Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/402

 370 Frederick V. Holman flour mills and lumber mills and a stock of goods for sale. It was this hostility which helped to form the Oregon Provisional Government in 1843. The Hudson's Bay Company did not wish lands settled where it obtained its furs. It endeavored to induce the American immigrants to settle in the Willamette Valley, because it believed that the Willamette Valley would ultimately belong to the United States. The American immigrants were impa- tient, under such restraint. They tried to settle on the lands of the company near Fort Vancouver, and they made settlements on Puget Sound. The large number of American immigrants coming to Oregon from 1843 to 1847, inclusive, intensified this hostility to the Hudson's Bay Company. Under the circumstances, the actions of Peter Skene Ogden in rescuing the survivors of the Whit- man massacre in 1847, stand out in all the stronger light. His memory shall be ever dear to Oregon pioneers and their descendants. The Oregon Provisional Government continued until March 3, 1849, when, by proclamation, Governor Joseph Lane, the first Governor of Oregon Territory, declared the Oregon Territorial Government in force, south of the boundary line. The United States was slow in asserting its rights over Oregon. There were no United States troops in Oregon prior to the Spring of 1849. Two companies of United States artillery, from Honolulu, arrived at Fort Vancouver May 14, 1849. They came on the United States steam transport Massachusetts. A regiment of United States mounted riflemen arrived in Oregon in October, 1849. These troops arrived after the Cayuse War was over. The Cayuse War was fought by volun- teer American pioneers of the Willamette Valley. The Whitman massacre began November 29, 1847, and continued several days thereafter. Dr. Marcus Whitman had established his mission at Waiilatpu, near the present city of Walla Walla. He had