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
McCarty, the companion of Mr. Young from California to Oregon, had
fallen out with him on the way, as Young was bringing to the country a
band of California horses (brood mares). McCarty, it seems, to be
avenged on Young, reported to Dr. McLaughlin and the mission that Young
had stolen his band of horses (though it has since been stated upon good
authority that such was not the case); still McCarty was (I understand)
a member of the class-meeting, on probation. His statements were
received as truth, and Young suffered. Young was a stirring, ambitious
man; he had spent some time in the Rocky Mountains, and in Santa Fé and
California, and the little property he could get he had invested in
horses, and brought them to Oregon. This fact, with the malicious
reports circulated about him, made him an object of suspicion and
contempt on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company and the mission. We
find that Mr. Lee treated Mr. Young as an honest man, and,
consequently, fell under the displeasure of Dr. McLaughlin and the
Hudson's Bay Company. _With Mr. Young, Mr. Lee succeeded_ in getting up
the first cattle company, and gave the first blow toward breaking up the
despotism and power of the company. Mr. Young, as Mr. Lee informed us,
was the only man in the country he could rely upon, in carrying out his
plan to supply the settlement with cattle. He was aware of the stories
in circulation about him, and of the want of confidence in him in the
mission and among the French-Canadians and Hudson's Bay Company. To
obviate this difficulty, he suggested that Mr. P. L. Edwards, a member
of the mission, should go as treasurer of the company, and Mr. Young as
captain. This brought harmony into the arrangement, and a ready
subscription to the stock of the Wallamet Cattle Company, all being
anxious to obtain cattle. But few of the settlers had any means at
command. Many of the discharged servants of the Hudson's Bay Company had
credit on their books. There were outside men enough in the country
willing to volunteer to go for the cattle, and receive their pay in
cattle when they arrived with the band in Oregon. This brought the
matter directly to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to Dr. McLaughlin. Rev.
Jason Lee received the orders of the company's servants, went to
Vancouver, and learned from the clerks in the office the amounts due the
drawers, then went to the Doctor, and insisted that certain amounts
should be paid on those orders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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