USA > Idaho > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 10
USA > Oregon > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 10
USA > Washington > A history of Indian missions on the Pacific coast : Oregon, Washington and Idaho > Part 10
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The same year, owing to the death of Ewing Young, one of the settlers, who left a large un- settled estate in the country and without heirs, some kind of laws became necessary. Accord- ingly, in February, 1841, a meeting was called for the purpose of forming a government for Ore- gon. This, as far as known, was the first pub- lic meeting held to take the subject into con- sideration. It was held at the house of the Methodist mission. Rev. J. Lee was chairman, and G. Hines secretary, both of whom were mis- sionaries. Some officers were chosen, as a Su- preme Judge, Clerk of Courts, Recorder, Sheriff and Constables; Dr. J. L. Babcock, of the mis- sion, being chosen to fill the first named office. A committee of nine, of whom three were mem- bers of the mission, was appointed to draft a constitution and code of laws; after which the meeting adjourned until June following. They met at that time, but having done nothing, they were instructed to meet again in August, and in the meantime to consult with Commodore Wilkes, of the United States exploring squad- ron, who had by that time arrived. Many set- tlers were, however, opposed to the organiza- tion of the government-Commodore Wilkes
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thought it unwise. In the meantime the estate was settled, and the subject allowed to slumber.
The Commodore's reasons for his advice were that he, as well as many others, knew that the British interests in the country felt threatened by his presence, and he feared that if it was followed by an organization, action might be precipitated for which our govern- ment was not prepared, and which might pro- voke an enmity against the settlers, for which they in their weak condition were not ready.
In 1842 the subject was revived, but about that time Dr. E. White-who first came to the country in connection with the Methodist mis- sion, as physician, in 1837, and remained until 1841, when he resigned and returned east-ar- rived with a commission as United States Sub- Indian Agent. He was the first United States officer for the Pacific coast. In 1842 he con- ducted the second party of emigrants, number- ing one hundred and thirty-seven persons, across the plains, for the purpose of settling in Oregon. Says Hon. M. Crawford of the emigration of that year: "It was as a mission- ary that Dr. White gained his knowledge of Oregon, which induced him to obtain from our Government a kind of roving commission as sub-agent of Indians west of the Rocky Mount- ains. His presence gave us confidence, se-
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cured to us consideration from the traders, and above all enabled us to have a guide and inter- preter from Fort Laramie to Fort Hall, without whom we could not have accomplished the journey." That emigration, it will be remem- bered, brought to Dr. Whitman the news that the United States was about to give up much of Oregon. Gen. Lovejoy, a member of it, was Dr. Whitman's companion on his return that winter, and its success, although it brought no wagons this side of Fort Hall, had great influ- ence in encouraging Dr. Whitman in his efforts in 1843.
The fact of the appointment of Dr. White led some to hope that Government was about to protect her citizens in Oregon, while some also thought that by virtue of his office, he might act somewhat in the capacity of Governor ; hence nothing more was done by the citizens that year in regard to a government.
By the next year, however, it was found that while he had authority over Indians, he had none over the whites; and as Indian difficulties seemed to thicken and threaten the settlement, another meeting was called, February 2d, 1843, at the Oregon Institute of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Dr. J. L. Babcock was chair- man, and Mr. W. H. Willson secretary of this meeting, both of whom were missionaries. The
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meeting was called to take into consideration means for protecting their cattle and swine from the surrounding wolves, bears and pan- thers; but it served to prepare the way for an- other, which was held on March 4th, when suitable bounties were offered for the killing of these animals, and at its close a committee of twelve was appointed, to consider the propriety of taking measures for securing the civil and mil- itary protection of the colony. This was unex- pected to some, while others were prepared for it. Hon. W. H. Gray, who had just left the mis- sion of the American Board, was a leading spirit throughout the whole affair. Just as they were ready to adjourn, he said: " No one would question for a moment this was right. This was just and natural protection for our property, in animals liable to be destroyed by wolves, bears and panthers. How is it, fellow citizens, with you and me, and our wives and children ? Have we any organization on which we can rely for mutual protection ? Is there any power or influence in the country sufficient to protect us and all that we hold dear, from the worse than wild beasts that threaten and occasion- ally destroy our cattle ?
