USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. II > Part 18
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reprimand, fines, and finally by exclusion from the company. A register of the names of every man, woman and child was to be kept by Nathaniel Crocker, the secretary. These pre- liminaries having been settled and a pilot engaged, the first emigrant train for Oregon started west. It consisted of eighteen wagons and a considerable band of horses, mules and cattle. Of the one hundred and five persons compos- ing the party fifty were males over the age of eighteen years.
Five days after leaving Elm Grove one of the children of Judge Lancaster died. The parents continued with the party for several days, but finally the failing health of Mrs. Lancaster compelled the judge and his party to return. They were escorted back to the Kansas River by Dr. White and three other members of the party, the train being delayed for three days to await the return of this escort.
This party, like nearly all that followed it for many years, met with many interesting adventures on the way. At Independence Rock, a band of some five hundred Sioux Indians overtook and captured Hastings and Lovejoy, who had lingered behind the wagons in order to cut their names upon the face of the cliff. When their absence was noted the train was halted until the Indians, in wild fashion, arrived with the crestfallen prisoners, and demanded a good ran- som, which was given, and the prisoners released. A few days later a much larger band, or a number of bands, of Sioux and Blackfeet, overtook the train, which had to be halted and inspected by the savages; and many presents were asked and given. Among other things ardently craved by the great chief was a handsome daughter of one of the pio- neers, which it required some circumspection to refuse with- out giving offense.
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On Green River a part of the baggage and wagons was discarded, and at Fort Hall some more of the wagons were taken down and sold to the commandant, or cut up to make pack saddles for horses or oxen, and the company divided up into small parties, which came on as they could to Oregon City. The latter stretch of the journey is described by Medo- rem Crawford as the most difficult. He says: "From Walla Walla to the Willamette Falls occupied about twenty days and, all things considered, was the hardest part of the journey. What with the drifting sands, rocky cliffs and rapid streams along the Columbia River, and the gorges, torrents, and thickets of the Cascade Mountains, it seems incredible how, with our worn-out and emaciated animals, we ever reached our destination. On the 5th of October, our little party, tired, ragged and hungry, arrived at the falls, now Oregon City, where we found the first habitations west of the Cascade Mountains. Here several members of the Methodist mission were located. Our gratification on arriving safely, after so long and perilous a journey, was shared by these hospitable people, each of whom seemed anxious to give us hearty welcome, and render us every assis- tance in his power."
There was no apprehension felt on account of the Indians from Fort Hall westward, and no precautions against them were taken, nor were these little sections of the fagged Ameri- can company molested. On the contrary they traveled among the Nez Perces and Cayuses and Walla Wallas as among any community of white people, and depended upon them for salmon and other supplies, which could be obtained at trifling expense. Whitman's, to these as to the earlier party of Farnham and Shortess, and the migrating moun- tain men and independent missionaries, was an oasis of
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abundance in the wilderness, where they "were most hos- pitably received, and supplied with flour and vegetables." Here, as vividly recalled by Crawford, was the first bread tasted since he left Fort Laramie-buffalo and salmon having been the staples from that point.
In the spring of 1843 a much larger party assembled at Independence to make its way across the plains to Oregon. It was composed largely of people from Missouri, although there were families in it from several other Western States. With it were a number of men who afterwards became promi- nent in the history of Oregon, and one of them, Peter H. Burnett, after having been appointed judge by the provi- sional government, joined one of the early parties of gold seekers, went to California and became its first governor. Among the others were Jesse Applegate, and his brothers with their families, J. W. Nesmith, subsequently United States senator and noted story teller, M. M. McCarver, founder of the city of Tacoma, Daniel Waldo, Jesse Lunie, and T. D. Kaiser. The party numbered over seven hundred men, women and children, about one-third of whom were capable of bearing arms. The train consisted of one hun- dred and twenty wagons, and was accompanied by a number of cattle, estimated to have amounted to five thousand head.
A meeting of the members of this party was held at Fitz- hugh's mills, twelve miles west of Independence, on the 20th of May, at which Peter Burnett was elected captain, and James W. Nesmith orderly sergeant. A council of nine members was appointed, with authority to arbitrate all differences, and settle all disputes that might arise during the journey. Some time later William Martin was chosen captain to succeed Governor Burnett. The train also was
JAMES W. NESMITH.
