While the American fur trader, Captain Wyeth, was in the country, the company had increased their tariff, and paid the Indians more for their horses and furs, but as soon as he had been driven from the country, they reduced it to their own prices. The Indians did not understand why the company gave them so much less than the Americans, or Bostons, did for the same things.
The principal chiefs of the Nez Percés and Cayuses were together in the attempt to get better pay for the property they sold to the company, whose policy was to keep all the principal men down, and divide their power and influence, and prevent any large combinations among the tribes,—thus making it easy to control them. This statement of facts and policy I had from Mr. Pambrun and Mr. Ermatinger, both of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Mr. Hines, on page 143, in speaking about the laws adopted by the Indians, seems altogether to ignore the fact that a desperate effort was then being made by the Hudson’s Bay Company, as the conduct of the Indians plainly indicated, to drive all Americans from the country. The unreasonable punishments inflicted, and all other odious inferences, were the legitimate instruments to accomplish a specific object. The same was the case in the inferences drawn about Dr. Whitman’s visit to the States. While Governor Simpson sends on his Red River settlers, and goes to Washington to secure the country to the British crown, Dr. Whitman and his mission become the special objects of misrepresentation and hate among the Indians. His mill and all his grain are burned, while a large immigration of British subjects and the Jesuit missionaries are received with open arms. Dr. Whitman and the American settlement must be stopped at all hazards. An Indian is sent on snow-shoes to the Buffalo Indians east of Fort Hall, for the purpose of exciting them to cut off the party that is expected with Dr. Whitman.
The American government, according to Dr. White, is about to take possession of the country, and had sent him out as its first governor. He, to conciliate the Indians, adopts all the suggestions of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and succeeds to his entire satisfaction, with the aid of Mr. McKay. While he can do nothing to unite the settlers for their own defense, the divide-and-weaken policy of the company is changed from Indians to the American settlers. White and Hines are equally useful to the company in doing the one, as they had been successful in the other. That the transaction related by Mr. Hines on his 145th page, under date of April 17, may be better understood, we will, in the next chapter, give a copy of the petition referred to. This document is mostly the work of Robert Shortess, and was signed by nearly every American in the country who had an opportunity.
Whitman’s visit to Washington.—A priest’s boast.—A taunt, and Whitman’s reply.—Arrival in Washington.—Interview with Secretary Webster.—With President Tyler.—His return.—Successful passage of the Rocky Mountains with two hundred wagons.—His mill burned during his absence.
Whitman’s visit to Washington.—A priest’s boast.—A taunt, and Whitman’s reply.—Arrival in Washington.—Interview with Secretary Webster.—With President Tyler.—His return.—Successful passage of the Rocky Mountains with two hundred wagons.—His mill burned during his absence.
In September, 1842, Dr. Whitman was called to visit a patient at old Fort Wallawalla. 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 Canada arrived, bringing news that the emigration from the Red River settlement was at Colville. This 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 English 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 this result, 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.” “But you can not go there to do it,” was the taunting reply of the Briton. “I will see,” was the Doctor’s reply. The reader is sufficiently acquainted with the history of this man’s toil and labor in bringing his first wagon through to Fort Boise, to understand what he meant when he said, “I will see.” Two hours after this conversation at the fort, he dismounted from his horse at his door at Wailatpu. 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 becoming British territory.
Every thing 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. They reached Fort Hall all safe; kept southinto Taos, and thence to Bent’s Fort, on the Arkansas River, when Mr. Lovejoy became exhausted from toil and exposure, and stopped for the winter, while the Doctor continued on and reached Washington.
Thus far in this narrative I give Dr. Whitman’s, Mr. Lovejoy’s, and my own knowledge. I find an article in thePacificof November 9, from Mr. Spalding, which gives us the result:—
“On reaching the settlements, Dr. Whitman found that many of the now old Oregonians—Waldo, Applegate, Hamtree, Keizer, and others—who had once made calculations to come to Oregon, had abandoned the idea because of the representations from 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 were from Governor Simpson, who, magnifying the statements 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 to 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 furnishing 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 of his life, and through untold sufferings, was to take back an American emigration that summer through the mountains to the Columbia, with their wagons and their teams. The route was practicable. We had taken our wagon, 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 Hudson’s Bay Company scheme to prevent the settling of the country by the Americans, till they could settle it with their own subjects from the Selkirk settlement. This news spread like wildfire through Missouri. The Doctor pushed on to Washington and immediately 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 lived 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 andimpassable 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 Ashburton treaty, for a cod-fishery on Newfoundland.“The Doctor next sought 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 the 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 a wagon route, were in direct contradiction to those of Governor Simpson, his frozen limbs were sufficient proof of his sincerity, and his missionary character was sufficient guaranty 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 result of the expedition. If the Doctor could establish a wagon route through the mountains to the Columbia River, pronounced impossible by Governors Simpson and Ashburton, he would use his influence to hold on to Oregon. The great desire of the Doctor’s American soul, and 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 sufferings, 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[10]. And when the 5th of September, 1843, saw the rear of the Doctor’s caravan of nearly two hundred wagons, with which he started from Missouri last of April, emerge from the western shades of the Blue Mountains upon the plains of the Columbia, the greatest work ever accomplished by one man for Oregon was finished. And through that great emigration during that whole summer, the Doctor was their everywhere-present angel of mercy, ministering to the sick, helping theweary, encouraging the wavering, cheering the mothers, mending wagons, setting broken bones, hunting stray oxen, climbing precipices; now in the rear, now at the front; in the rivers, looking out fords through the quicksands; in the deserts, looking out for water; in the dark mountains, looking out passes; at noontide or midnight, as though those thousands were his own children, and those wagons and flocks were his own property. Although he asked not, nor expected, a dollar as a reward from any source, he felt himself abundantly rewarded when he saw the desire of his heart accomplished, the great wagon route over the mountains established, and Oregon in a fair way to be occupied with American settlements and American commerce. And especially he felt himself doubly paid, when, at the end of his successful expedition, and standing alive at his home again on the banks of the Wallawalla, these hundreds of his fellow summer pilgrims, way-worn and sunbrowned, took him by the hand and thanked him with tears for what he had done.
“On reaching the settlements, Dr. Whitman found that many of the now old Oregonians—Waldo, Applegate, Hamtree, Keizer, and others—who had once made calculations to come to Oregon, had abandoned the idea because of the representations from 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 were from Governor Simpson, who, magnifying the statements 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 to 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 furnishing 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 of his life, and through untold sufferings, was to take back an American emigration that summer through the mountains to the Columbia, with their wagons and their teams. The route was practicable. We had taken our wagon, 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 Hudson’s Bay Company scheme to prevent the settling of the country by the Americans, till they could settle it with their own subjects from the Selkirk settlement. This news spread like wildfire through Missouri. The Doctor pushed on to Washington and immediately 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 lived 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 andimpassable 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 Ashburton treaty, for a cod-fishery on Newfoundland.
“The Doctor next sought 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 the 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 a wagon route, were in direct contradiction to those of Governor Simpson, his frozen limbs were sufficient proof of his sincerity, and his missionary character was sufficient guaranty 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 result of the expedition. If the Doctor could establish a wagon route through the mountains to the Columbia River, pronounced impossible by Governors Simpson and Ashburton, he would use his influence to hold on to Oregon. The great desire of the Doctor’s American soul, and 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 sufferings, 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[10]. And when the 5th of September, 1843, saw the rear of the Doctor’s caravan of nearly two hundred wagons, with which he started from Missouri last of April, emerge from the western shades of the Blue Mountains upon the plains of the Columbia, the greatest work ever accomplished by one man for Oregon was finished. And through that great emigration during that whole summer, the Doctor was their everywhere-present angel of mercy, ministering to the sick, helping theweary, encouraging the wavering, cheering the mothers, mending wagons, setting broken bones, hunting stray oxen, climbing precipices; now in the rear, now at the front; in the rivers, looking out fords through the quicksands; in the deserts, looking out for water; in the dark mountains, looking out passes; at noontide or midnight, as though those thousands were his own children, and those wagons and flocks were his own property. Although he asked not, nor expected, a dollar as a reward from any source, he felt himself abundantly rewarded when he saw the desire of his heart accomplished, the great wagon route over the mountains established, and Oregon in a fair way to be occupied with American settlements and American commerce. And especially he felt himself doubly paid, when, at the end of his successful expedition, and standing alive at his home again on the banks of the Wallawalla, these hundreds of his fellow summer pilgrims, way-worn and sunbrowned, took him by the hand and thanked him with tears for what he had done.
