Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/400



An account of "Oregon meetings" held at Bloomington, Iowa, in March and April, 1843, copied from a file of the Ohio Statesman by Professor Joseph Schafer. This document was taken from the issue of April 26, 1843:

At a public meeting held at the schoolhouse in Bloomington on Saturday, 19th inst., for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of organizing a company to emigrate to Oregon Territory, the Rev. Geo. M. Hinkle, of Louisa County, was called to the chair, and Win. P. Smith elected secretary. The chairman having explained the object of the meeting, Mr. John C. Irwin, chairman of the committee appointed for that purpose at a previous meeting, made the following report:

Your committee, who were appointed to draft a report to be made to this meeting, beg leave to submit the following, to wit:

That from the information they have obtained from various sources, they believe the Oregon Territory to be far superior in many respects to any other portion of the United States; they believe it to be superior in climate, in health, in water privileges, in timber, in convenience to market, and in many other respects; they believe it to be well adapted to agriculture and stock raising; also holding out great inducements to mechanics of the various branches; they would, therefore, recommend to every person possessing the enterprise and patriotic spirit of the true American citizen, to emigrate to the Oregon Territory at as early a date as possible, and thereby secure to themselves a permanent and happy home, and to their country one of the fairest portions of her domain. In order to bring this subject more fairly before this meeting, your committee beg leave to submit the following resolutions for consideration and adoption:

Resolved, That the company here formed start from this place (Bloomington) on the tenth day of May next, on their journey to Oregon.

Resolved, That the route taken by the company shall be from here to Iowa City; from thence to Council Bluffs; and from thence to the most suitable point on the road from Independence to Oregon; from thence by way of the Independence road to Oregon.