An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 10

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172

USA > Washington > Skagit County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 10
USA > Washington > Snohomish County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 10

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The peace made with so much formality was broken two days afterward by killing two of the Flatheads when caught not far from the main camp.

It was from this Flathead tribe that the first Indian delegation was sent to ask for teachers. Three of their number volunteered to go with Gray to the States in 1837 to urge their claim for teachers to come among them. The party reached Ash Hollow, where they were attacked by about three hundred Sioux warriors, and. after fighting for three hours, killed some fifteen of them, when the Sioux, by means of a French trader then among them, obtained a parley with Gray and his traveling companions -two young men who had started to go to the United States with him. While the Frenchman was in conversa- tion with Gray, the treacherous Sioux made a rush upon the three Flatheads, one Snake and one Iroquois Indian belonging to the party, and killed them. The Frenchman then turned to Gray and told him and his companions they were prisoners, and must go to the Sioux camp, first attempting to get possession of their guns. Gray informed them at once: "You have killed our Indians in a cowardly manner. and you shall not have our guns." at the same time telling the young men to watch the first motion of the Indians to take their lives, and if we must die to take as many Indians with us as we could. The Sionx had found in the contest thus far that, notwithstanding they had con- quered and killed five, they had lost fifteen, among them one of their war chiefs, besides several severely wounded. The party was not further molested till they reached the camp, containing between one and two hundred lodges. A full explanation was had of the whole affair. Gray had two

horses killed under him and two balls passed through his hat, both inflicting slight wounds. The party were feasted. and smoked the pipe of peace over the dead body of the chief's son. Next day they were allowed to proceed with nine of their horses: the balance, with the property of the Indians, the Sioux claimed as part pay for their losses, doubtless calculating to waylay and take the bal- ance of the horses. Be that as it may, Gray and his young men reached Council Bluffs in twenty-one days, traveling nights and during storms to avoid the Indians on the plains.

Gray proceeded cast, and with the energy and courage which ever characterized him, set about the task of securing the needed reinforcements. He succeeded in enlisting Rev. Cushing Eells, Rev. E. Walker and Rev. A. B. Smith, with their wives. also a young man named Cornelius Rogers. Ile also succeeded in inducing a young woman to be- come his own bride and to share with him the dangers and tedium of a transcontinental journey and whatever of weal or woe the new land might have in store for them. Mention should likewise be made of the noted John A. Sutter. an ex-cap- tain of the Swiss guard, who accompanied this expedition and who afterward became an impor- tant character in the early history of California.

Two priests, Rev. F. N. Blanchet and Modest Demers, also came during this year, so the seeds of sectarian strife, which did so much to neutral- ize the efforts and work of the Protestant mission- aries, then began to be sown. The population of Oregon, independent of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, must have been about sixty at the close of the year 1838.

In the fall of 1839 came Rev. J. S. Griffin and Mr. Munger, with their wives, Ben Wright, Law- son. Keiser and Deiger. also T. H. Farnham, author of "Early Days in California," Sidney Smith, Blair and Robert Shortess. W. H. Gray, in his history of Oregon, estimates the population as follows: "Protestant missionaries, 10; Roman priests. 2: physicians, 2 : laymen, 6; women, 13 : children, 10; settlers, 20; settlers under Hudson's Bay control with American tendencies, 10 ; total, 83."

In 1838 Jason Lee made a journey overland to the states for the purpose of procuring a force wherewith to extend greatly his missionary opera- tions. His wife died during his absence and the sad news was forwarded to him by Dr. MeLough- lin. Dr. Whitman and a man hired by Gray. In June, 1840. Lee returned with a party of forty- eight, of whom eight were clergymen, one was a physician, fifteen were children and nineteen were ladies, five of them unmarried. Their names are included in Gray's list of arrivals for 1810.

