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} + body {font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; } + table {font-size: .9em; padding: 1.5em .5em 1em; page-break-inside: avoid; + clear: both; } + div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; } + div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } + .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; + margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } + .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; + page-break-before: always; } + .border {border-style: solid;border-width: medium; padding: 1em; clear: both; } + .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78187 ***</div> + +<div class='tnotes covernote'> + +<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> + +<p class='c000'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='titlepage'> + +<div> + <h1 class='c001'><span class='xlarge'>THE QUARTERLY</span><br> <span class='xsmall'>OF THE</span><br> <span class='sc'>Oregon Historical Society</span>.<br> <span class='small'><span class='sc'>Volume 1</span> <br>      DECEMBER, 1900      <br> <span class='sc'>Number 4</span></span><br> <span class='large'>OREGON TRAIL NUMBER.</span></h1> +</div> + +<div class='c002 figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/r_cover.jpg' alt='Seal of the Oregon Historical Society showing crossed tools and a handshake, with the words 'Peace and Friendship' and 'Incorporated December 17, 1898.'' class='ig001'> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>F. G. Young</i>—<span class='sc'>The Oregon Trail</span></td> + <td class='c005'><a href='#Page_339'>339</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Jesse Applegate</i>—<span class='sc'>A Day With The Cow Column in 1843</span></td> + <td class='c005'><a href='#Page_371'>371</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><span class='sc'>Col. George L. Currey’s Tribute to the Ox Whip</span></td> + <td class='c005'><a href='#Page_384'>384</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Sam L. Simpson</i>—<span class='sc'>The Camp Fires of the Pioneers</span></td> + <td class='c005'><a href='#Page_385'>385</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Joaquin Miller</i>—<span class='sc'>Pilgrims of the Plains</span></td> + <td class='c005'><a href='#Page_395'>395</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Joaquin Miller</i>—<span class='sc'>Pioneers of the Pacific</span></td> + <td class='c005'><a href='#Page_397'>397</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><span class='sc'>Documents</span>—The Oregon Emigrants, 1843</td> + <td class='c005'><a href='#Page_398'>398</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c006'> + <div>PRICE: THIRTY-FIVE CENTS PER NUMBER, ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'><span class='sc'>The Oregon Historical Society</span></h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c006'> + <div><span class='sc'>Organized December 17, 1898</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>H. W. SCOTT</td> + <td class='c005'><span class='sc'>President</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>C. B. BELLINGER</td> + <td class='c005'><span class='sc'>Vice-President</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>F. G. YOUNG</td> + <td class='c005'><span class='sc'>Secretary</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>CHARLES E. LADD</td> + <td class='c005'><span class='sc'>Treasurer</span></td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>George H. Himes</span>, Assistant Secretary.</td></tr> +</table> + +<h3 class='c008'>DIRECTORS</h3> + +<div class='lg-container-b c002'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>THE GOVERNOR OF OREGON, <i>ex officio</i>.</div> + <div class='line'>THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, <i>ex officio</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Term Expires at Annual Meeting in December, 1901,</div> + <div class='line in8'>F. G. YOUNG, L. B. COX.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Term Expires at Annual Meeting in December, 1902,</div> + <div class='line'>JAMES R. ROBERTSON, JOSEPH R. WILSON.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Term Expires at Annual Meeting in December, 1903,</div> + <div class='line'>C. B. BELLINGER, MRS. MARIA L. MYRICK.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Term Expires at Annual Meeting in December, 1901,</div> + <div class='line'>H. W. SCOTT, MRS. HARRIET K. McARTHUR.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><cite>The Quarterly</cite> is sent free to all members of the Society. The annual dues +are two dollars. The fee for life membership is twenty-five dollars.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Contributions to <cite>The Quarterly</cite> and correspondence relative to historical +materials, or pertaining to the affairs of this Society, should be addressed to</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='large'>F. G. YOUNG,</span></div> + <div class='line in8'><i>Secretary</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Eugene, Oregon.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Subscriptions for <cite>The Quarterly</cite>, or for the other publications of the +Society, should be sent to</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>GEORGE H. HIMES,</div> + <div class='line in8'><i>Assistant Secretary</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-l'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='sc'>City Hall, Portland, Oregon.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<a href='images/i_frontis_hr.jpg'><img src='images/i_frontis.jpg' alt='Faint hand-drawn map of Oregon showing early trail routes and transportation lines across the state, with rivers and small place labels.' class='ig001'></a> +</div> + +<div class='chapter ph1'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c010'> + <div><span class='small'><span class='sc'>Volume I</span>]      DECEMBER, 1900      [<span class='sc'>Number 4</span></span></div> + <div class='c002'><span class='xlarge'>THE QUARTERLY</span></div> + <div class='c002'><span class='xsmall'>OF THE</span></div> + <div class='c002'><span class='sc'>Oregon Historical Society</span>.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span> + <h2 class='c003'>THE OREGON TRAIL.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The early Oregon pioneers not only gained the first +secure foothold for the American people on the Pacific +Coast, but their movement opened the way to American +occupation and in itself counted as an occupation of that +realm for American civilization. They moved across the +continent at an auspicious time, and so were able to +influence, if not to shape, the course of great events +touching the widening of the American dominion on the +Pacific. It was all done so quietly, so efficiently, at so +comparatively small cost and without any shock of harrowing +disaster, that the world has yet to connect the +momentous results with a cause seemingly so inadequate.</p> + +<p class='c009'>As the American people come to realize that their +distinctively national achievement so far, next to that of +maintaining a national integrity, has been that of preempting +and subduing an adequate dominion and home +for a civilization they will revere the services of those +<span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>who made the transcontinental migrations in the thirties, +forties and fifties. The glory that belongs to the participants +in those migrations is the peculiar birthright of +the patriotic Oregonian. The passage from the Atlantic +slope to the Pacific of these first American households +bearing the best embers of western civilization must ever +stand as a momentous event in the annals of time.</p> + +<p class='c009'>For twenty-eight years, now, surviving participants +in this world event have annually assembled to recount +the incidents of their coming to Oregon, to live over that +trying but hallowed time, to rekindle old flames of friendship +and form new ties on the basis of their common +experiences. At these meetings of the Oregon pioneers +there was always an “occasional address” in which the +reminiscences of the immigration of some particular year +were given. As the journal of the association puts it, +the object of the association “should be to collect reminiscences +relating to pioneers and the early history of +the territory; to promote social intercourse, and cultivate +the life-enduring friendships that in many instances had +been formed while making the long, perilous journey of +the wide, wild plains, which separated the western boundary +of civilization thirty years ago from the land which +they had resolved to reclaim.” The biographical notices +contained in the transactions of their association all mark +this coming to Oregon as a dividing event in the lives of +their subjects. That generation of Oregonians suffered +something like a transfiguration through this movement, +which also widened the nation’s outlook—in making +it face a greater sea. These transforming influences +wrought their effects during the summer season that +each successive immigration spent on the Oregon trail, +while journeying in canvas-topped oxen-drawn wagons +from the banks of the Missouri to those of the Willamette. +The greatest epochal expansion of the nation was insured +through these migrations at the same time that the participants +were translating their lives to a new sphere.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_340a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>1.—Near the site of Fort Kearney on the Platte. (Part of pontoon bridge is used as road fence.)</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span>For engaging and vivid detail of experiences in this +movement, recourse must be had to the transactions of +the Oregon Pioneer Association, and to journals kept on +the way across the plains. These will ever have an interest +for the heart of man as they show life under heroic +impulse and in trying conditions long sustained. The +whole movement Oregonward has an epic unity, and when +its significance has become fully manifest will challenge +the powers of the national poet.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But the movement has not yet, even in its outward +aspects, been viewed as a whole. To mark off its limits +in time, in routes taken, in numbers and population elements +involved; to note the main motives, the forms of +characteristic experiences; in a word to make, as it were, +a composite view with relation to national history as a +background,—would seem to be the first step for realizing +the due appreciation of the significance of the work of +the Oregon pioneers. A sketch of the outlines of the +movement in its more salient features, then, is what is +attempted here, with the hope that such setting forth of +the movement as a whole, with outlines more or less +closely defined, will lead to its being brought fully into +relation with the general course of events of American +history. Until the story of the Oregon movement is thus +set forth, the historians of our national life cannot weave +it into its proper conspicuous relations in their narratives. +It has no doubt been largely due to this lack if +the story of this pioneer achievement in available form +that a somewhat undue estimate of Doctor Whitman’s +services and the acceptance of mythical accretions to them +have come about. The Whitman story was early available +and was made to do service in accounting for a larger +outcome than facts warranted.</p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>The Oregon migrations effected at one sweep a two +thousand mile extension of the Aryan movement westward +in the occupation of the north temperate zone—“a +far-flung” outpost of occupation and settlement. To +appreciate the boldness, intrepidity and consummate +effectiveness of such pioneering we have but to note that +no previous extension had compassed one-fourth this distance. +Nor were the conditions in this instance easy. +One continuous stretch of Indian country infested with +most formidable predatory tribes had to be passed +through. Conditions approximating those of a desert +had to be faced during a large part of the migration. +There were swift rivers to ford or ferry, and three mountain +ranges to scale. Only one form of the usual difficulties +of pioneer road-making did not appear. There +were no extensive forests to penetrate except on the +ridges of the Blue and the Cascade Mountains.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The settlements of the blue grass region of Kentucky, +and the Nashville district, in Western Tennessee, were, +when first made, the most isolated from the main body +of the American people. Yet, these had less than a four-hundred +mile stretch between them and the settled region +of the Atlantic slope. No other outward movement of +Aryan people ever covered anything like the distance +made by the Oregon pioneers on the Oregon trail. Measured +by the sea voyage, the Oregon settlements were a +leap of seventeen thousand miles.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_342a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>2.—“LONE OR COURT HOUSE ROCK.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Though the Oregon pioneers traced the first trail +across the continent, adapting for sections of it the lines +of travel of fur trading expeditions; yet, were it not for +the title of Francis Parkman’s narrative (which, however, +has only the slightest references to anything pertaining +to its title), I am not sure but that the very name +would have been lost to all except Oregonians. The +meagerness of Parkman’s presentation of the transcontinental +<span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>movement is easily accounted for. He did not +take his trip of roughing it to Fort Laramie and the +Black Hills, in 1846, to see the Oregon pioneers. His +plans to write the history of the new France in America +tended to narrow his interest strictly to aspects of Indian +life as they were with the Indian in his original state. +He was concerned solely during his life on the plains to +get that insight into Indian character and customs that he +might interpret the records of the relations of the French +with them, and give his narrative in his great life work +truth, life, and color. Had he been inclined to associate +himself with the westward moving trains, and to enter +into their life and thought, his “Oregon Trail” would +naturally have been a final characterization of the migrations +up to the stage they had assumed at that time. +There are, however, indications in some of his references +to the pioneers that their necessarily <i>deshabille</i> condition +while en route, and the astounding and almost reckless +character of their undertaking were by him set in contrast +with the steady comfortable ways of the New England +folk from which he hailed and the Oregonians correspondingly +disparaged. In this he would be bringing a +pioneer phase of civilization into comparison with a more +finished form. The wayfaring pioneers were still marking +out wider and more natural limits for the national +home, while the New Englanders were advancing the +arts of life on the original nucleus of national territory. +But who can say to which the nation in its destiny owes +the more?</p> + +<p class='c009'>Two years ago there appeared a book of five hundred +and twenty-nine pages written by Colonels Henry Inman +and William F. Cody, bearing the title, “The Great Salt +Lake Trail.” In its preface there is to be found the following +comment on its title: “Over this historical highway +the Mormons made their lonely hegira. * * * +<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>Over this route, also, were made those world renowned +expeditions by Fremont, Stansbury, Lander, and others +of lesser fame, to the heart of the Rocky Mountains, +and beyond, to the blue shores of the Pacific Ocean. +Over the same trackless waste the pony express executed +those marvelous feats in annihilating distance, and +the once famous overland stage lumbered along through +the seemingly interminable desert of sage brush and +alkali dust—<i>avant-courieres</i> of the telegraph and the +railroad.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>The body of the book touches upon topics ranging in +time from Jonathan Carver’s explorations in 1766-’68 to +the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. Its map +lays “The Old Salt Lake Trail” exactly on the route of +the Oregon trail as far as Fort Bridger, in Southwestern +Wyoming. But the Oregon migrations are not hinted +at by a single word in the body of the book. The authors’ +account of them could not have been crowded out +by more weighty matters, as all the disjointed fragments +of Indian hunting and fighting and drunken carousal, +whether happening on the line of the trail or not, are +crowded in. Either the story of the Oregon movement +during the thirties, forties and fifties was absolutely +unknown to Colonels Inman and Cody, or, if known, +thought worthy of relegation to oblivion by them.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In interviews last summer with people living along +the line of the trail, only those whose experiences extended +back to the time of the Oregon migrations recognized +the trail as the Oregon trail. It was always the +“California trail” or the “Mormon trail.”</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_344a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>3.—The North Fork of Platte—its sandy bottom exposed.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>It is, of course, to be conceded that more people +traveled this road to California than to Oregon. But +the Oregon movement was first in time. By it the feasibility +of the route was demonstrated, and people susceptible +to the western fever were accustomed to think of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>the trip across the plains in a way that brought them +when the cry of California gold was raised, or when as +Mormon converts they were longing for a refuge from +molestation. Then, too, the Oregon pioneers not only +led the way; they decided our destiny Pacificward. It +is time that history was conferring its award of justice +to them. The highway they opened to the greater sea, +and which their march made glorious, should take its +name from them and thus help to commemorate unto +coming generations the momentous import of their +achievement for all the future of mankind.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The transcontinental movement as a march of civilization +to the west shore of the continent was in its +incipiency a missionary enterprise. There is hardly any +doubt, however, but that the home-seeking pioneer +would have been on the way just as soon without the +initiative of the missionary heroes and heroines. It is, +nevertheless, the lasting glory of the Presbyterian and +Congregational denominations that under the auspices +of their missionary board the first American families +successfully made the passage that was to sweep such a +marvelous movement into its train. The Methodist +Episcopal missionary enterprise antedated all others +and played a conspicuous role in the political organization +of the Oregon community, but it was not first in +setting up the American home. So long as it lacked +that it could not bear an American civilization, which +was the crucial matter. It was Whitman who demonstrated +the possibility of taking households across the +plains, and this achievement, too, was a decisive initiative.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But how did the impulse to make this dangerous +and arduous journey to the then far-off wilderness of +Oregon originate with the missionary and the home-seeking +pioneers? The inception of the Oregon movement +<span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>in both its missionary and its pioneering aspects +is best understood when viewed as outbursts of missionary +zeal and energy and pioneer daring and restlessness +from vast stores of potential missionary and pioneer +spirit existing in this country in the thirties. Missionary +activity in the direction of Oregon was liberated +by something like a spark, or, to change the metaphor, +by a “long-distance” “Macedonian cry.” A delegation +of four Nez Perces Indians from the upper waters of the +Columbia arrived in St. Louis in 1832 in search of “the +white man’s Book of Heaven.” An account of this +singularly unique mission was published in the newspapers +of the time. The story was made all the more +effective and thrilling, with those of deep religious sensibilities, +through its including what purported to be a +verbatim report of a most pathetic farewell address +made in General Clark’s office by one of the two surviving +members of this mission.