USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 10
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In the meantime the American claim had received support by the expedition of Lewis and Clark, which descended the Columbia River to its mouth in 1805. The report of this expedition gave to the people of the United States the first accurate knowledge of the Columbia Valley, and no doubt influenced John Jacob Astor to some extent in the organization of the Pacific Fur Company, in 1810. At the time this company was formed some American citizens foresaw the conflict with the British, believing that nation would assert its claim of prior discovery, and tried to dissuade Mr. Astor from undertaking such a project. To obviate this difficulty, Astor employed, as far as possible, only British subjects, claiming that the question of prior discovery and territorial rights was one to be settled by government only, and not by any individual. He later learned his mistake at heavy financial loss to himself.
TREATY OF. 1818
In 1818 the Northwest Boundary again became the subject of international consideration. The British Government selected Messrs. Robinson and Goul- borne and the United States Messrs. Rush and Gallatin as plenipotentiaries to make another effort to settle the question. The British representatives asserted that "former voyages, principally that of Captain Cook, gave to their country the rights derived from discovery," and also referred to purchases alleged to have been made by the British Government from the natives prior to the Revolutionary war. They insisted that the Columbia River was the natural and logical boundary west of the Rocky Mountains and refused to agree upon any boundary that did not give England the same rights in the harbor at the mouth of that stream as those enjoyed by the United States.
The reply of Rush and Gallatin to these proposals has been characterized as "moderate if not timid," and the treaty finally concluded with the provision : "That any country claimed by either nation on the northwest coast of America, together with its harbors, bays and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, shall be free and open, for the term of ten years, to the sub- jects, citizens and vessels of the two powers, without prejudice to any claim which either party may have to any part of said country."
This was the famous. "Joint Occupancy" treaty, an agreement which Ameri- can statesmen soon learned gave Great Britain a decided advantage in the con- troversy. It conceded that England had some sort of a claim to the country -a claim equal to that of the United States-and as the Hudson's Bay and North-West companies were already in possession they were in a position to carry on their trade in such a way as to drive all American competitors from the field. Rush and Gallatin were severely criticized for their inability to foresee this condition of affairs. The British plenipotentiaries evidently saw it, and after the treaty was ratified the Hudson's Bay and North-West com- panies lost no time in beginning a systematic persecution of the American fur traders and trappers operating on the Columbia and its branches. His- torians have wondered how President James Monroe, astute statesman that he was, could have ever approved such a treaty, or how it was ever ratified by the United States Senate.
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THE FLOYD BILL
In August, 1821, three years after the conclusion of the above mentioned treaty, Missouri was admitted into the Union and Thomas H. Benton was elected one of her United States senators. Mr. Benton was deeply interested in the Oregon question and had written several essays on the subject. Some of these essays had been read by John B. Floyd, a representative in Congress from Virginia, afterward secretary of war in President Buchanan's cabinet. Early in the session of the Sixteenth Congress which was convened in December, 1820, before Mr. Benton became a member of the Senate, Mr. Floyd moved to appoint a committee of three to investigate the feasibility of the occupation of Oregon by actual settlers from the United States, and what action should be taken by Congress to encourage such settlement. Mr. Floyd was made chairman of the committee. His associates were Thomas V. Swearingen, of his own state, and Thomas Metcalf, of Kentucky. Before a week had elapsed this committee reported a bill "To authorize the occupation of the Columbia River, and to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes thereon."
Accompanying the bill was an able and exhaustive report advocating its passage. It was read twice under the rules of the house, but received no further action. The introduction of the bill, however, and the discussion of it by the public press, served to awaken interest in the Oregon question, which the advocates of occupation and settlement considered a point gained, but during the next four years the subject was allowed to lie dormant by Congress.
FORCES AT WORK
In the meantime certain economic forces were at work that were destined in the end to assist materially the claim of the United States. In the treaty with Spain in 1819, by which Florida was ceded to the United States, there was an article stipulating that Spain quitclaimed her title to all her possessions on the Pacific Coast north of the forty-second parallel of latitude. The claim of the United States received further support in 1824, when an agreement was made with Russia, in which that power disclaimed any intention of establishing settlements south of the line of 54° 40' north latitude.
