A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 14

The Doctor very reluctantly consented to allow the money or drafts to be paid. This amount, with all the mission and settlers could raise, would still have been too small to justify the party in starting, but W. A.

Slac.u.m, Esq., of the United States navy, being on a visit to the country, Mr. Lee stated the condition of matters to him. Mr. Slac.u.m at once subscribed the requisite stock, and advanced all the money the mission wished on their stock, taking mission drafts on their Board, and gave a free pa.s.sage to California for the whole party. (As the missionaries would say, "Bless G.o.d for brother Slac.u.m's providential arrival among us.") Uncle Sam had the right man in the right place that time. It was but a little that he did; yet that little, what mighty results have grown out of it!

On the 19th of January, 1837, six days after Mr. Young had given up his projected distillery, he is on board Mr. Slac.u.m's brig _Lariat_, lying off the mouth of the Wallamet River, and on his way to California with a company of stout-hearted men, eight (I think) in all, not to steal horses or cheat the miserable savages, and equally miserable settlers, out of their little productive labor, but to bring a band of cattle to benefit the whole country. In this connection, I could not do justice to all without quoting a paragraph which I find in Rev. G. Hines'

history of the Oregon missions. He says:--

"Mr. Slac.u.m's vessel left the Columbia River about the first of February, and arrived safely in the bay of San Francisco, on the coast of California. The cattle company proceeded immediately to purchase a large band of cattle and a number of horses, with which they started for Oregon. In crossing a range of mountains (Rogue River Mountains), they were attacked by the rascally Indians, and a number of their cattle were killed, but they at length succeeded in driving back their foe and saving the remainder. _Contrary to the predictions and wishes of the members of the Hudson's Bay Company_, who INDIRECTLY OPPOSED them at the outset, they arrived in safety in the Wallamet Valley with six hundred head of cattle, and distributed them among the settlers, according to the provisions of the compact.

This successful enterprise, which laid the foundation for a rapid acc.u.mulation of wealth by the settlers, was mainly accomplished through the energy and perseverance of Rev. Jason Lee."

WHAT GOOD HAVE THE MISSIONARIES DONE IN THE COUNTRY? I do not know how Mr. Hines arrived at the conclusion that the Hudson's Bay Company "_indirectly opposed_" this cattle expedition. I know they did it _directly_, and it was only through the influence of Rev. J. Lee, and Mr. Slac.u.m, of the United States navy, that they could have succeeded at all. Mr. Lee, in his conversation with Dr. McLaughlin, told that gentleman directly that it was of no use for the company to _oppose_ the _expedition_ any more; the party was made up, and the men were on the way, and the cattle would come as per engagement, unless the men were lost at sea. The Hudson's Bay Company yielded the point only on the failure of the Rogue River Indians to destroy the expedition. Mr. Slac.u.m placed it beyond their control to stop it. The courage of the men was superior to the company's Indian allies. The cattle came, and no thanks to any of the Hudson's Bay Company's generosity, patronage, or power.

They did all they dared to do, openly and secretly, to prevent the bringing of that band of cattle into the country; and, determining to monopolize the country as far as possible, they at once entered upon the PUGET SOUND AGRICULTURAL COMPANY, under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company and the English government.

Do you ask me how I know these things? Simply by being at Vancouver the day the brig dropped down the Columbia River, and listening to the discussion excited on the subject, and to the proposition and plan of the Puget Sound Company among the gentlemen concerned in getting it up.

The mission of the American Board had no stock in the cattle company of the Wallamet, not venturing to incur the displeasure of the Hudson's Bay Company by expressing an opinion any way upon it. The writer was picking up items and preparing for a trip to New York overland, with one of the Hudson's Bay Company's traders, Mr. Francis (or Frank) Ermatinger. While in New York, Cincinnati, and other places, he stated the fact that the Methodist missionaries had fallen under the displeasure of the Hudson's Bay Company in entering too freely into trade and speculation in cattle in the country. Truth and justice to them require that I enter fully into their transactions as men and missionaries.

