Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/242

224, which remained at the crossing awaiting events. It does not appear that Long's party was attacked, but several unsuspecting companies suffered in their stead. These attacks were made chiefly at one place some distance south of the ferry where Long and his men encamped. The alarm spread throughout the southern valleys, and a petition was forwarded to Governor Gaines from the settlers in the Umpqua for permission to raise a company of volunteers to fight the Indians. The governor decided to look over the field before granting leave to the citizens to fight, and repaired in person to the scene of the reported hostilities.

The Spectator, which was understood to lean toward Gaines and the administration, as opposed to the Statesman and democracy, referring to the petition remarked that leave had been asked to march into the Indian country and slay the savages wherever found; that the prejudice against Indians was very strong in the mines and daily increasing; and that no doubt this petition had been sent to the governor to secure his sanction to bringing a claim against the government for the expenses of another Indian war.

One of Thurston's measures had been the removal