Full text of "An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens"

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ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

OF THE

^>tATE OF ^\^SHINGTON

Containino- a History of the State of Washington from the Earliest Period of its Dis-
covery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Auspicious Future,
Illustrations and Full-page Portraits of some of its Eminent Men
and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers
and Prominent Citizens of to-day.

BY REV- H- K- HINES, D- D-

'A people llial take no piicle in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to he
remembered with pride by remote descendants." — Macatilny.

CHICAGO:
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.

1893.

V ^■■'^n= =- = == ^ = = ^^

rin-

INTRODUCTORY.

1381519

ll P to 1853 the history of what now constitutes the great State ol Washington was the common history of all the
Pacific Northwest, then known as Oregon. All the facts and incidents that went to make up the story of the
one entered into that of the other. In some respects, indeed, they were more intimately connected with
the territory now embraced in Washington than v/ith that now included in Oregon. This was especially true with
many of the early discoveries, and with the entire course of international diplomacy involved in the Boundary Question.
It was needful, therefore, to the unity and completeness of our history, to give a somewhat extended account of the
events that led up to the Washington Territory of 18.5o and the State of Washington of 1.S98. From first to last,
through all the era of discovery and all the finesse of diplomacy, as well as through the adventures of immigration
and the tragedies of Indian warfare, every change was but a part of the germ and seed whose consummate fruit will
be the ultimate Washington. By the necessity of the case the most of the history of Washington has been of this
character. Long, indeed, were the years of her struggle with the wild elements of barbaric life, and with the rugged-
ness of a native condition almost without a parallel in the rugged West; but magnificent was the outcome of that
struggle. Many volumes, treating in special detail different departments of her thrilling and varied story, would be
required to cover all its ground, or to bring into view all the names and deeds that are entitled to remembrance, and
even to fame, as builders of this now great commonwealth. Beyond the compass of the design of this book this could
not be here attempted. We could only choose what seemed essential to the continuity of narrative, and the interpre-
tation and illustration of the times and deeds of those who builded so bravely and so well. Whatever of continuous
history may be found lacking in the narrative will be largely supplied in the rich and ample biographical department
of the book. If " history is biography teaching by example," surely there is abundant history in the lives recorded in
our biographical department. Those whose names are here enrolled, and the unnamed thousands like them, were the
true l)uilders of this Western world, who, " with high face held to her ultimate star," lived and wrought and died for
her greatness. We are sure that those who read their story will feel that these people fought

"Braver battles than ever were fought
From Shiloh back to the battles of Greece."

AVith the hope that somesvhat has b?eu said to eahanoe the patriotic appreciation in which those whose work is here,
celebrated is held by their countrymen, and to make the great State they have founded better known among them
this work is submitted to the people of Washington.

THE PUBLISHEHS.

November, 1893.

CONTENTS

Chapter. Page.

I. — Topograpby— Climate - Productions 13

II. — Earliest Discoveries 20

III.— Earliest Discoveries, coDtimied 27

IV. — Overland Explorations 37

V. — Rival Claims and Pretensions 48

VI.— Rival Claims and Pretensions, continued 57

VII. — First American Settlement 63

VIII.— Missionary Occupancy 74

IX.— Hudson's Bay Company 85

X. — Missions and the Americanization of the North-
west 95

XI.— Immigrations 103

XII.— Immigrations, continued 113

XIII. — Provisional Government 120

XIV.— Territorial Era 133

XV. — Opening History North of the ( 'olumbia 141

XVI.— Separate Political Existence 147

XVII. — Territorial Government Organized 151

XVIII.— Territorial History, continued 155

XIX. — Territorial History, continued 158

XX.— Settlement of Eastern Washington 163

XXL— Territorial History, continued 167

XXII.— Territorial History, continued 172

XXIII.— Territorial History, continued 177

XXIV.-Progress to Statehood 183

XXV.— Indian Wars 189

XXVI.— Indian Wars, continued 198

XXVII.— Indian Wars, continued 203

XXVIII.— Indian Wars, continued 206

XXIX.— Indian Wars, continued 209

XXX.— Indian Wars, continued 215

XXXI.-Indian Wars, continued 220

XXXII.-Principal Cities of Washington— Olympia. 337

XXXIII.— Principal Cities, continued— Spokane 233

XXXIV.— Principal Cities, continued -Tacoma 242

XXXV.— Principal Cities, continued -Seattle 250

XXXVI.— Principal Cities, continued— Walla Walla..259

XXXVII.— The Mineral Wealth of Washington 264

XXXVIII.— Early Washington Bar 26!)

XXXIX.— Washington at the World's Fair 27!»

BIOGI^APHIGAL SI^ETGHES.

Abbott, L. G 7G6

Abbott, Sabine 571

Abrams, D. K 791

Adair, G. B 906

Adams, A. H C73

Adams, M.I. 690

Ahola, Peter 843

Aldrich.M 415

Alexander, C. E 450

Alexander, E. S. (South Bend). .693

Alexander, G 842

Alexander, J. H 64i

Allan, H «48

Allen, Albert. 305

Allen, G. S 748

Allen, . I. H 604

Allen, Watson 573

Allison, G. S 297

Alvord, C. C S61

Anders, T. ,1 751

Anderson, A.J 591

Anderson, A. L 780

Anderson, A. W 832

Anderson, V. M 823

Anderson, 1. W 854

Anderson, T. McA 355

Anderson, W. R 623

Andreson, J. P. W 474

Andrews, L. B 457

Andrews, Wm 881

Annis, O. M 831

Ansberi^er, S 459

Applegate.J 499

Armstrong, 6. S 852

Armstrong, J 795

Armstrong, J. M 380

Arnold, A. W .fi87

Arthur, John 549

Arthur, S. T 474

Ashley, J. K 366

Atkinson, J. D 614

Attridge, R. D 676

Auer, Conrad 857

Babcock, G. W 373

Backus, C. F 304

Baer, H. P 336

Bailey, Edmund 682

Bailey, Wm. E 001

Baillargeon, J. A 590

Baker, C. H 528

Baker, Sarah L 814

Balabanotr, C. P 765

Ballard, W.U 453

Ballinger, R. A 660

Barnard, F. J 456

Barnett, J. W 493

Barthrop. B. B 730

Barllett, F. A 821

Bartlett, F. A 905

Bash, Henry 827

Beardsley, J. F 911

Becker, J. C 444

Beckett, D 431

Beckett. Henry 738

Beecher, H. F 718

Beek.i, L. H 639

Beeks, W. W 341

Bennett, \V. 293

Berger, Charles 908

Bergstrom, A. P 476

Bernier, Julien 778

Berry, L. P 723-

Bigelow, I. N 861

Billings, C. A 870

Billings, Wm 679

Bioudi, Eugene 833

Bishop, M. S 495

Blaine, D. E 721

Blalock, J. B 303

Blalock, Y. C 749

Blandford, H. S 464

Blootnfield, N. H 348

Blowers, A. D 565

Blyth, J. R 613

Bonney, F. W 849

Bonney, L. W 611

Botheil, George 903

Bostwick, A. C 369

Bosworth, N 516

Bowles, C. U 499

Bowman, J. H 576

Bowman, W. J 925

Boyd, James 731

Bovd, Wm. F 917

Boyd, Wm. P 624

Brace, J. S 483

Braden, Joseph 403

Branaui, K. F 610

Brant, J. A. C 445

Braun, Albert 630

Brawley, D. C 870

Brawley, W. R 870

Bredemeyer, Wm 835

Bresemanu, G 708

Brewster, Wm. II 432

Briggs, Albert 8B3

Brigg.s, B. F 583

Brook, Henry 420

Brooks, Q A 714

Brown, Amoi 545

Brown, F. A 476

Brown, F. R 663

Brown, Frilz 38.!

Brown, F. W 809

Brown, H.J 333

Brown, J. S 410

Brown, S. W 308

Brown, Z. D 317

Browne, J J 760

Bryan, R. B 675

Bryant, W. J 606

Bucey, Henry 930

Buck, Norman 436

Bucklin, E. F 693

Biillene, G. W 761

Bunker, J. E 653

Burke, Thomas 733

Burleigh, A. F o85

Burlingame, 1 574

Burnett,Hiram 556

Buroker, D 414

Burr, S. F 696

Burrows, C. E 404

Burt A. K 426

Burt, J. M 462

Bush, J. S . . .378

Butler, Hillory 717

Butterworth, E. R 514

Byrd.G. W 617

Byrd, J. C 417

Byrne, C. C 3iS

Caesar, P. V 391

Cain, N. F 811

Caluwell, K. G 683

Callioun, (J. V 779

Call'>wav, T. M 619

Caiii.Ton, A 40.

C;ui,ei.m, A. R 491

Cameron, II. J 798

Campbell, S. S 310

Campbell, Thomas 343

Canby, E. L 436

Caples, H. L a48

Caples, H. R 475

Carr, E. M o -3

Carr, O. J 602

Carrier, B. N 314

Carson, J. M 486

Carter, Harry 656

Carter, P. B 860

C^arty, James 820

Carwell, I'liilip 794

CattHrson, T. I. 511

('liainli.'ilin, II. G 735

ChainliHis, .\ II sn

C'liaii.ll.T, W. .M ..494

nifiipy Knllei- .Mills 353

ChilhAi-, .InsHph .'!'.937

Cliiiinaseio, A. (' 461

Clnnch, A. il 733

C'liunhill, K. A 431

Cbristophfr, T ^93

Claoton, Levi _ . , .7(;7

Clapp, C. F 515

Clark, A. J 376

Clark, C. E 456

Clark, F. L 434

Clark, Nelson 210

Cleveland, G. E 3S3

Clode, A. J 635

Close, W. D 637

Clough, C. F 431

Clough, L. B 439

Cochran, J. W 329

Cole, G. E 349

CONTENTS.

Collius, D. W 776

Colman, J. M 333

Colvin, 1 650

Compton, 1 340

Connell, Joseph 879

Conover, S. B 703

Cook, A. J 451

Cook, A. R 087

Coombs, S. F 513

Cooper, A. AV 7S3

Copeland, G 406

Copland, H. S 756

Coppin, Charles 882

Corell, H. A 772

Corey, R. C 9i5

Corkrum, U 757

Corkrum, W. J 755

Corawell, J. M 385

Costly, Wm 426

Cottouoir, D 790

Cowles, A. B 659

Cowley, JI. M 322

Cox, H. R 921

Coyne, W. E. S 507

Cram, Daniel 294

Cramer, John 861

Cranney, Thomas 567

Crawford, S. L 583

Crawford, \\ . P 455

Cristman, John 922

Crockett Hugh 007

CroftOD, George 811

Croll, Samantha 750

Crosby, C 325

Crosby, Waller 667

Cross, W. N 357

Crotly, J. L 500

Crowder, Reuben 620

Crowley, D. J 077

Cummin, G. F 352

Curry, A. P 390

Curry, M. T 508

Gushing, C. W 427

Daniels, W.B 468

Darland, G. II 692

Davenport, S 4;!5

Davis, B. \V 670

Davis, H. C 542

Davis, AV. N 411

Dawson, Charles 910

Dawson, L. R 813

Day, B. F 305

Dean, AVm. M 757

Delauev, T. R 884

DeLanty, R 891

Dennis, G. B 338

Dennis, t^. D 450

Dennison, B. F 175

Denny, A. A 169

Denny, D. T 541

Desor, L. G 460

Dewey, H. AV 340

Dickenson, J. R 709

Dieringrii, J. C 585

Diller, L 592

D'Jorup, Jlrs. H 601

Dobbins, J. S 880

Dodge, J. AV 503

Dodge, R. B 790

Dodge, J[. M 772

Domer, S. P 296

Donworth, George 533

Dorfner, George 705

Dorr, James 752

Drew, M. S 825

Drewry, D. T 496

Druraheller, D. M 298

Duback, J 929

Dueber, G. F 785

Duffield, T. J 469

Dumon, J. H 420

Dunbar, R. 394

Dunning, C. B 320

Durr, H. A 741

Du Vail, C. M 791

Dyer, E.J 3-30

Dyer,T. P 424

Dysart, George 3.50

Eadon, W. A 710

Eagan, H. AV 366

Eagleson, J. B 488

Eakin, D. F 484

Earle & Engelbrecht 875

Eastman, AVm 425

Eaton, J. E 768

Eckard, G. H 400

Edwards, H 402

Eggert, E 390

Eisenbeis, C 533

Eisenbeis, F. E 888

EUesperman, G. A .588

Elliott, H. S 851

Ellis, Arthur 817

Ellison, Isaac 056

Elmer, AV. AV 422

Emery, CD .526

Ennis, N. Otl

Everette, AV. E 740

Ewing, Thomas 7«6

Fairfield, John 547

Farquhar, A 067

Fawcett, A. V 907

Fawcett, J. T 680

Fay, Mis. Hattie L 665

Feighan, J. AV 442

Ferguson, Jesse 367

Fernandez, J. X 872

Ferrel, B 409

Ferry, E. P 641

Fishback, C. F 430

Fisk, D. H 419

Flint, Fred 3-55

Flyer, The Steamer 655

Foote, E. B 684

Foraker, L. N 401

Forbes, C. L 742

Ford, C. L 564

Ford, T.N 061

Forrest, AA^m. T (i94

Fortson, G. H .524

Foss, LAV 536

Foster, J. AV 398

Fotheringham, D B 288

Freeman, B. R 297

French Bros 6;0

Frink, J. M 518

Frost, A J 502

Frost, Robert 739

Furnell, Mrs. S. M 829

Furih, Jacob 555

Gabel, Harry 832

Galloway, J. A 795

Galloway, J. S 449

Galvin,John 832

Gano, B. J 650

Gardiner, W.T 734

Gasch, Fred 538

Gatch, T. M 849

Gatzert, Bailey 671

Gazzam, W. L 700

Geiger, Charles 785

Geiger, H. O 770

Geoghegan, J. I) 473

Geoghegan, N 434

George, J. AV 519

Gerber, AVm. F 742

Gerlach,P.J 411

Gibson, J. A 739

Gibson, Joseph 470

Gilbert, John 311

Gilkerson, Thos 416

Gillam, J. D 848

Gillette, E.P 336

Gilliam. M 706

Glass, AV. S 843

Glidden, S. S 387

Glockler, Charles 780

Goddard, J. H 672

Goelz, Jacob 288

Goode, Adam 755

Goodnight, S 475

Gordon, M.J 716

Gordon, T. AV 511

Gould, John 563

Gowey, J. F 651

Graham, A. R 346

Qrambs, AV J 384

Graves, F. H 461

Graves, J. P 418

Green, E. M 441

Geeen, Joseph 497

Green, T. C 690

Greeuleaf, S. N 902

Gregory, D. AV 351

Gridlev, C. C 449

Gridley, H.H.. 444

Griffin, Perry 500

Griffiths, James 699

Gritfitts, T. C 353

Griggs, C.AV 247

Grove, C. E 434

Grubb, S G 344

Gruber. Joseph 422

Gunu, Peter 516

Gunther, E 478

Guye, F. M 017

Hale, C. E 323

Hale, VV. H 496

Hall, George AV 413

Haller, G. 354

Hallett, S 401

Hamilton, E. S 897

Hamlen, E. S 710

Hammond, AV. R 763

Hancock, E.J 568

Hanford, C. H 559

Hauford, Clarence 509

Hanna, J. W 845

Hannah, B. C 566

CONTENTS.

Hanse, J. JI 867

Hanson, W. H 909

Hai-bert, J. W 403

Ilarman, Wm .873

Harris, Emery . . .744

Harris, J. D 920

Harris, J. F 753

Hart, J. i\I 5B2

Harwood, J. W 350

Hastings, F. W 499

Hastings, L. B 286

Hastings, O. C 723

Hatcli, Z.J 633

Hauser, A. E 736

Hays, James 757

Hays, J. P 798

Hays, W. F G28

Healy, J. J 498

Healy, M. J 471

Heath, S 34;j

Heilbron, G. H .521

Hein, E. T 437

Held,B 318

Helmold, John 770

Hemrich, A 485

Henry, F 702

Henslee, M. (' 440

Hess, J. M 643

Hetzel, Selden 381

Hiddleson, W. I' 462

Higdon, J. B 777

Hill, G. A 525

Hill,N.D 865

Hill, K. C S26

Hill, S. G 539

Hill, W. L 621

Hiuckle}', T. D 544

Hogan, F. P 385

Hclderiiiau, G 579

Hole, LP 322

Hollenbeck, H. 864

Holmes, M. M 599

Hooper, J 758

Hopkins, C. B 305

Hornibrook, J 509

Horr, J. C -747

Horton, E. S 803

Horton, G. M 295

Hortou, Julius 751

Hoska, A. F 641

House, J. C 705

Ruber, Oskar 300

Huggins, E 597

Hughes, Peter 477

Hull, J. S 358

Humes, T.J 413

Hunt, A. B 558

Hunt, L. S. J 346

Huntington, Wm 713

Huson, H. S 793

Hutu, Anton 765

Hyde, S. C 764

Hylak, Anton 778

Ingraham, E. S 598

Izett, J. M 595

Jackel, John 689

Jackman, T 553

Jackson, Andrew 465

Jack.son, Samuel 483

Jacobs, Orange 179

J acobson, G 647

Jacobus, J. R 789

James, G. W '836

James, Wm 565

Janicke, J. G 712

Jelich, B ,^40

Jennnings.Jetf 4O6

Jessee, l3. AI 2C0

Jessen, J. N 840

Jewell, T. R 311

Johns, B. W 724

Johnson, ('. M (188

Johnston, J 025

Jones, Jacob (i46

Jones, S. H .477

Jones, Wm. J ' .806

Jordison, J 656

Katz, Israel 530

Kaufman, I. S 238

Kayser, A 463

Kees, A. F 420

Kelleher, D 331

Kelley, F. P '...881

Kelley, W. B 631

Kellogg, G 359

Kellogg, J. C 654

Kelly, George 892

Kelly, M. A 6ll5

Kennedy, J 758

Kenney,John 753

Kilbourne, E. C 397

King, C. D ,572

Kirby, J. F ,569

Kirschner, Fred 486

Kistenmacher, H 871

Kleber, J. C 721

Klee, Joseph 673

Kline, J.N 498

Kloeber, J. S 816

Knapp, J. B 918

Krieghk, G. P. M (172

Kuhn, J. A 287

Kummer, G. W '. 330

Kurtz, John 694

Laiferty, I.N 473

Laidler, W. R 759

Lama, James 790

Lambert, D. H 347

Lambert, V. D 374

Lammon, J. M 707

Landes, Henry 551

Landon, C. C 395

Lane, Albert 886

Lansdale, R. H 657

Laraway, J. T 929

La Roche, F 539

Latimer, N. H 543

Laubach. J. N. 766

Laughlin, A. W 741

Laughton, C. E 764

Lavery, T 327

Leach, L. H 458

Lefevre, A 343

Lemon, Millard 743

Leo, John .771

Leonard, J. E 674

Lewis, H. H 818

Lewis, J. K 548

Lewis, P. H 785

Libbey, G. A 889

Libby, J. B 826

Lichtenberg, I. J 393

Lieser, H. C 383

Liftchild, C "3.57

Light, E. A (i09

Lillis, H.M 7(HJ

Lindsley, A. A 858

Lindsley, H. E 4->,5

Lisher, M. G 445

Lister, David 8:^7

Littell, O. B 810

Lively, J. M 725

Llewellyn, W, H 909

I-"el'. ^- ^ 743

Long, J. H ,527

Loreuz, E. A \\ 739

Louden, F. M .308

Lowe, J. P 460

Lo wman, J. D 423

Lyall, Robert 906

Lynch, O. W ,547

Lyon, J. M ,506

Lyon, J. P 600

Lyons. Patrick 407

Macey, D. C 446

MacFarlane, C. E 433

Mack, P. L 768

Mackintosh, A 5.37

Maddocks, M. R 913

Maggs, J. S '.'.'.'. .^724

Maier, C 701

Maloney, R. W 896

Malony, T sou

Mankin, Henry 448

Man well, John 300

Manwell, T. L 921

Mapel, E. B 608

Marsh, S. P 490

Martin, M 493

Mason, C. Z SI7

Mason, Darius 331

Maxson, S. R 416

Mc AUep, J. W 600

McBralney, T. .J 915

McBride, Gabiiel 776

McBride, J. R 239

JIcBroom, A. K 494

McCabe & Hamilton 897

McClelan, Mrs. Ann . .808

McClintic, E. M 480

McDonald, J. M 715

McDonald, J. R 429

McDouall, C 341

McElroy, J. F 463

JIcEvoy, Joseph 405

McFarlane, P. (' 373

McGilvra, J. J 284

McHargue, R. H 290

Mclnroe Charles 396

Mclnroe, James 398

Mclrvin, J. W 802

Mclrvin, M. K 920

Mclrvin, W. S 920

McKee, A. G 742

McKenny, T. J 837

McKinnev, T. M 343

McLaugiriin, A. li 883

McLouuhlin, John 88

McMicken, Wm 553

McMillan, A mv,

McMillan, H. H 452

McNaugUt, J. F 537

McNeill, H 483

McPherson, A. D 368

McWilliams, J. A 894

Meacham, J Tdd

Mead, H. L 361

Meade, E. C 799

Meeker, E. M 915

Meeker, P. S 868

Meeker, J. P 869

Meeker, J. V 799

Meeker, Nancy 711

Meloy, P. B 850

Melville, J. I 350

Mercer, Thomas 5!«9

Merdian, George 358

Merriam, C. K 493

Merrill, T. H 854

Metcalf, J. W 466

Melcalf, W. H 438

Metcalfe, J. B 301

Metzler, P.. 873

Meydenbaner. Wm 885

Michigan Lumber Co 373

Miles. Z.C 463

Miller, A.J 715

Miller, A. N 713

Miller, A. S 491

Miller, Edward 582

Miller, F. P 564

Miller, J. F 818

Miller, P. B. M ...911

Mills, A. J 893

Mills, Elkanah 790

Milroy, V. A 681

Mize, H 868

Mockel, G. H 422

Monaghan, D 800

Monaghan, J 303

Moore, E.J 505

Moore, F. li 453

Moore, J. E 577

Moore, M. C 260

Moore, P. D 688

Morgan, H. E 916

Morris, C. E 586

Mount, J. S 344

Mliller, J. A 698

Munday, C. F 375

Munday, J. A 438

Munson, C 625

Murphy, J. M 937

Myers, Joel 640

Neel,C. W 8.30

Neely, A. S 887

Neilson, E 653

Nelson, H 385

Nelson, Wm 395

Nerlon,G. A 451

Nesbit, Thomas 566

Nesbitt, J 479

Nevil, W. C 777

Newland, Berry & Co 443

Newland, Isaac 633

Newman, D. C 441

Nicol, A. R 504

Niedergesaess, R 581

Noack, A 353

Nolan, S. M 898

Norman, W.S 335

Northcraft, P. D 709

Nuzum, N. E 333

O'Brien, R. G 662

O'Connell, M 451

Ogle, Van 914

O'Keane, J 443

O'Keane, Patrick 399

Oliver, Thomas 855

Olmsted, E. D 477

O'Neill, James 319

Orchard, J. 9i8

Osborn, Richard 781

Osgood, P. H 554

Ostrander, J. Y 497

Ostrander, N 233

Overlook, Wm. H 309

Ouellette, L. P 813

Pacific Navigation Co 924

Packwood, Wm fe89

Padden, T. W 45n

Paddock, J. A 878

Pagett, C. C 900

Paiae, F. W 364

Palmer, J. W 704

Palmer, Thomas 923

Parker, E. N 698

Parker, Isaac 923

Parker James 630

Parrish, S. B 890

Patten, B. F 679

Patton, T. F 847

Patterson, N. A 417

Pattison, James 618

Pattison, James .■ 678

Paul, Frank 859

Paul, Thomas 404

Paulson, Paul 730

Payne, J. H 369

Payne, M 643

Payne, Wm 883

Peebles, H. G 433

Peel, J. J. L 306

Penfield, C. 8 410

Percival, D. F 344

Pelerman, T. F 899

Peterson, Arthur 619

Peterson, F. H 892

Petkovits. R 488

Petlit, B. W 484

Pettygrovp, B. S 312

Pickens. J. M 851

Pickering, Wm 829

Pierce, C. L 792

Pierce, D. W 853

Pierce, McDonald 454

Piles, S.H 833

Pinkney, A. R 428

Pitchford, C. W 543

Plomando, S 791

Plummer, A. A 530

Plummer, W. H 296

Port Townsend Sleel Wire &

Nail Co 726

Powell, F. A 347

Power, Mrs. M. J 594

Prather.L.H 237

Prather, Thomas 746

Pratt, J. W 295

Prescott, D. S 380

Prevost & Pfeiffer 771

Preusse, II 505

Price, G. W 636

Prosch, Charles 391

Provine, A. G 774

Puget Sound Flouring Mill Co.910

Puget Sound Pipe Co 813

Pugh, F. M.K 478

Pumphrey, Wm 789

Pumphrey,Wm. H 616

Pusey, V. A 315

Rasmusson, J. R 298

Rawson, G. A 917

Rayburn, I. N. E :568

Redhead, W. W 317

Redman, J. T (iSS

Redpath, N.J 933

Reed, C. C 578

Reed, G. K 332

Reed, T. M 613

Reed, T. M.,Jr 543

Reeder, J. W 797

Reeves, Wm. H 520

Reich, G. A 550

Reinhart, 0. S 695

Reitzig, C 789

Remington, A. J 359

Reni, T. B 240

Ren wick, W. G. V 483

Reynolds & Stewart 370

Richardson, W. E 379

Richter, A 887

Ricker, C. H 863

Riley, W. W 816

Ritchie, W. A 362

Rilz, Mrs. C. J 262

Robb, Robert 514

Robbins, C. W 373

Roberts, G. E 805

Roberts Shingle Co 913

Roberts, W. E 913

Roberts, W. H 658

Robertson, Wm. B 510

Rogers, N. L 648

Rogers, J. S 745

Rohlfs, D 574

Rohn. J. J 413

Romaiue, F. S 569

Ronald, J. T 291

Root, O. G 620

Ross. D. M 828

Ross, E. J 923

Ross, K. J. L 453

Ross, R. D 775

Rothschild, L 900

Rowland, I. W 876

Rumsey, J. W 546

Russell, \V. L 292

Ryan, G. H 796

Ryman, C. M 346

Sachs, M.B 703

Sales, J. E 882

Saltar, John 645

Sampson, R 615

Sanders, John 411

Sandys, Wm 426

Sanderson, J. H 913

Saunders Bros 401

Saunders, J. C 711

Schadewald, F 784

Scheuchzer, J. F 649

Scholl, J. D 933

Seal, C F 697

Secrist, S. N 4^2

Sellwood, J. J 413

Semple, Eugene 393

Semple, J. M 319

Sbadle, J. A 843

Shane, C. W 482

Shannon, G. D 811

Shannon, James ,527

Sharpstine, B. L 178

Shaw, A. F 845

Shaw, C. G 875

Shaw LeF A 373

Sheafe, C. M 526

Sheehan, J. F 878

Shelton, L. D. W 575

Shepard, T. R 438

Shepherd, D 354

Shields, H. E 895

Shobeit, Frederick & Stephen. 803

Shorey, O. U 774

Shoudy, W. H 745

Sbullz, I. W 351

Siburjr, Wm 769

Sloan, T. VV 502

Smith, C. F 896

Smith, D.C 740

Smith, E. L 642

Smith, E. S 815

Smith, Everett 345

Smith, H. A 467

Smith, J. A 775

Smith, J. B 400

Smith, Lewis 737

Smith, Peter 888

Smith, R. J 475

Smith, P. .J 907

Smith, W. P 315

Smith, W. U 773

Snipes, B. E 579

Snodgrass, T. D 780

Sohus & Norval 383

South Bend 693

Spalding, C H 493

Sparling, F. W 869

Sparling, G. H. T 844

Spauldiug, A. P 375

Spencer, D. A 533

Spencer, John 586

Spencer, W. B 859

Spinning, B. M 555

Spinning, C. H 814

Spinning, F. W 871

Sprague, J. W 245

Spriggs, J. W 528

Spurgeon, M 732

Starrett, G. E 843

Steadman, CM 371

Steamer "Flyer" 655

Stearns, W. L 860

Steinmann, H 834

Stepwalt, J. H 801

Stevens, D. K 748

Stevens, Hazard 540

Stevens, I. 1 328

Stevens, J. E 349

Stevenson, J. M 686

Stevenson, R a58

Stewart, A. W 614

Stewart, C. W 786

Stewart, Daniel 261

Stewart, R. E 381 i

St. John, H. H 433 '

Stoneman, G.J 517

Stoughton, J. A 419

Stout, J. A 487

Stout, J. K ...418

Stoul, R. B 446

Strack, J. W 448

Stratton, E. M !i24

Strickland, R. E M 495

Street, S. F 857

Stumer, H. E 034

Sturdevani, R. F 596

Sullivan, P. C 603

Sutton, Samuel 656

Sutton, W.J 345

Swan, J. G 535

Swan, J. M b04

Sweeney, E. F 503

Sweeney, J. P 289

Swetland, Scott 849

Talcott, L. L 668

Tallman, B. J 560

Tate, John 318

Taylor, A.J 656

Taylor, J. A .364

Taylor, J. M 386

Thomas, A 763

Thomas, C. W 669

Thomas, H. L 770

Thomas, J. S 601

Thompson, GB 639

Thompson, J. K 727

Thompson, S 815

Thompson, VVm. H 619

Thomson, R. H 334

Thomson, R L 501

Thornton, John 720

Tibbetts, G. W 819

Tilton, F. A 307

Tilton, H. L 307

Toussaint, A. F 447

Town, I. A 904

Tracy, John 408

Trask, H. P 470

Tripp, Bartlett 836

Tucker, A. H 897

Turner, D.J 637

Tuttle, H. P 294

Twichell, F. A 316

Upton, Wm. H 389

Van Aresdale, T. F 784

Van Asselt, H 522

Vaughn, Wm. D 808

Vincent, Benj 750

Votaw, H. L 795

Waggoner, W. E 396

Wagner, G. C 874

Wald, F. W 474

Waldo, S. S 895

Walsh, C. A 479

Walsh, P. P 827

Walsworth, C. B 880

Ward, Moses 640

Ward, W. H 759

Washburn, P. S 481

Wasson, A .534

Waterhouse, F 034

Watson, A. L ...790

Watson, Robert .487

Waughop, J. W .'.'.'.'.' .' ' '683

Wear, R. C a32

Weavei-, D. L 507

Webb, w. T........;;;;;.;;'437

Webster, A ' '48!)

Webster, E. J ""313

Weed G. A ::::877

Weinberg, A rSb

Weir, Allen 664

Weir, W. G 69'^

Wei ler, Godfrey (j,5,

West, C.S 33i3

Weston, AT... '""90

Wheeler, H. AV. . . 099

White, C. L ,518

White, O. C 933

White, S.M '. ..'■••389

White, W. J "516

White, Wm.H.. . .533

Whitham, R. F 807

Whitworth, F. H ,531

Whit worth, G. F "57

Whyte, Albert 377

Willey,S '....■.■.'.■."696

Williams, S. C 362

Willis M.W ""570

Willis, S. P ""..'"' "719

Wilson, A. G '303

Wilson, G.R ."..'.'.■.•.•638

Wilson, W.E 632

Winslow, F. H ' ' .501

Winstock, M. G 616

Wintermute, J. S ! .874

Wissinger, D '788

Witt, P. S '"409

Wittier, E. F 513

Wolcolt, J. R ... ' "sso

Wold, I. A "773

Wold, L.A ;.'..'.635

Wolverton, A. P 336

Wolverton, G. S ... 318

Wood, E. L . .729

Wood, James R .310

Wood, James R 652

Wood, James R 853

Wood, M. D 778

Wood, Wm. D 529

Woodard, A. B 691

Woodhouse, C. C, Jr 903

Woodin, Ira ...447

Woods, Andrew '.".'. .647

Woods, Salem 561

Woolery, A. H 5.54

Woolery, J. H 699

Wyckoir, Wm. H 734

Wyman, H. M 846

Yates, Edward 443

Yeaton, C. F 8i4

Yesler, H. L 252

Yocom, J. R 427

Yoder, Moses 371

Young, Antonio 885

Young, A. B 685

Young, B. F 716

Young, E. T 8.53

Young, M. H 731

Z
Zabriskie, C. B 683

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Bigelow, I. N 861

Blalock, Y. C 749

Burke, Thomas 733

Burleigh, A. F 685

Butler, Hillory 717

Clark Springs 233

ColmaD, J. M 333

DawsoD, L. H 813

Day, B.F 365

First House in Jeffrson County.US

Fort Nisqually 84

Gordon, T. W 511

Graves, F. H 461

Haller, G. O 254

Hanna, J. W 845

Hill, G. A 525

Hill, W. L 621

Indian Camp 19

Indian Hop Pickers 19

Jacobs, Orange 179

Llewellyn, W. H 909

Mackintosh, Angus 557

Maier, Christian 701

McBride, J. R 239

McDonald, J. R 429

McGilvra, J.J 284

McLoughlin, John 88

Mercer, Thomas 589

Merriam, C. K 493

Metcalfe, J. B 301

Olympia and Harbor 227

Osborn, Richard 781

Pickering, Wm 829

Port Townsend 145

Prather,L. H 237

Thomas, C.W 669

Washington State Building 279

Weed, G. A 877

Whitworth, G. F 257

ISTORY OF WASHIDGTOI

CHAPTER I.

Topography — Climate — Productions.

T'lIE State of Wasliingtou is, with the ex-
ception of Alaska, tlie most northwestern
of the political divisions of the United
States. Its form is a broad parallelogram,
fronting westward on the Pacific Ocean for a
distance of 245 miles, and having a length from
east to west of aljoiit 300 miles. On the north
the magnificent straits of Jnan de Fuca, separ-
ating it from British Colnmbia, forms its boun-
dary until it reaches the point where the 4:9th°
of latitude strikes that strait, when the line
follows that parallel eastward for a distance of
250 miles. Thence the line goes due south to
the 46th° of latitude, then west until that de-
gree strikes the Columbia river about 300 miles
from the ocean, and then follows the channel of
that river to the sea. On the whole, the outlines
of the State are regular, but within these out-
lines there is probably a topography more diver-
sified in surface, and more varied by land and
water than can be shown by any other State of
the Union. It has an area of 69,994 square
miles, of which 3,144 square miles are water.
It is over three-fourths the size of New York
and Pennsylvania combined. Compared with
the Western States its area is about equal to that
of Ohio and Indiana.

The most prominent feature of the topography
of Washington is its immense extent of ocean
and strait and sonnd and navigable river lines.
The Pacific Ocean washes its entire western
shore. In that extent are Shoalwater Bay and
Gray's Harbor, each a deep inlet sweeping many
miles into the land, and cacii affording safe and

accessible harbors for a large commerce. The
Straits of Fuca, from twenty to forty miles in
width, and carrying the depth of the sea, de-
scribes a semi-circle projecting into the north-
east corner of the strait with an are of nearlv
200 miles in lengtli. Breaking southward from
the eastern center of this arc, about lOO miles
from the ocean, Puget Sound, with its innumer-
able bays, and inlets, and canals, extends more
than a hundred miles, reaching the very center
of the State, and furnishing in all a shore-line
of not less than a thousand miles washed by the
ebb and flow of the tide. Besides this, the Co-
lumbia river coming down from British Colum-
bia on the north, enters the State a few miles
west of its northeastern corner, and crosses its
whole breadth diagonally to the southwest,
swinging in great bends through its vast prairies
east of the Cascade mountains, until it reaches
the 46th° of latitude, when it flows along its
soutiiern line to the ocean. The Snake river,
the great southern branch of the (Columbia,
comes into the State from the east near its
southern border, and after flowing for nearly
200 miles within it joins the greater river aijout
twenty miles north of the Oregon line.

These are great rivers, — among the greatest
of the continent, and together furnish within
the State and along its line well nigh a thousand
miles of steamboat navigation. An almost iij-
numberable number of smaller rivers flow down
from the great mountain ranges towards the
Columbia and Snake rivers, and toward Puget
Sound, some of which are navigal)le for tniall

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

steamers for many miles. East of the Cascade
mountains tlie most important of tliese are the
Spokane and the Yakima, both of which drain
large valleys and immense mountain slopes, and
empty into the Columbia. West of the Cas-
cade the Skagit, the Snohomish, the Puyallnp,
the Chehalis, and the Cowlitz, are the chief,
liltlioiigh there are many others approaching
tliese in size and importance.

This brief and incomplete statement will suf-
fice to show that there is no State of the Union
so plentifully watered by rivers and smaller
streams as is the State of Washington.

Topographically, Washington is divided into
two very distinct departments, namely, the
Fiiget Sound basin and the great valley of the
Upper Columbia. Between these, running
north and south through the entire State, is the
great range of the Cascade Mountains. This
mouiitain range is the grandest and most im-
posing in North America. Commencing near
the extreme southern portion of the continent,
it grows mre and more imposing as we move
northward until in Mount St. Elias, far up
toward Behring's Straits, it reaches its highest
altitude. It has more of the great, snow-capped
volcanic cones that rise from 12,000 to 20,000
feet in height than any other range of
North America, and has a breadth and rugged-
ness that can scarcely be paralleled elsewhere
among mountain ranges. In Washington the
range is swelling toward its grandest dimen-
sions, and several of its mightiest pinnacles are
within the limits of this State.

Beginning near the southern line. Mount
Adams and Mount St. Helens sentinel the
mighty gates of the Columbia river. Further
north and overlooking the upper region of
Puget Sound, Mount Rainier lifts its broad
shoulders and its hoary head clear against the
sky, presenting one of the most remarkable
expressions of physical majesty and power that
the eye ever looked upon. Still to the north,
and near the watei-s of the Straits of Fuca,
Mount Baker almost rivals Ranier in majesty
and grandeur. Between them are summits in-

numerable, that in any land but this would Ite
famed for their sublimity; and, stretching
away east and west the whole width of the
range, not less than fifty miles in any place,
and reaching a hundred in others, is in view of
from the slopes or summits of these higher
peaks. The gorges that cleave the sides and
separate the bases of these mountains are as
deep and awful as the mountains are high and
sublime. Down them pour roaring rivers that
rush madly away from the imprisonment of
the mountain barriers as though eager to find
their eternal freedom in the level of the sea.
The great glaciers of the snowy mountains
move slowly down the immense clefts of the
icy pinnacles, grinding the granite to powder
under their crush, and bearing great boulders
on their white bosom until the sunshine of
the plain unlocks their fetters of frost and
leaves them miles and miles away from where
the avalanche wrenched them from their gran-
ite pedestals. Power, majesty, sublimity, eter-
nity are all symboled by the vast ranges and
mighty pinnacles, and no one can contemplate
them without a feeling of overwhelming awe:
a feeling that increases rather than diminishes
as he dwells in communion with them through
the years and the decades.

West of Puget Sound and between it and
the Pacific ocean is the Olympic range. This
range terminates at the north against the
Straits of Fuca, and extends southward a full
hundred miles, well toward the Columbia
river. Lower and narrower than the Cascade
range, yet it is one that, seen from Puget
Sound or from the ocean coast, presents many
most striking and beautiful scenes. Indeed,
true to its happily selected name, it presents
much most alluring scenery, and charms the
eye with its classic ruggedness and beauty. It
rises in pinnacled abruptness on the one side
from the sea and on the other from the Sound,
and its clear outline is sharply cut against the
summer sky, holding the imagination in a
pleasing thrall, as the lights and shadows of the
evening and morning play and troop along its

UISJOHY OB' WASHINGTON.

piilfs and over its al]iine gorges and precipices.
Tlierc is more of tlic sharp outline, the steep
rnggeil grandeur, and the calm, reposei'ul
strength of the Alps of Switzerland in it than
in auj other of tlie Amei'ican ranges.

Between these two ranges, — the Cascades and
Olympic, — lies the basin of Puget Sound. The
pinnacles of these ranges are probaLly nearly a
hnndred miles apart. More than half of this
distance is taken up by the tnountain slopes,
and the remainder by the Sound itself and the
rolling and heavily timbered nplands that stretch
away from its shores. The peculiar and dis-
tinguishing characteristic of this basin is the
body of water that gives it name — Puget
Sound. Let us, in a few sentences, endeavor to
give it some limning to the eye of the reader.

We will imagine ourselves sailing in from
the ocean between the bold headlands of Cape
Flattery and Point San Juan, and entering the
vast system of inland seas constituted by the
Straits of Fnca, the Gulf of Georgia and Puget
Sound. We enter a passage nearly half a de-
gree of latitude in width, which carries its full
volume, with the depth and appearance of the
ocean, eastward for a hundred miles, when the
innumerable islands of the San Juan archipelago
divide its broadened waters into as innumerable
narrow channels, which swing and sway away
among them in an infinitude of graceful curves
and angles, always changing as the tides are
pressed and turned by their bold precipices or
their sloping shores. Just south of this, and
breaking away from the main Straits, are many
channels, also separated by many of the most
beautiful islands that ever dimpled the face of
a sea. Puget Sound stretches its sea-deep tides
into the far recesses of the ever-frowning and
embosoming mountains. Measured across all
its surface, including the islands that everywhere
stud its bosom, the Sound cannot average less
than from ten to twenty miles in width. Pro-
jecting into the rounded, wooded shores every-
where, bays and harbors without number afford
safe anchorage for vessels of any draft. For a
hundred and twenty miles southward, clear to

Olyiupia. the capital of the State, it also carries
the depth and semblance of the sea, — in fact, is
the sea in all its characteristics of tides and pro-
ductions of every kind. It is alive with sea-
tish, and marine plants tioat everywhere upon
its surface.

As to scenery, with all the possible combina-
tions of land and water, of sea and island, of
plain and mountain, of lake and river, it is
doubtful whether a spot can be found on earth
that rivals Puget Sound. Something more of
of this will be noted when we come to speak of
its cities, and so we shall pass it by with this
slight notice at this place.

The country bordering the Sound, on both
sides, and extending to the slopes of the mount-
ains, with small exceptions, is very densely tim-
bered. It bears the grandest growth of fir and
cedar that can be found upon the continent.
Untold thousands of these giant trees are from
five to ten feet in diameter, and will reach from
200 to 300 feet in length. Their roots draw in
naarvelous support from the rich soil in which
theyare planted, and their leaves drink growing
life from the moist and sea-salted atmosphere
always breathed over them. The exceptions to
this statement are found in the tide-fiats that
margin the lower portion of tlie Sound, and in
the comparatively small prairies which island
the great woodland that sweeps around its
head. The tide-flats are exceedingly rich in
soil, and, when dyked and cultivated, marvel-
ously productive. The prairies are mostly of a
light, gravelly soil, and are not of great worth
for agriculture.

It will be obvious to the reader at once that
the rivers entering the sound are generally
small. So near are the mountain ranges on
either hand that they must needs be so. For
the most of their courses they are mountain
torrents, and then they broaden, near the sound,
into streams up which the tides push for some
miles. Some of them are rated as navigable
streams although some small steamers ply on
their tide-waters for a few miles. They all
water valleys, of greater or less width, of very

IIISTOnr OF WASHINGTON.

rich i^oil, which wlien the grand forests are
cleared away are remarkably productive, es-
pecially in vegetables and fruits and hops; and
it is in this line mostly that the lands of Paget
Sound basin can be set down as agricultural.

That portion of the State which lies directly
on the Pacific coast is separated from that
margining Puget Sound by the Olympic range,
of which mention has already been made. These
mountains crowd the sea so closely that there is
coniparativelj little agricultural land between
them. The streams that flow down from them
either to the ocean or the sound are small and
short. The first one from the straits of Fuca
southward that cleaves the range is the Che-
halis, which enters the head of Gray's Harbor,
more than 100 miles south of the Straits. This
river and its tributaries drain a very lai-ge region
of rich, though mostly heavily timbered, coun-
try, rather level for this portion of the coast,
yet in places rising into ridges and hills that
would be considered mountains in the Middle
States. Its wealth of forest is incomputable.
Of timber available for lumber it is not likely
that any portion of the United States ever fur-
nished such an abundant supply. Cedai', fir
and spruce attain a size and quality that are re-
markable. Along all the streams, up all the
hill-slopes, over all the valleys, the tall spires
of these evergreens climb skyward from 200 to
300 feet, often reaching a diameter, twenty
feet from the ground, of from eight to twelve
feet.

What is said of the region of the Chehalis
and Gray's Harbor is alike true of that surround-
ing Shoalwater Bay, a few miles further to the
south. Indeed, Gray's Harbor and Shoalwater
Pay really belong to one great indentation in the
Coast range of mountains which continues still
to the south, and about fifteen miles from the
Bay also receives the vast flood of the Columbia
river. The great break in this range iu which
the Columbia, Shoalwater Bay and Gray's Harbor
are iound, is the only one from the straits of
Fuca to the " Golden Gate." It is not less than
fifty miles iu width, and is the distinguishing

topographical feature of the coast within the
State of Washington.

Our readers would not fully understand the
topographical character of the western part of
the State without some speciflc notice of that
part of it that lies on the Columbia river, from
the n^outh of that mighty stream to the Cascade
range, — a distance of 125 miles. The head of
Puget Sound is separated from the Columbia by
a stretch of heavily timbered country, inter-
spersed with occasional small prairies, 100 miles
in length. Half of that distance is traced by
the CoM-litz river, a bold, dashing stream that
comes down from the icy gorges of Mount St.
Helen's westward, as though it had started for
the sea at the head of Gray's Harbor, but meet-
ing the obstruction of a lateral spur of hills that
projects from the Cascade range between itself
and the Chehalis river, concludes to turn to the
south in its quest for the ocean, and finds the
tidal level by the way of the Columbia. The
valley of the Cowlitz strikes the Columbia from
the north about half way from the mountains
to the sea. Between this point and the ocean
the country is very rough, even mountainous,
and bears the characteristic growth of timber
which distinguishes all Western Washington.

Immediately east of this point, and up the
Columbia, the Cascades shoot down a lateral
spur of mountains clear against the river. Still
further east this range sweeps far back from the
river to the north, then circles eastward and then
southward again, forming a great valley, ap-
proaching a circle in form, of at least fifty miles
in diameter. The southern arc of the circum-
ference of the valley is formed by the Columbia
river, — a vast tidal flood of from one to two
miles in width, and deep enough for the largest
ships; and the northern by the mountain range.
This is not a level valley, but one of variable
surface, traced by numerous small rivers and
creeks, and in its natural growths repeats the
topographical conditions of all Western Wash-
ington. Its soil is very excellent, combining
disintegrated basalt and granite with alluvial
deposits and vegetable mold in fine proportions,

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

and making it remarkably productive for cereals
and fruits. Enframed by the mountains on the
north, thus securing a southern exposure, and
margined by the river on the south, its climatic
conditions could hardly be more perfect for the
productions named.

Having thus, in general terms, given our
readers some idea of the topography of Western
Washington, we will now lead them across the
Cascade range into the vaster area of the State
that lies east of it.

AVhen one has crossed the Cascade mount-
ains from the low altitudes and moist climate
of Puget Sound and the lower Columbia into the
high altitudes and dry atmosphere of the great
interior, he has entered a new world. Every
form is changed, every condition modified and
even transposed. The immense vegetable
growths have given place to treeless plains. The
green hills and mountain slopes are succeeded
by brown or gray piles of basalt and sand. The
rivers flow no longer through the great forests
of fir and cedar, but wind down through sandy
gorges, or swing across wide sage plains, with
only here and there a clump of willows, or it
may be a solitary cotton wood, to mark the course
of their flow. The atmosphere is not softened
by the touch of the sea wave, but is fervid with
the heat of the shimmering plain, or cool from
the breath of the snowy ranges. If the traveler
has come suddenly into it, without previous
knowledge of its peculiar characteristics, its
strangeness steals on him like a vast, weird
dream and he gazes upon it with a wonder quite
akin to awe. Its skies are so deep and silent,
its vistas so endless, its mysteries so unfathom-
able, its surprises so frequent that he is inclined
to move in the silence of a dreamer over it.
These are the elements that render it diflicult
to give its common characteristics in words that
will make it real to the mind of the reader. But
we must try.

In area Eastern Washington comprises about
two-thirds of the land surface of the State. Its
chief topographical characteristics are connected
with the fact that it is almost wholly within the

I great valley of the upper Columbia. The waters
of this majestic river and its tributaries drain
its entire surface. There is not a drop of wate'
from any plain or pinnacle of this great region
that flows seaward through any other channel.
Coming down from the north through British
Columbia this stream enters the State near its
north-eastern corner, flowing first south nearly
a hundred miles, then westerly about the same
distance, then south and southeasterly twice as
far, and then southwesterly 150 miles on the
southern boundary of the State before it enters
the mighty gateway of the Cascade range. Com-
ing into the State from the east about twenty five
miles north of its south-eastern corner. Snake
river, hardly smaller than the Columbia itself,
swings its serpentine way through its basaltic
gorge for more than a hundred miles, when it
unites with the latter in the midst of a broad,
open valley, about ten miles before it reaches
the southern line of the State. On both sides
of the main stream are countless tributaries,
many of them large, though none are navigable,
but all of which drain large areas of country
and water vast tracts of land that else would be
desert. Among these on the east, beginning at
the north, are the Pend d'Oreille, the Colville,
the Spokane, the Palouse, the Tukannon, the
Touchet and the Walla Walla. On the north
and west are the Okinagan, Chelan, Wenatche,
Yakima and Klickitat. All these with the ex-
ception of the Klickitat, flow towards the
common center of the great valley of the Co-
lumbia, where that and Snake river make their
junction for their last great movement out of
the mighty basin which their myriad years of
flow has washed out between the Kocky and Cas-
cade rano-es. A vaster, more concentrated, uni-
fied, yet at the same time diversified, river basin
does not mark the map of the world than is
Eastern Washington, and through none does a
more wonderful river pour its floods. It is from
this one fact, as an initial point, that any writer
must start if he would understand, or intelli-
gently write of the topography, or even the
climate of this part of the State.

UlsrORT OP WASUINGTON.

Tlie next fsiet is the system of mouutain
ranges that either hem in this vast valley, or else
cut it into sections as their spurs push eastward
from the Cascades or westward from the Rocky
mountain system, and the nuraerons short
ranges and isolated peaks that seem to have no
connection with the great continental systems,
that are scattered through it. "With the size of
this great basin, 200 miles each way, and these
two great dominating topographical features in
our minds, it will not be ditiicult, perhaps, for us
to understand its )iiore subordinate character-
istics.

Although we have called this region a " basin "
and a " valley," these words must be taken as
relating only to the fact that it is drained by
the single river course which we have named.
Within the uppermost rim ot this "basin" there
are mountains and hills innumerable. They
swell into every form of rugged grandeur and
sublimity. They soften into every outline of
beauty and peace. They are rough and pin-
nacled with jagged basaltic pillars, with great
granite peaks, on which the pine trees nod and
sigh to the mountain winds, or they are rounded
into grassy knobs smooth and beautiful as
though an artist's hand had moulded them.

Below these are the plains and the valleys
that touch the brink of the streams. The latter
are generally narrow, but the former stretch
away for miles, bordered at either side by some
creek or river.

The soil of all this region is mineral in its
composition, being composed mostly of granitic
and basaltic sand, ground and worn out of the
mountain sides by the abrasion of rivers, or dis-
solved by frost and snow and rain from the
faces of the precipices. There is little of vege-
table sediment in it. Even the great river hears
little of this, as its flow for a thousand miles
above is through the same open, treeless region,
and between basaltic and granite walls. Such
soils need only water to make them break forth
into a very harvest of plenty.

Over a large portion of this vast area this can
only be procured from irrigating ditches or

artesian wells, as, notably, in the Yakima val-
ley and in the region known as " the Great
Bend country." Still the reader must not sup-
pose that this remark applies to the vast wheat-
growing i-egion in what has long l:>uen cele-
brated as the " Palouse country," and, indeed,
all the region east of the Great Bend country
from the northern to the southern line of the
State. This is an empire in extent, and is one
of the finest wheat-producing regions of Amer-
ica. Yet in even this abundant irrigation, would
soon double the grain production and increase
many fold its fruits and vegetables. And the
millions of arid and serai-arid acres that now
lie fallow under the cloudless skies of this sun-
lit land will one day, and that day not far
away, give its tens of millions of bushels into
the garners of the world.

The climate of all this " Inland Empire "' is
as sui generis as its topography.

The seasons are pronounced, but they are not
differentiated like those on the coast, nor like
those of the Eastern States. There is little fall
of moisture either in the form of rain or snow.
Skies without a cloud bend over the rales and
hills for months together. This is especially
true of the center of the Columbia basin and of
its western slope. On the eastern slope of the
basin the conditions are different and the fall
of moisture greater. This is easily accounted
for. The winds from the western sei are drained
of all their vapors by their contact with the
cold summits of the Cascade range, and they
pass on eastward absolutely without moisture.
Hence the valleys of the eastern slope of tiiat
range receive but very little rain. Passing down
these valleys and across and along the great
Columbia, they take up soine vapor and bear it
onward until they touch the sides of the cist-
ern ranges, when tiiey yield that up also, and
it falls in showers on the plains, or in snow on
the hills. Southerly winds, which west of the
Cascades are the -rain winds, here bring but
little moisture. Eastern winds, which are not
very frequent, are almost a consuming sirocco
if long continued. The western and the north

Indian Camp.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

western are those that bear the most moisture.
The causes are in the topography of the conn-
try, especially in the trend of the mountain
ranges. These causes are permanent, and their
resultant conditions must be as permanent as
the causes that produce them.

There is a wider range of the thermometer
here than there is west of the Cascade mount-
ains. The summers are hotter and the winters
are colder. Probably the average seasons will
register a variation oF nearly 100 degrees in
most parts of this region, and extreme seasons
will increase that variation. Still the dryness
of the atmosphere is such that this great varia-
tion is not so obvious to the senses as a much
smaller variation where there is more moisture.
Then its altitude is such that the actual degree
of heat or cold is considerably less than it would
be with the same mercury registration on the
seacoast. All these considerations enable us to
write down the climate of Eastern Washington
as, on the whole, a desirable rather than an
undesirable one, and it is one, certainly, that
receives the most encomiums from those who
have longest tested it, — which is no mean
proof of its excellence.

As the climate and the soil of Eastern Wash-
ington has a remarkably uniform average, so its
productions are quite uniform in character and
quality. The cereals, especially wheat, produce
at their best both of quantity and quality nearly
everywhere, if we except some of the drier por-
tions where irrigation must be resorted to.
Some of the warmer valleys, like the Yakima,
Snake river and Columbia river, are wonderfully

prolific in peaches, grapes, melons and hops.
The strawberry, blackberry, currant, etc., thrive
abundantly everywhere; and, indeel, to sum
up all that needs to be said of the productions of
the country without going into statistics, all the
staple cereals and fruits of the temperate lati-
tudes; those cereals and fruits that grow in
company with the strongest manhood, and upon
which that manhood grows; grow as abundantly
and ripen as perfectly within the bounds of the
country thus indicated as anywhere between the
seas. So, with its magnificent scenery, its pure
atmosphere, its crystalline waters, its abundant
and healthy food, Eastern Washington should
and doubtless will contribute some of the best
and noblest to the " crowning race of human
kind."

In treating of the climate of Washington, it
is proper that we notice the fact that no part
of the State is subject to those violent changes
in temperature and atmospheric currents that
result, in the States east of the Rocky mountains,
in tornadoes and cyclones, that are so destruc-
tive to property, and often to human life. They
are, in fact, unknown there; and while the moun-
tain ranges stand where they are, and the Pa-
cific rolls over its present bed, they never can be
known. The same may be said of the terrible
thunder storms that shake and startle the Mis-
sissippi and Missouri valleys. They are un-
known in all the region west of the Rocky
mountains. It is too much a broken surface,
and the soft breath of the great sea is wafted so
genially over all even to permit it.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER II.

Eaeliest Discoveeies on the N0ETHWE8T Coast — Spain Leads Discoveries — A. Northwest
Passage Sought — Magellan — Coetez in Mexico — Spain Mistress of the Pacific — The
Bdccaneees — SiE Feancis Deake — Cavindish — Steaits of Aman — Russian Exploeations
— Vitus Beheing — Russia's Failure — Captain Cook — First English Exploeations —
Cook's Death — Spain Again Essays Discoveey — Feancisco Elisa — Discoveries of 1791
— A New Flag on the Seas^Spanish Efforts Cease.

THE earliest discoveries on the American
continent made by any portion of the
civilized world, if we do not count the
somewhat mythical ones attributed to
Northmen on the coast of Greenland, were made
in 1492, under the auspices of Spain; at that
time one of the most powerful and aggressive
nations of Europe. The discovery of a New
World behind the western seas kindled an age
already tired with a spirit of romantic adventure
and religious zeal to a much greater enthusiasm
of conquest and subjugation. As Spain had led
in the discoveries that had thus opened the new
continent to the ambitions of the enterprising
and adventurous, it was only natural that her
sailors should haste to follow the path that the
galleys of Columbus had marked for them over
the seas, and her soldier adventurers should
enter on a course of conquest in the countries
discovered. The stories of the sailors who had
returned to the ports of Spain invested the new
lands visited by them with a glory of fabulous
wealth that could easily be gathered from the
semi-civilized savage tribes found there by the
stronger arms of the men of Castile.

Inspired by these marvelous stories, three years
had not passed before they had begun the con-
quest of the islands off the southeastern coast of
the American mainland by the subjugation of
Hayti. In 1511 the island of Cuba was invaded
and conquered in tliename of the king of Spain.
Three years afterward Vasco Nunez de Balboa
crossed the Isthmus of Darien and discovered
the great south sea, of which such knowledge
had been communicated by the natives that it
had already been designated on tlie maps of
European geographers. Seven years later Ma

gellan entered it by the straits that bear his
name and gave it the name of the " Pacific."
In 1519 Cortez landed in Mexico at the head of
an army of 950 men, arid invaded the ancient
kingdom of the Montezumas. Two years suf-
ficed for its subjugation. In 1587, Cortez,
seeking further conquests to the westward of
Mexico, landed at Santa Cruz, near the lower
extremity of the peninsula of California.
Finding nothing to tempt his cupidity or his
chivalry, he soon abandoned the country and
returned to Mexico. This was the beginning
of discovery by the nations of Europe on the
Pacific coast of the American continent. But
such had been the unpropitious results of the
attempts of Cortez to find tempting food for
adventure west and north of Mexico, that it is
likely discovery would have stayed its progress
in that direction, had not othermotives prompted
its advance from another quarter. These were
the hopes and efforts of European discoverers
to find a Northwest passage from the Atlantic
Ocean through the American continent to the
Indian seas.

Before 1500 one of the adventurous naviga-
tors of Portugal, Vasco de Gaina, had reached
the Indian Ocean by sailing eastward from Lis-
bon around the Cape of Good Hope. Gaspar
Cortereal, another eminent Portuguese discov-
erer, explored the Atlantic coast of North
America in 1500, and sailing around Labrador
entered the straits which opened westward
under theOOth degree of north latitude. Through
these he passed into what is now known as
Hudson's Bay, and believed that he had en-
tered waters which led into the Indian ocean,
and had accomplished, by sailing westward

UIST0R7 OF WASniNOTON.

from tlie west coast of Europe, what Vasco de
Gaiua had hy sailing eastward, — the discovery
of a passage to the wealth of Asia; so little was
then known of the geography of the world.
To the straits through which he )iad passed he
gave the name of Anian, and the land south of
them he called Labrador.

When Magellan, in 1520, sailed into the Pa-
cific through the straits to which his own name
was given, and continued his voyage westward
until the wiiole world was circumnavigated, the
belief of navigators in the e.xistence of the
straits of Anian was greatly strengthened. This
arose from their belief that the straits of Ma-
gellan were only a narrow passage piercing the
heart of the continent where it was much nar-
row^er than elsewhere; and they supposed the
same thing would exist to the north, especially
since Cortereal had reported its discovery. For
many years the chief efforts of explorers were
put forth for its real discovery. The efforts of
Spain were mainly directed from the Pacific
side of the continent, while England, France,
Portugal and Holland made theirs from the
eastern. It is not necessary to our history to
follow the course and story of these expensive
and continued efforts, as they had but a remote
bearing on the history of the northwest coast;
but this fable of the northwest passage kept up
the spirit of discovery for many years, and the
search for it was participated in by all the lead-
ing maritime nations of the world. The first
knowledge of the countries on the Pacific coast
was not to come, however, from any passage of
the Straits of Anian, but from the spirit of
adventure that the conquest of Mexico had
kindled in the South.

After the subjugation of Mexico, Cortez be-
gan the construction of vessels on the coast of
Central America for use on the Pacific. After
these vessels had been employed for some time
on the lower coasts they were sent directly
across the Pacific, but he constructed others in
which he directed expeditions along the Mexi-
can coasts and in Lower California. He dis-
covered the Gulf of California and the Colorado

river. He made an attempt at colonization at
Santa Cruz, in Lower California. The first at-
tempt to pass around the peninsula of Califor-
nia was made in 1539 by Francisco de Ulloa,
the energetic and capable assistant of Cortez in
all his operations on the west coast of Mexico.
He succeeded in reaching the twenty-eighth
degree of latitude, but was so baffied by head
winds and sickness among his men that he was
compelled to return to Mexico.

Don Antonio de Mendoza, a Spanish noble-
man of high rank, succeeded Cortez as Viceroy
of New Spain. He dispatched an expedition of
two small vessels, commanded by Juan Rodri-
guez Cabrillo, and dispatched it in 154:2 to
search for the Straits of Anian, and incidentally
to discover any of those civilized nations that
the traditions of the Indians or the imagination
of the Caucasians located in the northwest.
He followed the coast as far north as thirty-
eight degrees, but encountered a violent storm
which drove them several degrees backward.
He found shelter in a small harbor on the
island of San Barnardino, lying near the coast
in latitude thirty-four degrees, which he called
" Port Possession," and which was the first
point on the California coast of which the
Spaniards took possession. Here Cabrillo died,
in January, 1543, and the command devolved
on Bartolome Ferrelo, who again headed the
vessels to the northward and voyaged up the
coast. He reached, on the 1st of March, a
point as high as forty-four degrees, as given by
some authorities, and without doubt should be
credited with having first discovered the coast
of Oregon, though he made no chart of its out-
line, and made no landing upon it. The re-
sults of the voyage, and of some expeditions
sent inland under Alcaron and Coronado, satis-
fied the viceroy that the wealthy nations of the
coast and country north of Mexico existed only
in Indian fables, and that if any straits of
Anian existed they must be far north of the
fortieth parallel of latitude, and all effort to ex-
plore the country to the northward was aban-
doned. But Spain was complete mistress of

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the Pacific. Her flag dominated that mighty
ocean, and her enemies were unable to attack
her in that vital source of her wealth, and
power. Ijiit this could not long continue when
tlie rivals and enemies of Spain were buch pow-
ers as England and France. And, besides, this
was the era of the ''buccaneers," who roved the
seas, even in times of peace, under the privity
and encouragement of their sovereigns, and
they were not less interested than the naval
forces of the government of western Europe to
find a way to reach and capture the richly-
laden galleons of Spain on their way from the
mines of Mexico to the treasuries of Lisbon and
Madrid. These also sought the Straits of
Anian, but despairing at last of finding them,
invaded the Pacific by the dreaded way of Ma-
gellan. With their appearance on the Pacific
the security of Spanish shipping on the south-
ern seas ceased forever.

The man who led this crusade of freebooters
against the ships and wealth of Spain on the
Pacific was Sir Francis Drake. He was an
English seaman of much fame, a daring adven-
turer and an expert mariner. Witli tiiree ves-
sels he entered the Pacific through the Straits
of Magellan. One was soon wrecked, another
returned to England, but with the third he con-
tinued up tlie coast, scattering terror among the
Spanish shipjiing and levying heavy contribu-
tions on the defenseless ports. Loaded with plun-
der, he continued northward on the same boot-
less search for the Straits of Anian that had be-
guiled all the navigators of England and Spain
80 long, and which, of course, returned to him
only their disappointment. How far he sailed
northward it is hard to determine, some authori-
ties placing his highest latitude at 43°, and
some at 48°. The English writers claim the
latter, and the American the former. Doubt-
less the question of title to the country on the
ground of discovery, as between Spain and
England, in which the United States was in-
volved by her purchase of the rights of Spain,
accounts for that disagreement. If he reached
only the forty-third degree, his discoveries were

anticipated by the Spaniard, Ferrelo, by thirty-
five years. If he reached the forty-eighth de-
gree, then England's right, by discovery of the
coast far north of the mouth of the Columbia
river, was undeniable. The accounts published
of this voyage of Drake bear so little evidence
of reliability that the fair-minded historian finds
it difficult to reach a satisfactory conclusion as
to the fact in the case. There is little differ-
ence which was the fact, since it will be forever
impossible to adjudicate the dispute, and hence
the honor of the discovery of the Oregon coast
will remain divided between the Spaniard,
Ferrelo, and the Englishman, Sir Francis Drake.

In the month of June Drake lay in a harbor
of refuge, probably in the small bay north of
the bay of San Francisco, now known as Drake's
Bay. Following the example of the Spanish
navigators, he landed and took possession of the
country in the name of Great Britain, giving it
the title of " New Albion," as the Spaniards had
called the southern point of the coast " New
Spain."

Following Drake, and encouraged by his suc-
cess, came Thomas Cavendish and other English
adventurers, having the same purposes in view
as Drake himself, namely, the capture of the
richly loaded galleons of Spain, and the discov-
ery of the Straits of Anian. "Without any reason-
able compensation it would greatly lengthen a
narrative only collateral to our main design, to
follow the story of their depredations or dis-
coveries. Besides, there was so much that sub-
sequent information has proven to be fiction in
the published narratives of these expeditions
that the historian is sometimes led to wonder if
any part of them, as recorded, is credible. In
some of them places and water passages are
minutely described that have long ago been
proved to have had no existence. History can-
not afford space even to catalogue these roman-
ces. Such stories as those of Maldonado and
of Juan de Fuca must be classed with these, and
thus passed by.

There is really nothing of authenticated dis-
covery on the northwest coast to relate until 1602,

Illarour OF WASHINOTON.

when Sebastian Viscaiiio, under peremptory
orders from Philip III, sailed north from Aca-
pulco, entering the ports of San Quintin, San
Diego and Monterey. Nothing of importance
having been added by hiui to geographical
science, he soon after returned to Acapulco. In
January, 1B03, he again sailed northward. On
this voyage he reached and named " Cape
Blanco," about the 43° of latitude. The histo-
rian of the voyage of the little craft on which
he sailed says: " From that point the coast
begins to turn to the northwest, and near it was
discovered a rapid and abundant river, with ash
trees, willows, brambles, and other trees of Cas-
tile on its banks." An unsuccessful attempt to
enter this river, which was probably theUmpqua,
was made, and as a large number of the crew
were sick with the scurvy, the commander de-
termined to return to Acapulco. He and his
pihjt, Antonio Flores, both died of scurvy on
the way, and were buried in the deep.

Still the Sti-aits of Anian remained the fable
for the solution of which the navigators of
Europe continued to search on both coasts of
America. Gradually, but generally, the belief
came to be entertained that these straits could
be found only in a search in Hudson's Bay. To
aid in their discovery, in 1699, Charles II, then
king of England, granted to a company of his
subjects a charter guaranteeing most royal priv-
ileges in consideration of their agreement to
search for the Sti-aits of Anian. This charter
created " The Company of Adventurers of Eng-
land Trading into Hudson's Bay.'' The object
expressed in the charter was, " For the dis-
covery of a new passage into the South Sea, and
for the finding of some trade in furs and other
considerable commodities." This is the organ-
ization known in history as " The Hudson's Bay
Company." As its history, as well as its rela-
tions to the story of the Pacific coast, will be
continued later in this book, we make only this
brief reference to it here, simply to identify it
as one of the links in the chain of discovery on
the Oresfon coast.

It seems strange that from the time of the
return of the little vessel of Aguilar from Cape
Blanco back to Mexico in 1603, a century and
more elasped before the prow of another vessel
cleft the waters of the North Pacific. But
suddenly interest in these regions revived again.
In the north of Europe, Russia rose, by the
genius of her enlightened monarch, Peter the
Ureat, from an almost unknown condition to a
high rank among the nations of the world. He
extended the bounds of his empire eastward
across Siberia until they reached the borean
peninsula of Kamtchatka. Then he sought to
carry them still farther eastward until they
touched the western confines of the provinces
of England, Spain and France, on the American
continent. How far that might be he knew
not, but his was a mind not to be daunted by
ditiicultiesnor distracted by doubts. He ordered
vessels to be built at Archangel, on the White
Sea, for the purposes of cruising eastward and
endeavoring to pass into the Pacific through
the Arctic ocean. Before his plans were com-
pleted Peter died, and was succeeded on the
throne by the Empress Catharine.

Though there was some delay in prosecuting
the designs of Peter the Great, as soon as pos-
sible, Catharine, whose ability was equal to that
of her great husband, began to push them for-
ward. In 1728, in accordance with her in-
structions, vessels were built on the coast of
Kamtchatka, and dispatched in search of the
passage supposed to exist between the Arctic
and Pacific oceans. Vitus Behring, a Danish
navigator of experience and skill, had been des-
ignated by Peter to command the expedition,
and his selection was confirmed by Catharine.
He sailed in July, and followed the coast north-
westerly until he found it bending steadily to
the west. He became convinced that he had
already entered the Arctic, and was sailing
along the northern coast of Asia, having
reached the 67° of latitude. Neither going nor
returning through the straits did he discern the
west lines of America, as the prevalent cloudy

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

and foggy weather obscured it. Being unpre-
pared to winter in tlie ice, or to make along
and exposed voyage in the open sea, he returned
to the port of his embarkation.

The next year he made another voyage, in
which he endeavored to find the coast of America
bv sailing directly eastward, but baffled by con-
trary wind was obliged to take refuge in the
bay of Okotsk, and abandoned the effort and re-
turned to St. Tetersburg. Other Eussian expe-
ditions followed, but withoiit decisive result
until in 1732, one of the vessels employed was
driven by the winds and currents on the Alaska
coast, when it was discovered that but a narrow
strait separated North America from Asia.
Upon this was bestowed the name of Behring.

Other expeditions from Russia there were, but
with little result to geographical knowledge.
One in 1741, under Behring, commanding the
8t. Peter, and Tchirkoff, commanding the St.
Baul, came to a most disastrous end; Tchirkoff
himself finally returning witli but a few of his
men, the remainder having been butchered by
the savages or hung, or died from the scurvy;
and Behring's vessel being wrecked on a little
granite island between the Aleutian Archipel-
ago and Kamtschatka, and where Behring and
many of his men died and were buried. The
island is known as " Behring Isle" to this day.

These fugitive efforts of Russia to make dis-
coveries on the American continent came to very
little, and, as the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury was reached, the geography of the American
coast from Behring's straits to the Spanish pos-
sessions in the south consisted of mere imagina-
tive lines drawn on the charts which navigators
had made of seas over which they had never
sailed and of lands they had never visited. The
fact was that Russia was not a martirae na-
tion, and she had no seamen of sufficient scien-
tific attainments to lead the discoveries which
she was in a most favorable situation to prose-
cute. Hence, after four official expeditions had
been made into these northern seas, and private
individuals had been engaged in the fur-trade
for a third of a century, the Russian idea of the

seas between northern America and Asia was
that they were large seas of islands, of which
the largest was Alaska. It was reserved for
Captain Cook, an Englishman, and a skillful and
scientific navigator, to reveal their error.

Captain James Cook commanded the first
English vessel to visit the north Pacitic seas. He
was already the most renowned navigator of
England, if not of the world. He had achieved
his great distinction in recent voyages of dis-
covery in the South Sea and the Indian Ocean.
The desire and purpose of England to plant
colonies on the Pacific coast naturally turned
the eyes of the Lord of Admiralty to him as
the one man whose past success guaranteed
brilliant results in the new expedition contem-
plated by the British government. Cook did
not wait to be invited, but volunteered at once
to command the expedition. It consisted of
two vessels, the Resolution, in which Cook had
already passed around the world, and the Dis-
covery, commanded by Captain Charles Clarke.
These vessels were well suited to their intended
use, and were furnished for it as perfectly as
science and experience could provide. Cook's
charts, though very erroneous in the light of his
own subsequent discoveries, were the most per-
fect that geographical knowledge at that day
could devise. There was on them a compara-
tive blank between latitude 43° and 50°, or be-
tween the point reached by the Spanish explora-
tions in the south and those of Russia in the
north. Conjecture had placed somewhere with-
in these limits the Great River, the straits of
Fuca and the river of Kings. Cook was instructed
very particularly to prosecute his researches on
the Pacitic coast of America within these limits,
and especially to do nothing that could be con-
strued into any trespass on the assumed rio-hts
of Spain or Russia. He was directed to reach
the coast of New Albion, as the English called
California, and not to touch upon any part of
the Spanish dominions unless driven to it by
necessity, and then to treat the people with
"civility and friendship." He was to thor-
oughly e.x;amine the coast, and with the consent

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

of the natives to take possession, in tlie name of
tbe king of Great Britain, of convenient sta-
tions in such countries as he might discover that
had not already been discovered or visited by
any other European power, and to distribute
among tiie inhabitants such things as would re-
main as traces of his having been there, but if
he should find the countries so discovered to be
uninhabited, he was to take possession of them
for his sovereign by setting up proper marks
and descriptions as first discoverers and pos-
sessors. Thus prepared and commissioned Cap-
tain Cook set sail from Plymouth, England, on
the twelfth day of July, 1776.

Eight days before, an event had occurred in
Philadelphia on the eastern coast of America
that had more to do with wresting from Great'
Britain the ultimate results of Cook's explora-
tions, and those of all other Englishmen on tlie
Pacific coast, than all others in history. It was
the Declaration of American Independence, by
which the new nation, destined to dominate the
American continent, was born into history.

Cook sailed for the east, rounded the cape of
Good Hope, explored the coasts of Van Die-
men's Land and New Zealand, and the Society
and Friendly islands. Continuing his eastern
course, on the 18th of January, 1778, he dis-
covered the Hawaiian group, which he named
in honor of Lord Sandwich, the " Sandwich
Islands." Remaining here but a short time, he
still sailed eastward, and on the 7th of March,
1778, sighted the coast of New Albion, near
the forty-fourth parallel in what is now
Oregon, near the mouth of the L^mpqua river.
Head winds forced him south, but as soon as
possible he turned to the north, but sailed so
far ofl; shore that he did not again see land un-
til he reached the 48° of latitude, when he
saw a bold headland which he named "Cape
Flattery," because of the encouraging prospects
of his expedition. He was directly off the
mouth of the Straits of Fuca, but his charts
misguided him by placing that opening south
of the forty -eighth parallel, and he turned south
to find it. Disappointed here, he turned again

northward, but lay too far off shore and
the Straits without observing them, and finally
cast anchor in Nootka Sound. From this port
he still kept his northward course, and on the
4th of May sighted Mount St. Elias, when he be-
gan a most thorough search for the Straits of
Anian. His explorations about the extreme
northern portion of the American coast, in
Behring Straits, and the Asiatic coast on the
Arctic side as far as cape North, were full of
painstaking fidelity, and he so charted those re-
gions that many of the fables of the Russian ex-
plorers were entirely disproved. On the 9th of
August he reached the extreme northwestern cor-
ner of America, and named the point " Cape
Prince of Wales." Without attempting any
further explorations on the coast of America,
he sailed directly to the Sandwich Islands for
the winter. Here, on the 16th of February,
1779, in an encounter with the natives, he was
slain. This for a time terminated British dis-
coveries on the North-Pacific coast. When the
Resolution and Discovery reached England, in
October, 1780, she was in the midst of her
strife with her American colonies and her two
immemorial antagonists and rivals across the
channel, and had neither time nor inclination
to engage in further geographical or colonial
enterprises.

It has been seen by those who have carefully
followed the line of our record that as yet little
or nothing was known of the Oregon coast.
The sweep of discovery and explorations by the
maritime powers of England and Spain had been
far to the north and far to the south. The golden
dreams that the vivid imaginations of the Span-
iards had woven about New Spain, and the hope
of England to find a direct passage from west-
ern ports to tiie Pacific through the fabled Straits
of Anian easily account for that fact. The prow
of the Englishman's vessel turned toward that
fabled passage; the Spaniard's toward the land
of gold. Oregon lay between these objective
points, and thus remained unknown. But the
time was at hand when the land of verdure be-
tween the ice-land of the north and the sun-

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

seared plains of the south should hecoine the
object of the explorer's t^earcli, as well as the
subject of the ruler's covet.

In 1790, ten

years

after the return of the

Resolution and Discovery from their eventful
voyage, the Spaniards again, under the direction
of the Viceroy of Mexico, dispatched a fleet of
their vessels to the north, under the command
of Lieutenant Francisco Elisa, with directions
to take possession of Nootka Sound, fortify and
defend it, and use it as a base of explorations.
This was done, and a series of explorations
were at once entered upon. Lieutenant AHerez
Manuel Quimper, in the Princess Real, in the
summer of 1790, left Nootka and entered the
Straits of Fuca, examinincf both shores for a
distance of 100 miles. He turned southward
into what was afterward called Puajet Sound.
Mistaking it for an inlet, he called it Enceiiada
de Caamano. He gave Spanish names to vari-
ous points in that region, all of which now bear
names afterward given by Vancouver and oth-
ers, except the main channel leading north,
which he named "Canal de Lopez de Haro;"
which retains its Spanish cognomen, a monu-
ment of this tirst visit of a civilized keel in the
'waters of this great Mediterranean of the Pacitic
coast. On the 1st of August, 1790, Lieutenant
Elisa took formal possession of that region in
the name of the Spanish sovereign at port
"Nunez Guona," now known as Neah Bay.

In 1791, Elisa again entered the Straits of
Fuca, in the San Carlos, and made more exten-
sive and particular explorations of the Gulf of
Georgia, as far nortli as latitude 50". (Observ-
ing many passages extending inland, Elisa con-
cluded "that the oceanic passage so zealously
sought by foreigners, if there is one, cannot be
elsewhere than by this great channel."

The most satisfactory explorations ever made
by the Spanish in the Xorthwest were those
made during 1791. But they had no longer a
monopoly of discovery or trade on the coast.
Other and more energetic nations had entered
the lists of adventure in these seas. The new
Aug which the successful revolt of the British

colonies of the Atlantic coast had nailed to the
mast of einpire — "thestnrs and stripes" — was
floating from the masts of a large number of
vessels which were hovering along the coast and
looking into every bay and iulet of their waters.
Great Britain, too, having lost her colonial pos-
sessions on the Atlantic south of the St. Law-
rence, w<is more aTi.xious than ever to secure
others on the Pacific seaboard, and nine of her
vessels, under the command of her boldest and
most enterprising seamen, were guarding her
interests and prosecuting her purposes all along
the coast. With the nine English and seven
American and one Spanish vessels, vigilant and
keen-eyed, and filled with a spirit of national
competition for new empire, added to the vigor-
ous explorations of the Spanish ships, there
could certainly little remain unknown along the
coast line of the Northwest for many months
longer. So when the year 1791 had gone and
1792 had come, the time for the fulfillment of
the prophecy of these preparations for decisive
discovery had come. 'We shall follow only the
story of these vessels which, during this year,
made important discoveries, and established, or
attempted to establish, national rights that in-
fluenced the course of after history. By the
vessels representing them the governments of
the United States, Great Britain, Spain, France
and Portugal were all on this coast. Their con-
flict, however, was not that of guns, but of en-
terprise and discovery; one greater than that of
broadsides, and determining the future of a vast
empire.

The movements of the Spanish vessels were
mainly limited to a repetition of the already oft
repeated eft'ort to discover a northwest passage.
Spain reasoned, and correctly enough, that if
her vessels were compelled to double the Cape
of Good Hope and then sail around Asia to
reach the northwest coast of America; or, on
the other hand, to pass around Cape Horn to
reach the same point, it was not worth her
while to seek for possessions in northwest Amer-
ica. Hence, if the Straits of Anian were a myth
she was ready to give up her attempts at north-

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

west colonization. True, the Mexican Viceroy,
representing the Spanisli throne, directed his
vessels in these waters to thoronghly explore
the Straits of Fuca and the connecting waters,
and to ascertain if there were not convenient
points south of the entrance of those Straits for
the establishment of Spanit-h settlements, but
these objects were subsidiary to the main pur-
pose of finding the connecting passage between
the Atlantic and the Pacific. Lieutenant Sal-
vador Fidalgo, commanding the Princesa, in
pursuance of this subsidiary purpose, landed at

Port Nunez Guona — now Neah Bay — Just with-
in the entrance of the Straits of Fuca and on its
south side, where he erected buildings and for-
tifications; but the main purpose failing, he re-
ceived orders to abrndon the post, and he re-
moved everything to JSootka. With the surren-
der of this purpose Spanish efforts at discovery
and colonization on the northwest coast practi-
cally ended, leaving only Great Britain and the
United States as rivals and contestants in these
fields between the fifty-second and fifty-fifth de-
grees of north latitude.

CHAPTER III.

EARLIEST DISCOVERIES, CONTINUED.

The United States Begin Explokations — 1791-'92— The Northwest Sp:as Filled With Ex-
plorers — Spain Still Seeking foe the Straits of Anian — She Retires From the Contest

Great Britain and the United States Sole Rivals — Vancouver— His Careful Examina-
tion OF THE Coast — Passes the Mouth of the Columbia — -His Journal — Captain Gray
Meets Vancouver — Vancouver's Voyage Northward into Puget Sound — Returns
Southward — Lieutenant Broughton Enters the Columbia — Discovery of the Columbia

BY Captain Gray — Antecedent Motives — Boston Association for Discovery The

Columbia and AVashington Dispatched — Their Voyage — The Columbia Returns to Bos-
ton — Her Second Voyage — Reaches the Northwest Coast — Meets Vancouver They

Part Company — Gray Discovers Bulfinch Harbor — Attacked by Indians — Enters the
Columbia River — His Journal — First Real Knowledge of the Existence of the Great
River — The Ship Columbia.

THESE two rival powers were in the field:
England with the stored and storied vigor
of her Saxon thirst for empire; the United
States with the flush and fervor of youth-
ful nationality firing her to action, each eager,
confident, determined; and each realizing the
immense value of the stake for which this game
of discovery was being played on these northern
and western seas. First, let us read the story
of Britain's cruisers and captains in 1792.

The two vessels that represented e'speciaily
the interests of Great Britain in the Northwest
were the Discovery, commanded by Captain
George Vancouver, and the Chatham, com-
manded by Lieutenant W. R. Broughton.

Captain Vancouver was already acquainted with
the northwest coast, having served as a mid-
shipman with Captain Cook in his voyages of
discovery, to which reference has already been
made. His services had been so eminent that
he had readied the post of captain in the royal
navy, and such was the confidence his govern-
ment reposed in him that he was made com-
missioner to carry out the provisions of the
Nootka treaty between England and Spain.
For this purpose he was on the coast; but Eng-
land, ever awake to ulterior advantages, di-
rected him to connect discovery with diplo-
macy, and especially to examine the "supposed
Strait of Juan de Fnca, said to be situated be-

HISTORY OF

tweeu the forty-eiglith and forty-iiintli degrees
of iiortli latitude." He liad arrived off the
coast of California, near Cape Mendocino, in
April, 1792. He lost no time in entering on a
very careful examination of the coast from the
point of his arrival northward; and, as so much
of the subsequent history of the Northwest
turned on the discoveries of the English cap-
tain, George Vancouver, and the American
captain, Roliert Gray, we shall follow the story
of their voyages more minutely than we liave
those of any other navigators.

Captain Vancouver with his lieutenant,
Broughton, sailed slowly northward. Their ex-
aminations of the shoi-e-line were minute. Near
the forty-third degree of latitude they sought
carefully for the river wl)ich the Spanish navi-
gators had represented on their charts as enter-
ing the Pacific at tha£ point, but could not find
it. On his way up the coast Vancouver ob-
served very carefully the "Deception Bay" of
Mears, which the Spanish charts represented as
the mouth of a river. That our readers may
see just the conclusion reached by this really
great English navigator as he passed up the
Oregon coast, and by the mouth of the great
Eiver of the West, we give quotations from
his carefully and ably written journals. He
writes under date of April 27:

" Noon brought us up into a conspicuous

poi

nt of land.

compr

of a cluster of hum-

mocks, moderately high and projecting into the
sea. On the south side of this promontory was
the appearance of an inlet, or small river, the
land not indicating it to be of any great extent;
nor did it seem to be accessible for vessels of
our burden, as the breakers extended from the
above point two or thi-ee miles into the ocean,
until they joined these on the beach, nearly
four leagues further south. On reference to
Mr. Mears' description of the coast south of
this promontory, I was first induced to believe
it was Cape Shoal water; but, on ascertaining
its latitude, I presumed it to be that which he
calls Cape Disappointment, and the opening
south of it Deception Bay. This cape we found

to l)e in latitude of forty-six degrees nineteen
minutes, longitude 236 degrees 6 minutes east.
The sea had now changed from its natural to
river-colored water, the probable consequence
of some streams falling into the bay or into
the opening north of it, through the low land.
Not considering this opening worthy of more
attention, I continued our pursuit to the north-
west, being desirous to embrace the advantages
of the now prevailing breezes and pleasant
weather, so favorable to an examination of the
coasts."

Thus Captain George Vancouver swept by
the mouth of the great river only two weeks
before Captain Eobert Gray turned the prow of
the Columbia into its crystal waters, having, as
he believed, ascertained that "the several large
rivers and capacious inlets, that have been de-
scribed as discharging their contents into the
Pacific, between the fortieth and forty-eighth
degrees of north latitude, were reduced to
brooks insufficient for our vessels to navigate,
or to bays inaccessible as harbors for refitting.
As justifying this conclusion, on the 29th of
April he gave the following somewhat elaborate
statement of his reasons for making it:

" Considering ourselves now on the point of
commencing an examination of an entirely new
region, I cannot take leave of the coast already
known, without obtruding a short remark on
that part of the continent, comprehending a
space of nearly 215 leagues, on which our in-
quiries have been lately employed, under the
most fortunate and favorable circumstances of
wind and weather. So minutely has this ex-
tensive coast been inspected that the surf has
been constantly seen to break on its shores from
the mast-head; and it was but a few small
intervals only our distance precluded its being
visible from the deck. "Whenever the weather
prevented our making free with the shore, or on
our heading off for the night, the return of fine
weather and of daylight uniformly brought us,
if not to the identical spot we had departed
from, at least within a few miles of it, and
never beyond the northern limits of tlie coast

II I STORY OF WASHINGTON.

we lia'l previously seen. An examination so
directed, and eircunistancei so concurring to
permit its l)eing so executed, afforded tlie most
complete opportunity of determining its various
turnings and windings, as also tlie position of
all its couspicuous points, ascertained by merid-
ional altitudes for the latitude, and observa-
tions for tlie chronometer, which we had the
good fortune to make constantly once, and in
general twice, every day, the preceding one only
excepted. It must be considered a very singu-
lar circumstance that, in so great an extent of
sea-coast, we should not until now have seen
the appearance of any opening in its shore
which presented any prospect of affording a
shelter, the whole coast forming one compact
and nearly straight barrier against the sea."

The day on which Vancouver had written
these statements had not passed before a sail
was discovered to the westward, standing in
shore. She soon hoisted the stars and stripes
and fired a gun to leeward. At six she was
within hail, and proved to be the ship Colum-
bia, Captain Robert Gray, nineteen months
from Boston. Captain Vancouver requested
him to " bring to," and sent Mr. Fuget and
Mr. Menzie on board the Columbia to obtain
such information as might be serviceable 1o the
English captain in his future operations. This
mainly relating to the Straits of Fuca and the
waters connecting therewith, was very cour-
teously communicated by Captain Gray. He
also communicated another piece of information
to which Vancouver gave little or no credit, and
to which he makes the following reference:

"He likewise informed them — Mr. Pngetand
Mr. Menzie — of his having been off the mouth
of a river, in the latitude of 46° 10', where the
outset or reflux was so strong as to prevent his
entering for nine days. This was probably the
opening passed by us on the forenoon of the
27th, and was apparently inaccessible, not from
the current, but from the breakers that extended
aci-oss it."

But the English captain's mind was not at
rest, and it is plain to be seen from the tone of

his journal that he was both asking himself,
" What if I have made a mistake?" and at the
same time trying to justify his conclusions by
arguments that would palliate his doubts. So
he recurs to the subject again on the day after
his meeting wdth the Columbia, as follows:

"The river mentioned by Mr. Gray should,
from the latitude he assigned to it, have exist-
ence in the bay south of Cape Disappointment.'
This we passed in the forenoon of the 27th, and,
as I then observed, if any inlet or river should
be found, it would be a very intricate one, and
inaccessible to vessels of great burden, owing to
the reefs and broken water, which then appeared
in its neighborhood. Mr. Gray stated that he
had been several days attempting to enter it,
which, at length, he was unable to effect, in con-
sequence of a very strong outset. This is a
phenomenon difficult to account for, as, in most
cases, where there are outsets of such strength
on a seacoast there are corresponding tides set-

ting in.

that, however, as it may, I was

thoroughly convinced, as were most persons of
observation oi: board, that we could not possibly
have passed any safe, navigable opening, harbor,
or place of security for shipping, on this coast
from Cape Mendocino to the promontory of
Classet [Cape Flattery], nor had we any reason
to alter our opinion, notwithstanding that theo-
retical geographers have thought proper to assert
in that space the existence of arms of the ocean
communicating with a Mediterranean sea, and
extensive rivers with safe and convenient ports."

Having thus apparently argued himself into
the assurance that he was right and the Ameri-
can captain wrong in regard to the existence of
an important river on that portioti of the coast,
the 15ritish navigator proceeded to his survey of
the Straits of Fuca, and the American captain
bore toward the opening of " Deception Bay."

Before taking up the story of Gray's voyage,
we need to follow Vancouver and Broughton in
their survey of the Straits of Fuca and the adja.-
cent and connecting waters, as their survey of
these fall within the limits of country and time
to which our history is intended to be confined,

HISTORY OF WASaiHGTON.

On tLe lirst of May tliey sailed from (]ape
Flattery eastward, along the coast, following the
track of the Spanish navigators. Vancouver
named the Port Quadra of Qnimper, Port Dis-
covery, after the name of his vessel. Just east-
ward of this port he entered the mouth of the
Canal de Caamano, as it was called by the same
Spaniard, which he called Admiralty Inlet. T'ms
he ex])lored to its head, more than a hundred
miles from the straits, and the southernmost
extension of it he named Pnget's Sound, while
its western branch he called Hood's Canal, and
its eastern Possession Sound. On the shore of
Possession sound the English landed on the 4th
of June, and celebrated the birthday of their
sovereign by taking possession in his name, and
"with the usual formalities, of all that part of
New Albion, from the latitude of 89 degrees 20
minutes north, and longitude 230 degrees 20
minutes cast, to the entrance of the inlet of the
sea, said to be the supposed Strait of Juan de
Fuca, as also all the coasts, islands, etc., within
the said Strait, and both its shores." To this
region thus claimed they gave the appellation of
New Georgia.

After completing his survey of these waters,
Vancouver sailed to Noofka to attend to his duty
as royal commissioner, as before explained.
This attended to he again turned his vessel
southward, for the story of Captain Gray about
the mouth of a great river was still exciting, if
not troubling him. On the 20th of October
he was again off Deception Bay. Lieutenant
Broughton in the Chatham entered the mouth
of the river on that day, but Vancouver was
unable to take in the Discovery, and being still
of the opinion that the stream was inaccessible
to large ships sailed for the bay of San Fran-
cisco, which he had appointed as the rendezvous
for his vessels in case of separation.

This was the close of Captain Vancouver's
work on the north Pacific coast. Lieutenant
Proughtou spent some time in the river, I'each-
ing in a row-boat a point of land he named
Point Vancouver, in honor of his captain, a place
which has retained the name of the English

navigator through all the changes of discovery
and history.

We are now ready to turn to the story of the
discovery of the great River of the West by
Captain Robert Gray. As the expedition which
resulted in this most important event was dis-
tinctively American, and was undertaken so soon
after the United States had achieved independ-
ence and became a recognized force among the
woi-ld's great powers, it seems proper that we
give it a somewhat particular setting forth. Be-
sides it was that one venture that thus early
gave the United States high place in the his-
tory of maritime adventure and discovery, and,
so far as claims from discovery and prior occu-
pancy of any regions can, under international
reasons, give any country a right to the posses-
sion and ownership of newly discovered uncivil-
ized lands, furnished the decisive ground for
America's claim to (Jregon. It will be well,
therefore, if we, as Americans, pause long
enough here to get both the antecedent motives
and the real story of this expedition clearly set
in our minds.

For the unknown ages " The Oregon" had
rolled unseen "through the continuous woods" to
the sea. From the middle of the sixteenth cen-
tury the discoverers and adventurers of France
and Spain and Portugal and England, as well as
the "Freebooters" of all climes, had been sailing
all oceans and spying all shores in keen quest
of new lands to add to old dominions, or of
treasures of gold and silver and precious stones
to make more plethoric their national treasuries,
or add new luster to their jeweled crowns. The
independent rovers soughtfor any prizeon ship or
shore that could add to their accumulated spoils,
either of " beauty or booty." The Pacific ocean
was the great field of their unrestrained roam.
From the capitals of Europe it was across the
Atlantic ocean and the American continent on
the one side, and on the other behind the Indian
seas and Asia; the largest continent of the
globe. There they were secure from the direct
interference of courts or kings, and limited
only by their own wills or strength came and

HlSIOItY OF WASHINGTON.

went at their pleasure. From island to main-
land tliey coursed the ocean. From the Behring
foas to PatagoDia they traced the shore-lines of
America. Tney discovered capes and liead-
lands, baj-s and straits until tliey supposed they
liad charted all the coast. Thus their woi-k went
on until 1780, and even later, and still "The
Oregon" rolled unseen to the sea.

A story that liad come at last to seem a myth
oi some great " River of the West" that went
down from the mountains toward the west, had
floated, in some mysterious way, into the thoughts
of geographers and explorers, and even a: name
— Oregon — had been given to it; but no eye save
that of whatever barbarous hordes might dwell
in its primeval solitudes liad ever seen its
springs or traced its course or noted its issue
into tiie ocean. Faith in its existence was well
nigh lost. How could it have been otherwise?
It had been one great object of the quest of the
navigators along the western coast. Mears and
Cook and Vancouver, and all the navigators of
the Pacific coast had songlit for its mouth every-
where from San Diego to where the Russian
Bear guarded the bleak headlands of Muscovian
America, and it could not be found. For them
it did not exist. Still, in another quarter and
among another people, events were drawing
toward a conclusion that would greatly change
international relations on the western coast, and
instate a specifically American power among the
European claimants of its soil and sovereignty.
Let us tee what tliey were.

The puhlieation in 1784 of Ckptain Cook's
journal of his third voyage awakened, not in
England only, but in New England as well, a pro-
found interest in the possibility of an impor-
tant and profitable trade on the Northwest coast.
In Boston a number of gentleman took up the
matter seriously, and determined to embark in
the enterprise on their own account. The lead-
ing spirit among them was Joseph Barrell, a
gentleman of cultivated tastes, wide knowledge
of affairs, high social standing, and acknowl-
edged influence. Associated with liim in close
relationship was Cliarles Bui finch, a recent

graduate from Harvard, atid who had just re-
turned from pursuing special studies in Europe.
The other patrons of the enterprise conceived
by these gentlemen were Samuel Brown, a pros-
perous merchant; Jolm Derby, a shipmaster of
Salem; Captain Crowell Hatch, a resident of
Cambridge; and John Mintard Pintard of the
New York house of Lewis Pintard & Co.
These six gentlemen subscribed over $50,000,
and purchased the ship Columbia, or, as it was
afterward often called, Columbia Pediviva.

The Columbia was a full-rigged ship, eighty-
three feet long and of 212 tons' burden. A
consort was provided for her in the Washington,
a sloop of ninety tons, designed for cruising
among the islands and in the inlets of the coast
in the expected trade with the Indians. Small
as these vessels seem to us in this day of pon-
derous steamships, they were staunclily built,
and manned by skillful navigators. As captain
of the Columbia the company selected John
Kendrick, an experienced officer, forty-tive years
of age, who had done considerable privateering
in the Revolutionary war, and had since com-
manded several vessels in the merchant service.
For the charge of the Washington Captain
Robert Gray, an able seaman, who had been an
officer in the Revolutionary navy, and a personal
friend of Captain Kendrick, was chosen. These
able and experienced leaders had equally able
subordinates. These were Simeon Woodruff,
who had been one of Captain Cook's officers in
his last voyage to the Pacific. Joseph Ingraham,
destined to be a cotispicuous figure in the trade
they were to inaugurate; and Robert Haswell,
son of a lieutenant in the British navy.

On the 30th day of September, 1787, the two
vessels in company sailed out of Boston harbor
on their long voyage. It is not necessary to
our history to trace that voyage by the Cape
Verde and Faulkland Islands, around Cape Horn
and up the Pacific sea. On the way, on the
morning of April 1, 1788, the vessels were
separated in a storm, and each pursued the voy-
age on its own account. The Washington with
Captain Gray first saw the coast of New Albion,

HISTORY OF WASHINOTON.

in latitude 41 decrees, near Cape Mendocino, on
the 2d day of Anj!;ii8t. Sailing up the coast, in
latitude 44° 20', they entered a harbor, which
they took to be " the entrance of a large river,
where great commercial advantages might be
reaped." Still farther up the coast they " made
a tolerably commodious harbor " and anchored
half a mile off shore. Here they were assailed
by the Indians and the vessel very narrowly es-
caped capture. They gave the [dace the appro-
priate name of "Murderers' Harbor." It was
probably Tillamook Bay. Ilasweli, who kept
a very circumstantial journal of the e.xpedition,
thought it " must be the entrance of the River
of the West," though he considered it " by no
means a safe place for any but very small ves-
sels to enter." Captain Gray was glad to get
safely rid of "Murderers' Harbor" and pursue
his northward voyage. He had so good a breeze
that he "passed a considerable length of coast
without standing in, thus sweeping directly by
the month of the Great River, of the existence of
which his maps and charts had only some vague
and entirely supposititious suggestions. The
chronicler of his voyage made no allusion to any
circumstances that would indicate that they had
the slightest idea that any such river really
entered the ocean in this "length of coast."
Farther north, on August 21, they saw "ex-
ceedingly high mountains covered with snow."
They pass the Straits of Fuca without noting
them, although their journalist says: " I am of
the opinion that the Straits of Juan de Fuca do
exist, though Captain Cook positively asserts
they do not." On the 16th day of August the
Washington reached its destined harbor in
Nootka Sound; finding two English vessels un-
der Portuguese colors at anchor there, the Felice
under Captain Means and the Iphigenia under
Captain Douglas, both of whom received the
little sloop with hospitable friendliness.

Three days later the Englishmen launched a
small schooner, which they named "North
West America." This was the first vessel ever
built 01) the coast. It was g;ila day, English-

men and Americans cordially joining in its
salutes and festivities.

On the 23d of August the Columl)ia, which
liad been separated from the Washington for
nearly five months, appeared in the ofKng; and
thus after nearly eleven months from tiieir clear-
ance from Boston these historic vessels were re-
united again on the other side of the continent,
and Captain Kendrick again assumed charge of
the expedition.

Although, in this expedition, the mouth of
the mythical Great River was not discovered, yet
the knowledge gained of the coast by Captain
Gray stood him in good stead, when four years
later, in command of the Columbia, he was
again upon the northwest coast.

AVhen the vessels had fulfilled their intended
stay on the coast, Captain Kendrick, as com-
mander of the expedition, decided to put the
ship's property on board the sloop and go on a
cruise with her himself, while Captain Gray
should take the Columbia to Boston by the way
of the Sandwich Islands and China. The in-
cidents of her voyage are interesting, but they
are not in the course of our narrative. It
suffices to say that she left the harbor of Clay-
oquot July 30, 1789, and reached her destina-
tion on the 10th of August, 1790, having sailed,
by her log, 50,000 miles.

Tills voyage of tiie Columbia gave the ves-
sel, her officers and owners great eclat. Gov-
ernor John Hancock gave an entertainment in
their honor. Though the profits of the voyage
were small, it was an achievement to be proud
of, and had prepared the way for more profit-
able trade in subsequent years. The owners of
the ship therefore immediately projected a sec-
ond voyage for her. She was put in perfect
order, with new masts and spars and a com-
plete outfit, and again left Boston on the 28th
of September, 1790, with Captain Gray in com-
mand and a well-selected corps of officers and
a complete crew. Stopping only at the Faulk-
land Island for a few days, Captain Gray sailed
directly to Cloyo(^uot, arriving there on the 4th
day of June, 1791.

inSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

The instructious of Captain Gray contem-
plated a season's trade with tlie natives on the
coast, then a visit to China for the sale of the
furs he might obtain. He was charged not to
visit any Spanish port, not to trade with any
of the subjects of his Catholic majesty "for a
single farthing." Gray found tiie natives very
treaciierous and cruel. Three of his men were
massacred. In July Captain Kendrick in the
Washington arrived from China, and the two
vessels and commanders were reunited near
where they separated two years before, — the
one. Columbia, having made the circuit of the
world.

In February, 1792, a plot was laid by the In-
dians for the capture of the ship. The crafty
chiefs had endeavored to bribe Attoo — a Ha-
waiian lad, who had been taken by Captain Gray
from the Sandwich Islands when on his way to
China, and who had remained with him until
now — to wet the ship's firearms and give them
a lot of musket balls; promising to make him
a great chief. He informed the captain of the
plot. Gray was greatly excited. His heavy
guns were all on shore, but he ordered the
swivels loaded, the ship's people to come on
board, and the ship to be unmoored from the
shore and moved out from the bank. At mid-
night the warwhoop of the Indians resounded
through the forests. Hundreds of the savages
had assembled, but on finding their plans frus-
trated by Gray's precautions they instantly dis-
persed.

On the 23d of February, a sloop, which was
built by the men of the Columbia and named
the Adventurer, was launched. This was the
second vessel that was built on the coast. She
was fitted up, secured her stores, and went
northward on a cruise under the command of
Haswell. And by this course of events we are
brought up to a date and an incident that took
the name of the Columbia, and of Captain Gray,
her commander, out of the list of ordinary ships
and ordinary commanders and fixed them in a
place of transcendent and enduring fame. To
this incident let us now carefully attend.

Captain Gray now started on a cruise south-
ward. On the 29th of April, 1792, lie fell in
with Vancouver, who had been sent from En-
gland with three vessels of the royal navy as
commissioner to execute the provisions of the
Nootka treaty, and to explore the coast. Van-
couver said he had made no discoveries as yet,
and inquired if Gray had made any. Gray re-
plied that he had; that in latitude 46° and 10'
he had recently been off the mouth of a river,
which for nine days he had tried to enter, but
the outset was so strong as to prevent it, but
he was going to try it again. Vancouver said
this must bo the small opening he had passed
two days before, which he thought might be a
small river, inaccessible because of the break-
ers extending across it. Of it Vancouver wrote
in his journal: "Not considering this opening
worthy of mention, I continued our pursuit to
the northwest."

What a turn was this in the affairs of men
aTid the destiny of the world. Had the British
navigator really seen the river it would certainly
have had another name, and the Pacific coast
another history.

The two navigators, the Briton and the Amer-
ican, parted here, Vancouver continuing his
"pursuit to the northwest," and Gray sailing
southward in the track of destiny and glory.

On the 7th of May lie saw an entrance into
a bay, in latitude 46 degrees 58 minutes, " which
had a very good appearance of a harbor," and
bore away and ran in. This he called Bultinch
Harbor, but it was soon after designated as
Gray's Harbor as a deserved compliment to Gray,
by which name it still is and always will be
known. Here on a moonlight night he was at-
tacked by the natives and was obliged to fire
upon them in self-defense. On the 10th of May
he resumed his course to the south, and at day-
break on the lltli saw the entrance of his de-
sired port. As he drew near, about eight o'clock,
he bore away with all sails set, ran directly in be-
tween the breakers, and to his great delight
found his ship in a large river of fresh water

which he steered ten mil

Here, rather

UISTOBT OF WASUINGTON.

tlian cliaiiae the phraseology of Captain Gray,
we crivetlie exact language of the Colnrabia'slog
from May 7th to May 21, 1792, at \fhich date
she was again on her way to the north, and sail-
ino- away fi'Oin the hold headland of "Cape
HaneoL'k: "

May 7, 1792, a. m.: Being within six miles
of the land, saw an entrance in do., which had a
very good appearance of a harbor; lowered away
the juUy-boat and went in search of an anchor-
ing place, the ship standing to and fro, with a
very strong weather current: at 1 p. m. the boat
returned, having found no place where the ship
could anchor with safety; made sail on the ship
— stood in for the shore; we soon saw, from our
masthead, a passage in between the sand bars;
at 8:30 bore away and ran in northeast by east,
having from fonr to eight fathoms, sandy bot-
tom; and, as we drew in nearer between the
bars, had from ten to thirteen fathoms, having
a very strong tide of ebb to stem; many canoes
alongside. At 5 r. m. came to in live fathoms
of water, sandy bottom, in a sate harbor, well
sheltered from the sea l)y_ long sand-bars and
spits; our latitude observed this day was 46°
58' north.

May 10: Fresh breezes and pleasant weather.
Many natives alongside; at noon all the canoes
left us; at 1 p. m. began to unmoor; lookup
the best bower anchor and hove short on the
small do.; at Bnlfinch's Harbor, now called Whit-
by's Bay, 4:30 being high water, hove up the
anchor and came to sail and a beating down the
harbor.

May 11, 7:30: We were out clear of the bars,
and directed our course to the southward, along
shore; At 8 p. m. the entrance of Bulfinch's
Harbor bore north, distance four miles: the
southern extremity of the land bore south south-
east one-half east, and the north do. north north-
west; sent up the main topgallant yard and set
all sail; at 4 a. m. saw the entrance of our de-
sired port, bearing east southeast, distance six
leagues in steering sails, and hauled our wind in
shore: at 8 a. m., being a little to windward of
the entrance of the harbor, bore away, and in

east northeast between the breakers, having from
five to seven fathoms of water. When we were
over the bar we found this to be a large river of
fresh water, up which we steered; many canoes
came alongside. At 1 p. m. came to, with small
bower, in ten fathoms; black and white sand;
the entrance between the bars bore west south-
west, distance ten miles; the north side of the
river half a mile distant from the ship, the
south side do., two and a half miles distant; a
village on the north side of the river, west bv
north, distant three-quarters of a mile. Vast
numbers of natives came alongside; people em-
ployed in pumping the salt water out of our
water-casks in order to fill with fresh while the
ship floated in. So ends.