[10]They reached Fort Hall in safety, but there, in the absence of Dr. Whitman from their camp, they were told by Captain Grant, in the interest of the Hudson’s Bay Company, as others had been told before, that it was idle for wagons to attempt to reach the Columbia. For a time there was a heaviness of spirit among those families, which, like the Israelites of old, had penetrated the depths of the “great and terrible wilderness.” But Dr. Whitman, on ascertaining what had happened, reassured them by his bold and manly words, saying to them, “My countrymen! you have trusted me thus far; believe me now, and I will take your wagons to Columbia River;” and he did so, and Oregon was saved by his patriotism to the Union.
[10]They reached Fort Hall in safety, but there, in the absence of Dr. Whitman from their camp, they were told by Captain Grant, in the interest of the Hudson’s Bay Company, as others had been told before, that it was idle for wagons to attempt to reach the Columbia. For a time there was a heaviness of spirit among those families, which, like the Israelites of old, had penetrated the depths of the “great and terrible wilderness.” But Dr. Whitman, on ascertaining what had happened, reassured them by his bold and manly words, saying to them, “My countrymen! you have trusted me thus far; believe me now, and I will take your wagons to Columbia River;” and he did so, and Oregon was saved by his patriotism to the Union.
“During the Doctor’s absence, his flour mill, with a quantity of grain, had been burned, and, consequently, he found but a small supply at his station on his return, raised by Mr. Geiger, a young man. But what he had in the way of grain, garden vegetables, and cattle, he gladly furnished the needy immigrants at the very low figure of the Wallamet prices, which was six hundred per cent. lower than what they had been compelled to pay at Forts Hall and Boise, and one half lower than they are to-day in the same country. And this was his practice every year till himself and wife and fourteen immigrants were murdered in the fall of 1847, because, as Vicar-General Brouillet says, ‘they were American citizens’, and not, as I am bold to say and can prove, because he was a physician. Shame on the American that will intimate such a thing! This vicar-general of the Papal hosts on this coast does not thank you for such an excuse. He tells you plainly it was to break up the American settlements on this coast.“Often the good Doctor would let every bushel of his grain go to the passing immigrants in the fall, and then would have to depend upon me for breadstuffs for the winter and the whole year till next harvest, for his own large family and the scores of immigrants who every year were obliged to stop at his station on account of sickness or give-out teams. Although the Doctor had done so much for his country, it seems his blood was necessary to arouse the government to take formal possession of this coast, as it was his death by savages that sent the devoted J. L. Meek over the mountains to Washington, in the spring of 1848, to beg the government, in behalf of the citizens of this coast, to send us help, and to extend its jurisdiction over us.”
“During the Doctor’s absence, his flour mill, with a quantity of grain, had been burned, and, consequently, he found but a small supply at his station on his return, raised by Mr. Geiger, a young man. But what he had in the way of grain, garden vegetables, and cattle, he gladly furnished the needy immigrants at the very low figure of the Wallamet prices, which was six hundred per cent. lower than what they had been compelled to pay at Forts Hall and Boise, and one half lower than they are to-day in the same country. And this was his practice every year till himself and wife and fourteen immigrants were murdered in the fall of 1847, because, as Vicar-General Brouillet says, ‘they were American citizens’, and not, as I am bold to say and can prove, because he was a physician. Shame on the American that will intimate such a thing! This vicar-general of the Papal hosts on this coast does not thank you for such an excuse. He tells you plainly it was to break up the American settlements on this coast.
“Often the good Doctor would let every bushel of his grain go to the passing immigrants in the fall, and then would have to depend upon me for breadstuffs for the winter and the whole year till next harvest, for his own large family and the scores of immigrants who every year were obliged to stop at his station on account of sickness or give-out teams. Although the Doctor had done so much for his country, it seems his blood was necessary to arouse the government to take formal possession of this coast, as it was his death by savages that sent the devoted J. L. Meek over the mountains to Washington, in the spring of 1848, to beg the government, in behalf of the citizens of this coast, to send us help, and to extend its jurisdiction over us.”
Petition of the citizens of Oregon in 1843.—Complaints against the Hudson’s Bay Company.—The Milling Company.—Kicking the half-bushel.—Land claims of Dr. McLaughlin.—Names of the signers.—Reasons for not signing.—Notice, deed, and bond of John McLaughlin.—Claim of Alvin F. Waller.
Petition of the citizens of Oregon in 1843.—Complaints against the Hudson’s Bay Company.—The Milling Company.—Kicking the half-bushel.—Land claims of Dr. McLaughlin.—Names of the signers.—Reasons for not signing.—Notice, deed, and bond of John McLaughlin.—Claim of Alvin F. Waller.
Petition of Citizens of Oregon in 1843.
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled:—
We, the undersigned, settlers south of the Columbia River, beg leave respectfully to represent to your honorable body:
As has been before represented to your honorable body, we consider ourselves citizens of the United States, and acknowledge the right of the United States to extend its jurisdiction over us; and the object of the present memorial is to ask that the protection of the United States may be extended to us as soon as possible. Hitherto, our numbers have been small, and the few difficulties that arose in the settlement were speedily and satisfactorily settled. But, as our settlement increases in numbers, so our difficulties increase in number and importance; and, unless we can have laws to govern us that will be respected and obeyed, our situation will be a deplorable one. Where the highest court of appeal is the rifle, safety in life and property can not be depended on.
The state of the country, its climate, resources, soil, productions, etc., has already been laid before your honorable body, in Captain Wyeth’s memoir, and in former memorials from the inhabitants of this place.
Laws are made to protect the weak against the mighty, and we feel the necessity of them in the steps that are constantly taken by the Honorable Hudson’s Bay Company, in their opposition to the improvement and enterprise of American citizens. You have been apprised already of their opposition to Captain Wyeth, Bonneville, and others; and we find that the same spirit dwells with them at the present day. Some years ago, when the Hudson’s Bay Company owned all the cattle in Oregon, they would not sell on any conditions; but they would lend their cows to the settler—he returning to the company the cows loaned, with all the increase; and in case of the death of a cow, hethen had the privilege of paying for it. But after the settlers, at great risk and expense, went to California and purchased for themselves, and there was a fair prospect of the settlement being supplied, then the Hudson’s Bay Company were willing to sell, and at lower rates than the settlers could sell.
In the year 1842, feeling the necessity of having mills erected that could supply the settlement with flour and lumber, a number of the inhabitants formed themselves into a joint-stock company, for the purpose of supplying the growing wants of the community. Many of the farmers were obliged to leave their farms on the Wallamet, and go six miles above Vancouver, on the Columbia River, making the whole distance about sixty miles, to get their wheat ground, at a great loss of time and expense. The company was formed and proceeded to select a site. They selected an island at the falls of the Wallamet, and concluded to commence their operations. After commencing, they were informed by Dr. McLaughlin, who is at the head of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s affairs west of the Rocky Mountains, that the land was his, and that he (although a chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company) claimed all the land on the east side of the Wallamet, embracing the falls down to the Clackamas River, a distance of about two miles. He had no idea, we presume, that the company would succeed. However, he erected a shed on the island, after the stuff was on the island to build a house, and then gave them permission to build under certain restrictions. They took the paper he wrote them, containing his conditions, but did not obligate themselves to comply with the conditions, as they did not think his claim just or reasonable.
Many projects had been started by the inhabitants, but, for want of means and encouragement, failed. This fate was predicted for the Milling Company. But, after much labor and difficulty, they succeeded in getting a saw-mill erected, and ready to run, and entered into a contract to have a grist-mill erected forthwith. And now, as they have succeeded, where is the Hudson’s Bay Company? Dr. McLaughlin employs hands to get out a frame for a saw-mill, and erect it at Wallamet Falls; and we find, as soon as the frame is up, the gearing, which has been made at Vancouver, is brought up in boats; and that which cost a feeble company of American citizens months of toil and embarrassment is accomplished by the chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company in a few weeks. He has men and means, and it is said by him that in two weeks his mill will be sawing. And what will be the consequence? Why, if the Milling Company sell for $15 per thousand, he can sell for $12; if they reduce the price to $10, he cancome to $8, or $5, or $2 per thousand. He says he will have a grist-mill started as soon as he gets the saw-mill in operation.
