USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 45
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452
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1844.
Samuel B. Crockett, and Daniel Clark. According to Clyman, they encountered at the Grand Rond James Waters of the previous emigration, who was going to meet his family, and who supplied them with provisions for the remainder of their journey.17
Ford's company, being in advance of Gilliam's, also sent three young men to the Willamette Valley with Minto's party. Snow had now begun to fall in the mountains while a large part of the emigration was between Fort Boisé and the Dalles. The misery entailed upon the belated travellers by the change to winter weather was indescribable.18 The road from
tion. It was taken from her lips by a stenographer at a meeting of the Pioneer Association in 1878, and is called Female Pioneering. As it gives the woman's view of frontier life, it is especially valuable-few records having been made of the trials which women were called upon to endure in the settlement of the Pacific States.
17 Minto compares the warm interest and sympathy exhibited by Waters with the chilling indifference and absolute ignoring of their presence or their wants by the missionaries Waller and Brewer at the Dalles. Clyman, who brought letters to the missionaries, and who was a few days ahead of Minto's party, remarks that he was not thanked for the trouble of carrying them from the States, which he attributes to his travel-worn and unshaven appearance. Note Book, MS., 68.
18 Joseph Watt, born in Ohio, author of a manuscript called First Things, gives an account of the incoming of 1844, and of the importation of sheep from the States by himself in 1847, the erection of the first woollen-mills in Oregon, and other first things, and describes his passage from Burnt River to the Willamette. Watt was then a young man and poorly equipped for such a journey, but drove an ox-team as far as Burnt River. Here, probably because he thought there were too many mouths for the provisions, he went forward, afoot and alone. At the end of the first day he found a cabin, occupied by Blakeley, an emigrant who gave him a few crusts. Bowman, a destitute traveller, joined Watt, and they walked on together until they overtook Ford's company, from whom they obtained one meal. In the Grand Rond they lost their way, but regaining the road, met a family named Walker, who had nothing to eat, and thought of killing their oxen. Being overtaken by others who still had a little food, they begged them to divide; but want and fear had hardened their hearts, and they refused. The pedes- trians made a fire of green wood, before which they sat throughout the night drying their wet clothing; and in the morning found it snowing. Then, with soleless shoes and pantaloons half gone, they renewed their journey. Bowman had a family whom he left with the wagons while he hastened on to procure assistance. Says Watt: 'I think there were snow-flakes as large as my hat, and it was damp snow. Bowman was speculating what he and his son "Billy " could do when they got down to the valley. Waters, whom we had met on Powder River, had told him it was worth so much a hundred to make rails; and, says he, "Billy and I can make lots of money at that. Whiskey-barrels are worth so much; whiskey is worth something. I can make whiskey." Says I, "You old fool, you will never get out of these mountains !"' Proceeding, sometimes bewildered on account of the trail being hidden by snow, they came to the camp of some
45
ON THE COLUMBIA.
Burnt River to the Dalles was a panorama of suffer- ing and destitution, and the rear of the caravan remained at Whitman's over winter.19 Shaw, who turned aside to Whitman's station to lay in provisions, left there a family of seven children named Sager, whose parents had died on the road, the father while the company was at Green River, and the mother two weeks later.' These children were adopted by Dr Whitman.20 Shaw failed to reach the Willamette that season, as some of his family were prostrated by sickness, and he remained until March 1845 at the Dalles, with several other families.21
Two or more small mounted parties, the first to reach the Dalles, took the cattle trail round the base of Mount Hood, and arrived safely in the valley. But the later comers feared this route on account of the advanced season. The families were assisted in descending the Columbia by the loan of boats belong- ing to the Hudson's Bay Company ; 22 and the cattle were crossed by swimming to the north side of the river, driven down to Vancouver, and recrossed in
immigrants who gave them supper and breakfast. On reaching Umatilla they were joined by a man named Nash. They had also the good fortune to kill a dozen sage-hens. At a Cayuse camp they borrowed a large kettle and made a stew of chicken and potatoes, purchased of the natives with an extra shirt. At Waiilatpu Whitman gave them some corn meal. A cow which belonged to Watt was sold to the doctor for provisions to take them to the Dalles. An immigrant, Barton Lee, was engaged to transport them, and a horse was hired of Adams. At the Dalles they found the fur company's bateaux, which had been placed at the service of certain persons to bring down the immigration with a view to assist them; but for a passage on which they were charged six dollars each by those having them in charge. 'I had no money,' says Watt, 'and they told me if the other passengers would board me they would take me down, but I must sing whenever I was ordered. They called me the "figure-head." On the 16th of November I arrived at Oregon City.' First Things, MS., 1-7.