Rev. J. Lee, it will be remembered, was the first man to answer the call of the Indian to come to his country. The Methodist Board had been formed, and J. Lee accepted their invitation and patronage. In this expedition he gathered his a.s.sociates, and at the same time made arrangements for future supplies to arrive by sea, coming around Cape Horn. Captain Wyeth was in Boston, getting up a trading expedition, and chartering a vessel for the mouth of the Columbia River, the _May Dacre_. On board Captain Lambert's brig Captain Wyeth and the Methodist Board s.h.i.+pped their goods for the two expeditions. The goods on the way, it became necessary for the future objects of the mission to have a few horses to carry on the improvements necessary to a civilized life. Lee and a.s.sociates start across the continent. Missouri is the most western limit of civilization. They reach it, purchase their outfit, and, in company with Captain Wyeth, reach Fort Hall; here they fall in with Thomas McKay and our English n.o.bleman, Captain Stewart. Captain Wyeth stopped to build his fort, while McKay, Stewart, Lee, Dr. Nutall, Townsend, and parties all made their way to Wallawalla, on the Columbia River. The supreme selfishness of the Hudson's Bay Company seems here to begin to develop itself. Lee and party were made to believe that the Flathead tribe, who had sent their messengers for teachers, were not only a small, but a very distant tribe, and very disadvantageously situated for the establishment and support of a missionary among them.

These statements determined them to proceed to the lower Columbia, to find a better location to commence operations. Leaving their horses at Wallawalla, in charge of one of their party, they proceeded down the Columbia in one of the Hudson's Bay Company's boats, being eleven days in reaching the fort, and one hundred and fifty-two days on the way from Missouri. They were kindly received by the gentlemen of the fort, and in two days were on the hunt for a location.

The party that arrived just two years later, with two ladies, were not allowed to leave the fort to look for locations till they had remained twelve days, and been invited to ride all over the farm, and visit the s.h.i.+ps, and eat melons and apples (being always cautioned to save all the seeds for planting).

Lee and party were frank to make known to the company their object, and plans of future operations. Questions of trade and morality were comparatively new with the company. As religious teachers and Christian men they had no suspicions of any interference in trade. Mr. Lee hailed from Canada, and so did Dr. McLaughlin and a large number of the servants of the company.

"Mr. Lee is the man we want to instruct our retired servants in religious matters. Mr. Shepard will be an excellent man to take charge of our little private school; we have commenced with a Mr. S.

H. Smith, who has found his way into this country, in company with Captain Wyeth, an opposition fur trader and salmon catcher. We do not know much about him, but if you will allow Mr. Shepard to take charge of our school till you can make other arrangements, and you require his services, we will make it all right."

This arrangement placed the labor of selecting locations and the necessary explorations upon our friend Jason Lee. All being smooth and cordial with the company, Lee proceeds to French Prairie and up the river till he reaches a point ten miles below Salem, about two miles above Jarvie's old place, and makes his first location. From all the information he could gather, this was the most central point to reach the greatest number of Indians and allow the largest number of French and half-native population to collect around the station. In this expedition he occupied about ten days. The whole country was before them--a wilderness two thousand six hundred miles broad, extending from the gulf of California on the south, to the Russian settlements on the north, with a few scattering stations among the border Indians along the western territories of Missouri, and the great unknown, unexplored west, which the American Board, in a book published in 1862, page 380, says, "brought to light no field for a great and successful mission," showing that, for twenty-five years, they have neglected to give this country the attention its present position and importance demanded, and also a total neglect on their part to select and sustain proper men in this vast missionary field. They are willing now to plead ignorance, by saying, "Rev. Samuel Parker's exploring tour beyond the Rocky Mountains in 1836 and 1837 (but two years after the Rev. J. Lee came to it) brought to light _no field for a great and successful mission_," and console themselves by a.s.serting a popular idea as having originated from Mr. Parker's exploration, "a practicable route for a _railroad_ from the Mississippi to the Pacific." Mr. Parker never originated or thought of the practicability of the route till after Dr. Whitman had left his wagon at Fort Boise, and demonstrated the fact of a practicable wagon route. Then Mr. Parker, to give his work or journal a wider circulation, talked about a railroad. The American Board, I am sorry to feel and think, are good at attempting to catch at straws when important missionary objects have been faithfully placed before them.