All the wheat in Oregon they are anxious to get, as they ship it to the Russians on the northwest coast. In the first place they measured the wheat in a half-bushel, called by them imperial measure, much larger than the standard measure of the United States; this not answering, they next proceededto kick the half-bushel with the foot to settle the wheat; then they brought up a measure larger than the former one; and now they fill this measure, then strike itthree times with a stout club, and then fill up, and call it fair measure. Against such proceedings we need law that will be respected and obeyed.
About twelve or fourteen years ago, the Hudson’s Bay Company blasted a canal a few feet to conduct water to a mill they were going to build, the timber for which is now lying at the falls rotting. They, however, abandoned the thing altogether, and built their mills on the Columbia, about six miles above Vancouver, on the north side of the river.
In the year 1837, agreeably to orders left by Mr. Slacum, a house was erected at the falls, to secure the claim for him.
In 1840, the Methodist Mission erected buildings at the falls, and stationed two families there, and made a claim to sufficient land for their buildings, not interfering with any others who might wish to build. A short time previous to this, Dr. McLaughlin had a storehouse erected for the company, not occupied, however, further than to store wheat and other articles in, and as a trading-house during the salmon season.
After this, in 1841, a shanty was erected, and a man kept at the falls, whose business it was to trade with the Indians for furs and salmon, and look out for the doctor’s claim, he said, and to forbid persons building at the falls, as some had built, and others were about building. This man was, and still is, a servant of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
During the years 1841 and 1842, several families settled at the falls, when Dr. McLaughlin, who still resides at Fort Vancouver, comes on the ground, and says the land is his, and any person building without his permission is held as a trespasser. Without reference to any person’s right or claim, he employs a surveyor to run out the plat; and as a bill was before the Senate of the United States to grant to every white male inhabitant a mile square, he has a mile run out to suit his views, and lays out a town plat at the falls, and calls it Oregon City. Although some, for peace’s sake, asked him for the lots they had already in possession, and which he appeared very willing to grant, the doctor now felt himself secure, and posted up the annexed paper (marked A),which is the original; and all who had lots were required to pay Mr. Hastings five dollars for a deed of land which they knew very well the grantor did not own, but that Congress will pass a special act granting to each man his lot and improvements. Those that applied received (if they had a house on the lot) a deed, a copy of which is annexed (marked B); if they had no house, a bond was given for five dollars, a copy of which is annexed (marked C). To those that applied and paid their five dollars all was right with the doctor; while those who considered his title to the land not good, and that therefore he had no right to direct who should build and who should not, had their lots sold to others. In one case the purchaser came to the original claimant and ordered him to stop digging the ground which he was preparing for a garden, and commanded him to remove his fences, as he had Dr. McLaughlin’s bond in his pocket for the lots; and if he did not move the fence he would, and take forcible possession. Those who desired to have no difficulty, and did not apply for a deed, have lost their lots, the doctor’s promise, and all. And Mr. Hastings (the doctor’s agent) is now offering for sale the lots on which part of the mission buildings stand; and if he succeeds in finding a purchaser, they must either contend or lose their buildings.
Dr. McLaughlin has held claims in other places south of the Columbia River: at the Tualatin Plains and Clackamas Plains he had huts erected, to prevent others from building; and such is the power of Dr. McLaughlin, that many persons are actually afraid to make their situation known, thinking, if he hears of it, he will stop their supplies. Letters were received here from Messrs. Ladd & Co., of the Sandwich Islands, in answer to a letter written by the late Mr. Ewing Young, for a few supplies, that orders were received forbidding the company’s vessels carrying any goods for the settlers of Oregon. Every means will be made use of by them to break down every thing that will draw trade to this country, or enable persons to get goods at any other place than their store.
One other item, and we are done. When the United States government officers of distinction arrive, Vancouver is thrown open, and every facility afforded them. They were even more condescending to the settlers during the time the exploring squadron was in the Columbia; nothing was left undone to give the officers a high opinion of the Honorable Hudson’s Bay Company. Our Indian agent is entirely dependent on them for supplies and funds to carry on his operations.
And now your memorialists pray your honorable body that immediate action of Congress be taken in regard to this country, and good and wholesome laws be enacted for our Territory, as may, in your wisdom, be thought best for the good of the American citizens residing here.
And your memorialists will ever pray.
Robert Shortess, A. E. Wilson⚹, W. C. Remick⚹, Jeffrey Brown, E. N. Coombs, Reuben Lewis, George Davis, V. Bennett, J. Rekener, T. J. Hubbard, James A. O’Neil, Jer. Horregon, William McCarty, Charles Compo, John Howard⚹, R. Williams, G. Brown, John Turner⚹, Theodore Pancott, A. F. Waller, J. R. Robb, J. L. Morrison, M. Crawford, John Anderson, James M. Bates, L. H. Judson, Joel Turnham⚹, Richard H. Ekin, H. Campbell⚹, James Force, W. H. Wilson⚹, Felix Hathaway⚹, J. Lawson, Thomas J. Shadden⚹, Joseph Gibbs, S. Lewis, Jr., Charles Roy, William Brown, S. Davis, Joseph Yatten, John Hopstatter⚹, G. W. Bellomy⚹, William Brown, A. Beers, J. L. Parish, William H. Gray, A. D. Smith⚹, J. C. Bridgers⚹, Aaron Cook, A. Copeland, S. W. Moss, Gustavus Hines, George W. Le Breton⚹, Daniel Girtman, C. T. Arrendrill, A. Touner, David Carter⚹, J. J. Campbell⚹, W. Johnson⚹, John Edmunds, W. Hauxhurst, W. A. Pfieffer, J. Holman, H. B. Brewer, William C. Sutton. Sixty-five in all.It is understood that the persons whose names are marked with an asterisk (⚹) are now dead; the balance are supposed to be still living.
Robert Shortess, A. E. Wilson⚹, W. C. Remick⚹, Jeffrey Brown, E. N. Coombs, Reuben Lewis, George Davis, V. Bennett, J. Rekener, T. J. Hubbard, James A. O’Neil, Jer. Horregon, William McCarty, Charles Compo, John Howard⚹, R. Williams, G. Brown, John Turner⚹, Theodore Pancott, A. F. Waller, J. R. Robb, J. L. Morrison, M. Crawford, John Anderson, James M. Bates, L. H. Judson, Joel Turnham⚹, Richard H. Ekin, H. Campbell⚹, James Force, W. H. Wilson⚹, Felix Hathaway⚹, J. Lawson, Thomas J. Shadden⚹, Joseph Gibbs, S. Lewis, Jr., Charles Roy, William Brown, S. Davis, Joseph Yatten, John Hopstatter⚹, G. W. Bellomy⚹, William Brown, A. Beers, J. L. Parish, William H. Gray, A. D. Smith⚹, J. C. Bridgers⚹, Aaron Cook, A. Copeland, S. W. Moss, Gustavus Hines, George W. Le Breton⚹, Daniel Girtman, C. T. Arrendrill, A. Touner, David Carter⚹, J. J. Campbell⚹, W. Johnson⚹, John Edmunds, W. Hauxhurst, W. A. Pfieffer, J. Holman, H. B. Brewer, William C. Sutton. Sixty-five in all.
It is understood that the persons whose names are marked with an asterisk (⚹) are now dead; the balance are supposed to be still living.
The foregoing are all the names which appear to the petition printed as Senate document 105, and presented to the Senate at the first session of the twenty-eighth Congress.
W. J. McDonald,Principal Clerk of Sec’y Senate.
Washington, D. C., Jan. 5, 1866.
Mr. George Abernethy declined to sign this petition through fear of injuring the Methodist Mission in its secular or business relations with the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Hugh Burns would not sign it because he did not wish Congress to be asked to confirm his title to lots and improvements.
Jason Lee, though he thought it right to petition Congress for protection, yet on account of his position as superintendent of the Methodist Mission, and the influence of the company against them should he sign it, thought it best not to give his name.
Dr. I. L. Babcock refused, because, by signing, he would lose his influence with the company.
Walter Pomeroy, ditto.
Dr. Baileydid not wish any protection from the Congress of the United States.
Rev. H. K. W. Perkins wasashamedof the petition. “What does Congress care about measuring wheat? or a contest between two milling companies?”
George Gay did not care any thing about it. Congress might do as it pleased; he did not want its protection.
