Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/410

 In addition to the above were the following gentlemen connected with the various Protestant Missions :

Abernethy, George. Gray, W. H. Raymond, W. W. Babcock, Dr. Ira L. Hines, Gustavus. Spalding, H. H. Beers, Alanson. Judson, L. H. Walker, E. Brewer, H. B. Lee, Jason. Waller, A. P. Campbell, Hamilton. Leslie, David. White, Dr. Elijah. Clarke, Harvey. Parrish, J. L. Whitman, Dr. M. Eells, Cushing. Perkins, H. K. W. Willson, Wm. H.

In addition to these were some fifty former employees of the Hudson's Bay Company, nearly all of whom had settled on French Prairie, and a number of priests, connected with the Catholic mission, making a total male population at the close of the year 1843 of about four hundred and thirty, exclusive of the officers and actual servants of the Hudson's Bay Company.

And now is seen the great value of the Provisional Government. The great body of the emigration of 1843 reached the Oregon City terminus about the last days of October of that year. Suppose, then, that there had been no government, no person or authority to give direction to affairs, to give information, or maintain the orderly progress of society or the public peace? They all came for land ; and suddenly without notice, 320 families are dropped down at Oregon City. They know nothing of the country, nothing of what land has been claimed, or where they can go to get a homestead, without trespassing on' the rights of a prior locator. In such a case if there had not been anarchy, confusion, and violence, it would have been a wonder. If anarchy and violence had resulted from indiscriminate land grabbing, or land claim jumping, where there could be no United States or English title promised, the Hudson's Bay Company by its Cana- dian officials, would have been compelled to interpose to maintain peace and order; and that interposition would have set up and put in operation a British, instead of an American Government, in Oregon. That would have made the country British in fact and deed; and there would not have been one chance in a hundred for the United States to have ever recovered any part of Oregon. But the heroes of Champoeg had wisely forestalled such a calamity by the organization of May 2, 1843. And when the great caravan reached Oregon City six months afterwards, it found an American Government in operation, with officials to give directions, with records of lands already taken up, and with laws authorizing the new-comers to go out and select their homesites and have them duly recorded and protected. The infant Provisional Government was literally a god-send to the settlers, the incoming immigrants, and to the Canadians as well; and too much honor can never be given the men who organized that government.

And what was the position of the Hudson 's Bay Company all this time ? All of its interests lay in the direction of an unsettled country. It was here to trap fur-bearing animals, and to trade with the Indians for furs. It did not want