Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/69

 join them with my own band of warriors; and should one white man fall by the arrow of an Indian, that Indian, if he were my brother, with all his family, shall become victims to my vengeance.

Let the Wallah Wallahs, and all who love me, and are fond of the white men, come forth and smoke the pipe of peace!

Peter Skene Ogden, of a picturesque and enlivening personality, rose to positions of importance with the Hudson's Bay Company, becoming a chief trader at the age of 30. He was a practical joker, and of nimble wit in tight places, as he often had need to be in his journeyings up and down the Northwest wilderness. The Indians called him "Old Whitehead" and the voyageurs called him "M'sieur Pete." He died at Oregon City in 1854 at the age of 60, having been "still fond of tricks in later years." He was one of the great trapper leaders. Because of his hungers and dangers, his energy and shrewdness in savage Oregon, how many men had worn lofty hats along gracious thoroughfares!

What is most interesting to us here is his connection with literature. There is a book by the name of Traits of American Life and Character. Only about a half dozen public libraries in the Pacific Northwest have it in the original edition. It was priced at $60 in 1928. However, it was reissued in 1933 by the Grabhorn Press of San Francisco. Now, who was the author of that book? There has been much speculation about it. The book itself says it is "By a fur trader. "

It is accredited to Peter Skene Ogden, and evidence in the case has been the subject of some interesting essays by historians. Jesse Applegate read this book or some book by Ogden in manuscript: "...it comprised his own early experiences; ... we had no reading and Mr. Ogden gave it to me as a Winter's amusement. It was full of interesting episodes.... Mr. Ogden brought it to Washington Irving who undertook to edit it, but died before its completion." George T. Allen, at one time a clerk at Fort Vancouver, said "Mr. Ogden ... wrote some very interesting sketches of his adventure...the Indian country, which I perused in manuscript and partly copied