Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/101



FIRST PRESBYTER: AN ISM ON PACIFIC COAST 93

Dr. Marcus Whitman, who was returning to Oregon after his famous Winter ride, rendered efficient service as guide, physician and friend for this first great immigration to the Oregon country.

Jesse Applegate, a pioneer of 1843, writes of Dr. Whitman:* "I would fain now and here pay a passing tribute to that noble and devoted man, Doctor Whitman. I will obtrude no other name upon the reader, nor would I his, were he of our party or even living, but his stay with us was transient, though the good he did was permanent and he has long since died at his post. From the time he joined us on the Platte until he left us at Fort Hall, his great experience and indominant- able energy were of priceless value to the migrating column. His constant advice, which we knew was based upon a knowl- edge of the road before us, was : 'Travel, Travel, Travel.' Nothing else will take you to the end of your journey ; nothing is wise that does not help you along; nothing is good for you that causes a moment's delay. His great authority as a physician saved us many prolonged and perhaps ruinous de- lays, and it is no disparagement to others to say that to no other individual are the emigrants of 1843 so much indebted for the successful conclusion of their journey as to Dr. Marcus Whitman."

Upon Dr. Whitman's return to his mission at Waiilatpu he found his flour mill, with a quantity of grain, had been burned by disaffected Indians.

FIRST WHITE WOMEN IN OREGON.

On November 1, 1843, Dr. Whitman wrote from Fort Walla Walla to the A. B. C. F. M. : "If I never do more than to have bee'n one of the first to take white women across the mountains and prevent the disaster and reaction which would have oc- curred by the breaking up of the present emigration, and estab- lishing the first wagon road across to the border of the Columbia River, I am satisfied." * * * "I am determined to exert

Society Quarterly.
 * A Day With the Cow Column in 1843, Vol. i, page 371. Oregon Historical