Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/123



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the Jew "despised" Americans had met at Champoeg and oi'j^aiiized an independ- ent government flying the American flag — and saved tiie country. Yet Wyeth I'cndered an immense service to the country. The island he located on was for many years Jjnown as Wyeth 's Island, and is so recorded in legal records in Wash- ington county. And to Wyeth 's energy, money and sacrifices, more than to all others is due the opening of the Oregon trail. The large force of men he brought out in 1834 did thorough work not only in exploring for the best route, but in smoothing down some of the worst places. Wyeth was never a fur trader. He took a higher, nobler and farther look ahead; and to him also belongs part of the honor of bringing the first Christian missionaries to the people on the west side of the Rocky ^lountains — Jason and Daniel Lee — in 18:34.

CAPTAIN Bonneville's expedition ~l<S:Jii

The most notable venture was made by Captain Bonneville of the U. S. army on leave, who led a party of one hundred and ten men in 1832 into Utah, Nevada and Oregon. Want of experience in the business he had undertaken resulted in many errors and severe losses which were increased by the active and unrelenting opposition of the Hudson's Bay Company, already established in this field. Bonneville had projected his expedition on the basis of making scientific observa- tions as much as for trade. And the government had given him a furlough for two years on the condition that he should not only pay all the expenses of his ex- pedition, but also that he must provide suitable maps and instruments, and that he should be careful to find out how many warrior Indians there were in the regions he might explore, and ascertain the nature and character of these na- tives, whether wai-like or disposed to peace, their manner of making war and their instruments of warfare. Proceeding on this basis, Bonneville got as far west as the present city of Walla Walla, with twenty wagons in the year 1832. Bonneville found out a good deal about the countiy, all of which is most charm- ingly written up by Washington Irving; but he lost his entire investment in goods from the opposition and sharp practices of the Hudson's Bay Company.

the wilkes' expedition — 1842

In 1838, Capt. Charles Wilkes of the United States Navy was sent out by the U. S. government for a cruise around the world in the interests of American com- merce, and during which he visited Oregon in the year 1841, and made some examination of the countrj' and the condition of the American settlers in the Willamette valley. This was practically the first sign of our government to take official notice of the American settlements in Oregon ; and although it was inspired and directed by a genuine spirit and desire to promote the interests of the nation and the welfare of the American settlers in Oregon, it was not at- tended with marked success.

On reaching the Columbia river in June. 1841, Wilkes very naturally fell in to the company of the Hudson's Bay Company whose agents were only too well pleased to entertain a U. S. naval officer and make the most favorable impression possible. And so in the wilderness of Oregon, Captain Wilkes found himself most hospitably entertained b.y gentlemen accustomed to all the graces of polite