Trials on the Trail

From prosperous New Englanders and Midwestern families with sturdy well-provisioned wagons and ample livestock, to penniless frontiersmen who joined wagon trains as hired hands, to the young and restless who could not resist the lure of a far away adventure - the early Oregon trail blazers had much in common.  They were touchy and quarrelsome for one thing, had little knowledge  of wilderness survival or the hardships that lay before them.  They did have a sturdy determination to survive the brutal tests of the Oregon Trail.

They shared a common enemy - time.  Their traveling season was short and one week difference could be the death of them.  Before the prairie grasses were up in early May, it was time to leave Missouri where they had waited all the winter through.  Their livestock would not survive if they left later in the Spring.  The westernmost mountains had be to crossed before mid-October when the snows came.  They had five months to cover 2,000 miles at an average of 15-20 miles a day if the skies were sunny and clear and the rivers were not swollen from rains. 

The opening stretch to the Platte River through present day Kansas to Nebraska was usually an "easy" journey.  Following that, they went through what pioneers called "the mile wide and an inch deep" section along the Platte River.  The land got gradually higher, more broken and more arid. 

They marked their journey with landmarks like Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff on the way to Laramie where fresh supplies awaited them.  Independence Rock was the marker where the route left the Platte River and traveled across the Rockies at the South Pass.  Following the main route to Fort Bridger and then northwest to Fort Hall brought them to the Snake River Canyon at Farewell Bend.  Before crossing the Blue Mountains, the Grand Valley was a welcome respite before the mighty Columbia River awaited them.  Through the Willamette Valley the route diverged.  Here cautious travelers took jolting trails over the Cascades, or if they were risk takers, they built makeshift rafts and plunged down the Columbia.  Which would you have been?

Next time - Hazards Galore
_______________________________

Today in Pioneer History:  "On February 19, 1792, George Washington signs the United States Postal Act creating the United State Post Office.

Settling Oregon

Once in Oregon Country, Marcus Whitman and Rev. Spaulding settled deep in the interior on the advice of John McLaughlin, from Hudson Bay Company.  In 1840, Oregon's American population amounted to fewer that 200 people, all of them in Willamette Valley.  Their right to settle there came from the Anglo-American agreement of 1818, but there was no governing body.  There seemed little need for courts or legislature until 1841.

In 1842 a situation arose that changed the need for a legal course of action.  A young, successful cattle rancher named Ewing Young had become the wealthiest American in Willamette Valley.  He also died suddenly without a will.  The question became - who got his property? 

Jason Lee called upon American settlers to meet and create a court to devise a constitution and a legal code.  They were to meet again in 1843.  These first meetings would give Oregon settlers a political structure from which to seek United States annexation.

Back East, missionary reports got wide publicity.  Letters from settlers told of rich land, giving Midwest farmers hope that economic conditions could be better for them and their families.  The Rockies were no longer the barrier to the limit of migration west.  The concept of Manifest Destiny was born - that the republic had a divine mission to spread from coast to coast.

In the spring of 1841, the first wagon train of 69 pioneers set out.  Half arrived in Oregon, the other half in California, but neither arrived with wagons in tow.  The next year, 1842, a group of 100 pioneers traveled from Missouri to Oregon also abandoning their wagons and possessions.  Finally in 1843, Whitman was returning from a trip east and helped guide the first wagon train of almost 1000 pioneers to the Pacific Coast. They arrived with all their wagons and supplies. 
The Great Emigration was in full swing.  By 1850, over 44,000 pioneers had traveled the Oregon Trail.

Next time...Jesuits Among the Native Tribes
____________________________________
Today in Pioneer History:  "On January 24, 1848, Aamillwright named James Marshall discovers gold along the banks of Sutter’s Creek in California, forever changing the course of history in the American West.

The Great Reinforcement

Jason Lee's early attempts to recruit immigrants to Oregon County was strictly of a religious nature.  In early 1835 he wrote to the Methodist Board of Mission requesting recruits to aid in soul-saving.  Two years passed and a ship appeared at the mouth of the Columbia River with 13 men, women and children on board who were dispatched by the board in response to Lee's request.  One became Lee's wife in 1837 - the first Christian wedding ceremony to take place in Oregon.

The settlers were becoming anxious for the protection of the American flag.  In 1838, Lee traveled from Oregon overland to the East to get the settler's case before the US Congress, to find money, and also new recruits.  He failed of course to make Oregon a territory yet, but 50 people were willing (and eager) to travel west and establish themselves in Lee's area.

On October 9, 1839, these would-be "Oregonians" set sail from New York, arriving at the mouth of the Columbia River seven mouth later.  "The Great Reinforcement" as it became known, firmly established American presence in Oregon Country.  Jason Lee (religion), Nathaniel Wyeth (business), and Hall Jackson Kelley (expansionism) were the seeds to the development of America in the Pacific Northwest.

As a side note- here is a description of a neighbor of Jason Lee, building a home.  They start by living in a tent...

"The rainy season is fast approaching and a house to shelter is needed.  Our house advances slowly - caught in a violent storm drenching our tent, a poor protection.  In a few weeks, all the time hard at it, and the roof was completed, a good chimney, made of sticks and clay, a fireplace at one end.  Floors laid of plank split from the fir, and hewn on the upper side, door procured in the same way and hung on wooden hinges.  Then table, stools, and finally the luxury of chairs added to our self-made comforts.  Our mansion was built of logs 20-30 feet and lighted by four small windows.  The sashes partly made by Mr. Jason Lee with his jack-knife." 

Next time - Thomas Nuttall - Science Explorer
____________________________
On this Day in Pioneer History: "On January 5, 1846,  the U.S. House of Representatives passes a resolution calling for an end to British-American sharing of the Oregon region. The United States, one congressman asserted, had “the right of our manifest destiny to spread over our whole continent.”

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
__________________________
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

19th Century Pharisees

September 13, 1840  Joel Walker arrives in Willamette Valley where they intended to set up land.  With all safely
through the mountains, they were in good spirits.  The first settlement was a Methodist mission where they were denied dinner because it was the Sabbath, but they were invited to evening prayer for a "spiritual meal".

I am going to get personal here for a moment...this makes me,  a Methodist, wonder if they had read the story of healing on the Sabbath, let alone feeding the hungry.  What good is religion if we refuse to practice it by helping others - Pharisees alive in the 19th century Oregon indeed!

Joel Walker later said, "the Methodist mission was not much liked". Well duh!  No wonder Protestants were not popular with fur men and early settlers.  In the same Methodist camp, Reverend Asahel Munger, determined to work miracles for the edification of the Indians, nailed his hand to a fireplace mantel and proceeded to roast to death on the mission hearth.  How that helped represent religion to the Native Americans is beyond me...more of how stupid white men could be!

Next time ...Restless but Successful Joel.