USA > Oregon > Marion County > Salem > Oregon and its institutions; comprising a full history of the Willamette University, the first established on the Pacific Coast > Part 19
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patent shot-pouch. This was the thing that had alarmed the chief. One story he told was that we had brought medicine in a bag that Mr. Lee wore on his neck for the purpose of killing them all off, and that if we were permitted to come among them the fatal bag would be opened and they would all be destroyed. This story exasperated many of them, especially the younger men of the tribe, and Gonea's wife told him that we were in the greatest danger the night we slept on the coast. She said that the Indians were lurking about us during that whole night, seeking an opportunity to attack when it was dark around our tent ; but that she and her brother
kept a constant watch over us until morning.
This
explained to me the exciting circumstances of that anxious night already described. The young men of the tribe had resolved to attack us in the night, and but for the wise precaution of our protectress in first erecting our tent in an open space midway between the ocean and the forest, and second, in keeping up a bright fire during the whole night and watching over us, we doubtless had fallen victims to savage barbarity, and our mission there would have ended, and this story had never been told. But be this as it may, at the time we were not sensible that we were particularly exposed, and, indeed, we felt ourselves safe under the protection of our heavenly Father.
On Friday morning we prepared to continue our exploring tour further into the interior and up the valley of the Umpqua River. Through the kind
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assistance of Mr. Gonea we procured an Indian guide of the Umpqua tribe, whom the French had designated by the name of "We We," who well understood the jargon of the country and could officiate as our interpreter. The forenoon was spent mostly in finding our horses and preparing our pack. All being ready, between twelve and one o'clock we moved up the river, our guide in advance, and pass- ing over a number of high hills and fording the Umpqua three times where the bottom was very rocky and the water was np to our horses' backs, we camped at night on the bank of a small rivulet and under the shelter of a grove of fir. We had traveled twenty miles.
Saturday, 29, continued our toilsome way over mountains and through valleys, and at noon arrived at the head-quarters of that portion of the Indians of this valley distinguished by the name of the river. Here the head chief of the Umpquas had fixed a temporary abode, and here one of those circum- stances had recently transpired which, though of com- mon occurrence in heathen countries, where the vicious propensities of human nature are permitted to revel uncontrolled, are sufficient to freeze the heart's blood even to contemplate at a distance. A report had reached the ears of the chief of the Umpquas that his wife had been guilty of infidelity toward her husband. This so enraged him that, without knowing whether the report was true or false, he seized his musket and went directly to the lodge where his wife was sitting and deliberately shot her through the heart.
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Soon after our arrival on the side of the river opposite to the village, this chief with the few men that were with him came over to see us. He made us a long speech, which was interpreted to us by We We, in making which one of his first objects seemed to be to justify the murder of his wife, and then to express his gratitude that Christian teachers had come among them. While he was haranguing us, my attention was caught away from his speech by a terrible burst of heathen passions which took place on the other side of the river among the lodges. In the absence of the men the women had a regular fight, scratching and biting each other, and tearing one another's hair, and squalling most frightfully. So tremendous was the explosion that even the chief paused in the midst of his address and significantly remarked, "Our women are hias masicha (very bad.) "
Such were the indications here that we came to the conclusion that the sooner we were out of the place the better it would be for us, and so soon as we had taken a little refreshment from our scanty stores, we told our guide that we were ready to pro- ceed ; but he positively refused to go any further that day, saying that it would be using his people very ill, and that the chief would be very angry with us if we did not stop and sleep with them one night. The contention became quite warm, and we began to consider ourselves in rather critical circumstances. If abandoned by our guide it was extremely doubtful, as we had traveled much of the distance without
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the sign of a trail, whether we could find our way back to the fort, or forward to the valley we were seeking.
But with all these difficulties we showed that we were fixed in our resolutions to leave this suspicious horde of savages before darkness should favor them in the execution of any treacherous designs which they might entertain toward us. Discovering that we were ready to mount our horses, We We became more pliable, and said that he would proceed with us on condition that we would pay him an extra shirt, having at first given him one shirt and a pair of pantaloons. Mr. Lee told him that he would give him no more, but to get rid of the difficulty I told We We that if he would go I would give him the additional shirt so soon as we should reach the California trail leading through the great valley. Turning to his people he addressed them a few words in the Umpqua language, and then told us he was ready to go. Accordingly we left this group of wretched beings about three o'clock P. M., and galloped swiftly over a little plain toward a high mountain. Three hours of hard labor in ascending and descending brought us to the foot of the mountain on the opposite side, and passing through a dense thicket we found ourselves again on the bank of the river. We We brought out a well- known Indian " whoop," and was answered by another Indian just below us on the river. Im- mediately four Indians came in sight with a canoe, and We We told us we had better unpack our
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horses, and put all our things in the canoe to be taken up the river a few miles beyond a place where the pass by the way of the trail was very rocky, narrow, and dangerous.
