OREGON MATERIAL TAKEN FROM A FILE OF AN INDEPENDENCE (MO.) AND WESTON
(MO.) PAPER FOR 1844 AND 1845; ALSO SOME MINOR EXTRACTS FROM OTHER
PAPERS IN THAT VICINITY.
During this time these towns were important outfitting points for
Oregon pioneers. The Oregon fever was raging throughout the
surrounding country, the frontier counties of Missouri. The
newspapers, Democratic and Whig, in this vicinity appreciated the
interest in the Oregon Country and in the movement of emigration
thither. Their columns were open to reports of travelers returning
from the Columbia. Letters sent back by pioneers in the Willamette
Valley seemed to be in great demand. The documents printed below
contain two noteworthy letters from persons who were in the great
migration of 1843. Contemporary sources of the history of that epochal
event are especially valuable.
[These extracts were made from the files of these papers in the
possession of the Missouri Historical Society, Saint Louis, Mo.]
From the _Independence Journal_, September 12, 1844.
(Vol. I, No. 1, G. R. Gibson, editor.)
"Civis," in a communication, dwells upon the importance of
the Independence trade in outfitting Santa Fé traders. One
hundred and fifty thousand dollars are annually expended at
Independence for this purpose. There are good reasons for
believing that in a few years it will quadruple that amount.
Concerning the outfitting of the Oregon pioneers, he says:
"The Oregon emigrants will, no doubt, continue to rendezvous
near this place, and will number annually 1,500 persons, the
outfit for which number will cost $50,000, and all of which
our citizens may furnish."
Mountain trade, now of inconsiderable importance, will be
worth $10,000 per annum. "Civis" is urging the establishment
of a turnpike to the Missouri River.
* * * * *
From the _Independence Journal_, September 12, 1844.