[14] + +The first school taught after the district was organized, as near as +can be ascertained (there are no records in existence), was taught in +what was known as the "Old Methodist Church,"[15] a building erected +in 1853-54,[16] on a piece of land donated for church and school +purposes,[17] by James Welch, to the trustees of the Methodist Church. +J. W. Wayne was probably the first teacher in the district. Nothing is +known of the condition of the school, except that there were very few +in attendance, and the school was in session only a very few months. +Miss Liza Lincoln, Mrs. Hill, an English lady, and Mr. Moore, are +names associated with the early schools, but the exact time of their +service is not known, but all taught school some time before 1856. + +In that year Judge A. A. Skinner took charge of the public school in a +building near Bain's Mill, known as the "Holman House."[18] He was +assisted by Mrs. Skinner, _nee_ Miss Lincoln. The next year the public +school was taught by Mr. Brown in the "old hospital" building, +situated between Ninth and Tenth streets, on Duane. Mr. Brown is +remembered for his skill in handling the large boys.[18] He was +succeeded by Mr. Maxwell. + +Up to this time the district had been without a schoolhouse, but in +1859 a building was erected on the corner of Ninth and Exchange +streets. J. T. Maulsby taught the first term of school in it in 1860. +The school was now too large for one teacher and the following year +the board engaged the services of J. D. Deardorff and wife. He was a +man of ability in his line of work and was well liked by both parents +and pupils.[18] During the next term he was assisted by Mrs. Dr. +Owens-Adair,[19] and the year following by Mr. Williamson,[18] a +college bred man, who assisted much in building up the reputation of +the school. Under Mr. Deardorff's management a nine or ten months' +term was taught each year, and there were between ninety and one +hundred pupils in attendance.[20] Astoria was maintaining an expensive +school, and the money for its support was raised almost entirely by +tax and private subscription,[20] as the money from the county school +fund was inconsiderable at this time. This fund yielded to the +district $132.50 in 1861, $149.80 in 1862, and $92.85 in 1863.[21] +There is no record of tuition ever having been charged the pupils of +the district. While Mr. Deardorff taught advanced classes were formed +and pupils who had finished the ordinary grades of the school were +enabled to continue their education.[22] Later opposition to these +classes arose and finally the school board decided that only studies +of the grammar grade should be taught. When this order was carried +into effect, during Mr. R. K. Warren's term as teacher, a vigorous +protest was made against it, and its enforcement caused much +dissatisfaction.[22] + +The Grace Church Parish School had just been organized, and, no doubt, +profited by the dissension in the ranks of the friends of the public +school. The increasing burden of maintaining the school and the +presence of the parish school ready to receive the advanced pupils, +gave strength to the position of those who were opposed to teaching +branches above the grade of the ordinary district school. + +In 1865 there was an average attendance of one hundred and ten pupils +and a nine months' term.[23] This year the four districts of the +county received $460.72 from the county fund and raised $2,308.49 by +district tax.[23] + +In 1868-69 the average attendance in the public schools had dropped +to eighty-four,[24] caused, in all probability, by the exclusion of +the advanced classes and their transfer to the Grace Church Parish +School. + +Mr. Finlayson and wife and Professor Robb were the teachers between +1865 and 1869. From 1869 to 1873 very little change in the condition +of the school is noted, except that there was a slight increase in +attendance due to the return to the policy of providing instruction +for all who had finished the grammar grades. In 1872 the state school +fund became available and District No. 1 received $110.80 in coin and +$111.95 in currency.[14] + +In 1873 Prof. W. L. Worthington, a very able instructor, was elected +principal, and remained several years. More than one hundred children +were in attendance in 1873,[25] and the citizens of Astoria were +justly proud of their school. The _Astorian_ in its initial number[25] +says: "We notice that the school is well supplied with maps, charts, +dictionaries, gazetteers, atlases, etc. We doubt that any common +school in Oregon is better supplied with such articles. * * The public +school affords every opportunity for getting a good English +education." The teachers were Professor Worthington, principal; Miss +Watt and Miss Lawrence, assistants.[25] + +The history from 1873 is concerned chiefly with the rapid increase in +the school population, the division of the district into six separate +districts, the subsequent consolidation of all these districts, the +final readjustment of the boundaries, so as to include only the +schools within the corporate limits of Astoria, and the establishment +of the high school, as the completion of the city's educational +system. + +District No. 9, the "Upper Astoria" district, was established in +1868, but no school was taught here until 1874. Mrs. W. W. Parker, who +taught the first term of school in the district, had a school of +fifteen pupils, and received as compensation $75 per month and +board.[26] T. P. Powers organized the district, and when over seventy +years of age taught a term of three months in this district in order +that the right to draw school money should not be forfeited. + +The population of Astoria in the two years between 1874-76 nearly +doubled, owing to the rapid growth of the fishing industry, and the +schools were not able to keep pace with this growth.[27] In 1878 there +were over two hundred pupils in actual attendance at the "lower +schoolhouse." Professor Worthington, the principal, was assisted by +Miss Brown, Miss McGregor, Miss Neale, and Miss Hewett.[28] In the +first, or highest grade, algebra, physiology, and natural philosophy +were taught.[28] The _Astorian_ says of the school: "The public school +of Astoria is divided into three grades, with three classes in each +grade. There has been a written examination in three of the grades +[probably classes]. In this examination great care has been taken to +make it impossible for the pupils to derive any assistance from +text-books or from friends."[28] + +This crowded condition lasted until 1880 when a temporary relief was +afforded by the establishment of District No. 9 and the building of +two of the six rooms of the Shirely school. A ten-mill tax was levied +for this purpose. + +The sudden increase in the school population brought with it such a +large proportion of the county and state school fund that the money +from this source, amounting to $1,953.67,[29] paid the entire cost of +the school during the year 1876, the six-mill tax not having been +used. "The district is now out of debt, and has $250 cash on +hand."[30] + +The erection of a new school building was the main question before the +taxpayers at the school meeting of 1882. That it was a necessity was +admitted by all. The _Astorian_ said editorially: "There are three +things Astoria needs--and we place them in their relative +importance--a new schoolhouse, a flouring mill, and a new +theater."[31] + +At the meeting held April 24, 1882, four mills for current expenses +and five mills for building purposes were levied and a new schoolhouse +ordered built.[32] The present McClure is the result of that meeting. + +District No. 26, known locally as Alderbrook, was established in 1890. + +By a legislative act of 1892 the four districts, now included in the +city schools, together with the schools at John Days and Walluski, +were consolidated into one district of the first class. This +arrangement proved unsatisfactory, and in 1899 the boundaries were +again changed so as to exclude the two districts lying outside the +corporate limits of the city. + +During the fifty years that the public school system has been in +existence the school population has increased an hundredfold. The +distance between "upper" and "lower" Astoria, the rapid growth of the +town during the seventies, made the division of the district almost a +necessity. The gradual growing together of the two parts of the town +making the interchange of classes possible and the consequent +improvement of the schools with a lessening of the expense of +maintaining them led to the consolidation in 1893 and the readjustment +of the boundaries in 1899. + + +THE HIGH SCHOOL. + +The high school is the result of a slow growth and its continued +existence is due perhaps as much to indifference as to any very active +sentiment in its favor. It started as an advanced grade of the public +school when for financial reasons it was desired to keep as many +pupils as possible in attendance. The presence of the large pupils and +the quality of the work done gave the school a standing in outside +districts and created a feeling of pride in the citizens of the town. +The higher classes were disbanded in 1863 or 1864. The _Marine +Gazette_ thus comments: "During the past week we have noticed +considerable discussion in doors and out about the village district +school. * * It was generally admitted that the school of eighteen +months ago, I think it was--at any rate the one that contained all the +larger boys and girls of the village with several others from Clatsop +Plains, Oysterville, etc.,--was the best school we had had for three +years or even a longer period. * * About the time named the teacher +was restricted as to the amount or kind of instruction to be given in +the school to the so-called advanced pupils. This restriction caused +the disbanding or dismissal of several classes of the largest and +oldest pupils. They quit the school, dispersed, went home, or to other +schools distant to our town."[33] Advanced studies were restored later +and became a recognized part of the course of study. The high school +sentiment, stimulated no doubt by the record of the public for +excellence in the past and to some extent by the desire to keep pace +with the standard of scholarship set by the private schools, increased +and resulted in the establishment of the present efficient high school +in 1890 and 1891. + +The grammar schools are loyally supported in spite of the high rate of +taxation[34] necessary to maintain them; but there is still a well +defined sentiment against the maintenance of the high school at public +expense, though this sentiment seems to be decreasing. + + +WHAT THE SCHOOL HISTORY OF ASTORIA REVEALS. + +The earliest schools were semi-public, though supported entirely by +private subscription. Public sentiment clearly favored the public +school and secured its establishment so soon as conditions, including +the necessary school laws, made it possible. The reason for the +predominance of this sentiment in favor of the public schools can be +found in the fact that many of the leaders in the development of the +city came from the northern and middle western states, where the idea +of public education had a firm hold. V. Boelling, S. T. McKean, W. W. +Parker, Col. James Taylor, and later Capt. George Flavel, Mrs. H. B. +Parker, John Hobson and many others were earnest advocates and liberal +supporters of public schools. + +The public school has had an almost uninterrupted growth from the +beginning, and to-day shows the result of half a century of effort. + + ALFRED A. CLEVELAND. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] An historical survey of Public Education in Eugene, Oregon, by +Prof. Joseph Schafer, QUARTERLY, March, 1901. + +[2] Letter of C. O. Hosford, January 22, 1903. + +[3] Letter of C. O. Hosford, January 22, 1903. + +[4] Ibid. + +[5] Letter of E. C. Jeffers, February 3, 1903. + +[6] Interview with Mr. Sam Adair. + +[7] Interview with Mrs. Mary Leinweber. + +[8] Interview with Rev. T. H. Hyland and wife. + +[9] _Marine Gazette_, May 30, 1865. + +[10] _Weekly Astorian_, December 18, 1876. + +[11] Interview with Mrs. Young. + +[12] Interview with Mrs. C. J. Trenchard, _nee_ Miss VanDusen. + +[13] Interview with Miss Warren. + +[14] County Superintendent's Record Book No. 1, 1853-1874. + +[15] Interview with J. M. Welch, and others. + +[16] Deed Book No. 1, Clatsop County. + +[17] Interview with J. W. Welch. + +[18] Interview with F. J. Taylor, and others. + +[19] History of Oregon and Washington, Northwest Publishing Company, +Vol. II, pp. 502-506. + +[20] Letter of Mrs. W. W. Parker, December 12, 1902. + +[21] County Superintendent's Record Book No. 1, 1853-1874. + +[22] _Marine Gazette_, May 30, 1865. + +[23] Report of County Superintendent W. B. Gray, 1866. + +[24] Report of State Superintendent to Governor Geo. L. Woods. + +[25] _Astorian_, July 1, 1873. + +[26] Letter of Mrs. W. W. Parker, December 12, 1902. + +[27] _Weekly Astorian_, February 5, 1876. + +[28] _Weekly Astorian_, December 31, 1878. + +[29] County Superintendent's Record Book No. 1, 1853-1874. + +[30] _Weekly Astorian_, April 8, 1876. + +[31] _Daily Astorian_, April 4, 1882. + +[32] _Daily Astorian_, April 25, 1882. + +[33] _Marine Gazette_, May 30, 1865. + +[34] An eleven-mill tax was levied at the last school meeting. + + + + +AN OBJECT LESSON IN PATERNALISM + + +Even among those who have devoted their lives to the study of +sociological problems, there is much difference of opinion as to the +quantitative and qualitative influence of certain social conditions in +producing the generally admitted bad or adverse phases of human +society. + +At one time we read that poverty degrades men morally, and we peruse +carefully prepared and apparently veracious tables showing that in the +older countries there is an unfailing correspondence between criminal +statistics and the price of bread; the per cent of offenses against +persons and property increasing with the cost of the necessaries of +life and diminishing with the amount of human exertion required to +obtain them. Such is the generally received opinion of the common +people, and we hear from the political platform and see in the +publications of reform parties the assertion that it is useless to +preach morals to those whose minds are mainly occupied in devising +means to keep the wolf from the door. + +Those of our citizens who have given special attention to the +debauching effects of the drink habit, call upon all to come to the +rescue of American homes and American institutions, by banishing the +American saloon, to which comes the response that poverty is the +principal cause of intemperance and its incidents, and that the first +duty of patriots is to remove poverty. + +Equally certain and circumstantial, on the other hand, are those who +affirm that there is no necessary connection between poverty and +criminality, and that, as a general rule, debauchery and consequent +decadence of moral faculty go hand in hand with material prosperity; +and if mixed coincidence can establish casual connection, they are +not at fault, for long before Goldsmith wrote of the time "When wealth +accumulates and men decay," keen eyed observers had connected a +general laxity of morals with the abundance and diffusion of wealth. +The failure of intertropical countries to furnish high grade men of +morals and intellect, Doctor Draper attributes, not more to the +enervating influence of heat, than to the ease with which human beings +supply themselves with the necessaries of life. Coming down to the +present period, it is common knowledge--the expanding profligacy and +criminality of the mining camps where men could obtain extravagant +wages in gold for services which in other pursuits would yield them a +scanty living. + +Probably from such lump comparisons and crude observations, under +complex conditions, have arisen two schools of social economists, one +whose principal and primary aim is to abolish poverty as the chief +obstacle in the way of human progress, and the other whose purpose is +not definitely stated, but which conservatively clings to the _laissez +faire_ doctrine of letting every man's condition depend upon his +individual exertion; and as so far, in the world's history, poverty +has been the condition of the great mass of mankind, in spite of +individual exertion, the anti-poverty school of necessity, must resort +to collective or state control of the industries of men, and thus +relieve them from want and the fear of want, which are thought to be +so depressing upon their energies. + +Just how or to what extent the state is to interfere with the +individual's management of himself, or to what extent or in what +manner he shall be relieved when he has failed to provide for his own +wants and the wants of those depending upon him, are at present +outside of any satisfactorily practical programme, and hence +collectivism may be held to include all socialistic schemes from +Bellamy up or down. + +In fact, collectivism is entered upon the moment the state is +organized, for in the rudest criminal code there is a manifest attempt +to relieve the individual from the otherwise caution and care +necessary to defend his person and property; and in truth, as +government has advanced, so has collectivism advanced, until now in +the United States of America the commonwealth is giving children +primary education, supporting and caring for the deaf, blind, idiotic, +insane, and criminal classes, beside stimulating certain industries +with bounties upon production or relieving them from the disastrous +effects of free competition, by levying taxes upon competing products. +It does much more. Commerce and agriculture have been relieved of +their old time dread of the elements, for government now keeps watch +and ward over the wind and waves, and gives timely notice of +approaching disaster by land and sea. In the endeavor to pass benefits +around, hatcheries for fish, experiment stations, laboratories, and +various commissions have been organized and conducted at public +expense; likewise the mails are carried, the public lands distributed +to actual settlers or given to railroad companies, patents issued to +inventors, bounties paid for the destruction of wild animals, noxious +weeds exterminated, public officers appointed to examine food +products, to conduct experiments upon flocks and herds, and to destroy +those infected with contagious diseases. + +All this and much more are the results of collectivism, and there +seems to be a constant tendency, as well as a constant demand, for +more in the same direction. Individualism is alarmed and socialism +hopeful; the former, at the encroachments upon personal liberty and +the discouragement of personal exertion, and the latter, from the +prospect of a complete disappearance of the competitive principle from +social life. + +Here are two violent antagonisms, while there is no line of +demarcation between them, as well defined as the most tortuous +isothermal crossing the American continent. There is no scientific +boundary of government. As between the two disputants it is a blind +push and pull, in which neither party is satisfied with the result. +There are gradations upon either side, and long ago Herbert Spencer +became alarmed at the coming slavery, and that good man Gerritt Smith +thought government should have nothing to do with the education of +children; that it is altogether a private function and can not be +usurped by the state without serious injury to those most nearly +interested. + +While, however, doctrinaires have been groping for the scientific +boundary, government has gone forward experimentally, with no chart +but experience, sometimes right and sometimes wrong, no doubt, in its +endeavors to follow the line of least resistance and do that which +seemed likely to promote the general welfare. + +Granting the evident natural law that development is the result of +activity of faculty, and, as a consequence, that individual +improvement must come from individual exertion, it may be safe to say +that the scope of government should be such as to give or permit the +greatest normal and harmonious activity to the units of population, in +order to bring about the greatest amount of aggregate excellence and +happiness; and still it appears to be a matter of experience and +experiment, in which science and altruism play but a subordinate part. +Nevertheless, there should be investigation of governmental +experiments, and the great and ever recurring question is, What do +these show? + +Has government help promoted individual competence, and has it +promoted the general welfare? In answering this question it will not +do to look at it as a whole; each experiment must be taken by itself, +and there must be an elimination, so far as may be, of complicating +and conflicting elements. Of course there will be no attempt in this +paper to do more than report upon a single phase of government help, +and one, too, which to my knowledge has never been utilized for +throwing light upon the great economic question. I refer to the +settlement of Oregon and Washington under government auspices. It +would seem as though there never existed more favorable conditions for +a successful experiment in planting a model colony than were found +here upon this Northwest coast. Certainly nature was lavish and the +government munificent, and if these are chiefly instrumental in +putting a community on its feet to stay, here should be found the +living proof. Let us see; and first as to the country. + +The Cascade range of mountains, a high ridge bearing north and south, +nearly parallel to the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean and about +one hundred miles therefrom, divides the states of Oregon and +Washington into two unequal parts, popularly known as Eastern and +Western Oregon and Washington. Bordering the coast of both states is +another ridge, much lower, and between these two mountain ridges, are +cross mountains connecting them, and forming valleys with independent +river systems. These western valleys are but little above the sea +level, have moist, equable climates, abundant timber, and rich soils; +while the country east of the Cascades is an elevated table-land, +sparsely wooded, quite arid, is subject to greater extremes of heat +and cold and possessed of a strongly alkaline soil. + +It is to the western valleys I wish to refer in this connection, as in +these the donation land law chiefly operated until its expiration in +the year 1855. Under that law every adult male citizen and his wife, +immigrating to this coast before the year 1851, were entitled to six +hundred and forty acres of land selected by the donees in such shape +as they chose, and those coming after that time, were entitled to +three hundred and twenty acres taken by legal subdivisions. Never +before or since have such magnificent inducements been offered to +settlers, and by the close of the year 1855 nearly all of the good +lands in the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue River valleys were occupied +by the donees who came from every State in the Union, but chiefly from +the Mississippi Valley. + +Saying that these lands were taken by families, in section and +half-section tracts, gives but a faint idea of what was acquired. +Doctor Johnson's description of the happy valley in Rasselas would be +rather too poetical to adopt for this country, as this is too far +north for people to depend upon the spontaneous productions of the +earth, but in many respects there is much similarity. The great +Doctor's fancy had not been expanded and enlightened by the vast +accomplishments of modern science and invention, whereby the forces of +nature have been utilized, and, as a consequence, his happy valley was +constructed more to gratify an indolent and dreamy æstheticism than to +promote economic industry. + +In these western valleys, however, is everything that should stimulate +men to the use of all their faculties, if steady and sure returns for +exertion are better than unearned gratification of human wants and +desires. Let the reader picture to himself an evergreen valley one +hundred and fifty miles long and forty miles wide, a navigable river +running the whole length, through its middle, with numerous branches +on each side, the smaller rising in the foothills, the larger emerging +from the forest covered mountains, the rich agricultural surface of +the valley interspersed with timber and prairie in profitable +proportions, and rising in gentle hills, among which are innumerable +springs of pure, soft water, or subsiding into lowlands, here and +there dotted by buttes, and he has the Willamette Valley, said by Saxe +of Vermont to be the best poor man's country on the globe. This +picture does not represent all its advantages by any means. + +Probably no farming country known has water power so abundant and +diffused as here. Niagara is unrivaled for power, but the principal +question there is one of distribution. Here the problem of +distribution is reduced to small proportions, for no village or city +is far away from water power. + +The Cascade Mountains, through their whole extent, are resonant with +the clamorings of unused force, and likely, in their dark fir forests +will first be realized Edison's dreams of the application of electric +power,--trees felled, cut into saw logs and conveyed to the mill, with +little of man's help except intelligent superintendence. + +To be sure the first settlers of Oregon had no such anticipations as +these, but they were not slow to perceive the advantages everywhere +around them; sawmills were erected in advance of the great bulk of the +immigration, so that immigrants were not required to go through the +experience of the first settlers of Ohio and Indiana, housing one or +two generations in log cabins. + +No description of soil or surface or scenery can give an adequate +presentation of this country, as upon the climate depends nearly +everything which makes it, pre-eminently, a never failing supplier of +man's wants. In this latitude, countries east of the Rocky Mountains +have long cold winters and short hot summers, while west of the +Cascades no such extremes are ever known. + +The Kuro-shiwo of Japan, a broad, deep, and warm current of ocean +water flows along our western shore, tempering the mountain air and +covering the valleys with perpetual verdure. At this writing, the +twenty-fifth of January, the fields have been once whitened with +snow, cattle are pasturing upon unfrosted grass, and wild daisies are +in bloom. Occasionally a cold wave from the north pushes seaward the +tropical warmth, when for a few days the inhabitants get a mitigated +sample of the arctic regions, but such incursions are few and far +between,--say once in ten years, and not to be compared with the +winter climate of Idaho, Montana, or the Eastern States. So seldom and +short are the periods, when the ground is frozen, that agriculture is +continuous through the whole year. In every winter month plowing is +done and grain sown. + +In what country, between the parallels forty-two and forty-nine north +latitude, would cattle live through the winter upon grass, which was +the dependence of those who crossed the great plains to this coast in +the days of the pioneer? Arriving in these western valleys during the +months of September and October, their teams worn and impoverished, +were turned out upon the prairies and by midwinter were fat enough for +beef. + +Such was the country and the climate of the west coast to which the +immigrants came, a land flowing with milk (no honey), beautiful and +grand beyond description, rich beyond expectation, healthful beyond +comparison; its streams abounding with fish, and its mountains with +game; a country where there has been no failure of crops, and where +blizzards, hurricanes, and cyclones are unknown. + +Now a few words as to the character of the people who settled it, and +in this examination I shall try to steer clear of the poetry and +romance which are beginning to dehumanize them. It is not necessary +for the purpose of this paper to show that the pioneers were more +moral or more intelligent than those they left in the enjoyment of the +peace and comforts of well regulated society, but it is important to +know that they were a fair average in all respects as human beings, +and as this question can not be determined by a personal examination, +we must resort to the environment they voluntarily chose, or, in other +words, to the objects and conditions which impelled them to the +undertaking. The indolent and cowardly are not attracted by dangers, +and hence we infer that volunteers make better soldiers than +conscripts, and this inference is borne out by experience. Enterprises +of great danger, forlorn hopes, are not chosen by those who love ease +and quiet pleasure, but by the courageous and venturesome; those who +take pleasure in overcoming resistance, surmounting obstacles, and +braving dangers. The former are inclined to remain upon the old +homestead, under the protection of law and the restraining influence +of conservative public opinion; the latter push for the frontier, with +apparent relish for the kind of life found only on the fretful edge of +civilization. Some have assumed, therefore, that the borders are +chiefly peopled by the reckless and immoral, those who would not be +subject to proper restraint in the older communities; such an +assumption, however, is wide of the mark. Under our flag there are no +penal colonies; people go where they choose to go, and the currents of +population are determined by self-selection. Places of trial and +danger are taken by those who are not dismayed by such incidents, and +unless we are willing to admit that there is a necessary connection +between courage and criminality--that the enterprising and resolute +are as a consequence tinctured with immoral tendencies--we shall +believe what is more reasonable and in full accord with our +experience, that the manly virtues are quite compatible with the moral +attributes. I lived on the frontier, the Platte Purchase in Missouri, +right among the people who contributed in men and money to the +invasion of Kansas a few years afterwards, and I must say that I +never lived in a more hospitable and law-abiding community. The +forceful faculties were more prominent than in New England, but for +personal honor, honesty, and brotherly feeling it would compare +favorably with any portion of the United States. I had left that +country when the Kansas troubles began, and was somewhat puzzled to +reconcile the doings of the Border Ruffians with the character of the +people as I knew them, but when I considered that a large majority of +them were from the South, and, being born to the institution of +slavery, were inheritors of all that such a state of society implies, +I ceased to wonder. + +Notwithstanding the great advance in biological science, the human +being is very much of an enigma, and, however well disposed he may be +from natural endowment, we can not guess what he may do until his +previous environment has been examined. Suppose John Brown had been +born and raised in the South, and had read his Bible through Southern +spectacles, and had heard the Word expounded by devout defenders of +the patriarchal institution, would he not have been found praying and +fighting with Stonewall Jackson when the time came for war? + +A large proportion of the pioneers were from Missouri, and at the time +of the adoption of our constitution, which submitted the question of +slavery to a popular vote, much solicitude was felt by anti-slavery +men as to the result. Argument and inquiry were on the wing, and there +was eminent opportunity, not only to learn the opinions and wishes of +men but how those opinions and wishes came to be formed. Some of the +ablest and best advocates of a free state were from the South and some +of those who voted to fasten the relic of barbarism upon this free +soil were from the North. One solid, earnest, but uneducated free +state man, born and raised in Kentucky, and a resident of Missouri +for several years just before coming to the Oregon Territory, was +asked as to the evolution of his opinion and answered "that when +living in his native State, a doubt as to the rightfulness of slavery +had never crossed his mind; that he regarded abolitionists the same as +horse thieves, and would have meted out to them the same punishment; +that when he got to northern Missouri, where there were but few +slaves, he was struck with the difference he felt and saw, as respects +social conditions; people were more on an equality; that conservative +deference paid to slaveholders was conspicuous by its absence, and +when he got to Oregon, the spirit of abolitionism was in the air." He +thought that if the good people of Kentucky could experience what he +had they would clear slavery from that state in a year. I was +intimately acquainted with that man for thirty years, and I am +confident that I never saw one more honest and truthful, or one more +ready to assist in reforms or more willing to be informed. Ignorance +was his sin, as it was of the majority of those subject to the malign +influence of slavery, and yet in his native State he was a possible +border ruffian. What an honest, earnest man believes to be right he +will defend, and for his convictions there is always a higher law to +which he will appeal, notwithstanding the limitations of statutes and +constitutions. + +Though a Webster might lose himself in adoration of the Federal Union +and an Everett offer up his mother a living sacrifice to preserve it, +it is to the credit of human nature that human rights, human +interests, human convictions and affections stand nearer and dearer to +the people than any mere machinery of human government. The +abolitionists believed the Constitution of the United States was a +covenant with Death and a league with Hell, and they protested with +all their soul and strength; to those Southerners reared to believe in +the divinity of slavery, the Constitution was a worthless rag, for it +did not protect them in their supposed rights. To the men of earnest +convictions on both sides we owe our present disenthrallment. + +The foregoing apparent digression has been indulged for the reason +that the Oregon people were severely criticised and denounced in +connection with our Indian wars, spoilation claims, and the votes cast +in favor of slavery upon the adoption of our free constitution; and +also for the reason that the aspect of character has a sociological +bearing. + +Advanced evolutionists include with their scientific shibboleth, "the +survival of the fittest," an ethical element, when applied to +civilized society. The early settlements here were singularly free +from transgressors. There was no criminal code and no courts of law up +to the time of the provisional government. Every man was a law unto +himself, and it is said there was no offense against person or +property of sufficient importance to require them. These were halcyon +days, often referred to by old Oregonians, who say that crime and +criminals were unknown until society was put under the tantalizing +reign of law. I have heard not a few, in referring to the good old +times, express the opinion that mankind are governed too much by +statute and thereby released, in a great degree, from moral restraint. + +There is occasionally an old settler so impressed with pioneer +equality, fraternity, and purity, that he lays all subsequent social +disturbance to the provoking interference of legal machinery with +natural rights, and he longs "for a lodge in some vast wilderness" +where he can end his days in peace, away from penalties and penal +institutions and the temptations which civil government offers to the +predatory instincts of men. + +Such logical metonomy is not mentioned here except to show that the +pioneers were lovers of peace and good order, and fully subject to +enlightened moral restraint. As before mentioned, they were peculiar +in one respect, that is, in the possession of a large share of the +executive or heroic qualities. + +The Great American Desert, with its sand stretches, waterless wastes, +unbridged rivers, Rocky Mountains, and predatory savages, loomed up +deterrently to the spiritless. A four to six months' journey in +wagons, exposed to all the vicissitudes of travel and climate and the +forays of more dreadful foes, ever on the alert to dispossess +travelers of their only means of conveyance, was not to be considered +a pleasure trip. + +No doubt that to a certain but undefinable extent and in numerous +ways, the circumstances and incidents to be expected on the overland +journey were selective, and yet the Oregon Pioneer, as pictured by his +eulogists, is rather a fanciful personage. Not that the incidents from +which the picture is drawn are to any unusual degree false, but that +there is too much of the commonplace left out, and so the typical +pioneer, like the typical Yankee, is a caricature. The pioneers, as a +body, were only a little different from those who were too +affectionate or diffident to start, and among them were all sorts of +people; but looking only to those who endured extraordinary +privations, to those who developed an uncommon degree of strength, +courage, and virtue, there have grown up the poetry and romance of the +pioneers, and to none is this more evident than the pioneers +themselves. At one of their annual gatherings, when an eloquent +speaker was narrating the trying incidents of the overland journey, +one of the earlier immigrants inquisitively remarked "I wonder if I +ever crossed the plains?" I was querying the same; still we must not +neglect to state that the speaker was dealing in facts. He was leaving +out so much that those who had passed the ordeal wondered if they had +ever been there. Indeed, the speakers and writers who have been called +to the task of perpetuating pioneer history have had the usual +inducements to false coloring, which has been the curse of all history +in all times. + +Striking incidents, battles, sieges, marches, insurrections, +revolutions, and the leading actors in them, of such is the warp and +woof of history, until man is understood to be a mere fighting animal, +although the greater part of his life has been spent in peaceful +avocations and the greater exertion of his force and faculties has +been devoted to constructive industry. + +Out of such partiality has inevitably grown the great man theory of +human progression. The student of history passes along from point to +point in the bloody trail of the historian, stopping at such +characters as Alexander, Cæsar, Charlemagne, Napoleon, etc., until +these great destroyers are looked upon as the prime factors of the +evolutionary state. Of course, these and such as these must not be +ignored or left out, for history would cease to be history without +them, but it is equally important to know that man, judged only by +them, ceases to be man. Of late an improved philosophy of history +assigns them their proper place and significance as an index of +evolution, and gives us the hopeful sign that notwithstanding the +occasional irruption of man's destructive faculties, his progress is +principally due to the subordination of the militant spirit. And now, +while the principal part of our early history, territorial and state, +is devoted to our really insignificant Indian wars and the principal +characters on both sides, it is well enough to think that the greater +constructive works of peace have been going forward with hardly a +halt, and the more sober tints are yet to be given the picture of +early Oregon times. + +With such coloring as we now have of pioneer life and the passage of +the great plains, posterity will wonder, as did the pioneer before +quoted, if the pioneers ever did cross, and also what kind of people +they must have been to undertake, with such slender means, so perilous +a journey. Samuel R. Thurston, Oregon's first delegate under the +Territorial Government, advertised his constituents as "fellows who +could whip their weight in wildcats," very good electioneering taffy, +no doubt, but rather strong and really degrading language to apply to +the earnest men and women who so patiently toiled to the Northwest +coast. + +Of a higher type and tone was the poetical exaggeration "only the +brave started, only the strong got through." The facts are different. +Some arrant cowards and many more physically weak persons, by some +sufficient means, found their way here. The emigrant train was not a +forlorn hope; no such test was made for membership. Neither was it a +test of patriotism; albeit every citizen is a quixotic propagator of +his republican faith. Various were the inducements in the minds of +those who left the older states for the Pacific Slope. Many, like +ex-Senator Nesmith, did not really know, as they had no well defined +purpose, but might answer in his language, and with probable truth, +that they were "impelled by a vague spirit of adventure." Restless +spirits are always ready for any move, promising unusual scope for the +exercise of their faculties. Many were along to enjoy the exhilaration +of travel, in a new, strange, and truly wonderful country. Many, long +wasted by the miasmatic fevers of the overrich and productive +Mississippi Valley, sought immunity in the untainted mountain air of +the Far West. A few of the Daniel Boone stripe were too much crowded +where inhabitants exceeded one to the square mile, and took one more +move with the hope that the hum drum of civilization would never +overtake them. A few of a poetical turn of mind, tired of the +monotony of the greater East, sought fresh inspiration and a home upon +the picturesque shores of the sunset seas. + +But while all of the foregoing and many other inducements might have +been present in varying degree, the great incentive to immigration was +free land. Not only land for the landless, but land for all, and in +unstinted quantity. The scenes at Oklahoma divest the emigration to +Oregon of all mystery, and while there was probably small difference +in kind or degree of virtue between those who came and those who +remained, of one fact pioneers are cognizant, namely, that the +incidents and trials of the overland journey were a wonderful +developer and equalizer. The fictitious gloss of so-called society was +abraded, and the shams of character in which human beings had invested +themselves, like weakly oxen, were left on the road. Everywhere this +is observable, and it is often remarked that the true pioneer is never +afterward subject to an undue self-inflation. It seems as though a few +months' practice of sincere brotherhood is fatal to an offensive +amount of arrogance and egotism. + +Now let us inquire as to the use and the tenacity of hold the pioneers +had for their unbought possessions. There was no sign of indolence on +their part upon arriving. The same pushing qualities which enabled +them to surmount all difficulties in getting here were not wanting +when homes were to be made and farms to be cultivated. To all +appearances the older community, with an infusion of vigor born of +success and adventure, had been transplanted upon virgin soil. Of +necessity population was sparse. In large districts, principally +settled by immigrants before 1851, there was but one family to the +square mile, and in other portions were those arriving afterwards and +settling two to the square mile. In this way a few people cover, or +rather appropriate, a large country, and their improvements, though +considerable, appear very meager. Every thing, however, was at hand; +rail timber ten cuts to the tree; cedar for shingles and shakes; poles +straight enough for rafters without hewing, and fir trees, seemingly +grown for the special purpose of house frames. The soil was favorable. +Though producing a good growth of the most nutritious native grass, it +was easily plowed, two good horses being sufficient to turn over two +acres of sod in a day, and, unlike the sward in other countries, was +mellow from the first harrowing. Many a family coming as late as +October plowed and fenced forty acres and raised from twelve hundred +to sixteen hundred bushels of wheat the next harvest, working their +cattle that hauled them across the plains and feeding them nothing but +the bunch grass upon which they pastured through the winter months. + +After the discovery of gold in California, the market for all farm +products was at almost every man's door and at marvelous prices. +Butter from fifty cents to a dollar a pound; bacon from twenty-five to +fifty cents a pound; chickens from $5 to $10 per dozen; eggs from +twenty-five to fifty cents per dozen; sheep from $5 to $12 per head; +cows, $50; horses, $200; oxen from $100 to $200 per yoke; wheat from +$1 to $7 per bushel, and labor from $2 to $5 per day. Of course, such +prices gradually wore down, but the opportunity for large profits in +farming and stock raising continued for a quarter of a century. Our +public disbursements, however, were not on the same scale. Up to the +year 1859 Uncle Sam paid a good share of the governmental expenses, +and at that time our state government was organized under a +constitution that has often been called parsimonious. + +The sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of each township, or lands in +lieu thereof, were devoted by Congress to common schools; land was +also given to found a state university and agricultural college, and +five hundred thousand acres along with five per cent of the sales of +public lands were given to an internal improvement fund to be used by +the state. Add to this the swamp lands, amounting to several hundred +thousand acres of the most valuable, all given without cost, and one +might well ask, "in the name of common sense what more should a +paternal government do for a people?" And yet it has done more. Coast +defenses and lighthouses have been built, the rivers dredged, harbors +improved, something near a million dollars appropriated to cut a canal +around the cascade falls, and military roads and posts established to +protect our inhabitants from the aborigines. + +In common with all the other inhabitants of the United States, we have +been suffering for the last few years from an aggravating increase of +our great American industry, politics, but until the discovery was +made, that people can grow rich by taxing themselves, the people of +Oregon were contented with small levies for public purposes. Indeed, +we have done little in the way of public improvements to create +expense. With the exception of county roads, which are mainly ungraded +dirt ways, and the bridging of streams, nothing of importance has been +attempted. + +In view of all the foregoing comes the sharp contrast of the present +condition of the pioneers and their immediate descendants. In the +absence of any reliable census reports, I have been obliged to rely +upon regional inspection, taking a township here and there and tracing +up the career of the first white inhabitants. For this purpose I have +selected, for an average, one hundred square miles on the east side of +the Willamette Valley, in Marion County, which contains the state +capital, and an examination shows that sixty-six per cent of the +donation claims have passed out of the possession of the donees and +their descendants, another fifteen per cent are mortgaged for all +they are worth, and for practical purposes may be considered as lost +to them. Not more than fifteen per cent of the whole have been +ordinarily successful in holding and improving a part of their +possessions and are now free from debt. Only five of all of them have +increased their holdings and are thrifty. Eighty-seven per cent held +section claims, and it may be mentioned that the half-section +claimants were more successful in holding their own, and add very much +to the favorableness of this report. In the better part of this +county, a hundred square miles in a body might be selected where the +per cent of loss would be greater, but this was settled chiefly by +French, Scotch, and English Canadians, mountain men and trappers of +nomadic habits, who married Indian women of the whole or half-breed, +and of whose descendants less is expected, as they are passionately +fond of ardent spirits. A teetotaler of mixed blood would be a rare +sight. Neighborly, clever people, of lax business habits, and of +necessity trustful, they were soon beat out of their landed +possessions. Probably in no American community has the credit system +been so much in vogue as on this Northwest coast, and likely for the +reason that in no other place are crops so sure, and certainly in no +other place was a broad basis of credit so much at the disposal of +debtors. A family with a section of land that produces unfailing crops +at small cost, can get credit anywhere; and what a harvest it has been +for merchants and middlemen in these western valleys until recently. +Ah, man! you are, indeed, a wanting animal, one whose wants are ever +multiplying and exacting. Only a few of the race are securely +provident by immediate self-denial, and this truth applies equally to +the pioneers, those resolute men and women-- + + Who kept step with the patient ox, + And toiled by the rolling wheel, + Drew success from the sand and rocks, + As sparks from the flint and steel. + +The heads of families did not so readily depart from their early +habits of economy, but the children soon reveled in their magnificent +possessions. Girls and boys alike became semi-nomads, or properly +speaking, fell into the ways of the baronial English or the planter +class of the South. As a consequence of their newly found competence +and leisure "they took to horse," and strange, what a fascination +comes over a human being when he takes to horse. In truth, that boy +who did not admire the splendid aboriginal equestrians of the Great +Plains and get filled with the spirit of the wild and free, as he saw +them scurrying along the mountain side or sweeping down into the +valley with the speed of the wind; that boy must have been an +unchangeable clodhopper or a born philosopher. + +Very few of them escaped the uncivilizing contamination, and many a +youth, fresh from an unfinished course at school, had his book +education cut sadly short by bestriding a cayuse and becoming a +practical cowboy. The infatuation was not confined to the boys. The +girls, too, had as much fondness for the noble brute, and were as +expert and graceful in his management. Some of them have ridden +seventy-five miles in a day. As a means of social communication at +that time it had no equal; and for stock raising and the round-up in +such a country, the horseman was unapproachable. Still, with all such +advantages, and they were many, which could have been turned into +permanent profit, the cowboy generation, though having a "heap of +fun," and no doubt genuine pleasure, let the earth slip from under his +feet. How could it be otherwise? Who could deny them? A party of boys +and girls on their favorite steeds, the former in leggings, bell +spurs, and the graceful sirrapa; the latter in the freshness of +physical beauty and bedecked with flowing skirts and scarlet streaming +sash--when such a cavalcade went galloping over the prairies with a +speed that put to shame a Sheridan's ride, what parent could or would +deny them. + +Well, the parents did not deny them this and other diversions from +gainful industry, and, little by little, the princely donations of +land went into the till of the shopkeeper or the safe of the money +changer. Landless and moneyless, they scattered over the country, and, +as it were, dropped into all kinds of callings. Many of them have gone +east of the Cascades and taken homesteads and pre-emptions in the arid +regions, and there upon the bunch grass lands have gained a living and +some a competence by stock raising and wool growing. Others followed +up the streams into the mountains and in some narrow valley made a +home away from the every day temptations of the lowlanders. Others +went to the coast. Many of the young have found ample success in other +avocations and do not regret the loss of the parental donations. They +are found on the bench, at the bar, in the pulpit, in the governmental +employ, in college faculties, and in all honorable pursuits. Only a +few have ignobly failed, and those few do not invalidate the maxim +that "where there is a will there is a way" for falling into the drink +habit they lost their wills. + +In conclusion, I am not willing to assert that the policy of the +general government, in donating land as a reward for taking possession +of this Northwest coast, was not a wise policy or that it was an +injury to the donees, though in the main they failed to keep the gift, +but the lesson is none the less valuable; and what is it but a +confirmation of the general truth that "necessity is the mother of +invention," the spur to exertion, and that success in this life is to +be obtained only through the school of experience as the reward of +continued and temperate effort. As there is no royal road to knowledge +so there is no royal road to wealth or any other valuable acquisition; +and it is not proper to confine this edict of fate to mere material +things, although to be fed and clothed is the first and most imperious +demand of nature. Man in all of his successful undertakings is an +evolutionary being. Whether intellectually, morally, or physically +considered, he keeps best what he has produced, what he has earned. As +a hard and fast donee, he is not a success; as a beggar, he is +disgusting even to himself. Sometimes he needs charity, but always +justice. + + T. W. DAVENPORT. + + + + +GLIMPSES OF EARLY DAYS IN OREGON. + + +It would be difficult, indeed, to find anything new to say of +pioneering or pioneers, and useless to trace the pioneers along their +journey across the Plains. We will pass over an interval of eight +months and introduce our loved fathers and mothers on their arrival at +where Portland now stands. + +On the first of November, 1845, after a journey of eight months of +inconceivable hardships, a small party of those pioneers first stepped +on the banks of the grand Willamette River, near where Morrison Street +is now located. The rays of the setting sun casting their light and +shade o'er the beautiful landscape, impressed the beholders with a +deep feeling of thankfulness that they were permitted to reach the new +land, and stand on the shore of the wonderful river of the west. The +wind murmuring through the branches of the stately fir bade them +welcome, and the old trees served as shelter for the next two months. +With the aid of flint, steel, and powder, a large camp fire was soon +burning brightly, casting a rich glow o'er the magnificent wall of +forest trees. It was a picturesque scene. The soft moonlight, the +sparkle of the water, the lurid light from the resinous fire, formed a +scene worthy of a painter's skill. They sat around the fire for hours +reveling in the luxury of rest; and they arrived destitute in all save +character, determination, and self-reliance. With such sterling +qualities failure was impossible. + +The little company did not retire early, as they were forming plans +for their future work. At a late hour buffalo robes and blankets were +spread on the ground, and soon all were lost in sleep. The only sound +that broke the silence was the yelp of the prowling coyote. + +With the first rosy blushes of the dawn the men began to rise, and +before the sun was fairly over the horizon the sound and echoes of +their axes brought cheer to our mothers' hearts, for they knew ere +long homes would shelter them from the winter's storms. Weeks of hard +labor were required to fell the trees, and clear away the brush, and +prepare the site on which to build. Trees were cut the proper length, +one side of the log hewed smooth with a broadax, and fitted so they +would join at the corners and lie compact. It was no easy task, but +our loved pioneers, with only a saw, auger and ax, broadaxe and adze +would put to shame some of the more modern workmen. Logs for the +puncheon floors were split and smoothed with an adze, and fitted close +together, making a warm and solid floor. The structure raised to a +proper height, poles were used for rafters; some of the logs were cut +three feet in length, from which shakes were made and used in place of +shingles. The fireplace and chimney was built with sticks and +plastered inside and out with a thick coating of clay. Some had a +stout iron bar securely fastened on one side of the large fireplace; +on this bar, which was called a crane, iron hooks were placed, on +which the teakettle and other cooking utensils were hung; all cooking +and baking was done before the open fire and broad clay hearth. +Windows were a sort of sliding door in the wall, without glass. The +furniture was extremely simple, being split out of fir or cedar trees, +and, if not elegant, was substantial; doors were also made of shakes, +and hung on wooden hinges. Wooden pegs were used in place of nails. +Rough bedsteads were placed in one corner of the large room, the +trundle bed pushed under it during the day, and at night drawn out +ready for the little ones. For one to see the number of sweet faces +and bright eyes of the many children lying in their beds, the scene +would put the old woman who lived in her shoe far in the minority. +Large quantities of moss stripped from the trees made good mattresses; +with buffalo robes and blankets they had comfortable beds. Their +primitive cabins completed ready for occupancy, with heartfelt +thankfulness they left the shelter of the trees for their first Oregon +home. + +The latchstring, like a welcome hand, bade them enter. A bright fire +greeted them with her golden rays and warmth, and the sound of the +teakettle, cheerily singing, they catch the glad refrain and quickly +joined with-- + + "Home! Home! sweet, sweet home! + Be it ever so humble, + There's no place like home." + +How well they realized the true meaning of home, as no roof had +sheltered them for the past ten months. As the family gathered around +the ruddy light of the cheerful fire, which was their only light, +plans were made to visit Oregon City for supplies of food and +clothing. Indians, with their canoes, conveyed them to their +destination. Soon wheat, bolts of flannel, with other necessary +articles, were purchased and shipped; fathers stepped on board, and +the trusty Indian with a stroke of the paddle sent the frail craft +swiftly gliding o'er limpid water. Ere long they were rushing over the +Clackamas rapids, which in hurried haste, flows on and yet is never +gone. As the sun was sinking behind the hills, they reached home, +where the anxious mother, blinded by tears of gladness, thanked God +for the much needed supply of clothing and wheat, which was their only +bread. Deer and other game were plentiful, and easily brought down by +their trusty rifle. Salmon was bought of the Indians. Ducks, geese, +and swan were numerous. All winter mothers were kept busy cutting and +making clothing for the entire household; also teaching their +daughters how to sew, knit, and attend to general housework; and if +mothers were sick they did the work with willing hands. The canoe and +bateaux were their only means of transportation. Neighbors would +surprise the family by bringing their violins, and spending the +evening talking and dancing. The large room would be cleared of all +furniture, which was placed in the loft where the small children were +put to bed; soon the merry sound of tripping feet were keeping time to +Money Musk, and other old time music, the old men talked over the +possibilities of Oregon. One thought bridges would span the +Willamette; others shook their heads, saying not while we live. Our +children may live to see one. Others thought railroads would be built +across the continent; all looked at the speaker and echoed "A +railroad! Never, over those mountains. Why, man, no one in God's world +will live to see that day. Steamers and ships will come, but no +railroad." + +Our pioneer mothers made their dresses with plain skirts; waists were +sewed onto the skirt; sleeves were much like those worn by the women +of to-day. Their hair was combed smooth by their forehead and wound in +a coil high on their head, many wore side combs, a high back comb held +their coil of glossy hair. Hairpins were an unknown luxury. White +handkerchiefs were worn in place of collars, and they looked very +pretty crossed or tied in a bow at the throat. All were deft with the +needle, also weaving; those who have the rare blue and gray +counterpanes, manufactured by their willing hands, possess an heirloom +of great value. + +In the spring of 1846 gardens were made by those living on farms, from +which early vegetables were procured, and in the fall many bushels of +potatoes, pease, and other vegetables were stored; of summer fruit +there were wild strawberries, and later raspberries and blackberries, +of which large quantities were picked and dried; also hazel bushes, +producing nuts in abundance, which were gathered and stored for winter +use. There was not much buying and selling, except of wheat, which was +used as currency, as well as for food. Portland was founded in 1845 by +pioneers who were quick to see the magnitude and resources of the +country. J. B. Stephens, who was a cooper, saw the large revenue to be +made by exporting salmon, and soon began making barrels and kegs, from +which he netted a large profit. The first tannery built in Portland +was erected near where the exposition building is located, by D. H. +Lownesdale, who had the honor of introducing a new circulating medium, +which was Oregon tanned leather. + +In 1845 the first ferry from the east bank to the west shore was a +canoe. + +In 1845 Portland was named. + +In 1846 the first blacksmith shop was erected on the northwest corner +of First and Morrison streets. + +In 1847 H. Luelling brought the first grafted fruit trees to the +Northwest. His famous nursery was located near Milwaukie. + +In 1847 Captain Crosby built the first frame house; others soon +followed. Hotels, stores, and business houses were also erected. At +that time the United States mail arrived yearly. + +In 1848 the first Methodist Church was organized in Portland, and a +church building was begun by J. H. Wilbur; doing good for others was +his greatest pleasure. Blessed be his name! + +In 1850 the first Congregational Church was erected on the northwest +corner of Second and Jefferson streets. The oldest Congregational +Church in Oregon was organized in 1842 at or near Hillsboro. The +second was organized in 1844 at Oregon City by Harvey Clark, with +three members; he also organized the first Congregational Church in +Forest Grove; his many golden words and good examples are his living +monument. + +In 1849 Colonel William King built the first sawmill ever built in +Portland, which was run by water power. Soon after it was finished it +was destroyed by fire. + +In 1850 W. P. Abrams and C. A. Reed erected the first steam sawmill in +Oregon on the river bank near where Jefferson Street is located. This +proved a profitable enterprise. Just south of the mill was an Indian +encampment, occupied by different tribes. Their wigwams were +constructed of bark and brush. Squaws sat on mats, weaving their water +tight baskets, often very prettily decorated, while the Indian men +lounged about in scarlet blankets, as if posing for a picture, and +their children sat in their canoes gliding o'er the water with +swanlike grace. Information had been circulated among them that the +mill would be started up on a certain afternoon, and all were curious +to see the working of this new evidence of the white man's +superiority. At the stated time the Indians were in and around the +mill; suddenly the steam whistle sounded its shrill shrieks in a +continuous blood curdling blast, which sent every Indian man, woman +and child fleeing for their lives into the dense woods. It was a long +time before they could be induced to go near the mill. + +In 1847, 1848, and 1849 many emigrants arrived who settled in +Portland, adding thrift and push to our small colony. The discovery of +gold in California on the twenty-fourth of January, 1848, caused +Portland to look like a deserted hamlet, as all men and boys caught +the gold fever and started for the golden shores of California, where +many were killed by the Digger Indians; others died of various +diseases, and some returned home broken in health, while others +returned with their hard earned gold. Ships arrived yearly in Oregon +with supplies for the Hudson Bay Company, by way of the Sandwich +Islands. + +In 1849 twenty vessels arrived, and quickly loaded with flour, salmon, +pork, shingles, lumber, and other products, which they carried to the +California market. From that time Portland began laying aside her +swaddling clothes. The first mayor of Portland was Hugh D. O'Bryant, +who was elected in 1851. When the city was incorporated it was in +Washington County, and the people from Portland had to go to Hillsboro +to hold court. In 1856 a meeting of the citizens of Portland was +called to organize a volunteer company to protect the people and +property, in case of an Indian outbreak; two hundred names were +enrolled and H. W. Davis was appointed captain. + +In 1850 the steamer Lot Whitcombe was built at Milwaukie, Oregon. In +1851 the steamers Eagle and Black Hawk were running between Portland +and Oregon City, where those who wished to proceed farther south, +would walk to Canemah and there board the steamer Beaver or Enterprise +which would convey them to any of these points: Butteville, Champoeg, +Mission Bottom, or Salem. Steamers Belle and Fashion were running +between Portland and the Cascades. + +In 1853 David Monnastes and H. W. Davis erected a foundry on First +Street. Many other industries were established. + +Among the pioneer doctors were Doctors Hawthorne and Lorrea, who +erected the first hospital on Taylor, between First and Second +streets. Soon after they selected a beautiful location in East +Portland, surrounded by forest trees, and erected a home for the +insane. + +In 1853 W. S. Ladd built the first brick building in Portland. Others +soon followed, and frame houses were now in evidence, and the log +cabin in which so many happy hours were spent around the great +fireside was fast disappearing, although built from necessity, not +choice--happy memories of it still linger which time can not efface. + +In 1850 several families left Portland to reside on their donation +land claims. I will describe one of these homes: A frame house with +large rooms, papered, and woodwork painted, glass windows, sitting +room with a large brick fireplace, with a mantle of oak, easy chairs, +a large mirror, table, and a corner cupboard filled with dishes. The +kitchen was furnished with a cook stove and all other necessary +articles. Feather beds were now in use. This house was erected near +the bank of the ever beautiful Willamette. On the west a creek glided +in sparkling beauty by the kitchen door, supplying the household with +cold mountain water. Memory loves to recall those scenes. In a garden +early vegetables and a variety of flower seeds were growing. A large +frame barn stood on the hill, with pigpen and chicken house close by; +a woodshed filled with wood stood near the back gate. In the fall, +when it was time to garner the wheat, oats, or hay, neighbors, +bringing their scythes and other instruments used to mow the harvest, +would surprise the farmer at early dawn, saying, "Well, neighbor, I +have come to help you with your harvesting;" and they never left until +the bountiful crop had been garnered. The golden rule, do unto others +as you would have them do unto you, was lived and practiced and +represents to us that period in our social system when a neighborhood +was as one great family. + +In 1849 a mint was erected in Oregon City to coin five- and ten-dollar +gold pieces, which were known as beaver money. + +In the fall of 1849 a party of Oregonians, embarked on a sailing +vessel, left California for Portland. The captain proved to be a most +unkind and brutal master, not only to the sailors but to the +passengers, who were compelled to eat the worst of food. After sailing +for twenty-two days they encountered a violent gale, and were driven +out of their course. As they were nearing the Columbia-river bar the +vessel was drawn into the breakers at North Beach and was deserted by +captain, crew, and passengers, who in their haste to save themselves +forgot their gold. On reaching shore they were exhausted and were +obliged to walk around the entire night to keep from freezing. In the +early morning they saw smoke a short distance up the beach. Each man +hurried to the scene. They found a comfortable house where they were +made to feel at home in true pioneer style by the owner, a Mr. +Johnson, who was, as all Scotchmen are, loyal and hospitable. As they +were in a weakened condition the good man gave them a small quantity +of food at first, which was fish cooked on the point of a stick held +before the fire. All agreed that was the best food they had ever +eaten. Now they related their hardships encountered on the voyage. Mr. +Johnson sent out his Indians with instructions to reach the wreck and +bring everything available ashore. This order seemed scarcely +possible, but the brave Indians went through the breakers, reaching +the vessel, and before night brought all the sacks of gold dust and +many articles of wearing apparel ashore, where each man could claim +his own. The party remained several days with their benefactor, who +kindly conveyed them to Astoria. + +In 1854 Thomas Fraser was the first to agitate the public school +question. The following public spirited men were present: Thomas +Fraser, W. S. Ladd, Josiah Failing, H. W. Corbett, P. Raleigh, A. D. +Shelby, T. N. Larkin, A. L. Davis, C. Abrams, L. Limerick. All of +these noble and unselfish men, except one, have passed on to their +higher home--H. W. Corbett, the surviving one, a pioneer of 1851, +loved, honored, and justly called the Father of Portland, is still the +first to give his time and money for the betterment and upbuilding of +the city and state. God grant that he may be spared many, many more +years. No monument need be erected to their memory. The nobility of +their lifework is woven and cemented deeply in the hearts of the +people. + +December, 1855, Multnomah County was organized. In January following +L. Limerick was appointed county school superintendent. December 4, +1850, the first weekly _Oregonian_ was published in Portland by T. J. +Dryer. In 1851 the first regular monthly mail service began between +Portland and San Francisco, per steamer Columbia. + +Before Oregon was admitted to the Union in 1859 the log cabins had +been cleared away, showing the pioneers were progressive. + +In 1858 C. Stewart erected the first theatre building in Portland. + +_Wilcox School_--The first day school of any kind was opened in +Portland in the fall of 1847, by Dr. Ralph Wilcox. It was conducted in +a house erected by Mr. McNemee at the foot of Taylor Street. It was +properly a private school and continued one quarter. The names of some +of the pupils are given: Frances McNemee (now Mrs. E. J. Northup), her +brothers Moses, Adam, and William; Charlotte Terwilliger (now Mrs. C. +M. Cartwright), Milton Doan's children--Sarah, Mary, Peter and John, +Henry Hill, Helen Hill (now Mrs. Wm. Powell), J. Miller,--Murphy, Lucy +and Charlotte Barnes, Emma and Sarah Ross, Lorenzo Terwilliger, and +John Terwilliger. Doctor Wilcox came to Oregon in 1845. + +_Carter School_--In February, 1848, Miss Julia Carter taught school in +a log cabin on the corner of Second and Stark streets. She had thirty +or more pupils. Those who attended Doctor Wilcox's school, also these +additional: John Cullen, Carrie Polk, the Warren girls--one now Mrs. +Richard White, the other Mrs. D. C. Coleman; Milton, John, Albert, +Matilda, and Susan Apperson, were her pupils. + +_Hyde School_--In the winter of 1848 and 1849, Aaron J. Hyde taught +school in what was known as the Cooper shop, which was the only public +hall in Portland. It was located on the west side of First Street, +between Morrison and Yamhill streets. + +_Lyman School_--Late in December, 1849, Rev. Horace Lyman opened a +school in a frame building, which was built by Col. Wm. King for +church and school purposes. It was located on First Street, second +door north of Oak. On this building was placed a bell, which weighed +about three hundred pounds. Stephen Coffin bought this bell at his own +expense. Rev. Jas. H. Wilbur bought the bell of Mr. Coffin and placed +it on the First Methodist Church. It now hangs in the steeple of the +Taylor-street M. E. Church. He taught three months, had forty pupils. +Among his pupils he recalls the Coffins, Chapmans, Parrishes, Kings, +Hills, Terwilligers, Appersons, Watts, and McNemees. + +_Delos Jefferson School_--In August, 1850, Delos Jefferson, now a +farmer of Marion County, opened a school and taught three months. + +_Reed School_--In April, 1850, Cyrus A. Reed taught school for three +months. He had an average of sixty pupils. Among his pupils he recalls +the names, Carters, Cullen, Coffin, Hill, Chapman, Terwilliger, +Parrishes, Stephens, McNemee, and Watts. There was no other district +organization. + +_Rev. Doane's School_--Following Mr. Jefferson, came Rev. N. Doane, +then and now a minister of the M. E. Church. He taught nine months, +beginning December 1, 1850. To the former lists of pupils he adds +Davises, Crosbys, Lownesdale, and Parrishes. + +_Central School_--The Central School occupied the present site of the +Portland Hotel. Monday, May 18, 1858, the first school in the Central +Building was opened by L. L. Terwilliger, principal, with two +assistants, Mrs. Mary J. Hensill and Owen Connelly. From the records I +find that up to July 23, 1858, two hundred and eighty different pupils +had been enrolled. The names of pupils, parents, and residences are on +record. Of all the residences noted, but two were west of Seventh +Street. Those two were F. M. Warren and Wm. H. King. Most of the +residences were on First, Second, Third, and Fourth streets, with +quite a number in Couch's Addition. Mr. Terwilliger was principal of +the Central School for two and a quarter years. + +_Bishop Scott's Academy_--Was opened in the spring of 1856, at +Milwaukie. + +_Saint Mary's Academy_--The oldest denominational school in Portland, +was founded in 1859 by the Sisters of the Most Holy Name of Jesus and +Mary. The first Catholic Church in Oregon was erected in 1839 at Saint +Paul, Marion County. + +In 1849 a Catholic Church was dedicated in Oregon City. + +In 1851 the first Catholic Church was erected in Portland, and +dedicated in 1852 by Archbishop Blanchet, who labored with zeal to +better the condition of all. Peace to his memory. + +In 1845 George Abernethy, who resided in Oregon City, was chosen to +serve as governor of Oregon. He was a man of sterling qualities and +well qualified for the office, and was a pioneer of 1840. In the fall +of 1851 the academy on Seventh and Jefferson streets was opened with +C. S. Kingsley, teacher. The school was surrounded by large trees and +was a long distance from the village. No streets were improved near +the school. One could follow the cow path that wound around, and the +tinkling of the cow bell could be heard as late as 1861, when a law +was passed prohibiting cattle from roaming on the streets. + + +GLIMPSE OF ONE OF MANY SIMILAR SCENES ENDURED OUR LOVED PIONEERS. + +In 1850 Mr. S. M. Hamilton, with his wife and four children, after a +long journey across the Plains arrived at the Cascades. They were +impressed with the towering mountains and beautiful scenery. Here they +decided to locate on a donation land claim, which is now known as +Hamilton's Island. A comfortable house soon greeted them. Mrs. +Hamilton, who is still with us, is a woman of culture and refinement, +and many owe their success in life to her loving example and words of +cheer; but dark days were hovering around their peaceful home. The +terrible news that Indians were lurking to plunder and kill had filled +their hearts with terror. Mr. Hamilton had arranged, if the outbreak +did occur, that two men were to take charge of the boat, while others +were to remain and defend their property. A bateaux lay in readiness. +On the morning of the 26th of March, 1856, the dreaded signal sounded, +striking terror to the stoutest hearts. Mr. Hamilton hurried to his +home, where wife and children were terrified. His first word was +"Mary, the Yakima Indians have attacked the men, who were working on +the portage railroad, and will soon reach our home. Your only safety +is to embark at once, with other families, who are hurrying to reach +the boat, their only means of escape." All were now on board except +one woman, who was carrying her babe, and running over the rocks as +fast as her strength would permit. One of the men who had charge of +the boat said "Push out and leave her." Mr. Hamilton placed his hand +on the boat, saying, "No, no; never leave man, woman, or child who is +in sight." By this time the woman and child were on board; quickly the +boat was in the swift current, the occupants were lying on the bottom +to escape the whizzing bullets and arrows of the savages, whose +demoniacal and blood curdling yells added terror to the mothers' +hearts. Picture the agony of those mothers as they were floating away +from loved ones and home, listening to the frightful shrieks and rapid +shooting of the Indians. For a moment the father watched the receding +craft that held all that was dear--dearer than life--not knowing when, +or if ever, they would meet again. With upturned face he exclaimed +"Oh, God, have mercy and protect the dear ones." A bullet whistled +past his head; he raised his trusty rifle, fired, one Indian fell; +again and again his rifle was reloaded and fired, each time sure of +its mark. That night his house was burned. The Indians were armed with +guns and arrows. They killed one woman and her husband; several men +were killed; after hours of suspense those in the boat sighted the +steamer Fashion. She quickly halted, taking all on board, turned back, +reaching Vancouver the following day, where the alarm was sounded, and +the steamer hurried on to Portland; there the bells tolling forth +called out the citizens, who, on hearing the terrible news began +collecting guns and ammunition; the entire population was aroused. +Nothing since the Whitman massacre had brought such sorrow to their +hearts. Early in the morning the steamer, loaded with human freight, +started for the sad scene. A steamer had left Fort Vancouver with our +illustrious Sheridan, who, with forty men reached the Cascades first. +On landing they received a volley from the Indians, who fought like +demons. Now the steamer arrived with the Portland volunteers. At the +same time Colonel Steptoe, from The Dalles, with infantry and +volunteers, arrived, who surprised the Indians, many of whom were +horse racing, others were watching Sheridan. As they saw the new +arrival of blue coats, they fled to the hills. Nine of the ring +leaders were captured and hung. To relate all the thrilling incidents +encountered by the early pioneers would fill volumes, and in +conclusion, I feel that the hallowed remembrances of all our loyal +patriotic pioneer fathers and mothers will live to the end of time, as +they braved dangers that tongue or pen fail to express, and by their +life's work each one has erected their invincible monument. + + CHARLOTTE MOFFETT CARTWRIGHT, + Pioneer of 1845. + + + + +THE UPPER CALAPOOIA. + +By GEO. O. GOODALL. + + +The early history of the white man in the Upper Calapooia was a quiet +and uneventful one. The travelers coming in from their long trip +across the Plains, pushed up the Willamette Valley, and, attracted by +the beautiful and fertile Calapooia Valley, with its abundance of +grass on its surrounding hills, and plentiful supply of water, settled +there to live the peaceful life of farmers or stock raisers, with very +little trouble of any kind to disturb them in their occupation of +home-making. In those early days the hills, most of which are now +heavily wooded, were free from timber and covered with beautiful +grass. One old settler said: "You can not imagine the beauty of this +country when we first came here." The Indians had kept the brush +burned down, burning over the hills each year. The white man neglected +to do this, and now in many places the grass has given way to moss and +timber. + +According to the best information I could get, the first settlers came +to the Calapooia in 1846. T. A. Riggs, who came in 1847, and whose +statement is appended below, says that when he came there were three +or four settlers near where Brownsville now stands, and one, R. C. +Finley, six miles up stream. This man Finley was the settler farthest +up the stream till Riggs and his partner, Asa Moore, took up donation +claims two or three miles above Finley on Brush Creek, a tributary of +the Calapooia. From this time on more settlers came every year and +settled all along the Calapooia Valley and on streams tributary. The +settlement here preceded that in the upper Willamette to some extent, +because out in the valley there was less timber, water was less +plentiful, and the soil was not considered as good as in the +Calapooia. + +Most of the settlers who came were farmers. R. C. Finley, however, was +a millwright, and in 1849[35] built a flouring mill, which still +stands, six miles above Brownsville. In 1850 Templeton built a +sawmill; in 1852 Finley built one, and in 1854 P. V. Crawford built +one near the present site of Holley. The first settlers had gone to +Oregon City for flour, and later to Salem. After Finley's mill was +built people came from as far away as the Umpqua Valley to get flour +there. + +Schools were founded at an early date, the first being taught by Rev. +H. H. Spalding in a log house one mile above where Brownsville now +stands, in the summer of 1849. This was a subscription school. The +first district was organized on the Calapooia in 1853, being the third +district in Linn County. The first school after the district was +organized was taught by Robert Moore in the summer of 1853. The +churches commenced work very soon and several denominations were +represented. Joab Powell, the celebrated Baptist evangelist, used to +preach there, and gave it as his opinion that "Thar was some mighty +big sinners on the head of the Calapooia." Dr. J. N. Perkins preached +for the Christians, and Rev. H. H. Spalding for the Presbyterians. + +P. V. Crawford, for whom Crawfordsville is named, was the first +regularly appointed postmaster on the Calapooia. Previous to his +appointment in 1870 there had been a supplied post office at William +Heisler's store, where Crawfordsville now is. There was never any +great number of manufacturing enterprises in the Calapooia country. A +flouring mill, a sawmill or two, and the woolen mill at Brownsville, +built about 1862, constitute the sum of such enterprises. The chief +production is still from the farm--live stock and farm produce. The +range is now greatly curtailed through growth of brush, close +pasturage, and taking up of land. + +There were in this region several men who were public spirited and +prominent in Oregon affairs in early times. Foremost of all was +Delazon Smith, who lived down toward Albany, on the Albany prairie, +but was well known and claimed by all the Linn County section. Smith +was a preacher when he first lived in Oregon. On one occasion he was +heard to say, when preaching at Brownsville, that he had been urged to +give up preaching and go into law, but that he would not give up what +religion he had for all the wealth of the world. Strange to say, +however, that was really the last sermon he ever preached. Soon after +he is said to have been offered a fee of $1,000 to defend a man in a +criminal case, and from that time on he followed law and politics. He +was a member of the constitutional convention, was in the legislature, +and stumped the state with Col. E. D. Baker in the race for United +States senator. Hugh Brown, founder of Brownsville, was also prominent +in politics and was a member of the constitutional convention. J. N. +Rice and Robert Glass were in the legislature in early times, and R. +C. Finley, though not so prominent politically, was a wealthy, +liberal, public spirited man, who wielded considerable influence. + +No serious Indian troubles ever came upon the settlers on the +Calapooia. T. A. Riggs tells how the Indians used to steal from the +whites, and describes a little difficulty he and a neighbor had with +them over the stealing of an ox, but the Indians of this section never +attempted to make war on the whites. At a later time, 1856, there was +a fear that the Indians on the other side of the Cascades, who were +then on the warpath, might come over and fall upon the settlers along +the Calapooia. At Fern Ridge a fort was built in anticipation of such +a contingency, but results proved their fears groundless, and that +they had perhaps given the eastern Indians credit for more energy than +they possessed. + +During war times there was considerable feeling in this region. The +people were many of them from Missouri, and many were Douglas +democrats. When the war commenced a considerable number of Douglas +democrats turned Republicans. A party composed of Union men and +Douglas democrats put out a county ticket in 1862 in Linn County. It +was called the Cayuse ticket. Both Union and non-Union men formed +secret societies. The democrats organized a secret society known as +the Knights of the Golden Circle, one of its objects being to prevent +a draft. George Helm was the leading democrat at this time in this +section, and was called the "Lion of Linn." The Union men formed the +Union League, the chief object of which was to watch the democrats. It +was thought at one time that the Knights of the Golden Circle would +attempt to capture the fort at Vancouver, but no such attempt was ever +made. + +As I have before stated, the course of settlement and development in +the Calapooia country was quiet and uneventful. The settlers were at +first all poor, all subject to the hardships incident to living in a +new country, shut off from many conveniences of an older community, +and obliged to ascertain by experiment what crops paid best and how +they were best handled. Currency was scarce in the settlement and +wheat served to a large extent as a medium of exchange. When the men +who had been drawn to the gold mines to seek their fortunes began to +return with their gold dust there was a rapid advance in business and +prosperity. + +The first newspaper of this locality was printed by George Dyson; the +name and date I can not now give. The second was the _Informant_, +printed, like the first, at Brownsville, and by a man named Stein. +This was in 1886. In 1887 the _Express-Advance_ was started with the +_Informant's_ plant and continued two years. The _Brownsville Times_ +was started June 15, 1889, by McDonald & Cavendish. With several +changes of editors this paper is still printed, the present +proprietors being F. M. Brown and A. B. Cavender. + +The question as to why the first settlers came to Oregon is difficult +to determine. It seems, however, from the very limited amount of +direct testimony I have been able to get, that there were two forces +which at least had a powerful influence, and these were, first, +curiosity to see this great western country; and, secondly, the desire +to pick out a good piece of land from the thousands of acres open to +settlement here. + + ALBANY, Oregon, September 21, 1901. + + _Mr. Geo. O. Goodall, Eugene, Oregon_-- + DEAR SIR: In compliance with your request I will write a + short account of the early settlement of the upper Calapooia + Valley and some of the annoyances with which the first + settlers had to contend, and as I have to depend entirely on + memory, I am aware that my account will be very imperfect + and the more so as I am almost alone as one of the first + settlers, and I believe the only one above Brownsville. + + I crossed the plains in 1846, stopping near Oregon City till + the next fall, when I settled in Brush Creek Valley, Brush + Creek being the south fork of the Calapooia. When I came + here I found Alexander Kirk, W. R. Kirk, James Blakely, Hugh + L. Brown, and Jonathan Keeney, all living in the vicinity of + where Brownsville now is, they all having crossed the plains + in 1846 and come on up the valley to the Calapooia. I also + found R. C. Finley some six miles farther up the stream, who + also crossed the plains the same year, but settled on the + Calapooia in the spring of 1847. Mrs. Agnes B. Courtnay, who + came to Oregon in 1845, and whose husband had been killed + near Oregon City by a falling tree, made up the settlers on + the Calapooia at that time. I will state here that Mr. + Finley had settled at the falls of the Calapooia where he + contemplated building, and did in 1848 build a flouring + mill, being the first mill south of Salem. In the fall of + 1847, as before stated, I and Asa Moore settled in Brush + Creek Valley above Mr. Finley, he being the upper settler up + to that time, and at the same time James McHargue and Robert + Montgomery, who crossed the plains that season, settled + below Mr. Finley and Thomas Fields several miles farther up + the stream. Wm. T. Templeton, William Robnett, William + McCaw, John Findlay, John A. Dunlap, and Thomas S. Woodfin + all crossed the plains in 1847 and subsequently settled on + the Calapooia, but after the annoyance with the Indians had + ceased. + + The Indians in these early days were in the habit of + stealing horses and cattle from the settlers and butchering + them, and the settlers would trail them up and if able to + catch them would flog them severely, but the Indians seemed + to care about as much as a cur for such treatment and would + laugh about it as if it was all a huge joke. Some time + during the summer of 1847 Isaac B. Courtnay was hunting in + Brush Creek Valley, being above the settlement at that time, + when he met with a few Indians, who took his gun and + ammunition and allowed him to go home. During the fall and + winter of 1847 the Indians annoyed Mr. Fields so much that + he finally moved down to my place on Brush Creek and stayed + until the spring of 1848. + + In the fall of 1847 when I and Mr. Moore came into Brush + Creek Valley we were not aware that there were any Indians + near there and selected a place to build a cabin in which to + spend the winter, we being single men, were going to batch + through the winter, when I intended to bring my mother to + live with me, my father having died soon after starting for + Oregon. When we commenced cutting logs for our cabin two or + three Indians appeared on the scene and inquired what we + were doing there, and on being told we were going to settle + there they demanded pay for the land, and we finally made a + bargain with them agreeing to pay them in wheat and pease + after the next harvest, this being the way in which many of + the early settlers bargained with them. + + During the fall and early winter when an Indian happened to + be present at mealtime we gave him something to eat, but it + soon became apparent that if we kept this up we would run + out of provisions before spring, as there were one or more + Indians there nearly every meal, so we were obliged to quit + feeding them, when they demanded pay for their land again we + told them, however, that we would pay them according to + contract. Soon after this they moved away, and we saw no + more of them on Brush Creek. + + As Mr. Finley was contemplating the building of a mill the + next summer he traded for a fat ox which I had brought with + me, intending to butcher him when he commenced work, but + soon after the Indians left the ox disappeared also. When we + missed him from the other cattle Mr. Finley and I took a + circuit around the range of the cattle and struck his trail + going toward the Santiam, and after tracking him a mile or + two we came across the same Indians, where they were camped + and were drying the beef, having killed the ox. When we + turned toward the camp Mr. Finley said if that Indian runs + I'll shoot him. When they saw us coming they broke for the + brush and Mr. Finley fired at one of them, they in their + hurry leaving everything in camp, including the only gun + they had. + + After selecting such things as we could carry that would be + of any value we made a bonfire of the rest, burning + everything they had. When we started away I saw an Indian + head come up by the side of a log in the timber and took a + shot at him, it was a long shot, and I think the ball struck + the log, but the head disappeared very suddenly. Another + Indian started to run from behind a tree when Mr. Finley + fired, aiming, as he said, to break a leg, wounding the + Indian above the knee, but not disabling him. This caused + quite an excitement in the settlement, the Indians and many + of the settlers fearing it would cause an outbreak among the + Indians, arguing that we ought not have shot at them, but + should have treated them as others had done. However, Mr. + Finley and I told them that if they didn't want to be shot + at they must not steal from us, as we would shoot every time + and that to kill. This put a stop to their stealing in this + part of the country and we were not annoyed after that by + the natives, and they never called for the pay for their + land. + + The Rev. H. H. Spalding taught a neighborhood school in a + log schoolhouse one mile above where Brownsville now stands + in the summer of 1849, there being no public schools in the + country at that time. The first school district on the + Calapooia, being the third in Linn County, was organized, I + think, in the spring of 1853; but many of the early records + of the county were burned in the courthouse, and I am unable + to give the precise date. The first school was taught in the + district in the summer of 1853 by Robert Moore. + + As to the motive for coming to the Willamette Valley at that + early date I hardly know how to answer, unless it was love + of adventure, as the question of sovereignty had not been + settled between the United States and England when I came + here. True, the United States senate had been discussing the + matter of giving each settler in Oregon six hundred and + forty acres of land, and we rather expected that would be + done, but we had no real assurance that such would be the + case. + + Among the early county officers of Linn County, after its + organization under the Territorial Government, quite a + number were living on the Calapooia, Alexander Kirk being + elected county judge, N. D. Jack assessor, John A. Dunlap + representative, and William McCaw clerk in 1849, and in 1850 + several men who were elected to county officers went to the + mines and failed to qualify, among them the county + treasurer, and at a special election I was elected to that + office and received and disbursed the first taxes ever + collected in Linn County. + + In 1851 I was elected assessor and was the second man to + assess the county. In 1856 I served as second lieutenant in + the Rogue-river war. In 1862 was elected sheriff for two + years. + + Yours truly, + + T. A. RIGGS. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35] Riggs says 1848; several old settlers say 1849. + + + + +DOCUMENTS. + + +A letter of M. M. McCarver to Hon. A. C. Dodge, Delegate to Congress +from Iowa, written immediately on the arrival of the immigration of +1843. + + [_Explanation_: This document was copied from the _Ohio + Statesman_, which had taken it from the _Iowa Gazette_, + where it was originally printed.] + + (Reprinted from the _Ohio Statesman_ of September 11, 1844.) + + OREGON. + + ARRIVAL OF EMIGRATION COMPANY NO. I. + + On the first page of to-day's paper will be found a notice + of the return of Lieutenant Fremont's exploring company. By + this company we are put into possession of several + interesting letters from different members of the emigrating + company, and, among others, three from our former townsman, + M. M. McCarver, one of which, directed to our delegate, + together with a letter written by P. H. Burnett to the + _Saint Louis Reporter_, we publish below.