Common sense, prudence, and justice to our- selves, demand that we act consistently with the principles that we have commenced. We have
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mutually and unitedly agreed to defend and protect our cattle and domestic animals ;" whereupon he moved that the above-mentioned committee be appointed, and this was done. The committee reported May 3d, 1843, in favor of a Provisional Government. In this also Mr. Gray was the leader. His fertility of resources were relied upon to combat the open hostility of the Hudson's Bay Company and Catholics ; and to win over, if possible, to the support of the contemplated measures, the Methodist missionaries, who at that time were hardly ready to sympathize with what they called ex- treme views.
There were three positions then taken in re- gard to this subject, which were favored by as many different parties. Some favored no change; some an independent government, and some a temporary government, to last until the United States should settle the matter by treaty, or- ganize a regular territorial government, and appoint the proper officers. A majority of the committee favored the last position, and so re- ported; but when the final vote was taken at this public meeting, after much confusion, their report was adopted by only two majority, the vote standing fifty-two to fifty, so evenly were the parties divided. While many others helped to gain this result, and nothing should be said
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to detract from the honor due to them, yet it is plain that it would not have been carried at this time had it not been for the presence and influence of persons connected with the mis- sion. After the vote, the opposing Canadians withdrew, when some officers were elected, among them W. H. Willson, of the Methodist mission, as first Treasurer of Oregon. A legis- lative committee of nine was appointed. They met at Oregon City, May 16, in a building gratuitously furnished by the mission, three members of the mission voluntarily engaging to provide, at their own expense, for the board- ing of this committee.
In July following, an executive committee of three was elected instead of one Governor, whose duties were to be much the same as those of that officer. Mr. A. Beers, of the Methodist mission, was chosen as one of the three. These were elected annually during the two following years, when the plan was changed, and a Governor was elected in 1845-Mr. George Abernethy, a gentleman who came to the country as steward of the Methodist mission. He was chosen for two years, and re-elected in 1847, serving until 1849, when he was super- seded by General Joseph Lane, the first Gov- ernor appointed by United States authority.
The boundary question was settled in 1846,
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but no immediate action in behalf of Oregon was taken by Congress. In the spring of 1847, Dr. Whitman went to Oregon City, and in an interview with Judge J. Q. Thornton, spoke freely of the perils of his mission station, and said that he believed that nothing short of the speedy establishment of a Territorial Govern- ment to supersede the Provisional Government would save himself and mission from murder by the savages. He urged Judge Thornton to yield to solicitations he had received to go at once to Washington on behalf of the people and Provisional Government. This interview decided him, and when Dr. Whitman was about to return to his mission, Judge Thornton prom- ised that he would do as desired if Gov. Ab- ernethy would furnish the necessary letter to the President. In October he went to the Governor, resigned his office as Supreme Judge, received the necessary letter, and went by water, arriving in Washington in May, 1848. Soon after his departure, however, in Novem- ber, Dr. Whitman and others were killed, and because of this massacre, Colonel Joseph Meek was quickly hurried off also to Washington across the continent. He arrived only a week or two after Judge Thornton, to lay before Congress the necessity of the immediate pro- tection of the Territory. The two worked to-
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gether, whereupon action, which had slowly dragged along on account of the slavery ques- tion, was hastened, and an act of Congress, approved August 14th, 1848, organized a Ter- ritorial Government for Oregon.
True, during the later years the influence of the Methodist missionaries decreased, because of the number of emigrants who arrived, yet in the earlier days of the plans for organization, they helped very greatly. It was their settle- ment which drew into the Willamette valley the trappers and travelers as settlers : Dr. White, a returned missionary, brought to the country in 1842 an immigration of 137 persons, with wagons, to Fort Hall; and Dr. Whitman, another missionary, brought the first immigrant wagons through, and an immigration which set- tled the question of possession by settlement; the Methodist mission aided materially in form- ing the Provisional Government; Dr. White was the first United States officer for the country, and Mr. Abernethy, another missionary, was the first Governor.
