USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 20
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During the winter of 1845-46 I at- tended school at Dr. Whitman's, with Mr. Andrew Rodgers as teacher. I still remember some of the songs we sung. Mrs. Whitman's favorite was, "O gloomy pine, thy foliage fadeth never." The Doctor was in the liabit of putting
out poison for coyotes. One morning we found a dead wolf in the path lead- ing to the graveyard. It always seems passing strange to me that the Doctor's lifeless body should afterwards have been taken to this graveyard, probably over or near this same path, his death perhaps largely caused by the be- lief of the Indians that he was poisoning theni, as many were dying from the measles, a disease they knew nothing of previous to this time. One day, during this winter, as Cather- ine and Elizabeth Sager, and perhaps Eliza Spalding, were ironing in the kitchen, an Indian, a brother of Toma- has, or "The Murderer," as he is called, came in, and picking up a flatiron proceeded to iron his handkerchief, against which the girls protested. I can remember his angry looks as he ad- vanced toward Elizabeth Sager. I think it was, and threatened to kill her. Mrs. Whitman pacified him by telling him they were only girls, and not to pay any attention to tliem. I have no doubt but that this Indian was one of the leaders in the massacre of November 29, 1847.
Before returning home in the spring, in company with Mr. Rodgers, we all started to visit the sawmill situated in the Blue mountains, eastward of the mission. We all rode in a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen, except Dr. Whitman, who was horse-back, and who returned to the mission the next morning after we left home. We camped where the city of Walla Walla now stands. That night the oxen ran off and were not brought back until the third day and during the time intervening our provisions ran very low. Elizabeth Sager, now Mrs. Wm. Helm, and present today, and an Indian, caught a salmon trout in shallow water, out of which fish Mrs. Whitman made soup that was eagerly devoured.
In the fall of 1846 Dr. and Mrs. Whit- man made our mission a visit. and brought with them some apples grown at their mission. These were the first apples I had ever seen or tasted. I can never forget their delicious flavor.
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The winter of 1846-47 was a terribly hard one. The snow at Tshima Kain was about four feet deep on a level, and drifted through our yard fence so that we could step over it. One day the In- dians drove down several deer from the mountains. One fine specimen was so exhausted that it lay down on the snow on the plain north of our house, and about half a mile away. Father put on ' his Indian-made snowshoes and started for the deer, and I followed, on my
. snowshoes. When near to the animal it
jumped up and ran a short distance, fol- lowed by my father, who caught it in the dry bed of Tshima Kain creek, and held it until an Indian came up and shot it in its vitals with a barbed arrow. In pulling out the arrow the barb came off. The deer, being freed, ran a few paces and fell dead. The Indian's part seemed cruel work to me. During that winter and spring the Spokanes lost nearly all their horses and had to go to work making bows and arrows to trade to the Nez Perces and Cayuses for more horses. We saved most of our cattle by driving them to a swamp, where they could browse upon the bushes and also eat the moss from the trees cut down for that purpose. In a letter to my father, dated Clearwater, March 8, 1847, Rev. H. H. Spalding wrote as follows: "This has been the se- verest winter as to snow, cold weather and want of grass ever known by the oldest Indians in this region. Very many cattle and horses have died; some persons have been frozen to death; sev- eral of my cattle and horses have died. I tremble to hear from you. We fear you have lost all. There has been snow and cold weather for three months. For two weeks snow was over a foot deep in this valley. The 16th and 17th of Janu- ary were the coldest days I have experi- enced in this country. Think the mer- cury would have fallen to 30 degrees be- low zero."
In the fall of 1847, not over two months before the massacre, father and I paid a visit to Dr. Whitman's. When we re- turned home a Mrs. Marquis, sister of
Mrs. Bewley, the mother of Lorinda Bewley, one of the captives of the Whit- man massacre, accompanied us, and spent the winter at Tshima Kain. Dur- ing this fall an artist named J. M. Stan- ley, came to our mission and painted the portraits of my father and sister. He also took sketches of surrounding ob- jects and of Indians, one in particular. an old man that used to come after milk for his family who were sick with the measles. This Indian was sketched with his tincup in hand. Mr. Stanley went to Fort Colville, then returned to our place, where he was furnished horses and an Indian guide to conduct him to Whit -. man's, where he purposed painting the portraits of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman. My mother wrote a letter to Mrs. Whitman that never reached her. I have it in my keeping.
