Chapter I: Introduction

When the author of this book has been absorbed in the elegant narratives of Washington Irving, reading and musing over _Astoria_ and _Bonneville_, in the cozy quiet of a New York study, no prescient motion of the mind ever gave prophetic indication of that personal acquaintance which has since been formed with the scenes, and even with some of the characters which figure in the works just referred to. Yet so have events shaped themselves that to me Astoria is familiar ground; Forts Vancouver and Walla-Walla pictured forever in my memory; while such journeys as I have been enabled to make into the country east of the last named fort, have given me a fair insight into the characteristic features of its mountains and its plains.

To-day, a railroad traverses the level stretch between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, along which, thirty years ago, the fur-traders had worn a trail by their annual excursions with men, pack-horses, and sometimes wagons, destined to the Rocky Mountains. Then, they had to guard against the attacks of the Savages; and in this respect civilization is behind the railroad, for now, as then, it is not safe to travel without a sufficient escort. To-day, also, we have new Territories called by several names cut out of the identical hunting-grounds of the fur-traders of thirty years ago; and steamboats plying the rivers where the mountain-men came to set their traps for beaver; or cities growing up like mushrooms from a soil made quick by gold, where the hardy mountain-hunter pursued the buffalo herds in search of his winter's supply of food.

The wonderful romance which once gave enchantment to stories of hardship and of daring deeds, suffered and done in these then distant wilds, is fast being dissipated by the rapid settlement of the new Territories, and by the familiarity of the public mind with tales of stirring adventure encountered in the search for glittering ores. It was, then, not without an emotion of pleased surprise that I first encountered in the fertile plains of Western Oregon the subject of this biography, a man fifty-eight years of age, of fine appearance and buoyant temper, full of anecdote, and with a memory well stored with personal recollections of all the men of note who have formerly visited the old Oregon Territory, when it comprised the whole country west of the Rocky Mountains lying north of California and south of the forty-ninth parallel. This man is _Joseph L. Meek_, to whose stories of mountain-life I have listened for days together; and who, after having figured conspicuously, and not without considerable fame, in the early history of Oregon, still prides himself most of all on having been a "mountain-man."

It has frequently been suggested to Mr. Meek, who has now come to be known by the familiar title of "Uncle Joe" to all Oregon, that a history of his varied adventures would make a readable book, and some of his neighbors have even undertaken to become his historian, yet with so little well-directed efforts that the task after all has fallen to a comparative stranger. I confess to having taken hold of it with some doubts as to my claims to the office; and the best recommendation I can give my work is the interest I myself felt in the subject of it; and the only apology I can offer for anything incredible in the narrative which it may contain, is that I "tell the tale as 'twas told to me," and that I have no occasion to doubt the truth of it.

Seeing that the incidents I had to record embraced a period of a score and a half of years, and that they extended over those years most interesting in Oregon history, as well as of the history of the Fur Trade in the West, I have concluded to preface Mr. Meek's adventures with a sketch of the latter, believing that the information thus conveyed to the reader will give an additional degree of interest to their narration. The impression made upon my own mind as I gained a knowledge of the facts which I shall record in this book relating to the early occupation of Oregon, was that they were not only profoundly romantic, but decidedly unique.

Mr. Meek was born in Washington Co., Virginia, in 1810, one year before the settlement of _Astoria_, and at a period when Congress was much interested in the question of our Western possessions and their boundary. "Manifest destiny" seemed to have raised him up, together with many others, bold, hardy, and fearless men, to become sentinels on the outposts of civilization, securing to the United States with comparative ease a vast extent of territory, for which, without them, a long struggle with England would have taken place, delaying the settlement of the Pacific Coast for many years, if not losing it to us altogether. It is not without a feeling of genuine self-congratulation, that I am able to bear testimony to the services, hitherto hardly recognized, of the "mountain-men" who have settled in Oregon. Whenever there shall arise a studious and faithful historian, their names shall not be excluded from honorable mention, nor least illustrious will appear that of Joseph L. Meek, the Rocky Mountain Hunter and Trapper.

CONTENTS.

PREFATORY CHAPTER.

Astoria--Fort Vancouver--Its isolated Position--Precautions against
Indians--The Hudson's Bay Company--Its Policy and Intercourse with
the Indians--The Arrival of the "Brigade"--Other Yearly
Arrivals--Punishment of Indian Offenders--Indian Strategy--A
Hero--The American Fur Companies--Their Dealings with the
Indians--Ashley's Expeditions to Green River--Attack on Smith's
Party--Wyeth's Expeditions--Fort Hall--Decline of the Fur
Trade--Causes of the Indians' Hostility--Dangers attending the
Trapper's Life, 23

CHAPTER I.