But the strange conduct of the Indians we had just left had excited our suspicions, and supposing that those in the canoe were some of the same party whom We We had perhaps caused to come up the river for no good purpose, we resolved to keep what we had under our own eye as long as we could. We therefore told the guide that we should keep our things on our horses' baeks. We We hung his head, and told ns we would be sorry for it before we got through.
We proceeded, but found it as We We had fore- warned us. Our trail lay along a frightful precipice which towered far above us, and extended far below us, and in some places was so narrow and broken that a misstep would have precipitated us headlong on the rocks below, or into the rushing waters of the Umpqua. In one instance my own horse, which I hap- pened to be leading at the time instead of riding, fell fifteen feet down the rocks, but catching upon a kind of shelf on the side of the precipice, at lengthi succeeded in gaining the trail without receiving much injury.
But we were not destined to make the pass without receiving a proof that the caution of We We was well founded. We were attempting to pass the last dangerous point when " Old Pomp," our pack-horse, lost his footing, and rolling down a rocky steep of some thirty feet, went backward into the Umpqua
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River. We had fastened around his neck a lasso some forty feet long, and the loose end of the lasso remaining on shore, we succeeded, by drawing it around a tree, in raising and keeping the head of the animal above the water until We We had relieved him of his pack. While We We dashed in among the rocks, where the water was up to his neck, and was exerting himself to his utmost to relieve the horse of his burden and save him from drowning, he taunt- ingly told us that we might have saved ourselves that difficulty if we had trusted to the honesty of an Indian, and we ourselves began to suspect that our fears had been quite groundless. It required our utmost efforts to keep the horse from drowning ; but after we had relieved him of his pack he managed himself a little better, and finding a place which was not quite so steep as the one where he entered the river, we succeeded at that point in getting him up on the rocky shore. All our bedding, provisions, etc., were thoroughly soaked; but gathering up what was not spoiled, putting some on the horses, and carrying some on our own shoulders, we started on, being informed by our guide that it was not far to a fine prairie.
Night began to set in, and as we left the scene of our disaster we entered a dense forest of fir, and the gloom continued to thicken around us until we were enveloped in total darkness. We were leading our animals by the bridle, and feeling our way among the trees in the midst of darkness so dense that it was impossible to see a white horse though within a
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foot of one's face, when we became so entangled among the logs, ravines, and brush that we found it was impossible to go either forward or backward, to the right or to the left, and colloquizing a little through the darkness, we came to the conclusion to tie our horses to the trees and make the best of the night we could. Having a few matches in my pocket that I had preserved from getting wet, and the leaves and limbs under my feet being perfectly dry, I soon had the forest illuminated, and then was disclosed to our view a most horrible place. We sought for a spot on which to sleep, but could find none level and large enough to stretch ourselves upon. We must either bend over the top of a knoll, or double up in a ravine, or we must remain in a standing or sitting posture. We preferred the second ; so wrapping ourselves in our blankets which we had taken time to dry, and rolling into a hollow, we tried to compose ourselves to sleep; but the crackling of limbs by the tramp of our horses, the howling of wolves, and the screech of an owl above our heads, frequently disturbed our repose. The morning sun, however, enabled us so to adjust our rather disar- ranged affairs that we could quite comfortably pros- ecute our journey.
The next day was Sabbath, but we could not remain where we were, and we resolved to keep the day in the best manner we could under the circumstances, Learning from We We that a band of the Umpquas was a few miles away we resolved to visit them. We found about thirty, with whom we tarried for several
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hours, and preached to them "Jesus and the resur- rection." They behaved themselves quite orderly, and were anxious to render us all the assistance in their power ; and they told us they very much wanted a missionary to come and live among them. Not desiring to sleep in the vicinity of their camp we made signs of wishing to leave, and the old men came around us, of whom there were several, and pat- ting us on the shoulders professed to have conceived for us a strong attachment. But we concluded that their love for us was not so ardent as to render it desir- able on our part to stop with them over night ; and as our provisions were nearly exhausted, we decided to set our faces toward the Willamette Valley. Gathering up the wreck of our pack we again mounted, and ford- ing the Umpqua for the last time, traveled about twelve miles, and encamped on the bank of a beautiful rivulet known as the Callapooia Creek. We had traveled during the day about twenty-five miles over as fine a country as can be found in any part of the world. An agreeable variety of hills, plains, and groves of pine, fir, and oak, constituted scenery of the most picturesque beauty, and the eye was never weary in gazing upon the ever-varying picture. Though the country was destitute of inhabitants, except the wild beasts and savages as wild as they, yet we could not but contemplate the time as not far distant when it would be teeming with all the activities and associations of a civilized and Christian people.
