eleven years of age his family removed to Ashtabula County, Ohio. In
1825 Buffum went to Illinois to work in the mines, later settling in
Fulton County, and removing to Missouri in 1841. His wife, Caroline
Thurman, was born in Ohio in 1814. After their long journey to Oregon,
the Buffums settled in Yamhill County, near Amity, where they afterwards
resided, with the exception of a year spent in the California gold
fields. Buffum was still living in Amity in 1898. See his reminiscences
in Oregon Pioneer Association _Transactions_, 1889, pp. 42-44.
Mrs. Miriam A. Thompson (_née_ Robinson) was born in Illinois (1826) and
married the year before the migration to Oregon. After reaching the
Willamette she settled in Yamhill County, thence removing to Clatsop
Plains, where in 1848 her husband left her for California. There he was
murdered, and in 1850 his widow married Jeremiah H. Tuller, after 1880
living in Douglas County. For her own account of her adventures, and
especially this trip across the Cascade Mountains, see Oregon Pioneer
Association _Transactions_, 1895, pp. 87-90.--ED.
[117] Jacob C. Caplinger was born in Virginia in 1815, of
German descent. In 1837 he removed to Illinois, in 1841 marrying Jane
Woodsides. After reaching the settlements, the Caplingers remained at
Oregon City until 1847, when they purchased a farm near Salem, where
they were living in 1892.--ED.
[118] Matthew (not N.) Gilmore came out in 1843, settling on
the Tualatin Plains, where he was chosen delegate to the provisional
legislature of 1844. Gilmore was a farmer, not prominent in public life.
Charles Gilmore appears to have been of the migration of 1844.
Peter G. Stewart came with the Applegate party of 1843, and was one of
the executive committee of three, chosen in 1844. He was a man of calm,
dispassionate temper, who had been a jeweler in the states. In 1853 he
was port surveyor at Pacific City.--ED.
[119] According to H. H. Bancroft, _History of Oregon_, i, pp.
525, 526, these were the families of Andrew Hood and Sharp C. Senters.
Rev. Theophilus Powell was born in Kentucky, left for Oregon from
Missouri, and died in Marion County, Oregon, in 1861.--ED.
[120] Several members of the party of 1845 bore the name of
Smith; probably this was Simeon, born in Ohio in 1823, removed to
Missouri in 1838, and settled in Marion County, finally making his home
in Salem, where he died in 1878. See reference in Stephen Staats's
address, in Oregon Pioneer Association _Transactions_, 1877, p. 55; also
_ibid._, 1878, pp. 92, 93.--ED.
[121] Colonel James Taylor was born in Pennsylvania (1809), of
Scotch-Irish ancestry. In 1823 he removed to Ohio, where he was active
in the state militia and connected with the Indian trade. His wife was
Esther d'Armon, who came with him to Oregon. See her biography in Oregon
Pioneer Association _Transactions_, 1897, pp. 103-105, wherein is
recounted her experience in crossing the Cascades. Colonel Taylor
removed in 1846 to Clatsop Plains, but at the outbreak of the Cayuse War
(1847) carried his family back to Oregon City, while he served in the
extempore army as assistant commissary to General Palmer. In 1849-51
Taylor was chosen first territorial treasurer. About 1850 the Taylors
returned to Clatsop, removing to Astoria about 1855, where they passed
the remainder of their lives, both dying in 1893.--ED.
[122] Samuel McSwain, of the emigration of 1844.--ED.
[123] Peter H. Hatch, who came to Oregon by sea in 1843.--ED.
[124] The Clackamas Indians were a branch of the Upper Chinook,
which had long inhabited the river valley called by their name. Lewis
and Clark reported (1806) that there were eleven villages of this tribe,
with a population of eight hundred. See Thwaites, _Original Journals of
the Lewis and Clark Expedition_ (New York, 1905), iv, p. 255; vi, p.
118. The Indian agent for 1851 estimated their number at eighty-eight.
The village where Palmer tarried was the one visited in 1841 by members
of the Wilkes exploring expedition. A conflict for influence over this
tribe was in progress at the time, between the Catholic and Methodist
missionaries stationed at the Falls of the Willamette. Captain William
Clark thus describes their huts: "they build their houses in the same
form with those of the Columbian vally of wide split boa[r]ds and
covered with the bark of the white cedar which is the entire length of
one side of the roof and jut over at the eve about 18 inches."--ED.
[125] For the founding of Oregon City see De Smet's _Oregon
Missions_, in our volume xxix, p. 180, note 76.--ED.