--_Iowa Gazette_ + [Burlington]. + + TWALATINE PLAINS, Oregon Territory, November 6, 1843. + + DEAR SIR: I avail myself of an opportunity offered by one of + the vessels belonging to the Hudson Bay Company to forward + you a few lines. + + The emigrants have not all arrived, though more than half + are here, and the remainder may be looked for in a few days, + all were at the Methodist Mission, about one hundred and + fifty miles distant, near The Dalles. On last week several + of the families arrived within a few days of Fort Vancouver + and the Wallammatte Falls--some by water and others over the + Cascade Mountains. The waggons will be brought from The + Dalles by water, as the season is now too far advanced to + open a road through the mountains. This expedition + establishes the practicability beyond doubt of a waggon road + across the continent by the way of the southern pass in the + Rocky Mountains. We have had no difficulty with the natives, + although we have had a tedious journey. We have had less + obstacles in reaching here than we had a right to expect, as + it was generally understood before leaving the States that + one third of the distance, to wit, from Fort Hall to this + place, was impassable with waggons. Great credit, however, + is due to the energy, perseverance, and industry of this + emigrating company, and particularly to Doctor Whitman, one + of the missionaries at the Walla Walla Mission, who + accompanied us out. His knowledge of the route was + considerable, and his exertions for the interest of the + company were untiring. Our journey may now be said to be at + an end, and we are now in the Wallammatte Valley. I have + been here near three weeks, having left my waggon in charge + of the teamster and proceeded on horseback from Fort Hall in + company with some thirty persons, principally young men. + Your first question now will be, "how are you satisfied with + the country? Is it worthy of the notice that Congress has + given it?" I would answer these in the affirmative. Perhaps + there is no country in the world of its size that offers + more inducements to enterprise and industry than Oregon. The + soil in this valley and in many other portions of the + territory is equal to that of Iowa, or any other portion of + the United States, in point of beauty and fertility, and its + productions in many articles are far superior, particularly + in regard to wheat, potatoes, beets, and turnips. The grain + of the wheat is more than one third larger than any I have + seen in the States. Potatoes are abundant and much better + than those in the States. I measured a beet which grew in + Doctor Whitman's garden which measured in circumference two + inches short of three feet, and there is now growing in the + field of Mr. James Johns, less than a mile from this place + where I write you, a turnip measuring in circumference four + and one half feet, and he thinks it will exceed five feet + before pulling time. Indeed, everything here is in a + flourishing condition--trade brisk and everybody doing well. + The emigrants generally are all, as far as I know, + satisfied. Wages for a common hand is from $1 to $1.50 per + day, and mechanics from $2 to $4. Wheat is quite abundant + and sold to ship or emigrants at $1 per bushel. Flour is + from $9 to $10 per barrel; potatoes and turnips fifty cents + per bushel; beef from six to eight cents per pound; American + cows from $60 to $70; California, from $15 to $20. The + prairie is coated with a rich green grass, perhaps the most + nutritious in the world; and I am told that the winter is + never so severe or the grass so scarce that a poor horse + will not fatten in the space of one month. Nothing is wanted + but industry to make this one of the richest little + countries in the world. I say little, because the fertile + part of it is small compared with the very extensive fertile + countries in the valley of the Mississippi; yet we have a + country sufficient in extent and resources to maintain in + lucrative occupations millions of inhabitants. Its great + hydraulic power immediately on the seashore, the advantages + for stock grazing or wool growing, its fertile soil and + indeed, its very isolated situation from competition with + the rest of the civilized world, all combine with other + circumstances to make it one of the most desirable countries + under the sun for industry and enterprise. + + I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, + + M. M. McCARVER. + + _Hon. C. A. Dodge._ + + +Two letters by Tallmadge B. Word, written from Oregon Territory in +1846 and 1847. See "Documents" of preceding number of THE QUARTERLY +for an account of the author: + + CLATSOP, Clatsop Co., Oregon Territory, + February 19, 1846. + + DEAR BROTHER: It was with pleasure I received yours of March + 8, 1845; also one from Cyrel at the same time (Nov. last, + 1845), and was happy to hear of general health, and that I + am blest with the same, and have been ever since I have been + in this territory; and, in fact, I have not had an hour's + sickness for five years past. You ask me to give a sketch of + my travels since I first arrived in Missouri. It is not + possible for me to do so, with any degree of accuracy at + present. Although I have a Journal of much of my trampings, + it is now 200 miles distant, and I will not be able to get + it before our mail starts for the U. S. I have also a daily + journal of our journey to this country, and one of the + weather for the first year I was here, which I sent you by + the return party of 1845, but we have ascertained, that our + letters were all lost, so I am aware you did not receive + mine of '45, but hope it may not keep you from writing in + the spring. + + The Ship by which I intended to send you letters, was sold + at the Sandwich Islands, and consequently did not return to + the U. S. Now of my tramp: I will mearly say that I have + ranged over nearly the whole country west of the Missouri + River and east of the Rocky Mountains, from the British line + on the north to the center of New Mexico on the south. The + country is nearly of a sameness, quite a barren, sandy + desert, with the exception of borders of streams, valleys, + mountains, &c. The whole country abounds in game and + Indians--the latter generally hostile. I could tell you of + some long hunting yarns, and Indian fights, but they are of + too little interest to spend time with now; so I will wait + until I take a walk down East, and then some long evening, + over a mug of cider and dish of apples, you shall have them. + + I was some of the time in employ of Fur & Trading Co., and + some of my time a free trapper. A hunter's life is a dog's + life, exposed to all kinds of danger and hardships, and but + little gained at last, but men soon get so accustomed to it + that in a short time they fear neither man, musket, or the + D----, and there is so much nature, romance, and excitement + in their way of living, that they soon become much attached + to it, for it is much easier for a white man to become an + Indian, than to reverse the thing. I have been compelled to + [by] hunger to eat mules, horses, dogs, wolves, badgers, + ground hogs, skunks, frogs, crickets, ants, and have been + without food of any kind for six days and nights. Cats, + dogs, or anything else, is right good eating meat at such + times. + + At another time we were four days, and three out of the four + compelled to fight our way as we traveled, but hungry men + are fond of fight and fear nothing, and so we walked + through. You may think crickets and ants rather small game + to shoot at, and so it is, but we have another way of taking + them, which is by going in search, early in the morning, + when the crickets (which are in some parts very numerous and + as large as the end of your thumb,) by the coolness of the + air and dew are very stupid, and climb to the top of weeds + in great numbers that the sun may get a fair chance at them; + they are at such times easily captured by jarring them off + into a basket and then roasting them with hot + stones,--feathers, guts, and all,--and make very good + eating--when one gets used to it. The ants are taken by + sticking a stick in the center of their hill, and making a + fire around it, which compels them to ascend the stick, and + from that to the basket or sack; in this way a meal is soon + procured. But those times are all past with me. + + I am now where we have plenty to eat and out of many dangers + to which a man is exposed, and I know well how to prize it. + As to how I got here I think I gave you some idea in my + letter of 1844, and as I am not able to give the + particulars, I will say nothing about it, but I will assure + you I am here on Clatsop Plains, at the mouth of the + Columbia River, within three quarters of a mile of the + Pacific Ocean, in a country that when I arrived here was so + thinly populated that I was able to become acquainted with + every white person in the territory; but the two last years + has so increased the population that two fifths are now + strangers to me; 1844 gave by land an emigration of about + 1,200; 1845 nearly twice that number; this year we expect + them by the thousands. The people who come here are from all + parts of the globe, but mostly from the western states of + the U. S. A great portion are single men, roving characters, + who are from every place but this, and this they can not + well leave; and the prospects of our infant country are so + flattering that we have no inclination to leave it; at + present almost every man that arrives here, is at once + filled with enterprise, and dives heels over head into + something. + + We have now a population of five or six thousand; there is + now in operation six sawmills and five flouring mills, six + stores, exclusive of the Hudson Bay Co., six blacksmith + shops, and three gunsmiths, carpenter shops in any number, + two tan yards, Lawyers, Doctors, and Preachers by the dozen. + We have a legislature, and they have made scores of laws, + the particulars of which you will get in the _Oregon + Spectator_, a paper which is printed at Wellemette Falls, + once in two weeks; the first number came out last week. I + sent you one or two numbers of the first print of the + _Northwest Coast_. I presume you would like to know + something of the situation of our country, the climate, + production, natural resources, &c., of which I will attempt + to give you a slight idea. The general character of the + country is broken and mountainous, but is interspersed with + beautiful valleys. The first I shall introduce to you is the + place of Clatsop; it is very small, but beautiful; it is + bounded on the north by the Columbia, west by the ocean, and + south and east by heavy timbered land; it is about twenty + miles in length by two in breadth; from the sea beach to the + big timber the soil is of the best quality, capable of + producing any vegetation grown in any of the northern or + western states in the U. S. As the wind is nine tenths of + the time from the salt water, I believe it to be one of the + most healthy places on the globe. It is now four years since + the first whites settled here, and there has not been a case + of sickness nor a death as yet, and but ten or fifteen + births, for there is not a woman that has a husband, but + what well fulfills the Commandment by about every year + giving birth to a fine chub, and very often two at a time, + and some instances of women, without husbands, lending a + hand in populating our valuable country, and all owing to + the climate and shellfish (?) which we have in abundance. + + The number of families at this place is fourteen, counting + in five bachelor halls. The tide flows from 9 to 12 feet + perpendicular at the mouth of the Columbia. We will now + proceed up the river. Thirteen miles from the bar is old + Astoria, now occupied by the H. B. Co. This place is a + beautiful situation for a town, and will probably be the New + York of Oregon; it has a full view of the whole harbor, and + a vessel can lay at any time in perfect safety. Now three + miles and we come to Tongue Point; this is a narrow point of + land running into the river; a fortification on it could + have full command of the river, as the channel runs near the + point. On we go; heavy timber and broken land on each side + of the river, which is from three to ten miles wide; we now + come to the mill which I told you I was erecting. I will + tell you more of that by and by, but we will go ahead. The + banks of the river heavy timbered and broken, but the soil + rich; we now come to Coulitye [Cowlitz] River, which is + about 200 yards wide at the mouth, comes in on the north + side of the Columbia, about 50 miles from the mouth of the + Columbia. We will ascend this river 15 miles, against a + strong current. The country now opens out into a large + plain, many miles in length and breadth, the soil of the + best quality, beautifully watered, and interspersed with + timber. At the time I first visited these parts there were + but fourteen families of French and half-breeds, but since + that time there has been a number of American families + settled in this section. The valley is one or more hundred + miles, in diameter, and situated on one of the noblest + harbors on our coast, that, is the Puget Sound. Now we will + return to the Columbia, and ascend 40 miles to the + Willemette River, of which you will get an idea by the paper + which I send. Six miles above the Willemette River is + Vancouvers, the principal depot of the Hudson Bay Co.; all + of their shipping ascends to this place, though not without + some difficulty, particularly if the craft draws more than + thirteen feet of water. + + In the vicinity of Fort Vancouver there is much fine farming + land. The company has fine farms, and many thousand head of + cattle. Fifty or sixty miles above are the Cascades; it is + where the river crosses the Cascade Mountains, a range + running north and south. East of these mountains is a + country extending many hundred miles in each direction, and + most particularly adapted to grazing. Stock of all kinds can + live here winter and summer without the least care. This is + as far as I have seen the country, though it is said there + is much fine country in the south of the territory, but no + settlements in that section. + + Our stock keeps fat through the winter without care; we had + no snow last winter nor this. Buds are now swelling, and + some flowers in bloom. You wished to know where we get saws + to saw our big timber. I brought two, of the longest kind, + with me, and we have since had two from the Hudson Bay Co., + and three from the States. We have timber of all sizes, so + we take our choice; we have some 16 feet in diameter and 300 + feet in length; no mistake. I have measured such. We have + shipped three cargoes of lumber to the Sandwich Islands, for + which we received $20 per thousand feet, clear of freight. + Lumber is, and will be, a great source of wealth to this + country. The Columbia, and its tributaries, are alive with + salmon during the summer months; the Indians take them in + great numbers with spears, nets, and seines; there are many + packed and sent to foreign markets annually. + + I am now improving me a farm on Clatsop Plains. I have a + splendid claim of six hundred and forty acres of land, about + fifty acres timber, the rest prairie--laying immediately on + the Pacific. We are all very anxious to hear the result of + the treaty (if one is made) between the _U. S._ and John + Bull. We are very much afraid Uncle will fool away the north + of the Columbia; if he does we shall be _Silux_. We are very + anxious the U. S. should extend her jurisdiction over our + valuable country, and we are nearly out of patience with the + delay. We are not all thieves and runaways, as represented + by the Hon Mr. Mc----, nor our country a booty. Boy, if it + is, it's inferior to none in point of beauty, pleasant + climate, natural resources, and advantages of wealth; and if + the settlers were ever thieves they have wholly reformed, + for it is generally believed that no other colony has ever + equaled this in point of bravery, enterprise, hospitality, + honesty, and morality. There are men who arrived here in + October last who have at this time one hundred acres fenced + and sown to wheat. Now, all we want is a little of Uncle + Sam's care, that capitalists may be safe in investing their + money. + + Merchandise is generally high here, owing to the scarcity + and great demand. Salt $1 per bush.; sugar 12½ cts. per lb.; + coffee 25 cts. per lb.; molasses 50 cts. per gal.: tea 50 + cts. to $1.50; nails 18 cts.: window glass 10 to 12 cts. + per light; dry goods in proportion; beef, pork, hides, + tallow, and most kinds of produce taken in payment; beef $6 + per h.; pork $10; hides $2 apiece by the lot; tallow 8 to + 10; butter 20 to 25; wheat 75 cts. to $1; oats 75 cts.; + potatoes 50 cts. per bu.; lumber from 15 to $25 per 1,000 + feet; shingles 4 to $5 per 1,000; common laborers $1 per + day, and mechanics $2. You see by the manner of my writing + that I am in great haste, therefore you must allow me to + close. + + After you peruse this I want you to enclose it, and, with + love and respect, send it to Cyrel, for I have not a + moment's time to write to him, and I have nothing to say to + him only to be sure he is right and then go ahead; and for + you both, to send me letters every chance, for I value each + letter at five hundred dollars--provided I could get them no + cheaper. Give my love to father, sister, and all inquiring + friends, and should like to see some of you in Oregon. + + Yours, most affectionate, + T. B. WOOD. + + (I. NASH.--My consent to publish this if you think it of any + interest). + +The above letter was written by Tallmadge B. Wood, from Clatsop, +Clatsop County, Oregon Territory, February 19, 1846, to Isaac M. Nash, +his brother-in-law, at Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, New +York.--_Florence E. Baker._ + + +Copy of a letter written from Oregon City, formerly Willemette Falls, +Oregon, December 23, 1847, by Tallmadge B. Wood to his brother-in-law, +Isaac Nash, and sister.--_Florence E. Baker._ + + OREGON CITY, December 23, '47. + + DEAR BROTHER: I avail myself of this opportunity of writing + you a few lines that you may know that I am still in the + land of the living. I received one letter from you by the + arrival of Mr. Shively, being the second one that I have + received from you since I have been in this brush. We, of + course, got news of the fate of the "Oregon Bill" of last + session, and as you may judge was very much disappointed, + but we grin and bear it because there is no other way for us + to do. We are at present in rather an awkward situation; + there has of late been some serious difficulties with the + upper country Indians in which Dr. Whitman, wife and nine + others were murdered. + + There were fifty men dispatched last week to protect the + Mission at the Dals, [Dalles]; we have had no news from them + since. There are orders for the raising of five hundred men + to go up and give the scoundrels a wiping out. So you may + say we have the loud cry of war in Oregon; but what is done + here, is done by the voluntary acts of the people and + without pay. And as there is such a diversity of opinions, + as to the best way to proceed, I think there will not be as + much done at present, as we have got so many people here + that it is not so easy for them all to agree as it was in + former times. + + This year's emigration was very large. They all got through + with less difficulties than that of last year. There has + been considerable sickness with them. Their disease being + the measles, the disorder is proving quite fatal with the + natives; it was in consequence of this that Dr. Whitman was + killed, as they held a malice against the whites for + bringing the disorder unto the country. + + Our legislature being in session, it has authorized Mr. Meek + to go to the United States with dispatches to the + government, informing it of our situation. He starts + to-morrow morning, and it is by him that I send this letter. + It is a general time of good health and spirits, in Oregon, + with the exception of now and then a case of the measles. + Our commerce has much improved within the last year. A large + number of ships have left our port the last season well + ladened. + + The winter thus far is very fine, no freezing, and little + rain. Wheat looks well, and great quantity sown. I have sold + my interest in my mill, and also my farm. I am going to put + up salmon next spring, and after the season is over, which + will be in August, I am going to build a mill, as I now have + one of the best sites on the Columbia, and lumbering the + best business in Oregon. + + I would write much more, had I time and room on my + sheet--though I am sure it would not be very interesting. Be + sure and send me a letter every time the Ship Whiton sailed + for the U. S. as it will return to this country. Be sure and + avail that chance though I missed it. Give Father my + Respects; tell him I intend on coming to see him once more. + I must scratch a few lines to sisters, so I bid you a + Farewell. + + Dear Sisters, I have only room to tell you that I am well. I + Farmed it and did housework last summer, but I guess I don't + do it again soon. There are lots of pretty girls here now, + but I do not get time to get one of them just now, but will + take a year or two, by and by, and attend to these matters. + + Frances must write to Cyrel for me, for it is now late and I + haven't time. Give my love to all cousins and inquiring + friends. Write every chance. + + Good by, your affectionate brother, + T. B. WOOD. + + To _I. Nash_, _S. C. Nash_, _J. A. Wood_. + + The above letter was folded, and sent without an envelope: + It was sealed with a red seal; it cost ten cents postage; it + was mailed at St. Joseph, Mo.; it was directed to Isaac + Nash, Ballston Spa, Sarotogo County, N. Y.; it arrived at + Sarotogo Springs June 5th. It was marked _Missent_. This + letter was written on large sheets of pale blue paper with + black ink, and is in good preservation now, 1908.--_Florence + E. Baker._ + + + + +SOME CORRECTIONS. + +"Seth Luelling," near the bottom of page 282 of volume III should be +Henderson Luelling. + +In the twelfth line of page 284 of the same volume the word "clearer" +in brackets should be omitted, as the author intended by the word +"lighter" to refer to the specific gravity of the water. + +In the seventeenth line of page 289 of the same volume the words +"blue" and "mountain" should not begin with capital letters. + +Mr. H. S. Lyman requests the insertion of the following note referring +to the recently published "Complete History of Oregon": + + _To the Editor_-- + + As my attention has been called to some points deemed + erroneous in the History of Oregon, I would ask space in the + OREGON HISTORICAL QUARTERLY to say to subscribers or + purchasers of the work that I would esteem it a favor that + any matter deemed inaccurate or erroneous be communicated to + me. + + Errors in a publication are usually of the following + character: Typographical, merely; slips of the proofreader; + mistakes of transcription; misapprehension of the writer; or + of differences in authorities. Besides this there is the + wide field of differences in opinions, or conclusions--many + being unable to distinguish between a fact and what is + properly but their own personal inference from facts, or + supposed facts. Still further, different persons will + estimate differently the value of events, and give varying + proportions to the elements constituting the whole. + + Typographical errors, or mere blunders of haste, should not, + certainly, be expected in a standard work; yet are almost + invariably found, particularly in the first edition; and, + indeed, seldom or never disappear entirely; almost every + teacher, or student, including myself, having noticed, or + reported such even in standard text-books. By reference to + the preface of my history it will be seen that the work was + undertaken with full understanding that a complete, or + critical, history of Oregon could not yet be written; but it + was thought worth while now to lay the basis of an + investigation and ask the patronage of the public. I would, + therefore, feel it a most friendly courtesy if any + supposedly erroneous matter, whether mere slips, or + differences of information or opinion--in the great number + of details that it has been attempted to furnish--would be + reported to me. I am confident that the work has been begun + on a sufficiently broad basis to bear much further + elaboration. Any mistakes reported, together with such as + may be found by myself, will, if they seem sufficiently + numerous and formidable, be collated and published as a page + of errata, and the corrected list be furnished each + subscriber or purchaser, so far as these may be known. + + I hope that this may prove a useful line of inquiry, and + place the readers somewhat on their own mettle, and thus + furnish me matter for notice in a second edition, if this + should be produced. Such investigation and criticism would + also establish more firmly in public confidence such data as + do not prove open to question. + + H. S. LYMAN. + + _Astoria, Oregon, May 13, 1903._ + + + + + THE QUARTERLY + OF THE + OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY. + + VOLUME IV. JUNE, 1903 NUMBER 2 + + + + +OREGON AND ITS SHARE IN THE CIVIL WAR.[36] + + +By the Convention of 1818, renewed in 1827, the Oregon Country, +comprising a large part of what is now denominated in general terms, +the Pacific Northwest, was under the joint occupancy of Great Britain +and the United States. + +The practical evidence of this joint sovereignty on the part of the +British, was the sway of the Hudson Bay Company through its network of +trading stations and outfitting points for its cohorts of frontiersmen +and trappers. Until the advent of the missionary movement from the +States, there was little practical evidence of the coordinate +sovereignity of the United States. + +When the missionary movement took important shape numerically it +resulted in a vital need for some form of local government, and hence +there arose the Provisional Government of Oregon, as it was called, +fashioned on the lines of state or territorial governments on the +other side of the intervening mountains and plains, "deriving its just +powers from the consent of the governed," and empowered by that +consent to maintain inviolate as far as possible "life, liberty, and +the pursuit of happiness." + +In 1846, abandoning the political war cry of "Fifty-four Forty or +Fight," which had served its demagogic use as a partisan rallying +call, a boundary treaty was finally concluded between England and the +United States fixing the forty-ninth parallel of latitude as the +northern most boundary of the Oregon Country and of the United States +in the Northwest. + +But still the provisional Government of the immigrants, incomplete in +concept, rude in operation, imperfect in power, was the only form of +government, the ten to fifteen thousand Americans in this vast domain +had to insure domestic tranquillity or oppose resistance to the ever +present savage foe. + +In message after message President Polk called the attention of +Congress to its inaction and the dangers to which that inaction +exposed the settlers and how far short of its manifest duty the +national legislators were in their neglect; but there were mighty +reasons back of this neglect; mighty forces were battling in the halls +of legislation--the titanic combat was on between Freedom and Slavery +and the Missouri Compromise line was some leagues to the northward of +where California began. The Provisional Legislature of 1845 had taken +firm ground on the slavery question and the ordinance of 1787 +prohibiting slavery was incorporated in its organic law. + +The Douglas house bill of 1846, seeking to organize a territorial +government for Oregon, followed in this regard the expressed desire of +the colonists, and met a prompt and instant defeat at the hands of the +Southern senators. Thereupon, Douglas sought to get around the +question by a different bill (he was then in the Senate) containing a +clause sanctioning the colonial laws of Oregon, which would, as a +matter of fact, accomplish the same result. Joseph L. Meek, an +accredited representative of the colonists had undergone a dangerous +overland winter journey to enforce upon the President and Congress +the necessity of immediate action and of Federal aid in the constant +conflict with the surrounding Indian tribes. + +Judge Thornton, the personal representative of Governor Abernethy of +the provisional government, was also in Washington on the same errand, +having come by ocean. + +The senate bill of Douglas was finally passed, after being amended in +the spirit of compromise ever dominant in those days, whereby the +colonial laws on the subject of slavery were to be continued in force +until such time as "the legislature could adopt some other law on the +subject," but the House promptly laid this bill on the table and +rejoined with a measure practically identical with the Douglas house +bill of 1846, and after a long and bitter contest, in which Thomas H. +Benton led the fight for Oregon, on the fourteenth of August, 1848, +Oregon became a territory of the United States on her own terms, and +free soil in name as well as in fact. + +President Polk promptly appointed General Joseph Lane, of Indiana, a +native of North Carolina, and a veteran commander of the Mexican war, +as the first territorial governor of Oregon, and urged upon him the +immediate organization of the government, in order that it might be +inaugurated before March 4, 1849, when there would be a change in the +presidency. + +The long journey of Governor Lane, accompanied by ex-Delegate Meek, +now United States Marshal, across the continent by the Santa Fé trail, +and up the coast from San Francisco, is one of the stirring incidents +of those stirring times, and on the third of March, 1849, but one day +before the expiration of President Polk's term of office, General Lane +issued a proclamation making known that he entered upon the discharge +of the duties of his office, and proclaiming the Federal laws in force +over the Oregon country. Thus was the consummation so longed for by +the President brought to pass, and what he had striven for so long and +so patriotically fulfilled in the closing hours of his administration. +During the years of territorial government the slavery question that +was tormenting the brain and conscience of the North and the heart and +chivalry of the South, played but little part in the life of the far +distant territory. + +The political complexion of the territory was overwhelmingly +Democratic, but it was democracy of the free soil order, which only +asked of the negro to keep out of its sight and out of its mind. In +line with this temper was the enforcement against two unfortunate +blacks of the territorial enactment against free negroes, which being +promptly held constitutional by the territorial supreme court, the two +offenders were gently but firmly deported from the boundaries of the +"white man's country." This same deep-lying sentiment found added +expression in the forth coming State Constitution, wherein it was +enacted "No free negro or mulatto not residing in this State at the +time of the adoption of this Constitution shall come, reside, or be +within this State, or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or +maintain any suit therein; and the legislative assembly shall provide +by penal laws for the removal by public officers of all such negroes +and mulattoes, and for their effectual exclusion from the State, and +for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the State or +employ or harbor them." Added expression was given to this point of +view in the vote on the subject of admission of free negroes, +submitted to the people in connection with the vote on the adoption of +the proposed constitution--here the vote in favor of their admission +was 1,081, contrarywise 8,640. + +A potent influence at Washington towards Oregon's admission as a state +was the well-known democracy of the State, and at home the +indebtedness to the colonists of the National Government in +connection with the Indian wars--it seemed plain that two senators and +one congressman who could vote as well as talk could accomplish more +than one delegate who could only talk; and so the vote for the +adoption of the State Constitution was 7,195 for and only 3,215 +against. + +On the subject of slavery, submitted to the people at the same +election, the vote was likewise significant and illuminating, 7,727 +voted for freedom and but 2,645 for slavery. Coming as this +overwhelming vote did when the agitation of the slavery question was +at a white heat both in and out of Congress, it was startling in its +clear and unequivocal verdict on this great question--and it is +especially significant when we recall the great preponderance of +Oregon voters born in slaveholding states and cradled in the doctrine +of African bondage. Can the conclusion be other than that they +realized the economic and moral blight of the slave system and +resolved to have none of it in their fair State. + +In this election the free soil democrats and the whigs under Thomas J. +Dryer were found quietly but none the less actually fighting shoulder +to shoulder. + +It is a delicate task to attempt to chronicle history while yet the +actual participants are some of them living and the children and +grandchildren of many more constitute our friends and neighbors, and +far be it from me to criticise the motives or sincerity of those who +were wrong in the troublous days that followed except in so far as is +necessary to set forth the facts of history. + +On the fourteenth of February, 1859, Oregon became a State of the +Union. From the loins of the old Whig party in Oregon, as well as +elsewhere in the country, sprang forth that young giant the Republican +party, and to the leadership of Dryer was added the silvery eloquence +of Edward D. Baker, lately come from California. The uncompromising +slavery wing of the Democratic party nominated John C. Breckinridge +for President and Joseph Lane, Oregon's first territorial governor and +present senator, for Vice President. Stephen A. Douglas headed the +regular Democratic ticket and Abraham Lincoln was the Republican +chieftain. + +In Oregon there was a new alignment alike of leaders and of the rank +and file--despite the wonderful personal popularity of Oregon's +favorite son Joseph Lane, and the passionate oratory of Delazon Smith +his chief campaigner, Oregon cast her vote for Abraham Lincoln for +President of the United States. The combined Douglas and Lincoln vote +was 9,480, while Breckinridge and Lane polled 5,074; and from this +computation we see that a trifle more than one third of the voters of +Oregon were apparently prepared to follow the programme of disunion +and secession. Colonel Baker, by a coalition of republicans and +Douglas democrats, was chosen United States Senator, and left almost +immediately for Washington to take up his official duties; but he left +behind him the courageous inspiration of his lofty patriotism--he had +played upon and touched both the heart and conscience of the young +Commonwealth, and while the months that followed were months of +waiting and watching and of prayer, as elsewhere in the Union, there +was never any real question, after the wonderful rousing of the public +mind and the public heart of Oregon, largely wrought by his matchless +eloquence and high ideals, that should war, that saddest of all +conflicts, a civil war, ensue, the brave young State would stand by +the flag of the Fathers and the cause of human liberty. At the city of +San Francisco, _en route_ for Washington, Colonel Baker, in fiery and +impassioned rhetoric, nailed his banner and Oregon's to the Nation's +masthead. + +He said "As for me, I dare not, will not, be false to freedom. Where +the feet of my youth were planted, there by freedom my feet shall ever +stand. I will walk beneath her banner. I will glory in her strength. I +have seen her in history struck down on a hundred fields of battle. I +have seen her friends fly from her, her foes gather around her. I have +seen her bound to a stake. I have seen them give her ashes to the +winds; but when they turned to exult, I have seen her again meet them +face to face, resplendent in complete steel, brandishing in her strong +right hand a flaming sword, red with insufferable light. I take +courage. The people gather round her. The genius of America will yet +lead her sons to freedom." + +How could such a spirit, such a faith fail to overcome the forces of +disunion and slavery or fail to inspire his fellow-Oregonians with his +own unalterable patriotism. Despite all the warnings, despite all the +months and years of anticipation and alarm, here, as elsewhere, the +fall of Sumpter came like an electric shock. + +Douglas democrats and republicans alike became but Union men and the +old flag waving in the breeze brought tears, tears of shame and tears +of determination, even to the eyes of many who had voted for +Breckinridge and Lane. + +On the same steamer that brought the news of the fall of Sumpter, came +Joseph Lane, the ex-senator, the defeated candidate for Vice +President. It is known that he came prepared, if not officially, yet +fully authorized to head a movement for capturing Oregon for disunion. +Numerous boxes of guns and ammunition accompanied him to his +destination for this purpose. + +But scarcely had he put foot on the wharves of the Oregon metropolis, +than he realized the vast misconception he had made of his home +people. Douglas democrats and republicans, and many who had but lately +voted for him for the vice presidency, declared without hesitation +for the Union; and the idol of the Oregon democracy, tainted with +secession and disunion, spurned even by his former friends, made his +way unaccompanied and unheralded to his southern Oregon home by a +devious trail, fearing the mob justice of the justly enraged citizens +of the leading valley towns. And yet it was not all one way in Oregon +in those troublous days. In certain quarters the disunion sentiment +was powerful and dangerous. + +In the Historical Society's rooms in Portland hangs a banner first +flung to the breeze on July 4, 1861, not forty miles from that city. +It is fashioned of long strips of red and white ribbon, and in the +center of its starry field is an eagle, made by the deft fingers of a +pioneer woman. The old immigrant who donated it to the Historical +Society has related how, when he heard the news of the fall of +Sumpter, he immediately determined to celebrate the Fourth of July by +flinging the Stars and Stripes to the breeze from his own home and +with that end in view had procured the ribbon and caused his liberty +loving wife to fashion it into his country's flag. This coming to the +ears of certain hot-heads among his neighbors, he was called upon by a +committee and asked if it was true that he intended hoisting the Old +Flag on the anniversary of the nation's birth. To his affirmative +reply came the sharp retort that it would never be allowed to stay, +but would forthwith be torn down. + +"No man will haul down that flag except over my dead body," was the +stern reply of the sturdy old pioneer. The days ran by and the +self-formed committee thought that the old pioneer had heeded their +warning, when one day the news spread that a flagstaff, tall and +straight, and as unbending as the old man's determination, lay before +the pioneer house. Then the elders of the hot-heads began to counsel +moderation, to tell of the old neighbor's good deeds, of his +unswerving sense of duty, of his faultless marksmanship that before +that flag could be lowered not only the rough old patriot must lie +cold in death but many of the attacking party would bite the dust. + +Reflection cooled the disunion ardor; perhaps "a tinge of sadness, a +blush of shame o'er the face of the leader came," howbeit on the +Fourth of July, 1861, that beautiful silken banner floated on the +wings of the whispering wind and in the eagle's beak a dead serpent +hung, sounding a note of derision as well as of triumph from the old +man's heart. + +And while in a few days a more generous impulse came over him, and he +himself took down the flag and had the serpent removed from the +eagle's beak, yet with that single exception, until the final pæan of +victory was sung at Appomattox, that silken emblem of his beloved +country caressed by summer zephyrs and kissed by the soft mists of +winter, floated undisturbed above his patriotic home. + +Col. George Hunter, in his quaintly interesting narrative +"Reminiscences of an Old Timer," tells of a somewhat similar incident +down in the Rogue River country. He says: "One day there had assembled +at a store, where the double-distilled extract of corn was chiefly +dispensed, a considerable crowd of men, most of whom were violent +secessionists, and they were soon filled up, as good democrats were +supposed to be, with the exhilarating beverage. From some cause or +other the grand old Stars and Stripes had on this day been raised on a +pole or staff near by, and pretty soon these half-tipsy fellows took +offense at the defiant colors, and swore they would tear it down. Two +or more of them started to execute the threat. Some of the crowd +remonstrated, but to no avail. I being a stranger and a democrat, +supposed the republicans present would protect the flag, but seeing no +movement in that direction, and that if the flag was kept floating +something must be done and done quickly, I grabbed an old musket that +chanced to be standing in the corner of the store, and with my best +speed I made for that flagstaff. My great-grandfathers had both served +with Washington at Brandywine and Valley Forge, and my grandfather +with Jackson at New Orleans, and I could't stand by and see the grand +old banner disgracefully lowered by a drunken rabble of rebel +sympathizers. As I ran swiftly forward I called frequently to their +leader to stop, but he paid no attention to me. Knowing that nearly +all men carried pistols in those days, and that these men were made +desperate by drink, I determined to have the first shot. I took a +quick aim and drew the trigger. The cap burst clear, but no report +followed. Then there was a race between me and their leader for the +flagstaff (all the rest stopped when the cap burst). We met at the +flagstaff, and just as he was about to cut the halyards to lower the +flag, my gun went off in a different way (it didn't snap that time), +and the barrel brought down on his head proved more effective than the +bullet which refused to leave the barrel. + +"Well, he laid down sudden like, and as I now had time to draw my +revolver, I informed the mob that I would shoot the first man that +attempted to haul down that flag before sundown. That settled it. +Friends removed my man to the store, and many Union men gathered to my +assistance, which had the effect of stopping any further +demonstrations in that direction. At the going down of the sun, we +lowered the flag, cheering as we did so, and laid it away with the +honor we considered to be due the 'flag of the brave and the emblem of +the free.'" + +In 1861 there were only about seven hundred men and nineteen +commissioned officers in the regular army in the whole of Oregon and +Washington, the force having been reduced to its lowest possible +limit by withdrawals to strengthen the forces in the East. These +troops were distributed as follows: 111 men, under Capt. H. M. Black, +at Vancouver; 116 men, under Major Lugenbeel, at Colville; 127 men, +under Major Steen, at Walla Walla; 41 men, under Captain Van Voast, at +the Cascades; 43 men, under Capt. F. T. Dent, at Hoskins; 110 men at +the two posts of Steilacoom and Camp Pickett, and 54 men under +Lieutenant-Colonel Buchanan, at The Dalles, all under the general +command of Colonel Wright, with Brig.-Gen. E. V. Sumner commanding the +military department of the Pacific. + +Twofold dangers threatened the widely scattered settlements; from +without, the ever hostile Indians who were further emboldened by the +inevitable spirit of uncertainty and unrest that followed on the heels +of civil war, and from within, disunion intrigue might at any time +blaze into armed rebellion. It was a time that tried men's souls. + +In June, 1861, Colonel Wright made a requisition upon Governor +Whiteaker for a three-year cavalry company to be mustered into the +service of the United States and A. P. Dennison, former Indian Agent +at The Dalles, was appointed enrolling officer. Suspicion of the +loyalty of both the Governor and of Dennison to the Union cause, +retarded enlistment and finally led to the abandonment of the +undertaking. + +In November, 1861, the War Department made Thomas R. Cornelius +colonel, and directed him to raise ten companies of cavalry for the +service of the United States for three years, to be a part, as it was +supposed, of the five hundred thousand volunteers called for by +President Lincoln. Colonel Baker from Washington had taken an active +interest in encouraging the raising of this famous regiment--it was +the original regiment of Rough Riders of the West. There was an +impression that nowhere in the East could there be gathered together +cavalrymen to withstand the onslaughts of the dashing Southron on his +black charger and the First Oregon Cavalry was recruited on the +express promise that should the war continue they would be speedily +transferred to the Army of the Potomac and given opportunity to cross +swords with the flower of Southern chivalry. + +From the lava beds of Jackson County to the plains of the Tualatin +rang the bugle call to duty and the pick of the youth of this young +State were soon in the saddle under the guidon of freedom. R. F. Maury +was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, Benjamin F. Harding, +quartermaster, C. S. Drew major, and J. S. Rinearson junior major. +Each volunteer furnished his own horse and received for himself and +mount $31 a month, $100 bounty and a land warrant for one hundred and +sixty acres of land. Company "A" was raised in Jackson County, Capt. +T. S. Harris; Company "B" in Marion County, Capt. E. J. Harding; "C" +at Vancouver, Capt. Wm. Kelly; "D" in Jackson County by Capt. S. +Truax; "E" by Capt. George B. Currey in Wasco County; "F" by Capt. +William J. Matthews in Josephine County; and Capt. D. P. Thompson of +Oregon City and Capt. R. Cowles of the Umpqua also had companies. Six +complete companies rendezvoused at Vancouver in May, 1862, and were +clothed in government uniforms and armed with old-fashioned +muzzle-loading rifles, pistols, and sabres. + +Colonel Baker was the warm personal friend of Lincoln; he had promised +the boys of the First Oregon Cavalry before recruiting began that they +should have a chance, if the war continued, of serving in the East; +many of the present survivors have told me that they enlisted on this +express promise, and had Colonel Baker lived there is every reason to +believe that with his strong personal influence with the President, +"Tom Cornelius' Rough Riders of Oregon" would have been the prototype +in fame, as they were in fact, of "Roosevelt's Rough Riders" of the +Spanish war. Colonel Baker was the colonel of the Fourth Illinois in +the Mexican war, and it was hardly to be expected that a man of his +ardent temperament could sit tamely in the halls of legislation while +the rattle of musketry and the roll of drums were heard at the very +gates of the national capital. + +And thus it came to pass, for on June 28, 1861, he was mustered into +service for three years as colonel of the First California Infantry, a +regiment he recruited largely in Pennsylvania, and which was +afterwards denominated the Seventy-first Pennsylvania. On August 6, +1861, he was commissioned Brigadier-General of Volunteers, to rank +from May 17, which commission, although confirmed by the Senate, he +declined, as he did also a later appointment as Major-General of +Volunteers, as either appointment would have necessitated his +resignation as senator from Oregon. It is stated that when General +Scott had to give up general command of the army on account of his +advancing years, President Lincoln tendered the succession to Colonel +Baker, which was alike declined for the same reason. + +With impetuous courage and passionate desire to serve his country upon +the field of battle as well as on the floor of the Senate, Colonel +Baker could not stay at the rear, but joined his regiment at the +front, and was as active in the work of the camp as he had been upon +the stump and rostrum. Occasionally he would revisit the Senate and +participate in a day's debate and then hurry back to his military +duties. It was at such a time, sitting in his seat in the Senate, clad +in his colonel's uniform that John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, late +pro slavery candidate for the presidency with Joseph Lane, delivered a +speech which was but a reflection of the secession views of those +braver Southerners who were already in armed rebellion. Colonel Baker +grew restive under the words of Breckinridge, his face glowed with +passionate excitement, and he sprang to the floor when the senator +from Kentucky took his seat and then and there without previous +preparation delivered that wonderful philippic, abounding in +denunciation and invective which alone would make a niche for him in +the world's temple of fame. + +Passionately he asked "What would have been thought, if in another +capitol, in a yet more martial age, a senator with the Roman purple +flowing from his shoulders, had risen in his place, surrounded by all +the illustrations of Roman glory, and declared that advancing Hannibal +was just and that Carthage should be dealt with in terms of peace? +What would have been thought, if after the battle of Cannæ, a senator +had denounced every levy of the Roman people, every expenditure of its +treasure, every appeal to the old recollections and the old glories?" +Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, who sat near, responded in an undertone, "He +would have been hurled from the Tarpeian rock;" and in tones of +thunder Baker flashed forth the suggested fate and continued "Are not +the speeches of the senator from Kentucky intended for disorganization? +Are they not intended to destroy our zeal? Are they not intended to +animate our enemies? Sir, are they not words of brilliant polished +treason even in the very capitol of the Republic?" And then replying +to a taunt of Breckinridge about the loyalty of the Pacific coast, he +went on "When the senator from Kentucky speaks of the Pacific I see +another distinguished friend from Illinois, now worthily representing +the State of California, who will bear witness that I know that State, +too, and well. I take the liberty, I know that I but utter his +sentiments, to say that that State will be true to the Union to the +last of her blood and treasure. There may be some disaffected men +there and in Oregon, but the great portion of our population are loyal +to the core and in every chord of their hearts. They are offering to +add to the legions of the country, every day, by the hundred and the +thousand. They are willing to come thousands of miles with their arms +on their shoulders, at their own expense, to share, with the best +offering of their heart's blood, in the great struggle of +constitutional liberty." + +Can there be any different conclusion than that in that strong +passage, Colonel Baker referred among others to the First Oregon +Cavalry, which, though largely recruited after his death, was the +direct product of his inspiration and suggestion. On the twenty-first +of October, 1861, while gallantly leading his regiment at the battle +of Ball's Bluff, Colonel Baker was instantly killed, and with his +death went the chance of the Oregon regiment to obtain service at the +seat of war. + +As the months rolled by and no fulfillment came of the promises that +had been made for Eastern service, the regiment joined in a round +robin to President Lincoln in which they recited the promises that had +been made to them and asked for their fulfillment. The President's +answer, filled with the lofty patriotism and spirit of unselfishness, +that was his daily part, told them that the greatest and highest duty +for all, was that which lay nearest at hand and with the regular +troops almost all withdrawn from Oregon and Washington, and the tide +of immigrants and scattered settlements open to Indian attack and the +towns and villages liable to disunion, intrigue, and plot, their +nearest as well as their highest duty was to guard the State from foes +both savage and traitorous from without and from open treason within. + +And to the gallant men of the First Oregon Cavalry the word of the +great President was final. They accepted the task he set them to +accomplish, and although to them the pomp and circumstance of war were +missing, although no patriotic millions stood by to applaud their +gallant feats, and the eye of Government was not upon them, yet for +three long weary years they did their duty faithfully and well, and by +that faithfulness preserved their beautiful State for the Union and +the wonderful future that has come to it. + +Some there were of Oregon blood and Oregon soil, however, who could +not remain away from the greater theater of war, where the more +dramatic destiny of the nation was being wrought out in havoc of blood +and treasure. Col. Joseph Hooker, "Fighting Joe Hooker," living at +Salem when the war broke out, went East, and became a brigadier-general, +and Bancroft speaks of others as follows: "Volney Smith, son of +Delazon Smith, was for a short time lieutenant in a New York regiment; +James W. Lingenfelter, residing at Jacksonville, was made captain of a +volunteer company, and killed at Fortress Monroe October 8, 1861; John +L. Boon, son of the state treasurer, who had been a student of the +Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, was at the battles of Shiloh and +Corinth, in an Ohio regiment, in Gen. Lew Wallace's division; Major +Snooks, of the Sixty-eighth Ohio, was formerly an Oregonian of the +immigration of '44; George Williams, of Salem, was second lieutenant +of the Fourth Infantry, and in the second battle of Bull Run, +Antietam, Frederickburg, and Gettysburg, losing a foot at Gettysburg; +Frank W. Thompson, of Linn County, was colonel of the Third Virginia +Volunteers in 1863; Henry Butler, of Oakland, was a member of the +eighty sixth Illinois Volunteers; Charles Harker was a lieutenant; +Roswell C. Lampson, still living in Portland, was the first naval +cadet from Oregon, and served with conspicuous gallantry and fidelity +throughout the war; Capt. W. L. Dall, of the steamship Columbia, was +appointed a lieutenant in the navy; and many of the regular army +officers, whose northwestern service is indissolubly connected with +its early history, rose to great eminence during the progress of the +war. + +"Notable among them was Rufus Ingalls, who became lieutenant colonel +on McClellan's staff; Captain Hazen and Lieutenant Lorraine, who was +wounded at Bull Run. Grant, Sheridan, Augur, Ord, Wright, Smith, +Casey, Russell, Reynolds, and Alvord, all became generals, as well as +Stevens, who had received a military education, but was not in the +regular army." + +It is not the purpose of this paper to follow the patriotic service of +the First Oregon Cavalry during the long and wearisome months and +years during which they labored in heat and cold, in storm and +sunshine, under pioneer and frontier hardships, in chastising the +hostile Indians, guarding the immigrant caravans, or holding in check +the forces of disunion and secession. That there was need of them, for +all these high and patriotic duties, there is no doubt. + +As early as shortly after Lincoln's election in 1860, Senator Gwin, of +California, with the undoubted knowledge and coöperation of Joseph +Lane, of Oregon, formulated a plan for a slave-holding republic on the +Pacific coast, with an aristocracy similar to the old Republic of +Venice, vesting all power in a hereditary nobility, with an executive +elected from themselves. + +Should the Southern States succeed in withdrawing from the Union and +setting up a Southern Confederacy without war, then with a continuous +line of slave territory from Texas to the Pacific, the Pacific coast +should combine with the South; but if war ensued between the North and +South, then the coast should be captured, and the Venetian Republic +be inaugurated separately, and slaves imported from the Isles of the +Sea. + +Bancroft, the historian, asserts that but for the strong restraining +advice of Jesse Applegate and the overwhelming sentiment against him +on his return, there is no doubt but what General Lane would have +embarked in the enterprise, and that the boxes of arms and ammunition +which accompanied his return were intended for that purpose. In 1862 +it became known all through the Pacific coast that an oath bound +secret organization of confederate sympathizers were holding almost +nightly meetings at many places; and self-appointed Union detectives, +from points of vantage could hear the tread of martial feet and the +hoarse notes of command. + +High authority has asserted that Gwin of California, Lane of Oregon, +and a man named Tilden of Washington, were the instigators and +advisors of this second movement to steal the Pacific coast from the +Federal Union and hold it for the forces of disunion and secession. +They chose for a title the quaint and striking name of "Knights of the +Golden Circle." + +One of the best posted historical authorities on the Pacific coast +told me a few days ago that he had in his possession cipher documents +of that strange disloyal order, which some day experts should decipher +and give to the world, but as yet it was too early for history to +record anything but the things that were notorious. The same authority +told me of how one night in San Francisco, eight hundred Knights of +the Golden Circle, armed to the teeth, had met to make the initial +outbreak, capture the Benicia Arsenal and arm all rebel sympathizers +of San Francisco therefrom and carry out the long cherished plan of +seizing the Pacific coast for disunion. + +At the last moment realizing the awful, momentous responsibility of +their projected attack they clamored for a leader whom they could +follow as one man. In a moment one name was on every lip, an old hero +of the Vigilante days--in haste he was sent for (he was not a member +of their order) and their plan revealed to one whom they thought +disloyal like themselves, but they had reckoned without their man--he +was as loyal as the sturdy patriots who fell at Bunker Hill, fighting +the earlier battle of freedom with bare hands and clubbed muskets. + +Knowing that by a brief delay only could he lull them to security, and +at the same time save the day for the old flag, he asked until 9 +o'clock the next morning to give his answer, they to remain where they +were until his answer should be returned. Taking this as a practical +assent, and that he only went to arrange his private affairs, the +balance of the night wore on; but the old Vigilante was not idle; +calling together as many of the old Vigilante Committee as were +available and of known loyalty, he unfolded the treason that was +lurking in the city's midst, and as they were swift to act in the days +of '49, so were they now; the loyalty of the commandant at the Benicia +Arsenal being questioned, he was promptly replaced by one of true and +tried steel, and loyalists were armed and ready in more than one +secret place in the city midst if needed and then at 9 o'clock as +agreed the answer went to the waiting Knights of the Golden Circle +that the old Vigilante could not be their leader. + +Thus all up and down the Pacific coast there was work to be done by +the troops at home in guarding against the spirit of disloyalty which +fostered by the early reserves of the Union arms was dangerous and +threatening. + +The situation of Oregon at this time was one of peculiar danger. Both +England and France were in open sympathy with the states in revolt. +The French Government were setting up an empire in Mexico. England +was causing trouble over the disputed boundary at the entrance to +Puget Sound. Not a single fort or coast or river defense existed in +either Oregon or Washington, and at any time these hostile foreign +powers might combine with the Indians as they had done in earlier wars +and with the disloyal and disaffected within. Separated by such vast +reaches of country from the loyal states of the Union nothing of +assistance could be expected from them in case of trouble, in time to +be effective and hence it was that for upwards of three years, not +merely the peace and security of Oregon but its permanency as a part +of the Federal Union depended on the First Cavalry. + +The War Governor, Addison C. Gibbs, a strong and patriotic man, +organized a valuable addition to the military forces of the State in a +state militia, whose chief duty was to hold in check the Knights of +the Golden Circle, to which it was a direct antithesis. + +At the second election of President Lincoln it was a known fact that +the Knights had their arms cached in the neighborhood of the leading +polling places, and intended to carry the election by force of arms. +This was only prevented by the militia who were superior in numbers +and who adopted similar tactics which proved effective. + +One shudders at the fratricidal bloodshed and awful guerilla warfare +that would have come to pass in this mountainous and thinly settled +country had the first outbreak happened and the torch of rebellion +been lighted. That it did not so come to pass was another evidence of +the mysterious workings of Divine Providence. + +In 1864 Governor Gibbs called for ten companies to be known as the +First Oregon Infantry, each company to consist of eighty-two privates, +maximum, or sixty-four minimum, besides officers. Eight companies were +ultimately enlisted, and at first were chiefly employed in garrison +duty throughout the Northwest, but later performed gallant service in +the Indian wars that were ever in progress. + +I wish that it were possible within the necessary limits of this +article to write down some of the many deeds of matchless heroism +wrought by the loyal men of the Northwest in the dark days of the +war--deeds fit to rank with the gallantry of Sheridan's dashing +troopers, with the glorious achievements of Sherman's March to the +Sea, with the steadfastness of the iron phalanxes of the immortal +Grant. But we can at least pay our tribute of praise to those rude +frontiersmen of the Pacific, who loved their country, their country's +flag, and the cause of freedom,--who fulfilled, without murmur, the +self-sacrificing duty placed upon them by the martyr President, who +wrought out in blood and fire the destiny of the Northwest, and whose +only reward has been the sense of duty done. Of each of them the +beautiful words of Tennyson are peculiarly appropriate: + + "Not once or twice in our rough island story + The path of duty was the way to glory: + He that walks it, only thirsting + For the right, and learns to deaden + Love of self, before his journey closes, + He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting + Into glossy purples, which outredden + All voluptuous garden roses. + Not once or twice in our fair island's story + The path of duty was the way to glory: + He that ever following her commands, + On with toil of heart and knees and hands, + Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won + His path upward, and prevailed, + Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled + Are close upon the shining table-lands + To which our God himself is moon and sun. + Such was he, his work is done. + But while the races of mankind endure + Let his great example stand + Colossal, seen of every land, + And keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure: + Till in all lands and thro' all human story + The path of duty be the way to glory." + + ROBERT TREAT PLATT. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[36] An address delivered before the University of Oregon, May 20, +1903. + + + + +THE GREAT WEST AND THE TWO EASTS. + + +A resounding chorus of gratulations will herald to the world within +the next two years the first centennial of two events upon which the +history of the Great West is founded--the purchase of Louisiana and +the expedition of Lewis and Clark to the mouth of the Columbia River. +Whether the student of history at the Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904 +pause in admiration of the political foresight of Jefferson, or join +in the general acclaim of the heroism of our first explorers at +Portland, in 1905, the fact that will most impress him is that +geographical lines have been obliterated and there is no West. +Migrations having their origin in the dim, remote past, and continuing +down to the present, have brought the Aryan race face to face on the +opposite shores of the great western ocean, and the world finds itself +confronted with that condition which William H. Seward predicted, +when, addressing himself to the commerce, politics, thought, and +activities of Europe, he said they "will ultimately sink in +importance, while the Pacific, its shores, its islands, and the vast +regions beyond, will become the chief theater of events in the world's +great hereafter." The East that Columbus sailed westward from Spain to +discover will ever be the world's East; the West, "the remote shores +that Drake had once called by the name of New Albion," will be the +East of the World's Great East, and the West only in its geographical +relation to the Atlantic seaboard of our own country. + +The West has fulfilled every promise of its value to the Union made by +its champions when its cause was before the people of the new +Republic; it has refuted every prediction of dire effect made by the +opponents of its acquisition. When the purchase of Louisiana was under +consideration, the fear was expressed that people who would move to +that region would scarcely ever feel the rays of the general +government, their affections would be alienated by distance, and +American interests would become extinct. The generous response of men +and money made by Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa, when the Union was in +the throes of a struggle for its preservation, attests the loyalty of +the Louisiana region. A Southern senator asked, in 1843, what good was +Oregon for agricultural purposes, and said he would not give a pinch +of snuff for the whole territory. Yet the Oregon Country has given the +Union three sovereign states, and part of its territory has been taken +to form two other states; its occupation by Americans was a direct +cause of the annexation of California; it has in the Columbia River +and Puget Sound two important bases for military and naval operations; +far from being inhospitable to the honest farmer of the Atlantic +seaboard, or the Ohio Valley, it has one hundred thousand farms, +valued at nearly $600,000,000. Alaska was denounced as a barren waste, +that would never add one dollar to our wealth, or furnish homes to our +people. Yet in less than forty years Alaska has supplied gold, fish, +and furs worth $150,000,000, and has paid revenue to the government +exceeding by $1,500,000 the price Russia got for it in 1867; and at no +distant day Hawaii and the Philippines will justify American +occupation by statistics as telling as those here presented of +Louisiana, Oregon, and Alaska. + +If a nonexpansive policy had prevailed in our national councils at the +beginning of the nineteenth century; if the presidential chair had +been occupied by another than the broad statesman who saw beyond the +Mississippi, over the Rockies to the Pacific, and over the Pacific to +the cradle of the world, we should now have an intolerable situation +of affairs in North America. Had we refused Louisiana from Napoleon, +what is now the United States would be partitioned, geographically, +about as follows: East of the Mississippi would be the Republic of the +United States of America of 1783, with England in Canada on the north, +and Spain in Florida and fringing the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana would +have fallen into England's hands as a result of the Napoleonic wars, +and so, perhaps, Oregon, either by reason of a favorable +interpretation of the Nootka convention, or Vancouver's discoveries. +Mexico, as the successor of Spain, would own Texas and all the +remainder of the west south of the forty-second parallel and not +included in Louisiana. With a republic on one side, and European +sovereignty on the other, the Mississippi would to-day be bristling +with cannon. The purchase of Louisiana was political foresight, and +the completion of our title to Oregon was a direct result of the +Louisiana transaction. The war with Mexico was the logical sequence of +both. From whatever point we may regard it, the acquisition of the +trans-Mississippi region, viewed in the perspective of a century, was +worth what it cost in money, actual war, and risk of war with what, in +the early stages of our history was the most powerful nation on the +globe. + +The beginnings of the West date from 1850. Further back the census +reports do not present statistics that can be compared for valuable +purposes, with present standards, although as early as 1840 there were +nine hundred thousand people along the western shore of the +Mississippi in Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, and Missouri. These states +were long on the firing line of American civilization, and their +people subsisted by general farming, or by outfitting ox-train +merchandise caravans for Santa Fé and Chihuahua, or by outfitting and +trading with pioneer settlers _en route_ to Oregon, or gold seekers +flocking to California. Jim Bridger put up in southwestern Wyoming in +1843 the first post for the purpose of trading built west of the +Mississippi River, and its establishment marked the beginning of the +era of emigration to the Far West. Until a comparatively recent period +a goodly portion of the public domain lying west of the Missouri +River, and comprising perhaps five hundred thousand square miles, was +mapped as the "Great American Desert" and they who penetrated its +solitudes and returned unscathed to "civilization" were regarded with +that curiosity that pertains to a traveler who has visited an unknown +land. With the upbuilding of the country and the spread of knowledge +of its capabilities, the title of "Great American Desert" has been +swept away, and the colored maps that illustrate the books of the +twelfth census, regard the white portion as "unsettled area." This +includes a considerable area in every state and territory west of the +ninety-ninth degree of longitude. East of that line the only white +portion is in southeastern Florida. Progress in the half-century +comprehended in this brief review has been remarkable and the present +position of the West is strikingly shown in the appended statement, +which represent its percentages of the total for the United States for +the different items tabulated. In a few instances comparisons are made +with 1890 and 1850: + + =====================================+============================ + | Per cent. + +---------+---------+-------- + | 1900. | 1890. | 1860. + +---------+---------+-------- + Gross area with Alaska | 75.4 | ---- | ---- + Gross area without Alaska | 59.1 | ---- | ---- + Population, gross | 27.5 | 26.6 | 8.6 + Urban population | 17.6 | [1]13.1 | 14.1 + Number of farms | 35.8 | 32.6 | 8.2 + Acres improved | 48.8 | 44.4 | 6.3 + Farms, total valuation | 44.1 |[37]36.7 | 6.9 + Farm products, value | 43.2 | 37.4 | 20.3 + Farm animals | 59.4 | ---- | 11.9 + Wool, yield | 69.8 | ---- | 4.7 + Hops, yield | 64.3 | ---- | 7.1 + Timber, area | 55.4 | ---- | ---- + Lumber product, value | 32.4 | 24.9 | 10.0 + Gold, yield | 99.6 | ---- | ---- + Silver, commercial value | 99.8 | ---- | ---- + Coal | 15.1 | ---- | ---- + Railroad mileage | 45.2 | ---- | .25 + Manufactures, value of product | 16.1 | 14.5 | 3.9 + Operatives in factories | 12.2 | 11.9 | 3.1 + Imports and exports | 19.0 | ---- | ---- + -------------------------------------+---------+---------+-------- + + +POPULATION. + +Aggregate population has increased 957. per cent in fifty years, and +foreign population has grown faster than native: + + ==================+============+============+===========+=========== + | | | | Per cent + | 1900. | 1890. | 1850. | of + | | | | increase, + | | | | 1850-1900. + +------------+------------+-----------+----------- + Americans | 18,375,337 | 14,117,931 | 1,785,462 | 929.0 + Foreigners | 2,659,317 | 2,556,478 | 213,942 | 1143.0 + +------------+------------+-----------+----------- + Total | 21,034,654 | 16,674,409 | 1,999,404 | 957.0 + | | | | + Per cent American | 87.3 | 84.6 | 89.2 | + Per cent foreign | 12.7 | 15.4 | 10.8 | + ------------------+------------+------------+-----------+----------- + +The proportion of native born, which suffered a sharp decline between +1850 and 1890, because of the influx of foreigners to the mines of +California, Montana, and Nevada, and to the farm lands of Minnesota +and the Dakotas, is again in the ascendant, the net gain for the +decade just ended having been 2.7 per cent. The native population is +largest in the group of southwestern states and territories, Arkansas +leading with 98.9 per cent; Indian Territory, 98.8 per cent; +Louisiana, 96.2 per cent; Oklahoma, 96.1 per cent. Along the Pacific +coast it is highest in Oregon, with 84.1 per cent, and lowest in +California, with 75.3 per cent, Washington coming in between with 78.5 +per cent. North Dakota, with 64.6 per cent, makes the poorest showing. +The proportion of natives in the West as a whole in 1900 was 1 per +cent above the average for the Union, which was 86.3 per cent. The per +cent of foreigners is highest in North Dakota, where it is 35.4, and +lowest in Arkansas, where it is 1.1. Minnesota is the only State +having to exceed 500,000 foreigners. California and Iowa have over +300,000 each. + +The population of the West in 1850 consisted of 1,500,000 farmers and +traders in the Louisiana country, that is, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, +Minnesota; 200,000 odd who had swarmed into Texas after it had been +wrested from Mexico, some 60,000 in New Mexico, a group of gold +diggers in California, a few thousand Mormons in Utah, and a handful +of hardy pioneers who had braved privations and hostile savages on the +plains in following the footsteps of Lewis and Clark to the Oregon +country. At that time there were not quite 2,000,000 people in all the +boundless region west of the Mississippi River. The establishing of +direct communication by the overland stage, followed by the building +of the transcontinental railroad, stimulated growth, and by 1870 the +West had attained considerable importance in population. In 1850 it +reported 8.6 per cent of the total population of the Union; 26.6 per +cent in 1890, and 27.5 per cent in 1900. In 1890 it had over four +times the population of the new Republic in 1790 and not quite twice +the population of the nation in 1820. In 1900 its population was +somewhat under that of the whole country in 1850, the ratio being +about 21 to 23. The appended table shows how the several states and +territories of the West have progressed in the matter of population: + + =================+============+============+============ + | 1850. | 1890. | 1900. + +------------+------------+------------- + Arkansas | 209,897 | 1,128,179 | 1,311,564 + California | 92,597 | 1,208,130 | 1,485,053 + Colorado | | 412,198 | 539,700 + Idaho | | 84,385 | 161,772 + Iowa | 192,214 | 1,911,896 | 2,231,853 + Kansas | | 1,427,096 | 1,470,495 + Louisiana | 517,762 | 1,118,587 | 1,381,625 + Minnesota | 6,077 | 1,301,826 | 1,751,394 + Missouri | 682,044 | 2,679,184 | 3,106,665 + Montana | | 132,159 | 343,329 + Nebraska | | 1,058,910 | 1,066,300 + Nevada | | 45,761 | 42,335 + North Dakota | | 182,719 | 319,146 + Oregon | 13,294 | 313,767 | 413,536 + South Dakota | | 328,808 | 401,570 + Texas | 212,592 | 2,235,523 | 3,048,710 + Utah | 11,380 | 207,905 | 276,749 + Washington | | 349,390 | 518,103 + Wyoming | | 60,705 | 92,531 + Alaska | | 32,052 | 63,592 + Arizona | | 59,620 | 122,931 + Indian Territory | | 180,182 | 392,060 + New Mexico | 61,547 | 153,593 | 195,310 + Oklahoma | | 61,834 | 398,331 + +------------+------------+------------ + Total | 1,999,404 | 16,674,409 | 21,034,654 + -----------------+------------+------------+------------ + +Louisiana, with 11.4 inhabitants to the square mile, was the most +thickly settled state in the West in 1850. Missouri followed with 9.9; +Arkansas with 4, and Iowa with 3.5. The average for the Union was 7.9. +That year the little State of Delaware, with 91,532 inhabitants, +boasted of one two hundred and sixty-third part of the total +population of the Union. Where was Oregon with about one seventh of +Delaware's population and Minnesota with less than one half of +Oregon's? In 1900 the density of the Union was 25.6 inhabitants per +square mile. Three western states, Missouri, with 45.2, Iowa, with +40.2, and Louisiana, with 30.4, exceeded the general average. In the +remainder of the states the density ranged from 0.4 in Nevada to 24.7 +in Arkansas. + +The colored population of the trans-Mississippi region is largely +confined to the states in the southern belt, Arkansas, Louisiana, and +Texas. In the Pacific states the colored population is principally +Chinese and Japanese. + +Throughout the West, with the exception of Louisiana, the number of +females to each 100,000 men is under the national average, which is +95,353. Louisiana reports 98,871, and Utah, for obvious reasons, +follows with 95,324. Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Texas also have +between 90,000 and 95,000 females to each 100,000 men, and in +Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Indian Territory, New Mexico, and +Oklahoma, the average is over 85,000 and under 90,000. The proportion +of women to each 100,000 men is exceedingly low in the Pacific coast +and mountain states, being 80,987 in California; 73,265 in Idaho; +62,390 in Montana; 65,352 in Nevada; 77,495 in Oregon; 70,329 in +Washington; 59,032 in Wyoming. Alaska reports 38,629. + +Here, as in other parts of the Union, urban population is growing +faster than rural. Comparison for this discussion is with the census +of 1870, as the returns for any previous year would make too meagre a +showing. In 1870 the West had 56 of the 226 places that reported a +population of 4,000 and over. In 1890 the number was 176 out of 899, +and in 1900 it was 251 out of 1,158. Of the West's total population in +1900, 20.3 per cent was urban, against 37.3 percent for the Union. In +1900, 17.6 per cent of the total urban population of the country lived +in the West, 13.1 per cent in 1890, and 14.1 per cent in 1870. +California with 48.9 per cent and Colorado with 41.2 are above the +average for the Union, while Washington, with 36.4 makes a close +approach to the mark. For other states the average is: Iowa, 20.5; +Kansas, 19.2; Louisiana, 25.1; Minnesota, 31; Missouri, 34.9; Montana +and Wyoming, 28.6; Nebraska, 20.8; Oregon, 27.6; Utah, 29.4; Arkansas, +6.9; Idaho, 6.2; Nevada, 10.6; North Dakota, 5.4; South Dakota, 7.2; +Texas, 14.9; Arizona, 10.6; Indian Territory, 2.5; New Mexico, 6.1; +Oklahoma, 5. The following statement shows the drift of the population +into the cities: + + =================+=============+============+============+=========== + | | | | Increase + | 1900. | 1890. | 1870. | per cent, + | | | | 1870-1900. + +-------------+------------+------------+----------- + Urban population | 5,024,876 | 3,723,427 | 1,145,033 | 338 + Rural population | 16,009,778 | 12,950,982 | 5,732,063 | 179 + +-------------+-------- ---+------------+----------- + Total | 21,034,654 | 16,674,409 | 6,877,096 | 206 + -----------------+-------------+------------+------------+----------- + +In 1870 Saint Louis, New Orleans, and San Francisco were the only +cities that had over 100,000 population. In 1900 ten cities exceeded +100,000, while eight other cities, Portland leading the contingent, +had between 50,000 and 100,000. Since 1880 Seattle has advanced from +one hundred and fifty-first place to forty-eighth place in the rank of +American cities; Los Angeles from one hundred and thirty-fifth to +thirty-sixth; Duluth from one hundred and fifty-second to +seventy-second; Kansas City, Kansas, from one hundred and fifty-fifth +to seventy-sixth; Portland from one hundred and sixth to forty-second; +Tacoma from one hundred and fifty-seventh to one hundred and fourth; +Spokane from one hundred and fifty-eighth to one hundred and sixth, +and Dallas, Texas, from one hundred and thirty-seventh to +eighty-eighth. So rapid is the growth of Portland and Seattle that +before many years they must take position among the country's twenty +largest cities. + + +AGRICULTURE. + +The area of improved land in farms has increased nearly thirty-fold in +fifty years, but has not kept pace with population. This table shows +the details: + + =============+=================================+======================= + | Acres improved. | Acres per inhabitant. + +-----------+-----------+---------+-------+-------+------- + | 1900. | 1890. | 1850. | 1900. | 1890. | 1850. + +-----------+-----------+---------+-------+-------+------- + | | | | | | + Arkansas | 6,953,735| 5,475,043| 781,530| 5.3 | 4.8 | 3.7 + California | 11,958,837| 12,222,839| 32,454| 8.0 | 10.1 | 0.35 + Colorado | 2,273,968| 1,823,520| | 4.2 | 4.4 | + Idaho | 1,413,118| 606,362| | 8.7 | 7.0 | + Iowa | 29,897,552| 25,428,899| 824,682| 13.3 | 13.3 | 4.2 + Kansas | 25,040,550| 22,303,301| | 17.0 | 15.6 | + Louisiana | 4,666,532| 3,774,668|1,590,025| 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.0 + Minnesota | 18,442,585| 11,127,953| 5,035| 16.2 | 8.5 | 0.83 + Missouri | 22,900,043| 19,792,313|2,938,425| 7.3 | 7.3 | 4.3 + Montana | 1,736,701| 915,517| | 7.1 | 6.8 | + Nebraska | 18,432,595| 15,247,705| | 17.3 | 14.4 | + Nevada | 572,948| 723,052| | 13.2 | 15.8 | + North Dakota | 9,644,520| 4,658,015| | 30.2 | 26.0 | + Oregon | 3,328,308| 3,516,000| 132,857| 8.0 | 11.2 | 9.0 + South Dakota | 11,285,983| 6,959,293| | 28.1 | 21.1 | + Texas | 19,576,076| 20,746,215| 643,976| 6.4 | 9.2 | 3.0 + Utah | 1,032,117| 548,223| 16,333| 3.7 | 2.1 | 1.4 + Washington | 3,465,960| 1,820,832| | 6.6 | 5.2 | + Wyoming | 792,332| 476,831| | 8.5 | 7.8 | + Alaska | 159| | | | | + Arizona | 227,739| 104,128| | 1.8 | 1.7 | + Indian | | | | | | + Territory | 3,062,193| | | 7.8 | | + New Mexico | 326,873| 263,106| 166,201| 1.7 | 1.7 | + Oklahoma | 5,511,994| 563,728| | 13.8 | 9.0 | + +-----------+-----------+---------+-------+-------+------- + Total |202,543,416|159,097,543|7,131,518| 9.6 | 9.5 | 3.56 + -------------+-----------+-----------+---------+-------+-------+------- + +The new farms opened since 1850 are nearly equal in the aggregate to +the land area of the original thirteen states. The new farms opened +between 1890 and 1900 are more than the combined land areas of the +states of Tennessee and West Virginia. North Dakota, with a little +over 300,000 population, has more land by 1,500,000 acres under farms +than has all New England with 5,600,000 people. The average number of +improved acres per inhabitant more than doubled in the West between +1850 and 1890 and showed in 1900 a slight increase over 1890. In the +older agricultural states it is steadily decreasing. Thus, in New +England it fell from 4 acres in 1850 to 1.4 acres in 1900; New York +from 4 to 2.1 in the same interval. The Ohio valley states have held +up steadier. Ohio has decreased from 4.9 to 4.6, and Illinois from 5.9 +to 5.7. Indiana has increased from 5.1 to 6.6. + +The West has 2,056,748 farms compared with 1,491,405 in 1890, and +119,510 in 1850. Texas, with 352,190, leads the Union, and Missouri, +with 284,886, holds second place. Iowa has 37,000 more farms than all +the New England states combined. While the West has not quite half the +improved acreage of the country, it has 63 per cent of the unimproved +acreage or 269,000,000 acres out of 426,400,000 acres. Farms average +in size from 93.1 acres in Arkansas to 885.9 acres in Montana, 1,174.7 +acres in Nevada, and 1,333 acres in Wyoming, where stock raising +predominates and requires large ranges. The average for the West is +229.1 acres against 146.6 acres for the Union. + +The proportion of the total land area in farms ranges from 3.7 per +cent in Nevada to 97.4 per cent in Iowa. Kansas has 79.7, Missouri +77.3, Texas 74.9, Oklahoma 63, Nebraska 60.8, and Minnesota 51.8. No +other State has 50 per cent. In the Rocky Mountains and Pacific states +the average, considering the capabilities of the soil, is surprisingly +low. California reports 28.9, Washington 19.9, Oregon 16.6, Wyoming +13, Montana 12.7, Utah 7.8, and Idaho 5.9. Iowa leads the Nation in +this respect, followed by Indiana with 94.1, Ohio with 93.9, and +Illinois with 91.5. It is from these four states, whose areas are so +largely taken up and whose land values are high, that the extreme West +is seeking by reason of its cheap lands and equable climate, to draw +its new population. East of the Mississippi River the percentage +ranges in New England from 32.9 in Maine to 80.8 in Vermont. Along the +Atlantic coast the average is from 59 per cent in New Jersey to 85 per +cent in Delaware. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois have already been shown +in comparison with Iowa. Kentucky has 85.9, Tennessee 76.1, Wisconsin +57, and Michigan 47.8. Florida with 12.6 and the District of Columbia +with 22.1 are the only percentages reported from east of the +Mississippi River, that look like western figures. Values follow: + =================+=================+================+============ + Total farm | The Union. | The West. | Per cent + values. | | | in West. + -----------------+ ----------------+--------------- +------------ + 1900 | $20,514,001,838 | $9,155,558,744 | 44.1 + 1890 | 15,982,267,689 | 5,872,085,782 | 36.7 + 1850 | 3,967,343,580 | 276,464,837 | 6.9 + | | | + Value of farm | | | + products. | | | + | | | + 1900 | 4,739,118,752 | 2,050,766,616 | 43.2 + 1890 | 2,460,197,454 | 920,823,920 | 37.4 + 1870[38] | 2,447,538,658 | 499,092,093 | 20.3 + -----------------+-----------------+----------------+------------ + +Productions in quantity of principal crops in the West in 1890 and +1850 and percentages of the total for those years are thus shown: + + ===================+==============+==============+===========+========= + | | | Per cent | Per cent + Product. | Yield, 1900. | Yield, 1850. | of total, |of total, + | | | 1900. | 1850. + -------------------+--------------+--------------+-----------+--------- + Wheat, bushels | 431,963,900 | 5,288,868 | 65.5 | 5.2 + Corn, bushels |1,363,983,943 | 70,467,713 | 51.1 | 11.9 + Barley, bushels | 93,767,657 | 47,709 | 78.2 | .92 + Buckwheat, bushels | 312,456 | 77,341 | 2.7 | .86 + Oats, bushels | 454,460,412 | 7,849,962 | 48.1 | 5.3 + Rye, bushels | 7,705,068 | 76,255 | 30.1 | .53 + +--------------+--------------+-----------+--------- + Total grain, | | | | + bushels |2,352,193,536 | 83,807,848 | 53.1 | 9.6 + +==============+==============+===========+========= + United States, | + + + + bushels |4,424,800,923 | 867,453,967 | ---- | ---- + Butter,[B] pounds | 390,810,814 | 15,184,444 | 36.4 | 4.8 + Cheese,[39] pounds | 7,609,331 | 614,732 | 46.4 | .58 + Wool, pounds | 193,516,806 | 2,500,885 | 69.8 | 4.7 + Flax seed, bushels | 19,791,647 | 16,010 | 99.0 | .28 + Hay, tons | 44,799,194 | 253,297 | 53.3 | 1.8 + Potatoes, bushels | 87,288,453 | 1,764,969 | 31.9 | 2.6 + Hops, pounds | 31,673,821 | 12,719 | 64.3 | 7.1 + -------------------+--------------+--------------+-----------+--------- + +The West leads the East in flocks and herds, viz: + + ===================+=========================+======================== + | The Union-- | The West-- + +------------+------------+------------+----------- + | 1900. | 1850. | 1900. | 1850. + +------------+------------+------------+----------- + Dairy cows | 17,139,674 | 6,385,094 | 7,011,333 | 722,221 + Other meat cattle | 50,682,662 | 11,393,813 | 35,585,356 | 1,756,059 + Mules and asses | 3,366,724 | 559,331 | 1,655,654 | 122,371 + Horses | 18,280,007 | 4,336,719 | 10,063,260 | 528,459 + Sheep | 39,937,573 | 21,723,220 | 26,940,389 | 1,628,159 + Lambs | 21,668,238 | ---- | 13,632,117 | ---- + Swine | 62,876,108 | 30,354,213 | 32,274,381 | 4,193,895 + +------------+------------+------------+----------- + Total |213,950,986 | 74,752,390 |127,162,490 | 8,951,164 + Per cent | | | 59.4 | 11.9 + -------------------+------------+------------+------------+----------- + + +MANUFACTURING. + +The center of area in the United States, excluding Alaska and recent +acquisitions, is in northern Kansas, the center of population in +Indiana, and the center of manufactures in Ohio. The center of area +will always be in the West and the centers of population and +manufactures are slowly moving that way. Manufacturing is of minor +importance, though the aggregate of output exceeded the agricultural +output in 1900 by over $50,000,000. Relatively its position is not so +strong, being but 16.1 per cent of the total, against 27.5 per cent +for population and 43.2 per cent for value of farm products. +Manufacturing increased substantially in the 1890 and 1900 decade and +materially in the past fifty years. Thus, + + ======================+================+=================+============= + | 1900. | 1890. | 1860. + ----------------------+----------------+-----------------+------------- + Value of products |$ 2,104,940,868 | $ 1,367,835,887 | $ 40,398,488 + Number of operatives | 652,561 | 508,371 | 30,084 + Dollars per operative | 2,991 | 2,690 | 1,342 + Per cent of total: | | | + Product | 16.1 | 14.5 | 3.9 + Operatives | 12.2 | 11.9 | 3.1 + ----------------------+----------------+-----------------+------------- + +Missouri is the principal State for this branch of industry, +California second, and Minnesota third. These states stand for nearly +half the total output of Western factories. The output of California, +Oregon, and Washington, in 1900, was $435,670,399, constituting 3.3 +per cent of the value of products for the United States. Commenting on +this, we find the census of Manufactures (part 1, page CLXXVIII) +saying: + + The industrial condition in this group of states in 1900, + considering the value, but not the character of the + products, was about the same as the New England states in + 1860 and the Middle states in 1850. From this point of view, + the growth of the Pacific states has been remarkable. The + character of its industries is still determined largely by + its natural resources of farm, forest, and mine, but the + recent wars in the Orient, resulting in the opening of new + markets, gave to the industries of this section a great + stimulus which had only begun to be felt at the time the + twelfth census was taken. + + +COMMERCE. + +The combined imports and exports of the United States in the year +ended June 30, 1901, were geographically distributed as follows: New +York, 45.73 per cent; other ports east of the Mississippi River, 35.24 +per cent; the West (Pacific and Gulf ports), 19.03. Of the seven great +ports in the Union, three are in the West, New Orleans ranking the +third, Galveston sixth, and San Francisco seventh. New Orleans has a +foreign commerce of $173,000,000 a year; Galveston $102,000,000, and +San Francisco $70,000,000. Puget Sound and the Columbia River, which +before many years will be large ports, have between them $40,000,000. +Of the total exports of the United States in 1901, the West reported +$354,682,075, or 23.1 per cent. Imports were $86,275,443, or 10 per +cent. Breadstuffs form a considerable item of the exports of Western +ports. For the ten years ended June 30, 1901, shipments were +240,000,000 bushels of barley, corn, oats, rye, 450,000,000 bushels of +wheat, and 26,000,000 barrels of wheat flour, of a total value of +$521,000,000. San Francisco led in this business, with New Orleans +second, and Portland, Oregon, third. + + +MINERAL PRODUCTIONS. + +Ever since the discovery of gold in California in 1848 mining has been +one of the most important industries of the West. Between 1848 and +1900 California yielded gold valued at $1,385,197,097, about one +eighth the total gold production of the world from 1493 to 1900. The +West in 1900 produced 99.6 per cent of the Nation's gold, 99.8 per +cent of its silver (commercial value), and 15.1 per cent of its coal, +viz: + + ==============+=============+=============+=============== + | Gold. | Silver. | Total value. + +-------------+-------------+--------------- + California | $15,816,200 | $ 583,668 | $ 16,399,868 + Colorado | 28,829,400 | 12,700,018 | 41,529,418 + Idaho | 1,724,700 | 3,986,042 | 5,710,742 + Montana | 4,698,000 | 8,801,148 | 13,499,148 + Nevada | 2,006,200 | 842,394 | 2,848,594 + Oregon | 1,694,700 | 71,548 | 1,766,248 + South Dakota | 6,177,600 | 332,444 | 6,510,044 + Utah | 3,972,200 | 5,745,912 | 9,718,112 + Alaska | 8,171,000 | 45,446 | 8,216,446 + Arizona | 4,193,400 | 1,857,210 | 6,050,610 + Texas, etc. | 1,587,100 | 704,568 | 2,291,668 + +-------------+-------------+--------------- + Total | $78,870,500 | $35,670,398 | $114,540,898 + --------------+-------------+-------------+--------------- + +Other mineral productions are 30,000,000 tons of coal; 200,000 short +tons of lead; 413,000,000 pounds of copper; 3,600,000 barrels of +petroleum, and 30,000 flasks of quicksilver. The copper mines of +Montana and Arizona have lessened the importance of the Lake Superior +region as a source of supply, cutting its percentage of the total +American output from 62.9 in 1862, to 25.9 in 1899. + +One of the greatest gold mining regions of the world is located in +eastern Oregon, covering a gross area of between 3,000 and 4,000 +square miles. Prof. J. Waldemar Lindgren, of the United States +Geological Survey, believes that the strong, well-defined veins upon +which most of the important mines of this region are located will +continue to the greatest depths yet attained in mining. + + +LUMBER INDUSTRY. + +According to the census reports for 1900, lumber is excelled in value +among American productions only by iron and steel, textiles and +slaughtering and meat packing. The West, having 607,500 square miles, +or 55.4 per cent of the total wooded area of the country, exclusive of +Alaska, will surely be paramount in this important industry. Indeed, +we, this early, find the Director of the Census making this important +admission in one (203) of his bulletins: + + The white pine area in the Northwest has passed its maximum + of production and the attention of lumbermen is being + diverted from this region to the Southern pine forests and + to the enormously heavy forests of the Northwest coast, + which will, in the course of a decade or two, become the + chief source of lumber for the country. + +Texas, with 64,000 square miles, leads the Union in wooded area. +Oregon is second, with 54,300 square miles, and Minnesota third, with +52,200 square miles. Arkansas, California, Missouri, Montana, and +Washington each have over 40,000 square miles of wooded area. Oregon, +Washington, and California have at least one third of the standing +timber of the country, but they cut less than ten per cent of the +total lumber product. The redwood forest of California is, perhaps, +the densest forest, measured by the amount of lumber per acre, in the +world. In quantity of standing timber, Oregon leads the Union with 225 +billion feet; California second with 200 billion feet, and Washington +third with nearly 196 billion feet. Minnesota, with a product of +$43,600,000 leads the West and Washington is second, with $30,300,000. +The total value of the lumber product of the West in 1900 was +$184,135,988, against $109,201,667 in 1890 and $6,075,896 in 1850. The +lumber cut was 10,925,736 M feet, board measure, or a little less than +one third of the output of the Union. Among Western states, Minnesota +led with 2,342,388 M feet, Arkansas second with 1,623,987 M feet, and +Washington third with 1,429,032 M feet. Oregon cut 734,528 M feet. + + +RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION. + +The transcontinental railroads have brought the West up to its present +state of development, for they have opened it to settlement, and +provided reasonable rates for the transport of its products to the +Eastern markets, even if at the same time they have exposed its infant +manufacturing industries to the competition of the large +capitalization of the Atlantic seaboard and the Ohio Valley. In 1850 +the West had 79½ miles of railroad, all in Louisiana. All the rest of +the westward stretch of the nation to the Pacific was without so much +as a single rail. What Louisiana could so proudly boast of in 1850 was +less than the mileage operated by the Boston and Maine and its +branches in Massachusetts that same year. By 1900 the total had +swelled to 87,406.13 miles out of the 193,345.78 miles in the United +States and the percentage from .25 to 45.2. On the basis of miles of +railroad per 100 square miles of territory Iowa leads with 16.56 and +Nevada is lowest with .83. In miles of line per ten thousand +inhabitants Nevada is first with 214.98, and Louisiana last with +20.44. + +In view of the enormous railroad construction in the West in the past +thirty years it is worth while to recall President Buchanan's telegram +to John Butterfield, the pioneer of Western overland transportation, +when the first direct overland mail arrived by stage at Saint Louis +from San Francisco October 9, 1858: + + I cordially congratulate you upon the result. It is a + glorious triumph for civilization and the Union. Settlements + will soon follow the course of the road, and the East and + the West will be bound together by a chain of living + Americans which can never be broken. + + +FINANCE. + +In 1850 there were thirty-one banks west of the Mississippi; +twenty-five in Louisiana and six in Missouri, with deposits +aggregating $9,500,000. It is difficult to figure the condition of the +people with regard to money as statements of private banks are +obtainable in only a few states and the national banks are the only +guide. On July 16, 1902, the individual deposits in these amounted to +$639,180,306, and the loans and discounts to $615,116,949. + + +FUTURE OF THE WEST. + +The future of the Great West must be considered from two view points: +(1) In its relation to the Asiatic countries and their trade; and (2) +in its ability to support a large population. These will be taken up +in their order. + +Asia and Oceanica comprise an area of 21,262,718 square miles, and +have a population of 847,000,000, or more than half that of the globe. +Of this number, 435,000,000 are in China and its dependencies, Japan, +Asiatic Russia and Corea. Asia, and the islands of the Pacific, +annually buy from the world goods valued at $1,446,000,000 and sell to +it goods of a value of $1,436,000,000, representing a total trade of +$2,882,000,000. The United States will in time have a tremendous trade +across the Pacific, although at present our proportion of the business +is inconsiderable. In the year ended June 30, 1901, only 9.25 per cent +of our foreign commerce was with Asia and Oceanica, of which 2.17 per +cent was with the British East Indies; 2.09 per cent with Japan; 1.67 +per cent with Chinese ports, and .37 with the Philippines. The new +theatre of the world's activities is a virgin field, as little +understood on our Pacific seaboard as on our Atlantic seaboard, for +the exporters of both sections make the same mistakes in packing, and +in long range dealing with the Oriental customer, to whom the first +essential in trade is what our consular officers persistently pour +into unwilling ears as the "look see," or the privilege of inspecting +the commodity offered for sale, before buying it. These, however, are +details of commercial organization which our exporters can be depended +upon to settle on a satisfactory basis. The fear expressed in some +quarters that the opening of Siberia by the completion of the great +Russian railroad, and the consequent development of a region that will +become a competitor of the United States in the trans-Pacific country, +would appear to be groundless so far as any detrimental effect upon +our country is concerned. Our general development is based upon the +attraction of our institutions, the freedom of industry, the cheapness +and fertility of our lands, hospitable climate, and above all, to the +long enjoyment of the guarantee of peace. No other country in the +world can offer the same inducements to progress and no country in the +world can compete with us on our own terms. + +Viewing the future of the West from the point of its ability to +support a large population, the measure must be the record of the +half-century just past. It has done more than its most sanguine friend +dared foretell of it a century ago and it is not half developed. +Excluding Alaska, it has an area of 2,138,488 square miles and a +population of 20,971,062, with a density of 9.8. The population +density of the Union is 25.6 to the square mile. The West is capable +of reaching this mark and on this basis its population would be, +approximately 55,000,000, a little more than the states east of the +Mississippi had in 1900. Every foot of the West is useful for some +purpose, the purpose depending in some degree upon the success of +irrigation. The high lands of Nevada are no more to be ignored in the +general scheme of economy than the irregular and broken surface of +Vermont, where intensive cultivation of the soil now obtains as a +result of Western competition in agriculture. When one contemplates +the rugged mountains of Idaho, eastern Montana, northern California, +Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, he should reflect +that some where in this broad land cattle must have range if the price +of meat is to be kept within bounds. Conditions for horticulture and +agriculture in Louisiana are as favorable as in any other State in the +Union. The Columbia-river basin in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho is an +empire in itself, with a population less than Chicago, and eastern +Oregon, under irrigation, could produce 100,000,000 bushels of grain. +There are those who expect Alaska to take station as an agricultural +community. Manufactures in the West will ultimately bear a close ratio +to population. Commerce will depend largely upon the effort the Nation +in general makes across the Pacific. + +The West comes on the stage of the world's activity in an era of +peace, prosperity, and advancement of American principles and +institutions. Its loyalty to the Union never has been doubted and no +cloud of discord appears to bring it into contest with the East, for +its interests are identical with those of that section, and community +of interest promotes community of purpose. The West, instead of +proving the Nation destroyer, has proved its savior. What the future +is in all its aspects, no man can say. The Briton would have been +thought insane ten years ago who would have dared to predict the day +that Canada, Australia, and New Zealand would be called upon to uphold +the prestige of the empire at the Cape of Good Hope. No American, +however pessimistic, contemplates with pleasure the possibility of +war, still every American is pleased to see his country protected +against the day of war. The generation that was contemporaneous with +the statesman who said Oregon was not worth a pinch of snuff left sons +and daughters to see an Oregon regiment sailing away from San +Francisco to plant the Stars and Stripes at Manila and raise the +United States to the dignity of a world power. In that city whose +legislative halls echoed with dire warnings if Louisiana should be +accepted from Napoleon, the citizens of some future day may be +gladdened to the heart by the sight of a regiment from the Yukon River +marching down the broad avenues to the defense of the national +capital. + + HENRY E. REED. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[37] For 1870. + +[38] Not reported by United States census prior to 1870. Values for +this year in depreciated currency. To get true value, reduce one +fifth. + +[39] Made on farms only. + + + + +SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF ASTORIA. + + +On a peninsula flanked by Young's River and the Columbia, ten miles +from the broad Pacific, is situated the historic city of Astoria. Its +beginning dates back to April 15, 1811, when an expedition sent from +New York by John Jacob Astor founded a fur-trading post on the present +site of the city, and erected a stockade and buildings for the use of +the traders. For a short time all went well with this little pioneer +settlement, and a profitable trade was carried on, despite the murder +of the crew of the Astor Company's vessel, Tonquin, and the +destruction of the vessel off the coast of British Columbia. The +Indians became enraged on account of the treatment accorded them by +the captain, and set upon and murdered the crew, with the exception of +Mr. Lewis, the ship's clerk, who, though mortally wounded, after +inducing the Indians to come aboard again, set fire to the magazine +and blew up the ship and its swarm of savages. + +Soon after this, the second war with Great Britain started, and the +members in charge at Fort Astor, thinking they would be captured by +the British war vessels then on the coast, and that their goods would +be confiscated, sold their interest and that of Mr. Astor to a rival +company, known as the Northwest Fur Company, and controlled by British +subjects. Soon after this transfer was made the British warship +Raccoon appeared in the river, and on December 12, 1813, took formal +possession of Astoria in the name of Great Britain, and named it Fort +George. + +In accordance with the terms of the treaty of Ghent there was to be a +mutual restoration of all territory captured during the war. When the +question of the restoration of Astoria or Fort George came up England +contended that Astoria had been transferred in a commercial +transaction between an American and a British company, but this +contention was not pressed against the American claim that the +settlement of Astoria by an American company confirmed that title +already secured by the discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Gray +in 1792, and by the exploration of Lewis and Clark in 1805. The United +States again took possession of Astoria August 9, 1818, and the formal +transfer was made October 6, 1818. + +Astoria was now a very small settlement, consisting of a stockade and +a few shacks, but bearing the high sounding titles of Astoria and Fort +George, the latter being the property of the Northwest Fur Company. + +In 1821 the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Fur Company were +consolidated, and in 1824 Dr. John McLoughlin was placed in charge of +Fort George. At this time the fur trade was carried on chiefly with +the tribes of the interior, and it was the custom for the agents of +the company to carry the goods to the Indians. Under the circumstances +Doctor McLoughlin saw that the chief trading post should be farther +inland, near the head of navigation, and moved to Vancouver, +Washington, leaving a trader in charge of the company's property at +Astoria, whose duty it was to watch for the company's vessels, and to +send the pilot, Indian George, out to meet them and to pilot them to +Vancouver. + +With the departure of the fur company, Astoria became a lookout +station and a trading post of very little importance. Mofras describes +it in 1841 as "a miserable squatter's place, invested by the rival +American and English factions, with the pompous name of Fort George +and town of Astoria, the fort being represented by a bald spot, from +which the vestige of buildings had long since disappeared, and the +town by a cabin and a shed." + +This condition was soon to be changed, for the trains of immigrants +were beginning to arrive in the Willamette Valley, and some were to +push on to the extreme western limit of the continent. In 1843 J. M. +Shively came to Astoria and took up a claim in what is now the heart +of the city, and known as Shively's Astoria. He was followed by Col. +John McClure, who took the claim joining the Shively claim on the +west, and now known as McClure's Astoria, and A. E. Wilson, who +located on the claim to the east of Shively's claim, and now known as +Adair's Astoria. These three men and James Birnie, the trader, in +charge of the Hudson Bay Company's station, were the only white men in +Astoria in 1844. Soon after this Robert Shortess located on the land +now known as Alderbrook, and a Mr. Smith located at what is now known +as Smith's Point. Mr. Birnie lived in the company's building, situated +near the present site of Saint Mary's Hospital, Colonel McClure lived +in a small cabin just to the south and east of where the Baptist +Church now stands, and Mr. Shively, "who didn't believe in joint +occupancy, which disturbed the social relations between Mr. Birnie and +himself," lived at "Lime Kiln Hall," on the ridge near the eastern +limit of his claim. Mr. Wilson lived in a cabin in Upper Astoria. +There were several settlers on Clatsop Plains at this time, among the +number being D. Summers, Mr. Hobson and family, Rev. J. L. Parrish, +Messrs. Solomon Smith, Tibbets, Trask, and Perry. Ben Wood, N. +Eberman, and other young men held claims on the plains, but lived +elsewhere. + +Astoria the fur-trading post now ceased to exist; Astoria, the town, +was started. Astoria's real beginning, from which resulted a city, +dates back, then, only to the early forties when the homeseekers first +settled here. In 1846 James Welch and family and David Ingalls +arrived. Mr. Welch took possession of the Shively claim during Mr. +Shively's absence in the East and divided the claim into city lots as +Mr. Shively had previously done. This led to a dispute over the +ownership of the claim which was finally settled by an equal division +of the claim between the two interested parties. + +When J. M. Shively returned from the East in 1847 he brought with him +his commission as postmaster and opened the first post office west of +the Rocky Mountains in the Shively building, still standing on the +east side of Fourteenth Street, between Exchange Street and Franklin +Avenue. The next year S. T. McKean, wife, and six children arrived and +took up their residence here. In this year also the news of the +discovery of gold in California led to a stampede to the mines and +while some of the inhabitants of Astoria went, their places were soon +filled by people brought here by the great increase in the amount of +shipping done from Columbia River. A great demand for lumber and +provisions arose and mills were started to supply this demand. Hunt's +mill, just below Westport, had commenced operations in 1846, and when +the gold excitement started, had one hundred thousand feet of lumber +on hand which was eagerly purchased at $100 per thousand. The +Milwaukie mill and Abernethy's mill at Oak Point supplied the greater +part of the lumber for the California trade. In 1849 Marland's mill, +just above Tongue Point, was started. This mill was later destroyed by +fire. In 1851-52 James Welch and others built the first mill in the +city proper. It was located in the block bounded by Commercial, Bond, +Ninth, and Tenth streets. It was afterward owned by W. W. Parker and +known as the Parker mill. + +The increase in the amount of shipping led to the establishment of the +customhouse at Astoria in 1849. The same year Captains White and +Hustler arrived and brought the first pilot boat to operate on the +Columbia-river bar, the Mary Taylor. The pilots had their headquarters +at Astoria, and this led to increased trade for Astoria and the +establishment of boarding houses for the accommodation of the shipping +men and the passengers of vessels that stopped here either to await +favorable wind to proceed to up-river points or to cross the bar or to +complete their cargoes of lumber or increase their cargoes of +provisions with a few barrels of salt salmon. + +When Col. John Adair, the first collector of customs, arrived at +Astoria he occupied the McClure house and tried to secure land from +the different owners of the town on which to build the customhouse. +The owners refused to donate the land and fixed the price at a figure +which Colonel Adair considered too high. The result of this +disagreement was the establishing of the United States customhouse at +Upper Astoria and the beginning of the rivalry between the upper and +lower towns, which lasted for many years, and led to the building up +of two towns mutually jealous of each other yet having every interest +in common. Judge Strong, who passed through Astoria in 1850, says: + + When Astoria was pointed out as we reached the point below, + I confess to a feeling of disappointment. Astoria, the + oldest and most famous town in Oregon, we had expected to + find a larger place. We saw before us a straggling hamlet, + consisting of a dozen or so of small houses irregularly + planted along the river bank shut in by the dense forest. We + became reconciled and indeed somewhat elated in our feelings + when we visited the shore and by its enterprising + proprietors were shown the beauties of the place. There were + avenues and streets, squares and public parks, wharves and + warehouses, churches and theaters and an immense + population--all upon the map. Astoria at that time was a + small place or rather two places--the upper and the lower + town--between which there was great rivalry. The upper town + was known to the people of lower Astoria as Adairville. The + lower town was designated by its rival as "Old Fort George + or McClure's Astoria." A road between the two places would + have weakened the differences of both, isolation being the + protection of either. In the upper town was the customhouse; + in the lower town two companies of United States engineers, + under command of Major J. S. Hathaway. There were not, + excepting the military and those attached to them and the + customhouse officials, to exceed twenty-five men in both + towns. At the time of our arrival in the country there was + considerable commerce carried on, principally in sailing + vessels, between the Columbia River and San Francisco. The + exports were chiefly lumber, the imports merchandise. + +The United States census of 1850 gives Astoria a population of two +hundred and fifty-two, which number included the two companies of +United States engineers stationed here and probably a number of +transients. + +I have before me a photograph of a painting copied from a +daguerreotype picture of Astoria taken in 1856. This picture was taken +from a spot near where the Parker House now stands and shows a wharf +and a dozen houses. The wharf was known as the Parker wharf and +extended from the Parker mill in a northeasterly direction to a point +just north of the Occident Hotel. This was the first wharf erected in +Astoria and was built in the early fifties. The picture also shows the +old Methodist Church which was built in 1853-54, a cooper shop, the +Shively house, the present residence of Judge F. J. Taylor, and the +buildings occupied by the United States troops during their stay here. +A few houses were not shown in the picture, those in the then western +part of the town and those in upper town. + +Astoria was now assuming the proportions of a town and in 1856 was +incorporated by the territorial legislature. The town included the +Shively claim and a part of the McClure claim. + +With the incorporation of the Astoria and Willamette Valley Railroad +in 1858 by T. R. Cornelius, W. W. Parker, John Adair and others began +Astoria's struggle for rail connections with other parts of the state +and with the East which ended with the completion of the Astoria and +Columbia River Railroad in 1898. + +No census returns were handed in for Astoria in 1860, but the +estimated population was about two hundred and fifty. The troops had +been removed before this so that the town had had a substantial growth +caused chiefly by the increase in the amount of shipping and the trade +with the small growing settlements near Astoria. Astoria was becoming +the trade center for all points on the lower Columbia. The fishing +industry was confined still to the smoking and salting of salmon and a +considerable quantity was shipped to the Sandwich Islands. + +J. M. Shively, who had been appointed postmaster in 1847, left for the +mines in 1849 leaving his deputy, David Ingalls, in charge of the +office, who moved the office to his store on the southwest corner of +Tenth and Duane streets. At this time Astoria was the distributing +office for the entire Northwest, including the present states of +Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. In 1853 San Francisco was made +the distributing point for the coast. T. P. Powers, who resided in +Upper Town and was a part owner in that place, succeeded Mr. Shively +as postmaster and moved the post office to upper town near the +customhouse. This left Astoria without a federal office and helped to +build up its rival. With the change of the national administration in +1861, new officers who were friendly to the lower town were appointed +and the post office and the customhouse were moved to the lower town. +It was remarked at the time by a resident of lower town that "politics +took them away and politics brought them back." + +The erection of Fort Stevens and Fort Canby at this time made work +plentiful around the mouth of the river and contributed to the growth +of Astoria both in population and in wealth, as many of the supplies +were drawn from the town. + +The school census for the years 1859-70 shows a steady growth in +population brought about by the establishment of new enterprises, the +settlement of the country tributary to the town, and the increase in +amount of shipping from the Columbia River, especially the +establishment of a regular line of steamers from Portland and Astoria +to San Francisco. In 1865 Christian Leinweber started the Upper +Astoria tannery which gave employment to about thirty persons. In 1867 +what was afterwards known as the Hume mill was built near Thirteenth +and Commercial streets and was one of the city's most important +resources until its destruction by fire in 1883. + +In 1867 Judge Cyrus Olney, who had succeeded to the claim of John +McClure, formulated a plan to dispose of a part of this property at a +uniform price per lot. This plan was known, locally, as the Olney +lottery. Tickets were sold for $50 each, entitling the holder to a lot +in the city and a chance to draw the "grand prize," which consisted of +two lots and a house, the property now owned and occupied by Louis +Kirchoff and situated on Twelfth Street, between Exchange Street and +Franklin Avenue. The other lots were situated in different parts of +McClure's Astoria. The plan then amounted to this: each ticket +entitled the holder to a lot, though the location was a matter of +chance, and a chance to win two lots and a house. Many lots were +disposed of by means of this lottery. + +By 1870 the population of the town had increased to six hundred and +thirty-nine, and the population of Clatsop County had increased from +four hundred and sixty-two in 1850 to one thousand two hundred and +fifty-five in 1870. Small sailing vessels and steamboats were running +between Astoria and lower river points, and a regular steamer service +was maintained between Portland and Astoria and between Portland and +San Francisco. At this time it was customary for the ocean steamers to +make the trip from Portland to Astoria during the day, and to tie up +at Astoria for the night, and to cross the bar the next morning. +Steamer day was the event of the week and was a source of considerable +revenue to the merchants of the town. + +The Pioneer and Historical Society was organized in this city in 1871, +and, as the name implies, its membership is limited to the pioneers of +Oregon, and its object is to prepare and keep a record of the events +in which the pioneers figured during the founding and development of +the State. Many records were collected by the society, but for the +most part have been scattered and lost, as have the books of its once +valuable library. For several years past the society has had merely a +nominal existence, but recently a movement has been started to +reorganize the society, and to carry out the purposes for which it was +founded, especially in the way of collecting local history. + +The _Astorian_, the successor to Astoria's first newspaper, _The +Marine Gazette_, published during the sixties, was first published in +1873, and has been issued continuously since that time. Its influence +in the upbuilding of the town can not be estimated. The early files of +the paper are filled with articles encouraging new enterprises, +setting forth the advantages of the town, and recording every new step +in its advancement. + +The question of title to the water frontage became a troublesome one +when the town began to grow and buildings were being erected along the +water front. The original settlers thought they had title to this land +by virtue of their patent from the United States; but later it was +learned that the State of Oregon had title to all land between high +and low-water mark. By a legislative act passed in 1872 the State +authorized the sale of its property in front of Astoria to the owners +of the property immediately back of the tide land, or to those who had +purchased their land from such owners and had made improvements +thereon. The price asked was nominal. During the years 1873-76 most of +this land was purchased from the State, and the city placed in a +position to use the property best suited for cannery sites and +wharves. + +By the terms of the new city charter, passed in 1876, the limits of +the city were extended so as to include Shively's claim, Hustler and +Aiken's Addition, and all of McClure and Olney's Addition. In 1891 the +boundaries were again changed so as to include Upper Astoria, +Alderbrook, all the land between Alderbrook and John Day's River, and +Smith's Point. The city was bounded at this time by the Columbia +River, John Day's River, Young's Bay and River, and a line connecting +John Day's River and Young's River. These boundaries remained until +1899, when all the land east of Van Dusen's Addition was cut off from +the city. + +In the fall of 1874 the first grain ships to take their entire cargo +from Astoria were loaded by R. C. Kinney & Sons. This fleet consisted +of the British ship Vermont and three other vessels. The same year the +Astoria and Willamette Barge Company was formed for the purpose of +carrying wheat in barges and steamers from the farms in the Willamette +Valley to the vessels at Astoria. The company built the "Farmer's +Wharf" on the site of the present dock and warehouse of the Oregon +Railway and Navigation Company. This company lacked the capital to +carry on this enterprise and after loading a few ships sold out to the +Oregon Steam Navigation Company. The promoters of the barge company +expected to transport a ship load of wheat to Astoria for less than +the cost of towage and pilotage between Portland and Astoria. Since +this time some of the larger grain vessels have completed their +cargoes here, but this port has not been made a starting point for the +grain fleet. + +While the experiment with the wheat shipping was being tried another +industry was rising into importance, the one that more than any other +has contributed to the growth of the town. In 1866 four thousand cases +of salmon had been packed. The following year eighteen thousand cases +were packed on the Columbia River, and this important industry was +established and by 1874 it had reached the proportions of an extensive +commercial transaction. Astoria's share in the salmon packing business +began with the erection of Badollet & Company's cannery in Upper +Astoria in 1873. This cannery did not run the next season. A. Booth & +Company built the second Astoria cannery. Devlin & Nygant's, R. D. +Hume & Company's, and Kinney's were built in the order named and all +were in operation in 1876. Trullinger's mill was built during this +year and Astoria now boasted of two large mills, five canneries, and a +tannery. During the two years, from 1874 to 1876, the population of +the town nearly doubled and many new buildings, consisting of +canneries, warehouses, and dwellings, were erected. There was much +money in circulation as every one had money and the fishermen were +prodigal with theirs. Small change was seldom used, the quarter being +the smallest coin in general use. This was the period of Astoria's +greatest growth. From a small shipping station in the sixties it had +grown to be a town of about two thousand people, controlling the most +important industry on the lower Columbia and holding a large trade. +Improvements followed as a matter of course. In 1876 the Western Union +Telegraph Company completed its line between Portland and Astoria, +and Robert Mason & Company constructed a building and entered into the +production of oil from salmon heads. During this year a new enterprise +was started at the canneries of M. J. Kinney and Hanthorn & Company, +that of canning beef and mutton. At Kinney's from September, 1876, to +January, 1877, nineteen thousand five hundred cases of beef and five +hundred cases of mutton were packed. This industry seems never to have +gotten beyond the experimental stage in Astoria, owing largely to the +difficulty of securing cattle at a fair price and to the lack of +facilities for and experience in handling the meat. During the season +of 1877 there were eleven canneries in operation in Astoria and more +than a thousand fishing boats were in use on the river. Just before +sundown, during the fishing season, the river would be covered with +white sailed boats, all sailing briskly along on their way to their +favorite drifts. + +Houses during this year were in great demand, and many were built. The +_Astorian_ thus speaks of the building boom: + + It may seem surprising, but nevertheless it is true, work is + progressing in all stages upon one hundred and eighty-nine + new buildings in the city of Astoria at this moment. * * + Were we to attempt to enumerate the long list of structures + erected in this city since last fall we should fail to do + the subject justice. In building wharves and warehouses, + canneries, and other packing establishments, ship yards, and + machine shops, stores, and residences, many thousands of + dollars have been spent. + +And again: + + Houses are being erected at an alarming rate. Last Saturday + ten new structures were raised--one for every working hour + of the day. + +The river trade, a very important factor in the upbuilding of the +city, had greatly increased during the past three years. Twenty or +more steamers, large and small, were engaged during 1878 in making +daily trips between Astoria and lower river points and upper river +points as far as Portland. At this time seven steamers were making +regular trips between Portland and San Francisco, but stopping at +Astoria and bringing many passengers and much freight to the town. The +_Astorian_ of May 5, 1877, commenting on the number of people arriving +at Astoria, says "last month two thousand six hundred and twenty-eight +bona fide immigrants landed at Astoria by steamers. About one thousand +seven hundred proceeded inland in search of homes." This was about the +beginning of the fishing season, and no doubt most of those who +remained at Astoria were fishermen and cannery workers. The people at +that time remained in Astoria during the fishing season, and returned +to California for the winter. + +The effect of having such a large floating population was soon felt on +the morals of the city, and it was during these early years of the +salmon industry that Astoria acquired the reputation for vice and +crime that remained long after the city had rid itself of its +undesirable element. During the year 1877 there were forty saloons in +the city, and all reaped a rich harvest during the fishing season. The +_Astorian_ was strong in its protests against the immorality of the +town, and urged the closing of all the dives and gambling houses, but +for a time without avail. Later we shall see how the city did rid +itself of its lowest class of inhabitants. + +In 1878 the roadway to Upper Astoria was completed, and the Upper +Astoria post office abolished. The completion of the roadway was an +event of great importance to the people of both towns, and had the +effect of putting an end to the rivalry that had existed since the +starting of Upper Astoria in 1849, when the customhouse was built. The +towns were now in fact one, though considered locally as two separate +towns. By the legislative act of 1891 the corporate limits of the town +were extended so as to include upper town. + +The intense rivalry between the companies operating steamers on the +Portland-San Francisco route brought about the reduction of freight +and passenger rates so that there was much travel between Oregon and +California. As every steamer stopped several hours at Astoria the town +received considerable patronage from the passengers. The _Astorian_ +speaks of the town being crowded during the stay of one of the ocean +steamers. The Great Republic frequently carried a thousand passengers, +and always took on a considerable part of its cargo at Astoria. + +The population of Astoria in 1880 was two thousand eight hundred and +three and the population of Clatsop County seven thousand two hundred +and twenty-two. This increase in the number of people in the county +meant much to Astoria, since the supplies for a large part of Clatsop +County are taken from the city. + +In 1883 the salmon industry reached its highest point. Not only were +more fish canned than at any previous year but a better price than +ever before was paid for the raw material, thus distributing a larger +amount of money among the fishermen and cannery workers. During this +season six hundred and twenty-nine thousand cases of salmon, valued at +over $3,000,000, were packed on the Columbia River. + +It was during this year that the fire, known locally as the "big +fire," occurred. It started July 2, 1883, in the sawmill near the site +now occupied by the Foard & Stokes Company and swept the entire water +front from that point east to Seventeenth Street, including the large +warehouse owned by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. The +volunteer fire department worked heroically and succeeded after +several hours in gaining control of the fire, though not until it had +destroyed several blocks of business houses, wharves, and dwellings. +The wooden streets, built on piling over the water acted as a means +for carrying the fire from building to building. The loss was very +heavy but the fishing season was at its height and money plentiful, so +that in a short time new buildings were erected in place of those +destroyed by fire. + +An interesting chapter in Astoria's history is connected with the fire +of 1883. During its progress a large quantity of liquor was taken from +the saloons in the path of the fire and carried to places of safety +only to be stolen by the rougher class of onlookers. In a short time +great disorder prevailed in the vicinity of the fire and the officers +were powerless to prevent the wholesale stealing of the goods taken +from the stores and houses. Drinking was kept up throughout the night +but after the fire was checked the scene of disorder was transferred +to the lower part of town, known as "Swilltown." Here the drunken +fishermen were soon relieved of their money by the denizens of this +section. Later some of the fishermen threatened to burn the rest of +the town in retaliation. The business men of the city fearing that +this threat would be carried out organized a committee to assist the +officers in preserving the peace should their aid become necessary, +the mayor at the same time issuing a proclamation calling upon all +saloon keepers to close their saloons each night at 12 o'clock. One +saloon, owned by Riley and Ginder, two ex-policemen, refused to obey +and when the officers went to arrest the proprietors they were fired +upon through the barricaded doors. During the conflict three taps were +sounded on the fire bell, the signal for the citizens' committee to +assemble. The committee responded quickly and arrived upon the scene +fully armed and ready for action. The officers in the mean time had +succeeded in entering the building and had arrested Riley and Ginder +who were brought before the committee. After a short deliberation they +were informed that they must leave the city at once under penalty of +being hanged from the city hall. The threat was sufficient and they +closed their saloon and left the city. To one who knows the condition +of affairs that existed in the city after the fire, and the character +of the men who led the citizens' movement, it is evident that Riley +and Ginder used the best of judgment in obeying promptly. After +disposing of this case the committee decided to drive out the crowd of +disreputable characters that lived in "Swilltown," and accordingly +served notice on all such to leave town within twenty-four hours. This +order, backed by a resolute set of citizens, was generally obeyed, +only one man openly defying the committee. This man, an Englishman by +the name of Boyle, was known as a "bad man." Nevertheless he was +captured, whipped, and sent out of town. Recognizing three members of +the committee he brought suit against them in the United States court +for damages and secured the verdict. The amount was quickly raised by +general subscription, $20 being the usual individual contribution. The +citizens' committee having accomplished the purpose for which it was +organized now disbanded. + +Notwithstanding the steady decline in the salmon pack on the Columbia +River since 1883 and the closing of many of the canneries in the city, +Astoria has had a steady growth, due in a great measure to the +increase in trade with the growing towns and the farming and dairy +districts tributary to the city, and to the growth of the sawmill +industry, which though still in its infancy here, is growing rapidly. +By the close of the summer four and possibly five large mills will be +in operation. + +In 1890 the city had a population of six thousand one hundred and +eighty-four, a very great increase over the census returns of ten +years before. Two years before this the Astoria and South Coast +Railroad was started and the road built from Sea Side to the middle of +Young's Bay, a distance of about fifteen miles. Though this road did +not enter the city for several years its building had a marked effect +on Astoria. Prices for city property increased very rapidly, and +during the years 1889 and 1890 a real estate boom was in progress. +While considerable property changed ownership very little building was +done so that when the period of activity in real estate ended the city +did not contain rows of empty houses as did so many of the boom towns +of Washington. + +Almost from the beginning of its history Astoria has dreamed of rail +connections with the East. The coming of the railroad has been +regarded as the one thing needed to make Astoria the seaport of the +Northwest. The Astoria and South Coast road had stopped near the +center of Young's Bay. About three years later a new road that was to +run up Young's River, thence through the Nehalem Valley to Portland +was started. This company, after building several miles of trestle +around Smith's Point and up Young's River, suspended operations owing +to its inability to secure sufficient financial backing to complete +the road. The Astoria and Columbia River Railroad Company was given +subsidy of a million and a half in money and property and in 1898 +built the present road to connect with the Northern Pacific track at +Goble. The city has been greatly benefited by this road, although the +long expected period of rapid growth did not accompany it, owing to +the fact that Astoria has not been made a common point with other +cities of the Northwest. + +The population of the city in 1900 had increased to eight thousand +three hundred and eighty-one. A conservative estimate places the +population now at a little over ten thousand. + +This is substantially the story of Astoria's settlement and growth, +both in wealth and population. It remains now to trace the influence +of its main industry, salmon packing, in determining its social +conditions. In Astoria foreigners and native born of foreign parentage +form the great majority of inhabitants. Representatives from almost +every part of the world live in Astoria, the principal nationalities, +however, being Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, and Finns. The Finns form a +greater part of our population than any other nationality. + +During the first thirty years after the real growth of the city began +the population was almost exclusively American, but with the advent of +the fishing industry came the hardy fishermen and sailors of +northwestern Europe who found here an opportunity to carry on their +customary avocations with the assurance of profitable returns for +their labors. During the first few years of the salmon business a +great number of fishermen came from other states, so that Astoria had +a floating population of nearly two thousand during the summer months. +They were a free and easy set who made money and spent it without +reserve, the saloons getting a large share of their earnings. As a +result saloons flourished, carrying with them their many kindred +evils, and Astoria became a rough place. The foreigners who in more +recent years have engaged in fishing are, as a class, sober and +industrious, and home builders. Gradually these adopted citizens have +displaced the transient fishermen, until now the term fisherman is no +longer synonymous with rowdy, but rather indicate a hardy, industrious +citizen of foreign birth. In Upper Astoria and Alderbrook the people +are mostly Scandinavians, or descendants of this race. In Union or +Finn town, as the name implies, the people are almost exclusively +Finns. They are progressive and almost to a man own their own homes, +not shacks or hovels, but well built, roomy houses. These people, as +well as the Scandinavians, come from a country where the public school +system is well established, and are zealous in the cause of the public +schools of this city. A year ago the people of Union town attended the +annual school meeting almost in a body, and succeeded in carrying +through a measure and voting a tax for the construction of a school +building in the west end of the city, at the same time offering to +donate a considerable part of the necessary labor. The present Taylor +school building is the result of these efforts. + +In the last city election, out of a total of eleven hundred names +registered, nearly six hundred were of foreign birth. Of this number +one hundred and seventy were natives of Finland, eighty-seven of +Sweden, seventy-two of Norway, sixty-four of Germany, and forty of +Denmark. The Finns are very clannish, which accounts for their almost +exclusive Finnish settlement in West Astoria. It is their custom to +send for their relatives in their own country as soon as they have +earned the necessary money. In this way the foreign born population is +steadily increasing. They do not appear to be a speculative class, but +seem content to work hard, secure a home and save something from their +yearly earnings though a few cooperative companies have been formed +for the purpose of packing salmon. + +The struggle for material advancement in the way of developing +resources, securing a railroad, and other enterprises has not been +greatly aided by the foreign population. Since the coming of these +foreign-born citizens the fishing element is no longer regarded as a +rough class of people, but rather as the sober, working class of the +city. During the winter months most of the fishermen are employed +carpentering, street building, as workers in the mills and factories +or engaged in knitting nets and preparing gear for the next season. + +Astoria at the present day is a cosmopolitan city of about ten +thousand inhabitants, composed largely of foreigners. As in earlier +times fishing is the main industry, though the rapidly growing lumber +industry bids fair soon to surpass it in importance. At the present +time there are only seven canneries in operation in Astoria, but the +cold storage business has assumed large proportions during the past +two years. Astoria now possesses an excellent water system, a thorough +school system, consisting of six grammar schools and a high school, +all together accommodating about fifteen hundred children and +employing thirty-one teachers. Trade with the surrounding country has +increased very rapidly during the last few years, but Astoria has been +but little benefited by the increased export trade from the Columbia +as most of the cargoes are shipped direct from Portland. During the +ninety-two years of its existence Astoria has grown from a small +fur-trading station to the second city in size in the State. While its +growth has been apparently slow, it has kept pace with the development +of Oregon and the Northwest as a whole. + + ALFRED A. CLEVELAND. + + + + +A PIONEER CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY IN OREGON. + + NOTE.--The material from which this paper has been prepared + was derived from the following sources: manuscript account + of "Woolen Mill," the "Journey to Washington," and the + "Cargo of Wheat to Liverpool," written by Mr. Watt and + loaned to the author by Mr. S. A. Clark, of Washington, D. + C., in whose possession it has been. A series of articles in + the _Oregonian_ in 1881, by Mr. S. A. Clark, describing the + journeys across the country and other incidents, obtained + from manuscript and from conversations with Mr. Watt, with + whom Mr. Clark was on most intimate terms; a paper + containing recollections of his brother's life and incidents + by Ahio Watt, of Portland; conversations with the widow and + daughter of Mr. Watt, who are now living at Forest Grove, + Oregon. + + +A unique place in the industrial history of Oregon must be given to +Joseph Watt, the first to undertake the manufacture of woolen goods on +the Pacific coast and the first to send a cargo of wheat to the market +at Liverpool, both of which acts mark the beginning of important +industrial and commercial policies in the history of Oregon. + +Joseph Watt, or "Joe," as he is more commonly called by those who +mention him in connection with the history of Oregon, was born at +Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, on the 17th of December, 1817. His +earliest ancestor in America was a silk weaver of Scotch-Irish descent +who came to this country about 1760, settling in the vicinity of +Philadelphia. His grandfather, Joseph Watt, crossed the Alleghany +Mountains in 1802 and took up a donation claim in western +Pennsylvania. His father, John Watt, who had taken part in the war of +1812 and served with Perry in his first cruise on the Great Lakes, +migrated to Knox County, Ohio, in 1815. Here he married and reared a +family of ten children, of whom Joseph was one. + +As a boy Watt seems to have been always a dreamer, building castles in +the air and planning great schemes of business and adventure. Because +of these dreams of verdant fields and herds of cattle, he desired to +join the movement for the settlement of Texas, then being effected +under the leadership of Sam Houston, and was prevented only by the ill +health of his father and the large family which needed his aid. As a +sort of compromise his father agreed to migrate to Missouri in 1838. +This move resulted only in hardship and privation, and soon young Watt +was turning his thoughts again toward the prairies of Texas. In the +winter of 1840 and 1841 he started south, stopping in the country of +the Creeks and Cherokees to earn money at his trade of carpentering. +It was at this time that the Oregon country was coming prominently +before the people in Missouri. Watt became interested and returned to +his home with the intention of migrating to Oregon. On his way through +the southwestern part of the State in the spring of 1843 he came in +contact with many who were planning to start that year. Senator Lewis +F. Linn, of Missouri, had introduced a bill into the Senate in 1838 +providing for the settlement of Oregon and offering six hundred and +forty acres of land to each settler. Watt read all that he could find +upon the subject, listened to everything which he could hear and +talked much with his associates. By the spring of 1843 he was ready to +start, but his father had become equally anxious to better his +condition and proposed that the whole family prepare to go the +following year. By the spring of 1844 it was clear that the expense of +so long and difficult a journey could not be met, and Watt, unwilling +to defer his hopes longer, started with two companions, expecting to +earn his way across the plains by driving the teams or cattle of +well-to-do emigrants. The assets all told with which he started on +this long journey were $2.50 in cash and a stock in trade of a pair of +new boots, some pins and fishhooks, to be used in trade with the +Indians. + +Watt had succeeded in securing employment as driver for a well-to-do +emigrant, but fell out with his employer before they had gone far. +With a job here and there, and a trade to his advantage, he managed to +reach Burnt River with a cow and a rifle to his credit. As the journey +neared the end however provisions grew scarcer, and those who +possessed them were less able or willing to share with others. Finding +that he was not welcome at the camps of the emigrants, and obedient to +vigorous hints, he started ahead with a single companion and began the +dangerous and difficult journey over the Blue Mountains. The snow lay +from twelve to eighteen inches deep, and the trail could only be +followed by scratches made on the trees by wagons that had passed over +before. Watt's moccasins had given out and were mended with leather +cut from his buckskin pants. For provisions they had but a loaf of +bread between them. The rifle was useless because there was no game in +the mountains. His cow had been left in the charge of a friend in a +party behind. All difficulties were surmounted however and the valley +of the Umatilla was reached. Here they were in the region of game. A +number of prairie chickens were shot, powder was traded to the Indians +for a few potatoes, a kettle was borrowed and the weary travelers gave +themselves over to a feast, which, at intervals, was prolonged through +the night. Their spirits rose when hunger was appeased, and they knew +that soon they would be at the mission station at Waiilatpu. Ragged +and disreputable in appearance they were not cordially received, and +the independent nature of Watt ever cherished a dislike for missions +and missionaries. Remaining at the station until the party having +charge of his cow arrived he effected a trade by which he secured a +supply of provisions for the last part of the journey to the Dalles, +where he expected to take a boat down the river. Various experiences +were yet to be met. Fate decided that he should partake of but a +single meal from the supply of provisions which he had earned so +dearly. He escaped death by the arrival of unexpected help when he was +grappling with an Indian in which encounter the expectoration of +tobacco juice figured as a peculiar weapon of defense. Finally, +however, he reached the Dalles where boats belonging to the Hudson Bay +Company were at anchor. Those who had money to pay their passage were +packing their goods on board and going themselves, but the chances for +a passage for a penniless and ragged traveler were small. It was +Watt's purpose to work for his passage and he made application to the +boatman. "You are like one of those worn out oxen," was the reply, +"you haven't strength enough to hold yourself up, let alone work;" and +the boatman went on with his loading. Sitting on a rock by the river +Watt was a despondent figure. But the boatman, turning back with the +exclamation that "it was too bad to leave the poor devil to starve" +for he might have some "come out to him after all like a lousy +yearling in the spring," asked if Watt could sing. On learning that he +could he bade him find a place on the bow of the boat and earn his +meals as best he could. Under the title of the "figurehead," +therefore, he kept his allotted place on the bow, and by his skill in +singing and telling yarns earned his meals as well as his passage down +the river. One song, entitled "the bobtailed mare, or the man who went +to heaven horseback," made a decided hit, and Watt fared sumptuously +for the remainder of the journey down the Columbia. + +Ever at the van across the continent Watt was the first of his party +to reach his destination at Oregon City, in November of 1844. A +curious spectacle he must have made as he appeared upon the streets +with his walnut roundabout, buckskin pants reaching to the knees and +patched with antelope skin, with a red blanket for an overcoat and +woolen hat, so worn in the crown that it hung about the neck rather +than rested on the head. Such was the young castle builder who had +made his way across the plains with a capital of $2.50 in cash and a +stock in trade of pins, fishhooks, and a pair of new boots. Such was +the picturesque appearance made by one who was destined to play no +unimportant part in the industrial development of Oregon. + +For a time he slept in the shavings of a carpenter shop. He tried to +trade his last possession, his beloved rifle for decent clothes but +failed. One day in his wanderings along the street he chanced to meet +the chief factor of the Hudson Bay Company, the hero of his life. +After a few inquiries Doctor McLoughlin gave orders to a clerk to +furnish Watt with clothing. "Tut, tut, tut," said the old man, "what +people these Americans are, wandering vagabonds across a continent. +What are they coming here for? Give him some clothes." After a bath +behind the shade of a neighboring bank of the river Watt emerged clad +in his suit of British corduroy and with all his preconceived and +inherited antipathy toward the British and the Catholics removed. With +the first money earned from the task of bricklaying, an employment +given him by Doctor McLoughlin, he sought to pay for his clothes, and +purchasing a bath tub, a cake of soap and some tobacco, which was his +one luxury, he had begun his career as one of the pioneer captains of +industry in Oregon. + +It was not long before an opportunity for advancement presented +itself. The Catholic Church on the French Prairie was then in process +of construction and its builders were in need of a workman competent +to complete the cornice. As Watt was something of an adept at the +carpenter trade he was offered the work of constructing seven hundred +feet of cornice at $3 a foot, when he was on the point of offering to +do it for fifty cents. The return from this employment was sufficient +to give him a financial start. Not only industrious but shrewd in the +matter of trade, Watt made the most of the opportunity. About this +time the brig Henry came up the river at a time of high water, with a +cargo of goods, among which was a stock of Seth Thomas clocks, an +article for which the demand was great in this remote region. With the +savings from his carpenter work Watt purchased the lot, and found +little trouble in disposing of them in exchange for wheat. The harvest +for the year had been abundant, while the demand was small, and the +clocks, which had cost but $4 apiece, were sold for sixty to eighty +bushels of wheat. Shrewdness in anticipating the oversupply of the one +year would be followed by the scarcity of the next was more than +rewarded. Wet weather and other climatic conditions caused a small +supply while a large emigration increased the demand and the bushels +of wheat were in turn exchanged for the pieces of gold. Thus in the +space of two years the capital of $2.50 had increased to over $1,000, +and the way was open for larger plans. + +Watt had never in the meantime ceased his dreaming. It was not now, +however, the broad plains of Texas and the herds of cattle, but, +rather, the luxuriant meadows and hills of the Willamette Valley, +which his imagination covered with flocks of sheep. Pleased with the +opportunities of a country which had profited him so much, and +desiring his parents and family to come, he started back to Missouri +in the spring of 1847. The return was also to be made the means of +realizing his dreams. It was his intention to bring back a flock of +sheep. Already he seemed to see the demand that would grow up in a +damp country like Oregon for woolen garments, and perhaps, likewise, +the need of suitable clothing for his eight sisters. There were but +few sheep in the country at that time. Some were in the possession of +the Hudson Bay Company; others had been driven over in the emigration +of 1844, and possibly there were a few besides. The return journey was +made by the southern route. Evidences were visible of the terrible +sufferings of the party who, in 1847, had been induced to come that +way. Along the Rogue River the Indians were hostile, and Watt was +enabled at various times to kindle his fire for breakfast with the +arrows which lay thick about the camp. On the broad plains he was +frightened by a band of hostile Pawnees, but, escaping all danger, at +length reached in safety his home in Missouri. + +Before his return to Oregon Watt made a journey to the East, mainly on +business. Boston, however, with its bleak weather, had few charms for +him. "With all their steamboats, railroads, fine stores, fine cities, +fine women and all, give me Oregon," is the reflection which appears +in the reminiscences of his visit. While in the East and in the +neighborhood of Washington he decided to visit the national capital +and carry back to his fellow pioneers in the Far West whatever he +could learn of the disposition of the administration toward his +country. As this "self-appointed delegate" was walking about the +streets of the capital city he was indulging in the reflection, +typical of the western spirit, that "a great deal of money was being +spent foolishly in that city." He took occasion to look up old friends +upon whom the city life failed to exert a helpful influence. His +purpose there, however, was not curiosity, but information that might +be of value, and to gain this he sought admission to the Chief +Executive. President Polk was at the time too busily engaged to give +him audience, and the disappointment was great, for his reminiscences +record the exclamation: "What right had he to be busy when I was +there, all the way from Oregon?" Unable to see the Secretary of War, +Mr. Davis, for similar reasons, he finally was advised by his friends +to visit the little brick house, on a back street, which was occupied +by Senator Benton of Missouri. There he felt he would surely receive a +cordial welcome. "I must go and see Benton," he says: "Haven't I +shouted for him in Missouri, and hasn't he made speeches in favor of +Oregon? Yes, he can tell me what the government is going to do for +Oregon." Admitted into the house by the colored servant, he stood in +the presence of the Senator whom he thought well named "Burly Benton." + +The interview was far from pleasant, if we may judge from Watt's +account. Upon learning the residence of his visitor, the Senator +immediately began a eulogy upon the services to Oregon of his +son-in-law, Colonel Fremont, which aroused the ire of the westerner. +"Ah, yes," said Benton, "we know all about Oregon. My son-in-law, +Colonel Fremont, has traveled all over that country. The country is, +or ought to be, under everlasting obligation to him for the +information he has given at the greatest sacrifice a man ever made." +To this his visitor warmly replied: "As to any information given you +by Mr. Fremont regarding what the people are doing and their +prospects, it is certainly guessed at, for I know he was never there. +His map of the road is good, but when it comes to making roads, he +never did. He followed the road to Oregon made by emigrants, men, +women and children to the Dalles, took bateaux to Fort Vancouver, got +supplies, returned to The Dalles and struck out for California on the +east side of the mountains." + +Watt says in his reminiscences that he shall never forget the look +that Benton had on his face as he started across the room, rubbing his +hands and storming, "Perhaps I don't know the movements of my own +son-in-law." While the picture is completed by the clerk, to all +intents writing at a desk near by, but whose sides were "prying out +and in like a pair of bellows." + +A tribute paid by Watt to the services actually rendered by Colonel +Fremont mollified the old senator and the remainder of the interview +was pleasant. The conversation turned to the object of the visit which +Watt had expressed to Benton in the following words: "I was in the +neighborhood of the city and was anxious to learn something about the +intent of the government concerning Oregon so that I could have +something to tell the settlers on my return, for we only get the news +once a year." Watt told him of his plan of transferring his family +across the plains and of driving sheep and introducing the manufacture +of wool. To Benton it seemed "quite an undertaking," but Watt, with +the true pioneer spirit, replied, "Yes, but the people out there do +not mind hardships and dangers. Somebody has to do it if the country +is ever settled." To the praises paid by Watt to Oregon and the need +of an extension of government, Benton replied, "There are a great many +things to contend with, I am afraid, before that can be done. England +has to be treated with, for they have some claims out there; and we +have many designing men here who will give us trouble. I am sure I do +not know how it will be done, but I think something will be done that +will satisfy you people. I have been frustrated in some attempts to +relieve the country but am still in hopes we can do something." The +conversation then drifted to mutual acquaintances in Missouri, and +Watt left with some maps and reports of Fremont, presented by the +Senator, under his arm. + +The journey by boat down the Mississippi River was the occasion of +another experience. A collision occurred just before daylight and +many of the passengers, unable to get to land, were drowned. Watt +narrowly escaped by reaching the hurricane deck and wading out of the +cabin waist deep in the water. "I thought that worse than all the +Indians in the world," is the remark with which he sums up this +experience. + +Upon reaching home the preparation was made for crossing the +continent. A band of sheep had been gotten together during Watt's +absence, much to the amusement of the neighbors, who could not believe +the enterprise would succeed. The progress, indeed, was slow. When +rain fell the mud was deep and in dry weather the dust was equally +trying. "I have driven day after day, pushing the sheep along by my +knees, and could not see them for the dust," says Watt. + +The emigrants of 1848 had a comparatively easy time, and a comfortable +journey. They were more numerous, were better provided with +necessities and better organized than those of former years. How great +the contrast between crossing the plains in 1848 and that which had +been the occasion of so many difficulties four years before. The ample +outfit consisted of two large freight wagons with five yoke of cattle +to each. There was loose cattle and sheep and drivers and herders to +help with the work. Watt's familiarity with the route, his knowledge +of the best camping places and sources of water supply caused many to +look naturally to him as a leader, although the dust that rose from +the path of the flock of sheep was too much for a close following. +Watt was a lover of a practical joke, and his knowledge of the country +often gave him an opportunity to indulge this taste. By his advice a +company of the emigrants had been induced to camp by the Dry Sandy +with the promise that water would be abundant. When they reached the +place there was none to be seen. The bed of the stream was as dry and +dusty as a desert. To the surprised and indignant inquiries of the +fellow travelers for water Watt only said, "I have struck the rock and +water will soon be here." Doubt and despondency, however, were clearly +seen on the faces of the emigrants, and many thought that they had +trusted too far. Those who were fortunate enough to have kegs of water +in possession for such an emergency now brought them out and began the +preparation of supper. Those less fortunate gathered in groups where +grumbling could be heard in undertones; but Watt was calm and +unconcerned through all. Without warning, when darkness came on, a +thread of ice cold water that the midday sun had released in the +snow-capped mountains, came trickling down. It grew larger and larger +and shouts on every side arose "Here's water! Water for all! Moses +still lives." The thirsty cattle rushed in without questioning the +source of supply, but the emigrants touched it reverently, half +doubting the reality of their senses. + +The usual vicissitudes of the long but somewhat monotonous journey +across the plains were enlivened one night by the sudden arrival in +camp of a messenger, on horseback, from the West. He had been riding +hard and seemed anxious to proceed as fast as possible. It was Joseph +Meek, messenger of the Oregon colonists, on his way to Washington to +announce to the government the Whitman massacre and the Cayuse war. +"The Cayuse Indians have broken out," he said, "and are murdering far +and near, sparing neither man, woman, nor children. Men are all up +from the valley fighting them hand to hand. Our boys charge and the +Indians charge back, death and destruction at ever charge." The effect +of the vivid account, that none could give better than Meek, was +great. Women and children were frightened and crying. Even the men +questioned the wisdom of proceeding. Watt, however, being well +acquainted with Meek knew his proclivities for exaggeration when +striving for effect. Gradually the facts were brought out and the +situation, though still serious, was not sufficient to turn back the +emigration. For the rest of the journey Watt was the most cautious of +the party. No Indians appeared and the fear of the emigrants wore off; +but, like the water from the mountains, the Indians might come +unannounced into camp at any time, as the experienced traveler across +the prairies well knew. Even the seriousness of this occasion +furnished Watt material for his practical jokes. When the party had +exceeded the usual limit of carelessness in sitting late and burning +the camp fires in the enjoyment of social intercourse, Watt arranged +with the guards of that night a plot. The alarm for Indians was to be +sounded at early dawn. The plan worked to a charm. The emigrants, who +had retired to rest with a feeling of security, now crept out in +confusion or hid themselves away in ridiculous positions. The bully of +the crowd who had boasted that he "would like to eat an Injin for +breakfast every morning," was now pushed from the wagon by his +delicate wife, with a rifle in one hand and his pantaloons in the +other. The heroine of the hour was a young girl, Mary Greenwood, the +daughter of one of the reliable men of the party. She was seen amidst +all the confusion kindling a fire and beginning to mold bullets for +the men to use. + +The journey was made without mishap to the sheep until Snake River was +reached. Here the current was strong and they were carried down the +stream. The dreamer of Oregon's new industry stood on the bank, +helpless, and awaited the issue. The enterprise might easily have +terminated at that point; but fate decided otherwise. One fellow in +the flock, with all the qualities of a leader, struck out for shore +with a strong stroke and soon the larger part of the flock reached +the land and the wool industry for Oregon was safe. + +Without other incidents of importance the journey was finally ended +and the family were all together in their new home in Oregon. The wool +weaver had proved a worthy successor to the Scotch Irish silk weaver +of colonial days. He had shown the stuff from which new countries are +settled and new industries started. The sheep, after their long and +dusty drive, were placed upon the rich pastures of the farm in Yamhill +County, and to all appearances were well pleased with the new +environment. The cards and reeds and castings for loom and spinning +wheel were put in place and cloth was made, sufficient to meet the +needs of the family and in particular of those eight sisters whose +needs had played so important a part in the beginning of the wool +industry for Oregon. + +The wise dreamer, however, had been unable to see fully the future. He +had not known that while his plan was under way the discovery of gold +in California had attracted the notice of the world; that the +population flocking there would cut off the demand for his woolen +cloth, while abundance of goods would come in from the East by water +to increase the supply. The enterprise was well conceived, but as a +financial move it was doomed to temporary failure. The sheep, however, +were here and could wait for more favorable conditions. "About six or +seven years after the gold mining excitement wore off," says Watt, +"and people began to sober down to the home business, a few began to +think about the prosperity of the country. We were buying too much and +had nothing to sell. Stock had run down; there was little inducement +to go into wheat largely. We must do something to prevent so much of +an outlay for merchandise from other countries. Wool was almost +worthless and there was plenty to keep a small mill going if we could +only get the mill." Being interested in sheep himself Watt was anxious +to make that industry profitable. He believed that the time had come +when woolen goods on a considerable scale could be manufactured at a +profit; that the cheapness of raw material would overbalance the high +price of labor. + +Watt had no personal knowledge of woolen mills but there were in +Oregon, at the time, two millwrights who understood the subject and +were anxious to be employed in such an enterprise. As the subject was +canvassed the interest grew. In 1855, therefore, articles of +incorporation were drawn up for the erection of a woolen mill to be +located somewhere in the Willamette Valley. Subscriptions to stock +were sought and offers of bonuses solicited. The articles provided +that the capital stock should be $25,000, and that when $9,000 was +paid in a meeting should be held to decide upon the location of the +mill. A committee of five was appointed to take charge of the matter. +The meeting to decide upon location was held at Dallas when the +requisite amount of stock was paid in. It was a meeting of +considerable importance, as much rivalry had arisen regarding the +location. One party wished it to be placed on the Luckiamute, west of +the Polk County hills, and the other desired it to be located at Salem +on the east side of the hills. Lively work had been done; the party +favorable to the Salem location had secured a bonus worth about $7,000 +and had control of the voting stock. Considerable scheming, +preliminary to the vote occurred, and when it was taken "you could +hear a pin drop," says Watt. The result was favorable to the Salem +site, and plans were begun for the construction. Within a few weeks +all the stock was paid in and the company had possession of a piece of +land for the mill. A board of five directors was elected and orders +were given to begin the work. The water power was to be brought from +the Santiam River by means of a ditch. The task was not great as the +bed of Mill Creek could be used and the water power was soon secured. +An agent was sent East to purchase the machinery and by the time it +arrived the building was ready for its occupation. + +Before the machinery was placed the introduction of this new industry +was the occasion of a splendid ball in the spacious building. It was +one of the most brilliant social affairs ever held in Oregon up to +this time. Among the list of those present from all over the territory +were dignitaries of state, including the Governor; dignitaries from +the army, including Lieut. Phil Sheridan, and as Watt himself says, +"even dignitaries from the church were present." Watt was an +inveterate lover of song and dance, and would go many miles at any +time to engage in such festivities. He was therefore in the height of +his glory, which was not even destroyed by the fact that his chosen +lady, Miss Lyons, beautifully adorned in a gown of blue velvet, with +golden stars, was led to the dance by the Governor. Indeed, he had no +reason to be uneasy, for the understanding between them was good, and +a few years later, 1860, he was married to her, dressed for the +occasion in a suit of wool made in the mill which he had done so much +to establish. + +By the first of May the machinery was in place, and everything was in +running order. Cloth bearing the name of "Hardtimes" was produced, and +the first blankets ever made west of the Rocky Mountains were sold at +auction. The first pair went to Mr. Watt for $110, and the others +brought $75 to $25. At first all the product that could be turned out +found a ready market; competition, however, soon set in and the +managers of the mill were undecided what course to pursue. Unwilling +to discontinue the enterprise Watt was consulted, and agreed to take +the entire product of the mill for a period of three years at a fixed +price. By an aggressive process of advertising, in which he personally +carried the goods into all the important places along the line of the +old Holladay stage route, both in Oregon and California, a market was +created for the goods. In three months after the agreement had been +made the managers of the mill were willing to give a large +consideration in return for a relinquishment of his contract. The +goods found such ready market that the building and machinery were +doubled. Prices continued to rise; debts were paid off; the value of +the stock rose; a gristmill was built by the company; the race through +the town constructed, and salaries of officials were raised "as high +as their consciences would allow them to take." A woolen fever began +to spread through the country. Mills were built at Oregon City, +Brownsville, and Ellendale. This was the period of greatest +prosperity. Conditions changed, but Watt was not then connected with +the business. Divisions had arisen among the stockholders of the +company, and Watt had disposed of his stock in 1866, when it sold for +a value of $800 per share. He continued to be interested in sheep to +the close of his life, and large flocks of the finest breeds were kept +on his farm under the care of a Scotch herder employed for the special +purpose. He was ever interested in furthering the sheep industry in +other parts of Oregon, and it was partly through his influence that +sheep were first placed upon the ranges of eastern Oregon. + +But the dreams of the dreamer broadened as time passed. In 1866, when +divisions led to his withdrawal from the woolen mill, the crop of +wheat in the valley was unusually large. The wheat industry had been +increasing for years. Oregon was rapidly passing from the fur trading +and pastoral stages of industrial life to that of agriculture. With +an ever-increasing supply the market was restricted, and here was a +problem to attract the mind of Watt. Shipments of wheat were made to +California, but the markets beyond had tempted only the most daring. +One line of steamers had been established between Portland and New +York and four or five vessels had been drawn into the trade. The Sally +Brown was the first to make the trial and Watt was the man who +gathered up the cargo which she carried from the wheat fields of the +Willamette. Ever in the van through life Watt conceived the idea that +a cargo of wheat could be sent to Liverpool, the market of the world. +With him to think was to act, and in 1868 he went through the valley +gathering wheat for the first cargo to the greatest wheat market in +existence. It was an adventure in magnitude exceeding anything that he +had tried before. Failure would mean a heavy loss, and success would +usher in a new day for the industrial life of Oregon. The cargo was +gathered and the vessel set forth on the long voyage. The destination +was reached and the grain inspected. It was unlike any that had ever +been seen before on the docks of the great market. The inspectors had +never seen kernels of wheat so large. The decision was pronounced that +it could not be right, and the whole cargo was condemned as water +soaked and unfit for the market. The loss fell heavily upon the +consignor of the cargo, but a beginning had been made that was +destined to grow until Oregon's industrial isolation should be ended. + +In closing this paper it requires but a few words to sum up the chief +characteristics of Joseph Watt. He is best seen in the narration of +his life. Ever engaged in enterprises that were ahead of his time, he +belonged to the vanguard of industrial development in Oregon. Ever a +dreamer, he met with heavy reverses but yet retained a competence +sufficient for a comfortable old age. Independent and genuine in his +character, there was no cant in his make-up. One of the company of +kindred spirits that includes the names of Nesmith, Matthieu, Clark, +Boise, Minto, Crawford, and others, his company was always +appreciated, for he was genial and sociable in disposition. By the +Indians he was loved, and they gathered about him at his home in +Yamhill as they would about no other. Deeply interested in all that +pertained to Oregon, he was truly one of her benefactors. Always loyal +to the early state builders, he conducted a party of them in an +excursion to the East when the railroad connection was completed. +Always deeply interested in the Pioneer Association, Watt was its +president for a time and rarely was absent from its meetings. By gift +from his widow the author of this paper has deposited in the vaults of +the Oregon Historical Society the little book in which he kept the +names of the members in their own handwriting. It is worn and soiled +through frequent use, but it will ever be a valuable reminder of the +earliest of our state builders, as well as a reminder of him whom the +author has chosen to designate as a "pioneer captain of industry in +Oregon." + + JAMES R. ROBERTSON. + + + + +DOCUMENTS. + + +TWO WHITMAN SOURCES. + +Correspondence to the _New York Spectator_ which describes Doctor +Whitman as a passenger on board the steamer Narraganset on Long Island +Sound. Doctor Whitman is on his way from New York to Boston. + + Editorial from the _New York Daily Tribune_ of March 29, + 1843. + + ARRIVAL FROM OREGON. + + We were most agreeably surprised yesterday by a call from + Doctor Whitman from Oregon, a member of the American + Presbyterian Mission in that territory. A slight glance at + him when he entered our office would convince any one that + he had seen all the hardships of a life in the wilderness. + He was dressed in an old fur cap, that appeared to have seen + some ten years' service, faded, and nearly destitute of fur; + a vest whose natural color had long since faded, and a + shirt--we could not see that he had any--an overcoat, every + thread of which could be easily seen, buckskin pants, + etc.--the roughest man we have seen this many a day--too + poor, in fact, to get any better wardrobe. The doctor is one + of those daring and good men who went to Oregon some ten + years ago to teach the Indians religion, agriculture, + letters, etc. A noble pioneer we judge him to be, a man + fitted to be chief in rearing a moral empire among the wild + men of the wilderness. We did not learn what success the + worthy man had in leading the Indians to embrace the + Christian faith, but he very modestly remarked that many of + them had begun to cultivate the earth and raise cattle. + + He brings information that the settlers on the Willamette + are doing well; that the Americans are building a town at + the Falls of the Willamette; that a Mr. Moore of Mr. + Farnham's party, some sixty years of age, was occupying one + side of the Falls, in the hope that [the] government would + make him wealthy by the passage of a preëmption law; that + the old man Blair, another member of the same party, was + living comfortably a short distance above, as all who have + read Mr. Farnham's travels will know that he deserves to do. + Doctor Whitman left Oregon six months ago; ascended the + banks of the Snake or Laptin River to Fort Hall, and was + piloted thence to Santa Fé by the way of the Soda Springs, + Brown's Hole, the Wina, and the waters of the del Norte. + From Santa Fé he came through the Indians that have been + removed from the States to Missouri. The doctor's track + among the mountains lay along the western side of the + Anahuac Range; and he remarks that there is considerable + good land in that region. + + We give the hardy and self-denying man a hearty welcome to + his native land. We are sorry to say that his first + reception, on arriving in our city, was but slightly + calculated to give him a favorable impression of the morals + of his kinsmen. He fell into the hands of one of our vampire + cabmen, who, in connection with the keeper of a tavern house + in West Street, three or four doors from the corner near the + Battery, fleeced him out of two of the last few dollars + which the poor man had. + + [This editorial was quoted in full by the Boston + _Advertiser_ of March 31st.] + + * * * * * + + From the _New York Spectator_, Wednesday evening, April 5, + 1843. + + CRUISING IN THE SOUND. + + GENTLEMEN: Respecting the goodly Bay State I can say but + little, because since I saw you, I have been only an + occupant of steamboat and railroad cars. I had long supposed + that a three-day trip to Boston was only hereafter to be a + notion and reminiscence of olden time, but alas! I have had + the stern reality of things as they "used to was." I left + New York on Monday, in the Narraganset, at the usual time. + We had a rough trip into the Sound, and at 12 o'clock + Captain Woolsey, with sound discretion, carried us into the + New Haven Bay, where we anchored till Wednesday morning, + when we proceeded to Stonington, and on going over [to?] the + railroad and finding it in the vocative case, owing to the + outbreak of the waters, we retraced our movements and again + took boat, and made a passage around Point Judith. + + It is due to Captain Woolsey and his very gentlemanly aid, + Mr. Richmond, to say that everything was done to make a + large body of disappointed passengers feel happy; good and + plentiful meals were gratuitously provided, and it can + hardly be possible that any wayfarer on this occasion left + the Narraganset without a deep conviction that, under the + severe and awkward circumstances of the passage, all had + been done that was possible to obviate the inconveniences + and disagreeables of the passage through the Sound. I would + add that the boat worked well. We had a very pleasant set of + passengers. Among others I may mention the Hon. Robert + Rantoul of Boston. This gentleman is by far the ablest man + of the Democratic party in Massachusetts, and unless I could + see him embarked for Salt River, (which I think must be his + final destination,) I would rather have him embark on the + same boat in which I sail, than any other. He is a very + interesting, affable man, of great research, and will, I + doubt not, yet render good service to the country. + + + THE REV. DR. WHITMAN FROM OREGON. + + We also had one who was the observed of all, Doctor Whitman, + the missionary from Oregon. He is in the service of the + American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. Rarely + have I seen such a spectacle as he presented. His dress + should be preserved as a curiosity; it was quite in the + style of the old pictures of Philip Quarles and Robinson + Crusoe. When he came on board and threw down his traps, one + said "what a loafer!" I made up my mind at a glance that he + was either a gentleman traveler, or a missionary; that he + was every inch a man and no common one was clear. The Doctor + has been eight years at the territory, has left his wife + there, and started from home on the 1st of October. He has + not been in bed since, having made his lodging on buffalo + robe and blanket, even on board the boat. He is about + thirty-six or seven years of age, I should judge, and has + stamped on his brow a great deal of what David Crockett + would call "God Almighty's common sense." Of course when he + reached Boston he would cast his shell and again stand out a + specimen of the "humans." + + I greatly question whether such a figure ever passed through + the Sound since the days of steam navigation. He is richly + fraught with information relative to that most interesting + piece of country, and I hope will shortly lay it before the + good people of Boston and New York. Could he appear in New + York Tabernacle--in his traveling costume--and lecture on + the Northwest coast, I think there would be very few + standing places. Much of his route was on foot and + occasionally on horse or mule back, with a half-breed guide. + To avoid the hostile Indians he had to go off to the Spanish + country, and thence to Santa Fé. A rascally hackman took him + in at New York, and carried him from place to place at his + whim and finally put him down near the Battery, close to his + starting point, charging him two dollars, and it being + midnight he succeeded in the vile extortion. + + CIVIS. + + In connection with our friend's communication we subjoin an + interesting account of Doctor Whitman's mission, as given by + Mr. Farnham in his travels in 1839 over the Rocky Mountains. + [Fills over one and a half columns.] + + * * * * * + + DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE OREGON EMIGRATION MOVEMENT, + 1842-43. + + OREGON--PITTSBURGH MEETING AND DOCTOR WHITE'S REPORT. + + The following paragraphs we find in several of the eastern + papers this morning: + + "_The Settlement of Oregon._--The meeting at Pittsburgh last + week, reported that it was not expedient for American + citizens to emigrate to Oregon until the United States + Government had taken measures to secure and protect the + emigrants in their rights. + + We see, by a letter in the New York papers, that Elijah + White, who went as United States agent to Oregon, and took + with him a large party of emigrants, writes, under date of + August 17th, that his party had increased to one hundred and + twelve, although they had lost two, one by sickness and the + other by accident. They started with nineteen wagons, and + their journey had been slow and tedious; but they had passed + two thirds of the way, and were in excellent health and good + spirits. A favorable opportunity for emigration will occur + in April, through the aid of Mr. Fitzpatrick, at + Independence. Mr. White advises those who intend to go to + prepare light strong wagons, and to take no loading except + cooking utensils, and provisions for four months. Mules are + preferable to horses. He says no doubt exists as to ultimate + success of the colony." + + * * * * * + + From the _Jeffersonian Republican_, September 17, 1842. + + THE SETTLING OF OREGON. + + We learn with gratification that it is at least rumored that + an expedition is about to be got up in Saint Louis, to + colonize the rich and interesting Territory of Oregon. To + such as have so laudable and advantageous an enterprise in + view, we are prepared and feel warranted in saying, that it + rests not upon "rumor" that many of our fellow-citizens of + upper Missouri intend emigrating to that highly celebrated + region next spring, and will no doubt be glad to be joined + by as many of the enterprising citizens of Saint Louis as + may think it their interests to join them. + + We learn from the "Oregon Correspondence Committee" of this + place, that already they are beginning to receive names of + gentlemen desirous of joining the expeditions, and from + present indications, there seems to be no doubt remaining + that there will be quite a large company formed. Let not + those who now [have it?] in contemplation, draw back, but + steadily persevere, and they may confidently promise + themselves success. The country which they seek is no doubt + one of equal attraction and advantages as any on the globe, + and we rest assured that so soon as the number of + inhabitants will justify, the fostering hand of a + territorial government will be extended to it. Up then every + pioneer, and let your cry be "Onward!"--_Western + Missourian._ + + * * * * * + + From the _Ohio Statesman_, March 7, 1843. + + LETTER FROM AN OREGON EMIGRATION AGENT TO A FRIEND AT + PITTSBURG. + + WASHINGTON CITY, February 21, 1843. + + DEAR SIR: Nothing of importance has transpired in Congress + since my last. I am informed by members of the House of + Representatives that the bill for the occupation and + settlement of Oregon Territory will come before the House + this week. It will pass when acted upon. It was referred to + the Committee of Foreign Affairs. John Quincy Adams, + chairman of the committee, reported back the same without + amendment, on the 13th, and, as might have been expected + from him, recommended that the bill do not pass. It is + evident, notwithstanding, that the bill will pass when acted + upon. Captain Stine [Steen], commanding the Dragoons at Fort + Leavenworth, has addressed several letters to Dr. L. F. Linn + and others, wishing the Secretary of War to grant him + permission to accompany us with the Dragoons. I have + postponed an interview with the Secretary of War till I am + ready to leave for the West. I have sent many documents to + you and others. You will please send some of them to your + friends in Ohio, Wheeling, and other places, if you have any + to spare. I have given the names of the several committees + in Pittsburgh, and west of it, to a number of the members, + who promise that they will continue to send all the + documents calculated to throw light on the subject of + Oregon, etc. + + I am happy to learn that the citizens of Pittsburgh take so + warm an interest in the matter. + + I am your most humble and obedient servant, + + J. M. SHIVELY. + + * * * * * + + From the _Ohio Statesman_ of March 3, 1843. + +The War Department made the following responses to the inquiries of +Prof. Joseph Schafer for information as to provision of military +escort in 1843 for body of emigrants going to Oregon: + + + First indorsement. + + WAR DEPARTMENT, + ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, + _Washington_, _September 5, 1902_. + + Respectfully submitted to the Chief of the Record and + Pension Office, War Department. + + No information touching the matter of escort for emigrants + from Fort Leavenworth to Oregon in the year 1843 has been + found in this office. + + J. PARKER, + Major of Cavalry, Assistant Adjutant General. + + + Second indorsement. + + RECORD AND PENSION OFFICE, + WAR DEPARTMENT, + _Washington_, _September 10, 1902_. + + Respectfully submitted to the Quartermaster General of the + Army. + + The records on file in this office show that J. M. Shively, + of St. Louis, Missouri, stated under date of March 25, 1843, + that his party would start for Oregon on April 20, 1843; and + that he desired a company of troops. The records also show + that the communication of Mr. Shively was charged to the + Quartermaster General. + + Nothing additional has been found bearing on this inquiry. + + ---- ----, + Chief, Record and Pension Office. + + [Name signed not decipherable.] + + + Third indorsement. + + WAR DEPARTMENT, + QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE, + _Washington_, _October 6, 1902_. + + Respectfully returned, by direction of the Quartermaster + General, to Mr. Joseph Schafer, No. 311 Park Street, + Madison, Wisconsin. + + No record of any correspondence with Captain E. Steen, 1st + Dragoons, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, during the year 1843, + bearing on the matter of a military escort for emigrants is + found, nor is there any record of the communication of J. M. + Shively referred to in the second indorsement hereon. + + S. F. LONG, (?) + Major and Quartermaster, United States Army. + + * * * * * + + From the _Ohio Statesman_ February 24, 1843. + + OREGON. + + The Xenia _Free Press_ says: A farmer in this county + informed us a few days since that he could raise a company + of fifty families who, if [supported?] by the Government, + would march, on short notice, for Oregon. + + Also on the same page: The _State Register_ (Illinois) says + that the largest meetings it ever witnessed were held in + Springfield on Wednesday and Thursday evenings in the hall + of the House of Representatives, a couple of whigs talking + the British side of the question. + + * * * * * + + From the _Ohio Statesman_, February 17, 1843. + + THE OREGON MEETING. + + [The meeting was evidently held on Saturday, February 11th.] + + The meeting on Saturday evening at the Council Chamber was + much more fully attended than was expected, the proceedings + of which will be found in our paper. After the organization + and the appointment of a committee to report to the + adjourned meeting to be held on Thursday evening next, + William B. Hubbard, Esq., in answer to a call of the + meeting, commenced a most interesting address, prefaced by + offering a resolution complimentary of Doctor Linn of + Missouri, and those senators who stood by him in the + advocacy of the bill for the settlement of this territory. + The cry of fire caused Mr. H. to close his remarks, with a + request by the meeting that he would proceed with them at + the next meeting. We hope Mr. H. will prepare a synopsis of + his remarks for the press. Nothing would be read with + greater interest at this time. + + The Government should speedily establish military posts from + the frontier settlements on the Missouri to the Pacific. + Settlements would speedily take place around each post, and + produce in abundance would soon be raised to supply the post + and the flow of emigration. + + An adjourned meeting of the citizens of Columbus and its + vicinity was held in the United States courtroom on the + evening of Thursday, the 10th instant, in pursuance of a + resolution adopted at the last meeting. + + [Colonel Medary (editor of the _Statesman_), from a + committee appointed to collect facts, reported that the + committee wanted more time. The subject growing more and + more interesting, on motion the committee was allowed till + next Thursday.] + + The resolution offered at last meeting was then taken up, + and on motion of Mr. Hubbard, was amended by adding, at the + end thereof, the words "without the violation of any + international law." + + The resolution, as amended, read as follows: + + _Resolved_, That this meeting duly appreciate the untiring + labors and distinguished abilities of Senator Linn and + others in Congress, in their successful advocacy of the just + claim of the United States to the Oregon Country; and that, + as a component part of the Great West, we hope for a speedy + adjustment of our rights upon the borders of the Pacific + Ocean, and a like speedy occupation and settlement of that + country, without the violation of any international law. + + [Copy ordered sent to Hon. Joseph Ridgway, member of + Congress for the district.] + +The _Ohio Statesman_ of March 10, 1843, contains the report of the +committee appointed as per the above accounts. The report seems to +have been drawn up by Col. Samuel Medary, chairman, and is a strong +and interesting document of considerable length. It discusses in full, +with all the information available at the time, the economic +advantages of the Oregon Country, as well as the question of title. +The report is accompanied by a map. + + * * * * * + + From the _Ohio Statesman_, March 14, 1843. + + OREGON. + + The people are again in motion here in relation to the + emigration to Oregon this spring. Peter H. Burnett, Esq., + one of our most estimable citizens is among the foremost + here in exciting a laudable spirit in relation to the + settlement of that desirable country. On Tuesday evening Mr. + Burnett delivered a very able lecture upon this subject, in + which was embodied a vast fund of information calculated to + impress all who had the pleasure of hearing him with the + advantages attendant on an early settlement of our western + demesne. The American eagle is flapping his wings, the + precurser of the end of the British lion, on the shores of + the Pacific. Destiny has willed it.--_Platte (Missouri) + Eagle._ + + * * * * * + + From the _Chillicothe Intelligencer_, March 17, 1843. + + [At a meeting on March 8th, held in the Courthouse, Amos + Holton presented a series of resolutions, and addressed the + meeting at length] showing the origin and justice of our + claim, and the immense value of that territory to the United + States, in a commercial point of view, and to the West in + particular, when, on motion the preamble and resolutions + were unanimously adopted. + + JOHN A. FULTON, Chairman. + + WM. E. GILMORE, Secretary. + + * * * * * + + From the _Ohio Statesman_, April 26, 1843, quoting the _Iowa + Gazette_ (Burlington). + + OREGON. + + (The article aims to give a plan of preparations for + emigrating, including detailed advice as to outfit, route, + etc. The suggestions are similar to those adopted by the + Bloomington meeting, for which see THE QUARTERLY of the + Oregon Historical Society, Volume III, page 390-391, + December number.) + + [The writer thinks that there is a ferry at or near Council + Bluffs.] I speak of Burlington as a very suitable point to + start from, because we have an abundance of the necessary + supplies, and an excellent and very commodious steam + ferryboat for those who are east of us. + + (Signed) ONE WHO INTENDS TO EMIGRATE. + + N. B.