Daniel Lee soon falls sick, and Edwards becomes dissatisfied. They both

arrange to leave the country on the _May Dacre_. Rev. D. Lee is advised

to go to the Sandwich Islands, and Edwards is induced to undertake an

independent school at Champoeg.

Shepard toils on with his Indian and half-native school. Mr. Lee

preaches and labors at the mission among the French, and at Vancouver.

In October, 1835, Rev. S. Parker arrived at Vancouver. In November he

made a flying visit to Mr. Lee's mission. His Presbyterian spectacles

were not adapted to correct observations on Methodist Episcopal

missions. He was inclined to pronounce their efforts a failure. This

impression of Mr. Parker's arose from the fact, that no female

influence, except that of the natives of the country, was seen or felt

about the mission. His impressions were also quite unfavorable to the

Hudson's Bay Company from the same cause. These impressions were, at the

suggestion of the writer, omitted in his first published journal. Four

months after Mr. Parker's visit to Mr. Lee's mission, we find the

gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company making a handsome donation to Mr.

Lee's mission of $130, including a handsome prayer for a blessing upon

their labors, in the following words: "And they pray our heavenly

Father, without whose assistance we can do nothing, that of his infinite

mercy he may vouchsafe to bless and prosper your pious endeavors." This

is signed in behalf of the donors by John McLaughlin.

CHAPTER XXI.

Arrival of Rev. Mr. Beaver and wife.--His opinion of the

company.--A double-wedding.--Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman at

Vancouver.--Men explore the country and locate stations.--Their

opinion of the country.--Indian labor.--A winter trip down Snake

River.

Nothing of note occurred till about the middle of August, 1836. The bark

_Nereus_ arrived from England, bringing back Rev. Daniel Lee, recovered

from his sickness while in the Sandwich Islands, and Rev. Mr. Beaver and

lady, an English Episcopal clergyman, as chaplain to the Hudson's Bay

Company at Fort Vancouver. Mr. Beaver was a man below the medium height,

light brown hair, gray eyes, light complexion, a feminine voice, with

large pretensions to oratory, a poor delivery, and no energy. His ideas

of clerical dignity were such, that he felt himself defiled and polluted

in descending to the "common herd of savages" he found on arriving at

Vancouver. "The governor was uncivil, the clerks were boors, the women

were savages. There was not an individual about the establishment he

felt he could associate with." This feeling was shared largely by Mrs.

Beaver, who, from the little I saw of her at a double-wedding party at

her own house, I concluded, felt she was condescending greatly in

permitting her husband to perform the services.

She appeared totally indifferent to the whole performance, so far as

giving it an approving smile, look, or word. The occasion was the

marriage of the youngest daughter of Dr. McLaughlin to Mr. Ray; and of

Miss Nelia Comilly to Mr. James Douglas, since governor of Vancouver

Island and British Columbia.

While at Vancouver, I met Mr. Beaver once outside the fort, with his dog

and gun. From what I could learn of him, he was fond of hunting and

fishing;--much more so than of preaching to the "ignorant savages in the

fort," as he called the gentlemen and servants of the company. "They

were not sufficiently enlightened to appreciate good sermons, and to

conform to the English church service. However, as he was the chaplain

in charge, by virtue of his appointment received from the executive

committee and governor in London, he had rights superior to any

half-savage, pretended gentlemen at this establishment, and he would let

them know what they were, before they were done with him; he did not

come to this wilderness to be ordered and dictated to by a set of

half-savages, who did not know the difference between a prayer-book and

an otter skin, and yet they presumed to teach him morals and religion."

This tirade, as near as I could learn, was elicited from his reverence

soon after he arrived, on account of some supposed neglect or slight

offered by Dr. McLaughlin, in not furnishing his quarters in the style

he had expected. On reaching the post, in place of a splendid parsonage,

well fitted up, and servants to do his bidding, he found what in early

California times would be called an ordinary balloon house, made of

rough boards, the floors (I think) not planed, and no carpets upon them,

and none in the country to put upon them, except the common flag mats

the Indians manufacture; and these the Rev. Mrs. Beaver considered "too

filthy to step upon, or be about the house." In addition to these very

important matters (judging from the fuss they made about them), "the

doctor and all the pretended gentlemen of the company were living in

_adultery_. This was a horrible crime he could not, and would not, put

up with; he could scarcely bring himself to perform the church service

in so polluted an audience." We had never been confirmed in the English

church, and, consequently, did not feel at liberty to offer any advice

after listening to this long tirade of abuse of the members of the

Hudson's Bay Company by his reverence. A short time after, Mr. Beaver

met Dr. McLaughlin in front of the house, and commenced urging him to

comply with the regulations of the English church. The doctor had been

educated in the Roman Catholic faith; he did not acknowledge Mr.

Beaver's right to dictate a religious creed to him, hence he was not

prepared to conform wholly to the English church service. Among other

subjects, that of marriage was mentioned, Rev. Mr. Beaver insisting that

the doctor should be married in accordance with the church service. The

doctor claimed the right to be married by whom he pleased, and that Mr.

Beaver was interfering and meddling with other than his parochial

duties. This led his reverence to boil over and spill out a portion of

the contemptuous feelings he had cherished from the moment he landed at

the place. The doctor, not being in the habit from his youth of calmly

listening to vulgar and abusive language, especially when addressed to

his face, laid aside his reverence for the cloth, as also the respect

due to his position and age, and gave Rev. Mr. Beaver a caning, some say

kicking, causing his reverence to retreat, and abruptly suspend

enforcing moral lessons in conformity to church usage. Rev. Mrs. Beaver

very naturally sympathized with her husband, and they soon made

arrangements and left the country, to report their case at head-quarters

in London. Dr. McLaughlin chose to comply with civil usage, and as James

Douglas had received a commission from her Majesty as civil magistrate

under the English law, acting as justice of the peace, he united Dr.

John McLaughlin in marriage to Mrs. Margaret McKay, whose first husband

had been lost in the destruction of the bark _Tonquin_ some years

previous. This wedding occurred at Vancouver, about the end of January,

1837. The doctor was married privately, by Esquire Douglas, either a

short time before, or a few days after, I have not yet learned which.

Rev. Mr. Beaver and lady arrived at Vancouver about four weeks before

Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman. The gentlemen of the company, like the

rough mountaineers who paid their respect to Mrs. Whitman and Mrs.

Spalding at the American rendezvous, attempted to be polite and kind to

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. They most emphatically failed. The parsonage was a

terror to them. They had become objects of _contempt_, _scorn_, and

_derision_ in the estimation of their religious guide and moral patron.

Their wives and children were looked upon as filthy savages, not fit to

associate with decent people. This feeling was so strong in the chaplain

and his wife that it leaked out in very injudicious and indiscreet

expressions of disapproval of actions and conduct, that, in a refined

and polished society, would be considered offensive; yet these traders

and Indian merchants, not having been in refined society for many years,

did not understand or comprehend their own awkwardness and want of more

refinement. They had forgotten that, in the progress of society, six

hundred years had passed since their great great grandmothers were like

the women they saw about them every day. They forgot that Mrs. Beaver

was an English clergyman's wife, and claimed to belong to the best

English society. They thought there was but little difference in

womankind; in short, they were much better qualified to deal with

Indians than with civilians. Under such circumstances, and with such

feelings existing in Fort Vancouver, the reader will not be astonished

at the reception of two ladies who could interest and command the esteem

and respect of the savage, the mountain hunter, and the Hudson's Bay

Company fur trader. They came among them expecting nothing but rough

treatment; any little mistakes were overlooked or treated as a jest.

They know no distinction in classes; they were polite to the servant and

the master; their society was agreeable and refining; not the least

insult in word, or look, or act, was ever given them by any white man;

their courage had been tested in the trip they had performed; their

conversation and accomplishments surprised and delighted those permitted

to enjoy their acquaintance, and, as Mr. Hines, in his history of the

Oregon mission, says, "these were the first American women that ever

crossed the Rocky Mountains, and _their arrival formed an epoch in the

history of Oregon_."

Our mission party, with Captain Pambrun, his two boats loaded,

two-thirds of the goods for the mission, on their way up the Columbia

River, arrived all safe at the Dalles. Gray took a decided stand in

favor of the first location at that point, on account of its

accessibility, and the general inclination of all the Indians in the

country to gather at those salmon fisheries; Spalding and Pambrun

opposed; Whitman was undecided; Pambrun would not wait to give time to

explore, nor assist in getting horses for the Doctor and Gray to look at

the country in view of a location. On we go; make the portages at La

Chute; reach John Day's River; Pambrun leaves boats in charge of Whitman

and Gray, and goes to Wallawalla on horseback. In four days' hard

pulling, towing, and sailing, we reach Wallawalla all safe; find cattle

and horses all improving, and every thing in order, that is, as good

order as could be expected; boats discharged, goods all carefully

stored. Next morning, early, a fine band of Cayuse horses came into the

fort; four fine ones were selected and saddled, an extra pack animal

with traveling case and kitchen furniture, tent for camping, and

provisions all ready, a servant with two Indians, all mounted, off we go

up the Wallawalla River about twenty-five miles. Most of the land we

passed over we pronounced barren, and good for nothing except grazing

cattle, sheep, and horses. In the bends of the river, saw a few acres of

land that might be cultivated if arrangements could be made to irrigate.

Passed the Tuchet, but did not consider its appearance justified much

delay to examine it closely, though the whole bottom was covered with a

heavy coat of tall rye grass; went on into the forks of the Wallawalla

and Mill Creek (as it is now called), pitched our tent at the place

where Whitman's station was afterward built, got our suppers. Whitman

and Gray took a look around the place, went into the bends in the river,

looked at the cotton-wood trees, the little streams of water, and all

about till dark; came back to camp; not much said. Mr. Pambrun explained

the quality of the soil, and what would produce corn, what potatoes, and

what would produce (as he thought) wheat, though he had not tried it

thoroughly; or, rather, he had tried it on a small scale and failed. A

few Cayuses came about camp at night. Next morning up early; breakfast

over, some fine fresh Cayuse horses were brought up, ready to mount. We

proceeded through the valley in several directions; rode all day and

returned to camp at night, stopping occasionally to pull up a weed or a

bush, to examine the quality of the soil.

At night, if an artist could have been present and taken a picture of

the group and the expressions of countenance, it certainly would have

been interesting: Spalding, Whitman, Pambrun, and Gray discussing the

quality of the soil, the future prospects of a mission, and of the

natives it was contemplated to gather around. No white settlement was

then thought of. They unanimously concluded that there was but a limited

amount of land susceptible of cultivation, estimated at the place for

the station at about ten acres. Along all the streams and at the foot of

the Blue Mountains, there might be found little patches of from half an

acre to six acres of land suitable to cultivate for the use of the

natives. This, to say the least, was not an overestimate of the

qualities of the soil that has proved, by twenty-five years' cultivation

without manure, to be richer to-day than soils of a different character

with all the manuring they have received. The great objection and most

discouraging indication to the party was the unlimited amount of caustic

alkali found all over those plains and all through the valley. This fact

alone proves the soil inexhaustible. All it requires is sufficient water

to wash from the surface the superabundant alkali that forms upon it.

Any cereals adapted to alkaline soil may be cultivated to any extent in

those valleys.

A stake was set to mark the place. Next day all returned to the fort,

and soon the mission tents, horses, goods, and cattle were upon the

ground and work commenced. The Indians, what few had not gone for

buffalo, came to our camp and rendered all the assistance they were

capable of in getting a house up and covered.

In a few days Spalding and Whitman started with the Nez Perces to look

at their country, in view of a location among them, leaving Gray alone

in charge of the building and goods, while they examined the country up

the Clearwater River, and selected a location in a beautiful valley

about two miles up the Lapwai Creek, and about twelve miles from

Lewiston. Whitman returned to assist in erecting buildings at his

station. Spalding started for Vancouver, to bring up the ladies. About

the middle of November, Mrs. Whitman's quarters were ready, and she came

to occupy them. Spalding and Gray, with Mrs. Spalding, started for the

Lapwai station; arrived about the 1st of December, 1836, and, with the

assistance of the Indians, in about twenty days a house was up, and Mrs.

Spalding occupied it.

It is due to those Indians to say that they labored freely and

faithfully, and showed the best of feelings toward Mr. and Mrs.

Spalding, paying good attention to instructions given them, and appeared

quite anxious to learn all they could of their teachers. It is also due

to truth to state that Mr. Spalding paid them liberally for their

services when compared with the amount paid them by the Hudson's Bay

Company for the same service: say, for bringing a pine-log ten feet long

and one foot in diameter from the Clearwater River to the station, it

usually took about twelve Indians; for this service Mr. Spalding paid

them about six inches of trail-rope tobacco each. This was about four

times as much as the Hudson's Bay Company paid. This fact soon created a

little feeling of unfriendliness toward Mr. Spalding. Dr. Whitman

managed to get along with less Indian labor, and was able, from his

location, to procure stragglers or casual men to work for him for a

time, to get supplies and clothing to help them on their way down to the

Wallamet settlement.

Mr. Spalding and Dr. Whitman were located in their little cabins making

arrangements to get in their gardens and spring crops, teaching the

Indians by example, and on the Sabbath interpreting portions of the

Bible to them, and giving them such religious instruction as they were

capable of communicating with their imperfect knowledge of their

language; Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding teaching the children at their

respective stations as much as was possible for them with their domestic

duties to perform.