19 Or. Spectator, Jan. 21, 1849.
20 Shaw's Pioneer Life, MS., 13.
21 Shaw says in his Pioneer Life, MS., 14-18, which is a comparison of pioneer life in the western states and Oregon, with a narrative of the in- cidents of the emigration, that in March he went down the Columbia to a place seventeen miles above Vancouver, where he made shingles for the Hudson's Bay Company, to pay what he owed them for provisions and cloth- ing furnished him while at the Dalles. In September he removed to the Wil- lamette Valley, where he rented the farm of Beers for one year. The next year he bought a farm of a French Canadian, ten miles north of Salem, where he made his permanent residence.
22 McLoughlin's Private Papers, MS., 2d ser., 9.
454
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1844.
boats, as they had been the previous year. The scenes of suffering at the Cascades in 1843 were re- peated in 1844. Minto, who it will be remembered hastened to the Willamette for help for his employer and friends, tells us that on returning with a boat- load of provisions to the Cascades he found "men in the prime of life lying among the rocks seeming ready to die. I found there mothers with their families, whose husbands were snow-bound in the Cascade Mountains, without provisions, and obliged to kill and eat their game dogs. Mrs Morrison had traded her only dress except the one she wore for a bag of pota- toes. There was scarcely a dry day, and the snow- line was nearly down to the river." 23
In such a plight did the immigration of 1844, which set out with high hopes to plant an independent colony in Oregon, find itself on reaching the promised land. The loss of life had been light notwithstanding the hardships of the journey;24 but the loss of prop- erty in cattle, clothing, and household and other goods had been great, to the ruin of many. The cattle had become fat during the weeks of detention on the grassy plains, and were unfit for the hard work of haul- ing loaded wagons for the remainder of the summer. Many died of exhaustion, some were taken by the natives, who, although not in open hostility, were troublesome at several places on the route, at the Kansas agency, at Laramie, in the Cayuse country, and on the Columbia ; 25 although White had deputized
23 Camp-fire Orations, MS., 15.
24 Besides Barnette, Thomas Vance, Mr and Mrs Sager, and a young girl mentioned in Mrs Minto's Female Pioneering, MS., I find no other deaths noted in the several manuscripts and books referring to this immigration. All the others came through to Oregon, except a party of eighteen who turned off on the California road after passing Fort Hall. This party had thirteen wagons, the first to enter California from the United States. The names of the party were Townsend, James Montgomery, John Greenwood, Britian Greenwood, and another Greenwood, John Sullivan and brother, Dennis Martin, John Martin, Murphy and four sons, Jackson, Stevens, and Hitch- cock. Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1876, 42.
25 Clyman relates that the Cayuses were very anxious to know of him when the wagons and stock might be expected, as they wished to exchange horses for cattle; but that although they had horses to sell, they did not refrain from
455
CONDITION OF THE NEW-COMERS.
H. A. G. Lee to be among the Cayuses during the passage of the immigration, and to assist in the pur- chase of cattle with the ten-dollar drafts mentioned in a previous chapter-a device which proved unsuc- cessful, as the immigrants preferred their cattle to the drafts. The natives were able, however, to sell their crops to the immigrants for good prices, by exchanging wheat, corn, and potatoes for clothing and other arti- cles. Not being able to buy cattle, they stole them ;26 and unable to purchase American horses with their less valuable ponies, they stole those also, until the immigrants, losing patience, retaliated, and took In- dian horses regardless of individual ownership; and became robbers in their turn, without reflecting upon the evil consequences which were likely to fall upon the next immigration; savages being like civilized men in this respect, that they are ready to punish misconduct in others for which in themselves they find ample excuse.
