The Oregon native son, Vol. I, Part 3

Author: Native Sons of Oregon; Oregon Pioneer Association. cn; Indian War Veterans and Historical Society
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Portland, Or. : Native Son Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1252

USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 3

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).

that there is confined in Rooster Rock below a spirit which could their future foretell. The Indians, however, will re- late the story as told as a true one, and a whole drove of "white horses" will not banish from their belief that in golden hair dwells enchantment such as is the gift of the sorceress.

F. H. SAYLOR.

AN UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF GEN. JOE HOOKER.

Camp, James River, Va., July 7, 1862 .- Hon. J. W. Nesmith .- Dear Nes: I have been anxious to write you for a long time, but the press of official duties and their character have prevented me from writing any one. Since the first of June, my life has been filled with events which have alike absorbed my time and thoughts. Since that date up to the 3d inst., scarcely a day has passed that I have not exchanged shots with the enemy. Often- times they were merely affairs between the pickets, but sometimes I have had great bat- tles to fight. From some cause the lion's share of the heavy work of this army has been thrown on my division. You will know how well it has been discharged when I tell you that it is the only division in the army of the Potomac that has uniformly slept on the field on which it fought, and I have been engaged with fearful odds against me.

As you well know, our line of operations has been transferred from York to James River, always a dangerous move to make in the face of a superior force, and we have not accomplished it without fearful sacrifices. We were compelled to abandon our wounded and sick, and destroy vast amounts of public prop- erty. Our losses in battle have been no greater than we had reason to expect-per- haps from that cause, the sick and stragglers, our numbers are reduced no doubt 20,000 from what they were when we started. Con- stituted as this army is, incompetent officers exercising the highest commands. the trans- fer to James River was the only alternative that remained to MeClellan. It was repug- nant to me, for I would sooner die game than retrograde a step except from compulsion. After the enemy had detached a large column to attack McCall and Porter, my plan would

have been to have dashed for the city. At that moment I held the advance of the army, and was within five miles of his capital, but I was not consulted, and it may be well I was not. Porter's battle, of which the newspapers are full, was a disaster, or, if not that, the next thing to it. He lost 20 pieces of artillery, and between 3,000 and 4,000 prisoners. What will be done next, God only knows. We have a large army here, well found in artillery and other respects, and yet it is held on the. de- fensive. It seems to want vitality and energy. It was disciplined too near Washington City to be successful without great changes in its officers high in rank-changes too great to ex- pect. I must say, I look for no great results from this army, no matter how much it may be reinforced. It is not numbers that is to de- cide the fate of this rebellion. I only regret that I ever saw the Army of the Potomac. Had I gone to the south or west I might have done something worthy of being remembered. I learn that McClellan speaks kindly of ine now-if so, it has been extorted from him. He attempted to ignore the battle of Williams- burgh, which had he turned it to the proper account would have enabled us to have been in Richmond ten days afterward. This is true. We are now reaping the fruit of his delay at Yorktown, and of his mistake at Williamsburgh. He invested Yorktown when it had but 15.000 men there, and at Williams- burgh he permitted the flower of their army to escape when with a single division I held it four and twenty hours. Since we landed on the Peninsula the enemy has had time to create an army to place his capital in an al- most impregnable condition.

Hope you are well.

Truly yours. JOSEPH HOOKER.

OREGON NATIVE SON.

REV. JASON LEE AND DR. MARCUS WHITMAN.

Written by H. K. Hines, D. D., for His Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, Now in the Hands of the Printer.

There never was but one name that could by any possibility be made to en- ter the lists with that of Rev. Jason Lee for foremost place in the true story of Oregon's evangelization and civilization. That was the name of Dr. Marcus Whit- man. In a subsequent chapter on the missions of the "American Board" we shall give what we believe to be a fair and appreciative account of this noble mis- sionary and splendid man.

Mr. Lee and Dr. Whitman had a strangely common cast of life. They were both of thorough New England an- cestry. The parents of both left New England about the same time, Mr. Lee's removing northward into Canada. and Dr. Whitman's westward into central New York, both then-about 1800-al- most unbroken wildernesses. The fathers of both died when they were children, and they were left to the care of widowed mothers. Both went into Massachusetts for education, the first at. Wilbraham, the other at Plainfield. Both spent some of the early years of their professional life in Canada, the one as a minister and the other as a physician. Both passed through the early discipline of hard toil on the farm and in the forests and lumber mills. With this common training, and the not less strangely similar tendencies of their lives, they were now put, by a somewhat singular providence, into dif- ferent relations to the field where they were both to do the great work of their lives.

