[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.