Others besides missionaries and missionary societies have been ready to acknowledge the benefits of mission work to the country.
Honorable Elwood Evans, for a time acting . Governor of Washington, does not agree wholly with the writer in regard to all that Dr. Whit-
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man accomplished, yet in a letter to Rev. H. H. Spalding he says: "The American mission- aries were the apostles paving the way for American occupancy ; the avant couriers of Oregon Americanization. Nor need you fear that the missionary heroines, who proved that women could go to Oregon (overland) and live and die there, will ever be forgotten." In a letter to the writer he also adds, with reference to these same women, that " was the demon- stration that Oregon could be reached over- land from the Western States. That settled the Oregon controversy in favor of the United States earlier and more surely than any other circumstance." And again, "We zealously unite in ascribing to that visit [of Dr. Whit- man] the greatest results in the future of Ore- gon-the grandest service to that large train- the importance that flowed from his successful leading of that train through to the Columbia, with their wagons. Those results, those con- clusions, are glorious to Dr. Whitman's mem- ory."
Says Judge A. E. Wait, then editor of the Oregon Spectator, in an issue of that paper dated July 13, 1848: " We have seen a dispo- sition to undervalue the objects and efforts of the missionaries. This is wrong, and a moment's reflection will satisfy all of the injustice of im-
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puting selfish motives to the missionaries. The importance of the country as described by them brought the citizens of Oregon here. We can readily see what brought the Hudson's Bay Company here. But what brought the mis- sionaries, who, with their lives in their hands, led the way, with their wives, into the coun- try, when it was almost unknown, and en- tirely unappreciated. It would appear that there is but one answer. It was the high and holy estimation which they placed upon the importance of souls, and the command of their Great Master in Heaven."
While Mrs. Victor, in her River of the West, does not always favor the Methodist mission, yet she says of it: "Here was a colony, an American colony, stolen in under the very nose of the Hudson's Bay Company. . They builded better than they knew. They furnished the means by which an American colony established itself on Oregon soil; and being once established, it could not be dis- lodged. It was the logical result of unforeseen circumstances. A few religious enthusiasts had undertaken what they could not perform- the christianizing of a low order of savages. They found themselves in a distant and beauti- ful country, where it was easier to remain than to return. Homes were growing up around
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them; children were born; it was a mild and salubrious climate; why should they desire to quit it?"
About 1869 hundreds of persons in Oregon and Washington Territory, signed papers in which they stated that they believed that Dr. Whitman saved at least a portion of Oregon as it was in 1842 to the United States. Among these were, G. F. Whitworth, then Chief Clerk of the Indian Department of Washington Ter- ritory; C. H. Hale, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, W. T .; C. A. Huntington, Clerk in the Indian Department, W. T .; S. D. Howe, As- sessor of Internal Revenue, W. T .; S. Garfielde, Surveyor-General, and afterwards Delegate to Congress; T. W. Reed, Speaker of the Legislat- ive Assembly, W. T .; C. C. Hewitt, Chief Just- ice of the Territory; E. S. Smith, Secretary of the Territory; and L. F. Grover, Ex-Congress- man, and afterwards Governor and United- States Senator from Oregon. About the same time resolutions to the same effect were also passed by the Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Presbyteries of the Pres- byterian and United Presbyterian Churches, and the General Associations of the Congrega- tional, Baptist and Christian Churches of Ore- gon and Washington Territory.
On the other hand, Governor Abernethy has
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testified that the Catholic priests and Hudson's Bay Company opposed the settlement of the country and the formation of the provisional government.
The remark has been made that there is no record at Washington of any proceedings which i show that Mr. Webster was about to trade Ore- gon for the cod-fishery of Newfoundland, and that his friends would not allow such state- ments to be made. But it is not claimed by Dr. Whitman's friends that there was any offi- cial action at that time; but there is abundant evidence to show that Governor Simpson was working in an unofficial way for the accomplish- ment of this object, and that it was likely to prove effective, so that when it should come up officially between the two countries, Secretary Webster would be so committed to this line of action that he could not retract; and thus Dr. Whitman's journey really saved much of Ore- gon to the United States.