May 14: Fresh gales and cloudy; many na-
tives alongside. At noon weighed and came to
sail, standing up the river northeast by east.
We found the channel very narrow. At 4 p.m.
we had sailed upward of twelve or fifteen miles,
when the channel was so very narrow that it
was almost impossible to keep in it; having
from three to eighteen fathoms of water, tandy
bottom; at 4:40 the ship took ground, but she
did not stay long before she came off without
any assistance; we backed her off stern fore-
most, into three fathoms, and let go the small
bower, and moored ship with kedgeand hawser;
the jolly-boat was sent to sound the channel
out, but it was not navigable any farther; so,
of course, we must have taken the wrong chan-
nel. So ends, with rainy weather; many na-
tives alongside.

Tuesday, May 15: Light and pleasant weather;
many natives from different tribes came along-
side. At 10 A. M. unmoored and dropped down
with the tide to a better anchoring place.
Smiths and other tradesmen constantly em-
ployed. In the afternoon Captain Gray and
Mr. Hoskins, in the jolly-boat, went on shore to
take a short view of the country.

May 16: Light airs and cloudy. At 4 a. m.,
hove up the anchor and towed down about three
miles with tiie last of theebbtide; carae into six
fathoms, sandy bottom, the jolly-boat sounding

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the channel. At 10 a. m. a fresh breeze came
up the river. With the first of the ebb-tide we
got under way and beat down the river. At 1,
from its being very sqnally, we came to, about
two miles from the village of Chinook, which
bore west-northwest. Many natives alongside;
fresh gales and squally.

May 18 — Pleasant weather; at 4 in tlie morn-
ing, began to heave ahead; at 4:30, came to sail
standing down tiie river with the ebb-tide; at 7,
being slack water and the wind flattering, we
came to in five fathoms, sandy bottom; the
entrance between the bars bore southwest by
west, distance three miles, the north point of the
harbor bore northwest, distance two miles; the
south bore southeast, distance two miles; the
south bore southeast, distance three and a half
miles; at 9 a breeze sprung up from the east-
ward; took up the anchor and came to sail, but
the wind soon came flattering again; came to
with the kedge and hawser; veered out fifty fath-
oms. Noon, pleasant; latitude observed, 46°
17' north. At 1 came to sail with the first ebb-
tide, and drifted down broadside, with light airs
and strong tide; at three-quarters past, a fresh
wind came from the northward ; wore ship and
stood into the river again. At 4 came to in six
fathoms; good holding ground, about six or
seven miles up; many canoes alongside.

May 19: Fresh winds and clear weather.
Early a number of canoes came alongside; sea-
men and tradesmen employed in their various
departments. Captain Gray gav^e this river the
name of Columbia river, and the north side of
entrance Cape Hancock, the south side Adams
Point.

May 20: Gentle breeze and pleasant weatiier.
At 1 p. M., being full sea, took up the anchor
and made sail, standing down river; at 2 the
wind left us, we being on the bar with very
strong tide, which set on the breakers; it was
not possible to get out without a breeze to shoot
her across the tide, so we were obliged to bring
up in three and a half fathoms, the tide running
five knots; at 2:45 a fresh wind came in from
the seaboard, we immediately came to sail and

beat over the bar, having from five to seven
fathoms of water; a breeze came from the south-
ward; we bore away to the iiortliward, set all
sail to the best advantage. At 8 Cape Hancock
bore southeast, distant three leagues; the iiortii
extreme of the land in sight bore north by
west. At 9, in steering and topgallant sails.
Midnight, light airs. 1 '-JQ-l rr-l Q

May 21: At 6 a. m. the nearest lancl m siglit
bore east southeast, distant eight leagues. At 7
set topgallant sails and light stay-sails; At 11
set steering sails fore and aft. Noon, pleasant,
agreeable weather; the entrance of Bnlfinch's
Harbor bore southeast by east half east, distant
five leagues."

This departure of the ship Columbia, with
her gallant captain and crew, from the mouth
of the great river henceforth to bear the name of
the vessel whose keel first cleft its bosom, closes
the most eventful and thrilling chapter of
American discovery and adventure on the north-
west coast. Up to this time the "Great River of
the West'' had been but a dream, a vague and
uncertified conjecture. Henceforth it is an
ascertained and certified reality; and after all
the efforts of jealous rivals for the fame of the
important discovery, it must forever remain
true that on the 11th day of May, 1792, the
first real knowledge of the existence of this
mighty stream was gained by a civilized man,
and the name it bears tVirever monuments the
day and the deed and the name.

Undoubtedly Carver, to whom the word Ore-
gon is traced, may have heard of the river in
1767 from the Indians of the Rocky Mountains;
and Heceta in 1775 was near enough to its
mouth to believe in its existence; and Mears
in 1788 named Cape Disappointment and De-
ception Bay; but none of these saw the river,
nor really knew it existed. Mears, whose claim
as its discoverer England maintained so long
and strenuously, showed by the very names
he gave the cape and the bay that he was de-
ceived al)out it. And, to conclude the argu-
ment against himself, he gave not the slightest
suggestion of the river on his map. The honor

JIISTOnr OF WASHINGTON.

of discovery must foiever rest with Gray. -His
was tlie first- ship to cleave its waters; his the
first chart ever made of its shores; liis the first
landing ever effected there by civilized men,
and the name he gave it has been universally
accepted. The flag he there threw to the breeze
was the first ensign of any nation that ever
waved over these unexplored banks, and the
ceremony of occupation that he performed was
something more than a meaningless pastime.
It was a serious act performed of national sig-
nificance, and was by liim reported to the world
as soon as possible. And when we remember
that as a result of this came the expedition of
Lewis and Clarke in 18U4 and 1S05, and the
American settlement of Astoria in 1811 — to say
nothing of the diplomatic acquisitions of the
old Spanish rights by the United States — we
may safely say that the title of the United States
to the Columbia river and the country drained
by its waters becanae incontestable. And hence
the outcouje of the "Oregon question" in 1846.
Though with their departure from the river
the Columbia and her officers and crew ceased
to have any active association witl) the history
and development of the region for which they
had done so much, yet patriotism as an Ameri-
can requires that in a few sentences we trace
their history to its end.

Tlie Columbia remained upon tiie northwest
coast during the summer of 17U2, and Captain
Gray pursued an industrious trade in furs witii
the Indians under many disadvantages and at-
tended by ma,ny dangers. In the autumn he
hoisted sail for home, by the way of the Sand-
wich Islands and China, amid the cheers of his
crew, who sang a joyous " homeward bound" as
they spread the canvas to the breeze. At last,
after all her rovings, the good ship reached
Boston July 29, 1793, havingimmortalized, if not
enriched, her owners, officers and crew, — which
is, after all, the greatest possible enricliment.

In a few years the ship was worn out and
dismantled, and soon her chief oflicers all passed
away. Xendrick never returned to America.
Gray comnianded several vessels after this and
died at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1806.
Ingraham became an officer in the navy, and
went down with the ill-fated brig Pickering in

1800. Davidson was lost on the Rover in -the
Pacific, and Haswell sailed for the last time in

1801, and was also lost on the return voyage.
Their names, however, will always be associated
with the ships they sailed and served so well,
and as long as the " Great River of the West"
flows to the sea so long will the " Columbia"
be gratefully and proudly remembered by the
A.merican people.

UI8I0RT OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER IV.

OVERLAND EXPLORATIONS.

■AiN Led Maritime Discoveries — France Led Land Explorations — New Conditions and Com-
binations — England's Position — McKenzie's Journeys — Important Coincidence — Jeffer-
son's Proposition — Lewis and Clarke — Instructions to Them — LouisiANAt^EDED —Lewis and
Clarke Set out — Trip over the "Stony Mountains" — Vottage down Snake Kiver — Reach
THE Ocean — Winter Quarters — Start Homeward — Discovery of the Willamette River
— Yellept — Travel up the Nez Perces Trail — Reach the United States — Me. Jefferson's
Statement — Lewis made Governor, and Clarke General and Indian Agent — Captain
Jonathan Carver — First Uses the Name '-Oregon" — Captain J. C. Fremont's Expeditions
— Route of Travel — Visits Salt Lake — Reaches the Dalles — Visits Vancouver— Win-
ter Journey to California.

THE course of our narrative, during the
long period of time in which the Pacific
coast of North America was being slowly
brought to the knowledge of civilized man
shows that the Frenchman and the Spaniard
were the pioneers of exploration in that region
both by sea and land. Spain led the maritime
nations in distant and successful voyages. The
voyage of Columbus under the auspices of Fer-
dinand and his noble queen Isabella, whose reign
over the united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon
gave Spain so much glory in that adventurous
and chivalrous age, had kindled every maritime
Spaniard into a very knight of the seas, and
inspired the whole nation with a burning zeal
for discovery and conquest of distant lands.
For Spain the times were propitious. Her
rulers were among the greatB»t and most re-
nowned of all ages of the world. Ferdinand
and Isabella were succeeded by Charles the Fifth,
one of the most enlightened and powerful inon-
archs that ever sat on any throne. He was suc-
ceeded by his son Philip, who, though haughty
and imperious, so carried forward the ideas and
purposes of his great father that his kingdom
reached the very zenith of power and influence
in the councils of the European monarchs. The
woe pronounced upon a "land whose king is a
child" could not fall upon Spain during this
period. Weak and lusterless as may now be
the condition of the Spanish nation, and little as

her power is felt or feared in the world to-day,
then even the Saxon asked privileges of the
Castilian, and measured his own power by the
standard of the other's greatness. Under the
impulse thus pervading the Spanish nation, her
banner was pushed into every sea, and her
cavaliers led all armies of distant conquest, es-
pecially in the new world. Other portions of
our history illustrate what liere we need only
announce.

While Spain led maritime discoveries, the
facile and plastic Frenchman led the land ex-
plorations into the interior of the western con-
tinent. France had a strong holding on the
eastern shore of America north of the St. Law-
rence, — a point of great advantage in inter-con-
tinental explorations. In addition to this she
had planted her colonies at the mouth of the
Mississippi, and stretched a cordon of posts
southeastward from Quebec to the Ohio, thus
hemming the English into a comparatively
narrow belt of country on the Atlantic sea-
board, and leaving free to her adventurous
roamers the vast and as yet unknown regions
that stretched westward and northward, no one
could tell how far or how wide. The French
pushed their advantages by land, as did Spain
hers by sea, and as early as 1743 their explora-
tions had reached the heart of the Rocky
mountains. From Canada and from Louisi-
ana, up the lakes and up the Mississippi

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

and Missouri rivers, the FreTichman's pi-
rogue kept movement with the voyageurs'

songs

as these care-t'ree men from France

pushed their trade and travel into the middle of
the continent. The French and Englisli war of
1756, however, by giving England tlio oppor-
tunity to wrest (Jauada from the weakened grasp
of France, put a sudden stop to her movements
in the line of explorations from that province,
and opened the same opportunity to England
that France had previously enjoyed. But, though
the opportunity was hefore her, Great Britain
was so fully occupied with lier European diffi-
culties, and the care of her American colonies,
already growing restive under the grievances of
her misrule, demanded so much of the attention
of her parliament and rulers, that she could at-
tempt nothing further than to hold her " coign of
vantage" securely for at least a quarter of a cen-
tury.

During the progress of this quarter of a cen-
tury new conditions and combinations had
arisen. England lost all her colonies on the
Atlantic coast south of the St. Lawrence. France
had sold Louisiana to Spain. Thus England's
opportunities were contracted, those of France
were destroyed, and the new republic of America
was as yet unable to enter the Held of explora-
tion and colonization. At this period the con-
tinental position was this: Spain, after her
purchase of Louisiana from France, had pro-
prietary claim to all the country west of the
Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, with no
very clearly defined northern limit to her claims.
England held the country northward of the great
lakes and the St. Lawrence river, extending in-
definitely westward, above the forty-ninth paral-
lel of latitude. The United States held actually
only the country east of the summits of the Al-
leghany mountains, including the six New Eng-
land States and New York, and had ownership
of all the country westward of the AUeghanies
which England had conquered from France in
the war of 1756. These were the powers that,
after the American Revolution, stood looking
to the yet unknown West as the place for the

future aggrandizement of their respective for-
tunes, and this was the condition in which
they looked to the future and prepared for its
issues.

The advantages of the condition were with
Great Britain. She had grown to be the lead-
ing power of Europe. Already the swing of
conquest was in the movement of her legisla-
tion and her peoples. While the wars of the past
twenty years had taxed, they had not paupered
her. She was strong, consolidated, ambitious,
courageous; and she was Saxon, — the blood of
endurance and conquest.

Spain held her position in the south and west
by a precarious tenure, and she so felt the
feebleness of that tenure that she neither tnade
nor cared to make any vigorous movements to
extend her possessions or to strengthen her
holding in America The United States, geo-
graphically, held the center of opportunity, but
the almost chaos of the era that followed the
close of the Revolutionary war was over the face
of her political history, and she needed time in
which to gird herself for the strain of the future.
But she had the strength to wait, for she, too,
was Saxon. And sn, with the parties in direct
interest in the movements that were so surely
to follow preparing for the race of empire west-
ward, we come to the real opening of the era
of discoveries by land westward of the great
mountains.

These were begun solely by private enter-
prise for individjial gain. They early reached
the Athabasca and Saskatchawan. But the
field was too great for individual resources, and
besides the Hudson's Bay Company entered the
field with a combination which could only be
met by combination. So the Northwest Com-
pany of Montreal was formed in 1781 for the
express purpose of meeting and overcoming the
comjjetition of the Hudson's Bay Company,
which had proved so ruinous to the individual
traders who had ventured into the country be-
fore. In a very few years this became a most
prosperous and powerful organization, and its
traders and explorers filled all the country east

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

of tlie Koeky inouiitHins as tar" north as the
Arctic and as far south as tlie Missoiyi.

The great headquarters of this company was
at "Fort Cliippewyan" on Lake Athabasca, and
were under the cliarge of Alexander Mackenzie,
a very resolute and able man, whose enterprise
.in explorations stamped his name on the geogra-
phy of all the west and north. In 1791 lie or
ganized a small party for a western explora-
tion, intending to prosecute his journey until he
reached the Pacific ocean. He had, two years
before, discovered the river that bears his own
name, and followed it from its source in Great
Slave lake to where it discharges its waters into
the Arctic ocean. Having thus ascertained the
character and extent of the country to the north-
west, he was determined to develop the charac-
ter of that to the west by the expedition on
which he was now entering. He left Fort
Cliippewyan on the 10th of October, 17U1, and
with much ditiiculty ascended the Peace river
from Lake Athabasca to the foot of the Rocky
nK)Uiitaiiis, where the party encamped for the
winter. In June of the following year he re-
sumed his journey, still following up the same
stream, which he traced to its source near the
fitty-fourth parallel of latitude and distant about
1,000 miles from its mouth. Only a short dis-
tance from the springs of the Peace river he
came upon those of another stream flowing
westward, called by the natives Tacoutchee Tes-
see, down which he floated in canoes about 250
miles. Leaving the river, he 'then proceeded
westward ovei-land, and on the 22d of July,
1792, reached the Pacific ocean, at the mouth
of an inlet in latitude 52° 10'. This inlet had,
only a few weeks previously, been surveyed by
the fleet of Vancouver; and thus Mackenzie
had connected the land and water explorations
of Great Britain on the Pacific coast.

Mackenzie reached the coast far north of the
month of the river on w'hich he had sailed in
his canoes so far to the southwest. On his re-
turn to Fort Ohippewyan, late in August, 1792,
he learned of the discovery of the mouth of the
Colnmbia by Captain Gray, when he at once

concluded that the stream he had followed so
far was the upper part of that river, and it was
so considered by geographers until 1812, or
twenty years after Mackenzie's journey, when
Simon Fraser, of the same company as Macken-
zie, traced it to its mouth in the Gulf of Geor-
gia, a little north of the forty-ninth degree of
latitude. Since that time it has been known as
Fraser's river. To Alexander Mackenzie doulit-
less belongs the honor of making the first jour-
ney down the western slope of the great Rocky
mountain chain to the Pacific ocean, though it
was made wholly north of the parallel that was
subsequently fixed as the boundary line between
the British possessions on the American conti-
nent and the United States.

It is a somewhat striking coincidence that
the first important American movement for an
exploration by land of the country lying on the
north Pacific coast was made the same }ear that
Mackenzie accomplished his journey to the Pa-
cific and that Captain Gray sailed into the
mouth of the Columbia river. Thomas Jeffer-
son, at that time the representative of the
United States Government at the court of Ver-
sailles, became deeply interested as an Ameri-
can in this great western region. He proposed
to the American Philosophical Society that a
subscription be raised for the purpose of defray-
ing the expenses of an exploration, and a per-
son be employed competent to conduct it. He
wished it to "ascend the Missouri river, cross
the Stony mountains, and descend the nearest
river to the Pacific." His suggestion was acted
upon by the society, and Captain Meriwether
Lewis, on the recommendation of Jefferson,
was selected to lead the expedition; and Andre
Micheaux, a distinguished French botanist, was
chosen to accompany him. They proceeded as
far as Kentucky, when Mr. Micheaux was re-
called by the French minister at Washington
and the expedition was given np.

The next movement for the accomplishment
of the same purpose was while the treaty was
pending between Mr. Jefferson, then President
of the United States, and Napoleon, then ruler

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

of France, for the transfer of the claims of
France to tlie whole Northwest to tlie United
States. On the 18th of January, 1803, the
president transmitted a special message to Con-
gress in which he incorjjorated a recommenda-
tion that an ofHcial expedition be dispatched on
the same errand contemplated in tiie one that
had been abandoned. An ample appropriation
was made, and again Captain Lewis, then private
secretary to the president, was chosen to con-
duct it. He selected William Clarke as his
associate.

The instructions issued to these gentlemen
by Mr. Jefferson, while specitic as to purpose,
were broad as to geographical extent. In them
he says:

"The object of your mission is to explore the
Missouri river and such principal stream of it
as, by its course and communication with the
waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Colum-
bia, Oregon, Colorado, or any other river, may
offer the most direct and practicable water com-
munication across the continent for the pur-
poses of commerce."

They were directed to thorouglily inform
themselves of the extent and number of the In-
dian tribes, their customs, and degrees of civil-
ization, and to report fully upon the topography
of the regions through which they passed, to-
gether with the character of the soil, natural
products, animal life, mineral resources, climate,
and to inquire particularly into the fur trade
and the needs of commerce. "When these in-
structions were given, Louisiana had not been
ceded to the United States, and hence Mr. Jeffer-
son continued:

"Your mission has been communicated to the
ministers here from France, Spain and Great
Britain, and through them to their governments,
and such assurances given them as to its objects
as we trust will satisfy them. The country of
Louisiana having been ceded by Spain to
France, the passport you have from the minister
of France, the representative of the present
sovereign of that country, will be a pi-otection
with all its subjects; and that from the minister

of England will entitle you to the friendly aid
of any tra^Jers of that allegiance with whom you
may happen to meet."

A few days befoi-e the expedition was ready
to start the joyful intelligence was received that
France had formally ceded Louisiana to the
Lhiited States; hence the passport of the repre-.
sentative of the French government at Wash-
ington was not needed.

Captain Lewis left Washington on the 5th
day of July, 1803, and on arriving at Louis-
ville, Kentucky, was joined by Clarke, They
selected their party, went as far as St. Louis,
near which they went into camp, and remained
until the tiual start was made, on the 14th day
of May, 1804. The party now consisted of
Captains Lewis and Clarke, nine young men
from Kentucky, fourteen soldiers, two French
Canadian voyageurs, an interpreter and hunter,
and a negro servant of Captain Clarke. The
party ascended the Missouri river as far as the
country of the Mandan Indians, with which tribe
they remained all winter.

Their westward journey was resumed in the
spring of 1805. They followed up the Mis-
souri, of whose course and tributaries and
characteristics they had obtained very accurate
information from the Mandans. Passing the
mouth of the Yellowstone, or Roche Jaune of
the French Canadian trappers and voyageurs
who had already visited it, they continued up
the Misso'uri, passing its great falls and cas-
cades, and ascending through its mighty canon
crossed the Rocky mountain divide and de-
scended its western side to the stream now
known at different points on its course as
" Deer Lodge," '• Hellgate," " Bitter Root,"
" Clarke's Fork," and " Pend d'Oreille.'" Upon
this stream they bestowed the name of "Clarke's
river." From this river the advance party,
under Clarke, crossed the Bitter Root mountains
by what is now known as the Lolo trail. On
these rugged heights they suffered intensely
from cold and hunger. On the 20th day of Sep-
tember they came to a village of Nez Perces In-
dians, situated on a plain al)out fifteen miles

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

from the south fork of CMearwater river, wliere
they were received with great hospitality.

When they reached the Nez Perces village
the party was nearly famished, and they partook
of such quantities of the food so liberally pro-
vided by their Indian hosts that many of them
became too ill to proceed until the second day,
and among that number was Clarke himself.
As soon as they were able to proceed, they ■went
to the village of the chief, Twisted Hair, situated
on an island in the streatn. To this river
Clarke gave the name "Koos-koos-kee," doubt-
less slightly misunderstanding the words used
by the Nez Perces in distinguishing it from the
Snake river, into which it enters, — " Koots-
koots-hee," — which those acquainted with the
N"ez Perces tongue say is a descriptive term,
and means " This is the smaller."

Here the two parties were united, and after
resting a few days, journeyed on down the
Clearwater. The company was now utterly ex-
hausted. Many found it difficult to sit upon
their horses. Captain Lewis was very ill. The
weather was hot and oppressive. They felt that
they could proceed no farther in their former
manner of traveling, and the commanders re-
solved to prepare canoes and prosecute the re-
mainder of their journey in them. With
Twisted Hair as gnide, Clarke proceeded about
five miles, where suitable timber was found,
and encamped on the low ground opposite the
forks of the river.

When their canoes were constructed, leaving
their horses and equipage witii Twisted Hair,
they embarked on the Clearwater on their jour-
ney toward the Pacific.

They were not long in reaching Snake river,
which, in honor of Captain Lewis they called
" Lewis river.*' Down that stream to the Co-
lumbia was a quick and rapid passage. Down
the Columbia it was not less rapid, and they
reached the cascades of that stream on the 21st
day of October. Making the portage of the
cascades they embarked again, passed the mouth
of the Williamette without ol)serving if, and on
the 15tli day of November reached Cape Disap-

pointment and looked out on the great ocean,
which had been the goal of their journeying
for more than a year.

They remained near the ocean, wintering in a
log dwelling which they erected on the south
side of the Columbia and they called "Fort
Clatsop," in honor of the Indians who inhab-
ited that region. Hoping that some trading
vessel from which they could replenish their
stores would visit the river they delayed their
departure homeward until the 23d of March,
1806. Before leaving they gave the chiefs of
the Clatsops, and also of the Chinooks, who re-
sided on the north side of the river, certificates
of hospitable treatment, and posted a writingon
the wall of their cabin in these words:

" The object of this last is, that through the
medium of some civilized person, who may see
the same, it may be made known to the world
that the party, consisting of the persons whose
names are hereunto annexed, and who were sent
out by the Government of the United States of
America to explore the interior of the continent
of North America, did penetrate the same by
the way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers to
the discharge of tlie latter into the Pacific ocean,
where they arrived on the 14th day of Novem-
ber, 1805, and departed the 23d day of March,
1806, on their return to the United States by
the same route by which they had come out."

To this paper were appended the names of
the members of the expedition. Several copies
of the paper were left among the Indians and
the following year one of tiiem was handed by an
Indian to Captain Hall, an American trader,
whose vessel, the Lydia, had entered the Colum-
bia river. By him it was taken to China and
thence to the United States. Therefore had
the party perished on their return, evidence of
the completion of their purpose would have
been left behind them.

Their journey out had been so long and its
expense so great that, on taking an invoice of
their possessions on starting on the return jour-
ney, they found that they had available for traffic
with the Indians only six blue robes, one scarlet

n I STORY OF WASHINGTON.

robe, one United States artillery hat and coat,
five robes made from the national ensign, and
a few old clothes trimmed with ribbons. Upon
this scant store mnst they depend for pnrchas-
ing provisions and horses, and paying tribute
to stubborn chieftains through whose domin-
ions they might pass on their long homeward
journey.

On their return they proceeded up the south
side of the Columbia, coming unexpectedly
upon a large river flowing into it from the
south. On an island at its month was a
large Indian village called " Multnomah,"
which name they understood to apply to the
river they h^d discovered, of the course of
which they made careful inquiry. The result
of these inquiries was noted in the map of the
expedition, making the river tu flow from Cali-
fornia to the north and west, and the Indian
tribes that actually resided on tlie waters of
Snake river to reside upon its banks. Their
journey up stream was far more tedious witli
their canoes than had been their passage down
owing to the numerous rapids aud cascades; and
at the mouth what they called Lapage river —
now "John Day" — they abandoned their canoes
and packing their baggage on the backs of a few
horses that they had purchased from the In-
dians proceeded up the southern bank of the
Columbia on foot. Crossing the Umatilla river,
called by them the You-ma-lo-law, they arrived
at the mouth of the Walla Walla on the 27th
day t)f April.

The greatest Indian chief of tlie Pacific coast,
at that time, if not indeed of all tradition, was
then at the head of the Walla nation. His
name was Yellept. The story of his life and
death, as handed down by the traditions of his
people, is of the most thrilling and romantic
character, but belongs rather to such writings
as Cooper's than to the sober chronicles of history.
This powerful chieftain received the company
with most generous hospitality, which charmed
the travelers into some lingering before they
ventured farther into the wild gorges of the
mountains. The jiuirnal of the expedition re-

cords the kindness of the>e Indians with many
appreciative words and closes its notice of them
by saying: " We may indeed justly aflirm that
of all the Indians that we have seen since leav-
ing the United States the Walla Wallas were
the most hospitable, honest and sincere."

Leaving these hospitable people on the 29th
of April the party passed eastward on the great
" Tsez Perces trail." This trail was the great
highway of the Walla Wallas, Cayuses and Nez
Perces eastward to the buffalo ranges, to which
they an]iually resorted for game supplies. It
passed up the valley of the Touchet, called by
Lewis and Clarke the "White Stallion," thence
over the high prairie ridges, and down the
Alpowa to the crossing of Snake river, then up
the north bank of Clearwater to the village of
Twisted Hair, where tiie exploring party had left
their horses on tlieir way down the previous
autumn. It was worn deep and broad, and in
many stretches on the open plains and over the
smooth hills twenty horsemen could ride abreast
in the parallel paths worn by the constant rush
of the Indian generations from time immemo-
rial. The writer has often passed over it when
it lay exactly as it did when the triljcs of
Yellept and Twisted Hair traced its sinuous
courses, or when Lewis and Clarke and their
companions first marked it with the heel of
civilization. But the plow has long since oblit-
erated it, and where the monotonous song of
the Indian's march was droningly chanted for
so many barbaric ages, the song of the reaper
thrills the clear air as he comes to his garner
bringing in the sheaves. A more delightful
ride of a hundred and fifty miles than this that
the company of Lewis and Clarke made over
the swelling prairie upland and along the crys-
tal streams between AYalla Walla and the village
of Twisted Hair, in the soft May days of 1806,
can scarcely be found anywhere on earth.

For the purposes of this narrative it is not
necessary to trace the explorations of these trav-
elers farther, interesting as they would be, for
they scarcely belong directly to this history.
With the usual adventures of explorers in the

HISTORY OF M'AsUINOTOy.

unfrequented regions which tliey traversed tliey
followed homeward the path of their ontward
advance, and reached St. Louis on the 25tli of
September, 1806, having been absent nearly two
years and a half.

Their safe return to the United States sent a
thrill of rejoicing through the country. Mr.
Jefferson, the great patron and inspirer of the
expedition, says of it:

" Never did a similar event excite more joy
throughout the United States. The humblest
of our citizens had taken a lively interest in the
issue of this journey, and looked forward with
impatience to the information it would furnish.
Their anxieties, too, for the safety of the corps
had been kept in a state of excitement by lugu-
brious rumors, circulated from time to time on
uncertain authorities, and uncontradicted by
letters, or other direct information, from the
time they had left the Mandan towns on their
ascent up the river in April of the preceding
year, 1805, until their actual return to St. Louis.

Captain Lewis, soon after his return, was
appointed governor of Louisiana, and Captain
Clarke was made general of militia of the same
Territory and Indian agent for the vast region
he had so successfully explored. Eoth had per-
formed inestimable services for their country and
were well worthy of generous reward. For
themselves they had achieved a lasting fame.
Their names will be remembered as long as the
crystal waters of " Clarke's fork " or deep flow
of " Lewis river " roll to the Pacific sea.

There is another incident of exploration
which, perhaps, should have a place in our narra-
tive, and which may appear here, jiarenthet-
ically, as suitably as elsewhere.

The name of Captain Jonathan Carver, of
Connecticut, who, ten years before the Ameri-
can revolution, visited the regions of the upper
Mississippi, has become connected with the his-
tory of the Northwest, not so much from what
he really did in the way of exploration and dis-
covery as for what he desired or intended to do.
Captain Carver has won some credit in the war
against the French in which England has

wrested from France her American possessions,
and was inspired with zeal to establish English
ascendency over the entire northern part of the
American continent. From all that appears
Carver's actual travels were limited to a visit to
the regions of the upper Mississippi, which he
reached by the way of Detroit and Michilimack-
inac. His object, as stated in the introduction
to his book, which was published in London, in
1778, was: "After gaining a knowledge of the
manners, customs, languages, soil, and natural
productions of the different nations that inhabit
the region back of the Mississippi, to ascertain
the breadth of the vast continent which extends
from the Atlantic to the Pacitic oceans, in its
broadest part, between the forty-third and forty-
sixth degrees of northern latitude. Had I been
able to accomplish this, I intended to have pro-
posed to the Government to establish s post in
some of these parts, about the strait of Anian,
which, having been discovered by Sir Francis
Drake, of course belongs to the English. This,
1 am convinced, would greatly facilitate the
discovery of a northwest passage, or a commu-
nication between Hudson's Bay and the Pacific
ocean." Being unable to prosecute his pur-
pose and to proceed " to the headwaters of the
Great River of the "West, which falls into the
strait of Anian," he gathered what little infor-
mation he could from the tribes with whom he
came in contact; made somewhat large extracts
from French journals and histories, and gave
all to the world under the title of Travels
Throughout the Interior Parts of North Amer-
ica in 1766-'68." A notice of his work be-
longs to these pages only because of a brief
reference to the "Great River of the West,"
and the fact that he, so far as can be ascertained,
first uses the word "Oregon" as the name of the
somewhat mythical "Great River."

It is due to history, perhaps, that we tran-
scribe the brief passage in which he speaks of
the great stream which he thus designates. It
is as follows:

"From these nations [called by him Nando-
the Assinopolis, and the Killislionorsj,

UI8T0RT OF WASHINGTON.

togetlier with my own observations, I have
learned that the four most capital rivers of
North America, — the St. Lawrence, the Missis-
sippi, the river Bourbon, and tiie Oregon, or
Eiver of the West, have their sources in the
same neighborliood. The waters of the three
former are within thirty miles of each other;
the latter, known as rather farther w«st. This
shows that these parts are the highest in North
America; and it is an instance not to be paral-
leled in the other three-quarters of the world,
that four rivers of such magnitude should take
their rise together, and each, after running sep-
arate courses, discharge their waters into differ-
ent oceans, at a distance of 2,000 miles from
their sources; for in their passage from this
spot to the bay of St. Lawrence, east, to the
bay of Mexico, south, to Hudson's bay, north,
and to the bay at the straits of Anian, west,
— each of these traverse upward 2,000 miles.''

It would hardly seem to the historian of the
present, that there was enough in this para-
graph, which embraces all Carver says respect-
ing the Oregon, or the "Great Eiver of the
West," to associate his name in any way with
Oregon history, and there really is not, except
for his first using the name "Oregon." Though
iiis use of that name was not such as clearly to
identify it with the river whose mouth was dis-
covered by Captain Gray in 1792, and which
he appropriately called the Columbia, it really
did furnish the name for this vast region west-
ward of the Rocky mountains, lying between the
42d degree of latitude and 54° 40', and includ-
ing tiie present three great northwestern States
of the American Union. Carver gives no ac-
count of the origin of the name Oregon, and no
authority for its use, and up to this time no
research has been able to discover them. There
is little doubt but that it was invented by Car-
ver, and that it has no historic or scientific sig-
nificance whatever, except that it is associated
with the mythical Great River of the West, and
from that passed to represent the vast country
through which it was believed to fiow. At

length Bryant made it classic in his Thanatop-
sis when he sang of

"The continuous wood where rolls the Oregon,
And hears no sound save its own dashing."

So we trust to be jjardoned for not pursuing a
wearying investigation into the derivation or
meaning of the name Oregon, since all the
studies of antiquarians have failed to do more
than reach the conclusion we have announced
in a single sentence.

These two early expeditions, that by Macken-
zie in 1772, under the auspices of a company
wholly British, and that of Lewis & Clarke in
1805-'06, under the direction of the Government
of tlie United States, are, perhaps, the only ex-
peditions across the American continent entitled
to be classed as exploring. Those that followed
these entered more into the fabric of the history
of the regions by them brought to the knowl-
edge of the civilized world; and they will, as
far as necessary, be treated of as such in their
proper places. If any exception to this is al-
lowed it should refer to the expeditions of Cap-
tain Fremont, to which, as they were under the
auspices and at the expense of the United States
Government, it seems proper that a brief refer-
ence shall be made. They had for their oliject
geographical and topographical information in
relation to Oregon.

John C. Fremont was a member of the Corps
of Topographical Engineers of the United States,
appointed from civil life, and hence not enter-
ing that service through the door of West Point.
He was restlessly ambitious, in love with adven-
ture and anxious to distinguish himself. For
his fame he fell on auspicious times. Public
attention was strongly directed toward Oregon.
He solicited an appointment to the command
of an expedition, which he had devised himself
to explore and map out the country west of Mis-
souri as far as the South Pass in the Rocky
mountains. In accordance with his request
Colonel J. J. Abert, chief of the Corps of the
Topographical Engineers, ordered the expedition
and gave its command to Captain Fremont. As

iii.sroRy OF wAsuiNoroN.

this expecJitioii of 1842 had little more to do
witli Oregon than to prepare the way for the one
of tlie loliowiug year whicli was continued in
force to tlie Dalles of the Columbia, and by Cap-
tain Fremont himself to Fort Vancouver, we
can dismiss it with this brief reference.

The second expedition, that of 1843, like that
of the preceding year, was organized at Captain
Fremont's own solicitation. He dictated its
object, marked out its route and selected its
personnel. Its object was to connect his own
survey of tiie previous year, which reached as far
west as the South Pass, with that of Commander
Wilkes on the coast of the Pacific ocean. He
selected a company of thirty-three men, princi-
pally of Creole and Canadian French, with a
few Americans, and, leaving Kansas landing on
the Missouri river on the 29th of May, reached
the termination of his former reconnoissance in
the South Pass, by the way of the Kansas, Ar-
kansas and upper Platte rivers, passing over the
spot where Denver now is, on the 13th of Au-
gust. Here he entered Oregon, making this
frank record: that "the broad, smooth highway
where the numerous heavy wagons of the emi-
grants had entirely beaten and crushed the
artemisia, was a liappy exchange to our poor
animals for the sharp rocks and tough shrubs
among which they had been toiling so long."
This, it will be remembered, was the great emi-
gration of 1843, and Cajitain F'remont makes
no claim in his reports to have had anything to
do with pioneering its way or contributing to its
safe conduct, as his was a purely scientific and
topographical expedition, and, in pursuance of
these purposes often led him far aside from
the road of the emigrants. We speak of this in
simple justice, as some writers have ridiculed
him as claiming to be the " pathfinder" to OrCr
gon, — a claim which he nowhere makes, but which
was only a political catch-word of his friends
when he was the first candidate of the liepublir
can )>arty for president of the United States It
was like "Fifty-four forty or fight" of the can-
didacy of Mr. Polk in 1844, although it did not
serve so successfully its purpose as that.

From the South Pass Captain Fremont con-
tinued his course along the well-beaten emigrant
road to Green river and then to Bear river,
making careful annotations of the topography
and geology of the country over which he
passed. His exhaustive description of the lo-
cality and character of Soda or Beer Spi-ings has
been the authority of all writers on the topogra-
phy and mineralogy of that region from that
day to this. It is worth observing that his as-
tronomical observations here place Soda Springs
in latitude 42° 39' 57", or less than fifty miles
north of what was then Mexico, and conse-
quently the same distance in Oregon. These
are the " Soda springs" now on the line of the
Union Pacific railroad in eastern Idaho.

The intention of Captain Fremont being to
explore the Great Salt Lake, which up to this
time had been almost a myth so far as science
was concerned, about five miles west of Soda
Springs he turned to the left, while the emi-
grant road bore away over the hills to the right,
and, after ten days' travel, mainly down the Bear
River valley, on the afternoon of September 5th
encamped on the shore of a great salt marsh
which he correctly concluded must be the margin
of the lake. He reached the bed of the lake
near the mouth of the Bear river, but skirted
along it to the south until he reached the mouth
of Weber river, near which the party encamped
and made preparations for an exploration of
some portions of the lake in an infiated india^
rubber boat. Finally, on the morning of Sep-
tember 9, the party launched out on the then
calm surface of this ocean-like se^, aijd about
noon reached the shore of an island where they
remained that and the following day.

The account given by Fremont of Salt Lake
and its surroundings is exceedingly particular
and interesting, but of too great length for these
pages. He remained upon the lake until the
12th of September, when he resumed his jour-
ney toward the Columbia, returning along the
line of his previous travel. His company was
entirely out of food, making one snpper out of
sea-gulls, which Kit Carson had killed near the

BISTORT OF Washington:

lake. Another evening Captain Fremont re-
cords the fact that hunger made his people very
quiet and peaceable, and there was rarely an oath
to be heard in the camp. Certainly those ac-
quainted with the habits of the men of the
mountains and plains in those days will believe
these must have been very hungry. He restored
them to gayety, and probably profanity too, by
permitting them " to kill a fat young horse"
which he had pui-chased of the Snake Indians.
Their course led northward, through the range
of monntains that divide the Great Basin of
Salt Lake from the waters that flow to the Pa-
cific through the Snake and Columbia rivers.
From these mountains they emerged into the
valley of what he calls the Pannack river, other-
wise known as the Raft river, down which they
followed until they emerged on the plains of
Snake river in view of the " Three Buttes," the
most prominent landmarks of these great plains,
and reached Snake river on the evening of Sep-
tember 22d, a few miles above the American
Falls.

From this point the reconnoissance of Captain
Fremont was down the valley of Snake river,
along the course afterward so familiar to the
emigrants, sweeping to the south along the foot
of the Goose Creek mountains several miles
distant from Snake river for all the distance in
which it runs throngh the deeply cut basaltic
gorge, in which are situated its greatest curiosi-
ties, the Twin Falls and the great Shoshone
Falls, the existence of both of which was un-
known to white men until ten years later than
Captain Fremont's explorations. He crossed
the river, to the north side some miles below
" Fishing" or Salmon Falls, thence to the Boise
river, striking that stream near the present site
of Boise City, and via old Fort Boise, where he
recrossed the Snake river to the south, and so
westward through Powder river valley and
Grande Ronde valley to the Columbia river,
which he reached at Walla Walla, now Wallala,
on the 25th day of October. In this entire dis-
tance many careful and frequent astronomical
observations were taken, latitudes and longitudes

were fixed, and the country very accurately de-
scribed topographically. The only part of this
stage of his journey on which Captain Fremont
did not follow the usual route of the emigrants,
was from near where La Grande now stands in
Grande Ronde valley, over the Blue mountains,
to where Milton is now located on the Walla
Walla river Just below where it issues from the
mountains. Here he sought a new route, pass-
ing the head of the Umatilla river to the east
and north; but, though he succeeded in forcing
his way throngh the Blue range there, it has
not been adopted as a feasible line of general
travel.

Fremont continued his journey down the
banks of the Columbia, and on the 4th of No-
vember reached The Dalles. Leaving most of
his party at this point. Captain Fremont himself
continued his journey down the river, and in a
few days reached Vancouver, where his westward
journey terminated.

The reception Mr. Fremont met at the hands
of Dr. McLoughlin, at that time governor of
the Hudson's Bay Company, was such as that
eminently hospitable and courteous gentleman
always extended to those who visited that place.
The record made by Captain Fremont fully
evinces this, and is like the common record of
visitors there. He says: " I immediately waited
on Dr. McLoughlin, the executive oificer of the
Hudson's Bay Company west of the Rocky
mountains, who received me with the courtesy
and hospitality for which he has been eminently
distinguished, and which makes a forcible and
delightful impression on a traveler from the
long wilderness from which we had issued. I
was immediately supplied by him with tlie
necessary stores and provisions to refit and sup-
port my party in our contemplated winter jour-
ney to the States." Dr. McLoughlin also fur-
nished Captain Fremont with a letter of recom-
mendation and credit for any oflicers of the
Hudson's Bay Company into whose posts he
might be driven by unexpected misfortune.

As an item of history recorded by Captain
Fremont at this time the following is worth the

IIISToItY OP WASHINGTON.

qiKiting, ;)s it reveals Dr. Mc.Lougliliirs treat-
ment of the emigrants in a soinewiiat different
and niuie honorable light than that iu which
some writers have presented it. Mr. Fremont
says: •■ I found many einii^rants at the fort,
others iiad already crossed over into their land
of promise — the Willamette valley. Others
were daily arriving, and all of them had been
furnished with shelter so far as it could be af-
forded by the buildings of the establishment.
Necessary clothing and provisions (the latter to
be afterward returned in kind from the produce
of their labor) were also furnished. This
, friendly assistance was of very great value to
the emigrants, whose families were otherwise
exposed to iriuch suffering in the winter rains
which had now commenced, at the same time
that they were in want of all the common neces-
saries of life." This record is honorable both
to the man who made it and the man of whom
it was made, especially when we consider that
the relations of the two governments of which
they were severally representative citizens, and
in some sense official representatives, were then
in the stress of urgent and somewhat strained
diplomatic controversy over the very country in
which they had met.

Completing the outfit for his proposed winter
journey toward the States, Captain Fremont re-
turned up the Columbia to The Dalles, arriving
at that place on the afternoon of the 18th of
Novemlier. From this point he proposed to be-
gin his return expedition. The route selected
would lead him southward, east of the Cascade
range, clear through the territory of the United
States, and then, by a south and eastward wheel,
through the Mexican territory, including a con-
tinued survey of the valley of the Great Salt
lake, back again to the frontiers of Missouri.
Those acquainted with the region he expected
to travel need not be told that few explorers
ever ventured on a more perilous expedition
than was this at the season of the year in which
he iindertook it. The country was unknown,
except that it was a vast region of bleak and
open deserts, of vast and rocky ranges of niount-

I ains; that its inhabitants were among the low-
est and most savage of human beings, and that
there was in it little that could be used for the
support of life. It was a bold, brave venture
these men made.

It was the 25th day of November before
they were ready to set out from The Dalles. Up
to this point, besides a mountain howitzer,
some wheeled vehicles had been brought with
them, but the last, except the howitzer, were
here abandoned, and in flurries of snow they
took leave of the Columbia river and turned
away into the great southern wilderness.

Their route lay high up on the eastern slope
of the Cascade mountains, at times touching
the points of timber that project eastward along
the rocky cliffs, or in the gorges of the streams.
Proceeding southward they passed between the
Des Chutes river and the mountain range,
across the Tigli river and over the Tigh prairie,
finding that high and sandy plain covered with
snow, with the thermometer on the 27th at two
degrees live minutes l)elow zero. On the 29th
they passed the Hot Springs, near which are
now the buildings of the Warm Springs Indian
Agency. From the elevated plain to the south
of Warm Springs river, Fremont records the
view of six of the great snowy peaks of the
mountains at one time. He makes the mistake
that nearly all the travelers of that day made of
recording St. Helen's as one of the peaks visible
from the various points east of the main range,
whereas there is no place on the eastern plains
from which it can be seen. Doubtless the
summit of Mount Adams, which can be seen
from many points, was mistaken for the former.
On the 5th of December their route led them
somewhat down from the mountain slope to the
main branch of the Des Chutes river, crossing it
the next day; and after a day or two more
crossed it and entered on the high plateau which
separates the waters of the Columbia from those
which flow westward and southward, and en-
camped on Klamath lake, on the evening of
December 12. They were now nearly on the
line betwejn the territory of the United States

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

and that of Mexico, and consequently we sliall
not follow their explorations fnrther. Yet it is
proper that we remark that Captain Fremont
continued on to the southward amid ever in-
creasing difficuities of travel on account of the
roughness of the mountains and the depth of
accumulating snows, until he was forced to at-
tempt the passage of the Sierra Nevada mount-
ains into the valley of the Sacramento. He
hegan this eifort on the 3d day of February,
and after a chapter of hardships which have few
parallels in the history of explorations, reached
Sutter's Fort, in California, on the 8th day of
March, 1844.

The publication of the journal of these ex-
peditions of Captain Fremont, in 1845, awak-
ened a niucli deeper interest in the Paciiic coast
than ever before existed, and his descriptions
of the route from the Missouri river to Fort
Vancouver, in the very heart of the Paciiic
northwest, was of great value to the emigrations
that crossed the plains from 1843 onward. His
descriptions were remarkably accurate, and his
maps of the routes traveled most scientifically
correct, and-these considerations entitle his ex-
plorations to this brief reference in a history of
the Northwest.

CHAPTER V.

RIVAL CLAIMS AND PRETENSIONS.

Claims of European Nations — Claims of Spain— Rctssian Enterprise — Edict of Pope Alex-
ander — Mazy Boundaries — Extent of the Old Spanish Claim — Of the French Claim —
Parties to the Struggle CnANaED — France and Great Britain — Results of the War of
1759 to France — State of the Case — What the United States Purchased — Claims of
Great Britain — Tedious Diplomacy — Two Treaties at Once — Negotiations of 1807 —
Of 1813 — "Joint Occupancy" Treaty— Britain the Advantage — Influence of Sir
Alexander McKenzie — Session of Congress in 1820-'21 — First Proposition for the
Settlement of Oregon — "Oregon Question" — Senator Benton's Bill— Propositions of
1828 — Joint Occupancy Renewed — Webster- Ashburton Treaty — The Boundary Question
Adjourned — Treaty Ratified and Proclaimed — Taken up by the People — Two Views —
Views of Rufus Choate — Senator Benton's Speech — Benton's Bill Passes the Senate.

THE claims of the European nations to
ownership of the lands and resources of
America rested on a somewhat flimsy
basis in right. Its morality was that of
might. There was a quasi yielding to these
claims as against each other on grounds of dis-
covery and formal occupancy. At the same
time not one of these powers stopped for a
moment to consider what rights of the people
that were found there when they came would
be violated by their assumptions. Barbaric
natioTis never had any rights that nations call-
ing themselves civilized have felt bound to
respect. England, France and Spain were, as

relates to what were termed barbaric nations,
the freebooters of the world. America was a
field for civilized rapine worthy of the struggle
of these racial giants. Under some fonns of
treaty, designed mostly by either party to limit
the pretensions of the other, but as far as pos-
sible leaving itself free to enlarge its own claims
as it might have power to enforce them, these
powers moved forward, first in the agreed di-
vision of the area of North America among
themselves, and then in using the allotted areas
as the small change that settled the balances of
peace and war in Continental Europe. Pleni-
potentiaries sat in European capitals, 5,000

UISTOBT OF WASHINGTON.

miles away from tlie regions most interested,
and arbitrated American destinies. In this
way America became tiie real, though passive,
ai-biter of the world's new era. It was what
Providence had thrown into tlie balances of
history to poise ultimately its beam for the
equities and liberties of humanity. Let us see
how the question stood 200 years after the
Spanish navigator had lifted the veil of the sea
from the fair face of this new laud.

When the treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, gave
some definition to the claims of France and
Spain and Russia in the New World, Spain
claimed as her share of North America all the
Pacific coast from Panama to Nootka sound,
or Vancouver island. Her pretentions cov-
ered the coasts, bays, islands, fisheries, and ex-
tended inland indefinitely. Part of this claim
was alleged on the ground of discovery by the
heroic De Soto and others; and all of tliem
were based on discovery under the papal bull
of Alexander VI, in 1493. The bull or decree
gave to the discoverer all newly discovered
lands and waters. In 1530 Balboa, the Span-
iard, discovered the Pacific ocean as he came
over the Isthmus of Panama, and so in har-
mony with the pretentious decree of Alexander
VI Spain assumed rights of proprietorship
over it. France held advantageous positions in
America for the mastery of the continent; but
as they were outside of the limits of what was
afterward known as "Oregon" they need not be
discussed. Russia at this time held no posses-
sions in North America. But Peter the Great
was her emperor, and his plans were already
matured for entering the list of contestants for
empire in the New World. Before his plans
could be fully consummated Peter the Great
had died, and his widow, Catherine, was on the
throne of Muscovy. With an enterprise not
less aggressive than his, she pushed forward his
plans of commercial and territorial aggrandize-
ment until northern Asia as well as northern
Europe had been made commercially tributary
to the designs of Russia. It was but a step
from the Asiatic shores of the northern Pa-

cific to those of the American mainland of
Alaska, and Russia was in a position to take
that one step. The fur trade furnished the oc
casion. Prominent, if not indeed chief, among
the agents of Russian aggression in this direc-
tion was Behring the Dane, who made three
voyages through the straits that now bear his
name, and on the third gave up his life on a
desolate little granite island whose name still
monuments his memory. But he, and those as-
sociated with him, had given, by visitation and
trade, a color of title to Russia to this North-
western America.

At this time England made absolutely no
pretense to territorial or even commercial rights
on the Pacific coast, and none on the American
continent anywhere except on the Atlantic
slope from Charlestown to Peuol)SCot north-
ward, and inland to the watershed of the AUe-
ghanies.

Thus stood the pretended foreign ownership
of the New World at the conclusion of the
treaty of Ryswick in 1697. The intelligent
reader cannot but have observed how shadowy
were these pretensions, and how vague in terri-
torial limits, but they were the basis of claims
that afterward became more tangible and real,
and in their ultimate settlement cost long con-
tinued struggles of the ablest diplomats of the
world, and were no mean elements in setting
nations in array of arms against each other.

Though it would be deeply interesting to trace
the movements of the struggling forces that
sought for mastery ou this " Armageddon " of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, our
limits preclude much more than the merest out-
line, and this confined to what relates to the
subject of our history. In doing this we must
refer ohce'more to the edict of Pope Alexander
VI, who, on the 4th of May, 1493, immediately
after the return of Columbus from his voyage of
discovery, published a bull in which he drew an
imaginary line from the north pole to the south,
a hundred leagues west of the Azores, assigning
to the Spanish all that lay west of that bound-
ary, and confirming to Portugal all that lay

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

east of it. One can scarcely fail to recall an
incident that occurred on a mountain of Galilee
about fourteen centuries earlier, when a land-
less pi-etender drew the vision of the Christ to
all the kingdoms of the world, and all the glory
of them, and said, "All these things will I give
thee, if thou will fall down and worship me."

"While the act of Alexander VI had as little
authority as the other, it did have a greater in
fluence on those to whom it was made, and
Spain and Portugal, in the glory of discovery
and in the pompous " gift " of the JPope, ruled
the splendid hour. In the strain of the spirit of
that earlier hour when St. Augustine, Florida,
was founded, and the bigoted Philip II was pro-
claimed monarch of all Korth America, this
edict was made. Such, also, was the supersti-
tions awe with wiiich the pretensions of the
Pope were then regarded in Europe that this
edict did very much to control the actions of
all the powers of that continent in regard to the
New World. Of course very little was known
of the geography of America at this time, and
there could really have been no prescience of
the great part it was to play in the future his-
tory of the world. Something, therefore, of the
indifference with which these pretences were
viewed mnst be set down to this fact.

Through the maze of boundary lines, fixed on
imaginary maps by the negotiations of contend-
ing parties, rather than run by the compass on
the solid earth, and which involved to a greater
or less extent the ultimate title to this whole
region, we shall not attempt to lead our read-
ers. It is sufficient to say that France and En-
gland began to crowd Spain southwardly and
westwardly on the eastern slope of the conti-
nent.

France had established some mythical right
to "the western part of Louisiana," which she
secretly conveyed to Spain in 1762. Thirty-
eight years thereafter Spain reconveyed the same
to France. In 1803 France sold the same terri-
tory to the United States, and practically dis-
appeared from the list of contestants for the
possession of the empire on the western conti-

nent. Spain, however, still held Florida, but
when in 1819 the United States purchased that,
she also disappeared from the same list, the
rights and claims of both having passed into
the hands of the United States.

It is important that we now restate the fact
that the old Spanish claim, which had been ac-
corded some international authority, extended
on the Pacific from Panama to Prince William
sound, and this entirely covered, not only the
Oregon of to-day, but Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, and British Columbia of to-day up to
54' 40". Presumptuous as it was, this claim
became one of the most determining elements
in the final settlement of what is historically
known as the "Oregon question."

The claims of France to American territory
were hardly less ambitious and pretentious than
those of Spain. They covered more than the
size of all Europe. The treaty of Ryswick con-
ceded these claims. But the peace of liyswick
was brief. War soon followed, and the titles to
empire were written again by the point of the
sword.

Though the parties to the struggle for the
possession of the country of the Pacific North-
west had changed, yet the struggle went on.
Little of it was in the territory in question. It
was in the plots and counterplots of European
capitals: in Paris and Loudon and St. Peters-
burg. It was about the tables of diplomats.
Within sixteen years of Ryswick came Utrecht,
when the issues of war between France and Eng-
land, waged chiefly in North America, brought
Anne of England and Louis XIV of France face
to face in the persons of their embassadors. The
aged and humbled Louis XIV gave up to Great
Britain the possessions of France on the Atlantic
slope, and tlius yielded the morale of position
to the Saxon. Thus Great Britain became re-
instated in place of France over the Hudson's
Bay basin. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. But
France still held the Canadas, though they were
sandwiched between the northern and southern
possessions of (xreat Britain. The grain be-
tween the upper and nether millstones could re-

niSrOBT OF WASHINGTON.

main unbrokeo when the stones were whirring
as easily as these French provinces could j-emain
in peace in sucli a position. In the struggles
that followed the execution of fhe treaty of
Utrecht in the old world and in the new, more and
more the tide of battle turned against France and
in favor of England. At last the culmination of
events came. In Montcalm and Wolfe the
hopes, and even in a large measure the destinies
of France and England, were impersonated.
When they looked into each other's faces at
Quebec, standing at tiie head of their armies on
that great September morn in 1759, each felt
that was the morn of duty — the moru of destiny
for themselves and for their country. The issue
of that day on the Plains of Abraham gave each
general to immortal fame, but it gave to Eng-
land all the territorial treasures of France east
of the Mississippi, except three small islands off
the coast of Newfoundland. Had France not
already, by secret treaty with Spain, executed
about one hundred days before the great transfer
to Great Britain, alienated her Paciiic coast pos ■
sessions. Great Britain would have taken all, and
this would so have changed (he relations of things
that the atlas of the world would have had an
entirely different lineing. Either the whole must
have gone without controversy to the United
States of America at the close of the Kevolution,
or the title of Great Britain would have been
conceded and unquestionable to all the territory
between California and the Eussian possession.
In either event the story of the history of this
coast would have been quite another book.

With the transfer of all the claims of France
and Spain to the territory on the Paciiic coast to
the United States, which was concluded in 1803,
it would seem that there was no rightful con-
testant with the United States for any portion
of that territory, — certainly not as far north as
the 49th degree of latitude. None had appeared
in the negotations through which this transfer
was made. The state of the case seems to have
been this: In the treaty of Utrecht in 1713,
between the English and the French, the bound-
arv between Louisiana and the British territory

north of it was fixed by commissioners appointed
under it to run from the Lake of the Woods
westward on latitude forty-nine indefinitely.
When France conveyed the territory of Louis-
iana, whose line had been thus fixed, to Spain in
1762, she also conveyed up to and along this
same line westward, indefinitely, on to the Pacific
coast. If she did not convey to the coast, it was
because Spain already had a more ancient claim
than herself along the coast. When Spain, in
1800, reconveyed the same to France, it was, in
the language of the third article of the treaty:
"The colony or province of Louisiana, with the
same extent which it now has in the hands of
Spain and which it had when France possessed
it." As Spain had not alienated any of the
territory she had received from France, of course
she retroceded to that power all that she had re-
ceived from her. When, therefore, the United
States made the purchase of Louisiana she pur-
chased clear through to the Pacific on the line
of the 49th parallel if that was a part of the
original cession of France to Spain, or, if not, as
Spain had never ceded it to another power, then
to the Spanish possessions on the Pacific. It
was then either American territory, made such
by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, or it was
still Spanish territory. From 1800 to 1819
Spain made no changes of ownership, sov-
ereignty or jurisdiction touching this territory.
In the "Florida Treaty" of 1819, Spain ceded to
the United States all her possessions north of a
line beginning at the mouth of the Sabine in the
Gulf of Mexico and running variously north and
west until it reached the Pacific m latitude forty-
two, or the southern boundary of Oregon. The
third article of the treaty said: "His Catholic
Majesty cedes to the United States all his rights,
claims and pretensions to any territory east and
north of said line, and for himself, his heirs and
successors renounces all claims to the said ter-
ritory forever." Therefore, by the purchase of
1803 from France and by the purshase of 1819
from Spain, the United States gained all pre-
tended titles to sovereignty on the Pacific coast
between the forty-second and the forty-ninth

HISTORY OF WASniNOTON.

parallels of north latitude, — the exact Pacilio
limits of the earlier Oregon. England at this
time advanced no claim to 80verei(i;nty. As late
as 1826 and 1827 her plenipotentiaries formally
said; -'Great Britain claims no exclusive sover-
eignty over any portion of that territory. The
present claim, not in respect to any part bnt to
the whole, is limited to a right of joint oc-
cupancy in common with the other States, leaving
the ri^iht of exclusive dominion in abeyance."
This, with the history already recounted, leaves
the title of the United States to Oregon beyond
any question of doubt. And with this statement
our reader will be willing to follow us through
the story of diplotnatic negotiations between the
United States and Great Britain in regard to the
"Oregon question" as well as the actions of the
National Legislature through the quarter of a
century during which Great Britain succeeded,
in some way, in so beclouding the title of the
United States to the territory in question and
in bewildering our diplomats as to well nigh
secure this vast Pacific empire to the crown.
We shall make this story as brief as we reason-
ably can, and be faithful to the facts of history
concerning it. The diplomacy was tedious and
intricate, and the action, tentative or completed,
of the American Congress, often doubtful and
inconsequent; yet a careful resiime of both is a
need of this history.

Negotiations by the United States with Spain
or France in regard to this country are now at
an end. Henceforth they will be with Great
Britain.

At the precise moment tiie United States
was negotiating the treaty with France, in Paris,
for the acquisition of Louisiana, her commis-
sioners were also negotiating one in London
for the definition of the boundary line between
the possessions of the two countries in the
Northwest. The negotiators of the two treaties
were each ignorant of the action of the others.
When the two treaties were remitted to the
Senate of the United States for ratification, that
for tiie purchase of Louisiana from France was
ratified without restriction. That defining the

northwest boundary was ratified with the ex-
ception of the fifth article, which fixed the
boundary between the Lake of the Woods to the
head of the Mississippi. The treaty was sent
back to London, the article expunged, and then
the British Government refused to ratify it.

In the year 1807, another effort was made at
negotiation between the two countries. A
treaty was agreed upon by the commissioners,
tixitig the line of the forty-ninth parallel as the
boundary between the territory oF the two
countries as far as their possessions might ex-
tend, but with a proviso making this provision
inapplicable west of the Rocky mountains.
This treaty was never ratified, Mr. Jefferson re-
jecting it without reference to the Senate.

In the treaty signed at Ghent, in 1814, the
British plenipotentiarie.s offered the same arti-
cles in relation to the boundaries in question as
were offered in 1803 and 1807, but nothing
could be agreed upon; and hence no provision
on the subject was inserted in that treaty.

In 1818 negotiations upon this subject were
renewed in London. The plenipotentiaries of
Great Britain, Mr. Goulborne and Mr. Robin-
son, for the first time in all the negotiations,
gave the grounds of the pretensions of Great
Britain to the country in controversy. They
asserted that " former voyages, and principally
that of Captain Cook, gave to Great Britain
the rights derived from discovery; and they al-
luded to purchases from the natives south of the
Columbia, which they alleged to have been made
prior to the American Revolution. They made
no formal proposition for a boundary, l>ut inti-
mated that the Columbia river itself was the
most convenient that could be adopted, and de-
clared that they would not agree upon any
boundary that did not give England the harbor
at the mouth of that river in common with the
United States. Messrs. Gallatin and Rush, the
American plenipotentiaries, made a moderate if
not a timid reply to the intimations of Great
Britain. The final conclnsions reached on this
suljject were announced in these words: ' That
any country claimed by either on the northwest

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

coast of Ameriua, together with its harbors,
bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all riv-
ers within the same, be frue and open, for the
term of ten years, to the subjects, citizens and
vessels of the two powers, without prejudice to
any claim which either party might have to any
part of the country." This was the celebrated
" Joint Occupancy " treaty.

It must be confessed that the adoption of this
article of " joint occupancy " gave Great Brit-
ain a decided advantage in the Oregon contro-
versy. First, it conceded that she had some
sort of a claim to the country, a claim that
stood for no less, even if it stood for no more,
than that of the United States. Secondly, she
was on the ground in much greater force in her
Hudson's Bay Company and her Northwest Com-
pany, united into one of the strongest commer-
cial corporations in the world, and having all
the elements in itself of political propagandism.
With her advantages in trade, her strong semi-
political occupation of the country by the Hud-
son's Bay Company, Messrs. Gallatin and Rush
should have known that she would be able to
drive all American enterprises from the country
before the ten years were gone. Great Britain
knew this; intended to do so, and did it. One
of the wonders of the historian is that such a
treaty could ever have been approved Ijj an
American president, or ratified l)y the Senate
of the United States.

In the history and results of this negotiation,
it is easy to detect the influence of the advice
of Sir Alexander Mackenzie — whose journey
across the continent to the Pacific nortli of the
forty-ninth parallel we have already recorded —
over the minds of the British negotiators. He
proposed the forty-fifth parallel of latitude as
the boundary between the possessions of Great
Britain and the United States west of tlie Mis-
sissippi. His words were: " Let the line begin
where it may on the Mississi|)pi, it must con-
tinue west until it terminates in the Pacific
ocean to the south of the Columbia river." It
was this purpose which plainly dominated the

British plenipotentiaries in the propositions
they made to the United States.

Tlie session of the Congress of the United
States for 1820-'21 was made remarkable, es-
pecially in the light of subsequent events, as
the first at which any proposition was made for
the occupation and settlement of the country
acquired from France and Spain on the Colum-
bia river. It was made by John Floyd, a
representative from Virginia, an ardent and
very able man, and strongly imbued with west-
ern feelings. His attention was specially called
to the subject by some essays of Thomas H.
Benton, just then appearing in the field of
national politics as senator-elect from Missouri,
and he resolved to bring the matter to the at-
tention of Congress. He moved for the ap-
pointment of a committee of three to consider
and report on the subject. The committee was
granted, more out of courtesy to an influential
member of the House than with any expectation
of favorable results. General Floyd was made
chairman, with Thomas Metcalf, of Kentucky,
and Thomas V. Swearingen, of Virginia, asso-
ciated with him. In six days a biU was re-
ported, "To authorize the occupation of the Co-
lumbia river, and to regulate trade and inter-
course with the Indian tribes thereon." They
accompanied the bill with an elaborate and able
report in support of the measure. The bill was
treated with parliamentary courtesy, read twice,
but no decisive action was taken. But the sub-
ject was before Congress and the nation, and
that was much gained.

In studying the reasons assigned at that time,
by the committee, and by such men as Benton
and Linn, why the proposed action should be
taken, one is impressed with the clear foresight
of their prophetic minds as to the future history
of this great Northwest. To the greater part of
their contemporaries their views were wild
vagaries and their propositions extravagant and
chimerical; to us they are a fulfilling and ful-
filled history.

The Oregon question slumbered in Congress
until 1825, when Senator Benton introduced a

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

bill into the Senate to enable the President, Mr.
Monroe, to possess and retain the country. The
bill proposed an appropriation to enable the
president to act efficiently with army and navy.
In the discussion of this bill the whole question
of title to Oregon came up, and, in reply to Mr.
Dickinson, of New York, who opposed the bill,
Mr. Benton made a speech which entirely met
all objections against the proposed action, and
thoroughly answered all the pretensions of
Great Britain in relation to the country. The
bill did not pass, but fourteen Senators voted
for it, namely: Barbour, Benton, Boligny, Cobb,
Hayne, Jackson (the general) Johnson of Ken-
tucky, Johnson of Louisiana, Lloyd of Massa-
chusetts, Mills, Noble, Ruggles, Talbot and
Thomas. These names deserve an honorable
record on the pages of the history of this coast.

The action of Senator Benton on the bill
showed very clearly that the sentiment in favor
of asserting the rights of the United States to
Oregon was rapidly increasing. The ten years
of joint occupancy, provided for in the treaty
of 1818, were drawing toward a close, and a
strong and intelligent part of our national leg-
islators, under the lead of Senator Benton, was
opposed to renewing that provision. The rea-
sons on which these views were based were
never invalidated, but were the final grounds on
which the United States won her case and se-
cured Oregon. They were these:

The title to Oregon on the part of the
United States rests on an ' irrefragable basis.
First: The discovery of the Columbia river by
Captain Gray in 1792. Second: The purchase
of its territory of Louisiana, which included
Oregon, from France in 1803. Third: The
discovery of the Colnmbia river from its head
to its month by Lewis and Clarke in 1806.
Fourth: The settlement of Astoria in 1811.
Fifth: The treaty with Spain in 1819. Sixth:
Contiguity of settlement and possession.

The next step in the negotiations between
Great Britain and the United States was the
proposition, in 1828, at the end of ten years
of joint occupancy, to renew the terms of the

convention for an indefinite period, determinable
on one year's notice from either party to the
other. Mr. Gallatin was the sole negotiator of
this renewed treaty on the part of the United
States, and his work was sustained by the ad-
ministration then in power, — that of John
Quincy Adams. The treaty met strong oppo-
sition in the Senate, led by that steadfast and
intelligent friend of Oregon, Thomas H. Ben-
ton, but it was ratified; and thus England was
indefinitely continued in her position of advan-
tage over the United States in the territory in
question.

From 1828 to 1842, '■ joint occupation " was
the law of the land so far as Oregon was con-
cerned, while "British occupation "was the fact
so far as the country was concerned. As we have
seen elsewhere, every attempt of the citizens of
the United States to establish commercial en-
terprises in the valley of the Columbia had
been frustrated and defeated by the Hudson's
Bay Company, the potent representatives of
British interests on the Pacific coast. Astor's
great plans, conceived in a broad intelligence,
prosecuted at enormous expense, and represent-
ing American interests in Oregon, had failed.
Wyeth had sunk a fortune between the Kocky
mountains and the Pacific, and all other Ameri-
cans who had adventured kindred enterprises
had been equally unfortunate, and after a quarter
of a century of "joint occupancy " England had
almost exclusive possession of the country.

What is known as the " Ashburton-Webster
Treaty" was negotiated at Washington, in 1842,
Lord Ashburton being the sole negotiator on
the part of England, and Mr. Webster, then
secretary of State under President Tyler, on
the part of the United States. Lord Ashburton
was Mr. Alexander Baring, head of the great
banking house of Baring & Brothers, and was
a very astute and able man, and a finished
diplomat. His mission was special, and though
Mr. Fox was then the resident British minister
at Washington, so thoroughly did the Govern-
ment trust Lord Ashburton that even Mr. Fox
was not joined in the mission. Neither did

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the president associate any one with Mr. AYeb-
ster. The Englisli pleiiipoteutiarj came, profess-
edlj, to settle all questions between the United
States and England, a chief one of which was
the " Oregon question." The United States
wished it settled. England wished it adjourned;
and the wishes of England prevailed. What
conferences, if any, were held between Mr.
Webster and Lord Ashburton about anything
further than the adjournment of this question,
does not appear in any record, and abont the
only reference to it made of record is the state-
ment of the president that there were some
" informal conferences " in relation to it, and in
his message communicating the treaty to the
Senate, that "there is no probability of coming
to any agreement at present."

The treaty was ratified by the Senate on the
26tli day of August, 1842. After its ratifica-
tion by the Queen of England, audits proclama-
tion as the supreme law of the land on the 10th
day of November, England was more firmly in-
trenched, so far as the law was concerned, in her
claims and pretensions to Oregon than ever be-
fore. But while plenipotentiaries temporized
aud compromised, and executives and senates
moved at a laggard pace on such great questions,
events hastened. The people took up the ques-
tion aud went before the Government. What
they determined, the Government must soon
affirm. So fully did the question which the late
treaty had postponed occupy the public mind,
even during the pendency of the negotiation of
that treaty, that, had the ear of Mr. Webster
l)een nearer the heart of the people he would
surely have understood that adjournment of the
question by himself and Lord Ashburton meant
anytiiing rather than a suppression, or even a
postponement, of it from public debate. The
newspapers took it up, and it was thus brought
to the boys and girls, fathers and mothers on
the hearthstones of the million homes of the
country. The sentiments of the leaders of po-
litical action in our National Legislature, as
those sentiments appeared in the debates of the
Senate on the question of the ratification of the

Webster-Ashburton treaty, were criticised, ap-
proved or condemned by the people in all the
land. One sentiment was for the ratification,
with postponement of the Oregon question and
its easy forbearance with the crafty and insid-
ious policy of England; the other was for the
rejection of the treaty, a withdrawal of the
United States from joint occupancy, and an act
of colonization which would assume the full
sovereignty of the United States over the terri-
tory in question by granting lands to emigrants,
and otherwise encouraging their settlement in
Oregon. Representing the first class, and speak-
ing for it, as well as for Mr. Webster the nego-
tiator of the treaty, was Mr. Rufus Choate, sen-
ator from Massachusetts, who spoke in his place
in the Senate as follows: "Oregon, which a
growing and noiseless current of agricultural
immigration was tilling with hands and hearts
the fittest to defend it — the noiseless, innumer-
ous movement of our nation westward. * *
We have spread to the Alleghanies, we have
topped them, we have difl'used ourselves over the
imperial valley beyond; we have crossed the
father of rivers; the granite and ponderous gates
of the Rocky mountains have opened, and we
stand in sight of the great sea. * * * Goon
with your negotiations and emigration. Are
not the rifles and the wheat growing together,
side by sidel Will it not be easy, when the in-
evitable hour comes, to beat back ploughshares
and pruning-hooks into their original forms of
of instruments of death? Alas, that that trade
is so easy to learn and so hard to forget!"

This was beautifully said, and it had a certain
amiability about it that commended it to the
favorable thought of many. Still it was far
from representing the views of those who, from
the beginning of the diplomatic struggle with
Great Britain, had been the steadfast and radi-
cal advocates of the right of the Unittd States
to the possession of Oregon. Their views were
better expressed by Senator Benton, who on
the "Oregon Colonization Act" closed a speech
of great vigor and power by saying:

'•Time is invoked as the agent that is to help

EISTOnr OP WMUINGTON.

US. Gentlemen object to the present time, refer
us to the future time, and beg us to wait, and
rely upon time and negotiations to accomplish
all our wishes. Alas! Time and Negotiations
have been fatal agents against us in all our dis-
cussions with Great Britain. Time has been
constantly working for her and against us. She
now has the exclusive possession of the Colum-
bia, and all she wants is time to ripen her pos-
session into a title. For above twenty years
* * the present time for vindicating our
rights on the Columbia has been constantly ob-
jected to, and we were bidden to wait. Well,
we have waited, and what have we got by it?
Insult and defiance! — a declaration from this
British ministry that large British interests
have grown up on the Columbia during this
time, which they will protect, and a flat refusal
from the olive-branch minister [Lord Ashbur-
tonj to include this question among those which
his peaceful mission was to settle! No, sir;
time and negotiations have been bad agents for
us in our controversies with Great Britain.
They have just lost us the military frontiers of
Maine, which we had held for sixty years, and
the trading frontier of the Northwest, which we

had held for the same time. Sixty years' pos-
session and eight treaties secured these ancient
and valuable boundaries; one negotiation and a
few days of time have taken them from us!
And so it may be again. The Webster treaty
of 1842 has obliterated the great boundaries of
1783 — placed the British, their fur company
and their Indians within our ancient limits;
and I, for one, want no more treaties from the
hand which is always seen on the side of the
British. I now go for vindicating our rights
on the Columbia, and, as the first step toward
it, passing this bill, and making these grants of
land, which will soon place the thirty or forty
thousand rifies beyond the Kocky mountains,
which will be our effective negotiators."

The bill of Mr. Benton passed the Senate by
a A'ote of twenty-four to twenty-two. It went
to the House, where it remained unacted upon
during the session. But its moral effect was to
assure the enterprising people of the West that
the period of national procrastination and timid-
ity was well-nigh over, and that it would be
hut a very short time before such decisive action
would l)e taken as would compel a settlement
of the controversy with England.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON. 57

CHAPTER \L

RIVAL CLAIMS AND PRETENSIONS, CONTINUED.

Presidential Election of 1844— Watciiwords of the Campaign — Negotiations again — "Why
NOT Settled in 1S44 — Negotiations between Secretary Buchanan and Mr. Fackenham —
Action of Congress — Forty-ninth Farallel Agreed upon — An Annoying Error — The
Codfish Story — -Dk. Whitman and the Treaty of 1842 — Webster's Statement — Con-
tinued Disagreement about the Line Along the Straits of Fuca — Danger of War—
The Pacific Pioneers Take up the Question — Action of the Oregon Legislature— San
Juan Island Held by the Military — General Scorr on the Field — -Agreement between
Scott and Douglas — Arbitration Froposed — Declined by the United States — -Emperor
William Finally Selected as Arbiter in 1871 — His Decision.

FOLLOWING immediately in the train of
the events just related, came the j>resi-
^ dential election of 1844. The Oregon
question was too available a question for the
uses of a political campaign to be kept out of
the preliminary canvass. Besides, there were
too many Americans, and they were too intelli-
gent and patriotic, already settled in the valley
of the Willamette, whose letters to tlieir friends
at home and to the public through the periodi-
cal press extolled the beauty and salubrity- of
the country, not to thoroughly awaken the
public mind on the entire issue involved.
"America for Americans," "The Monroe Doc-
trine," " Fifty-four Forty or Fight," became
the catch-words, if not the watchwords of the
hour. The politicians of one party took their
cue from the obvious tendency of this popular
cry. The annexation of Texas and the imme-
diate occupation of Oregon were very skillfully
united together in the platform of the conven-
tion that nominated James K. Polk for presi-
dent. On the Oregon question it declared that
our title to tlie whole of Oregon up to 54° 40'
north latitude was "clear and indispntable,"
thus denying and defying the pretensions of
Great Britain to any ten-itory bordering on the
Pacihc. The nominee of the Democratic party
for president, Mr. James K. Polk, indorsed the
platform, and the canvass for him proceeded on
that issue. Mr. Folk was elected over Henry
Clay, who, although the idol of his party and
one of the n)<)st popular of American states-

men, conld not overcome the excited state of
the public mind on these questions. Thus the
verdict of the people of the United States at
the election was unquestionably in favor of
Oregon, even up to 54° 40' north latitude. It
was well known, however, that the leading
statesmen of the Democratic party believed the
forty-ninth degree to be the line of our rightful
claim. Mr. Benton had already demonstrated it
on the floor of the Senate. ,Mr. Calhoun, as
Democratic secretary of State for Mr. Tyler,
at the very moment when the Democratic con-
vention was making its platform and nomi-
nating Mr. Polk upon it, was engaged in a

negotiation with the British minister in Wash-
ington, and offering to him a settlement of the
entire question on the line of the forty-ninth
parallel. Only some item in regard to the right
of Great Britain to navigate the Columbia river
prevented the acceptance of this proposition by
the British minister, and the settlement of the
whole question at that time.

While, doubtless, Mr. Calhoun himself would
have been glad to have concluded the Oregon
question as secretary of State, and as he evi-
dently might have done, politically he did not
dare to do so. The annexation of Texas was a
Southern question, and the South could be car-
ried for Mr. Polk on tliat issue. Oregon was a
Northern question, and the North could be car-
ried in the same way by keeping up the cry of
"Fifty-four Forty or Fight." To settle on 4'.)°
would be to yield the question, and with it the

niSrORT OF WASHINGTON.

election to the Whigs, and make Mr. Clay
president. So the Oregon question was not
settled, as it might have been before the elec-
tion of 1844, on exactly the same line as was
adopted two years later, after it had achieved
the political i-esults for which it was kept in
the air during the political canvass of 1844,
namely, electing Mr. Polk president, and finally
defeating the aspirations of Mr. Clay for that
eminent position.

With this result achieved, and on this ground
this question could not slumber. Mr. Polk
brought it promptly forward in his inaugural
address, reaffirming the position of the platform
on which he was elected. The position of the
inaugural threw the public mind of Great
Britain into a ferment, and the English nation
thundered back the cry of war. For a year
the two nations stood face to face like gladi-
ators, with uplifted swords, waiting for a word
that would send them breast to breast in the
tierce grapple of war. History must record
that the United States must retreat, in her
diplomacy and in her legislation, from the
political decision of her people, or the inevi-
table war must come. It was an embarrassing
and mortifying position for the new govern-
ment, but it had to be endured and met as best
it could be.

James Buchanan was now Secretary of State.
He waited for some time for a proposition from
the British minister at Washington to renew
tiie negotiations on the Oregon question, but
none came. On the 22d of July, 1845, he
therefore addressed a note to Mr. Packenham,
the British minister at Washington, resuming
negotiations where Mr. Calhoun liad suspended
them, and again proposed the line of forty- nine
to the ocean. This the British minister re-
fused, but invited a "fairer'' proposition. The
knowledge of this proposition on the part of
the Secretary of State raised a political storm
in his party, before which the administration
cowered, and, as Mr. Packenham had not ac-
cepted it, it was withdrawn. The president
recommended strong measures to assert and

secure our title, and the political storm was
measurably appeased. Meantime the with-
drawal of the proposition of Mr. Buchanan,
coupled with the recommendation of the presi-
dent, somewhat alarmed the British people, and
it began to be rumored that England would
propose the line she had before rejected. The
position of the dominant party absolutely re-
required that it should make a demonstration
according to its iterated and reiterated promises
to the people. Accordingly a resolution de-
termining the treaty of joint occupancy, and
looking to the maintenance of that position,
was introduced into the House of Representa-
tives, most ably debated — John Quincy Adams
taking strong grounds in its favor — and, on the
9th of February, 1846, adopted, by the decisive
vote of 163 to 54.

The resolution thus passed in the House
went to the Senate. Here, in the fo'-m in which
it passed the House, it encountered violent op-
position, a strong contingent of the Democratic
party taking position against it. Among these,
if not their leader, was Senator Benton. Gen-
eral Cass, E. A. Hannigan and William Allen
led the debate in its favor. Besides Benton,
Webster, Crittenden and Berrien made exhaus-
tive arguments against it. It was well under-
stood in the Senate that President Polk thought
it necessary to recede from the position of his
party — the position on which he had fought the
campaign in which he was elected to the presi-
dency — and accept of the line of 49° without a
"fight." So the resolution of the House was
defeated in the Senate. But the Senate adopted
another resolution, authorizing the president
"at his discretion" to give notice to Great
Britain for the termination of the treaty. The
Senate resolution was conciliatory, its preamble
declaring that it was only to secure "a speedy
and amicable adjustment of the differences and
disputes in regard to said territory."

When this resolution went to the House that
body receded from its former position, and,
with even a greater unanimity than had char-
acterized their action on that which tbe Senate

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

had rejected, adopted it, — only forty-six, and
they almost entirely Northern Demoo.rats, vot-
ing against it.

With this action the danger of the war with
Great Britain was dispelled. It was immedi-
ately followed by a treaty between Mr. Buch-
anan, Secretary of State, under the direction of
the president and British minister at Washing-
ton, adopting the forty-ninth parallel as the
boundary between the two countries, with cer-
tain concessions touching the line westward of
where that parallel strikes the Gulf of Georgia,
and, for a definite period, the rights of the
Hudson's Bay Company and the navigation of
the Cohimbia river by the British. Thus closed
a controversy with Great Britain that came

very near mv

the two nations in a conflict

of arms. In a war England could havi
and it may not be too much to suppose, would
have possessed Oregon, but, perhaps, at the cost
of the Canadas. Had the settlement been post-
poned a few years longer, it is not irapi-obable
that American emigrants would have so filled
the country even up to 54° 40', that all the
country would have been ours. In the discus-
sion both sides were partly right and partly
wrong, as history clearly demonstrates. The
"80,000 rifles" theory of Senator Benton, in
the hands of emigrants, was correct. The "time
and patience" theory of Mr. Webster and Mr.
Calhoun was also correct. Tliese acting to-
gether solved the "Oregon question," and on
the whole, as matters stood in 1846, solved it
honorably and justly to both the high contract-
ing parties.

It is probably due to the justice of history
that wo should not dismiss finally the subject
of the rival claims and claimants to Oregon,
and of the diplomatic negotiations through
which those claims were led to a final settle-
ment, without some notice of a curious and
annoying error into which the people of the
Pacific coast were led in regard to what was
contained in the Webster-Ashburton treaty.
It was not only annoying to the feelings of the
])eople, but it led to the Avriting of a great dale

of fictitious history, the writers not stopping to
ascertain the truth or falsity of the rumors
which they adopted as fact. The error was
this: That in the negotiations between Mr.
Webster for the United States and Lord Ash-
burton for England a proposition was discussed
and well nigh adopted for the United States to
cede to Great Britain her claim to Oregon for
extended fishing privileges on the banks of
Newfoundland, and some other privileges con-
trolled by the English on the northeast coast.
This statement was brought to Oregon by the
emigrants of 1842 and raised a great excite-
ment among the people. It was widely claimed
that it was this that prompted, or rather im-
pelled, Dr. Whitman to make his perilous
winter journey to the Eastern States in order
that the Government should be prevented from
making that fatal trade. Dramatic incidents
have been recited as veritable history connected
with these supposed facts, which have had no
being but in the excited imaginations of care-
less writers, or the partial and overwrought
eulogies of admiration and friendship.

The truth of the matter is clearly ascertained
to be that the subject" of the Oregon boundary
formed no part of the formal negotiations of
that occasion. There is no reference to it in
the treaty, or in the documents accompanying
it when it was transmitted to the Senate for
ratification.

The statement so often made that ]\Ir. AVeb-
ster and President Tyler were prevented from
committing this blunder by the timely arrival
of Dr. Whitman in Washington just before the
treaty was to be signed, has not a shadow of
foundation. As before shown the treaty was
signed August 8, 1842, two months before Dr.
Whitman started from his home in Oregon.
On the 11th it was submitted to the Senate.
On the 26th it was approved, and Lord Ash-
burton started with it the same day ibr Eng-
land, where it was ratified, returned to the
United States, and proclaimed on the 10th of
November. Dr. Whitman arrived in Washing-
ton in March following;.

HInrURY OF WASHINGTON.

So plain a statement of fact renders it un-
necessary to balance probaljilities or weigh ar-
guments; the facts are more convincing tlian
either. As the United States had ne\-er offered
to yield any territory to England south of the
49th parallel, and had always peremptorily re-
jected any offer from Great Britain to com-
promise on a lower line, or the line of tiie Co-
lumbia river, so now Mr. Webster and Mr.
Tyler could not and did not depart from the
oft-repeated position of the United States on
tliat question, and Mr. Webster's own statement
that " the United States had never offered any
line south of forty-nine, and it never will," con-
cludes it.

Although the Oregon treaty was made, and
had been proclaimed as the law of tlie land, one
thing remained to be done wliich became a mat-
ter of infinite disagreement, and came very near
involving the two countries in war before its
final conclusion. The line was Agreed upon,
but it was not ran. The trouble arose from a
long-continued perversion, on the part of Great
Britain, of the application of the description of
the line from where the forty-ninth parallel of
latitude strikes the gulf -of Georgia. Thence,
as it was worded in the treaty, it was to follow
" the middle of the channel which separates the
continent from Yauccuver's island," and follow
it through the Straits of Fuca to the ocean. No
map or chart was attached to the treaty on
which the line could be traced, and so little was
really known of the geography of the gulf of
Georgia that it would have been difficult for the
commissioners to have traced the middle of the
channel had one been present. This left open a
ground for dispute and diplomatic finesse.

Between the continent and the island of Van-
couver lies an archipelago, a stretch of sea fifty
or more miles from east to west, and sixty or
more from north to south, in which are thirty-
nine islands that have come under description
and name. These range from sixtten miles to
one-fourth of a mile in length and from fifty-
four to one-half a square mile in area. Through
these islands there run ten channels southward,

but combine in three as tliey enter into the
Straits of Fuca. The one to the eastward is the
Rosario, the one to the west is the Canal de
Ilaro. Great Britain insisted on the line tak-
ing the eastward, or Eosario channel; the United
States claimed that the real channel was the
Canal de Haro, or westward channel. What
was between these channels was the real object
of desire on the part of both the contending
parties. This was an area of about 400 square
miles, in which are a number of prominent
islands, and some small ones, all comprising in
land area about 170 s-qnare miles. The owner-
ship and sovereignty of these were what was in-
volved in the settlement of the channel question.
The most valuable of these was San Juan, con-
taining fifty-five square miles, mostly good
grazing land, which the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, whose center of trade was now Victoria
on Vancouver island, had been accustomed to
use as a jjasture for tiieir sheep. The difference
between the two channels was about this: Ro-
sario had about four miles width of channel and
sixty fathoms of water in its greatest depth,
while the Canal de Haro had about six and a
half miles of maximum width of channel, and
its greatest depth is 183 fathoms.

The debate over this question was hardly less
tedious and perplexing than that which fixed
the terms of the line at first. That de Haro
was the channel intended as the line, was too
plain for rational dispute, as no other was
known at the time the treaty was negotiated.
It was expressly mentioned, more than once, at
the very time and by the very persons that con-
ducted the negotiations.

When the commissioners appointed by the
two governments to nm the line agreed upon
in the treaty met to accomplish their task,
Captain Brevost, for the British Government,
declared Rosario to be the "channel" of that
instrument. Of course this claim was met by
Mr. Campbell on the part of the United States
with rejection. Then Lord Russell proposed as
a compromise the middle, or President's chan-
nel. This was suggested because, while it

Ilf.STOnr OF WASHINGTON.

yielded a little in area of water, it still retained
San Jnan island on the r>ritieli side of the line.
Lord Russell instructed Lord Lyons, the British
envoy to the United States, that no line would
be agreed upon that did not leave that island
on the British side of it. Mr. Lewis Cass, oui*
Secretary of State, met this menace — for such
it really was — with words equally decisive.
This ended the effort to fix the line geographi-
cally through this archipelago. Then the Pa-
cific pioneers again took it up. Twelve years had
passed sinpe the treaty, and ministers of State
had invited difficulties and postponed decisions.
These pioneers were as clear of head as they
were resolute of heart. They knew how to set-
tle it; and they tried their knowledge on.

If the line was not determined they had as
good a right on San Juan island as had the
Hudson's Bay Company. They would go there.
Twenty-five Americans and their families were
there, — for when was there ever a pioneer man
60' bold and brave that he could not find a
woman as bold and brave as he to accompany
him and brace his armor to his breast? The
arrogant Hudson's Bay people were all about
them. Collisions were imminent. Of this
condition Sir Robert Peel declared in the Brit-
ish Parliament it " must probably involve both
countries in an appeal to arms unless speedily
terminated."

The Oregon Territorial legislature, in the
session of 1852-'53, included San Juan and all
the islands in the archipelago in a county. Soon
after the Hudson's Bay Company took formal
possession of the island, Oregon levied taxes on
the property of the company, and when payment
was refused, the sheriff sold sheep enough to pay
them. This was the ready method of the pio-
neer; open the conflict on the ground for which
the battle is to be fought. Of course recrimi-
nations and reprisals followed. This was ex-
pected. The local excitement increased. General
Harney, commander of the Department of the
Pacific, in 1859, landed 461 troops on the
island, and instructed Captain Pickett — he of
the charge of Gettysbni-g — to protect Americans

there. English naval forces, to the nuiiilier of
five ships of war, conveying 167 g\ins, and 1,940
men gathered near the little island. The
Americans threatened to resist by force any
attempted landing of English troops. The
English commander protested against military
occupation of San Juan, but to this Captain
Pickett responded: " I, being here under orders
from my government, cannot allow any joint
occupation until so ordered by my commanding
general. In this he had the approval of his
commander. But General Harney had acted
without instructions from Washington, and the
president withheld his official approval of the
act of taking possession of the island in this
manner, and expressed the hope that General
Harney had done so for the protection of Ameri-
can citizens and interest alone, and with no
reference to territorial acquisitions. Still it was
obvious that the Government at Washington
was not unwilling that an issue should be forced,
so that the question woulil be settled. Certainly
the pioneers of the Northwest approved it.

In the emergency General Scott was sent to
the field of action, arriving late in 1859. On
his way he called *at Portland, and conferred
with leading citizens and Territorial officers.
The writer remembers him well as he appeared,
as he walked the deck of the Massachusetts, as
she lay at the Portland wharf, on his way to the
north. He had met him once before, on the
hill at the head of " Lundy's Lane," but si:^
years before. General Scott went out under
pacific instructions, directed to bring about
'•joint occupation" of San Juan until tiie
boundary line was settled. General Harney
was withdrawn from command in the Worth-
west. It was agreed between General Scott and
Governor Douglas of Vancouver, that 100 armed
men of each party should occupy the island;
and thus again the case was remanded to di-
plomacy. But the act of General Harney had
forced a spegdy adjustment.

The next resort wf^s a proposal on the part of
Great Britain to submit the question at issue
between the two governments to arbitration, aijd

IIISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

she named the king of the Netherlands, or of
Sweden and Norway, or the president of the
Federal Council of Switzerland, as the arbiter.
This proposition was declined by the United
States, and for ten years the question lingered.
At length, on the 8th of May, 1871, the ques-
tion was given for final arbitration, without ap-
peal, to Emperor William of Germany.

For twenty-five years, under the finesse of
British diplomacy, the treaty of June 15, 1846,
had waited for its execution. Its interpretation
was the last question of territorial right between
Great Britain and the United States. It was
eminently fitting that George Bancroft, who was
secretary of the navy when the treaty was ne-
gotiated, and was now the only remaining mem-
ber of the administration that negotiated it,
should be chosen to expound the treaty to the
German emperor on the part of the United
States. His memorial of 120 octavo pages is
one of the most finislied and unanswerable di-
plomatic arguments ever produced. Each party
presented a memorial setting forth its case.
These memorials were then interchanged and re-
plies were presented by each. These four papers

the emperor laid before three eminent jurists,
besides giving them his personal attention.
After a full and faithful examination of the
submitted case the emperor decreed this award:

" Most in accordance with the true interpre-
tations of the treaty concluded on the 15th of
June, 1856, between the Government of her
Britannic Majesty and of the United States of
America, is the claim of the Government of the
United States, that the boundary line between
the territories of her Britannic Majesty and the
United States should be drawn tlinuigh the Haro
channel. Authenticated by our autograph sig-
nature, and the impression of the Imperial
Great Seal. Given at Berlin October the 21st,
1872." Thus the end of the long controversy
came.

For over ninety-two years, the two great
English-speaking nations of the world had beeu
trying to decide upon a line that should divide
between them from sea to sea, and at Berlin,
and by the Emperor William, the last and defi-
nite word was spoken, and the controversy was
ended.

HISTORY OF WASUINQTON.

CHAPTER VII.

FIRST AMERICAN SETTLEMENT.

Astoria — Charactee of Early Trade — John Jacob Astoe — Jefferson's Letter to Astoe —
The Pacific Fur Company — Its Members — The Ship Tonqdin — Aeeival at the Colum-
bia — Overland Company — Wilson Price Hunt — Up the Missouri — Over the Mountains —
Wrecked on Snake River — In Snake River Desert — Appalling Obstacles — Company
Reach Astoria — The Ship Tonquin Again — Landing at Astoria — Tonquin Sails North —
Trading with the Natives — Destruction of the Tonquin — Irvinq's Account — Alexan-
der McKay' — Affairs at Astoria — The Northwestern Company' and McBougal — Arri-
val OF Ship Beaver — Mackenzie and the Northwestern Company — Gathering of the
Partners at Astoria — British Wae Ship Expected — Expedition foe the Relief of As-
toria Abandoned — Negotiations with Northwestern Company — Astoria Suerendered
TO THAT Company — Aeeival of Me. Hunt — Astoeia Returned to the United States

AFTER THE ClOSE OF THE WaR.

I[ T will be hanl to pnt into a brief chapter a his-
tory which the genius of an Irving has woven
-^ into a volume that has become a classic of
romance and adventure; but the integrity of
our purpose demands that the trial be made.
Other chapters of this book have related the
events that led up to the magnificent enterprise
of John Jacob Astor in his attempt to found a
colony and establish a great commerce on the
Pacific coast, and hence it is not needful even to
recapitulate. It may, however, be proper to
state, in an introductory paragraph, that the
trade of the Pacific coast, including that on the
Columbia river, during the first decade of the
present century, was largely of a fugitive char-
acter, or in other words, was the commerce of
individual adventure rather than of organized
companies recognized by national law and sus-
tained by national authority. The individuals
that conducted it, might, and indeed often did,
represent wealthy and long-established houses in
cities on the other side of the world, but their
field of operations were so distant and their trade
was encompassed by so many contingencies in-
cident to the character of the people with whom
they dealt, that they might well be considered
"adventurers." France, having transferred all
lier interests of territory and trade to the United

States, was out of the line of competition, either
for place or profit. England, with her usual
greed, grasped eagerly at both. The United
States had legitimately inherited the loftier
part of English ambition for greatness and gain,
and of course she claimed, as of right, freedom
for trade and the occupancy of her citizens in all
the westward regions to the sea. Her technical
claim was, as wir have seen elsewhere, founded
on the discovery of the Columbia river by Cap-
tain Gray in 1792, on the explorations of Lewis
and Clarke, continued from the springs in the
mountains to the discharge between the capes
into the ocean of the mighty Columbia in 1805,
and by later purchase, from the Government of
France, in 1804, of all her rights of territory, and
every other right she held, in the vast Louisiana

country
Pacific.

Btretcl;

from the Missouri to the

England's technical rights were based
on alleged discoveries by Captain Sir Francis
Drake, Captain Cook, Captain Vancouver, and
the explorations of Alexander Mackenzie. Thus,
in the assertion of these technical claims to
Oregon, and in the effort of each to validate
these claims as against the other, the United
States and Great Britain stood face to face in
the opening of the long and final struggle that
woiild forever determine whether that region

HISTORY OF WASniNOTON.

should be American or British — the struggle
for actual possession, during the iirst decade of
the century.

The influence of Mr. Jefferson, as our readers
know, was then potent in American affairs, and
he earnestly sought American supremacy' on the
Paciiic coast. John Jacob Astor was then a cen-
tral figure in American commercial enterprises,
and had already extended his ventures beyond
the great lakes and the headwaters of the Mis-
sissippi. His attention was attracted to the
vast region westward of the Rocky mountains,
and he resolved to carry into them the commer-
cial force of an organized company to supplant
the fugitive trade of the independent rovers of
the wilderness and the sea. With the prescience
of a statesman, as well as with the genius of the
merchant, he resolved to establish a great cen-
tral post at the mouth of the Columbia, where
the drainage of ahnost half a continent meets
the waters of the mightest ocean of the globe,
and forms a port for the world's greatest flow of
trade. Mr. Jefferson and the most intelligent
and far-seeing statesman of the country gave
him encouragement and counsel. They foresaw,
as in the vision of a clear prophecy, what we
read now as a marvelous history. Later, Mr.
Jefferson, in a letter to Mr. Astor, thus ex-
pressed his own views of the enterprise the
latter had undertaken, in these words:

"I considered it as a great public acquisition,
the commencement of a settlement in that part
of the western coast of America, and looked for-
ward with gratification to the time when its de-
scendants had spread themselves through the
whole length of the coast, covering it with free
and independent Americans, unconnected with
us but by the ties of blood and interest, and
enjoying like us the rights of self-government."

The pen is moved to draw the contrast between
this forecast of this great American statesman
and the fulfillments of history, but must forbear.
In these influences and under sneli inspirations
■was the inception of Astoria.

Mr. Astor's plan for the organization of tlie
Astoria Company- -or, as it was called, the Pa-

cific Fur Company — was broad and comprehen-
sive. It contemplated both a land expedition
to cross the continent, and the dispatch of a
vessel around cape Horn, and the two were to
meet at the mouth of the Columbia. Every con-
tingency that money could provide for was an-
ticipated. There was, however, an element of
weakness introduced in the organization that,
from an early date, seriously interfered with its
work, and we think finally proved its overthrow.
It was this:

Though tl)is was an American enterprise Mr.
Astor did not sufficiently appreciate the neces-
sity of making the personnel of his company
American. He himself was a German by birth,
and, chough he had achieved his great commer-
cial success under the fostering freedom of
American institutions, and was personally an
American in the purpose and spirit of his life,
hardly realized that all of foreign birth who are
in America are not of America. Hence, in se-
lecting his partners, though he chose men of
great experience and ability in the kind of trade
upon which he was adventuring, he selected for
leading partnert-hips several who had belonged
to the Northwest Campany, which was always
distinctively British in purpose as well as in
relation. While for trade alone they were ade-
quate, to any patriotic American purposes they
were alien in thought and sympathy. They
were in the company of Mr. Astor for profit,
not American patriotism. These men were
Alexander McKay, who had accompanied Mac-
kenzie on both his great journeys, Duncan
McDougal, David Stuart, Robert Stuart and
Donald McKenzie. As a providence against
future difliculties between the United States and
Great Britain, in the regions whither they were
bound, these gentlemen provided themselves
with proofs of their British citizenship, while
they trusted to their association with an Ameri-
can enterprise to shelter them under the
eagle's wings. Only one American, Wilson
Price Hunt, of New Jersey, was an interested
partner from the first; hut to him was instructed
the management of the enterprise. So far these

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

details of the organization are necessary if we
would understand the causes that produced re-
sults to which we shall presently come.

In carrying forward his plans Mr. Astor pur-
chased and equipped the ship Tonqiiin, com-
manded by Captain Jonathan Thorn, a lieuten-
ant of the American navy on furlough. She
mounted ten guns, had a crew of twenty men,
and was freighted with a large cargo of supplies
for the company and of merchandise for trade
with the people of the coast. She carried also
the frame of a small schooner for use in the
coastwise trade. As passengers she had McKay,
McDongal, the two Stuarts, twelve clerks,
several citizens and thirteen Canadian voya-
genrs. The Tonquin sailed from New York
for the mouth of the Columbia river, on the 2d
day of August, 1810. Nothing in her voyage
is to be specially noted, except it may be some
conflict of authority between Captain Thorn, a
thorough American, and the Scotch Mc's and
Stuarts on board, whom he persisted in treating
as mere passengers, while they claimed the con-
sideration of owners and employers. In this
there was a slight omen of the trouble that was
to follow.

The Tonqnin arrived off the bar of the Co-
lumbia on the 22d day of March, 1811. The
bar was rough and the breakers rolled high.
Captain Thorn ordered Mr. Fox, the first mate
of the ship, to take a boat's crew of one seaman
and three Canadian voyageurs and explore the
channel. The boat was launched and put forth,
but soon disappeared and all on board wei-e lost.
The next day another boat was sent out on the
same errand, but was swept out to sea and only
one of its crew reached the shore. Just as the
second night of gloom was settling down on the
dreaded bar the Tonquin succeeded in crossing,
and anchoring just within. But the night was
an anxious and fearful one. The wind threatened
every moment to sweep the vessel on the sands
among the rolling breakers. But the night
passed with the anchors of the ship still safely
holding, and in the morning she passed safely
in and again cast her anchors in a good harbor.

With the Tonquin safely moored in the Colum-
bia river, we turn to trace the course of that part
of the great expedition that had directed its
course over the Kocky mountains for the same
point.

This party was entrusted to Wilson Price
Hunt. It was composed of McKenzie and
three new partners in the company, — Rumsay
Crooks, Hobert McClellan and Joseph Miller.
Besides were John Day, a noted Kentucky hun-
ter; Pierre Dorion, a French half-breed, who
was taken as interpreter; and enough trappers
and voyageurs to make up a complement of sixty
men. They left the frontier settlements west
of the Missouri in the spring of 1811, and pur-
sued the usual course of travel up the Missouri
river in canoes and barges to the Mandan coun-
try, thence with horses across the Rocky mount-
ains to the waters that flow toward the Pacific.
To accomplish this required all the summer and
part of the autumn, and the party reached Fort
Henry, on Snake river, on the 8th of October,
1811. After detaching some small parties of
hunters and trappers, who were to use Fort
Henry as their base of supplies, the main ])arty
under Mr. Hunt, embarked in canoes, which
they had constructed on the banks of the river,
and continued their journey down that treach-
erous and turbulent stream. Without much
trouble, and cheered by the wild notes of their
Canadian boatmen's song, they swept swiftly
down the river between the willowed banks that
channel its fiow, for a few days, when their
frail canoes were suddenly swept into the roar-
ing rapids of what is now known as " American
Falls," and their voyaging came to a quick and
disasti'ous end. Just below them the river
dropped into a great, black chasm, through
which it roared and foamed for many miles,
making leap after leap over the edge of basaltic
precipices into the deeper depths that seemed
ever opening below. In this one moment the
expedition seemed to be hopelessly defeated,
and all sat down for the time gloomy and dis-

irited. One of their best men

been lost

in the roai'ing rapids, and some of their canoes

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

huDg broken wrecks upon the rocks in ilie midst
of the Falls. But with such men iu such enter-
prises, despair soon gives place to new resolu-
tion, and so Mr. Hunt was soon rallying his
men for new and more desperate effort.

They were now in a most inhospitable coun-
try; a dreary desert without tree or fruit or
game, and winter was settling rapidly down
upon them. Nothing renjained for them but
to cache their baggage and merchandise, and,
separating into smaller parties the better to
obtain food in their journeyings, each make the
best of its way toward the coast on foot. How
far they were from the goal of their journey
they did not know. It was a dark and desperate
venture that they looked in tlie face, but it were
better than to lie quiet where they were, for
that wvve sure and speedy death by starvation.
One party under McKenzie struck off toward
the north, hoping to reach the Columbia, which
tliey l.ielieved must lay in that direction; one
under Crooks pursued its way down the south
bank of Snake river, and one under Hunt down
its northern shore. The company of McKenzie
disappeared under the dim horizon of the great
and terrible desert to the north and west of the
dread "Cauldron Linn," as the shipwrecked
party called the place where their canoe voyage
so fatally ended. The mountain ranges crowded
them to the west of their intended course, but
put them on the arc of a circle described by
Snake river, and thus brought them to that
stream again about 250 miles from their start-
ing point. The other parties, by following the
stream, described the circle, and hence McKen-
zie's party came out ahead, and after reaching
the river in the vicinity of the Blue mountains,
followed it down until they reached the Colum-
bia. The parties of Hunt and Crooks toiled
wearily down over the seamed and cinereous
lava plains that border Snake river, in a great
rent of which the river itself flows a thousand
feet below the general surface of the plains,
famishing for water and almost starving for
food. The most of the way only this impassa-
ble gorge was between them. Sometimes they

were in sight of each other, and when they
reached the point where the river enters its
iron gorge through the Blue mountains they
encamped with only its turbulent current sep-
arating them. Both parties were in a starving
condition, but that of Mr. Hunt had that day
captured a horse that belonged to a small camp
of Indians, who fled at their approach, and had
killed and was cooking it for supper. After a
canoe had been constructed out of skins some
of the meat was taken across to the other party.
On its second voyage a man, rendered delirious
by famine, upset the canoe, was swept away and
drowned. This was on the 20th day of Decem-
ber, 1811. On the 23d day Mr. Hunt's party
crossed to the west side of the river, and the
two parties, numbering thirty-six men in all,
were again united, not far from where the Union
Pacific Kailroad now crosses Snake river, near
the town of Huntington. Appalled by the
apparently insujjerable obstacles before them,
three of tlie men wished to remain where they
were rather than venture the snowy passes of
the mountain ranges that stood liKe battlements
of ice before them. The remainder struggled
wearily on, reaching the valley of Grande Ronde
on the last day of 1811. In a forlorn way the
company celebrated the festival of the new year
in the beautiful valley of Grande Ronde — a
paradise of green in the midst of a wilderness
desert of ice and snow. With great difliculty
and suffering the Blue mountains were passed,
and on the 8th day of January they came down
upon the (Jmatilla river, and found food and
hospitable entertainment at an Indian village
on its banks. The mountain barriers were now
passed, and their route was now down the open
way of the Umatilla and Columbia rivers to the
ocean. They arrived at Astoria on the 15th day
of February, 1814. The party of McKenzie
having gained some days on those of Hunt and
Crooks by its shorter route and easier traveling,
had passed down the Snake river to the Colum-
bia, and down that to the ocean; and, having
reached Astoria a month before those of Hunt
and Crooks, stood on the banks of the river as

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the latter landed, the first to welcome their old
companions to the rest and bounty of Astoria.

When we began to trace the jonrney of the
land portion of Mr. Astor's great exposition,
we left the good ship Tonquin at anchor in the
bay at the mouth of the Columbia. It is suit-
able that we return now and take up her thrill-
ing story.

