[124] The Clackamas Indians were a branch of the Upper Chinook, which had long inhabited the river valley called by their name. Lewis and Clark reported (1806) that there were eleven villages of this tribe, with a population of eight hundred. See Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (New York, 1905), iv, p. 255; vi, p. 118. The Indian agent for 1851 estimated their number at eighty-eight. The village where Palmer tarried was the one visited in 1841 by members of the Wilkes exploring expedition. A conflict for influence over this tribe was in progress at the time, between the Catholic and Methodist missionaries stationed at the Falls of the Willamette. Captain William Clark thus describes their huts: "they build their houses in the same form with those of the Columbian vally of wide split boa[r]ds and covered with the bark of the white cedar which is the entire length of one side of the roof and jut over at the eve about 18 inches."—Ed.
[125] For the founding of Oregon City see De Smet's Oregon Missions, in our volume xxix, p. 180, note 76.—Ed.
[126] For a sketch of Dr. John McLoughlin see our volume xxi, p. 296, note 81.—Ed.
[127] De Smet describes the building of the Catholic church in his Oregon Missions, our volume xxix, p. 167.—Ed.
[128] In 1842 the Wallamet Milling Company was organized and proceeded to erect both flour and grist mills on an island near the falls, in order to accommodate the settlers, who before their erection had been dependent upon the Hudson's Bay Company's mills near Vancouver. The founders of this enterprise were members of the Methodist mission.
Governor George Abernethy of New York (born in 1807) came to Oregon as steward of the party of reinforcement arriving in the "Lausanne" (1840). His business capacity was appreciated by the members of the mission, and he was soon established as a merchant at Oregon City. Here he took prominent part in the organization of the provisional government, of which he was elected governor in 1845. Re-elected the following year, Abernethy continued in this office until the arrival of Governor Joseph Lane (1849), sent out as first territorial governor by the United States. During the troubles incident to the Whitman massacre, Governor Abernethy acted with discretion and promptness, and retained the good will of Oregonians during his entire term of office. After retiring from public service he continued in mercantile pursuits, dying at Portland in 1877. See his portrait in H. S. Lyman, History of Oregon, iii, p. 286. For Alanson Beers see Farnham's Travels in our volume xxix, p. 21, note 14.—Ed.
[129] In 1844 the Oregon Printing Association was formed, and George Abernethy sent to New York for a press upon which was printed the first number of the Oregon Spectator, February 6, 1846. Its first editor was Colonel William G. T'Vault, a pioneer of 1845; he was succeeded by Henry A. G. Lee, George L. Curry, Aaron E. Wait, and Rev. Wilson Blain, successively. Although several times suspended for brief periods, the Spectator was published until 1855. For an account see George H. Himes, "The History of the Press of Oregon, 1839-1850," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, iii, pp. 327-370.—Ed.
[130] See descriptions of this game in Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iv, p. 37; and in Ross's Oregon Settlers, our volume vii, pp. 291-293.—Ed.
[131] William Engle, of German descent, was born near Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1789, and served as a volunteer in the War of 1812-15. Having lived for some years in St. Clair County, Illinois, he went out with the train of 1845 for Oregon, settling first at Oregon City. The following year he took up donation land in Clackamas County, where he resided until 1866, being chosen member of the legislature of 1847, and for two years serving as county judge. Having sold his farm in Clackamas, he removed to Marion County, where he died in 1868. Engle was by trade a carpenter; his experiment as a foundryman does not appear to have been successful.—Ed.
[132] Lewis F. Linn was born in 1796 near Louisville, where he studied medicine and afterwards volunteered for the War of 1812-15. At its close he removed to Ste. Geneviève, Missouri, where he began active practice. In 1827 he was elected to the state senate, and in 1833 was appointed to the United States senate to fill out the term of a deceased senator. Thrice elected thereto by the Missouri legislature, he served until his own death in 1843, being known in the senate as a champion of Oregon interests.