The Missionary Board of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, under which Mr. Lee was to go West, on the strange call which came to the churches in 1833, im-

mediately established and equipped a full- orbed mission, shipped an abundant sup- ply of goods in the bark May Dacre to the Columbia river to sustain it, and Mr. Lee and his helpers were on their way to meet them by land before the snows of April, 1834, had melted from the New England hills.

The "American Board of Commission- ers for Foreign Missions," instead of or- ganizing a mission, appointed Rev. Sam- uel Parker and Messrs. Dunbar and Ellis as a commission to go and "explore the country." Later in the same spring they went westward as far as St. Louis, but Lee and his company were far on their way toward the distant mountains, and Mr. Parker returned to his home in cen- tral New York. The next summer, 1835, Dr. Whitman joined Mr. Parker, and they proceeded as far West as Green river in the Rocky mountains, when Dr. Whit- man returned to the East to recommend the establishment of a mission, and Mr. Parker continued his explorations, re- turning home via Sandwich islands and Cape Horn in 1836. In the autumn of 1836, just two years after Mr. Lee had entered on his work in Oregon, Dr. Whitman entered on his. Their missions were established 250 miles apart; Mr. Lee's in the heart of the Willamette val- ley, and Dr. Whitman's at Waiilatpu, far in the interior. Though both missions were in Oregon, these men, so very like each other, did not meet until April of 1838.

('nquestionably their views in relation to the interests of Oregon, and the means proper to be adopted in order to secure them, were in remarkable harmony. How

REV. JASON LEE AND DR. WHITMAN.

far this resulted from their mental andi moral similitude, or how far from con- sultation with each other, it is perhaps impossible to determine. Probably there was something of both in the case. Yet there was this difference: Lee, as the pioneer, having precedence of Whitman by two years, was the first to give form and expression to the action desired of the national government, and, as repre- .enting much the largest missionary in- fluence in Oregon, undoubtedly the most determining expression. Every essential principle that found place in the memo- rials and petitions sent from Oregon to congress, or the executive of the United States, up to the conclusion of the treaty vf boundary in 1846, is found in the memorial drawn by Mr. Lee and Mr. Edwards in March of 1838. This memo- rial was in the possession of Mr. Lee, who was on his way to Washington with it when he first met Dr. Whitman, in April wi 1838, at Waiilatpu. Tracing the logi- cal line of cause and result, it seems clear that this memorial was the subject of con- versation between Mr. Lee and Dr. Whit- man during the time Mr. Lee spent with Dr. Whitman, and the missions under his charge when on his way to the United States with the memorial; namely, from the 14th of March to the 12th of April, $38. It could not have been otherwise. ! hese kindred souls could not have been on close and confidential communication un the very field for which they were planning so wisely and patriotically, and for which either or both were ready to wrifice life itself, without this. The rec- · ri in the journal of Mr. Lee of the dates samed clearly shows this. Their first meting is thus described:

"Dr. Whitman met us and conducted !. to the house. Mrs. Whitman met us at the door, and I soon found myself seat- « ! and engaged in earnest and familiar

conversation as if we were old acquaint- ances." This was Saturday. On Sab- bath, the 15th, Mr. Lee said: "I had a very interesting time preaching to the Indians while the doctor interpreted." Mrs. Dr. Whitman, in writing to her parents, after this visit of Mr. Lee, and speaking of an Indian called Umtippe who was in a decline, said: "Last Satur- day he came here on purpose to spend the Sabbath; said he had recently three fainting turns, and that he felt he should not live a great while." Sabbath morn- ing, after the morning worship (Mr. Lee was here and preached, and husband in- terpreted), he said: "The truth never ap- peared to cheer him before. Always, when he had attended worship, his mind had been on those about him, but now it had been on what was said to him." Mrs. Whitman said: "Mr. Lee has spent much time with us, and we have been greatly refreshed by his prayers and con- versation." Thus, from the record made by Mr. Lee and also by that made by Mrs. Whitman, the fact appears that these two men were in long consultation and close and friendly communion, sanctified and made more trustful and confiding by prayer, on the great questions with which their names were destined to have such a magnificent historic connection. But the initiative was plainly with Mr. Lee, be- cause the very instrument that gave po- tential form to the great policy that finally wrought so much for Oregon had been in his possession for weeks before they met. This meeting and conference oc- curred when Whitman had been on his mission station less than a year and a half, and when Lee was already hundreds of miles on his way to lay that document before congress and the president.

