Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/216



getic young man of some education, and large natural abilities with great courage and forceful purposes in life. Mr. Gray wrote a history of Oregon after he had spent most of his life out here that must not be overlooked bj^ any student who wants to know the whole history of the prominent actors in the Northwest.

Dr. Whitman was furnished by the Missionarj^ Board with necessary tools, im- plements, seeds, grains, and clothing for two years. At Liberty, Missouri, he boiight teams, wagons, some pack animals, riding horses and sixteen milk cows, and these were all under the charge of Gray, and the two Indian boys who were now goii:g back to their homes with AVhitman. By hard work and energetic push- ing the party got across the Missouri, and out on the plains in time to join the party of one Fitzpatrick for company and mutual protection.

Here then was the first attempt of white women to cross the gi-eat American desert, as the plains of Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming were then called; and sealed the Rocky mountains and penetrate the wilderness of old Oregon. It was, indeed, on the part of these two women an act of the greatest heroism, requiring more than ordinary courage and self-sacrifice. While thousands of women and children followed after them, it was these two women who pointed the way, set the pace, and showed the world that women could accomplish the great and haz- ardous trip. Presbj'terian writers and historians have seized upon these facts to show that these two young Presbyterian women from the state of New York, were the real pioneers of civilization in old Oregon ; and well they might so claim, for it may be set down as a fact that no country is ever civilized until it has re- ceived the humanizing touch and gracious benediction of the love and self-sacrifice of consecrated women.

Other men and their wives braved the terrors of the wilderness, the plains, mountains and Indians, and came to Oregon, to teach and uplift the Indian. Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife, together with Wm. H. Gray of Utica, New York, accom- panied Dr. Whitman and wife in 1836 ; Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding being the first American white women to cross the Continent to Oregon. (The first white woman to cross the Continent to Oregon was Eloisa McLoughlin, the daugh- ter of Dr. John McLoughlin, who was born at Fort William at the North end of Lake Superior, February 13, 1817, and came with her father to Oregon in 1824.) Rev. Elkanah Walker and wife, and the Rev. Gushing Eells and wife (Congre- gationalists) came out in 1838, and started a mission on the Spokane river or a branch thereof. Rev. John Smith Griffin and wife (Congregationalists) came out in 1839. Mr. Griffin made two unsuccessful attempts to establish a mission among the Snake Indians in Idaho, and then settled on the Tualatin Plains of Washington county, where Mrs. Griffin, the first white woman in the county, taught the first Indian school west of the Willamette river. Dr. Wm. Geiger, came out as a missionary in 1839 to teach the Indians, took charge of Dr. Whit- man's mission while Whitman made his memorable trip back to the States on horseback in the winter of 1842. Rev. Harvey Clarke and wife, Congregation- alists, came out as independent missionaries in 1840, taught school one year at the Methodist mission on French Prairie, then moved to Washington County, continued teaching as Independents, took up land and settled at Forest Grove. Mr. Clarke gave many years service to the building of Pacific University. The only ones of these families having children yet living is Rev. Walker, one of whose sons is the Hon. Cyrus H. Walker, of Linn county, the oldest living white man