Jesuits Among the Indians

In the spring of 1841, six black-robed Jesuits left Westport, Missouri, with a westbound fur caravan.  The leader was a burly Belgian-born, Pierre de Smet.  He had spent a year in the Rockies and was returning by invitation from the Flathead Indians to establish a mission.  The first mission in Bitterroot Valley was a success from the start.  The Indians were eager students.

When they set off on their late fall buffalo hunt, the Flathead wanted a "Black Robe" to accompany them to continue religious instruction.  Father Nicholas Point was chosen and for five months he stayed with them on the trail in winter camp, living their life and sharing their hardship.  Point, an artist of sorts, kept a pictorial record of his experiences.  In all, he spent six years with the Flathead, making numerous converts.  Point regarded them as "modest, frank, courageous, good and generous."

Jovial De Smet had equal success, and by 1847 there were three Jesuit missions in Oregon Country.  The Jesuit success, contrasted sharply with that of the Protestants.  It might have been the colorful Catholic symbolism that appealed to the Indians, or it may have been that the Jesuits were better trained.  They were not there to colonize, so were more sympathetic to the people.  Whatever the reason De Smet and his Jesuit priests were a welcome addition to the Oregon Flathead for a time.

Next time...America's First Mobile Home
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson becomes the first American president to experience an assassination attempt. Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol building and shot at him, but his gun misfired. A furious 67-year-old Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his walking cane.

Fever for Oregon

Jason Lee as we have seen was establishing the Willamette Valley.  Other men of God were turning their eyes to Oregon as well, among them a young physician from New York, Marcus Whitman.  In 1834 he petitioned the Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions to finance his trip to Oregon as a doctor and teacher.  They proposed that 55 year old Rev. Samuel Parker, who had volunteered for missionary service earlier,  accompany Whitman to determine if Oregon was suitable for God's work.

Whitman and Parker set out with a pack train heading for the fur trapper's yearly rendezvous in the Rockies.  The Rev. Parker was not given a warm welcome among the rowdy trappers, but Whitman gained a somewhat grudging respect when he removed an arrowhead from the back of Jim Bridger.  Whitman told Bridger that was surprising that no infection had been found in his back, Bridger replied, "Meat don't spoil in the Rockies!"

Whitman and Parker parted company after the Rendezvous.  Whitman went back east, where he was determined, despite his ignorance of Oregon Country, to convince his eastern superiors that new missions were desperately needed and that women and wagons could easily travel the long, dangerous route over the mountains to the Pacific Northwest.

While back East, Whitman married Narcissa Prentiss who shared his religious dedication and in 1836, the two set out again for Oregon, this time accompanied by the dour and difficult Rev. Henry Spaulding and his wife.  Narcissa proved to be an able and tough pioneer through the difficult journey. 

For a time, the party was joined by Hudson Bay trappers who were headed for Fort Vancouver, but the lack of fresh meat, difficult terrain, and Whitman's unyielding determination caused considerable grief.  Eventually they abandoned the wagons and made the trip by horseback.  Whitman was still convinced that with a large party, willing to put forth the effort, could bring wagons over the Oregon Trail. 

Next time...Settling in Oregon
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Today in Pioneer History: "On January 19,  1883,  heavy fog in the North Sea causes the collision of two steamers and the death of 357 people on this day in 1883.The Cimbria  collided with The Sultan.

Heeding the Call

Leading Wyeth's missionary call was 30 year old Jason Lee and his nephew Daniel, both clergymen, along with three layman.  They were charged by the Methodist Board of Missions with locating the supposedly brutal Flatheads who were assumed to flatten their infants foreheads. The Board ordered Lee and company to "live with them, learn their language, preach Christ and introduce schools, agriculture, and the art of cultural life."

The problem was John McLoughlin of the Hudson Bay Company (remember him?) wanted no American missionaries in the interior because Indian resentment might disrupt the beaver trade.  He didn't think he could protect white settlers in remote mountain valleys either.  He sent Lee to the Willamette Valley instead where there were already whites - and maybe a few Indians needing salvation too?

Once settled in Willamette Valley, Lee established a mission school near Salem, Oregon today.  It was a perfect spot for an American colony in Lee's eyes.  He decided his vision was more earthly with the superb soil, moderate climate and trade routes easily accessible.  Hall Jackson Kelley's hopes were reborn in Jason Lee...

