The Oregon native son, Vol. I, Part 77

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 77

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Even were these pictures of the twins eliminated from the lot, Major Moor- house would have the very finest collec- tion in the country. for he was formerly United States Indian Agent at the res- ervation here, and for thirty years has had personal acquaintanceship with the representative members of the several tribes. This has given him their confi- dence. and when others are driven from their teepes with fierce, superstitious fears of the camera urging the frighten- w natives to threaten violence, Major Moorhouse is received and permitted to photograph the Indians, frequently in all the gaudy ancestral trappings which they treasure as life itself.'

It was a rare stroke of good fortune that he obtained these pictures. He had secured consent from the mother, Hint. ve-an-hi-hi- to photograph the children. She had prepared the pappooses for the Went. and the artist had set his camera.

According to the custom, he had pro- vided an extra plate holder, and, when the twins began to cry vigorously after me exposure had been made. he quick - ly placed the extra plate in the camera and "snapped" them crying.

Peculiar interest attaches to these twins, from the fact that they are the sec- ond pair ever born on the reservation, and the only pair now alive. Their be- ing alive, the Major says, is contrary to the dictates of Indian superstition, for it is commonly believed that Indians never permit twins to live. It is their belief that twins are signs of the displeas- ure of the Great Spirit, hence they are usually killed as soon as born. Recently, on another reservation, incidents have occurred tending to establish the truth of the assertion that Indians have a su- perstitious dread of twins. This belief is due to a tradition among them of the long dead past, which the Major says is as follows :

"The old Indians say that a great many years ago, long before the advent of the pale-face, when the mountains were full of game, and the streams were full of fish, and the native bunch-grass grew knee high all over the valleys and hills, affording food for thousands of hardy cayuse ponies, a pair of twin girl pappooses were born to the tribe.

These were the daughters of Qui-a- mi-som-keen, Cougar Shirt, the chief of the Cayuse tribe. As tlie years passed these maidens grew more beautiful. Reaching womanhood their wondrous . charms smote the young braves of the tribe, and there was keen rivalry among those who would win them for their wives.

So great was their beauty that their fame spread to the countries in which other tribes lived and hunted, so that finally, two dashing young warriors from the Bannocks came to visit the Cayuses here on this reservation. Their visit was in the guise of friendship, but beneath

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OREGON NATIVE SON.

their pleasant exterior, was a fierce and stern determination to carry these beau- ful Indian maidens to the Bannock country and there to keep them. Watch- ing their opportunity when the girls were away from the home teepe for a short distance, each of the young Ban- nocks siezed one of the twins, placed them in front on their horses, and rode out of the village as fast as their steeds could carry

them.

Quickly the abduction was discovered, has- tily a council of war was called, and two hundred warriors, headed Cougar Shirt, were in hot pur- suit. Near the summit of the Blue mountains, with the Cayuses but a few miles behind, the young Bannocks came across a party of their own braves wino were hunting. The twins were transferred to extra horses, and, by a short cut through the mountains, soon left Cougar Shirt and his pursuing party far behind.

The Bannock braves, with the Photo (Copyright) by Moorhouse.

ICH-TA O-COKE?

captured maid- ens in due time reached their home on Snake river. There was a joyons mar- riage ceremony, by which the Cayuse maidens were joined in matrimony to the young Bannocks who had stolen them from their native village.

In acordance with his Indian nature, and in compliance with the Indian con- ception of his duty, Chief Cougar Shire

registered a solemn vow to avenge the insult. Upon his return home he de- spatched runners to the Umatilla and Walla Walla tribes, bidding them come to a great council of war. Soon there- after a great pow-wow was held in the tepee of Chief Cougar Shirt, the chiefs and head men of the Walla Walla and Umatilla tribes agreeing to form an alli- ance against the Bannocks.

The Umatillas and Walla Wai- las hastily re- turned to their homes to pre- pare for the war. In the mean- time the Ban- nocks, learning that war hadi been declared. against them by the allied tribes. at once took to the warpath, and in two days one thousand Bail- nock warriors. headed by the great war chief, Pay-wite (Onc Horse), were marching to- wards the Co- lumbia river.

