History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888, Part 47

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Mrs. Frances Auretta Fuller Barrett, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1886-88
Publisher: San Francisco : The History Co.
Number of Pages: 836

USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 47

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Eleven persons had now been killed, six others had left the train, and there remained thirty-seven men, women, and children. They were too hard pressed to secure even a little food, and with one loaf of bread hastily snatched by Mrs Chase, fled, under cover of the darkness, out into the wilderness to go-they knew not whither. By walking all night and hiding under the bank of the river during the day they eluded the Indians. The men had some fish-hooks,

18 Thesc men were named Snyder, Murdoch, Chambourg, and Chaffey. Snyder and Chaffey escaped and reported the other two as killed. Account of Joseph Myers, in Olympia Standard, Nov. 30, 1860; see also Sac. Union, Oct. 10, 1860.

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WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.

the women some thread, which furnished lines for fishing, by which means they kept from starving. As the howlings of the Indians could still be heard, ho travel was attempted except at night. After go- ing about seventy miles, the mnen became too weak from famine to carry the young children. Still they had not been entirely without food, since two dogs that had followed them had been killed and caten.

After crossing Snake River near Fort Boisé they lost the road, and being unable to travel, encamped on the Owyhee River. Just before reaching this their final camp, a poor cow was discovered, which the carlier emigration had abandoned, whose flesh mixed with the berries of the wild rose furnished scanty subsistence, eked out by a few salmon pur- chased of some Indians encamiped on the Snake River in exchange for articles of clothing and ammunition. The members of the party now awaiting their doom, in the shelter of the wigwams on the banks of the Owyhee, were Alexis Vanorinan, Mrs Vanorman, Mark Vanorman, Mr and Mrs Chase, Daniel and Albert Chase, Elizabeth and Susan Trimble, Samuel Gleason, Charles and Henry Utter, an infant child of the murdered Mrs Utter, Joseph Myers, Mrs Myers, and five young children, Christopher Trimble, several children of Mr Chase,19 and several of Mr Vanorman's.

Before encamping it had been determined to send an express to the settlements. An old man named Mun- son, and a boy of eleven, Christopher Trimble, were selected to go. On reaching Burnt River they found the Reith brothers and Chaffey, one of the deserting soldiers. They had mistaken their way and wandered

19 These are all the names mentioned by Myers in his account of the sojourn on the Owyhee; but there are other names given by the Reith broth- ers who first arrived at Umatilla. These were William Anttly, a soldier fiom Fort Hall; A. Markerman, wife and five children; an old man named Civilian G. Munson; and Charles Kesner, a soldier from Fort Hall. U. N. Sen. Doc. 1, vol. ii. 143, 1860-61, 36th cong. 2d sess. Munson was among the rescued; all the others must have been killed in flight. Myers of course could not see all that was transpiring in the moment of greatest emergency.

473

STARVATION.

in the wilderness, having just returned to the road. Munson went on with these four men, two of whom succumbed before reaching any settlement, and young Trimble returned to the Owyhee to encourage the others in the hope that help might come. They therefore made what effort they could to keep them- selves alive with frogs caught along the river.

During the first fortnight the Indians made several visits to the eamp of the emigrants, and carried away their guns. A considerable quantity of clothing had been disposed of for food, and as there was nothing to replace it, and the nights were cold, there was an in- crease of suffering from that cause. The Indians took away also by force the blankets which the fleeing men and women had seized. Alarmed lest another day they might strip him of all his clothing, and end by killing him, Vanorman set out with his wife and children, five in number, Samuel Gleason, and Charles and Henry Utter, to go forward on the road, hoping the sooner to meet a relief party. As it afterward appeared, they reached Burnt River, where all their bodies were subsequently discovered, except those of the four younger children, who, it was thought, were taken into captivity.20 They had been murdered by the savages, and Mrs Vanorman scalped.