All things going on smoothly at the stations and all over the Indian

country, it was thought advisable for Gray to visit Vancouver, procure

the requisite spring supplies, and a suitable outfit for himself to

explore the country, having in view further missionary locations, and

return to the United States and procure assistance for the mission.

Gray's expedition, as contemplated then, would not be considered with

present facilities a very light one. He started from Spalding's station

about the 22d of December, 1836. There had been about twenty inches of

snow upon the ground, but it was concluded from the fine weather at the

station that most of it had melted off. On reaching the forks of

Clearwater (Lewiston), he learned from the Indians that the snow was too

deep to go by land, sent his horses back to Spalding, got an Indian

dug-out, started from Lewiston for Wallawalla with two Indians to pilot

and paddle the canoe; reached the Paluce all safe; camped with the

Indians; found them all friendly; that night came on bitter cold;--river

full of floating ice; Indians concluded not safe to proceed further in

canoe; procure horses and start down on the right bank of the river;

travel all day; toward night, in passing over a high point, snow-storm

came on, lost our trail; struck a canon, followed it down, found the

river and camped in the snow, turned our horses into the tall grass and

made the best of a snow-camp for the night. Next day start early; wallow

through the snow and drifts and reach an Indian camp near the mouth of

Snake River at night; leave horses; next morning get canoe, leave one

Paluce Indian; Paluce chief and chief of band at Snake River in canoe;

two Indians to paddle; pull down the river into the Columbia in the

floating ice, and reach Wallawalla, December 26, 1836; Pambrun pays

Indians what he thinks right: Paluce chief, for horses and services,

one three-point Hudson's Bay blanket, one check shirt, one knife, half a

brace (three feet) trail-rope tobacco. Gray thought the price paid was

very reasonable,--quite little enough for the labor, to say nothing of

the risk and suffering from cold on the trip. The river all closed up;

Indians did not reach their homes for eight days; no communication in

any direction for ten days. About the tenth day Whitman sends orders

down for goods to be shipped from Vancouver. About the 10th of January,

1837, Mr. Ermatinger arrived from Colville by boat, having made several

portages over ice in reaching Wallawalla. Next day we start down the

river; pass through and over several fields of ice; reach Vancouver

about the 12th of January. Rev. J. Lee and Mr. Slacum had just left the

fort as our party arrived. We have previously given an account of the

subjects of special interest, and also of the weddings that occurred

about this time at the fort.

CHAPTER XXII.

The French and American settlers.--Hudson's Bay Company's traveling

traders.--The Flatheads.--Their manner of

traveling.--Marriage.--Their honesty.--Indian fight and scalp

dance.--Making peace.--Fight with the Sioux.--At Council Bluffs.

The reader is already acquainted with all of the first missionaries, and

with the governing power and policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of

the different parties and organizations as they existed. We will now

introduce parties of men as we find them in the Wallamet settlement.

There were at this time about fifty Canadian-Frenchmen in the Wallamet

settlement, all of them retired servants of the Hudson's Bay Company.

These men, who had spent the most active part of their lives in the

service of the company, had become connected with native women, and

nearly all of them had their families of half-native children. This

class of servants were found by the experience of the company not as

profitable for their purposes as the enlisted men from the Orkney Isles,

or even the Sandwich Islanders.

They were induced to allow those that had families of half-native

children to retire from the service and settle in the Wallamet. In this

manner they expected to hold a controlling influence in the settlement,

and secure a population dependent upon them for supplies. It was upon

this half-breed population that they relied to rally the Indian warriors

of the country to prevent an American settlement. As was plainly stated

by one of the Hudson's Bay Company, Mr. F. Ermatinger, in the fall of

1838, in case any effort should be made to remove them from the country,

they had but to arm the eight hundred half-breeds the company had, and,

with the Indians they could control, they could hold the country against

any American force that could be sent into it. The Hudson's Bay Company

knew very well the power and influence they had secured over the

Indians. There was then too small a number of outside Americans to make

any effort to remove them, other than to afford them facilities to leave

the country. With all the facilities they furnished, and encouragement

they gave to go to the Sandwich Islands and to California, there was a

gradual increase of the population the company did not wish to

see;--sailors from vessels, and hunters from the mountains. These

sailors and hunters naturally gathered around the American mission;

many of them had, or soon took, native women for wives; the missionaries

themselves encouraged them to marry these women. This soon commenced an

influence exactly like that held by the Hudson's Bay Company through

their Canadian-French settlement. The moral and religious influence of

the English church had not been favorably received at Vancouver.

Gray procures his outfit at Vancouver, in January, 1837, and starts in

company with Ermatinger on his return. First night camp at a saw-mill;

meet a young man who had crossed the mountains with Captain Wyeth, and

had remained as clerk at Fort Hall, under the Hudson's Bay Company. This

young man has never risen very high in the community where he resides.

For a time he considered he was an important member of the Hudson's Bay

Company. His self-approbation was superior to the profits he brought to

the company, and they found it convenient to drop him from their employ.

He attempted a settlement out of the limits prescribed for Americans,

and was soon compelled to locate himself under the influence of the

Methodist Mission.

There was also in the settlement another young man, who about that time

had taken a native wife and wished to locate at the mouth of the

Columbia River. This privilege was denied him, unless he could procure

some others to go with him. He had joined the Methodist class, and was

considered a reliable man; he came to the country with Captain Wyeth,

and had opened and taught the first school ever commenced in the

country.

Ermatinger and company were detained fourteen days under the lee of a

big rock just opposite Cape Horn, waiting for the east wind to subside

and allow them to pass up the river. Ermatinger was a traveling trader

of the Hudson's Bay Company. That year he was with the Flathead tribe.

Gray continued with him, having his own tent and traveling equipage. The

route traveled was nearly that since explored and located as Mullan's

military road. We struck the Coeur d'Alene Lake and took boats, passed

through the lake and up the Flathead River, making two portages with our

boats and goods before we reached Flathead House, as it was called, a

common log hut, covered with poles and dirt, about 16 by 20. At this

point our horses came up. Their packs and equipage were all put on board

the boats, while the horses came light through the woods and along the

rough river trail. At the place where we found our boats, we found a

number of friendly Indians, also at the head of the lake, and a few at

the Flathead House or hut. Here we found an old Frenchman in charge,

with a small supply of goods, and about two packs of beaver which he had

collected during the winter.

We were joined by a part of the Flathead tribe. In a few days all were

ready. The tribe and trader started over the mountains on to the waters

of the Missouri, to hunt the buffalo and fight the Blackfeet. Our route

was along the main branch of Clark's fork of the Columbia, till we

reached the Culas Patlum (Bitter Root). A halt was made to allow the

natives to dig and prepare the root for the season. The root is quite

nutritious, answering the Indian in place of bread; it is somewhat

bitter in taste, and to a person not accustomed to its use, is not a

very agreeable diet. This root secured for the season, the camp

continued over the dividing ridge into the Big Hole, or Jefferson fork

of the Missouri. In this place we were joined by the balance of the

buffalo Indians. All parties, persons, and property were carried upon

horses. The camps usually traveled from ten to fifteen miles per day. It

is due to this tribe to say that truth, honesty, and virtue were

cardinal principles in all their transactions. An article of property

found during the day was carried to an old chief's lodge; if it were so

light that he could hold it in his hand and walk through the camp, he

would pass around and inquire whose it was. Sometimes several articles

would be lost and picked up; in such cases the old chief would go

through the camp on horseback and deliver them to the owner.

Their system of courtship and marriage was equally interesting. A youth

wishing to marry a young miss was required to present a horse at the

lodge of his intended, ready for her to mount as the camp should move.

In case all were suited, her ladyship would mount the horse and ride it

during the day; at night a feast was had at the lodge of the bride, the

old chief announced the ceremony complete, and the parties proceeded to

their own home or lodge. In case the suit was rejected the horse was not

suitable; he was left for the owner to receive at his pleasure; the maid

mounted her own horse and proceeded about her business.

In case of any visitors from other tribes, which they frequently had in

going to buffalo, they would caution a stranger, and inform him of the

propensity to steal which they had learned was the habit of the Indian

visitor. This tribe claim to have never shed the blood of a white man. I

believe it is the only tribe on the continent truly entitled to that

honor; yet they are far more brave as a tribe than any other Indians.

They never fear a foe, no matter how numerous.

Our sketches perhaps would not lose in interest by giving a short

account of a fight which our Flathead Indians had at this place with a

war party of the Blackfeet. It occurred near the present location of

Helena, in Montana. As was the custom with the Flathead Indians in

traveling in the buffalo country, their hunters and warriors were in

advance of the main camp. A party of twenty-five Blackfeet warriors was

discovered by some twelve of our Flatheads. To see each other was to

fight, especially parties prowling about in this manner, and at it they

went. The first fire of the Flatheads brought five of the Blackfeet to

the ground and wounded some five more. This was more than they expected,

and the Blackfeet made but little effort to recover their dead, which

were duly scalped, and the bodies left for food for the wolves, and the

scalps borne in triumph into the camp. There were but two of the

Flatheads wounded: one had a flesh-wound in the thigh, and the other had

his right arm broken by a Blackfoot ball.

The victory was complete, and the rejoicing in camp corresponded to the

number of scalps taken. Five days and nights the usual scalp-dance was

performed. At the appointed time the big war-drum was sounded, when the

warriors and braves made their appearance at the appointed place in the

open air, painted as warriors. Those who had taken the scalps from the

heads of their enemies bore them in their hands upon the ramrods of

their guns.

They entered the circle, and the war-song, drums, rattles, and noises

all commenced. The scalp-bearers stood for a moment (as if to catch the

time), and then commenced hopping, jumping, and yelling in concert with

the music. This continued for a time, when some old painted women took

the scalps and continued the dance. The performance was gone through

with as many nights as there were scalps taken.

Seven days after the scalps were taken, a messenger arrived bearing a

white flag, and a proposition to make peace for the purposes of trade.

After the preliminaries had all been completed, in which the Hudson's

Bay Company trader had the principal part to perform, the time was fixed

for the meeting of the two tribes. The Flatheads, however, were all

careful to dig their war-pits, make their corrals and breastworks, and,

in short, fortify their camp as much as if they expected a fight instead

of peace. Ermatinger, the company's trader, remarked that he would

sooner take his chances for a fight off-hand than endure the anxiety and

suspense of the two days we waited for the Blackfeet to arrive. Our

scouts and warriors were all ready, and all on the watch for peace or

war, the latter of which, from the recent fight they had had, was

expected most. At length the Blackfeet arrived, bearing a red flag with

H. B. C. in white letters upon it, and advancing to within a short

distance of the camp, were met by Ermatinger and a few Flathead chiefs,

shook hands, and were conducted to the trader's lodge,--the largest one

in the camp,--and the principal chiefs of both tribes, seated upon

buffalo and bear skins, all went through with the ceremony of smoking a

big pipe, having a long handle or stem trimmed with horse-hair and

porcupine quills. The pipe was filled with the trader's tobacco and the

Indians' killikinick. The war-chiefs of each tribe took a puff each of

the pipe, passed it to his right-hand man, and so around till all the

circle had smoked of the big medicine pipe, or pipe of peace, which on

this occasion was made by the Indians from a soft stone which they find

in abundance in their country, having no extra ornamental work upon it.

The principal chief in command, or great medicine man, went through the

ceremony, puffed four times, blowing his smoke in four directions. This

was considered a sign of peace to all around him, which doubtless

included all he knew any thing about. The Blackfeet, as a tribe, are a

tall, well-formed, slim-built, and active people. They travel

principally on foot, and are considered very treacherous.

The peace made with so much formality was broken two days afterward by

killing two of the Flatheads when caught not far from the main camp.

It was from this Flathead tribe that the first Indian delegation was

sent to ask for teachers. Three of their number volunteered to go with

Gray to the States in 1837 to urge their claims for teachers to come

among them. The party reached Ash Hollow, where they were attacked by

about three hundred Sioux warriors, and, after fighting for three hours,

killed some fifteen of them, when the Sioux, by means of a French trader

then among them, obtained a parley with Gray and his traveling

companions,--two young men that had started to go to the States with

him. While the Frenchman was in conversation with Gray, the treacherous

Sioux made a rush upon the three Flatheads, one Snake, and one Iroquois

Indian belonging to the party, and killed them. The Frenchman then

turned to Gray and told him and his companions they were prisoners, and

must go to the Sioux camp, first attempting to get possession of their

guns. Gray informed them at once: "You have killed our Indians in a

cowardly manner, and you shall not have our guns," at the same time

telling the young men to watch the first motion of the Indians to take

their lives, and if we must die, to take as many Indians with us as we

could. The Sioux had found in the contest thus far, that,

notwithstanding they had conquered and killed five, they had lost

fifteen, among them one of their war-chiefs, besides several severely

wounded. The party were not further molested till they reached the camp,

containing between one and two hundred lodges. A full explanation was

had of the whole affair. Gray had two horses killed under him and two

balls passed through his hat, both inflicting slight wounds. The party

were feasted, and smoked the pipe of peace over the dead body of the

chief's son; next day they were allowed to proceed with nine of their

horses; the balance, with the property of the Indians, the Sioux

claimed as part pay for their losses, doubtless calculating to waylay

and take the balance of the horses. Be that as it may, Gray and his

young men reached Council Bluffs in twenty-one days, traveling nights

and during storms to avoid the Indians on the plains.

