These early immigrants all came to, or started for Oregon, overland, in the time of joint-occupancy. They were not encouraged, helped, nor protected by the Government in coming to Oregon. There were no United States troops in the Oregon Country, or near the immigrant trail prior to 1849. The Cayuse Indian war of 1847-8 was carried on by the Oregon Provisional Government alone, without assistance from the United States Government. This war was fought wholly by volunteers from the Willamette Valley. The coming of these early immigrants assisted to hold Oregon for the United States, and greatly contributed to the settlement of the Oregon Question. They relied on themselves but they believed that their Country would protect its own in Oregon. Their rights and courage could not be ignored. There was no one man who saved Oregon. If any persons saved Oregon, they were these immigrants from 1843 to and including 1846. There is not a true American who does not take pride in the daring of these pioneers and in what they accomplished in coming to Oregon. Whatever some of them may have lacked, in certain qualities, and in spite of the bad treatment, by some of them, of Dr. McLoughlin, the patriotism and courage of most of them were of the highest types. This great movement of immigrants to Oregon from 1843 to 1846, inclusive, may not, even now, be thoroughly understood nor explained but it is fully appreciated. With all its dangers and hardships, with all its mystery and simplicity, and its commonplaces, it stands today one of the most daring colonizing movements for, and the most remarkable, interesting, and romantic story of the settlement and upbuilding of any part of the continents of the two Americas.