Chapter IV: Part 4

Life in this region was entirely Arcadian. The Hudson’s Bay servants had been encouraged to settle upon the rich prairie lands and raise wheat. Doctor McLoughlin, a most shrewd business man, foresaw (F. X. M.) that the Willamette and Columbia valleys would ultimately cease to be fur-bearing country, and sought privileges to the north. His agreements with the Russians of New Archangel, allowing him to trade with the Indians of Alaska, provided, also, that he should supply that post with fifteen thousand bushels of wheat per year. To meet this requirement, the old Hudson’s Bay servants who had served out their time, and by their articles of agreement were to be returned to their native land, were retained as employees of the company, and they were provided, also, with an outfit to begin farming. This consisted of a two-wheeled cart, oxen, plows, a cow, and necessary household furniture, which was to be paid for in wheat—the ordinary currency of the country. The cattle were to be returned; the increase kept. A double outfit was allowed to those who would settle north of the Columbia River. This, as Mr. Matthieu understands, was for political reasons; the British wishing to secure that section by actual settlement and occupation. The convenience, the beauty, and the fertility of the Willamette Valley, however, outweighed in the minds of the farmers the greater liberality of the offer on the north, and most of the Hudson’s Bay people came to French Prairie.

Lucier, Matthieu found, was one of the oldest of the Oregonians, having preceded him by about thirty years. He was one of the old trappers that came with Hunt’s party, of the Astor expedition. In person, this now old man was short and stocky, and of a dark complexion. He was about sixty, and was living with his second wife. The first family of three children were then grown. His second family consisted of two boys, both of whom are now living on French Prairie, one having a family of several children. Among the subjects of conversation with Lucier were the laws and customs of the United States. The old Hudson’s Bay trapper was quite suspicious, and had been told that our government imposed very heavy duties—such as placing a tax upon windows. Matthieu, however, was able to tell him that this was entirely a mistake. The laws of the United States were just and liberal, and under them all men were equal; there was no tyranny. Lucier, who was a very saving and industrious man, and at the end of his service with the company had to his credit the respectable sum of £400, was finally well satisfied with these representations. All the settlers of the Prairie he found to be hospitable in the extreme; they were willing to share with the stranger anything they had. The most of them had native wives, or at least of mixed blood; a number of whom were from Clatsop or Chinook. They were an industrious people and entirely honest. The incident is related that by some mistake as to ownership three sacks of potatoes were once left on the river bank at the portage at Oregon City. There they remained three months, no one disturbing them. The following story also is told of McLoughlin and his wheat buyer: It was the custom of the agent who bought wheat to strike the measure—the wheat not being very well cleaned requiring to be settled in order to give full weight. Seeing him give the measure a number of slow, gentle taps, McLoughlin exclaimed, “Tut, tut,” and gave it one heavy blow; but to his chagrin, and the vast enjoyment of the bystanders, the doctor’s heavy stroke instead of _settling_ the grain only shook it up, and he instantly admitted that the buyer’s way was the best, and with that the farmers were all well pleased, because thereby they _sold the best weight_—which illustrates not only their simplicity, but their desire to act on the square with the great chief factor.

Names of French-Canadians on French Prairie when Mr. Matthieu first went there, and who all, as he remembers, took part in the provisional government meeting—they are collected from his ledger of the business carried on by him with George Le Roque, at Butteville, beginning in 1850:

XAVIER LADEROUTE
ANTOINE BONANFANT
ANDRE LA CHAPELL
PIERRE PAPIN
LOUIS B. VANDALLE
JEAN B. DU CHARME
FABIEN MALOIN
LUC PAGNON
ETIENNE GREGOIRE
AMABLE ARCOUETTE
PIERRE DE LORD
LOUIS A. VANDALLE
JOHN SANDERS
PIERRE PARISEAU
CHARLES RONDEAU
DAVID DONPIERRE
ANDRE DU BOIS
PIERRE DEPOT
MOYSE LOR
PIERRE LE COURSE
JOSEPH BERNABE
BAPTISTE DEGUIRE
ADOLPHE CHAMBERLAIN
JEAN LINGRAS
ALEXIS AUBICHON
JEAN SERVANS
MICHELLE LAFERTE
JEAN B. DALCOURSE
LOUIS OSANT
JEAN B. AUBICHON
ANTOINE FELICE
MICHAEL LAFROMBOISE
JOSEPH GERVAIS
JEAN B. PANPIN
OLIVIER BRISCBOIS
THOMAS ROA
LOUIS BOIVERS
ANDRE LANGTAIN
ETIENNE LUCIER
ALEXIS LAPRATTE
PIERRE BELAQUE.

