JaJtT 1 1 > l>K. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? 6 Fort Walla Walla to visit a sick man. while there tin- Brigade tor New Cal- edonia, fifteen bateaux, arrived at that point onthelr,waj up the Columbia, with Indian goods for the New Caledonia '>r Frazer river country. They were accompanied by some twenty chlel factors, traders and clerks of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Bishop Demois [Demers], .who had crossed the mountains from Canada in 1839 [1838], the first Catholic priest on this coast. Hishop Blanchetl came at the same time. While this great company were at dinner an express arrived from Fort Colville announcing the (to them) glad news that the colony from Red river bad passed the Rocky mountains, and were near Fort Colville. An excla- mation of joy burst from the whole table, at first unaccountable to Dr. Whit- man, till a young priest, perhaps not so discreet as the older, and not thinking there was an American at the table, sprang to his feet, and swing- ing his hand, exclaimed, "Hurrah for Columbia (Oregon)! America is too late; we have got the country." In an instant, as if by Instinct, Dr. Whit- man saw through the whole plan, clear to Washington, Fort Hall and all [i. r. the stopping of all immigrant and American wagons at Fort Hall by the Hudson's Hay < 'ompany every year to that time]. He immediately rose from the table, and asked to be excused, sprang upon his horse, and in a very short time stood with his noble "cayuse" white with foam before his door, and without stopping to dismount, he replied to our anxious inquiries with great decision and earnestness, "I am going to cross the Rocky mountains and reach Washington this winter, God carrying me through, and bring out an immigration over the mountains, or the country is lost." The events soon developed that if that whole-souled American missionary was not the "son of a prophet," he guessed right when he said, " a deep-laid scheme was about culminating, which would deprive the United States of this Oregon, and it must be broken at once or this country is lost." We united our remonstrances with those of sister Whitman, who was in deep agony at the idea of her husband perishing in the snows of the Rocky mountains. We told him it would be a miracle if he escaped death, either from starving, or freezing, or the savages, or the perishing of his horses, during the five months that would be required to make the only possible circuitous route, via Fort Hall, Taos, Santa Fe, and Bent's Fort. His reply was that of my angel wife six years before : " I am ready, not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem or in the snows of the Rocky mountains for the name of the Lord Jesus or my country." And taking leave of his mission- ary associates, his comfortable home and his weeping companion, with but little hope of seeing them again in this world, he entered upon his fearful journey the 2d [3d] of October, 1842, and reached the City of Washington the 2d of March, 18t:>, with bis face, nose, ears, hands, feet and legs badly frozen. On reaching the settlements, Dr. Whitman found that many of the now old Oregonians, Waldo, Applegate, Hamtree, Keyser and others, who had once made calculations to come to Oregon, had abandoned the idea, because of the representations trom Washington that every attempt to take wagons and ox teams through the Rocky and Blue mountains to the Columbia had failed. Dr. Whitman saw at once what the stopping of wagons at Fort Hall every year meant. The representations purported to come from Secretary Webster, but really from Governor Simpson, who, magnifying the state- ments of his chief trader, Grant, at Fort Hall, declared the Americans must be going mad from their repeated fruitless attempts to take wagons and teams through the impassable regions of the Columbia, and that the women and children of those wild fanatics had been saved from a terrible death only by the repeated and philanthropic labors of Mr. Grant at Fort Hall, in fur- nishing them with horses. The doctor told these men as he met them that his only object in crossing the mountains in the dead of winter, at the risk G DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? of his life, through untold sufferings, was to take back an American immi- gration that summer through the mountains to the Columbia with their wagons and teams. The route was practicable. We had taken our cattle and our families through seven years before. They had nothing to fear, but to be ready on his return. The stopping of wagons at Fort Hall was a Hud- son's Bay Company scheme to prevent the settling of the country by Ameri- cans, till they could settle it with their own subjects from the Selkirk settlement. This news spread like wild-fire through Missouri, as will be seen from Zachary's statement. The doctor pushed on to Washington, and im- mediately sought an interview with Secretary Webster— both being from the same state— and stated to him the object of his crossing the mountains, and laid before him the great importance of Oregon to the United States. But Mr. Webster lay too near Cape Cod to see things in the same light with his fellow statesman, who had transferred his worldly interests to the Pacific coast. He awarded sincerity to the missionary, but could not admit for a moment that the short residence of six years could give the doctor the knowledge of the country possessed by Governor Simpson, who had almost grown up in the country, and had traveled every part of it, and represents it as one unbroken waste of sand deserts and impassable mountains, fit only for the beaver, the gray bear and the savage. Besides he had about traded it off with Governor Simpson to go into the Asbburton treaty (!) for a cod fishery in Newfoundland. The doctor next sought through Senator Linn an interview with President Tyler, who at once appreciated his solicitude, and his timely representations of Oregon, and especially his disinterested though hazardous undertaking to cross the Rocky mountains in winter to take back a caravan of wagons. He said that although the doctor's representations of the character of the country, and the possibility of reaching it by wagon route, were in direct contradiction to those of Governor Simpson, his frozen limbs were a sufficient proof of his sincerity, and his missionary character were a sufficient guar- anty for his honesty, and he would therefore as president rest upon these and act accordingly; would detail Fremont with a military force to escort the doctor's caravan through the mountains ; and no more action should be had toward trading off Oregon till he could hear the results of the expedition. If the doctor could establish a wagon route through the mountains to the Columbia river, pronounced impassable by Governor Simpson and Ashbur- ton, he would use his influence to hold on to Oregon. The great desire of the doctor's American soul, Christian withal, that is, the pledge of the president that the swapping of Oregon with England for a cod fishery should stop for the present, was attained, although at the risk of life, and through great suf- ferings, and unsolicited and without the promise or expectation of a dollar's reward from any source. And now, God giving him life and strength, he would do the rest, that is, connect the Missouri and Columbia rivers with a wagon track so deep and plain that neither national envy nor sectional fanaticism would ever blot it out. And when the 4th of September, 1843, saw the rear [van] of the doctor's caravan of nearly two hundred wagons, with which he started from Missouri the last of April, emerge from the western shades of the Blue mountains, the greatest work was finished ever accom- plished by one man for the coast. And through that great emigration, dur- ing the whole summer, the doctor was everywhere present, an angel of mercy, ministering to the sick, helping the weary, encouraging the waver- ing, cheering the mothers, mending wagons, setting broken bones, hunt- ing stray oxen, climbing precipices, now in the rear, now at the center, now at the front; in the rivers looking out fords through the quicksands, in the deserts looking out water, in the dark mountains looking out passes; at noontide or midnight, as though those thousands were his own children, and those wagons and those flocks were his own property. Although he asked I»II> DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? i not and expected not a dollar as a reward from any source, i><' fell himself abundantly rewarded when he saw the desire of his heart accomplished, the ureal want in route over the mountains established, and Oregon In a fair way to be occupied with American settlements and American commerce. And especially he fell himself doubly paid, w lien at the end of his successful ex- pedition, and standing alive at his home again on the banks of the Walla Walla, these thousands of his fellow summer pilgrims, wayworn and sun- browned, took him by the hand and thanked him with tears for what he had done. The following testimony, coming from Mr. Moores, of Marion county, Oregon, speaker of the House of Representatives for Oregon, who received it from Mr. Spaulding, gives more of the details of the interview between Dr. Whitman and Mr. Webster. The occasion of Mr. Moore's remarks was the presentation of the tomahawk with which Dr. Whitman was killed, to the archives of the state. They are taken from the Danville (N. Y.) Adver- tiser of May 4, 1865, which copied them from the Sacramento Daily Bulletin ; Dr. Whitman's remonstrances were met by Mr. Webster with a smile, who said : " Why, doctor, you have come too late, we have about traded off the northwest coast for a codushery." " But, sir, you do not know what you are doing. You do not realize that the territory you mention with a smile— almost a sneer— could make a home for millions, that it has broad navigable rivers, leading to an ocean whose commerce includes the Indies and the I (rient, and that we have tine harbors and broad bays to invite that commerce thither, and offer an anchorage to the navies of the world. Then there are beautiful and fertile valleys whose harvests will yield eventual increase to our nation's wealth." •• You are enthusiastic, doctor," answered the secretary with an easy smile. ■• You certainly are an enthusiast. The reports that come to us from Oregon differ materially from yours. The central portions of the continent are a barren waste, and the waters of the western slope course through a moun- tain wilderness or else a desert shore. The mountaineer can hunt and trap there. The tourist may sketch its snow-capped ridges, and describe the Indian in bis native haunts, the trapper finds a home there, but who besides?" "Sir, you have no idea of the land you sneer at. Oregon has all the virtues that we claim for it. A few Americans have gone thither to develop our nation's wealth. We are far off, but our hearts are with the nation of our birth. We are pioneers, and can it be possible that our claims will be ignored, that our country can consent to trade off the territory and our allegiance to a foreign power?" (3.) HON. WILLIAM H. GRAY. Mr. Gray first came to the country as an associate missionary of the A. B. ('. F. M. in 1836, in company with Dr. Whitman. He returned for more missionaries in 1837, and came hack again with his wife and others in 1838. From that time until 1842 he was stationed a part of the time with Mr. Spaulding, and a part 8 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? with Dr. Whitman. He left the mission in 1842, soon after Dr. Whitman went East, and went to the Willamette valley. He is the author of ( (ray's History of Oregon, from which the follow- ing statements are taken : Page its. In September. 