History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 28

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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They accompanied the troops to Waiilatpu, where Meek had the mournful satis- faction of assisting in the burial of the victims of Cayuse treachery, among whom was his own daughter, and then were escorted by a company of troops to the base of the Blue mountains, where they finally entered upon their long and solitary journey. By avoiding the Indians as much as possible, and whenever encountered by them repre- senting themselves as Hudson's Bay Company men, they reached Fort Boise in safety. Here two of four new volunteers for the journey became discouraged and decided to remain. The other five travelers pushed on to Fort Hall, saving themselves from the clutch of the Bannacks only by Meek's experience in dealing with the savages. It is needless to recount the many hardships they endured, the sleepless nights and dinner- less days, the accidents, dangers, fatigues, narrow escapes from hostile Indians and the thousand discomforts and misadventures to which they were subjected. It is sufficient to say that through all these they passed in safety, never forgetting for an instant the imperative necessity for haste, and never flinching from the trials that lay in their pathway. The hearty invitation to spend a few weeks here or there in the few places where they encountered friends and comfortable quarters, was resolutely declined, and with only such delay as was absolutely required, they plunged again into the snowy mountain passes with their faces resolutely set towards the rising sun. They reached St. Joseph in but little more than two months after leaving the Willamette valley, having made the quickest trip across the continent that had been accomplished at any season of the year.

Meek was now reduced to most embarrassing straits. Dressed in buckskin and blanket clothes and wolf skin cap, ragged and dirty in the extreme, beard and hair long and unkempt, without money or friends, how to get to Washington or how

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to conduct himself when there, were perplexing questions. His solution of the diffi- culty was a characteristic one. By making a clown of himself at one place, by assum- ing an air of importance and dignity at another, he succeeded in reaching the city of his destination only a week or two later than Mr. Thornton, though his news from Oregon was four months fresher than that brought by his predecessor. The united labors of these two men brought about the result which has been detailed, the passage of the act of August 14, 1848, creating the territory of Oregon.

President Polk, the staunch friend of Oregon, the man who had been elevated to the chief office in the nation amid the universal shout of " Fifty-four-forty-or-fight !" was eager to have the work consummated before the expiration of his term on the fourth of the ensuing March. To, this end he appointed Meek marshal of the new territory, and delegated him to convey a governor's commission to General Joseph Lane, then residing in Indiana and unaware of the honor to be conferred, or the sacrifice to be re- quired, in which ever light it may be viewed. With that promptness of decision and action which was General Lane's distinguishing characteristic, he accepted the com- mission on the spot, and in three days had disposed of his property, wound up his bus- iness affairs and begun his journey to the far off wilds of Oregon. They were escorted by a detachment of troops, and after a journey of six months, by the way of New Mexico and Arizona, seven only of the party reached San Francisco, two having died on the route and the others having deserted to try their fortunes in the new gold fields of the Sierra. These seven were General Lane, Marshal Meek, Lieutenant Hawkins, Surgeon Hayden and three enlisted men. Taking passage in the schooner Jeannette, they reached the Columbia river after a tedious voyage of eighteen days, ascended that stream to Oregon City, a distance of 120 miles, in small boats, reaching that place, then the seat of government, on the second of March, 1849. The following day Gov- ernor Lane issued his proclamation and assumed the duties of his office, being but one day before the expiration of President Polk's official term.

The first territorial officers of Oregon were : governor, Joseph Lane ; secretary, Kintzing Pritchett ; treasurer, James Taylor ; auditor, B. Gervais ; chief justice, Wil- liam P. Bryant ; associate justices, O. C. Pratt and P. A. Burnett ; United States marshal, Joseph L. Meek ; superintendent of common schools, James McBride; libra- rian, W. T. Matlock ; territorial printer, Wilson Blain ; commissioner of Cayuse war claims, A. A. Skinner. All of these officials, save the governor, secretary, marshal and judges, were appointed by the legislature when it convened in the fall.

General Lane appointed census marshals as provided for in the organic act, who reported the population of the territory as shown in the following table:

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CENSU'S OF 1849.

Foreigners.

COUNTIES.