There was not time for tÌ :-

Umatillas

Walla Wallas to reach the ground, the Cav- uses being com11- pelled alone to meet the foc. Their own force consisted of about seven hundred warriors, but they hesi- tated not to meet the thousand braves who had come from the Bannock coun- try under the leadership of Chief Pay- wite.4

The opposing forces met near where the town of U'matilla now stands, imme- diately rushing to battle. The casuali-

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MAJOR MOORHOUSE'S CAYUSE TWINS.

1 ties were great, the contest being a hand-to-hand one, and either one or the other contestants would have been ex- terminated had not a fierce wind storm suddenly arose, gathering up the sand in such quantities that the clouds so formed obscured the sun and was so op- pressive that the warring factions were obliged to fall back for many miles. Finally the winds subsided and the hosts once more mov- ed forward to battle, but when in sight of each other, nature a second time be- came a peacc maker by delug- ing the contest- ants with a great fall of rain and hail stones. This rather cooled their ardor for further fighting, and they hasten- vd to get away irom the vicini- ty of the storm.

The affray having been de- ferred from the causes mention- ed. the supersti- tious mind of the Indian be- gan to think that the Great Spirit was taking a hand in the con- test. The medi- cine men attend- ing were called upon to "make medicine" and learn the pleasures of the Great Spirit in the premises. Before an answer could be obtained by those of the Cayuses, a horseman was seen ap- proaching from the east. On his arrival near them he dismounted, coming for- ward with hand uplifted, indicative of peace and conference. When assured by answering signs of like nature, he ad-

vanced, and told the Cayuses that the Great Spirit had told the Bannocks that the fight was "off," but they must con !- pensate the Cayuses for the loss of the twins by a sufficient number of ponies to satisfy the same. The proposition was accepted though more out of fear of the wrath of the Great Spirit in the event of its rejection than their desire for gain.

The price being fixed and paid, the dead were bur- ied in one com- mon grave,when each tribe went its way. This place of burial can often be seen, as the cov- ering of sand over the bones is shifted back and forth by the winds, leaving

Photo (Copyright) by Moorhouse. E-LE-HAN! MAM-OOK MEM-A-LOOSE!

them exposed. The Bannocks departed in peace, but the trail of the Cay- uses was, how- ever, darkened by angry clouds, fierce lightning shot athwart the heavens and thunders rolled continual until they again reached the en- campment of the tribe. Satisfied that all was not right, they called for the making of more medi-

cine. After some considerable time be- . ing consumed in the performance of in- cantations, the medicine men told the people that the possession of the twins would not be productive of beneficial re- sults to the Bannocks, and that the Cay- uses must never permit any twins born of them to live beyond their birth, or bad luck would follow them also.

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OREGON NATIVE SON. .

While the price of the twins had been paid, the sting of the insult still remain- ed, they wanted full satisfaction in the way of blood and scalps rather than plunder, and, as the twins had been the cause of the trouble and disappointment as well, the law in relation to double births in the future met with no disap- proval. An acquiescence to his wishes received, the Great Spirit withdrew any signs of his displeasure, when the en-

(White Fawn). When Him-ye-an-hi-hi presented her lord with these twins, Ha- hots-mox-mox, subtle and cunning. wanted them to growup to honor them in his old age. When it came to the cars of old Chief No Shirt (Si-ah-sum) that Him-ye-an-hi-hi had given birth to twin girls, an edict went forth that the ancient law of the tribe must be com- plied with, and that the twins must die. But Ha-hots-mox-mox spread the ini-

Photo (Copyright) by Moorhouse. The Place of Burial Can Often Be Seen.

campment was once more brightened with sunlit rays.

Since then no twins have been allowed to live beyond their birth until A-lom- pum and Tox-e-lox were born on How- tim-e-ne (McKay) creek about two and one-half years ago. McKay creek flows through the southern boundary of the Umatilla Indian reservation. The par- ents' names are Ha-hots-mox-mox (Yel- low Grizzly Bear) and Him-ye-an-hi-hi.

pression among the tribesmen that the twins came as a good omen to the na- tion.

Hle was an orator of no mean part- and induced the chief to assemble the tribe. The Cayuse nation assembled at the principal lodge -- that is, the men as- sembled; for if the women were there it was only by sufferance. They, of course, had no part in the great council.

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MAJOR MOORHOUSE'S CAYUSE TWINS.

