The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society Part 15

With great respect, I have the honor to remain, yours truly,

t.i.tIAN R. PEALE.

_To Thomas Morgan, Esq., Was.h.i.+ngton, Pennsylvania._

Letter by Peter H. Burnett to the _St. Louis Reporter_:

Taken from the _Ohio Statesman_ of September 11, 1844.

FORT VANCOUVER, November 10, 1843.

FRIEND PENN: I reached here on yesterday, and the gra.s.s is now as luxuriant as a wheat field. Provisions are abundant here, and Doctor McLoughlin (who is the most liberal and hospitable man in the world,) furnishes the emigrants with wheat to be paid for in cash or in wheat next year. At the Cascades we met provisions sent us by the Doctor, and all purchased who applied, even without money. Two boats have been sent us with provisions, and the Doctor has lent two boats to the emigrants free of charge. We find him doing everything to aid the emigrants; and those who are here in the Wallamette Valley, are as hospitable as they could possibly afford to be. Business is very brisk, and labor finds ready employment and prompt payment at high prices.

Necessaries of all kinds can be procured at Vancouver.

Most of the emigrants have reached here with their cattle and baggage, and will soon have their wagons here also. We find that cattle bear a fine price here and will sell readily. Cows at from $50 to $75, oxen at from $50 to $100 per yoke; labor $1 per day; beef from 5 to 6 cents; salt salmon $9 to $10 per barrel of about 300 pounds; wheat $1; flour $4 per 100 pounds. Anything can be sold here. b.u.t.ter from 25 to 37 cents; sugar, tea, coffee, and dry goods--plenty. American horses bear better prices than they do in the States.

The country exceeds my expectations, and certainly if man can not supply all his wants here he can not anywhere.

Lieutenant Fremont, who bears this, can give you further information. I must close as he leaves immediately.

PETER H. BURNETT.

Letter of Peter H. Burnett's, taken from the _Ohio Statesman_ of October 23, 1844, which quotes it from the _Globe_, Was.h.i.+ngton:

LINNTON, Oregon, July 25, 1844.

I am here in our new town, which we have named as above, in respect for Doctor Linn's services for this territory. Gen.

M. McCalla [M. M. McCarver] and myself have laid out the town together. He is a gentleman from Iowa Territory, and laid out Burlington, the seat of government. He is an enterprising man. Our place is ten miles from Vancouver, on the west bank of the Wallamette River, at the head of navigation, and three or four miles above the mouth of the Wallamette, and twenty-five miles below the Wallamette Falls. I have no doubt but that this place will be the great commercial town in the territory. We are selling lots at $50 each, and sell them fast at that. At the falls there is quite a town already. I own two lots in Oregon City (the town at the falls). They are said to be worth $200 each. I got them of Doctor McLoughlin for two lots here in Linnton.

I was six weeks at Vancouver, where myself and family were most hospitably entertained by Doctor McLoughlin, free of charge. He has been a great friend to me, and has done much for this emigration generally. I find provisions high--pork 10 cents, potatoes 40 cents, flour $4 per hundred.

But I find it costs me a little, even less to live here than at Weston. I paid for wood the last year I lived at Weston $75, for corn and fodder $50, all of which is saved here. We use much less pork here than in Missouri. The salmon are running now and will continue to run until October next.

They generally commence running the last of February and end in October. I have had several messes of fresh salmon. At this point we purchase of the Indians ducks, geese, swans, salmon, potatoes, feathers, and venison, for little or nothing. Ducks, four loads; geese, eight loads; swans, ten loads; salmon, four loads of powder and shot each. Feathers cost about twelve and a half cents a pound. There are more ducks, etc., here than you ever saw; also pheasants in great numbers. They remain here all the winter. I have hunted very little, being too busy. We find it very profitable to get of the Indians, to whom we trade old s.h.i.+rts, pantaloons, vests, and all sorts of clothing. They are more anxious to purchase clothes than any people you ever saw. You can sell anything here that was ever sold. Stocking Cary ploughs $5 each. We have an excellent blacksmith living in our place who makes first rate Cary ploughs at thirty-one and a quarter cents a pound, he finding it. [Omitting an elaborate description of the Willamette Valley.] American cows are worth here from $50 to $75; American horses from $50 to $75; oxen from $75 to $125 per yoke. This is the finest country for grazing cattle you ever saw. They keep fat all winter. b.u.t.ter sells at 20 to 25 cents. And, what I did not expect to find, this is a good country for hogs. At all events you have here plenty of gra.s.s, a root they call wappato, and also plenty of white oak mast. A first rate market can be had for any and everything, and you have never seen business more brisk.

Times are first rate and everybody is busy. The manufacturing power is unsurpa.s.sed in the world. There are more fine sites than you ever saw. Such water power as that at the falls of Platte can be found everywhere. * *

[Omitting a portion of the letter describing the timber of Oregon.] I will not persuade you, nor will I any of my friends, to come to this country; but were I in the States again, I should come myself. For $300 you could purchase one hundred young heifers; and in driving them here you might lose from five to ten. When you reached here they would be worth $4,000, and in ten years, without labor or expense, would make you a splendid fortune. You can move here with less expense than you could to Tennessee or Kentucky. Your provisions, teams, etc., you have; your oxen and horses, especially your fine American mares, would be worth double as much as they would cost you there. There are very few good American horses here. The Indian horses are not so gentle as the American, nor so fine blooded. The American cattle are greatly superior to the Spanish for milk, as they give more milk and are more gentle; but the Spanish cattle are larger. Cows have calves here from fifteen to twenty months old, and sheep have lambs twice a year in some parts of territory. The reason is they are always fat and get their growth much sooner. It is my deliberate opinion that no country in the world affords so fair an opportunity to acquire a living as this. I can see no objection to it, except it be by a man who loves liquor, for he can get none here.

