FROM OREGON.
EXTRACT OF A LETTER DATED WILHAMET, FEBRUARY 19, 1842.
I will now tell you something of the people of this country. There are about seventy-five to eighty French Canadians settled in this country, principally discharged from the service of the Hudson Bay Company; there are also about fifty Americans settled in and about this country, making, perhaps, one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and thirty male inhabitants, who are married to Indian women. They raise from their farms, on an average, from three to five hundred, and some from ten to twelve hundred bushels of wheat, besides great quantities of pease, potatoes, oats, barley, corn, etc. The Hudson Bay Company have in their employ at Fort Vancouver about one hundred and twenty-five persons, and many in several other forts both sides of the Rocky Mountains.
These people, as I said before, are married to Indian women, and live very much the same, in all respects, as our farmers at home, with the exception of not being obliged to labor half as much. They generally have from fifty to one hundred head of horses, half as many cows, and about the same number of hogs; these all take care of themselves. The people here cut no hay and make no pastures; they do not give their hogs any feed, excepting about a month before they kill them. There is one church here, and the people have contracted for a brick church and other buildings necessary, such as a school house for the French and one for the Americans. The French have one priest here and one at Fort Vancouver.
The Americans generally attend at the mission, and, as far as I can see, the people here are as well behaved and moral as in our town. We have now a committee at work drafting a constitution and code of laws; have in nomination a governor, an attorney-general, three justices of the peace, etc.; overseers of the poor, road commissioners, etc. We have already chosen a supreme judge with probate powers, a clerk of the court and recorder, a high sheriff, and three constables; so that you see we are in a fair way of starting a rival republic on this side of the mountains, especially as we are constantly receiving recruits—those people whose time has expired with the Hudson Bay Company, and from mountain hunters coming down to settle.—National Intelligencer.
[From the Tribune (New York), Friday morning, March 24, 1842.]
Oregon is now the theme of general interest at the west. Large meetings to discuss the policy of taking formal possession of and colonizing it have been held at Columbus, Ohio, and several other places. Many are preparing to emigrate. A band of hardy settlers will rendezvous at Fort Leavenworth, and set out thence for Oregon early in May, under the command of Major Fitzpatrick.
[From the Tribune (New York), April 26, 1842.]
FROM OAHU.
The ship William Gray brings to Salem, Massachusetts, date from Honolulu, November 27. * * * Late intelligence from Oregon confirms previous accounts with regard to missionary operations. From the fewness of the Indians and their migratory habits it is feared that little good can be effected among them. Many of the missionaries have become farmers and others are preparing to leave.