and J. W. Neswith orderly sergeant. Nine councilmen were elected to settle disputed questions. It contained a large number of representative men, chiefly from the Western states of the Mississippi valley, with their wives. and children, and were men worthy to take the active part which they subsequently did in laying the foundations of the Empire states of the Pacific coast. To those of us who crossed the plains at an early day the principal features of the journey will never be forgotten. The slow and firesome march, day after day, through the hot summer months, the wearisome watch by night, when, from the Missouri border to the Willamette valley, a guard was constantly required to prevent or repel the sudden attack of the ever-present savages, are incidents of travel which will always be remembered. Yet there were pleasant characteristics which served to relieve the monotony of the otherwise tedious journey. Friendships were formed that lasted through life. Occasionally hunting and fishing parties gave zest to the journey and added to the failing supply of provisions. More than one emigrant to Oregon had his birthplace in a tent by the roadside as his parents made the trip across the plains. Marriages were occasionally solemnized during the trip. Sunday was often observed as a day of rest, when the emigrants collected in some appropriate place and religious services were conducted by some of the ministers who accompanied the caravan, Prior

to this year it had been the custom of emigrants to leave their wagons, first at Fort Laramie and afterward at Fort Hall. Encouraged, however, by Dr. Whitman, who traveled with them and who had been over the road before, they ventured, under his guidance and direction, to take their wagons through from Fort Hall to the Columbia river. This was by far the most difficult part of the journey, the intervening country consisting of dry and arid sage brush plains or ranges of high mountains. However, the most active and enterprising men in the train went forward to clear the way, their wives and sons meantime driving their teams. Forty men in five days cleared and opened a road over the Blue mountains. On the 5th of October a severe snow storm was experienced in those mountains, but on the 10th the train was encamped within three miles of the Whitman mission on the Walla Walla river. Following at some distance in the rear of these immigrants, and traveling from Fort Hall to the Columbia river, over roads which they had made under the direction of Dr. Whitman, came John C. Fremont and a party of men who were traveling in government wagons, equipped and furnished at government expense. Yet for these and similar achievements, Fremont subsequently acquired a world wide reputation as the greatest "path finder" of modern times. After resting a few days at the mission the immigrants continued. their journey down the Columbia

river, partly by land and partly by water, most of them being brought down from the Dalles in the boats of the Hudson Bay Company, by the kindness of Dr. McLaughlin, and after suffering great hardship and privation they arrived at Vancouver in the latter part of November. The cattle were driven into the Willamette valley by a trail around the base of Mount Hood. In the meantime the settlers in the Willamette valley had organized a provisional government, and had put in motion the machinery to protect and help themselves, if the United States government would do nothing for them. The large immigration of 1843, with its many men of ability and character, proved a strong reinforcement for the American settlement. The immigration of 1844 brought another strong addition of about 800 people to the American population, of whom 234 were able-bodied men. The immigration of 1845 was much larger, consisting of about 3,000 persons, by which the white population of Oregon was doubled.

The immigrants of this year were Iowa, and were the largely from means, or the occasion, of introducing the statutes of that state into the territory, and until 1854 Iowa law was substantially the law of Oregon. The immigration of 1846 consisted of about 2,000 souls, bringing with them 470 wagons and 1,050 cattle. On their arrival at Fort Hall about one-half of

these immigrants took the California route, among whom were the Donner

party, whose sufferings while crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains were of the most frightful character. Crossing the plains myself, in the year 1854, and traveling to California by this route, I have vivid recollections of the astonishment I felt when told that certain stumps of trees, forty and fifty feet high, were left by the Donner party, who were trying to make their way over snow of that depth across those mountains.

Numerous attempts were made in those days by parties of men, with wives and children, who undertook to find new routes and passes through the mountains on their way to Oregon and California, and to this day their bleaching bones with remnants of wagons, etc., are occasionally found, showing that those attempts often resulted in failure and the death of the whole party by starvation or by the hands of murderous savages. The immigration of 1847 numbered about. 5,000 souls, of whom two-thirds came to Oregon and one-third went to California, which was already beginning to attract much attention. In 1848 about 800 people with 160 wagons. arrived in Oregon. Each succeeding year brought large additions to the Pacific coast, but meanwhile Oregon territory had been saved to the American Union by the courage and perseverance, and by the loyalty and patriotism of the pioneers of Oregon, and the acts of those pioneers were simply ratified, accepted and confirmed by the Congress of the United States on the 14th of August, 1848.

INDIAN TROUBLES-THE WHITMAN MASSACRE.

During these years very important events were taking place in the Willamette valley. The provisional government, organized in 1843, was amended in 1845, to meet more effectually the wants of the rapidly increasing population. George Abernethy, who came to the country as steward of the Willamette mission, was chosen governor annually for the next four years, and a "house of representatives was substituted for the legislative committee created in 1843, but time does not permit further reference to the history of this government in detail, however interesting it might be. As early as 1843 the Indians on both sides of the Cascade mountains began to manifest a troublesome and hostile disposition. Reports were circulated -designedly or otherwise-that the principal object of the Americansmissionaries as well as of the independent settlers-was to dispossess the Indians of their lands without compensation. The return, in the latter part of that year, of Dr. Whitman at the head of about 900 immigrants, only served to strengthen their suspicions and make them more sullen and warlike. Here, again, we come upon another unfortunate result of the criminal apathy and neglect with which Oregon settlers and Oregon interests were treated by the United States government. Had this government asserted its authority over the Oregon territory, and taken proper or appropriate, or even any measures whatever, to ac

quire the title of the Indians to such portion of their lands at least as the white settlers desired, much ill-feeling would have been prevented, and very many valuable lives that could not well be spared at the time would have been saved to the country.