The people in Tualatin Plains did not have an opportunity to sign or refuse for want of time to circulate it in that section. The bearer of it, William C. Sutton, was on his way to the States across the Rocky Mountains. Through the influence of Dr. White, who had clandestinely procured a copy of the petition and the names attached, and had made an effort to prevent its reaching Mr. Sutton, it had been delayed, but through the perseverance and promptness of Robert Shortess and A. E. Wilson, it was sent by Davis and Johnson and some Indians in an express canoe, and reached Mr. Sutton before he left the Cascades. For this service to his country and the persevering efforts of Mr. Shortess to maintain the rights of American citizens in it, he was early placed under the ban of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and, it may be added, the Methodist Mission; and reports prejudicial to him have been freely and persistently kept before the public mind, as also against any others that have taken an active part against the infamous and despotic course of that company. This is to weaken their testimony, and to render them powerless to prevent the present proposed robbing of our national treasury. Instead of paying one dime to that company for doing all they dared to do to prevent the settlement of Oregon by Americans, a pension should be paid to Robert Shortess and many others who dared to maintain the rights of the American people to this western coast. Whitman periled every thing and lost his life to save the country. Shortess has periled all, and worn himself out in struggling under an influence that took the life of Dr. Whitman and many others, for which this Hudson’s Bay Company are now to receive pay.
It is unnecessary for me to make a single remark in reference to this petition. It is a history in itself of the times and events then occurring. Mr. Hines refers to it as of little moment, and on page 150 says: “Not being one of the authors, but merely a signer of the petition, I did not come under the ban of the company; consequently, I obtained my outfit for the expedition, though at first there were strong indications that I would be refused.”
We would infer from this, that the Hudson’s Bay Company did not regard it as a serious matter, but in the next line he tells us: “We remained at the fort over night and a part of the next day, and, after aclose conversation with the gentlemen in command, were treated with great courtesy.”
This lets us into the whole mystery of the affair. The gentlemen in charge of the fort had become satisfied that Mr. Hines in his visit among the Indians would not interfere with their arrangements already made with McKay and White; in fact, that Mr. Hines approved of Dr. White’s policy of uniting the tribes in the interior to accomplish the one great object of the company. The documents that follow are given to show the fact stated in the petition, as also the high-handed measures of the company and Dr. McLaughlin.
A.
Notice is hereby given to all whom it may concern, that those who have obtained grants of lots in Oregon City, will be expected to call upon L. W. Hastings, my authorized agent at Oregon City, and obtain a bond for a deed or deeds, as the case may be. Those who hold claims to any lot, and who comply with the above requisite, on or before the first day of February next, will be entitled to their lot or lots; otherwise, the lots upon which they hold a claim will thereafter be subject to any disposition which the undersigned may think proper to make of them.
John McLaughlin.January 18, 1843.
Oregon City, March 27, 1843.
We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that the above notice of John McLaughlin was posted up in the most public places in this town.
R. Shortess.A. E. Wilson.
B.
Deed—John McLaughlin to Walter Pomeroy.
Know all men by these presents, that I, John McLaughlin, of Fort Vancouver, in the Territory of Oregon, for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar, to me in hand paid by Walter Pomeroy, of Oregon City, of the Territory aforesaid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have this day, and do, by these presents, remit, release, and forever quit claim unto the said Pomeroy, his heirs and assigns, all and singular, the following piece, parcel, and lot of land, bounded and described as follows, to wit: Commencing at the northeast corner, running thence southerly sixty-six feet to a stake, thence easterly one hundred feet to a stake at the place of beginning, being lot number four, in block number three, in the town of Oregon City, in the Territory ofOregon, which will more fully appear from a reference to the map and plan of said town:
To have and to hold the same, together with all and singular the privileges and appurtenances thereunto in any wise appertaining or belonging unto the said Pomeroy, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, forever.
And I, the said McLaughlin, for myself, do vouch and declare that I am the true and proper claimant of and to the said premises and lot of land, and that I have in myself full power, good right, and sufficient authority to remit, release, and quit my claim in and to said lot and premises, in manner and form aforesaid.
And I, the said McLaughlin, do hereby covenant and agree to warrant and defend the said premises, together with the privileges and appurtenances thereunto appertaining or belonging, to the said Pomeroy, his heirs and assigns, against all lawful claims of all persons whomsoever,the claims of the government only excepted.
In testimony whereof, I, the said McLaughlin, have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal, this the 2d of March,A. D.1843.
John McLaughlin.[L. S.]PerL. W. Hastings, his agent.
We, the undersigned, do hereby acknowledge that the above is a true and correct copy of the original.
R. Shortess.A. E. Wilson.
C.
Bond—John McLaughlin to Albert E. Wilson.
Know all men by these presents, that I, John McLaughlin, of Fort Vancouver, in the Territory of Oregon, am held and firmly bound unto Albert E. Wilson, of Oregon City, in the Territory aforesaid, in the full sum of five hundred dollars, federal money; for the punctual payment of which, well and truly to be made, I bind myself, my heirs, executors or administrators, firmly by these presents.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto below set my hand and affixed my seal, this the 26th day of December,A. D.1842.
Now, know ye, that the condition of the above obligation is such, that whereas the said Wilson hath this day, and doth by these presents, purchase of the said McLaughlin all and singular the following pieces, parcels, tracts, and lots of land, namely: Lots Nos. four and five, in block No. two, in the town of Oregon City, in the Territory of Oregon,as is more fully shown by the map and plan of said town, and hath, and by these presents doth agree to build upon and improve each of the lots within the term of one year from the date of these presents. In consideration of which, the said McLaughlin hath, and doth by these presents covenant and agree to make the said Wilson a good and sufficient quit-claim deed for and to all and singular the above-mentioned pieces, parcels, tracts, and lots of land, whenever he, the said Wilson, shall have complied with the above conditions on his part. Now, if the said McLaughlin shall well and truly make, or cause to be made, the said deed to the said Wilson, upon the said Wilson’s complying on his part with the above condition, then, and in such case, the within obligation shall become entirely void and of no effect; otherwise to be and remain of full force and virtue.
John McLaughlin.[L. S.]PerL. W. Hastings, his agent.
We, the undersigned, do hereby acknowledge the above to be a true and correct copy of the original.
R. Shortess.A. E. Wilson.
Our history would not be complete without these documents. It will be noticed in Mr. Pomeroy’s deed, as also all the other deeds given by Dr. McLaughlin, that he “warrants and defends” against all lawful claims of all persons whomsoever,the claims of the government only excepted. He would not insertUnited States government, for he expected the English would get the country. He asserts in his deeds, “And I, the said McLaughlin,for myself, do vouch and declare that I am the true and proper claimant of, and to the said premises and lot of land, and that I have in myself full power and good right.”
Any one questioning his power and authority was made to feel it in a manner more severe than that of any governor of a State or of the President of the United States.