The following were Frenchmen who came to Oregon in the spring of 1842, except Matthieu, who came in the fall. They were at the meeting at Champoeg. This list has, perhaps, never been published:

GEDEREAU SENCALLE
THOMAS MOISON
PIERRE GANTHIER
AUGUSTIN REMON
JOSEPH MATTE
FRANCIS BERNIER
F. X. MATTHIEU.

During the first months of the year 1843, the question of organizing an independent or provisional government, until the United States should extend its authority over Oregon, was much discussed. Debates were held at Oregon City, and the project was the matter of ordinary conversations at Salem and Tualatin Plains. The leaders of the movement, as is well known, saw the necessity of the whole community participating, and devised a plan that would interest all. The French Canadians could not be interested in the general question of a new government; being quite contented as they were, and having unlimited faith in McLoughlin, with whom they did all their business, and from whom they obtained all the counsel and protection they felt needed.

“The idea of organizing a provisional government was then,” says Mr. Matthieu, “to give the United States a reason for taking possession of Oregon.”

The device of the “Wolf Meetings,” however, for providing protection against the wild animals, brought them out and the greater question of forming a government was gradually from this brought to a focus. With this preliminary work, however, Matthieu had nothing to do, and his sentiments were not known to the Americans, or even to the Canadians, except Lucier. He was not at the meetings of February and March. He attended the meeting at Champoeg. This was held, according to his recollection, in a Hudson’s Bay building, just over the bluff, at the landing; the embankment of the river here being high and steep. The meeting, however, was very informal, being called to order in the house, but the final vote being taken out of doors.

The details of this important meeting need not be here entered into, except so far as concerns the recollection of Mr. Matthieu. The ability of the common people to organize and maintain a sufficient government, in a remote corner of the world, in the midst of numerous and even in some cases of powerful and cunning bands of Indians; and in opposition to the interests and business policy of a great corporation—was to be tested. The character and calibre of the men who constituted the “people” is a matter of the highest and most lasting interest. What items Mr. Matthieu recollects of them are worthy of the most careful preservation. He remembers W. H. Gray as one of the most active and strenuous of the Americans at the meeting. “Gray took part,” he says. “He wanted to organize the worst way—he would not give up to any other notion.” G. W. Le Breton, whom he describes as very popular, both with the French and with the Americans, and who acted as secretary, was not less alert. He remembers Le Breton as a young man, short in person, but very active. “He never stood still a minute.” He recollects Rev. J. S. Griffin of Tualatin Plains as present, but not as taking a very active part. Robert Shortess, with his tall, slim figure and strongly Roman profile, was also among the number. Sydney Smith, from Chehalem, was there too. Mr. Matthieu recalls of Smith that he once hired him to assist in filling out a bill of logs, contracted to be delivered at Oregon City. To Matthieu’s dismay—he was inexperienced as a lumberman—the first cut, which was from a white fir, that he had rolled into the river, sank out of sight in the water. Smith used a strong expression implying lack of sense on the part of the person to whom it was applied, and then exclaimed—“I will show you.” Then he bored a hole in a log to be rafted and inserted a large cedar plug, or chunk, which just floated the white fir. Thomas Hubbard was also at the meeting. Others whom he recalls were Amos Cook and Francis Fletcher of the Yamhill Fords, near La Fayette; and George Gay, who was formerly an English sailor, but took leave of his ship at Monterey, California, and came to Oregon in the well known party with Doctor Bailey, and became a large landholder near Dayton, building the first brick house in the valley, and becoming famous for his hospitality to travelers. Others were G. W. Ebbert, Wilkins, Doctor Newell and Joseph L. Meek, of the Tualatin Plains, and Messrs. Babcock, Hines, Doctor Wilson, Alanson Beers, and J. L. Parrish of the Methodist Society.

Matthieu understood that there were three parties in reference to organizing a government. These were the strongly American for it, led by Gray and others, and the Canadian settlers who opposed, or at least did not favor it; and Dr. McLoughlin and his near friends, who really favored an independent government and expected to become citizens of it, but who thought the movement at that time premature. Mr. Matthieu does not recall that Bishop Blanchet was present at the meeting. A memorial had been prepared by the Bishop, on the part of the Canadians, to show that organization was unnecessary and inadvisable. At the critical juncture, however, after there had been some discussion and the meeting was becoming confused, and, indeed, was in danger of breaking up without action, he remembers well how old Joe Meek strode forth, and by the simple power of voice and example gained control after parliamentary tactics had failed. He cried out, as he would to a company of militiamen: “All in favor of organization, come to the right.” One hundred and two men were present. Fifty of these quickly went over to the right, in favor of independence. The other fifty-two, all Canadians, remained as they were, or withdrew in the other direction.