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The closing passage of the speech, as it has been +handed down, is as follows:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“We are going back the long, sad trail to our people. +When we tell them, after one more snow, in the big +council that we did not bring the Book, no word will be +spoken by our old men, nor by our young braves. One +by one they will rise up and go out in silence. Our people +will die in darkness, and they will go on the long +path to other hunting grounds. No white man will go +with them, and no Book of Heaven to make the way +plain. We have no more words.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>The missionary boards of several Protestant denominations +were already establishing foreign missions in +Africa, India, and among the western North American +Indians. Hall J. Kelley had been agitating the cause of +the Oregon Indians for half-a-generation. An appeal for +missionary help so pathetic, so unheard of, and withal +shedding such luster on those from whom it came, as +was that of the Nez Perces delegation to St. Louis, could +not fail to bring forth a missionary movement towards +Oregon.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_346a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>4.—“CHIMNEY ROCK.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>The spirit that materialized in the Oregon pioneer +movement was not kindled by any special spark like that +which called forth the missionary enterprises. Nor was +it aroused by anything like the cry of gold that brought +on the mad rush to California in ’49 and the early fifties. +The Oregon migrations were the outcome of cool, calm, +reasoned determination. This characterized the movement +collectively as well as individually.</p> + +<p class='c009'>In a sense, the Oregon movement was in preparation +from the time when in 1636 Puritan congregations were +led by Hooker and others from the vicinity of Boston +westward through the forests to the banks of the Connecticut. +This initial western movement was communicated +along the Atlantic coast settlements by the Scotch-Irish +crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains in Pennsylvania, +and by the Virginians penetrating to the Shenandoah +Valley. Some would say that an instinct to move +west has been growing in strength among civilized peoples +since about 1000 B. C., when the Phœnicians moved +west on the Mediterranean to found Carthage, and the +Greeks to plant colonies in southern Italy and at Marseilles.</p> + +<p class='c009'>So largely had pioneering been the mode of life of +those who were living in the western zone of settlement +in the United States in 1840 that it was almost a cult +with them. The traditions of each family led through +the Cumberland Gap or west to Pittsburg and down the +Ohio, or along the line of the Great Lakes. Hon. +W. Lair Hill, in his “Annual Address” before the Pioneer +Association in 1883, fitly characterizes the people +among whom the Oregon movement took its rise. “The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>greater number of them were pioneers by nature and +occupation, as their fathers had been before them. In +childhood the story of their ancestors’ migrations from +the east to the west, and then to the newer west was +their handbook of history. Homer or Virgil, of whom +few of them had ever heard, could have rehearsed no +epic half so thrilling to their ears as the narratives of +daring adventure and hairbreadth escapes, which, half +true and half false, ever form the thread of frontier history. +They knew nothing of Hector and Achilles, but +they knew of Daniel Boone, who, Lord Byron said, ‘was +happiest among mortals anywhere,’ whom civilization +drove out of Pennsylvania by destroying the red deer +and black bear, and who, after some years of solid comfort +in his log cabin amid the wilds of Kentucky, was +again pursued and overtaken by the same relentless +enemy and compelled to retire into the Missouri wilderness, +beyond the Mississippi; and who, even in that +distant retreat, was soon forced to say to his friend and +companion, according to current anecdote, ‘I was compelled +to leave Kentucky because people came and settled +so close around me I had no room to breathe. I thought +when I came out here I should be allowed to live in +peace; but this is all over now. A man has taken up a +farm right over there, within twenty-five miles of my +door.’ Of Boone, and such as Boone, most of them who +founded the commonwealth of Oregon, knew much more +than of the great names of literature, statesmanship, or +arms, and their minds dwelt fondly on the exploits of the +frontiersman, whether in the contests with the savages or +the chase. More familiar with the log cabin than with +the palace, with the rifle than with the spindle and loom, +with saddle than with the railway, they felt cramped +when the progress of empire in its westward way put +restraint upon those habits of life to which they were +accustomed.”</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_348a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>5.—“CASTLE AND STEAMBOAT ROCKS.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>Knowledge of a “new country” was sure to create in +them an almost irrepressible longing to move on. Such +natures as these furnished the best culture conditions in +which to develop an Oregon movement with the reports +explorers and travelers brought from the far Pacific Coast +region. Such Oregon material had early been disseminated +among these susceptible people. The journal of +the Lewis and Clark expedition was published in 1814 +and distributed far and wide as a government document. +Pioneers speak of reading it as boys and of becoming +permanently interested in the Oregon Country. The +journal of Patrick Gass, a sergeant in the company of +Lewis and Clark, fell into the hands of others and stirred +their imaginations. From 1817 on until 1832 Hall J. +Kelley, a Boston schoolmaster, was compiling and distributing +information designed to awaken a desire to join +in a movement to establish a civilized community in Oregon. +His society is said to have had thirty-seven agents +scattered through the union. An Oregon question became +a subject of negotiation between Great Britain and +the United States in 1818. These negotiations were renewed +in 1824, 1827 and 1842. The occupation of Oregon +was proposed in congress in 1821. The subject was kept +before congress almost continuously until 1827, and again +from 1837 on. The proposed legislation elicited exhaustive +reports and warm discussions, which were published +in the newspapers of the land. The bill of Dr. Lewis F. +Linn, senator from Missouri, introduced in 1842, with its +provision for a grant of six hundred and forty acres of +land to every actual male settler, was naturally a most +potent cause of resolutions to go to Oregon. The fact +that during all these years Great Britain disputed our +<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>right to claim the whole of the Oregon Country only +added to the ardor of some who thought of going thither.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Soon sources of fresh information brought direct +from Oregon became available. St. Louis was the +winter rendezvous of representatives of fur companies +and independent trappers who were operating in the +Rocky Mountains. These came in contact with officers +and employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and +from them secured much information about Oregon. +Nathaniel J. Wyeth conducted two expeditions overland +to the Lower Columbia between 1832 and 1836. Mr. +William N. Slacum, who had been commissioned by +President Jackson to visit the North Pacific Coast to conduct +explorations and investigations among the inhabitants +of that region, reported in 1837. Irving’s Astoria +was brought out in 1836, and his Adventures of Captain +Bonneville in 1837. In 1838 Jason Lee, the Methodist missionary, +returned to the States, and talked Oregon wherever +he went. His lecture on Oregon in Peoria, Illinois, +that year netted an expedition of thirteen or fourteen +persons for Oregon the next. The leader of this party, +Thomas J. Farnham, returned to the East, and in 1841 +published a book of travels, which had a wide circulation. +Dr. Elijah White, for several years associated with the +Methodist mission enterprise, but who had returned to +his home in New York, received an appointment in 1842 +as sub-Indian agent for Oregon. He immediately began +a canvass for immigrants to Oregon. His party, made up +mainly of those found on the Missouri border ready to +start, added one hundred and twenty-seven to the American +population in Oregon. During this same year +Commodore Wilkes’ naval exploring expedition to +Oregon returned and reported. Early in this year, too, +Fremont’s overland party was organized, and was on +the trail a short distance in the rear of Doctor White’s +pioneer party. On February 1, 1843, the Linn bill +passed the senate. All the missionaries were sending +back letters giving glowing accounts of the attractions +of Oregon. The famous winter ride of Doctor Whitman +from Oregon to Missouri was made in the winter of +1842–3. He did go to Washington and he urged the +importance of American interests in Oregon upon President +Tyler and some of the members of his cabinet. +Returning west in the spring of 1843, he was at the +Shawnee mission school, near Westport, Missouri, while +the great migration of 1843 was forming and filing by. +The sight reassured him that Oregon was to be occupied +by American citizens. His thought seemed no longer +mainly concerned with the pioneers getting to Oregon. +There would be no trouble about that. His plans +reached forward to include the conditions of a stable and +progressive civilization there. His letters at this time, +after mentioning the number of emigrants, turn to +matters that would determine their condition as proposed +settlers. He says: “A great many cattle are +going, but no sheep, from a mistake of what I said in +passing.” And again: “Sheep and cattle, but especially +sheep, are indispensable for Oregon. * * * I +mean to impress the Secretary of War that sheep are +more to Oregon’s interests than soldiers.” Doctor +Whitman’s influence had probably not been decisive +with many of the pioneers, possibly not with any, in +getting them started, but all the leaders of that great +immigration testify that his services as pilot and counsellor +were most valuable in getting them through.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_350a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>6.—“SCOTT’S BLUFF.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>The facts so far marshalled on the origin of the pioneer +movement to Oregon disclose the existence of a +people in the Mississippi Valley competent for the undertaking, +and on general principles not disinclined towards +it, whose thought, moreover, had been arrested by some +<span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>unique advantages claimed for the Oregon country. But +the Oregon movement, like most migrations, has most +light thrown on its origin and motive by an inquiry into +the conditions that made the old home undesirable, and +in some cases even unbearable.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Not a few came from Missouri, Kentucky and other +border slave states because they were not in sympathy +with the institution of slavery. Their aversion to slave +owning placed them at a great disadvantage in those +states. Their families were not recognized as socially +the equals of the more influential portion of society. +They were accustomed to labor, and slavery brought a +stigma upon labor. In the cultivation of tobacco and +hemp, the main articles of export, the owner of slave +labor had a decided advantage. The employer of free +labor found it exceedingly difficult to make ends meet. +Snubbed in a social way, worsted in industrial competition, +in individual cases they were even mobbed when +they tried to express their anti-slavery sentiments at the +polls. Some of the more nervous of the slave-owning +population, too, were impelled to seek relief in the same +movement from the constant dread of a negro insurrection.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The “fever and ague” was a dread visitant to very +many engaged in turning over the virgin soil of the Mississippi +Valley. In Oregon they would be free from this +curse, so the “fever and ague,” with not a few, brought +on the “Oregon fever.” The frequent recurrence of the +awful scourge of the cholera in the towns of the middle +west in the late forties and early fifties made many, in +the hope of safety, more than willing to brave the dangers +and hardships of the journey to Oregon. The +warning signals of approaching old age no doubt were +the deciding influence with some who set out as modern +Ponce de Leons in search of fountains of renewed youth +in Oregon.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_352a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>7.—“OLD BEDLAM”—SITE OF FORT LARAMIE.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>Monetary disturbances had made business stagnant +all over the country from 1837 to 1841. Many had gone +to the wall, and had been compelled to see their homes +turned over to others. The hard times were felt keenest +in the then farthest west. They were so far inland that +commercial intercourse with the rest of the world was +almost totally cut off. What traffic they had was carried +on by slow, laborious and expensive processes. Railroad +building had not progressed so as to give a hope, hardly +even an intimation, of its wonderful solution of the +problem of maintaining a high civilization far inland. +By going to Oregon they would, as they thought of it, +again be on the open shores of the greater sea, within +easy reach of the highway of the civilizations of the world. +Not often, perhaps, were their motives formulated. These +were allowed to rest in their minds in the most naive +form of impulse. Col. Geo. B. Currey, in his “Occasional +Address” before the Pioneer Association, in 1887, endorses +the following as the best reason he ever got. It +was, as he says, “from a genuine westerner,” who said +he came “because the thing wasn’t fenced in, and nobody +dared to keep him out.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>The western border of Missouri was the natural jumping +off place for the plunge into the wilderness. The +settlements there had extended out like a plank beyond +the line of the border elsewhere. The Ohio and the Missouri, +with a short stretch of the Mississippi, had furnished +the line of least resistance to the westward movement.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Each recurring spring tide from 1842 on witnessed the +gathering of hosts at points on the Missouri, from Independence, +near the confluence of the Kansas with the +Missouri, north to what is now Council Bluffs. They +<span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>were enamored with one idea, that of making homes in +far away Oregon. This part of the border was also the +starting line for the California and the Mormon migrations. +The California movement was only sporadic until +1849. This was seven years after the Oregon movement +had become regular. The Mormons first struck across +the continent in 1847.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Independence and Westport, just south of the Missouri’s +great bend to the east, were the gateway of the +earliest regular travel and traffic across the plains. +These towns are now the suburbs of Kansas City. The +Oregon migrations of 1842 and 1843 were formed exclusively +in this vicinity. The old Santa Fe trail led by these +settlements. From these points, too, the fur trading +companies conducted expeditions annually to the upper +waters of the Green River beyond the Rocky Mountains. +The route was up the south side of the Kansas River +some fifty miles, then turning to the right, the river was +forded or ferried and a general northwest course adhered +to, more direct for Oregon.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Beginning in 1844 Saint Joseph, then a thriving border +town, situated on the river some fifty miles to the north +of the first jumping off places, became an important fitting +out place. Those who took steamboat passage to +the border would naturally wish to make as much of the +distance to Oregon in that way as possible. The vicinity +of Saint Joseph seemed to furnish excellent facilities +for securing the necessary ox teams and other needs for +the trip. The Saint Joseph route, too, was a more direct +one for those coming across the country from Iowa, +Illinois and Indiana. After 1850 the Council Bluffs’ +route had the largest transcontinental travel. Weston +and old Fort Kearney, the present Nebraska City, both +on the Missouri, the former between Independence and +Saint Joseph and the latter between Saint Joseph and +Council Bluffs were minor points of departure. Smaller +companies would cross the river wherever there was a +ferry.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_354a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>8.—The Trail leading down to bottom lands of the Sweetwater.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>Steamboating on the treacherous Missouri during +those spring seasons while the tide of emigration was +strongly westward set is given a lurid hue in the journals +of the emigrants. The river route was the natural +one for all coming from Ohio and the states to the east, +also for many coming from Indiana.</p> + +<p class='c009'>One entry made during this part of the trip in 1852 +reads as follows: “We have a bar on our boat, too, and +that is visited about as often as any other place I know of. +A son of temperance is a strange animal on this river, I +can assure you. I think there are three or four sons on +the boat, and the rest, about five hundred people, like a +dram as often as I would like to drink a little water. * * * We get a little scared sometimes, for we hear +of so many boats blowing up. There was another boat +blown up at Lexington last Saturday and killed one hundred +and fifty persons, the most of which were emigrants +for California and Oregon. These things make us feel +pretty squally, I can assure you, but it is not the way to +be scared beforehand. So we boost our spirits up and +push on. * * * Got to Lexington at 12 o’clock. +There we found the wrecks of the boat that blew up five +days ago. There were about two hundred people aboard, +and the nearest we could learn about forty persons escaped +unhurt, about forty were wounded and the balance +were killed.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>The man who kept this journal fitted out with a company +at Saint Joseph. The company planned to drive +up the east side of the Missouri and cross at old Fort +Kearney. But, finding the roads too bad on that route, +they made for a ferry ten miles north of Saint Joseph. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>I quote from his account of their experiences in getting +across the river: “Went up to the ferry. Mr. H—‘s and +Mr. S—’s wagons went over safe. Then Mr. S—’s family +wagon and five yoke of cattle and all of Mr. S—’s family +except two boys went on the ferry boat, and when they +were about one-half way across the boat began to sink. +They tried to drive the cattle off, but could not in time +to save the boat from sinking. My family are still on +the east side and I—S— with his teams. We witnessed +the scene and could do nothing. Mrs. S— and the baby +and next youngest were all under water, but the men of +the boat got into the river and took them out, and the rest +of the family got upon the wagon cover and saved themselves +from drowning. A Mr. R— jumped overboard +and thought he could swim to shore, but was drowned. +He was one of Mr. S—’s hired hands. By the assistance +of one of the other boats the rest were saved, but we +thought from where we were that it was impossible that +they could all be saved. Well, I paid a man fifteen cents +for taking my wife and little children across in a skiff. +They have no skiff at the ferry, but they have three good +ferryboats that they work by hand. But the people here +are as near heathens as they can be, and they go for shaving +the emigrants, and then they spend it for whiskey +and get drunk and roll in it. But we are all over on the +west shore of the Missouri and in Indian territory.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>For those congregated hosts, encamped each early +spring at different points along the banks of the Missouri, +and intent as soon as grass had grown to be sufficient for +their stock to sally forth on a two thousand mile passage +to the Valley of the Willamette, the natural features of +the continent pointed out just one general route to travel. +This road, so clearly marked out by the configuration of +the country for all using their mode of conveyance, lay +up the Valley of the Platte; its tributary, the Sweetwater; +through South Pass; across to the Valley of the +Snake, the tributary of the Columbia; following down +the course of the Snake to its great bend to the north; +across to the Columbia; down the Columbia to their +destination.