Early in April, 1811, the partners who had
come out in the Tonquin began the erection of
a fort on the south side of the river. Lieuten-
ant Broughton, of Vancouver's expedition, with
the usual British partiality to royal nomencla-
ture, had given it tiie name of "Point George;"
but this party, ostensibly rejjresenting the
American spirit and purpose, called it "As-
toria," in honor of the founder and chief pro-
moter of the enterprise. This was the first real
step in the actual possession of Oregon by the
American people. Though there was much
disagreement among the partners of the com-
pany in regard to points of authority and
etiquette, as well as between them and Captain
Thorn, by the Ist of June a storehouse was
built and the supplies landed. Captain Thorn
was impatient to pi-oceed up the northwest
coast to open communication with the Russian
settlements and engage in trade with the In-
dians, and accordingly as soon as his vessel was
cleared of her load, on the oth day of June,
even before the fort was completed, he got
under weigh, sailed out of the mouth of the river,
and turned the prow of the Tonquin to tiie
north. With him was Mr. McKay, one of Mr.
Astor's partners, probably the most considerate
and thoughtful of all tliose thus intimately and
prominently associated with Mr. As tor in this
great venture. The vessel proceeded on her
voyage, and in a few days came to anchor in
one of the numerous harbors on the west shore
of Vancouver Island. Mr. McKay went on
shore. During his absence the vessel was sur-
rounded by a vast number of the savages.
Soon the deck of the vessel was covered by the
swarthy multitude. They were eager to trade,
but demanded a higher price for their furs than

Captain Thorn was willing to pay. Their
stubbornness provoked the irascible captain to
to anger, and he refused to deal with them at
all. Seizing the chief of the band who had
been following the captain about the deck and
taunting him with his stinginess, he rubbed an
otter skin in his face, and then somewhat vio-
lently ordered the whole band to leave the
vessel, enforcing his command by blows. Dur-
ing this misadventure Mr. McKay was on shore
— an ill-starred fact for the vessel and expedi-
tion. Wiiat followed is related with such cir-
cumstantial fidelity by Mr. Irving in his
"Astoria," and it bears such an important, if
not decisive, relation to the ultimate result of
the whole enterprise, that we transcribe it for
these pages. Mr. Irving says:

When Mr. McKay came on board, the inter-
preter related what had passed, and begged him
to prevail on the captain to make sail, as, from
his knowledge of the temper and pride of the
people of that place, he was sure that they
would resent the indignity offered to one of
their chiefs. Mr. McKay, who himself possessed
some experience of Indian character, went to tlie
captain, wiio was still pacing the deck in moody
humor, represented the danger to which his
hasty act had exposed the vessel, and urged
upon him to weigh anchor. The captain made
light of his counsels, and pointed to his cannon
and firearms as a sufficient protection against
naked savages. Further remonstrances only
provoked taunting replies and sharp altercations.
The day passed away without any signs of hos-
tility, and at night the captain retired, as usual,
to his cabin, taking no more than usual precau-
tions. On the following morning, at daybreak,'
while the captain and Mr. McKay were yet
asleep, a canoe came alongside in which were
twenty Indians, commanded by young Shewish.
They were unarmed, their aspect and demeanor
friendly, and they held up otter skins, and made
signs indicative of a desire to trade. The cau-
tion of Mr. Astor in regard to admitting In-
dians on board the ship had been neglected for
some time past, and the officer of the watch.

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

perceiving tliose in the canoe to be without
weapons, and having received no orders to the
contrary, readily permitted them to mount the
deck. Another canoe soon succeeded, the crew
of whicli was also admitted. In a little while
other canoes came off, and Indiana were soon
clambering into the vessel on all sides.

The officer of the watch now felt alarmed, and
called to Captain Thorn and Mr. McKay. By
the time they came on deck it was thronged
with Indians. The interpreter remarked to Mr.
McKay that many of the Indians wore short
mantles of skins, and intimated a suspicion that
they were secretly armed. Mr. McKay urged
the captain to clear the sliip and get under
weigh. He again made light of the advice, but
the augumented swarms of canoes about the
ship, and the numbers still putting off from the
shore, at length awakened his distrust, and he
ordered some of the crew to weigh anchor, while
some were eent aloft to make sail. The Indians
now offered to trade with the captain on his own
terms, prompted apparently by the apjiroaching
departure of the ship: accordingly a iiurried
trade wae commenced. The main article sought
by the Indians in barter were knives; as fast as
some are supplied they moved off, and others
succeeded. By degrees they were thus dis-
tributed about the deck, and all with weapons.
The anchor was now nearly up, the sails were
loose, and the captain in a loud and peremptory
voice ordered the ship to be cleared. In an in-
stant a signal yell was given; it was echoed on
every side, knives and war clubs were brand-
ished in every direction, and the savages rushed
upon their marked victims.

The first that fell was Mr. Lewis, the ship's
clerk. He was leaning with folded arms on a
bale of blankets, engaged in bargaining, when
he received a deadly stab in the back, and fell
down the companion-way. Mr. McKay, who
was seated on the taffrail, sprang to his feet,
but was instantly knocked down with a war
club and Hung backward into the sea, when he
was dispatched by the women in the canoes.
In the meaiitinie Captain Thorn made a desper-

ate tight against fearful odds. He was a pow-
erful as well as a resolute man, but he came on
deck without weapons. Shewish, the young
chief, singled him out as his peculiar prey, and
rushed upon him at the first outbreak. The
captain had hardly time to draw a clasp-knife,
with one blow of which he laid the young sav-
age dead at his feet. Several of the stoutest
followers of young Shewish now set upon him.
He defended himself vigorously, dealing crip-
pling blows right and left, strewing the quarter-
deck with slain and wounded. His object was
to fight his way to the cabin, where there were
firearms, but he was hemmed in with foes, cov-
ered with wounds and faint with loss of blood.
For an instant he leaned upon the tiller wheel,
when a blow from behind with a war club felled
him to the deck, when he was dispatched with
knives and thrown overboard.

While this was transacting upon the quarter-
deck, a chance-medley was going on throughout
the ship. The crew fought desperately with
knives, handspikes, and whatever weapons they
could seize upon in the moment of surprise.
They were soon, however, overpowered by num-
bers and mercilessly butchered. As to the seven
who had been sent aloft to make sail, tliey con-
templated with horror the carnage that was
going on below. Being destitute of weapons
they let themselves down by the running rig-
ging, in hopes of getting between decks. One
fell in the attempt and was immediately dis-
patched; another received a death-blow in the
back as he was descending; a third, Stephen
Weeks, the armorer, was mortally wounded as
he was getting down the hatchway. The re-
maining few made good their retreat into the
cabin, where they found Mr. Lewis still alive,
though mortally wounded. Barricading the
cabin door, they broke holes through the com-
panion-way, and, with muskets and ammunition
which were at hand, opened a brisk fire that
soon cleared the deck. Thus far the Indian
interpreter, from whom these particulars are
derived, had been an eye-witness of the deadly
conflict. He had taken no part in it and had

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

been spared by the natives as being of their race.
In the confusion of the inonient he took refuge
with the rest in the canoes. The survivors of
tlie event now sallied forth and discharged some
of the deck guns, wliich did great execution
among the canoes and drove all the savages to
tlie shore.

For tlie remainder of tlie day no one ventured
to put off to the ship, deterred by the effects of
the firearms. The night passed away without
any furtlier attempt on the part of the natives.
When day dawned tlie Tonquiu still lay at an-
chor in the hay, her sails all loose and flapping
in the wind, and no one apparently on board of
her. After a time some of the savages ventured
to reconnoiter, taking with them the interpre-
ter. They huddled about her, keeping cautiously
at a distance, but growing more and more em-
boldened at seeing her quiet and lifeless. One
man at length made his appearance on the deck
and was recognized by the interpreter as Mr.
Lewis. He made friendly signs and invited
them on board. It was long before they ven-
tured to comply. Those who mounted the deck
were met with no opposition, for Mr. Lewis,
after inviting them, had disappeared. Other
canoes now passed forward to board the prize;
the decks were soon crowded and the sides
covered with clambering savages, all intent on
plunder. In tiie midst of their eagerness and
exultation, the ship blew up with a tremendous
explosion. Arms, legs and mutilated bodies
were blown into the air, and dreadful havoc was
made in the surrounding canoes. The interpre-
ter was in the main chains at the time of the
explosion, and was thrown unhurt into the
water, when he succeeded in getting into one of
the canoes. According to his statement the bay
presented an awful spectacle after the catastro-
phe. The ship had disappeared, but the bay
was covered with fragments of the wreck, with
shattered canoes and Indians swimming for
their lives and struggling in the agonies of
death, while those who had escaped the danger
remained aghast and stupetied, or made with
frantic panic for the shore. Upward of 100

savages were destroyed by the explosion, maT)y
more were shockingly mutilated, and for days
afterward the limbs and bodies of the slain were
thrown upon the beach.

The inhabitants of Newectec were over-
whelmed with consternation at the astounding
calamity which had burst upon them at the very
moment of triumph. The warriors sat mute and
mournful, while the women filled the air with
loud lamentations. Their weeping and wailing,
however, were suddenly changed into yells of
fury at the sight of four unfortunate white men
brought captive into the village. They had
been driven ashore in one of the ship's boats,
and taken at some distance along the coast.
The interpreter was permitted to converse with
them. They proved to be the four brave fel-
lows who had made such a desperate defense
from the cabin. The interpreter gathered from
them some of the particulars already related.
They told him further, that, after they had
beaten off the enemy and cleared the ship, Lewis
advised that they shoxild slip the cable and en-
deavor to go to sea. They declined to take his
advice, alleging that the wind set too strongly
into the bay and would drive them on shore.
They resolved, as soon as it was dark, to put off
quietly in the ship's boat, which they would be
able to do unperceived, and to coast along back
to Astoria. They put their resolution into effect,
but Lewis refused to accompany them, being
disabled by his M^ound, hopeless of escape, and
determined on a terrible revenge. On the voy-
age he had frequently expressed a presentiment
that he should die by his own hands, thinking
it highly probable that he should be engaged in
some contest with the natives, and being resolved
in case of extremity to commit suicide rather
than be made a prisoner. He now declared his
intention to remain on tiie ship until daylight,
to decoy as many of the savages on board the
ship as possible, then set fire to the pow-der
magazine and terminate his life by a simple act
of vengeance. How well he succeeded has been
shown. His companions bade him a melan-
choly adieu and set off on their precarious ex-

HISTORY OF WASEINGTON.

pedition. They strove with might and main
to get out of the bay, but found it impossible
to weather a point of land, and were at length
comjieiled to take shelter in a small cove, where
they hoped to remain concealed until the wiad
should be more favorable. Exhausted by fatigue
and watching, they fell into a sound sleep, and
in tliat state were surprised by the savages.
Better had it been'for these unfortunate men
if they had remained with Lewis and shared his
heroic death; as it was they perished in a more
painful and protracted manner, being sacrificed
by the natives to tiie manes of their friends,
with all the lingering tortures of savage cruelty.
Some time after their death, the interpreter,
who had remained a kind of prisoner-at-large,
effected his escape and brought the tragical
tidings to Astoria.

Thus ended the career of the Tonquin and
her able but obstinate and hot-headed Captain
Tliorn, and here too closed the career of Alex-
ander McKay, a man to whom Mr. Astor had
justly looked as one most able to direct the
vasts interests that he had committed to this
commercial venture on the Pacific coast. Mr.
McKay, however, left a representative in Ore-
gon in the person of his son, who became cele-
brated in the annals of adventure on the trails
of the fur trader and in the campaigns of the
Indian wars of Oregon. At a later period his
descendants, in the persons of Dr. W. C. Mc-
Kay, of Pendleton, Oregon, and Donald Mc-
Kay, the celebrated scout in all the Indian wars
of forty years, have won for his name continued
distinction, and been of great service to the re-
gion in the interests of whose foundations their
forefather died.

Affairs at Astoria were, meantime, progress-
ing slowly toward a settled condition. The
fort was completed, and everything put in readi-
ness for the large trade which was reasonably
anticipated with the surrounding tribes. Dur-
ing the summer only one event occurred to
ruffle the smooth flow of the somewhat monot-
onous life of the past. It was this:

On the loth of July a canoe, manned by

nine white men, was seen descending the, river,
and in a short time they landed on the beach.
They proved to be a party sent by the power-
ful Northwest Company, a British corporation,
commanded by David Thompson, a partner in
the company. He had been dispatched from
Montreal the year before to anticipate the ar-
rival of the Astor party, and take possession of
the mouth of the Columbia before that party
should arrive. Hi>: journey had been greatly
hindered, many of his men had deserted, and
now, with the few who remained faithful, he
had arrived too late for the purpose for which
he had made the long and perilous journey.
The flight of the eagle had been too rapid for
the crawl of the lion, and America had first
possession in Oregon. Still there was that in
the reception that McDougal, who had charge
at Astoria, tendered to Thompson, the agent of
an opposing and foreign corporation, that, if it
could have been understood, boded no good to
the interest of Astoria,. McDougal had him-
self been formerly connected with the North-
west Company, and still cherished the warmest
sympathy with it, and a still warmer sympathy
with the principles and purposes of the British
Government. Hence Thompson's welcome was
cordial; his wants were bountifully supplied;
and, notwithstanding the fact that the very
purpose of his presence was to thwart the very
designs for which McDougal and his company
were there, he was sent on his return journey,
eight days later, with the benefactions, if not
the benedictions of McDougal thick upon him.
This visit of Thompson's was a most sinister
one, and he is blind reader of history who can-
not connect it, and the information and im-
pressions he obtained in it, with events toward
which our story hastens, and which will not be
long to appear.

It is hardly necessary for us to trace the
story of the various efforts of the company to
extend its trade and establish outposts during
the summer and autumn of 1812. They were
but parts of this general historic enterprise
which had its heart and pivot at Astoria, and,

HISTORY OF WASllINOTON.

however interesting as individual incidents of
adventure tliey might be, they did little to affect
or change the current of events that was so
raj)idly flowing toward a historic point of great
importance.

On the 9th of May, 1812, the ship Beaver,
i^ent by Mr. Aster with re-enforcements and
supplies, arrived at Astoria. Her arrival put
the Pacific Fur Company in the best condition
for vigorous and profitable service. After the
discharge of her cargo, Mr. Hunt, who it will
be remenjbered was Mrs. Aster's immediate rep-
resentative in the charge of the company, set
out in her for Alaska to fulfill the mission on
which the ill-fated Tonquin had sailed, leaving
Mr. Duncan McDougal in charge at Astoria.
The Beaver sailed on her voyage up the coast
in the month of August. As the closing
months of the year passed by, and the first of
the next was following them, and she did not
return, gloomy apprehensions of her fate settled
down on xVstoria. McDougal, especially, gave
way to the most unmanly despondency. He
liad nothing but evil forebodings and prophecies
for the whole enterprise. At this juncture ho
was surprised on the 16th of January by the
appearance of McKenzie, way-worn and weather-
beaten from a long winter journey, from his
post on Snake river, with intelligence which
brought to McDougal confusion of mind, if not
dismay of heart. It had been bi-ought to the
post of McKenzie by Mr. John George McTav-
ish, a partner of the Northwest Company, and
commanding a post of that company in the vi-
cinity of that commanded by McKenzie. While
McTavish was delighted by it McKenzie was as
much alarmed, and lost no time in breaking up
his establishment and hastening with all his
people to Astoria. The substance of the news
that thus delighted McTavish and dismayed
McKenzie, "was that war had been declared be-
tween England and the United States; that as
the representative of the English company he
was prepared for the vigorous opposition to the
American, and he capped the climax of this,
to him very pleasing intelligence, by saying

that the armed ship, Isaac Todd, was to be at
the mouth of the Columbia river about the be-
ginning of March, to get possession of the trade
of the river, and that he was directed to join her
there at that time.

The intelligence brought by McKenzie com-
pleted the dismay of McDougal. All hope of
maintaining Astoria was abandoned, and the
partners resolved to give up the post in the
following spring, and return across the Rocky
mountains. Meantime all trade was given up,
and after a short stay at Astoria McKenzie set
off for his post on Snake river, to prepare for
its intended abandonment, and also for the
contemplated journey to the States. When the
party was some distance above The Dalles of the
Columbia, they met Mr. J. G. McTavish with
two canoe-loads of white men, in the employ-
ment of the Northwest Company, on their way
down the Columbia to meet the Isaac Todd.
The parties encamped together for the night
like comrades rather than rivals, the two lead-
ers holding very friendly consultations, and in
the morning each proceeded on his way. With
the exception of McKenzie the partners in com-
mand of posts in the interior did not agree with
McDougal's determination to abandon the coun-
try. They had been very successful in their
trade with the Indians, and considered it un-
manly to break up an enterprise of such magni-
tude and promise on the first difficulty. In this
they were more faithful and courageous than
their chief at Astoria.

The time for the annual gathering of partners
with the products of the year's trade at Astoria
was in June. Accordingly, on the 12th of that
month, Mr. McKenzie, Mr. Clark, and Mr.
David Stuart arrived from the posts on the
upper Columbia and Snake rivers, bringing a
very valuable stock of peltries. They found
McDougal, representing the Pacific Fur Com-
pany, and McTavish, representing the Northwest
Company, rivals both in trade and, nationality,
in closest fellowship. McDougal's hospitality
to McTavish was altogether uncalled for, and
the more especially when the nation which he,

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

as a member of the Northwest Company, really
represented, was at war with the United States,
and McDoiigal well knew that he was there for
a hostile purpose. He treated McTavish and
his party as allies rather than enemies and ri-
vals. McDoiigal had but to leave them to their
own resources, and they must have abandoned
the country immediately. The moral evidence
of McDougal's treason to his company is con-
clusive, and the results soon justitied the belief.

The ship Isaac Todd, which McTavish ex-
pected to meet at the mouth of the river, not
arriving, that gentleman applied to McDougal
for a supply of goods with which to trade his
way back. They were furnished, and on the
proposition of McUongal the posts of the Pacific
Fur Company on the Spokane were conveyed to
the Xorthwest Company. This established that
company in the very garden of the trade of the
Pacific Company.

McDougal and McKenzie, who were at one
in their sinister purpose, at length succeeded in
influencing the minds of Clarke and Stuart, and
the two other partners present, and the four
sicrned a manifesto to Mr. Astor setting forth
the most desponding representations of the con-
dition of affairs at Astoria, and formally an-

nouncing

their determination to dissolve the

concern on the 1st of the following June. This
instrument was delivered to McTavish, who de-
parted from Astoria on the 5th of July, to be
forwarded to Mr. Astor at New York by the
Northwest Company.

Wiiile these events were occurring on the
Pacific, others of not 4ess moment to Astoria
were transpiring on the Atlantic. On the 6th
of March, 1813, Mr. Astor dispatched tlie ship
Lark with supplies for Astoria. She had scarcely
sailed before it became known to him that the
Northwest Company had for tlie second time
memorialized the British Government, repre-
senting Astoria as an American establishment of
great strength, with a vast scope of purpose, and
urging that it be destroyed. In answer to the
memorial that government ordered the frigate
Phoebe to convoy the armed ship Isaac Todd,

of the Northwest Company, which was ready to
sail with men and supplies for a new establish-
ment at the mouth of the Columbia. They were
to proceed together to the mouth of that river,
capture or destroy whatever American fortress
they should find there and plant the British flag
upon its ruins.

To meet this new and alarming condition of
affairs, Mr. Astor appealed to the Goverment,
and the frigate Adams, with Captain Crane com-
manding, was ordered to the mouth of the Co-
lumbia, and Mr. Astor immediately proceeded
to fit out the ship Enterprise, with supplies and
re-enforcements to sail in her company for As-
toria. Just as the two ships were ready for sea
the exigencies of the American naval service on
lake Ontario called for more seamen, and those
of the Adams were transferred to the squadron
of Commodore Chaneey, and the expedition was
abandoned.

It would needlessly lengthen our work to at-
tempt to trace the complicated movements of
the different parties in one way or another con-
nected with the various expeditions, by both sea
and land, that in some way affected the history
of the great enterprise of Mr. Astor. On the
whole, taking into account the fact that the un-
dertaking had such vast and wide ramifications
touching all the possibilities of Indian trade in
half a continent and of trade with China and
Russia and other parts of the world, and that
purchases, sales and returns over the world-wide
sweep of Mr. Astor's plans would needs re-
quire at least two years before any intelligent
estimate of success or loss could be made, the
conclusions of McDougal and McKenzie at
Astoria, with which even Mr. Hunt had at last,
with much difficulty, been persuaded to agree,
appear to have been childishly hasty, or else
wickedly disloyal to their patron and chief.
"Whichever it was, the result to the enterprise
was the same, and its record can soon be made.

On the 7th of October a squadron of ten
boats under the command of S. G. McTavish,
who had with him Mr. J. Stuart, another part-
ner of the Northwest Company, with some

niSJOBY OF WASUINGTON.

clerks and sixty-eight men, swept around Tongue
Point, and soon after landed and encamped un-
der the guns of the fort, displaying the Eritisli
colors. There were some young men in the
fort, native Americans, who desired to run up
the "stars and stripes," but McDougal forbade
them. They were astonished and incensed, as
they would gladly have nailed the national en-
sign to the staff even at the cost of a battle, but
their protest had no influence with McDougal.
He had determined on a surrender of Astoria,
and to prepare the way for it read to the young
men of the fort a letter from his uncle, Mr.
Angus Shaw, one of the principal partners of
the Northwest Company, announcing the com-
ing of the Phojbe and Isaac Todd " to take and
destroy everything American on the northwest
coast." This did not dismay nor convince the
patriotic American youth, but they were power-
less. McDougal and McTavisli hastened nego-
tiations. On the same day the former agreed
to transfer Astoria and all it contained. It was
to be transferred to the Northwest Company on
terms that were entirely satisfactory to the
latter. Before the stipulations were signed,
however, Mr. Stuart and the reserve party of
the Northwest Company arrived and encamped
with the party of Mr. McTavish. He insisted
on a reduction of prices and McDougal obse-
quiously complied, and on the 16th of October,
1813, an agreement was executed by which the
furs and merchandise of all kinds in the entire
country belonging to the Pacific Fur Company
passed into the possession of the Northwest
Company at about one-third of their real value.
Soon after the British sloop-of-war, Raccoon,
arrived in the river, having come with high
hopes that in the capture of Astoria her oflicers
and men would be enriched by the trophies the
Americans had gathered. They found instead
that already the establishment had passed into
the hands of the British subjects, and were sorely
disappointed. On the 12th of December the
formal raising of the British flag over the fort
took place, and in the name of His Britannic

Majesty its name was changed from Astoria to
Fort George.

About two months after tlys transaction, Mr.
Hunt, in the brig Pedlar, arrived at Astoria,
finding McDougal a partner of the Northwest
instead of the Pacific Fur Company, and acting
under the British instead of the American flag.
It was too late to remedy the grievous error
and wrong, and it remained for him only to
gather up the fragments that remained of the
interests of Mr. Astor and his great company;
and on the 13th of April, 1814, he sailed away
from the Columbia, sadly leaving the flag of
Great Britain floating where should have
streamed the ensign of America.

In concluding this chapter of Oregon-Amer-
ican history the writer can hardly help adding
the reflection that the key to the failure of Mr.
Astor's grand enterprise is found in the fact
that the most of its leaders were so largely for-
eigners. Their very names had a foreign accent
and orthography, and they loved the cross of
St. George more than the stars and stripes of
Columbia. They were not great enough to be
true to principle and ol)ligation against appeals
to feeling and profit. And so the American
establishment of Astoria became the British
post of Fort George.

Matters at Astoria — now for a time to be called
Fort George — remained the same until the war
between the United States and Great Britain was
terminated by the treaty of Ghent, in 1815.
This treaty stipulated that "all territory,
places and possessions whatsoever taken by
either party from the other during the war, or
which may be taken after the signing of this
treaty, shall be restored without delay." The
commissioners, however, could not agree upon a
line of division between the possessions of
England and the United States west of the
Rocky mountains, and no action was taken in
regard to Fort George. In July, 1815, in ac-
cordance with its understanding of the terms of
the treaty, the United States Government noti-
iied the British minister at Washington that it

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

would immediately re-occupy the captured fort
at the mouth of the Cohimbia river. Great
Britain made no ^fficial reponse to this notice,
and for two years no further action was taken.
At last, in September, 1817, the American
sloop-of-war Ontario, commanded by Captian J.
Biddle, was despatched to the Columbia, and
the captain and Mr. J. B. Prevost were consti-
tuted a commission instructed to assert the
claim of the United States to sovereignty over
the region of the Columbia. This decisive act
compelled a decision also on the part of Great
Britain, and resulted in negotiations which
finally terminated in a formal transfer, in 1818,

of Fort George to Mr. Prevost as representative
of the United States, thus putting that power
again, at least nominally. and formally, in the
possession of the Pacific Northwest. Still the
Northwest Company remained in actual posses-
sion of the property of Fort George by virtue
of its purchase of the same from the agents of
Mr. Astor, as heretofore recorded. It was now
a strongly built and thoroughly armed fortress,
and remained practically as much a British post
as before, until the final adjustment of the
boundary question, in 1846. But it had no
history of its own separate from the general
history of the coast.

CHAPTER VIII.

MISSIONARY OCCUPANCY.

Indian Embassy to St. Louis — Disappointment — Indian's Speech — George Catlin — Letter
Published — Churches Respond — Jason Lee and Coadjutors Cross the Continent —
Mr. Lee and Dr. McLouohi.in — Lee Establishes His Mission — Work of the Mission
— Decay of the Indians — Action of the A. B. C. F. M. — Missionaries Appointed —
First White Woman to Cross the Continent — Roman Catholic Missions — Their Char-
acter — (Conflicts with the Protestants — Blanchet's Statement.

\E have traced the history of the north-
west coast through the traditions of
its ante -civilized state. It is now time
that we turn to its initial occupancy for civil-
ized purposes and life, without, at this point,
discussing motives or philosophies of civiliza-
tion, but giving a plain narration of facts.

In the year 1832 the attention of the churches
of the United States was called, in a somewhat
romantic and startling manner, to the country
west of the Rocky Mountains as a promising

r missionary work among the native

field fo

tribes. It occurred in this wise:

In some manner the Indians of the far north-
west had become impressed with the great su-
periority of the white man. With the natural
superstition of uncivilized races, or, it may be,
with the true instinct of universal humanity,
they assigned that superiority to the marvelous

power of the white man's God. To find that
God and avail themselves of the advantages
that a knowledge of Him would give them, be-
came the subject of earnest and repeated con-
sultation among them. They had also heard
that the white man had a book that communi-
cated that knowledge, and they earnestly desired
its possession. How these glimmerings of fact
had come to their minds we cannot tell, though
it was doubtless through some stray American
trappers, or some wandering Iroquois who had
come into contact with Christian teachings in
Canada or New York. They were crude at
best, invested with the charm of supernatural-
ism, always exciting and attractive to an In-
dian's mind, and of course stirred their imag-
inations to the very deepest. In the councils
of the Flathead nation it was at last determined
that an embassy should be sent on the long

IT I STORY OF WASHINGTON.

■75

trail — they knew not liow long — if liaply tliey
might find the Book and bring back the cov-
eted light.

An old chief, celebrated among liis people for
bravery and judgment, and an old brave skilled
in war were selected, and with them were asso-
ciated two young braves for daring and perilous
feats during the long Journey, as the chosen
embassadors of the waiting and expectant tribe.

The route tliey took was never recorded.
They disappeared in the defiles of the Kocky
mountains, stole their ■way through hostile
tribes, traversed the M-ide, treeless plains that
stretch between the mountains and the Missouri
river, and finally appeared before General AVill-
iam Clarke, who had led the exploring expedi-
tion over the Kocky mountains to the sea seven-
teen years before, with the story of their peo-
ple's desire and of their own journey for its
gratification, in St. Louis, then a hamlet on the
uttermost borders of civilization. General
Clarke was then superintendent of the Indian
affairs in the great West, and the man to whom
they would naturally apply for the information
they sought.

Without following the romantic speculations
of many writers as to what was done and said
by these Indians, it is necessary to add but
little more than that their mission to them was
a sad failure. The old Indian chief and his
companion died in St. Louis, and after long and
sad inquiry the two young men prepared to
depart for their distant home. Before their
departure they took a ceremonious leave of
General Clarke, and one of them delivered a
speech that for sad pathos and wild eloquence
may safely be quoted as the equal of Logan's
plaintive words. One who was present and
listened to it thus puts in English its words:

"I come to you over a trail of many moons
from the setting sun. You were the friend of
my fathers, who have all gone the long way. I
came with one eye partly opened for more light
for my people, who sit in darkness. I go back
with both eyes closed. How can I go back
blind to my people? I made my way to you

with strong arms, through many enemies and
strange lands, that I might carry back much to
them. I go back with both arms broken and
empty. The two fathers who came with us —
the braves of many winters and wars — we leave
asleep here by your great water and wigwam.
They were tired in many moons of journey, and
their moccasins wore out. My people sent me
to get the white man's Book of Heaven. You
took me where they worship the Great Spirit
with candles, but the Book was not there. You
showed me the images of good spirits and pict-
ures of the good land beyond, but the Book
was not among them to tell us the way. I am
going back the long, sad trail to my people in
their dark land. You make my feet heavy with
your burdens of gifts, and my moccasins will
grow old in carrying them, but the Book is not
among them. When I tell my poor, liliiid jx'o-
ple, after one more snow, that I did not brinn-
the Book, no word will be spoken by our old
men or by our young braves. One by one they
will rise up and go out in silence. My people
will die in darkness, and they go out on the
long path to the other hunting grounds. No
white man will go with them, and no white
man's Book to make the way plain. I have no
more words."

The interview ended, the two remaining In-
dian messengers turned their faces homeward.
One died on the way, and the other, returning
to his people, disappeared from historic record.

The fact of the coming of this embassy, and
its disappointed return to the distant regions
whence it came, was soon noised abroad as a
very romance of religion. A young clerk in
the office of General Clarke, having witnessed
the interview and noted its sad disappointing
end, detailed an account of it to friends in
Pittsburg. George Catlin was then pursuing
his studies and investigations in Indian lore,
and enriching his gallery with Indian portraits
and paintings. To him the letter was shown.
He had met the two returning braves, traveled
with them on the Yellowstone, and even taken
their portraits for his gallery, and they had said

HISTORY OF WASEINGTON.

nothing to liim of the object of their visit to
St. Louis and its failure. He tlierefore asked
that the letter be uot published until he had
written to General Clarke and ascertained the
facts in the case. The reply from the general
came at length, saying: "It is true; that was
the only object of their visit, and it failed."
On Catlin's advice the letter was given to tlie
world. In his " Indian Letters," Mr. Catlin
speaks of the matter thus: "When I first heard
the report of this extraordinary mission across
tlie mountains, I could scarcely believe it; but
on consulting with General Clarke I was fnlly
convinced of the fact. * * They liad been
told that our religion was better than theirs,
and that they woidd be lost if they did not em-
brace it."

The publication of the letter detailing these
events stirred the heart of the Christian people
of America as a call from God, — as who shall
say it was not? — for, though the one lone sur-
vivor of this embassy returned sad and disap-
pointed to his more disappointed people, his
mission was far from being a failure, and, as we
read history backward from to-day, this event
seems a divine pivot on which turned not only
some of the most thrilling chapters of individ-
ual history ever recorded, but much of the des-
tiny of the Indian people, and probably all of
that of Oregon.

It was forever contrary to the genius and
spirit of Christianity to leave a call so clearly
within the limits of the Christian's idea of
Providence unanswered. So, while all the
churches of the land felt the thrill of this
providential call, the Methodist Episcopal
Church was the first to respond. She did not
stop to experiment and explore, but through
lier constituted authorities sotight for a man to
lead the vanguard of the forces of civilization
and Christianity over the Rocky mountains and
down toward the western sea a full 2,000 miles
beyond the westernmost fringe of American
settlement. In a church whose typical legend
was a man on horseback bearing a banner in-
scribed, "Tlio world is my parish," it could

not be far nor difBcnlt to find such a man, and,
having found the leader, to find coadjutors and
helpers in the work he adventured.

After due and diligent search the authorities
of the church decided that Jason Lee, a young
man of thirty-one years, who resided in Stan-
stead, Lower Canada, only just across the line
of the United States, born of New England
parents, educated in Wilbraham Academy, Mas-
sachusetts, under Wilbur Fisk, the most re-
nowned educator of early Methodist history,
was the man for the hour that had thus struck.
The reasons for this conclusion were decisive.
Mr. Lee was of unusual physical dignity and
prowess. He was six feet three inches in
height, and of most stalwart and manly mold.
Erect, with open and manly and frank counten-
ance, a clear blue eye, light complexion and
hair, he was the impersonation of Saxon vigor
and will. Upon him the seal that gave the
world assurance of a man was set. Withal, his
own heart was moved in the direction of the
work to which the church, through her consti-
tuted authorities, was thns calling him. When,
therefore, his former tutor at Wilbraham, Dr.
Fisk, put the question before him in behalf of
the church, and also in behalf of the waiting
Indian tribes west of the Rocky mountains,
"immediately he conferred not with flesh and
blood" but stepped resolutely through the open
door thus unexpectedly opened before him, and
gave himself to history as the pioneer of civil-
ization and Christianity west of the Rocky
mountains. Others, kindred in purpose, and of
similar heroic quality, were soon associated with
him. These were his own nephew. Rev. Daniel
Lee, and Mr. Cyrus Shepard. of Massachusetts,
who were also, under the appointment of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, designated to share
the honor as well as the peril of a missionary
expatriation among the western tribes.

It does not enter into the purpose of this his-
tory to give a detailed account of the personnel
and work of the various missionary companies
that pioneered the work of Anierican civiliza-
tion on the Paciiic coast, further than is neces-

IIlSTOnr OF WASHINGTON.

sary to show the relations they sustained to the
history of the country into which they entered.
It would belong rather to ecclejiastieal than
general history to do that. Still that personnel
was so great and heroic, and that work so funda-
mental, that neither can be dismissed with a
paragraph. Hence we take up the history of
these missionary companies in the chronological
order of their occupancy of this field, premising
the remark that the essence of the importance
of their work in every respect that bore upon
the settlement of questions of national and in-
ternational rights was in the time, as well as in
the fact, of their coming. With this explana-
tory remark, and within this limitation, we re-
sume the story of the missionary work of tlie
Methodist Episcopal Church under the direction
of Jason Lee.

Mr. Lee received his appointment as " Mis-
sionary to the Flathead Indians" in 1833, from
the New England Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Leaving his home in Can-
ada on the nineteenth day of August of that
year, he spent the following autumn and winter
in traveling through the cities and villages of
the Xorth from Portland, Maine, to Baltimore,
stirring up the hearts of the church everywhere
by his fervent appeals for the Indians of the
West, and inspiring the confidence of the peo-
ple by his evident sincerity as well as his com-
mauding ability. Under the influence of his
speeches Oregon began to rise out of a mythi-
cal into an actual existence in the thoughts of
the people. To Ansericans even, up to this
time, it was as unknown as Hindoostan, — a
name standing only for unexplored regions be-
tween the summits of the Rocky mountains and
the western ocean, of unsurveyed limits and
unknown conditions. Although it had served,
in Congress and in Parliament, as a text for
vaporing political discourse, yet so little did
Britain or America know of it that the one sought
it only as a preserve for the fur hunter, and the
other believed it to be but a barren and inhos-
pitable waste tit only to appear on his maps as
the "Great American desert." The appoint-

ment of Jason Lee to evangelistic work within
it, and tlie evident intention of the great church
whose commission he bore to sustain him in
the tield to which she had assigned him, meant
the lifting up of a veil that for the ages had
hidden that vast region from human sight.

In the spring of 1834 this company of mis-
sionaries joined the company of Mr. Nathaniel
Wyeth, of whose trading adventures west of the
Pocky mountains we have elsewhere written, at
Independence, Missouri, prepared to accompany
them on their journey over the mountains. At
Independence Mr. Lee secured the services of
Mr. P. L. Edwards, a young man of tine abilities
and excellent character, afterward a prominent
lawyer of Sacramento, California. All his as-
sociates were men well adapted to sustain their
chief in his arduous undertaking. Notwith-
standing there was so much of the history of the
Pacitic coast wrapped under the coats of these
four men, it would occupy too much of the space
that is needed for other events to record the in-
cidents of their journey of two thousand miles
on horseback to their field of selected toil.
Suffice it here to say that through all the inci-
dents and perils of the journey among such
Indian tribes as the Pawnees, the Sioux, the
Shoshones, the Blackfeet, the Bannacks, the
Nez Perces and the Cayuses, wild freebooters of
the plains, they bore themselves like brave men,
ready to do all their part in every emergency of
travel or danger. Mr. Lee, in a very special
manner, won the conlidence and respect of such
mountain leaders as Sublette, Wyeth, Fitz-
patrick, Walker and others. Prof. Townshend,
a naturalist who accompanied the party for
scientific purposes, speaks of him in his journal
in most flattering terms.

Mr. Lee and his company reached Vancouver,
the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company,
and the residence of Dr. McLoughlin, its gover-
nor, on the 15th day of September, 1884. He
was received with great respect by Dr. Mc-
Loughlin. The moral and political casuist will
readily see that in the meeting of these two men
on that day there stood face to face causes and

UISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

destinies of wonderful import to Oregon, and
even to civilization itself the world over. They
were both typical and representative men. They
were both Canadian born. One was a Scotch-
Englishman with all the stalwart grip and force
of that splendid blood. The other was of pure
New England parentage. They were both over
six feet in height and looked level into each
others eyes. Seldom indeed have two such
representatives of opposing foi-ces and antago-
nistic purposes stood face to face with each
other, and yet met so calmly, and so entered at
once into ench other's personal friendships, as in
the case of these two men. One is tempted to
stand long and gaze npon this strange moral
and intellectual tableau thrown against the fore-
ground of an opening and against the back-
ground of a departing era; for when their two
liauds clasped it was the old greeting, perhaps
unconsciouslj, the better new, and the new, per-
haps as unconsciously, bidding the old depart.
Dr. McLonghliii, as the representative of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and hence of the power
and purpose of Great Britain in Oregon, could
not meet Mr. Lee as he could and did meet Mi-.
Nathaniel Wyeth. The etses and the causes
were entirely dissimilar. Mr. Wyeth came with
merchandise as a trader, came to set up a rival
establishment within hearing of the morning
gun of Fort Vancouver. Mr. Lee came as a
missionary of help and moral uplift to the de-
graded tribes that swarmed in the valleys and
roamed over the hills. Mr. "Wyeth had arms
in his hands; Mr. Lee had ideas and moral pur-
poses in his mind and heart. The lirst could
be met with stronger and older commercial
power or with more numerous arms if necessary;
the other could be met only with ideas and moral
purposes better than his own. Therefore the
first was hemmed in, circumscribed, thwarted,
finally defeated, and within a year compelled to
leave the country a broken and ruined nian.
But Mr. Lee and his ideas had come to stay.
One cannot shoot an idea to death. He cannot
kill a moral impulse with gunpowder. Besides,

those who knew Dr. McLoughlin in his lifetime
know very well that his moral nature was far
superior to the purposes and work of the soul-
less corporation of which he, by a providence
very gracious to the work Mr. Lee came to
Oregon to perform, was then the executive
head. In the case of Mr. Lee, therefore, his
heart became the guide of his actions, and hence
he not only did not attetnpt to hinder, but
really extended ethcient help in the establish-
ment of his mission and the opening of his work
in Oregon. Still justice requires us say that
it is not probable that Dr. McLoughlin was
enough skilled in moral casuistry, or well
enough acquainted with the history of the re-
su'ts of missionary enterprises in other parts of
the world, to fully comprehend the meaning of
the future history of this coast that was wrapped
up witiiin the white folds of Mr. Lee's commis-
sion. So he helped where otherwise he might'
have hindered; he counseled where he other-
wise might have opposed and defeated.

It was under the advice of Dr. McLoughlin
that Mr. Lee finally decided to establish his
missionary station in the heart of the Willam-
ette valley. Two motives seemed to prompt
that advice. First, the piitting of the American
establishment south of the Columbia river, which
the Hudson's Bay people expected would be-
come the boundary between Great Britain and
the United States on this coast, and secondly
having it near enough to Vancouver to be under
its watchful eye. Mr. Lee, having carefully ex-
amined every point that would suggest itself as
a suitable one for his work, finally, on Monday,
the sixth day of October, 1834, with Daniel
Lee and P. L. Edwards, pitched his tent on the
banks of the Willamette river, about ten miles
below the present city of Salem, where he had
determined to establish his mission. On Sun-
day, the 19th of October, he delivered the first
formal sermon ever preached in the Willamette
valley, at the residence of Mr. Joseph Gervais,
near where the town of Gervais now stands;
his unpublished journal says: '■ From these

UISTOltY OF WASHINGTON.

words, 'Turn ye from your evil ways,' to a mixed
assembly, few of whom understood what I said;
but God is able to speak to their hearts."

From this time forward, ever increasing, be-
coming more and more a molding force in the
intellectual and moral life of the country, his
work went forward. It is not the province of
this history to follow it in detail, — only far
enough to show how potentially this and suc-
ceeding missionary establishments became the
nucleus around which accreted whatever there
was of American thoujj;ht and purpose and life
in Oregon for nearly ten years following this
date, for this reason the men, and the work
they performed, as makers and molders of his-
tor}', are of first importance in estimating the
conditions out of which history is made.

Though Christians, Mr. Lee and the three
men who wrought with him were plain, practi-
cal, solid men. All the pictures of the writers
who paint them as pietistic recluses, or even
religious zealots, expecting to save the heathen
and renew a people by exhortations and prayers
and moral incantations, are sheer rhetorical cari-
catures, to say the least of them, instead of real
descriptions, and show^ either the ignorance or
perversity of those who painted them. These
men knew well that their work, to be ultimately-
productive of the results for which they were
here, must lay its foundations in the very ele^
ments of intellectual and physical culture. They
had placed but half a shelter over their lone
heads before they proceeded to the establish-
ment of an Indian manual-labor school, into
which Indians, both youth and adults, were
gathered, and where they were taught husbandry
and mechanics, as well as song and prayer.
As showing the result of this teaching in these
earlier years of their work, the testimony of
Captain VV. A. Slocum, of the United States
Navy, commanding the brig Loriot, who visited
Mr. Lee's mission about two years after its es.
tablisliinent, may properly be quoted. He says:
" I have seen children who two years ago were
roaming over their own native wilds, jn a state
of savage barbarism, now being brought within

the knowledge of moral and religious instruc-
tion, becoming useful members of society, by
being taught the most useful of all arts — agri-
culture — and all this without the least compul-
sion." So favorably did the work of this mis-
sion impress him that he made to it the con-
siderable donation of S30, as a testimony of his
appreciation.

After two years of successful work by these
four men in the missionary field, so promising
did the future appear that six others, three men
and three women, were added to their number
by the missionary authorities of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, arriving in Oregon in May,
1837, and these were succeeded in Septeuiber of
the same year by four others, two ujen and two
women. One of the last named gentlemen,
Rev. David Leslie, was attended by his wife
and seyeral children — a thoi-ough New England
family, having sonie of the best blood of old
Massachusetts flowing in their veins; the first
real family transplanted from the New England
of the Atlantic coast to the better New England
to the Pacific coast; the real beginning of
American home life in the valley of the Willa-
mette. Does not thjs mean something for
American civilization on the Pacific coast?

It should be noted that up to this time the
Indian tribes were maintaining tjieir old nu-
merical strength- They were deejily impressed
with the superiority of that form of civilized
life that they saw in the missionary homes about
them. They could not but see the difference
between them and the trappers and trail-men of
the fur companies. So they were calling for
missionary establishments elsewhere,— east of the
Cascade mountains, at Clatsop, in the Umpqua,
among the Cayuses and Nez Perces. An emer-
gency of civilization and Christianity was upon
the land. Jason Lee, the Corypheus of this
band of Christian civilizers, returned to the
east by the trail by which he came out, to se-
cure help adequate to the great emergency.
His appeals from fSoston to Charleston, from
St. Louis to New York, on the rostrum and
through the press, in the winter of 1838 and the

HISTORY OF WASUINGTON.

summer of 1839, awakened profound and wide-
spread interest, not only in his special work bnt
in Oregon itself. He asked for four or live
missionary helpers. The great church to wliich
he appealed judged that the demands were
greater. Five clerical missionaries, one physi-
cian, six mechanics, four farmei-s, one steward
or business-manager, four female teachers, —
thirty-six adults in all, together with seventeen
children, constituted the reinforcement which the
church, in whose employ Mr. Lee was laboring,
judged not too large to meet the emergency of
the hour. It was a missionary company, but it
was not that only. It was an American colony;
an educated, refined, patriotic colony of Ameri-
can citizens. When, in the early summer of
1840, these fifty-three people united in the
Williamette valley with the sixteen who had
preceded them, there was a truly American
colony west of the Cascade mountains of nearly
four-score souls, — a nucleus of civilization
around which the elements of a great history
might gather and enlarge and crystallize until a
great apd prosperous State should be the result.
*' JVIan proposes; God disposes." So it was
here. A single year while Mr. Lee was absent
from the country had touched the Indian tribes
as with a pestilence. They were wasting out of
being. The beautiful valleys of the west were
to be dedicated to something greater and grander
than even Indian missionary establishments.
A stronger race, Avith a purpose and a power
that could carry the country to the highest
forms of civilized society and life was to have
and to hold it. Their vanguard of cl:o.-i!ii me?i
and women, chosen for their personal ] owerand
purpose, was here to fix and drive the initial
stake from which should be traced the founda-
tion measurements of the history of a thousand
years. Nor was this altogether an unexpected
condition. This great enterprise had the count-
tenance of the national authorities with some
reference to its political as well as its moral and
religious significance. Of course it was known
that, sooner or later, the Indian tribes here, as
everywhere else, would disappear. Tlie men in

authority at Washington did not know this bet-
ter than did the men who constituted this mie-
sionary company. Indeed they did not know
it as well. But it came sooner than was antic-
ipated, though not too soon for the safety of
American interests, as the pressure of events in
Washington and in London were hurrying the
two nations toward a final issue of their strug-
gles for Oregon. With the coming of tliis fate
— sad, it would seem, to the Indian tribes —
there was a necessary failure, comparatively, of
these Indian missions. But that failure was
one of the conditions of the iticoming of that
after civilization the germ of which was in that
colony of American men and women that had
thus strangely .been set down here just in time
to give it most potent relation to what was to
be. Still, for three years, the work of this
company of people was, as far as those immedi-
ately about them were concerned, endeavoring
to do good to tlie decaying remnants of the In-
dian tribes. Besides the missionaries and those
immediately connected with them, the Indians,
few and feeble as they were, were all upon
whom they could bestow labor or sympathy.
As to themselves they were waiting, becoming
acquainted with the geography and resources of
the country. They were young people. Hardly
a person forty years of age among them. They
could afford to wait and be ready for what was
I'eady for them.

Our readers will see when they reach and
study the history of " Immigration" as treated
hereafter in this book, that the autumn of 1843
dates a change in the population of the country
of such a character as necessarily to close, in
large measure, the era of Indian missions in
Oregon. It is true there were local interlap-
pings and overlappings, but after that date the
white and the American predominates in the
country over the red and tiie Hudson's Bay.
Hence we do not trace the history of this first
established and strongest mission farther than
that period, but consider its personnel as after-
ward absorbed into the larger life of a common-
wealth of which itself had been a most jiotent

HI STOUT OF WASHINGTON.

creator. As we conclude our distinctive refer-
ence to this individual mission, the fairness of
liistory requires us to give the names of the gen-
tlemen then constituting it, or had been prom-
inently connected with it. They were Jason Lee,
Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, who had died, P. L.
Edwards, who had returned to the States, David
Leslie, H. K. W. Perkins, Elijah White, who
had also returned to the States, A. Beers, W.
H. Wiilson, Alvin ¥. Waller, Gnstavus Hines,
George Abernethy, Hamilton Campbell, H. B.
Brewer.

The same incidents that at the beginning
awakened such an intense interest in the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church in America for the In-
dians of the Kocky mountains and beyoiid,
thrilled with the same intensity the other
churches of the land. They began to project
missionary work in that region at the same time.
The American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, then representing the Pres-
byterian, Congregational and Dutch Reformed
Ciuirches, was not backward in its purposes.
Early in 1834 initial steps were taken. A com-
mission to explore the country preparatory to
the establishment of a mission was appointed,
consisting of Rev. Samuel Parker, Rev. J. Dun-
bar, and Mr. S. Ellis. They left Ithaca, New
York, in May, but reached St. Louis too late to
join the caravans of fur traders for the Rocky
mountains, and were obliged to defer the con-
templated exploration until another year. Mr.
Parker returned to New York, and Messrs. Dun-
bar and Ellis engaged in missionary labors
among the Pawness. In the spring of 1835
Mr. Parker was joined by Dr. Marcus Whit-
man, and they reached St. Louis in April. In
company wnth the annual caravan of the Amer-
ican Fur Company they proceeded westward as
far as Green river, about fifty miles west of the
summit of the Rocky mountains, the rendezvous
of that company. Here they met a large num-
bers of the Indians of the Columbia, and the in-
formation they received from them, together
witli that from trappers, traders and travelers
whom they met here, was such as decided them

to establish a mission on or near the middle
Columbia. In t'lirtlierance of that decision Dr.
Whitman returned to the East, and Mr. Parker
continued his journey to the Columbia. He
visited Walla Walla, Vancouver, the mission of
Mr. Lee in the Willamette, and after completing
his observations returned to New York by the
way of the Sandwich islands and cape Horn in
1837.

Two Nez Perces Indians accompanied Dr.
Whitman on his return to New York, where
their appearance as specimens of the tribe
among which it was proposed to establish a
mission excited the greatest curiosity and
interest.

In the spring of 1836 Dr. Whitman and his
wife, to whom he was but recently married,
with Rev. H. H. Spaulding and his young wife,
and Mr. W. H. Gray as secular agent of the
mission, proceeded to the frontier of Missouri,
and uniting themselves to the American Fur
Company's convoy proceeded across the conti-
nent to the place fixed upon for their mission-
ary work among the Cayuses at Waiiletpu and
among the Nez Perces at Lapwai.

This journey is justly celebrated in history
as the first ever made by white women across
the Rocky mountains. That alone was sufficient
to make the names of Mrs. Whitman and Mrs.
Spaulding historic. It writes them on the page
of history as heroines. They were the first
white women whose blue eyes ever looked into
the black orbs of the aboriginal daughters of
the Columbia. That makes their arrival date
an epoch in our history. While they were
coming by land, others were on the way by sea,
but these were first by a few months, and no
fair hand has ever been raised, or ever will be
raised, to pluck the crown of this great distinc-
tion from their brows. They were personally
worthy of it, and we are glad to study them in
their imique and magnificent isolation in his-
toric story. Full as was this journey with
thrilling incident, we can do no more than, with
these few sentences, conduct these missionaries
to their place where, two years after Jason Lee

Ul STORY OF WASHINGTON.

had established the Methodist missiou in the
Williatiiette, they began theirs in interior
Oregon.

The same gCHeral course of incident inarlced
the work of these missions as did that already
desci'ibed in the Willamette Valley. There
was, however, a difference in one important
respect. The Indians of the interior were very
superior, physically and intellectually, to those
nearer the coast. Hence, while the tribes of
the Willamette were smitten with decay these
were yet vigorous and comparatively numerous.
Seven years, therefore, after the Indian mission
work was almost or entirely abandoned in the
AYillamette, that in this region was enjoying
its greatest prosperity. But it was only to
meet the same fate at last, except as the Indians
themselves have proved capable, of so far re-
sisting the enfeebling and destructive contact
with a miscellaneous white population, and
have maintained an existence as a people even
until this day; while those of the Willamette
as tribes and nations have long since disappeared.

From time to time these missions of the Amer-
ican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis-
sions were re-enforced by the addition of a class
of men and women worthy to be what their
position made them, founders of a civilization.
Some of the gentlemen composing the mission
became most important and honored instru-
ments in the settlement of great questions of
State, and in the final establishment of the in-
stitutions of civil society here. Notably this
was true of Dr. Whitman, the record of whose
heroic efforts to benefit his adopted home, as
well as of his tragic death as a martyr to his
steadfast purpose of life, is given elsewhere,
and need not be repeated here. Like those
whose work in the Willamette we have partially
recorded, these were among the best of men.
We make no attempt to enshrine them, nor
even to exalt them above other men who came
after them. They had weaknesses and defects,
but they are the weaknesses of strong natures,
the defects common to humanity. Without a
question any impartial history of the times from

1834 to 1847 will write the names of Whitman,
Spanlding, Eells, Walker, Gray, and their com-
panions and co-laborers among the few dozens
of names that were foremost in laying deep
and broad the foundation of the great common-
wealth that is now what it is because the men
whose lives and work projected it were what
they were.

The history of the institution and work of
the missions of the Roman Catholic Church on
this coast is more difficult to trace than is that
of the Methodist Episcojial Church, or of the
American Board. The reasons are obvious to
those who have made the methods of that
church at all a study. Their work is more dis-
tinctly a church work than is that of any other
bndy of Christian people. It consists more
exclusively of catechetical instruction, and the
observance of certain forms of ritual observ-
ances, than any other. There is less publicity
to it. They do not organize communities with
a public life outside of the ecclesiastical and
church life they inculcate. Their missionaries
come and go unheralded and unannounced.
Without a family life themselves, they appear
for a day or a year, then move forward and
another takes the vacated place. What has
been done or has not been done is not pro-
claimed. Silent, self-contained, with the air
and aspect of men who are moved by another,
instead of moving themselves with a self-pur-
pose, except it be a purpose to obey what is
commanded, they do their work with a patience,
a devotion, a self-forgetfulness that is worthy
of all praise as a method of ecclesiastical pros-
elytism. These methods and peculiarities are
not mentioned as derogatory to them, but only
to account for the dilBculty a %vi-iter experiences
in following the lines of their history. And if
these peculiarities render it difficult to do this
in established conditions of society, they render
it much more difficult when the field is such as
Oregon was when they entered into it.

The Roman Catholics were the third to enter
the missionary field in Oregon. Their first
priests. Rev. Francis N. Blanchet and Kev

HISTORY OF WASaiNOTON.

Modest Deraers, came overland from Montreal
with the regular Hudson's Bay Express, reach-
ing Vancouver on the 24th of November, 183S.
They came at the instance of the Hudson's Bay
Company. They were British subjects, altliough
French themselves, and the servants of the
Hudson's Bay Company were mostly French
Canadians, and Roman Catholics in their re-
ligious belief and sympathies. Many of these,
at first, received the Protestant missionaries
gladly, and attended upon their ministry, but
the very presence of these sngi^estel and
awalceuei a desire in their hearts for teichers
of their own faith. This was but natural. The
influence of these French Canadian subjects of
Greit Britain ovar the Indiana was very greit,
and it was soon felt agiinst tlie Protestant
missions. As we have shown in our chapter on
"The Hudson's Bay Company and the Protest-
ant Missions," the leading men of that com-
pany did all they could to encourage their
coming and facilitate thsir work when here,
because they were British subjects, and because
they were Roman Catholics, and therefore most
against the only American influence then in the
country — the Protestant missions. This they
had a right to do, and our duty is only to
record it.

But the coming of the R )man Catholic priests
introduced an element of discord and trouble
in the country that bore very bitter fruit in
after years, and this seems the only proper place
to fairly consider it. This we shall try to do
both judiciously and judicially, "with malice
toward none, with charity for all."

It is necessary to observe that there had been
no controversies between, nor Ijecause of, the
missions of the A. B. C. F. M. and those of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. There were two
reasons for this. First, the religious ends before
both wore the same; they were not aiming to
make sectaries of the Indians, but to make
Christians of them. Second, they were all
Americans, and therefore there was no division
on political or national gronnds. The priests of
the Romish Church differed from the Protest-

ants at both th'3se points, and that difference
was at the basis of all th? bitter CDntroversies of
that period of Orjgon history, ami of thusa that
have beei continue! from it d )wa to the pres-
ent by s)me writers on both sides, — a c:)ni'ro-
versy into which we shall not enter further than
to state it historically.

It is exceeding difiiault to discuss religious
differences so that the discussion itself does not
become a special plea on tlig side of the writer
himself. It is equally difficult to mak^ such
discussion reasonably intelligent to the un-
churched reader. But we will try to do both.

Of course the original basis of the contro-
versy was theological, churchly, — Romanism vs.
Protestantism, — which is true and which is
false? This we do not debate, but it was the
core of the trouble. Out of the convictions of
either party and both parties on this subject
came their intense zeal and bitterness against
each other.

The Protestant mission and missionaries on
the whole took too much counsel of their preju-
dices and desires. They did not suffijiently
consider that the Romish priests hal the same
rights in the country, either religiously or po-
litically, as they had. Their loing first gave
them no pre-emptive right to control the religion
of the people. To a very great degree they for-
got or ignored this very obvious and fundamen-
tal principle of human freedom: consequently
they met the priests with protests against their
presence, and probably a somewhat acrimonious
denunciation of their teachings if not of them-
selves. It is very clear to any candid reader of
the historical literature of this period that such
was especially the spirit of the missionaries of
the American Board, as it was, to a less extent,
of those of the Methodist Board. Instances
might be given and language quoted to evidence
this, but its concession by a Protestant writer is
sutlicient.

On the other hand, the priests made it a special
purpose to break down and destroy the Protest-
ant missions. Instead of opening new fields to
any considerable extent, they established their

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

missions almost by the very doors of the Protest-
ant missions. Tliey declared it to be their pur-
pose to antagonize and destroy them. This was
in entire consistency with their beliefs as church-
men, and we do not write of it as a crime, but
simply as a fact, leaving the reader to his own
conclusions. Kev. F. N. Blanchet, afterward
archbishop of Oregon City, with whom the
writer had a personal acquaintance, wrote his-
torically, at a later day, of the work of their
priests at that time, thus:

" They were to warn their flocks against the
danger of seduction, to destroy the false im-
pression already received, to enlighten and con-
tirm the faith of the Avavering and deceived
consciences, * * * and it was enough for
them to hear that some false prophet [meaning
Protestant missionary] had penetrated into a
place, or intended visiting some locality, to in-
duce the missionaries to go there immediately,
to defend the faith and keep error from propa-
gating itself."

In another place, and in reference to the par-
ticular mission of the Metbodist Church at
Nesqually, north of the Columbia river, the
same eminent ecclesiastic wrote:

'• The Hrst mission to Nesqually w-as made by
Father Demers, who celei)rated the first mass in
the fort of the Hudson's Bay Company, on April
22 (1839), the day after he arrived. His visit
at such a time was forced upon him by the
establishment of a Methodist mission for the
Indians. * * * After having given orders
to build a chapel, and said mass outside the
fort, he parted with them, blessing the Lord for
the success of his mission among the whites
and Indians, and reached Cowlitz on Monday,
the 30th, with the conviction that his mission
at Nesqually had left a very feeble chance for a
Methodist mission there.

This statement of this most influential and
controlling man in regard to the modes and pur-
poses of the work of the Eoman Catholic mis-
sions, certainly justifies the statement we have
made in regard to them, historically.

Among the Indians the Catholic missionaries

were more successful than the Protestant, in the
sense of gaining more adherents. Their meth-
ods and principles made this inevitable. "With
them Christians were constituted by sacraments;
with the Protestants, by life. With them bap-
tism opened the door of the kingdom of heaven;
with the Protestants, a renewed nature. The
difference was radical and w^ith uninstructed
and unreasoning Indians, altogether in favor of
the Romanists. The symbols and ceremonies of
that church were far more alluring to the In-
dian, easily approachable through his sensuous
organs, but harder to reach through reason and
conscience, than were the high idealism and
lofty spirituality of Protestant teaching. Mr.
Blanchet was right when he said: "The sight of
the altar vestments, sacred vessels and great
ceremonies were drawing their attention a great
deal more than the cold, unavailable, long lay
services of Brother Waller;" and this fully ac-
counts for the greater influence of the priests
over the Indian mind. There was, however,
another reason that should be noted, namely^
the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company
over the Indians, which was very great and
always favorable to the Romanists, while the
Protestants were in close affiliation with the
Americans, — indeed, at this time constituted
the American element of the country. It can
hardly be necessary to draw this parallel and
contrast further.

From the time of the arrival of Messrs.
Blanchet and Demers, in 1838, priests continued
to arrive and scatter over the country. In
1847, nine years after the first arrival, the Ro-
man Catholic Church had so increased that Ore-
gon City was constituted an episcopal see,
with Rev. F. N. Blanchet as its bishop. The
otal number of clergymen employed was
twenty-six, with five churches in the Willam-
ette valley, three north of the Columbia river,
with quite a number of Indian missions in
different parts of the country. It can hardly
be needful to follow the history of these mis-
sions, as separate departments of the life of the
common northwest, farther.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER IX.

THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.

How Constituted — Sib Alexander McKenzie — ATriTUDE Toward the Country — -Extent of its
Operations — The Northwestern Company — Union of the Companies — Stakes Played fob
— Dr. John McLoughlin — Growth of the Company — Captain Bonneville and the Hud-
son's Bay Company — Captain Wyeth and the Hudson's Bay Company — Erection of Fort
Hall — Reaches Vancouver — Fort William Built — Sale to Hudson's Bay Company — All
Rivalry Crushed — Ruling Policy of the Company — Statement of a Chaplain — ^The
Hudson's Bay Company Socially.

THE Hudson's Bay Company was consti-
tuted l:)y royal charter, given by Charles
II. on the 16th day of May, i670. It
gave the "government and company and
their successors the exclusive right to trade, fish
and hunt in the waters, bays, rivers, lakes and
creeks entering into the Hudson's straits, to-
gether with all the land and territories not
already occupied or granted to any of the king's
subjects or possessed by the subjects of any
other Christian prince or State." The company
had eighteen original incorporators, at the head
of whom was Prince Rupert; hence the name
Eupert's Land was once given to that region.
The first object of the company, as named in its
charter, was "the discovery of a new passage
into the South Sea," as the Pacific ocean was
then generally called.

Some curious and interesting facts touching
the pretended ownership of the region in which
these "exclusive rights" were thus presumptu-
ously ceded, appear both before and after this
time. In 1631, Charles I. of England had re-
signed to Louis XIII. of France tlie sovereignty
of the country, and the French king gave a
charter to a French company who occupied it,
and it was called Acadia, or New France. Not-
withstanding Great Britain, by this act of
Charles I., had thus given up its right to tlie
somewhat mythical region indicated, the second
Charles reasserted that right in the giving
of this charter to tlie Hudson's Bay Company.
Still, in the terms of the treaty of Ryswick, in

1697, twenty-seven years aft^r the Hudson's
Bay Company received its charter, the whole
country was confirmed to France by Great
Britain, and no reservation of British rights, or
of the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company,
was made. This, at the present time, since all
question of rights, real or pretended, have been
definitely settled, is of interest only as showing
upon what flimsy pretexts the sovereigns of
western Europe asserted ownership of vast
regions of country on the American continent,
and how they used these "rights" as the small
change that settled balances in their accounts
with each other, not more than 200 years ago.
For 100 years little comparatively of interest
attached to the company, and a few results of
public importance are recorded. Something
was done in the line of geographical discoveries
in the noi'thwestern parts of America, and the
leaders of the company were growing hopeless
of the discovery of an inland channel from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. About 1778, Frobisher
established a trading post on lake Athabasca,
about 1,200 miles from lake Superior. Ten
years later it was abandoned and Fort Chippe-
wyan was built on the southwest shore of the
same water. From this post Sir Alexander
Mackenzie made an expedition down the river
that bears his name, to the Arctic, and returned
in 102 days. In the autumn of 1791, he started
to explore a route to the South Sea, — the Pacific
ocean. He ascended Peace river to its head in
the Rocky mountains, and in thatdreary solitude

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

made his winter quarters witli liis ten men.
They were snowbound until May, when tliey
resumed their journey, and in June came to the
divide, and saw for the first time the waters
that flowed toward the Pacific, — a sight that no
white man had ever before beheld. In July
they came in sight of the sea and were soon
upon its shores. There, on a bold rock, facing
Asia, this great explorer painted in vermilion
these words: "Alexander Mackenzie, from
Canada by land, the twenty-second of July, one
thousand seven hundred and ninety-three."
This was the first expedition of white men
across the continent to the Pacific ocean. It
was a great feat, and had in it the presage of
great events, to which our history will soon
come. So valuable were his discoveries con-
sidered to Great Britain that lie was rewarded
for them by the honor of knighthood in 1801.
Mackenzie was a man of far more than or-
dinary ability. He had a statesmanlilie grasp
of mind, unconquerable determination, clear
and penetrating foresight, and by his personal
explanations and recommendations laid a foun-
dation for md.ch of the subsequent claims of
Great Britain to the i-egions west of the Eocky
mountains, and to more of the future progress
"and prosperity of the Hudson's Bay Company on
that field. The point he reached on the Pacific
coast was within the present limits of British
Columljia (latitude 53° 21'), and clearly within
the limits of the claim made by the United
States, which afterward became the slogan of a
great national party in one of the most exciting
presidential contests in our history, when "The
whole of Oregon or none," " Kilty- Four Forty
or Fight," streamed on banners and were
shouted by the people all over the land. He
was the first and ablest representative of Great
Britain in her quest for other empire on the
American continent as a compensation for that
wiiich had been snatched from her grasp by the
American Eevolution that had closed but ten
years before.

The attitude of the Hudson's Bay Company
toward the vast region over which its charter

assumed to give autliority was actually that of
sovereignty. They legislated for it, governed
it, made war and peace w ithin it, and all other
people were forbidden to " visit, haunt, frequent,
trade, trafiic, or adventure" within it. There
was, of course, a confession of allegiance to the
crown of Great Britain, in tlie fact that their
charter was from it, but the power of the com-
pany was practically absolute. For all these rights
and prerogatives the company was to pay an an-
nual revenueof "two elks and two black beavers,"
to be collected on the grounds of the company.

With such unlimited prerogatives, in such a
vast and productive field of trade, the company
could not but rapidly increase in wealth and
power. With these came a grasping avarice
and a bold and inexorable spirit. The company
stretched out its arms like a huge commercial
octopus, and drew into itself all opposing and
rival interests from the Yukon to the Sacra-
mento, from the Arctic to Salt Lake, and from
the St. Law'rence to the mouth of the Colum-
bia. What came in and what went out of the
country was at its dictation. Tlie Indian and
the European alike did the bidding of the giant
monopoly. Not to do it was to perish. This
power was reaching out and preparing to enfold
in its grasp all of the Pacific Coast from Amer-
ican Russia to Spanish California.

The original stock of this company was only
$50,820. In fifty years it had made its stock-
holders rich, besides trebling, its stock twice by
profits alone. In 1821 its capital stock had
gone up to $457,380, and in that year it ab-
sorbed the Northwest Company of Montreal,
with a capital equal to its own.

The Noi-thwest Company was the Canadian-
British rival and competitor of the Hudson's
Bay Company. It was organized by the prin-
cipal merchants of Montreal in 1787, especially
to control and monopolize the fur trade over the
boundless forests of the Canadas, and stretch-
ing westw^ard and northward along lakes Huron
and Superior to the chain of great and small
lakes, to lakes Winnipeg and Athabasca, and
along the Saskatchewan and the Red River of

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the North, following up the game and the In-
dians wherever they could be found. Though
these were both British companies, yet the riv-
alry and hostility between them was as radical
as they could have been between either of them
and any rival American company.

There were many reasons for that hostility.
The Hudson's Bay Company was the older and
more powerful, and held lettei's patent from the
British crown, and its organization and personnel
were more distinctively English than the other,
M'hich was largely of the French-Canadian type.
Besides, the great profitableness of the fur
trade at that time made it a prize for commer-
cial adventure eagerly to contend for. Hence,
as tiie Northwest Company was reaping a ricii
harvest from its trade in the.se regions, and was
pushing that trade farther and farther west-
ward and southward and northward, the Hud-
son's Bay Company began to set up rival estab-
lishments and place rival traders by the side of
theirs. Personal friendship could not long
continue where commercial interests came into
such sharp competition. The result was open
M'ar between the two companies. Forts were
captured, prisoners taken atid held in captivity:
natives of the same country and subjects of the
same king. Earl Selkirk, of the Hudson's Bay
Company, resolved to establish a colony of
Scotch and Irish Hudson's Bay people on the
Red river, where was the great depot of the
Northwest Company, and which that company
considered its own ground. His first attempt
was a partial I'ailiire, but he was skillful and de-
termined enough to detach some of the most
important partisans of the Northwest Companj'
from its service, and to unite them to that of
the Hudson's Bay Company. Among them
was Colin Robertson, one of the most success-
ful traders and astute administrators of the
company, to whom he committed the control of
the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company in
all that region. He pursued a most vigorous
policy against the company with which he was
so lately identified. The colony at Red river
was re-established. Tiiis only intensified the

strife, and finally led to several severe battles,
ill one of which Governor Semple of the Red
River colony and five other officers of the colony
and fifteen men were killed. The result of
these conflicts, on the whole, was favorable to
the Hudson's Bay Company, but they left the
companies exhausted, and in 1821, to save any-
thing from the wreck of the conflict, tiie com-
panies amalgamated, and the name of the
Northwest Company was lost, all becoming the
Hudson's Bay Company.

The strongest play of this now twice-grown
giant for the heaviest stakes was yet to be cast.
While in London and in Washington diplomats
were debating, and governments trying to foil
each other by a play of technicalities, this giant
corporation was nurturing all its powers and
gathering up all its resources ready to cast them
into the scale, when at last the contending
nations should poise the beam for a last de-
cision. Its play was first for itself, after that
for great Britain, but always against America.

AVhat this company first desii-ed was to hold
the country over which it ruled with such abso-
lute sway in its old condition of liarbarism. It
had no instinct of civilization in it. It cared
nothing for humanity — for man — only as man
could be made a machine for the use of its
money-making greed. For its j^urposes a stolid
and unreasoning Indian, with bow and steel-
trap, roaming the hills or trapping the water
courses for bear or beaver, was worth far more
than the scholar in the schoolroom, or the plow-
man in tlie field. The Indian's wigwam was
better than marble palaces. The silent prow of
the birchen canoe was far more to be desired
than the rush and roar of the wheels of the
steamer. The sharp crack of the huntsman's
rifle in the dark forest was far more musical to
their ears than the roar of the paved streets of
the metropolis. All these, and everything
kindred to these, were what the Hudson's Bay
Company thus sought for itself.

Let the reader pause a little here and remem-
ber that the region this company was thus en-
deavoring, by the unscrupulous use of all its

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

power, to save to itself, and for that end tokeep
in its old barbaric state, was all that wonderful
land in which now the four great States of the
American Dnion — Oregon, Washington, Mon-
tana, and Idaho — then all called Oregon — now
holding a population, a wealth and a culture
greater than the entire thirteen States at the
close of the Revolution. Let him add to this
all of British Columbia, itself a very empire of
prosperous and cultivated civilization, and he
will see for what enormous stakes this powerful
company was playing its desperate game from
the time of its union with the Northwest Com-
pany for at least a quarter of a century. Surely
the prize for which it struggled was well worth
all its ventures.

Next to the keeping of the country for its
own purposes of trade, it was the wish of this
company to put enough vested interests in it to
swing the scale of ultimate ownership in favor
of Great Britain. Indeed it early became ap-
parent to the company that this was the only
means of saving it to itself. Of disinterested
patriotism — country for country's sake — it had
none. Notwithstanding many of its leaders
and managers were eminent in abilities, and
even high in the confidence of the English gov-
ernment, they lived and wrought and wrote
with this ultimate end forever in view, — subor-
dinating country to company and patriotism to
pelf.

We do not mean to say that in this these
men were worse than other men. They were
like other men; and in their very faithfulness
to the ends for which their company existed
there was much that the historian must admire,
though he may not commend the end for which
they so strongly strove. No company's affairs
were ever more ably administered, nor were
means ever more wisely adapted to ends, than
here. The agents of the company were every-
where, watchful, vigilant; friends, if friendship
would serve their jjurposes best, but enemies as
readily as friends, if enmity better secured the
object for which the company existed. Such
was the Hudson's Bay Company when history

brings us to the verge of the decisive conflict of
diplomacy, almost of arms, for the ultimate
ownei-ship of Oregon.

With the union of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany with the Northwest Company in 1821,
there came into the consolidated and greatly
enlarged Hudson's Bay Company a gentleman
destined to a larger place and greater influence
in its history, and the history of the country

Dr. JOHN McLOUGHLIN.

for a full quarter of a century, than any other
man. It was Dr. John McLoughlin. The
position he occupied and the influence he ex-
erted in the country fully justifies us in paus-
ing in the midst of our story to give some brief
characterization of this historic personage.

Dr. John McLoughlin was by birth a Cana-
dian, by blood a Scotch-Englishman. He was
an educated physician, and early entered the
service of the Northwest Fur Company as such,
and served in that capacity at Winnipeg. Such
was his zeal and intelligence, however, that he
exercised a very commanding influence over the
counsels of the company, and at length, when

HISTORT OF WMHJNOTON.

liis company was merged into the Hudson's
Bay, lie became a factor in tliat company, in
which his abilities received their legitimate
appreciation, and he was made governor of all
its territory and business west of the Rocky
mountains. This made him practically a dic-
tator in a country 1,200 miles long and 1,000
miles broad.

In person Dr. McLonghlin was of most im-
posing mien. He stood six feet and three
inches in his moccasins — for he wore the Indian
moccasin generally to the end of his life, — was
erect as a fir tree, and moved with a stately
and even majestic tread. His face was full and
fl(n-id and cleanly shaven, and his eye a clear
blue When the writer's personal acquaintance
with him began, in 1853, his full hair was like
a silver crown, and worn full and flowing, reach-
ing nearly to his shoulders, and his eye had yet
a quick and darting fire. His movements were
decisive, if not quick. His voice in ordinary
conversation was low, and his speech somewhat
slow, but when excited it rang sharply and de-
cisively out, like that of a man who was accus-
tomed to his own way in all that he cared to do
at all. The writer was then a young man, just
entering npon his life-work in Oregon, while
Dr. McLoughlin had then for some years been
a private citizen; but his appearance was so
venerable and august, his position in the coun-
try had been so commanding and his history so
I'einarkable, that he seemed to my imagination
the most impressive personality I had ever
beheld. To this day I doubt whether a more
imposing physical presence ever walked the
streets of this great Northwest than that of
Dr. John McLoughlin.

His character was as marked as his presence.
He had a very high sense of personal honor,
and his integrity was beyond question. He was
generous and humane to an unusual degree.
Quite a number, now among our wealthy and
distinguished citizens, owe their first commer-
cial positions in the trade of this coast to his
helpful hand. And, after the acrimonies aris-
ing from the position of the Hudson's Bay

Company, of which he was chief factor, as the
overwhelming monopoly of the coast, have
passed largely out of the personal remembrance
of the people, and Dr. McLoughlin is remem-
bered only as the man and the citizen that he
appeared after he closed his connection with
that gigantic corporation, there is no name held
in higher veneration by the citizens of Oregon
than his.

With the Hudson's Bay Company, the period
from 1821 to 1833 was an era of growth, and
yet of consolidation. Nothing occurred to dis-
turb the equanimity of its rule. Its power
touched every center and circumference of the
vast territory of its operations. True, some
American fur companies, like that of Sublette,
Smith and Bridger, or some independent trad-
ers and trappers like Bonneville and AVyeth,
now and then ventured over the line of its
assumed rights along the gorges of the Kocky
mountains, but the Hudson's Bay Company
had only to speak and they disappeared. Even
before this era it had absorbed Astor's com-
pany, as we have before noticed. It would
extend this portion of our work unduly were
we to follow in detail the adventures of the
gentlemen and servants of this company through
this decade of its greatest power and prosper-
ity. During this time the diplomatic debate
between Great Britain and the United States as
to the ownership of Oregon passed through
many changes, but seemed not to advance
toward any settlement. Both parties were
claimants of the country, but both were wary,
procrastinating, and fearful of a final tender of
terms. Gieat Britain seemed to have justest
reason to postpone decision. The Hudson's
Bay Company was British. It held the situa-
tion with a grasp it seemed nothing could un-
loose. Its brigades of boats were on every
stream and its hunters and trapjiers on every
trail. There were literally none to oppose
tliem. Their small but wonderful circle of
leaders like Simpson, McLoughlin and Douglas,
were planning with marvelous foresight and
ability to retain for England what their former

niSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

enterprise and courage had apparently gained,
all the Pacitic coast fi-om California to the
Knssian possessions, — a region they well knew
to be among the fairest and most fruitful on
the globe. Tliej held a first mortgage — that of
possession upon it. Give them but time and
they would do the rest. So diplomacy waited
upon possession, trusting that might would
make right, and the young republic on the
Atlantic shore would in some critical and nerv-
ous hour surrender to power what was clearly
her own right in law. Biit both Britain and
the Hudson's Bay Company had left out of
their account the element most determinative
of history, as we shall subsequently see. Mean-
while the relations of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany with competitors in its field, whether
associated or individual, require some consid-
eration.

Subsequent to the defeat of the grand project
of John Jacob Astor, as already related, the ex-
pedition of Captain Bonneville was the first that
held within itself any real threat to the suprem-
acy of the Hudson's Bay Company in the region
then known as Oregon. As it seems needful,
to maintain the continuity of history, and en-
able our readers to understand the latent, as well
as the obvious, causes that finally wrought out
the history of the Pacific Northwest, to give
some brief account of that expedition, a few
sentences regarding Captain Bonneville hei-e
will be acceptable to the reader:

He was of French parentage, born in the city
of New York about the close of the American
Revolution. He inherited all the French vola-
tility and fervor of imagination, though it was
disciplined in his early years by mathematical
studies. He was educated in the United States
Military Academy at West Point, from which
he entered the army, and was for a number of
years stationed on the far western frontier. The
inactive and uneventful life of a soldier in time
of peace ill suited his active and adventurous
temperament, and naturally his eyes turned to-
ward the unexplored regions of the Rocky
mountains as the field offering incident and ex-

citement enough to gratify his atnbition. He
obtained leave of absence from the army, and
secured from the major-general commanding it,
from the secretary of war and from the presi-
dent more than a quasi-indorsement of his
plans. He succeeded in interesting with him-
self Alfred Seaton, of New York, a gentleman
of high respectability and influence, and formed
an association with adequate means for the
prosecution of his expensive project. Mr. Sea-
ton was the more ready to aid Captain Bonne-
ville from having been associated with Mr.
Astor's enterprise, as he was one of the patriot-
ic American youths who were at Astoria at the
time of its surrender to the British. He hoped
to contribute to the raising again of the flag of
his own country on the shores of the Columbia.
Captain Bonneville was also on close terms with
Mr. Astor himself.

Prepared for his adventurous expedition,
Captain Bonneville found himself in the early
spring of 1832 on the western frontier at Fort
Osage, Missouri, where he enlisted a force of
110 men, mostly experienced in the craft of the
plains and mountains, and ready for any enter-
prise of profit or danger. On the Istof Mayof
that year he began his march westward.

To Captain Bonneville belongs the historic
distinction of first conducting wagons to and
over the summit of the Rocky mountains. This
was a distinct gain for civilization, as it intro-
duced civilized methods of locomotion in the
place of those of the barbarous Indian or the
white marauder. These first meant every suc-
ceeding wheel of trader or emigrant or locomo-
tive; and, though the world did not see it, they
meant the Pacific coast for the Americans instead
of the English.

The exciting adventures of his journey west-
ward cannot be followed here. His route was
across the then uupathed solitudes where now
are the wonderful States of Kansas and Ne-
bi-aska, and he opened for wagons the identical
road traveled by emigrants from western Mis-
souri to Oregon until the rail-car displaced the
ox-wagon, nearly forty years after he had pio-

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

Tieered the way. From tlie 1st of May to the
24th of July his long cavalcade of wagons and
horsemen moved slowly westward and upward.
At noon of that day he was beyond the divide
of the Kocky mountains and encamped on a
branch of Green river, then called Seeds-Kee
Agio, or Sage Hen river. On the 27th of July
he reached Green river — the "rendezvous" of
the trappers and traders of the Rocky mountains
for that year, — at least a hundred miles within
the limits of Oregon as the maps then described it.

He had now entered a region of indescribably
wild and broken mountain ranges, and hence
he determined here to abandon his wagons —
the first, we repeat, ever to pass the gates of the
Kocky mountains — and on the 22d of August
packed his horses and began his march still
westward, having selected the valley of Salmon
river, near where Salmon City, in Idaho, is now
situated, as the place for his winter's cantonment.

A full year was spent in the region contiguous
to this place, and the following December he
established his winter quarters on the Portnenf
river. But his main piirpose in coming to the
mountains was yet unfultilled. When all was
settled for bis people in their winter encamp-
ment, with three trusted and hearty mountain-
cheers he mounted his horse on Christmas morn-
ing of 1833, for an expedition of great peril, as
well as of great historic importance, namely,
to penetrate the Blue mountains, visit the
establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company
on the Columbia river, and gain such informa-
tion as he could of the country itself and of the
great company that controlled it.

There is a temptation to the pen of the writer
to follow this wonderful midwinter jouiney of this
wonderfully resolute explorer down the storm-
swept plains of the Snake river, amid the snow-
clad summits of the Blue mountains, across the
alway interesting "Grande Ronde" valley, then
along a devious way among the heights of
"Immaha," as Bonneville writes it, and finally,
of the Columbia and to Fort Walla Walla, the
Columbia river east of the Cascade mountains;
but space forbide the thrilling account.

Captain Bonneville reached Fort Walla AValla
on the 4th day of March, 1884. Though re-
ceived politely, as a man, by Mr. Pambrun, in
charge for the Hudson's Bay Company, when
he sought to purchase some supplies for his re-
turn journey to the Portneuf, he was plainly
told he could have nothing. The policy of that
company was to discourage all trade and all
traders but its own. While Captain Bonneville
was a guest he could have food and polite at-
tention as such, but when Captain Bonneville
was on the trail, a trader representing an Amer-
ican interest, he was to the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany a foe, and it were better to that great
British corporation if he perished than if he
lived. He could therefore have nothing. Piqued
and irritated, and disdaining to receive courtesies
as a man thatwere forbidden him as an American,
on the 6th day of March, having received tiie
hospitality of the Hudson's Bay Company only
two days, he set out on his return to his people
in the valley of Snake river. After many vicis-
situdes among the snows of the Blue mountains
he reached the place of their encampuient on
the 1st of June.

The result of this exploration of Captain Bon-
neville was to satisfy him of two things: First,
that an American trade could profitably be
opened in the valley of the Cohimbia; and, sec-
ond, that any such attempt would meet the
determined and unscrupulous opposition of the
Hudson's Bay Company. Future events demon-
strated that in the first judgment he was mis-
taken, while in the second he was unhappily
correct. Still such was the conviction of his
own mind that, one year later, he prepared to
put his opinions to the test by a second visit to
the Columbia at the head of a trading company
of twenty- three men. He left his encampment
on Bear river on the 8d day of July, 1834. again
traversed the dreary plains of Snake river, pene-
trated the Blue mountains near the line of the
old "emigrant road" and reached the Umatil-
la river (called "Ottolais" by him) about the
middle of September. Being now within thirty
miles of Fort Walla Walla, he sent forward a

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

detachment of his company to procure food, as
he was in danger of famine. They met with a
peremptory refusal of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, who added to the inhospitality of refusing
food for the almost famishing camp, an attempt to
seduce the men from the service of Captain Bon-
neville by most temptingoffers of employment if
they would abandon his employ. They refused,
and returned to the camp of the captain empty-
handed. He instantly broke up his camp, fol-
lowed down the Umatilla river to the Columbia,
and endeavored to open a trade with the Indians
for fish and other food, but the Hudson's Bay
Company had forbidden them to liold any com-
munication with the Americans, and they kept
almost entirely out of his sight. He endeavored
to force his way down the Columbia river to the
Willamette, where he intended to establish his
winter quarters, but it was everywhere the same:
not an article of provisions could be obtained.
To keep his men from starvation two of his
horses were killed for food. But to unhorse his
company even to sustain life here was certainly
to lose all their lives. An enemy he could not
see confronted him everywhere, and inhospitable
nature seemed in league with thac enemy to de-
stroy him. The reader need not be told that
that unseen enemy was the dread and deadly
influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, poison-
ing the suspicious and timid minds of the In-
dians against all that was American. The way
before him to the Willamette was unknown.
That valley itself was only a fable to his men,
lovely and rich indeed as a fable, but they dared
not venture farther. Nothing seemed to remain
to him but a hasty return to the Blue mountains,
where deer and elk could be found for food, or death
by starvation on the driving Columbia sands.
The alternative of return and life was chosen, and
reluctantly he faced his company eastward for
the mountains. Thus Bonneville's struggle to
establish an American traffic on the Columbia in
opposition to the Hudson's Bay Company ended
in utter failure. Few among the men of the
mountains and plains at that time had the
courage and caution and will of Bonneville,

and where he failed none need hope to succeed.

In subsequent years Bonneville, then a major
in the United States army, was put in command
of the troops of the United States stationed at
the old Hudson's Bay post of Vancouver, and
there the writer met and conversed with him in
the autumn of 1853, suave, intelligent, filled
with pioneer memories, and delighting to re-
count the incidents of his three years in the
mountains of eastern Oregon from 1832 to 1835,
where, though ostensibly a mere trader, lu^Was
really under the sanction of the president of the
United States as an observer of the attitudes and
power of the Hudson's Bay Company, the rep-
resentative and embodiment of the British Gov-
ernment in Oregon.

After the power of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany had compassed the defeat of Bonneville's
well-laid schemes, the next to try his prowess
against it was Mr. NathanielJ. Wyeth, of Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts. Indeed, Mr. Wyeth 's
adventure was partly contemporaneous with
Captain Bonneville's, though its disastrous cul-
mination was somewhat later. Like all men
who assay such gigantic undertakings, Mr.
Wyeth was ardent, enthusiastic, determined and
capable of inspiring others with his own spirit.
In 1832 he organized an emigrating company
of twenty-two persons in Massachusetts, for the
purpose of pi-oceeding to Oregon, and, together
with establishing a trade with the Indians, oc-
cupy portions of the country as settlers.

With this company he started westward.
Knowing little of practical life on the frontier,
it was not until they reached St. Louis and be-
gan to come in contact with such men as the
Sublettes that the true character and great diffi-
culty of their undertaking began to dawn upon
their minds. Some of his party turned back,
but Mr. Wyeth was made of hardy stuff, and
with others he pushed forward, and finally
reached the Columbia river and Vancouver;
and, having made a somewhat cursory examina-
tion of the country, and being greatly impressed
with its beauty and resources, returned to Bos-
ton and immediately entered on preparations to

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

forward a ship load of suitable merchandise the
foUowincr year for the Columbia, while he, with
an associated compuny of men, should return to
Oregon by land and enter the list of competition
with the Hudson's Bay Company in the very
center of its power.

In connection with this journey of Mr. Wy-
etli occurred an event that incidentally illustra-
ted the ability and disposition of the Hudson's
Bay Company to do anything at any cost neces-
sary to control the trade of all the West. It
was this:

On his return eastward the year before, Mi'.
Wyeth had entered into a contract with one of
the Sublettes in the Kocky mountains for the
deliver}' of a large invoice of merchandise at the
rendezvous of the following year. Mr. Wyeth,
true to his part of the contract, brought forward
the goods and had them at the rendezvous on
Green river the latter part of June. Mr. Sub-
lette is said to have violated his part of the con-
tract under the urgent advice of others, and Mr.
Wyeth found himself in the middle of the con-
tinent with a large invoice of merchandise for
which he had no market. He was highly and
justly indignant, and told Mr. Sublette and his
associates, who were trying to monopolize the
American trade with the Indians, that he "would
roll a stone into their garden that they would
not be able to get rid of." He immediately
packed his goods, went on westward a few days'
journey and erected Fort Hall, on Snake river,
where he deposited his goods and opened a trade
with the Indians and mountain men. The
Hudson's Bay Company immediately established
Fort Boise, farther down Snake river, as a rival
to Fort Hall. Unable to cope with that com-
pany, Mr. Wyeth accepted an offer from it for
the purchase of Fort Hall, and thus in a few
months fulfilled his justifiable threat to Mr.
Sublette and his associates by installing the
Hudson's Bay Company several hundred miles
farther east than it bad ever established a post
before. No rival could stand before that company
west of the summits of the Rocky mountains.

This done, Mr. Wyeth proceeded westward to

Vancouver to await the arrival of his vessel, the
brig May Dacre, that was expected in Septem-
ber. In due time she arrived, anchored in the
lower mouth of the Willamette river, and be-
gan discharging her cargo on Wapatoo, now
Sauvies, island, where Mr. Wyeth ei'ected a
trading post called Fort William, in which he
deposited his goods, and where he assayed to
open up a traffic. His position was both well
and poorly chosen. It was central to the lower
Columbia and to the tribes that dwelt upon its
banks, who traveled mostly in canoes. It was
easy of access from the tribes of the Willamette.
It was where sea-going craft could easily reach
it. In these respects his position was well
chosen. But it was within fifteen miles of
Vancouver, the headquarters of the Hudson's
Bay Company, and in immediate rivalry with
its most astute and accomplished leaders. In
this respect his location was poorly chosen, and
a very short time made it necessary for him
here, as at Fort Hall, to accept the best terms
he could obtain of that company and abandon
his enterprise, and even the country itself. Mr.
Wyeth, in a memorial to Congress on the Ore-
gon question in 1839, says of that company:
" Experience has satisfied me that the entire
weight of that company will be made to bear on
any trader who shall attempt to prosecute his
business within its reach. * * * No sooner
does an American concern start in this region
than one of its trading parties is put in motion.
A few years will make the country west of the
mountains as completely English as they caq
desire."

With this complete failure of Mr. Wyeth's
enterprise terminated the last organized eifort
of American traders to establish a successful
rival to the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon,
either for trade or the protection of American
interests and the advancement pf American
claims to the country itself; and 1834 closed
and 1835 was ushered in with British suprem-
acy, represented by the Hudson's Bay Company,
apparently assured in all tlie country of the
Columbia.

lIIbTORY OF WASHINGTON.

At tliis time, 1834, the Pludson's Bay Com-
pany had more than twenty posts in Oregon,
and over 2,000 men in the various branches of
their employ. There were probably not a hun-
dred Americans in the same territory, and tliey
were hunters and trappers, isolated and wander-
ing over a vast region of country, too few to be
formidable, and too dependent on the hospi-
tality of that company to be dreaded as rivals.
This showed Mr. Wyeth's statement to be true,
that " tlie United States as a nation are un-
known west of tlie mountains." The Hudson's
Bay Company ruled stipreme, and there seemed
no probability to those on the ground that its
supremacy would soon, if ever, be shaken. It
is well, therefore, that we pause here and take a
brief survey of what Oregon was in this su-
preme iiour of Hudson's Bay domination.

It will be remembered that we are now writ-
ing of Oregon as it was understood in 1834, ex-
tending from the 42° to 54° 40' of north lati-
tude, and from the Pacific ocean to the Rocky
mountains. It was the distinct and avowed
policy of tlie ruling company to keep back all
settlement and hold the country only for the
production of game. White men, therefore,
were unwelcome intruders, unless they were of
those races ready to intermarry with Indian
women, and thus render themselves fit for the
barbaric purposes of that company. They would
have no civilization, as we understand civiliza-
tion. The greatest and ablest and best men
among them were interman-ied with the native
women, and half-breed children swarmed aroimd
their habitations. These conditions were a
necessity of their policy, and that policy was
the only means of securing the ends for which
the Hudson's Bay Company was organized, and
for which it existed. "VYe are speaking of this
policy of the company as we saw it in the last
days of its existence in Oregon, when it seemed
to us so strange that intelligent and educated
English, Scotch, and Canadian gentlemen could
ever have fallen into such barbaric modes of
domestic living. But we were then comparing
their life with the ideals of our own New York

training, and were ignorant of the history and
avowed purposes of the company whose best
social products we saw. When these were
studied we plainly saw that this was not per-
verse criminality in the people we saw around
us, but a commercial necessity in their relations
of life. Anything that meant or typed the
civilization of an American village would of
necessity have been tiie germ of its destruction
to the end for which all this system lived and
wrought. Illustrating this, a statement of a
chaplain at Moose Factory may be quoted. lie
said: " A plan I had devised for educating and
training to som.e acquaintance with agriculture
native children was disallowed. * * * ^
proposal for forming a small Indian village near
Moose Factory was not acceded to, and, instead,
permission only given to attempt the location of
one or two old men no longer tit for engaging
in the chase, it being carefully and distinctly
stated by Sir George Simpson that tlie company
would not give them even a spade to commence
their new mode of life! "

Coming to understand that this policy was
the wisest, indeed the only means of perpetu-
ating the company itself, we soon found that
the "gentlemen of the company," as they were
called, personally were indeed gentlemen, while
as officers of the company they were necessarily
opposed to all that made for civilization. Hence
we are able to write of Dr. McLoughlin as a
man as we have truly written. Let the reader
himself apply these reflections to the Oregon of
1834, and he will understand what, socially and
commercially, the Hudson's Bay Comjwny, at
its very best estate, and in the day of its su-
premest power, had made of one of the finest
lands upon which shines the universal sun; and
in this knowledge he will understand just what
the Hudson's Bay Company meant to do for
humanity. Almost necessarily its life was en-
tirely hid behind the lids of its own ledger, and
to quote the language of Hazlit, it -'had no
ideas but those of custom and interest, and that
on the narrowest scale."

HISTORY OF WASniNOTON.

We have said that the supremacy of the
Hudson's Bay Company on the Columbia, and
tiirough that company the ultimate ownership
of Oregon by Great Britain, was "apparently
assured" in 1834. But the genius and prophet
of the downfall of the great company, and the
defeat of British plans for the possession of the

country, was then surveying Oregon, looking
through the blue eyes of a pioneer missionary,
who landed at Vancouver within a few days of
the arrival of Mr. Wyeth, of whose coming and
going we have previously spoken. Our next
chapter will tell something of influences that
proved too mighty for that power.

CHAFTEK X.

THE MISSIONS AND THE AMERICANIZATION OF THE NORTHWEST.

The Gkeat Rivals-Eaely Foem of the Contest — A New Element Inteoduoed — The Newly
Matched (Contestants —Hudson's Bay Company at the Zenith of its Fowee — Oeegon's only
Occupants — Aeeival of Foue Men — Theie Suppoet and Fateonage — Theie Ameeicanism
— The Geowth of the Missionary Fowee — Two Classes — The Methodist Missions — Mis-
sions OF THE American Board — Independent Missions — Facts — What the Hudson's Bay
Company is Doing — The Feople of the Hudson's Bay Company — The American Feople — ■
Jason Lee, the Corypheus of American Sentiment — His Visit to the East and Return —
Missions the Centers of American Sentiments and Feople — Contest Morally Closed.

rJROM the time that the claims of France
and Spain to the Oregon country were
^ finally transferred to the United States in
1803, there was, as our readers have seen, no
claimant contesting with the United States for
the ownership of the country but England. Its
final possession by one or the other of these
great powers was evidently in the way of the
destiny of empire. They were nations of one
blood, except that in the United States there
was a deeper tinge of the cavalier in the veins
of the people than in England. Their very re-
lationship and similarity of origin and of char-
acter, made them essentially rivals, jealous of
each other's power, and anxious to place bar-
riers in the way of each other's advancement.
Besides, the United States were not far enough
removed from the close of a successful rebellion
against the misgovernment of England, in wiiich
rebellion this country had snatched the guerdon
of her nationality from the dismemljered em-
pire of Great Britain, for either to have come
to an era of real friendliness and national fra-
ternity. The very actors in the events of 1776
and 1784, both in England and America, were
yet in places of power in the two countries.

They had not foi-gotten, and they had not for-
given. The Americans were the most forgiv-
ing, for they had won the most, and hence could
most easily forgive. The British had lost the
most, and hence were the sorest and most un-
relenting. It was to he expected, therefore, that
the struggle for what botii so greatly desired,
and each believed it owned, would be long and
tenacious, and that it would be led through
every possible chance and change Ijefore it
would be finally decided.

We have seen how, in commerce by sea and
river, and in the rivalries of the trail and the
mountains, the fur companies that represented
severally these two nationalities had met each
other, and how in every contest of that character
the representatives of England had defeated,
thwarted and driven away the representatives of
the United States, until, though there was a
legal joint occupancy, there was no real occu-
pancy but that of Great Britain. From 1813,
when the British flag was raised over Astoria,
for a full score of years the stars and stripes
waved in the skies of Oregon only as a transient
visitor, while the cross of St. George symboled
the real ruling power over the country from the

UISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

niountaiiis to the sea. Tlie Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, wholly representative of the designs and
spirit of the British crown, and intensely loyal
to thein, held supreme dominion over the -whole
country. It seemed a foregone conclusion that
this pow^erful organization, with its great wealth,
and its nnrivaled facilities for transplanting its
own numerous- people into the fruitful soil of
these Pacific valleys, would win for England the
" nine points of law," — possession of the coun-
try. So the issue and the probability stood up
to 1834.

In 1834 the contest was re-opened in another
form. Another wholly American element was
introduced. It came noiselessly, unheralded,
without display of march- or flaunt of ensign.
It was so small in numbers, and so humble in
pretense, that it scarcely arrested the attention
of the powerful men who were then at the head
of the British power on the banks of the Colum-
bia. Its ]U-ofessed and real purpose so com-
mended itself to every gracious sentiment of
the liuman heart, that men so really humane as
were they could not but give it encouragement
and blessing. This element, thus introduced,
was what, technically, in the early history of
the country was known as the " missionary ele-
ment." It came in the persons of four men
whose names have been elsewhere mentioned in
this book, but which will bear repeating here,
namely: Jason Lee, Daniel Lee, Cyrus Sliepard
and P. L. Edwards, and they were the types and
forerunners of all the missionaries, who, for the
following decade, practically alone embodied
and expressed the American sentiment and the
American citizensliip, in contrast with the Brit-
ish spirit and the British citizenship embodied
and expressed by the Hudson's Bay Company.

The one thing that distinguished these men
in the relation in which we are now writing of
them, and the missions established by them and
by those who came subsequently, was their
Americanism. They not only came to this coast
by the direction of the most intensely American
church in the country, but they came under the
passport and permit, and hence under the [H'o-

teetion of the Government of the United States,
certified to Mr. Lee and his coadjutors by Gen-
eral John H. Eaton, the honorable secretary of
war under Andrew Jackson, president of the
United States at that time. This, with their
own personal citizenship, gave them a character
not less distinctively American than it was
missionary. The same statement, in substance,
would be true of all the Potestant missions es-
tablished in the counti-y, whether by the great
denominational or interdenominational societies,
or by individual citizens of the United States.
They were all Americans — intensely, radically
and loyally American.

We are not ignoring the fact that tlie mis-
sionaries who came to Oregon from 1834 up to
1840 came primarily for the purpose of evan-
gelizing the pagan tribes of this great North-
west. We are only bringing to view the other
fact tliat in doing or attempting this they never
forgot and never slighted or temporized with
their national relationship. Patriotism, in its
true sense of love of the country that fostered
and encouraged their works, and spread the
broad aegis of its protection over then:selves
personally, was a part of their religion. Their
feelings were never isolated from the country
that thus protected and cherished them, but
tliey "loved its rocks and rills, its woods and
templed hills," with a great, venerating, patri-
otic love. They might not have done this, the
more because they were missionaries, in a land
where at that time an American citizen could
have but a doubtful and precarious sojourn, but
tliey certainly did not do this the less for that
reason. Here, then, were the matched contest-
ants for the possession and consequent owner-
ship of Oregon, — the Hudson's Bay Company
on the one side, with the confidence of its past
successes and its present power upon it; the mis-
sionary stations and missionaries, with their
higli moral purpose and their American senti-
ment, on the other. Providence had thus handed
over the conflict of enrpire on the northwest
coast to these contesting elements, and then
awaited the issue.

Ul STORY OF WASIHNQTON.

At this time the Hudson's Bay Company
was at tlie very zenith of its power. Its lead-
ers were kiiiors of men. Its cavalcades were on
every inter-monntain trail over half a continent.
Its ileets of batteaux and canoes were on every
lake, and its voyageiirs sung to the music of
every cascade fram Winnipeg to California, and
from the mountains to the sea. A contest of
force, of brawn, or even of trade and commerce
with it at that time would have been simple
madness. Indeed the latter was adventured at
this very time by at least two of the ablest and
most determined leaders that the history of such
commercial partnership among Americans ever
produced, — Wyeth and Bonneville, — and both
were compelled to hastily retire from the field,
Wyeth bequeathing his fortune, with Forts Hall
and William, to the Britain, and Bonneville was
compelled to fly from starvation on the banks
of the Columbia because the very fish of the
rivers and game of the hills were denied him
by the lordly barons who ruled at Vancouver
for themselves and Britain only. So intrenched
was this British power behind the great mount-
ain ranges of the raid-continent that armies
could not march against it if they would; and
on the thither side 3,000 leagues of ocean,
roamed by the prowling cruisers of the British
navy, kept eternal watch and ward over them.
Thus they stood, and thus Britannia ruled, not
the wave only, but the land as well, when these
avaunt couriers of the mighty host of Ameri-
cans that ten years later began to follow in their
footsteps sat calmly down before this mountain
power of commercial supremacy, and that other
mountain power of paganism intrenched in the
superstitious legends of a hundred generations
of petrified intellectual and moral darkness, and
began, in their thoughts, if not in their speech,
to prophesy to them: •' O, thou great mount-
ain, be thou plucked up and be thou cast into
the midst of the sea."

These men were not a power in themselves to
enter this vast contention for the possession of
a mighty empire, for there were but four of
them ; but they were the seed of a power, the

germ of a force, that was to win that empire to
American civilization, and plant it in the blue
field of our country's banner.

It is now time that we begin to note and
measure the growth of that new force that thus
confronted the old. The task is difficult, for
who can weigh or measure such forces? — but
we must attempt it.

We have before remarked the fact that these
mission establishments were of two classes:
First, those organized and sustained by great
missionary societies, like the Missionary Society
of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the
American Board of Commissioners of Foreign
Missions; and, second, personal and indepen-
dent missions, established and sustained by the
men who themselves wrought in them. But
they were all Americans, and nearly all of New
England blood, if not of New England birth.
That our readers may the better understand the
relations, both of men and events, to resultant
history, we shall consider these classes separ-
ately; and it is the logical order to consider
fii'st the class that itself was the first in the
order of time. This was the missions of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 18.34 the four men already named — Jason
Lee, Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard and P. L.
Edwards — under the direction of that society,
established themselves in the very heart of the
Willamette Valley, the great agricultural para-
dise of Oregon. These were followed, in 1836,
by Dr. Elijah White and wife, with two chil-
dren; Mr. Alansou Beers and wife, with three
children; with Mr. William H. Willson and
Misses Anna M. Pittman, Susan Downing and
Elvira Johnson. Wlien these arrived, in May,
1837, the first American home was planted in
the Willamette Valley. There had scarcely
been even the semblance of a home, as we under-
stand that word, in Oregon previous to that
time. Even the able and cultivated leaders of
the Hudson's Bay Company had consorted with
the Indian women, and their abodes had the
odor of the wigwam, and their progeny the
taint of Indian blood. But here were educated

HISTOBT OF WASHINGTON.

and cultured white women, accustomed to the
refinements of the parlors of Boston and Lynn,
of Newark and New York, able to grace any
social life, as well as to aid in lifting up a fallen
and degraded race. Before only pioneer Ameri-
can manhood had been here; now pioneer
womanhood and childhood, and with them pio-
neer home lite, were added, and an American
community, with all the elements of perpetuity
and increase in itselt, was established in the
very heart of Oregon. Nor should the state-
ment be omitted here that, with these men and
women and children, the Missionary Board had
forwarded a large amount of stores of various
kinds to render its community practically inde-
pendent of all others. Within six months of
the arrival of this company the community was
further strengthened, both in its numbers and
its character, by the arrival of Rev. David Les-
lie and wife with three children, Miss Margaret
Smith and Rev. H. K. W. Perkins. Thus, be-
fore three years from the arrival of the first
company of four men, the Missionary Society
of tlie Methodist Episcopal Church had planted
an American community in the Willamette
valley, consisting of men, women and children,
with homes and schools and worship, with flocks
and herds and plows and harvests, peaceably,
but mightily confronting the rule of the Hud-
son's Bay Company over the fair realm which
it so long had governed. In less than three
years more fifty-one more persons were added
to this American community by the same mis-
sionary authority. These consisted of Revs.
J. P. Richmond, Gustavus Hines, W. W. Kone,
A. F. Waller and J. H. Frost, and Messrs. Dr. I. L.
Babcock, and Messrs. George Abernethy, H. B.
Brewer, W. W. Raymond, L. H. Jndson, H.
Campbell, Josiah L. Parrish and James Olley,
all of whom had families, and Misses M. T.
Ware, C. A. Clark, E. Phillips, A. Phelps and
O. Lankton. So, in less than six years after its
first small contingents had reached Oregon, the
Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society had
not only planted an American community in
Oregon, but had made it so strong and so estab-

lished it on strategetic grounds all over the
Northwest as to make it ineradicable, — doing
what the United States Government and fur-
traders and commercial adventurers had faileii
to do in fifty years of effort.

We turn now to the work of the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
in the same general field and with a like result.
Its first mission in Oregon was established in
1H36, two years later than that of the Method-
ist society, though the country had been quite
thoroughly e.\plored the preceding year by Rev.
Samuel Parker, of New York, a very intelligent
and careful observer. The persons who for this
society established this mission were Dr. Marcus
AVhitman and wife and Mr. W. H. Gray, all
from the State of New York, and all, like those
connected with the Methodist community, in-
tensely Atnerican in training and sentiment.
This company of five persons, including the
two ladies, crossed the continent from the Mis-
souri river on horseback, a distance of nearly
2,000 miles. Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spauld-
ing were the first white women of any nation
who ever made a home in Oregon, and are for-
ever monuraented as such in the history of
civilization of the Northwest. The American
heart lingers over their deeds and their memory
with a great love and a great reverence, and
is glad to give them the crowning place, of
which personally they were so worthy, and
which with such bravery they won that of the
first American home-makers between the Rocky
mountains and the eastern sea. The missions
of these people were established in the very
heart of what has since become known as the
great •' Inland Empire," at Waiiletpu, on the
Walla Walla river, and at Lapwai on the Clear-
water, among the Cayuses and Nez Perces, the
two strongest and most promising tribes of the
entire coast. In 1838 Messrs. Eels, Walker •
and Smith, with their wives, joined them, and
they enlarged their work and broadened their
field. So, at the close of 1838, the American
Board had six American families, representing
the best forms of American life and sentiment.

niSTOBT OF WASHINGTON.

tirinly iixed on the soil of the Oregon of that
period; its contribution to the double result of
the evangelization of a pagan people and the
the Americanization of Oregon.

