Hi Rooters: My BLM e-mail message got away from me as I was visting another Link --the Oregon Trail Interpertive Centers, especially the one at The Dalles. http://www.gorgediscovery.org/Trails/Barlow_Road.htm Barlow Road from The Dalles, Oregon http://www.gorgediscovery.org/Trails/Trail_Today.htm http://www.gorgediscovery.org/ Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & The Wasco County Museum in The Dalles, OR. Violet Moore Guy Formerly of Dufur, Wasco Co., OR 6/15/2000

Someone about a month or so ago was looking for a Brittain. I have run across this reference during my research. http://www.genweb.net/~lorriev/JamesBrattain.htm http://www.genweb.net/~lorriev/GeorgeBrattain.htm I hope the person that was researching the name find this useful. I do not remember which list they were on so I am sending them to the2 logical ones. Sorry if this repeats for some. Ahealy

* HERITAGE BOOKS, INC. * 06-12-2000 * SHORT STOCK & WAREHOUSE FINDS--Buy Now at 20% Off While Supplies Last! Order On Line at http://www.heritagebooks.com/toorder.com and Get FREE SHIPPING! The Conquerors: Historical Sketches of the American Settlement of the Oregon Country, Embracing Facts in the Life and Work of Rev. Jason Lee, the Pioneer and Founder of American Institutions on the Western Coast of North America - Rev. A. Atwood. Rev. Jason Lee and his party left Independence, on the Missouri frontier, on the last day of April 1834. They traveled with a band of trappers and traders, numbering about two hundred men. This book tells the story of western settlement from the perspective of the missionaries -- who bravely preceded most other settlers -- thus offering a unique view of the history of the Oregon Territory. (1907) reprint, 326 pp., new fullname index, paper, $27.00 #A785 >>>NOW ONLY $21.60! Violet Moore Guy 06/12/2000

> My G Grandfather, Dillis Burgess Ward came west to Oregon in 1853 when > he was 15 and later wrote up the story, entitled "across the Plains > in 1853." It was published in 1909, and later republished by the > Wenatchee Daily World. D.B., born 30 Jun 1838 in Ohio County KY, 3 > miles from Hartford, was son of Jesse Ward, and his second wife, > Elizabeth Raley who died when D.B. was just a month old. She was > daughter of Jonathan Raley and Nancy Cook. Both families had earlier > come to KY from Maryland. Jesse served in the war of 1812, and was > present in the battle of New Orleans on the 8 January 1815. For 30 > years was a flat boatman, taking loads of pork and tobacco down the > Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans and hiking home. After Elizabeth > Raley's death, Jesse took his family, Hester Louretta Ward and Basil > Soper Ward, (a baby, John F. had died) children of his first wife, > Mahala Ford, who had died prior to his second marriage, and moved to > to the Kentucky Purchase, where he stayed for two years, and then > moved on to Jackson County Arkansas. He described it as "peopled by > a class of rough, semi civilized people who had little regard for > human life and whose chief diet was corn bread and bear meat, > sandwiched in with bad whisky and tobacco juice." He then moved his > family on to Batesville, and in 1850 married the widow, Exeline Cason > Baltimore whose husband had been in the Arkansas State Legislature. > This also brought to the family Exeline Baltimore's children, Francis > M., Noel B., John M,, Mary E. and Ada A., and soon a half brother, > Kirkwood Clay Ward. Jesse had 240 acres of land, 40 under > cultivation, and he operated lime kilns. The family, Methodist Church > North was anti slavery, finding themselves in a pro slavery state, so > decided to move to the northwest. It took them from June 1852 until > March 29, 1853 to get everything in shape for the journey. Exeline's > brother, Hilary Cason and family, his wife, 6 year year old son and > two younger daughters and William Bently and his wife, a deaf son, > and two younger daughters, plus hired men, teamsters, making 26 > persons, eight wagons and teams and loose cattle. Their route took > them over the Santa Fe Trail, and joined the main trail near the Green > River in northwestern Utah. He describes meeting the first Osage > Indian, passing graves, crossing streams and rivers, herds of > buffalo, and meeting Pawnee and Arapaho Indians. They camped where > Denver now stands, and he describes numerous adventures, including a > stampede of their animals, and the trip down the Columbia from the > lower cascades. The group arrived at the mouth of the Sandy on the > 20th of September, 1853 and made their last camp on a "beautiful > little brook in the Waldo Hills, some ten or twelve miles southeast of > Salem. They were fortunate to lose no member of their party. The > family lived north of Salem for a year and then Jesse bought land and > made his home near the Pringle schoolhouse in Oak Hills, three miles > south of Salem. Carolyn Fix Blount > > >