PETER H. BURNETT.

From the _Ohio Statesman_, October 23, 1844. Quoted by the _Statesman_ from the _St. Louis Reporter_.

We make the following extracts from two letters which were published in the _Western Pioneer_ of the 6th instant, written by William L.

Smith and John Holman, two emigrants to Oregon. The information from that territory, received this year, is of the most interesting character:

The prospect is quite good for a young man to make a fortune in this country, as all kinds of produce are high, and likely to remain so from the extensive demand. The Russian settlements in Asia; the Sandwich Islands; a great portion of California, and the whaling vessels of the Northwest coast, procure their supplies from this place.

There is as yet but little money in the country, and the whole trade is carried on by orders on an agent or factor.

For instance, when I sell my crop of wheat, the purchaser asks me where I wish to receive the pay. Vancouver is as yet the princ.i.p.al point, and an order on that point enables the seller to procure goods, or cattle, or anything else for it.

The population of this country consists of French, sailors, mountain traders, missionaries, and emigrants from the States. The French population consists of old worn-out servants of the Hudson Bay Company; they universally have Indian wives, and many children, some of whom are very handsome; this part of the population are Catholics. The sailors are those who deserted from vessels while lying on the coast, and have also intermarried with the Indians, and but few of them have embraced any religion--they are, however, generally good citizens. The mountain traders are similar to the sailors, except that they have nearly all embraced the Methodist or Catholic religion.

The citizens held a meeting some time since and unanimously adopted the statutes of Iowa Territory for their code of laws until the government of the United States should make laws for them. There is little or no crime in Oregon as yet, which is attributed to the absence of spirituous liquors--and so sensible are the citizens of this fact that they are unanimous in favor of excluding it. In fact, Doctor McLoughlin has several cargoes in his warehouse now, which he bought in preference to allowing it to be sold in the country. I can not speak too highly of this excellent man for his kindness to us all. He sent several boats loaded with provisions to meet the emigrants last fall, and continued to distribute little luxuries among us as long as we remained in reach of him--he is always on the lookout for an opportunity to bestow his charity, and bestows with no sparing hand. His intention is to quit the Hudson Bay Company and become an American citizen.

Our prairies are beautiful, soil good, and the best stock range I ever saw. I have located and recorded six sections of land, which I can hold for one year by making certain improvements thereon, which I intend doing. I can stand in my door and see over all of them. Everything is plenty, but sells high. The prospects for industrious young men are truly flattering. I do think the six sections we have now in possession are intrinsically worth $20,000; that would be $5 per acre, and that is not near the value, taking everything into consideration. The situation for trade and commerce is certainly better than any other country. The climate, soil, timber, water, health, products of the country, and the prospects for good society combine to make it delightful. It would astonish you to see the state of society here--more hospitality and friends.h.i.+p, more morality, industry, and I do believe religion, than you will see anywhere. There are a good many scattering Indians, but nothing to be feared from them.

From the _National Intelligencer_, October 28, 1843.

EMIGRATION--THE FAR WEST.

We presume most persons thought that when the tide of emigration reached Oregon it would go no farther, for it did not seem that the "Far West" could get beyond the Pacific.

We find, however, that some of the emigrants who have reached Oregon are "dissatisfied with the country, and contemplate going to California this spring." So says a letter in the _Iowa Herald_ from one of the settlers, who for his own part likes the country very well, and expects to end his days there. He describes the Oregon region as rough and broken, generally heavy timbered, princ.i.p.ally with fir, yellow pine, cedar, hemlock, oak, ash, and maple--well watered, with about one tenth prairie of excellent quality.

In the streams is an abundance of fish, among which are the finest salmon in the world. Oregon City is a thriving little place, and from its advantageous position it is likely to become a thriving great one. It is situated at the head of navigation on the Oregon or Columbia River, and at the foot of Walhammat Falls, one of the greatest water powers in the world.

Of the foregoing doc.u.ments, the editorial from the _Daily Tribune_, New York, of March 29, 1843, the second in the order of the excerpts, was found and copied by Dr. J. R.

Wilson; for all the others the editor is indebted to Prof.

Joseph Schafer.

THE QUARTERLY OF THE OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

VOLUME IV. SEPTEMBER, 1903 NUMBER 3

[Entered at Portland, Oregon, Post Office as second-cla.s.s matter.]

HISTORY OF THE PREPARATION OF THE FIRST CODE OF OREGON.

I am requested by the Oregon Bar a.s.sociation to write a paper on "The Preparation and Adoption of the First Code."

Before writing about the actual preparation of the first code, I desire to say something about the confused and uncertain condition of statutory law in Oregon Territory, prior to 1853, and the reasons which induced the territorial legislature of 1852-53 to elect three commissioners to prepare a code of laws for Oregon Territory.

On June 27, 1844, the Provisional Government of Oregon, declared that "All the statute laws of Iowa Territory, pa.s.sed at the first session of the legislative a.s.sembly of said territory, and not of a local character, and not incompatible with the conditions and circ.u.mstances of this country, shall be the law of this government, unless otherwise modified": Laws, 1843-49, p. 100.

The fourteenth section of the act of Congress of August 14, 1848, organizing the Territory of Oregon, continued these laws of the Provisional Government in force until they should be altered or repealed.

At the first session of the legislative a.s.sembly, held at Oregon City, two acts were pa.s.sed by that body, which, owing to the construction placed upon them by the supreme court of the Territory, had a tendency to produce dissension and discord among the people of Oregon, which lasted for two or three years. One of these was "An act to provide for the selection of places for location and erection of the public buildings of the Territory of Oregon," pa.s.sed February 1, 1851.