It was unfortunate that, at the time Dr. McLaughlin was making his claim to the land and his improvements at Oregon City, it was not known that he had, or would, sever his connection with the Hudson’s Bay Company, and become an American citizen, as he afterward did. It was his connection with, and apparent control over, the affairs of the company, that created the strong American prejudice against him, and deceived many as to his intentions, besides giving occasion for a strong feeling in favor of Rev. Mr. Waller, who employed a Mr. John Ricord to prepare a declaration setting forth his claim to that location, as follows:—
“To the People of Oregon:“Fellow-Citizens,—Having been retained professionally to establish the claim of Mr. Alvin F. Waller to the tract of land on the east side of the Wallamet River, sometimes called the Wallamet Falls settlement, and sometimes Oregon City, I consider it a duty to my client and to the public to state, briefly and concisely, the several circumstances of his case, as they really exist, in order that his motives may not be impugned, nor his intentions misunderstood and misrepresented.“The public are already aware that my client commenced the occupancy of this farm in the spring ofA. D.1840, when no one resided at the falls, and that, in the course of that summer, he built his house, moved his family into it, and cleared and fenced a good portion of the land; from which, in the ensuing yearsA. D.1841 and 1842, he raised successive crops of corn, potatoes, and other vegetables usually cultivated by farmers. That he remained thus occupying undisturbed, until the month of December,A. D.1842, about two years and six months, when Dr. John McLaughlin caused his farm to be surveyed, for the purpose of selling it in subdivisions to American citizens. It has since been currently reported and quite generally believed that my client had renounced his right in favor of Dr. McLaughlin. This I am authorized to contradict, having perused the letter written by Mr. Waller, which not only contains no renunciation, but, on the contrary, is replete with modest and firm assertions of his rights in the premises; offering at the same time to relinquish his claim if the doctor would comply with certain very reasonable and just conditions. Upon this offer the parties had come to no final conclusion until my arrival in the colony, when Dr. McLaughlin attempted to employ me to establish his claim, disregarding the rights of all other persons, which I declined doing. Mr. Waller thereupon engaged me to submit the conditions a second time to the doctor for his acceptance or rejection, which I did in the following words:—“‘1st. That your pre-emptive line be so run as to exclude the island upon which a private company of citizens have already erected a grist-mill, conceding to them as much water as may be necessary for the use of said mills.“‘2d. That Mr. Waller be secured in the ultimate title to the two city lots now in his possession and other lots not exceeding in superficial area five acres, to be chosen by him from among the unsold lots of your present survey.“‘3d. That the Rev. Mr. Lee, on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, be, in like manner, secured in the lots claimed for the use ofsaid mission.’ They consist of church and parsonage lots, and are well known to the public.“I received a letter from Dr. McLaughlin, dated November 10, 1843, in answer to mine, in which he declines complying with the above conditions, and thus puts an end to the offer of my client to relinquish his right of pre-emption. Under these circumstances Mr. Waller has now applied to the Supreme Court of the United States, which, under the Constitution, has original jurisdiction of ‘all cases in law and equity, arising under treaties,’ to grant him a commission for perpetuating the testimony of the facts in his case,de bene esse, in order that whenever Congress shall hereafter see fit to prescribe, by law, the conditions and considerations, he may be enabled to demand of the United States a patent; also praying the court to grant him such other relief in the premises as may be consonant with equity and good conscience.“The legality of Mr. A. F. Waller’s claim rests upon the following grounds:—“1st. He was a citizen of the United States, of full age, and possessed of a family when he came to reside on the premises; 2d. He built a house upon them and moved his family into it, thus becoming in fact and in law a householder on the land; 3d. He cleared, fenced, and cultivated a portion of it during two years and six months before he was disturbed in his actual possession; and 4th. That he is not at this moment continuing to cultivate his farm is not his fault, since it was wrested from him.“The illegality of Dr. McLaughlin’s claim rests upon the following grounds:—“1st. He was a British subject owing allegiance to a foreign power, and has so continued to be ever since the spring ofA. D.1840. For this reason alone he could not acquire pre-emption to lands in the United States.“2d. He is chief officer of a foreign corporative monopoly. For this reason alone he could not acquire pre-emption to lands in the United States.“3d. He does not now, and never did, reside on the land in question; but, on the contrary, he resides, and has always continued to reside, on the north bank of the Columbia River, the section of country actually in dispute between the two governments, about twenty miles from the land claimed by Mr. Waller, and there he is obliged to remain so long as he continues to be chief factor.“4th. He is not in fact the claimant. The Hudson’s Bay Company, a foreign corporation, is in fact the claimant, while Dr. McLaughlin only lends his name; well knowing that a corporation, even though itbe an American one, can not acquire a pre-emption. This is evinced by the employment of men to be his agents, and to sell lots for him, who are at the same time partners in, and receiving dividends and salaries from, the company.“5th. The pretensions of Dr. McLaughlin arose, if at all, two years and six months after the actual settlement of Mr. Waller; and therefore they are in direct violation of the treaty ofA. D.1827, converting the mutual and joint occupation into an exclusive occupancy by British subjects.“6th. The treaty of joint occupation (1827) does not, and was never intended, on the part of the United States, to confer any rights of citizenship upon foreigners. The power to confer such rights is, by the Constitution, reserved to Congress. And the right to acquire title by pre-emption is peculiar to citizens.“These, fellow-citizens, are the facts and some of the points of law in my client’s case. Upon the same principle contended for by Dr. McLaughlin, any of you may incur the risk of being ousted from your farms in this colony, by the next rich foreigner who chooses to take a fancy so to do, unless in the first instance you come unanimously forward and resist these usurpations. It is not my client’s intention to wrong any who have purchased lots of the doctor; and to guard against the injury which might result to individuals in this respect, I have carefully drawn up the form of a bond for a warrantee deed, which Mr. Waller is at all times ready, without any further consideration, to execute to any person who has, in good faith, bought of the doctor, prior to the date of this notice, by being applied to at his residence. Mr. Waller does not require one cent of money to be paid to him as a consideration for his bonds—the trouble, expense, and outlays they have already incurred, with a desire to save all such persons harmless from pecuniary loss, is a good and sufficient consideration in law to bind him in the proposed penalty of one thousand dollars. (See Cowan’s Digest—Assumpsit, B).“I am of opinion that Mr. Waller has rights in the premises, which neither Dr. McLaughlin, nor even Congress, by any retrospective legislation, can take away from him,—and therefore, fellow-citizens, in sincere friendship, I would counsel you to lose no time in applying to him for your new bonds.“John Ricord,“Counselor in the Supreme Court of the United States,and attorney for Alvin F. Waller.“Dated December 20, 1843.”
“To the People of Oregon:
“Fellow-Citizens,—Having been retained professionally to establish the claim of Mr. Alvin F. Waller to the tract of land on the east side of the Wallamet River, sometimes called the Wallamet Falls settlement, and sometimes Oregon City, I consider it a duty to my client and to the public to state, briefly and concisely, the several circumstances of his case, as they really exist, in order that his motives may not be impugned, nor his intentions misunderstood and misrepresented.
“The public are already aware that my client commenced the occupancy of this farm in the spring ofA. D.1840, when no one resided at the falls, and that, in the course of that summer, he built his house, moved his family into it, and cleared and fenced a good portion of the land; from which, in the ensuing yearsA. D.1841 and 1842, he raised successive crops of corn, potatoes, and other vegetables usually cultivated by farmers. That he remained thus occupying undisturbed, until the month of December,A. D.1842, about two years and six months, when Dr. John McLaughlin caused his farm to be surveyed, for the purpose of selling it in subdivisions to American citizens. It has since been currently reported and quite generally believed that my client had renounced his right in favor of Dr. McLaughlin. This I am authorized to contradict, having perused the letter written by Mr. Waller, which not only contains no renunciation, but, on the contrary, is replete with modest and firm assertions of his rights in the premises; offering at the same time to relinquish his claim if the doctor would comply with certain very reasonable and just conditions. Upon this offer the parties had come to no final conclusion until my arrival in the colony, when Dr. McLaughlin attempted to employ me to establish his claim, disregarding the rights of all other persons, which I declined doing. Mr. Waller thereupon engaged me to submit the conditions a second time to the doctor for his acceptance or rejection, which I did in the following words:—
“‘1st. That your pre-emptive line be so run as to exclude the island upon which a private company of citizens have already erected a grist-mill, conceding to them as much water as may be necessary for the use of said mills.
“‘2d. That Mr. Waller be secured in the ultimate title to the two city lots now in his possession and other lots not exceeding in superficial area five acres, to be chosen by him from among the unsold lots of your present survey.
“‘3d. That the Rev. Mr. Lee, on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, be, in like manner, secured in the lots claimed for the use ofsaid mission.’ They consist of church and parsonage lots, and are well known to the public.
“I received a letter from Dr. McLaughlin, dated November 10, 1843, in answer to mine, in which he declines complying with the above conditions, and thus puts an end to the offer of my client to relinquish his right of pre-emption. Under these circumstances Mr. Waller has now applied to the Supreme Court of the United States, which, under the Constitution, has original jurisdiction of ‘all cases in law and equity, arising under treaties,’ to grant him a commission for perpetuating the testimony of the facts in his case,de bene esse, in order that whenever Congress shall hereafter see fit to prescribe, by law, the conditions and considerations, he may be enabled to demand of the United States a patent; also praying the court to grant him such other relief in the premises as may be consonant with equity and good conscience.
“The legality of Mr. A. F. Waller’s claim rests upon the following grounds:—
“1st. He was a citizen of the United States, of full age, and possessed of a family when he came to reside on the premises; 2d. He built a house upon them and moved his family into it, thus becoming in fact and in law a householder on the land; 3d. He cleared, fenced, and cultivated a portion of it during two years and six months before he was disturbed in his actual possession; and 4th. That he is not at this moment continuing to cultivate his farm is not his fault, since it was wrested from him.
“The illegality of Dr. McLaughlin’s claim rests upon the following grounds:—
“1st. He was a British subject owing allegiance to a foreign power, and has so continued to be ever since the spring ofA. D.1840. For this reason alone he could not acquire pre-emption to lands in the United States.
“2d. He is chief officer of a foreign corporative monopoly. For this reason alone he could not acquire pre-emption to lands in the United States.
“3d. He does not now, and never did, reside on the land in question; but, on the contrary, he resides, and has always continued to reside, on the north bank of the Columbia River, the section of country actually in dispute between the two governments, about twenty miles from the land claimed by Mr. Waller, and there he is obliged to remain so long as he continues to be chief factor.
“4th. He is not in fact the claimant. The Hudson’s Bay Company, a foreign corporation, is in fact the claimant, while Dr. McLaughlin only lends his name; well knowing that a corporation, even though itbe an American one, can not acquire a pre-emption. This is evinced by the employment of men to be his agents, and to sell lots for him, who are at the same time partners in, and receiving dividends and salaries from, the company.
“5th. The pretensions of Dr. McLaughlin arose, if at all, two years and six months after the actual settlement of Mr. Waller; and therefore they are in direct violation of the treaty ofA. D.1827, converting the mutual and joint occupation into an exclusive occupancy by British subjects.
“6th. The treaty of joint occupation (1827) does not, and was never intended, on the part of the United States, to confer any rights of citizenship upon foreigners. The power to confer such rights is, by the Constitution, reserved to Congress. And the right to acquire title by pre-emption is peculiar to citizens.
“These, fellow-citizens, are the facts and some of the points of law in my client’s case. Upon the same principle contended for by Dr. McLaughlin, any of you may incur the risk of being ousted from your farms in this colony, by the next rich foreigner who chooses to take a fancy so to do, unless in the first instance you come unanimously forward and resist these usurpations. It is not my client’s intention to wrong any who have purchased lots of the doctor; and to guard against the injury which might result to individuals in this respect, I have carefully drawn up the form of a bond for a warrantee deed, which Mr. Waller is at all times ready, without any further consideration, to execute to any person who has, in good faith, bought of the doctor, prior to the date of this notice, by being applied to at his residence. Mr. Waller does not require one cent of money to be paid to him as a consideration for his bonds—the trouble, expense, and outlays they have already incurred, with a desire to save all such persons harmless from pecuniary loss, is a good and sufficient consideration in law to bind him in the proposed penalty of one thousand dollars. (See Cowan’s Digest—Assumpsit, B).
“I am of opinion that Mr. Waller has rights in the premises, which neither Dr. McLaughlin, nor even Congress, by any retrospective legislation, can take away from him,—and therefore, fellow-citizens, in sincere friendship, I would counsel you to lose no time in applying to him for your new bonds.
“John Ricord,“Counselor in the Supreme Court of the United States,and attorney for Alvin F. Waller.
“Dated December 20, 1843.”
Extracts from Mr. Hines’ history.—Attempt to capture an Indian horse-thief.—Dr. McLaughlin refuses to sell supplies to the signers of the petition.—Excitement in the settlement.—Interview with Dr. McLaughlin at Vancouver.
Extracts from Mr. Hines’ history.—Attempt to capture an Indian horse-thief.—Dr. McLaughlin refuses to sell supplies to the signers of the petition.—Excitement in the settlement.—Interview with Dr. McLaughlin at Vancouver.
“April 14.—Information was brought to the settlement from the Clackamas tribe of Indians, who live three miles below the falls of the Wallamet, which served to increase the excitement occasioned by the reports from the interior. It appears that an Indian of the Molalla tribe, connected with the Clackamas Indians by marriage, stole a horse from a man by the name of Anderson, and when asked by the latter if he had stolen his horse and rode him off, answered, ‘Yes, I stole your horse, and when I want another one I shall steal him also.’ To this Anderson replied, ‘If you stole my horse you must pay me for him.’ ‘Yes,’ said the Indian, ‘I will pay you for him, take that horse,’ pointing to a very poor horse which stood near by, with one eye out, and a very sore back. Anderson replied, ‘That is a very poor horse, and mine is a good one; I shall not take him, and if you don’t bring him back I will report you to Dr. White.’ ‘I am not afraid of Dr. White,’ said the Indian; ‘let him come if he wants to, and bring the Boston people with him; he will find me prepared for him.’
“Anderson not being able to effect a settlement with the Indian, immediately reported him to the agent, whereupon the latter wrote to a man at the falls, by the name of Campbell, to take a sufficient number of men armed with muskets, and go very early in the morning to the Indian camp, and take the horse-thief a prisoner, and bring him to the falls.
“Accordingly, Campbell procured five men, and went to the camp as commanded, but found thirty or forty Indians painted in the most hideous manner, and armed with muskets, bows and arrows, tomahawks and scalping-knives, and determined at all events to protect the horse-thief, and drive back those that should come to take him. Campbell rushed on to take the rogue, but met with much resistance from superiority of numbers; and finding that the enterprise, if urged forward, would terminate in bloodshed, if not in the loss of all their lives, sounded a retreat, and extricating himself from the Indians, returned to the falls. He communicated the result of his attempt to Dr. White,and the doctor started off immediately in company with G. W. Le Breton, resolved to capture the thief and bring the tribe to terms.”
This day’s proceedings are given as a specimen of the foolish conduct of Dr. White and his friends.
“April 17.—The excitement still continues, former reports having been confirmed, and all were engaged in repairing guns, and securing ammunition. A report was in circulation that Dr. McLaughlin refused to grant supplies for any consideration, to all those persons who subscribed the memorial praying the Congress of the United States to extend jurisdiction over Oregon. If this be so, the American population (as nearly all signed the memorial) will not be able to obtain ammunition, however necessary it may be, as there is none in the country except what may by found within the stockades of Vancouver. I think, however, that the report is false. Report says, furthermore, that the Klikitat Indians are collecting together back of the Tualatin plains, but for what purpose is not known. The people on the plains, consisting of about thirty families, are quite alarmed. There is also a move among the Calapooyas. Shoefon, one of the principal men of the tribe, left this place a few days ago, and crossed the Wallamet River, declaring that he would never return until he came with a band of men to drive off the Boston people. He was very much offended because some of his people were seized and flogged, through the influence of Dr. White, for having stolen a horse from some of the missionaries, and flour from the mission mill. His influence is not very extensive among the Indians, or we might have much to fear.
“The colony is indeed in a most defenseless condition; two hundred Indians, divided into four bands, might destroy the whole settlement in one night.
“In the evening of the 17th, Dr. White arrived at my house, bringing intelligence from the falls. He and Mr. Le Breton attempted to go to the falls on horseback, but in trying to ford Haunchauke River, they found the water so deep they were obliged to swim, and the doctor turned his horse’s head and came out the side he went in; but Le Breton, being the better mounted of the two, succeeded in gaining the opposite shore; and having the doctor’s letters in his possession, continued on to the falls. The doctor returned to the settlement. Le Breton returned the following day, and brought information from the five men who had attempted to take the Indian who had stolen Anderson’s horse, that soon after their retreat the Indians became alarmed and broke up in great haste; but, before they left, they informed Anderson that the horse they had stolen from him was worn out and good for nothing, and tying a good horse to a tree near Anderson’s house, they told himthat he must take that and be satisfied. They then hurried away, saying that they should not be seen in that region again. It was ascertained that the Clackamas Indians had nothing to do with the stolen horse; that it was a band of the Molallas, the very same rascals that stole a horse from me two years before, and after having him in their possession several weeks, brought him down within a few miles of my house, where they encamped, and where I went with one man and took him from the midst of more than fifty grim-looking savages.”
This shows at least that Mr. Hines had personal courage.
“On the 20th of April a letter was received in the settlement, written by H. B. Brewer, at the Dalles, which brings the latest intelligence from the infected region. This letter states that the Indians in the interior talk much of war, and Mr. Brewer urges Dr. White to come up without delay, and endeavor to allay the excitement. He does not inform us that the Indians design any evil toward the whites, but says that the war is to be between themselves, but that the Boston people have much to fear. As the doctor, in his visit to the interior last October, left an appointment to meet the Wallawalla Indians and the Cayuses, in their own country, on the 10th of May, and believing that a great share of the excitement originated in a misunderstanding of the Indians, he came to the conclusion at all hazards to go among them. At the solicitation of the agent, I determined to accompany him on the expedition.
