Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/232

170 in New York in November, and so w^ell did he plead his cause before the missionary board that that body determined to send the largest missionary colony to Oregon that had ever left American shores. The party included thirty-three adults, to take various duties, and eighteen children. The fund raised for the new expedition was over $42,000.

The memorial from the settlers of the Willamette, was presented by Lee to Senator Linn of Missouri, and by him to the senate. Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts, desiring more information, wrote to Lee for the facts, and he replied from Middletown, Connecticut, stating clearly and powerfully the needs and desires of the Oregonians. Senator Cushing was a relative of Captain John H. Couch, who was induced to come to Oregon in the brig "Chenamus," by reason of Lee's letter to Cushing. The Cushing family were Boston merchants, and here again appears the helping hand of Massachusetts to the Oregon settlement. Two brothers of the Couch family commanded vessels of the Cushings. They were interested as stated above, in Jason Lee's report to Senator Linn, and the correspondence between the missionary and the merchant resulted in the Couches and Cushings' entrance into Oregon commerce.

Captain Couch made several voyages here, and finally took up a claim in Portland, and became a founder of this city, which has done his name welldeserved honor in perpetuating it by giving the name of Couch to one of our important streets, and to one of our public schools, Lee's reply to Senator Cushing closed with these words: "To whom can we look for laws to govern our rising settlements, but to the congress of our own beloved country? It depends much upon congress what the character of our population shall be, and what shall be the fate of the Indian tribes of that country. It may be thought Oregon is of little importance, but rely upon it, there is the germ of a great state. We are resolved to do what we can to benefit the country, but we throw ourselves upon you for protection." Lee's presentation of the claim of the Oregon settlers was so favorably received by the president and his cabinet, that $5,000 from the secret service fund was contributed toward the expense of the missionary society, in recognition of the strategic and political importance of the mission of the Willamette.

On October 9, 1839, "Lausanne" sailed from New York with fifty-one souls destined for the Willamette and other missions of Oregon. Among them were George Abernethy, who became Oregon's first provisional governor. Rev. J. P. Richmond, Rev. J. L. Parrish, Rev. Gustavus Hines, Hamilton Campbell and other men afterwards notable in the annals of early days here. Jason Lee made the voyage with them. They touched at Rio, Valparaiso, and made a stay of three weeks in Honolulu. On May 21, 1840, the "Lausanne" entered the Columbia. At Vancouver Dr. McLoughlin made all welcome "as long as they chose to remain."

Very soon after their arrival the men appointed to the missions at Clatsop, Nisqually, "The Falls" and The Dalles were on their way to their stations. In the neighborhood of all these points have sprung up important cities, whose nuclei were the missions.

In 1841 the central mission was removed about ten miles south from its original location, to Chemekete. A manual training school was erected here for instruction of Indian children. Mills had been built earlier at this site for the mission. Around this Chemekete mission grew the city of Salem.

Jason Lee found the Indian population greatly reduced upon his return in the "Lausanne." There was no increase up to that time in the number of Americans in the Willamette, but there were more Canadians and half-breed children. The newer missions found more populous fields at The Dalles and Nis-