The Leonard's Bridge Crash of 1896 As told by W.S. Grant to Margaret Walker of The Dalles Chronicle, October 26, 1921. Early freighters of Central Oregon endured inclement weather, camped in the open with their heavy wagons drawn by six, eight or ten-horse teams, came to The Dalles regularly before 1910 to receive dry goods, groceries and other commodities for cities of eastern and central Oregon. Many of these freighters brought great loads of wool and wheat into The Dalles and carried merchandise on their return trips. They were fearless and uncomplaining, drove over steep grades with precipitous hillsides down into deep canyons far below. Whitening bones and broken wagons many yards below the roads told the silent story of terrible accidents, where freighters, stagecoaches and emigrants and their horses or oxen plunged down to their mangling deaths, or were badly hurt miles from the closest help. W.S. Grant, now a rancher of Condon, often made trips from Condon and Fossil to The Dalles with double freight wagons drawn by teams of eight and ten horses. "I would enjoy telling you of one of these experiences," Mr. Grant related, adding, "It was the last of June 1896 that I came to The Dalles to get a load of goods for one of the Fossil merchants. I started bright and early one morning, with an eight-horse team and two wagons, one trailed behind the other. I could make the trip down in two days; but it was uphill going back and, with the heavy load, I would need five or six days for the return trip. I needed good horses and I had some dandies. There were two big bays, which I bought the year before for all the cash I could scrape together. I'd had the other six for several years and they had drawn many a heavy load over the hills for me. Whenever I came in from the trip, my wife and children seemed about as glad to see the horses as me! Kit, the big gray mare, was their favorite. All four children piled on her back at once and she didn't mind it a bit, just walked as careful as she could so they wouldn't fall off. "At noon I always stopped at the nearest place where we could get water. After I had watered the horses and taken off their bridles, I'd put on the nosebags, so they could eat their grain; then I'd open my grub box and eat my lunch. At night I usually camped near some farm house, and after I had tended to the horses, I'd roll up in my blankets for the night. There were two toll bridges to go over on this trip. One was across the Deschutes River at Miller's and the other was the Leonard bridge over the John Day. "We got into The Dalles on the evening of the third day. I put the horses up at a feed yard and stayed at a hotel that night. The next morning I got out bright and early to see to the horses and get ready for the return trip. I received the goods and had both wagons loaded by noon. As soon as I could get my dinner, I started but had to go slow and let the horses rest often on the hills. On the third night I camped at the Leonard toll bridge on the John Day River. It was an old bridge made of heavy timbers and about 400 feet long. Before long, two other freighters with outfits like mine came along and stopped to camp. We talked a while that evening but turned in soon to get a good night's rest, for we wanted to start early next morning before the heat of the day started. "We all hitched up about the same time. One of the other fellows started out ahead of me and I let him get across before I started, for eight big work horses and two heavily-loaded freight wagons are no light load on a bridge. As soon as he pulled off, I started on. The horses lifted their feet in a queer way and seemed to be looking for something! We had just gotten well onto the middle of the bridge when it began to quiver. 'Oh, God!' I thought, 'She's going down!" Well, sir, those horses just stood stock still, with heads up and every muscle as tense as steel just as if they knew what was coming. "The bridge swayed for an instant; the timbers creaked and groaned, and then the big piers gave way and down we went! It seemed that we were going through space for a long time. I jumped from the wagon when we started to fall. The floor of the bridge was bolted and fastened together with heavy timbers and it held together. It fell across the timbers that had gone first, in a tilted position. I went into the water at the edge of the bridge on the high side of the floor. When I drew myself up so I could see the ruin, something seemed to snap in my brain. I felt a terrible rage against the man that had let all that happen by his negligence. "The heavy wooden piers had fallen across the horses and wagons, pinning the whole outfit on that tilted surface. Some of the horses' legs had been driven clear through the floor! Nearest to me was Kit, the horse we all loved the most. A big beam had fallen across her back and seemed to have cut her body in two! I struck out and swam for shore, crazy mad. There were five men standing on the bank and not one of them did a thing to help me out! I guess they were too surprised to move when they saw me swimming out, as if nothing happened. I climbed up the bank and then everything became dark. "When I came to myself again, they had me in a bed. Three of my ribs were broken and one knee was banged up pretty bad. The men were out trying to get what they could out of the water. They told me afterwards that four of the horses were still alive, but two of them were suffering so much that they had to be shot. The other two slid off where the water was not very deep. They were not hurt very badly, but they had to stand in the water nearly over their backs for eight hours, and when the men finally got the timbers away so they could get them out, they were so chilled that only the best of care saved their lives and they never were any good for work after that! "Everything that went down was a practical loss, except me, and how I ever got out was surely a miracle! At least my folks thought so and they didn't seem to mind the other loss so much when they knew I was alive. I tried to get damages, but I couldn't get anything, never even got my $3 toll back! The merchants stood the merchandise loss. I had a lot of 4th of July stuff in the wagons and the folks found bunting and sacks of peanuts down the river for 10 or 12 miles! My wife came after me the next day and took me home in a bed in the bottom of the hack. I was laid up all summer!" Editors' note: Margaret Patison Walker Mumau, born in 1887, wrote for The Dalles Chronicle for several years, then taught English at Oregon State College. She was the daughter of Bernice Capitola Grant and James M. Patison who were married in 1886 at Wamic, Oregon. Her siblings were Clyde Huston Patison, Phyllis Mae Patison Patrick and Kenneth Clifford Patison. Bernice Capitola Grant was a sister of Kittie Grant, who married John Winston Allen, and W.S. Grant of this story. Kittie was the great-grandmother of James Q. Johnson of Wasco County, Oregon. Visit the National-Award-Winning Sherman County Historical Museum Moro, Oregon www.shermanmuseum.org/ May through October Daily 10-5 [email protected] USGenWeb - www.rootsweb.com/~orsherma/index.htm

