A History of Oregon, 1792-1849

It is a most singular fact, that while Mr. Greenhow was writing the above high commendation of the conduct and policy of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in relation to their treatment of Indians and missionaries under their absolute control, that that company were driving from their posts at Moose Factory and Vancouver, their own Wesleyan and Episcopal missionaries, and doing all they could to prevent the settlement or civilization of the Indians, or allowing any missionary intercourse with them, except by foreign Roman Jesuits, and were actually combining the Indians in Oregon to destroy and defeat civil and Christian efforts among the Indians and American settlements then being established in the country. Page 390, Mr. Greenhow further says: “The course pursued by the Hudson’s Bay Company, with regard to American citizens in the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, was equally unexceptionable and politic. The missionaries and immigrants from the United States, or from whatever country they might come, were received at the establishments of the company with the utmost kindness, and were aided in the prosecution of their respective objects, so far and so long as those objects were not commercial; but no sooner did any person, unconnected with the company, attempt to hunt, or trap, or trade with the Indians, than all the force of the body was turned against him.”

The statement in the last part of the foregoing paragraph can be attested by more than one hundred American hunters and traders, who have felt the full force of that company’s influence against them; as also by missionaries and settlers on first arriving in the country. But Mr. Greenhow says: “There is no evidence or reason to believe that violent measures were ever employed, either directly or indirectly, for this purpose; nor would such means have been needed while the company enjoyed advantages over all competitors, such as are afforded by its wealth, its organization, and the skill and knowledge of the country, and of the natives, possessed by its agents.” This is simply an assertion of Mr. Greenhow, which our future pages will correct in the mind of any who have received it as truth. It is unnecessary to pursue Mr. Greenhow’s history of the Hudson’s Bay Company respecting their treatment of American or English missionaries or American settlers; the statements we have quoted show fully his want of a correct knowledge of the practices of that company in dealing with savage and civilized men. We only claim for ourselves close observation and deeply interested participation in all that relates to Oregon since 1832, having been permitted to be present at the forming of its early civil settlement and political history. This work of Mr. Greenhow’s appears to be peculiarly political as well as strongly national, and in the passages we have quoted, with many other similar ones, he seems to us to have written to catch the patronage of this foreign English corporation, which, according to his own showing, has been an incubus upon the English, and, so far as possible, the Americans also. While he shows his utter ignorance of their internal policy and history, his researches in the history of the early discoveries on this western coast are ample And most useful as vindicating our American claim to the country. But as to its settlement and civilization, or its early moral or political history, as he says of Mr. Samuel Parker, “in all of which he is evidently a stranger.”

Our reasons for giving the extracts from Mr. Greenhow’s work are —

1st. That the reader may the better understand what follows as our own.

2d. To avoid a future collision or controversy respecting statements that may be quoted from him to contradict or controvert our own, respecting the policy and practices of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which, Mr. Greenhow says, page 391, “did no more than they were entitled to do. If the Americans neglected or were unable to avail themselves of the benefits secured to both nations by the convention, the fault or the misfortune was their own, and they had no right to complain.” If this is true, as against the American, what right has the Hudson’s Bay Company to complain and ask pay for what had been rendered worthless to them by the American settlement of the country?

“The hospitable treatment extended to them [American citizens] by the agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company was doubtless approved by the directors of that body; and all who know Messrs. McLaughlin and Douglas, the principal managers of the affairs of that body on the Columbia, unite in testifying that the humanity and generosity of those gentlemen have been always carried as far as their duties would permit. That their conduct does not, however, meet with universal approbation among the servants of the company in that quarter, sufficient evidence may be cited to prove.” He quotes John Dunn’s book, chap. 12.

