Page:The Early Indian Wars of Oregon.djvu/52

34 start for Oregon with their families, cattle, and household goods; and had appointed a rendezvous in western Missouri from which to march as soon as the grass should be sufficiently high to subsist their stock. With some of these people he talked in passing, and gave them instruction as to the route, and the best means of traveling and encamping. He found the secretary of war in his last report had recommended a line of military posts with the object of impressing the Indians on the Pacific coast with the strength of the United States, and also to afford protection to the Americans in that region. The secretary went further, and recommended making an appropriation to send out a colony to settle in Oregon. He found petitions pouring into congress from Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Alabama, insisting upon the occupation of Oregon. He found, in short, little left for him to propose or advocate in Oregon matters, for the subject was one more written and talked about than any other at that time.

It appears from a letter preserved in the war department, that while Dr. Whitman was in Washington he had a conference with the secretary of war, Hon. James M. Porter, and that he was requested by Porter to frame such a bill as would be for the best interests of Oregon. This he did after his return home in the autumn of 1843, but it was never introduced in congress, and remained forever a dead letter.

This bill asked for the establishment of "a chain of agricultural posts or farming "stations" from the Missouri to the Wallamet river in Oregon, with regulations for their management. Their avowed object was to set the example of civilized industry to the Indians; to suppress lawlessness on the frontier; to facilitate the passage of troops and munitions of war, and the transportation of mails.

It will be observed that the bill makes no mention of the necessities of emigrants, but in a letter accompanying it, Dr. Whitman dilates upon the benefits to travelers not only