D. Lee (Missionary) - Ten Years in Oregon

TEN YEARS IN OREGON.

BY D. LEE AND J. H. FROST,
LATE OF THE OREGON MISSION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

NEW-YORK:
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHORS: 200 MULBERRY-STREET.
J. Collord, Printer.
1844.

"Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by D. Lee & J. H. Frost, in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

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Copyright

THE AMERICAN CHURCHES , and the public in general, have been anxiously waiting for correct information of a more extensive and particular kind, concerning the Oregon Territory, than they have hitherto been favoured with. And if the following work is in any tolerable degree calculated to furnish the information required, the authors will have secured the principal object for which they undertook the task of writing a book. If it is not, the usual excuses upon such an occasion are well known; and they may claim the benefit of them, in common with others.

If our work should appear upon examination to be in some respects disjointed, or disproportioned, it must be remembered that it has been our object not to make our volume so large as to put it out of the reach of hundreds who might not feel able to purchase a large work, and in so doing we have been under the necessity of abridging all its parts.

But we have endeavoured, as far as our limits would permit, to lay before our readers all the most important particulars connected with the history of that country, from the time that the north-west coast was discovered by Capt. Cook, in the year 1792, until the present. And it becomes us to state here, that for the knowledge which we are enabled to communicate concerning that territory from the year 1792 down to the establishment of the Oregon Mission in the year 1834, we are principally indebted to the work entitled Astoria, which is from the pen of our much-esteemed countryman, Washington Irving, Esq. And we have not hesitated to make use of the language of that accomplished author as far as it has suited our convenience. And we can freely vouch for the authenticity of that work, if this should be thought necessary; for we have had an opportunity of comparing it with the subject of which it treats, and also with the personal knowledge of several gentlemen who have resided for many years in that country.

Our knowledge of the face of that country was obtained by actual observation, having travelled through, and resided in, the most important portions thereof; and by information received from gentlemen of veracity who have resided there for many years, and travelled very extensively in almost every part of it.

As one of us resided there for the space of ten years, and the other between three and four years, we had a sufficient opportunity to become acquainted with the climate, soil, and productions of the country; and as our residence was immediately and continually among the Indians, and as we had communications with them daily, we consider ourselves fully prepared to judge of their character and habits; and as it was our primary object while among them to labour as far as circumstances would permit for their spiritual welfare, and to observe the effects produced by the communication of religious truths to their dark understandings, as far as their very limited language would enable us to do so, we have been able to judge with reference to the prospects of bringing them into the enjoyment of the blessings of civilization and Christianity.

We were prepared to give more copious examples of their manners and customs; but presume that the examples we have given will be deemed satisfactory by the generality of readers, and feared that we might become tedious by dwelling at greater length upon this part of our subject. Their superstitions are exceedingly numerous, and deeply rooted, and it would require a volume to give anything like a full account of them, and after it was written it would be of no real service to the reader, so we have contented ourselves with giving an account of but a few of them.

By the perusal of our work the reader will get a tolerable idea of the toils, privations, and difficulties through which the missionary is called to pass, while labouring for the salvation of his fellow-men in heathen wilds; and we trust this view of things will lead the Christian, and all the friends of missions, to wrestle more earnestly with God in fervent prayer for the sustaining influences of the Holy Ghost to be poured out upon his servants and handmaidens, while thus, in their isolated situations, they forego all the blessings of a happy, Christian home, and spend their health and lives for the salvation of their wretched brethren; and that they will still be sustained by continual exertions in other respects.

And as the white population of that country has from the first shared in the labours of the missionaries, and are still sharing in their labours, we have endeavoured to show to what extent the Word of Life has proved effectual in bringing them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.

Captain Cooks voyage in the Pacific OceanCaptain Gray, of Boston, enters Columbia RiverSome of his ships crew call at a native village, the inhabitants of which flee, never having seen white men beforeVancouver visits the River, and his Lieutenant, Broughton, explores itCapt. J. Carvers projected exploration of Columbia RiverLewis and Clarks expeditionJohn Jacob Astors trading schemePacific Fur Company.

THAT TRULY RENOWNED NAVIGATOR , Captain Cook, while prosecuting his last voyage in the Pacific Ocean, be came acquainted with the vast quantities of sea otter, beaver, and other valuable furs to be obtained on the north-west coast, and the immense prices to be obtained for those furs in China. When this knowledge was communicated to the civilized world it was, says Washington Irving, as if a new gold coast had been discovered. Individuals from many of the civilized nations engaged in this very lucrative traffic: so that in the year 1792 it is said there were twenty-one vessels under different flags plying along the coast, and trading with the natives. The greater part of these vessels were American, and owned by Boston merchants.

But little was known of the Columbia River, but the fact that it existed, except the vague and indefinite information gathered from Indian reports, up to the above date, when Captain Gray of Boston entered it, notwithstanding the sand-bar and breakers off its mouth, on board of the Columbia , and caused the American colours to wave over Bakers Bay, where she came to anchor.

The latitude of the mouth of the Columbia, according to the document now before me, is 46 19 north. A boat was well manned, and sent on shore, to a village on the beach, (the village referred to was that of the Chenook Indians;) but all the inhabitants fled, except the aged and infirm. The kind manner in which these were treated, and the presents given them, gradually lured back the others, and a friendly intercourse took place. This was the first ship, and these the first white men, that those Indians ever saw. They entertained various conjectures relative to the vessel when in the distance, supposing her to be a floating island, then a monster of the deep; but when they saw the boat pulling for shore with human beings on board, they decided that they were cannibals sent by some superior being to devour them, and ravage their country. And I imagine that I now see them all squatting together like so many frogs, consulting with reference to their future course, in a language full as melodious, and indicative of as much intelligence, as that of his frogship.