Mr. Greenhow wrote his history with the light then existing, i. e., in 1844. About that time Dr. McLaughlin was called to an account by the directors of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in London. He explained to them his position, and the condition of the Americans, who came to this country both naked and hungry, and that, as a man of common humanity, he could do no less than he did. The directors insisted upon the enforcement of their stringent rule, which was, to starve and drive every American from the country. He then told them: “If such is your order, gentlemen, I will serve you no longer.” As to Mr. Douglas, we have no such noble sentiment to record in his behalf; he belonged to that English party called by Mr. Greenhow “Patriots.” He says: “There were two parties among the British in Oregon, the Patriots and the Liberals, who, while they agreed in holding all Americans in utter detestation, as knaves and ruffians, yet differed as to the propriety of the course pursued with regard to them by the company. The Patriots maintained, that kindness showed to the people of the United States was thrown away, and would be badly requited; that it was merely nurturing a race of men, who would soon rise from their weak and humble position, as grateful acknowledgers of favors, to the bold attitude of questioners of the authority of Great Britain, and her right, even to Vancouver itself; that if any attempts were made for the conversion of the natives to Christianity, and to the adoption of more humanized institutions (which they limited to British institutions), a solid and permanent foundation should be laid; and for that purpose, if missionaries were to be introduced, they should come within the direct control of the dominant power, that is, the British power, and should be the countrymen of those who actually occupied Oregon, etc. The Liberals, while admitting all that was said on the other side, of the character of the Americans, nevertheless charitably opined that those people should not be excluded, as they possessed some claim, ‘feeble, but yet existing,’ to the country, and until ‘these were quashed or confirmed, it would be unjust and impolite’ to prevent them from all possession; that these missionaries, though bad, were better than none; and that good would grow out of evil in the end, for the Americans, by their intercourse with the British, would become more humanized, tolerant, and honest.”

As most of the above sentiment relative to the two English parties in the country appears to be quoted by Mr. Greenhow from some author, it would be interesting to know who he is; still, the fact is all that is essential to know, and we have reason to believe and know that the sentiments expressed were entertained by the controlling authority of the company in London and in Oregon; and that Messrs. Douglas and Ogden, and the Roman priests under their patronage, acted fully up to them as Roman and British Jesuits, there is no question; and under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the immigration from the United States in 1843, ’44, and ’45, should increase that feeling of hostility and hatred of the American settlement and civilization in the country.

We do not propose at present to speak of the action of the American Congress relative to Oregon, but, as will be seen, to connect and bring into our own history such allusions of Mr. Greenhow as serve to illustrate and prove the several propositions we have stated respecting the early history of its settlement, and also to prepare the reader to understand in a manner the combined influences that were ready to contest any claim or effort any American company or citizen might make for the future occupation of the country.

It will be seen that no company of settlers or traders could have succeeded, having arrived in advance of the American missionaries. They were unquestionably the only nucleus around which a permanent settlement could have been formed, eleven different American fur companies having commenced and failed, as will be shown; and although Mr. Greenhow seems to regard and treat the American missionary effort with contempt, yet impartial history will place them in the foreground, and award to them an honorable place in counteracting foreign influences and saving the country to its rightful owners.

It will be seen by the preliminary and following remarks and narrative of events, and by a careful study of all the histories and journals to which we have had occasion to refer, or from which we have quoted a statement, that the forming, civilizing, and political period in our Oregon history is all a blank, except that the Hudson’s Bay Company were the patron saints, the noble and generous preservers of the “knaves” and “ruffians” that came to this country to rob them of their pious and humane labors to civilize their accomplished native “concubines.” That, according to their ideas, the missionaries, such as came from the United States, “though bad,” could become “humanized, tolerant,” and even “honest,” by associating with such noble, generous, tolerant, virtuous, and pure-minded traders as controlled the affairs of that company, under the faithfully-executed and stringent rules of the honorable directors in London.

At the present time there is an additional important reason for a better understanding and a more thorough knowledge of the influences and operations of this British monopoly than formerly. Notwithstanding they have been driven from Oregon by its American settlement, they have retired to British Columbia, and, like barnacles upon a ship’s bottom, have fastened themselves all along the Russian and American territories, to repeat just what they did in Oregon; and, with the savage hordes with whom they have always freely mingled, they will repeat their depredations upon our American settlements, and defeat every effort to civilize or Christianize the natives over whom they have any influence.