Males under 21

years of age.

Males 21 years

Females of all

ages.

Males un-

der 21

years.

Males 21

and over.

Females of

Total number of

foreigners.

Total.

Clackamas

401

390

585

1376

1393

Tualatin

346

293

46g

1107

1142

Champoeg.

465

458

647

1570

112

1682

Clatsop.

100

224

227

Yamhill

394

402

557

1353

1368

Polk

337

327

509

1173

1174

Lewis

109

145

Linn

295

269

359

923

Benton

271

229

370

870

Vancouver

·2

159

Total

2601

2523

3627

211

8795

298

9083

Subsequent to the departure of Thornton and Meck upon their mission to Wash- ington, but prior to the return of the latter with Governor Lane, a new era set in on the Pacific coast. On the nineteenth of January, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold on the south fork of the American river, in California. Marshall had come to Oregon in the immigration of 1844, and had the next year passed south into Cali- fornia, where he entered the employment of Captain John A. Sutter, who had crossed the plains to Oregon in 1838 and to California by way of the Sandwich islands in 1839. In the fall of 1847, Marshall went up into the Sierras east of Sutter's settlement of New Helvetia (Sacramento), and began building a saw mill for his employer, which was nearly completed at the time he accidentally discovered gold in the tail race. All California was excited by the discovery, and nearly every able-bodied man abandoned everything and hastened to the mines. The intelligence did not reach Oregon until the following August, and the effect upon such a class of adventurous spirits as com- posed the pioneers can well be imagined. There was at once a great rush for Cali- fornia, and it looked as though Oregon would be deserted and relegated back to the dominion of the Hudson's Bay Company and Indians. This, however, was but tem- porary. Family and business ties held many back and hastened the return of others, many bringing with them heavy sacks of the yellow treasure. What had at first promised to be an overwhelming calamity soon proved a bountiful blessing. Thous- ands of men poured into California from every quarter of the world, and a brisk demand at once sprung up for the grain, flour, vegetables and food products of all kinds which Oregon could produce in abundance, but for which no market had pre- viously existed. California gold began to pour into Oregon in a steady stream, com- merce began to assume large proportions, a custom house was established at Astoria, and this region made great strides on the road to wealth and prosperity. This sudden increase in business gave rise to a direct infringement of the constitutional prohibition of the coinage of money by state governments or individuals, and this forms one of the most interesting episodes of Oregon history.

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and over.

all ages.

citizens.

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During the winter of 1848-9 people began straggling back from the California mines, bringing with them sacks of gold dust. As a circulating medium gold in such a shape was inconvenient and certain to decrease in quantity as it passed from hand to hand, and an ounce was only called the equivalent of eleven dollars in trade, though intrinsically worth at least sixteen. Commerce and business generally suffered much inconvenience from the lack of coin, and to remedy the evil the legislature passed an act providing for the " assaying, melting, and coining of gold." The advent of Gov- ernor Lane and the decease of the provisional government, operated to render the act void before it could be carried into effect. Still the necessity for money increased, and the want was supplied by private enterprise. A company was organized by responsible and wealthy men, which issued five and ten dollar " Beaver" coins, bearing on one side the figure of a beaver, over which appeared the initial letters of the names of the members of the company-Kilbourn, Magruder, Taylor, Abernethy, Wilson, Rector, Campbell, Smith-and underneath "O. T. 1849." On the reverse side was : "Oregon Exchange Company, 130 Grains Native Gold, 5 D.," or "10 pwts, 20 grains, 10 D." The dies by which the coins were stamped were made by Hamilton Campbell, and the press and rolling machinery by William Rector. The workmanship was quite credit- able. The intrinsic worth of these coins being greater than their representative value, they quickly passed from circulation when the government coins appeared in quantity, and are now only to be found in the keeping of pioneers, in the cabinets of curiosity preservers or the collections of numismatologists.

During the next four years the progress of the territory was marked. In 1851 gold was found to exist in great quantities in Southern Oregon, and that region soon teemed with a restless population of miners. Towns and cities sprung up, and the fer- tile valley lands were located on by settlers and brought under the dominion of the plow. These changes were accompanied by the inevitable trouble with the native owners of the soil, and the scenes of horror which marked them are recounted in other chapters.