In 1841 eight young men built and equipped a vessel, named the Star of Oregon, in which they made a trip to San Francisco. Joseph Gale served as captain of the doughty little craft, of which Felix Hathaway had been master builder. The vessel was exchanged at Yerba Buena ( San Fran- cisco) for three hundred and fifty cows. Gale

INTRODUCTORY

remained in the Golden state through the winter. then set out overland to Oregon with a party of forty-two immigrants, who brought with them, as J. W. Nesmith informs us, one thousand two hun- dred and fifty head of cattle, six hundred head of mares, colts, horses and mules, and three thousand sheep. The incident forms the theme of one of Mrs. Eva E. Dve's most charming descriptions. but its strategic importance in helping to Ameri- canize Oregon and break up the cattle monopoly seems to have been overlooked by many other writers.

The Joseph Gale who figured so prominently in this undertaking was afterward a member of the first triumvirate executive committee of the provisional government. He is affectionately remembered in eastern Oregon, where he passed the closing years of his eventful life.

By the close of the year 1841 the independent population of Oregon had reached two hundred and fifty-three, thirty-five of whom are classed as settlers. In 18-12 came an immigration of one hundred and eleven persons, two of whom, .A. L. Lovejoy and A. M. Hastings, were lawyers. In this year, also, came the Red river immigration of English and Scotch and of French-Canadian half- breeds to the Puget sound country. This immi- gration was inspired by the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, which designed it as an offset to the growing American power in the Oregon country. It had, however, very little political effect, as many of its members drifted southward into the Willamette country and became members of the provisional government. The year 1812 is also memorable for the famous winter ride of Dr. Whitman.

In 1843 came the largest immigration the Ore- gon country had yet known, piloted across the plains and over the mountains by Whitman himself. Its eight hundred and seventy-five persons, with their wagons and thirteen hundred head of cattle, settled forever the question of the national character of Oregon. J. W. Nesmith has preserved for us the names of all the male members of this expedition over sixteen years of age, as also of those remaining from the immigrations of the year previous. In 1844 came eight hundred more Americans, and in 1845 a much larger number, estimated by some at three thousand. The year 1846 added another thousand to Oregon's American population. In it the ownership of the country was definitely settled by treaty with Great Britain, and the famous world problem was solved.

It is impossible here adequately to treat of life and conditions in the Northwest during those early days of American occupation. Some idea of the inner life of the first settlers of Oregon may be gained from the following excerpt from a lecture by Colonel J. W. Nesmith, delivered before the Oregon Pioneer Association :

The business of the country was conducted entirely by barter. The Hudson's Bay Company imported and sold many articles of prime necessity to those who were able to purchase. Wheat or beaver skins would buy anything the company had for sale. But poor, wayworn emigrants, just arriving in the country, were as destitute of wheat and beaver as they were of coin. The skins purchased by the company were annually shipped in their own vessels to London, while the wheat was shipped to the Russian pos- sessions on the north and to California, to fill a contract that the Hudson's Bay Company had with the Russian Fur Company. A small trade in lumber, salt, salmon, shingles and hoop-poles gradually grew up with the Sand- wich islands, and brought in return a limited supply of black and dirty sugar in grass sacks, together with some salt and coffee.

There being no duty collected upon importations into Oregon previous to 1849, foreign goods were comparatively cheap, though the supply was always limited; nor had the people means to purchase beyond the pure necessities. Iron, steel, salt, sugar. coffee, tea, tobacco, powder and lead, and a little ready-made clothing and some calico and domestics, were the principal articles purchased by the settlers. The Hudson's Bay Company, in their long inter- course with the Indians, had, from prudential motives. adopted the plan in their trade of passing articles called for ont through a hole in the wall or partition. Persons were not allowed inside among the goods to make selec- tions, and the purchaser had to be content with what was passed out to him through the aperture. Thus in buying a suit of clothes, there was often an odd medley of color and sizes. The settlers used to say that Dr. McLoughlin, who was a very large man, had sent his measure to Lon- don, and all the clothing was made to fit him. The hick- ory shirts we used to buy came down to our heels and the wrist-bands protruded a foot beyond the hands; and as Sancho Panza said of sleep. "they covered one all over like a mantle." They were no such "entty sark" affairs of "Paisley ham" as befuddled Tam O'Shanter saw when peeping in upon the dancing warlocks of "Alloway's auld haunted kirk." A small sized settler, purchasing one, could, by reasonable curtailment of the extremities, have sufficient material to clothe one of the children.

