with a small party, expecting to meet in the Columbia River, a vessel
with supplies, to compete with the Hudson's Bay Company. The vessel was
wrecked in the South Pacific Ocean. She and the cargo were a total loss.
This party arrived at Fort Vancouver in a destitute condition. Although
Dr. McLoughlin knew they came as competing traders, he welcomed them
cordially, supplied their necessities on their credit, and gave Wyeth a
seat at his own table. In Wyeth's Journal of this expedition he says,
under date of October 29, 1832: "Arrived at the fort of Vancouver....
Here I was received with the utmost kindness and hospitality by Dr.
McLoughlin, the acting Governor of the place.... Our people were
supplied with food and shelter.... I find Dr. McLoughlin a fine old
gentleman, truly philanthropic in his ideas.... The gentlemen of this
Company do much credit to their country by their education, deportment,
and talents.... The Company seem disposed to render me all the
assistance they can." Wyeth was most hospitably entertained by Dr.
McLoughlin until February 3, 1833, when Wyeth left Vancouver for his
home overland. He was accompanied by three of his men, the others
staying at Fort Vancouver. In his Journal under date February 3, 1833,
he says: "I parted with feelings of sorrow from the gentlemen of Fort
Vancouver. Their unremitting kindness to me while there much endeared
them to me, more so than would seem possible during so short a time. Dr.
McLoughlin, the Governor of the place, is a man distinguished as much
for his kindness and humanity as his good sense and information; and to
whom I am so much indebted as that he will never be forgotten by me."
Dr. McLoughlin assisted the men of Wyeth's expedition who stayed, to
join the Willamette settlement. He furnished them seed and supplies and
agreed that they would be paid the same price for their wheat as was
paid to the French Canadian settlers, _i.e._, three shillings, sterling,
per bushel, and that they could purchase their supplies from the
Hudson's Bay Company at fifty per cent. advance on prime London cost.
This is said to have been equivalent to paying one dollar and
twenty-five cents a bushel for wheat, with supplies at customary prices.
In 1834 Wyeth again came overland to the Columbia River with a large
party. On the way he established Fort Hall (now in Idaho) in direct
opposition to the Hudson's Bay Company, as he had a perfect right to do.
He and his party arrived at Fort Vancouver September 14, 1834, and were
hospitably received by Dr. McLoughlin and the other gentlemen of the
Hudson's Bay Company. In Wyeth's Journal of his second expedition he
says, under date of September 14, 1834: "Arrived at Vancouver, where I
found Dr. McLoughlin in charge, who received us in his usual manner. He
has here power, and uses it as a man should, to make those about him,
and those who come in contact with him, comfortable and happy." The brig
May Dacre, with Wyeth's supplies, was then in the Columbia River.
Immediately on his arrival, Wyeth started in active competition with the
Hudson's Bay Company. He established a post, which he named Fort
William, on Wappatoo Island (now Sauvie's Island). He forwarded supplies
and men to Fort Hall. It was the beginning of a commercial war between
the two companies, but it was a warfare on honorable lines. In the end
Wyeth was beaten by Dr. McLoughlin, and sold out his entire
establishment to the Hudson's Bay Company. While Dr. McLoughlin was
personally courteous to Wyeth and his employees, he did not and would
not be false or untrue to the business interests of the Hudson's Bay
Company. For Dr. McLoughlin to have acted otherwise than he did, would
have shown him to be unfit to hold his position as Chief Factor. Wyeth
was too big, and too capable a man not to understand this. In his
Journal, under date of September 31, 1834, (he evidently forgot that
September has but thirty days) he says: "From this time until the 13th
Oct. making preparations for a campaign into the Snake country and
arrived on the 13th at Vancouver and was received with great attention
by all there." And under date of February 12, 1835, he says: "In the
morning made to Vancouver and found there a polite reception."[10] Wyeth
was a man of great ability, enterprise, and courage. His expeditions
deserved better fates. He was a high-minded gentleman. Although his two
expeditions were failures, he showed his countrymen the way to Oregon,
which many shortly followed.
In the McLoughlin Document he says: "In justice to Mr. Wyeth I have
great pleasure to be able to state that as a rival in trade, I found him
open, manly, frank, and fair. And, in short, in all his contracts, a
perfect gentleman and an honest man, doing all he could to support
morality and encouraging industry in the settlement." It is pleasing to
know that after all his hardships and misfortunes Wyeth established a
business for the exportation of ice from Boston to Calcutta, which was a
great financial success.
