USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 4
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In Am.
Thurston (Samuel R.), Biography. MS.
Tilton (James), Deposition before Joint Commission, 1865.
Tod (John), New Caledonia. MS.
Tolmie (William F.), Puget Sound and North West Coast. MS.
xxxvii
AUTHORITIES QUOTED.
Townsend (John K.), Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains, Philadelphia, 1839.
Tramp (J. C.), Prairie and Rocky Mountain Adventures. St Louis, 1860. Tribune (N. Y.) Almanac, 1846 et seq.
Tucker (Ephraim W.), A History of Oregon. Buffalo, 1844. Tuthill (Franklin), History of California. San Francisco, 1866. Tuthill (Wm. M.), Pioneer Justice in Oregon. In Overland, xii. 224.
Tuzo (H. A.), Deposition before Joint Commission, 1865.
Twiss (Travers), The Oregon Question. London, 1846; The Oregon Terri- tory. New York, 1846, etc.
Tyson (P. T.), in Sen. Ex. Doc. 47, 31st cong. Ist sess.
Umatilla, Advertiser; Columbia Press.
Umpqua Academy, Catalogue. Salem, 1868 et seq.
Umpqua (Or.), Wkly Gazette.
Union, Mountain Sentinel.
Unionville (Nev.), Register; Silver State.
United States Catholic Magazine. Baltimore, 1844 et seq.
United States Exploring Expedition [Wilkes]. Philadelphia, 1844-58. 4to, 17 vols., folio, 8 vols.
United States Geological and Geographical Surveys. J. W. Powell, Contri- butions on North American Ethnology, etc. Washington, 1876.
United States Geological Surveys of the Territories. F. V. Hayden. Annual Reports, Bulletins, Miscellaneous Publication, etc. Wash., 1872 et seq. United States Geological Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. George W. Wheeler. Bulletins, Reports, and Various Publications. Washington, 1874 et seq. 4to. atlas sheets, maps.
United States Government Documents; Accounts, Agriculture; Army Regis- ter; Bureau of Statistics; Census; Coast Survey; Commerce, Foreign and Domestic; Commerce and Navigation; Commercial Relations; Edu- cation; Indian Affairs; Land Office; Life-saving Service; Light-houses; Pacific Railroad; Meteorological Reports; Patent Office; Postmaster- General; Post-offices; Revenue. Cited by their dates.
United States Government Documents, House Exec. Doc .; House Journal; House Miscel. Doc .; House Reports of Com .; Message and Documents; Senate Exec. Doc .; Journal; Miscel. Doc .; Repts. Com. cited by con- gress and session. Many of these documents have, however, separate titles, for which see author or topic.
U. S. Pub. Doc., as follows: Acts and Resolutions, 29th cong. 2d sess., 38th cong. Ist sess., 43d cong. Ist sess .; Burchard (Director of Mint), Report, 1880, 1881; Commissioner of Agric. Report, 1869, 1878; Comptr of Cur- rency Report, 1878; Food Fishes, Report of Commission, 44th cong., Ist sess .; Message of President, Feb. 20, 1845; Secretary of Treasury Re- port, 1866, 1867; Smithsonian Institution Report, 1873; Statutes, 43d cong., 2d sess.
Vallejo (Cal.), Chronicle; Solano Times. Vancouver (Wash.), Independent; Register.
Van Tramp (J. C.), Prairie and Rocky Mtn Adventures, etc. St Louis, 1860. Veatch (John A.), Oregon, Washington, 1869.
Victor (Frances Fuller), About the Mouth of the Columbia. In Overland, iii. 71; All over Oregon and Washington. San Francisco, 1872; From Astoria to the Cascades. In Overland, viii. 146; Manifest Destiny in the West. In Overland, iii. 148; The New Penelope. San Francisco, 1877; Oregon Indians. In Overland, vii. 344; Pioneers of Oregon. In Over- land, xiii. 38, 122; River of the West. Hartford, 1870; Trail Making in the Oregon Mountains. In Overland, iv. 201; Woman's War with Whiskey. Portland, 1874.
Victor (Frances Fuller), Captain Jack and His Defence. MS.
Victor (Frances Fuller), in Overland Monthly, xiii. 129-31.
Victoria (B. Col.), British Colonist, Cariboo Sentinel, Chronicle, Gazette, Standard.
xxxviii
AUTHORITIES QUOTED.
Virginia City (Nev.), Evening Chronicle. Virginia and Helena (Mont.), Post.
Waldo (Daniel), Critiques. MS.