--Newspapers who are friendly to the enterprise are + requested to give the above an insertion. + +The same issue of the _Statesman_ still further quotes from the +_Gazette_ as follows: + + OREGON. + + The Oregon fever is raging in almost every part of the + Union. Companies are forming in the East, and in several + parts of Ohio, which, added to those of Illinois, Iowa, and + Missouri, will make a pretty formidable army. The larger + portion of those will probably join the companies of Fort + Independence, Missouri, and proceed together across the + mountains. It would be reasonable to suppose that there will + be at least five thousand Americans west of the Rocky + Mountains by next autumn. This, if nothing else, will compel + Congress to act upon the matter. We have reason to suppose, + however, that we shall have a congress which will assume the + responsibility even without any inducement other than the + protection of American honor and American rights. + + * * * * * + + From the _National Intelligencer_ (Washington), June 7, + 1843. + + EMIGRANTS FOR OREGON. + + The _Liberty Banner_, published in Clay County, Missouri, + says: We are informed that the expedition to Oregon, now + rendezvoused at Westport in Jackson County, will take up its + line of march on the 20th of [May] this month. The company + consists of some four or five hundred emigrants, some with + their families. They will probably have out one hundred and + fifty wagons, drawn by oxen, together with horses for nearly + every individual, and some milch cows. They will, we + suppose, take as much provision with them as they can + conveniently carry, together with a few of the necessary + implements of husbandry. There are in the expedition a + number of citizens of inestimable value to any community, + men of fine intelligence and intrepid character, admirably + calculated to lay the firm foundations of a future empire. + + * * * * * + + From the _Ohio Statesman_, May 3, 1843. + + We attach the suggestions in the report of General + Worthington, adopted in this city on Saturday evening, in + advance of the publication of the report: + + "The committee, then, do most respectfully recommend that a + convention of the western and southwestern states and + territories be immediately called, to urge upon the General + Government immediate occupation of the Oregon country by a + military force, and to adopt such measures as may seem most + conducive to its immediate and effectual occupation, + _whether the government acts or not in the matter_. + + "That it be declared to the world, that the Californias + never should pass into the hands of England for any purpose + whatever; and that if they go out of the possession of + Mexico, they should at once be attached to the _future_ + North American Republic of the Pacific Ocean. + + "That all rumored negotiations of the surrender of any part + of the Pacific border for an equivalent in the Californias, + should be denounced as fraught with danger to the peace and + honor and liberty of the American continents, and as a + _repudiation_ of Mr. Monroe's triumphantly sustained + declaration of 1823, _that these continents are not to be + considered subjects of colonization by any European power_. + + "That it be declared that Great Britain should be excluded + from the whole of the Northwest coast, between our + boundaries with Mexico and Russia; and, that, to give her + any part, will be a virtual loss of the whole, as it will + cripple, or entirely prevent any important commercial + operations by American citizens on our Pacific coast. + + "That we recommend the Oregon Convention to be held in + Cincinnati, Ohio, on the third, fourth, and fifth days of + July, 1843. + + "That measures be immediately taken for the appointment of + committees at the capitals of all the states and territories + west and southwest of the Alleghanies, to urge such action + upon their several legislatures as will induce Congress to + immediate occupation of Oregon country by the arms, the + laws, and the citizens of the United States. + + "That an address be published to the people of the West, and + the Union generally, setting forth, and urging the adoption + of the principles and opinions above proclaimed." + + [The meeting to appoint the delegates to this Oregon + Convention was called to meet in Columbus on the last + Saturday in June.] + + + EXPERIENCES OF THE EMIGRATION OF 1843. + + From the _New York Tribune_ (weekly), August 5, 1843. + + We find the following letter from the Oregon Emigration in + the _Iowa Gazette_ of the 8th instant (July): + + OREGON EMIGRATING COMPANY. + + KANSAS RIVER, June 3, 1843. + + * * There are over 3,000 and perhaps 5,000 head of cattle, + mules, and horses attached to the company. Captain Applegate + has over 200 head, and others over 100 head. This has been a + bone of contention with some of the emigrants and very + nearly divided the company. Indeed, I am not certain but it + will be the means of a split yet, as there are a number + without cattle who refuse to assist in guarding them. The + dissatisfaction is not quite so violent now, as the cattle + owners have agreed to furnish the company with beef, (in + case of scarcity of buffalo meat,) work cattle and milch + cows, the former at a price to be fixed by the committee, + and the cows and oxen without charge. The company have + agreed to this proposition, and the former law, limiting + each individual to three head of loose cattle, is thereby + repealed. The number of cattle is quite too large. It is + impossible to guard them at night, and the Indians at this + place have already commenced stealing horses and killing + cattle. The company which leaves next spring for Oregon + should keep strict guard on their cattle and horses at the + crossing of this river, as some eight or ten horses and + mules have been stolen in one night from our company. Doctor + Whitman from Walla Walla, who is in our company, advises + that the company divide into three or four parties, for + speed and convenience, as there will be no danger from the + Indians. + + [The name of the writer of the above letter is not given. + The letter, however, indicates that he came to the + emigration from Burlington, Iowa, and evidently lived there, + as his letter was printed first in a Burlington paper. He + was chosen a member of the "cabinet advisers" of the + captain--nine persons. Probably these points will serve to + identify him. Was he M. M. McCarver?] + + +LETTERS DESCRIPTIVE OF OREGON COUNTRY AND ITS EARLIER CONDITIONS. + +A letter by the Rev. Alvan F. Waller to his brother at Elba, New York. +It was first published in the _Christian Advocate and Journal_. + + Taken from the _Ohio Statesman_, March 10, 1843. + + WALLAMETTE FALLS, April 6, 1842. + + DEAR BROTHER: Your last came duly to hand and very much + refreshed our spirits. Write every opportunity, being + assured that intelligence from our friends is to us in this + land like cold water to thirsty souls. You will see by my + letter where I am stationed. This is in some respects a + pleasant though laborious field of labor. This is and is + destined to be, the great emporium of the interior of this + country. Its water power for manufacturing purposes is + probably not rivaled in the States; at least, few and far + between are the privileges which equal or excel it; besides + here is an excellent salmon fishery. As to the country, + taking it all and all, it is a good farming and grazing + country. The winters are so mild that the cattle and horses + do well without feeding. The country is well watered, and + the inhabitants are, in general, healthy. The ague and fever + is the most prevalent disease, although other diseases + occur. On the sea coast I believe it is more healthy than + back in the country. So far as I and my family are + concerned, we have been as healthy as we ever were in the + States. Our little ones are quite as hearty and as lively as + the fawns that skip over the plains. + + Produce of all kinds, except corn, does well here, so far as + it has been fairly tried. Some corn has been raised. Wheat, + peas, and oats, I believe, so far as quality is concerned, + can not excel in any country. Potatoes are tolerable, and in + some parts excellent. Indeed, it is my candid conviction, + that an industrious and economical man can live as well + (fruit excepted) and make property as fast as in almost any + country, and far easier than in any part of the State of New + York where I have lived. Let him bring with him a few + hundred dollars in cash or property, his farming utensils, + etc., and settle on one of these delightful plains and the + first year he can support his family from the soil, as he + has nothing to do but fence, plow, and sow, and prepare a + shelter or house for his family; yet he will have to + encounter some difficulties incident to all new countries. + Our mills are few and far between, and not all of the first + order, but rather multiplying and improving; though a good + millwright is very much wanted, as well as apparatus for + building mills and a great many wholesome settlers, + embracing some capitalists who will open trade with the + Islands and China, which can be done from this coast with + great facility. But first of all, our government ought to + extend its jurisdiction and protection over this country. + The state of the country in this respect (especially for + Americans), as well in respect to a currency, is unpleasant. + The Hudson Bay Company seem determined to monopolize as long + as possible; yet in many respects they are quite + accommodating, at least, so far as it is to their interest. + They profess to claim many of the best and most valuable + parts of the country by putting up a little hut without + habitation and forbidding any one settling in those places. + They made a claim at the Falls, on the side where I now am, + about twelve years since, hewing a quantity of timber, etc., + and a few years since they put up a small hut and covered it + with bark. + + Last fall an American took possession of a small island in + the falls, but no sooner was it known at Fort Vancouver than + a company of men was sent off with boards to put up a hut, + and soon the governor of the fort came up, greatly incensed, + called the man a pilferer, and anything but good; he, + however, went on! A cooper wished to build a shop near me, + but was informed, by orders from the fort, that if he built + his shop would be torn down. He, however, went on and built; + his shop still stands. These are naked facts; and others of + the same kind, if necessary, can be forthcoming. By this you + will have some clue to the state of things in this country + in this respect. + + I have written in great haste, as this is to be off early + to-morrow morning. Besides, I have plenty of company, a + number of men being here to buy salmon, of which I have the + care. Others are on their way down the river. Indeed, my + house is at times, as to travelers, more like a public house + than a Methodist preacher's. + + Your affectionate brother, + + ALVIN F. WALLER. + + * * * * * + +A letter by Titian R. Peale to Thomas Morgan, Esq., of Washington, +Pennsylvania: + + WASHINGTON, D. C., February 6, 1843. + + DEAR SIR: Observing the interest you have taken in the + "Oregon Bill," now before Congress, I conclude that a few + notes, coming from one who has recently traveled through a + portion of the Oregon territory, will be acceptable to you, + and probably be of use to some of your neighbors, who may + feel disposed to profit by the inducements offered, should + the bill pass and become a law. + + Being a member of the Scientific Corps of the United States + Expedition, in 1841, I had the misfortune to be wrecked, in + the ship Peacock, at the mouth of the Columbia River, and + subsequently traveled that portion of the country south of + the Columbia River, known as the Wallamette Valley, and + thence across the mountains to California. + + The soil, we observed, generally on that route, although not + as rich as that of the Mississippi Valley, was still + sufficiently so, when cultivated, to produce from twenty to + forty bushels of wheat to the acre, of as good quality as + any I have ever seen in my native State (Pennsylvania), + which, added to the facilities for settlers in finding the + land ready for the plough, without the labor of clearing, + while sufficiency of the finest timber is found on the banks + of the numerous streams, is alone sufficient to invite to + the further settlement of the country when known. But this + is not all. The winters are so mild that it has never yet + been found necessary to house cattle, or provide winter food + for them. They thrive and multiply beyond expectation. + + Salmon are procured in great profusion in almost all the + streams, and ready markets are found for them, as well as + all the other products of the territory, in the markets of + Mexico, South America, and the numerous islands of the + Pacific Ocean. Thus, from its position in the Pacific, it + has all the advantages which we possess in the Atlantic + Ocean; gaining in the China what might be considered as + partly lost from the European trade. + + The tract of country to which I have more particularly + alluded is about two hundred and fifty miles long, including + the mouth of the Columbia River, and reaching to about one + hundred and fifty miles from the coast. This tract of + country I considered quite equal, if not superior to + Pennsylvania, both in commercial position and capability in + agricultural product, and much superior in its advantages + for raising cattle, etc., being generally interspersed with + prairie and woodland. + + Would the above hasty notes prove satisfactory to you or any + of your friends, or if they only serve to awaken a spirit of + inquiry, it will always be a source of pleasure to me in + having communicated them. + + With great respect, I have the honor to remain, yours truly, + + TITIAN R. PEALE. + + _To Thomas Morgan, Esq., Washington, Pennsylvania._ + + * * * * * + +Letter by Peter H. Burnett to the _St. Louis Reporter_: + + Taken from the _Ohio Statesman_ of September 11, 1844. + + FORT VANCOUVER, November 10, 1843. + + FRIEND PENN: I reached here on yesterday, and the grass is + now as luxuriant as a wheat field. Provisions are abundant + here, and Doctor McLoughlin (who is the most liberal and + hospitable man in the world,) furnishes the emigrants with + wheat to be paid for in cash or in wheat next year. At the + Cascades we met provisions sent us by the Doctor, and all + purchased who applied, even without money. Two boats have + been sent us with provisions, and the Doctor has lent two + boats to the emigrants free of charge. We find him doing + everything to aid the emigrants; and those who are here in + the Wallamette Valley, are as hospitable as they could + possibly afford to be. Business is very brisk, and labor + finds ready employment and prompt payment at high prices. + Necessaries of all kinds can be procured at Vancouver. + + Most of the emigrants have reached here with their cattle + and baggage, and will soon have their wagons here also. We + find that cattle bear a fine price here and will sell + readily. Cows at from $50 to $75, oxen at from $50 to $100 + per yoke; labor $1 per day; beef from 5 to 6 cents; salt + salmon $9 to $10 per barrel of about 300 pounds; wheat $1; + flour $4 per 100 pounds. Anything can be sold here. Butter + from 25 to 37½ cents; sugar, tea, coffee, and dry + goods--plenty. American horses bear better prices than they + do in the States. + + The country exceeds my expectations, and certainly if man + can not supply all his wants here he can not anywhere. + Lieutenant Fremont, who bears this, can give you further + information. I must close as he leaves immediately. + + PETER H. BURNETT. + + * * * * * + +Letter of Peter H. Burnett's, taken from the _Ohio Statesman_ of +October 23, 1844, which quotes it from the _Globe_, Washington: + + LINNTON, Oregon, July 25, 1844. + + I am here in our new town, which we have named as above, in + respect for Doctor Linn's services for this territory. Gen. + M. McCalla [M. M. McCarver] and myself have laid out the + town together. He is a gentleman from Iowa Territory, and + laid out Burlington, the seat of government. He is an + enterprising man. Our place is ten miles from Vancouver, on + the west bank of the Wallamette River, at the head of + navigation, and three or four miles above the mouth of the + Wallamette, and twenty-five miles below the Wallamette + Falls. I have no doubt but that this place will be the great + commercial town in the territory. We are selling lots at $50 + each, and sell them fast at that. At the falls there is + quite a town already. I own two lots in Oregon City (the + town at the falls). They are said to be worth $200 each. I + got them of Doctor McLoughlin for two lots here in Linnton. + I was six weeks at Vancouver, where myself and family were + most hospitably entertained by Doctor McLoughlin, free of + charge. He has been a great friend to me, and has done much + for this emigration generally. I find provisions high--pork + 10 cents, potatoes 40 cents, flour $4 per hundred. + + But I find it costs me a little, even less to live here than + at Weston. I paid for wood the last year I lived at Weston + $75, for corn and fodder $50, all of which is saved here. We + use much less pork here than in Missouri. The salmon are + running now and will continue to run until October next. + They generally commence running the last of February and end + in October. I have had several messes of fresh salmon. At + this point we purchase of the Indians ducks, geese, swans, + salmon, potatoes, feathers, and venison, for little or + nothing. Ducks, four loads; geese, eight loads; swans, ten + loads; salmon, four loads of powder and shot each. Feathers + cost about twelve and a half cents a pound. There are more + ducks, etc., here than you ever saw; also pheasants in great + numbers. They remain here all the winter. I have hunted very + little, being too busy. We find it very profitable to get of + the Indians, to whom we trade old shirts, pantaloons, vests, + and all sorts of clothing. They are more anxious to purchase + clothes than any people you ever saw. You can sell anything + here that was ever sold. Stocking Cary ploughs $5 each. We + have an excellent blacksmith living in our place who makes + first rate Cary ploughs at thirty-one and a quarter cents a + pound, he finding it. [Omitting an elaborate description of + the Willamette Valley.] American cows are worth here from + $50 to $75; American horses from $50 to $75; oxen from $75 + to $125 per yoke. This is the finest country for grazing + cattle you ever saw. They keep fat all winter. Butter sells + at 20 to 25 cents. And, what I did not expect to find, this + is a good country for hogs. At all events you have here + plenty of grass, a root they call wappato, and also plenty + of white oak mast. A first rate market can be had for any + and everything, and you have never seen business more brisk. + Times are first rate and everybody is busy. The + manufacturing power is unsurpassed in the world. There are + more fine sites than you ever saw. Such water power as that + at the falls of Platte can be found everywhere. * * + + [Omitting a portion of the letter describing the timber of + Oregon.] I will not persuade you, nor will I any of my + friends, to come to this country; but were I in the States + again, I should come myself. For $300 you could purchase one + hundred young heifers; and in driving them here you might + lose from five to ten. When you reached here they would be + worth $4,000, and in ten years, without labor or expense, + would make you a splendid fortune. You can move here with + less expense than you could to Tennessee or Kentucky. Your + provisions, teams, etc., you have; your oxen and horses, + especially your fine American mares, would be worth double + as much as they would cost you there. There are very few + good American horses here. The Indian horses are not so + gentle as the American, nor so fine blooded. The American + cattle are greatly superior to the Spanish for milk, as they + give more milk and are more gentle; but the Spanish cattle + are larger. Cows have calves here from fifteen to twenty + months old, and sheep have lambs twice a year in some parts + of territory. The reason is they are always fat and get + their growth much sooner. It is my deliberate opinion that + no country in the world affords so fair an opportunity to + acquire a living as this. I can see no objection to it, + except it be by a man who loves liquor, for he can get none + here. + + PETER H. BURNETT. + + * * * * * + + From the _Ohio Statesman_, October 23, 1844. Quoted by the + _Statesman_ from the _St. Louis Reporter_. + +We make the following extracts from two letters which were published +in the _Western Pioneer_ of the 6th instant, written by William L. +Smith and John Holman, two emigrants to Oregon. The information from +that territory, received this year, is of the most interesting +character: + + The prospect is quite good for a young man to make a fortune + in this country, as all kinds of produce are high, and + likely to remain so from the extensive demand. The Russian + settlements in Asia; the Sandwich Islands; a great portion + of California, and the whaling vessels of the Northwest + coast, procure their supplies from this place. + + There is as yet but little money in the country, and the + whole trade is carried on by orders on an agent or factor. + For instance, when I sell my crop of wheat, the purchaser + asks me where I wish to receive the pay. Vancouver is as yet + the principal point, and an order on that point enables the + seller to procure goods, or cattle, or anything else for it. + + The population of this country consists of French, sailors, + mountain traders, missionaries, and emigrants from the + States. The French population consists of old worn-out + servants of the Hudson Bay Company; they universally have + Indian wives, and many children, some of whom are very + handsome; this part of the population are Catholics. The + sailors are those who deserted from vessels while lying on + the coast, and have also intermarried with the Indians, and + but few of them have embraced any religion--they are, + however, generally good citizens. The mountain traders are + similar to the sailors, except that they have nearly all + embraced the Methodist or Catholic religion. + + The citizens held a meeting some time since and unanimously + adopted the statutes of Iowa Territory for their code of + laws until the government of the United States should make + laws for them. There is little or no crime in Oregon as yet, + which is attributed to the absence of spirituous + liquors--and so sensible are the citizens of this fact that + they are unanimous in favor of excluding it. In fact, Doctor + McLoughlin has several cargoes in his warehouse now, which + he bought in preference to allowing it to be sold in the + country. I can not speak too highly of this excellent man + for his kindness to us all. He sent several boats loaded + with provisions to meet the emigrants last fall, and + continued to distribute little luxuries among us as long as + we remained in reach of him--he is always on the lookout for + an opportunity to bestow his charity, and bestows with no + sparing hand. His intention is to quit the Hudson Bay + Company and become an American citizen. + + Our prairies are beautiful, soil good, and the best stock + range I ever saw. I have located and recorded six sections + of land, which I can hold for one year by making certain + improvements thereon, which I intend doing. I can stand in + my door and see over all of them. Everything is plenty, but + sells high. The prospects for industrious young men are + truly flattering. I do think the six sections we have now in + possession are intrinsically worth $20,000; that would be $5 + per acre, and that is not near the value, taking everything + into consideration. The situation for trade and commerce is + certainly better than any other country. The climate, soil, + timber, water, health, products of the country, and the + prospects for good society combine to make it delightful. It + would astonish you to see the state of society here--more + hospitality and friendship, more morality, industry, and I + do believe religion, than you will see anywhere. There are a + good many scattering Indians, but nothing to be feared from + them. + + * * * * * + + From the _National Intelligencer_, October 28, 1843. + + EMIGRATION--THE FAR WEST. + + We presume most persons thought that when the tide of + emigration reached Oregon it would go no farther, for it did + not seem that the "Far West" could get beyond the Pacific. + We find, however, that some of the emigrants who have + reached Oregon are "dissatisfied with the country, and + contemplate going to California this spring." So says a + letter in the _Iowa Herald_ from one of the settlers, who + for his own part likes the country very well, and expects to + end his days there. He describes the Oregon region as rough + and broken, generally heavy timbered, principally with fir, + yellow pine, cedar, hemlock, oak, ash, and maple--well + watered, with about one tenth prairie of excellent quality. + In the streams is an abundance of fish, among which are the + finest salmon in the world. Oregon City is a thriving little + place, and from its advantageous position it is likely to + become a thriving great one. It is situated at the head of + navigation on the Oregon or Columbia River, and at the foot + of Walhammat Falls, one of the greatest water powers in the + world. + + Of the foregoing documents, the editorial from the _Daily + Tribune_, New York, of March 29, 1843, the second in the + order of the excerpts, was found and copied by Dr. J. R. + Wilson; for all the others the editor is indebted to Prof. + Joseph Schafer. + + + + + THE QUARTERLY + OF THE + OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY. + + VOLUME IV. SEPTEMBER, 1903 NUMBER 3 + + [Entered at Portland, Oregon, Post Office as second-class matter.] + + + + +HISTORY OF THE PREPARATION OF THE FIRST CODE OF OREGON. + + +I am requested by the Oregon Bar Association to write a paper on "The +Preparation and Adoption of the First Code." + +Before writing about the actual preparation of the first code, I +desire to say something about the confused and uncertain condition of +statutory law in Oregon Territory, prior to 1853, and the reasons +which induced the territorial legislature of 1852-53 to elect three +commissioners to prepare a code of laws for Oregon Territory. + +On June 27, 1844, the Provisional Government of Oregon, declared that +"All the statute laws of Iowa Territory, passed at the first session +of the legislative assembly of said territory, and not of a local +character, and not incompatible with the conditions and circumstances +of this country, shall be the law of this government, unless otherwise +modified": Laws, 1843-49, p. 100. + +The fourteenth section of the act of Congress of August 14, 1848, +organizing the Territory of Oregon, continued these laws of the +Provisional Government in force until they should be altered or +repealed. + +At the first session of the legislative assembly, held at Oregon City, +two acts were passed by that body, which, owing to the construction +placed upon them by the supreme court of the Territory, had a tendency +to produce dissension and discord among the people of Oregon, which +lasted for two or three years. One of these was "An act to provide for +the selection of places for location and erection of the public +buildings of the Territory of Oregon," passed February 1, 1851. + +The other act was one which declared to be adopted, and in force, +certain acts of the revised statutes of Iowa Territory published in +1843. The legislative assembly of Oregon by a single act adopted these +acts of Iowa, designating them by their several titles, and the dates +of their passage. This law was generally known as the "Chapman Code," +owing to the fact that the bill was introduced by and its passage +secured through the influence of Hon. W. W. Chapman, then a member of +the legislative assembly. + +Soon after these two acts were passed, their validity was questioned, +especially that of the one which located the public buildings, and +transferred the seat of government from Oregon City to Salem. Those +who denied their validity did so on the ground that they contravened +that clause of the organic act of August 14, 1848, section 6, which +provides that "To avoid improper influences which may result from +intermixing in one act such things as have no proper relation to each +other; every act shall embrace but one object, and that shall be +expressed in the title." + +Legal proceedings were soon taken by persons interested in retaining +the capital at Oregon City to declare the act of removal invalid. A +suit brought for that purpose came on for hearing before the supreme +court at Oregon City, in December, 1851. By law the judges of the +district courts composed the supreme court of the territory. They were +Thomas Nelson, Chief Justice, O. C. Pratt, and William Strong. Of +these Nelson and Strong had been appointed by Presidents Fillmore and +Taylor, respectively, while Pratt was holding over under an +appointment of President Polk. The former were Whigs politically, +while the latter was a Democrat. Judges Nelson and Strong convened at +Oregon City, and opened the supreme court there. Judge Pratt went to +Salem under the act which changed the seat of government, but without +a quorum could not hold a session of the court. Judges Nelson and +Strong then decided that the act of the legislative assembly providing +for the selection of places for the location and erection of the +public buildings, passed February 1, 1851, was void, because it +contravened the organic law of August 14, 1848, as before stated. The +opinions of the judges were never published in the Oregon Reports, for +what reason I do not know. Possibly they were not filed with the +supreme court. Judge Pratt claimed that this decision amounted to +nothing because it was not made at the seat of government, as +established by act of the legislative assembly, and in this opinion +that body then assembled at Salem, readily concurred. This heated +controversy about the location of the capital was, however, settled by +a joint resolution of Congress, adopted May 4, 1852 (10 U. S. +Statutes, 146). The first section legalized the act of the territorial +legislature which located the public buildings, and the second section +declared that the late session of the legislative assembly was held in +conformity with the provisions of law. This, of course, ended all +dispute about the location of the capital, but unhappily another +controversy grew out of the construction placed by Judges Nelson and +Strong upon the sixth section of the organic law of August 14, 1848. +For the same reasons which they held the act for the location of the +public buildings void, they also held the act of the legislative +assembly, which adopted the revised statutes of Iowa, to be also +invalid. In other words, these judges held that by adopting several +distinct statutes of Iowa in one act, it necessarily embraced more +than one object. Judge Pratt took a different view and held that the +act of the legislative assembly embraced but one object, to wit, the +adoption of a code of laws of the territory. + +The result of these conflicting views of the judges was that in Judge +Nelson's judicial district, composed of Clackamas, Marion, and Linn +counties, and in Judge Strong's district, composed of Clatsop County +and the counties north of the Columbia River, the Iowa Code of 1838, +adopted by the Provisional Government, was held to be in force. Judge +Pratt's district, composed of all the territory west of the Willamette +River, included the counties of Washington, Yamhill, Polk, and Benton, +and in this district the "Chapman Code" of the Revised Code of Iowa +Statutes of 1843, was recognized as the law in force. In the district +of Nelson and Strong, the lawyers would cite the law from the "Little +Blue Book," as the volume of Statutes of Iowa of 1838 was called. In +Judge Pratt's district the same lawyers would quote from the "Big Blue +Book," as the Iowa Code of 1843 was called. There were but three or +four copies of the _little blue book_ in the territory, one of which +was owned by Hon. A. E. Wait. The last time I saw it it was in the +possession of Hon. Benton Killin. There were only two copies of the +_big blue book_ in Oregon and the statutes adopted by the Chapman Code +were not published until the latter part of 1853, when they were +printed by the territorial printer and bound in paper covers. A number +of these printed copies were distributed among the several counties in +the territory, but the uncertainty and doubt as to their validity +made them of little value. + +As I said before, Judge Pratt's views of this legal controversy +coincided with those of the legislative assembly, then in session at +Salem, and that body passed an act detaching the counties of Marion +and Linn from the judicial district of Judge Nelson, leaving him only +Clackamas County, in which he resided. In this act it was provided +that the terms of court in Marion and Linn counties should commence +one week earlier than they did under the old law. So Judge Pratt held +court at Salem and Albany under the new law, and a week later in each +county Judge Nelson went to Salem and Albany to hold the district +court under the old law. He found, however, that Judge Pratt had +preceded him, held the courts, and adjourned for the term. Judge +Nelson finding that no business was prepared for hearing before him by +the lawyers, and no jury summoned to try cases, returned somewhat +disgusted to Oregon City, and was soon after relieved by the +appointment of Hon. George H. Williams, as chief justice of the +territory. He went back to his home in New York, where I believe he +still lives [1894.] + +I have referred to this almost forgotten history of the early days of +the territorial government of Oregon to show the necessity that +existed for a revision of the statutory laws of the territory. The +uncertainty as to what laws were then in force, and the desire to be +relieved from this condition of affairs was the principal reason which +induced the legislative assembly to pass the act of January, 1853, +providing for the election by that body of three commissioners to +prepare a draft for a code of laws, to be submitted to the next +legislature. In pursuance of this act, the legislative assembly +elected the following commissioners in the order named: James K. +Kelly, of Clackamas County, Reuben P. Boise, of Polk County, and +Daniel R. Bigelow, of Thurston County. + +Being first elected, I acted as chairman of the board, and notified +the other commissioners of the time of our first meeting, which took +place some time in March, 1853. We met in the council chamber of the +legislative building, where all our subsequent meetings were held. + +The first two or three days were occupied in discussing the general +outline of our duties and the kind of code to be prepared. By common +consent we agreed to accept the New York code of practice as the basis +of our own, but with a notable exception in regard to proceedings in +equity. Mr. Bigelow strongly insisted upon having no separate court of +equity or of equity proceedings, but urged that we should follow the +example of California in this respect. Mr. Boise and I differed from +Mr. Bigelow. We contended that in the organic act of August 14, 1848, +a separate system of equity proceedings was contemplated, wherein it +is provided that "each district court or judge thereof shall appoint +its clerk, _who shall be the register in chancery_": Act, August 14, +1848, § 9. + +That it was so understood by the members of the first legislative +assembly appears by the act of September 14, 1849, directing the mode +of proceedings in chancery: See Hamilton Laws. + +The system of equity jurisprudence and proceedings in equity adopted +by the first code commissioners has now prevailed in Oregon for forty +years, and during all that time I think has met the approbation of +both bench and the bar. + +Another thing agreed upon by the commissioners was that the code +should be prepared so that it might be adopted by the legislative +assembly in several acts instead of one, as was done in the Chapman +Code in 1850. This was done in order to comply with the provisions of +the organic law, which required that every act should embrace but one +object. + +These preliminaries being settled it was agreed that each commissioner +should take one subject and prepare the draft for an act upon that +particular branch of the law. During the preparation of these drafts +the commissioners held frequent consultations, as often as once or +twice a week, to discuss and agree upon the proper phraseology to be +adopted, or arrangement of subject-matter in the proposed act. + +It was agreed among us that Mr. Boise should prepare the act relating +to executors and administrators, and also proceedings in the probate +courts. + +To Mr. Bigelow was assigned the duty of preparing the act relating to +crimes and misdemeanors, and to regulate criminal proceedings. I +undertook to prepare the code of civil procedure in actions at law and +suits in equity. + +These three subjects embraced the greater part of the laws which we +undertook to prepare, and, after their completion, the remaining +portion of our work was comparatively easy and brief. According to my +recollection it was completed in the latter part of the summer or +early fall of 1853. We prepared the draft for an entirely new code of +statutory laws, with the single exception of the law relating to +wills. This had been enacted by the legislative assembly in 1849, at +its first session, the main features of it being a transcript from the +Missouri statute on the same subject. As this was one of the first +acts passed by our own legislation we adopted it in our draft with +only a few verbal changes. + +In the spring of 1853 Joseph G. Wilson, afterwards Judge Wilson of the +supreme court, came to Oregon, and about May we employed him as our +clerk to transcribe the drafts prepared by us, in order that they +could be printed for the use of the legislative assembly at its next +session in December. We caused about two hundred copies to be printed +by Mr. Asahel Bush, the territorial printer, for that purpose. These +were published in an unbound octavo volume, so that they could be +readily separated into different bills for legislative use. + +Soon after we entered upon the discharge of our duties as +commissioners many of our political friends suggested the propriety of +electing one or all of us members of the next legislative assembly, so +that we could explain to the members or give any desired information +to them concerning our work. We soon, however, learned that Congress +had passed the act to organize the Territory of Washington, and this +would necessarily prevent Mr. Bigelow from becoming a member of the +Oregon legislative assembly. + +Mr. Boise was nominated by the Democratic party as a candidate for +member of the House of Representatives from Polk County. I was +nominated by the same party as member of the Council, to fill a +vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. A. L. Lovejoy, who had +recently been appointed Postal Agent for Oregon by President Pierce. +Both Mr. Boise and myself were elected on the first Monday in June, +1853. + +The legislative assembly met on the first Monday in December, and +after the respective houses were organized Mr. Boise was appointed +chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the lower house, while I was +appointed chairman of the same committee in the upper branch of the +legislature. Of course, the burden of seeing the code properly passed +rested with him and myself. We divided the draft which the code +commissioners had prepared into proper bills, according to the +subject-matter of each. Some of these bills were introduced into the +House of Representatives by Mr. Boise, and others of them into the +Council by myself. All we had to do was simply to preface an enacting +clause to the bill as it had been printed by order of the +commissioners, and to insert a section at the end of each bill +declaring that the act should be in force from and after the first of +May next. The reason these acts were made to take effect on May 1, +1854, was that there was no possibility of having them printed before +that time. Indeed, there were no facilities then existing in Oregon +for either printing or binding the volume containing the statutes +comprised in the first code. Mr. Bush, the territorial printer, made +arrangements to have them printed and bound in New York. I do not now +remember how many copies of the code were ordered to be printed, but +certainly several hundred. About two hundred of these were sent to +Oregon by way of Panama and arrived safely some time in the summer of +1854. The remaining copies of that edition were sent around Cape Horn +by a sailing vessel. These never reached Oregon. They were either +shipwrecked or so injured that they were worthless. At the next +session of the legislative assembly, commencing in December, 1854, +that body ordered a new edition to be printed to supply the place of +the copies which were lost at sea, and that edition was printed in New +York in 1855. It included the acts which were passed at that session +with those of the code adopted at the preceding session of the +legislature. This accounts for the printing of two editions--one in +1854 and another in 1855. + +Between May 1, 1854, when the code took effect and the arrival of the +first copies of the printed volume from New York, we were somewhat +troubled for want of evidence of existing statutes, and the judges and +lawyers used in the courts copies of the printed draft reported by the +code commissioners. A few of these unbound volumes still remained and +such changes as had been made by the legislature were noted in them. +Some of the lawyers even went to the trouble of having them indexed so +as to be more convenient for reference and citation. When, however, +the first copies of the code arrived from New York these unbound +copies of the code commissioners' draft were thrown aside. One of them +I kept as a time-honored curiosity for many years. + +Although the _Oregon Code_, as it was then termed, has since been +revised two or three times to adapt it to a state, instead of a +territorial government, yet in its main features it has remained +substantially the same as when prepared by the first code +commissioners and adopted by the legislative assembly of 1853-54. + +The commissioners who prepared the first code of Oregon are all still +living [1894], but nearly all the members of the legislature that +adopted it are gone. Besides Judge Boise and myself I can think of no +one of them who is now living. + + JAMES K. KELLY. + + _September 25, 1894._ + + + + +A PIONEER RAILROAD BUILDER. + + +Responding to a request for an account of the operations of Dr. D. S. +Baker as a promoter and financier of transportation enterprises, and +particularly of the Walla Walla and Columbia River Railway, I herewith +submit some scraps of history. + +Dr. Dorsey S. Baker was born in Wabash County, Illinois, October 18, +1823. He studied the profession of medicine at the Philadelphia +Medical College. Crossed the Plains to Oregon with the emigration of +1848, and went to California in 1849. The practice of his profession +was remunerative, but his strong predilection for business led him to +abandon a profession always distasteful. + +He engaged in the hardware business in Portland in the early fifties, +and subsequently built a flouring mill at Oakland, in Southern Oregon, +and it was his boast that he brought to Oregon the first pair of mill +stones ever used in the State. In 1861 he removed to Walla Walla, then +a trading post adjacent to the army garrison established some years +previously. He engaged in the mercantile business, being associated +with William Stephens. The firm name was D. S. Baker & Co., afterward +changed to Baker & Boyer, when his brother-in-law, John F. Boyer, was +taken into the firm. The firm did a large business with the stockmen +and settlers, and in outfitting miners and packers flocking by +thousands to the Oro Fino and Florence mines, and later to Boisé, +Idaho, and Montana. Sales were large and profits good, and the firm of +Baker & Boyer flourished. + +Doctor Baker was a man of keen business judgment and great foresight. +It is probably not an over statement to say that the State of +Washington has not numbered among her citizens any that approached +him in financial ability. In 1862 he became associated with the late +Senator Corbett and Captain Ankeny in the steamboat business. They +built the steamer Spray, which plied between Celilo and Lewiston. The +company had boats on what was known as the Middle River, between The +Dalles and the Cascades, and also on the Lower River between the +Cascades and Portland. They built a wooden tramway portage on the +Washington side at the cascades, using mules as motive power. The +remains of this tramway could be seen from the opposite shore within +recent years. This company's line was run in opposition to that of the +Oregon Steam Navigation Company, to which it finally sold. + +The portage of the cascades, being the key to the situation, was the +bone of contention. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company had procured +the passage of a bill through Congress giving them what they claimed +to be an exclusive right of way over the cascade portage, and this +question not having been at that time adjudicated, Doctor Baker's +company sold out as above recited. + +Doctor Baker's next transportation enterprise was the building of a +narrow gauge railroad from Walla Walla to Wallula. He organized a +company under the corporate name of the Walla Walla and Columbia River +Railroad Company in 1871. Among the original stockholders were Doctor +Baker, John F. Boyer, Paine Brothers & Moore, B. L. Sharpstein, +Charles Moore, B. F. Stone, William Stephens, William O. Green--all +residents of Walla Walla. Doctor Baker was, however, the capitalist, +and it was his money, his energy and unflagging perseverance that +carried the enterprise to a successful consummation. To build thirty +miles of railroad under conditions then existing was a great +undertaking. Ties and timber for bridges had to be obtained from the +head waters of the Yakima River, an untried stream. + +A logging camp was established in the winter of 1872--a Wisconsin +lumberman named Tarbox being placed in charge. An attempt was made to +drive logs to the mouth of the Yakima the following spring, but the +water proved insufficient and the log drive was hung up. Another +expedition was sent to the woods the following winter, in charge of D. +W. Small, afterward a well known resident and business man of Walla +Walla. He succeeded, by incredible effort, in bringing out the logs. A +mill was erected on the banks or east bank of the Columbia above the +old town of Wallula, where the ties were sawed, and it was at this +point that the first railroad construction in Washington, other than +the portage road of the cascades, was begun. Two small dummy or +camel-back engines were bought in Pennsylvania and shipped out via San +Francisco and Portland. Freight on them from Portland to Wallula was +about $450 each. The first ten miles of the road was built with wooden +stringers six by six, laid on cross ties. It was Doctor Baker's belief +that these ties would last for a few years, and it was his intention +to then replace them with T rails, but in this he was doomed to +disappointment. When construction had reached the ten-mile post, the +wooden rails at the river end were worn out. He then bought ten miles +of strap iron and continued construction. This also proved a failure. +Finally, convinced in the rough school of actual experience that T +rail only would serve his purpose, he ordered, through Allen & Lewis +of Portland, twenty miles of 26-pound rail. This was purchased in +Wales and was brought around the Horn in a clipper ship coming to the +Columbia River for a cargo of wheat. From Portland the rail was +shipped by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company line to Wallula. This +involved five handlings--two at the cascade portage, two at The +Dalles, and one at Wallula. The cost of the rails and the freight were +both very great. When the road reached a point ten miles out from the +Columbia it began to haul wheat, the teamsters being glad to avoid the +long, hard pull over the sandy roads. + +When the road had reached Whitman Station, six miles west of Walla +Walla, Doctor Baker's available funds were exhausted, and he would not +borrow. He thereupon announced that its terminus would remain there +until the earnings sufficed to complete it to Walla Walla. The +citizens, fearing a rival town would spring up at Whitman, promptly +raised and donated $25,000 to secure the continuance of the road to +Walla Walla. + +In the inception of the enterprise, Doctor Baker had asked Walla Walla +County, through the board of county commissioners, to guarantee the +interest on a proposed issue of bonds, to be sold to provide funds for +the construction of the road, offering in return to permit the +commissioners to fix the rate for carrying grain to the Columbia, +provided only the rate should not be less than $3 per ton. The +question was submitted to a vote, and rejected by a decided majority. +Doctor Baker then said: "I will build the road without your +assistance, and you must allow me to fix the rate." The rate was $5 +per ton from Walla Walla to the river. There was an additional charge +of fifty cents for transfer to the steamboat. The Oregon Steam +Navigation Company's charge was $6 per ton, and there was a wharfage +charge at Portland of 50 cents, making a total of $12 per ton, or +thirty-six cents per bushel from Walla Walla to Portland. The charge +of $5 per ton seems now a pretty stiff rate, but teamsters in those +days sometimes charged $12 per ton for the same haul, although the +usual charge was $6. They could not always handle the crop, and the +price fluctuated. + +During the discouraging period of construction few people believed +Doctor Baker would ever complete the road. His friends thought he +would fail utterly, and predicted that his fortune would be lost, but +the Doctor knew better than most the wealth of the country's +undeveloped resources, and with a faith that nothing could shake, and +with a determination that grew stronger as each obstacle presented +itself, continued the work of construction, staking his last dollar on +the success of his enterprise. No mortgage was ever placed on the +property during his ownership, and no lien or debt encumbered it. It +paid unheard of dividends, and was sold at a price greatly exceeding +its cost. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company bought six-sevenths of +the stock in 1877, Doctor Baker remaining as president. During this +ownership a branch line was built from Whitman to a point known as +Blue Mountain Station, in Umatilla County, Oregon, to tap the wheat +fields of that county. + +Still later, on the first day of July, 1879, the road was included in +a sale made by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company to Henry Villard. +The track was changed to a standard gauge, and became a part of the +present Oregon Railway and Navigation system. + +Many amusing stories are told of experiences in traveling over this +line, known as Doctor Baker's "rawhide road." Wheat was hauled on flat +cars. A box car, with seats along the sides, originally did duty as a +passenger coach. To the traveling public this was known as "the +hearse," but no serious accident ever occurred on the line. It was +strictly a daylight road, Doctor Baker persistently refusing to allow +trains to be run at night. + +H. W. Fairweather, who took charge of the road after its purchase by +the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, still tells of some of his +early experiences. At that time the law required a printed schedule of +freight rates to be posted in each car. Looking about in vain, he +finally found the required notice posted in the roof of the car in +such a position that to read it the reader must lie on his back. The +newspapers have another story regarding General Sherman's ride over +this road. In 1877 the General had ridden through Montana and Idaho, +examining the country with reference to the proper location of +military posts, and had reached Walla Walla on his way to the coast. +He is said to have made application for a special train to take him to +Wallula, which Doctor Baker refused to furnish, remarking that there +was a train load of wheat going out during the afternoon, upon which +the General could take passage, and that availing himself of the +opportunity, this aggregation of military glory bestrode a sack of +wheat, and thus mounted, was dispatched on his journey. The fact was +that he rode in a passenger coach attached to the freight train, but +perhaps it is hardly worth while to spoil so good a story. + +Some years after the sale of the Walla Walla and Columbia River line, +Doctor Baker built another narrow gauge to connect with a timber flume +bringing lumber and wood to Walla Walla. This line was fifteen miles +in length and extended to the town of Dixie in the foot hills of the +Blue Mountains. It did a considerable business in transporting wheat. +This was also sold to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, which +company still operates it as a narrow gauge. + +This was Doctor Baker's last undertaking, his health having failed +soon after the completion of this road. + +When Henry Villiard first met Doctor Baker, he said to him: "You were +a bold man to build into the lion's jaws," refering to the fact that +the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company controlled the outlet down +the Columbia, but Doctor Baker had formulated a maxim, "He who owns +the approaches to the river owns the river," by which he meant that +the business of the boats originated on the railroad and the boats +were dependent on the railroad. + +One of Doctor Baker's biographers has said of him, "He was the +self-reliant architect of his own fortune." Perhaps no man in the +Northwest has left his name more completely entwined into the history +of his chosen country and city than has Dorsey S. Baker, who cast his +lot with Walla Walla forty years ago, whose fortunes were the fortunes +of the town and whose successes were the successes of the place he +called his "home." + +He died at Walla Walla July 5, 1888. An imposing granite monument, in +the City Cemetery, emblematic of his rugged virtues and strength of +character, marks his last resting place. + + MILES C. MOORE. + _Walla Walla, Wash., August 7, 1903._ + + + + +FROM WALLA WALLA TO SAN FRANCISCO. + +By CAPT. JOHN MULLAN, U. S. A. + +From the Washington _Statesman_ (Walla Walla) of November 29 and +December 6, 1862. + + +For those who have not made the journey direct from Walla Walla, +through the agricultural heart of Oregon, and across the mountains +through the mining region of northern California, there is much of +interest and pleasure; and though the trip should be fraught with much +personal discomfort, there is much to repay the traveler in the +collection of statistics, and in seeing a region where the wilderness +of yesterday has to-day given place to homes, where material +prosperity, at least, arrest the attention of the traveler at every +mile of the journey. The mode of conveyance from Walla Walla to +Wallula is by stages that run daily between these points, and where +the journey is of six hours and a cost of $5 brings you to the banks +of the Columbia, whence you take steamers for the Des Chutes Landing. +The improvements along the banks of the Walla Walla, in the shape of +new and additional enclosures for farming purposes, during the last +two years, have been many, and mark with unerring certainty the future +of the Walla Walla country, as the distributing center for a radius of +three hundred miles of country, now fast developing in all the +elements of material, social, and political prosperity. It has more +than once occurred to me that the Walla Walla River, by a system of +locks, could be advantageously used as a line of connection between +Wallula and Walla Walla, and one needs but see the long line of wagons +and pack trains, heavily freighted for the interior, to become +convinced that either this or some more rapid and economical means is +positively demanded, in order to connect the heart of the valley with +the Columbia River. Economy at the present would argue in favor of +converting the river into a canal, but the prospective wants of the +country are much more in favor of a railroad connection. For a +distance of eighteen miles below Walla Walla the nature of the face of +the country is eminently suited in its present condition for laying a +railroad track; and thence to Wallula the character of work being +either excavation in sand, clay, or soft rock, will enable a road to +be built at economical figures. The Touchet and the crossings of the +Walla Walla River will require heavy bridges but good abutment sites +are to be had, and the streams not being subject to overflow, no +impediment will ever be had from this cause. It could be safely stated +that a capital of $600,000 would construct and equip this road, and +when it is known that not less than one hundred thousand tons of +freight, at $20 per ton, and ten thousand passengers, at $5 each, pass +over this line annually, it does seem strange that capitalists are not +disposed to move in the matter in a practical shape. It is a project +in which every citizen could become interested. The farmers could +supply all the ties needed; the mills are fully capacitated to supply +all the lumber demanded, and the surplus population from the mines and +those out of employment could advantageously supply all the labor +needed in its construction; and with the valley of Walla Walla to +supply every necessary of life, to me it is anything but an Utopian +idea, and I feel warranted in believing that another twelve months +will not roll around before the matter is taken up with a view to its +practical execution. The teams now freighting on the road will not +necessarily be thrown out of employment, but the increasing +development of the interior will cause them simply to seek new lines +upon which to transport this same freight after the railroad shall +have deposited it at the city of Walla Walla, which nature has +constituted a commercial center, and from which will be distributed to +every point of the compass the merchandise which their wants demand. + +Reaching the Columbia at Wallula one is pleased with the commercial +character which this point is fast assuming. Freight strewn along the +levee for half a mile--stores erected, commission houses plying their +vocations, and everything giving an earnest of a prosperous future. +This site has doubtless many advantages as a commercial point; but so +long as men shall desire pleasant homes,--where the eye is as desirous +of drinking in draughts of pleasure and beauty as the pocket is of +accumulating wealth,--where mills, farms, gardens, and pleasant +enclosures can be had,--where the products of the fields are garnered +with a short transportation to a ready market--just so long will Walla +Walla and not Wallula be the chief emporium and point of business for +the interior, and for supplying the more immediate demands of the +Walla Walla Valley. That Wallula will always be a point where +commission houses, a few stores, and one or more hotels will always be +supported, no one can doubt; but looking toward a large and growing +city with all the pleasant appurtenances that make life happy, I can +not but conceive that its growth must become circumscribed within the +above limits. + +We took passage on the pleasant steamer Tenino, and in eight hours +were landed at Celilo, a point some two miles below the Des Chutes +Landing, where the Oregon Steam Navigation Company have already formed +the nucleus of a thriving village. The freshet of the past season has +strewn the banks of the Columbia with cord wood in abundance--which +commands $10 per cord. The John Day's wood yard, however, is the chief +depot for fuel. Here, too, one notices the marked progress that is +daily making its onward march to the interior. Here we saw two +steamers building, one already launched, owned by Captain Gray, and +still another at Celilo, of large dimensions. There is no doubt we are +far in advance, in point of boldness and daring, in the question of +river navigation on the Columbia, of those similarly engaged on the +eastern waters; and the success which has thus far attended the +efforts of those who dared to move in the navigation of the Upper +Columbia, has only emboldened them to greater efforts, and it is no +dream to feel that the day is not far distant when the Snake to the +American Falls, and the stretches of the Columbia from Wallula to Fort +Colville, and the Clark's Fork, from Park's Crossing to Horse Plain, +will all be tested by steam and thus made tributary to the growing +wants of trade and travel. + +The fare from Wallula to Celilo is $10. A ride of three hours brings +us to The Dalles--which point, too, is showing visible signs of a +healthy improvement; and the increasing trade to the mines of John +Day's and Powder rivers is destined to make it a point of great +commercial import. Whether the idea entertained by Mr. Newell, and +other men at The Dalles, of a direct trade from San Francisco to The +Dalles, shall ever be realized, is not so easy to be determined. It +certainly has a favorable location for the full consummation of such +an idea--and we all know what magic results gold can be made to +produce, and without desire of detriment to Portland, I should +heartily desire to see such a happy result attained. The will to do +it, and the means with which to do it, are the only two essentials +needed; and if these are had, it will be done--and the sooner the two +former are ascertained the sooner will the commercial idea (grand in +its conception and pregnant with so many grand results) become a +matter of past history. The railroad company have resumed the work of +grading and ballasting, and it is the desire of the company to have +the cars running by the first of next May. The roadbed is prepared for +some five or six miles out from the city, and the iron track laid for +half a mile. My own convictions are that the railroad, eventually, is +to be more beneficial to Walla Walla than The Dalles, but that the +latter is also to derive much benefit no one will doubt. + +We found the line of opposition steamers running, which, having the +tendency to reduce the rates of freight and travel, was a thing that +the commercial and traveling public were but too glad to see. The +passage from The Dalles to Portland was only one dollar. That +competition on this immense line will be fraught with healthy results +no one will doubt. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company, as the +pioneers on an untested river, do certainly merit much credit for the +bold hazard they so successfully made, and merit reward as such; and +though many complaints (founded in justice, doubtless,) have been +urged, still the history of all monopolies has shown a greater degree +of extortion than I have heard urged against this company. But so long +as the Columbia River shall remain an open sea I do heartily desire to +see competition seek here a channel of investment--and which it will +always do so long as it is found to pay. All philanthropic ideas of +"parties desiring to serve the public, without being remunerated," +will find no believers among the merchants and travelers of the Upper +Columbia. The merchant and traveler will take that line where the +rates are the lowest and accommodation the best, irrespective of the +owners of the line or those who pioneered them through to a success. +At least this is the history of the commercial past, and I see no +reason why it should not be the history of the commercial future. +Just so soon as capitalists find that putting steamers on the upper +Columbia is a paying investment, steamers will be put on; and, unless +the capitalist is so convinced, it will be a difficult task to cause +him to turn his capital into such a channel. + +This age is, preëminently, an _utilitarian_ one; in which facts and +figures are, particularly, the weapons with which the capitalist wages +his financial war. Armed with these, his victory is in his own hands; +not so armed, it is in those of some one else. The portage of the +Cascades, heretofore so great a bugbear in the trip from The Dalles to +Portland, is now made in a brief hour on the cars, without detriment +or danger. An extra dollar for riding on the cars is charged, though, +if you prefer it, you can walk on the road in nearly the same time, +free of cost. No traveler passes over this portage without awarding to +Colonel Ruckle every praise for the bold prosecution of his bold +project, and no one begrudges him the ample reward which he is to-day +deriving in token of his past labors. This portage is on the Oregon +side; but it is to be hoped that the difficulties on the Washington +side, between Bradford and Bush, will be speedily adjusted, so that +the steam cars, now running on a portion of the track already +completed, shall connect the two termini of the portage, and thus +reduce the time of travel within the minimum limits. The post at Fort +Cascades is now abandoned, nor does it seem at present necessary to +hold it under garrison, so far as the Indians are concerned. The +question of a foreign war, however, would render it a key-point of +marked importance. + +A run of seven hours brings us to Portland. I fear, from the present +appearance of Vancouver, that all chances of commercial rivalry with +Portland have been banished. Capital is certainly not seeking it at +present as a point of investment. The freshet has left its marks of +devastation along the levee and lower portions of the city, and it +will require much capital and energy to reinstate Vancouver in the +position it occupied two years since; and if the idea of making The +Dalles a large commercial emporium be ever consumated, I can not +conceive that Vancouver will ever occupy a position of more than +secondary importance, unless the western slopes of the Cascades should +open up a gold-bearing region. In such an event Vancouver would +necessarily become a point of fixed commercial importance; but so long +as the permanency which now marks Portland shall continue to be +maintained, and the question on the part of the citizens of The Dalles +to make it a commercial depot shall continue to be agitated, so long +will Vancouver stand the chance of being kept in the background. On +the Lower River we traveled to Portland in company with quite a a +number of emigrants destined to Puget Sound, and they all regretted +that they could not have gone from Walla Walla to the Sound by land. +This is a matter in which every citizen of Washington Territory is +more or less interested. The road opened in 1853, by the Natchess +Pass, has fallen into such a state, that, unless repaired and kept so, +it will be useless for all practical purposes of emigrants for the +Sound from the States. I understand that the Packwood trail is deemed +by many preferable to the Natchess route; but whether we shall have a +route via the Natchess, Snoqualmie, Packwood, or any other pass, is a +matter about which those truly interested in seeing the Sound section +brought directly in communication with the interior, will not fall +out. The citizens of the Sound need a good road across the Cascades, +direct from Wallula. The valley of the Yakima will doubtless give us a +good line, and then across to the Wenatchee, via Packwood's Pass, +either into Olympia or Steilacoom. The long interval which has elapsed +since the Natchess Pass was traveled has naturally caused the line to +fall out of repair. The emigrants who desire to locate on the Sound +need a line by which they can carry their wagons, and over which drive +their stock, and not be driven to take the steamers down to +Monticello, thus increasing costs so heavy that it seems +impracticable. This is a matter of great importance, not only for +emigrants, but in order to bring the citizens of the Sound, by the +most direct trade and associations, with those resident on the eastern +slopes of the Cascades,--and is one of such importance that it is to +be hoped that the attention of Congress will be duly called to it. +Military necessity calls for such a line, and a military road should +be so located and constructed. + +The large crowd that daily assembles on the wharf on the arrival of +the steamer from The Dalles is an unerring barometer of the interest +felt in the development of the upper country; and a conversation with +the leading merchant of the city convinced me that the trade of the +Willamette--where the returns to the merchants are in flour, grain, +hides, and fruit,--is small and of minor importance compared to that +whence their returns are by daily steamers and in gold dust. The +latter is immediately converted into coin and seeks new channels of +investment, and is turned over a half-dozen times a year, whereas the +former must bide its fortunate market and sales thus delayed from week +to week and from month to month. The establishment of a branch mint, +either at Portland or The Dalles, is becoming a subject of daily +commercial necessity, and should such a branch be established, if the +treasurer was allowed, as soon as the assays were made and the value +of the certificate of deposit made known, to pay out the coin +immediately for these deposits, much time would be saved to the +depositor, and much gain and saving to the miner, whereas now, without +a branch mint, the miners are forced to sell their dust to +speculators, who must be paid for their time; and this payment is kept +up till it reaches San Francisco--here from fourteen to twenty days +are consumed before the dust is coined--though not more than two days +before the value of the deposit by the assayer is determined. The +treasurer has always on hand an amount of funds which could be paid +out for the deposits made, which deposits, when coined, could replace +that paid out, thus benefiting the miner by bringing him directly in +contact with the Government, who has eventually to coin his dust, and +save him time and "shaving" by the speculator, and to this extent +materially benefits the country by distributing and disbursing the +money in the very same region where it is dug from the earth. A branch +mint for Oregon and Washington, and an authority for the assistant +treasurer to pay out at once the value of the deposit as soon as the +assay is determined, are two things which, if effected, would +materially tend to benefit the miner, and hence the country; whereas +now the time consumed in sending the dust from the mines and getting +it back in coin must be paid for by somebody, and that somebody ever +has been, and, unless these changes be made, will always be the miner. +Just as quick as the dust of the miner is returned to him in coin in +the minimum space of time and with the minimum "shave"--which in this +case would be only the cost of transporting it to the branch mint and +back,--then will the capital of the country be in the hands of the +greater number, and that number a class of people who are interested +in the material interest and prosperity of the country--and thus on +[will our] roads, rivers, and works of internal improvement--our +schools, academies, and all the elements of social and substantial +happiness and wealth be added to and quickened by an impulse that is +healthy in itself, and which aims at and desires healthy avenues of +investments. Should such a branch mint be established, Portland would +doubtless claim the site; but whether it be there, at The Dalles, or +Walla Walla, is not a subject upon which there should be any feeling. +Let us have it at one of these points; and if there is any one point +where arguments could be adduced to determine the matter to the +exclusion of the others, that point is at Walla Walla. For it is here +whence the greater bulk of gold dust must flow; and if not here, then +at The Dalles--the great Golden Gate of the Upper Columbia. + +Desiring to see a section of the country through which I had never +passed we took the stage from Portland to Sacramento, which at the end +of the first day's journey brings us to Salem--where I determined to +lay over a day to visit the woolen factory, and observe the +characteristics of the place. The ride through the Willamette from +Portland to Salem is pleasant and refreshing,--large and well-tilled +farms, orchards of great proportions, with their trees ladened with +the golden fruit--peaches, apples, and pears, in most profuse +abundance; neat and well-trimmed gardens, where the poetry of +horticulture bespoke the appreciation of the owners of well-tilled +acres. The style of farms, buildings, barns, and outhouses were all in +good taste, and indicated the extent of means of the farmers of +Oregon. The orchards of Oregon during the past twelve years have +proven to be a source of golden wealth; nor is their value in the +least diminished by the large amount of fruit being now raised in +California. Many have asked where Oregon would find a market for her +orchards when California should produce her own fruit, and though it +is more than doubtful whether California will ever rival Oregon in the +growth of apples, yet if this should prove to be the case, the mining +sections of eastern Oregon and of Washington are to-day sending forth +a message to all fruits growers to dry, preserve, and can all their +fruits, and they offer even to-day a golden market that must forever +consume all fruits so preserved; and I have no doubt but that those +who will turn their attention to this employment of preparing fruits, +either as dried or canned, must always reap a golden reward for their +labors. I noticed at several points that attention was already being +much given this species of labor, and the future will prove that the +mining sections for dried fruits will guarantee an equally lucrative +market for Oregon, that California has proven for her in green fruits +in times past. + +In point of natural beauty I do not think that the Willamette Valley +compares favorably with the smaller but equally well cultivated valley +of the Rogue River; but when we see once a magnificent outlet for all +the produce of the farmer, and the absence of such an outlet in the +latter, we are forced to prefer a home in the Willamette--where Ceres +has erected her temple of large proportions, and where her votaries +are annually basking in the sunshine of her smiles, her bounteous +plenty. In passing through this rich and exuberant country I could not +but regret that the donation law that first opened homes to the first +settlers of Oregon was as generous as it was in the largeness of its +grant--six hundred and forty acres, in other words, was too large a +grant for the full and truly healthy growth of any new country. True, +it required a great inducement to turn a pioneer colony toward the +Pacific so early as '46 and '47; but I verily believe that one half +the grant would have brought as many settlers as double the amount has +done. The true index, doubtless, of the prosperity of a country might +be regarded the ratio of its population to the square mile; but when +we find only one settler to the square mile, the country, from +necessity, must be sparsely populated; and this condition must hold +for so long a period that detriment on a large scale must be felt. +That the donation act has had, therefore, its disadvantages with its +advantages no one I think will doubt,--taking the present as the +standpoint from which to view the prosperity of the country. This, +coupled with the fact that the lands were taken without any regard to +the points of compass--thus ignoring our system of land surveys, so +simple and yet so beautiful,--I can not but regret that the action of +our Government could not have foreseen some of the detrimental results +into which its generosity has led it. Of course, it is among the +things of the past, but not on that account the less to be regretted. +The experience in this matter may not, and, probably, never will find +any field for application--for the spirit of all preëmption, +homestead, and donation laws, as since passed, has studiedly held two +things in view, namely, the minimum amount of land commensurate with +the object to be attained by their cession and the most rigid +adherence to the points of the compass in their location. In referring +to the donation act, I do not cavil at the generous action of a +generous government--for I but too well appreciate that it has had the +effect to open to our grasp a golden continent, with avenues of trade +and with wealth--which has built up a line of battlement of half a +million of Freemen; not probably, in looking at the results attained, +it might seem ungenerous to object, at this late date, to any of those +measures that assisted even in part to bring about this result. But I +am rather disposed to believe that the agricultural districts of the +Pacific were occupied and filled more in consequence of the gold +discoveries and to supply their wants than from the spirit which +pervaded the donation acts; for the latter antedating the discovery +of gold on the Pacific did not point out the market where the produce +of well-tilled fields should be sold. The coincidences of that date, +however, were most happy. + +At Salem we found the legislature in session, and the excitement +incident to the election of Mr. Harding as United States Senator +having subsided, the body were moving in such business as looked +toward the growing wants of the State. I found in Mr. Harding a plain, +unpretending, and sensible gentlemen, and in whom the interests of +Oregon will find a true representative. At the invitation of Governor +Gibbs I visited the Committee of the State Fair, composed of delegates +from all the counties. It was here decided to make Salem the site for +holding the annual fairs; a point so central, so well suited in every +respect, that there seemed to be great unanimity of sentiment in the +matter. The grounds around are open and spacious, and you feel that +you breathe the air and tread the ground of a rural city, in making a +tour of its extent. It is one of the most beautiful localities I have +seen in Oregon--on the right bank of the Willamette, with beautiful +shade trees, neat cottages, not cramped or huddled together, but with +ample spaces for gardens--with a fine view of the woods, which, in a +vista of twenty miles, surround it--and, in the background, with the +bold slope of the Cascades, renders it one of the most beautiful sites +for a city to be found in Oregon. It is not only the political center +of Oregon, but it is also destined to become a point of great +manufacturing importance. It is surrounded by fine forests of oak, +fir, pine, cedar. The large fields of grain here cluster around it as +the center. Its pioneer woolen factory, turning its hundred of +spindles, here rears its head, thus attracting toward it every milling +interest. The same stream that turns its gristmills, turns its +sawmills--and even then the water is not allowed to run to waste, but +is again caught and harnessed up to the spindles of industry where the +covering of the back of the sheep of yesterday is converted into a +covering for your own back of to-day. No one resident north of +California can visit the woolen factory of Salem without a feeling of +pride and of pleasure; and as he sees the bales of blankets, of +clothes, and of flannels, lading the wagons which stand ready to be +freighted for every homestead in Oregon, he feels the glow of pride in +thus seeing our own looms weaving wools of our own growth, and desires +instantly to robe himself in garments that no foreign hand has woven, +and from wool grown from flocks no alien hand has tended. Let "Home +Industry" be patronized, home products be consumed, and the country +will be benefited to such an extent that we shall not have idlers to +stir up mischief nor rebels to stir up rebellion in either the North +or South. Mr. Rector, the obliging and gentlemanly head of the +factory, showed me through the compartments and gave me some valuable +statistics relative to its annual growth. His intention is to double +this year the number of spindles. The surplus wool, heretofore shipped +to New York, will be retained and manufactured at home; thus, our +clothes and blankets will all be supplied from wool which all can +grow. Mr. Rector finds difference in the wools grown on the east and +the west of the Cascades, and preference being given to the latter, as +containing more oily or fatty matter, and hence requiring less oiling +in the process of manufacturing. That grown to the east of the +Cascades is thought to be not only drier but harsher--more dirty--but +time and the proper attention to its culture will doubtless bring +about changes. New breeds, housing in winter, and dry foothills for +grazing, are all advantages which wool growers to the east of the +Cascades can have on their side. There are few regions where finer +grazing fields are to be had than the slopes of the Bitter Root +Mountains; and the freedom from excessive dampness, the pure, fresh +mountain springs, are all so many advantages, that I confidently look +forward to the day when these many well-grassed slopes shall be +covered with fleecy flocks, and when the waters of the many silvery +streams that now flow through the Walla Walla Valley, shall be caught +and used to turn the wheels of a woolen factory, from which shall be +turned out all the fabrics needed to clothe the population destined to +find homes to the east of the Cascade Mountains. The clothes made by +the Salem factory compare favorably with those imported. One thing +certain, there is no cotton in their fabrics. Flannels of every hue +are turned out at forty cents per yard; blankets from $4 to $8, +according to texture; and clothes from 75 cents to $1.50 per yard, +according to fineness. It would be a most happy result if every +merchant, farmer, miner, and professional man in Oregon and Washington +would determine in his own mind to have at least one suit of clothes +made from Salem cloth, and every bed to be covered by at least one +pair of Salem blankets. This would be affording a practical proof of +our pride in seeing established in our midst these factories, which +must eventuate in the profit of individuals. It is much to be +regretted that the immense and illimitable mill power at Oregon City +is not now turned to good account. The disasters by fire and flood of +the Linn City mills have been of such a sad character that the +tendencies now are to intimidate capitalists, at least for a time, +from embarking in similar investments at the same site. A substantial +railroad is being built around the portage at Oregon City, destined to +diminish the time and cost of shipment up and down the Willamette. The +season for practicable steam navigation to the upper points of the +river being over, but little business could be noticed on the part of +those engaged in this enterprise. + +While in Salem I called the attention of Judge Humason, of Wasco, and +of Governor Gibbs, to the importance of establishing a mail line from +Walla Walla to Fort Laramie, to there tap the present daily overland +mail service, by which means our mails at Walla Walla could be +delivered in fifteen days from Saint Louis, and in seventeen days to +Portland--this in the summer season--or twenty to twenty-two days in +the winter. At present our mails cross the continent to Sacramento, +two thousand miles; thence to Portland, seven hundred; thence to Walla +Walla, three hundred more; making a total of three thousand miles to +travel before we get them; whereas I can guarantee a line by the route +indicated of one half the distance and one half the time. I framed a +memorial, which Judge Humason would introduce in Congress, for this +line; and was promised by Mr. Harding his coöperation to see that the +matter was not allowed to pass unnoticed during the coming winter. + +Leaving Salem, a journey of twenty-four hours passes us through +Corvallis and Eugene City; and through an exceedingly beautiful and +rich agricultural country on to Oakland, where the celebrated "Baker +Mills" are established, producing, it is said, the finest flour in +Oregon. The disasters of the flood were too visible at each and every +point, sweeping away bridges and ferries, and destroying property to +the extent of thousands of dollars. A large structure across the +Umpqua, costing $10,000, was thus carried off--its convenience being +now replaced by a ferry. All along the road we passed small parties of +immigrants who crossed the Plains this season; some in search of new +homes; others to join their friends who years since had preceded them. +The Umpqua is a beautiful valley in a high state of cultivation; the +school-houses, dotting here a hill, and there a valley, betoken that +the education of the youth of the country was not being neglected. +Roseburg, the county seat of the Umpqua region, is a gem of a village; +streets neatly laid out, and neat, white, frame cottages, giving the +place a rare picturesque beauty, where mountain and dale, and the hand +of refined culture, all joined in beautiful harmony. The line of +telegraph posts extends throughout this entire distance from Portland +to Canyonville--the farthest point south where they are as yet +erected. It is fully anticipated to have the line from Salem to +Portland in working order by winter; as also the line from +Jacksonville to Yreka. The posts are supplied and erected by contract +by the farmers and others living along the line, at a cost of from +$1.25 to $2 per post, and the line when completed will cost $200 per +mile. Local intelligence, and the interest which every citizen feels +in the reception of intelligence, now bristling with so much import, +will cause this line, as soon as placed in good working order, to pay +to the stockholders fair dividends on their capital. This link between +Canyonville and Jacksonville will be completed during the next season. +I saw Mr. Strong in Yreka, and found him pushing ahead the line with +all his characteristic energy. He deserves much credit for prosecuting +this project thus far to a success that is to bring to our doors daily +intelligence from the East, and it is to be hoped that the citizens of +the Upper Columbia will move in the same matter as soon as the line is +completed to Portland. + +A ride of twenty hours brings us into the Rogue Valley and to +Jacksonville, a region I regard as one of the most beautiful and +picturesque to be found in Oregon. The valley is from twenty-five to +thirty miles square, entirely taken up by beautiful farms and under +high cultivation; with farmhouses and barns in good keeping with the +character of its progress; grist and sawmills erected to supply the +wants of its inhabitants, and with inexhaustible forests of timber. +Gold mining is here carried on with much success; and it was +interesting to see the lines of sluice boxes running through the +streets of Jacksonville that turned out as pretty gold as any mine on +the coast. Unfortunately for this fine valley, it has no outlet for +its produce, and is dependent solely on a home market. Its supplies +are brought in by the way of Crescent City, by a good wagon road, at a +cost of four to five cents per pound. Oats here are 40 cents a bushel; +wheat, 70 to 90 cents; lumber, $15 per thousand; labor from $30 to $40 +per month. We observed, in squads, the ubiquitous Chinaman, moving +from mining locality to mining locality, fleeing from the kicks of one +to the cuffs of the other, with no fixed abiding place to be called +his permanent home. + +A location for a railroad line from Portland to Jacksonville is +eminently practicable, and the citizens of the Willamette will be +blind to their own interests if they do not so move in the matter so +as to secure to themselves the advantages of the ample provisions made +in the Pacific Railroad Bill for a connection between Portland and +Sacramento; but south from Jacksonville there will be a severe problem +for the engineers to solve, both in the shape of grades and tunnels. +The Calapooia range will present an easy problem for solution; but the +Scott's [Siskiyou?] and Trinity mountains will not be easily handled. +They are high, broad, and broken, and no railroad line can be laid +across or through them, except at most enormous cost. But that it is +practicable, and will in time be built, I have no doubt. But my views +relative to this location as a branch of the Pacific Railroad have +been more than confirmed by a detailed view of its geography, and I +still insist that a branch of the Pacific Railroad that will benefit +Oregon and Washington as such can only be found by tapping the main +trunk at or near Fort Laramie, and coming into the Columbia at or near +the mouth of Snake River; and thence using the main Columbia to such a +point whence freight can be shipped to and across the ocean. I made +special inquiries relative to the depth of snow across the Calapooia, +Scott's and Trinity mountains during the past winter, and learned that +not less than eight feet fell upon these mountains; still the stage +coach passed these mountains every day until the freshet suspended the +travel; which was for the period of six weeks. The Scott's and Trinity +mountains are higher than any mountains crossed by my road from Walla +Walla to Fort Benton; and knowing that the question of snow with us is +no more difficult than that met and overcome on this and other lines, +I am sanguine to believe that a mail line from Fort Laramie to Walla +Walla will prove eventually practicable. But the _experimentum +crucis_, that will leave no lingering doubt even with the most +uncompromising cavalier, will be afforded us, I trust, during the next +twelve months; and that will deliver at our doors in Walla Walla the +mails direct from Saint Louis in fifteen days. I am but too anxious +that this last crowning success should be afforded us; not only to +give us increased mail facilities for the present, but to awaken a +practical attention to that region where the _isothermal_ and +_isochimal_ lines have for ages past presented, and do still continue +to present, to us meteorological phases as wonderful in their nature +as they are destined to prove useful in their future results. + +To those who derive pleasure in seeing the rough, rugged, wild face of +Nature, made to wear the smiles of civilization and of progress, and +to witness what money and labor can accomplish, I know of no point +where they can visit to see these in all their grandeur than across +the Scott's and Trinity mountains, which, in point of difficulty and +rugged wildness, surpass any mountain region it has ever been my lot +to travel, from the Columbia to the Missouri River. Toll roads lead +over both of these mountains; one connecting Yreka with Rogue River; +and the other, Yreka with Shasta. The road over Scott's Mountain is +about twenty miles long, and made at a cost not far from $200,000; and +the other, eight miles, made at a cost of $16,000. The mind that +conceived the road, and the hand that executed it, were not cast in +Nature's ordinary mould; genius of a higher order was Nature's gift to +them. Those who invested their capital (for they were both built by +private enterprise) are now being well repaid; of this, the long line +of wagons and pack trains, freighted from Red Bluff to the northern +mines, furnish unmistakable evidence. + +A ride over Scott's Mountain amply repays one for all the labor +required to make it; and can be made by no one who will not appreciate +that bold enterprise that is to-day leveling mountains, leveeing +valleys, bridging torrents, and, by the sound of pick and drill, even +arousing Nature from her lethargy sleep--deep down in the very bowels +of the mountains--throughout the length and breadth of California. + +Leaving Rogue River, we pass at once from an agricultural to a wild, +mountainous region, which constitutes the mining section of northern +California, of which Yreka may be considered the center. It is a place +of much trade, built mostly of brick, and presents a bustling +appearance. It supports two newspapers, three or four hotels; has a +large post office, and, at present, is the northern terminus of the +State telegraph line. A cemetery, well arranged in its plan, forms the +northern entrance to the city; the number of graves it contains shows +that here as elsewhere death has done its work. A day's journey, and +we come to Shasta, a mining town of one thousand people, possessing +few attractions outside of a business locality. The road, approaching +Yreka, winds near the northern base of Mount Shasta, a frowning snow +peak, fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. Though grand +and majestic, it does not compare favorably in either respect with +Mount Hood--the father of all snow peaks on the Pacific. From Shasta a +ride of a day brings us to Red Bluff--to which point steamers of light +draught are still running from Sacramento, but with so many delays and +uncertainties that the traveler prefers to continue the journey by the +stage. At this point, however, we finally emerge from the mountains of +California and enter upon the broad swelling prairie which constitutes +the norther portion of the Sacramento Valley--where, though the +country is mostly a waste, dotted here and there with clumps of oak, +or openings of the same growth, yet where many large and inviting +farming sections are had. At Tehama we cross the Sacramento, by a +buoy-ferry, and, in a few miles, enter upon one of the most choice +agricultural districts the eye ever rested upon--where grain fields +are not measured by the acre, nor yet by the mile, but by the league. +By a day's drive we passed through the extensive and rich fields of +Major Bidwell, where eleven thousand acres of grain were being +threshed--where his own mill stood ready to convert into flour the +produce of his own fields; where his own mammoth store furnished +hundreds of his employés with all the wants of life; where his own +energy was opening, with his own means, a wagon road from the +Sacramento River to the Humboldt mines; and where his own purse has +already paid out $35,000, and backed by a willingness to pay as much +more, in order to open up a new market for the exuberant products of +so rich a soil as he himself possesses. The center of his large +estate is the beautiful village of "Chico," where, in rural wealth as +well as in rural simplicity, live an educated and contented peasantry, +all more or less supported by the means of this bachelor +millionaire--whose residence, on the banks of the Sacramento, is one +of those architectural gems hid away amidst shrubs, trees, orchards, +and groves, as if to avoid the gaze of him whose residence is of +crowded cities and who is almost unworthy to breath the sweet perfume +of a region where such bowers grow. May Major Bidwell long +live--though bachelor he be--to dispense his bounties to a people who +respect him for the liberal and generous manner in which he shares his +wealth with those not similarly blest. + +From Tehama the ride of half a day brings us to Oroville, a city well +named, for situated as it is on the Feather River, it is in the heart +of a rich mining country, where the miners have worked like so many +beavers, and where the water of the Feather River is made to run in +pipes and reservoirs into lakes for hundreds of feet above the level +of the river, at the site of the town. This river is crossed by a +ferry. A steamer is said to have once landed here from Sacramento, but +such occurrences I regard as rare. The river is rapid; boils and +surges over a rocky and rugged bed, and joins the Sacramento at +Marysville--to which point a night's ride brings us--continuing to +pass through a rich agricultural region, under a state of high +cultivation. Marysville is a large, prosperous city--houses, mostly of +brick--at the junction of the Yuba and Feather rivers. Thence on to +Sacramento, (a journey of eight hours' staging,) the road is over a +level, agricultural district, throughout which the piles of drift +timber and the absence of fences, in many places, and the presence of +boats and bateaux, all told that the water had been here supreme not +many months past; barns with their roofs a mile distant; houses +without any; outhouses and dwellings with a watermark up to the second +story--and in many localities no dwellings at all, where commodious +and comfortable tenements had been--all told of the presence and the +power of the waters of Sacramento when charged with fullness on its +way to the ocean. It seems to me that a system of high levees is the +only thing to reclaim hundreds of acres of fine swamp land along the +Sacramento, and to prevent the repetition of these disastrous results, +which made the people poor and retard the growth of the State. +Sacramento is already surrounded by a high levee which may protect it +another season; but the levee should begin at Marysville and extend to +Sacramento. It will, of course, be expensive, but it will repay the +labor in the end. + +Between Marysville and Sacramento we passed the large and magnificent +claim called "Sutter's Ranch," though not under a high state of +cultivation. The old pioneer is now poor, but his friends are +sufficiently zealous in his behalf to see that his wants go not +unsupplied. One can not pass over this region and at the same time +observe how rapidly the Sacramento River is being obstructed by the +immense deposits of sand and sediment which its current is daily +bringing down, thus forming bars and deltas destined not only to +intercept but probably to suspend at no distant day navigation to its +upper waters,--without feeling the pressing importance of a railroad +connection between Sacramento and the more northern regions of +California. Already are parties out viewing and prospecting a road +through Noble's Pass, where it is proposed by some to carry the +Pacific railroad line. + +That California will be covered with a network of railways is only a +question of time, and that time determined by the low rates of +interest that will cause capitalists to become interested in these +great works of internal improvement. Local trade and travel must +always be great, and must always increase so long as gold shall be +mined, and that period seems to be illimitable. + +From Sacramento we took passage on the fine steamer Antelope, for San +Francisco, which in six hours and at a cost of $5 brought us to the +end of one section of our journey. There are no opposition steamers on +now and hence the monopolists command the river. The signs of the +devastation of the flood marked the entire distance from Sacramento to +the bay of San Francisco. But here and there we found the inhabitants +raising their dwellings a story, and by levees and other improvements +trying to reclaim their fields, as well as to defy the freshets of +coming years. No one can pass over this exceedingly interesting region +from Portland to Sacramento without feeling a thrill of pride and of +pleasure to see what American energy and American capital have +accomplished during the past fourteen years of its occupancy; and to +picture in imagination what the next fourteen years may produce, would +almost render oneself liable to such an unjust criticism that I would +forbear to enter upon a theme so pregnant with interest; suffice it to +say, let those who have not made the trip, make it at least once and +see for themselves pleasant homes and well-tilled fields, grand +mountains, useful rivers, forests of orchards, and oceans of grain; +miles of sluice boxes and tons of gold; and the beauty of a region +redolent with the songs of thrift and industry--and if they be not +well repaid for all the fatigues of a mountain journey, the fault will +certainly be theirs, and not the bounty of generous nature, who with +lavish hand has spread so many pictures of the grand and +beautiful--nor yet the fault of the inhabitants by the wayside, who +by culture and improvement have framed these pictures in gilded and +golden casements, and where contentment and happiness are the visible +garments in which everything would seem to be enrobed. + + + + +INDIAN WARS OF SOUTHERN OREGON. + +ADDRESS OF HON. WILLIAM M. COLVIG DELIVERED AT THE REUNION OF THE +INDIAN WAR VETERANS, AT MEDFORD ON SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1902. + + +I was first invited to deliver an address of welcome to the Indian war +veterans, who meet here to-day; but within the past few days I was +informed that an historical sketch of early days in southern Oregon, +including an account of the Indian wars, would be my part in the +programme of exercises. + +My knowledge of the subject is not very extensive. I lived in southern +Oregon as early as 1852, but was only a boy, not old enough to take +part in any of the stirring incidents which I remember of those days. +I see before me faces that recall events long past, and which left +pictures in the album of memory that time will never efface, and you +will pardon me if I refer to one of those personal recollections. + +In 1855 my father, Dr. Wm. L. Colvig, and family lived in a log cabin +on the South Umpqua River, near Canyonville. One bright, clear day in +October of that year, myself and brother, on returning from a trip in +the "cañon," saw standing, in an exhausted condition, a white cayuse +pony before the door of our home. The horse was covered with blood. +Everything seemed quiet about the place. We rushed into the house and +saw a man lying on his back, full length, upon the puncheon floor. His +clothing was partially removed. His body was covered with blood. +Father was kneeling over him on one side and mother on the other. They +were dressing his wounds. He had nine separate bullet holes in his +limbs and body. Doctor Colvig had his case of surgical instruments at +hand, which consisted of a butcher knife and a pair of scissors. The +knife was the one we had used to cut meat when crossing the plains. +Mother was preparing bandages by tearing up some of our old "hickory" +shirts. Well, they patched Uncle Bill Russell--called "Long Bill" in +those days--up in pretty good shape. I see him here to-day, but I +don't think that he is looking for a fight with Indians. At the time +of which I speak, he had been shot by the Indians about five miles +from my father's house but succeeded in riding to our door. His +companion, Weaver, had a close call, but escaped unhurt. + +The Indian wars of southern Oregon were stubborn contests. It is a +natural law that the fittest survive, and wherever civilization in its +advance meets barbarian force, the latter must give way. When they +meet there is an "irrepressible conflict," the details of which we can +not always reconcile with the Golden Rule. The tribes who took part in +these several wars in southern Oregon were the Rogue Rivers, Modocs, +Klamaths, Shastas, and Umpquas. The only honest acquisition of the +Rogue River Indians was their name. On account of the thieving and +treacherous habits of the people of that tribe, the river which flows +through the valley was called by the early French trappers "Riviere +aux Coquin," the river of rogues. The Oregon legislature in 1853 +sought to change the name, and did name it Gold River, but, as the +boys say, "it didn't take." + +It will be impossible for me to do more than mention a few of the more +prominent incidents, and I can not be very accurate in regard to dates +and other matters pertaining to that period, as my information has +been gathered from many sources, some of which are not very authentic. + +It may be of interest to know that on December 27, 1850, Congress +passed what is known as the donation land law, which gave to every +American citizen over the age of eighteen years, if single, one half +section of land; if married, one section of land, one half of which +was the absolute property of the wife, the other half of the husband. +There were no settlers in the Rogue River Valley prior to New Year's +day, 1851. In the spring of 1851 a man by the name of Evans +constructed a ferry across Rogue River, just below the town of +Woodville. During the same spring a man by the name of Perkins also +established a ferry on that river. The first donation land claim was +located by Judge A. A. Skinner, an Indian agent, in June, 1851. This +claim is the Walker farm, near Central Point. Upon it he built the +first settler's house ever built in the valley. Chesley Gray, his +interpreter, also located a donation land claim in June, 1851. It is +what is known as the "Constant Farm," near Central Point. The +following named persons filed donation land claims prior to February, +1852: Moses Hopwood, on Christmas day, 1851; N. C. Dean, at Willow +Springs, December, 1851; Stone and Poyntz, at Wagner Creek, December, +1851; L. J. C. Duncan, Major Barron, Thomas Smith, Pat Dunn, E. K. +Anderson, and Samuel Culver had made their locations prior to +February, 1852. I do not pretend that these were all, but the entire +number of claims taken up to that time did not exceed twenty-eight. + +In December, 1851, James Clugage and J. R. Poole located the first +mining claim in southern Oregon, at a point near the old brewery in +Jacksonville. They had been informed by a couple of young men who were +passing through the country that they had found gold near that place. +Immediately after this discovery became known in California and by the +incoming immigrants to Oregon, there was a rush made to the mines of +Jacksonville. Old man Shiveley, the discoverer of Shiveley Gulch, +above Jacksonville, inside of eighteen months had taken out over +$50,000, and since that time, from the best statistics obtainable, the +mines of southern Oregon have yielded about $35,000,000 in gold. + +During the winter of 1852 flour was sold at $1 per pound, tobacco at +$1 an ounce, and salt was priceless. Jacksonville was laid out as a +town in the summer of 1852 by Henry Klippel and John R. Poole. + +I will now speak of the Indian wars in which the people of southern +Oregon were engaged. The first recorded fight between the Indians and +whites in any portion of southern Oregon occurred in 1828, when +Jedediah S. Smith and seven other trappers were attacked by the +Indians on the Umpqua River, and fifteen of the whites were slain, +only Smith and three of his companions escaping. The next fight of +which we have any account was in June, 1836, at a point just below the +Rock Point bridge, where the barn on the W. L. Colvig estate stands. +In this fight there were Dan Miller, Edward Barnes, Doctor Bailey, +George Gay, Saunders, Woodworth, Irish Tom, and J. Turners and squaw. +Two trappers were killed, and nearly all were wounded. Within my +recollection, Doctor Bailey visited the scene of this fight, and +pointed out to my father its location. In September, 1837, at the +mouth of Foots Creek, in Jackson County, a party of men who had been +sent to California by the Methodist mission to procure cattle, while +on their return were attacked by the Rogue River Indians and had a +short, severe fight, in which several of the whites were badly wounded +and some twelve or fourteen of the Indians killed. In May, 1845, J. C. +Fremont had a fight with the Indians in the Klamath country; it may +have been a little over the line in California. Four of Fremont's men +were killed and quite a large number of the Indians. Kit Carson was a +prominent figure in this battle. + +As before stated, a few bold adventurers had located in Rogue River +Valley as early as December, 1851. During the spring, summer, and fall +of that year there was a considerable amount of travel through the +valley, by parties from northern Oregon going to and returning from +the great mining excitement of California. Fights between these +travelers and the Indians were of frequent occurrence. On the +fifteenth day of May, 1851, a pack train was attacked at a point on +Bear Creek, where the town of Phoenix is now situated, and a man by +the name of Dilley was killed. On June 3, 1851, a party of Oregonians, +under the leadership of Dr. James McBride, had a severe fight near +Willow Springs with Chief "Chucklehead" and his band. Chucklehead and +six other Indians were killed; several of the whites were severely +wounded. + +About this time Maj. Phil Kearny, afterwards General Kearny, who was +killed at the battle of Chantilly in the Civil war, happened to be +passing through the valley on his way from Vancouver to Benicia, +California, with a detachment of two companies of United States +regulars. He remained a short time and assisted in punishing the +Indians for the numerous depredations committed by them during the +year. He had several fights while in the valley, in which about fifty +Indians were killed. One of these fights was on Rogue River, near the +mouth of Butte Creek, where Captain Stuart, of the United States army, +received an arrow wound from an Indian, who was also wounded. The +arrow penetrated the captain's body, and he died the next day at the +camp on Bear Creek, near Phoenix. The camp thenceforth took the name +of Camp Stuart, and Bear Creek in all government records is called +Stuart's Creek. The captain's body was buried at a spot where the +wagon road crosses the mill race in the town of Phoenix. Some years +ago his remains were taken up and sent to Washington, D. C., to be +buried by the side of his mother. Captain Stuart's last words were, +"Boys, it is awful to have passed through all the battles of the +Mexican war, and then be killed by an Indian in this wild country." + +At the massacre of emigrants at Bloody Point, Klamath County, in 1852, +thirty-six men, women, and children were murdered. Capt. Ben Wright +and twenty-seven men from Yreka and Col. J. E. Ross and some +Oregonians went out to punish these Modocs. Old Schonchin, who was +afterwards hung at Fort Klamath in 1873, at the close of the Modoc +war, was the leader. Wright gave them no quarter. He and his men, +infuriated at the sight of the mangled bodies of the emigrants, killed +men, women, and children without any discrimination--about forty in +all; and it is said that they asked for a "peace talk," whereupon a +roast ox was prepared. Wright poisoned it, gave it to the Indians, and +then rode away. [This story is now generally discredited.