Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/448



Vol. 1—19

way street, Salem, aud the hewn timbers of the buildiug, acording to the diary of Rev. Mr. "Waller, who assisted in the work, warrant the belief that Jason Lee's hand wielded the broad-axe upon them. Around this new establishment and because of it, the community which developed into the capital city of Oregon grew up.

The Indians of the Willamette had decreased in number constantly, and the central mission found its intended field of labor among the Indians less fruitful year by year ; the white settlers were becoming more numerous, and the teachers and preachers of the mission saw larger opportunities offered. In 1842, at a con- ference of the mission it was determined to build a school at ' ' Chemekete, ' ' to be called the Oregon Institute. This project was the conception of Jason Lee. The building erected was planned for great things. None knew so well as Jason Lee the certain future of the Willamette valley, destined to be perhaps the most populous valley of the Pacific coast. The building was completed in 1844, the missionarj' community contributing generously to the fund. In the same year the missionary at "'The Falls," Rev. A. F. Waller, completed the first church built in Oregon, still standing at Oregon City, where during the four preceding years a large community of Americans had settled.

Thus the work of the mission in the valley was directed to a new channel — the educational and religious care of the immigrants streaming in constantly in- creasing wagon trains into western Oregon.

B.ecause of this natural diversion of the energies of the Willamette mission, some writers have considered its work a failure. Such a view would indicate that the holder of it considered it better to teach dead Indians than the young pioneers. No fair-minded reader and observer can fail to see the great and blessed influence of Jason Lee and his missionary contemporaries upon the peo- ple of the Willamette and other fields of their labors. As examples, only cite Salem and Forest Grove as representative cities of missionary origin, and largely populated still by the descendants and pupils and proselytes of Oregon missions.

Jason Lee in 1843 wrote to the New York Missionary Board: "Jly interest in the Oregon missions is not in the least abated. Oregon is still of immense im- portance as a field of missionary operations among the Indians, ' '

Enough has been said already to show Jason Lee's knowledge of Oregon's importance as a future territory of the United States, and enough to set at rest any doubt regarding his deep interest in "saving Oregon." In 1834, before he started upon his mission, he visited Washington and secured passports and cre- dentials entitling him to the government 's recognition and protection. Upon his return in 1838 he went as early as possible to W^ashington and presented to Con- gress the memorial of the missionaries and settlers in Willamette, urging the government to extend its control over the territory. His addresses in the middle west the same year were the source of that interest in Oregon which started the mightj' stream of pioneer immigration to the Willamette valley. First and fore- most of the builders of Oregon was Jason Lee,

Before the "Lausanne" sailed, Jason Lee married Miss Lucj' Thompson, of Barre, Vermont, who accompanied him to Oregon with the Lausanne party. On March 20, 1842, she died at the mission, leaving an infant daughter. This child, upon Lee's return to the east in 1844, was left in the care o