[185] Cape Horn is a high basaltic cliff towering two thousand five hundred feet above the river bank, not far above Vancouver, in Skamania County, Washington. It was so named because boats were frequently wind-bound in passing this point.—Ed.
[186] This is the son of old Pierre Dorion, who makes such a conspicuous figure in Irving's "Astoria."—Townsend.
Comment by Ed. Consult Bradbury's Travels in our volume v, p. 38, note 7; also Ross's Oregon Settlers, our volume vii, pp. 265-269, wherein the murder of the elder Dorion and the escape of his wife and children are related.
[187] The direction appears to be wrong, as a northeast course would be directly away from the Blue Mountains; moreover it would necessitate crossing Walla Walla River before reaching Umatilla. It should therefore, obviously, be read "S. E. over the sandy prairie." Morro River must be an upper affluent of Walla Walla (or Umatilla).—Ed.
[188] A long white shell, of the genus Dentalium, found on the coast.—Townsend.
[189] John McLeod had for some years been with the Hudson's Bay Company. He was in charge at Kamloops from 1822 to 1826, and in the latter year built Norway House. In 1832 he founded, in conjunction with Michel La Framboise, Fort Umpqua, the only establishment of the company south of the Columbia. At the time Townsend met him he appears to have headed the Snake country brigade.—Ed.
[190] Henry H. Spalding was born in Bath County, New York, in 1803. He studied at Western Reserve, and afterwards at Lane Theological Seminary, which latter school he left to join Dr. Whitman (1836) in a mission to Oregon. Settled at Lapwai, in western Idaho, among the Nez Percés, he maintained the mission at that place until the Whitman massacre in 1847. Narrowly escaping therefrom, he accepted in 1850, at the solicitation of the missionary board, the position of United States Indian agent, and served also as commissioner of schools (1850-55). In 1862 he returned to Lapwai to re-commence mission work, and died among the Nez Percés in 1874.
Dr. Marcus Whitman was born in Rushville, New York, in 1802. Graduating as a physician he was appointed to the Oregon mission in 1834, actually reaching his station in September, 1836, as Townsend narrates—see note 112, p. 335, ante. He established his mission at Waiilatpu among the Cayuse, and there labored until 1842, when news from the mission board, advising abandonment of his station, caused his return to the United States. This was the journey regarding which so much controversy has arisen. According to some writers, Whitman's object was to awaken the United States authorities to the necessity of occupying Oregon, and how "Marcus Whitman saved Oregon" to the United States has been much discussed. Recently exceptions have been taken to this view, and eminent historical scholars have minimized Whitman's national services. The first stage of the controversy began about 1883. See Myron Eells, Marcus Whitman, M. D., Proofs of his work in Saving Oregon to the United States (Portland, 1883). Later Professor Edward G. Bourne took up the subject and presented a paper at the American Historical Association meeting of 1900 (published in American Historical Review, vii, pp. 276-300); this has been expanded into "The Legend of Marcus Whitman" in Essays in Historical Criticism (New York, 1901). William I. Marshall of Chicago, discussed Professor Bourne's paper (see American Historical Association Report for 1900, i, pp. 219-236) offering additional evidence. Marshall has since published History vs. the Whitman Saved Oregon Story (Chicago, 1904). Myron Eells also issued A Reply to Professor Bourne's "The Whitman Legend" (Walla Walla, 1902). William A. Mowry essays a defense in Marcus Whitman and the early days of Oregon (New York, 1901) which contains a good bibliography. See also additional evidence in articles by William E. Griffis and others, contributed to the Sunday School Times, Philadelphia, August 9, November 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, December 3, 1902; January 10, 29, 1903. Whitman returned to his mission, and despite threatening aspects, remained at Waiilatpu until 1847, when suddenly in October the Cayuse arose and massacred most of the members of the mission, including both Dr. Whitman and his wife.—Ed.
[191] William H. Gray (born in Utica, New York, in 1810) joined Dr. Whitman as business manager and agent of the expedition. In 1837 he went East for reinforcements, and married Mary Augusta Dix, with whom he returned to Oregon in September, 1838. They labored at Lapwai and Waiilatpu until 1842, when Gray resigned and retired to the Willamette, where he was instrumental in establishing the provisional government. In 1849 Gray went to California during the gold excitement, but returned to Oregon, settling first at Clatsop Plains, and later in Astoria, where he died in 1889. His History of Oregon (Portland, San Francisco, and New York, 1870) is a main source for the early decades.—Ed.
[192] See reference to this fact and to the meeting with Townsend, in Mrs. Whitman's "Journal," published in Oregon Pioneer Association Transactions (1891), pp. 57, 63.—Ed.