The condition of the immigrants of 1844, after they had passed all the perils of the journey to Oregon,
stealing his fine but half-starved mare-they having burned of the grass to annoy the immigrants. Note Book, MS., 65.
26 H. A. G. Lee, an immigrant of 1843, was much esteemed for his probity and intelligence in the management of public affairs. His name appears fre- quently in the public prints. Burnett remarks on the justness of his views of the Indian character, and the impending Indian troubles. Lee says in his report on the affairs of 1844: 'The immigrants are still very imprudent in breaking off into small parties, just when they should remain united. . . These robbers furnish us a true miniature likeness of the whole Indian population whenever they fail to obtain such things as they wish in exchange for such as they have to give. These are robbers now because they have nothing to give; all others will be robbers when, with what they have to give, they can not procure what they wish. . . The next immigration will, in all probability, call forth developments of Indian character which have been almost denied an existence among these people. Indeed, sir, had you not taken the pre- caution to conciliate their good feelings and friendship toward the whites just at the time they were meeting each other, it is to be doubted whether there had not been some serious difficulty. Individuals on both sides have been mutually provoked and exasperated during the passage of each immigration, and these cases are constantly multiplying. Much prudence is required on the part of the whites, and unfortunately they have very little by the time they reach the Columbia Valley. Some of the late immigrants, losing their horses, and naturally supposing them stolen by the Indians, went to the bands of horses owned by the Indians and took as many as they wished. You are too well acquainted with Indians to suppose that such a course can be per- sisted in without producing serious results.' White's Concise View, 61; Bur- nett's Rec. of a Pioneer, 245-6.
456
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1844.
was worse than that of 1843, for the reason that there had not been time for the country to recover from the draft upon its resources made the year previous. Thanks to the fertility of the soil, and to the good judgment of McLoughlin in encouraging farming, there was food enough for all, though many lived on short rations rather than to incur debt. But the great want of the new-comers was clothing. All the goods in the several stores had long been exhausted; even at Vancouver there was no stock on hand except the reserved cargo, which was not opened when the im- migration arrived.27 Clothing was made by putting piece to piece without regard to color or texture; and moccasons, which took the place of boots and shoes, were the almost universal foot-covering. A tannery had been begun in the summer, in the neighborhood of Burnett's farm, but the autumn supply of leather, besides being inadequate, was only half tanned, and had a raw streak in the centre.
This destitution, while there was a year's supply in the warehouses at Vancouver, occasioned complaints on the part of the less reasonable of the immigrants, who were unable to see why they should not receive as many favors from the Hudson's Bay Company as those of the previous year had had, under the same circumstances. McLoughlin had, with his usual sagacity, foreseen that there would be this feeling, and while prepared to defend the company's property from pillage in case of a collision with the immigrants, sought by every means to cultivate a friendly feeling.
27 Minto describes his costume when he went to Vancouver to receive the boat and cargo which he took up the Columbia. His pantaloons were ripped up to the knees; he had no coat, having worn out the one he started with; a blanket obtained at Vancouver was doubled across his shoulders over a string. His feet were nearly bare, and became quite so before he returned from his expedition. Minto's Female Pioneering, MS., 18, 19. Mrs Minto says: 'There was but one bolt of calico in the whole of Oregon that we could hear of, and that was at Astoria. . . The next summer my sister and I gathered a barrel of cranberries and sent them to Oregon City, and got a little blue drilling which made us a covering.' Id., 10. The dearth of goods affected all classes. Parrish says that in 1844 he wore an old coat which he brought from New York in 1839, and pantaloons made of English duffle, 'a kind of coarse cloth similar to our horse-blankets,' with a buckskin vest and moccasons. Id., 20.
457
HOMES FOR THE SETTLERS.