--EDITOR.] + +I can not give you the names of all who were killed in Rogue River +Valley during the years 1851, 1852, and 1853. I will mention some that +were killed in 1853. In August of that year Edward Edwards was killed +near Medford; Thomas Wills and Rhodes Nolan, in the edge of the town +of Jacksonville; Pat Dunn and Carter, both wounded in a fight on Neil +Creek above Ashland. In a fight with the Indians on Bear Creek, in +August, 1853, Hugh Smith was killed, and Howell, Morris, Hodgins, +Whitmore, and Gibbs wounded, the last named three dying from their +wounds soon after. + +These murders, and many more that could be mentioned, brought on the +Indian war of 1853. Southern Oregon raised six companies of +volunteers, who served under the following named captains, viz, R. L. +Williams, J. K. Lamerick, John F. Miller, Elias A. Owens, and W. W. +Fowler. Capt. B. F. Alden, of the Fourth U. S. Infantry, with twenty +regulars, came over from Fort Jones, California, and with him a large +number of volunteers under Capt. James P. Goodall and Capt. Jacob +Rhoades, two Indian fighters of experience. Captain Alden was given +the command of all the forces. The first battle of the war was fought +on the twelfth day of August, 1853, and was an exciting little fight +between about twenty volunteers under Lieut. Burrell Griffin, of +Miller's company, and a band of Indians under Chief John. The +volunteers were ambushed at a point near the mouth of Williams creek, +on the Applegate. The whites were defeated with a loss of two killed +and Lieutenant Griffin severely wounded. There were five Indians +killed and wounded in the battle. On August 10, 1853, John R. Harding +and Wm. R. Rose, of Captain Lamerick's company, were killed near +Willow Springs. On the sixteenth of August, 1853, Gen. Joseph Lane, +afterwards United States senator from Oregon, and a candidate for vice +president in 1860, came out from his home in Douglas County and +brought fifty men with him, to take part in the war. General Lane was +a man of large experience in Indian warfare and in all military +matters. He had commanded an Indiana regiment in the Mexican war and +enjoyed a well earned reputation for bravery. On the day that General +Lane arrived what is known as the battle of Little Meadows was fought. +Lieutenant Ely and twenty-two men met the Indians near Evans Creek, in +the timber, and a short, but deadly conflict took place. Seven whites +were killed inside of an hour; Lieutenant Ely and three men wounded. +They left the battlefield in charge of the Indians--at least, in the +popular phraseology of that day, "they got up and got out." On August +24, 1853, the battle of Evans Creek was fought. In this fight the +Indians did not fare so well, twelve of them being killed and +wounded. One volunteer named Pleasant Armstrong was killed and Captain +Alden and Gen. Joe Lane were each wounded. During the summer of 1853 +several men were shot by Indians in Josephine County. In the fall +General Lane patched up a temporary peace, which lasted till 1855. + +The war of 1855-56 was preceded by a great many murders and +depredations by the Indians in different parts of southern Oregon. I +will mention a few: ----. Dyar and ----. McKew, killed while on the +road from Jacksonville to Josephine County on June 1, 1855. About the +same time a man by name of ----. Philpot was killed on Deer Creek, +Josephine County, and James Mills was wounded at the same time and +place. Granville Keene was killed at a point on Bear Creek, above +Ashland, and J. Q. Faber was wounded. Two men, ----. Fielding and +----. Cunningham, were killed in September, 1855, on the road over the +Siskiyou mountains. + +On account of these various depredations Maj. J. A. Lupton raised a +temporary force of volunteers, composed of miners and others, from the +vicinity of Jacksonville, about thirty-five in number, and proceeded +to a point on the north side of Rogue River, opposite the mouth of +Little Butte Creek. There he attacked a camp of Indians at a time when +they were not expecting trouble. It is said that about thirty men, +women, and children were killed by Lupton's men. The major himself +received a mortal wound in the fight. This fight has been much +criticised by the people of southern Oregon, a great many of them +believing that it was unjustifiable and cowardly. Two days after this +affair a series of massacres took place in the sparsely settled +country in and about where Grants Pass is now situated. On the ninth +day of October, 1855, the Indians, having divided up into small +parties, simultaneously attacked the homes of the defenseless +families located in that vicinity. I will name a few of those tragic +events. On the farm now owned by James Tuffs, Mr. Jones was killed, +and his wife, after receiving a mortal wound, made her escape. She was +found by the volunteers on the next day and died a few days +afterwards. Their house was burned down. Mrs. Wagner was murdered by +the Indians on the same day. Her husband was away from home at the +time, but returned on the following day to find his wife murdered and +his home a pile of ashes. The Harris family consisted of Harris and +wife and their two children, Mary Harris, aged twelve, and David +Harris, aged ten, and T. A. Reed, a young man who lived with the +family. Mr. Harris was shot down while standing near his door, and at +a moment when he little suspected treachery from the Indians with whom +he was talking. His wife and daughter pulled his body within the door, +and seizing a double-barreled shotgun and an old-fashioned Kentucky +rifle, commenced firing through the cracks of the log cabin. They kept +this up till late in the night, and by heroic bravery kept the Indians +from either gaining an entrance into the house or succeeding in their +attempts to fire it. Just back of the cabin was a dense thicket of +brush, and during a lull in the attack the two brave women escaped +through the back door and fled through the woods. They were found the +next day by volunteers from Jacksonville, our late friend, Henry +Klippel, being one of the number. Mrs. Harris lived to a good old age +in this county. Mary, who was wounded in the fight, afterwards became +the wife of Mr. G. M. Love, and was the mother of George Love of +Jacksonville and Mrs. John A. Hanley of Medford. David Harris, the +boy, was not in the house when the attack was made, but was at work on +the place. His fate has never been ascertained, as his body was never +found. The Indians stated, after peace was made, that they killed him +at the time they attacked the Harris house. Reed, the young man spoken +of, was killed out near the house. + +On October 31, 1855, the battle of Hungry Hill was fought near the +present railway station of Leland. Capt. A. J. Smith of the United +States army was at that battle, and a large number of citizens +soldiery. The result of the battle was very undecisive. There were +thirty-one whites killed and wounded, nine of them being killed +outright. It is not known how many of the Indians were killed, but +after the treaty was made they confessed to fifteen. The Indians were +in heavy timber and were scarcely seen during the two days' battle. + +In April, 1856, after peace had been concluded between the whites and +Indians, the Ledford massacre took place in Rancherie Prairie, near +Mount Pitt, in this county, in which five white men were killed. This +event was the last of the "irrepressible conflict." Soon afterward the +Indians were removed to the Siletz reservation, where their +descendants now live and enjoy the favors of the government which +their fathers so strongly resisted. + +The war in Rogue River Valley had now virtually ended. "Old Sam's" +band, with an escort of one hundred United States troops, was taken to +the coast reservation at Siletz. Chiefs "John" and "Limpy," with a +large number of the most active warriors, who had followed their +fortunes during all these struggles, still held out and continued +their depredations in the lower Rogue River country and in connection +with the Indians of Curry County. + +Gen. John E. Wool, commander of the department of the Pacific, in +November, 1855, had stopped at Crescent City while on his way to the +Yakima country. He received full information while here of the +military operations in southern Oregon. Skipping many details, it is +sufficient to state that he ordered Capt. A. J. Smith to move down +the river from Fort Lane and form a junction with the United States +troops under Captains Jones and E. O. C. Ord (afterward a +major-general in United States army), who were prosecuting an active +campaign in the region about Chetco, Pistol River, and the Illinois +River Valley. Captain Smith left Fort Lane with eighty men--fifty +dragoons and thirty infantry. I can only take the time to mention a +few of the fights in that region during the spring of 1856. On March +8th Captain Abbott had a skirmish with the Chetco Indians at Pistol +River. He lost several men. The Indians had his small force completely +surrounded when Captain Ord and Captain Jones with one hundred and +twelve regular troops came to his relief. They charged and drove the +Indians away with heavy loss. On March 20, 1855, Lieutenant-Colonel +Buchanan, assisted by Captains Jones and Ord, attacked an Indian +village ten miles above the mouth of Rogue River. The Indians were +driven away, leaving several dead and only one white man wounded in +the fight. A few days later Captain Angne's [Augur?] company (United +States troops) fought John and "Limpy's" band at the mouth of the +Illinois River. The Indians fought desperately, leaving five dead on +the battlefield. On March 27, 1855, the regulars again met the Indians +on Lower Rogue River. After a brisk fight at close quarters the +Indians fled, leaving ten dead and two of the soldiers were severely +wounded. On April 1, 1855, Captain Creighton, with a company of +citizens, attacked an Indian village near the mouth of the Coquille +River, killing nine men, wounding eleven and taking forty squaws and +children prisoners. About this time some volunteers attacked a party +of Indians who were moving in canoes at the mouth of Rogue River. They +killed eleven men and one squaw. Only one man and two squaws of the +party escaped. On April 29, 1855, a party of sixty regulars escorting +a pack train were attacked near Chetco. In this fight three soldiers +were killed and wounded. The Indians lost six killed and several +wounded. + +The volunteer forces of the coast war were three companies known by +the names of "Gold Beach Guards," the "Coquille Guards," and the "Port +Orford Minute Men." I have not the time to enter into the details of +the battle that was fought on the twenty-seventh of May, 1855, near +Big Meadows, on Rogue River. Captain Smith was in command of his +eighty regulars. Old "John" lead the Indians. The operations covered a +period of two days, John using all the tactics of military science in +handling his four hundred braves during the battle. Just as everything +was ready, according to "John's" plans for an attack upon the +regulars, Captain Angne's [Augur?] company was seen approaching. The +Indians were then soon dispersed. Captain Smith lost twenty-nine men +killed and wounded in this battle, and had it not been for the timely +arrival of Angne's [Augur?] company, his men would all have been +killed. + +While these operations were being carried on by the United States +troops, the volunteer forces were not idle. They were kept busy with +"Limpy" and "George's" warriors, at points in Josephine County. On +January 28, 1856, Major Latshaw moved down the river with two hundred +and thirteen men. He had several skirmishes and lost four or five men +in killed and wounded. On May 29th "Limpy" and "George" surrendered at +Big Meadows to Lieutenant-Colonel Buchanan. On May 31st Governor Curry +ordered the volunteer forces to disband--nearly all the Indians had +surrendered. About one thousand three hundred of the various tribes +that had carried on the war were gathered in camp at Port Orford. +About July 1, 1856, "John" and thirty-five tough looking warriors, the +last to surrender, "threw down the hatchet." I have now gone over, in +chronological order, the principal events connected with the Indian +wars of southern Oregon. I am fully aware that the narrative is very +defective, and that many events of importance have not even been +mentioned. You who took part in these early struggles can easily fill +in the gaps, and correct the errors that I may have unconsciously +made. + +There were some men who took part in the Indian wars of southern +Oregon who afterward became prominent in the history of the Nation. I +will name a few, viz, Gen. U. S. Grant, Gen. J. B. Hood (late of +Confederate army), Gen. Phil Kearny, Gen. Wool, Gen. A. J. Smith, Gen. +Geo. Crooks, Gen. A. V. Kautz, Gen. Phil Sheridan, Gen. J. C. Fremont, +Gen. Joe Lane (candidate for vice president of the United States in +1860), Gen. Joe Hooker (who built the military road in the Canyon +Mountains in 1852), and Kit Carson. + +We all rejoice that the general government has at last acknowledged +the value of your services to civilization; and has made some +provision of recompense for the privations which you suffered. + +I see before me old gray headed mothers who will also share with you +this recognition of the Nation's gratitude. It is well, and to my +comrades of the Civil war, who are here, and who have been the +promotors of this reunion of veterans, let me say that no women of any +war, in which the American people have ever been engaged, are more +deserving of the Nation's bounty than these old, feeble, pioneer +mothers of southern Oregon. When their fathers, brothers, and husbands +went out to meet their savage foes, these women were not left in well +protected cities, villages, and homes, but often in rude cabins, +situated in close proximity to the conflict; and unlike the chances +of civilized warfare, no mercy could be expected from the +enemy--surrender meant not only death, but torture and heartless +cruelty. In every hour of those dark days these women proved +themselves to be fit helpmates to a race of daring men--and worthy all +honors that are accorded the brave. + + + + +MINTO PASS: ITS HISTORY, AND AN INDIAN TRADITION. + +By JOHN MINTO. + + +There was a tradition among the Indians of the central portion of the +Willamette Valley at the time when the missionaries of the Methodist +Episcopal Church attempted christianization from 1834 to 1840, that a +trail or thoroughfare through this natural pass had formerly been much +used by their people and that its use was abandoned after, and as one +of the results of, a bloody battle between the Mollalas (who claimed +the western slopes of the Cascades from the Clackamas River south to +the Calapooia Mountains,) and the Cayuses who were originally of the +same tribe, but who had become alienated by family feuds, of which the +battle or massacre of their tradition was the end. The superstitious +belief of the Indians in the transmigration of the souls of dead +warriors into the bodies of beasts of prey, like panthers, bears, and +wolves, would of itself go far to cause the Indians to abandon the use +of such a trail, but the formation of the gorge by which the river +cuts its way through the roughest portion of the range is such as to +give great numbers of opportunities for ambuscades--a common resort of +Indian warfare. Certain is it that for some cause the Indians of +Chemeketa, Chemawa, and Willamette spoke with dread of going up that +river. They did, however, have trails on each side of this natural +pass,--that to the south being first used by a pioneer settler named +Wyley. It became known as the Wyley Trail, and subsequently was +adopted as a general route over which the Willamette Valley and +Cascade Mountain Military Wagon Road was located. The other to the +north comes into the Willamette Valley via the Table Rock and down the +Abiqua. Both these trails were used exclusively by the Indians of the +east side of the range as means of coming into the Willamette Valley +with the exception of the Mollalas, who were intermarried with the +Warm Springs Indians and the Klamaths when the settlement by the +whites began. The free trappers and the retired Canadians, who had +settled as farmers and trading parties of the Hudson Bay Company, +continued to use the trail up the North Santiam Valley until 1844-45, +when, in addition to the country reached by it being "trapped out," +furs fell in price in the general market so that it temporarily ceased +to be used by the engagees of the Hudson Bay Company. In the summer of +1845 Dr. E. White, then a sub-agent of the United States for the +Indians of Oregon, examined, or claimed to have examined, the route as +a means of getting immigration into western Oregon more easily than by +way of the Columbia River Pass. Either the doctor did not examine +closely or was very easily discouraged; at all events no beneficial +results followed. At this same time Stephen L. Meek was leading a +party of the immigration of that year with the purpose of entering the +Willamette Valley by that way. Meek had trapped on the head waters of +the John Day River a few seasons previous, and had here met Canadians +from the Willamette, who had come over the trail and doubtless thought +he could easily find it; and there is little reason to doubt that he +would have done so had it not been that by reason of their much +wandering in searching the way from the mouth of the Malheur to the +waters of the Des Chutes, the people he led were in such desperate +straits that he had to flee for his life. There was another reason: a +ridge makes out on the east side of the main range, but parallel with +it, which completely shuts the pass from being seen in outline from +the east. + +The failure of Meek to get his party through raised the question in +the settlements as to whether there was so easy a means of passing the +Cascade range at that point as the Hudson Bay Company trappers and +traders represented, and in the spring of 1846 a public meeting was +held at Salem and a committee of six citizens was selected to go and +make an examination of the trail. Col. Cornelius Gilliam was the head +of the committee of the American portion of the party, and Joseph +Gervais, a Canadian trapper, preëminent for general intelligence among +his class, went along to show the way. The Hon. T. C. Shaw, nephew of +Gilliam, was of the party (the youngest). He is at present (1887) +county judge of Marion County, and recently went over part of the +ground they then passed. From him it is learned that the trail did not +then pass through the narrow gorge which has been spoken of, but took +over the tops of the most broken and rugged portion of the range. The +party proceeded until they came to what they termed the "scaly rock +mountain," which Colonel Gilliam pronounced impassable for wagons. The +party returned and reported accordingly, and from that date till late +in 1873 that pass way was unused and to a great extent forgotten. + +In October, 1873, two hunters in search of good game range penetrated +up the north bank of the river through the gorge before mentioned, and +found that about twelve miles from the then settlement on King's +Prairie that the valley widened out and the mountains seemed lower; +narrow belts of bottom land lay between the mountains and the river, +and appeared to continue up to near the base of Mount Jefferson, +which, in fact, they do. One of these hunters (Henry States) sent for +John Minto, being unable, on account of a sprained ankle, to go to the +latter, and told him of their findings. This rediscovery or new +discovery revived recollections of statements made by Joseph Gervais +and others, and Minto took sufficient interest in the subject to go +before the board of county commissioners of Marion County and repeat +the statements of the hunters, volunteering the suggestion that it was +important if such a natural pass existed as was thus indicated the +county had an interest in making the fact known. One of the +commissioners, Hon. Wm. M. Case, had long lived near neighbor to the +famous Hudson Bay Company's leader, Tom McKay, and had often heard him +speak of that as the shortest and best way across the Cascades. A +short consultation resulted in the "order" that Mr. Minto take two +comrades and proceed up the valley of the North Santiam until he was +satisfied whether it made such a natural cut into the range or not. +After an absence of twelve days the party returned and Minto reported +a deep valley apparently almost dividing the range, and so sheltered +that several varieties of wild flowers were found in bloom on the +eighteenth of November. Upon this representation a petition for the +survey of a road was presented to the board of county commissioners +early in 1874, and the viewing out and survey of such a road ordered, +Porter Jack, Geo. S. Downing, and John Minto to act as viewers, and T. +W. Davenport as surveyor. The survey was made and the viewers' report +in favor of an excellent roadway was made to the county commissioners +of Marion County, August, 1874. The results were got by following up +the north bank of the Santiam River, generally within sight or sound +of its waters, from the point where it enters the Willamette Valley to +its most eastern springs. Starting from the bank of the Willamette +River at Salem, where its course is east of north parallel with the +Cascade range, the survey leads up its Santiam branch eighty-three +(83) miles, to the true summit of the Cascades, here found in a +narrow cut or pass lying across the summit ridge, the general course +of the survey being southeast by east. From the summit thus found it +is an estimated distance of only five (5) miles down to the Matoles +branch of the Des Chutes River, here running east of north parallel +with the range, the same course as that of the Willamette on the west +side; but taking down the eastern declivity with an easy grade for a +wagon road, the plain of the Des Chutes would be reached in about +seven miles and the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountains Road, +where it skirts the base of Black Butte, three miles into the Des +Chutes plain, in about ten miles. In making this view and survey an +old and deeply worn trail was frequently crossed, and such a trail, +less deep, was found leading over the pass eastward. The first +observed trail gives some support to the Indian tradition of a former +native thoroughfare down the valley. + +The trail out of the pass is not so much worn, neither is the Strong +trail leading off towards the west from a point about seven miles +eastward, used by Lieutenant Fremont as he passed the locality in +1843. The trail so noted reaches first the immense springs of Matoles, +where a full grown river rises from under the northeast base of Black +Butte, into which the salmon ascend in July and August for spawning +purposes, at that date and since making a valuable fishery for the +Indians, and scarcely less valuable as fisheries where the numerous +lakes to the westward, which, taken in connection with abundant game +of the entire region, make it a hunter's paradise. At the date of +Fremont's march, of which had Meek been informed in 1845, he would +have almost certainly succeeded in getting the people he led into the +Willamette Valley by that way easier than they reached The Dalles +after he abandoned them. + +After the viewing out and survey of the wagon road as before related, +parties incorporated or filed articles of incorporation for a +projected railroad through the pass to Winnemucca. It was a mere +speculation on the part of persons who had neither money nor credit of +any kind. It had the effect of weakening the public interest in having +a common road constructed, so that after the lapse of the legal hold +on the pass thus attained, there was little disposition to spend money +on the opening of a common road which was liable to be destroyed at +any time by a railroad interest. An association was formed, however, +and a stock trail was opened at a cost of $1,800, in labor. As much +more spent at that time would have enabled wagons to pass. For lack of +this small sum the trail constructed did not attract the public use +except in a small measure for horses. In 1880 Hon. John B. Waldo, +while enjoying a summer recreation trip along the summit ridge, came +to a point some seven or eight miles south of the point to which the +survey had been made and over which a trail had been opened, which he +felt confident was lower than it. He spoke of it to Mr. Minto, who, +the next spring, had a small sum ($200) placed at his disposal by +Marion County in order to remove obstructions which had fallen into +the trail. After removing these obstructions that had fallen in during +the previous four years, Mr. Minto had $111 of the money left which he +asked permission of the board of commissioners to use in viewing out +and surveying the most southern of the two main branches of the Upper +North Santiam. The suggestion was made that this arm of the stream +trended so far southward that it would probably be found to reach the +summit by a greater meander and consequently afford a more gradual +approach to this supposed lower point of the summit, and therefore be +more favorable for railroad purposes. The order was made in accordance +with the suggestion, and Capt. L. S. Scott, Geo. S. Downing, and John +Minto were appointed viewers and T. W. Davenport surveyor. After some +loss of time by efforts to locate a line of communication, Minto took +one comrade and went eastward through the old pass, taking the +altitude of it as he went and finding it, according to an ordinary +barometer, such as is used by railroad surveyors, to be five thousand +five hundred and thirty-six feet above the sea, and proceeding +southward and then westward on the same day found the instrument to +read at the point indicated by Judge Waldo, four thousand nine hundred +and eleven feet above the sea. From this point a line was struck and +surveyed, which by way of the southeast branch of the North Santiam, +connects with the original survey by an easy grade for railroad +purposes and of which the projectors of the Corvallis and Eastern +railroad were immediately informed. An examination of the whole route +from Gates to Summit via the last viewed section, was made by Colonel +Eccleson, civil engineer, and Summit was reached by a fraction over a +two per cent grade. Construction began at the Summit with the least +possible delay and rails were hauled by wagon from Albany and laid in +order to hold the pass. From the pass westward more than half of the +right of way was cut and much of the grade made ready for the ties +between this lowest pass and the junction with the original Marion +County survey at what the party making it called Independence Valley, +directly south of and as the bird flies about eight miles from the +apex of Mount Jefferson. From Idanha, the terminal of railroad track +laid, four miles east of Detroit, fully twelve miles of right of way +and grade were constructed when work was suspended by the original +railroad company. From Mill City eastward to the Summit, the company +appropriated fully ninety per cent of the original surveys made at the +cost of Marion County. This need not be objected to, but in addition +to this these railroad promoters often exercised an assumed right to +name points that will be of permanent interest which they did not +discover. This seems hardly fair. From my point of view the Hon. John +B. Waldo, who first observed the apparent lowness of the pass, and +called my attention to it, is more entitled to have his name attached +to it than Col. T. E. Hogg, whose name I understand was given to by J. +I. Blair, the railroad magnate of New York, who was one of the chief +supporters of Colonel Hogg's enterprise. + +As a matter of some historical interest I will close this paper by +inserting some of the original names given places and things by the +first white explorers of the valley. + +The stream named Breitenbush was named by Henry States, Frank Cooper, +and John Minto on the first legal examination for the pass for John +Breitenbush a hunter who had cut his way to it ahead of them. Detroit +was named by the man from Michigan who first opened a house for +entertainment there. Boulder Creek was named by T. W. Davenport on his +survey notes in 1874. It makes in from the north at Idanha which was a +Muskrat Camp of first surveying party, but renamed by the proprietor +of the first summer resort house. Minto Mountain was named by some one +unknown to the writer, after he had led to the opening of a trail to +Black Butte, in Crook County, in 1879. It was the grass covered +mountains seen by Minto from the top of a fir tree into which he +pulled himself to get a view of their surroundings when first seeking +the pass in November, 1873, and which grass land his associate, Frank +Cooper, asserted was in eastern Oregon, to his, Cooper's, personal +knowledge, though he would not risk climbing the tree to see it, being +a very heavy man. This mountain will for all time be an attractive +object to summer recreationists and the most easily reached from the +center of the Willamette Valley when the railroad is extended twelve +miles farther east. The first stream making in from the northeast of +Boulder Creek was called, by the surveying party of 1874, the White, a +first fork from Jefferson. In August the snow melts from the southwest +slopes of Jefferson and runs through volcanic ash as fine as bolted +flour and it enters the main Santiam like thickened milk, coloring it +down to Mehama sometimes. Custom has adopted the name "Whitewater." In +1879 I gave the name Pamelia Creek to the next stream which flows off +the south face of Mount Jefferson and the same name now attaches to +the lake at its south base. The name was given for Pamelia Ann Berry, +because of her cheerfulness as one of the girl cooks of the working +party, of which her father and sister were valued members. +Independence Valley was so named by the road viewing party in 1874. +Our party rested there on the fourth of July. The first waterfall on +the east branch was named Gatch's Falls for Prof. T. M. Gatch, by +election of the party, the young members all having been his students. +Marion Lake and Orla Falls at the head of it were named at the same +time. The latter by the younger members of the company who had danced +with Miss Orla Davenport, the oldest daughter of our surveyor. The +most of the water of Marion Lake seems to come over these falls from +the northern declivities, a rocky peak of many pinnacles, locally +called "Three-fingered Jack," but to which the name of Mount Marion +was given in the report of this survey. This peak rises from the +summit ridge south of Mount Jefferson and north of Mount Washington +about equal distance of seven miles from each and about fifteen miles +from the most northern of the Three Sisters. There are inviting +situations for delightful summer residences on or near the ridge, both +north and south of Mount Marion, which will in the near future +probably become sites of permanent homes. The climate, as indicated by +plant life, is that of the Highlands of Scotland, as here the American +congener of both purple and white heather is found on and near the +summit ridge. + +The writer, who was an active member of these first exploring, +surveying, and road constructing parties, closes this with the +statement that the rugged labor sometimes involved was the very best +kind of summer recreation, where nature in all her varying phases was +enjoyed and the sights of the day made themes of camp fire talks, +intermingled with subjects connected with social, educational, +business, and public interests. There was little difference in this +respect between the camp fires of a party of professional men seeking +rest and that of road makers constructing lines of development. + + + + +REMINISCENCES. + +Secured by H. S. LYMAN. + + +ANSON STERLING CONE. + +Anson Sterling Cone, who came to Oregon in 1846, and is now--February, +1900,--living upon his donation claim a mile and a half from +Butteville, on one portion of French Prairie, is a native of Indiana, +having been born in Shelby County of that State in 1827. At the age of +seventy-three he is still in good health, and of good memory. He is +carrying on a large farm, and, together with his wife, is supporting +the family of his brother's daughter, as his own. He is a man of +medium size, of rather sandy complexion, with hair and beard now +white. He is plain and straightforward in manner, and remembers +distinctly many details of his early experiences in Oregon. Some of +the most interesting features of his narrative are his meeting with +Whitman; his service as juror on the trial of the Indian murderers of +Whitman; and his trip overland to California in the first wagon train +to the mines. His story, however, will be given as he relates it, and +the reader may then use his own judgment as to the relative importance +of his recollections. + +With his father's family, who removed for a short residence from +Shelby to La Porte County, Indiana, he went as a mere lad to Iowa. The +farm occupied by his father was alongside one of the main roads, and +there, year after year, he saw the emigrants in their great wagons on +the way to Oregon. In the course of time he took the fever to go with +them to that enchanted country. The opportunity was not long withheld. + +In 1846 a well-to-do neighbor, Edward Trimble, made up a party, in +which an older brother of Anson's, Aaron Cone, was to go. Obtaining +permission of his father, Anson, then but a youth of eighteen, +assisted in helping the train off, and drove with the party for some +distance. When the time arrived for him to return home (his dejected +appearance probably indicating his longing to go on with the +emigrants) Trimble said to him: "Anson, I don't advise or ask you to +go to Oregon; but if you are bound to, you may go with me." "I have no +outfit," said the young man. "I have $1,000," answered Trimble; "and +as long as that lasts you shall have your share of it." + +Anson went. His patron, however, never reached Oregon. Trimble was one +of the comparatively few who fell a victim to the treachery of the +Indians. He was killed by the Pawnees, on the Platte River, near the +big island. He had been selected captain of the company of forty-three +wagons which was made up at Saint Joe, where the train crossed the +Missouri, and took the route south of the Platte. + +At a point opposite the big island, as then known, the cattle were +stampeded by the Pawnees, and driven away, so that the train was left +entirely without teams. Trimble started out to hunt the animals; but +his wife, seeing that he had no arms, said to him, "Edward, you had +better take your rifle." He answered, "I do not need it; I am only +going to look for the trail." But reaching a knoll and finding the +trail of the lost stock, which led to the river, he and a man named +Harris rode on without stopping, until they discovered the cattle on +the island. Going down to the river side, however, they were suddenly +confronted by a party of armed Pawnees, who had secreted themselves +under the steep bank. Harris then, in his excitement, left his horse, +and Trimble delaying for him was shot by the Indians. His body was not +recovered but arrows stained with blood were found, which had +probably been shot through his body. These were preserved by Mrs. +Trimble, and it is thought that they are still in possession of the +family; a daughter of Trimble, having become Mrs. Pomeroy, of Pomeroy, +Washington. + +By the men of the train who saw the affair, Harris was rescued, and +the most of the oxen, though in a sad state of demoralization, were +recovered. A considerable number were never found, and on account of +this seven wagons were compelled to return to Saint Joe, with just +enough cattle to draw them. But the mischief was also played with the +oxen that went forward. After one thorough stampede such animals are +always unreliable. Mr. Cone remembers one serious stampede later, of +the whole train on the road, which was started only by a jack rabbit +driven by the dogs under a wagon. "It was a pretty hard sight," he +says, "to see the wagon hauled off, with oxen on the run. But they had +to stop at last; some fell down and were dragged along. Many an old ox +lost his horns. There were horns flying then--let one catch his tip in +the ground and it was gone!" + +However, though under unusual strain from this unlucky incident with +the rascally Pawnees, the plains and mountains were crossed at last. +Fort Bridger, Fort Hall, and the Grande Ronde and Blue Mountains were +passed in due order, and about the middle of October the wagons +descended upon the Umatilla. + +Here the two young men, Anson and his brother Aaron, thought it +advisable to leave the train and push on to the Willamette. To +accomplish this they went over to the Walla Walla, with the idea of +working for Whitman long enough to pay for a pack horse. At Waiilatpu +they found the doctor at home, and made known their intention. "Boys," +replied the Old Man (A. S. C.), "you had better take Bob there, and +all the provisions you need, and go at once. At the end of the season +there will be those coming who will have to stay here anyhow, and I +had better save the work for them. I will be down in the Willamette +country next summer, and you can pay me then." The young men +accordingly took "Bob," a trusty old white cayuse horse and a good +pack animal, who had somehow lost his tail, all except a short stump, +just sufficient to hold the crupper. + +By this kindness and confidence of Whitman Mr. Cone was greatly +impressed. "He was a good man," he says, "he had a heart like an ox!" +According to his recollections Whitman was about six feet tall, +straight as an Indian and of fine presence. His face was florid, his +hair chestnut, and not noticeably gray. In manner he was quick "for a +big man," and "always in for anything that had life"--sociable, and a +good joker. The horse and provisions, taken from the doctor's door, +amounted to about $25 worth; "and the next summer," says Mr. Cone, +"when I heard that the Old Man was at Oregon City, didn't I rustle +around to have the money ready for him!" + +Young Cone arrived at Oregon City on November 6th, his nineteenth +birthday. He began almost immediately to look about the country, and +taking the road to Tualatin Plains, was surprised, but greatly +pleased, to meet on the way--at the house of Mr. Masters, near the +present town of Reedville--an old friend, whom he had known at the +East. This was T. G. Naylor, long a well known resident of Forest +Grove. By this hospitable friend Cone was invited to spend the winter +on the farm on Gale's Creek, and actually spent two months, managing +to find eight working days between showers, out of that time--which +indicates that the climate, even then, was rainy. However the young +immigrant had good health, enjoyed life, and grew fat. For his eight +days of work he received an order for eight bushels of wheat, and +being in great need of new clothes, went back to Oregon City, and +obtaining work at rail splitting, he succeeded in mending his fortunes +sufficiently to procure new garments. He also found work afterwards in +the sawmills. "Many a day," he says, "I worked alongside the Kanakas." +There was at that time a considerable number of these native Sandwich +Islanders in Oregon. They were good workmen, says Mr. Cone, being +especially useful in work about the water. They had their own +quarters, which they kept themselves, and provided their own +sustenance quite independently. + +During the dry season of 1847 the two brothers having decided to +return East across the Plains, made a long tour of the Willamette +Valley, in order to tell all about Oregon, with which, however, they +were not fully satisfied as a permanent home; but their preparations +not being complete they were delayed until late in the next season. + +It was in August of that year that the Cayuse Indian murderers were +brought down from the upper country, and were tried and hanged at +Oregon City [Mr. Cone was evidently confused in this part of his +recollections as the Cayuse Indian murderers did not give themselves +up until April 1850; and were tried later in that year.--EDITOR.] The +Indians had the benefit of counsel, and the usual motions were made +for acquittal. Among others was rejection of many jurymen, on the +ground of prejudice. As it began to seem that no jury could be found, +Cone, who was present as a spectator at the trial, whispered to a +companion, "Come, let's go; they will be getting us on the jury!" + +They quietly slipped out, therefore, and retiring to a big rock on the +bluff, were engaged chatting. A young man soon approached, however, +whom they took to be another like themselves, but they recognized that +he was after them and a deputy sheriff, when he proceeded to summon +them to the jury box. They were accordingly impaneled, with the +necessary number, and listened to the evidence. The case was entirely +clear, the prosecution simply presenting evidence to show that the +accused were the Indians who had committed the crime. + +As to the motive of the murder, or the causes back of it, Mr. Cone +inclines to the opinion very prevalent at the time, that it was due to +religious differences; "there was another church there, and this I +know, that none of the other church were hurt." He mentions +particularly Joe Stanbough, who was not injured, yet was a full-blood +white man. This is mentioned here, and indeed is given very cautiously +by Mr. Cone, not as any brand for present sectarian differences, but +as a true reflection of opinion at the time. The precise justice of +that opinion is not discussed here. + +Very soon after the trial Cone was told by General Lovejoy, at Oregon +City, of the discovery of gold in California. "If I were you," said +Lovejoy, "I would go as soon as possible." By this advice Cone and his +brother were led to get together three wagons and join the overland +company. This was a most eventful journey and illustrates the capacity +of the trained Oregon men. + +According to Mr. Cone's recollections there were forty one wagons; +though Peter Burnett says, in "An Old Pioneer," that there were fifty +and one hundred and fifty men. There was but one family in the train, +the name of which Mr. Cone has forgotten. In this he coincides with +Burnett. Cone also recalls Thomas McKay very distinctly as the guide +and virtual leader; who said that he could take them through to the +Sacramento River without trouble; "and there is only one place that I +am afraid of; that is going down the mountain into the Sacramento +Valley. You may have to let your wagons down with ropes there." + +Burnett, in his vivid sketch of this journey, says that he went to +Doctor McLoughlin for advice, and was directed by him to employ McKay, +as this intrepid son of the unfortunate Alexander McKay was acquainted +with every foot of the way and was especially efficient in dealing +with the Indians. But Mr. Cone recollects nothing of Burnett. + +As to Indian troubles, Cone says that there was only one Indian +killed. This was in the Umpqua Valley, and the deed was without +provocation, and by an irresponsible young man, of the kind that hung +on to almost every party. McKay read the young man a severe lesson, +and complained to the company, endeavoring to show how reckless such +actions were. The young man made the saucy reply that he must be +still, or else there would be another Indian killed--alluding to +McKay's Indian blood. However, there were no other natives disturbed, +and the way was through the country of the Klamaths, the Modocs, and +the Pitt River Indians. Burnett mentions meeting a very few natives +near the end of the journey, but says there was no trouble whatever. + +In the Pitt River Valley the Oregon wagon train came upon the track of +the California immigrants, whom Peter Lawsen--or Lassen, as Burnett +spells the name--was guiding to his great ranch on the Upper +Sacramento. When at last overtaken they were found to be in great +destitution, and so exasperated at Lassen, who had lost the way, and +was wandering in the Sierra Nevadas, trying to find a practicable way +down their stupendous western declivities, that he seemed in danger of +his life. A practicable descent was found at last, however, and then +began the race to see who would be first into the valley. This was +near Lassen's Peak, which is so high as to be spotted with old snow, +even to late autumn. + +Here Mr. Cone describes "the maddest man he ever saw." This was the +pioneer, Job McNemee, of Portland. With an extra good team and high +determination of his own he had declared that he would be first in the +valley. He was well on the way to success, having got and held the +lead; but halfway down the mountain side, in his wild career, he ran +his wheel against a protruding bowlder, by which the heavy wagon was +upset, and there it lay, while the other wagons, nine in number, of +that particular section of the train, went bouncing by. But at last, +in spite of all accidents, men and animals reached Lassen's ranch, and +were there treated with royal hospitality. The vaqueros were directed +to slaughter beef, and the Oregon men, as well as the California +party, were invited to the barbecue. The Oregonians, however, were not +likely to wait long. It was now late in November, and though some went +first up to Redding's ranch, all soon struck out for Coloma. Although +not an active participant in the Indian troubles there, these are +recalled by Mr. Cone. He remembers the murder of the party of Oregon +men, recalling the circumstance, however, that the number killed was +five, and that one of the six escaped. The Indians, as he remembers, +were tracked to their camp on the river, and attacked and punished. + +His memory was more deeply impressed, however, with the enormous price +of provisions; as, for instance, going down one day to Sacramento, and +seeing some nice little hams, he had a mind to purchase one. On asking +the price he was told four dollars a pound. He concluded he did not +want any. That was late in the season of '48 or early '49. Vast +quantities of stores were shipped in soon, and prices fell. +Misfortunes robbed Mr. Cone of the results of his adventure. His +brother was taken sick and died. He was himself attacked by scurvy, +and finally being unable to work longer, sought passage home on a +sailing vessel, which crossed the Columbia bar late in the fall of +'49, a very smoky season, and of long drouth, the vessel being +becalmed for days together. + +Mr. Cone remembers many amusing incidents of the mining life; one of +which was the shooting of Weimer's pig by his partner--the animal +being a nuisance around camp, yet of great value. One morning the +partner of Cone said: "Load the gun and I'll shoot the ---- sow." To +run the bluff, Cone did so, and not to be backed off, the partner shot +and killed. Then to hide their trespass the carcass was hidden in the +brush; but upon returning at evening from their rockers the young men +found that the ravens had taken care of the pork. + +In 1850 Mr. Cone, having recovered his health, located a claim on +French Prairie. His father arrived in Oregon in 1851. His brothers, +Oscar and G. A., Jr., came in 1847. Three other brothers also became +Oregonians, Oliver, Francis Marian, and Philander Johnson. All found +claims near each other on French Prairie, or just across the river. +Anson and Oscar are the only ones now living. + +Of the old father, G. A. Cone, there are eighteen grandchildren and +thirty-seven great-grandchildren. + +Anson Cone was married in 1866 to Sarah A., the widow of his brother +Oliver, whose maiden name was Wade, and who is herself a pioneer of +'53. + + +MRS. REBEKA HOPKINS. + +Mrs. Hopkins, the daughter of Mr. Peter D. Hall, who perished near +Fort Walla Walla--Wallula--after escaping from the Whitman massacre, +is now living on the farm held by her first husband, Philander J. +Cone. Although past the age of fifty she is in good health, of +prepossessing appearance, and of very active habits. Her cosy farm +home, which is on the prairie, but at the edge of the grove, and +shaded by some oak trees in the dooryard, is ornamented also with +choice varieties of flowers, especially of roses, of which she has +many rare kinds. + +She was but five years of age when the massacre occurred; and by the +terror of that event all previous recollections seem to have been +completely obliterated. She does not remember anything of her father; +but of the massacre itself, so far as her own observation went, she +still has a vivid picture in her mind. She recalls the upstairs room +where the women and children were huddled together after Whitman was +struck down, and where Mrs. Whitman came after she was shot in the +breast. Mrs. Whitman, she says, was standing, when wounded, at a +window, and was washing the blood from her hands, as she had been +dressing the wounds of her husband. Mrs. Hall was with her. It could +not have been apprehended that further murders would be committed, and +Mrs. Whitman must have been the equal object of the Indians +superstitious rage, as she was the only woman killed. + +Mrs. Hopkins remembers the appearance of the upstairs room, and that +the Indians were kept back from coming up for a time by an old gun, +which was probably not loaded, but was laid so as to point across the +stairway. The savages would come to the stairway until within sight of +this gun barrel, and then afraid, or pretending to be afraid, of its +fire, would scamper back. Mr. Rogers was with the women and children. + +As to the death of her father, who escaped and sought safety at old +Fort Walla Walla, on the bank of the Columbia River, but was refused +admission, Mrs. Hopkins believes he was killed near the fort. By Mr. +Osborne, who with his family, finally reached the fort, the clothes +of Hall were seen and recognized. It was said to him, when he +exclaimed, "those are Hall's clothes," that Hall had been drowned in +attempting to cross the Columbia. + +Mrs. Hopkins considers the account of the massacre as given in the +June number of the _Native Son_ [1899], which was furnished by Mrs. O. +N. Denny, as the most accurate that she has seen. Mrs. Denny, Mrs. +Hopkins' older sister, who was about twelve years old at the time of +the tragedy, has a comprehensive recollection of the whole affair. + + +MRS. ANNA TREMEWAN. + +Mrs. Tremewan, now residing at Champoeg, has many most interesting +recollections of her early life. Although now past middle age she is +of magnificent physique, being about five feet eight inches tall, +straight as an arrow and well proportioned, but at the same time of +that peculiarly supple mold and movement that so distinguishes the +French creoles. Her hair is still jet black, and long and wavy and +very thick; her eyebrows heavy and black, and her features, though +strong and marked, refined and very intelligent. + +Her speech is remarkably clear, every word being distinctly +pronounced, with rather an English or Scotch accent, and in a full +rich voice of rather low key. During conversation her features light +up noticeably, and though she speaks deliberately she has no +hesitation, never pausing to think of a word or construction. She +complains of her poor memory for dates, but possesses a large fund of +family information, both of her own people and the Hudson Bay Company. + +Her mother was a daughter of Etienne Lucier, of French Prairie; her +father was Donald Manson, a trusted captain of the Hudson Bay Company, +and her first husband was Isaac Ogden, a son of Peter Skeen Ogden, +governor during the latter years of the Hudson Bay Company's +occupation of Fort Vancouver. She is living now at Champoeg, in the +old house built by her father, though now owned by herself with her +husband. + +Her brothers are men of education and ability; Donald Manson, Jr., +being a resident of Portland; James Manson, living at Victoria; and +William Manson, who was educated in Scotland, being principal of a +school at New Westminister, B. C. Another brother, Stephen, no longer +living, who was named by his mother or his grandfather Lucier, is +described by those who knew him as a man of remarkably handsome +appearance, and bright intellect. He was, as a boy, attending the +school at Waiilatpu at the time of the Whitman massacre, and although +uninjured was so shocked by the bloody occurrence that long afterwards +he would start from sleep crying out "The Indians, the Indians!" There +were two daughters besides Anna (Mrs. Tremewan), Isabella and Lizzie. + +The following are some of the recollections taken hurriedly at a +morning call of Mrs. Tremewan. In reply to a question about her father +she said: "My father was in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company--you +may have heard of it. We lived until I was fifteen in British +Columbia; no, not at Victoria, but on the head waters of Frazer River, +at Stuart's Lake--you might call that a little ocean. That was a long +way from Victoria, though that was our point of supplies, and my +father made a trip from there every year to carry out the furs--for +that was what he dealt in. He went a part way by river, and a part way +by horses. At Fort Langley he met the steamer from Victoria, and from +that point the goods were brought up the river to our place. + +"Yes, he used to leave us all alone at Stuart's Lake every year while +he made the trip, and that would be from April to September. On one +time I remember perfectly well he came back on the seventh of +September. What makes me remember this was because it was then my +sister Lizzie was born, and my mother was still in bed, and when the +cry was made that the boats were coming, we were all so eager to have +papa see the baby. + +"Indeed, Stuart Lake was a beautiful place, the loveliest I have ever +seen. The mountains were blue across it, they are so far away. When +the wind blew the waves rolled up like a sea. The water is perfectly +clear. When we used to walk along the shore, or swim in the lake, we +could see to the bottom. It was full of fishes of all kinds; salmon +and sturgeon and trouts. I have often told my husband that I wished I +could see Stuart Lake again. + +"But I was born in Alaska,--in the land where the gold is now; at Fort +Stikeen. The cabin was so near the water that the waves rolled up +against it. I have have often heard my mother tell about it. + +"Yes, I remember the trip out from Stuart Lake perfectly. Our first +stop was at Fort Alexandria; then we came on by boat to a place called +Kamloops, where we waited a month while the horses were got together +and trained for the rest of the journey. We came on to Fort Hope, and +then by boat to Fort Langley. There we took the steamer _Otter_. There +were two steamers then, the _Otter_ and the _Beaver_; we had the +_Otter_. + +"I did not know what a Yankee was. I remember that when I was on the +steamer they used to say to me 'So you are going to be a Yankee!' I +did not like it a bit. We had more the English way of talking, and did +not say 'I guess.' It was a long time before we could talk like the +Yankees. + +"When my father first came to Oregon he was pretty wealthy and bought +this place. But he lost so much in the flood of '61 that he was nearly +broken up. He never fully got over this--together with sickness and +other things. + +"When the Hudson Bay Company was at Fort Vancouver, and during the +Whitman massacre, Ogden was governor at the fort. Well, his son was my +first husband--his name was Isaac. Peter Skeen Ogden was a wealthy old +man; he was from Montreal. He left considerable money to his children. +He had four; Isaac, who lived at Champoeg, where we were married; +William, who lives in Portland; Emma, who died at the age of thirty; +and Mrs. Sarah Draper, of McMinnville, who has six children. + +"My mother was a daughter of Stephen Lewis--I think that would be the +English of it; but the French called it Lucier, Etienne Lucier. What +makes me think it was 'Stephen,'--I have heard mother say she named my +brother Stephen for his grandfather. My grandfather was a Frenchman +from Canada, and my mother was the daughter of his first wife; I think +she came from east of the Rocky Mountains." + +Mrs. Tremewan was well acquainted with Archibald McKinley, who settled +just across the river from Champoeg; and the family of Mr. Pambrun, +one of whose daughters was Mrs. Dr. Barclay, of Oregon City; Mrs. +William Pratt, another; and Mrs. Harriet Harger, of Chehalem Valley, +another. Mrs. Harger has a family of six daughters. + + +LOUIS LABONTE'S RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN. + +See Reminiscences of Louis Labonte, Vol. 1, p. 169. + +Doctor McLoughlin: Big man, hair white as snow, face ruddy; fine man, +but like a grizzly if he was mad; carried a cane, stood straight as an +arrow; treated him very kindly; got him to school at Vancouver, took +him by the hand, told him he would provide him books and pens; he +went to school to Mr. Ball. + +Douglass: Slim, but even taller than McLoughlin; his hands reached +below his knees. + +Peter Skeen Ogden: A tall, big man--big as McLoughlin; an American by +birth. + +Donald Manson: A large man; face ruddy; white hair. + +Jason Lee: Very tall, powerful; not straight. + +Doctor Barclay: Medium height, heavy set. + +Pambrun: Medium size; his wife from the Red River. + +Archibald McKinley: Lived across the river from Champoeg; big man; red +face. + +George T. Allen: A small looking man; he was nicknamed Twahalasky, +Indian name for coon; and a small-sized Cascade Indian bearing that +name traded names with Allen. + +James Birnie: A powerful, heavy man; very fine looking; exceedingly +hospitable. + +Alexander Latty: A fine man; captain of steamer _Beaver_ two years; he +was also mate of the schooner _Cadboro_, built in England. + +Captain Scarborough: Medium size, good looking; father of Edward +Scarborough, of Cathlamet; had a Chinook wife; made frequent trips to +England in command of Hudson Bay vessels, and introduced pigs and +Shanghai chickens from China; also took pains to bring ornamental +shrubbery, perhaps introduced the "Mission Rose." + +Captain Brotchie: Another sea captain on Hudson Bay vessels; +introduced from England the "Brotchie" potato, an early kidney +variety. + +Robert Newell: A very fine man; Labonte's captain when in the Indian +war of '56, stationed at Vancouver. + +Calvin Tibbetts: Came with Wyeth. + +Alexander Duncan: Captain of the _Dryad_; came in the river when +Labonte lived at Scappoose; particular friend of Birnie's. + +Thomas McKay: About six feet tall; walked with a limp; never was +scared; very keen eyes; shot "War Eagle" in Cayuse war. + + + + +COMMUNICATIONS. + +EARLY SCHOOLS IN LANE COUNTY. + + + LATHAM, Oregon, February 6, 1902. + + _Mr. Geo. H. Himes, Assistant Secretary Oregon Historical + Society, Portland, Oregon_-- + + DEAR SIR: Your letter of 3d received [asking for data on + early schools in Lane County.] In response would say the + first two schools I remember in our district were taught by + Mr. James M. Parker and Mr. H. Clay Huston, in a log house + on my claim in Lane County. The branches taught were A B + C's, spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, + geography. I do not recollect which of these two gentlemen + taught first. I taught many terms of three months each in + various districts. In early days most districts were weak + financially, and but few could afford more than one term in + a year. Public money from school funds would not be quite + enough to pay the bill, and rate bill would be made for + balance and collected from patrons. The method of making + rate bills would be to average and find price per day per + scholar, and number of days' attendance per rate would be + each scholar's fee. Sometimes a subscription school would be + gotten [up] at so much per scholar for the term, the teacher + taking the subscribers for pay. + + The houses were either log, frame, or box, principally log, + but as fast as district became able improvements were made. + Some had huge fireplaces where red hot coals assisted the + teacher's switch to keep the outer boy and girl warm while + he stored away his A B C's or fed his mind on ab, ib, ob. + Some were heated by stoves. Some would have long, narrow + windows, one on each side of the house, and under them long + desks fastened to the walls to write on, and long benches + for the writers to sit on; others would be constructed with + plenty of windows and reasonably comfortable seats and + desks. + + The books principally used were Sanders' and Webster's + elementary spelling books, Sanders' first, second, third, + and fourth readers. I think Montieth's geographies, + Thompson's arithmetics, Smith's and Clark's grammars. + Teachers set most of copies for writers, but some copy + plates were used. Classes would be formed as much as + possible. A-B-C scholars would have to be heard singly, and + those just commencing to spell. Those in arithmetic would + have to be attended to singly except in general exercises on + blackboard. Four lessons a day in A B C's, spelling, first, + second, and third readers; two in the fourth reader, + besides closing spelling classes at noon and night. Often + these would consist of two classes, one class containing the + smaller, the other the larger scholars. One geography, one + grammar, one blackboard exercise for each class--about + fifteen or twenty minutes, set apart especially in fore and + afternoon for writers, so teachers could give them close + attention. Commencing with the A B C's first, after calling + school to order, then the spellers, next first, second, + third, and fourth readers; mingled with this would be the + necessary assistance to the arithmeticians, geographers, + grammarians. Classes having recited, then write geography, + grammar,--and blackboard exercise heard, usually in the + afternoon. Quiet could be better kept by requiring the + scholars to ask permission to speak when they wanted to + whisper, to leave their seats when wanting something in + another part of the room, or to go out when they wanted to + leave the room. Compositions would be better written, + speeches committed to memory, and read and delivered at + stated times; spelling schools in winter at night, and + sometimes examination or exhibition on last day. Christmas + times were apt to be jolly times. The scholars made it a + point to get to the schoolhouse before the teacher and + either bar him out or catch him before he got in, carry him + to a pond of water, and make him treat. Teachers would + sometimes board around among the scholars and sometimes + board at one place. The easiest, best way to control the + school was to make no rules only as needed; when + irregularity occurred, correct as required, with the + understanding that no such would be allowed the second time. + + Patrons of the school furnished fuel, usually hauling wood, + wagon lengths, about ten or twelve feet long. Teacher and + larger scholars would chop it up for fires. Teacher or large + scholars did the sweeping. + + Respectfully. + + JOS. H. SHARP. + + + + +THE MONTURES ON FRENCH PRAIRIE. + +In his history, H. S. Lyman speaks of "Montour, a character considered +fabulous by Bancroft, but said to have made a settlement on French +Prairie." + +Referring to notes given me by Mr. L. H. Ponjade, one of the old +residents on French Prairie, I found the following: + + My father, the old French doctor, had studied at Montpelier, + and after receiving his diploma as surgeon and physician, + was immediately taken into the service of Napoleon, and + served three years as surgeon on the army of France, mostly + in Spain. He naturally did not wish to serve in the army + again, so came to America, found his way to Oregon, and from + force of associations, made his home on French Prairie. + + Our first camp was at the ranch of old man Monture, that at + that time looked like an old farm, as it was well improved. + Peter Depot then owned the claim where Gervais is now + situated, and I understood that he got it from Monture some + time previous to that, but do not know the particulars. + + Monture had two sons, named George and Robert. Whether they + were both sons of the wife he then lived with I do not know, + as morals were rather loose previous to arrival of the + missionaries. There was a custom among ex-servants of the + Hudson Bay Company to claim a wife wherever they might be + among the Indians. After the arrival of Father Blanchet they + were allowed to have but one wife. + + I remember that George Monture was a very large man and very + powerful; must have weighed 350 pounds. I have seen him + lasso wild cattle and hold them to be branded without any + cinch or other thing to hold the saddle on the horse. He did + it by mere weight and bodily strength. He would do this for + half a day together at a time. + + Bob--as he was called--was not so large, but was stout and + active. He was a fine shot with his rifle. + +When I saw this mention of "Montour," I wrote to my old friend, L. H. +Ponjade, to ask if his mention of Monture meant the same that Lyman +thus referred to, and he confirms it as the same, and adds: "The old +place where they lived was about one quarter of a mile west of +Parkersville. Every man with any knowledge of old settlers knows of +the Montures." + + S. A. CLARKE. + + + + +DOCUMENTS. + +OREGON MATERIAL TAKEN FROM A FILE OF AN INDEPENDENCE (MO.) AND WESTON +(MO.) PAPER FOR 1844 AND 1845; ALSO SOME MINOR EXTRACTS FROM OTHER +PAPERS IN THAT VICINITY. + + +During this time these towns were important outfitting points for +Oregon pioneers. The Oregon fever was raging throughout the +surrounding country, the frontier counties of Missouri. The +newspapers, Democratic and Whig, in this vicinity appreciated the +interest in the Oregon Country and in the movement of emigration +thither. Their columns were open to reports of travelers returning +from the Columbia. Letters sent back by pioneers in the Willamette +Valley seemed to be in great demand. The documents printed below +contain two noteworthy letters from persons who were in the great +migration of 1843. Contemporary sources of the history of that epochal +event are especially valuable. + +[These extracts were made from the files of these papers in the +possession of the Missouri Historical Society, Saint Louis, Mo.] + + From the _Independence Journal_, September 12, 1844. + + (Vol. I, No. 1, G. R. Gibson, editor.) + + "Civis," in a communication, dwells upon the importance of + the Independence trade in outfitting Santa Fé traders. One + hundred and fifty thousand dollars are annually expended at + Independence for this purpose. There are good reasons for + believing that in a few years it will quadruple that amount. + Concerning the outfitting of the Oregon pioneers, he says: + + "The Oregon emigrants will, no doubt, continue to rendezvous + near this place, and will number annually 1,500 persons, the + outfit for which number will cost $50,000, and all of which + our citizens may furnish." + + Mountain trade, now of inconsiderable importance, will be + worth $10,000 per annum. "Civis" is urging the establishment + of a turnpike to the Missouri River. + + * * * * * + + From the _Independence Journal_, September 12, 1844. + + OREGON TERRITORY. + + Last Saturday's _Expositor_ contains a long letter from + Peter H. Burnett, dated Linnton, Oregon, July 25, 1844, + which we shall publish in our next; not having received it + in time for this week's paper. + + * * * * * + + From the _Independence Journal_, September 12, 1844. + + OREGON EMIGRANTS. + + We have news from the Oregon emigrants up to the 3d of + August, at which time they left Fort Laramie. They expected + to reach their destination about the beginning of October. + They were deficient in breadstuffs and could not procure any + at the fort without money. They expected to obtain a supply + at Buffalo, five or six days' journey from the fort. Some + fears were entertained that the Sioux Indians would steal + their stock, and otherwise give them trouble. Altogether + they appear to have got along very well, considering the + unusual weather they experienced between this and the Big + Platte. + +The _Independence Journal_ of September 19, 1844, gives Peter H. +Burnett's letter, written from Linnton, Oregon, July 25, 1844. [This +letter was printed in the June QUARTERLY, 1903, pages 181-184 of this +volume. It was taken from the _Ohio Statesman_, which quoted it from +the _Washington Globe_.] + +In the _Independence Journal_, September 19, 1844, under the caption +of "Independence: Its Trade and Prospects," the high state of +prosperity of the town is spoken of. Wagon makers are employed to +build seventy-five wagons for the Santa Fé traders by next spring, in +place of only fifty made the present year. Santa Fé road within the +State must be improved. United States Government should give it a port +of entry, and the State legislature should locate a branch of State +Bank there to accommodate Santa Fé traders and commerce of western +part of State. + + * * * * * + + From the _Independence Journal_, October 24, 1844. + + Mr. Gilpin, of this place, who went out to Oregon about + eighteen months since, arrived on Tuesday last with several + other persons. They left Bent's Fort on the 22d of + September. All was quiet and well at the fort, but there + was a difficulty between the Santa Féans and Eutaw Indians. + The Spaniards had killed some Eutaws; and the head chief and + five other principal chiefs went to Santa Fé to receive + compensation. The Governor gave them what he could, or what + he thought was enough, and, refusing to give more, the head + chief, in a passion, pulled his beard, when he seized his + sword and killed him and another, and the guards, being + called, fell upon the other four and killed them. The + Indians who accompanied them immediately left, and killed, + on their retreat, several Spaniards who were going from Taos + to Santa Fé. Altogether they had killed ten or twelve + Spaniards. A war between the Indians and Santa Féans, of + course, was expected. Some Spaniards, who were out on a + buffalo hunt, met Colonel Owens' company at the Cimmaron, + and dispatched immediately an express to Santa Fé. They made + up a company at Santa Fé, on receipt of the intelligence, + among whom were Messrs. Chavis, Armigo, and Percas, to + escort him to Santa Fé; and brought out fresh mules, and + everything they would probably need. Colonel Owens + accompanied them to Santa Fé, where a ball was to be given + him. They met Charles Bent, Mr. Alvarez (our consul at Santa + Fé), and Mr. Ferguson, at Choteau's [Chouteau's] Island, + about three days' travel this side of Bent's Fort. Mr. St. + Vrais [Vrain?] was this side of Corn Creek with waggons, + going on well. Doctor Connolly, with Lucas, was between Ash + Creek and Pawnee Fork, twenty-five miles ahead of Mr. + Speyers' company, which was near Walnut Creek. Mr. Speyers' + mules were poor and much worn out; they had left several on + the road, beside ten or fifteen lost shortly after they left + Independence. All the teams of Messrs. Bent and Connolly + were in good order, and they were getting along well. + + We are indebted to a Spaniard, who accompanied Mr. Gilpin, + for the foregoing. We have not heard anything of particular + importance from Oregon. Mr. Gilpin brought a large number of + letters, but we have not, as yet, been favored with the + perusal of any. The emigrants, we understand, were generally + getting along well. + +The _Independence Journal_, October 31, 1844, under the heading +"Oregon and Colonel Polk," gives an extract of a speech delivered by +Colonel Polk in Congress on a bill for extending jurisdiction of the +laws of the United States over all the people of Oregon Territory, and +directing officers of the Government to take possession of the mouth +of Columbia River, and establish a fort there. This, it says, will +show whether he (Polk) is for immediate occupation of it or not; and +that his opinions coincide with Mr. Clay's upon this subject. Gives +an extract of Polk's speech to substantiate its claim that Polk was no +more radical than Clay on this Oregon question. (_Independence +Journal_ was supporting candidacy of Clay.) + +_Weston Journal_, January 4, 1845 (Vol. 1, No. 1), Geo. R. Gibson, +editor (the same who edited _Independence Journal_ in 1844), in +leader: "To the Patrons of the _Journal_," he refers to recent +political campaign, and says, among other things: + + We shall advocate the annexation of Texas, but we wish to do + it without dishonor and by common consent. We shall advocate + the occupation of the Oregon Territory, and the erection of + a chain of posts from Missouri to the mountains; to protect + and extend facilities to companies, etc. Proposes to open + correspondence as soon as possible with mountain traders and + the settlers in Oregon. + +The _Weston Journal_ prospectus contained regularly this paragraph: + + From the great intercourse between this place and the + mountains, the editor will pay special attention to the news + from that quarter, the Oregon Territory, and the whole + Indian country. The Oregon Territory, attracting at the + present time the public attention, the patrons of the + _Journal_ may expect to find in its columns everything of + interest which may be gathered either from public or private + resources, relative to a country of such vast extent, varied + scenery, and diversified soil and climate. + + * * * * * + + From the _Weston Journal_, January 4, 1845. + + LETTER FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS, OREGON, CALIFORNIA, + EMIGRATION, ETC. + + We publish the subjoined letter, received by one of our + citizens a few days since, from a gentleman who accompanied + the Oregon emigration last year [1843]. We give it entire, + that our readers may have all the information that can be + gathered from this section of the country. It is not so + favorable, in some respects, of the Oregon Territory, as the + accounts of others, but it is by no means disparaging. Mr. + Gilpin thinks that corn can be raised to advantage, and says + that the reason why they have none, is--because they plant + none. It is undoubtedly a fine country for all the small + grains and is unsurpassed as a grazing country. The + emigrants who went out the past season have made a great + change in business, and money now circulates on the + Columbia as well on this side of the mountains, and + everything begins to assume the appearance of civilization, + business, trade, and the refinements this side the + mountains. We see that Mr. Cushing, our minister to China, + has returned by way of the city of Mexico; and here we have + a letter from one of our enterprising citizens from the + _halfway house_--the Sandwich Islands. + + We have been in the habit of looking to Europe for Asiatic + news; let our government establish a chain of posts from + this to Oregon, an overland mail will speedily follow, and + the China and East India trade will pour into our channels + of commerce from the gorges of the Rocky Mountains: and a + journey from New York to China, by way of Oregon, will be + less thought of than it formerly was to Saint Louis. The + Government should consider that a little enterprise will + place the East India trade at our door; and the sooner the + better. We hope Congress, this winter, will take active + measures to bring about such a state of things. What is a + few thousand dollars compared with the object to be + acquired? + + LAHIANA, MAUI, Sandwich Islands, July 17, 1844. + + _J. Wells, Esq._-- + + DEAR SIR: In a few days the first ship that has left this + place for the States, since my arrival here, will sail, and + I take this opportunity to tell you something of my journey + and Oregon, etc., though probably you have heard all the + news long before you get this. I should have written you ere + this, had an opportunity offered. But to tell you of the + trip: I left the Shawnee mission on the 29th of May; our + route was through the Caw Indian country, which is good, has + considerable timber, and is well watered. It is a bad + country for wagons to travel through, having so many sloughs + and bad creeks; the teams were often stalled, and made very + slow progress. We had three rivers and creeks to cross + before we reached the Platte River. The Platte River has + good grass--plenty of it--but is destitute of timber; here + we saw the first buffalo--they were poor and tough. We saw a + few of the Pawnee Indians. They are fine looking fellows, + and no doubt, live well on buffalo meat; they are quite + treacherous. We reached the crossing of Platte on the + twenty-sixth day of July, a little more than one month out. + The traveling up the Platte is very good, level, and hard. + We struck from this to the north fork of the Platte, one + day's travel. On the 13th of July we arrived at the crossing + of Laramie's Fork, at the fort of the American Fur Company; + before arriving here we saw many splendid sights; also many + of the dog towns that you have heard of. I saw quantities of + the dogs; they are small, round animals, the size of a cat. + Certain it is that there are owls that visit them, also + rattlesnakes, but for what reason is a matter of dispute. + After we left Laramie we came to the Black Hills, the worst + of all traveling,--hilly, sandy, and full of wild sage--'tis + death on a wagon. The country is all of this barren, sandy + kind, until we reach Fort Hall and destitute of timber. + Arrived at Fort Hall the 13th of September, after + experiencing some cold rains, snow, hail, etc. At Fort Hall + we could get no provisions, and were obliged to go down the + river (Snake), and depend on getting fish to subsist on; + this was the reason of my going to Oregon instead of + California. The country down Snake River is hilly, rocky, + sandy, no timber, but an abundance of sage, until we get to + the Blue Mountains; here is plenty of pine, the country very + broken, and bad traveling, though the wagons went through. + After getting through the Blue Mountains we came to a + splendid country of grass, where there were thousands of + Indian horses grazing. About twenty miles from this, we come + to the Walla Walla Valley. There is a missionary + establishment here. They raise grain and vegetables, but no + timber, except for firewood. About twenty miles from this we + came to the Columbia River. Many of the emigrants sold their + cattle here, and went down the river by water, as they could + not cross the Cascade mountains with their wagons, though + they could go down one hundred miles farther and then take + water, as many did. The country on the Columbia is only fit + for grazing, being good grass, but sandy soil. On the 3d of + November arrived at Fort Vancouver, just as the rainy season + had commenced; and it was very disagreeable and rained most + of the time I was there. I then went to the Willamette + Falls; quite a town here--forty houses, four stores, two + sawmills, one flour mill, and another to be erected soon. + This country is not capable of half as large a settlement as + people represent; there is much timber, and it can not be + cleared in many years, so as to be capable of great + production; and what prairie there is will not produce as + much as your land; but the wheat is better. Neither do many + think the soil will last long, but that it is rather + shallow; and there is much fever and ague. Besides, the + winters are so wet 'tis impossible to do much out of doors. + It has the advantage that grain (wheat) is worth eighty + cents per bushel, and cattle will winter themselves. Take it + all in all, 'tis nothing like your country. + + After my arrival there, finding that I could not get to + California until spring, I concluded to take a vessel for + the Sandwich Islands, and then go from here to California, + so I concluded to stay. It [this] is a fine climate--a + perpetual summer, and little rain. The natives require but + little clothing, and, in fact, some of them do not wear any. + + I hardly know what to write about Oregon, or what you would + like to know; though if I was where you are, and should see + some one from Oregon, I could ask him a hundred questions, + as you could me. The report of Wilkes that you had is very + correct. There are thousands of salmon here [Oregon]--some + wild game, plenty of ducks, geese, and swans, and some good + wet places to raise more of them--as there must be some wet + places, being so much rain in the winter, and no snow. + + There is scarcely any corn raised--it will not do well. I + saw a little, but it was poor. Most other kinds of grains do + well. There is no money in Oregon; although most of those + who have been farming a few years have made property, as + grain is high and cattle take care of themselves, and sell + high. Oxen are worth $75 to $125 per yoke; beef, six cents + per pound. Many of the people who went to California have + left it and gone to Oregon. I saw many of them while there, + and they gave as one of the reasons of leaving--trouble with + the Spaniards. + + Truly yours, + + JOHN BOARDMAN. + + * * * * * + + From the _Weston Journal_, January 11, 1845. + + THE OREGON. + + The editor of the _New York Commercial_ has read letters + from the Oregon Territory, brought overland and mailed at + the extreme western frontier of the United States. They are + as late as June 17th, from the Methodist missionary station + at Willamette. The Rev. Mr. Gary, who was sent out by that + missionary society, had arrived at Willamette _via_ the + Sandwich Islands, himself and wife in good health. Mr. Gary + had been but a short time in Oregon when an opportunity + offered of sending a communication to the Board of Missions + by a small party who were about to return to the United + States. He had, however, seen all the mission family, except + Rev. Mr. Perkins, who was at a distant post. The + missionaries and their families were in good health at the + date above mentioned. No event of special interest regarding + the mission had taken place since last previous advices. Mr. + Gary concurs, with several missionaries who have returned + from that far country, in the opinion that the natives are a + degraded race of beings, and that there is little prospect + of doing them permanent good by any ministerial labor which + may be expended among them. + + * * * * * + + From the _Weston Journal_, January 18, 1845. + + OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. + + A gentleman well qualified for the task has prepared a + pamphlet, called a guide to Oregon and California, which + will probably be published during the present winter. The + readers of the _New Era_ will recollect several well written + communications on that subject published during the past + year, which emanated from the same pen. The writer has lived + in Oregon and California, has traveled different routes to + and from those regions, and is well qualified to give full + and satisfactory information to emigrants and other persons. + Success to his efforts.