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_356a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>9.—“INDEPENDENCE ROCK.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>Those sections of the trail which constitute connecting +links, as it were, to the grander portions, can be +accounted for almost as clearly as the main sections can. +Forage and water must be regularly available to those +traveling with horses, mules or oxen. These must be +found in great abundance by those who are driving considerable +droves over long stretches of arid wastes. In +summer months, on the unsettled parched plains, these +resources were insured only along river or creek bottoms. +So in striking out from Independence or Saint Joseph for +the Valley of the Platte to the north, to economize in the +distance traveled to the Oregon goal, and insure supplies +of the prime requisites—good water and grass—their +course would be such as to bring them to nightly camps +on the banks of one of the numerous streams flowing +into the Kansas. Passing one they would make for a +higher point on the next to the west so as to keep in a +more direct line for Oregon. Fuel, so necessary for preparing +their meals, was in that region found only on the +banks of these streams. Along the Platte, the North +Fork, and the Sweetwater “buffalo chips” sufficed fairly +well the need of fuel, except the night was wet. In +moving from the South Pass to the basin of the Columbia, +mountainous country made a direct route impracticable. +In the detour to the southwest the valleys of +the tributaries of the Upper Green were utilized, and +particularly the most convenient northwest course of the +Bear River. The details of the course in this detour +were determined by the stepping stones, as it were, of +water, grass and wood. These were found in that desert +<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>region, too, only in the river and creek bottoms. On +issuing from the South Pass, then, the valleys of the +Little Sandy, Big Sandy, and the Green itself, had to be +followed, with such crossings from one to the other as +were feasible, and were in the interests of economy in +distance, until they struck a tributary coming in from +the west, up which a passage could be made and the +divide crossed, bringing them into the Valley of the +Bear, a part of the Great Salt Lake Basin. The Valley +of the Bear has a general northwest direction of some +seventy-five miles from where they usually entered it. +It was in every way a natural road to them to the point +where it makes its bend to the south. At this bend was +the first fork made in early times by the California trail’s +turning off to the south. The divide at this point between +the Basin of the Great Salt Lake and the Valley of +the Snake was comparatively easy. The Snake River +Valley, with its barren wastes, deep precipitous canyons, +sharp lava rocks, made a trying portion of the route. +There were several optional routes. None so acceptable +as the Platte Valley had furnished. To follow the +Snake in its long bend to the north would have led them +far out of their way, so they took the available valleys +of the Burnt and Powder rivers that led them farthest +on their way towards the westerly flowing Umatilla, a +tributary of the Columbia. They thus not only kept on +in a comparatively direct line towards the Valley of the +Willamette, but were also afforded water, grass and +wood so necessary for further endurance of the now well +fagged transcontinental wayfarers. But the Blue Mountains +lay across this short cut and gave them their first +real experience in climbing steep mountain sides. From +the crest of these mountains the way to their goal lay +down hill, except they chose a road across the Cascade +Mountains. But whether they took the Barlow Road or +dared the dangers of the gorge of the Columbia, the +darkest, sternest trials were yet to be faced by the now +weak and famished pioneers. They were, however, +veterans now, and if succored with fresh supplies from +settlers in the Willamette Valley and the strength of +their cattle sufficed, no difficulties, however stupendous, +could daunt them.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_358a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>10.—WEST END OF INDEPENDENCE ROCK.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>On the whole, those home-seeking pioneers, as they +lay encamped on the banks of the Missouri, could congratulate +themselves that no specially stupendous natural +obstacles had been interposed in that immense +stretch that lay between them and their destination. +There was only the interminableness of it, and the facts +that it was to be entered upon while the fierce pelting +spring storms of wind, rain and hail were liable to be of +daily and nightly occurrence; that muddy sloughs would +cause breakdowns, and freshet-swollen streams would be +fraught with danger; that there would then be four +months in which the fierce burning, blistering sun would +have them at its mercy, and a dense, stifling dust would +enhance their misery during the midday hours to the +point of wretchedness, and no bathroom in the evening +in which to find relief; that in the later and almost final +days of the journey they would probably be exposed in +approximate nakedness to the searching blasts of the +oncoming winter, fortunate if they were not caught and +held fast in mountain snows. Withal, they knew it would +be a lumbering trudge with ox teams that would take +them all summer and far into the autumn.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Each recurring spring season family or neighborhood +groups who had determined to try their fortunes in Oregon +would move out to one of the points of departure on +the Missouri border. They would soon find themselves +a part of a larger aggregation. Generally there was no +more prearrangement for this meeting than there is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span>among birds that flock for a migration. All who constituted +the company from any one point had simply selected +the same jumping off place.</p> + +<p class='c009'>When the grass had grown abundant enough to furnish +subsistence for their stock and draft animals, those +who were ready with their outfit would begin to file out +on the prairie trails converging upon the main Oregon +road. After having traveled a day or two a halt was +called by those in advance to await the coming up of +others who proposed to undertake the same trip with +themselves. The American instinct for organization +would then assert itself, and there was occasion for its +activity. They were in an Indian country. It was not +wise to tempt the predatory propensities of the savages +by too much straggling in their traveling or by too much +unwariness in guarding their cattle and horses. In +order to avoid molestation by prowling bands of Pawnees, +Otoes, Cheyennes and Sioux, through whose ranges +the trail east of the Rockies passed, it was necessary to +travel in companies of some size and with such discipline +as to be able to establish an effective guard at night and +to make some demonstration of force when encountering +considerable bands of Indian warriors.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was much economy, too, in bunching their +several droves of loose stock into a single herd, in having +a single lookout for selecting camping places, in the help +that each would receive in case of accidents that all were +liable to. Very essential, too, were organization and +discipline when they came to a bank of a large stream +across which their trail led. With the earlier migrations +before printed guide books were available, organization +was necessary to secure the services of a pilot.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_360a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>11.—“DEVIL’S GATE,”<br> <br> Showing dam for leading out an irrigating ditch.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>The first large migrations—those of 1843 and 1844, +and even of 1845—erred in attempting to go as one +compact body. The difficulty of securing adequate +<span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>grazing was much enhanced as the company increased +in size. From this fact and the further fact that in case +of a hitch or accident of any kind in a large company, +many would be delayed who could be of no service in +getting things fixed up for a fresh start, it resulted that +twenty or thirty wagons were the maximum limit to the +size of companies that did not chafe under their organization. +In later years six or eight wagons were a +normal number for a company. Even in the earlier +migrations, when the Upper Sweetwater was reached +and the danger from the Indians was measurably past, +the large companies would divide up into sections. The +earlier migrations, too, took precautions that no person +attached himself to the train unless he was furnished +with such resources as to rations and transportation that +he would not likely become a common burden.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The records of the migrations give ample corroboration +to the truth of the adage, “Uneasy lies the head, +etc.,” and yet these privately penned diaries disclose +comparatively little bickering or unwholesome feeling, +notwithstanding the severe strain human nature was +under in the conditions of this four, five, and sometimes +six months’ passage. Whenever conditions developed +making advisable a division of the body into two or +more, the division was made, and all was smooth again. +The documentary material printed in this number of the +Quarterly throws light on this phase of their experience +and depicts the unique proceedings of the pioneers of +1843 in effecting an organization.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The type of the transcontinental pioneer changed +materially after the gold-seeker was in the majority. +From 1849 on the diarist’s account is not devoid of the +tragical. “These plains try and tell all the dark spots +in men,” says Rev. Jesse Moreland in his journal of the +trip from Tennessee to Oregon in 1852. He describes +<span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>evidence of three executions for murder by hanging. +He says: “As they had nothing to make a gallows out +of, they took two wagon tongues, put them point to +point and set a chair in the middle, and the man stood +on the chair till the rope was tied, and then the chair +was taken from under him. This is the third we have +heard of being hanged.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>Before 1849, while the Oregon movement still constituted +the great part of the transcontinental travel, and +a fierce commercial spirit was not yet dominant, the +humanity of the pioneers seemed to stand remarkably +well the strain incident to the experiences on the plains. +Their journals do not reveal half the irritation and +demoralization that the accounts of Parkman and of +Coke do in companies that had vastly better outfits and +were passing over the same routes.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The average company of immigrants in pulling through +the miry sloughs of the Missouri bottom lands in early +spring, with only partly broken ox teams, would break a +wagon tongue, an axle tree, or a wheel, and suffer more +or less exasperating delay. The fierce spring storms of +rain and hail would play havoc with their tent coverings, +and drench and pelt all who must stand outside to prevent +the teams and stock from stampeding. These freshets +would make impassable, for the time being, the numerous +streams of the Kansas and Nebraska prairies. With +the feeling that they must not over-exert their teams mere +trifles even were allowed to delay them during the first +four or five hundred miles of the journey.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Except they had some one like a Doctor Whitman +with them to persistently urge them to “travel, travel,” +as the only condition of getting through, there would be +too much loitering in the early stages of the journey. +Those who entered upon the trip in later years had more +nearly an adequate sense of the vastness of the distance +they must cover, and wasted no time in the initial stages.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_362a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>12.—Gap just south of Devil’s Gate—used for the Trail.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>Especially the migration of 1849, and to some degree +those of 1850 and 1852, were in deepest dismay over the +presence among them of the dreadful scourge of cholera. +The trail was lined in places along the south side of the +Platte through the width of rods with mounds of freshly +made graves after these migrations had passed.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The Hon. F. A. Chenoweth, in his “Occasional Address” +before the Oregon Pioneer Association, in 1882, +gives the following account of the ravages of the cholera +among the trains of 1849:</p> + +<p class='c009'>“But the incidents of hardship which I have noticed +were the merest trifles compared to the terrible calamity +that marked with sadness and trailed in deep desolation +over that ill-fated emigration. Very soon after the assembled +throng took up its march over the plains the +terrible wave of cholera struck them in a way to carry +utmost terror and dismay into all parts of the moving +mass.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The number of fatally stricken, after the smoke and +dust were cleared away, was not numerically so frightful +as appeared to those who were in the midst of it. But +the name “cholera” in a multitude unorganized and +unnumbered is like a leak in the bottom of a ship whose +decks are thronged with passengers. The disturbed +waters of the ocean, the angry elements of nature, when +aroused to fury, are but faint illustrations of the terror-stricken +mass of humanity, when in their midst are falling +with great rapidity their comrades—the strong, the +young and the old—the strength and vigor of youth +melting away before an unseen foe. All this filled our +ranks with the utmost terror and gloom. This terrible +malady seemed to spend its most deadly force on the +flat prairie east of and about Fort Laramie.</p> + +<p class='c009'>One of the appalling effects of this disease was to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>cause the most devoted friends to desert, in case of +attack, the fallen one. Many a stout and powerful man +fought the last battle alone on the prairie. When the +rough hand of the cholera was laid upon families they +rarely had either the assistance or the sympathy of their +neighbors or traveling companions.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There was one feature mixed with all this terror that +afforded some degree of relief, and that was that there +was no case of lingering suffering. When attacked, a +single day ordinarily ended the strife in death or recovery. +A vast amount of wagons, with beds and blankets, +were left by the roadside, which no man, not even an +Indian, would approach or touch through fear of the +unknown, unseen destroyer.</p> + +<p class='c009'>While there were sad instances of comrades deserting +comrades in this hour of extreme trial, I can not pass +this point of my story without stating that there were +many instances of heroic devotion to the sick, when such +attention was regarded as almost equivalent to the offering +up of the well and healthy for the mere hope of +saving the sick and dying.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>Not a few who had purposed to go to California that +year turned off on the Oregon road to escape the contagion +which the dense crowd seemed to afford this +disease. Excepting in these cholera years and in 1847 +there were only infrequent cases of mountain fever and +forms of dysentery that were developed in the alkali +regions of the mountains.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_364a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>13.—“DEVIL’S GATE,” AS SEEN FROM ABOVE.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>A train of pioneers with sensible outfit emerging into +the valley of the Platte in a season free from the cholera +affliction could almost make it for a time a grand pleasure +excursion. The heat was not yet oppressive, the roads +good, the air exhilarating, the boundless expanse of green +undulating prairie under crystal skies filled them with a +sense of freedom. The exciting buffalo hunt was soon +<span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>on and afforded them a welcome addition to a diet exceedingly +unvaried at best. After the usual trudge during +the day amid a panorama not yet monotonous the +wagons would be driven to form approximately a circle—the +end of the tongue or the front wheel of one lapping +the hind wheel of the wagon in front, according as a more +or less spacious corral was desired. The oxen would be +unyoked and taken to water and then to the selected +grazing spot. Fires would be kindled alongside each +wagon outside of the corral for preparing the evening +meal. After it was partaken of there would be an hour or +two before darkness settled down upon them. Then the +cattle would be brought within the corral, if there was +the least apprehension of danger, and all except the +guards for the first watch and possibly the matrons with +multitudinous family cares would quickly surrender themselves +to sleep. But congenial groups of young people +would generally have a social hour or two. A blanket +or extra wagon covering was thrown on the ground beside +the wagon, and, when rain threatened, spread under the +wagon. (Most were probably without tents other than +the canvas tops of their wagons.) This with something +for a covering sufficed for the beds of the young men and +boys. In the morning at a given signal all were astir—and, +if the cattle had not strayed during the night or +been stampeded by Indians, breakfast over, everything +was soon in readiness for falling in, each in his appointed +place, and taking up the march that should bring them +a day nearer to their Oregon home. But this idyllic succession +of days very soon developed a very seamy side.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The sun’s rays became more and more scorching in +their fierceness, the plains assumed a dull, leaden grayish +aspect. The sagebrush and cactus took the place of +the waving grass. The burning sand and stifling dust +became deeper. These the west wind would raise into +<span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>a cloud continuous from morning until night. This +cloud of sand and dust particles beating against them at +a terrific velocity they had to face all day. Soon eyes +and lips were sore. To relieve the uncomfortable feeling +that the parching air gave the lips they would unwisely +be moistened and the soreness thus extended and +deepened. Soon everything was obdurately begrimed. +Rags then were in evidence. Shoes worn so as to no +longer protect the feet. In the dry, scorching air the +wagons would develop loose joints and lose their tires.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The monotony was relieved by lying by a day now +and then during which the women would wash and mend +the clothes and the men repair wagons and hunt buffalo, +the meat of which would be jerked to furnish a supply +after they had passed beyond the limits of the buffalo +country. The buffalo did not commonly range west of +the Lower Sweetwater.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The experiences which the buffalo gave them were +not limited to the fine sport of hunting him and the +delicious feasts his steaks afforded. His presence seemed +to kindle into life the old ancestral wildness of the ox +and the horse. Without the least warning some sedate +member of a team would raise his head and give the old +racial snort of freedom. This would kindle the same +spark in every animal of the train, and away they +would stampede with wagons, inmates and all, and not +to be stopped until utterly exhausted. In these stampedes +people would be run over, bones would be broken, +oxen dehorned, their legs broken, and things demolished +generally. The simple-minded pioneer with any tendency +to personify could not help but believe that the +devil had gotten into his hitherto always tractable +animals. I quote a pioneer’s account of a stampede, +though he does not ascribe it to the presence or influence +of the buffalo, as is almost always done: “After passing +Devil’s Gate, a beautiful stretch of road lay before us. +All at once the teams broke into a run—something +started them, no one seemed to know what. It was a +regular stampede as to our team. Father and mother +were walking; I was walking also, and some of the +children were in the wagon. Away the team went, the +hardest and the wildest running I ever saw. When +they stopped and we caught up with them, we found the +children were not hurt, but the two wheelers were down +and one of them dead. It took our team a long time to +get over the scare.”