Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/418

264 the Indians was greatly dissipated by the wars between whites and Indians, yet the seed planted by the missionaries survived not only that bitter and bloody strife and the corruption of and robbery of the Indians by a whole generation, of rascally thieving Indian agents, but lived to bear good fruit in later times under the leadership of native preachers and honest government agents. The Eastern Missionary Boards of former times, as well as the immigrants to Oregon of recent years, have never comprehended or appreciated the value of the labors of Lee, Whitman, Walker, Eells, and their associates. The eastern men looked only at the expenditure of money; and the new-comers to Oregon could not see any Indian converts. But the priceless services of the early missionaries to Oregon is not to be measured by dollars and cents or tolled off by church membership. The Rev. Wm Warren, in his little book on Indian missions, tersely states the case for Oregon.

"Indian missions brought the first white women overland to Oregon, opened the first immigrant road to the Columbia river; gave the first governor to the territory; established the first permanent American settlement; and aided essentially in the establishment of the Provisional Government, five years before the United States formed a Territorial Government; brought the first American cattle to the Willamette valley, and saved the country, or at least an important part of it, to the United States.