--_New Era._ + + * * * * * + + From the _Weston Journal_, January 25, 1845. + + OREGON. + + (Editorial.) + + Congress may provide for the occupation of it--for the + formation of a territorial government--they may establish + posts and a military road across the mountains, and + encourage emigration in every possible manner, and the whole + will not contribute so much towards its settlement as the + negotiations of a treaty with China, opening to us a market + for our products in that country. If the one now before + Congress has done so, Great Britain may set her claim to the + Columbia--it will be a claim for but a short time. Our + shipping, farmers, merchants, and tradesmen will soon find a + road to a country possessing the advantages the west side of + the American continent would possess, in that event, and but + a short time would elapse before China would be supplied by + American skill and industry, from the mouth of the Columbia, + with all she would admit. + +The _Weston Journal_, March 1, 1845, under heading, "Oregon +Territory," speaks of a bill introduced into the Senate proposing that +Oregon include: All the territory lying west of the Missouri River +south of the forty-ninth degree of north latitude and east of the +Rocky Mountains, and north of the boundary line between the United +States and Texas, not included within the limits of any State, and +also over the territory comprising the Rocky Mountains, and country +between them and the Pacific Ocean south of fifty-fourth degree and +forty-nine minutes of north latitude, and north of the forty-second +degree of north latitude, etc. [!!!] + + * * * * * + + From the _Weston Journal_, March 1, 1845. + + RAILROAD TO OREGON. + + The _Philadelphia Ledger's_ Washington correspondent says + that Mr. Whitney, of New York, contemplates the construction + of a railroad from the western shore of Lake Michigan, in a + direct line through to the Columbia River, covering the + distance of some 2,100 miles, which shall be the point of + debarkation to China. + + The cost of the road, when completed, is estimated at fifty + millions of dollars, and twenty-five years would be required + to perfect the scheme. Eight days would be about the + traveling time from New York City to the terminus of the + road, and if [steamship?] facilities were employed, some + twenty-five more would convey one to Amoy, in China, so that + by this short cut, a journey across the globe might be + accomplished within the narrow limit of a single month. + + By the establishment of this means of communication, we + should be enabled to command the Chinese market, and to + extend our commerce with South America, Mexico, India, and + other parts. + + And, in addition to the vast results that would necessarily + ensue from this work by the force of circumstances, we should + secure the transportation of the English trade on account of + the great shortening of time. + + All the coöperation and assistance that Mr. Whitney asks the + government is a grant of sixty miles wide of the public + land, from one terminus of the contemplated road to the + other, for which a full consideration would be given in + carrying the mails, and transporting ammunition stores, + soldiers, and all public matters free of cost. + + * * * * * + + From the _Weston Journal_, March 15, 1845. + + OREGON EMIGRANTS. + + Preparations are making on the whole frontier, by the Oregon + emigrants, to leave at an early day. One company goes from + Savannah, another from some point between that and this, and + the company from this county, we understand, will leave at + Fort Leavenworth, or its neighborhood. One of the emigrants + who goes with the Savannah company informs us that not less + than one hundred families will leave at Elizabethtown, and + thirty families from the other points. The number from this + county we do not know. * * * A committee has submitted some + rules and regulations for the intending emigrants. They have + not yet had a meeting to adopt them, but they no doubt will + do so. They go about it in the right way, and the rules and + regulations are such as to secure order and method. They + expect to leave about the first of April, if the grass is + sufficient, or as soon thereafter as it is. + + * * * * * + + REPORT + + Of the committee appointed to draft a constitution for + "Savannah Oregon Emigrating Company." + + Whereas, in order the better to prepare the way for and to + accomplish our journey to Oregon with greater harmony, it + was deemed advisable to adopt certain rules and regulations; + and whereas the undersigned, having been appointed a + committee to draft and prepare said rules and regulations, + and having given the subject that attention which its + importance demands, beg leave respectfully to report the + following as the result of their deliberations, viz: + + § 1. This association shall be known by the style and name + of the "Savannah Oregon Emigrating Company." + + § 2. Any person over the age of sixteen may become a member + of this company by subscribing to this constitution and + paying into the treasury the initiation fee of one dollar. + + § 3. No person under the age of twenty-one years can become + a member without the consent of their legal guardian. + + § 4. No person shall be admitted whose intention is + obviously apparent to avoid payment of his debts. + + § 5. A majority of the members shall have power to expel any + member for good cause. + + § 6. The officers of this company shall consist of a + president, commandant captain, lieutenant, secretary, + treasurer, and executive council of thirteen, the commandant + being one thereof, and such other inferior military officers + as the executive council shall determine. + + § 7. The president shall be elected on the adoption of this + constitution, and shall continue in office until the + commandant captain shall be elected, when his functions as + presiding officer shall cease. + + § 8. The secretary shall be elected on the adoption of this + constitution, and shall continue in office until the + completion of the objects of this company; and he shall keep + a record of the transactions of the company, and perform + such other duties as usually pertain to his office. + + § 9. The treasurer (ditto as to election) shall collect and + safely keep, and at the direction of the commandant shall + disburse all moneys belonging to the company. + + § 10. The commandant captain, lieutenant, and such other + military officers as the council shall determine, shall be + elected when the company shall assemble at rendezvous + preparatory to a final start; and they shall hold office + until the completion of their journey, and shall perform + such duties as usually appertain to military officers of + their respective grades. + + § 11. The executive council, to consist of twelve men, + beside the commandant, shall be elected when assembled at + the rendezvous, and shall have general superintendence of + the affairs of the company, and perform such other duties as + may be assigned to them. + + § 12. The company shall elect, at least one month before the + rendezvous, three inspectors (not members of the company), + whose duty it shall be, after taking oath, to perform all + duty faithfully, to inspect the wagons, teams, cattle, and + provisions, and report to the executive council, who shall + determine upon their report as regards the outfit of all + members of the company; said inspectors to be paid a sum not + exceeding one dollar for every day actually engaged in such + services. + + § 13. The funds of the company shall be faithfully applied + for contingent expenses in furthering the objects of the + association. + + § 14. The necessary outfit shall consist of 150 pounds of + flour, or 200 pounds of meal, and 60 pounds of bacon for + every person (excepting infants) in the company. + + § 15. The wagons shall be expected to be able to carry + double the amount of their loads, and the teams to be able + to draw double the amount the wagons are capable of bearing. + + § 16. All cattle, excepting teams in use, shall be + considered as common stock; an inventory of age, brand, + kind, and number, shall be handed in by the contributor to + the secretary, and at the termination of the journey the + company shall account to each contributor for the amount + inventoried. + + § 17. The number of cattle thus inventoried and put in shall + never exceed fifty to one driver. + + § 18. No ardent spirits to be taken or drank on the route, + except for medicinal purposes, and if smuggled in shall, + when discovered, be destroyed under the control of the + commandant. + + § 19. Every person over the age of sixteen shall furnish + himself with a good and sufficient rifle, ---- pounds of + powder, and ---- pounds of lead, to be inspected by the + inspector, and reported on as in other cases. + + § 20. All members of this association shall assemble at + ----, and on the ---- day of ----, 1845, and organize for + the final trip. + + § 21. * * * This constitution may be altered or amended at + any time by a vote of two thirds of the members present at + any regular meeting of the company, or at any special + meeting called by the commandant. + + All of which is respectfully submitted. + + JAMES OFFICER, + WM. DEAKINS, + B. M. ATHERTON, + C. F. HALLY, + + _January 4, 1845._ Committee. + + * * * * * + + From _Western Journal_, March 15, 1845. + + LETTER FROM OREGON. + + The following extracts from a letter written by one of the + emigrants of 1843, will be particularly interesting at this + time, and should be carefully read by those going out this + spring. It will be particularly useful to emigrants who + leave from this part of the country: + + FORT VANCOUVER, November 11, 1843. + + DEAR SIR: We were six months to-day, from the time we left + home, in getting to this place, though we might have arrived + one month sooner had we not unnecessarily wasted time on the + way. To give you a full description of our travels would + occupy more time than I have to spare. I will, however, give + you and my friends a short sketch. We left Westport on the + 27th of May, and crossed the Kansas River near the old + village: thence up the north side of the Kansas, where we + had a great deal of rain and stormy weather to encounter + which made it very disagreeable traveling. We then crossed + over [to] the Platte, about eighty miles above the Pawnee + village; thence up the Platte about fifty miles above the + forks, where we crossed the South Fork. We then struck over + on to the North Fork and traveled up it until we came to + Fort Laramie. We then crossed Laramie's Fork of Platte, + which we found very difficult to pass. We still kept up the + North Fork to within forty miles of the Rocky Mountains, + where we crossed it. We came to a small stream, called + Sweetwater, one of the streams of the northern branch of + Platte; we traveled up this until we passed through the + Rocky Mountains, which we found to be as good as any part of + our road. We then came to the waters of Green River, which + is one of the branches of the Colorado--then to Fort Bridges + [Bridger], which is on the waters of Green River; from there + we next struck Bear River, which empties into the Great Salt + Lake. We traveled several days down this river, then crossed + over on to the Snake River, and arrived at Fort Hall on the + 25th day of August. Here I found some of the best beef I + ever saw. From here we traveled down Snake or Lewis River, + crossing and recrossing the same to Fort Bosie [Boisé]; + thence to Fort Walla Walla, crossing the Blue Mountains in + our route. We passed them much easier than I expected. + + At Walla Walla myself and Reeves, and many others of the + emigrants, exchanged cattle [for cattle] at Vancouver. We + got age for age and sex for sex. Here we found it advisable + to take [to the] water and travel down the great Columbia, + which we did with some difficulty. Those who did not + exchange their stock went to the Methodist mission at the + foot of the Cascade Mountains. Here they carried their + wagons by water and drove their stock through by land. A + large portion of the emigrants have arrived, and the + remainder will be here in a few days. Those who have been to + the Willamette Valley say it is a rich and beautiful + country, but to what extent they know not, as they have not + had sufficient time to examine it. I find any quantity of + provisions can be had here. Doctor McLoughlin, of Vancouver, + has rendered great assistance to the emigrants in loaning + them his boats and furnishing them with provisions to take + back to the companies that are yet behind--at the same time + refusing any compensation for either. We have found the + Hudson Bay Company at all the forts very accommodating. The + road from Independence to Fort Hall is as good a road as I + would wish to travel,--from Fort Hall there is some bad road + and some good. The reason why we did not try to take our + wagons across the Cascade Mountains was that the season had + so far advanced it was thought to be a dangerous undertaking + through so much snow and cold weather. We will prepare a + road across these mountains next summer, so that the next + emigration can bring their wagons through without any + difficulty. Some of us will meet the next emigration at Fort + Hall. + + I will now give you a description of the necessary outfit + each person should have to come to this terrestrial + paradise. Your wagons should be light, yet substantial and + strong, and a plenty of good oxen. Though I wrote while on + the Sweetwater that mule teams were preferable, but after + seeing them thoroughly tried I have become convinced that + oxen are more preferable--they are the least trouble and + stand traveling much the best--are worth a great deal more + when here. Load your wagons light and put one third more + team to them than is necessary to pull the load. Bring + nothing with you except provisions and a plenty of clothes + to do you one year from the time you leave. They can all be + had on as good terms here as in Missouri, and even better; + bring but few bedclothes, for they will be worn out when + they arrive here--they can be had here on good terms. Your + oxen will not require shoeing. Bring a plenty of loose + cattle, cows and heifers particularly, as they are but + little trouble and are worth a great deal. Bring mules to + drive your loose stock. Bring a few good American mares, but + use them very tenderly or you will not get them here. + American horses are worth considerable in this country. + Horses can not get here except they are well used, and you + should have two or three pairs of shoes and nails for them + and your mules. You should bring 200 pounds of flour, 100 + pounds of bacon, for every member of the family that can + eat, besides other provisions. Make no calculation on + getting buffalo or other wild meat, for you are only wasting + time and killing horses and mules to get it. Have your wagon + beds made in such a manner that they can be used for boats; + you will find them of great service in crossing + streams--have your wagons well covered, so that they will + not leak, or your provisions and clothes will spoil. Have + your tents made water tight; start as early as possible; let + your teams and stock all be in good order. Start as soon as + your stock can get grass enough to travel on, for the grass + will be getting better every day until you arrive at Fort + Hall; after that you will find the grass bad in places until + you get to the Blue Mountains. You will find plenty of grass + from there to the Willamette Valley. Our cattle are in + better order than they were one month ago. Large flintlock + guns are good to traffic with the Snake Indians. Bring a + plenty of cheap cotton shirts to trade to the Indians on + this side of the mountains. You might start with calves and + kill them on the way, before they get poor, for fresh + eating. You will find some beans, rice, and dried fruit of + great use on the road. You should travel in companies of + forty wagons, and continue together the whole route. You + will find some ship biscuit to be of great use at times when + you can not find fuel sufficient to cook with. + + Be sure and bring nothing except what will be of material + use to you on your journey, for, depend upon it, if you + overload you will lose your team, wagon, and goods. You will + find good stout young cows to answer in place of oxen, in + case you should not have sufficient; let them be about + middle size; let them be good, sound oxen, that have never + been injured. I am satisfied from the products of the + country that a man can live easier here than he can in any + part of the United States. If he raises any produce he is + sure of getting a good price for it in anything he may call + for, money excepted. There is very little money in this + country, though it is very little use when a man can get + anything he wants without it. The merchants here will sell + their goods cheaper for produce or labor than they will for + cash, because they make a profit on the commodities they + purchase, while there is no profit on cash. In fact, + business is done here altogether by exchanging commodities. + We can purchase anything of the Hudson Bay Company cheaper + by promising wheat next year than we can for cash in hand. + Cows are worth (that is, American,) from $30 to $50; + American horses from $60 to $100; oxen $60 to $80; wheat $1 + per bushel; oats, 40 cents; potatoes, 40 cents; peas the + same; beef, 6 cents; pork, 10 cents; butter, 20 cents; + common labor, $1.50; mechanics, $2 to $3. + + The next emigration will get their cattle and wagons through + quite easy, if they will start early and travel constantly + though slow; they must not push. + + Persons on the north side of the Missouri should rendezvous + on the south side of the river, opposite the Blacksnake + Hills, and go up the Nemaha and strike the Platte near the + Pawnee village; by so doing they will avoid crossing the + Kansas, and avoid some bad roads, and go 100 miles nearer. + + We were not troubled with the Indians in the dangerous part + of the country, for this reason, I have no doubt,--we kept a + strong guard in nighttime and a sharp lookout in daytime. + After we passed Green River we abandoned guarding and broke + up into small companies, though advised to the contrary, and + in passing from the Blue Mountains to the valley some of the + emigrants were imposed on, in fact, some of them were + robbed, though it was their own fault for not sticking + together. You should start with some medicine, for you will + have more or less sickness until you get to Fort Hall. Be + sure and take good care not to expose yourself + unnecessarily, for people have to go through a seasoning on + the road, which makes the most of them sick. We are now + eating apples which grew at Vancouver. They are now + gathering their apples, peaches, and grapes, etc.; these are + the only fruits tried as yet; they are fine. + + The missionaries here have done more toward Christianizing + the Indians in five years than has been done in the States + in twenty years. Numbers of them who can not speak one word + of English hold regular family worship. They are members of + the Methodist Episcopal church. I am convinced it is in + consequence of not being able to get liquor. The Hudson Bay + Company and missionaries and settlers have taken a bold + stand against the introduction of ardent spirits into this + country, and I am convinced while they continue this + praiseworthy course we all will see more satisfaction and + pleasure, and our little colony will profit thereby. + + S. M. GILMORE. + + * * * * * + + From _Weston Journal_, April 5, 1845. + + CORRESPONDENCE. + + MR. EDITOR: I desire to recommend, through your paper, to + all emigrants to Oregon, to pass by the Council Bluffs. The + road from Weston to the Bluffs is now in fine order. All the + streams are bridged or have ferries, so that there is no + obstacle to cause an hour's detention until the company + shall reach the Bluffs. The best route is that crossing the + Nishnebatona at Huntseeker's Ferry; thence by the residence + of Major Stephen Cooper to Port au Poule, where a good + ferry-boat is now in preparation to cross the Missouri. From + the Missouri, at that point, to the Pawnee villages, the + road is much better than on the lower route, and the + distance is about the same. + + ONE WHO KNOWS. + + _Weston, April 2, 1845._ + + * * * * * + + From _Weston Journal_, March 15, 1845. + + OREGON! OREGON!! OREGON!!! + + MR. EDITOR: I wish to give notice, through your paper, to + all those parties who intend to emigrate to Oregon, that + arrangements have been made to cross the Missouri River at + two different points, the one in Andrew, the other in + Buchanan County. Some of the citizens of Andrew have made an + arrangement with the Sacs Indians for the privilege of + range, wood, and water, opposite Elizabethtown. + + They have promised the Indians six two-year-old beeves, to + be paid by that portion of the Oregon company which may + cross at Elizabethtown. This point is very suitable for + crossing the Missouri River. The rates of only about half + what is usual at the common ferries on the Missouri. + + The company expect to rendezvous in the Indian country, + opposite Elizabethtown, between the first and tenth of + April. A number of excellent citizens expect to cross at + this place. This is the point from which a portion of the + Oregon company started last spring. Taking all things into + consideration, this is probably the best route to cross the + Missouri at Elizabethtown (where there is an excellent + large, new ferry-boat), and fall over on the Platte, + opposite the Pawnee village, and thence pass along up the + south side of the Platte River. + + A MEMBER OF THE OREGON COMPANY. + + _March 8, 1845._ + + * * * * * + + From _Cherokee Advocate_, Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, + February 27, 1845. + + LATER FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS AND OREGON. + + Advices are to September 4th. The United States ship + _Warren_, Hull, sailed on the 8th of August from Honolulu + for Mazatlan, by way of California. The _Delaware_, Carter, + which arrived at Honolulu with naval stores from Valparaiso, + September 1st, reports having seen a large vessel, probably + the United States ship _Savannah_, entering Honolulu Bay. + The _Polynesian_ contains intelligence from Oregon to August + 2d. + + The legislature of Oregon adjourned a few days before the 3d + of July, having passed some important laws. One of its acts + is: "Any person who shall make, sell, or give away ardent + spirits in Oregon, south of Columbia River, shall forfeit + and pay $100 for each and every such offense." The + legislature is called the "Legislative Committee," and + consists of nine persons elected by the people. The officers + of the Oregon Territory consist of three governors, called + the Executive Committee, a Supreme Judge, and a Legislative + Council. The laws are the same as those governing the + Territory of Iowa. The government is purely democratic + republican. Doctor Babcock is the supreme judge. The name of + only one of the governors, Doctor Bailey, is mentioned. On + the 1st of August a Belgian brig arrived at the Oregon city, + having on board a number of nuns and several Catholic + priests from Antwerp, sent out to Oregon by the church of + Rome. + + The colony is in a most encouraging condition. The crops + were giving promise of an abundant harvest. + + People were coming into the territory in large numbers, and + the country is filling up with thriving and energetic + colonists. Doctor Babcock, "the supreme judge," went to + Oregon as physician to the Methodist mission family. Doctor + Bailey was from this city, where his family now + resides.--_New York Evening Post._ + + * * * * * + + From _Cherokee Advocate_, February 27, 1845. + + A large company of emigrants are expected to leave + Independence, Missouri, about the first of May for Oregon. + + * * * * * + + From _Cherokee Advocate_, Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, + February 27, 1845. + + PRINTING PRESS FOR OREGON. + + We see by the _Commercial_ that the proprietors of that + paper forwarded one of Hoe's best printing presses to Oregon + last week, with type, printing ink, paper, etc., for the + newspaper about to be established in Oregon. The paper is to + be connected with the missionary station there.--_New York + Sun, 27th ultimo._ + + * * * * * + + _Missouri Statesman_, September 1, 1843. + + The _Western Expositor_ is the name of a new Democratic + paper published in Independence. Editor, Robert G. Smart, + Esq. It takes the place of the _Western Missourian_. + + * * * * * + + CORRECTION. + + NOTE.--"William Marshal," on page 11 of the March QUARTERLY, + should read "James Wilson Marshall." + + + + + THE QUARTERLY + OF THE + OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY. + + VOLUME IV. DECEMBER, 1903 NUMBER 4 + + + + +THE ORIGIN AND AUTHORSHIP OF THE BANCROFT PACIFIC STATES PUBLICATIONS: +A HISTORY OF A HISTORY.--I. + +By WILLIAM ALFRED MORRIS. + + +The true student of history, when confronted for the first time with a +statement of what purports to be an historical fact, weighs at the +outset, as all-important, the evidence of its accuracy. If there be at +hand no means of verifying the statement, the only ground of assurance +is a knowledge of who is speaking, how likely he is to know the truth, +and how well fitted he is to tell it; for to be a writer of accurate +history one must not only know facts, but must also be truthful, and +so far above bias upon his subject as to be able to treat it fairly, +openly, and without false coloring of any part. It is therefore the +first canon of historical criticism to accept as authority no +statement unless it be known who is making that statement. + +The greater our interest in a given subject, the more important to us +becomes the question of the authority for all statements concerning +that subject. As the field of history is narrowed down to a single +state or to a single locality, where every man may to a certain +extent be an historian, an anonymous written account, though excellent +in itself, will still be viewed with suspicion. The fact that there is +a good local knowledge of the subject by no means removes the +necessity of determining authorship. + +Fortunate it is for the Pacific States and Territories of the United +States that data concerning their history from its beginning were +collected during the lifetime of men who laid the foundations of these +commonwealths. It is then a matter of the highest importance to the +people of this vast empire to know who wove this material together, +and wrote the only attempt at a full and connected history of the +Pacific Coast which has ever been published. + +The completion of the Bancroft series of Pacific Slope histories, to +which reference is here made, marks an event unique in the annals of +history writing. At no other time and in no other land has there been +carried to completion a work of like character and magnitude. There +had previously been written a few histories of Oregon and California +covering a certain period, and designed chiefly to give a treatment of +a certain institution or political subject, but so far as the thorough +working up of the whole ground was concerned, a virgin field presented +itself. + +Moreover, the undertaking was an unusually inspiring one. It was none +other than that of tracing from the days when Europeans first trod the +Pacific shores of America the sequence of events by which these lands +were acquired and occupied by their present holders, political +governments organized, and the development of resources entered upon; +in short, it was the following up of the successive steps by which the +institutions and industries of a nineteenth century civilization were +established in a western wilderness. When we remember that the greater +part of this record could at the time of writing be made from +information furnished directly by the men who made this history, and +that the lack of material which so often embarrasses the writer could +not here be a cause of complaint, we may well conclude that such an +opportunity had never before fallen to the lot of the historian. + +Again, in the vast collection of historical sources into one place, as +well as in the newness of the field and inspiring nature of the work, +the undertaking presents a most remarkable feature. The projector of +this enterprise was the first on the coast to undertake such a +collection on a large scale. This fact, together with the recency of +many of the events, which both rendered an unending number of +eye-witnesses easily accessible for procuring personal narratives, and +likewise caused those who possessed papers and books throwing light +upon history, to set slight value upon them, enabled Mr. Bancroft to +collect a library of material such as on the beginning and early +chapters of Pacific Coast history in all probability can never again +be equalled. + +Finally, in the amount of material which it presents, and in the +extent of ground which it covers, the Bancroft series has attained +epoch-making proportions. So closely related is the history of the +Pacific states and territories of the United States to that of the +regions north and south, that to insure a complete understanding of it +required the writing also of the History of Mexico, Texas, and Central +America, as well as that of British Columbia and Alaska. When we learn +that two thousand different authorities were consulted in writing the +History of Central America, and ten thousand in arranging the material +for the History of Mexico; that in taking out material for the History +of California eight men were employed for six years; and that in +merely indexing the material for the History of Mexico five men worked +ten years, we are inclined to quote approvingly these words of Mr. +Bancroft: + +"I say, then, without unpardonable boasting, that in my opinion there +never in the history of literature was performed so consummate a feat +as the gathering, abstracting, and arranging of the material for this +History of the Pacific States": (Bancroft's Literary Industries, 581). + +The history of no American locality would be considered without some +account of its aborigines. The result, then, of this Bancroft plan has +been the writing of the History of the Pacific slope of the continent +from Bering Sea to Darien, with a History of the Native Races in five +volumes as an introduction, and a half dozen volumes of sketches and +essays by way of conclusion, in all thirty-nine octavo volumes. + +But this work, the greatest of the kind, few if any of whose separate +divisions have been superseded by later works has suffered greatly in +the estimation of historians because they do not know who is authority +for the statements contained in them. Justice to the people of any +state or territory whose history appears in this series demands that +they should know in whose words it is related. A compliance with the +reasonable expectations of the pioneers who contributed books, +narrations, and documents to aid in the preparation of a standard +history of their respective states calls for a public knowledge of the +identity of the writer to the end that the volume in which their chief +interest centers be not stigmatized as anonymous. And above all, a +conformity with usage, not to mention an observance of the principles +of right, requires that the author of finished work published in this +series, or any other, should receive public acknowledgment of his +labors and whatever of praise or blame is his due. + +Ten years ago it was shown in the California press that the Bancroft +histories are not the works of the man who claims to be their author. +But to say that "The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft" were written by +any person other than Hubert Howe Bancroft is such a contradiction as +to startle today the great majority both East and West whose attention +have never been directed to the question. To determine the authorship +of a work we are wont to consult its title page, and the title pages +of these volumes all declare that they are "By Hubert Howe Bancroft." +The advertising matter sent out by the Bancroft publishing +establishment refers to them as "the writings of Mr. Bancroft," with +never a suggestion that any other person wrote a line. The same course +was followed in the reviews of these volumes, which at the time of +their publication were scattered by the press throughout the length +and breadth of the leading countries of Europe, as well as in our +land, although here we must remember that book reviews may be but +another name for advertising matter prepared by the publisher and +inserted at advertising rates. In his Literary Industries, the volume +giving an account of his literary activities, Mr. Bancroft refers to +himself as the author (Lit. Ind., 361, 661), and speaks of his own +writing without a clear reference to that of others (Lit. Ind., 288, +568, 571, 653) in such terms as to give the impression that he was the +only writer who prepared the manuscript as it went to the printer. +True, he mentions assistants, and we can easily see, as he tells us, +that he must have had fifteen or twenty note takers, cataloguers, and +other library aids (Lit. Ind., 582) in order to arrange so vast an +amount of material. When assistants are mentioned it is usually in +words which justify the reader in the inference that these aids are +meant (see Central America I, preface, viii; Literary Industries, +584), and that, therefore, the assistants are in no sense authors. + +By a careful reading of the Literary Industries, however, we find that +there was a class of assistants who are differentiated from ordinary +library aids, by the statement that they were "more experienced and +able," and whose work Mr. Bancroft describes as "the study and +reduction of certain minor sections of the history which I employed in +my writing after more or less condensation and change": (Lit. Ind., +568). But even this passage seems to indicate that the material +prepared by these writers was rewritten by Mr. Bancroft. + +As a result, therefore, of the indication of the title page of these +works, of the recognition of the public press, of the statements of +the Literary Industries, and of Mr. Bancroft's connection with the +work widely known through personal means, it happens that today he is +called the "Historian of the Pacific Coast." Furthermore, he is the +only person to whom such a title is given, being so recognized by +newspapers, encyclopedias, and the people at large. In the minds of +the great number, Hubert Howe Bancroft is the historian of the Pacific +states for just the same reason that George Bancroft is the historian +of the United States. Speaking in accord with this popular estimate of +Mr. Bancroft's work, Wendell Phillips once called him "The Macaulay of +the West." + +Nowhere, however, can there be found a statement by this historian in +which he lays an unequivocal claim to the authorship of the works +which have been published under his name. By his own words quoted +above he admits that the work was, at least in part, coöperative, and +that he was a compiler of the work of his assistants. And for any one +man to assert authorship of the Bancroft series of histories would be +preposterous. According to actual computation, the mere work of +arranging the material and writing the History of the Pacific States, +after a small army of note-takers had concluded their operations, +represents an equivalent to the labors of one man for a hundred +years: (Frances Fuller Victor in _Salt Lake Tribune_, April 14, 1893.) +Moreover, the use of quotations from foreign languages, of which Mr. +Bancroft had no knowledge, proves that parts of the work are not from +his pen, while the different literary styles (see for example, the +review of Oregon I in the _New York Tribune_, Nov. 26, 1886; in the +_S. F. Argonaut_, Oct. 23, 1886; in the _Sacramento D. Record-Union_, +Oct. 27, 1886; and in the _Portland Oregonian_, Oct. 28, 1886), and +varying degrees of historical workmanship (Compare reviews of Oregon +II in _N. Y. Tribune_, January, 1887; and in _S. F. Chronicle_, Jan. +13, 1887, with reviews of other Bancroft works) clearly reveal the +work of a number of writers. + +A little knowledge on this point has proved a dangerous thing for the +reputation of the histories. Some of the newspapers of the coast have +learned that Mr. Bancroft did not do all the writing and have even +published the names of other authors of the series with statements +more or less conjectural as to the writing done by them. In some +cases, wild speculations as to the authorship of the works have been +published. Many are under the impression that those who went about +taking statements of pioneers and in other ways collecting material +were themselves writing the manuscript which was published, and that +consequently much of the history is no more critically written than an +ordinary newspaper article, and as little known about its authorship. +Furthermore, it is believed in some quarters that those who prepared +narrations for Mr. Bancroft were writing history for him to publish, +and that persons not connected with the Bancroft library were authors +of parts of the work. In accordance with this idea, it has been +claimed that a certain tone favorable to the Mormons which runs +through the History of Utah is to be accounted for by the theory that +the volume was written by some one connected with the Mormon church, +whereas the truth is that, although the historian of that church +prepared some data for Mr. Bancroft's use, the work was prepared in +the library by Mr. Bancroft and one of his assistants from the annals +in his possession (Frances Fuller Victor in _Salt Lake Tribune_, April +14, 1893). + +In some instances, the histories have lost standing because of the +assumption that Mr. Bancroft was their author. Thus statements in the +History of California supposed to be, but now known not to be from his +pen, have been singled out as reckless, and argument has been made +upon the principle "false in one thing, false in all," that the seven +whole volumes of California history are unworthy of credence (pamphlet +proceedings of the Society of California Pioneers in reference to the +histories of Hubert Howe Bancroft, page 10). Following this lead an +attempt has been made to discredit Bancroft's Oregon on the ground +that his California is said to be unreliable. + +Had Mr. Bancroft made public the fact that three persons besides +himself wrote the History of California, that he was in reality the +author of but sixty pages in the entire seven volumes of that set, +that he had not the least claim to the authorship of the History of +Oregon, and that the histories of the two states were in the main +written by different persons, the fallacy of this argument would have +been clear, estimates of the collections of matter in these volumes +would have been made on their own intrinsic merit, and their value +would not have been impaired by false assumptions concerning their +authorship. + +A third result of this neglect of Mr. Bancroft to make public +acknowledgment of the extent of the writings of his assistants has +been the accusation "that he is a purloiner of other peoples' brains," +(_Salt Lake Tribune_, Feb. 16, 1893) and that he has made a +reputation as an author at the expense of his assistants. Concerning +this charge, the most remarkable ever made in the annals of American +historical writing, the reader must be the judge after weighing all +the facts. + +The writer's apology for this article is his desire to give such facts +as he has in the hope that they will do something to clear up mistaken +ideas concerning the authorship of these histories, that they may aid +somewhat in forming a correct estimate of the series, and that they +may secure for the other authors as well as for Mr. Bancroft whatever +credit is rightfully theirs. To these ends it is to be hoped that +those who have any additional facts will make them public. The late +Frances Fuller Victor, one of the Bancroft corps of writers, had long +collected material on the authorship of the histories. In preparing +this paper, the writer has depended largely upon information furnished +by her correspondence and papers, and by explanations given by her in +conversation. + +The statement of Mr. Bancroft in the Literary Industries to the effect +that his "assistants" merely wrote up minor topics which he then used +in his own writing, must be taken as applying to the work as projected +rather than as actually carried out. In a letter written in 1878 +before the final division of labor was made, Mr. Bancroft said, "When +all the material I have is gone over and notes taken according to the +general plan, I shall give one person one thing or one part to write, +and another person another part": (Letter to Mrs. Victor of August 1, +1878.) Here, it will be observed, the plan is for the "assistants" to +do the actual work of writing history and not to prepare material for +their chief to use in his writing. And it will shortly appear that it +was the "assistants" who wrote the work and Mr. Bancroft who wrote the +minor parts. To understand why the intended order was thus reversed, +it is necessary to study the growth of the history project and to +enter into the steps through which it was evolved. + +Hubert Howe Bancroft, with whose name these works are linked, and who +has been widely credited as their author, is a native of Granville, +Ohio, where he was born May 5, 1832, a descendent of old New England +families through both the paternal and maternal lines. In his own +account of his life (Literary Industries, 47-244), he tells us that +when but three years old he could read the New Testament without +having to spell many of the words. At the school age, however, he +found it difficult to learn, and after a winter at the brick +schoolhouse under the tutelage of a brother of his mother, the latter +became satisfied that he was not treated judiciously and fairly took +him out of school. + +A sister had married George H. Derby, a bookseller of Geneva, New +York, subsequently of Buffalo, and at about the age of fifteen, the +boy was offered the choice of preparing for college or entering the +Buffalo bookstore. He at first chose the former course and spent a +year in the academy of his town, but becoming discouraged in his +study, entered the employ of Derby in August, 1848. Discharged from +the store in six months, he returned to Ohio and acted as a sales +agent for his brother-in-law's goods with such success that he was +invited back to the store and became a clerk with the beginning of the +year 1850. His father, influenced by the gold excitement, decided to +go to California in February of that year, and with George L. Kenny, +his closest friend, he was sent by Derby to handle books in the land +of gold, setting out in December, 1851. + +After their arrival in San Francisco, Sacramento was determined upon +as a place of business, and young Bancroft worked in the mines until +arrangements could be made with his brother-in-law. But Derby's death +in the meantime ended the plan, and in 1853, he set out to try his +fortune at the newly-boomed mining town of Crescent City. Here he was +employed as bookkeeper and bookseller, and made six or eight thousand +dollars, most of which he subsequently lost through investing in +Crescent City property. In 1855, Mr. Bancroft made a visit to his old +home in the East, and his sister, in return for his assistance in +recovering the amount of Derby's California investment, let him have +the sum, amounting to $5,500, with which to begin business. Obtaining +credit in New York he shipped a ten thousand dollar stock of goods for +San Francisco, and with Kenny organized the firm of H. H. Bancroft and +Company about December 1, 1856. + +From the first, Mr. Bancroft tells us, he had a taste for publishing, +and it was but three years until the inception of what grew into the +historical project. In 1859, Wm. H. Knight, manager of the Bancroft +publishing department, while employed in preparing the Hand Book +Almanac for the next year, asked for the books necessary to carry on +the work. It occurred to the head of the firm that he would again have +occasion to refer to books on the coast states, and he accordingly +transferred to Mr. Knight a copy of each of the fifty or seventy-five +books in stock that had reference to the country. Later he added to +the number by purchases in second-hand stores, and when in the East +secured from the bookstores of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, +volumes which fell under his observation. By 1862, he had a thousand +volumes, and upon a visit to London and Paris in that year, learned +that much more remained to be done. In 1866, he started on a search +throughout Europe, which resulted in increasing his collection to ten +thousand volumes. As to the field covered by these works, he says: + +"Gradually and almost imperceptibly had the area of my efforts +enlarged. From Oregon it was but a step to British Columbia and +Alaska; and as I was obliged from California to go to Mexico and +Spain, it finally became settled in my mind to make the western half +of North America my field": (Lit. Ind. 180). He now began the +collection of Mexican works and the purchase of private libraries in +the United States. In 1869, after ten years' collecting, the library +numbered sixteen thousand volumes, about half of which were pamphlets. +In May of the next year, these were placed on one floor of the +Bancroft building on Market Street, and a young New Englander named +Henry L. Oak, lately editor of a religious journal published by the +firm, was installed as librarian. + +(The main facts of Oak's life, as learned by Mrs. Victor, are as +follows: Henry Labbeus Oak was born at Garland, Maine, in 1844. His +ancestry--including the family names of Oak, Merriam, Hastings, Hill, +and Smith--was entirely American from a period preceding the +Revolutionary War, being originally English and Welsh. He was educated +at the public and private schools of his native town until, in 1861, +he entered Bowdoin College, and was graduated at Dartmouth in the +class of 1865. During his college course, he taught in the public and +high schools of different towns in Maine; and after graduation, for a +year in an academy at Morristown, New Jersey. + +Mr. Oak came to California by steamer in 1866, and, after some +attempts at commercial life, broken by a long illness, again became a +teacher. A year was spent as principal of the public school at +Haywards, and as instructor in the collegiate institute at Napa, and +in the spring of 1868, he became office editor of the _Occident_, a +Presbyterian paper which the Bancroft house was then publishing for an +association. According to Mr. Bancroft (Lit. Ind. 219), "the whole +burden of the journal gradually fell on him." But when, owing to a +disagreement with the religious association, the firm declined to +publish the paper any longer, the young editor was left without +employment. In the meantime a somewhat erratic Englishman named +Bosquetti had succeeded Knight as custodian of the Bancroft library, +and Oak was appointed to assist him. Upon his decamping a few months +later, at the end of 1868, Mr. Oak was appointed to the position.) + +The beginning of a classification of the material in the library had +been made by Mr. Knight, who saved clippings and arranged them in +scrap-books and boxes. It now became Oak's duty to superintend the +extraction of material from the volumes in his custody and to +catalogue new books as they came in. In May, 1871, he prepared for +publication by the firm, two guide-books for tourists. It was at the +same time that Mr. Bancroft took another step toward the history plan. + +The plan of publishing a Pacific Coast encyclopedia had been under +consideration for a year or two, and was now adopted. Mr. Bancroft +began to look for contributors. John S. Hittell, publisher of the +Commerce and Industries of the Pacific Coast, prepared a list of the +principal subjects to be treated, and Oak began to gather statements +from pioneers and contributors of every sort by issuing circulars and +writing letters. For about a year the preparations continued. During +the first half of 1872 Ora Oak, a younger brother of the librarian, +together with others, extracted material on Pacific Coast voyages and +travels. Walter M. Fisher, an educated young Englishman who came to +the library early in the year, wrote out such travels as those of +Bryant, Bayard Taylor, and Humboldt. The librarian, finding inadequate +the system of indexing the library then in use, set to work to devise +a more practical one, and spent three months in bringing it to +perfection. This was apparently the only part of the year's work which +proved abiding. + +That the material in the Bancroft library was better adapted to the +preparation of a history than of an encyclopedia gradually appeared to +those who came in contact with it. (Walter M. Fisher was born in +Ulster in 1849, and was the son of a Presbyterian clergyman, a member +of an English and Scotch colony. He was educated at Queen's College, +Belfast. Nemos remembered him as "a handsome fellow, a great eater, +and a hard worker." Together with Harcourt, he left Bancroft's employ +in 1874 to accept the editorship of the _Overland Monthly_. Returning +to London in 1875, he published a clever work entitled the +_Californians_. Subsequently he became a physician). After several +years of suggestion, discussion, and change, Mr. Bancroft decided to +reshape the entire plan of work accordingly. The history of the +Pacific slope of the continent was to be written, beginning at the +Isthmus of Panama with the first appearance of the Spaniards, and then +taking up the successive regions to the north as their history had its +beginning. This work, embracing an account of all the various +republics, provinces, states, and territories along the Pacific, it +was decided to designate as The History of the Pacific States. + +Heretofore, Mr. Bancroft had been known only as bookseller and +publisher, and manager of one of San Francisco's large business +houses. His experience in writing had been limited to the preparation +of some material for the proposed encyclopedia. But now, when he had +reached the age of forty years, practically all of them except the +first sixteen, spent in the world of business, the head of the firm of +H. H. Bancroft and Company made his first venture as a literary man, +writing himself and rewriting the work of others. He began by +preparing what he considered a suitable introduction to the history. +The task was not easy, especially for one unaccustomed to write. In +fourteen weeks he had taken out material from which he wrote three +hundred pages of introduction to the History of Central America which +he subsequently reduced to seventy-five pages. This seems to have been +the only part of the work that he considered as exclusively his own +theme: (Lit. Ind., 291). But this matter subsequently had to be +rewritten. + +While writing on this volume, Mr. Bancroft became convinced that the +history could not be complete without an account of the original +inhabitants of the coast. To quote his own words, "I did not fancy +them, I would gladly have avoided them. I was no archæologist, +ethnologist, or antiquary, and I had no desire to become such. My +tastes in the matter, however, did not dispose of the subject. The +savages were there, and there was no help for me; I must write them up +to get rid of them." To compile information concerning the manners and +customs, the mythology, the language, and the antiquities of these +aborigines, Mr. Bancroft estimated that two volumes would be required: +(Lit. Ind., 301). The Native Races as completed is a work of five +volumes. So much of an expansion in all of the early historical plan +was necessary. + +Mr. Bancroft, wrote but two hundred and seventy out of the four +thousand pages of the Native Races, devoting his time while that +series was in preparation largely to a rewriting of the first volume +of Central America, to a continuation of a summary of early voyages +for other volumes, and to a perfection of the plan and a collecting of +material for the histories. His relation to this work may be likened +to that of a managing editor. He decided upon the division of labor as +suggested by Oak or others, and required changes in the manuscript as +completed if he considered them necessary, either for the sake of +treatment or style, but the extent of his writing as printed in this +work certainly falls far short of that necessary to substantiate the +claim which he has made to its authorship. The chapter which he wrote +was that on the Hyperboreans. As to this work, he tells us in the +Literary Industries that during the first half of the year 1873 he +"was writing on northern Indian matter, giving out the notes on the +southern division to go over the field again and take out additional +notes": (Lit. Ind. 571). As to his further connection with the work, +he says that in December of the same year he became convinced that the +plan of treating Indian languages adopted by Goldschmidt was not the +proper one, and that the latter was "obliged to go over the entire +field again and re-arrange and add to the subject matter before I +would attempt the writing of it." (Lit. Ind., 573.) This passage +ascribes the actual preparation of the volume to Goldschmidt, and the +writing referred to here must have been largely in the nature of +editorial work. It is hardly to be presumed that a man of Mr. +Bancroft's education and slight literary experience would have +attempted at this time anything so ambitious as the complete +preparation of a treatise on Indian languages. + +We see, then, that although the influence of Mr. Bancroft was felt in +arrangement and even in style, the Native Races was written almost +entirely by other persons. But one would hardly suppose that such was +the case from reading the words: "During the progress of this work I +succeeded in utilizing the labors of my assistants to the full extent +of my anticipations": (Lit. Ind., 304). + +When speaking in the Literary Industries of work done for him by +others, Mr. Bancroft shows a habit which is derived from his long +experience as manager of a business concern. His constant tendency is +to speak of work done by those in his employ as his work, neglecting +a distinction between a publisher and an author, which is a vital one. +The reputation of a publishing house depends upon the workmanship of +its employés, but that of an author depends solely upon his own +talents and the work of his own hands. While a publisher may with all +propriety speak of work done by agents as his printing, for him to say +that writing done for him by others is his writing is a positive +misstatement. When Mr. Bancroft paid his writers for their manuscript, +he became its owner with full rights of publication, but no one will +say for a moment that he thereby became the author. In speaking of the +Native Races, as well as the History of the Pacific States, Mr. +Bancroft often does so in such terms as to indicate that writing was +done by him when it was his only by purchase. (Compare statements in +Literary Industries, 303, 568, 571, and in Native Races I, preface +xiii, with the facts as shown by the statements of different members +of Bancroft's literary corps as to the work actually done by each +writer and as given later in this article.) + +The division of responsibility for collating and arranging facts for +the various divisions of the Native Races was made apparently toward +the latter part of the year 1872. We are told that routine work was +laid aside for three or four weeks in the middle of the summer, and +this time devoted to placing the library in order and cataloguing the +new books which had been added. This was obviously done preparatory to +entering upon the new work. To a young Englishman who called himself +T. Arundel-Harcourt, and who entered the library in November, was +assigned the preparation of that portion of the work devoted to the +manners and customs of the civilized nations. (This man's true name he +did not reveal. His collaborator Nemos says that he attended a +boarding school, and then continued his studies in Germany, at +Heidelberg, according to his own account. He claimed to have come to +America with $5,000 in pocket money, and found his way first to +Montana. On his arrival at San Francisco he entered the library. +Leaving in 1874 to assume editorship of the _Overland Monthly_ with +Fisher, he was soon back in Bancroft's employ. Naturally he was the +most able of the library corps. But while he was brilliant, handsome, +and witty, he was at the same time erratic and unreliable. He died in +1884.) + +Mr. Fisher's part was mythology, while the division of the work +relating to language was given to Albert Goldschmidt, a German, who +had been employed in the library since the end of 1871. (According to +Nemos, Goldschmidt was said to have been the son of a Jewish clothing +dealer at Hamburg. In early life he ran off to sea, and claimed to +have become master of a vessel. He had acquired much general +knowledge, and was musically inclined, often singing in church choirs. +Before coming to the library Nemos says that he led a "vagarious life" +in Nevada. As a linguist he had great ability, and was able to +translate almost any language which he encountered, but was inclined +to fritter away his time. Nemos declared him "the most systematic +idler in the library." This failing brought about his discharge. Later +he became a mining superintendent in Chihuahua.) Mr. Oak took the +subject of Antiquities and Aboriginal History (preface to Native Races +I, p. 13). + +The undertaking was an enormous one, because of the vast quantities of +material to be handled, as well as the inexperience of the workers, +which made it necessary for them to devise their own system as they +proceeded. It is said that by an actual calculation the sum total of +all the labor expended upon each of the five volumes of the series +represents an equivalent to the work of one man for ten years. +(Literary Industries, 305). Indeed, Mr. Bancroft's own reason for +entrusting this work to others is that it would have taken him a half +century, leaving his main work untouched. Mr. Oak's indexing system +proved a great labor saver, as by it the indexers went through all the +material, classifying and making references. They were followed +immediately by note-takers, who copied the facts indicated in these +references. The writers then had the data placed before them for +arrangement. When Mr. Bancroft's chapter on the Hyperboreans was +completed he went over it with them, all making criticisms and +suggestions to be adopted in the arrangement of the other divisions as +well as that one. By this means was the library system perfected, a +common method developed, and a corps of library workers trained: (Lit. +Ind., 304). + +The Native Races was very much in the nature of a compilation, and our +knowledge concerning the authorship of its various parts is +necessarily less exact than is true of any of the other Bancroft +works. Such facts as are at hand come from two schedules--one of his +own works, the other of that of the corps generally--prepared by +William Nemos, a gifted Swedish writer who entered the library in +1873, subsequently becoming Oak's chief assistant, and ultimately his +successor in the librarian's office; from separate information gained +by Frances Fuller Victor as to the part of the work done by Oak. (This +consists of three different statements, one in a letter to a friend, +another in an autobiographical sketch, and a third in a statement +copied by Mrs. Victor. Mr. Oak himself refuses to give testimony, +doubtless on account of his former intimate personal connection with +Mr. Bancroft and his acquiescence in the plan followed, as well as his +poor health, which renders him unwilling to enter into a discussion +of the question, and from statements in an autobiography of Thomas +Savage, chief Spanish interpreter in the library after August, 1873.) + +The facts as deduced from these sources show that Oak wrote more of +the Native Races than any one else, two fifths of the entire work, or +to be exact, fifteen hundred and ninety-seven pages out of four +thousand. While engaged in this writing, it must be remembered that he +also acted as "chief assistant to Mr. Bancroft, manager of all details +of this work, as well as that on the History, overseer of the corps of +workers, and chief proof reader," duties which so engrossed his time +that he wrote principally between eight o'clock in the evening and +midnight. The fourth volume on Antiquities is his work entire, as is +also the fifth on Primitive History, except the introductory chapter +on the Origin of the Americans, in the preparation of which it would +appear that Bancroft had a hand (Lit. Ind., 570), and the last three +chapters dealing with the tribes of Central America, the authorship of +which the writer has no means of determining. Nemos says, however, +that he prepared "a good deal of clean manuscript" for this volume as +well as for some others. + +To Harcourt the division of the field as already given points as the +author of the second volume. Oak wrote the introductory chapter +entitled General View of the Civilized Nations, and also the chapter +on the Aztec Picture Writing and Maya Arts Calendar and Hieroglyphics. +Bancroft is the author of the chapter on Savagism and Civilization, +and Nemos is to be credited with the writing of some parts. As +Harcourt wrote six hundred and thirty-six pages of the Native Races, +and there appears but one reference to his writing in connection with +another volume, and that a chapter of a hundred and fifty pages, we +may conclude that the remainder of Volume II is from his pen. + +With Fisher rests the credit for the authorship in the main of the +Mythology portion of the third volume. Nemos relates that Fisher +sought his aid for this work soon after he came to the library, +believing that his previous training in philosophy fitted him for +mythology, and that Fisher obtained for him the continuation of the +volume, when in October, 1874, he left it "half finished" to accept +the editorship of the _Overland Monthly_. Nemos then being new to the +work, Harcourt revised his manuscript. + +To Goldschmidt had been assigned the task of writing the treatise on +Indian languages for the third volume. The evidence of Nemos shows +that Goldschmidt prepared this part of the work, although the +quotation from the Literary Industries already given seems to show +that it was revised throughout once, and afterward rewritten, in part, +at least, by Bancroft. Goldschmidt also prepared the ethnographical +map of the coast. + +Of the first volume, Oak wrote about half of the preface, and the +chapter on the Columbians, Harcourt the chapter on the Californians, +and Nemos and Savage the remainder, with the exception of a few slight +parts prepared by others. + +In a compilation like the Native Races, there was of necessity much +matter printed in such a form that those who prepared it could not +claim the authorship. Of this character were the contributions of Mr. +Savage, the Spanish expert. Nemos also claimed to be the author of +parts of every volume except the fourth, but from his own statements +we learn that much of his work, like Savage's, consisted in making +translations. + +The public acknowledgment made in the introduction of this work +concerning the part done by the several writers would be fair, if we +overlook the fact that its wording tends to give an exaggerated idea +of Mr. Bancroft's part in it--were the name of the latter but printed +on the title page as editor or compiler. But by omitting either word +he has announced himself to the world as author. His own explanation +for this seems to be that he considers himself responsible for the +work in treatment and style (Native Races I, Preface XIII), but the +real reason is no doubt to be found in a desire to give the work +standing in the literary world by ascribing it to one name already +quite widely known among book dealers and publishers. + +As regards scientific merit these volumes can not make great claims. +No serious attempt was made to collect facts concerning the American +Indians of the West at first hand. Mr. Bancroft made no pretensions as +an antiquarian or ethnologist, content with compiling what others had +written and thus discharging his duty toward the introductory part of +his work that he might the sooner take up the more serious task of +writing the histories. Different parts of the Native Races differ +greatly in value. Oak was habitually scholarly and always made an +effort at honest research. Nemos was likewise thoroughly reliable. +Goldschmidt was noted for his shiftlessness, and Fisher and Harcourt +are charged with such uncritical methods as the incorporation in their +writings of statements found in magazine articles which were nowhere +verified. (Mrs. Victor had learned of this.) The last three must, +therefore, be considered clever and brilliant writers rather than +critical historians. + +The chief value of the Native Races consisted in the fact that it +presented in accessible form a classified collection of all the facts +known concerning the Indians of the Pacific slope. Philosophers who +made use of these facts in their generalizations, while prizing the +work highly, were not, however, especially concerned as to how it was +written. In the East and in Europe the discovery was not made that it +is merely a compilation. The Native Races was regarded as a work of +great learning (see Literary Industries, 335, 356) and its authorship +ascribed to Hubert Howe Bancroft in accordance with a literal reading +of its title page. The five volumes were published at three-month +intervals between October 1, 1874, and Christmas, 1875. Just before +the first volume appeared, Mr. Bancroft made what he called a literary +pilgrimage to the Eastern States to bring himself and the work to the +notice of the great literary men there. He also made arrangements for +publication in France and Germany simultaneously with the issuing of +the volumes in New York. This was the result as told in his own words: +"Never probably was a book so generally and so favorably reviewed by +the best journals in Europe and America. Never was an author more +suddenly or more thoroughly brought to the attention of literary men +everywhere": (Lit. Ind., 361.) + +As director and manager of the Native Races, Mr. Bancroft performed a +literary service of great importance and in such a capacity richly +deserved the unsparing praise which was showered upon him. But the +commendation and honor bestowed upon him as author of the work we must +in all fairness regard as quite a different matter. According to his +own statement (Lit. Ind., 361), this must be considered as the status +generally assigned him and the basis upon which he was presented with +a number of complimentary certificates and honorary diplomas, among +them being honorary membership in the Massachusetts Historical +Society, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Buffalo Historical +Society, and the honorary degree of Master of Arts at Yale. + +So far as the question of authorship was concerned, all reviews and +general press mention of subsequent Bancroft publications followed +along the same line as the reviews of the Native Races, recognizing +Mr. Bancroft alone as the author. We may, therefore, conclude as does +he himself (Lit. Ind., 361, 661) that it was his being accredited with +the authorship of the Native Races which made for him his literary +reputation. It has been shown that this credit depended in turn upon +the fact that his own name was on the title page as author instead of +managing editor. The facts show, therefore, that Mr. Bancroft was +assisted largely by his corps of writers even in the revision of +manuscripts, that due credit has never been given Oak, Fisher, +Harcourt, Goldschmidt, and Nemos, who, aided by a number of compilers +and writers of fragmentary bits, are the true authors of the work, and +that the rise of the fame of Hubert Howe Bancroft as an historical +writer was founded upon a popular misconception, both as to the nature +of his first work and his connection with that work. + +Just as fast as the members of the library force ended their +respective labors on the Native Races, they were set to work taking +notes for the history, Mr. Oak continuing to act as manager of detail +as heretofore. The system of note-taking was perfected by Mr. Nemos +and now included a boiling down process by which new members could so +prepare rough material as to permit writers to turn out manuscript +more quickly. + +Laying aside for the time being the work on Central America and +Mexico, Bancroft and Oak decided to direct the activities of a library +force now thoroughly trained to the material on California, since +California history is the starting point for that of a number of other +states, including Northern Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, and more +especially because the mass of original material collected for this +state was greater than for any other, a fact necessitating the +reduction to a minimum of the possibility of its accidental +destruction while yet unused: (Lit. Ind., 583.) The actual +organization of the material on the Southwest, including the writing +of the history of the Northern Mexican states and Texas down to 1800, +together with the Spanish and Mexican annals of Arizona, New Mexico, +California, and the Northwest Coast, was entrusted to Oak as his +special field. + +The story of the collection of this California material as told by Mr. +Bancroft (Lit. Ind., 365 and sq.) is one of the most interesting +connected with the history enterprise. In October, 1873, there had +entered his service one Enrique Cerruti, an erratic individual, born +in Italy, but intimately acquainted with the ways of Spanish-Americans +through a long residence in Bolivia, under the government of which +state he had served in a diplomatic capacity. Cerruti's diplomacy was +turned toward the securing of historical facts in the possession of +the old Spanish residents of California, and the first task set for +his craft was to gain the coöperation of General Vallejo, a native +Californian, early alcalde at San Francisco, and colonizer of Sonoma. +After several months' negotiations, his efforts were rewarded by a +personal narrative from Vallejo, by the gift of his papers, and by his +enthusiastic support in gaining the aid of other Californians of his +own race. Among those who furnished dictations at his instance were +two of his brothers, and his nephew Alvarado, Governor of California +under Mexican rule. For two years Cerruti and Vallejo worked together +collecting, their time being divided between Sonoma, San Francisco, +and Monterey, from which centers they made divers excursions. It seems +that the wily Italian, together with other representatives of Mr. +Bancroft, sometimes gained possession of valuable manuscripts by such +indirection as to cause much dissatisfaction on the part of the +original owners. + +The official Spanish records of the country which had been turned over +to the United States Surveyor General at San Francisco consisted of +four or five hundred volumes. To copy these, twelve Spaniards worked +for a year under the direction of Mr. Savage,[40] "the greatest single +effort" ever made in connection with the Bancroft enterprise. The +mission records in possession of the archbishop of San Francisco were +copied by Mr. Savage and three assistants in a month. In quest of data +on Southern California, Bancroft and Oak took a trip to San Diego +early in 1874, returning overland and visiting depositories of +records. On this tour, Judge Benjamin Hays of San Diego turned over to +Mr. Bancroft his historical collections, and subsequently directed the +collecting in the south. The most efficient of the assistants employed +by him was Edward F. Murray who, among other services, copied the +records of the Santa Barbara missions. In March, 1877, Mr. Savage +began work on the civil and ecclesiastical archives at Salinas, +continuing the work at San José, Santa Cruz, and Sacramento. With +others, he obtained dictations of the highest importance from native +Californians and others, and in 1877 and 1878 spent eight months in +that work, visiting all the missions from San Diego to San Juan +Bautista with the exception of San Fernando and Purisima. + +While his aids were thus gathering the material upon which the History +of California is founded, Mr. Bancroft, as he tells us (Lit. Ind., +657-663), was devoting his attention more especially to the gaining of +information concerning the proceedings of the two vigilance committees +that held sway in San Francisco in the "fifties," by no means an easy +task, since the acts of both of these organizations were illegal and +their surviving members could not be expected to talk very freely, +even after a lapse of twenty years. After considerable urging, +however, those who had custody of the records were induced in the +interest of history to turn them over for Mr. Bancroft's inspection. +This material was made use of in the supplemental volumes on Popular +Tribunals; in the first writing of which Mr. Bancroft was himself +engaged from 1875 to 1877. Like his manuscript for Central America, +however, this work had to be revised before its publication ten years +later. + +At an early date, Mr. Bancroft tells us (Lit. Ind., 623-628), he had +corresponded with the heads of governments lying within his territory. +The presidents of the Mexican and Central American republics and the +governors of all the states had accorded him every facility. In 1874, +especially favorable letters were received from the presidents of +Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, the latter appointing a special +commissioner to secure and ship documents. + +The great mass of California matter, at first so voluminous as to be +appalling, was now in hand, and in 1878 Mr. Bancroft turned his +attention to the Northwest. Upon a visit to British Columbia in that +year, he obtained access to the official records of the province, took +the reminiscences of many old fur traders, secured the papers of +others, and had help from several who had undertaken to write a +history of the country: (Lit. Ind., 534; Hist. N. W. Coast, preface, +viii). It was from this data that Mr. Bancroft in the years +immediately following wrote, with the aid of some other writers, the +History of the Northwest Coast, and the History of British Columbia, +volumes constituting the great part of the work of which he can claim +the actual authorship: (See Lit. Ind., 549.) + +The history seeker had already secured the writings of Gov. Elwood +Evans of Washington Territory. Crossing the straits from Victoria, he +made some collections about Puget Sound, and then went to Portland and +Salem, accompanied by Amos Bowman, a stenographer who subsequently +became one of the writers in the library and prepared some manuscript +for the History of British Columbia. (Bowman was a Canadian with some +experience in government surveys and mining explorations. Before +joining Mr. Bancroft on this expedition, he was located at Anacortes, +Washington.) The Oregon Pioneer Association was then in session at +Salem, and a number of its members furnished dictations. The +secretary, J. Henry Brown, was engaged to copy documents in the state +archives (Lit. Ind., 540-546). He subsequently made this matter the +basis of a book which he himself published on Oregon history. + +After dictations had been secured in passing through Southern Oregon, +the Oregon material at Mr. Bancroft's disposal was further increased +on his return to San Francisco by the employment of Frances Fuller +Victor, a writer of experience and author of several books on Oregon, +who, during a residence of more than ten years in the state, had +collected data with the intention of herself writing and publishing +its history. As by her researches she had become familiar with the +history of the entire northwestern part of the United States, the +working up of this field was assigned her just as the southwest had +been assigned to Oak. + +(Frances Fuller was born in the township of Rome, New York, May 23, +1826. She was a near relation of Judge Reuben H. Walworth, Chancellor +of the State of New York, and through her ancestor, Lucy Walworth, +wife of Veach Williams, who lived at Lebanon, Connecticut, in the +early part of the eighteenth century, claimed descent from Egbert, +the first king of England. Veach Williams himself was descended from +Robert Williams, who came over from England in 1637, and settled at +Roxbury, Massachusetts. + +When Mrs. Victor was thirteen years of age, her parents moved to +Wooster, Ohio, and her education was received at a young ladies' +seminary at that place. From an early age she took an interest in +literature, and when but fourteen years old, wrote both prose and +verse for the county papers. A little later the _Cleveland Herald_ +paid for her poems, some of which were copied in English journals. + +Mrs. Victor's younger sister, Metta, who subsequently married a +Victor, a brother of Frances' husband, was also a writer of marked +ability. Between the two a devoted attachment existed, and in those +days they were ranked with Alice and Phoebe Carey, the four being +referred to as Ohio's boasted quartet of sister poets. The Fuller +sisters contributed verse to the _Home Journal_ of New York City, of +which N. P. Willis and George P. Morris were then the editors. Metta +was known as the "Singing Sybil." Both sisters were highly eulogized +by Willis, who regarded them as destined for a great future as +writers. + +In her young womanhood Frances spent a year in New York City, amid +helpful literary associations. Being urged by their friends, the two +sisters published together a volume of their girlhood poems in 1851. +In the more rigorous self-criticism of later years, Mrs. Victor often +called it a mistaken kindness which induced her friends to advise the +publication of these youthful productions. But in these verses is to +be seen the true poetic principle, and their earnestness is especially +conspicuous. + +Metta Fuller Victor, after her marriage, took up her residence in New +York City, and continued her literary work both in prose and in +verse. Frances' husband, Henry C. Victor, a naval engineer, was +ordered to California in 1863. She accompanied him, and for nearly two +years wrote for the San Francisco papers, her principal contributions +consisting of city editorials to the _Bulletin_, and a series of +society articles under the _nom de plume_ of Florence Fane, which, we +are told, by their humorous hits, elicited much favorable comment. + +About the close of the war, Mr. Victor resigned his position and came +to Oregon, where his wife followed him in 1865. She has often told +how, upon her first arrival in this state, she recognized in the type +both of the sturdy pioneers and of their institutions something +entirely new to her experience, and at once determined to make a close +study of Oregon. As she became acquainted with many of the leading men +of the state, and learned more and more about it, she determined to +write its history, and began to collect material for that purpose. + +Her first book on the history of Oregon was The River of the West, a +biography of Joseph L. Meek, which was published in 1870. Many +middle-aged Oregonians tell what a delight came to them when in +boyhood and girlhood days they read the stories of Rocky Mountain +adventures of the old trapper Meek as recited by this woman of culture +and literary training, who herself had taken so great an interest in +them. The book was thumbed and passed from hand to hand as long as it +would hold together, and today scarcely a copy is to be obtained in +the Northwest. Intensely interesting as The River of the West is, the +chief value of the work does not lie in this fact, but rather in its +value to the historian. Meek belonged to the age before the pioneers. +It was the trapper and trader who explored the wilds of the West and +opened up the way for the immigrant. Later writers freely confess +their indebtedness to Mrs. Victor's River of the West for much of +their material. The stories of the Rocky Mountain bear killer, Meek, +romantic though many of them are, check with the stories given by +other trappers and traders, and furnish data for an important period +in the history of the Northwest. + +In 1872 was published Mrs. Victor's second book touching the +Northwest, All Over Oregon and Washington. This work, she tells us in +the preface, was written to supply a need existing because of the +dearth of printed information concerning these countries. It contained +observations on the scenery, soil, climate and resources of the +Northwestern part of the Union, together with an outline of its early +history, remarks on its geology, botany, and mineralogy, and hints to +immigrants and travelers. Her interest in the subject led her at a +later date to revise this book and to publish it again, this time +under the title Atlantis Arisen. + +In 1874 was published Woman's War With Whiskey, a pamphlet which she +wrote in aid of the temperance movement in Portland. Her husband was +lost at sea in November, 1875, and from this time, she devoted herself +exclusively to literary pursuits. During her residence in Oregon she +had frequently written letters for the San Francisco _Bulletin_ and +sketches for the _Overland Monthly_. These stories, together with some +poems, were published in 1877 in a volume entitled The New Penelope. + +This last volume was printed by the Bancroft publishing establishment +in San Francisco. The Bancrofts were an Ohio family of Mrs. Victor's +early acquaintance. Hubert Howe Bancroft now laid before her his plan +for writing the history of the Pacific slope, and asked her to work on +the part concerning Oregon. In 1878 she entered the Bancroft library. +Leaving the library at the completion of the work, in 1890 she +returned to Oregon and was employed by the state in 1893 to compile +her History of the Early Indian Wars of Oregon, a volume which was +published by the State Printer the following year. She continued to +write for the Oregon Historical Quarterly up to the time of her death. +Her last published work was a small volume of poems printed in 1900, +and selected from the many metrical compositions which she had written +for newspapers and magazines through a period of sixty years. She was +an able writer of essay, and possessed an insight into the evolution +of civilization and government rare, not only for an author of her +sex, but for any author. Combining the qualities of poet, essayist and +historian, she occupied a position without a peer in the annals of +Western literature. She died at Portland, Oregon, November 14, 1902). + +Data on Alaska and the Russian Colony at Fort Ross, California, were +being collected and translated during these years by Ivan Petroff, a +highly educated Russian some time resident at Cook's Inlet. Material +from Russia was furnished by the savant M. Pinart who had made a +special study of Alaska, and Petroff prepared translations. In 1878 he +visited Alaska in search of more material, and spent the year 1879 and +part of 1880 in Washington extracting matter from papers, the +existence of which he had discovered on the northern trip; (Lit. Ind., +551-561.) Petroff had begun the writing of this material and had done +part of the Alaska volume when he left the library to become +supervisor of the census of 1880 in the Northern Territory, leaving +Mr. Bancroft and others to bring this part of the work to completion. + +(The main facts of Petroff's life which had been a very eventful one +are here taken from Bancroft's Literary Industries, 270-272. He was +born at St. Petersburg in 1842, his father being a soldier. His mother +died in his infancy, and at the age of five, he was placed in the +military academy of the first corps of cadets at St. Petersburg. Left +an orphan when but a boy by the death of his father at the battle of +Inkerman, a remarkable talent for languages secured his transfer to +the imperial academy of sciences for training as military interpreter. +A serious illness caused an impediment in his speech which ended such +prospects, but he was nevertheless permitted to continue his studies +and became amanuensis for Professor Bohttink while engaged in the +preparation of a Sanscrit dictionary. Attached subsequently to M. +Brosset, who was making a study of Armenian antiquities and +literature, he became so proficient in the language that he was chosen +to accompany his superior on a two-year scientific expedition through +Georgia and Armenia. He was then sent to Paris to St. Hilaire with +part of the material obtained, thence sailing for New York in 1861. +After working a short time on the _Courier des Etats Unis_, he +enlisted in the seventh New Hampshire regiment. By hard study he +mastered the language, after writing letters for the soldiers as a +means of practice, and acquired a proficiency in the use of English +such as one seldom meets with in a foreigner. From private he became +corporal, then sergeant and color bearer, a rank which he held in +1864, when his company was sent to Florida. He took part in all the +battles fought by Butler's army and was twice wounded. After the +battle of Fort Fisher, he was promoted to a lieutenancy. Mustered out +in July, 1865, he returned to New York, and accepted a position for +five years with the Russian American Company at Sitka, believing that +this region was sooner or later to pass to the United States. On the +way to Alaska he was delayed and improved the time by making a +horseback tour of Northern California, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. +Finding his position filled when he arrived at Sitka, he was given +charge of a trading post on Cook's Inlet until the transfer of the +territory to the United States in 1867. Subsequently Petroff was +appointed acting custom officer on Kodiak Island and was put in charge +of the seized barkentine Constitution, with which he arrived in San +Francisco in October, 1870. Mr. Bancroft at once sought his services +as Russian interpreter for the library. After his return to the +government service in the north, he distinguished himself both in 1880 +and 1890 by his zeal in securing information concerning Alaska desired +by the census bureau, and several times risked his life in this +service. Returning to Washington he was subsequently employed both by +the census bureau and the state department. With one exception, the +Utah volume, this was the last of the series of history proper to the +actual authorship of any considerable part of which Mr. Bancroft can +lay claim.) + +So great was the opposition created among Gentiles in Utah by a turn +in the Bancroft history more favorable to the Mormons than they +considered fair, and so many and so fierce the charges against Mr. +Bancroft in consequence, that he has apparently been very careful to +give, in the Literary Industries (pp. 631-640), an extended account of +the manner of collecting the material for the History of Utah. Here he +tells us that, at an early date in the development of the history +project, he realized the difficulty of gaining data on Mormon history, +an obstacle apparently so great as to be insuperable. For though the +Mormon church have a regular historian, whose duty it is to preserve +their archives, the director of the Bancroft project at once perceived +the objections which would be made to the turning of this material +over to be written up by one not in sympathy with their faith. But he +must have seen very clearly that a Gentile history of Utah not +unfavorable to the Mormons was the one thing they desired above all +else. Accordingly, in 1880, he tells us that he succeeded in showing +to their satisfaction that he was not prejudiced against them, and +asked Orson B. Pratt, official historian of the Mormon church, for the +desired information. John Taylor, president of the church, called a +council of its twelve apostles, with the result that it was agreed to +comply with the request, and Franklin D. Richards was sent to San +Francisco as Professor Pratt's representative, to furnish the Bancroft +library with such material as was desired from the official church +records. + +The year 1880 is an important one for the history project in another +and more important respect also. The end of that year found definite +plans made for the publication of the History of the Pacific States. +Mr. Bancroft had long since decided that, unlike the Native Races, +this work should be handled exclusively by his own house, and Mr. +Nathan J. Stone was placed in charge of the publication department of +the firm, now A. L. Bancroft and Company, to attend especially to this +matter. The date of commencement of work by the printers Oak sought to +have deferred that there might be no haste in searching out and +digesting facts, but against his advice Bancroft determined to begin +the publication of the series in 1882, impatient doubtless at the +prospect of a deferred return from his large financial investment in +the work, and somewhat fearful, as he tells us, lest through some +calamity it might never come to publication. + +This decision for an early beginning of publication with the general +change in plan which it brought, rendered Mr. Oak's complicated tasks +too severe, as he was now in failing health. The work of taking notes +on the vast amount of material on California and the Spanish Southwest +generally had been finished some time before, and, as Oak had now +completed his preliminary researches, he determined to give up part of +his duties that he might have time to write the volume covering his +field. To Mr. Nemos, who up to this time had been employed chiefly on +the Mexican volumes, was accordingly turned over the general direction +of the half-dozen younger writers, together with the plans of writing, +and the management of the note-takers, a change which gave him all +interior supervision except over special departments attended to by +Mr. Bancroft--such as the work of Oak and Mrs. Victor. Nemos had +wonderful ability for drilling men into a common method and served as +director of library detail "with remarkable ability and success." + +(This was Oak's expression. All who speak of Nemos have much +commendation for his ability. He was born in Finland, February 23, +1848, the son of a nobleman. German and piano lessons were first given +him by his mother, who belonged to a wealthy family of good stock. +After a year's study in a private school at St. Petersburg, he +returned home to attend school, and later took a course at the +gymnasium, or classic high school, at Stockholm preparatory to +entering Upsala university, where a brother was at the time in +attendance. + +This ambition was not to be attained, however, for in his seventeenth +year, family matters compelled him to give up his studies, and a place +for him was found in a London commission and ship-broker's office by a +family friend who believed that the acquisition of English and a +business experience would be of the greatest advantage to the young +man. Rather than drag the family title into the by-ways of trade, he +laid it aside and assumed the name of Nemos. + +Evening and leisure hours were now devoted to the study of philosophy +and kindred higher branches under an Upsala graduate. After a business +training of eighteen months, he was transferred to a responsible +position in a house trading with India. When five years had been +spent in this capacity, the fear of consumption induced him to take a +long sea voyage, and in the spring of 1870 he left Liverpool by +sailing vessel for Australia, arriving at Melbourne in the third month +out. A venture at mining resulted disastrously through the dishonesty +of his partners, and after a stop at Sydney, he came to San Francisco, +where he landed in the summer of 1871. He had completed an engagement +as assistant civil engineer on a proposed railroad in Oregon when he +returned to California and accepted a position in the library. Nemos +is described as retiring in all his tastes and enthusiastic as a +student. He was especially fond of philosophy and languages, and had a +knowledge of all the principal tongues of Europe.) + +Oak, although he now considered himself chief only in name, still +acted as librarian, business agent for most of the intercourse with +the printing house, and reviser of the final proofs of all the +volumes. + +For protection against fire, the library was in October, 1881, moved +to a building constructed for its reception on Valencia Street. At the +same time, the printers began work on the first volume to be +published, Central America I, which was immediately followed by Mexico +I. After that time Mr. Bancroft (Lit. Ind., 585,) gave out for the +press whatever was most convenient, so that frequently parts of +several volumes were in type at one time. When the printing began, +material aggregating fifteen volumes was ready. These included +manuscript for Mexico and Central America, the field assigned Savage +and Nemos, matter prepared by Oak for California, by Mrs. Victor for +Oregon, by Bancroft for Popular Tribunals, Literary Industries, and +The Northwest Coast, and by Petroff for Alaska. Bancroft estimated at +this time that the notes were also taken for three fourths of the +works which were yet to be written. + +Material upon which to base the remaining fourth was collected in the +same way as previously, Mr. Bancroft visiting the country to be +written up, ascertaining the nature and location of the materials, +collecting what could be had conveniently, and then leaving the +further ingathering in the hands of agents. A visit to Mexico in 1883 +furnished him with some material on social conditions in that country +which he tells us was utilized in the last volume of the Mexican +history: (Lit. Ind., 701). More extensive collections remained to be +made in the regions farther north. + +After the completion of the two volumes on Oregon, Mrs. Victor's +attention was next directed to the volume on Nevada, Colorado, and +Wyoming. In the carrying on of this work, a greater number of +suggestions as to manner of treatment were made by Mr. Bancroft, we +may believe, than was usual in the preparation of a volume, for the +reasons that it was hurried more for publication than earlier works, +that it was written under his immediate direction, and that he himself +collected and forwarded material from the field as required. The +record of the progress of the work, as it occurs in Mr. Bancroft's +letters to the writer of the volume, is of unusual interest in that +the methods followed, though in some ways exceptional, may perhaps be +taken as fairly typical of those employed by Mr. Bancroft in the +preparation of the later volumes of the series which he immediately +supervised. + +In August, 1884, shortly before the completion of the second volume of +the History of Oregon, Mr. Bancroft went to Salt Lake City, where he +left with Franklin D. Richards a memorandum to guide him in extracting +material on the Mormons in Nevada which, he said, would be about the +first material needed. Pending the arrival of this, on September 11th, +he advised Mrs. Victor to familiarize herself with the history of +Wyoming and Colorado, he himself having done the same for Nevada. + +A letter written a few days later presents the idea of making a plan +of the volume "as the men do on Mexico, etc.," and says, "By so doing +you can give each section its due proportion and by working to the +plan save unnecessary labor." As to the method of treating early +expeditions to Colorado and Wyoming, he says to consult the History of +Utah, and the two opening chapters which he himself had already +written on Nevada. When these chapters were prepared, it was the +intention to devote an entire volume to this state. In planning the +work as recommended in this letter, Mrs. Victor ascertained that these +chapters were out of proportion for the volume as now planned, and +wrote to Mr. Bancroft to this effect. On September 21st, however, he +advised her that he recognized the fact, but that they would "have to +do." On the same date he forwarded the dictations of three of the +first Mormons in Nevada, requesting that when the material had been +used for this volume, they be turned over to Mr. Bates, then at work +on the History of Utah. He also suggested a perusal of Benton's City +Saints and other Utah books for light on Nevada, and directed that Mr. +Newkirk search the library thoroughly for Nevada material. + +From Colorado Springs on October 7th he wrote announcing that a +package of material on Colorado had been sent, though evidently with +more thought of pleasing those who furnished the dictations than of +affording material for the history of their state. Said he, "Some of +the dictations don't amount to much, but I would like them used for +all they are worth, and more too, putting them in list of authorities, +quoting them freely, and giving biographical notice, etc." On October +11th, he wrote that he would go to Denver in a few days to finish +gathering what material for Colorado he could procure. With reference +to this he says, "I am told that there is no file of the _Rocky +Mountain News_, or any other early paper I can get. Possibly I may +obtain access to one. Still I think we will have stuff enough, all +there will be room for. I will then go to Cheyenne to get what I can +on Wyoming, and that will finish up the business of gathering for that +volume, or any other volume except what the canvassers bring in." + +He calls attention to the fact that in the Colorado dictations there +is frequently material on Montana, and in the Utah dictations, +material on Idaho and Nevada. The reason for this he gives in the +typical Bancroft sentence: + +"If I strike a man here, as I frequently do, who has been to these +other places in early times I follow him up there for all it is worth +of course, the same as here." + +At Colorado Springs Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, author of a Century of +Dishonor, asked Mr. Bancroft to adopt her views on the Colorado Indian +wars. With reference to this matter, he wrote on October 13th, the day +of his departure for Denver, as follows: + +"She wishing a thing done would be the very reason I would not do it +if I could help it. I speak of it that you may get the work and use +the information. I do not care about mentioning her name one way or +another in the whole work. She has been polite enough here, although +she has a broken leg, but I don't care for her politeness. I should +have had fair recognition for the service I did her in the matter of +her California articles in the _Century_ which I never got." + +Writing subsequently from Denver on November 2d, he says: "Everybody +in Colorado, nearly, is against Mrs. Jackson on what some call the +Chevington massacre. That side don't call it a massacre, but a fight. +I should give their side in full, then say some few took exception to +this action, and there let it stand on its merits--that is, I think so +now." + +In the same letter Mr. Bancroft announced that he was going over the +_Rocky Mountain News_ with Mr. Byers, the founder and former editor, +"a man of remarkable ability and memory," whose dictation to a +shorthand reporter was given, he said, in such a way that it was +almost pure history and could be taken from his manuscript as fast as +one could write. This he advised Mrs. Victor to take as a basis for +Colorado history, building upon it and giving it the preference in +regard to discrepancy of statement. He also called attention to the +fact that "a lot of people" had in one way and another wandered over +the region before white men settled there, and said he supposed that +what Coronado did should first be considered. As to the wanderings of +Spaniards in Colorado, a schedule sent about this time refers Mrs. +Victor to all Oak had written on the subject, to the first few pages +of the History of Utah, and to the original authorities upon which the +latter was based. After calling attention to some works of travel, +such as Fremont's writings and Renton's Adventures in Mexico and the +Rocky Mountains, he asked Mr. Nemos to see that the material for Mrs. +Victor's use in preparing the volume be taken out more thoroughly than +had heretofore been the case, and upon this point directed him to +consult the early volumes of the series and make this correspond. Mrs. +Victor subsequently asked that she be permitted to take out her own +notes, and the request was granted as Mr. Bancroft had now decided to +reduce the number of his force as fast as possible and bring the work +to a conclusion. Already on October 25th, he had given as his opinion +that Colorado should make about half of the volume, at the same time +inquiring what laws of Colorado and Wyoming were desired, and +recommending a study of "Hepworth Dixon's work on the Great West, +Bonneville's Adventures, and Bayard Taylor's Travels." + +Writing from Cheyenne on November 8th, Mr. Bancroft announced the +shipment of a small package of Wyoming stuff, all that he had been +able to secure, and also his intention to have some one take matter +from the office files of the newspapers of that place, the _Sun_ and +_Leader_, the latter of which was very complete. Though returning +himself to Denver, that day, he promised to have more Wyoming +dictations taken. + +In a letter dated the next day, he expressed the opinion that a proper +division of the work would be made by devoting three hundred and fifty +pages to Colorado, two hundred and twenty-five to Nevada, and one +hundred and seventy-five to Wyoming, and requested that the writing be +done on that basis until some change should be found necessary. In +closing, he suggests another line of research to be carried through +the volume in the words: "And all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to +British Columbia, I want to pay special attention to the cattle +interest and cattle men, the origin and development of the industry, +one of the most marvelous and important of modern times." + +The last letter dealing with the manner of treatment of material dated +October 9, 1885, asks Mrs. Victor to do the best she can with Mackey +and the silver question in order to satisfy Mr. Stone, the publishing +agent, whose work, Mr. Bancroft said, was hard enough at best. + +It thus appears that three leading objects were kept constantly in +mind at this time: one, the handling of the various subjects in such a +way as not to displease the people in the district written up, that +the work might be popular and the work of the canvassers easy as they +went about soliciting subscriptions for it; another, the writing of +the various chapters in such a way that the first draft would +constitute finished history and take up no more space than that +assigned in the volume; and finally, and really at the bottom of the +preceding, a desire to have the history written as soon as possible. +Evidence that Mr. Bancroft wished to have the work done in the least +possible time and with the least possible cost is abundant in these +letters. + +In October Nemos had been set to counting the pages which Mrs. Victor +had written since entering the library, a proceeding which she +resented, believing that it afforded no just basis for judging her +historical work. The next letter from Mr. Bancroft, on October 20th, +brought the request that she bring the work "at first writing within +the requisite compass so as not to make it so terribly costly." An +intimation that greater haste would be pleasing