That two human lives were at stake weighed not an iota with these Indian men. They must be reached through other arguments. The tribe's selfish- ness, as personified by the men, must be the means of saving the twins.

. Ha-lots-mox-mox made a speech. He had told the tribesmen how he had been far away, hunting the deer on the little Minem; how in the night, when his cui- tan was grazing near by on the bunch- grass and he himself had laid down to

In 1843 occurred the first marriage among the white population of the Pa- cific Northwest in the section north of the "Columbia river, now the state of Washington. The contracting parties were Dr. Wm. H. Willson and Miss Chloe A. Clark. The doctor was a pio- neer of 1838, coming here in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn, being one of the first reinforcement sent to assist the Methodist mission already established. Miss Clark came in 1840 on the ship Lusanne. In 1842 the doctor was sent to Nisqually to establish a mission, which he did, remaining in charge thereof. In :843 assistance was sent there, and among those going was Miss Clark. Soon after her arrival she became the wife of the doctor. In the autumn of 1844 they were again in Oregon and were living on what was then known as Chemekete plain, now the city of Salem, where Mrs. Willson opened a school for white children, the first taught with that class of students on the Pacific coast. Such school afterwards resolved itself inte what is now the Willamette Univer- sity. Mrs. J. K. Gill, of Portland, was their eldest child.

Nearly all of the gth of July celebra- Sons held in 1854 were under the aus- Hives of the Sons of Temperance.

James Birnie, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, and a pioneer of 1818 to Ore- gon, was the first white man to descend the Umpqua river to its mouth.

rest he had had a vision, and in the vision had been promised these twins, who were to be signs of good fortune to the whole tribe. That the Great Spir- it had told him that he had recalled his wishes voiced in the years of yore ..

All Indian braves are "great on visions." and Ha-hots-mox-mox worked off his particular vision on the tribe with success, and the twins were allowed to live."

J. E. LATHROP.

Many strange things happen out in old Yamhill county. It used to be said that nearly every one who was of any note in the more important fields of life got their start there. The movers in the bimetalic cause, which was agitated to a large extent in 1896, evidently had such in view when they called their conven- tion to meet within its "classic shades," thinking no doubt that the luck of the past would be theirs. The political phase of this gathering is not a subject for dis- cussion in these columns, but some of its membership, we venture to say, re- vived old memories of bygone political opinions, when the presence of some of their old associate delegates became known. Delegate Brown, of Salem, was a son of John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame, and Delegate Booth was a son of Sheriff Booth who officiated at the hang- ing of John Brown thirty-seven years prior thereto. ,

Quite frequently mention has been made that Dr. McLoughlin visited Lon- don, England, during the time he was chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany at Vancouver, but the date of his being there is about as often not given. It was in 1838-9.

The first circus that went the rounds of Oregon was billed as "Cooper & Riv- ers' Great New York Circus." It was here in ,1852, and it is a matter of doubt whether any of the "equestriennes" and "renowned trapese performers" ever saw the Empire state.

TALES OF THE MINES.

I have neglected to say Thomas grew weary of our journey, and being a car- penter by trade, concluded to try his for- tune at Walla Walla. So we divided our provisions and blankets. I regretted to leave him, for although wholly unlike in disposition, we were much attached to each other and shook hands at parting, with mutual reluctance. It is strange to say how opposites will care for each other. I have known a great, strong, courageous man to have for his warmest friend a little, sickly, puny creature pos- sessed of neither enterprise nor courage, and who could be of no earthly good to him except to meekly allow him to sup- port and defend him. I supposed such friendships might be termed a species of frontier marriage. At any rate, friends and partners are chosen in the mines with all the sublime indifference to re- sults which characterize marriages be- tween the sexes. There are many men in the mines who would become rich if it were not for their partners, and there are many partners in the settlement who would get rich if it were not for their man. What benevolence there is in this law of selection !

If it were not so, we should have two classes-paupers and millionaires.

After looking around Oro Fino a few days, and finding all claims supposed to be valuable occupied, I consented to go with an acquaintance, whom I met. to a new "find" on the headwaters of the South Clearwater. He had just returned after locating a claim and reported very rich diggings. I secured a fresh supply of provisions, and listening to his excit- ing talk rode along, feeling certain that a single range of mountains was all that separated me from a fortune. I knew so little of mines that when he told me that a man had picked up on the bedrock ten dollars in about twenty minutes, I began to calculate how much I could pick up in a day, working fourteen hours

per day (which I resolved to do), could make four hundred and twenty dollars." This was very good wages. I felt quite happy and wondered what Thomas would say when I returned to Walla Walla with my horse loaded down with gold dust.

