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Rh low, illiterate half-breeds was not the best soil in which to plant American institutions. Let him have something apart from all the world, plenty of room, plenty of agricultural land, with some commercial facilities if possible, and he would clear the ground for a commonwealth of intelligent freemen such as God would delight to prosper. If there were another Columbia River that he might occupy like McLoughlin, placing the natives under tribute, temporal and spiritual, holding the key to the interior by means of a metropolis on the bank of a stream into which ocean vessels might easily enter and depart, with a nobler ambition than to collect the skins of wild beasts, with loftier aims than to keep the country and its inhabitants wild and primitive, and stay the hand of progress—in such a case, on this western shore he might rival Raleigh, Smith, Penn, or any of the great founders of empire on the eastern seaboard.

But unfortunately the River Umpqua was not like the Columbia; it offered no safe refuge for the fleets of nations, no site suitable for a commercial metropolis. It is true, there were savages present, however averse to conversion, and these might serve as capital in enlisting money and recruits among the religious people of the east. But something more than money and recruits was needed if success was to attend his efforts; there must be good land, and pleasant surroundings, and all the conditions stimulating to progress. Thus in pursuance of the grand scheme, more and more possessing him, prior to his departure for the east Jason Lee had selected his position where there was land enough, and all other absolute requirements of the ambitious superintendent, the fine harbor, the magnificent river, alone forgotten by nature, being wanting.

The spot thus chosen was a large and fertile plain, south of the original site, and only ten miles distant. The place was called by the natives Chemeketa, that is to say, 'Here we Rest.' In front, on the west,