In addition to these there were wiiat we have
called independent missions, establishedon the
individual responsibility of those conducting
them, that contributed no slight influence to the
gi-eat aggregate of American sentiment and life
that was now beginning to repress and neutral-
ize the sway of the Hudson's Bay Company.
In 1838 Rev. Harvey Clarke, Mr. Littlejohn
and Mr. Smith, Presbyterian self-supporting
missionaries, with their wives, came over the
mountains, and in 1839 Messrs. Griffin and
Munger and their wives entei'ed ^the country
with similar intentions. What we have said of
the gentlemen and ladies of the missions of the
two great boards would be true in character of
all these. They were of the same type of repre-
sentative Americans, stood in the same relation
to the Hudson's Bay Company, and were as
thoroughly at one with the plans and hopes of
the United States in regard to the country as
were the others. In a sense, indeed, their in-
dependence gave them a vantage ground not
possessed by the others, and which they were
prompt and faithful to use for the cause of the
country they loved so tenderly.

Having thus summarily noted the beginning
and traced the development of this entii-ely
American force in Oregon up to the autumn of
1840, a period of but six years, we are in pos-
session of the following facts:

The entire number of adult men and women
that these missionary boards had transplanted
from the best life of the old States into Oregon,
together with those of the independent missions,
was sixty-one, constituting not far from thirty
American homes. Probably these homes held
at that time not far from 100 children, born to
an inheritance of American patriotism which
certainly would not diminish when they con-
trasted their own with the homes of those who
disputed with them the dominion ot Oregon.

But it was not numbers only, nor indeed was

it numbers chiefly, that gave these American
people the prestige of conquest. Tiic names of
Lee and Leslie, of Whitman and Waller, of Hines
and Parrish, of Abernethy and Gray, of Spauld-
ing and Walker, of Clarke and Griflin, of Bab-
cock and Campbell, of Eels and Hall sufficiently
attest that, for no writer of early Oregon history
can fail to give them honorable mention, or to
recognize their great influence in moldino- that
history.

Two other facts, of a somewhat material char-
acter, illustrate the eminent service of the mis-
sions in making civilization a possibility in
Oregon. One was the establishment of mills,
both for the production of lumber and the
grinding of grain for bread, by the missions of
both boards; the other was the introduction of a
printing press in 1839, by Mr. E. O. Hall, who
set up his press in Lapwai, in the mission of
Mr. Spaulding, and published elementary books,
both in the Nez Perces and Spokane tongues.
And so we are bi'ought to the close of 1840.

Meantime we should know what the Hud-
sou's Bay Company, as representing British
pretensions to Oregon, has been doing durino-
the six years that the American missions have
been developing into this formidable and op-
posing force. Surely such astute leaders as Mc-
Loughlin and Douglas could not fail to com-
prehend the threat against the position and
power of their company that was in the very
presence of these missionary establishments near
them. Two things were done, both in them-
selves well chosen for the end contemplated.
First, they introduced in 1838 two French Ca-
nadian Roman Catholic priests. These were
British subjects, and it was expected, of course,
that the influence their profession and character
gave them would be exerted against the Ameri-
can and in favor of the British rule in Oregon.
This the company had a perfect right to do; and
this also Messrs. Blanchet and Demers, the two
priests, had a perfect right to do. They placed
these priests at most important strategetic
points; one in the Willamette valley, very near
the Methodist missions, and the other was a

HISTORY OF WASIIINGTON.

faithful itinerant, visiting the diiferent posts of
the company alternately. Also in 1840 tlie
company brought an emigration of 125 persons,
men, women and children, from Winnipeg, to
settle on Pnget Sound. Thus, at the two points
where tlie leaders of that great company feared
theinfluenceof the American missions the most,
they made the most strenuous effort to counter-
vail that influence. They knew the greatness of
the prize at issue, and they were not the men to
neglect any fair means they could use to win
that prize for the government of the country
they represented.

"We do not blame them for this. On the
contrary there is a measure of honor that we
accord them. They were faitliful to the trust
their country leposed in them. They did
what they could, and in tlie best way they
could, to counteract the influence that, tliey
could not bnt see, left unchecked must givetiie
long disputed Oregon, coveted equally by both
England and the United States, to the Ameri-
can nation. And here it is proper to say that,
though the men whose acts we are here record-
ing were both British and Romanist, and this
writer is both American and Protestant, there
is no record, certainly not up to this date, of
any action on the part of either the British or
American party that was discolored by criminal
unfriendliness. On the contrary, while doing
their duty for the caiise they represented,
neither forgot that broader duty they owed to
universal humanity. Still tiie results on the
one side were much more effective and deter-
mining than on the other. Can we tell why?
Let us see, although the observant reader has
already caught the drift of the reason in what
we have previously said.

The claims and interests of Great Britain in
Oregon were sustained on the whole, by a con-
glomerate mass of people, of various colors and
cultures, and with very little of moral and so-
cial adhesiveness. The Briton and the Scotch-
man, it is true, were at their head, but the
French Canadians constituted the larger por-
tion of their followers. What they had of

home life, from the highest to tlie lowest, was
an admixture of these with the females of the
various Indian tribes, and servetl to weaken,
rather than to strengthen, the moral and intel-
lectual flber of the best men among them. The
traders', the chief factors, and even the gover-
nor himself, were as the voyageurs and trail-
men in this regard. Their children were, as a
body, witiiout any large and worthy ambition:
too high to be Indians and too low to be white
men. A home and social life thus tainted
never was and never can be a strong politi;al
life, and no men could know this better than
the really able men whose lives had fallen into
these evil coils. One need, therefore, not look
beyond this fact for an explanation of the his-
toric anomaly so patent here, namely, that the
strorger in numbers and positions and oppor-
tunity should prove the weaker in a conflict of
intellectual and moral, or even political ])oten-
cies.

On the other side, — the side of the American
community, as embodied, up to this time, in
missions and missionaries — there was a homo-
geneity of moral and intellectual and national
idea that gave it the strength of welded steel,
while it had the elasticity of a three-fold cord.
They were picked men and women, chosen
from among the hardiest and most aspiring
people of the new world. They had been
trained on the farms and in the shops and at
the forges where human frames are annealed
into endurance and tempered into elasticity'.
They were educated, in the best sense of that
word. There was neither illiteracy nor ignor-
ance among them. They were isolated from
contaminating and degenerating contacts. Many
of them, both men and women, had high liter-
ary ability and culture. They had ambition, —
that supreme propulsion that forever lifts great
sonls from the victories of to-day into the wider
triumphs of to-morrow. They comprehended
their responsibility and accurately measured
their opportunity. It may be doubted if the
Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock as uni-
versally endowed and thorouglily equipped body

UISrOBY OF WASHINGTON.

of einpire-bnilders as the inissiouary boards of
the United States placed in Oregon from 1834
to 1840. And this was the body of men who
stood here alone for American interests and
supremacy over against the Hudson's Bay
Company, representing English interests and
supremacy.

We are not to be understood as saying that
there were absolutely no Americans here before
1840 but the missionaries and their families.
There were a few, possibly twenty-five in all,
but they were mostly of that floating class that
linger on the fringes of society, or that wander
over the world without a fixed and definite aim.
Some of them remained in the county, and
under the influence of tiie stronger power of
the missionary organizations became highly
useful members of society, and left an honor-
able record in its early history. Not strong
enough in numliers to constitute a community,
it was beyond the possibilities of tlieir condi-
tion that they should uphold and make ulti-
mately successful the American cause in Oregon.

The wi-iter would not detract from the credit
or fame due any man, or any class of men, from
their work for and in our early Oregon; nor
would he add to the laurels of any one more
than is due. But up to this date the American
interest here owed more to the influence and
work of Jason Lee than to those of any other
one man, if not indeed to all the men in the
country combined. He was as fully the Cory-
pheus of the American cominuiiity as was Dr.
McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay British influ-
ence. He was a man strong in purpose, vigor-
ous in execution, reticent and self-contained.
Being first in the field, he very early made him-
self well acquainted with the country from tlie
Umpqua to Puget Sound, and from the ocean
to the Rocky mountains. His manuscript
journal, now open before the writer, shows that
he placed a very high estimate on the agricul-
tural capabilities of the country, and especially
of the Willamette valley, and as early as 1835
believed that it would soon be occupied by a
civilized people. His correspondence with the

Board of Missions in whose service he was em-
ployed, which was published in New York in
1835-'36-'37 and '38, showed the same thing.
Following up his belief on this point, in 1838
he returned overland to the States, and before
the missionary board in New York, in the pub-
lic prints, and in the presence of great audi-
ences in every great city from Maine to South
Carolina, and from New York to St. Louis, he
set forth the character, needs and advantages of
Oregon. He spent a full year in this employ-
ment, visiting Washington and conferring with
the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War,
and receiving substantial help from the officers
of the general Government for the furtherance
of the purpose for which he was in the East, —
the organization and equipment of a strong re-
enforcement for his missionary work. His pur-
pose was completely successful, and in October
of 1839 he sailed from New York in a ship
chartered by the missionary board, with what
was really an American colony; ministers,
mechanics, farmers, teachers, and with supplies
for the work in which they had engaged, to the
value of 125,000. It was the largest and best
furnished company that, on such a purpose, had
over sailed from any port; and when it reached
the Columbia in 1840, with Mr. Lee at its
head, it morally fixed the national status of
Oregon, because it put the American influence
far in advance of the British. The inception,
organization and cultivation of that influence
was more directly the result of 'the work of
Jason Lee than that of any other one man.

A single other point in our view of the rela-
tions of these missionary stations to the Ameri-
canization of Oregon it is necessary to notice.
It is this: The stations became the centers around
which accreted whatever there was of American
sentiment or American people in the coimtry.
This was especially true of the Willamette sta-
tion. True to its purpose, and the nation under
whose charter it pursued that purpose, the Hud-
son's Bay Company would do nothing to induce
or Ibstei' American settlement. While it would
sell its goods to Americans, it would buy noth-

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

ing from them. This was the surest system of
antagonism it could possibly have adopted. It
had forced the Americans out of the country
before the missionary stations were established,
and, until an organization able to cope with
itself in mercantile operations could take up
work of colonizing the country, it could keep
them out. Eivalry in trade it did not fear, for
that it could easily destroy. But the mission-
ary establishments, while independent and self-
supporting, were not trading posts. Even
their object in the country commended itself to
the better feelings of the gentlemen of that
company, and, without turning absolute bar-
barians, they could not molest them. This
they would not, perhaps could not do. Hence
they could not prevent the ministry of hospi-
tality, which the missionaries were always ready
to exercise toward their countrymen, and all

others, indeed, who came to their doors or
pitched their tent under the shadows of their
sanctuary. And so, thoiigli the missionaries
were not traders, nor their stations depots of
commerce, they were, in the only way in which
rivalry could have been successful against the
Hudson's Bay Company, the rivals of tliat erst
and mighty monopqly; and, by the time any
considerable number of American citizens were
prepared to follow the path they had blazed out
into the valleys of Oregon in 1842, they had
prepared an asylum for them, and broken tlie
right arm of the power of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and never afterward did it, or the
British nation, which it had so ably repre-
sented, recover supremacy in Oregon. Morally
the contest was ended, and Oregon was Ameri-
canized.

>_»^^3Wb-

CH AFTER XI.

IMMIGRATIONS.

Germs of History — Question of Immigration Discussed — Hall J. Kelley — His Memorial to
Congress — Society Organized— Its Plan Outlined — Kelley's Efforts to Open Trade —
His Failuke — From 1835 to 1841 — Immigration of 1841 — Americans — Hudson's Bay —
Immmigeation of 1842 — Its Importance — Dr. E. White — Other Important Characters —
Me. Crawford's Stoey' — Immigeation of 1843 — Its Important Place in History— Causes
that Impelled it — General Direction of Negotiations — Impulse of Emmigration.

I[ N the story of emigration to the Pacific coast
from the Atlantic slope and the valleys of
-1 the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers,
are found the real germs of its history. There
is in this story a romance of enterprise, patriot-
ism, adventure and ambition, finely illustrating
the genius of the American people as it has ex-
hibited itself since Jamestown in the South and
Plymouth Rock in the North became the early
altars of its consecration to the service of sub-
duing a wild continent and building up within
it a splendid empire of lilierty. It \v;is (inly a

continuation of the activity of that genius of
free conquest that first sent the hardy sons and
daughters of Plymouth out over the Hudson
and Genesee, and over the plains of western
New York and Ohio, and the not less hardy and
more volatile sons and daughters of Jamestown
over the AUeghanies and down across the blue
and green hills and vales of Kentucky and
Tennessee to the shores of the Mississippi even
before the Revolutionary war had ceased to echo
on the hills of the Carolinas. It is not neces-
sary to claim that these who passed, in the '30s

Ul STORY OP WASUINOTON.

and '40s, the gates of the Rocky mountains
were greater and nobler than those wlio, before
the beginning of the century, had forced those
of the AUeghanies to give these a title to all the
honor that bravery and hardihood and patriot-
ism can possibly confer upon mortals. It were
honor enough that these sons were worthy of
their sires, and that the daughters, whose pres-
ence graced and illuminated the mountain biv-
ouacs of a two or three thousand miles emigrants'
trail to Oregon, and were the lone settler's cabin's
chief charm and glory on the prairie shores of
the Willamette during the decade of 1840 and
1850, were worthy of the mothers whose com-
pany was alike the joys and inspiration of the
two or three hundred miles' trail to the Ohio
and the Tennessee in the decades of 1790 and
1800. There was, indeed, more of danger and
more of deprivation in the earlier than in the
later hegira, but both fully paralleled any great
conquering movement of humanity in any period
of the world's history. If there was in these
less of the noise of battles, and less of the ban-
nered heraldry of war, there was not necessarily
less of real victory, but rather the more, for the
victories of peace are always nobler than those
of war. An American must needs dwell with
peculiar pride on the fact that this great, resist-
less, on-sweejjing flow westward of the most
strongly impulsed of the great mass of the
"common people" of this continent, was what
finally settled the most vexing and troublesome
questions of international dispute that this coun-
try ever encountered. Diplomacy must needs
wait on immigration, and a nation's claim must
wait on the people's possession. Nothing can
be settled without the people. The grants of
kings long since discrowned, the edicts of par-
liaments in capitals far beyond the seas, the
charters of corporations and companies given by
assumed owners are nothing. It is the people
that assure ultimately all claims and pretenses
by their own presence and will and work. So
it was on the Pacific coast, and in tracing the
hic-tory of immigration thither we trace the
movement of the people that finally and poten-

tially settled all "Oregon questions," and gave
the United States her most magnificent seaboard
and h«r fairest and most fruitful realm.

The question of the possibility of peopling
this coast by emigration was settled by a move-
ment that was somewhat beyond the calcula-
tions of the mere political economist. It was
the religious, the missionary, the faith element
that opened the way, not as an end, but as a re-
sult of its adventure. The subject of emigra-
tion to the Pacific coast had been long debated
in the Eastern States, but until these avaunt
couriers had actually, in a singl-e summer, passed
to the western shores, it was deemed impractica-
ble if not impossible. In 1804-'05-'06 Lewis
and Clarke and their company of men, schooled
in the hardest discipline of woodcraft, had needed
three or four years to make the journey and re-
turn. In IsiO-'ll Wilson Price Hunt, with
the land portion of John Jacob Astor's great
mercantile association, had suffered famine,
starvation, almost death in the wild mountains
and amid the thirsty deserts of Snake river, and
had finally reached the mouth of the Columbia,
more dead than alive, after two seasons of the
most desperate effort. To carry women and
children and household goods and gods over
such mountains and across such deserts was felt
to be the scheme of enthusiasts. Still the en-
thusiasts were right, and their enthusiasm, as is
often the case, was the highest and most fore-
sighted reason.

The first effort to induce emigration to Oregon
of which we can find any record was made .in
1817 by Hall J. Kelley, of Boston. The ques-
tion of the restoration of Astoria to the United
States, under the provisions of the treaty of
Ghent, was then pending between the United
States and Great Britain, and Mr. Kelley, with
the instinct of true statesmanship, urged the
immediate occupation of the country in dispute
by American settlers. There was no response,
and yet, undismayed, he continued his appeals
and efforts until, in 1829, he organized a com-
pany called "The American Society for the Set-
tlement of the Oregon Territory," which was

BISTORT OP WASHINGTON.

incorporated by the legislature of Massachu-
setts. In 1831 the society presented a memorial
to Congress, ably setting forth its designs, de-
scribing the beauty and value of the country,
showing the evident designs of Great Britain
upon it, and closing with this rather remarkable
and impressive appeal:

" Now therefore your memoralists, in behalf
of a large number of the citizens of the United
States, would respectfully ask Congress to assist
them in carrying into operation the great pur-
pose of their institution; to grant them troops,
artillery, military arms and munitions of war,
for the security of the contemplated settlement;
to incorporate their society with the power to
extinguish the Indian title to such tracts and
extent of territory, at the mouth of the Colum-
bia and the junction of the Multnomah with the
Columbia, as may be adequate to tiie laudable
aim and pursuits of the settlers, and with such
other rights, powers, rights and immunities as
may be at least equal and concurrent to those
given by Parliament to the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, and such as are not repugnant to the
stipulations of the convention made between
Great Britain and the United States, when it
was agreed that any country on the Northwest
coast of America to the westward of the Eocky
mountains should be free and open to the citi-
zens and subjects of the two powers for a term
of years; and to grant them such other rights
and privileges as may contribute to the means
of establishing a respectable and prosperous
community."

Congress gave no heed to this prayer — whether
wisely or unwisely may be subject of debate.
Whether its non-action deferred or changed the
ultimate decision of the " Oregon question " can-
not be told. The writer is inclined to the opin-
ion that the time had not come for decisive
measures, — that at this juncture the advantages
of the situation were with England insfead of
the United States, and England was better pre-
pared to assert and maintain lier authority over
the country then than was the United States.
"While, therefore, Mr. Kelley's theory was wise

and statesmanlike, and the only one that could
ultimately win, the time had not yet come for
tiie decisive action by Congress that was asked
in that petition. The " Society," however, was
not discouraged. Mr. Kelley was appointed
its general agent, and continued his enthusiastic
efforts and appeals. In 1831, Mr. Kelley, for
the society issued a "circular" to persons de-
siring to unite in an " Oregon settlement to be
commenced in the spring of 1832, on the de-
lightful and fertile banks of the Columbia
river." The circular stated that "it has been
contemplated for many years to settle with the
free and enlightened but redundant population
from the American Republic, that portion of
her territory called Oregon, bounded on the
Pacific ocean and lying between the forty-
second and forty- ninth parallels of north lati-
tude."

The plan of the company thus outlined was
to have been carried into effect in 1832, but the
failure of Congress to provide for any assistance
for the enterprise caused it to be abandoned for
that year. One of its agents however, Mr. Na-
thaniel J. Wyeth, of whose history and -work
mention is made elsewhere in this history, did
cross the continent with a small body of Boston
men in 1832 and returned the following year to
prepare for a large personal venture in the line
of emigration and trade. So clearly did Mr.
Kelley comprehend the geographical and com-
mercial relations of Oregon at that time that he
had laid out upon paper splendid city plats at
the mouth of the Columbia, where Astoria now
is, and at the junction of the Multnomah — or
Willamette — and the Columbia river where
Portland now is, and in these cities yet to be
each immigrant was to have a "town lot," and
somewhere else a farm.

Mr. Kelley's personal connection with Oregon
was but slight and short. Attempting to freight
a vessel and failing, he sought to open avenues
of overland trade through Mexico whose reve-
nue officers confiscated the greater part of his
goods. He finally reached Vancouver October
15, 1834. His health soon failed and in March,

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

1835, lie departed for liis home, having lost
$30,000 in his efforts to colonize Oregon. But
while losing this he gained a place in history,
and his name is gratefully mentioned as the
earliest and one of the truest friends of the
" Americanization of Oregon." No history of
Oregon can be written that does not thus record
the name of Hall J. Kelley. Many men have
found a much lower place in history at much
greater cost and efl'ort, so that, to him, his finan-
cial loss for Oregon was moral and historic gain
for himself.

From 1835 to 1841 there was little that
might be called immigration to the Pacific coast.
True, various missionary companies arrived in
the country, as noted elsewhere, but few of these
contemplated at first a permanent residence, al-
though many of the persons comprising these
companies did remain and took place among
the most intelligent, patriotic and enterprising
citizens. Also quite a number of persons
who had formerly been connected with the
various trapping and trading companies in the
Rocky mountain regions had grown tired of
their precarious and dangerous employment, and
came down into the "Willamette valley and set-
tied upon land claims. Some of these, too, held
honorable and useful places in the subsequent
history of the country, and did much to help
forward the cause of the Americanization of
Oregon. The records of both these classes will
appear in their proper places in their history.

In the autumn of 1841 the first regular emi-
gration to the country, constiting of 111
persons, came through the fastnesses of the
mountains, thus nearly doubling the white pop-
ulation at once. Probably at the end of 1841,
in all the region that now constitutes the
States of Oregon, Washington and Idaho,
there were not over 300 whites, not counting
those connected with the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany. The emigration of this year, believing
it impossible to cross the mountains with
wagons, made no attempt to do so, but per-
formed the laborious journey of 2,000 miles
troui the Missouri frontier on horseback. How

they could have been so misled in regard to the
ditficuities of the way appears a mystery, since
Bonneville eight years before, and Dr. Whit-
man six years before, had each taken wagons
far beyond the crests of the Rockies, and
the American Fur Company had frequently
taken them as far as Wind river, but a little
eastward of the crest. But as they were misled,
so determined was their purpose of emigration
that they cheerfully performed the herculean
task of packing all their goods on horses and
mules, loading and unloading them morning
and evening, for tiie entire 2,000 miles.

Meantime while the first spray of the rolling
sea of American emigrants that was soon to
follow was touching the shores of Oregon, the
Hudson's Bay Company, seeing the danger to
their own purposes of permitting the people of
the United States to gain a preponderance in the
country, organized a scheme of emigration from
their own Red river colonies. Sir George Simp-
son, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company,
who crossed the country from Montreal to Van-
couver during the summer of 1841, described
this emigration as consisting of twenty-three
families, the heads being generally young and
active. They reached Vancouver in Septem-
ber, and were located by the company near
their (]owlitz farm, in the vicinity of the head
of Pnget Sound. Quite a number of them,
being dissatisfied with their location, moved
the next year to the Willamette valley, not-
withstanding the desire of the company to
strengthen the pretensions of Great Britain to
the country north of the Columbia river by
retaining them there.

The emigration of 1842, for various reasons,
took a very important place in the early history
of the coast. It consisted of only 109 persons
in all, hut nearly half of them were adults, and
many of these were men who subsequently at-
tained considerable prominence in the country
and contributed not a little to its prosperity.
With this company came Dr. Elijah White,
who bore a commission as sub-Indian agent for
the region west of the Rockv mountains, and

II I STOUT OF WASIIINOTON.

lias the historical distinction of beiii^ the first
commissioned representative of the Government
of the United States resident west of the Kocky
mountains. Dr. Wiii^e's place in Oregon his-
tory is somewhat unique. He came to the
country first as a physician to the Methodist
mission, but on account of a disagreement with
its superintendent, Rev. Jason Lee, and other
members of the mission, returned to the East-
ern States. His residence of some years in
Oregon and his general intelligence in regard
to the country itself, had made it easy for him
to secure the attention of the Government,
and, though his mental and moral character-
istics did not commend him to the people of
Oregon, he now returned commissioned to the
most important place in the colony. While
Dr. White personally was obnoxious to many
of the people whose relations to the Indian
tribes he was to arbitrate, yet the fact that he
returned bearing a Government commission
went far to reconcile the people toward him,
as it was a proof that the Government was not
entirely forgetful of the feeble Pacific colony,
however slow it seemed to be in asserting its
interest in them. He had also been one of
the main promoters of the emigration, using
his prominence as ati appointee of the govern-
ment to gain recruits to the standard of the
emigrants, and the people were gratefully glad
for any influence that added white faces to
the dark visage of humanity on the western
coast. So, much of the antipathy of the people
to Dr. White as a man and a missionary was
allowed to slumber, or was kept out of sight,
and the good he could do them as an offieer of
the Government the rather thought of. The
justice of history, which neither criticises with
prejudice nor praises with partiality, compels
the statement that his work was often useful to
the rising commonwealth, although on the
whole he sadly disappointed the hopes, if not
the expectations, of tlie people.

With this emigration came L. W. Hastings
and A. L. Lovejoy, two men who became prom-
inent ill the history of the Territory, and also

F. X. Matthieu and Medornm Crawford, men
who for half a century- in political and civil life
exercised a molding and salutary influence.

As this was the the first emigration that at-
tempted the entire journey across the plains
with wagons, it is proper that we let one of its
number, Hon. Medoruni Crawford, tell a part of
the story of the journey in his own way, pre-
mising that at Green river it was deemed liest
to dismantle half the wagons and resort to the
more primitive method of packing for the re-
mainder of the journey. Of the journey from
Green river Mr. Crawford says:

" Horses, mules and oxen were packed with
such clothing, utensils and provisions as were

indi

;pene

for our daily wants, and with

heavy hearts many articles of comfort and con-
venience which had been carefully carried and
cared for during the long journey were left be-
hind. About the middle of August we arrived
at Fort Hall, then an important trading post
belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company. From
Captain Grant, his officers and employes we
received such favors and assistance as can only
be appreciated by worn-out and destitute emi-
grants. Here the remaining wagons were left,
and our company, no longer attempting to keep
up an organization, divided into small parties,
all traveling as fast as their circumstances
would permit, following the well-beaten trail of
the Hudson's Bay Company from Fort Hall to
Walla Walla, now Wallula. The small party
to which I was attached was one month travel-
ing from Fort Hall to Dr. Whitman's, where
we were most hospitably received, and supplied
with flour and vegetables in abundance, a very
acceptable change after subsisting almost en-
tirely on buffalo meat from Fort Laramie to
Fort Hall, and on salmon from Fort Hall to
Whitman's. In fact, there had not been in any
mess a mouthful of bread since leaving Laramie.
" From Walla Walla Dr. White and some
others took passage down the Columbia river on
the Hudson's Bay Company's boats or canoes,
and still others, and the larger portion of the
emigrants, crossed the Cascade mountains on

HfSTORT OF WASniNaTON.

the old Indian trail. From Fort Hall to the
Willamette no precaution was taken against, nor
slighest apprehension felt of, Indian hostility;
nor were we in any instance molested by them;
on the contrary they furnished ns with salmon
and game, and rendered us valuable assistance
for very trifling rewards. From Walla Walla
to the AVillamette falls occupied about twenty
days, and, all things considered, was the hardest
part of the entire 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 desti-
nation."

Those who in later years and under more fa-
vorable conditions traversed the same road, when
they read this description of the disorganized
and careless journey of the emigration of 1842,
wonder how a single one of that company sur-
vived the perils of that 1,000 miles journey
from Fort Hall to the Willamette settlements
arising from Indian hostilities, lack of food, and
the incidental dangers of wilderness travel.
That they did seems little less than a miracle.

When this immigrant company had become
blended with the former white population, the
entire census showed less than 500 souls.

In the history of immigration into Oregon
we come now to the one that, historically, has
had greater prominence and wider consideration
than any other, namely, that of 1843. It will
require a somewhat broader treatment than any
other, because so many personal elements have
entered into its consideration, and because some
names, dear to the people of this coast, and of
the whole country, were identified with it.
There has been much controversy about the part
played in its history by Dr. Whitman, and many
of the ablest writers of the coast have ventured
history and criticism and opinion upon it, —
perhaps all tinged, more or less, with the hues
of romance, which the acts of so chivalrous and
determined a leader as Dr. Whitman were well
.calculated to throw over it. It came, too, in

the crisis of our national controversy with Great
Britain in regard to the ownership and boundary
of Oregon, and seemed, at least to a superficial
observation, the decisive factor in its determi-
nation in favor of the United States. For these
reasons it becomes necessary to discuss both the
motives and the facts that distinguished this
above all other immigrations. In doing so we
shall endeavor to leave out of sight claims made,
for the first time, by writers a quarter of a
century after the events recorded transpired,
conceived, it may be, under the influence of very
partial friendship and companionship; or if not
that, then in the prejudice of opposition and
personal rivalry, either of which cannot assist
careful and judicial historic conclusions. Only
as we carefully mark the trend of events and
discussions relating to Oregon, both in Oregon
itself and the Eastern States, around the firesid' s
of the people and in the halls of Congress, and
study them in relation to the philosophy of
human action as we understand it, can we arrive
at a just and satisfactory conclusion. And, in
writing the history of the immigration of 1843,
if we cannot write thus it will be impossible to
give any adequate and proper understanding
of it. First of all, then, the causes that im-
pelled it.

With the conclusion of the treaty between
Great Britain and the United States, which ter-
minated in an agreement of " joint occupancy "
of the country by the citizens of the two powers
with equal rights and privileges, the public
mind in the United States settled into the con-
clusion that the ultimate ownership of the
country would be determined by real occupancy.
It was tolerably evident that the people, whether
English or American, would decide the question
that negotiation could not settle, and that neither
party felt willing to submit to the decision of
arms: that homes and herds, plows and factories,
schoolhouses and churches, would become the
determining factors in the conflict. In the
light of this conclusion the immigration of
1843, far more than those preceding it, must be
studied.

UlSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

The people of the western frontier had be-
come familiar with Oregon. The praises of its
mild climate and the stories of its wonderful
productiveness had been recited in their ears by
returning travelers and adventurers, and many
of their own kinsmen had already settled in it
and written back the same wonderful recitals.
In consequence the frontiersmen who are always
trembling with the excitement and love of ad-
venture, felt the thrill of desire to try the en-
ticing journey — enticing to them because of
its very perils — to the better land and brighter
clime beyond the western mountains. Besides
the " Oreo-on bills," which had been introduced
into Congress by Senator Linn of Missouri, in
the fall of 1842, making provision for the estab-
lishment of a line of "stockaded forts from some
point on the Missouri and Arkansas rivers into
the best pass for entering the valley of the Ore-
gon; and also at or near the mouth of the Co-
lumbia river;" and also to '* secure the grant of
640 acres of land to every white male inhabitant
of the Territory of Oregon of the age of eight-
een years and upward," besides other provisions
hicrhly advantageous to the settlers, had given
assurances to the people that their action in re-
moving to and settling in Oregon would cer-
tainly receive the strong support of the Govern-
munt.

The course of negotiation on the part of the
Government relating to Oregon had been such
before this time that this proposed movement
by Congress came not too soon, nor was it too
favorable for the end desired. Let us glance at
that course for a moment.

The general direction of the treaty stipula-
tions into which our Government had entered
with that of Great Britain in regard to Oregon
was plainly, in its result, inimical to the inter-
ests of the United States. The first great false
step was the "treaty of joint occupancy," as it
was called, in 1818, under the administration of
Mr. Monroe, by which, in effect, our Govern-
ment put into the hands of the Hudson's Bay
Company, which already flanked the country,
the power and right by treaty to enter into it

with their drilled and armed " servants," and
took from itself the right to enter any protest
against that really armed invasion. That treaty
was for ten years, and expired by limitation in
1828, and in that year by another treaty the
provisions of the former were extended until
one or the other party should give notice for its
termination. This was, if possible, a greater
blunder than the former, for it perpetuated
what else were dead by limitation, and made all
subsequent action much more difficult and for-
midable. Then the Ashburton negotiation
which defined the boundary between the
United States and Canada as far west as the
summit of the Rocky mountains, should, and
unquestionably might, have been pressed to a
settlement of that boundary to the Pacific ocean
on the same degree of latitude, namely, the
forty-ninth. Then, most unphilosophic and
unreasonable of all, came President Tyler's rec-
ommendation to discountenance emigration to
Oregon, by withholding land from the emigrants
until the two Governments had settled the title
— a contingency too distant and doubtful to be
counted on, and which could only inure to the
advantage of the Hudson's Bay Company, re-
presenting, and in that sense personating, Great
Britain. Thus, by a course of vacillation and
timidity, if not incompetency, the Government
put in imminent peril its title to Oregon, and
nearly lost the stars of our great Northwestern
States from the banner of our national Union.

But in America the people are always greater
than the Government, and they took up the
work of saving what the Government had so
nearly lost, and they succeeded where it had
failed.

All these facts and influences converged at
once on the minds of the people in the autumn
of 1842. The newspapers of the land heralded
them everywhere. Oregon, the title of the
LTnited States to it, and the purpose of immigra-
tion into it both as a personal and patriotic im-
pulse, were the themes of conversation in the
cabins of the frontiersmen of the West and in
the homes of the East. The writer heard it,

HISTORY OF WASHINOrOJS.

109

talke.1 it, felt it in his hoine iu central New
York. It was everywhere, — an impulse, an in-
spiration, a movement of the great lieart of the
American people. By and by we shall see its
outcome.

Coincident with this impulse toward Oregon
wliich was moving the heart of the East, Ore-
gon itself was thrilling with the same interest
for her own destiny. The emigrants of former
years were writing flaming and exciting letters
to their friends in the East. The missionaries,
both of the Methodist and American Boards, as
well as the independent missionaries, filled
column after column of the great church papers
in the Eastern cities with religious and patriotic
appeals. For the number of its people at that
time, no iiew country, if ever any old country,
had a larger proportion of men of marked ability
and higli character than Oregon. Among the
immigrant civilians were those already named
in this chapter with others, with such laymen
in the mission work as Whitman, Abernethy,
Gray, Campbell, and Brewer; and in the minis-
terial field such men as Lee, Leslie, Walker,
Griffin, Hines, Waller, Eels, and others, all of
whom were men before ttiey were missionaries,
and Americans before they were churchmen.
These were all employed from within the coun-
try itself in awakening, by their private corre-
spondence and tlieir published letters, a wide-
spread public interest in all the nation on the
" Oregon question," and thus it became the
question of tlie hour. These reisons alone are
sufficient to account for the large emigration
that stood ou the banks of the Missouri river in
the early spring of 1843 with tiie'r faces look-
ing toward the west.

Still there was one personal incident, and one
person having such a romantic, if not such a
vital, connection with this emigration as to re-
quire a candid and somewhat extended discus-
sion before we consider the emigration itself.
That person was Dr. Marcus Whitman, and the
incident was his perilous winter's ride over the
frozen deserts and through the snow-blocked
mountain passes, from the mission station near

Fort Walla Walla to St. Louis, with the pur-
pose of awakening the Goveinment of the United
States to some just idea of the value of Oregon,
and of the danger of its alienation, as well as to
organize and lead back an emigration to take
possession of the country as settlers in the inter-
est of its Americanization. While something
of romance has been thrown about this " ride,"
— and it may have been invested by some wri-
ters with greater results than it really accom-
plished, — -it was certainly a bold and romantic
venture, and its results entitle Dr. Whitman to
a unique place in the history of this coast.
Narrated as briefly as possible, the facts of his
journey seem to be about these:

His work among the Indians, like all the In-
dian missionary work on the coast, had proved a
comparative failure. The board under whose
direction he wrought iiaving become dissatisfied
with the meager results of that work, had de-
cided to abandon that station and had given di-
rections accordingly. Dr. Whitman disagreed
with the judgment of the board, and sought the
approval of his fellow- missionaries in the field
of his desire to return to the States, and repre-
sent before the board the importance of continu-
ing it. After some delay, and the exhibition
of a determination on his part to go with or
without their approval, their consent was given,
and October 3, 1842, fixed as the time for his
departure.

Meanwhile the subject of the struggle be-
tween the United States and Great Britain for
the actual possession of Oregon was at its
height Dr. Whitn)an was an intense Ameri-
can, and must have felt keenly the need of early
and earnest action in behalf of his own country.
He could be of great value to Oregon, coming
just from the field, and possibly put the Govern-
ment into truer relations to the questions pend-
ing than any man then in Washington. Besides,
at this juncture the emigration of 1842 was
arriving, and the tenor of the news they brought
was, tlie negotiations looking to the surrender of
apart or the whole of Oregon to Great Britain,
in consideration of certain privileges and rights

niSTOJRT OP WASUINGTON.

on the lisliiiig banks of Newfoundland, were
pending in Washington. This added new force
to Dr. Whitman's resolution, and unquestion-
ably broadened the purpose of liis own mind in
his journey. But, it is worthy of remark that,
before this intelligence from the immigrants
had reached liim, his plans were formed and the
date of his departure fixed. Circiitnstances en-
abled him to anticipate that date by a couple of
/ays, — an important consideration to his jour-
ney, as winter was already near at band. While,
therefore, the intelligence brought by the immi-
gration served to confirm Dr. Whitman in the
wisdom of the resolution he had taken, it could
not have been the reason of that resolution, as
some writers have endeavored to make it appear.
Nor does this in any manner depreciate the
ralue of the services of Dr. Whitman nor de-
iract. from his true fame as one of the most de-
voted of missionaries, the most ]'atiiotic of
citizens, and the most noble and chivalric of
men.

Space cannot be given to tlie details of Dr.
Whitman's winter journey over the Rocky
mountains to St. Louis; yet as it has a connec-
tion with the history of the emigration of 1843,
and incidentally with Oregon history in a broader
sense, some notice of it mnst be given.

On the 3d of October, with a single com-
panion, he left his mission station at Waiiletpu,
on the Walla Walla river, about twenty-five
miles from the Hudson Bay fort, and began his
perilous ride. His companion was Mr. Abbot
Lawrence Lovejoy, a Massachusetts man, as his
name snfiiciently indicates, who was a member
of the immigration of that season, and had only
reached Waiiletpu about a week before. He
was young and vigorous, of compact and sinewy
form and well adapted to brave the hardships
that were before him. The writer had a some-
what intimate acquaintance with Mr. Lovejoy
subsequently, for at least twenty-live years, and
often conversed with him in regard to Dr.
AVhitman's mission to the East at that time,
and the circumstances attending their journey.
Dr. Whitman himself left no record of it, so

that Mr. Lovejoy's is its authentic story. Ac-
cording to that account, after leaving W^aiiletpu
they traveled rapidly tlfrough the Blue mount-
ains and up the valley of the Snake river,
reaching Fort Hall, a distance of 400 miles, in
eleven days. Here the direct line of travel, as
pursued by the emigrants who had made a
plain wagon road to the Missouri river, led
over comparatively low mountain spurs until it
leached tiie high mountain plain that borders
Green river, and then through the wide de-
pression in the Rocky mountains known as the
"South Pass," thence directly down the waters
of the riatte river to the Missouri. For some
reason the Doctor, instead of following the
beaten road, which would have taken him at
his rate of travel beyond the South Pass in two
weeks from Fort Hall, took a more southern
route, via Salt Lake Taos and Santa Fe, and
thence to St. Louis. This took him out of the
open way into the wildest and most snowy of
the Rocky mountains, and at least doubled the
necessary travel. To add to the difficulty and
danger of the way selected, the winter storms
came on unusually early. While they were yet
involved in the mountains between Fort Hall
and Fort Uinta, the snows lay deep around
them; and between Fort Uinta and Fort Un-
compahgre, on the waters of Grande river, the
main eastern branch of the Colorado, in the
Spanish territory and yet west of the mountain
summits, it was hardly possible for them to
make headway. At this fort they recruited
their supplies, and procuring a guide started
for Taos across the main divide of the Rocky
mountains, and nearly a thousand miles by the
way of their travel from Fort Hall. Four or
five days from Fort Uncompahgre they en-
countered a terrific storm, when their guide
became confused and Dr. Whitman was com-
pelled to return to Fort Uncompahgre to pro-
cure a new one, Mr. Lovejoy remaining alone
in the mountain camp with the animals for
seven days before his return. Recovering their
way, it was yet thirty days before they reached
Taos, and they suffered greatly on the way from

mSTORY OF WASRINGTON.

cold and scarcity of food, being compelled to
use mule meat, dogs and such other animals as
came in their way. After remaining at Taos a
few days they started for Bent's Fort, on the
headwaters of the Arkansas river. Still mis-
fortunes attended their way. Desiring to
reach Bent's Fort more speedily than his loaded
pack animals could make the journey, the
Doctor selected the best horse, and with blank-
ets and a little food rode forward alone. In
four days Mr. Lovejoy and the guide arrived,
but the Doctor had not been seen or heard of.
Mr. Lovejoy returned a hundred miles on the
trail, but could only hear from the Indians that
a lost white man had been inquiring the way to
Bent's Fort. About the eighth day from the
time he left his companions he reached the
fort, worn, weary and desponding, as he believed
God had bewildered him for traveling on the
Sabbath — a thing that he had always consci-
entionsly avoided.

Leaving Mr. Lovejoy at Bent's Fort, he im-
mediately pushed forward with a company of
mountaineers, and reached St. Louis in Febru-
ary. He had been over four months on the
road. Why he should have left the plain road
leading through a comparatively open country,
fi'ee from precipitous mountain ranges, over
which he himself had traveled, most of it three
times, and taken one so much longer, leading
through the most rugged portion of the Rocky
mountains, and with which he was entirely un-
acquainted, has never been decided.

On reacliing St. Louis Dr. AVhitrnan found
that the occasion for his perilous winter's jour-
ney, so far as it related to the matter of nego-
tiations between Great Britain and the United
States for the sale of Oregon to the former in
any way, did not e.xist. The treaty between the
two powers known as the Webster-Ashburton
treaty had been signed on the 9th of August,
preceding, nearly two months before his jour-
ney. The Oregon boundary had not been in-
cluded in the treaty, nor even discussed by Mr.
Webster and Mr. Ashburton, representing the
tw'o governments. Consequently the danger of

the loss of Orego',1 by the LTnited States had
not been so imminent as he had supposed. His
purpose, however, was none the less patriotic,
nor his bravery in endeavoring to carry it out
the less admirable, but this fact certainly dem-
onstrates that all attempts to claim for him the
honor of saving Oregon to the United States
must prove failures. The danger of losing
Oregon was fully averted by the postponement
of the boundary question. His presence in
Washington, beginning six months after the
treaty was signed, and nearly as long after its
ratification by the Senate, could not have in-
fluenced the decision of the question in the
remotest degree. Nor is there any evidence
that he personally ever made such a claim.
Indeed it is clear that he did not, but that it
was made many years after the occurrences
narrated, and long after his tragic death at the
hands of the Indians had invested his name
with the halo of martyrdom by those who had
been associated with him in his missionary
work, and grew out of their admiration of his
character and their memory of the purpose that
largely actuated him, as they understood it, in
projecting and performing his celebrated jour-
ney. It is not needful to attempt further ex-
planation of the claim that was, for a time,
strongly current, that Dr. Whitman " alone
saved Oregon to the United States." He did
his part, others did theirs, but if Dr. AVhitrnan
had not lived Oregon would have been, as it
now is, a great State of our glorious Union.

On Dr. Whitman's arrival on the frontier he
found that great preparations were being made
for an emigration to Oregon in the opening
spring. The desire and purpose to find a home
in the Willamette Valley, the fame of whose
climate and productiveness had already spread
far and wide, was becoming a contagion. Re-
sponding to that sentiment. Dr. Whitman wrote
a small pamphlet describing the country and
the route thither, urging people to emigrate,
and assuring them that they could take wagons
through to the Columbia, and promising to
join the emigration and act as its pilot on his

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

return from the Eastern States. His pamphlet,
::dded to his personal appeals, added somewhat
to the numbers, and largely to the courage and
confidence of the emigrants, but he was too
late to initiate the great public movement that
resulted in the large emigration of that year, —

historically the most important that ever en-
tered Oregon, as it put such a preponderance
of American people and American sentiment
into Oregon as to assuredly settle the position
Oregon itself would take in the pending inter-
national controversy.

CHAPTER XII.

IMMIGRATIONS, CONTINUED.

Great Pkeparations for Emigration — Incidents of Emigration — Mr. Nesmith's Account — A
New Era — Lieutenant Fremont's Expedition — Emigration of 1844 — Divided into Com-
panies — Settlement North of the Columbia — Emigration of 1845 — Prominent Members
— A New but Disastrous Road — Emigration of 1846 — Party Taking a New Route —
Much Suffering — The Donner Party — Wagon Road Across the Cascade Mountains — •
Caught in the Snows — Winter in the Mountains — Barlow and Rector — Emigration of
1847 — Valuable Additions — '-Traveling Nursery."

IfT is as well, once for all that we give some
account of the circumstances attending the
-i gathering, departure and journey of an emi-
gration over the mountains to the Pacific coast;
and as the emigration, of 1843 was so pro-
minent in its early history, we have chosen this
as the place in which to do so. As to the gather-
ing of this emigration on the western frontier
of Missouri we shall permit Hon. J. W. Nes-
inith, a young member of the emigration, after-
ward for many years one of the most promi-
nent public men in the Territory and State, and
for six years senator in the Congress of the
United States for Oregon, to tell the story in
his own well-chosen words. He says:

"Without order from any quarter, and with-
out preconcert, promptly as the grass began to
start, the emigrants began to assemble near In-
dependence, at a place called Fitzhue's Mill.
On the seventeenth day of May, 1843, notices
were circulated through the different encamp-
ments that on the succeeding day those who
contemplated emigrating to Oregon would meet
at a designated point to organize. Promptly at
the appointed hour motley groups assembled.
They consisted of tlie people from all States

and Territories, and nearly all nationalities,
the most, however, from Arkansas, Illinois,
Missouri and Iowa, and all strangers to one
another, but impressed with some crude idea
that there existed some imperative necessity
for some kind of an organization for mu-
tual protection against the hostile Indians in-
habiting the great unknown wilderness stretch-
ing away to the shores of the Pacific, and which
they were about to traverse with their wives
and children, household goods and all their
earthly possessions.

'• Many of the emigrants were from the west-
ern tier of counties of Missouri, known as the
Platte Purchase, and among them was Peter H.
Burnett, a former merchant, who had aban-
doned the yardstick and become a lawyer of
some celebrity for his ability as a smooth-
tungued advocate. He subsequently emigrated
to California, and was elected the first governor
of the Golden State. Mr. Burnett, or as he was
familiarly designated, 'Pete,' was called upon
for a speech. Mounting a log the glib-tongued
orator delivered a glowing, florid address. He
commenced by showing his audience that the
then western tier of States and Territories was

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

over-crowded by a redundant population, wLo
had not sufficient elbow room for the expansion
of their enterprise and genins, and it was a duty
they owed to themselves and posterity to strike
out in search of a more extended lield and a
more genial climate, where the soil yielded the
richest return for the slightest amount of cul-
tivation, where the trees were loaded with per-
ennial fruit, and where a good substitute for
bread, called Za Ccmiask, grew in the ground,
salmon and other fish crowded the streams, and
where the principal labor of the settlers would
be confined to keeping their gardens free from
the inroads of buffalo, elk, deer, and wild tur-
keys! He appealed to our patriotism by pictur-
ing forth the glorious empire we should estab-
lish on the shores of the Pacific; bow, with our
trusty rifles, we would drive out the British
usurpers who claimed the soil, and defend the
country from the advance and pretensions of
the British lion, and how posterity would honor
us for placing the finest portion of our country
under the dominion of the stars and stripes.
He concluded by a slight allusion to the hard-
ships and trials incident to the trip, and dangers
to be encountered from hostile Indians on the
route, and those inhabiting the country whither
we were bound. He furthermore intimated a
desire to look upon the tribe of 'noble red men,'
that the valiant and well-armed crowd around
him could not vanquish in a single encounter.
" Other speeches were made, full of glowing
description of the fair land of promise in the
far-away Oregon, which no one in the assem-
blage had ever seen, and of which not more than
half a dozen had ever read any account. After
the election of Mr. Burnett as captain and
other necessary officers, the meeting, as motley
and primitive a one as ever assembled, adjourned
with three cheers for Captain Burnett and Ore-
gon. On the 20th of May, 1843, after a pretty
thorough military organization, we took up our
line of march, with Captain John Gantt, an old
army officer who combined the character of
trappers and mountaineer, as our guide. Gantt
had in his wanderings been as far as Green

river, and assured us of the practicability of a
wagon road thus far; Green river, the extent of
our guide's knowledge in that direction, was
not half-way to the Willamette valley, the
then only inhabited portion of Oregon. Beyond
that we had not the slightest conjecture of the
condition of the country. "We went forth
trusting to the future, and would doubtless
have encountered more difficulties than we ex-
perienced had not Dr. Whitman overtaken us
before we reached the terminus of our guide's
knowledge. He was familiar with the whole
route, and was confident that wagons could
pass through the canons and gorges of Snake
river and over the Blue mountains, which the
mountaineers in the vicinity of Fort Hall de-
clared to be a physical impossibility.

" Captain Grant, then in charge of the Hud-
son's Bay Company at Fort Hall, endeavored to
dissuade us from proceeding farther with our
wagons, and showed us the wagons that the
emigrants of the preceding year had abandoned
as an evidence of the impracticability of our de-
termination. Dr. Whitman was pei-sistent in
his assertion that wagons could proceed as far as
the grand Dalles of the Columbia river, from
which point he asserted they could be taken
down by rafts or batteaux to the Willamette
valley, while our stock could be driven by an
Indian trail over the Cascade mountains near
Mount Hood. Happily Whitman's advice pre-
vailed and a large number of wagons with a
portion of the stock did reach Walla Walla and
the Dalles, from which points they were taken
to Willamette the following year. Had we fol-
lowed Grant's advice and abandoned the cattle
and wagons at Fort Hall, much suffei-ing must
have ensued, as a sufficient number of horses to

carry

the women and children of the

party

could not have been obtained: besides wagons
and cattle were indispensable to men expecting
to live by farming a country destitute of such
articles.

"At Fort Hall we fell in with some Cayuse
and Nez Perces Indians returning from the
buffalo country, and as it was necessary for Dr.

UIHTORT OF WASHINGTON.

Whitman to precede U8 to Walla Walla, lie
recommended to us a guide in the person of an
old Cay use Indian called ' Sticcus.' He was a
faithful old fellow, perfectly familiar with all
the trails and topography of the country from
Fort Hall to the Dalles, and although not speak-
ing a word of English, and no one in our party
a word of Caynse, lie succeeded by pantomime
in taking us over the roughest wau;on route I
ever saw."'

This quotation from Mr. Nesraith must give
our readers a fair idea of the courage and deter-
mination necessary in this early day to face the
dangers and endure the discomforts of a half
year's journey, with oxen and wagons as the
means of travel, over the desolate plains and
thrungli the rugged mountains that lay wide
and dark lietween the Missouri river and the
Pacific ocean, a distance of a round two thou-
sand miles. But the daily march over dusty and
sunbrowned leagues, the night's weird bivouac
under the stars, the fording of rushing rivers,
the ascent and descent of precipitous mountains,
the lone camp-guard, the thundering stampede
of horses and oxen, the warning and warding off
of Indian attacks amid the crouching of fright-
ened children, or the suppressed sobbing of
timid women, — these must have been seen and
experienced ti; be understood as they existed in
reality from 1841, when emigration began, to
1860, about which time the pioneer emigrant
era may be considered to have closed.

In the emigration of this year were many
men whose names became very prominently
connected with the history of the country.
Among these may be mentioned the Apple-
gates, Burnett, Cason, Chapman, Dement, the
Fords, the Garrisons, the Hunters, the Howells,
the Matheneys, McCarver, Nesmith, Parker,
and the Waldos. When the company reached
Oregon, besides the gentlemen connected with
the various missionary stations, and fifty or
more of the former Hudson's Bay Company
employes settled on French prairie, there were
resident in Oregon about eighty American men,
making in the autum of 1843, with the newly

arrived emigrants, a total adult male population
of about four hundred, and a total white popu-
lation of not far from two thousand souls.

The introduction of this number of American
people, many of whom were educated and re-
fined and all of whom were strong in purpose,
and had wealth both of brain and brawn, lifted
Oregon at once from a camping-ground for fur
hunters and mountain mefi, and even from a
field of mere missionary occupancy, to the con-
dition of a civil community — a commonwealth
— with the needs of a cominnnity, and with
ability and dispositions to supply those wants.
So the autumn and emigration of 1843 brought
a new era to Oregon, the era of government,
which will be considered in its proper place in
this woi-k.

The impulse of emigration to Oregon did not

exhaust itself in 1843. The last em

igrant wagon

of that year had hardly disappeared westward of
Missouri before the frontier was astir again with
moving preparations for the emigration of 1844.
This was nearly as greatas that of the preceding
year. It added about 800 to the American
population of Oregon, 234 of them strong, able-
bodied men. The emigration of 1843 came in
a single column, under one captain, and with a
semi-military organization. That of 1844 started
from various points, under different leaders, and
divided up more and more as it progressed on
the journey. Tliis greatly added to the ease
and facility of travel, and the various companies
had comparatively little difficulty in their long
journey. Besides, the several hundred wagons
of the preceding year had broken down the sage
of the plains, and made a clearly marked road as
far as The Dalles. The larger divisions of the
emigration started, one from Independence, one
from near the mouth of Platte river, and one
from near St. Joseph, and Cornelius Gilliam,
Nathan Ford and Major Thorp commanded these
divisions respecti /ely. In this emigration were
many names that have beconie honored in vari-
ous departments of western history and that
are worthy of notable record. Without any in-
vidious selections we name the Eadses,the Fords,

HISTORY OF WASUINGTON.

the Gilliams, Holinan, Miiito, Eees, Simmons,
tlie Shaws, the Thorps, J. S. Smith and many
others whose industry made tlie country to
bloom like a rose tree, and who in many ways
contributed to its material growth and moral
and intellectual progress.

Of the immigration of 1845 comparatively
little record has been preserved, although it was
larger than that of either of the two preceding
years. The population of the Territory was
now becoming so large that a thousand or two
of people could melt away into the font er ag-
gregate without such manifest e.xpansion of the
population as before. And besides, when so
many had preceded, it was not considered so
strange that many others should follow. Hence
the 2,000 people constituting the immigration
of 1845 arrived, dispersed over the country
fi'ora the California mountains to i'nget sound,
and became integral parts of the body politic,
without having taking pains to make a roster
for the benefit of history, on the perpetuity
of their own deeds. Still a few can be mentioned,
culled here and there from fugitive archives,
whose names must ever stand connected with
some departments of the deeds of the pioneers
of the coast. We instance T. Vault, the Way-
raires, the Riggses, Gen. Joel Palmer and
Wilcox.

The road from the Missouri to tlie Columbia
iiad now become a broad and beaten track.
There was no difficulty and little danger in
traveling it except such as arose from deficient
preparation before starting or poor judgment
in traveling. All that was to be done was to
travel steadily onward, day after day, quietly
and persistently moving forward as the patient
ox swings slowly onward, and in due time the
goal would surely be reached. But such pa-
tience and endurance of effort are not common
virtues. To face a horizon that never comes
nearer, to push into space that never seems to get
shorter, to lift at a burden that never grows
lighter, are the severest tests of the strongest
natures. So it was not wonderful that many of
the weary and foot-sore immigrants became rest-

less of their seemingly endless travel, and felt
inclined to listen to any one who came with
the promise of a shorter road and speedier ar-
rival at the goal of their desires.

Tills year this was painfully, almost tragically
illustrated. When the immigi-ants readied
Fort Boise Stephen H. Meek, a man who had
been a " free-trapper " in the mountains, and for
some years employed by the Hudson's Bay
Company as such, and who had served as a guide
to some small companies in 1842, offered to
show them a shorter and more eligible route
over the mountains, and one by which wagons
could be taken into the Willamette valley with-
out the costly and troublesome transportation
by water from The Dalles. The route he pro-
posed to travel, leading through southeastern
Oregon, and into the Umpqua valley far .=outh
of the head of the Willamette river, ho had
never traveled himself, but the country through
which it passed was known to be open and far
less mountainous than the country farther to
the north. Quite a number were pursuaded to
follow his lead. These left the old and traveled
road at the mouth of the Malheur river, near
Fort Boise, and turned southward up the valley
of that stream, while the larger portion kept
steadily onward in the beaten road, and in good
time reached the end of their journey. The
company that followed Mr. Meek soon became
convinced that he himself was traveling by
guess instead of knowledge. Of course they
were in a panic at once. Mr. Meek became
alarmed and deserted the people he had led
astray and fled to save his life, as many had
threatened to kill him on sight. The company
undertook to return to the old road by turning
to the north and traveling down the valleys of
John Day and Des Chutes rivers, and at last;
after the most exhausting efforts, and the great-
est sufferings from hunger and thirst, reached
the Columbia at The Dalles, and were thus res-
cued from their vei"y perilous condition.

This diversion of a portion of the immigrants
from the old line of travel, and the sufferings
they endured in consequence, has caused con-

116

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

siderable very acrimonious discussion, seriously
involving the motives of those who persuaded
them into what proved such disastrous action.
Still such discussion has failed to demonstrate
that there was any specially wrong motive in
them, but that they acted without any very ac-
curate knowledge of the country to be traversed
and consequently not with good Judgment, and
thus betrayed those who trusted their advice into
a very costly and dangerous experiment. Many
thrilling accounts of cases of individual suffer-
ing and hardship and loss on the treeless and
waterless wastes of the Klamath and Humboldt
regions have been published, but it would serve
no important purpose to transfer them to these
pages. Certainly we cannot subscribe to the
charge made by some writers that these parties
were led astray under the inspiration and advice
of the Hudson's Bay Company for the sole pur-
pose of destroying them. Had such ever been
the methods of the heads of that company in
tlieir dealings with the American immigrants,
certainly they could not but see that the de-
struction of a comparatively small portion of an
immigration would have no other effect on the
tinal settlement of the " Oregon question " than
to hasten and make it more absolute against
themselves. But such never was their method,
as impartial liistory must determine.

Like the emigration of 1845, that of 1846
was divided into small companies, whicii reached
the country at various times and by different
routes, so that no record of names was kept.
When it left the Missouri river it consisted of
2,000 souls. However, by this time California
was beginning to divide with Oregon the at-
tention of intending emigrants, and on reach-
ing Fort Hall about one-half took the southern
route down the Humboldt river and across the
Sierra Nevadas into the Sacramento valley.
The greater portion of those destined for the
Willamette valley pursued the old route down
Snake river, and reached Oregon City, then the
goal of the journey, in good time, and without
unusual incidents. However, about 150 people,
with forty-two wagons, were induced, at Fort

Hall, to undertake a new route in the same
general direction as tlie disastrous one selected
by Meek the year before, and despite the un-
fortunate outcome of that venture. The mis-
adventure this year was induced by the presence
at Fort Hall, on the arrival of tjie trains, of a
number of men from among the most reputable
and iniluential citizens of Oregon, mainly resid-
ing toward the southeim end of the Willamette
valley, who claimed to have looked out a road
from the point where they met the emigrants to
that valley by the way of the Humboldt, Klam-
ath lake. Rogue river and Umpqua valleys,
much more feasible tiian the old one by the
valley of Snake river. These men had actually
passed over the route they outlined to the emi-
grants on their way out; but, being on horse-
back, and traveling without any incumbrances,
it probably seemed much shorter to them than
it really was, and certainly much shorter than it
proved to the worn and weary emigrants, im-
peded in their travels by wagons and all the
incumbrances of camp life. It certainly cannot
be supposed that such men as those who led the
party that surveyed the new route could have
had any sinister or selfish motives in leading
these families into the terrible straits through
which they were compelled to pass. Still it
cannot be possible for the historian to relieve
these gentlemen from all blame, as they were
all acquainted with the peculiar difficulties of
emigrant travel, having themselves crossed the
continent but a year or two before as emigrants,
and knew that water and grass were prime con-
ditions of safety with ox teams, and where these
could not be found in abundance there could be
no excuse for venturing, unless the necessity
was absolute. From fifteen to twenty miles
was an average full day's journey with oxen on
the emigrant roads, and there were stretches of
grassless and waterless desert of from twenty to
fifty miles in width, over which they attempted
to lead the forlorn party that had intrusted itself
to their guidance. Of course there was much
suffering. Many teams perished. Men, women
and children were compelled to go on foot over

UISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

burning sands and cinereous rocks, to climb
timbered summits and ford the roaring torrents
of the mountains. The consuming thirst of the
deserts of the sterile interior was at last relieved,
it is true, by the springs and streams of tlie
Sierras, but then gaunt hunger paralleled their
earlier thirst. At last, however, man by man,
or family by family, the worn and strengthless
emigrants straggled down from the Siskiuas
into the Rogue river valley, or emerged from
the Utnpqua caiion into Umpqua valley, almost
without cattle, or wagon, or clothing, welcomed
to the end of their sad pilgrimage only by the
chills of an Oregon midwinter. Taken all in
all this was the most deeply shadowed page in
the history of our immigration, and has left a
heritage of more acrimonious and bitter discus-
sions and heart burnings to the historian.

But, sad as is this record, it is a bright one
compared with the fate of a large party known
as the "Donner party," that separated from the
Oregon immigrants on Humboldt river, and
attempted to scale the winter-clad Sierras into
the Sacramento valley. These became entangled
in the labyrinths of the mountains, were over-
taken and overwhelmed by snow-storms, and,
unable to proceed or return, many perished
miserably by starvation, and the remainder
were rescued more dead than alive by the cour-
age and energy of a party from Sacramento
valley. The place of the occurrence of this
sad event bears the name of "Donner lake,"
which will forever monument this tragic climax
in the history of the emigration of 184(3 to
the Facitic coast.

The immigrants of this year also signalized
their courage and determination by an attempt
to open the first wagon road into the Willamette
valley across the Cascade mountains. Very
seldom, indeed, in the history of exploration or
adventure has a braver and more resolute deed
been done. We hazard nothing in saying that
in all the distance between the Missouri river
and the Cascades there is no stretch of 100
miles that presented to the primitive engineer-
ing of the emigrants anything like the difficul-

ties of the 100 miles between the open country
east and the Willamette valley west of the
Cascade mountains.

This is one of the most rugged and lofty
ranges of the continent, and, unlike the Eocky
mountains, it is everywhere most densely tim-
bered. It is cut and gashed by fearful chasms
worn down by the waters that break from be-
neath the glaciers of Mount Hood and kindred
peaks thousands of feet into the volcanic debris
of untold ages. The average altitude of the
wide, swampy summit of the range is not far
from 10,000 feet. From foot to summit and
from summit to foot again the whole surface of
the earth is covered with the largest and loftiest
firs, cedars, pines, tamarack and larch, and its
undergrowth is an impenetrable forest of alder,
vine maple, laurel, dogwood, hemlock and un-
named varieties of rough and gnarled and inter-
laced shrubs and ferns and brush. The ax,
wielded by a strong arm, must cut a way into,
through and out of this indescribable wilder-
ness, or it cannot be passed.

Up to the autumn of 1846 all the wagons
taken to Western Oregon were conveyed not
far from 100 miles down the Columbia from
The Ualles into the mouth of the Willamette
and up that stream a few miles on rafts or in
Hudson's Bay batteaux. To add to the diffi-
culty a portage of three miles had to be made
at the Cascades, and the wagons were taken
piece by piece across it and reshipped again
below. This 100 miles was the most perilous
and difficult part of the journey to the Willam-
ette valley, and came to the emigrants when
they were wearied and enfeebled by months of
constant toil and care.

To relieve subsequent emigrants of this diffi-
culty a few gentlemen of this siimmer's com-
pany resolved to attempt crossing the mount-
ains with their teams and wagdus. At the
head of this company were Mr. Samuel K. Bar-
low and Mr. W. H. Rector. Turning south-
ward from The Dalles along the eastern base of
the range, they sought a promising place to
enter it to the south of Mount Hood. After

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

about forty miles travel over a very rough and
hilly, though untimbered region, tliey turned
westward up a gentle slope that appeared to
lead south of the great snowy cone of Mount
flood, and began to cut their way into tlie
dense forest. Some explored the route in ad-
vance and blazed their way, others cut out
obstructions and worked grades down and up
the impassable precipices, and others drove the
teams and cared for the families. Progress was
very slow. It was late in autumn. The rains
and snows beat upon them in the deep ravines
and on the stormy heights. But they were
resolute men, and resolved to push onward at
every peril. After much effort they conducted
their wagons about twenty miles into the
wilderness, when the snow became so deep that
to go forward or to go back was alike impos-
sible. And besides they were not the men to
go back even if they could. Nothing remained
for them but to build cabins in which to hou.=e
their families for the long winter, which was
fully upon them, and provide as best tliey could
against starvation. This they did in the deep
gorge of White river, a few miles below where
its waters flow from beneath the glaciers of
Mount Hood. A wilder place can hardly be
imagined. On either hand the great mountain
sides were covered with giant firs, with close
around a dense black pine forest. The little
river, whose dashing waters, whitened by the
volcanic ashes washed down from the great
mountain cone, rushed stormily by. Lone,
desolate winter covered all.

Tile only possible supply of food these win-
ter-imprisoned men, women and children had
for the months before them was their emigrant
oxen, worn and poor from the long summer's
journey from the Missouri river. These they
slaughtered and dressed, covered their carcasses
with the snow which was sure to remain until
May, and resigned themselves to the awful task
of keeping alive for the long -winter. To live
just for the purpose of living is the hardest
task a human being ever performed. This was
all there was for them to do. So they waited

and ate their scant rations of poor beef, drank
water from tlie river or from melted snow, cut
fire-wood from the pines about them, and wore
away the weary months.

When the winter snows were ten or lifteen
feet deep on the mountains, two or three of the
men undertook to scale them on snow-shoes and
reach the Willamette valley, and there procure
help to work their way backward with supplies
before those left behind had perished from star-
vation. The distance to Oregon City was not
less than sevent^'-tive miles, and fifty of that
was untracked mountains. With a little beef
wrapped up in a blanket on the back of each
they left the lone cabins and their lonelier in-
mates and started on their journey, hoping, yet
only half expecting, to succeed. Rector was a
remarkably strong, compact and sinewy man,
Barlow was of slighter and sparer build, and
less able to endure fatigue; and the stress of the
long journey had already weakened him. He
came near fainting, and one day when he felt he
must succumb to his troubles and die he said to
Eector, " What would you do with me if I
should die here?" " Roast and eat you," growled
the stronger Rector. Barlow burst into feeble
teirs. " Come, come," said the really kind-
hearted Rector, "you are not going to die: rouse
up, be a man and come on." He cheered and
helped him, and these resolute " pathfinders"
toiled on over the snowy waste of mountains for
many weary days before they descended from
their western slopes and entered the Willamette
valley. Such men, rather than those who trav-
eled in their wake under Government commis-
sions, and with all the abundance and comforts
of Government equipments, were the true path-
finders of the Rocky mountains and the Pacific
coast.

On reaching Oregon City, Rector and Barlow
obtained supplies for their families yet impi-is-
oned in the snowy gorge of White river, and re-
turned for their rescue. After the winter snows
had gone they yoked up the oxen which they had
brought back with tliem, and again began their
slow and tiresome movement westward. Their

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

winter's camp was some miles east of the sum-
mit of tlie range, and up the steep ascent tlirough
one of the stateliest and darkest forests that
stands on the earth they cut their toilsome way.
Then after the summit was passed they floun-
dered tlirongh a terrible cedar morass that
covers the summit plateau for miles, when they
reached a western crest that stood sheer above
the valley of a mountain river, whose upper wa-
ters cleave the southwestern glaciers of Mount
Hood. Into the fearful gorge into which it runs
they dropped, rather than traveled, over the
face of Laurel Hill, probably the most tremen-
dous descent down which wagons ever rolled.
And so they toiled on, day after day, week after
week, until the last mountain was crossd, the
last forest passed, and the brave remnant of the
emigration of 1846 entered Oregon at full mid-
summer of 1847.

Quite a number of gentlemen, who in various
departments of civil life became prominently
associated with the progress of the country, at-
tended this immigration. Among them was Mr.
J. Qninn Thornton, a man of decided ability
and line acquirements, who became Chief Jus-
tice under the provisional government. ' Unfor-
tunately no roster of this immigration was ever
kept, and hence our personal notices of those in
it must be omitted.

We have now reached a period in the history
of the immigrations into Oregon from which it
becomes more and more difficult to trace any
one of them in anything like a separate story.
Still a few sentences must be given to that of
1847, as that was the last one that left the fron-
tiers of Missouri for the farthest West, that
serves to present much of an individual history.
Those coming subsequently started on their
journey over the now well-worn emigrant road
in small companies, at different times, traveled
at their individual convenience, and when they
reached the end of iheir journey melted away
into the mass of the people almost impercep-
tibly, as streamlets from the hills blend into the
currents of widening rivers toward the sea.
The immigration of 1847 was about 4,000.

California had begun to allure many toward her
newly opened and sunny plains, and probably
as many of those who started from the Missouri
river for the West turned thitherward into the
vallty of Snake river as crossed the Blue and
Cascade mountains into Oregon. But, in many
respects, both as to men and things, it was one
of the most marked and important of all the
emigrations. Its members brought more prop-
erty, more of those things necessary to make a
home-like civilization than any that had pre-
ceded it. Bands of fine cattle, including pure
Durham stock, and of the best breeds of horses,
as well as fine bands of sheep, were driven from
the Western States. A stock of merchandise
was brought by Thomas and William Cox, and
a store opened by them at Salem, the now capi-
tal of the State. Apple seeds, peach seeds and
many other seeds of plants of which the
country had been destitute before were brought.
But that which attracted most attention, and
was really of most importance, was what was
called the " Traveling Nursery" brought by Mr.
Henderson Lneling. He constructed bo.xes
about one feet deep and just long enough to fill
his wagon bed, filling them with a compost of
earth and charcoal, in which lie planted about
700 trees and shrubs, of the best improved va-
rieties, from tiventy inches to four feet high.
This wonderful " nursery" thus transplanted
2,000 miles was tlie parent stock of those mag-
nificent varieties of apples, pears, plums, cher-
ries, peaches, and other fruits that have given the
Pacific coast a name and fame as the finest
fruit country on the continent.

The immigration of 1847 contained quite a
number of gentlemen who became quite promi-
nent in the industrial and political history of
the coast. Among these was the Hon. Samuel
H. Thurston, who became the first delegate
from the Territory of Oregon to the Congress
of the United States, of whom we shall speak
more at length in the appropriate place.

With this notice of the immigration of 1847
we close our notices of immigrations as separate
from the general course of Oregon history.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER XIII.

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.

A New Era — Summary of Arrivals fob Five Years — Political Tendencies of the People —
The Questions of Government — " Inalienable Rights " versus Foreign Control — Petition
to Congress — Meeting at Champoeg in 1841 — Death of Ewing Young — Another Meeting
— Incidental Circumstances — Dr. Elijah White, Indian Agent — Arrival oe the Immi-
gration of 1842 — Artificial Antagonisms— Proposition for an Independent Government
— Meeting at Willamette Falls — Resolutions of Mr. Abernethy — The "Wolf Meet-
ing" — Plots and Counterplots — Canadian Citizens' Address — Meeting in Mat — A Close
Division — Canadians Withdraw — Provision foe Government — Fourth-gf-Jult Celebra-
tion — Report of Legislative Committee — "Organic Laws'* — Officers Chosen — First
Election — George Abernethy Elected Governor— Form of Oath of Office — -First Legis-
lature — Documents to Congress — Dr. White — Result of the Memorials — Characteris-
tics of Governor Abernethy — Second Election — Abernethy Re-elected — Territorial
Government Organized.

\l \\ ^^ Iiave now reached a period in our his-
\lrv// ^'^^y when Oregon began to assume
■1 ■1 the form of a political coinmonwealth.
Heretofore its history was mainly that of the
aboriginal tribes, the various fur companies that
operated within its boundary, of the missionary
establishments that had been founded among
the Indian tribes, and of individual action and
adventure. That part of the story that relates
to the presence and action of white men wlio
had any civilized or civilizing object in their
presence in the country covers but a single dec-
ade. This was the era of the missionary or-
ganizations, and the period when tiie results of
their presence were crystallizing into social con-
ditions that called for civil and political order.
The dreamy story of the Indian tribes simply
changed into the story of fur traffic, scarcely
less dreamy, and hardly more a civilization than
tlie other. How little there was of anything
that had the fragrance of civilization rather than
that of the wigwam about it up to the close of
1840, will be seen by the following summary of
the arrivals in the country up to that time. In
1834, the four gentlemen of the Methodist mis-
sion and six other men. In 1835 there were

none. In 183G, Dr. Marcus Whitman and four
other missionaries of the American Board. In
1837, sixteen additional members of the Meth-
odist mission and three settlers. In 1838, eight
persons reinforced the missions of the American
Board and three white men from the Rocky
mountains came into the country. This year
also two Jesuit priests, F. N. Blanchet and
A. Demers, arrived. In 1839, four independ-
ent Protestant missionaries and eight settlers.
In 1840 a reinforcement of thirty-oue adults
and fifteen children came to the Methodist mis-
sion, and four independent Protestant mission-
aries. P. G. De Smet, Jesuit missionary, and
thirteen or fourteen settlers, mostly Rocky
mountain men with Indian wives, arrived, —
making in all eighty-five connected with the
three mission establishments, and twenty-eight
settlers; a total of 118 at the opening of 1840.
Besides these were a small number of the super-
annuated employes of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany located at various points, and yet holding
legal as well as social relation to that body. In
the classification of population thus presented
it will be seen that the one predominating in-
fluence in the country up to the close of 1840

HISTORY OF WASIIJyOTON.

was necessarily tliat of the Protestant mission-
aries. Civilly and politically there were two
sentiments: one American and the other British.
The Protestant missionaries uniformly repre-
sented the American sentiment in the country,
and the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company
and the members of the Roman Catholic mis-
sions could always he relied upon to further the
cause of British possession of Oregon. So far
as we have been able to trace the lines of in-
fluence and action in connection with these dif-
ferent missionary establishments, there was not
even an individual exception to this statement.
If at this time the claim of the United States to
Oregon was receiving any help at all, it was by
the unanimous action of the Protestant mission-
aries, while the jnst as unanimous action of the
iionnan Catholic missions aided and abetted the
pretensions of Great Britain. By the relations
of missionaries to patronizing societies, as well
as the individual nativity and training of the
men constituting them, this was inevitable.
The Protestant missionaries were mainly from
New England and New York, all Americans by
birth, by education, and by civic and political
afBliations. The Roman Catholic missionaries
were all of foreign birth, educated and trained
under governments opposed to republicanism
and under an ecclesiastical system that cultured
all their convictions away from it. Their social
relations were with the Hudson's Bay Company,
and they gave that company and its pretensions
the most thorough support. Thus, at the close
of 1840, it happened that the forces in array
against each other for the ultimate possession of
the country were, on the one side the Hudson's
Bay Company and the Roman Catholic missions,
on the other side the Protestant missions and the
small number of Americans who had rolled down
from the mountains or floated up from the sea
and made Oregon at least a temporary home.

The first question that fairly and clearly drew
the lines of demarkation between these forces
was that of government. The British party,
consisting of the Hudson's Bay people and the
Catholic missionaries, naturally desired to re-

main as they were, since all pretended authority
of law was that of the Dominion of Canada,
which had been, in pretense at least, extended
over all the country west of the Rocky mount-
ains. Just as naturally the American party,
consisting of the Protestant missionaries and
American settlers, desired some forms of law
according to the American idea of self govern-
ment. They had no idea of submitting them-
selves to the authority of the Hudson's Bay
Company or the Canadian Parliament. An
American always carries his "inalienable
rights" with him, and on all proper, and per-
haps on some improper, occasions is prepared
to assert and defend them. Laws or constitu-
tions enacted for him in a foreign parliament,
or by a foreign corporation, are not sacred in his
eyes, especially when it is attempted to enforce
them over what he believes to be American
soil. It was so here; i;nd accordingly, in March,
1838, the first public step was taken looking
toward the establishment of a Territorial gov-
ernment over the country claimed by the
United States west of the Rocky mountains.
This was in the form of a inemoiial to Congress
signed by J. L. Whitcoinb and thirty-five
others, which was presented to that body by
Senator Linn January 28, 1838. This memo-
rial was read, laid on the table, and was never
taken therefrom. In 1838 the subject was
again brought to the attention of the Govern-
ment by another petition to Congress, ably con-
ceived and forcibly written, and signed by Rev.
David Leslie, of the Methodist mission, and
abont seventy others. The petition set forth
very clearly the condition and needs of the
country as seen by those upon the ground, and
is of such importance historically, and exerted
so much influence upon the action of Congress,
and also npon the feelings of the Hudson's Bay
Company toward the American settlers, that
its full text is here inserted. It is as follows:

To the Honorable, the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress Assembled:

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

Your petitioners represent unto your honor-
able bodies that they are residents in the Ore-
gon Territory, and citizens of tlie United States,
or persons desirous of becoming such.

They further represent to your honorable
bodies that they have settled themselves in
said Territory under the belief that it was a por-
tion of the public domain of said States and
that they m\^]ii rely upon the Government
thereof for the blessings of free institutions,
and the protection of its arms.

But your petitioners further represent, that
they are uninformed of any acts of said Govern-
ment by -which its institUL'ions and protection
are extended to them; in consequence whereof
themselves and families are exposed to be de-
stroyed by the savages around them, and others
tJiat would do them harm.

And your petitioners would further represent
that they have no means of protecting their
own lives and the lives of their families, other
than self-constituted tribunals, originated and
sustained by the power of an ill-instructed
public opinion, and the resort to force and
arms.

And your petitioners represent these means of
safety to be an insufficient safe-guard of life
and property, and that the crimes of theft,
murder, infanticide, etc., are increasing among
them to an alarming extent, and your petition-
ers declare themselves unable to arrest this
progress of crime and its terrible consequences
without the aid of law, and tribunals to ad-
minister it.

Your petitioners therefore pray the Congress
of tlie United States of America to establish, as
soon as may be, a Territorial government in the
Oregon territory.

And if reasons other than those presented were
needed to induce your honorable bodies to grant
the prayer of the undersigned, your petitioners,
they would be found in the value of tliis terri-
tory to the nation, and the alarming circum-
stances that portend its loss.

Your petitioners, in view of these last consid-
erations, would represent that the English Gov-

ernment has had a surveying party on the Ore-
gon coast for two years, employed in making
accurate surveys of all its rivers, bays and har-
bors, and that recently the said government is
said to have made a grant to the Hudson's Bay
Company of all lands lying between the Colum-
bia river and Pnget sound, and that the said
company is actually exercising unequivocal acts
of ownership over said lands thus granted, and
opening extensive farms upon the same.

And your petitioners represent that these
circumstances, connected with other acts of said
company to the same effect, and their declara-
tion that the Engli-'ih Government owns and will
hold, as its own soil, that portion of Oregon
territory situated north of the Columbia river,
together with the important fact that the said
company are cutting and sawing into lumber
and shipping to foreign ports vast quantities of
the finest pine trees upon the navigable waters
of the Columbia, have led your petitioners to ap-
prehend that the English Government do intend,
at all events, to hold that portion of this terri-
tory lying north of the Columbia river.

And your petitioners represent that the said
territory north of the Columbia is an invaluable
possession to the American Union, that in and
about Puget Sound are the only harbors of
easy access and commodious and safe upon the
whole coast of the territory, and tliat a great
part of this said northern part of the Oregon
territory is rich in timber, water power and val-
uable luinerals. For this and other reasons
your petitioners pray that Congress will estab-
lish its sovereignty over said territory.

Your petitioners would further represent that
the country south of the Columbia river and
north of the Mexican line and extending from
the Pacific ocean 120 miles into the interior is
of nneqnaled beauty. Its mountains, covered
with perpetual snow, pouring into the prairies
around their bases transparent streams of pur-
est water, the white and black oak, pine, cedar,
and fir forests that divide the prairies into sec-
tions convenient for farming purposes, the rich
mines of coal in its hills, and salt springs in its

HISTORY Oh' WASniA'OTON.

valleys, its quarries of limestone, sandstone,
chalk and marble, the salmon of its ri%-ers, and
the .various blessings of the delightful and
healthy climate, are known to us and impress
your petitioners with the belief that this is one
of the most favored portions of the globe.

Indeed the deserts of the interior have their
wealth of pasturage, and their lakes, evaporat-
ing in summer, leave in their basins hundreds
of bushels of the purest soda. Many other cir-
cumstances could be named showing the im-
portance of this territory in a national, com-
mercial and agricultural point of view. And
although your petitioners would not undervalue
considerations of this kind, yet they beg leave
especially to call the attention of Congress to
their own conditions as an infant colony with-
out military force or civil institutions to pro-
tect their lives and property and children, sanc-
tuaries and tombs from the hands of uncivilized
and merciless savages around them. AVe re-
spectfully ask for tlie civil institutions of the
American republic. We pray for the high
privilege of American citizenship, the peaceful
enjoyment of life, the right of acquirincr, possess-
ing and using property, and the unrestrained
pursuit of rational happiness. And this your
petitioners will ever pray.

David Leslie,
and about seventy others.

It is ditlicult to fix the exact personal author-
ship of this remarkable document. Its honor
appears to be somewhat divided between David
Leslie, at that time ^ro tern superintendent of
the Methodist mission in the absence of Jason
Lee, then on his return from the States by sea
to Oregon at the head of what is known in the
history of the mission as the "great re-enforce-
ments," and Mr. Robert Shortess, an immi-
grant of the same year in which the petition
was written. It is probal)le that both had to
do with its preparation. At all events it re-
fleets honor upon the small American colony,
not then reaching 100 persons in all, and shows
how clearly and fully from the beginning our

people comprehended tiie issues pending be-
tween their own country and Great Britain, and
how thoroughly American were their sympa-
thies and purposes.

There is one phrase in the petition, given in
italics, which was understood by all to refer to
the Hudson's Bay Company, and shows with
what jealousy that company was watched by
the American. Doubtless the phrase had its
justification, and was not intended to convey
the sense of extreme enmity by that company
against tha Americans that some writers have
supposed. At all events, while the company
was faithful to itself, there is no evidence that
it did intentionally incite its own people, or the
Indian tribes, who were thoroughly under its
control, to acts of violence against the Ameri-
cans. And besides the humane Dr. McLough-
lin was then at the head of the company, and
no unprejudiced man who ever knew him could
believe him capable of any such sinister action.

The above quoted petition had gone on to
Congress. A year or two must certainly pass
before any relief could come from it, even if
any ever came. Meantime the necessities of
the people in Oregon, or, more accurately, in
the Willamette valley, where all the American
settlers and most of the Protestant missionaries
resided, were growing more and more urgent.
To meet them a meeting of some of the inhab-
itants was held at Champoeg, not far from the
Methodist mission, on the 7th of February,
1841, for consultation on the steps necessary to
be taken for the formation of laws and the
election of oflScers to execute them. Rev. Jasou
Lee was called to the chair and asked to express
his opinion of the step required. He advised
the appointment of a committee to draft a con-
stitution and by-laws for the government of
that portion of the country south of the Colum-
bia river. Nothing of moment was done fur-
ther at this meeting.

A few days later an event occurred which
served to I'cvive the matter in a new and more
imperative form. Mr. Ewing Young, a gentle-
man of prominence in the country and possess-

HIbTORT OF WASHINGTON.

ing a considerable estate, suddenly died. He left
no heirs in the country, and no one had any
authority to care for or administer upon his
estate. His funeral was held on the 17th of
February, at which most of the people of the
valley were present. At the close of the funeral
services a nieeting was held, over which Rev.
Jason Lee presided, when it was resolved to
hold another the next day at the Methodist
mission. Nearly all the people of the settle-
ment were present. Kev. David Leslie was
chosen to preside, and Rev. Gustavus Hines and
Mr. Sidney Smith were secretaries. A com-
mittee was chosen to draft a constitntion and
code of laws, of which F. F. Blanchet, after-
ward Roman Catholic archbishop, was chair-
man. After much discussion it was finally
decided to elect a person to serve as judge with
probate powers, and Dr. Ira L. Babcock was
chosen. The meeting adjourned to meet again
on Thursday, June 11, at the Catholic mission.
At that meeting it was found that the chairman
of t!ie committee appointed at the previous
meeting to draft a constitution and laws had
not called the committee together, and so this
meeting adjourned to meet on the first Thurs-
day in October. Before that time arrived the
feeling had become somewhat prevalent amung
the people that it would be unwise to establish
any permanent form of government so long as
the peace of the community could be preserved
without it, aud consequently the meeting was
never held. Thus ended the first attempt to
establish a government west of the Rocky
mountains.

Incidental to, and having no little influence
upon, the final action of the people in the estab-
lishment of the provisional government, it must
be mentioned that in 1842 Dr. Elijah White,
who had formerly held the position of physician
to the Methodist mission, and who had returned
to the States after some disagreement with its
superintendent. Rev. Jason Lee, appeared sud-
denly in the country holding a government
commission as sub-agent for the Indians in the
region west of the Rocky mountains. He

claimed plenary power over all questions be-
tween the settlers and the Indians, as well as all
civil and criminal cases that might arise in the
country. He appointed temporary magistrates
to try cases that might occur in his absence.
The people received him joyfully, their thank-
fulness at any proof that the Government had
not entirely fcirgotten their necessities probably
disposing them to a too generous credence of
his pretensions. At a mreting called to receive
him a series of highly complimentary resolu-
tions were passed, and ordered transmitted to
the Government of the United States, in order
that the views and wishes of the people in rela-
tion to this country might be made known.

The course of Dr. White in the relation
which he claimed as de facto governor of the
colony, provoked violent criticism, us well as re-
ceived emphatic defense. While it would an-
swer no valuable purpose to trace the one or the
other, it seems needful to say that Dr. White
doubtless claimed much more authority than
the Government ever designed he should exer-
cise. At the same time he was zealous and
active in the discharge of his duties, visiting
every part of the country wherever his presence
seemed to be required, and contributed in many
ways to the quiet of the Indian tribes. Still
the infirmities of his disposition and temper
were such that he could not retain the confi-
dence of masses of the people however desirous
he might be of doing so. His letters to the
Government earnestly urged that the country
might be taken possession of by the United
States, and the laws extended over it. A far
more fortunate selection for Indian agent in
Oregon might iiave been made: at the same
time impartial history must record that the
presence of Dr. White as such, albeit neither
the man nor his work was ideal, did something
to prepare the country for the rule of law which
was now soon to be instated.

The arrival of the immigration of 184:2,
bringing as it did a great increase of American
settlers, decidedly influenced the sentiment of
the country in favor of the immediate organiza.

HI STORY OF WASHINGTON.

125

tion of a government. What form it should
take, whether it should be entirely independent
of both nations claiming jurisdiction over the
country, or provisional, looking to an ultimate
supersedence by the extension of the laws of
the United States or Great Britain over Oregon,
became subjects of warm and often acrimonious
debates. That this should lie so was but natural,
as it was not easy to harmonize the sentiments
of those who yet expected the supremacy of
England on the Pacific coast with those who
confidently believed that the United States
rightfully owned the country. And besides
there were those who fostered an artificial an-
tagonism between the Protestant missionary
settlements and the distinctively American
population. We have called this antagonism
"artificial" because there was no ground for it
in reality, since all these missionary establish-
ments were intensely American, and their real
views could not but be in harmony with the in-
terests of Oregon's Americanization. Probably
a careful analysis of the causes lying liack of
this particular phase of the questions at issue
would discover that tl)ey were largely of a social
nature, and came out of tiie fact that a great
preponderance of the capacity and training for
pulilic affairs then in the colony was found among
the gentlemen connected vvitli these missions,
and it was but natural that, in emergencies like
the present, they should appear more conspicu-
ously than others. Of course, in addition to
these divisions of sentiment, there was the Ro-
man Catholic element, always most anxious for
that which would most subserve the plans and
purposes of the hierai-chy of Rome. It were
no small feat to so far harmonize these variant
elements as to secure an organization at all; for
there would needs be plots and counterplots,
and no one knew where the majority would
stand when the final count should come.

Dr. John McLoughlin gave the great weight
of his name to the plan of an independent gov-
ernment; one entirely separated from either the
United States or Great Britain. With him, as
a matter of couise, went the men of the Hud-
8

son's Bay Company, now settlers south of the
Columbia, and almost as much a matter of
course the Roman Catholics. This presented a
formidable combination, one that it proved not
easy to overcome.

The first public indication of the result oc-
curred at Willamette Falls (now Oregon City),
then the chief town of the colony, in the dis-
cussion, in a public lyceum, of a resolution in-
troduced by L. W. Hastings, as attorney for Dr.
McLoughlin, in the following words:

" Eesolved, That it is expedient for the set-
tlers of the coast to organize an independent
government."

At the close of the discussion the vote was
taken, and the resolution was adopted. At this
point Mr. George Abernethy, afterward gov-
ernor under the provisional government,
introduced another resolution for discussion
the following week, in the following words:

" R,:«oh'eil, That if the United States extends
its jurisdiction over this country during the next
four years, it will not be expedient to form an
independent government."

This resolution was very skillfully drawn.
Its passage would do two things: First, tenta-
tively pledge the people against an "independ-
ent" government; and, second, clearly express
their faith in the ultimate extension of the laws
of the American Union over the Pacific coast.
It was not against any government at the present
time, but against what Avas then understood as
the scheme of an '• independent government;"
that is, one looking to its own perpetuation as
an independent power among the governments
of the world.

At the close of an earnest debate the resolu-
tion of Mr. Abernethy was adopted. This set
at rest the scheme of an " independent govern-
ment," but it left the question of the formation
of a provisional government, looking to its own
supersession by the authority of the United
States at some future date still an open one.
In regard to this the discussion went on with
undiminished interest.

Meanwhile some of the leaiiinii' men of the

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

settlement had called a public meeting to be
held at the house of Joseph Gervais, where
tlie town of Gervais now is, on the first Monday
in March, to consider measures for the protec-
tion of the herds of the settlers from the depre-
dations of wild beasts. This was a subject that
appealed to all strongly, for savage beasts were
numerous and destructive. The attendance was
large, for it had become bruited about that some
other matter of importance would be Ijrouglit
forward at the meeting. This gathering was
known among the settlers as the " wolf meet-
ing."

The result of tliis gatliering, ovei- which
James O'Neil presided, was the adoption of a
series of resolutions providing for the payment
of bounties for the destruction of predatory ani-
mals. After this was done, a motion was made
by W. H. Gray that a committee of twelve per-
sons be appointed to take into consideration tlie
propriety of taking measures for the civil and
military protection of the colony. This was
unanimously adopted, the committee was elected
and the " wolf meeting" had gone into history.

Between the time of the adjournment of this
meeting and the assembling of another at Cham-
poeg on the 2d day of May, 1843, those opposed
to the organization of any form of government
were not idle. These were notably the people
of the Hudson's Bay Company and those who
called themselves " the Canadian citizens of
Oregon." They held public meetings at Van-
couver, at Willamette Falls, and at the Catholic
Church on the French Prairie. An " Address
of the Canadian citizens of Oregon to the meet-
ing at Champoeg," prepared by the Romish
priest, F. N. Blanchet, was circulated, and every
inflnence possible from these quarters were ex-
erted to prevent affirmative action at the meet-
ing of May 2.

The address of the Canadian citizens of Ore-
gon, writtf^n as it was by a man who, though a
master of dialectics in one tongue, the French,
was unable to intelligently Anglicize his speech,
is a unique specimen of literary work. Still
it discovers the entire nn-American sentiments

of those for whom it was penned at that time,
and their great wish to hold the country un-
committed on all questions that might have an
influence in finally settling the dispute for pos-
session of Oregon between England and the
United States in favor of the United States. A
quotation of paragraphs 11 and 12 of the " Ad-
dress" will disclose these facts. Tliey are as
follows:

" 11. That we consider the country free at
present, to all nations, till government shall
have decided; o])en to every individual wishing
to settle, without any distinction of origin, and
without asking him anything, either to become
an English, Spanish or American citizen.

" 12. So we, English subjects, proclaim to
be free, as well as those who came from France,
California, United States, or even natives of this
country; and we desire unison with all the re-
spectable citizens who wish to settle in this
country; or we ask to be recognized as free
among ourselves to make such regulations as
appear suitable to our wants, save the general
interest of having justice from all strangers who
might injure us, and that our reasonable cus-
toms and pretensions be respected."

This shows, as well as such phrases can show,
that the real conflict was the old one of rival
claims to Oregon, now assuming, so far as the
people of Oregon themselves were concerned,
only another form of expression.

According to call the settlers gathered at
Champoeg on the 2d of May. Dr. I. L. Bab-
cock was chairman, and G. W. Le Breton was
secretary. The committee of twelve appointed
at the previous meeting made its report. A
motion to accept it was lost; the Hudson's Bay
men and the Catholics, vinder the lead of Rev.
F. N. Blancliet, voting " No " on the motion to
accept. There was mnch confusion, if not some
consternation, at this result, for it seemed that
all the iiopes of those who desired the establish-
ment of some order of government were to be
blasted. A motion made by Mr. Le Breton,
however, rescued the meeting from its unhappy
dilemnja. It was that the meeting divide: those

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON:

in favor of an organization taking the right,
and those opposed to it taking the left. This
motion prevailed withont opposition. "Joe
Meek," an old Rocky mountain man, of tall,
erect and commanding form, fine visage, with
a coal-black eye, and the voice of Stentor, a
thorough American, stepped out and shouted,
■' All in favor of the report of the committee
and an organization, follow me." The Ameri-
cans were immediately in line by his side.
More slowly the opposition with Blanchet went
" to the left." The lines were carefully counted.
Fifty-two stood with Meek; fifty with Blan-
chet, — -so narrow was the margin of sentiment
in favor of the organization of any form of gov-
ernment. Promptly the chairman called the
meeting to order again; but the defeated party
withdrew, leaving only those who voted in the
affirmative to conclude the proceedings of the
day.

This was easily done, for now the cause was
in the hands of its friends. The report of the
committee of twelve was taken up. discussed,
amended and adopted. It provided for the
election of a supreme judge, with probate power,
a clerk of the court, a sheriff, three magistrates,
three constables, a treasurer, a major and three
captains. A. E. Wilson was chosen to act as
supreme judge, G. W. Le Breton as clerk of the
court, J. L. Meek as sheriff and W. II. "Wilson
as treasurer. The other offices were tilled and
a " Legislative Committee " of nine was ap-
pointed, consisting of Messrs. Hill, Ivobert
Shortess, liobert Newell, A. Beers, Hubbard,
W. H. Gray, J. O'Neil, R. Moore and Dough-
erty. The session of the " Legislative Com-
mittee" was limited to si.x days and their per
diem fixed at SI. 25, which they immediately
contributed themselves. This committee as-
sembled at the Falls on the 10th of May and
was furnished a room gratuitously by the Meth-
odist mission at that place, which, though the
best that could be had, was certainly humble
enough to suit even frontier views of economy
in the work of State building. It was a build-
ing 16 X 30 and divided into two rooms, one of

which accommodated the first legislature of
Oregon. As the discussions of this legislature
were tentative, and to be reported to a meeting
of the citizens to be held at Charapoeg on the
5th of July, it is not necessary to record them
in e.xtenso here. The session continued but
three days.

The meeting to consider the report of the
legislative committee was to be on the 5th day
of July. Showing the thorough American senti-
ment that prevaded the entire movement a cel-
ebration of " Independence Day " had been ar-
ranged for at the same place on the 4th, and
an oration in honor of that day so dear to every
true American was delivered by Rev. Gustavus
Hines. On the 5th the meeting of the citizens
was held and the orator of the previous day was
chosen to preside over it. Quite a number of
those who had opposed organization at the pre-
vious meeting were present at this and an-
nounced themselves as favorable to the objects
sought to be attained by the Americans. Others,
however, including the Catholic missionaries and
the Hudson's Bay Company, not only did not
attend, but publicly asserted that they would
not submit to the authority of any government
that might be organized. The representatives
of the Hudson's Bay Compauy addressed a
communication to the leaders of the movement,
stating that they felt aljundantly able to defend
both themselves and their political rights.
With affairs in this attitude Mr. Hines an-
nounced that the report of the legislative com-
mittee was in order. The report w'as accord-
ingly read by Mr. Le Breton. It consisted of a
body of what was styled by the committee " or-
ganic laws," prefaced by the following pre-
amble:

" We, the people of Oregon Territory, for the
purpose of mutual protection, and to secure
peace and prosperity among ourselves, agree to
adopt the following laws and regulations until
such time as the United States of America ex-
tend their jurisdiction over us." Then follows
the usual form of a constitution, with the usual
definitions and restrictions of the powers of

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the goverimieut. It provided for an Executive
Committee of three instead of a governor, and a
Legislative Committee of nine, and in the main
followed the order adopted liy the preliminary
meeting in March. It provided that the laws
of Iowa should be the laws of Oregon Territory
in cases not otherwise provided for, and made
definite provision on the subject of land claims.
The portion of the report that elicited the most
controversy was that constituting an executive
committee of three, some desiring a single ex-
ecutive and some wishing to leave the govern-
ment — if government it could then have been
called — without an executive head. On the vote
being taken the body of "organic laws" re-
ported by the committee was adopted, M'ith only
slight amendments by the meeting. It was re-
solved that the persons chosen to officiate in the
several offices at the meeting held in May should
continue in office until the following May.
This left only the Executive Committee to be
elected, and on a ballot being taken Alanson
Beers, David Hill and Joseph Gale were chosen,
and these tiiree constituted the first executive
of the Territory of Oregon. In this manner
Oregon passed from a condition where every
man was a law unto himself into the condition
of an organized political commonwealth, and a
new era had dawned upon her.

The first election under the provision of the
organic law adopted by the people at Cham poeg,
July 5, 1843, was held on the 14th of May,
1844. At this election P. G. Stewart, Osboru
Eussell and W. J. Bailey were elected members
of the Executive Committee: Ira L. Babcock,
supreme judge, John E. Long, clerk and re-
corder, Philip Foster, treasurer, and Joseph L.
Meek, sheriff. The legislative districts had
been organized, covering all of what now con-
stitutes the States of Oregon, Washington and
Idaho, and a part of the State of Montana. That
was the Oregon Territory of the days of the
provisional government and np to 1853, when
Washington Territoi-y was organized by act of
Congress,

The plan of government proved so defective
that at their meeting at Oregon City in Decem-
ber, 1844, tlie legislative committee passed
several acts amendatory of it providing for their
submission to the people, among which was a
ciiange from an executive committee of three
to a governor, and from a legislative committee
elected by the people en masse to a legislature
representing legislative districts. These amend-
ments were adopted by the people, and at the
first annual election held under the amended
organic law on the 3d of June, 1845, George
Abernethy was elected the first governor of
Oregon; John E. Long was elected secretary,
Francis Ermatinger, treasurer; J. W. Nesmith,
district attorney; S. W. Moss, assessor; and
Joseph L. Meek was continued as sherifi'. The
total vote cast for governor was 504. The ques-
tion of holding a convention to frame a consti-
tution had also been submitted to the people,
but the plan was defeated by a vote of 283
against to 190 in favor of it.

At the time of his election as governor, Mr.
Abernethy was absent from the country on a
visit to the Sandwich islands, and until his re-
turn the old executive committee officiated as
the executive of the Territory.

When the Legislature met at Oregon City on
the 24th of June, Mr. Jesse Applegate prepared
a form of oath to be administered to the mem-
bers elect, the terms of which indicate the pecu-
liar condition of society existing in the country
at that time. The oath was as follows:

Oatu of Office. — I do solemnly swear that
I will support the organic laws of the provis-
sional government of Oregon, so far as the said
organic laws are consistent with my duties as a
citizen of the United States, or a subject of
Great Britain, and faithfully demean myself in
office. So help me God.

This form of oath, it will be seen, left much
to the judgment of the individual legislator as
to what was or was not "consistent" with his
duties " as a citizen of the United States, or a
subject of Great Britain." Still it is worthy

HISTOnr OF WASHINGTON.

of remark that, so far we have have been able
to ascertain, tliere was no case of even alleged
conflict between snch duties and obedience to
tlie organic law of the Territory. Indeed
tliere ^^•as no danger of tliis so far as those wlio
wei-e citizens of the United States were con-
cerned, as tlie organic law was entirely the prod-
uct of the spirit of American citizenship, and
was the act of American citizens. This form
of oath was doubtless designed to disarm, as far
as possible, opposition to provisional govern-
nioiit on the part of those who, from tiieir re-
lations to the British government and the Hud-
son's 13a^ Company, yet persisted in opposing
it. Practically so far as the members of the
Legislature were concerned, it had no applica-
tion, as they were all citizens of the TTnited
States, and hearty supporters of the organic law.

As this was the first legislature elected in
the usual manner by the ballots of the electors
of Oregon, it seems proper tliat their names be
given here. They were:

Clackamas District: 11. A. J. Lee, llirain
Straight, W. IL Gray.

Tualatin District: M. M. McCarver, D. Hill,
J. ^\. Smith.

Champoeg District: J. ]\[. Garrison, M. G.
Foisy, Barton Lee, Robert Newell.

Clatsop District: John McClure.

Yam Hill District: Jesse Applegate, A. Hen-
dricks.

To those acquainted with the geography of
the country it is hardly necessary to say that
they were all residents south of the Columbia
river, for, though there had been a section called
Vancouver district designated the year before,
including the country north of the Columbia, it
had elected no representative, and really there
was hardly any settlement in it except by the
Hudson's Bay people, and these coivld hardly be
called settlements in the understanding of that
term by an American.

The new legislature met at Oregon City on
the 24th of June, and elected M. M. McCarver
speaker. The first and most important business
of the session was the passing of a memorial to

Congress, asking for a Territorial government
according to the usual forms of Congressional
action. On the 28th of June this memorial
was signed by the acting executivej in the ab-
sence of Governor-elect Abernethy, namely;
Messrs. Russell and Stewart of the old execu-
tive committee. Supreme Judge Nesmith and
the members of the legislature; and Dr. Elijah
White was delegated to convey it to Washing-
ton. This being done the legislature took a re-
cess until August 5, awaiting the vote of the
people on the adoption of a revised and amended
organic law wliich had been duly submitted to
them. The vote being strongly in favor of the
new law, the legislature began its action under
it at the appointed time. After some disagree-
able wrangling the action of the body at its flrst
session electingM. M. McCarver speaker, was
reconsidered, and Jiobert JS'ewell was elected in
his place. A spirit of personal partisanship is
disclosed by the records of the session, perhaps
not greatly to be wondered at, and still not
commending the body to any special eulogy.
The previous appointment of Dr. White as
messenger to convey the memorial asking tlie
organization of a Territorial government for
Oregon to Congress, became a great cause of
contention. The methods and spirit of Di-.
White, as we have previously stated, were such
tliat he did not command general pul)lic confi-
dence, though he did not fail to secure a warm
personal and partisan support. Whether the
action of the legishiture in first appointing him
its messenger and placing its memorial in his
hands, and afterward, by a unanimoTis vote,
comm.itting to him also a copy of the amended
organic law to be conveyed with the memorial
to Congress, and then, in a few days, demand-
ing their return, was taken with becoming dig-
nity and intelligence, is a question we will not
discuss. Certain it is, howe\-er, that at this
point in the legislative history of Oregon tliere
was an amount of personal politics intermincrfed
with all public politics not conservable of the best
interests of the new commonwealth. Further
than this we need not here draw aside the veil.

130

ttlSTORY OF WASHINGTON.

The ostensible reason for the action of the
legislature demanding of Dr. White the return
of the docutneuts entrusted to him, was that
thej had not been "attested and dispatched ac-
cording to the directions of this house;" or, in
other words, that Mr. McCarver had signed the
memorial as speaker of the house, which, it
seems, was not what that body desired. It one
at this day can truly read between the lines of
the recorded action of the legislature concerning
these matters, a belief that the prominence that
body had given Dr. White as bearer of these
documeats to Washington, and its consequent
quasi indorsement of him after his service as
sub-agent of Indian afiairs in Oregon, would
give him a strong moral claim for any oifice of
honor or profit he might desire in the hoped-for
Territorial organization, was the real reason for
that action. The members believed, too, that
he would use his position for that end, which is
not only likely, but what, probably, most of
them would have done under the same circum-
stances.

Dr. White, in a singularly characteristic note,
refused to comply with tiie demand of the legis-
lature to return the documents, and proceeded
on his way to Washington. Not to be foiled in
its purpose, the legislature caused to be for-
warded to Congress, through the American Con-
sul at the Sandwich Islands, a copy of the or-
ganic law of tlie provisional government signed
by the governor and attested by the secretary,
and also of all resolutions adopted by that body
relating to the sending of the same to Congress
by the hand of Dr. White, and also a copy of
the letter of Dr. White declining to return the
same to it. On the arrival of the documents
thus forwarded in Washington, Dr. White, who
had reached that city before them, was con-
fronted by then), and they effectually destroyed
all his chances for political preferment in
Oregon.

The result of these memorials and petitions
to Congress, in the then attitude of the inter-
national dispute regarding the ownership of
Oregon, could only be to keep the question con-

stantly and influentially before the Government
of the United States, and inapress it with the
vast importance of the great country in dispute.
This they effectually did. But of course no
Territorial government could be erected over it
until all the antecedent questions of sovereignty
were settled. For this the people of Oregon
waited impatiently. The Government seemed
mncli too tardy and indifferent in pressing these
questions to a settlement, and the people of
Oregon were long left in suspense as to whether
they were really regarded as American citizens
or not. Meanwhile the affairs of the sui generis
commonwealth were managed by the provisional
govenunent as best they could be in the condi-
tion of the country, and the historian, after
making due allowances for the inexperience of
those to whom was intrusted this semblance of
authority, must say they were well managed.

It was fortunate that at this critical juncture
in the afiairs of Oregon a man of calm, self-
poised, conservative mold was its chief execu-
tive officer. The only authority of the govern-
ment was a moral one. Its only power to en-
force its decrees was in the will of the people to
obey them. To the immortal honor of the pio-
neers it may be written that no country ever
had a larger proportion of people* who governed
themselves by the general rule of right-doing
than had Oregon. To that class of people Gov-
ernor Abernethy's quiet, undemonstrative, con-
scientious course as an officer and a man com-
mended itself, and in commending itself also
commended the government of which he was
the executive head. Oregon had many abler,
more brilliant, more aggressive men, and many
of these undervalued him, and depreciated his
conservatism, but it was best for Oregon. A
Hotspur in the executive chair at that time
would aLiiost certainly have so embroiled the
American and British elements then in the
country by the equal rigiits of treaty stipula-
tions as greatly to endanger our national peace,
if not, indeed, to make probable a conclusion of
our international controversy less favorable to the
United States. He was strong enough to wait.

lllSrORT OF WASirrNGTOK.

13i

wiae enough lo he prudent. This is said for
Mr. Ahernethy without any depreciation of tlie
character or work of other men, coadjutors with
him in tlie thrillingiy important events of their
era, but in just appreciation of the iiiHuence
and work of this man in molding and consers'-
in^ the early character of Oregon history, and
in bringing (Oregon through the really most
dangerous period of its civil and political con-
struction. No American at that time in Ore-
gon, who ought to have been thought of in con-
nection with the office of governor, had more of
the respect and confidence of those who were
not Americans than he, and it was greatly this
respect and confidence in him that prevented a
more open and violent opposition to the provis-
ional government on the part of these people.
This, by some writers, has been set down as a
discount on his qualifications for the office which
he held, l)ut to us it seems one of the prime
factors in the real infiuenee of the government
he directed.

