USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
"If you deem it advisable to have a committee appointed in this behalf, I would recommend that it be instructed to secure, if possible, the co-operation of a committee from the Pioneer Associa- tion, Indian War Veterans, Native Daughters and State Historical Society. "It seems probable that not only the City of Portland, but the legislature, will have to be looked to in order that the property may be appropriated to the purpose. I would therefore suggest that the legal status of the case be inquired into before other effort is made, and, if it be lawful for the property to be so disposed of, that determined and united- effort be made to accomplish the object lierein set forth."
All the societies mentioned for co-op- eration in the suggestion have named committees for the purpose of conference and action, and with united effort their objects will no doubt be accomplished.
The following was also suggested: "A great many Native Sons and Daughters are unable to entertain the pioneers and take part in their exercises on that day, on account of interfering with their bus- iness vocations. I therefore recommend that a committee of five members of the grand cabin be appointed to have a bill passed at the next legislature to make June 15 a legal holiday of the state in lionor of our noble and brave pioneers.
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Sol Blumauer, grand president; A. E. Reames, of Jackson- ville, first grand vice-president; H. T. McClallen, second grand vice-president; . Fred H. Saylor, grand secretary: H. C. Wortman, grand treasurer; C. T. Bel- cher, grand marshal; W. R. Barrett,
103
BIOGRAPHICAL.
grand orator; R. C. Ganong, J. P. Walker, C. E. Foster, C. C. Goldsmith, C. H. Walker, E. R. Drake, M. A. Bak- er, grand trustees ; Emery Herron, grand inside sentinel; E. H. Matthieu, grand outside sentinel. Past Grand President J. C. Leasure liolds over, as no successor was elected to that position.
The Grand Cabin, Native Daughters, hield their first annual session on June 13 and 14, at. Artisan's Hall. Twenty-one cabins were represented, twenty of which were instituted during the past year. A number of changes were made in the laws, and the ritual worded so as to make it practically a new one. One of the features of the session was the address of retiring Grand President Mrs. R. A. Miller.
The following officers for the ensuing year were elected: Mrs. Robert A. Mil- ler, past grand president; Mrs. James Welch, grand president; Mrs. J. C. Leasure first grand vice-president; Mrs. Ella Dun Rice, second grand vice-pres- ident; Mrs. W. D. Palmer, grand secre-
tary; Mrs. J. A. White, grand treasurer; Mrs. Matthews, grand marshal; Mrs. Julia Gault, grand inside sentinel; Mrs. Minnie Cozard, grand outside sentinel; Mrs. C, H. Smith, grand historian; Maud Pope Allyn, Mrs. Pearl Snow; Edith Tongue Reames; Mrs. I. L. Pat- terson, Mrs. Mary Kenny, Mrs. C. W. Fulton, Mrs. Sallie Applegate Long, grand trustees.
Outside grand officers and delegates were tendered a banquet at Brandes res- taurant on the evening of the 14th by Eliza Spaulding Warren's Cabin, Native Daughters, and Abernethy's Cabin, Na- tive Sons, of Portland. Among the guests of the evening were Gov. T. T. Geer and bride, both of whom were born in Oregon.
On the evening of the 15th a recep- tion and dance was tendered to all -isit- ors at Parson's hall. Refreshments were served during the evening. This affair was also under the auspices of the Port- land cabins Native Sons and Native Daughters.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
REV. ALVIN F. WALLER.
Born in Abington. Pennsylvania, May S, 1808. Was brought up in the faith of the Methodist church, of which he became a member when he reached the age of twenty- one and three years later began to preach. In 1833 he wedded Miss Elpha White, the fruits of the union being three children, one son and two daughters, one of the later being an Oregon girl. In 1839 he, together with his family, came in the ship around Cape Horn to the far off Pacific Northwest to labor in the missionary field. He arrived in 1840 and for thirty-two years thereafter he was faith- ful to the cause of the Master, and during such time he was an active participant in the laying of the foundations of charitable and religious institutions. He was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Oregon Institute, from which grew the Wil- lamette University. and he was the prin-
cipal agent in establishing the Pacific Chris- tian Advocate, founded in 1853.
His good works were innumerable. and were performed in a truly Christian spirit. As a man and a minister, Mr. Waller had great perseverance, energy and fidelity, and was a clear, logical and powerful preacher. His judgment had weight in the public mind on all questions, whether connected with state or ecclesiastical interests. because his intellect was many-sided. He was a minister, and had an intense loyalty to his church; but he was more,-a broad, patriotic, and public-spirited man.