Early Life of Meek--He leaves Home--Enlists in a Fur Company--On
the March--A Warning Voice--Frontier Sports--Last Vestige of
Civilization--On the Plains--A first Adventure--A firm Front--A
Parley--The Summer Rendezvous--An enchanting Picture--The Free
Trapper's Indian Wife--Wild Carousals--Routine of Camp Life--Smoked
Moccasins versus Green Ones--A "Trifling Fellow," 41

CHAPTER II.

The Camp in Motion--A Trapping Expedition--Opposition to the
Hudson's Bay Company--Beautiful Scenery--The Lost Leader
Found--Rejoicings in Camp--The "Luck" of the Trappers--Conference
of Leaders--The "Devil's Own"--Blackfoot Character--Account of the
Tribes, 57

CHAPTER III.

How Beaver are Taken--Beaver Dams--Formation of Meadows--Beaver
Lodges--"Bachelors"--Trapping in Winter--"Up to Trap"--Blackfeet on
the Trail--On Guard--The Trapper's Ruse--A disappointed Bear--A
Fight with Blackfeet--"Out of Luck"--Alone in the
Mountains--Splendid Views--A Miserable Night--The last Luxury of
Life--The Awfulness of Solitude--A Singular Discovery--A Hell on
Earth--A Joyful Recognition--Hard Times in Camp--The Negro's
Porcupine--Craig's Rabbit--Deep Snows--What the Scout saw--Bighorn
River--"Colter's Hell"--An Alarm--Arrival at Wind River--Christmas,
64

CHAPTER IV.

Removal to Powder River--A Trapper's Paradise--The Transformation
in the Wilderness--The Encampment by Night--Meek takes to
Study--On the Move--Loss of Horses and Traps--Robbed and Insulted
by a Bear--Crossing the Yellowstone--A Novel Ferriage--Annoyance
from Blackfeet--A Cache Opened--A Comrade Killed--Rude Burial
Service--Return to Rendezvous--Gay Times--The old Partners take
Leave, 82

CHAPTER V.

Grizzly Bears--An Adventure with a Grizzly--The Three "Bares"--The
Mountain-Man's Manners--Joking the Leaders--The Irishman and the
Booshway--How Sublette climbed a Tree and escaped a Bear--Rival
Trappers--Whisky as a Strong Card--Ogden's Indian Wife--Her Courage
and Escape--Winter Quarters--Crow Horse-Thieves--An Expedition on
Foot--Night Attack on the Indian Fort--Fitzpatrick
Missing--Destitution in Camp--A "Medicine-Man" consulted--"Making
Medicine"--A Vision Obtained--Fitzpatrick Found--Death of Smith--An
Expedition on Snow-Shoes, 90

CHAPTER VI

Annoying Competition--The Chief's Daughter--Sublette Wounded--Forty
Days of Isolation--Sublette and Meek captured by Snake Indians--A
Solemn Council--Sentence of Death--Hope Deferred--A Rescue--The
"Mountain Lamb"--An Obstinate Rival--Blackfeet
Marauders--Fitzpatrick's Adventures in the Mountains--"When the Pie
was opened the Birds began to Sing"--Rough Sports--A Man on
Fire--Brigades ready for the Start--Blackfeet Caravan--Peaceful
Overtures--The Half-Breed's Revenge--A
Battle--Reinforcements--Death of Sinclair--Sublette
Wounded--Greenhorns--A false Alarm--Indian Adroitness--A Deserted
Fort--Incident of the Blackfoot Woman--Murder of a Party by
Blackfeet, 103

CHAPTER VII.

The March to the Humboldt--Scarcity of Game--Terrible
Sufferings--The Horrors of Thirst and Famine--Eating Ants, Crickets
and Mules--Return to Snake River--A lucky Discovery--A Trout
Supper--The Country of the Diggers--Some Account of Them--Anecdote
of Wyeth and Meek--Comparison of Indian Tribes--The Blackfeet--The
Crows--The Coast Tribes and the Mountain Tribes--The Columbia River
Indians--Their Habits, Customs, and Dress--Indian Commerce--The
Indians of the Plains--Their Dress, Manners, and Wealth--The Horses
of the Plains--Language--The Indian's Moral Nature--Hungry and
Hospitable Savages--A Trap set for a Rival--An Ambush--Death of
Vanderburg--Skirmish with Blackfeet--The Woman Interpreter taken
Prisoner--Bravery of her Husband--Happy Finale--Meek Rescues the
"Mountain Lamb"--Intense Cold--Threatened by Famine--The Den of
Grizzlys--Second Daniels, 119

CHAPTER VIII.