Early in the year 1825, Senator Benton introduced a bill authorizing the President (Mr. Monroe) to take and hold possession of the country west of the Rocky Mountains and north of the forty-second parallel, to use the army and navy for that purpose if necessary, and proposing an appropriation to carry out the provisions of the measure. In the debate which ensued, Mr. Benton made a speech which answered all the objections against the bill. The reasons he advanced for its passage were never refuted and ultimately formed the basis upon which the boundary dispute was adjusted. Fourteen senators voted for the bill, but it failed to pass. Then John Quincy Adams succeeded Mr. Monroe as President on March 4, 1825, and other matters occupied the attention of Congress for the next two years.
TREATY OF 1827
As the ten years of joint occupancy provided for by the treaty of 1818 would expire in 1828, President Adams appointed Albert Gallatin in the spring of
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1827 to negotiate a new one. The British Government appointed Charles Grant and Henry U. Addington. These plenipotentiaries met in London and on August 6, 1827, concluded a treaty which renewed indefinitely the treaty of 1818, with the additional provision that either government might terminate the joint occupancy feature by giving twelve months' notice at any time after October 20, 1828. Although this treaty met with considerable opposition in the Senate, led by Mr. Benton, it was favored by President Adams and through his influence it was finally ratified by a small majority, thus continuing the farce of "joint occupation."
During the following fourteen years joint occupation was, theoretically, the law of the Northwest, but as a matter of fact the English were the only ones who occupied the territory without molestation. Astor's fur trading attempt had ended in failure. Nathaniel J. Wyeth sunk a large sum of money between 1832 and 1835 in his efforts to open up a trade with the Indians. Others who attempted similar enterprises met the same fate, the powerful Hudson's Bay Company finding ways and means to crush all opposition coming from the United States.
The publication of John B. Wyeth's description of the country in 1833, John K. Townsend's Narrative in 1835, and Washington Irving's Astoria in 1836 aroused a new interest in the Oregon Question, which came before Con- gress again in 1838, when quite a number of the members of both houses favored the enactment of legislation to encourage immigation to the Columbia Valley. A few hardy and courageous individuals ventured into the disputed territory and settlements were started at Astoria and on the Willamette, where British influence was weakest.
WEBSTER-ASHBURTON TREATY
In the spring of 1842 Great Britain sent Alexander Baring (Lord Ashbur- ton), head of. the great banking house of Baring Brothers, to Washington "to settle all questions between the United States and England." President Tyler designated his secretary of state, Daniel Webster, to conduct the nego- tiations on the part of the United States. One of the principal questions to come up for adjustment was that relating to Oregon. The people of this country wanted it settled; England wanted it postponed. Lord Ashburton was an able man and one well skilled in the arts of diplomacy. Just what influence he brought to bear on Mr. Webster is uncertain, as the record of their delibera- tions was not made public. In submitting the new treaty to the Senate, Presi- dent Tyler mentioned some "informal conferences," and with regard to the Oregon question stated that "there is no probability of coming to any agree- ment at present."
The treaty encountered vigorous opposition in the Senate, but it was rati- fied on August 26, 1842. It was subsequently ratified by the British crown and England became more firmly established in possession of the Northwest than ever before. But the subject was taken up by the press and the people and, like Banquo's ghost, it refused to be relegated to oblivion.
In 1843 a bill was introduced in the United States Senate by Mr. Linn, to provide for the colonization of Oregon by granting land to bona fide settlers. Mr. Benton at once became the champion of the measure. In a powerful
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speech he reviewed the failure of treaties to settle the question and closed as follows :
"The Webster treaty of 1842 has obliterated the great boundaries of 1783 -placed the British, their fur company and their Indians within our ancient limits ; and I, for one, want no more treaties from the hand which is always seen on the side of the British. I now go for vindicating our rights on the Columbia, and, as the first step toward this end, passing this bill and making these grants of land, which will soon place beyond the Rocky Mountains thirty or forty thousand rifles. These will be our effective negotiators."