From that conference Mr. Lee pushed forward on his eastward journey. He discharged the great trust the Americans

OREGON NATIVE SON.

of the Willamette, which were then really only Lee and his associates in the Meth- odist mission, had committed to him, as he discharged every trust, with truest fidelity. Twenty-six months later, at the head of the great reinforcement to his mission, which was really an American colony, he was again in Oregon, and now with a still broader and mightier initiative in his hand. Dr. Whitman was still in his place; still faithful, as he also ever was. Still both were intent on their pious plans and patriotic purpose. Later Dr. Whitman was in Washington urging the same things that Lee had urged before him; the same things that were so ably presented in the memorial that Lee had already borne to Washington. Still later, on the 22d day of June, 1844, a very im- portant letter, with a synopsis of a bill that Dr. Whitman was suggesting as de- sirable for congress to pass, was received at the war department at Washington. And now appears another strange coin- cidence. At the time, and for two weeks before that letter was received at the war department, Jason Lee was in Washing- ton urging in person on the president, on the secretaries of war and of state, and on senators and representatives, the very things in substance that were presented in the letter and embodied in the bill of

Dr. Whitman. He was there with the endorsement and influence of a formal resolution of the Missionary Board of the Methodist Episcopal church, to sus- tain and reinforce all that he personally could do for the end so much desired. Thus, while these two great missionary statesmen held common sentiments and sought the same action in regard to the great Northwest, Lee, who was by two years first in the field, and who stood at the head of much the largest and most central and influential missionary and American community on the coast, clear- ly was the most potent personality in shaping the results that history records for the Pacific Northwest. On a careful and candid survey of the whole field of the decade from 1834 to 1844, that really decided the character and position of Oregon in its relation to the United States, and in the elements of its social and intellectual life, it plainly appears that he was first in every movement that deter - mined that history. It was a great strug- gle, and great and good men were, in va- rious ways, agents in it, and even martyrs to it. But a man who stands, as this man stands, at the beginning of a state or nation, and is the moulding and fashion- ing influence of that beginning, occupies an eminence that no other one can possi- bly attain. H. K. HINES.

FIRST SCHOOL IN OREGON.

The first school taught in the Pacific Northwest was in Vancouver, Wash., John Ball being the teacher. Upon his trying to assemble the scholars for les- sons he probably understood the diffi- culties of conversation known to those of the Tower of Babel, for the children neither understood him, and, but few,

each other: their number being made up of Chinooks, Crees, Nez Perces, Klick- itats, etc., and they knew no language except their own dialect. With the as- sistance of Dr. McLoughlin and by per- sistent effort Mr. Ball succeeded in mak- ing considerable progress in the under- taking.

MOUNTAIN LORE.

The mountains of the Pacific North- west have borne many names, and been quoted at all sorts of elevations, a portion of which are as follows:

Mount Adams .- Was named by Americans, in honor of John Quincy Adams. Indians called it Pat-to, a gen- eral term applied to various snow-capped peaks, which signifies high up, or very high. Winthrop called it Tacoma the Second. It is located in latitude 46 deg. 12 min. and 14.1 sec .; longitude 121 deg. 31 min. and 8.3 sec. Elevation 12,184 feet.

Mount Baker .- Discovered by Van- couver April 30, 1792, and named in honor of Lieutenant Baker. Called by Winthrop Kulshan, and probably bor- rowed by him from the Indians. The Spanish called it Montana del Carmelo. Early Americans called it Mount Polk. The Skagit Indians called it Ko-ma. Elevation 10,827 feet.

Mount Hood .- Discovered by Lieu- tenant Broughton, of Vancouver's party, October 29. 1792, and named in honor of Lord Hood. of England, a friend of Cap- tain Vancouver. Latitude. 45 deg. 22 min. and 24.3 sec .: longitude, 121 deg. 42 min. and 49.6 sec. Called by the In- dians Pat-to: by the early Americans Mount Washington. Was in activity in 1846. The elevation was given in early lays as 19.000 but in August, 1867, Lieutenant Williamson measured it very carefully, and reported is as 11,225 feet, which is probably very nearly correct.

Mount Jefferson. - Discovered by Lewis & Clark, and named in honor of President Jefferson, under whose admin- istration their expedition was sent to the Pacific coast. Called by the British Mount Vancouver. Latitude. 44 deg. 40

min. and 26.1 sec .; longitude, 121 deg. 48 min. and 59.9 sec. Elevation, 10,567 feet.

