​THE

QUARTERLY

OF THE

VOLUME XVI

MARCH,' 1915 DECEMBER, 1915 Edited by

FREDERICK GEORGE YOUNG

Portland, Oregon The Ivy Press ​ ​

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUBJECTS OF PAPERS

Page CELILO CANAL ITS ORIGIN, ITS BUILDING AND MEANING

By Marshall N. Dana 109-124

COLUMBIA, THE CELEBRATION OF THE OPEN

By Marshall N. Dana 107-108

COLUMBIA, THE STORY OF THE RIVER ITS PLACE IN NORTHWEST HISTORY

By Henry L. Talkington 181-195

DALLES-CELILO CANAL, ADDRESS AT THE FORMAL OPENING OF THE, MAY 5, 1915

By Joseph N. Teal 125-131

DALLES - CELILO CELEBRATION, ADDRESS OF WELCOME AT THE WALLULA, MAY 4, 1915

By William D. Lyman 175-180

DALLES-CELILO PORTAGE, THE; ITS HISTORY AND INFLUENCE

By T. C. Elliott 133-174

DALLES, THE TOWNSITE, THE; THE METHODIST MISSION CLAIM To

By Mrs. R. S. Shackelford 24-32

EMIGRATING COMPANIES, THE ORGANIZATION OF THE OREGON

By Harrison C. Dale 205-227

FARMING, EARLY, IN UMATILLA COUNTY

By C. A. Barrett 343-349

INDIAN WARS, THE, IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY

By Thomas W. Prosch 1-23

INDIAN WORDS IN OUR LANGUAGE

By J. Neilson Barry 338-342

MINTO, JOHN A TRIBUTE BY ONE WHO LOVED HIM

By John Gill 330-337

OREGON CITY CANAL AND LOCKS, ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATORY EXERCISES AT THE OPENING OF THE, AT OREGON CITY, MAY 6, 1915

By Joseph N. Teal 197-203

PACIFIC COAST SURVEY, THE, OF 1849-1850

By Lewis A. McArthur 246-274

PACKWOOD, WILLIAM H., REMINISCENCES

By Fred Lockley 33-54

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT, THE, LAST STEP IN THE FORMATION OF A, FOR OREGON IN 1845

By Robert Carlton Clark 313-329

THAYER, ELI, THE SPEECH OF, ON THE ADMISSION OF OREGON

AS A STATE 364-376

WALKER, CAPTAIN JOSEPH R.

By James O'Meara 350-363

YAQUINA RAILROAD, THE THE TALE OF A GREAT FIASCO

By Leslie M. Scott 228-245

REVIEWS

SAMUEL CHRISTOPHER LANCASTER COLUMBIA, THE, AMERICA'S GREAT HIGHWAY THROUGH THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS TO THE SEA. By F. G. Young 377-378

[III] ​

Page

WILLIAM J. TRIMBLE-^MINING ADVANCE INTO THE INLAND

EMPIRE. By F. G. Young 275-276

OBITUARIES THOMAS W. PROSCH MRS. VIRGINIA MCARVER PROSCH Miss MARGARET LENORA DENNY MRS. H. F. BEECHER

By George H. Himes 276a-276c

DOCUMENTS

FISHER, REVEREND EZRA, CORRESPONDENCE 65-104, 277-310, 379-413

PICKRELL, WILLIAM S., LETTER OF, TO SANFORD WATSON 61-63

AUTHORS

Barrett, C. A., Early Farming in Umatilla County 343-349

Barry, J. Neilson, Indian Words in Our Language 338-342

Clark, Robert Carlton, The Last Step in the Formation of a

Provisional Government for Oregon in 1845. 313-329

Dale, Harrison C., The Organization of the Oregon Emigrating

Companies 205-227

Dana, Marshall N., The Celebration of the Open Columbia 107-108

The Celilo Canal, Its Origin, Its Building and Meaning. . .109-124 Elliott, T. C., The Dalles-Celilo Portage; Its History and In- fluence 133-174

Fisher, Reverend Ezra, Correspondence 65-104, 227-310, 379-413

Gill, John, John Minto, a Tribute by One Who Loved Him 330-337

Himes, Geo. H., Obituaries of Thomas W. Prosch, Mrs. Vir- ginia McCarver Prosch, Miss Margaret Lenora Denny

and Mrs. H. F. Beecher 276a-276c

Lockley, Fred, William H. Packwood Reminiscences 33-54

<Lyman, William D., Address of Welcome at The Dalles- Celilo Celebration, Wallula, May 5, 1915 175-180

McArthur, Lewis A., The Pacific Coast Survey of 1849-1850 246-274

O'Meara, James, Captain Joseph R. Walker 350-363

Pickrell, William S., Letter of, to Sanford Watson 61-63

Prosch, Thomas W., The Indian War in Washington Territory . . 1-23 Scott, Leslie M., The Yaquina Railroad, the Tale of a Great

Fiasco 228-245

Shackelford, Mrs. R. S., The Methodist Mission Claim to The

Dalles Townsite 24-32

Thayer, Eli, Speech on the Admission of Oregon as a State 364-376

Talkington, Henry L., Story of the River Its Place in North- west History 181-195

Teal, Joseph N., Address at the Formal Opening of The Dalles- Celilo Canal, May 5, 7915 125-131

Address at the Dedicatory Exercises on the Formal Opening of the Oregon City Locks and Canal at Oregon

City, May 6, 1915 197-203

Young, F. G., Reviews Mining Advance Into the Inland

Empire 275-276

The Columbia, America's Great Highway 377-378

IIVJ ​

THE QUARTERLY

of the

Oregon Historical Society

VOLUME XVI MARCH, 1915 NUMBER 1

The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages

THE INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY*

By the Indian War in Washington Territory is meant the struggle that began between the Indians on the one side and the white people on the other side in the fall of 1855. The struggle that then ensued is sometimes called the Yakima War, from the fact that it had its inception among the Yakima Indians. It also extended into and over much of Oregon, but for the purposes of this address Washington only will be considered.

When white men first came to the country the Indians had most erroneous impressions and conceptions of them. They could estimate them only from what they knew among them- selves, and from what they saw of the white men. The immense size of their vessels ten to twenty times that of the largest canoes at once caused astonishment, which merged into awe at the wonderful things possessed and done by these strangers with white skins. Their clothing, their foods, their noisy but deadly weapons, their articles of trade were all new to the Red Men. They had never seen or heard of things of the kind. These white men to them were superior, almost supernatural beings. Their possessions were deemed of extraordinary value, compared with which those of the Indians were as of nothing. Avaricious traders took advantage of their favored situation to make bargains with the untutored

• The annual address to the Oregon Historical Society, delivered December

1 9th, 1914, at Portland, by Mr. Thomas W. Prosch of Seattle. ​

2 THOMAS W. PROSCH

savages upon the basis of fifty, one hundred and sometimes two hundred to one. As the traders increased in numbers competition became sharper, the natives better informed, and wrongs of this kind were lessened in frequency and gradually caused to cease.

After the ship merchants came land merchants, the various individuals and companies of 1811 and later years. Of these the oldest and greatest was the Hudson's Bay, the only one of the early days still in existence. In this paper that com- pany alone will be mentioned. Its agents proceeded to es- tablish themselves safely, pleasantly and permanently, upon the theory of exclusive occupancy of a fur producing region. As time went on they were compelled to change their course; farming and milling were resorted to, and the stores of the Company sought and received much patronage from visiting ships and from white men who uninvited came among them. Their establishments at Vancouver, Nisqually and else- where were sufficiently strong and fortified to keep out the Indians, and a rule partially military and governmental was adopted. The natives were impressed by the power of the Company and were compelled to yield to it in every clash. The Company was just to them. Its wares were always good, and the prices were fair. The employees were a mixed lot of men a few English, a few Scotch, an occasional American, French-Canadians, Hawaiians, Indians from various parts, and many men in whose veins flowed the blood of both white and red races. They intermarried freely, and they gave their children every advantage that their means and opportunities afforded. There was little or no sign of race prejudice. The rudest dullest native could readily see that he was measured and respected for what he was worth, and that the treatment given him was just as good as that given any other person under like circumstances. They appreciated this, and became loyal and devoted adherents. To them the Company was not only employer, but ruler, guide and friend.

Things went on this way until the coming of the American ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 3

missionaries and settlers. In their fewness and weakness they did not attract much attention until 1842-43. The Indians could see by that time that these white men were different from those of the Company. The new men took to them- selves large tracts of land, a mile square; they had stores of their own ; ships came to them ; they were visited by agents of a distant government ; as their numbers increased they organized and assumed charge and control of the country. The Indians were amazed. In their loyalty to the Company they did not like to see these things. There is no question that if a war had arisen between the United States and Great Britain at that time, the Hudson's Bay Company could have enrolled on the British side every Indian in what later became the Territory of Washington; nor can there be doubt that the Indians wondered why the fur company did not expel or exterminate the troublesome Americans in the earlier days, when they were able so to do, as Indian tribes all over the continent did with other Indians when the latter encroached upon the par- ticular territory claimed and partially occupied by the tribes referred to.

As the years went on, and the Americans became more numerous and more aggressive and bold, they crowded the natives and hampered them. Rumors came to the Indians of what had occurred between the races two thousand miles and more to the east, and how their people had been subjugated, and destroyed or driven out. They could see that the story thus told them was being repeated in the Willamette Valley. More white men came to Oregon than they supposed, in the beginning, were in the world, and they heard of still more planting themselves in Utah and California. White men crossed the Indian lands, killed the game, and in some cases abused the tribespeople. Soldiers followed, warships, gold- miners and finally the office-holders of a new Territory.

Of these latter Isaac I. Stevens was chief and foremost. He was not only the first governor, but superintendent of Indian affairs as well. He was instructed to make .treaties ​

4 THOMAS W. PROSCH

with the Indians. Throughout the western country they were intended to be substantially the same. Local conditions caused some variance with the general plan. They looked to the establishment of the Indians upon reserved lands, all other lands going to the government of the United States for the purposes of the white people. For giving up their rights to the country, not included within the reservations, the Indians were to be paid in merchandise, instruction, care and other- wise. Here slavery was abolished, trade in liquor prohibited, and traffic forbidden with the people of foreign lands. The benefits to the Indians were spread over a long term of years. The natives were dealt with as though they were nations, instead of tribes, and in some cases mere handsful of people. The compensation promised was small inadequate, insig- nificant and even at that was not honestly and fully paid. The first of the treaties was made with the Indians of the upper Sound in December of 1854. Three reservations were provided for, each of about twelve hundred and eighty (1280) acres, for the Puyallups, Nisquallies and Indians near Olympia. The lands were not in one case suitable, and in no case suffi- cient in extent. Other treaties followed, the last concerning us being one at Walla Walla in May and June of 1855. A great number of Indians were there assembled, from the Umatilla, Walla Walla, Palouse, Yakima and parts adjacent. As Oregon was interested, Joel Palmer, superintendent there, participated with Stevens. They had a military escort, foods and presents to give and strong men to urge the treaties upon the natives. Some Indians favored and some opposed. More than once it looked as though the Council would end in failure. At last, after much oratory, persuasion and strategy, and three weeks of time, the white men accomplished their purpose. The treaty was signed, by some reluctantly, and by others willingly. A few refused to sign. It was reported that a proposition was made by disaffected ones to join forces and massacre the white officials, soldiers and citizens there gathered. To have done this would have been comparatively easy for the thou​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 5

sands of warriors then upon the grounds. No one, of course, will contend that the Indians thoroughly knew what they were doing. All proceedings were conducted through interpreters, and at the best this method was faulty. And then memory is frail. Different people will hear, understand and remember differently. The natives could not read and they placed their "X" marks upon a paper not one word of which they individu- ally understood. Within a month an old Indian has appeared at Seattle who signed the treaty affecting the lands there in January, 1855. He said that the Indians had not been paid as promised ; that they were to receive two buckets full of gold coins for what they gave up in the vicinity of that city. He probably knew as much as the other Indians what they were doing, and his recollection of it was probably no more erroneous than theirs. The first and last of the Stevens treaties were apparently the immediate cause of the war that followed, for the Indians affected by them were the ones that entered upon it, while the Indians affected by the other treaties generally abstained, though the terms of all the treaties were substantially alike.

In these negotiations and treaties, the proprietary rights of the Indians to all the lands in Washington Territory were recognised by the government of the United States. This fact, thus brought to the attention of the natives, set them to reasoning along a line of thought not intended. They saw the white people increase from about one thousand in 1850 to about five thousand in 1855. These white people had taken vast tracts of land, and the best land at that, that belonged to the Indians. The most fertile lands; the most level and approachable; the choicest landings and townsites; the camp- grounds, cemeteries, fishing sites, berryfields were all taken in this wholesale manner by white men who, as the Indians now learned, had no right to them. Further, these apparently lawless white men had no use for more than one per cent of the lands thus taken. As they became more numerous they also became more harsh and arbitrary with the Indians. The ​

6 THOMAS W. PROSCH

laws of the latter had no force with the white men, while their own laws were imposed upon the native whether or no, and the latter invariably got the worst of it in their legal and sometimes illegal altercations. The Indian mind gradually came to know that it was only a question of time until they would be reduced and perhaps destroyed by these new strong people, who had come among them ; either that, or a combina- tion among the Indians, a sudden war, and extermination of the strangers. While they were thus contemplating their un- happy situation, a new cause for trouble arose.

Gold was discovered in the Colville country. White men began going there. The Indians had some knowledge of the discoveries in California, and of the vast armies of white men who, since 1848, had annually gone there in quest of the yellow metal. They knew that if anything of that sort occurred in Washington Territory they would suffer and die in conse- quence. Their country would be overrun, their game destroyed, their means of subsistence exhausted, their rights of every nature disregarded, and they insulted, abused, impoverished and starved. Some of them, wisely or unwisely, determined to resist, to prevent the threatened calamity or die in the attempt.

In the summer of 1855, seven men left Seattle to seek gold in eastern Washington. W 7 hile in the Yakima Valley they were attacked by Indians, and four of the number killed Eaton, Fanjoy, Walker and Jamieson. The other three men escaped, and soon were over the Cascade Mountains, telling their former neighbors of the unhappy and disastrous ex- perience which they had undergone. It was reported that other white men, also seeking gold, were killed by the Indians about the same time.

When information of these murderous acts reached the au- thorities, A. J. Bolon, an Indian agent, was sent to inquire of the Indians concerning them. He was at the Catholic Mission in Yakima, September 23rd, in conference with the Indian?. It is said and, no doubt truly, that he threatened them with ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON

punishment; telling them that soldiers would be sent for that purpose, that the murderers would have to be given up; and that their wickedness would cost the Indians dearly. After the conference, which in itself was devoid of results, he started for home. He was followed by Qual-chen, a young chief, and three other Indians, who killed him and his horse, afterwards burning the remains of both man and beast in a fire made for the purpose. The Indians probably thought that in this way no word would reach the white settlements of the tragedy, and that no trace would ever be found of Bolon. If they so thought, however, they were mistaken, as in a few days re- ports of the agent's death were received from friendly Indians, and with them other information of the hostile and warlike intentions of the Yakimas.

Major Gabriel J. Rains, in charge of military affairs along the Columbia River, at once ordered Major Haller into the country of the disaffected Indians. With him were one hun- dred and five men, rank and file. They left Fort Dalles October 3rd and returned October 10th. They got to Top- penish, about sixty miles, met a great number of hostiles, fought with them and retreated; the white men recognizing the overpowering strength of the savages. They lost five men killed, nineteen wounded, thirty pack animals, camp equipage, a howitzer, etc. The Indian losses in killed and wounded could not be told in this affair or in others follow- ing, as it was customary with them to remove from the field those of their own number either hurt or killed. There was reason to suppose, however, that their losses during the war, were greater than those of the whites with whom they were contending.

These events meant war, were war. As the United States had not soldiers enough in Oregon and Washington Territories to overcome the Indians and protect the settlements, Governor Curry and acting Governor Mason called for volunteers, calls that were promptly responded to. Major Rains determined to strike at the Yakimas, and in the latter part of October started ​

8 THOMAS W. PROSCH

with a large force, having that purpose in view. For three weeks or more in November he was there, moving about, seeing the hostile Indians, approaching them, but in no case getting near enough to fight them. With him were three hundred and fifty regulars, and six companies of Oregon Mounted Volunteers under Col. J. W. Nesmith, the latter acting in conjunction with the Major's troops but independ- ently. Altogether there were more than six hundred men. Among the regular army officers was Phillip H. Sheridan, afterwards Lieutenant General of the army, but then a Lieu- tenant having a small company of dragoons under him. Much snow fell, and marching became difficult and almost impossible in consequence. The expedition was a complete failure, owing to the slowness, timidity and inefficiency of Major Rains. One Indian only was killed, and he a helpless old man, by an Indian with the soldiers. The latter lost several men by drowning. Fifty-four army mules were lost. The Oregon men suffered somewhat from the weather and in the matter of horses. Under misapprehension the Catholic Mission was burned by the volunteers. Major Rains wrote a bombastic letter to Chief Ka-mi-a-kin November 13th which, if received by the Indian, must have astonished and puzzled him. The authorities were also astonished and annoyed by this military fiasco. Captain E. O. C. Ord, a few years later a successful and distinguished general in the army of the Union, but then in this expedition having three howitzers to look after, at once filed charges against Major Rains, and demanded that he be tried by an army court. Rains was immediately trans- ferred to Fort Humboldt, California, by General Wool, who recognised his incapacity and placed him where he at least would do no harm. In 1861 Rains resigned, and entered the Confederate service, where he served during the four following years as a brigadier general.

Another party of Oregon Mounted Volunteers, at first under Major Chinn and later under Lieut. Col. J. K. Kelly, went up the Columbia by The Dalles to Walla Walla. It was said the ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 9

Indians there had seized, kept and destroyed considerable property belonging to white people. It was intended to punish them for these acts. When the Oregonians got to the Touchet they met the Indians under Chief Peu-peu-mox-mox. While they kept away they did not appear to be hostile, and the chief who, prior to this time had been regarded as a friendly Indian, gave himself and four others as hostages. Later (December 7th) a collision occurred, in which the volunteers lost eight men killed and eleven wounded. During the fight the Indian host- ages were greatly excited and attempted to escape, all being killed in the effort. How many other Indians were hurt or killed has never been known.

War operations west of the Cascade Mountains began shortly after the Haller expedition to Yakima Valley. The Indians implicated were chiefly, almost entirely, the Nisqually, Puyallup, Duwamish, White and Green River tribes, led by Les-chi, Qui-e-muth, Nelson, Kitsap, Sta-hi and Ka-nas-ket, en- couraged and aided by Ow-hi and others from the Yakimas. The scene of disturbance was in King County, from the town of Seattle about forty miles to the southeast. October 28th occurred the first blow, when four men, three women and two children were killed by the savages in what has since been known as the "White River Massacre." That same day a party of white men were ambuscaded in Puyallup Valley, and two of them killed James McAllister and a settler named Connell. December 4th, while in camp at or near the present town of Auburn, Lieutenant W. A. Slaughter and three soldiers were killed and four wounded, all belonging to the regular army. Somewhat carelessly they exposed themselves in the evening, by standing and moving about in the light of large camp- fires. Hostiles under Kanasket crept up in the darkness and brush, and fired upon them with the results indicated. In these three affairs the Indians sustained no losses. Before the year ended there were several encounters between the volunteers and regulars on the one side and the Indians on the other in which a number of white men were killed and ​

10 THOMAS W. PROSCH

wounded and undoubtedly as many or more Indians. Taken altogether, the war tragedies and losses of the whites in the campaign of 1855 were much greater than those of the Indians, as was to be expected, considering the unpreparedness of the white people and the character of offensive operations carried on by the savages.

On October 31st a party of seven men were fired on A. Benton Moses, Joseph Miles, George R. Bright, Dr. Matthew P. Burns, Antonio B. Rabbeson and William Tidd were ambuscaded, and Moses and Miles instantly killed, Bradley and Tidd wounded.

When the war began the forces of the general government in the Territory were inadequate to the protection of the citizens. The military posts were Forts Vancouver and Steil- acoom, with a small force at the former under Major Rains, and a single company at Steilacoom under Captain Maurice Maloney. In a few weeks additional companies were sent from California to both forts, and in January of 1856 came the Ninth Infantry, the greater part of the regiment going to Vancouver under Col. George Wright, who assumed com- mand of the district drained by the Columbia River, Lieutenant- Colonel Silas Casey taking the Sound district. To the Sound the government sent ships the revenue cutter Jeff. Davis and the sloop-of-war Decatur, sail vessels, and the steamers Active, John Hancock and Massachusetts. These vessels had a restraining effect upon the Sound Indians, and the men on board rendered valuable assistance in protect- ing the settlements along the shore. Acting-Governor Mason organized the First Regiment of Volunteers in October for three months' service, and Governor Stevens the Second Regiment in January for six months' service, and in addition to these, the Territorial forces included several companies of so-called Rangers and Indian Auxiliaries. The First Regiment had no officers of higher rank than captain ; the Second Regi- ment had two Majors Hays and Van Bokkelen, and one Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw. The Adjutant General was James ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 11

Tilton, the U. S. Surveyor General, and one of the Captains was Edward Lander, Chief Justice of the Territory. Nearly one-half of all the men in the Territory rendered military service during the war. With all these forces, on ship and land, organized equipped and provided for, the weak and scattered Indians were unable to contend, and after a few efforts fled into the timber and over the mountains to the east. Early in 1856 the war ended as far as attacks by the Indians were concerned, but not so far as attacks by the white men.

