Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/464



304 THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF 0RJ3G0N

ing measures for relief and pi-otection of the few scattered settlers already there, and offering inducements to others to follow.

It does not seem, eithei-, that "Whitman claimed a larger share in the con- duct of this immigration than was actually his. Prominent members of the com- pany have fully justified his claim. M. M. McCarver, writing within a month after his arrival in Oregon to A. C. Dodge, member of congress from Iowa, says :

"We had less obstacles in reaching here than we had a right to expect, as it was generally understood before leaving the states that one-third of the distance, to-wit, from Fort Hall to this place, was impassable for wagons. Great credit, however, is due to the energy and perseverence, and industry of this emigrating company, and pai-ticularly to Dr. Whitman, one of the missionaries of the Walla Walla mission, who accompanied us out. His knowledge of the route was considerable and his exertions for the interest of the company un- tiring. ' '

Years afterward when the pioneers of Oregon began to recall the beginning of their state, other members of the immigration of 1843 bore like testimony to the services of Dr. Wliitman. One of these was J. W. Nesmith, orderly sergeant of the company, and afterwards a United States senator from Oregon. In an address before the Oregon Pioneer Association at its annual reunion in 1875, he said :

"Beyond that (Fort Hall) we had not the slightest conjecture of the con- dition of the country. We went forth trusting to the future and doubtless would have encountered more difficulties than we did had not Dr. Whitman overtaken us before we reached the terminus of our guide's knowledge. He was familiar with the whole route and was confident that wagons could pass through the canyons and gorges of Snake river, and over the Blue mountains, which the mountaineers in the vicinity of Fort Hall declared to be a physical impossibility. Captain Grant then in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Hall endeavored to dissuade us from proceeding further with our wagons, and showed us the wagons which the emigrants of the preceding year had aban- doned, as an evidence of the impracticability of our determination. Doctor Whitman was persistent that wagons could proceed as far as the Grand Dalles of the Columbia river, from which point, he asserted they could be taken down by rafts or batteaux to the Willamette vallej^, while our stock could be driven over an Indian trail near Mt. Hood. Happily AVhitman's advice prevailed."

From the diary of Nesmith kept on the journey we learn that Whitman trav- eled much of the waj' in company with Jesse Applegate, who was captain of one division of the immigrants and travelled much of the time in advance of the others. In a paper written for the annual reunion of the Oregon Pioneers in 1876, Applegate says of Whitman's services to this immigration:

"It is no disparagement to others to say that to no other individual are the emigrants of 1843 so much indebted for the successful conclusion of their jour- ney as to Dr. Marcus Whitman."

At their organization at Independence, Missouri, the emigrants selected Peter H. Burnett, one of their number as captain. Burnett had an important part in the organization and conduct of the company, and on the journey kept a careful diary, by the aid of which years afterwards he wrote his "Recollections of a Pioneer. ' ' In this book he thus spoke of Whitman and his services :