Six generations of natives have passed away under their system of trade and civilization. The French, English, and Indians before our American revolution and independence could not harmonize. The French were driven from their American possessions and control over the Indians, and peace followed. The Indians, English, and Americans can not harmonize; they never have, and they never will; hence, it becomes a question of vast moment, not only to the Indian race, but to the American people, as to the propriety and expediency of allowing the English nation or British or foreign subjects to further exercise any influence among our American Indians.

Mr. A. H. Jackson estimates the expense of our Indian wars, since 1831 to the present time, at one thousand millions of dollars and thirty-seven thousand lives of our citizens, not counting the lives of Indians destroyed by our American wars with them. If the reader will carefully read and candidly judge of the historical facts presented in the following pages, we have no fears but they will join us in our conclusions, that the Monroe doctrine is irrevocably and of necessity fixed in our American existence as a nation at peace with all, which we can not have so long as any foreign sectarian or political organizations are permitted to have a controlling influence over savage minds. A Frenchman, an Englishman, a Mormon, a Roman priest, any one, or all of them, fraternizing as they do with the Indian, can work upon his prejudices and superstitions and involve our country in an Indian war – which secures the Indian trade to the British fur company. This is the great object sought to be accomplished in nearly all the wars our government has had with them.

One other remarkable fact is noted in all our Indian wars, the American or Protestant missionaries have been invariably driven from among those tribes, while the Roman Jesuit missionaries have been protected and continued among the Indians, aiding and counseling them in the continuance of those wars. It is no new thing that ignorance, superstition, and sectarian hate has produced such results upon the savage mind, and our Oregon history shows that a shrewd British fur company can duly appreciate and make use of just such influences to promote and perpetuate their trade on the American continent.

CHAPTER XIII

Occupants of the country. – Danger to outsiders. – Description of missionaries.

In 1832, this entire country, from the Russian settlement on the north to the gulf of California on the south, the Rocky Mountains on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west, was under the absolute and undisputed control of the Honorable Hudson’s Bay Company; and the said company claimed and exercised exclusive civil, religious, political, and commercial jurisdiction over all this vast country, leaving a narrow strip of neutral territory between the United States and their assumed possessions, lying between the Rocky Mountains and the western borders of Missouri. Its inhabitants were gentlemen of the Hudson’s Bay Company, – their clerks, traders, and servants, – consisting mostly of Canadian-French, half-breeds, and natives.

Occasionally, when a venturesome Yankee ship or fur trader entered any of the ports of the aforesaid country for trade, exploration, or settlement, this honorable company asserted its licensed and exclusive right to drive said vessel, trader, explorer, or settler from it. Should he be so bold as to venture to pass the trained bands of the wild savages of the mountains, or, even by accident, reach the sacred trading-ground of this company, he was helped to a passage out of it, or allowed to perish by the hand of any savage who saw fit to punish him for his temerity.

While this exclusive jurisdiction was claimed and exercised by the company, four wild, untutored Indians of the Flathead tribe learned from an American trapper, who had strayed into their country, that there was a Supreme Being, worthy of worship, and that, by going to his country, they could learn all about him. Four of these sons of the wilderness found their way to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1832. Mr. Catlin, a celebrated naturalist and artist, I believe not a member of any religious sect, learned the object that had brought these red men from the mountains of Oregon, and gave the fact to the religious public.

This little incident, though small in itself, resulted in the organization, in 1833, of the Missionary Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the appointment of Rev. Jason Lee and associates, to the establishment of the Methodist Mission in the Wallamet Valley in 1834, the appointment of Rev. Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman, by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to explore the country in 1835, and the establishment of a mission by said Board in 1836.

Rev. Jason Lee, of Stansted, Canada East, a man of light hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, spare habit, above ordinary height, a little stoop-shouldered, with strong nerve and indomitable will, yet a meek, warm-hearted, and humble Christian, gaining by his affable and easy manners the esteem of all who became acquainted with him, was the first to volunteer.

Rev. Daniel Lee, a nephew of Jason, was the second; – the opposite of the former in every particular – of medium height. The general impression of outsiders was, that his moral qualities were not of the highest order, yet it is not known that any specific charges were ever brought against him.

