USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. III > Part 14
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if the United States should acquire sovereignty. Various measures had been proposed and debated, and sometimes had passed one or the other house, but had never been enacted into law-because they never could be made effec- tive while the country was in dispute-and all indicated that liberal grants would be made to all actual settlers, whether native or foreign born. None of these required citizenship as a condition of the gift. The offer was made to citizens and aliens alike .* No intimation was given that even a declaration of intention to a become citizen would be required, nor was any means provided or suggested by which the claimants might legally declare such inten- tion if they should desire to do so. The doctor's claim to this property, although made while he was still a British subject, was as lawful and binding as if he had been an American citizen, and for a considerable time it was so recognized.
In 1840 the Rev. Jason Lee, as superintendent of the Oregon Methodist Mission, applied to him for permission to build a missionary station near the falls, and for a loan of enough timber to build it. Enough ground for the mis- sion was readily given, and part of the timber prepared for the mill buildings was loaned and used for the mission house, part of which was used as a store and part as a resi- dence for the missionary in charge, Rev. A. F. Waller. To avoid misunderstanding in regard to this transaction, and also to give publicity to his claim, Dr. McLoughlin addressed a letter to Rev. Lee embodying his offer, to which Lee replied accepting it, and thereby recognizing the doctor as the party authorized to make it.
* "Every white male inhabitant," was the language of Senator Linn's bill.
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There was a small rocky island, of a little more than two acres in extent, and separated by a channel about forty feet in width from the main body of the claim, which the doctor had included within the limits of his property. In 1841 Felix Hathway had some timber conveyed to this island, intending to build there, but was formally warned that the doctor claimed it. The Willamette Milling and Trading Company was then formed, with the mission holding three-fourths of the stock, and the remainder being held by various individual settlers, among whom was Hath- way. He and his associates now took possession of the island, regardless of the doctor's claim, and proceeded to erect a saw and grist mill. The doctor promptly gave them notice that he claimed the island as part of his property, but gave them his written authority to go on with their building, though making certain reservations.
During the following year the doctor learned, to his surprise, that Rev. Waller intended to claim the falls, and immediately communicated with Superintendent Lee, who, after a visit to Waller, assured him that he denied any such intention. But a settler, who subsequently applied for a lot, and being told to go and make his selection, was warned by Waller to leave the premises, saying "it was well enough for Dr. McLoughlin to give away his own lots." This, being reported to the doctor, led to a further correspondence with Superintendent Lee, which seems to have been con- cluded by the following letter from the missionary
"I said to you that I had conversed with Mr. Waller on the subject of claims at the falls, and that I understood him to say that he sat up no claim in opposition to yours; but, if your claim failed, and the mission did not put in a claim, he considered he had a better right than any other man,
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and should secure a title to the land if he could. From what I have since heard, I am inclined to think I did not understand Mr. Waller correctly, but I am certain it is so. You will here allow me to say, that a citizen of the United States, by becoming a missionary, does not renounce any civil or political right. I cannot control any man in these matters, though I had not the distant idea, when I stationed Mr. Waller there, that he would set up a private claim to the land."
No settlement of the matter was reached at this time, though various propositions looking toward a settlement seem to have been made, and finally Waller gave formal notice that the grounds of his claim were that he was a citizen of the United States when he first took possession, and that he was the prior occupant. The grounds on which he would resist the doctor's claim were that he was an alien, owing allegiance to a foreign government; that he was the chief officer of a foreign corporate monopoly; that he had never resided upon the land claimed since the month of December 1840, at which time Waller's residence on it began; that while pretending to hold said land for himself the doctor was in fact holding it for a foreign corporate body, and that his claim arose, if at all, "more than two years subsequently to your actual possession.'" Simul- taneously with the delivery of this letter, there was issued an address to the settlers, which contained this warning: "Upon the same principle contended for by Dr. McLoughlin, any of you may incur the risk of being ousted from your farms in the colony by the next rich foreigner who chooses to do so, unless, in the first instance, you come unanimously forward and resist these usurpations." The effect of this address was, as it was intended to be, to arouse ill feeling
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toward the doctor among the settlers, many if not all of whom had reason rather to regard him with affection.
Finally Dr. Elijah White, who had returned to the terri- tory with the first emigrants in 1842, proposed an arbitration, which was, after some consideration, accepted, and himself, James Douglas and William Gilpin were appointed arbi- trators. They reached a compromise agreement by which the doctor was to give Waller five acres of ground and pay him $500; he was also to give the mission forty-four lots. To all this the doctor agreed and carried out his part of the agreement.
