USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 50
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To the accusation that the company had submitted to insult from the Americans, he replied : "They were not to consider themselves insulted because an igno- rant man thought he had a better right to a piece of land than they had, and attempted to establish his right in the only way the law admitted." And to the taunt that having brought this state of affairs on him- self, he then wanted protection, he answered that protection had been asked for British property, but more particularly for British rights, from the aggres- sions of a people who had been publicly encouraged by the promises of congress of donations of land-a circumstance which the British government had taken
remained or lived. When it was known at Vancouver that immigrants were coming across the plains, orders were sent along the line, to Walla Walla, Boisé, and Fort Hall, not to let the poor people suffer, but to help them along, and teach the Indians to do so also.
65 Four cases are mentioned; the claim of McTavish, the intruder, being put off by the organization; the claim of his son, his own, and the company's lands at Vancouver.
66 Reference is here made to the fact that some of the company's servants were allowed to made claims on the land about Vancouver, under the land law, to keep off Americans, with the understanding that they held for the company, but who refused afterward to relinquish their possession. Roberts' Recollections, MS,, 61.
503
CHRIST-LIKE DEEDS.
no notice of, further than it had of the application of the company for protection of its property. As for the officers of the company, they required no protec- tion, being personally as much esteemed and respected as any individuals in the country.
Having answered these several charges specifically, he summed up on the main one of being "more than accessory" to the introduction of American settlers, by saying that the company had defeated every American trader in fair opposition, while so conduct- ing themselves that neither they nor their friends had any occasion to be ashamed of their conduct. The great influx of missionaries, whom they had no right or power to prevent coming, and the statements they circulated through the public prints, was, he said, the remote cause of Linn's bill offering donations of land, concerning which the British government had seen fit to be silent, thereby itself becoming "more than accessory" to the American settlement of Oregon. He repelled the assumption that it was the duty of the company to defend England's right to territory. The obligation of the company's officers, he asserted, was to do their duty to the company, whatever their feelings might be, and, minding their proper business, let the government take care of its own affairs.
He admitted helping the immigrants of 1843, 1844, and 1845, with boats to transport their families and property to the Willamette before the Columbia should be closed with ice, in which case those left behind must perish of starvation; taking the sick into the hospital at Vancouver for treatment, thereby sav- ing several lives. And he also admitted assisting the immigrants of 1843 to put a crop in the ground, both as a means for providing for their support and of sav- ing the company from the necessity of feeding the next immigration. "If we had not done this," he declared, "Vancouver would have been destroyed, and the world would have judged us treated as our inhuman conduct deserved; every officer of the com-
504
AMENDMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS.
pany, from the governor down, would have been cov- ered with obloquy, the company's business in this department would have been ruined, and the trouble which would have arisen in consequence would have probably involved the British and American nations in war. If I have been the means," he added, "by my measures, of arresting any of these evils, I shall be amply repaid by the approbation of my conscience, and of all good men. It is true," he said, in conclu- sion, "that I have heard some say they would have done differently; and if my memory does not deceive me, I think I have heard Mr Vavasour say this; but as explanation might give publicity to my apprehen- sions and object, and destroy my measures, I was silent, in the full reliance that some day justice would be done me; and as these gentlemen were not respon- sible, and I was, I took the liberty of judging for myself, communicating them only to Mr Douglas under the injunction of secrecy." 67
The conduct of McLoughlin was discussed in the house of commons, where it was said that by some people he was called the 'father of the country,' and said to have settled it greatly at his own expense, while by others it was declared that he had discour- aged settlement.68 In his own statement of his acts and motives the remarkable passages are those in which he confesses himself guilty of the main charge, that of sympathizing with the Americans, or with equal rights, which is the same thing. Aristocrat as he was considered by the colonists,69 and autocrat as he really was, for twenty years throughout the coun- try west of the Rocky Mountains, he still bravely returned the assaults of his enemies in the language of a republican. He defended the American charac-
67 I have taken this abstract of McLoughlin's defence from his remarks on the report of Warre and Vavasour, which was sent by Sir George Simpson to Mr Douglas, and by him handed to McLoughlin after he had resigned and settled at Oregon City in 1846. It constitutes series 3, Private Papers.
