A History of Oregon, 1792-1849: Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic InformationGray, W. H. (William Henry)
History
A History of Oregon, 1792-1849: Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information
Gray, W. H. (William Henry)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Oregon; Oregon Territory -- History
We will call these mountain hunters by numbers, for convenience, as we
shall refer to them in our future political sketches, in which they
participated.
No. 2. A man of medium height, black hair, black whiskers, dark-brown
eyes, and very dark complexion; he was formerly from Kentucky. (I am not
positive.) He was quite fond of telling yarns; still, as he was not
considered very truthful, we will only give the story as we have it of
the manner in which he and the one we will give as No. 3 obtained their
titles. 2 and 3 were traveling together; 3 was from Cincinnati, Ohio.
They had reached Independence, Mo.; says 3 to 2, "Titles are very
necessary here in Missouri, what titles shall we take?" "Well," says 2,
"I will take _Major_." 3 says, "I will take _Doctor_." Very good. They
rode up to the best hotel in the place and called for lodgings.
2. "Well, Doctor, what shall we have for supper?"
3. "I don't care, Major, so as we get something to eat."
The Major and the Doctor enjoyed their supper and have borne their
titles to the present time. The Major has never been, from all I could
learn of him, a very truthful man or reliable citizen. He spent several
years in Oregon and in the mountains, and found his way back to
Missouri. The Doctor is now a resident of Idaho. The most remarkable
trait in his composition is story-telling, or yarns, and a disposition
to make friends of all political parties, or join all religious
sects--something of a good lord and good devil order. He appeared in
those early times to belong to that party that paid him the best. He was
first in the employ of the American Fur Company, but appeared to lend
his influence to the Hudson's Bay Company. He also had a native wife of
the Nez Percé tribe, and was considered by the Hudson's Bay Company a
useful man to divide the American influence in trade with the Indians in
the mountains, and equally useful to distract and divide the political
influence of the early settlers. By his connection with the natives in
marriage, the Hudson's Bay Company in trade, and good lord and good
devil principles, he could adapt himself to the Protestant or Catholic
religion, and in this manner become a kind of representative man,
something like _strong lye and aquafortis mixed_, and just about as
useful as such a mixture would be. He succeeded, by political
maneuvering, or as the sailors say, "boxing the compass," to fill a
place and draw a salary from Uncle Sam; carrying out the principles he
has acted upon in his whole life, his efforts have been to neutralize
what good others might do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account