Now came out Matthieu’s republican training, which he had received in his schoolboy days, under Velade, at Terrebonne. His “mind was made up,” he says, “ever since I left Canada. I knew what it was to live and die a slave under British rule.” And he was still carrying the picture of Papineau, the liberator.

Now that a time for action had come, he was not wanting. He said, therefore, to the Canadians that he was going with the Americans. He knew what he was doing, and was fully decided which was the right side.

Old Lucier, the trapper of 1811, followed him, and now the vote stood fifty-two for, and fifty against organization. Then went up the shout, led by Joe Meek and his mountain men.

The Canadians, though defeated, were entirely satisfied with the result, and had not favored the movement principally because they did not understand it, and, like Lucier, had obtained incorrect ideas. But when the vote prevailed, they acquiesced cheerfully, and became among the best citizens of the little republic—the smallest, probably, since the days of the Pilgrim fathers, who organized their government in the cabin of the Mayflower.

After organization was effected, and a body of laws was framed, Matthieu was called upon to take part in affairs, and was elected justice of the peace for Champoeg County, an office which he says he filled to “the satisfaction of every body.” He settled disputes by inviting the complaining parties to sit down with him to a good dinner, and after an hour’s cheer and pleasant chat, he sent them away well contented with his findings.

He had some trouble with distillers, who sometimes set up little stills in out of the way places, and made liquor to intoxicate the Indians. He recalls one case in which he and Doctor Wilson, the judge, traced a distiller out into the woods, back of French Prairie, at DePot’s, and found him over a teakettle, which he used as his still, manufacturing what was called “blue ruin”—a liquor made out of Sandwich Island molasses, and was an article so destructive as to almost relieve the authorities of the necessity of estopping the manufacture—the juice being the executioner of its producer.

Of all the characters of the early day, McLoughlin stands out foremost, and overtops all others, in Mr. Matthieu’s recollection. The old chief factor had some of the elements of greatness: “He was the finest man I ever knew,” says Mr. Matthieu, “and there will never be another like him. He did what no other man would do.” With Doctor McLoughlin, Doctor Whitman, whom he greatly respected, he says, “bore no comparison.” McLoughlin had the immense physique, the great voice, and the commanding manner, and also the positive and decisive mind that carried all before him.

Many are the incidents that Mr. Matthieu relates illustrating his qualities. Once, he says, an Indian was brought to him charged with committing a gross offense. “Is he guilty?” asked the doctor. “Yes,” they replied, and presented the proof. “Tie him to that cannon,” he replied, pointing to one of the two pieces of artillery that commanded the entrance to the fort. When this was done, he said, “Give him fifteen lashes.” Soon after a white man was brought, charged with the same offense. Doctor McLoughlin made the same inquiries, and finding him guilty administered the same punishment. This illustrates why his authority was so absolute among the Indians. His administration exactly filled their conception of justice.

The services of McLoughlin to the immigrants of the year ’42, and later, until he resigned his position as chief factor, are fully vouched for by Mr. Matthieu. The doctor advanced everything needed, and furnished the use of bateaux to any in distress. The concluding portion of the immigrants’ journey, that from The Dalles to Oregon City, was often virtually provided for by McLoughlin. For all these advances, he was held to the last penny by his company, and as Mr. Matthieu learned, he was obliged to render every cent not paid by the immigrants—a sum so large as to very nearly bankrupt the man.

Upon the return of Mr. Matthieu, in 1858, for a visit to his home in Canada, he took the pains to visit some of Doctor McLoughlin’s relatives at their place of business in Quebec, whom he found to be men of much the same magnificent physical mould as the chief factor. He inquired of them as particularly as he dared as to Doctor McLoughlin’s fortune, venturing to remark that he supposed he was very rich. “He was wealthy at one time,” was the reply, “but his company required the payment of large sums that he advanced on credit, and that left him with little.”

Mr. Matthieu understands that besides his salary of £2,500 per year, he held two shares in the stock of the company, the largest allowed to one individual outside the chartered corporation. His business also included, besides the fur trade of Oregon, extensive operations in British Columbia and Alaska, salmon export to the Sandwich Islands, and milling at Oregon City. At one time he made a proposition to build the canal and locks at the Willamette Falls, at his own expense; but was refused the charter. (F. X. M.)

