While at Vancouver, it was deemed necessary for a copy of the official papers of the mission party to be made out, and forwarded to the Sandwich Islands, to the American and British consuls, and one to the commercial agent of the Hudson’s Bay Company, with an order from Dr. McLaughlin, to the agent of the Hudson’s Bay Company, to forward any supplies or goods designed for the mission of the American Board. These documents were made out, and duly signed, by Rev. Mr. Spalding and Dr. Whitman. The question arose whether the name of the secular agent of the mission ought not also to be attached to the documents, and was decided in the affirmative. Gray was sent for; he entered the office with his hat under his arm, as per custom in entering the audience chamber where official business was transacted, examined hastily the documents, attached his name, and retired. The incident was noticed by Dr. McLaughlin, and while the mission party were absent, locating and building their stations, Dr. McLaughlin inquired of Mrs. Whitman who the young man was that Mr. Spalding and her husband had to sign a copy of the public documents sent to the Sandwich Islands. Mrs. Whitman replied, “Why, that is Mr. Gray, our associate, and secular agent of the mission.” The inquiries about Mr. Gray were dropped till the ladies reached their stations, and Mr. Gray was advised, when he visited Vancouver again, to present his credentials, and show the Hudson’s Bay Company his connection with the mission. Accordingly, when Mr. Gray visited Vancouver, in January, 1837, he presented his credentials, and was received in a manner contrasting very strongly with that of his former reception; still, the lesson he had learned was not a useless one. He saw plainly the condition of all the settlers, or any one in the country that had no official position or title; he was looked upon as a vagabond, and entitled to no place or encouragement, only as he submitted to the absolute control of the Hudson’s Bay Company, or one of the missions. There was nothing but master and servant in the country, and this honorable company were determined that no other class should be permitted to be in it. To the disgrace of most of the missionaries, this state of absolute dependence and submission to the Hudson’s Bay Company, or themselves, was submitted to, and encouraged. At least, no one but Rev. Jason Lee, of the Methodist Mission, fully comprehended the precise condition of an outsider. This will be shown as we proceed. We were made a party to a special contract, in 1837, touching this question.
Then we had three distinct organizations in the country: The first, and the most important in wealth and influence, was the Hudson’s Bay Company’s traders; the second, the Methodist Mission, with their ideas and efforts to Christianize the savages, and to do what they could to convert the gentlemen of the Hudson’s Bay Company from the error of their ways; third, the mission of the American Board, to accomplish the same object. The fact of these two missions being in the country, both having the same object to accomplish, elicited a discussion as to the proper location for both to operate in. It was not deemed advisable to locate in the same tribe, as the field was large enough for both. The Cowlitz and Puget Sound district was proposed, but not favored by the Hudson’s Bay Company; Mr. Pambrun kept the claims of the Nez Percés and Cayuses before the party. His interests and arguments prevailed.
CHAPTER XX
Settlers in 1836. – Wallamet Cattle Company. – What good have the missionaries done? – Rev. J. Lee and party. – The Hudson’s Bay Company recommend the Wallamet. – Missionaries not dependent on the company. – Rev. S. Parker arrives at Vancouver.
There were in the country, in the winter of 1836, besides those connected with the Hudson’s Bay Company and the missions, about fifteen men, all told. The two missions numbered seven men and two women, making the American population about twenty-five persons. To bring the outsiders from the Hudson’s Bay Company and the two missions into subjection, and to keep them under proper control, it was necessary to use all the influence the Methodist Mission had. They, as a matter of interest and policy, furnished to such as showed a meek and humble disposition, labor, and such means as they could spare from their stores, and encouraged them to marry the native women they might have, or be disposed to take, and become settlers about the mission. Such as were not disposed to submit to the government of the mission, or the Hudson’s Bay Company, like Mr. E. Young, Carmichael, and Killmer, were “left out in the cold.” They could get no supplies, and no employment. They were literally outcasts from society, and considered as outlaws and intruders in the country. All seemed anxious to get rid of them.
McCarty, the companion of Mr. Young from California to Oregon, had fallen out with him on the way, as Young was bringing to the country a band of California horses (brood mares). McCarty, it seems, to be avenged on Young, reported to Dr. McLaughlin and the mission that Young had stolen his band of horses (though it has since been stated upon good authority that such was not the case); still McCarty was (I understand) a member of the class-meeting, on probation. His statements were received as truth, and Young suffered. Young was a stirring, ambitious man; he had spent some time in the Rocky Mountains, and in Santa Fé and California, and the little property he could get he had invested in horses, and brought them to Oregon. This fact, with the malicious reports circulated about him, made him an object of suspicion and contempt on the part of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the mission. We find that Mr. Lee treated Mr. Young as an honest man, and, consequently, fell under the displeasure of Dr. McLaughlin and the Hudson’s Bay Company. With Mr. Young, Mr. Lee succeeded in getting up the first cattle company, and gave the first blow toward breaking up the despotism and power of the company. Mr. Young, as Mr. Lee informed us, was the only man in the country he could rely upon, in carrying out his plan to supply the settlement with cattle. He was aware of the stories in circulation about him, and of the want of confidence in him in the mission and among the French-Canadians and Hudson’s Bay Company. To obviate this difficulty, he suggested that Mr. P. L. Edwards, a member of the mission, should go as treasurer of the company, and Mr. Young as captain. This brought harmony into the arrangement, and a ready subscription to the stock of the Wallamet Cattle Company, all being anxious to obtain cattle. But few of the settlers had any means at command. Many of the discharged servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company had credit on their books. There were outside men enough in the country willing to volunteer to go for the cattle, and receive their pay in cattle when they arrived with the band in Oregon. This brought the matter directly to the Hudson’s Bay Company, and to Dr. McLaughlin. Rev. Jason Lee received the orders of the company’s servants, went to Vancouver, and learned from the clerks in the office the amounts due the drawers, then went to the Doctor, and insisted that certain amounts should be paid on those orders.
The Doctor very reluctantly consented to allow the money or drafts to be paid. This amount, with all the mission and settlers could raise, would still have been too small to justify the party in starting, but W. A. Slacum, Esq., of the United States navy, being on a visit to the country, Mr. Lee stated the condition of matters to him. Mr. Slacum at once subscribed the requisite stock, and advanced all the money the mission wished on their stock, taking mission drafts on their Board, and gave a free passage to California for the whole party. (As the missionaries would say, “Bless God for brother Slacum’s providential arrival among us.”) Uncle Sam had the right man in the right place that time. It was but a little that he did; yet that little, what mighty results have grown out of it!
On the 19th of January, 1837, six days after Mr. Young had given up his projected distillery, he is on board Mr. Slacum’s brig Lariat, lying off the mouth of the Wallamet River, and on his way to California with a company of stout-hearted men, eight (I think) in all, not to steal horses or cheat the miserable savages, and equally miserable settlers, out of their little productive labor, but to bring a band of cattle to benefit the whole country. In this connection, I could not do justice to all without quoting a paragraph which I find in Rev. G. Hines’ history of the Oregon missions. He says: —
“Mr. Slacum’s vessel left the Columbia River about the first of February, and arrived safely in the bay of San Francisco, on the coast of California. The cattle company proceeded immediately to purchase a large band of cattle and a number of horses, with which they started for Oregon. In crossing a range of mountains (Rogue River Mountains), they were attacked by the rascally Indians, and a number of their cattle were killed, but they at length succeeded in driving back their foe and saving the remainder. Contrary to the predictions and wishes of the