USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 28
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The position in which White found himself on pre- senting his credentials to the colonists was not an enviable one. A meeting was called at Champoeg on the 23d of September, which was addressed at some length by the doctor, who gave such information as he felt himself authorized to give, as he expressed it, concerning the intentions of the government in regard to the colony, and the feeling of the people of the United States toward it. Resolutions were then passed, to the effect that the people of Willamette Valley were happy that the government had mani-
15 Lovejoy, who was of Hastings' party, had been left behind to search for a lost companion. When he reached Walla Walla, Hastings had gone, so he remained at the mission, and in the following month was engaged to accom- pany Whitman to the States.
263
RECEPTION IN THE WILLAMETTE.
fested its intention, through its agent, Doctor White, of extending jurisdiction and protection over the country ; gratified that an Indian agent had been appointed to regulate and guard the interests of the natives; and pleased with the appointment of White, with whom they promised to cordially cooperate. They were also grateful for the liberal design of the government to lend its support to education and liter- ature among the colonists. It would give them the highest satisfaction to be brought as soon as possible into this happy estate, and they desired that their views expressed in their resolutions might be trans- mitted to the government.16 There was nothing un- friendly in these guarded expressions, but it was soon remarked, with different degrees of acrimonious criti- cism, that White assumed powers not belonging to him, claiming to be virtual governor of the colony, whereas he had no commission except a letter of in- structions as sub-agent of Indian affairs.17 The em- barrassments of his anomalous position constantly increased. The missionary colonists, as has already been shown, were divided amongst themselves. Those who differed from Jason Lee as to the proper business of men in the employ of missionary societies had already begun to leave the country. Those who remained, especially those in the Willamette Valley, belonged to the Lee faction, and were opposed to the pretensions of White because Lee was opposed to them. The settlers belonging to the Mission were governed, as the uneducated classes usually are, by the opinions of the man with the best facilities for making himself popular, and although Jason Lee's popularity with this class was not what it once had
16 White's Ten Years in Or., 168-70.
17 Hines says: 'The subject of organizing a government was again revived in September 1842; but Dr White, who was now in the country as snb-agent of Indian affairs, contended that his office was equivalent to that of governor of the colony. Some of the citizens contended that the doctor's business was to regulate the intercourse between the Indians and whites, and not to con- trol the whites in their intercourse among themselves.' Or. Hist., 421; Apple- gate's Views, MS., 36; Moss' Pioneer Times, MS., 4.
264
THE SUB-INDIAN AGENT'S COMPANY.
been, he still controlled the majority of American minds in the Willamette Valley. This being the position of affairs, it required no little skill to avoid the rocks placed in the current which White was obliged to navigate by the determined and often underhand opposition of his former associates of the Methodist Mission.
The importance of White's immigration has never been fully recognized. First, the missionary historians, Hines and Gray, were inimical to White, each in his way damning him either with faint praise or loud condemnation. After them, writers on immigration, finding White ignored, fell into the habit of speaking of the company of 1843 as the first immigrants. Against this injustice the authors of several manu- scripts protest.18 Hastings, who wrote so minutely about the journey, and who succeeded White in com- mand of the company, mentions the name of his rival but once in his account of the migration, and then only to doubt his authority to employ a guide. From all of which we may learn that if a man desires to be properly represented in history, he must avoid coming in conflict with the ambitions of other men equally aspiring who may undertake the record of affairs.
Upon the same authority it is said that most of the immigrants were disappointed in the country. They found themselves more than two thousand miles from the land of their birth, without houses to shelter them, destitute of the means of farming, without pro- visions or clothing, surrounded by unfriendly natives, and without the protection of their government. What wonder, then, if discontent prevailed ?19 McLoughlin did his best to relieve this feeling, engaging many in labor at fair wages, and furnishing goods on credit to those who could not make immediate payment. The Mission, also, which was in need of laborers for
18 Moss' Pioneer Times, MS., 10, 11; Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 17; White's Early Government, MS., 19.