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of twenty-four to twenty-two and was sent to the House. There it remained in the hands of the committee on foreign relations, without action, until the close of the session. The immediate effect of this agitation was to encourage many people to seek homes in the Northwest. They foresaw that it was only a question of time until the United States would assert her rights, and, proceeding on the theory "First come, first served," deter- mined to brave the opposition of the Hudson's Bay Company in order to secure the best locations before the rush commenced. A large company of these adven- turous spirits, led by Peter H. Burnett, of Nashville, Tennessee, set out for the Columbia River country soon after the vote on the Linn Bill was taken in the Senate.
Mr. Burnett was at that time about thirty-five years of age. He was a mem- ber of the first legislative committee in 1844 and the following year was chosen one of the judges of the Supreme Court under the provisional government. Wlien the territorial government of Oregon was established, he was appointed a justice of the United States Court. Later he removed to California and was elected the first governor of that state when it was admitted in 1850. Such was the character of the leaders of Oregon emigration before the title to the country was fully vested in the United States.
CAMPAIGN OF 1844
When the citizens of the United States began moving into the disputed terri- tory in large numbers and establishing homesteads during the closing years of Tyler's administration, the British authorities protested and the controversy over the boundary was re-opened. John C. Calhoun, then secretary of state, proposed that the forty-ninth parallel should be the boundary line all the way from the Lake of the Woods to the Pacific Ocean, but the English minister (Mr. Paken- ham) would not consent.
Then came the political campaign of 1844, in which the democratic party nominated James K. Polk for the presidency. One plank of the platform advo- cated the immediate occupation of Oregon. The agreement with Russia in 1824 had created the impression in the minds of many people of the United States that the line of 54° 40' should be the international boundary, and the democrats adopted as their slogan "Fifty-four Forty or Fight."
It has been stated, on apparently good authority, that after the nomination of Mr. Polk the British minister offered to accept the forty-ninth parallel, and that Mr. Calhoun, for political effect, declined to give the matter any further consideration until after the election. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that the vexed question was not settled in 1844. The campaign cry of "Fifty-four
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Forty or Fight" and the election of the candidate who stood upon that platform, was a notice to Great Britain that the United States considered Oregon as her property. In his inaugural address, Mr. Polk reaffirmed the platform on which he had been elected and announced his intention of carrying out its declarations. All this had the effect of stimulating emigration and a larger number of "Ben- ton's rifles" went to the Oregon country in 1845 than in all the preceding years combined.
TREATY OF 1846
Mr. Polk appointed as his secretary of state James Buchanan, of Pennsyl- vania, and on July 22, 1845, that gentleman addressed a note to Mr. Pakenham, resuming negotiations where they had been suspended the year before. He again proposed the forty-ninth parallel as the boundary line, which raised a storm of protest within his party and it was withdrawn. This caused some alarm in Eng- land, some of that country's wisest statesmen believing that Mr. Polk would insist on the line of 54° 40'. Without following in detail the debates in Con- gress, it is sufficient to say that in April, 1846, a resolution was adopted author- izing the President, "at his discretion," to give notice to Great Britain for the termination of the "joint occupancy" treaty which had been in force for nearly twenty years.
Notice was promptly given and negotiations were once more resumed between Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Pakenham, with the result that a treaty was concluded on June 15, 1846. It was ratified by the Senate on the 18th and in a special message of Congress on August 5, 1846, Mr. Polk said: "Herewith I submit a copy of a convention for the settlement and adjustment of the Oregon question, which was concluded in this city on the 15th of June last between the United States and her Britannic Majesty. This convention has since been duly ratified by the respective parties and the ratifications were exchanged at London on the 17th day of July, 1846."
This treaty provided for the establishment of the international boundary as follows: "The forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the middle of the channel which separates Vancouver Island from the continent, and thence southerly through said channel and the straits of Juan de Fuca to the Pacific Ocean, both nations to have at all times free navigation of the said channel and straits of Juan de Fuca."
South of this line all the territory was conceded to the United States, except the holdings of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, but the treaty contained a proviso that these holdings might be pur- chased by the United States at a valuation to be fixed by disinterested parties. On September 10, 1863, the purchase was consummated, the United States paying $450,000 for the property of the Hudson's Bay Company and $200,000 for the holdings of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company.