</p> + +<div class='figcenter id001'> +<img src='images/i_366a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>14.—“DEVIL’S GATE,” FROM SOME DISTANCE ABOVE.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>There was still another condition in which the spirit +of the buffalo made the pioneer show deference to it. +This happened when a great horde of buffalo was on a +stampede bearing down upon an emigrant train that +happened to be passing across its trail. The moment +was almost enough to bring dismay to the pioneer. +Either the teams of the train were urged into something +of a stampede to get out of line of the horde’s advance, +or a corral was formed and volleys fired into the impending +mass to divide it so as to leave the corral a safe +island between a destructive flood rolling by on either +hand.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Distressing accidents must almost of necessity befall +them from their carrying their loaded guns commingled +with household goods on their wagons. It is not +strange that at least half of the journals should have +records of fatalities thus caused. Under the law of +mathematical probabilities, with the frequent occasion +there was to remove gun or blanket thus intermixed, +while the members of the family were standing around +the wagon, accidents must occur. The small boy of the +family during this four or five months’ trip had very +many occasions to clamber out of and into the wagon +while it was in motion. He, too, would come to grief +<span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>with a broken leg. Any ordinary fracture, however, +even though there were no surgeon at hand, would be +attended to, so that no deformity resulted. If the case +was one seeming to require an amputation “a butcher +knife and an old dull hand saw” were improvised as +surgical instruments. But I have not found that a +patient survived such an operation and got well. The +other great epochal events of family life, marriages and +births, were not infrequent on the trail, and seemed to +cause little distraction.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The experiences of the pioneers in crossing the rivers +in the line of the trail were very diverse. It is reported +of one of the migrations that they were not compelled +to ferry until they reached the Des Chutes in Oregon. +But the migration of 1844 had a serious time even with +the Black Vermillion and Big Blue, tributaries of the +Kansas. Where logs were available they were hollowed +out and catamaran rafts made so as to fit the wheels of a +wagon. Sometimes the best wagon boxes would be +selected and caulked and used as flatboats. Where buffalo +skins were plentiful they would be stretched around +the wagon box to make it water-tight. In later stages +of the journey, after their teams were more reliable, it +was a common practice to raise the wagon beds several +inches above the bolsters, if the depth of the stream +required it, couple several teams into a train with the +most reliable in front on a lead-rope, and drivers along +the down-stream side of the other teams. They would +then ford as trains. After the rush in 1849 ferries were +established at the more important crossings, whose owners +reaped rich harvests.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_368a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>15.—The deeply worn Trail along the Sweetwater.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Their route had no rich diversity of scenic grandeur. +There are most impressive natural features along the +line of it, but with their slow mode of travel one phase +became exceedingly monotonous before another was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>reached. There were the vastness and solitude of the +prairies and plains, the transparency of the atmosphere +that gave magnificent sweep of view. Along the North +Fork of the Platte stood great sentinel rocks with interesting +sculptured proportions. Among these are the +Lone or Court House Rock, Chimney Rock, Castle Rock, +Steamboat Rock, and Scott’s Bluff. Farther along on +their journey they come to Independence Rock and +Devil’s Gate on the Sweetwater, one a huge basaltic +mound upon which with tar or with iron chisels they +would register their names; the other a most unique +breach in a granitic range with sides two hundred feet +high, through which the Sweetwater flows. A week or +two later they would have the exhilarating sense of standing +on the backbone of the continent in South Pass, with +the towering Wind River Mountains to their right and +the Oregon buttes to their left. A few miles on they +would drink from the Pacific springs and know they +were in what was then called Oregon. Scenery most +unique was still before them on their way. Some of it, +like the panorama from the divide between the Green +and the Bear rivers and the Soda Springs, they would +enjoy. But their march from the South Pass on was a +retreat. Oxen would fall helpless in their yokes, wagons +would become rickety beyond repair. The trail was +strewn with wreckage, and the stench from the dead +cattle was appalling. The watering places along the +Snake were contaminated by the stock that had perished. +As soon as they reached the Blue Mountains their stock +was safe from starvation, but the exertion required of +their way-worn and weak oxen on the steep grades now +before them was the last straw often that these creatures +now could not bear. They could not let them recruit; +the season was far advanced towards winter; they must +press on.</p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>Data for determining the numbers that came across +the plains to Oregon during the successive years are as +yet very unsatisfactory. The estimates given below for +1842 and 1843 are well founded, but the others, especially +from 1847 on, are from no very tangible basis.</p> + +<p class='c009'>At the close of 1841 the Americans in Oregon numbered +possibly four hundred.</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1842 estimated from</td> + <td class='c012'>105 to</td> + <td class='c005'>137</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1843 estimated from</td> + <td class='c012'>875 to</td> + <td class='c005'>1,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1844 estimated about</td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c005'>700</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1845 estimated about</td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c005'>3,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1846 estimated about</td> + <td class='c012'> </td> + <td class='c005'>1,350</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c009'>The above figures are taken quite closely from those +given by Elwood Evans in his address before the Pioneer +Association in 1877. I make the immigration of 1844, +however, seven hundred, instead of four hundred and +seventy-five, as he gives it.</p> + +<table class='table1'> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1847 between</td> + <td class='c005'>4,000 and 5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1848 about</td> + <td class='c005'>700</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1849 about</td> + <td class='c005'>400</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1850 about</td> + <td class='c005'>2,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1851 about</td> + <td class='c005'>1,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>The immigration of 1852 about</td> + <td class='c005'>2,500</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p class='c009'>No doubt this one summer on the plains was an ordeal +under which some sensitive natures were strained +and weakened for life. It may be, too, that living for five +or six months, as families, on the simplest, barest necessities +of life, fixed standards of living lower than they otherwise +would have been. The effect, however, on strong, +resourceful natures of these months on the plains could +not have been other than salutary. The pioneers, when +they started, were most distinctively American in their +characteristics. As such they needed to be socialized. +No better school could have been devised than the organization +and regimen of the trip across the plains for socializing +their natures.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>F. G. YOUNG.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_370a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>16.—The “Three Crossings” of the Sweetwater.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span> + <h2 class='c003'>A DAY WITH THE COW COLUMN IN 1843.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c006'> + <div>By JESSE APPLEGATE.</div> + <div class='c002'>(Read before the Oregon Pioneer Association in 1876; reprinted from transactions of that society.)</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The migration of a large body of men, women and +children across the continent to Oregon was, in the year +1843, strictly an experiment; not only in respect to the +members, but to the outfit of the migrating party. Before +that date, two or three missionaries had performed the +journey on horseback, driving a few cows with them, +three or four wagons drawn by oxen had reached Fort +Hall, on Snake River, but it was the honest opinion of +the most of those who had traveled the route down +Snake River, that no large number of cattle could be +subsisted on its scanty pasturage, or wagons taken over +a country so rugged and mountainous.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The emigrants were also assured that the Sioux would +be much opposed to the passage of so large a body through +their country, and would probably resist it on account of +the emigrants’ destroying and frightening away the buffaloes, +which were then diminishing in numbers.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The migrating body numbered over one thousand +souls, with about one hundred and twenty wagons, +drawn by six-ox teams, averaging about six yokes to the +team, and several thousand loose horses and cattle.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The emigrants first organized and attempted to travel +in one body, but it was soon found that no progress +could be made with a body so cumbrous, and as yet so +<span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>averse to all discipline. And at the crossing of the “Big +Blue” it divided into two columns, which traveled in +supporting distance of each other as far as Independence +Rock on the Sweetwater.</p> + +<p class='c009'>From this point, all danger from Indians being over, +the emigrants separated into small parties better suited +to the narrow mountain paths and small pastures in +their front.</p> + +<p class='c009'>Before the division on the Blue River there was some +just cause for discontent in respect to loose cattle. Some +of the emigrants had only their teams, while others had +large herds in addition, which must share the pasture +and be guarded and driven by the whole body. This +discontent had its effect in the division on the Blue. +Those not encumbered with or having but few loose +cattle attached themselves to the light column; those +having more than four or five cows had of necessity to +join the heavy or cow column. Hence the cow column, +being much larger than the other and much encumbered +with its large herds, had to use greater exertion and observe +a more rigid discipline to keep pace with the more +agile consort. It is with the cow column that I propose +to journey with the reader for a single day.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It is four o’clock A. M.; the sentinels on duty have +discharged their rifles—the signal that the hours of sleep +are over—and every wagon and tent is pouring forth its +night tenants, and slow-kindling smokes begin largely +to rise and float away in the morning air. Sixty men +start from the corral, spreading as they make through +the vast herd of cattle and horses that make a semicircle +around the encampment, the most distant perhaps two +miles away.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_372a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>17.—“Oregon Buttes,”—taken from South Pass.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>The herders pass to the extreme verge and carefully +examine for trails beyond, to see that none of the animals +have strayed or been stolen during the night. This +<span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>morning no trails led beyond the outside animals in +sight, and by 5 o’clock the herders begin to contract the +great, moving circle, and the well-trained animals move +slowly towards camp, clipping here and there a thistle or +a tempting bunch of grass on the way. In about an +hour five thousand animals are close up to the encampment, +and the teamsters are busy selecting their teams +and driving them inside the corral to be yoked. The corral +is a circle one hundred yards deep, formed with +wagons connected strongly with each other; the wagon +in the rear being connected with the wagon in front by +its tongue and ox chains. It is a strong barrier that the +most vicious ox cannot break, and in case of an attack of +the Sioux would be no contemptible intrenchment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>From 6 to 7 o’clock is a busy time; breakfast is to be +eaten, the tents struck, the wagons loaded and the teams +yoked and brought up in readiness to be attached to their +respective wagons. All know when, at 7 o’clock, the +signal to march sounds, that those not ready to take +their proper places in the line of march must fall into +the dusty rear for the day.</p> + +<p class='c009'>There are sixty wagons. They have been divided +into fifteen divisions or platoons of four wagons each, +and each platoon is entitled to lead in its turn. The +leading platoon today will be the rear one tomorrow, +and will bring up the rear unless some teamster, through +indolence or negligence, has lost his place in the line, and +is condemned to that uncomfortable post. It is within +ten minutes of seven; the corral but now a strong barricade +is everywhere broken, the teams being attached to +the wagons. The women and children have taken their +places in them. The pilot (a borderer who has passed +his life on the verge of civilization and has been chosen +to the post of leader from his knowledge of the savage +and his experience in travel through roadless wastes), +<span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>stands ready, in the midst of his pioneers and aids, to +mount and lead the way. Ten or fifteen young men, not +today on duty, form another cluster. They are ready to +start on a buffalo hunt, are well mounted and well armed, +as they need be, for the unfriendly Sioux have driven the +buffalo out of the Platte, and the hunters must ride fifteen +or twenty miles to reach them. The cow drivers are +hastening, as they get ready, to the rear of their charge, +to collect and prepare them for the day’s march.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It is on the stroke of seven; the rush to and fro, the +cracking of whips, the loud command to oxen, and what +seemed to be the inextricable confusion of the last ten +minutes has ceased. Fortunately every one has been +found and every teamster is at his post. The clear notes +of a trumpet sound in the front; the pilot and his guards +mount their horses; the leading divisions of the wagons +move out of the encampment, and take up the line of +march; the rest fall into their places with the precision +of clock work, until the spot so lately full of life sinks +back into that solitude that seems to reign over the broad +plain and rushing river as the caravan draws its lazy +length towards the distant El Dorado. It is with the +hunters we shall briskly canter towards the bold but +smooth and grassy bluffs that bound the broad valley, +for we are not yet in sight of the grander but less beautiful +scenery (of Chimney Rock, Court House and other +bluffs, so nearly resembling giant castles and palaces), +made by the passage of the Platte through the highlands +near Laramie. We have been traveling briskly for more +than an hour. We have reached the top of the bluff, and +now have turned to view the wonderful panorama spread +before us. To those who have not been on the Platte, +my powers of description are wholly inadequate to convey +an idea of the vast extent and grandeur of the picture, +and the rare beauty and distinctness of the detail. No +haze or fog obscures objects in the pure and transparent +atmosphere of this lofty region. To those accustomed +only to the murky air of the seaboard, no correct judgment +of distance can be formed by sight, and objects +which they think they can reach in a two hours’ walk +may be a day’s travel away; and though the evening +air is a better conductor of sound, on the high plain during +the day the report of the loudest rifle sounds little +louder than the bursting of a cap; and while the report +can be heard but a few hundred yards, the smoke of the +discharge may be seen for miles. So extended is the +view from the bluff on which the hunters stand, that +the broad river glowing under the morning sun like a +sheet of silver, and the broader emerald valley that +borders it, stretch away in the distance until they narrow +at almost two points in the horizon, and when first +seen, the vast pile of the Wind River Mountains though +hundreds of miles away, looks clear and distinct as a +white cottage on the plain.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_374a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>18.—“STEAMBOAT SPRING” ON THE BANKS OF THE BEAR RIVER.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>We are full six miles away from the line of march; +though everything is dwarfed by distance, it is seen distinctly. +The caravan has been about two hours in motion +and is now as widely extended as a prudent regard +for safety will permit. First, near the bank of the shining +river is a company of horsemen; they seem to have +found an obstruction, for the main body has halted while +three or four ride rapidly along the bank of the creek or +slough. They are hunting a favorable crossing for the +wagons; while we look they have succeeded; it has +apparently required no work to make it passable, for all +but one of the party have passed on, and he has raised +a flag, no doubt a signal to the wagons to steer their +course to where he stands. The leading teamster sees +him, though he is yet two miles off, and steers his course +directly towards him, all the wagons following in his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>track. They (the wagons) form a line three-quarters of +a mile in length; some of the teamsters ride upon the +front of their wagons, some march beside their teams; +scattered along the line companies of women are taking +exercise on foot; they gather bouquets of rare and +beautiful flowers that line the way; near them stalks a +stately greyhound, or an Irish wolf dog, apparently +proud of keeping watch and ward over his master’s wife +and children. Next comes a band of horses; two or +three men or boys follow them, the docile and sagacious +animals scarce needing this attention, for they have +learned to follow in the rear of the wagons, and know +that at noon they will be allowed to graze and rest. +Their knowledge of time seems as accurate as of the +place they are to occupy in the line, and even a full-blown +thistle will scarce tempt them to straggle or halt +until the dinner hour has arrived. Not so with the +large herd of horned beasts that bring up the rear; +lazy, selfish and unsocial, it has been a task to get them +in motion, the strong always ready to domineer over the +weak, halt in the front and forbid the weak to pass +them. They seem to move only in the fear of the +driver’s whip; though in the morning, full to repletion, +they have not been driven an hour before their hunger +and thirst seem to indicate a fast of days’ duration. +Through all the long day their greed is never satisfied, +nor their thirst quenched, nor is there a moment of +relaxation of the tedious and vexatious labors of their +drivers, although to all others the march furnishes some +season of relaxation or enjoyment. For the cow drivers +there is none.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But from the standpoint of the hunters, the vexations +are not apparent; the crack of whips and loud objurgation +are lost in the distance. Nothing of the moving +panorama, smooth and orderly as it appears, has more +attractions for the eye than that vast square column in +which all colors are mingled, moving here slowly and +there briskly, as impelled by horsemen riding furiously +in front and rear.