Next time...The Great Reinforcement
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Today in Pioneer History: "On January 2, 1890 President Harrison welcomes the first female staffer to the White House, Alice Sanger. Alice Sanger’s appointment may have been an olive branch to the growing women’s suffrage movement that had gathered momentum during Harrison’s presidency

A Seed is Planted

Hall Jackson Kelley's propaganda had planted a seed in the American mind that would eventually blossom into the great western migration of the 1800s.  The seed took root in the mind of Nathaniel Wyeth of Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Wyeth was in the ice business and one of Kelley's earliest supporters.  A young man of energy and determination, he though he might reap a fortune in the vast Oregon wilderness.

By 1831, Wyeth had formed a stock company with 30 others who shared his vision. He gathered a group of men for the expedition to Oregon Country across land, while a supply ship would sail around Cape Horn and meet them on the Pacific Coast.  No specific purpose for the venture was outlined, but they intended to find "opportunities."

In the spring of 1832, Wyeth's party of 24, reached Independence, Missouri.  In October they arrived at Fort Vancouver - the first party of westbound Americans to travel what would become known as "the Oregon Trail".

The news upon arrival was not good.  The supply ship was lost.  The rest of Wyeth's party, dissolved the stock firm and most of them went back home to Massachusetts and were never heard from again.  One man, John Bell, decided to remain in the Oregon Country to teach Indian wives and children of French Canadian trappers.  Two other men, Solomon Smith and Charles Tibbets became farmers in the Willamette Valley, joining a small group of retired Hudson Bay employees. These men were the first American "residents" in Oregon Country.

Wyeth, meanwhile, still dreamed of wealth.  He organized a second expedition which also ended in failure, but it bore fruit.  Several missionaries who were with Wyeth in 1834, believed they were answering a call, not only from God, but from the Indians themselves.

The story goes...back in 1831, three Nez Perce and one Flathead Indian had accompanied a fur caravan to St. Louis.  People had never seen Indians like these before and it created quite a stir.  Rumors started that the Indians had come to recruit missionaries for the salvation of their people's souls.  It was published in the national Methodist magazine and read from 100s of pulpits, generating 1000s of dollars for missions to the Northwest to save Indian souls!

Next time - Jason Lee hears the call
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Today in Pioneer History:  On December 30, 1853, for the price of $15 million, later reduced to $10 million, the United States acquired approximately 30,000 square miles of land in what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona thereby establishing the southern US boundary.

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
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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.

Who Owns Oregon?

Way back in 1791, Yankee "sea peddler" Robert Gray, master of the merchant vessel Columbia, sailed into Nootka Sound in Oregon Territory while pursuing the rich fur trade with China.  Gray was looking for a mighty river of which the Indians had spoken.  On May 11, 1792, Gray crossed the estuary and traveled 30 miles upstream on the river he named for his ship, the Columbia River.  He was the first white man to explore Oregon's interior and claim the entire region for America.

British claims date back to Captain Cook's 1778 voyage along the northwest coast.  He too, sailed into Nootka Sound.  The Nootka Sound Treaty of 1790 recognized Britain's claim to Oregon by Spain.  The British representative, John McLoughlin served from 1824 to 1846 as the chief factor of the Hudson Bay Company in the region stretching from the Alaska border to California and east to the Rockies.  McLoughlin's actual responsibility to the Crown was to discourage American competition and settlement in the region. 

The problem was McLoughlin knew the Americans had as much right to Oregon as anyone else.  In 1818, the entire region was to be jointly occupied by both the Americans and British.  McLoughlin's hospitality allowed travelers seeking help to use Fort Vancouver.  By 1864 the British were ready to concede American ownership of the region between the Columbia River and the Californian border but not above the 49th parallel.  That, they stated could be claimed only by war.  Washington Territory was not for sale!

Next time - Closer look at the men who opened up the Pacific Northwest
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Today in Pioneer History:  On December 8, 1894, humorist James Thurber is born in Columbus, Ohio.  His works include The Owl in the Attic (1931), The Seal in the Bedroom (1932), and My Life and Hard Times (1933). His short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” published in The New Yorker in 1939, became one of his best-known works.

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.

Daily Free Lunch in Portland

Erickman Lumberman's Restaurant in 1880s on Portland's Skid Road measured 684 linear feet.  Beer was a full 16 ounces.  Bouncers weighed 300 pounds.and their "Free Lunch" was the most celebrated in the West.
Called the "Dainty Lunch Special", it consisted of a sandwich with 1 1/2" thick bread, 1/4 pound of roast steer, and Scandinavian cheese.

The lunch was only available to working stiffs, timber men, railroaders, and riverbed men.  No politics or religious talk was allowed at Erickman's. Try to get that Free anywhere today :)