1842, Dr. Whitman was called to visit a patient at old Fort W r alla Walla. While there a number of boats of the Hudson's Bay Company, with several chief traders and Jesuit priests, on their way to the interior of the country, arrived. While at dinner the overland express from < anada arrived, bringing news that the emigration from the Red river settle- ment was at Colville. The news excited unusual joy among the guests. One of them, a young priest, .sang out, " Hurrah for Oregon ! America is too late ; we have got the country." "Now the Americans may whistle, the country is ours," said another. Whitman learned that the company had arranged for these Red river Eng- lish settlers to come on to settle in Oregon, and at the same time Governor Simpson was to go to Washington, and secure the settlement of the question as to the boundaries on the ground of the most numerous and permanent settlement in the country. The doctor was taunted with the idea that no power could prevent the re- sult, as no information could reach Washington in time to prevent it. " It shall be prevented,'' said the doctor, " if I have to go to Washington myself." "Rut you can not go there to do it," was the taunting reply of the Rriton. " I will see," was the doctor's reply. * * * Two hours after this conversa- tion he dismounted from his horse at his door at W r aiilatpu. I saw in a moment that he was fixed on some important object or errand. He soon explained that a special effort must be made to save the country from be- coming British territory. Everything was in the best of order about the .station, and there seemed to be no important reason why he should not go. A. L. Lovejoy, Esq., had a few days before arrived with the immigration. It was. proposed that he should accompany the doctor, which he consented to do, and in twenty-four hours' time they were well mounted and on their way to the states. * * -'•'• Thus far in the narrative I give Dr. Whitman's, Mr. Lovejoy's and my own knowledge. After this follows an article by Mr. Spaulding, as to the results, as already quoted from Mr. SSpaulding : Page 609. "If the, Board dismisses me, I will do what I can to save my country," was his remark to us as he gave his hand and mounted his horse to see what could be done at Washington. And again. " My life is of but little worth, if I can save this country for the American people." On pages 315 and 316 is also an account of the interview at Washington, in no way differing from Mr. Spaulding's. Again, on page 17, of a pamphlet entitled, " Did Dr. Whitman Save Oregon?" Mr. Gray says : What I learned from Dr. Whitman personally was: Mr. Webster was fa- vorable to making a change of the eastern boundary, and giving the western or Oregon country for what had recently been in dispute, as Mr. Webster thought it would be a good exchange; and was not induced to listen to his DID DB. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? 9 (Dn Whitman's) reasons against such a change. But the president listened more favorably, and said no such change or giving up of Oregon Bhould be made. If he could gel wagons and an emigration ini<> Oregon. M r. Web- ster was strongly in favor (if the Newfoundland codflshery. He was held In cheek by Benton, Adams and others. Kenton had a better knowledge of Oregon than Webster, who had been or become unpopular for his yielding on the Eastern or Maine question with Ash burton. The petition thai had been sent by the missionaries, and tin- statements made by different parties. added to t lie personal representations made by I »r. Whitman, as to the prac- ticability of a wagon route, and the fad that the doctor's mission in 1836 had taken cows and wagons to Fori Boise, and that they could be taken to the Columbia river,— that fact, as affirmed by Dr. Whit man, stopped all spec- ulations about giving up Oregon, till the practical road question #as settled. On March 9th, 1883, the writer wrote :t letter to Mr. Uray, asking- how much of his statements in his history in regard to Dr. Whitman's visit Bast, and especially in Chapter 41st, page 315, etc., were received directly from Dr. Whitman, and how much second-hand from others, and received a reply under date of March 28, 1883, from winch the following extracts are made: I have just closed the reading of my forty-first chapter, to which you refer. The facts stated are literally true, as coming to me from the actors, some of them penciled in my note-hook as a listener, and also a review of testimony printed, from which I copied. Dr. Whitman, you will bear in mind, was my warmest friend and confidant in all that pertained to the mission and the policy and designs of the HudsotCs Bay Company. I met him in Oregon City in my own home, after his return from Washington. Spent an after- noon and evening with him, and learned of him the result of his visit to Washington, and the treatment he received from Webster and from the Prudential Board or Committee of Missions. Yours, etc., (Signed) W. II. GRAY. (4.) REV. C. EELLS. Mr. Eells came to the country in 1838, as a missionary of the A. B. C. F. M., and continued in that relation until after the death of Dr. Whitman in 1847. He was stationed among the Spokane Indians at Tshimakain, or Walker's Prairie, in Spokane county, Washington Territory. Statements made by Rev. Cushing Bells, relative to the object of Marcus Whitman, M. I)., in making an overland journey from the WaiUatpu mission station in the Walla Walla valley to the Atlantic states during the autumn ami winter of 1 s4l' ami 1843: September, 18i2,a letter, written by Dr. Whitman, addressed to Rev. Messrs. E. Walker and C. EellS at Tshimakain, reached its destination and was received by the persons to whom it was written. By the contents of said letter a meeting of the Oregon Mission of the American Board of Commis- 10 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREOON? sioners for Foreign Missions was invited to be held at Waiilatpu. The object of said meeting, as stated in the letter named, was to approve of a purpose formed by Dr. Whitman, that he go East on behalf of Oregon as related to the United States. In the judgment of Mr. Walker and myself that object was foreign to our assigned work. With troubled thoughts we anticipated the proposed meeting. On the following day, Wednesday, we started, and on Saturday, P. m., camped on the Touchet, at the ford near the Mullan bridge. We were pleased with the prospect of enjoying a period of rest, re- flection and prayer— needful preparation for the antagonism of opposing ideas. We never moved camp on the Lord's day. On Monday, a. m., we arrived at Waiilatpu, and met the two resident families of Messrs. Whitman and Gray. Rev. H. H. Spaulding was there. All the male members of the mission were thus together. In the discussion the opinion of Mr. Walker and myself remained unchanged. The purpose of Dr. Whitman was fixed. In his estimation the saving of Oregon to the United States was of para- mount importance, and he would make the attempt to do so, even if he had to withdraw from the mission in order to accomplish his purpose. In reply to considerations intended to hold Dr. Whitman to his assigned work, he said: "I am not expatriated by becoming a missionary." The idea of his withdrawal could not be entertained, therefore to retain him in the mission a vote to approve of his making the perilous endeavor prevailed. He had a cherished object for the accomplishment of which lie desired consultation with Rev. David Greene, secretary of correspondence with the mission at Boston, Mass., but I have no recollection that it was named in the meeting. A part of two days was spent in consultation. Record of the date and acts of the meeting was made. The book containing the same was in the keep- ing of the Whitman family. At the time of their massacre, Nov. 29, 1817, it disappeared. The fifth day of October, following, was designated as the day on which Dr. Whitman would expect to start from Waiilatpu. Accordingly, letters, of which he was to be the bearer, were required to be furnished him at his station in accordance therewith. Mr. Walker and myself returned to Tshimakain, prepared letters and forwarded them seasonably to Waiilatpu. By the return of the courier information was received that Dr. Whitman started on the 3d of October. It is possible that transpirings at old Fort Walla W r alla hastened his departure two days. Soon after his return to this coast, Dr. Whitman said to me he wished lie could return East immediately, as he believed he could accomplish more than he had done, as I understood him to mean, to save this country to the United States. I asked him why he could not go. He said. " I can not go without seeing Mrs. Whitman." She was then in the Willamette valley. I solemnly affirm that the foregoing statements are true and correct, ac- cording to the best of my knowledge and belief. So help me God. (Signed) CUSHING EB;LLS. Sworn and subscribed to before me this 23d day of August, 1883. (Signed) L. E. KELLOGG, Notary Public, Spokane county, Washington Territory. DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON ? 