Wallamette (who were about settlers) to join them and form a temporary
government, to which they acceded, as they saw from the influx of
immigrants it was absolutely necessary to do so to maintain peace and
order in the country. We had the pleasure to see her Majesty's ship,
Modeste, Capt. Baillie. She anchored opposite Vancouver. The Belgian
brig, Indefatigable, also anchored there. She was the only vessel that
hitherto came under that flag, and brought the Rev. Father Desmit,
with four fathers of the Society of Jesus, and five Belgian nuns of the
Society of Sisters of our Lady. The fathers came to reinforce their
mission in the interior in the Flat Head Country, and to establish
others, and the nuns to build a convent and open a school for young
females in the Wallamette. Spring, 1845, an American of the name of
Williamson built a hut half a mile from Vancouver, on a piece of ground
occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company. As soon as I was informed of
it, I ordered the hut to be pulled down. A few days after, Williamson
returned with a surveyor to survey the place, and finding his hut
pulled down, and on inquiring, found it was pulled down by my orders,
he called on me and asked the reason of my doing so. I told him it was
because it was built on premises occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company,
who were carrying on business in the country under a license from
the British Government according to a treaty between the British and
American Governments, which implies a right to occupy as much ground
as they require for their business. But this was disputed, and he said
he would persist and build. One of his companions went so far as to
say if he was disturbed, he would burn the finest building in Oregon.
Not wishing to enter into an altercation with this fellow, I told him
in the presence of Chief Factor Douglas, and several of the Hudson's
Bay Company's officers, and several Americans, and of Dr. White, who
happened to be present at the time, that if he persisted in building,
he would place me under the disagreeable necessity of using force
to prevent him. He went away saying he would build. Although none
of the Hudson's Bay Company's people, or any from the north side of
the Columbia, had joined the organization, yet as Williamson was an
American citizen, as a matter of courtesy to them, the accompanying
letter of the 11th of March was addressed to the members of the
Executive Committee of Oregon Organization with an address to the
people, which on receipt was to be posted up for public perusal in
Oregon City.
I also addressed them on the 12th, informing them that Williamson had
desisted from his design of building on the premises in question.
In the summer a meeting of the people in the Wallamette was called in
which the organization was new-modeled, and a clause put in by which
it was provided that no man could be called to do any act contrary to
his allegiance. It struck me this was done to enable us to join the
organization and I mentioned this to my colleague Chief Factor Douglas,
who thought, as I did, that in our present situation and the state of
the country it would be advisable to do so, and I was not surprised
to find a few days after on my visit to Oregon City that my surmises
were correct, as the originator of the clause who was a member of
the legislature then in session, called on me and proposed to me to
enter the organization on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company. After
conversing on the subject and being aware the organization could afford
assistance to none but its own members, I told him I would proceed to
Vancouver, consult with my colleague, Chief Factor Douglas, and the
other officers of the Hudson's Bay Company at that place, which I did,
and Chief Factor Douglas coincided with me in the expediency of our
doing so. I returned to Oregon City and on the legislature writing
me a letter inviting me to join the organization on the part of the
Hudson's Bay Company, in a written reply I informed them I did so; and
on my way back to Vancouver, I was informed of the arrival of Chief
Factor Ogden with dispatches from Sir George Simpson, Governor in Chief
of Rupert's Land, in which I was happy to see that my proceeding in
the case of Williamson had been approved. I have stated that Chief
Factor Douglas coincided in opinion with me that in our situation,
and in the present state of the country, it was evident for us (since
none of us could be called to do any act contrary to our allegiance),
to join the organization, as it resolved itself by this clause merely
into an association of the people of the country to maintain peace
and order among themselves, and in the present state it was not only
necessary, but absolutely our duty, as in 1843, seeing the large number
of immigrants of that season, and seeing from the public papers it
was expected the numbers would be greater next year, and as they came
from that part of the United States most hostile in feeling to British
interest which was greatly excited by the perusal of Irving's Astoria.