Let us return to Mr. Lee. On Sat.u.r.day, September 27, 1834, he was in council with Dr. McLaughlin, at Vancouver. The result of his observations were fully canva.s.sed; the condition and prospects of the Indians and half-natives, Canadian-French, straggling sailors and hunters that might find their way into the country, were all called before this council. The call from the Flathead Indians and the Nez Perces was not forgotten. The Wallamet Valley had the best advocate in Dr. John McLaughlin. He "strongly recommended it, as did the other gentlemen of Vancouver, as the most eligible place for the establishment of the center of their operations." This located that mission under the direct supervision and inspection of the Hudson's Bay Company, and, at the same time, placed the American settlement south of the Columbia River.

Mr. Lee, the next day, was invited to preach in the fort. All shades of colors and sects attended this first preaching in the wilderness of Oregon. The effect in three months was the baptizing of four adults and seventeen children.

The Protestant missions were not dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company for supplies any more than the Sandwich Islands were, or the American Fur Company. If such were the fact, that they were dependent upon the Hudson's Bay Company, the missionaries themselves and the Boards that sent them to Oregon must have been a set of foolish men, not competent to conduct the commonest affairs of life. The idea that seven men and two women should be sent to a distant wilderness and savage country, and no provisions made for their subsistence and future supplies, is one originated without a soul, a lie to produce effect, a slander upon common honesty and common-sense Christianity. Whitman's party left in the Rocky Mountains a better set of tools than could be found in Vancouver. They brought seeds of all kinds. They had no occasion to ask of the Hudson's Bay Company a single seed for farming purposes, a single thing in establis.h.i.+ng their mission,--only as they had disposed of things at the suggestion of McLeod and McKay as unnecessary to pack them further. Arrangements were made to forward around Cape Horn, as soon as was deemed necessary, such articles and supplies as might be required.

Rev. Jason Lee and party did not arrive in the country (as those who have all along attempted to insinuate and make a stranger to the facts believe, and in 1865 claim the sum of $3,822,036.67 for stealing credit due to others, and preventing the good others might have done to the natives in advancing them in the scale of civilization) dest.i.tute and dependent upon the Hudson's Bay Company for supplies. On the contrary, by the time they had selected their station, the goods on the brig _May Dacre_ had arrived, and were ready to be landed at the lower mouth of the Wallamet River. These goods, whether suitable or not, were all received and conveyed to the station selected by Mr. Lee by the 6th of October. The rainy season soon commenced; they had no shelter for themselves or their goods. All old Oregonians who have not been seduced and brought up by the Hudson's Bay Company can comprehend the condition they were in. Rev. Jason Lee, like Dr. Whitman with his old wagon, had undertaken a work he meant to accomplish. His religion was practical.

Work, labor, preach, and practice his own precepts, and demonstrate the truth of his own doctrines. Religion and labor were synonymous with him, and well did the n.o.ble Shepard, though but a lay member of the mission and the church, labor and sustain him. These two men were really the soul and life of the mission, as Dr. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding were of the American Board. During the first winter, 1834-5, they were wholly occupied in building their houses and preparing for the cultivation of the land for their own subsistence. There was no alternative; it was work or starve. Rev. Jason Lee set the example. He held the plow, with an Indian boy to drive, in commencing his farming operations. The first year they produced enough for home consumption in wheat, peas, oats, and barley, and abundance of potatoes, with a few barrels of salt salmon.

The superintendent of the mission put up at the Wallamet Falls late in the season of 1834. They had a supply of their own for the first year.

It is true they did not have superfine flour to eat, but they had plenty of pounded and boiled wheat, and a change to pea and barley soup, with oats for the chickens they had received from the vessel.

Daniel Lee soon falls sick, and Edwards becomes dissatisfied. They both arrange to leave the country on the _May Dacre_. Rev. D. Lee is advised to go to the Sandwich Islands, and Edwards is induced to undertake an independent school at Champoeg.