Minto relates that when Gilliam was at the Dalles he received a present of food and clothing from the gentlemen at Vancouver; and remarks that although kindly meant, it was a mistake on the part of the company, as it led to the discussion of subjects con- nected with the politics of the country, which were being forgotten in their more present anxieties, and to a great deal of gossip concerning the meaning of the recent action of the company in strengthening their defences, of which they had been informed, and also of the visit of the Modeste. These conversations were so frequent that the naturally generous Gilliam. whose prejudices were becoming softened, was led to declare at the Cascades that although willing to live in peace with the Hudson's Bay Company so long as they kept within their treaty rights, he would have no hesitation in knocking their stockade about their ears if they did not carry themselves properly.28
But it would have been strange if the generous assistance which extended to everything except open- ing their storehouse against rules and without pay, and the untiring courtesy of McLoughlin and his associate, Douglas, could not have removed many of the preconceived and ill-founded notions of these western Americans.29 But the conflict which im- pended it was impossible to avoid by anything less than an admission that to the United States belonged the whole of Oregon, and that the company occupied the country temporarily under a convention which could be annulled at any time-an admission they
28 Early Days, MS., 27.
29 Minto mentions this case: 'The doctor was standing on the porch of the main house, and motioned us to come to him. He asked us if we were the young men from Linnton who had come up with their boat. We said we were. He told us to go to that house, pointing to the door of bachelor's hall, when the dinner-bell rung. We thanked him, and as we were leaving he called to us and said: "Maybe you would like to write to your friends in the east. We are going to send an express down to the mouth of the river, and there will be no other opportunity for sending letters for six months." I replied that as I had no writing materials I could not accept the favor offered; he immediately sent a servant to bring us paper, pens, and ink; and I wrote to my father the first letter since leaving home.' Female Pioneering, MS., 17, 18.
458
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1844.
were not prepared to make until instructed by the British government to do so.
McLoughlin was very desirous that the immigra- tion should find homes south of the Columbia River; first, because he believed that was their proper place of settlement, under an American form of govern- ment; but principally, as he alleged, because contact with the free and independent frontier men would destroy the spirit of obedience for which the com- pany's servants were remarkable, and on which the success and prosperity of the company depended. To his great dissatisfaction, a considerable number encamped for the winter at Washougal, about seven- teen miles above Vancouver, on the north bank of the river. They were some of those most thoroughly imbued with the Bentonian idea of American pro- prietorship, and soon found means of expressing that idea according to their several natures.
Elwood Evans states that Michael T. Simmons and his company, who were among those at Washou- gal, had first designed to settle in the Rogue River Valley; but that finding McLoughlin anxious to have the Americans settle on the south side of the Columbia, determined to locate himself and company on the north side of the river. According to Evans, who had means of obtaining his information from Simmons himself, the latter, after deciding to take a look at the Puget Sound region, applied to McLoughlin to furnish his family winter quarters in the fort; the request was refused unless he would agree to live on the south side of the river-a promise which Simmons would not give. A cabin outside the fort was finally obtained, and his family established in its shelter, when Simmons set out for Puget Sound, accompanied by Henry Williamson, Henry, James, and John Owens, and James Lewis. They proceeded no farther than the forks of the Cowlitz River, sixteen miles north of the Columbia, when finding their provisions becoming exhausted, and the journey excessively difficult, owing
459
LAND CLAIMS.
both to the nature of the country and the severe weather, they returned to Washougal, where they passed the remainder of the winter and the first part of summer in making shingles, which they sold to the fur company, or in any employment they could find to pay expenses.