Not long after the departure from camp of this unfortunate party, Mr Chase died from cating sal- mon, which he was too weak to digest. A few days later, Elizabeth Trimble died of starvation, followed shortly by her sister Susan. Then died Daniel and Albert Chase, also of famine. For about two weeks previous, the Indians had ceased to bring in food, or,

20 ' Eagle-from-the-Light, a Nez Perce, had just returned from the Snake country, and there came with him four Snake Indians, who informed Agent Cain that they knew of four children, members of that unfortunate party, that were yet alive. Arrangements were made with them by which they agree to bring them in, and accordingly have left their squaws, and returned to their country for that purpose.' Letter from Walla Walla, in Or. Irgus, Dec. 22, 1860. The Indians who went after the children, one of whom was a girl of thirteen, returned on account of snow in the mountains. They were heard of within 150 miles of the Flathead agency, and were sent for by Mr Owen, agent at that place, but were never found.

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WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.

indeed, to show themselves, and thus helped on the catastrophe, the indirect cause of which was their dread of soldiers. Young Trimble had been in the habit of visiting the Indian camp before mentioned, and one day on returning to the immigrant camp brought with him some Indians having salmon to sell. As Trimble was about to accompany them back to their village, he was asked by Myers to describe the trail, "for," said he, "if the soldiers come to our relief we shall want to send for you." It was an unfortu- nate utterance. At the word 'soldiers' the Indians betrayed curiosity and fear. They never returned to the white camp; but when sought they had fled, leav- ing the body of the boy, whom they murdered, to the wolves.

At length, in their awful extremity, the living were compelled to eat the bodies of the dead. This deter- mination, says Myers, was unanimous, and was arrived at after consultation and prayer. The bodies of four children were first consumed, and eaten of sparingly, to make the hated food last as long as it might. But the time came when the body of Mr Chase was ex- humed and prepared for eating. Before it had been tasted, succor arrived, the relief parties of the Indian agency and Captain Dent reaching the Owyhee, forty- five days after the attack on Snake River. When the troops came into this camp of misery, they threw themselves down on their faces and wept, and thought it a cruelty that Captain Dent would not permit them to scatter food without stint among the half-naked living skeletons stretched upon the ground, or that he should resist the cries of the wailing and emaci- ated children.

The family of Myers, Mrs Chase and one child, and Miss Trimble were all left alive at the camp on the Owyhee. Munson and Chaffey were also rescued, making twelve brought in by the troops. These with the three men who first reached the Columbia River were all that survived of a company of fifty-four per-

475

ACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE.

sons. Thirty-nine lives had been lost, a large amount of property wasted, and indescribable suffering endured for six weeks. When Captain Dent arrived with the rescued survivors at the Blue Mountains, they were already covered with snow, which a little later would have prevented his return.21

The Oregon legislature being in session when news of the Snake River massacre reached the Willamette Valley, Governor Whiteaker, in a special message, suggested that they memorialize the president, the secretary of war, and the commander of the depart- ment of Oregon, on the necessity for greater security of the immigration between forts Hall and Walla Walla. He reminded them that they had just passed through an Indian war from which the country was greatly depressed, and left it with the legislature to determine whether the state should undertake to chastise the Indians, or whether that duty should be left to the army.22 Acting upon the governor's sug- gestion, a memorial was addressed to congress, asking for a temporary post at the Grand Rond, with a com- mand of twenty-five men; another with a like command on Burnt River; and a permanent post at Boisé of not less than one company. These posts could be supplied from Walla Walla, which, since the opening of the country to settlement, had become a flourishing centre of business. 23 The troops at the two tempo- rary posts of Grande Ronde and Burnt River could

21 Washington Standard, Nov. 30, 1860; Or. Statesman, Nov. 26, 1860; Portland Advertiser, Nov. 7, 1860; Hlay's Scraps, v. 191; Or. Argus, Nov. 21, 1860; Olympia Pioneer and Democrat, Oct. 19, 1860; Ind. Aff. Rept, 18G1, 155; U. S. 11. E.c. Doc. 45, vol. viii., 36th cong. 2d sess. ; C'ong. Globe, 1860-G1, part ii. p. 1324-5; Or. Jour. Senate, 1860, 63; Special Message of G v. Whiteaker, in Or. Statesman, Oct. 13, 1860; S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 14 and 23, 1860.