[126] For a sketch of Dr. John McLoughlin see our volume xxi,
p. 296, note 81.--ED.
[127] De Smet describes the building of the Catholic church in
his _Oregon Missions_, our volume xxix, p. 167.--ED.
[128] In 1842 the Wallamet Milling Company was organized and
proceeded to erect both flour and grist mills on an island near the
falls, in order to accommodate the settlers, who before their erection
had been dependent upon the Hudson's Bay Company's mills near Vancouver.
The founders of this enterprise were members of the Methodist mission.
Governor George Abernethy of New York (born in 1807) came to Oregon as
steward of the party of reinforcement arriving in the "Lausanne" (1840).
His business capacity was appreciated by the members of the mission, and
he was soon established as a merchant at Oregon City. Here he took
prominent part in the organization of the provisional government, of
which he was elected governor in 1845. Re-elected the following year,
Abernethy continued in this office until the arrival of Governor Joseph
Lane (1849), sent out as first territorial governor by the United
States. During the troubles incident to the Whitman massacre, Governor
Abernethy acted with discretion and promptness, and retained the good
will of Oregonians during his entire term of office. After retiring from
public service he continued in mercantile pursuits, dying at Portland in
1877. See his portrait in H. S. Lyman, _History of Oregon_, iii, p. 286.
For Alanson Beers see Farnham's _Travels_ in our volume xxix, p. 21,
note 14.--ED.
[129] In 1844 the Oregon Printing Association was formed, and
George Abernethy sent to New York for a press upon which was printed the
first number of the _Oregon Spectator_, February 6, 1846. Its first
editor was Colonel William G. T'Vault, a pioneer of 1845; he was
succeeded by Henry A. G. Lee, George L. Curry, Aaron E. Wait, and Rev.
Wilson Blain, successively. Although several times suspended for brief
periods, the _Spectator_ was published until 1855. For an account see
George H. Himes, "The History of the Press of Oregon, 1839-1850," in
_Oregon Historical Quarterly_, iii, pp. 327-370.--ED.
[130] See descriptions of this game in _Original Journals of
the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, iv, p. 37; and in Ross's _Oregon
Settlers_, our volume vii, pp. 291-293.--ED.
[131] William Engle, of German descent, was born near Harper's
Ferry, Virginia, in 1789, and served as a volunteer in the War of
1812-15. Having lived for some years in St. Clair County, Illinois, he
went out with the train of 1845 for Oregon, settling first at Oregon
City. The following year he took up donation land in Clackamas County,
where he resided until 1866, being chosen member of the legislature of
1847, and for two years serving as county judge. Having sold his farm in
Clackamas, he removed to Marion County, where he died in 1868. Engle was
by trade a carpenter; his experiment as a foundryman does not appear to
have been successful.--ED.
[132] Lewis F. Linn was born in 1796 near Louisville, where he
studied medicine and afterwards volunteered for the War of 1812-15. At
its close he removed to Ste. Geneviève, Missouri, where he began active
practice. In 1827 he was elected to the state senate, and in 1833 was
appointed to the United States senate to fill out the term of a deceased
senator. Thrice elected thereto by the Missouri legislature, he served
until his own death in 1843, being known in the senate as a champion of
Oregon interests.
The town opposite Oregon City was known as Linn City. It consisted in
December, 1844, of two log buildings and many tents, wherein the
emigrants of 1844 made their headquarters. In 1861 all the buildings
were swept away by a flood. It has now no separate existence.--ED.
[133] Robert Moore was born in Pennsylvania in 1781, served in
the War of 1812-15, and in 1822 emigrated to Ste. Geneviève, Missouri,
whence he was sent to the state legislature. In 1835 he removed to
Illinois, where in 1839 he joined the Peoria party for emigration to
Oregon. See preface to Farnham's _Travels_, in our volume xxviii. Moore
was one of the seceders who went off from Bent's Fort to Fort St. Vrain,
where he spent the winter of 1839-40. Arrived in Oregon he purchased
land of the Indians on the west side of the Willamette, naming his place
the "Robin's Nest," being visited there by Commodore Wilkes in 1841.
Moore served on a committee of the provisional government, and held a
commission as justice of the peace. He died in Oregon September 1,
1857.--ED.
[134] Hugh Burns was a blacksmith who came to Oregon in 1842,
in the party of Medorem Crawford. The same year he was made a
magistrate, and concerned himself with public affairs until his return
to Missouri in 1846.
For the Multinoma Indians see our volume vi, p. 247, note 53.--ED.
