agrees to surrender make over and forever abandon unto the said
John McLoughlin his heirs administrators and assigns and in his
favor, all claims rights and pretensions whatsoever which he
now has within or to the said above mentioned Tract or survey
of land or any part thereof. The said Waller further agrees to
withdraw any proceedings which he or his attorney may have
commenced in any of the courts of the United States touching
the said tract or survey of land and to abstain from at any
future time instituting any proceedings to secure to himself
the title of the said tract or survey of land in opposition to
the said McLoughlin or to his detriment in any way whatsoever,
or to sell or otherwise dispose of to any person whatsoever
other than the said McLoughlin any claim or right which he the
said Waller may have in the same.
"And the said John McLoughlin agrees in consideration of the
above mentioned acts and agreements on the part of the said
Alvan F. Waller to pay to the said Waller the sum of five
hundred dollars and further to convey to the said Waller the
premises now occupied by him being lots number two and seven in
Blocks number one in Oregon City in said survey--also the
entire Blocks numbers fifty four, forty one and eighteen and
lots one, two, three, six, seven, and eight in Block number
eleven all included in the plot Oregon City aforesaid; and the
said John McLoughlin further agrees to give to said Alvan F.
Waller his Bond conditioned for a good and sufficient Warrantee
Deed to all the above specified premises.
"And the said John McLoughlin further agrees to convey to
David Leslie now acting superintendent of the Oregon Methodist
Episcopal Mission lots three, four, five and six in Block
number one and also lots numbers four and five in Block twenty
eight and also the entire Block number twenty nine on the plot
of Oregon City aforesaid; and the said John McLoughlin further
agrees to give to the said David Leslie his Bond conditioned
for a good and sufficient warrantee deed accordingly to all the
above specified premises.
"Signed with our names and sealed with our seals this day and
year first above mentioned.
"JOHN MCLOUGHLIN" { }
"ALVAN F. WALLER" {L. S.}
"DAVID LESLIE" { }
"Witnesses"
"JAMES DOUGLAS"
"ELIJAH WHITE"
"A. L. LOVEJOY"
"W. GILPIN."
"True Copy of the original.
"Attest: W. W. RAYMOND.
"Wallamette Falls July 24, 1844."
A copy of the bond, dated April 4, 1844, given by Dr. John McLoughlin to
Rev. A. F. Waller, as provided in said Articles of Agreement of the same
date, is in the possession of the Oregon Historical Society. It is also
certified to be a true copy by said W. W. Raymond. This certified copy
was, also, among the private papers of Rev. A. F. Waller at the time of
his death.
Frances Fuller Victor, who had access to original documents, says that
the reasons why the agreement set forth in this Document J, came to be
entered into are as follows: In April, 1844, Dr. Elijah White suggested
that the differences between Dr. McLoughlin and A. F. Waller about the
Oregon City land claim might be settled by arbitration. Dr. McLoughlin
finally consented to this plan. The arbitrators chosen were Dr. Elijah
White, Major Gilpin, and James Douglas, on the side of Dr. McLoughlin,
and Revs. David Leslie and A. F. Waller on the side of Waller and the
Methodist Mission. All the arbitrators, except Douglas, were citizens of
the United States. Major Gilpin had attended West Point and had been an
officer in the regular army of the United States. He came to Oregon with
Fremont's expedition. Rev. David Leslie was then the acting
Superintendent of the Methodist Mission.
Waller insisted that he should receive five hundred dollars and five
acres for himself and the Methodist Mission should receive fourteen
lots. White and Gilpin considered this exorbitant and opposed it. They
were finally persuaded by Douglas to agree to Waller's terms. Douglas
said to Dr. McLoughlin, "I thought it best to give you one fever and
have done with it. I have acceded to the terms and signed the
papers."[66]
While Dr. McLoughlin signed these agreements and executed these bonds
and carried them out as far as he was able to, he was not pleased with
being compelled to accede to these demands, which he considered unjust.
If Waller, either for himself alone or for himself and the Methodist
Mission, were entitled to the 640 acres of Dr. McLoughlin's land claim,
Waller and it should have insisted on having the whole claim. The
proposition of Waller to accept $500 and five acres of land and for Dr.