11 (5.) MRS. MARY R. WALKER. Rev. Elkanah Walker, with his wife, came to fchecountry in 1838 as a missionary of the A. B. C. K. M.,and was at Tshimakain with Rev. C. Eells until 1848. He died in 1S77. In 1882 the writer, while on a visit to Forest Grove, Oregon, the residence of his wife, obtained from Mrs. Walker the following facts, which, on a subsequent visit, she put in writing, as follows: Forest Grove, Oregon, June 1, 1883. Rev. M. Eells : Sir— In answer to your inquiries about Dr. Whitman, I will say thai ln- wont East in 1842, mainly to save the country from falling Into the hands of England] as he believed there wasgreal danger of It. He had written Mr, Walker several times before about it. one expression I well remember be wrote, about as follows: "This country will soon be settled by the whites. It belongs to the Americans. It is a greal and rich country. What a country this would be for Yankees? Why not tell them of it." He was determined to go Easl on this business, even if he had to leave the mission to do so. .Much was said about that time about the Methodist missionaries com- ing here, and then leaving their legitimate missionary calling to make money, and for other purposes, and some disgrace was brought on the missionary cause. Mr. Walker and associates fell thai l>r. Whitman, in leaving missionary work, and going on this business, was likely also to bring disgrace on the cause, and were so afraid of it that for a long time they would hardly mention that object of Dr. Whitman's journey publicly. 1 remember plainly that Mr. Walker often prayed after Dr. Whitman had gone, that if it was right for him to go on this business, he mighl be pre- served, but if not bis way might be hedged up. When the statements first began to be made publicly of this political objeel of Dr. Whitman's journey East, we were then afraid that disgrace would be brought on our mission. (Signed) MARY K. WALKER. (6.) HON. A. L. LOVEJOY. Mr. Lovejoy came to the country in 1842, and gave important information to Dr. Whitman about the danger of the United States losing the country. He was the traveling companion ef Dr. Whitman's, during his journey East, and was much inter- ested on the subject, Before his death he left two letters, one to Hon. W. H. Gray (see Gray's History, p. 324), and the other to Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D. D. (see fifth annual report of the Pioneer and Historical Society of Oregon, p. 13.) In these he gives the West and almost only account of that journey which has been preserved, and the two accounts agree about the visit to Wash- ington. The following is from the letter to Dr. Atkinson : Here we parted [at Rent's Fort], The doctor proceeded to Washington. I remained at Rent's Fort until spring, and joined the doctor the following 12 did Dr. m. Whitman save Oregon'? July near Fort Laramie on his way to Oregon in company with a train of emigrants. tie often expressed himself to me about the remainder of his journey, and the manner in which he was received at Washington and by the Hoard of Foreign Missions at Boston. He had several interviews with President Tyler, Secretary Webster, and a good many members of Congress, Congress being in session at that time. He urged the immediate termination of the treaty with Great Britain relative to this country, and begged them to extend the laws of the United States over Oregon, and asked for liberal in- ducements to emigrants to come to this coast. He was very cordially and kindly received by the president and members of Congress, and without doubt the doctor's interviews resulted greatly to the benefit of Oregon and to this const. (Signed) A. LAWRENCE LOVEJOY. The Willamette Farmer, in an article quoted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of Nov. 17, 1882, says: Mrs. Lovejoy assures us that lie [Mr. Lovejoy] was aware of Whitman's aims and motives; knew that his great object in the .journey was to save Oregon from British rule, and gives him credit, in great part, for accomplish- ing his patriotic intention. Mrs. Lovejoy came in 1843. (7.) MR. PERRIN B. WHITMAN. Mr. Whitman is a nephew of Br. M. Whitman. He came to this country in 1843, with his uncle, and remained with his family until a short time before his uncle's death, when he was sent to The Dalles to assist Mr. A. Hinman at that station. In a letter to the writer, dated February 10, 1882, at Lapwai Indian Agency, Idaho, he says : Rkv. M. Eells: My Dear Sir— I came across to Oregon with my uncle, Dr. Marcus Whitman, in 184-'?. I heard him say repeatedly, on the journey and after we reached his mission, Waiilatpu, that he went to the states in the winter of 1842 and 1848 for the sole purpose of bringing an immigration with wagons across the plains to Oregon. He was called down to old Fort Walla Walla (now Wal- lula), then a Hudson's Bay Company's trading post, on a sick call, about the last days of September, 1842. While there, and dining with the trader in charge of the fort, Archibald Kinley, Esq., the Hudson's Bay Company's express from the north, came in and reported that sixty families from British pos- sessions would be at Walla Walla as early the next summer as they possibly could arrive, to settle probably in the Yakima valley. There was a general outburst of rejoicing over the news by the Jesuit priests, oblates, fort em- ployees, etc., who were at that time there, all shouting, "the country is ours; the Ashburton treaty has, of course, been signed." The doctor, pushing his chair back from the table, and excusing himself, said he would go home (to Waiilatpu) that afternoon (twenty -rive miles), and start immediately to the states overland. He then and there told trader McKinley and his guests, that during the next summer he Avould bring overland ten American immi- DIP DR. SI. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? 13 grants, for every one thai would come from ( lanada. He returned thai after- noon, as he said he would, and with but little preparation, except to have good horses, started on the perilous journey the third day of October, L842, with Hon. A. L. Lovejoy as traveling companion. * * ; I think he reached Washington on (he twelfth day of February, 1843. Secretary Webster received him coolly. He said he almost "snubbed him,'' hut the president, Mr. Tyler, treated him and the possibility of a wagon road across the plains to the Columbia river, with a .just considera- tion. He, the president, gave the doctor a hearing, and promised him that the Ashhurton treaty, then pending [amistake], would not be signed until he would hear of the success or failure of the doctor in opening; a wagon road to the Columbia river. The first of the immigrant wagons arrived at Waiil- atpu, Walla Walla valley, on the third day of September, 1843, [perhaps 23d, see Missionary Herald, 1814, p. 177], having left Missouri about the first of May. His visit to the A. B. C. F. M., I think, was after he had been to Washing- ton. At any rate he told me, also his aged mother and other relatives in the State of New York, that the Board censured him in very strong terms for leaving his "post of duty" on a project so loreign to that which they had sent Aim out to perform. Also informed him that they had no money to spend in the opening up of the western country to settlement. I am quite sure he bore his own expenses. He always alluded to his visit to mother and the Board of Missions as a secondary consideration for making the winter trip. He only visited his mother and relatives three days, and he and myself bade them good-bye and started for Oregon on the 20th of April, 1843. When (Uncle) Dr. Whitman reached the frontier of Missouri, he in many ways informed the public of his intention to nilot any and all immigrants who might wish to go to Oregon. It was arranged for them to rendezvous at or in the vicinity of Westport or Independence, Mo. Hoping that these few items may be of some little assistance to you in proving that Dr. Whitman saved this country to the United States Govern- ment, I will subscribe myself, Yours respectfully, (Signed) P. B. WHITMAN. In the Weekly Aatorian of December 17, 1880, is a letter to the public by Mr. Whitman, obtained by Mr. Gray, October 11, 1880, in which he makes similar statements, though not as full, and adds : Dr. Whitman's trip East, in the winter of 1842-43, was for the double pur- pose of bringing an immigration across the plains, and also to prevent, if possible, the trading off of this northwest coast to the British Government. * * * while crossing the plains I repeatedly heard the doctor express himself as being very anxious to succeed in opening a wagon road across the continent to the Columbia river, and thereby stay, if not entirely pre- vent, the trading of this northwest coast, then pending between the United states and the British Government. In after years the doctor, with much pride and satisfaction, reverted to his success in bringing the immigration across the plains, and thought it one of the means of saving Oregon t<> his government. 1 remained with him continuously till August, 1847, when he sent me to The Dalles. He was murdered the following November. (Signed) P. P.. WHITMAN. 