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_376a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>19.—“AMERICAN FALLS.”<br> <br> Railroad bridge of the “Oregon Short Line.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>But the picture in its grandeur, its wonderful mingling +of colors and distinctness of detail, is forgotten in +contemplation of the singular people who give it life and +animation. No other race of men with the means at +their command would undertake so great a journey, none +save these could successfully perform it, with no previous +preparation, relying only on the fertility of their own invention +to devise the means to overcome each danger and +difficulty as it arose. They have undertaken to perform +with slow-moving oxen a journey of two thousand miles. +The way lies over trackless wastes, wide and deep rivers, +ragged and lofty mountains, and is beset with hostile +savages. Yet, whether it were a deep river with no tree +upon its banks, a rugged defile where even a loose horse +could not pass, a hill too steep for him to climb, or a +threatened attack of an enemy, they are always found +ready and equal to the occasion, and always conquerors. +May we not call them men of destiny? They are people +changed in no essential particulars from their ancestors, +who have followed closely on the footsteps of the receding +savage, from the Atlantic seaboard to the great Valley +of the Mississippi.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But while we have been gazing at the picture in the +valley, the hunters have been examining the high plain +in the other direction. Some dark moving objects have +been discovered in the distance, and all are closely watching +them to discover what they are, for in the atmosphere +of the plains a flock of crows marching miles away, or a +band of buffaloes or Indians at ten times the distance +look alike, and many ludicrous mistakes occur. But +these are buffaloes, for two have struck their heads together +<span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>and are, alternately, pushing each other back. +The hunters mount and away in pursuit, and I, a poor +cow-driver, must hurry back to my daily toil, and take +a scolding from my fellow herders for so long playing +truant.</p> + +<p class='c009'>The pilot, by measuring the ground and timing the +speed of the wagons and the walk of his horses, has determined +the rate of each, so as to enable him to select +the nooning place, as nearly as the requisite grass and +water can be had at the end of five hours’ travel of the +wagons. Today, the ground being favorable, little time +has been lost in preparing the road, so that he and his +pioneers are at the nooning place an hour in advance of +the wagons, which time is spent in preparing convenient +watering places for the animals, and digging little wells +near the bank of the Platte, as the teams are not unyoked, +but simply turned loose from the wagons, a corral is not +formed at noon, but the wagons are drawn up in columns, +four abreast, the leading wagon of each platoon on the +left, the platoons being formed with that in view. This +brings friends together at noon as well as at night.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_378a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>20.—Near summit of Blue Mountains—Meacham Station of O. R. & N. R. R. on the Trail, and site of “Lee Encampment.”</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>Today an extra session of the council is being held, +to settle a dispute that does not admit of delay, between +a proprietor and a young man who has undertaken to do +a man’s service on the journey for bed and board. Many +such engagements exist, and much interest is taken in +the manner in which this high court, from which there +is no appeal, will define the rights of each party in such +engagements. The council was a high court in the most +exalted sense. It was a senate composed of the ablest +and most respected fathers of the emigration. It exercised +both legislative and judicial powers, and its laws +and decisions proved it equal and worthy of the high +trust reposed in it. Its sessions were usually held on +days when the caravan was not moving. It first took the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>state of the little commonwealth into consideration; revised +or repealed rules defective or obsolete, and enacted +such others as the exigencies seemed to require. The +common weal being cared for, it next resolved itself into +a court to hear and settle private disputes and grievances. +The offender and the aggrieved appeared before +it; witnesses were examined, and the parties were heard +by themselves and sometimes by counsel. The judges +being thus made fully acquainted with the case, and being +in no way influenced or cramped by technicalities, +decided all cases according to their merits. There was +but little use for lawyers before this court, for no plea +was entertained which was calculated to hinder or defeat +the ends of justice. Many of these judges have since +won honors in higher spheres. They have aided to establish +on the broad basis of right and universal liberty two +pillars of our great Republic in the Occident. Some of +the young men who appeared before them as advocates +have themselves sat upon the highest judicial tribunals, +commanded armies, been governors of states and taken +high position in the senate of the nation.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It is now one o’clock; the bugle has sounded and the +caravan has resumed its westward journey. It is in the +same order, but the evening is far less animated than +the morning march; a drowsiness has fallen apparently +on man and beast; teamsters drop asleep on their +perches and even when walking by their teams, and the +words of command are now addressed to the slowly +creeping oxen in the soft tenor of women or the piping +treble of children, while the snores of the teamsters +make a droning accompaniment. But a little incident +breaks the monotony of the march. An emigrant’s wife, +whose state of health has caused Doctor Whitman to +travel near the wagon for the day, is now taken with +violent illness. The Doctor has had the wagon driven +<span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>out of the line, a tent pitched and a fire kindled. Many +conjectures are hazarded in regard to this mysterious +proceeding, and as to why this lone wagon is to be left +behind. And we too must leave it, hasten to the front +and note the proceedings, for the sun is now getting low +in the west and at length the painstaking pilot is standing +ready to conduct the train in the circle which he has +previously measured and marked out, which is to form +the invariable fortification for the night. The leading +wagons follow him so nearly around the circle that but +a wagon length separates them. Each wagon follows +in its track, the rear closing on the front, until its tongue +and ox chains will perfectly reach from one to the other, +and so accurate the measure and perfect the practice, +that the hindmost wagon of the train always precisely +closes the gateway, as each wagon is brought into position. +It is dropped from its team (the teams being inside +the circle), the team unyoked and the yokes and +chains are used to connect the wagon strongly with that +in its front. Within ten minutes from the time the leading +wagon halted, the barricade is formed, the teams +unyoked and driven out to pasture. Every one is busy +preparing fires of buffalo chips to cook the evening +meal, pitching tents and otherwise preparing for the +night. There are anxious watchers for the absent wagon, +for there are many matrons who may be afflicted +like its inmate before the journey is over; and they fear +the strange and startling practice of this Oregon doctor +will be dangerous. But as the sun goes down the absent +wagon rolls into camp, the bright, speaking face +and cheery look of the doctor, who rides in advance, declare +without words that all is well, and both mother +and child are comfortable. I would fain now and here +pay a passing tribute to that noble and devoted man, +Doctor Whitman. I will obtrude no other name upon +the reader, nor would I his were he of our party or even +living, but his stay with us was transient, though the +good he did was permanent, and he has long since died +at his post.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_380a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>21.—Falls of the Willamette—the objective point of the pioneers.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>From the time he joined us on the Platte until he +left us at Fort Hall, his great experience and indomitable +energy were of priceless value to the migrating +column. His constant advice, which we knew was based +upon a knowledge of the road before us, was, “Travel, +<i>travel</i>, <span class='fss'>TRAVEL</span>; nothing else will take you to the end of +your journey; nothing is wise that does not help you +along; nothing is good for you that causes a moment’s +delay.” His great authority as a physician and complete +success in the case above referred to, saved us +many prolonged and perhaps ruinous delays from similar +causes, and it is no disparagement to others to say +that to no other individual are the emigrants of 1843 so +much indebted for the successful conclusion of their +journey as to Dr. Marcus Whitman.</p> + +<p class='c009'>All able to bear arms in the party have been formed +into three companies, and each of these into four watches; +every third night it is the duty of one of these companies +to keep watch and ward over the camp, and it is so arranged +that each watch takes its turn of guard duty +through the different watches of the night. Those forming +the first watch tonight will be second on duty, then +third and fourth, which brings them through all the +watches of the night. They begin at 8 o’clock P. M., +and end at 4 o’clock A. M.</p> + +<p class='c009'>It is not yet 8 o’clock when the first watch is to be +set; the evening meal is just over, and the corral now +free from the intrusion of cattle or horses, groups of +children are scattered over it. The larger are taking a +game of romps; “the wee toddling things” are being +taught that great achievement that distinguishes man +<span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span>from the lower animals. Before a tent near the river a +violin makes lively music, and some youths and maidens +have improvised a dance upon the green; in another +quarter a flute gives its mellow and melancholy notes to +the still night air, which, as they float away over the +quiet river, seem a lament for the past rather than a +hope for the future. It has been a prosperous day; +more than twenty miles have been accomplished of the +great journey. The encampment is a good one; one of +the causes that threatened much future delay has just +been removed by the skill and energy of that “good +angel” of the emigrants, Doctor Whitman, and it has +lifted a load from the hearts of the elders. Many of +these are assembled around the good doctor at the tent +of the pilot (which is his home for the time being), and +are giving grave attention to his wise and energetic +counsel. The care-worn pilot sits aloof, quietly smoking +his pipe, for he knows the brave doctor is “strengthening +his hands.”</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_382a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>22.—The Union Pacific Building, Omaha,—site of one of the “jumping off” points for Oregon.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>But time passes; the watch is set for the night; the +council of old men has been broken up, and each has returned +to his own quarter; the flute has whispered its +last lament to the deepening night; the violin is silent, +and the dancers have dispersed; enamored youth have +whispered a tender “good night” in the ear of blushing +maidens, or stolen a kiss from the lips of some future +bride—for Cupid here, as elsewhere, has been busy bringing +together congenial hearts, and among these simple +people he alone is consulted in forming the marriage tie. +Even the doctor and the pilot have finished their confidential +interview and have separated for the night. All +is hushed and repose from the fatigues of the day, save +the vigilant guard and the wakeful leader, who still has +cares upon his mind that forbid sleep. He hears the 10 +o’clock relief taking post and the “all well” report of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>returned guard; the night deepens, yet he seeks not the +needed repose. At length a sentinel hurries to him with +the welcome report that a party is approaching—as yet +too far away for its character to be determined, and he +instantly hurries out in the direction in which it was +seen. This he does both from inclination and duty, for +in times past the camp had been unnecessarily alarmed +by timid or inexperienced sentinels, causing much confusion +and fright amongst women and children, and it +had been a rule that all extraordinary incidents of the +night should be reported directly to the pilot, who alone +had the authority to call out the military strength of the +column, or of so much of it as was in his judgment necessary +to prevent a stampede or repel an enemy. Tonight +he is at no loss to determine that the approaching party +are our missing hunters, and that they have met with +success, and he only waits until by some further signal +he can know that no ill has happened to them. This is +not long wanting. He does not even await their arrival, +but the last care of the day being removed, and the last +duty performed, he too seeks the rest that will enable +him to go through the same routine tomorrow. But here +I leave him, for my task is also done, and unlike his, it +is to be repeated no more.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='sc'>Note—A Correction</span>—Col. George B. Currey was the author of +“The Tribute to the Ox Whip,” not Col. George L. Curry, as printed +in this number.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span> + <h2 class='c003'>COL. GEORGE L. CURRY’S TRIBUTE TO THE OX WHIP.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c006'> + <div>(Reprinted from Transactions of the Oregon Pioneer Association.)</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>My task is to call from dust and dark forgetfulness +that advance banner of Americanism and progress—the +ox whip. Its crack was the command “Forward to the +nation.” Its sharp, keen accent proclaimed that obstacles +to prayers must be overcome. It waved aloft on the +prairies of the “Old West,” and pointing to the new, a +vast throng took up the westward march, which, keeping +step to the music of destiny, dashed across the broad +Missouri, rolled a living tide up the grassy slope of the +Platte, scaled the imperial heights of the Rocky Mountains, +and with “the tread of a giant and shout of a conquerer” +defied the heat, dust, thirst and hunger, the +desert heart of the continent, leaped the Blue Mountains, +paused but quailed not on the banks of the deep, +wide Columbia, where again the potential crack is heard +and the mighty, “rock-ribbed” walls of the Cascades are +stormed, and as the line rolls bravely over the giddy summit +the exultant driver gives a grand triumphant crack +into the stolid face of grand old Hood, the storm-clad +sentinel of the mountain fastness. The people have +reached their goal. The spell is broken. The errand has +lost its magic, its mission has been accomplished. A +state, with freedom’s diadem effulgent on its brow salutes +the eye, and dipping its young hand in the Pacific completes +the baptism of human liberty and proclaims an +“ocean-bound republic.” All hail and honor to the ox +whip, the symbol of the grand, achieving force of its +age.</p> + +<div class='figcenter id002'> +<img src='images/i_384a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> +<div class='ic003'> +<p>23.—Street, Oregon City,—about where the pioneers broke ranks.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span> + <h2 class='c003'>THE CAMP FIRES OF THE PIONEERS.</h2> +</div> +<h3 class='c013'><i>VINCERE EST VIVERE!</i></h3> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div>By SAM L. SIMPSON.</div> + <div class='c002'>[Reprinted from Transactions of Pioneer Association.]</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Striking at ease his epic lyre,</div> + <div class='line in4'>The laureled Mantuan has sung</div> + <div class='line'>Beleagured Troy’s illustrious pyre—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The daring sail Æneas flung</div> + <div class='line'>To wayward gales, the voyage long</div> + <div class='line'>That tracks the silver wave of song;</div> + <div class='line'>Until the worn and weary oar</div> + <div class='line'>Has kissed the far Lavinian shore;</div> + <div class='line'>The Argo’s classic pennon streams</div> + <div class='line'>Along sweet horizons of dreams,—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The Mayflower has furled her wings,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And restfully at anchor swings—</div> + <div class='line'>Columbia chants to columned seas</div> + <div class='line'>The triumph of the Genoese,</div> + <div class='line'>And yet, stout hearts, no fitting meed</div> + <div class='line'>Of panegyric crowns your deed</div> + <div class='line in4'>From which a stately empire springs.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The minions of a perfumed age</div> + <div class='line'>Already crowd upon the stage,—</div> + <div class='line'>The massive manhood of the past</div> + <div class='line'>In many a graceful mould is cast;</div> + <div class='line'>And yet with calm and kindly eyes</div> + <div class='line in4'>You view the feast for others spread,</div> + <div class='line'>And hail the blue benignant skies</div> + <div class='line in4'>Resigned and grandly comforted.</div> + <div class='line'>It was for this you broke the way</div> + <div class='line'>Before the sunset gates of day—</div> + <div class='line in4'>For this, with godlike faith endued,</div> + <div class='line'>You scaled the misty crags of fate,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And, with resounding labors, hewed</div> + <div class='line'>The Doric pillars of the state.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>There is no task for you to do—</div> + <div class='line in4'>Your tents are furled, the bugle blown—</div> + <div class='line'>But yet another day, and you</div> + <div class='line in4'>Will live in clustered fame alone.</div> + <div class='line'>The fir will chant a song of rue,</div> + <div class='line in4'>The pine will drop a wreath, may be,</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er the dim Cascades the stars</div> + <div class='line'>Will nightly roll the gleaming cars</div> + <div class='line in4'>You followed well from sea to sea.</div> + <div class='line in8'>Before your scarred battalion’s wheel</div> + <div class='line in4'>Into the mystic realm of shade,</div> + <div class='line in8'>And on your grizzled brows the seal</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of mystery is softly laid,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>Once more around your old campfires,</div> + <div class='line'>That smoulder like fulfilled desires,</div> + <div class='line'>Rehearse the story of your toils</div> + <div class='line'>Display the hero crowned with spoils—</div> + <div class='line in8'>The glimmer of triumphant steel,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Beneath the garland and the braid.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>O, further than the legions bore</div> + <div class='line in4'>The eagles of Imperial Rome—</div> + <div class='line in8'>Three thousand miles, a weary march,</div> + <div class='line in8'>You followed Hesper’s golden torch,</div> + <div class='line'>Until it stooped on this green shore,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And lit the rosy fires of home.</div> + <div class='line'>It was a solemn morn you turned</div> + <div class='line'>And quenched the sacred flames that burned</div> + <div class='line in4'>On hearths endeared for years and years;</div> + <div class='line in8'>It seemed your very souls grew dark</div> + <div class='line in8'>With those sweet fires—the latest spark</div> + <div class='line in4'>Was drowned in bitter, bitter tears.