19 Hastings' Or. and Cal., 22.
265
DISSATISFACTION AND DEPARTURE.
the contemplated improvements, employed many me- chanics. Thus out of the industry of this handful of energetic Americans sprang up Oregon City in the winter of 1842-3. There were thirty buildings in the spring of 1843, where before the immigration there had been but three or four.20 From this it would seem that most of the men with families, and some without, settled at Oregon City.21
But there were others among the immigrants who could not be prevented from leaving Oregon by prof- fers of well-paid labor or other consideration. Why, it is difficult to say. They had had as yet no oppor- tunity of estimating the resources of the country or the advantages which might accrue to them by set- tling in it. Possibly Hastings was responsible for it. He and White had been at enmity throughout the overland journey, and as the latter carried a govern-
20 Moss' Pioneer Times, MS., 29.
21 Medorum Crawford went to Salem, and taught the Mission school during its last session, after which he returned to Oregon City and entered upon the business of transporting goods around the Falls with ox-teams for the greater convenience of the settlers above the portage. He was born in the state of New York, being 21 years of age when he came to Oregon. He married in 1843 Miss Adeline Brown, who came in the same company. Mrs Crawford died in June 1879, leaving 6 children. Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 4. This manuscript was dictated from memory. It agrees in the main with other accounts of the emigration of 1842, and refers to many Oregon matters. Sidney W. Moss assisted in building the original Oregon Institute on Wal- lace's prairie. He was born in Bourbon County, Indiana, March 17, 1810, was a stone-mason by trade, and finally took up his residence at Oregon City. He appears, from his Pictures of Pioneer Times, to have been a man of strong biases, giving his opinions incautiously, though in the main his statements were correct. He was of a literary turn, and was interested in founding the first association for mutual improvement in Oregon in the autumn of 1843, called the Falls Debating Society. Moss says that while on the way to Oregon, and during the winter of 1842, he wrote a story called the Prairie Flower, which he gave for publication to Overton Johnston, an emigrant from Indiana, who returned to the States in 1843; and that it fell into the hands of Emerson Bennett, who polished it, and published it as his own, securing considerable fame thereby, as it was the first of a series of those sketches of border life which afterward became popular. Bennett subse- quently wrote a sequel, Leni Leoti. Moss' Pioneer Times, Oregon City, 1878, is a valuable manuscript treating ably of a great variety of historial topics, chiefly relating to Oregon City. David Weston, a blacksmith associated with Hubbard, with born in Indiana, July 4, 1820. He became a worthy citizen of the young commonwealth, serving though the Cayuse war. He died Dec. 19, 1875. Salem Farmer, Jan. 1876. Manning settled on a farm near the old Mission, where he lived 7 years, but went to California in 1849. Sonoma Co. Hist., 612. Crocker was drowned in the Willamette in February 1843, as mentioned in a previous chapter.
266
THE SUB-INDIAN AGENT'S COMPANY.
ment appointment, Hastings may have thought that his ambition would be more fully gratified by seeking fresh fields. Wherever Hastings went his adherents were willing to follow, and the result was that he started for California in the spring with about a third of the adult male members of the original company, together with a number of women and children.22 The party rendezvoused at Champoeg, and began their march on the 30th of May. Nothing occurred to in- terrupt their journey until Rogue River was reached, where the savages crowded about them in large num- bers, proffering the use of their canoes in crossing. The travellers accepted the offer, but prudently di- vided their armed men into two parties, half being on the farther side to receive and protect the goods, and half left to protect the families which had not yet crossed. In this manner, by great watchfulness, and occasionally driving the natives back by discharging a gun, this dangerous point was safely passed.
Several days' travel below Rogue River they en- countered a company en route to Oregon, headed by J. P. Leese and John McClure. The meeting was the occasion of serious discussion, both parties encamping in order to consider the relative merits of the two countries. The result was, that about one third of Hastings' party turned back to Oregon with Leese and McClure. 23 Hastings' company, reduced to six-
22 Hastings gives the whole number as 53, and of men bearing arms 25. J. M. Hudspeth, who was born in Alabama February 20, 1812, 'a civil gentle- inan,' as Moss says, was one. Sonoma Co. Hist., 478-9. N. Coombs, who settled in Napa Valley, was another He died December 1877. Antioch Ledger, Jan. 5, 1878. T. J. Shadden is also mentioned. He returned to Oregon and settled in Yamhill County. Crawford's Missionaries, MS., 29. Among the rest were W. Bennett, V. Bennett, O. Sumner, A. Smith, A. Copeland, G. Davis, S. B. Davis, John Daubenbiss, G. W. Bellamy, H. Jones, and Mr Bridges. Four of these had families. San Jose Pioneer, May 26, 1877. Gray remarks that Hastings relieved the colony of a number of not very valuable settlers, referring to the fact that they were furnished by McLough- lin with supplies for their journey to California, for which the most of them neglected to make payment to Mr Rae at San Francisco as agreed. McLough- lin's Private Papers, MS., 2d ser. 8. But the subsequent career of these men proved them no worse in this respect than some who remained in Oregon.