In accordance with this, the New York Inde- pendent, of January, 1870, said: " A personal friend of Mr. Webster's, a legal gentleman, and with whom he conversed on the subject several times, remarked to the writer of this article: 'It is safe to assert that our country owes it to Dr. Whitman and his associate mis- sionaries, that all of the territory west of the
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Rocky Mountains and south as far as the Co- lumbia River, is not now owned by England and held by the Hudson's Bay Company.'"
English testimony is just as explicit. Mr. Dunn says especially of the Methodist mission: "The Americans, who had already made many attempts to effect a lodgment in the country, on every occasion failed, either from their want of skill, or of capital, or integrity in their deal- ings with the natives, . . having now seen that a fair opportunity of securing a possession was opened to them under the Company's shelter, bethought them of dispatching mis- sionaries," ostensibly to teach the Indians, but they, according to their " true purpose, became resident farmers, teaching, it is true, the natives the great elements of Christianity and forms of prayer, but using their gratuitous labor for the cultivation of their fields." They, he also says, "proclaimed abroad their success, and a few ad- venturers came, some as farmers, others in the guise of missionaries."
Again, he adds: " The American missiona- ries are used by the American government, and fairly used by the American writers, as political instruments in exercising their influence with the natives to attach them to republican insti- tutions, and to make them the passive recipi- ents of all sorts of anti-British antipathies; and
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thus the Americans hope to recover the posi- tion in the country which they lost by their want of integrity or energy as traders. This is well worth the consideration of the British government and the British missionary socie- ties."
A writer in the British Colonial Magazine also says: "By a strange and unpardonable oversight of the local officers, missionaries from the United States were allowed to take religious charge of the population, and these artful men lost no time în introducing such a number of their countrymen as reduced the in- fluence of the British settlers to complete in- significance."
And says Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D.D., in the Missionary Herald, of March, 1869: " Having then become involved in the Mexican war, Gen- eral Fremont was sent in 1847 to co-operate with our Commodore, and seize California, which was done. In the settlement with Mex- ico, our Government purchased the conquered province of California. The connection of events is such as to show that our securing the actual possession of Oregon by emigrants and a provisional government led to the general survey and the final conquest and purchase of California, though sectional and sporadic efforts had previously been made to secure this prov-
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ince. The securing of Oregon preceded that of California somewhat as a cause precedes an effect; the one hinges upon the other, after which the golden grains there concealed were uncovered, so that fifty millions year after year were added to the world's currency, and means provided to carry on the national contest for life from 1861 to 1865."
" What great events on seeming trifles turn !
"To-day the fires that on our hearthstones burn
" Had not been lighted; and our banners bright,
" Bright as the day, and beautiful as night,
" Would not to-day above yon proud pile float;
" Nor would the cannon's roar or bugle's note
" Proclaim this land our own, upon the day 1
" To freedom consecrate, if far away,
" And long ago, those red men had not sought
" In simple faith to know what God had wrought.'
* A. T. Hawley.
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CHAPTER V. LITERATURE, SCIENCE, EDUCATION, MORALS AND RELIGION.
MISSIONS brought the first printing press to the north-west coast of the United States; printed the first book, and established the first collegiate institution in the same region; and have contributed largely to the literature, science, morals and religion of the country.
Printing .- In 1839 the Oregon mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions received from the native mission church at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, under the same Board, a small printing press, with the requisite types, furniture and paper, which, with some other articles donated at the same time, were valued at four hundred and fifty dol- lars. The health of the wife of one of the print- ers at the Sandwich Islands, Mr. E. O. Hall, ne- cessitating a temporary change, he came with it to begin the work, and to give the necessary instruction to others. The press was immedi-
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On the Pacific Coast. 203
ately taken to Lapwai, where it was set up, and a small elementary book of twenty pages was printed, the first printing known to have been done west of the Rocky Mountains. The work was continued on a small scale for years. The press was afterwards taken to the Tualatin Plains, where a paper, The Oregon American and Evangelical Unionist, was published on it by Rev. J. S. Griffin, the second newspaper in Oregon. The press is now at Salem, in the historical rooms of Oregon.