In such pioneers as Mr. Waller a great blessing came to the early days when civiliza- tions were made and commonwealths found- ed on the shores of the Pacific. During his life in Oregon he made his home in Salem. He died there, December 26, 1872. Mrs. Wal- ler survived him for nine years, dying De- cember 30. 1881. Their children were O. A. Waller, Mrs. C. H. Hall and Mrs. C. C. Strat- ton.
/
104
OREGON NATIVE SON.
SIR JAMES DOUGLAS.
James Douglas (since distinguished as Sir James), the first and very efficient governor of British Columbia, was eminently worthy to be the confrere of Dr. McLoughlin and Peter Skeen Ogden. He was the son of a West Indian planter, and descended from the Black Douglas who in days of old was the chief support of the Scottish throne. He was educated at Glasgow, Scotland. In 1817 he entered the employ of the Northwest Company as apprentice clerk and by his sub- sequent endeavor, held many positions of responsibility and trust, dying a knight of the British empire.
He early became acquainted with Dr. Mc- Loughlin, and from such time until the end, they were like brothers. He was a man who never acted upon impulse, but was always cool, wise, dispassionate and brave. He ad- ministered the affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company with credit to himself and with the approval of those employing him. The American settlers can never forget his aiding them with arms and munitions of war with which to punish the hostile Indians east of the mountains in 1855-56, the sending of an armed vessel to the Sound to protect the in- fant settlements there located, nor his ac- tions in the rescue of the whites captured by the Queen Charlotte Island Indians in 1851- 52.
Sir James was the first person to occupy a judicial position west of the Rockies, such being justice of the peace in the earlier for- ties. He was also the first judicial officer un- der the provisional government, to be sta- tioned north of the Columbia.
He was married in January, 1837, to Miss Nelia Connolly, daughter of James Connolly, chief factor at Fort James. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev. Her- bert Beaver, the first Episcopal divine to come to the Pacific Northwest.
In 1846 he removed to Victoria, B. C., where he afterwards received the appoint- ment as governor of British Columbia, and was subsequently knighted. After years of usefulness, never to be forgotten, he laid himself down to rest, mourned by not only the pioneers of the Pacific Northwest, but by the people of his more recent home. One of the main attractions of the beautiful city of Victoria, is a handsome monument which the citizens of that place erected to his memory, a tribute most fitting to a man of hls worth.
WILLIAM F. TOLMIE, M. D.
Doctor Tolmie was born in Inverness, Scotland. February 3, 1812. He received a liberal education in his native place, and at an early age entered the Medical College of Edinbergh, graduating therefrom at the age of 21. He immediately embarked for the Pacific Northwest as an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, arriving at Van- couver in August, 1833. His first services with the company were in the capacity of surgeon, but his executive abilities being ap- parent, he was soon entrusted with the duties of chief trader. After his promotion he was assigned to Fort Nisqually.
The doctor was ever a genial companion. hospitable with all and a true and warm hearted gentleman. During the Indian out- breaks occurring on the Sound previous to and leading up to the great conspiracy and war of 1855-56, he rendered most valuable services to the authorities and settlers in pacifying the Indians, or in bringing them to punishment for their misdeeds. Nearly all of their several dialects were understood by him, and their characters were like an open book to him. To the Indian he was like an elder brother, kind, true and honest with them. They soon learned to trust him and obey as well. The influence which he gained over the Indian mind was always exerted for their good, the benefit of the company and the white race.
It would be impossible to narrate hardly anything of this good man in the short space We have for biographical data, as he was such an important and prominent factor in the early history of the Pacific Northwest. The history of it could not be written and written any where near its full without giv- ing him frequent and complimentary men- tion from the time of his arrival until death claimed him.
In 1859 he removed from the Sound and west to Victoria where he continued in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company until 1870. He served his fellow citizens of British Columbia in the colonial legislature, and held numerous offices of honor and trust, in all of which he acquitted himself with credit and to the satisfaction of the people. Much of his latter life was devoted to literary labor,-to his favorite investigation of In- dian dialects and customs. With these labors he found time to assist in the promotion of enterprises which have greatly added to the good of his adopted home. Full of years and loved and honored by all, this philanthrop- ist, friend of the Indian and the early set- · tlers of all nationalities, went to his rest at the ripe age of three quarters of a century.
