USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 40
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13 John Burch McClane left Philadelphia in 1842, and 'went west.' In the following spring he determined to go to the limit of western territory. Like Kaiser, he was ambitious to be in the lead, and disputes with him the honor of 'breaking the first sage-brush west of Fort Hall.' His manuscript, called First Wagon Train, deals chiefly with the immigration, and adventures in California, after the gold discovery, with some remarks upon missionary monopoly.
399
ON THE WESTERN SLOPE.
mer to be ready to join Whitman on his return to Oregon.
At Fort Hall there was the usual discussion upon changing from wagons to pack-animals, it being finally decided to retain the wagons, as there were men enough to make a road where none existed. The In chief objection was the lateness of the season. their councils, both Grant of Fort Hall and Whitman were consulted. While admitting that the wagons might be taken to the Columbia River, Grant ac- knowledged that he did not know how it could be done, as he had travelled only by the pack-trail ; but Whitman, from Newell's experience, believed that a wagon road was feasible, and encouraged the emigrants to decide in favor of the undertaking.
It had been the intention of the emigrants to take their wagons to the Columbia. They would open the way, and show congress that the enterprise which the government was so slow to undertake was not beyond the ability of private individuals. But they miscal- culated distance and obstacles, and found, when the Rocky Mountains were passed, that with foot-sore cattle and worn-out horses, they had still the most trying part of the journey before them; and there- upon doubts began to assail them of the wisdom of attempting to carry out their original plan of making a road to the Pacific, with the risk of being caught in the storms of autumn among the mountains, and hav- ing to abandon their property there.
Yet upon mature deliberation, with the spirit that impelled them to set out as founders of empire, they persevered in their determination to reach the Colum- bia River with all their wagons and herds. In coming to this conclusion they were influenced by the advice of Whitman, and the encouragement of William Fow- ler, one of the emigrants who had been in Oregon before. Fowler was a western man, and understood much better than Whitman what ox-teams could do.14
14 Applegate's Marginal Notes, MS., 289-90.
400
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.
A pilot was necessary, and Remeau, a guide of the Hudson's Bay Company, offered his services, which were however declined in favor of Whitman, who deemed himself competent, with the help of his Cayuses,15 to act as guide. A route was marked out with the assistance of Remeau, on which distances, camping-places, and other useful information were carefully noted; and having repaired their wagons, and purchased such supplies as were necessary, after a week or ten days of rest they resumed their march. There was no regular organization after leaving Fort Hall. A few of the least encumbered took the lead, on horseback. The California company, having aban- doned their wagons, were now mounted, with a train of pack-animals, and were among the foremost, their pilot, William J. Martin, conducting the Oregon emi- gration also, as far as the turn of the road toward California, in the vicinity of the American Falls of Snake River.16 From this point Whitman assumed the duties of guide, conducting the immigrants down Snake River to the Salmon Falls, where the river was crossed in safety by all except Miles Eyres, a Scotch- man who was riding a mule, and who missed the shallow water of the ford and was drowned. M. M. McCarver who was in the lead with a small company, as they approached the falls was startled by what he mistook for a red flag. Thinking there might be hostile Indians in the vicinity, he formed his men for battle, and marching up to the red signal, discovered it to be a large salmon split open and hoisted on a pole to notify travellers that there were fish for sale. Thus the danger and difficulties of this portion of the journey disappeared on approach.
15 McClane says the Indians met Dr Whitman at Fort Hall, 'with supplies, ' probably sent by his associates. First Wagon Train, MS., 3.
16 The names of those who went to California were J. B. Chiles, W. J. Martin, Julius Martin, John Gantt, Milton Little, J. Atkinson, V. W. Daw- son, F. McClelland, John McIntire, John Williams, Squire Williams, Isaac Williams, P. B. Reading, Samuel J. Hensley, McGee, and Boardman. Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1875, 53; Ford's Road-makers, MS., 5; Frémont's Ex- plor. E.c., 106.
401
AT GRAND ROND VALLEY.