To the list, I received an attachment today that I deleted immediately (without opening of course). It may have been ligit, but I did not know the sender, so out it went. I wanted to warn the list in case it is a new form of that resume attachment. It was from [email protected], all it said was recruiting.doc (or something similar) I deleted it so fast I forgot to write the exact words down. The letter itself had no explaination as to what the attachment contained (another reason for my suspicion). Now it could have been a college or some tech school for my daughter,but I would think they would have some sort of explanation to to mention the schools name somwhere in the letter and/or atttachment. I suppose it also could have been a spam type thing, you know... lose 40 lbs in just 2 days... I just wanted to put out a warning just in case. Ahealy PS I sent a letter to the sender telling them I do not allow attachments from persons I do not know.... The letter just came back, undeliverable.

At one time someone put a web address on here for actual photos of trail ruts and specific places on the trail. I must have deleted it off my favorites. could some kind soul please send it again??? Thank you, Carol L Broom

Sherry Kaseberg asked me to share what I sent her with the entire list. I t was response to her list of recomended sites, some of which were not homepages. > Rather than add a new list of links I'll make three recommendations: > For Oregon Trail go to http://www.over-land.com/trore.html#people > For Oregon History/Government go to > http://www.odot.state.or.us/eshtm/histlnk.htm > For Genealogy go to http://www.CyndisList.com/ > Jim Tompkins