1
V
FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER.
"O magic four-leaved clover, I have searched the meadows over, And at last I've found you here beside a stone, Now, I'll tell you what I'll do, I will put you in my shoe, And to seek my love I'll wander off alone."
So along the dusty highway, And in charming rustic by-way, The lassie with the magic clover sped, Till she met a lad she knew- A lad who loved her true- Then the truant lassie hung her naughty head.
When the lad her heart had guessed, The lassie whispered "Yes." And hand in hand they went toward the farm, And bleating lambs confided, While saucy wrens derided, The power of the magic clover's charm. - M. Agnes Kelly.
·
.
INDIAN BASKETS.
U
INDIAN BASKETRY.
"There's a whaler just arrived in the harbor with a crew of Indians; let's go down to the wharf right off, there are sure to be some baskets on board," said one of the leading society ladies of one of our Pacific coast seaport cities. The remark caused a quartette of women to quickly put on their hats and hurry to the wharves in search of the vessel, that they might become the possessors of- what? Coveted trophies of a fad at pres- ent reigning more than continent wide; and one not at its zenith, either, for the market report of Indian baskets quote both demand and prices as "rising," and furthermore: The genuine basket-mak- ers are growing so old they are dying off, which notes the decline of perfect work-pristine basketry.
The younger generation of basket- makers are willing to weave, yes; with doubtfully commendable thrift, resorts to the shifty trick of analine dyes to hurry the work of supplying the great demand for baskets: and there must be untold satisfaction in her breast as, with malici- ous adaptability, she places her own fat price upon the product of her labors, and meditates upon the white man's ways, the while remembering the tedious and time-eating processes of coloring the grasses, root-fibre and other material used by her more plegmatic ancestors.
The popularity of the Indian basket is not a surprise when one examines a spec- imen that a connoiseur terms a "genu- ine" basket : the only wonder is that civi- lized man should wait till the red race became an out-going race before dis- covering the beauties of his work; for now the best basket-makers in the world are the fast-diminishing Pacific coast In- dians. No other race approaching them save the Japanese. whose one point is greater variety. Yet so it is: and so the fad has sprung into vogue. and now there is scarcely a house but that is ornament- ed with one basket at least.
From Alaska to Arizona the baskets come; "Klickitats," wood baskets with carrier straps and holding almost a cart- load; "Sally Bags," squaw caps, clam baskets, fish and berry holders, pitched water-tight jugs, gambling plaques, mar- riage baskets and cradles, tiny trinkets and "graineries," large enough to hold two grown persons, new and gaudy with decorations, or old and warm with dull, mellow tints-and all replete with the aroma of savage association.
The range in prices of these art treas- ures is wide; two dollars for the coarse weaves having four stitches to the square inch, and climbing up to the rare coveted weaves of fifty strands with a value in three figures, or more, and one-but one unapproachable specimen is reported with fifty-three stitches. A collection must contain fifty baskets at least, and its market value runs into thousands-with Time adding compound interest.
The thorough-going collector can find much valuable literature upon the sub- ject. The curator of the department of ethnology of the Smithsonian Institute has technically examined. explained and illustrated the different weaves of all the tribes; another authority knows the technology of Indian baskets and can re- fer every basket to its tribal manufac- turer.
Think of it! The weaving the frame- work, the method of coiling, the orna- mentation and use; from the work of the Aleuts spreading down to that of the Apaches! It is asserted by some that the best work of all is done by the Aleuts; finest grasses woven in splendid imitation of intricate tapestry. Others prize what is known as the "Klickitat" baskets, so noted for both beauty and extreme dura- bility. These are the handiwork of the Indians living along the Columbia river. The foundation of these is made of roots of young cedar and spruce, scraped into shreds and soaked for weeks in water or some solution to make them pliable.
107
-
108
OREGON NATIVE SON.
Commencing at the bottom of the coil, the worker fastens it with a thread of root, and as she builds she pierces the
the decoration is begun, which is made with the blades of the squaw-grass left its natural white, or buried in mud or
1
INDIAN BASKETS.
stitch in the preceding row and draws the spruce thread through, locking the stitch. When the bottom is completed
charcoal for black, or for yellow or brown is given short or long bath made from willow bark.
m
109
AN INDIAN ROMANCE.