While many very important events in the
general history of Oregon occurred during the
existence of the provisional government, they
will be found recorded elsewhere in this book,
under the special departments of history to
which they belong; wiiat relates particularly to
the history of that government itself can soon
be told. Though in 1846 the " Oregon ques-
tion '" between Great Britain and the T'nited
States was settled, confirming to the United
States all the country west of the Rocky mount-
ains up to the 49° of latitude, yet no decisive
movement was made by Congress toward the
organization of a Territorial government over
it. Therefore on the 3d of June, 1847, another
election for governor and other officers, and

members of the provisional legislature, was
held. The numlier of votes polled for governor
was 1,074, George Abernethy receiving a plu-
rality of the votes and being elected. The
Legislature had then increased to twenty-two
members, five coming from the region north of
Columbia river, and the names of seiveral who
had been, in some relation, connected with the
interests of the Hudson's Bay Company, appear-
ing for the first time upon the list of members.
This indicated a gradual melting down of the
old barriers of caste and nationality, and gave
some pledge of a future harmoniousness of feel-
ing and action on the part of all the people of
the country. The question of title to the
country having been settled, the old causes of
disagreement had passed away, e.xcept the lin-
gering remnants of personal enmities begotien
of adverse national predilections and interest.
Many of these disappeared only in the graves
of those who were prejudiced or fanatical enough
to entertain them.

The bill for the organization of a Territorial
government for Oregon was placed on its final
passage in Congress on tlie 12tli of August,

1848. The incidents leading up to and attend-
ing this event will be found elsewhere and need
not be referred to here. When the '• ayes" and
" nays " were called a majority voted in the
affirmative. President Polk atiixed his signa-
ture to it a few hours afterward, and at once
appointed General Joseph Lane, of Indiana,
governor of the Territory of Oregon. On his
arrival at Oregon City, on the 2d of March,

1849, he issued his proclamation, and assumed
the duties of his office, and the provisional
government ot Oregon had ceased to exist.

133

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER XIV.
TERRITORIAL ERA.
Organization Delated — Benton's Letter — Mr. Thornton's Mission to Washington — J. L.
Meek Sent to Washington — President Polk Appoints Territorial Officers — Census
Taken — Gold Discovered in California — Election of Delegates to Congress — First Ter-
ritorial Legislature — Gov. Lane — Gov. Gaines — Eegiment of Mounted Riflemen —
Change of Officers — First Newspaper — Steamer Built — Death of Mr. Thurston.

LTHOUGH the

Oregon question," as
)ne, was concluded in
the summer of 1846, the country itself
was left practically to its own resources
for two years longer. It was confidently ex-
pected by the people of Oregon, and of the
Eastern States as well, tliat the organization of
a Territorial government would soon follow the
settlement of the boundary controversy. Lender
this expectation a large emigration from the
older States crossed the plains in 1847. But
Congress delayed. Reasons of politics were
more potent in the councils of the nation than
reasons of statesmanship. The Mexican war
was in progress. The administration had all
and more than it could do to maintain itself
before the people. Its abdication of the politics
of the convention and the stump on the Oregon
qnestion for those of statesmanship and reason
had angered a large element of its former sup-
porters, and the progress of the war, while
lifting generals into high reputation, were add-
ing nothing to the honor of those politicians
who anticipated preferment as the result of the
war. So Oregon must wait. And another
quesrion was in the slumbering Oregon ques-
tion. That was the slavery question! and all
knew that when the matter of the organization
of the Territorial government for Oregon came
before Congress this "Satan" of our politics for
so many years would "come also." And for
this reason, too, the question must wait.

The disappointment in Oregon over this de-
lay was intense. To allay it as far as possible
Mr. Buchanan, Secretary of State under Presi-
dent Polk, and Thomas H. Benton, wrote letters
to the people of Oregon, giving the strongest
assurances that they would, be cared for, and

the interests of the rising commonwealth on the
Pacific protected. Mr. Buchanan expressed the
deep regret of President Polk that Congress had
neglected Oregon, and promising the presence
of a regiment of dragoons, and the occasional
visits of vessels of war to protect the people.
That of Senator Benton gave so clear a view of
the political situation in which appears so mucli
that is vital to the brave frontiersmen of Ore-
gon, that onr readers will be glad to see some
extracts from it. He says:

"Washington, March, 1848.

'■'My Friends (for such I may call many of
you from personal acquaintance, and all of you
from my thirty years of devotion to the inter-
ests of your country): I think it right to make
this communication to you at the present mo-
ment when tlie adjournment of Congress, with-
out passing the bill for your government and
protection, seems to have left you in a state of
abandonment by your mother country. You
are not abandoned. Nor will you be denied
protection unless you agree to admit slavery.
I, a man of the South and a slaveholder, tell
you this. The House of Representatives, as
early as the middle of January, had passed the
bill to give jou a Territorial government, and
in that bill had sanctioned and legalized your
provisional organic act, one of the clauses of
which forever prohibited the existence of slavery
in Oregon.

"An amendment from the Senate's committee,
to which this bill was referred, proposed to ab-
rogate that prohibition, and in the delays and
vexations to which that amendment gave rise,
the whole bill was laid upon the table and lost
for the session. This will be a great disappoint-
ment to you and a real calamity, already five

HISTORY OP WASniNGTON.

years without law or legal institutions for the
protection of life, liberty and property, and
now doomed to wait a year longer. This is a
strange and anomalous condition, almost in-
credible to contemplate and critical to endure!
A colony of free men, almost four thousand
miles from the metropolitan government to
preserve them! But do not be alarmed or des-
perate. Yon will not be outlawed for not ad-

ing

very.

" Your fundamental act against that institu-
tion, copied from the ordinance of 1787 (the
work of the great men of the South in the grt^at
days of the South, prohibiting slavery in a terri-
tory far less northern than yours), will not be
abrogated. Nor is that the intention of the
prime mover of the amendment. Upon the
record the judiciary committee of the Senate is
the anthoi- of that amendment, but not so the
fact. It is only the midwife of it. Its author
is the same mind that generated the ' P'ire-
Braud Resolutions,' of which I send you a
copy, and of which the amendment is the legiti-
mate derivation. Oregon is not the object.
The most rabid propagandist of slavery cannot
expect to plant It on the shores of the Pacific
in the latitude of Wisconsin and of the Lake of
the Woods. A home agitation for election and
and disunion purposes is all that is intended by
thrusting this fire-brand question into your bill
as it ought not to he. I promise you this in the
name of the South, as well as of the North, and
the event will not deceive me. In the mean-
time the president will give you all the protec-
tion which existing laws will enable him to
extend to you, and until Congress has time to
act your friends must rely upon you to con-
tinue to govern yourselves as you have hereto-
fore done under the provisions of your own
voluntary compact, and with the justice, har-
mony and moderation which is due to your own
character and to the honor of the American
name. * * ■■'' *

" In conclusion, I have to assure you that the
same spirit which has made me the friend of
Oregon for thirty years, which led me to de-

nounce the joint-occupation treaty the day it
was made, and to oppose its renewal in 1828,
and to labor for its abrogation until it was ter-
minated; the same spirit which led me to
reveal the grand destiny of Oregon in articles
written in 1818, and to support every measure
for her benefit since, — the same spirit still ani-
mates me and will continue to do so while I
live, — which I hope will be long enough to see
an emporium of Asiatic commerce at the month
of your river, and a stream of Asiatic trade
pouring into the \-alley of the Mississippi
through the channel of Oregon."

These letters fully explained to the people of
Oregon the political condition of the questions
relating to their interests, as well as communi-
cated to them the courage of assured expecta-
tion. Their provisional government was meet-
ing, in a reasonable way, the necessities of
internal order, and, except for a feeling of
national orphanage that must have oppressed
the ten or twehe thousand Americans in the
country, there was not much real detriment to
the country in the delay. That feeling, how-
ever, made the disappointment bitter indeed.

To stimulate, as far as possible, the action of
Congress, Governor Abernethy, and many of the
leading gentlemen of the Territory, requested
Hon. J. Quinn Thornton, supreme judge under
the provisional government, to proceed to
Washington and labor with CJongress in behalf
of Oregon. Acceding to their request Mr.
Thornton left Oregon the latter part of October
and arrived in Washington about the middle of
May, 1848. He was received in a very cordial
manner by the friends of Oregon in Congress,
and liy the president, and, acting under their
advice, prepared a memorial setting forth the
needs and conditions of the people of Oregon,
and it was presented to both Houses of Congress.

In addition to the memorial, Mr. Thornton
drafted a bill for the organization of a Terri-
torial govornment, which was introduced and
placed upon its passage. Containing a clause
prohibiting slavery, this bill was as objection-
able to the pro-slavery force in Congress as was

BISTORT OF WASEINOTON.

that which had been defeated two years before.
Led by JeflFerson Davis and John C Calhoun,
the party resisted, with a desperate determina-
tion, every step of the progress of the bill. By
all the tactics known to le<>islative bodies it was
opposed and resisted. It was approaching the
time fixed npon for the final adjourntnent of
Congress, August 14, and evei'y effort was
made to prevent the vote being taken. Bnt
the friends of the bill had made their argnnients,
and resolved to remain in session until its ene-
mies yielded to a vote. A violent altercation,
which came near resulting in a duel, occurred
between Senators Benton of Missouri and But-
ler of South Carolina, but after every expedient
of filiinister and delay had been resorted to by
the enemies of the bill, the vote was taken on
the 1)111 at abont 8 o'clock on the morning of
August 13, 1848, the Senate having been in ses-
sion all night, and the bill was passed. Within a
few hoars after its passage President Polk
affixed his signature to it, and the "Territory of
Oregon" became a legal fact.

Connected with the influences that hastened
the result, and contributing no little to it,
were the occurrence of the "Whitman massa-
cre," which is elsewhere in this book separately
treated of, and the sending of Joseph L. Meek
as a special messenger overland to Washington,
to convey the intelligence of the terrible affair,
and contribute what he could to the purpose
for which Mr. Thoi'ntou had already gone.
The massacre occurred on the 29th day of
November, 1847, abont six weeks after Mr.
Thornton's departure. The country was
plunged into a state of grief and alarm. How
far the murderous purposes and combinations
of the Indians extended no one could tell. The
Provisional Legislature was then in session at
Oregon City. That body, on the 10th of Decem-
ber, on motion of J. W. Nesmith, resolved to
dispatch a special messenger to Washington at
once "for the purpose of securing the immedi-
ate influence and protection of the United
States Government in our internal affairs." On
the 16th of December, Joseph L. Meek was

chosen as such messenger, and $1,000 appro-
priated for his expenses. Mr. Meek was a
member of the Legislative Assemby, but im-
mediately resigned his seat for the purpose of
complying with the desires of that body, as, in-
deed, of all the people of 0)-egon.

The selection of Mr. Meek as messenger to
carry dispatches to Washington was, in most
respects, a very suitable one. The mission was
one of great peril and hardship. It was win-
ter, and the route lay over nearly 2,000 miles
of entirely unsettled deserts and mountains, on
which the winter storms and snows held a ter-
rible tyranny. A journey over them by sum-
mer was difficult and dangerous enough, and
one by winter had seldom been attempted, and
more seldom accomplished.

Mr. Meek was a " mountain man." lie had
spent many years as a hunter and trapper, rang-
ing the valleys of the upper Missouri, Colum-
bia and Snake rivers, Colorado and Salt Lake,
and all the mountain regions from Missouri
to California and Oregon. His familiarity with
the region to be traversed, his unusual courage,
quick wit, and great powers of physical endur-
ance pre-eminently qualified him to undertake
the hazardous mission. His credentials from
the Legislature and governor, and a memorial
and other documents to be presented to the
Covernnieut at Washington, were jjrepared and
furnished him, and on the 4th of January he
set out on his mission, no less perilous than
important.

The incidents of this winter journey of Mr.
Meek belong to the romance of an era long
since departed, the chronicle of which lives
only in the memories of the few remaining
gray-haired men whose early manhood belonged
to it. Our space permits only the most gen-
eral reference to them.

On reaching The Dalles of the Columbia, such
was the excited condition of the Indians between
the Cascade and Blue mountains, that the mes-
senger and his small party, consisting of John
Owen and George Ebberts, were compelled to
remain at that place several weeks, as it would

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

then have been impossible to have made their
way throuf^h the hostile tribe.

When the troops of the provisional govern-
ment arrived on their way to the scene of the
Wliitman massacre, Mr. Meek accompanied
them as far as Wai'ilitpn, the scene of that dire-
ful tragedy. One of Mr. Meek's own children,
who was in the care of Dr. Whitman and his
wife, liad been a victim of Cayuse treachery at
that time. The place and scene of the mnrder
was most fnll of sad and impressive recollections
and impressions, as the troops and the party of
Meek committed the remains of the victims of
that terrible day to the earth, before he con-
tinued on his journey. This done, a company
of the troops escorted his small party, now con-
sisting of seven men, as far as the base of the
Bine mountains, where the lone travelers were
cast loose on the vast winti-y world that lay cold
and white for more than a tliousand miles be-
fore them.

Their ronte lay over the I'lue mountains into
Grande Konde valley, thence to Powder river,
and down Burnt river to Snake, then up the
great valley of that stream to the Rocky mount-
ains, and thence down the eastern slope of the
continent to St. Joseph, on the Missouri river,
which they reached in a little over two months
from the Willamette valley. It is hardly prob-
able that there was another man in Oregon who
could have accomplished this journey with the
celerity with which it was accomplished by J.
L. Meek. What remained to be done was for
him more difficult. If we give a page to the
consideration of the unique place, Mr. Meek,
and others like him, held in early Oregon his-
tory, this will be better appreciated, and one
chapter of our story will be more clearly read.
To do this we take him as the most prominent, if
not the best type of that element in the social
and civil life of early pioneer times in Oregon.

Joseph L. Meek was a Virginian by birth. In
his early youth he found his way to St. Louis,
where, in 1828, he engaged himself to Mr. Will-
iam Sublette, then and for years thereafter one
of the ablest leaders of the fur trade of the Rocky

mountains, and with his company went into the
work of hunting and trapping in the great
mountain regions of the interior of the conti-
nent. In various relations connected with
such men as Sublette, Bridger, Fontenelle,
Smith, Bonneville and others, he spent his life
until 1840, wlien, the fur trade liaving almost
entirely failed in the mountains, he resolved to
seek a home in the Willamette valley. Taking
his wife, an Indian woman, and family of
half-breed children, he abandoned the mountains
and took up his residence on a beautifiil land
claim about twenty miles west of where the city
of Portland now stands, on what was then known
as " Tualatin plains," when he thus and there
entered upon a life associated with the purposes
and work of civilization. He was just in the ma-
turity of his physical powers, and a man of a fine
and engaging presence. Tall, lithe, well-
rounded, erect, with black hair and sparkling-
black eyes, a face radiant with self-satisfied good
humor, and having a smooth and easy utter-
ance, he could always secure the attention of
men.

Technically he was uneducated. Really he
was educated though unlettered. His education
was that of experience and adventure and dan-
ger, — an education that goes further in the mak-
ing of a man than mere letters. It gave to him
an induration of physical force that was admira-
ble. It did not elevate his moral nature com-
mensurately. It imparted a keenness of per-
ception to his intellectual faculties, while it did
not broaden and elevate liis reason. It quickened
his instinctive sagacity into adroitness, while it
did not furnish it a strong basis of conscientious-
ness. Conscious physical power and a long
period of wild and varried adventure gave to his
naturally independent nature an abandon that
verged on recklesness. The wild stories of the
camps in which he spent his youth and early
manhood, with their frequent excesses and
carousals, colored his forms of thought and
speech with a spirit of exaggeration which often
went beyond the limits of fact or truth. Thus
his education, — the education of the camp and

HI STOUT OF WASllINOTON.

the trail aud the wigwam, crystallized hiui into
that unique personality that is known in early
Oregon history as "Jo Meek", — a personality that
was not without its importance in place and
power in the early pioneer days in wliich these
later days of a more specious civilized pretense
were conceived and born, and that helped in no
inconsiderable degree to make these later and
better days a possibility and a fact. Without
him and such as he then was, these conld not
have been now. !So we honor tiiese men of the
olden times.

It is scarcely possible for a man of to-day, as
he steps out of a gilded palace car, on the banks
of the Missoui-i after a three-days I'un from
Portland to Omaha, to imagine the appearance
of "Jo Meek" as he stejtped down from the
back of his mule after his two -months ride from
Oregon, on that March evening in 1848. lie
was dressed in buckskin pants, with a blanket
capote and wolf-skin cap, with moccasins on
his feet. His hair and beard were long and
unkempt. He had neither money nor friends,
aud his only source of hope to i-each Washing-
ton was in his mission and himself, and these
proved an open sesame wherever he went.
When he reached Washington, only a couple
of weeks after the arrival of Mr. Thornton, the
documents he brought and his personal intelli-
gence and influence aided no little iu hastening
the action of Congress for the relief of Oregon
in the adoption of the bill for the organization
of a Territorial government.

After Mr. Polk had signed the bill on the
13th of August he made haste to complete his
part of the work of organizing the Territory by
the appointment of its officers. His own term
of office as president was approaching its limit,
and he was naturally desirous that the new gov-
ernment of Oregon should be fully installed
before its expiration. He chose General Joseph
Lane, of Indiana, governor of the Territory,
and appointed Joseph L. Meek United States
marshal, and delegated him to convey his com-
mission to the newly appointed governor, who
was at his home in Indiana, and who was en-

tirely unaware of the duty about to be imposed
upon him. General Lane accepted the com-
mission thus honorably tendered him, and,
three days after he received it, had closed up
his affairs in Indiana, and in company with Mr.
Meek was on his way toward Oregon.

After the most strenuous effort Governor
Lane reached Oregon City, the then capital, on
the second day of March, 1849. On the third
day of March he issued a proclamation and
assumed the duties of his office, thus anticipat-
ing by but a single day the expiration of the
term of Mr. Polk as President of the United
States. Thus the ambition of the president to
signalize his term in the office of President of
the United States, into which he was undoubt-
edly lifted by the position of his party and him-
self oil the Oregon (question, by the organization
of the Territorial government in Oi-egon, was
gratified, and Oregon passed out of its form of
self-imposed provisional government, and was
fully under the protection of the (lovernment
of the United States.

Though Governor Lane and Marshal Meek
were in Oregon, they were the only official rep-
I'csentatives of the United States Government
in the Territory for a number of months. The
other Territorial officers, namely, Kintzing
Pritcheli, secretary; William C. Eryant, cjiief
justice, and O. C. Pratt and Peter II. Burnett,
associate justices, were in due time appointed
and took the respective places assigned them,
and the Oregon Territory was fully organized.

Immediately on assuming the duties of his
office. Governor Lane appointed marshals to
take the census, as provided in the organic act.
The population was then ascertained to be
Vt,083, of whom all but 208 were Americans.

When the bill for the organization of the
Territory of Oregon became a law, containing
liberal promises for the donation of lands to
actual settlers, it was anticipated that the conn-
try would immediately be tilled with those who
were anxious to avail themselves of this pro-
vision. The drift of emigration was almost
entirely toward Oregon. California was little

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

known, and few cared to venture amono- the
Mexico-Spanish people of that region. Almost
sinuiltaneously with the passage of the bill,
however, there occurred an event in that Terri-
tory that turned the tide of emigration from
liie Eastern States thitherward, and even drew
very heavily on the population df ( )ie!ii'n itself.
This was the discovery of goM at Colonm, on
the south fork of tlie Anieriean river, by .lames
W. ]\[arsliall, who was among the arri\als in
Oregon in the autumn of 1844:, but went to
California in 1845, and entered the employ-
ment of Captain John A. Sutter at that place.
h\ a few months intelligence of this event had
reached the Eastern States. It awakened a
great excitement, and intending emigrants to
Oregon l)y the thousand turned to California.
The emigration on the plains in the summer of
1848 met the intelligence on tlie way and
largely turned toward the tields of gold. In
August, about seven months from the date of
the discovery, the news reached Oregon liy a
vessel which entered the Columbia river for a
cargo of supplies for the mines. The effect
upon the people of Oregon was even more
marked than that on any other part of the
country. Nearly the entire adult male popu-
lation of the territory rushed to California,
farms were left untilled and harvests nnreaped.
It looked as though Oregon wonld be depopu-
lated. For two or three years this exodus had
a great effect on the prosperity and improve-
ment of the country. But the productiveness
of the lands of Oregon, and the average salu-
brity of its climate had become so well known
that gradually most of those who had left re-
turned, and again emigration resumed its old
flow into the valley of the Willamette. Besides,
the mines of California opened the first market
for the abundant products of Oregon; prices
rose to almost fabulous figures; and for a few
years the gold-diggers of the plains of California
poured a stream of the yellow dust into the
pockets of the farmers and herdsmen of Oregon.
Prospectors pushed their discoveries northward
()t tlic Sacramento, until in 1851 rich niines

were discovered in Southern Oregon. So, whil'^'
the first effect of the discovery of gold in Cali-
fornia was detrimental to the pi-osperity of
Oregon, its ultimate result was the opening of
an era of unexampled advancement.

Tp to this time there had been but little C(jin,
or money of any kind, in the country. So
straitened were the people for a circulating
medium that the provisional Legislature made
wheat a legal tender at one dollar per bushel.
Oi'dei-s on the Hudson's Bay Company, and on
some mercantile establishments, and upon
the Methodist mission, though not legal tend-
ers, passed curi-ent among the people as the best
medium of exchange that could be had. But
with the coming of gold dust into the country
in the winter of 1848-'4!), this was passed
current as money, though at a great loss to
thiise who were compelled to dispose of it
as such, as an ounce of gold dust, in-
trinsically woi-th from iplB to |;18, could

d for onh

ai.

To remedy

the provisional Legislature passed an act for
the "assaying, melting and coining of gold."
Before anything was done under this act, how-
ever, the functions of the provisional govern-
ment were terminated by the arrival of Gover-
nor Lane and the organization of the Territorial
government. Still private enterprise came for-
ward and supplied the want by issuing what is
known as "beaver money," in coins of five and
ten dollars in value. These coins bore on the
obverse side the figure of a beaver — whence
their name — above which were the letters " K.,
M., T., A., W.. K., C, S.," and beneath " O. T.
1849." On the reverse side was " Oregon Ex-
change Company, 130 Grains Native Gold, 5
D" or "10 pwts. 20 grains, 10 D." The letters
were the Initials of the gentlemen composing
the company, namely: Messrs. Kilbourne, Ma-
gruder, Taylor, Abernethy, Willson, Hector,
Campbell and Smith. The dies were made by
Mr. Hamilton Campbell, and the press and
rolling machine by W. H. Rector. This was
not claimed by the company as money, but

,ly th:

IIISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

tliis convenient form for use as a medium of ex-
change. In a few years, however, the "coin of tlie
realm" became plentiful, and these found their
way to the United States mint for recoinage.

Though General Lane had assumed the duties
of iiis office on the 3d day of March, 18-lU,
there could scarcely he said to be any govern-
ment in the country for some months subse-
quently. There was an executive but no laws
to execute, and no courts for processes and
trials. The condition was anomalous, and far
from satisfactory. The seat of government at
Washington was so distant, and so much time
was required to communicate with it, and the
appointed Territorial officers were so tardy in
arriving and entering on their duties, that the
people became anxious and discontented. So
much time was required to complete the census
and other needful prejiarations that Governor
Lane could not call an election for delegate to
Congress and members of the Territorial Legis-
lature before the 6th of June, 184-9. The total
vote cast for delegate to Congress was about 943 —
a very small vote for the population of over
9,000 as ascertained by the census only just
completed. This was owing to the absence of
such a great number of the adult males in the
California gold mines. Of this vote Samuel R.
Thurston secured 470, Columbia Lancaster, 321,
James W. Nesmith, 104, Josej)!! L. Meek, 40,
and J. S. Griffin, 8.

Governor Lane, in his proclamation calling
an election, had made an apportionment of
members of the Legislature to the several
counties or districts as they had l)een formed by
the Provisional Legislature, and the following-
named gentlemen were elected to the first Ter-
ritorial Legislature:

6\>««''i7: W. Blain, Tualatin; W. W. Buck,
Clackauias; S. Parker, Clackamas and Cham-
poeg; W. Shannon, Champoeg ; S. F. McKeon,
Clatsop, Lewis and Vancouver; J. B. Graves,
Yam Hill; W. Maley, Linn; N. Ford, Polk; L.
A. Humphrey, Benton.

Representatiwfi : D. Hill and W. M. King,
Tualatin ; A. L. Lovejoy, J. D. Ilolman and

Gabriel Walling, Clackamas; J. W. Green, W.
W. Chapman and W. T. Matlock, Champoeg;
A. J. Hembree, R. C. Kinney and J. B. Walling,
Yam Hill; J. Dunlap and J. Conser, Linn; II.
X. V. Holmes and S. Burch, Polk; M. T.
Simmons, Lewis, Vancouver and Clatsop; J. L-
Mulkey and G. B. Smith, Benton.

The Legislature assembled at Oregon City,
July 16, 1849, and held a brief session, in
which they apportioned their future member-
ship; changed the names of Champoeg, Tual-
atin and Vancouver counties to Marion, Wash-
ington and Clarke, respectively; decided what
officers the various counties should have, and
provided for their election the following (3cto-
ber, and divided the Territory into three judicial
districts. In October the county elections were
held, and the officers who were chosen qualified
immediately, and the Territorial Government of
Oregon thus completed its organization.

The condition of Oregon at this date was
most pronjising. The doubt and hesitation and
distrust of the period of the provisional govern-
ment had passed away. The end of Hudson's
Bay domination had couje. Hencefortli that
great corporation was Iiere only for a limited
time, and while here could exercise no power
over public affairs, only as its individual mem-
bers chose to become citizens of the United States
and take tiieir place in the l>ody politic as such.
No longer did the power of British ships of war
in the Columbia and Willamette rivers alarm
or their threats annoy. Courts were organized
for the redress of wrong and the support of
right. The stars and stripes truly emblemed
the sovereignty of the land, and was the pledge
of the protection of a great nation. And in a
climate as genial as man could desire, on a soil
as fruitful as an Eden, amidst scenery that was
forever an inspiration of great thoughts and
higli ambitions, and a people whose energy and
patriotism and intelligence had marked them as
leaders and builders of society even before they
had come into this sunset land, there seemed
little i>efoi-e the infant commonwealth to inter-

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

fere with or prevent its rapid growth into a
great and prosperous State.

Tlie time of General Lane as governor was
short. James K. Polk was succeeded by Genera!
Taylor as president of the United States, Marcli
4, 1849, one day after General Lane assumed
the duties of his office. In April, 1850, he
received notice that President Taylor had re-
moved him from office and appointed Major
John P. Gaines in his stead on the second day
of the previous October.

An interesting incident connected with his
appointment was that General Taylor first of-
fered the governorship of the Territory to
Abraham Lincoln, who was an applicant for the
post of commissioner of the general land 'office.
That place being filled. President Taylor offered
him the place of governor of Oi-egon. Mr. Lin-
coln declined it, doubtless believing that better
opportunities for his fntui-e advancement would
exist in the East than in the narrower associa-
tions of the Pacific coast. It is interesting to
speculate on the changes and modifications in
State and national history whicii would have oc-
curred had Mr. Lincoln liecome governor of this
then most obscure Territory.

Of course during this brief time little occur-
red in' the Territory that made much impression
on the history of the country. A regiment of
mounted rifles was sent across the plains in the
summer of 1848, and were stationed at various
posts, as Oregon City, whicli was its head quar-
ters, Vancouver, Astoria and on Piiget sound
This regiment was commanded by Colonel Loi-
ing, afterward general, who achieved notoriety,
if not reputation, in Egypt as Loring Pasha.
The regiment was greatly weakened by deser-
tion, 400 deserting at once and leaving for the
gold mines in California. General Lane, being
appealed to by the colonel, collected a body of
volunteers and pursued them as far as Rogue
river, where 260 surrendered to him and were
brought back, but the remainder succeeded in
reaching California, and were never returned to
their service.

In May Governor Lane made a journey to
southern Oregon to conclude a treaty with the
Indians of that region, who had always been
lurbnlent, and after completing it satisfactorily
he passed on into California. He had fixed on
the 18th of June as the time in which he would
vacate the office of governor, and so, like so many
others at that time, he kept on into the gold
mines seeking for a better fortune. Governor
Gaines reached Oregon City and assumed the
duties to which he had been appointed by Presi-
dent Taylor on the 19th of September, nearly a
year after his appointment. There was also an
entire change in Territorial offices, consequent
on the incoming of the Whig national adminis-
tration. Edward Hamilton was made secretary;
John McLain and William Strong, judges;
Amory Ilolbrook, United States attorney; John

Ada

Hector of customs; and Heurv II.

Spaiilding, Indian agent. Joseph L. Meek re-
tained the jiosition of United States marshal.
The Legislative Assembly, whose members had
been elected in June, met in December. Thi>
body being Democratic, was not in political har-
mony with the Territorial officers who were
AVhigs and the session was not as productive of
good to the Territory as it should have been.
The Legislature was an able body of men, in-
cluding some who have done as much to mold
the character of Oregon socially and politically
as any men ever in the State, among whom, for
the length and eminence of his sei'vice may be
mentioned the name of M. P. Deady, long one
of the most eminent jurists of the nation.

It devolved on this body to give the Territory
a code of laws, and to adjust all legislation to
the nev;- conditions introduced by the new form
of government, and the great increase of popu-
lation and enlarged commercial and social de-
mands. The members of the body ably and
patriotically met their obligations, and tlie re-
sult of their generally wise action was increased
and permanent prosperity in the Territory.

Two events occurred in the autumn of 1850
and the early part of 1851, that were both the
prod net of the new era and an onjen of its en-

140

HISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

largiiig life. These were the establishment of
three newspapers, and the building of a steam-
boat to ply on the Willamette and Colnmbia
rivers. For some yeai's a newspaper called the
Oregon Spectator had been published at Oregon
City by an association of gentlemen of which
George Aljernethy was president, which had
contriliuted much to the social attraction and
general advancement of the people. But with
the inauguration of the Territorial era there was
a large iniiux of ambitious and talented men,
anxious for place, and as anxious for organs by
which they could reach and influence tlie public
mind. Also rival towns, with views of metro-
politan importance and greatness before the eyes
of their founders, were established, and they too
must needs have mediums by which their ad-
vantages and the disadvantages of their rivals
miglit be made known to the world. Accord-
ingly, on the -IMi of November, 185(1, the
AVestern Star rose on the horizon of Milwaukee,
then a vigorous and furmidablc ri\al of I'ort-
laiid and all other places foi' metropolitan
honors. J^ot VVhitconil), a name very widely
and honorably known in Oregon in these early
days, was its publisher, and John Orvis Water-
man its editor. On the 4th of December Mr.
Thomas J. Di'yer issued the first number of the
Oregonian in Portland. In the following March
the first number of the Oregon Statesman was
issued by Mr. Asahel Bush at Oregon City.
From the lirst the Oregonian and Statesman
became the organs of the two great political
parties of the country, — the Whig and Demo-
cratic. Tliey were both of the most pronounced
type of party journalism. Their editors were
men of talent, full of zeal for their parties and
fearless in their advocacy of their principles
and candidates. While it is proper to concede
to both of the able editors of these papers a sin-
cere desire to advance the interest of the Terri-
tory, it is necessary to the truth of history to
say that the style of their work was far more
that of the bitter partisan rather than of the
broad statesman. But, in the disjointed and
con.domerate ^tato of social life then orev;ilent

on the Pacific coast, where, more than anywhere
else in the world, every man did what he pleased,
and said what he pleased, perhaps it would have
been too much to expect that newspapers would
l^e specially distinguished by their suaviter in
iiuxjo rather than by \\\&\r furtiter in re. Cer-
taiidy these were not, and they won an unenvi-
able notoriety for the style of their journalism;
but at the same time they did much in these
early and not very quiet days for tlie progress
and development of the new Territory.

The Western Star did not long remain above
the horizon. The Statesman has had a some-
what checkered career, but still exists, and is
now published at Salem, the capital of the State.

The Oregonian has held on its steady course
of publication in the city in which it was estab-
lished; growing with the growth and strength-
ening with the strength of tlie city and the
country, until in scope and [lower as a daily
and weekly journal it is fully the equal, if not
indeed the real superior, of any newspaper pub-
lished on the Pacific coast; and there are few
in the nation that can stand as its rival.

The steamer built in the autumn of 1850 was
constructed at Milwaukee, and called in honor

he "Lot AVhitcoml

d' O

regon.

She was launched on Christmas day, a great
crowd of people attending, amid peals of cannon
and the cheers of the multitude, Governor Gaines
formally christening her as she moved from her
ways into the waters of the Willamette.

Farly in 1851 Samuel R. Thurston, delegate
to Congress from the Territory, died. He was
on his way home from Washington, and while
at sea between Panama and Acapulco, closed
his life, and was buried at Acapulco. AVhen
the news reached Oregon a few weeks later it
caused a general expression of sorrow. He was
a brilliant young man, full of fiery ambition,
and it was expected that he would not only
secure fame for himself but would accomplish
much for his adopted Territory. He had made
a tine reputation during the short time he was
in Congress for ability and efficiency, and it
was thought ti;at he would be returned, as he

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

belonged to the party that was strongly domi-
nant in the politics of the Territory. At its
next session the legislature honored him by be-

stowing his name upon a county organized
north of the Columbia river, and now including
the capital of the State of Washington.

^^^

CHAPTER XV.

OPENING HISTORY NORTH OF THE COLUMBIA.

The Old Changing into the New — Eeasons — M. T. Simmons and his Associates — Attempted
Visit to Puget Sound — Reach the Sound and Begin a Settlement — Slow Peogeess— Set-
tlements of 1848 — Discovery of Gold in California — Results on the Settlements — In-
dian Troubles — Return of the Miners — First American Vessel Arrives — Settlkments

Extending Northward — Poet Townshend — Arrivals of 1851 and '52 — Seattle Settled -

Its Pioneers — Whidby's Island — On the Columbia — On the Chehalis — At the Cascades.

Ufp to tliis point we have been obliged to
treat of the history of all the Pacific
— Northwest as a unity. It could not be
otherwise. The entire country was known as
" Oregon," and all questions of international
diplomacy and negotiation were summed up
under the general head of the '• Oregon ques-
tion." Still they related as much to tlie terri-

now included in the State of Wash

ingtc

as to that included in Oregon, and in some
respects even more. It was the country lying
north of the Columbia river that Great Britain
really expected to secure to herself, and although
her ambassadors and government contended for
all Oregon, it was only to make sure of tliat
part. Hence it was necessary that we treated
the whole subject of that controversy in this his-
torical sketch of Washington, notwithstanding
the honored name of that now great State does
not appear in this portion of the history. In
treating this portion of her history we have
thought it best to carry forward the story of
logically related events beyond their order chron-
ologically. Our former pages have conducted
our readers to the full instatement of a Terri-
torial government over the whole region known as
Oregon up to 1853, — an event that superseded
the old orders of personal and irresponsible
action as also of that temporary government
calle<l the ■' Pi-ovisional." Aftei- the date reached.

in our last chapter, 1851, little or nothing oc-
curred of such general historical interest, or
that so largely influenced the destiny of the
country that we need to consume space in re-
cording it. We therefore turn to the story of that
specific region now included in the State of
Washington.

American history fairly begun on Puget Sound
just a decade after it began in the Willamette
valley. It was on this wise. As the controver-
sy concerning the ownersliip of Oregon opened
to the minds of the gentlemen of the Hudson's
Bay Company, it became probable to Dr. Mc-
Loughlin and his associates that Great Britain
would not be able to vindicate her pretensions
to the country south of the Columbia, but they
hoped a compromise would be made on the line
of that river as the boundary between the two
countries. With this hope they discouraged
all American settlement north of it, and it was
not until the winter of 1844 and 1845 that any
attempt was n)ade to carry American occupancy
to the shores of Puget Sound. The leader of
this attempt was Michael T. Simmons, an em-
migrant of 1844, who had remained at Fort
Vancouver during the winter following his ar-
rival in the country. It was doulitless his resi-
dence in the near neighborhood of these gentle-
men, and his consequent information concerning
their views and purposes tlmt determineil him to

HISTORY OP WASHINGTON.

give the emphasis of an actual American settle-
ment to the other claims of the United States to
that 2-egion. As this decision of Mr. Simmons
made his name historic, as, par excellence, the
pioneer of Washington, it is suitable that we
introduce him more ceremoniously to our
readers.

Mr. Simmons was a stalwart Kentuckian, horn
in 1814, and inheriting the splendid physique
and indomitable purpose and courage that have
made Kentuckians so famous. Just past thirty
when he reached the Pacific Coast, he was in the
morning of his best powers and life. Independ-
ent, courageous, intensely American, what the
Hudson's Bay people desired him not to do was
the very thing that he would be most certain to
perform. He therefore abandoned his previous
purpose to settle in Southern Oregon, where they
desired him to go, and resolved to go northward,
where they desired him not to go, and see what
it was in that region that was so enticing to
British cupidity. Accordingly, in the winter of
1844 and 1845, with five companions, he at-
tempted to penetrate the hundred miles of wil-
derness that lay between the Columbia river and
Puget Sound. The company found the season
too nnpropitious for the exploration of such
continuous and gigantic forests, and, after as-
cending the Cowlitz river about fifty miles they
returned to Fort Vancouver. Yet his purpose
was not abandoned, but only postponed. In
July, with eight companions, he again set out,
and finally reached Puget Sound under the guid-
ance of Mr. Peter Border. He performed a
canoe voyage as far as Whidby's Island, explor-
ing different parts of the shore on his way, and
fully satisfied himself of the commercial value
of the country. Keturning, he selected a
picturesque spot at the head of Bndd's Inlet, the
most southern extension of the waters of the
Sound, at the Falls of Des Chutes river, as the
site for his future home, and the first American
settlement north of the Columbia. He then
returned to Vancouver, and in October, accom-
panied by Messrs. James McAllister, David
Kindred, Gabriel Jones, George W. Bush and

their families, and S. B. Crockett and Jesse Fer-
guson, two single men, found his way back
again to the place selected for their settlement.
These seven were the first Americans to per-
manently locate on Puget Sound, and they be-
long to history as the pioneers of "Washington.

This first settlement occupied a radius of
about six miles about the head of Budd's Inlet,
and but a little south of where Olympia, the
present capital of the State, now is. It was
also not many miles from Nisqually, the head-
quarters of tlie Hudson's Bay (company in that
_ region, from which company, by order of Dr.
McLoughlin, they received considerable mer-
cantile favors, never, however, to the detriment
of the company. Thus, nine years after the first
American families had effected a settlement
south of the Columbia, these people had per-
formed the same patriotic office for the region
of Puget Sound.

'No one entering this region at the present
time can form any idea of the difficulty attend-
ing the enterprise of these people. The forests
of the country were almost injpenetrable, and
they covered nearly all its face. To open a
trail from the Cowlitz river northward was the
hard work of weeks, and then to make such an
inroad upon the forests as to give any hope of
future support for their families was a task that
only brave and manly men would dare to under-
take. But empire and destiny were in these
men's hands and hearts, and they were equal to
the work they had undertaken. But, as we
think of it now, after fifty years, we wonder how
these seven men, isolated 150 miles from any
who could aid them, and surrounded liy the
savages of Puget Sound, who were watching
with evil eye the inroads of the whites, suc-
ceeded in establishing themselves and their
families in this then most inhospitable region.
That they did marks them as heroes.

The year 1846 passed with only small addi-
tions to the little settlements. About the same
number of men, but not so many families, were
added to their number. Among them were Mr.
Edmund Sylvester, who selected tiie laud claim

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

143

on which Olympia now stands, Mr. A. B. Rob-
bison, and Mr. S. S. Ford, who became perma-
nently associated with the future development
of tlie country.

There was- scarcely more progress to settle-
ment in 1847 than in 1846, but the few who
canie were of the same sterling stuff as those
who had preceded tliem, and added much to
the moral and intellectual fibre of the infant
settlement. The Davises, the Packwoods, the
Chambers, were of this number, and these
names are honorably fixed in the history of
Washington. This year was also signalized by
the erection of a sawmill at the falls of the
Des Chutes, since called Tumwater, on the
land claim of M. T. Simmons. A small flour-
ing mill had before been erected at the same
place, with buhrs hewn out of some granite
rocks found on theljeachof Budd's Inlet, which
afforded some unbolted flour as a change from
boiled wheat for bread. During the autumn of
this year the Whitman massacre occurred at
AVaiiletpu, near Fort Walla Walla, in the east-
ern part of the present State of Washington, an
account of which is given elsewhere. Its cir-
cumstances of atrocity sent a tremor through
all the infant settlements of the territory, and
awakened the most fearful apprehensions for
their own fate.

The following year, 1848, a few immigrants
settled along the Cowlitz river and on Cowlitz
prairie, on the middle part of that stream.
Thomas W. Glasgow also explored the shores
of Puget Sound as far north as Whidby Island,
where he took a land claim and began farming
on a small scale, where he was joined by a few
other settlers l>efiii-e the summer was over. But
they were not permitted to remain. The In-
dians of that part of the sound held a general
council on the island, at the instigation of Pat-
kanim, chief of the Snoqualimies, and the coun-
cil decided against allowing the Americans to
settle in their country. Glasgow was compelled
to quit the island, escaping with difficulty by
the aid of a friendly Indian from Budd's Inlet,
leaving liehind him all his property. This

closed for a time all attempts to effect a settle-
ment on Whidby's island, and soon after an
event occurred which changed all the currents
of thought and action, north as well as south
of the Columbia. That event was the discovery
of gold in California, the news of which seemed
borne on the wind from the Sacramento to
Puget's Sound, and startled every man from
the sober plodding of careful industry to the
excited daring of adventure and speculation.
Nearly every man set off at once for the gold
fields of the South, leaving their families and
possessions in the isolation of the wilderness,
and exposed to the dangers of Indian barbarity.

Though the distance from these settlements
to the gold fields was not much greater than
from the Willamette valley, the difficulty of
reaching them was more than doubled. Indeed
it was more difficult to pass over the 150 miles
between the head of Puget Sound and the
prairies of the Willamette valley than to make
all the journey thence to the Sacramento. But
all difficulties and dangers can be braved for
gold; and certainly the men who had made the
2,000 miles journey from Tennessee or Ken-
tucky or Illinois to the shores of Puget Sound
would not hesitate to undertake the 600 miles
pilgrimage down the southward valleys and
over the intervening mountains to where they
expected, to find the gold rolling down the
channels of the streams or mixed with the sand
on every hillside.

This exodiis of the adult male population fo''
the gold fields had a very depressing effect on the
present prosperity of the country north of the
Columbia, inasmuch as it left none to clear the
ground, or to sow and reap a harvest. All in-
dustries were suspended and the people who re-
mained, mostly women and children, had noth-
ing to do but to wait the return of the gold-
hunters, whether they came back with the
golden fleece or not. But while their absence
was an apparent loss, in the outcome of things
it was a great benefit to the feeble and strug-
gling settlements, for, on their return at the end
of two years, they introduceil an era of pros-

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

perity that a score of years would hardly have
secured under the conditions existing pre-
viously. Tlie discdvery of gold had turned the
attention of the whole world to the Pacific coast,
and the tide of population that rolled over the
plains of California could not fail to send its
hujiian spray over the shores of Puget Sound as
well. So, in a reflex way, the whole coast felt
the movement of a new life, and three or four
years accomplished what a quarter of a ceutiiry
might have failed otherwise to secure.

But the period from 1848 to 1851 was a time
of special peril to the scattered families north
of the Columbia. The Indians of the lower
sound threatened the extermination of the
settlements, and even attacked the Hudson's
Bay post at INisqiially, with tlie intention of
securing, by its capture, ammunition with which
to carry on a war of extermination against the
whites. This movement was under the leader-
ship of Patkanim, chief of the Suoqualmies, a
man of great influence among the neighboring
tribes. Their attempt was a failure, however,
but still, so determined were the Indians on
driving the whites out of the country that Pat-
kanim sent word to them that they would be
permitted to leave unmolested personally by
leaving all their property. The whites answered
this threat of Patkanim with defiance, assuring
him that they liad come to stay. They imme-
diately erected blockhouses at Tumwater and
at several other places and prepared to defend
themselves from Indian attacks. Added to their
own readiness to meet the attacks of Patkanim
and those who sympathized with him, the In-
dian^about the head of the sound were friendly
and assured the whites of their sympathy and
help. Meantime the decisive measures of Gov-
ernor Lane, who had arrived at Oregon City in
March, and the erection of Fort Steilacoom in
July, convinced Patkanim and his adherents
that a war with the whites would be a disaster
to themselves, and their plans and purposes
were abandoned. This auspicious result of the
first serious threat of an Indian war on the
Sound, occurring as it did when the people were

so comparatively defenceless, gave the whites
confidence, and to a proportionate extent made
the Indians more careful and friendly for some
years to come.

The year 1849 saw but very little increase in
tlie population of thecountry. California was still
the Mecca of the wealth-seekers of the coast, and
nothing but the fact that so many who had left
their families in the wilds north of the Colum-
bia prevented its almost entire abandonmerR.
But after a time the husbands and fathers whose
wives and children were in the perilous loneli-
ness of these northern wilds began to long for
them again, and by the opening of 1850 a large
number of them were back on their claims, and
had resumed the usual vocations of home-
builders, perhaps somewhat richer in gold than
when they had left, and probably not appreciat-
ing less the country that they had chosen as
their home. The early part of this year was
signalized also by the first attempt at commer-
cial business beyond the little " corner grocery "
where some aspiring tradesman had provided a
few of the barest necessities for the homes of
the self-denying frontiersmen. The brig
Orbit of Calais, Maine, under- the command of
Captain W. H. Dunham, arrived in the Sound.
She was the first American vessel that had
visited these waters since the American settle-
ment was commenced. She was owned by
Edmund Sylvester, I. N. Ebey, B. F. Shead and
one Jackson, and had been pui-chased by them
in San Francisco from a company of gold-seek-
ers who had come in her from Maine to the El-
dorado of the Pacific. She was afterward pur-
chased by M. T. Simmons, freighted with piles
for San Francisco where her cargo was exchanged
for general merchandise, and returned to the

her

cargo was

dischf

rgec

1 at

Sound, where
" Smithfield," or, as it was soon after called,
" Olympia," later the capital of the Territory and
now of the State of Washington. Mr. Simmons
erected a small building for a store in which
were exposed for sale the goods the Orbit had
brought. She was the beginning of American
commerce on Puget Sound. At this time there

FlK^T HoisE IN Ji;ilEK>u.N CorM'V, \VaM1I\.,I(IN ll kKlIOKY

Povt Towiiseml in 1S51. by I'lumnier, Batclieklei, l'ettygio\e and Hastings

Port Townsend, 1893. — Overlooking the

fflS'i'ORT OF M^ASBlkGTOif.

145

were not more than 100 white inhabitants in the
region tributary to Olyinpia.

This initial stake of business liaving been
tlins successfully set at Olympia, the lints of
settlement began to exteud from it in every
direction. Steilacoom, occupying a point on
the sound below Olympia, and abreast of the
Nisqually plains, was settled and a large busi-
ness house erected there. Port Townshend was
settled by H. C. Wilson. I. N. Ebey late in
the fall occupied the claim on Whidby's Island
from which Glasgow had been driven by the
hostilities of Patkanim, and R. 11. Lansdale took
a claim at the head of Penn's Cove. These
were among the first, if not the first, who es-
tablished themselves about the lower portion of
the Sound: but they were soon followed by
Pettygrove and Hastings. A town was laid out
on the west side of Port Townsliend Bay, called
after the bay itself, Port Townshend, and so the
year 1850 closed, having registered a somewhat
substantial advancement in the country of Puget
Sound. Still the settlements were only a
frayed and fretted fringe of whites on the edge
of the dark forests, and darker humanity, of the
vast region encompassing the waters of that
great inland sea. But the time had come for a
more appreciable advance.

With the Oregon immigration of 1851 there
were quite a number of very resolute people
who had already determined to seek their for-
tunes in this farthest west on "the Sound " — as
this country had come to be familiarly called.
When, therefore, that immigration reached Ore-
gon City they were prepared to turn their faces
northward, and, following the course of the old
Hudson's Bay trail, seek homes and fortunes
in the great wilderness that girted these waters.
Many of them were hunting for town sites, —
places where great cities were to grow up, and
where they could become wealthy by the easy
growth of the years. Others whose ambitions
culminated in the hoped-for possession of some
spot of earth that could be called " home," were
content to find some rural vale or sheltered cove
where they could rear a cabin and build around

wife and children a sanctuary of defence and a
shelter of protection. These latter strayed in-
land up the na'-i'ow valleys of the little streams
that enter the Sound or over the gravelly prai-
ries that island the great forests, and set them-
selves down in unhistoried quiet and toil. The
former roamed the shoi'es of the Sound, landed
on every "point," explored every "bay" and
"cove," discussed and dreamed and calculated
all the possibilities they could conceive of for
the future, staked off "claims," named cities,
and when they had satisfied themselves, as they
all did, that they had all the afterwards of the
greatest city of the northwest bounded by the
lines of their "claim," sat down to wait its
coming.

Among these expectants of the future of
course most were fated to failure. But a com-
pany of enterprising gentlemer, in the hey-day
of young and ambitions life, who came to the
Sound country in the autumn of 1851 and
selected their "claims" on "Elliot Bay," were
more fortunate, if not more far-seeing, than the
other parties, and, because of that fortune, won
a larger place in the history of the State. These
were Messrs. C. C. Terry, John N. Low and
John C. Holgate, who were joined later by Ar-
thur A. Denny, I). T. Denny, W. N. Bell and
C. T. Boren. This company mostly came from
Portland by water on a schooner, and disem-
barked at " Alki Point" on the 13th of Novem-
ber, and sat down in the unbroken waste of
woods on the one hand and waters on tiie other,
in the beginning of a long winter, without even
a wigwam to shelter women or liabes from the
unceasing rains and stormy winds.

When we think of the contrasts that thus
entered into the lives of these families, coming,
as the most of them did, from the prairies of
the Wefet into this wilderness, is it any wonder
that the faces of the wives and mothers became
sad, or that an artless chronicler of these events
should say "the women sat down and cried?"

The first "city" laid out on Elliot Bay was
on "Alki Point," and was called, very ambi-
tiously, Xew York. Piut the majority of its

lit STOUT OF WASHINGTON.

people, after some examination of the country,
and some information from the Indians that
there was a "pass" through the Cascade mount-
ains to the Yakima and the great plains of the
upper Columbia, removed to the east side of the
bay, and established a rival city, on more ad-
vantageous ground, and gave it the name of
"Seattle."

This was the name of a chief of the Dwaniish
tribe of Indians, whose home was in this vicin-
ity, and who was a personage who stood high in
the estimation of the American settlers. The
name was felicitous, as it retained the Indian
nomenclature, and perpetuated the memory of
one of tlie most dignified and honorable of the
Indian chieftains of the Pacific coast.

The men who thus became the founders of
Seattle, the largest and most prosperous of all
the cities of Puget Sound, were David T. Denny,
W. N. Bell, Arthur A. Denny and C. D. Boren.
Connected with theui were D. S. Maynard and
Holgate, who kept the first trading house in tlie
new city. In the autumn Henry L. Yesler
located a sawmill on the water front. The loca-
tion of the city was well chosen, being midway
between Port Townsend at the foot and Olym-
pia at the head of Puget Sound, and hence its
growth was steady, and in four years it had a
population of 3U0, and was fairly launched on
its career of history.

Cotemporaneous with the settlement of Seat-
tle the settlements extended to New Dunginess,
near the mouth of the Dunginess river. In the
meantime Whidby's Island was quite densely
populated, as it aflbrded some very beautiful
prairie, very pleasing to the eye of the western
settler who intended to construct a home. The
settlers on this island were of a very intelligent
and energetic character, and rapidly made it to
blossom and fruit like a garden. In 1852 the
settlements were extended to Bellingham Bay,
on the east side of the Sound, whore some of
the most intelligent and enterprising men of the
Territory settled, and entered into milling and
coalmining operations. These, indeed, became
the speculative furors of all that region, and

timber and coal prospectors almost rivaled iu
energy and expectations the gold prospectors of
California. Large milling companies were or-
ganized and immense sawmills were erected at
Ports Ludlow, Gamble, Madison, Orchard and
Blakely.

During the time of the establishment of these
settlements in the Puget Sound region, the
country adjacent to and north of the Columbia
from the Cascade mountains to the mouth of
the river was steadily though slowly improving.
In the vicinity of Vancouver, on Lewis river, on
the Cowlitz and about Baker's Bay near the
mouth of the Columbia quite a number of fam-
ilies had selected homes for themselves. Among
them was Columbia Lancaster, at one time under
the Provisional Government supreme judge
of Oregon, and for a whole generation was
one of the foremost citizens of Washington.
An effort was made to build a city on Baker's
Bay, which should become the commercial
entrepot of the whole Columbia region. The
embryonic town was called Pacific City, but its
brief existence of a year or two was on paper
and in the imagination of its "founders" only.
From Baker's Bay some settlers found their way
to Shoalwater Bay, on the northward coast,
where an oyster fishing community was built
up, which has continued with alternating for-
tune until the present time. The enterprising
immigrant sought out every nook on coast and
river that offered the least chance for a futiire
town. So, as early as 1851, the valley of the
lower Chehalis and the region of Gray's Har-
bor about the month of that stream were visited,
and "Chehalis City" was laid out by John
Butler, but it scarcely reached beyond the
dignity of a plat on paper. Still the settle-
ments gradually extended up the valley of the
lower Chehalis until they reached those of the
upper valley of the same stream not far from
the settlements on the Cowlitz Prairie, where
the Hudson's Bay farms were located, and where
in 1850 E. D. Warbass had laid out a town and
established a trading post.

BiSTOMT OF WASHINGTON.

Auotlier settlement tliat, in later times, figured
quite conspicuously in the Indian wars of the
Territory, grew up contemporaneonslj witli
these on the north side of the Colninbia at the
" Cascades," where quite a number of men,
prominent in the after history of the northwest
coast, had settled as early as 1850. Among
tliem were the Bradfords, L. A. Chenoweth, L.
W. Coe, and B. B. Bishop. Thus when 1852
was closing, the settlement in Northern Oregon,
as it was then called, extended, though sparsely,

from the Columbia river on the south to British
Columbia on the north, and from the coast of
the Pacific to the Cascade mountains eastward,
and it had within its borders the rising towns
of Vancouver, Olympia, Steilacoom, Seattle,
and Port Townshend. JSone of these, at this
time, probably exceeded a population of 500
souls. The entire population in the region
north of the Columbia at the close of 1853 did
not exceed 3,000.

CHAPTER XYI.

SEPARATE POLITICAL EXISTENCE.
General Uesiee for it— First Public Meeting to Promote it — Prs Action — Indifference of Con-
gress — Convention at Monticello — Aotfon of Oregon Legislature — Course of General
Lane — Congress Institutes the Territory of Washington — Officers Appointed — Eegion
Included within it — Isolation of the Region — Means Taken to Relieve it — Condition of
THE Territory in General.

THE purpose of a political existence sepa-
rate from Oregon was from the first very
cleai'ly defined in the minds of all the
men who had led the emigration north of
the Columbia. Its ultimate necessity was just
as clearly conceded by those who remained south
of that stream. It was a subject constantly in
the minds of both sections, and it, therefore,
caused no surprise when active movements
were begun looking in that direction. The first
of these occurred on the dth of July, 1851,
when the Americans about the head of Puget
Sound met at Olynipia to celebrate that day.
The orator of the day, Mr. J. B. Chapman, made
the "Future State of Columbia" his special
theme, and greatly delighted his hearers by his
enthusiasm on that subject. At the close of the
general program for the celebration a meeting
was organized to promote this purpose, which
was addressed by several of the leading gentle-
men of that region, and a committee on resolu-
tions was appointed, consisting of Ebey, Golds-
borough, Wilson, Chapman, Simmons, Cham-
bers and Crockett. This committee presented

resolutions I'ecommending a
presentatives from all the

convention of re-
election districts
north of the Columbia to tie held at Cowlitz
Landing "to take into careful consideration the
peculiar position of the northern portion of the
Territory, its wants, the best method of supply-
ing those wants, and propriety of an early appeal
to Congress for a division of the Territory."
This action of the meeting at Olympia was
promptly responded to in parts of the designated
territory about Puget Sound, and delegates,
according to this resolve, were elected.

The convention met on the day appointed,
and, in its twenty-six delegates, held the most
representative men of the then infant common-
wealth. It adopted a memorial to Congress on
the subject of division; a i-esolution of instruc-
tion to the Oregon delegate in accordance with
the memorial; a petition to Congress for a Ter-
ritorial road from some point on Puget Sound
over the Cascade mountains to Walla Walla, and
a plank road from the Sound to the mouth of
the Cowlitz, and also asked that the benefits of
the Oregon land law should be extended to the

148

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

new Territory, shoald their prayers for a divis-
ion be granted. It also defined tlie boundaries
of twelve counties, all west of tiie Cascade
mountains. This work done, the convention
adjourned to meet on tlie 2d day of May fol-
lowing, awaiting the intervening action of Con-
gress on their requests. Tiie convention re-
solved that, on its second meeting, if Congress
had not meantime favorably considered its re-
quest, it would proceed to the formation of a
constitution, and ask admission into the Union
as a State.

Congress, however, took no action on the
matters contained in tiie memorials and prayei-s
of theconvention, and, before the time appointed
for the reassembling of the convention the
enthusiasm for an immediate separation from
Oregon had so far died away that the body never
came together again. Still the subject was not
forgotten, and as a means of keeping it before
the people a weekly newspaper, called The Co-
lumbian, was established at Olympia, and
published its first number on the 11th day of
September, 1852. Under its lead another con-
vention was planned for the 25th of October,
1852, to meet at Monticello, on the Cowlitz
river, near its mouth, and in the e.xtreme south-
ern limits of the intended new territory. This
convention consisted of forty-four of the most
influential citizens of Thurston and Lewis coun-
ties, as then organized, and its action was in
harmony with the action of the previous con-
vention. It set forth, in its memorial to Con-
gress, most cogent reasons for the establishment
of the new Territory. The memorial was for-
warded to General Lane, their delegate in Con-
gress from Oregon, and the proceedings of the
convention were published in all the newspapers
of Oregon.

Ten days after the Monticello convention the
Oregon Legislature met. The action of the
convention was not only not opposed, but was
approved by the members from the counties
south of the Columbia river, and in all respects
the legislature was favorable to the desires of
the people north of the river. A memorial t9

Congress, introduced by Ebey, asking the erec-
tion of the new Territory passed without oppo-
sition, and other legislative action favorable to
the country north of the Columbia was passed
with vei-y cordial unanimity. The only subject
of debate was on the dividing line, one party
desiring it to run east and west along the Colum-
bia and the 46th parallel to the Rocky mountains,
and the other that it should run north and south
along the summitof the Cascade mountains, thiis
putting Oregon Territory west and Columbia
east of that range. There was some sympathy
with this view among the people residing immedi-
ately along the north bank of the Columbia
river, as their commercial and social relations
were more intimately connected with those of
Portland, which was already the largest city of
the northwest coast, than with those of Fuget
Sound, from which they were separated by a
hundred miles of very rugged wilderness. But
on the whole it had feeble support, and Mr.
Ebey's memorial passed without opposition on
the final vote.

So, in harmony with the general sentiment of
the Territory, both north and south, was the
action of the convention, and the subsequent
action of the legislature, that the Oregon dele-
gate in Congress, General Lane, who was ever
quick to catch the drift of popular feeling and
put his own action in accord with it, had intro-
duced the measure into ('ongress immediately
on the receipt of the memorial of the Monticello
convention. He presented it to the House by a
resolution instructing the Committee on Terri-
tories to inquire into the expediency of the
measure. This resolution was adopted, and the
committee prepared a bill in harmony with the
memorial of the convention and reported it to
the House. On the 8th of February, 1853, that
body proceeded to its consideration. On the
10th the vote was taken on the bill, it having
been previously amended by substituting
" Washington" for " Columbia" as the name of
the new Territory, and was adopted by the very
decisive vote of 128 to 29. On the 2d day of
March it passed the Senate, and the presiden|.

HI8T0RT OF WASHINGTON.

affixed his signature the same day, and thus that
particular region of country that had contribu-
ted the real bone of contention between the
Uflited States and Great Britain for so many
years, and for the possession of which the bold
and brave pioneers from the Cumberland and
Ohio bad dared and done so much, was not only
certified by treaty to the American repnblic, but
was also certified to history as one of the "Ijright,
particnlar stars" in the coiisteiiation of the
American Union.

While

events were occur

the

national capital, the people who were most es-
pecially interested were in anxious waiting. So
slow and difiicult were the means of communi-
cation between the East and the West at that
time that it was not until near the last of
April that information of the passage of the
act of Congress reached them, and not until
the middle of May that intelligence of the
appointment of officers for the new Territory
arrived. Then it became known that Isaac
Ingall Stevens, of Massachusetts, had been ap-
pointed Governor, C H. Mason, of Rhode Island,
Secretary, Edward Lander, of Indiana, Chief
Justice, John R. Miller, of Ohio, and Victor
Monroe, of Kentucky, Associate Justice, and
J. S. Clendenin, of Louisiana, United States
District Attoi-ney. Miller did not accept, and
O. B. McFadden, of Oregon, was appointed in
his stead. J. Patton Anderson, of Mississippi,
was appointed United States Marshal, and di-
rected to take the census. The marshal was
the first of the Federal officers to reach the Ter-
j'itory. The others arrived at different dates
until about the last of November, when Gover-
nor Stevens arrived at Olympia and issued his
proclamation organizing the government of the
Territory. Awaiting the active movement of
the wheels of the government, it is p)-oper that
we now pause and take some survey of the con-
ditions of the nascent commonwealth.

The region thus erected into a Territory con-
sisted of the counties of Clarke, Lewis, Pacific,
Thurston, Pierce, King, Jefferson and Island.
Clarke and Pacific were the southernmost, ly-

ing along the Columbia river and the coast of
the Pacific immediately nortli of the moutli of
the river. Between Clarke and the counties
that touched the waters of the Sound was Lewis;
and the four others lay upon tiie waters of that
inland sea. Clarke was the most populous
county, with a total population of 1,134, accord-
ing to the census completed in the autumn of
1852, while Pacific was the smallest, listing
oidy 152 people. The total white population
of the Territory at this time was only 3,965,^
confessedly a small number to take upon them-
selves the responsibility of a separate political
existence. The physical character of the coun-
try precluded rapid settlement. West of the
Cascade mountains, to which portion the settle-
ments were as yet confined, the country was al-
most entirely very densely and heavily timbered
and offered few inducements for agricultural
employments. Its vast and stately forest, un-
rivaled in America, charmed the eye of the
lumberman, while its coal measures awakened
the interest of the miners; but the people to use
these productions were so few that thej offered
no immediate hope of rfemunerative mai-kets for
them. As yet there was little call for exporta-
tion and hence these possil)le industries lan-
guished. Rich as the country was in the ma-
terials for making wealth, at this time it was
poor in present possessions. It had no high-
ways. Rough and rugged trails tiirough the
deep forests connected widely separated settle-
ments, while the "towns" on the Sonnd had no
means of communication with each other but
the canoe or the " plunger," or perchance an
occassional small steamboat. The people were a
marvel of will, and of that peculiar only quality
denominated "pluck," but they could manifest
that quality by waiting for a good time coming,
— when no one knew, but that it would come
all men believed, and so they waited with a
courage that was truly sublime.

One of the difficulties in the way of inducing
immigration was the fact that there was no road
connecting the waters of Puget Sound with the
open country east of the Cascade mountains,

HISTORY OF WA8BINGT0N.

Dor, for that matter, with the Cohinibia river
and the Willamette valley on the south. Canoes
on such rapid and dangerous streams as the
Cowlitz, and rough pack trails through un-
broken forests, presented little inducement for
travel and were really a terror to mnltitudes
who would gladly else have sought homes along
the shores of the Sound. But the hundred and
fifty miles of mountains lying to the eastward,
wliose crests cnlminated in the eternal snows
of Mount Eanier, Mount Baker and Mount
Adams, were a still more terrible obstacle even
than the canoes and trails to the southward. But
a people like those who had ali-eady penetrated
this wilderness, and boldly assumed the burdens
of self-government would not be long in opening
some more feasible way of ingress and egress,
and thus secure a larger share of the emigration
that was still pouring westward over the interior
plains. To do this a way must be opened pass-
able for wagons; for the empire on the Pacific
coast came in the immigrant's wagon. Accord-
ingly plans were laid to open a wagon road over
the Cascade mountains from the vicinity of
Nisqually to the head of, the Yakima river and
then down that stream to old Fort Walla Walla,
and thence to an intersection with the Oregon
road at the western foot of the Blue mountains.
As early as 1850 some measures were taken,
and some work done towards this end, but it
was not until the spring of 185B that measures
sufiiciently effective were taken to secure the
desired result. During the summer of that
year the way was opened so as to permit the
passage of wagons, and over it thirty-five wag-
ons reached the shores of the Sound in the
autumn of that year. The completion of this
enterprise, even so far as to permit the passage
of wagons at all, was a great point gained in the
morale of settlement, and henceforward the peo-
ple on the Sound had a less oppressive sense of
isolation than before.

The immigration that reached the Territory
in this way, though not numbering more than
two hundred persons, was of very sterling stuff
and contributed very greatly to the prosperity

of the country. They marked the line of fut-
ure travel, and were but a prophecy of the day,
not so very far distant, when the iron track
should follow the trail of the ox hoof, and the
palace coaches of the Northern Pacific should
whirl in a few hours over the very path they
were weeks in traversing. This immigration set-
tled the valley of White river and that of the
PuyuUup, and scattered southward of Olympia
over the " Grand Mound " prairies, but their
settlements were so sparse that on the occur-
rence of Indian hostilities a year or two later,
an account of which will be given elsewhere,
they were compelled to abandon their claims
for some years.

Such were the physical conditions of the new
Territory as the summer of its natal year drew
to a close. Intellectually and morally the con-
ditions were not more favorable. No system
of public education had been established. While
the emigrants that settled Washington were ex-
ceptionally intelligent, for obvious reasons the
only schools that could be established were pri-
vate ones, as few or no school districts could be
yet organized.

There were as yet no church edifices, and no
church organizations, if we except the Indian
mission of the Roman Catholics near Olympia,
and at tlie Hudson's Bay post at Nisqually, in
the Puget Sound region. At Vancouver, on
the Columbia river side of the Territory, it was
somewhat different, as here both the Roman
Catholics and the Methodists had been engaged
in missionary work more or less steadily for
nearly twenty years in connection with their
wider work south of the Columbia. Among
tlie emigrants had conie to the Territory quite a
number of ministers of various denominations,
who held religious services in most of the small
communities, and were counted among the most
intelligent, industrious and enterprising of the
people. Such was the condition of the new
Territory when its newly appointed governor, I.
I. Stevens, arrived at Olympia late in Novem-
ber, orepared to enter upon the active duties of

prep;

poll

ETSTORY OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER XVII.

TERKITOHIAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZED.

I. I. Stevens Appointed Goveenor — His Character — Topographic Explorations — Legislature
Elected — Governor Stevens' Message — Statesman-like Views — Work of the Legislature
— GrovERNOR Stevens' Repairs to Washington — Some Trouble on the Border — San Jfan
Island — Results of Governor Stevens' Visit to Washington.

THE selection of Isaac I ngalls Stevens liy
President Pierce as the tirst governor of
the Territory of Washington was e.xceed-
ingly propitious to its interests. He was
a man whose natural and acqnired elements
were fitted in an eminent degree to commend
himself, and the causes he served to public favor
and confidence. A New Englander, born under
the shadows of Andover, and early trained
under influences of intellectual culture, his
naturally vigorous and ambitious intellect had
already given him special mark when he en-
tered the United States Military School at West
Point in 1835, and he only met the expecta-
tions of his friends when he graduated from it
in 1839 with its highest honors. After his
graduation he M'as put in charge of the fortifi-
cations on the New England coast. During
the Mexican war he served on the stafiP of Gen-
eral Scott, and after its close was for four years
assistant of Prof. Bache on the coast survey.
This position gave him special training on the
lines that so eminently qualified him to lead
the surveys for a great trans-continental rail-
road which had been the dream and hope of
statesman and emigrant alike for nearly half a
century, but which as yet was but a dream.
Congress having authorized the survey of sev-
eral routes for this contemplated road, Stevens
was put in charge of the survey of the northern
line, whose western terminus was fixed on
Pnget Sound. He was directed to proceed from
the upper waters of the Mississippi to this arm
of the Pacific and report upon the route itself,
and upon the Indian tribes through which he
would pass, and he was also given authority to
treat with these tribes when he found it prac-

ticable. Something of the facts and results of
this survey will enter more naturally into an-
other part of this work, and consequently these
will be omitted here. Still it is proper here to
state that among the officers detailed as his
assistants and helpers in this work were several
whose names afterward became famous in the
history of the great rebellion. Among these
were George B. McClellan, Cuvier Grover and
F. W. Lander. Captain McClellan had charge
of the west end of the line, and explored the
Cascade range for passes leading to Puget
Sound, from Vancouver northward for more
than a hundred miles, while Stevens, following
the. line of his instructions, was proceeding
westward from the Mississippi.

In his proclamation looking to the organiza-
tion of the Territorial government, Governor
Stevens had designated the 30th day of Janu-
ary, 1854, for the election of a delegate to Con-
gress and members of the Territorial Legisla-
ture, and appointed the 27th of February fol-
lowing for the convening of the Legislative
Assembly. Of course with oftices to be filled,
there were office-seekers in abundance. Parties
soon crystallized. The Democratic party put in
the field Columbia Lancaster, of Clarke county,
for delegate to Congress, and the Whig party
entered as his competitor W. H. Wallace, of
Pierce, while M. T. Simmons, whose name has
so often occurred in honorable connection with
the real pioneer struggles of the country, ap-
peared as an independent candidate. The result
of the election gave Lancaster 690 votes, Wal-
lace 500, and Simmons 18 — a total of but 1,208
votes in the whole Territory.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

The delegate elect was not a man suited to
represent such a Territory as this on the floor of
Congress at this time. With a certain solidity
and slowness of character, and an easy facility
of conversation, he lacked the genius and elo-
quence and daring that im])re8s and move such
bodies as that in which he was to serve. Pie
lacked intellectual force and moral momentum,
though he had some intellectual might. Among
a certain class of the pioneers his slowness
passed for wisdom and his general suavity for
popularity. In fact both parties, Whig and
Democratic, committed an error in the selection
of their candidates for this most important office.
Instead of taking their most brilliant and able
man and sending him to represent them in Con-
gress for tlie public benefit, they both chose their
men from considerations of party policy rather
than of public benefit. The men themselves
were not to blame for being unable to cope with
the demands of the hour in the interests of the
Territory they desired to represent, but the par-
ties were for putting them forward, however
estimable as private individuals they were;
and this is not called in question.

The legislators elected at the same time had
a fair measure of ability, and were well qualified
to consider the practical questions that were sure
to come before them. It was Democratic by a
majority of one in the council and six in the
house, but partizan zeal did not strongly influ-
ence its action, and on the whole its work sub-
sewed the best interests of the Territory. G. N.
McConaha had the honor of serving as president
of the council and F. A. Cheuoweth as speaker
of the house of representatives.

The message of Governor Stevens, however,
stamped him as the man of the Territory; and,
as the general scope of its statements and recom-
mendations presents so good a reflex of the con-
dition and needs of the young commonwealth,
it appears eminently proper that a summary of
them should be given here.

He introduced his message by a glowing en-
comium upon the Territory itself, and dwelt
upon its natural advantages for commerce. He

then referred to the anamolous condition of the
public lands; the Indian titles not having been
extinguished, nor any law having been passed
for their extinguishment, the settlei-s were un-
able to obtain any titles to their lands under the
land laws of Congress. He took up the subject
of roads as one of the most important to the
people and advised the legislature to memori-
alize Congress concerning their construction. He
also counseled them to ask for the appointment
of a surveyor general for the Territory and for
liberal appropriations for the surveys, so that
the settlers could intelligently locate their
claims. He suggested some essential amend-
ments to the land law making it possible to
acquire title by the payments of the minimum
valuation after a residence of one year, and that
single women should be placed on the same foot-
ing as married women. He urged the early set-
tlement of the boundary question between
"Washington and the British territory on the
north, and that Congress shall be memorialized
on that subject, as well as on the necessity of
continuing the geographical and geological sur-
veys already commenced.

He treated ably, and at some length, tiie
position and relations of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany and the Puget Sound Agricultural Com-
pany. He conceded they had certain rights
granted to them, and certain land ceded to them,
but that the vague nature of these rights, as well
as of these lands, must needs lead to disputes
concerning their possessions, and recommended
that Congress should be memorialized to extin-
guish their titles. He declared that the rights
of the Hudson's Bay Company to trade with the
Indians was no longer allowed, and that, under
instructions from the Secretary of State, he had
already notified that company that it would be
allowed until July to close up its affairs, and that
after that time the laws regulating intercourse
with the Indians would be rigidly enforced.

The attention of the Legislature was urgently
called to the necessity of providing for a school
system, and asked that Congress be memorialized
for a grant of land for a university. An efficient

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

153

militia system was declared to be a necessity in
a Territory so isolated, which must, in case of
war, be compelled for a time to depend upon
itself even fur protection against foreign in-
vasion.

Tills message strongly impressed the Legisla-
tive As8eml)ly and the people of the Territory,
and showed the governor to be a broad-minded
and statesmanlike man.

Beyond complying with the suggestions of
Governor Stevens in regard to memorials and
such subjects of legislation as he directed their
attention to, the acts of the Legislature were
mainly directed toward local interests, snch as
the formation of counties and designation of
county seats, the appointment of a commission
to codify the laws, the assigning of judges to
districts, and the selection of Olympia as the
temporary capital of the Territory. When these
things were attended to the Legislatui-e ad-
journed.

Soon after the Legislature adjourned Gov-
ernor Stevens repaired to Washington city to
report in person on the results of his railroad
survey, and to attend to such other matters as
he might in the inte]-ests of the Territory. The
Legislature had passed a resolution approving
of his leaving the Territory for these purposes,
and so he went armed with the double influence
of his personal character and tlie approval of

lis constituents at home. I>efor

IK' ^^•

ith

the thoroughness that marked all his work, he
made an examination of the Sound, looking for
the most feasible points for the terminus of the
Northern Pacific road. Bellingham Bay, Seat-
tle and Steilacoom impressed him favorably.
The other matters that he specially desired to
present to the attention of the government re-
lated to Indian affairs, to the rights and privi-
leges of the Hudson's Bay and Pnget Sound
Agricultural Companies, and to the settlement
of the northern boundary of the Territory. The
message of Governor Stevens relating to this
subject, and his declared purpose of pressing
the matter of its settlement at Washington, ar-
rested the attention of the British authorities

on Vancouver Island and a conflict of authority
arose on San Juan Island between I. N. Ebey,
as United States collector of customs, and a jus-
tice of the peace under the colonial government
of Vancouver Island, named Griffln. Ebey,
claiming San Juan as a part of the Territory of
Washington, and finding that several thousand
head of sheep and other. stock had been im-
ported from Vancouver Island without being
entered at the custom house, visited the island
in his capacity as collector of customs. The
Hudson's Bay steamer Otter, with Mr. Sankster,
collector of customs for the British port of Vic-
toria, on l)oard, ran over to San Juan and an-
chored near Mr. Ebey's encampment. When
told by Mr. Ebey that he Mas on the island in
his ofiicial capacity to enforce the revenue laws
of the United States, Sankster then declared
that lie would arrest all persons and seize all
vessels found navigating the waters west of the
Straits of Rosario and nortii of the middle of
the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Mr. Ebey, by no means intimidated by this
growl of the British lion, declared that an in-
spector of customs should remain upon the
island to enforce the revenue laws of the United
States, and expressed the hope that no one pre-
tending to be officers of the British government
would attempt to interfere with his oflicial
duties. Sankster ordered the British flag dis-
played o\'er the quarters of the Hudson's Bay
Company on the island.

James Douglas, governor of Vancouver
Island and also vice-admiral in the British
navy, was on board the Otter during these pro-
ceedings. Sankster proposed that Ebey go on
board the Otter to hold a conference with Mr.
Douglas, but was informed that the collector of
Puget Sound district w'ould be happy to meet
Governor Douglas at his tent. This, howevei-,
the governor declined to do, and soon after the
steamer returned to Victoria, leaving a boat's
crew to watch. The next day Mr. Ebey ap-
pointed and swore into ofiice Mr. Webber as
inspector of customs and stationed him upon
San Juan Island,

in STORY OF WASHINGTON.

There was probably no iutention on the part
of Douglas of proceeding to hostile measures
ill vindication of the pretensions of Great Brit-
ain to San Juan Island, but he did desire to
state the pretensions of his government, and so
dispute tlie claims of the United States as to
leave his case witliout prej udice from default when
the final struggle came. Resolute as he was, in
Mr. Ebey he met a man as resolute and far-
seeing as himself, and the result of his course
secured no advantage to Great Britain in the
final settlement of the question of boundary be-
tween the two countries, which is considered in
another place.

The visit of Governor Stevens to the national
capital was productive of much good to the
Territory. The efforts of delegate Lancaster to
secure the attention of Congress were proving
abortive, and the addition of the powerful per-
sonality and influence of Stevens to them com-
pelled attention that could not be persuaded by
the feeble solicitation of tlie delegate. It is
just, too, to say that delegate Lane, of Oregon,
irave the strong support of his influence to the
measures of Lancaster and Stevens, and together
they secured a fair consideration of tiie needs
of the new Territory on the part of Congress.

They secured an appropriation of $30,000 for
the construction of what was known as the
"MuUan road" from the Great Falls of the
Missouri via Cojur de Alene lake to Walla
Walla; of $25,000 for the construction of a
military road from The Dalles of the Columbia
to Fort Vancouver; of $30,000 for a road from
Fort Vancouver to Fort Steilacoom; and $89,-
000 for light-houses at various points on the
coast. Liberal provision was also made for the
Indian service, in which was included the sum
of $100,000 to enable Governor Stevens to
treat with the Blackfoot and other tribes in the
north and east portions of the Territory.

Meantime, during the absence of the Gov-
ernor, the current of events in the Territory
flowed smoothly on, and thei'e is little to record
in the way of history. Only one thing ruffled
the even surface of things, and that was the
occasional predatory incursions of Indians from
the north, sometimes attended with barbarous
murders, which kept the scattered settlements
along the shores of the Sound in more or less
alarm. These, however, so far as necessary,
will be considered in our chapters on the Indian
Wars of Washington, and hence need not be
considered at length in this connection.

IIISTURT OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER XVIII.

TERRITORIAL HISTORY, CONTINUED.

Slow Progress — Reasons Thekefok — Politics — First Delegate to Congress — Organization
OF Parties — Juuge STRON(i— J. Patton Anderson — Personal Politics — Growing Con.
fusion in Party Lines — Governor Stevens the De.mockatic Candidate — Ale.xander
Abeknethy the Republican — Stevens Elected — Fayette McMullin, Governor — Fraser
River Mining Excitement — Results uuon the Territory.

'Il — ^ VEN after a Territorial Government was
IT fully instated the material progress of
*^"^ l the country was very slow for quite a
number of years. The reasons for this are
patent. The open country east of tlie Cascade
mountains was yet closed to settlement, and the
I'egion about Puget Sound was so inaccessible
that only the most determined and resolute
people, or those who had special connections of
interest there, found their way thither. Ee
sides there was no surplus population in any
Pacific coast region eager to leave the limiting
conditions of an annoying and crowded multi-
tude to find personal freedom outside of throng-
ing marts. All the coast was free and open,
and there was verge and room enough every-
where for breath and expansion. In a measure,
too, the influx of Eastern immigration had
ceased. Therefore the growth of the infant
Territory must needs be tirefullj slow. The
few thousands of people scattered over many
more thousands of S(juare miles of country had
little to do but wait for the good times which
their faith prophesied and their hope looked for
that were sure to come in some sweet hereafter,
and perhaps prove an overpayment of delight.
Put, after all, the hanlest thing in the world is
to wait. Providence is slow, the ages are long,
our life is brief, and aveugings or rewards must
come to us soon if at all. It was therefore not
an easy lot that came to the isolated dwellers
on Puget Sound and along the wooded river
courses; and only a few were really great
enough and strong enough to wait.

Still there is one refuge that the great Amer-
ican mind can always find in city or on frontier,

namely, politics; and this refuge did not fail
the people of this Territory in the present di-
lemma. It was a time of high political debate
in the country at large, and the echoes of that
debate flew into the door of every log cabin
from Juan de Fuca to the Cascades. Grave
national issues were discussed about every
mountain camp-fire, in every logger's cabin and
miner's hut; and, although Washington was
yet but a Territory, and as such could have
neither voice nor vote in the national legislature,
no part of the country really took a more intel-
ligent interest in the issues that were being
joined between Nortb and South, between loy-
alty and disloyalty during the later fifties, than
did these sturdy pioneers. What was to have
been expected occurred. Political opinion was
confused, if not chaotic. The pressure of events
was not yet strong enough to solidify or crys-
tallize the elements of patriotism that were float-
ing in the mass of all parties into the order and
purpose of a party organization, or to unite their
opposites into an antagonizing order. It was a
time of creation, politically, in Washington,
and "darkness was on the face of the deep.'"

It is proper that we say that this was not to
the discredit, but rather to the credit, of the
people. They were too individualized and in-
dependent to be swayed ia a mass by ajjpeals
or passions. More solid thinking was never
done by men than was done by the lumbermen
from Maine and Michigan and elsewhere in the
forests of the IS^orth along the shores of Puget
Sound, and by the scattered home-makers from
the prairies of Illinois and Missouri, or tlie
shop-keepers from Boston and New York who

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

liad established themselves in the wilderness or
on the corners of the streets of cities yet to be,
than was done in this Territory at this time.
That they did not all think alike was evidence
that they all thought, and that no one thought
for all.

Probably if the political sentiment of Wash-
ington at this time were to be named after the
fashion of the olden nomenclature, it must be
classed as Democratic rather than Whig. The
Territory had been admitted into the Union
under Democratic auspices; its governor, Ste-
vens, and its list of Federal office-holders had
been appointed by a Democratic president, and
it was but natural that that party should have
secured the vantage ground of strongest and
most effective organization. Besides, just
across the Columbia, Oregon, under the then
almost controlling influence of Joseph X.,ane,
was strongly on that side, and so the motive of
political harmony with that Territory had its
influence in determining the status of this.

There was really but one office in the Terri-
tory that could serve as a test of party senti-
ment. That was the office of delegare to Con-
gress. Around this, therefore, the division took
place. The first election for that office occurred
so early after the organization of the Territory
that party had comparatively little decisive in
determining its result. At that election, as we
have seen, Columbia Lancaster of Clarke county,
in the southern portion of the Territory, was
chosen. His politics were as individual as him-
self, though his antecedent affiliation had been
largely with the Whig party. With a certain
appearance of solemn weight in his presence
that was well matched with the method of his
slow and oracular utterance, he succeeded in
impressing himself upon enough of the voters
of the territory that they had given him the
honor of being their first representative in the
Congress of the United States. But he lacked
the alertness and vigor to retain the position
that the auspicious time, together with his per-
sonal elements, had given him, and hence his
first service was his last in that capacity.

Doubtless geographical position had something
to do with this result, for his residence was on
the extreme southern limit of the Territory, and
in a region that was rapidly outgrown and out-
nnmbered by the region along Puget Sound.
So it was not greatly to his discredit that, in
the more stringent organization of parties in
1855, these things proved sufficient to defeat
him before the Democratic convention, and to
put in his place as a candidate for delegate to
Congress J. Patton Anderson, who had come to
this Territory as its first United States marshal,
appointed by President Pierce, and who had
over him the order of a strong pro-slavery
Democrat of the most ultra Southern school.

By the opposition or Whig party Judge
William Strong was nominated. Mr. Strong
also came to the coast as a Federal appointee,
bearing a judicial commission from Millard Fill-
more. He was of large and imposing presence,
and both as an officer and a man had won a
considerable place in the regards of the people
of the Territory. In after years he removed to
the city of Portland, Oregon, where he resided
until his death, maintaining a prominent posi-
tion at the bar of that city and State. The result
of the bidlot gave Mr. Anderson the delegate-
ship by a narrow margin over his abler com-
petitor. But neither of the men who repre-
sented the two great political parties of the
country in this election figured afterward in
the history of Washington to any considerable
extent. Mr. Strong, as we have stated, removed
from the Territory, and Mr. Anderson did not
return to it to reside. He espoused the south-
ern cause in the rebellion, and, though winning
no high distinction, yet received a commission
as brigadier-general from the Confederate gov-
ernment. During this political canvass there
were many indications of what was coming in
the disruptions and disintegrations of old parties
and the formation of new tones. A " free soil "
candidate for Congress in the person of Joseph
Cushman received a small vote, while it was
with difficulty that a large part of the Demo-
cratic vote could be held to the candidate of

HISTORT OF WMUINOTON.

that party. It was obvious to far-seeing men
that causes were at work below the surface of
things that might at any time, and certainly
would at some time, work a revolution in the
political complexion of the Territory. One of
the causes was this: In the organization of the
Territorial government and appointment of its
officers, a great many able and ambitious men
had been brought to the Territory. Others had
come in charge of or associated with the govern-
ment surveying parties, and had remained in

what seemed to them this invitine; field for

per

sonal promotion. The ultimate star that guided
each of these was self. They could not be ex-
pected to act from a purely public and patriotic
purpose, for each one supposed that, while serv-
ing self he could serve the public at least as
well as could any of his fellows. The larger
parties, therefore, were made of the innumerable
smaller personal parties of these able and aspir-
ing men, and were held together by a very feeble
tenure. A great, overshadowing public interest,
upon which the affections of the common people,
who are always patriotic, could be united, would
inevitably dissolve the old political tenures, and
new and stronger ones would be formed. Be-
sides, the very men of whoni we have spoken
were not destitute of patriotism, albeit they were
personally ambitious of place and power, and
when it became apparent to them that there
were questions to be decided by the votes of the
people greater than what individual should hold
the offices, they too would be found ready to
lead or follow the general impulse of change.
That such a change was coming, and coming
soon, was in the very air. Under such a state
of things the Territory came up to the time for
the election of another delegate to Congress to
succeed J. Patton Anderson, during whose term of
two years nothing of importance had been done
to secure the interests of the Territory he rep-
resented in the halls of Congress.

The logical candidate of the Democratic pai'ty
for delegate to Congress in 1887 was Governor
Stevens, although he had a strong and very bet-
ter oppositidu among the leaders of iiis own
io

party, the causes and methods of which were
far more creditable to him than to those who
opposed him. It is not necessary that we lead
our readers into the intricacies of the plots and
counterplots of the period, as it would be much
time spent to little profit. It is enough to say
that, while Mr. Stevens had come into conflict
with the judicial department of the government
in some matters of administration relating to
Indians and Indian affairs, and in these con-
flicts his enemies had succeeded in inducing the
president to reprimand him for his action, yet
the people, and especially the volunteers who
had served in the preceding Indian wars, felt
that he was their fi-iend and proper representa-
tive, and were resolved to give him the place of
honor and of power. Meantime, feebly follow-
ing, at this early day, the trend of public senti-
ment elsewhere, the Republican party had ef-
fected an organization and put forwaid as its
candidate for Congress Mr. Alexander Aber-
nethy, a man of excellent personal qualities, but
not well adapted to lead a new political crusade
in the chances and changes of such an eventful
jieriod in the history of the country as this.
The new party had in it not a few of the best
and ablest men of the Territory, but the exi-
gences of the country were not yet sufficiently
apparent to lead the mass of the people to sun-
der old political ties and enter new party affilia-
tions. The result of the italloting gave the elec-
tion to Mr. Stevens by a large majority, and on
the lith of August he resigned the office of
governor. Secretary Mason taking his place as
acting governor until the appointment of his
successor. This was Fayette McMuUin, of Vir-
ginia, who held the office of governor only until
July, 185'8, when he was removed, having done
nothing to entitle him to the confidence or grati-
tude of the people.

While McMullen himself did nothing worthy
of record as governor of the Territory, yet dur-
ing his term of office an event occurred that,
while at first it seemed to interfere with the
prosperity of the country, ultimately redounded
to its prosperity. Thi^ was the discovery of

niSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

crold Oil Fraser river in British Columbia, which
awakened an intense excitement all over the
coast. The history of this mining excitement
does not belong to this book, only as it affected
the prosperity of Wathington. It drew away
a large number of the people of the Territory,
thus abstractinu; population and labor from the
resources of an already weak commonwealth,
and leaving it for a time even poorer than it was
before. Its progress had been so slow as to
greatly discourage many of its friends, as was
evident from tlie fact that there were but three
more votes cast for delegate to Congress in 1857
than in 1855, or only 1,585 in all. On the
whole this was about the most utipropitions era
of the history of Washington, and the historian
lingers in its story anxious to find something to
relieve the sombre page of his record. This

milling excitement does not afford the relief, for
instead of bringing population it took it away.
Still there was a compensation in its after re-
sults. It awakened the people who remained
in the Territory to activity in promoting explo-
rations and opening roads across the mountains
into the open country to the east toward the
upper Fraser mining regions. As the mining
excitement diminished, and thousands of unsuc-
cessful men returned from British Columbia, a
large number of them, some from choice but
more from necessity, remained in the Puget
Sound regions and became permanent settlers
there. From this class Puget Sound probably
doubled its population before the close of 1858.
Thus what threatened at first to be a gieat ca-
lamity of the country proved in the end to be a
great benefit.

CHAPTEE XIX.

TERRITORIAL HISTORY CONTINUED.

I. Stevens and his Kelation tc the Histoey of Washington Teeritoet — His Personal
Character — Elected to Congress — Re-election — Crisis in his Caeeee — Return to Olym-
piA — Declined Re-nomination — Offers his Services to Government — Commissioned Col-
onel — Brigadier-general — Death — Honors Paid uis Memory — Election of Delegate to
Congress — Rapid Changes in Officers — Death of Ctovernor Mason — Seal of Government —
Republican Appointees — Governor Pickering — Secretary Evans.

THIS is as suitable a place as any to^ive a
space to the history of the relations of
Isaac Ingalls Stevens to Washington Ter-
ritory. The historian cannot pass this
theme or this name as he can almost any other
theme or name with a sentence or two, as, take
him for all in all, Mr. Stevens' place in the his-
tory of the Territory is unique and representa-
tive beyond comparison, and its story must be
treated accordingly. In the course of our pre-
vious narrative we have shown under what
auspices he came to the Territory, and how he
wss related to the early Indian difficulties that
60 seriously threatened the entire country. On
his election as a delegate to Congress, he en-

tered on a new sphere of duty, but one for
which his previous education and life had well
prepared him.

Mr. Stevens was a small man physically, and
yet he had an imposing and magnetic presence.
This was owing to the fact that his face and
brow and eye bore the seal of a lofty manhood.
His large and fine-grained brain was filled with
knowledge, which, in private conversation, he
knew well bow to use. He was not what is
usually called an orator, and yet he could
strongly influence men, and those who were
about him naturally deferred to hiui as their
representative. There was not a great deal of
the suave in his composition. His nature wa^

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

too rugged and full of points for that. But he
was intellectually honest, and duty was a word
he knew how to utter, and his actions always
sliowed that he felt its full and mastering force.
Coming to the Territory as an appointee to its
highest office, he filled it with such devotion to
the interests of the people over whom he pre-
sided that, almost as early as it was possible for
them to testify their appreciation of him by a
popular vote, tliey did so by putting him into
the national Congress by a majority of votes
over those given to one of the oldest and most
respected of the pioneers of the Territory of
more than two to one. Still the very elements
that created such friendships also created cor-
responding enmities, but they were not numer-
ous and strong enough to alienate the great mass
of the people from tlie support of this strong
and patriotic man.

Mr. Stevens entered upon his duties in Con-
gress at a time and under circumstances not
propitious to his political success. The result
was that during liis first term he was able to
secure but little legislation for the benefit of
his constituency. He was faithful in ]ilans and
energetic in urging them, but he could only de-
serve success, not command it. But he did not
lose tlie confidence of ids people, and at the
election of 1859 was again returned to Congress
over W. H. Wallace, gaining the election over
him by nearly as large a majority as he had two
years before f)ver A. S. Abernethy. This en-
dorsement of him by the people of his Territory
gave him larger infiuence with the Congress
than he had befofe, and consequently his meas-
ures met with more favor at its hands. At the
session of 1860-'61, several appropriations of
great value to the Territory were secured, and
provisions were made for the payment of the
Indian war del)t, though at figures greatly, and,
without doubt, unjustly reduced.

This session of Congress brought Mr. Ste-
vens to a crisis in his career. Politically he had
been a pro-slavery Democrat, or, if not that, in
the division of the Democratic party pending
Jie election uf 18(50, he adhered to the Hrecken-

ridge wing, and so high did he stand with it
that he was selected as chairman of its national
committee. But notwithstanding his relations
to that party be could not be persuaded nor
frightened into the support of secession, for he
was a patriot first and a politician afterward.

At the close of the session of 1860-'61
Stevens returned to Oiympia. He was wan
and care-worn, and it was plain tliat strongly
opposing forces had been tugging at his heart
strings. He had scarcely reached home before
the news on the firing on Fort Sumter and the
beginning of civil war reached him. lie could
no longer hesitate between party fealty and pat-
riotic duty. Nor, duty being determined, could
he delay its clear announcement, " I conceive
it to be my duty to stop secession" were his
clear words to the people of Olyrapia who had
assembled to do him honor. There was no hes-
itation, no tergiversation. What this meant to
him can hardly now be understood. It dis-
rupted all the 23olitical associations of his life,
and brought down upon him the bitterest hos-
tility of those who had counted on ])im as both
comrade and leader in the struggle that treason
precipitated on the nation. Nor did it secure
at once the confidence of those who had hitherto
acted against him politically. Lane of Oregon
and Gwin of California, with many others, were
in the hot flush of disloyalty, and it was hard to
convince the people of the Southwest that
Stevens was not in league with them for the
inauguration of a Pacific republic even if lie
was not committed to the purposes of the South-
ern disunionists.

Stevens had returned to Oiympia intending
to become a candidate for re-election to Con-
gress, but at the Democratic convention, that
assembled at Vancouver soon after, he with-
drew his name, promising however to support
the choice of the convention. This action was
prompted by his determination to return im-
mediately to the East and proffer his services
to the Government in the cause of the Union.
This pui'pose he put intu execution.

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

From bis early and thorough traiiiiiiff in the
military academy at West Point, his leading
position in the counoiLs of the Democratic party
and his concededly great ability, much was ex-
pected of him and for him. He was at once
appointed colonel of the 79tb New York regi-
ment, the famous Highlanders, whose accom-
plished colonel, Camei'on, had been killed at
Bull Run. His service in that capacity began
on July 31, 1861, only ten days after Bull
Run had been fought, and was in the defences
of Washington. In Steptember, however, he
was commissioned brigadier-general and com-
manded a brigade until July, 1862. On the
Ith day of July Mr. Lincoln appointed him
major general of volunteers, but the senate re-
fused to confirm the appointment, and he con-
tinued to serve as general of a brigade in the
Virginia campaign although he was actually in
command of the division. At the battle of Chan-
tilly, while leading his faltering command, him-
self carrying the flag which the color- bearer
who had been struck by a shot was about to let
fall, he was struck in the head by a ball and in-
stantly killed. When this sad event occurred
his name was among those who were being con-
sidered by President Lincoln as successor to Mc-
Clellan as commander of the army. . In the es-
timation of the army his name was ranked with
Meade, Hooker, Reynolds and others like them,
and his special friends believed him fully able
to cope with Lee, undoubtedly the greatest
leader of the Confederates during the war, and
they prophesied for him the most brilliant
career. He had made a careful stndy of the
mental characteristic of the great Confederate
commander, together with his methods and
tactics, with the expectation that he might be
called to match himself against them. Certainly
his position and ability justified him in thus
preparing for the largest responsibilities that
could come to him. In the army his death was
felt as a great national disaster, and was cata-
logued with that of Kearny and Baker as one
of the three most chivalrous spirits that went
out on the altar of patriotic sacrifice.

The intelligence of the death of Stevens
kindled the deepest grief not only in Washing-
ton but on all the Pacific coast. Like Baker in
Oregon, Stevens typed and personified the loy-
alty of Washington. If, in his death, Wash-
ington lost its one hero in the field of battle,
his death made a thousand heroes around the
altar of Washington homes. Disagreements
and political rivalries and jealousies were for-
gotten. His character was eulogized and his
memory was canonized. When Uie Legislature
met appropriate resolutions were passed in his
honor, and the members wore crape for ten
days. The legislature of his native State, Rhode
Island, also formally regretted his loss. An em-
inent scholar and publicist, Professor Bache of
the coast survey, with whom he served four
years, thus characterized him: "Generous and
noble in impulses, he left our office with our
enthusiastic admiration of his character, appre-
ciation of his services and hope for his success."

Thus in the full hey-day of his power, at
forty-four years of age, the man who most im-
pressed the early history of Washington passed
away. But he left aji inheritance of real great-
ness and patriotism to his adopted Territory
and State that constitutes no small part of the
fame that crowns them.

After the withdrawal of the natne of Stevens
before the Democratic convention of 1861, Salu-
cius (Tarfielde was named by that body as its
candidate for Congress. The convention had
passed resolutions under tJie lead of Stevens en-
dorsing the cause of the Union, and its nominee
was therefore called " Union-Democratic." The
Republican convention of that year named W.
H. Wallace once more as its candidate. A
faction of the Democrats, who were so strong in
their pro-slavery affinities that they would not
be brougiit to sustain the cause of the Union
nnder any circumstances, put forth the name of
Edward Lander as a candidate. The result of
this triangular contest was to draw away enough
votes from Mr. Garfielde to give the election to
Mr. Wallace by a plurality of 818 votes, while
the united Democratic vote in the Territory yet

m STOUT OF WASniNOTON.

Ifii

exceeded the Republican bj 333 votes. Thus,
for the first time, Washington sent a Republi-
can to represent her in the national Congress,
although it was not yet clear that her political
complexion had been changed.

In the executive department of the Terri-
torial goveriiment, meanwhile, rapid changes,
not always to the profit of the people, had su-
pervened. After the removal of McMuUin,
already referred to, the secretary of the Terri-
tory, Charles H. Mason, became acting gov-
ernor. This was entirely satisfactory to the
people. Mason was a man to be believed in
and trusted, and had a strong hold on the confi-
dence of the Territory in an eminent degree.
But soon after assuming the duties of the exec-
utive office he died, universally regretted.
Stevens pronounced his funeral eulogy. The
Legislature honored him by naming a county
after him. He was in all ways a worthy man,
and an able pul)lic officer. He was succeeded
by Richard D. Gholsen, of Kentucky, who is
entitled to a place on the pages of this history
only because he was "clothed with a little brief
authority " over a people with whom he had
nothing in common, but over whom he was in-
stated by the appointment of a national executive
who had political debts to pay, and whose po-
litical small-change for their payment was the
offices of honor and emolument in the Terri-
tories. In less than a year after his arrival
Gholsen returned to Kentucky, much to the re-
lief of the Tei-ritory. He was an ultra State-
rights Democrat, and here ends his history as
connected with Washington Territory.

With the departure of Gholsen the executive
administration devolved on H. M. McGill, the
Secretary of the Territory. There was little in
the internal politics of the Territory dui-ing these
administrations that requires any special record.

Like all new commonwealths the question of
the location of the seat of government caused
considerable agitation. The Legislature of
1854-'55 chose Olympia as the capital, but
later a strong effort was made to remove it to
Vancouver. At the session of 1860-'61 a deal I

was made between the representatives of Port
Townshend and Seattle and those representing
the Columbia river region by which Port Town-
shend was to have the peinitentiary, Seattle the
university and Vancouver the capitdl. Acts for
this purpose passed both houses of the Legis-
lature without debate, but in the haste of such
legislation the enacting clause was omitted from
the bills, and they thus became inoperative.
The matter was finally decided by a vote of th^
Territory, supplemented hy a decision of thd
courts, in favor of Olympia, but the university
was permitted to remain at Seattle.

The administration of McGill as Governor
was rather creditable to himself and beneficial
to the Territory.

The inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as president
was followed by a change in the political com-
plexion of the Federal appointees in theTerritory.
W. H. Wallace, a resident of the Territory for
several years, was appointed governor, but his
appointment was soon followed by his nomina-
tion and election by the Republican party as
delegate to Congress. L. J. S. Turney, who
had been appointed secretary when Wallace was
made governor, thus became acting governor.
But, though the national administration was
Republican, and consequently the Federal ap-
pointees were of that political faith, the Legis-
lature still remained Democratic, and at its
session of 1861-'G2 signalized its history by
voting down a series of resolutions sustaining
the general Government in its course and de-
claring against a Pacific coast confederacy.
The council went even further than this in its
disloyal coui-se, and poured contumely on the
national cause by referring such a series of
resolutions sent up from the house for concur-
rence to the committee on foreign relations,
with directions to report on the first day of
April, or two months after the session would
terminate. This action, redounding so little to
the credit of the men who voted for it, was so
really contrary to the sentiments of the people
of the Territory that at the session of 18r)2-'63
the joint assembly hastened to pass a series of

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

resolutions strongly supporting the Government
in putting down the rebellion.

There was little to mark the current of Wash-
ington history daring this period but that which
was purely political, but such changes came fre-
quently enough to keep up the gossip of a " nine-
days wonder " among the people. Accordingly
William Pickering, of Illinois, arrived in
Olympia in June of 1862, as governor of the
Territory by the appointment of Mr. Lincoln.
In December following Mr. Tiirney was removed
from the office of secretary and Elwood Evans
was appointed in his stead. Mr. Pickering
came with the recommendation of a long per-
sonal acquaintance with the president. He was
by birth an Englishman, but had been a resident
of the United States since 1821, and for thirty
years had known Mr. Lincoln, enjoying his per-
sonal friendship. Mr. Pickering gave the Terri-
tory an acceptable administration, though to-
ward its close there was considerable disagree-
ment between him and a faction of the legisla-
ture over the reconstruction measures of Presi-

dent Johnson. Mr.' Evans, the secretary of the
Territory at this time, was a very competent man,
and faithful executive officer. He came to the
Territory in the company of Mr. Steven.^, in which
he served as journalist of the expedition, and
had taken up his residence at the capital, where
he had been engaged in the practice of law. He
had brilliant literary ability, and as a writer,
especially on historic themes, has won the high-
est place. During 1865 Mr. Evans was acting
governor and discharged the duties of that office
acceptably to the Republican party, and what
was better still to the advantage of the Territory.
Fairly reckoned among the pioneers, no man has
been more faithful to the interests of his adopted
State than he, and none have done more to call
the attention of intending immigrants to the
greatness of its resources and the excellence of
its climate. He is now an honored citizen of
the city of Taconia, engaged in his profession as
a lawyer, and in literary pursuits, of which he is
extremely fond and in which he is a master.

CHAPTER XX.

SETTLEMENT OF EASTERN WASHINGTON."

First Settlers — Country Thrown Open to Settlement — First Town — Discovert of Gold —
Story of its Discovery — Rhodes Creek and Elk City — Salmon River — Severe Winter —
High Prices — Great Influx of People — Strange Mingling — Towns Mapped out — Coun-
ties Organized— Political Agitation — Division of the Territory — Idaho Constituted.

\HILE we have been attending to the
course of history in the Territory at
large, and especially in that portion of
it lying west of the Cascade mountains, we have
not forgotten that, in area, the larger part of
Washington was east of that range. Up to the
early sixties that part of the territory had no
history except that which was involved in the
story of the Indian tribes and the Indian wars.
But about that time the course of history
changed, and it is necessary for us to follow that
change. In our chapter on the topography of

the State we have given our readers so full a
description of it that it is not necessary for us
to dwell upon its physical characteristics in this
place. Up to the early tifties it had no per-
manent white residents after the missionaries
abandoned the country on the Whitman mas-
sacre and the Cayuse war following it. Perhaps
from this statement a few names of white men
consorted with Indian women should be excepted,
and mo.st prominent among them, Mr. William
Craig, whose wife was a Nez Perce woman, and
who resided at Lapwai among that tribe from

Bistort of wasiiinoton.

1S4.J until his death in October, 1869. We do
uot include in these statements the people con-
nected with the Hudson's Bay Company, most
of whom were French Canadians with Indian
wives, but remained in that region after that
company withdrew from the field, and thus be-
came permanent settlers. Probably Mr. II. M.
Chase is fairly entitled to be called the first
American who went into that region as an in-
tending settler, as he entered it in 1851, and
made his home in the Walla Walla valley for
fifty years. Soon after him came Lloyd Brooke,
who, with Bamford and Noble occupied the site
of the Whitman mission in 1853. but none of
them remained permanently there, Mr. Brooke
removing to Portland, Oregon, and dying there
on the 29th day of May, 1893. Mr. Brooke
was a man of many genial and sterling quali-
ties, and held a high place in the regards of the
pioneers of Washington and Oregon.

These few people made a gallant attempt to
occupy the beautiful region watered by the
Walla Walla river, but the Indian wars of 1855
to 1858, which are treated of in another place,
came on, and they were compelled to suspend
their operations, though they mostly returned to
them at the earliest possible date.

In the autumn of 1858 the Walla Walla
country was thrown open to settlement. The
campaigns of Colonel Wright had completely
subjugated the Indians, and there was now no
danger to the settlers. Such a beautiful region
could not long escape the acquisitive eye of the
adventurous Americans, and so quite a large
number of families soon located on the streams
that How down from the west side of the Blue
mountains, and within a year their numbers
were so greatly increased that the valleys of all
the streams south of Snake river had their in-
habitants, and families also began to scatter
over the mountain slopes. During the summer
of 1859 the population so increased that the
Legislature of the Territory passed an act on
January 19 organizing the county of Walla
Walla and appointing a board of county officers.