In February, Henry Williamson, who was from La Porte County, Indiana, and Isaac W. Alderman, erected a hut with a few logs, half a mile from Van- couver, on land occupied by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and posted a notice on a tree that they intended to claim the land. This being reported to McLoughlin, he sent men to remove the logs and take down the notice; which removal was hardly completed when the intruders returned with a surveyor, and began running off a section of land. Being remonstrated with, Williamson and Alderman repaired to the fort to argue their case with the doctor. According to White, Williamson, " a modest and respectable young man, demeaned himself with propriety;" but Alder- man, " a boisterious, hare-brained young fellow, caused him to blush for American honor." 30
There were present at this interview, besides White, a number of Americans, and several officers of the fur company. Williamson asked McLoughlin why his hut had been pulled down. McLoughlin replied that it was because it was on land occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company, who were conducting busi- ness under a license from the British government, according to a treaty which implied a right to occupy as much ground as they required. This Williamson disputed,31 and the argument lasted two hours, Mc- Loughlin and Douglas keeping their temper very well, but Alderman declaring that if he were dis-
30 Ten Years in Or., 251. According to Burnett, Alderman was a violent and unprincipled character, who soon made himself notorious. He went to California in 1848, and was killed in December of that year by Charles E. Pickett at Sutter Fort, under circumstances that justified the homicide. Recol- lections of a Pioneer, 242-4; Crawford's Nar., MS., 144.
31 McLoughlin's Private Papers, MS., 2d ser., 10.
460
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1844.
turbed in the possession of the land he would " burn the finest building in Oregon," which was thought to mean that he would set fire to the fort. Finding that the young men would not yield, and irritated beyond measure, McLoughlin then declared if Williamson, who seems to have been regarded as the principal in the case, persisted in building there, he should be obliged to use force in preventing him; but offered, if he would choose a location somewhere else, away from any of the company's posts, to assist him in establish- ing himself ; saying, as a reason for desiring his re- moval, that it was necessary to good order and discipline that their servants should be isolated from the settlements. Williamson, however, disclaimed any responsibility for the conduct of the company's servants, or any desire to influence them; and asserted his ability to get on without the assistance offered him, as well as his right, as an American citizen, to settle upon any unoccupied land in Oregon. Upon this, Chief Factor Douglas, justice of the peace under the Canadian laws, threatened to place him in irons and send him to York factory for trial; where- upon Williamson retorted, " You will have to send me farther north than Hudson Bay to place me beyond the reach of the United States government"32_with which challenge the interview terminated.33
Immediately after, McLoughlin and Douglas ad- dressed a circular to the citizens of Oregon, in which they recited the case of Williamson, and stated their position. The settlement was made at Vancouver under a license and a treaty which gave them the right to occupy as much land as they required for the operation of their business. They had opened roads, and made other improvements at great expense; no
32 Minto's Early Days, MS., 28-9,
33 White says he had a private interview with Williamson and Alderman, 'which resulted in a suspension of hostilities for the present.' Official re- port, in Ten Years in Or., ^52. I think he did all he could to preserve the peace in these threatening times. In his anxiety he wrote to the secretary of war that too great a portion of the population came from the western states 'for one moment's safety in our present condition.' Concise View, MS., 53.
461
TRESPASSERS.
officers of either government had questioned their right; their presence and business in the country were a manifest advantage to it, and a protection to the American as well as to the British settler. They had given assistance to both, and had done all they could do to develop the resources of the country. The land they occupied on the north bank of the river was indispensable to them as a range for their flocks and herds, and of little value for agricultural purposes, being in part inundated every summer, and in part forest land. They could not submit to the infringe- ment of their right to occupy this land, and, as repre- sentatives of the Hudson's Bay Company, were bound to use every means sanctioned by the law against trespassers on their premises, until otherwise directed by the company. Yet it was their earnest wish to be at peace with all. They entertained the highest re- spect for the temporary government established by the American citizens.34 The advantages of peace and harmony were evident, as were the dangers of law- lessness and misrule; and they felt confident that all persons desiring the well-being of the country would determine to unite in putting down every course tend- ing to disturb the public peace, and in the support of justice, obedience to law, and mutual good-will. The circular closed with a fervent prayer to the divine bestower of all good, for the happiness and prosperity of the whole community. A letter was at the same time addressed to the executive committee, informing them of the intrusion of Williamson on their premises, and enclosing a copy of the circular, which explained the course they were bound to pursue in the event of the provisional government declining to interfere.
The reply of the executive committee was couched in terms altogether conciliatory. They regretted that " unwarranted liberties" had been taken by an Amer-
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