Summer is the time for gathering basket materials; roots, barks and ber- ries, and grasses are immersed for weeks in rusty iron water, root fibres buried in damp earth; willow, hazel and swamp ash splints given clay beds, and, among the southern tribes, the lashings of skunk-cabbage are boiled in black mud or soaked in liquid from the sulphur springs.
The symbolism of the designs upon the baskets is religious, poetic, practical, idealistic. There is the pictured hills, the windings of the river, the sun, moon and stars; the lightning, flights of ducks and geese, footprint of deer and rabbit- the whole art-instinct of the Indian woven in bead, feather, grass and root in baskets that were months growing; from thimble pockets so fine that none but an
advanced student in basketry could count the stitches, up, up to the largest basket ever made; one so large that when it was completed the side of the wigwam had to be removed to get it out.
To encourage this industry of the North American Indian societies are be- ing formed, and many other steps taken to gather and preserve the baskets, and to encourage the worker, whose infinite patience, commendable "pegging away," for two, three, six months upon a single basket, and often putting a hard day's labor upon one little round-produces these beauties, and whose tireless fingers are assisted by no implement, other than the bone awl, or its substitute of steel. The bone awl is an heirloom, and com- plete is the collection that includes it.
MARY H. COATES.
AN INDIAN ROMANCE.
Illustrative of the power of supersti- tion among the Indians, the following story, told by one of the earlier pioneers, will not be uninteresting:
Soph-hoop-can was, in the long ago, the head chief of the Lummi. On his becoming too infirm to longer rule the tribe he was succeeded by his younger son, Chow-wit-zat, who purchased his election over his elder brother, Chi-lick, by a potlach or switchem of blankets, etc. Chi-lick was a tall, handsome Indi- an, but was not a shrewd gambler, like his short, chunky brother Chow-wit-zat. The latter was a great gambler, and was accustomed to visit the neighboring tribes and play slo-hal-lum, the draw poker of the Indians, with the result of coming home laden with plunder. He was thus enabled to buy his election, which was held at Tum-whick-son, the village of his tribe. Now Chi-lick was a great favorite among the feminine por- tion of the tribe. One night there was a grand pot-lach given at Saan-ich, and he got into a fight with Sau-cea, chief of the San-ichs, over a slave girl. Sau-cea got
a handful of Chi-lick's hair, which he pulled out by the roots. On the other hand, Chi-lick stole the slave girl and took her to Tum-water waterfall, and kept her in a huge cedar tree, where he visited her frequently and without dis- covery. Sau-cea came with his warriors for the girl, but could not find her, and in consequence said he would "Man-ook ta-mah-na-wis, or work bad medicine on Chi-lick, with his lock of hair. When the latter heard of this he sat down sad and foreboding, believing that by the time that the following day's sun had reached its zenith that the threatened evil would come upon him, and, unless his hair was recovered, he would die. Sure enough, on he next day noon, he was found lying in his mat house sick. His friends and relations came to him, sit- ting around in a circle, and began chant- ing and beating with sticks on cedar boards. Among them being a trio of medicine men. Night and day did the horrible concert continue, the patient growing weaker day by day. On the last day the medicine men undertook to
110
OREGON NATIVE SON.
drive out the devil or evil he was sup- posed to be possessed with. The first of them wrapped a lot of rose bushes up in a blanket, which he beat about the sick man's bed with vigor, and then threw the bundle into the fire, but his enchantments failed to accomplish the desired effect. The second took hold of the blankets covering Chi-lick as if intent on smoth- ering him, and, after considerable shak- ing and striking, he rolled the blankets up and running to the water sunk them deep below its surface. The third, by a hocus-pocus passage of arm through the air, caught the thing of evil and rammed it down the barrel of a shotgun and shot it out through the roof amidst the shouts and satisfaction of the onlookers, but like the cat that came back, it contin- ued to return and find abiding place within the bosom of the chief. Its hold on him being too strong to be shaken off, there was a falling from the tree of life in that household. A man of so much importance, and especially a chief, must necessarily have a big funeral, and such was given him. Word of his de- cease was sent to the members of the tribe, and by the afternoon of the second day, about two hun- dred of them gathered to give him proper send-off to the happy hunting grounds. Chi-lick, or rather his re- mains, were wrapped up in a pair of blankets and taken to a hill not far away
The following were the names .of some of the postoffices in Oregon in 1852: Cincinnati, Indianapolis. Bloomington, New Albany, Marysville, Jennyopolis, Winchester, Linn City and Monsylvania. There are not one out of ten thousand of the residents of the state at the pres- ent time that can tell where these places were located.
