Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/167

Rh he to be busy when I was there, all the way from Oregon?" Unable to see the Secretary of War, Mr. Davis, for similar reasons, he finally was advised by his friends to visit the little brick house, on a back street, which was occupied by Senator Benton of Missouri. There he felt he would surely receive a cordial welcome. "I must go and see Benton," he says: "Haven't I shouted for him in Missouri, and hasn't he made speeches in favor of Oregon? Yes, he can tell me what the government is going to do for Oregon." Admitted into the house by the colored servant, he stood in the presence of the Senator whom he thought well named "Burly Benton."

The interview was far from pleasant, if we may judge from Watt's account. Upon learning the residence of his visitor, the Senator immediately began a eulogy upon the services to Oregon of his son-in-law, Colonel Fremont, which aroused the ire of the westerner. "Ah, yes," said Benton, "we know all about Oregon. My son-in-law, Colonel Fremont, has traveled all over that country. The country is, or ought to be, under everlasting obligation to him for the information he has given at the greatest sacrifice a man ever made." To this his visitor warmly replied: "As to any information given you by Mr. Fremont regarding what the people are doing and their prospects, it is certainly guessed at, for I know he was never there. His map of the road is good, but when it comes to making roads, he never did. He followed the road to Oregon made by emigrants, men, women and children to the Dalles, took bateaux to Fort Vancouver, got supplies, returned to The Dalles and struck out for California on the east side of the mountains."

Watt says in his reminiscences that he shall never forget the look that Benton had on his face as he started across the room, rubbing his hands and storming, "Per-