The only two considerable efforts made by the Indians in 1856 were attacks upon the town of Seattle and the block house and settlement at the Cascades. Led by Owhi, Leschi, Nelson and others, Seattle was attacked on the 26th of Jan- uary. Houses in the outskirts were burned and all day long, from dawn to dark, a musket fire was kept up by the Indians in the woods against the people in the village below. Reply was made by the men of the place, and by the men from the U. S. Ship Decatur on shore, as also by men on board, using the big guns of the war vessel for that purpose. Two white men in the town were killed. Three of the under officers of the Decatur Hughes, Middleton and Phelps in after years became Rear-Admirals of the U. S. Navy.

The west side hostiles were now approaching exhaustion and were quite in the throes of discouragement. They yielded from day to day, some retiring to places of hiding, and some coming into the settlements for food and mercy. While in this unhappy condition a number of small encounters with the soldiers occurred, but they were not of the Indians' seeking, and were generally disastrous to them. The chiefs, accom- panied by a few of their tribes-men, went over to their allies in Yakima.

One event occurred, however, that is worth here recording. For all previous time, as far as known, Indians from the far north five hundred to a thousand miles had been coming south in large parties and robbing, enslaving and killing the ​

12 THOMAS W. PROSCH

less powerful, less united and less war-like Indians of Puget Sound. One of these bands of marauding savages made its appearance in 1856. They went from place to place day after day, making trouble for both whites and Indians. Captain Samuel Swartwout, of the U. S. Steamer Massachusetts, was asked to drive them away. He found them November 20th at Port Gamble. He proposed to these Northern Indians to tow their canoes to Victoria, and start them for home, saying to them that they would not be punished for their offences if they would go and promise never to return. They con- temptuously rejected these offers, said they would do as they chose, threatened and offered to fight, and were generally insulting. They did not seem to know that they stood no chance against a warship, but they soon so found. Their canoes with one exception were battered to pieces. Twenty- seven of their number were killed and twenty-one wounded, their other property being destroyed and they reduced almost to the point of starvation. The hundred or more survivors surrendered, and were taken on the ship, landed at Victoria, and started from there on their return to Southeastern Alaska. In this affair these northern Indians learned a lesson they never forgot. One member of the ship's crew was killed and another wounded.

March 26th, Indians from the Washington side of the river attacked the little settlement and block house at the Cascades, on the Columbia. Hostilities continued three days. Sergeant Kelly and eight men defended the block house. The Sergeant reported one of his men killed and two wounded ; also a boy. Reports of the losses among the settlers were conflicting, one as high as twenty-five killed and wounded, another fourteen, and still other estimates or statements. Colonel George Wright came to the relief of the besieged people on the 28th. The hostiles were overpowered, beaten and captured or driven away. Wright took fifty of them, nine of whom he promptly hanged for their complicity in this affair. ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 13

Governor Stevens organized, equipped and sent out a strong force under Lieutenant Colonel B. F. Shaw in June, 1856. The men were mounted, and they crossed the Cascade Moun- tains by the Nachess Pass. They went on to Walla Walla without event of especial character. There they met a con- siderable number of Nez Perces, who had taken no part in the war. July llth the Indians had a talk with Col. Shaw, and three days later he had another with Indians of the same tribe at Lapwai. These talks by nearly a score of different Indians head-men or chiefs were generally of friendly and pacific character, and gave assurance that as far as they were con- cerned there would be no war. Some Indians had been troublesome in eastern Oregon. Learning that they were at Grand Ronde, Col. Shaw with one hundred and ninety men went there, and had a fight with them on the 17th of July. Five of his men were killed and five wounded. He reported forty Indians killed ; also, as captured two hundred horses and a large quantity of provisions, most of which were destroyed. This expedition concluded the military operations of Wash- ington Territory. The inhabited portions of the Territory were then free from war dangers, and the uninhabited part the eastern portion was left to the regular army to care for. Ordinarily the military operations of a State or Territory are confined to the limits of the State, but during this war such lines and courses of proceeding were disregarded. Enlist- ments and purchases were made in one for the other, and the enemy were struck by Washingtonians and Oregonians wher- ever found without regard to boundaries. The only objection to this came from the U. S. General commanding the depart- ment, and his objections were disregarded by all.

The regulars, or U. S. soldiers, made their chief effort in 1856 in the Columbia River District, including Yakima and to the north. Beginning in April, and extending over a period of four months, Col. Wright marched hundreds of miles there, having under him eleven companies of regulars, or about seven hundred men. Those next in rank were Lieut. Col. E. J. Steptoe and Major R. S. Garnett, to whom were entrusted on ​

14 THOMAS W. PROSCH

several occasions important undertakings. The Indians were cowed. They either avoided the soldiers, or paltered with them and deceived them, or came into camp and begged for mercy and rations, both of which they received. The command spent much time at Toppenish, Nachess, Kititas and Wenatchee. Chiefs Ow-hi and Ka-mi-a-kin broke their promises to Col. Wright, and fled instead of surrendering. Wright made what appeared to be good arrangements for the Klikitats, who com- plained to him of being tyrannized over and oppressed by the more numerous and powerful Yakimas. Col. Wright returned to Fort Vancouver after this expedition without having met a known enemy, and without a loss to those under him, or inflict- ing an injury upon the Indians. He decided to establish two mil- itary posts, one being left to Col. Steptoe which Wright called Fort Walla Walla, and the other to Maj. Garnett which he called Fort Simcoe. Garnett was a "fire-eater," as hot headed south- erners were called in those days. A pioneer citizen writing of him many years ago, said that he told army officers from northern states that, if the North and South should become involved in war, as then seemed imminent, he would be on the southern side, and would put as many of them under the sod as he possibly could. When the war broke out, in 1861, he became a Confederate Brigadier, but on his first and only encounter (July 13th, m Virginia) with the Union forces he was defeated and slain.

All operations of war-like character were now ended. The Indians were exhausted and unable to do more in the district covered by the hostilities of a twelve-month from the early autumn of 1855. There were episodes, however, apart from the field of battle that should be mentioned.

From the fact that the Hudson's Bay Company trading posts and people were unmolested by the Indians during the troubles, unfavorable comment was frequently made by men who were prejudiced, uninformed and reckless of statement. It was a foreign corporation, with rights in the United States recognized by the treaty of 1846, the dealings of which were largely with ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 15

the Indians. It was to the interest of the Company to main- tain peaceable relations with the Indians, and that it was able to do so in times like those, when others were not so able, was much to its credit. Notice was taken by the agents of the condition of war, and as far as the natives were concerned strict neutrality was enforced. They were advised to keep on terms of friendly intercourse with all the white people; credit was refused to those who engaged in the war, and sales of guns, powder and lead were suspended. With the white people on the contrary the Company employees were all but allies. When money was scarce and military supplies needed by the Territory forces, appeal was made to James Douglas, Chief Factor and Governor at Victoria. He advanced seven thousand dollars upon the request of Governor Stevens, which money was used in the purchase of powder, lead, blankets, coffee, sugar, etc. Stevens was unable to return this money, and Douglas had to wait until 1859 for Congress to make the necessary appropriation. Further, Douglas sent the Company steamer Beaver over to the Sound to show the Indians that the Company was opposed to the war, and her presence had an impressive effect upon them. At one time he regretted the absence of a British war vessel, preventing him thereby from giving more substantial help. The position he and his com- pany took may have prevented some of the Coast Indians to the north from engaging in the war, or at least fair minded people at the time so thought. The local agents of the Company dur- ing the war, occupied positions of great difficulty and delicacy, in which, however, under the instructions of their Chief Factor, Governor Douglas, they acquitted themselves commendably.

The war, of course, cost much money. Adjutant General Tilton and Governor Stevens, May 25th, 1856, estimated that by September 1st when the terms of service of the troops would be ended, the costs in Washington Territory would aggregate $1,899,996. As the U. S. Government was responsible for the protection of the people, and in like cases had paid in other states, it assumed the obligation here. A commission was ​

16 THOMAS W. PROSCH

appointed consisting of two army officers and one citizen Capt. Rufus Ingalls, Capt. A. J. Smith and L. F. Grover the latter in after years Governor of Oregon and United States Senator. They carefully went over the claims, and on the 10th of October, 1857, reported that in Washington Territory expenses had been incurred for subsistence, equipment and pay of troops amounting to $1,481,975.45. The amount in Oregon was more than three times greater. The commission did not take into account property losses of citizens, which were very great, and for which efforts to secure compensation were subsequently made with much persistence and diligence. Congress was nearly two years in acting, when the whole matter was referred to the Third Auditor of the Treasury, R. J. Atkinson. He assumed the role of "watch dog of the treasury." He paid no attention to the report of the Grover- Smith-Ingalls commission, but took up the original accounts, and examined them critically and harshly. He reported against them in 1859, 1860 and 1862, and his reports had influence with Congress. It was finally determined to pay the volunteers regular army rates, and to pay for purchased supplies in the same way. This was unjust to people here, and not at all like the treatment given Californians under similar circum- stances a short time before. Scrip had been issued for the services and supplies, and this from the beginning had been at a discount. In some cases it is said to have sold as low as ten and twenty per cent of its nominal value. Nothing was paid until 1861, and then slowly and cautiously for a long term of years. The Treasury Department gave twenty year bonds, bearing six per cent interest to pay these accounts, delayed for years, reduced in amount about one-half, and the bonds themselves being worth less than their face. Some of these Indian war accounts were unpaid in the 1870's. It is safe to say that, taking all things into account, the people did not get one-fourth of the money they should have got, and that the service rendered the United States was more illy paid than any other of the nineteenth century in the history of the ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 17

nation. In order to justify this course on the part of the government the territorial authorities and people were loudly and frequently slandered as plunderers, instigating and keep- ing up the war for the purpose of robbing the Indians and Federal Government.

When the war was really ended, by the yielding and fleeing of the Indians, Governor Stevens, not realizing the truth of the assertion just made, committed the error of declaring martial law in Pierce County. He alleged that five men living in the country were guilty of treason, treason against the United States, in that they were giving aid and comfort to the hostile Indians. The men were placed in the guard-house at Fort Steilacoom. They were subsequently taken before a military court, but the court not having jurisdiction discharged the prisoners. In the meantime, however, an effort had been made to get the prisoners before the U. S. District Court, and secure their release by writ of habeas corpus. When the gov- ernor heard of this movement, he headed it off by declaring martial law, April 3rd. Chief Justice Lander proceeded to hold court in disregard of the governor's proclamation, where- upon a squad of volunteer soldiers took possession of the court room and removed therefrom both judge and clerk. The judge was detained for some days, but upon recovering his liberty went to Olympia, there to hold court, and it was said to punish the governor for contempt. Stevens headed off this attack by proclaiming martial law in Thurston County, May 13th. For eleven more days this condition of affairs remained, but on May 24th Governor Stevens by a third proc- lamation abrogated the other two, and restored control to the civil authorities. Not long after Judge Lander summoned Governor Stevens before him, and imposed upon him a fine of fifty dollars for his course in these matters. This whole affair created a great sensation, as might be expected from an occurrence so extraordinary. Meetings of the bar members and of the people were held at Steilacoom, in which the Gov- ernor was strongly censured, and the Legislature also con​

18 THOMAS W. PROSCH

demned him, though it is but fair to say that at a subsequent session the Legislature gave him and his course approval.

Another mistake was made by the Governor not long after this one of martial law. He evidenced ill feeling towards Chief Leschi, and made it plain that he should be punished. He offered a reward for his capture. Tempted by this offer the chief was betrayed by one of his tribesmen. He was tried on the charge of murder at Steilacoom. The jurymen dis- agreed. Upon a second trial Leschi was convicted. He was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead. When the day of execution came, the Pierce County sheriff frustrated the court order by connivance with the friends of the Indian chief. The matter was taken into the Legislature, which placed it in the Supreme Court, which in turn ordered the chief hanged at Steilacoom by the sheriff of Thurston Coun- ty, which order was executed in February, 1858. As the leader of the war party in western Washington, there was strong feeling against Leschi, and his trial in the county where he lived and operated at that time could not result favorably to him. Nevertheless, it was felt that he had been engaged in war, that it was customary at the conclusion of war to let by-gones be by-gones, that he had been greatly punished, and that further punishment in his case was neither wise nor well.

Though this war was a small one it was full of disagree- able features. One of these was the petulant fault-finding of General John E. Wool, at the head of the military forces on the Pacific Coast in 1855-56. He early assumed that the white people were more to blame than were the Indians, and he did not hesitate to say so again and again on every available occasion. Of course, his charges were disputed by the news- papers and citizens of both Oregon and Washington, as also by Governors Curry and Stevens. Wool maintained that the war was encouraged and continued for the purpose of employ- ing unnecessary volunteer soldiery, supplying them with horses, foods, equipment and other necessaries at high rates of compensation, all to be charged against and collected from the general government. He charged them specifically and ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 19

generally with cruelties and acts of outrageous violence and murder, and made official report of their mishaps, misfortunes and alleged misconduct on numerous occasions. He ordered his subordinate officers Col. Wright, particularly to arrest, disarm and send out of eastern Washington Governor Stevens and others who might be there with him. Wright disregarded these instructions, and was repeatedly reproved by the General for so doing. The Governors and Oregon Legislature made formal complaint of him to Washington City, and demanded his removal. Subsequently General Wool did what he could to prevent the people of the two Territories being suitably com- pensated for their services and expenses during the war The Secretary of War and President made no answer to any of the misconduct and like charges so freely presented to them. The War Secretary at one time reproved the General for his course in another matter in California, and in still another instance gave severe disapproval to Captain Cram's Military Memoir, which General Wool in forwarding had lengthily and heartily commended. The National Administration was democratic ; Oregon and Washington Territories were also democratic, with democratic legislatures, governors and congressmen, and it was not advisable to have unnecessary trouble in the political family. So, beyond publishing these various letters, reports, memorials, etc., the acrimonious and discreditable row was patiently borne and wisely ignored.

Though somewhat irrelevant, perhaps, it may be well to refer again to the Memoir of Captain Thomas Jefferson Cram, U. S. Engineer, so highly commended by General Wool, and so justly condemned by Secretary Floyd. The Captain cov- ered all the ground in Washington and Oregon and all the subjects. He was unfavorably impressed with both country and people. Beyond a few regular army officers and their doings nothing was very good. In what has since been done in these two States, what they are now, and what they are going to be and do, he could be glad, if alive, to suppress by fire every copy of his Memoir of one hundred and twenty- three printed pages. He said, for instance, that "there never ​

20 THOMAS W. PROSCH

will be anything in the interior of this forbidding stretch of country to induce the movement of such a force into the interior should a reasonable show of defense be exhibited by a field force." It was impossible "to defend the mouth of the Columbia River with any known practical system of fixed batteries." Besides, fortifications were not really necessary, as the river "mouth is always blocked by a mass of oscillating sand," and "at high tide a vessel drawing eighteen feet can seldom pass the bar." So also on Puget Sound land fortifica- tions would be useless, steam floating batteries necessarily being the weapons there. "Sea steamers of ten feet draft," he said, "ascend the river to the City of Portland." Willam- ette Valley would sustain a population of one hundred and fifty thousand. Portland would continue to be the commercial center of that district, unless it were found that sea steamers could "at all times ascend to the foot of the Cascades." The vast region drained by the Columbia River was one which im- pressed the observer as incapable of sustaining a flourishing civilization. This, said he, "is the general view to be taken of Oregon from the Pacific to the summit of the Rocky Mountain Range, a region only fit, as a general rule, for the occupancy of the nomadic tribes who now roam over it, and who should be allowed peacefully to remain in its possession." Speaking more particularly of Washington this sagacious military en- gineer, historian and author declared that "the whole Yakima country should be left to the quiet possession of the Yakima and Klickitat Indians." Also this : "In the acquisition of this strip of territory it is certainly not to be denied by any sensible man who has examined it carefully that the United States realised from Great Britain but very little that is at all valuable or useful to civilised man. For the Indians, but for the pres- ence of the whites, it would ever have remained well adapted." The document was replete with utterances of a disparaging, belittling, slanderous, false and absurd character, concerning the people, officials, soil, timber, waters and future possibil- ities, of the Oregon country given out with high military ap- proval, published by the Government, circulated broadcast, ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 21

accepted in many places as fair and right, and with no redress to the country and people maligned, except that afforded in the lapse of time, long time, and the unconcern and forgetfulness of the great general public. Fortunately all the army officers were not like Wool and Cram. Many of them saw things here under more pleasant lights, and they bore to the end of their lives recollections of grateful character concerning the days they spent and the people they met in Oregon and Washing- ton Territories.

The year 1857 passed without war incident. The west side Indians were thoroughly vanquished and accepted peace on any terms. The east side Indians, except those in the Klick- itat and Cascades vicinities had got off easily, some of the tribes without a scratch. They were emboldened and defiant. In 1858 they resented the coming among them of goldminers, and reports were rife of killings and robberies by them of such white men. The Stevens treaties had not been ratified by the Senate, and the Indians yet claimed all the country. They came down to Walla Walla and stole horses and cattle, includ- ing thirteen beef animals belonging to the fort. Col. Steptoe felt that he must do something for the protection of these miners and the prevention of depredations. May 6th he started for Colville with one hundred and fifty-two enlisted men, be- sides officers and others. In ten days they were in the Spo- kane country and there on the 17th were attacked by Palouse, Yakima, Spokane and Coeur d'Alene Indians, estimated by Steptoe to number ten or twelve hundred. Believing that they would be overwhelmed by numbers a retreat was begun. A running fight ensued. In the evening a temporary halt was made upon a height, which at ten o'clock was abandoned for a further night march to the south. With help of friendly Nez Perces the Snake River was crossed, and the soldiers were soon at Fort Walla Walla. Seven of the men were killed and fourteen wounded. The losses also included the two howitzers and other equipments and supplies. Lack of ammuni- tion for prolonged fighting was one of the reasons given for ​

22 THOMAS W. PROSCH

the retreat. Steptoe made a candid report of the whole affair, which fact tended in his favor as far as criticisms were con- cerned. He was one of the very few army officers in the Territory then who did not subsequently distinguish himself and secure one or more promotions. He resigned his com- mission in 1861, and died in 1865.

Of course this attack upon Steptoe must be avenged. The civil authorities were not interested in it. The military had changed in leadership and sentiment. General N. S. Clarke was in command, and he and others were now in favor of the Stevens treaties, of subduing the Indians, and of opening the country to the travel, trade and settlement of the white men. General Clarke ordered a double-headed movement against the Indians, and in August it started forth. It con- tinued six weeks, and was entirely successful. One division went from Fort Simcoe under Major R. S. Garnett up the west side of the Columbia River, through the Yakima, Kittitas, Wenatchee, Chelan and Okanogan districts, five hundred miles up and back, meeting few Indians and no real opposition. Ten Indians were given up to him as those connected with the killing of white men, and were so accepted and shot. The other division was from Fort Walla Walla under Col. George Wright. It went up the east side of the Columbia River into the Palouse, Spokane and Coeur d'Alene districts, en- countering the Indians of those tribes and a few others. He fought them twice, near Spokane, on the 1st and 5th of Sep- tember. The battles were one-sided in results. His casualties included the wounding of one man only. The Indians had about one hundred killed and wounded. He captured one thousand horses, all but a few of which he killed. He also destroyed large quantities of food stuffs stored by the Indians for the winter, and he compelled them to return horses, mules, guns and other properties they had previously stolen or taken from the whites. In addition he compelled them to sign treaties of peace, to give hostages for their future good conduct, and surrender those who had been most forward in inciting the previous hostilities, twelve of whom he promptly hanged. ​

INDIAN WAR IN WASHINGTON 23

Col. Wright had a complete little army infantry, artillery, dragoons, a corps of friendly Nez Perces and his own staff. In the two divisions Wright's and Garnett's were one thou- sand men, the largest force ever assembled in Oregon or Wash- ington for hostile purposes. Wright came to California in 1852, a lieutenant colonel ; in 1855 he was promoted to colonel, and in 1861 to brigadier-general. During the war of rebel- lion he was in command of the department of the Pacific, with headquarters at San Francisco. In 1865, while on his way to Fort Vancouver, the steamer Brother Jonathan on which he was a passenger was lost and he was drowned.

The Indian Wars of Washington Territory were now ended. The two races had clashed and one been overcome by the other. The Indians were subdued. Chief Ka-mi-a-kin was driven into life exile in British Columbia; Chief Ow-hi shot while trying to escape from the troops; Chief Qual-chen hanged. The Indians had paid for the killing of the gold-miners and Agent Bolon. They had learned the lesson, learned by other Indians before them a thousand and two thousand miles to the east. No matter what their thoughts and feelings subsequently were, they were determined in Washington Territory to fight the white men no more. It was better so for them and us.

It is not always agreeable to say good things of the Indians, and not always grateful to say bad things of the whites, in contrasting them, but it is none the less true, be it said to our shame, that the most atrocious, fiendish and barbarous acts of the struggle herein briefly treated were those of our own people the cruel, cold-blooded killing of the wife and six children of Chief Spencer, the killing and mutilation of Chief Peu-peu-mox-mox, and other deeds of similar character that we all know of but shrink from mentioning.

