Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/377



Oregon. The Oregon field offered adventure, the gratifieation of a national i)re- .liuiice. and free land, and set on foot one of the most unique and t'ar-reaeliing in inflnencc iiiovomcnts of popidation the world has seen since the discovery of America.

AVJIAT SORT OK PEOPLE STARTED FOR OREGON ?

What were the (lualifieations of person or property which selected or limited the emigrants to Oregon ? The movement was not a land speculation, although every family expected to get free land as a homestead. There was no corpora- tion, capital or investment at the bottom of or back of the movement. There were no rich men in the caravan, and no helpless poor. In those days on the pioneer border the distinctions of wealth or social position had no place. Some men had more personal gear in horses and oxen than others, but very few had any money. There might have been a few, yet there is no evidence that there was, men wiio were burdened with debts they could not pay. One of the most honored of the pioneers, and who. after serving Oregon most acceptably in its pioneer govern- ment, became govei-nor of California, frankly stated that he went to the California gold mines to get the means to pay his debts, and which he did pay to the utmost farthing. He had left Missouri with the consent and approval of creditors who wished him well in his venture to Oregon. So far as wealth was concerned, the pioneers were practically all on the same level. Some of them had to sell every- thing to s(iuare with the world before they could make the move. Mr. G. C. Rob- bins, for a long time, a prominent citizen in Oregon and Idaho gives the case of his father and the pathetic parting with faithful servants as follows :

"The Black Hawk Indian war ruined my father's trade, a merchant, which was mostly with the Indians. My father was in debt and was compelled to sell his property to pay his debts. Most of his property consisted of his negro slaves. Aunt Morning, her husband. Uncle Dave, and their daughter. Charity, who were our house servants, were taken with our field hands and placed on the block in front of the court house in St. Louis, and auctioned off to the highest bidder. This was my first knowledge of the darker side of slavery, and when I saw Aunt Morning, whom I loved as much as I did my mother, sold under the hammer, and then taken to the slave pen, I was inconsolable. I hung around the slave pen all day peeking through the palings to get a glimpse of Aunt Morning and Uncle Dave. Finally the pen-keeper warned me to stay away, and when I returned, he struck at me with his long black-snake, and Aunt Morning begged me not to come back. When I saw her vdth the rest of our servants and about fifty other slaves, handcuffed to a chain and marched, in charge of a guard armed with guns and whips, aboard a steamer bound for New Orleans and con- signed to a speculator to be sold to the sugar planters, my cup of woe was full and I took a dislike for slavery which I never was able to overcome.

Inasmuch as there has been a great deal of discussion in time past about where the early settlers of Oregon were born the following statement is made by George H. Himes, secretary of the Oregon Pioneer Association for twenty- eight years, and assistant secretary of the Oregon Historical Society since its organization in December, 1898: From infonnation secured in person from pioneers of Oregon during the past twenty-eight yeai-s. and now checked up for the first time. I find that out of 7.444 pioneers who came to Ore