Oregon is Paradise

Oregon was some 2000 miles from Independence, Missouri, and although a few might dream of the United States stretching that far, it was too early for most citizens to think of a settled west.  As Congress stated, "Nature has fixed limits to our nation, she has kindly interposed as our western barrier mountains almost inaccessible.  This barrier our population can never pass."  So Britain felt secure in her Oregon Country possession.

Along came Hall Jackson Kelley, a Bostonian without any sense of humor, who imagined himself chosen by God to lead a great migration to Oregon.  In 1831, he organized an emigration society that wrote and published such statements as "Oregon is paradise on earth.  Oregon is America's right of discovery and Divine Providence, all British interlopers must be expelled."  In November of 1832, Kelley himself set off with a handful of followers for the West.

By the time Kelley reached Oregon two years later, (he went by way of New Orleans, Mexico City, and through California!) none of his original party remained - he had fired them all.  Kelley had met a trapper turned horse trader in California named Ewing Young and they picked up a band of reportedly horse thieves on the way to Oregon.

Word of his band's journey preceded them to Fort Vancouver, however, where John McLoughlin gave them a chilly welcome as he assumed the whole gang were criminals.  Kelley was in pretty bad shape on arrival so he was allowed to stay in a filthy hut until a ship took him back to New England in 1825.  The rest were sent to make do outside the camp.

Once back in Boston, Kelley spent the rest of his life bad-mouthing the Hudson Bay Company and McLoughlin, and petitioning Congress for reimbursements of his expenses - he failed.

Next time - the Seed is Planted
____________________________
Today in Pioneer History:  "On December 26, 1820, hoping to recover from bankruptcy with a bold scheme of colonization, Moses Austin meets with Spanish authorities in San Antonio to ask permission for 300 Anglo-American families to settle in Texas.