Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/283

Rh On the following day he conducted the first funeral services west of the Rocky Mountains by a Protestant Christian minister. On September 28, 1834, he preached at Vancouver, now in Washington, then a Hudson's Bay Company trading post, and on October 9 following he preached at Gervais.

Among the missionaries coming within the next few years, Lee was easily the foremost in leadership. He was aggressive and resourceful, planning with wisdom and executing with the firm, manly tread of a conqueror. His consecrated, Christian manhood, strong in body and mind, hopeful and helpful, enabled him to accomplish things. He survived all dangers incident to crossing the plains, the main part of the continent then being uninhabited save by wild beasts and hostile, treacherous Indians. He blazed a pathway for oncoming civilization. Weary and footsore, trudging along with milch cows over desert plain, through swamp and forest, never hesitating in his purpose, immediately upon his arrival he began his work with the zeal of one who felt that he must be "about the Master's business."

In 1838, when Mr. Lee returned to "the States" after reinforcements for his missions, and to bring the importance of this country to the attention of the Government, he carried with him a memorial to Congress, which he had prepared, and which was supported by the settlers, that was significant and important, prophetic of our future greatness, and which described the needs and possibilities of the country, its conditions, and the earnest desires of the petitioners. One paragraph alone from his pen will suffice to indicate the strength of his grasp of the situation. He said:

"We need hardly allude to the commercial advantages of the territory. Its happy position for trade with China, India and the Western Coast of America. The growing