Shepard toils on with his Indian and half-native school. Mr. Lee preaches and labors at the mission among the French, and at Vancouver.

In October, 1835, Rev. S. Parker arrived at Vancouver. In November he made a flying visit to Mr. Lee's mission. His Presbyterian spectacles were not adapted to correct observations on Methodist Episcopal missions. He was inclined to p.r.o.nounce their efforts a failure. This impression of Mr. Parker's arose from the fact, that no female influence, except that of the natives of the country, was seen or felt about the mission. His impressions were also quite unfavorable to the Hudson's Bay Company from the same cause. These impressions were, at the suggestion of the writer, omitted in his first published journal. Four months after Mr. Parker's visit to Mr. Lee's mission, we find the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company making a handsome donation to Mr.

Lee's mission of $130, including a handsome prayer for a blessing upon their labors, in the following words: "And they pray our heavenly Father, without whose a.s.sistance we can do nothing, that of his infinite mercy he may vouchsafe to bless and prosper your pious endeavors." This is signed in behalf of the donors by John McLaughlin.

CHAPTER XXI.

Arrival of Rev. Mr. Beaver and wife.--His opinion of the company.--A double-wedding.--Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman at Vancouver.--Men explore the country and locate stations.--Their opinion of the country.--Indian labor.--A winter trip down Snake River.

Nothing of note occurred till about the middle of August, 1836. The bark _Nereus_ arrived from England, bringing back Rev. Daniel Lee, recovered from his sickness while in the Sandwich Islands, and Rev. Mr. Beaver and lady, an English Episcopal clergyman, as chaplain to the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. Mr. Beaver was a man below the medium height, light brown hair, gray eyes, light complexion, a feminine voice, with large pretensions to oratory, a poor delivery, and no energy. His ideas of clerical dignity were such, that he felt himself defiled and polluted in descending to the "common herd of savages" he found on arriving at Vancouver. "The governor was uncivil, the clerks were boors, the women were savages. There was not an individual about the establishment he felt he could a.s.sociate with." This feeling was shared largely by Mrs.

Beaver, who, from the little I saw of her at a double-wedding party at her own house, I concluded, felt she was condescending greatly in permitting her husband to perform the services.

She appeared totally indifferent to the whole performance, so far as giving it an approving smile, look, or word. The occasion was the marriage of the youngest daughter of Dr. McLaughlin to Mr. Ray; and of Miss Nelia Comilly to Mr. James Douglas, since governor of Vancouver Island and British Columbia.

While at Vancouver, I met Mr. Beaver once outside the fort, with his dog and gun. From what I could learn of him, he was fond of hunting and fis.h.i.+ng;--much more so than of preaching to the "ignorant savages in the fort," as he called the gentlemen and servants of the company. "They were not sufficiently enlightened to appreciate good sermons, and to conform to the English church service. However, as he was the chaplain in charge, by virtue of his appointment received from the executive committee and governor in London, he had rights superior to any half-savage, pretended gentlemen at this establishment, and he would let them know what they were, before they were done with him; he did not come to this wilderness to be ordered and dictated to by a set of half-savages, who did not know the difference between a prayer-book and an otter skin, and yet they presumed to teach him morals and religion."

This tirade, as near as I could learn, was elicited from his reverence soon after he arrived, on account of some supposed neglect or slight offered by Dr. McLaughlin, in not furnis.h.i.+ng his quarters in the style he had expected. On reaching the post, in place of a splendid parsonage, well fitted up, and servants to do his bidding, he found what in early California times would be called an ordinary balloon house, made of rough boards, the floors (I think) not planed, and no carpets upon them, and none in the country to put upon them, except the common flag mats the Indians manufacture; and these the Rev. Mrs. Beaver considered "too filthy to step upon, or be about the house." In addition to these very important matters (judging from the fuss they made about them), "the doctor and all the pretended gentlemen of the company were living in _adultery_. This was a horrible crime he could not, and would not, put up with; he could scarcely bring himself to perform the church service in so polluted an audience." We had never been confirmed in the English church, and, consequently, did not feel at liberty to offer any advice after listening to this long tirade of abuse of the members of the Hudson's Bay Company by his reverence. A short time after, Mr. Beaver met Dr. McLaughlin in front of the house, and commenced urging him to comply with the regulations of the English church. The doctor had been educated in the Roman Catholic faith; he did not acknowledge Mr.