Rev. H. K. Hines, D.D., was a Methodist minister who came to Oregon in
1853. He was a brother of Rev. Gustavus Hines, the Methodist missionary,
who came to Oregon in 1840, on the ship Lausanne. December 10, 1897, at
Pendleton, Oregon, Rev. Dr. Hines delivered one of the finest tributes
to Dr. McLoughlin that I know of. He was fully capable to do it, for he
was a profound and scholarly student of Oregon history, and personally
knew Dr. McLoughlin. His address should be read by everyone. In his
address Rev. Dr. Hines said, speaking in regard to the failure of the
enterprises of Wyeth, Bonneville, and other fur traders in opposition to
the Hudson's Bay Company: "My own conclusion, after a lengthy and
laborious investigation, the result I have given here in bare outlines,
is that Dr. McLoughlin acted the part only of an honorable, high-minded,
and loyal man in his relation with the American traders who ventured to
dispute with him the commercial dominion of Oregon up to 1835 or 1837."
When Wyeth left Oregon in 1835, he left on the Columbia River a number
of men. These, too, were assisted by Dr. McLoughlin to join the
Willamette River settlements. They were given the same terms as to
prices of wheat and on supplies as he had given to the French Canadian,
and to the other American settlers. In assisting these men whom Wyeth
left on his two expeditions, Dr. McLoughlin was actuated by two motives.
The first was humanitarian; the second was the desirability, if not
necessity, of not having men, little accustomed to think or to plan for
themselves, roaming the country, and possibly, some of them, becoming
vagabonds. It was liable to be dangerous for white men to join Indian
tribes and become leaders. With great wisdom and humanity he made them
settlers, which gave them every inducement to be industrious and to be
law abiding.
John K. Townsend, the naturalist, accompanied by Nuttall, the botanist,
crossed the plains in 1834 with Captain Wyeth. In 1839 Townsend
published a book entitled, "Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky
Mountains," etc. On page 169 he says: "On the beach in front of the
fort, we were met by Mr. Lee, the missionary, and Dr. John McLoughlin,
the Chief Factor, and Governor of the Hudson's Bay posts in this
vicinity. The Dr. is a large, dignified and very noble looking man, with
a fine expressive countenance, and remarkably bland and pleasing
manners. The Missionary introduced Mr. N. [Nuttall] and myself in due
form, and we were greeted and received with a frank and unassuming
politeness which was most peculiarly grateful to our feelings. He
requested us to consider his house our home, provided a separate room
for our use, a servant to wait upon us, and furnished us with every
convenience which we could possibly wish for. I shall never cease to
feel grateful to him for his disinterested kindness to the poor,
houseless, and travel-worn strangers." And on page 263 he said: "I took
leave of Doctor McLoughlin with feelings akin to those with which I
should bid adieu to an affectionate parent; and to his fervent, 'God
bless you, sir, and may you have a happy meeting with your friends,' I
could only reply by a look of the sincerest gratitude. Words are
inadequate to express my deep sense of the obligations which I feel
under to this truly generous and excellent man, and I fear I can only
repay them by the sincerity with which I shall always cherish the
recollection of his kindness, and the ardent prayers I shall breathe for
his prosperity and happiness."
The only persons who were not cordially received by Dr. McLoughlin were
Ewing Young and Hall J. Kelley, who came to Fort Vancouver in October,
1834, from California. Gov. Figueroa, the Governor of California, had
written Dr. McLoughlin that Young and Kelley had stolen horses from
settlers in California. Dr. McLoughlin told them of the charges, and
that he would have nothing to do with them until the information was
shown to be false. This was not done until long afterwards, when it was
shown that neither Young nor Kelley was guilty, but that some of their
party, with which they started to Oregon, were guilty, and were
disreputable characters, which Young and Kelley knew. The stand taken by
Dr. McLoughlin was the only proper one. He had official information from
California. Fort Vancouver was not an asylum for horse thieves.
Nevertheless, as Kelley was sick, Dr. McLoughlin provided Kelley with a
house, such as was occupied by the servants of the Company, outside the
fort, furnished him with an attendant, and supplied him with medical aid
and all necessary comforts until March, 1835, when Dr. McLoughlin gave
Kelley free passage to the Hawaiian Islands on the Hudson's Bay
Company's vessel, the Dryad, and also presented Kelley with a draft for
seven pounds sterling, payable at the Hawaiian Islands. On his return
home, Kelley, instead of being grateful, most vigorously attacked the
Hudson's Bay Company for its alleged abuses of American citizens, and
abused Dr. McLoughlin and falsely stated that Dr. McLoughlin had been so
alarmed with the dread that Kelley would destroy the Hudson's Bay
Company's trade that Dr. McLoughlin had kept a constant watch over
Kelley.