The Indians inhabiting the Umpqua Valley from
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the Pacific Ocean one hundred miles into the interior were very few. All that we could find, or get any satisfactory evidence as then in existence, did not ex- ceed three hundred and seventy-five souls. These lived in several different clans, were hostile to each other, and spoke two distinct languages. They were favorable toward the establishment of a mission in their country, but seemed to think that the greatest benefit it would confer upon them would be to enable them to sell their beaver and deer skins for a higher price. The most of them, residing as they did on the coast, were almost inaccessible, and the estab- lishment and support of a mission among them would have been attended with immense expense.
The best information we could obtain from the Indians and others, led us to the conclusion that the time doubtless had been when the Indians of the valley had been vastly more numerous, but by disease and family wars their numbers had been greatly reduced, and were still rapidly diminishing. Under the solemn impression that the doom of extinction was suspended over this wretched race, and that the hand of Providence was removing it to give place to a people more worthy of this beautiful and fertile country, we committed ourselves to quietness and repose for the night.
Having fulfilled his engagement in bringing us to this point, our guide took leave of us and returned to his people ; and on Monday morning, September 1, having the California trail as our guide, we quickened our pacc northwardly, and at noon stopped for din-
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ner on Elk River, at the place where, on going out, we left the trail. In the afternoon we again passed over the Callapooia Mountains, and found that the fire was still raging with increased violence. A vast quantity of the large fir and cedar timber had been burned down, and in some places the trail was so blockaded with fallen trees that it was almost impos- sible to proceed ; while now and then we passed a giant cedar or mammoth fir, through whose trunks the fire had made a passage, and was still flaming like an oven. Every few moments these majestic spars would come crashing, crackling, and thunder- ing to the ground.
But while the fire was thus robbing the mountain of its glory, we pushed on over its desolated ridges, and at sundown arrived on a little prairie at its northern base, where we made our camp; but we were often awakened during the night by the crash of falling timber.
Tuesday, 2, proceeded, and at noon arrived in the southern part of the Willamette Valley, where, ac- cording to engagement, we met the Callapooia chief. He had collected about sixty of his people, and said he had about forty more. We remained with them four hours, and, as best we could, preached to them " the unsearchable riches of Christ." Many of them were sick, and they appeared wretched beyond de- scription. Our bowels of compassion yearned over them, but it was not in our power to help them.
Commending them to God, at four P. M. we pur- sued our way, but finding no water, we did not camp
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till eleven o'clock at night. Though it was very dark, our Spanish horses kept the narrow trail wind- ing along down the valley, while ever and anon the stillness of the evening would be broken by the dis- mal howling of the wolves that prowled around us. Finding no water yet, fearing that our horses would fail, we stripped them on the open prairie, and turned them loose to shirk for themselves, and lay ourselves down upon our blankets without supper, and with our lips parched with thirst. Next morning, how- ever, like Hagar in the desert, we found ourselves
within a short distance of good water. Here I
roasted a small duck for our breakfast, which the Callapooia chief had given us, and which we ate with neither bread nor sauce ; but a cup of coffee, that sine qua non for prairie traveling, washed it down, and on the strength of it we traveled forty miles during the day over a country of surpassing loveliness. Surely, thought I, infinite skill has here been employed in fitting up a country which requires nothing more than a population under the influence of the religion of Christ to render it a perfect para- dise. The last night we encamped within fifteen miles of our families and friends, and, picking the bones of our duck, which we had the precaution to carry with us, we rested upon our blankets until morning.
Thursday, the 4th, weary and hungry, about two o'clock P. M. we reached our home in safety, but found that our families in our absence had been in- vaded by disease ; but having been constantly in a
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healthy exercise ourselves we returned in the enjoy- ment of excellent health, and the temporary weakness resulting from excessive labor and the want of food for the previous three days was soon remedied by an ap- propriation of "nature's sweet restorer " and the ample viands spread before us by our companions.
Twenty-eight years have passed since this, to me, memorable tour of observation was performed. The country then, from Salem to Mexico, the distance of seven hundred miles, so far as civilized humanity was concerned, was one vast solitude, now the whole extent is occupied by Anglo-Saxons, and everywhere appear the signs of an advancing civilization and Christianity. The same country which twenty-eight years ago was so desolate and dreary, for four years past has constituted a presiding elder's district, where the writer has been preaching the Gospel to thou- sands upon thousands in every part of the land. Let it never be forgotten that the missionary of the cross was not only the pioneer, but the instrument of es- tablishing a Christian civilization on the shores of the great Pacific. Surely the wilderness and the solitary places have been made glad for them, and the desert has rejoiced and blossomed as the rose.
THE END.
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