Mount Olympus. - Discovered by Juan Perez, a Spanish pilot, and called El Cero de la Santa Rosalia. Named Olympus by Captain Mears July 4, 1788; 8,138 feet high. The early Americans called it Mount Van Buren.

Mount Pitt .- Called McLoughlin in the early days of Oregon; also known as Mount Jackson. Latitude, 41 deg. and 40 min. Elevation, 9.760 feet.

Mount Rainier .- Discovered by Van- couver May 8, 1792, and named in honor of Rear-Admiral Rainier of the English navy. Was called Mount Harrison in the '40s. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company tried to have the name changed to Tacoma, but the government refused to do so. Elevation, 14,528 feet. Was an active volcano in 1843.

Mount St. Helens .- Discovered by Vancouver and named for his British majesty's ambassador at Madrid, Octo- ber 20, 1792. The Indians called it Lou- wala-clough, or smoking mountain. In early pioneer days it was called Mount Washington, also Mount John Adams. It was an active volcano in 1831 and 1843. Elevation, 9.739 feet. Latitude. 46 deg. II min. and 52.3 sec.

Mount Shasta .- So named by the early trappers. Called Pitt by the British, Jackson and Monroe by the Americans, and referred to sometimes as Shasta butte. Elevation 14.440 feet.

Mount Thielsen .- So named by the late Hans Thielsen of Portland, who did a great deal of engineering work in that country in early times. It is often re- ferred to as the Lightning Rod of the Cascades. Elevation, 9,250 feet.

Three Sisters .- Elevation, 10,060 feet. We have not been able to ascertain how these peaks received their name.

OREGON NATIVE SON.

Photo by Browning. GEO. H. WILLIAMS, A Pioneer of 1853.

Photo by Abell-Herren. DAVID P. THOMPSON. A Pioneer of 1853.

OLIVER N. DENNY. A Pioneer of Isa2.

SOLOMON HIRSCH. A Poneer of ISAS.

OREGON PIONEERS.

OREGON WITHOUT A SEAL OF STATE.

REG

No. 1.

The caption to this article may be looked upon as one not worthy of belief; still. investigation in the premises will convince doubters that the statement is true.

Oregon has had three kinds of gov- ernment from 1843 to the present time: provisional, territorial and state. During the life of each a seal was used, and un- (ler. the last two forms acts were passed descriptive of the official seal. It will be . the purpose of this article to briefly out- line the evolution of the seal and its de- scriptions. In doing so, dates cannot be given at all times, as documentary evi- dence of action is lacking: evidence of use, however, will substantiate assertions made.

There is no record obtainable showing that the provisional government ever prescribed the form of or adopted an of- ficial seal by any act of its legislature. Those who trust to memory, and others writing upon the subject, state that Ham- ilton Campbell made in 1846 what is known as the "salmon seal" (No. 1). which was used by Governor Abernethy as an official seal until it was superseded by a territorial one. This seal contained two objects, wheat and salmon, which have since made famous the word above them. Before its use began, it is said that Colonel Joe Meek, the sheriff of the commonwealth, made the service of of- ficial documents impressive by accompa- mying their delivery with words some- thing like "d-, d-, dashes!" Be this true or false, the older pioneers will ad- mit that it is not an unlikely statement.

for a recall to mind of many incidents in the colonel's career will be evidence that such was at times just his style of expres- sion.

On August 14, 1848, the act creating Oregon a territory was passed, and the author of the bill therefor, Judge J. Quinn Thornton, who was in Washing- ton in the interests of the provisional government, had a territorial seal made (No. 2), which he sent to Governor Lane in 1849, but he declined to accept it. In 1850, Mr. Thornton tendered it to Gov- ernor Gaines, and it was by him adopted and afterwards used as the seal of the territory. The territorial legislature did not, however, consider the matter until January 18, 1854, when by act it was made the seal of the territory. Its de- scription is as follows:

"In the center, a shield, two compart- ments. Lower compartment-in the fore-

VOLAT PROPA

SEAL

REGON

No. 2.

ground, a plow; in the distance moun- tains. In the upper compartment-a ship under full sail. The crest, a beaver. The sinister supporter-an Indian with bow and arrows, and a mantle of skins over his shoulder. The dexter supporter, an eagle, with wings displayed. The motto- alis volat propriis-"I fly with my own wings". Field of the lower compartment, argent; of the upper blue."