Mr. Stanley returned it by the Indian who brought a note from him informing us of the massacre. When near Whit- man's he had learned of the latter from some Cayuse Indians that came near taking his life. He escaped by telling them he was a "Buckeye" when they inquired as to his nationality. They were friendly to the English and French. Had he told them he was an American his fate would have been sealed. "Buckeye" was a new name to them, so he was al- lowed to pass on to old Fort Walla Walla.
I can well remember the evening the Indian brought the note and gave it to my father. Young as I was I could real- ize to some extent the crushing effect of the dreadful news. It meant, perhaps, the massacre also of ourselves, and to say the least, the giving up of cherished plans of years of patient missionary la- bor.
During the months that followed, up to March, 1848, we were in constant fear. Doors were securely bolted at night and windows darkened. Two men were sent from Fort Colville to assist us, and the Spokane chief and his warriors camped near by, prepared to protect us. One time, in the dead of a still night, an Indian came and calling out, asked us if
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we were all safe. He said they thought they heard a gun. Father told him we had heard nothing, that it must have been a falling tree that he had heard.
In March we abandoned the mission and went to Fort Colville, where we re- mained until near the first of June, when a company of about 60 volunteers under Major Joseph Magone, came as far as Tshima Kain for the purpose of con- ducting us to the Willamette valley. We immediately left the Fort and joined the volunteers, and were soon enroute from my early home, a place I have not since seen.
Before reaching Waiilitpu we passed a battle field where a number of Indians had been killed by the volunteers. A inan named Crawford, with considerable bravado, dismounted and picking up an Indian's skull, carried it in the palm of his hand raised above his head.
Upon reaching the now desolate mis- sion I visited the graveyard, where I saw long golden hairs, that I recognized as Mrs. Whitman's, scattered on the ground.
Pursuing our journey we camped one afternoon near the Umatilla river, where the volunteers captured a number of wild horses by shooting them in the neck-called by them "creasing." Some animals were killed by unlucky shots. During the afternoon I found a large, single-barreled pistol, but soon found the owner in Mr. I. N. Gilbert. of Salen1.
Upon nearing The Dalles I saw for the first time oak trees. At The Dalles was found one or two houses just above high water mark on the Columbia. Here we embarked on board a bateau and started down the river. but had to put ashore long before night, on account of a strong up-stream wind. Upon reach- ing the Cascades we all had to walk six or seven miles to the Lower Cascades, my mother, Mrs. Eells and the smaller children growing very weary 'ere the latter place was reached. Mr. Eells liad gone with the horses across the moun- tains. Two volunteers took our boat over the rapids. Re-embarking, Van- couver was reached, where a short stay
was made, then down the Columbia and up the Willamette to Portland. . Here we stopped awhile, finding a small store and a few other small buildings, back of which was a dense forest. Oregon City, . the tlien Metropolis of Oregon, was reached June 20, and a house was rent- ed of Ebenezer Pomeroy, of Tulatin Plains. Through the kindly accommo- dation of S. W. Moss, my father pur- chased of him a span of horses on credit for $200, and getting an old wagon else- where, he commenced teaming for a liv- ing, in company with Medorum Craw- ford-the two doing nearly all of this kind of work in the city.
When the miners began to return from California teaming was a perfect bonanza. One morning when a bateau- load had come up from Portland during the night previous my father earned $15 before breakfast-hauling up their ef- fects.
The leading ministers of Oregon City were Rev. Geo. H. Atkinson, of the Congregational.church; Rev. Hezekialı Johnson, of the Baptist church, and Rev. David Leslie, of the M. E. church. The school that I attended was taught by Mrs. J. Quinn Thornton, first in the Methodist church, then in a building north of and across the street from Moss' Tavern. Subsequently the build- ing was occupied by the Mounted Rifle- men.
Mrs. Thornton had a dog named Darco that had shared their hardships coming into Oregon by the southern route. Darco was much at home in the schoolroom. Some rainy mornings when he had run afoul a striped cat and laid himself down by the warm stove, "odors not of Eden came wafting along,' as T. J. Dryer once stated in the Ore- gonian, when referring to some of the butter sold in the Portland market. The schoolmates most distinctly remembered are Sam, Charlotte and Martha Price, Lorenzo, Mary Ellen and Melissa Palm- er, Will S. and Jane White. Cecelia and Jane Douglas, Ada and Jolin Pamburn, Medorum and Fred Crawford. Miss White married Capt. J.C.Ainsworth, Miss
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Martha Price married Hon. J. H. Mitch- ell, Miss Pambrun married Col. John McCraken, Miss M. E. Palmer married C. Jacobs.