14 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? (8.) HON. ALANSON HINMAN. Mr. Hinman is now a merchant at Forest Grove, Oregon, and President of the Board of Trustees of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University. In June, 1882, in conversation with him, he gave me the following items, to which a year later he signed his name: Forest Gbove, Oregon, June 8, 1883. Rev. M. Eklj.s: Sir— In answer to your inquiries about Dr. Whitman, I will say that I came to this coast in 1841, and remained that winter at Walla Walla [then Waiil- atpu] teaching school for Dr. M. Whitman. About the next June (1845), I came to the Willamette with Dr. Whitman. In 1847, at the time of his mas- sacre, I was temporarily in charge of the station at The Dalles with Mr. P. B. Whitman. Dr. Whitman told me that he went East in 1842 with two objects, one to as- sist the mission, the other to save the country to the United States. I do not think he would have gone that winter, had it not been that the danger seemed to him very great that the country would be obtained by England, but would have deferred the journey until spring. He first went to Wash- ington, afterwards to New York, to see Mr. Horace Greeley, who was known to be a friend of this country. He went there dressed in his rough clothes, much the same that he wore across the continent. When he knocked at the door a lady came, Mrs. Greeley or a daughter, I think, and seeing such a rough-looking person, said to his inquiries for Mr. Greeley, "Not at home." Dr. Whitman started away. She went and told Mr. Greeley about him, and Mr. Greeley, who was of much the same style, and cared but little for looks, looking out the window and seeing him going away, said to call him in. It was done, and they had a long talk about this northwest coast and its polit- ical relations. Yours respectfully, (Signed) A. HINMAN. (9.) SAMUEL J. PARKER, M. D. Rev. SamuelX: Parker was the pioneer of the Oregon missions of the American Board. He offered himself to the work in 1833, started in 1834, but was too late for the annual caravan, so re- turned, and during the winter found Dr. Whitman and interested him in the work. They came together into the Rocky mountains in 1835, when Dr. Whitman returned for more laborers, and Mr. Parker, completed an exploring tour in Oregon, returning home in 1837 by way of the Sandwich Islands and Cape Horn, and published a book on the subject— " Parker's Exploring Tour." He died at Ithica, N. Y., in 1S66. In an article in the Mission- ary Herald, May, 1870, his son, Prof. H. W. Parker of Grinnell College, Iowa, says: "When Dr. Whitman came in haste, in 1843, to warn our government of British designs, he counselled with his aged fellow missionary." A letter to Prof. Parker for more DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? 15 information on this point, brought a reply referring the writer t<> his brother, Dr. S. .1. Parker, as the One who was at home at the time of Dr. Whitman's visit. In reply to inquiries, Dr. Parker, who was between twenty-five and thirty years old, probably, at that time, wrote : Ithica, Tompkins county. New York, Feb. 16, 1883. REV. M. Eells: Dear Sir — Your note of inquiry of January 31st is at hand. I reply, first. I was at home, in the room in which I now write (as I own the old homestead) when Dr. Whitman, in 1843, unexpectedly arrived, in a rather rough, bul not as outlandish a dress as some writers say lie had on. Alter the surprise of his arrival was over, he said to my father : "I have come on a very import- ant errand. We must both go at once to Washington or Oregon is lost, ceded to the English." My father objected to going, and thought the danger less than Dr. Whitman thought it was. They talked several hours about it, My first memory Mas, as I wrote to Hon. Elwood Evans of New Tacoma, Wash- ington Territory, that both went in a day or two to Washington, but in this I may be mistaken, as to my father. I know that Dr. Whitman went, either the next day or a day or two after he came to see my lather. Dr. Whitman came to see my father after his return from Washington, and described his interview with the president and others there. At both times the subject of emigration was talked of. Dr. Whitman said many in Illinois and Missouri, etc.. were ready to go, and would go in the spring as soon as grass grew. It must have been February the doctor was here. * * * With kind regards I am, etc., (Signed) S. J. PARKER, M. D. do.) REV. WILLIAM BARROWS, D. D. Mr. Barrows was, in 1843, teaching sehool at St. Louis, when Dr. Whitman arrived there from Oregon. Says Dr. Atkinson, in an address (page 11) before the Oregon Pioneer and Historical Society in 1876 : A gentleman, Dr. William Harrows, then a teacher in St. Louis, now of Boston, and secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, and who saw him, clad in his buffalo and blanket robes, with frozen feet and hands, standing among the mountaineers, resisting their entreaties to stop and tell the story of his winter trip, and then hasten on to Washington, never forgot the impression of his energy, though then ignorant Of its aim. Mr. Barrows boarded at the same hotel with Dr. Whitman, and learned more of his aim at siilisequent interviews before the latter left St. Louis. IntheiN^c York Observer for December 21, 1882, Dr. Barrows tells of what he learned. He says : It was my good fortune that be should lie quartered at si. Louis as a guest under the same roof, and at the same table with myself. The announcement of his arrival in the little city of twenty thousand, as it was then, came as a surprise and a novelty. In those times it was a rare possibility for one to 16 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? come up in mid winter from Bent's Fort, or Santa Fe, much more from Fort Hall and the Columbia. The Rocky mountain men, trappers and traders, the adventurers in New Mexico, and the contractors for our military posts, the Indian men laying up vast fortunes, half from the. government, and half from the poor Indian, gathered about Dr. Whitman for fresh news from their places of interest. What about furs and peltries? How many buffalo robes would come down by June on the spring rise of the Missouri ? Were Indian goods at the posts in flush, or fair, or scant supply? *- * * * * * * * But the doctor was in great haste, and could not delay to talk of beaver and Indian goods, and wars, and reservations, and treaties. He had ques- tions and not answers. Was the Ashburton treaty concluded? Did it cover the northwest? Where and what and whose did it leave Oregon? He wa s soon answered. Webster and Ashburton had signed that treaty on the 9th of August preceding. ************ Then instantly he had other questions for his St. Louis visitors. Was the Oregon question under discussion in Congress? What opinions, projects or bills concerning it were being urged in Senate and House? Would anything important be settled before the approaching adjournment on the fourth of March? Could he reach Washington before the adjournment? He must leave at once, and he went. With all the warmth, and almost burden, of skin and fur clothing, he bore the marks of the irresistible cold and merciless storms of his journey. His Angers, ears, nose and feet had been frost-bitten, and were giving him much trouble. Dr. Whitman was in St. Louis, midway between Washington and Oregon, and carried business of weighty import, that must not be delayed by private interests and courtesies. In the wilds and storms of the mountains he had fed on mules and dogs, yet now sumptuous and complimentary dinners had no attractions for him. He was happy to meet men of the army and of commerce and fur, but. he must hasten on to see Daniel Webster. Exchang- ing saddle for stage— for the river was closed by ice— he pressed on, and arrived at Washington March 3d. (ii.) HON. ALEXANDER RAMSEY. Having learned that Gov. Ranisey, while on this coast in 1880, stated that he had met Dr. Whitman in Washington City in 1843, the writer addressed a letter to him on the subject, and received the following reply : .Office of the Utah Commission, ) Salt Lake, City, Utah, > .August 15, 1883. j Rev. M. Eei.j.s: Dear Sir— * * * I Avas first elected to Congress from Pennsylvania in October, 1842. For technical reasons the election went for nanght, and I was re-elected in 1843, and again in 1845, serving throughout the 28th and 20th congresses, from December, 1843, to March, 1847. In the winter of 1842-43 I visited Washington and called upon Mr. Joshua Giddings, who was at that time boarding at Mrs. on Capitol Hill, in what was then called Duff Green's Row. The building is still standing. When so visiting Mr. Giddings introduced me to Dr. Whitman, who talked to me and others of the difficul- ties of his journey, of the character of the country, Indian affairs, British encroachments, etc. * * * * * * * * * * * * DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? 17 The time is very remote, and it Is difflcull for me t<> go more fully into the matter. Hon. Daniel H. Tilden and Hon. Columbus Delano, both Of < »hiO as members of Congress at t he time, and both boarding at the same home with .Mr. Giddings, are still surviving, and may possibly recollect something of the matter. Tilden is at Cleveland and Delano at .Mount Vernon. Very respectfully your obedient servant, (Signed) ALEX. RAMSEY. REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING EVIDENCE. There are some points in the foregoing evidence which are evi- dently mistakes, yet there are not enough of them by any means, in the writer's opinion, to invalidate the whole. Mr. Spalding's and Mr. Gray's testimony need the most criti- cism. (A.) As to the toast and cheers at Fort Walla Walla, Mr. Spald- ing and Mr. Gray say that the news came that the Red river immigration was over the mountains — Mr. Gray says at Colville. But Mr. McKinley, then in charge, in a letter to Hon. Elwood Evans, says that that immigration came in 1841. To settle the matter the writer wrote to J7 Flett, H. Buxton and C. R. McKay, who came in that immigration, to know the year, and received the following replies: (1.) Lakeview, Pierce Co., \V. T., Sept. 3, 1881. Rev. M. Eei.ls: .1/,?/ ZtearA'w— I received yours of Aug. 9, 1882, yesterday. * * * You want to know what year we came. * * * We left Red river Selkirk settlement on the 5th day of June, 1841; crossed the Rocky mountains on the 5th day of August over snow ; passed north Hell Gate; arrived Walla Walla, 5th day of October; arrived Kth day of November at Fort Nesqually. There were eighteen families of us— three born on the road ; died. none. I know of but one living now of the married men, that is James Burston and his wife in Washington county, Oregon. Mrs. Spence is in Multnomah county, Oregon. Mrs. Caldrow and myself are in this county. * * * I remain very sincerely, (Signed,) JOHN FLETT. (2.) Forest Grove, Oregon, Sept. 2, 1881. Rev. M. Eells, Skokomish : Dear Sir— Yours of the 7th inst. is at hand and contents noted. I came with my parents from the Red river settlement in 1841. We spent the first year on the Seund, near what was then Fort ■Nesqually. ******* There was an article of agreement signed by the emigrants of that com- pany and the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company that was in the hands of my father for a long time, but 1 have not seen it for many years, and it is probably not now in existence. Yours truly, (Signed) HENRY BUXTON. 