[135] The right to establish public ferries was granted by the
provisional legislature of 1844 to Robert Moore and Hugh Burns.--ED.
[136] The site of Portland was unoccupied until November, 1843,
when William Overton, from Tennessee, and Asa L. Lovejoy staked off
claims of three hundred and twenty acres each. In 1844 Overton sold out
to F. W. Pettygrove of Maine for $50, and the first log cabin was built.
In 1845 the place was named and a town platted; the growth was slow,
however, and by 1849 there were only about a hundred inhabitants. Two
years later the town was incorporated, at that time claiming a
population of a thousand. After that the growth became more rapid. In
1873 Portland suffered a disastrous conflagration. The city's success is
due to its position at the head of tidewater navigation for the Columbia
and Willamette valleys, and as being the terminus of eastern and
southern trunk railways.--ED.
[137] The Willamette is navigable in high water for small
steamers as far as Eugene, a hundred and thirty-eight miles above
Portland. The first steamers on the upper Willamette were the "Hoosier"
and "Yamhill," built in 1851. Since railways have followed both banks of
the stream, river navigation has been of minor importance.--ED.
[138] The mountains of the Coast range extend at the highest
from four thousand to five thousand feet above sea level, with lower
levels half as great. Several passes run through from the Pacific,
notably that afforded by the Yaquina and Mary's rivers, through which
runs the Oregon Central Railway.--ED.
[139] By this paragraph, Palmer intends to describe Tualatin
River and plains. The name is derived from a local Indian word said to
signify "smooth and slowly-flowing stream." The land known to the early
settlers as Tualatin Plains is now embraced in Washington County--a
famous fruit-and wheat-raising region. The plains are encircled by
hills, giving the appearance of a large amphitheatre. The earliest
settlers in this region were three independent missionaries, Harvey
Clark, Alvin T. Smith, and P. B. Littlejohn, who crossed the continent
in 1840, and the following spring settled at Tualatin. About the same
time, several mountain men, such as Joseph L. Meek and Robert Newell,
made their homes in the region. The Red River settlers who had come
under the auspices of the Puget Sound Agricultural Association in 1841,
being dissatisfied with lands north of the Columbia, gradually drifted
south, a number settling at Dairy Creek, in the Tualatin country.
For the Tualatin River see Farnham's _Travels_ in our volume xxix, p.
16, note 5.--ED.
[140] This stream is usually known as the Chehalem, the
significance of the name being unknown. Among the earliest settlers in
this fertile valley were Ewing Young (see our volume xx, p. 23, note 2),
and Sidney Smith (for whom see our volume xxviii, p. 91, note 41).
Several mountain men also had farms in the region, as well as Archibald
McKinley, a member of the Hudson's Bay Company.--ED.
[141] Yamhill is said to be a corruption of Cheamhill, a name
signifying "bald hills." Among the earliest settlers were Francis
Fletcher and Amos Cook, of the Peoria party of 1839. Medorem Crawford
(1842) settled near what is now Dayton for the first years of his Oregon
life. General Palmer himself chose this valley for his future home, and
in 1850 founded therein the town of Dayton. See preface to the present
volume.--ED.
[142] Rickerall (commonly Rickreall) is a corruption of La
Creole, the name now usually applied to this stream, which drains Polk
County and though not navigable has many mill sites and waters a fertile
region.--ED.
[143] Known as Polk County Hills, forming a charming background
for the western view from Salem.--ED.
[144] Jesse, Charles, and Lindsey Applegate were natives of
Kentucky who emigrated to Oregon in 1843, and became leaders in its
development. The eldest, Jesse, was a man of marked peculiarities, but
accredited with much wisdom and indomitable perseverance, and a natural
leader of men. His influence was considerable in forming the provisional
government. In 1846 he explored for a southern route into Willamette
valley, and thence led emigrants south of Klamath Lake. About 1849 he
settled in the Umpqua country, near the site whence he obtained his
title as "sage of Yoncalla." A disastrous business venture sent him for
a time to the mountains of northern California. During the Rogue River
and Modoc Indian wars his knowledge of the character of the aborigines
was valuable, and several times he served as special Indian agent, dying
in Douglas County in 1888.
Charles Applegate was born in 1806, removed to St. Louis about 1820,
migrated to Oregon in 1843, and accompanied his brother Jesse to Douglas
County, where he died in 1879.
