Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/115

Rh practically evaporated the water in that stream and many fish were killed. In many places the water stood in pools only, and was the color of lye.

The Forest Fire of 1867. Another tremendously destructive fire swept over the Coast mountains in the summer of 1867, and laid waste to a vast area of the finest of timber. Many people who had gone to the beach for camping and who had started homeward were compelled to return to the beach and remain a week longer. A well known farmer of the Willamette Valley who had started home was compelled to drive his team into the small stream of Salmon River and remain there all night to avoid the immense heat of the fires. Schools of fish, frightened at the heat and confusion frequently scared his horses and the man was crippled in his effort to control his team. These three fires are perhaps the most destructive known to the history of Oregon and the thousands of acres of whitened stumps of former giants of the forests, to be seen now in all of our ranges of mountains, bear witness to their ravages in the days long before the national government had taken steps for the patrol of the mountains by Forest Rangers.

Growing Troubles at Whitman Mission. As has been stated, Doctor Whitman in October, 1836, established a mission that was named after him. Here the Indians were taught to read the Bible, and to cultivate the soil, raise cattle, and perform other kinds of civilized labor. Here also Indian orphans and white children were given a home and educated. The Doctor generously and freely gave medical care. But the habits of the Indians were so different from those of the whites that the same kind of medical care could not be given successfully to both races. When the whites and Indians were stricken with measles, the Indians who were treated by the Doctor persisted in regularly taking cold plunges in the Walla Walla River, contrary to his advice; and necessarily this proved fatal to many of them Then the Indian- doctor, or Medicine Man, who beheld with envy Doctor