Walker (Joel P.), Narrative. MS.
Wallamet, or Willamette. n. pl., n. d.
Wallamet University, Catalogue. Salem, 1863 et seq.
Wallamette River Improvements, Memorials of Oregon Legislature, Oct. 1874, Sept. 1876. [43d Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Misc. Doc. 49.] Wash., 1874. [44th Cong., 2d Sess., H. Misc. Doc. 20.] Wash,, 1876.
Walla Walla, Statesman.
Walla Walla (Wash.), Union, Nov. 20, 1869.
Warren (G. K.), in Pac. R. R. Reports, xi.
Washington Territory, Journal of the Council. Olympia, 1855-77. 7 vols.
Washington Territory, Sketches. MS.
Wassen (F.), The District of the Lakes. In Overland, ii. 160.
Watt (Jos.), in Camp-fire Orations. MS.
Watt (W. W.), First Things of Oregon. MS.
Weed (Charles E.), Queen Charlotte Island Expedition. MS.
Wells (William V.), Wild Life in Oregon. In Harper's Mag., xiii. 588.
Wentworth (of Ill.), Speeches in House of Rep., Jan. 27, 1845; Jan. 14, 1846. Western, Biography of Joseph Lane. Washington, 1852.
Weston, Leader.
Whatcom (Wash.), Bellingham Bay Mail.
White (Col.), Recollections. In Camp-fire Orations. MS.
White (Elijah), A Concise View of Oregon History. Washington, 1846; Ten Years in Oregon. Ithaca, 1850; Testimonials and Records. Wash., 1861; Thrilling Adventures. New York, 1859.
White (Elijah), Government and the Emigration to Oregon. MS.
Whitman (Marcus), Results of the Oregon Mission. In Missionary Herald, Dec. 1866.
Whitman (Perrin B.), Letter. MS.
Whitman County in the Great Palouse Country, Descriptive. Colfax, 1878.
Whitman and the Massacre of his Protestant Mission. San Francisco, 1874. Wick (Wm. W.), Speech in House of Rep., Jan. 30, 1846.
Williamson (R. T.), in U. S. Senate, 31 cong., Ist sess.
Williams, South-western Oregon. MS.
Wilkes (Charles), Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expedition. Philadel- phia, 1844. 4to. 3 vols .; Philadelphia, 1845. 5 vols .; London, 1845.
Wilkes (Charles), Western America. Philadelphia, 1849.
Wilkes (George), History of Oregon. New York, 1845.
Willamette Baptist Assoc., Minutes of Anniversaries. Portland, 1860 et seq. Willamette Falls, Canal, and Lock Company Circular. Oregon City, 1869. Williams (George H.), Speech in U. S. Sen., Feb. 4, 1868, on Reconstruction. Washington, 1868.
Williams (L. L.), South-western Oregon. MS.
Williamson (R. S.), Routes in California and Oregon, Report. In Pacific R. R. Repts., vi.
Wilson (Elizabeth), Recollections. In Oregon Sketches. MS.
Wilson (Joseph G.), Addresses on the Death of. Columbus, 1873; Railroad Lands in Western Oregon. San Francisco, 1872.
Wimmel (H.), Californian. Cassel, 1867.
Winser (H. J.), Great Northwest. New York, 1883.
Wood (H. Clay), Young Joseph and Nez Perce Indians. Portland, 1876.
Woodbridge (Cal.), Messenger.
Woods (George L.), Recollections. MS.
Woods (James), Recollections of Pioneer Work in California. San Francisco, 1878.
Woodward (Henry H.), Pioneer Offerings. Roseburg, 1867.
Wright, Campaign against the Indians in Oregon. [35th Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 32.] Washington, 1859.
AUTHORITIES QUOTED. xxxix
Wyeth (John B.), Oregon, or a Short History of Long Journey from Atlan- lic to Pacific. Cambridge, 1833.
Wyse (Francis), America. London, 1845.
Yamhill River, Memorial of Oregon Legislature for aid to improve. 'Oct 1872; Sept. 1874. [32d Cong., 3d Sess., H. Misc. Doc. 39; 43d Cong., - 2d Sess., Sen. Misc. Doc. 57.] Washington, 1872-4.
Yesler (H. L.), Settlement of Washington Territory. MS. Young (Ewing), Sketch of. In Or. Pion. Assoc., Trans., 1880. Yreka (Cal.), Journal; Mountain Herald; Union.
Yuba County, History (Chamberlain and Wells). Oakland, 1879, Folio. Yuma (Ariz.), Arizona Sentinel.