</div> + <div class='line'>A softer, sweeter sunlight wrapt</div> + <div class='line in4'>The forms of all familiar things,</div> + <div class='line'>And as each cord of feeling snapt</div> + <div class='line in4'>Another angel furled its wings:</div> + <div class='line'>The lights and shadows in the lane,</div> + <div class='line in4'>The oak beside the foot-worn stile</div> + <div class='line in4'>Whose wheeling shades a weary while</div> + <div class='line'>Had told the hours of joy and pain—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The vine that clambered o’er the door</div> + <div class='line in4'>And many a purple cluster bore—</div> + <div class='line'>The vestal flowers of household love—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The sloping roof that wore the stain</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of summer sun and winter rain,</div> + <div class='line'>And smoky chimney tops above—</div> + <div class='line'>The beauty of the orchard trees,</div> + <div class='line'>Bedecked with blossoms, glad with bees—</div> + <div class='line'>The brook that all the livelong day</div> + <div class='line'>Had many things to sing and say—</div> + <div class='line'>All these upon your vision dwell</div> + <div class='line'>And weave the sorrow of farewell.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And now the last good-bye is said—</div> + <div class='line'>Good-bye! the living and the dead</div> + <div class='line'>In those sad words together speak,</div> + <div class='line'>And all your chosen ways are bleak!</div> + <div class='line in4'>Forward! The cracking lashes send</div> + <div class='line'>A thrill of action down the train,—</div> + <div class='line in4'>Their brawny necks the oxen bend</div> + <div class='line'>With creaking yoke and clanking chain;</div> + <div class='line in4'>The horsemen gallop down the line,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And swerve around the lowing kine</div> + <div class='line'>That straggle loosely on the plain—</div> + <div class='line in4'>And lift glad hands to babes that laugh</div> + <div class='line in4'>And dash the buttercups like chaff.</div> + <div class='line'>Hurrah! the skies are jewel blue—</div> + <div class='line in4'>In tasseled green and braided gold</div> + <div class='line in4'>The robes of April are enrolled,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span>And hopes are high and hearts are true!</div> + <div class='line'>Hurrah! hurrah! the bold, the free—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The sudden sweep of ecstacy</div> + <div class='line'>That lifts the soul on wings of fire,</div> + <div class='line'>When fears consume and doubts expire,</div> + <div class='line'>And life, in one red torrent, leaps</div> + <div class='line'>To join the march of boundless deeps!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And now the sun is dropping down</div> + <div class='line'>And lights and shadows, red and brown</div> + <div class='line in4'>Are weaving sunset’s purple spell:</div> + <div class='line'>The teams are freed, the fires are made,</div> + <div class='line'>Like scarlet night flow’rs in the shade,</div> + <div class='line'>And pleasant groups before, between,</div> + <div class='line'>Are thronging in the fitful sheen—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The day is done, and “all is well.”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>So pass the days, so fall the nights;</div> + <div class='line'>A banquet of renewed delights;</div> + <div class='line in4'>The old horizons lift and pass</div> + <div class='line in8'>In magic changes like a dream,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And in the heavens’ azure glass</div> + <div class='line in8'>Tomorrow’s jasper arches gleam—</div> + <div class='line in4'>With many a vale and mountain mass,</div> + <div class='line in8'>And many a singing, shining stream.</div> + <div class='line'>The post is dead and daisied now—</div> + <div class='line'>In shadow fades from heart and brow—</div> + <div class='line'>The air is incense, and the breeze</div> + <div class='line'>Is sweet with siren melodies,</div> + <div class='line'>And all the castled hills before</div> + <div class='line'>In blooming vistas sweep and soar</div> + <div class='line'>Like silver lace, the clouds are strewn</div> + <div class='line'>Along the distant, dreamy zone;</div> + <div class='line'>It is a happy, happy time,</div> + <div class='line'>As wayward as a poet’s rhyme,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And ever as the sun goes down</div> + <div class='line in8'>The west is shut with rosy bars,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And Night puts on her golden crown</div> + <div class='line in8'>And fills the vases of the stars.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'> · · · · ·</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A hundred nights, a hundred days,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor folded cloud nor silken haze</div> + <div class='line'>Mellow the sun’s midsummer blaze.</div> + <div class='line'>Along a brown and barren plain</div> + <div class='line'>In silence drags the wasted train;</div> + <div class='line'>The dust starts up beneath your tread,</div> + <div class='line'>Like angry ashes of the dead,</div> + <div class='line'>To blind you with a choking cloud</div> + <div class='line'>And wrap you in a yellow shroud.</div> + <div class='line in4'>There are no birds to sing your joy,</div> + <div class='line in8'>You have no joy for birds to sing,—</div> + <div class='line in4'>A hundred fangs your hearts destroy—</div> + <div class='line in8'>A thousand troubles fret and sting.</div> + <div class='line'>The desert mocks you all the while</div> + <div class='line'>With that dry shimmer of a smile</div> + <div class='line in4'>That dazzles on a bleaching skull,—</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>The bloom is withered on your cheek</div> + <div class='line'>You slowly move and lowly speak,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And every eye is dim and dull.</div> + <div class='line'>Alas, it is a lonesome land</div> + <div class='line'>Of bitter sage and barren sand</div> + <div class='line in4'>Under a bitter, barren sky</div> + <div class='line'>That never heard the robin sing,</div> + <div class='line'>Nor kissed the larks’s exultant wing,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Nor breathed a rose’s fragrant sigh!</div> + <div class='line'>A weary land—alas! alas!</div> + <div class='line'>The shadows of the vultures pass—</div> + <div class='line in4'>A spectral sign across your path;</div> + <div class='line'>The gaunt, gray wolf, with head askance</div> + <div class='line'>Throws back at you a scowlling glance</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of cringing hate and coward wrath.</div> + <div class='line'>And like a wraith accursed and banned</div> + <div class='line'>Fades out before your lifted hand;</div> + <div class='line'>A dim, sad land, forgot, forsworn</div> + <div class='line'>By all bright life that may not mourn—</div> + <div class='line'>Acrazed with glist’ning ghosts of seas</div> + <div class='line'>In broideries of flower and trees,</div> + <div class='line'>And rivers, blue and cool, that seem</div> + <div class='line'>To ripple as in fevered dream—</div> + <div class='line'>Only to taunt the thirst, and fly</div> + <div class='line'>From withered lips and lurid eye.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A hundred days, a hundred nights—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The goal is farther than before,</div> + <div class='line'>And all the changing shades and lights</div> + <div class='line in4'>Are wrought in fancy’s woof no more.</div> + <div class='line'>The sun is weary overhead,</div> + <div class='line'>And pallid deserts round you spread</div> + <div class='line in4'>A sorrowful eternity;</div> + <div class='line'>And if some grisly mountain here</div> + <div class='line'>Confront your march with forms of fear,</div> + <div class='line in4'>You turn aside and pass them by.</div> + <div class='line'>And all are overworn—the flesh</div> + <div class='line'>Is now a frayed and faded mesh</div> + <div class='line in4'>That will not mask the inward flame;</div> + <div class='line'>There is no longer any care</div> + <div class='line'>To round the speech, or speak men fair,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Or any gentle sense of shame;</div> + <div class='line'>The hearts of all are shifted through—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The grain drops through the windy husks</div> + <div class='line'>And false lights flick’ring round the true</div> + <div class='line in4'>Are quenched at last in dews and dusk.</div> + <div class='line'>And some are silent, some are loud</div> + <div class='line'>And rage like beasts among the crowd,—</div> + <div class='line'>And some are mild, and some are sharp</div> + <div class='line'>In word and deed, and snarl and carp,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And fret the camp with petty broils;</div> + <div class='line'>And some of temper, sweet and bland,</div> + <div class='line'>Do seem to bear a magic wand</div> + <div class='line in4'>That wins the secret of their toils—</div> + <div class='line'>Rare souls that waste like sandal-wood</div> + <div class='line'>In many a fragrant deed and mood;</div> + <div class='line'>And some invoke the wrath of God,</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>Or feign to kiss the burning rod,—</div> + <div class='line'>And some, may be, with better prayers,</div> + <div class='line'>Stand up in all their griefs and cares</div> + <div class='line'>And clinch their teeth, and do and die</div> + <div class='line'>Without a whine, a curse or cry.</div> + <div class='line'>And so the dust and grit and stain</div> + <div class='line'>Of travel wears into the grain;</div> + <div class='line'>And so the hearts and souls of men</div> + <div class='line'>Were darkly tried and tested then</div> + <div class='line'>That, in the happy after years,</div> + <div class='line'>When rainbows gild remembered tears,</div> + <div class='line'>Should any friend inquire of you</div> + <div class='line'>If such or such an one you knew—</div> + <div class='line'>I hear the answer, terse and grim,</div> + <div class='line'>“Ah, yes; I crossed the plains with him!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>And, lo! a moaning phantom stands,</div> + <div class='line'>To greet you in the lonely lands,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Among all lesser shadows, dight</div> + <div class='line'>With spoils of death; his meager hands</div> + <div class='line'>Salute you as you pass, and claim</div> + <div class='line in4'>The sacrifice that feeds his flame.</div> + <div class='line'>The march has broken into flight,</div> + <div class='line'>And wreck and ruin strew the road</div> + <div class='line'>The flaming phantom has bestrode;</div> + <div class='line in4'>The ox lies gasping in his yoke</div> + <div class='line in8'>Beside the wagon that he drew—</div> + <div class='line'>Where the forsaken campfires smoke</div> + <div class='line in8'>To hopeless skies of tawny blue;</div> + <div class='line'>And here are straight, still mounds that mark</div> + <div class='line'>The flight of life’s delusive spark—</div> + <div class='line'>The somber points of pause that lie</div> + <div class='line'>So thick in human destiny.</div> + <div class='line in4'>And oh, so dark on this bleak page</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of drifting sand and dreary sage!</div> + <div class='line in8'>The sultry levels of the day,</div> + <div class='line in4'>The night with weird enchantment fills,</div> + <div class='line in8'>And frowning forests stretch away</div> + <div class='line in4'>Along the slopes of shadow hills;</div> + <div class='line'>And in the solemn stillness breaks</div> + <div class='line in4'>The wild-wolf music of the plain,</div> + <div class='line'>As if a deeper sorrow wakes</div> + <div class='line in4'>The dreary dead in that refrain</div> + <div class='line in8'>That swells and gathers like a wail</div> + <div class='line in8'>Of woe from Pluto’s ebon pale,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And sinks in pulseless calm again.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A change at last!—an opal mist</div> + <div class='line in4'>Along the faint horizon’s rim</div> + <div class='line'>Is banked against the amethyst</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of summer sky—so far, so dim,</div> + <div class='line'>You shade your eyes, and gaze and gaze,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Until there wavers into sight</div> + <div class='line in4'>A swinging, swaying strand of white,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And then the sapphire walls and towns</div> + <div class='line in4'>That breaks the light in quiv’ring showers</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>And float and fade in diamond haze;—</div> + <div class='line in4'>It is the mountains!—grand and calm</div> + <div class='line in8'>As God upon his awful throne;</div> + <div class='line in4'>They build you strength and breathe you balm,</div> + <div class='line in8'>For all their templed might of stone</div> + <div class='line in4'>Is our eternal sculptured psalm!</div> + <div class='line'>And now your western course is led</div> + <div class='line'>Where grassy pampas spread and spread</div> + <div class='line in4'>The pastures of the buffalo;</div> + <div class='line in8'>And like the sudden lash of foam</div> + <div class='line in8'>When tropic tempest smite the sea</div> + <div class='line in4'>And masts are stript to ward the blow—</div> + <div class='line'>A ragged whirl of dust described</div> + <div class='line'>Upon the prairie’s sloping side</div> + <div class='line in8'>Portends a storm as swift and free,—</div> + <div class='line in8'>And lo, the herds—they come! they come!</div> + <div class='line'>A sweeping thunder cloud of life</div> + <div class='line in4'>Loud as Niagara, and grand</div> + <div class='line in4'>As they who rode with plume and brand</div> + <div class='line'>On Waterloo’s red slope of strife;</div> + <div class='line'>Wild as the rush of tidal waves,</div> + <div class='line'>That roar among the crags and caves,</div> + <div class='line in4'>The trampling besom hurls along—</div> + <div class='line'>A black and bounding, fiery mass</div> + <div class='line'>That withers, as with flame, the grass—</div> + <div class='line in4'>O! terrible—ten thousand strong!</div> + <div class='line'>Meanwhile, the dusty teams are stopt,</div> + <div class='line'>The wagon tongues are deftly dropt,</div> + <div class='line'>And drivers by their oxen stand</div> + <div class='line'>And soothe them with soft speech and hand.</div> + <div class='line in4'>And yet, with horns tossed free, and eyes</div> + <div class='line in8'>Ablaze with purple depths of ire,</div> + <div class='line in8'>A thousand servile years expire</div> + <div class='line in2'>And flashes of old nature rise,</div> + <div class='line'>As if a sudden spirit woke</div> + <div class='line'>That would not brook the chain and yoke,—</div> + <div class='line'>And then, the stormy pageant past,</div> + <div class='line'>They bow their callous necks at last,</div> + <div class='line'>And with a heavy stride and slow,</div> + <div class='line'>The dreams of liberty forego.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Alas! it is a land of shades.</div> + <div class='line in4'>And mystic visions, swift alarms;</div> + <div class='line'>The fretted spirit flames and fades</div> + <div class='line in4'>With clanging calls to prayers or arms.</div> + <div class='line'>* * * The day is dying, and the sun</div> + <div class='line'>Hangs like a jewel rich with fire</div> + <div class='line'>In the deep west of your desire.</div> + <div class='line'>And o’er the wide plateau is rolled</div> + <div class='line'>A surge of crinkled sunset gold,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Bordered with shadows gray and dun.</div> + <div class='line'>A horseman with loose, waving hair,</div> + <div class='line'>Black as the blackest of despair,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Wheels into sight and gives you heed,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And on its haunches reins his steed,</div> + <div class='line in4'>All quivering like a river reed,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span>And sits him like a statue there,—</div> + <div class='line'>Transfigured in the sunset sea—</div> + <div class='line'>A bronze, bare sphynx of mystery!</div> + <div class='line'>A moment thus, in wonder lost,</div> + <div class='line'>His eagle plumes all backward tossed,</div> + <div class='line'>Then wheels again, as swift as wind,</div> + <div class='line'>The wild hair floating free behind.</div> + <div class='line'>And sunset’s crinkled surges pour</div> + <div class='line'>Along an empty waste once more!</div> + <div class='line'>But you, since that fantastic shade</div> + <div class='line'>Across your desert path has played,</div> + <div class='line'>Distrust the very ground you tread,</div> + <div class='line'>And shiver with a nameless dread</div> + <div class='line'>Till stars drop crimson, and the sky</div> + <div class='line'>Is wan with heartless treachery.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'> · · · · ·</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>For many days a form of white</div> + <div class='line'>Has flashed and faded in your sight</div> + <div class='line'>In fleeting glimpses, as of wings,</div> + <div class='line'>Our God’s bright palm in beckonings.</div> + <div class='line'>It is a secret nursed of each—</div> + <div class='line'>You dare not give the thought in speech,</div> + <div class='line'>So wierdly solemn is the sign—</div> + <div class='line in4'>As if, upon the western stairs,</div> + <div class='line in4'>The angels of a thousand prayers</div> + <div class='line'>Were come with sacred bread and wine.</div> + <div class='line'>Again, the still, enchanted hour</div> + <div class='line'>Of sunset burns in crimson flower,</div> + <div class='line'>And purple-hearted shadows sleep</div> + <div class='line'>Like clustered pansies, warm and deep,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Eastward of wreathen crag and wall.</div> + <div class='line'>The road that wound and wound all day</div> + <div class='line'>In many a dark and devious way</div> + <div class='line'>At last with one swift curve ascends</div> + <div class='line'>A rolling plain that breaks and bends</div> + <div class='line in4'>Westward, till rosy curtains fall</div> + <div class='line in4'>O’er mountains massed and magical.</div> + <div class='line'>Resplendent as a pearly tent</div> + <div class='line'>Upon the fir-fringed battlement—</div> + <div class='line'>Serene in sunset gold and rose,</div> + <div class='line'>A pyramid of splendor glows,</div> + <div class='line'>So vast and calm and bright your dream</div> + <div class='line'>Is dust and ashes in its gleam.</div> + <div class='line'>A maiden speaks—“He led us far—</div> + <div class='line'>It is the golden western star!”</div> + <div class='line'>And then a youth—“Our goal is won—</div> + <div class='line'>’Tis the pavilion of the sun.”</div> + <div class='line'>A gray sage, then, in undertone—</div> + <div class='line'>“It must be Hood, so grand and lone—</div> + <div class='line'>The shining citadel and throne</div> + <div class='line'>Of Terminus, that Roman god</div> + <div class='line'>Who marked the line that legions trod,</div> + <div class='line'>And set the limits of the world</div> + <div class='line'>Where Cæsar’s battle flags were furled!</div> + <div class='line'>Oh, for the days of dark-eyed prophetess</div> + <div class='line'>Who sang in Syrian wilderness</div> + <div class='line in4'>The gilded chariots’ overthrow,</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>To lead us for the cymbaled song</div> + <div class='line'>To him, the beautiful and strong,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Who dashed the brimming cup of woe</div> + <div class='line'>And was our cloud and flame so long!”</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Forward! the crested mountains kneel</div> + <div class='line'>To patient tolls of fire and steel—</div> + <div class='line'>A way is hewn and you emerge</div> + <div class='line'>Upon the Cascades’ battled verge;—</div> + <div class='line in4'>And far beneath you and away</div> + <div class='line in8'>To ocean’s shining fringe of foam</div> + <div class='line in4'>And summer vail of floating spray,</div> + <div class='line'>Behold the land of your emprise,</div> + <div class='line'>Serene as tender twilight skies</div> + <div class='line in8'>When day is swooning into gloam!</div> + <div class='line'>It is the morning twilight now</div> + <div class='line'>That wraps the valley’s misted brow;</div> + <div class='line'>The bourgeoning and blooming dawn—</div> + <div class='line'>The reveille of Oregon.