Cyrus Shepard, a lay member, was a devoted Christian, and a faithful laborer for the advancement of the objects of the mission and the general welfare of all in the country. We have never learned that he had an enemy or a slanderer while he lived in it. On his first arrival he taught the Hudson’s Bay Company’s school at Vancouver, consisting of children belonging to persons in the employ of the company, till the mission buildings were ready, when he gathered a large school of Indian and French half-breed children, and was quite successful in teaching the rudiments of an English education. Rev. D. Lee and Mr. Shepard were from New England.

Mr. P. L. Edwards, of Missouri, also a lay member, was of the company. But little is known of him; the inducements to become a permanent settler in the country do not appear in his case.

Rev. Samuel Parker, of Ithaca, New York, a man of good education and refinement, and exceedingly set in his opinions and conclusions of men and things, came to explore the country, and report to the American Board as to the feasibility of establishing missions among the Indians, one of the missionaries of the American Board, from the Sandwich Islands, having visited the coast in an American ship, several years previous, and made an unfavorable report on account of the fur-trade influence against American traders, giving the impression that American missionaries would not be tolerated in the country.

Mr. Parker was inclined to self-applause, requiring his full share of ministerial approbation or respect, though not fully qualified to draw it cheerfully from an audience or his listeners; was rather fastidious.

Dr. Marcus Whitman, of Rushville, New York, sent in company with Mr. Parker to explore the country. A man of easy, don’t-care habits, that could become all things to all men, and yet a sincere and earnest man, speaking his mind before he thought the second time, giving his views on all subjects without much consideration, correcting and changing them when good reasons were presented, yet, when fixed in the pursuit of an object, adhering to it with unflinching tenacity. A stranger would consider him fickle and stubborn, yet he was sincere and kind, and generous to a fault, devoting every energy of his mind and body to the welfare of the Indians and objects of the mission; seldom manifesting fears of any danger that might surround him, at times he would become animated and earnest in his argument or conversation. In his profession he was a bold practitioner, and generally successful. He was above medium height; of spare habit; peculiar hair, a portion of each being white and a dark brown, so that it might be called iron-gray; deep blue eyes, and large mouth.

The peculiarities of Messrs. Parker and Whitman were such, that, when they had reached the rendezvous on Green River, in the Rocky Mountains, they agreed to separate; not because Dr. Whitman was not willing and anxious to continue the exploring expedition, in company with Mr. Parker, but because Mr. P. could not “put up” with the off-hand, careless, and, as he thought, slovenly manner in which Dr. Whitman was inclined to travel. Dr. W. was a man that could accommodate himself to circumstances; such as dipping the water from the running stream with his hand, to drink; having but a hunter’s knife (without a fork) to cut and eat his food; in short, could rough it without qualms of stomach.

Rev. Mr. Parker had left a refined family circle, and his habits had become somewhat delicate from age and long usage in comfortable and agreeable society; hence his peculiar habits were not adapted to Rocky Mountain travel in those early days. Still, the great object on which they were sent must not be lost sight of. Their sense of moral obligation was such, that a reason must be given why Dr. Whitman returns to the States, and Mr. Parker proceeds alone on his perilous journey to this then unknown country. Here again the wild Indian comes in, by instinct, order, or providence (as the unbeliever may choose to call it), and offers to take charge of this delicate old gentleman, and carries him in triumph through the Rocky Mountains, and all through his country, and, in Indian pomp and splendor, delivers this rev. “black coat” to P. C. Pambrun, Esq., chief clerk of the Honorable Hudson’s Bay Company, at old Fort Wallawalla, supplying his every want on the journey, caring for his horses and baggage, not asking or receiving any thing, except such presents as Mr. Parker chose to give them on the way and at parting.