22 Or. Statesman, Oct. 15, 1860.

23 The beneficial results of the military post at Walla Walla, erected by order of General Wool iu 1857, had been great. 'Where but recently the bones of our countrymen were bleaching on the ground, now all is quiet and our citizens are living in peace, cultivating the soil, and this year have har- vested thousands of bushels of grain, vegetables are produced in abundance, mil's have been crected, a village has sprung up, shops and stores have been opened, and civilization has accomplished wonderful results by the wise policy of the government.' Memorial to Cong., Or. Laws, 1860, ap. 2.

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WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.

return to Fort Walla Walla to winter, and remain in garrison from November till May. Another perma- nent post at or near the Great Falls of Snake River, garrisoned by at least one full company, was asked for, where also an Indian agent should be stationed. This post it was believed would hold in check not only the Indians, but lawless white men, fugitives from justice, who consorted with them, and could be supplied from Fort Hall.

The same memorial urged that treaties should be made with all the Indians of Oregon, removing them to reservations; and asked for military posts at Warm Springs and Klamath Lake. In connection with these military establishments, the legislature recom- mended the construction of a military road from the foot of the Cascades of the Columbia to Fort Walla Walla, which should be passable when the Columbia was obstructed by ice. In a briefer memorial the secretary of war was informed of the want of military protection on the routes of immigration, and asked to establish three posts within the eastern borders of Oregon; namely, a four-company post at Fort Boisé; a two-company post on the Malheur River, for the pur- pose of protecting the new immigrant trail from Boisé to Eugene City; and a one-company post somewhere on Snake River between forts Boise and Walla Walla. This memorial also asked that a military road be constructed on the trail leading from Eugene City to Boisé.24

The Umpqua district being attached to the depart- ment of California, it devolved on General Clarke in command to look after the southern route to Oregon. This he did by ordering Lieutenant A. Piper of the 3d artillery, stationed at Fort Umpqua, to take the

24 The committee that prepared this memorial evidently was under the impression that Steen had completed a reconnoissance of the middle route, which was not the case, his time being chiefly spent, as Wright expressed it, in 'pursuing an invisible foe.' Steen's report was published by congress. See Cong. Globe, 1860-1, part ii., 1457.

477

SUCCESS OF THE SNAKES.

field in southern Oregon with one company June 27th, and proceed to the Klamath Lake country to quiet disturbances there, occasioned by the generally hostile attitude of the Indians of northern California, Ne- vada, and southern Oregon at this time. Piper en- camped at a point seventy-five miles west of Jack- sonville, which he called Camp Day. In September a train of thirty-two wagons arrived there, which had escaped with no further molestation than the loss of some stock. Another train being behind, and it becoming known that a hundred Snake Indians were in the vicinity of Klamath Lake, under a chief named Howlack, sixty-five men were sent forward to their protection. They thus escaped evils intended for them, but which fell on others.

Successes such as had attended the hostile move- ments of the Snake Indians during the years of 1859-60 were likely to transform them from a cow- ardly and thieving into a warlike and murderous foe. The property obtained by them in that time amounted to many thousands of dollars, and being in arms, am- munition, horses, and cattle, placed them upon a war footing, which with their nomadic habits and knowl- edge of the country rendered them no despicable foe, as the officers and troops of the United States were yet to be compelled to acknowledge.25