18 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? (3.) Glencoe, Washington County, Oregon, Aug. 21, 1881. Dear Sir: I received your letter in regard to the emigration from Red river. We left Red river the fifteenth of June, 1811. We were one da3''s travel this side of Spokane river the twenty-second of .September, where my sister was born. There are only two men alive that had families when we came through- James Burston, living in Washington county, and John Flett. "•'■ '■' * My mother is still living. Yours respectfully, (Signed) CHARLES R. McKAY. These letters settle the question that the immigration arrived in 1841. It is also certain that they never went to Colville. Moreover, Mr. Spalding's journal of from September 1-23, 1841, gives an account of a journey by himself and family to Fort Colville. Under date of Sept. 10, 1841, he says : Arrived at Colville. Mr. McI)onald"s brother is here from a party of twen- ty-three families from the Red river, crossing the mountains to settle on the Cowlitz, as half servants of the company. They started with oxen and carts. The carts are left and they are packing their oxen. There are in all eighty persons [probably counting children]. The man returns to-morrow with provisions. Exactly what did occur at Fort Walla Walla is a question. The following letter from Dr. Geiger gives his opinion: Forest Grove, Oregon, Oct. 17, 1881. Rev. M. Eells: Dear Sir — Your letter just received asking about the taunt to Dr. Whitman. I think there is a misconception in the matter. Dr. Whitman had got in- formation of Mr. Lovejoy and others of the immigration of 1842, that the United States was about to exchange this country lor the Newfoundland banks fisheries, or a share in them, through the representations of the Hudson's Bay Company, that the whole country was a barren waste. But the doctor, knowing the value of this country (Pacific coast), went to Fort Walla Walla to find out about it (the proposed trade), and was informed that that was the expectation. (As witness the Red river emigration.) He, Dr. Whitman, de- termined to check the transaction, if possible. * ■' '••' I think the special year of this emigration had nothing more to do with the matter than here represented. I can not call to mind any other features of the transaction irom any or all of my conversations or writings with Dr. Whitman. But this condition I had so burned into my memory that I can not forget it. Hoping these few lines will explain to your satisfaction, I am as ever, Yours sincerely, (Signed) WILLIAM GEIGER, Jk., M. D. Mr. P. B. Whitman gives another explanation, that another emigration was to come the next year, of sixty families, to settle in the Yakima valley. (B.) Mr. Spalding and Mr. Gray give this occurrence at Walla Walla as the primal cause for the starting of Dr. Whitman, while DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? 19 Mr. Bella says thai his going was determined upon before, but allows a chance for this occurrence. Probably whatever occurred there made him more earnest to hasten the journey. (('.) Messrs. Spalding, Gray and Whitman say he went to Fort Walla Walla on a sick call; Dr. Geiger, that he went to learn about the intentions of the English government. The writer can not see why both may not have heen true. (D.) Mr. Spalding refers to Mr. Applegate as one who was induced by Dr. Whitman to come to this country. This is a mis- take, as hereafter a letter will be given from Mr. Applegate denying this. (E.) Mr. Spalding says that the intention was to put the Ore- gon question into the Ashburton treaty. This is a mistake, as that treaty had been signed six months previous to Dr. Whit- man's arrival at Washington. Messrs. Spalding, Whitman and Gray testify that while at Walla Walla, Dr. Whitman said he would go for an immigration and to save the country. But Dr. Geiger says he kept quiet about this object of his journey, and Mrs. Walker tells why they kept quiet afterwards. Perhaps both may have been true. At first, under a little ex- citement, he may have said something, but afterwards been more guarded on this point, and said more about missionary business. Yet these very variations in the testimony show that there has heen no agreement among the witnesses to get up a scheme to glorify Dr. Whitman. In fact some of them knew nothing of what others had said. Dr. Geiger, when he gave his testimony, knew nothing, he said, of what Mr. Hinman, Dr. S. J. Parker or Dr. Barrows had said, and the same is true of other witnesses. Yet, notwithstanding these mistakes and discrepancies, four points remain proved, unless we reject the testimony of these persons, most of whom were Dr. Whitman's intimate associates. 1st. Dr. Whitman's main intent in that journey was to save the country. Says Hon. Elwood Evans, in the Seattle Intelligencer of April 30th, 1881, after discussing the question at length : Therefore, it seems manifest that there was such a condition of affairs in the Oregon mission as to urge his immediate going, and that such was the cause, and the only cause, of his proceeding to Boston on business of the mission, and that no motive existed for nor did he start to Washington City on political business. 20 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? A similar statement is made by the same writer in the North Pacific Coast for April 1st, 1880. Mrs. F. F. Victor says also, in The Ca/i/ornian for September, 1880: There still remains the romantic, though unfortunately fouudationless, story of Dr. Whitman's visit to Washington with a political purpose. Yet the first ten of the witnesses, as here quoted, and who talked with Dr. Whitman, say that this was his main object. 2d. Dr. Whitman ivent to Washington City. Says Hon. E. Evans, in a letter to the writer dated March 14, 1881: There is no authenticated evidence that Dr. Whitman visited Washington City at all during that journey. Says Mrs. F. F. Victor, page 9, of "Did Dr. Whitman Save Oregon?" quoted from Daily Astorian: There is no proof anywhere that he [Dr. Whitman] went to Washington, though it is probable enough, as all Americans having been in Oregon were welcomed by the government as means of information. But nearly all of the witnesses state that he said he went there, while Gov. Ramsey's evidence must settle that point. 3d. Dr. Whitman did do good political work for Oregon at Washington. Says Hon. E. Evans, in a letter to the writer dated March 14, 1881 : I am satisfied that it [Dr. Whitman's winter journey] had nothing what- ever to do with the settlement of the Oregon boundary ; had no effect what- ever, direct or indirect, upon the negotiations between the two countries as to the territory. Says Mrs. F. F. Victor, in a letter to the writer dated April 3, 1883 : The patriotic and pleasing account given in Gray's History was a fiction of his lively imagination. But Dr. Geiger, as well as Mr. Spalding and Mr. Gray, say that he did, while Messrs. P. B. Whitman, Parker and Lovejoy hint very strongly of the same. DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVK OREGON? 21 It is not necessary to believe that an official treaty was then under consideration, but only thai informal action was being taken by Mr. Webster with prominent persons belonging to Great Britain, which would virtually commit them when the subject should come up in an official way. OBJECTIONS. Objection 1. These statements were all made of late years. Mrs. Victor says in the Aatorian : I do not pretend to say what was the object or Mr. Gray in adopting the fiction, which he has imposed upon the world as history. Bui this I do say, and can substantiate it, thai until Mr. Gray, about 1806, set the story afloat, nobody had ever beard of it. Dr. Geiger's statement gives one reason why it was not imme- diately published— because it would arouse the enmity of the Hudson's Bay Company. Mrs. Walker gives another reason —for fear it would bring disgrace on the mission. ►Still it was given earlier than Mrs. Victor is willing to allow. The writer can remember hearing of it between 1857 and 1862. Mr. Spalding published it in the Pacific in 1864. Rev. C. Eells published it in the Missionary Herald in Decem- ber, 1866, and Mr. Treat, one of the secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M., made great use of it almost as soon as it was obtained from Mr. Eells, and it was copied into many prominent eastern papers. Mr. Eells then said, in the hearing of the writer, to his wife, sub- stantially as follows : "See what a great man like Mr. Treat can do with such a fact. The world is greatly aroused by it, while we less noted ones have been trying to say the same thing for years, but the world does not get hold of it until a great man makes it public." Objection 2. This statement impugns the patriotism of Secre- tary Webster. Hon. Elwood Evans says, in a letter to the writer, dated May 10, 1882, about this theory, " which I regard as unjust to the memory of Daniel Webster." * * * " The policy seems unwise and wrong, to attempt to build the reputation of Dr. Whitman upon impugning the patriotism of others." But the patriotism of Mr. Webster is not impugned; only his knowledge, which such men as Dr. Whitman set right. No man, not even Mr. Webster, could know everything, without gaining information from others. Mr. Dayton's, Archer's or Choate's 22 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? patriotism is not impugned by their speeches on the Oregon ques- tion — only their knowledge. Objection 3. There is no evidence to show, which can be found at Washington, or anywhere, although search has been made for it, that Webster ever had any idea of trading off this country, or a part of it, for the codfishery of Newfoundland. Moreover, Mr. Webster