By this time there was a small gathering of

buildings on what was known as "Mill creek,"
about four miles from the old mission station of
Dr. Whitman at Waiiletpu, to which the name
of "Steptoeville" had been given, which was
afterward changed to " Wailetpa," and which had
been selected as the county seat; but when the
county commissioners came together at it in
November they gave the little village the name
of Walla Walla and gave to it a town govern-
ment. Thus sprang into being what has proved
to be the chief city of the great Walla Walla
country, and which is doubtless destined to re-
tain that diotinction.

But up to 1860 nothing had occurred to call
any general public attention to the country
itself as an exceptionally fine location for homes,
or to its remarkable agricnltural capabilities.
The great body of immigrants had really not
seen it in their passage through the country on
their way to the Willamette valley and Puget
Sound, as the main emigrant road passed twenty
miles to the south down the valley of the L"ma-
tilla, and through a region of more sterile
aspect. In 1860, however, the discovery of
gold in the mountains of Salmon river, 200
miles northeast of Walla Walla and beyond
Snake river, brought a rush of adventurers, as
well as of the most solid and substantial people
of the whole Pacific coast, through the country.
To their eyes the beauty and excellence of the
country were patent, and though they passed on
through it to the distant mountain El Dorado
where they expected to gather untold sums of
gold, yet they could not but carry its visions of
beauty and verdure and restfulness with them
into their rugged and self-denying toil. It is
proper, as this is a most important era in the
history of the now great State of Washington,
that we relate somewhat circumstantially its
events.

A visionary story, related by a Nez Perce In-
dian in the mines of California, in the ears of
visionary miners who are always apt to believe
the impossible and be strongly influenced by it,
is said to have inspired the search that resulted
in uncovering to the eyes of the world the golden

164

HISTORY OF WASHINOTOlf.

treasures locked in these pinnacled ranges. The
story told by tins Indian, in half-anglicized
speech, was tliat among liis native mountains
far to the north, wiiere himself and two com-
panions were encamped at night in a darlc de-
file, a brilliant star had blazed out upon them
from the face of an opposite cliff, and on search-
ing the place in tlie morning they had discovered
a glittering ball that looked like glass imbedded
in the solid rock. They could not remove it
from its place, however, and though they be-
lieved it to be a "gi-eat medicine" they were
obliged to leave it there.

This story was listened to by a man as vis-
ionary and susceptible as the Indians them-
selves. Dreams of Kohinoors without rival or
computation floated through his mind, sleeping
or waking, and under their spell he left the
mines of California and became a resident of
Walla Walla. He scouted through the mount-
ains beyond Snake river, sometimes alone, and
sometimes with companions, the latter search-
ing for gold, his eyes ranging every cliff for the
enricliiug flash of his mythical diamond.

The Nez Perces, who feared the result of
these incursions of parties of white men, ordered
his party out of the country and they obeyed
their order. In leaving the country, however,
they decided to turn to the northeast and pass
out over tlie Lolo trail, the same traveled by
Lewis and Clarke in their e.Kplorations in 1806.
They procured an Indian squaw for their pilot,
and passed over to the North Fork of the Clear-
water river, and entered the rugged, cedared
mountains beyond. In a mountain meadow
embowered among the pinnacles they resolved
to stop and rest for a time and let their jaded
horses recruit. Pierce was still dreaming of
diamonds, but the remainder of the parry was
searching for the baser and less poetical gold.
While there Mr. W. F. Barrett went to a stream
that flowed through the meadow, and with the
ready appliance of a simple miner's pan tried
the soil for gold, finding about 3 cents in his
first panful of dirt. AH were now elated with
their new "prospect." Constructing a rude

"sluice" out of cedar bark, they had soon taken
out about $80 in gold, and thus certified the
reality of their discovery.

Turning back from the place where their dis-
covery was made, they returned down the Clear-
water and along the great Nez Perce trail to
Walla Walla. They succeeded in interesting
in their purposes Mr. J. C. Smith, who had
been connected with the military service and
hence was known as "Sergeant Smith," who
fitted out a company of fifteen and returned
with them to the newly discovered mines in
November, 1860. Sending their horses out of
the timbered mountains to be wintered on Pat-
aha creek, this company of men permitted
themselves to be snowed in among the stormy
heights of this most rugged chain of mountains
for the winter. They built log cal)ins, sawed
lumber with a whipsaw, and dug under the
snow for gold for their winter pastime. In
March Mr. Smith made his way out of the
mountains on snow shoes, carrying $800 in gold
dust which they had dug from beneath the
snow. This was shipped to Portland, Oregon,
and the news of the discovery of "placer dig-
gings" among the mountains of Eastern Wash-
ington soon kindled a blaze of excitement all
over the coast. "Oro Fino," the name given
to the new mines, was on every tongue. The
counters of the stores, the bars of the hotels, the
aisles of the church, the firesides of the homes
were all vocal wit!; discussions and flaming with
visions of "fine gold." Thus 1860 closed up
in Eastern Washington.

By the opening of 1861 the news of tliis
discovery of gold had reached every mining camp
on the Pacific coast, and individuals and small
companies of men were facing from every di-
rection toward that golden center of attraction.
They were mostly prospectors, for the extent
and richness of the mines had not yet become
sufficiently assured to move the multitudes
thitherward. These prospectors, during the
summer of that year, spread over all the mount-
ains and plains of the regions within two or
three hundred miles of "Oro Fino." Between

aisTORy OF WAsirmoToN.

loS

Salmon river and the Clearwater every gulch
and hillside was iioney-combed with "prospect
holes." Almost everywhere " the color" was
found, and, as the season advanced, many "pay-
ing diggings" were located. Rhodes Creek,
Elk City, and, later on, the Salmon River mines
were discovered. The latter particularly were
really of fabulous richness. They were located
on the very summit of the Salmon River mount-
ains, one of the most i-ugged parts of the great
Rocky mountain system, in a singular swampy
depression where some small creeks have their
rise, and in a general geological formation of
soft or decayed granite, which both overlaid
and underlaid the "pay dirt" from which the
gold was washed. These discoveries came too
late in the season to permit a great influx of
miners into these snowy regions in 1861, but
tbey were not too late to be published far
aiiroad, hued with a golden drapery of descrip-
tion, and to excite such a fever of adventure all
over the United States as to insure a very tidal-
wave of gold-seekers in 1861.

The winter of 1861-'62 was the most severe
ever known on the Pacific coast. It was intro-
duced by an autumn as singularly mild as it
was singularly severe. November was as balmy
as an ordinary May. Late in the month wai-m
rains of unusual copiousness came over the val-
leys, while the temperature on the mountain
ridges was just low enough to turn the copious
waterfall to snow, which covered these ridges
to a remarkable depth. The very last days of
the month the temperature rose almost to sum-
mer heat, and while the rains continned to ]>our
over the valleys the snows on the mountains
were dissolved in a day, and the floods came
pouring down every gorge, swelling rills into
torrents and torrents into rivers. The valleys
were innundated from Sacramento to Ri-itish
Columbia, and 1862 came in on a scene of deso-
lation without former parallel.

With January the heat changed to cold, deep
snows covered the country; the thermometer
went down to zero west of the Cascade mount-
ains and many degrees below east of them.

For three months a hyperborean winter held all
the land in chains of ice. The scattered popu-
lation of Eastern Washington sufl'ered especial
hardships and deprivations. Hardly one escaped
impoverishment. Nearly all the stock on the
ranges died. Many travelers were frozen to
death on the open prairie-hills. It was not until
late in March that the snow ijegan to disappear
from the hillsides. The severity and depriva-
tion of the season are best attested by the prices
that were charged and paid for food for man
and beast. Flour was $25 per ewt. ; bacon, 50
cents per 11). ; liutter, '$1 per 11).; sugar, 50 cents;
beans, 80 cents; tobacco, $1.50, at Walla Walla,
and everything else in proportion. In the
mines of Salmon river these prices were multi-
plied by three or four.

Still these very calamities only increased the
number of those who hastened into the mining
regions of Eastern Washington in the spring of
1862. Men who had ali-eady lost all could lose
no more by the venture of a summer in the
mines. By the 1st of March, long before the
ice in Columbia river would permit the re-
sumption of navigation by the steamboats upon
it, four or five thousand men from California
and the Willamette valley had congregated in
Portland. Pefore the 1st of May not less than
20,000 men were urging their way up the Co-
himbia and over the great interior plains into
the mountains of Snake and Salmon rivers.
But these were not all who joined the human
movement thitherward. They came from the
East as well as the West. As soon as the
spring advanced far enough to permit it, the
tide of emigration from east of the Missouri
began to sweep up the plains of the Platte river,
and by late July they were straggling out the
detiles of the Rocky mountains into the agri-
cultural valleys and into the mining camps of
all that region. Not less than 10,000 were in
this immigration. Not a few of these people,
wearied with their long journey when they
reached Grand Ronde valley in Eastern Oregon,
were glad to pitch tlieir tents beside its beauti-
ful streams, but by far the larger nutnber fol.

BISTORT OF WASUINOTON.

lowed the lure of their golden hopes and kept
on toward their dreamed-of El Dorado, and
passed over tlie Blue mountains and nortiiward
to Oro Fino, Florence, and the other mining
centers of that region.

The story of this year in its relation to East-
ern Washington has in it elements of weirdness
and wildness that carry us back to the centuries
of the cavaliers, and revive the memories of the
old gold-seekers on the plains of Mexico or in
the monntains of Peru. With space and time
enough an Irving might weave out of it a
story as full of the witchery of romance as any
that his genius ever wrought. But oiir sober
history cannot stop to dally and play with such
a romance, albeit all of it the writer saw and
part of it he was. It is enough that we say
that it was this wide tramp of swarming feet,
this loud ringing of the pick and shovel against
the flinty sides of the mountains, this rush and
roar of adventure, tliis strange mingling of the
best of the good and the worst of the bad in
camp and mine, this uncouth blending of pro-
fanity and prayer, of drunken revel and peace-
ful piety, that had streamed into this "witches'
cauldron" of human agitation in 18(>2, that
awakened Eastern Washington out of its un-
historied sleep of barbaric life and made it a
commonwealth of a strangely promising civili-
zation.

Of course the opening of the mines which
brought such a vast influx of population into
this region, served also to draw attention to the
agricultural capabilities of the countiy. It was
seen that it was not only a country for the gold-
digger, but that it even promised more to the
wheat-raiser than to the miner. So farms be-
gan to be located, towns platted, roads surveyed,
schoolhouses erected, churches built, and almost
in a single season rude external forms of civil-
ization began to be developed. The town of
Walla Walla, as we have seen, had been laid out
in the preceding year. March of 1862 had not
passed before Lewiston, at the confluence of
Snake and Clearwater rivers, was laid out, and
in April, Wallula, at the site of the old Hud-

son's Bay Fort Walla Walla, was located. Neither
of these were mining towns, but both were cen-
ters of trade on the navigable waters of the Ter-
ritory, and, besides two or three mining camps,
there were the first organized towns of the vast
country east of the Cascade mountains in Wash-
ington Territory.

Parenthetically it is proper to say here that
the Territorial legislature of 1858 had passed
an act creating Spokane county lying north of
Snake river, and thus divided this vast inland
empire into two county jurisdictions. Pinkney
City — a name soon changed to Colville — was
the county seat of Spokane. It drew little
public attention at this time, as the great min-
ing region absorbed general interest, and besides
it lay far north of the general lines of travel
into and through the country. Still its name
and the date of its organization is a way-mark
of the course of history in this region and at this
time.

With the opening of this great mining region,
and the impression now becoming prevalent that
Eastern Washington would prove a great farm-
ing region as well, there was such an influx of
population into it that it was evident it would
soon overbalance the western part of the Terri-
tory politically. This fact prt)duced antagonisms
sometimes almost rising into personal enmities,
and resulted finally in a movement looking to
the division of territory and the organization
of a new one east of the Cascade monntains.
So strong did this movement become that com-
mittees were appointed in every mining district
to circulate petitions requesting the Territorial
legislature to memorialize Congress asking for
such a measure, but the legislature refused to
comply with this request. However, a bill was
introduced and passed the council at the session
of 18G2 and '63 to submit a constitution of the
State of Idaho to the people, but when it came
up for action in the lower house it was defeated
by the substitution of the words " the State of
Washington" for the words " the State of Idaho."
Defeated here, the petitioners appealed directly
to Congress, and that body passed an act which

BISTORT OF W.iSIIlNCrTOlf.

was approved March 3, 1863, organizing the
Territory of Idaho out of all that part of AVash-
ington lying east of Oregon and also that part
lying east of the 117th meridian of west longi-
tude. This put nearly all tiie mining region
of Washington, and some of the best of its
agricultural lands, together with all of the great
upper valley of Snake river, into the i:ew Terri-
tory, but it still k'ft the area of Eastern AVash-

ington much greater than that of Western.
Thus, ten years after the organization of Wash-
ington Territory, the population had so increase<l
in its intertuontane region that a new Territory
was required to meet the eivil requirements of
the people. There I'emained in Washington,
Walla Walla, Stevens and Klickitat counties
east of the Cascade mountains.

CHAPTER XXL

TERRITORIAL HISTORY, CONTINUED.

Change op Political Morale — Causes — Slow Pkogrkss — Delegate to Congress Elected —
George E. Cole — Low-water Mark — Democratic Legislature — Changes in Political
Affiliations — Causes — Party Conventions — Nominations for Congress — A. A. Denny
AND James Sitton — Mr. Denny elected — Sketch of his Life.

\1TII the changes in territorial area re-
corded in the last chapter there came a
change in the political morale of Wash-
ington. This was largely from the fact that the
occupations and business of the people were now
more liomogeueous. The classes of people that
gather about a mining region are unlike those
that select agriculture and commerce as their
modes of life. This is not saying they are
worse — only they are different. D(jubtless for
keenness of intellect, nervous restlessness of
purpose, and personal independence of action
there is not a class of men in the world to be
compared with those M-ho have ranged the min-
ing regions of California, Oregon, AYashington,
Idaho and Montana from 1848 to the present
time. Many of them have been men of the
purest morality and the broadest humanity. Of
course with these have mingled many of the
most reckless and hardened adventurers of the
land, not a few of these, however, being men of
great ability, but who, for one cause or another,
had fallen into vicious and depraved methods of
life. These men were, many of them, leaders in
the political agitations that kept \¥ashington in
a ferment during the period of the civil war.

say from 1860 to 1866, and were almost without
e.vception bitterly and blatantly on the side of the
rebellion. In the sentiment they represented,
if not in the life they lived, their ranks were
strongly recruited from 1862 onward by hun-
dreds and thousands of men from the rebel armies
of the Southwest who brought with them all the
bitterness which had inspired them at first to
take up arms against the government, and who
sought every occasion ta traduce that govern-
ment and insult the flag that represented it.
This alliance was strong enough to control the
politics of that part of Eastern Washington that
included the mining country, and generally,
through that, of the Territory itself. While,
therefore, the organization of the counties of
Idaho, Nez Perces, Shoshone, Boise and Mis-
souli, with their population of 20,000, and their
vast mineral and agricultural resources from
AYashington, seemed to have that Territory shorn
of half its proportions and strength, it neverthe-
less gave it a homogeneousness of character and
life that it never could have had without. In this
respect its great loss was its greater gain.

AVith the separation of this mining region
front AVashington her history settled l)ack into

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the old routine of a slow and strugglino; growth
materially. It was really a season of growth,
but of that character that leaves little for the
page of history. The great war was going on,
from two to three thousand miles awaj it is
true, and yet it absorbed public thought and
interest, and besides it absorbed the young and
vigorous manhood of the whole country, leaving
little for emigration and adventure in the en-
ticing iields of national construction. They
must save a country first and build it np after-
ward. So our Pacific empire had to wait. But
while waiting election times came regularly on.
The American never forgets them.

In ]863 the Democratic convention for the
Territoi-y named George E.Cole as its candidate
for delegate to Congress. Against him the Re-
publicans put forth J. O. Eaynei'. These nomi-
nations indicated the unsettled and doubtful
condition of politics in the Territory. Eoth
parties passed by their leaders and selected
candidates comparatively little known, and but
slightly identified with either tlie history or the
prosperity of the Territory- At this time many
of the ablest men of the Territory were halting
between two opinions. Under the long Demo-
cratic rule in the nation that preceded the elec-
tion of Mr. Lincoln they had come to tlje Ter-
ritory as Democratic office-holders, and the
traditions of their old faith were strong upon
them still. The issues of the war were yet in
doubt, and so they were in doubt also. Under
this atmosphere of uncertainty the nominations
of the two conventions ■were made. When the
count was had it was found that Mr. Cole was
elected by a small majority. The aggregate of
the vote showed that the voters numbered over
400 less than two years before in the same
counties that voted then, — an indication of the
great draft that the mining exodus had made
on the population of the Puget Sound and
Columbia river regions. It is interesting to
note that King county, where Seattle is situated,
now for several years the strongest in the State,
polled but 173 votes, while Walla Walla polled
590, which was the largest of any county.

Spokane gave but ninety, and one, Wahkiakum,
but twelve. The entire vote of the Territory
was 3,233. This date was doubtless near the
low-water mark of the prosperity of Washing-
ton Territory.

The separation of Idaho from Washington
left the legislative assembly witii but seven
conncilmen and twenty-four assemblymen. Its
color was Democratic, but at^the same time not
of the " most straightest sect," for it required
more than half a )nonth for it to complete its
organization, which it finally did by the election
of Democratic officers.

There was little in course of legislation dur-
ing this session that requires special mention.
Indeed, with a population remaining in the
Territory of less than 13,000, and they hard-
handed toilers in the forests and fields of a
region large enough for as many hundreds of
thousands, it could not be expected that there
would be. No great enterprise could be under-
taken, for there was no wealth to carry them
forward. The people were rich, it is true, but
it was in the possession of a great though unde-
veloped country, of a salubrious and healthful
climate, and of an unbounded faith in the
future. So still their service was that of wait-
ing.

Nor was much attempted by Congress for the
small Territory lying against the Western sea.
The resources of the whole land were taxed to
their utmost to " keep the jewel of liberty in
the family of freedom," and not much could be
done for those whose claims were in their pov-
erty and indigence mostly, and especially when
their sympathy with the struggles of the nation
had been so doubtfully expressed as had been
the case in the last election. With the excep-
tion therefore of the pro forma legislation neces-
sary to keep the government of the Territory
going nothing was done in or for the Territory
by Congressional action. And so the two years
of the Congressional career of Mr. Cole passed
away and the time for a new election came
round.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

Politically the two years had wrought a great
change in Washington; the result of the now
nearing issue of the civil war. The beginning
of the end of the great struggle was clearly in
view. The effect of this was very obvious
among a certain class of politicians whose where-
abouts politically no weather-vane could deter-
mine up to this time. Now that the cause of
the Union was clearly in the ascendant they be-
gan to see that duty lay in the way the Hags
were pointing. So they hastened for pelf where
the common people had gone for principle.
Under such conditions the conventions of the
two parties came on.

The Uepublican convention named as its
nominee for Congress A. A. Denny, of Seattle,
while the Democrats named James Titton, of
Olyinpia.

In many respects these contestants were well
matched, and well represented the elements in
the conflict. There was no doubt as to their
potitical sentiments. One represented repub-
licanism, the other democracy pure and simple.
What these taught and fought for they em-
bodied. And so the issue was joined at the
polls. The result of it was that Mr. Denny
secured the election by a majority of 1,138 in a
total ballot of S.SlU.

Mr. Denny was, par excellence, a pioneer,
and while being entitled to special consideration
as such, this election lifted him into a mure
general relation to the history of the Territory
than many of the pioneers were fortunate
enough to secure. Hence this is as good a
place as any to give our readers an account of
that part of the history of Washington Territory
that was embodied and exemplified in his life;
for the best part of history is the story of the
life of the men who znake history; and no man
in the State is better entitled than he to the
distinction of being a history- maker.

The Dennys are a very ancient family of En-
gland, Ireland and Scotland. The present branch
traces its ancestry from Ireland to America
through great-grandparents, David and Mar-
garet Denny, who settled in Berks county,

Pennsylvania, previous to the Revolutionary
war. There Robei-t Denny, the grandfather of
our subject, was born in 1753. In early life he
removed to Frederick county, Virginia, whei-e
in 1778 he married Rachel Thomas; and about
1790 removeil tu and settled in Mercer county,
Kentucky. There John Denny, the father of
our subject, was born. May 4, 1793, and was
married August 25, 1814, to Sarah Wilson,
daughter of Cassel and Ann (Scott) Wilson, who
was born in the old town of Bladensl)urg, near
Washington city, February 3, 1797. Her par-
ents came to America at an early day. The
maternal and paternal grandfathers of our sub-
ject served in the Revolutionary war. The
former belonged to Washington's command at
the time of General Braddock's defeat. John
Denny was a soldier of the war of 1812, being
in Colonel Richard M. Johnson's regiment of
Kentucky volunteers. He was also an ensign
in Captain McFee's company, and was with
General Harrison at the battle of the Thames,
when Proctor was defeated and the noted Te-
cumseh was killed. He was a member of the
Illinois Legislature in 1840 and '41, with Lin-
coln, Yates, Bates and others, who afterward
became renowned in national affairs. In poli-
tics, he was first a AVhig and afterward a Re-
publican. For many years he was a Justice of
the Peace, and it was his custom to induce liti-
gants, if possible, to settle without resorting to
law. He died July 28, 1875, in his eighty-
third year. His wife died March 25, 1841, in
her forty-fifth year. " For her," says her son,
'• 1 had the greatest reverence, and, as I now
look back and cuntemplate her character, it seeiiis
to me that she was as near perfect as it is pos-
sible to find any in this world."

About 1816, John Denny and his wife re-
moved to Washington county, Indiana, and
settled near Salem, where Arthur, the subject of
this sketch, was born June 20, 1822. One year
later they removed to Putnam county, six miles
ea;t of Greencastle, where they remained twelve
years, and from there went to Knox county, Il-
linois. Speaking of his boyhood, Mr. Denny says;

ni.^TORY OF WjiSniNOTON.

" My education began in the log schoolhoiise
so familiar to the early settler in the AVest. The
teachers were paid by subscription, so much per
])upil, and the schools rarely lasted more than
half the year, and often but three months.
Among the earliest of my recollections is that of
my father's hewing out a farm in the beech
woods of Indiana; and I well remember that the
iirst school I attended was two and a half miles
from my home. When 1 became older it was
often neces.sary for me to attend to home duties
half of the day before going to school, a mile
distant; but by close application I was able to
keep up with my class. My opportunities to
some exteut improved as time advanced. I spent
my vacations with an older brother at carpenter
and joiner work to obtain the means to pay my
expenses during term time."

Mr. Denny was married Novemlier 23, 184^5,
to Mary Ann Boren, to whom he feels indebted
for any snccess he has achieved in life. Of her
he says: "She has been kind and indulgent to
all my faults, and in cases of doubt and ditti-
culty in the long voyage we have made together
she has always been, without the least disposition
to dictate, a safe and prudent adviser."

In 1843 Mr. Denny was elected County Sur-
veyor of Knox county, and after serving eight
years resigned to come to the Pacific coast. On
April 10, 1851, be started with his family across
the plains, reached The Dalles August 11, ar-
rived in Portland August 22, and on the 5th of
November sailed for Puget Sounil on the
schooner Exact, arriving at their destination on
Elliott's Bay November 13, 1851. The ])lace
where they landed they called Alki Point, at that
time as wild a spot as any on earth. They were
landed in the ship's boat when the tide was well
out; and, Mhile the men of the party were all
busily engaged in removing their goods to a
point above high tide, the women and children
crawled into the brush, made a lire and spread
a cloth to shelter them from the rain. In speak-
ing of their landing here, Mr. Denny says:

" When the goods were secured I went to
look aftei' the wonien and found on my approach

that their faces were concealed. On a closer
inspection, I discovered that they were in tears,
having already discerned the gravity of the
situation; but I did not^for some time discover
that I had gone too far; in fact, it was not until
I became aware that my wife and helpless chil-
dren were exposed to the murderous attacks of
hostile savages that it dawned upon me that I
had made a desperate venture. My motto in
life has been ' Never go backward;' and, in fact,
if I had wished to retrace my steps it was about
as nearly impossible to do so as if I had taken
the bridge up behind me. I had brought my
family from a good home, surrounded with com-
forts and luxuries, and landed them in a wilder-
ness; and I do not now think it was at all strange
that a woman, who had, without complaint,
endured all the dangers and hardships of a trip
across the plains, should be found shedding tears
when contemplating the hard prospects then so
plainly in view. Now, in looking back to the
experience of those times, it seems to me that
it is not boasting to say that it required quite
an amount of energy and some little courage to
contend with and overcome the difficulties and
dangers we had to meet. For myself, 1 was for
several weeks after landing so thoroughly occu-
pied in building a cabin to shelter my family
from the winter that I had not ninch time to
think of the future." About the time their
houses were completed, the little settlement was
fortunately visited by Captain Daniel S. Howard,
of the brig Loenesa, seeking a cargo of piles, which
they had contracted to furnish. This gave them
profitable employment, and although the labor
was severe, as they did it mostly without teams,
they were cheered on with the thought that
they were providing food for their families.

In February, 1852, in company with William
N. Bell and C. D. Boren, they made soundings
of Elliott's Bay along the eastern shore and
toward the foot of the tide flats to determine
the character of the harbor, using for that pur-
pose a clothes-line and a bunch of horse- shoes.
After the survey of the harbor they next ex-
amined the land and timber around the bay, and

IIISTOIIT OF WASniNGTON.

after three days of careful investigation they
located claims, with a view of luiiiberiiig, and
ultimately laying off a town. Mr. Denny came
to this coast impressed with the belief that a
railroad would l)e built across the continent to
some point on the northern coast within the
next fifteen or twenty years, and located on the
Sound with that expectation. He believed that
Oregon would receive lai'ge annual accessions to
its population, but in this he was mistaken,
mainly because of the opening of Kansas to set-
tlement. The bitter contest which arose there
over the slavery question had the effect to at-
tract and absorb the moving population to sucdi
an extent tliat very few, for several years, found
their way through these territories; and a large
portion of those wlio did pass through were
gold-seekers bound for California. Then came
the Indian war which well nigh depopulated
Washington Territory. This was followed by
the great rebellion, all of which retarded the
growth of the Territory, and for a long time pre-
vented the construction of the railroad upon
which he had based large hopes.

In the spring of 1852, when they were ready
to move upon their claim, they had the expe-
rience of the fall over again in building new
cabins in which to live. After the houses wei-e
built, they commenced getting out piles and
hewn timbers for the San Francisco market,
with an occasional cargo for the Sandwich
Islands. Vessels in the lumber trade all carried
a stock of general merchandise, and from them
they obtained their supplies. The captains sold
from their vessels while taking in cargo, and,
upon leaving, turned over the remainder to JVIr.
Denny to sell on commission. On one occasion
his commission business involved him in a seri-
ous difficulty. In reference to it, he says:

"The captain of one of the vessels, with whom
I iisually dealt, carried a stock of liquors, but
he knew that I did not deal in spirits, and dis-
posed of that part of the cargo himself or kept
it on board. On one occasion, as he was ready
for the voyage from San Francisco, with his
usual stock, something prevented him from

making the voyage himself, and he put a young
friend of his, just out from Maine, in command.
When they came to the whisky, the young cap-
tain said, 'AVhat am I to do with that? I will
not sell it.' ■AVell,' he replied, 'take it up to
my agent, Mr. Denny, and if he will not dis-
piose of it turn it over to a friend of mine at
Alki Point, who is in tlie trade.' The vessel
arrived and the new captain came on sliore with
a letter, explaining the situation. 1 told him,
'All right, Captain; take it to Alki. I have no
use for it.' In due time the cargo was com-
pleted and the captain came on shore and in-
formed me that the man at Alki had on hand a
fnll stock of his own, and would not take the
stuff, and he would throw it overboard if I did
not take it out of his way. My obligation to
the owner would in no way justify me in per-
mitting so rash an act, and I told the captain
to send it on shore with the goods he was to
leave, and have his men roll it up to the house,
and I would take care of it until the owner
came. I was cramped for room, but I found
places to store it under beds and in safe corners
about my cabin. It was a hard kind of goods
to hold on to in those days, but there was never
a drop of it escaped until the owner came and
removed it to Steilacoom."

Mr. Denny continued in the commission busi-
ness until the fall of 1854, when he entered into
co-partnership with Dexter Horton and David
Phillips in a general merchandise business,
under the firm name of A. A. Denny A: Co.
Their capital was very limited. It would hardly
purchase a truck-load of goods now, but for the
time, in a small one-story frame building, on the
corner of Commercial and Washington streets,
— afterward occupied by the bank of Dexter
Ilorton & Co., — they did the leading business
of the town. When the Indian war came on in
1855, the tirm dissolved and Mr. Denny went
into the volunteer service for six months. He
served as County Commissioner of Thurston
county, Oregon, when that county covered all
the territory north of Lewis county, and when
Pierce, King, Island and Jefferson counties

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

were formed by the Oregon Legislature lie was
appointed a Commissioner of King county. In
1853 lie was appointed Postmaster, and received
the first United States mail in Seattle, Angnst
27, 1853. On the organization of Washington
Territory, he was elected to the II(^e, and con-
tinned a member of either the IIo\ile of Repre-
sentatives or of the Council for nine consecutive
sessions. He was Speaker of the House the
third session. He was Registrar of the United
States Land Office at Olympia from 1861 to
1865, when he was elected Territorial Delegate
to the Thirty-ninth Congress. In 1870 his old
friends and business partners, David Phillips
and Dexter Horton, founded the bank of Phil-
lips, Horton & Co., and at the death of Mr.
Phillips, March 6, 1872, Mr. Horton, although
alone in business, adopted the firm name of
Dexter Horton & Co. Mr. Denny 'entered the
bank at this time as executor of the Phillips
estate, and, after closing the affairs of the estate,
he took a half interest in the bank, under the
existing firm name, which Mr. Horton offered
to change at the time; but, being fully satisfied
with the name, Mr. Denny declined to allow the
chanoe. He has been identified with the for-

tunes and interests of Seattle from the day of
its foundwig, and during the active period of
liis life it was his earnest endeavor to promote
and protect those interests to the best of his
ability. After reviewing his life, he adds:

" My work is practically over. If it has been
done in a way to entitle me to any credit I do
not feel that it becomes me to claim it. Should
the reverse be true, then I trust that the mantle
of charity may protect me from the too harsh
judgment and criticism of those now on the
active list, and that I may be permitted to pass
into a peaceful obscurity with the hope that
their efforts may be more successful than mine."

Thus modestly does the founder of a great
and prosperous city refer to his personal career,
which is emblematic of lionesty and integrity
and all there is in life worthy of emulation.
His wife, the joy and comfort of his pioneer
life, is still the companion of his prosperity.
They have four sons and two daughters, all of
whom reside in the city which is so closely as-
sociated with the manly virtues of strength,
enteiprise and courage of their father, and tiie
womanly graces and fortitude of their mother.

CHAPTER XXII.

TERRITORIAL HISTORY, CONTIKUED.

Election of 1867 — Frank Clakk and Alvan Flanders — Inckeask of Votes — Moore Appointed
Governor — E. L. Smith — Returning Prosperity — Legislation Sought — Navigation and
Railroad (Jompanies — Alaska — Decay of Indians — Political Changes — Sketch of Judge
Dennison.

DURING the Congressional term of Mr.
j Denny the reconstruction measures that
— followed the close of the war were pend-
ing in Congress, involving the serious differen-
ences between President Johnson and the party
that had elevated him to power. Little could
be attempted and even less accomplished for the
Territory in the disturbed condition of the
public mind. Mr. Denny was I'aitliful to his

( trust but beyond the usual appropriations for
the conduct of the Territorial government there
was little to show for what was done. When
the election of 1867 occurred both parties put
forth new candidates, the Democrats nominat-
ing Frank Clark of Steilacoom, and the Repub-
licans Alvan Flanders of Wallula. Mr. Clark
was a very representative Democrat. He was a
pioneer of the Territory, and had been fully

niSrORT OF WASHINGTON.

identified witii its interests since 1852. On these
accounts he was nndoubtedly the strongest can-
didate his party coukl have named. Mr. Flan-
ders had been a resident of the Territory only
four years, was little known, and therefore thei'e
was nothing in his nomination to inspire the
party he represented to activity. The result
was that Mr. Flanders received in 18(37 only
seventeen more votes than did Mr. Denny, the
Eepnblican candidate, in 1865, and Mr. Clark
received 1,059 more votes than did Mr. Tilton
in 1865 and came within less than a hundred
votes of an election. In two years the vote of
the Territory had increased 1,076, over thirty
per cent, showing that a large immigration had
entered its borders during that period.

Politically, the period through wiiich the
Territory was now passing was one of turinfiil.
Though the Repuljlican party was undoubtedly
in tlie majority, yet there were divisions in its
ranks arising out of the defection of President
Johnson who removed Mr. Pickering from the
Governorship and appointed in his place George
E. Cole, late Democratic delegate to Congress,
who hastened to the capital and assumed the
duties of that office before the Senate had acted
on his nomination. That Ijody declined to con-
tirni his nomination, and aftei- the lirief rule of
two months he laid aside his " little brief
authority." Finally, after several nominations
had been rejected by the Senate, Marshal F.
Moore was appointed and confirmed. Mean-
time Mr. E. L. Smith of California had been
appointed secretary, and, arriving at Olympia
in June, assumed the duties of acting governor
until the arrival of Moore but a short time before
the assembling of the legislative assembly.
Both Mr. Moore and Mr. Smith were well re-
ceived at the capital and made an excellent iin
pression on the people of the Territory. Mr.
Moore, who was a native of Binghamton, Xew
York, had served through the war with great
credit and gallantry, and came out of it bearing
the rank of brevet major-general. He was a
gentleman of great suavity of manner,
thoroughly devoted to his duties and conscien-

tious and intelligent in the discharge of them,
Mr. Smith, originally from Illinois, had spent
some years in California, where he had lieen a
popular member of the legislature, and though
he came to the Territory almost entirely un-
known to its people he easily won their confi-
dence and regard. Thus, although the admin-
istration of Mr. Moore began under circum-
stances of political unrest, it really proved a
most satisfactory one to the Territory.

Soon after Mr. Moore's arrival the legislature
convened and the new e.xecutive delivered his
message, most elaborately and intelligently dis-
cussing the interests of the Territory. It was
a document not only of much ability but of great
practical utility, and at once gave the new gov-
ernor a high standing as a citizen as well as
great credit as an officer.

Washington had now evidently entered a
season of prosperity. In two years, as evidenced
by the vote of the late election, there had been
a large increase in its population and commer-
cial and mining interests had appreciably ad-
vanced. A tone of assurance and a spirit of
hope for the future were apparent in all depart-
ments of life and Inisiness.

In legislation little now was needed or
attempted. Some efforts were made to cure the
evils resulting to the Territory from the crude
and unsatisfactory manner of Territorial govern-
ment under the practice of Congress and the
national executive, and a slight relief was ob-
tained. The practice of making the Territorial
offices rewards to broken down or superannuated
politicians from the East who claimed pay for
partizan services not always honorable or high-
minded, and received it thus at the expense of
the pioneers of the Teri-itories, was one to be
strongly condemned. The legislature attempted
to cure this evil, and Congress made a partial
I'esponse to its petitions and memorials by the
enactment of rules holding appointees to more
rigid responsibility on penalty of loss of pay
when absent from their posts of duty, a pro-
vision that would touch the average office-holder
in a most tender point.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

At this period the growing importance of the
Territory was evidenced by the organization of
navigation and railroad companies contem-
plating the opening of channels of commerce and
travel on the rivers, as well as by land, south-
ward and eastward from Piiget Sound. One,
called tlie Pnget Sound & Columbia River Rail-
road Company, of which Mr. S. W. Brown, of
Vancouver, was president, expended consider-
able money, and by publications in the press and
the sending of an agent to Washington to co-
operate with Mr. Alvan Flanders, who was then
delegate in Congress, to procure favorable legis-
lation, lirst drew the attention of the Northern
Pacific Company to the line between the Co-
lumbia and Puget Sound, where it, a little later,
built its first division on the Pacific coast.
This company actually entered into contract with
Mr. Ben Holaday for the construction of this
line from Vancouver to Stielacoom, near the
present city of Tacoma, and bonds at the rate of
^25,000 per mile were printed to carry out the
project. Mr. Holaday was then railroad king
of the North Pacific coast, and for a time the
prospect of building the road was very bright;
but Holaday's failure some time later destroyed
that prospect, and meantime the Northern Pa-
cific stepped into the opening this company had
made, and obtained from Congress an extension
of its right of way and grant of land over this
most important link that its managers had un-
accountably overlooked up to this time.

Another incident of historic significance to
the Territory occurred at this time. Mr. Seward,
as secretary of State, purchased Alaska from
Russia, and thus extended the domain of the
United States far to the north aiul west of
Washington. This really put Washington
central to the possession of the United States on
the Pacific, and greatly stimulated commercial
enterprise on Puget Sound and the Columbia
river, and indeed all over the northwest.

Such a change had occurred in the internal
condition of the Territory, especially west of tiie
Cascade mountains, that in 1868, the Govern-
ment through the war department, abandoned

Fort Steilacoom, and disposed of the buildings
at Gray's Harbor and Chehalis which had been
abandoned some years before. This indicated
what had really almost eluded the observation
of tile people themselves, namely, that tl)e In-
dians of that region had so nearly passed away
that there was no longer any danger of an In-
dian war. A few weak and ragged remnants
of the once strong tribes that swarmed around
this inland sea yet lingered here and there,
poor, filthy, degraded, a prey to the vices that
they had learned from abandoned white men,
with scarcely a remnant of the fabled dignity
and nobleness and bravery of which writers have
spoken remaining to cover the hideous naked-
ness of their wretciiedness and decay. It may
be confessed, however, that this writer believes
that much of what was thus ascribed to them
aforetime was " fabled " only; still it was sad to
contemplate them now in their few shivering
bivouacs when winter storms were dark about
them, or in the unclad beggary of their want as
they sought scant food at the back doors of the
dwellings of the race whose coming had con-
sumed their people. Still who shall say that it
were not better that the steamer and the plow
and the rail car should take the place of the
canoe and the hunter's trail? And if this should
be then they must perish, for no pagan tribe as
such ever built a mile of railway, or launched
a single steamer on any sea. It was the provi-
dence of progress; and though we might feel
the pain of sympathy for that whicii dies that
higher creations may live, we must still feel that
the providence of this law of universal growth
is right. Thus these people were passing away,
and thus they have ministered to the incoming
of a displacing civilization. But we may not
linger on such moralizations.

There were many political agitations, arising
largely out of personal rivalries among office-
holders, during this period of our history, but
it would not repay the reader if we should recite
them. The machinations of the agitators were
mainly directed against the district judges, or
rather against some of them, and the purpose

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

was openly proclaimed to force their removal.
This purpose finally succeeded, and soon after
Grant came to the presidency he completely
changed the personnel of the judiciary, appoint-
ing B. ¥. Dennison chief justice, with Orange
Jacobs and J. K. Kennedy associates. These
men were all old citizens of the Territory, able
lawyers, and their appointment gave great satis-
faction to the Tei'ritory. They displaced Hewitt
and Wyche and Darwin. In a couple of years
Jacobs succeeded Dennison as chief justice, and
J. K. Lewis succeeded Kennedy as associate.
Lewis was transferred from a term of service
on the bench in Idaho to Washington, and came
into the State with a record of ability and in-
corruptibility that gave him great favor with
his new constituency.

As we are illustrating the course of our his-
tory with reminiscences of the life of the lead-
ing builders of the State, whose story we are
relating, we will now turn aside from, the ordin-
ary How of the story and introduce to our read-
ers lion. B. F. Dennison, who, as they have
seen, has just closed his term as chief justice
of the Territoi'y.

Ben.jamin F. Dennison, now a resident of
Olynipia, was one of the Argonauts of Cali-
fornia, lie was born in Burke, Caledonia
county. Vermont, in 1820. His father, Dr.
George W. Dennison, was a native of Connect-
icut, whei'e he was educated in sciences and
medicine; then settled in Vermont, married
Miss Emeley Jenks of that State, and there lived,
devoting his time to his profession. He was
quite active iu politics, and for a number of
years served as County Judge. He was fitted
for college at the Newbury Methodist Univer-
sity, and graduated in 1845 from Dartmouth
College at Hanover, New Hampshire. During
the "Tippecanoe campaign" in 1840, though
not old enough to vote, he was an active mem-
1)er of the Whig political club of his college,
and was a participant in the county and State
demonstrations, listening to the speeches of
Webster, Ghoate, Johnson and other great ora-
tors of that period. After his graduation he

went to Akron, Ohio, and engaged in the read-
ing of law. which he continued at Cleveland iu
the office of Reuben Wood, who was subse-
quently elected Supreme Judge and Governor
of the State, and was admitted to practice in
the court of common pleas and in the supreme
court in 1848. He then opened an office for
the purpose of practicing, but with the dis-
covery of gold in California, and imbued with
the spirit of adventure, he joined a company of
seven young men who proceeded to Louisville,
Kentucky, and purchased a prairie outfit with
mule teams, and in the spring of 1849 started
across the plains for California. Being inex-
perienced in prairie travel their progress was
fraught with many dangers and adventures.
Their teams soon became jaded from too rapid
driving, and by making haste in the start their
arrival in California was delayed. They were
chased by wild Indians, and saved from mas-
sacre only by reaching a camp of emigrants.
About 500 miles out from Sacramento they
were overpowered in the night, robbed of their
mules and left almost destitute. They then
made small packs of supplies, and each with
one blanket set forth on foot. The Digger
Indians gave them much trouble at night, and
though caught in the mountains in snow, they
dare not make fires for fear of Indians. AVith
scanty supplies of food or clothing, they were
miserable indeed. Their food ultimately gave
out and for three days they lived on sugar and
water alone. Six months were consumed in
this weary journey, and they arrived in the
Sacramento valley in a half-starved condition,
with only their clothes upon their backs —
financially " dead broke " — even pawning a re-
volver for a square meal.

Mr. Dennison began mining upon the south
fork of American river, but soon contracted
fever and ague and became unfit for labor. He
then went to Sacramento, and after recuperat-
ing presented a letter of credit which he brought
from Xew York city, drawn upon Messrs. Sim-
mons & Hutchinson, merchants of that city.
After describiiig his condition and fircnmstan-

niSTORT OP WASHINGTON.

ces Mr. Hutchinson gave hini .^50 and an order
for a bill of goods, which lie advised him to
take to Marysviile and sell, that being a central
point for miners. He followed this advice, and
with about $200 worth of sugar, bacon and
camp supplies he hired a boat and two men to
take him to that place. Accomplishing his
journey, his stock was quickly exhausted at 100
per cent, net profit, and he thus raised his first
" stake." Returning to Sacramento and pay-
ing his bills, he then went to San Jose for his
health, and after gaining a little strength he
hired two Indians and went to the Mariposa
mines, where he was quite successful, though
unable to do anything hiu)selt'. After about
two months he went to Los Angeles, then a city
-of adobe houses and vineyards. He engaged in
the practice of law, was elected one of three
county judges, and also engaged in the whole-
sale grocery and hardware business, under firm
name of Childs, Hicks & Deunison, and con-
tinued business for two years, realizing very
large profits. He then sold out and by private
carriage drove north with a view of returning
to Ohio, but upon arriving at Stockton and
learning that cholera was very fatal upon the
Isthmus, he changed his plans and sailed for
the Sandwich Islands, taking with him a quan-
tity of California saddles, bridles, etc., for sale.
These sold- rapidly in the market of Honolulu,
paying a very handsome profit, and affording
him a considerable amount of ready cash. About
this time the whaling vessels were entering that
port, and the officers were anxious to sell drafts
upon their employers in the East, allowing
very generous discounts for cash. These op-
portunities Judge Dennison improved, and re-
turning to San Francisco sold his drafts at a
premium, thus converting his pleasure trip to
one of considerable profit. Judge Dennison
then located in Monterey and resumed the prac-
tice of his profession in the courts of that city,
Santa Cruz and San Jose. In 1858 he came to
Puget Sound and located at Whatcom, which
was then a settlement of 3,000 people living in
tents, awaiting the opening of a trail to the

Fraser river mines. The road was subsequently
decided impracticable and the people dispersed,
many going to Victoria and advancing liy water.
The Judge opened his office and engaged in
practice, meeting, among others, Mike Sim-
mons, the old Indian agent; E. C. Fitzhugh,
who was subsequently appointed district judge
of Washington Territory; and Colonel B. F.
Shaw, now of Vancouver. With the scattering
of the miners Whatcom became very quiet, and
Judge Dennison removed to Port Townsend and
established a home and continued his profes-
sion. In 1868 he was appointed Territorial
Associate Justice, and in 1869 Territorial Chief
Justice by President U.- S. Grant, but after one
year resigned to follow his large and lucrative
practice as attorney for the representative mill
companies then located upon the Sound. About
1870 the Judge moved to Olympia, subsequently
to Portland, Oregon, in partnership with Gov-
ernor A. C. Gibbs for two years, and then to
Vancouver, Washington, where he followed a
general practice to 1889. While at Portland
he married Miss Hattie Menefee, a native of
Iowa, who was appointed Postmistress at Van-
couver by President Arthur, and discharged the
duties of that office for five years. In 1889 the
Judge returned to Olympia, and has since de-
voted his time to cases in the Federal and su-
preme courts, through which he has carried
many intricate and complex cases to a success-
ful termination. The first suit ever brought in
the Territory to establish the right of dower was
brought by Judge Dennison before Judge Will-
iam Strong in behalf of Mrs. Eby, widow of
Colonel Eby, collector of customs, who was
massacred upon Whidby Island by the North-
ern Indians. The Judge defended the widow's
rights and established her claim, and tiiat de-
cision has since- stood upon the statute books,
never having been called in question. Com-
mencing his political life as a Whig, Judge
Dennison then joined the Republican party, and
has continued one of its most earnest and faith-
ful adherents. He has served two terras in the
Territorial Legi.slatui'i', one term as President of

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

the Council, and once in the lower house. Thus
briefly have we attempted to portray the life of
one of Washington's most able jurists, who has
passed through all tiie phases of pioneer life
socially and professionally, attendii.g courts held
in tents, without law book or brief in court,
the judge upon the bench being armed with

bowie knife and derrini^er

Vet

upon

thi

foundation has been established a legal super-
structure and a State, upon which Mr. Denni-
son has impressed liiraself most strongly, and
which will more and more celebrate the work of
himself and others like him as the years roll on.

J^^^

CHAPTER XXIII.

TERRITORIAL HISTORY, CONTINUED.

Alvan Fandees, Goveenoe— Mooee anu Garfielde Eun foe Congeess— Chaeacterof the Candi-
dates — Eesijlt of Election — Gaefielde and McFadden, Candidates — McFadden Elected
— Changes in the Goveenship — Geowtii of Population — Shaepstein and Jacobs, Candi-
dates — Sketch of Shaepstein — Sketch of Jacobs — Jacobs Elected — Re-elected — Thomas
H. Brents Delegate — C. S. Vooehees Succeeds Him— J. B. Alf.en — Governor Feeey—
Governor Newell — Goveenoe Squire — Chinese Agitation — Ferry's Reports — Governor
Semple — Woman Suffeage — Governor M. C. Mooee.

jITII the changes in the Federal office-
holders in the Territory noted in the
last chapter came the appointment of
Alvan Flanders, late delegate in Congress, to the
office of Governor. This was a surprise, as it
was understood that he would again be a can-
didate for the delegateship; but doubtless some
political necessities ruled the hour incident to
the hopes and aspirations of other men. Moore
had served as governor with such an intelligent
devotion to the intei-ests of the Territory that
the people generally were not gratified liy his
displacement. In the other changes that were
made Elisha P. Ferry was appointed surveyor
general and Hazard Stevens, son of General I_
I. Stevens, collector of internal revenue, with
Leander Holmes United States district attorney.
It was the logical outcome of these changes
that ex-Governor Moore should i)ecome the can-
didate of the Democratic party for delegate to
Congress, and accordingly he was nominated for
that place, though his was a remarkably con-
servative Democracy. The Republicans named
against him Salucius Garfielde. Mr. Garfielde
had been the candidate of the Union Democracy

for the same position in 1861, but was defeated
by W. H. Wallace, Republican, because Ed-
ward Lander, an ultra Democrat, divided the
Democratic vote with him. As the war j^ro-
grcssed Mr. Garfielde had become a Republican^
and had given a very cordial and earnest sup-
port to both Mr. Denny and Mr. Flanders.

As an orator Mr. Garfielde had no e(|ual in
the Territoi'y, and few indeed anywhere. He
was a cousin of General James A. Garfield,
afterward President of the United States, who
at this time was winning his great reputa'
tion as an orator and statesman in the House of
Representatives. Mr. Salucius Garfielde had
practiced law with success all over the Territory^
had repeatedly canvassed it in behalf of other
men for the position which he now sought, and
was as well known all over it as any other man.

It was seen from the beginning tliat the strug-
gle would be a close and a hard one. Mr.
Moore was not an orator, but he had an easy way
to the hearts and confidence of the people. His
patriotism was undoubted. He had proved it
on many a battle-field, and bore most conclusive
evidence of it in the wounds from wiiicli he

JILsrORT OF WASlflNGfo^.

constantly suffered received at Missionary Ridge
and at Jonesboro. The canvass therefore was
a most animated one, and at its conclusion Mr.
Garhelde was returned to Contrress only by the
narrow iDargin of 147 votes.

By a change in the time for holding the elec-
tion the Territory was called upon to elect a
delegate to Congress in 1870. Mr. Gartielde was
again the candidate of the Republicans, and J.
D. Mix, of Walla Walla, of the Democrats. At
this election Gartielde was chosen by nearly 600
majority. In 1872 he was the Republican can-
didate again, but was defeated by Judge O. B.
McFadden, Democratic candidate, by over 700
votes. This retired Mr. Gartielde from popular
office in AYashington Territory, although he held,
for a time, the office of collector of customs in
the district of Puget Sound, to which he was
appointed by President Grant in 1873. Per-
haps the justice of history requires us to say
that Mr. Gartielde failed to secure that influence
in legislation, and that respect for tlie Teri'itory
that he represented in Congress that his abilities
as an orator entitled his constituency to exi^ect.
Mr. McFadden was nnfitted by illness for the
arduous duties of his otfice, and so little was ac-
complished for the Territory during the Con-
gressional terms covered by these paragraphs.
It is right, however, that we say that the posi-
tion of a Territorial delegate does not carry with
it much of influence beyond that of the man
personally who holds it, as it gives him no vote
nor position other than of political mendicant
asking for alms, — a mortifying and unjust posi-
tion in which to place any nominal repre-
sentative of any American commonwealth.

Alvan Flanders was displaced from the
govenorship before he had served a year, and
Edward S. Salomon, of Illinois, was appointed
in his place. He was a German Jew, who had
distinguished himself in the war of the rebellion.
In about two years he was succeeded by Elisha
P. Ferry, who held the office eight years, when
he was followed by William A. Newell, of New
Jersey, who retained the office four years.

There was little in the external or internal

history of the Territory during this time to call
for special notice. The common subjects of
legislation occupied the attention of the suc-
cessive legislative assemblies. There was a
steady growth of population. The vote of the
Territory rose from 6,357 in 1870 to 15,823 in
1880, showing that the population had consider-
ably more than doubled in a decade. Every
material interest had kept full pace with the
growth of the population, and Washington
entered its last decade of Territorial existence
with the surest prospects of soon realizing that
for which its pioneers had toiled and waited for
so many years. But we must not anticipate.

With the expiration of the Congressional term
of Mr. McFadden the Democratic convention
of the Territory offered him a renomination, but
he was sick in Pennsylvania and declined that
honor, when B. L. Sharpstein, of Walla Walla,
was named. As his competitor the Republicans
named Orange Jacobs, of Seattle, then chief
justice of the Territory. In all ways these were
representative men. In an unusual degree they
had impressed themselves on the best history of
the Territory, and as illustrating the better
character of the people w'ho have built up the
feeble colony whose history we have so far traced
into the magnificent State that gems the north-
western sky of our glorious Union, we introduce
a more extended notice of them both in this
place.

Judge B. L. Sharpstine was born in Steuben
county. New York, October 22, 1827, and was
the second son of Luther and Abigail Sharp-
stine, natives also of that State. When he was
but six years of age his parents removed to
Michigan, and be in 1846 to Wisconsin. He
was reared on a farm. After reaching a suitable
age he began the study of law, and was admitted
to practice in 1852. Mr. Sharpstine followed
his profession in Wisconsin until 1865, and in
that year came to the then Territory of Wash-
ington, locating in Walla Walla, where he has
built up a large law practice.

Mr. Sharpstine has resided in the Territories
of Michigan, Wisconsin and Washington, an

SISTORT OF WASHTNGTON.

has witnessed their admission to the Union. Tie
was elected a member of the Washington Legis-
lature, on the Democratic ticket, in 1866-*67,
also in 1879-'80 and 1886, by a large majority,
although his county was largely Republican.
Mr. Sharpstine was a member of the constitu-
tional convention which convened August 22,
1869, and received the nomination for Congress
in 1874. He made a thorough canvass of his
district, which was largely Republican, and re-
ceived a majority in his own county of 292
votes, his opponent being the Hon. Orange
Jacobs, then chief justice of the Territoi'y. In
1879 he was a candidate for Supreme Judge, on
the Democratic ticket, received 25,468 votes,
running ahead of his ticket about 2,000 votes,
but the entire ticket was defeated. In 1890 he
was appointed by Governor Ferry a member of
tlie Board of Tide Lands Commissioners, and was
made chairman of that body for three years.
The Jiidge has held the ofKce of School Director
of Walla Walla for about twenty-five years, and
had also filled the same office in Wisconsin.

In 1854, he was united in marriage with Miss
Sarah J. Park, a native of New York, but after-
ward a resident of Wisconsin. The Judge has
had five children, namely: J. L., engaged in the
practice of law with his father; AdaE.; Arthur
P. and Prank B., lawyers; and Charles M.
Judge Sharpstine affiliates with the Masonic
fraternity, being a thirty-second degree Mason.
He has served as Master of the blue lodge and
also as Senior and Junior Warden of the Grand
Lodge of Washington.

These positions indicate the esteem in which
B. L. Sharpstine has always been held among
those best acquainted with him, and so most
able to weigh his merits.

Judge Orange Jacobs was born in Livingston
county, New York, May 2, 1829.

His parents, Hiram and Phoebe (Jenlvins)
Jacobs, were natives of Vermont and New York
respectively. In 1831 they removed to the
frontier of Michigan, where Mr. Jacobs engaged
in farming upon an extensive scale, purchasing
1,600 acres of land, and was also interested in I

the stock business. Subsequently he engaged
in the mercantile business, which he followed
the rest of his life, dying in 1887, at the ripe
old age of eighty-six years.

Orange Jacobs was educated at the Methodist
seminary at Albion, Michigan, and the State
University at Ann Arbor; but, on account of
failing health, was obliged to leave college be-
fore graduation. After a period of rest and
recreation, he commenced the study of law with
John B. Howe, of Lima, Indiana, and was
admitted to the bar in Indiana and Michigan in
1851. lie then began the practice of law at
Sturgis, Michigan. About this time, continued
ill health, and the urgent solicitation of his
father to visit the Pacific coast (his father hav-
ing been to California), coupled with the fact
that the migratory spirit was very strong in the
spring of 1852, he was induced to come West.
He joined an emigrant train of about fifty peo-
ple and crossed the plains to Oregon. Being
somewhat of a leader among men, Mr. Jacobs
was elected captain of the train. Their number
lieing small and the Indians numerous, the
greatest vigilance was required to preserve their
lives. Soon after crossing the Platte river, two
emigrants were killed in an engagement; also
several Indians. This aroused the wrath of the
Indians, and at Shell Creek an ambuscade was
made to massacre the entire party; but, by tact
and boldness on the part of the whites, two
Indian chieftains were captured in a "parley"
and held as hostage during one night, and in the
morning were well fed, presented with a beef
animal and released, and no further trouble was
experienced. They came in by The Dalles,
thence across the Cascade mountains by the
Barlow trail, and arrived at Oregon City about
four months from the date of their departure.

Upon his arrival here. Judge Jacobs went to
the AValdo Hills in Marion county and engnged
in teacliing school, which he successfully con-
tinued during the winter months until 1857,
spending his summers in exploring the county-
In rhe fall of 1857 he went to the Rogue River
valley and taught school one year. Next, he

nisTonr of Washington.

engaged in tlie practice of law at Phoenix. In
1860 lie moved to Jacksonville and took charge
of the Oregon Sentinel, the leading newspaper
of southern Oregon. He was induced to do this
as the editor and two-thirds of the population
of Jackson county were secessionists, and the
Union people desired a Republican paper. INIr-
Jacobs took up the work, and carried it forward
in the most loyal and patriotic manner. Although
he became one of the marked men by the
"Knights of the Golden Circle" and his life was
frequently threatened,, still he continued the
paper until the close of the war. He was then
offered a very flattering position on the Sac-
ramento Union, which, however, he declined,
thinking it better to stick to the practice of his
profession, which he conducted at Jacksonville
up to 1869.

In 1869 Mr. Jacobs was appointed Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court of "Washington
Territory, and removed to Seattle for permanent
settlement, arriving in July. In January, 1871,
without distinction of politics, he was unani-
mously recommended by the Territorial Legis-
lature as Chief Justice of the Territory, and to
that office he was appointed by the President
and held the office until 1875. One of his-most
important decisions involved the national juris-
diction to the island of San Juan, a case which
at the time excited widespread interest.

A man named Watts was on trial, charged
with murder committed on the island of San
Juan, which was then in joint occupancy by the
English and American Governments. It was
claimed by the defendant's counsel that the
American courts had no jurisdiction in the case.
Judge Jacobs held that the island was a country
within the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the
United States, and any crime committed thereon
could he punished by the courts of the Territory,
which by the organic act of Congress possessed
equal power in such cases with the Circuit and
District Courts of the United States. Feeling
on the ])order ran high, and for a time inter-
national complications seemed likely to ensue.
Judge Jacobs, however, was immovable. Watts

having been convicted, the Judge sentenced him
to death, but before the time for his execution
arrived he effected his esctape.

In 1874 the Judge was elected Delegate to
Congress from the Territory, was re-elected in
1876, and at the close of that term declined a
third nomination. He then resumed the prac-
tice of law at Seattle, which he has continued
very extensively in both civil and criminal prac-
tice. In 1S80 he formed a partnership with
Charles K. Jenner, a leading authority upon the
land laws of AVashington, and continued the con-
nection until 1891, when they dissolved by
mutual consent, the Judge retiring from active
practice except in selected cases, being now in
partnership with his son, Hiram J. Jacobs.

In 1880 Judge Jacobs was elected Mayor of
Seattle, and, after completing his term, declined
a re-nomination. In 1884 he was elected to the
Territorial Council, and materially assisted in
effecting the change in the exemption laws and
in securing appropriations for the penitentiary
insane asylum and university. He was one of
the commissioners of lilteen freeholders, elected
by the people in 1889, to prepare a new charter
for the city, to meet its increased requirements.
His ripe experience as a lawyer made his service
especially valuable, and the charter bears the
impress of his practical suggestions and careful
oversight. The charter as prepared was adopted
by a large majority vote of the people in 1890
and under the charter the Judge was elected
Corporation Council.

Judge Jacobs was married in Southern Ore-
gon, in 1857, to Lucinda, daughter of Doctor
Jonathan Davenport, an Oregon pioneer of 1851
and a skillful physician. They have eight chil-
dren, five sons and three daughters. Socially,
the Judge is a member of the A. F. A: A. M,
and of the I. O. O. F.

Personally, Judge Jacobs is a man of large
stature, commanding presence, and positive
views. He has the courage of his convictions,
but is liberal and tolerant. In the public affairs
of the Pacific Northwest lie has borne a promi-
nent part as pioneer law-maker and judicial

BISTORT OP WASniNGTON.

officer, and is still an active factor in the present
era of rapid development.

Such were the two men that the two great
political pai'ties had placed before the people
for their suffrages. There was no danger that
the people would be unworthily or unfaithfully
representated no matter which was elected.
Probably never before had an election been
decided more purely on political gi-ounds than
was this, for tlie character of both candidates
was irreproachable. They defined the political
complication of the Territory as purely Repub-
lican, Judge Jacobs being elected by over 1,200
majority. He was re-nominated and re-elected
in 1876, and faithfully and usefully served his
four years in the national Congress. His com-
petitor in the last race was J. P. Judson, of
Port Townshend, a younger man of fair ability,
and bearing an excellent reputation, but of
course he coulil not carry a Repliblican Terri-
tory against so representative a man as Orange
Jacobs.

Mr. Jacobs was succeeded in Congress by
Mr. Thomas H. Brents, of Walla Walla, who
was elected in 1878. He was re-elected suc-
cessively until 1885, when Charles S. Yoorhees,
a Democrat, but elected on issues extraneous to
party principles, succeeded him. In 1887
John B. Allen, a Eepnblican, was elected over
Voorhees by over 7 ,000 majority. The local
agitations that gave Mr. Voorhees his election
in 1885 having subsided, parties had returned
to their normal conditions. Mr. Allen did not
enter upon his term of service as Territorial
delegate, as before the first session of the Con-
gress to which he had been returned Washing-
ton was a State of the Federal Union.

Without entering into the minutia? of office-
holding in the Territory it is proper that we take
up the line of executive officers and trace it
down to the close of the Territorial history of
Washington. Mr. Newell, who succeeded Mr.
Flanders as governor, was a man far above
average standing and influence. In New Jer-
sey he ranked with the leading men of the
State. He was three terms a member of Con-

gress from that State, and one term its governor,
and was the candidate of the Republicans for
that office against General George B. McClellan.
In 1880, President Hayes appointed liim gov-
ernor of Washington. It was his fortune to
follow Mr. Ferry in that office, a man whose
administration had been marked by so much
discretion that he had secured high considera-
tion among the people, and was already desig-
nated as likely to reach even higher political
preferment in the future. The two things es-
pecially that marked the administration of
Governor Ferry was the re-establishment of
civil government on the Ilaro Archipelago,
which had been determined a part of the United
States by the arbitration of Emperor William,
and the construction of the Columbia division
of the Northern Pacific railroad from Kalama to
Tacoma, together with the building of the nar-
row-gauge road from Olympia to Tinino on the
Northern Pacific line. These roads were the
introduction of a new era in Washington his-
tory, the unfolding of which we shall hereafter
trace.

Following that of Governor Ferry, Governor
Newell's administration fell on propitious times,
and proved creditable to him and profitable to
the Territory, which was now clearly on the
flow of the tide progress, though it had not yet
reached its crest. No longer was Puget Sound
isolated from railroad communication with the
great world. Overland connection had been
made through Portland and the valley of the
Columbia, and along that line the throb of the
impatient footsteps of advancing multitudes
could be felt. It M'as a time of auspicious
promise.

Governor Newell was succeeded in ISSl by
Watson C. Squire.

Mr. Squire was already a distinguished citi-
zen of Washington, and had strongly impressed
himself upon the business relations of the
coast when he was appointed governor. He
was the son of a Methodist preacher, born in
New York in 1838, and educated at Middletown,
Connecticut, where he was graduated in 1859.

BISTORT OF Washington.

He entered at once on the study of tlie law, but
soon patriotism called him to the service of his
country, and he enlisted as a private, but was
soon promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Nine-
teenth New York Infantry. When the term of
the three-months men had expired, he resumed
his law studies in Cleveland, Ohio, graduating
from the law school in that city, in 1862. He
soon raised a company of sharp-shooters, and
was given command of a battalion of the same,
serving in the army of the Cumberland. He
subsequently served on the staff of Major-
General Rosecrans andCI. H. Thomas, constantly
rising in distinction until the close of the war,
when he became agent for the Remington Arms
Company, and managed their operations to the
amount of $15,000,000. He removed to Wash-
ington in 1879, settling in Seattle, and at once
became deeply interested in everything that con-
cerned the prosperity of the Territory. His
close identification with the business of his
adopted home, the distinguished character of his
public services, and his stainless character as a
man, as well as his great executive ability, ren-
dered his appointment to the chief executive
office of the Territory, just at this time, one of
the most fortunate that could have been made.
The country had entered on a career of great
material development, and sagacity and ex*
perience in such lines were at a premium now.
Early in the administration of Mr. Squire the
people of Tacoma, Seattle and other places on
the Sound passed through a season of great
agitation over the employment of the Chinese
Indeed, for some years before, the feeling had
been increasing that the gathering of great num-
bers of these people in the cities and mines and
along the railroads was a serious menace to so-
ciety and a great detriment to the laboring
classes. Their presence and work in the con-
struction of the great lines of railroads had been
a conceded necessity, as it was not possi])le to
procure white labor enough to meet the exigencies
of the occasion. Now, however, the Knights of
Labor, an organization in the professed interests
of workers, aided by many others, attempted to

expel them from the country by violent measures-
At Tacoma they were required to leave at a
month's notice. At Seattle and among the coal
miners the agitation was greatest, and resulted
in general disorder. Governor Squire acted
promptly liy issuing a proclamation calling on
the people to preserve the peace, but this was
answered the next day by the mob setting on
lire several Chinese houses. Troops were ordered
from Vancouver, and a statement of the situa-
tion forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior,
which resulted in a proclamation by the Presi-
dent, and for a time the disturbance was quieted.
A few months later, however, it broke out more
violently than ever. Lives were lost in en-
deavoring to protect the Chinese, and a condi-
tion of rebellion against the constituted autiiori-
ties existed. The exigency was great. Gover-
ner Squire adopted extreme measures, — the only
ones that can meet extreme cases. He pro-
claimed martial law, and finally, by the aid of
the citizens and troops, succeeded in restoring
order. His course met the strong ajjproval of
President Cleveland and his cabinet, and as a
token of the approbation by the national execu-
tive of his course, his proffered resignation of
the office of governor was not accepted until
long after the Democrats has succeeded to power.
The reports of Governor Squire to the Secre-
tary of the Interior were of such a complete
character as to receive even a national attention.
That for 1884 was declared by that official to be
the "best that had ever been given by any
governor of any Territory." The demand for
it throughout the East was so great that, after
the Government edition was exhausted, the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company published
a special edition of 5,000 copies at its own ex-
pense. His report for 1885 was even more com-
plete than that of 1884, and under the title of
the "Resources and Development of Washing-
ton Territory" it was scattered all over the
United States and Europe by the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company and by the people of
Washington, and did more than any other one
thing to call unusual attention to the marvelous

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

r3gion of which he was the chief executive, and to
prepare Congress and the nation for the admis-
sion of Washington as a State in the Union.

The Democratic party having acceded to
power in the nation, Eugene Semple, of Oregon,
was appointed governor of Washington. Mr.
Semple, though a man of considerable talent,
and industrious, did not possess the executive
force of his predecessor. Still his management
of the affairs of the Territory was, on the whole,
commendable, and ministered to its- continued
prosperity. During his term there were several
questions of a political and local character that
excited considerable attention. Among these
was the contest in the legislation and before the
courts on tlie question of woman suffrage. The
long-drawn and rather acrimonious conflict on
this question cannot be followed through its
ramifications, but it may suffice to say that the
legislature passed an act conferring upon women

the right to vote at all elections. This act was
subsequently declared by the Supreme Court of
the Territory to be unconstitutional. But the
sentiment in favor of it was sufficiently strong
to make it a party question in 1886. The Ke-
pubiicans incorporated it into their platform, and
quite a majority of the members elected to the
succeeding legislature was pledged to vote for
a bill restoring woman sufl'rage.

In 1888 Mr. Miles C. Moore, of Walla Walla,
! a Republican, was apjwinted governor to suc-
j ceed Semple. He came to the office only just
\ in time to entitle himself to the designation
governor, as the Territory was just now in the
whirl of excitement attendant on its change to
the condition of Statehood. To this change, and
the course of legislation and prosperity prepara-
tory to it since 1880, we shall invite our readers
in tiie next chapter.

CHAPTER XXI Y.

PROGRESS TO STATEHOOD.

Great Progress — Its Causes — Hailroads — The Northern Pacific — History of Action Con-
cerning Statehood — Washington Admitted into the Union — State Officers Elected —
Other Questions Voted Upon — Inauguration of State Government — J. B. Allen and
W. C. Squire Elected Senators — Following Elections.

THE few years immediately antedating the
point reached in the history of Washing-
ton in our last chapter were marked by an
advancement in every interest of the now
prosperous commonwealth that was truly phe-
nomenal. The Territory went out of the seventh
decade of the century with hardly more than
70,000 people, and it entered the last half of
the eighth decade with fully 150,000. Tims in
five years it had more than doubled its people.
Every material and social interest had kept
pace with the growth of popnlation. A very
tidal-wave of progress was sweeping over the
land. The hopes and prophecies of the pio-
neers were being fulfilled. New towns, some

of them legitimately claiming to be cities, had
sprung up among the firs and cedars of the
Puget Sound country, and out on the treeless
prairies of E^istern Washington, almost in a
night. All that goes to make up the civiliza-
tion of our day had appeared almost in a
moment. Commerce came flying on white
wings into the harbors of Puget Sound. Manu-
factures thundered their forges and whirred
their engines on river and stream. Banks
counted their discounts over mahogany counters
amidst piles of gold. Churches and school-
houses fit to adorn a metropolis were built
almost before the shades of the great cedars had
faded from the ground where they stood. A

BISTORT OF WASBTNGTON.

very delirium of progress tlirilled the land.

But all this did not come without a cause,
nor was its cause hard or far to find. It was in
the construction and operation of great lines of
railroads within the borders of the Territory.
At the opening of 1886, the Northern Pacific
Company had 455 miles; the Oregon Eailway
& Navigation Company, 295 ; the Puget Sound
A; Columbia, 44; the Puget Sound Shore, 23;
and the Olympia & Chehalis Company, 15; in
all 866 miles, where only a few years before
there were but a few miles in the entire Ter-
ritory. This was cause to the effect of the
wonderful growth of Washington by which it
so suddenly readied its resplendent place as a
State. As so much of it all turned on the con-
struction of the great Northern Pacific line, it
is fitting that we give a somewhat extended
notice of the inception and progress of that
great national work. Our notice is taken from
the authorized account given by the State of
Washington itself at the great Columbian Ex-
position in Chicago in 1893, and is without
doubt a fair summation of the facts attending
the progress of that great work.

" At the very birth of Washington, its future
development and greatness were believed to de-
pend upon the building of the Northern Pacific
railroad, and the location of its terminal port
upon Puget Sound. It was the route and road
earliest proposed for transit of the continent.
Its friends and propagandists crystallized such a
public sentiment before even California had
become United States territory, that rendered
probable the building of a transcontinental rail-
way. For over half a century the agitation of
a Northern Pacific railroad had been continued.

" In 1853, Congress appropriated $150,000
for surveys to ascertain the most practicable
railroad route from the Mississippi river to the
Pacific ocean. The Secretary of War deter-
mined upon the lines to be examined, and
selected those who were to conduct the explora-
tions. On the 18th of April, 1853, Isaac I.
Stevens, Governor of the Territory of Wash-
ington, was assigned to tlie charge of the north-

ern route, with instructions to explore and
survey a route from the sources of the Missis-
sipjii river to Puget Sound. George B. Mc-
Clellan, then brevet Captain of Engineers,
United States Army, proceeded direct to Puget
Sound, and with a party explored the Cascade
range of mountains, thence eastward until he
met the main party under Governor Stevens,
marching -westward from St. Paul, Minnesota.
The decisive points determined were the practi-
cability of the Ivocky mountains and Cascade
range, and the eligibility of the approaches.
Governor Stevens recommended that from the
vicinity of the mouth of Snake river, there
should be two branches, one to Puget Sound
across the Cascade mountains, and the other
down the Columbia river ou the northern side.
Governor Stevens in his message, addresses and
personal eflbrts; the Legislature by memorials
and legislations; the press and the prominent
citizens of the Territory, — kept alive the agita-
tion of the 'Northern route' from the time
that the successful results of the Stevens survey
had been published.

" On the 28th of January, 1857, the Legisla-
ture of the Territory passed 'An act to incor-
porate the Northern Pacific Railroad Company.'
That earliest charter named as corporators, Gov-
ernor Stevens and numerous citizens of Wash-
ington, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois,
Iowa, California, Maine and New York. That
act prescribed lines of road almost identi-
cal with the present Northern Pacific railroad
system. On July 2, 1864, Congress granted
the charter of the Northern Pacific Kailroad
Company. Josiah Perham, of Boston, was its
first president. The title defines the franchise:
' An act granting lands to aid in the construc-
tion of a railroad and telegraph line from Lake
Superior to Puget Sound on the Pacific coast,
by the northern route.' The company were to
accept in writing the conditions imposed, and
notify the President of the United States. On
the 15th of December, 1864, the acceptance
was made. As the charter prohibited the issue
of bonds, the company were handicapped in

HISTORY OP WASniNOTON.

raising funds. Perbaiu and his associates, dis-
heartened, transferred the charter to Governor
J. Gregory Smith and associates.

" In 18()6 Congress was petitioned to extend
aid. The company asked no money, Init simply
a guarantee of interest on a portion of its stock
for a term of years, bnt were denied. In 1867
two parties were engaged in c.xamininir tin- passes
of the Cascade range for a direct line to Tnget
Sound and in locating a line eastward from
Portland, Oregon, np the valley of the Co-
lumbia.

" Congress, on IMay 31, 1870, authorized the
issuance of bonds for the construction of the
road, with authority to secure the same by
mortgage on all property of the company, in-
cluding the franchise.

" A mortgage to secure those lionds was
executed on the 1st of July, 187(1, to Jay Cooke
and J. Edgar Thompson, trustees. Those
amendments to the charter could not have been
secured but by the influence of the Oregon
United States Senators. Naturally from thence-
forth the policy of the Northern Pacific was to
forward the interest, growth and development of
Portland. The line across the Cascade moun-
tains, transposed from the main line to branch,
was to be indefinitely postponed. With |5,000,-
000 advanced by Jay Cooke & Co., the building
of the road commenced in February, 1870, at
Duluth, and within that year work progressed
westward 114 miles to Brainatd. On the Pacitic
slope work was initiated in 1870. The amenda-
tory act required the construction of twenty-
five miles between Portland and Puget Sound
prior to July 2, 1871; and so the company built,
from the town they named Kalama on the Co-
lumbia river, northward that distance. During
1872 forty miles had been built northward and
were in running operation. On the 1st of
January, 1873, General John W. Sprague and
Governor John N. Goodwin, agents for the

Northern Pacific Railroad Com

puny,

formal!

annonnced the selection of the city of Olympia
as the terminus on Puget Sound of that road.
A few months later, July, 1873, the company

at New York declared its western terminus at
Tacoma. The failure of Jay Cooke & Co., in
Septemlier, 1873, greatly embarrassed opera-
tions; but the road reached its terminus on
Puget Sound the day preceding the date pi-e-
scribed in the chai-ter and its amendments. A
reorganization of the company, on a dift'erunt
financial basis, followed, with Charles D.Wrigiit
as president."

Rich coal fields had been discovered east of
Tacoma. General George Stark, vice-president,
made an examination of those coal (ields with
reference to building a sutficient portion of the
"branch" to connect them with Tacoma. Says
he: "The building of this Cascade branch for the
development of our coal resources seems now to
1)6 the one wheel which, if started, will put the
whole train in motion; and I trust that ways
and means to accomplish it will be devised at an
early day." During 1877, the first portion of
the Cascade branch road was Iniilt connecting
Tacoma with Wilkeson.

Frederick Pillings had become, 1880, presi-
dent of the company. He favored the comple-
tion of the entire work; the surveys of the
Cascade mountain passes were resumed with
increased vigor. After a careful instrumental
survey a line was located by way of the Naches
Pass.

In the fall of 1880 a loan of $40,000,000 had
been successfully negotiated, but the method of
taking the bonds and furnishing funds contin-
gent upon securities upon accepted sections of
road and the land grant rendered it impossible
to grade the uncompleted line or to advance
track-laying and build the Rocky mountain
tunnels.

Such was the condition of the Northern Pacific
when Henry Yillard assumed the presidency.
The Oregon Railway & Navigation Company
had succeeded the Oregon Steam Navigation
Company; and he was also its president. A
railroad along the south side of the Columbia to
throw out branches to secure the great wheat-
growing wealth of Eastern Washington and
Oregon was at once projected.

HISTOBT OF WASHINGTON.

As the Northern Pacific advanced westward
under the management of President Billings, in
1880 and the spring of 1881, the hope had been
engendered that the building of the Cascade
division was near at hand. Indeed the Northern
Paciiic was about provided to push its main line
down the north side of the Columbia, or to build
the Cascade branch, or both. The road could
not stop in the interior of the continent. It had
to advance when it reached the nioiith of Snake
river.

President Villard visited Puget Sound in tlie
fall of 1881. He did not disguise his motive
tliat Portland should continue " the focus, the
center, the very heart, so to speak, of a local
system of transportation lines aggregating fully
2,000 miles of standard-gauge road." Of the
policy of the Northern Pacific inaugurated by
his predecessor, he said: "There was a deter-
mined effort resolved npon by the former
management of the Northern Pacific to disre-
gard the commerce of this great city, and to
make direct for Puget Sound in pursuit of the
old unsuccessful policy of building up a city
there. I do not believe that any effort to build
up a rival city on Puget Sound can ever succeed.
I mean that Portland will always remain the
commercial emporium of the Northwest." Presi-
dent Villard, however, continued the surveys of
the Cascade mountains, and the Stampede Pass
was selected.

Overland railroad communication was fully
consummated via l^ortland and the road connect-
ing it with Tacoma. The last spike was driven
on September 7, 1883, sixty miles west of
Helena. A few days later Oregon and Wash-
ington celebrated the great consummation. On
Monday, the oth day of July, 1887, the people
of Washington commemorated the arrival on
Sunday, the 4th of July, of the first overland
train direct from Duluth to Tacoma. A year
later was commemorated the completion of the
tunnel through the Cascade mountains. The
great work of the centirry had been finished.

It would be easy to occupy chapters in treat-
ing of the minntia-, and giving the statistics, of

this wonderful advance, but, to the general
reader, whose impressions of history are always
taken in the concrete rather than the abstract-
there would be no compensating advantage?
We hasten, therefore, to the closing of the chap-
ters of the Territorial history of Oregon, and
the opening of the Ijrief one of her history as a
State of the Federal Union.

From time to time, for more than a decade,
in one form or another, the question of State-
hood was discussed in the papers and acted on
in the legislative assembly of the Territory.

In November, 1869, a law was enacted for the
submission of the questions of calling a conven-
tion for the purpose of framing a constitution
and applying for admission into the Union as
a State. If a majority voted in favor, the next
legislature was to provide for the election of the
delegates to such convention. At the election
in 1870 the project met with little favor. In
1871 a precisely similar act passed and met with
a like result. In 1875 the legislative assembly
passed an act to provide for the formation of a
constitution and State government for the Terri-
tory of Washington. It directed the submission
of the proposition. If a majority were in favor
the legislature was "to provide for the calling of
a conventioix to frame a State constitution, and
to do all other acts proper and necessary to give
effect to the popular will."

At the election of 1876, a large majority
favored the proposition. The legislature passed
an act, approved November 9, 1877, "to pro-
vide for calling a convention to frame a con-
stitution for the State of Washington, and sub-
mitting such constitution to the people for
ratification or rejection." That act provided
yiat a convention of fifteen delegates, three of
whom were to be elected by the Territory at
large, should assemble.

Alexander S. Abernethy, of Cowlitz county,
was its president. The counties of North Idaho
participated, a large majority of the citizens of
that portion of the Territory having favored an-
nexation to Washington. A 'constitution was
duly framed, and ratified at the general election

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

of 1878, by a vote of 6,462 to 3,231. Year
after year the admission of the State of Wash-
ington continued to receive increasing coiii^idera-
tion.

The a(]niission of Washington as a State had
been discussed in Congress before the meeting
of tlie constitutional convention of 1878. The
first bill introduced by Thomas II. Brents, in the
Forty-fifth Congress, was an act to provide for
the admission of the "State of Washington"
under the constitution of the convention of 1878.
Objections were made to certain features of that
constitution; and in the Forty-seventh Congress
(1881-'88) Delegate Brents introduced a second
bill for the admission of Washington, drawn in
accordance with the legislative memorial. It
authorized the j)eople of Washington Territorj-
and the northern part of Idaho Territory to hold
a convention to frame a State constitution and
to form a State government. In advocating its
passage, Mr. Brents cited from the United States
census of 1880, to prove that the Territory of
Washington, exclusive of the northern counties
of Idaho, had the requisite population to entitle
it to admission. By the census of 1880 that
populatioh was 75,116, and taking the ratio of
increase, at that time, June, 1882, it was not
less than 125,000. On account pf this small
population, objection was urged against Wash-
ington's admission.

Session after session Washington continued to
memorialize Congress for Statehood. In the
spring of 1886 the subject was again fully liefore
Congress. The bill was for a convention to
frame a State constitution preparatory to ad-
mission. The boundaries included certain north-
ern counties of Idaho. Another bill traveled
hand in hand, providing for the annexation of
those three Northern Idaho counties to Wash-
ington. Memorials had passed both legislatures
favoring such aimexation. The question had
been submitted to the people of North Idaho at
a general election, and 1,216 votes were polled
for annexation and seven against it. The an-
nexation bill passed both houses, but was vetoed
by President Cleveland. Later separate bills

had passed the Senate for the division of Dakota,
and to enable the people of North and South
Dakota, Washington and Montana to form con-
stitutions and State governments.

Mr. Springer, of Illinois, proposed a substi-
tute, an omnibus bill, obnoxious to the friends
of the applying Territories; the prospect of
admission by the Fiftieth Congress seemed
hopeless. Already there was talk of an extra
session to do this act of simple justice. On the
15th of January, 1889, the House having under
consideration the bill for the admission of
Dakota, Samuel S. Cox, of New York, addressed
the House thus: "I favor the substitute pro-
prosed by the gentleman from Illinois and his
committee. If these Territories cannot be
lirought in within a reasonable time, I propose
to help any conference between the two bodies
looking to the Statehood of Dakota and the
other Territories. What concerns us immedi-
ately is the admission as States, with proper
boundaries and suitable numbers, of five Teri-i-
tories — the two Dakotas, Montana, Washington
and New Mexico."

On the 16th of January the Senate bill for
the admission of South Dakota was called up.
The House committee favored the division of
Dakota, and reported the omnibus bill,
which included New Mexico. Many amend-
ments were offered and voted down. On the
18th of January the omnibus bill passed the
House.

The bill went to the Senate. It was dis-
agreed to l>y that body. (_)n the 14th of Febru-
ary the report of the disagreement of the two
Houses was called up. The House instructed
its conferences to recede so as to allow, first, the
exclusion of New Mexico from the bill; and
second, the admission of South Dakota under
the Sioux Falls constitution; and third, the re-
submission of that constitution to the people
with provisions for the election of State otiicers
only, and without a new vote on the question
of "division," and for the admission of North
Dakota, Montana and Washington by the pro-
clamation ot tlie president,

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

The bill thus amended passed. It was en-
titled "An act to provide for the division of
Dakota, and to enable the people of North
Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washing-
ton to form constitutions and State govern-
ments, and to be admitted into the Union on an
eqnal footing with the original States, and to
make donations of public lands to such States,"
and was approved by President Cleveland, on
the anniversary of Washington's birthday,
February 22, 188'J. It provided for an elec-
tion of delegates, seventy-five in number, who
were to meet at Olympia on the 4th day of
July, 1889. That convention met; it remained
in session until August 22, 1889. The consti-
tution it framed was ratified at an election held
October 1, 1889, by the vote of 40,152 for the
constitution, and 11,789 against.

The president's proclamation of adiiiission
was issued November 11, 1889.

AVashington thus admitted into the l^nion as
a State, the great political ]iarties marshaled
their forces for the election of State ofiicers and
representatives, and the decision of several
other qnestions that were to go to the voters of
the State at the same time. The result showed
that Elisha Pyre Ferry, who had been one of
tlie best of the governors of the Territory, was
elected governor; Charles E. Laughton, former-
ly lieutenant-governor of Nevada, lieutenant-
governor; Allen Weir, secretary of State; A. A.
Lindsley, treasurer; T. M. Reed, anditor: Ilobert
B. Bryan, superintendent of public instruction;
AV. T. Forest, commissioner of public lands.
The supreme judges elected were R. C). Dunbar,
T. L. Stiles, J. P. Hoyt, T. J. Anders and
Elmer Scott. John L. Wilson, of Spokane,
was elected Congressman. Every officer elected
was a Republican, the average majority being
about 8,000.

The vote on the other questions submitted to
the people stood as follows: For woman
suffrage 16.527, against 34,515; for prohilii-
tion 19,546, against 31,487; for the State
capital Olympia had 25,490; North Yakima
14,718; Ellensburg 12,883; with 1,088 votes

scattering, — leaving the seat of government yet
remaining at Olympia, where it had been dur-
ing the whole course of Territorial history. At
the following general election that question was
again voted on, and Olympia was chosen by a
considerable majority for the future capital of
the State.

The State officers thus chosen were inaugur-
ated November 18. 1889, with inspiring cere-
monies, the newly elected legislature, which
was almost unanimously Republican, l)eing in
session at the same time. On the 19th of
Novenil)er the legislature elected John B.
Allen and Wat,sou C. Squire the first United
States senators for the State of AYashington.
The former drew the term expiring Alarch 3,
1883, and the latter that expii-ing March 3,
1891. At the biennial election held in Novem-
l)er, 1890, the legislature was again carried by
the Republicans, atul Mr. Squire was again
elected United States senator for six years from
March 4, 1891. A general election for State
officers occurred again in November, 1893, at
which rlohn 11. McGi-aw, of Seattle, was elected
governor. The legislature elected at the same
time commenced balloting for a successor to
United States Senator John B. Allen on the
day fixed by. law, and continued balloting, tak-
ing two votes each day, until the final adjourn-
ment. One hundred and seven ballots without
a choice were taken, and, the legislature having
adjourned. Governor McClraw appointed John
B. Allen United States senator. At this elec-
tion John L. AYilson and W. H. Doolittle were
chosen to represent the State in Congress.

Since this date the history of the State has
been only a continuance of the prospei-ity that
marjced it during the closing years of its Terri-
torial existence. The results will appear in a
compendious form in our chapters relating to
its inining, lumbering and other industrial
interests, and in those relating to its cities and
towns. We need now to take our i-eaders back,
chronologically, and trace the story of the
Indian wars of Washington,

HISTORY OP WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER XXV.

INDIAN WARS OF WASHINGTON.

Character of the Indians — Easteen and Western Tribes — Northern Tribes — Jealousies
Awakened — Oi'enino of the Waes — Murder of Dr. Whitman — Waiileti'u — Causes
Operating — Protestant vs. Catholic — Sickness Among Indians — The Murder — Captives
— Rescued by Mr. Ogden — General Alarm — Call for Volunteers — Action of Legis-
lature — Regiment Organized — Roster of Companies — Troops Move Towards Waiiletpu
— Battle of Sand Hollow — Indians Fall Back — Death of Colonel Gilliam — Nego-
tiations — Mr. Ogden — Deputation of Indians to Oregon City — Indians Taken and
Executed. — Intelligence of the Murder of Dr. Whitman Reaches Governor Abernethy
— A Call for Volunteers — Oregon Rifles Organized — Roster of Officers — Troops
Proceed to The Dalles — Expedition of Major Lee — Troops March for Waiiletpu —
Battle of Sand Hollow — Indians Fall Rack Toward Snake River — Battle on the Touchet
— Death of Colonel Gilliam — Peace Negotiated — Indians Executed at Oregon City.

I[NSTEADof weaving the story of the I'ldiaii
wars of Washington as a crimson thread
J through all the fabric of our history we
think it better to give that story its own separ-
ate place. In this way it will be better under-
stood, and its logical relations more clearly ap-
prehended.

The region of country embraced in Washing-
ton Territory by the act of Congress of 1853
was the home of the most numerous and most
warlike of all the Indian tribes we&t of the
Rocky mountains. With the exception of the
Cayuses, whose country was mostly in Oregon,
all tlie strong tribes between the Rocky and
Cascade mountains had their habitats in Wash-
ington. The Blackfoot, the Spokane, the Pal-
ouse, the Nez Perce, the Pend d'Oreille, the
Yakima, all powerful tribes, together with
many smaller tribes, all resided east of the Cas-
cade mountains. It would be impossible to
give any accurate census of these tribes at that
time, but it is not unlikely that they could have
brought into the field, all told, from six to ten
thousand warriors. The white settlement had
not yet encroached upon their territory, and as
they were generally well armed and plentifnlly
supplied with ammunition, they were a foe not
only to be dreaded but which actually was
dreaded l)v tiie white inhabitants of the Terri-

tory. They were equestrian tribes, abundantly
supplied with excellent horses, and were the
most accomplished and daring horsemen in the
world. Their country was one vast pasturage,
its very mountains being full of nutritious
grasses, while its almost limitless plains were
covered with the richest bunch grass, affording
the very best feed for horses on the continent.
When Washington was constituted a Territory
they were at the very zenith of their power, and
roamed unlet and unhindered over the more
than 100,000 square miles they inhabited.

Between Eastern Washington, where these
tribes dwelt, and Western Washington, was the
great Cascade range of mountains, rugged,
heavily timbered, impassable, except by a few
trails, and nearly 100 miles in width. West
of this range, in the country sweeping around
Puget Sound and extending southward to the
Columbia River and northward to the Straits of
Fuea, were a large number of tribes, no one of
which was as strong as some of the tribes east
of the mountains, but probably aggregating
about the same numl)er of warrioi-s. Dwelling
upon the water courses and upon the shores of
the great Sound and in a densely timbered
region, these Indians were as thoroughly train-
ed to water-craft as were those east of the moun-
tains to equestrianism. No people rivaled them

HISTORY OP WASHINGTON.

in the use of the canoe. They were courageous,
daring, brave.

To the north of Piiget Sound there were
many tribes of great prowess along the coast as
far north as Queen Charlotte Island, and even
up to Fort Simpson, who possessed large and
strong svar canoes in which they were accus-
tomed to make long predatory voyages, passing
down through the inlets and passages that
separate the island of the great northern
archipelago, crossing the Straits of Juan <le
Fuca, and penetrating even to the very head of
Fuget Sound, 120 miles south of the straits.
They came unheralded, struck their blow of
murder or committed their robbery, and disap-
peared as suddenly as they came. Their incur-
sions were hardly war, but their work was sim-
ply that of the savage assassin, smiting the
defenceless and killing the unarmed. Besides
the direct loss of life and properly caused by
them, they had the further evil effect of keep-
ing the tribes on the Sound excited with the
news of tragedy and bloodshed, for when an
Indian scents blood all his savage nature is
excited, and he himself is athirst for it. "Dead
or alive he will have some." But the recital of
these inroads of the northern Indians and the
story of the cruel murders they perpetrated
would enlarge our work unduly, and hence
they can be mentioned only as illustrating the
unusual perils and hardships attending the
settlement of this part of the Territory.

As everywhere on the frontier, the ingather-
ing of the whites in ever increasing numbers
early awakened the apprehensions of the Indi-
ans. There was an instinctive prophecy in
their hearts that it boded ill to them. The
whites came but never left. Their numbers
never diminished. The forest was disappearing
before their axes. The game melted away
before their rifles. The Indians saw that all
this meant that they themselves would soon
be outnumbered and overpowered unless they
were able to drive out the invaders who were
despoiling the graves of their forefatiiers, turn-
ing their hunting grounds into grain fields, atid

breathing the pestilence of a destructive civiliz-
ation on their savage, yet beloved life. It was
not strange, therefore, that there should be war.
What was called the "Cayuse war," which
followed immediately after the murder of Dr.
and Mrs. Whitman, the devoted Presbyterian
missi'jnaries, at Waiiletpu, occurred before
there was any settlement of whites within the
bounds of what was afterward the Territory
and subsequently the State of Washington.
But the scene of that murder and the theater of
that war was mainly within its boundaries.
As it dates tiie beginning of the wars which
afterward extended over so large a part of the
Territory, this seems the place to give it some
historic treatment. It was the most tragic event
in the history of the northwest coast, and one
that has caused more historic discufsion, especi-
ally as to its causes, than any other. For this
reason we need both to trace its causes as well
as recite its facts, and these we shall blend in
one line of treatment.

Waiiletpu was the Indian name of the place
where Dr. Whitman in the late autumn of 1836
established his missionary station among the
Cayuse people. It was situated on the Walla
AValla river, about twenty-five miles from the
Hudson's Bay fort of that name, which stood on
the south bank of the Columbia river and just
above the month of the Walla Walla. It was
in the center of the tribe and was easy of access
both to the Indians and the whites. His mis-
sion for a time seemed to be among the most
properous and promising of all Indian missions
of the coast. The Cayuses were intelligent and
active, though not considered as tractable and
trustworthy as their relations the Nez Ferces,
whose territory joined theirs on tlie northeast.
Quite a number of the tribe made a profession of
Christianity under his labors, and Dr. Whitman
and his co-laborers had high hopes that the
whole tribe would pass under the influence of
the Christian system and belief.

To his work as a Christian teacher Dr. Whit-
man had added that of a medical practitioner,
so that, to the superstitious Indian mind, he

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

191

assumed a much wider responsibility than he
would have assumed as a mere teacher of re-
ligious truths. As a physician he, like their
own " medicine men," was supposed to have
power to heal or to kill at pleasui-e, and however
much he might endeavor to disabuse their
minds of that belief it could never quite be
done, for the Indian mind is remarkahly tena-
cious of its superstitions and they never quite
lose their dominion over an Indian's action. As
useful as the profession and practice of a doctor
might really be, they added an element of dan-
ger as well as an element of strength to the
position of Dr. Whitman.

The doctor was a man to draw about him a
somewhat large following of assistants and de-
pendents, for he was naturally a leader of men,
with a strong personality and a broad and
grasping mind. He planned more broadly than
any of his associates in the missions of the
American Boai'd, and had more of the strong
grip of executive ])ower than they. He liad
opened (juite an extensive farm and erected a
sawmill and Houring-mill. The buildings for
dwelling, school, church and other purposes
were of quite a pretentious character foi' the
country, and formed quite a hamlet in the midst
of the wide, unhomed solitudes of these interior
valleys and mountains. The dwelling-house
was a large adobe, or sun-dried brick, build-
ing, well finished and furnished, with a large
library and an extensive cabinet. Connected
with it was a large '' Indian room," as it was
called, l)uilt for the accommodation and use of
the Indians who were constantly or occasionally
about the mission, either as employes in any
department or on business, or as mere loungers.
It had also an addition, seventy feet in length,
consisting of kitchen, sleeping- room, school-
room and church. One hundred yards east
stood a large adobe building, and at another
point about the same distance stood the mill,
granary and shops. Connected with the mis-
sion was a sawmill situated on Mill creek on the
edge of the Blue mountains, about fifteen miles
from the station itself. Thus the mission was

situated at the end of ten years from its estab-
lishment in 1836.

The special work and the genial relations of
the various missionary establisliments of the
country having been elsewhere considered it is
not needful to recur to them here further than
to connect them with the events that opened
the first Indian war of the Northwest. This we
do in a simple statement of historic facts with
only a very brief discussion of the natural, and
perhaps inevitable, results of those facts.

The establishment of Roman Catholic mis-
sions in the immediate vicinity of those of the
Protestant boards inevitably confused the minds
of the Indians, and led them to look very sus-
piciously upon the Protestants. This was the
more certainly and fatally the result as they
fully understood that the people of the Hudson's
Bay Company had joyfully welcomed the com-
ing of the Romish priests, and extended to them,
rather than to the Protestants, their sympathy
and support. Though not gifted with any great
capability of ratiocination, the Indian has quick
perception from obvious and occult facts, and
thej could not but comprehend this, while they
would entirely fail to comprehend the rationale
of the historic and theological differences and
agreements between the Roman Catholic and
Protestant systems. Hence they would act from
what they saw, not from the reason that was
behind it.

The missionaries of the Roman CatholicChurch
had entered the country in 1838, as noted
elsewhere. As they count success, their mis-
sions had been very successful. They had
baptized many Indians, — some authorities say
not less than 5,000 by the autumn of 1847, —
and the priests were everywhere, and their zeal
was admirable as they went on their mission of
proselytisra from California to British Colum-
bia. Their leaders were astute and able men.
Such names as Blanchet, (Jccolti, DeSmet, Joset,
Ravalli, Sandlois, Demers, Brouillet and Balduc
were recorded among their twenty-six clergy-
men employed in the field. As these names
indicate, there was not an American among

ITIt^TonT OF WASniNGTUN.

them, — hardly one wlio could speak or write
the English language with respectable accuracy,
— but they were disciplined and resolute and
self-denying men. They brought with them
no families. They established no comnuinities.
They lived with and as the Indians. They
found tbera Indians, baptized them into the
Roman Catholic Church, and left them Indians,
as they found them. Their presence, therefore,
boded no change to awaken the apprehensions
of the Indians, and hence they could go and
come, teach and catechise, liaptize and confirm
at will, and their imposing ceremonies and easy
moral exactions completely captured the minds
of most of the Indians.

The more this was true the less could the
Protestant missions succeed. Dr. Whitman's
mission in particular was in a position to feel
the blight of their influence the soonest and
most fatally. From its beginning some of the
Cayuses were hostile to the mission, more were
indifferent, and a small number were favorable.
Tam-su-ky, an influential chief, M-ho resided not
far from Waiiletpii, was the leader of the opposers
of the mission. Their opposition became more
bitter after the Romish priests entered the
country, and was still more intensified after Dr.
Whitman returned from the East with the
great train of emigrants of 1843. To add to the
impulse which was moving the Cayuse people
toward murder and war, in 1845 " Tom Hill,"
a Delaware Indian, lived among the Nez Per-
ces and told them that the missionaries first
visited his people, bat were soon followed by
other Americans, who took away their lauds.
He visited Waiiletpu and i-epeated the same
Btory to the Cayuse. Of course the Indians
were still more alarmed.

In another year another Indian, or half-breed,
came among them, whence and froui whom
history has failed to certify. His name was
Joe Lewis. He reaiiirmed the statements
of Tom Hill. Under these influences, com-
bined with a desire on the part of many if not
most of the tribe to secure the Roman Cath-
olic religion. Dr. Whitman's work withered

away under them. Uis most trustworthy friends
among the Indians, Um-howl-ish and Stick- us,
warned him of his danger,, and advised him to
abandon his work. Archibald McKinley, then
in charge of Fort Walla Walla, emphasized the
warning and repeated the advice. Thomas Mc-
Kay repeated it. Dr. Whitman knew the dan-
ger, understood the influences that were destroy-
ing his work and imperiling his life, but, brave
man that he was, he faced them all. How could
he have done otherwise?

Still, iu the fall of 1847, Dr. Whitman decided
to remove to the Dalles as soon as arrangements
could be completed. He went there himself and
received from the Methodist mission, which had
decided to abandon that field, the premises it
held at that place, as a gift to the American
Board. On arriving at Walla Walla, about the
10th of September, he found four Romish priests
at the place, arranging to establish a mission
under the very shadow of Waiiletpu. At their
head was Father A. M. A. Pianchet, a smooth,
yet resolute and able man, self-poised to a re-
markable degree, and unrelenting in his pur-
poses and aims. With him was Bronillet, per-
haps fully the equal of Blanchet in ability of
every kind, though not his equal in rank. Com-
ing just at this crisis in the work of Dr. Whit-
man, they found it easy to win over to their
cause much the larger part of the Indians. The
fact that they came to supplant Dr. Whitman
on the very fleld of his eleven years' toil could
not but have the effect of making the Indians
believe that these new religious teachers would
be only too glad to see Dr. Whitman's mission
destroyed, even if they did not desire his own
death. It was not necessary that they should
suggest or advise this course; the suggestion
was in their very presence and in the nature of
their work, and it is not probable that they
made any other. Certainly this writer has never
found any convincing evidence that they did.
Still it seems tolerably certain that, with murder
and destruction palpitating in the very air, they
spoke no word and did no deed against it.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

Hoping tliiit the storm of wrath that he saw
plainly impending would not bnrst upon him
before another year; Dr. Whitman, after his re-
turn from the Dalles, settled down to the calm
pursuit of his missionary work. Meantime
the laige iinmigration uf 1S47 came pouring
down from the Blue mountains upon the plains
of the Columbia. There was much sickness
among the immigrants, the measles and dysen-
tery prevailing to an alarming extent. These
soon became epidemic among the Indians,
many of whom, despite the remedies adminis-
tered by Dr. Whitman and the most careful
attention of Mrs. Whitman, died of these
diseases. Joe Lewis took a horrible advan-
tage of this situation to further prejudice the
Indians' minds against the mission. He told
them that the doctor was administering poison
to them, and that he intended to kill them all
off that the Americans might take their lands.
He detailed conversations that he professed to
have overheard between Dr. and Mrs. Whitman,
in which the doctor complained because the
Indians were not dying fast enough. He also
asserted that Brouillete, the Roman Catholic
priest, had told him that the doctor was giving
the Indians poison. Falling upon the excited
minds of the Indians, these statements were
like fire in powder. The explosion was sure to
come, and it meant destruction when it came.

Of course it is not necessary to say to the
intelligent reader that there was no founda-
tion for these statements. They wei-e the sheer
inventions of a murderous villain, who, after
having shared the hospitality and care of Dr.
Whitman and. Mrs. Whitman, was l)a8e enough
to plot their destruction. The presence of the
priest at this time, and his active proselytism
of the Indians to Romanism, was indeed an
incendiary iniluence sufficient to set the Indians
into an unreasoning and fatal excitement, but
it cannot be considered likely that he made to
Lewis the statement averred, or even that he
fully anticij^ated the terrible tragedy that so
soon followed. The justice (^f history requires
this statement, but it requii-es also the addition-

al one that he did state to the Indians that Dr.
Whitman was a bad man, and that what he was
teaching them was a false religion, and if they
believed it they would certainly go to hell. In
the blindness and prejudice of his sectarian zeal
he might have believed all this, and even have
justified to his own conscience, on the well-
known principles of Jesuitism, the making of
the statement, but it would be too severe a
shock to our faith in humanity to believe that
he counseled or sought the murder of these
noble missionaries. The writer of this history
has been for many years acquainted with quite
a number of the Indians associated with Dr.
Whitman before and at the time of the mass-
acre, also with several of the sufferers in the
terrible tragedy, and the sum of all the evidence
he could gather from these, as well as the resi-
duum of the testimony of all who have written
on the subject, confirms him in this judgment.
To array the evidences which have thus satis-
fied his own mind, would be unnecessarily to
weary the reader of this work.

As the autumn wore on Dr. Whitman fully
recognized the impending danger. To avert it
he endeavored to secure the presence of Thomas
McKay, one of the most influential and sensible
of the early mountaineers, during the winter,
but could not succeed. Meanwhile the story of
Joe LeAvis was working its direful way in the
minds of the Indians. The wife of Tam-su-ky,
the leader of those wlio were determined to drive
off Dr. Whitman, was sick. He resolved to
put the poison theory to a practical test by ob-
taining some medicine of the doctor and ad-
ministering it to her. If she recovered he
would not believe the story; if she died the
missionaries must also die. The test was made.
The woman died: thus the fate of the mission-
aries was decided.

Sabbath at the mission was a day when
large numbers of the Indians gathered, some for
worship, and some for the excitement of a
crowd. The friends of the mission were sure
to be there on that day. The 28th of Novem-
ber, that year, was Sunday, and as usual r^^lig-

illSTORt OF WASHINGTON.

ious services were held, a considerable num-
ber of the Indians participating in them.
Tam-su-ky and his followers had fixed on
Monday for their murderous deed, as they
knew but few if any of the Indian friends of
Dr. Whitman would be present. On that day,
November 29, 1847, about fifty of the followers
of Tam-su-ky gathered at the mission. Their
gathering awakened the apprehensions of the
whites, as it was so unusual to see such numbers
present except on Sunday. Still the work of
the establishment, indoors and out, went on as
usual. Dr. Whitman was in his ofiice, sittiuo;
in a chair and preparing a prescription for an
Indian. Mrs. Whitman was in an upper room
busied in her duties. Tiie Indians were scat-
tered about the yard, a few being in the doctor's
office. Suddenly the murderous attack began.
Dr. Whitman was cloven down by the blow
of a tomaliawk wielded by Tam-a-has, an Indian
of such a cruel nature as to be known among
his own people as "the murderer." Mrs. Whit-
man was shot in the breast while standing at
a window to which she had stepped on hear-
ing the noise of the sudden outburst. But a
few Indians were actively engaged in the mur-
derous onslaught: the rest looked stolidly on.
Only one or two of the AVhitman Indians
were present, and they were not permitted to
interfere.

It would serve no gdod purpose to relate the
actual details of the horrible tragedy- Indeed
most that has been written of them is so tinged
with the imagination of the writers that it
would be impossible to give them as they oc-
curred, even were it desirable to do so. The
victims of the murderous fury of the Indians
were Dr. Marcus Whitman, Mrs. Narcissa
Prentiss Whitman, John Sager, Frances Sager,
Crocket Bewly, Mr. Kogers, Mr. Kimball, Mr.
Sales, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Saunders, Mr. Young,
Mr. Hoffman, and Isaac Gillem.