68 House of Commons Rept., 294.
69 Gray's Hist. Or., 153; Parrish's Or. Anecdotes, MS., 98; Simpson's Or. Ter. Claims, 32-5.
505
WRONG AND INJUSTICE
ter from the slurs of government spies, saying "they have the same right to come that I have to be here," touching lightly upon the ingratitude of those who forgot to pay him their just debts, and the rudeness of those whom White mentions as making him blush for American honor.
But whether he favored the company's interests against the British, or British interests against the company's, or maintained both against the American interest, or favored the American interest against either, or labored to preserve harmony between all, the suspicions of both conflicting parties fell upon him, and being forced to maintain silence, he had the bad fortune to be pulled to pieces between them. Foreseeing something of this, feeling himself spied upon by the British government, as well as by Sir George Simpson, having a large property interest south of the Columbia, and being perhaps weary of a responsibility that with increasing years became in- creasingly burdensome, he tendered his resignation as head of the company in Oregon, in the autumn of 1845, and took up his residence at Oregon City in the following spring,70 with the intention of becoming an American citizen when the boundary question was settled, or his resignation was accepted. With the next spring came the news of the election of Presi- dent Polk and the threat of war with England, caus- ing him the greatest perplexity. Change his allegiance in time of war he could not, without forfeiting his estates in Canada, and perhaps his life as a traitor. Neither could he, in the event of war, retain his dearly held claim at Oregon City. Then came Warre and Vavasour, as he well knew with no good intent toward him, while the political horizon grew no brighter. In his perplexity he took advice of Bur- nett, then chief justice of Oregon, and Applegate, the man through whom the recent fusion of British
70 Tolmie's Puget Sound, MS., 47; Holden's Pioneering, MS., 2, 3; Moss' Pioneer Times, MS., 30.
506
AMENDMENT OF THE ORGANIC LAWS.
and American interests in Oregon had been consum- mated. Applegate urged him to take the oath of allegiance to the United States,71 his resignation hav- ing been accepted; but Burnett objected that he had no authority from the government to administer the oath; "and to Mr Burnett's timidity," says Apple- gate, "was owing the doctor's subsequent troubles with individuals and the United States government." This opinion is not mine, however. The missionary party would have found that the oath was without author- ity, and the result would have been the same. They made war on him after he came to Oregon City. In addition, he lost heavily through the debts of the set- tlers, which the company put upon him, if not wholly, at least to a great amount,72 and was severely attacked by English writers, notably in Fitzgerald's Hudson's Bay Company.
It was fortunate that neither the dissatisfaction of the English ministry, the Hudson's Bay Company, nor the defiant tone of the American press and con-
11 'Every British subject south of the Columbia would have followed his example,' says Applegate; 'then in case of war we would have had friends instead of enemies in our midst; and it would not have left the shadow of truth to the falsehood used by his enemies that he was a British propagan- dist, and had refused to become an American citizen.'
12 These debts aggregated a sum variously stated by different authorities, but usually at about $60,000. Applegate says this charge was revoked on the motion of his associates in office, who protested in a body against the injustice to a man who had been of such service to the company; but that notwithstanding this he preferred to be responsible for a large amount. The personal pride and dignified reticence of McLoughlin prevented a knowledge of his private affairs becoming public; and even his family and heirs were in ignorance concerning his losses. Sir James Douglas testified before the joint commission which settled the affairs of the Hudson's Bay and Puget Sound companies, that the doctor was not held responsible for the debts of the American settlers. H. B. Co. Ev., H. B. Co. Claims, 61. J. Q. Thornton, who at one time was his attorney, stated before the same.commission, and has frequently asserted in public, that the company held McLoughlin respon- sible. The same statement is made in Thornton's Hist. Or., MS., 7-13; Gray's Hist. Or., 321-2; Blanchet's Cath. Ch. in Or., 71; Waldo's Critiques, MS., 14, and in many authorities not here quoted, because most of them are simply copyists of the others. And while I think it quite probable that his fellow-officers made an offer to bear their portion of the loss, from the best information I can gather, I am persuaded that the principal burden came upon him by his own choice, and through his Scotch pride. His daughter states that she overheard, after his removal to Oregon City, some gentlemen conversing about his affairs, who said that he 'had trusted the immigrants more than he could himself pay.' Harvey's Life of McLoughlin, MS., 33.