Kelley and Spalding's letters, several copies of which were among
them, in which our conduct and proceedings were represented in the
blackest and falsest colors, had worked so much on the minds of these
immigrants that I found out they supposed we would have set the Indians
on them, and that they had frequently talked among themselves that
they ought to take Vancouver. They now knew these reports were false,
but as prejudice takes a strong hold of people's minds, and of which
others might avail themselves to form a party to make an attack on the
Hudson's Bay Company's property—of which it may be said they were
encouraged by the public papers stating that British subjects ought
not to be allowed to be in the country, by the expectation held out by
Linn's bill that every male above eighteen years of age would have a
donation 640 acres of land, a wife 320, and all under 18 would have 160
acres in any part of the country—I wrote, fall 1843, to the Directors
of the Hudson's Bay Company that it was necessary to get protection
from the government for the security of the Hudson Bay Company's
property, and to which in June 1845 I received their answer stating
that in the present state of affairs the company could not obtain
protection from the government, and that I must protect it the best way
I could, and as I had sent an account of Williamson's attempt to build
on the premises of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of my proceedings on
the occasion to her Majesty's Consul, Gen. Millar, at Oahoo, calling
on him for protection for the Hudson's Bay Company's property, and to
which he did not even reply, though he could have done so by the vessel
which conveyed my letter. Therefore,—[seeing our situation, and that
an incendiary in the dry weather in the summer and fall might easily
destroy Vancouver and fly to the Wallamette where we could not touch
him. Indeed at that very time, there was a man at Vancouver on his way
with Dr. White to the states whom we knew had repeatedly said among his
countrymen that his only object for coming to this country was to try
a change of air for the benefit of his health, and to burn Vancouver,
and I heard afterwards on his way back he had expressed his great
regret at not having perpetrated his atrocious intention, and wanted
to return from Fort Hall to endeavor to carry it into effect, but his
countrymen and Dr. White persuaded him to continue his journey to the
states with them; and there are plenty such characters in the country.
One Chapman got up at a Methodist Camp Meeting and confessed publicly
that he had belonged to a celebrated band of robbers in the State of
Arkansas headed by the notorious —— whom the United States Government
had a great deal of trouble to catch and break up his band, and Chapman
declared there were several of his former associates in this country,
and if they reformed he would not expose them, but if they persisted in
their former evil course, he certainly would. Even in 1844 a man agreed
at this place to erect a building on the opposite side of the river.
After it was erected, they differed about the payment. It was referred
to arbitration, and the builder lost his case. A few days after, the
building was burnt in the night, and though every person about the
place is convinced who did it, yet there is no evidence to convict, and
if there was, it would afford no indemnification to the owner of the
property that was destroyed. I also had been informed that an American
had proposed to form a party to take Vancouver by surprise. To deprive
evil-doers of a place of refuge, as the organization could only assist
its own members]—I considered it our duty to join the organization, as
already mentioned. It may be said why not place sentries? It is because
I know from experience that common men cannot be depended on for such
a purpose beyond a few nights, and there were so few officers at the
fort, to have employed them on that duty we must have put a stop to the
business of the place which would derange the whole business of the
department, and I therefore considered it best to act as I did. I was
much surprised a few days after the arrival of Chief Factor Ogden, by
the arrival of Lieut. Peel and Capt. Parks, who handed me a letter from
Capt. Gorden of Her Majesty's Ship America, from Nisqually, and stating
he was sent by Admiral Seymour, who wrote me to the same purport to
assure her Majesty's subjects in the country of firm protection, and
which was most unexpected after what the Directors of the Hudson's Bay
Company had written me. But more particularly from the silence of Her
Majesty's Consul, Gen. Millar, at Oahoo, which led me to suppose at
the time, though I was mistaken, that the British Government had cast
us off and we must take care of ourselves the "best way we could." I
do not mention this to find fault with others, but merely to state
my feelings, and the responsibility I felt for the property under my
charge. I was still more surprised on the return of Chief Factor
Douglas from Nisqually, where he had been in company with Mr. Peel,
to see Capt. Gorden, to receive a letter from Capt. Baillie of Her
Majesty's Ship Modeste, informing me he was sent by Admiral Seymour to
afford protection to her Majesty's subjects in the Columbia River if
they required it. At first I thought we would not, as we had joined
the organization, but on the suggestion of Chief Factor Douglas I
thought it well to accept Capt. Baillie's important offer, and I am now
happy I did so, as I am convinced it was owing to the Modeste being
at Vancouver, and the gentlemen-like conduct of Capt. Baillie and his
officers, and the good discipline and behavior of the crew, that the
officers of the Hudson's Bay Company at Vancouver have had less trouble
than they would have had, and which (though they have had a great deal
more than I expected) certainly they have done nothing to incur, but
the reverse. They have done everything they could to avoid it, but
after all of which I am not surprised when I am certain there are many
ill-disposed persons among these immigrants who think they are doing a
meritorious act by giving trouble to British subjects.