Returning to Mr. Matthieu’s first years in Oregon: He remained with Lucier until 1844. For two years afterwards he lived on French Prairie proper, which is some six miles back from the river. He was engaged in labor during this time, building houses, and making wagons for the settlers. Life he found carried on here in simple style, log cabins being the rule, furnished with big fireplaces, made of sticks, plastered over with the tough black clay found underneath the prairie sod. Few had stoves, and the cooking was done mainly over the coals, or in kettles swung on a crane.

In 1846 he was married, and took a square mile of land a mile from the river, back of the Butte, upon which he has lived now for fifty-four years. It is a noble old place, having both prairie and woodland, and abundant water, and commands beautiful prospects in every direction. His wife was Rose, a daughter of Louis Osant, a Hudson’s Bay employee and trapper. The earliest recollections of Mrs. Matthieu are of journeyings on horseback with the parties of her father or of Michel La Framboise, one of the most trusted leaders of the Hudson’s Bay trappers. She recalls how, on one of these jaunts when she was a mere tot of three years, and she had for a comrade a little daughter of La Framboise, they were delighted as they passed under the expansive oaks of the Sacramento Valley to hear the dry leaves rustle under their horses’ hoofs. It was a Gypsy life that the trappers led, and those that made the trip to California, like La Framboise and Osant, had the pleasantest road to travel of all the parties.

The mother of Rose having died, the girl was brought up in the family of Pierre Belaque, who occupied a house near Lucier’s. A patriarchal family, fourteen in number, were born to these pioneers, ten of whom are now living:

PHILEMON GEER
CLARA OUIMETTE
*PRISCILLA
*EDWARD
ALFRED
LESTER
MAMIE
RANDALL
CHARLES
ROSE
ARSINOE BURTON
*HENRY
ERNEST
*WILLIAM
*VIOLET

Mr. Matthieu has lived as a farmer of Oregon, having been able to provide his family with life’s advantages, and himself performing the duties of the good citizen. Besides filling the office of Justice of the Peace in the Provisional Government, he was in 1874 and again in 1878, elected to the Oregon Legislature from Marion County. In 1849 he made the trip to the California gold mines, but was so virulently attacked by fever there as to be compelled to return without making a fortune. In 1858 he took a trip to Canada, by way of Panama, and in 1883, went with the pioneer excursion on the Northern Pacific Railroad. He is now at the age of eighty-two, in good health, of unimpaired memory, good hearing, and unchanged voice; though, having suffered in early life from snow-blindness in the Rocky Mountains, has somewhat lost the use of his sight. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, of high degree. He was in the mercantile business for many years, after 1850, at Butteville, with George Le Roque, and in all business relations and in public affairs has maintained a reputation for unquestioned honesty.

NOTES.

IN REGARD TO INDIAN TRIBES, THEIR ANTIPATHIES, ETC.

Mr. Matthieu says: “I have forgot a great deal. Of the Sioux, where I was, there were the Blackfeet—a large nation; then there were the Ogalallahs. Their chief, when I was there, was called Yellow Hair. His hair was not yellow, but lighter than some others. He was a big fellow, and you could hear him grunt like a grizzly. Then there was a little tribe, the Broken Arrows. They were the meanest set—they would get liquor, and kill each other. I do not suppose there were twenty of them when I left. The Crow nation lived west of Fort Pierre, about one hundred or two hundred miles, and one division of them was the Gros Ventres. The Pawnees were the terror of the Sioux; there were many half-breeds among them. The Sioux did not all have horses. The poorer ones went on foot. But all had buffalo meat. Those that had horses would surprise a herd, and drive them to the Bad Lands, and force many of them over a precipice or into a crevice. Buffalo, when they are stampeded, do not stop at anything, but go over a bluff or into a river. When a crevice is filled full of their bodies the main herd passes on as over a bridge; then the poorer Indians came and helped themselves to the meat.

“West of the Rocky Mountains the Indians were entirely different. It was a new creation. The Snakes, Piutes and Bannocks seemed very much alike—a poor set. The Cayuses were the most powerful, and the meanest. They were strapping big fellows, and rich. I was told by Hudson’s Bay men that they frequently had three or four packs of beaver skins to a tent. That was money. Each pack weighed ninety or one hundred pounds, and the skins were worth $4 or $5 a pound. Some of them had five hundred horses apiece—part work horses; part riding or running horses. When I was among the Snakes I bought a white horse for a buffalo skin and a shirt. But in Grande Ronde I was stopped by a Cayuse chief, who said that the horse was his. I told him I bought it. He said it had been stolen. There was a man traveling with me; his name was Russell. Russell said I had better pay the Cayuse something. So I put down a buffalo robe, a shirt and a handkerchief, and said: ‘You can take whichever you please—these or the horse.’ He took the things, and I took the horse.

