94 REVEREND EZRA FISHER

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.