>>>Hi. All I got at that address was a notice that it was unfound. Thank, Ken<<< Go to the end, where I have posted next tothe one, which doesn't work for you! I went in through ORGenWeb, even though I knew it was on\the LinnCounty website. One ofthe families, which I am researching is on this website. .....................> to end of message. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2000 1:19 PM Subject: Re: Elliott Cut Off > The story of the Elliott Cut-Off and rosters of immigrants who used the trail > accross the high Oregon Desert in 1853 and 1854 is presented by the Linn > County Historical Society at: > > www.rootsweb.com/~orlinn/1853/intro.html > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~orlinn/1853/1853intro.html Roster, Lost Wagon Train, 1853

The correct URL appears to be: http://www.rootsweb.com/~orlinn/1853/1853intro.html Clovis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Robinson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 8:35 AM Subject: Re: Elliott Cut Off > Hi. All I got at that address was a notice that it was unfound. Thank, > Ken > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2000 1:19 PM > Subject: Re: Elliott Cut Off > > > > The story of the Elliott Cut-Off and rosters of immigrants who used the > trail > > accross the high Oregon Desert in 1853 and 1854 is presented by the Linn > > County Historical Society at: > > > > www.rootsweb.com/~orlinn/1853/intro.html > > > > > > Charles Darneille > > University Place, WA > > [email protected] > > >

The listing of the 1852 Immigrants on the Lynn Co., OR website was a monumental task!! Thank you to those involved. I realize that changes, etc. are not accepted - I have a question and I don't know to whom I should address it. All of the Creswells listed are clearly my great grandparents and great granduncles, etc. EXCEPT Captain R M Creswell. The ODLC files appear to have been the source for the rest of the family - - there is nothing beside the name of Captain R M Creswell. Would anyone be able to tell me what the source was for his name? Thanks for any help. Judy - Tacoma, WA [email protected]

Hi. All I got at that address was a notice that it was unfound. Thank, Ken ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2000 1:19 PM Subject: Re: Elliott Cut Off > The story of the Elliott Cut-Off and rosters of immigrants who used the trail > accross the high Oregon Desert in 1853 and 1854 is presented by the Linn > County Historical Society at: > > www.rootsweb.com/~orlinn/1853/intro.html > > > Charles Darneille > University Place, WA > [email protected] >

HI all, My group of Gordon's came from England to Missouri to Utah and on to San Jose by sometime between 1859 and 1863. Does anyone know of any sort of wagon train or influx of Mormans (or perhaps reasons why the emigration) during this time period? Thanks. Terri

The NDGW tell's me my graetgrandfather come over land from New York in 1855. Can anyone help me on this? Delbert T Greer Dublin, Ca. at the crossroads

Go to the following website of Stephanie Flora for a great list of Oregon Trail wagon trains and a wealth of additional information on the Oregon pioneers. It's a really great site. http://www.teleport.com/~sflora/ortrail.htm Mimi Stang

My relatives went to the OREGON-WASHINGTON area in the 1860-1880 time period, does anyone know of a list of wagon trains, and the people on them, or the trails they went across. The names I am looking for are, RAWLS, RALLS, GRASTY or BINKLEY. Any help is appreciated. thanks BOBBY RAWLS 100 N. COTTONWOOD BIG SPRING, TEXAS 79720-1769 (915)267-5636 [email protected]

> http://www.gfo.org/ > Genealogical Forum of Oregon, Inc. > > > http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cgaunt/oregon.html > Oregon genealogical resources. > > http://159.121.115.13/databases/aboutlocator.html > Oregon State Archives > > Worldwide Top 100 Genealogy Sites: > http://www.worldwide-top100.net/tops5/rankem.cgi?action=in&id=search > > > The Most Requested Genealogy Web Sites: > http://www.hostedscripts.com/topsites/top.cgi?user=ancestral&click=searches > > > G100 Genealogy Sites: > http://www.irigen.com/cgi-melvindesign/g100/topsites.cgi?ID=153 > > Top 100 Genealogy: > http://genbooks.hypermart.net/cgi-bin/topsites/topsites.cgi?ID=117 Oregon History, Oregon Trail and Oregon Records: http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/county/cphome.html http://www.aracnet.com/~histgaz/titles.htm http://cnug.clackesd.k12.or.us/oretrail/sites.html http://www.ukans.edu/kansas/seneca/oregon/mainpage.html http://www.peak.org/~mransom/pioneers.html http://www.over-land.com/trore.html Jane Kirkpatrick's web site provides information about her new book, All Together in One Place, based on a true story about experiences on the Oregon Trail mentioned in Ezra Meeker's diary! http://www.jkbooks.com/index.html Jane lives on a John Day River homestead E of Moro, Sherman County, OR. Visit the National-Award-Winning Sherman County Historical Museum Moro, Oregon www.shermanmuseum.org/ May through October Daily 10-5 [email protected] USGenWeb - www.rootsweb.com/~orsherma/index.htm