507
PERSONNEL OF THE GOVERNMENT.
gress, could affect the status of the Oregon govern- ment, composed of individuals of both nationalities outside of the jurisdiction of either; to which fact was due the continued peace and prosperity of the colony in 1845.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.
A NOTABLE MIGRATION-VARIOUS STARTING-POINTS-DIVISIONS AND COM- PANIES-JOEL PALMER-SAMUEL K. BARLOW-PRESLEY WELCH-SAMUEL HANCOCK-BACON AND BUCK-W. G. T'VAULT-JOHN WAYMIRE-SOLO- MON TETHEROW-CALIFORNIA EXTOLLED AT FORT HALL-MEETING WITH WHITE-HIS FATAL FRIENDSHIP-A LONG CUT-OFF-HARDSHIPS ON THE MALHEUR-DISEASE AND DEATH AT THE DALLES-HEARTLESSNESS OF WALLER AND BREWER-EMMET'S WANDERINGS-THE INCOMING BY SEA- NAMES OF THE IMMIGRANTS-THIRD SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE- EXPLORATIONS FOR IMMIGRANT PASS-WAGON-ROAD-PUBLIC BUILDINGS, CAPITAL, AND LIQUOR QUESTIONS-NEW COUNTIES-REVENUE.
THE immigration of 1845 was larger than any that had preceded it, three thousand persons arriving be- fore the end of the year, and doubling the white pop- ulation of Oregon.1 There were present at the east the same underlying motives in this exodus which drove west the bands of former years-restlessness of spirit, dissatisfaction with home, want of a market, and distance from the sea.2
- Hines' Or. and Ins., 209; Marshall's Statement, MS., 1; McLoughlin's Private Papers, MS., 2d ser., 23; Saxton's Or. Ter., 20; Gray's Hist. Or., 453.
2 There were some original views advanced by Charles Saxton, who, while returning to the United States with White, met this army of adventurers in the Snake River country; as these views are not without interest, I will quote them briefly. 'Causes have been operating for the last twenty-five years in the north Atlantic states to produce this unparalleled mighty move- ment across the American continent. A system of aristocracy has oppressed the laboring classes, and roused the people to fly to the western states to avoid the soup and parish relief societies, as witnessed in Europe; and in the west the pioneers were compelled to seek new homes for their large families, and to find, if possible, a suitable market for their produce, and a range for their herds. Congress, by an unwise act of legislation, not regarding the in- domitable spirit of enterprise in the descendants of the Jamestown colony by land, and the Plymouth colony by sea, nearly blockaded the great thor- oughfare of western emigration on land by congregating the various tribes of
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509
GATHERING OF THE COMPANIES.
There were two or more points of departure from the Missouri frontier this year; and there were many companies. Two divisions rendezvoused at Indepen- dence; one with twenty-five wagons, under Presley Welch, with Joel Palmer and Samuel K. Barlow as aids, and one commanded by Samuel Hancock, con- sisting of forty wagons. Hancock, with Bacon and others of this immigration, have contributed liberally to my historical archives.3
A third company, with fifty-two wagons, left St Joseph under the command of Hackleman, to which belonged W. W. Buck of Oregon City,4 well known in his adopted country. A fourth company of sixty- one wagons and three hundred persons, starting from St Joseph also, was commanded by W. G. T'Vault, with John Waymire as lieutenant, and James Allen as sergeant. There was another company of sixty-six wagons, and about the same number of persons, under Solomon Tetherow. Here, as elsewhere in human
Indians on the western shore of the Missouri River, and inappropriately call- ing it our western frontier. But the pioneers of 1843 and 1844 broke over the barrier, passed the red men of the forest, and established themselves in their new homes in Oregon and California. In this mighty movement we see human nature waking in her might from the slumber of centuries, girding herself for the conflict, and overcoming every obstacle, going forth to assert her inalienable rights, and the equality of men throughout the American continent.' Or. Ter., 23-4. Niles' Reg., Ixviii. 339-40, has some remarks on the thoughtless and aimless rush of well-conditioned people to seek poverty and hardships. Polynesian, Jan. 31, 1846; Mckinlay, in H. B. Co. Ev., H. B. Co. Claims, 100. Saxton's pamphlet on Oregon Territory appears to have been first published in Washington, and afterward reproduced in Oregon City by George Abernethy. It contains the laws of Oregon, with an account of the political condition of the country, its resources, soil, climate, productions, and progress in education, with facts and figures concerning pop- ulation, and other matters, enlivened by some eloquent passages, original and quoted, of a patriotic nature.