I resolved to give him a good share and do many other benevolent things, besides making some very pleasing ar- rangements for myself.

Alas,

"The best laid plans of mice and men Gang aft aglee,

And leave us naught but grief and pain For promised joy."

Four days' travel brought us to the new camp. There were about twenty men, mostly engaged in building cabins and digging ditches. There was no ex- citement and my ardor began to cool I did not like the looks of things. The men seemed to be preparing to stay, while I was only anxious to secure some gold and return. I was willing to stay a few weeks, but I did not feel like making any permanent improvements. I there- fore pitched my tent and commenced my search for gold. Twenty-four years have passed, and I am still searching. I could find none except what was in someone's possession.

Day after day I prospected and found only mica and isinglass, after washing away the dirt. I began to realize that "all is not gold that glitters." Still I worked on, hoping to find what I sought at the bottom of some hole, many of which I dug with pick and shovel in the bed of streams and gulches. Hope was strong, yet often my heart sunk within me when, after toiling all day, I found nothing on the bedrock' but sand and gravel. In the meantime hundreds were pouring into our camp, coming, it seemed, from all quarters of the world. I believe every nation on earth was rep-

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TALES OF THE MINES.

resented in that camp within three months of its discovery. A town was located on Elk Creek and launched forth on the commercial sea under the name of Elk City. There were no surveyors or architects employed. No steamboats or locomotives disturbed its inhabitants. · 'Yet it grew so fast as to astonish every- one except the old miners. Men who had tramped from camp to camp since "forty-nine" complained that it grew slow, and told of the wonderful growth of San Francisco, Sacramento, Yreka and other mining towns of California. After laboring diligently for a month with no success, I purchased a claim from a gambler who had taken it up for speculative purposes, giving him in pay- ment a bed rock note for two hundred dollars. It read: "I promise to pay the bearer two hundred dollars in gold dust when it is taken out of claim No. 54, over and above grub." These notes pass current, and anyone who would attempt to attach the usual condition for attor- ney's fees, would be dealt with in a sum- mary manner, and according to miners' notions of justice.

Many claims were now opened, and being worked with sluices, paid from twenty-five to forty dollars per day per man. Excitement ran high. A grave- yard was started, and soon became a popular resort. The only man buried there within the first three months who did not have a bullet hole in him, was a poor minister. who, being a non-combat- ant, was unfit for honorable fight and was knocked in the head with a whiskey bottle, and buried in the potter's field. "unwept, unhonored and unsung."

I have often thought of that poor preacher who lies in the lower corner of that beautiful mountain cemetery, and regretted that the manner of his death prevented his being buried on the more rising ground and among gentlemen. It must not be supposed that all disputes were settled with the pistol or bowie knife. Peaceable-minded men were al- ways ready to leave disputes about min- ing affairs to a meeting of the miners, who were called together by notices posted at prominent points stating the

objects of the meeting, and signed by the Recorder of the district. Such meetings were always well attended and orderly, and their decisions ranked those of the Supreme Court of the United States, and were as just as a hurried presenta- tion of the facts would allow. Much has been said in praise of the justice of miner's courts. They intend to do right, but their decrees are not always wise or just, and are open to many objections; prominent among which is that they are made in such haste as to prevent a competent presentation of facts, and are influenced more by impulse than by reason and good judgment. A single case will il- lustrate: Two gamblers by the name of Finigan and Dorsey quarreled one day in a saloon at Elk City. They were both desperate men and, standing a few feet apart, fired three shots apiece. Dorsey missed, but Finigan put his shots well in. and, at the third fire his man was floored. with three dangerous wounds through his body, and was carried away vowing to kill his adversary should he ever again stand on his feet. His wounds were dressed and he was placed in bed in the upper story of the saloon building. About nine o'clock that night the doctor came into the saloon and said his patient was in a sound sleep and he had hopes of his recovery. A few moments later. Finigan borrowed a candle from the bar keeper, went to the wounded man's room and cut his throat at a single blow, with a large knife which he always car- ried, leaving it there to tell the story of his terrible guilt. Half an hour låter he came into the saloon with blood on his clothes and invited all hands up to drink. He was arrested and tried at a miner's court and found guilty of murder in the first degree. He confessed his crime and was sentenced to be hung. Twelve men were appointed to execute the sentence. Elaborate preparations were made for him: his grave was dug and scaffold erected; and at the appointed time he stood, with the rope around his neck ready to be launched into eternity. He was allowed to speak to the crowd gath- cred around at the foot of the gallows

58.4

CAPT. JOHN HARLOW. A Pioneer of 1551.