Baker-Boyer Bank and Baker history might be obtained from the Walla Walla County USGenWeb lookup people! Or the Fort Walla Walla Museum. Sherry Kaseberg ----- Original Message ----- From: Laura C <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2000 10:52 PM Subject: BAKER BANK, OREGON TRAIL, VIRGINIA > I am interested in the BAKER-Boyer Bank history from Walla Walla, > Washington. > > This is Baker Family History. Looking for links to any Oregon Trail Bakers. > Note: the connection > Baker, however, is definitely a name associated with the English > "Borderers." > > > http://www.wiu.edu/users/mfeak/#Martin and Ann Hannah Clark Baker first > appeared > > http://www.wiu.edu/users > > A Brief, Early, Baker Family History > > Martin and Ann Hannah Clark Baker first appeared in the records of Halifax > Co., VA. about 1775. Though many of their descendants have searched for > their parents and their birthplaces for more than 50 years, none has yet > been successful. FROM WHERE DID THEY COME? > > Alexander Marshall Baker (1850-1937) told the family that Martin, his great > great-grandfather, was born in 1714, but since records prove that he died in > 1820, it is highly unlikely that he lived to be 106 years old! Were there > two Martin Bakers in VA. who were father and son? > > Marshall also said that Martin had come to Virginia from England and that he > was Scot-Irish. ( a misnomer since this particular group of emigrants were > actually Scot-English from the border between Scotland and England; a better > term is "Borderer.") > > Several ships did arrive in the Colonies from England with passengers named > Martin Baker. Ships coming that early, however, listed only names and ages > of passengers, so nothing more is known about those Martin Bakers. There > were, however, 5 or 6 Martin Bakers in Colonial Virginia, so this puzzle is > yet to be solved. If only early records contained more information! Baker, > however, is definitely a name associated with the English "Borderers." > > Martin's first child, Susannah, was born in 1755, some years before the > other children. This could mean that Martin had an earlier wife before > Hannah, or it could be that there were more children about whom we do not > know. Martin and Hannah raised at least two other children, James and > Henrietta Maria, to adulthood in Halifax Co. Another daughter, Elizabeth > died at age 18. > > Daughter Henrietta first married William Hamlett in Halifax Co. in 1786 and > may later have married Samuel Maires/Maines (sp?) before 1805 according to > a neighbor's court deposition some years later. No trace of Henrietta has > been found in Virginia after about 1802. She may have moved to N.C. > > Henrietta was a witness at the marriage of Susannah Baker and Ransome > Colquitt in 1785 in Halifax Co., VA. The couple then moved to Rockingham > County, N.C. where they raised 5 children. Interestingly, later records > show that Ransome, a Revolutionary War veteran, a dragoon in the First VA. > Regiment, was the bondsman in the 1815 marriage in Garrard Co. of Cassandra > Cabot Colquitt to James' son, Martin. She is not listed as a daughter of > Ransome's in N.C. But KY. law at the time required a father or brother to > sign for the bride since females were not allowed to sign legal documents. > If she were a daughter, cousin married cousin, not an uncommon practice at > that time. No record has yet been found regarding Cassandra's parentage nor > any indication of her birthplace. So the mystery remains as to who > Cassandra was. > > In December, 1820, Cassandra died in childbirth with son, John; there were > several older children, as well. Martin then married Eliza Rice, sister of > his brother's wife (Thomas