McLoughlin to give the Mission fourteen lots shows that in the minds of
Waller and the Mission his and its claims were, to say the least, very
dubious ones. Dr. McLoughlin could but consider that he had been forced
to comply with these demands, not as a question of right, but as a
question of expediency and to get rid of these false claims.
DOCUMENT K
_Statement of the career in Oregon of Judge W. P. Bryant._
I have been unable to learn much about Judge W. P. Bryant, except his
actions in connection with Abernethy Island and against Dr. McLoughlin.
To his _Biennial Report_ of 1899 (page 190) Hon. H. R. Kincaid, as
Secretary of State for Oregon, added an Appendix giving short
biographies of the Chief Justices of Oregon and of other Oregon
officials. Of Judge Bryant the Secretary of State said only: "There are
no official records in the Department of State to show when Mr. Bryant
assumed the duties of his office nor for what period he served. The
decisions of the Supreme Court at the time when he served were not
reported. Mr. Bryant was appointed by the President from some eastern
state and only served here a short time when he again returned east."
In the _History of Oregon_ in Bancroft's Works, it is said: That Judge
Bryant's home was in Indiana; that he was appointed Chief Justice of
Oregon in August, 1848, and arrived in Oregon April 9, 1849; that he
resigned as Chief Justice January 1, 1851, having spent but five months
in Oregon; that upon his resignation he returned to Indiana, where he
soon died.
DOCUMENT L
_Letter of Dr. John McLoughlin, published in the "Oregon Spectator,"
Thursday, September 12, 1850._
"Mr. Editor:
"In the Congressional Globe of May 30th, 1850, is the following language
of Mr. Thurston, the Delegate from Oregon, to which I wish to invite the
attention of the public.
"'And as to the humbug about the Hudson's Bay Company, mentioned by the
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Bowlin], I have to say that I know of no
humbug about it; this Company has been warring against our Government
for these forty years. Dr. McLoughlin has been the chief fugleman, first
to cheat our Government, out of the whole country, and next to prevent
its settlement. He has driven men from their claims, and from the
country, to stifle its efforts at settlement. In 1845 he sent an express
to Fort Hall, eight hundred miles, to warn the emigrants, if they
attempted to come to the Willamette, they would all be cut off; they
went and none were cut off. How, sir, would you reward Benedict Arnold,
were he living; he fought the battles of the country, yet, by one act of
treason, forfeited the respect of that country. A bill for his relief
would fail, I am sure; yet this Bill proposes to reward those who are
now, have been, and ever will be, more hostile to our country, because
more Jesuitical.'
"What Mr. Thurston means by 'warring against our government for these
forty years,' I know not. I am certain, however, that the H. B. Co. had
a right to carry on trade under the treaty of joint occupation of the
country--even were we to look no farther for another foundation of the
right. I am sure, moreover, that the business of the Company was so
managed as to bear the strictest scrutiny, and to be in all respects
subservient to the best interests of the country, and the duties of
religion and humanity. The government and policy of the Company were
such as to render traveling safe, and the Indians were friendly to
whites. When the Hudson's Bay Company first began to trade with these
Indians they were so hostile to the whites that they had to mount guard
day and night at the establishment, have sentinels at the gates to
prevent any Indian entering, unless to trade, and when they entered, to
take their arms from them. The Columbia could not be traveled in parties
of less than sixty well armed men; but, by the management of the
Company, they were brought to that friendly disposition that _two_ men,
for several years back, can travel in _safety_ between this and Fort
Hall.