25 In the summer of 1858 G. H. Abbott, Indian agent, went into the Ind- ian country, afterward known to military men as the Lake District, with a view to make treaties with the Snakes, Bannocks, Klamaths, and Modocs, the only tribes capable of making war, who had neither been conquered nor treated with, and selected a place for an agency north of the Klamath Lakes, and about 75 miles from Jacksonville in a north-easterly direction. On his return bis party discovered the remains of five men, prospectors, who had been murdered, as it was believed, by Klamaths, on the head waters of Butte creek, the middle fork of Rogue River. They were Eli Tedford, whose body was burned, Robert Probst, James Crow, S. F. Conger, and James Brown. Ind. Aff. Rept, 1859, 391-2. A company of volunteers at once went in search of the murderers, three of whom, chiefly by the assistance of the agent, were apprehended, and whom the Klamaths voluntarily killed to pre- vent trouble; that tribe being now desirous of standing well with the U. S. government. Five other renegades from the conquered tribes of the Rogue River mountains were not captured. In June 1859 a prospecting party from Lane county was attacked on the head waters of the Malheur River, and two of the men wounded. They escaped with a loss of $7,000 or $8,000 worth of property. Sac. Union, July 7, ISGO. Of the emigrants of 1859 who

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WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.

The continual search for gold which had been going on in the Oregon territory both before and after its di- vision 26 was being actively prosecuted at this time. An acquaintance with the precious metal in its native state having been acquired by the Oregon miners in California in 1848-9, reminded some of them that persons who had taken the Meek cut-off in 1845, while passing through the Malheur country had picked up an unfamiliar metal, which they had hammered out on a wagon-tire, and tossed into a tool-chest, but which was afterward lost. That metal they were now confi- dent was gold, and men racked their brains to remember the identical spot where it was found; even going on an expedition to the Malheur in 1849 to look for it, but without success.

Partial discoveries in many parts of the country

took the southern route into the Klamath Lake valley, one small train was so completely cut off that their fate might never have been discovered but for the intormation furnished by a Klamath Indian, who related the affair to Abbott. The men and women were all killed at the moment of attack, and the children, reserved for slavery, were removed with their plunder to the island in Tule Lake, long famous as the refuge of the murderous Modocs. A few days later, seeing other emigrant trains passing, the Indians became apprehensive and killed their captives. Abbott made every effort to learn something more definite, hut without success. By some of the Modocs it was denied; by others the crime was charged upon the Pit River Indians, and the actual criminals were never brought to light. In the summer of 1858, also, that worthy Oregon pioneer, Felix Scott, and seven others had been cut off by the Modocs, and a large amount of property captured or destroyed. Drew made a report on the Modocs, in Ind. Aff. Rept, 1863, 59, where he enumerates 112 victims of their hostility since 1852, and estimates the amount of property taken at not less than $300,000.

26 As early as July 1850 two expeditions set out to explore for gold on the Spokane and Yakima rivers, S. F. Pac. News, July 24 and Oct. 10, 1850; but it was not found in quantities sufficient to cause any excitement. M. De Saint-Amaut, an envoy of the French government, travelling in Oregon in 1851, remarked, page 365 of his book, that without doubt gold existed in the Yakima country, and added that the Indians daily found nuggets of the pre- cious metal. He gave the same account of the Spokane country, but I doubt if his knowledge was gained from any more reliable source than rumor. There were similar reports of the Pend d'Oreille country in 1832. Zabriskie's Land Law, 823. In 1853 Captain George B. McClellan, then connected with the Pacific railroad survey, found traces of gold at the head-waters of the Yak- ima River. Stevens' Nurr., in Pac. R. R. Rept, xii. 140. In 1854 some mining was done on that river and also on the Wenatchie. Or. Statesman, June 20, 1834; S. F. Alta, June 13, 1834; and prospecting was begun on Burnt River in the autumn of the same year. Ebey's Journal, MS., ii. 39, 50, and also in the vicinity of The Dalles. S. F. Alta, Sept. 30, 1854. In 1835 there were discoveries near Colville, the rush to which place was interrupted by the Indian war. In 1837-8 followed the discoveries in British Columbia, and the Frazer River excitement.