Literature .- The missionaries have contrib- uted largely to the history and description of the country.
Rev. S. Parker, of the American Board, pub- lished in 1838 a duodecimo volume of 400 pages, which reached a fourth edition in 1844. This is a journal of his tour in 1835-6-7 across the Rocky Mountains and through Oregon, and contains a description of the geography, geology, climate and productions of the coun- try, and the number, manners and customs of the natives, and was illustrated by a new map of the country. This work, at the time of its publication, was highly recommended by Rev. H. Humphrey, D.D., President of Amherst Col- lege ; E. Hitchcock, D.D., then Professor in the same College, and afterwards its President; Rev. J. Richards, D.D., Professor in Auburn
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Theological Seminary ; Prof. B. Silliman, of Yale College ; Noah Webster, D.D., LL.D., author of Webster's Dictionary, and Chancellor Kent.
Rev. Gustavus Hines published in 1851 a duodecimo volume of 437 pages, entitled “ An Exploring Expedition to Oregon-its history, condition and prospects-containing a descrip- tion of the country, its geography, climate and productions, with personal adventures among the Indians during a residence of the author."
In 1868 the same author published another duodecimo volume of 326 pages, entitled " Ore- gon and its Institutions, comprising a full his- tory of the Willamette University," and in it he devotes more than a hundred pages to a de- scription of the country.
In 1844 Rev. D. Lee and F. H. Frost pub- lished another duodecimo volume, with the title of " Ten Years in Oregon."
Doctor Elijah White's "Ten Years in Ore- gon," a duodecimo volume of 430 pages, was published in 1850. It describes the travels and adventures of Doctor E. White and lady, west of the Rocky Mountains, and contains also a brief history of the missions and settle- ments of the country, the origin of the Provi- sional Government, number and customs of the Indians, incidents witnessed while traveling
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On the Pacific Coast.
and residing in the Territory, and a description of the soil, the productions and climate.
In 1854 Carlton and Phillips, of the Sunday- school Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, published a duodecimo volume of 229 pages, entitled "Sketches of .Mission Life among the Indians of Oregon," and the mate- rial for the work was furnished by H. P. Brewer, a lay missionary under the M. E. Missionary Board in Oregon for nine years.
Hon. W. H. Gray, of the American Board, published in 1870 an octavo volume of 624 pages, which gives a history of Oregon from 1792 to 1849.
While others have also written some volumes in regard to the coast, yet they are largely in- debted to the early missionaries for a portion of their history-both Judge J. Q. Thornton and Mrs. F. F. Victor having drawn valuable information from these sources.
Rev. H. H. Spalding published, about 1845, a small hymn-book in the Nez Perces lan- guage, 32mo; and later, a translation of the Gospel of Matthew, which was afterwards re- vised, and in 1871 published by the American Bible Society as a 12mo volume of 130 pages. .
James Reuben, a Nez Perce Indian, with the assistance of Rev. Mr. Ainslee, has translated the Gospel of John into that language.
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Besides these books, a number of pamphlets have been published.
Between 1839 and 1847 there were printed at the mission press at Lapwai an elementary school book of 20 pages in Nez Perces; another book of 52 pages, of which 800 copies were pub- lished, in the same language; another small one, and some simple laws (likewise in the Nez Perces language), which were adopted through the influence' of Dr. E. White, sub-Indian Agent; and a small book or pamphlet of 16 pages in the Spokane or Flathead language, prepared by Revs. E. Walker and C. Eells.
Rev. H. H. Spalding compiled a defense of Dr. Whitman and the early missionaries, in an octavo pamphlet of 81 pages, which was pub- lished about 1870 at Washington, by a vote of Congress. This was prepared in answer to an attack on those missionaries by Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, which had been previously published by author- ity of Congress, in Executive Document num- ber 38.
Hon. W. H. Gray delivered an address before the Pioneer and Historical Society of Oregon, on the early history of the country, in 1877, which was published by that Society in a pamphlet of 12 pages; and in 1879 he published an octavo pamphlet of 32 pages on the Moral and Religious Aspect of the Indian Question.
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