Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/393



THE (CENTENNIAL IllSTOKY OF OKECiON 249

Jrivor's wliiji; lliougli in tlu' iiKiniing'. lull to repletion, they have not been driven an hour before their hunger and thirst seem to indicate a fast of days' duration. Thi-ough all the long day their greed is never sated, nor their thirst quenched; nor is there a inomeuf of relaxation of the tedious and vexa- tious labors of their drivers, although to all others the uaareh furnishes some season of relaxation or enjoyment. For the cow-drivers there is none. « * *

"But the picture in its granduer, its wonderful mingling colors and dis- tinctness of detail, is forgotten in contemplation of the singular people who give it life aiul animation. No other race of men with the means at their com- mand would undertake so great a journey, none save these could successfully perform it, with no previous preparation, relying only on the fertility of their invention to devise the means to overcome each danger and difficulty as it arose. They had undertaken to perform with slow-moving oxen a journey two thousand miles. The way lies over trackless wastes, wide and deep rivers, rugged and lofty mountains, and is beset with hostile savages. Yet, whether it were a deep river with no tree upon its banks, a rugged defile where even a loose horse could not pass, a hill too steep for him to climb, or a threatened attack of an enemy, they are always found ready and equal to the occasion, and always conquerors. May we not call them men of destiny? They are people changed in no essential particulars from their ancestors, who have followed closelj' on the footsteps of the receding savage, from the Atlantic seaboard to the great valley of the Mississippi."

Of the Emigration in 1852, Ezra Meeker (The Trail Marker) who, with his family was a part of that long train, gives the following account:

"There were hundreds of noble men trudging up the Platte valley at that time in an army Over Five Hundred Miles Long, many of whom 'laid down' a sacrifice to duty, or maybe to inherent weakness of body. While it is true that such an experience brings out the worst features of individual characters, yet it is also true that the shining virtues come to the front likewise. ' '

This great movement which was to save Oregon to the Nation, and which was started primarily by a few religious enthusiasts to convert the Indians to Christianity, was regarded by the educated and well to do classes of the eastern states as the height of folly. Horace Greeley was the personification of the Western states "booster," continually urging young men to "Go west and grow up with the country." But of the movement to Oregon, this modern Ben. Franklin, and in the New York Tribune of July 22, 1843, gives the Emigrants the following notice :

"For what do they brave the desert, the wilderness, the savages, the snowy precipices of the Kocky Mountains, the weary summer march, the storm-drenched bivouac, and the gnawing of famine? This emigration of more than one thou- sand persons in one body to Orei^on wears an aspect of insanity."

And that is what it did look like to the great mass of the people of the United States.

THE HEROIC PIONEER WOMAN

"Of the fortitude of the women one can not say too much. Embarrassed at the start by the follies of fashion (and long dresses which were quickly discarded and the bloomer donned), they .soon rose to the occasion and cast fals