But the trouble was far from ending here. In June 1844 Rev. George Gary succeeded Rev. Jason Lee as superin- tendent of the mission, and in July it was decided to sell the mission property at the falls; and a letter dated July 15th was sent to Dr. McLoughlin, conveying that information. "The following," said this letter, "is the valuation we put upon the property of the Missionary board of the Metho- dist Episcopal church at this place. We deem it proper to present a bill of items, that you may more fully under- stand the ground of our estimate; one warehouse $1,300; one white dwelling house $2,200; out houses and fencing $200; old house and fencing $100; four warehouse lots $800; eight lots in connection with dwelling house $1,400; total $6,000. The two lots occupied by the church are not included in the above bill. If you should conclude to pur- chase the above named property, you will do it with the understanding that we reserve the occupancy of the ware- house until the first of June 1845; the house in which Mr. Abernethy resides until August 1845; and all the fruit trees on the premises, to be moved in the fall of 1844, or spring of 1845; and the garden vegetables now growing. If you
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see fit to accept this proposition, please inform us at the earliest opportunity, as we cannot consider ourselves pledged longer than a day or two."
This peremptory and exorbitant demand was received by the doctor with surprise and no doubt with indignation. But he protested in vain. He reminded the mission authori- ties that he had but recently donated the lots, which it was now demanded he should buy back, and that one of the buildings scheduled had been constructed of lumber which he had loaned for that purpose, and suggested that the matter might be referred to the missionary board from which the reverend gentlemen derived their authority. But this was refused. The new chief of the mission justified his demand on the ground that "it was business." The doctor replied that honor and conscience might also be regarded, but to no purpose. The terms offered were insisted upon and finally accepted. The mission board dropped out of the controversy, but some members of it continued for a long time to give aid and comfort to the doctor's persecutors.
When Peter H. Burnett arrived late in 1843, McLoughlin retained him as his attorney. Burnett was a lawyer of ability, and a man of honor and integrity. Under his advice Waller, though still living on the claim, was not disturbed, as he could acquire no adverse right against his landlord, under whom as tenant he had begun his residence there, but notice was served on the Milling Company that its claim to the plant would be contested.
As soon as it became certain that no war would result from the "fifty-four forty or fight" presidential campaign, Dr. McLoughlin applied to Burnett, who had then become a judge under the provisional government, to receive his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United
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States, but the judge was without authority to do so. Later and within two months after Governor Lane had set up the territorial government of Oregon, under authority of the United States, and in much less time after the courts of the territory were organized, he appeared before Hon. W. P. Bryant, in the district court for the county of Clacka- mas and made his declaration.
Nearly sixteen months later Congress passed the donation act, or Oregon land law, the eleventh section of which con- firmed to the Willamette Milling Company the title to Aber- nethy Island, which had originally been a part of the doctor's claim, but the rest of it was "set apart to be at the disposal of the legislative Assembly, for the establishment and endowment of a University," provided however that all the lots he had sold or given away prior to the establishment of the territorial government, should be confirmed to those who had thus secured them.
Dr. McLoughlin was thus despoiled of his property, by a Congress whose members were wholly misinformed by a letter, prepared by Delegate Thurston, and sent to most or all of them individually, which must ever be regarded with sorrow by his friends and admirers, of whom he had not a few, and all others will severely condemn. Many things asserted in it are not true, and it would seem that the author must have known they were not true .* They were made at a time and in a place where the person affected by them had no opportunity to make defense, and that person was one whose treatment of the American settlers, at all times, had been such as to entitle him to their grati- tude, and to command the respect if not the admiration of their countrymen. Soon after he was apprised of what had
* For the principal part of this letter see Appendix.
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been done, and of the contents of Mr. Thurston's letter, he made a reply which has been regarded by most candid people as a complete vindication.
Thus the last years of this kindly old man were embittered by the injustice as well as by the censure of the employers he had so long and well served, by the suspicion of a govern- ment to which he had been loyal long after his loyalty had ceased to be appreciated, and by the ingratitude of his neighbors, many of whom he had saved from suffering and even starvation. Like Clive, Hastings, Durham and others of his countrymen who had rendered his country and its people service of great value, he found that :
"He who ascends to mountain tops shall find The loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow; He who surpasses or subdues mankind Must look down on the hate of those below. Though high above the sun of glory glow, And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow Contending tempests on his naked head,
And thus reward the toils which to those summits led."
John McLoughlin died in 1857, at his home in Oregon City, and is buried there. Five years later a bill was intro- duced in the State legislature to provide for the sale of his claim, and the application of the proceeds to the uses of the university, as the land law had provided. The measure was not popular with the members, most of whom realized that a great injustice had been done by Congress in providing that this disposition should be made of the rightful property of another. Some did not see that anything else could be done with or about it. The doctor's heirs were anxious to
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have the bill defeated, but something better was in store for them. Near the close of the session an amendment was offered, which changed the whole character of the measure, by providing that the claim should be sold to Dr. McLough- lin's heirs for the nominal sum of $1,000. This was almost instantly agreed to by the Senate, only two members voting no, and the House passed it with almost equal unanimity. And so, at last, reparation was made, so far as it could be made in this world.
