FOOTNOTES:
[164] This was the party of which Dr. Wislizenus of St. Louis was a member (see ante, p. [173], note 108). They left the frontier in a caravan of twenty-seven persons, of whom nine were employés of Chouteau's fur company, and the others heterogeneous travellers and immigrants. Wislizenus had intended to go on to Oregon and then to California; but the divisions in the party, and the lateness of the season, determined him to return from Fort Hall. Two of his companions joined him, and they engaged Richardson, who had taken the outward journey in the capacity of hunter, to guide them back, purposing to take the southerly route on the return. Dr. Wislizenus had undertaken this journey for the sake of his health, as well as in order to see the marvels of the Western mountains. Richardson was chief hunter for Wyeth's party in 1833. Townsend well describes him in his Narrative, in our volume xxi, pp. 152-155; see also pp 171, 211, 255, 256, 264.—Ed.
[165] John S. Griffin (not Griffith) was a native (1807) of Castleton, Vermont, educated in New England, but taking a theological course at Oberlin, where he was graduated in 1838. He prepared to go out to the Indians as an independent missionary, and was dispatched by the Congregational church in Litchfield, Connecticut. Having engaged Asahel Munger, a skilled mechanic, to accompany him, he stopped in St. Louis long enough to marry, and left the frontier the last of April, 1839. At Fort Hall, Griffin, because of some differences, left Munger and pushed on to Lapwai, where he spent the winter, Munger having meanwhile joined Dr. Whitman who gladly employed him at his mission for a year and a half. In the spring of 1840 Griffin attempted a mission to the Shoshoni; but becoming discouraged, pressed on to Fort Vancouver, where he spent the second winter, establishing in 1841 a settlement at Tualatin Plains, near the present Hillsboro. He was active in establishing the provisional government, being suggested as candidate for governor, but opposed on account of his profession. Griffin was the editor of the first Oregon magazine, Oregon American and Evangelical Unionist, eight numbers of which were published (1848-49). He established a Congregational church, the first in Washington County, and lived in Oregon until his death in February, 1899. Munger became deranged, and as a religious test cast himself into fire, dying from his injuries, near Salem, Oregon.—Ed.
[166] Sometimes spoken of as the bilberry, but more commonly as the service berry, the fruit of the shad-bush (Amelanchier canadensis).—Ed.
[167] What is now known as the Red Cañon, from the color of its sand-stone walls. See Dellenbaugh, Romance of the Colorado River, p. 64.—Ed.
[168] Farnham had now entered what is known as the Green River valley, that portion of the river above the gorges (or cañons) where the banks are comparatively level. He here joined the Oregon Trail from the east, which came by way of the Sweetwater River and South Pass; see Townsend's Narrative, in our volume xxi, pp. 183-195. This valley was, in 1833-34 and later, the site of several famous rendezvous of fur-traders. See Irving, Rocky Mountains, chapter xx.—Ed.
[169] For Ham's Fork, which is an affluent of Black Fork of Green, see Townsend's Narrative in our volume xxi, p. 197, note 43.—Ed.
[170] For Long's Peak see our volume xv, p. 271, note 126. It must have been some nearer peak, however, which Farnham mistook for Long's; the latter was over a hundred and fifty miles distant.—Ed.
[171] The Oregon Short Line follows this route, up Ham's Fork.—Ed.
[172] For the American Fur Company see Maximilian's Travels in our volume xxii, p. 232, note 159.—Ed.
[173] Known as Bear River Divide, in Unita County, south-west Wyoming.—Ed.
[174] For a description see our volume xxi, p. 199, note 44.—Ed.
[175] Col. Joseph L. Meek (1810-75) was one of the most picturesque of the "mountain men" who settled in Oregon. An extended account of his adventures was published by Frances Fuller Victor, under the title River of the West (Hartford, 1870). Born in Washington County, Virginia, he left home while still a boy, and in 1829 joined Sublette's caravan for the mountain trade. During eleven years he experienced adventures similar to those of other hunters and trappers, in one of which he killed a grizzly bear. The Englishman Stuart (see our volume xxi, p. 197, note 42), coming up with his artist Miller, had a sketch made of the beast which was afterwards elaborated into a picture, and later a wax model for the St. Louis Museum (River of the West, pp. 220-223). Meek went out to Oregon in 1840, settling on Tualatin Plains, where he was active in establishing the provisional government, of which he was first sheriff. After the Whitman massacre of 1847 he was the accredited messenger to Washington, D. C., to obtain consideration for the condition of Oregon. His visit to the East was replete with amusing adventures. Returning as United States marshal, he acted as guide to the party sent to escort to his post the first American governor of Oregon, General Joseph Lane. Meek was prominent in Oregon throughout his later life, being generally known as "Uncle Joe," and he aided in founding the Pioneer Association. See Oregon Pioneer Association Transactions, 1875. His meeting with Farnham is mentioned by Frances Fuller Victor in River of the West, p. 256. For a portrait of Meek, see the frontispiece to that volume, also Lyman, History of Oregon, iii, p. 66.—Ed.
[176] Irrigation has made considerable progress in Bear River valley, chiefly under the auspices of the settlers of that region.—Ed.
[177] Great Salt Lake has one long promontory and several islands. By his use of the term "territory of the States," Farnham assumes that Bear valley and a portion of Great Salt Lake lie north of the 42nd parallel of latitude, then the boundary with Mexico; see our volume xix, p. 217, note 52. Actually, only a portion of Bear River and none of Great Salt Lake are north of that latitude.—Ed.
[178] See a previous description of this region in Townsend's Narrative, our volume xxi, p. 200. See also Frémont's description, Senate Docs., 28 Cong., 2 sess., 174, pp. 135-138.—Ed.
[179] See De Smet's description of this defile in our volume xxvii, p. 248.—Ed.
[180] See Townsend's Narrative in our volume xxi, p. 209, note 49; also p. 249, note 124, of De Smet's Letters in our volume xxvii.—Ed.
[181] See account of founding of Fort Hall in Townsend's Narrative, our volume xxi, pp. 210, 211, with accompanying note.—Ed.
[182] This may have been Courtney M. Walker, who came out with the Lees in 1834. He had charge of much of Wyeth's business, and may have been employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. Wislizenus and Robert Shortess, both of whom were at Fort Hall in the same year, before and after Farnham, speaks of Francis Ermatinger as factor in charge, although Wislizenus also mentions Walker.—Ed.