said in a speech in the U. S. Senate : " The government of the United States has never offered any line south of 49° (with the navigation of the Columbia) and it never will." Works of D. Webster, vol. 5, p. 73. In a letter from Rev. J. G. Craighead to the writer, dated May 10, 1883, he says : "What you say about negotiations between influential persons is laughed at by the State Department, as not possible, and absurd on the very face of it. Mr. Hunter, then in State Department, and for nearly a generation chief clerk, takes no stock whatever in the big claim for Dr. Whitman." It is true that no records have been found which state that Mr. Webster had much, if any, idea of selling to the British Govern- ment any of the country south of 49°, yet there is some circum- stantial evidence which points that way. In the United States Senate, in 1S44, a resolution was offered to give the necessary twelve months' notice to Great Britain, for the termination of the treaty which granted joint occupancy to both nations. All the senators claimed our rights as good as far north as 49°, and yet for various reasons a majority opposed the motion — some for fear it would involve us in war, some for fear that it would have a bad effect on the negotiations which it was said would soon be made, and for which preliminary arrangements were in progress, some because of the worthlessness of the coun- try, and some because they wanted no more territory. In regard to these latter points, Mr. Dayton, of New Jersey, said (February 23, and 26, 1844, Congressional Globe, p. 275, etc.), as he quoted a description of the country from the Christian Ad- vocate of February 7th : With the exception of the land along the Willamette and strips along a few of the water courses, the whole country is among the most irreclaimable barren wastes of which we have read, except the desert of Sahara. Nor is this the worst of it. The climate is so unfriendly to human life that the native population has dwindled away under the ravages of its malaria to a degree which defies all history to furnish a parallel in so wide a range ot country. DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? L','5 He also road from the Louisville Journal, as republished in the National Intelligencer of Washington ': "Of all the countries on the face of this earth, If (< Iregon) Is one of the leasl favored by heaven. It Is the mere riddlings of creation, n Is almost as bar- ren as the deserl of Africa, and <[ u it »■ ;is unhealthy as the Campania of Italy. Now that siu-h a territory should excite the bopes and cupidity of citizens of the United States, inducing them to leave Comfortable homes for its heaps of sands, is, indeed, passing strange. " Russia has her Siberia, and England has her Botany Bay, and if the United States should ever need a country to which to banish Its rogues and scoundrels, the utility of such a region as Oregon would be demonstrated. Until then we are perfectly willing to leave this magnificent country to the Indians, trappers and buffaloes, that roam over its sand hanks and by the sides of its rushing and unnavigable rivers." I confess these descriptions are somewhat, below my estimate. I had thought it a poor country as a whole, but not quite so poor as these authentic accounts would make it. Yet these accounts are substantially correct ;i> applied to the country as a whole, though I have no doubt there are some green spots, some strips along the streams, which may be good and even per- haps rich for agricultural purposes, and it is to these spots that the glowing descriptions have been applied. * * * * * Judging from all sources of authentic information to which I have had access, I should think the terri- tory, taken together, a very poor region for agricultural purposes, and in that respect unworthy of consideration or contest at the hands of this govern- ment. How will the speedy settlement of Oregon affect us? In my judgment it must be injuriously. * * * The admission of Oregon as a state of this Union seems to me as undesirable on the one baud as it is improbable on the other— undesirable, because, by the aid of the representative principle, we have already spread ourselves to a vast and almost unwieldy extent. I have no faith in the unlimited extension of this government by the aid of that principle. * * We have already conflicting interests more than enough, and God forbid that the time should ever come when a state on the banks of the Pacific, with its interests and tendencies of trade all looking toward the Asiatic nations of the East, shall add its jarring claims to our already dis- tracted and overburdened confederacy. But it is not only in my judgment undesirable, but improbable. 1 distance and the character of intervening country are natural obstacles forbidding the idea. By water, the distance around (ape Horn is said to be about Is.ikhi miles. By land, the distance by the only line of travel is about five thousand miles from this spot to Vancouver, in the valley of the Willamette. We are much nearer to the remote nations of Europe than to Oregon. And when considered with reference to the facilities of communication, Europe is in comparison our next door neighbor. And this state of things must continue unless some new agent of communication shall cast up. The power of steam has been suggested. Talk of steam communication a railroad to the mouth of the Columbia, Why look at the cost and bankrupt condition of railroad- proceeding almost from your capital, traversing your great thoroughfares. A. railroad across twenty-five hundred miles of prairie, of desert and of mountains. The smoke of an engine across those terrible fissures of that rocky ledge, where the smoke of a volcano only has rolled before ! Who is to make this vast internal or rather external improvement? The state of Oregon or the United States ? Whence is to come the power? Who supply the means? The mines of Mexico and Peru disembowelled would scarcely pay a penny in the pound of the cost. Nothing short of the lamp of Aladdin 24 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? will suffice for such an expenditure. The extravagance of the suggestion seems to me to outrun everything which we know of modern visionary scheming. The .South Sea bubhle, the Dutchman's speculation, the tulip roots, our own in the town lots and multicaulis, are all common-place plod- ding in comparison. But all the suggestion seems to me properly part and parcel of this great inflated whole. This connection being out of the question, Mr. Dayton pro- ceeded to discuss the question if it might not be a colony, similar to the British colonies, and of this idea he made as much sport as he did of the railroad. Other senators said that if we obtained Oregon we could not hold it, as it would set up itself as an independent nation after a time. Mr. Archer, after describing the difficulties in getting to the Willamette, and the worthlessness of the intervening region, said : These led to the third and last tract of valley on the seaboard of the Pacific, suited for an Asiatic (not an American) dependency, if it were to be regarded of value as a dependency at all. This was destitute of harborage and could never command any by art. The country taken in its whole extent could at no day certainly have a very large production, nor any considerable trade. Mr. Breese, of Illinois, on the other hand, replied to these state- ments. Mr. Choate, of Massachusetts, had hinted at " equiva- lents for Oregon." Mr. Breese did not know what was meant, unless money, or as the senator from Rhode Island had, in 1827, offered a resolution, asking the President to open a negotiation with Great Britain to exchange the right, title and interest of the United States to the territory west of the Rocky mountains for Upper Canada, so something of the same kind might now be meant. He also said considerable in reply to certain parties who had been opposed to enlarging our territory west, ever since the Louisiana purchase. Mr. Breese said : A proposition having once been made to cede Oregon for Canada, I have the most fearful misgivings it may be repeated, unless ar- rested by the prompt and decisive action of the Senate. We have need, sir, to be alarmed at this fact before our eyes, at every suggestion of a negotiation in which an exchange for an "equivalent" like that is to be the subject for our conference. The motion to give the requisite notice was finally lost, by a vote of 28 to 18, every whig and three democrats voting against it. Mr. Webster at this time was not in the .Senate, but he was a whig, and Mr. Choate, from Mr. Webster's state, was the one who spoke about exchanging "equivalents " for Oregon. DID DK. M. WHITMAN BAVE OREGON? 26 Moreover, two years later, April 6th and 7th, 1846, when the value of Oregon was far better known, Mr. Webster said in the Senate, while defending his part in the Ashhurton treaty of 1842, which settled the northwestern boundary : NOW, what is Hi is river St. John? We have beard a vast ileal lately of the value and Importance of the river Columbia and its navigation; but I will undertake to say that lor all purposes of human use the St. John Is worth a hundred times as much as the Columbia is or ever will he. in polnf of mag- nitude it is one of the most respectable rivers on the eastern side of America. —(Webster's Speeches, vol. 5, i>. 