"Mr. Thurston is pleased to describe me as 'chief fugleman to the
Hudson's Bay Company.' This is a term which he probably gathered from
the vocabulary in which he found the word 'gumption,' with which he
recently garnished another dish, and which he seems to have prepared for
appetites similar to his own. By the use of this, and such like epithets
it will at once be seen that he has a field of literature which he is
likely to occupy without a rival, and the exclusive possession of which
no one will deny him. Neither my principles nor my tastes lead me in
that direction. But I am described as a 'fugleman' of the Hudson's Bay
Company; first to cheat our Government out of the whole country, and
next to prevent its settlement. I am an old man, and my head is very
white with the frost of many winters, but I have never before been
accused as a cheat. I was born a British subject--I have had for twenty
years the superintendence of the Hudson's Bay Company's trade, in
Oregon, and on the North West Coast; and may be said to have been the
representative of British interests in this country; but I have never
descended to court popularity, by pandering to prejudice, and doing
wrong to anyone. I have, on the other hand, afforded every assistance to
all who required it, and which religion and humanity dictated; and this
community can say if I did so or not. My language to all who spoke to me
on the subject of politics, was that situated as we were we ought to say
nothing about the boundary question, as that was an affair of the
Government; but to live as Christians in peace and concord, and in
acting as I did I consider that I have rendered services to the British
and American Governments. But if I had acted differently, the Government
would have had difficulties, and this community would perhaps not have
enjoyed the peace it has, nor be in so prosperous a condition as it is,
and certainly there is not a man in it who will say that I have sought
to prevent its settlement. There are, in this Valley, very many persons,
and especially among the earliest immigrants, of the first years of the
settlement of the country, who are sufficiently honest to admit that the
country could never have been colonized as easily as it was, but for the
timely, ample, and continuous assistance rendered by me, to them, with
the means of the Hudson's Bay Company under my charge. Provisions were
sent to meet the immigrants--boats were dispatched to convey them down
the Columbia,--when arrived on their claims, cattle were loaned
them--they were supplied with clothing, food, farming utensils, and
wheat for seed. Very many of these men honorably paid, as soon as they
could; others, though able to pay, and though their notes have been
standing for many years, testify their sense of the number and magnitude
of my favors by signing a _secret_ Memorial to the Congress of the
United States, to take from me my property, and to leave me in the
decline of life, and in the decrepitude of old age, to the companionship
of adders, who--when they were benumbed with frost, I gathered from the
hedges and warmed into life, to feel, when alas! too late, the stings
of their ingratitude.
"For additional proof, in repelling these calumnies, I could refer to
many sources: Wilkes' Journal, Fremont's Narrative, to American
travelers and writers, and to letters from many and many an immigrant to
this country, and now residents in this valley, stating to their friends
in the States the kindness I had shewn them, and who, I am sure, would
acknowledge it, and are as much surprised at the charge brought against
me as I am myself. But, moreover, it is well known that the fact of my
having aided in the settlement of this country has been a subject of
serious complaints, and grave charges made against me, by subjects of
Her Britannic Majesty, during the pending of the boundary question--who
seem to have been imbued with the same kind disposition toward their
fellow men as Mr. Thurston.
"Mr. Thurston says, 'In 1845 he [Dr. McLoughlin] sent an express to Fort
Hall, eight hundred miles, to warn the immigration that if they
attempted to come to the Willamette, they would be all cut off.' This is
a calumny as gratuitous as it is unprovoked; but it is with mingled
emotions of astonishment and indignation that I have accidentally become
acquainted with the contents of another document, entitled a 'Letter of
the Delegate from Oregon to the members of the House of Representatives,
in behalf of his constituents touching the Oregon Land Bill.' On the
back of the only copy sent, is written in the handwriting of Mr.
Thurston--'Keep this still till next mail, when I shall send them
generally. The debate on the California Bill closes next Tuesday, when I
hope to get it and passed--my land bill; keep dark till next mail.
"'THURSTON.'"
"'June 9, 1850.'"
"In the paragraph already quoted from the Globe of June 30, Mr. Thurston
affirms that I am a more dangerous man than Benedict Arnold was;
because, as he states, I am more 'Jesuitical.' Webster, the celebrated
American Lexicographer, defines Jesuitism thus: 'Cunning, deceit,
prevarication, deceptive practices'--yet this same man, Mr. Thurston,
who bestows epithets upon me without stint and beyond measure; who
accuses me of being 'Jesuitical,' and who occupies the situation of a
grave legislator, admits that his measures will not bear the light of
truth, and he requires his friend to keep still, until he shall complete
the perpetration of a deed of wickedness. Is this not the cunning of the
fox? who prowls around in the darkness, that he may rob the hen-roost of
the farmer while he is sleeping, without a suspicion of a meditated
evil. Is not the sending of such a document, with the request written
upon it to keep 'dark,' a deceptive practice, within the very letter and
meaning of Webster's definition of Jesuitism? Mr. Thurston, it appears,
was afraid of the light of facts, which he did not desire to have
communicated to the Government at Washington, before he completed an act
of contemplated wrong doing.