In the preparation of this paper, the letters and reports of the territorial officials and U. S. army officers have been the only published sources of information availed of, and from them them have been drawn much the greater number of the statements made. The general matters, deductions, and com-

In the spring of 1838 Rev. Jason Lee, the superintendent for the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, sent to a place known as Wascopum the Rev. Daniel Lee and Rev. H. K. W. Perkins to establish a mission at that point. It was situated where the city of The Dalles now lies, and it will be seventy years this spring since the establishment was started.

In 1844 Lee and Perkins left the mission for the East and Rev. A. F. Waller entered upon the work about that time. "Mr. H. B. Brewer had been there since 1840, and the mission had accumulated quite a little stock and built six plain, moderate-sized buildings on the premises. The dwelling- house was a frame rilled in with adobe; the church, school-house, barn, storehouse and workshop were log, all of which were estimated to cost about $4000.00 and were built mostly by Indian labor, and there were about 70 acres under some kind of an enclosure.

In 1844 Rev. George Gary superseded Jason Lee as superintendent of Oregon missions, with instructions to reduce the cost of expenses, with the result of closing up all missions in Oregon except that one at The Dalles. The mission property in Willamette valley was sold to the Oregon Institute and to the laymen who had been dismissed from the service of the Society. Hines states that these sales amounted to twenty-six thousand dollars. By 1847 Mr. Gary had disposed of nearly all the livestock at The Dalles station and was trying to negotiate with Dr. Whitman of the American Board Mission for the sale of the station itself. In the same year before that had been consummated, the Rev. William Roberts succeeded Mr. Gary, and an agreement was finally made for the transfer of the mission station to Dr. Whitman, and in September, 1847, Messrs. Waller and Brewer transferred the station, a canoe, some farming utensils, grain and household furniture for the ​

MISSION CLAIM TO THE DALLES 25

sum of $600.00 and actual possession was given. There was a kind of understanding that religious exercises and instruction for the Indians should be kept up, but there was no legal obliga- tion to that effect, nor did the Methodist people expect to re- turn to occupy the station if this was not done, for they were becoming very much discouraged in regard to converting the Indian.

Dr. Whitman was supposed to have "purchased the station primarily for himself and nephew, Perrin B., to whom he promised the west half of it if he would remain and take care of it until the spring, when his uncle expected to return and make his permanent home there."

So Perrin B. Whitman, nephew of Dr. Whitman, a youth of seventeen years, was placed in charge and Dr. Whitman unfortunately returned to his own mission station at Waiilatpu, about six miles west of the present city of Walla Walla, and where he was murdered November 29, 1847. The following month, December, 1847, Perrin B. Whitman became so alarmed at reports of Indian hostilities that he left The Dalles, taking with him Mr. Alanson Hinman, whom his uncle had sent there in October from Waiilatpu, as farmer and housekeeper.

From that time on no missionary work was done at The Dalles \ and no missionary occupation by either the Methodist or American Board was ever maintained there. A detachment of volunteers, with young Whitman's permission, was sta- tioned there and the provisional government continued to use it till the troops were withdrawn from the upper country after the Cayuse war closed in the summer of 1848. After that the premises remained unoccupied except by occasional "travelers and immigrants until the spring of 1850, when a military post was established there by the United States and the premises included in a military reserve."

Now, as I have endeavored to make plain, the occupancy of the mission and its changes, it is proper that I sketch the establishing of the town of Dalles City. Both claimed the site and out of these claims grew the contest. ​

26 MRS. R. S. SHACKLEFORD

As early as 1852 the place called The Dalles was occupied as a townsite for purposes of trade and traffic and has been so occupied ever since. In 1855 the county of Wasco, which was organized January 11, 1854, caused the site to be sur- veyed into lots, blocks and streets and record thereof made. "In January 26, 1857, Dalles City was made a corporation with boundaries including said townsite and on April 18, 1860, entered at the U. S. Land Office at Oregon City the fractional northwest quarter of section three in township one, contain- ing 112 acres, and including the land so occupied as a town- site under the townsite law of May 23, 1844 (5 stat, 667; 10 stat., 306), in trust for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof according to their respective interests and now claimed to be the owner thereof accordingly." Besides these two claims there were others which had to be settled.

Three suits were commenced in September, 1877. That one numbered 390 was : Dalles City vs. The Missionary Society of the M. E. Church ; No. 391 : James K. Kelly, Aaron E. Wait and Phebe Humason v. the same; No. 392: James K. Kelly and Aaron E. Wait v. the same.

As already stated, the three suits were begun in September, 1877, in the State Circuit Court of The Dalles in Wasco County. To quote from Judge Deady's decision, from which most of the following information was gathered : "The summons was served by publication, and on September 12 the defendant appeared and had the cause removed to the U. S. Circuit Court, District of Oregon, where they were all three entered on January 30, 1878. On October 15, 1879, the three causes were heard together."

The history of the claims prior to this must be explained and is as follows : When the claims came up the Commissioner of the General Land Office authorized the surveyor general to "hear and determine the conflicting claims of the Missionary Society, Bigelow, and Dalles City to the premises. On Febru- ary 16, 1860, the parties appeared before him and soon after "he directed a deputy surveyor to make a survey of the prem- ises (1) as claimed by the Society; (2) as actually occupied ​

MISSION CLAIM TO THE DALLES 27

by it; and (3) so as to include its improvements with 640 acres south of the bluff in substantially a square form. Plats of these surveys the second one containing 87 acres were for- warded to the Commissioner by the surveyor general with his decision [rendered February 2, 1861] that the society was not entitled to any portion of the premises as a missionary station. Neither of these 'plats of survey' were approved by the sur- veyor general in the sense of the statute, because they were each made upon a hypothesis that the society occupied the premises or some portion of them as a mission station on August 14, 1848, which he found not to be true. This de- cision was affirmed on appeal February 7, 1863, by the com- missioner. From there the cause was appealed to the Depart- ment of the Interior, where it rested till 1875, when it was finally reversed. After the decision of the Secretary of the Interior, the commissioner wrote to the surveyor general ad- vising him of such decision and directing him to furnish that office with a 'certified diagram of the claim of said; Society' as confirmed by the same. In obedience to this direction the surveyor general on June 17, 1875, certified to the commis- sioner a diagram of the first of the three surveys as being a plat of the survey of the Methodist mission claim at The Dalles, and upon this the patent was issued as appears there- from July 9, 1875.

As I have stated, the case was taken before Judge Deady in 1879, who again reversed the decision and ruled that this patent was void because it was not issued upon a 'plat of survey thereof approved by the surveyor general, but upon survey made by the agent of the mission in June, 1850."

"Now, in June, 1850, the agent of the defendant went upon the ground and surveyed and marked the boundaries of the claim as he understood them to be, and in 1854 the Rev. Thomas H. Pearne, its agent, notified the surveyor general of the territory of the claim of the defendant thereto," and this is the survey on which the Secretary of the Interior issued the patent, and is also the same as was described in No. 1 of the survey of 1860 (as claimed by the Society). ​

28 MRS. R. S. SHACKELFORD

Judge Deady declares "a patent could not lawfully issue upon the survey of the claim by the society itself. A survey of the grant involved the question of how much land was oc- cupied by the mission and within what limits. To allow the society to do this would be to make it a judge in its own case." And, again, he says that "whatever then may be thought of the correctness of the survey, the proposition that the patent was issued without a 'plat of survey' approved by the surveyor general, in the face of all these facts, is not tenable."

"There does not appear to have been any survey prior to that of 1850, but the occupants and Indians doubtless under- stood that it should include certain points or places." Judge Deady did not think that it was ever expected, however, or intended, that it should extend north of the bluff between that and the river, a distance of about one-half mile, where were the villages and camping ground of the Indians and voyageurs up and down the Columbia River."

Another interesting point was the re-transfer from the American Board of Missions to the Methodist Mission Society in 1849. The death of Dr. Whitman had of course prevented the occupation of the station by the American Board.

The draft of $600.00 which he had given upon the American Board had never been presented, and in March or February, 1849, soon after the news of the Organic Act was received in Oregon, "an arrangement had been made between the super- intendent of the M. E. Mission and Messrs. Elkanah Walker, Henry H. Spalding and Gushing Eells of the American Board for the re-transfer and cancellation of the $600.00 draft." This was done, as Judge Deady says, "not with any view of resum- ing missionary work, but to enable it to obtain a grant on ac- count of its occupation prior to September, 1847. To the same end and to assist it in obtaining damages from the United States for taking a portion of the station as a military reserva- tion, the defendant in February, 1859, obtained from the Amer- ican Board a formal quit-claim to the premises, although in November, 1858, Messrs. Walker and Eells, professing to act upon a power to them from said Board dated February 28, ​

MISSION CLAIM TO THE DALLES 29

1852, for a nominal consideration, had conveyed the premises subject to the military reservation to Messrs. M. M. McCarver and Samuel S. White." Rev. Myron Eells once mentioned this matter to me with much regret, and said his father had corrected and amended this matter as much as it lay in his power to do so.

It was urged by the Society that their claim was valid be- cause the U. S. Congress had passed an act June, 1860, for the relief of the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church. That was in this way : In 1854 the military reservation at The Dalles, which had covered a number of square miles, was re- duced to 640 acres by order of the War Department to "be laid off in such manner as least to interfere with private rights." In the execution of the order 353 acres as surveyed by the mission agent in 1850 was included in the reservation and covered all the improvements of the mission. The Society put in a claim for compensation. This was referred to Major G. J. Rains, the post commander of Fort Dalles, who reported in favor of paying them $20,000. This was recommended to be paid by the house committee on military affairs $20,000 for satisfaction of the claim for the land and also $4,000 for the destruction of property upon the mission claim. The com- mittee considered from their evidence that the Society was still in "possession" of the property on that memorable August 14, 1848, while Judge Deady again emphasized the fact of non- occupancy and ignores the (to use his own words) "convenient term possession." (Act, August 14, 1848.) Now the Organic Law, which was passed on August 14, 1848 (when Oregon be- came a territory), contained a clause on the Grant to Missions in Oregon upon which much stress has been legally laid in the suits between Dalles City and the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church. To quote, the grant "is not confined to a single station to each society, but includes as many stations as were then actually occupied by each society for missionary purposes among the Indians." Now, note the actual occupation clause of the grant, for upon that peg hung all the rights of The Dalles people. ​

30 MRS. R. S. SHACKLEFORD

He also says that the fact of the claim being advanced by a powerful and popular religious organization for whose good will and favor the average congressman in Oregon and else- where has a lively regard, may not have been without its effect on the result, and continues that "in making provision for payment of this claim, cannot, under the circumstances, have any effect to invest the defendant with the title to the premises," and also rules "that all that was done amounted only to a release, and was not an admission by the United States, to whom the release was made, that the releasor the defendant ever had any right to either land or improvements, but only that it asserted some kind of claim thereto which it was deemed expedient to satisfy and extinguish. But since this payment of $24,000, there is no longer cause for regarding it as even morally entitled to anything from the public on ac- count of its missionary operations at The Dalles."

"The conclusions of the court is that the defendant did not occupy the premises on August 14, 1848, as a missionary sta- tion or otherwise and that it was not deterred from so doing by the danger from Indian hostilities, but voluntarily abandoned the same before September 10, 1847, without any intention or expectation of reoccupying it under any circumstances, and therefore the patent to the defendant was wrongfully issued; and the decree of the court will be that the defendant be declared a trustee for the several plaintiffs herein for so much of the premises described in the patent as is claimed by them in their several suits, and that the defendant, within ninety- days, by a sufficient conveyance or conveyances, containing proper covenants against its own acts, to be approved by the master of this court, release to the said plaintiffs accordingly all right and title to said premises, and that it pay the plain- tiffs their costs and expenses of suit. (Signed) James K. Kelly and N. H. Gates for plaintiffs ; Rufus Mallory and John C. Cartwright for the defendants."

Thus ended the suits numbered 390, 391 and 392, but it was appealed from the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Oregon to the Supreme Court of the United ​

MISSION CLAIM TO THE DALLES 31

States. Argued March 22, 1883. Decided April 16, 1883. The history of the case continued the same and the three cases were tried upon the same evidence used in the Circuit Court of Oregon, and the statement of the case by Mr. Justice Woods brings in but one new argument, which is based upon the following :

"Until the passage of the Act of 1850, called the Donation Act, no one could acquire as against the government any title to or interest in the public lands of Oregon Territory, and there could be no constructive possession of them." Before that there was no law by which any person or company could acquire title from the government except by the grant of August 14, 1848 possessory rights were not recognized." The most they could claim was the right of actual occupancy as against other settlers." After briefly reviewing the case, Jus- tice Woods delivered the opinion of the Court as follows : "The decree of the Circuit Court was, therefore, right and must be affirmed." Mr. E. L. Fancher for appellant. Messrs. John H. Mitchell and James K. Kelly for appellee.

Many citizens of The Dalles paid the Missionary Society for their holdings in the town and I cannot leave this subject without a brief reference to that part of it. Mr. John C. Cart- wright levied the assessment for the Board of Missions and made the settlements. In about 1886 Rev. W. G. Simpson, then pastor of M. E. Church in The Dalles, went to New York and succeeded in getting a hearing from the Board with the result that $23,000 was honorably returned to The Dalles people who had settled with the mission Board through Mr. Cartwright. In reference to suits Nos. 391 and 392 I would say that on Nov. 1st, 1853, Winsor D. Bigelow took a donation land claim of 320 acres (claim No. 40) at The Dalles and resided upon it and cultivated it until Feb. 16th, 1860. His title was derived under act of Congress of Sept. 27th, 1850, commonly called "The Donation Act," and which gave, upon certain conditions, to every white settler upon the public lands, who was over the age of 18 years and being a citizen of the United States, a half section of land if he were single or ​

32 MRS. R. S. SHACKELFORD

a whole section if he were a married man. The records clearly show full compliance with the law which established his right to the land. "On Dec. 9th, 1862, he conveyed an undivided one-third interest of a certain 27 acres on the bluff at Dalles City, and part of his donation claim, to James K. Kelly and Aaron E. Wait, plaintiffs in No. 391; and on December 12th, 1864, conveyed the remaining hvo-thirds of the said 27 acres to Orlando Humason. Judge Humason died testate on Sept. 8th, 1875, having devised his interest in the 27 acres to Phoebe Humason, his widow, who became one of the plaintiffs also in No. 391.

On Dec. 2d, 1864, Mr. Bigelow conveyed to James K. Kelly and Aaron E. Wait 46 town lots, part of his donation claim and situated in "The Bluff Addition to Dalles City," which as plaintiffs they claim in suit numbered 392!'

i I am greatly indebted to the late Rev. Myron Eells, whom I visited some years ago on the Skokomish Reservation where he was Indian agent for many years, also to a valuable little book by Mr. H. R. Brewer, who lived, as farmer, at The Dalles mission from 1840 to 1847. an d to the son of Rev. Thomas H. Pearne, whom I met at Umatilla some years ago and who was here as a boy

Wm. H. Packwood of Baker is one of Oregon's earliest pioneers and is the last surviving member of the Constitutional Convention held in Salem in August-September, 1857. Although he has borne the name of Packwood all his life, as did his father before him, yet it is not their family name. His real name is believed to be Duncan. In speaking of the matter Mr. Packwood said "My forefathers lived in Virginia. They came from Scotland. In the colonial days some little time before the Revolutionary War, there was a big flood in the Potomac River Valley in Virginia. Some river men who were out in a boat on the swollen stream saw a little boy on a big tree that was drifting down stream. He was just a little chap and when he was taken ashore they asked him what his name was. He was too small and too much bewildered to tell them what his name was so they called him Billie. He was adopted by one of the river men and soon grew to be a strong and vigorous boy. He was a good worker. Part of his work was to carry loads of wood to the boat. His adopted father used to attract the attention of strangers and say proudly. "See Billie, there, pack wood." Having no other name than Billie, they fell into the way of calling him Billie Packwood. He grew to manhood, settled on the James River where he married and raised his family. He was a stockman and he eventually owned much land and a large herd of cattle.

"I learned of the origin of our family name from Uncle Elisha Packwood. In 1854 he visited his grandmother in Virginia who at that time was nearly 100 years of age and who was cared for by two negro slaves. His grandmother had a large plantation in Virginia on which at that time in '54 there were about 300 slaves. When his grandfather died he left a will in which it was provided that all of the slaves who would emigrate to Texas should have their freedom and whatever money they made on the plantation for a start in life, when ​

34 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

grandmother died, which was about ten years after grand- father. The will was an old one and was made when Texas was a republic.

"A good many years ago I met an old Scotchman named Archie Downey in Baker County. He said his people and the Packwoods were neighbors in Virginia and that my name was Duncan. He told me I was of Scotch descent and at the time of the flood on the James River four Scotch families had settled higher up the James and that they were all drowned except one boy. He said that it was a matter of common knowledge that one of those four families named Duncan was the only one who had a boy of the age of the one found float- ing down the river on the tree. I suppose my name really is Duncan but inasmuch as the name Packwood has served our family for 100 years or so I guess it is too late to change.

"My grandfather, Larkin Packwood, was born in Virginia and from there went to Kentucky and still later to Tennessee. He had ten sons and two daughters. My father, Larkin Can- ada Packwood, was one of the youngest of the children and was born in Tennessee. My father's father went to Illinois with his family and took his slaves with him. When Illinois was admitted to the Union as a state he moved to Ozark Coun- ty, Missouri, where he could continue to hold his slaves. One of the boys, Larkin Canada Packwood, did not go to Missouri as he had found an attraction which held him in Illinois. He was married on October 31, 1831, to Elizabeth Cathcart Stor- mont. She was born in South Carolina and her people came from Ireland. She had come to Illinois about 1826. My mother had two sons and four daughters. Two of her daughters died while children. Another of the daughters, Mary, married a physician and died in early womanhood, while Agnes, the re- maining daughter, died in Coos County about 40 years ago. My mother died while giving birth to a son, who also died at the same time. I was the other son.

"I was born on October 23, 1832, on Jordan Prairie just north of Mt. Vernon, Illinois. I was named for my grand- mother's family, the Henderson's of Kentucky. My mother's ​

REMINISCENCES 35

people had emigrated from the Carolinass and they were Covenanters. With the Mumfords, Cathcarts, Stormonts and! Campbells they came to southern Illinois, where they settled. They were all of the old type of God-fearing, law-abiding, Sabbath-observing Scotch. So strict were they that no work was done by man or beast on the Sab- bath day. All food for Sunday was prepared on Saturday and no recreation or amusement was allowed on Sunday. We lived at Sparta for about seven years and went to church at a little settlement called Eden, a mile east of Sparta. There were two churches there both covenanters; one of the Old Light Church and the other the New Light Church. We went to the Old Light Church, of which Rev. Wiley was the pastor.

"When I was a boy a man named Adams came to Sparta and started a saddler's shop. He was a hard worker and a good saddler, but it was whispered around the community that he was a Freemason. He apparently could not decide which church to go to and so stayed in his shop on Sundays and played the flute. Being a Freemason was bad enough, not going to church was worse, but playing a flute on the Sabbath was considered the height of iniquity or the depth of deprav- ity, whichever way you want to put it. At any rate he was pointed out as an awful example and it was thought by all the old covenanters that hell was yawning for him. I was a little chap and one day he asked me to carry in some wood for him and he paid me well for it. I never could be convinced after that that he was altogether a bad man.

"A child's recollections are peculiar. The big and vital things are frequently forgotten while some trifling incident is remembered. My earliest recollection is of getting a clasp knife, one with a strong spring, and shutting it. It nearly cut off my second finger on my left hand and though that was nearly 80 years ago, the scar is still plain today. The next thing I remember was the talk in our family of Queen Victoria being crowned Queen of England. The next thing I remem- ber was the excitement in our family and among the neighbors by a report of Lovejoy's Free Press newspaper at Alton, Ills., being mobbed and his place destroyed. One thing that stands ​

36 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

out clearly in my recollection is attending- a wandering circus in Sparta. I think it was called Dan Rice's Circus. I also remem- ber very distinctly my first school teacher. His name was Dr. C. B. Pelton. I went to school to him one year or more. There was a bad boy and a sort of bully who came to school. He abused one of the smaller boys who reported to the teacher. Dr. Pelton, the teacher, sent the smaller boy out to cut a hazel switch. Presently the boy came back with a large hazel switch about the size used for whack- ing bulls. We all expected to see the Doctor pitch in and give the boy a terrific whipping. The doctor laid down the savage hazel club and taking the big boy's hand closed his eyes and raising his head prayed that the boy would have a change of heart and become better. It certainly settled the bad boy. It was the most effective punishment the teacher could possibly have administered. As a matter of actual fact the teacher ruled that school by love and kindness, a very unusual thing in those days. Later our teacher went to Springfield, Illinois, where he became an official of the American Bible Society.

"My next teacher was a young man named McClure. I went to him about six months. This was all the schooling I ever had. At that time there were no free schools, they were all subscription schools. During my two years at school I studied five books. Noah Webster's blue back Speller, Smith's Arithmetic, Murray's Grammar, Parley's Geography, and a small American History. I still remember vividly the picture in the front of one of my school books. It was a picture of Justice and the law. Justice was shown as a monkey with a pair of scales. Two cats claimed the ownership of a piece of cheese. They brought their dispute to the monkey. The pic- ture showed the monkey placing the cheese in the scales to be weighed and divided equally between the two cats. The little story below the picture told how the scales would not balance so the monkey had to keep taking a bite first from one piece and the other until he finally ate the whole cheese while the cats looked on. I have an idea that the law is still adminis- tered that way at times. ​

REMINISCENCES 37

"In those days we did not know that it was necessary to have football and other athletic sports, to educate a student. Not having them and not knowing any better we got along all right. We played marbles and we played a game of ball in which there were four corners, four batters and four catch- ers, "four old cat/' as it was then called.