Dr. Whitman, it will be remembered, was associated with Mr. Parker, under the direction of the American Board. They had arrived at the rendezvous in the Rocky Mountains; most of the Nez Percés were at the American rendezvous. Ish-hol-hol-hoats-hoats, a young Nez Percé Indian (named by the American trappers, Lawyer, on account of his shrewdness in argument, and his unflinching defense of American against British and foreign influences), having learned of their arrival, came to them and settled matters quite satisfactorily to both, by requesting Mr. Parker to go with them to their country, they having heard of Rev. Mr. Lee and party going to settle near the husus-hai-hai (White Head), as the natives called Dr. John McLaughlin, in the Wallamet Valley. They consented to let the Doctor take two of their boys. To Ites he gave the name of John; Tuetakas he called Richard. Dr. Whitman was to go to the States, report to the American Board, and procure associates and the material to establish a mission in the Nez Percé country.

The Nez Percés were to take charge of Mr. Parker, and carry him forward in his explorations, and meet Dr. W., on his return next year, at the place of rendezvous in the mountains, to conduct him and his party to the place Mr. Parker might select for a mission establishment. Rev. S. Parker, in company with the Indians, went on, and Dr. Whitman, with his two Indian boys, with the American Fur Company, Capts. Fitzpatrick, Bridger, and others, started on their way to the States, or “home from the Rocky Mountains.” Dr. Whitman, by his off-hand, easy manner of accommodating himself to circumstances, and by his kind-heartedness and promptness to relieve all who needed his professional skill, had won the esteem of all with whom he traveled, so that the gentlemen of the American Fur Company cheerfully supplied his wants on his return trip to the States, where he arrived in due time, made his report to the American Board, who decided to establish the mission, as per arrangement with Parker and Whitman, on separating in the Rocky Mountains.

Mrs. Whitman, formerly Miss Narcissa Prentiss, of Prattsburg, Steuben County, New York, was a lady of refined feelings and commanding appearance. She had very light hair, light, fresh complexion, and light blue eyes. Her features were large, her form full and round. At the time she arrived in the country, in the prime of life, she was considered a fine, noble-looking woman, affable and free to converse with all she met. Her conversation was animated and cheerful. Firmness in her was natural, and to some, especially the Indians, it was repulsive. She had been brought up in comparative comfort, and moved in the best of religious society in the place of her residence. She was a good singer, and one of her amusements, as well as that of her traveling companions, was to teach the Doctor to sing, which she did with considerable success, – that is, he could sing the native songs without much difficulty.

The American Board appointed Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife to accompany Dr. Whitman and wife, to aid in establishing the Nez Percé mission. Mr. Spalding and wife had just completed their preparatory course of education in Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, Ohio.

The first impression of the stranger on seeing H. H. Spalding is, that he has before him an unusual countenance. He begins to examine, and finds a man with sharp features, large, brown eyes, dark hair, high, projecting forehead, with many wrinkles, and a head nearly bald. He is of medium size, stoop-shouldered, with a voice that can assume a mild, sharp, or boisterous key, at the will of its owner; quite impulsive, and bitter in his denunciations of a real, or supposed enemy; inclined in the early part of his missionary labors to accumulate property for the especial benefit of his family, though the practice was disapproved of and forbidden by the regulations of the American Board. In his professional character he was below mediocrity. As a writer or correspondent he was bold, and rather eloquent, giving overdrawn life-sketches of passing events. His moral influence was injured by strong symptoms of passion, when provoked or excited. In his labors for the Indians, he was zealous and persevering, in his preaching or talking to them, plain and severe, and in his instructions wholly practical. For instance, to induce the natives to work and cultivate their lands, he had Mrs. Spalding paint a representation of Adam and Eve, as being driven from the garden of Eden by an angel, – Adam with a hoe on his shoulder, and Eve with her spinning-wheel. He taught the natives that God commanded them to work, as well as pray. Had he been allowed to continue his labors with the tribe, undisturbed by sectarian and anti-religious influences, he would have effected great good, and the tribe been now admitted as citizens of the United States. As a citizen and neighbor he was kind and obliging; to his family he was kind, yet severe in his religious observances. He was unquestionably a sincere, though not always humble, Christian. The loss of his wife, and the exciting and savage massacre of his associates, produced their effect upon him. Charity will find a substantial excuse for most of his faults, while virtue and truth, civilization and religion, will award him a place as a faithful, zealous, and comparatively successful missionary.