"3d. Resolved, That a committee of one be appointed to make known the views of this society, and present our request to Messrs. Young & Carmichael. "4th. Resolved, That the undersigned will pay the sums severally affixed to our names, to Messrs. Young & Carmichael, on or before the thirty-first day of March next, the better to enable them to give up their project." Then followed the names of nine Americans, and fifteen Frenchmen, which then embraced a majority of the white men of the country, excluding the Hudson's Bay Company, with a subscription of sixty-three dollars, and a note appended as follows: 66 We, the undersigned, jointly promise to pay the balance, be the same more or less. "JASON LEE, DANIEL LEE, CYRUS SHEPARD, P. L. EDWARDS.' To the above request Messrs. Young & Carmichael returned the following answer: "WALLAMETTE, 13th Jan., 1837. "TO THE OREGON TEMPERANCE SOCIETY: "Gentlemen,- Having taken into consideration your request to relinquish our enterprise in manufacturing ardent spirits, we therefore do agree to stop our proceeding for the present. But, gentlemen, the reasons for first beginning such an undertaking were the innumerable difficulties placed in our way by, and the tyranising oppression of the Hudson's Bay Company, here under the absolute authority of Dr. McLaughlin, who has treated us with more disdain than any American citizen's feelings could support. But as there have now some favorable circumstances occurred to enable us to get along without making spiritous liquors, we resolve to stop the manufacture of it for the present; but, gentlemen, it is not consistent with our feelings to receive any recompense whatever for our expenditures, but we are thankful to the Society for their offer. "We remain, yours, &c., "YOUNG & CARMICHAEL." The missionaries from the first had proved a great blessing to the country, not only in a spiritual and moral point of view, but in furnishing employment to many individuals otherwise without the means of livelihood; and setting an example of industry and perseverance in the temporal departments of their work, they gave a spur to all business operations, and the community seemed at once to spring from that state of inactivity into which it had been thrown by the domineering policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, into one of great enterprise and prosperity. In the early part of January a circumstance transpired which enabled the members of the mission and others, to carry out a design which they had previously formed, and in the execution of which the temporal interests of the country would be greatly promoted. This design was to send an expedition to California to purchase and drive to Oregon a band of neat cattle for the supply of the settlers. The circumstance referred to was the arrival in the country of Wm. A. Slocum, Esq., of the United States Navy. Up to this period there were no cattle in the country, except what belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company, and they would not sell, but compelled the settlers, if they had cattle at all, to take cows merely for their milk, and return them with their increase. This looked too much like oppression to Mr. Jason Lee, and he resolved, if possible, to break up the cattle monopoly, believing that he would thereby confer a lasting benefit to the country. On the arrival of Mr. Slocum, he proposed to take to California, any number of persons that might be needed, free of expense except board; and a meeting was immediately called at the mission house, for the purpose of forming a California Cattle Company, and making the necessary arrangements for the expedition. Each person belonging to the Company was to share in proportion to the amount of money he invested, and the persons who went with the expedition were to be paid a stipulated sum per month in cattle. P. L. Edwards and Ewing Young, were appointed to take charge of the Company, and Thursday the 19th of January was fixed upon as the day for the vessel to sail. Mr. Slocum, while in Oregon, manifested a deep interest in the welfare of the rising settlement, and especially in the prosperity of the Oregon mission. He highly approved of the method the missionaries had pursued to benefit the Indians, and said he was perfectly astonished at the improvement those had made who were under the care of the mission. In company with Mr. Jason Lee, he visited the several farms in the settlement, and on the 14th, took his leave of the Wallamette, Mr. Lee accompanying him to Vancouver. A letter signed by the missionaries, commendatory of the course Mr. Slocum had pursued in the country, had been put into his hands before leaving, and he returned them the following answer, which contained a donation of fifty dollars for the benefit of the mission. This letter was put into the hands of Mr. Lee during his last interview with