At Council Bluffs they found an Indian trader speaking the French

language, meaner than the Sioux Indian, by the name of Papeon. The party

had been twenty-one days on rations that ordinarily would have been

consumed in four days; they had killed and eaten parts of two of the

nine worn-out horses; they had with them six. The party entered the

trading establishment and requested some food and the privilege of

washing, not as beggars, but expecting to pay for what they required.

They waited an hour or more; no food was forthcoming; Gray went to

Papeon, the trader, and inquired the reason they could get no food. The

old French imp inquired, in his broken French, "_Have you got any ting

to pa for de tings you vant?_" He was asked if gold would pay him, or a

draft on his company. "Oh, yes," he said, and in a short time food and

what was required was produced.

This is only a specimen of most Indian traders of the Catholic stamp.

There are honorable exceptions.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Re-enforcement to the Methodist Mission.--Re-enforcement to the

mission of the American Board.

We will leave Gray and party on their way down the Missouri River, and

return to Oregon to introduce to the reader a re-enforcement to the

Methodist Mission, consisting of Dr. Elijah White, a man that few who

have dealt with can speak well of, utterly destitute of all morality and

genuine piety, assuming the garb of religion to cover his baseness of

heart and meanness of life. He arrived at the Columbia River in May,

1837. He entered upon his professional duties, and in a few months

boasted of the liberties he had taken with most of the ladies of the

mission who were so unfortunate as to receive his medical attention. It

was easy to see the influence of such a man. His words were smooth and

brotherly, his acts were poison and infamy. He never had a friend but he

betrayed or swindled him in some deal. He would tell a lie when the

truth would answer his purposes better. This man for a time had

considerable influence; his calling as a physician was necessary and

indispensable to the mission. Rev. Jason Lee soon found out the

character of this wolf in sheep's clothing, and presented charges

against him for his immorality, and expelled him from the mission.

Previous to leaving the country, he called a public meeting and made his

statements, and attempted to mob Mr. Jason Lee and get the settlers to

give him a character, in both of which he failed, and left the country

to impose upon the government at Washington, as he had done upon the

mission and the early settlers of Oregon. We will leave Dr. White for

the present, and give him all the credit due to his bad deeds and

exhibitions of folly in his capacity as sub-Indian agent.

Mr. Alanson Beers, a blacksmith by trade, was a good honest man, a

devoted Christian, a man whose moral worth was above price. True as

steel, and honest as he was faithful, he was slow to believe others to

be less true than himself. He was a pattern of honesty and piety, as

well as industry and economy; the opposite of White in every respect, as

was his wife when compared to Mrs. White. Though Mrs. Beers never

claimed or aspired to shine or display more than she really was, yet her

goodness of heart was manifested in her kind and generous treatment of

all. If this man and his wife did not leave a handsome competency for

their children it was no fault of theirs. Others may have felt it their

duty to appropriate the orphan's portion and receive the miser's

paradise. Mr. Beers came to the country full-handed, with a handsome

competency to commence any business he might choose, independent of

missionary patronage. He was more faithful in his department than most

of his brethren.

He was considered by the early settlers an honest and sincere man; by

the ruling spirits of the Methodist Mission, a faithful servant of their

cause.

With this company came W. H. Wilson, an assistant missionary, of whose

early life we have but little knowledge. From his own statements we

learn that he had been connected with a whale ship as cooper. On

arriving in Oregon as an assistant missionary, he was licensed as a

preacher, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. White, and, in

later years, received the title of doctor instead of reverend. The

doctor was a cheerful, whole-souled, good-sort of a fellow, with a

greater abundance of interesting and funny yarns than profound medical

skill, which always made him agreeable, and served to gain friends and

popularity in a community that, as a general thing, would prefer a

tincture of humbuggery.

The Misses Ann Maria Pitman, Susan Downing, and Elvira Johnson were also

of this party. The first became the wife of Rev. Jason Lee, the second

of Cyrus Shepard, the third of Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, who came to the

country with the second re-enforcement to the mission, consisting of

Rev. David Leslie, wife, and three daughters; H. K. W. Perkins; and Miss

Margaret Smith, who afterward became the wife of an Englishman called

Dr. Bailey. This gave to the Methodist Mission, on the 21st of November,

1837, Rev. Jason Lee (superintendent of the mission) and wife, Mr. C.

Shepard and wife, Rev. Daniel Lee, Mr. P. L. Edwards, Rev. David Leslie

and wife, Dr. Elijah White and wife, Rev. H. K. W. Perkins and wife, Mr.

A. Beers and wife, Mr. W. H. Wilson, and Miss Margaret Smith,--nine men

and seven women,--with three daughters of Rev. D. Leslie. From causes

already mentioned, the moral strength of these early missionaries was

neutralized. The larger portion of them had no knowledge of the

influences that were sapping the foundation of their Christian effort,

and tending to destroy the confidence of such as were considered ungodly

outsiders. Instead of meeting sin, and vice, and lust which could not be

hid, and condemning and banishing it, the attempt was made to excuse and

cover up a fault in a professed brother, and reprove others for less

faults,--_the mote and the beam_. The legitimate result

followed,--though slow, yet certain. Here was a noble field, had all

the men sent to occupy it been of the right stamp! Still they toiled on,

or rather continued to occupy a place in the country, to form a nucleus

for a settlement. In this position they are entitled to much credit. The

roving sailor and the wild mountain hunter looked to this wilderness for

a home. The shrewdness of these men soon detected the assailable points

in the mission's character, and adapted themselves to circumstances, and

found it easy to profess compliance and receive the benefits of the

association. There were few or none among this early set of missionaries

that displayed much knowledge of human nature. They were totally

ignorant of savage life, manners, and customs; hence were easily made

the dupes of all.

In the winter of 1837-8, Gray is in the States giving an account of his

trip across the Rocky Mountains in company with Messrs. Spalding and

Whitman, and of his explorations of the country; the present and future

prospects of the missionary efforts; the influence of the Hudson's Bay

Company and of the missions; the fact that a wagon had been taken by Dr.

Whitman and his party to Fort Boise, and that it could be taken to the

Wallamet settlement. Said one man in the audience at Utica, New York:

"How do you get through the timber on the route?" "My dear sir, the

traveler is compelled to use the buffalo chips to cook his food for a

large part of the route, for want of wood; there is not twenty-five

miles of timber on the route from the Missouri to the Columbia." Of

course a description of the vast plains and mountains had to be given,

and the manner of travel and subsistence.

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent with Gray

and wife, Rev. E. Walker and wife, C. Eells and wife, and A. B. Smith

and wife, to re-enforce their mission. There was with this company a

young man from Cincinnati, Ohio,--Cornelius Rogers,--active and useful

in every department, respected and beloved by all who knew him. After

remaining with the mission a few years, he received an appointment from

the Board, but he had made up his mind to become a settler in the

Wallamet, and made his arrangements accordingly. Captain Sutter came

with this party to Wallawalla.

They reached Whitman's station the first of September, 1838, bringing

with them to Fort Hall some fourteen cows. A majority of the party were

made to believe that these could be replaced at Fort Colville with a

better stock of cows, and thus be saved the trouble of driving them

further, and accordingly made an even exchange of the choicest and best

stock that could be found in Missouri for such California stock as the

Hudson's Bay Company might have at Colville. This was considered by the

_greenhorns_ that made the bargain a good trade, till they came to

receive the wild, furious, untamable California stock at Fort Colville,

that required a Spaniard with his lasso to catch and hold, to get the

milk for family use.

Rev. E. Walker was a tall, rather spare, stoop-shouldered, black-haired,

brown-eyed, rather light-complexioned man, diffident and unassuming,

always afraid to say _amen_ at the end of his prayers, and requiring

considerable effort to speak with confidence or decision upon any

subject. This might arise from habit, or want of decision of character,

or fear of offending. He had no positive traits of mind, yet he was

studious, and kind as a friend and neighbor; faithful as a Christian,

inefficient as a preacher. His efforts among the Indians were of the

negative cast. The Indians respected him for his kindness, and feared

him for his commanding appearance. Not at all adapted to fill the

position he undertook,--as an Indian missionary in Oregon,--yet, as a

citizen and settler, one of the best.

Rev. C. Eells, a short, slim, brown-haired, light-brown eyed,

fair-complexioned man, with a superabundance of self-esteem, great

pretensions to precision and accurateness of statement and strictness of

conduct; very precise in all his actions, and about all his labors and

property; with no soul to laud and admire nature, no ambition to lift

his thoughts beyond the sphere of his own ideas of right, he was made to

move in a small circle; his soul would be lost outside of it. There were

but two instances on the trip from Boston to Oregon in which he ventured

outside of himself. The first was at Soda Springs. The day the party

arrived, notwithstanding they had made a long day's drive to reach that

camp, the four ladies--Walker, Eells, Smith, and Gray--wished to go

round and see the springs and drink of the water, and look at the

Steamboat Spring, a place where water and gas issue at intervals of

about a minute, like the blowing of steam. These places the ladies,

tired as they were, must look at and admire. Rev. Mr. Eells puts up his

saddles, buckles, and tents, and takes his Testament and reads his

chapter, as usual, and after prayers retires to rest. Next morning all

were up and admiring the grand display of nature around, drinking of the

water, and enjoying its exhilarating influence. Camp all ready, on they

move. Nothing would satisfy the ladies but another look at the

Steamboat. All mounted their horses and rode down to it. Eells mounts

his horse as usual, and comes along down where all stood watching and

admiring the phenomenon, dismounts from his horse, and in utter

astonishment exclaims: "_Well, this is really worth coming to see!_" The

other instance in which he lost himself was in admiring the grandeur of

the great fall on Snake River. He had no poetry or romance in his soul,

yet by dint of perseverance he was a good artificial singer. He lacked

all the qualities requisite for a successful Indian missionary and a

preacher of the gospel in a new country. As citizens and neighbors, Mr.

Eells and his family were highly respected; as a teacher he was

unreasonably strict.

Rev. A. B. Smith, a man whose prejudices were so strong that he could

not be reasonable with himself. He attempted to make himself useful as a

missionary, but failed for want of Christian forbearance and confidence

in his associates. As to literary ability, he was superior to his

associates, and probably excited their jealousy; so much so, that his

connection in the mission became unpleasant, and he found an excuse to

leave the country in 1841; not, however, till he and Mr. Rogers had,

with the assistance of the Lawyer, completed a vocabulary and a grammar

of the Nez Perce language, which was the cause of Ellis's jealousy of

the Lawyer and Mr. Smith, and also of an extra effort through the

Jesuits and the company to get rid of him.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Arrival of Jesuit missionaries.--Toupin's statement about Rev. A.

B. Smith.--Death of Mrs. Jason Lee.--First express.--Jesuits at

work.--The first printing-press.--The Catholic tree.

A short time after the arrival of the re-enforcement to the mission of

the American Board, Rev. F. N. Blanchet and Rev. Demerse arrived at

Wallawalla by the annual overland boats of the Hudson's Bay Company.

While at Wallawalla, they induced a Cayuse, Young Chief, to have one of

his children baptized, Mr. Pambrun being sponsor, or godfather. This was

the first Indian child ever baptized in the country. It caused

considerable excitement among the Indians, as also a discussion as to

who was teaching the true religion. The interpreters of Wallawalla being

of the Catholic faith, made free to inform the Indians that theirs was

the true religion. The Indians soon came to the station of Dr. Whitman

and informed him of what had been done, and that they had been told by

the priest that his was the true religion; that what he and Mr. Spalding

had been teaching them for two years past was all false, and that it was

not right for the Indians to listen to the Doctor and Mr. Spalding. The

instructions given, and the baptizing of the Indian child, were,

unquestionably, designed to create a diversion in the minds of the

Indians, and ultimately bring about the abandonment or destruction of

the mission. I have never been able to learn, from any source, that any

other Indian child was baptized by these priests on that trip from

Canada to Vancouver. In fact, I see from their published works that they

claim this as their first station or place of instruction.

The Rev. Mr. Blanchet was a black-haired, brown-eyed, smooth-faced,

medium-sized Frenchman.

The Rev. Mr. Demerse had dark-brown hair, full, round eye, fair

complexion, rather full habit, something of the bull-neck, inclining to

corpulency. He was fond of good cheer and good living; of the Jesuit

order of the Roman church; he seemed to have no scruples of conscience;

so long as he could secure subjects for "_mother church_," it mattered

not as to intelligence or character.

During the year 1838, three clergymen arrived across the Rocky

Mountains: Revs. Walker, Eells, and Smith, with their wives, and Mr.

Cornelius Rogers, Mr. Gray, with his wife, had also returned. These new

arrivals gave an addition of nine to the mission of the American Board,

making their number thirteen in all. The Methodist Mission had sixteen,

and the Roman Catholic, two. The total number of missionaries in the

country, in December, 1838, was thirty-one, twenty-nine of the

Protestant religion from the United States, and two of the Roman

Jesuitical order. The latter were located at Vancouver as their

head-quarters. The Methodists were in the Wallamet Valley, with one

out-station at the Dalles, Wascopum. The American Board had three

stations, one at Wailatpu, one at Lapwai, and one at Cimakain, near

Spokan.

This array of missionary strength looked like a strong effort on the

part of the Christian world to convert the tribes upon our western

coast. Had all the men been chosen with proper care, and all acted with

a single eye to the cause which they professed to espouse, each in his

distinct department; had they closed their ears to the suggestions of

hypocritical fur traders, and met their vices with a spotless life and

an earnest determination to maintain their integrity as representatives

of religion and a Christian people, the fruits of their labor would,

undoubtedly, have been far greater. As the matter now stands, they can

claim the influence they reluctantly yielded to the provisional

government of the early settlers of the country.

