Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/212

122 was "to ascertain by personal observation the condition of the country, the character of the Indian nations and tribes, and the facilities for introducing the gospel and civilization among them." Parker proposed to go to Oregon in 1834 and left Ithaca in May. On arriving at St. Louis he found that he was too late to join the annual caravan of fur traders, hence he returned home and spent the remainder of the year in going through the country and arousing increased interest in the proposed enterprise. He finally started on March 14, 1835, and arrived at St. Louis on April 4th, and found Dr. Whitman already there. They proceeded at once by steamboat from St. Louis to Liberty which was then the frontier town of Missouri from which the Rocky mountain fur trading expeditions then started. The caravan made up of the trappers and hangers-on of Fontenelle, the captain, and capitalist of the expedition, got off on the 15th of May, and reached Laramie in the Black Hills on the 1st of August.

And here at Laramie, Dr. Whitman, made a showing of the reserve force and ready ability which great exigencies might bring out. Hearing that he was a doctor and near to a man of God, both natives and trappers flocked to see him and secure his favor and services. From the back of Captain Jim Bridger. who afterward discovered Salt Lake, and built Fort Bridger, Dr. Whitman cut out an iron arrow head three inches in length which a Blackfeet Indian had planted there; and from the shoulder of another hunter he extracted an arrow imbedded in the flesh which the man had carried there for two years. This exhibition of his skill excited the wonder of the Flatheads and Nez Perces gathered there. and all joined in clamorous pleadings that Whitman or other men like him be sent to their tribes to teach and preach.

At this juncture of affairs, it appears that there must have been some sort of friction between the Rev. Parker and the successful Doctor. For without any very good reason ever given to the public. Dr. Whitman left the missionary party and returned to the States for the purpose of obtaining other assistants and joining the overland train of fur traders in the spring of 1836. Mr. Gray in his history of Oregon (p. 108) states the reason for Whitman leaving Parker and returning to the states (to be) the fact that Parker could not abide the frontier ways and manners of Whitman who evidently believed in "doing in Rome as the Romans did;" while Rev. Parker carried the etiquette of his cultured home town to the rough ways of the Rocky mountaineers. And as Gray is something of a partisan for Whitman, there is doubtless a foundation for this explanation; that Whitman went back to New York to get rid of Parker and make a new start with more congenial associates.

However, Parker went on with the natives. Flatheads and Nez Perces, being on the same route with Bridger's party of sixty men for eight days. As they proceeded, Parker studied the Indians and taught them the ten commandments and in due time, reached Walla Walla, October 6, where he was feasted by the Hudson 's Bay agent with roast duck, bread, butter and milk, the first he had seen after leaving the Missouri river. From Walla Walla Parker proceeded to Fort Vancouver where he arrived on October 16, and was welcomed and hospitably entertained by Dr. John McLoughlin. Parker visited the mouth of the Columbia, the Willamette valley, and many points in the upper Columbia, going as far north as Fort Colville, and making a careful study of the Indians and selecting eligible sites for missions. He selected the site of Wai-il-at-pa (six