Zabriskie (James C.), The Public Land Laws of the U. S. San Francisco, 1870; Supplement. San Francisco, 1877. Zavalishin (Dinitry), Delo o Koloniy Ross. MS,
117
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HISTORY OF OREGON.
CHAPTER I.
OREGON IN 1834.
THE NORTHWEST COAST AND THE OREGON TERRITORY-PHYSICAL FEATURES -MOUNTAIN RANGES AND RIVERS-THE IMPERIOUS COLUMBIA-DISTRI- BUTION OF VEGETATION-CLIMATE-SUNSHINE AND RAIN-POST-PLANT- INGS OF CIVILIZATION -FORT VANCOUVER -ITS LORD PARAMOUNT- THE GARDEN-HOSPITALITY-MONEY, MORALITY, AND RELIGION-FORT GEORGE -FORT NISQUALLY - FORTS LANGLEY, UMPQUA, AND WALLA WALLA -OKANAGAN AND COLVILLE -FORTS HALL AND BOISÉ -FORT WILLIAM AND WAPATO ISLAND-THE FRENCH-CANADIAN SETTLEMENT -MISSIONARIES, TRADERS, FARMERS, HORSE-DEALERS, SCIENTISTS, AND FUR-HUNTERS AS EMPIRE-BUILDERS-ORIGIN OF THE TERM OREGON.
THE Oregon Territory, when first the term came into use, embraced the same somewhat undefined region which in these Pacific States' histories I have denominated the Northwest Coast; namely, the lands lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and extending northward indefinitely from the forty-second parallel of latitude. Later the name Oregon was applied to a narrower area.
In surface and climate it is varied; in resources limitless, though its possibilities are little known. There is grand and beautiful scenery in every portion of it ; some wild and rugged, some treeless and lonely ; altogether a magnificent stretch of primeval wilder- ness. It is divided longitudinally by the Cascade Mountains, one with the Snowy Range of California
(1 )
-
2
OREGON IN 1834.
and Nevada, and so called from the turmoil of the Columbia in passing through them; while the eastern portion is cut transversely by the Blue Mountains- in popular parlance blue, from the contrast of their violet shadows with the tawny plain. Another and lower range rims the seaboard from Lower Califor- nia and along the Oregon frontage to the Russian possessions; the high spurs thrown out by the Coast and Cascade ranges separate the valleys thus formed in southern Oregon by barriers as insurmountable as those in Greece.
Besides mountains and rivers there are forests, not spread over broad areas of level surface as they were back of the English Plantations; beneficent nature has for the good of civilized man confined them to the mountain sides and to the low lands along the streams. On the mountains different species of pine, fir, and spruce prevail, while near the streams grow deciduous trees, oak, maple, ash, alder, cotton-wood, and willow. This distribution of forest and prairie gives a charming diversity to the landscape in the western portion of the territory, from California northward; and singularly attractive is the valley of the Willamette with its infinite variety of forms, the richness of verdure, and the frequent small rivers with their fertile and wooded borders.
In western Oregon there is scarcely a spot, and few places in the eastern part, where there is not visible some lofty snow-clad peak of the Cascade Range, standing as sentinel of the centuries, and forming a landmark and guide. In many places three or five of these glistening heights may be seen at once. Hardly less striking are the purpled summits of the continu- ous range, silvered with snow in spring and autumn, and glowing during the afternoons of summer under a rosy violet mist. Eastern Oregon seems less prolific of natural beauties than the country west of the Cas- cade Range, where the Columbia River provides not only uninterrupted navigation from the sea to the
3
EASTERN AND WESTERN.
heart of the mountains, but constitutes in itself a continuous panorama of rare views, to which minds even of the least ideality soon become attached. A.s the eastern foothills sink to plain, the forest disap- pears, only a few scattering pines remaining in the vicinity of the Dalles; by the bars and on sandy mar- gins of the river grow willows and low shrubs, while above them rise high rounded bluffs, bald and mo- notonous, yet not without picturesque effect. Beyond these the country rolls off in broken plains, covered in spring by a delicate verdure bright with flowers, later wearing a russet hue that early gave it the name of desert. Yet even through this eastern part there is much to please the eye in the softly flowing outlines of the ever-changing scene, in the calm blue which canopies the imperious Columbia raging at its rocky obstructions, and in the deep cañons that channel the inflowing rivers from the south. A hundred miles from the mountains there are smaller streams with open valleys, occupied as grazing lands by native horse-owners, the Umatillas, Cayuses, Walla Wallas, and Nez Percés.