102.) Still further, the New York Independent, for January, 1870, said : A personal friend of Mr. Wehster, a legal gentleman, and with whom he Conversed on the subject several times, remarked to the writer of this arti- cle: '-It is safe to assert thai our country owes it to Dr. Whitman and his associate missionaries that all the territory west of the Rocky mountains and south as far as the Columbia river, is not now owned by England and held by the Hudson's Bay Company." Thus, when we remember the position of the whigs in the Senate, Mr. Choate's proposition for an equivalent for Oregon, Mr. Webster's remarks about the Columbia two years later, and what he said to his friend about Dr. Whitman, we find circum- stantial evidence strong to believe Mr. Wehster was willing to trade off Oregon, and that Dr. Whitman helped largely to save It. II. What Did Dr, Whitman Do to Promote the Immigration of 1843? Says Dr. Geiger : He [Dr. Whitman when at Washington] immediately sent hack word to Missouri, to those who wished to go, and had it published in papers and in a pamphlet. Says Rev. H. H. Spalding : On reaching the settlements Dr. Whitman found that many of the now old Oregonians— Waldo, Applegate [a mistake], Hamtree, Keyser, and others —who once made calculation to come to Oregon, had abandoned the idea, because it was reported from Washington, that every attempt to take wagons and ox teams through the Rocky and Blue mountains to the Columbia had failed. * * * The Doctor told these men, as he met them, that his only object in crossing the mountains in the dead of winter, at the risk of his life, through untold sufferings, was to take back an American immigration that summer, through the mountains to the Columbia, with their wagons and teams. The route was practicable. * * * This news spread like wild- fire through Missouri. Mr. P. B. Whitman says: Dr. Whitman's trip east, in the winter of lS42-to, was for the double pur- pose of bringing an immigration across the plains, also to prevent, if possi- ble, the trading off this northwest coast to the British government. Dr. S. J. Parker, son of Rev. Samuel Parker, in speaking of Dr. Whitman's two visits to his father, in 1843, both before going to Washington and after, says : At both times the subject of emigration was talked of. Dr. Whitman said many in Illinois and Missouri, etc., were ready to go and would go in the spring, as soon as the grass grew. On the other hand, says Hon. E. Evans, in the Seattle Intelli- gencer, of April 30, 1881 : Dr. Whitman had nothing whatever to do with organizing or promoting the migration of 1843. He performed valuable services while he travelled with it. Mrs. Victor, in the Astorian, makes similar statements. DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? -7 In order to settle this question, if possible, the writer senl letters to all the Immigrants of 1843, whose address he could learn, In order to ascertain whether or not Dr. Whitman did anything (<> induce them to come. Tn other ways he lias Learned the same from a few others, so that herewith is given the reason which led fourteen men or families to come : (i.) HON. L. APPLEGATE. Ashland, Oregon, February , 1883. Dear Sir:— Received your note of inquiry in regard to getting up i li<- emigration of '43. The first movement thai I know of in getting up thai emigration is as follows: There was a man by the mime of Robert Shortess, who made his home with me in Missouri, who crossed the plains in '88 or '39 with the trappers, who wrote letters back to me and brother .Jesse, giving a fine description of the country, a man well known to the early settlers of Oregon. < >ur living in a very sickly climate and the severity of the winters, induced us to make an effort to reach Oregon. So, about the first of March, lsfi, I put a notice in the Booneville Herald (a paper published in Missouri), that there would be au effort to get up an emigration toOregon. About the same time there was an effort in the north part of the state, and about the first of May we met on the border of the State and organized for Oregon. When we reached the North Platte, or somewhere in the Black Hills, Dr. Whitman and his nephew overtook us, travelling in a small vehicle. Up to this time I never had heard the name of Dr. Whitman— did not know there was such a man living. The Doctor rendered us a good deal of service, being a man of energy, and we helped him some, by hauling provisions that fed him and others, for nothing. I think every living emigrant of '43 will bear me out in these statements. * ;: * * Starting with us, as neighbors and from the same section of country, wire us three brothers, Daniel Waldo, Leery, Naylor, John Ford, Riser, Panther, and families, and a number of others whose names I can not recall to mind now. Yours truly. (Signed) LINDSAY APPLEGATE. (2.) HON. JESSE APPLEGATE, Clear Lake, Modoc County, Cat.., February 19th, '83. Dear Sir:— Your note reached me to-day. 1st.— Nothing Dr. Whitman said or wrote induced me to come to Oregon. 2nd.— I first saw 1>;\ Whitman in June, 1843, on the Platte river. 3rd.— I know of no person, living or dead, he induced to come to Oregon. Yours. (Signed) JESSE APPLEGATE. (3.) MR. A. HILL, of Gaston, Washington County, Oregon. The Weekly News (Portland) of May 17, 1883, has the following: In 1S42 Mr. Hill, then being the head Ol a young family, had his attention drawn to the far west by the bill granting a donation land claim to settlers, introduced into Congress by Senator Linn, of Missouri, but which did not be- come a law until 1850. At that time Mr. Hill lived in Hates county, Missouri. * * * Later in the year of '42 his youngblood was stirred by reading a letter trom Robert shortess to Jesse Applegate, descriptive of Oregon, The desire to come west and possess himself of a generous piece of land, upon 28 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? which he could build a home, never left him, so that in February, 1813, when Dan. Waldo, late of Marion county, sent word inviting; him to go to Oregon, and offering to furnish him a team, lie immediately backed his horse and started to see Waldo. * * * * * Here follows a description of an interview between Mr. Hill and Applegate on the subject. The result, was that after two months Mr. Hill, Jesse Applegate, his two brothers, Lindsay and Charles, and Dan. Waldo, who lived a few miles away, were all ready to start, and made the first day's journey on the 12th of May, 18 43_ * * * * ****** * Dr. Whitman, of the Whitman Mission, overtook the train on the South Platte. Up to this time Mr. Hill had never heard of Dr. Whitman, and did not know of such a station as the one on the Walla Walla river. * * * Mr. Hill is firmly of the opinion that the agitation in Congress by Senator Linn, * * * was the starting cause of the emigration from Missouri in 1843, and that Dr. Whitman was not known to those people till he overtook them on Platte river, though after that the doctor's services as guide were very valuable. (4.) MR. MATHENY. Rev. C. Eells, in a letter to the writer dated March 11, 1882, says : Mr. Matheny, residing at Wawawai on Snake river, said to me that his company were far out on the plains before they saw, or (and I think he said) heard of Dr. Whitman. At first, Mr. M.'s party were evidently far in ad- vance, but subsequently they all combined. (5) W. J. DOUGHERTY, of Lake View, Pierce County, Wash. Ter. Mr. Dougherty said to the writer, February 14, 1883, that he first knew of Dr. Whitman near Fitzhugh's mill, at a meeting held by the emigration. (6.) MR. S. M. GILMORE. Rockland, Wash. Ter., March 7, 1883. Rev. M. Eells, Skokomish : Sir— Yours of January 15th is received. * * * After I had resolved to come to Oregon I learned that Dr. Whitman was intending to return to Ore- gon—would be of great assistance to the emigi'ants. As to how many he in- fluenced, I know not, but I am sure he caused many to come that otherwise would not have come, if they had not learned that he would be with them, and that he could be of great assistance on the journey. I first saw Dr. Whit- man at our rendezvous on the Missouri border, while we were organizing preparatory to start. * ****** * Yours, etc., (Signed) S. M. GILMORE. (7.) HON. J. W. NESMITH. Dixie Station, Polk County, Oregon, Jan. 22, 1883. Rev. M. Eells: My Dear Sir— *'* * In answer to your first question, "Where did you I>I1» DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OBEGON? 29 first sec Dr. Whitman?" I am not able (<> reply us definitely as I could wish to do, but will give you the best of my recollections. Our party of immi- grants assembled at a point near Fitzhugh's Mill, a few mill b west of Inde- pendence, Missouri, on the 20th of May, 1843, for the purpose of organizing I will not be certain whether it was at that meeting or a day or two alter, on the line of march, that I first met the Doctor. I had never seen or heard of him before, consequently nothing that he said or wrote had any influence In inducing me to come to Oregon. In fact, I had started from Iowa in 1842,. to come to Oregon with Dr. White's party of that year, but I arrived at Inde- pendence seventeen days after Or. White's party had left, and as the Pawnee Indians were hostile, I did not dare venturing alone to overtake the parly, and remained at Fort Scott, 110 miles south of Independence, in the then Kansas territory, until the party of 1848 rendezvoused, as above slated. I know of no person who was induced to come to Oregon in consequence of Dr. Whitman's representations, and I think that the rest of the Immigra- tion were as ignorant of Dr. Whitman, his speaking and writing, as I was. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, (Signed) .1. w. NFsmith. (8.) MR. JOHN B. McCLANE. Salem, February 27, 1883, Rev. M. Eeles : 'Sir:— In answer to your first question : I think he [Dr. Whitman] overtook us on the North Platte. I am not sure as to that. * * * I never heard of him until he overtook us on the plains, s * * There were a number that were influenced to come by him, but I could not state their names at this time. ***** (Signed) JOHN B. McCLANE. (9.) MR. J. G. BAKER. McMlnsville, Oregon, August 12, 1883. Rev. M. Eells: Sir:— In regard to Dr. Whitman, I will say that I did not know that Dr. Whitman was in the Slates until he overtook us. Where he overtook us I can not now say, but it was sometime after we started. We had Captain (iantt for our pilot when Dr. Whitman overtook us; we then got I>r. Whit- man for our pilot. Dr. Whitman was a man of great energy and persever- ance, and of great service to us. Yours, (Signed) J.G.BAKER. (io.) HON. J. M. SHIVELY. Astoria, Oregon, July 11, 1883. Friend Eells: I first saw Dr. Whitman on the plains in 1843. I never heard of him or his mission to Washington previous to this. Friends in st. Louis sent me a package by him. In November, 1842, I was the first to get up the excitement on the Oregon question, and after many meetings, went to Washington with a petition to Congress then in session. If Dr. Whitman was then In Wash- ington I did not see nor hear of him. I never heard any one say they ever knew Dr. Whitman till they met him on the plains. Yours respectfully, (Signed) J. M. SHIVELY. 