3 Hancock settled on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. He has written a large manuscript volume, entitled Thirteen Years' Residence on the Northwest Coast, narrating the incidents of the immigration and many of his adventures on the Pacific coast. J. M. Bacon, of Barlow's division, has also written on the subject. Bacon was a native of Buffalo. Love of adventure induced him to go to Oregon. Engaging in various mercantile pursuits, he eventually settled permanently in Oregon City. His Mercantile Life at Oregon City, MS., is a running commentary on the business and business men of the country.
4 W. W. Buck was born in New York in 1804, but emigrated from Ohio. He was a saddle and harness maker, a man of intelligence and enterprise, and his manuscript gives the history of several of the first manufactories of the country, in which he was interested, under the name of Enterprises at Oregon City, MS.
510
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.
gatherings, the men of might came naturally to the front. In every migration the men selected as cap- tains at the start continued to maintain, either by talent or habit, the leadership of their fellows after reaching their destination.
Nothing unusual befell the travellers between the Missouri and Snake rivers. At Fort Hall, according to the testimony of several, an effort was made to turn the immigration toward California; and whatever un- favorable information they received concerning the distance, the road, or the natives, was imputed to the desire of the British fur company to prevent this great influx of Americans into Oregon.5 There were, however, other influences used at Fort Hall to turn American emigration to California, and from Ameri- cans themselves. The presence of the British and French squadrons in the Pacific, with the condition of Mexico, made it evident that California would soon fall into the hands of one of these two nations unless the United States sustained the popular Monroe doc- trine, which was to leave no room for monarchies on North American soil. The cabinet at Washington well understood that should Great Britain seize Cali- fornia she would be in a position to hold Oregon.6 To prevent such a consummation without hostility was the secret care of a few statesmen, of whom Benton was one of the most adroit as well as enthusiastic.7
5 Palmer's Journal, 43; Bacon's Merc. Life Or., MS., 3.
6 Roberts' Recollections, MS., 6.
" 7 In October 1844, in a speech at St Louis, Benton uttered this prophecy, already fulfilled:
'I say the man is alive, full grown, and is listening to what I say (without believing it perhaps), who will yet see the Asiatic commerce traversing the North Pacific Ocean-entering the Oregon River-climbing the western slope of the Rocky Mountains-issuing from its gorges-and spreading its fertiliz- ing streams over our wide-extended Union! The steamboat and the steam- car have not exhausted all their wonders. They have not yet even found their amplest and most appropriate theatres-the tranquil surface of the North Pacific Ocean, and the vast inclined plains which spread east and west from the base of the Rocky Mountains. The magic boat and the flying car are not yet seen upon this ocean and this plain, but they will be seen there; and St Louis is yet to find herself as near to Canton as she now is to London, with a better and safer route, by land and sea, to China and Japan, than she now has to France and Great Britain.' Oregon Spectator, Sept. 17, 1846.
511
MEETING WITH WHITE.
No significance was attached to the fact that one of the Greenwoods of the previous year's pilgrimage to California was at Fort Hall with a young man named McDougal, from Indiana, who had been despatched from California to guide the travellers through, and who were, as Palmer says, well stocked with false- hoods to induce them to take the California road. According to Palmer, fifteen wagons had been fitted out for California at the outset, and the owners of thirty-five more were persuaded by these men to join them.8 He was probably speaking of his wing of the immigration; for Saxton informs us that there were forty-six wagons destined for California on leaving Independence.9 Gray admits that L. W. Hastings, of White's immigration, did all he could to turn the peo- ple to California. The anxiety to populate that ter- ritory became intelligible when in the following spring, Frémont, acting on secret despatches, retraced his steps to California, in order that by land as well as by sea English occupancy should be anticipated by Americans. 10
The immigration progressed well after leaving Fort Hall, with the exception of the loss of two men sup- posed to have been killed by the natives, while hunt- ing at the crossing of Snake River;11 and from there to the Malheur River all went well. But at the Hot Springs near Fort Boisé a portion of the endless car- avan, one of the Independence companies, was met by White, of whose unsuccessful explorations of a few weeks previous I have already given an account.12
8 He also says in a note to his Journal, p. 44, that the immigrants alluded to, not finding California to be as represented, removed from there to Oregon; but he does not give their names.