A Visit from Blackfeet--The Green River Rendezvous--A "Powerful
Drunk"--Mad Wolf--A Friendly Warning--A Trip to the Salt Lake
Country--Meek Joins Jo. Walker's California Expedition--Instinct of
the Mule--On the Humboldt River--Massacre of Diggers at Mary's
River--Vain Explorations--Crossing the Sierra Nevadas--Hardships
and Sufferings--The Sacramento Valley--Delight of the
Trappers--Meeting with Spanish Soldiers--A Parley--Escorted to
Monterey--A Hospitable Reception--The Native Californians--Visit to
the Mohave Village--Meeting with Trapp and Jervais--Infamous
Conduct at the Moquis Village--The Return March, 141

CHAPTER IX.

In the Camanche Country--A Surprise and a Rapid Movement--The Mule
Fort--A Camanche Charge--Sure Aim--Another Charge--More Dead
Indians--Woman's Weapon, the Tongue--Fearful Heat and Sufferings
from Thirst--The Escape by Night--The South Park--Death of
Guthrie--Meeting with Bonneville--Indignant Reproaches, 154

CHAPTER X.

Gossip at Rendezvous--Adventures in the Crow Country--Fitzpatrick
Picked by the Crows and Flies from Them--Honor among
Thieves--Unfair Treatment of Wyeth--Bonneville Snubbed at
Walla-Walla--He Rejects good Counsel--Wyeth's Threat, and its
Fulfillment--Division of Territory, 160

CHAPTER XI.

In the Blackfoot Country--A Visit to Wyeth's Trappers--Sorry
Experiences--Condolence and its Effect--The Visitors become
Defenders--A Battle with Fire and Sword--Fighting for Life--The
Trappers' Victory--A Trapping Excursion--Meek Plays a Trick and has
one Played on Him--A Run to Camp--Taking up Traps--A Blackfoot
Ambush--A Running Fire--A lucky Escape--Winter Camp on the
Yellowstone--Interpretation of a Dream--A Buffalo Hunt and a
Blackfoot Surprise--Meek's Mule Story, 166

CHAPTER XII.

Setting up as a Family Man--First Love--Cut out by the
Booshway--Reward of Constancy--Beauty of Umentucken--Her Dress, Her
Horse and Equipments--Anecdotes of the Mountain Lamb--Her Quarrel
with The Trapper--Capture by Crows--Her Rescue--Meek Avenges an
Insult--A Row in Camp--The Female Element--Death of Umentucken,
175

CHAPTER XIII.

Visitors at Rendezvous--Advent of Missionaries--What Brought
Them--Bonneville's account of the Nez Perces and Flatheads--An
Enthusiastic View of Their Characters--Origin of some of Their
Religious Observances--An Indian's Idea of a God--Material Good
Desired--Mistake of the Missionaries--First Sermon in the Rocky
Mountains--Interrupted by Buffaloes--Precept and Example--Dr.
Whitman's Character--The Missionaries Separate--Dr. Whitman Returns
to the States, 181

CHAPTER XIV.

Meek Falls into the Hands of Crows--The Story as He tells It--He
Packs Moccasins, and Bears the Jeers of the Fair Sex--Bridger's
Camp Discovered and the Lie Found out--A Desperate
Situation--Signaling the Horse-Guard--A Parley with
Bridger--Successful Strategy--Capture of Little-Gun--Meek Set at
Liberty with a New Name--A Fort Besieged by Bears--A Lazy
Trapper--The Decoy of the Delawares--Winter Amusements--The
Ishmaelite of the Wilderness--March through the Crow
Country--Return to Green River--Punishment of the
Bannacks--Consolidation--An Excursion--Intercepted by Crows--A
Scattered Camp--The Escape, 189

CHAPTER XV.