It will be seen at once that the Hudson's Bay Company was acting a

double part with all the American missionary efforts in the country. On

the arrival of Rev. J. Lee and party they sent for Mr. Beaver, an

Episcopal clergyman. On the arrival of Dr. Whitman and party they sent

for Blanchet and Demerse, and established their head-quarters at

Vancouver. Blanchet took charge of the field occupied by the Methodists,

and Demerse of that occupied by the American Board. A combination of

Hudson's Bay Company Indian traders Roman priests, Protestant

missionaries, and American settlers, each having a distinct object in

view. Unfortunately for the American missionaries and settlers, there

was no one bold enough to attempt to act against these combinations.

Cornelius Rogers and Robert Shortess were the first to show signs of

rebellion against the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company; Spalding,

Whitman, and Smith chafed under the Jesuits' proceedings in the

interior.

"About the year 1839, in the fall, Mr. Smith, belonging to the same

society as Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding, asked permission of Ellis to

build upon his lands for the purpose of teaching the Indians as the

other missionaries were doing, and of keeping a school. Ellis allowed

him to build; but forbade him to cultivate the land, and warned him

that if he did the piece of ground which he would till should serve to

bury him in. In the following spring, however, Mr. Smith prepared his

plow to till the ground; and Ellis, seeing him ready to begin, went to

him and said to him: 'Do you not recollect what I told you? I do not

wish you to cultivate the land.' Mr. Smith, however, persisted in his

determination; but, as he was beginning to plow, the Indians took hold

of him and said to him: 'Do you not know what has been told you, that

you would be digging a hole in which you should be buried?' Mr. Smith

then did not persist any longer, but said to them: 'Let me go, I will

leave the place;' and he started off immediately. This circumstance had

been related to me by the Indians, and soon after I saw Mr. Smith myself

at Fort Wallawalla; he was on his way down to Fort Vancouver, where he

embarked for the Sandwich Islands, whence he did not come back any

more." This is the statement of old John Toupin, Pambrun's Roman

Catholic interpreter, by Brouillet.

It will be borne in mind that Rev. Jason Lee started with P. L. Edwards

and F. Y. Euing, across the Rocky Mountains, for the United States, in

May, 1838. He met Gray, and party, at the American rendezvous that year,

on the north fork of the Yellowstone River. Gray and party, on arriving

at Fort Hall, received the news of the death of Mrs. Jason Lee, sent by

Spalding and Whitman, and not by Dr. McLaughlin, as stated by Rev. G.

Hines. Dr. McLaughlin may have allowed a messenger to go as far as

Whitman's station, but made no arrangements for going any further.

Spalding's Indian messenger delivered the packages to Gray, at Fort

Hall. Gray employed Richardson a young man he had engaged as guide and

hunter for the party, on starting from Westport, Missouri, to take these

letters, and deliver them to Lee, for which he was to receive $150.

This express was carried from the Wallamet Valley to Westport, Missouri,

in _sixty days_, forming the first data for the overland express and

mail routes. The sixty days included two days' detention at Wailatpu,

and two at Fort Hall. It seems that Richardson, the messenger from Fort

Hall, met Lee, and delivered his packages to him at the Shawnee mission,

and received from Lee the price agreed upon. I am thus particular in

these little facts, that those who claim so much credit for Hudson's Bay

Company patronage may understand what influences were in those early

times bringing about results for which a combination of British fur

traders now claim pay, and are awarded $650,000, in gold coin.

I have said that in December, 1838, there were twenty-nine persons

connected with the Protestant missions in the country. This is not

strictly true, Rev. Jason Lee and Mr. P. L. Edwards had gone to the

States; Mr. C. Shepard and Mrs. J. Lee had gone to their reward. The

devil had entered the field with his emissaries, and was exceedingly

busy sowing tares among the wheat, through fear that the natives would

be benefited, and the country become civilized. The Hudson's Bay Company

and its servants, Indians and all, are about to become converted to

Christianity. Strange as this statement may appear, it is literally

true. The clerks, traders, and servants of the Hudson's Bay Company

became _catechists_, to teach the Indians to repeat the catechism

presented to them by their Reverences Blanchet and Demerse. Dr.

McLaughlin and Esquire Douglas were both zealous supporters of the

Christian reformation in progress in the country. During the year 1839,

"Rev. Mr. Demerse (Jesuit priest) spent three weeks at Wallawalla, _in

teaching the Indians and baptizing their children_," employing Mr. P. C.

Pambrun as his catechist, and godfather to the native children. (See

page 87 of Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet's "Protestantism in Oregon.") While

the Protestant missions were struggling to improve the condition of the

Indians, to teach them to cultivate their lands and become permanent

settlers in their own country, and to give the Indian children a

knowledge of books, the Hudson's Bay Company and Jesuit priests were

equally busy in attempting to persuade them that the instructions given

by these American or _Boston missionaries_ were only to cover up a

secret design they had to take their lands and property from them, and

eventually to occupy the country themselves. To a certain extent Dr.

Whitman's statement to them would confirm this idea. As soon as those

priests arrived and commenced their instructions, under the patronage of

the Hudson's Bay Company (for it will be remembered that their

head-quarters were at Vancouver), their entire transportation was

provided or furnished by the company. Doubtless it is to the assistance

rendered these Roman missions to occupy the country, that the counsel

for the Hudson's Bay Company, Mr. Charles D. Day, alludes, in speaking

of the "_substantial benefits to the people and government of the United

States_." Dr. Whitman repeatedly told the Indians about his station that

he did not come among them to buy their land, but he came to teach them

how to cultivate and live from what they produced from their own lands,

and at some future time, if the American government wished any of their

country, then the President would send men to buy and pay them for it.

The difficulty about land had no existence in the minds or thoughts of

the Indians till the fall of 1839, and after the renewal of the Hudson's

Bay Company's license for twenty-one years. From that time forward a

marked change was manifest in the feelings of most of the gentlemen of

the company.

The first printing-press in Oregon was received as a donation from the

mission of the American Board of Foreign Missions in the Sandwich

Islands, to the mission of the Board in Oregon. It reached its

destination at Lapwai, and was put in operation by Mr. E. O. Hall, of

the Sandwich Islands Mission, and commenced printing books in the Nez

Perce language. Both Mr. Rogers and Mr. Spalding soon learned to set

type, and print the small books required for the Indian schools that had

been kept at the stations. The books and instructions were furnished

gratuitously to all the Indians that wished to receive them. This caused

special efforts on the part of the priests to counteract the influence

of the books printed by Spalding. To illustrate their ideas, and show

the evil of heretical books and teachings, they had a representation of

a large tree, with a cross on top, representing all religious sects as

going up the tree, and out upon the different branches, and falling from

the end of the branch into a fire under the tree, with a priest by the

side of the fire throwing the heretical books into it. This was an

interesting picture, and caused much discussion and violent

denunciations among the Indians. Mr. Spalding, to counteract the

influences of the Roman Catholic tree among the Indians, had Mrs.

Spalding paint a number of sheets of cap-paper, commencing with Adam and

Eve in the garden of Eden, representing the shrubbery, and all kinds of

fruits, and the serpent, and the angel (after the fall) as guarding the

garden; giving the pictures of most of the prominent patriarchs; Noah

and the ark, and the prophets, down to Christ and the twelve apostles;

showing the crucifixion of Christ by the Roman soldiers, and on down to

the time when they adopted the cross as a form of worship, and the

priests as kneeling to images. Spalding's pictures were in such form,

and contained so much Bible history and information, that his Indian

preachers, to whom he gave them, could attract larger crowds of Indians,

to listen to the instructions given by Spalding, than those who had the

Catholic tree. This exasperated, or stirred up, as the Indians expressed

it, all their bad feelings toward each other, and caused quarrels

between those that were friends before,--a repetition of sectarian

quarrels in all ages, and among every people not understanding the true

principles of a genuine Christianity.

The main object of the priests was to destroy all interest in books, and

thereby check the growing influence of the American missionaries in the

country, substituting pictures and beads in place of knowledge.

CHAPTER XXV.

Independent missionaries arrive.--Their troubles.--Conversion of

Indiana at the Dalles.--Their motives.--Emigrants of

1839.--Blubber-Mouth Smith.--Re-enforcement of the Methodist

Mission in 1840.--Father De Smet.--Rev. Harvey Clark and

associates.--Ewing Young.--Names of missionaries and settlers.

In the fall of 1839, the Rev. J. S. Griffin and wife arrived at Dr.

Whitman's station. Mr. Griffin had undertaken an independent mission, in

company with a Mr. Munger and wife. They had received an outfit from

some warm-hearted Christians of the Litchfield North Association, of

Connecticut. Mr. Griffin reached St. Louis a single man, fell in love

and married on sight, I do not know whether it was first or second. At

all events, Rev. Mr. Griffin and Mr. Munger and their wives consented to

travel together till they reached Fort Hall, at which place Mr. Griffin,

being the getter-up of the mission and claiming ecclesiastical

jurisdiction, took it upon himself to leave Mr. Munger and his wife at

Fort Hall, to take care of themselves as best they could. Frank

Ermatinger, of the Hudson's Bay Company, at once furnished Mr. Munger

and his wife the means of transportation, and brought them to Dr.

Whitman's station, where he knew Mr. Munger could find a place for

himself and wife. This transaction of Mr. Griffin injured his usefulness

as a minister, and left him in the country but little inspected by any

who knew of his conduct to a fellow-traveler and an intelligent

Christian woman. The fact that Mr. Munger afterward became deranged, or

even that he was partially deranged at Fort Hall, or before they reached

that place, is no excuse for his treating a man in that condition and

his wife as he did. Mr. Griffin claims that Mr. Ermatinger stole three

of his horses, or had them hid, when at Fort Hall, to get Mr. Munger and

wife to travel with him, and, by so doing, give the impression that he

had abandoned them. From a careful review of Mr. Griffin's lengthy

defense in this case, we can not conceive that any further change or

correction is required, as the facts stated are by him admitted. From

Mr. Griffin's statement we are satisfied that improper and undue

influences were used to break up and defeat his Indian missionary plans

and settlement by Mr. Ermatinger and the Hudson's Bay Company, and also

to destroy his clerical influence in the country. Unfortunately, Mr.

Griffin gave too much cause for his enemies to do as they did.

In the winter of 1850, Mr. Griffin made an attempt to pass the Salmon

River Mountains to Payette River, to establish a mission among the Snake

Indians in which he failed and found his way into the Wallamet as a

settler, where he still remains.

There were with Mr. Griffin's party some four men, one by the name of

Ben Wright, who hail been a Methodist preacher in the States, but whose

religion failed him on his way over the mountains. He reached the

Dalles, where he renewed his religion under Rev. Mr. Perkins and D. Lee.

While at the Dalles, the three clergymen succeeded in converting, as

they supposed, a large number of the Indians. While this Indian revival

was in progress the writer had occasion to visit Vancouver. On his way,

he called on the missionaries at the Dalles, and, in speaking of the

revival among the Indians, we remarked that, in our opinion, most of the

religious professions of the natives were from _selfish motives_. Mr.

Perkins thought not; he named one Indian that, he felt certain, was

really converted, if there was a true conversion. In a short time Daniel

Lee, his associate, came in, and remarked: "What kind of a proposition

do you think ---- (naming Mr. Perkins' truly converted Indian) has made to

me?" Perkins replied: "Perhaps he will perform the work we wished him to

do." "No," says Lee; "he says he _will pray a whole year if I give him

a shirt and a capote_." This fact shows that the natives who were

supposed to be converted to Christianity were making these professions

to gain presents from the missionaries. We have witnessed similar

professions among the Nez Perce and Cayuse Indians. The giving of a few

presents of any description to them induces them to make professions

corresponding to the wish of the donor.

With Messrs. Griffin, Munger, and Wright, came Messrs. Lawson, Keiser,

and Geiger, late in the fall of 1839; also a man by the name of Farnam,

who seemed to be an explorer or tourist. I met him at Vancouver, where

he was receiving the hospitality of the Hudson's Bay Company, and

collecting material for a journal, or history of Oregon. It is said of

him that, on starting from the States, he succeeded in getting himself

appointed captain of a company consisting of some fourteen men. He soon

attempted to exercise absolute control of the company, which caused a

division. The party voted to suspend his official functions, and finally

suspended him and expelled him from the train. On returning to the

States he published a book, which, as was to be expected, was favorable

to himself and friends (if he had any), and severe on his opposers or

enemies. The professed object of the party was to form a settlement in

Oregon. In consequence of the course pursued by Farnam, it all broke

up. A man called Blubber-Mouth Smith, Blair, a millwright, and Robert

Shortess were of the party. These all found their way into Oregon, while

the balance of the party went south and wintered in the mountains. Mr.

Farnam was furnished a free passage to the Sandwich Islands by the

Hudson's Bay Company, for which his traveling companions and those best

acquainted with him have given the company credit, as one good act.

Sydney Smith--called "Blubber-Mouth," from the fact that he was a great

talker and fond of telling _big yarns_, which he, no doubt, had repeated

so often that he believed them to be true, and would appear somewhat

offended if his statements were not believed by others--had a tolerably

fair education, and appeared to understand the lottery business, as

conducted in some of the States. He was a man who had read considerable

in his early days, and had he been less boisterous and persistent in

statements that appeared improbable to others, would have been far more

reliable and useful. As it was, in those early times, his knowledge and

free-speaking became quite useful, when combined with the hearty action

he gave to the objects in contemplation. He was ambitious and extremely

selfish, and, when opposed in his plans, quite unreasonable.