During 1849 there occurred a number of interesting events. March 2, witness- ed the arrival of Hon. Joseph Lane at Oregon City, as territorial governor. He came up from Portland in a bateau. Quite a crowd stood on the rocky bank of the Willamette and gave him an en- thusiastic greeting as he stepped ashore. That summer the war steamship "Mas- sachusetts" came up to Fort Vancouver. Dr. Locey and son, Cyrus, a man whose name I have forgotten and myself went in a row boat to Vancouver and visited this ship, The Mounted Riflemen al- ready spoken of had with them a fine brass band, and often came out evenings on the corner of the street and played martial music. Colonel Loring, com- manding, had his headquarters in the second story of our mansion. This was, at that time, the largest dwelling house in the city-with basement and two stories. Father paid $3000 for it in 1848 and sold it to a Mr. Lane, a mer- chant, in 1849 for $6000.
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The first marriage I ever attended was that of Mr. William Chapman to Miss Lorinda Bewley, in October, 1849. Last fall in going over to Tillamook I called at Mr. Chapman's near Sheridan, Yamhill county. Mrs. C., seated in her invalid chair, looked so patient and saintly that I reverently bent my head and kissed her a last farewell, as it prov- ed, for last winter she passed to the land where suffering is unknown.
My Sunday school teacher at Oregon City was Mrs. Burnside. I hope to meet her on the "Evergreen Shore."
One of the most prominent citizens was Gov. Geo. Abernethy, who had a beautiful home at "Green Point," a short distance below the city.
Near this point also lived Rev. John- son, whose sons, Carey and Franklin, raised vegetables that they sold in the city. They have made their mark along · other lines since that time.
Governor Abernethy had a store in
Oregon City, a one-story brick building, probably the first of its kind built in Or- egon, and situated near the site now oc- cupied by the woolen mills. It was a common sight to see the Governor walk- ing each week day between his home and place of business. He was a noble, Christian man, quiet and unassuming; a leading member of the M. E. church, and a leader in every good and noble cause.
Of the industries carried on, was a cooper shop, by Mr. Holdridge, in a building located on the north side of Main street, Oregon City, not far from opposite to where the present M. E. church stands. Mr. R. R. Thompson, afterwards so prominently identified with the Oregon Steam Navigation Co., man- ufactured furniture. Our family still have a maple bookstand of his workman- ship. The principal coins in circulation at that time were the Spanish doubloon, worth $16, and the Mexican silver dol- lar. In order to have more of smaller gold coins a mint was operated in 1849, that turned out the historical $5.00 Beaver gold piece, so-called from having a beaver stamped on one side. The coins were all of native gold, no alloy, but were not of uniform intrinsic value, owing to a slight difference in weight. I happened in the mint one day and saw them passing the gold bars through the rollers.
The principal blacksmith shop was op- erated by Mr. Price, and later by the Webb Brothers. There was a gunshop and a tailor's shop.
October 25th, 1849, our family moved to Forest Grove, that day reaching Mr. Roberson's place near the now town of Reedville. It rained that night, the first in many weeks, for the season had been unusually dry with tremendous fires in the Cascades, at which time, I presume, much of the dead timber now seen was killed. The smoke was so dense in Ore- gon City one could scarcely see across the street. October 26 witnessed our ar- rival at Forest Grove, which was ever after our family home. Here died my father and mother and two brothers. My
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youngest brother lives in the old home, a part of which is the hewed log house first erected.
The winter of 1849-50 was a hard one, with a deep fall of snow in December that went off with a warm rain, causing.a great flood in the Willamette that par- tially carried off Linn City opposite to Oregon City, and came near carrying off Dr. McLoughlin's flour mill that stood about where the Imperial mills now stand. The Island mill, so-called, and a number of other buildings were carried off. The school at Forest Grove that winter was taught by Rev. C. Eells, in a log church. Grandma Tabitha Brown kept a boarding house, the in- mates being mostly motherless girls and boys whose fathers had gone to Califor- nia. In 1850 a log school house was built, in which first taught Mr. Eells, then a Mr. Williams. That summer the frame for Tualatin Academy was raised. It took about sixty men, gathered from all parts of the Tualatin Plains, to raise it, the pioneer women furnishing the meals on the grounds-a regular "feast of tabernacles." During the summer of 1851 the school was divided, Miss Mil- ler, subsequently Mrs. E. M. Wilson, now of The Dalles, taught the girls in the log church. By the winter following one room, the north end of the academy, was completed and Prof. J. M. Keeler taught the school.