By the act of March 3, 1853, congress set off the territory of Washington from that of Oregon, and gave to it a separate political existence. Oregon at that time con- tained 341,000 square miles, equal in area to the six great states of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, by far too large for admission into the Union as a single state. Through it ran the great Columbia river, dividing it into nearly equal parts from the ocean to Fort Walla Walla, where it made a long sweep to the north and east. That portion of the territory lying north and west of this great stream was called Northern Oregon, and within it were a number of small settlements, which included a population, "Quite as great," declared Joseph Lane in congress, " as the whole of Oregon at the period of its organization into a territory." In 1833 the fort at Nisqually, near the head of Puget sound, was located by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and soon after the Puget Sound Agricultural Company began to graze cattle and sheep in the vicinity, and to cultivate the lands. These were guarded by the stockade and buildings afterwards occupied by U. S. troops, and known as Fort Steila- coom. In 1838 the Rev. F. N. Blanchet and Rev. M. Demers, of the Society of Jesus of the Roman Catholic faith, established a mission at Fort Vancouver, and soon after one was located on Cowlitz prairie near a post that had been established by the Hud-

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son's Bay Company. In 1839 the Methodists by Revs. David Leslie and W. H. Wilson, and the Catholics by Father Demers, each established missions at Nisqually.

It was the desire of Great Britain, during the decade previous to the treaty of 1846, to have the Columbia river declared the boundary line between its possessions and those of the United States. To this end efforts of the Hudson's Bay Company were directed, and they looked with disfavor upon the making of any settlements north of that stream by Americans. Nevertheless, in 1844, Col. M. T. Simmons made an unsuccessful attempt to reach Puget sound, having crossed the plains the year before. In 1845, with a few companions, he renewed his efforts and located at the head of the sound, where the Des Chutes river empties into Budd's inlet. Their little settlement was called New Market, now the town of Tumwater, but a mile from Olympia. To this, no active opposition was made by the company ; and in the few following years many other Americans located along the Cowlitz and other streams, and about the head of the sound. The immigrants brought out by the company from the Red river settlements in 1841, whose arrival created so much anxiety in the minds of the Amer- icans, located chiefly on the Cowlitz, in accordance with the plan of making the Columbia the dividing line.

June 27, 1844, the Oregon Provisional Government designated all the territory north and west of the Columbia, Vancouver county ; but owing to the settlements alluded to, that portion lying west of the Cowlitz was made Lewis county ; and the name of Clarke was given to Vancouver county in 1849.

Captain Lafayette Beach founded Steilacoom in January, 1851. In February of the same year Pacific county was created, because of the thriving settlements of Pacific City and Chinook that had sprung up on the north bank of the Columbia, near its mouth. In April, 1851, Port Townsend was located. Congress ertablished the Puget Sound Collection District February 14, 1851, and a custom house was located during the year at Olympia, then the only town on the sound. On the third of November, 1851, the sloop Georgiana, Captain Rowland, sailed with twenty-two passengers for Queen Charlotte's island, where gold had been discovered. On the nineteenth the vessel was cast ashore on the east side of the island, was plundered by the Indians, and the crew and passengers were held in captivity. Upon receipt of the news, the eol- lector of customs at Olympia dispatched the Damariscore, Captain Balch, with a force of volunteers and U. S. troops from Fort Steilacoom, which had been garrisoned after the treaty of 1846. The schooner sailed on the eighteenth of December, and returned to Olympia with the rescued men the last day of January, 1852.