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>How brightly on your vision, first</div> + <div class='line'>The pictured vales and woodlands burst,—</div> + <div class='line'>The lakelets set like twinkling gems</div> + <div class='line'>Along the prairies’ pleated hems,—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The silver crooks and rippled sweeps</div> + <div class='line in8'>Of happy rivers here and there,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And many a waterfall that leaps</div> + <div class='line in8'>In rainbow garlands through the air,—</div> + <div class='line in4'>The skirted maples and the groves</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of oak the mild home-spirit loves—</div> + <div class='line in4'>Enameled plains and crenelled hills</div> + <div class='line in4'>And tangled skeins of brooks and rills,—</div> + <div class='line'>Imperial forests of the fir,</div> + <div class='line'>All redolent of musk and myrrh,</div> + <div class='line'>That fling and furl their banners old,</div> + <div class='line'>And still their gloomy secret hold</div> + <div class='line in4'>As Time his cloudy censer fills.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'> · · · · ·</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Where the foothills are wedded to the meadow</div> + <div class='line in4'>In the dimples that dally and pass</div> + <div class='line'>And the oak swings an indolent shadow</div> + <div class='line in4'>On the daisies that dial the grass.—</div> + <div class='line'>In the crescents of rivers; in hollows</div> + <div class='line in4'>Red-lipped in the strawberry time,</div> + <div class='line'>And the slope where the forests half follows,</div> + <div class='line in4'>A brooklet’s melodious rhyme,—</div> + <div class='line'>On the sun-rippled knolls, and the prairies,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Beloved of the wandering kine—</div> + <div class='line'>In the skirts of the woodland the fairies</div> + <div class='line in4'>Embroidered with rose and with vine—</div> + <div class='line'>There’s a tent, and a smoke that is curling</div> + <div class='line in4'>Above in the beautiful dome,</div> + <div class='line'>Like a guardian spirit unfurling</div> + <div class='line in4'>Soft wings o’er the temple of home.</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>And the ax of the woodman is ringing</div> + <div class='line in4'>All day in sylvestrian halls,</div> + <div class='line'>Where the chipmunk is playfully springing</div> + <div class='line in4'>And the blue-jay discordantly calls;</div> + <div class='line'>And the red chips are fitfully flying</div> + <div class='line in4'>On the asters that sprinkle the moss;</div> + <div class='line'>Where the beauty of summer is dying,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And the sun lances glimmer across;</div> + <div class='line'>There’s a bird that is spectrally knocking,</div> + <div class='line in4'>On a pine that is withered and bare,</div> + <div class='line'>For the fir-top is trembling and rocking,</div> + <div class='line in4'>In the blue of the clear upper air—</div> + <div class='line'>There’s a crackling of fiber—the crashing</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of a century crushed at a blow,</div> + <div class='line'>And the fir-trees are wringing and lashing</div> + <div class='line in4'>Their hands in a frenzy of woe!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A pheasant whirs up from the thicket</div> + <div class='line in4'>In the hush that comes after the fall,</div> + <div class='line'>And the squirrel retires to his wicket,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And the bluebird renounces his call;</div> + <div class='line'>And the panther lies crouched by the bowlder</div> + <div class='line in4'>In the gloom of the canyon anear,</div> + <div class='line'>And the brown bear looks over his shoulder,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And the buck blows a signal of fear;</div> + <div class='line'>But there’s never a pause in your duty,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And the echoing ax is not still</div> + <div class='line'>As you waste with the green temples of beauty</div> + <div class='line in4'>For the puncheon and rafter and sill</div> + <div class='line'>That are wrought in a cabin so lowly</div> + <div class='line in4'>The trees will clasp hands over head,</div> + <div class='line'>But the heart calls it home, and the holy</div> + <div class='line in4'>Love-lights on its hearthstone are shed.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>It is staunch and rough-hewn, and the ceiling</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of the fragrant red cedar is made,</div> + <div class='line'>With an edging of silver revealing</div> + <div class='line in4'>A picture of sunlight and shade.</div> + <div class='line'>And the Word has its place, not a trifle</div> + <div class='line in4'>Obscured in a pageant of books,</div> + <div class='line'>And above the broad mantle your rifle</div> + <div class='line in4'>Is hung on accessible hooks.</div> + <div class='line'>Oh, the freshness of hope and of fancy</div> + <div class='line in4'>That illumines the home and the heart,</div> + <div class='line'>With the grace of a bright necromancy</div> + <div class='line in4'>That excels the adorning of art!</div> + <div class='line'>And you rise and look forth and the glory</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of Hood is before you again,</div> + <div class='line'>And the sun weaves a gold-threaded story</div> + <div class='line in4'>In the purple of mountain and glen.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'> · · · · ·</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Stand up, and look out from the mansion</div> + <div class='line in4'>That adorns the old scene of the past</div> + <div class='line'>On the fruitage of hope—the expansion</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of the fruits of your vigils forecast!</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>While the shadows of Hood have been wheeling</div> + <div class='line in4'>Away from the face of the sun,</div> + <div class='line'>What a glamour of change has been stealing</div> + <div class='line in4'>On the fields that you painfully won!</div> + <div class='line'>Like the castles that fade at cock-crowing</div> + <div class='line in4'>The enchantments arise and advance</div> + <div class='line'>Where the cities of commerce are glowing</div> + <div class='line in4'>Like pearls in the braids of romance;</div> + <div class='line'>For a state, in the shimmering armor</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of the Pallas Athena has come,</div> + <div class='line'>And her ægis is fringed with the warmer</div> + <div class='line in4'>Refulgence that circles our home.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>As for you, you are gray, and the thunder</div> + <div class='line in4'>Of the battle has smitten each brow</div> + <div class='line'>Where the freshness of youth was turned under</div> + <div class='line in4'>By Time’s immemorial plow;</div> + <div class='line'>But the pictures of memory linger,</div> + <div class='line in4'>Like the shadows that turn to the East,</div> + <div class='line'>And will point with a tremulous finger</div> + <div class='line in4'>To the things that are perished and ceased;</div> + <div class='line'>For the trail and the foot-log have vanished,</div> + <div class='line in4'>The canoe is a song and a tale,</div> + <div class='line'>And flickering church spire has banished</div> + <div class='line in4'>The uncanny red man from the vale;</div> + <div class='line'>The cayuse is no longer in fashion—</div> + <div class='line in4'>He is gone—with a flutter of heels,</div> + <div class='line'>And the old wars are dead, and their passions</div> + <div class='line in4'>In the crystal of culture congeals;</div> + <div class='line'>And the wavering flare of the pitch light</div> + <div class='line in4'>That illumines your banquets no more,</div> + <div class='line'>Will return like a wandering witch-light</div> + <div class='line in4'>And uncrimson the fancies of yore—</div> + <div class='line'>When you dance the “Old Arkansaw” gaily</div> + <div class='line in4'>In brogans that had followed the bear,</div> + <div class='line'>And quaffed the delight of Castaly</div> + <div class='line in4'>From the fiddle that wailed like despair;</div> + <div class='line'>And so lightly you wrought with the hammer,</div> + <div class='line in4'>And so truly with ax and with plow—</div> + <div class='line'>And you blazed your own trails through the grammar,</div> + <div class='line in4'>As the record must fairly allow;</div> + <div class='line'>But you builded a state in whose arches</div> + <div class='line in4'>Shall be carven the deed and the name,</div> + <div class='line'>And posterity lengthens its marches</div> + <div class='line in4'>In the golden starlight of your fame!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span> + <h2 class='c003'>PILGRIMS OF THE PLAINS.</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c006'> + <div>By <span class='sc'>Joaquin Miller</span>.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>A tale half told and hardly understood;</div> + <div class='line'>The talk of bearded men that chanced to meet,</div> + <div class='line'>That lean’d on long quaint rifles in the wood,</div> + <div class='line'>That look’d in fellow faces, spoke discreet</div> + <div class='line'>And low, as half in doubt and in defeat</div> + <div class='line'>Of hope; a tale it was of lands of gold</div> + <div class='line'>That lay toward the sun. Wild wing’d and fleet</div> + <div class='line'>It spread among the swift Missouri’s bold</div> + <div class='line'>Unbridled men, and reach’d to where Ohio roll’d.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then long chain’d lines of yoked and patient steers;</div> + <div class='line'>Then long white trains that pointed to the west;</div> + <div class='line'>Beyond the savage west; the hopes and fears</div> + <div class='line'>Of blunt, untutor’d men, who hardly guess’d</div> + <div class='line'>Their course; the brave and silent women, dress’d</div> + <div class='line'>In homely spun attire, the boys in bands,</div> + <div class='line'>The cheery babes that laughed at all and bless’d</div> + <div class='line'>The doubting hearts with laughing lifted hands—</div> + <div class='line'>What exodus for far untraversed lands!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The Plains! The shouting drivers at the wheel;</div> + <div class='line'>The crash of leather whips; the crush and roll</div> + <div class='line'>Of wheels; the groan of yokes and grinding steel</div> + <div class='line'>And iron chain, and lo! at last the whole</div> + <div class='line'>Vast line, that reached as if to touch the goal,</div> + <div class='line'>Began to stretch and stream away and wind</div> + <div class='line'>Toward the west, as if with one control:</div> + <div class='line'>Then hope loom’d fair, and home lay far behind;</div> + <div class='line'>Before, the boundless plain, and fiercest of their kind.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>At first the way lay green and fresh as seas,</div> + <div class='line'>And far away as any reach of wave;</div> + <div class='line'>The sunny streams went by in belt of trees;</div> + <div class='line'>And here and there the tassell’d tawny brave</div> + <div class='line'>Swept by on horse, looked back, stretched forth and gave</div> + <div class='line'>A yell of hell, and then did wheel and rein</div> + <div class='line'>Awhile and point away, dark-brow’d and grave,</div> + <div class='line'>Into the far and dim and distant plain</div> + <div class='line'>With signs and prophecies, and then plunged on again.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Some hills at last began to lift and break;</div> + <div class='line'>Some streams began to fail of wood and tide,</div> + <div class='line'>The somber plain began betime to take</div> + <div class='line'>A hue of weary brown, and wild and wide</div> + <div class='line'>It stretch’d its naked breast on every side.</div> + <div class='line'>A babe was heard at last to cry for bread</div> + <div class='line'>Amid the deserts; cattle low’d and died,</div> + <div class='line'>And dying men went by with broken tread,</div> + <div class='line'>And left a long black serpent line of wreck and dead.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>Strange hunger’d birds, black-wing’d and still as death,</div> + <div class='line'>And crown’d of red and hooked beaks, flew low</div> + <div class='line'>And close about till we could touch their breath—</div> + <div class='line'>Strange unnamed birds, that seem’d to come and go</div> + <div class='line'>In circles now, and now direct and slow,</div> + <div class='line'>Continual, yet never touch the earth;</div> + <div class='line'>Slim foxes shied and shuttled to and fro</div> + <div class='line'>At times across the dusty weary dearth</div> + <div class='line'>Of life, looked back, then sank like crickets in a hearth.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then dust arose, a long dim line like smoke</div> + <div class='line'>From out of riven earth. The wheels went groaning by,</div> + <div class='line'>The thousand feet in harness, and in yoke,</div> + <div class='line'>They tore the ways of ashen alkali,</div> + <div class='line'>And desert winds blew sudden, swift, and dry.</div> + <div class='line'>The dust! It sat upon and fill’d the train.</div> + <div class='line'>It seem’d to fret and fill the very sky.</div> + <div class='line'>Lo! dust upon the beasts, the tent, the plain,</div> + <div class='line'>And dust, alas! on breasts that rose not up again.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>They sat in desolation and in dust</div> + <div class='line'>By dried-up desert streams; the mother’s hands</div> + <div class='line'>Hid all her bended face; the cattle thrust</div> + <div class='line'>Their tongues and faintly called across the lands.</div> + <div class='line'>The babes that knew not what the way through sands</div> + <div class='line'>Could mean, did ask if it would end today.</div> + <div class='line'>The panting wolves slid by, red-eyed, in bands</div> + <div class='line'>To pools beyond. The men look’d far away,</div> + <div class='line'>And silent deemed that all a boundless desert lay.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>They rose by night, they struggl’d on and on</div> + <div class='line'>As thin and still as ghosts; then here and there</div> + <div class='line'>Beside the dusty way before the dawn,</div> + <div class='line'>Men silent laid them down in their despair,</div> + <div class='line'>And died. But woman! Woman, frail as fair!</div> + <div class='line'>May man have strength to give to you your due;</div> + <div class='line'>You falter’d not nor murmur’d anywhere,</div> + <div class='line'>You held your babes, held to your course, and you</div> + <div class='line'>Bore on through burning hell your double burdens through.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Men stood at last, the decimated few,</div> + <div class='line'>Above a land of running streams, and they?</div> + <div class='line'>They pushed aside the boughs, and peering through</div> + <div class='line'>Beheld afar the cool refreshing bay;</div> + <div class='line'>Then some did curse, and some bend hands to pray;</div> + <div class='line'>But some looked back upon the desert wide</div> + <div class='line'>And desolate with death, then all the day</div> + <div class='line'>They mourned. But one, with nothing left beside</div> + <div class='line'>His dog to love, crept down among the ferns and died.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span> + <h2 class='c003'>PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC</h2> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c006'> + <div>BY JOAQUIN MILLER.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c015'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'> · · · · ·</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The wild man’s yell, the groaning wheel,</div> + <div class='line'>The train moved like drifting barge;</div> + <div class='line'>The dust rose up like a cloud,</div> + <div class='line'>Like smoke of distant battle loud! Loud</div> + <div class='line'>The great whips rang like shot, and steel</div> + <div class='line'>Flashed back as in some battle charge.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>They sought, yea, they did find their rest</div> + <div class='line'>Along that long and lonesome way,</div> + <div class='line'>Those brave men buffeting the West</div> + <div class='line'>With lifted faces. Full they were</div> + <div class='line'>Of great endeavor.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'> · · · · ·</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in24'>When</div> + <div class='line'>Adown the shining iron track</div> + <div class='line'>We sweep, and fields of corn flash back,</div> + <div class='line'>And herds of lowing steers move by,</div> + <div class='line'>I turn to other days, to men</div> + <div class='line'>Who made a pathway with their dust.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span> + <h2 class='c003'>DOCUMENT.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>The following is one of a set of documents giving +contemporary evidence on a most important epoch of +Oregon history. It was secured by Principal J. R. +Wilson.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>(From the New Orleans Picayune, November 21, 1848.)</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<h3 class='c013'>PRAIRIE AND MOUNTAIN LIFE—THE OREGON EMIGRANTS.</h3> + +<p class='c016'>During our detention among the upper settlements, +before starting out, a constant source of interest to us +was the gathering of people bound to Oregon. One +Sunday morning, about the usual church hour in a +larger place, five or six wagons passed through the town +of Westport, and one old man with silver hair was with +the party. Women and children were walking, fathers +and brothers were driving loose cattle or managing the +heavy teams, and keen-eyed youngsters, with their chins +yet smooth and rifles on their shoulders, kept in advance +of the wagons with long strides, looking as if they were +already watching around the corners of the streets for +game. There was one striking feature about the party +which leads us to name it more particularly. Though +traveling on the Sabbath and through the little town +that was all quiet and resting from business in reverence +of the day, there was that in the appearance of the people +that banished at once even the remotest idea of profanation. +They were all clean, and evidently appareled +in their best Sunday gear. Their countenances were +sedate, and the women wore that mild composure of +visage—so pleasantly resigned, so eloquent of a calm +spirit, so ready to kindle up into smiles—that is seen +more often among churchgoers, perhaps, than in ballroom +or boudoir. Some of the women carried books, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>and the prettiest girl carried hers open before her as she +stepped a little coquettishly through the dust of the road. +Whether she was reading, or trying, or pretending to +read, was hard to tell, but the action had a naive effect, +and as she passed she was, no doubt, much astonished +at a strange young gentleman who audibly addressed +her with, “Nymph, in thy orisons, be all my sins remembered.”</p> + +<p class='c009'>Many other small bodies of these adventurous travelers +crossed our notice at Independence, Westport, and at +encampments made in the vicinity of these and other +towns, but in their largest force we saw them just after +crossing the Kansas River about the first of June. The +Oregonians were assembled here to the number of six or +eight hundred, and when we passed their encampment +they were engaged in the business of electing officers to +regulate and conduct their proceedings. It was a curious +and unaccountable spectacle to us as we approached. +We saw a large body of men wheeling and marching +about the prairie, describing evolutions neither recognizable +as savage, civic or military. We soon knew they +were not Indians, and were not long in setting them +down for the emigrants, but what in the name of mystery +they were about our best guessing could not reduce +to anything in the shape of a mathematical probability.