From Salmon Falls the route lay across an expanse of sage plains to Fort Boisé. A party, consisting of Whitman and his nephew, Lovejoy, Ricord, and Nim- rod Ford, pushed forward, leaving written notices by the way of the course to be taken by the wagons, which came after at a rate of thirteen miles a day, notwithstanding the toughness of the artemisia and the depth of the sand. At Fort Boisé they were kindly received by Payette, but could not tarry, as it was already the 20th of September. Fording the Snake River, where it has since been found necessary to have a ferry, by raising the wagon-beds a few inches on blocks, they reached the west side in safety. Fol- lowing down the river, encountering no serious obstruc- tions for three days, they reached on the 24th Burnt River Cañon, twenty-five miles in length, through which ran a small stream whose bed was used for a road for the greater part of the way, there being no time to clear away from the banks the masses of fallen and burnt trees from which the river was named.17
The first grading required on any part of the route from the main Platte to the Columbia was at the crossing of the ridge at the head of Burnt River; and this, too, was the first occasion on which it had been necessary to double teams.18 From this point the toils of travel increased, the country being rough and hilly. Nevertheless by the 1st of October the main body of the immigration had arrived at Grand Rond Valley, which appeared so beautiful, set in its envi- roning pine-clad hills, with its rich pasturage and abundant watercourses, that a portion of the immi- grants were deterred from settling there only by the impossibility of obtaining supplies for the colony dur- ing the coming winter. On the morning of the 2d two inches of snow whitened the mountain sides, and warned the travellers not to waste precious time. On
17 McClane's First Wagon Train, MS., 4; Kaiser's Nar., MS., 4, 5; Bur- nett's Recollections, 124.
18 Ford's Road-makers, MS., 10. HIST. OR., VOL. I. 26
·
402
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.
the evening of the 3d the first ridge had been crossed ; and beyond this was still the main chain of the Blue Mountains covered with heavy timber which it was imperative to remove. As the sappers and miners of a military legion precede the army, a force of the most active and energetic of the emigrant legion fell upon these barriers to progress, and although their axes were dulled by a summer's use, and their hands were sadly blistered, forty men in five days cleared a wagon-road over the dreaded Blue Mountains, 19 the wagons and herds following as the road was opened, boys and women driving the teams whose owners were clearing the way.20 On the 5th, and while the immigration was in the mountains, a severe snow-storm was experienced, which made the beautiful valley of the Umatilla River thrice beautiful by contrast, when the travellers arrived on the evening of the 6th at the western base. Here they found a Cayuse village, and obtained fresh vegetables. On the 10th the immigration was encamped within three miles of Whitman's station.
At Grand Rond, Whitman was met by a courier from Lapwai with intelligence of the alarming illness of Mr and Mrs Spalding,21 and relinquishing his office of guide to Sticcas, a Cayuse chief in whom he re- posed confidence, left the party and struck across the country to the station. Sticcas faithfully performed his duty, bringing the white men, to whom, as we
19 Among these were the Fords, the Kaisers, Lennox, Zachery, Matheney, the Applegates, Burnett, and J. W. Nesmith. Kaiser, in his Emigrant Road, MS., says that Nesmith carried an axe on his shoulders all the way through the Blue Mountains, and was distinguished by a quiet reserve, for which in later years he has been less conspicuous, though the friends he made in his youthful days (he was then but 22) still cherish for him the most loyal regard. The same qualities which led him to usefulness then have never deserted him.
20 An emigrant of 1846 refers to the fact that writers on Oregon have overlooked the women. 'They seem to have been ignored; yet they per- formed their toils with as much fidelity as the men, and have been as useful in their way. I could never have gotten through to this country without my wife.' Thornton's Or. Hist., MS., 33.
21 Boston Miss. Herald, May 1844.
403
ABORIGINAL THIEVERY.
know, his people were anything but friendly, safely to the vicinity of the mission.22 For this service many were ungrateful, for two reasons: it took them forty- five miles out of their course; and exposed them to the annoying peculations of the natives, who not only intruded into their camps by day, but stole their horses at night in order to obtain a reward for re- turning them-a practice which was repeated every twenty-four hours.
The great ambition of the natives along the Co- lumbia, as elsewhere, was to secure the clothing worn by white men. Lewis and Clarke mention seeing odd garments, evidently obtained from trading-vessels on the coast, in the possession of these natives as early as in 1805, and which must have been purchased from the Indians of the Lower Columbia. After the Oregon immigration began they were to be seen ar- rayed in cast-off wearing apparel of every description, presenting a motley and fantastic appearance. They gladly sold whatever they had for shirts, dresses, or hats; but as stealing and selling back a horse to its owner was a more productive plan, it was greatly affected by the Cayuses.
