Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/280



During this time these towns were important outfitting points for Oregon pioneers. The Oregon fever was raging throughout the surrounding country, the frontier counties of Missouri. The newspapers, Democratic and Whig, in this vicinity appreciated the interest in the Oregon Country and in the movement of emigration thither. Their columns were open to reports of travelers returning from the Columbia. Letters sent back by pioneers in the Willamette Valley seemed to be in great demand. The documents printed below contain two noteworthy letters from persons who were in the great migration of 1843. Contemporary sources of the history of that epochal event are especially valuable.

[These extracts were made from the files of these papers in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society, Saint Louis, Mo.]

"Civis," in a communication, dwells upon the importance of the Independence trade in outfitting Santa Fé traders. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars are annually expended at Independence for this purpose. There are good reasons for believing that in a few years it will quadruple that amount. Concerning the outfitting of the Oregon pioneers, he says:

"The Oregon emigrants will, no doubt, continue to rendezvous near this place, and will number annually 1,500 persons, the outfit for which number will cost $50,000, and all of which our citizens may furnish."

Mountain trade, now of inconsiderable importance, will be worth $10,000 per annum. "Civis" is urging the establishment of a turnpike to the Missouri River.