Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/480

462 the people, and asking the general to extend his protection to the immigration, and establish a garrison at or near Fort Boisé. A considerable military force having been massed in the Oregon department for the conquest of the rebellious tribes, Harney had, when he took command, found employment for them in explorations of the country. The military department in 1858 built a steamboat to run between The Dalles and Fort Walla Walla, and about two thousand settlers took claims in the Walla Walla and Umatilla valleys during this summer. The hostilities which had heretofore prevented this progress being now at an end, there remained only the Snake, Klamath, and Modoc tribes to be either conquered or conciliated. Little discipline had been administered in this quarter, except by the three expeditions previously mentioned of Wright, Walker, and Haller.

Harney, though more in sympathy with the people than his predecessors, was yet like them inclined to discredit the power or the will of the wild tribes