ARBITRATION
Although the treaty of 1846 agreed upon the boundary line, it was not ac- companied by any map or chart showing where that line was located. To sur- vey the forty-ninth parallel westward to the coast was a comparatively easy mat- ter, but to locate the "middle of the channel which separates Vancouver Island
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from the continent" was a different proposition. For a quarter of a century the boundary remained in an unsettled condition. On May 8, 1871, the question was submitted to Emperor William of Germany, with the understanding that his deci- sion was to be final. After examining the testimony offered by both parties, the German emperor announced his decision on July 21, 1872, and a question of long standing was settled. Years before the matter was thus adjusted at Berlin, the territories of Idaho, Washington and Oregon had been organized out of the country that had so long been in dispute, and the last named was admitted to statehood in 1859.
CHAPTER VIII SETTLEMENT-DISCOVERY OF GOLD
EARLY MISSIONARIES-WILLIAM CRAIG-MORMON COLONY IN THE LEMHI VALLEY -- DISCOVERY OF GOLD-PIERCE CITY-NEW DIGGINGS-BABOON GULCH-FLOR- ENCE-DISCOVERIES OF 1862-BOISE BASIN-SOUTH OF THE SNAKE-SNAKE RIVER PLACERS-LEMHI PLACERS-OTHER EARLY SETTLERS.
The first white people to settle within the present limits of Idaho were Rev. and Mrs. H. H. Spalding and Rev. Asa Smith, who came as Presbyterian missionaries to the Nez Perce Indians and established the Lapwai Mission in 1836. A Catholic mission was founded among the Coeur d'Alene Indians in 1840. These early missions were established under the auspices of church organizations, and a more complete account of them is given in the chapter on Church History.
. William Craig was undoubtedly the first real settler in Idaho. Probably the correct account of the manner in which he came to locate in Idaho, is as follows: "When the American Fur Company was dissolved, its employes, most of whom had spent years amid the solitudes in its service, were left to shift for themselves. In 1840 a number of these trappers met at Fort Hall and determined to betake themselves, with their Indian wives and children, to 'the settlements.' Of these all but one went down the Columbia. The exception was William Craig, who took up land on the Clearwater about ten miles from the Lapwai Mission, becoming for the time not only Idaho's first but its only settler, which distinction, so far as early annals disclose, he re- tained for many years."
Mr. Craig was a man of good common sense and succeeded in forming friendly relations with his Indian neighbors, largely due no doubt to the fact that his wife was a half breed. At the time of the Whitman massacre in the fall of 1847, he took Mrs. Spalding and her children to his home, where they were later joined by Mr. Spalding, and the whole family remained there until the trouble with the Indians was over. In conjunction with Gov. Isaac I. Stevens, of Washington Territory, and Joel Palmer, of Oregon, he negotiated the treaty of June 11, 1855, with the Nez Perce Indians, and in many ways he exerted an influence upon the frontier region in which he had cast his lot.
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Craig's Mountain, in Idaho County, is named after him and continues a re- minder of Idaho's original pioneer.
Soon after their coming to Salt Lake Valley the Mormon people began to seek promising localities for settlement and in the spring of 1854 a company from Salt Lake planted a colony in the valley of the stream they called the Lemhi, about twenty miles southeast of the present town of Salmon. Expe- rience in the arid district about the Great Salt Lake had taught them the advantages to be gained by the artificial use of water on growing crops and in this settlement were constructed the first irrigating ditches in Idaho. In 1855 the original members of this colony were joined by a number of recruits and during the next two years their industry transformed the valley into a veritable garden. Brigham Young, the head of the Mormon Church, visited the settlement in 1857 and "found the people prosperous, their crops abundant and the country giving promise of great wealth."
About the time of Young's visit, the Indians, who claimed the Lemhi Valley as their territory, and who knew that the Government had given to the white man no permission to settle there, became suspicious and commenced to harass the Mormons. A fort was built of sun dried bricks, which still is in existence and known as Fort Lemhi, but this was entirely insufficient for protection and the troubles continued until three of the settlers were killed and their crops destroyed and then the colony was abandoned, the settlers returning to Salt Lake and leaving no organized settlement in what is now Idaho.
