Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/146

Rh is evident from the rarity of offences. They were indeed useful in their way.

One of Young's men, Webley J. Hauxhurst, erected a grist-mill at Champoeg in the summer of 1834, adding greatly to the convenience and comfort of the inhabitants of French Prairie, including the missionaries, who had previously pounded their barley in a large wooden mortar, and ground their wheat in a small cast-iron mill called a corn-cracker. Hauxhurst, who was a native of Long Island, subsequently joined the Methodist church, being the first fruit of missionary work among the settlers. His conversion took place in January 1837, and he was ever after a faithful adherent to the organization; nor were there any of this so-called band of horse-thieves who seemed indisposed to earn an honest living.

Another party of eight, coming in the summer of 1835 to join in the colonization of Oregon, on reaching Rogue River were attacked by the savages, and four of the number slain, the others with difficulty escaping.