I had to stop school and help my father, who had taken a subcontract to carry United States mail from Salem to Nash- ville, a distance of about 35 miles. The mail had to be taken three times a week. I made the route on horse back and the mail was carried in saddle bags thrown across my sad- dle. There were only two stopping places between Nashville and Salem, both of them being postoffices. Practically the entire distance was through an unbroken prairie covered with grass almost as high as a man's head.

"At Nashville they always gave me bob white quail to eat. They caught them in nets by the hundreds. At Salem I saw something once that greatly astonished me as well as the other residents of the town. A doctor took several tomatoes, sliced them, put salt and pepper on them and ate them. We all watched him with fascinated horror. We expected to see him drop dead. We felt sure he would be poisoned by eating the tomatoes. He said he had dyspepsia and was willing to take a chance on being killed or cured. At R. G. Shannon's home in Sparta some tomatoes were grown in his garden just as flowers were. They were grown for ornamental purposes and no one ever thought of taking chances of being killed by eating them. The first tomatoes I ever tasted I ate at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River in 1850.

"My mother died in 1844 when I was 12 years old and I was set adrift. I was thrown on my own resources and it was a case of sinking or swimming, so I swam. I peddled bread from a basket on the streets of St. Louis. While peddling my bread I met a farmer named Ed Drew from Illinois. He told me he had two brothers who were working on his farm with him and he wanted me to go with him and learn to be a farmer. Farming seemed to promise three square meals a day ​

38 WILLIAM ' H. PACKWOOD

so I accepted his proposition. I had not been on the farm long before I joined Mr. Drew and his wife Rhoda in the almost uni- versal fever and ague. It was what was called three-day ague, and fortunately we were not all sick at one time. On Ed's shaking day his wife Rhoda and I did all the chores. They had three cows to milk, quite a few horses to care for and about 50 hogs to feed. I certainly did shake good and plenty when my third day came around. We all took Green's mixture from the same bottle. It was thought at that time to be a specific for the ague.

"We pulled corn from the stock before the corn was quite dry and grated it up into mush. Milk and mush was our staple diet. The first Fall I was with Ed Drew he hitched up his two two-horse wagons and he and I hauled his produce to St. Louis where he sold it. We crossed the river on Wiggins' Ferry. Before my mother's death in '44 my father had run a dairy four miles east of St. Louis, his customers being in St. Louis. I remember the big flood in July, 1844. What is now east St. Louis, then called 'Pap's town/ was one great sea of water. East St. Louis in those days consisted of a tavern and some corrals where drovers put their stock up over night.

"Shortly before my mother's death my father moved to Col- linsville. My father and mother both became very sick and my mother died on Sept. 8, 1844. My father was not expected to live and he was not told of her death. My sisters were both sick, so I was the only member of the family at the funeral.

"After my mother's death my father, when I was between 12 and 13 years old, made trips through Southern Mis- souri, peddling and buying furs. He took me with him and I remember on one trip we went by way of Iron Mountain, and went down into the Black River country. There were practically no towns or villages and the houses were far apart. We used to see great droves of wild turkeys.

"We tried to plan it so that we could stay over night where there would be as many people as possible so that father could sell his goods. Some days we would stop where there was a ​

REMINISCENCES 39

large family, and occasionally they would send for some neigh- boring families to spend the night. I was always called on to read something, and I can remember how proud I used to be. They thought it was wonderful to see how well a boy of my age could read. In those days reading was something of an accomplishment. The people with whom we traded were poor and hard-working, but they were kind-hearted and hos- pitable. They lived on what they raised and on what game they killed. I used to enjoy sitting around the fireplace and hearing the men tell stories of their adventures and hunting experiences. I remember stopping one night where there was an overshot wheel grist mill. The man who owned the mill had ten grown daughters, all of whom were at home, and all of whom helped him in the mill. The mill took its pay in toll taken from the grist. There was very little money to be had.

"On this trading trip we saw a number of mule teams haul- ing ore from Iron Mountain to some small furnaces.

"After working for Ed Drew I went to work for Grand- father Stormont, on his farm. He was land poor. He had hundreds of acres of prairie land and considerable timber land. Each winter he cleared about 4 acres of timber land. He ran four plow teams and for that day he was considered a very thrifty farmer. All of the family worked hard. My grandmother and her daughters Linda and Naomi were al- ways at work. When they had nothing else on hand they carded wool and spun and wove webs of cloth. One of the webs for summer wear and the other for winter wear. The winter cloth or jean was dyed navy blue, while the summer cloth was dyed butternut. They made all the clothing for the family.

"I remember what profound astonishment the invention of the carding machine created. Grandmother sent some wool to the carding machine which came back in rolls ready for spinning. It was considered an almost miraculous invention. One of the most profitable sources of revenue my grandmother had was her flock of geese. She had nearly 200. She kept ​

40 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

them for their feathers, which she sold for $1.00 a pound. In those days feather beds were very much in demand.

"Up to 1846 my grandmother had never had a cook stove. All the cooking was done in a large fireplace which had a crane with hooks on it on which she hung pots and vessels for the cooking. The crane could be swung around to bring the pots over or off of the fire. She had a large dutch oven in which she cooked all of her bread ; the loaves were round and about six inches thick, and they certainly were delicious. The sound of the dinner horn when we were called to our meals was mighty pleasant music. I remember the dinner horn par- ticularly well, for we had a large sorrel mare who, when the dinner horn was blown, would go to the end of the row, if she did not happen to be there already, and then you could not coax or beat her into doing any more work until she had her dinner.

"About three miles from my grandfather's there was a mill owned by Jimmie Lutey. It was operated by mule, horses or oxen power. Four arms or sweeps formed a circular upright shaft conveyed the power to the burrs. To each of these sweeps he hitched a pair of mules or oxen. Twice a week were mill days. Corn and wheat were the two grains that were ground. The rule was 'first come first served.' This rule was never varied from and there used to be great competi- tion among the farmers as to who could get there first.

"Jordan Prairie was skirted with timber on the north and west sides. A main road ran north and south through the prai- rie. On mill days from sunrise on you could see dust rising from the teams coming from the east and west to this main road. All of them were driving as fast as they could to get to the main road first so as to get an early turn at the mill. When they got to the main road there was usually a race for three or four miles to the mill. My uncle David was an expert with oxen. He used to begin the training of his steer calves to work when they were very young. He had one yoke of five year old long-legged rangy powerful red steers that he kept ​

REMINISCENCES 41

for mill days. When we reached the main road going to the mill there would often be a dozen or more teams. From where we joined the main road to the mill there was always great excitement when Uncle David's powerful big steers began passing the other teams. We usually passed everything on the road. Those red steers were a pretty good second to Maud S.

"Automobile riding was not much in fashion in those days, so the young people took their pleasure in other ways, such as house raisings or husking bees. They used to fill big rail pens with corn pulled from the shock. A party would be given and all the young men and girls would be bid to the party. Sides would be chosen and at the word "go" the two sides would commence on the pens alloted to them. They shucked the corn and threw it into pens and no foot ball contest was more exciting nor was there greater rivalry. Red ears meant kisses and the young folks generally managed to smuggle in quite a few red ears. When all were done a supper would be served, and such a supper ! After the supper came the games. If you think the young folks of those days did not enjoy themselves in spite of the hard work just ask any of the old pioneers who as girls and boys went to husking bees, house raisings, spelling matches and singing schools.

"Discipline in the family was much more strict than it is today. In those days the father and mother were the head of the house, not the children. Prayers were said both morn- ing and evening and a blessing was asked at every meal. Every child had his or her duties and they were held strictly to account for the performance of them. My youngest uncle, Uncle Max, had to take care of "Old Pud," a Canadian mare 33 years old, that my grandfather had bought during the Black Hawk war and from whom most of his best horses came. After the day's work was done the family gathered in front of the fireplace. Books, magazines and papers were rare so the children would crack jokes and walnuts, hickory and hazel nuts and while grandfather told stories grandmother would sit in her old rocking chair knitting stockings. Oc- casionally she would raise her 'specks,' look around at all ​

42 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

the family to see how we were getting along and then if all was well resume her knitting. She was a wonderful manager and you never heard her nag or scold. She was calm, sweet, good-tempered and had just a bit of brogue.

"My youngest daughter went to St. Louis a few years ago. She went out to the old homestead and found that my Aunt Linda was still there. Aunt Naomi had married and moved away. Aunt Linda gave my daughter my mother's Bible and also a daguerrotype of myself taken in 1857.

"In 1846 I quit working for my grandfather and went to Springfield, Illinois, where my father was working at plaster- ing and brick laying. I worked during the summer of '46 on the farm of an English family named Fields. Mr. Fields was a fine old man. He received a pension for his services in the battle of Waterloo. He gave me an idea of military life. In the winter of '47 and '48 I worked in Glenn's grocery store in Springfield. I used to meet Abraham Lincoln almost daily. We used to often meet in the morning as I would be going to the grocery store. Mr. Lincoln would be going in the opposite direction to his law office.

"In 1848 I enlisted in the Mounted Rifles. I belonged to Company 'B/ Captain Noah Newton. The recruits for the rifles were first sent to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. They were recruited from the western states principally. The men were enlisted in 1848. At Jefferson barracks we were assigned to companies. Several companies left Jefferson barracks in February, 1849, overland, across the state of Missouri, for Fort Leavenworth. Our Company 'B' started early in Febru- ary, 1849, and reached Fort Leavenworth about one month later. Other companies came by steamboat up the Missouri. We suffered much hardship on the trip. At that time Missouri was to a large extent unsettled. It was sometimes 15 miles between houses. The coldest day's travel I have ever experi- enced was the day we reached Dr. Sappington's, one of the noted pill makers of his day. Some of the men were so near frozen as to require lifting from their saddles. We crossed ​

REMINISCENCES 43

the Kaw river in open flat boats, with the ice breaking up and running in large chunks, rendering the work difficult and dan- gerous. I do not remember one house from Kaw river to Fort Leavenworth. Independence was to the north and last settle- ment on our road.

"As soon as Colonel Loring had all his companies at Fort Leavenworth, he proceeded to form a camp, which he called 'Camp Summer.' This camp was about five miles from the fort on the west side of what we called Salt creek. We moved to this camp late in March, or early in April, 1849. I remember well that we were in the fort on St. Patrick's day, the 17th of March, 1849. It was the occasion of a grand mili- tary ball, and many officers and men who attended that ball have since become famous.

"At Camp Summer the companies were recruited to their full strength. Horses, rifles, sabres and revolvers were issued and we were drilled mounted and on foot. The quarter- master, Lieutenant D. M. Frost, and Major Cross of the com- missary department, were getting supply trains. My recollec- tion is that there was 200 or more six-mule teams, and supplies on hand for the trip across the plains. On the 10th of May, 1849, a bright, sunshiny morning, Colonel W. W. Loring broke camp and the panorama then viewed was one never to be forgotten. The companies, mounted, filed out in columns of twos, their arms shining in the sun ; horses gay and prancing ; sabres dangling by their sides; officers riding here and there giving commands. As soon as the regiment was well under way the quartermaster and commissary trains began to string out, and in a short time between 9 and 10 o'clock the rifle regiment was on the long journey for Oregon, and Camp Summer was no more.

"Now, as to why I was not in that long train : The presi- dent had appointed General Wilson Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the Pacific coast, and directed that he be furnished an escort. An order was given to Captain Newton of *B' com- pany to give Captain Robert M. Morris of the Rifles 25 men of his company for the escort for General Wilson. ​

44 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

"I was one of the 25 men, and as soon as the regiment was out of view, Captain Morris moved camp across Salt creek on the east side, and called it Camp Scott. By the 5th of June Captain Morris had his quartermaster and commissary supplies and train ready for the trip. General Wilson and family, Dr. Birdsall and his daughter, Sophia, and Milton S. Latham, afterwards senator from California (later Miss Bird- sail became Mrs. Latham).

"Mr. Latham left us near Fort Kearney and returned and came around by water to California. Major Reynolds, regi- mental paymaster, with two wagons and money for the regi- ment, joined us. With Major Reynolds was M. P. Deady, then a young shock-headed roustabout, called the 'Red Headed Blacksmith' by our men.

"All being ready, on the 5th of June, 1849, Captain Morris, with Lieutenant Haynes of the artillery in command, broke camp for California. We were five months to a day reaching Sacramento. We were possibly the last train on the road, and our stock suffered fearfully. Out of over 200 head of horses and mules we reached the summit of the Sierras on October 25 with one little light wagon, and I think about 19 head of horses and mules. This was one of the cholera years, and a year in which a large emigration had passed on before us, and, in places, on account of sickness, trains were laid over, and in consequence the grass was stripped far from the line of travel. Many a time we sent our stock as much as seven miles for feed.

"When we reached the Humboldt we had to guard and herd our stock every night, as the Indians were very trouble- some. The Indians stampeded our stock twice. Some of our animals were found and recovered 15 miles from camp. There had been given us a 30-foot rope and an iron picket pin with a ring in the top to tie the rope in. The iron pin was 12 to 14 inches long and three-fourths of an inch thick. With a stam- pede or break loose, as soon as our horses got on the run the pins would be jerked from the ground and go flying in the ​

REMINISCENCES 45

air and the pins and ropes become entangled together, so as to tie the horses into bunches. They could not run, but kept circling, and were soon overhauled.

"We forded the South Platte river early in July, I think about the 6th. It was at high water. We had to raise every- thing in the bottoms of the wagons, and the horses had to swim some and then pull along on the floating sand bottom. We had to keep on the move all the time, and keep moving we did, until we were over the river."

"We had a commissary sergeant whose name was Jones. Captain Thompson, who later became well known at Salem, Portland and Oregon City, was our wagon master. One- Armed Brown, also well known at Salem and Portland, was orderly for Captain Thompson. Major Reynolds' two pay- master wagons were independent of our command, and were kept along for protection, but under no immediate control of our officers. M. P. Deady, later one of Oregon's distinguished lawyers, was a big husky looking young fellow. He had no team to drive, so it came about that he and Jones rode together. Jones had to look out for the commissary wagons, while Thompson and Brown looked after all wagons and loose stock. We moved on up the South Platte and then up the North Platte until we reached Fort Laramie. Colonel Loring had left Captain Barnwell Rhett in command of Laramie, with some troopers, to hold the place.

"After we had rested a day or two and were ready to move, Captain Morris arrested Sergeant Jones and a man named Coulter, and turned them over to Captain Rhett. We moved on and Major Reynolds remained at Fort Laramie until we were well out of the way. The cause of this was that Jones, while riding with Deady and being so chummy, had proposed a plot, by which the two paymasters' wagons should be left behind our train when we reached the Rocky Mountains, and then be robbed. The 'Red Headed Young Blacksmith' Deady had given the plot away, hence the arrest of Jones and Coulter, and the reason for Major Reynolds bidding us goodbye. ​

46 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

"Jones and Coulter escaped from Laramie, picked up stock that we had left behind, passed us without calling at camp, and beat us to California. What became of them after that I never heard. I afterwards saw M. P. Deady at Empire City, but never asked him the true reason as to why they left our company at Laramie.

"I will give you an instance of pluck, nerve and endurance that is not often excelled. Captain Duncan of 'E' Company was with Captain Rhett at Laramie. Two men had deserted from his company, one man a large, fine looking man, who had been in service in the English army, and rated up to sergeant major, named Hesslep, and another, whose name I do not remember. They had stolen good horses and had 12 to 16 hours' start. Captain Duncan took Sergeant Lawler, and in about four days' time came to Green River, on the old emigrant road. At this point they found some Mormon emigrants who had seen Hesslep and comrade come in and go up the stream to camp. Captain Duncan knew from the description that they were his men. He got the Mormons to help him surround their camp. Hesslep and his companion, having placed nearly 400 miles between them and Laramie in four days' time, believed they were safe. They woke up to find Captain Duncan and Lawler with the drop on them, so they surrendered. If that was not determination in pursuit I don't know what it was. Captain Duncan and Lawler made the distance in less time than Hesslep, and when you consider that their horses had traveled from Camp Summer, near Leavenworth, and had lived on grass alone, it makes it a remarkable feat of endurance for horse as well as man.

"On his way back to Laramie with his prisoners Captain Duncan met us and stayed all night. We gave him supplies to carry him back to Laramie.

Hesslep and comrade were chained together, and when we met them they had walked nearly 200 miles chained together.

Captain Duncan afterwards married, served in the Civil War, was wounded, and became a rancher in Nebraska. This ​

REMINISCENCES 47

I have from his son, Lieutenant Duncan, who was with General Howard in the Bannock Indian war.

"We passed Fort Bridger and stopped at Salt Lake City.

"I do not remember what would be called a two-story house in the city. There were no paved streets or sidewalks in the city. The foundation had been laid for a building, which they called the Tabernacle. It was built up from four to six feet above the ground. From Salt Lake the next houses we saw were on Weber river, about 40 miles. Some four or five Mormon families constituted the settlement. They had raised some corn and vegetables, of which we bought some. From there we saw no houses till we reached Hangtown (Placerville), Cal.

"From Weber river we followed the main trail to where the road forks to Oregon. Colonel Loring had left Colonel Porter at Fort Hall with two companies. Captain Morris had two men whom he left behind to be punished for some- thing. Captain Morris was 10 days on the trip. Our escort had now been cut down to 19 men. Lieutenant Haynes was in command. We were getting short of supplies and were making forced marches. At nearly every camp we came to notices were posted by the emigrants telling of men shot or wounded and stock stolen by the Indians. We met Lieutenant Hawkins with a supply train for Fort Hall on Goose creek. He had General Joel Palmer for guide. Late in the season, as it. now was, General Wilson had General Palmer hired to guide our train to California, and he was to have $2000 for the job,"

At the sinks of the Humboldt, we stopped to cut wild grass to feed the teams while crossing the desert. Captain Morris rejoined us here.

"Lieutenant Haynes reported to Captain Morris the conduct of the teamsters in refusing to stand guard. We soldiers were on guard every other night. We had been traveling about 20 miles a day, and living on bread and coffee. When Captain Morris heard the report of Lieutenant Haynes, ​

48 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

he told me to tell Thompson to parade his teamsters. In a short time the 28 teamsters were formed in line in front of Captain Morris' tent. Captain Morris came out. He said he had been informed that the teamsters had refused to obey Lieutenant Haynes' order to stand guard over the stock. He explained that his men would not be able to continue the strain they had been under, and that he thought it was un- reasonable in the teamsters to refuse to share the guard work, and concluded: 'All of you who refuse to obey my orders, should I order you to stand guard every other night, step to the front two paces.' Mr. McKibbin, General Wilson's car- riage driver, and O. A. Brown were on the right of the column. They immediately stepped out, then others, until 15 were in front two paces.

"Thirteen stood fast. The captain turned to Mr. Thomp- son and said: 'Give the 15 men their dunnage and see that the men and their dunnage are outside the lines of camp in 10 minutes.' Captain Morris then ordered me to call the sergeant and direct him to place four sentinels, one on each side of the camp, and to arrest any one attempting to enter camp. The next order was to the commissary, to make out 10 days' rations for the 15 men and take it to them over the lines. The orders were all delivered in an even tone, as though we were on parade or at drill.

"You can imagine the haste to pack up and get outside the square formed. The 15 men went about a quarter of a mile from our camp and made a fire of sagebrush. To the 13 who stood fast during the time the captain was giving the orders, he said : 'I shall double your wages from today, until I discharge you.' Their wages were $40 a month, so this would give them $80 a month. Extra guards were placed on the stock that night. On one side was Hangtown, on the other side of the Sierras. This was the nearest point to the westward. Fort Hall was the nearest point on the north. We were in a hostile Indian country, and the striking teamsters had 10 days' grub and no transportation, with a 60-mile ​

REMINISCENCES 49

desert to face on the west, as a starter. The horrors of the Donner party who perished in the snow less than four years before, were vivid in our memories. It was late in October. Our party was the last on the road, so there was no hope of being picked up. The banished teamsters kept a fire going all night while preparing for their trip. They threw away everything except what they believed indispensable.

"Next morning Captain Morris ordered some wagons abandoned, so as to have teamsters to go around. It became necessary to have a carriage driven for Mrs. Wilson and her two grown daughters. An old German named Losch was sent to take charge of her carriage and mules. Mrs. Wilson and the girls watched Losch at work harnessing the mules. Mrs. Wilson and the girls were raised in Kentucky and knew more about horses and mules than Losch ever could learn. Mrs. Wilson called him and asked him if he had ever driven a team. Losch, in broken English, told her he knew nothing about it, but that he would try, if ordered to do so. Mrs. Wilson called the general. Their tent was still standing. Our tents were struck and we were ready to pull out. She told her husband, the general, that Losch was no driver and that she was not going to risk having their necks broken, and that she wanted McKibbin back.

"The general went to see Captain Morris. The order was given to strike camp and pitch the captain's tent. The cap- tain and General Wilson and Lieutenant Haynes went into the tent and the ultimatum of Captain Morris was this : 'Gen- eral, you can take your choice dispense with the services of the escort, or have the mutineers.' Mrs. Wilson and the gen- eral decided in favor of the mutineers, so as to have Mc- Kibbin, her carriage driver, back.