On a May morning in 1852, the old academy bell first sounded forth its joy- ous notes upon the air. At the end of the school during that month, an exhi- bition was given in the evening- the first on Tualatin Plains. On the programme was a dialogue in which I represented "Snacks," John Tuttle personified "Robin Roughhead" and Calvin Green one of the other characters. The leader of our singing school was J. B. Wyatt, afterwards son-in-law to J. B. Congle, a pioneer dealer in harness and saddlery in Portland. During that spring Mr. Wyatt taught singing school in the academy building.
Of schoolmates most distinctly re- membered in the succeeding winter's
school, 1852-53, were Maggie Scott and Mary Jane Kinney. They composed a song commencing "We have come to our school room" and embracing the names of only a few of the scholars, as follows:
Henry, Joseph, Joel, William, Walter, John, George, and Logan, Marion, Marcus, Charles, and Cyrus and Lee Laughlin are our names, We're aband of brothers, etc.
Caroline, Jenny and Joanna, Lucy, Emma, Julia, Anna, Kity, Delia, Sarah, Mandy and Louisa are our names, We're a band of sisters, etc.
Maggie Scott was one of the sweetest girls I ever knew. She was a sister of H. W. Scott, Mrs. Duniway, Mrs. Co- burn and Mrs. McCord. She married Geo. W. Fernside and removed with him to Tillamook, where she gave up her sweet life. Mary Jane Kinney mar- ried John Henry Smith, also a student of Forest Grove, entering in 1853. They used to live near Harrisburg, Linn coun- ty. Mrs. S. now lives at Astoria. I give the names of my schoolmates not so much for your edification as with the hope that they may catch the eye or ear of some still living who will know that there is at least one who still remembers them with affectionate regard; those who, "sailing o'er life's solemn main, seeing; shall take heart again."
The following is a part of a song we used to sing in the early 50's:
Many, ah! many, have passed away, Like the setting sun at the close of day; Or like a cloud that floats at even. Mid the spangled arch of yon blue heaven. Once they were young and gay as we, With hearts as light and fancy free,
But their spirits have gone with the blest to swell
Far from the tones of the academy bell.
The following of our band are certain- lv known as deceased: Henry Spalding, john Tuttle, Marion Mulkey, for a num- ber of years a lawyer in Portland; Caro- line Brown, afterwards Mrs. Robert Por- ter; and Cordelia Tuttle, who married Joseph Scharf, of the firm of Scharf &
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Meyer, proprietors of the "Tualatin Store," in Forest Grove.
Most of the dates given along these later years are from memory. Some may be incorrect, but I think not. The first store started in Forest Grove was that of F. W. Brown's, in a hewed log building that was built and occupied by Rev. C. Eells, and stood where the Con- gregational church now stands. If I am not mistaken, Brown commenced trad- ing in the winter of 1851-52. In the spring oi 1853 Professor Keeler, of the academy, went East and the fall term of school was taught by Mr. D. S. Har- mon, who gave an exhibition at its close. The exercises were held on the east side of the academy, under a canopy of fir boughs. Mr. L. L. Whitcomb led the singing. Mr. Whitcomb was living, not many years ago, a few miles from The Dalles.
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The winter of 1854-55 I spent in Scoggin's valley, Washington county, with the family of Mr. E. S. Tanner, who represented our county in the Oregon legislature. The spring of 1855 was noted for the canvass of the territory by Gen. Joseph Lane, democratic candi- date, and Gov. John P. Gains, whig can- didate. They spoke at Forest Grove. Lane told how President Pierce tapped him on the shoulder before he left Wash- ington and said he loved to liear the "swate" Irish brogue. Gains told the story of how the calf's tail got through the knot hole. Lane was elected as del- egate to congress all the same.
In the fall of that year was held the first county fair, and at Forest Grove. Hon. T. J. Dyer, of the Oregonian de- livered the address. I remember his say- ing that some of the farming he had seen "looked as thougli an old setting nen had been dragged backwards by the tail."
The teacher in the academy the winter of 1855-56 was Prof. E. D. Shattuck, now widely known as Judge Shattuck. That winter was a terribly anxious one for the settlers of the Willamette valley, on account of the Yakima war. Along in May. 1856, a rumor came to Forest
Grove that a band of Indians were de- scending Lewis river, north of the Co- lumbia, and intended to cross the Co- lumbia in their canoes. and by way of Scapoose Plains come out and mas- sacre the settlers on the Tualatin Plains. Great was the excitement. A stockade around the academy was commenced by digging a trencli part way around the building, but was abandoned to build one at Mr. Willian Catching's, one and one-half miles east of the academy. The most intense of the excitement was on a Sunday, when ministers, deacons, lay- men and others all turned out to cut fir poles, dig a trench part way around the house and set the poles in the same. By the next day word came that the rumor was false and the work was discontin- ued.
