Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/305



In spite of the great distance which separates the two regions there are many points of contact in the history of Iowa and the history of the Oregon country the area now included in the States of Washington, Oregon, [Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming]. Especially interesting is the fact that a number of the men and women who helped to found the earliest communities within the present State of Iowa at an early day joined emigrant bands toiled over the long trail to Oregon, thus becoming pioneers of two Commonwealths. Scarcely had the eastern border of Iowa been settled before many of the settlers who had so lately crossed the Mississippi began to look to the Far West, to the much-discussed Oregon country.

There had been tides of emigration to Oregon from the Mississippi Valley and from the Eastern states in 1841 and 1842, but the movement seems to have attracted special interest in Iowa in the spring of 1843. Emigrant associations were formed, plans were made, routes were investigated, and finally a number of settlers from different parts of the Territory of Iowa departed for the Oregon country. In some cases it may have been pure love of adventure or the desire of the typical American frontiersman to escape the restraints of advancing civilization which induced these men to brave the dangers and hardships of the long overland journey. The hope of bettering their financial condition and of gaining better homes may have attracted others to the new Northwest. But aside from these personal motives there seems to have been a patriotic desire on the part of many to aid in the movement to settle the Oregon country and thus establish forever the claim of the United States to that rich and resourceful region.

Below are printed accounts of the organization of two of the so-called Oregon Emigrant Associations, together with instructions to prospective emigrants, copied verbatim from