Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/361

 COMMUNICATION IN EARLY OREGON 353 The Whitman massacre occured November 29-30, 1847. An express was at once sent to Fort Vancouver, arriving there December 6. Mr. Douglas' letter was read in the Legislature the afternoon of the 8th, and preparations for war with the Indians were begun at once. On the 15th resolutions were passed providing for sending a special messenger overland to Washington. Joseph L. Meek was chosen for the Eastern trip, and $500 was appropriated to pay his expenses, but as it was given him in the form of a draft from the Methodist mission upon the mission authorities in New York City, he had to de- pend upon his own resources in making the trip. He was a member of the Legislative Council, but resigned December 16 and began his preparations for a trip that only a mountain man would have dared to attempt or hoped to accomplish. January 4, 1848, with credentials from the Oregon Legislature and dispatches to the President and Congress, and two traveling companions, John Owens and George W. Ebberts, he set out on the expedition so full of peril by reason of the inclement season and the hostile spirit of the Indians. At The Dalles they overtook the Oregon riflemen. Chafing under the necessity of having to wait the slow movements of the little army, it was almost the first of April before the party began the ascent of the Blue Mountains. In the meantime Meek had assisted at the interment of his old friends, Dr. Whit- man and wife, and his own little daughter, who was being educated at the mission and who died of exposure in the days following the massacre. The well-known emigrant route was followed most of the way. The snows were deep and at times the cold intense. At Fort Boise, at the mouth of the Boise River, near its con- fluence with the Snake River, and at Fort Hall, on the Snake, about 15 miles above where the Portneuf joins the larger stream, they were entertained with generous hospitality and supplied with everything they wished to add to their outfit. After leaving Fort Hall on the way over the divide to Bear River, the soft drifts of new fallen snow compelled them to abandon their horses and proceed on snowshoes, which they