"Among the students at the academy the winter of 1856-57, were J. H. Gray, of Astoria, and his sister Carrie, now Mrs. Jacob Kamm, of Portland, and Cy- rus T. Locey. All three found a home at my father's. That winter was one of marked advancement along intellectual lines. Professor Shattuck was a splen- did educator and he had a splendid lot of pupils, among whom was the greatest of rivalry.
During the winter of 1857-58 among the students was H. W. Scott. Not many know that Harvey Scott, as he is familiarly called now, of the Oregonian. a paper classed as one of ten leading newspapers of the United States-can truly be called a self-made man. He worked his way through college, being the first to graduate from Pacific Univer- sity, under President S. H. Marsh, who, by the way, started the first class in Lat- in in that college some years previous. Of that class, I am proud to say, I was a member. During the summer of 1863, in order to get means to pursue lis studies, Mr. Scott went to the Boise miines and found work at whip-sawing lumber. His success in after years should be an incentive to others to climb toward the top of the ladder. The fall of 1858 was made one of more than usual interest by the advent of a mag-
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nificent comet, first appearing in the northern sky in August. By November its tail at evening extended nearly to the zenith.
The winter of 1858-59 Rev. C. Eells again taught the academy, and Rev. Horace Lyman, assisted by myself, styled as "tutor," taught the college students in a small building apart from the acad- emy. One of the brightest students was' C. H. Rafferty, now a leading physician of East Portland. Another was F. M. Kizer, now of Linn county. The winter term closed February 15, 1859, with an exhibition in which both schools took part. As February 14 of that year is the limit for Pioneer membership, I make no record of years following. Many schoolmates and fellow students are cherished in my memory, and I would gladly give their names, but want of time and space forbid.
Some contrasts between those early years and the present, and I am done. Much used to be said about the Oregon style of journalism. Along the middle 50's the Oregon Argus and Oregon Statesman were rival newspapers in Or- egon City. W. L. Adams was editor of the former, A. Bush of the latter. When the Statesman was moved to Salem it took place on a Sunday. The Argus came out with the statement that the choir in the Congregational church that day sang the hymn in which are the lines, "Believing, we rejoice to see the curse removed." After that, Adams sent his paper to Bush marked "X" for ex- change. Bush returned it with the words "Send this paper to hell." The editor in the next Argus said he was sorry to inform his readers of the de- mise of the editor of the Statesman. At least he supposed he was dead, as he had ordered his paper sent to hell. Along with other radical changes is that of Oregon Journalism; and certainly it is a matter of pride that the Oregonian stands among the best. We have other publications that are worthy of praise. One is the agricultural paper, "The Pa- cific Homestead," lately started in Sa- lem and that compares favorably with
illustrated agricultural weeklies of other states. But proudest of all am I, and so should you be, especially the pioneers and native sons and daughters, of the "Oregon Native Son," a monthly mag- azine published in Portland. It has no superior in artistic make-up, original matter and workmanship. It is invalu- able along historical lines and should be taken by all interested in pioneer mat- ters. Many are now regretting that they did not begin with the initial number. May, 1899. So great is the demand for back numbers that it is the purpose to reprint some editions that are exhausted. By all means subscribe for the Native Son; price $1.00 per year.
Another thing, by all means visit the Oregon Historical Rooms, City Hall, and either loan or contribute articles of historic interest.
Here are some of the prices current in Oregon City in 1849 and 1850, as tak- en from the Oregon Spectator: Apples, dried, per lb., 50c; apples, green, per bu., $10; beef, on foot, 6c to &c; beef, retail, Ioc to 123c; pork, 16c to 200; butter, per lb., 62c; candles, sperm, per 1b., $1; domestics, 123c to 16c; prints, 15c to 30c; flour, per cwt., $7; flour, per bbl., $15; wheat, per bu., $2; oats, per bu., $1.50 to $2; coffee, per 1b., 18c to 20c; sugar, brown, 16c to 20c; white, 22c to 30c; tea, ȘI to $1.50; syrup, gal., ȘI to $1.50; tobacco, 1b., 37}c to $1.25: rice, 123c; linseed oil, gal., $3.50; glass, box, 8x10, $6; 10x12, $7; iron, 1b., I2c; nails, 18c to 20c; cooking stoves, $70 to $130; lumber, per M., $80 to $100. How our farmers would smile could they get one-half the above prices for grain, and yet $2 a bushel for wheat was not out of proportion to the price of most other supplies.
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