Born in New Brunswick, Me., July -23, 182. His mother died while he was still an infant, and he came west to Ohio with his father, and later to Missouri, where his father died. In 1842 he tried to join Dr. White's party, but did not reach Independence until it had departed. In the following year, he crossed with the Burnett-Applegate party, and took an active part in public affairs from the time he reached the Willamette. He was elected United States senator in 1861 as a Douglas Democrat. He was a firm sup- porter of the Union cause during the war, and upon the death of Charles Sumner was one of his eulogists in the Senatc. He died in 1885.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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divided into two columns, one known as the "light column," which was headed by Captain Martin, and the other the " cow column," under command of Jesse Applegate. The two columns moved separately, but always kept near enough together to support each other in case of an Indian attack, or other trouble.
Governor Burnett has left a fairly entertaining account of his experience as a pioneer,* and in addition to giving the story of this, the second emigrant train to make the long trip to Oregon, he explains with some detail the causes which influenced him, and perhaps others in that early time, to seek a home on the Pacific Coast. In his case there were three principal reasons; to find the means to pay his debts, to help in upbuilding an American country in a new and far-away region, and to find a climate in which Mrs. Burnett might enjoy better health.
The debate on the Linn bill in the Senate, as well as on the Ashburton treaty, had now been published. The reports by the several committees in the House and Senate, chiefly those prepared by Senator Linn, Caleb Cushing and Mr. N. E. Pendleton, as well as Mr. Greenhow's history, had been widely circulated. All of these contained more or less complete statements of our claims to the Oregon country and Mr. Cushing had argued the case so fully and so ably that there seemed to be no longer any doubt that our title would be fully and finally established. No states- man in or out of Congress had ventured to hint that any boundary below the forty-ninth parallel would be acceptable to him. In addition Mr. Pendleton's report had fully shown that the country was an attractive one for the settler.
*Recollections of an Old Pioneer (D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1880).
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One of these reports, probably the latter* had fallen into Burnett's hands during the winter, and he says he read it with great care. As has already been stated, a large extra supply of these reports was printed, and sent out by the members of both houses to their constituents. The debates on the Linn bill, and on the Ashburton treaty, had occupied a great deal of time during the two years preceding, and they had received a great deal of attention from the newspapers. The public was beginning to be well informed about the Ore- gon question, and there was no unsettled territory, anywhere, belonging to the government, which had been more frequently or fully described. Now that it was proposed to give it away in such liberal quantities to actual settlers, those who had thus far lived without hope of securing land of their own, were watching the fate of the Linn bill with the closest attention. During the winter of 1842-3, Burnett says, "there was a fair prospect that the bill would pass. It proposed to give to each settler who went to Oregon with his family six hundred and forty acres of land for the hus- band and wife, and one hundred and sixty for each child." In Burnett's case, if this measure should become law, he could secure sixteen hundred acres, and this he felt sure would in time pay his debts and leave him a home besides. It was this more than all else that induced the home seekers to take the trail for Oregon.
This train made its way across the plains and mountains as far as Fort Hall without special incident. A guide had been employed to lead them that far, but he was found to be
* Burnett says the report was by Senator Appleton, but as there was no Senator Appleton and never had been, and as Pendleton's report gave more details about the advantages of the country, from the set- tler's point of view, than any other had ever done, it seems certain that it is this report that he refers to.
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far more serviceable as a hunter than as guide, for the trail the fur traders had so long followed was plainly visible. Burnett says it was as good a natural wagon road as one could hope to find. Lieutenant Fremont had gone over it as far as the South Pass, the preceding season, with his first explor- ing party, and during the winter following had written his report of that trip. He was to make another exploring tour this year, and it was expected that he would go in advance of this emigrant train, but he really followed it most of the way. He certainly won this part of his reputation as a " path- finder" with little inconvenience. Provided with an ample guard and supplied with every convenience for travel that our frontier military posts could furnish, he still permitted Dr. White's party of settlers to go in advance of him during a great part of the way in 1842, and long before he had reached the end of the plain wagon road, which the fur traders had been using for a dozen years, he stopped, climbed a mountain to which he gave his name, and then went back to Washington to make an official report of what he had done and seen, though that report contained no single item of information about anything of value that had not long been in the files of the department in the letters of Sublette, Smith, Jackson, Pilcher and Bonneville. Senator Nesmith said of his expedition in 1843: "It is true that, in the year 1843, Fremont, then a lieutenant in the engineer corps, did cross the plains, and brought his party to the Dalles, and . visited Vancouver to procure supplies. I saw him on the plains, though he reached the Dalles in the rear of our emi- gration. His outfit contained all of the conveniences and luxuries that a government appropriation could procure, while he 'roughed it' in a covered carriage, surrounded by servants, paid from the public purse. He returned to the
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States, and was afterwards rewarded with a presidential nomination as the 'Pathfinder.'. The path he found was made by the hardy frontiersmen, who preceded him to the Pacific, and who stood by their rifles here, and held the country against hostile Indians and British threats, without government aid or recognition until 1849, when the first government troops came to our relief. Yet Fremont, with many people, has the credit of 'finding' everything west of the Rocky Mountains; and I suppose his pretensions will be recognized by the future historian, while the deserving men who made the path, unaided by the government, will be forgotten."