Yet farther east, beyond the Umatilla and Walla Walla countries, is the Snake or Lewis River region, in the eyes of those who visit it as worthless as it is wild and lonely. Its waterless deserts, severely hot in summer and cold in winter, inspire the overland tourist with dread; and many a trapper and voyageur meets his death from want in crossing them. Yet fertile spots are found, pleasant little valleys where the climate is delightful, and, so far as appears, the earth fruitful. North of the Snake River the whole region is unexplored except as traversed by fur-hunt- ers; indeed, away at the base of the Rocky Moun- tains is a large and diversified tract, a terra in- cognita to the world at large. And for many years to come this portion of the Oregon Territory offers few attractions to agriculturists. On the other hand, all the western portion of Oregon, especially the
4
OREGON IN 1834.
Willamette Valley and the Puget Sound region, has been favorably spoken of by successive explorers, until its spreading fame agitates the question of ownership.
Little is yet known of agricultural and mineral re- sources, but its mild and equable climate, affecting as it does the quality and value of furs, and being in itself so peculiar considering the latitude, is better under- stood. The winters of western Oregon are so mild that little ice forms; but they are wet, and cloudy of sky. The rains begin about mid-autumn and continue with greater or less constancy till May, after which fleeting showers occur until the June rise of the Colum- bia begins to decline. This excessive moisture comes in a measure from the Japan current, and is more im- mediately owing to the south-west winds of autumn and winter, driving inland the evaporations of ocean, which being arrested by the Cascade Range are pre- cipitated on its seaward sides. Hence the peculiari- ties of the Oregon climate; the mountains wall the moisture from their eastern slopes, rendering that region arid. The dense growth of the western forests are of those trees that live on the moisture of the atmosphere, but do not like it about their roots. The evergreens of Oregon, the firs especially, refuse to grow on land that is subject to overflow, and their foliage protects the roots from rain. Spruce, yew, hemlock, and cedar grow on lower lands than firs and pines. It may seem anomalous that trees which avoid water should thrive in a so-called moist climate, and also that, while the climate is so wet, Oregon's atmosphere is remarkably dry, as evidenced by the fact that wet articles exposed to the air, but protected from the rain, dry quickly even in the rainy season. Observing this, the early Oregonians call their ordi- nary rains 'mists,' and maintain that they do not wet people; and by a further stretch of imagination their descendants may fancy themselves not affected by the December and January mists.
But even if the winters are unpleasantly rainy, the
5
CLIMATE AND FOOD.
summers compensate. By the first of July the clouds which clothe the prairies in waving grass and beds of flowers have passed away, and a clear sun ushers in each long delightful day, which begins in a clear twilight two hours after midnight, and ends only in another lingering twilight, softer though not more beautiful than the first. Often the temperature of the dry summer season falls to sixty or fifty-seven degrees Fahrenheit; seldom it exceeds seventy-two or seventy- six, though occasionally rising for a brief period to ninety or one hundred; yet whatever the heat of meridian, by four o'clock in the afternoon it begins to abate, leaving the evening so pleasantly cool that the bed requires a blanket-so comfortably cool that the settlers acquire a love for sleep that becomes charac- teristic, and is sometimes mentioned to their discredit. About four months of dry weather, with little or no rainfall, constitutes the summer of western Oregon, during which the grass becomes yellow and the earth powdered Grain ripens and is gathered in August. September is seeding time, experience early teaching that it is better to have the wheat in the ground over winter, even if it must be pastured down, than trust the chance of late spring sowing.
The food resources native to western Oregon are fish, game, and berries. The Indians use a root re- sembling the potato, which they call wapato, found in abundance on Wapato Island, and also in some shallow lakes or overflowed prairie land. In wild fruit the country is prolific; but none are as fine as the same kinds in the middle states of the continent. Elk, bear, and deer are plentiful, but owing to the difficulty of pursuit through the dense undergrowth of the mountain forests, the chase is laborious. There is an abundance of water-fowl, conspicuous among which are brant, geese of several species, cranes, mal- lard, canvas-back, and summer duck, blue-winged and green-winged teal, snipe, golden and killdee plover, and other wading birds, some of which are not pal-
6
OREGON IN 1834.
atable. Of game-birds found in woods there are also plenty ; grouse, quails, pheasants, and wood-doves in- habit the thickets of young firs, and the groves of oak and fir that skirt the older and darker forest. Sing- ing birds which make their homes in trees are rare. The only really musical bird of Oregon is the meadow- lark, which carols to the passer-by of the happiness he finds in his humble life near the ground.
