Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/297

 Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader. 275 told him no other need have attempted." A brief mention of that event is appropriate before conclusion. On December 6th, 1847, * ate at evening a French-Canadian messenger arrived at Fort Vancouver in a canoe from up the Columbia bringing a letter from Wm. McBean of Fort Walla Walla giving the news and particulars of the massacre and captivity at the Whitman Mission. Mr. Ogden was first in- formed and at once went into consultation with Mr. Douglas. The problem presented to them was a complicated and per- plexing one. The location of the national boundary at the 49th parallel of north latitude had been determined by treaty eighteen months previous, the Whitman Mission was an American settlement and the legislative body of the pro- visional government of Oregon was at that very time in ses- sion at Oregon City only twenty-five miles distant ; but that government was physically powerless to begin and carry on a war against the Indians without calling upon the Hudson's Bay Company for even powder and lead, not to mention other equipment. Should the officers of the company take the initiative, or merely report the event to the Americans ? If the former alternative, could the company accomplish anything before the excitable Americans further angered, the Indians and rendered the Hudson's Bay Company's influence and methods futile? Would the Indians themselves desist from further bloodshed, or was this a general uprising ? But it was a situation calling for quick decision and action, and, just as in 1843, when the weary and destitute immigrants arrived at the Columbia, the call of humanity prevailed. The follow- ing morning Mr. Ogden was off for Fort Walla Walla with two bateaus manned by only the usual compliment of serv- ants and without any display of arms and was well on his way before the tidings of the massacre even reached Oregon City. Twelve days were consumed by the journey — not a rapid one for he proceeded as though on regular business and paid the regular toll of powder and ball to the Indians at The Dalles