“The Cayuses often came into the Willamette Valley to trade horses for cattle. They had some race horses that they would not sell for $500. They were not a large tribe, not able to muster over two hundred or three hundred fighting men at the farthest. They were well armed with guns, but even with bows and arrows could shoot a man through the heart at fifty yards. They were proud and cruel, and showed it in their faces. The Nez Perces had much better faces than the Cayuses. The Sioux did business on honor. If any of their tribe was mean or dissipated he was regarded as a clown; he was not respected.”

AS TO SLAVERY AMONG THE INDIANS.

Among the Sioux, where I was, all captives were regarded as slaves; so I was told by a chief. I saw but one slave—a woman. Men were not often taken alive.

NEGRO SLAVERY IN OREGON.

This question did not make much stir on French Prairie. The idea was this: Indians were much cheaper and better labor than negroes. For a blanket that cost $3 you could hire an Indian a month—or perhaps two months; and many of the Indians were good workers. They could handle an axe like a white man; and on the river they were the best boatmen. They would paddle all day in a canoe, or on a bateau, and want only a little meat and a salmon skin.

Some Southern people who brought their negroes with them wanted to keep them as slaves; but the people of Oregon opposed this and made the law that no negro should come to Oregon. It was never enforced.

AS TO PROHIBITION.

“All were in favor of this. It was no trouble. The Catholic missionaries as well as the Methodists favored it. The Hudson’s Bay Company had liquors stored, but never kept them for public sale. The distiller on French Prairie did not hold out long. Some of the Canadians went to his place to drink, or trade for it; but there was no money in the country, and they could only trade with little articles and there was no profit. A man at Milwaukee Bluff held out about two years, but gave it up—there was no money, and trade did not amount to anything in an illegal business.”

AS TO MONEY, ETC.

“There was no coin. If it was brought to the country it was not received at Vancouver. Furs, at a fixed valuation, were the first currency. Wheat was next.

“Wheat had to be delivered at the Hudson’s Bay warehouse at Champoeg. For this a receipt was given by the H. B. clerk. The receipt passed current as money, and was worth its face in goods at Vancouver.”

To illustrate the _modus_ of doing business, Mr. Matthieu tells the following incident: “I was barefoot and nearly naked, and wanted some clothes. I took an order of Lucier’s, and went down to Fort Vancouver; but, as I had just come across the country, and was not long from Canada, I was met by so many Frenchmen at the fort, who wanted to hear all about my journey, and Canada, which some of them had not seen for twenty years, that I did not get my order in at once. When at last I presented it, the clerk said that I would have to see Douglas, as Lucier’s account was all drawn; so many others had been bringing his paper.”

“Douglas told me to go to McLoughlin. Each had an office in the building. When McLoughlin looked at my order he said he was sorry, but the account was drawn. I said, ‘It will come rather hard on me. I am barefoot, and almost naked, and I supposed Lucier’s credit was good anyhow.’ Then the doctor began to ask me where I was from. I told him ‘Terrebonne, in Canada.’

“‘I am from near that part,’ he said. Then he asked me about the place and people, and of old Doctor Frasier; and kept me about an hour talking. At last he said, ‘You look honest; go to the office and get this filled.’ And gave me an order for about $18 worth of goods.

“At the office there was a little entrance, about eight feet square, and a little window into the store, where the goods were passed out. The clerk there was Doctor McLoughlin’s son, whom I had seen in Montreal. He knew me, and at once opened the door inside and asked me in. ‘Take all you need,’ he said, ‘and never mind the old man.’

“But I took only the amount of the order. But all the clothes were made for big fellows—a great deal too big for me. So I took cloth, and got it made up the best I could.”

AS TO EFFECT OF MINES ON BUSINESS, ETC.

“Gold dust was like dirt. Many believed it would never have any value. I have seen the Hudson’s Bay store at Oregon City take in a four-quart pan of dust in one day. They allowed $16 an ounce; but much of it was the fine Yuba and American River dust, worth $22 to $22.50 an ounce in London.

“But it was not the men who went to the mines, so much as those that stayed on their farms and raised produce, that got the dust.

