Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/152

150 Established Providence Church. In 1852, Rev. Powell came from Missouri to Oregon and located on the Santiam River, where he established Providence Church, a colony organization with four hundred members—a following which was very remarkable in that time on account of its large membership in so sparsely settled a locality.

Baptized Three Thousand Souls. Futhermore it is recorded in the Baptist Annals of Oregon that during his ministry Joab Powell baptized "nearly or quite three thousand souls," which is a greater number than any other person baptized west of the Rocky Mountains. Rev. Powell was illiterate from the academic standpoint; but he was so thoroughly versed in the Bible that he did not require it for reference in the pulpit, although his sermons abounded in biblical quotations. He could scarcely read or writer yet he knew the hymn book from cover to cover. While he had no school training, he was thoroughly versed in the things that pioneers know best. He understood men, and he communed with nature as with a friend. He was so original, so eccentric, so ready in good humored repartee, so equal to every occasion, and so powerful in the pulpit that people came from every direction to hear him preach—many out of mere curiosity; many to hear the peculiar but stirring message which he brought For want of churches large enough to accommodate his audiences.