Part 27 (1/2)

It was one long hard struggle for food, shelter, and life itself. This was only the beginning of that mighty stream of migration which flowed for the next half century or more beyond the Mississippi, beyond the Rocky Mountains, into the region of the extreme Northwest and to the sh.o.r.es of the Pacific.

The story of the marvelous growth of our country beyond the Alleghanies during the last hundred years reads more like a fairy tale than the plain truth.

=286. Discovery of the Columbia River.=--In 1792 Captain Robert Gray of Boston, in the s.h.i.+p Columbia, was coasting along the Pacific sh.o.r.es, trading with the Indians for furs, when he discovered a broad and deep stream, which he entered and sailed up for many miles, and named after his vessel. The discovery of this great river produced momentous and far-reaching results.

=287. The Purchase of Louisiana by President Jefferson.=--Now comes another important event. Our pioneers, who wanted to push on still farther, could not consistently cross the Mississippi River to stay there; for all that country belonged to France. This entire region of over a million square miles was then called Louisiana.

Our people were very anxious to obtain part of this land, because it included New Orleans. The possession of it seemed necessary for our growing commerce and for our future protection. Thomas Jefferson, then President (1803), was on the point of attempting to buy of France enough of this southern region to include the mouth of the river, when he learned to his surprise that the French would be glad to sell us the whole of that vast territory!

Napoleon was just then planning military operations on a great scale against England, and he was in sore need of ”the sinews of war”; so he was glad to sell to this country this immense area for fifteen million dollars.

The addition of the Louisiana territory more than doubled the area of the United States.

=288. The Wonders revealed by the Lewis and Clarke Exploring Expedition.=--The next year President Jefferson thought it best to learn all about this wonderful addition to our territory, and so sent an expedition, under Captains Lewis and Clarke, to explore it. They started from St. Louis in May, 1804. What a remarkable journey it was!--more than two thousand miles up the Missouri River to its source, then across the Rocky Mountains, next down the Columbia River to the Pacific. They were the first white men who ever explored this vast domain, having traveled about six thousand miles.

On their return in September, 1806, they were welcomed with unbounded joy. The stories of their perilous adventures sounded like a fairy romance, and the book of their travels was read everywhere. The explorers brought back word that the Indians had immense quant.i.ties of valuable furs. Soon throngs of American hunters and trappers began to roam over the vast plains and through the forests.

All the way from the Missouri River to the Pacific a chain of trading posts, and stores for exchanging goods for furs were established. The wagons of the fur-traders and the winding caravans of emigrants that went under their protection soon made a pretty fair road. This was known as the Oregon trail, and in time it became the princ.i.p.al northern highway for Pacific travel.

=289. How Dr. Whitman saved Oregon to the Union.=--In 1836 a group of young missionaries, two of them with their brides, went from New England to Oregon, taking with them a wagon all the way from the Missouri to their new homes on the Columbia River. One of these was a doctor by the name of Marcus Whitman, whose labors and counsel became of great value to the company.

After they had been settled in Oregon some years Dr. Whitman discovered, one day in October, 1842, that the British were sending large bands of settlers down into Oregon, apparently to crowd American emigrants out of that rich country and to take complete possession.

”The country is ours! The United States is too late. England will have Oregon and you cannot help it,” exclaimed an English subject to him.

”I will see,” was the doctor's quiet reply.

The moment Dr. Whitman heard this he became alarmed at the danger. If the President at Was.h.i.+ngton could only be informed of the facts, the threatened loss might be averted. The National Capital was three thousand or more miles away; and yet to delay a year or two might mean the seizure of all this rich country by the British.

How to inform the government at Was.h.i.+ngton was the question. Could he himself do anything to save to his country this immense and valuable region?--one man, in midwinter, and across a continent? The problem haunted him--”Must I go?” He could not sleep. Difficult, almost impossible, as would be the journey, yet he heard the clear call of duty.

A firm and bold, resolve, quick as a flash, had taken hold of him. He rode home in haste.

”I am going to Was.h.i.+ngton to lay bare this scheme,” said he to his wife.

”I will bring settlers to Oregon.”

”You cannot ever get there,” exclaimed the young wife; ”you will perish on the way.”

”I must go; Oregon must be saved,” said Whitman.

=290. Whitman begins his Perilous Journey.=--Twenty-four hours later Dr.

Whitman, with one companion, and pack mules for the guide and their supplies, started on horseback on the perilous undertaking.

Over mountain ranges, through deep gorges and rugged forests, now drenched in storms, now buried in snow, and half famis.h.i.+ng for food--their sufferings cannot be described.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WHITMAN'S FAMOUS ”RIDE FOR OREGON.”]

They fed their horses on cotton-wood bark, while the men themselves lived on mule and dog meat. Two or three times they were really lost in the blinding snowstorms, and wandered about bewildered for days. Once only, Whitman gave up in despair, and then, worn out and bewildered, he knelt in the deep snow, and in a final prayer surrendered to G.o.d all earthly hopes. Then the party sank down and awaited a snowy burial. They were not, however, to die in the wilderness, but were rescued from death almost as if by a miracle, and after untold hards.h.i.+ps for three months they reached St. Louis.

=291. Dr. Whitman succeeds in his Grand Mission.=--Dr. Whitman at last arrived in Was.h.i.+ngton and convinced President Tyler and Daniel Webster, his Secretary of State, of the great value of Oregon and its importance to the Union. It is claimed that he thus saved to our nation, by his famous ”Ride for Oregon,” that entire region of country now known as Oregon, Was.h.i.+ngton, and Idaho, an area thirty-two times as large as the state of Ma.s.sachusetts.