An Express from Fitzpatrick--The Approach of Missionaries
Announced--The Caravan Welcomed by a Party of Trappers--Noisy
Demonstrations--Curiosity of the Indians--The Missionary
Ladies--Preparations in the Indian Villages--Reception of the
Missionaries by the Nez Perces and Flatheads--Kind Treatment from
the Hudson's Bay Company--The Missionaries' Land of Promise--Visit
to Fort Vancouver--Selection of Missionary Stations, 201

CHAPTER XVI.

The Den of Rattlesnakes--The Old Frenchman--How to Keep Snakes out
of Bed--The Prairie Dog's Tenants at Will--Fight with
Blackfeet--Policy of War--A Duel Averted--A Run-away Bear--Meek's
Best Bear Fight--Winter Quarters on Powder River--Robbing
Bonneville's Men, 214

CHAPTER XVII.

A Dissipated Camp--A Crow Carousal--Picked Crows--A Fight with
Blackfeet--Manhead Killed--Night Visit to the Blackfoot
Village--"Cooning a River"--Stanley the Indian Painter--Desperate
Fight with Blackfeet--"The Trapper's Last Shot"--War and Peace--In
the Wrong Camp--To Rendezvous on Wind River--Mr. Gray, and His
Adventures--Massacre of Indian Allies--Capt. Stuart Robbed by
Crows--Newell's Address to the Chiefs, 225

CHAPTER XVIII.

Decline of the Fur Trade--Wild Scenes at Rendezvous--A Missionary
Party--Entertained by a War Dance--Meek in Armor--Deserted by his
Indian Spouse--The Pursuit--Meek abuses a Missionary and Kidnaps
his Wife--Meek's Black Eyed Daughter--Singing for a
Biscuit--Trapping Again--A hot March, and Fearful Suffering from
Thirst--The Old Flathead Woman--Water at Last, 237

CHAPTER XIX.

A Chat about Buffalo Hunting--Buffalo Horses--The Start--The
Pursuit--The Charge--Tumbles--Horsemanship--The Glory of Mountain
Life--How a Nez Perce Village Hunts Buffalo--Kit Carson and the
Frenchman on a Run--Mountain Manners, 246

CHAPTER XX.

The Solitary Trapper--A Jest--Among the Nez Perces--Their Eagerness
to be Taught--Meek is Called upon to Preach--He modestly
Complies--Asks for a Wife--Polygamy Defended--Meek Gets a Wife--The
Preacher's Salary--Surprised by Blackfeet--Death of Allen--The Last
Rendezvous--Anecdote of Shawnee Jim--The new Wife Missing--Meeting
with Farnham--Cold and Famine--Succor and Food--Parties at Fort
Crockett--Setting up in Trade--How Al. Saved His Bacon--Bad
Times--War upon Horse Thieves--In Search of Adventures--Green River
Canyon--Running Antelope--Gambling--Vain Hunt for
Rendezvous--Reflections and Half-Resolves--The last Trapping
Expedition, 251

CHAPTER XXI.

A new Start in Life--Mountain-Men for Pioneers--Discovery of the
Columbia River--What Capt. Gray Did--What Vancouver Did--The United
States' Claim to Oregon--First Missionaries to the Wallamet--John
McLaughlin--Hospitalities of Fort Vancouver--The Mission
Reinforced--Other Settlers in the Wallamet Valley--How they
Regarded the Mission--The California Cattle Company--Distribution
of Settlers, 264

CHAPTER XXII.

Westward Ho!--Opening Wagon Roads--Republicanism--Fat Pork for
Preachers--Mission Work at Waiilatpu--Helen Mar--Off for the
Wallamet--Wagons Left at Walla-Walla--The Dalles Mission--Indian
Prayers--The Missionaries and the Mountain-Men--The Impious
Canadian--Doing Penance--Down the Columbia--Trouble with
Indians--Arrival at the Wallamet--Hunger, and Dependence on Fort
Vancouver--Meeting Old Comrades--Settling on the Tualatin Plains--A
disagreeable Winter--Taking Claims--Who furnished the Seed Wheat,
271

CHAPTER XXIII.

Scarcity of Employment--Wilkes' Exploring Expedition--Meek Employed
as Pilot--Interchange of Courtesies at Vancouver--"The
Peacock"--Unpleasant Reminder--Exploring the Cowelitz--Wilkes'
Chronometer--Land Expedition to California--Meek
Discharged--Gleaning Wheat--Fifty Miles for an Axe--Visit to the
New Mission--Praying for a Cow--Marriage Ceremony, 280

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Brooding of Events--Arrival of the Chenamus--Meek Celebrates
the Fourth of July--Dr. Whitman Goes to Washington--An Alarming
Feature--Mission Stations of the Upper Country--Discontent of the
Indians--The Missionaries Insulted and Threatened--Mrs. Whitman
Frightened Away from Waiilatpu, 285

CHAPTER XXV.