and Clarisa Rice) and moved to Missouri, near > Trenton, where he died in 1875 and where he and Eliza are buried. > > About 1778, his grandfather, Martin and wife, Hannah, moved with son, > James, and his wife, Elizabeth Fuqua, originally of Charlotte Co., VA., to > Garrard Co., KY. Before leaving VA., Martin sold their household belongings > and two slaves, Charlotte and son, Lewis, to daughter, Henrietta, and > son-in-law, William, so they obviously were unable to take much with them. > > This, plus the fact that Halifax Co. is on the N.C. border, indicate that > their route was The Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and then > along the Cumberland Trace that ran from the Gap to Fort Harrod. That early > it was still a rough trail, not wide enough for a wagon. They would have had > to walk much of the way, able to ride horseback only over the less rugged > parts. > > At that time, this was the only land route into KY. All of the river routes > were too far to the north to be feasible for them. They most likely > traveled with a group because attacks by bands of rogue Indians still > occurred. (In 1795, Chief Doublehead captured five Virginians in Edmonson > County, killed them, and boiled their bodies!) Gangs of white bandits also > preyed on travelers through the narrow Gap, long after the Indians were > gone. > > They may have traveled with a group of Baptists since the influx of settlers > during this period in Garrard Co. were nearly all Virginia Baptists who left > Virginia for religious reasons. They resented having to pay taxes to the > state church of Virginia when they were not members. (Most of the > Scots-English were originally Presbyterians, and then once here in thwe > Colonies, many became Baptists. Most were quite hostile toward The Church of > England. Records show that Martin's grandson, Martin, was a Baptist in > Garrard Co.) > > Their first stop in KY., in all likelihood, was Fort Logan (now Stanford), > the closest fort to their destination. (This fort no longer exists.) > Martin had received a land grant in Kentucky of 1,200 acres that appears to > have been in Anderson Co. But they lived on Sugar Creek, in Lincoln Co. > (Later Garrard Co.) a few miles from Lancaster, where Martin ran a > gristmill. Both Martin and Hannah are thought to be buried in Garrard Co., > but their grave sites are unknown. > > By 1843, James was in Anderson Co.; he deeded land there to son, Beverly, > and his wife, Isabel Sneed. Beverly and Isabel are buried near Willisburg > in Washington Co. in the Glenn's Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. (The church > is gone now; I have a photo of their badly erroded tombstone.) James also > owned land in Mercer Co. He died in 1845 and is likely buried in Mercer > or Washington Counties, though neither a burial site nor last will and > testament has been found for him. > > James had at least eight children, possibly more ( For a list of them and > further descendants, click on the link below for the five generation tree). > James and Elizabeth split up after many years and many children. He married > Jenny Jamison late in life, and Elizabeth moved to N.C. and remarried there. > > Thus far, more than 2,170 descendants of James have been located in many > states---from KY. to CA., and even in Chile, South America. Currently there > are at least twenty descendants researching the family. As yet, no > descendants have been located for Henrietta. We know the names of Susannah > B. Colquitt's children, but we have yet to find any of their descendants. > Susanna died in Greenbrier, VA. (later W. VA.) in June 1845, where she had > been receiving a Revolutionary War Widow's pension. > > Laura in Seattle > >