DISCOVERY OF GOLD
Capt. E. D. Pierce is generally credited with being the discoverer of gold in Idaho, but others knew of its existence at an earlier date. Bancroft, in his History of the Pacific States, tells of a man named Robins, a resident of Port- land, who purchased some gold nuggets from a Spokane Indian in 1854 and learned from the Indian that the ore came from the mountains farther east. There is also a story that a French Canadian found gold on Clark's Fork near Lake Pend d'Oreille in 1854, but this report is not well authenticated. Two years later, however, General Lander found gold while engaged in exploring a route for a road from Fort Bridger to the Columbia River, and Father De Smet, the Jesuit missionary, was aware of the existence of gold in Idaho several years previous to that time, but it does not appear that he imparted his knowledge or the location of the deposits to any white person. Capt. John Mullan, whose name is inseparably connected with the Mullan road, wrote to A. F. Parker of Eagle City under date of June 4, 1884, and said in his letter :
"I am not at all surprised at the discovery of numerous rich gold deposits in your mountains, because both on the waters of the St. Joseph and Coeur d'Alene, when there many years ago, I frequently noticed vast masses of quartz strewing the ground, particularly on the St. Joseph River. * * * Nay more : I now recall quite vividly the fact that one of my herders and hunters, a man by the name of Moise, coming into camp one day with a handful of coarse gold, which he said he found on the waters of the north fork of the Coeur d'Alene."
Captain Mullan was more interested at that time (1856) in finding a route for a railroad and discouraged any attempt to look for gold. His company
CAPTAIN E. D. PIERCE Discoverer of gold in Idaho, at Pierce City, August, 1860
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was composed largely of old miners, who frequently remarked to him that the whole country between Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Rocky Mountains had the appearance of being a gold-bearing region.
After the discovery of gold in California in 1848 and the rush to the mines, prospectors were soon wandering to all parts of the Northwest in hope of discovering new deposits of the precious metal. Among those who were inter- ested in the matter was Capt. E. D. Pierce, who had traded among the Indians and who had come to the conclusion that gold was to be found in the mountain streams east of the great bend of the Snake River. He made no attempt for some time to verify his opinion, on account of the attitude of the Indians toward prospectors in their country, and continued to live in California, ap- parently taking no active interest in mining operations. In 1858 he made a trip to the Nez Perce country, but found no favorable opportunity to prosecute his search for gold. Two years later he again went into the Nez Perce country, and this time he was more fortunate. There is a romantic story of how Captain Pierce happened to make a wonderful discovery.
According to this story a Nez Perce Indian told Pierce that while encamped in a mountain defile with two Indian companions one night, a bright light, like that of a brilliant star suddenly appeared among the cliffs. They thought the light was the eye of the Great Spirit, but when daylight came they went to the place where it appeared and found imbedded in the solid rock a ball that looked like glass. Thinking this bright object might be "good medicine," they tried to remove it, but were unable to dislodge it from its resting place. The story then goes on to say that Captain Pierce, believing that the bright ball might be a huge diamond, organized a small party to search for this "Eye of the Manitou." The party consisted of Captain Pierce, W. F. Bassett, James and John Dodge, Jonathan Smith and Thomas Walters.
When this little company arrived at the Nez Perce village in the spring of 1860, the Indians, suspecting their object, forbade them to go into the moun- tains. A Nez Perce squaw finally guided them to the north fork of the Clear- water River, where they established a camp on a mountain meadow. Bassett, "just to kill time," washed out a pan of dirt and obtained a small quantity of gold. The entire party then engaged in washing out the sands along the creek until about eighty dollars' worth of dust was gathered, when they returned to Walla Walla. The small amount of gold brought back by the prospectors failed to create any excitement, but Captain Pierce had a firm belief that more could be found and immediately began the organization of a party to spend the winter at the mines. Owing to the opposition of the military authorities, who feared an outbreak of hostilities if prospectors or miners were allowed to go upon reserved territory, many who under more favorable conditions would have been willing to join him declined to do so. However, he enlisted about thirty-five men and started for the mines. A detachment of dragoons was sent after him with instructions to prevent his going upon the Nez Perce lands, but he man- aged to elude the troops, who turned back when they reached the Snake River.
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