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168 Fred Wilbur Powell

funded, all but the above, which circumstances rendered incon- venient and improper then to restore.**^

In an attempt to raise money, therefore, he ag^in worked as a surveyor. "In the year 1837, I surveyed three railroad routes in the State of Maine, each, however, of short extent, having the assistance, only, of two or three men unacquainted with engineering, and employed on the outdoor work. I planned, figured, drafted, and performed the office-work; be- sides, the entire labor with the field instruments."^ The report of one of these surveys was published;^ but whether the project was carried out is not stated.

In September, 1837, William A. Slacum, purser in the United States navy, went to Boston and conferred with Charles Bul- finch, who had long been interested in trading ventures on the Northwest Coast. He asked for a meeting with Kelley, and Kelley visited him at the Tremont House, where the matter of Oregon and its settlement was discussed.

Slacum had recently returned from Oregon, having been commissioned by the secretary of state, under date of Novem- ber 11, 1835, "to stop at the different settlements of whites on the coast of the United States, and on the banks of the [Columbia] river, and also at the various Indian villages on the banks, or in the immediate neighborhood of that river; ascertain, as nearly as possible, the population of each; the relative number of whites (distinguishing the nation to which they belong) and aborigines; the jurisdiction the whites ac- knowledge; the sentiments entertained by all in respect to the United States, and to the two European powers having possessions in that region; and, generally, to obtain all such information, political, physical, statistical, and geographical, as may prove useful or interesting to this Government."

This mission had been undertaken at the suggestion of Presi- dent Jackson, who may have been prompted by Kelley*s activ- ities during several winters at Washington, and by the knowl-

2 Kelky, Narrative of Events and Difficulties, 711.

3 IbiA, 72-3.

4 Kelley, Hist, of the Settlement of Oregon,' 8.