OT Fans.. Great summary....explains just why they settled in the Willamette Valley. http://www.teleport.com/~eotic/road2oregon/sa06JasonLee.html http://www.teleport.com/~eotic/road2oregon Jason Lee's Mission to Oregon When the first wave of American settlers arrived in the Oregon Country, it was ironic that they were greeted by two Canadians: one a sympathetic rival who was under orders to discourage them, and the other probably the single person most responsible for establishing white settlements, organizing schools, and creating a government. The first was John McLoughlin, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The second was Jason Lee, Methodist missionary to Oregon. With the exception of a handful of explorers, traders, and mountain men, the first Americans to arrive in the Oregon Territory were Protestant Missionaries sent by the Methodist-Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational churches. They failed in their primary task of converting the Indians, but they were successful in providing a foundation of order for white settlement in Oregon during a critical and potentially chaotic time of transition. In the course of trying to bring Christianity to the Indians, they founded the first permanent schools in Oregon. Their presence was also reassuring to people contemplating the trip to Oregon, as the missions, like the trading posts and forts that dotted the Trail, were seen as islands of civilization in the wilderness. Attention was first drawn to Oregon in 1829 when the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) heard a report from their Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) mission about the abundance of unconverted Indians on the West Coast. The ABCFM was a Boston-based group of missionaries supported chiefly by the Congregational Church but also embraced the Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, and Methodist-Episcopals. They had been working to convert Indians since 1816, when they set up a mission among the Cherokee. While the ABCFM would go on to play a major role in foreign lands, at that time their only prior experience outside the United States was in Liberia, an American colony in Africa created to send home freed slaves, and Hawaii, which was an important stop on the China Circuit. Captain Jonathon Green was dispatched from Oahu to explore the Oregon coast, which at that time extended from Alaska to California. Over the course of a two-year journey, he obtained the names of 34 tribes of Indians which he believed needed instruction. His report reached Boston in 1832. At the same time, four Flathead Indians of the Nez Perce tribe in northern Idaho traveled 3000 miles to find General William Clark in St. Louis, who had explored Oregon 25 years earlier as a captain with Meriwether Lewis. They wanted to know about the "true mode of worshiping the Great Spirit." They wanted a copy of the "book of directions" on how to "conduct themselves in order to enjoy his favor" and how to "be received into the country where the Great Spirit resides and live forever with him." A letter from these Indians was printed in the leading publication of the Methodist-Episcopal Church. This letter and Captain Green's report from Hawaii about the 34 heathen tribes of Oregon sparked the imagination of the people of the United States. Meetings were held to see what citizens could do. Committees were appointed to inquire into the situation. Dr. Wilbur Fisk of Wesleyan University in Massachusetts asked the Methodist Mission Board and the ABCFM to establish a mission among the Flatheads. An appropriation of $3000 was secured and Dr. Fisk's former pupil, the Rev. Jason Lee, was chosen to lead a caravan to Oregon. Thirty-year-old Lee was working near his birthplace in Ontario when he received word of his appointment. Before heading west, Lee was sent on a tour of the eastern states to present his missionary cause to the people. Lee contracted with Nathaniel Wyeth to accompany him on his second trading expedition. Supplies for the mission were forwarded to Oregon on Wyeth's brig, the May Dacre. The Wyeth-Lee Party set out with the 1834 fur caravan of Captain William Sublette, which also included naturalists J.K. Townsend and Thomas Nuttall. They left Independence on April 28, 1834, and arrived at the Green River in time for the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, the annual gathering of fur traders, Indians, and mountain men. There, they separated from the Sublette Party and struck out for the Oregon Country. On Sunday July 27, 1834, during a layover along the Snake River, the local mountain men, Indians, and missionaries heard the first Protestant sermon delivered in the Oregon Country. It was reportedly a festive day, with Indians in full regalia and mountain men dressed in what passed for their Sunday best. After the sermon, there was a horse race in which a man was killed when he fell from his steed. The next day, Lee conducted the first Protestant funeral service west of the Rockies. Wyeth stayed behind to construct Fort Hall while the Lee Party went on to Fort Vancouver. At Fort Vancouver, McLoughlin insisted it was too dangerous to be among the Flatheads and suggested instead the Willamette Valley. The Hudson's Bay Company provided men, boats, and provisions for the journey to Mission Bottom, outside present-day Salem, in the fall of 1834. The site selected was among the melons and cucumbers of former Astorian Joseph