With the personal and sectarian criminations
and recriminations that have arisen out of this
most tragic event in Oregon history, we think
it not wise to blur these pages. While the atti-

tude ot the Hudson's Bay Company toward the
American settlers and of the Roman Catholic
Church toward the Protestant missions was
such as to place snch events as this as natural,
and almost inevitable results of that attitude, no
satisfactory evidence has appeared that tliey
were planned or intended. Hence we are ready
to leave their discussion with this statement,
feeling sure that, while a large moral responsi-
bility for the destruction of the mission of
Waiiletpu and the murder of those who had
labored so earnestly and long for the welfare
of Indians, must rest upon the unseemly zeal of
these fierce sectai-ies of Romanism, as well as
upon the well-known opposition of the Hud-
son's Bay Company to everything American,
the Indians were carried by their ignorance
and passion far beyond the intentions of either
the priests, whose teachings inflamed them, or
the company whose desire, as they understood
it, had been so long a law unto them. If, dur-
ing the frenzy of that day of blood, neither
party interfered to avert or soften the blow,
or if, immediately following it, either or both
declined assistance to the fugitive sufferers who
had escaped massacre, we set it down more to
the weakness of the individuals who, for the
time, stood as representatives of the company
and the church, than to these bodies themselves.
Had McKinley or Ogden or Douglas been in
charge of Fort Walla instead of McBean when
the fugitives from Waiiletpu lay at its gate ask-
ing for succor, the suffering family of Osborn,
hiding in the willows near Waiiletpu during
those freezing nights, would have been at once
sought out and cared for. The fugitive and
frightened Hall would not have been put
over the Columbia river and left in the win-
try desert among the savages to starve or be
killed, one of which must needs occur, as he
was by the heartless cowardice of McBean.
So much history must fairly record, but in
the recording, this it must not forget that
such men do not fitly represent all men, nor
even most men, but stand for themselves alone.
An express was sent at once from Fort Walla

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

Walla to Mr. James Douglas, chief factor of
the Hiulsou's Bay Goiiipany at Vancouver, with
intelligence of the massacre. In harmony
with his past want of cotnpi-ehension and spirit,
Mr. McBean instructed the courier carrying tlie
message not to communicate the fact of the
massacre to the whites at the Dalles as he
passed, thus leaving them exposed, without
warning, to the fate that had befallen AVaiilet-
pii. On the arrival of the courier at Vancou-
ver, the action of Mr. Douglas was prompt and
effective, entirely sufficient to set at rest all
question as to the conjplicity of the Hudson's
Bay Company in any way with the sad events
that had just occurred. He immediately sent
a courier express with a message notifying
Governor Abernethj, at Oregon City, of what
had taken place. Without waiting for any
action by the governor or the American settlers,
he immediately dispatched Mr. Peter Skeen
Ogden, cue of the most influential and able
factors of the company, with an armed force to
the scene of the tragedy. Mr. Ogden held a
council with the Cayuses at Fort Walla Walla.
He declared the great displeasure of the com-
pany at their conduct. He proposed to ransom
the forty -seven prisoners, chiefly women and
children, that they held in captivity. His
prompt and decisive action resulted in the de-
livery of these poor people from their captivity.
On January 1, 1848, fifty Nez Perces from
Lapwai arrived with Mr. Spaulding and ten
others, who had also been in great peril from
the contagion of murder which had spread
through all the neigli boring tribes by the action
of Cayuses, and who were also held as prison-
ers by the Nez Perces. These were also ran-
somed l)y Mr. Ogden, and thus all the whites
in the infected district were delivered out of
the hands of the savages by the resolute
action of the Hudson's Bay Company, before
the Americans had time to act. On January
10 the rescued prisoners were delivered over to
Governor Abernethy by the Hudson's Bay
Company's people, at Oregon City. Thus

closed the opening and bloody chapter of the
Indian wars of the Pacific Northwest.

When the intelligence of the murder of
Di-. and Mrs. Whitman and their associates
i-eaclied Governor Abernetliy at Oregon City,
the Legislature of the provisional govern-
ment was in session. A call for volunteers,
to proceed at once to The Dalles and take
possession of that place, was at once issued.
Great fears were entertained that the Indians of
the interior might assail the settlements on the
west of the mountains by the way of the Co-
lumbia river, the only way tiiey could be reached
by them in the winter. The extent of the de-
fection of the Indians \vas not known at the
capital; hence provision must be made for any
contingency at once. On the night of the 8th
of December, the very day the news of the
massacre reached Oregon city, a public meeting
was held in that place, and a company was or-
ganized, under the name of the "Oregon Rifles,''
to pioceed at once to The Dalles and take posses-
sion of that strategic point. Henry A. G. Lee
was made captain, and Joseph Magone and
John E. Ross, lieutenants of it. The legisla-
lature pledged the credit of the provisional gov-
ernment to secure equipments for the company,
but the Hudson's Bay Company preferred the
individual responsibility of the committee of
the legislature who applied for the equipments.
This was given, and arms and ammunitions
were issued to the company, which arrived at
Vancouver on the 10th, only two days after its
organization, to receive them. On the 2l8t
they reached The Dalles, and the danger of an
Indian invasion west of the mountains was over
for the winter. But this did not end, it only
began, the war. The scattered people of Oregon
could not rest, indeed they dared not rest, with
the murders of Waiiletpu unavenged and the
murderers still at large. To have done so would
have been to invite a bloody Indian war fi'om
end to end of the country.

The action of the legislature and of Governor
Abernethy was prompt and eflective. On De-
cember U an act was passed and approved for

HISTORY OF WASIIINdTON.

the organization of a regiment of fourteen com-
panies, and their equipment for service. The
brave pioneers responded with patriotic devo-
tion to the call, furnishing their own arms,
equipments and horses. The men who led were
the men of mark tiien and subsequently in the
history of this country, and it seems only a
proper recognition of their patriotism and brav-
ery to place their names on the pages of every
history of those thrilling times in the story of
the Northwest. Here is a roster of the officers:

FIELD AND STAFF.

Colonel, Cornelius Gilliam; Lieutenant-Colo-
nel, James Waters; Major, H. A. G. Lee; Adju-
tant, B. F. Burch; Surgeon, W. M. Carpenter;
Assistant Surgeons, F. Sneiderand H. Safarans;
Commissary, Joel Palmer; Quartermaster, B.
Jennings; Paymaster, L. B. Knox; Judge Ad-
vocate, J. S. Rinearsou.

LINE OFFICERS.

Company A, fifty-live men. Captain, Law-
rence Hall; First Lieutenant, H. D. O'Bayant;
Second Lieutenant, John Engent.

Company B., forty-three men. Captain, J.
W. Owens; First Lieutenant, A. F. Rogers;
Second Lieutenant, T. C. Shaw.

Company C, eighty-four men. Captain, IL
J. G. Maxon; First Lieutenant, I. N. Gilbert;
Second Lieutenant, W. P. Pugh.

Company D, thirty-six men. Captain, Thomas
McKay; First Lieutenant, Charles McKay; Sec-
ond Lieutenant, Alexander McKay.

Company D, fifty-two men. Captain, Phil.
F. Thompson; First Lieutenant, James Brown;
Second Lieutenant, J. M. Garrison.

Company E, forty-four men. Captain, L. N.
English; First Lieutenant, William Shaw; Sec-
ond Lieutenant, M. V. Munkers.

Company E, thirty-six men. Captain, AVill-
iam Martin; First Lieutenant, A. E. Garrison;
Second Lieutenant, David Waters.

Company E, sixty-three men. Captain Will-
iam P. Pugh; First Lieutenant, N. R. Doty;
Second Lieutenant, M. Ramsby.

Company G, sixty-six men. Captain, J. W.
Nesmith; First Lieutenant, J. S. Snook; Sec-
ond Lieutenant, M. Gilliam.

Company H, forty-nine men. Captain, G.
W. Bennett; First Lieutenant, J. R. Bevin;
Second Lieutenant, J. R. Payne.

Company I, thirty-six men. Captain, W.
Shaw; First Lieutenant, D. Crawford; Second
Lien ten ant, B. Dario.

Company No. 7, twenty-seven men. Cap-
tain, William Martin; First Lieutenant, A E.
Garrison; Second Lieutenant, John Hersen.

F. S. Waters" Guard, fifty-seven men. Cap-
tain, William Martin; First Lieutenant, 1).
Weston ; Second Lieutenant, B. Taylor.

Reorganized Company. Captain, John E.
Ross; First Lieutenant, D. P. Bai-nes; Second
Lieutenant, W. W. Porter.

This roster shows a force of about GOO enlist-
ments besides field and staff officers, and with
this force Colonel Gilliam proceeded to The
Dalles the last of February, 1848. On the 27th,
with 130 men, he moved forward and crossed
Des Chutes river, where he was fairly within
the enemy's country. A reconnoissance, led by
Major Lee up that river about twenty miles, dis-
covered aliostile camp and engaged it, when the
party returned and reported to the colonel. On
tiie following day Colonel Gilliam moved up
to the same place, and tlie next morning had a
skirmish with the Indians of the Des Chutes
tribe, which resulted in a defeat of tlieir forces,
and was followed by a treaty of peace which
withdrew this band from the hostiles for the
remainder of tlie war. Though attended with
little fatality, the result of this movement was
very important, as it would have been entirely
unsafe for the command of Colonel Gilliam to
have moved forward, leaving this hostile band
in its rear and between it and the Willamette
valley, which would have been thus opened to
depredation.

Colonel Gilliam immediately pushed forward
toward Waiiletpu, about 150 miles distant. His
route was over an open, treeless country of
gi-eat rolling hills, poorly watered, full of ra-

niSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

107

vines and gulches that afforded many oppor-
tunities for the peculiar tactics of Indian war-
fare. At Sand Hollow, about half way from the
Des Chutes to Waiiletpu, the Indians were en-
countered in force. Their field was well chosen.
It was a deep depression among the sandy hills,
full of cuts and washes, affording excellent hid-
ing places for the Indians, and extended across
the emigrant road, on which the column was
advancing. Up to this time it was uncertain
whether the entire Cayuse nation would enter
the war to protect the murderers or not. many
believing that a large number of them wouM
not. But here all were undeceived. The great
body of Cayuse warriors, under the commaiid
of their head chief. Five Crows, and a chief
named War Eagle, offered to tiie volunteer
force the gauge of battle, which was promptly
accepted. Upon the company of Captain McKay
the first assault was made. Five Crows and
War Eagle both made pretensions to the posses-
sion of wizard powers, and to demonstrate their
powers to their own people dashed out of their
concealments, rode down close to the volunteers
and shot a little dog that came out of tlie ranks
to bark at them. The orders were not to fire,
but Captain McKay's Scotch blood was up,
and, bringing his rifle to his face, he took de-
liberate aim at War Eagle and drove a bullet
through his head, killing him instanflj. Lien-
tenant McKay fired his shotgun at Five Crows
without aim, and wounded him so badly that
he was compelled to give up tlie command of
his warriors. Disheartening as was this open-
ing of the battle to the Indians, they continued
it until late in the afternoon. During the battle
Captain Maxon's company followed a party of
retreating Indians so far that they found them-
selves surrounded, and in a sharp engagement
that followed eight of his men were disabled.
Before nightfall the Indians drew oflF the field.
The regiment camped upon it without water,
while the Indians, who had retired but a short
distance, built their fires on a circle of hills
about two miles in advance. The next day
Colonel Gilliam moved forward, the Indians

retiring before him, and reached Waiiletpu the
third day after the battle.

The main body of Indians fell back toward
Snake river. The volunteers followed, making
fruitless attempts to induce the surrender of the
murderers of Waiiletpu. Colonel Gilliam re-
solved on a raid into the country north of the
river. On his way he surprised a camp of
Cayuses near that stream: among whom were
some of the murderers. The crafty Indians de-
ceived the colonel with professions of friend-
ship, and pointed out some horses on the hills
that they said belonged to those he was anxious
to kill or capture, while the pai-ties themselves
were far out of reach beyond Snake river. The
column started to return toward AValla Walla,
but all the warriors of Indian camp were soon
mounted on war horses and assailed tlie column
on all sides, forcing the volunteers to fight their
way as they fell back. All day and into the
night the running fight continued, and when
Colonel Gilliam reached Touciiet rirer he or-
dered the captured horses turned loose. When
the Indians regained possession of them they
returned again toward Snake river, and the vol-
unteers continued their retrograde movement to
the mission.

Soon after reaching the mission station at
Waiiletpu, Colonel Gilliam started to return to
The Dalles, designing also to visit Oregon City
and report to the govei-nor. While camped at
Well Springs, not far from tiie battle-ground of
Sand Hollow, he was killed by the accidental
discharge of a gun, and Lieutenant-Colonel
AVaters was elected liy the regiment to its
command.

A board of commissioners had been sent by
the legislature with the volunteers to negotiate
for tlie peaceful settlement of the difficulties,
but all their attempts to bring the Indians to
terms failed. They demanded the surrender of
those who committed the murders at Waiiletpu,
and that the Indians should pay all damages to
emigrants who had been robbed or attacked
while passing through the country of the Cay-
uses. The Indians refused to do either. They

HISTORY OF WASHINOTON.

wished only to be let alone, and the Americans
to call the account balanced. As the Ameri-
cans would not do this, the Oaynses abandoned
their country and crossed the Rocky mountains
to hunt for buffalo. The volunteers could only
leave the country and return to the AVillamette
valley. This practically eniled the Caynse war
so far as active operations in the held were con-
cerned. In a few months the Indians desired
to return, but they were made to understand
that peace could never exist between them and
the Americans unless the murderers were given
up for punishment. Finally, they sent a depu-
tation of five chiefs to Oregon City to have a
talk with Clovernor Lane, who had succeeded
Mr. Abernethy as chief executive. They were
thrown into ])rison, tried, condemned, and exe-
cuted on the 3d day of June, 1850. Many

doubted their guilt. The chiefs themselves de-
clared their innocence of the murders. They
declared that there were but ten Indians eon-
cei-ned in the murders, and affirmed that they
were all dead already. It seems probable that
their story was correct in the main, and that the
men who were executed were probably not
those who perpetrated the bloody deed. Such
was the judgment of Mr. Spaulding, and such,
too, was the statement of Umhowlish, a Cay-
use chief, and others of that tribe, who were
personal friends of Dr. Whitman, as communi-
cated by them to others a few years ago.

With this execution, however, the whites in
the main were satisfied, as the Indians were
overawed by it, and fears of further hostilities
were allayed.

CHAPTER XXVI.

INDIAN WARS, CONTINUED.

Indians Generally Disti-rbed — Governor Stevens — Kamiakin — Council at Walla Walla^
General Palmer — Indians Opposed to Treating — Lawyer — A Change in the Indians'
Minds — Treaty (Joncldded — Governor Stevens Proceeds to the North — War Again
Breaks Out — Stevens Returns — A Stormy Council — Plan of Looking-Glass — Stevens
Returns to The Dalles.

T 'HOUGH the "Caynse War" had closed,
as related in the last chapter, so far as
actual hostilities were concerned, it had
left that powerful tribe and all the related
tribes east of the Cascade mountains in a jeal-
ous and embittered state of feeling. In fact
the war had only confirmed their opinions of
the disposition of the whites to encroach upon
the territory of the Indians, as well as of their
power to carry that purpose into effect unless
they were speedily checked. Measurably over-
awed, as the Indians were, by the unexpected
power with which the Americans had avenged
Waiiletpu, it was not easy for them to agree
among themselves as to the proper course for
them to take in the future, but there was ever

after that war a prophecy of even more ex-
tensive war in the very atmosphere of the
camps and councils of all the tribes east and
west of the mountains. However, notwith-
standing this embittered and ominous state of
feeling on the part of the Indians, some years
passed without any general outbreak among
them. But in all these years there were many
murders committed by individual Indians,
and by straggling bauds of various tribes, along
the emigrant road and on the shores of Puget
Sound. These murders were the occasional
breaking forth of the savage and revengeful
spirit that was seething beneath the generally
impassive surface of the Indian's life, and each
one was only a step toward the wide and dan-

HTSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

199

gerous combinations of savage force, which
clear-sighted whites saw was sure to be made at
length, when tlie Indians would make one wide
and mighty elt'ort to retrieve tbeir departing
power, and recover tiieir country from the pos-
session of the hated white man. Some of these
incidents were of the most tragic character, es-
pecially those that occurred on the line of emi-
grant travel, and to avenge them the various
bodies of United States troops stationed in the
country were sent far into the interior where
they sought out, and, as far as possible, exter-
minated the small clans that had been guilty
of these atrocities. Thus passed five or six
years of disquiet and apprehension.

Meantime no treaties existed between the
United States and the Indian tribes east of the
Cascade mountains. Governor Stevens, after
entering within the boundaries of the Territory
of which he had been appointed governor, in
1853, had conferred with these tribes conceni-
ing the sale of their lands and they had ex-
pressed a willingness to dispose of them; but,
as months elapsed and no treaties were con-
cluded, they began to regret their promises, and
gradually assumed an independent and bellig-
erent attitude toward tiie whites. This feel-
ing grew so deep and strong that, in January,
1855, Governor Stevens sent Mr. James Doty,
one of his most trusted aids, among them, to
ascertain their views on all pending points of
controversy before he opened final negotiations
with tliera. Through Doty's mediation the
Yakimas, Nez Perces Cayuses, Walla Wallas
and several smaller tribes allied to them, agreed
to meet Governor Stevens in a general council
to be held in the Walla Walla valley in May,
1805. Kamiakin. head chief of the Yakimas,
and one of the ablest Indians of his day, chose
the council ground, although it was not witiiin
the territory of his own tribe, because from
time immemorial it had been the council
ground of the related tribes of this portion of
the great Columbia valley. It was on the
southern portion of the site of the present city
of Walla Walla.

Mr. Joel Palmer, of Oregon, had been asso-
ciated by the Government with Governor Ste-
ens as commissioner to make the treaties. Prov-
viding themselves with a large quantity of In-
dian goods and agricultural implements for
gifts at the close of the council, and obtaining
a military escort of forty dragoons at Fort
Dallas, the commissioners arrived at the ap-
pointed grounds on the 20th of May. The
Indians did not begin to arrive until the 24th,
when Lawyer and Looking-Glass, chiefs of the
Nez Perces, arrived with their delegations.
Two days later came the Cayuses, and on the
28th came the Yakimas under Kamiakin. When
all had arrived thei'e were not less than 4,000
Indians encamped upon the ground.

It became evident, before the council was or-
ganized, that the majority of the Indians were
opposed to entering into any treaty; and after
negotiations were begun, on the 30th day of
the month, they proceeded very slowly for
nearly two weeks before any conclusion could
be reached.

The Indians delayed and debated, and in
every way short of positive hostilities impeded
the progress of. the negotiations. This was
partly owing to their fear that the commission-
ers would overreach them, and partly charg-
able to "politics" among the Indians them-
selves.

The chiefs were ambitious, and hence jealous
and envious of each other. The Nez Perces
especially were divided. Joseph and Looking-
Glass were unfriendly, while Lawyer, who had
already pledged his word to Governor Stevens,
remained firm in the position he had taken.
Looking-Glass was the war chief of his nation,
and had great influence. He remained away
from the council until the 8th of June, and
when he did arrive he was rude and insolent.
But Lawyer remained firm, albeit it was more
than suspected that there was a bit of shrewd
Indian diplomacy in the apparently antagonis
tic positions of these two native statesmen, the
design of which was to gain a stronger hold
upon the whites, and to secure themselves in

niSTORT OF WASHlNOtON.

the chieftainship of their tribes. Whether it
was this or bitter political rivalry between
them, it is impossible to tell. Whatever it was
their antagonisms greatly delayed the proceed-
ings of the council, and at times threatened to
defeat its purposes altogether.

At the beginning of negotiations the chiefs
of the Yfikimas, AValla Wallas and Caynses
were almost unanimous against treating. Kam-
iakin, (Jwhi, Peupeumoxmox were decided in
their opposition; and, with only Lawyer among
the leading chiefs of all these tribes in its favor?
it appeared very doubtful if any couhl be con-
cluded, and to fail in this was to render a gen-
eral war certain at once.

Thus matters remained up to Saturday eve-
ning, the 9tli of June, — at least this was tlieir ap
parent position when the council adjourned that
day. When it convened on Monday, the 11th,
a change had come over the spirit of the In-
dians' dream. This probably arose from two
causes: tirst Palmer had receded from his pur-
pose to put all the Indians on one reservation
and consented that each tribe should have a res-
ervation of its own; and, secondly, some means,
well understood among other than Indian poli-
ticians, had been found whereby the leading
chieftains had become "convinced" that it was
better for them to accede to the desires of the
commissioners, and conclude a treaty with
them. So on Monday, the 11th, all the chiefs,
including Kamiakin himself, signed the treaty,
Kamiakin declaring that it was only for the
sake of his people, and not because he agreed
with it, that he signed it. When all was con-
cluded the vast Indian camp held a great scalp
dance, in which 150 women took part, and after
which they broke up their encampments and
separated. On the IGth Governor Stevens pro-
ceeded towards the Blackfoot country, the gov-
ernment having directed him to enter into ne-
gotiations with that and other powerful tribes
in the northeast portion of the Territory. He
believed that he had secured peace with the
great tribes of the middle Columbia, and went
northward with high hopes of securing the

same result with those upon its upper waters.
Governor Stevens was accoinpanied by a spe-
cial delegation of the Nez Perce under the
special agency of William Craig. Craig was a
man of much influence among the Indians, his
wife being a Nez I'erce and he having resided
among them for many years. He always used
that influence judiciously, and hence was much
trusted by both Indians and whites. He was
also attended by Agent R. H. Lansdale, special
agent Doty, and Mr. A. II. Robie, all of whom
were men well fltted to assist him in his under-
taking. He reached the I^lackfoot country
about the middle of September, and soon con-
cluded a treaty with that powerful tribe. Scarce-
ly was this accomplished before he received
intelligence that the Yakimas, Walla Wallas
Palouses and a part of the Nez Perces had al-
ready violated the treaty of Walla Walla, and
were at- war with the whites all over the east-
ern part of Washington, and that the Indian
defection had extended to the tribes on Puget
Sound, so that the whole Territory was under
the horrors of Indian M'arfare. These great
tril)es lay directly across his pathway toward
his capital. Advices from army officers recom-
mended iiim to go home to Olympia by the w'ay
of St. Louis and New York. It was not like
Governor Stevens to take this tiniorous advice
and he determined to face toward the eiiemies
that would dispute his advance, and get among
his people at the earliest possible date. He at
once sent an express to Fort Benton for ad-
ditional arms and ammunition, and, leaving
his command to move when their supplies ar-
rived, himself moved forward with only A. H.
Robie and an Indian interpreter to Bitter Root
valley, where Agent Lansdale was in charge of
the Flatheads. At Fort Owen, in that valley, he
was joined by the Nez Perces delegation under
Looking-Glass, Spotted Eagle, and Three Fathers,
who agreed to accompany Stevens as a part of
his escort, and who also promised to send a large
party of Nez Perce warriors if necessary to es-
cort him from Lapwai to The Dalles, if neces-
sary, to defend him from the Yakimas. At Hell

HISTORY OF WASniNOTON.

201

Gate Pass he lialted until his company arrived,
and tlien crossed the 13itter Hoot mountains
in three feet of snow, and pnslied rapidly down
to the C<enr d' Alene mission. AVithin twenty-
tive miles of it, witli only two white men and
four Nez I'erces, he went forward and threw
himself into the midst of the Cd-ur d'Aleues, as
he says, "with our rifles in (ine hand and our
arms stretched out on the other side, tendering
them both the sword and the olive branch."
The Nez Perces fully co-operated with Stevens,
and the result was that the Cffiur d'Alenes gave
the governor a cordial welcome. But soon their
manner changed, and they seemed undecided
whether to commit themselves to peace or ful-
fill their engagment with emissaries of Kamia-
kin, who had left their camp only five days l)e-
fore Stevens" arrival, and enter the war com-
bination extending all over the Northwest.
Stevens did not give them any opportunity to
retract their friendly professions but hastened
on to the Spokane country, where he had re-
solved to hold a council. When he arrived here
runners were sent to the Pend d'Oreilles, lower
Spokane and Colville Indians summoning them
to the council, and to Jesuit Fathers Kavelli
and Joset, of the missions, to bring them to-
gether for that purpose.

The council was a stormy one. The Indians
demanded a promise that the United States
troops should not pass nortii of Snake river,
but this Stevens would not give. Still he so far
succeeded as to satisfy the Indians that the
stories told by Kamiakin's agents were false,
and they appeared satisfied and promised to re-
main peaceable. How far this was real could
not be told, as the imperturbable surface of an
Indian's face is no mirror to reflect the agitated
deep of his heart. An incident will illustrate
this.

Looking-Glass was one of the Nez Perces
chiefs who had signed the treaty with "Walla
Walla. After the Blackfoot council Stevens
was warned to keep a close watch on this pro-
fessedly friendly Indian; one of his own Nez
Perce g\iai-ds. lie set his interpreter to spy

upon him, and he was soon detected in explain-
ing to a Spokane chief a plan to entrap Stevens
when he should ai'rive in the Nez Perce coun-
try, and urging the Spokanes to a similar course.
Referring to this incident, Stevens said: "I
never communicated to Looking-Glass my know-
ledge of his plans, but knowing them I knew how
to meet them in council. I also knew how
to meet them in the country, and it gave me no
difficulty." Still this incident shows that Look-
ing-Glass, and without doubt, Kamiakin and
Peupeumoxmox had no sincerity when they
signed the treaty of Walla Walla, but simply
wished to gain time in which to prepare for
war.

When the Spokane council ended, the Spo-
kanes, doubtless by collusion with Looking-
Glass, and to carry out the plan laid l)y that
crafty villain for the destruction of Stevens and
his company, offered to escort him through the
country of the Nez Perces, but Stevens declined
their proffered " friendship." Instead, he en-
larged his party by enlisting a battalion of
miners to accompany him to The Dalles, so* that
he had a body of fifty. These he mounted on
the best horse of the country, and, thoroughly
Cfpiipped, then moved rapidly forward to en-
counter, for aught he knew, the whole war force
of the confederated bands. A forced march of
four days brought him to Lapwai, when the Nez
Perces, under the influence of Craig, were al-
ready assembled for a council, which was im-
mediately called by the Governor.

Up to this time Stevens had been ignorant
of the events that had been occurring among
the Yakimas, Klickitats and Walla Wallas, but
in the midst of the council an express arrived
from Walla Walla with news of the fighting in
that valley and the death of Peupeumoxmox,
together with the occupation of the country by
the Oregon troops. The next day he moved
foi'svard toward Walla Walla and The Dalles,
accompanied by sixty-nine well armed Nez
Perce-^ and the, battalion of miners organized at
Spokane, by tlie way of the seat of the war that
was raging between him and his capital on Pii

HISTOltT OF WASHINGTON.

get Sound. When be arrived, on the 19tb Jan- count of the Indian war that was now prevail-

uary, he found the country in a most deplorable j ing, not only east of the Cascade mountains

condition, as all business was suspended, and but all along the shores of the Puget Sound,
the people were living in block houses on ac-

CHAPTER XXVII.

INDIAN TVARS, CONTINUED.

Indians Concessions Strategetic— Lawyer— Kamiakin and Pecpeumoxmox — Gold Discoveries-
Indians Greatly Excited — Agent Bolon Visits Kamiakin — His Murder — The Purpose
of Kamiakin — Expedition of Major Haller — Battle at Simcoe — Haller Compelled to
Eetreat — A General War Begun — Puget Sound Volunteers — Lieutenant Slaughter's
Expedition — Expedition of Major Rains — Small Results- Indians Encouraged— "War
ON Puget Sound— Absence of Governor Stevens— Action of Acting Governor Maso\ —
People on White River Driven Prom Their Homes — The Decatur — Protest of Mr. Den-
ny Massacre on White River — Country Overrun by Hostiles — Action of Indians —

Captain Maloney's Expedition — Death of Cafi'ain Slaughter — Forces Exhausted.

ENDING the

PjliAUlAU nie eseuts recoi
chapter war had l)roken out, almost si-
multaneously on the plains of Eastern
Washington and along the Puget Sound,
and we must turn back a little, chronogically, in
order to give our reader a knowlede of its story.
It is proper also that we say it not only extended
thus over all of Washington Territory, but also
included nearly all of the frontiers of Oregon as
well, and that the history of this war east of the
Cascades involves, to a considerable extent, the
campaigns of the troops raised by Oregon as
well as those raised by Washington, although
its theater was mainly in AVashington, and so its
history belongs properly to this Territory.

Our readers ab-eady understand the result of
the Council of Walla Walla in May of 1855.
Clearly the final concessions of the leading
chiefs of the Yakima and Walla Walla tribes,
together with such chiefs as Joseph and Looking-
Glass, of the Nez Perces, were altogether strate-
getic. Tliey were at that time unprepared for
w^ar, and time roust be gained, and to gain time
they finally consented to sign the treaty. Prob-
ably Lawyer, at that time the most influential
chief of the Nez Peices, was sincerely the friend

of the whites, as his subsequent action never in-
volved him in any inconsistencies with that pro-
fession; but he could not control such men as
Looking-Glass and Joseph, of his own tribe, and
he had comparatively little influence with Ka
miakin or Peupeuinoxinox,of the Walla Wallas,
both of whom were men of great ability and
thuroughly the enemies of the whites. These
men left the council ground of Walla Walla
only to conspire for war. They sent emissaries
into all the tribes within hundreds of miles,
called and held war councils, and l)y their in-
flammatory appeals kept the minds of the tribes
far and near in a fever of excitement and alarm.
Other events also conspired to increase their
agitation. During the summer of 1855, dis-
coveries of gold were made in the upper Colum-
bia regions, and the usual rush of miners
into the newly discovered diggings took
place, many entering the country by the
way of Walla Walla, and others coming direct
from Puget Sound over the Naches pass of the
Cascades and directly through the country of
Kamiakin. The excitement grew intense. Some
of the chiefs declared tliat no Americans should
pass through their territories. Rumor.'^ of

HISTORY OP WASHINGTON.

Indian murders began to circulate among the
whites. This condition could have but one re-
sult, and that was not long in coming.

While these rumors were tilling the air Mr.
A. J. Bolon, special Indian agent, was on his
way tr) meet Governor Stevens at the Spokane
council. He had proceeded lieyond tiie Dalles,
when he met Gearry, a chief of the Spokanes,
who communicated to him these rumors, when
he resolved to visit Kamiakin in his own country
alone, to ascertain this truth, and also to con-
vince him that the whites desired peace.

Kamiakin's home was in the valley of the
Ahtanahm, a few miles above the junction of
that stream with the Yakima river. It was an
isolated valley, away from tlie usnal routes of
white travel, although a Catholic mission had
been established near it. At this time it was in
charge of Bronillette, temporarily, it is said,
as Pandosy had been in charge of it previously.
Agent Bolon, it was known, reached the mission,
had his conference with Kamiakin, and started
on his return to The Dalles. Not reaching that
place in the proper time, Nathan Olney, Agent
at that place, sent out an Indian spy, who re-
turned with the information that Bolon had been
murdered while returning to the Dalles, by the
order of Kamiakin, by Qualchien, son of Owhi,
and nephew of Kamiakin, while pretending to
escort him on his homeward journey. This
Kamiakin confessed to tiie Indian spy, whose
report was confirmed by a letter from Bronil-
lette to ( )lney, who also said that war had been
the chief topic among the Yakimas ever since
tiieir return from the Walla Walla council.

It was the purpose of Kamiakin not to begin
the war nntil winter, when he supposed no suc-
cor could reach the Dalles, and no troops cross
the Columbia; but the contagion of murder
among the Indians spread too rapidly, and so
many murders were committed that Acting
Governor Mason, in the absence of (Tovernor
Stevens in the Blackfoot country, made a requi-
sition of forts Vancoouven and Steilacoom for
troops to protect travelers in the Yakima coun-
try, and also suggested tiiat a company of

soldiers to meet Govenor Stevens in the Spokane
country in September would 1)0 of great use to
him.

Major Rains, who was in command at The
Dalles, ordered eighty-four men umler Haller
into the Yakima country to co-operate with a
force to be sent from Steilacoom over the Cas-
cade mountains. Haller moved on the 3d of
October, his objective point being the Ahtan-
ahm valley where Kamiakin resided. On the
third day, when the troops had safely passed the
timbered range of the Simcoe mountains, and were
descending a long and rocky slope toward the
Simcoe valley, some Indians appeared, and about
three o'clock in the afternoon the troops were
attacked by them on the borders of a small
stream at tlie fort of the slope, where the Indians
were concealed in the willow thickets bordering
it. A sharp engagement commenced which
lasted untU night, when the Indians withdrew,
leaving Haller with eight killed and wounded
men. In the morning the attack was renewed,
Haller moving toward a bold eminence a mile
away, and the Indians endeavoring to surronnd
him. On this eminence, without water and
with little food, the troops fought all day. After
dark an express was sent off to The Dalles to
apprise Major Ilains of the situation and obtain
reinforcements. Haller found it necessary to
retreat toward The Dalles, and, after burying
his howitzer and burning such of the baggage
and provisions as could not be transported, he
organized his command into two divisions, the
first under himself to care for the wounded and
the second under Captain Russell to act as rear
guard. His command was led up a very steep
mountain face by a mistake of his guide, but a
much safer way than would have been the trail
which ascended the same mountain by a long,
narrow canon, in which the Indians could easily
have destroyed his little army. On arriving in
Klickitat valley, south of Simcoe mountains, the
Indians, who had swarmed about his force,
abandoned the pursuit, and the reinaiuder of his
retreat was unmolested,

HISTORY OF WASBINOTON.

While this disastrous campaign of llaller was
going forward, Lieutenant W. A. Slaughter had
crossed the Cascade mountains hy the N aches
pass with tifty men into the Yakima country,
with the design of re-enforcing llaller, but, hear-
ing of the defeat of the latter and finding so
many Indians in the tield, he prudently fell hack
to the west side of the mountains.

The results of the " llaller campaign," as it
was known in the history of Washington, satis-
tied all that the Territory, in connection with
the adjoining Territory of Oregon, must prepare
at once for a heard and general war with all, or
nearly all, of the powerful tribes within its
bounds. Preparations were immediately begun
both by the military and the Territorial author-
ities. A proclamation was issued calling for
one company of eighty-seven men from Clarke
county and another from Thurston county, to
jirovide as far as ])ossiblefor their own arms and
e(j[uipments, and to rej)ort to the commanding
officers at Vancouver and Steilacoom. The slooji
of war Decatur and the revenue-cutter Jefferson
Davis were then in Puget Sound, and applica-
tions were made to them for arms, and the re-
quest was granted.

The Puget Sound mounted volunteers, with
(iilmore Hays as captain, were organized, and
reported themselves to the commanding officer
at Fort Steilacoom on the 20th of October, and
on the 2l8t were sent forward to White river as
a reinforcement to Lieutenant Slaughter, who,
as we have seen, had gone through the Xaches
pass into the Yakima country, but had again
fallen back to the upper prairie on AYhite river,
and was now there awaiting the organization of
a sufficient force to return to that country. A
company of rangers was also organized, under a
proclaination of Acting Governor Mason, and
took the field on the 23d to watch the passes
of tlie mountains and guard the settlements
from invasion from that quarter. Four com-
panies of reserves were also called for to be en-
rolled at Vancouver, Cathlamet, Olympia, and
Seattle, for any emergency that might arise.
i\Iaj(.r U.iiis, uf tlie I'egular army, who was about

to take the field in person against the Yakimas,
was appointed brigadier-general of the forces of
the Territory during the war, and James Tilton,
Adjutant-General. In conjunction with this
action on the part of Washington, several com-
panies were raised in Oregon, with J. W.
JMesmith in command with orders to proceed to
the seat of war and co-operate with Kains.

So rapidly, under the impulse of the universal
danger, were the arrangements completed and
the forces concentrated, that Rains was ])repared
to leave The Dalles for the Yakima country on
the 30th of October, with a force of about 700
men. On the ith of November, Nesmith, with
four companies of Oregon volunteers, overtook
Rains' force, and marched with it to the battle-
ground of llaller, where they arrived on the 7th.
On the 8th there was a slight skirmish with the
Indians, who were now less daring when a strong
force was ojjposed to them than when they were
confronted only by the handful of Haller, and
having fast and fleet horses they could always
easily escape pursuit.

There was little in the history of this cam-
paign of fiains that would repay the reader for
perusal, should we take time to record it. A
small fight took place at the Yakima Gap, where
that stream flows through a range of hills, just
below the present Yakima City, but the Indians
escaped, and on the 10th the command proceeded
to the Ahtanahm mission, the home of Kamia-
kin, which they found deserted. Nesmith, with
the Oregon volunteers, soon proceeded down the
Yakima to Walla Walla to hold that valley

agai

the " hostiles," while Rains left his

force to build a block house on the southern
border of the Yakima country, and reported in
person to General Wool, who had just arrived
at Vancouver with a number of officers, fifty
dragoons, and a great quantity of arms and
ammunition. General Wool suspended active
operations until he had time to plan a campaign.
Before this was done the Columbia was frozen
over, and communications with the upper coun-
try were completely cut oflf for nearly a month.
This closed the campaiun of Kains in the au^

II [STORY OF WASfflNOTOJ^.

tumn and early winter of 1855. On the whole
it tended to encourage the Indians, and whet
rather than dull their appetite for war.

While these events were transpiring east of
the Cascade mountains, other and more tragic
ones were occiirring on Puget Sound. About
the 1st of October, Mr. Porter had been driven
from his claim at the head of White river val-
ley and soon after all the families of the valley
fled to Seattle for safety. Later in the month,
while a company of nineteen rangers, under Cap-
tain Charles Eaton, were scouting the country
in search of Leschi, the Nisqually chief. Lieu-
tenant McAllister and M. Connell were killed,
and the entire party were besieged in a log
house, where they had taken refuge until succor
came. But the Indians did not push their ag-
gressions for a time, as they desired the troops
to leave the valley for the I'akima country be-
fore they made the final onslaught upon the
settlements. This was shrewd tactics on their
part, for tliey fully expected that the troops
sent to Yakima would be destroyed there, and
the settlements of the Sound country would fall
an easy prey to their vengeance.

While these ev'ents were transpiring, Gover-
nor Stevens, who was so well qualified to deal
with such questions and such people, was absent
from the scene of action. Those who had charge
of things in his absence were not so well quali-
fied to deal with them. While sincerity of pur-
pose may be accorded Acting Governor Mason,
his action and advice were not wise and judi-
cious. In company with a squad of soldiers
from Steilacoom, he visited the prairie from
which Porter had been driven, and held a talk with
the Indians who succeeded in deceixing him by
professing friendship for the whites. He re
turned to Seattle and told the people who had
fled from the valley of White river on the occur-
rences just related, that they ought to return to
their homes at once and trust to the friendly
professions of the Indians. Some listened to
his advice and returned, although such men as
Mr. A. A. Denny, and others well posted in In-
dian affairs, strongly protested against it. Even

Captain Sterrett, of the United States sloop of
war, Decatur, then in the harbor for the de-
fense of the place, was strongly inclined to join
in the advice of Mason, and only after a most
vigorous statement of the danger by Mr. Denny
did he postpone his intention of getting his ship
under weigh and abandoning the place and peo-
ple to their fate. A few days sufficed to unde-
ceive all as to the intentions of the Indians, for,
on the morning of the 28th of October, they
fell upon the farming settlements, killing W. H.
Brannan, wife and child, H. N. Jones and wife,
G. E. King and wife and Enos Cooper. Some
who escaped fled and warned the people lower
down the valley, who again fled to Seattle. The
fugitives reached Seattle about eight o'clock at
night, and the next day C. C. Hewitt, with a
company of volunteers, started for the scene of
the tragedy to bring the dead and rescue any
who were yet alive. All the country between
the Sound and the mountains, including White
river and Puyallup and contiguous valleys, was
overrun by bands of hostile Indians, and all the
region from Olympia to the Cowlitz was de-
serted by its inhabitants, who had either shut
themselves up in block-houses or gone into the
towns for protection. Fully half of the able-
bodied men of this region, if not of the whole
Territory, had entered the volunteer service, and
the other half as home-guard, had all they could
do to protect the women and children.

The authorities of the Indianservicepublislied
a notice requiring all the Indians to form en-
campments at various accessible points along
the Sound, and special'agents were appointed to
look after them. This was done for the purpose
of separating the friendly Indians from the lios-
tiles, a measure that would greatly diminish the
influence of the latter. Governor Douglas, of
the Hudson's Bay Company, very generously
sent their armed steamer Otter to remain at
Xisqully for a time, and sent with lier titty stand
of arms and a large supply of ammunition.

Captain Maloney, in command of Fort Steila-
coom, endeavored to arrange a campaign in the
Puyallup and White river regions which would

IIIt^rURY OF WASHINGTON.

uncover the liostiles and destroy or drire them
out of the country. But the country was very
difficult for campaigning, as it was heavily tim-
bered and covered with a dense undergrowth
besides. Lieutenant Slaughter, Captain Wal-
lace and Captain Hewitt were in command of
different companies which were to converge
from different directions toward AVhite Kiver
valley. Their marches were constantly har-
assed by attacks from concealed Indians. Little
but marches and countermarches was accom-
plished. The Indians waylaid them on their
marches, beat up their quarters at night, and,
without any considerable battles, kept the col-
umn in constant alarm. On the evening of De-
cember 4, while a conference was being held
between Lieutenant Slaughter and other officers
in the light of a fire near the door of a cabin,
the brave and accomplished Slaughter was shot

through the heart and died without uttering a
word. He was greatly esteemed, and his death
cast a deep gloom over the entire community.
He was of the regular army, a graduate of West
Point, and deservedly held a high personal rank
in the estimation of his brother officers. After
shooting Lieutenant Slaughter, the Indians
kept up a continuous lire for several hours, kill-
ing and wounding eight men. Soon after this
affair. Captain E. D. Keyes, afterward General
Keyes of tlie Union army, who was in command
of Fort Steilacoom, announced that it was neces-
sary to withdraw the men from the field and put
them into garrison, as many of them were sick,
and the pack-horses were worn out by the se-
verities of the travel. Accordingly they were
stationed at such points as would afford the best
protection to the settlements, and active cam-
paigning ceased for the remainder of the winter.

^^^

CHAPTER XXVIII.

INDIAN WARS, CONTINUED.

Indian Activity — ^Design to Attack Seattle — Sloop of War Decatur — Yakimas under Owhi —
Indian Camps — Council cf Indian Chiefs — A Spy Present — Time Fixed fok Attack — Cuk-
let's Camp — Attack made — Conflict all day — Indians Defeated — The N'orthern Indians
— Ships of War — Colonel Ebey Murdered — His Character — Continued Depredations.

|\^TfOTWITHSTAXDIXG the troops were
I Vj withdrawn from the field, the Indians did
I li not cease their activity. Intimations of
V their design to attack Seattle were con-

stantly alarming the people of that place. About
the 1st of January, 1856, the plans of the In-
dians to that end drew toward a culmination.
The sloop of war Decatur was still in the har-
bor. She had been injured by striking on a
reef near Bainbridge island, and her com-
mander, Captain Gansevoort, was oblitred to re-
move her batteries to the shore while repairing
her keel. While she was drawn up on the
beach the Indians resolved to begin their attack
by capturing the vessel in order to gain posses-

,sion of her arms and ammunition. Before they
were ready to make the attack, however, her re-
pairs were completed and her guns replaced on
her decks. Their failure to capture the vessel,
however, did not discourage tiie Indians, but
they continued their preparations to attack the
place. Indians from the east side of the Cas-
cade mountains, under Owhi, a Yakima chief,
mentioned elsewhere, joined those on the west
side under Coquilton. The hostile bands from
near and far had di-awn in about the little city
that then was no more than a hamlet surround-
ing a sawmill. Except the few men resident in
the place, the entire force available for its pro-
tection and the defense of the sloop of war was

HISTORY OP WASHINGTON.

the 150, all told, that manned the vessel. Over
100 of these were stationed on shore, the re-
mainder being left to guard the vessel.

Back of the little hamlet were steep, wooded
bliifls, and back of these a rough and densely
timbered country. At various points about the
place were Indian camps occupied by Indians
who claimed to be friendly. But they were not
all reliably so, even if any were, and a knowl-
edge of that fact kept the whites on a vigilant
guard. The air was full of the contagion of
murder and warfare, and the Indian camps,
especially at night, were the scenes of excited
and savage plottings. In the afternoon of Janu-
ary 25, the crew of the Decatur were placed at
their stations on the shore. Late in the evening
some strange Indians were seen carelessly saun-
tering through the streets of tlie town, which
aroused the suspicions of the people, and an In-
dian known to the whites as Curley was sent
into the camps to reconnoiter. At ton o'clock
he brought back assurances that there were no
Indians except those who had their permanent
camps in the neighborhood. Within two hours
of the time of making this report, in the lodge
of this very Indian, a council of Indian chiefs,
consisting of Leschi, Owhi, Tecumseh, Yarkke-
man and himself, was held, and plans were ar-
ranged for an immediate attack on the place.
The plan was for the "friendly" Indians to
prevent the escape of the people to the two
ships that were anchored in the bay, while the
warriors, who were assembled in the woods im-
mediately back of the town, made the assault.
In this way they expected to destroy all the in-
habitants of the place before morning, and then
they intended to attack the vessels.

Most fortunately for the people of the place,
Yarkkeman — otherwise known to the whites as
"Jim" — was present at the council in Curley's
lodge as a spy, and not as a conspirator. He
intended to put the commander of the Decatur
on his guard, and to do this must gain time.
He convinced the conspirators that a bettei-
time for attack would be after the men from the
Decatur had returned to the ship in the morn-

ing, laid aside their guns, and retired to rest.
So the time fixed for the attack was ten o'clock
in the forenoon instead of three o'clock in the
morning. Jim found an opportunity to convey
tlie intelligence of the intended attack to the
commander of the Decatur.

After the conference at Curley's lodge, the
Indians crept up to tlie very borders of the
town, and concealed themselves in squads near
each house. At seven o'clock the Decatur's
men returned to the vessel for breakfast and
rest.

At the camp of Curley there were quite a
number of non-combatants who were hurrying
into canoes, carrying their property with them,
and hastily preparing to go to some other place.
Oneof the Indian women, — the mother of "Jim,"
— on being interrogated about the matter, re-
plied that there were hosts of "Kiickitats" at
Tom Pepper's house, which was situated at the
foot of the hills, within range of the howitzer
in battery. As soou as this information was
given, the men from the sloop were ordered
ashore again, and Captain Gansevoort ordered a
shell dropped into the house where it was said
the Kiickitats were congregated. The boom of
the howitzer was instantly answered by a crash
of musketry from all along the woods in tlie
rear of the town, accompanied by the war-whoop
from 1,000 savage throats. The promptness of
the Indians in replying to the discharge of the
howitzer demonstrated that they were fully in
position for their assault, and in sufficient num-
bers to justify their expectation of its easy cap-
ture. Had their assault been made without the
general alarm caused by the firing of the how-
itzer, doubtless many of the most exposed fami-
lies would have been butchered, but in that
alarm these fled to the block-house, and but two
persons were killed. Two houses were burned
and several more plundered during the day and
evening. The salvation of the town was secured
by the range of the guns of the Decatur, which
kept the Indians so far away as to prevent their
muskets doing much execution. All day this
kind of warfare was continued, the Indians at

HI STOUT OF WASHINGTON.

times making charges upon the marines, and
being driven back from the muzzles of their
gnns. The usual bravado and gasconade of the
Indians were indulged in by some of them,
notably by Curley, either friend or enemy
of the whites as the fancy of the moment took
him. On the morning of the 27th it was found
that they had given up the contest and with-
drawn.

This attempt to capture Seattle was the great
effort of the Indians in the war upon the Sound.
It was understood from Olympia to Port Towns-
hend and Bellingham Bay. It was under the
direction of Leschi and Owhi, one at the head of
the Sound Indians and the other leading the
Yakimas and Ivlicktats from east of the moun-
tains. Had they succeeded in their attempt upon
Seattle it would have combined all the tribes
west of the Cascade mountains in a war of
extermination against the whites. Failing, these
tribes concealed their complicity in this plan
and remained neutral.

The remainder of the Indian war upon the
Sound was mainly with bands of '"-Northern
Indians" coming over from the British Colum-
bia side of the Straits of Fuca, and was mostly
conducted on the side of the whites by the Fnited
States steamers Massachusetts and John Han-
cock and the sloop of war Decatur. These In-
dians were of the Longa Hydah, Stickene and
Shineshean tribes. They were not driven from
the Sound until late in the autumn, and then

after a more severe chastisement inflicted upon
them by the guns of the vessels of war, and the
assaults of the marines under the lead of Lieu-
tenants Simms and Forest. But even this did
not conclude their incursions, for, on the 11th
of August of 1857, a body of them again landid
on Whidby island, went to the house of I. N.
Eljey, shot him, cut oif his head, robbed the
premises and escaped before the alarm could be
given. Mr. Ebey was one of the most consid-
al)le men of the Territory, and the Indians chose
him for their vengeance because of his rank and
value to the community, in revenge for the losses
inflicted upon them by the vessels of war in thg
preceding autum. Other depredations followed
during that summer, but they were of a dis-
cursive character, and w-ere met with such vigi-
lant opposition on the part of the people and
the vessels of war that comparatively little needs
to be recorded of them. They professed that
these acts were all refaliatiory for the in|uries
done them in 1856.

To the cursory reader these events may appear
but little like a real Indian war. Still the regiou
over which they spread, the small number of
the whites in the country and their scattered
condition, are al! to be taken into the account in
our history, and when these things are con-
sidered it appears doubtful if any poi'tion of the
coast really suffered more, or the people were in
greater danger from their Indian wars, than
those of Tuget Sound at this time.

^^^^^^^

HISTORY OF WASniNOTON.

CHAPTER XXIX.

INDIAN WARS, CONTINUED.

East of the Cascades — Column Moved to Walla Walla — Troops unDer Colonel Kelly —
Peupedmoxmox Slain — His Character — BATtLE on the Walla Walla — Captain Bennet*

Killed T. R. Cornilius Appointed Colonel — Column Moves Northward — Colonel

Wright — Movement of Troops — '-The Cascades" — General Wool — Weight Marches
from The Pai.les — The Cascades Attacked — Account of the Battle — Weight's Course
Approved — " Biiil Sheridan."

T'HE events of the war now re(|iiire iis to
return with our readers to the country east
of tlie Cascade mountains, wliere the most
powerful Indian tribes resided. Many had
advised a winter campaign against the Yakinias
in 1855-'5G, but Colonel Nesmith of the Oregon
nionuted volnnteers advised against it, as the
mountain trails were covered with deep snows
and his animals were broken down, as well as a
number of his men severely frost-bitten. As
the colnmn was so poorly supplied this was wise'
advice. So strong w-as the Indian combination,
and their leaders were so well acquainted with
the country in which a column must have oper-
ated, that a campaign would have been dis-
astrous, if it had not ended in the complete
destruction of the invading column. Instead
therefore of invading tlie Yakiina country from
The Dalles the column moved up the Columbia
toward Walla Walla. On the 18th of Novem-
ber it reached tiie crossing of the Umatilla,
where a stockade was erected and named Fort
Henrietta, in honor of the wife of Major Ilaller.
On tiie night of December 2d the troops, now
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kelly,
moved forward toward Walla Walla. On the
way Peupeumoxmox. or Yellow Serpent, tlie
great Walla Walla chief, met these troops with
a flag of truce displayed, and a conference was
held with him; but, as the whites suspected that
the chief was attempting to entrap them into an
ambush, the Indians with the flag were detained
as prisoners, or, as it was claimed, hostages,

while the army marched forward toward Waii-
letpn. On the way, during some firing that
produced considerable excitement, Peupeumox-
mox was shot.

He was a wealthy and powerful chieftain, and
a man of great ability. He had figured promi-
nently in the conflicts both of opinion and arms
that had marked the early years of the occupancy
of Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon by
the whites, and was considered, on the whole,
friendly to the Americans rather than to the
Hudson's Bay Company. There was much
criticism of the manner of his taking off, but, at
this time lie was undoubtedly hostile, and no
doubt had a complete understanding with
Kamiakin, so that, while there was a color of
impropriety in his dentention as a prisoner in the
manner in which he was taken off, it was after
all not so strange that in the excitement of an
attack made upon the column in advance by the
Walla Walla warriors, his guard should kill the
chief as they did. While we cannot fnlly justify
it, we cannot join in the strong sentimental
criticism of it in wliich some writers have in-
dulged. Indian conflicts cannot be strictly
judged by the codes of civilized warfare.

The fight which began at the killing of Peu-

umoxmox continued throucrh the 8th and Otliof

December, in which the whites suffered quite se-
verely. Captain Bennett, of Company P^, Oregon
Volunteers was killed, some others mortally and
quite a number severely wounded. It was esti-
mated that 100 Indians were killed and wounded.

210

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

llie battle was I'ouglit on the Walla Walla river,
near the old mission station of Dr. Whitman,
and is considered among the greatest striicrgles
(if this war.

About this time Colonel Kelly resigned and
was succeeded by T. R. Cornelias as Colonel,
to whose place Major Davis Layton, of Linn
county, in Oregon, was elevated. The year was
closing, and with it the active operations of the
forces in the field. The time up the first of
March, 1856, was spent in the reorganization of
the forces and pntting the colunin in readiness
for the summer service. This done Colonel
Cornelius set out on the 9th of March with 600
men toward the north and west. He led his
troops across Snake river and across the Colum-
bia to the mouth of the Yakima, about twenty-
five miles aboveold Fort Walla Walla, where he
arrived on the 30th. He had met but few In-
dians. On the 31st he crossed the great river,
intending to march up it through the country of
Kamiakin, who was conceded to be the leading
spirit of the war, and humble that proud chief-
tain and subdue his people. Here he received
news of a most startling nature from another
portion of the theater of war much nearer the
settlements of the whites. To the history of
this event we must now turn.

Colonel George Wright, at this time in com-
mand at Yancouver, early in March moved all
his forces but three companies to The Dalles
for employment in the Yakima country. About
the middle of the month General Wool arrived
and took command of the district. He imme-
diately ordered two of the three companies to
Fort Steilacoom on Puget Sound. This move-
ment could only have been the result of palpable
ignorance of the topography of the field he would
have to cover, and the location and strength of
the hostile tribes. It left the most exposed part
of that field practically uncovered, and especially
the pass or portage of the Cascades, over which
all troops and supplies destined for service east
of the mountains must pass. At a block-house
in this pass a company had been posted, but on
the 24th of March this too was ordered away.

leaving only a guard of eight men under a ser-
geant to protect this most important point.

This place, known technically as "The Cas-
cades," is where the Columbia river has cut its
way through the great Cascade range, and where
occur the great rapids of that stream which de-
stroy its navigation for some miles. A rough
road connected the river Iielow with tlie river
above these rapids. This road led through a
rough, rocky, heavilj timbered pass, dai'k and
dank with the shadows of the great mountains
and the enormous timber, and rendered wild and
weird by the rush and roar of the stormy waters
of the great stream which foamed angrily by.
At the upper end of the portage was a sawmill,
with several families and a store; a little lower
down the trading house of Bradford & Company.
Near the middle of the Portage lived the family
of Griswold, and at its lower end that of AV. K.
Kilbourn. From this place a trail led through
the eastern spurs of the Cascade mountains to
the northeast over the base of Mount Adams
into the Yakima country, and another up the
river to the country of the Klickitats on the
valley of that name north of The Dalles. On
these trails this point was open to the incursions
of these two powerful tribes, and it was this
point, thus exposed, that General Wool aban-
doned to' the chances of Indian cunning and
enterprise. Let us hasten to record the result.

General Wool had returned to California.
Colonel Wright had marched his whole force
out from the The Dalles, leaving his rear en-
tirely unguarded. The Yakiinas and Klickitats,
anticipating such a movement on the part of
Wright, had gathered their warriors near the
Cascades, and on the morning of the 26th of
March suddenly appeared in force in the woods
and on the rocky pinnacles about the Cascade
settlements. The hour was early, just after
the people had begun their work, and when they
were entirely unprepared to meet the savage
assault. A small steamer — the Mary — was
lying at the little wharf and about to leave for
her daily trip to The Dalles. From this point
the story of the attack can be better told by a

niSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

211

paiticipaut in tlie d-efeiice, Mr. L. AV. Coe, ad-
dressed to Mr. Putnam F. Bradford, wlio, with
liis brother, D. F. Bradford, was at that time
engaged in building a wooden tramway around
the rapids. In a letter to Mr. Bradford, written
hut two or three days after the events recorded,
he gives this graphic description of them:

"On Wednesday, March 26th, at about 8:30
A. M., alter the men had gone to their work on
the two bridges on the tramway, the Yakimas
came down upon ns. There was a line of them
from Mill creek above us to the big pond at the
head of the falls, firing siniTiltaneously uu the
men; and the first notice we had of them was
their bullets and the crack of their guns. Of
onr men at tlie first fire one was killed and sev-
eral wounded. Our men, on seeing the Indians
all run for our store, through a shower of bul-
lets, except three who stai'ted down stream for
the middle blockhouse a mile and a half distant.
Bush and his family also ran into onr store,
leaving his own house vacant. The AVatkins'
family came to our store after a boy had been
shot in their house. There was grand confusion
in our store at first; and Sinclair, of Walla
Walla, going to the railroad door to look out,
was shot from the bank above and instantly
killed.

" Some of us then commenced getting the guns
and rifles, which were ready loaded, from liehind
the counter. Fortunately about an hour Ijefore
there had been left with us for transportation
below nine United States Government rifles
with cartridge boxes and ammunition. These
saved us. As the upper story of the house was
abandoned. Smith, the cook, having come below,
and as the stairway was outside where we dare
not go, the stove-pipe was hauled down, the
hole enlarged with axes, and a party of men
crawled up, and the upper part of the house
soon secured. AVe were surprised that the Indi-
ans had not rushed into the upper story, as there
was nothing nor nobody to prevent them.

" Our men soon got some shots at the Indians
on the bank above us. I saw Bush shoot an
Indian who was drawing a bead on Mrs. Wat-

kins as she was running for our store. He drop-
ped instantly. Alexander and others mounted
into the gable under the roof, and from there
was done most of our firing. In the meantime
we were barricading in the store, making port-
holes and tiring when opportunity offered; but
the Indians were soon very cautious about ex-
posing themselves. I took charge of the store,
Dan Bradford of the scond fioor and Alexander
of the garret and roof.

"The steamer Mary was lying at the mouth
of Mill creek, and the wind was blowing strong
down stream. When we saw the Indians run-
ning toward her and heard the shots, we sup-
posed she would be taken; and as she lay just
out of our sight, and we saw smoke rising from
her, concluded she was burning, but what was
our glad surprise after a while to see her put out
and run across the river?

" The Indians now returned in force to us, and
we gave evei-y one a shot who showed himself.
They were nearly naked, painted red, and had
guns and bows and arrows. After a while Finlay
came creeping around the lower point of the
island toward our house. AVe hallooed to him
to lie down behind a rock, and he did so. He
called to us that he could not get to the store as
the bank above us was covered with Indians.
He saw AVatkins' house burn while there. The
Indians first took out all they wanted, — blankets,
clothes, guns, etc. By this time the Indians
had crossed in canoes to the island, and we saw
them coming, as we supposed, after Finlay. AVe
then saw AVatkins and Bailey running around
the river side toward the place where Finlay
was, and the Indians in full chase after them.
As oiir own men came around the point in full
view, Bailey was shot through the arm and leg.
He continued on, and, plunging into the river,
swam to the front of our store and came in
safely, except for his wounds. He narrowly
escaped going over the falls. Finlay also swam
across and got in unharmed, which was wonder-
ful, as there were showers of bullets all around
them.

iiz

UISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

"Watkins next came running around tlie point,
and we called to him to lie down behind a rock;
hut l)efoi-e he could do so he was shot in the
wrist, the l)ail going up the arm and out above
the elbow. He dropped behind a rock just as
the pursuing Indians catne following around the
point, but we gave them so hot a reception from
our house that they backed out and left poor
Watkins where he lay. We called to him to lie
still and we would get him off; but we were not
able to do so until the arrival from The Dalles
of the steamer Mary with troops, two days and
nights afterward. During this time Watkins
fainted several times from weakness and ex-
posure, the weather being very cold, and he was
stripped down to his underclothing for swim-
ming. When he fainted he would roll down
the steep bank into the river, and, the ice-cold
water numbing him, he would crawl back under
fire to his retreat behind the rock. Meantime,
his wife and children were in the store, in full
view, and moaning piteousiy at his terrible situ-
ation. He died from exhaustion two days after
he was rescued.

"The Indians were now pitching into us ' right
smart.' They tried to burn us out; threw rocks
and fire-brands, hot-irons, pitch-wood, every-
thing on to the roof that would burn. But you
will recollect that for a short distance back the
bank inclined toward the house, and we could
see and shoot the Indians that appeared there.
So they had to throw from such a distance that
the largest rocks and bundles of fire did not
quite reach us, and what did generally rolled off
the root". Sometimes the roof got on fire, and
we cut it out, or with cups of brine drawn from
the pork barrels put it out, or with long sticks
shoved off the fire-balls. The kitchen roof
troubled us much. How they did pepper us
with rocks! some of the big ones would shake
the house all over.

"There were now forty men, women and child-
ren in the house — four women and eighteen
men that could tight, and eighteen wounded
men and children. The steamer Wasco was on
tlie Oregon side of the river. We saw her steam

up and leave for The Dalles: Shortly after the
steamer Mary also left. So passed the day,
during which the Indians had burned Inman's
two houses, your sawmill and houses, and the
lumber yards at the mouth of Mill Creek. At
daylight they set fire to your new warehouse on
the island, making it light as day around us. I
suppose that they reserved this building for
night that we might not get Watkins off. They
did not attack us at night, but the second 7norn-
ing commenced as lively as ever. We had no
water, but did have about a dozen of ale and a
few bottles of whisky. These gave out during
the day. During the night a Spokane Indian
who was traveling with Sinclair, and was in the
store with us, volunteered to get a pail of water
from the river. I consented, and he stripped
himself naked, jumped out and down the bank
and was back in no time. By this time we
looked for the steamer from The Dalles, and
were greatly disappointed at her non-arrival.
We weathered it out during the day, every
man keeping his post and none relaxing in
vigilance. Every moving object, shadow, or
suspicious bush upon the hill received a shot.
The Indians must have thought the house a
bomb-shell. To our ceaseless vigilance I ascribe
our safety. Night came again; Bush's house
near by was also fired, keeping us in light un-
til four A. M., when darkness returning I sent
the S[>okane Indian for water from the river and
he tilled two barrels. He went to and fro like
lightning. We also slipped poor James Sin-
clair's body down the slide outside, as the corpse
was quite offensive.

"The two steamers now having exceeded the
length of time we gave them in which to re-
turn from The Dalles, we made up our minds
for a long siege and until relief came from
below. We could not account for it, but sup-
posed the JVinth Itegiment had left The Dalles
for Walla Walla, and had proceeded too far to
return. The third morning dawned, and lo!
the Mary and Wasco, blue with soldiers, and
tOwing a flat-boat with dragoon horses, hove in
eight. Such a haUo as we gave!

HISTORY OF WASUINOTON.

"As the steamer landed the Indians fired
twenty or thirty shot into tlieni, but we could
not ascertain with any effect. The soldiers
as they landed could not be restrained but
plunged into the woods in every direction,
while the howitzers sent grape after the retreat-
ing redskins. The soldiers were soon at our
store, and we, I think I may say, experienced
quite a feeling of relief on opening onr doors.

"During this time we had not heard from be-
low. A company of dragoons under Colonel
Steptoe went on down. The block-house of the
middle ca.scades still held out. Allen's house
was Inirned and every other one below: G.
W. Johnson, S. M. Hamilton, F. A. Cheno-
weth, the wharf-boat at the cascades, — all
gone up.

"Xe.xt in order came the attack on the Mary.
She lay in Mill creek, no fires, and the wind
hard ashore. Jim Thompson, John Woodward
and Jim Herman were just going up to the
boat from our store as they vvere fired upon.
Hamilton asked if they had any guns. No.
He went up to Inman's house, the rest staying
to help the steamer out. Captain Dan Baughman
and Thompson wentasliore on the upper side of
the creek, liauling on lines, when the firing of
the Indians became so hot that they ran for
the woods, past Inman's house. The fireman,
James Lindslay, was sliot through the shoul-
der; Engineer JBuckminster shot an Indian
with his revolver on the gang-plank, and little
Johnny Chance while climbing upon the hurri-
cane deck with an old dragoon pistol killed his
Indian, but he was shot through the leg in
doing so. Dick Turpin, half crazy probably,
taking the only gun on the steamboat, plunged
into a flat-boat lying along side, was shot, and
plunged overboard and was drowned. Fire was
soon started under the boiler and steam was
rising. About this time Jesse Kempton, shot,
while driving an ox team from the sawmill,
got on board ; also a half breed named Bourbon,
who was shot through the body. After sufii-
cient steam to move was raised, Hardin Cheno-
weth ran up into the pilot house, and, lying on

the floor, turned the wheel, as he was directed,
from the lower deck. It is needless to say that
the pilot house was the target for the Indians.
After the steamer was backed out and turned
around he did toot that whistle at them good.
Toot! toot!! toot!!! It was music in our ears.
The steamer picked up Herman from the bank
above. Inman's family, Shepperd and Vander-
pool all got across the river in skifl^s, and,
boarding the Mary, went to The Dalles.

'•Colonel George Wright and the Ninth Eegi-
ment. Second Dragoons and Third Artillery
had started for Walla Walla, and were out five
miles and camped when the Mary reached The
Dalles. Tliey received news of the attack at
11 r. M., and by daylight were back to The
Dalles. Starting down, the}' only reached Wind
mountain that night, as the Mary's boiler was
in bad condition because of a new fireman the
day before. They reached us the next morning
at six o'clock.

"Now for below. George Johnson was about
to get a boat crew of Indians when Indian Jack
came running to him saying the Yakimas had
attacked the block-house. He did not believe it,
though he heard the cannon. He went up to
the Indian village on the sand-bar to get his
crew, saw some of the Cascade Indians who
said they thought the Yakimas had come, and
George, now hearing the muskets, ran for home.
E. W. Baughman was with him. Bill .Murphy
had left the block-liouse early for the Indian
camp and had nearly returned before he saw
the Indians, or was shot at. He returned, two
others with him and ran for George Johnson's,
about thirty Indians in chase. After reaching
Johnson's he continued on and gave Hamilton
and all below warning, and the families all em-
barked in small boats for Vancouver. The men
would have barricaded in the wharf-boat but
for want of ammunition. There was considera-
ble Government freight in the wharf-boat. They
stayed about the wharf-boat and schooner nearly
all day and until the Indians began firing at
them from the zinc house on the bank. They
then shoved out. Sammy Price was shot

inSTORT OF WASniNGTON.

tlirough tlie leg in fretting the boat into the
stream. Floating down they met the steamer
Belle -with Phil. Sheridan and fifty men, sent up
on report of an express sent down by Indian
Simpson in the morning. George and those
■with him went on board and volunteered to
serve under Sheridan, who landed at George's
place and found everything burned. The
steamer returned and the Indians pitched into
Sheridan and fought him all day and drove
him with forty men and ten volunteers to be-
low Hamilton, notwithstanding he had a small
cannon. One soldier was killed.

"The steamer Belle returned the next day
(third of the attack) and brought ammunition
for the block house. Your partner, Bishop,
who was in Portland, came up on her. Steamer
Fashion, with volunteers from Portland, came
at the same time. Tiie volunteers remained at
the Lower Cascades. Sheridan took his com-
mand, and with a battean loaded with ammu-
nition crossed to Bradford's island on the Ore-
gon side, where they found most of the Cascade
Indians, they having been ordered by George
Johnson to go there on the first day of the at-
tack. They were crossing and re-crossing all
the time and Sheridan made them prisoners.
He passed a boat's crew, and as they towed up
to the head of the island and above saw great
numbers of Indians on the Washington Terri-
tory side and opposite them. Sheridan ex-
pected them to cross and fight him, and between
them and the 'friendly' (?) Indians in his
charge thought he had his hands full.

"Just then Sheridan discovered Steptoe and
his troops coming down from the Mary, sur-
prising completely the Indians, who were cook-
ing beef and watching Sheridan across the river.
But on the sound of the bugle the Indians fled
like deer into the woods with the loss of only
one killed — 'old Joanam.' But for the bugle
they ought to have captnred fifty.

"The Indians Sheridan. took on the island
were closely guarded. Old Chenoweth — chief —

was brought up before Colonel Wright, tried,
and sentenced to be hung. The Cascade In-
dians, being under treaty, were adjudged guilty
of treason in fighting. Chenoweth died game.
He was hung on the upper side of Mill creek.
I acted as interpreter. He offered two horses,
two squaws, and a little something to every
'tyee'for his life; said he was afraid of the
grave in the ground, and begged to be put into
an Indian dead-house. He gave a terrific war
whoop while the rope was being put about his
neck. I thought he expected the Indians to
come and rescue hinj. The rope did not work
well, and while hanging he muttered, ' Wake
nika kwass kojia memaloose ' (1 am uot afraid
to die). He was then shot. I was glad to see
the old devil killed, being satisfied that he was
at the bottom of all trouble. * * * * We
do not know how many Indians there were.
They attacked the block house, our place, and
drove Sheridan all at the same time. AVe think
there were not less than three hundred."

Such is the account, somewhat abbreviated,
of this, one of the most thrilling and tragic
events in all the Indian wars of Washington,
by a careful observer as well as a brave partic-
ipant in it. The course of Colonel Wright,
who had command of the United States troops
in the department, met the unqualified favor of
the people of the Territory. Here " Phil. Sheri-
dan," then a lieutenant only, first appears
prominently on the page of history. His con-
duct was greatly praised. On the part of the
Indians there was not only cunning and per-
sistency, but intelligent tactics and bravery.
That they did not succeed in entirely destroy-
ing the settlement at the Cascade was due first
to the fortuitous — or it may be Providential —
leaving of the nine United States rifles with
plenty of ammunition at the store only a few
hours before the attack began, and the Saxon
courage and determination with which the de-
fence was made.

, -^tiui-^WS^i-^^f

BISTORT OF WASniNOTON.

CHAPTER XXX.

INDIAN WARS, CONTINUED.

Colonel Weight Moves Noeth — Finds the Indians in the Naches — Eeinfoecements — Retckn
TO The Dalles — Dangee of Indian Confederacy — Stevens' Wise Action — Column feom
Puget Sound Ceosses the Cascades — Hostile Bands Scatteeed — Teoops Coni'enteated at
Walla Walla — Colonel Shaw Moves to Geande Ronde Valley — Battle in that Valley —
Majoe Maxon — Major Layton's Movements to John Day's — Battle on Burnt River —
Peace Embassy Failed — Prompt Action of Colonel Shaw — The Nez Peeces Appeaeed —
Colonel Weight — Militaey Post Established — Goveenoe Stevens Calls a General Coun-
cil—Situation Alarming — Arrival of Kamiakin — Failure of Council — Stevens' Addeess —
Military and Civil Officees Disageee —Stevens Set out for The Dalles — Attacked by
THE Indians— A Block House Built — A Temporaey Peace.

IN tlip last chapter our readers have seen that
tlie movement of Colonel Wright and his
-> troops into the Walla Walla country was
suddenly interrupted by the attack of the Yak-
inas and Klickitats on the Cascades. After he
had succeeded in relieving that imperiled point,
and had inflicted a heavy retribution on the
Indians engaged in it, he returned to the Dalles,
and soon moved northward into the Yakima
country, the scene of Major Haller's former
campaign. General Wool had instructed Colo-
nel Wright to find Kamiakin, the great chief of
the Yakimas, and hold a council of peace witli
him. He moved north from The Dalles about
the first of May, and on the 8th met the Indians
near the Naches river. Tiiey declined all his
advance toward negotiations. On the elev-
enth, having ascertained that not less than
1,000 warriors confronted him, he dispatched a
courier to the Dalles foi' reinforcements. Tiiree
companies responded to his call. With these
his effective force was onlj' 350 men. He re-
mained at this point for several weeks vainly
endeavoring to hold a council with Kamiakin.
No chiefs came near him, although a few In-
dians visited him occasionally to spy upon his
movements. The Indians at last moved away
from the vicinity, and nothing was left the
Colonel but a return to The Dalles, having ac-
complished nothing, and only leaving the In-
dians more firmly ti.xed in their liostility, and

the danger of a thorough confederacy of all the
tribes east of the mountains against the whites
more imminent.

The war on the Sound had closed. Governor
Stevens, who had but recently passed through
the country of the hostiles, saw the peril, and
early in May, while yet Colonel Wright was in
the Yakima country, with his characteristic en-
ergy began the organization of a force to pre-
vent it. His plans were comprehensive. Their
main elements were to move with a strong
show of force eastward from the Sound over
the Naches Pass into tiie Yakiiua country and
northward from The Dalles into the same re-
gion, and occupy the Walla Walla region also
with a large column, so that the Indians would
be thrown back from the settled portions along
the Columbia river and Puget Sound to the in-
terior, and thus fully occupy them in defeiul-
ing their own country from invasion. He could
also thus be in readiness for a winter campaign
if it was necessary to undertake it.

Doubtless Governor Stevens better compre-
hended the perilous situation than did General
Wool, or even Colonel Wright, although the
latter always judged intelligently and acted
efiiciently when not obstructed by the prejudices
and stubbornness of his superior. Under date
of June 8, the governor wrote to the Secre-
tary of War: "All the information I have re-
ceived goes to satisfy me that, unless the most

2l8

IirSTORT OF WASnTNOTOK.

vigorous action is at once taken, all the tribes
from the Cascades to the Bitter Root will be in
the war, a portion of the Nez Perces alone
excepted. * « » If the troops reach the
Walla Walla before an overt act lias been
committed, 1 am certain that the combination
can be broken up and that the Nez Perces and
the Indians on and in the neighboi-hood of the
Spokane will remain friendly."

In pursnanceof this plan the column from the
Sound, under the command of Lieutenant Colo-
nel B. F. Shaw, moved eastward over the Cascade
mountains aliout the middle of June, arriving
on the Wenass. on the 20th. Here Colonel
Shaw received orders to push forward to Walla
Walla, and, uniting his force with that moving
eastward from The Dalles, take command of
the whole. The united force amounted to 400
men. This display of force had salutai'y effect
on the condition of the interior, as it induced
the Spokanes to decline a union with the
Yakimas and other hostile tribes, though that
tribe was strongly urged thereto by Kamiakin
at a council held to consider that question.
Still, though declining active participation in
the war, the Spokanes did aid the hostile party by
giving them hospitality and moral support.
Their neutrality was insincere, if it was not
even cowardly and treacherous. At this period
the hostile bands were much scattered. The
son of Peupeumoxmox was at the head of a
large camp at Walla Walla. The Klickitats aiul
Yakimas were in the vicinity of Priest's Rapids
on the Columbia. Others were on the head of
John Day's river in Oregon and scattered through
the Blue mountains and Grande Ronde and
Powder river valleys. Another large camp of
renegades from all the tribes was north of Snake
river and in the vicinity of the Clearwater.

The force that was concentrated at Walla
Walla was known as the "Second Regiment
W. T. Mounted Volunteers," and was under the
command of Colonel B. F. Shaw, with William
Craig, an old mountaineer, who was living
among the Nez Perces, as Lieutenant Colonel.

He had organized a company of sixty of these
friendly Indians, led by "Spotted Eagle," to
co-operate with volunteers. G. Blankenship
and H. J. G. Maxon were majors of the first
and second battalions. Of the six companies con-
stituting this force four were from Washington
Territory and two from Oregon. The command
went into camp on Mill creek, two miles above
the present city of Walla Walla, and a pack
train of 150 mules, loaded with supplies for the
friendly Nez Perces, was immediately sent to
them under the command of A. H. Robie as spe-
cial agent. On the 14th of July, Colonel Shaw
himself moved with a column of lt)0 men, with
ten days' rations, to attack a band of hostiles con-'
centrated in Grande Ronde valley. He entered
the valley on the evening of the 16th, having
been guided through the Blue mountains by
Captain John, a Nez Perces chief. The report
of Colonel Shaw is interesting, but too circum-
stantial and elaborate for our pages. Its sub-
stance is, that, on arriving in Grande Ronde
valley he found the Indians in force along the
Grande Ronde river, and immediately made
dispositions to attack them. He pushed for-
ward Captain Miller's comp'iny, supported by
those of Maxon, Henness, and Powell, and a de-
tachment of Goff's company under Lieutenant
Waite, with orders to dislodge the Indians.
This advance was promptly met by a large body
of Indians, who came forward whooping and
singing, one of them waving a white man's
scalp on a pole. A desire for a conference hav-
ing been signified by the Indians, Captain John,
the Xez Perces guide, was sent forward. When
he reached the Indians they cried out to each
other, " Shoot him," whereupon he retreated to
the command. A charge was immediately
ordered. The charge was successful, and the
Indians were broken and dispersed, and some of
them were killed. The conflict, at various
points, continued for some time, when the
Indians fled across the valley toward the rocky
canons leading toward Powder river. Colonel
Shaw continued the pursuit of the fl ving savages

HISTORY OF WASIIINOrON.

until he had but five men with hiin, leaving his
command scattered across the valley, their
horses being completely exhausted.

While Col. Shaw was engaged in this conflict,
Captain Maxon was engaged with another party
on another portion of the field. His contest
was, like Shaw's, soon terminated, and he,
having become separated from the main com-
mand, returned over the mountains to Walla
AValla, Col. Shaw following on the 21st, as the
Indians had all fled from the immediate vicinity
of the troops.

Showing the extensive combination of the
Indian tribes in this war, it may be stated that
in this battle were Indians of the AValla AValla,
Umatilla, John Day, Tygli, Des Chutes and
Snake tribes, led by some of their most re-
nowned chiefs, among whom were Stock Wliitey
of the Dee Chutes, and Tygh, Achakiah and Win-
imsnoot of the Cayuse, Tahkiason of Peupeu-
moxmox, Walla Walla, and many otliers of
lesser note.

A small column of abont 200 men under
■ Major Layton and Captain Goff was also directed
against the Indians on John Day's river. These
retired before the troo,ps into the recesses of the
mountains between John Day and Powder
River valleys, and there awaited the advance. A
battle was fought on the head of Burnt River
on the fifteenth of July, and continued on the
sixteenth, but on the seventeenth the Indians
disappeared, and the march of the columns to-
ward Grande Ronde valley was resumed. From
this point the column returned over the Blue
mountains to the general rendezvous on. Mill
creek.

When Colonel Shaw reached Mill creek
from the Grande Ronde expedition he found
that his embassy of peace to the Nez Perces un-
der Special Agent Robie had failed. The war
party in that tribe, even, had gained the ascend-
ency, and Robie had been ordered out of their
country with his goods. The complication
was now more difficult, and the fears of Gov-
ernor Steven= as to a universal combination of
these powerful tribes seemed about to l.>e rea

ized. But Colonel Shaw acted promptly and
intelligently in the trying emergency. He made
his late expedition to Grande Ronde, and his
complete victory over the strong combination
of his tribes there, the ground on which he could
successfully appeal to the fears of Nez Perces.
He immediately sent the Nez Perces chief, Cap-
tain John, to his countrymen at Lapwai, with
detailed intelligence of that event, and also with
this plain but decisive message: "I am your
friend. I have not come to fight you,. but the
hostiles; but if you Ijeat your drums for war, 1
will parade my men for battle."

This message, enforced by the news of his
victory in Grande Ronde, decided the question.
The peace party again gained control of the
tribe and the great danger was averted. It
needed only that the JStez Perces should declare
for war to make the combination perfect from
California to British Columbia, and to let loose
five thousand warriors as a cordon of consum-
ing fire around all the white settlements of all
the northwest. It was the battles of Grande
Ronde and Burnt river, so small and compara-
tively insignificant in themselves, and fought
hundreds of miles away from the center of the
Nez Perces tribe, thatmade it possible to secure
even this doubtful friendship of that most
powerful of all the tribes of the interior.

Colonel Shaw remained in camp on Mill
creek. Colonel Wright had returned to The
Dalles from his bootless Yakima expedition.
He decided now to carry out the design from
which he had been drawn by the attack on the
Cascades previously related, that of establishing
a military post in the AValla Walla country.
This duty he assigned to Lieutenant Colonel E.
J. Steptoe, placing under his command a battal-
ion of two hundred and fifty men. In connec-
tion with this the people were notified that the
treaties that had been negotiated with the Indi-*
aus were not yet in force, as they had not bsen
ratified by the Senate, and conseqnently the
country was not yet open for settlement. As
soon as this notice was promulgated. Governor
cteveus, having conferred with Colonel Wright

HISTOET OF WASHINGTON.

as to his plans, went np to the camp at Walla
Walla to muster ont the volunteers whose term
of enlistment expired on the eighth of Septem-
ber, by which time it was expected that Step-
toe's battalion would arrive to relieve them. On
his arrival at the camp of Colonel Shaw he sent
out a summons to all the tribes inviting them to
a general council in the Walla Walla valley.
Steptoe's command arrived and went into camp
on the lifth of September, and orders were pro
mulgated to the volunteers to start for home on
the eleventh.

By the evening of the teutli the Indians in-
vited to the council had all arri\ed and camped
on the council ground except the Yakimas un-
der Kamiakin. They were all hostile except a
part of the Nez Perces. The delay of the Yak-
imas in coming postponed the departure of the
volunteers and Governor Stevens for the issue
of the council. The council opened on the elev-
enth, and continued on the twelfth and thir-
teenth in the absence of Kamiakin, but there
was little progress toward a settlement. The
condition was so alarming that Governor Stevens
moved his camp to the immediate vicinity of
Steptoe's. Kamiakin had encamped on the
Touchet,a few miles away, and everything showed
that the hostiles only awaited his arrival to at-
tack the camp of Stevens, which was indiscreetly
located some live miles distant from that of
Steptoe. The plans of the Indians were discon-
certed by this movement of the Governor, as
they expected, on the arrival of Kamiakin, to at-
tack his camp, which was guarded by less then
a hundred men. When the camp was moving
up toward Steptoe's it met Kamiakin and his
warriors coming. This was a great surprise to
the wary chieftain, and before he could perfect
his arrangements the two camps were united
and his most favorable opportunity to strike an
effective blow was gone.

The council, which had been adjourned a day
or two, now opened on the sixteenth. The in-
fluence of Kamiakin was controlling over the
Indians, and all efforts to make an arrangement
with the hostiles, or to do away with the dissat-

isfaction of the Nez Perces, being unavailinfr,
on the seventeenth the general council closed.
The next day a separate council was held with
the Nez Perces. This, too, closed without a
favorable result. At its close Governor Stevens
made a short and plain address to the Nez
Perces, in which he expressed his regrets that he
had failed in his mission and said, "Follow
your own hearts. If you wish to go to war, go."
The propositions of the Governor were, uncon-
ditional submission to the justice and mercy of
the Government and surrender of the mur-
ilerers.

The justice of history requires that it be said
here that there was not harmony between the
civil and the military authorities. The inherent
and cultivated jealousies between the two had
kept them at cross purposes all through the war
up to this time. The chapter of their disagree-
ments reveals much acrimony and bitterness on
both sides, and, as a civilian is sure to think, a
great want of the proper appreciation of the
condition and needs of the country, or else a
criminal indifference to them on the part of
the army in the field. As the story of this disa-
greement, beginning with General Wool and
descending through rank and tile, is too volum-
inous for our pages, and must be dealt with cir-
cumstantially if at all we can only state it as a
general fact, and say that these personal jeal-
ousies and rivalries did infinite harm to the
country in every way, and finally greatly pro-
longed and greatly intensified the wars of the
Territory.

Something of this appeared in the afternoon
of the day in which Governor Stevens held his
last council with the Nez Perces. Colonel Step-
toe informed the Indians that he came there,
not to fight them, but to establish a post, and
trusted that they would get along as friends,
and asked them to come and see him the next
day a little afternoon. However, they declined.
In the meantime, at eleven o'clock. Governor
Stevens raised his camp and set out for The
Dalles, forming his whole party into order of
battle and moving away from the presence of

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the Indians prepared for a contlict. His pre-
cautions were wise, for lie had not reached three
miles from the camp before the Indians attacked
him. He moved on in close order a mile or
more to water, where he took position in a low
open basin, formed a barricade of his corral and
proceeded to defend himself. The fight was
protracted far into the night, with many inci-
dents of daring on the part of the Indians as
well as much courage on that of the volunteers.
Stevens sent a courier to Steptoe notifying
him of the state of affairs. Steptoe replied that
the Indians had burned up the grass around his
camp, and requested the return of the volun-
teers so that he might have the use of their
wagons for the transportation of his camp ma-
terial to the Umatilla, where he could find suste-
nance for his animals. On the reuniting of the
volunteers and regulars the next day, it was re-
solved, at Stevens' urgent advice, to build a block
house where they were, leave all the supplies
with one company to defend them, and Colonel
Steptoe to march to The Dalles, procure rein-
forcements and additional supplies, and return
prepared for a vigorous winter campaign for the

subjugation of the Indians. In ten days the
block house was completed, and on the 23d of
September the column took up its march, reach-
ing the The Dalles on the 2d of October.

So far as fighting was concerned, this was
practically the end of the war at this time. Early
in JSTovember Colonel Wright marched into the
Walla Walla valley at the head of the regular
troops, where he held a council with the tribes
and agreed on terms of peace. The terms were:
immnnity to the Indians for past misconduct;
treaties not to be enforceil until ratified by the
Senate; and no white men to be permitted to
settle in the country without the consent of the
Indians. This agreement may be considered as
ending the war, or, to speak more accurately,
temporarily composing the troubleand relieving
the Indians from the contemplated winter cam-
paign, and giving them time for recuperation
and preparation for further conflicts. It was
simply an armed truce, purchased at great price
by the army, and sure to be broken at an early
day by one or the other, if not by both, of the
belligerent parties.

id:- ^

IIISTURT OF WASJIINGTON.

CHAPTER XXXI.

INDIAN WARS, CONCLUDED.

IiNDiANS IN A Hostile Fkamk — Steptoe's E.xpedition — Ti.motiiy — In the Pkesence of the Hos-
TiLES — Battle of Steptoe's Butte — Whites Defeated— Rkteeat — Geneeal Indian Com-
bination — General Clarke's (Jourse — Colonel AVright — Treaty with the Nez Peroes —
Wright's Advance Northward — Battle of " Four Lakes " — Battle of " Spokane Plains"
— March to Spokane River — Geary Visits Wright's Camp — Indian Horses Taken and Shot
— CoEUR d' Alene Cou&cil — Spokane Council — Kamiakin — Owhi — Qualchien Arrested
AND Hung — Owhi Shot — Close of the War.

[ 1\ITH the .close of 1856 there was at least

¥/

at semblance of peace with the Indians
all over the Territory. The volunteers
had been disbanded, but the regular forces had
been greatly increased, and were stationed at
various points over the Columbia, on Puget
Sound and in the Walla Walla country.

The Indians, however, were still in a hostile
frame, and all through 1857 the spirit of war
was in the air. A general risinir of the tribes
was greatly feared in the spring of that year,
but did not occur. Ijut it was sure to come, and
but little provocation was rei^uired to bring it.

Early in April Colonel Steptoe, who was in
command at Walla Walla, informed General
Clarke, commanding the department, that an ex-
pedition to the north of Snake river i^eenied to
be required, as the Indians in the Colville re-
gion were hostile. Two white men on their way
to the Colville mines had been murdered by the
Palouses, who had also made a foray into the
Walla Walla country and even driven off the
cattle belonging to the fort. The Palouses were
not a strong tribe, and Steptoe did not deem a
large force necessary, but believed they should
be chastened to prevent future and perhaps
greater trouble. On the 6th of May Steptoe
left Walla Walla with 180 dragoons, and, in a
leisurely way, proceeded U]) the jVez Perces trail
toward Snake river, which they reached at the
month of the Alpowa, where resided the Nez
Perce chief Timothy. Timothy ferried the little
army over the river, and with a lund of his men

accompanied it northward to\vard the Spokane
country as its guide.

This Indian, en passant, is worthy of a brief
notice. He was a large man, with a square,
open, benignant countenance, who had never
faltered in his friendship to the whites. Under
the missionary labors of Mr. Spaulding at
Lapwai, not far away from Timothy's home, he
liad embraced the Christian faith, atid was the
iirst Indian fo be propounded for membership
in the Presbyterian Church under Mr. Spauld-
ing's labors. He was a sincere, honest, unaffected
man, securing the confidence of all who knew
him, and living a sober, industrious and Chris-
tian life. In later years the writer knew him
well, and has often sat with him on the ground
under the shade of one of the great apple trees
on the Alpowa creek, whose seed was planted by
Mr. Spaulding in 1837, near the tepee of the
then youthful Timothy, and conversed with him
of the men and the times of which he now writes.
Not more than a decade ago his white soul passed
into the eternity of the good.

On the morning of the 16th of May, having
crossed Snake river and passed on toward the
Spokane, Steptoe suddenly found himself con-
fronted by a force of not far from a thousand
Indian warriors in their war paint determined
to dispute his advance further northward. They
were Ealouses, Spokanes, Coeur d' Alenes, Yaki-
mas, and warriors of the smaller related tribes.
They had taken position near a ravine through
which the road passed and where they could assail

niSTORT OF WASIIlNOroN.

the troops t'roni the front and flanks, wliile thej
themselves would be sheltered by the trees and
brush and rocks from the sight of the soldiers.
Seeing the daiiirer Steptoe halted his troops and
held a parley with the Spokanes, but the Indians
declared their intention to flght, declaring that
they would not permit the soldiers to cross
Spokane river. Assured now that he would be
compelled to fight Steptoe turned aside to avoid
the ravine, and in about a mile encamped near a
small lake. The Indians had closely followed
the troops all the way, taunting them with in-
sulting words and gestures, but no shots were
fired, each party being anxious that the otlier
should be tlie aggressor. The dragoons did not
dare to dismount even after they had reached
the place for encampment. They had only their
small arms, and were not at all prepared to tight
the Indians.

In the evening a number of the Indian chiefs
rode up to the camp to hold a parley with Step-
toe, and ascertain the cause of the invasion of
their country by the soldiers. They professed
to be satisfied with his explanations, but still
maintained an unyielding determination that he
should not advance into the Spokane country.
Seeing their determination, and feeling his own
weakness, Steptoe resolved to retreat, and on the
morning of the 18th began his return toward
the Palonse. About the time the column started
Father Joset, of the Coeur d' Alene mission,
with Vincent, a Coeur d' Alene chief, rode up to
Steptoe, and as they rode along held a conference
with him. The Indians were following and
flaidving the little force. In the midst of the
interview the chief was called away, and firing
was immediately begun by the Palouses, and,
in a shoi't time, by the whole Indian force. The
small column was moving in close order, the
pack train in the center, guarded by a dragoon
company, with a company in front and rear. As
it crossed a small creek a movement was made
by Lieutenant Greig with one company to occupy
a hill which the Indians were attempting to gain
to get at the head of the advance. The soldiers
reached it first, when the Indians at once moved

for one that commanded it. Greig divided his
little force in order to drive them from the new
position.

By this time all were engaged, — not far from
1,000 Indians against less than 150 whites. The
Indians circled the little force with fire. Charge
after charge was made to break the array of yell-
ing savages that was about them. In one charge,
where the company of Captain Greig and that of
Lieutenant Gaston met in a triangle among the
swarming warriors, Zachary, brother-in-law of
Vincent, the Coeur d' Alene chief, and Victor,
an influential chief, also a Coeur d' Alene, and
some twelve of their warriors, were slain. The
rage of the Coeur d' Alenes at this loss was terri-
ble, and they had soon revenged themselves.
The troops kept moving forward under a raking
fire. To stop was to be surrounded at once, and to
bs3 surrounded was destruction to all in the com-
mand. They were in an open country of high
hills and quite a distance from water. About
11 o'clock Captain Oliver, H. P. Taylor and
Lieutenant William Gaston, both of the first
dragoons, were killed, together with a number of
the men. The remainder were gathered" on a
rising ground, while every hill around swarmed
with exulting foes. It was apparent that the
march to water could not be made by daylight,
and nothing remained but to defend themselves
as best they could where they were and wait for
the night. They lay on the summit of a hill, on
a small plain, and orders were given to picket
their horses, saddled and bridled, and the men
were directed to lie flat on the ground and pre-
vent the Indians taking the hill by cliarges.
They were successful, but toward evening, as
their ammunition began to give out, and the men
were suffering so greatly for the want of water
and from fatigue, that it was with difiiculty the
three remaining officers could inspire them even
to defend themselves. Six of their comrades
were dead and eleven others were wounded.
Many of the men were recruits, now first under
fire, and it was not wonderful that their courage
had failed them in such ,an hour. So night
came on.

HIHTORT OF WASUINOTON.

Nothing remained now but flight. The bodies
of the fallen whicli could be reached were buried,
and taking the best horses and a small supply of
provisions; and, guided by Timothy along a dif-
ficult way that the Indians had left unguarded,
the soldiers crept silently away about 10 o'clock
and hastened toward Snake river, which they
reached on the morning of the 19th. Tliey suc-
ceeded in crossing to its southern shore without
the loss of another man. The Indians, apparently
satisfied with their victory, and probably engaged
in their distributing the plunder left on the
battlefield by the defeated troops, did not follow
them. From Snake river Steptoe returned to
Walla Walla.

This battle occurred on what is known as
" Steptoe Butte,'" called by the Indians Tehoto-
miinme — about seven miles from the present
town of Colfax, a bald eminence that overlooks a
vast extent of the " Palouse country," and one of
the finest regions of the State of Washington.

There could be but one result of this victory
of the Indians. A league of all the most power-
ful tribes of the interior, namely, the Spokanes,
the Qoeurd' Alenes, the Palouses, the Yakimas,
with a portion of the Nez Perces, was formed at
once, and a general outbreak took place. The
Indians became everywhere bold and defiant.
Small parties of whites were cut off in every
part of the country, and the Indians even
threatened Fort Walla Walla itself. It must
now be war indeed.

General Clarke took immediate steps to meet
the emergency. Troops were withdrawn from
Fort Yuma on the Colorado, Fort Joius, Fort
Umpqua, and even from San Diego on the bor-
ders of Mexico, and ordered to concentrate on
the Columbia. An expedition was resolved
upon that should not repeat the blunders of that
of Steptoe. The command of the expedition was
committed to Colonel Wright, an oflicer every
way qualified to direct it. By the 1st of Au-
gust all the preliminary movements were com-
pleted, and the troops destined to participate in
the campaign were united at Fort Walla Walla.
At the same time that Colonel Wright was to

conduct the campaign from Walla Walla into
the Spokane country. Major Garnett was to lead
one of 300 men into the Yakima country to
establish a post and act in co-operation with the
movement of Colonel Wright.

Before leaving Walla Walla Colonel Wright
called a council of the Nez Perces, and conchided
with them a treaty of friendship, binding them
to assist the United States in wars with any
other tribes, and binding the United States to
assist them in like cases at the cost of the Govern-
ment, and also pledging the United States to
furnish their arms whenever their services were
required. Though this treaty was signed by
only a part, and not the most influential, of the
Nez Perce chiefs, yet it had a gooa effect in
detaching the greater part of that powerful tribe
from the hostile coalition, and securing a com-
pany of thirty, Nez Perce volunteers during the
campaign. These were dressed in United States
uniform, and placed under the command of
Lieutenant John MuUaii to act as guides and
scouts.

On the 7th of August Captain Keyes, with
the Third Artillery, led the advance from
Walla Walla toward Snake River, which was
reached on the 11th at the mouth of the Tucan-
non. Here a fort was built and called Fort
Taylor, in honor of Captain Taylor, who was
killed at the battle of "Steptoe's Butte."

On the 18th Colonel Wright arrived, and on
the 25th the crossing of Snake river was begun,
and was completed on the morning of the 26th.
The march of the column northward was over
an open and lather desolate country, — at this
season of the year quite difficult to traverse on
account of the scarcity of water. On the 29th,
however, the troops entered the scattering pine
forests that stray down into the plains from the
western and southern slopes of the Coeur d'
Alene mountains. On the evening of the 30th,
after a long day's march, just as camp was
formed, the Nez Perce scouts brought intelligence
of the approach of a large body of Spokanes,
evidently a recunnoissance from some larger
force in the neighborhood. The dragoons were

U I STORY OF WASHINGTON.

sent forward, but -the Indians retreated before
them. The troops had not marched far on the
Slst before parties of hostile Indians appeared
on the surrounding hills, but, though some
shots were fired, no serious attack was made.
According to Indian tactics these small parties
were decoys, designed to lead the troops on to
where the main party had chosen their ground
aliead in a strong position for attack. Just
before reaching camp for the night, the Indians
rode up near the column and made a rather
spirited attack on the rear guard. The troops
met the attack skillfully, and the Indians re-
treated.

The ne.xt day, September 1st, occurred what
is known as the "Battle of the Four Lakes."
Colonel Wright had designed resting his com-
mand here for a few days, and had encamped
accordingly. It was a beautiful spot, delight-
fully inviting to repose. The "Four Lakes,"
one of which is the famed "Medical Lake," are
beautiful bodies of water of from a quarter of a
mile to a mile in diameter, embosomed in the
hills, whose sides and summits are sprinkled
with pines, beyond which to the west stretch-
es away an unlimited sweep of grassy prairies.
The Indians, however, had been awaiting him
here, and did not feel disposed to delay their
warlike welcome. The morning found their
numbers multiplied. Their manner was defiant
and insolent; and no one knows better how to
be insolent and insulting in look and word and
action than an Indian. So, at eight o'clock,
Colonel Wright issued orders to have the artil-
lery battalion in readiness, as it might be called
out at a moment's notice. Shortly afterward the
whole force was called into position, and order-
ed to drive the enemy fronj the hills. This was
soon done, and the Indians concentrated on the
open plain below and to the westward, prepared
to receive* the attack of the soldiers in tlieir
own way of rude warfare. A pai-ticipant in
the battle, Lieutenant Kip, tluis describes the
scene:

'•On tlie plain below us we saw the enemy.
Es'ery spot seemed alive with the wild war-

riors we had come so far to meet. They were
in the pines on the edge of the lakes, in the
ravines and gullies, on the opposite hillsides,
and swarming over the plain. They seemed
to cover the country for some two miles.
Mounted on their fleet, hardy horses, the crowd
swayed back and forth brandishing their weap-
ons, shouting their war cries, and keeping up a
song of defiance. Most of them were armed
with Hudson Bay muskets, while others had
bows and arrows and long lances. They were
in all the bravery of tlieir war array, gaudily
painted and decorated with their wild trappings.
Their plumes fluttered above them, while be-
low skins and trinkets and all kinds of fan-
tastic embellishments flaunted in the sunshine.
Their horses, too, were arrayed in the most glar-
ing finery. Some were even painted, and with
colors'to form the greatest contrast, the white
being smeared with crimson in fantastic figures,
and the dark-colored streaked with white clay.
Beads and fringes of gaudy colors were lianginof
from their bridles, while the plumes of eagle's
feathers, interwoven with the mane and tail,
fluttered as the breeze swept over them, and
completed their wild and fantastic appearance.

" By Heavens ! it was a glorious siglit to see
Ttie gay avray of their wild chivalry."

As ordered, the troops moved down the hill
toward the plain. As the line of advance
came within range of the minie rifles, now
for the first time used in Indian warfare, the
firing began. The fire grew heavier as the line
drew nearer, and, astonished at the range and
efFtctiveness of the fire, the entire array of
dusky warriors broke and fled toward the plain.
The dragoons were now ordered to charge and
rode through the company intervals to the front,
and then dashed down upon the foe with head-
long speed. Taylor's and Gaston's companies
were tliere, and soon they reaped a red revenge
for their slain heroes. The flying warriors
streamed out of the glens and ravines and over
the open plain until they could find a refuge
I'roin the flashing sabers of the dragoons. When

HISTORY OF WASIIINOrON.

they had found the refuge of the wooded hills
the line of foot once more passed the dragoons
and renewed their fire, driving tlie Indians over
the hills for about two miles, where a halt was
ordered as the troops were nearly exhausted.
The Indians had almost all disappeared, a single
group only Eemaining apparently to watch the
whites. A shell fired from a howitzer bursting
over their heads sent them also to the refuge of
the ravines. Thus the battle ended. The In-
dian loss was considerable, probably not less
than fifty or si.xty killed and wounded, while,
strange to say, not a soldier was injured. This
was owing to the use, now for the first time, of
the long-range rifle by the soldiers. The Indians
were panic-struck at the efl'ect of their tire at
such great distances. Among the Indians killed
were a brother and brother-in-law of Gearry,
the head chief of the Spokanes.

For three days Wright rested his troops in
camp near the field of battle. On the 5th of
September the column resumed its march to-
ward the Spokanes, and in five miles he came
again upon the Indians, collected in large num-
bers on the plain, as if meditating an attack.
They rode along parallel to the troops for some
distance, all the while increasing in number
and in boldness. As the column advanced the
Indians set fire to the grass which burned with
great fierceness, the wind blowing it toward
the troops. Under cover of the smoke the In-
dians spread themselves out like a fan before
and on either side of the troops. The pack
train was closed up under guard of Captain
Dent's company of rifles, the Third Artillery
under Lieutenants Ihris and Howard and David-
son's company of dragoons, while the rest of
the command prepared to repulse the enemy.
Four companies of the Third Artillery were at
once deployed on the right and left. The
men, flushed with the results of the last battle,
dashed through the flames, charged and drove
the enemy before them. A chief, who had up-
on the saddle of his horse the pistol used by
Lieutenant Gaston in the Steptue Butte figlit,
was killed. At length the Indians were driven

into the plain, where the dragoons under Lieu-
tenant Pender and Major Grier charged and
swept the field. The fiying stragglers gathered
in groups in the surrounded forests, but these
were easily dispersed, and the troops moved
forward, with flankers thrown out, toward the
Spokane river, where the troops encamped,
having marched during the day twenty-fiv(
miles, the last fourteen miles tighting all the
way.

Five hundred Indians were engaged in this
battle, called the Battle of Spokane Plains.
Quite a number of Indians were killed, and
Kamiakin, the great war chief of the Yakimas,
was wounded. On the 6th the forces remained
in camp on the Spokane, but on the 7th moved
up the river a few miles, and camped just above
Spokane Falls. Soon after the forces had camp-
ed Gearry crossed the river and came into
the camp to have a talk with Colonel Wright.
He professed to be opposed to the war, but claim-
ed that he could not control his men. This
was probably true, but Colonel Wright adminis-
tered a very plain talk to him, and told him to
communicate to all the Indians he should fall
in with what he had said. He also ordered him
to send a messenger at once to Moses and
Big Star, other Spokane chiefs, to bring in their
people, and to return to-morrow with his own
people at an hour after sunrise. If they and
their people were tired of war and wanted peace
he would give them peace, if they would bring
everything they had, — arms, women and children,
— and lay them at his feet. On the same day
Palatkin, a noted Spokane chief, who had been
in the fight against Steptoe, and also in those of
the first and fifth, came into the camp. To him
Wright repeated what he had said to Gearry,
and, as he was known to have been a leader in
the recent battles, he was detained as a hostage,
while he sent a warrior to bring in his people.

On the 8th the march was resumed. In about
nine miles the Indians were overtaken, driving
all their horses into the mountains, instead of
surrendering them as they had promised. These
were all captured by the troops, and on the

HISTORY OF WASUINOTON.

following day, after selecting 130 of them for
the service of the troops, the rest were shot.
They beloTiged to Tilkohitz, a Palouse chief aud
a notorious freebooter, and it was not only an
act of just retribution to him, but one fully de-
served by all the tribes to thus deprive them of
the means of making war upon the whites.

These battles, with the destruction of their
horses, and the hanging of several Indians who
had been engaged in the murders of the whites
throughout the country, completely broke the
spirit of the Indians. Colonel Wriglit appointed
a council to be held at the Cceur d' Alene mis-
sion on the 17th. Vincent, who had not been
in the recent battles, made the tour of his people
and urged them to come in, but at lirst most
refused, being terrified at what they had heard
of the severity of Colonel Wright. But Wright
released Palatkin, which act of clemency allayed
the fears of the Indians, and by the time ap-
pointed for the council the Coeur d' Alenes and
Spokanes were prepared to enter into a treaty of
entire submission to the whites. The details of
the council it is not necessary to give.

A council with the Spokanes was appointed
for the 23d of September. To this Kamiakiu
was specially invited, bat being fearful that
Colonel Wright would take him to Walla Walla
if he did, he remained away, as did also Tilko-
hitz, one of the most relentless of the enemies
of the whites.

Karaiakin was for years the ablest and most
iutlucutial chieftain among all these tribes. He
wa.s head chief of the Yakimas, his mother hav-
ing been a Yakima and his father a Palonse.
He was talented, and seemed to oceup}' the place
with these tribes that Tecumseh did witli the
tribes of Ohio and the Northwest. He strongly
opposed the cession of the lands of the Indians
at the council of Walla Walla, and Governor
Stevens was unable to move him from his gloomy
opposition. He was the leader in the outbreak
that took place soon after, when Haller's force
was defeated, and was without doubt the load-
ing spirit in the combination of the present
season. It was not strange, therefore, that he

was afraid to put himself in tiie power of the
whites. Soon after this time Kamiakin went to
British Columbia, where he remained some yei rs
but about ten years later he returned to the
Palouse country and settled on the Palouse river,
a few miles below Colfax, where he died poor
and friendless about 1880. Owhi and Qualchien
were now the only chiefs of importance left
among the Yakimas. Owhi was brother-in-law
of Kamiakin, and Qualchien was Owhi's son,
and also son-in-law of Palatkin, the Spokane
chief. With Kamiakin, Owhi and Qualchien
still at large, and maintaining their old antago-
nism to the whites, there could be little hope of
permanent peace, and Colonel Wright was con-
cerned at their attitude. But on the evening of
the 23d Owhi came into camp. Colonel Wright
met him sternly. While he was conversing with
the chieftain he ordered a file of soldiers, with
iron shackles, to be brought. He then directed
the interpreter to inquire of Owhi the where,
abouts of Qualchien. Owhi replied that he was
at the mouth of the Spokane. "Tell Owhi,"
said the Colonel, " that 1 will send a message to
Qualchien. Tell him that he too shall send a
message, and if Qualchien does not join me be-
fore I cross Snake river, in four days, I will
hang Owhi."

When this message was delivered to Owhi he
sank to the ground and seemed to lose all con-
trol over himself. He took out a book of prayers
and in much confusion turned over its leaves for
a moment, and then liuided it to the priest.
Father Joset, who was standing by him. He*
was then taken off by the guard and put in irons.

The following day about noon, very un-
expectedly, two Indian braves and a fine-looking
squaw came trotting out of a canon near the
camp, and, with the utmost boldness, rode
directly up to Colonel Wright's tent. They
were gaily dressed and had a most dashing air.
The two braves carried rifles, and one had an
ornamented tomahawk. When the Colonel came
out of the tent, to his surprise he recognized, in
the leader of the party, Qualchien. For a few
moments Qualchien stood talking with the

HISTORY OP WASHINGTON.

Colonel, with his rifle standing hy his side. His
bearing was defiant, and those who were stand-
ing near thought that he meditated murder even
there. In a short time Colonel Wright men-
tioned Owhi's name. Qualchien started, and in-
quired, " Car Owhi?" — that is, "Where is
Owhi?" the Colonel answered, "Owhi mitlite
yawa;" — or "Owhi is over there." Qualchien
was stunned. He repeated to himself mechanic-
ally, "Owhi mitlite yawa? Owhi mitlite yawa,"
at the same time gazing about as if to find him.
By this time a guard of soldiers had arrived and
he was at once disarmed and taken to the guard
tent.

