Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/493

Rh. Thirty-nine lives had been lost, a large amount of property wasted, and indescribable suffering endured for six weeks. When Captain Dent arrived with the rescued survivors at the Blue Mountains, they were already covered with snow, which a little later would have prevented his return.

The Oregon legislature being in session when news of the Snake River massacre reached the Willamette Valley, Governor Whiteaker, in a special message, suggested that they memorialize the president, the secretary of war, and the commander of the department of Oregon, on the necessity for greater security of the immigration between forts Hall and Walla Walla. He reminded them that they had just passed through an Indian war from which the country was greatly depressed, and left it with the legislature to determine whether the state should undertake to chastise the Indians, or whether that duty should be left to the army. Acting upon the governor's suggestion, a memorial was addressed to congress, asking for a temporary post at the Grand Rond, with a command of twenty-five men; another with a like command on Burnt River; and a permanent post at Boisé of not less than one company. These posts could be supplied from Walla Walla, which, since the opening of the country to settlement, had become a flourishing centre of business. The troops at the two temporary posts of Grande Ronde and Burnt River could