Beaver's right to dictate a religious creed to him, hence he was not prepared to conform wholly to the English church service. Among other subjects, that of marriage was mentioned, Rev. Mr. Beaver insisting that the doctor should be married in accordance with the church service. The doctor claimed the right to be married by whom he pleased, and that Mr.

Beaver was interfering and meddling with other than his parochial duties. This led his reverence to boil over and spill out a portion of the contemptuous feelings he had cherished from the moment he landed at the place. The doctor, not being in the habit from his youth of calmly listening to vulgar and abusive language, especially when addressed to his face, laid aside his reverence for the cloth, as also the respect due to his position and age, and gave Rev. Mr. Beaver a caning, some say kicking, causing his reverence to retreat, and abruptly suspend enforcing moral lessons in conformity to church usage. Rev. Mrs. Beaver very naturally sympathized with her husband, and they soon made arrangements and left the country, to report their case at head-quarters in London. Dr. McLaughlin chose to comply with civil usage, and as James Douglas had received a commission from her Majesty as civil magistrate under the English law, acting as justice of the peace, he united Dr.

John McLaughlin in marriage to Mrs. Margaret McKay, whose first husband had been lost in the destruction of the bark _Tonquin_ some years previous. This wedding occurred at Vancouver, about the end of January, 1837. The doctor was married privately, by Esquire Douglas, either a short time before, or a few days after, I have not yet learned which.

Rev. Mr. Beaver and lady arrived at Vancouver about four weeks before Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman. The gentlemen of the company, like the rough mountaineers who paid their respect to Mrs. Whitman and Mrs.

Spalding at the American rendezvous, attempted to be polite and kind to Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. They most emphatically failed. The parsonage was a terror to them. They had become objects of _contempt_, _scorn_, and _derision_ in the estimation of their religious guide and moral patron.

Their wives and children were looked upon as filthy savages, not fit to a.s.sociate with decent people. This feeling was so strong in the chaplain and his wife that it leaked out in very injudicious and indiscreet expressions of disapproval of actions and conduct, that, in a refined and polished society, would be considered offensive; yet these traders and Indian merchants, not having been in refined society for many years, did not understand or comprehend their own awkwardness and want of more refinement. They had forgotten that, in the progress of society, six hundred years had pa.s.sed since their great great grandmothers were like the women they saw about them every day. They forgot that Mrs. Beaver was an English clergyman's wife, and claimed to belong to the best English society. They thought there was but little difference in womankind; in short, they were much better qualified to deal with Indians than with civilians. Under such circ.u.mstances, and with such feelings existing in Fort Vancouver, the reader will not be astonished at the reception of two ladies who could interest and command the esteem and respect of the savage, the mountain hunter, and the Hudson's Bay Company fur trader. They came among them expecting nothing but rough treatment; any little mistakes were overlooked or treated as a jest.

They know no distinction in cla.s.ses; they were polite to the servant and the master; their society was agreeable and refining; not the least insult in word, or look, or act, was ever given them by any white man; their courage had been tested in the trip they had performed; their conversation and accomplishments surprised and delighted those permitted to enjoy their acquaintance, and, as Mr. Hines, in his history of the Oregon mission, says, "these were the first American women that ever crossed the Rocky Mountains, and _their arrival formed an epoch in the history of Oregon_."