Lindsey Applegate accompanied General W. H. Ashley on his Arikara
campaign of 1823 (see our volume xxiii, p. 224, note 177), wherein he
was taken ill. After returning to St. Louis he worked in the Illinois
lead mines, and saw service in the Black Hawk War (1832). After his
migration to Oregon (1843), he became only second to his eldest brother
in services to the young commonwealth. He made his home in the southern
part of the state, near Ashland, in Jackson County, where he was living
in 1885.--ED.
[145] This name should be Hembree, that of a pioneer family
from Tennessee, who came out in 1843. Absalom J. Hembree was a member of
the legislature from 1846 to 1855. In the latter year he raised a
company for the Yakima War, in which he was killed. Many descendants of
this family live near Lafayette and other Yamhill County towns.--ED.
[146] These were members of the immigration of 1844, of which
Cornelius Gilliam was chosen leader. He had served in both the Black
Hawk and Seminole wars, and had been sheriff and member of the
legislature in Missouri. His command of the emigrant train did not last
through the entire trip, the party breaking into smaller companies, two
of which were commanded by William Shaw and Nathaniel Ford. Gilliam was
colonel of the regiment raised to avenge the Whitman massacre, and was
killed by the accidental discharge of a gun.
William Shaw was born (1795) near Raleigh, North Carolina. When a boy he
emigrated to Tennessee and took part in Jackson's campaign before New
Orleans (1814-15). About 1819 he removed to Missouri, where he married a
sister of Colonel Gilliam. He was captain in the Cayuse War of 1848, and
member of the territorial legislature from Marion County, ten miles
above Salem, where he made his permanent home.
Nathaniel Ford was a native of Virginia (1795), but was reared in
Kentucky, and after coming out to Oregon settled in Polk County, where
he died in 1870.--ED.
[147] George Gay was an English sailor. Born in Gloucestershire
(1810), he served as ship's apprentice when eleven years of age. In 1832
he reached California on the "Kitty," and there joined Ewing Young's
trapping party to the mountains of northern California, returning
without entering Oregon. In 1835 he formed one of a party of eight men
under the leadership of John Turner, who coming overland to Oregon were
attacked by the Rogue River Indians, all being wounded and two killed.
Gay reached the settlements after a trip filled with great hardships,
and thenceforth made Oregon his home, taking an Indian wife and settling
high up on the Willamette, near the southern boundary of Yamhill County.
Here he built the first brick house in the territory, and with unbounded
hospitality opened it to new emigrants. Wilkes (1841) describes him as a
dashing, gay "vaquero," half-Indian in his characteristics, but very
useful to the new community. At one time he had considerable wealth in
horses and cattle, but died poor in 1882.
Daniel Matheny, of the emigration of 1843, was born in Virginia in 1793.
Successive removals carried him to Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois,
where he served in the War of 1812-15, and that of Black Hawk (1832).
Having settled near Gay in 1844, he afterwards kept a public ferry,
dying on his farm in 1872. Several of his family accompanied him to
Oregon.--ED.
[148] Luckiamute is the modern spelling of this name of Indian
origin, derived from a branch of the Kalapuya tribe that formerly
inhabited this valley. In 1851, federal commissioners made a treaty with
this tribe whereby they ceded their lands, and retired soon afterwards
to the Grande Ronde reservation. By Mouse River Palmer means the stream
now known as Mary's River--a name given by J. C. Avery, the founder of
Corvallis, in honor of his wife.--ED.
[149] Mount Jefferson, Hayrick Mountain, Mount Washington, and
the Three Sisters, with neighboring peaks.--ED.
[150] Our author here intends the Coast (not the Cascade)
range, of which Mary's Peak, between the two forks of Mary's (Mouse)
River is the highest, rising about five thousand feet above sea
level.--ED.
[151] The Alsea, in Lincoln County, flows into a bay of that
name, where small coasting steamers enter and ascend the stream some
eighteen or twenty miles. The name is derived from an Indian tribe--one
of the Kalapuya stock.--ED.
[152] In the early days of Oregon settlement more frequently
spelled Longtonguebuff (properly Lungtumler), from a branch of the
Kalapuya tribe that inhabited its banks. The stream is now known simply
as Long Tom River, rising in Lane County and flowing nearly north into
Benton County, entering the Willamette not far above Peoria.--ED.
[153] Palmer here refers to Molala River, a stream of
southwestern Clackamas County, that took its name from a tribe of
Indians once roaming upon its banks. Governor Lane in 1850 refers to
this tribe as Mole Alley; and the liquid letters "m" and "p" being
nearly interchangeable in the Indian dialect, Palmer gave it the form
Pole Alley. The Molala tribe was an offshoot of the Cayuse, that had its
home west of the Cascades. The early settlers testified to their
superior physique and stronger qualities, compared with the degraded
Chinook by whom they were surrounded. In 1851 their tribal lands were
purchased, when their number was reported at 123. The remnant removed to
Douglas County, and in 1888 a few calling themselves Molala were found
on the Grande Ronde reservation.--ED.
[154] The aboriginal name of this stream was Hanteuc. Two
differing accounts are given of the origin of the present name. Elijah
White (_Ten Years in Oregon_, p. 70) says a party of Hudson's Bay
trappers lost their way upon this stream and were forced to kill their
horses for sustenance, making pudding of the blood. Others give the
derivation as "Put in"--the stream that puts in just below the early
French settlement, thence degenerated to Pudding. The river rises in the
foothills near the centre of Marion County, and flows nearly north, a
sluggish, crooked stream from eighty to a hundred feet in width.--ED.
[155] The Butte was a landmark on the upper Willamette, a high
escarpment prominent from the river. Here was formerly a landing for the
settlers of French Prairie, whose farms lay south and east of this
point. The town of Butteville was laid out by merchants of Oregon
City--Abernethy and Beers--to facilitate the commerce in wheat. F. X.
Matthieu took up land here as early as 1846, and in 1850 kept a store.
He still lives at Butteville, which in 1900 had a population of
483.--ED.
[156] For Champoeg see De Smet's _Oregon Missions_ in our
volume xxix, p. 179, note 75. The early meetings of the provisional
government were held at this place, which was the centre for the old
Canadian-French inhabitants of the country.
Dr. Robert Newell was born in 1807 at Zanesville, Ohio. His fur-trapping
experiences were under the auspices of the American Fur Company (not the
Hudson's Bay Company), as companion of Joseph L. Meek. See F. T. Victor,
_River of the West_ (Hartford, 1870). His first settlement (1840) after
the migration to Oregon, was at Tualatin Plains; but before 1842 he
removed to Champoeg, where by his influence over the settlers he became
the political as well as social leader. Possibly also Newell laid out a
town at this place, but he was by no means the founder of the village.
Newell represented Champoeg in the provisional government for several
years, and in 1846 was speaker of the lower house of the state
legislature. After the Whitman massacre (1847) he was chosen one of the
commissioners, with Palmer, to treat with the Indians. He also raised a
company for the Indian war of 1856. In later life he was connected with
railway projects and died at Lewiston, Idaho, in 1869.--ED.
[157] For the early settlement of French Prairie, see De Smet's
_Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p. 386, note 203; also our volume vii, p.
231, note 83. For the Chinook jargon see our volume vi, p. 240, note 40;
also pp. 264-270 of the present volume.--ED.
[158] For the earliest site of the Methodist mission see our
volume xxi, p. 299, note 84. Matheny's Ferry is mentioned in note 147,
_ante_, p. 174.--ED.
[159] For Jason Lee see our volume xxi, p. 138, note 13. His
first wife was Anna Maria Pitman, who came out from New York in 1837,
the marriage taking place soon after her arrival in May of that year.
The following spring Lee returned to the United States. Upon his journey
a messenger overtook him, announcing the death of Mrs. Lee on June 26,
1838. The first interment was at the old mission, as here stated. Later
the grave was removed to Salem. H. H. Bancroft, _History of Oregon_, i,
p. 170, gives the inscription on the tombstone.--ED.
[160] For the origin of the Willamette Institute see De Smet's
_Oregon Missions_ in our volume xxix, p. 165, note 62.--ED.
[161] In 1843 the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal
church decided that the Oregon mission, being no longer useful for the
conversion of Indians, should be closed, and the charges organized into
a mission conference for whites. In pursuance of this resolve, Rev.
George Gary of Black River Conference, New York, was appointed to
supersede Jason Lee as superintendent. Early in June, 1844, Gary settled
the affairs of the mission, dismissing the lay members, who immediately
bought in the mills and other property of the mission. Gary remained in
Oregon until 1847, making his headquarters at Oregon City.
The native name of the site at Salem--Chemekata--was interpreted by Rev.
David Leslie as having the same significance as the term Salem--_i. e._,
rest, or peace. The site was chosen in 1840 for the erection of mills on
Mill Creek. The trustees of Oregon Institute laid out the town, which
grew slowly until in 1851 it became the territorial capital. By the
terms of the state constitution the capital was located by popular vote,
which resulted in favor of Salem. Its population in 1900 was
4,258.--ED.