[175] Col. Joseph L. Meek (1810-75) was one of the most picturesque of the "mountain men" who settled in Oregon. An extended account of his adventures was published by Frances Fuller Victor, under the title River of the West (Hartford, 1870). Born in Washington County, Virginia, he left home while still a boy, and in 1829 joined Sublette's caravan for the mountain trade. During eleven years he experienced adventures similar to those of other hunters and trappers, in one of which he killed a grizzly bear. The Englishman Stuart (see our volume xxi, p. 197, note 42), coming up with his artist Miller, had a sketch made of the beast which was afterwards elaborated into a picture, and later a wax model for the St. Louis Museum (River of the West, pp. 220-223). Meek went out to Oregon in 1840, settling on Tualatin Plains, where he was active in establishing the provisional government, of which he was first sheriff. After the Whitman massacre of 1847 he was the accredited messenger to Washington, D. C., to obtain consideration for the condition of Oregon. His visit to the East was replete with amusing adventures. Returning as United States marshal, he acted as guide to the party sent to escort to his post the first American governor of Oregon, General Joseph Lane. Meek was prominent in Oregon throughout his later life, being generally known as "Uncle Joe," and he aided in founding the Pioneer Association. See Oregon Pioneer Association Transactions, 1875. His meeting with Farnham is mentioned by Frances Fuller Victor in River of the West, p. 256. For a portrait of Meek, see the frontispiece to that volume, also Lyman, History of Oregon, iii, p. 66.—Ed.
[176] Irrigation has made considerable progress in Bear River valley, chiefly under the auspices of the settlers of that region.—Ed.
[177] Great Salt Lake has one long promontory and several islands. By his use of the term "territory of the States," Farnham assumes that Bear valley and a portion of Great Salt Lake lie north of the 42nd parallel of latitude, then the boundary with Mexico; see our volume xix, p. 217, note 52. Actually, only a portion of Bear River and none of Great Salt Lake are north of that latitude.—Ed.
[178] See a previous description of this region in Townsend's Narrative, our volume xxi, p. 200. See also Frémont's description, Senate Docs., 28 Cong., 2 sess., 174, pp. 135-138.—Ed.
[179] See De Smet's description of this defile in our volume xxvii, p. 248.—Ed.
[180] See Townsend's Narrative in our volume xxi, p. 209, note 49; also p. 249, note 124, of De Smet's Letters in our volume xxvii.—Ed.
[181] See account of founding of Fort Hall in Townsend's Narrative, our volume xxi, pp. 210, 211, with accompanying note.—Ed.
[182] This may have been Courtney M. Walker, who came out with the Lees in 1834. He had charge of much of Wyeth's business, and may have been employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. Wislizenus and Robert Shortess, both of whom were at Fort Hall in the same year, before and after Farnham, speaks of Francis Ermatinger as factor in charge, although Wislizenus also mentions Walker.—Ed.