"The services of the escort being dispensed with, Captain Morris abandoned all our wagons, except one, a little light rig to have for Mrs. Birdsall, in the event of her being unable to ride on muleback. We packed everything so as to travel light, and next morning we were on our way. The striking ​

50 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

teamsters were immediately sent for, and the general took ten of them back on full pay. General Joel Palmer acted as guide, and they took Thompson and the 15 teamsters with them. They went by the Lawson route, while we took the Hangtown route. We beat them into California by two or three weeks. We crossed the summit on about October 25, at night, and none too soon for our safety from the winter storms.

"A few days out from Salt Lake City we were overtaken by a young man on foot traveling light.

"I think he was a Swede. He had about 30 pounds of flour, a tin cup and knife, and no bedding. He had started for the California gold mines. At night he would mix flour in his cup, make a fire, roll the dough from his cup on a stick and bake it by the fire and eat it. He traveled with us a day or two and then went on. It was pretty nervy of him. I never heard whether he got through. If he did it was largely a matter of luck, and because he did not have anything the Indians wanted, unless it might be his scalp. The Humboldt road was closely watched by the Piutes, to steal stock. The fact that the Indians were not on the war path may have saved him.

"We met relief parties on mules on the Sierra mountains, sent out by Governor Downey to pick up late emigrants on the road. So far as we knew we were the last on the road, as it was the 25th of October, 1849, when we met them.

"Hangtown consisted of a few miners' cabins along a dry gulch, where some mining was being done. One of our men saw a quarter of venison hanging on a tree and rushed up, meat hungry, and asked the owner of the butchershop how much it was. He answered, 75 cents/ Our man had just 75 cents, so he caught the ham and pulled out his money to pay for it. He was told it was 75 cents a pound, and it would cost him over $11. He concluded he did not want any ham of venison. ​

REMINISCENCES 51

"We made a camp at a place called Diamond Springs. Some men were throwing up the soil in sags and flats, in- tending to wash it up when the rains set in; others were do- ing what is called 'crevicing.' They had a sack, a pick, knife and spoon and they creviced the bare bedrock. At night they came to the springs to pan it out. It was a poor day's work when from a flour sack of dirt they did not get from $50 to $100.

"Around our camp were oak trees and an abundance of acorns. Living on flour and coffee straight, as we had been doing for a number of days, we were nearly famished, so we gathered acorns and roasted and ate them. I was worn out and half sick. When we reached Sacramento and reached camp I was very sick. Dr. Birdsall came to my tent and did what he could for me. What did me the most good was corn meal gruel. My bunkie, Jimmie McDermitt, had been a soldier in Florida in the Seminole Indian war. He had an extra pair of pants, which he took into Sacramento and sold for $11. He bought some corn meal at 35 cents a pound to use for me. That night some of my comrades came to my tent, about 2 o'clock in the morning, to ask how I was feeling. They said they hoped I would soon be well again, but they didn't say good-bye. I knew their visit was meant for good-bye. In the morning they were gone. I never saw or heard from them again, but I have a warm feeling for them. I was only a boy, and we had been together for months on that hard and weary march across the plains, and one and all had been good to me.

"Our escort of 25 had now been reduced to McDermitt, Mc- Clusky, Clemens and myself. If I would go, which Clemens wanted me to do, there would have only been McDermitt and McClusky left, and if Clemens and I had gone, I am of the opinion they would have gone, too. I had given my promise to my father never to desert, and nothing could make me break my promise. Consider a moment and you will see what a temptation it was. Our pay was $8 a month. Men were ​

52 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

making fortunes in the mines. Eight dollars a day as much as we had a month was low pay. Some got as high as $16 a day. I saw one old German who came with us as a teamster. He was full of scurvy, so much so that we came near leaving him at the springs at Salt Lake to be cured. He stood on a stump driving a team to a horsepower saw, cutting shingles, and he was paid $14 per day. I also met Mr. Taylor, a butcher from Springfield, 111. He had a six- mule team and wagon. He reached the mines in August, and began freighting to the mines. He was paid as high as 35 cents a pound for freighting 40 to 50 miles. He planned to sell his team as soon as rains set in. He would have a good stake to go home with. Sailors left their ships crewless. When I saw San Francisco harbor early in 1850, it looked like a burned forest. On all sides were the naked masts of vessels, many of which had only caretakers. No effort was made to bring back deserting sailors or soldiers. There will never be another '49 again. I saw it all and felt the full force of the temptation to join the crowd ; but I resisted the temptation, and I am glad now that I served out my enlistment.

"Our company left Sacramento and crossed the valley. I remember seeing only one or two small cabins on the road to Suisin, where there was a Mexican ranch, and none from there to Benicia.

"We found great cracks in the earth from drought. There were wild oats as far as you could see, and cattle and horses in immense herds. Wild geese and brants were to be seen in countless numbers feeding on the wild oats. The winter rains had just begun to fall and traveling was difficult. At Sonoma we found a few members of the second dragoons who had come in from Mexico with Major Graham's com- mand. Captain A. J. Smith came in with some first dragoons. Our soldiers' quarters was located in an adobe building be- longing to General Vallejo who, with his wife, daughter and son resided in a part of the same building. The building fronted on the plaza. It was two stories high, had a drive- way between the corner stories and was enclosed by an adobe ​

REMINISCENCES 53

wall behind, making a large yard or corral. At night our horses and mules were driven through the driveway into the corral and out every morning to feed on the plains below Sonoma. I presume the old building still stands.

"General Vallejo, governor of California under Spanish rule, was a fine old gentleman, a fine old-style Castillian. His family were Catholics, and I remember seeing them often going to mass. It seemed to me then that the old mission bells at Sonoma were the sweetest-toned bells I ever heard, and I still think so.

"There were about 25 or 30 soldiers there. Lieutenant Page, afterwards famous as a Confederate general in the Civil War, was in command. He was a martinet in the matter of roll calls. The last call for the day, retreat, was 8:30 p. m. As it was often very dark and rainy the men did not like it. The lieutenant was prompt in coming to hear the report from the sergeant as to those present or absent.

"It began to happen that rocks would go singing through the air about the time the lieutenant was to appear. Carrying a lantern did no good: the rocks still kept coming, until the lieutenant, not wishing to take any more chances of being hit, dispensed with the 8:30 p. m. retreat roll call. It was just as well, for there were but few men and no calling of the roll would keep them from deserting to the mines if they wished to do so.

"General Persifor F. Smith was in command of the Pacific division. He was with General Scott in Mexico, and a noted man. Soon after our arrival at Sonoma the general wanted a man to look after his quarters, a servant. He sent for me and told me what he wanted. He said I would be relieved from guard duty, drill and other duties of a soldier. I said I wished to be excused, as I preferred a soldier's duty. I had enlisted for that, though I thanked him for the offer. In- stead of taking offense at my blunt refusal, he talked with me awhile and finished up by complimenting me on my re- fusal. During the ensuing months, while at Sonoma, he seemed to feel an interest in me. ​

54 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

"A servant to an officer such as he was, would have had many perquisites and a very easy time, but I had never been, nor did I intend to become one. Colonel Joe Hooker was adjutant general and Lieutenant Alfred Pleasanton aide-de- camp. Colonel Hooker was a very fine looking officer, and especially so when mounted on horseback. Pleasanton was a small, effeminate looking officer, but he made a fine appear- ance on horseback. Afterwards, in the Civil War, he became a noted cavalry general.

"I was orderly at the general court-martial which was held at Sonoma in the spring of 1850, at which General Joe Hooker was tried for some breach of military discipline. General H. W. Halleck was judge advocate of the court-martial. Hooker was a fine looking man. He was appointed to West Point from his native state, Massuchusetts. He was gradu- ated in 1837 at the age of 23, in the same class with Jubal Early and Braxton Bragg. He was assigned to the First artillery, and served in Florida and later in Maine. In the Mexican war he served as aide to General Persifor F. Smith and also to General Gideon J. Pillow. He served with distinction and was breveted as lieutenant colonel. In 1848 he was pro- moted to a captaincy. From 1849 to 1851 he was assistant adjutant general of the Pacific division. He resigned in February, 1853. He was a civil engineer in California and Oregon until the Civil War broke out. He was made brigadier general of volunteers.

"You know what he did in reorganizing the army of the Potomac and on the Peninsular campaign. His bravery in leading the charge at Lookout Mountain in the 'battle among the clouds' won him the brevet of major general in the regular army. He retired from active service in 1868." ​

SPANISH AND FRENCH RELICS IN AMERICA

By J. NEILSON BARRY, Spokane.

Should you ask me, whence these strange words?

Such as mustang and mosquito,

Such as alkali and stampede,

Such as tule, trail and sorghum,

Words like prairie and bonanza,

Like coulee, ranch and two-bits,

Alligator and tamale;

Words which sound peculiar

To some region or condition,

Yet familiar in our language?

I should answer, I should tell you

From the Frenchman and the Spaniard,

From the first whites in this country,

From those races which have been here

And have left these words as relics

Of their former occupation.

PART I.

ODD REMINDERS OF SPANISH SETTLEMENT.

The methods of the ancient Greeks and Romans in build- ing their houses around an open court was adopted by the Spaniards and by them introduced into America, and today this custom is still found in Oregon where sometimes the livery stable, or corral, consists of a large central enclosure surrounded by sheds opening into it, which is one of the surviving memorials of the time when the southern boundary of Oregon was the northern boundary of Spanish territory.

Both the southeastern and the southwestern portions of the United States were once occupied by the Spaniards, and the flag of Spain once waved over St. Louis, Mo., and al- though the tide of Anglo Saxon civilization has flowed over their ancient dominions it is but natural that there should be found here and there much that reminds one of those earliest white settlers, and it is interesting to notice how certain Spanish words have become incorporated into our language, ​

56 J. NEILSON BARRY

and also how characteristic they are to those parts of the country where the Spaniard lived.

From the southeastern portion of the United States we have words with characteristics associated with that section alligator, mosquito, sorghum, sassafras, savanna, negro, mulat- to, quadroon and octoroon, as well as Creole and piccaninny.

Florida was given its name by Ponce de Leon, while Cortez gave the name California, which is a perpetual reminder of him, The dark red waters of the Colorado river gave it its Spanish name which has since been extended to the State, and in a similar way the Spanish word for snow-clad mountains be- came the name Nevada.

The wide prairies of the southwest which were at one time part of the Spanish dominion became in time the ranges for the cattle of the American cowboys, and it is but natural not only that some Spanish words should have become incor- porated into our language, but also that they should be charac- teristic of that section.

The Spanish rancho has become our word ranch, and their word pueblo used for the aboriginal towns is still associated with adobie, the dried mud which was the most available building material in that timberless region of scanty rainfall, while cactus and chaparral have a distinct flavor of the old ranges where now so much alfalfa is being cultivated.

The riding leggings of the cattlemen are called chaps, which is a shortened form of chaparigos, while in the early days the scarcity of iron on the plains necessitated some sub- stitute for buckles, so that the cinch was used for the girth, with the latigo, a strap to fasten it. The hackamore was a bridle without a bit, with its bossal or nose piece. The cattle were roped with a lariat, and the raw-hide ring for the noose was called a honda, while the cowboy used a quirt to urge his steed, whether mustang or broncho, which if of variegated color was called a pinto. A more humble animal was termed a burro, although now sometimes called the Rocky Mountain canary. ​

SPANISH RELICS IN AMERICA 57

It is said that when General Lew Wallace returned from Mexico he placed in his car of freight his little son's burro, and the clerk in the railroad office in Indianapolis not being familiar with the Spanish word telegraphed that the freight car had arrived "short one bureau, long one donkey," to which General Wallace telegraphed in reply "change places with the donkey."

The Sawtooth Mountains of the West are known by the Spanish equivalent Sierras, while canyon and llano are now familiar words to us all. The storms of the southwest have given us our words cyclone and in the southeast tornado, while other dangers are recalled by desperado and stampede.

The rushes in the western lakes are still called tules, and the miners of the early days learned from the Spaniards the terms Eldorado and bonanza. In more modern times the tamale is winning an ever-increasing popularity.

When the early miners flocked to California they carried with them comparatively few small coins, but they found that the Spanish real which they called a "bit" was the equivalent of twelve and a half cents, so the terms so characteristic of the West, "two-bits," "six-bits," originated.

It seems strange that these terms should have any connec- tion with our dollar mark, $, and yet the American dollar adopted for our decimal system was originally the Spanish eight real piece, although few school boys who have read in Robinson Crusoe of the old "pieces of eight" have recognized our coveted coin under that designation.

In ancient times the Dutch traders who visited the Spanish settlements in America used a silver coin known as the Thaller, which was exactly equivalent to eight Spanish reals. The name was shortened from "Joachittisthaler" the silver having been mined in the vale or valley of Joachim in Bohemia, but the Dutch tongue pronounced the word Thaller as "Dollar."

The old method of designating the eight real piece, or dollar, seems to have been to make the figure eight and then to draw a cancellation line through it, as in many other well known ab- breviations, for example cent, barrel, etc. ​

58 J. NEILSON BARRY

While examining some ancient parchments the writer of this sketch was struck with the peculiar manner in which the figure eight was written, similar to the dollar mark but with only one short downward stroke. The idea occurred that the use of the quill pen might account for this style of forming the figure, which was verified by an experiment which anyone can easily make with a quill toothpick. The origin of the dollar mark can be thus explained as to the old style of the figure eight with a cancellation mark to designate thallers or pieces of eight.

When the California miners made small change with the little Spanish reals or "bits," they were using the system which had been customary before the United States government adopted the eight real piece as its standard for a decimal system of coinage.

PART II.

The flotsam and the jetsam on a sea beach mark not only the extent of a receding tide but also the character of what had been carried on the waters. In a similar way the area of the North American continent to which French influence has formerly extended is indicated by French names of places so widely scattered as from Montreal to St. Louis and New Orleans, and from Lake Champlain to The Dalles and Des Chutes in Oregon. Many French words which have become incorporated into our distinctively American speech suggest peculiarities of the country occupied by the French as well as of the character of their occupancy.

The French were first attracted to America by the cod fishing on that part of the Atlantic coast where there are many islands, and the spelling of Maine for the mainland is said to have been the result of French influence.

Louisiana, which formerly extended over practically the entire Mississippi Valley, preserves the name of a French king and reminds us of the early French settlements on our largest river, while such French words as plantation, barge and levee recall characteristics of that region, while the French word pickayune for the ancient Spanish coin, the value of half ​

SPANISH RELICS IN AMERICA 59

a Spanish real, indicates the fact that New Orleans was form- erly occupied by both the Spanish and the French.

The Green Mountains are inseparably associated with Ethan Allen and other distinctively American patriots, and yet the extent of French influence in that section is indicated by the fact that those mountains have given their name to Vermont under a French form.

Pittsburg although of peculiarly English derivation, reminds us of its original name Fort Duquesne and of Braddock's de- feat, while Nova Scotia recalls its ancient French name Arcadia and the tragedy of Evangeline.

The French-Canadian trappers roamed extensively over the great west and French words peculiarly characteristic of this region have become incorporated into our language, such as prairie, butte, coulee, cascade and alkali, which have a distinct local flavor, while the habits of those couriers are suggested by such words as trail, portage and cache.

The original names for many Indian tribes have been super- seded by such French designations as Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce and Pend d'Oreille, while the French spelling for Spokane and Willamette* is the cause of amusing blunders by many a tenderfoot from the effete East.

• Note. While the impression prevails generally that the word "Willamette"

is a French corruption of an Indian word some times spelled "Wallamet" indeed, it is spelled more than a dozen other ways yet it is possible that that opinion may be incorrect for a number of reasons:

(1) A few years ago I secured for the Oregon Historical Society Volume II of the "Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, made under the direction of the Secretary of War, in 1853-1856, and printed in Washington, D. C., in 1861, in which appears the 'Reduced Section of a Sketch of the Western Part of North America Between Latitudes 35 and 52 North, 1818.' The origin of this map is described as follows: 'This map of an extent of country including more than twenty degrees of latitude and fifty of longitude, was originally drawn under the inspection of William Rector, Esquire, surveyor of the United States for the territories of Missouri and Illinois, and was by him presented to the General Land Office January 21, 1818. It is prob- ably the most correct map of the country now extant." Signed, Joseph Meigs. On this map the word under discussion is spelled "Willamette," and indicates the river. If the word is derived from French sources the foregoing would indicate that it came from some one in the vicinity of Saint Louis, as there were no Frenchmen in the "Oregon Country" prior to 1818 except a few employees of Astor's Pacific Fur Company, and nothing from any of them was published until Gabriel Franchere issued his "Narrative" in French language in 1819.

(2) In November, 1901, I found a gentleman in Washington, D. C., named "J. B. Willamette." He was a stenographer, and had been for many years, and was at least sixty years old. He pronounced the word as it is generally spoken in Oregon, with accent on the second syllable. He said he belonged to the seventh generation of his family born in the United States, but was of Scotch- Irish origin, according to the family traditions. George H. Himes, Assistant Secretary. ​

60 J. NEILSON BARRY

It sometimes happens that a borrowed umbrella is not re- turned until the original owner is able to recognize its identity with difficulty, and the same appears to be the case with our English word "free-booter," so associated with the ancient buccaneers of the Spanish main, because as the result of French spelling and French pronunciation it has returned to us under the form of filibuster so altered that even its mother tongue can scarcely recognize it.

This, however, has been doubly revenged by the Indians who have committed similar atrocities upon two French words, their attempt to pronounce the French word for Eng- lish to designate the first white settlers in Massachusetts hav- ing resulted in Yankee, which would appear to indicate that the red men are not adepts in regard to correct French pro- nunciation, which is also illustrated by their having adopted Siwash as the Indian-French for savage, which they doubtless regarded as a very honorable designation.

American Falls in Idaho might appear so distinctively patri- otic as to preclude any possibility of French influence, and yet it originated in the early days when practically the only white men in this region were French-Canadian trappers and was given because one of the first parties of Americans in this section were drowned at those falls in the Snake river.

The advent of Americans into this region was the result of the great tide of Anglo Saxon civilization which has spread over the area once occupied by the French and these names and words of French origin so widely scattered over the country are but flotsam and jetsam of the tide which pre- ceded it. ​

DOCUMENTARY

Letter of William S. Pickrell to Sanford Watson.

Mechanicsburg, 111., March 18th, 1850. Dear Brother:

It is now near one year since you left Springfield, and we have not had a line from you. We are now anxiously looking for letters, as several have received them from friends who started with you last spring.

This leaves my family all well, and all of our friends and relatives in usual health so far as we know. I have not been out to hear much news, as my leg was broken over five weeks ago, and I am now just able to walk a little. Our country has been unusually healthy for two years, though there has been some sickness lately. Edden Lewis has died and some of the Shoups on Sugar Creek, also Bill Taff, our neighbor, and there may be some others, but I do not recall any that you or I would know.

This has been an uncommonly warm winter. I have sown my oats and there is considerable plowing done.

The cholera, that much dreaded disease, did not reach us last year; it did not leave the watercourses and thoroughfares much. Samuel Baker died of it. The citizens of Springfield cleansed their city and I never knew it to be as healthy as it was last year.

Illinois is more prosperous than perhaps at any former period ; the influence of the operation of the railroad has given a different aspect to things in the surrounding country, in the way of lumber especially.

They slaughtered a great many hogs here last Fall, the stock on the road from Springfield to Alton has been taken and the work commenced. There seems to be considerable excitement in N. Y. on the subject of railroads.

I think our State will do some better under the present constitution. We had a called session last Fall, the expendi- tures of the State being so much reduced it gives a general impetus to the minds of the people. Property is higher than ​

62 DOCUMENTARY

it has been for many years. The inflatus of the California gold has found its way here. Mules are up to $100.00 and $120.00, oxen about $75.00, beef cattle on foot $4.00 to $5.00, wheat $1.00, flour $6.00. Lands have gone up from 20 to 50 per cent. Most all the land in the State has been taken by warrants speculation, lands are being improved and men are settling all about thru, the large prairies; but enough on this subject.

The gold mania has not subsided, it is thought by some that there will be a larger emigration to California this year than last, not many, however, from Springfield. I do not hear of many going to Oregon, though from the last accounts we get from there I should think the latter place the most certain for a fortune. A great many who went to California have returned and from what I can learn, two-thirds have come back poorer than they went. A great many have died.

We have had no letters from Jim McNabb yet, nor no direct information, tho. many of the Springfield men have written home. We learned that Bolivar (Alvey) went to Oregon. I wrote a letter about three months ago to James (Watson) which if you get will inform you of Madaline's death. She has been dead about ten months. Her family are in Iowa. Fisher is doing well. He and Todd Thompson have a store here.

Sister Ann's health is good. Adelaide has a baby boy. John Elkin has moved to town. Evelyn's health is poor. Lucretia has another boy.

Now, Sanford, if you have not already written anything in relation to your country, I wish you to do it, as we all feel more interest in Oregon than we used to. The distance does not seem so great as formerly and there are more induce- ments since you all are there. I should like to know how things did look to you, compared with what you expected.

I want to know the relative value of the country independ- ent of the gold influence, for none of us know what that will produce. I want to know what Oregon can or will do in ​

DOCUMENTARY 63

regard to her climate and soil, water and timber, etc., when it is all settled how much country can be cultivated to ad- vantage and what will it produce? And what is the difference in value between the product of an equal acreage in these prairies and Oregon? What advantage would Oregon have in confining stock on the same number of acres, Winter and Summer? The impression here is that your animals will do better Spring and Fall and some Winters, than in Summer. I do not suppose that you can answer all these questions as fully now, or that you are as fully satisfied as to what the country is or how you will like it, as you will be after you remain in it longer, but you can form a pretty good idea from what you have seen and the experience of others. We want you to write every three months, and we will get it some time.