Kelley was a Boston school teacher who became an Oregon enthusiast. From
the year 1815, when he was twenty-six years of age, for many years, he
wrote and published pamphlets and also a few books on Oregon and its
advantages as a country to live in. He originated a scheme to send a
colony to Oregon; to build a city on the east side of the Willamette
River, at its junction with the Columbia River; and to build another
city on the north side of the Columbia River, nearly opposite Tongue
Point. His efforts resulted in immediate failures. He died a
disappointed man. Young was a type of a man who was often successful in
the Far West. He was forceful and self-reliant, but often reckless, and
sometimes careless of appearances. He was so accustomed to meet
emergencies successfully that he did not always consider what others
might think of him and of the methods he sometimes felt compelled to
adopt. He had been robbed in California of a large amount of furs and
had not been fairly treated by the representatives of the Mexican
Government in California. While Young was an adventurer, he was a man of
ability and became a leading resident of early Oregon. The relations of
Dr. McLoughlin and Ewing Young finally became quite amicable, for Dr.
McLoughlin learned of and respected Young's good and manly qualities.
_Presbyterian Missionaries._
For convenience I shall first mention the Presbyterian missionaries,
although they came two years later than the first Methodist
missionaries. Rev. Samuel Parker was the first Presbyterian minister to
arrive in Oregon. He came in 1835. He started to Oregon with Doctor
Marcus Whitman, but Whitman returned East from Green River to obtain
more associates for the Mission. These came out with Dr. Whitman in
1836. Parker returned home by sea, reaching his home in 1837. Parker
published a book called, "Journal of an Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky
Mountains." The first edition was published in Ithaca, New York, in
1838. On page 138 of his book he says: "At two in the afternoon, arrived
at Fort Vancouver, and never did I feel more joyful to set my feet on
shore, where I expected to find a hospitable people and the comforts of
life. Doct. J. McLoughlin, a chief factor and superintendent of this
fort and of the business of the Company west of the Rocky Mountains,
received me with many expressions of kindness, and invited me to make
his residence my home for the Winter, and as long as it would suit my
convenience. Never could such an invitation be more thankfully
received." On page 158 he says: "Here, [Fort Vancouver] by the kind
invitation of Dr. McLoughlin, and welcomed by the other gentlemen of the
Hudson Bay Company, I took up my residence for the winter." And on page
263 he says: "Monday, 11th April [1836]. Having made arrangements to
leave this place on the 14th, I called upon the chief clerk for my bill.
He said the Company had made no bill against me, but felt a pleasure in
gratuitously conferring all they have done for the benefit of the object
in which I am engaged. In justice to my own feelings, and in gratitude
to the Honorable Company, I would bear testimony to their consistent
politeness and generosity; and while I do this, I would express my
anxiety for their salvation, and that they may be rewarded in spiritual
blessings. In addition to the civilities I had received as a guest, I
had drawn upon their store for clothing, for goods to pay my Indians,
whom I had employed to convey me in canoes, in my various journeyings,
hundreds of miles; to pay my guides and interpreters; and have drawn
upon their provision store for the support of these men while in my
employ."
In 1836 Dr. Marcus Whitman came to Oregon. With him came his wife, Rev.
Henry H. Spalding and wife, and W. H. Gray, a layman. They arrived at
Fort Vancouver September 1, 1836. Here they were most hospitably
entertained by Dr. McLoughlin and the other gentlemen of the Hudson's
Bay Company, and all necessary and convenient assistance to these
missionaries was freely given. When these missionaries arrived at
Vancouver, they had hardly more than the clothes they had on. They
concluded to locate one mission near Waiilatpu, near the present city of
Walla Walla, Washington; and another at Lapwai, near the present city of
Lewiston, Idaho. Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding remained at Fort
Vancouver for several months, while their husbands and Gray were
erecting the necessary houses at the Missions.