The immigrants in 1845 amounted to 3,000 persons, men, women and
children.
REVIEWS OF BOOKS.
_McLoughlin and Old Oregon._ By EVA EMERY DYE. (Chicago: A. C. McClurg
and Company, 1900. Pp. VIII, 381.)
The incidents, personalities, color, and sequence of events in the
growth of Oregon from 1832 to 1849 were never before portrayed as they
are in Mrs. Dye's "McLoughlin and Old Oregon." Had the present day
kinetograph and phonograph been at hand and in operation for recording
the dramatic scenes and sayings of that period of wonderful changes in
the Valley of the Columbia, we should have had more of the foibles,
limitations, and obliquities of human nature, but Mrs. Dye's minute
study, sympathetic assimilation, and unique strength in constructive
imagination have given us an exceedingly interesting series of pictures
almost as vivid as real life.
The book opens at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia, the center of the
Hudson's Bay Company's widely extended operations west of the Rocky
Mountains, and the home of its chief factor, Dr. John McLoughlin. The
time, 1832, marks the revival of the movement of American enterprise
for the occupation of Oregon in the person of Nathaniel J. Wyeth.
Nineteen years had passed since the Astor venture had suffered dismal
discomfiture in that region. From 1832 on, however, the United States
was to have representatives, in one capacity or another, of its
interests in Oregon. Slender was its hold during the first half of
this period, but its preponderance was overwhelming in the latter
half. Wyeth failed with his commercial venture. Physical obstacles
taxed his resources, and he had to meet the determined monopoly of
the Hudson's Bay Company under its competent and benignant chief
factor, Dr. John McLoughlin, backed by the millions of the company,
and a disciplined host in possession of the good-will and salutary
respect of the Indians. But the American missionaries remained on the
ground, established stations, accumulated stores, formed nuclei of
settlements through their lay helpers, and correctly conceived policies
of inuring the Indians through example and precept to a status of
settled agricultural life. Then come strong mountain men, who had had
their fill of experience as solitary trappers in the wilds of the Rocky
Mountains. Beginning with a band of one hundred and thirty-seven in
1842, and rising immediately to eight hundred and seventy-five in 1843
there rolled in the mighty tide of pioneer home-builders.
In such an entourage of events the author correctly conceives of
the motive that is primary in this culminative course of events.
A lower race is to be dispossessed by a higher, though Wyeth's
plans contemplated advantage from the Indians' retaining their
native employments, and the missionaries vainly hoped by a summary
procedure to elevate them from lowest barbarism to civilization.
Doctor McLoughlin holds the key to the situation, at least as to the
immediate outcome. As representative of the fur trading monopoly, his
interests are linked with the interests of the Indians in remaining in
undisturbed possession of their imperial domains. It would have been
so easy to have hustled back home the first forerunners of the great
immigrations, and, if this had not deterred others from coming on in
larger numbers, these in turn, utterly without resources after their
long marches, could easily have been thrown into consternation and
wrought havoc with by the chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company.
The issues in this great drama of the Pacific Northwest turn then,
first, upon the qualities of heart and character of the Indians that
came under the influence of Lee, Whitman, and Spalding. Will they
have the faith and fortitude to sacrifice a world in which they are
the leaders for a possibly better world in which leadership is with
the white man? Secondly, the outcome of this second movement of the
Americans on to Oregon lies with Doctor McLoughlin. Will the depth of
his humanity suffice to rescue, shelter, nourish and shield year after
year those who would have perished but for his intervention and whose
survival is bound to result in the appearance of invading hosts who
will wrest the sceptre from him? Mrs. Dye has thrilling issues and two
real heroes, Whitman and McLoughlin, in this epoch of Oregon history,
and she makes the most of them.
The secret of her remarkable success in making the characters and
conditions of that time live again lay in her getting the confidence
of the principal surviving actors of that period and securing from
them the fullest impress of the traditions of stirring times, with all
the halo that half-a-century would naturally invest them with. Through
these sources she attained an understanding of the actors and spirit
of the times so intimate that her pretension to supply the words used
on all important occasions does not become a mockery, but through this
dramatizing the author attains the unique element in her success.
In this role her inimitable power of vivid representation, through
successions of pictures, has its best application.