Our mission party, with Captain Pambrun, his two boats loaded, two-thirds of the goods for the mission, on their way up the Columbia River, arrived all safe at the Dalles. Gray took a decided stand in favor of the first location at that point, on account of its accessibility, and the general inclination of all the Indians in the country to gather at those salmon fisheries; Spalding and Pambrun opposed; Whitman was undecided; Pambrun would not wait to give time to explore, nor a.s.sist in getting horses for the Doctor and Gray to look at the country in view of a location. On we go; make the portages at La Chute; reach John Day's River; Pambrun leaves boats in charge of Whitman and Gray, and goes to Wallawalla on horseback. In four days' hard pulling, towing, and sailing, we reach Wallawalla all safe; find cattle and horses all improving, and every thing in order, that is, as good order as could be expected; boats discharged, goods all carefully stored. Next morning, early, a fine band of Cayuse horses came into the fort; four fine ones were selected and saddled, an extra pack animal with traveling case and kitchen furniture, tent for camping, and provisions all ready, a servant with two Indians, all mounted, off we go up the Wallawalla River about twenty-five miles. Most of the land we pa.s.sed over we p.r.o.nounced barren, and good for nothing except grazing cattle, sheep, and horses. In the bends of the river, saw a few acres of land that might be cultivated if arrangements could be made to irrigate.

Pa.s.sed the Tuchet, but did not consider its appearance justified much delay to examine it closely, though the whole bottom was covered with a heavy coat of tall rye gra.s.s; went on into the forks of the Wallawalla and Mill Creek (as it is now called), pitched our tent at the place where Whitman's station was afterward built, got our suppers. Whitman and Gray took a look around the place, went into the bends in the river, looked at the cotton-wood trees, the little streams of water, and all about till dark; came back to camp; not much said. Mr. Pambrun explained the quality of the soil, and what would produce corn, what potatoes, and what would produce (as he thought) wheat, though he had not tried it thoroughly; or, rather, he had tried it on a small scale and failed. A few Cayuses came about camp at night. Next morning up early; breakfast over, some fine fresh Cayuse horses were brought up, ready to mount. We proceeded through the valley in several directions; rode all day and returned to camp at night, stopping occasionally to pull up a weed or a bush, to examine the quality of the soil.

At night, if an artist could have been present and taken a picture of the group and the expressions of countenance, it certainly would have been interesting: Spalding, Whitman, Pambrun, and Gray discussing the quality of the soil, the future prospects of a mission, and of the natives it was contemplated to gather around. No white settlement was then thought of. They unanimously concluded that there was but a limited amount of land susceptible of cultivation, estimated at the place for the station at about ten acres. Along all the streams and at the foot of the Blue Mountains, there might be found little patches of from half an acre to six acres of land suitable to cultivate for the use of the natives. This, to say the least, was not an overestimate of the qualities of the soil that has proved, by twenty-five years' cultivation without manure, to be richer to-day than soils of a different character with all the manuring they have received. The great objection and most discouraging indication to the party was the unlimited amount of caustic alkali found all over those plains and all through the valley. This fact alone proves the soil inexhaustible. All it requires is sufficient water to wash from the surface the superabundant alkali that forms upon it.

Any cereals adapted to alkaline soil may be cultivated to any extent in those valleys.

A stake was set to mark the place. Next day all returned to the fort, and soon the mission tents, horses, goods, and cattle were upon the ground and work commenced. The Indians, what few had not gone for buffalo, came to our camp and rendered all the a.s.sistance they were capable of in getting a house up and covered.

In a few days Spalding and Whitman started with the Nez Perces to look at their country, in view of a location among them, leaving Gray alone in charge of the building and goods, while they examined the country up the Clearwater River, and selected a location in a beautiful valley about two miles up the Lapwai Creek, and about twelve miles from Lewiston. Whitman returned to a.s.sist in erecting buildings at his station. Spalding started for Vancouver, to bring up the ladies. About the middle of November, Mrs. Whitman's quarters were ready, and she came to occupy them. Spalding and Gray, with Mrs. Spalding, started for the Lapwai station; arrived about the 1st of December, 1836, and, with the a.s.sistance of the Indians, in about twenty days a house was up, and Mrs.

Spalding occupied it.

It is due to those Indians to say that they labored freely and faithfully, and showed the best of feelings toward Mr. and Mrs.