30 DID DR. M- WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? (ii.) MR. WILLIAM WALDO. Salem, Oregon, January 21, 1883. Rev. M. Eells: Dear Sir:— Your letter of the 15th inst. has just been received, and in an- swer * * * I have to say, that Dr. Whitman was in some of the Eastern Stairs in the winter of 1812 and 3, and wrote several newspaper articles in relation to Oregon, and particularly in regard to the health of the country. These letters decided my father to move to this country, as he had already determined to leave Missouri. * * * I first saw him on the Big Blue river. * * * I was then about ten yeans of age, but I remember him very distinctly, for the reason that he was a very remarkable man in many respects. * * * Yours very truly, (Signed) WM. WALDO. (12.) MRS. C. B. CARY. Lafayette, Oregon, January 23, 1883. Rev. M. Bells: Your letter was received, and in reply to your questions I will say. it was a pamphlet Dr. Whitman wrote that induced me to come to Oregon. Met him first on the plains. * * * * Respectfully, (Signed) Mrs. C. B. GARY. (13.) MR. JOHN ZACHREY. In -a letter to Rev. H. H. Spalding, dated February 7, 1868, he says : Dear Sir:— In answer to your inquiries I would say, that my father and his family emigrated to Oregon in 184.3, from the State of Texas. I was then 17 years old. The occasion of my father starting that season for this country, as also several 0/ our neighbors, was a publication by Dr. Whitman, or from his representations concerning Oregon, and the route from the States to Ore- gon. In the pamphlet the Doctor described Oregon, the soil, climate and its desirableness for American colonies, and said he had crossed the Rocky mountains that winter, principally to take back that season a train of wag- ons to Oregon. We had been told that wagons could not be taken beyond Fort Hall; but in this pamphlet the Doctor assured his countrymen that wagons could be taken from Fort Hall to the Columbia river, and to The Dalles, and from thence by boats to the Willamette ; that himself and mis- sion party had taken their families, cattle and wagons through to the Colum- bia six years before. It was this assurance of the missionary that induced my father and several of his neighbors to sell out and start at once for this country. ********* (Signed) JOHN ZACHREY. —(Spalding's Congressional pamphlet, p. 26.) (14.) HON. JOHN HOBSON. Astoria, January 30, 1883. Rev. M. Eells: Dear Sir:— * * * My father's family came to St. Louis in March, 1843, from England, on our way to Wisconsin, but on account of snow and ice in the river we could not proceed, and while detained there we met the Doctor DID 1>K. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? 31 [Whitman] and several others, who were talking of coming to Oregon; so. by his description of the country, and proffered assistance in getting here free of charge, my father with family, and Miles Eyers and family, Messrs. Thomas Smith, a Mr. Ricord, and .1. M. shively. all agreed I ne. All cam.'. Mr. Ey ers was drowned in snake river.while crossing above Boise. Thomas Smith went to California in 1S47. Mr. Ricord went to the Sandwich Islands and never returned. .1. M. Shively resides in Astoria, when at home, hut is now in California tor his health. The Doctor assisted Byersand father in purchasing wagons and mules in st. Louis. We went to Westport, through the state of Missouri, to the rendezvous, and the rest went by river. I do not know whether the Doctor was going to or on the return from Wash- ington, hut we did not see him any more until we met him at the Indian mission, a few miles from Westport, in the early part of May, where he assisted us in getting more teams and horses. Yours, (Signed) JOHN HolisoN. P. S.— All the Hobsons that crossed in '43 are dead, hut my youngest sis- ter and myself. I was eighteen years old when I came. REMARKS. (1.) It is plain, from the evidence, that Dr. Whitman did not influence all the emigrants to come, hut that other causes were at work — such as Senator Linn's bill, Mr. Bhortess' letter, and Mr. Shively's work. (2.) It is also plain, however, that he did work to induce peo- ple to come, by personal talk, newspaper articles and a pamphlet, which reached even to Texas. (3.) It it also plain that he induced some to come; four of the fourteen witnesses heard from — nearly one-third — stating that they came because of his representations, while two of them speak of several others whom he induced to come. (4.) The statements of different persons that they first saw him at different places may, perhaps, be reconciled by the idea that different parties started at different times, heme, that the earlier ones did not see him as soon as the later ones. •' It is forty years, to this very year, Since the first bold wagon train. With man's deep vow and woman's tear. struggled across the plain. Brave Whitman piloted the way, As on four months they pressed, They pass the plains with summer day. With autumn gain the west." — [S. A. Clarke, in Willamette Farmer, 1883. Since writing the above I have found a letter, written in 1849, 32 DID DR. M. WHITMAN SAVE OREGON? by Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, of the Methodist mission, to Miss Jane Prentiss, a sister of Mrs. Whitman, which shows strongly the tendency of Dr. Whitman's ideas, and from which the fol- lowing extracts are given. Mr. Perkins was stationed at The Dalles, and left the country in 1844. Mrs. Whitman spent the winter of 1842-3 at the station, in the families of Messrs. Perkins, D. Lee and Brewer, while Dr. Whitman was in the East; hence, Mr. Perkins had a good opportunity, through Mrs. Whitman, of learning Dr. Whitman's ideas, and all Mr. Perkin's opinions were formed about the same time, as he had no personal inter- course with them after 1844, although the letter was not written for five years afterwards. It was written in reply to some ques- tions of Miss Prentiss, after the death oi her sister : He [Dr. Whitman] looked upon them [the Indians] as doomed, at no dis- tant day, to give place to a settlement of enterprising Americans. With an eye to this, he laid his plans and acted. His American feelings, even while engaged in his missionary toils, were * * * suffered to predominate. * * * * He wanted to see the country settled. * * * Where were scattered a few Indian huts he wanted to see thrifty farm houses. Where stalked abroad a few broken-down Indian horses, cropping the rich grasses of the surrounding plain, he wanted to see grazing the cow, the ox and the sheep of a happy Yankee community. With his eye bent on this, he was willing, meantime, to do what he could * * * for the poor, weak, feeble, doomed Oregoniaus. APPENDIX. The following letters, received since the foregoing was sent to press, will explain some things heretofore hin-ed at. The first was written by Dr. Whitman at the Shawnee mission, near Westport, May 28, 1843, to Mr. J. G. Prentiss, his brother-in-law. He says : You will be surprised to learn that I am here yet. I have been, as it were, waiting for three weeks. When I got to St. Louis I found I had time and so I went to Quincy, [111.] and saw sister Jane, but Edward was not there. * * * * I shall start to-morrow or next day. Some of the emigrants have been gone a week an fis hers n ,re__[nst going. The number of men will be over two hundred^Sesidt^ s^mei^^fc^ildren. This tells for the occupa- tion of Oregon. '^A^§^tMaViy'^«Tia|l^§^tag, but no sheep, from a mistake of what I said "when passing. Next year wilV tell for sheep. * * * * You will be best judge what can be done, and how far you can exert yourself in these matter/?, and whether the secret service Amd can be obtained. As now decided in nay mind, this Oregon will be occupied by American citizens. Those who go only open the way for more another year. Wagons will go all the way, I have no doubt, this year. * * :: Sheep and cattle, but especially sheep, are indispensTrji««ar.tto8g0«; * * * * * I mean to impress on the Secretary of W T ar that sheep are more important to Oregon interests than soldiers. We want to get sheep and stock from Government for Indians, instead of money for their lands. I have written him on the main interests of the Indian country, but I mean still to write him a private letter touching some pai-ticular interests. I shall not be at all surprised to see some, if not all, of you on our side of the mountains. Jackson talked favorably. (Signed) MARCUS WHITMAN. This letter shows that Dr. Whitman first came to St. Louis, then went back to Illinois and there waited some time for the emigrants; that the emigrants started along at different times; he was working for his friends to emigrate to Oregon ; that he had said something about emigrants going there when he first passed through, as he was misunderstood about sheep ; and that he was working with Government, especially the Secretary of War, about Oregon. More of the letter is taken up with the sub- ject of sheep. The other letter is written by Mr. J. G. Prentiss, as follows : 34 APPENDIX. Almond, [New York], November 18, 1883. Rev. M. Bells: ****** if i could see and talk to you of what the Doctor said to me on the subject of his trip, and how anxious he was to continue his jour- ney and get all to go with him he came in contact with in this town, and eight miles from here at West Almond, where I then lived, and on his way to Cuba, where my father and mother lived at that time, it would explain much that he wrote me about. His project was, so far as the Indians were con- cerned, to induce the Government to pay them off for their land in sheep, and leave them to be a herding people. Hence he wrote in his letter to me about a secret fund that was controlled by the Cabinet, etc., and in his urgent solicitations was so anxious to have Mr. Jackson, a brother-in-law, and my- self to go. He would have it, my aged parents, Judge Prentiss and wife, might endure the journey, and his solicitations outside of the family were just as urgent, portraying the beauties of that country to all that would listen to his story. ******** (Signed) J. G. PRENTISS. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 017 185 190 7