In 1852 a superior article of coal was found, something much needed on the coast, and capital was at once invested in developing the mines. Three saw mills were built on the sound ; and during the year quite extensive shipments of coal, lumber and fish were made. Many claims were taken up on the fine agricultural lands, and all the ele- ments for a vigorous growth were collected there. The chief settlements then in North- ern Oregon were : Pacific City ; Vancouver, the Hudson's Bay Company headquarters, consisting of 100 houses occupied by its employees, chiefly Kanakas, enclosed by picket fences, and defended by armed bastions and a blockhouse ; Forts Walla Walla, Okinagan and Colville, further up the Columbia ; Olympia, a new town on the sound; Fort Nisqually on the sound, occupied by the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, who

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owned extensive farms and supplied provisions to the Hudson's Bay Company, besides shipping products to the Sandwich islands and the Russian post at Sitka. These with many settlements along the sound and between it and the Columbia, formed a section distinct from Oregon proper, with which they had no community of interest, and from whom, being in the minority in the legislature, they were unable to obtain many of the rights they deemed themselves entitled to. Many of them were 500 miles from the seat of the territorial government.

In September, 1852, the Columbian began publication in Olympia, and advocated the formation of a new territory, expressing the wish of a majority of the people in the Sound country. As to those east of the Cascades, they were so few in number, most of them belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, that they cared little about the matter. A convention of delegates from counties north of the river met at a little settlement on the Cowlitz called Monticello, to consider the question, November 25, 1852. A mem- orial to congress was prepared, stating the condition of this region and asking that body to create the territory of Columbia, out of that portion of Oregon lying north and west of the Columbia river. There was no conflict in this matter, the people of Oregon south of the river raising no objection to the proposed change. In fact, delegate Joseph Lane, living in Southern Oregon and elected by the votes of that section, procured the passage of the bill in congress. He first introduced the subject on the sixth of Decem- ber, 1852, by procuring the passage of a resolution instructing the committee on ter- ritories to consider the question and report a bill. The committee reported House Bill No. 8, to organize the territory of Columbia, which came up on the eighth of February, 1853. Mr. Lane made a short speech and introduced the citizens' memorial signed by G. N. McCanaher, president of the convention, R. J. White, its secretary, and Quincy A. Brooks, Charles S. Hathaway, C. H. Winslow, John R. Jackson, D. S. Maynard, F. A. Clarke, and others. Richard H. Stanton, of Kentucky, moved to substitute the name of " Washington " for " Columbia," saying that we already had a District of Columbia while the name of the father of our country had been given to no territory in it. With this amendment the bill was passed through the house on the tenth with 128 votes for and 29 against it. On the second' of March, it was adopted by the senate and received the President's signature the following day.

The act created a territory more than twice the size asked for in the memorial, being " All that portion of Oregon Territory lying and being south of the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, and north of the middle main channel of the Columbia river, from its mouth to where the forty-sixth degree of north latitude crosses said river near Fort Walla Walla, thence with said forty-sixth degree of latitude to thesummit of the Rocky mountains." This included all of Washington Territory as it now stands, and a portion of Idaho and Montana. The act was in the usual form creating territories, and pro- vided for a governor, to be ex-officio commander-in-chief of militia and superinten- dent of Indian affairs, a secretary, a supreme court of three judges, an attorney, and a marshal, all to be appointed by the President for a term of four years. It also called for a delegate to congress, whose first term was to last only during the congress to which he was elected. A territorial legislature was created, with two branches-a council with nine members and a term of three years, the first ones to serve one, two and three years as decided by lot among them ; and a house of eighteen members, with

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a term of one year, to be increased from time to time to not more than thirty. Twenty thousand dollars were appropriated to defray the expenses of a census, after the taking of which the Governor was to apportion the members of the legislature and call an election to choose them and the delegate to congress. The first legislature was to meet at any place the Governor might select, and was then to fix the seat of govern- ment itself ; $5,000 were apportioned for public buildings, and the same amount for a library. County and local officers then serving were to hold their positions until suc- cessors were chosen under acts to be passed by the legislature of the new territory. Causes were to be transferred from the Oregon courts, and the territory was to be divided into three districts, in each of which one of the supreme judges was to hold a district court. Sections 16 and 36 of the public lands, or their equivalent, were given the territory for the benefit of public schools.