“The great complaint of the Indians was that the Boston people designed to take away their lands, and reduce them to slavery. This they had inferred from what Dr. White had told them in his previous visit; and this misunderstanding of the Indians had not only produced a great excitement among them, but had occasioned considerable trouble betwixt them and the missionaries and other whites in the upper country, as well as influencing them to threaten the destruction of all the American people. Individuals had come down from Fort Wallawalla to Vancouver, bringing information of the excited state of things among the Indians, and giving out that it would be extremely dangerous for Dr. White to go up to meet his engagements. Their opinion was, that in all probability he and the party which he might think proper to take with him would be cut off. But it was the opinion of many judicious persons in the settlement, that the welfare of the Indians, and the peace and security of the whites, demanded that some persons qualified to negotiate with the Indians should proceed immediately to the scene of disaffection, and if possible remove the cause of the excitement by correcting the error under which the Indians labored. Accordingly Dr. White engaged twelve men besides myself, mostly French-Canadians who had had much experience with Indians, to go with him; but a few days before the time fixed upon to start had arrived, they all sent him word that they had decided not to go. They were doubtless induced to pursue this course through the influence of Dr. McLaughlin and the Catholic priests.”
Most likely, Mr. Hines, but you seem to be afraid to express a decided opinion, even after they have accomplished their object.
“When the day arrived for starting, we found ourselves abandoned by every person who had engaged to go, except Mr. G. W. Le Breton, an American, one Indian boy, and one Kanaka. With the two latter the doctor and myself left the Wallamet settlement on the 25th of April, 1843, and proceeded on horseback to the Butte, where we found Le Breton in waiting for us. He had provided a canoe and a few pieces of pork and beef for our use on the voyage.
“Here we met a letter from Dr. John McLaughlin, at Vancouver, discouraging us from our undertaking in view of the difficulties and dangers attending such an expedition; but we had counted the cost, and were not to be diverted from our purpose, though danger stared us in the face. We supposed that if the Indians entertained any hostile intentions against the whites in general, there could be no better way to defeat their purposes than to go among them; convince them that they had no grounds of fear; and that the whites, instead of designing to bring them into subjection, were desirous of doing them good. Prevented by one thing and another from setting sail, on the night of the 27th we slept on a bank of sand at the Butte, and next day proceeded in our little canoe down to Wallamet Falls, where we continued until the 29th. Here we received another package from Dr. McLaughlin, giving us information that Rev. Mr. Demerse, a Catholic priest, had just come down from the upper country, bringing intelligence that the Indians are only incensed against the Boston people; that they have nothing against the French and King George people; they are not mad at them, but are determined that the Boston people shall not have their lands, and take away their liberties.
“On receiving this intelligence from Mr. Demerse, Dr. McLaughlin advised the Frenchmen, who had engaged to go with Dr. White, to have nothing to do with the quarrel, to remain quiet at home, and let the Americans take care of themselves. He also expressed, in his letter, the opinion that all the people should remain quiet, and in all probability the excitement among the Indians would soon subside.
“Not seeing sufficient reason to change our course, on the morning of the 28th we left our hospitable friends at the falls and continued our course down the Wallamet toward Vancouver. At noon we had sailedtwenty miles, and stopped for dinner within five miles of the mouth of the Wallamet, on a low piece of ground, overgrown with luxuriant grass, but which is always overflowed at the rise of the Columbia, or about the first of June. Weighed anchor after dinner, and at four o’clock,P. M., arrived at Vancouver. Called on Dr. McLaughlin for goods, provisions, powder, balls, etc., for our accommodation on our voyage up the Columbia, and, though he was greatly surprised that, under the circumstances, we should think of going among those excited Indians, yet he ordered his clerks to let us have whatever we wanted. However, we found it rather squally at the fort, not so much on account of our going among the Indians of the interior, as in consequence of a certain memorial having been sent to the United States Congress, implicating the conduct of Dr. McLaughlin and the Hudson’s Bay Company, and bearing the signature of seventy Americans. I inquired of the doctor if he had refused to grant supplies to those Americans who had signed that document; he replied that he had not, but that the authors of the memorial need expect no more favors from him.Not being one of the authors, but merely a signer of the petition, I did not come under the ban of the company; consequently I obtained my outfit for the expedition, though at first there were strong indications that I would be refused.
“We remained at the fort over night and a part of the next day, and after a close conversation with the gentleman in command, were treated with great courtesy.”
A combination of facts.—Settlers alive to their danger.—Mr. Hines’ disparagement of the Methodist Mission.—Indians want pay for being whipped.—Indian honesty.—Mr. Hines’ opinion of the Indians’ religion.—Mr. Geiger’s advice.—Dr. McLaughlin’s answer to Yellow Serpent.—Baptiste Doreo.—Four conflicting influences.
A combination of facts.—Settlers alive to their danger.—Mr. Hines’ disparagement of the Methodist Mission.—Indians want pay for being whipped.—Indian honesty.—Mr. Hines’ opinion of the Indians’ religion.—Mr. Geiger’s advice.—Dr. McLaughlin’s answer to Yellow Serpent.—Baptiste Doreo.—Four conflicting influences.
We now have before us a combination of facts and statements that no one living at the time they occurred will attempt to deny. Shortess and others still live to vouch for the truth of what is written. If Mr. Hines has shown the least partiality in his writings, it is strongly in favor of influences that were operating against him and the cause he advocated; while such men as Rogers, Le Breton, Wilson, Whitman, and others still living, spoke and acted the American sentiment of the country. Mr. Hines and Dr. White had received two packages from Dr. McLaughlin advising them not to go to the interior, and the Jesuit priest, Demerse, had come down bringing word that the “quarrel” was not with theFrenchandEnglish, and that Dr. McLaughlin advised his Frenchmen to remain at home and let the Americans take care of themselves. Mr. Brewer is deceived as to the cause of the war rumors about him, and seems solicitous only about the Indians. With all these facts, as given by Mr. Hines, with his ability and experience, we are at a loss to understand how it is that he could take notes and publish, in 1851, statements as above quoted, and then proceed with the account that follows, rather excusing Dr. McLaughlin and the priests in the part they are taking in attempting to crush the American settlement, and actually aiding the Hudson’s Bay Company in combining and marshaling the savages to weaken and destroy his countrymen!
The writer does not believe he intended to do any thing of the kind, yet the influences brought to bear upon him were such that he became an active instrument with Dr. White to accomplish the one great object of the Hudson’s Bay Company and English government, and becomes the apologist for a premeditated and deliberate murder of his countrymen. The Whitman massacre he does not even mention.
The settlers were alive to their danger. They had no head, no organization, no one to look to for supplies or protection. They knew that the sub-agent of the United States government was the dupe oftheir worst enemy, and had betrayed them. They knew that it was the policy and disposition of the missions to keep them under their control.
We are fully aware of the fact that the leading clergymen of all the missions attempt to deny the position above stated. But in the covenant of Mr. Griffin with Mr. Munger, he admits that the articles of compact and arrangement of the various missionary societies all affirm the one principle, that laymen or members of their societies were subject to the orders and dictation of the clergymen, not only in religious, but all financial and secular matters,—hence the disposition and determination on the part of these clerical gentlemen to govern the early settlement of the country. The Hudson’s Bay Company system of absolute government was favorable to this idea. The Jesuit priests, who combined their influence with the company, all contributed to oppress and keep down the settler. While the priests were active in combining and preparing the Indians in middle Oregon to rob and destroy the emigrant on his lonely, weary, toilsome way to this country, their agents and principal clerks were equally active in shaping matters in the various neighborhoods and settlements west of the Cascades.
On the 156th page of Mr. Hines’ book he gives us a short summary of the labors of Revs. Daniel Lee, H. K. W. Perkins, and Mr. H. B. Brewer: “They are laboring to establish a permanent mission at this place [the Dalles] for the benefit of the Indians, but with doubtful success.” That the Methodist Mission should be misled and become inefficient is not to be wondered at when such men as Mr. Hines, holding the position and assuming a controlling influence as he did, should express himself in the language quoted above. The “doubtful success” attending all the missionary labors of the Methodist Mission was unquestionably attributable to the opinions of just such men, privately and publicly expressed, with corresponding “doubtful” and divided labors, while the ignorance of the religious supporters of the Roman missions enabled them to deceive their neophytes and patrons, and keep up their own missions and destroy those of the Protestants.
Soon after Mr. Hines and party arrived at the Dalles, some twenty Indians assembled to have a talk with Dr. White, who had in his visit in the fall of 1842 prevailed upon this band to organize an Indian government by appointing one high chief and three subordinates to see that all violators of his rules were punished by being flogged for offenses that formerly were considered trifling and evidence of native cunning and smartness. As was to be expected, some of the Indians would resist and use their knives and weapons in their own defense.
