Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/403



TTIK FIKST WACON ON T 1 1 K TUML

Fiudiug a prac) iraMc route I'or a wayoii way is one tliiiif;, but, {j;i'ttiiig the first wagon over thai route is another matter, and making a higliway for thou- sands oi" wagons a still greater. To Marcus Whitman lielongs the honor of at- tempting the first wagon haul from Missouri to Oregon. If one could transfer their personality back seventy-six years to the ^lay morning in 1836, when Dr. Whitman and his young l)ride, Rev. Spalding and his bride, the invincible W. H. Gray and the two Nez Perce Indian boys, all and each with light hearts and high hopes, seated themselves in that tlrst wagon to test all the unknown and unforseeable toils and dangers of a two-thousand-mile ride over plains, deserts, mountains and unbroken forests, they might get some idea of the courage, hero- ism and self-sacrifice which animated that first wagon party on its holy mission to Oregon. These two cultured women were the first white women to attempt that uncqualed exploit in the history of mankind. And these two women have been well named "The Real Pioneers of Civilization in the Oregon Territory." The American Board of Jlissions provided for Whitman a generous outfit — blacksmith tools, plows, seed grain, clothing for two years and other necessaries, pack animals, riding horses, sixteen cows and two wagons, making in itself quite a train, and which was driven and managed by W. H. Gray and the two Indian boys. Soon after starting, the Whitman party overtook the Fitzpatrick fur traders with their carts, and then making up altogether a caravan of nineteen carts, one light wagon and two heavy wagons. On reaching Fort Laramie, at the junction of the North Platte and Laramie rivers, in what is now Laramie county, Wyoming, the fur traders' carts stopped, that being as far as it was then deemed practicable for wheeled vehicles, but on account of the enfeebled condition of Mrs. Spalding, Whitman decided to retain the lighter of his two wag- ons and leave the others behind. In this way Mrs. Spalding was carried on safely and comfortably through the South Pass of the Rocky mountains, following a natural highway. At Green river. Whitman met the annual rendezvous of the fur traders, and also Captain Wyeth, returinig from his second expedition to Oregon. Here both the fur traders and Wyeth united in advising Whitman not to attempt to go on with his wagon, which they assured him would not only give him great trouble, but dangerously delay his trip. Nevertheless, the courageous Whitman resolved to take his wagon along, and did so successfully, reaching Fort Hall in what is now Bingham county, Idaho, July 24, 1836. Here Whitman and his party had to stop for rest and repairs, and here he was again warned that he could not travel through that country with his wagon. Loth to give up the w-agon entei*prise, the Doctor resolved on a compromise — he would convert the wagon into a cart, proceeding with the front axle, fore wheels and tongue, and put the hind axle and wheels on top as cargo ; and in that shape the wagon was drawn down through the Snake river valley, over lava rocks, sand plains and sage brush a distance of two hundred and fifty miles to old Fort Boise. And there the old historical wagon — the first to pass the Rocky mountains — was left because the horses and the whole party had become so tired out with the labor of the long journey, it was not safe to try to drag it through to the Columbia river. But Whitman's wagon did not make a wagon road. It had followed the route found by Hunt and Stuart, and had blazed the way, and that was honor