"In the letter referred to, speaking of Oregon City, he says, 'The
Methodist Mission first took the claim with the view of establishing
here their Mills and Mission--they were forced to leave it under the
fear of having the savages of Oregon let loose upon them.' This charge
is likewise without a fraction of truth, as a few facts will
demonstrate. In 1829, I commenced making preparations at the falls of
the Willamette, for building a sawmill. I had a party residing there
during the winter of 1829 and 1830. This party, in my employment, and
paid with my money, built three houses, and prepared the timber for the
erection of a mill. Circumstances rendered the suspension of the mill
for a while necessary. In the spring of 1830 I commenced cultivating the
ground at the Falls. In the year 1832 I had a mill race blasted out of
the rocks, from near the head of the island which Mr. Thurston calls
Abernethy Island--but Mr. Thurston found it convenient to conceal from
the United States Government that Mr. Abernethy and others purchased the
island from F. Hathaway, who jumped the island in the first instance,
and that Judge Bryant and Gov. Lane finally purchased whatever right Mr.
Abernethy had acquired. The Indians having burnt in 1829 the timber
which during that same year had been prepared for the erection of the
mill, I had, in the summer of 1838, another house built at the Falls;
during the same year I had squared timber prepared and hauled to the
place at which I had originally proposed to erect a mill; the erection
of the mill was again postponed. In 1840 the Rev. Jason Lee,
superintendent of the Methodist Mission in Oregon, applied to me for the
loan of some of the above mentioned timber, for the purpose of erecting
a Mission building. To this request I assented, and at the same time
sent Dr. F. W. Tolmie to point out to the Rev. Mr. Lee the spot upon
which he might build. Up to this time, it should be observed that no
effort had been made to interfere with my claim, and no one called in
question my perfect right to make it. It should be borne in mind, too,
that I commenced improving in 1829, and that the missionaries did not
come here till 1834. To prevent, however, any future misunderstanding,
growing out of any occupancy of sufferance, I handed Mr. Lee a letter,
dated Vancouver, 21st July, 1840, in which I described the extent of my
claim, as embracing 'the upper end of the Falls, across to the Clackamas
Falls, in the Willamette, including the whole point of land _and the
small Island in the falls, on which the portage is made and which I
intend to claim when the boundary line is drawn_.' The words italicised
are not so in the original. I now do this to call attention to them. Up
to this time no one but myself claimed the island. Mr. Lee promised to
return the timber he procured to erect the building, with the wood thus
loaned Mr. Waller and family, who were placed in it by Mr. Lee. I gave
Mr. Lee permission to occupy, as a mission store room, a house I had got
erected for myself. Up to 1841 my claim to the island had never been
interfered with; in this year Mr. Felix Hathaway put some logs on the
island. I gave him notice of my claim, and erected a small house upon
the island. Hathaway finally proceeded with his building. I did not
forcibly eject him because I wished to preserve the peace of the
country. In the autumn of 1842, I first heard that the Rev. Mr. Waller,
as I was informed, set up a claim in conflict with mine, (not for the
Mission, but in his own name.) I subsequently bought off Mr. Waller, in
the same anxious desire to preserve the peace.
"In conclusion of this part of the subject I will remark that when Mr.
Waller requested Capt. W. K. Kilbourn, who resides in this place, to
assist him in putting up the logs which I had loaned to Mr. Lee, Capt.
Kilbourn said to him: 'I will not assist to build the house, if you
intend to set up any claim here.' Mr. Waller disavowed any such
intention.
"In 1842 I had the claim surveyed by Mr. Hudspath, and laid off some
lots; in the fall of 1843, there being better instruments in the
country, I had my claim surveyed by Jesse Applegate, Esq., who more
accurately marked its streets, alleys, lots, etc., etc. When the Oregon
Provisional Government was formed, I recorded my claim in accordance
with the provisions of its organic laws; this record covers the island
and the site of Oregon City. In making this record, I circumscribed the
limits of my claim, so that instead of extending down to the Clackamas
River, as I had made it previous to there being any government in the
country, I made it so as to extend only about half way down. This I did
because the Organic Law provided that no one should hold more than six
hundred and forty acres. This I did also for the sake of peace,
notwithstanding Mr. Thurston is not ashamed to more than intimate a
disposition to 'let loose upon them savages of Oregon.' Mr. Thurston
says, 'He has held it by violence and dint of threats up to this
time.'--That I have held my claim or any part of it by violence or
threats, no man will assert, and far less will one be found to swear so,
who will be believed on his oath, in a court of justice. I have probably
no other enemy than Mr. Thurston, so lost to the _suggestions_ of
conscience as to make a statement so much at variance with my whole
character.