A short time after this emigrant train of 1843 left the Missouri it was joined by Dr. Whitman who was now return- ing to Oregon, after his visit to Boston, and possibly to the national capital. Burnett speaks of a committee appointed by the emigrants, on May 18th, to see him, and then of meet- ing him two days later at Big Springs. By this time they had already employed John Gant as a guide, but there is ample testimony that the doctor was very useful to them during the remainder of their long journey. He had had much experi- ence in this sort of travel, while they had none. They were disposed to do many foolish things of which he well knew the danger, and advised them of it. He helped them to choose their camping places, and to arrange their camps, and to seek out the safest and most convenient places to cross the larger and more dangerous streams and water courses. He advised them against needlessly exposing their health, and prescribed for them when they came to pay the penalty for not heeding his advice, or when for any reason they needed a physician. He met their Indian visitors, and helped so far as he could to protect them against the rapacity of their
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demands, their pilferings and their midnight raids. More than all he kept them moving, and prevented waste of time in pleasant places, so that they were able at a later time, and when there was urgent need for it, to lay by to rest and recruit their jaded teams, without danger of arriving at the Columbia so late in the season as to find it impossible to go further.
His services on the journey across the plains, with the emigrants, are thus noticed by J. W. Nesmith, who was in that party. "Dr. Marcus Whitman, in charge of the mis- sion at Waiilatpu, in the Walla Walla Valley, was not a regular clergyman, though he sometimes preached. He trav- eled with the immigration of 1843 from the Missouri fron- tier to near the Snake River (Fort Boise). I regarded him as a quiet, unassuming man, of great purity of character. He was of powerful physical organization, and possessed a great and good heart, full of charity and courage, and utterly destitute of cant, hypocrisy, shams and effeminacy, and always terribly in earnest. While with us he was clad entirely in buckskin, and rode upon one of those patient long-eared animals said to be 'without pride of ancestry or hope of posterity.' The doctor spent much of his time in hunting out the best route for the wagons, and would plunge into streams in search of practical fords, regardless of depth or temperature of the water, and sometimes after the fatigues of a hard day's march would spend much of the night in going from one party to another to minister to the sick. While his moral character was of the highest, he said more to us about the practical matters connected with our march than he did about theology or religious creeds, and I believe that his conduct among the Indians was of the same practi- cal, useful character; and that he was impressed with the
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necessity of teaching them habits of industry and economy, as the surest road to civilization and happiness."
Jesse Applegate tells this story: "But a little incident breaks the monotony of the march. An immigrant's wife, whose state of health has caused Dr. Whitman to travel near the wagon, is now taken with violent illness. The doctor has had the wagon driven out of the line, a tent pitched, and a fire kindled. Many conjectures are hazarded in regard to this mysterious proceeding, and as to why this lone wagon is to be left behind." (Then on the following day after making camp at evening.) "There are anxious watchers for the absent wagon, for there are many matrons who may be afflicted like its inmate before the journey is over and they fear the strange and startling practice of this Oregon doctor may be dangerous. But as the sun goes down the absent wagon rolls into camp, the bright, speaking face and cheery look of the doctor, who rides in advance, declare without words that all is well, and both mother and child are comfort- able. I would fain here and now pay a passing tribute to that noble, devoted man, Dr. Whitman. I will obtrude no other name on the reader, nor would I his, were he of our party, or even living, but his stay with us was transient, though the good he did us was permanent, and he has long since died at his post. From the time he joined us on the Platte, until he left us at Fort Hall (Fort Boise), his great experience and indomitable energy were of priceless value to the migrating column. His constant advice, which we knew was based on a knowledge of the road before us, was-' travel, travel, travel-nothing else will take you to the end of your journey; nothing is good for you that causes a moment's delay.' His great authority as a physician, and complete success in the case above referred to, saved us many
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prolonged and perhaps ruinous delays from similar causes, and it is no disparagement to others to say that to no other individual are the immigrants of 1843 so much indebted for the successful conclusion of their journey as to Dr. Marcus Whitman."
"These extracts sufficiently show," says Mr. Lyman, "the high and almost adulatory esteem in which Dr. Whit- man was held by the pioneers of Oregon, and add pathos to the tragedy of his death. This explains to a large extent the readiness with which almost any value might be assigned to his services in securing the territory in dispute to the Ameri- cans. His claims to the gratitude and affections of the people of Oregon can never be denied; his services as a statesman must be examined by specialists upon the broader prin- ciple of historical criticism."