Robert Shortess possessed a combination of qualities such as should have

formed one of the best and noblest of men; with a good memory, extensive

reading, inflexible purpose, strong hate, affectionate and kind,

skeptical and religious, honest and liberal to a fault, above medium

height, light-brown hair, blue eyes, and thin and spare features. His

whole life is a mystery, his combinations a riddle. He early entered

with heart and soul into the situation and condition of the settlements,

and stood for their rights in opposition to all the combined influences

in the country. As a politician he acts on the principle of right,

without any regard to expediency. As a religious man he has no faith; as

a skeptic he is severe on all alike. The country owes much to him for

his labor and influence in combating slavery and shaping the organic

policy of the settlements.

At the close of 1839, there were ten Protestant ministers and two Roman

priests, two physicians, six laymen, and thirteen American women in the

country--twenty-nine in all--connected with the Protestant missions, or

under their immediate control, and twenty settlers, besides about ten

men that were under the control of the Hudson's Bay Company, yet having

strong American feelings. There were also ten American children, five of

them born in the country. Mrs. Whitman gave birth to the first white

child, a daughter, born on this coast, who was drowned in the Wallawalla

River at about two years of age; Mrs. Spalding the second, a daughter,

still living; Mrs. Elkanah Walker the first boy, and Mrs. W. H. Gray,

the second. These boys are both making good names for themselves. It is

to be hoped that every act and effort of their lives will be alike

honorable to their parents, themselves, and their native country. As to

the first daughter of Oregon, I regret to say, she disobeyed the wish of

her parents and friends, and married a man whose early education was

neglected, but who has natural ability and energy to rise above his

present position, obtain an education, and become an ornament to his

adopted country, and an honor to Oregon's eldest daughter.

On the first of June of this year, the _Lausanne_, Captain Spalding,

arrived in the Columbia River with a re-enforcement for the Methodist

Mission of eight clergymen, five laymen, and one physician, all with

wives, five single ladies, and fifteen children, belonging to the

different families, with a full supply of goods, such as were needed and

appropriate for the settlement, the various missions, and for Indian

trade. September following, Rev. Harvey Clark and wife, A. T. Smith and

wife, and P. B. Littlejohn and wife, arrived across the Rocky Mountains.

With this company came eleven mountain men, eight of them with native

wives. We now had twenty-one Protestant ministers, three Roman priests,

fifteen lay members of the Protestant Church, thirty-four white women,

thirty-five American settlers, and thirty-two white children--one

hundred and eight persons immediately under control of the missions.

Thirty-six settlers, twenty-five of them with native wives. These

thirty-six settlers are counted as outside the missions and Hudson's Bay

Company. There were about fifty Canadian-French under the control of the

company.

Thus we can begin to see the development of the three influences or

parties. The Hudson's Bay Company had in their religious element three

Romish priests, assisted actively by all the Canadian-French Catholics

and such clerks as Pambrun, Guinea, Grant, and McBean, with such

interpreters as old Toupin, of whom Mr. Parker, in his journal, says:

"The interpreter I had been expecting did not arrive, and consequently

much of what I wished to say to these hundreds of Indians could not be

communicated for want of a medium." On the preceding page, Mr. Parker

remarks: "But as I have little prospect of the arrival of my

interpreter, I shall probably be left to commiserate their anxiety,

while it will be out of my power to do them good."

Old John Toupin, under the sanctity of a Roman Catholic oath, says, at

St. Louis, of Wallamet, on September 24, 1848; "I have been seventeen

years employed as interpreter at Fort Wallawalla. I was there when Mr.

Parker, in 1835, came to select places for Presbyterian missions among

the Cayuses and Nez Perces, and to ask lands for those missions. He

employed _me as interpreter_ in his negotiations with the Indians on

that occasion." Mr. Parker has just said "_the interpreter I had been

expecting did not arrive_." Toupin says: "Mr. Pambrun, the gentleman

then in charge of the fort, accompanied me to the Cayuses and Nez

Perces. Mr. Parker, in company with Mr. Pambrun, an American, and

myself, went first to the Cayuses, upon the lands called Wailatpu, that

belonged to three chiefs,--Splitted Lip, or Yomtip; Red Cloak, or

Waptachtakamal; and Feather Cap, or Tilokaikt." Having met them at that

place, he told them that he was coming to select a place to build a

preaching-house, to teach them how to live, and to teach school to their

children, and that he would not come himself to establish the mission,

but a _doctor, or medicine man_, would come in his place; that the

doctor would be the chief of the mission, and would come in the

following spring. "I came to select a place for a mission," said he,

"_but I do not intend to take your lands for nothing_. After the doctor

is come, there will come every year a _big ship loaded with goods_ to be

divided among the Indians. These goods will not be _sold_, but _given_

to you. The mission will bring you plows and hoes to learn you how to

cultivate the land, and they will not sell, but give them to you." From

the Cayuses Mr. Parker went to the Nez Perces, and there he made the

same promises to the Indians as at Wailatpu. "Next spring there will

come a missionary to establish himself here and take a piece of land;

_but he will not take it for nothing, you shall be paid every year; this

is the American fashion_." This statement is made by authority of Rev.

J. B. A. Brouillet; vicar-general of Wallawalla.

Rev. Mr. Parker, as before remarked, and as his journal shows, soon

understood all the maneuverings of this Hudson's Bay Company. He had no

confidence in their friendship or their interpreters. As a matter of

policy they could do no less than treat him kindly, or, more properly,

_civilly_, and allow him to leave the country, as he did. But mark the

strictness and care of the company to impress the necessity of

compliance with their arrangements upon the minds of those that followed

Mr. Parker. Keep the _massacre_ to which Vicar-General Brouillet refers

before your mind. _Life and blood and treasure have been expended._ The

fair land we inhabit was not secured without a struggle. The early

Protestant missions were not defeated and broken up without outside

influences. The Indians were not abandoned till they had dipped their

hands in the blood of their best and truest friend, and "become

seven-fold more the children of the devil than they were in their native

state," by the teachings they had received from _malicious_ and

_interested parties_ to make them so.

Father P. J. De Smet, from Brouillet's statements, was among the

Flatheads and at Wallawalla in 1840. This priest boasted of his

belonging to the Jesuit order of the Romish Church. He usually wore a

black frock-coat, was of full habit, arrogant and bigoted in his

opinions, and spoke with considerable sarcasm and contempt of all

Americans, and especially of the missionaries, as an ignorant set of men

to represent the American churches. He would be considered, in his

church, a zealous and faithful priest of the order of Jesus. His

religious instructions to the Indians were simple and easy to be

understood: "_Count your beads, hate or kill the Suapies_ (Americans),

_and kiss the cross_."

Rev. Harvey Clark was a man whose religion was practical, whose labors

were without ceasing, of slender frame, black hair, deep, mellow voice,

kind and obliging to all. He organized the first Congregational Church

in Tualatin Plains, and one in Oregon City, and was the getter-up of the

Pacific University at Forest Grove; a warm friend to general education

and all objects calculated to do good to any and all of his

fellow-creatures. But few who knew him did not respect and esteem him

for his sincere piety and Christian conduct. He came to the country as a

missionary sent out by some of the northwestern churches in the United

States, without any definite organization further than sufficient to

furnish the means for outfit for himself and associates,--Smith and

Littlejohn and their wives,--trusting Providence and their own strong

arms and willing hearts to labor and do all they could for a

subsistence. Mr. Clark was perhaps the best man that could have been

sent with the early settlers. He early gained their confidence and

esteem, and was always a welcome visitor among them. He had not that

stern commanding manner which is usual to egotists of the clerical

order, but was of the mild, persuasive kind, that wins the rough heart

and calms the stormy passions. The country is blessed by his having

lived in it.

A. T. Smith, the associate of Rev. H. Clark was an honest and

substantial farmer, a sincere and devout Christian, a man not forward in

forming society, yet firm and stable in his convictions of right;

liberal and generous to all objects of real worth; not easily excited,

or ambitious of political preferment. His wife seemed, in all her life

and actions, to be a suitable helpmeet for him. They came early to this

country, and have ever been substantial and useful citizens, and

supporters of morality and religion. They were among the earliest

settlers at Forest Grove, and the first members of Rev. H. Clark's

church.

P. B. Littlejohn was the opposite of Smith, a confirmed hypochondriac;

yet, under excitement that was agreeable to his ideas, a useful man.

Owing to his peculiar temperament, or the disease with which he was

afflicted, his usefulness, and that of an interesting and Christian

wife, were cramped and destroyed. He returned to the States with his

family in 1845.

At this point, perhaps a statement of all the names of persons I have

been able to collect and recollect, and the year they arrived in the

country, will not be uninteresting to the reader. A short history of

most of them has already been given.

In the year 1834, Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, and P.

L. Edwards, connected with the Methodist Mission; Captain N. Wyeth,

American fur trader, and of his party in 1832, S. H. Smith, Burdet,

Greeley, Sergeant, Bull, St. Clair, and Whittier (who was helped to or

given a passage to the Sandwich Islands by the Hudson's Bay Company);

Brock, a gunsmith; Tibbets, a stone-cutter; Moore, killed by the

Blackfeet Indians; Turnbull, who killed himself by overeating at

Vancouver. There was also in the country a man by the name of Felix

Hathaway, saved from the wreck of the _William and Ann_. Of this number,

Smith, Sergeant, Tibbets, and Hathaway remained. Of the party in 1834,

James A. O'Neil, T. J. Hubbard, and Courtney M. Walker remained in the

country, making six of Wyeth's men and one sailor. C. M. Walker came

with Lee's company. With Ewing Young, from California, came, in this

year, John McCarty, Carmichael, John Hauxhurst, Joseph Gale, John

Howard, Kilborn, Brandywine, and George Winslow, a colored man. By the

brig _Maryland_, Captain J. H. Couch, G. W. Le Breton, John McCaddan,

and William Johnson. An English sailor, by the name of Richard or Dick

McCary, found his way into the settlement from the Rocky Mountains.

In the year 1835 it does not appear that any settlers arrived in the

country. Rev. Samuel Parker visited and explored it under the direction

of the American Board of Foreign Missions.

In 1836, Rev. H. Spalding, Dr. M. Whitman, W. H. Gray, Mrs. Eliza

Spalding, and Mrs. Narcissa Whitman, missionaries of the American Board,

and Rev. Mr. Beaver, Episcopal chaplain at Vancouver, and Mrs. Beaver.

There appear to have been no settlers this year; at least, none known to

us.

In 1837, Mrs. A. M. Lee, Mrs. S. Shepard, Dr. E. White, Mrs. M. White,

A. Beers, Mrs. R. Beers, Miss E. Johnson, W. H. Wilson, Mr. J. Whitcomb,

members of the Methodist Episcopal Mission. Second re-enforcement this

year: Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, Rev. David Leslie, Mrs. Leslie, Misses

Satira, Mary, and Sarah Leslie, Miss Margaret Smith, Dr. J. Bailey, an

Englishman, George Gay, and John Turner.

In 1838, Rev. Elkanah Walker, Mrs. Mary Walker, Rev. Cushing Eells, Mrs.

Elvira Eells, Rev. A. B. Smith, Mrs. E. Smith, and Mrs. Mary A. Gray,

missionaries of the American Board. As laborers under special contract

not to trade in furs or interfere with Hudson's Bay Company's trade,

James Conner, native wife, and one child, and Richard Williams, both

from Rocky Mountains. Jesuit priests: Rev. F. N. Blanchet, Rev. Demerse,

located at Vancouver and French Prairie.

In 1839, Rev. J. S. Griffin, Mrs. Griffin, Asael Munger, Mrs. Mary

Munger, Independent Protestant Mission; Robert Shortess, J. Farnam,

Sydney Smith, Mr. Lawson, Rev. Ben. Wright (Independent Methodist), Wm.

Geiger, Mr. Keizer, John Edmund Pickernel, a sailor.

In 1840, Mrs. Lee, second wife of Rev. Jason Lee; Rev. J. H. Frost and

wife; Rev. A. F. Waller, wife, and two children; Rev. W. W. Kone and

wife; Rev. G. Hines, wife, and sister; Rev. L. H. Judson, wife, and two

children; Rev. J. L. Parish, wife, and three children; Rev. G. P.

Richards, wife, and three children; Rev. A. P. Olley and wife. Laymen:

Mr. George Abernethy, wife, and two children; Mr. H. Campbell, wife, and

one child; Mr. W. W. Raymond and wife; Mr. H. B. Brewer and wife; Dr. J.

L. Babcock, wife, and one child; Rev. Mrs. Daniel Lee; Mrs. David

Carter; Mrs. Joseph Holman; Miss E. Phillips. Methodist Episcopal

Protestant Mission: Rev. Harvey Clark and wife; P. B. Littlejohn and

wife. Independent Protestant Mission: Robert Moore, James Cooke, and

James Fletcher, settlers. Jesuit Priest: P. G. De Smet, Flathead

Mission.

Rocky Mountain men with native wives: William Craig, Robert or Dr.