9 Forty-six wagons, 320 oxen, 98 men, 40 women, and 57 children. Gray's Hist. Or., 453.
10 The Collingwood, says Roberts, was on her way to seize California, when they found they were too late. Several nations had an eye, about that time, to this coast. The Irish were temporarily quieted by the passage of the May- nooth bill. Recollections, MS., 60.
11 Hancock's Thirteen Years, MS., 70.
12 The first companies White met were Barlow's, Knighton's, and McDon- ald's, numbering 800, near Grand Rond. The second was Palmer's near
.
512
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.
From the fact that this company was the one to try his projected route to the heart of the Willamette Valley, it appears that White was responsible for the disasters that followed, though the guide, Stephen H. L. Meek, who probably followed White's advice, and was ambitious to distinguish himself also, incurred all the blame. However that may be, about two hundred families were persuaded to try a cut-off, with the assur- ance that they would save two hundred miles of travel by following the Malheur River and traversing the country to a pass in the mountains at the head of the Willamette Valley.
The route undertaken was an abandoned trail of the fur-trappers, which for several days they followed without experiencing unusual trouble. But in cross- ing the Malheur Mountains the country became so stony that wagons-tracks could scarcely be discerned on the disintegrated rock.13 The feet of the oxen became so sore that the poor creatures would lie down and could with great difficulty be forced to move for- ward. Not finding grass, the loose cattle constantly turned back, and thus gave unceasing trouble. Forced by the nature of the country out of his proper course, the pilot bore far to the south, where was found good grass, but only nauseous alkaline water. By day the temperature was high, and at night ice formed in the
Boisé; and the third the St Joseph's company, near the Salmon Falls of Snake River. White's Ten Years in Or., 282; Buck's Enterprises, MS., 1, 2; Palmer's Journal, 50.
13 The first gold discovery in Oregon made by any American, if not by any person, was near the head of the Malheur River, on a small creek divided from the Malheur by a ridge. This stream ran south-west, and was supposed to be a branch of the Malheur, an error that caused much trouble and disappoint- ment to prospectors eight or ten years later. Daniel Herron, a cousin of W. J. Herron of Salem, was looking for lost cattle while the company were in camp here, and picked up a piece of shining metal on the rocky bed of the creek, and carried it to camp as a curiosity. No one could tell what the metal was, and no one thought of its being gold. Another nugget was found and brought to Mr Martin's wagon, who tested it by hammering it out on his wagon-tire; but not being able to tell its nature, it was thrown into the tool- chest and forgotten, and ultimately lost. After the gold discovery in Califor- nia these incidents were remembered, and many parties went in search of the spot where the emigrants said this gold was found, but were misled by being told it was on a tributary of the Malheur. S. A. Clarke, in Portland Daily Bee, Feb. 6, 1869; Overland Monthly, iv. 201-2.
513
LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS.
water-buckets .. Neither savages nor game were found in this desolate region. There was no indication that it had ever been traversed by civilized man, and it slowly dawned upon the comprehension of the wan- derers that their pilot knew nothing of the country to which he had brought them, and from which it was doubtful if he would be able to extricate them. In the mean time, extremes of temperature, improper and insufficient nourishment, with mental agitation, brought on a sickness known as mountain fever, while the children were attacked with dysentery from drinking the alkaline waters, resulting in several deaths.
Refusing to go farther in this direction and turning north from here, they were led over a dry ridge between the John Day and Des Chutes rivers, where again the supply of water was insufficient, and a hundred men rode all day looking in every direction for springs or streams, while a hundred others pursued the fam- ishing stock which ran wildly in search of water. A company which had gone in advance of the main body here returned and reported no better prospects so far as they had travelled. Despair settled upon the people; old men and children wept together, and the strongest could not speak hopefully. Only the women continued to show firmness and courage.14
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