Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/97

 Diary of Rev. George Gary 81 which we can draw and you have our means; and now we must cut our garment according to the cloth. After these remarks were made, I requested them to give me any information they thought proper. From their sug- gestions I gather the following particulars: 1st. Pre- vious to the arrival of the emigrants over the mountains in the fall of 1843, the influence of the Mission was con- tributing; this probably arose from the numbers con- nected with the Mission and from the amount of business carried on by the Mission, and also from the dependent condition of many of the community on the Mission for employ and support. The emigrants of 1843 brought with them a strong prejudice against the Mission as a powerful monopoly, especially in view of the number and location of sections of land to which it had already laid claim. Also, they came with the purpose of riding over and breaking down the Mission. This jealousy and prejudice, on arriving here, was heightened by being cor- dially met, countenanced, and at last indirectly co-operat- ed with on the part of leading and distinguished members of the Hudson Bay Company. 2nd. The Mission, or some of its prominent members, has had a controversy with Doct. McLaughlin [McLoughlin] in reference to a section of land at Williamette Falls. This controversy has arrayed community into parties, some for the Doct. and some for the Mission. In this state of affairs our claims in some places are being "jumped," as it is called. There can be but little doubt, if any, but that the public feeling will sustain the jumpers, and it is probable that to dispute the point with them will tend to the injury and disadvantage of the Mission. The most of this land thus claimed by the Mission is not occupied in any sense by the Mission. This state of things has brought all, or nearly all con- nected with the Mission to the conclusion that there ought to be an essential change in our mode of operation in this Mission.