was again conveyed on +November 1st, when Mr. Bancroft expressed the confidence that if Mrs. +Victor were to write three volumes more, they would be done in three +years instead of six, a view of the case most contrary to hers, since +before entering the library she had already worked out many of the +problems in Oregon history, and now that she was entering upon another +field, found more time necessary. That Mr. Bancroft did not make +allowance for this, however, is shown by a letter written on November +17th. Here he begins the subject by stating that it would be a great +mistake to suppose that he was dissatisfied with Mrs. Victor's work, +or that any one had in the faintest degree criticised it, and says +that all he wants is to practice such economy of time and money as +will enable him to complete the work before he is dead or has failed +in business. Then he proceeds to reckon up results thus: + +"I do not know when the present volume will be finished ready for the +printer. But six years have already passed, and, calling this volume +done, it would be two years to a volume. About fifteen hundred of +your pages make a volume, I believe, and counting three hundred days +to the year, would be two and a half pages a day. When you first came, +you started off with ten pages, which we all thought rapid, but the +outcome makes it exceedingly small. This, with what other work has +been done on your volumes, would make every page of your manuscript +ready for the printer cost me considerably over two dollars a page." + +After a denial that this is intended as a complaint about the past, he +says: + +"Go on and do the best you can. I have written equivalent to six +volumes during the last six years besides devoting my time to revising +and outside matters. But I don't expect any one to work as I do. I am +not satisfied with old hands now, however, who do not give me say, +four or five pages a day all ready for the printer." + +According to the printed rules of the library, the hours were from +7.15 sharp to 6 o'clock in the evening, with half an hour for lunch. +When we recall the complexity and minuteness of research and thought +necessary in historical writing, we must consider three hundred such +days a year heavy work. The requirement of an average of a certain +number of pages a day was therefore one which would naturally tend to +increase the worry of the writer. This requirement was also exacted of +Mr. Oak, and we may well conclude that if such pressure were brought +to bear on the two most experienced writers in the library, upon the +junior writers it must have been intense indeed. + +The writing of the volume on Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming, so far as +the material at hand permitted, was completed at the end of the year +1885. With all of the precautions taken, however, the pages on +Colorado had to be condensed nearly a third to bring them within the +space allowed. This was done, as was frequently the case, by throwing +matter into fine type and printing as footnotes, instead of making +many changes in the manuscript. + +The system of biographical footnotes as it appears in the history, +Mrs. Victor claimed as her contribution to the general plan of the +work. The idea was followed with excellent results in her own volumes +as well as those written by others, the object being to make +biographical mention for the benefit of posterity of every man who +took a prominent part in the building of a Pacific state or territory. +For carrying out such a purpose, the time of writing during the lives +of at least part of the same generation that founded these +commonwealths, offered unusually good advantages. + +The original intention, Mrs. Victor has told us, was for her to +prepare the volume on Utah, since before coming to the coast, she had +had occasion to make a study of early Mormon history through coming in +contact with some refugees from Nauvoo. But so much work had already +been assigned her that when the time came to do the writing, this was +impossible. Mr. Bancroft had already made a study of the early Spanish +history of the territory, and had written this part when he assigned +the work on the bulk of the remainder to Mr. Alfred Bates, a writer of +polished English and a man of scholarly attainments who had previously +assisted Mr. John S. Hittell in his work on The Commerce and +Industries of the Pacific Coast. (From Literary Industries, 267-68, we +learn that Bates was a native of Leeds, England, born May 4, 1840. His +father was a wool stapler who lost his fortune in the panic of 1847. +Compelled at an early age to earn his own livelihood, he began +teaching at the age of fifteen, and later taught at Marlborough +College of which the dean of Westminster was then head. To him young +Bates became private secretary in 1862. While preparing for Cambridge +the following year, he accepted a lucrative position in New South +Wales, where he suffered much from ill health, at one time being given +up by three doctors. An offer of a position as teacher in California +took him thither and he continued at this work for a year. During the +two years spent with Mr. Hittell, he was the most valued of his +assistants.) Those acquainted with the circumstances and the men have +accordingly held that certain incidents in Utah history unfavorable to +the Mormons could not have been toned down by Bates as they are in the +printed volume, and that the Mormon turn to the work was therefore +given by Bancroft in the pages which he wrote and in his revision of +Bates' work. (See article by Frances Fuller Victor in _Salt Lake +Tribune_ of April 14, 1893.) This seems probable from what Mr. +Bancroft tells us of his efforts to secure material for the volume +from the Mormon church, as well as his natural desire to please +subscribers to the work. + +Mr. Nemos, who was a foreigner, had no preference as to the field in +which his writing was done, and it was consequently scattered through +different volumes. Besides collaborating with Mr. Savage and others on +the Mexican and Central American volumes, he wrote part of the +material on British Columbia and Alaska. By the time Mrs. Victor's +third volume was completed at the end of the year 1885, Oak had +completed his work on the North Mexican States and the five volumes on +California under Spanish and Mexican rule. The writing of the two +volumes containing the American portion of California history was +thereupon assigned to Mrs. Victor and Nemos, the former assuming +responsibility for the preparation of the political chapters, a field +in which her work had been pronounced especially good, and the latter +taking up the institutional chapters, a part which he had largely +fulfilled toward all the Spanish volumes of the history. + +The introduction of the institutional feature is to be accredited to +Nemos. The writing done by Oak was in the form of annals, a form in +general suited admirably to the provincial records which he worked up; +but against such a style throughout the series, Nemos tells us that he +presented suggestions and arguments to Mr. Bancroft for introducing +material which should tell the history of the people, and that in this +he prevailed. + +In April, 1886, the burning of the Bancroft business house threatened +temporarily to bring the history project to an abrupt termination at a +time when only the first volumes had been published, but the +enterprise soon recovered from the blow. Under the leadership of Mr. +Bancroft, both business and history writing went on as before, the +firm of Bancroft and Company being organized for the conduct of the +former, while the publication of the history previously carried on as +a department of the general book concern was now turned over to The +History Company, a corporation organized by Mr. Bancroft for the +purpose of handling the work. + +At the completion by Oak of his volume on New Mexico and Arizona in +May, 1887, he retired from the library with health very much +shattered, leaving Mr. Nemos at the head of affairs. After spending +some time on a new work now undertaken by Mr. Bancroft, the latter +also severed his connection with library matters in August, 1888. + +At the time of Oak's departure, Bancroft was planning a biographical +work to be issued at the conclusion of the task which was then +engaging the attention of the library force. This work, at first +called Chronicles of the Kings, but published under the title +Chronicles of the Builders of the Commonwealths, was to present in +detail the lives of wealthy and influential men who had borne a +prominent part in the affairs of the various Pacific Coast states. For +such notice they were charged from a thousand to ten thousand dollars +according to the length of the published sketch. (This is according to +the printed schedule, the minimum price being paid for three pages +print, the maximum for thirty. This included also the printing of a +portrait engraved on steel.) The attempt to burden the prestige gained +by the histories and their projector with such a load could result +only in crippling both. The volumes printed subsequent to the +inauguration of this scheme could not be received with the same +open-mindedness as former works. The information subsequently made +public that money was accepted for notice in the Chronicles lost for +Mr. Bancroft the regard of the press of the coast, caused grave doubts +to be expressed concerning his disinterestedness as an historian, +called out an expression of many bitter--in some cases utterly +false--statements concerning his work, and sadly damaged the literary +reputation he had been for nearly twenty years building on the work +done under his direction. + +While it was inevitable that the publication of the Chronicles as a +parasite upon the history should result thus disastrously and +deplorably for the fame of the latter work, we must not fail to +recognize the fact that the labors of the writers upon both works were +not a whit less conscientious and painstaking than they had always +been. After the sixth and seventh volumes of the California history +were completed in 1888, the volume on Washington, Idaho, and Montana +was written. In 1890, the final volume on California was published, +followed in the next year by the supplementary volumes, Essays and +Literary Industries, which ended twenty years of library work for +Hubert Howe Bancroft and his assistants. + +The History of the Pacific States, we have seen, was an evolution, +passing through the stages of handbook and encyclopædia before it +became a history. But when the last idea had been reached, the +development of the project was by no means complete, but rather just +begun. The necessity of the Native Races was demonstrated before work +had proceeded for a twelve-month. As late as 1878, Mr. Bancroft +estimated that the history proper would comprise but fourteen volumes +at the outside. + +In his letter to Mrs. Victor, dated August 1st of that year, we get an +interesting glimpse of the plan in an earlier stage. The work is to be +divided, he says, somewhat in the following manner: Conquest of +Darien, one volume; Conquest of Mexico, one volume; Mexico under the +Viceroys, two volumes; Mexican Revolution and Modern History, one or +two; Explorations Northward and the History of California, three or +four; the Northwest Coast, Oregon and British Columbia together, two +or three; Alaska, one. Under the head of California history was to be +included somewhere the histories of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and +Nevada, and the history of Oregon was likewise to include Washington, +Idaho, and Montana. Oregon and British Columbia he thought could be +written in a year. Not until six more years had passed was it finally +recognized that natural expansion as the work proceeded would +necessitate devoting to the series of history proper a number of +volumes exactly double that which was then contemplated. To this +series were added as a supplement an even half dozen volumes. + +If we find that the outline grew from that of a few volumes in 1872 to +one of almost forty in 1884, and that the work expanded fourteen +volumes after it had been definitely laid out, we are not at all +surprised that the part of the whole which Mr. Bancroft intended to +write grew relatively less as time went on, and the part assigned to +others became correspondingly greater. There is some evidence to show +that when writing began on the first volume of the Central American +History in 1873, the director of the project actually had in mind the +plan which he gives in the Literary Industries, that of writing with +the aid of assistants who were to be responsible for "the study and +reduction of certain minor sections" which he was to "employ" in his +own writing. Thus we find, according to the information left by Nemos, +that Bancroft actually wrote half of the volume, that Oak at first +took out notes, and that Nemos prepared his work in the rough, leaving +a considerable part of it to be rewritten. For the next volume +undertaken, the first of the six on Mexico, we see that the chief was +unable to prepare so much material in its final form, and rested with +but two chapters completely to his credit, together with the rewriting +of part of Nemos' work on the remainder. In four or five years, he +expresses the determination of writing what he can himself and leaving +the rest to his aids. This as we shall see amounted in the end to his +doing about one seventh of the history, slightly revising the work of +the other authors, often by the aid of critics in his employ, and +preparing most of the material for the supplementary volumes. + +Thus it came about that the original plan, the plan as published, was +exactly reversed, and instead of Mr. Bancroft's doing all the work in +final form, except some minor sections assigned to those whom he +called his assistants, it was the so-called assistants who really +wrote the History of the Pacific States, and Mr. Bancroft who did a +few minor, or at any rate less difficult parts. Nor is it at all true, +as one authority has said (Appleton's Encyclopædia of American +Biography, I, 156), that Mr. Bancroft wrote the most important +chapters. Of course, the surprising thing about this is that Mr. +Bancroft should have stated in the Literary Industries that he had +followed a plan for the division of labor originally intended, but not +followed at all. Especially unfortunate is this, in view of repeated +charges of absorbing the literary reputation of his collaborators and +aids, and appropriating the credit for their work. + +It has long since been recognized that the name of Hubert Howe +Bancroft can not be placed in the ranks of great American historical +writers. In the first place, he wrote only parts of volumes. It will +be observed, too, that as a rule he wrote simpler parts, consisting of +synopses of early voyages, or annals easy to handle, such as the +rovings of Spaniards in Utah, or the rise of a provincial government +among the fur-traders of British Columbia. But Mr. Bancroft, as +founder of the library and organizer of the history, has rendered a +real and lasting service to historical literature. + +The first great end subserved by his undertaking was the preservation +of a great mass of invaluable historical material, which would +otherwise have been lost. In 1880, he wrote: + +"There are men yet living who helped to make our history, and who can +tell us what it is better than their sons, or than any who shall come +after them. A score of years hence few of them will remain. Twenty +years ago, many parts of our territory were not old enough to have a +history; twenty years hence, much will be lost that may now be +secured": (Lit. Ind., 635). + +It is thus for the timeliness of his labors in collecting his library +that the Pacific Coast, and the whole world as well, is indebted to +Mr. Bancroft. For this work his qualifications as a successful +business man experienced in handling books were exactly those +required. + +A second great end which Mr. Bancroft attained was the founding of a +history of Western North America on the original sources which he had +collected in order that it might constitute a foundation upon which +future histories would be built. + +"He who shall come after me," says he in the letter quoted above, +"will scarcely be able to undermine my work by laying another and +deeper foundation. He must build upon mine or not at all, for he can +not go beyond my authorities for facts. He may add to or alter my +work, for I shall not know or be able to tell everything, but he can +never make a complete structure of his own." + +That the volumes supervised by Mr. Bancroft should contain +imperfections is in the nature of the case inevitable. Perfect +historical estimates of contemporaries can not as a rule be made, and +history based largely on personal reminiscence must contain errors of +refraction which can be corrected only in the clearer light of later +years. The handling of material by a writer who did not collect it, +and who is likely to find the places and conditions dealt with strange +to his experience, inevitable though it be in so large an undertaking, +results in the writing of faulty history. The hastening of the work +and the editorial revision of manuscripts by a manager desirous of +pleasing subscribers, and impelled by various other motives of his +own, are not circumstances likely to increase the accuracy of the +work. But after allowance has been made for all inaccuracies which +have crept in through these various avenues, we still have the fact +that the histories are based upon sources which may be supplemented +but can never be displaced. No greater mistake could be made, +therefore, than to say that because they contain errors they are +worthless. All must agree with the practical argument made by a +thoughtful old pioneer of the writer's acquaintance that, in spite of +all criticisms which may be passed upon the Bancroft histories, they +contain a great fund of information which is nowhere else to be found +in print. + +A third result of the history plan, and one which is of importance to +historical writers everywhere who have large fields to cover, was the +devising of a coöperative method for organizing the vast collections +in the library. Mr. Bancroft makes the claim of having been the first +to resort to such a division of labor; and points out (Literary +Industries, 767) that his method avoids the repetition of details and +insures a more thorough working up of the field than does the +coöperative method as the term is usually understood, under which the +writers work independently of each other after the field is divided. +Such a claim might indeed be granted had Mr. Bancroft announced +himself as editor and reviser instead of author, and had he designated +the part of the work written by each of his collaborators in +accordance with the usual custom in coöperative works. The printing of +his name as author on the title page, and his general recognition as +such in accordance with press notices following those of the Native +Races, have, of course, largely lost for him the credit of originating +a coöperative method for the organizing of large quantities of +material. + +Concerning the understanding Mr. Bancroft had with his corps of +writers generally as to the public acknowledgment of their work which +he would make, information is not at hand. Only one had ever before +written and published a book, and perhaps the majority gave no thought +to the rights which would be theirs as authors. Certain it is that +when the greater number of the more prominent writers entered the +library, the work was planned on a much smaller scale than that upon +which it was carried out, and, as they did not know that they were to +become the authors of entire or consecutive volumes, the question was +not then of the importance which it assumed with the later growth of +the series. What the understanding was with those who first entered +the library we can not say definitely, but his ideas on that subject +seems to have been a survival of the encyclopædia project. To Mrs. +Victor, just prior to her entering his service, he wrote on August 1, +1878: + +"The work is wholly mine. I do what I can myself, and pay for what I +have done over that; but I father the whole of it and it goes out only +under my name. All who work in the library do so simply as my +assistants. Their work is mine to print, scratch, or throw in the +fire. I have no secrets; yet I do not tell everybody just what each +does. I do not pretend to do all the work myself, that is, to prepare +for the printer all that goes out under my name. I have three or four +now who can write for the printer after a fashion; none of them can +suit me as well as I can suit myself. One or two only will write with +very little change from me. All the rest require sometimes almost +rewriting." + +He further adds that it gives him pleasure to acknowledge his +obligations to his assistants, but that this acknowledgment is always +voluntary on his part and not claimed as a right by them, and says +that while he is not sure of mentioning certain persons in connection +with certain parts as he had done in the introduction to the Native +Races, he will certainly not do more than that. The only mention which +he promises definitely to his writers is a biographical notice in the +Literary Industries. + +"The work in the library," says he, "good or bad, is mine; were it not +so, I would simply do what I could with my own fingers, or do +nothing." + +It is easy enough to see why Mr. Bancroft should wish to have absolute +control of manuscripts to insure good work, and a complete covering of +the field, but it is difficult to see how he could justly make the +claim before the world that manuscripts turned out by other persons +were his writing. + +Not only was the myth of Mr. Bancroft's authorship repeated on the +title page of each volume of the history, and in the reviews which +built upon the prestige gained by him as supposed author of the Native +Races, but not a word was printed to show that any one else wrote the +least part of the work. When asked to indicate in the preface the part +done by each person, according to the evidence of a number of his +writers, he always declared that this was just the one thing he wished +to avoid. The only approach to an acknowledgment is the statement in +the preface in words which apparently refer only to indexers and +note-takers, that he has been "able to utilize the labors of others," +among whom as the most faithful and efficient he mentions Oak, Nemos, +Savage, Petroff, and Mrs. Victor. (History of Central America, I, +preface viii). The promise is made that he will speak of these and +others at length elsewhere, and this promise is redeemed by the +printing of their biographies in the Literary Industries without +indicating who was engaged in writing and who in purely routine work +connected with the library, much less designating what parts of the +work each had done. From a popular edition of this volume subsequently +issued for wider circulation, even these were stricken out. + +While the real authors of the history never agreed to keep silence +concerning their right to recognition, it was very well understood +that they would remain in Mr. Bancroft's employ only so long as they +acquiesced in his claiming the work as solely his own and made no +individual claims for themselves. This bread and butter argument for +silence proved effective in all cases. An example of the method in +meeting claims made for any of the library writers occurs in +connection with the publication of the History of Oregon. A notice of +the work just before it was issued was sent to the Oregon press and +the statement made that Mrs. Victor was the author. (Emma H. Adams in +Portland _Oregonian_, October 5, 1886, under the title, "Mrs. Victor +and Her Latest Literary Work.") This was met by Mr. Bancroft with a +letter for publication in the paper printing the notice, in which he +asserted that no entire volume of the series had been written by Mrs. +Victor. Of course the significance of this statement is in the word +"entire," which simply meant that he had interpolated a line here and +there as he went over the manuscript. A note to Mrs. Victor under date +of October 16th explains this apparent denial of her authorship thus: + +"I do not want for myself the credit due to my assistants. At the same +time, I do not deem it necessary to explain to the public just what +part of the work was done by each. Everybody knows that you have been +at work on Oregon, and that is all right, although I have done +considerable work on your manuscript for better or worse, or at all +events to make it conform to the general plan." + +In view of Mr. Bancroft's persistent refusal to give "assistants" +anything like credit for their work in accord with general custom and +literary ethics as well, and in view of the fact that this refusal +meant that the public would credit him solely as the author, it must +have been a difficult matter for him to convince his corps of writers +that he did not want the credit due them. + +The process of making Mrs. Victor's manuscripts conform to the general +plan, which is here regarded as the principal source of alteration, +according to Oak, meant nothing except the condensation of her work, +mainly by the omission of considerable portions, in order to bring it +within the space assigned. That such revision did not affect her +claims to authorship, is of course apparent. + +It is sufficiently clear, from what appears above, that Mr. Bancroft's +public justification of himself for publishing under his own name all +the work done in the library is the fact that he reserved the right to +alter all manuscripts and make what changes he saw fit. This made him +managing editor, however, not author. The comparatively few additions +he made to the manuscripts can not justify such a claim. That the +revision of Mrs. Victor's work consisted in the main of nothing more +than leaving out parts appears from two cases already cited, one in +connection with the History of Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming, the +other with the History of Oregon, as well as from the direct +statements of those who supervised library work. As we have seen he +demanded that his writers turn out a certain number of pages a day +"all ready for the printer," so he could have had little occasion to +revise their work. The writers who Mr. Bancroft said in 1878 wrote +with very little change from him were of course Oak and Nemos. Now Oak +wrote seven and a half volumes of the history, and Nemos and Mrs. +Victor five each, while Bancroft wrote four--a total of at least +twenty-two volumes out of the twenty-eight to the authorship of which +no serious claim could be made on the ground of altered manuscripts. +Moreover, Savage says in his autobiography that, while Bancroft made +additions and amendments to the three volumes which he wrote, in some +of his pages only a word or two was changed and that others remained +intact. What rewriting was occasionally done on the remaining volumes, +was apparently done as often by other persons as by Mr. Bancroft. His +relation toward the work was therefore exactly the same as that of a +managing editor toward the matter printed in a newspaper. The latter +could never claim the authorship of the articles written by his +staff, although altered to a considerable extent by him or by his +direction. + +It should be stated here that Mr. Bancroft justified his course to +those in the library by insisting that they furnished him merely with +rough notes, and that it would be necessary for him to rewrite the +work, or at any rate, considerable portions of it. This, had it been +done, would have been strictly in accord with the account of his +connection with the work as printed in the Literary Industries. But it +was not done, and the account as printed is incorrect. + +Since the completion of the history, but one of the writers has +publicly claimed the authorship of the volumes written in the library. +Ill health, only too common with those who labored through the work, +has in most cases been a sufficient barrier to such action. Savage and +Bates remained in Mr. Bancroft's employ for a number of years engaged +in other work, and of course under such circumstances could not make +any claims. Nemos as a foreigner could not be expected to take much +interest in such matters, and his early return to Europe and +subsequent residence there have rendered it difficult for him to make +such a statement did he so desire. Mrs. Victor alone has printed a +general statement of the portions of the history written by her, a +course in which she was influenced by years of absolute independence +in directing her literary energies before entering Mr. Bancroft's +employ, and a consequent appreciation of the rights and honors of +authorship. Four volumes of the Bancroft histories were exhibited as +her work at the Mechanics Pavilion in San Francisco during the fair in +January, 1893, and also among a collection of the works of New York +women authors made the same year (_Utica Morning Herald_, May 4, +1893). A special preface over her name inserted in the first volume of +the Oregon history in the exhibit claimed the authorship of the +volumes. + +(These are the words of the preface: "It seems not only just, but +necessary to affix my name to at least four volumes of the History of +the Pacific States, although that does not cover all the work done on +the history by myself. The four volumes referred to comprise the +states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, and +Nevada. My name is therefore placed on the backs of these volumes +without displacing that of Mr. Bancroft.") + +As to the shares of the various writers in the history proper, we have +the sources of information which have already been mentioned in +speaking of the Native Races, supplemented by very full data left by +Mrs. Victor concerning her part in the work. It is thus possible to +give in a general way the authorship of each volume, barring +fragmentary writing. + +From these sources it is found that during the progress of the work on +the Native Races, Mr. Bancroft had after hard labor and much revision +completed his introduction to the History of Central America, and had +written a half of the first volume. Oak wrote half of the preface and +the fine print summary of explorations, and Nemos was responsible for +a third of the volume from page 460 on, although he prepared material +in the rough, leaving it to be rewritten by a German aid whose name is +not given, but who may have been a man by the name of Kuhn mentioned +as having done work on the second volume. + +Of this latter volume, Mr. Bancroft wrote one chapter, apparently the +first, which deals with Pizarro and Peru. Nemos and a writer named +Peatfield (J. J. Peatfield, described by Bancroft [Lit. Ind., +265-267,] as a "strong man and one of talent," was born in +Nottinghamshire, England, August 26, 1833. His father, a clergyman, +educated him for the church and he took his degree at Cambridge in +1857, being graduated in the classical tripos. The church, however, +was distasteful to him, and he obtained a tutorship, subsequently in +1862 going to Nicaragua to engage in cacao cultivating. This +enterprise proved a failure. After attempting cotton, cacao again, and +finally coffee all in vain, in 1865 he became a bookkeeper at San +José, the capital of Costa Rica. In January, 1868, he was made a clerk +and translator to the legation at Guatemala, and two years later, +British Consul General for Central America. While holding the +consulship of Guatemala a third time, he resigned on account of ill +health and went to San Francisco, where he arrived in November, 1871. +Becoming bookkeeper and cashier for a Nevada mine at White Pine, and +battling much with ill health, he returned to San Francisco, where he +acted as teacher and bookkeeper until February, 1881, when he entered +the library), labored together on the volume and prepared half of it, +and Bates a fourth. Kuhn wrote a fifth which was partly rewritten by +Nemos. The latter claimed about a fourth of a volume as the actual +material written by him for the first and second volumes together. + +The third volume, including the history of Central America in the +nineteenth century, was written by Savage, who, nearly all his life +had been engaged in the consular service of the United States in Cuba +and Central America. + +(Thomas Savage, according to a biography written by himself, was born +at Havana, Cuba, August 27, 1823, a short time after his parents had +removed thither from Philadelphia. His father, a descendant of the +earliest settlers of Massachusetts and a brother of Savage, the famous +genealogist of New England, was from Boston, and his mother, a native +of Charleston, South Carolina, was the daughter of a French planter +who had escaped the great massacre in San Domingo and a Maryland +woman of Jewish extraction). + +In childhood, Savage was several times taken to the United States and +back as the necessities of his father's business demanded. At the age +of fifteen, he had studied the Latin classics, advanced mathematics +and languages, nearly breaking forever his health, which had always +been feeble. Abandoning his studies and taking a long rest in the +country, he regained sufficient strength to enable him to support +himself, for his parents had now lost their fortune. He entered a +commercial house at Havana, and after working a few years as +bookkeeper, in the summer of 1846 joined the United States consulate +as clerk and translator. From that time until the end of the year +1867, he was attached to the consulate, rising successively to the +positions of secretary to the consul general, deputy consul general, +and vice consul general. From 1854 on, there was not a single year +during which the consulate general was not in his charge for several +months. During the War of the Rebellion he was several times in +charge, once for twenty months, and during this trying period won the +confidence of his government by laboring hard to do his whole duty. + +He spent the greater part of the year 1868 in the United States, and +then went to Panama, where he was engaged as assistant editor of the +_Star and Herald_, having charge of the Spanish portion of the paper. +Savage had lost a wife in Cuba, and in January, 1870, married a second +time. Shortly afterward, he embarked for Salvador, where he taught +English in the University, became consul-general, and finally started +a newspaper. Just as this last enterprise was beginning to pay, his +wife's precarious health necessitated his removal to a better climate, +and he settled in Guatemala. Here he established a fine printing +office, and began the publication of a newspaper. Though aided by the +government, the business nevertheless proved unprofitable, and after +selling out at a heavy loss, he came to San Francisco in 1873. +Throughout life, Savage was a constant reader, with a special fondness +for history. He once said that he believed he had read the histories +of all the world. + +From a perusal of what Nemos says concerning the History of Mexico, we +are led to infer that Bancroft again wrote the introduction, as the +former librarian credits his chief with two chapters of the first +volume. Nemos wrote the remainder, but Bancroft rewrote some of his +work, he said only a fifth, much of the revision consisting in a mere +change of words. Oak differed with him on this point, holding that +Bancroft did more rewriting, but Nemos persists that this is an +exaggeration. + +The second volume was done by Nemos, Savage, and Peatfield, Nemos +writing the first half and some later chapters, two thirds of the +volume in all, Savage one fourth, and Peatfield a little. + +Of the third volume, Nemos wrote between a third and a half, +including, as he tells us, the leading institutional and political +parts, Savage a third, a writer named Griffin (George Butler Griffin +was a native of New York state, and a graduate of Yale. He was a +linguist, and had been an engineer in South America. Apparently early +in the eighties, his connection with the library had ceased. He died +by his own hand.) two or three chapters, and Peatfield a part. + +Of volume four, Bancroft did one chapter, Peatfield a fourth of the +whole, and Savage a third. Nemos "assisted on parts," his work +aggregating a fourth of the volume. + +The fifth volume of the Mexican History, embracing the period from +1804 to 1861, was known as Savage's volume. Of the manuscript, he +actually wrote about two thirds. Nemos did about a fourth, including +the fall of Mexico and the leading war episodes. Some of the writing +was done by Peatfield. (In conversation he claimed to have written a +large part of the Mexican War chapters.) + +The last volume of the Mexican History was prepared chiefly by Nemos +and Savage, the latter writing the first and last chapters, the former +about two thirds of the volume, including the history of Maximilian +and the institutional chapters. Peatfield did a little work on this +volume. Oak's contribution to the History of Mexico, according to his +own statement, consisted of a "few slight parts." + +The history of the northern part of Mexico, and the Southwest of the +United States was Oak's special field, designated by him as The +Spanish Northwest. The entire first volume of the History of the North +Mexican States is his work. The history of Lower California in this +volume, as well as that in the next, was based on a manuscript on +Lower California written several years before by Harcourt. But this +work was so altered by both Oak and Nemos in their respective volumes +through condensation, the changing of conclusions, and the adding of +new material, as to amount to a rewriting. + +The History of Texas in North Mexican States, second volume, is the +work of Peatfield; the remainder of the volume, between a third and a +half, that of Nemos. (The Texas part was subsequently extended by +Peatfield for the edition now in circulation, that it might find a +better sale in that state.) + +The volume on Arizona and New Mexico is the work of Oak alone. + +Spanish and Mexican California likewise belonged to Oak's field and +the first five volumes of the History of California are from his pen. +(Nemos adds, "though he neglected to put in institutions, leaving +them for W. N. [himself] and Savage." In view of Oak's oft-repeated +assertion that he was sole author of these five volumes, this must +mean that they were supplied in other volumes. Moreover, there are no +institutional parts properly speaking in these five volumes, and if +such parts as "Mission Progress," "Commercial Affairs," and the like +are to be regarded, they make up half the work.) + +The early American history of California was a topic in which Mr. +Bancroft was naturally interested because of his own mining experience +during the early gold days. Nemos' schedule shows that he wrote sixty +pages for the sixth volume of California, a circumstance which taken +with our knowledge of fields of research into which he entered in the +preparation of California Pastoral and Popular Tribunals makes us +reasonably sure that he wrote the first, second, and twenty-fifth +chapters. Mrs. Victor, who in her work on Oregon had been found +especially strong as a writer on political subjects, was assigned the +task of working up the political history of California, and, according +to her own statement, wrote two hundred and thirty-four pages for this +volume. We can positively identify chapters twelve, thirteen, +twenty-three, and twenty-four as her work. From the similarity of +their subject-matter to some already treated by her in the Oregon +history, and from the fact that their addition to the work just +indicated brings the total almost exactly to the figures given, we may +conclude that she also wrote the third, fourth, and fifth chapters. +The chapter entitled Mexican Land Titles is Oak's work, and the +remainder of the volume, almost two thirds, is that of Nemos. + +Information given by Mrs. Victor shows that she wrote for the final +volume of the History of California four hundred and eighty-nine pages +on politics and railroads. We are thus enabled to designate as her +work chapters nine to twenty-one inclusive, and chapter twenty-five. +This still leaves to her credit eighteen pages to be located in some +other chapter. The rest of the volume, embracing the portions dealing +with commerce, manufactures, agriculture, and mining, was written, +Nemos says, by himself. Before publication, the sheets on California +judiciary were submitted to Justice Stephen J. Field for his approval. +The estimate of certain pioneer characters in the California history, +together with the adopting of the Mexican view of the conquest of that +state by Americans, brought down upon Mr. Bancroft the condemnation of +the California Society of Pioneers, who, in 1894, expelled him from +honorary membership in their body. (See pamphlet proceedings of the +Society of California Pioneers in reference to the History of Hubert +Howe Bancroft.) It is a curious fact, however, that the passages which +were made the basis of the society's indictment are almost entirely in +the first five volumes of the California history, which were written +by Oak. He has declared that even the revisions were his own and not +Bancroft's. + +The History of Utah, another storm-center among the histories, was +written by Bates and Bancroft, the former, according to Nemos, +preparing twice as much manuscript as the latter. The earlier chapters +are by Bancroft, but no more certain assignment of their respective +shares in the work can be made from the information at hand. + +The History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, as already noticed, was +written by Mrs. Victor, with the exception of the first two chapters +on Nevada, which were by Bancroft. Mrs. Victor's statement of her work +includes these also, perhaps by inadvertence. It is possible that she +rewrote them, however, as Mr. Bancroft had admitted that they were out +of proportion. + +In the work on the Northwest Coast, we again see Bancroft's +predilection for early voyages. The first half of Volume I, including +the Spanish explorations of the coast, belonged to Oak's field, and +was written by him. Bancroft wrote most of the remainder of the two +volumes, which included the maritime fur trade, the Lewis and Clark +expedition, the Astor enterprise, the Northwest and Hudson Bay +companies, and the later American fur trade. + +A hundred pages on the "Oregon Question" written by Mrs. Victor for +Oregon were incorporated in the second volume of the History of the +Northwest Coast. She had taken the American side of the case, a view +with which Mr. Bancroft was not in sympathy. By his order, Mr. Oak +rewrote the subject from an English standpoint. He added chapter +fifteen, but to some extent made use of her work in preparing chapter +sixteen. Mrs. Victor always claimed that he merely altered it, Oak +himself that he rewrote it. The remainder of her manuscript was +retained and printed as chapter eighteen. + +The volume on Washington, Idaho, and Montana, was written wholly by +Mrs. Victor, a task for which she was fitted by her work on early +Oregon history. + +The History of Oregon was also her work, a fact which has been known +and fully recognized by prominent Oregonians since the day of its +publication. She had contemplated writing such a work even before the +beginning of Mr. Bancroft's project, and it was only a realization of +her inability to compete single handed with the capital and other +resources at his disposal which caused her to enter his employ. In +collecting material within the state, she had the assistance of such +pioneer families as her friends the Applegates and McBrides, and among +others, of Judge Deady and Elwood Evans. Valuable data concerning +Hudson Bay rule in Oregon were furnished her in a correspondence with +Mr. A. B. Roberts and Mr. Allen, formerly of the Hudson Bay Company. +(This correspondence is now in the possession of Mr. E. H. Kilham, of +Portland, Or.) The work as written made more than two volumes, and +condensation was necessary. A chapter on geology and mining was +omitted by Mr. Bancroft; the disposal of the manuscript on the "Oregon +Question" has already been noticed, and matter on the San Juan +boundary dispute and the Modoc war was also incorporated in other +volumes. Mrs. Victor considered the first volume of the History of +Oregon as perfect as it could be made at the time. With certain +features of the second she was not so well satisfied, the most +prominent being the omission of the history of the Oregon Steam +Navigation Company, necessitated by Mr. Bancroft's failure to secure +material, and certain changes made by him in her manuscript on Indian +Wars in Southern Oregon in such a way as to throw blame upon the +settlers (Mrs. Victor in [Salem] _Oregon Statesman_ February 24, +1895). It is worthy of note that her history is the first to pass over +the political results attributed to Whitman's ride by previous +writers. The sheets of the Oregon history before they were issued were +submitted to Judge Deady for his approval. + +In the half of the History of British Columbia which he wrote, Mr. +Bancroft utilized some of the material that he had collected in +person. Bates prepared a fourth of the manuscript, and Nemos and +Bowman together the remainder, Nemos writing some of the chapters and +revising others. + +The History of Alaska afforded Mr. Bancroft an opportunity for further +research in the field of early voyages. He is credited with half of +the volume, Bates with a third, Nemos a little, and Petroff about a +fourth. Nemos places all of his own writing on this work and British +Columbia together at a third of a volume. + +A review of the facts shows that if we exclude the comparatively few +interpolations and changes made by Mr. Bancroft, we can with assurance +declare the authorship of all portions of the third volume of Central +America, of the volumes on California, and of those on the North +Mexican States, Arizona and New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, +the Northwest Coast, Oregon and Washington, Idaho and Montana, and +that we can give in general terms, though without being able to locate +the exact parts done by individuals, the names of the authors of two +volumes of Central America, and all of Mexico, Utah, British Columbia, +and Alaska. In these works Oak and Nemos were agreed that there were +scattered fragmentary bits aggregating several volumes so worked over +by different writers in different ways as to render it impossible to +determine the exact authorship. + +Turning to a consideration of the individual field of writing, we find +that of the twenty-eight volumes of history proper, Bancroft is to be +credited with four, no one entire, Oak with seven and a half, Nemos +five, no one entire, Mrs. Victor a little less than five, Savage over +three, Peatfield one and a half, principally in small parts, and Bates +one and a fourth. (This is a computation based exactly upon the facts +as given, except in Bancroft's case.) Nemos upon the same basis makes +the shares, except Savage's and Bancroft's, all slightly greater. He +assigns to Oak between seven and a half and seven and two thirds +volumes, to himself and Mrs. Victor over five each, to Peatfield about +two, and to Bates one and a half. An actual count of the parts of +volumes written by Bancroft gives a total of three and a half, but +Nemos said that he took four as the number upon the authority of Oak. +This would allow him a half volume of interpolations in the +twenty-four and a half volumes done by others. Griffin, Petroff, Kuhn, +and a man named Rasmus were the authors of fragments. Oak thought that +the name was Erasmus, but said that Nemos who gave Rasmus was the +better authority. + +Concerning these facts in their main features, there is a complete +agreement between Oak and Nemos, who together knew all the details +which were to be known, and the evidence of the other writers fits +exactly with their statements. The popular estimate of Hubert Howe +Bancroft as the historian of the Pacific Coast, is founded upon the +vague references and indefinite assertions of the Literary Industries +within the pages of which there is nowhere to be found a +straightforward statement that this man wrote more than a part of the +works to which his name is attached. On the other hand, his own +statements over his own signature admit that he did not pretend to be +the author of what went out under his name. The ranking of Mr. +Bancroft among historians of the United States is, therefore, an +error, and what has appeared in the public press concerning an +"Historian of the Pacific Coast," and a "Macaulay of the West," is +legend pure and simple. Instead of one Pacific Coast historian who +wrote the Bancroft volumes, there were eight. + +As to the six supplementary volumes of the "Works of Hubert Howe +Bancroft," which ended the series, Mrs. Victor had some means of +determining the authorship. According to her notes, Savage and Nemos +did a great deal of writing and revising. The Modoc War in _inter +pocula_, a part of the chapter entitled Some Indian Episodes, was +written by Mrs. Victor from notes obtained by herself on the ground. +She also wrote some other matter for this volume. The remainder was +done by Bancroft and his family, who also aided him much on Popular +Tribunals. + +Pastorals was produced chiefly by Bancroft. Of the Literary +Industries, Nemos wrote several chapters or parts, Savage a little, +and Oak three or four bits of a few paragraphs each. It must be +remembered that Bancroft's writing in these private volumes was +subjected to criticism, revision, and retouching by the best literary +talent which the library afforded. + +Concerning the Chronicles of the Builders, the biographical series +which followed the histories, with such unfortunate results, some +notes in Mrs. Victor's handwriting taken in 1888, about a year before +work finally ended, give us the following facts: The introductory +essay is by Nemos, as are also the reflective chapters and reviews, +together with most of the historical text. Peatfield wrote Oregon, +Washington, and Texas, though some of the latter was rewritten by +Nemos. Mrs. Victor wrote "Routes and Transportation," and a number of +the leading biographies, making nearly a volume. Savage wrote about a +third of a volume. + +Mr. Bancroft as a writer of history was subject to certain influences +likely to be felt in his treatment of facts, which did not affect his +coworkers. One great object was of course to make the work popular. It +was with this end in view that much attention was given to literary +finish and typographical features. It was his practice to have a +writer employed for the purpose go over his own manuscripts and +sometimes those of his assistants to add "classical allusions," as he +termed them, for rhetorical effect. He himself was given to the +reading of English classics--Carlyle's works are especially mentioned +by his friends--as a means of acquiring a good literary style. To +stimulate the reader's attention, he occasionally made a side remark +of such a ludicrous character as to be startling when one comes upon +it in a perfectly serious paragraph. Mrs. Victor often laughed over +the interlineation in a paragraph written by her on the Oregon +boundary question of the words: + +"Man is a preposterous pig; probably the greediest animal that crawls +upon this planet": (Oregon, I, 592.) + +In passing upon the work of his corps of writers, one who combined the +duties of financier as well as editor of the work either consciously +or unconsciously must have been influenced by the question whether the +treatment of the subject before him was such as would please the +people in the locality whose history was being written. The Mormon +turn given the History of Utah by the toning down of certain incidents +which other historians have "shrunk from contemplating" occurs to us +as a case in point: (Frances Fuller Victor in _Salt Lake Tribune_, +April 14, 1893; _New York Mail and Express_, November 23d). + +The publication of the Chronicles before all of the volumes of history +were out could hardly have lessened this tendency, as a favorable +mention of a man in the history would naturally tend to make him more +approachable upon the subject of contributing to that work. Upon the +back of the letter to Mrs. Victor instructing her to give prominence +to certain dictations, which he admits are practically worthless, is +written in her hand the legend, "Ways that are dark and tricks that +are vain." As a result of complaint, changes were sometimes made in +the text, even after the first edition was out: (Pamphlet, Proceedings +of the Society of California Pioneers in Reference to the Histories of +Hubert Howe Bancroft). + +In the History of Montana occurs an example of a change made directly +for business reasons. Several pioneers justly entitled to a place in +the history of their territory disagreed with the agent of the +Bancroft house concerning the number of volumes of the history which +their contract required them to take. As a punishment for their +refusal to comply with the demands of the publisher, their biographies +were stricken from their place in the footnotes after the volume was +set up, and other matter was substituted. (The original sheets with +marginal annotations as to amounts paid and biographies to be omitted +are in the possession of Mr. E. H. Kilham of Portland, Oregon.) In +view of these facts, we are forced to conclude that the business man +in Mr. Bancroft, developed by the experiences and associations of a +lifetime, sometimes got the better of the historical editor of +scarcely fifteen years' standing. + +A second factor to be considered in Mr. Bancroft's writing was +sometimes expressed by his acquaintances as a mistaking of +contrariness for originality. As already indicated, his tendency is +toward a form of writing such as will attract the reader's attention. +This tendency frequently asserts itself in sweeping statements and +striking characterizations, many of them apparently impelled by a +desire to give a turn to an incident or an estimate of a character +different from that given by any previous writer. Thus Bancroft wrote +an estimate of General Grant, which was startling because of the +general hostility of its tone, and was considered so unjust by Mrs. +Victor and Oak that they persuaded him to leave it out. (Letter of +Mrs. Victor of July 25, 1892. The paragraph which was originally +intended as a footnote in the History of Oregon, II, 246, is printed +on page 18 of the Pamphlet of the Society of California Pioneers, +which gives their proceedings with reference to Bancroft's histories.) + +Again, in making an effort to avoid following Washington Irving, he +has given in the part of the Northwest Coast which he wrote a +treatment of the Astor enterprise, and an estimate of the character of +Captain Bonneville, which later historians have shown to be +prejudiced and in error. (See Chittenden's History of the American Fur +Trade in the Far West, I, 432-33.) + +A third influence affecting the treatment of facts of history which +passed under Mr. Bancroft's editorship, as well as those which he +presented in the scattered portions of volumes of which he could claim +real authorship, is that of personal bias. The manager of the Bancroft +enterprise was a man, who in the course of a thirty years' business +career had many business rivalries and personal enmities. His strong +dislikes frequently assert themselves in his writings, if we are to +take his own statements. (Lit. Ind., 374.) + +Again, the personal equation must be accounted for in the value which +he sets on the work of historians who wrote before him. He not +infrequently disparages their writings in the strongest terms, his +depreciation of Washington Irving being one of the most palpable +cases. (Chittenden's History of American Fur Trade in the Far West, I, +244-46), has forcibly revealed the extent of the injustice done by +Bancroft in this one case. That there are others like it will readily +appear. For the effort to demonstrate the superiority of the Bancroft +histories over others, we must accordingly make due allowance when +attempting a critical estimate. + +Furthermore, the editor-manager began the work with certain theories +and notions of history that have found their way into the pages which +he has published. From the beginning, he adopted the British side in +dealing with the dispute over the Oregon boundary. In his treatment of +Indian wars, the same tendency to adopt ready-made theories asserted +itself. In the manuscript of Mrs. Victor's History of Oregon, treating +of Indian Wars in Southern Oregon which "gave great credit to the +veterans of that struggle and the settlers generally for their +forbearance," the editor interlined some expressions, throwing the +blame upon the settlers. When it was pointed out to him that this was +not true, he replied that he had begun his History of Central America +with this theory of Indian wars, and must be consistent throughout the +entire series (Communication of Frances Fuller Victor to the [Salem] +_Oregon Statesman_, February 24, 1895). + +To such errors as those just enumerated the work of Mr. Bancroft's +collaborators was not subject. The dislike inspired by some of the +measures of their chief has sometimes resulted in their disparagement +as historians by a public press, absolutely ignorant of the parts of +the work for which they were responsible. (In the _Salt Lake Tribune_, +February 16, 1893, is a very striking example. Occasional utterances +of the San Francisco papers of about the same time follow along the +same line.) It must be remembered that they were not only able and +educated, but that the competitive wage system under which they worked +offered every inducement to search for the truth and to make it known +as they found it in the best collection of books, pamphlets, and +newspapers on Pacific Coast history that was ever made. The only +characteristics which were common to the library corps, as shown by a +study of their biographies, were good education, ill health, and +liberal religious views. + +In general, these writers had special qualifications which adapted +them for work in their respective fields. To Oak there was a +fascination in the study of documents from which the usually +uninteresting and sometimes tedious details of events in Spanish and +Mexican provincial localities were derived. His contributions to +history he could honestly claim were better than other writings on the +same subject because of the exhaustiveness of his research through the +great amount of material at his disposal. While he admired the finer +qualities of style in the writings of others, they were not required +in his work. He frankly declared that he had little natural ability in +this line, and in the writing of provincial annals found no +opportunity for the cultivation of what he had. Oak once asserted in a +joking mood that he had found of great service a thorough knowledge of +Spanish and French, together with a useful smattering of other +languages, including English. None of his chapters were rewritten or +even reread with a view to polish, for the reason that he believed his +works had their chief value merely as records, and that an attempt to +make them fascinating to general readers could but result in impairing +their value for reference. The fact that the superintendent of +literary activities in the Bancroft library was an enthusiast in +original research who cared vastly more what was said than how it was +said is a circumstance favoring the accuracy of the histories which +must not be overlooked. Oak could say that from the first he had +exercised an important influence in the direction of honest research +and against superficial work, and that he opposed undue haste in +bringing the work to a conclusion. + +Nemos, unlike Oak, was a writer of smooth, flowing English. On account +of his foreign birth he had no preference in the selection of a field, +and wrote for more different volumes than any other member of the +library force. His great ability, and his consequent position of +all-round man, are to be accounted for by great natural endowment +supplemented by a thorough training in youth in his own country, a +schooling during his London residence in the philosophy of his own +country as well as that of the German universities, and a wide +acquaintance with European languages. With a remarkable faculty for +systematizing work, he was useful, honorable, and trustworthy. + +To Mrs. Victor was assigned the agreeable task of working up the field +in which she had long taken special interest. She was the only member +of the staff who had a literary reputation before entering the +library. Noted as a poetess of unusual promise in her earlier days, +she had also written excellent prose for different journals, among +them a magazine history of the United States published in serial form +by the Harpers, until the beginning of the Civil War compelled the +discontinuance of the publication in which it appeared. As a +contributor to the San Francisco papers in the early "sixties," she +had met with pronounced success, while her work on her projected +History of Oregon and her publication of two works on the Northwest +fitted her for her special field. She had the enviable faculty of +putting life into her writings, and it was partially on account of her +graceful style that Mr. Bancroft sought her services, for his eye was +always attracted by good literary work. But the volumes written by +Mrs. Victor were of a far different stamp from the popular literary +history. The late Mary Sheldon Barnes, professor of history in +Stanford University, declared that she had done her work well. All who +were acquainted with her personally recognized the fact that she +placed the truth as she conceived it before all else. The leading +opponents of the stand she took on disputed questions freely +recognized the fact that she had striven to do conscientious, +painstaking work. Given to speaking what she believed was the whole +truth, even when it was contrary to her immediate interest to do so, +she was the last of all persons whom a regard for literary effect +would swerve from the path of historical accuracy. + +A better man for chief Spanish authority than Thomas Savage could +scarcely have been found. Thoroughly acquainted with the language by a +life-long residence in Spanish America, he had a natural fondness for +history, to which his long continuance in the consular service had +added a habit of accuracy, and a capacity for hard work. The fifth +volume of the History of Mexico, embracing the history of that country +from 1824 to 1861, and the third volume of the Central American +history which threads out the tangled skein of the history of the five +little republics in the nineteenth century, serve as examples of the +vast amount of detail which his writing covered, to say nothing of his +labors in collecting and extracting an overwhelming mass of material +on Spanish American history. All agree that he was a polished and +sound man. + +In the writers of smaller parts of the history, we find that the +qualifications and fitness for the individual field of writing were no +less than in those who prepared more manuscript. Peatfield's +connection with the British consular service bespeaks his reliability +and capability; Bates' occupancy of a responsible position under a +prominent English educator, and the high regard in which his work was +held by Hittell bear witness that he was competent to write history; +and Petroff's standing as a scholar in his own country, together with +his thorough acquaintance with Alaska, vouch for the character of his +work. + +While the Bancroft corps of writers were not infallible, they were a +class of persons in whose integrity and accuracy we may have as great +confidence as in the average historian. We can only regret that we can +not point out all parts of the work done by each, and that we can not +show in detail the extent of Mr. Bancroft's editorial alterations of +their work. This latter feature, inherent in the Bancroft plan of +writing history, is its greatest weakness, since it of necessity +involves some uncertainty as to whether the words we are reading are +those of the author who wrote the volume, or the interpretation of Mr. +Bancroft. A comparative study of the style of what we know to be the +work of the respective writers may suffice to settle a given case. We +may state as a fact that the majority of alterations in the +manuscripts of the chief assistants were due to the necessity of +condensation; and that, aside from this, the revision of their work +usually consisted merely in the suppression of radical utterances and +the interlineation of a few lines occasionally for literary effect. +The somewhat rough estimate given of the number of volumes written by +the respective writers indicates that Mr. Bancroft's revisions +constitute about one page in fifty of the work in fields assigned to +his assistants, although the average may be lower. In view of these +facts, the knowledge that those who wrote the Bancroft histories were +capable, honest persons, must tend decidedly toward the increasing of +our general confidence in the series. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[40] This is on the authority of Savage. + + + + +PIONEER PAPERS OF PUGET SOUND. + +By CLARENCE B. BAGLEY. + + +The trapper, the trader, the missionary, and the printer were the +pioneers of "Old Oregon," as the original territory lying between the +Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and extending northward from +California to the British possessions may be properly called. A mere +handful of patriotic Americans founded a provisional government for +this vast wilderness in 1843, and the American Government enclosed it +safely in the national fold in 1846 by treaty with Great Britain, and +organized it into a territory August 14, 1848. + +Those who are the leading spirits in the several historical societies +of the Northwest, and the writers of its history, realize the true +value to be placed upon the labors of the pioneer printers and +newspaper men of "Old Oregon." This expression is tautological. There +were no newspaper men who were not printers in the pioneer days. + +It has been my good fortune, as child, boy, and man, to know nearly +all the old newspaper men of Oregon and Washington of that period by +sight, and to be on terms of friendship with most of them, as well as +most intimate with the majority. Among them were: + +Ashael Bush, W. L. Adams, Thomas H. Pearne, T. J. Dryer, Harvey W. +Scott, H. L. Pittock, Beriah Brown, James O'Meara, W. Lair Hill, Wm. +G. T'Vault, Samuel A. Clarke, Mrs. Duniway, D. W. Craig, John +Atkinson, E. M. Waite, L. Samuels, John Burnett, J. M. Baltimore, +William Newell, P. B. Johnson, R. R. Rees, E. T. Gunn, Charles +Besserer, Eugene Semple, A. M. Poe, John Miller Murphy, Randall H. +Hewitt, L. G. Abbott, Thornton F. McElroy, James N. Gale, J. R. +Watson, David Higgins, Charles and Thomas W. Prosch, John F. Damon, D. +C. Ireland, Francis H. Cook, S. L. Maxwell, H. C. Patrick, R. F. +Radebaugh, and many of their contemporaries, as well as a host of +their successors. + +Nearly all these were practical printers, and most of them skillful at +the case, capable of taking entire charge of the mechanical department +of the early day printing offices. + +This training made them accurate in their literary work. While some of +them might not have been on intimate terms with the rules of grammar, +they made up for any such deficiency by untiring and conscientious +efforts to give their readers good newspapers, in the face of the +gravest difficulties. In the matter of politics full allowance had +ever to be made for the personal bias of the writer, but in the matter +of news, especially that of a local character, the most absolute +fidelity to the truth was ever maintained. No efforts were made for a +"good story" at the expense of truth. The head of the paper always had +a personal knowledge of the facts and usually prepared the account of +them. If he found he had made a mistake he usually corrected it in the +next issue, if it was of sufficient importance. For this reason the +writer of the present day who delves among the old newspaper files of +pioneer days, and even down to within twenty or twenty-five years ago, +can rely upon the fairness and truthfulness of their local columns. +They were all writing history but few of them realized it. + +Life was too strenuous with the pioneers of the "forties" and +"fifties" for them to spend much time in keeping diaries or other +records of passing events. If they had done so, the unsettled +conditions under which they lived, the lack of substantial buildings, +the migration to new countries, and the rush to new mines, would have +resulted in the loss or destruction of most of such manuscripts. + +Of the early Oregon papers, I doubt if more than two or three perfect +files exist. Of the early papers of Washington, not more than three or +four complete files remain of any of them. Of the first Seattle +papers, there is but one file. It I began collecting more than forty +years ago. How much care, then, should be exercised in gathering these +old papers from the garrets and the closets where they have lain fifty +years or more, perhaps--as well as to observe the most painstaking +care for their preservation. + +When the missions among the Indians of Oregon were established by +Messrs. Whitman and Spalding in 1836, the First Native Church of +Honolulu decided to send to it a small printing press and some type +and material that had been in use for some time there in printing +spelling books and religious matter, thinking the work of the mission +in Oregon would be advanced by its aid. + +Edwin O. Hall had been one of the printers of the Honolulu mission and +he was engaged to accompany the printing outfit to Oregon. With the +press, type, fixtures, a stock of paper and binding apparatus in his +charge he, accompanied by his wife, arrived at Vancouver, on the +Columbia River, early in the month of April, 1839. In a few days the +press and party started up the Columbia River in a canoe and reached +Wallula on the 30th. From there the press was sent on pack animals to +Lapwai, on the Clearwater River, not far from the present City of +Lewiston, Idaho, while the rest of the outfit and the party went on up +the river by canoe. + +May 18, 1839, the first proof sheet in the original Oregon Territory +was struck off amid great rejoicing among the missionary party. A +large number of publications in the Flathead, Spokane, Cayuse, and Nez +Percé language was printed by the mission people. In fact, the press +was in use a great deal until in 1846, when Doctor Whitman sent it to +The Dalles, where it remained until after the Whitman massacre, +November 29-30, 1847. + +In 1848 it was in use near Hillsboro, on Tualatin Plains, for several +months, where eight numbers of the _Oregon American and Evangelical +Unionist_ appeared, which was the third paper in chronological order. + +By this time more modern presses, apparatus and types had reached +Oregon and the pioneer outfit was laid aside. Years later it came into +the possession of the Oregon Historical Society at Portland. + +The _Oregon Spectator_ was the first newspaper in Old Oregon, and the +initial number appeared at Oregon City on Thursday, February 5, 1846. +A new plant had been procured for it in New York, whence it was sent +around "The Horn." Col. William G. T'Vault was its editor and John +Flemming the printer. This paper passed through many vicissitudes in +the ensuing years--numerous changes of editors and publishers with +frequent alterations in size, now larger and again smaller, until it +finally suspended in 1855. + +The second paper was the _Oregon Free Press_, which appeared in March, +1848, under the control of George L. Curry, who later became Governor +of Oregon. + +The fourth in order was the _Western Star_, first issued at Milwaukie +November 21, 1850, by Lot Whitcomb. At that time Milwaukie, on the +east side of the Willamette, a few miles above Portland, was a rival +of the latter place for commercial supremacy, but in May, 1851, +Milwaukie had fallen behind in the race, and the _Star_ was moved to +Portland, and its name changed to the _Oregon Weekly Times_. It lived +much longer than most of the early newspaper ventures of the +Northwest. Among its numerous editors were A. C. Gibbs, Governor of +Oregon during the Civil War period, and also W. Lair Hill, with whom +all lawyers of Oregon and Washington are familiar personally or by +reputation. He was the author of the well-known code of this state +bearing his name, and for a considerable period a resident of Seattle. + +The fifth was the _Weekly Oregonian_ and the only one of all the +newspapers of Oregon and Washington appearing prior to 1860 to survive +with its original name and without periodical suspensions. + +The _Oregonian_ had to struggle for existence during all its early +years. Rivals unnumbered went to the newspaper graveyard during the +succeeding quarter century. It is a conservative estimate to place the +aggregate at a $1,000,000 sunk during that period by ambitious +printers, dissatisfied politicians, and by corporations who could not +control its editorials, in the various attempts to break the +_Oregonian_ down. The most notable contest was between the _Oregonian_ +and the _Bulletin_, when Ben. Holladay was the great magnate in +railroad and steamship affairs of the Northwest. He established, about +1872, a first-class newspaper and job printing office that cost not +less than $50,000. He employed the best newspaper talent he could +secure, and the _Bulletin_ at once became a dangerous rival for the +_Oregonian_, which had to depend solely on its own resources for its +support, while the weekly deficit in the _Bulletin_ office was made +good by a check from Ben. Holladay. + +The _Oregonian_ had at that time about seven thousand subscribers at +$3 per year to its weekly paper, while the _Bulletin_ had only a few +hundred. The _Weekly Oregonian_ saved the day, and the _Bulletin_ died +the death. Its backer is reputed to have sunk not less than $100,000. +This left the _Oregonian_ master of the field, and it became the +overshadowing journalistic power of the Northwest until the great +dailies of Seattle forced it to the rear in the State of Washington. + +Thomas J. Dryer was its first editor and A. M. Berry the first +printer. Henry L. Pittock became a printer in its office in November, +1853, and was admitted to partnership in 1856, and only four years +later became its sole owner. Mr. Harvey W. Scott went on its editorial +staff in May, 1865. In 1877 he bought an interest in the paper and +became editor-in-chief. He and Mr. Pittock still own the paper, and it +need not be added that it has made them immensely wealthy. + +The _Daily Oregonian_ made its first appearance February 4, 1861. It +consisted of four pages, each page about 11½x18 inches, four columns +to the page. + +March 26, 1851, the _Oregon Statesman_ was launched on the newspaper +sea at Salem, the state capital, with Joseph S. Smith at the helm. In +later years Smith went to Congress from that state and was always a +conspicuous figure in Democratic circles. In September, 1852, when we +arrived in Salem from across "the plains," Asahel Bush had become +owner and editor. He soon became public printer, then an exceedingly +profitable billet, and in six or eight years was quite wealthy. The +_Statesman_ was the leading Democratic journal for a long period and +wielded a powerful influence until Joseph Lane and the Democratic +party under him lost the state, when Abraham Lincoln was elected +President. After that its influence gradually declined. It underwent +the usual changes of ownership and temporary suspensions. + +It will be difficult for the younger men in the newspaper offices of +today, with their many departments and special work, to realize the +many cares and duties devolving upon the pioneer newspaper men. The +successful one was a capable printer who could "set type," run a +press, make up the forms, make a roller, and wash it if need be. He +was editorial writer, local reporter, business manager, and mailing +clerk. A "job office" was usually a part of the printing establishment +and he, perforce, must be his own job printer and pressman as well. + +During all the earlier years there were no telegraphic dispatches, the +"news" being selected from the weekly issues of the _Tribune_ or +_Herald_ of New York City, which came by mail steamer to the Isthmus +of Panama, thence across and by steamer to San Francisco, and thence +with the utmost irregularity by steamer to Portland, from there down +the Columbia and up the Cowlitz River and by pack animal or mud wagon +to Olympia. + +Under all these adverse circumstances it is remarkable what good +newspapers were issued. They were usually on paper 24x36 inches in +size, which was about the limit for hand presses then in use. The +editorial matter was vigorous and able, the typography and presswork +equal to that of the present day, the selection of news and literary +matter unexceptionable. It is not a matter of surprise that men +capable of accomplishing such good work in the face of such +difficulties should have wielded a powerful influence in the pioneer +work of the territory. + +Of the pioneer newspaper men of Oregon and Washington there are many +in Seattle. First in age and experience is Charles Prosch, with over +forty years to his credit. Rev. John F. Damon comes next in seniority +of service. Judge Orange Jacobs had much editorial experience in +Oregon before coming here. Henry G. Struve, Esq., was an editorial +writer for years prior to 1873, in Vancouver, Clarke County, and in +Olympia. Ex-Governor Semple spent many years in all kinds of newspaper +work in Oregon and Washington, beginning about 1870. Thomas W. Prosch +learned to be a printer as he learned to read on the _Herald_ at +Steilacoom and the _Tribune_ in Olympia. C. B. Bagley began newspaper +work in 1868 and continued it with little intermission for twenty +years. Samuel C. Crawford began as printer's devil for John Miller +Murphy on the Olympia _Standard_ thirty years or more ago. Beriah +Brown, the senior of them all, recently died here, and his son Berry +began "at the case" and other newspaper work as early as 1868. + +The _Columbian_ was the "pioneer newspaper west of the mountains, +between the father of Oregon waters and Kamstkatka," as an editorial +paragraph in the first number puts it. Messrs. Wiley & McElroy +established it in Olympia September 11, 1852. Later its name was +changed to the _Pioneer_, and not long afterward it was merged with +the _Democrat_, a rival paper, under the name of _Pioneer and +Democrat_. From the above date Olympia has never been without one or +more weekly papers, and at times has enjoyed two daily papers at the +same time. + +The _Puget Sound Courier_ was the pioneer paper at Steilacoom, which +was started by Affleck & Gunn, May 19, 1854. It was Whig in politics, +and as the population was overwhelmingly Democratic it soon died for +lack of sustenance. + +Mr. Charles Prosch, the dean of newspaperdom on Puget Sound, whose +erect form and snow-white hair are familiar on the streets of Seattle, +published the _Puget Sound Herald_ at Steilacoom, beginning March 12, +1858, for about six years, and later other papers at Olympia. + +The _Northern Light_ appeared at Whatcom in 1858, under the management +of W. Bausman & Co., during a few weeks of the height of the Fraser +River gold rush, but its light was soon snuffed out. + +The _Port Townsend Register_ was started January 4, 1860, by a young +man named Travers Daniels, but the field was not an encouraging one, +and at the end of ten weeks he sold out to William T. Whitacre, who +kept it alive until August, when it suspended. + +July 5 of the same year the _Northwest_ was started in Port Townsend +by E. S. Dyer, publisher, and John F. Damon, editor. Mr. Damon +continued with the paper until it suspended, before the second volume +was completed. + +Rev. John F. Damon, the Congregational clergyman of Seattle, is too +widely known to require extended mention here. + +The _Register_ was resuscitated late in 1860 and run a violent career +for several months, and later was followed by the _Message_, which ran +several years under different management. + +In 1874 C. W. Philbrick purchased the press on which the last-named +paper was printed, changed the name to _Puget Sound Argus_, and +succeeded in placing it on a paying basis, a hitherto impossible +achievement in Port Townsend. In 1877 Philbrick, after accumulating +considerable property, sold the _Argus_ to Mr. Allen Weir. + +July 29, 1861, the _Overland Press_ was started in Olympia. A short +time before the pony express had been put on the route between the +Missouri River and Sacramento, carrying the news and a few letters, +thus placing San Francisco and New York in communication with each +other in from ten to twelve days. This suggested the name of the +paper. It was enabled to give a brief summary of Eastern news only +three weeks old. Prior to this it had been from six weeks to three +months old when it reached Olympia. + +The great Civil War had broken out only a few weeks earlier and the +manager of the _Press_ of Victoria, British Columbia, with commendable +business sagacity, determined to establish a paper in Olympia +containing the latest war news, and have it ready to distribute at all +Puget Sound ports and have a supply to distribute to its own readers +in Victoria and other parts of British Columbia on the arrival of the +weekly mail. The Eliza Anderson, then the crack steamer of Puget Sound +waters, made weekly trips, leaving Olympia early on Monday morning, +arriving at Seattle about 4 P. M., and at Victoria early Tuesday +morning. The paper at once became very popular and gained an immense +circulation for those days. + +Early in the fourth volume its name was changed to the _Pacific +Tribune_. Randall H. Hewitt, now living in Los Angeles, owned and +published it for a time, when Charles Prosch acquired it and continued +its publication at Olympia until 1873. By this time his son, Thomas W. +Prosch, had manifested much newspaper ability and had become the owner +of the paper. He moved it to Tacoma, the new railroad town, that year +and continued there until the almost total death of the place forced +another move and he came to Seattle with it. In 1878 Thaddeus Hanford +bought it and merged it with the _Post-Intelligencer_. With but one +change of name it had lived about seventeen years, or longer than any +other of the early Washington papers, with one exception. + +This exception was and is the _Washington Standard_ of Olympia, the +most notable instance of newspaper longevity, with the exception of +the _Oregonian_, in old Oregon. Its first number was largely written, +set up and printed by its founder, John Miller Murphy, and now, almost +forty-three years later, it is his proud boast that it has never +missed an issue, has never changed its name and that not a single one +of its weekly issues has failed to have more or less editorial matter +from his pen. It was "Union" in sentiment during the war of the +rebellion, but espoused the cause of Andrew Johnson in his contest +with a Republican Congress, and since then has always been +consistently Democratic. Mr. Murphy has always been too proud of his +independence to subordinate his will or the expressions of his journal +to the control of his party leaders, and has often refused preferment +at their hands on that account. He still superintends the mechanical +department of his office, as well as attending to his editorial +duties. He had achieved a competence but the panic of 1893 and the +ensuing period of financial depression made great inroads upon his +fortune, so that necessity compels him to remain in the harness, +though nearly a half century of continuous work has certainly earned +him rest. + +The _Seattle Gazette_ was the name under which the first paper +published in Seattle appeared, dated December 11, 1863, nearly forty +years ago. It was edited, set up, published, and with the assistance +of an Indian for roller boy, printed by J. R. Watson. The office was +in the second story of one of Yesler's buildings, then standing near +the present north line of the Scandinavian Bank Building. The paper +consisted of four pages, the printed matter on each page measuring +9½x14½ inches. The type and other material were destroyed many years +ago, but the old Ramage[41] printing press is a relic highly prized at +the State University. The _Seattle Gazette_, _Puget Sound Gazette_, +and _Puget Sound Weekly_ continued nearly four years with frequent +changes in form and ownership. + +Pioneer printers have taken a great deal of interest in regard to the +antecedents of this old press. Mr. George H. Himes was an Olympia boy, +who served his apprenticeship in the office of the _Washington +Standard_ under John Miller Murphy. From there he went to Portland and +in time "Himes the Printer" became a household word in Oregon and +Washington. He has of late years been prominent in the pioneer and +historical societies of Oregon. He has given much time to research +regarding this old press, and as a result gives it as his opinion that +it was first sent from New York to Mexico, thence to Monterey, +California, in 1834, where it was used by the Spanish governor for a +number of years in printing proclamations, etc., and on August 15, +1846, the _Californian_, the pioneer paper of California, was printed +on it. Late in 1846 it was sent from Monterey to San Francisco and +used in printing the _Star_, the first paper of that city, issued in +January, 1847. These two papers were combined at a later date, and in +the fall of 1848 the first number of the _Alta California_ was issued +from it. From San Francisco it went to Portland and the first number +of the _Oregonian_ was taken off it. In 1852 it and the old plant of +the _Oregonian_ was bought by Thornton F. McElroy and J. W. Wiley, who +brought it around on the schooner Mary Taylor to Olympia, where the +first number of the _Columbian_ was printed on it. In 1863 J. R. +Watson brought it to Seattle, and December 10th the first paper, the +Seattle _Gazette_, was printed on it. Again in 1865 S. L. Maxwell used +it to print the earlier numbers of the _Intelligencer_. + +There seems to be no doubt that it was used to print the first +newspapers on the Pacific Coast, the first in Monterey, San Francisco, +Portland, Olympia, Seattle. + +Although Seattle's first paper was of much more modest proportions +than any of its predecessors or contemporaries, it had the honor of +starting the first daily paper in the territory, which appeared April +23, 1866, and continued to August 11th of the same year. + +The Western Union Telegraph line was completed to Seattle October 26, +1864, and at 4 P. M. of that date the _Gazette_ issued its "Citizen's +Dispatch," giving the first published dispatch coming by wire to this +place. It gave the Eastern war news to October 24th, from Kansas City +and from Chattanooga of the operations of Sherman against Hood in the +Atlanta campaign. + +Occasionally telegraphic dispatches appeared in succeeding papers, but +not until about July 1, 1872, when the _Puget Sound Dispatch_ was +established by Larrabee & Co., Beriah Brown, editor, was any regular +publication of the press dispatches undertaken here. + +In June, 1867, a suspension took place, and August 5th next S. L. +Maxwell sent to press the first number of the _Weekly Intelligencer_. +The plant had come into the ownership of Messrs. Daniel and C. B. +Bagley, and Mr. Maxwell was permitted to use the same and pay for it +as he could out of the earnings of the paper. The type, rules, press, +and much of the advertising matter of the older paper, still standing +in the forms, was used in the makeup of the new paper, so that it may +properly be considered a lineal successor of the _Seattle Gazette_. +Mr. Maxwell proved to be a good newspaper and business man, and as the +town and surrounding country was having a vigorous growth, it did not +take him long to pay off the small debt and to add much needed +material to the office, which was moved across Yesler Way to a small +wooden building, and, later, up Yesler Way to near the southwest +corner of Second Avenue South. It gained influence as it grew, made +money for its owner almost from the start, and had the local field to +itself until the _Dispatch_ was started. + +In the latter part of 1878 some of the prominent local office-holders +and business men organized a company to start another paper, and +November 21, 1878, the _Seattle Weekly Post_ made its first +appearance, being made up from the _Daily Post_, which started on the +15th of the month. Its first quarters were in the two-story wooden +building owned by Hillory Butler that stood on the ground now occupied +by the southwest corner of the Hotel Butler. In passing it may be +added that this building was, from time to time, the home of more +early papers than any other in town--_Dispatch_, _North Pacific +Rural_, _Chronicle_, _Post_, _Times_, _Press_, and others with single +and hyphenated titles long since forgotten. + +In the meantime the _Intelligencer_ had been installed in a larger +two-story building then standing on the west side of First Avenue +where it deflects into First Avenue South, and remained there several +years. + +About 1879 Thomas W. Prosch and Samuel L. Crawford had acquired +ownership of it. Both had been printers from boyhood, and Mr. Prosch +had gained much experience as a newspaper man in Olympia and Tacoma, +and under their management it continued to grow in value and +influence. + +In 1881 the Post Publishing Company began the erection of a +substantial brick building, two stories and basement on the northeast +corner of Yesler Way and Post Street. As it was nearing completion +negotiations were opened for a consolidation of the _Post_ and +_Intelligencer_, and this was effected October 1, 1881, with Thomas W. +Prosch owner of one half and John Leary and George W. Harris each one +quarter. The basement and lower story of the new building were used by +the company and the upper story rented for offices. + +This building continued to be the home of the paper under several +managements, until the great fire of June 6, 1889, destroyed it and +most of its plant. + +Early in 1886 a joint stock company, consisting of Frederick J. Grant, +C. B. Bagley, Griffith Davies, Jacob Furth, John H. McGraw, E. S. +Ingraham, W. H. Hughes, Thomas Burke, and Dr. Thomas T. Miner, bought +the _Post-Intelligencer_ from T. W. Prosch. Grant continued +editor-in-chief, Bagley was business manager, S. L. Crawford city +editor and reporter, and E. S. Meany had charge of the carrier +service. + +Near the close of the same year L. S. J. Hunt purchased the +controlling interest in the paper and assumed management at once. He +had come to Seattle with large financial backing, determined to go +into the newspaper field, and the majority of the stockholders, +fearing he might establish another paper and make it a powerful rival, +sold him their interests. He proceeded to spend money most lavishly +upon it and soon built it up into a great paper. + +In May, 1871, a small printing outfit that had been in use at Sitka, +Alaska, was brought to Seattle, and for a few months the _Seattle +Times and Alaska Herald_ was printed from it. + +Later this material became the nucleus of the office of the _Puget +Sound Dispatch_, which was established by Beriah Brown and Charles H. +Larrabee. The latter was then a prominent attorney in Seattle. He was +among the killed at the time of an appalling tragedy at Tehachipe +Pass, on the line of the Southern Pacific, between Los Angeles and San +Francisco. He soon retired from the paper, leaving Beriah Brown in +sole control, which he retained with an occasional intermission until +about 1878, when it was merged with the _Intelligencer_. + +Mr. Brown was one of the old school newspapermen, who were writers of +editorials worthy of the greatest papers of the United States. He was +a friend of Horace Greeley, the elder Bennett and others of the noted +editors of a half century ago. He rarely wrote anything for his own +paper. His custom was to go to the case and put his articles in type +as he composed them. Few can realize the difficulties occasioned by +the dual processes of thought thus brought into play. Local news is +the life of all newspapers in young communities. This he could not +purvey, nor was his business management a success. + +Thaddeus Hanford, the eldest of the brothers of that name, in his +early boyhood showed ability as a writer and after he had passed +through college with honor he returned to Seattle and engaged in +newspaper work. For a year or more he was the owner of the +_Intelligencer_, but sold it about 1879 as is noted elsewhere. + +One of the most widely known as well as popular of the old-time +newspaper men was E. T. Gunn. He worked in the _Oregonian_ office as +early as 1851 and was one of its owners for a time. In 1855 he was +engaged in newspaper work at Steilacoom. November 30, 1867, he started +the _Olympia Transcript_ and its publication was continued regularly +until his death in 1883. The _Transcript_ was the neatest and +best-printed of all the early papers and for many years exerted much +influence in political affairs of the territory. A split in the +Republican party occurred in 1867 and was the cause of the +_Transcript_ being started, and for about six years while this schism +continued it championed the cause of the "bolting wing" of the party. +In 1872 an alliance between the bolters and the Democrats resulted in +the overwhelming triumph of the fusion party, Judge O. B. McFadden +being elected to Congress over Selucius Garfield, the Republican +candidate. All the newspapers in Olympia were in sympathy with the +fusionists, and this led to the organization of a company which +established the _Puget Sound Courier_. + +This company was under the leadership of Elisha P. Ferry, then +Surveyor-General, who became Territorial Governor in 1873, and the +first Governor of the State of Washington in 1889. + +The _Daily Courier_ made its first appearance January 2, 1872, and +the weekly later in the week. During that year H. G. Struve, then +practicing his profession in Olympia, did much editorial work, while +the late Fred Prosch had charge of the mechanical department. In +December C. B. Bagley became business manager and city editor, and in +June, 1873, he bought the office and newspaper. The daily was +discontinued at the close of 1874. Mr. Bagley was appointed +Territorial Printer in 1873, and held that position for ten years. He +continued the _Weekly Courier_ until late in 1884, when he sold out to +Thomas H. Cavanaugh, who changed the name of the paper to the +_Partisan_. + +During the period between 1873 and 1883 Olympia had four weekly +newspapers most of the time, while several small dailies appeared from +time to time, but never for more than a few months. Until the Seattle +papers began to take telegraphic dispatches the Olympia papers had +most of their circulation at Seattle and points further down Sound, +but this gradually ceased, and long before the admission of the state +their patronage had become almost wholly local in character. + +Steilacoom, until about 1880, when Tacoma began its second growth, was +a favorite field for newspaper ventures. Mr. Charles Prosch held the +field there nearly six years, much longer than anyone else, and while +some of his early contemporaries manifested more vigor and +belligerency in their editorial columns, none of them gave so much +local news or possessed one half the literary merit of the _Herald_. + +Francis H. Cook also moved from Olympia to Tacoma, with a newspaper +plant, on which he had for a time published the _Echo_. This paper was +started in 1868 by Randall H. Hewitt, and that year in its office the +writer began work as a printer. James E. Whitworth, now of Seattle, +Nathan S. Porter, of Olympia, and Ike M. Hall worked together in that +office. Hundreds of the older residents of Seattle remember Judge +Hall, who died here about ten years ago. Early in 1869 C. B. Bagley +became the owner and publisher of the _Echo_ for about a year. Like +most of its fellows, it underwent all manner of changes of ownership, +of form and place of publication during an erratic career of about +eight years. + +During the eight or ten years following the founding of Tacoma in +1873, many attempts were made to establish newspapers there, but most +of them were far from profitable to their backers. In fact, it has +been frequently reported that their more pretentious successors have +not been far from financial stress. + +The _Beacon_ was brought from Kalama by Mr. and Mrs. Mooney, which had +been the organ of the Northern Pacific Railroad. This soon died. In +1880 there started the _North Pacific Coast_, but its life was brief. + +R. F. Radebaugh, of San Francisco, and H. C. Patrick, of Sacramento, +came to Tacoma and started the _Weekly Ledger_ April 23, 1880. April +7, 1883, the _Daily Ledger_ was started, and both the weekly and daily +are still appearing regularly, having long passed the usual period +that has been fatal to so many papers on Puget Sound. + +Mr. Patrick left the _Ledger_ in 1882 and bought the _Pierce County +News_, which had been started August 10, 1881, by George W. Mattice. +Mr. Patrick changed the name to _Tacoma News_, and it appeared as a +weekly paper until September 15, 1883, when he started the _Daily +News_. It continues to occupy the evening field, while the _Ledger_ +retains the morning field. + +The limits of this article do not permit mention of many papers which +have appeared from time to time in every town and almost every +village. In the writer's collection there are not less than one +hundred publications, daily, weekly, or monthly, that have sprung +into life since 1852. Most of them are forgotten in the communities +where they appeared. Success has come to but here and there one. + +Kirk C. Ward was a fluent writer and a promoter of no small sagacity. +Having lost control of the _Post_, he soon induced some friends to +back him and started the _Chronicle_. It had a variegated career and +finally became the property of one of the leading law firms of the +city, McNaught, Ferry, McNaught & Mitchell. They employed a Bohemian +from Kansas, named Frank C. Montgomery, as editor, who conducted it +until May 1, 1886, when Homer M. Hill, who is now engaged in other +business in Seattle, bought it. + +The Hall brothers were conducting the _Call_ and the two papers were +consolidated, and on Monday, May 3, 1886, the paper came out with Vol. +1, No. 1 of the Seattle _Daily Press_. A weekly paper was also run in +connection with the daily. Mr. Hill ere long acquired the entire +ownership of the paper. He was a shrewd, capable business man of +untiring industry, and under his management the paper became a +valuable property. Interests in it had been sold and bought back from +time to time, and at the time Mr. Hill closed out his ownership Harry +White held some of its shares. At that time the paper was absolutely +free from debt and had a good bank account and was making money for +its owners. + +Mr. W. E. Bailey, a wealthy young man from Philadelphia, had large +interests here, and he became the victim to an ambition to conduct a +big newspaper. Under these circumstances Mr. Hill had no difficulty in +getting his price for the _Press_. Mr. L. S. J. Hunt of the +_Post-Intelligencer_ conducted the negotiations and made the purchase +and at once transferred the property to Mr. Bailey. He made important +additions to the mechanical department and engaged a large news and +editorial force, whose chief instructions were to make a clean, live +newspaper. + +At the time Mr. Hill bought the _Chronicle_ it owned the Associated +Press evening franchise, which was its most valuable asset. + +In passing, it is proper to note the fact that the present _Times_ is +the lineal successor of the _Chronicle_, and while for a brief period +there was a break in the legal succession, it may be truthfully said +that the historical succession to the Associated Press franchise is +derived from the _Chronicle_ down through the _Press_ and the +_Press-Times_ to _The Times_ of to-day. + +The consolidation of the _Chronicle_ and _Call_ threw a lot of +printers and newspaper men out of employment, including Thomas H. +Dempsey, the foreman of the _Chronicle_ office. The latter was a keen +business man and a competent printer. He and the late Col. George G. +Lyon and James P. Ferry at once organized a new company, and secured a +printing outfit that served their purpose temporarily. The same day, +May 3, 1886, that the _Press_ was issued, No. 1, Vol. 1 of the _Daily +Times_ also appeared. Seattle, then a little city of about 10,000 +population, was thus the proud possessor of three daily papers. + +The starting of these two papers just preceded the "boom" in Seattle +real estate, when the volume of advertising was vastly increased as +well as population of the city, and both papers made money rapidly. + +February 10, 1891, Mr. Bailey bought the _Times_ from Lyon and +Dempsey, paying for it $48,000. He had paid somewhere from $20,000 to +$25,000 for the _Press_. He consolidated the two under the name of the +_Press-Times_. + +The period of financial depression which followed a couple of years +later bore heavily upon Mr. Bailey and and he was finally compelled +to give up the paper to his creditors, having lost not less than +$200,000 during his journalistic career. + +The history of its subsequent vicissitudes and difficulties would fill +a volume, but can be touched upon but briefly here. The paper was on +the market for a long time. John Collins had it for a time and sunk a +lot of money in it, having acquired it through a mortgage of $15,000. +John W. Pratt, whose recent lamented death is fresh in the memories of +a host of friends, secured control of it for a time. At times it was +published by a receiver. Hughes and Davies came into possession of it +through ex-Sheriff James Woolery, who had taken it over under the +mortgage given to John Collins. + +During this troubled period among other happenings the name was +changed back to _The Times_, and also the Associated Press franchise +was surrendered and that of the United Service taken over. Later, and +subsequent to the mortgage of $15,000 given to John Collins, the +Associated Press franchise was again secured, and this was a vital +point in the legal contest that arose, The Times Printing Company, +headed by Col. A. J. Blethen on one side, and Hughes & Davies on the +other. + +Colonel Blethen bought _The Times_ August 7, 1897, and his first +editorial appeared in it three days later. He came well equipped for +newspaper work and management by reason of wide experience in other +fields, and month by month he and his sons, Joseph and Clarence B., +have made it better and better, and to-day is one of the most valuable +newspaper properties on the Pacific Coast and one of the great dailies +of the United States. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[41] The Ramage was so called because it was constructed by Adam +Ramage, who went to Philadelphia about 1790, and is believed to have +been the first press builder in America. For many years he constructed +all the presses used in this country. The posts and cross-pieces of +the larger sizes of his early presses were made of wood, and the bed, +platen, tracks, springs, screw, lever, etc., of iron. The largest +Ramage press I ever saw had a bed 22x32 inches, with platen 16x22 +inches. This was used in printing the _Oregonian_ for the first four +months of its life, December, 1850, to April, 1851, and required four +impressions to perfect a paper--an impression for each page. Sixty to +seventy perfect papers per hour was the limit of a pressman's +capacity. During the summer of 1853 a wooden extension was added to +the platen of the press by an Olympia (Wash.) mechanic, thus doubling +its capacity. The extra strain upon the muscles of the pressman as a +result of this enlargement caused the old machine to be dubbed a +"man-killer."--GEORGE H. HIMES. + + + + +IN MEMORIAM OF WILLARD H. REES. + + +It is a labor of love to say that when the writer first met W. H. Rees +in 1844, the latter was, for a man in his twenty-fifth year, in +advance of his general surroundings. His intelligence and manner of +telling what he knew on any subject drew men near his own age to him +strongly. There were, I found on riper acquaintance, family reasons +for part of this. His father (then a citizen of Hamilton County, +Ohio), had been a member of the legislature of his native state of +Delaware, and his mother had a place in the _literati_ of her day. The +father was of Welsh stock, and judging by the son, an active, ardent +member of the Whig party at the time. Willard and I were thrown +together in the tide of emigration setting out from Saint Louis +towards the rendezvous of proposed emigrants to Oregon. The boat we +were on landed at Weston, and from thence we hired a team belonging to +other emigrants to haul our effects, and we walked to Saint Joseph. +From thence Rees and I footed it ten miles higher up the Missouri to +the camp of the emigrants under Gilliam's leadership. Learning there +that a man living but three miles off needed two assistants to get his +family and effects to Oregon, we were at his residence next morning as +he rose from breakfast, and within five minutes were engaged to come +to Oregon with him as his assistants. Within twenty-five minutes, +mounted on a good horse, with gold coin to purchase breadstuffs for +ten persons for three months' journey, Rees was on his way back to +Saint Joe. He and I then began a year of such intimate relations to +each other as leads me to say Capt. R. W. Morrison, our employer, made +no mistake in trusting Mr. Rees with the most important acts in +conducting his preparations for the journey to Oregon. When we +effected a military organization for the trip, no mistake was made in +the election of Rees as first sergeant, with the duties of adjutant. +And when, after arrival in Oregon, fifteen of us near the same age +were employed logging and running Hunt's saw mill, on the Lower +Columbia, Rees was easily our leader. Leaving that in June, 1845, and +coming to Oregon City to vote, he still, without effort on his part, +was by common consent in the first place. There were at Oregon City +two young men I might claim as his peers at that date--Charles E. +Pickett and J. W. Nesmith. It was the former and Rees, I believe, who +led to the formation of the first literary association. Mr. Pickett +was at that time reader from the public news box. The contents were +volunteer contributions, each writer choosing his subject, and of +course extending from harmless fun to the most serious questions. This +suggested the formation of the literary society, naturally. + +J. W. Nesmith stood among the young men of 1843 immigration to Oregon +as W. H. Rees stood among those of 1844. Both observers and helpers in +the history being made, the former watching and participating +personally in almost every forward movement, the latter wielding +perhaps a greater personal influence, but manifesting no ambition for +personal advancement. Mr. Rees worked as a carpenter at Oregon City +from June, 1845, to June, 1846 (the exact dates are not remembered), +but between these dates had purchased a claim in the northern portion +of Champoeg, [Marion] County. At the finishing of Doctor McLoughlin's +flouring mill he with other American mechanics celebrated the occasion +with a ball, which was attended by most of the leading people of +parties having interest in the Oregon Boundary Question. Lieut. Wm. +Peel was there using his tongue, eyes and ears, we may suppose, to +give reliable information in regard to Americans in Oregon to his +father, then premier of the British Government. Lieutenant Peel was of +the British navy, but not of the _Modeste_ whose officers generally +were in company with him when mingling with Americans as on this +occasion. There was no dancing going on. It was a time of social +relaxation. Doctor Newell, a Rocky Mountain doctor, and a man of +sterling good sense, had been giving his opinion of some of Peel's +social behavior as not such as was beyond criticism among Americans. +Peel replied, "Well, Doctor, Americans believe in the rule of +majorities, and I think the British are in a majority here." Mr. +Newell thought not. A Britisher will settle any question by a bet, and +Mr. Peel offered the bet of a bottle of wine that a majority of those +then present were for the British side of the Oregon Boundary +Question. Doctor Newell took the bet. A count was made and Mr. Newell +won. Peel on this, looking at a man across the mill floor, offered +another bottle on that particular man fighting for the British side in +the contingency of war over Oregon. William Penland, an Englishman, +put the question: "Sir, which flag would you support in the event of +war over Oregon?" Rees replied, "I fight under the Stars and Stripes, +sir." Mr. Rees, no matter what his garb, was always comparatively +neat, and might well be taken for a middle class Welshman. + +Newell and he already neighbors, from this time forward had a potent +influence among the French-Canadian farmers. Both were admirers of +Doctor McLoughlin, and Rees' influence was greatly enhanced by his +taking the finishing of the Catholic Church at Saint Louis, and by +writing brief tributes to their lives as they passed to the other +side. From his genial social nature it was easy for Mr. Rees to give +these retired engagees of the Hudson Bay Company information as to +what these newly formed relations to the United States Government +required of them, in which he was aided by neighbors and +friends--Doctor Newell and F. X. Mathieu. It was his pleasure and +pastime to learn of the later life, death and burial in the French +settlement of two of the gallant band, Philip Degrett and Francis +Rivet, [The authoritative lists of the Lewis and Clark Company does +not contain these two names.--ED.] who followed the lead of Lewis and +Clark from the sources of the Columbia to the ocean in 1805, and to +give to the historian a transcript of the first Catholic parish +registry, including the names and ages of Gervais, Lucier, Cannon, +Labonte, and Dubruil, who came with Hunt in 1811. + +In 1847 Mr. Rees was elected as a colleague of his friend Dr. Newell. +Wm. H. Rector, A. Chamberlain and Anderson Cox being the other members +representing Champoeg County in the lower house of the Oregon +legislature. From the foregoing causes and his steady patriotism Mr. +Rees became a potent influence in sending young men from the French +settlement to the fighting field in the Cayuse country on the Whitman +massacre, himself going as regimental commissary agent. + +As the troops were retiring from the Cayuse country, gold was +discovered in California and many of the soldiers were amongst the +first to go to the mines, Willard H. Rees of the number. A larger +proportion of the French half-breeds never returned than of the +Americans, and from 1849 the Canadian settlement began to +disintegrate. As the pioneer settlement died, Rees's ready pen gave +them kindly notice. In the period between 1850 and 1860 he was +watchful and active, but never for himself; being of Whig antecedents +it was natural for him to help in the formation of the Union party, +and that he did; also, being a leader in the formation of the Pioneer +Association, the pages of its annual publications will furnish the +future historical gleaner many valuable points there inserted by the +pen of Willard H. Rees. + +The death of his body at 83 years is not reasonable cause of mourning; +his nearest friends have had cause for sadness in the slow and gradual +mental decay which was perceptible to them for many years before the +final end. A change, slight and unperceived by ordinary observers, +was noted by his intimate friends as far back as 1879, when a few +lines in the annual address to the pioneers prepared by him but which +he was unable to attend and deliver, and were well read by F. M. +Bewley, seemed unlike the Rees of 1859. Yet in that address he +characteristically goes to the very beginning of social free and easy +interchange of personal views on the life of the times of 1845-6. This +early social life expressed itself through an organization called the +Pioneer Lyceum and Literary Club, and he thus speaks of it: "The +following are the names Charlie Pickett had on the membership roll. +They were at times widely scattered and are designated upon the roll +as regular and visiting members: + +"John H. Couch, F. W. Pettygrove, J. M. Woir, A. L. Lovejoy, J. +Applegate, S. W. Moss, Robert Newell, J. W. Nesmith, Ed Otie, H. A. G. +Lee, F. Prigg, C. E. Pickett, Wm. C. Dement, Medorum Crawford, Hiram +Strait, J. Wambaugh, Wm. Cushing, Philip Foster, Ransom Clark, H. H. +Hide (Hyde?), John G. Campbell, Top McGruder, W. H. Rees, Mark Ford, +Henry Saffren, Noyes Smith, Daniel Waldo, P. G. Stewart, Isaac W. +Smith, Joseph Watt, Frank Ematinger, A. E. Wilson, Jacob Hoover, S. M. +Holderness, John Minto, Barton Lee, General Husted, and John P. +Brooks. + +"Perhaps a more congenial, easy-going, self-satisfying club has never +since congregated in the old capital city and under changed condition +of affairs, especially in fashions so strikingly different from the +unique and richly colored costumes of that day, never will the good +people of our spray-bedewed old city rest upon the like again." The +names are given as history, the last quotation as a sample of Mr. +Rees's quiet humor. + +Now an end of life by natural law is not a proper subject of mourning. +Willard H. Rees did not so regard it, when his generous kindness led +him to collect the most praiseworthy incidents of very earliest and +most unlettered of the pioneers from those coming with Lewis and Clark +and Astor's enterprise to those better informed who came after he +himself was here. The contributions of Willard H. Rees, J. W. Nesmith, +and M. P. Deady to the Oregon Pioneer Association publication would +alone constitute no mean volume of the history of Oregon, beginning +with retired Canadian hunters and trappers who by cultivating the soil +of Oregon and creating a magazine of supplies to the American +homebuilders unawares were cultivating the seeds of civilization aided +and foreseen by the Applegates, Burnetts, Waldos, Nesmiths, Rees, and +others who managed a bloodless victory over the pro-British occupation +of Oregon. + + + + +SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH HOLMAN. + + +Joseph Holman was born at Little Torrington, Devonshire, England, +August 20, 1815. His parents were John and Elizabeth Holman. His +father was a mechanic, and manufacturer of agricultural implements, +and died when Joseph was quite young, leaving two older sons. The +eldest son carried on his father's business, the younger brothers +living with him to learn the trade. + +When Joseph was sixteen years of age, the second brother emigrated to +Canada and sent such good reports of large wages for mechanics that +when Joseph was eighteen his elder brother allowed him to follow, +though bound to him until twenty-one. In 1833 Joseph took passage on +the ship "Eliza" for Canada and landed at Prince Edward's Island where +the ship was seized for debt, which detained the passengers some +weeks, the creditors furnishing codfish and potatoes only, for food. +The ship finally sailed for Quebec and to London, in Canada, where +Joseph found his brother, and worked in that place for several years, +but disliked the rough ways of that early time. He went alone to New +Lisbon, Ohio, where he worked at wagon making for a year. Hearing much +of the so-called West at that time, he went to Peoria, Illinois, found +work and lived two years there. During that time, Jason Lee, on his +way from Oregon to the East, stopped at Peoria and lectured on Oregon. +In the spring of 1839 eighteen persons agreed to go to Oregon and +settle there. Joseph Holman had ideas of a large city at the mouth of +the Columbia River, and he wanted to be one to help take the claim. +The party started west with horses and wagons. At Independence, +Missouri, they sold the wagons and bought mules to carry packs. Mr. +Farnham was chosen captain. They traveled to Bent's Fort on the +Arkansas River without mishap, and to Bent's Fort on the Platte River +[generally called St. Vrain's] became demoralized. Some went back, Mr. +Farnham went to Santa Fé, others went through the next year, but +Joseph Holman, with Cook, Fletcher and Kilbourn, determined to go to +Oregon. While away from the fort to get dry buffalo meat for food the +Indians stole their horses. They worked at the fort until they earned +more horses, and late in the fall the four started alone and reached +Green River, in the Rocky Mountains, and camped in a sheltered place +called "Brown's Hole," also Joe Meek, Doctor Newell, Cary and others. +Joseph Holman's mechanical knowledge helped him here, for he stocked +guns, made saddles for Indians, and received an extra horse and beaver +skins (as good as money) in return. Doctor Newell decided to start +early in the spring, with the beaver skins to Fort Hall, in Idaho, to +avoid Indian war parties who would be out later on. They were caught +in the snow and nearly perished. Where Doctor Newell expected to see +buffalo they did not see one. They were four days without any food, +until they met a Digger Indian woman who sold them her two dogs. After +that they now and then killed an antelope until they reached Fort Hall +where they remained three weeks to recuperate themselves and horses. +Doctor Newell remained here. The four young men left with a Hudson Bay +agent for Fort Boise, but went alone from there to Walla Walla, +arriving there May 1, 1840; from there down the Columbia River to Fort +Vancouver, was the hardest part of the trip, especially from The +Dalles to Fort Vancouver, on the north side of the Columbia. The water +was high at that season of the year, had covered the Indian trail on +the bank of the river, and they were obliged to lead their ponies over +the bluffs to Fort Vancouver, a fact Doctor McLaughlin could hardly +believe when they arrived, at 11 o'clock June 1, 1840. In the +afternoon of the same day a ship arrived at Fort Vancouver from New +York, with forty Methodist missionaries to teach and convert the +Indians. A Miss Almira Phelps, from Springfield, Massachusetts, was +one, to whom Joseph was married in less than a year. He was twenty-six +years of age, and even then showed a progressive spirit. The four, Mr. +Cooke, Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Kilbourn, and Joseph Holman, rode around +looking for places to settle. They took up land and built a cabin. The +Methodist mission employed them for a time and paid them in stock. + +Joseph Holman cut the first stick of timber on the present town site +of Salem, and just back of the asylum for the insane he took up his +claim of land, which was a mile square. He rode a horse to the east, +to the north, to the west, to the south, and staked it. Years +afterward surveyors said he surveyed it correctly on his horse, a mile +square. Mrs. John H. Albert, now living, was born on this land, Joseph +Holman's eldest daughter. His only son, George Phelps Holman, was the +first white child born in Salem, or the county. + +Joseph Holman's heart and soul were for Oregon, for its building up, +its prosperity. His loyalty was unbounded. He was honest, +affectionate, and true. + + * * * * * + +This short statement was dictated by Mr Joseph Holman to his wife +during his last illness in 1880. He was on a lounge, and told these +facts, and she penciled them down and copied them June 27, 1902, in +the present form. + + + + +DOCUMENTS. + + +Letter of fur traders Jedediah S. Smith, David E. Jackson, and Wm. L. +Sublette--1830. + +Gives an account of the taking of the first wagons to the Rocky +Mountains and of the Hudson's Bay Company post, Fort Vancouver, and +its operations in the Oregon Country. An argument for the termination +of the convention of 1818. + + The letter of Smith, Jackson, and Sublette forms part of + Senate Executive Documents 39, 21st Congress, 2d session, + pp. 21-23. The whole document is taken up with a + consideration of "the state of the British establishments in + the valley of the Columbia, and the state of the fur trade, + as carried on by the citizens of the United States and the + Hudson's Bay Company," as shown in the communications of + Gen. W. H. Ashley, Joshua Pilcher, J. D. Smith, David E. + Jackson, and W. L. Sublette, and William Clark and Lewis + Cass. + + ST. LOUIS, October 29, 1830. + + SIR: The business commenced by General Ashley some years + ago, of taking furs from the United States territory beyond + the Rocky Mountains has since been continued by Jedediah S. + Smith, David E. Jackson, and William L. Sublette, under the + firm of Smith, Jackson, and Sublette. They commenced + business in 1826, and have since continued it, and have made + observations and gained information which they think it + important to communicate to the government. The number of + men they have employed has usually been from eighty to one + hundred and eighty; and with these, divided into parties, + they have traversed every part of the country west of the + Rocky Mountains, from the peninsula of California to the + mouth of the Columbia River. Pack horses, or rather mules, + were at first used, but in the beginning of the present + year, it was determined to try wagons, and in the month of + April last, on the 10th day of the month, a caravan of ten + wagons, drawn by five mules each, and two dearborns, drawn + by one mule each, set out from St. Louis. We have eighty-one + men in company, all mounted on mules, and these were + exclusive of a party left in the mountains. Our route from + St. Louis was nearly due west to the western limits of the + state and thence along the Santa Fé trail about forty miles, + from which the course was some degrees north of west, across + the waters of the Kanzas, and up the Great Platte River, to + the Rocky Mountains, and to the head of Wind River, where it + issues from the mountains. This took us until the 16th of + July, and was as far as we wished the wagons to go, as the + furs to be brought in were to be collected at this place, + which is, or was this year, the great rendezvous of the + persons engaged in that business. Here the wagons could + easily have crossed the Rocky Mountains, it being what is + called the Southern [South] Pass, had it been desirable for + them to do so, which it was not for the reason stated. For + our support, at leaving the Missouri settlements, until we + should get into the buffalo country, we drove twelve head of + cattle, beside a milk cow. Eight of these only being + required for use before we got to the buffaloes, the others + went on to the head of Wind River. We began to fall in with + the buffaloes on the Platte, about three hundred and fifty + miles from the white settlements, and from that time lived + on buffaloes, the quantity being infinitely beyond what we + needed. On the fourth of August, the wagons being in the + meantime loaded with furs which had been previously taken, + we set out on the return to St. Louis. All the high points + of the mountains then in view were white with snow, but the + passes and valleys, and all the level country, were green + with grass. Our route back was over the same ground nearly + as in going out, and we arrived at St. Louis on the 10th of + October, bringing back the ten wagons, the dearborns being + left behind; four of the oxen and the milk cow were also + brought back to the settlements in Missouri, as we did not + need them for provision. Our men were all healthy during the + whole time, we suffered nothing by the Indians, and had no + accident but the death of one man, being buried under a bank + of earth that fell in upon him, and another being crippled + at the same time. Of the mules, we lost but one by fatigue, + and two horses stolen by the Kanzas Indians; the grass + being, along the whole route going and coming, sufficient + for the support of the horses and mules. The usual weight in + the wagons was about one thousand eight hundred pounds. The + usual progress of the wagons was from fifteen to twenty-five + miles per day. The country being almost all open, level, and + prairie, the chief obstructions were ravines and creeks, the + banks of which required cutting down, and for this purpose a + few pioneers were generally kept ahead of the caravan. This + is the first time that wagons ever went to the Rocky + Mountains, and the ease and safety with which it was done + prove the facility of communicating overland with the + Pacific Ocean. The route from the Southern Pass, where the + wagons stopped, to the Great Falls of the Columbia, being + easier and better than on this side of the mountains, with + grass enough for horses and mules, but a scarcity of game + for the support of men. One of the undersigned, to wit, + Jedediah S. Smith, in his excursion west of the mountains, + arrived at the post of the Hudson's Bay Company, called Fort + Vancouver, near the mouth of Multnomah River. He arrived + there in August, 1828, and left the 12th of March, 1829, and + made observations which he deems it material to communicate + to the government. Fort Vancouver is situated on the north + side of the Columbia, five miles above the mouth of the + Multnomah, in a handsome prairie, and on a second bank about + three quarters of a mile from the river. This is the fort as + it stood when he arrived there; but a large one, three + hundred feet square about three quarters of a mile lower + down, and within two hundred yards of the river, was + commenced the spring he came away. Twelve pounders were the + heaviest cannon which he saw. The crop of 1828 was seven + hundred bushels of wheat, the grain full and plump, and + making good flour, fourteen acres of corn, the same number + of acres in peas, eight acres of oats, four or five acres of + barley, a fine garden, some small apple trees, and grape + vines. The ensuing spring eighty bushels of seed wheat were + sown. About two hundred head of cattle, fifty horses and + breeding mares, three hundred head of hogs, fourteen goats, + the usual domestic fowls. They have mechanics of various + kinds, to wit, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, carpenters, coopers, + tinner, and baker. A good saw mill on the bank of the river + five miles above, a grist mill worked by hand, but intended + to work by water. They had built two coasting vessels, one + of which was then on a voyage to the Sandwich Islands. No + English or white woman was at the fort, but a great number + of mixed blood Indian extraction, such as belong to the + British fur trading establishments, who were treated as + wives, and the families of children taken care of + accordingly. So that everything seemed to combine to prove + that this fort was to be a permanent establishment. At Fort + Vancouver the goods for the Indian trade are imported from + London, and enter the territories of the United States + paying no duties, and from the same point the furs taken on + the other side of the mountains are shipped. The annual + quantity of these furs could not be exactly ascertained, but + Mr. Smith was informed indirectly that they amounted to + about thirty thousand beaver skins, besides otter skins and + small furs. The beaver skins alone, at New York prices, + would be worth above two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. + To obtain these furs, both trapping and trading are resorted + to. Various parties, provided with traps, spread over the + country south of the Columbia to the neighborhood of the + Mexican territory, and in 1824 and 1825 they crossed the + Rocky Mountains and trapped on the waters of the Missouri + River. They do not trap north of latitude 49 degrees, but + confine that business to the territory of the United States. + Thus this territory, being trapped by both parties, is + nearly exhausted of beavers, and unless the British can be + stopped, will soon be entirely exhausted, and no place left + within the United States where beaver fur in any quantity + can be obtained. + + The inequality of the convention with Great Britain in 1818 + is most glaring and apparent, and its continuance is a great + and manifest injury to the United States. The privileges + granted by it have enabled the British to take possession of + the Columbia River, and spread over the country south of + it; while no Americans have ever gone, or can venture to go + on the British side. The interest of the United States and + her citizens engaged in the fur trade requires that the + convention of 1818 should be terminated, and each nation + confined to its own territories. By this commercial interest + there are other considerations requiring the same result. + These are, the influence which the British have already + acquired over the Indians in that quarter, and the prospect + of a British colony, and a military and naval station on the + Columbia. Their influence over the Indians is now decisive. + Of this the Americans have constant and striking proofs, in + the preference which they give to the British in every + particular. + + In saying this, it is an act of justice to say, also, that + the treatment received by Mr. Smith at Fort Vancouver was + kind and hospitable; that, personally, he owes thanks to + Governor Simpson and the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay + Company, for the hospitable entertainment which he received + from them, and for the efficient and successful aid which + they gave him in recovering from the Umquah Indians a + quantity of fur and many horses, of which these Indians had + robbed him in 1828. + + As to the injury which must happen to the United States from + the British getting the control of all the Indians beyond + the mountains, building and repairing ships in the tide + water region of the Columbia, and having a station there for + their privateers and vessels of war, is too obvious to need + a recapitulation. The object of this communication being to + state _facts_ to the Government, and to show the facility of + crossing the continent to the Great Falls of the Columbia + with wagons, the ease of supporting any number of men by + driving cattle to supply them where there was no buffalo, + and also to show the true nature of the British + establishments on the Columbia, and the unequal operation of + the convention of 1818. + + These _facts_ being communicated to the Government, they + consider that they have complied with their duty, and + rendered an acceptable service to the administration; and + respectfully request you, sir, to lay it before President + Jackson. + + We have the honor to be sir, yours, respectfully, + + JEDEDIAH S. SMITH, + DAVID E. JACKSON, + W. L. SUBLETTE. + + To the Hon. John H. Eaton, _Secretary of War_. + +Excerpts from St. Louis papers, 1832-1848, on the migration to and +settlement of Oregon. + + The _Missouri Republican_, July 5, 1831. + + The American Society for encouraging the settlement of + Oregon Territory, propose to enlist 1000 men for the + purpose, to rendezvous in this city January next. Each man + will receive gratuitously a lot of land. There is said to be + "an immense water power up the Wallamott or Mulnomah." + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, November 8, 1831. + + An unlucky little paragraph of ours in relation to the + prosperous colony at the mouth of the Columbia River has + been the source of much trouble to us. We have been + frequently addressed both by letter and in person for + information upon the subject, without having the means of + replying satisfactorily to querists. * * * We cannot now + state whether the plan has been abandoned, but time has + passed by when the adventurers were to have assembled here. + The project originated in Boston, where, we believe, the + principal officers of the society reside. + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, April 24, 1832. + + OREGON COLONY. + + Thirty-six persons attached to this colony arrived in this + city Friday last. They have since proceeded on their way. + + * * * * * + + _St. Louis New Era_, February 14, 1843. + + OREGON, THE NEW ELDORADO. + + We derive from a long letter in the _National Intelligencer_ + the following sketch of the Territory beyond the Rocky Mts., + which is now the theme of debate in the U. S. Senate. + + * * * * * + + _Newark Advertiser._ + + "Within a few years several Americans, of whom the writer is + one, have crossed the Rocky Mts., to the mouth of the + Columbia, with objects entirely unconnected with trade or + commerce. Mine was a desire to see a new country, a love of + adventure for its own sake, and an enthusiastic fondness for + natural history. The party with which I traveled left + Independence, Mo., about the latter part of April, 1834, and + arrived at the British Fort, Vancouver, in September, having + performed the whole journey on horseback. From this time + until October, 1836, with the exception of the first winter + which I passed at the Sandwich Islands, my residence was in + the Territory of Oregon. Dr. McLoughlin, chief factor, + treated me with uniform and singular kindness, supplying all + my wants and furnishing me with every facility in the + prosecution of my plans. This is, I believe, the uniform + character of the Superintendents of British forts in that + country. Travelers, naturalists, and all who are not traders + are kindly and hospitably treated, but the moment a visitor + is known to trade a beaver skin from an Indian, that moment + he is ejected from the community. The company has a sum of + money amounting to several thousand pounds sterling, laid + aside at Vancouver for the sole purpose of opposing all who + may come to interfere with its monopoly, by purchasing at + exhorbitant prices all the furs in possession of the + Indians, and thus forcing the settler to come to terms or + driving him from the country. If it be an individual who is + thus starved into submission he then usually clears a piece + of land on the Willamette River, takes an Indian wife, and + purchases furs of the natives, which, by previous contract, + he is bound to sell to the company at an advance which is + fixed by the governor. + + Ft. Vancouver, the principal trading post of the Oregon, + stands on the north bank of the river, about 90 miles from + the mouth. The fort consists of several dwellings, + storehouses, workshops, etc., all of frame arranged together + in quadrilateral form, and surrounded by a stockade of pine + logs about 20 ft. high. The Ft. has no bastions, and + contains no armament. There are, to be sure, 4 great guns + frowning in front of the governor's mansion, 2 long 18s and + 2 9-pounders, but two of them have long been spiked and the + others are unfit for service. + + The rainy season begins here about the middle of October and + continues until the first of April. During this period the + weather is almost uniformly dull, foggy, or rainy. Sometimes + rain falls incessantly for the space of 2 or 3 weeks. + Occasionally, during the winter months, there will be a + light fall of snow, and in the winter of 1835-6 the river + was frozen over. The intensity of cold, however, continued + but a few days and was said to be very unusual. The general + range of the thermometer, (Fahr.) during that season was + from 36-48 degrees, but for 3 or 4 days was as low as 25 + degrees. + + In the vicinity of Ft. Vancouver, the cattle graze during + the whole winter; no stabling or stall feeding is ever + requisite, as the extensive plains produce the finest and + most abundant crops of excellent prairie grass. In choosing + a site for settlement on the main river, it is always + necessary to bear in mind the periodical inundations. Ft. + Vancouver itself, though built on a high piece of land at a + distance of 600 yards from the common rise of the tides, is + sometimes almost reached by the freshets of early spring. + The soil here, on both sides of the river is a rich black + loam, the base being basaltic rock. + + The face of the country from Ft. George, (Astoria,) to + Vancouver, a distance of 80 miles, is very much of a uniform + character, consisting of alluvial meadows, along the + river-side, alternating with forests of oak, pine, etc., + while behind are extensive plains, some of which receive + estuaries of the river, while others are watered by lakes or + ponds. The pine forests are very extensive, the trees being + of great size, and the timber extraordinarily beautiful. All + the timber of the genus pinus is gigantic. I measured with + Dr. Gairdner, surgeon of the fort, a pine of the species + _Douglass_, which had been prostrated by the wind. Its + height was above 200 ft., and its circumference 45 feet. + Large as was this specimen, its dimensions are much exceeded + by one measured by the late David Douglas. The height of + this tree was nearly 300 ft., and the circumference 56 ft. + Cones of this pine, according to Mr. D., were 12 to 15 + inches long, resembling in size and form sugar loaves. Oak + timber of various kinds is abundant along the river, as well + as button wood, balsam, poplar, ash, sweet gum, beech, and + many other useful kinds, but no hickory or walnut. The + governor of Ft. Vancouver, who is an active agriculturist, + has exerted himself for several years in raising whatever + appears adapted to the soil. Wheat, rye, barley, pease, and + culinary vegetables of all kinds are raised in ample + quantity. Fruits of various kinds, apples, peaches, plums, + etc., do remarkably well. I remember being particularly + struck, upon my arrival at Vancouver in the autumn, with the + display of apples in the garden of the fort. Trees were + crowded with fruit, so that every limb had to be sustained + with a prop. Apples were literally packed along the + branches, and so closely that I could compare them to + nothing more aptly than ropes of onions. In the vicinity of + Walla Walla or the Ney [z] Perce's Fort, the country in + every condition for many miles exhibits an arid and + cheerless prospect. The soil is deep sand, and the plain + upon which the fort stands produces nothing but bushes of + aromatic wormwood. Along the borders of the small streams, + however, the soil is exceedingly rich and productive, and on + these strips of land the superintendent raises his corn and + the vegetables necessary for the consumption of his people. + The prong-horned antelope occasionally ranged these plains; + black-tailed or mule deer is found in the vicinity; grouse + of several species are very abundant, and large prairie hare + is common. In autumn and winter, in the vicinity of Ft. + Vancouver, ducks, geese, and swans swarm in immense numbers. + These are killed by the Indians and taken to the Ft. as + articles of trade. For a single duck, one load of powder and + shot is given; for a goose, 2; and for a swan, 4 loads. For + deer 10 loads of ammunition, or a bottle of rum is the usual + price. Early in May salmon are first seen entering the + river, and the Columbia and all its tributaries teem with + these delicious fish. The Indians take great numbers by + various modes, subsisting almost wholly on them during their + stay, and drying and packing them away in thatched huts to + be used for their winter store. Salmon also forms a chief + article of food for the inmates of the fort, and hundreds of + casks are salted down every season. + + About 20 miles above this, in the Wallamet Valley, is the + spot chosen by the Methodist missionaries for their + settlement, and here also, a considerable number of retired + servants of the company had established themselves. The soil + of this delightful valley is rich beyond comparison, and the + climate considerably milder than that of Vancouver. Rain + rarely falls, even in the winter season, but dews are + sufficiently heavy to compensate for its absence. The + epidemic of the country, ague, is rarely known here. In + short, the Wallamet Valley is a terrestrial paradise, to + which I have known some to exhibit so strong an attachment + as to declare that notwithstanding the few privations which + must necessarily be experienced by settlers of a new + country, no consideration would ever induce them to return + to their former homes." + + J. K. T. [TOWNSEND]. + + Washington, Jan. 26, 1843. + + * * * * * + + _St. Louis New Era_, Tuesday, February 28, 1843. + + OREGON. + + The following is an extract from a letter dated Honolulu, + Oct. 30, 1842. "The town is now full of strangers, the + Chenamus having brought some 19 passengers from the Oregon, + who are returning home, disgusted with the people and the + country. Then again, the Victoria brings a few families here + on their way to the river to settle. They must be encouraged + by meeting so many here, returning." + + * * * * * + + _New Era_, Thursday, March 9, 1843. + + (Contains notice of "Travels in the Great Prairie + Wilderness, the Anahuac and Rocky Mts., and in Oregon + Territory," by T. J. Farnham; said to contain full account + of a journey overland and the Methodist missions in the + Territory. Notice copied into "_Era_" from _N. Y. Tribune_, + from which office it is issued.) + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, July 22, 1843. + + We learn from Maj. Albert Wilson who has just returned from + the Mountains, that he met the Oregon emigrants on the big + Arkansas [Platte], one month after they had left the + settlements, and that they were cheerfully wending their way + onwards. There were 1150 emigrants, 175 wagons, and a great + number of cattle, horses, mules, etc., etc. Lord Stewart and + his party of pleasure, consisting of 100 persons, were three + days in advance of the Oregon emigrants. + + Copied into _Rep._ from "_Liberty Banner_." + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, August 7, 1843. + + A letter received from the emigrants, at Iowa City, some + days since: + + OREGON EMIGRATING CO. + + June 10, 1843. + + The return of a company of mountain traders to the + settlements presents an opportunity for writing which I feel + much inclined to embrace. We are now between 2 and 300 miles + west of Independence, on the Blue river, a tributary of the + Kansas, in good health and spirits. I regret to say that a + division has taken place in the company, in consequence of + the number of cattle driven by some, those having no cattle + refusing to stand guard over stock belonging to others. The + result of all this was that Capt. Burnett resigned command + of the company, and the commander, in accordance with our + regulations, ordered a new election, and so altered the + by-laws that the commander should be called colonel, and + also authorized the election of 4 captains, and 4 orderly + sergeants. The cattle party selected myself as their + candidate, those opposed selected Mr. Wm. Martin, an + experienced mountaineer. There being a majority in + opposition to the cattle party, Mr. Martin was elected, and + a division of the company ensued. About 50 wagons, with + those who had large droves of loose cattle, now left, with a + general request that all in favor of traveling with them + should fall back. I was particularly solicited to leave + Martin's party, but as it would travel much the fastest, and + Col. Martin was a very clever fellow, I declined. The new + company, it is expected, will be commanded by Capt. + Applegate. Our roads, since leaving the settlements have + been very fine, except within the last few days, during + which period they have been almost impassable in consequence + of the tremendous rains, but they are again improving. We + have had no trouble with the Indians, with the exception of + horse and cattle stealing, and this business they have + carried on pretty lively. I had a very fine mule and an ox + stolen from me on the Kansas river, and we lost in all some + 8 or 10 head of horses and mules. I believe there is not a + case of sickness in camp, though old Mr. Stout, from Iowa, + has a violent swelling in his eyes. Tell the boys from Iowa + to come on with all the cattle and sheep they can get, and a + company large enough to drive them. + + Truly yours, etc., + + M. M. M. [MCCARVER]. + + P. S.--My friend, Mr. Henry Lee, from Iowa, has just been + elected Capt. of one of the divisions. While writing, news + has been brought in of the discovery of a dead Indian about + one mile from this place, and freshly scalped, and nearly + all the company have gone to see him. He was shot with + arrows and is supposed to be a Pawnee, killed by a party of + the Kansas Indians whom we met the other day, consisting of + 200, with fresh scalps and fingers, which they said had been + taken the day before. + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, Friday, September 6, 1843. + + We have been favored with the perusal of a private letter + from Bent's Fort, dated July 26. The writer is one of Mr. + Fitzpatrick's party, and says that thus far their trip has + been a severe one. The party has been delayed since the 14th + inst., waiting for the arrival of Mr. Fremont, who left them + on the 17th of June with 18 men. After progressing ahead + some distance, he despatched an express back, requesting the + rear party with Fitzpatrick not to move until he joined + them, alleging as a reason that there were hostile Mexicans + on their route. On the morning of the date of the letter, + the writer says, they were dividing into two parties again, + with the intention of meeting at Ft. Hall, Oregon, in about + 4 days [weeks]. Fitzpatrick's party intended crossing the + Platte that morning, and would take up its line of march + over the mountains. He speaks of a slight difficulty with + the Indians, but furnishes no particulars. + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, Friday, September 29, 1843. + + We have received from Mr. Edward Hutwa a very handsome, and, + as far as we have any means of judging, a correct lithograph + map of the Oregon Territory, as claimed by the U. S., with a + portion of the adjacent territory. The principal rivers, + mountains, routes, trading depots, and the trading depots + and forts of the Hudson's Bay Co., are laid down with + accuracy. To those migrating to the Columbia, or to those + wishing to study the topography of the country, this map + will be of importance. + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, Wednesday, December 13, 1843. + + A postscript to a letter from a gentleman in the Indian + country, dated October 19, received by a gentleman of this + city, says: "Ft. Hall, on the Oregon has been delivered up + to Lt. Fremont, and it is believed that Ft. Vancouver soon + will be." How far the report is reliable, we have no means + of knowing, except that he and his party are in Oregon by + the authority and direction of the United States Government. + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, Thursday, December 14, 1843. + + We yesterday noticed a postscript of a letter from the + Oregon country. We have since seen letters from Lt. Fremont + and other men of his party, written at Ft. Hall, and bearing + date of 20th September, which do not confirm the report + alluded to. The silence of these letters as to the + surrender of Ft. Hall is full assurance to us that the + report is not correct. The letter before us, the statements + of which are corroborated by Lt. Fremont, himself, says:-- + + "I arrived at this place (Ft. Hall) on the 13th inst., with + my part of the caravan all safe and in tolerable order. * * * + (Unimportant part skipped). Lt. Fremont, whom I parted + with on the South fork of the Platte, and expected to meet + at this place, joined us yesterday after making a survey of + the Salt Lake, which he has done much to his satisfaction. + The exploration and new routes which we have taken have made + our trip tedious and very laborious, but, I hope it will be + satisfactory to the Department. We leave tomorrow for the + lower country, and find it necessary to let some of our men + off on account of the scarcity of provisions, which are not + to be had at this place. The full objects of the expedition, + will, I hope, be completed ere we return. I shall leave the + party in a few days for Walla Walla, or perhaps lower down, + to provide necessary supplies for the completion of the + business in that quarter. I can not say what time we will + return to St. Louis; it is to be hoped before the + adjournment of Congress. The emigrants passed this place + some short time since, pretty well worn down and scarce of + food. The Indians on the Columbia are expected to become + troublesome to these newcomers. It is supposed they are + induced to acts of violence by some persons as yet unknown. + They have already burned Dr. Whitman's mill, and I fear it + is not the last spark which will be kindled in the + settlement and occupation of this country. The Hudson's Bay + Company are improving and pushing their business, perhaps + with greater energy than usual, Dr. McLoughlin is laying off + towns on the Willamette, selling lots, etc. This is the + report, and you can see that the Dr. is in advance of Dr. + Linn's bill." + + The foregoing is the latest news from Oregon, and may be + relied upon as correct. Not the least interesting part of it + is that which relates to the disposition of the Indians + towards the emigrants. We have always believed that the + Indians, backed and incited as they will be by agents and + emissaries of the Hudson's Bay Co., and furnished as they + doubtless will be, with arms and means of warfare from some + source, would oppose the emigrants in making their + settlements. That the country must be conquered before it is + attained, we hardly entertain a doubt, and if we did, the + supineness of our Government would only strengthen the + belief. Why is it that our Government is so indifferent to + the claims of the nation upon this territory, its wealth and + possessions? + + * * * * * + + St. Louis _Reveille_, Oct. 21, 1844. + + The Platte _Argus_ contains a letter from "Multnomah City," + Oregon, from which we make the following extracts. The + killing of the Indian has been briefly mentioned + heretofore. + + "When I first came here, 19 months ago, there were but 4 or + 5 houses, now there is upwards of 80 good buildings, nearly + all of two stories, and 4 or 5 of three stories high. If + there had been plenty of nails we should have had a number + more up. If a supply of nails reaches us this spring, we + shall have 200 houses before this reaches you, and some of + these of brick, for a company from Baltimore are now + building a brickyard. A tanyard is also being established. + The fact is, we have mechanics of all kinds here, though not + a tenth of the number of each kind required. The winter is + past, but it was no winter. It was rather a blooming spring, + for we had but little rain and no snow, and grass green all + the time. We have had but two days' rain in the last 45. I + saw cattle yesterday which had run all winter, in finer + condition than I ever saw any in your state. Uncle Sam had + better be doing something for this country, for if not, + within three years _it will be too late_. You laugh, but if + you live you will see it. Therefore stir them up, Mac, for + we do not want trouble here, and would all rejoice if the + star-spangled banner embraced us within its ample folds. Our + flag flying by authority would make a vast difference here. + + An Indian committed some outrages lately, and our sheriff + endeavored in vain to arrest him; then offered $100 reward + for the Indian, and went to his own house, 30 miles from + this place. On Monday the Indian came into Oregon City, + close to Dr. McLoughlin's mill, where some 25 or 30 men were + at work. Winslow and some white men went to take him, and + got close to him. He saw Winslow, fired his gun, which + missed its mark, the ball lodging in a tree on this side of + the river within 2 feet of me, for I was at work at my + garden at the time. The Indian then fired his pistol, 2 + balls from which lodged in the shoulder of G. W. LeBreton, + clerk of the court, tearing his arm dreadfully. Mr. LeB. + seized the Indian with the other hand, and then threw him + down. Winslow then ran up and knocked out his brains. In the + meantime, 5 other Indians fired their guns, and then their + arrows, and wounded two men." + + * * * * * + + _Reveille_, November 4, 1844. + + NEWS FROM OREGON. + + The _Western Expositor_ of Saturday last announces the + arrival of Mr. Wm. Gilpin, formerly of this place, from + Oregon. Mr. Gilpin passed the winter among the American + settlements of the Willamette and the adjacent sea coast, + and he describes them as enjoying prosperity when he left + them in April last. The emigrant party of '43, which he + accompanied, arrived at their destination in November last, + "after having braved and overcome unparalleled dangers and + difficulties from savages, from hunger, from thirst, + crossing parched treeless plains, fierce angry rivers, and + forcing their wagons through 1000 miles of mountains, + declared impassable by the most experienced guides and + voyageurs." + + This accession swelled the population of Oregon to upwards + of 2000, and they had formed a government, elected officers, + established courts, and a record of land titles. "Farms," he + says, "freckle the magnificent plains, towns are springing + up at convenient points upon the rivers, a dozen of + excellent mills supply lumber and flour for home use and + export; the fisheries are not neglected, and lands are + surveyed. A college, numerous schools, and several churches + are scattering education amongst the young. Money has been + sent from New York for a printing press and steam engine, + cattle and stock of all kinds are accumulating and rapidly + increasing under a mild climate and unfailing pastures. + Provisions of all kinds are abundant, of most excellent + quality and moderate prices." + + Mr. Gilpin passed the trading fort of Bridger and Vasquez on + the 19th of August. This fort is 100 miles west of Green + River, and exactly half way from Independence to the + Willamette. The American trappers scattered among the + mountains had there collected to meet the emigrants of last + spring; an advanced party of 30 of whom, with their wagons + and cattle, passed on the 17th, two days later than the + emigrants of the preceding year. Two larger companies + behind, under the command of Gen. Gilliam and Col. Ford, + passed subsequently, and all in good time reached the + settlements before the setting in of winter. + + * * * * * + + _Reveille_, January 20, 1845. + + OREGON. + + We learn from a letter published in the _Weston Journal_, + dated at the Sandwich Islands, that the Oregon emigrants who + went out during the past season, have made great changes in + business, money now circulating, and everything begins to + assume the appearance of the civilization, business, trade, + and refinements this side of the mountains. + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, February 8, 1848. + + OREGON. + + We see it stated in up-country papers that the late arrivals + from Oregon furnished information that two parties of + emigrants, dissatisfied with their prospects in that + country, attempted to return home last winter, but were + prevented by the difficulties of road and weather. We have + never entertained a doubt that this disposition was + uppermost with all the best portions of the emigration to + that region; but obstacles are presented of such a character + as to deter many persons from attempting to return. + Emigrants from the states find the greatest difficulty in + descending the mountain declivities into the valley of the + Columbia River, but then their wagons have been relieved of + a great part of the provisions and surplus weight, and they + do get along. If they should attempt to return to the United + States, however, a different prospect is presented. They + must start amply provided with provisions and everything + necessary for the journey, and thus loaded it has been + deemed impossible to get wagons along over the mountains + which they necessarily have to ascend in their progress. + This cause alone has deterred many persons from making the + attempt, and they have been compelled to accommodate + themselves to a country and a condition of things in no + respect better than they originally left. No man, in our + opinion, who has a comfortable home in any of the states can + be justified in giving it up in the expectation of bettering + himself in Oregon. If he has a family, he does a gross + injustice to them in exposing them to the hardships of so + long and perilous a journey with no prospect of returning to + their friends, should they become discontented; and even if + an emigrant has nobody to care for but himself, he had + better stay at home and earn an honest living, than go to + Oregon and run the risk of working out a precarious one. For + this reason we have never countenanced any one for whom we + had the least respect in a journey to Oregon or California + with a view to a fixed residence there. Neither country + presents half the inducements to be found in any one of the + Western states, and an adventure of this kind is prima facie + evidence of a restless and discontented spirit, not likely + to be pleased anywhere. + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, May 19, 1848. + + On the 20th of November the Governor appointed Columbia + Lancaster to be Supreme Judge of Oregon Territory, in place + of J. Quinn Thornton, resigned. From some proceedings of the + legislature of a subsequent period, we infer that Judge + Thornton had left Oregon on a visit to Washington City, as a + sort of general agent, to attend to the distribution of + offices in the new territory. Of his arrival we have not + heard, and it is probable that Mr. Meek may reach Washington + before him. + + [Then follows proceedings of legislature, resolutions, etc., + intended to keep J. Q. T. from leaving the territory, quoted + in full. Also Governor's message, expressing the + disappointment at the failure of Congress to extend + jurisdiction over that country, etc.] + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, July 26, 1848. + + ARRIVAL OF MR. KIT CARSON FROM CALIFORNIA. + + Information has been received by Gov. Mason in California of + the difficulties between the Oregon settlers and Indians, + but it does not appear to come down to a later date than + that which we have received from Oregon direct. + + * * * * * + + _Republican_, August 2, 1848. + + LATE FROM OREGON. + + [General account of defense of Oregon regiment against + Indians; death of Col. Gilliam, etc.] + + + NOTE--A CORRECTION. + + The name "L. H. Ponjade" occurring on pages 268 and 269 of + the September number of THE QUARTERLY should be L. H. + Poujade. + + + + +INDEX + + + + +INDEX TO VOL. IV. + + + Abbott, Captain, 237. + + Abbott, L. G., 365. + + Abrams, W. P., 60. + + Abrams, C., 63. + + Academy, Bishop Scott's, opened, 66. + + Academy, St. Mary's, opened, 66. + + Adair, Col. John, first collector customs at Astoria, 134, 135. + + Adams, Henry, wrote history of United States, 7. + + Adams, Emma H., 342. + + Adams, W. L., 365. + + Affleck & Gunn, publishers of _Puget Sound Courier_, 372. + + Agriculture in United States, table of, 118. + + Agriculture, 118-122; + values, table of, 121. + + Aiken, ----, 139. + + Albert, Mrs. John H., 394. + + Allen, Capt. B. F., wounded, 234. + + Allen and Lewis, 197. + + Allen, ----, 353. + + Allen, George T., 265. + + "All Over Oregon and Washington"; + purpose of, 317. + + _Alta California, The_, 376. + + Alvarez, ----, consul at Santa Fé, 272. + + Alvarado, Governor of California under Mexican rule, 311. + + Alvord, General, 105. + + Anderson, E. K., 229. + + Angne [Augur?], Captain, 237. + + Ankeny, Captain, 196. + + American Antiquarian Society, 309. + + Applegate, Jesse, 106, 390. + + _Argonaut, The San Francisco_, 292. + + _Argus, The Puget Sound_, 373. + + Armstrong, Pleasant, 234. + + Arundel, Harcourt T., employed by Bancroft, 303. + + Astoria and Columbia River Railroad Company, 146. + + Astoria and Willamette Barge Company, 136. + + Astoria, Social and Economic History of, by Alfred A. + Cleveland, 130. + + Astor, John Jacob, 8, 9, 131. + + _Astorian, The_, 28, 29, 30, 138; + quotation from, 141, 142, 143. + + Atkinson, John, 365. + + "Atlantis Arisen," revision of "All Over Oregon and Washington," + 317. + + Augur, General, 105. + + + Babcock, Doctor, supreme judge of Oregon Territory, 285. + + Badollet, and Company, 140. + + Bagley, Clarence B., pioneer papers of Puget Sound, 365, 371, + 377, 378, 379; + business manager _Courier_, 381; + owner and publisher _Echo_, 382. + + Ball, John, teacher, 265. + + Bailey, Doctor, 230; + governor Oregon Territory, 1845, 285. + + Bailey, W. E., purchased the _Press_, 383; + purchased the _Times_, 384. + + Baker, Colonel E. D., candidate for United States senator, 72, 93; + elected United States senator, 94, 99; + mustered into service, 101; + reply to Breckinridge, 102; + death of, 103. + + Baker, Florence E., 84. + + Baker and Boyer, 195. + + Baker, D. S. & Company, 195. + + Baker, Dr. D. S., the pioneer railroad builder, sketch of life, + 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200. + + Baker Mills, The, 217. + + Baltimore, J. M., 365. + + Bancroft Pacific States Publications: The origin and authorship of, + A History of A History, by William Alfred Morris, 289. + + Bancroft, Hubert Howe, "The Macaulay of the West," 292; + a sketch of early life and of growth of history project, 296; + first venture as a literary man, 301; + fame as historical writer, 310; + method of collecting material, 324; + three leading objects kept in mind in preparation of histories, + 328; + plan for works, 335; + not a great American historical writer, 337; + errors in works, 358. + + Bancroft, H. H. & Company, firm of, organized, 297. + + Bancroft's histories, vastness of the enterprise, 289; + not all his own work, 291; + parts written by assistants, 330. + + Barclay, Mrs. Dr., 264. + + Barclay, Doctor, 265. + + Barnes, Mary Sheldon, 362. + + Barnes, Edward, 230. + + Barron, Major, 229. + + Bates, Alfred, employed by Bancroft, 325, 363; + sketch of life, 331. + + Bausman, W., and Company, printers, of _Northern Light_, 372. + + _Beacon, The_, 382. + + Berry, A. M., first printer on the _Oregonian_, 370. + + Berry, Pamelia Ann, 249. + + Bent, Charles, 272. + + Benton, Senator, 91, 157. + + Bewley, F. M., 390. + + Black, Capt. H. M., 99. + + Blair, J. I., 248. + + Besserer, Charles, 365. + + Bidwell, Major, 222, 223. + + "Blue Book, The Big," name for Iowa code of laws, 188. + + "Blue Book, The Little," 188. + + Bigelow, Daniel R., elected commissioner to draft code of laws + for Oregon, 190, 191, 192. + + Bernie, James, 132, 265. + + Blakeley, James, 74. + + Blanchet, Archbishop, 66, 269. + + Blethen, Col. A. J., purchased _The Times_, 385. + + Boelling, V., 22, 32. + + Boardman, John, letter from, 276. + + Boise, Reuben P., 167; + elected commissioner to draft code of laws for Oregon, 190; + elected state representative, 192, 194. + + Bonneville, Captain, 359. + + Boon, John L., 104. + + Booth, A., & Company, 140. + + Bohttink, Professor, 319. + + Bowman, Amos, employed by Bancroft, 314. + + Border Ruffians, 42. + + Bosquetti, librarian for Bancroft, 299. + + Boyer, John F., 195, 196. + + Boyle, ----, 145. + + Breckinridge, John C., nominated for president, 94, 101. + + Breitenbush, John, 248. + + Bridger, Jim, 113. + + Brotchie, Captain, 265. + + Brooks, John P., 390. + + Brosset, M., 319. + + Brown, ----, 26. + + Brown, Miss, teacher, 29. + + Brown, John, 42. + + Brown, Hugh, founder of Brownsville, 74. + + Brown, F. M., 74. + + Brown, Beriah, 365, 372; + editor _Puget Sound Dispatch_, 377; + publisher _Puget Sound Dispatch_, 379. + + Brown, J. Henry, employed by Bancroft, 314. + + Buchanan, Lieutenant Colonel, 99, 237, 238. + + Buchanan, President, 126. + + Buffalo Historical Society, 309. + + _Bulletin, The_, 317, 369. + + Burnett, Peter H., 11, 78, 256, 271; + letters of taken from _Ohio Statesman_ and _St. Louis Reporter_, + 180. + + Burnett, John, 365. + + Bush, Asahel, territorial printer, 192, 193, 365; + editor _Oregon Statesman_, 370. + + Burke, Thomas, 379. + + Butler, Hillory, 378. + + Butler, Henry, 104. + + Butterfield, John, 126. + + Byers, ----, founder _Rocky Mountain News_, 327. + + + Calapooia, The Upper, by George O. Goodall, 70. + + _Call_ and _Daily Press_ consolidated, 383. + + California Pioneers, Society of, 294, 351. + + California material, how collected by Bancroft, 311. + + _Californian, The_, pioneer paper of California, 376. + + Campbell, John G., 390. + + Carey, Alice and Phoebe, 315. + + Carson, Kit, 230, 239. + + Carter, Miss Julia, 64. + + Carter, ----, 232. + + Cartwright, Charlotte Moffett, Glimpses of Early Days in Oregon, + 69. + + Carey, ----, 393. + + Case, Hon. Wm. M., 244. + + Casey, General, 105. + + Cavalry, The First Oregon, recruited, 100, 103. + + Cavender, A. B., 74. + + Cavendish, McDonald and, 74. + + Cavanaugh, Thomas H., purchased _Courier_, 381. + + Cerruti, Enrique, employed by Bancroft, 311. + + Chamberlain, Governor George E., 12. + + Chamberlain, A., state representative, 389. + + Chapman Code, The, 186, 188, 190. + + Chapman, Hon. W. W., 186. + + Chittenden, Captain, the American Fur Trade in the Far West + (quoted), 6, 9. + + _Chronicle, The San Francisco_, 293. + + Chronicles of the Builders of the Commonwealth, plan of, 334. + + Clark, George Rogers, proposed expedition of, 5. + + Clark, Harvey, 59. + + Clark, ----, 167. + + Clark, Ransom, 390. + + Clarke, S. A., The Montures on French Prairie, 265, 268, 365. + + Clay, Henry, 273. + + Cleveland, Alfred A., The Educational History of Astoria, Oregon, + 21. + + Cleveland, Alfred A., The Social and Economic History of Astoria, + 130. + + Clugage, James and Poole, located first mining claim in Southern + Oregon, 229. + + Coffin, Stephen, 65. + + Columbia River, discovery of, 5. + + _Columbian, The_, pioneer newspaper north of the Columbia River, + 372, 376. + + Colvig, Hon. Wm. H., Indian Wars of Southern Oregon, 227. + + Colvig, Dr. Wm. L., 227, 228, 230. + + Collins, John, 385. + + Commerce, 123. + + Cone, Aaron, 252. + + Cone, Anson Sterling, 251. + + Cone, Philander J., 259. + + Connelly, Dr., 272. + + Connelly, Owen, 66. + + Cook, Captain, off the Oregon coast, 4. + + Cook, Francis H., 366; publisher _The Echo_, 381. + + Cooper, Frank, 248. + + Coquille Guards, 238. + + Corbett, H. W., 63, 64; + senator, 196. + + Cornelius, Thomas R., appointed colonel, 99, 101, 135. + + Corvallis and Eastern Railroad, 247. + + Couch, John H., 390. + + _Courier, The Puget Sound_, 372, 380; + the daily, first appearance, 380. + + Courtnay, Mrs. Agnes B., 74. + + Courtnay, Isaac B., 75. + + Coues, Dr. Elliott, 6. + + Cowles, Captain R., 100. + + Cox, Anderson, state representative, 389. + + Craig, D. W., 365. + + Crawford, Medorum, 390. + + Crawford, P. V., 71, 167. + + Crawford, Samuel C., 372. + + Crawford, Samuel L., 378; + city editor _Post Intelligencer_, 379. + + Creighton, Captain, 237. + + Crooks, General George, 239. + + Crosby, Captain, 59. + + Culver, Samuel, 229. + + Cunningham, ----, 234. + + Currey, Captain George B., 100. + + Curry, Governor George L., 238, 368. + + Cushing, William, 390. + + Cushing, ----, minister to China, 274. + + + Dall, Captain W. L., appointed lieutenant in navy, 104. + + Damon, John F., 365, 371; + editor _The Northwest_, 373. + + Daniels, Travers, publisher Port Townsend _Register_, 372. + + Daniel, ----., 377. + + Davenport, T. W., An Object Lesson in Paternalism, 33, 244, 247, + 248. + + Davenport, Miss Orla, 249. + + Davis, ----, secretary of war, 157. + + Davis, H. W., appointed captain volunteer company, 61. + + Davis, A. L., 63. + + Davies, Griffith, 378. + + Deady, Judge M. P., 352, 353; + contributions to Oregon Pioneer Association, 391. + + Deakins, William, 280. + + Dean, N. C., 229. + + Deardorff, J. D., and wife, 26, 27. + + Degrett, Phillip, 389. + + Dement, William C., 390. + + Dempsey, Thomas H., publisher _Times_, 384. + + Dennison, A. P., 99. + + Denny, Mrs. O. P., 261. + + Dent, Captain F. T., 99. + + Depot, Peter, 269. + + Derby, George H., 296. + + Devlin and Nygant, 140. + + Dilley, ----, 231. + + _Dispatch, The Puget Sound_, 377, 379. + + Dixon, Hepworth, 327. + + Doane, Rev. N., 65. + + Documents, 78; + Oregon material taken from a file of an Independence, Mo., and + Weston, Mo., paper for 1844 and 1845, 270, 395. + + Dodge, Hon. A. C., 78. + + Douglas House Bill of 1846, 90. + + Douglas, Stephen A., candidate for president of United States, 94. + + Douglass, ----, 265. + + Downing, George S., 244, 247. + + Draper, Doctor, 34. + + Draper, Mrs. Sarah, 264. + + Drew, C. S., Major First Oregon Cavalry, 100. + + Dryer, Thomas J., 64, 93, 365; + first editor of _Oregonian_, 370. + + Duncan, L. J. C., 229. + + Duncan, Alexander, 266. + + Dunlap, John A., 75; + representative, 76. + + Duniway, Mrs., 365. + + Dunn, Pat, 229, 232. + + Dyar, ----., 234. + + Dyer, E. S., publisher _Northwest_, 373. + + Dyson, George, 74. + + + Eberman, N., 132. + + Eccleson, Col. E., 247. + + Edison, Thomas A., 39. + + Edwards, Edward, 232. + + Ely, Lieutenant, 232. + + Ematinger, Frank, 390. + + Emigration of 1843, experiences of, 177. + + Evans Creek, battle of, 233. + + Evans, Mr., constructed a ferry on Rogue River, 229. + + Evans, General Elwood, 314, 352. + + Everett, ----., 43. + + _Expositor, The Western_, 74. + + _Express Advance, The_, 74. + + + Faber, J. G., 234. + + Failing, Josiah, 63. + + Fairweather, H. W., 199. + + Fessenden, Mr., 102. + + Ferguson, Mr., 272. + + Ferry, Elisha P., first governor of Washington, 380. + + Ferry, James P., published _Times_, 384. + + Field, Justice Stephen J., 351. + + Fielding, ----., 234. + + Fields, Thomas, 75. + + Fillmore, President, 187. + + Finance, 126. + + Findlay, John, 75. + + Finlayson, Mr., and wife, 28. + + Finley, R. C., 70, 71, 72, 74. + + Fisher, Walter M., 299; + sketch of life, 300. + + Flavel, Captain George, 32. + + Flemming, John, printer _Oregon Spectator_, 368. + + Foard and Stokes Company, 143. + + Ford, Mark, 390. + + Foster, Phillip, 390. + + Fowler, W. W., 232. + + Frazer, Thomas, 63. + + Fremont, Captain, 11, 78; + colonel, 157, 158, 230; + general, 239, 245. + + Fur and Trading Company, 80. + + Fur Company, The American, 274; + The Northwest, 130, 137; + The Missouri, organized, 8; + The Pacific, 8. + + Furth, Jacob, 378. + + + Gale, James N., 366. + + Garfield, Selucius, defeated for congress, 380. + + Gary, Rev. Mr., 276. + + Gatch, Prof. T. M., 249. + + Gay, George, 230. + + _Gazette, The Marine_, 31, 138. + + _Gazette, The_, published first dispatch coming by wire to + Seattle, 377; + first paper in Seattle, 375. + + Gervais, Joseph, 243, 244. + + Gibbs, Addison C., was governor of Oregon, 108, 214, 217. + + Gibbs, A. C., editor _Oregon Weekly Times_, 368. + + Gibbs, ----., 232. + + Gibson, George R., 273. + + Gilliam, Colonel Cornelius, 243. + + Gilmore, S. M., letter from, 284. + + Gilpin, Mr., 271. + + Glass, Robert, 72. + + Gold, discovery of, in California, prices of products in Oregon, + 49, 60. + + "Gold Beach Guards," 238. + + Goldschmidt, Albert, employed by Bancroft, 304. + + Goodall, George O., the Upper Calapooia, 70. + + Goodall, Captain James P., 233. + + Grace Church Parish School started, 23, 27. + + Grant, General, 105, 109, 239. + + Grant, Frederick J., 378. + + Gray, Captain, sent to North Pacific Coast, 5, 9, 131, 205. + + Gray, Chesley, 229. + + Green, Wm. O., 196. + + Greenwood, Mary, 161. + + Griffin, Lieutenant Burrell, 233. + + Griffin, George Butler, sketch of life, 348. + + Gunn, E. T., newspaper man, 380. + + Gunn, Affleck &, 372. + + Gwin, Senator, plan for slave-holding republic on Pacific Coast, + 105, 106. + + + Hall, Peter D., 259. + + Hall, Edwin O., 367. + + Hall, Ike M., 381. + + Hally, C. F., 280. + + Hamilton, S. M., 67. + + Hamilton, Louis, reference to, 190. + + Hand Book Almanac, 297. + + Hanford, Thaddeus, 374, 380. + + Hanley, Mrs. John A., 235. + + Hanthorn & Company, cannerymen, 141. + + Harding, Captain E. J., 100. + + Harding, Benjamin F., quartermaster First Oregon Cavalry, 100. + + Harding, Senator, 214, 217. + + Harding, John R., killed by Indians, 233. + + Harger, Mrs. Harriet, 264. + + Harker, Charles, 104. + + Harris, Captain T. S., 100. + + Harris, David, 235. + + Harris, Mary, 235. + + Harris, ----, 252. + + Harris, George W., 378. + + Hathaway, Major J. S., 135. + + Hawthorne, Doctor, 61. + + Hays, Judge Benjamin, 312. + + Hazen, Captain, 105. + + Helm, George, "Lion of Linn," 73. + + Hensill, Mrs. Mary J., 66. + + _Herald, Puget Sound_, 372, 381. + + _Herald, The Cleveland_, 315. + + Hewitt, Miss, teacher, 24, 29. + + Hewitt, Randall H., 365; + publisher _Pacific Tribune_, 374; + published _Echo_, 381. + + High School, The Astoria, 31. + + Higgins, David, 366. + + Hill, Mrs., 26. + + Hill, W. Lair, 365; + editor _Oregon Weekly Times_, 369. + + Hill, Homer M., purchased _Chronicle_, 383. + + Himes, Geo. H., 375. + + History of the Preparation of the First Code of Oregon, by James + K. Kelly, 185. + + History of the Early Indian Wars of Oregon, 318. + + History Company, The, 333. + + Hittell, John S., 299, 331. + + Hobson, John, 32. + + Hobson, Mr., and family, 132. + + Hodgins, ----, 232. + + Hogg, Col. T. E., 248. + + Holderness, S. M., 390. + + Holman, Joseph, Short Biography of, 392. + + Holman, George Phelps, first white child born in Marion County, + 394. + + Holladay, Ben, published _The Bulletin_, 369. + + _Home Journal_, of New York, 315. + + Hood, Gen. J. B., 239. + + Hooker, Colonel Joseph, 104; + builder of military wagon road, 239. + + Hoover, Jacob, 390. + + Hopkins, Mrs. Rebeka, 259. + + Hopwood, Moses, 229. + + Hosford, Rev. C. O., opened first school in Astoria, 21. + + Houston, Sam, 151. + + Howell, ----., 232. + + Hudson Bay Company, possession of the Northwest, 9, 78, 81, 82, + 83, 89; + and Northwest Fur Company consolidated, ----, ----, 132, 153, + 154, 156, 242, 261. + + Hughes, W. H., 378. + + Hughes and Davies, purchased _The Times_, 385. + + Humason, Judge, 217. + + Hume, R. D., and Company, 140. + + Hungry Hill, battle of, 236. + + Hunt, L. S. J., 383. + + Hunter, Col. George, "Reminiscences of an Old Timer," quotation + from, 97. + + Hunt's Astor party, route of, 10. + + Heisler, William, 71. + + Husted, General, 390. + + Hustler, Captain, 134, 139. + + Huston, H. Clay, 267. + + Hyde, Aaron J., 65. + + Hyde, H. H., 390. + + Hyland, Rev. T. H., 23. + + Hyland, Mrs. T. H., 23. + + + Indian Wars of Southern Oregon, an address by William H. Colvig, + 227. + + Indians: Umpquas, 228; + Klamaths, 228; + Rogue Rivers, 228; + Modoc, 228; + Shasta, 228; + Mollalas, 241; + Cayuses, 241, 255; + Klamaths, 242; + Warm Spring, 242; + Pawnees, 252. + + Infantry, The First Oregon, 108. + + _Informant, The_, 74. + + Ingalls, Rufus, 105. + + Ingalls, David, 133, 136. + + Ingraham, E. S., 378. + + _Intelligencer, The Weekly_, 377. + + _Iowa Gazette_, 78. + + Iowa Code, 188. + + Ireland, D. C., 366. + + Irish, Tom, 230. + + Irving, Washington, 358. + + + Jack, D. N., elected assessor of Linn County, 76. + + Jack, Porter, 244. + + Jackson, Stonewall, 42. + + Jackson, Mrs. Helen Hunt, 326. + + Jackson, P. B., 365. + + Jackson, David E., letter of, 395. + + Jacobs, Judge Orange, 371. + + Jefferson, President, trading posts with Indians, 5, 12, 110. + + Jefferson, Delos, 65. + + Johns, James, 79. + + Johnson, Miss, 24. + + Johnson, Doctor, 38. + + Johnson, Mr., 63. + + Johnson, P. B., 365. + + Jones, Mr., killed by Indians, 235. + + Jones, Captain, 237. + + _Journal, The Independence_, 270, 277. + + + Kautz, General A. V., 239. + + Kearny, Major Phil, 231, 239. + + Keene, Granville, 234. + + Keeney, Johnathan, 74. + + Kelley, Hall J., agitating colonization of Oregon, 9. + + Kelly, Captain William, 100. + + Kelly, James K., History of the Preparation of the "First Code + of Oregon," 185; + elected commissioner to draft code of laws for Oregon, 189; + nominated and elected member of council, 192. + + Kendrick, Captain, sent to North Pacific coast, 5. + + Kenny, George L., 296. + + Kirchoff, Louis, 137. + + Kilham, E. H., 353, 358. + + Killin, Hon. Benton, 188 + + Kincaid, Mr., night school taught by, 24. + + King, Colonel William, 60, 65. + + King, Wm. H., 66. + + Kingsley, C. S., 67. + + Kinney's cannery, 140. + + Kinney, R. C., & Sons, 139. + + Kinney, M. J., 141. + + Kirk, Alexander, 74; + elected county judge of Linn County, 76. + + Kirk, W. R., 74. + + Klippel, Henry, laid out Jacksonville as a town, 230, 235. + + Knights of the Golden Circle, 73, 106, 108. + + Knight, Wm. H., Manager Bancroft Publishing Department, 297. + + Kuro-shiwo of Japan (Japan current), 39. + + + La Bonte, Louis, Recollections of Men, 264. + + Ladd, W. S., 61, 63. + + Lamerick, Captain J. K., 232. + + Lampson, Roswell C., 104. + + Land Law, The Donation, 37, 38, 229. + + Lane, General Joseph, appointed governor of Oregon, 91; + nominated for vice president, 94, 95, 101, 105, 106, 233, 234, + 239, 370 + + Larkin, T. N., 63. + + Larrabee, Charles H., publisher _Puget Sound Dispatch_, 380. + + Larrabee & Company, publishers _Puget Sound Dispatch_, 377. + + Latshaw, Major, 238. + + Latty, Alexander, 265. + + Lawrence, Miss, 28. + + Lawson, Peter, 257. + + Leary, John, 378. + + Ledford Massacre, 236. + + _Ledger, The Philadelphia_, 277. + + _Ledger, The Weekly_, 382. + + Lee, Jason, 265, 393. + + Lee, Barton, 390. + + Lee, H. A. G., 390. + + Leinweber, Christian, 137. + + Lewis and Clark Centennial, The, by F. G. Young, 1. + + Lewis and Clark Expedition--Relation to the Northwest, 1; + primary inception of, 6. + + Lewis and Clark, exploring expedition, 5; + the trail, 10, 12, 13, 115. + + Lewis and Clark Centennial, mission of, 2; + possibilities of, 16; + duties of its authorities, 16-18. + + Lewis, Mr., 9, 130. + + Lewis and Clark, 8. + + Lewis, Stephen (Etienne Lucier), 264. + + Limerick, L., 63; + appointed county school superintendent, 64. + + Lincoln, Miss Liza, 26. + + Lincoln, Abraham, 74, 97, 99, 101, 108, 370. + + Lindgren, Waldemar, 124. + + Lingenfelter, James W., 104. + + Linn, Senator Lewis F., 151. + + Literary Club, The Pioneer Lyceum, 390. + + Little Meadows, Battle of, 233. + + Lorraine, Lieutenant, 105. + + Lorrea, Doctor, 61. + + Louisiana Purchase Exposition, purpose of, 14. + + Love, George, 235. + + Love, G. M., 235. + + Lovejoy, Hon. A. L., appointed postal agent for Oregon, 192, 256, + 390. + + Lownesdale, D. H., 59. + + Lucier, Etienne, 261, 264. + + Luelling, H., 59. + + Lugenbeel, Major, 99. + + Lumber Industry, The, 124. + + Lupton, Major J. A., 234. + + Lyman, Rev. Horace, 65. + + Lyman, H. S., Some Corrections, 86. + + Lyman, H. S., Reminiscences, 251, 268. + + Lyon, Colonel George G., published _Times_, 384. + + + Madison, President, 9. + + _Mail and Express, The New York_, 357. + + Manufacturing, 122. + + Marshall, J. W., discoverer of gold in California, 11. + + Massachusetts Historical Society, 309. + + Massacre at Bloody Point, 232. + + Mason, Robert, & Company, 141. + + Masters, ----, 254. + + Mathieu, F. X., 167, 389. + + Matthews, Captain Wm., 100. + + Mattice, George W., purchased _Pierce County News_, 382. + + Maulsby, G. T., 26. + + Manson, Donald, 261, 265. + + Manson, James, 262. + + Manson, Jr., Donald, 262. + + Manson, Wm., 261, 262. + + Manson, Stephen, 262. + + Maury, R. F., Lieutenant Colonel First Oregon Cavalry, 100. + + Maxwell, Mr., 26. + + Maxwell, S. L., 366; + publisher _Weekly Intelligencer_, 377. + + Mead, Elwood, chief of Division of Irrigation, 17. + + Meany, E. S., 379. + + Medary, Col. Samuel, 174. + + Meek, Joseph, 85, 90; + United States Marshal, 91, 160, 316, 393. + + Meek, Stephen L., 242, 245. + + "Message, The," 373. + + McBride, Dr. James, 231. + + McCarver, M. M., 78; + letter of, 403. + + McClure, Colonel John, 132, 137. + + McDonald & Cavendish, 74. + + McElroy, Thornton F., 365, 376. + + McFadden, Judge O. B., elected to congress, 380. + + McCaw, William, elected clerk of Linn County, 76. + + McGraw, John H., 378. + + McGregor, Miss, teacher, 29. + + McGruder, Top, 390. + + McHargue, James, 75. + + McKay, Tom, 244, 256, 266. + + McKay, Alexander, 257. + + McKean, S. T., 32; + and family, 133. + + McKew, ----, 234. + + McKinley, Archibald, 264, 265. + + McLoughlin, Dr. John, in charge of Fort George, 131, 154, 257, + 264, 281; + flouring mill completed, 387. + + McNaught, Ferry, McNaught & Mitchell, law firm of, 383. + + McNemee, Mr., 64. + + McNemee, Job, 258. + + Miller, Dan, 230. + + Miller, Captain John F., 232. + + Mills, James, 234. + + Mineral Productions, 123, 124. + + Miner, Dr. Thomas T., 379. + + Minto Pass: Its History and an Indian Tradition, by John Minto, + 241. + + Minto, John, 167: Minto Pass: Its History and an Indian Tradition, + 241, 243, 244, 247, 390. + + Missouri Historical Society, 270. + + Mofras' description of Astoria in 1841, 131. + + Monnastes, David, 61. + + Money, Beaver, coined at Oregon City, 62. + + Montgomery, Robert, 75. + + Montgomery, Frank C., editor _Chronicle_, 382. + + Monture, George and Robert, 269. + + Montures on French Prairie, The, by S. A. Clarke, 268. + + Mooney, Mr. and Mrs., publishers _The Beacon_, 382. + + Moore, Mr., 26. + + Moore, Asa, 70, 74. + + Moore, Robert, 71, 76. + + Moore, Miles C., on A Pioneer Railroad Builder, 195. + + Moore, Charles, 196. + + Moore, Paine Brothers &, 196. + + Morrison, Captain R. W., 386. + + Morris, ----, 232. + + Morris, William Alfred, The Origin and Authorship of the Bancroft + Pacific States Publications: A History of a History, 287. + + Morris, George P., editor _New York Home Journal_, 315. + + Morse, Mrs. H. B., 22. + + Moss, S. W., 390. + + "Mountain Men," 9. + + Mullan, Captain John, From Walla Walla to San Francisco, 202. + + Municipal Exposition, Dresden, Germany, 18. + + Murphy, John Miller, 365; + publisher _Standard_, 372, 374, 376. + + Murray, Edward F., assistant to Bancroft, 312. + + Muscovite, the advance of in the Pacific Northwest, 4. + + + Nash, Isaac M., 84. + + Native Races, The, preparation of material, 308. + + Naylor, T. G., 254. + + Neale, Miss, teacher, 29. + + Nelson, Thomas chief justice supreme court, 187, 188; + relieved of office of supreme judge, 189. + + Nemos, William, employed by Bancroft, 305; + sketch of life, 322; + severed connections with Bancroft library, 333. + + Nesmith, Senator Jas. W., 47, 167, 387; + contributions to Oregon Pioneer Association, 390, 391. + + _New Era, The_, 277; + extract from, 399. + + Newell, ----, 205. + + Newell, Robert, 265, 388, 390, 393. + + Newell, Wm., 365. + + Newkirk, Mr., employed by Bancroft, 325. + + _New Penelope, The_, 317. + + _News, The Pierce County_, 382. + + Nolan, Rhodes, 232. + + _North Pacific Coast_, 382. + + _Northern Light_, 372. + + _Northwest Coast_, 81. + + _Northwest, The_, 378. + + + Oak, Ora, employed by Bancroft, 299. + + Oak, Henry L., Bancroft's librarian, 298; + main facts of his life, 298, 305; + retired from Bancroft's library, 333. + + O'Bryant, Hugh D., first mayor of Portland, 61. + + _Occident, The_, Presbyterian paper, 298. + + Officer, James, 280. + + Ogden, Isaac, 262. + + Ogden, William, 264. + + Ogden, Emma, 264. + + Ogden, Peter Skeen, 262, 264, 265. + + _Ohio Statesman_, 78. + + Olney, Judge Cyrus, the Olney lottery, 137. + + O'Meara, James, 365. + + Oregon, Glimpses of Early Days in, by Charlotte Moffett + Cartwright, 55. + + _Oregon Spectator, The_, 81; + first newspaper in old Oregon, 368. + + Oregon and Its Share in the Civil War, by Robert Treat Platt, 89. + + Oregon, a territory of United States, 91; + became a state, 93; + voted for Lincoln, 94; + railroad to, 277; + printing press, 286. + + "Oregon Country, The," 111. + + Oregon--Pittsburgh meeting and Dr. White's report, 170. + + Oregon Historical Society, 167; + old mission press, 368. + + Oregon Territory, confused condition of statutory laws, 185. + + Oregon Bar Association, 185. + + Oregon Emigration Movement, documents relating to, 170. + + Oregon Steam Navigation Company, 196, 197, 198; + bought six sevenths stock Walla Walla and Columbia River Railroad + Company, 199, 204, 206, 353. + + Oregon, Provisional Government of, adoption of Iowa laws, 185. + + Oregon Reports, 187. + + Oregon Country and Its Earlier Conditions, Letters descriptive of, + 178. + + Oregon Code, 194. + + Oregon Emigrating Company, 177. + + Oregon Emigrants, extract from _Independence Journal_, 271. + + Oregon Pioneer Association, 314. + + _Oregon Weekly Times_, 368. + + _Oregon American and Evangelical Unionist, The_, 368. + + Oregon Emigrating Company, 403. + + Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, 139, 143, 199, 200. + + _Oregon Free Press_, 368. + + _Oregonian_, first published, 64, 293, 369; + Daily, 370, 376. + + Ord, General, 105. + + Ord, Captain E. O. C., 237. + + Osborne, ----, 260. + + Otie, Ed, 390. + + _Overland Monthly, The_, 300, 304, 317. + + _Overland Press, The_, 373. + + Owens, Adair, Mrs. Dr., 26. + + Owens, Captain Elias A., 232. + + Owens, Colonel, 272. + + + Paine Brothers & Moore, 196. + + Pambrun, ----., 264, 265. + + Parker, Mrs. H. B., 32. + + Parker, Mrs. W. W., 29. + + Parker, W. W., 32, 133, 135. + + Parker, James M., 267. + + Parrish, Rev. J. L., 132. + + _Partisan_, 381. + + Paternalism, An Object Lesson In, by T. W. Davenport, 33. + + Patrick, H. C., 366; + started _Weekly Ledger_, 382. + + Pearne, Thomas H., 365. + + Peatfield, J. J., employed by Bancroft, 345; + sketch of life, 346, 363. + + Peel, Lieut. William, 387. + + Perry, ----, 132. + + Pettygrove, F. W., 390. + + Perkins, Dr. J. N., 71. + + Perkins, T., constructed a ferry on Rogue River, 229. + + Petroff, Ivan, sketch of life, 318; + employed by Bancroft, 318, 363. + + Phelps, Almira, 394. + + Philpot, ----., 234. + + Philbrick, C. W., published _Puget Sound Argus_, 373. + + Phillips, Wendell, 292. + + Pickett, Charles E., 387, 390. + + Pierce, President, 192. + + Pinart, M., furnished Bancroft's Alaska material, 318. + + Pioneer and Historical Society, 138. + + Pioneer Captain of Industry in Oregon, A, by James R. Robertson, + 150. + + Pioneer Railroad Builder, A, by Miles C. Moore, 195. + + Pioneer Papers of Puget Sound, by Clarence B. Bagley, 365. + + Pittock, H. L., 365; + printer of the _Oregonian_, 370. + + Poe, A. M., 365. + + Polk, President James K., 90, 91, 187. + + Polk, Colonel, 272. + + Pomeroy, Mrs., 253. + + Poujade, L. H., 268. + + Poole, J. R. and Clugage, located first mining claim in Southern + Oregon, 229. + + Poole, John R., laid out Jacksonville as a town, 230. + + Pope, Miss, teacher, 22. + + Population, increase of, in West, 114; + table of, for United States, 116. + + Porter, Nathan S., 381. + + Portland founded, 59. + + Port Orford Minute Men, 238. + + _Post Intelligencer, The_, 374. + + _Post, The Seattle Weekly_, 377; + _The Daily_, 378. + + _Post_ and _Intelligencer_ consolidated, 378. + + Powell, Joab, 71. + + Powers, T. P., 22, 29, 136. + + Poyntz, Stone &, 229. + + Pratt, O. C., justice supreme court, 187, 188. + + Pratt, Orson B., appointed historian Mormon Church, 321. + + Pratt, Mrs. William, 264. + + Pratt, John W., 385. + + _Press, The_, 373; + Daily, 383. + + Prigg, F., 390; + publisher of _Pacific Tribune_, 374. + + Prosch, Thomas W., 366, 371, 378; + published _Puget Sound Herald_, 372. + + Prosch, Charles, 366, 371, 374, 381. + + Prosch, Fred, in charge mechanical work of _Courier_, 381. + + Provisional Government of Oregon, 89. + + Public School, The, of Astoria, 25. + + Public buildings, transferred from Oregon City to Salem, trouble + caused, 186. + + + Radebaugh, R. F., 366; + started _Weekly Ledger_, 382. + + Railroad, Astoria and Willamette Valley, 135. + + Railroad, Astoria and Columbia River, 136. + + Railroad, Astoria and South Coast, 116. + + Railroad Transportation, 125, 126. + + Railroad Bill, The Pacific, 219. + + Railroad, Corvallis and Eastern, 247. + + Raleigh, P., 63. + + Rasmus, employed by Bancroft, 355. + + _Record-Union, Sacramento_, 292. + + Rector, William H., state representative, 389; + head of Salem Woolen Mill, 215. + + Reed, C. A., 60, 65. + + Reed, Henry E., The Great West and The Two Easts, 129. + + Reed, T. A., 235. + + Rees, Willard H., In Memoriam of, 386. + + Rees, Willard H., elected state representative, 389, 390; + contribution to Oregon Pioneer Association, 391. + + Rees, R. R., 365. + + _Register, The Port Townsend_, 372. + + Reminiscences secured by H. S. Lyman, 251. + + _Reporter, Saint Louis_, 78. + + _Republican, The Missouri_, extracts from, 399, 402. + + Reynolds, General, 105. + + Rhoades, Captain Jacob, 233. + + Rice, J. N., 72. + + Richards, Franklin D., 321, 324. + + Riggs, T. A., 70, 72; + copy letter of, 74. + + Riley and Ginder, 144. + + Rinearson, J. S., junior major First Oregon Cavalry, 100. + + River of the West, The, 316. + + Rivet, Francis, 389. + + Robb, Professor, 28. + + Robertson, James R., on A Pioneer Captain of Industry, 150. + + Roberts, A. B., 353. + + Robnett, Wm., 75. + + _Rocky Mountain News, The_, 327. + + Roosevelt, Theodore, "Winning of the West," (quoted), 7. + + Rose, Wm. R., death of, 233. + + Ross, Colonel J. E., 232. + + Ruckle, Colonel, 207. + + Russell, General, 105. + + Russell, Uncle Bill, 228. + + Russian-American Company, 319. + + + Saffren, Henry, 390. + + Samuels, L., 365. + + Saunders, Mr., 230. + + Savage, Thomas, employed by Bancroft, 306; + sketch of life, 346, 362. + + Savannah Oregon Emigrating Company, report of committee, 278. + + Sawmill, first in Oregon, 60. + + Scarborough, Captain, 265. + + School History of Astoria, what it reveals, 32. + + School, The Wilcox, first in Portland, 64. + + Schools in Lane County, Early, letter by Joseph H. Sharp, 267. + + Scott, Harvey W., 365; + editor _Oregonian_, 370. + + Scott, General, 101. + + Scott, Captain L. S., 246. + + Semple, Eugene, 365, 371. + + Sutter's Ranch, 224. + + _Seattle Times_ and _Alaska Herald_, 379. + + Seward, William H., 110. + + Sharpstein, B. L., 196. + + Sharp, Joseph H., Early Schools in Lane County, 268. + + Shelby, A. D., 63. + + Sheridan, General, 68, 105, 109, 164, 239. + + Sherman, General, 109, 200. + + Shaw, Hon. T. C., 243. + + Shively, Mr., 84, 229. + + Shively, J. M., 132; + first postmaster west of Rocky Mountains, 133, 136. + + Shortess, Robert, 132. + + Skinner, Mrs. Judge A. A., 26. + + Skinner, Judge A. A., 26; + located first donation land claim, 229. + + Small, D. W., 197. + + Smart, Robert G., editor _Western Expositor_, 283. + + Smith, Gerritt, 36. + + Smith, Delazon, 72, 94, 104. + + Smith, Volney, 104. + + Smith, Solomon, 132. + + Smith, Jedediah, attacked by Indians, 230; + letter of, 395. + + Smith, Thomas, 229. + + Smith, Hugh, 232. + + Smith, Gen. A. J., 105; + Captain, 236, 238, 239. + + Smith, Joseph S., editor of the _Oregon Statesman_, 370. + + Smith, Noyes, 390. + + Smith, Isaac W., 390. + + Snooks, Major, 104. + + South Pass, The, discovery of, 10. + + Spalding, Rev. H. H., 71, 76, 367. + + Spanish, Advance of, in Pacific Northwest, 4. + + Speyers, ----., 272. + + Stanbough, Joe, 256. + + _Standard, The Washington_, 374. + + _Star, The_, first paper in San Francisco, 376. + + States, Henry, 243, 248. + + _Statesman, The Washington_, article of Captain John Mullan, 202. + + _Statesman, The Oregon_, 353, 360, 370. + + Steen, Major, 99. + + Stein, Mr., 74. + + Stephens, J. B., 59. + + Stephens, Wm., 195, 196. + + Steptoe, Colonel, 69. + + Stewart, C., 64. + + Stewart, P. G., 390. + + Stevens, General, 105. + + Stone, B. F., 196. + + Stone & Poyntz, 229. + + Stone, Nathan J., charge of publication department, A. L. Bancroft + & Company, 321. + + Strait, Hiram, 390. + + Strong, Judge, 134, 187, 188. + + Struve, Henry G., 371, 381. + + Stuart, Captain, death of, 231. + + St. Vrain, Mr., 372. + + Sublette, William L., letter of, 395. + + Supreme Court, decisions of, 187. + + Summers, Doctor, 132. + + Sumner, Brigadier General E. V., 99. + + + Tarbox, a Wisconsin lumberman, 197. + + Taylor, Colonel James, 32. + + Taylor, Judge F. J., 135. + + Taylor, President, 187. + + Taylor, John, 321. + + Templeton, ----., 71. + + Templeton, William T., 75. + + Terwilliger, L. L., 66. + + Tibbetts, Mr., 132. + + Tilden, of Washington, 106. + + Times Printing Company, 385. + + _Times, Daily_, 384. + + Thompson, Frank W., 104. + + Thompson, Captain D. P., 100. + + Thornton, Judge, 91, 96. + + Thurston, Samuel R., first delegate Oregon territorial government, + 47. + + _Transcript, The Olympia_, 380. + + Trask, Mr., 132. + + Tremewan, Mrs. Anna, 261. + + _Tribune, The New York_, 293. + + _Tribune, Salt Lake_, 293, 294. + + _Tribune, The Pacific_, 374. + + Trimble, Edward, 251. + + Truax, Captain S., 100. + + Tuffs, James, 225. + + Turner, Professor F. J., 8. + + Turners, J., 230. + + T'Vault, Colonel William G., 365; + editor _Oregon Spectator_, 368. + + + Union League, The, 73. + + _Unionist, The_, 360. + + + Vallejo, General, 311. + + Vancouver, Fort, 83. + + VanDusen, Miss Cora, 24. + + Van Voast, Captain, 99. + + Victor, Frances Fuller, 293, 294, 295, 305; + employed by Bancroft, 314; + sketch of life, 314, 324; + volume on Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, 324. + + Victor, Meta Fuller, 315. + + Victor, Henry C., 316. + + Vigilante committee, 107. + + Villard, Henry, bought Walla Walla and Columbia River Railroad, + 199, 200. + + + Wagner, Mrs., murdered by Indians, 235. + + Wait, Hon. A. E., 188. + + Waite, E. M., 365. + + Waldo, Hon. John B., 246, 247, 248. + + Waldo, Daniel, 390. + + Waller, Rev. Alvan F., letter of, 178. + + Wallace, General Lew, 104. + + Walla Walla and Columbia River Railroad Company, 196. + + Walla Walla to San Francisco, From, by Capt. John Mullan, U. S. A., + 202. + + Walworth, Lucy, 314. + + Walworth, Judge Reuben, 314. + + Wambaugh, J., 390. + + Ward, Kirk, a fluent writer, 383. + + Warren, Miss Emma C., conducted private school in Astoria, 24. + + Warren, Mr. R. K., 27. + + Warren, F. M., 66. + + Washington, Territory of, organized, 192. + + Watt, John, 150. + + Watt, Miss, 28. + + Watt, Joseph, Sr., 150; + early life, 150, 159, 166, 390. + + Watson, J. R., 366, 375, 376. + + Wayne, J. W., 26. + + Weaver, ----, 228. + + Webster, Daniel, 43. + + Weir, Allen, bought _Puget Sound Argus_, 373. + + Welch, James, 26, 133. + + Wells, J., Letter to, 274. + + West, The Great and The Two Easts, by Henry E. Heed, 110. + + West, future of, 127; + The Great, table of comparisons, 114. + + _Weston Journal_, 368. + + _Western Star_, 368. + + Western Union Telegraph, 140; + completed to Seattle, 377. + + Whitacre, William T., 372. + + Whiteaker, Governor John, 99. + + White, Captain, 134. + + White, Dr. E., Indian sub-agent, 242. + + White, Harry, 383. + + Whitcomb, Lot, published _Western Star_, 368. + + Whitman, Doctor, 78, 79, 84, 254, 260, 367. + + Two Whitman Sources, 168. + + Whitmore, ----., 232. + + Whitney, ----., 277. + + Whitworth, James E., 381. + + Wilbur, J. H., 59, 64. + + Wilcox, Dr. Ralph, 64. + + Wiley & McElroy, publishers _Columbian_, 372. + + Wiley, J. W., 376. + + Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Military Wagon Road, 242. + + Williams, Geo., 104. + + Williams, Hon. George H., appointed chief Justice of Oregon + Territory, 189. + + Williams, Captain R. L., 232. + + Williams, Robert, 315. + + Williams, Veach, 314. + + Williamson, ----., 26. + + Willis, N. P., editor _New York Home Journal_, 315. + + Wills, Thomas, 232. + + Wilson, A. E., 132. + + Wilson, Joseph G., 191. + + Woman's War With Whiskey, one of Mrs. Victor's books, 317. + + Woir, J. M., 390. + + Wood, Tallmadge B., copy of letters from, 80, 84, 132. + + Woodfin, Thomas S., 75. + + Woodworth, Mr., 230 + + Wool, General John E., 236, 239. + + Woolery, James, 385. + + Worthington, Professor, 24, 28, 29. + + Wright, Colonel, 99, 105. + + Wright, Captain Ben, 232. + + Wyeth, Nathaniel J., expedition to the Columbia, 9. + + Wyley, ----., pioneer settler, 241. + + + Yellowstone Expedition, failure of, 7. + + Young, F. G., The Lewis and Clark Centennial, 1. + + Young, Mrs. Maxwell, 24. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical +Society, Vol. IV, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41493 *** |