Spalding, paying good attention to instructions given them, and appeared quite anxious to learn all they could of their teachers. It is also due to truth to state that Mr. Spalding paid them liberally for their services when compared with the amount paid them by the Hudson's Bay Company for the same service: say, for bringing a pine-log ten feet long and one foot in diameter from the Clearwater River to the station, it usually took about twelve Indians; for this service Mr. Spalding paid them about six inches of trail-rope tobacco each. This was about four times as much as the Hudson's Bay Company paid. This fact soon created a little feeling of unfriendliness toward Mr. Spalding. Dr. Whitman managed to get along with less Indian labor, and was able, from his location, to procure stragglers or casual men to work for him for a time, to get supplies and clothing to help them on their way down to the Wallamet settlement.

Mr. Spalding and Dr. Whitman were located in their little cabins making arrangements to get in their gardens and spring crops, teaching the Indians by example, and on the Sabbath interpreting portions of the Bible to them, and giving them such religious instruction as they were capable of communicating with their imperfect knowledge of their language; Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding teaching the children at their respective stations as much as was possible for them with their domestic duties to perform.

All things going on smoothly at the stations and all over the Indian country, it was thought advisable for Gray to visit Vancouver, procure the requisite spring supplies, and a suitable outfit for himself to explore the country, having in view further missionary locations, and return to the United States and procure a.s.sistance for the mission.

Gray's expedition, as contemplated then, would not be considered with present facilities a very light one. He started from Spalding's station about the 22d of December, 1836. There had been about twenty inches of snow upon the ground, but it was concluded from the fine weather at the station that most of it had melted off. On reaching the forks of Clearwater (Lewiston), he learned from the Indians that the snow was too deep to go by land, sent his horses back to Spalding, got an Indian dug-out, started from Lewiston for Wallawalla with two Indians to pilot and paddle the canoe; reached the Paluce all safe; camped with the Indians; found them all friendly; that night came on bitter cold;--river full of floating ice; Indians concluded not safe to proceed further in canoe; procure horses and start down on the right bank of the river; travel all day; toward night, in pa.s.sing over a high point, snow-storm came on, lost our trail; struck a canon, followed it down, found the river and camped in the snow, turned our horses into the tall gra.s.s and made the best of a snow-camp for the night. Next day start early; wallow through the snow and drifts and reach an Indian camp near the mouth of Snake River at night; leave horses; next morning get canoe, leave one Paluce Indian; Paluce chief and chief of band at Snake River in canoe; two Indians to paddle; pull down the river into the Columbia in the floating ice, and reach Wallawalla, December 26, 1836; Pambrun pays Indians what he thinks right: Paluce chief, for horses and services, one three-point Hudson's Bay blanket, one check s.h.i.+rt, one knife, half a brace (three feet) trail-rope tobacco. Gray thought the price paid was very reasonable,--quite little enough for the labor, to say nothing of the risk and suffering from cold on the trip. The river all closed up; Indians did not reach their homes for eight days; no communication in any direction for ten days. About the tenth day Whitman sends orders down for goods to be s.h.i.+pped from Vancouver. About the 10th of January, 1837, Mr. Ermatinger arrived from Colville by boat, having made several portages over ice in reaching Wallawalla. Next day we start down the river; pa.s.s through and over several fields of ice; reach Vancouver about the 12th of January. Rev. J. Lee and Mr. Slac.u.m had just left the fort as our party arrived. We have previously given an account of the subjects of special interest, and also of the weddings that occurred about this time at the fort.

CHAPTER XXII.

The French and American settlers.--Hudson's Bay Company's traveling traders.--The Flatheads.--Their manner of traveling.--Marriage.--Their honesty.--Indian fight and scalp dance.--Making peace.--Fight with the Sioux.--At Council Bluffs.

The reader is already acquainted with all of the first missionaries, and with the governing power and policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of the different parties and organizations as they existed. We will now introduce parties of men as we find them in the Wallamet settlement.

There were at this time about fifty Canadian-Frenchmen in the Wallamet settlement, all of them retired servants of the Hudson's Bay Company.

These men, who had spent the most active part of their lives in the service of the company, had become connected with native women, and nearly all of them had their families of half-native children. This cla.s.s of servants were found by the experience of the company not as profitable for their purposes as the enlisted men from the Orkney Isles, or even the Sandwich Islanders.