Your Brother,

William S. Pickrell.

Jo. Young, James Brown, and Steven Hupey will take this letter, whom, when you see will give you the particulars. W. S. P.

NOTE. W. S. Pickrell was Sanford Watson's sister's husband (Amanda Watson). They never came to Oregon. Were a prominent family in Illinois and have descendants in Springfield and Chicago who would enjoy this letter. Samuel Baker, mentioned in the letter, was a brother of Col. E. D. Baker, his wife was Cecilia Elder, sister of Sanford Watson's wife. This letter was folded and sealed without an envelope. Lillian, G. Applegate. ​ ​

Correspondence of the Reverend Ezra Fisher

Pioneer Missionary of the American Baptist

Home Mission Society in Indiana,

Illinois, Iowa and Oregon

Edited by

SARAH FISHER HENDERSON

NELLIE EDITH LATOURETTE

KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE ​

EDITORS' PREFACE

The letters here given to the public were written by the Reverend Ezra Fisher to the American Baptist Home Mission Society. Their publication was planned by his youngest daugh- ter, Mrs. Sarah Fisher Henderson. She collected the letters, had them transcribed, and with the assistance of Miss Latour- ette had done part of the editing before her death. In her will she provided for the completion of the work. Her exec- utors entrusted this to Miss Latourette and Mr. Latourette, who have tried to carry it on in as close accord as possible with her original plans. These included a life of Mr. Fisher, such occasional changes in the text of the letters as would make them more clear, and notes of historical explanation. The life is the work of Miss Latourette. The emendation of the text was begun by Mrs. Henderson and Miss Latourette and was completed by the latter. These emendations seemed to Mrs. Henderson desirable in view of the conditions under which the letters were composed. They were written under the most adverse surroundings of frontier life, amid frequent distractions and without opportunity for revision. Certain minor rhetorical and grammatical errors inevitably crept in which the author would, with his usual care in such matters, have corrected had he had the opportunity. It is to make these corrections that the emendations have been designed. They have been slight, have in no instance altered the meaning, and usually have been indicated. Omissions, also indicated, have been made of occasional phrases, sentences and paragraphs. The historical notes are the work of Mr. Latourette.

The editors wish to express their heartiest appreciation and thanks to those who have helped make this work pos- sible, especially to the officers of the American Baptist Home Mission Society for the loan of the original manuscripts; to Mr. George H. Himes, of the Oregon Historical Society, for frequent and ungrudging contributions from his rich stores ​

CORRESPONDENCE 67

of information ; to Mrs. Ann Eliza Fisher Latourette for her constant interest ; to the executors of Mrs. Henderson's will, Mr. L. E. Latourette and Mr. R. W. Fisher; and to the editor of the Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society for their kindness in offering its pages to the initial publication of the larger part of the letters.

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR

Ezra Fisher was a native of New England. He was a descendant of Anthony Fisher, who came from Syleham County, Suffolk, England, in 1637, and settled at Dedham, Mass. Here at the beginning of the Revolution lived Ezra Fisher's grandparents, Benjamin and Sara (Everett) Fisher. Five of their sons answered the call to arms of April 19, 1775. Six of them served later in the war, the eldest dying of camp fever at Ticonderoga.

The youngest, Aaron, was in Captain Asa Fairbank's com- pany at the Lexington alarm, it is said, when but seventeen years of age. He afterward served in the regiments of Col. Ephraim Wheelock, of Col. Carleton and of Col. Rufus Put- nam, most of the time with rank of sergeant. During the war he was married to Miss Betty Moore and, at its close, they removed from Dedham and settled on a farm near Wendell, Mass. Here it was that Ezra Fisher was born, January 6, 1800.

His environment was that of the average New England boy at the beginning of the last century. In the home of his parents were few luxuries and much hard work, but there was a fireside where God was worshipped, the Bible read, religion and education discussed and a vital interest taken in the affairs of the State so lately formed. Like other boys of his day, he was privileged to learn, from the generation who had desperately struggled for them, how the civil liber- ties of that state were won. Unlike most boys of his time, he learned from Baptist parents the meaning of religious liberty. They themselves had been forced to contribute to ​

68 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

the support of the established church and could relate sad tales of the various persecutions which had harassed their denomination in New England until at least 1799.

All the early years of his life were spent on his father's farm. The knowledge of farming there obtained and later supplemented by reading along that line served him well as a pioneer, as did also an unusual ability to turn his hand to many things. To the hard conditions of his life on the farm he doubtless owed not only the latter talent, but his tireless industry and his ability to endure hardships. In spite of health which was never rugged, these qualities were his to a marked degree.

From the common schools near his home, he gained suffi- cient education to begin teaching at the age of eighteen. At the same age he was converted and united with the Baptist church in Wendell. Out of the religious life which followed came the conviction that he ought to preach the Gospel, and with it, the resolution to fit himself thoroughly for the work.

With no other aid than his own, he struggled nearly twelve years to carry out this purpose. His preparation for college was received in part from a nearby academy, but progress was slow because of much time necessarily spent in teaching and in work on the farm. Severe sickness also hindered him.

He was admitted to Amherst College in 1822. That institu- tion had opened its doors only the year before for the purpose of educating "poor and pious young men for the ministry." Here among many with similar aim to his own, he found the opportunities he sought. Although a good student, work- ing his way meant long absences while teaching, and another illness, which was all but fatal, left him much weakened in health, so that his graduation was delayed until 1828, when he took his bachelor's degree with a class of forty, twenty- three of whom were preparing for the ministry.

The following year he entered Newton Theological Sem- inary, where he studied until January, 1830. He then ac- cepted a call to the pastorate of the Baptist church at Cam- bridge, Vermont, and was there ordained to the ministry, January 20, 1830. ​

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On February 7th of the same year he was married to Miss Lucy Taft, of Clinton, N. Y., but formerly of Wendell, Mass. Shortly after the wedding they departed in a sleigh for Cam- bridge, Vt. They had known each other from childhood, and their marriage was the consummation of an engagement which began two years before his entrance to college.

In February of the next year he entered upon his second pastorate at Springfield in the same state. His work of nearly two years in this place resulted in the conversion and baptism of about eighty persons. From Springfield Ezra Fisher wrote, under date of September 22, 1832, the first letter of his correspondence with the American Baptist Home Mission Society. That Society had been organized the pre- ceding April, and while it included in its scope the whole of North America, it was religious destitution in the Mississippi Valley which gave it birth.

Western need of the gospel had appealed strongly to both Mr. and Mrs. Fisher. In sympathy with the Home Mission movement from its beginning and feeling that New England claims upon them were small as compared with those of the West, they had early decided that, if the Lord should open the way, they would gladly serve Him "in some destitute por- tion of the Great Valley." ,

Their wish met with the approval of the Home Mission Society. Dr. Jonathan Going, first Corresponding Secretary of the Society, on a visit to their church in Springfield, had encouraged them to go to the Valley the coming fall. Hoping at the time that they might do so, Ezra Fisher wrote the first letter to inform him that they felt unable to leave the church in Springfield until the next spring or fall. Late in October, however, came a letter asking him to go immedi- ately to Indianapolis, Ind., and assuring him that the Home Mission Society would furnish him an outfit and support him in that place. Reluctantly they changed their plans and at once made ready to go. ​

70 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

On the twelfth of November, 1832, they bade goodbye to their friends in Springfield and, with their little daughter, began their first journey westward. Stopping only for a visit of a few days with Mrs. Fisher's parents in Clinton, N. Y., they were five weeks on the way, not reaching Indianapolis until the 22d of December.

His commission probably awaited him there. It was among the first issued by the American Baptist Home Mission Society. He at once began work at a salary of three hundred dollars a year, fifty dollars having been allowed him for outfit.

With his arrival at Indianapolis, his own pen takes up the account of his life and work and continues it almost uninter- ruptedly until 1856. It is the story of how he strove to place the leaven of the Kingdom of God within the developing life of the Mississippi Valley, of how he journeyed by ox team to the Pacific Coast to perform a like service for Oregon, and of how he did indeed labor in Oregon amid many dis- couragements to set in motion the forces which make for effective righteousness. For the most part, only the outlines of what he himself has written would be in place here.

While the purpose of his correspondence was primarily to give the Society an account of his own work and of the Baptist cause where he labored, he does much more than this. He describes the country, its places, the life and conditions of every field he occupied, suggests, often with prophet's vision, bases for future operations, gives a comprehensive view of American expansion westward and at least touches upon near- ly every event of importance connected with the earlier history of the Pacific Coast.

The church in Indianapolis was a chaotic one of fifty-five members. They had no articles of faith and their beliefs were almost as varied as the places from which they had come. Most were opposed to the support of the ministry. They had no Sunday school and many did not believe in the institu- tion. ​

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In their association of fifteen or sixteen churches, he knew of no church which had preaching more than one Sabbath a month and there were but two ministers who devoted much time to their calling. Probably the majority of Baptists throughout the state had little or no sympathy with the benev- olent societies of the denomination.

His efforts were chiefly confined to his own church. He preached, however, when possible, in neighboring places and visited sufficiently among the churches of the state to keep informed of their needs. He assisted in the organization of the General Association of Baptists in Indiana, in 1833, and of a state Baptist Education Society in 1835.

At the close of his pastorate in Indianapolis, March 22, 1835, many discouraging conditions remained, but the church was in harmony, had a Sunday school of ninety or more members, and would, he believed, furnish half the salary of a minister the next year.

Ezra Fisher continued to make his home in Indianapolis until April 12, 1836, the last year acting as agent of the American Sunday School Union for Indiana. Because of a wish to work directly for the Baptist denomination, he de- clined the invitation to serve another year, and, because his health would not admit of the sedentary life, he also refused a position as the head of Franklin College, soon to go into operation at Franklin, Indiana.

Under commission of the Home Mission Society, he again went west, this time to Quincy, 111., to take charge of a church of nine members, worshipping in a small school room. He arrived there May 4, 1836. For the first year only his time was divided between the church at Quincy and one called "Bethany" at Pay son, ten miles southeast.

Supported but in part by the Society, during most of his s\tay of three and a half years, he was able to live, to use his own words, "only by uniting industry and economy with self-denial." When the brave little church at Quincy was building, he cheerfully taught school to make up the deficit ​

72 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

in his salary, and, at the end of that year, wrote : "This church is truly becoming one of the most pleasant churches in the land and will soon become one of the most desirable situa- tions for an efficient preacher in the whole West. . . . When God in His providence shall indicate to me that this place demands another than a frontier man, if my health and that of my family permit, I hope once more to take a frontier post." The church had forty members at the time he left it.

He had hoped to go to Texas in the fall of 1839, but, disappointed in this, he went at that time to Iowa Territory. So far as is known, there is no record of why he did not go to Texas or of his first year's work in Iowa, save that he preached for a time at Bloomington, now Muscatine, and also at Wapsipinikie, now Independence. In serving these places, it is likely that he devoted considerable time to exploring and endeavoring to relieve the general field.

In 1841, when he again takes pen to report his movements since November, 1840, we find him the only Baptist minister in a region "from twenty to fifty miles in width, extending from the mouth of the Iowa river up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Macoquetois [Moquoketa] and thence up that stream some ten miles above its forks." His station was Davenport.

In endeavoring to relieve the destitution, he travelled dur- ing the quarter ending December 10, 1841, seven hundred and fifty miles. Through all that part of Iowa territory and across the river at Rock Island, 111., and neighboring points, his was a familiar figure for more than five years. He preached the gospel, made religious visits to hundreds of homes, took a leading part in organizing the Baptist work in the territory and in organizing temperance societies, gave many addresses on the subjects of temperance and of Sunday schools and secured numerous signatures to the temperance pledge.

The larger part of his time was given to the churches in Davenport and in Muscatine, the latter church having been ​

CORRESPONDENCE 73

organized by him October 31, 1841. It was while living in Muscatine in 1843 that he planned to go to Oregon the fol- lowing year.

Feeling that the opportunity of visiting relatives and friends would not again be theirs, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, with their three children, spent the summer and fall of 1843 in the East. It was their first trip back since coming to the Missis- sippi Valley nearly eleven years before. At the end of the long journey from Iowa, their little daughter announced their arrival at the home of her grandparents in New York by ex- claiming, "O grandpa, we've come to stay all night." Their youngest daughter 1 was born during the visit there.

Leaving New York late in the fall, they reached Daven- port, la., December 15, having come all the way by team.

Under appointment of the Home Mission Society, and still expecting to go to Oregon in the spring of 1844, Ezra Fisher began preaching to various churches within reach of Daven- port, travelling that quarter four hundred and twenty-eight miles.

Unfavorable reports of the immigration of 1843 soon reached him. Some of the company had returned, like the Israelitish spies of Canaan, to discourage the hearts of many anticipating the Oregon land of promise.

The uncertainty of getting beyond Fort Hall with wagons and the unsettled condition of Oregon, together with other reasons, led Ezra Fisher to defer his going to Oregon until 1845. He was therefore appointed to labor at Rock Island, 111., and Mt. Pleasant, twelve miles southeast. On March 14, 1845, at the close of his year with the American Baptist Home Mission Society, he received his commission to labor in Oregon.

Early in April Ezra Fisher and his family set out from Rock Island, 111., on their journey of more than twenty- five hundred miles, to the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Going into rendezvous at St. Joseph, Mo., they left that place the middle

i Afterward Mrs. Sarah Fisher Henderson. ​

74 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

of May. To their joy they soon afterward overtook, or were overtaken by Rev. Hezekiah Johnson and family from Iowa, whom they had expected to accompany them, but had given up. The two men had been closely associated in organizing the Baptist work in Iowa. At the solicitation of both, Hezekiah Johnson had also been appointed by the Home Mission Society a missionary to Oregon. A salary of three hundred dollars 1 for one year from the time of their arrival in Oregon had been advanced to each of them.

Like the rest of their company, the two missionaries and their families experienced none of the extreme sufferings which fell to the lot of many who travelled the Oregon Trail, and of some who that year departed from it. So far as known, the worst Indian depredation in the family of Ezra Fisher was the cutting off of the brass buttons on his son's round- about. But there were trials in abundance and their share of the very real suffering and danger which were a part of crossing the plains to Oregon.

One of their trials was the disregard of the Sabbath, which they not only felt to be wrong, but which prevented their accomplishing as much in a religious way as they had hoped. Except in a genuine emergency, such as lack of water, or of feed for the cattle, on the Sundays when their company in- sisted upon travelling, the missionaries would tarry behind, have family devotions, rest and overtake the main company late in the evening.

About half of the Sabbaths were observed at least by halting. On these occasions, one of the three ministers of the company would preach, a wagon usually serving as a pulpit.

At The Dalles Ezra Fisher preached his first sermon in Oregon from John 3 :16. Here the missionaries camped and built a flatboat. They were out of provisions and obliged to pay eight dollars per hundred pounds for flour and six dollars for beef. Dried salmon, bought of the Indians, was generally a substitute for the latter.

i See letter of March 22, 1845. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 75

Some of the party, Ezra Fisher among them, brought the cattle and horses down the Indian trail on the north bank of the Columbia. On the flatboat, laden with their wagons and possessions and a skiff for use in catching their flatboat below the rapids, the rest of their number embarked, and thus came to the portage at the Cascades where they camped in a drenching rain.

Their boat, which was set adrift to go over the Cascades, lodged in the rocks amid-stream and all efforts to dislodge it were in vain. In their extremity, they sent to Dr. Mc- Loughlin for aid. With his usual kindness, he sent them a bateau.

At the Cascades, or, it would seem more likely, at a later camping point, those who had come down the north bank joined them. They were wet and in a nearly famished con- dition. Ezra Fisher and his son 1 had been living for the last day or two, on a daily half-pint of milk, and a little wheat which they had in their pockets. Hot biscuits 2 were a never- to-be-forgotten luxury of their repast that night.

Continuing their journey in the bateau, the party arrived at a point near Linnton on or near the sixth of December. Here the two families separated, Hezekiah Johnson and fam- ily continuing up the river to Oregon City, while Ezra Fisher and family, piloted by Edward Lenox, went to Tualatin Plains.

In the log cabin of David T. Lenox, well known as cap- tain of the first company to reach Oregon in 1843, they found shelter from the rain and cold. It was the same cabin in which had been organized, on May 25, 1844, the first Baptist church west of the Rocky Mountains. It was about eighteen by twenty-two feet, and had a "lean-to." Although the family of David Lenox numbered thirteen and the "lean-to" was occupied by a widow and three children, with the utmost hos- pitality the six new arrivals were made welcome. Together

1 Ezra Timothy Taft Fisher.

2 Throughout the journey, the family baking had been done with the aid of a tin reflector, which stood on four legs, was bent so as to form a hood and enclosed at the sides. From the front, baking pans were slid into place along grooves. ​

76 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

the three families spent the remainder of the winter, all making the best of their cramped quarters.

Each morning the beds, which had been spread out on the puncheon floor, would be rolled up in the buffalo robes which had seen duty on the Plains. They did their cooking over the stick fireplace. This was simplified because of a lack of materials with which to cook. They were without flour, milk, butter or eggs, and their only meat was the game which they were able to kill. Boiled wheat, occasionally served with molasses, potatoes and dried-pea coffee, were their chief de- pendence. They had, besides, dried peas and turnips.

In the evening they would gather around the fireplace, seated, for the most part, on benches or blocks of wood and, by the light of a pitchy knot, Ezra Fisher would read the words for the children to spell. On Sunday evenings he would con- duct a Bible class.

Upon his arrival at the home of David Lenox, he had at once united with the little church which had been organized the preceding year and of which Rev. Vincent Snelling, of the immigration of '44, was pastor. This was at West Union, six miles northeast of what is now Hillsboro. During the winter he provided for his family, travelled up and down the Valley, going nearly as far south as the Luckiamute River, acquainted himself with conditions and needs, and preached every Sunday but three.

In the spring, David Lenox moved his family into a new, hewed log cabin and Ezra Fisher's remained in the old. The following summer Ezra Fisher taught a term of school, kept up his preaching each Sabbath, superintended a Sunday school of twenty-five pupils, and, when Rev. Vincent Snelling moved to what is now Yamhill County, became pastor of the West Union Church. During the few months of his pastorate there were ten or twelve conversions.

Believing that near the mouth of the Columbia lay the point which would become of first commercial importance for Oregon, and that no other place except Oregon City was of ​

CORRESPONDENCE 77

more immediate consequence, he moved to Astoria in the fall of '46. That part of Oregon had then its share of settlers, at least one other denomination was beginning an effort there and the outlook for steady growth was most encouraging.

Throughout the winter he preached every Sunday but, with only two American families in Astoria besides themselves, his field of usefulness was limited. Most of his time for two months was occupied in building the house which for many years served as Astoria's postoffice and which has often been pictured as a landmark of the place. It was made of shakes, split with a frow, and was built entirely from one big tree, a portion of which remained unused.

Their privations and discouragements that year were great. They had received neither word nor remittance from the Home Mission Society since leaving Rock Island, 111. They had no mail and very little reading matter. Their first home was a log cabin which had been abandoned some time before. It had been made more habitable no doubt by some repairs, but it had no windows and in it were few indeed of the commonest comforts of life. They were wearing old clothes which had served their day in Illinois and of food had small variety, al- though better supplied than the year before. The winter was severe and he lost all but two of his twenty cattle. More than all his privations, he regretted that he could be of so little use as a minister of the gospel and must spend so large a part of his time in providing the necessities of life. "If I have one object for which I desire to live more than all others," he wrote, "it is to see the cause for which Christ im- poverished Himself making the people of Oregon rich."

In anticipation of the needs of California and of Puget Sound his first letter from Astoria had this: "Should the settlement of the Oregon question be what we anticipate, we shall greatly need a missionary stationed at Puget Sound before you can commission a suitable man and send him to the field. And should Upper California remain under the United States government, a missionary will be greatly needed ​

78 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

at San Francisco Bay immediately upon the settlement of the Mexican War. . . This whole country and Upper Cali- fornia are emphatically missionary grounds, and our relation to the whole Pacific Coast and the half of the globe in our front demands prompt and faithful action. . . Whatever God has in store for our majestic River and our spacious and safe harbors on the Pacific, one thing is now reduced to a demonstration: We must become a part of the Great North American Republic. It remains for the Christian churches of that Republic to say whether our territory shall prove a blessing or a sore curse to the nation. Shall the needed help be denied us?" His plea for San Francisco and Puget Sound was often repeated.

In the spring, because they could the better earn their liv- ing and, at the same time, be as useful as at Astoria, they moved to Clatsop Plains. 1

In connection with the Presbyterians, they at once organized a Sunday school in the log school house where their eldest daughter 2 taught.during the week.

This at first numbered twenty-five and soon grew to thirty. Following Sunday school each week, either Rev. Lewis Thomp- son, the Presbyterian minister, or Elder Fisher would preach, the two men acting alternately and their congregations num- bering about fifty.

In June, mail from the East began to reach the Baptist missionary. It was the first since leaving St. Joseph, Mo., more than two years before. In August, two boxes from the Home Mission Society arrived. At the age of seventy- five, the only living member 3 of the family remembers with what delight these, and a box from her grandparents, which arrived at the same time, were received.