Newell, J. L. Meek, James Ebbets, William M. Dougherty, John Larison,

George Wilkinson, a Mr. Nicholson, and Mr. Algear, and William Johnson,

author of the novel, "Leni Leoti; or, the Prairie Flower." The subject

was first written and read before the Lyceum, at Oregon City, in 1843.

In the above list I have given the names of all the American settlers,

as near as I can remember them, the list of names I once collected

having been lost. I never was fully informed as to the different

occupations of all these men. It will be seen that we had in the country

in the fall of 1840 thirty-six American settlers, twenty-five of them

with native wives; thirty-three American women, thirty-two children,

thirteen lay members of the Protestant missions, nineteen ministers

(thirteen Methodist, six Congregational), four physicians (three

American and one English), three Jesuit priests, and sixty

Canadian-French,--making, outside of the Hudson's Bay Company, one

hundred and thirty-seven Americans and sixty-three Canadians, counting

the three priests as Canadians.

CHAPTER XXVI.

1840.--Petition to Congress of United States.--British subjects

amenable to the laws of Canada.--Esquire Douglas as justice of the

peace.--Mr. Leslie as judge.

Eighteen hundred and forty finds Oregon with her little population all

active and busy, laboring and toiling to provide the necessaries of

life--food and raiment. And if a man did not wear the finest of

broadcloth, his intelligence and good conduct secured him a cordial

welcome to every house or shanty in the country among the American or

French settlers and missions. This was an innovation upon Hudson's Bay

Company customs, and a violation of aristocratic rules sought to be

enforced by foreign influences and sustained by the missionaries then in

the country.

Mr. Hines, in his 21st chapter on Oregon, says: "The number of people in

the colony was so small, the business transactions so limited, and the

difficulties so few, that the necessity of organizing the community into

a body politic did not appear to be very great, though for two years

persons had been chosen to officiate as judges and magistrates."

The fact that the judges and magistrates officiating were chosen by the

Methodist Mission, in opposition to the wish of the settlers, and from

whose decisions there was no appeal, and that there was no statute or

law book in the country, and nothing to guide the decisions of the judge

or magistrate but his own opinions, caprice, or preferences, Mr. Hines

leaves out of sight. This state of things was submitted to from the

combined organized influence of the Methodist Mission and the

unorganized condition of the settlers. A petition was gotten up and sent

to Congress. This petition is too important a document to be omitted.

The writer has no means at present to give the names attached to it. The

petition speaks for itself. As settlers, we saw and knew the objects of

the Hudson's Bay Company and the English government, by their actions

and oft-repeated insolent assertions that they meant to "_hold the

country_" _by fair or by foul means_, which, as men understanding the

unscrupulous and avaricious disposition of the entire English occupants

of this country, we fully understood and duly appreciated, as will be

readily demonstrated upon a perusal of the following:--

_Petition of 1840._

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America in Congress assembled:

Your petitioners represent unto your honorable bodies, that they

are residents in the Oregon Territory, and citizens of the United

States, or persons desirous of becoming such.

They further represent to your honorable bodies, that they have

settled themselves in said Territory, under the belief that it was

a portion of the public domain of said States, and that they might

rely upon the government thereof for the blessings of free

institutions, and the protection of its arms.

But your petitioners further represent, that they are uninformed of

any acts of said government by which its institutions and

protection are extended to them; in consequence whereof, themselves

and families are exposed to be destroyed by the savages around

them, and OTHERS THAT WOULD DO THEM HARM.

And your petitioners would further represent, that they have no

means of protecting their own and the lives of their families,

other than self-constituted tribunals, originated and sustained by

the power of an ill-instructed public opinion, and the resort to

force and arms.

And your petitioners represent these means of safety to be an

insufficient safeguard of life and property, and that the crimes of

_theft_, _murder_, _infanticide_, _etc._, are increasing among them

to an alarming extent; and your petitioners declare themselves

unable to arrest this progress of crime, and its terrible

consequences, without the aid of the law, and tribunals to

administer it.

Your petitioners therefore pray the Congress of the United States

of America to establish, as soon as may be, a Territorial

government in the Oregon Territory.

And if reasons other than those above presented were needed to

induce your honorable bodies to grant the prayer of the

undersigned, your petitioners, they would be found in the value of

this Territory to the nation, and the alarming circumstances that

portend its loss.

Your petitioners, in view of these last considerations, would

represent, that the English government has had a surveying squadron

on the Oregon coast for the last two years, employed in making

accurate surveys of all its rivers, bays, and harbors; and that,

recently, the said government is said to have made a grant to the

Hudson's Bay Company, of all lands lying between the Columbia River

and Puget Sound; and that said company is actually exercising

unequivocal acts of ownership over said lands thus granted, and

opening extensive farms upon the same.

And your petitioners represent, that these circumstances, connected

with other acts of said company to the same effect, and _their

declarations that the English government own and will hold, as its

own soil_, that portion of Oregon Territory situated north of the

Columbia River, together with the important fact that the said

company are cutting and sawing into lumber, and shipping to foreign

ports, vast quantities of the finest pine-trees upon the navigable

waters of the Columbia, have led your petitioners to apprehend that

the English government do intend, at all events, to hold that

portion of this Territory lying north of the Columbia River.

And your petitioners represent, that the said Territory, north of

the Columbia, is an invaluable possession to the American Union;

that in and about Puget Sound are the only harbors of easy access,

and commodious and safe, upon the whole coast of the Territory; and

that a great part of this said northern portion of the Oregon

Territory is rich in timber, water-power, and _valuable minerals_.

For these and other reasons, your petitioners pray that Congress

will establish its sovereignty over said Territory.

Your petitioners would further represent, that the country south of

the Columbia River, and north of the Mexican line, and extending

from the Pacific Ocean one hundred and twenty miles into the

interior, is of unequaled beauty and fertility. Its mountains,

covered with perpetual snow, pouring into the prairies around their

bases transparent streams of the purest water; the white and black

oak, pine, cedar, and fir forests that divide the prairies into

sections convenient for farming purposes; the rich mines of coal in

its hills, and salt springs in its valleys; its quarries of

limestone, sandstone, chalk, and marble; the salmon of its rivers,

and the various blessings of the delightful and healthy climate,

are known to us, and impress your petitioners with the belief that

this is one of the most favored portions of the globe.

Indeed, the deserts of the interior have their wealth of pasturage;

and their lakes, evaporating in summer, leave in their basins

hundreds of bushels of the purest soda. Many other circumstances

could be named, showing the importance of this Territory in a

national, commercial, and agricultural point of view. And, although

your petitioners would not undervalue considerations of this kind,

yet they beg leave especially to call the attention of Congress to

their own condition as an infant colony, without military force or

civil institutions to protect their lives and property and

children, sanctuaries and tombs, from the hands of uncivilized and

merciless savages around them. We respectfully ask for the civil

institutions of the American Republic. We pray for the high

privileges of American citizenship; the peaceful enjoyment of life;

the right of acquiring, possessing, and using property; and the

unrestrained pursuit of rational happiness. And for this your

petitioners will ever pray.

DAVID LESLIE, [_and others_.][1]

[Footnote 1] Senate Document, Twenty-sixth Congress, first

session. No. 514.

We have before alluded to the fact that the English government, by act

of Parliament, had extended the colonial jurisdiction and civil laws of

Canada over all her subjects on this coast, and had commissioned James

Douglas, Angus McDonald, and, I think, Mr. Wark, as justices of the

peace, having jurisdiction in civil cases not exceeding two hundred

pounds sterling. In criminal cases, if the magistrate found, on

examination, sufficient cause, the accused was to be sent to Canada for

final trial. In all minor matters the Hudson's Bay Company were

absolute. Their men, by the articles of enlistment, were bound to obey

all orders of a superior officer, as much so as a soldier in the army.

Flogging was a common punishment inflicted by all grades of officers,

from a petty clerk of a trading-post up to the governor of the company.

All British subjects, or any that had been subjects to the British

crown, were considered as amenable to the laws of Canada, which were

delivered from the brain of the magistrate or judge, who perchance may

have passed through some parts of Canada on his way to this coast, no

one knew when. Of course he knew all about the laws he was to enforce

upon her Majesty's subjects, the same as our American judge, I. L.

Babcock, did of the laws he was called upon to administer among the

American settlers. Although the following incident is not exactly in the

order of time in which we are writing, yet it illustrates the legal

knowledge of Esquire Douglas so well that the reader will excuse me for

giving it just here. The case occurred in the summer of 1846, I think in

August. The Hudson's Bay Company and the British subjects in the country

had changed from the open opposition policy to that of union with the

provisional government, and some of the members of the company had been

elected to office. Mr. Douglas had received a commission as justice of

the peace and county judge from Governor Abernethy. A man by the name of

McLame had taken it into his head to jump a claim belonging to one of

the company's servants, near Fort Vancouver. The fact was duly stated to

Esquire Douglas, who issued his warrant commanding the sheriff, a

servant of the company, to arrest McLame. The sheriff proceeded with his

warrant and posse, took McLame, brought him to the fort, and put him in

irons to keep him secure until he could be tried. The day following,

the writer arrived at the fort, and as he was an old acquaintance of

Esquire Douglas, and also holding a commission of justice of the peace

and judge of the county court, Esquire Douglas stated the case to him,

and asked his advice how to conduct it. I inquired what it was McLame

had done.

"Why, he went upon the land of one of our people and set up a claim to

it, and made some threats."

"Did he use any weapons, or injure any one?"

"No; but he was very insulting, as the men tell me; used abusive

language and frightened the men, and attempted to get them off the

claim, is the most he did."

"Well, Esquire, I think if you do not manage this case carefully you

will have a devil of a muss among these fellows."

"What do you think I had better do?" says the Esquire.

"If it was my case, as it is yours, I would call the court as soon as

possible, and call the parties. McLame claims to know something of law,

and he will plead his own case, or get some one that don't know any more

about law than he does, and they will call for a nonsuit on account of

some illegality in the warrant or pleadings, and the first show you

have, give them a nonsuit, and decide against your own people. This will

satisfy McLame and his party, and the matter will end there. The suit is

a civil one, and should have been by notice and summons, for 'forcible

entry and detainer,' instead of an arrest and confinement as a criminal.

They may attempt to make false imprisonment out of it. If they do, I

would settle it the best way I could."

I never learned the exact manner in which this case was settled. I think

McLame received some compensation and the matter was settled. But the

Esquire never fully recovered from the effect of this legal attempt at

provisional American wisdom, as he came as near involving the two

governments in a national war in the San Juan boundary question, in

1849, as he did the country, in attempting to protect the unreasonable

claims of the company's servants in 1846. As to law books or legal

knowledge, the country in those early times could not boast of having an

extensive law library or profound lawyers, and, as was to be expected,

some new and strange lawsuits occurred.

Of the following case we have no personal knowledge, and can only give

it as related to us by parties present. T. J. Hubbard, of Champoeg, had

a native wife. She was claimed and coveted by a neighbor of his, who

threatened to take her from him. Hubbard was armed, and prepared to

defend his own supposed or real right of possession from his covetous

neighbor, who attempted to enter his cabin window, or space where a

window might be put (in case the owner had one to go there). Hubbard

shot him while attempting to enter, and submitted to a trial. Rev. Mr.

Leslie presided as judge. A jury was called, and the statements of all

parties that pretended to know any thing about the case made. The

verdict was, "Justifiable homicide." The petition which was gotten up

about this time, says that "theft, murder, and infanticide, are

increasing among them to an alarming extent." A fact was unquestionably

stated in the petition, that justice and virtue were comparative

strangers in the country. Despotism and oppression, with false notions

of individual rights and personal liberty, were strongly at variance.

The leading men, or such as one would naturally suppose to be guides of

the erring, seemed to have fixed a personal standard for virtue,

justice, and right, not difficult for the most abandoned to comply

with.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Death of Ewing Young.--First public attempt to organize a

provisional government.--Origin of the provisional

government.--First Oregon schooner.

In the early part of this year, about the 15th of February, 1841, Mr.

Ewing Young, having been sick but a short time, died. He left a large

band of cattle and horses and no will, and seems to have had no heirs in

the country. On the 17th we find most of the settlers present at the

funeral. After burying Mr. Young, a meeting was called, over which Rev.

Jason Lee presided. After some discussion it was thought best to adjourn

to meet at the Methodist Mission.

On the next day, the 18th, short as the notice was, nearly all the

settlers were present,--Canadians, French, English, Americans, and

Protestant missionaries and Jesuit priests.

Rev. Jason Lee, for some cause not stated, was excused from acting as

chairman, and Rev. David Leslie elected to fill his place. Rev. Gustavus

Hines and Sydney Smith were chosen as secretaries. "The doings of the

previous day were presented to the assembly and adopted in part." Why

does not Mr. Hines give us all the proceedings of the previous day? Was

there any thing in them that reflected upon the disposition of the

reverend gentleman to control the property of the deceased Mr. Young,

and apply it to the use of the mission, or distribute it among its

members?

We are well aware of the fact that, on the death of a person in any way

connected with, or in the service of, the Hudson's Bay Company, they at

once administer upon his estate, to the setting aside of the will of the

deceased, as in the case of Mr. P. C. Pambrun, which occurred the summer

before Mr. Young's decease; and, more recently, of Mr. Ray, who died at

San Francisco. Mr. Ray was an active, energetic young man, had won the

heart and hand of Miss McLaughlin, youngest daughter of Governor

McLaughlin, and by this marriage had three interesting children, a son

and two daughters. By his trading and speculations with his private

funds, he had acquired a handsome fortune for his young family. At his

death the Hudson's Bay Company sent an agent to take charge of the

property. He claimed that as Mr. Ray was a servant of the company, and

in their employ, he had no right to acquire property outside of their

business; hence, the property belonged to the company. The books were

canceled, and left his estate in debt to the company, and his family

destitute. His widow was obliged to take in washing, which was given her

by some American officers then at that place. By this means she

supported herself and young family till she could obtain help from her

father, who had withdrawn from the company, and was then residing in

Oregon City.