"He says that I have realized, up to the 4th of March, 1849, $200,000
from the sale of lots; this is also wholly untrue. I have given away
lots to the Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
and Baptists. I have given 8 lots to a Roman Catholic Nunnery, 8 lots to
the Clackamas Female Protestant Seminary, incorporated by the Oregon
Legislature. The Trustees are all Protestants, although it is well known
I am a Roman Catholic. In short, in one way and another I have donated
to the county, to schools, to churches, and private individuals, more
than three hundred town lots, and I never realized in cash $20,000, from
all the original sales I have made. He continues, 'He is still an
Englishman, still connected with the Hudson's Bay Company, and refuses
to file his intentions to become an American citizen.' If I was an
Englishman, I know no reason why I should not acknowledge it; but I am a
Canadian by birth, and an Irishman by descent. I am neither ashamed of
my birth-place or lineage--but it has always appeared to me that a man
who can only boast of his country has little to be proud of:
"'A wit's a feather, a chief, a rod--
An honest man's the noblest work of God.'"
"I was a Chief Factor in the Hudson's Bay Company's service, and by the
rules of the Company, enjoy a retired interest, as a matter of
right.--Capt. McNeil, a native born citizen of the United States of
America, holds the same rank as I held in the Hudson's Bay Company
service. He never was required to become a British subject; he will be
entitled, by the laws of the Company, to the same retired interest, no
matter to what country he may owe allegiance.
"I declared my intention to become an American citizen on the 30th May,
1849, as any one may see who will examine the records of the court, in
this place. Mr. Thurston knew this fact--he asked me for my vote and
influence. Why did he ask me for my vote if I had not one to give? I
voted and voted against him, as he well knew, and as he seems well to
remember. But he proceeds to refer to Judge Bryant for the truth of his
statement, in which he affirms that I assigned to Judge Bryant, as a
reason why I still refuse to declare my intention to become an American
citizen, that I cannot do it without prejudicing my standing in England.
I am astonished how the Supreme judge could have made such a statement!
as he had a letter from me pointing out my intention of becoming an
American citizen. The cause, which led to my writing this letter, is
that the island, called Abernethy's Island by Mr. Thurston, and which he
proposes to donate to Mr. Abernethy, his heirs and assigns, is the same
island which Mr. Hathaway and others jumped in 1841, and formed
themselves into a joint stock company, and erected a saw and grist mill
on it, as already stated. From a desire to preserve peace in the
country, I deferred bringing the case to trial, till the government
extended its jurisdiction over the country; but when it had done so, a
few days after the arrival of Judge Bryant and before the courts were
organized, Judge Bryant bought the island of George Abernethy, Esq., who
had bought the stock of the other associates, and as the Island was in
Judge Bryant's district, and as there was only two judges in the
Territory, I thought I could not at the time bring the case to a
satisfactory decision. I therefore deferred bringing the case forward to
a time when the bench would be full. In July or August, 1849, Gov. Lane
told me Judge Bryant would speak to me in regard to my claim on the
Island; the Judge did so and asked me to state the extent of my claim.
To avoid mistakes and misunderstandings, to which verbal communications
are subject, I told him I would write him, and accordingly addressed him
the following letter:
"OREGON CITY, 21st Aug. 1849."
"_To the Hon. W. P. Bryant_:
"Sir--
"I hasten to comply with your request, 'that I state the extent
of my claim to the Island within ten days,' and I beg to refer
you to the books of recorded land claims, kept by Theo.
McGruder, Esq., for the extent of my claim; and I shall expect
a transfer of the fee simple of the whole ground, with all and
every privilege from the United States of America, as soon as
it shall meet the pleasure of my adopted government to act in
the matter.
"I have the honor to be
"Your obedient humble servant,
[_Signed_] "JOHN McLOUGHLIN."