Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/173

Rh Here we may fitly end the story, for the title of the American people to the possession of the Oregon Territory, which was organized in the movement of the good ship Columbia, a century ago today, was practically consummated by the rush of immigrants half way between that time and the present, and when in the Treaty of 1846, the vast territory was amicably divided between Great Britain and the United States, we had little difficulty in keeping for ourselves the land upon which to erect the three goodly states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, besides the section that fills out the contour of Montana, and when we look at this country now, with its climate unsurpassed in all America, its scenery rivaling that of Switzerland or Italy, its noble forests, its fertile and smiling valleys, its boundless economical resources, and realize how all this has been made part of our common heritage, we are made to feel that the day we celebrate was indeed an auspicious day and worthy of an eminent place in our national calendar. All honor to the sagacious mariner who entered these waters a hundred years ago! All honor to the brave pioneers whose labors and sufferings crowned the good work. Through long ages to come theirs shall be a sweet and shining memory."

"In that same year (1832) four Flathead Indians made a pilgrimage to St. Louis, we are told,, in search of the white man's Book of Salvation. What manner of patent medicine their savage heads may have fancied the sacred volume to contain, whether it would give them ample hunting grounds or ward off the dreaded tomahawk and still more dreaded incantations of the next hostile tribe, it would be hard to say. But the incident attracted the attention of some religious enthusiasts, and the vague plea of the Indians for help was put into a simple yet touching appeal for teachers to make known to them the white man's Book of Salvation. This appeal made a great impression upon two of the religious organizations of the country, the Methodists and the Presbyterians. The Methodists were the first to take action, and under the lead of Jason Lee, a type of the religious missionary and states-building pioneer, a Methodist mission was established in the Willamette Valley in 1834. In 1835 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the great missionary organization of the Congregationalists, Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed Churches—an organization which has exerted a powerful influ-