This is as good an illustration of the Hudson's Bay Company's generosity

as can be given. They pursued Dr. McLaughlin and his children to the

death. Their influence and statements have led the American people to

mistake the doctor's unbounded generosity to them as wholly due to the

company, and changed the friendly feeling and rewards due to Dr.

McLaughlin for needed supplies in the hour of greatest peril to their

own account, at the same time holding the doctor's estate responsible

for every dollar, as they did Mr. Ray's.

As to Messrs. Shepard's and Olley's estates, they were both administered

by the Methodist Mission, or some one or more of its members. I have

never been able to learn the results, but have been informed that, as

they were members of the mission, the little property they had was

disposed of as per mission usage. In the case of Mr. Young, the settlers

found themselves somewhat interested. As to any Frenchman or Roman

Catholic, it was taken for granted, if he was not the servant of the

Hudson's Bay Company, his property went to the priest.

The settlers were united in the opinion that some understanding or laws

should be adopted to govern the settlement of estates, other than the

custom adopted by the Hudson's Bay Company or the missions; hence they

all turned out, and were completely defeated by the operations of the

Jesuit and Methodist missions. A resolution was ready, prepared for the

occasion:--

"_Resolved_, That a committee be chosen to form a constitution, and

draft a code of laws, and that the following persons compose that

committee: Rev. F. N. Blanchet, Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Gustavus Hines,

Rev. Josiah L. Parish; Mr. D. Donpierre, Mr. M. Charlevo, Mr. Robert

Moore, Mr. E. Lucia, Mr. Wm. Johnson."

The committee first named in the resolution contained the names of the

three first-named clergymen. This was clerical law and constitution a

little too strong. It was then moved to put upon the committee some that

were not clergymen. The committee was finally made up of nine. Now comes

the test of all,--the governor. Revs. Leslie and Hines, and Drs. Babcock

and Bailey were prominent candidates. The prospects were that the three

Protestant missionary candidates would divide that influence so that Dr.

Bailey would be elected.

It will be borne in mind that Dr. Bailey was a man of strong English

prejudices, and opposed to religious societies and religion generally.

He could secure the French Catholic vote, and the majority of the

settlers. He was present at the meeting, with his Canadian, French, and

Hudson's Bay servant voters, all trained to vote for him for governor.

He nominated himself, and so disgusted the American settlers that they

joined in the effort to defeat him.

Mr. Hines was the prominent candidate to enter the field, and secure the

leading influence in the government. That office was the leading

question,--Bailey could not be trusted, and Hines could not be elected;

hence the office of governor was discarded, and the committee instructed

to prepare a constitution and laws, to be executed without an executive.

This was a shrewd and cunning device, to say the least of it, one

calculated to make the judicial and executive office one, in the same

person; which seemed by common consent to be Dr. I. L. Babcock, a man

equally as ambitious and aspiring as Dr. Bailey, but in good standing in

the mission, and a stranger to the settlers. This point gained, George

W. Le Breton, a young adventurer, who came to the country in the employ

of Captain Couch, on the brig _Maryland_, having a fair education, and

generally intelligent and agreeable in conversation, who had been

brought up in good society, and was inclined to, or educated in, the

Roman faith. This young man was elected to fill the offices of clerk of

the court and public recorder, as a compromise with the Jesuits. To

harmonize the English element, Wm. Johnson was elected high sheriff.

Zavia Ladaroot, Pierre Billique, and Wm. McCarty were chosen constables.

Messrs. Gervais, Cannon, Robert Moore, and Rev. L. H. Judson were chosen

justices of the peace. Here comes the climax of all wisdom:--

"It was then resolved, that, until a code of laws be drafted by the

Legislative Committee and adopted by the people, Ira L. Babcock, the

supreme judge, be instructed to act"--_just as he pleased_. Mr. Hines

says in his book, 419th page--"according to the laws of the State of New

York."

I query whether there was a single copy of the laws of that State in the

country for ten years after the last resolution was passed. I know there

was none at the time, and only a single copy of the laws of Iowa two

years after; hence, Ira L. Babcock was law-maker, judge, and executive

to the settlement, just as much so as John McLaughlin was to the

Hudson's Bay Company.

To keep up the farce (for the whole proceeding deserves no other name),

"it was then resolved to adjourn, to meet the first Thursday in June, at

the new building near the Roman Catholic church." The record proceeds:

"Thursday, June 11, 1841. The inhabitants of the Wallamet Valley met

according to adjournment, and the meeting was called to order by the

chairman, Rev. David Leslie. On motion, the doings of the former meeting

were read, on which the committee for drafting a constitution and code

of laws was called for, and information was communicated to the meeting

by the chairman of the committee, that, in consequence of his not having

called the committee together, no report had been prepared." _His

Jesuitical Reverence_, F. N. Blanchet, was excused from serving on the

committee, at his own request. The settlers and uninitiated were

informed by his reverence that he was unaccustomed to make laws for the

people, and did not understand how to proceed, while _divide and

conquer_, the policy adopted by the Hudson's Bay Company, was entered

into with heart and soul by this _Reverend Father_ Blanchet and his

associates. "On motion, it was then resolved, that a person be chosen to

fill the place thus vacated in the committee for drafting a constitution

and code of laws, and Dr. Wm. J. Bailey was chosen."

The motion that follows shows that the settlers were suspicious of

influences operating against them to deprive them of a voice in their

own government, for they then, "on motion, resolved that this committee

be instructed to meet for the transaction of their business on the first

Monday of August next." They further instructed this committee to report

at a subsequent meeting, "to be held the first Thursday in October next.

On motion, resolved, that the committee be advised to confer with the

commander of the American exploring squadron now in the Columbia River,

concerning the propriety of forming a provisional government in Oregon."

"_Resolved_, That the motion to adopt the report of the nominating

committee presented at a previous meeting be rescinded." Were the

settlers really in favor of an organization adapted to their wants, and

contrary to the wishes of the Hudson's Bay Company and clerical

government then existing? The above resolution shows the fact. They have

handsomely relieved the Jesuits of their responsibility, and left them

to work with their associates and co-laborers,--the Hudson's Bay Company

and Indians. They, to soften matters, allowed the committee to consider

the nature of the government about to be formed, and the officers

necessary, and--

"_Resolved_, That the committee to draft a constitution be instructed to

take into consideration the number and kind of officers it will be

necessary to create, in accordance with their constitution and code of

laws, and to report the same at the next meeting." It was also resolved

that the report of the nominating committee be referred to the

Legislative Committee.

Mr. Secretary Hines does not give us the names of the nominating

committee and the officers they first reported.

The meeting held at or near the Roman Catholic church on the 11th of

June was adjourned to meet at the Methodist Mission at eleven o'clock on

the first Thursday in October following. Duly signed, David Leslie,

chairman; Gustavus Hines, Sydney Smith, secretaries. The whole humbug

had been completed; the Methodist Mission party was safe; the Hudson's

Bay Company and Jesuits only wanted time to carry out their arrangements

and drive the whole concern from the country, or make a grand sacrifice

for the benefit of the Hudson's Bay Company's trade and mother church.

The idea of resisting the American influence was no new one; it was

announced as early as 1838. The combinations were ready to be made that,

at the proper time, every Hudson's Bay Company's man felt certain, would

accomplish the object they desired. They were ready and did invest their

money upon the issue. It is true other parties came in and formed

combinations that they supposed themselves capable of destroying by a

single word. They failed; and in 1865 we find them, the petitioners,

with a host of those they sought to rob, crying against their injustice.

They ask for compensation for attempting to prevent the rightful owners

of the country from occupying it. This is in keeping with their whole

course. Their impudence may carry them through and win their case, which

justice and truth should deny them.

Mr. Hines says, page 240: "I have previously stated that the origin of

the attempt to form a kind of provisional government was the removal by

death of the late Ewing Young, leaving, as he did, a large and unsettled

estate, with no one to administer it, and no law to control its

administration. The exigency of this case having been met by the

appointment of a judge with probate powers, who entered immediately upon

his duties" (giving no bonds to any body), "and disposed of the estate

of Ewing Young to the entire satisfaction of the community, and the fact

that some of the _most influential citizens_ of the country, and

especially some of the _Legislative Committee_, were adverse to the idea

of establishing a permanent organization so long as the peace and

harmony of the community could possibly be preserved without it, the

subject was permitted to die away and the committee for drafting a

constitution and code of laws did not meet according to their

instructions, nor did the meeting at which they were expected to report

ever take place."

Mr. Hines, in his account of this affair, is not quite satisfied himself

with the reasons he has given, so he goes on to state many facts as

connected with the arrival of the exploring squadron of the United

States, under command of Captain Wilkes, and says, page 421: "In

addition to this, the officers of the squadron were consulted on the

subject of organizing the country into a civil compact, and were found

to be decidedly opposed to the scheme, and recommended that the subject

be allowed to rest. They encouraged the people in the belief that the

United States government would probably soon extend jurisdiction over

the country."

To the disgrace of the leader of that squadron, the general impression

of all the early settlers of this country is, to the present day, that

he understood and tasted the qualities of Dr. McLaughlin's liquors, and

received the polite attentions of the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay

Company with far more pleasure than he looked into or regarded the wants

of this infant settlement of his countrymen. Mr. Hines says "the

_officers_ of the squadron decidedly opposed the scheme." And why did

they do it? Simply because the parties named above were opposed. They

had absolute control of the persons and property of all in the country,

and they scrupled not to keep and use their power to the last.

The unconquerable energy of the Americans was this year manifested in

the building of a schooner, of about forty tons burden, on a little

island some four miles above the present city of Portland. R. L.

Kilborn, of the party of Ewing Young, Charley Matts, P. Armstrong, who

was afterward killed in the Indian war on Rogue River, H. Woods, John

Green, and George Davis engaged in this enterprise. They employed Felix

Hathaway, who was saved from the wreck of the _William and Ann_, as head

carpenter, and commenced their work. To obtain spikes and such irons as

were required, they had it reported that they were going to build a

ferry-boat to cross the Wallamet River. To obtain rigging, they induced

the French farmers to go to Fort Vancouver and get ropes to use in the

old Dutch harness for plowing, Dr. McLaughlin having informed them in

the start, that he did not approve of their scheme, and would furnish

them no supplies. They, however, were not to be deterred in their

undertaking. Procuring a whip-saw of the mission, and such tools as they

could spare, these men commenced their work; and when Captain Wilkes

visited them, and found they had a substantial and sea-worthy craft well

under way, he furnished them such articles from his stores as he could

spare, and spoke favorably of their enterprise to Dr. McLaughlin, who

became more liberal; so that, with the assistance of Captain Wilkes, the

mission, and such as they received from Dr. McLaughlin, the vessel was

launched and made trips to California, under the command of Captain

Joseph Gale, who returned to Oregon in 1843, and was elected one of our

Executive Committee, with David Hill and Alanson Beers.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Lee and Hines explore the Umpqua River.--Hines tells a

story.--Massacre and plunder of Smith's party by the

Indians.--Sympathy of the Hudson's Bay Company.--Extract from the

San Francisco _Bulletin_.

The reader is requested to note the statements that follow, as they show

influences operating that tell how active the enemies of the Protestant

missions had been. Mr. Hines admits that he owed his own and Mr. Lee's

life to the wife of Guinea. (See his journal, page 109.) He says:

"During the evening Mr. Guinea came to us considerably excited, and

warmly congratulated us on the safe guardianship his wife had exercised

over us in our absence. He said that in all probability we should have

been robbed of all we had, if we had not lost our lives, had it not been

for the faithfulness of his wife and her brother. He told us that one of

the chiefs of the clan we had visited was at the fort. Learning that we

designed to visit his people on the coast, _excited with the utmost

fear_, he hastened down the river and reported many evil things about

us, intending thereby to instigate the Indians to prevent us from going

among them."

Mr. Hines, can you vouch for the truth of this statement? I believe

sincerely you have told the truth, for you even attempt to excuse the

Indian for his fears, and have not the least suspicion of the sources

from which the Indian received his instruction and is made to believe

that you and Mr. Jason Lee had come with your _medicine bag_ to destroy

them. Let us hear Mr. Hines' excuse for the Indian's fears, in his own

words. He says: "Mr. Lee had brought a fowling-piece with him, and had

in his possession a patent shot-pouch. This was the thing that had

alarmed the chief. One story he told was, that we had brought _medicine

in a bag_ that Mr. Lee wore on his neck, for the purpose of killing them

all off; and that if we were permitted to come among them the fatal bag

would be opened and they would all be destroyed."

How did these Indians learn about the missionary medicine bag? Our good

friend, Guinea, Mr. Hines tells us, is from Montreal, and of a good

family,--a Frenchman. This trip, it seems, was made in 1840, about the

26th day of October. Dr. Whitman had not yet gone to the States, but the

medicine-bag story is tried with the Indians on the Umpqua. Guinea has

a little too much sense of moral responsibility to allow his Indians to

commence the slaughter of Lee and Hines, as Dr. White had come with them

and seen them safe at the fort, and had returned to the settlement. The

medicine man of the Methodist Mission had escaped, and it was not best

to commence on these preachers. Madam _Siwash_ Guinea must accompany

them, to watch and explain matters and protect them.