Kaiser in his narrative complains of these practices, and says that at the mission he called a council of chiefs, and told them that he had paid his last shirt for having his horses returned by the thieves, and that hereafter when he found one of them about his camp after dark he should shoot him. This warning was not without its effect. Burnett also speaks of paying a shirt for several successive mornings to get back the same animal; and Waldo, in his cynical style, remarks that the immigrants had no trouble with the natives until they encountered the mission Indians.23
22 Nesmith says Sticcas was the only Indian he ever knew who had any conception of or who practised Christianity. Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1875, 48.
23 Critiques, MS., 2. Daniel Waldo was born in Virginia in 1800. At the age of 19 ho emigrated to Missouri, where he resided in St Clair County till 1843, and was a neighbor of the Applegates, and of Joseph B. Chiles. His
404
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.
When Whitman arrived at Lapwai he found Mr and Mrs Spalding convalescing, and hastened to his own station to meet the immigrants and furnish them with supplies, which had to be brought from Lapwai and Colville, his grain and mill having been destroyed the previous winter. For this service he was cen- sured by some and applauded by others.24 That it was a wise and philanthropic action to give the immi- grants an opportunity to purchase fresh provisions, the sequel proved; besides, it was personally known to Whitman that some of them had exhausted their sup- plies before reaching the Columbia.
But whether they were or were not in need, they found the prices at Waiilatpu exorbitant when com- pared with those of Missouri, and accused Whitman of selfish motives in conducting the immigration past his station, making them ninety additional miles of travel, which, with their worn-out teams and the lateness of the season, became a matter of serious importance.25
health being poor, having heard of the salubrity of the Oregon climate, he determined to join the emigration, starting with Chiles for the rendezvous a little behind Applegate. He recovered health during the journey, which was made in an easy carriage. He was a man of peculiar and pronounced character, and a strong frame; for 20 years he suffered with cancer on the cheek, and was somewhat irritable, as well as naturally critical in his remarks, which abound in sensible and pertinent suggestions. This characteristic caused the stenographer who took his dictation to name the manuscript as above. It deals with a variety of subjects relating to the early history of the country. Mr Waldo died at Salem, September 10, 1880. His sons are William and J. B. Waldo.
24 Wherever Whitman's acts are discussed the writer is confronted with the account of his character and services given by Spalding and Gray, his associates. There is no question of his merits as a man, or that he was of much service to immigrants. But I am warned from accepting as fact all that these men have recorded of his disinterested generosity, by the remarks of those who are said to have profited by it. Not to appear partisan, I shall quote freely from both critics and admirers, where such quotations are perti- nent.
25 Burnett, in speaking of these accusations, says: 'This foolish, false, and ungrateful charge was based upon the fact that he asked $1 a bushel for wheat and 40 cents for potatoes. As our people had been accustomed to sell their wheat at from 50 to 60 cents a bushel, and their potatoes at from 20 to 25 cents, in the Western States, they thought the prices demanded by the doctor amounted to something like extortion, not reflecting that he had to pay at least twice as much for his supplies of merchandise, and could not afford to sell his produce as low as they did theirs at home.' Recollections, 127. This is a gener- ons view of the case, characteristic of the author; but it is not altogether borne out by the facts, Whitman receiving his supplies from the board. The mission
405
MISSIONARY MISREPRESENTATION.