23 McClure was from New Orleans, where, according to Moss, something happened to cause him to leave that part of the world. He settled at Astoria,
267
HASTINGS IN CALIFORNIA.
teen armed men, proceeded to their destination, being twice attacked by Indians, once at Shasta River, and again on the Sacramento, with no other damage than the wounding of Bellamy, and the loss for several days of two men who became separated from the com- pany, and who, having exhausted their ammunition narrowly escaped death from starvation. At Sutter Fort all were kindly received and cared for, and Has- tings, after remaining a short time in California, during which he gathered much floating information regard- ing the country, published a narrative of his travels and observations for the benefit of succeeding emi- grations.24
his land elaim forming a part of the town site, and married a native, a sister of the wife of George Winslow, colored, of the many aliases, whose business as 'medical doctor ' was so unfeelingly broken up by Dr Barelay, at Oregon City. James John, M. C. Nye, James Dawson, and Benjamin Kelsey, his wife Nancy and one daughter, were of the California emigration to Oregon. The Kelseys did not long remain, but returned to California; and Dawson was drowned in the Columbia River in 1847. San Joaquin Co. Hist., 15; Sutter Co. Hist., 25.
2+ The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California, Containing Scenes and Incidents of a Party of Oregon Emigrants; A Description of Oregon; Scenes and Incidents of a Party of California Emigrants, and a Description of Cali- fornia, with a Description of the Different Routes to those Countries, and all Necessary Information Relative to the Equipment, Supplies, and the Method of Travelling. By Lansford W. Hastings, leader of the Oregon and Cali- fornia emigrants of 1842. Cincinnati, 1845. This compendious title to a book of 152 pages sufficiently explains the nature of its contents, which are written in a fair style. Hastings was from Detroit, Michigan. He is described as a man of practical talent, but of a selfish and arbitrary disposition, and is charged with having wormed himself into the command. Lovejoy's Portland, MS., 3. He headed an expedition, says Moss, to some southern island, Pioneer Times, MS., 8; and Lovejoy adds that he married a Spanish lady. Hastings' Emigrant Guide was republished in 1849 at Cincinnati, and bound with a number of other pamphlets on the same subject, under the title of A History of Oregon and California.
CHAPTER XI.
WHITE'S ADMINISTRATION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
1842-1845.
THE INDIAN AGENT'S TROUBLES-HIS NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE CAYUSES AND NEZ PERCES-A CODE OF LAWS FOR THE INDIANS-THE PEACE BROKEN AGAIN, AND AGAIN PATCHED UP-WHITE'S TROUBLES WITH ILLICIT DIS- TILLERIES-THE KILLING OF COCKSTOCK-THE OREGON RANGERS-YEL- LOW SERPENT'S DISASTROUS EXPEDITION TO CALIFORNIA-DEATH OF HIS SON ELIJAH-WHITE'S INTERVIEW WITH CHIEF ELLIS-HIS CONCILIATORY PROMISES, AND HOW THEY WERE KEPT-HIS DEPARTURE FROM OREGON.
THE new Indian agent had not been many weeks in Oregon before he was called upon to act in his offi- cial capacity. Word came to Fort Vancouver that the Cayuses had burned a mill at the Waiilatpu mis- sion, besides insulting Mrs Whitman, and that the Nez Percés had threatened violence and outrage at Lapwai. This news greatly alarmed the colonists, as it seemed to confirm a rumor then prevalent that all the Oregon tribes were preparing for a general attack on the settlers.1
New to office, White acted with promptness. He consulted with the veteran Mckay, by whose advice it was decided to visit the disturbed localities without delay. Accordingly, on the 15th of November, White and Mckay set out, accompanied by six well-armed men and two interpreters, Cornelius Rogers and Bap- tiste Dorion. At the Dalles they found Mrs Whit- man, who had abandoned her home, together with Littlejohn and his wife, and Geiger. Littlejohn and
1 Matthieu's Refugee, MS., 13; White's Ten Years in Or., 176-7; Hines' Ore- gon Hist., 142.
[268)
269
ANOTHER FATHER FOR THE INDIAN.