Mr. Slocum. "AMERICAN BRIG LORIOT, OFF THE WALLAMETTE, } "MY DEAR SIRS :-I have much pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of your kind favor of the 16th, and I beg leave to thank you for the expressions of regard contained therein. It was indeed a source of regret that I could continue no longer at your mission on the banks of the Waliamette, for the visit was to me one of exceeding interest. On my return to the civilized parts of our country, I shall not hesitate to express my humble opinion that you have already effected a great public good, by practically showing that the Indians west of the Rocky Mountains are capable of the union of mental and physical discipline, as taught at your establishment. For I have seen with my own eyes, children, who, two years ago, were roaming their own native wilds in a state of savage barbarism, now being brought within the knowledge of moral and religious instruction, becoming useful members of society, by being taught the most useful of all arts, agriculture, and all this without the slightest compulsion. "As an evidence of my good will towards the laudable efforts you are making in this remote quarter, debarred of almost every comfort, deprived of the associations of kindred, and of home, I beg you to accept herewith, the sum of fifty dollars; only regretting that my means at present will not allow me to add more, I pray you to accept, my dear sirs, the assurances of the unfeigned regard of, "Your friend and ob'nt servant, "WM. A. SLOCUM, U. S. N." Mr. Slocum's vessel left the Columbia river about the first of February, and arrived safely in the Bay of San Francisco, on the coast of California. The cattle company proceeded immediately to purchase a large band of cattle, and a number of horses, with which they started for Oregon. In crossing a range of mountains separating the two countries, they were attacked by the Rascal Indians, and a number of their cattle were killed, but they at length succeeded in driving back their foe, and saving the remainder. Contrary to the predictions and wishes of the members of the Hudson's Bay Company, who indirectly opposed them at the outset, they arrived in safety in the Wallamette valley with six hundred head of cattle, and distributed them among the settlers, according to the provisions of the compact. This successful enterprise, which laid the foundation for a rapid accumulation of wealth by the settlers, was mainly accomplished through the energy and perseverance of Rev. Jason Lee. Sometime in July, 1836, We-lap-tu-lekt, an Indian of the Kayuse tribe, came to the mission on the Wallamette, and brought two of his sons, whom he desired to have remain to be educated. He had travelled with the missionaries, while on their way from Fort Hall to Walla-Walla, and seemed very attentive to religious instruction, and desirous that missionaries should settle in the Kayuse country; but none having yet come, he resolved to visit the mission in the lower country. He was so well pleased that he determined to return to his country, and bring his family down to the mission, as soon as possible. This he accomplished by the 6th of September, when he settled his family near the mission station. Some of his children attended the school, and appeared to be making rapid improvement, but in February, 1837, his family began to suffer with disease. Two of his children died in quick succession, and a third was fast sinking with a burning fever. We-lap-tu-lekt was frightened, and supposed that all his family would die, if he did not leave the place. He accordingly fled in a canoe, but just at the moment of his landing at Vancouver, another of his family expired. These repeated deaths in one family, and the fact that most of the mission children were sick, and some had died but recently, began to create a prejudice in the minds of the Indians, against having their children remain with the mission, and after this it was not so easy to procure and retain them. In February, 1835, Mr. Lee addressed letters to the Board in New York, earnestly soliciting them to send out a reinforcement. In compliance with this request, the Board appointed Dr. Elijah White and wife, Mr. Alanson Beers and wife, Miss Ann Maria Pitman, Miss Susan Downing, Miss Elvina Johnson, and Mr. W. H. Wilson, assistant missionaries. This company sailed from Boston in July, 1836, and, after several months detention at the Sandwich Islands, entered the mouth of the Columbia river in May, 1837. Intelligence of their arrival in the Columbia was received on the 18th of May, and the following day J. Lee went down the river in a canoe to meet them and conduct them to the station. On the 27th he returned with five of them, the others remaining awhile at Vancouver. Their arrival in the country was hailed by the four lonely brethren, who had hitherto composed the mission, with great |