1 See letter of Jan. 26, 1850.

2 Miss Lucy J. G. Fisher (Latourette).

3 Mrs. Ann E. Latourette. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 79

The goods from the Home Mission Society had been ordered from Tualatin Plains April 17, 1846, and were sent in response to the wish of Ezra Fisher that a large proportion of his salary each year should be spent in articles purchased in New York at the lower New York prices and forwarded by ship to Oregon. This method of remittance was satisfac- tory to both and became their practice. The salary of the two missionaries would appear to have been less than two hundred dollars each, as they received word in 1847 that it had been increased to that amount. They sometimes received donations from eastern churches and societies. These, how- ever, were usually books and periodicals for general distribu- tion.

Removing four miles farther south on Clatsop Plains, near what is now Gearhart, Ezra Fisher kept up his' appointments at the former place and began preaching on the alternate Sundays in his own home, a log cabin built by himself. In the fall, he made a four weeks' tour of the Willamette Valley, taking with him a supply of Bibles, Testaments and tracts which had been received with the goods from New York.

The third winter in Oregon was passed more pleasantly than the two which had preceded it. But life on Clatsop Plains in 1847 and 1848 was hardly modern. Around them, far more numerous than the white settlers, were the Clatsop Indians, and Chinook Jargon was in daily use. Ezra Fisher's cabin was lighted by a primitive lamp without a chimney and burned oil obtained by the Indians from a whale which had been cast ashore. The lamp was a luxury of his own family, most of their neighbors using a saucer or small bowl of oil or lard in which a twisted rag served for a wick. His home was swept by a hazel broom which he himself had made. Indian baskets were common receptacles and, except for wild cranberries raked from numerous bogs, the family fruit supply was the berries gathered in the sum- mer and dried. Mrs. Fisher had a few cherished dried cur- rants, which on rare occasions she would add to a pudding ​

80 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

or cake. The only apples or oranges the children had seen in Oregon were a few presented to them by a sea captain at Astoria.

In the spring of 1848, Ezra Fisher helped to build a log house to serve for school and church purposes and on March 18, 1848, organized the Clatsop Plains Baptist Church. At this time he was the only minister in the county, its popula- tion was gradually increasing and at his two stations were two Sunday schools with forty-two scholars, ten teachers and one hundred and twenty library books.

In June, he made another trip to the Valley, this time to aid in the organization of the first Baptist association in Ore- gon, and to awaken an interest in starting a denominational school. At West Union the Willamette Baptist Association was organized, June 23, 1848, Elder Fisher being elected moderator and David Lenox clerk. Thereafter, throughout his life, Ezra Fisher was greatly interested in all the work of this Association, was its moderator many times, preached to it and served it in numberless ways. In connection with it was a Ministers' Conference which he helped to organize and of which he was repeatedly elected moderator. He later assisted in the organization of the Corvallis Association, and of the General Association, in both of which he took an active part.

At the close of the West Union Meeting, he made an ex- tended tour of the Valley, preaching and looking over the field with the thought of a suitable location for a school con- stantly before him. He travelled on foot sixty-five miles above Oregon City, crossed the Willamette near Salem and visited the Yamhill church, returned through the Chehalem and Tualatin valleys and arrived at Oregon City on the twenti- eth of July. Leaving Oregon City on the twenty-fourth, he reached home the twenty-eighth.

About this time came the California gold excitement.

In the spring of 1849, none of his church on Clatsop Plains was left but members of his own family. Amid the general ​

CORRESPONDENCE 81

confusion and excitement there was little hope of accomplish- ing much in Oregon, and he lacked the means to devote him- self to missionary effort in California. The loss of his sup- plies from New York for that year in the wreck of the. bark Undine off Cape Horn and the absolute necessity of devising some method by which to provide for the needs of his family induced him to go to the mines. This he did, hoping, at the same time, that he might be of more service by going than by remaining at home.

In San Francisco he met and preached for Rev. O. D. Wheeler, whom the American Baptist Home Mission Society had sent to California in 1848. He was in the mines about eight weeks and took out about one thousand dollars' worth of gold, most of which, upon his return, went toward the purchase of a claim to furnish a site for a Baptist college. If any one should think him mercenary, let him read his letters of '49 and that of Jan. 20, 1853.

Arriving home on August 23, he set out on the twenty-ninth for the Willamette Valley. At the call of several representative Baptists of the Valley, a meeting was held at Oregon City, Sept. 21, 1849, to consider the question of establishing "a per- manent school under the direction and fostering care of the Baptist churches in Oregon," and on the following day was organized the Oregon Baptist Education Society. 1 The attend- ance being small, it was voted to adjourn and meet with the church in Yamhill County on Sept. 27.

At the Yamhill gathering, every church except one, that of Molalla, was represented. A site for the institution was agreed upon, a Board of Trustees appointed, and to Rev. Richard Cheadle was assigned the task of raising two thousand dollars for building and other expenses. Ezra Fisher was placed in charge of the institution and was requested to move to the place as soon as practicable, and put a school in opera- tion. The chosen location was on the "east bank of the Willamette about eight miles above the mouth of the Cala- pooia river."

' ! ' ffidl

i See letter of Feb. 8, 1850. ​

82 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

Upon his arrival with his family at Oregon City late in November, Ezra Fisher learned that the intended site was not vacant. While awaiting developments, he opened a school in the little meeting house 2 which Hezekiah Johnson had built in Oregon City the year before, and where his niece, Miss Mary Johnson, 3 had taught for a few months immediately after its completion.

It was finally thought best to locate the college in Oregon City, the opportunity of purchasing a claim adjoining the townsite of Oregon City, the success of Ezra Fisher's school, and the desirability of Oregon City as a place of location, doubtless being the chief reasons which led to this decision. The claim was purchased for five thousand dollars by Heze- kiah Johnson, J. R. Robb, Joseph Jeffers and Ezra Fisher, the latter giving twelve hundred and fifty dollars, most of it being what he had dug from the California gold mines. About fifty acres, half a mile back from the town, and so located as to command an unsurpassed view of the Willamette River and the Cascade mountains, when once it should be cleared of timber, were donated for college purposes.

To obtain title, Ezra Fisher moved his family to the claim the first of December, 1850. There they built a home and lived until the close of 1855. Upon receiving patent from the government, he deeded to each of the other men their portion of the land according to the agreement. Ezra Fisher taught in Oregon City for about two years and was at the same time pastor of the Baptist church of that place, that Hezekiah Johnson might give his time to the general field. Portland, Milwaukie and other nearby places, he supplied with occasional preaching.

In November, 1851, the Home Mission Society appointed him Exploring Agent for Oregon, this action meeting with the hearty endorsement of the Willamette Association. In this capacity he labored until 1856. As Exploring Agent, he travelled on foot up and down the Willamette Valley many

2 It was the first Baptist church building west of the Rocky Mountains.

3 Afterward Mrs. Henry V. Gymer. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 83

times, visiting also the Umpqua and Rogue river valleys. He visited and preached to the churches, assisted in the organi- zation of others, held meetings, kept before the denomina- tion higher standards of efficiency and was everywhere an in- fluence for good. His was in very truth "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."

Of his work during the time he made his home in Oregon City, he has given a fuller account than of any other period of his life. Let us leave to him the details of both it and of the Oregon City College.

On Jan. 20, 1854, at her home near the site for the Oregon City College, Mrs. Fisher died at the age of forty-eight years. Her illness was short and her family unprepared for so great a calamity. She left five children. The oldest 1 was married; the four at home were aged respectively nineteen, fourteen, ten and six. She had lost two daughters : one, at Quincy, 111., in 1838 ; the other, at Muscatine, la., in 1842.

Mrs. Fisher had been a missionary's wife for twenty-two years. She had the same missionary spirit as her husband and was constantly encouraging him in his work. With sweet- ness and fortitude she bore every privation. If her own heart was ever dismayed, her family seldom knew it and she took fresh courage from her beautiful faith in God and the blessed- ness of their work. Her children have often said that they never heard an unkind word from her lips.

She knew how to make the most of everything. On scraps that many would have thrown away she could get up an at- tractive meal. If her home was sometimes a rough log cabin, it was a clean one and a most pleasant place to be.

Her death was the cause of a revival, in which about twenty- five were converted, most of them uniting with the Baptist church in Oregon City. Among the number were three of her own children and three from the family of Hezekiah Johnson.

i Mrs. L. D. C. Latourette. ​

84 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

Old pioneers of Oregon who knew Ezra Fisher well have said that he was a pleasant man to meet and converse with. In manner, he was quiet, kindly and dignified. In appear- ance, he was six feet in height and thin. His complexion was fair, his eyes blue, his hair light brown and abundant. His health, never the best, made him appear somewhat delicate, but he was muscular and had great endurance. In later years his beard was nearly gray, while his hair was but slightly so. He was careful of his appearance and, according to the almost universal custom of New England ministers, wore a "stove pipe" hat. For the first eight years after coming to Oregon, his trips about the Valley were made on foot and he always carried the usual carpet bag of those days.

When he preached he was earnest, convincing and scholarly. He could preach a doctrinal sermon, but seldom did. No pioneer minister of Oregon could be more depended upon to hold up the Christ than Elder Fisher. He disliked either levity or sensationalism in a minister. In delivery he was pleasing; he used simple language and was sometimes elo- quent. He generally used a skeleton. Those which have been preserved, show that his ideas were surprisingly modern. He often used the expression, "one more observation." If young people ever objected to this, they liked his pleasant smile after the sermon was over and he was very successful in his work with them.

At the close of the Willamette Association of 1852, over which he had presided and to attend which he had walked from Oregon City to Parrish Gap, about twelve miles above Salem, he placed his hand on a boy's head and said: "I could walk this country all over for my Master, if I could only be suc- cessful in winning souls to Christ." He then appealed to the boy 1 to become a Christian. It was one of many similar appeals. "He was always sowing good seed," said one who knew him well.

i Rev. A. J. Hunsaker, who was afterward General Missionary of the Baptist Convention of the North Pacific Coast, was financial agent for the McMinnvilk College and who is a man so well known and esteemed throughout the state as to need no further mention. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 85

Of what he was in his home life his daughter 1 has thus spoken : "My father was very kind and thoughtful of mother and the children, never omitting when starting on his frequent journeys to kiss us in his kindly way, and we were always glad to welcome his home-coming. He usually brought some start of fruit tree or flower to add to our home comfort." Wherever he lived, he soon had trees, small fruits and flowers growing. He gave them excellent care and was skillful in pruning, grafting and budding.

In 1853 he bought a white pony called Dolly. Thereafter in speaking of his trips Dolly was always included. "Dolly and I" found traveling bad today, or "Dolly and I" met with an accident, he would say. Dolly was the "carriage" of a news item which appeared in an eastern paper and read :

"Rev. Ezra Fisher, of Oregon, while on his way to one of his appointments, was thrown from his carriage and one of his ribs was broken."

On June 27, 1854, Ezra Fisher was married to Mrs. Amelia Millard. She was a woman of Christian character, whose coming into the home was a blessing to her husband and to his children. Such a woman as she was much needed there. By her kindness and tactful counsel she won the hearts of her husband's children and grandchildren, and she lived to see some of his great-grandchildren and to be loved by them. The remembrance of her kindly face and loving deeds during frequent visits to their homes is one of their pleasant child- hood memories. She survived her husband many years and was much beloved by all who knew her. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. James Elkins, in Albany, Oregon, at the age of ninety-seven years. To the end, she took an in- telligent interest in everything, but especially in the work of her church and of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

Ezra Fisher entered upon his last year as Exploring Agent, April 1, 1855, with the request that the Board of the Home Mission Society should be on the look-out for a suitable man

i Mrs. Ann E. Lalourett*. ​

86 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

to take his place, and at its close resigned. His work and the hard conditions attending it had told on his strength and he felt the necessity of a less arduous life. Wishing to settle near the center of the Valley within easier reach of the churches most needing ministerial aid, he accepted the pastorate of the Santiam church, located at what is now Sodaville, Oregon. The removal from Oregon City was made in December, 1855, ox teams being provided by members of the Santiam church. They were six days on the road, having stopped over Sunday at Parrish Gap.

The Santiam church numbered at that time about thirty- six members. In a revival conducted by Ezra Fisher and Rev. William Sperry in 1853, there had been fifty additions to the church, but half the membership were dismissed to form what is now the Brownsville church.

In 1856 the Willamette Association met with the Santiam church. The log school house being of insufficient size, the gathering was held in a new barn fitted up for the occasion. Heretofore the Willamette had been the only Baptist Associa- tion in the state. That year it was divided into three, the Santiam church, because of its location, going into the Cor- vallis Association.

Ezra Fisher was a strong anti-slavery man. As time went on he found himself in a church and association whose mem- bers were largely from southern states. For the sake of har- mony, his policy at first was to say little. But as the slavery question grew larger and Oregon was threatened with admis- sion as a slave state, he felt that it was no time for silence. In public and privately he exerted his influence to the utmost against slavery. When the adoption of a Constitution was before the people, his fight was a valiant one. A well-edu- cated man from Kentucky said that he had met no one since leaving the East who reminded him so much of Henry Clay, and added, "He is as earnest and logical as Henry Clay him- self." Few awaited the returns of Nov. 9, 1857, with more anxiety of mind than Ezra Fisher, 1 and none was made more glad by Oregon's decision.

i As a good rule for the guidance of American citizens, he was fond of quoting "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." ​

CORRESPONDENCE 87

The pastorate of the Santiam church continued until 1858, when Ezra Fisher and; the other anti-slavery members of the church withdrew and formed a church of their own near Wash- ington Butte. They adopted the usual Baptist articles of faith, but declared also non-fellowship with those who in any way countenanced slavery.

While with the Santiam church, Ezra Fisher had a farm of about twenty-five acres, from which most of his livelihood was gained. Upon moving to Washington Butte, he sold or traded it for another farm of about the same size. In the summer of 1861, he sold this and, putting most of the money into live stock, moved to The Dalles.

Four miles from The Dalles, he bought a small place hav- ing for improvements little else than a poorly built log cabin and from which its former owner had not been able to raise enough to "feed the squirrels." Here with his wife and thir- teen-year-old son, he spent the record-breaking winter of 1861 and 1862. With plenty of wood, it was all they could do to keep from freezing. With the opening of spring, only a few of their stock, which had been let out for the winter, remained. He was almost penniless and obliged to receive help from a daughter to buy food supplies.

He was sixty-two and Mrs. Fisher sixty, but they at once set themselves to the task of developing and making a living from their place. They set out strawberries and planted vegetables and fruit trees. After a few years, they were able to make a comfortable living.

While he was doing this, he did not forget to preach. There being no Baptist church, he frequently preached for other denominations. The one Baptist family in The Dalles at the time they came soon moved away. Two leading men from the church at Washington Butte moved with their families to The Dalles, and others began to come, so that about 1863 Ezra Fisher began to preach on Sundays to the few Baptists of the place, their meetings being held in the court house. ​

88 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

Later a church of sixteen members was organized. Ezra Fisher generally preached to them on Sundays, but being unable to give much time to the work, he would not permit himself to be considered as a pastor or to receive pay. At this time he was often working fifteen or sixteen hours a day. Rising about three or four o'clock to get his products off on an early boat down the river, he would then work the remainder of the day on his place. His sermons would be prepared on Sunday morning after breakfast and he would then travel, often on foot, four miles to town to preach. In 1870, a letter from The Dalles church to the Willamette Association re- ported: "We have been holding meetings every Sunday for some time; generally have preaching by our beloved Elder Ezra Fisher." He thus served the church until 1872.

By his untiring labors, and those of his wife and son, their barren land was transformed into one of the pleasantest homes in the vicinity of The Dalles, and was a favorite visiting place of their many friends. They had built a good frame house, and the fruit from his orchard was known throughout the county. Indeed he was one of the first to prove the superiority of The Dalles cherries.

The strenuous work on his farm became harder for him each year. It paid him well, but he was continually going beyond his strength. He therefore sold his place and moved to California.

The climate was favorable to the health of both, but, after a year spent near San Diego, the church at The Dalles, which was then able to pay a small salary, gave him a most urgent call. Feeling that it would be a joy to be once more of service in preaching the Gospel, especially to his loved people of The Dalles, and wishing also to be near his children, he returned to Oregon.

He arrived in time to attend the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Willamette Association. He gave a memorial address, preached to them on the Relation of the Doctrine of the Resur- rection to the Scheme of Salvation, and was the only one ​

CORRESPONDENCE 89

present who had helped in the work of organization a quarter of a century before.

At the time of his return in 1873, the church at The Dalles had twenty-three members. They were still without a building, but had two lots which Ezra Fisher and one or two others had purchased about 1868. As actively as. in his younger days, their pastor took up the labors before him. Besides working toward a church building, he preached two well-prepared sermons each Sunday, taught the Bible class in the Sunday school and did much pastoral visiting. He was also elected County School Superintendent.

Upon returning to Oregon, he had earnestly prayed that God might once more bless his efforts in the conversion of souls. During the winter he held revival meetings in which he labored for six weeks. Sixteen of the young people of the town were added to the church. Among the number were his youngest son, 1 Rev. C. M. Hill, present head of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Berkeley, Cal., and Rev. G. W. Hill, a Baptist missionary in China.

The next summer he came to the Valley to visit and to at- tend the Baptist State Convention and the Willamette Asso- ciation, in both of which he took an active part. To the latter, which met at Forest Grove, he extended an invitation in behalf of his church to meet at The Dalles the following year, ex- pecting that their $3,000 church would then be ready for dedication. The minutes of that year record: "Elder Fisher preached at the Baptist church to a full house. The venerable servant of God seemed to renew his youth, while he held forth Jesus as the Great High Priest of our profession, and urged all to come to Him and live."

On September 9, 1874, he conducted the exercises at the laying of the corner stone of the First Baptist church of The Dalles, Rev. D. J. Pierce, of Portland, giving the address of the occasion.

i Francis VVayland Howard Fisher. ​

90 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

Elder Fisher preached his last sermon on October 18, 1874. While away on a forty-mile trip visiting the schools of Wasco county, he contracted a cold, which resulted in typhoid pneu- monia. He was brought home to the Dalles, and there died November 1, 1874. He would have been seventy-five in Jan- uary. His will provided that, at the death of Mrs. Fisher, one- third of whatever remained of his estate, which was small, should go to McMinnville College.

From those who knew him in the East, among the number two of his classmates at Amherst, from men and women who had lived near him in the Middle West, from California ac- quaintances and from the pioneers of Oregon has come the testimony of what he was. It has been unanimous that his was a character of the highest type.

The Society in whose employ he labored so indefatigably for nearly twenty-five years has placed the name of Ezra Fisher high on the roll of its missionary heroes. Many words of praise from men who have guided its affairs might here be quoted. But from a most unexpected source came a simple testimony from one who crossed the plains with him, and, since no better test of character could well be imagined than the trials and vexations which attended the journey by ox team to Oregon, it is here given. It came from Andrew Rodgers, who fell with the Whitmans at Waiilatpu. In a letter to Mrs. Whitman's sister, Miss Jane Prentiss, written from Tshimakain and dated April 22, 1846, he wrote:

"There were three ministers in the company, one a Seceder minister [Dr. T. J. Kendall] from about Burlington. The other two were Baptist ministers, one from Iowa, the other from Rock Island, 111., whose name was Fisher, and who was formerly of Quincy, and is doubtless well known there. He manifested more of the true spirit of Christ while on the road than any other man with whom I was acquainted."

None but God knows how the influence of Ezra Fisher lives on in the lives of many. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ sent to the frontiers of this country to have a part in shaping the destinies of the West. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 91

Iowa Territory, Bloomington [Muscatine], March 15, 1843. Corresponding Secretary of the A. B. H. M. Soc., N. Y. :

Dear Br. : It becomes my duty to make a report of my labours for the third quarter ending this day, the year com- mencing June 15, 1842. I have devoted all the time to the ministry as far as my health and the extremely severe winter would admit. I have failed entirely of reaching one appoint- ment on the Sabbath by reason of a severe storm, the thermom- eter ranging about 12 degrees below zero, and the appointment being in an open prairie 12 miles distant. My lungs have been sore most of the time during the last quarter so that I have seldom preached more than once on the Sabbath. 48 I have preached 17 sermons; no addresses; attended 4 covenant meet- ings ; 1 1 weekly prayer meetings ; traveled 246 miles. No hope- ful conversions; cause of religion and temperance low in B. ; yet our church enjoys a devotional frame of mind. . . . We have received 5 by letter and 2 to be under our watch care. Have made more than 50 pastoral visits. Monthly concert is at- tended at but one place in B. I have visited and addressed 3 common schools. Obtained but five or six signatures to the temperance pledge. . . . We have one licentiate preacher in our church, a good deacon and a valuable brother. . . . Such is the extremely embarrassing circumstance of our feeble church that as yet we have done nothing for either of the benevolent institutions, although there is a willingness and a promise to soon. No auxiliary society has aided me the past quarter. No Bible class ; one S. school of 7 teachers, 4 Baptist, and about 45 scholars, 8 of whom are Baptists. No effort to build a house. I have received about $70 for my support, mostly in produce.

The Church has invited me to continue with them the present calendar year. . . . and made an effort to raise $200 in produce, but will not be able to raise more than about $100, should I stay.