_Methodist Missions and Missionaries._
With Wyeth's second expedition, in 1834, came the first Methodist
missionaries: Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Daniel Lee, his nephew, and the
following laymen: Cyrus Shepard, a teacher; P. L. Edwards, a teacher;
and a man named Walker. They arrived at Fort Vancouver September 17,
1834. They were also hospitably received by Dr. McLoughlin, and treated
with every consideration and kindness. On Dr. McLoughlin's invitation
Jason Lee preached at Fort Vancouver. Boats and men were furnished by
Dr. McLoughlin to the missionaries to explore the country and select a
proper place for the establishment of their Mission. In the McLoughlin
Document, he says: "In 1834, Messrs. Jason and Daniel Lee, and Messrs.
Walker and P. L. Edwards came with Mr. Wyeth to establish a Mission in
the Flat-head country. I observed to them that it was too dangerous for
them to establish a Mission [there]; that to do good to the Indians,
they must establish themselves where they could collect them around
them; teach them first to cultivate the ground and live more comfortably
than they do by hunting, and as they do this, teach them religion; that
the Willamette afforded them a fine field, and that they ought to go
there, and they would get the same assistance as the settlers. They
followed my advice and went to the Willamette."
Rev. Dr. H. K. Hines published a book in 1899 entitled, "Missionary
History of the Pacific Northwest." While, as is to be expected, Dr.
Hines' book is biased in favor of the Methodist missionaries, and Jason
Lee is his hero, nevertheless, he has endeavored to be fair and just to
all. In this "Missionary History," page 92, Dr. Hines says: "It was no
accident, nor, yet, was it any influence that Dr. McLoughlin or any
other man or men had over him [Jason Lee] that determined his choice [of
a site for the Mission]. It was his own clear and comprehensive
statesmanship. Mr. Lee was not a man of hasty impulse.... This nature
did not play him false in the selection of the site of his Mission." And
on pages 452, 453, he says: "Some writers have believed, or affected to
believe, that the advice of Dr. McLoughlin both to Mr. Lee in 1834, and
to the missionaries of the American Board in 1836, was for the purpose
of pushing them to one side, and putting them out of the way of the
Hudson's Bay Company, so that they could not interfere with its
purposes, nor put any obstacle in the way of the ultimate British
occupancy of Oregon. Such writers give little credit to the astuteness
of Dr. McLoughlin, or to the intelligence and independence of the
missionaries of the American Board. Had such been the purpose of Dr.
McLoughlin, or had he been a man capable of devising a course of action
so adverse to the purposes for which his guests were in the country, he
certainly would not have advised them to establish their work in the
very centers of the great region open to their choice. This he did, as
we believe, honestly and honorably."
Jason Lee selected, as the original site of the Methodist Mission, a
place on French Prairie, about ten miles north of the present city of
Salem. When he and his party were ready to leave for their new home, Dr.
McLoughlin placed at their disposal a boat and crew to transport the
mission goods from the May Dacre, Wyeth's vessel, on which their goods
had come, to the new Mission. He loaned them seven oxen, one bull, and
seven cows with their calves. The moving of these goods and cattle to
the Mission required several days. He also provided and manned a boat to
convey the missionaries, personally. In his diary, Jason Lee says:
"After dinner embarked in one of the Company's boats, kindly manned for
us by Dr. McLoughlin, who has treated us with the utmost attention,
politeness and liberality."[11]
March 1, 1836, Dr. McLoughlin and the other officers of the Hudson's Bay
Company, all British subjects, sent to Jason Lee, for the benefit of the
Methodist Mission, a voluntary gift of one hundred and thirty dollars,
accompanied by the following letter:
"FORT VANCOUVER, 1st March, 1836.
"The Rev. JASON LEE,
"Dear Sir:
"I do myself the pleasure to hand you the enclosed
subscription, which the gentlemen who have signed it request
you will do them the favor to accept for the use of the
Mission; and they pray our Heavenly Father, without whose
assistance we can do nothing, that of his infinite mercy he
will vouchsafe to bless and prosper your pious endeavors, and
believe me to be, with esteem and regard, your sincere
well-wisher and humble servant.
"JOHN MCLOUGHLIN."[12]
From its beginning, and for several years after, the successful
maintenance of the Methodist Mission in Oregon was due to the friendly
attitude and assistance of Dr. McLoughlin and of the other officers of
the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon. Without these the Mission must have
ceased to exist. This applies also to the successful maintenance of all
other missions in the Oregon Country in the same period of time.[13]
In May, 1837, an addition to the Methodist Mission arrived at Vancouver.
