Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/155

Rh their government was then endeavoring to establish as the international boundary line, and which purpose would be weakened, if not defeated, by a large number of citizens of the United States making their homes in that part of Oregon; and further, these Hudson Bay Company men knew that the interests and business they represented would be hurt by the presence throughout the country of such strong, free, independent men as they were then addressing. It was better, they thought, and tried to show, to keep the people of the two nations apart, with a broad river between. The statements and arguments thus presented had always before been effective, but in this case they worked somewhat contrarily. They had the effect of arousing suspicions in the minds of their hearers, who thereupon determined they would see for themselves what it looked like on Puget Sound. They were strengthened in this resolution by another cause. The Oregon Provisional Government had enacted stringent laws against blacks and mulattoes. They were not allowed to remain in the country, and for evading or defying the law were to be punished. George W. Bush was a mulatto, with a white wife. He was possessed of more means than any other of his party, and had been very generous in helping the other immigrants. In turn they were grateful to him, and they were going to stand by him through thick and thin. As he could not legally remain within the jurisdiction of Oregon, he concluded to stay in that part in doubt, just outside, and that seemed to be under another flag. The others stayed by him, the whole party remaining for nearly a year on the north side of the Columbia, close to the Hudson Bay fort. Simmons early in the winter made a canoe trip up the Cowlitz River, and the next summer made another trip with several companions to Puget Sound and down the Sound to Whidby Island. Upon returning, he induced Bush, McAllister, Crockett, and the