Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/153

 CORRESPONDENCE 141 along the Sound, a distance of 80 or 100 miles, and return the same way. From the best information I can obtain, there are from 2500 to 3000 souls in the whole country north of the Columbia River (some estimate the population at 5000) who have never been visited by a Baptist minister. A few of these are said to be respectable Baptist members. This number will doubtless be monthly increased. The question I wish to pro- pound is, Will your Board justify the expenditure of $100 in traveling expenses to have an agent visit that important por- tion of the Territory next summer? Before you answer this question I hope to be able to give you the best geographical description of the country I have been able to glean from intel- ligent residents on the Sound. Yours respectfully, EZRA FISHER. Received March 19, 1853. Oregon City, O. T., Jan. 20th, 1853. Rev. Benjamin M. Hill, Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc., New York. Dear Brother : Yours of Dec. 1st, 1852, has just come to hand and was read with deep interest. I have named at two several times in my quarterly reports the amount which I have collected for the Oregon City College, not because I regarded this a part of my direct duties I owed to the Home Mission Society, but because I had reason to suppose it would be a matter of gratification to the Board to learn that the cause of education was not neglected with the Baptists in Oregon. A few of the many reasons for the course I have pursued I beg leave to name in this. In Aug. of '49, on my return from California, I found a letter from you, pressing upon me the importance of Baptists securing a suitable amount of land at some favorable point and commencing a school which should eventually take its place among the colleges of the land. I acted accordingly. It was finally judged expedient to locate that school at Oregon City. My interests