The pioneer home was a log cabin with a puncheon Hoor and mud chimney, all constructed without sawed lumber, glass or nails, the boards being secured upon the roof by heavy-weight poles. Sugar. coffee, tea and even salt were not every-day luxuries, and in many cabins were entirely unknown. Moccasins made of deer and elk skins and soled with rawhide made a substitute for shoes, and were worn by both sexes. Buckskin was the material from which the greater portion of the male attire was manufactured, while the cheapest kind of coarse cotton goods furnished the remainder. A white or boiled shirt was rarely seen and was a sure indication of great wealth and aristocratic pretension. Meat was obtained in some quantities from the wild game of the forests or the wild fowl with which the country abounded at certain seasons, until such time as cattle or swine became sufficiently mimerous to be slaughtered for food. The hides of both wild and domestic animals were utilized in many ways. Clothing, moccasins, saddles and their rigging, bridles. ropes, harness and other necessary articles were made from them. A pair of buckskin pants, moccasins, a hick- ory shirt and some sort of cheaply extemporized hat. rendered a man comfortable as well as presentable in the best society, the whole outfit not costing one-tenth part of the price of the essential gewgaws that some of our exqui- site sons now sport at the ends of their watch chains, on their shirt-fronts or dainty fingers. Buckskin clothing answered wonderfully well for rough-and-tumble wear, particularly in dry weather. but I have known them after exposure to a hard day's rain to contract in a single night by a warm fire a foot in longitude, and after being sub- jected to a webfoot winter or two, and a succeeding dry

PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT

summer, they would assume grotesque and unfashionable shapes, generally leaving from six inches to a foot of nude and arid skin between the top of the moccasins and the lower end of the breeches; the knees protruded in front, while the rear started off in the opposite direction, so that when the wearer stood up the breeches were in a constant struggle to sit down and vice versa.

The pioneers brought garden seeds with them, and much attention was paid to the production of vegetables, which, with milk, game and fish, went a long way toward the support of the family. Reaping machines, threshers, headers, mowing machines, pleasure carriages, silks, satins, laces, kid gloves, plug hats, high-heeled boots, crinoline, bustles, false hair, hair dye, jewelry. patent medicines, railroad tickets, postage stamps, telegrams, pianos and organs, together with a thousand and one other articles to purchase which the country is now drained of millions of dollars annually, were then unknown and con- sequently not wanted. A higher civilization has introduced us to all these modern improvements, and apparently made them necessaries, together with the rum mill, the jail, the insane asylum, the poor-house, the penitentiary and the gallows.

Of the people who lived in Oregon during this period, Judge Bennett, in his book entitled "Recol- lections of an Old Pioneer." says :

"Among the men who came to Oregon the year I did, some were idle, worthless young men, too lazy to work at home and too genteel to steal, while some were gamblers, and others reputed thieves. But when we arrived in Oregon, they were com- pelled to work or starve. It was a bare necessity. There was no able relative or indulgent friend upon whom the idle could quarter themselves, and there was little or nothing for the rogues to steal. There was no ready way by which they could escape into another country, and they could not conceal themselves in Oregon. I never knew so fine a population, as a whole community, as I saw in Oregon most of the time I was there. They were all honest because there was nothing to steal ; they were all sober because there was no liquor to drink ; there were no misers because there was nothing to hoard ; they were all industrious because it was work or starve."

Such was the general character of the early pioneer as depicted by men who knew whereof they spoke. Another characteristic strongly appeals to the mind of the historian-his political. capabili- ties. His environment and isolation from the rest of the world compelled him to work out for himself many novel and intricate economic problems ; the uncertainty as to the ownership of the Oregon ter- ritory and the diverse national prejudices and sym- pathies of its settlers made the formation of a gov- ernment reasonably satisfactory to the whole population an exceedingly difficult task. There were, however, men in the new community deter- mined to make the effort, and the reader will be able to judge from what follows how well they succeeded.

