Page:Emergence of Frances Fuller Victor-Historian.djvu/12

 mistake, however, was buying thirty shares of stock in the Oregon and California Wagon Road Company. This investment earned only large assessments which eventually he could not pay and so became involved in a lawsuit. Though the Victors sold much of their St. Helens property, by 1868 they were in financial difficulties and evidently agreed to go their separate ways.

During all the turmoil of speculation, disheartening failures and debt, Frances continued to travel each summer and to gather material for her history of Oregon. Gradually she decided to make Joe Meek the central figure of her book as she became more and more intrigued by the story of his life. Judge Deady had introduced her to Meek in 1865, and he he had started then to send her notes on his experiences and to come to see her often to tell her stories of his life as a mountain man. By July 1868 Mrs. Victor was requesting Judge Deady to send her any stories, papers, or facts he might have regarding Meek's career in Oregon, for she wished to give a correct view of his official acts. "It is as much a matter of bread and butter with me now, as of literary reputation," she confessed. "I must publish my book this winter, and I must get off to New York as early as possible."

On her way back from the East a year later Mrs. Victor stopped over in San Francisco to see Bret Harte, then editor of the Overland Monthly, to offer him her first historical article, "Manifest Destiny in the West." Harte was delighted and published it in the August 1869 issue of the Overland.

Mrs. Victor then returned to Oregon and went to Salem to live for a few months in the home of Governor George L.