The seal was made and was in use for several years before this description became a law, and no doubt its impres-

OREGON NATIVE SON.

sion was before those who framed the act. But a glance at No. 2, which is a good fac-simile of the seal adopted as stated, does not show a dividing line on the shield which makes two compart- ments therein, nor does the description specify in what manner the division is to be made. The perspective would indi- cate as much, though, and it is presumed that the division was left to the sense of imagination. It was directed that it "be deposited and recorded in the office of the secretary, to remain a public record," but, so far as can be ascertained, this was never done. In the description no pro- vision .is made for a legend; the seal bears-"Seal of the Territory of Ore- gon." Subsequently an attempt at fac-

ALIS

OLAT PROPRIIS.

No. 3.

simile making of the territorial seal was made (No. 3), for imprint upon matter printed "by authority." If the reader will notice, this attempt falls far short of near approach in the reproduction of the original design, and that the plow is left out altogether. A study of the territorial seal will show progressive ideas as well as an inclination to retrograde. The motto is a sentiment most true, for Ore- gon has flown so far by her own wings to prominence noticeable, and can wing her way to heights which only the great can reach, if her people will give heed to the upbuilding of the many and varied industries which can be conducted with hin its borders. No objection

can be made to the beaver, as it com- memorates our earliest home industry, the coining of beaver money; nor to the ship, a prospective of the forest of masts that come to our harbors for articles of export; nor to the mountains, as the beauties of the snow-capped sentinels on every hand are unsurpassed for grandeur in the world. But the warrior, pictured as if he had on a pair of gum boots, a creature so much in evidence for treach- · ery, cruelty and murder, to say the least,

********

STATE

EGO.

No. 4.

could be improved upon by substitution of more fitting object. Leave the eagle as it is, put the sheaves of wheat where the redskin stands, and paint a royal chinook over the plow, and the seal would be a more appropriate one for a state seal than our present one.

By 1857 the husbandman among the pioneers had been crowded out in the management of affairs of state by an in- flux of politicians, and the mistakes in seal-making were much greater than dur- ing territorial infancy. The prophetic vision of the real builders of Oregon was largely disregarded, and supplanted by party creeds and desire to boast over departing force of other power, and the seal of state is an index of the ideas of the newer element.

In 1856 congress passed an enabling act, by virtue of which a constitutional convention was held in 1857. This con- vention adopted a seal of state to be as follows:

"An escutcheon, supported by thirty- three stars, and divided by an ordinary. with the inscription, 'The Union.' In chief .- mountains,-an elk with branch- ing antlers, a wagon, the Pacific ocean,

OREGON WITHOUT A SEAL OF STATE.

on which a British man-of-war departing, an American steamer arriving. The sec- ond,-quartering with a sheaf, plow, and pick-axe. Crest,-the American eagle. Legend,-State of Oregon."

...

STATE

ORECO

UNICA

.......

1857

No. 5.

It was further provided by the laws that "The secretary shall be required to . procure the seal described in the preced- ing section, and draw his warrant on the treasurer therefor."

The act of 1856, the convention of 1857, and the election and inauguration of state officials in 1858, sadly mixed af- fairs, for Oregon was not admitted to statehood until February 14, 1859, and until June 2 of the latter year the terri- torial seal was used.

At this time a seal was received which has since been used as the seal of the state. In this pretended seal will be found the faults enumerated in illustra- tion No. 8. Before the receipt of this seal, and almost immediately following the convention of 1857, a fac-simile of the scal to be was procured (No. 4). It was enclosed in a shield outline, has 36 stars instead of 33. an extra sheaf and a rake thrown in, as well as a date, 1857. Soon after this a second (No. 5) was ob- tained. It shows 35 stars, together with the extras of its predecessor. About the same time two others, one (No. 6), and the other twice its size, were secured. These show 38 stars and retain the extras of former ones.

iles, with the date, 1859, on them. One of them (No. 7) has the faults of No. 5, the other is the same as No. 6, except the change in date. These did not supplant former ones, only an addition to the col- lection.

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The Oregon native son, Vol. I, Part 3

Author: Native Sons of Oregon; Oregon Pioneer Association. cn; Indian War Veterans and Historical Society Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Portland, Or. : Native Son Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1252

Author: Native Sons of Oregon; Oregon Pioneer Association. cn; Indian War Veterans and Historical Society
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Portland, Or. : Native Son Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1252