“I remember when I was in San Francisco in ’49, I went into a French restaurant. I was sick, and only called for tea and toast and an egg. For the tea and toast I paid $1.25, and for the egg $2. The egg had come around the Horn, packed in salt, and was a chunk of salt. I could not eat it.

“But prices for Oregon stuff did not hold out many years. Great shipments were made from the East. Habits of living among the farmers were not much changed. We always had enough to live on, both before and after the mines broke out.”

Mr. Matthieu was well acquainted with Governor Abernethy, the first Governor of the Provisional Government, succeeding the executive committee. He describes Abernethy as “a fine looking man, of medium size; easy in manner and ways, and very light complexion.” He built the first brick store in Oregon City, with mud for mortar. In the great flood of ’62 it collapsed. He kept a large stock of goods, trading by three vessels with San Francisco. He was in partnership with Clark, and for a time with Robb, who invested his gold mine profits in the store.

The mason who built the store was——McAdam, who also built the brick Catholic church at Saint Paul.

Mr. Matthieu was also acquainted with Joseph Lane, the first Territorial Governor. He describes the old general as “a very nice man;” quick in his movements, military in manner and bearing; not tall, and “dry and thin,” and all nerves.

AS TO TOWNS.

The flat at Oregon City was still, when he first saw it, thickly covered with tall timber. Waller’s house stood near the present site of the woolen mills. The Hudson’s Bay store was on the edge of the lowest bluff, over the water, about where the warehouse now stands.

Portland was nowhere—a dense forest and a tangled shore; but there was a grassy place among the trees near the mouth of the big gulch at the south part of town, where the boating parties up the river sometimes stopped to lunch or camp.

Etienne Lucier’s old place was on the bluff, on the east side, and Johnson’s place on the hill at the south end, west side.

Salem was just starting, the people at the old mission moving up to start the institute, etc.

-------

I have examined the above manuscript of Mr. Lyman’s, and find it correct. Nobody can contradict that; it could not be written more correctly.

F. X. MATTHIEU.

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DOCUMENTS.

[In this department of the _Quarterly_ there will appear material of the nature of primary sources for the history of the Pacific Northwest. The more extended documents, however, and collections having a unity will be reserved for the series, “Sources of the History of Oregon.”]

_Correspondence of John McLoughlin, Nathaniel J. Wyeth, S. R. Thurston, and R. C. Winthrop, pertaining to claim of Doctor McLoughlin at the Falls of the Willamette—the site of Oregon City._

The following correspondence was published in the Milwaukee Star, April 10, 1850. The files of this paper are exceedingly scarce. The original copies of the letters were probably destroyed. A knowledge of their contents is essential to an understanding of very important, though not creditable, transactions in Oregon’s history. These letters also are an addition to the Wyeth material that the society has been making accessible to students of American history.

CHICOPEE, Mass., Nov. 16, 1850.

_Capt. Nath. J. Wyeth_:

MY DEAR SIR—You will excuse me, I am sure, when I assure you I am from Oregon, and her delegate to the Congress of the United States, for addressing you for a purpose of interest to the country which I belong.

I desire you to give me as correct a description as you can at this late period, of the manner in which you and your party, and your enterprise in Oregon, were treated by the Hudson’s Bay Company, and particularly by Doc. John McLoughlin, then its Chief Factor. This Dr. McLoughlin has, since you left the country, rendered his name odious among the people of Oregon, by his endeavors to prevent the settlement of the country, and to cripple its growth.

Now that he wants a few favors of our Government, he pretends that he has been the long-tried friend of Americans and American enterprise west of the mountains. Your early reply will be highly appreciated, both for its information, and your relation to my country.

I am, sir, yours very truly,

S. R. THURSTON.

CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 21, 1850.

_Hon. Sam’l R. Thurston_:

DEAR SIR—Your favor of the 16th inst., was received on the 19th. The first time I visited the Columbia, in the autumn of 1832, I reached Vancouver with a disorganized party of ten persons, the remnant of twenty-four who left the States. Wholly worn out and disheartened, we were received cordially, and liberally supplied, and there the party broke up. I returned to the States in the Spring of 1833 with one man. One of the party, Mr. John Ball, remained and planted wheat on the Willamette a little above Camp du Sable, having been supplied with seed and implements from Vancouver, then under the charge of John McLoughlin, Esq., and this gentleman I believe to have been the first American who planted wheat in Oregon. I returned to the country in the autumn of 1834, with a large party and more means, having on the way built Fort Hall, and there met a brig which I sent round the Horn. In the winter and spring of 1835, I planted wheat on the Willamette and on Wappatoo Island.