Dr. McLoughlin was succeeded as chief factor, and governor of the Hudson's Bay Company west of the Rocky Mountains, by his old-time friend and associate James Douglas. He was a man of great ability and experience, and for many years afterwards conducted the business of the Company with success.
Soon after the provisions of the boundary treaty became known it appears to have been perceived that its third and fourth sections might be construed very liberally. Like that Nootka treaty about the meaning of which Vancouver and Quadra had differed so widely, it was very loosely drawn; it could be interpreted to cover possessions of a princely sort, if only some color of claim could be set up to them,* or it might refer only to a sandspit. "The possessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company," it said, "and of all British subjects, who may be already in the occupation of land or other prop- erty, lawfully acquired, within the said territory, shall be re- spected," and again, "the farms, lands and other property of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River, shall be confirmed to said Company," but this property might be transferred to the United States, if they should wish to secure it," at a proper valuation."
* For this treaty in full see Appendix.
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There seems to have been some doubt for a time as to what should be or might be done to make the claims of the two companies as large as possible. Accustomed as its governors, factors and agents had been, for many years, to do business at large profit, and yet to employ its men at the low rate of seventeen pounds sterling-less than $85- per year, and to look carefully after the last penny in all expenditures, it was quite natural that all chance of increas- ing the amount to be received in final settlement should be carefully looked after. But the method to be pursued, to this end, was evidently not easily determined upon. At first it appears to have been decided to have its employees and servants make claim to as much of the land as seemed to be most valuable, as possible-a method that was very successfully followed by other corporations in later years. This was begun early in 1846 at Nisqually and seems to have been very actively pushed for a time, for there are numerous entries in the Journal of Occurrence like the following :
"Feb. 4-Latour and three other Canadian axmen building a hut on claim taken in the name of M. Nelson Cook. Wood for another hut prepared on a claim taken at the Northwest extremity of American plain.
"Feb. 10-August McDonald and Lucier, with Paquet erecting a hut on Sandy plain beyond Nisqually field, where a claim is to be taken.
"March 12-Rode out to Mr. Heath's, and accompanied by McLeod visited some of the land claims."
These entries were made some months before the boun- dary question was settled, but when it was probably known that negotiations would soon be resumed. In the year following, when it was known that the boundary treaty
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had been ratified by both governments, there are similar entries-for example the following:
"April 10-Jacob and three Indians splitting poles on one of the land claims. Dr. Tolmie with Wren and others measuring claims.
"April 12-One man with oxen shifting wood off one of the old fort houses to a more convenient spot of the claim; it is to be set up by Moore and Wallace, two Americans engaged for the purpose.
"April 13-Messrs. Simmons and Bush engaged for build- ing claims houses for the Company.
"April 17-Simmons & Co. returned from house building, having set up four on different claims.
"April 19-Wren, McLeod and three Indians and two yoke oxen sent out to build claims huts on the plains.
Unfortunately these old journals for the years between 1847 and 1849 have disappeared and cannot now be found, so that it is not possible to know how long this policy was pur- sued, or when or why it was changed. But when the matter is next mentioned in the journals that are still accessable, Dr. Tolmie is busy warning both Americans and Canadians not to make locations on any land claimed by his company, and its claim now covers a very wide area. One day he serves notice on T. M. Chambers, or Wallace, or Balch, or one of the Chapmans at Steilacoom; another it is William Doughtery near South Tacoma; and still other times it is McPhail or McLoud, or some other old employee of the Company, on Muck or Clover creeks, or still farther away near the Puyallup or the Nisqually. None of these settlers, whether American or Canadian, were greatly concerned about these notices. Balch told him frankly that he should not pay the slightest attention to his, and went on staking
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out town lots, and putting together the framed building that he had brought out ready made from Maine. Thomas M. Chambers, not satisfied with one claim, now that he has received notice to quit, goes at once and marks off another for one of his sons, and a few days later gets another notice. Glasgow, having been much about the fort, being employed there upon occasion to fix a press for wool, and another for furs, and possibly feeling somewhat at home there, lays off his claim at the mouth of Sequalichew Creek, and includes the Company's wharf and warehouse; then he sends written notice to the doctor to make no further improvements there, as he is about to begin to build a mill, and will require all the water in Sequalichew Creek for power. Taking with him two witnesses, the doctor goes on the following day to remonstrate, pointing out that the Company has long been in possession of the place, and that it has made many improvements there, all of which are necessary to the con- duct of its business, and gives him both written and verbal notice to quit; but he does not quit at all or seem to think of doing so .*
All this was more or less exasperating to both sides, and prepared the way for trouble of a much more serious kind that was soon to follow. We have noted that many, perhaps
* There is among the old letters already mentioned as now in the possession of Mr. Clarence Bagley, one from Chief Factor Douglas to Dr. Tolmie, dated Fort Vancouver, 19th April 1847, in which he says: "Go on and prosper with the claims; the huts on the claims are clear and most convincing proofs of occupation; you will observe by the letter from Sir J. H. Pelly, that the Company's claim is understood as extend- ing 'to all lands brought into cultivation, or used in the folding of sheep, or herding cattle,' which is precisely the view we had taken of the treaty. Therefore continue as you have begun, securing by quiet means as much land as possible. . . . Warn off all new comers, in a pleasant way, and keep always on the rights side of the law." (See Appendix for this letter in full.)