HARVEY W. SCOTT, A Pioneer of 1852.

Photo by Moore. JOHN MELDRUM. A Pioneer of ISI ..

Photo Ly Tollman. MRS. SUSAN D. MELDRUM. A Pioneer of 1915.

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TALES OF THE MINES.

Young, handsome and intelligent, he brought tears to our eyes as he told how, step by step, strong drink had brought him down from a respected member of society and the high estate of manhood, until his life was justly forfeit to the laws of his country. He thanked his judges for a just verdict, gave a letter for his ·mother to a friend, and without a tremor in his voice, bade us all good-bye, and giving a signal, in an instant was hang- ing at the end of the rope.

His neck was not broken by the fall, and the hangman's knot, being imper- fectly tied, slowly unwound and let him fall to the ground. He called for a drink of water and begged for his life. In an instant men were shouting "Let him live! Let him live!" Some jumped upon stumps and made speeches in his de- fens , while many drew their pistols and declared he had been hung enough, and they would shoot the first man who pro- posed to hang him again. A new vote was taken, and he was unanimously cleared.

A collection taken up by an old miner with tears streaming down his cheeks, furnished a horse and saddle, and Fini- gan rode away with hat in hand, turning in his saddle to bow gracefully to an ad- miring and happy crowd. Ten minutes later some discordant wretch said the hangman had intended to defeat the ends of justice by tying a bogus knot. In- stantly a clamor arose demanding that the hangman stand on Finigan's scaffold and try a drop with a securer knot than he had tied. After a great many speech- es were made and he was nearly scared to death, he was allowed to sneak away, his friends forming a line to cover his retreat and prevent the crowd from shooting him down as he went.

After thorough prospecting, my own claim proved to be a very poor one, and I hired out to work on Summit flat for $16 per day. The owner of the claim and myself, working one rocker, took out about two hundred dollars per day, after stripping the ground of four feet of turf. The ground was very flat and would not admit of working with sluices. One day while rocking the cradle we witnessed a

very amusing affair. An old German had built a very small house on the edge of the flat. It was neatly built and complete throughout except the door. He looked it all over and gave the gratifying nod and went up to the store for some nails to make his door with. He was not gone more than half an hour, as he was anxious to move in his new and comfort- able quarters that evening. When he reached the door, he commenced to roar like a wounded grizzly, swearing in Dutch, tearing his hair, and dancing around in a most frantic. manner. We hastened down to see what could be the matter. We saw a sight that was as ludicrous to us as it was exasperating to the Dutchman. An old horse which had been turned out to die had been knawing the turf upon the flat for several days. He was very large and very poor. He went into the little house, no doubt thinking it was a stable and, in trying to turn around, had fallen and died. The Dutchman jumped upon his poor old carcass with both feet, and yelled like a Comanche, but he was stone dead.

His head, which showed him to be of the finest American stock, lay in one cor- ner, while the toes of his hind feet, stub- bed by the rocky hills he had crossed, reached the other. He had been a splen- did horse, and even while the old man was tearing around, I ceased laughing to pity his fate and contemplate his splen- did proportions-splendid even in pover- ty and death. The old man continued to tear around for a quarter of an hour, paying no attention to those gathered around. but cursing the old horse over and over again. until he was almost ex- hausted. Then he cooled down and went to work, with his butcher-knife and hatchet, to cut up the carcass. He would cut off a leg, and taking it upon his shoulder carry it away, stooping be- neath his load and muttering curses with every breath. I would give a hun- dred dollars for a correct picture of that Dutchman as he carried away the last Icad. It was that monstrous head. grasped by one ear. As he grinned back at the laughing crowd, some one asked

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The Oregon native son, Vol. I, Part 77

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