At Fort Hall the emigrants were in grave doubt as to whether they could take their wagons through with them. They did not know what success the party of the preceding year had met. They could find no one except the Hudson's Bay people who could give them information as to the diffi- culties they would be likely to encounter. Ermatinger who was in charge, remembering what he and Meek and Newell had encountered, three years earlier, gave them no encouragement. But Whitman was confident they could get through and many of the party determined to rely upon his judgment. These he escorted in safety as far as Fort Boise, or perhaps to the Grande Ronde, where he left them to hurry on to his station and prepare for their reception. He, however, sent back some Indian guides who remained with them, and helped them so far as they could, across the Blue Mountains, and on to the Columbia.
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At Whitman's mission the emigrants found the first bread and fresh vegetables they had tasted in many weeks. They found opportunity to replenish their stocks of provisions, which in many families were nearly exhausted. But many of them found fault with the prices they were asked to pay, and they grumbled about some other things. There seems to have been much in the long journey across the continent in a wagon train, that was not designed to sweeten the tem- per of the emigrant. Burnett says that quarrels were fre- quent, and fist fights occasionally occurred during the earlier stages of the journey, until the hot-tempered ones began to be ashamed of themselves for so easily becoming annoyed. It was not often possible to have every member of the party exactly suited with the arrangements at every camp. Some one would not find access to water, for his family and for his stock, as conveniently as he wished. Some would find trouble to collect their animals in the morning that had strayed away during the night. Some would delay the train almost continually, and some only occasionally, by their carelessness, and the others would but poorly conceal their annoyance at these vexations. Then the heat of midday and sometimes the cold at night, were difficult to bear. The dust raised by the long train, particularly in the desert, was always oppressive. When wholesome water was hard to find, as it frequently was, everybody suffered, many grew peevish and fretful, and things were said that were not easily forgotten, or forgiven. So it was that these emigrants after their long trials, and when nearing the end of their journey, were not as reasonable at all times as they should be. Some of them could not see why Whitman should charge more for potatoes or wheat than they had been accustomed to receive for what they had grown and sold in Missouri or
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Illinois, and some refused to buy for that reason, and went away hungry. Their more reasonable companions were obliged to divide their own scant supplies with the families of some of these before they reached the Willamette, or they would have starved.
At Fort Walla Walla another question, as to whether the wagons could be taken down the river to Vancouver, arose, and was discussed. Nobody at the fort or at Waiilatpu knew whether they could or not. None had ever made the trip by land. Chief Trader Mckinlay was of the opinion that it would be very difficult, and he was inclined to believe it impossible. So arrangements of various kinds began to be suggested, discussed, and finally tried. Some went at once by such boats as Mckinlay was able to furnish, taking their families, and all or part of their goods with them. Some left their stock to be wintered at the fort, or at Waiilatpu, at a cost of $I per head, and they were to return for it in the spring. Some entered into an arrangement with Mckinlay, subject to the approval of Dr. McLoughlin when they should reach Fort Vancouver, by which they were to receive an equal number of cattle and of the kind left, for the animals they were leaving at the fort. This arrangement was not approved by the doctor, and a controversy of some bitterness resulted. Some took their way with their wagons and cattle along the south bank of the Columbia, and encountered more difficulties and vexations than on any other part of the way. But they finally got through to the Willamette, though they were forced to make use of boats or rafts for a considerable part of the journey. The boats were furnished from Fort Vancouver. Those who could do so paid for their use, but those who could not were not refused passage, either for themselves, their families, or their goods. Their cattle
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were driven along the river, or over the mountains. Supplies were sent to such as were in need of them. Those who could not pay at the time were told to pay when they could, and some never paid. Some arrived at the fort sick, or so desti- tute that they could not care for themselves, in a country where they were total strangers, and these McLoughlin provided for until the following spring when they could, without danger, provide for themselves.
When Dr. Whitman left Waiilatpu in October 1842 to take his long winter ride, he left Mrs. Whitman at the station, with some men in whom he had confidence, to have charge of it during his absence. It was then expected that Mrs. Whitman, as soon as she could make the necessary prepara- tions, would go to Fort Walla Walla, and thence be sent down the river to the Dalles, but only a few nights after the doctor's departure an Indian attempted to force his way into her room. As soon as Agent Mckinlay learned of this he sent a wagon from the fort for her, and she went immediately to the Dalles, where and at Vancouver she passed the winter, returning in the spring to Waiilatpu.
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