Whitman's Oregon Tales

In 1843 Marcus Whitman, a missionary, started Oregon's mythology with his writings of the vast trains of wagons journeying to Oregon and settling in the lands beyond all "possibility of seizure by the British who are hiding in the underbrush" (his words)

It is said he went to President Tyler to procure vast numbers of immigrants to "march to the Northwest and toss the Redcoats into the Columbia River".  By that time the Oregon Trail had been well defined for almost 10 years and Oregon was safe from the British, if not from the Indians.

Although some legends credit Whitman with the settling of Oregon, both events are coincidental and not believed to be true.  In any case, Whitman was later murdered by Walla Walla Indians.