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 Washington 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 Washington 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 Washington 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."