Kaiser was among those who felt themselves injured by being piloted out of their way, and by having to pay a dollar a bushel for wheat. So obstinate were some, says Burnett, that they refused to purchase until the wheat was all gone, in consequence of which he had to divide his supply with them before the end of the journey.26
There were other causes of dissatisfaction, and sub- sequent reproach. Neither Whitman, nor Mckinlay at Fort Walla Walla, knew anything of the country back from the Columbia River,27 or whether there could be found crossings for the wagons at the John Day and Des Chutes rivers; and both advised the immigrants to leave their wagons and cattle in the Walla Walla Valley to be brought down in the spring, and to make themselves boats in which to descend the Columbia. One of the arguments used in favor of this plan was that no grass would be likely to be found on the route, as the natives were accustomed at this season of the year to burn it off-a statement which sufficiently proved the doctor's ignorance of the country, and which was construed to his disadvantage by those who travelled through it.28
had sustained losses during, and possibly through, his absence, of several thou- sand dollars. The board had not approved of his leaving his station, and had sent him back empty-handed-how empty-handed is more than once hinted at by the emigrants. Waldo bluntly says: 'He had nothing to start with but a boiled ham .... After we crossed the Snake River I had to feed him again. I did not like it much; but he was a very energetic man, and I liked him for his perseverance; he had not much judgment, but a great deal of per- severance. He expected the emigrants to feed him, and they did. He was bound to go, and took the chances.' Critiques, MS., 17. Perhaps Whitman thought to reimburse the mission for its losses. There was no injustice in his having pay for his provisions; but it is clear he knew how to demand a full price. He was, according to Applegate, who admits his usefulness, paid pilotage also; but Applegate, whose share of this expense was $45, says that Walker and Eells obliged him to demand it: which, considering the fact that he had, with his nephew, lived on the immigrants, detracts somewhat from that ideal character for liberality which has been imputed to him.
26 Recollections, MS., 127.
27 This is McKinlay's own statement, given in a letter to Elwood Evans, which Evans has kindly sent me.
28 Says Waldo, who did not take the advice offered: 'Whitman lied like hell. He wanted my cattle, and told me the grass was burnt off between his place and the Dalles. The first night out I found the finest grass I ever saw, and it was good every night.' Critiques, MS., 16.
406
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.
From a journal of Burnett's, published in a Mis- souri paper a year or two after the emigration, there seems to have been some ground for suspicions of in- terested motives in advising the immigrants to leave their cattle. "The residents of the mission agreed," says the journal, "in advising us to leave our cattle and wagons at the station. McKinlay of Walla Walla also advised us to leave the animals, either to exchange for California cattle, or to pay one dollar per head for their keeping. . . What surprised us most, after the representations that had been made, was the fine pasturage we met all along the way, and espe- cially at the Dalles, where we had been led to believe the cattle could not subsist at all during the winter." Applegate gives some further information,29 where he tells us that at the mission they received one fat bullock of Spanish stock for two poor emigrant oxen. Those who did not distinguish the difference between Spanish and American cattle consented willingly to pay this price for fat beef. Without any expense to the missionaries they had in the spring two fat American work-oxen for their one bullock. The natives did better, who gave a fat bullock for a lean heifer, for breeding purposes.
After a few days' rest at the mission, the emigra- tion moved toward the Columbia River with their wagons and stock. Propositions were made to some members of the company to remain at Waiilatpu, which were rejected on account of the thieving habits of the natives, and the difficulty of taking care of their cattle on so wide a range as the Walla Walla Valley, besides the general desire to reach their destination that year. But at Fort Walla Walla, a portion of
29 This manuscript of Mr Applegate's is a running commentary on Mrs Vic- tor's River of the West, filling out some chapters where deficient in historic fact and correcting others, while in the main it assents to the record there given of Oregon's early history. In a similar manner he has commented on Gray's History of Oregon by marginal notes. A third source of information furnished by this most classical writer of Oregon's pioneers is a collection of letters on historical subjects. The elegance of diction and accuracy of state- ment render these contributions of the highest value.
407
SAD ACCIDENT TO THE APPLEGATES.
them being still in doubt from the representations made to them of the difficulties in the way, finally agreed with Mckinlay to leave their cattle with him and take orders on the Hudson's Bay Company for the same number and description of California cattle in the Willamette Valley. Among those making this arrangement was Jesse Applegate,30 who with Waldo owned more stock than any other two men in the emigration.31 Waldo proceeded with the main body to the Dalles by land, while Burnett, Beagle, McClane, the Applegates, and others, seventy-one in all, decided to take the advice of Whitman and descend the Colum- bia in boats. Whitman accompanied them to bring home his wife, who was still at the Dalles, where she had taken refuge from the violence of the Cayuses. Burnett had a Hudson's Bay boat and an Indian pilot. Beagle, who was with him, was steersman. He was a good boatman, and familiar with the rapids of the Ohio at Louisville; but those compared to the rapids of the Columbia were insignificant, and Burnett relates that Beagle's cheeks often paled, though he obeyed the intrepid Indian pilot implicitly.32 This party arrived in safety at the Dalles.
