Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 37.djvu/19

 out of the Old Testament and as many out of the New, adding such explanations as seemed to him suitable."

There is nothing in the journals to indicate daily worship or Sabbath observance, except that Mr. Thompson, when journeying down the Pend d'Oreille River in the spring of 1810, and with no time to lose, made the following entry: "April 22nd, A beautiful Easter Sunday. Rested all day." This was the first known observance of Easter in the state of Idaho.

Reverting now to the American fur trade from Saint Louis. This was carried on by the traders themselves, who furnished the capital, (some of them came out every year to rendezvous, while others remained in the field) and the one hundred or more active young men who came to the mountains through their solicitation and spent the entire year there in adventurous hunting and life in the open. These men were not desperadoes or escaped convicts, though the life naturally developed feelings of bravado and reckless daring; they were in frequent danger from the roving bands of Blackfoot Indians. Some of them came to Oregon as highly respected and able pioneers designated as mountain men. This distinctive term did not apply elsewhere than in Oregon, and descendants of that group should feel proud of the honor. In 1830 the original organizers sold the business and the partnership known as Rocky Mountain Fur Company was formed.

One of them in particular could have been an example of Christian living to the Flatheads and Nez Perces. Since the day of Pocahontas no long period of our history has been without its hero by the name of Smith. This one was Jedediah S. Smith, already mentioned. Smith is reported as spending the entire winter of 1824–25 among the Flatheads to ascertain whether competition there with the Hudson's Bay Company would be desirable. Again in the spring of 1829 he passed through their country, traveling from the Columbia at Fort Colville to Pierre's Hole. Here is what Chittenden says of him: "Smith was a bold,