The mail service in 1852. between Astoria and Oregon City was semi- monthly, the 7th and 23d. Between Portland and Oregon City, it was week- ly. A few years make a vast difference.
which was set apart for burial purposes. After depositing the body in the excava- tion made, his near relatives and hired mourners began to march around, single file, in a circuit, until a complete circle was made, when they all sat down. Within this stepped his many wives, who began a howl that was almost enough to wake the dead, the hired mourners, the meanwhile, beating upon boards with sticks. When the wives could no longer express their grief for want of energy to draw their breath, the hired mourners took up the chant and thus, alternating the din was continued until nightfall, when they filled up the grave, and went back to camp for the purpose of dividing up his belongings.
For many years thereafter the Indians would visit his last resting place, and would sit on the banks of the Sound un- til noon-time, when, at the command of an aged squaw, they would circle around the grave three times and then plunge into the waters head first, crawling out and away backwards. like crabs. The old woman had her hair feathered with the down of a duck. in imitation, prob- ably, of a new growth of hair to replace the lost locks. Whether the spirit of the dead Lothario was ever at rest is not known, but it is presumed that it became so by the repeated attentions of his ad- mirers to his wants which were exerted at his tomb.
The first woman to be placed in charge of a school, either in Oregon or Washington, was Mrs. Chloe A. Wilson. As Miss Clarke she taught at Nisqually in 1843, and in 1844, after her marriage, at Chemekete (Salem). She was the first to teach a school in the Pacific North- west whose scholars were all white. This school was the Oregon Institute, now known as the Willamette University. She was the first teacher, and the only for some time, of that institution.
THE ELLIOTT CUT-OFF.
The pioneer immigration history of Oregon has been voluminously dealt with by practical pens from time to time, but no one, so far as I am advised, has ever yet found occasion to delineate the hardships and privations of those be- lated Argonauts who, in the fall of 1853. sought to find their way into the head of the Willamette valley over the new route.
For some years the plan had been in- cubating in the minds of the older resi- dents of that section to divert some of the overland travel by way of Diamond Peak, down the middle fork of the Wil- lamette into Lane county. This plan became sufficiently matured in the sum- mer of '53 to result in the cutting out of a very indifferent wagon trail over the route mentioned, across the Cascade range to the DesChutes river. Thus far the carrying out of their plan was alto- gether justifiable and unobjectionable, as the bringing in of the immigrants by that route would introduce them not only to the heart of as fine a valley as ever nature willed for man to inhabit. but to a region that had not already been wholly absorbed by previous settlers with their 640 acre ranches.
The grievous mistake that was made consisted in sending a man named Elli- ott out by way of The Dalles and up the Columbia river instead of over the route he was expected to pilot the immigrants through on, to head off his victims.
It was near the last of August. I think, when our train, in its western journey, reached the crossing of Snake river at what was called Fort Boise. Though just why it was called a fort I am unable to specify. No evidence of a fortifica- tion was there at that time. A little shack, or wigwam, furnished shelter for some adventurers who were running a flimsy ferry and working the immigrants for all that the traffic would bear. The Kline train, with which I was identified
in a feeble way, concluded it could save time and expense by doing its own fer- rying. Two wagon beds were fastened together and well corked for the experi- ment, and the experiment readily de- veloped into a practical success. The live stock were made to do their own ferrying, encouraged thereto by the per- suasive yells of numerous naked savages hired for the occasion. This crossing is well known in immigration annals as the place where many a luckless white pilgrim found a watery grave.
During the delay incident to crossing Snake river, the new cut-off fever, im- ported by way of The Dalles, had ample time to develop its pernicious influence. Our train was caught in the right condi- tion to bite blindly at such a proposition. We had been afflicted with the cut-off mania, to our injury, nearly all the way the plains across. Then, too, we had the easily-acquired habit of lying by and resting when we should have been push- ing on towards the setting sun. These two causes had already relegated our train to the rear of the column, while our provisions were reduced to a mini- mum. But here was a chance, so Elli- ott's emisaries told us, to get to the big Willamette three or four weeks earlier than by the old-traveled route. It was not in human nature, under the circum- stances, to resist the tempting bait. The human fly generally "walks into the par- lor" when the invitation is brilliantly alluring.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.