Mr. Hines says, page 100: "We had been informed by Mr. Guinea that there

would be _great danger_ in our going among them alone, and indeed he

appeared to stand in the utmost fear of them, of their hostility to the

whites, and especially to the _Americans_."

Can a reasonable man read this simple narrative with the light of

history, and facts piled on facts, with the stains of the blood of our

countrymen all over the country, and not trace the cause of these foul

murders to their true source? While none but American traders and

hunters were in the country, it was an easy matter to dispose of them,

but when the American missionary comes among the natives, another

element of opposition must be introduced; moral teachings must be met by

religious superstitions, to secure the victim, to advance the interests

of an unscrupulous trade. Let us take another statement from Mr. Hines

before we proceed with his political history. On page 106, in speaking

of the closing remarks of the chief at the mouth of the Umpqua, he tells

us, the chief "said he was very glad we had come to see them; that their

hearts toward us were like our hearts toward them; that he wanted us to

continue with them another day and tell them about God; that they had

heard about us, and had been told that we were a bad people." _Who told

these wild Indians this?_ Was it an American that had been living among

them and teaching them that his countrymen were a bad people? "That they

were glad to see us for themselves, and were convinced that what they

had heard was a lie; that they now believe us to be good, and that they

meant to be good also."

Mr. Hines tells a story, as he received it from the Hudson's Bay Company

gentlemen, to show that these Indians are very treacherous and not to be

relied upon, especially those on the coast. It relates to a company of

fur hunters composed of Smith, Sublet, and Jackson. At page 110 of his

book, he says: "In this division Smith was to take the country extending

from the Platte River by the way of Santa Fe to California; then turn

north along the Pacific Ocean as far as the Columbia River, and thence

back into the interior to join the other partners of the company. The

country was in the wildest state, but few white men having ever passed

through it. But, nothing daunted, Smith and his companions marched

through to California, and thence along the coast north as far as the

Umpqua River, collecting in their course all the valuable furs they

could procure, until they had loaded several pack animals with the

precious burden [forty packs of furs]. On arriving here, they encamped

on the borders of the river near the place where they intended to cross,

but, on examination, found it would be dangerous, if not impossible, to

effect the passage of the river at that place. Accordingly, Smith took

one of his men [he had two] and proceeded up the river on foot, for the

purpose of finding a better place to cross. In his absence, the Indians,

instigated by one of the savage-looking chiefs whom we saw at the mouth

of the river, rushed upon the party with their muskets [the same

furnished by the Hudson's Bay Company for that purpose], bows and

arrows, tomahawks, and scalping-knives, and commenced the work of

death." Just as they were expected to do with all intruders in this fur

traders' empire. "From the apparent kindness of the Indians previously,

the party had been thrown entirely off their guard, and consequently

were immediately overpowered by their ferocious enemies, and but one of

the twelve in camp escaped from the cruel massacre. Scarcely knowing

which way he fled, this one fell in with Smith, who was on his return to

the camp, and who received from the survivor the shocking account of the

murder of eleven of his comrades. Smith seeing all was lost, resolved

upon attempting nothing further than to do his best to secure his own

personal safety, with that of his surviving companions. The Indians had

secured all the furs, horses, mules, baggage, and every thing the

company had. The three immediately crossed the river and made the best

of their way through a savage and inhospitable country toward Vancouver,

where, after traveling between two and three hundred miles, and

suffering the greatest deprivations, they finally arrived in safety."

Rev. Mr. Hines' savage-looking chief was no less a personage than a

slave of a Frenchman by the name of Michel, or rather belonging to

Michel's Umpqua wife. This slave had learned, from the statements and

talk he had heard at Vancouver, that in case the Indians killed and

robbed the Boston men, there would be no harm to them; that neither the

Hudson's Bay Company nor the English or French would take any notice of

it. Hence, the Indians were taught to regard the killing of a Boston man

(American) as doing something that pleased the Hudson's Bay Company.

Under this instruction it is said this slave ran away from Vancouver,

and went back to his people, and was the cause of the massacre of

Smith's party. He is again present, doing all he can to induce his

people to rob and take the lives of Lee and Hines. Mr. Guinea, then in

charge of the fort, is aware of his instructions and his object. He

dare not tell Lee and Hines of their full danger, yet he knows all about

it.

They were determined to visit the Indians and see for themselves.

Guinea's Indian wife and her brother must go with them. This is

considered sufficient protection. The story of the Indian slave's part

in the massacre of Smith's party is related to us by Mrs. Smith, the

wife of S. H. Smith, an intelligent and much respected native woman, a

neighbor of ours for near twenty years, and by one of the men that

accompanied McKay to recover the property; corresponding exactly to

another event of the same kind that occurred in 1847, which will be

given in detail as stated by eye-witnesses under the solemnity of an

oath.

Mr. Hines, of course, believes the following statement, because the

_gentlemen_ of the company told it to him; just as I did the first time

I heard it from them. It is said, Smith and companions, "rehearsing the

story of their wonderful escape and subsequent sufferings to the members

of the Hudson's Bay Company, the utmost _sympathy_ was excited in their

behalf, and a strong party was fitted out to go and rescue the

_property_ from the savage robbers, and restore it to its surviving

owners. The vigor and perseverance of this party were equal to the

promptitude with which it was fitted out. They proceeded to the scene of

blood, and after committing the mangled bodies of Smith's murdered

companions to the grave, compelled the Indians to relinquish the

property they had taken," by giving them presents of blankets and

powder, and such things as the Indians wished, as stated to us by a

Frenchman, a servant of the company, who was one of McKay's party that

went to get the furs. They found no bodies to bury, and had no fight

with the Indians about the property, as stated by Mr. Smith also. But,

as the Hudson's Bay Company tells the story through Mr. Hines, they

"_spread terror through the tribes_." Was this the case in the Whitman

massacre in 1847? the Samilkamean massacre in 1857? the Frazer River

murder of American citizens in 1858? No: Governor Douglas told the

committee that asked him for protection, or for arms, to protect

themselves; that "_if they_ [the Americans] _molested her Majesty's

subjects he would send a force to punish them_." Mr. Hines says his

Umpqua party "_returned in triumph to Vancouver_." And well they might,

for they had made the best season's hunt they ever made, in getting

those furs and the property of Smith, which paid them well for the

expedition, as there was no market for Smith, except London, through the

hypocritical kindness of Mr. Simpson. By this time, Mr. Smith had

learned all he wished to of this company. He preferred giving them his

furs at their own price to being under any further obligations to them,

Mr. Sublet, Mr. Smith's partner, did not speak as though he felt under

much obligation to Mr. Simpson or the Hudson's Bay Company in 1836,

which was not long after the transaction referred to.

I do not know how the company regard these statements of Mr. Hines, yet

I regard them as true so far as Mr. Hines is concerned, but utterly

false as regards the company. As old Toupin says Mr. Parker told the

Indians, "It is their fashion" of taking credit to themselves for doing

all they could against the Americans occupying the country in any way.

According to the testimony given in the case of The Hudson's Bay Company

_v._ United States, the amount of furs seized by the company at that

time was forty packs, worth at the time $1,000 each, besides the animals

and equipments belonging to the party, a large portion of which was

given to the Indians, to compensate them for their services rendered to

the company, in destroying Smith's expedition and killing his men,

corresponding with transactions of recent date, as stated in an article

found in the San Francisco _Bulletin_:--

"HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY AND THE INDIANS.--A gentleman from Victoria

gives us the following facts concerning the Indian outrages on the

northern coast, and their allies, the Hudson's Bay Company: Captain

D. Warren said to M. A. Foster and William McCurdy, that, on

returning to Victoria and reporting the circumstances of the attack

of the Indians upon his sloop, _Thornton_, to the first lieutenant

of the ship _Zealous_, he was the next day arrested and put under

$2,000 bonds. The _Sparrowhawk_ was to leave last Wednesday, but had

not yet gone to inquire into the matter. It is known that the same

Indians murdered Captain Jack Knight and partner but a short time

before. The same crowd or band of Indians robbed the _Nanaimo_

packet. Since thus attacked, Captain Warren, the captain of the

_Ocean Queen_, informed them that a friendly Indian chief told him

to leave; the Indians were hostile; they were preparing for war with

the neighboring tribes.

"From a statement found in the _Chronicle_, of the 27th of June, we

learn that Captain Mowatt, of the Hudson's Bay Company, is in charge

of Fort Rupert. We also learn that Captain Mowatt's prejudices and

feelings are peculiarly hostile to all American fur traders, and not

any too friendly to those claiming to be English. The facts indicate

a strong Hudson's Bay Company Indian war influence against American

or other traders in behalf of that company. It is evident from the

statement of the two gentlemen above named that her Majesty's naval

officers are inclined, and more than probably instructed, to protect

the Hudson's Bay Company's people in encouraging the Indian

hostility and murder of all outside venturers upon their trading

localities, as they are prompt to insinuate and affirm that the

whites are the aggressors, and to arrest them for punishment."

It is difficult to understand why our American government is so tolerant

and generous to a foreign monopoly that has invariably sought and

accomplished the destruction of its fur trade on its western borders,

and used its entire influence against American institutions and

citizens; not hesitating to incite the Indians to the most inhuman and

brutal murders.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Missionaries leaving.--Hudson's Bay Company's Gold

Exchange.--Population in 1842.--Whitman and Lovejoy start for the

States.--The Red River emigration.--American merchants.--Settlers

not dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company.--Milling Company.--The

Oregon Institute.--Dr. Elijah White.--Proceedings and resolutions

of a public meeting at Wallamet.--Correspondence with the War

Department.

Rev. A. B. Smith and wife, Cornelius Rogers, and W. H. Gray and wife had

left the mission of the American Board, on account of difficulties they

had become fully satisfied would ultimately destroy the mission or drive

it from the country. Mr. Spalding, it will be remembered, was a man of

peculiar temperament, ambitious and selfish. He could not endure an

associate of superior talent, or admit himself to be inferior in

understanding the native language. From the time the Jesuits arrived (in

1838), some of his own pet Indians had turned Catholics and commenced a

quarrel with him. These facts seemed to annoy and lead him to adopt a

course opposed by Smith, Gray, and Rogers. Still he found it pleased the

Indians as a whole, and was assented to by the balance of the mission.

Smith and wife left for the Sandwich Islands; Rogers for the Wallamet in

1841; Gray and wife in 1842.

During the exploration of the country by Commodore Wilkes' exploring

squadron, Mr. Cornelius Rogers was found a very useful man. His

knowledge of Indian languages (which he was remarkably quick to acquire)

and of Indian character generally enabled him to become a reliable and

useful interpreter. The officers soon became aware of the fact, and

employed him at once to assist and interpret for them. He was paid for

his services in gold coin, which amounted to something over five hundred

dollars. Not wishing to carry his coin about, he offered to deposit it

with the Hudson's Bay Company. "Certainly, Mr. Rogers, we will receive

your coin, and credit you upon our books twenty per cent. less, as the

coin is not so valuable to us as our goods, at beaver prices." Mr. R.

allowed them to take his coin and credit him with four hundred dollars

in beaver currency. In a short time a party of the squadron were to go

by land to California. Mr. R. concluded he would go with them, and that

his coin would be more convenient than beaver orders on the company. He

therefore requested them to return to him the coin. "Certainly, Mr.

Rogers," and handed him back four hundred dollars less twenty per

cent.,--three hundred and twenty dollars. "How is this?" says Mr. R.; "I

supposed from the statement you made on depositing this money with you,

that that money was a drug to you, and now you wish me to pay you twenty

per cent. for money I have left in your care, after deducting twenty per

cent. for leaving it with you. You may consider this a fair and an

honorable transaction; I do not." He was told, "_Such is our manner of

doing business_," and that was all the satisfaction he could get. He

finally left his money and drew his goods, at what was called beaver

prices, of the company.

Nothing further of note occurred in 1841, except the loss of the

_Peacock_, in which no lives were lost, and the extra efforts of the

company to show to the officers of the expedition their good deeds and

kind treatment to all Americans, and to prove to them that the whole

country was of little value to any one. "It would scarcely support the

few Indians, much less a large population of settlers."

1842.--Our population, all told, in the beginning of this year, is

twenty-one Protestant ministers, three Roman or Jesuit priests, fifteen

lay members of churches, thirty-four white women, thirty-two white

children, and thirty-five American settlers--twenty-five of them with

native wives. Total, one hundred and thirty-seven Americans. At the

close of the year we had an emigration from the States of one hundred

and eleven persons,--some forty-two families,--with two lawyers, A. L.

Lovejoy and A. M. Hastings. The latter became the lawyer of Dr.

McLaughlin and relieved the settlement in the spring of 1843 of a number

of not very valuable settlers, by assisting them to get credit of the

Hudson's Bay Company in procuring their outfits, giving their notes,

payable in California; white settlers who remained could get no credit

or supplies of the company, especially such as had asked protection of

the American government. A. L. Lovejoy started from Whitman's station to

return to the States with Dr. Whitman. He reached Bent's Fort with him,

but stopped for the winter, while Whitman proceeded on to Washington in

time to save the country from being given up to British rule. For an

account of that trip, which we give in another chapter, we are indebted

to the Honorable A. L. Lovejoy.