48 It will be recalled that the author's death was caused by pneumonia. Occa- sional references to sore lungs show a tendency in that direction. ​

92 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

In view of the irritable state of my lungs every winter and of the soft and salubrious climate of Oregon Ter. and the amount of emigration annually passing over the Rocky mountains, we are contemplating removing to the said Territory next year, if Providence smiles and we can raise the means, 49 As we have been almost eleven years in this Valley, we wish to visit our friends in New York, Vermont and Massachusetts before we make this removal. Our reasons are, First, the benefit of my lungs and health of my family. Second, it will probably be more difficult to persuade men to go to Oregon than to Iowa, especially at first, while the de- mands will be greater in three years. We hear of companies forming in various portions of our country to go out the present year and numbers of them are Baptists. Third, I have been a pioneer for more than ten years and have no desire ever to settle over a church in the old states, while the field is the world in the new and rising portions of our country. We shall probably leave this place as soon as the first of June for New York, and I wish, by the Grace of God, to devote as much of my time to the service of the Messiah's Kingdom as I can during my journey with my family. . . . Our Board will meet in this place next week, and I shall present my views to them for consideration and counsel.

Please send me a draft of twenty-five dollars as soon as convenient as I am owing for rents which were due last Novem- ber and we cannot raise a dollar in money on my last year's subscription.

All which is submitted.

Yours in the bonds of the gospel,

EZRA FISHER.

49 The first important immigration to Oregon was in 1842 when about one hundred accompanied Elijah White, newly appointed Indian agent of the United States, on his return to Oregon. This was merely the advance guard of an immi- gration of about a thousand in 1843. The immigrants of this year came largely from Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. The interest of Ezra Fisher in Oregon probably dates from the interest in Oregon and the glowing reports of the country which were circulating all through the west in the winter of 1842-4. See Bancroft, Hist, of Oregon, Vol. I, passim. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 93

Granville, Putnam County, Illinois,

June 1st, 1843.

To the Corresponding Secretary of the American Baptist Home

Mission Society : Dear Br. Hill:

I take my pen to make a report of my services in Blooming- ton, Iowa, and vicinity, for the part of the quarter commenc- ing March 15th and ending May the 23d.

According to my best calculation I have labored eight weeks in the service of the Society and the church at Bloomington and vicinity.

I have preached 15 sermons, delivered one address on the subject of Bible instruction . . . Traveled one hundred and five miles to and from appointments. . . . Have visited and assisted in the revival in Davenport two days Our church has been peculiarly op- pressed with pecuniary embarrassments and has paid nothing for any of the benevolent objects, but has paid about thirty dollars for my salary. I have received nothing from auxiliary societies. . . . You will please forward me a draft for fifteen dollars to Clinton Post Office, Oneida Co., New York, in the care of Timothy Taft, and I shall receive it on my arrival.

I feel convinced that I have not rendered the amount of profitable service directly to the cause at Bloomington that I should, had not the subject of the Oregon enterprise agitated my mind and called forth my anxious thoughts, and I trust humble prayers. As it relates to that subject, I have endeavored to look at the privations and difficulties as well as to the beauties of nature, 50 and I can say with some degree of con- fidence that I desire to set aside all considerations but the will of God and the well being of man in this and all my undertak- ings. In considering the path of duty I see no field of labor

50 This well reflects the information concerning Oregon which was current in the west at the time this was written. No large immigration had yet gotten into Oregon with wagons, and the journey was an extremely arduous and dangerous one of about six months. On the other hand, reports circulated by travelers and mis- sionaries from the country, and by the debates in Congress of the past few win- ters, pictured Oregon as an earthly paradise. Bancroft, Hist, of Oregon, Vol. I, passim. ​

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which I can contemplate with so much satisfaction, or con- cerning which I have so little doubt of duty as an attempt to lay the foundation for an interest in Oregon. Our country- men will go, and they will go too, without the Bible and the Sabbath, unless these are carried by the good and self-denying. Hundreds are crossing the mountains this year. 51 Our Gov- ernment is sending out a scientific corps 52 of 50 mounted men to explore the country and, if possible, to return as soon as the early part of the next session of Congress. I am also informed that an English nobleman is hiring men and pur- chasing wagons and mules in St. Louis for an exploring expe- dition to that country, ostensibly a private expedition. . . . We shall probably be at Buffalo as soon as the ninth of July, perhaps the second. May God direct.

I subscribe myself your unworthy brother in Christ,

EZRA FISHER,

Missionary.

N. B. The church in Bloomington will apply to the Gen- eral Association to render them some temporary aid but have not determined as yet to ask for assistance from your Board. Some two or three families will probably go with me to Oregon, if I am preserved and am permitted to go.

Syracuse, N. Y., Oct. 18th, 1843. Rev. Benj. M. Hill,

Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. S., Beloved Br.:

It is with emotions of gratitude to our Divine Master for the great kindness you have manifested to me in all your correspondence, and especially since our personal acquaintance

51 The exact number of the immigration of i8<-? is uncertain. It is variously estimated from 500 to 1000. Bancroft, Hist, of Oregon, I: 395 ft.

52 The United States Government expedition was that headed by J. C. Fremont. It traveled just behind the immigrants as far as Soda Springs on the Bear river, and after a detour of the Great Salt Lake, arrived at The Dalles, Oregon, in November. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. I: 420; C. A. Snowden, Hist, of Wash. II: 247. The English nobleman was Sir William Stewart, who was hunting in the Rocky Mountains with William Sublette, Overton Johnson and Wm. H. Winter of the immigration of 1843. Route across the Rocky Mountains, etc., re- printed in the Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, VII: 62 ff.; the ref- erence is on page 68. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 95

that I address you at this time. . . . May Heaven reward you, if indeed I am a disciple of Christ. I was driven to fear that the amount for my salary in Oregon would require my stay in this State so long that I should be driven to cross the wide prairies of the West with my young family in the dead of winter or fail of being ready to leave with the caravan in the spring. I also expected to be compelled to leave the ministry in part to teach through the intervening time, but, by your suggestion, cheerfully take this opportunity to request the Board through you to appoint me as one of their mis- sionaries for the term of six months in Iowa, as I desire to devote that amount of time to preaching the gospel in that Ter. I shall probably find an important field of labor on the Mississippi River. I think it will require one hundred and fifty dollars to barely sustain my family six months, but think, with fifty dollars from your Board, I can live from the people. I have a wife and four children. 53 Should your Board think fit to make the appointment, you will please for- ward it to Br. Charles E. Brown, Davenport, Cor. Sec. of Iowa, Bapt. Gen. Association.

I did not find the instructions to applicants for appointment, as your annual report is packed up in my boxes. I thought perhaps your Board would dispense with all the formality ordinarily requisite, as I intend going directly to Davenport and acting in concert with the Board of the Iowa B[aptist] G[eneral] Association, located in that place. Yours in grateful rememberance,

EZRA FISHER.

Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa Ter., Jan. 22, 1844. Dear Br. Hill :

We arrived in this place on the 15th of December, and have delayed writing on account of the unfavorable reports respect- ing the road to Oregon, hoping to be able before this to learn something more satisfactory on the subject. But as yet we

53 The four children were Lucy Jane Gray (Latourette), Timothy Taft, Ann Eliza (Latourette) and Sarah Josephine (Henderson). ​

96 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

are involved in uncertainty. Five men from the emigrants' company returned, after they had proceeded as far as Fort Hall, who stated that the company were obliged to leave all their wagons and take the pack horses through the mountains a distance of 600 miles. 54 We have learned too by ten of Lieut. Fremont's men who returned that the company of emigrants were reduced to the necessity of eating horse flesh for meat.

We hope to learn more definitely and positively when Lieut. Fremont returns, which will probably be in two or three weeks. Should we learn that the distance from Fort Hall to the mouth of the Willamette is impassable by wagons, we feel that it will be more than our young family can encounter to take pack horses and provisions and necessary cooking utensils and clothing and bedding and, thus arrayed, attempt to urge our way through the defiles of the mountains. We learn that a very large company from Platt County, Missouri 55 are making arrangements to emigrate next spring for Oregon, some from this Territory and some from 111. A Mr. Flint from Missouri writes that probably the emigrating camp will consist of 3000 men. We feel ourselves thrown into an un- comfortable suspense on the subject, but it is all right. Our disappointment was great. It is distressing to abandon the en- terprise, and the thought of presumptously hazarding the lives of my family is equally distressing, especially while so wide a door is open in this wide Valley. Our friends here will none of them advise to go, unless we receive more favorable reports of the way. Yet I have some reason to suspect them of selfishness. We trust the Lord will soon remove our doubts. I can truly say my mind is strongly inclined to preach the gospel in Oregon.

We came all the way (from New York) with our own conveyance, which was the cause of our reaching Iowa so

54 The report was false. The Oregon party took their wagons with them. The California party left their wagons and went thence on horses. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore. I: 399, 400.

55 Mr. George H. Himes, Assistant Secretary of the Oregon Historical Society, says that in his researches he has found that some went in this year from Platt County. See also note 67. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 97

late. I commenced my labours immediately on our arrival, and preach part of the time in this place and Rock Island, Illinois, and the remainder of the time in the surrounding country, where we hope there will be a church constituted before long. The church at Rock Island appear solicitous to obtain my services the ensuing year, provided we do not cross the Rocky Mountains, and it may be my duty to comply with their re- quest, yet the irritable state of my lungs admonishes me of the importance of finding a milder climate, and, as we are now broken up, we feel inclined to get as far south as we can, and be useful in a free state, if we shall find the way to Ore- gon closed. I shall write you immediately on learning the result of Lieut. Fremont's expedition. I subscribe myself your brother in Christ,

EZRA FISHER.

Davenport, Iowa Territory, March 15, 1844. Rev. Benjamin M. Hill, Dear Br. :

The time has arrived when it becomes my duty to make my first quarter's report under the appointment made Nov. 1st, 1843. I have preached about one-fourth of my time in this place, part of the time at the mouth of Pine creek, Muscatine County, one Sabbath in Bloomington, a part of my time in Hickory Grove and Attens Grove, Lott County, one Sabbath at Cordova, 56 Rock Island County, 111., and the remainder of the time at Rock Island, directly across the river from this place.

Br. Seley organized the church at Cordova last winter ; the church in this place Br. Brown supported half the time ; the church at Bloomington I formerly supplied; the church at Rock Island has formerly had the fruit of Father Gillett's labors. All belong to Davenport Association. ... I have labored the whole time in the field, have preached 34 sermons, delivered one temperance address, attended 24 other sermons in

56 Cordova is a small town about twenty miles north and east of Rock Island. ​

98 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

protracted meetings ; 18 prayer meetings ; 6 church meetings ; visited one common day school, 57 1 Sabbath school four times and addressed them each time, and traveled 428 miles. Eleven or twelve hopeful conversions have occurred in the field of my labors, all but one in Rock Island, in connection with a series of meetings carried on by Br. Thomas Powell and myself.

I have baptised 8 and received one by letter into Rock Island church. I have made 55 pastoral visits. No monthly concerts sustained at present. Have obtained 3 signatures to the tem- perance pledge. . . . Received $22 from the people to- wards my support. Nothing paid for the various benevolent societies connected with our denomination.

No auxiliary society has contributed for my support. One Sunday School at Rock Island, 6 teachers, about 25 scholars, and about 50 volumes in the library. No meeting house commenced.

In consequence of the great uncertainty of being able to reach the American settlements in Oregon by wagons, the great destitution of ministerial labors in all this region especially on the U ( pper Mississippi, the unsettled condition of Oregon and the late Indian depredations at the Walla Walla Mission station under the charge of Dr. Whitman, 58 we have concluded to defer going west this spring ; yet not without much reluctance and I trust attempting faithfully to commit our cause to him whose we are and to whom we owe everything. Should the door be open so that duty shall appear plain, I now think I shall cheerfully undergo the privations of removing across the desert mountains to the Pacific Coast. May God direct and be it ours to obey.

5 7 The public school system in the Mississippi Valley began early. In Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, there were enacted in the twenties school laws providing for public common school instruction. In Iowa it came some time later. E. G. Dexter, A Hist, of Education in the United States, pp. 103-116.

58 This probably refers to the trouble with the Indians in the late autumn of 1842. Mrs. Whitman was insulted during Dr. Whitman's absence in the East, and fled to The Dalles. The mission mill at Waiilatpu, Whitman's station, was burned. The news of this, exaggerated and misdated by rumor, seems to have reached Ezra Fisher at this time. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 99

By the invitation of the Church at Rock Island, 111., and by the advice of all the brethren in this vicinity, I have con- sented to take charge of that church and a small church in Henry County, 12 miles S. East from that place, the coming year. These churches will be able to give us about two-thirds of a support, and, by the advice of the members of the Board of the Iowa Baptist Gen. Association and Br. Powell, we shall apply to your Board for a reappointment when my present appointment expires.

In view of all the circumstances, should your Board censure the course which we have pursued respecting the Oregon mission, you will have the faithfulness to administer affectionate reproof as becomes the responsible station you occupy. The church in Rock Island formed themselves into a Sabbath School society, on the 5th of March, and resolved to make application to the American Sunday School Union for an appropriation of S. S. books from the special appropriation made for destitute Sunday Schools in the Valley of the Miss- issippi. . . .

All of which is respectfully submitted,

EZRA FISHER, Missionary at Rock Island, 111. and vicinity.

N. B. Br. Brown will probably move to Parkhurst in a few days. Br. Seley has gone to Ohio and Kentucky on a meeting house begging for Bloomington. Br. Carpenter leaves Dubuke for Vt. in a few days Burlington, Bloomington, Davenport and Dubuke are each in great want of a Baptist minister and I suppose Galena 59 will be on the same list in a few months.

O ! I wish our wise men, and especially our Baptist ministers who talk of sacrificing for Christ could survey the almost unbroken destitution on the Mississippi from Quincy to St. Anthonys Falls 60 on both sides of the river, with all our

59 Galena was an important center in the lead-mining district. It was laid out in 1827 and incorporated in 1839. By the census of 1850 it had a population of 6,004, but has since declined. Am. Encyc,, VII: 563.

60 St. Anthony's Falls are, of course, the water power which gave rise to Minneapolis. There was but the barest beginning of a settlement at this time in the vicinity of the present Minneapolis and St. Paul. ​

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flourishing villages, till they would heed the voice of the Spirit and separate at least a Paul and Barnabas for this work. The calls are imperious.

Tell the brethren to take their latest maps of the western states and look over the field by their fire sides and then ask God who is to give all this people the bread of life? The field is increasing in importance every day. Soon it will go into other hands, and well it will be, if it goes not into the hands of the Romans. 61 Yours, E. F.

Rock Island, Rock Island Co., 111., Apr. 27, 1844. Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc., Dear Br. :

In behalf of the First Baptist Church in this place, and the Baptist church called Mount Pleasant 62 in Henry County, 12 miles southeast from this place, I am requested to solicit your aid for the support of my family one year from the time of the expiration of my present appointment. The above named churches wish me to devote my time entirely to the cause of Christ within their bounds and the immediate vicinity. My post office address is Rock Island, Rock Island County, 111. Rock Island is situated at the foot of the Upper Rapids on the east shore of the Mississippi river; contains about 1200 inhabitants. Three miles above is a rapidly rising village of something like 300 souls, where almost any amount of water power may be employed. Already two saws and two runs of stones are employed and four more runs of stones are to go into operation next fall. Three miles south of this on Rock River another town is laid off at the foot of the falls of Rock River; they are just commencing to build at that place and six runs of stones will be put in operation next fall. 63 It is

61 The extension of Roman Catholic work among the whites in the Upper Mississippi Valley first became prominent in the thirties. In 1841 the chapel giving the name to St. Paul, Minnesota, was built. A large German Catholic immigration into Illinois from 1841 on gave the church there an impetus. Cath. Encyc., under Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin.

62 This Mount Pleasant church was apparently in a rural neighborhood. No town of that name exists.

63 This village is the present Moline. The village south of Rock Island, on Rock River, is the present Milan. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 101

said that water power may be employed in these two places, enough to drive 700 or 1000 runs of stones the entire year. The country in the vicinity is becoming thickly populated for a new country. The number of communicants in the church in Rock Island is forty-three; and the average number of attendants at public worship is about sixty. The number of my family is six. It is desirable that my reappointment should commence at the expiration of the present appointment. Mount Pleasant church numbers communicants and probably about fifty will be the average number of attendants. . . . We have other places of preaching through the week. The amount of salary necessary for the support of my family would not fall much short of four hundred dollars. The church in Rock Island will pledge one hundred and seventy-five dollars, and the Mount Pleasant church fifty dollars. If your Board will appropriate one hundred dollars to my support, I will try and supply the remaining deficiencies.

Rock Island is the seat of justice for the county and I am no enthusiast when I say it is destined in less than twenty years to be second to no other town on this river in Illinois. 64 The water power will eventually line the whole bank of the river with mills from Molein [Moline] to this place, a dis- tance of three miles, and also the entire east shore of the Island itself the same distance, which terminates opposite the upper part of this town, and, if necessary, half the water of the Mississippi may be employed in driving machinery at a comparatively small expense. No other Baptist church in the place. The other churches are a large Methodist church and a pretty able Presbyterian church for a new country.

The surrounding country along the river and for ten or twelve miles back is capable of sustaining a dense population, being more than ordinarily well supplied with timber, abound- ing in coal of a good quality, and is fast settling with eastern emigrants.

64 If the author includes Moline (the author's Molein) with Rock Island, this prophecy was fulfilled. ​

102 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

We hope to sustain three Sabbath schools the present summer in connection with these churches. In behalf of the above named churches,

EZRA FISHER,

Pastor.

The First Baptist Church in Rock Island, county of Rock Island, and the Baptist Church at Mount Pleasant, Henry Co., concur in the foregoing application to the Executive Com- mittee of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, to appoint Elder Ezra Fisher, as their Missionary. Rock Island & Mt. Pleasant, 111. May 3, 1844.

HARMAN G. REYNOLDS, NATHAN W. WASHBURN, Joint Committee of said Churches.

The Executive Board of the Baptist Con. of Iowa, concur in the above and recommend the reappointment of Br. Fisher and the desired appropriation.

C. E. BROWN,

Cor. Sec.

Rock Island, Rock Island County, 111., June 15, 1844. Rev. Benj. M. Hill,

Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc. Dear Br.:

I now proceed to make my report for the second and last quarter under the appointment Nov. 1, 1843.

I have labored the whole time in my appropriate field of labor except 9 days in which I was absent on private business and during that time I spent most of the time as profitably to the cause of Christ as I should have done in the field, being absent from none of my Sabbath appointments. It is with your Board to judge of the propriety of making a proportionate deduction from the sum appropriated. ​

CORRESPONDENCE 103

I have preached 35 sermons during the quarter, delivered one temperance address, attended 24 weekly prayer meetings, 15 church and conference meetings and traveled 321 miles to and from my appointments. . . . Baptised 1 and re- ceived three by letter into the churches under my charge.

Have made 40 pastoral visits. We have no monthly concert yet established, but sustain two weekly prayer meetings in Rock Island Chs. . . . Assisted in the examination of Br. Robb, at Mt. Pleasant, Henry Co., Iowa, for ordination at the meeting of the Iowa Baptist Convention. The church at Rock Island paid $1 for the Home Missionary Society; nothing for the other benevolent societies. Have raised about five dollars for Sabbath school library and I have received about $42 dollars of my salary the past quarter. Mt. Pleasant church have pledged $8 for Home Missions, to be paid next fall. I have received nothing towards my salary from any auxiliary society.

We have organized a Bible class of 12 scholars. We have two Sunday schools with our people, 12 teachers, about 50 scholars, and about 100 volumes in the library. We have bought at auction a mechanic's lien on a brick house 20 feet by 40, with the roof on and doors in, secured most of the company rights to the house and lot and expect to secure the rest and fit it up as a place of worship during the coming year.

I attended the Iowa Baptist Convention with which our church cooperate. Session harmonious and deeply interesting to us in this new country. Collections were taken up in aid of the Home and Foreign Missions and American and Foreign Bible Societies, in all amounting to $21.

All which is respectfully submitted,

EZRA FISHER.

P. S. I still feel impressed with the importance of es- tablishing a mission in Oregon and, should the God of missions spare our lives and give us health and we learn that the way is practicable with wagons as far as the Walla Walla, we ​

104 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

hope to be ready to go out next spring, if we can have assur- ance of being sustained till churches can be raised up to support the gospel in that new territory. Our journey last year, together with the expenses of the family for the present year, strongly reminds me that $300 will be less than will sustain my family a year, should my services commence at the time of our departure from this place. Br. Johnson 65 and myself have had some conversation with Br. Brabrook, the Foreign Mission agent for this state and Missouri, and he thinks the mission would appropriately come under the cognizance of the F. Mission Society as it would tend to facilitate the establishment of an Indian mission west of the mountains. It matters but little to us with which Board we stand connected, provided we are enabled to devote ourselves entirely to the work of the ministry and not leave our families to suffer. I greatly desire that Br. Johnson may be appointed and immediately encouraged to go. I know of no man in the West I would prefer to accompany rne, should it please the Lord to open the way for me. The undertaking is great and we greatly need more than one, that, in the case of death, the work might not be entirely suspended, the labor, money and time lost. I have just learned that the company going this year would probably be about fifteen hundred. Please write me the wishes of the Board.

Yours,

E. F.

65 Rev. Hezekiah Johnson, to whom frequent reference is made in the letters from now on, was born in Maryland in 1799. He moved to Ohio in 1816, and was ordained there in 1827. He moved to Iowa in 1838. In 1845 he went to Oregon as the author records. He died in Oregon in 1866. C. H. Mattoon, Bap. Annals of Oregon, I: 45.