Geiger joined White's party, who received another important addition at Walla Walla in the person of Mckinlay, who declared that he would make common cause with the Americans in dealing with the Cayuses. But few natives were found at Waiilatpu, and those were shy; so leaving an appointment for a meeting with the Cayuses on their return, the party proceeded to Lapwai. A courier had been sent in advance to collect the Nez Percés, and when Spalding's station was reached on the 3d of December, White was re- ceived by the assembled chiefs with gravity and reserve. Wishing to gain the confidence and good- will of the natives before meeting them in council, White began by visiting and prescribing for the sick, and holding informal conversations with the chiefs, in the course of which he took care to praise the per- formance of their children at school, and otherwise to judiciously flatter them.
At the general conference which followed, he made an appropriate and well-turned speech explaining the nature of his office. He told them that the object of his visit was to show them the friendly intentions of the United States government, which would pro- tect them in their rights, even against white men who would do them wrong; he dwelt upon the high esteem in which the missionaries were held by their great chief, the president of the United States, and the offence which would be given by injuring them in their persons or estate.
Mckinlay also addressed them, alluding to the former good understanding between the Nez Percés and the fur company ; and assuring them that English, French, and Americans were one in interests and feel- ings, and allied in the same manner as were the con- federated tribes, the Cayuses, Walla Wallas, and Nez Percés. Rogers next made an appeal to them, as their former teacher, and hoped they would avoid the troubles into which some of the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains had fallen through unreasonable
270
WHITE'S ADMINISTRATION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
resistance to the just measures of white men. But perhaps the most effective speech of all was that made by Mckay, who addressed the chiefs in their own tongue and picturesque style of oratory. He reminded them of the tragical death of his father, and of the many years he himself had spent among them, during which they had fought and suffered together, and enjoyed their peaceful sports in common. Now, how- ever, he was growing old, and thinking to enjoy repose, had settled on a farm in the Willamette. But at a moment when all was quiet, the voice of his white brethren had aroused him, and he had come in haste to tell them, his former friends and associates, to be advised, and not to stop their ears, for the children of the great chief were as numerous as the stars in the heavens or the leaves on the trees, and they, who were not fools, as their advancement in learning showed, surely would not refuse to hearken to the voice of wisdom.
When McKay had ended, several of the leading chiefs replied, avowing friendliness toward the white men, and expressing their gratitude to the United States government for sending an agent to look after their welfare. White next proposed that for their better government and organization the Nez Percés elect a head chief, with authority to control the young men and punish them for wrong-doing, the sub-chiefs acting as his aids, each with a suite of five men to execute his orders. He also read to them, clause by clause, a code of laws which he suggested they should adopt.2
2 Following are the offences named and penalties attached: Murder and purposely burning a dwelling, hanging. Burning an out-building, six months imprisonment, 50 lashes, and payment of damages. Burning property through carelessness, payment of damages. Entering a dwelling without permission of occupant, punishment left to the chiefs. Theft of property of the value of a beaver-skin or less, pay back twofold, and 25 lashes. Theft of property worth more than a beaver-skin, pay back twofold, and 50 lashes. Using another's horse or other property without permission, 20 to 25 lashes, as the chief directs, and payment for use of the horse. Injuring crops or fences, payment of damages, and 25 lashes. Only those travelling or living in the game country might keep a dog. If a dog kill a domestic animal, the owner must pay the
271
LAWS FOR THE SAVAGE.