It consisted of eight adults and three children. Of these three were
men, one of whom was Dr. Elijah White, the Mission physician; five were
women, one of whom was Anna Maria Pittman, whom Jason Lee soon married.
In September, 1837, the ship Sumatra arrived at Fort Vancouver loaded
with goods for the Methodist Mission. The Sumatra also brought four more
missionaries, two men, two women, and three children. Rev. David Leslie
and wife were two of these missionaries. All these missionaries were
entertained by Dr. McLoughlin, and provided with comfortable quarters at
Fort Vancouver.
In March, 1838, Rev. Jason Lee left for the Eastern States, overland, on
business for the Mission. His wife died June 26, 1838, three weeks after
the birth and death of their son. Immediately on her death Dr.
McLoughlin sent an express to overtake and tell Jason Lee of these sad
events. The express reached Jason Lee about September 1, 1838, at Pawnee
Mission, near Westport, Missouri.[14] From this act alone could anyone
doubt that Dr. McLoughlin was a sympathetic, kind, thoughtful, and
considerate man? Or think that Jason Lee would ever forget? Later, in
1838 Dr. McLoughlin made a trip to London, returning to Fort Vancouver
in 1839.
While Jason Lee was on this trip to the Eastern States, the Missionary
Board was induced to raise $42,000 to provide for sending thirty-six
adults, and sixteen children, and a cargo of goods and supplies, on the
ship Lausanne, to Oregon for the Methodist Mission. Among these new
missionaries were Rev. Alvan F. Waller, Rev. Gustavus Hines, and George
Abernethy, a lay member, who was to be steward of the Mission and to
have charge of all its secular affairs. This party of missionaries, who
came on the Lausanne, are often referred to as "The great
re-inforcement." The Lausanne, with its precious and valuable cargoes,
arrived at Fort Vancouver June 1, 1840. As soon as Dr. McLoughlin knew
of her arrival in the Columbia River, he sent fresh bread, butter, milk,
and vegetables for the passengers and crew. At Fort Vancouver he
supplied rooms and provisions for the whole missionary party, about
fifty-three people. This party remained as his guests, accepting his
hospitality, for about two weeks.[15] Shortly after some of this
missionary party were endeavoring to take for themselves Dr.
McLoughlin's land claim at Oregon City. The Lausanne was the last
missionary vessel to come to Oregon.
Why this large addition to the Oregon Mission, and these quantities of
supplies, were sent, and this great expense incurred, has never been
satisfactorily explained. It seems to have been the result of unusual,
but ill-directed, religious fervor and zeal. The Methodist Oregon
Mission was then, so far as converting the Indians, a failure. It was
not the fault of the early missionaries. Until 1840 they labored hard
and zealously. The Indians would not be converted, or, if converted,
stay converted. Their numbers had been greatly reduced by the epidemics
of 1829-32, and the numbers were still being rapidly reduced. And why
the necessity of such secular business as a part of a mission to convert
Indians to Christianity?[16] The failure to convert the Indians was
because they were Indians. Their language was simple and related almost
wholly to material things. They had no ethical, no spiritual words. They
had no need for such. They had no religion of their own, worthy of the
name, to be substituted for a better or a higher one. They had no
religious instincts, no religious tendencies, no religious traditions.
The male Indians would not perform manual labor--that was for women and
slaves. The religion of Christ and the religion of Work go hand in hand.
Rev. Dr. H. K. Hines, in his _Missionary History_, after setting forth
certain traits of the Indians and the failures of the Methodist
missionaries to convert them, says (p. 402): "So on the Northwest Coast.
The course and growth of a history whose beginnings cannot be discovered
had ended only in the production of the degraded tribes among whom the
most consecrated and ablest missionary apostleship the Church of Christ
had sent out for centuries made almost superhuman efforts to plant the
seed of the 'eternal life.' As a people they gave no fruitful response."
And, on page 476, he says: "Indeed, after Dr. Whitman rehabilitated his
mission in the autumn of 1843, the work of that station lost much of its
character as an Indian mission. It became rather a resting place and
trading post, where the successive immigrations of 1844-'45-'46 and '47
halted for a little recuperation after their long and weary journey,
before they passed forward to the Willamette. This was inevitable." And
on page 478 Dr. Hines says that Dr. McLoughlin "advised Dr. Whitman to
remove from among the Cayuses, as he believed not only that he could no
longer be useful to them, but that his life was in danger if he remained
among them."