The suffering and distressed of the early American visitors and settlers on the Columbia were always treated by Hudson’s Bay Company’s agents, and particularly so by John McLoughlin, Esq., with consideration and kindness, more particularly the Methodist Missionaries, whom I brought out in the autumn of 1834. He supplied them with the means of transportation, seeds, implements of agriculture and building, cattle and food for a long time.

I sincerely regret that the gentleman, _as you state_, has become odious to his neighbors in his old age.

I am your ob’t serv’t,

NATH. J. WYETH.

CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 28, 1850.

_Hon. Robert C. Winthrop_:

DEAR SIR—I have received a letter from Sam’l R. Thurston, Esq., of which the following is a portion:

“I desire you to give me as correct a description as you can at this late period, of the manner in which you and your party, and your enterprise in Oregon, were treated by the Hudson’s Bay Company west of the Rocky mountains, and particularly by Dr. John McLoughlin, then its Chief Factor. This Dr. McLoughlin has since you left the country, rendered his name odious among the people of Oregon, by his endeavors to prevent the settlement of the country and cripple its growth. Now that he wants a few favors of our Government, he pretends that he has been the long-tried friend of Americans and American enterprise west of the mountains.”

I have written Mr. Thurston, in reply to the above extract, that myself and parties were kindly received, and were treated well in all respects by J. McLoughlin, Esq., and the officers of the Hudson’s Bay Co.; but from the tenor of his letter, I have no confidence that my testimony will be presented before any committee to whom may be referred any subjects touching the interests of said John McLoughlin, Esq.

The very honorable treatment received by me from Mr. McLoughlin during the years inclusive from 1832 to 1836, during which time there were no other Americans on the Lower Columbia, except myself and parties, calls on me to state the facts.

The purpose of this letter is to ask the favor of you to inform me what matter is pending, in which Mr. McLoughlin’s interests are involved, and before whom, and if you will present a memorial from me on the matters stated in Mr. Thurston’s letter as above.

Respectfully and truly your ob’t servant,

NATH. J. WYETH.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 1850.

DEAR SIR—I took the earliest opportunity to enquire of Mr. Thurston what there was pending before Congress or the Executive, in which Mr. McLoughlin’s character or interest were concerned. He would tell me nothing, nor am I aware of anything.

Respectfully your ob’t serv’t,

R. C. WINTHROP.

To N. J. WYETH, Esq.

_John McLoughlin, Esq._:

DEAR SIR—On the 19th of December, 1850, I received a letter from Sam’l R. Thurston, delegate from Oregon, of which see copy No. 1, and by same mail an Oregon newspaper containing a communication over your signature, the letter [latter], I think, addressed in your handwriting.

From the tenor of Mr. Thurston’s letter, I presumed he wanted my testimony for some purpose not friendly to yourself. I answered his letter as per copy No. 2, but doubting if my testimony, except it suited his views, would be presented, and being ignorant of his intentions, I wrote the Hon. R. C. Winthrop, late Speaker of the House of Representatives, and at present a member of the Senate of the United States, as per copy, (No. 3) and received from him a reply as per copy (No. 4).

Should you wish such services as I can render in this part of the United States, I shall be pleased to give them in return for the many good things you did years since, and if my testimony as regards your efficient and friendly actions towards me and the other earliest Americans who settled in Oregon, will be of use in placing you before the Oregon people in the dignified position of a benefactor, it will be cheerfully rendered.

I am, with much respect, yours truly,

NATH. J. WYETH.

Mr. Thurston writes to Mr. Wyeth. “That Dr. McLoughlin has, since you left the country, rendered his name odious to the people of Oregon.” (That I have rendered my name odious to the people of Oregon, is what I do not know.) And “By his endeavors to prevent the settlement of the country, and to cripple its growth.” I say I never endeavored to prevent the settlement of the country, or to cripple its growth, but the reverse. If the whole country had been my own private property, I could not have exerted myself more strenuously than I did to introduce civilization, and promote its settlement. “Now that he wants a few favors of our Government, he pretends that he has been the long-tried friend of Americans and American enterprise west of the mountains.” Mr. Wyeth states how I acted towards him and his companions, the first Americans that I saw on this side of the mountains. Those that came since, know if Mr. Thurston represents my conduct correctly or not. As to my wanting a few favors, I am not aware that I asked for any favors. I was invited by the promises held out in Linn’s bill, to become an American citizen of this territory. I accepted the invitation and fulfilled the obligations in good faith, and after doing more, as I believe will be admitted, to settle the country and relieve the immigrants in their distresses, than any other man in it, part of my claim, which had been jumped, Mr. Thurston, the delegate from this territory, persuades Congress to donate Judge Bryant, and the remainder is reserved. I make no comment—the act speaks for itself, but merely observe, if I had no claim to Abernethy Island, why did Mr. Thurston get Congress to interfere, and what had Judge Bryant done for the territory to entitle him to the favor of our delegate. Mr. Thurston is exerting the influence of his official situation to get Congress to depart from its usual course, and to interfere on a point in dispute, and donate that island to Abernethy, his heirs and assigns, alias Judge Bryant, his heirs and assigns.

