Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/207

Rh Flatheads who had come to the rendezvous for sale of their furs, and was by them escorted back to tlirir dwii cuuiitrN in rrj;iiii. lie was received l)y the Fiatiicads with jicniiinc rririidsliip. hearty gocni I'rrlin^-, it not great rejoicing; and within two weeks t'linii his advent among Ihnii, it tiie account of his work is Id he rrcilitt'd, he had taii^'ht two thousand Indians some of tin; ])rayers of tlie Church, and achiiilled six hundred to the riti' ol' hajitism. Vvoui the Flatlieads l)e Sinel went to the Coeur .CAhMies. the I'end d'Oreiiles. tile Kalispclls, the Kootenais, any l-^ithei- De Smet and spoke of him in the most affectionate terms.

Returning now to the work of sending missionaries ovcrlaml to Oregon, it is seen that as a consequence ol' all this agitation, the Missionary Board of the Methodist lOpiscopa! church was imi)ortuned to establish a mission among the Fhithead Indians at once. A call was issued for volunteer missionaries for this work in distant Oregon. In answer to that call. Jason Lee, formerly of Stan- stead, (anada. and his ne|iliew, Daniel Lee, appeared and oft'ered themselves for this work, dason Lee had formerly been engaged in this line of work in the Rritisli i)i'ovinces. He had all the qualifications for the labors, trials and dan- cers for such ;i field of missionary effort. In fact, no man could have been found probably who was as well j)repared for such a trying and responsible trust. Lee was accepted l).v the Methodist board and later on made a member of the con- ference in 1838. He was now thirty years of age, tall, powerfully built, rather slow and awkward in his movements, prominent nose, strong jaws, pure blue eyes, with a vast store of reliable common sense. Such was the fii'st man sent out to old Oregon to preach the gospel to the heathen.

By October 10, 1833, three thousand dollars had been provided for an outfit, and in March, 1834, Lee left New York for the west, lecturing on his way, and taking with him his nephew, Daniel, together with two laymen, Cyrus Shepard, I if Lynn. Mass., and Philip L. Edwards, and adding Courtney M. Walker, of Richmond. Mo. At Independence, Mo., the missionary party fell in with Nathaniel J. Wyeth, then starting on his second trading expedition to' the Columbia rivei', and were afterwards joined by the fur trader, Sublette, going to Cali- fornia, and his party; and as they filed out westward on the 28th day of April, 1834, the party numbered all told seventy men and two hundred and fifty horses. Such was the first missionary expedition to old Oregon.

The missionar.v party reached old Fort Hall, which was .some forty miles north of the present town of Pocatello, Idaho, on the 26th da.y of July, and held there the ni'xt day, lieing Sunday, the first public service of the Protestant churelies ever held west of the state of ^Missouri and Missouri river. Jason Lee conducted this service and preached to a congregation made up of Wyeth's men, Hudson Bay fur hunters, half breeds and Indians, all of whom conducted them- sehcs in a most respectful and devotional manner. It was a wonderful sight, a graiul and solemn sight; the rough and reckless children of the forest, of vari- ois tongues and customs, gathered from the four quarters of the globe, a thou-