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most, of the settlers had come west with the impression that somehow their "thirty thousand rifles" would find occasion to expell this foreign institution from a fruitful region which it was wrongfully occupying, and which it hoped to possess permanently. They were accompanied, much against their will, by a few camp followers who were only too willing at any time to begin open hostilities, and make trouble for both sides. Naturally irritated by the presumption of this foreign concern, in forbidding them to take what belonged to their own government, and which it had long promised to give them and their seed forever, in return for the assistance they had courageously given in quieting the title to it, they now recalled all their old prej- udices, which the neighborly association of half a dozen years had done much to allay, and were again as ready as in the beginning for whatever it might seem needful to do. They remembered how the Company had first encouraged its own people to make locations, in the region it now claimed as its own, and how it had employed some of the American settlers to build the huts and cabins by which these people were finally to secure title. Without informing themselves too carefully, as indeed they had little opportunity to do, in regard to the terms of the treaty by which it was allowed to remain in the country, and in accordance with which its property was sometime to be purchased, and such rights as it had extinguished, they more and more convinced themselves that the Company was an arrogant intruder, which was seeking by sheer effrontery to establish new pre- tences and enlarge old ones, disregarding and defying their own rights, and as a consequence they themselves became more aggressive, and perhaps in some degree unreason- able.
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Chief Factor Douglas had now left the territory and established the headquarters of the Company at Victoria on Vancouver Island, a post which he himself had founded in 1843, and where a town of some pretensions was growing up. In May 1849 there had been great bustle of prepara- tions for an event of unusual importance at Fort Nisqually. The clever Kanaka, who had made all the furniture used about the place, was employed for several days in making a bedstead for the chief factor, who was daily expected to arrive. In the afternoon of the 25th he appeared, accom- panied by his three eldest daughters, all on horseback, and an hour or two later five wagons arrived, in the last of which were Mrs. Douglas and the other two children. The wagons were filled with some cases of gold dust from California, in which the Company now did a large business, with bales of furs and other goods, which were mostly the private property of the chief factor and his family, and the records and papers belonging to the principal office of the Hudson's Bay Company on the coast. The family remained at the fort for several days, and on June Ist, "after an early dinner," as the journal records it, embarked on board the schooner Cadborough for their new home.
Dr. William Fraser Tolmie was now left in general charge of everything on the American side of the boundary, particularly at Nisqually and on the Cowlitz. He was a man of moderation, rare discretion and sound judgment. He was an ardent lover of nature, and when he kept the Journal of Occurrences, as he did during most of the time when he was not absent from the fort, frequent mention is made in it of the appearance of the earlier spring flowers, birds or insects.
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Such a lover of nature could not fail to be of benevo- lent disposition. He was one of the first to begin missionary work, for which he had a strong inclination, among the Indians; to study their character, habits and mental ability, and estimate correctly the possibility of their advancement. Unlike many others who have formed their opinions by the exercise of their imagination, and not by the help of reason, based upon actual information, he realized that civilization must be a slow process; that the step from savagery to enlightenment is too long to be made in a single generation, and that natures formed through the influence of ages of sloth, ignorance and mental darkness, were not to be trans- formed immediately into something approximating perfec- tion. He looked for no miracle, but labored patiently and by practicable methods to make, and help others make, such progress as they could. He adopted the methods which McLoughlin's long experience had proved to be most useful and his management like McLoughlin's was emi- nently successful.
As a physician his services were always generously at the disposal of the Company's servants, and the Indians, when they had need of them, and in the years before and after the settlers came, he often rode to the Cowlitz and even to Fort Vancouver to attend the sick. There is not much to show whether or not he was equally attentive to the settlers, in case of need, but he doubtless was or would have been, if occasion had required.
In character, in temper and in many other respects Dr. Tolmie resembled McLoughlin. He probably did not possess the ability to deal with great affairs, which McLough- lin clearly indicated that he possessed, and which he would have demonstrated, if he had been better understood and
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