The streams are well stocked with fish-the brooks with trout, and the rivers with salmon of two or three species. The most palatable and largest of these, the salmo quinnat, has been one of the chief articles of food for twenty years, and constitutes a staple in the Hudson's Bay Company's supplies; in fact, the company's servants receive dried salmon and nothing else when other articles are scarce.
Such were the natural conditions of life in Oregon in 1834. European civilization, however, had already driven in its stakes here and there about the wilder- ness preparatory to its overthrow. For some time past the country had been dominated exclusively by fur-traders from Canada and Great Britain; now people from the United States begin to come and settle. Ownership becomes a moot question; the territory is held by the United States and Great. Britain under treaty of joint occupancy. Although in the History of the Northwest Coast I have given full descriptions of the fur-traders' forts and incipient settlements, I deem it advisable to review them here, so that the reader may have the picture fresh in his mind at the opening of this part of my history.
The most important post and place in all the Ore- gon Territory was Fort Vancouver, the Hudson's Bay Company's headquarters. It was situated upon a beautiful sloping plain, on the north bank of the Columbia, about six miles above the mouth of the Multnomah River, as the Willamette below the falls was still called, and opposite the centre of the Wil-
7
FORT VANCOUVER.
lamette Valley, at a point where the Columbia is broad and much divided by low, woody islands, which add diversity to a prospect embracing every element of grandeur and grace, from glistening snow-peaks to the reflections of leaning shrubbery, whose flowers of white or red are mirrored in the calm surface of this most majestic of rivers.
The fort was not formidable in appearance. It con- sisted of a strong stockade about twenty feet high, without bastions, embracing an area of two hundred and fifty by one hundred and fifty yards. Within this enclosure, around three sides, were ranged the dwell- ings and offices of the gentlemen in the company's ser- vice. In the centre, facing the main entrance or great gate, was the residence of Doctor John McLoughlin, the governor by courtesy of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany in Oregon, a French Canadian structure, painted white, with piazza and flower beds in front, and grape- vines trained along a rude trellis. The steps leading to the hall of the governor's house were of horseshoe form, and between the two flights stood a twenty-four- pound cannon, mounted on a ship's carriage, and on either side of this were two mortar guns, all with shot piled orderly about them, but otherwise looking in- nocent enough in their peaceful resting-places. There were no galleries around the walls for sentries, nor loop-holes for small-arms, no appearances, in fact, indicating a dangerous neighborhood. Near the cen- tre of the enclosure rose the company's flag-staff, and everything about the place was orderly, neat, and business-like. The magazine, warehouses, store, and shops were all contained within the palisades, and dur- ing the hours appointed for labor every man attended to his duties, whether as trader, clerk, smith, baker, or tailor.
A bell large enough for a country church was sup- ported by three stout poles about twenty feet high, covered with a little pointed roof to keep off the rain. This brazen monitor rang out at five o'clock in the
8
OREGON IN 1834.
morning, rousing the furriers, mechanics, and farmers to their tasks. At eight it announced breakfast; at nine, work again; at twelve, dinner; at one, work; at six, suspension of labor, and supper. Saturday's work ended at five in the afternoon, at which time the physician of the establishment served to the men their week's rations, consisting in winter of eight gallons of potatoes and eight salt salmon, and in summer of pease and tallow; no bread or meat being allowed, except occasionally. The Indian servants of the Indian wives hunted and fished for additional sup- plies. Nor was this unremitting industry unnecessary. The management of the Hudson's Bay Company re- quired its posts to be self-supporting. The extent of territory they traded over was immense, and the number of their forts increased the demand for such articles as could be produced only in favorable localities. For instance, at Fort Vancouver the demand for axes and hatchets for the trappers and Indians re- quired fifty of them to be made daily. In addition to the manufacture of these, the smiths had plenty to do in repairing farming tools and milling machinery, and making the various articles required by a com- munity of several hundred people. The carpenter, the turner, and the tailor were equally busy; two or three men were constantly employed making bread for the fort people and sea-biscuit for the coasting vessels. The furs had to be beaten once a week to drive out moths and dust. The clerks had not only to keep accounts and copy letters, but keep a jour- nal of every day's affairs. Among so many persons, some were sure to be in the hospital, and on these the best medical care was bestowed .. Though so far from the world as to seem removed from the world's wants, Fort Vancouver was no place for the indul- gence of poetic idleness.
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