The stock of reminiscences that Mrs. Dye exploited with such rare skill
and energy needed corroboration from contemporary documents. As the
material for Oregon history is brought together, many lapses, more or
less important, in matters of fact will no doubt be disclosed. As an
instance: The magnitude of Wyeth's second expedition is stated in
figures at least four times too large, both for the number of men and
the amount of money.
The author has, however, kept herself remarkably well poised between
the partisan bickerings that have characterized so much of the writing
in Oregon history. The search of the author for indubitable evidence
has been rewarded in the finding of some valuable material, notably the
Whitman papers; and clues that she came upon have yielded treasures for
others.
Towards the closing chapters the author swerves farthest from history
towards romance. Instead of bringing the vigorous young Oregon
community into the foreground, she leaves the stage empty. "Old
Oregon," with its life had, of course, departed, but it was crowded out
by the thronging of the new.
This book is by far the best that the general reader can select for an
introduction to the life of early Oregon.
_Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest._ By H. K. HINES, D. D.
(Portland: H. K. Hines, San Francisco: J. D. Hammond, 1899. Pp. 510.)
As the sub-title indicates, this is rather the "Story of Jason Lee"
than a missionary history of the Pacific Northwest. There would have
been no impropriety in giving it the title of "Jason Lee and the
Methodist Missionary Effort in the Pacific Northwest." The title is
positively misleading as it stands, for forty pages only are devoted
to an account of the work of the missionaries under the "American
Board," while some four hundred and fifty are taken up with the story
of the Methodist Missions. The Methodist denomination was first in this
field with wisely chosen representatives. It sustained and reinforced
its movement to christianize the Indians of Oregon most munificently,
considering the conditions of the times. As a memorial of these efforts
conceived with such grand and consecrated spirit, nothing would have
been more fitting than a volume by Doctor Hines.
No one could have been so unfair as to demand of Doctor Hines a cold
and critical account of these missionaries and their work. A panegyric
on Jason Lee and his colaborers was becoming from him. He was the
man prepared through life-long schooling and natural inclination to
do this, and Jason Lee's work deserved it. But for the title and an
invidious comparison that crops out all too frequently, Doctor Hines
has done in this book just what God had prepared him to do.
It is a pity that a work of so high general character, the best product
of such fine literary ability as Doctor Hines possesses, could not have
been one of some famous series by a strong publishing house of the East
that would have pushed it into the markets of the world.
The fact that the critical historian will take issue with the
conclusions of this book almost from the beginning constitutes no
disparagement of the real worth of the author's work. It was a labor
of love for a character and for a denomination. This, however, may
be said: The Methodist missionary project in the Pacific Northwest
was, soon after its inception, at all but one or two points, not
distinctively a missionary station at all. But it was a colony with a
strong secular spirit and exercised a most salutary influence upon the
affairs of the Oregon community. This fact the work of Doctor Hines
unwittingly proves.
NOTE—A CORRECTION.
_To the Editor Oregon Historical Quarterly_:
In the article upon F. X. Matthieu in the March Quarterly there appears
one inadvertence which should be corrected: Doctor White is mentioned
as having first come to Oregon on the Lausanne. He came in 1837 _via_
Honolulu, leaving Boston on the ship Hamilton, and reaching the
Columbia in May, on the brig Diana.
H. S. LYMAN.
PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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VOLUME I
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NUMBERS 3 TO 6 INCLUSIVE.—THE CORRESPONDENCE AND JOURNALS OF CAPTAIN
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CENTS.
QUARTERLY OF THE OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
CONTENTS NO. 1, VOL. I, MARCH, 1900.
THE GENESIS OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY AND OF A COMMONWEALTH
GOVERNMENT IN OREGON—_James R. Robertson_ 1
THE PROCESS OF SELECTION IN OREGON PIONEER SETTLEMENT—_Thomas
Condon_ 60
NATHANIEL J. WYETH'S OREGON EXPEDITIONS—"In Historic Mansions
and Highways Around Boston" 66
REMINISCENCES OF F. X. MATTHIEU—_H. S. Lyman_ 73
DOCUMENTS—Correspondence of John McLoughlin, Nathaniel J.
Wyeth, S. R. Thurston, and R. C. Winthrop, pertaining to claim
of Dr. McLoughlin at the Falls of the Willamette—the site of
Oregon City 105
NOTES AND NEWS 70
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Transcriber's Note
The order for "Contents No. 1, Vol. I, March, 1900" has been retained
as published in the original publication. Other apparent typographical
errors have been repaired.
Footnotes placed at end of the respective chapters.