The Plot Thickens--The Wolf Association--Suspicions of the
Canadians--"Who's for a Divide?"--The Die Cast--A Shout for
Freedom--Meek Appointed Sheriff--The Provisional Government, 291

CHAPTER XXVI.

Arrival of the Immigration at the Dalles--Wagons
Abandoned--Pitiable Condition of the Women and Children--Aid from
the Hudson's Bay Company--Perils of the Columbia--Wreck of the
Boat--Wonderful Escape--Trials of the New Colonists--The Generous
Savage--The Barefoot Lawyer--Meek's Pumpkin--Privation of the
Settlers--Shopping under Difficulties--Attempt to Manufacture
Ardent Spirits--Dilemma of the People--An Appeal--The Sheriff
Destroys the Distillery--Anecdote of Dr. White and Madam
Cooper--Meek Levies on Her Whisky--First Official Act of the
Sheriff, 294

CHAPTER XXVII.

Excitement about Indians--Dr. White's Flogging Law--Indian
Revenge--Raid of the Klamaths--Massacre of Indians--Affray at the
Falls--Death of Cockstock--Death of LeBreton and Rogers--"You'd
Better Run"--Meek's Policy with the Indians--Meek and the
Agent--The Borrowed Horse--Solemn Audacity--Wonderful
Transformation--Temperance--Courts--Anecdote of Judge
Nesmith--Early Days of Portland--An Indian Carousal--Meek "Settles
the Indians"--The Immigration of 1845--The Cascade Mountain
Road-Hunters--Hunger and Peril--A Last Request--Succor at the Last
Moment--A Reason for Patriotism, 306

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Difficulty of Collecting Taxes--A Ponderous Currency--Dr.
McLaughlin's Ox--An Exciting Year--The Boundary
Question--"Fifty-four-forty or Fight"--War Vessels in the
Columbia--Loss of the Shark--Meek Receives a Salute--Schenck
Arrested--The Color-Stand of the Shark--"Sunset at the Mouth of the
Columbia," 320

CHAPTER XXIX.

"The Adventures of a Columbia River Salmon"--History of the
Immigration of 1846--Opening of Southern Route to the
Wallamet--Tragic Fate of the California Immigrants--Sufferings of
the Oregon Immigrants--Tardy Relief--Celebrating the Fourth of
July--Visit to the Ship Brutus--An Insult to the Mountain-Men--The
Indignity Resented with a Twelve-Pounder--Dr. McLaughlin
Interferes--Re-election of Meek--Large Immigration--Failure of the
Territorial Bill--Affray between Immigrants and Indians at the
Dalles--Meeting of the Legislature--Falling of the Thunderbolt,
325

CHAPTER XXX.

Trouble with the Up-Country Indians--Causes of their
Disquiet--Their Opinion of the Americans--"Humbugged and
Cheated"--Fear of Greater Frauds in the Future--Resolve not to
Submit--Their Feelings Toward Dr. Whitman--Acts of
Violence--Influence of the Catholic Missionaries--A Season of
Severe Sickness--What Provoked the Massacre--Joe Lewis the
Half-Breed--The Fatal Test--Sickness Among the Immigrants--Dr.
Whitman's Family--Persons at the Mission and Mill--Helen
Mar--Arrival of Mr. Whitman and his Daughter--A Night Visit to the
Umatilla--In the Lodge of Stickas, the Walla-Walla Chief--The
Warning of Stickas and His Family--The Death Song--"Beware of the
Cayuses at the Mission!"--Mr. Spaulding meets Brouillet, the
Catholic Bishop--News of the Massacre--Escape to the Woods--Night
Journeys to Lapwai, 334

CHAPTER XXXI.

The Tragedy at Waiilatpu--Dr. Whitman's Arrival at Home--Monday
Morning at the Mission--Commencement of the Massacre--The First
Victim--"Oh, the Indians!"--Horrors of the Attack--Shooting of Mrs.
Whitman--Treachery of Jo Lewis--Sufferings of the Children--Indian
Orgies--The Victims Tortured--The Two Compassionate Indians--A
Night of Horror--Remarkable Escape of Mr. Osborne and
Family--Escape and Fate of Mr. Hall--Cruel Treatment of
Fugitives--Kindness of Mr. Stanley--Inhospitable Reception at Fort
Walla-Walla--Touching Kindness of Stickas, 344

CHAPTER XXXII.

