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
During the year 1838, three clergymen arrived across the Rocky
Mountains: Revs. Walker, Eells, and Smith, with their wives, and Mr.
Cornelius Rogers, Mr. Gray, with his wife, had also returned. These new
arrivals gave an addition of nine to the mission of the American Board,
making their number thirteen in all. The Methodist Mission had sixteen,
and the Roman Catholic, two. The total number of missionaries in the
country, in December, 1838, was thirty-one, twenty-nine of the
Protestant religion from the United States, and two of the Roman
Jesuitical order. The latter were located at Vancouver as their
head-quarters. The Methodists were in the Wallamet Valley, with one
out-station at the Dalles, Wascopum. The American Board had three
stations, one at Wailatpu, one at Lapwai, and one at Cimakain, near
Spokan.
This array of missionary strength looked like a strong effort on the
part of the Christian world to convert the tribes upon our western
coast. Had all the men been chosen with proper care, and all acted with
a single eye to the cause which they professed to espouse, each in his
distinct department; had they closed their ears to the suggestions of
hypocritical fur traders, and met their vices with a spotless life and
an earnest determination to maintain their integrity as representatives
of religion and a Christian people, the fruits of their labor would,
undoubtedly, have been far greater. As the matter now stands, they can
claim the influence they reluctantly yielded to the provisional
government of the early settlers of the country.
It will be seen at once that the Hudson's Bay Company was acting a
double part with all the American missionary efforts in the country. On
the arrival of Rev. J. Lee and party they sent for Mr. Beaver, an
Episcopal clergyman. On the arrival of Dr. Whitman and party they sent
for Blanchet and Demerse, and established their head-quarters at
Vancouver. Blanchet took charge of the field occupied by the Methodists,
and Demerse of that occupied by the American Board. A combination of
Hudson's Bay Company Indian traders Roman priests, Protestant
missionaries, and American settlers, each having a distinct object in
view. Unfortunately for the American missionaries and settlers, there
was no one bold enough to attempt to act against these combinations.
Cornelius Rogers and Robert Shortess were the first to show signs of
rebellion against the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company; Spalding,
Whitman, and Smith chafed under the Jesuits' proceedings in the
interior.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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