During the fourteen years following the year 1844, even when a state of actual war did not exist, there was a feeling of constant dissatisfaction, unrest and hostility, growing chiefly and very naturally out of the fact that their lands were gradually being taken from them without compensation. During that time not less than 1,500 of the very best men in Oregon and Washington were slain in battle with the Indians, or were massacred in cold blood, murdered by unseen enemies hidden in ambush or in the other peculiar methods of Indian warfare. How many men were killed in this manner it is now impossible to ascertain, in addition to those whose names are recorded. The large immigration of 1843, followed by immigrants in great numbers, year after year, led the Indians to believe that they must in the end be overwhelmed by the force of numbers, if by nothing else. It is true that for many years most of those immigrants located in the Willamette valley, but it was manifest that sooner or later the whole country would be overrun by these Boston" men. Therefore, it was all important that the government should settle the land question with the Indians, for no one else had the power or authority to do

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so, and to neglect or even to postpone it was simply to arouse the hostility of the Indian tribes, and leave the sparsely settled communities of Americans at their mercy. Unquestionably a large responsibility rests upon the authorities in Washington who refused to listen to the repeated and emphatic memorials of these settlers asking of the government that aid and protection to which they were entitled as American citizens. Unfortunately also in 1843 the immigrants coming into the Walla Walla valley brought with them the measles, which the Indians contracted and soon after the disease assumed a violent and fatal form, so that many Indians as well as whites died from its effects. Dr. Whitman being a medical man, prescribed for many Indians, but in spite of his care and attention many of them died of the prevailing disease. Among the Indians it is not unusual to hold their "medicine men" responsible for the recovery of patients for whom they prescribe, and in the hostile temper of the Indians it was not difficult to excite them to acts of lawlessness and outrage. Many acts of robbery were committed on the property of incoming immigrants, and an occasional murder, but on the 29th of November, 1847, the entire territory was shocked as well as alarmed by the barbarous massacre of Dr. Marcus Whitman, his wife, Mrs. Narcissa Whitman, a most estimable and accomplished woman, who had devoted her life to the education and improvement of the Indians; John Sager,

Francis Sager, Crockett Bewley and Messrs. Rogers, Kimball, Sales, Marsh, Saunders, James Young, jr., Mr. Hoffman and Isaac Gillen.

The news of the massacre very soon reached the Willamette valley, where the legislature of the provisional government was then in session. Volunteers were immediately called for, and the members of the provisional government pledged their individual credit to the chief factor of the Hudson Bay Company at Vancouver, for a supply of arms and ammunition. Subscriptions and enlistments were freely offered by the citizens, and a regiment of fourteen companies was speedily raised and equipped for the purpose of protecting the settlements and chastising the Indians. Men upon the frontier have always responded prompfly to the call of duty when danger threatened the country, but it speaks volumes in behalf of the pioneers of Oregon, that they should have been willing to leave their homes, which were in greater or less danger, to furnish their own equipments, horses, etc., without the hope or prospect of pay or reward, inspired only by a patriotic regard for the interests and welfare of their country. The regiment thus raised was placed in command of Colonel Cornelius Gilliam, who was accidently killed during the campaign which followed. The command pushed forward and reached the mission before March 4, 1848. Several battles and skirmishes with Indians on the John Day, the Walla Walla, the Touchet and the Snake rivers followed,

when the enemy took refuge in the mountains, and in the spring of 1850, the ringleaders in the Whitman massacre were delivered up at Oregon City, where they were tried, condemned and executed on June 3, 1850. Thus ended the first Indian war, although feelings of bitterness and hostility continued amongst the Indians, which broke out into actual war in 1853 and the following years.

THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.

One of the most important events on the Pacific coast at that time, and when its future consequences are considered, was the discovery of gold in California on the 19th of January, 1848, by I. W. Marshall, an Oregon pioneer, who came out to that territory in 1844, and went to California in 1845. This discovery stimulated emigration to the Pacific coast in an astonishing degree, and whilst many immigrants continued. to arrive in Oregon, by far the larger part of the immigration came direct to California. At the same time many men went from Oregon and Washington territories to the gold mines, which were not only immensely profitable to the miners themselves, but which were

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largely conducive to the wealth and prosperity of those territories by creating a market for flour, vegetables, beef, bacon and food products of all kinds. Before the introducing of gold from California the currency of Oregon consisted chiefly of wheat, cattle, furs, rails and shingles. News in those days. traveled slowly. Seven months were consumed in carrying the news of the discovery of gold from California to Oregon. That discovery increased and hastened communication between the States and the Pacific coast, especially by the Isthmus of Panama. From six weeks to two months were usually required to convey letters either way. Letter postage was then forty cents, instead of two. Since 1849 the career of Oregon has been one of continued prosperity. In that year Abraham Lincoln was offered the appointment of governor of that territory to succeed General Lane, but the offer was declined, and Major John P. Gains was appointed. On the 12th day of February, 1859, Oregon was finally admitted as one of

the States of the American Union.

W. F. PROSSER,