Although this code was specially levelled against the class of misdemeanors from which settlers and mis- sionaries suffered most annoyance at the hands of the Indians, yet its provisions were readily approved and accepted by the chiefs, who even proposed that in some instances the penalties should be made heavier. But they were by no means so unanimous in the matter of electing a head chief. The canvassing caused much agitation, on account of jealousies among them- selves, but after a great deal of anxious consultation with one another and the Americans, who endeav- ored not to give advice in this important matter, Ellis, the educated son of the Bloody Chief, was at length chosen, to the general satisfaction of the tribe.3 Appreciating the truth that the shortest road to an Indian's heart lies through his stomach, White had provided a fat ox for a barbecue, together with abun- dance of corn and pease. After the feast the pipe was smoked, and then both the civilized and savage gave themselves up to song and merriment. On the fifth day of the visit a final council was held, when White took occasion to lecture the savages on their begging propensities, explaining to them as well as he could the low estimation in which beggars were held by white people. Fifty garden-hoes were then presented to the chiefs and Mr Spalding for distribution among the industrious poor ; together with some medicines, to be given as needed. Then, with a parting admo- nition not to disagree among themselves or with their teachers, and an intimation to the chiefs that they were to be held responsible for the good conduct of damage and kill the dog. This law was suggested by the Indians themselves. Raising a gun against a white man, to be punished at discretion of chiefs. If a white man do the same to an Indian, he is to be punished by white men. An Indian breaking these laws is to be punished by his chiefs; a white man break . ing them is to be punished by the Indian agent. White's Or. Ter., 181-4.
3 Hines describes Ellis as having 'a smattering of the English language, and a high sense of his own importance,' and says that after he was appointed he pursued a very haughty and overbearing course. Oregon Hist., 143. White describes him as 'a sensible man of 32, reading, speaking, and writing the English language tolerably well;' that he had a fine small plantation, a few sheep, some neat stock, and no less than 1,100 head of horses. Ten Years in Or., 186-7.
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WHITE'S ADMINISTRATION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
their people, the agent and his party returned to Waiilatpu, being escorted several miles upon their way by the Nez Percés.
On reaching Whitman's station, White found only a few of the Cayuse chiefs assembled, and the people still shy. Hearing that the Nez Percés had so read- ily accepted laws, and chosen a high chief, they were much distressed. It seemed to them as if their rela- tives and allies had turned against them, while the presence of Mckinlay, and especially of Mckay, warned them that all the white people, English and Americans, were likely to combine for their punish- ment. McKay spoke first and was followed by Rogers. Their earnest reproaches had considerable effect upon their hearers, one of whom, Tauitau, formerly head chief of the tribe, made a long speech deploring the incorrigible wickedness of his people, and expatiating upon his own sincere but fruitless efforts to control them. White replied in terms of encouragement, taking care, however, to warn the savages that there was trouble in store for them unless they mended their ways. Finally, it was arranged that a meeting be- tween the agent and the Cayuses should take place in April, when it would be expected that a satisfactory settlement of the existing troubles should be had.
Returning to the Dalles on the 25th of December, and finding the natives much excited between the warlike rumors they had heard and curiosity about the mission of White, several days were spent in instructing and inducing them to accept the laws instituted for the Nez Percés, to which they finally consented. Having thus smoothed the way, White recommended that Mr and Mrs Littlejohn should proceed to Lapwai to reënforce the Spaldings, which they did immediately after the winter holidays, while he returned to the Willamette Valley.4
" The only child and son of Littlejohn was drowned in the mill-race at Lapwai the following summer. Lee and Frost's Or., 212.
273
PLAYING THE MAGISTRATE.
White had hardly reached home when he was called to the mouth of the Columbia to take measures for the arrest and punishment of George Geer, a sailor who had deserted from an American vessel which had been in the river selling liquor to the natives.5 Geer had acted as agent in this nefarious business, which had occasioned battles and bloodshed among the Clat- sops and Chinooks; and Frost had protested some- what warmly, as his own life as well as the lives of the contestants was endangered. This so enraged Geer, who was, as White expressed it, "a fool as well as a villain," that he offered a bribe of five blankets to the natives to murder Frost. White arrested the man, but not knowing what to do with him in the absence of any law, prevailed on McLoughlin to allow him to accompany the Hudson's Bay Company's express across the mountains, on a promise never to return to the country.
By the 1st of April, 1843, White had eight prisoners on his hands, mostly Indians, guilty of various crimes, principally horse-stealing and petty larceny of articles of food. He says in his report that "crimes are mul- tiplying with numbers among the whites, and with scarcity of game among the Indians." The crimes of which the white men were guilty seem to have been few, and were probably violations of the laws of the United States regulating intercourse with the natives. In his zeal to perform his whole duty, White may have sometimes listened to complaints which might have been disregarded. He was confessedly in doubt as to his authority to prevent certain acts which he found injurious to the general peace, and was compelled to ask the commissioner of Indian affairs for specific instructions in the premises.6 Letters received from Spalding and Brewer testified to the better behavior of the natives at their stations during the winter, but
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