</p> + +<p class='c009'>On arriving among them, however, we found they +were only going on with their elections in a manner perhaps +old enough, but very new and quizzical to us. +The candidates stood up in a row behind the constituents, +and at a given signal they wheeled about and +marched off, while the general mass broke after them +“lick-a-ty-split”, each man forming in behind his favorite +so that every candidate flourished a sort of a tail of his +own, and the man with the longest tail was elected! These +proceedings were continued until a captain and a council +<span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>of ten were elected; and, indeed, if the scene can be +conceived, it must appear as a curious mingling of the +whimsical with the wild. Here was a congregation of +rough, bold, and adventurous men, gathered from distant +and opposite points of the Union, just forming an +acquaintance with each other, to last, in all probability, +through good or ill fortune, through the rest of their +days. Few of them expected, or thought, of ever returning +to the states again. They had with them their +wives and children, and aged, depending relatives. They +were going with stout and determined hearts to traverse +a wild and desolate region, and take possession of a +far corner of their country destined to prove a new and +strong arm of a mighty nation. These men were running +about the prairie, in long strings; the leaders,—in +sport and for the purpose of puzzling the judges, doubling +and winding in the drollest fashion; so that, the +all-important business of forming a government seemed +very much like the merry schoolboy game of “snapping +the whip.” It was really very funny to see the candidates +for the solemn council of ten, run several hundred +yards away, to show off the length of their tails, and +then cut a half circle, so as to turn and admire their +longitudinal popularity <i>in extenso</i> themselves. “Running +for office” is certainly performed in more literal +fashion on the prairie than we see the same sort of business +performed in town. To change the order of a town +election, though for once, it might prove an edifying +exhibition to see a mayor and aldermen start from the +town pump and run around the court house square, the +voters falling in behind and the rival ticket running the +other way, while a band in the middle might tune up +for both parties, playing “O, What a Long Tail Our Cat’s +Got;” which we surmise some popular composer may +have arranged for such an occasion.</p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span>After passing them here, we never saw the Oregonians +again. They elected a young lawyer of some +eminence as we were told, named Burnett, as their captain, +and engaged an old mountaineer, known as Captain +Gant, as their guide through the mountains to Fort Hall. +Several enactments were made and agreed to, one of +which was called up to be rescinded, and something of +an excitement arose in regard to it. The law made was +that no family should drive along more than three head +of loose stock for each member composing it, and this +bore hard on families that had brought with them cattle +in large numbers. The dispute resulted in a split of +the large body into two or three divisions; and so they +moved on, making distinct encampments all the way. +Captain Gant was to receive $1.00 a head from the company, +numbering about a thousand souls, for his services +as guide. But a few more such expeditions following in +the same trail will soon imprint such a highway through +the wilderness to Oregon that emigrants may hereafter +travel without such assistance.</p> + +<p class='c009'>We left them here about the last of May and encountered +no sign of them again until returning in September, +when we struck their trail on the Sweetwater, +near the south pass of the mountains. They had followed +in our own trail as far as this point and had +here turned off, our course lying in another direction. +From here, all the way to Fort Laramie, we found the +now deeply worn road strewn with indications of their +recent presence. Scaffolds for drying meat, broken utensils +thrown away, chips showing where wagons had been +repaired, and remnants of children’s shoes, frocks, etc., +met our notice at every deserted encampment.</p> + +<p class='c009'>But one death seemed to have occurred among them, +and this was far out under the mountains. Here the +loose riders of our moving camp gathered one morning +<span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>to examine a rude pyramid of stones by the roadside. +The stones had been planted firmly in the earth, and +those on top were substantially placed, so that the wolves, +whose marks were evident about the pile, had not been +able to disinter the dead. On one stone, larger than the +rest, and with a flat side, was rudely engraved:</p> + +<div class='border'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>J. HEMBREE.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class='c017'>And we place it here as perhaps the only memento those +who knew him in the States may ever receive of him. +How he died, we of course cannot surmise, but there he +sleeps among the rocks of the West as soundly as if +chiseled marble was built above his bones.</p> + +<p class='c009'>On returning to Rock Independence, a point about +nine hundred miles from the settlements, we were astonished +at finding that the Oregonians had reached and +passed it only four days behind us. We had confidently +supposed them four weeks in our rear, and their rapid +progress augurs well for the success of their enterprise. +On the rock we found printed:</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>“THE OREGON CO.</div> + <div>arrived</div> + <div>July 26, 1843.”</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'>At Fort Laramie we were told that they were still +well provisioned when passing there, and could even +afford to trade away flour, coffee, etc., for necessaries of +other kinds. But it was droll to hear how the Sioux +stared at the great caravans. Some of them on seeing +the great number of wagons, and particularly white +women and children, for the first time, began to think +of coming down here, having seen, as they supposed, +“the whole white village” move up the mountains.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_403'>403</span> + <h2 class='c003'>INDEX.</h2> +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_405'>405</span> + <h3 class='c001'>TOPICAL INDEX.</h3> +</div> + +<ul class='index c002'> + <li class='c018'>ADAMS— + <ul> + <li>Proposals on the Oregon Question, 220</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>ASTORIA— + <ul> + <li>Settlement of, 10</li> + <li>Restitution of, to U. S., 214</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>BAYLIES— + <ul> + <li>Speeches of, on Oregon, 21</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>BENTON— + <ul> + <li>Oregon policy of, 13, 16, 50, 52</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>CALHOUN— + <ul> + <li>Opposition of, to Oregon bill, 235</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>CALIFORNIA— + <ul> + <li>Contract labor in mines of, 281</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>CARVER— + <ul> + <li>Use of word Oregon by, 112, 166</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>CHAMPOEG— + <ul> + <li>Origin of name, 88</li> + <li>Early life in, 88, 89</li> + <li>Early settlement near, 173</li> + <li>Early manners of, 172, 176</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>CHOLERA— + <ul> + <li>Ravages of, among immigrants to Oregon, 363</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>CLAY— + <ul> + <li>On the Oregon Question, 221</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>COLUMBIA RIVER— + <ul> + <li>Discovery of, 113</li> + <li>Proposed as boundary, 215</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>DOUGLAS— + <ul> + <li>Interest in Oregon Question, 40</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>ENGLAND— + <ul> + <li>Rivalry of, in Oregon Country, 6</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>EDUCATION— + <ul> + <li>Appropriation of public land for in Oregon, 148</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>FLOYD— + <ul> + <li>Oregon policy of, 13–17, 218</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>FREMONT— + <ul> + <li>Work of, in Oregon, 330</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>GOVERNMENT— + <ul> + <li>Lack of in early Oregon, 9, 10</li> + <li>First exercise of, 10, 11</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_406'>406</span>GOLD— + <ul> + <li>Effect of early discoveries of, 103</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>GRAY— + <ul> + <li>Explorations of, 113</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>INDIANS— + <ul> + <li>Customs of, 77</li> + <li>Behavior toward white women, 82</li> + <li>Matthieu’s recollections of, 99</li> + <li>Religious customs of, 179</li> + <li>Legends of the, 183</li> + <li>Request of, for missionaries, 225, 346</li> + <li>First estimate of, in Oregon Country, 296</li> + <li>Position of women among the Oregon, 296</li> + <li>Funeral customs of, 300</li> + <li>Poor food supply of, 302</li> + <li>Estimate and census of Oregon Indians, 314</li> + <li>Language, peculiarities of, 317</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>JACKSON— + <ul> + <li>Effort of, to acquire San Francisco Bay, 228</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>KELLEY, HALL J.— + <ul> + <li>Visit to Oregon in 1834, 195</li> + <li>Work in Oregon, 224</li> + <li>Work of, 349</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>LEE— + <ul> + <li>Petition of, to Congress, 28, 29</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>LINN— + <ul> + <li>Oregon policy of, 26, 230, 235</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>LANDS— + <ul> + <li>Cession of state claims to western, 136</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>LANE— + <ul> + <li>Arrival in Oregon, 52</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>LEDYARD— + <ul> + <li>Plan of, for exploring Oregon, 115</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>LEWIS AND CLARK— + <ul> + <li>Plan for the expedition of, 120</li> + <li>Grant of land to, 144</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>LOUISIANA— + <ul> + <li>Purchase of, by U. S., 147</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>McLOUGHLIN— + <ul> + <li>Influence of, 11, 12</li> + <li>Notes on, 95, 96</li> + <li>Treatment of American settlers, 105</li> + <li>Domestic life of, 158</li> + <li>Trouble with American immigrants, 201</li> + <li>Hospital work of, 308</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>MISSIONARIES— + <ul> + <li>Early settlements of, in Oregon, 194, 196, 225</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>MONEY IN EARLY OREGON, 102</li> + <li class='c006'><span class='pageno' id='Page_407'>407</span>NOOTKA— + <ul> + <li>Convention of, 125</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>OREGON— + <ul> + <li>Original extent of, 4, 111</li> + <li>Primitive isolation of, 6</li> + <li>Territorial admission of, 52</li> + <li>Motives for statehood in, 53</li> + <li>Opposition to statehood in, 54</li> + <li>Constitutional Convention of, 55</li> + <li>Admission of, as a state, 58</li> + <li>Dangers of pioneer travel to, 61, 62</li> + <li>Characters of pioneers in, 63, 64</li> + <li>First use of the name, 112, 166</li> + <li>Spanish claims to, 122</li> + <li>Southern boundary of, fixed, 127</li> + <li>Russian claims to, 128</li> + <li>Northern boundary of, fixed, 127</li> + <li>School lands of, 154</li> + <li>Early American visitors to, 193</li> + <li>Early immigration to, 198</li> + <li>Dispute over northern boundary of, 215</li> + <li>Discussion over occupation of, 218</li> + <li>Character of early settlement in, 224</li> + <li>Fifty-four deg. 40 min. boundary of, 243</li> + <li>Settlement of northern boundary of, 251</li> + <li>Estimate and census of Indians in, 314</li> + <li>Condition of, in 1842, 327</li> + <li>Fur trade in, 329, 335</li> + <li>Motives for movement to, 352</li> + <li>Summary of negotiations for, 349</li> + <li>Difficulties of route to, 359</li> + <li>Estimate of immigrations to, 370</li> + <li>Character of immigrants to, 398</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>PARKMAN— + <ul> + <li>Estimate of work of, on Oregon Trail, 342</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>POLK— + <ul> + <li>Inaugural address on Oregon, 46</li> + <li>Message of, 1845 on Oregon, 47</li> + <li>Message of, 1847, 49</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>POPULATION MOVEMENT— + <ul> + <li>Effect on Oregon, 8</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT— + <ul> + <li>Notices for, 32, 33</li> + <li>First steps toward, 33</li> + <li>Objections to, 34, 35</li> + <li>Plan of, 36</li> + <li>Changes in, 37, 38</li> + <li>Effectiveness of, 39</li> + <li>Indian attitude toward, 40</li> + <li>Lane’s verdict on, 52</li> + <li>Notes on organization of, 91</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>SAUVIE’S ISLAND— + <ul> + <li>Indian population of, 310</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'><span class='pageno' id='Page_408'>408</span>SLACUM— + <ul> + <li>Visit of, to Oregon Country, 228</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>SLAVERY— + <ul> + <li>Influence of, on admission of Oregon Territory, 48, 50, 51, 147</li> + <li>In Constitutional Convention, 56</li> + <li>In early Oregon, 101</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>SOVEREIGNTY— + <ul> + <li>Occupation the test of, 123</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>TEXAS— + <ul> + <li>Influence of, on Oregon Question, 288</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>TYLER— + <ul> + <li>Message of, 1842 on Oregon, 41, 234</li> + <li>Message of, 1843, 44</li> + <li>Message of, 1844, 45</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c006'>WASHINGTON— + <ul> + <li>Territorial formation of, 53</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>WEBSTER— + <ul> + <li>Opinion of, on Oregon Question, 239</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>WHITE— + <ul> + <li>Appointment of, as sub-Indian agent, 31</li> + <li>Settlement of, in Oregon, 241</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>WHITMAN— + <ul> + <li>Character and aims of, 41, 42</li> + <li>Work of, 42, 241</li> + <li>Character of, 61</li> + <li>Matthieu’s estimate of, 85</li> + <li>Views of, on Oregon’s needs, 351</li> + <li>Influence of, 381</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>WILKES— + <ul> + <li>Work of, in Oregon, 333</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c018'>WYETH— + <ul> + <li>Visits of, to Oregon, 194</li> + <li>Settlement in Oregon, 223</li> + </ul> + </li> +</ul> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'><span class='large'>PUBLICATIONS</span><br> <span class='small'>OF THE</span><br> <span class='sc'>Oregon Historical Society</span></h2> +</div> + +<h3 class='c008'>SOURCES OF THE HISTORY OF OREGON</h3> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><span class='sc'>Volume I</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c009'><span class='sc'>Number 1.—Journal of Medorem Crawford—An Account of His +Trip Across the Plains in 1842. Price, 25 Cents.</span></p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='sc'>Number 2.—The Indian Council at Walla Walla, May and June, +1855, by Col. Lawrence Kip—A Journal. Price, 25 Cents.</span></p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='sc'>Numbers 3 to 6 Inclusive.—The Correspondence and Journals of +Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 1831–6.—A Record of Two Expeditions, +for the Occupation of the Oregon Country, with Maps, Introduction +and Index. Price, $1.10.</span></p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society for 1898–9, +Including Paper by Silas B. Smith, on “Beginnings in Oregon,” +97 Pages. Price, 25 Cents.</span></p> + +<p class='c009'><span class='sc'>The Proceedings of the Oregon Historical Society for 1899–1900. +Including Two Historical Papers, 120 Pages. Price, 25 Cents.</span></p> + +<h3 class='c008'>QUARTERLY OF THE OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.</h3> + +<table class='table2'> + <tr><th class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>No. 2, Vol. I, June, 1900.</span></th></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Joseph R. Wilson</i>—<span class='sc'>The Oregon Question</span></td> + <td class='c019'>111</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Frances F. Victor</i>—<span class='sc'>Our Public Land System and its Relation to Education in the United States</span></td> + <td class='c019'>132</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Mrs. William Markland Molson</i>—<span class='sc'>Glimpses of Life in Early Oregon</span></td> + <td class='c019'>158</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>H. W. Scott</i>—<span class='sc'>Not Marjoram.—The Spanish Word “Oregano” not the Original of Oregon</span></td> + <td class='c019'>165</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>H. S. Lyman</i>—<span class='sc'>Reminiscences of Louis Labonte</span></td> + <td class='c019'>169</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Frances F. Victor</i>—<span class='sc'>Dr. Elliott Coues</span></td> + <td class='c019'>189</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><span class='sc'>Document.</span>—A Narrative of Events In Early Oregon ascribed to Dr. John McLoughlin</td> + <td class='c019'>193</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><span class='sc'>Reviews of Books.</span>—<i>Eva Emery Dye’s</i> “McLoughlin and Old Oregon”</td> + <td class='c019'>207</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>H. K. Hines’</i> “Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest”</td> + <td class='c019'>210</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='bbt c004'><span class='sc'>Note.</span>—A Correction</td> + <td class='bbt c019'>212</td> + </tr> + <tr><th class='c007' colspan='2'><span class='sc'>No. 3, Vol. I, September, 1900.</span></th></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>Joseph R. Wilson</i>—<span class='sc'>The Oregon Question II.</span></td> + <td class='c019'>213</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>H. S. Lyman</i>—<span class='sc'>Reminiscences of Hugh Cosgrove</span></td> + <td class='c019'>253</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>H. S. Lyman</i>—<span class='sc'>Reminiscences of Wm. M. Case</span></td> + <td class='c019'>269</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>John Minto</i>—<span class='sc'>The Number and Condition of the Native Race in Oregon When First Seen by White Men</span></td> + <td class='c019'>296</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><i>H. S. Lyman</i>—<span class='sc'>Indian Names</span></td> + <td class='c019'>316</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'><span class='sc'>Documents</span>—Oregon articles reprinted from a file of the N. Y. <cite>Tribune</cite>, 1842.</td> + <td class='c019'>327</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c004'>Letter by William Plumer, Senator from N. H.</td> + <td class='c019'>336</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c006'> + <div>PRICE: THIRTY-FIVE CENTS PER NUMBER, ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c003'>UNIVERSITY OF OREGON.</h2> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><i>THE GRADUATE SCHOOL confers the degrees of +Master of Arts, (and in prospect, of Doctor of Philosophy,) +Civil and Sanitary Engineer (C. E.), Electrical +Engineer (E. E.), Chemical Engineer (Ch.E.), +and Mining Engineer (Min. E.)</i></p> + +<p class='c009'><i>THE COLLEGE OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE +ARTS confers the degree of Bachelor of Arts on +graduates from the following groups: (1) General +Classical; (2) General Literary; (3) General Scientific; +(4) Civic-Historical. It offers Collegiate Courses +not leading to a degree as follows: (1) Preparatory +to Law or Journalism; (2) Course for Teachers.</i></p> + +<p class='c009'><i>THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING.</i>—</p> + +<p class='c020'><i>A.—The School of Applied Science confers the degree +of Bachelor of Science on graduates from +the following groups; (1) General Science; (2) +Chemistry; (3) Physics; (4) Biology; (5) Geology +and Mineralogy. It offers a Course Preparatory +to Medicine.</i></p> + +<p class='c020'><i>B.—The School of Engineering: (1) Civil and Sanitary; +(2) Electrical; (3) Chemical.</i></p> + +<div class='lg-container-l c021'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>THE SCHOOL OF MINES AND MINING.</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE at Portland.</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>THE SCHOOL OF LAW at Portland.</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC.</i></div> + <div class='line'><i>THE UNIVERSITY ACADEMY.</i></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-r c021'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'><i>Address</i></div> + <div class='line in20'><span class='sc'><span class='large'>The President,</span></span></div> + <div class='line in24'><span class='sc'>Eugene, Oregon.</span></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c002'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c022'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1 c006'> + <li>Fixed typos; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78187 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57i (with regex) on 2026-02-13 01:06:57 GMT --> +</html> |