479

SEARCHING FOR GOLD.

north of the Columbia again in 1854 indueed a fresh search for the 'lost diggings,' as the forgotten locality of the gold find in 1845 was called, which was as un- successful as the previous one. Such was the faith, however, of those who had handled the stray nugget, that parties resumned the search for the lost diggings, while yet the Indians in all the eastern territory were hostile, and mining was forbidden by the military au- thorities.27 The search was stimulated by Wallen's report of his road expedition down the Malheur in 1859, gold being found on that stream; and in 1860 there was formed in Lane county the company before mentioned, which was attacked by the Snakes,28 and robbed of several thousand dollars' worth of horses and supplies. In August 1861 still another company was organized to prosecute the search, but failed like the others; and breaking up, scattered in various parts of the country, a small number remaining to pros- pect on the John Day and Powder rivers, where some- time in the autumn good diggings were discovered.23

27 In August 1857 James McBride, George L. Woods, Perry McCullock, Henry Moore, and three others, Or. Argus, Aug. 8, 1857, left The Dalles, in- tending to go to the Malheur, but were driven hack by the Snake Indiaus, and fleeing westward, crossed the Cascade Mountains near the triple peaks of the Three Sisters, emerging into the Willamette Valley in a famishing condition. Victor's Trail-making in Oregon, in Overland Monthly. In August 1858 Mc- Bride organized a second expedition, consisting of 26 men, who after a month's search returned disappointed. Or. Argus, Sept. 18, 1858. Other attempts followed, but the exact locality of the lost diggings was never fixed.

28 This party was led by Henry Martin, who organized another company the following year.

29 There were three companies exploring in eastern Oregon in 1861; the one from Marion county is the one above referred to, seven men remaining after the departure of the principal part of the expedition. It appears that J. L. Adams was the actual discoverer of the John Day diggings, and one Marshall of the Powder River mines. The other companies were from Clack- amas and Lane, and each embraced about 60 men. The Lane company pros- pected the Malheur unsuccessfully. In Owen's Directory the discovery of the John Day mines is incorrectly attributed to Californians. Portland Art- vertiser, in Olympia Herald, Nov. 7, 1861; Portland Oregonian, Nov. 7, 1861; Sac. Union, Nov. 16, 1861; N. Y. Engineering and Mining Journal, in Port- Und D. Hlerald, March 22, 1871; Cal. Farmer, Feb. 27, 1863. Previous to the announcement of the discoveries by the Oregon prospectors, E. D. Pierce returned to Walla Walla from an expedition of eight weeks in extent, per- formed with a party of 20 through the country ou the west side of Snake River, taking in the Malheur, Burnt, Powder, and Grande Ronde rivers. He reported finding an extensive gold-field on these streams, with room for thou- sands of miners, who could make from three to fifteen dollars a day each.

$30

WAR AND DEVELOPMENT.

Two men working half a day on Powder River cleaned up two and a half pounds of gold-dust. One claim yielded $6,000 in four days; and one pan of earth con- tained $150. These stories created the liveliest inter- est in every part of Oregon, and led to an immediate rush to the new gold-fields, though it was already November when the discovery was made known.

Taken in connection with the discoveries in the Nez Percé country, which preceded them by about a year and a half, these events proved that gold-fields extended from the southern boundary of Oregon to the British possessions. Already the migration to the Nez Perce, Oro Fino, and Salmon River mines had caused a great improvement in the country. It had excited a rapid growth in Portland and The Dalles,30 and caused the organization of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company,31 which in 1861 had steamboats carrying freight three times a week to

Pierce brought specimens of silver-bearing rocks to be assayed. About forty persons in Oct. had taken claims in the Grande Ronde Valley, prepared to winter therc. Portland Oregonian, Aug. 27, 1861; Or. Statesman, Oct. 21, 1861; S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 24, 1861; Sac. Union, Nov. 4 and 16, 1861.