Horrors of the Waiilatpu Massacre--Exemption of the
Catholics--Charges of the Protestants--Natural Suspicions--Further
Particulars of the Massacre--Cruelty to the Children--Fate of the
Young Women--Miss Bulee and the Priests--Lapwai Mission--Arrival of
Mr. Camfield--An Indian Trait--Heroism of Mrs. Spalding--Appeal to
the Chiefs--Arrival of the News--Lapwai Plundered--Treachery of
Joseph--Arrival of Mr. Spalding--Detained as Hostages--Ransomed by
the H.B. Company--The "Blood of the Martyrs"--Country Abandoned to
the Indians--Subsequent Return of Mr. Spalding to the Nez Perces,
353

CHAPTER XXXIII.

The Call to Arms--Meetings and Speeches--Ways and Means of
Defence--The first Regiment of Oregon Riflemen--Messenger to the
Governor of California--Meek Chosen Messenger to the President of
the United States--He Proceeds to the Dalles--The Army Marches to
Waiilatpu--A Skirmish with the Des Chutes--Burial of the
Victims--Meek Escorted to the Blue Mountains, 362

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Meek's Party--Precautions against Indians--Meeting with
Bannacks--White Lies--Fort Hall--Deep Snows--Horses Abandoned--The
Mountain Spirit Returning--Meeting with Peg-Leg Smith--A Mountain
Revel--Meeting with An Old Leader--Reception at Fort
Laramie--Passing the Sioux Village--Courtesy of a French
Trader--Reflections on Nearing the Settlements--Resolve to Remain
Joe Meek--Reception at St. Joseph--"The Quickest Trip Yet"--Arrival
at St. Louis--Meek as Steamboat Runner--Interview with the Stage
Agent at Wheeling--Astonishing the Natives--The Puzzled
Conductor--Arrival at Washington, 368

CHAPTER XXXV.

Meek Dines at Coleman's--A Sensation--An Amusing Scene--Recognized
by Senator Underwood--Visit to the President--Cordial Reception by
the Family of Polk--Some Doubts of Himself--Rapid Recovery of
Self-Possession--Action of the Friends of Oregon--The Two Oregon
Representatives--The Oregon Bill in the Senate--Mr.
Thornton--Meek's Successful Debut in Society--Curiosity of
Ladies--Kit Carson and the "Contingent Fund"--Meek's Remarkable
Popularity--Invited to Baltimore by the City Council--Escorts the
President--Visit to Lowell--The Factory Girls--Some Natural
Regrets--Kindness of Mrs. Polk and Mrs. Walker--Commodore
Wilkes--Oregon Lies--Getting Franked--Champagne Suppers, 381

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Meek Appointed U.S. Marshal for Oregon--"Home Sweet Home"--Pay of
the Delegates--The Lion's Share--Meek's Interview with Gov.
Lane--Buying out a Peddler--The Escort of Riflemen--The Start from
St. Louis, and the Route--Meeting Price's Army--An Adventure and a
Pleasant Surprise--Leaving the Wagons--Desertion of
Soldiers--Drought--The Trick of the Yumas--Demoralization of the
Train--Rumors of Gold--Gen. Lane's Coffee--The Writer's
Reflection--The Party on Foot--Extreme Sufferings--Arrival at
William's Ranch--Speculation in Silks and Jack-Knives--Miners at
Los Angelos--Oregonians at San Francisco--Nat Lane and Meek Take
the Gold Fever--Meek's Investment--The Governor and Marshal
Quarrel--Pranks with a Jew--A Salute--Arrival in Oregon City,
394

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Lane's Course with the Cayuse Indians--Magnanimity of the
Savages--Rebuke to Their Captors--Their Statements to Meek--The
Puzzle of Indian Ethics--Incidents of the Trial and
Execution--State of the Upper Country for A Term of Years--How Meek
Was Received in Oregon--His Incurable Waggishness--Scene in a
Court-Room--Contempt of Court--Judge Nelson and the Carpenters--Two
Hundred Lies--An Excursion by the Oregon Court--Indians Tried for
Murder--Proceedings of a Jury--Sentence and Execution of the
Indians--The Chief's Wife--Cost of Proceedings--Lane's Career in
Oregon--Gov. Davis, 408