The quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, March, 1900Oregon Historical Society
History
The quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, March, 1900
Oregon Historical Society
Oregon -- History -- Periodicals
DEAR SIR—Your favor of the 16th inst., was received on the 19th. The
first time I visited the Columbia, in the autumn of 1832, I reached
Vancouver with a disorganized party of ten persons, the remnant of
twenty-four who left the States. Wholly worn out and disheartened, we
were received cordially, and liberally supplied, and there the party
broke up. I returned to the States in the Spring of 1833 with one man.
One of the party, Mr. John Ball, remained and planted wheat on the
Willamette a little above Camp du Sable, having been supplied with seed
and implements from Vancouver, then under the charge of John McLoughlin,
Esq., and this gentleman I believe to have been the first American who
planted wheat in Oregon. I returned to the country in the autumn of
1834, with a large party and more means, having on the way built Fort
Hall, and there met a brig which I sent round the Horn. In the winter
and spring of 1835, I planted wheat on the Willamette and on Wappatoo
Island.
The suffering and distressed of the early American visitors and settlers
on the Columbia were always treated by Hudson’s Bay Company’s agents,
and particularly so by John McLoughlin, Esq., with consideration and
kindness, more particularly the Methodist Missionaries, whom I brought
out in the autumn of 1834. He supplied them with the means of
transportation, seeds, implements of agriculture and building, cattle
and food for a long time.
I sincerely regret that the gentleman, _as you state_, has become odious
to his neighbors in his old age.
I am your ob’t serv’t,
NATH. J. WYETH.
CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 28, 1850.
_Hon. Robert C. Winthrop_:
DEAR SIR—I have received a letter from Sam’l R. Thurston, Esq., of which
the following is a portion:
“I desire you to give me as correct a description as you can at this
late period, of the manner in which you and your party, and your
enterprise in Oregon, were treated by the Hudson’s Bay Company west of
the Rocky mountains, and particularly by Dr. John McLoughlin, then its
Chief Factor. This Dr. McLoughlin has since you left the country,
rendered his name odious among the people of Oregon, by his endeavors to
prevent the settlement of the country and cripple its growth. Now that
he wants a few favors of our Government, he pretends that he has been
the long-tried friend of Americans and American enterprise west of the
mountains.”
I have written Mr. Thurston, in reply to the above extract, that myself
and parties were kindly received, and were treated well in all respects
by J. McLoughlin, Esq., and the officers of the Hudson’s Bay Co.; but
from the tenor of his letter, I have no confidence that my testimony
will be presented before any committee to whom may be referred any
subjects touching the interests of said John McLoughlin, Esq.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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