30 Wasco county was assessed in 1803 $1,500,000, a gain of half a million since 1862, notwithstanding heavy losses by flood and snow. Or. Argus, Sept. 28, 1863.

31 The James P. Flint, a small iron propeller, built in the east, was the first steamboat on the Columbia above the Cascades. She was hanled up over the rapids in 1852 to run to The Dalles, for the Bradford brothers, Daniel and Putnam. The Yakima war of 1855-6 gave the first real im- pulse to steamboating on the Columbia above the Willamette. The first steamer built to run to the Cascades was the Belle, owned by J. C. Ainsworth & Co., the next the Fashion, owned by J. O. Van Bergen. J. S. Ruckle soon after built the Mountain Buck. Others rapidly followed. In 1856 between the Cascades and The Dalles there were the Mary and the Wasco, built by the Bradfords. In 1857 there was no steamboas above The Dalles, and Cap- tain Cram of the army confidently declared there never could be. I. J. Stever 3 contradicted this view, and a correspondence ensued. Olympia Her- ald, Dec. 24, 1858. In 1858 R. R. Thompson built a steamboat above the Cascades, called The Venture, which getting into the current was carried over the falls. She was repaired, named the Umatilla, and taken to Fraser River. In the autumn and winter of ISS8-9, R. Il. Thompson and Lawrence W. Coe built the Colonel Wright above The Dulles, which in spite of C'ram's prognostics ran to Fort Walla Walla, to Priest's Rapids, and up Snake River. The Hassaloe was also put on the river between the Cascades and The Dalles in 1858, and below the Cascades the Carrie A. Ladd. There was at this time a horse-railroad at the portage on the north side of the Cascades, owned by Bradford & Co., built in 1833. In 1858 J. O. Van Bergen purchased the right of way on the south side of the Cascades, and began a tramway, like that on the north side, but used in connection with his steamers. Subse-

481

STEAMERS ON THE COLUMBIA.

The Dalles for the country beyond. Walla Walla had grown to be a thriving town and an outfitting station for miners, where horses, cattle, saddles, har-

quently J. S. Ruckle and Henry Olmstead purchased it to complete their line to The Dalles. At this stage of progress a company was formed by Ainsworth, Rnckle, and Bradford & Co., their common property being the Carrie A. Ladd, Señorita, Belle, Mountain Buck, another small steamer run- ning to The Dalles, and five miles of horse-railroad on the north side of the river. The company styled itself the Union Transportation Company, and soon purchased the Independence and Wasco, owned by Alexander Ankeny, and the James P. Flint and Fashion, owned by J. O. Van Bergen.

As there was no law in Oregon at this time under which corporations could be established, the above-named company obtained from the legislature of Washington an act incorporating it under the name of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. When the Oregon legislature passed a general incor- poration act granting the same privileges enjoyed under the Washington law, the company was incorporated under it, and paid taxes in Oregon. In 1861 the railroad portage on the south side of the Cascades was completed, and the following year the O. S. N. Co. purchased it, laying down iron rails and put- ting on a locomotive built at the Vulcan foundery of S. F. The first train run over the road was on April 20, 1863, and the same day the railroad port- age from The Dalles to Celilo was opened. Meantime the O. S. N. Co. had consolidated with Thompson and Coc above The Dalles in 1861, and now became a powerful monopoly, controlling the navigation of the Columbia above the Willamette. Their charges for passage and freight were always as high as they would stand, this being the principle on which charges were regulated, rather than the cost of transportation.

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History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888, Part 47

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Mrs. Frances Auretta Fuller Barrett, 1826-1902 Publication date: 1886-88 Publisher: San Francisco : The History Co. Number of Pages: 836

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Mrs. Frances Auretta Fuller Barrett, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1886-88
Publisher: San Francisco : The History Co.
Number of Pages: 836