Physically Qualchien was a splendid man. He
had a broad chest, muscular limbs, with small
hands and feet, and it required six men to tie
his hands and feet, so violent was his struggles-
Colonel Wright's dealing with Qualchien was
summary. Fifteen minutes after his capture
the officer of the day received an order to have
him hung immediately. A file of the guard at
once marched him to a neighboring tree, when,
on attempting to fix the noose about his neck
the contest was again renewed. He struggled
violently, cursing Kamiakin, and shrieking,
" Copet six. Wake memaloose nika. ISTika pot-
lach hiyu chiekamen, hiyu kuitan. Spose nika

memaloose, nika hiyu siwash silex. Copet six."
Interpreted, it is: " Stop, my friends. Do not
kill me. I will give much money and a great
many horses. If you kill me a great many of
my people will be very angry." But the rope was
thrown over a limb of the tree and he was run
up. His last words were a curse upon Kamiakin,
whom he seemed to connect with his death.
Not iinlikely Kamiakin sent him into camp. A
few days after this, while the army was on the
march back to Walla Walla, Owhi, who- was
taken along as prisoner, attempted to escape
from his guard and he was shot.

The death of Owhi and Qualchien, with the
other results of Colonel Wright's campaign,
completely dismayed the Indians of Eastern
Washington. They were, next to Kamiakin,
the most influential of all the chiefs, and by all
comparison the most warlike and murderous.

It is not necessary to follow the operations of
the army in the northwest further. This closed
the war; and it also closed the era of real Indian
wars in Washington. Though these tribes re-
mained comparatively strong, and there yet
remain many of the Yakimas and Spokanes and
Nez Perces, yet they had learned the power of
white man and were content henceforth to re-

in peace

with hi

HISTORY OP WASHINGTON. 3!

CHAPTEE XXXII.

PRINCIPAL CITIES OF WASHINGTON.

OLYMPIA.
Cities— Types of States — Olympia — Sketch of General I. I. Stevens — Dit. N. Osteander.

THE history of any State is finally crystal-
lized in its cities. Its strongest personali-
ties naturally congregate there. In nearly
every State one city becomes the type and
representative of the State itself. Chicago is Illi-
nois. San Francisco is California. Portland is
Oregon. This is less true in Washincrton than
in any other Pacifiic State. Its vast area, its
widely differentiated conditions east and west, its
vast diversity of pursuit, — have up to this time
prevented any one point so far outstripping all
others as to make it alone typical of the his-
tory or condition of all. In writing of the cities
of the State, therefore, we have chosen to speak
of several, choosing those that historically, so-
cially and commercially best interpret tlie past
and present life of the people. In writing of
these, too, we have thought it best to do more
than tell the story of brick and mortar, their
granite and iron erections; but with these we
give some character sketches of some of the
men whose genius and intellect conceived and
whose energy created them all. We do this be-
cause the l)uilder is always greater than his
erection, as tlie Creator is mightier than his
creiition.

It would be impossible, in the limits of this
history, to dwell at length on all the really im-
portant cities and towns of the State. Wash-
ington, especially on the waters of Puget Sound,
is almost a land of cities. Probably two-thirds
of its population reside in the towns. East of
the Cascade mountains the proportion is not so
great, but even there the population is largely
urbau. So, without designing to overlook any,
we select the capital, and other cities located in,
and commercially and socially representative of,
the various sections of the State.

olympia, capital city of WASHINGTON.

No city in the Union is more proudly named
or situated than Olympia, with the sea at its feet
and the mountains its glistening crown, with
immense forests garlanding its skirts. While in
one hand it bears aloft some of the rarest fruits
of the world and in the other the golden grains
of a marvelous production, it stands not only a
city beautiful for situation, but a powerful factor
in the future progress of the State.

As a business center, the city is compactly
and substantially built on a fine water front ex-
tending many blocks back. Its hotels, banks,
public buildings and schools are such as are
found in the greatest cities of the East. Elec-
tric railways and the daily press bespeak its irre-
pressible progress. Its population, including
Turn water suburb, is more than 7,000, being
one of the most prosperous cities in the State.

It has a complete system of water-works, also
electric lighting for streets, stores, and dwell-
ings. On every hand are evidences of the rapid
and substantial modern growth.

Being situated at the southern extremity of
the Sound, at a point where railroads must fork
to go to the East and West, Olympia has al-
ready become a railroad center, which includes
the Northern PaciHo with all its ramifications
leading to Portland, Oregon; toTacoma, Seattle,
and the entire east side of the Sound, also to
Chehalis valley and Gray's Harbor, and to
Tenino, famous for its quarries on the Olymjjia
and Chehalis valley line. The Puget Sound
& Portland railroad, a joint extension of the
Union Pacific and Great Northern, is already
graded, passing through Olympia. The Port

HISTORY OF WASniNOTON.

Townseiid Southern, leading out of the city, via
Hood's Canal to Port Townsend, is nearingcom-
pletion. liegular lines of fine steamers lead
also to numerous points on the Sound.

The geographical position of Olyinpia, at the
head of navigation on the west, together with
its central control of its wheat fields on the east
through its growing railroad system, renders its
promise of greatness subject to no doubt. Con-
gress at its last session has made large appro-
priation for its harbor improvements, thus
recognizing its importance as a commercial
point.

Immense amounts of valuable timber of fir
and cedar along its new lines of railroad be-
speak great industries which alone promise an
exceptional future for the capital city. Other
great industries no less important than its tim-
ber, are its adjacent stone quarries, coal fields
and iron ores. It is the nearest seaport to the
great Tenino quarries, whose superior quality
of stone and beauty are already established
abroad. It is also the nearest point to the well-
known Skookumchuck coal fields, also at Bu-
coda and at Gate City, not twenty miles dis-
tant. Its nearness to the Black Hills, but five
miles distant, which are known to contain iron
oi"e in abundance, forecasts its future also as im-
portant in the great industry of iron.

The advantages of the capital city as a seat of
manufacturing are very great and are already
attracting practical investigation and invest-
ments. To speak of the country about Olyin-
pia and not mention its fruits and grains, and
its great agricultural advantages, is to on)it its
prime virtue. Here fruits are rich and luscious,
grains golden and prolific, vegetables abundant
and perfect. Flowers bloom till midwinter and
even then nature smiles beneath licr tears with
green fields and verdant lawns.

The capital of such a State as Washington
would^ alone sntfice to build up a great city.
Congress has endowed the State with 132,000
acres of land for tiie erection of the capitol
buildings, and this princely grant is now worth
$2,500,000 and rapidly increasing in value.

The last session of the Legislature passed an
act appropriating $1,000,000 with which t<>
begin the construction of a splendid capitol
building, which is now well under way.

The permanent residence of the governor
and State ofiicers are here, and, as it is the eeat
of the United States Land and Surveyor Gen-
eral's offices, the place of meeting of the Legis-
lature, the Supreme Court, and numerous State
boards, it attracts a most desirable population.
It is a city of fine homes, splendid schools, in-
viting churches; of culture, brains and refine-
ment; of beautiful gardens, and, in their season,
of laden fruit trees in its streets.

Illustrative of tlie personal elements that
have wrought out its past history, and assured
its future progress, we append the following
sketches of some of its pioneers and builders.
It is proper that the name heading this list
should be the honored one of the first governor
of the Territory of Washington.

Major General Isaac Ingalls Stevens, de-
ceased, was born in North Andover, Massachu-
setts, March 23, 1818, and was descended from
John Stevens, one of the founders of the town
in 1641. He entered West Point July 1, 1835,
and four years later graduated with distinguished
honors at the head of his class. Appointed a
second lieutenant of engineers, he served as as-
sistant in building Fort Adams, Newport Har-
bor, 1839-'41, and was placed in charge of the
works at New Bedford, 184:l-"43, Portland,
Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and
Fort Knox, at the narrows of the Penobscot
river, a new and important work, chiefly built
under his superintendence, 1843-'4:6; first lieu-
tenant, July 1, 1840.

He served in the Mexican war on General
Scott's staff frotn the investment of Vera Cruz
to the capture of the city of Mexico, 1847. He
was in the siege of Vera Cruz and the battles of
Contreras, Cerro Gordo, Churubnsco, Molino
del Key, Chapultepec, and the assault and cap-
ture of the city of Mexico, where he was se-
verely wounded. Besides distinguishing him-
self by the daring and skillful reconnoissance of

II I STOUT OF WAsniNOTON.

the Pefion, San Antouio, city of Mexico and
others, he was brevetted captain for gaUantry at
Contreras and Chiiruhnsco, and major for his
bravery at Chapul tepee.

Returning on crutches in 1848, he resumed
charge of the works in Maine and JSew Hamp-
shire. In September, 1849, he accepted the
position ot assistant in charge of the United
States Coast otiice, and there continued on duty
nntil March, 1853, when he was appointed Gov-
ernor of the new Territory of Washington, and
resigned from the army. As governor he was
ex officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and
at the same time, liaving volunteered for the
service, he was placed in charge of the explora-
tion and snrvey of- tiae northern route for the
Pacific railroad.

In 1853, at the head of a large exploring
party, he traversed the region from St. Paul,
on the Mississippi, to Puget Sound on the Pa-
cific, a distance of 2,000 miles through a wild
and almost unknown country, and by means of
lateral parties and information gathered from
trappers and Indians, as well as instrumental
surveys, he made a most comprehensive and ex-
haustive survey of the route committed to his
charge and of the country bi)rdering it for from
one hundred to two hundred miles in width, and
also established the entire practicability of nav-
igating the upper Missouri and Columbia riv-
ers by steamers; yet liis report was the first
one prepared and submitted to Congress. He
organized and set in motion the civil govern-
ment of his Territory. In 1854-'55 lie made treat-
ies with 22,000 out of the 25,000 Indians of
that Territory, and extinguished tlie Indian title
to more than 100,000 square miles of territory.
His Indian policy was one of beneficence to the
Indians, guarded most carefully their rights,
provided for their civilization, and guaranteed
to them homesteads on their assuming the hab-
its of civilized life. Governor Stevens also in
October, 1855, negotiated a treaty of amity and
friendship with the Blackfoot Indians on the
upper Missouri.^ and also as between them and
the hunting tribes of Wasliington and Oregon.

Eight thousand Indians, representing fully
20,000, were present at this council. It was a
complete success. With his small party of only
twenty-five men, without any military escort, he
traversed a thousand miles of Indian territory,
crossing the Jtocky mountains in order to make
this treaty. Tribes which had for centuries
been enemies, fearlessly niet together, relying
upon Governor Stevens' protection, and a peace
was made which has lasted unbroken to this
day. During his absence the disaffected In-
dians of his territory had broken out in open
war and had massacred many settlers, and driven
the survivors to take refuge in fortified places.
Without an instant's delay, he forced a passage
across the Kooky mountains in winter, and by
the aid of friendly Indians and celerity of move-
ment reached Olympia, the capital of the Terri-
tory, on the first of January, 1856, amid the
rejoicing of the people. He called out a thou-
sand volunteers, encouraged the settlers to return
to their abandoned farms and live there in block
houses, placed all the friendly and doubtful In-
dians on islands in .Puget Sound, and fed and
clothed them, and waged two campaigns against
the liostiles with such vigor and success that
before the year had expired the Indians were
thoroughly subdued, their chiefs slain and the
others had surrendered and were incorporated
with the friendly Indians. In this struggle his
energy, resolution and resources overruled every
obstacle. He issued script to pay his troops; he
impressed supplies, wagons and teams when-
ever the owners refused to furnish them for
script; he maintained strict discipline. He re-
moved half-breed and white Indian sympathiz-
ers — the former employes of the English Hud-
son's Bay Fur Company — from their homes on
the frontier to the towns where they could not
communicate with the Indians; and when po-
litical and partisan opponents sought to create
trouble by invoking the aid of the courtg, and
the chief justice of the Territory issued his writ
of habeas corpus for the release of these men,
Gov'ernor Stevens proclaimed martial law in the
two counties, seized the chief justice by a file

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

of troopers and kept him a prisoner until the
end of the war. Dnring this time he stood like
a shield of adamant between the Indians and
the reckless and revengeful who thirsted to fall
upon the friendly and hostile alike. He pro-
hibited all cruelty toward the Indians taken in
arms, and that only six cases of unauthorized
killing of Indians by white men occurred dur-
ing a period of twelve months of alarm and e.x-
asperation is the best evidence of the vigor and
success of Governor Stevens' action. It is not
a-little remarkable that in his printed vindica-
tion he places his justification for proclaiming
martial law on the very grounds and in much
the same language as the justification of mar-
tial law during the Rebellion.

Governor Stevens was elected delegate to
Congress in July, 1857, and resigned as Gov
ernor. He served two terms, four years, in
Congress, where he vindicated his action in the
Indian war, and his Indian policy, and saw his
treaties confirmed and the payment of the
war scrip assumed by Congress, and also ob-
tained many large appropriations for develop-
ing his Territory. He took an active part in
the Presidential election of 1860. He was
Chairman of the Breckinridge National Demo-
cratic Committee, of which he wrote the address,
an able argument covering nearly one sheet of
newspaper, in a single night. He was a stanch
Union man, and upon the first raising of the
banner of secession he openly denounced the
party of disunion.

On the fall of Sumter, he offered a carte
blanche of his services to the Government from
a distant part of the Territory of Washington,
hurried on in person as soon as possible and ac-
cepted the colonelcy of the Seventj^-ninth High-
landers, New York Volunteers. This was a crack
New York city military regiment, composed
of Scotchmen or men of Scotch descent, and
was the first military regiment of the State to
volunteer for three years of the war. The regi-
ment suffered heavily at the battle of Bull Run,
losing 198 killed and wounded, includincr
among the former its Colonel, James Cameron,

brother of the Secretary of War. The Secretary
promised that the regiment should be sent home
to recruit, but it was not done. Owing to a
number of causes, among which may be named
their severe losses in battle, disappointment at
the nonfulfillment of the Secretary's assurance,
the evil influence of a few worthless officers and
the effect of the liquor supplied by them to the
men, eight companies mutinied by refusing to.
strike tents and move camp soon after the new
Colonel assumed command. Colonel Stevens
went among the men, many of whom were in-
toxicated and infuriated with utter fearlessness,
urging them to return to duty; when a group
threatened death to any one who dared strike a
tent, and the officers stood back, he took down
the tent with his own hands, while the very
mutineers applauded his intrepidity. Finally,
with the aid of the officers and the two com-
panies which remained loyal, he succeeded in
removing most of the arms, and, in response to
his call, some regular troops arrived and sur-
rounded the camp with infantry and artillery.
Then Colonel Stevens stood upon a barrel in
the midst of the mutineers and ordered them to
.return to duty in a voice that rang out like a
trumpet, "Men! I have urged you all the morn-
ing to do your duty. Now I order you. Obey,
or my next order will be to that battery to fire
on you. Now, Highlanders, fall in." The dis-
affected men made haste to fall in line. Col-
onel Stevens enforced a very severe and just
discipline, but the intelligent and generous
material of which the regiment was composed
recognized the need of such treatment and re-
sponded to it with enthusiastic pride and devo-
tion to their chief.

When appointed Brigadier General and or-
dered to another field of usefulness, he reviewed
and bade the regiment fai-ewell and a universal
shout rang along the line, "Tak us wi' ye! Tak
us wi' ye!" and in response to it, upon his
application, endorsed by General W. T. Sher-
man, the regiment was sent after him to Annap-
olis the next day by order of the President,
overruling the objections of General McClellan,

HISTORY OF WASUINOTON.

and remained under his command until bis deatli.

He served in the defense of Washington, and
was appointed Brigadier General September 28,
1861. In tliS same month, in command of
1,800 men, he made the reconnoissance of
Lewisville, where he handled his troups with
acknowledged skill and rapidly and easily with-
drew them from the attack of a superior force.
He commanded a brigade on the Hilton Head
expedition, October, 1861; landed in South
Carolina in November and occupied soon after
the town of Btaufort, Fort Royal and the ad-
joining sea islands. Janiiary 1, 1862, he fought
the battle of the Coosaw river, with his brigade
re-enforced by two other regiments and the gun-
boats, drove back the enemy and destroyed his
batteries which had closed the river. In June
he was placed in command of a division and
ordered to James Island to take part in an ad-
vance upon Charleston. While his troops were
landing from the transports in the Stone river,
upon the island, lie pushed forward with his
advance, drove in the enemy, captured a battery
of four guns and established his permanent
picket line. His force formed the right wing
of the army under General Benham. Ou the
16th of June, at dawn, he assaulted the enemy's
fort of Secessionville with his entire division,
but although the troops gained the parapet and
even there captured two prisoners, yet the
slaughter was so great he had to withdraw
them, havng lost over 600 men in twenty min-
utes.' This assault was ordered by General
Benham against General Stevens' remon-
strance.

In July, 1862, be sailed with his division to
Virginia, where, at Newport News, it was in-
corporated with Burnside's troops from North
Carolina, as the Ninth Corps, forming the First
Division. Thence proceeding by Fredericks-
burg, General Stevens marched along the Rap-
pahannock river and joined Pope's army at
Culpeper Court House. He participated in va-
rious skirmishes on the Rappahannock, and in
the battle of Manassas or second Bull Run, Au-
gust 29 and 30, 1862, where his horse was

killed under him while leading a charge of his
troops. He withdrew his division from that
disastrous field in perfect order, and with every
regiment unbroken, although with the loss of
one half their number. The next morning at
daylight he was placed iu command of the rear
guard of the army with two divisions of infantry
and a strong force of cavali-y and artillery and
took post between Bull Run and Centerville.
The next day, September 1, 1862, while marcii-
ing his division, closely followed by Reno's di-
vision of the Ninth Corps, across from the
main road between Centreville and Fairfax
Court House to the Little River turnpike, in
order to reach a position to withstand a column
of the enemy reported as advancing and threat-
ening the main road and only line of retreat, he
suddenly came face to face with the Rebel
skirmishers who were hastening forward in
order to seize tlie road. With instant decision
and rapidity, throwing out skirmishers who
drove back the enemy and developed his posi-
tion, General Stevens formed his entired divis-
ion in column and ordered ihe assault. The
enemy were formed behind a rail fence in the
edge of thick woods. In their front, slightly
descending, extended for some distance a corn
field and a tract of cleared land with stumps and
logs scattered over a portion of it. The column
with fixed bayonets swept on to the attack with
firm but rapid step until half the intervening
ground had been traversed. Then the enemy's
line, hitlierto concealed agd silent, suddenly
smote the column with a sheeted fire so terrific
and deadly that it staggered and halted. At
this crisis, when anotl^pr moment might have
seen the troops in headlong flight. General
Stevens rushed forward on foot, seized the
colors of the foremost regiment — the Seventy-
ninth Highlands, his own former regiment — as
they were falling from the hands of the wounded
color-bearer, and, calling upon the men to
follow their general, bore them to the front.
The regiment, followed by the column, dashed
forward with redoubled fury; they hurled the
rail fence to the ground with one sweep of the

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

line, dashing themselves against it, and drove
the enemy before them. General Stevens fell
in the moment of victory. He was found at
the fence, dead, his temple pierced by a bullet,
and the flag firmly grasped in his right hand.
The Rebel force thus tiercely hurled back was a
heavy flanking column commanded by " Stone-
wall " Jackson in person. He renewed the
fight, but Reno's and afterward Kearny's di-
visions supported Stevens' veterans until night
and a heavy slorra of rain, thunder and light-
ning put an end to the conflict. General Stevens'
heroic attack upon Jackson at the battle of
Chantilly undoubtedly saved Pope's army from
serious disaster. Jackson was advancing rapidly
and was one half a mile from the only line of
retreat when encountered.

General Stevens was appointed Major General
July 4, 1862. At the very hour of his death
the President and Secretary of War were consid-
ering the step of placing him in command of
the army. It appears certain that nothing but
death could have long kept him from that com-
mand for which his talents, courage and devotion
60 well qualified him.

General Stevens married in September, 1841,
Miss Margaret L. Hazard, daughter of Benjamin
Hazard, a distinguished lawyer of Newport,
Rhode Island, and left his widow, one son and
three daughters. His remains were buried in
Newport, where the city reared an imposing
monument of granite, upon which is iu>icribed,
" In memory of Major General Isaac Ingalls
Stevens, born in Andover, Massachusetts, March
28, 1818, who gave to theservice of his country
a quick and comprehensive mind, a warm and
generous heart, a firm will and strong arm, and
who fell while rallying his command, with the
flag of the republic in his dying grasp, at the
battle of Chantilly, Virginia, September 1,
1862."

It must sufiice for Olympia that we select one
other name, and that the name of a man in his
sphere, a thoroughly representative character,
namely :

Nathaniel Ostrander, M. D., 317 Eighth
street, Olympia, Washington, one of the oldest
medical practitioners in the State, was born in
Ulstei' county, New York, December 28, 1818.

Dr. Ostrander's parents, Abel and Catherine
(Esterly) Ostrander, were natives of New York,
and were descended from Holland ancestry.
Abel Ostrander was reared to agricultural pur-
suits, which he followed until 1836. Then he
emigrated to St. Louis, Missouri, and engaged
in building and renting houses. In 1852 he
removed to Washington Territory, located a
donation claim upon the Cowlitz river, and
there followed farming until his death.

Nathaniel Ostrander was taken in infancy by
his uncle, Nathaniel, by whom he was reared to
the age of fourteen years, enjoying the privi-
leges of the schools of New York city. In 1832
he returned to his parents, and remained with
them two years. Then he joined his brother,
John, a merchant in St. Louis, Missouri, and as
clerk in his store remained until 1836, when he
moved to La Fayette county, and there con-
tinued mercantile pursuits. He was married,
in 1838, to Miss Eliza Jane Yantis, a native
of Kentucky, of Dutch .descent. In 1845 he
removed to Cass county, and engaged in farm-
ing, and about this time commenced the study
of medicine under the instruction of Dr. D. K.
Palmer, pursuing his studies as he dro\e the
plow. In 1847 he moved to Saline county,
continuing his studies and attending two courses
of lectiires in the medical department of St.
Louis University, where he graduated in 1848.
He then commenced practice in Saline county,
continuing until 1850.

In 1850 Dr. Ostrander joined the tide of
western emigration, and with an ox team crossed
the plains to California. He passed one year
at mining, and in the practice of his profession
in the camps at Rough and Ready and Onion
Valley. In the fall of 1851 he returned to his
family in Missouri, making the return trip
via the Nicaragua route. He then converted
his farm property into cash and a prairie outfit

IIJ8T0RT OF WASHINGTON.

of tliree wagons and the necessary oxen, and
again started for the Pacific coast, bringing
his family and father, but this time directed
his course toward Washington, theii a part of
Oregon. Arriving at their destination in the
fall of 1852, they located on the Cowlitz river,
being among the first settlers in that valley.
The Doctor engaged in farming, and also prac-
ticed medicine as occasion required, remaining
in that locality until 1872. He reclaimed two
farms from nature's wilds, and a creek and vil-
lage now bear his name. In 1872 he sold out
and moved to Tnniwater, where he opened a
small drug store and engaged in a general
medical j^ractice. In 1879 he sold his store, and
moved to Olympia, where lie has since followed
his profession.

Dr. Ostrander has been prominently identi-
fied with the public affairs of this country, and
none have been more untiring in their efforts
to advance its best interests than he. He was

the first Probate Judge of Cowlitz county,
appointed by Isaac 1. Stevens, the first Terri-
torial Governor, and in that capacity served
for twelve years. He has served several times
on the City Council of Olympia, and two terms
as Mayor; also one term as a member of the
Territoi'ial Legislature. Socially, he affiliates
with the I. O. O. F., having passed all the
chairs of the subordinate lodge and encamp-
ment.

Although now seventy-four years of age, the
Doctor is still erect and vigorous, only prac-
ticing among his older patients, and passing
the closing years of his life in the enjoyment
of peace and plenty. He and his good wife
have had eleven children, one son and ten
daughters, eight of whom survive: Catherine,
Mary A., Theressa, Margaret, May, Florence,
Fanny L. and John Y.,— all married and
settled in life.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

PKINCIPAL CITIES, CONTINUED.

SPOKANE.

The " Inland Empiee" — Location of Si'okane — Beauty of Scenery — Its Railroad System-
Schools AND Benevolent Associ.vtions — Medical Lake — Edison Electric Company — Tele-
phone Business — L. H. Prathee — I. S. Kaufman — Judge McBride — Rev. J. B. Eene — •
Rev. Nelson Clark.

\HAT is known in the parlance of the
Western coast as the " Inland Empii-e"
is the region of country east of the Cas-
cade range of mountains in both Washington
and Oregon, extending from Couer d'Alene
mountains on the north and the Klamath plateau
on the south, and reaching eastward to the
granite foot of the great Rocky range. In area
it is three times as large as the great "Empire
State." Its popular title, therefore, -'The Inland
Empire," is by no means an unmeaning design-
ation. With many towns and cities of the great

present, and vastly ^
ance, it has one that

ter prospective impftrt-
and vvithout doubt is to
remain, the regal queen of that imperial realm,
namely, Spokane.

"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth," is this Spokane. If this may seem a
hyperbole in the statement the writer will con-
sent to limit its application to the "Inland Em-
pire," — aregion of scenic loveliness and grandeur
and sublimity not exceeded on the whole on tlie
American continent. As the eye never wearies
of this loveliness, so the pen would not tire in

HISTORY OF W^iSHINGTON.

recording it; but the limitations of our bouk
compel discretion.

The city is located in the very heart of the
most perfect scenic poem. Form and color
and motion have here their rarest blendings.
Woodlands, lawns and waters mingle green soft-
ness, gray soberness and silver brightness in one
long and Ijroad picture such as no hand but that
of the Infinite Artist could ever touch. Just
where the Spokane river, which has come wan-
dering down through the plains from the north-
east for many miles, breaks first into laughing
ripples, then speeds away through various chan-
nels for a half mile race of flashing and jeweled
beauty, and then leaps and ruslies out of sight
into the deep basaltic chasm of its lower flow,
the city crosses plain and river, and rises up the
hill-slopes that echo back and across the soft
music of the incomparable cascade.

The divine marvel of its jeweled setting is
matched by the human marvel of its own growth
and beauty. Only twenty years ago a pioneer
explorer, searcliing for a way through an unin-
habited wild, accompanied only by his wife, a
pioneer like himself; and a little daughter, found
himself so bewildered in the unpathed intri-
cacies of pine forests and basaltic precipices at
the nighfall of a long June day of lonely travel,
that he was compelled to halt and camp for the
night under a pine tree's protection, without
food for supper or breakfast. The morning
woke them with the tremulous music of a near
waterfall filling the white air. They found that
they had encamped almost where the spray of
Spokane Falls would moisten their brows.
Against the gray breast of a distant hill a few
blue wreaths of smoke from some Indian wig-
wams were all that told of liumanity near.
Then the writer first saw this spot; but he did
not dream that night of all that he would see
here only twenty years later.

How to write of Spokane in any way and not
seem to deal in eulogy rather than description is
hard to tell. Its simple story is a romance. Its
statistics show almost an Aladdin's creation.
To enter upon either is to venture a field where

we can find no near place to pause. A few sen-
tences must cover all that we say, before we in-
troduce to our readers some of the characters,
who type hundreds like themselves, who were
the builders of this Queen City.

Spokane is the inland center of a vast system
of railroads. It is on the main line of the
Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads. A
branch of the great Union Pacific system, leav-
its main line at Pendleton, in Oregon, makes
this its objective point. The Spokane Northern,
now terminating at Northport on the upper
Columbia, but to extend to the center of the
great mining districts of British Columbia, the
Spokane and Idaho, with other lines begun and
projected, make this the one great focus of travel
and trade in this vast interior.

Its street railway system is a prominent fea-
tui'e of the city's progress, — cable, electric and
motor lines, operated by four companies, thirty-
six miles combined. The electric-light plant,
the cable railway, the electric railway, the ma-
chinery of the city water works, an efficient
water service for the fire department, are all
operated by the water power of the falls. By a
telephone system the city is connected with all
points within a radius of 300 miles. The num-
ber of church organizations is about thirty, all
denominations being represented, some having
several church edifices. There are ten public
schools, employing fifty-eight teachers, one of
which is the high school, with twelve instruc-
tors. Of private schools the most notable are
the Gonzaga College, with 100 pupils; two
parochial schools, a girls' academy, a kinder-
garten school and orphanage, the Jenkins Uni-
versity, St. Mary's Hall, a young ladies semin-
ary; a music conservatory and a business col-
lege. The Hospital of the Sacred Heart, con-
ducted by eighteen Sisters of Charity, has 100
patients. The Sisters of St. Joseph conduct an
orphanage, under the auspices of the Koman
Catholic Church, with 150 orphans at present
under their care. The Ladies' Benevolent So-
ciety maintain a children's home, and now have
forty in charge. There are eight banks, with a

BISTORT OF WASniJSGrON.

paid-up capital of 11,600,000; surplus and un-
divided protits, $500,000. There are also sev-
eral savings banks; the two leading ones have
an aggregate capital of $110,000 and a surplus
of $50,000. There are located here two flour
mills, four breweries, twelve wooden- product
factories, four iron foundries and many other
manufacturing enterprises.

Like Seattle the city ot Spokane was visited
by fire in the eventful year for Washington fires.
On July 4, 1889, the entire business section of
Spokane Falls, as the city was then called, was
swept out of existence by a devastating fire;
and, like her sister city, Spokane has also arisen
resplendent from the heaps of ruins, and finer,
more substantial and more beautiful structures
adorn Spokane, the third principal city of the
State of Washington.

A remarkable physical feature of the county,
immediately related to Spokane, is Medical
Lake, the location of the Eastern State Hospital
for the Insane, which has 216 patients coufiiietl
therein. The lake is situated on the summit of
the great plain of the Columbia, at an altitude
of 2,300 feet above sea level. It is about one
mile long with a width of over half a mile. It
is 80 named from the medical properties of the
water. By an analysis by Professor Lansing,
of New York, the water was found to contain
in grains per United States gallon: Soda
chloride, 16.370; potassic chloride, 9.241; lithic
carbonate, traces; sodic carbonate, 6^.543; mag-
nesia carbonate, .233; ferrous carbonate, .525;
calcic carbonate, .186; aluminic oxide, .175;
sodic silicate, 10.638; potassic sulphate, traces;
sodic diborate, traces; organic matter, .551;
total, 101.463. The Indians ascribed to its
waters healing properties long before the lake
becan^e a popular resort for the white man.

As typing other facts in the material growth
of this city we append the following:

Edison Electric Illuminating (Jompany. —
The electric light industries in the town were
started in the fall of 1885. under the name of
the Spokane Falls Electric Light & Power
Co., and a modest little plant consisting of

twelve arc lights and 150 incandescents was
established in a station building in the center
of the river on the north side. In 1886 the
plant was removed to more commodious quar-
ters, and in the fall of that year the Edison
Electric Light Company, of New York, became
stockholders in the plant, making the concern
one of the then thirty-four central stations in
the United States. An addition of thirty-five
arcs and 1,000 incandescents was then installed.
So great was the growth of the business that
in 1887 all the available power at the new site
in question was being used, and the directors
were at their wit's end for increased facilities.

At this time Mr. Norman, who was the
owner of the telephone interests in the city
and throughout the Coeur 'd Alene country,
took the management of the plant, and a large
interest in its stock, and set about to find a
location upon the river which would give
them ample power for all time to come. Engi-
neers were engaged, and careful estimates made
of the various sites, with the result that a
selection was made of what is known as the
"lower and main power" of the rivei-, which
has a fall of seventy feet and a rated power
at the lowest stage of the river of 18,545-horse
power. This property, together witii the C and
C mills, and the whole of the water power of
the Spokane river lying west of and embracing
some twenty acres of land and more than two-
thirds of the entire water power of the Spokane
river, with riparian rights on both sides of the
river, was under Mr. Norman's management,
gathered together under one body, and a new
corporation was formed, known as The Wash-
ington Water Power Company, for the pur-
pose of acquiring the property and developing
it, the stockholders in the new company being
the controlling stockholders in the Lighting
Company.

The capital stock of this new company was
§1,000,000, the officers of the company being
F. Rockwood Moore, president; J. D. Sher-
wood, treasurer; and W. S. Norman, secretary.
The company secured the services of Colonel J.

niSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

T. Fanning, the eminent hydraulic engineer, as
their consulting engineer, and Mr. Henry A.
Herrick, C. E., as their resident engineer, and
plans for the entire development of the river
were prepared in the spring of 1889, when the
work of improving the power was commenced.
A dam, sixteen feet high, was constrncted
across the river on solid basaltic foundations-
at the great power, and headgates in solid
granite masonry were built for the purpose of
carrying the flumes to supply the power to
the tenants.

The station building of the Edison Company
was started in the spring of 1890, and the
whole plant was completed, and was in oper-
ation in the fall. The Edison plant to-day is
the most complete water-])0wer electric-light
station in the United States. It is a building,
60 X 120 feef, two stories high, of fire-proof
construction throughout, the wheels being run
under seventy-foot head. The water is carried
to the station through two steel penstocks, each
seven feet in diameter. The wheels are of the
Victor Twin Horizontal pattern, and the whole
plant is so arranged that uninterrupted power
can be given for all time. The current has
never been shut off since the station has been
opened.

One of the best evidences of the growth of
the city is found in the remarkable growth of
this plant. In 1885, as we have said, it was
running twelve arc ligiits and 150 incandescents,
consuming about thirty-horse power. To-day
in its big building it is turning out 10,000 in-
candescents and 600 arc lights, and furnishing
electric power for all the lines in the city, its
power users alone consuming 850-horse power,
and the whole plant to-day is using over 2,000-
horse power. Most of the elevators in the city
are run by the electric motor; the current is
used to run all the printing-presses in the city,
as well as for heating cars, cooking-stoves, and
various domestic appliances, and fans for cooling
and ventilating purposes are everywhere in cir-
culation. The company's arc mains to-day are
nearly 200 miles in length, and its incandescent

mains traverse every graded street in the city.
The station runs both day and night without
interruption, and so popular is the current that
to-day upward of 500 residents in the city
use it.

In 1886 the first street-car line was built in
the city. It was originally installed by Messrs.
Browne, Cannon & Ross, who afterward sold
their interest to the Spokane Street Railway
Company, in 1889. The Spokane Cable Rail-
way was organized for the purpose of building
a cable railway across the Monroe street bridge.
This road was completed in the fall of 1889, and
shortly after this time the stockholders of the
Cable Railway Company purchased the control-
ling interest in the Spokane Street Railway
Company.

In February, 1891, the two companies being
embarrassed, their plant was offered for sale,
and as a result of negotiations was purchased by
Mr. iN'orman in the interest of the Washington
Water Power Company. Flans were at once
made for the transformation of the system into
a complete electric system, and bonds were
issued for the purpose, and by September i,
1891, the plant had been entirely reconstructed
and remodeled, and the nucleus had been laid
for a large and controlling system. The lines of
the old company were principally in the west
end of the town and on the North Side, but in
Sejjtember franchises were secured by purchase
and grant in the east end of the city, and this
section has now been covered with lines, while
during the present year the company has
acquired control of the Ross Park Street Rail-
way Company, the pioneer electric road of the
city, which practically gives them control of the
entire railway business of the city with the ex-
ception of two suburban lines. The company
to-day operates twenty-five miles of electric
road and three miles of cable road. It operates
twenty-three cars daily and has a car equipment
of thirty-five cars. The cars are of very hand-
some design, the color adopted being white.
The company owns large tracts of land lying
aloncr the line of its various roads, which radi-

^^x^/^.j^^Y'ftt^^"^^^**^ J'^W^^

niSTORT OF WASHINOTOH.

ate from tlie center of .the city and reach out
ill all directions with nine arms. T^he whole of
the stock of the companies is owned by The
Washington Water Power Company. The total
investment in the street-railway system, includ-
ing its lands, figures up in the neighborhood of
$1,000,000.

The company owns its own repair shops and
•all of its machine work, and most of its car-
building is now being done on the ground.

The Washington Water Power Company is
also engaged in the milling business, owning
and operating the C and C Mills with its series
of warehouses thi'oughout the adjacent country.
This braucli of the business is under the super-
intendency of Gleorge S. Palmer.

Telephone Business. Spokane is tlie center
of one of the most complete systems of long
distance telephoning in the West. The plant
in Spokane was started in 1886, under the name
of Spokane Falls Telephone Company, Mr. W.
S. Norman being principal stockholder, with a
plant of fifty subscribers. A line was at this
time built conueeting the Coeur 'd Alene mines
just tlien discovered with Fort Sherman, and
from Fort Sherman messages were transferred
by Government telegraph wire to Spokane. In
the following year a through line was con-
structed from Spokane to the mines, and in
1888 Mr. C. B. Hopkins, the pioneer telephone
man of eastern Washington, connected the
Palouse country system with the city, and with
Mr. Norman built lines from Spokane west-
wardly through the Big Bend country. In the
spring of 1801 the plants, which had grown so
amazingly in the four years that they made an
increase of 900 per cent., were consolidated
under the name of The Inland Telephone and
Telegraph Company, the American Bell Com-
pany taking a preponderating share in the
stock. Of the new company the officers at
present are W. S. Norman, president; C. B.
Hopkins, general managei" F. E. Drake,
secretary.

The company has vastly extended its toll
line business, and to-day Spokane is within

speaking reach of 100 towns and villages in
eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and
northern Idaho, through lines extending clear
across the State of Washington into Oregon.
There are to-day three lines running south of
the town into the Palouse country alone, and
construction has been commenced upon a metal-
lic circuit line from Spokane to Portland, Seattle
and Tacoma. The company is now operating
exchanges in Spokane, Colfax, Pullman, Palouse
City, Moscow, Pendleton, Ellensburg, Dayton,
North Yakima and Walla Walla, connection
being had at a moment's notice between the
subscriber's instrument and the subscriber in
any other town. The capital stock of the com-
pany is §800,000.

During the recent labor troubles in the Cu3ur
d' Alenes, the lines played an important part
and were busy all the time in bringing out news
of the calamitous affair. The mileage of line
engaged in tlie teleplione system of the city
alone is about 400 miles, the number of sub-
scribers being between 500 and 600, each sub-
scriber having a separate line.

Among those whose life and work have made
Spokane, and the great country of which it is
the pulsing heart what they are, may be named
the following:

L. fl. Pkathek, a prominent lawyer and a
member of the firm of Prather & Danson,
Spokane, Washington, was born in Veruon,
Jennings county, Indiana, in 1843, a son of
Hiram and Mary A. (Huckleberry) Prather.
His father was a leading member of the Indi-
ana bar, often representing his constituency in
the Legislature of that State, and during the lle-
bellion won for himself a brilliant war record.
He was Lieutenant Colonel of the Sixtti
Indiana Volunteers, was wounded at the battle
of Pittsburg Landing, and was compelled to re-
sign his commission in 1863 on account of poor
health. The subject of our sketch also took
part in the Civil war. He was first a member
of the Sixth Indiana Volunteers and afterward
of the One Hundred and Fortieth Volunteer
Regiment oi that State. He was present at the

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

battles of Pittslnirgh Landing, Stone River,
second battle of Mnrfreesboro, and tbe battle
of Town Creek, North Carolina. He was de-
tailed as acting Quartermaster on General Car-
ter's staff and Chief of Ambulances of Third
Division of the Twenty-third Army Corps, and
was mustered out of the service July 11, 1865.
He is now a member of the G. A. K., Sedg-
wick, Post iS^o. 8, Spokane, and has served as
Fourth Post Commander of the same. He has
served two terms as member of the State Board
of Education of the State of Washington.

Mr. Prather received his early education in
his native town and later attended Asbury
University, Greencastle, Indiana. While at
liome and during his university course his
studies were such as to incline him to adopt the
legal profession, and he was admitted to the bar
at Columbus, Indiana, in May, 1868, since
which time he has constantly been engaged in
legal practice. During the past decade Mr.
Prather has been a resident of Spokane, and
has always taken an active interest in its prog-
ress. The firm of Prather & Danson, occu-
pying one of the most commodious suites in
the Granite Block, corner of Riverside avenue
and Washington streets, holds a high position
among the legal profession, and justly so, for
its individual members have had many years of
practical experience in their profession and
have been eminently successful therein. Mr.
Prather is of a literary turn of mind and de-
votes his leisure time to the study of literature.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, of which church his father and grand-
father were also members.

He was married in 1879, to Miss Edna L.
Rice, daughter of the late Hon. M. L. Rice of
Arkansas, and a grandniece of ex-Governor
Letcher of Kentucky. They have live children,
Rose, Leander, Kate, Edna, Mary and Rice.
Mr. Prather is in Spokane to stay. His attract-
ive home in Altamont, one of the finest suburbs
of this city, is brightened by the presence of
his charming wife and and lovely children; so it

is not surprising to tind him always in a happy
and cheerful mood.

1. S. Kaufman, of the lirni of I. S. Kaufman
& Co., real estate dealers, Spokane, Washing-
ton, has been identified with the interests of
this growing city since 1883.

Mr. Kaufman was born in Macon county, Illi-
nois, in 1844, second child and only son of.
John and Margaret (Montgomery) Kaufman,
natives of Pennsylvania and Xorth Carolina,
respectively. His father, a contractor and
builder, removed to Illinois in 1836, and in
that State passed the rest of his life, and died
in 1877. In early life he was a Whig, and later
a Republican.' He was a worthy member of the
Methodist Church, as also is his venerable wife,
who died August 12, 1892.

In 1862, at the age of eighteen, the suViject
of our sketch left school and entered the service
of his country, becoming a niemberof Company
F, One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Infantry,
and remained with his regiment until the war
closed. He entered as a private and was mus-
tered out as Orderly Sergeant. Returning home
broken in health after the war, Mr. Kaufman
attended school one year and then spent four
years in Minnesota, engaged in farming and
speculating. At the end of that time he went
back to Illinois, located at Decatur, and was
thf^re engaged in the real-estate business until
he came to Spokane in 1883.

From the time Mr. Kaufman located in Spo-
kane his name has been synonymous with hon-
esty, integrity and business ability. Probably
no man is better versed about the vast resources
of the entire State of Washington than Mr.
Kaufman, and his faith in her future has led
him to become identified with some of the largest
enterprises in Spokane. His excellent judgment,
together with his enterprise, has enabled him to
accumulate a large fortune within a compara-
tively short time. Immediately upon his arrival
here he entered into the real-estate business and
has been identified with that important branch
ever since. In public life as well a* businesg

^^^-i-T-^'^W «^^^^^^c

■^

Ill STORY OF WASniNOTON.

circles he has always commanded the highest
respect of his fellow-citizeus who elected him as
a member of the City Council for two years,
and subsequently honored him with the election
of Mayor of the city during an unexpired term.
Mr. Kaufman organized the Eoss Park Syndi-
cate in 1887, and with Messrs. Dennis and Brad-
ley and the syndicate organized and built the
Ross Park electric. railroad. He conceived the
idea of erecting a block of granite, and he and
Mr. Tilton, another one of the most prominent
capitalists and business men of Spokane, erected
in 1889 what is knowm as the Granite Block,
occupying ninety feet frontage on Riverside av-
enue and eighty-three feet on Washington
street, and built at a cost of §120,000. It is
five stories with a cupola, and the walls are
granite from foundation to roof, the stone being
from the famous granite quarries of the Little
Spokane. It is lighted by electricity and heated
by steam. An elevator is one of the modern
conveniences which the occupants of the build-
ing appreciate. Another prominent institution
with which Mr. Kaufman is connected is the
Exchange National Bank of Spokane, of which
he is a director. He has served as a member of
the School Board and is now a Trustee of Jen-
kins University. He is a member of the G. A.
R., Sedgwick Post, arid both he and liis wife are
members of the Methodist Churcii, he being an
active worker in the same and having organized
the Sunday-school on the North Side.

Mr. Kaufman was married in Illinois to Clara
Belle Odell, and has live children: G. AYilson,
Raymond T., Ralph, Clara Bessie and Isaac
Karl.

Judge Joun R. McBkide, a resident of Spo-
kane since June, 1890, has for many years been
prominently identitied with various portions of
the West.

He was born August 22, 1883, son of Dr.
James McBride, a native of Tennessee, and
Mahala (Miller) McBride who was born in Mis-
souri in ISll. A self-educated man, he was the
first Superintendent of Schools in Yam Hill
county, Oregon, and during his incuujbency

placed the schools of that county on a well-estab-
lished basis. He studied law in Oregon with
David Logan, son of Stephen T. Logan, of
Springfield, Illinois, and in 1855 was admitted
to practice in all the State and United States
Courts. The following year he opened an office
in Yam Hill county, Oregon, and remained
there, engaged in the active practice of liis pro-
fession until 1865, when he went to Idaho. He
was a member of the Constitutional Convention
in Oregon in 1857, and in 1862 was elected to
Congress, on the Republican ticket. In 1865
he was by President Lincoln appointed Chief
Justice of Idaho, served three years and then
resigned. He practiced law in Boise City until
1873, and from that time until June, 1890, was
a resident of Salt Lake City, being engaged in
the practice of his profession there under the
firm name of Sutherland A: McBride. The
Judge served as a member of the Republican
National Committee of Idaho for eight years
and also of the same body in Utah for eight
years. He was one of the delegates to the Re-
publican National Convention at Minneapolis in
1892, which nominated Benjamin Harrison for
President. He now has a large legal practice
in Spokane, being attorney for the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company and doing an exten-
sive business for various mining corporations.

Judge McBride has been twice married. In
1852 he wedded Miss E. M. Adams, a native of
Illinois and a member of a prominent family.
She died in 1866, leaving three children,
namely: Isabella Octavia, wife of Secretary
Wanamaker's private secretary; Wil'lis P..
Clerk of the Superior Court of Seattle, Wash-
ington; and Frank M., Assistant Postmaster in
the post ofiice at Salt Lake City. In 1871 he
married Miss Helen Lee, of Philadelphia, and
they have four children: Howard, Anne Lee,
Walter S., and Henry C.

The Judge is a member of the Masonic fra-
ternity.

In connection with his family history, it
should be further stated that his youngest
brother, George W- Mc]>ride, is Secretary of

BISTORT OF WASHIJSOrON.

the State of Oregon, and that another brother,
Thomas A. McBride, is one of tlie District
Judges of the State of Oregon.

Hev. J. B. Eene, S. J., tlie able President of
Gonzaga College, in Spokane, AVashington,
who has been for many years prominently iden-
tified with the edncational institutions of the
Roman Catholic Church, was born in Montre-
vault, on the western shore of France, in 1841.
His earliest education was received in the Insti-
tution of Conibree, where he remained seven
years, afterward entering the University of
France at Angers, graduating at the latter insti-
tution in 1861, when twenty years of age. He
then entered the Seminary of St. Snlpice, for
the purpose of completing his theological course,
with a view of following a religious calling.
In 1862, lie entered the "Novitiate of the Society
of Jesus, at Angers, and two years later he was
sent to St. Acheui, near Amiens, in Cicandy, to
study rhetoric. In 1863, he entered the Scho-
lasticate in Laval, where he studied pliilosophy
and the sciences for three years. In 1867, he
was sent to Paris to begin his career as a teacher
in the famous College of Vaugirard. In 1870,
he was obliged to leave Paris on account of the
Prussian invasion, and went to Le Mans, in order
to assist in the foTinding of the College of Notre
Dame de Sainte Croix, where he taught the
classics, from grammar up to rhetoric, to sixty
students. In 1874, he began the theological
course of study at St. Bennos, in England, which
institution, situated on a hill in the midst of
the beautiful scenery of that region, commanded
a view -of Liverpool and the ships sailing on the
sea to all parts of the world. After four years,
he returned to France, and took the direction of
the Apostolic School, of Poictiers, Vienna.
After one year, he was sent to Brest, in Brit-
tany, to be prefect of study and discipline in
in the naval school of this strong and impreg-
nable harbor. After a year here, he went to
Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy, to give one year
to ascetical studies, near the famous sanctuary
dedicated to the Sacred Heart, where the beloved
Margaret Mary was favored with the wonderful

apparitions that gave birth to the Devotions of
the Sacred Heart. In 1880, he was dispatched
to Ireland, in order to assist in the founding of
the Apostolic College of Munqot, near Limerick.
He remained at the head of this college for eight
years, first as director of the students under the
rectorship of Rev. W. Ronau, and then as rec-
tor himself of this flourishing establishment.
Many apostolic priests, now working with zeal
in America, Africa, China and Australia, passed
from that missionary place. In 1888, he re-
turned to France, and devoted one year in the
Island of Jersey to tiie training of the naval
students, there committed to the care of the
French Jesuits. In 1889, he was sent to Rouen,
in Normandy, a city remarkable for its historic
monuments, such as Ouen, etc., and by the
martyrdom of the heroic Joan of Arc. While
here, Father Rene asked to be sent to the Rocky
Mountains Mission, where, after a few months
spent at St. Ignatius Mission, Montana, and at
the Desmet Mission, Idaho, he was appointed
President of Gonzaga College, on April 2, 1891,
which position he has ever since filled. Here,
as elsewhere, he has been characterized by that
energy and ability which has been the main-
spring of his success in life, and which has filled
the minds and hearts of so many students with
zeal and learning, which they have carried to the
uttermost ends of the .earth.

Rev. Nelson Clark. — Few men have in
them naturally more of the essential elements of
the true pioneer than has the subject of this
sketch. Quite careful, methodical, persevering,
full of that foresight which sees both opportun-
ities and dangers from afar and prepares for
them, he could hardly have failed to make a
reasonable success of life.

In addition to the elements that are in his
own being, and in no small measure accounting
for them, Mr. Clark had the happy fortune of
being well born. He was the son of Archibald
Clark and Nancy (Pope) Clark, and was born to
them in Decatur county, Indiana, October 28,
1830. His mother was the daughter of Ben-
jamin D. Pope, in wliom was mixed the warmth

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

341

and solidity of the blood of France and Wales, and
was also a cousin of Koger Sherman, whose name
is among the immortal signers of the Declaration
of American Independence. Mr. Benjamin D.
Pope was a resident of Canada at the time of
the American Revolution, but he so resolutely
refused to take up arms against the colonies
that he was thrown into prison for six weeks,
when he made his escape, took his family and
crossed the St. Lawrence river and took up his
abode in the colony of New York. Here Mr.
Clark's father was born, and from here he re-
moved to Decatnr, Indiana, at an early day,
where Nelson was born. The family removed
to Iowa in 1847, and then to Adams county,
Illinois, where the father died July 10, 1864.
He was for many years a local minister in the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and his was the
welcome home of the pioneer itinerants of that
region for many years.

In the spring of 1853, Nelson Clark, then
Imt a youth of twenty-three, decided to emi-
grate to Oregon. Young as he was, and reared
amidst the aspirations of a pioneer life, he was
already a licensed preacher in the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Like many another who
subsequently achieved success on the Pacific
Coast, Mr. Clark worked his way across the
plains for the weary half-year that it then re-
quired to malce that journey.

On arriving in Oregon in the autumn, Mr.
Clark settled in Grand Prairie, in Lane county,
on a land claim. In the spring of 1854 he was
called to the work of the active ministry by Rev.
T. H. Pearne, presiding elder of the Methodist
Episcopal Chui-ch in Willamette valley, who
appointed him to a pastoral charge. In 1855
he united with the Oregon Annual Conference,
and entered fully upon the work of the ministry.
He had not been long in this work when the
good genius, that has so often and so long helped
his destiny, gave him, as the companion and
help of his life, Miss Jane Gilbert, daughter of
Lorenzo Dow and Hannah (I'elknap) Gilbert, of

Belknap settlement, in Benton county, Oregon,
to whom he was married in 1856. By birth-
right, by personal endowments, and by those
qualities that make a pure and noble woman-
hood, she was all that he might have desired as
the help and hope of his life.

In the work Mr. and Mrs. Clark had chosen
they labored earnestly and successfully. Mr.
Clark served acceptably and profitably quite a
number of the more prominent of the charges
of the Oregon conference, such as Eugene
City, Brownsville, Shedd, Dallas and Hillsboro,
for thirty years. In 1885, his health having so
far failed that he did not feel that he was longer
fitted to endure the strain of the itinerancy, he
took a superanunated relation to his conference,
and moved with his family to Spokane Falls in
the then Territory of Washington. Here his
faithful fortune again smiled upon him, for,
by the wise investment of what his life of careful
economy and faithful industry he had been able
to save during the former years, he became com-
paratively wealthy. Since 1885 Mr. and Mrs.
Clark have resided continuously in Spokane,
where they have won the respect and confidence
of the people in an eminent degree.

To them have been born a family of seven
children, whose lives have reflected the virtues
and purity of the home from whence they went
oxit. Two of them, namely, Mrs. Alice M.
Doane, and Miss Eflie Jane Clark, both ladies
of most e.xalted character, have died. The lat-
ter passed away while a student at Evanston,
Illinois, leaving a record for character and ac-
complishments that are the pride and boast of
the great institution of which she was a most
beloved and honored student.

After a full forty years of honorable and use-
ful pioneer life Mr. Clark and his most worthy
companion are spending the late afternoon of
their history in the rest of a beautiful home that
overlooks one of the most charming city and
country views w-hich the human eye ever beheld,
I and they are well worthy of it.

nisTonr of Washington.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

PIUXCIPAL CITIES, CONTINUED.

The Northern Pacific Paii

TION BlOGRAl'IIICAL Sk

W. Geiggs.

)An— The Tacoma OF 1887 — Of 1892-Cause-< — Beautt of Loca-

311KS OF Ma.IOR-GenERAL J. W. Sl'RAl>UE AXD Coi.OXEL ClIALNCEV

/TT'- EORGE FRANCIS lIOAP.,in an address
I Tf before tlie Massachusetts Club of Poston,
>-j[[ in July, 1889, said:

" It is diflicult to imagine what must be
tlie destiny of that wonderful region (Puget
Sound), unsurpassed on this earth for the fer-
tility of its soil, and with a salubrious climate
where it seems impossible that human life
should come to an end if the ordinary laws of
liealth should be observed, with a stimulating
atmosphere where l)rain and body are at tlieir
l)est. * * * « * Tliere

our children, our brethren and our kinsmen
have carried the j^rinciples of New England;
there on tlie shores of that Pacilic sea they are
to repeat on a lai-ger scale, with grander results,
this wonderful drama which we and our fathers
have enacted here. There are to be the streets of a
wealthier New York, the homes of a more cul-
tured Boston, and the hall.« of a more learned
Harvard, and the workshops of a busier Wor-
cester."

When twenty years ago the Northern Pacific
Rnilroad began its bold march across the con-
tinent, its way lay over trackless prairies and
into forests virgin and deep. Its forerunner at
the south, the Union Pacific, had followed that
long line of human bones which stretched away
across the great desert, the ghastly tracing of
that tidal wave of emigration which had swept
to the gold fields of California. It followed in
the wave of population ; its objective was a rich
and developed commonwealth. The new road
sought an almost undiscovered and unpeopled
country. The long tier of great territories
which the Northern Pacific would traverse on
its way to the ocean were little more than lines

upon the map. But the projectors of the road
knew that therein lay tlie locked-up wealth of
an empire, and their daring and fertile brains
were populous with dreams.

Far to the westward, a natural gateway to the
Pacific, lay a beautiful inland sea, bluer than the
yEgean and shadowed by a soaring mountain
dome of snow, before whose bold and massive
splendor high Olympus would shrink to the
stature of a pigmy. By the shores of this sea
they saw rise, in prophetic vision, a city of com-
merce, beauty and wealth; a rival of San Fran-
cisco, a terminal of trans-continental and trans-
Pacific traffic, a mart of inland, coastwise and
oriental trade. It was a dream, but when the
hour struck, it was to be fulfilled with the rapid
action of a romance.

In 1887 the railroad's long struggle for a pass-
age across the Cascades was ended, and the first
overland train, by direct route, touched the
shores of Puget Sound. Years before the direct-
ors had chosen as the terminal a commanding
site at the extreme head of navigation on the
sound. It took its name from the great mount-
ain at whose feet it lay, known in the melodious
Indian dialect as "Tacoma." But the resolution
of a board of directors did not make a city. In
1880, what was then Tacoma, was an Indian
trading hamlet of hardly 800 people, lying close
to the water's edge, and walled in by the somber
forest. Three years later the establishment of
an all-rail connection with Portland and the
outside world, lent a quickening pulse. But the
completion of the stampede switch-back found
it still a struggling western town, new and raw
and crude. There were a few graded streets;
for the rest, the charred stumpage and fallen

niSTOnT OF WASBIKGTON.

giants of the bnrned-over forest ro=e bare and
black against the circling bluffs.

Were an Easterner, accustomed to Eastern
slowness of development, having known the
Tacoma of then, to behold the Tacoma of to-daj,
he might easily conceive himself face to face
with the magic of Aladdin's lamp. The Tacoma
of to-daj is the achievement of those short five
years. In that brief time the dense jungle of a
Paget Sound forest has been cut away, its
roughness subdued, and in its stead there has
been planted a modern and beautiful city — a city
of more than 30,000 population, of $43,000,000
of assessed wealth, with a great trade by water
and by rail, with magnilicent business blocks,
with tasteful and elegant homes and stretching
lawns, club houses and fine public buildings,
cable and electric railways, with- parks, with
libraries, with theaters, with schools and colleges,
all the appointments of civilized life, and or-
ganized on a scale which would reflect credit on
a city with quadruple the population.

It is doubtful if a similar example of develop-
ment so swift, so well ordered and complete, can
be summoned even from the pages of the rapid
growth of western cities. The discoveries of
" bonanza " mines have created great mining
camps like Leadville and Butte, in perhaps a
like space. But Tacoma is not an uncouth min-
ing camp of the frontier, but a city of Eastern
appearance. Eastern people, and Eastern culture.
A Pullman to be sure is more perfect architec-
turally, for individual effort cannot achieve the
symmetry attainable by the compactly directed
expenditure of millions. But Tacoma is not,
like a Pullman, the child of a corporation, al-
though the Northern Pacific railroad may have
stood as its god-father; and Tacoma has what a
Pullman can never have, the unwearying panor-
ama of the pine-darkened Cascades, the blue
Olympics with their cresting snows,' the broad
expanse of placid sea, and best of all, the Jovian
front of that most stately and superb of all the
mountain peaks of the continent. Mount Rainier,
frequently called Tacoma.

The growth of the new city was swift and
astonishing. But was it solid and enduring?
Did it tread firm earth, or was it but the fig-
ment of a "boom'"? Let the last two years
answer. The wild rush which had followed the
completion of the railroad to Puget Sound was
already over when the Baring failure drew taut
the purse strings of every investor and capital-
ist. The stringency was keenly felt in the long
established States, — still more keenly in the new.
Yet the two years Avhich followed have done
more for Tacoma than the three which preceded.
Speculation stopped, building began. The long
column of real-estate transfers was replaced by
the tabulation of building permits. These two
years have seen the rise of the city's most
imposing structures, — its courthouse costing
$350,000, its city hall costing $300,000,
the Chamber of Commerce, the Berlin,
Bernice, "Washington, Fidelity, California, Mer-
chants' National Bank, Pacific National Bank,
Gross Bros., Tacoma Theater, and other splendid
blocks; they have seen the beginning of con-
struction of a 12,000,000 hotel, the fines'f on
the coast, now ne^ring completion; they have
seen a steady stride in population, in business
and trade, the construction of buildings whose
value aggregates over $6,000,000, the develop-
ment of a jobbing trade from $10,000,000 to
$18,000,000.

Such has been Tacoma's advance in the face
of financial stringency, and when the last sem-
blance of a " boom " had passed away it signi-
fies with decisive emphasis that the city's
growth, phenomenal as it has been, was not of
that factitious and mushroom characters© often
seen. There were, in truth, deep, more potent
causes operating to build a great city at the
head of Puget Sound. That such a city should
one day exist was a sure and fixed destiny when
the idea of a northern trans-continental line first
found root in the brain of its projectors.

It lies along what the prophetic finger of
Senator Thomas ET. Benton forty years ago
pointed out as " The American road to the

niSTOBY OF WASHINGTON.

Orient." The constniction of the Northern
Pacific was one link of connection; the estab-
lishment of the Tacoma-Hong Kong line of
steamers was the second. Just as ocean com-
merce has built the cities of New York, Boston,
Baltimore, just as the Chinese Japanese ship-
ping has been a chief factor in the growth of San
Francisco, so would the establishment of com-
merce and shipping, combined with its position
as the terminal of a chief tranfcontinental rail-
road, -be sufKcient in itself to build Tacoma to
the stature of a great city.

But the conspiracy of forces goes yet deeper.
Back of New York and Baltimore was com-
merce; back of Pittsburgwas coal and iron, back
of Chicago, Omaha and Kansas City were the
granaries of the west; back of St. Paul and
Minneapolis were the pine forests of Minnesota
and the Dakota wheat iields; back of Denver
was the wealth of the Rockies; and by reaso!) of
these tilings those cities have grown great.
Back of Tacoma are the wheat fields of Eastern
Washington and the hop fields of the valleys of
the Sound, the coal and iron deposits of the
Cascades; in the Cascades, too, are stores of gold
and silver, and round about the Sound is the
greatest forest on the American continent; and
by reason of these has the city achieved its
present position. Here is the secret of its aston-
ishing development. Had indeed the conjunc-
tion of natural resources been less powerful no
such development conld have taken place. But
whoever will give attentive examination of the
various factors at work will cease to wonder at
the i-esult.

Tt woTild bo over-just to Tacoma, and unjust
to other representative cities of the State, if we
did not say here that these great factors are com-
mon, in a great measure, to the other cities of
the sound, and are the pledge of a futui-e of
growth and power in that whole region of which
this city will be an expressive type. It would
be impossible for us to do more than give them
this generalization without attempting to lead
our readers into the domain of statistics.

For the rest of the story, the reader is invited
to visit and behold with his own eyes the city
itself. Man, maker of cities, may have sum-
moned to life the wealth of its forests and its
hills, have made its valleys hum with the voices
of industry and set its beautiful harbor with
ships, but the hand of man could never have
sculptiired her imperial hills, and dowered these
with an air and view that take us back for com-
parison to the land where civilization lay in its
cradle, and awoke to poetry under the soft skies
of Greece. Circling the waters of Commence-
ment Bay and terraced like a broad amphitheater,
lie the bluffs on which the city is built. The
business part occupies the narrow strip of shore
line, and the lower terraces; above these, rising
tier upon tier, is the residence portion; the green
sward of the lawns, green the whole year round,
giving an exquisite setting to the gayer colors
of the handsome modern homes. These latter
are one of the remarkable features of the city;
their cost exceeding those of any city of equal
or even much greater size. In every direction
stretch vistas of exquisite beauty. (->nly the
far horizon limits the wide view — a horizon set
up for almost its entire rim, of the Cascades and
the Olympics. " Lifting far their crystal climb
of snow," and high over these. Mount Rainier,
rearing his snowy battlements far above the
clouds. The air seems still with a singular
serenity, and soft as a caress. Neither scorch-
ing blasts nor fierce, cold cyclones, blizzards nor
thunder-storms disturb its peace. Roses, blos-
soming as never roses of Sharon blossomed,
scent the air from May to January. The sum-
mer is a long June, and winter a mild Novem-
ber.

And it is perhaps this rare union of physical
wealth and salubrity of climate, opportunity for
business and restful, restorative air, that has
won so many wealthy, cultured and intelligent
people to this new city. Here the race for
wealth is not won at the price of a ruined con-
stitution; here health and fortune, successful
business and daily enjoyment uf life may go

HI STORY OF WAHUINGTON.

hand in hand. It has converted many a tourist
to a resident, and contributed powerfully to that
splendid march of development we have told.
It will be a potent factor in the city's progress
toward the attainment of its manifest destiny, so
much of which it has already claimed for its
own.

Following are sketches of representative
citizens of Tacoma:

Majoe-Genekal J. W. Sprague, than whom
no name is more intimately associated with the
development of Tacoma, justly deserves men-
tion in the history of AVashington, which State
he helped to create.

John Wilson Spragne was born in Washing-
ton county, New York, April 4, 1817, his
parents being Otis and Polly (Peck) Sprague.
The founder of the Sprague family in Amer-
ica was William, who came from England iu
1628, landing in Massachusetts in September.
He settled at Naumkeag (Salem), and was
known as one of the leading planters of Massa-
chnsetts. He was appointed by Governor Endi-
cott to explore and take possession of the
conntry west of Hingham, and in 1636 several
parcels of land were given this explorer by the
town of Hingham. From the latter town, he re-
moved to Charlestown and made peace with the
Indians there, two of his brothers being the first
settlers of that place. William died at Hing-
ham, October 26, 1675, after a long and useful
life spent in the service and development of his
country. ()ne of his sons, Anthony, had a son
Jei-emiah, among whose children was Knight
Sprague, whose son Asa had a son Otis, the
father of the subject of this sketch. Asa Sprague,
the grandfather of the General, was born at
Hingham, the old family seat, and Otis was a
native of Worcester, Massachusetts, but eventu-
ally removed to New York State.

John W. Sprague, whose name heads this
sketch, was a mere boy when his parents re-
moved to Troy, New York, where he resided
until he was twenty-eight years of age. He was
educated in the common schools of that city and
at the Rensselaer P(jlytcclinic Institute. On

completing his education, he embarked in the
wholesale grocery business as a member of the
firm of Wallace & Sprague, in which he con-
tinued for five years. At the end of that time
he removed to Huron, Ohio, then on the front-
ier, where he established himself in the for-
warding and commission business and in lake
commerce, as a member of the firm of Wright
& Sprague, and later, of Wilbur & Sprague,
who, in connection with their regular opera-
tions, built, owned and operated vessels. It was
in the midst of these active and profitable en-
terprises that the war of the Rebellion broke
out, when, prompted by patriotism, Mr. Sprague
at once took his stand in defense of the Union.
On the first call for troops, he raised a com-
pany, and reported at Camp Taylor, near Cleve-
land. May 19, 1861, this company was
assigned to the Seventh Regiment of the Ohio
Infantry, which was shortly afterward ordered
to Camp Dennison. Here the regiment re-or-
ganized for three years' time, and was ordered
forward to West Virginia. August 11, 1861,
while Captain Sprague was proceeding, under
orders, from Somerville to Clarksville, with an
escort of four mounted men, he was captured

near Bij' Birch river, after

lase of

al)Out three miles, by a detachment of the Wise,
Legion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel
Crohan. Captain Sprague was taken to Rich-
mond, where he was confined about six weeks
in a tobacco house, after which he was trans-
ferred to Charleston, South Carolina, being con-
fined first at Castle Rinckney and afterward in
the Charlestown jail. January 1, 1862, he was
sent to Columbia, South Carolina, and on the
5th was removed to Norfolk, Virginia, to be ex-
changed, and on the lOtli reached Washington
city. While on his way to join his regiment,
which was still stationed in Virginia, Captain
Sprague received from Governor Tod a com-
mission as Colonel of the Sixty-third Ohio In-
fantry. This latter regiment was at Marietta,
Ohio, but its organization was incomplete. This
was rapidly accomplished, however, and on the
"lOth of February, Colonel Sprague moved for-

BISTORT OF WASHINGTON.

ward -n-ith his regiment, to report to General
Sherman, at Padncah, Kentucky, and immedi-
ately on arriving there was ordered to report to
General Tope at Commerce, Missouri. Under
the latter officer, Colonel Spragne participated
in the operations at New Madrid and Island
No. 10, after which he joined the army at
Fittshnrg Landing. He moved with the army
against Corinth, and subsequently commanded
his regiment in the battle of luka, but was only
slightly engaged. The Colonel again partici-
pated in the battle of Corinth, October 8 and
4, 1862. On the 4th, his regiment was posted
on the right of Battery Robinett and lost more
men, in porportion to its size, than any other
on the field. More than one-half of the men
were killed and wounded, and ijiit three line
officers escaped unharmed.

Subsequently, Colonel Sprague was, for some
time, engaged in various operations of minor
importance. In the latter part of 1863, his
regiment re-enlisted, only seven of the men
present declining to re-enter the service. Colonel
Sprague has always looked upon this almost
unanimous act of his regiment as equal in im-
portance to any of its deeds on the battle field.

In the latter part of January, 1864, Colonel
Sprague was assigned by General Dodge, to the
command of the brigade, consisting of the
Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio Regiments,
the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin, the Thirty-fifth
New Jersey, and the Third Michigan Battery.
In April, the brigade marched from Chatta-
nooga with the Army of the Tennessee, under
General McPherson, and formed part of the
grand army under General Sherman. Colonel
Sprague was actively engaged during the entire
Atlantic campaign, and at Resaca, Dallas and
Nicojack creek. At Decatur, on the 22d of
July, he was, to quote from a history of the
war, " conspicuous for coolness and bravery.
At Decatur, Colonel Sprague was covering and
guarding the trains of the entire army, consist-
ing of over 4,000 wagons. He was attacked by
superior numbers, and the contest continued for
more than four hours; but by his own bravery

and ability, no less than by the courage and
prompt obedience of his men, the enemy was
finally repulsed, and oidy one wagon was lost.
His brigade lost 292 men, killed and wounded."

Colonel Sprague was appointed Brigadier-
General July 29, 1864. After the fall of
Atlanta, he moved with General Sherman to
Savannah, and thence northward on the cam-
paign of the Carolinas. After the surrender of
the Rebel armies, he moved from 'Goldsboro,
through Raleigh and Richmond, to Washing-
ton city, where he participated in the grand
review of Sherman's army. His command hav-
ing been disbanded at the close of the war, he
was assigned to duty by the Secretary of the
AYar as Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau
of Refugees, Freed men and Abandoned Lands,
with headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. The
district under his charge comprised the States
of Missouri and Kansas, and subsequently the
Indian Territory. In September, 1865, General
Sprague's headquarters were removed to Little
Rock, Arkansas, where he remained until
November, when he resigned. In the mean-
time he was offered the position of Lieutenant-
Colonel of the Forty-first United States Infan-
try, which he declined, and he was brevetted
Major-General of Volunteers, to date from
March 13, 1864. To quote again from the
work previously referred to: "His character as
a soldier is unimpeachable, and his influence
with his regiment, and later with his brigade,
was almost unbounded. No one who knew
him as a soldier failed to esteem and love him.
He was always prompt, efficient and brave."

At the close of the war. General Sprague was
appointed General Manager of the Winona &
St. Peter Railroad in Minnesota, and removed
to Winona. In the spring of 1870 he assumed
charge of the interests of the Northern Pacific
Railroad west of the Rocky Mountains, and
under his direction the road from Kalama to
Tacoma was constructed in 1871-'73, and he
afterward controlled its operation, and had
charge of the land department, as well as of all
the varied interests of -the company between the

HISTORY OF WASir/NGTON.

24l

Hocky Mountains and Paget Sound. He also
bnilt 325 miles of the line east of the Rockies,
between AVallnla and Pend d' Oreille lake. He
continued in control of the operations of the
Northern Pacific in the West until 1882, when
his health failed, as a result of the exposures to
whicii he had subjected himself, as well as from
the over-activity of his life, and he resigned.

He established the Tacoma National Bank,
whicli was the first national bank ever organized
in the metropolis of Washington. In 1889 he
sold out his interest in this bank, but has been
president of the Union Savings Bank & Trust
Company since January, 1892, and is also vice-
president of the Piiget Sound Savings P)ank.
Aside from his connection with thes-e insti-
tutions, and the attention he necessarily gives to
his various interests. General Sprague is practi-
cally retired from active business. He was one
of the organizers of the Tacoma Chamber of
Commerce, and was president of that body dur-
ing the first three years of its existence. He is
a member of the Loyal Legion, having been
commander of the Oregon department in the
first year of its existence, and when the Wash-
ington department was organized he was chosen
as its first connnander.

June 22, 1843, General Sprague was married
in Huron, Ohio, to Miss Lucy, daughter of
Judge Jabez Wright. She died in the follow-
ing year, leaving one daughter, Lucy L., now
the wife of John W. Wickham, Jr., of Huron,
Ohio. January 10, 1849, the General was
married to Julia F., daughter of Judge George
W. Choate, and she died in 1887, leaving four
children: Otis, Winthrop W., Clark W., and
Charles. He was married, in 1890, to his pres-
ent wife, who was formerly Mrs. Abljie
(Wright) Vance.

General Sprague's whole life has been marked
by ]-esponsibility, power, energy and ability,
and he has left his impress indelil)lj upon the
history of the State of Washington.

Colonel Chaitncet Weight Griggs, presi-
dent of the St. Paul it Tacoma Lumber Com-

pany, and one of the foremost citizens ot Wash-
ington, was born December 31, 1832, in Tolland,
Connecticut, which place has been for four
generations the family seat. The founders of
the family came to America early in its history,
and their descendants have since figured promi-
nently in church matters, in politics, in business
affairs, and in the various wars in which the
country has been involved.

Captain Chauncey Griggs, father of Colonel
Griggs ot this notice, who obtained his title as
an officer in the war of 1812, was a Judge of
Probate at Tolland and a member of the State
Legislature of Connecticut for a number of years.
The mother of the subject of this sketch was,
previous to her marriage, Heartie Dimock. The
Diinocksof New England, through Elder Thomas
Dimock, an early settler of Barnstable, Massa-
chusetts, trace tiieir descent from the Dimocks
of England, who from the time of Henry I to
that of Victoria have held and exercised the
office of hereditary champion of England, and
for the same have been knighted and baroneted.
The Dimocks were prominent in the Itevolu-
tionary war, and some of them served as officers
of prominent command. Tlie foregoing items
are taken from published volumes of Connecti-
cut history and genealogy.

The subject of this sketch received a com-
mon-school education at Tolland, and at about
the age of seventeen years went to Ohio, where
he was for a short time employed as a clerk in
a store. Returning home, he finished his edu-
cation at the Monson Academy, in Massachu-
setts, at that time one of the best institutions of
its kind in New England. He ■subse(|uently
taught school for a while, and in 1S;51 went
West, first settling in Detroit, where for a brief
period he had employment in a bank, after
whicli he went to Ohio, where he was engaged
in mercantile business. He next went to Iowa,
from which State he returned to Detroit, where
he was for a time interested in the furniture
business with his brother. Thence he went to
St. Paul in 18.50, and soon was busily engrossed

HIST0R7 OF WASHINGTON.

in various channels of commerce, operating a
supply store, contracting, speculating in real
estate, etc.

The breaking out of the late war aroused his
youthful patriotism, and induced him to lay
aside his own business interests and unre-
servedly give his services to his country. He im-
mediately set about organizing a company, re-
cruiting it in connection with other ofhcers, in
various portions of the State, into which, when
organized, he was mustered a private with Com-
pany B, of the Third Minnesota Infantry. The
regiment proceeded to Kentucky, where for six
or eight months it was stationed, operating near
Louisville and in Central Kentucky, looking
after the pushing ahead of supplies, etc. Sub-
sequently the command was advanced into Ten-
nessee, the subject of this sketch having been
in the meantime promoted to Major and event-
ually to Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment. He
was placed in charge of the regimental Murfrees-
borough, but soon afterward his Colonel being
succeeded by General Crittenden, Colonel Griggs
was returned to his former position. The regi-
ment was attacked by General Forrest, whose
command outnumbered the Federals three to
one, and the latter, after maintaining for several
hours an unequal combat, were forced to sur-
render, but against the vigorous protest of
Lieutenant-Colonel Griggs. The Colonel had
been in several minor engagements previous to
this one, and by his brave, soldierly conduct, had
earned the promotion mentioned. After the
surrender, the regiment was paroled and sent to
Missouri, and later participated in the Indian
campaign in Minnesota. The officers, however,
went forward as prisoners of war, and were held
for three months at Madisonville, Georgia, and
thence were forwarded via South Carolina and
Libby Prison, to be exchanged. After full re-
ports of the engagement at Murfreesborough had
been made, the Colonel and those who had voted
for surrender were dismissed, and Lieutenant-
Colonel Griggs was promoted to the-Colonecy of
the Third Minnesota. The regiment had by
this time been through the Indian campaign and

returned to the South via Cairo, proceeding to
Columbus, Kentucky, then under command of
General A. Smith. From the latter place. Col-
onel Griggs was sent with his own and three
other regiments and a battery to Forts Henry
and Hindman, to drive out a squad of rebels, and
the Colonel was placed in command of a military
district comprising five counties. While here
in command, he captured Colonel Dawson, Ma-
jor Magie and aljont 1,000 men, as well as some-
thing like $5,000,000 worth of cotton and salt.
After remaining there three or four months, he
asked to be sent forward to the front at Vicks-
burg, which request was complied with, and his
command was placed facing Johnston's army,
near Oak Kidge, where it remained until the
capture of Vicksburg. At this time his health
was very poor, and believing that with the fall
of the great stronghold of the Mississippi and
the defeat of Gettysburg, occurring simultane-
ously, the war to be virtually over, he accepted
the suggestion of the surgeon of the regiment
and resigned from the service, as all officers of
depleted regiments, who had not asked to resign
before Vicksburg, were freely accommodated by
General Grant. Had not the state of his health
impelled his resignation, it is certain he would
have received a General's commission.

He returned to Minnesota, and was for some
years situated at Chaska, a little town some
thirty miles west of St. Paul, at which place he
engaged in brick-making, dealing in wood, con-
tracting Government supplies, railroad build-
ing, etc., and while thei-e he also represented his
county in the State Legislature. In 1869, he
returned to St. Paul, where his progress in poli-
tics and business was rapid. Until 1887, he was
extensively engaged in the wood and coal busi-
ness, at first in partnership with J. J. Hill, now
president of the Great Northern Railroad, and
later with General R. W. Johnson, and finally
with A. G. Foster. He organized, and was for
some time pi-esidcnt of the Lehigh Coal & Iron
Company, but in the spring of 1887 he sold out
his entire interests in the coal, iron and wood
business. While, perhaps, better known there

IIIS70RT OF WASHIJ^OTON.

in connection witli liis large fuel interests, he
has been identified with ni;inerons other ven-
tures — in fact, anything which promised good
returns from energy and good management. He
yet remains the head of the largest wholesale
grocery house in St. Paul. In 1883, with others
the firm of Glidden, Griggs & Co. was organ-
ized, and in 1884 Glidden I'etired and the firm
became Yanz, Griggs & Howes. In 1890 the
interest of Howes was bought out arid the death
of Mr. Yanz occurring, the present firm of
Griggs, Cooper & Co. was formed, constituting
the largest wholesale house west of Chicago.
Colonel C. W. Griggs and D. C. Shepherd, of
St. Paul, are the leading members of the firm,
hut the business is managed Ipy C. M. Griggs
and Mr. Cooper.

Colonel Griggs has been particularly success-
ful and prominent as an investor in lands, hav-
ing handled much property in the Twin Cities,
and throughout Minnesota, Dakota and Wis-
consin, but later his investments were in the
pine lands in Wisconsin and in Washington
property, while now it may reasonably be said
he is giving most of his personal attention to his
large interests in AYashington.

In May, 1888, Colonel Griggs and Henry
Hewitt, Jr., formerly of Menasha, Wisconsin,
bought from the Northern Pacific Railroad con-
tracts for the sale of some 80,000 acres of land
and timber lying near the city of Tacoma, which
is said to be the finest body of timber land in the
United States, and will cut from 8,000,000,000
to 10,000,000,000 feet.

Associated with other prominent men of the
East and West, a company was organized which
was known as the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber
Company, with Colonel Griggs as president,
which began business as lumber manufacturers
in 1888, and the product of their mills in Ta-
coma is now shipped over the entire globe, em-
ploying from 1,000 to 8,000 men daily during
portions of the time.

AYlien it is remembered that Colonel Gr

gg«

had already made his millions, and at the time
of the preceding purchase was fifty-six years of

age, the energy and ambition which impelled
him to embark in these enterprises and become
a pioneer in a new home and new industry may
be better appreciated.

Colonel Griggs has been for years prominent
in banking circles, being stockholder and di-
rector of three banks and president of one. He
is a director in the First and Second National
Banks of St. Paul, and was vice-president of the
St. Paul National while he lived there, and a di-
rector in the Traders' Pank and Fidelity Trust
Company of Tacoma. He is a director of the
Bitumious Paving Company, vice-president of
the Tacoma Fishing Company, and a member of
the Crescent Creamery Company. He is presi-
dent of the Pacific & Chehalis Land Company,
which now owns 20,000 acres in the counties
whose names are borne by the company, and is
besides this interested in a number of other im-
portant corporations.

Colonel Griggs was married April 14, 1859,
to Miss Martha Ann Gallup, a native of Led-
yard, Connecticut, and a daughter of Christopher
M. and Anna (Billings) Gallup, both of whom
were born at Ledyard, and both belonging to old
New England families, which furnished their
quotas of patriots during the Pevolutionary
struggle. A portion of Mr. Gallup's farm is a
portion of the old Pequod grant. Mrs. Griggs
is a lady of culture and education and is en-
titled to a sliare of credit for her husband's suc-
cess in life. She has been active in woman's
work all her life and is known in her old home
at St. Paul, as well as in Tacoma, as a leader in
church and charitalile work. In St. Paul she
was a leading spirit in the management in the
Protestant Orphan's Asylum, and was for many
years the honored president of its governing
board. To Mrs. Griggs no call upon her time,
energy and purse was was ever made in vain,
when the cause was one worthy the support of a
noble, high-minded woman. To Mr. and Mrs.
Griggs have been born the following children:
Chauncey Milton, Herbert Stanton, Heartie
Dimock, Everett Gallup, Theodore AV^right and
Anna Billines.

HISTORY OF WASniJ^GTON.

In closing the brief sketch of Colonel Griggs,
a reference to his political affiliations is titting.
He has always been a strong. supporter of the
Democratic party and its principles, but withal
conservative, never upholding a corrupt official.
While residing in Minnesota, he was twice a
member of the Honee of Representatives and
three times Senator, was a member of the City
' Council of St. Panl seven times, besides holding
many other positions of honor and trust. In
Washington, he at once took front rank as a
representative of the Democratic party and be-
came its candidate for United States Senator in
1889 and airain in 1893.

In his various enterprises, Colonel Griggs has
employed more labor than any man in the State
of Washington, and it is universally conceded
that his empL)yes have been among 'the best
paid and best treated men in the State. That
the consideration shown them lias been appre-
ciated, is shown by the fact that in all the vast
work performed for him by others there has never
been a hint of trouble about pay or treatment, a
really remarkable treatment when compared
with many other employing bodies. Every
man who exhibits such care for the laborer is a
laborer himself.

CHAPTER XXXV.

PRINCIPAL CITIES, CONTINUED.
SEATTLE.

The Historical City — Phenomenal Gkowtu — Advantageous Location — Industries — Social
AND Educational Advanta(;es — Great Fire — Scenery — Sketch of Henry L. Yksler —
Sketch of Colonel G. O. IIaller — Sketch of G. F. Whitworth, D. D.

THE history of Seattle comes nearer being
tlie history of the growth and develop-
ment of Washington, of which it is un-
doubtedly the chief city, than does that
of any other city of the State. The names of its
pioneers, and the incidents attending its settle-
ment, have necessarily entered into the warp
and woof of our entire history. Very few of
the thrilling experiences of real pioneer life en-
tered into the settlement or growth of the cities
that sprung up with, or subsequent to, the era
of railroads. Around Seattle clusters the mem-
ories of a quarter of a century of the real pio-
neer history before Tacoma or Spokane or
twenty of the other thriving cities east and west
of the Cascade mountains had a name upon the
map. Its history dates further back than does
that of Omaha, Topeka or Denver. The world
has been so long accustomed to read its name on
commercial lists, and for so many decades have

the census reports recorded its progress that the
romance of newness and suddenness does not
cling to it. Its place is fixed, like that of fixed
stars that never change nor cease to shine, and
all the world knows where to look for Seattle.
Still, we cannot satisfy the justice of history
without some more particular exhibition of what
this wonderful and progressive city has been in
the past, is now, and is to be in the future.

The growth of Seattle has been phenomenal
for the last decade. While it kept full pace with
the Tei'ritory for the fir&t quarter of a century
of its existence, it never realized the strength of
the giant life within it until after 1880 had
come and gone. Then, in ten years it leaped
at once from three and a half thousand people
up to thesplendid figure of 45,000 — over eleven-
fold increase in ten years. At this writing, in
midsummer of 1893, the population of the city
must have reached 50,000 at the least,

HI STORY OF WASHINGTON.

Cointnercially, a writer very conservatively
says of it: —

Owing to advantageous harbor location, tlie
proximity of coal and timber, it !)eing the cen-
ter and point of distribution for milling points
and logging camps, the larger portion of steam-
boats engaged in the Sound trade made it their
starting point, and to such fact may be attril)-
uted its commercial supremacy. Over thirty
steamboats, of every size, run from here to every
point on the Sound and upon the navigable
waters tributary to it. Ocean steamships and
l;.\rge steam colliers regulai'ly communicate with
San Francisco. A fleet of sailing vessels ti-ans-
port its coal, lumber, grain and other products.
Its industries include sawmills, shingle mills,
sash and door factories, breweries, furniture
factories, iron works, brick yards, electric light
and gas works, car shops, boiler works; crackers,
soap, ice, candy and tile are manufactured.
There are also canneries, meat-packing, box-
making, wood-working of all descriptions, ship
and boat building, flouring mills, bottling
works, cigar-making, brass foundries and cur-
nice factories. The water supply is pumped
from Lake Washington into elevated reservoirs,
the highest being 380 feet. There are fire hy-
drants and steam tire engines, with an etlicient
paid fire department.

Terms of United States Circuit and District
Court are held. A United States land utiice,
the Board of United States Inspectors of Steam
Vessels for this State and Alaska, and a branch
of the Customs House and Marine Hopital are
located here. Every religious denomination
has its organization. There are tifty-six
churches, two hospitals, an orphans' home, the
Sisters' convent and academy, and other denom-
inational schools. All the fraternities and so-
cieties are represented. The State University is
also here; recent appropriations of land and
money must be a guarantee of its future useful-
ness as an institution of learning.

Over sixty n)iles of ekctric and cable car
lines, newspapers and magazines without rest,
of every denomination, nationality and degree,

in daily, weekly and monthly issues, and eleven
public-school edifices attest the condition of the
city.

On June 6, 1889, the city of Seattle was vis-
ited by a conflagration that has no equal in the
history of fires on the Pacific Coast; and this
great waste of flames has frequently been li-
kened to the great Chicago tire. The entii-e
business portion of Seattle was destroyed, the
total loss being estimated at $15,000,000. In-
side of four years, however, the city has been re-
built with finer structures, wider streets, and in
many ways the great fire has proved a blessing
in disguise.

Seattle has been described so often and so
much has been written as to the Ijeauty of its
scenery both near and distant, that it would ap-
pear a superfluity to attempt another description
here. Yet, as in some respects its surroundings
are unlike those of any other of the principal
cities of the Sound, we may venture a para-
graph or two concerning it.

In general its scenery has tlia same expanse
and mingling of Sound and mountains that has
all the cities of the Sound. Rising up the ter-
raced slopes of the inside of an amphitheatre
of lofty hills that sweep about Elliott's bay, on
the east side of Fuget Sound, the city stands
row above row, clear tiom the tide on the beach
to the summits of the ridge. Then it stretches
away eastward across a leather level plateau,
three miles or more, clear to the shores of Lake
Washington. A more beautiful body of water
never mirrored back the stars than this. It
stretches miles away eastward, northward, south-
ward, swinging its crystal brightness about the
feet of the evergreen hills that margin its wil-
lowed shores, and catching and reflecting all
their beauty of bough and leaf, with the over-
arching greenness of the hemlock and the fir
upon the vision of the beholder. North and
west of this, almost linking it with the waters
of the Sound, is Lake Union, smaller, though
not less beautiful than itself. From every
point and place within the area thr.s enclosed,
looking westward across the blue leagues of the

HISTORY OF WASniNGTON.

Sound, the beautiful Olympic range divides be-
tween the waters and the sky. Sharply pin-
nacled, some peaks touching the zone of per-
petual snow, this is the ideal mountain range of
tlie Pacific coast. Probably tlie vision of over
a hundred miles of its ever-changing grandeur
can be gathered at once within the focus of the
eye. It holds the vision in thrall alike when its
pinnacles flame with the earliest touch of the
morning, or at high noon, when its deep gorges
and the worn and rent paths of its old glaciers
are illumined with the ilood of day, or at even-
ing after the sun has gone down behind its ser-
rated summits and the last arrows of his light
are shooting up from behind their sombre
heights; in the calm of the motionless air of a
summer rejjose, or in the whirl and ch .rge and
thunder of a winter's storm — always this won-
derful scene holds the soul of the beholder with
a strange, sweet, weird, bewildering attraction.
A poet might here catch transcendent images
for a thousand "Songs of the Sierras," though
he could not brgathe in measures all that sung
within him. With its soft and beautiful name,
which itself is an idyl heroic with the memory
of a departed people who once dwelt upon its
site; with its splendid architecture, its rushing
paves, its fleets coming and going on every tide,
its past story of achievement and its prophecy
of greater future progress, our pen must take a
reluctant farewell of this city that " sits like a
queen" on her templed hills by this "Mediterra-
nean of the West."

The history and life of Seattle, like those of
all other cities or countries, ai-e best illustrated
by the men who made such history and life.
Three men, typical of the forces and character
that have wrought the Seattle of 1893 out of
the rough Seattle of 1853, in addition to some
whose lives have been sketched elsewhere in this
book, will serve as our illustrations. The flrst
on our list is

Henky Leiter Yesler. — Mr. Yesler was
born in Leitersburg, Maryland, December 4,
1810. His parents, Henry and Catherine
(Leiter) Yesler, were natives of Pennsylvania

and Leitersburg, respectively, the latter town
having been founded by the Leiter family.
Hejiry L. was educated in the little, old, log
schoolhouse of the town, and was reared upon
his father's farm. At the age of seventeen he
entered upon a three years' apprenticeship to
the trade of house joiner, compensation for his
services being his board, twenty-tive dollars in
cash each year for clothes, and two weeks' holi-
day each year daring harvesting, when he worked
in the field with the sickle and earned good
wages. After completing his apprenticeship,
he worked as journeyman until 1832, when he
started out in life, his trade and a few tools
being his capital stock. Going to Massillon,
Ohio, he worked one year. Then he went to
Cincinnati and later to Natchez, Mississippi.
In April, 1835, he went down the river to New
Orleans, thence by railroad — the first he had
ever ridden upon — to Mobile, thence by packet
ship to New York, arriving just after the big
fire and hoping to find plenty of work; but help
was plentiful and wages low, and after a few
months he decided to return to Leitersburg,
which he did, going via Philadelphia, Baltimore
and Washington city. Remaining until Sep-
tember, 1837, he again visited Natchez, but,
meeting with an accident, he returned to Mas-
sillon, Ohio, and there, in partnership with
Thomas Richmond, he opened a shop and en-
gaged in general house carpentering. He con-
tinued work at house and mill building until
1851, when he decided to make a prospecting
tour of the Pacific coast.

Arrangin_g matters for the comfort of his
family, he having been married several years
previous to this time, he went to New York
and there took steamer, via the Isthmus route,
for San Francisco, whence, after a short stop,
he continued his journey to Portland, landing
at that place iu April, 1851. Portland was
then a hard-looking town, but wages were high,
and at sis dollars per day he immediately be-
gan work as millwright. Being a good mechanic
and hard worker, he was a favorite hand and
was steadily employed. As sqnsred lumber was

IIISrOllT OF WASniNOTON.

then bringing a large price in San Francisco,
he ordered a sawmill outfit from Ohio to come
by water aroimd Cape Horn, and he started for
California in April, 1852, to look for a place to
locate his mill. Finding, however, that trans-
portation to the mountains was very expensive,
he decided to visit Piiget Sound. At San Fran-
cisco he met a sea captain who had visited the
Sound for piling, and he advised Mr. Yesler to go
above New York on Alki Point, and described
to him the adjacent river and large inland lakes.
Returning to Portland, he came thence, by
the Columbia and Cowlitz rivers and pack-
horses, to Olympia in the fall of 1852. The
only hotel there was kept by Gallagher Brothers,
and the beds in this rude hotel were bunks
around the wall, filled with straw, and each man
was expected to furnish his own blanket. Con-
tinuing his journey up the Sound Mr. Yesler
duly arrived at New York, and, after looking
over the shore front and country, first located
his claim at the head of the bay; but the few
settlers located upon the present site of what is
now Seattle, learning of his attention to erect
a sawmill, induced him to settle with them, and
by readjusting their claims he was allowed a
strip about thirty rods wide, extending from the
water front back over the hills where was lo-
cated the bulk of his claim. He then erected
iiis little mill on what is now known as Pioneer
Square, it being the first steam sawmill built
upon Pnget Sound; and he commenced oper-
ations in March, 1853. The only available
help being Indians, he employed a large num-
ber of them. By kind treatment to them he
gained their confidence and friendship, and du-
ring the troublous days of 1855 and 1856,
through his relation with them he was enabled
to render great service to the Territory, saving
the settlement from massacre by timely warn-
ing sent to the naval authorities upon the
sloop Decatur, then lying at anchor in the har-
bor. His own Indians remained neutral dur-
ing the trouble. After peace was declared,
Mr. Yesler continued his lumberiiig interests,
and, by oft'ering inducements to new settlers,

and by attracting the older merchants to his
locality, he gradually entered about himself the
business portion of the city. He was ever
ready to erect buildings to accommodate the
would-be settler, thus developing the city and
increasing his own property values and rentals.
He was one of the heaviest losers by the great
fire of June 6, 1889, which reduced his
monthly rentals from $6,000 to $50 per month;
but, with that indomital)le energy which char-
acterized the citizens of Seattle at that time,
ere the embers had ceased to smolder, his plans
were made to rebuild upon a more magnificent
scale than ever before, and the Pioneer Build-
ing on " Pioneer Place " — erected upon the site
of his first humble dwelling in Seattle, which
he occupied for twenty-five years — is charac-
terized by solidity and elegance, and would do
credit to any of the great cities. The Yesler
Building, another monument to his industry
and enterprise, and numerous other buildings
of less pretention, bring him large monthly
rentals. In 1885 he built his present spacious
and magnificent residence, which is handsomely
and substantially finished in the native woods
of the Pacific coast.

With the organization of the territory of
Washington, Mr. Yesler was appointed the
first Auditor, and held the office several years.
He has been Commissioner of King county for
several terms and has twice served as Mayor of
Seattle. He was formerly a Democrat in poli-
tics, but since the Buchanan campaign and the
Civil war he has been allied with the Republi-
can party. He is not, however, an intense
partisan and never had any desire for political
distinction, his time having been too closely
occupied with his business afi^airs. With the
great tide of emigration to the Sound, his
property has increased in value. Much of it
has been sold, but he still retains a large part
of his original claim in the very heartof the city.
1839, to Miss Sarah Burgert, a native of Ohio,

Mr. Yesler was married at Maasillion, in
who shared with him the privations and trials
of pioneer life and also the prosperity of later

IHSTORT OF WASHINGTON.

years, ever proving herself an amiable and no-
ble woman. She was greatly beloved and re-
spected for her charitable and genial disposition.
They had two children, both, of whom died at
an early age, and in Angnst, 1887, she followed
the little ones to their last resting place. Mr.
Yesler was again married, in Philadelphia, in
1890, to Miss Minnie Gagle, a native of Leiters-
biirg, Maryland, and she died December 16,1892.

It is impossible to fittingly portray so event-
ful a life in the confines of a brief biography.
Mr. Yesler has been foremost in every enter-
prise, with financial aid and physical snpport,
in bnilding up the great Northwest. Many
struggling industries date their growth to his
nurturing care and snpport. Though now in
liis eighty-second year, Mr. Yesler is buoyant
in spirit, and, physically and mentally, displays
an interest in life and affairs nsnally found in
men when in the jjrime'of their usefulness. He
will leave upon his time the impress of a strong
personality and will ever be noted as one of the
founders of the great Northwest.

Colonel Gkanville O. Haller. — Among
the men whose lives have been largely spent in
the military service, there are few living whose
personal experience covers a broader range of
usefulness than he whose name heads this
sketch. His sagacity and judgment were
powerful agencies in reclaiming the lands of
Florida fro.m the reign of savage barbarism.
Again, in the Northwest Territory, during the
reign of terror from Indian depredations, in
1855 and 1856, his wisdom and experience were
towers of strength in recovering the country
from savage rule and preserving it for settlement
to the honest, industrious, law-abiding pioneer.

Granville O. Haller was born in York, Penn-
sylvania, January 31, 1819. His parents,
(ieorge and Susan (Pennington) Haller, were
natives of the same locality. To them were
bom five children, of whom our subject was the
youngest and is now the only survivor. The
death of George Haller, in 1821, left the widow
and fouryoung children in limited circumstances;
but she was possessed with a strong character and

a devout, religions nature, and heroically took
np the responsibility which fell to lier and
reared her children in comfort, giving them a
liberal education. It was her desire that Gran-
ville be fitted for the ministry. He, however,
feeling in no sense drawn toward that profes-
sion, could not conform to his mother's wishes.
A military career was more in keeping with
his desire, and in 1839 a vacancy occurring in
the cadetship belonging to his district at the
West Point Military Academy, he, with others,
became an applicant for the place. The Secre-
tary of War, Hon. Joel R. Poinsett, decided
that the applicant receiving the endorsement of
the Representatives of the district should re-
ceive the appointment. Yoxing Haller was
thereupon recommended, but through the in-
tervention of political influence his appoint
ment was defeated. He was then invited to ap-
pear before a board of military officers, which
met in Washington, for examination as to his
fitness for a military profession. Haller pre-
sented himself, was examined, and on Novem-
ber 17, 1839, was commissioned a Second Lieu-
teuj^nt in the Fourth Regiment, United States
Infantry, although at the time he was not quite
twenty-one years of age. He then passed some
time at Madison Barracks, New York, in re-
ceiving initiatory instructions in tactics. Later
lie went to Governor's Island, his company be-
ing in command of Captain Braxton Bragg,
who became prominent in the Confederate serv-
ice during the Civil war. In the summer of
1840, Lieutenant Haller was ordered to Carlisle
Barracks, and, in company with Brevet Major
William M. Graham, look charge of a large
number of dragoon recruits and conducted them
to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which, at that
time, was well into the Indian country. Turn-
ing over the recruits, they proceeded by wagon
over the military road to Fort Gibson, and
there joined their regiments. The regiment
was subsequently (1841) ordered into Florida,
where they renewed their struggles against the
Indians in what is known as the " Seven Years'
War," lasting from 1836 to 1843.

IIISTOHY OP WASHINGTON.

Lieutenant Haller's first active service was in
1841 and 1842. He was with Brevet Major
Belknap, Third Infantry, when fired upon by
the Indians in the Big Cypress Swamp, and
with Colonel "Worth, Eighth Infantry, at the
action of Palakikaha swamp, wliich resulted in
the capture of Tnstenngwee's band, ending the
Florida war. Lieutenant Ilaller was Adjutant
of the Fourth Infantry from January 1, 1843,
until he resigned September 10, 1845, and was
promoted to be First Lieutenant July 12, 1846.
He was Brigade Major of the Third Brigade,
United States Regulars, under General Taylor,
when in Texas in 1845, and was subsequently
relieved and assigned to duty as Assistant Cona-
missary of Subsistence to the Third Brigade.
He received and receipted for all tlie provisions
issued to Genei-al Taylor's command when leav-
ing Brazos St. lajo for the new fort opposite
Matamoras. He participated in the fight of the
8th of May at Balo Alto, as a mounted staff offi-
cer to Lieutenant Colonel Garland, command-
ing the Third Brigade. His subsistence stores
were undisturbed by the enemy, also at Resaca
de la I'alma on the 9th, and received and took
up, upon his returns of commissary stores, im-
mense quantities of provisions captured from
the Mexican army. He served under General
Taylor in Mexico until after the capture of
Monterey, when the Fourth Infantry was trans-
ferred to General Worth's division and ordered
to Vera Cruz to join General Scott's command.
Lieutenant Haller now relinquished commissary
duties and assumed command of his company.
From the siege of Vera Cruz until the capture
of Mexico he participated in all the battles on
the route and in the valley of Mexico. In the
attack upon the fortification of San Antonio,
August 23, 1847, he is noticed as in command
of his company and with other officers of the
regiment, among whom was Second Lieutenant
U. S. Grant, Regimental Quartermaster, and
was mentioned as having rendered efficient serv-
ice. He was one of the storming party of El
Molino del Rey, September 8, 1847, having
charge, with another officer, of a detail of 100

men, and for gallant and meritorious conduct
was breveted Captain. At the battle of Cha-
pultepec, September 13, 1847, Lieutenant Haller
is especially mentioned in the report of Brevet
Colonel John Garland as having shown " evi-
dence of courage and good conduct," and for
his service upon this occasion he was breveted
Major. Shortly before the close of the Mexican
war, January 1, 1848, Lieutenant Haller was
promoted to a captaincy in the Fourth Infantry.
For a time he was employed at mastering out
men who had enlisted during the war, after
■which he was assigned to recruitiilg duty.

In 1852 Brevet Major Larned's and Hal-
ler's companies were .ordered to the Depart-
ment of the Pacific. They sailed in the United
States store- ship Fredonia, via Cape Horn, ar-
riving at San Francisco in June, 1853, having
spent seven months upon the voyage. Major
Larned's company proceeded to Fort Steilacoom,
Washington Territory, and Haller's company to
Fort Dalles, Oregon. Toward the fall of 1854
a small company of emigrants, consisting of a
Mr. Ward, his family and a few others, were
murdered by the hostile Indians at Boise river.
Major Haller with a small detachment (twenty-
six enlisted men, half of the garrison at Fort
Dalles, Oregon) was dispatched to guard the
emigrants and, if possible, to chastise the inur-
derers. On the route he was joined by Captain
Nathan OIney and a number of citizens who
volunteered to resent the attack of Indians upon
the immigrants, whose numbers were increased
by emigrants on the road. They arrested four
Indians at the Hudson Bay Fort Boise, who had
been charged with the murder, and were tried be-
fore a military commission, and each admitted his
share in the massacre. One made an attempt
to escape, and was shot dead by the guard.
The otlier three were hanged on the naassacro
grounds within sight of the pyramid of bones
of their victims. Others of the hostile band
were captured, and two while trying to escape
were hanged. Thus the band of murderers was
broken up, and Major Haller returned with his
command to Fort Dalles. In 1855, with a

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

respectable force, ho proceeded as far as Salmon
Falls on the Suake river, where it was ascer-
tained that some of the assassins had jnst
left with a shod horse and a inula belonging
to the Ward party scouted to the heat waters
of the Missouri river, following the tracks of
the murderers. On the return trip these In-
dians were captured, the guilty hanged and
the rest brought back as prisoners.

Upon his return, he found the old friends of
the whites greatly excited, the Yakima Indians
under arms and the Indian agent, Bolen, had
been murdered. Major Haller with a small
force proceeded to the Yakima country, meet-
ing the Indians near the present site of Fort
Simcoe, where the fighting commenced, but
his little band of 100 men against 1,500
Indians was unevenly matched and a retreat
for an increased force became necessary. He,
however, discovered the well-laid plans of the
Indians for making war, and this intelligence
aroused the people to a realization of their dan-
ger, and the (Toveruors of Oregon and "Washing--
ton called for volunteers. With a concerted
jjiovement the Indians were ultimately over-
come and scattered.

The details of this war being elsewhere given
in this history we will now pass on to the spring
of 1856, when Major Haller was ordered to estab-
lish a fort near Port Townsend for the protec-
tion of the inhabitants in the event of a raid
from the Northern Indians. He subsequently
relieved Whatcom when invaded by the Nook-
sack Indians; participated in the San Juan im-
broglio in 1859; was ordered to Fort Mojave,
Arizona, in 1860, and to Washington, District
of Columbia, in 1861, to participate in the war
for the suppression of the Rebellion.

Upon arrival at Washington, our subject
found he had been promoted to be Major of the
Seventh Infantry, September 25, 1861. The
members of this regiment had become prisoners
of war in Texas and were not at liberty to fight
the enemy until exchanged. Thereupon he re-
ported to General McClellan, who attached him
to the provost-marshal-general's staff (General

Andrew Porter). Shortly afterward he was ap-
pointed Commandant-General of the general
headquarters, and attached to General McClel-
lan's staff, having under his command in that
capacity the Ninety-third Regiment of Now
York Volunteers. He was thus employed
throughout the Virginia and Mai-yland cam-
paign. In July, 1863, Major Haller was re-
lieved from service, accused of " disloyal conduct
and the utterance of disloyal sentiments."

Astonished beyond measure, he demanded an
investigation and hearing, butiu the excitement
of the war his efforts were unsuccessful, and
even after the war his appeal was not recognized
until in March, 1879, when Congress allowed a
court of inquiry. He was tried at Washington
city, when the official papers in his case were
submitted to the coi;rt and where for the first
time he was permitted to read the original order
of his dismissal, which was the fiat of Secretary
Stanton, and not President Lincoln. The in-
vestigation of the matter was continued for sev-
eral days, many witnesses were examined and
the most searching inquiry was made of all the
facts in the ease. The findings of the court,
after this careful and thorough investigation,
concluded as follows: "The court finds that
Major Granville O. Haller, late of the Seventh
United States Infantry, was dismissed for dis-
loyal condtict and disloyal sentiments on insuffi-
cient evidence, wrongfully, and therefore, here-
by, by virtue of the authority constituting it,
does annul said dismissal published in S. O.,
No. 331, dated War Department, A. G. O.,
Washington, D. C, Jnly 25, 1863."

Major Haller's vindication was thus made full
and complete. The proceedings and findings of
the court were approved by President Hayes,
and the Senate confirmed Major Haller's nomi-
nation as Colonel of Infantry in the United
Sti-ces Army to rank from February 19, 1873.
Subsequently a vacancy occurred by the death
of Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, Twenty-third In-
fantry, when the Senate confirmed the assign-
ment of Colonel Haller to this regiment, and
thus )-eceived a second commission, to date from

^^^. ^/hw:^:^^=rr.Y^

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

December 11, 1879. Colonel Haller continued
in command of this regiment until February 6,
1882, when he was retired, being over sixty-
three years of age.

From the time of his dismissal until his rein-
statement as Colonel, Major Haller and family
resided iti Washington Territory. For a time
they lived on his farm on Whidby Island. He
then became connected with a small sawmill near
Port Townsend, which he received for debt.
Discovering that it was not running to a profit,
he abandoned the enterprise and engaged in the
mercantile business at Port Townsend, with a
branch store at Coupeville