Gervais. They pitched tents and started building an unhewn log cabin. Men trained as missionaries found themselves pressed into service as woodsmen, carpenters, blacksmiths, and husbandmen. Lee was heard to say, "men never worked harder or performed less," and the first storm of the winter rained down upon a roofless house. They finished the cabin between storms. By spring, they had 30 acres fenced and planted. Lee founded a school at Mission Bottom to educate the local Indians in what he considered a proper, Christian manner. There were fourteen Indian students the first year, of whom seven died and five ran away. In 1836 there were twenty-five students, of whom sixteen fell ill. Only one of the surviving students converted. By 1842, almost all the Indians in the Willamette Valley were dead of diseases brought to their homelands by white missionaries, mountain men, sailors, and settlers. The missions in western Oregon no longer had any reason to exist. Some of them degenerated into crass commercialism before being shut down. In March of 1836, Lee wrote to his mentor, Dr. Fisk, to complain that without the able assistance of tradesmen and farmers to oversee the day-to-day details of running the mission, there was little time available for the business of religion. Lee's letter resulted in reinforcements in 1837 and 1838. The first arrived by ship on May 28, 1837. Among the new arrivals were such early notables as Elijah White, who would later return to the United States to lead the 1842 migration to Oregon; Alanson Beers and W.H. Wilson, who were in Oregon's first government; and Lot Whitcomb, who built the first steamboat in Oregon and founded the town of Milwaukie. In 1837, Lee chose The Dalles as the site of his first branch mission, where he placed his nephew Daniel Lee in charge. Wascopam, as the mission was called, was at first successful, but backsliders soon outnumbered converts. In 1847, Wascopam was deeded over to Perrin Whitman, the nephew of Marcus Whitman. After the arrival of the reinforcement of 1838, Lee returned to New England to plead for more farmers and mechanics to support his mission. At Westport, Missouri, he received news of the deaths of his wife -- Anna Maria Pittman, whom he had married only the previous year -- and son in childbirth. Lee carried with him a petition from the Americans in Oregon to the US government asking for protection from the British. This petition marked Lee's transition from missionary to colonizer. Lee remained in New England for two years recruiting settlers for Oregon. His efforts were successful, and he married Lucy Thompson before returning to Oregon on the ship Lausanne with the Great Reinforcement of 1840. Lee's fifty recruits included seven ministers, two doctors, four farmers, six mechanics, and four teachers. Among them was George Abernethy, a miller who would become steward of the branch mission at Oregon City and later the first man to be elected governor of Oregon. Upon their arrival, the population at Mission Bottom totaled forty adults and fifty children. Branch missions were started at Nisqually, Clatsop, Umpqua, and Willamette Falls (near the present-day sites of Tacoma, Astoria, Roseburg, and Oregon City, respectively). Nisqually and Clatsop were both later abandoned. The Methodists organized a congregation in Oregon City in 1840 and began building a church there in 1842. The church was completed in 1844, the same year Oregon City was incorporated under the Provisional Government. The Oregon City congregation is the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in Oregon, and it is second only to the Catholic congregation at St. Paul in longevity. In 1841, serious flooding made it apparent that Lee had chosen a poor location for his original mission, and he relocated from Mission Bottom to Mission Mill, a site within present-day Salem. Lee's Indian Manual Training School was moved to its present location at Chemeketa, and the following year a school for the white population was started at Mission Mill. The Oregon Institute, as it was known, was the first school for white Americans established west of Missouri. It later grew to become Willamette University, the first college in the Oregon Territory. Lee was replaced in July, 1843, by Rev. George Gary for not converting enough Indians to justify the vast expenditures needed to maintain his missions. Lee was in Honolulu, heading home by ship, when he learned of this. He continued on without waiting for his replacement to arrive. Lee spent the last two years of his life seeking vindication. He died in Canada on March 2, 1845, and his body was returned to Salem in 1906. Laura

Anyone seeking additional information about the Oregon Trail might try emailing the museum system. This site has an email for questions, I know they have historian contacts. The museum in Baker City, Oregon is sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management I believe, it is awesome!! Arrayed along Interstate 84 in Oregon, which follows the route of the Oregon Trail, there are five museums to help visitors understand the past and present of our state. All of them address the Oregon Trail and how it changed the land forever, but several of them go beyond that chapter of history to examine the natural history of the area, the Indians who dominated the land for thousands of years, and the more recent past of buckaroos and World War Two internment camps. http://www.teleport.com/~eotic/5centers.html Laura