Yours respectfully.

JNO. McLOUGHLIN.

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PUBLICATIONS

OF THE

OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

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SOURCES OF THE HISTORY OF OREGON.

VOLUME I.

NUMBER 1.—JOURNAL OF MEDOREM CRAWFORD—AN ACCOUNT OF HIS TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS IN 1842. PRICE, 25 CENTS.

NUMBER 2.—THE INDIAN COUNCIL AT WALLA WALLA, MAY AND JUNE, 1855, BY COL. LAWRENCE KIP—A JOURNAL. PRICE, 25 CENTS.

NUMBERS 3 TO 6 INCLUSIVE.—THE CORRESPONDENCE AND JOURNALS OF CAPTAIN NATHANIEL J. WYETH, 1831-6.—A RECORD OF TWO EXPEDITIONS FOR THE OCCUPATION OF THE OREGON COUNTRY, WITH MAPS, INTRODUCTION AND INDEX. PRICE, $1.10.

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This is of prime authenticity and authority, being nothing less than two hundred and forty-five letters written by Wyeth before, during, and after his expeditions, together with his original journal of them both, just as it was jotted down day by day. Nearly all of this is brand new matter, hidden from the public in manuscript all these years, and no more genuine “sources” of history of trade, settlement and adventure in the West will ever be forthcoming.—From the Nation (New York) issue of December 14, 1899.

“Seldom has a young historical society been able to illustrate the early annals of its locality by the printing of manuscripts so interesting and so important as The Correspondence and Journal of Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 1831-6, which the Secretary of the Oregon Historical Society, Prof. F. G. Young, has just published as a part of his series of ‘Sources of the History of Oregon.’ He has been so fortunate as to find, in the possession of a lady in Massachusetts, letter books containing two hundred and forty-five of Wyeth’s letters, and his journals of the two expeditions—1832-1833 and 1834-1836—which he conducted from the East to the Oregon country, with a view to the occupation of the latter by the Americans of the United States. These Mr. Young has printed in a volume of two hundred and ninety-two pages, with two maps. It makes a contribution to the early history of the state which would alone justify the existence of the Oregon Historical Society.”—From the American Historical Review, October, 1899.

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THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR 1898-9. INCLUDING PAPER BY SILAS B. SMITH, ON “BEGINNINGS IN OREGON,” 97 PAGES. PRICE, 25 CENTS.

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UNIVERSITY OF OREGON.

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THE GRADUATE SCHOOL confers the degrees of Master of Arts, (and in prospect, of Doctor of Philosophy,) Civil and Sanitary Engineer (C. E.), Electrical Engineer (E. E.), Chemical Engineer (Ch. E.), and Mining Engineer (Min. E.).

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THE COLLEGE OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE ARTS confers the degree of Bachelor of Arts on graduates from the following groups: (1) General Classical; (2) General Literary; (3) General Scientific; (4) Civic-Historical. It offers Collegiate Courses not leading to a degree as follows: (1) Preparatory to Law or Journalism; (2) Course for Teachers.

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THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING.—

A.—The School of Applied Science confers the degree of Bachelor of
Science on graduates from the following groups: (1) General Science;
(2) Chemistry; (3) Physics; (4) Biology; (5) Geology and Mineralogy.
It offers a Course Preparatory to Medicine.

B.—The School of Engineering: (1) Civil and Sanitary; (2) Electrical;
(3) Chemical.

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THE SCHOOL OF MINES AND MINING.
THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE at Portland.
THE SCHOOL OF LAW at Portland.
THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC.
THE UNIVERSITY ACADEMY.

Address

THE PRESIDENT,

Eugene, Oregon.

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● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Spelling and hyphenation were made consistent when a predominant
form was found in this book; otherwise it was not changed.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).