As early as 1838 some of the functions of gov- ernment were exercised by members of the Metho- dist mission. Persons were chosen by that body

to officiate as magistrates and judges, and their findings were generally acquiesced in by persons independent of the Hudson's Bay Company because of the unorganized condition of the community, though there was doubtless a strong sentiment among the independent settlers in favor of trusting to the general morality and disposition to do right rather than to any political organization. The most important act of the mission officers was the trial of T. J. Hubbard for the killing of a man who attempted to enter his house at night with criminal intent. Rev. David Leslie presided as judge during this noteworthy judicial proceeding, which resulted in the acquittal of the defendant on the ground that his act was excusable.

As early as 1840 efforts began to be made to induce the United States government to extend to the people of the Northwest its jurisdiction and Jaws, although to do this was an impossibility ex- cept by abrogation of the Joint-Occupancy treaty of 1821 and the satisfactory settlement of the title- all which would require at least a year's time. A petition was, nevertheless, drafted, signed by David Leslie and a number of others and forwarded to congress. It was not entirely free from misstate- ments and inaccuracies, but is considered, never- theless, an able and important state paper. Inas- much as the population of Oregon, including children, did not exceed two hundred at this time. the prayer of the petitioners, it need hardly be said. was not granted. But it must not be supposed that the document was therefore without effect. It did its part toward opening the eyes of the people of the East and of congress to the importance and value of Oregon, and toward directing public atten- tion to the domain west of the Rocky mountains.

Notwithstanding the paucity of the white people of Oregon, the varions motives that impelled them thither had divided them into four classes-the Hudson's Bay Company, the Catholic clergy and their following, the Methodist missions and the settlers. The Catholics and the company were practically a unit politically. The settlers favored the missions only in so far as they served the pur- pose of helping to settle the country, caring little about their religious influence and opposing their ambitions.

The would-be organizers of a government found their opportunity in the conditions presented by the death of Ewing Young. This andacious pioneer left considerable property and no legal representatives, and the question was, what shoukt be done with his belongings? Had he been a lIudson's Bay man or a Catholic, the company or the church would have taken care of the property. Had he been a missionary, his coadjutors might have administered, but being a plain American citizen, there was no functionary possessed of even a colorable right to exercise jurisdiction over his estate. In the face of this emergency, the occasion

INTRODUCTORY

of Young's funeral, which occurred February 11, 1841, was seized upon for attempting the organiza- tion of some kind of a government. At an im- promptu meeting, it was decided that a committee should perform the legislative functions and that the other officers of the new government should be a governor, a supreme judge with probate jurisdic- tion, three justices of the peace, three constables, three road commissioners, an attorney-general, a clerk of the court and public recorder, a treasurer and two overseers of the poor. Nominations were made for all these offices, and the meeting adjourned until next day, when, it was hoped, a large repre- sentation of the citizens of the valley would assem- ble at the mission house.

The time specified saw the various factions in full force at the place of meeting. A legislative committee was appointed as follows: Revs. F. N. Blanchet, Jason Lee, Gustavus Hines and Josiah L. Parish ; also Messrs. D. Donpierre, M. Charlevo, Robert Moore, E. Lucier and William Johnson. No governor was chosen; the Methodists secured the judgeship, and the Catholics the clerk and re- corder. Had the friends of the organization been more fortunate in their choice of a chairman of the legislative committee, the result of the movement might have been different, but Rev. Blanchet never called a meeting of his committee, and the people who assembled on June 1st to hear and vote upon the proposed laws, found their congregating had been in vain. Blanchet resigned ; Dr. Bailey was chosen to fill the vacancy, and the meeting ad- journed until October. First, however, it ordered the committee to confer with Commodore Wilkes, of the American squadron, and John McLoughlin, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, with regard to forming a constitution and code of laws.

Wilkes discouraged the movement, considering it unnecessary and impolitic to organize a govern- ment at the time. He assigned the following reasons :

"First-On account of their want of right, as those wishing for laws were, in fact, a small minor- ity of the settlers.

"Second-That these were not yet necessary, even by their own account.

