Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/445



THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON 2H7

enduring great privations and peril. The Dalles was selected as a promising point for a mission, and to this field Rev. Daniel Lee, and Rev. H. K. .\V. Perkins, were assigned. They arrived at their destination, the Indian town of Wascopam, ^larch 22, and immediately began their work. The field of their labors extended from the Cascades to Deschutes river, and ou both sides of the Columbia. In this territory were clans of Walla Walla, Wishram (the notorious robber tribes of the (Ii-and Dalles), Waseos, who lived at Wasco- pam, Klickitats, and the "Upper Chinooks," the two latter occupying the coun- try north of the river; about two thousand Indians were more or less perma- nently in this field, and Yakimas, Cayuses and Klickitats were frequently pass- ing through it. The latter tribes made astonishing journeys from their country to Northern California annually and claimed to overlord the Willamette tribes. The Dalles mission religiously aeeouiiilished more among the Indians than any of the other stations.

The missionaries used the Chinook intertribal tongue in their public talk to the Indians ; and the upper tribes as far as the Nez Perce, at least, were accus- tomed to make use of Chinook, though speaking languages of their own, which were as different from Chinook as Arabic is from the English. Some of their hymns, prayers and addresses are preserved, all in Chinook of the "Upper" dia- lect in old books.

P"'requentlj' it was necessary that the words of the missionary should be trans- lated into the speech of the interior tribe by an interpreter.

In 1840, after the arrival of a lay party of missionaries in the Lausanne, a council or conference of the members of the mission was held at Vancouver, and new missions were detailed for Clatsop (sometimes called Chinook), Nisqually, Umpqua and Willamette Falls. Jason Lee remained in charge of all as their superintendent.

A MISSION TO THE E,\ST

Three years after the establishment of the Willamette mission the question of sending Jason Lee east for more workers in the field and financial aid from the missionary society was discussed. Besides Lee and his earlier assistants, there were then connected with his work Rev. David Leslie, Rev. H. K. W. Per- kins, Alanson Beers, W. H. Willson and Dr. Elijah White. These all earnestly advised Lee's return. A similar situation in some respects existed at Wai-il-at-pu in the fall of 1842, four and a half years later than Jason Lee's first return to the east. Both of these missions felt the need of representing to their parent societies by an envoy thoroughly acquainted with the situation the importance of their field of labor and its needs in 1842. The American board had deter- mined to abandon the Waiilatpu and Clearwater missions. The Methodist Episcopal society ^vas not very warmly interested in the Oregon work. Jason Lee and Marcus Whitman had like ambitions to see the American people and government in control of this western empire, which was no-man's land for many years. The great spring of action in both instances was the duty to his mission. That Lee was awake to the political importance of his errand is proven by the fact that before he started east, in March, 18.38, at a meeting of the American settlers in the mission house, Lee, Leslie and Perkins drew up a memorial to be presented to Congi-ess asking that body to "take formal and s