30 Frémont's Explor. Ex., 184. Gray says Applegate sold or mortgaged his cattle to get supplies at Walla Walla. Hist. Or., 422. But Burnett denies this, and says it was an exchange, or one dollar a head for herding them; and that when Applegate arrived at Vancouver, McLoughlin protested against Applegate making such a bargain to his injury, and not only gave him his American cattle back but refused compensation for the care they received during the winter.
31 Burnett's Recollections, MS., i. 274-5. Concerning this matter, Waldo himself says: 'I started from Missouri with 10S head, and got here with 68. They were worth in Missouri $48 a head.' Here, horses were worth from $7 to $10, while American cattle were worth $100, Spanish, $9. Critiques, MS., 10.
32 ' On one occasion, I remember, we were passing down a terrible rapid with a speed almost like a race-horse, when a huge rock arose above the water before us, against which the swift and mighty volumne of the river furiously dashed in vain, and then suddenly turned to the right, almost at right angles. The Indian told Beagle to hold the bow of the boat directly towards the rock as if intending to run plumb upon it, while the rest of us pulled upon our oars with all our might, so as to give her such a velocity as not to be much affected by the surging waves. The Indian stood cool and motionless in the bow, pad- dle in hand, with features set as if to meet immediate death, and when we were within from 20 to 30 feet of that terrible rock, as quick almost as thought he plunged his long paddle-blade into the water on the left side of
408
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.
The Applegate company being in less manageable canoes constructed by themselves, and less skilfully handled, were not so fortunate, one of their boats overturning in the rapids, by which accident a son of Jesse Applegate was drowned, a son of Charles Applegate crippled for life, while Elisha, a son of Lind- sey Applegate, and William Doke narrowly escaped. C. M. Stringer and McClelland were also drowned.33
The main part of the immigration, which took the land route to the Dalles, met with no other obstacles than some difficulty in crossing the two principal riv- ers in their course, the John Day and Des Chutes, and had no accidents. To be the first to reach the Dalles, the terminus of the emigrant road to Oregon for 1843, was an honor that was contended for by the foremost drivers, and I find is claimed by both Nine- veh Ford and Kaiser.34
At the Dalles the immigrants had still the most difficult and dangerous portion of their journey before them, there being neither a road over the rugged mountains that separated them from the Willamette Valley, nor boats in which to embark on the river. It was too late to attempt opening a wagon-road into the Willamette Valley, a distance of sixty miles of extremely rough country, and there were few facilities for constructing a sufficient number of boats to con- vey the families and goods to their destination.
The immigration of 1843 was differently situated from any company that had preceded, or any that fol-
the bow, and with it gave a sudden wrench, and the boat instantly turned upon its centre to the right, and we passed the rock in safety.' Burnett's Recollections of a Pioneer, 129.
33 A member of Frémont's expedition, which was in the rear of the immi- gration all the way to the Dalles, returning to St Louis the same season, car- ried a very unfavorable report of the condition of the immigrants, 8 of whom he said had perished of hardship. Niles' Reg., Ixv. 243. The truth was, that 9 deaths occurred on the road, if we count that of William Day, who died at Vancouver; 4 from sickness, and 4 by drowning, one out of every 100-and none of these of what might properly be called hardships.
34 Ford says, 'My wagon was in front of the caravan when it got to the Dalles.' Kaiser says, 'My father's teams broke the sage-brush from Green River to the Dalles.' James Athey is content to claim the second or third place in the van, and says, 'Mine was the second or third team to drive up to the Dalles.' Workshops, MS., 1.
409
ARRIVAL IN OREGON.
lowed it into Oregon. When a company came by sea to Fort Vancouver, or a small party overland to Walla Walla, every facility for continuing their journey or prosecuting their designs was tendered to them by the Hudson's Bay Company. White's party, which was only a pack-train, arrived early, and proceeded direct to the settlements without any serious hinderance. But here were nearly nine hundred people with their household goods and a large number of cattle and horses. It was impossible to meet this whole colony as guests, and help them to their destinations with all manner of courtesies as had so often been done in regard to smaller parties. They must help themselves, and help themselves they did.
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