"Third-That any laws they might establish would be but a poor substitute for the moral code they all now followed, and that evil-doers would not be disposed to settle near a community entirely opposed to their practices.

"Fourth-The great difficulty they would have in enforcing any laws and defining the limits over which they had control, and the discord this might occasion in their small community.

"Fifth-They not being the majority and the larger portion of the population Catholics, the latter would elect officers of their party, and they would thus place themselves entirely under the control of others.

"Sixth-The unfavorable impression it would produce at home, from the belief that the mission- aries had admitted that in a community brought to- gether by themselves, they had not enough of moral force to control it and prevent crime, and therefore must have recourse to a criminal code."

The friends of the movement could not deny the cogency of this reasoning, and, it appears, con- cluded to let the matter drop. The October meet- ing was never held, and thus the first attempt at forming a government ended. However, the judge elected made a satsfactory disposition of the Young estate.

But the question of forming an independent or provisional government continued to agitate the public mind. During the winter of 1842-3 a lyceum was organized at Willamette Falls, now Oregon City, at which the propriety of taking steps in that direction was warmly debated. On one evening the subject for discussion was: "Resolved. That it is expedient for the settlers on this coast to establish an independent government." McLough- lin favored the resolution and it carried. Mr. Abernethy, defeated in this debate, skillfully saved the day by introducing as the topic of the next dis- cussion: "Resolved, That if the United States extends its jurisdiction over this country within four years, it will not be expedient to form an inde- pendent government." This resolution was also carried after a spirited discussion, destroying the effect of the first resolution.

Meanwhile, the settlers in the vicinity of the Oregon Institute were skillfully working out a plan whereby a provisional government might be formed. They knew the sentiment of their con- freres at the Falls, the result of the deliberations at that place having been reported to them by Mr. Le Breton ; they knew also that their designs would meet with opposition from both the Hudson's Bay Company and the mission people. The problem to be solved was how to accomplish their ends without stirring up opposition which would over- whehn them at the very outset. Their solution of this problem is a lasting testimony to their astute- ness and finesse.

As a result of the formation of the Willamette Cattle Company and its success in importing stock from California, almost every settler was the owner of at least a few head, and, of course, the Hudson's Bay Company and the missions also had their herds. The fact that wolves, bears and panthers were destructive to the cattle of all alike furnished one bond of common interest uniting the diverse popu- lation of Oregon, and this conference furnished the conspirators their opportunity. Their idea was that having got an object before the people on which all could unite, they might advance from the ostensible object, protection for domestic animals, to the more important, though hidden object, "pres- ervation for both property and person." The

PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT

"wolf meeting," as it is called, convened on the 2d of February, 1843, and was fully attended. It was feared that Dr. I. L. Babcock, the chairman, might suspect the main object. but in this instance he was less astute than some others. The utmost harmony prevailed. It was moved that a com- mittee of six should be appointed by the chair to clevise a plan and report at a future meeting, to convene, it was decided, on the first Monday in March next at ten o'clock a. m.

After the meeting pursuant to adjournment had completed its business by organizing a campaign against wolves, bears and panthers, and adopting rules and regulations for the government of all in their united warfare upon pests, one gentleman arose and addressed the assembly, complimenting it upon the justice and propriety of the action taken for the protection of domestic animals, but "How is it, fellow-citizens," said he. "with you and me and our children and wives? Have we any organization upon which we can rely for mutual protection ? Is there any power or influence in the country suffi- cient to protect us and all we hold dear on earth from the worse than wild beasts that threaten and occasionally destroy our cattle? Who in our midst is authorized at this moment to protect our own and the lives of our families? True, the alarm may be given as in a recent case, and we may run who feel alarmed, and shoot off our guns, while our enemy may be robbing our property, ravishing our wives and burning the houses over our defenseless fami- lies. Common sense, prudence and justice to our- selves demand that we act in consistency with the principles we commenced. We have mutually and unitedly agreed to defend and protect our cattle and domestic animals; now, fellow-citizens. I submit and move the adoption of the two following resolti- tions, that we may have protection for our persons and lives, as well as our cattle and hierds :

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An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 10

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1906 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1172

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172