Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/422



with that uplifted right arm of his commanding figure pointing to the west to emphasize the apothegm that made him famous, "there's India, there's the East!"

And now we come to a man who "saved Oregon," who is wholly unlike every other man connected with Oregon history. Unappreciated and misunder- stood, by some called a fanatic, by others a crank, and by the Hudson's Bay Company treated as a horse-thief, the ghost of Hall J. Kelley appears and dis- appears through the shifting scenery of Oregon's strenuous history with such kaleidoscopic presentment as almost utterly baffles description.

Hall Jackson Kelley was born at Northwood, New Hampshire, February 24, 1790. At the age of sixteen the boy left home and taught school at Hallowell, Maine. He studied the classics and graduated with honor at Middlebury Col- lege in 1814, and married the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Baldwin, April 17, 1822. After leaving college, -Mr. Kelley devoted his time to teaching, the prepar- ation of elementary school books, the introduction of black boards in public schools, the study of the higher mathematics, and making a discovery of an improved method of topographical and geographical surveying which Presi- dent Jackson promised to introduce in government work.

As early as 1817, while teaching in one of the grammar schools of Boston, Kelley conceived the idea of leading a colony for the exploration and settlement of Oregon, then practically an unknown country. In his memoir he says: "I began first to converse with friends about Oregon, then to lecture and write books and tracts in order to give the widest publicity to my plans and pur- poses." In 1824, he publicly announced his intentions to settle Oregon and propagate Christianity beyond the Rocky mountains. Here is a definite and in- disputable statement that Hall J. Kelley 's missionary enterprise antedated that of Jason Lee by ten years, and that of Marcus Whitman by twelve years, and that of the Catholic priests by fourteen years.

And while it is true that Kelley never did come to Oregon to preach the gos- pel, it is also true that he, more than all others, by his public lectures, letters, pamphlets and circtdars, informed and enlightened the people of the Atlantic states as to the character and value of the territory of Oregon. And it was on the public sentiment created and built up by Kelley that the Methodists and Presbyterians were enabled to organize their missionary expeditions to Ore- gon and to get the first money to pay their expenses. And on this point the fol- lowing statements are quite satisfactory proof :

"Boston, January 30, 1833. "In the year 1831, I was editor of Zion's Herald, a religious paper, sus- taining the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church. • In the above year I pub- lished for Mr. H. J. Kelley a series of letters addressed to a member of Congress developing his plans for the settlement of Oregon territory. At other times Mr. Kelley made appeals through our paper, with a view to excite the minds of the Christian community to the importance of founding religious institu- tions in that territory. He was one of the first explorers of that region, and to his zeal and efforts is largely due the establishment of missionary operations in that country.

"William C. Brown."