There is an interesting incident related by Mr. Hines, in reference to Indian character, on his 157th page:—
“The Indians want pay for being whipped, in compliance with Dr. White’s laws, the same as they did for praying to please the missionaries, during the great Indian revival of 1839. Those appointed by Dr. White were desirous that his regulations should continue, because they placed the people under their absolute control, and gave them the power to regulate all their intercourse with the whites, and with the other Indian tribes. But the other influential men who were not in office desired to know of Dr. White of what benefit this whipping system was going to be to them. They said they were willing it should continue, provided they were to receive shirts and pants and blankets as a reward for being whipped. They had been whipped a good many times and had got nothing for it, and it had done them no good. If this state of things was to continue, it was allcultus, good for nothing, and they would throw it away. The doctor wished them to understand that they need not expect pay for being flogged when they deserved it. They laughed at the idea, and separated.”
“The Indians want pay for being whipped, in compliance with Dr. White’s laws, the same as they did for praying to please the missionaries, during the great Indian revival of 1839. Those appointed by Dr. White were desirous that his regulations should continue, because they placed the people under their absolute control, and gave them the power to regulate all their intercourse with the whites, and with the other Indian tribes. But the other influential men who were not in office desired to know of Dr. White of what benefit this whipping system was going to be to them. They said they were willing it should continue, provided they were to receive shirts and pants and blankets as a reward for being whipped. They had been whipped a good many times and had got nothing for it, and it had done them no good. If this state of things was to continue, it was allcultus, good for nothing, and they would throw it away. The doctor wished them to understand that they need not expect pay for being flogged when they deserved it. They laughed at the idea, and separated.”
Just here the writer will give one other incident, related of Yallop, an Indian belonging to the same tribe, as stated by Rev. Mr. Condon, of the Dalles:—
“Yallop was requested to remain at the house of Mr. Joslin during the absence of the family, one cold day, and see that nothing was disturbed, with the understanding that he was to go into the house and make himself comfortable till the family returned. On coming home they found the Indian outdoors under a tree, cold and nearly frozen. They inquired the reason of his strange conduct, and wanted to know why he did not stay in the house. Yallop said he went into the house and found every thing so nice and comfortable that by and by the old Indian came into him again and he wanted to steal all there was in the house, and the only way he could get over that feeling was to go out under the tree in the cold.”
“Yallop was requested to remain at the house of Mr. Joslin during the absence of the family, one cold day, and see that nothing was disturbed, with the understanding that he was to go into the house and make himself comfortable till the family returned. On coming home they found the Indian outdoors under a tree, cold and nearly frozen. They inquired the reason of his strange conduct, and wanted to know why he did not stay in the house. Yallop said he went into the house and found every thing so nice and comfortable that by and by the old Indian came into him again and he wanted to steal all there was in the house, and the only way he could get over that feeling was to go out under the tree in the cold.”
Mr. Hines, in speaking of this same band, says, 158th page: “As a matter of course, lying has much to do in their system of trade, and he is the best fellow who can tell the biggest lie, make men believe it, and practice the greatest deception. A few years ago a great religious excitement prevailed among these Indians, and nearly the whole tribe, consisting of a thousand, professed to be converted, were baptized, and received into the Christian church; but they have nearly all relapsed into their former state, with the exception that many of them still keep up the outward form of religion.
“Their religion appears to be more of the head than of the heart,and though they are exceedingly vicious, yet doubtless they would be much worse than they are, but for the”—(“doubtful success,” as Mr. Hines affirms on his 156th page, while here he says)—“restraining influencesexerted by the missionaries.”
“Their religion appears to be more of the head than of the heart,and though they are exceedingly vicious, yet doubtless they would be much worse than they are, but for the”—(“doubtful success,” as Mr. Hines affirms on his 156th page, while here he says)—“restraining influencesexerted by the missionaries.”
Mr. Hines has given us an interesting history of those early missionary labors, but the greater portion of his book relates to himself,—to his travels on shipboard, and at the Sandwich Islands, a trip to China and back to New York, and his trip to the interior of Oregon.
He says: “The Cayuse Indians, among whom this mission is established, had freely communicated to Mr. Geiger, whom they esteemed as their friend, all they knew concerning it. When the Indians were told that the Americans were designing to subjugate them and take away their land, the young chiefs of the Cayuse tribe were in favor of proceeding immediately to hostilities. They were for raising a large war party and rushing directly down to the Wallamet settlement and cutting off the inhabitants at a blow. They frequently remarked to Mr. Geiger that they did not wish to go to war, but if the Americans came to take away their lands and make slaves of them they would fight so long as they had a drop of blood to shed. They said they had received their information concerning the designs of the Americans from Baptiste Doreo, who is a half-breed son of Madame Doreo,—the heroine of Washington Irving’s ‘Astoria,’—understands the Nez Percé language well, and had given the Cayuses the information that had alarmed them. Mr. Geiger endeavored to induce them to prepare early in the spring to cultivate the ground as they did the year before, but they refused to do any thing, saying that Baptiste Doreo had told them that it would be of no consequence; that the Americans would come in the summer and kill them all off and destroy their plantations.
“After Doreo had told them this story, they sent a Wallawalla chief—Yellow Serpent—to Vancouver, to learn from Dr. McLaughlin the facts in the case.
“Yellow Serpent returned and told the Cayuses that Dr. McLaughlin said he had nothing to do in a war with the Indians; that he did not believe the Americans designed to attack them, and that if theAmericans did go to war with the Indians, the Hudson’s Bay Company would not assist them. After they got this information from the Emakus Myohut (big chief), the Indians became more calm. Many of them went to cultivating the ground as formerly, and a large number of little patches had been planted and sown before we arrived at the station.”
Mr. Hines soon learned that the reports about war that had reached the lower country were not without foundation. That the Indians stillhad confidence in Mr. Geiger, and that they did not wish to go to war. The reader will observe the statement of the Indians after they had told Mr. Geiger they would fight if forced to do so. “They,” the Indians, “said they had received their information concerning the designs of the Americans from Baptiste Doreo.” This half-breed is also an interpreter of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and an important leader among the half-breeds—next to Thomas McKay. After Doreo had told them his story, the Indians were still unwilling to commence a war against the Americans. They sent a messenger to Vancouver to consult Dr. McLaughlin, just as those same Indians in 1841 went to Mr. McKinley, then in charge of Fort Wallawalla, and wanted to know of him, if it was not good for them to drive Dr. Whitman and Mr. Gray away from that station because the Doctor refused to pay them for the land the mission occupied? Mr. McKinley understood their object, and was satisfied that there were outside influences that he did not approve of, and told the Indians, “Yes, you are braves; there is a number of you, and but two of them and two women and some little children; you can go and kill them or drive them away; you go just as quick as you can and do it; but if you do I will see that you are punished.” The Indians understood Mr. McKinley. Whitman and Gray were not disturbed after this.
Dr. John McLaughlin we believe to have been one of the noblest of men while he lived, but, like Messrs. Hines, White, Burnett, Newell, Spalding, and many others, influences were brought to bear upon him that led him to adopt and pursue a doubtful if not a crooked course. It was evident to any one conversant with the times of which we are writing that there were at least four elements or influences operating in the country, viz., the unasserted orquasirights of the American government; the coveted and actual occupancy of the country by the English Hudson’s Bay Company and subjects, having the active civil organization of that government; the occupancy of the country by the American missions; and the coveted occupancy of the same by the Roman Jesuit missions.
These four influences could not harmonize; there was no such thing as a union and co-operation. The struggle was severe to hold and gain the controlling influence over the natives of the country, and shape the settlements to these conflicting views and national and sectarian feelings. The American settler, gaining courage and following the example and the track of the American missionaries with their wives, winds his way over the mountains and through the desert and barren plains down the Columbia River and through the Cascade Mountains,—weary, way-worn, naked, and hungry. In one instance, with his rifle upon hisshoulder, and his wife and three children mounted upon the back of his last ox, he plods his weary way through Oregon City, and up the Wallamet, to find his future home; and there the warm heart of the early missionary and his family is ready to feed, clothe, and welcome the wanderer to this distant part of our great national domain, in order that he may aid in securing Oregon to its rightful inhabitants, and in forming a fifth power that shall supersede and drive away all foreign influences.
For a time the struggle with the four influences was severe and doubtful; but men who had crossed the Rocky and Cascade mountains with ox-teams, were not made to give up their country’s cause in the hour of danger, though Britain and Rome, with their savage allies, joined to subdue and drive them from it. With the British Hudson’s Bay Company, Roman Jesuit missions, savage Indians, American missions, and American settlers the struggle is continued.