Soon after his inauguration President Pierce appointed Major Isaac I. Stevens, United States engineer, governor ; Charles H. Mason, of Rhode Island, secretary ; J. S. Clendenin, of Mississippi, attorney ; J. Patton Anderson, of Tennessee, marshal ; Edward Lander, of Indiana, chief justice; Victor Monroe, of Kentucky, and O. B. McFadden, of Pennsylvania, associate justices. Marshal Anderson arrived early in the summer, and took the census provided for in the act, returning a total population of 3,965, of whom 1,682 were voters. Governor Stevens was in charge of the expedition sent out by the war department to survey a northern route for a trans-continental rail- road, and was thus occupied all the summer and fall. Upon crossing the boundary line of the new territory September 29, 1853, he issued a proclamation from the sum- mit of the Rocky mountains, declaring the act of congress and assuming his duties as executive. He arrived in Olympia in November, and on the twenty-eighth issued a second proclamation, dividing the territory into judicial and legislative districts and calling an election the following January. Until this time the counties north of the Columbia had constituted the second judicial district of Oregon, William H. Strong, associate justice, presiding. They were Clarke, Lewis, Pacific, Thurston, Pierce, King, and Jefferson, all but the first three having been created by the Oregon legislature during the session of 1852-3.

The legislature chosen in January assembled at Olympia the following month ; and in accordance with provisions of the organic act, chose that place for the permanent seat of government. They created ten counties, retaining the name and general loca- tion of those set off by the Oregon legislature. The counties were Clarke, Lewis, Pacific, Thurston, Pierce, King, Jefferson, Island, Chehalis, Clallam, Cowlitz, Sawamish (now Mason), Skamania, Wahkiakum, and Walla Walla. Among these, the repre- sentation in the assembly was apportioned, and the territory was divided into judicial districts. The legislature adopted a code of procedure, substantially the same as in force at the present time. At the election in January, Columbia Lancaster, first chief justice of the Oregon provisional government, was chosen delegate to congress by the democrats, his whig opponent being Col. William H. Wallace. During the first two years, considerable annoyance was caused by hostile incursions into northern por- tions of the territory by Indians from British Columbia. Some difficulty was expe- rienced, also, with Indians at home, but the energetic action of Governor Stevens and the troops at Fort Steilacoom prevented a serious outbreak until the fall of 1855, when

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the Oregon-Washington Indian war was begun and waged with great expense to both territories. Hostilities were begun about thesame time by the powerful Indian tribes of the Columbia river and those of Southern Oregon, which taxed to the utmost the resources and power of the two territories and that portion of the United States army stationed on the coast. The simultaneous beginning of hostilities in these two sections, so widely separated, has been pointed to by many as an evidence of a conspiracy between the natives of Rogue river valley and Columbia river ; but the coincidence seems to be the only evidence of such a combination. The causes which led to the outbreak along Rogue river, and the events of the long campaign which followed, are detailed with great minuteness in succeeding chapters, and seem to be sufficient in themselves to account for the outbreak there, and to that narrative the reader is referred. The trouble at the north seems to have had its origin in an entirely different chain of causes.

Governor Stevens, soon after entering upon his career as chief executive of Wash- ington, deemed it judicious to exercise his authority as ex-officio Indian agent, and make treaties with the powerful tribes east of the Cascades. To this step he was especially urged by the fact that in March, 1855, gold was discovered on Clarke's Fork, near its entrance into the Columbia. For miners to straggle through the Indian country, without a special treaty having been made, he knew was but to court the commission of murder by the native proprietors. He at once opened negotiations, and on the ninth of June secured the cession of the greater portion of Eastern Wash- ington and a slice of Oregon, excepting the Umatilla and Yakima reservations. The treaty was signed by the chiefs of the fourteen tribes comprising the Yakima nation, including the Palouse Indians, and by the Cayuses, Walla Wallas and Umatillas. With the treaty none of the Indians were satisfied, and especially Kama-i-akun, head chief of the Yakimas, and Peo-peo-mux-mux, the great Walla Walla chieftain. They felt that they had been bribed to sell their country, and were resentful and bitter. This was followed by similar treaties with the Nez Perces, Flatheads and the tribes living south of the Columbia between The Dalles and Umatilla river. Governor Stevens then crossed the mountains to treat with the powerful and warlike Blackfeet.

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History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 28

Author: David D. Fagan Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: