Sir,—I have the honor and happiness of informing you, and through you, if it be your pleasure, the American public, that measures have been taken by myself and the citizens in this colony, to open a wagon route through from the upper part of this valley, the present season, directly to Fort Hall, or Green River; the pilot returning and escorting the immigrants through the much shorter, easier, and every way more advantageous route. The immigrants will thereby be enabled to bring with them their herds, wagons, and all their effects at once directly into the heart of the Wallamet Valley; saving thereby an immense amount of toil, hardship, and suffering, saying nothing of the necessary destruction and increased danger of the other route.
Your humble and obedient servant,
E. White,
Sub-Agent Indian Affairs, W. R. M.
The messenger is leaving.
Oregon City, March 4, 1845.
Dr. E. White:
Sir,—In compliance with the request you made to me, that I should notice and communicate to you whatever I might deem of interest during my visit, in your employ, to the various Indian tribes east of the Cascade Mountains, bearing to them presents with admonitions and advice from you in order to secure the safety and peace of the immigrants in their passage through their country, the following is submitted:—
1. The Nez Percés.—Your acquaintance with this promising people renders it unnecessary for me to speak of their general character. I would simply remark, that their anxieties to become a civilized and literary nation have suffered no abatement since I left them in March last, after passing the winter with them most pleasantly, as teacher, in the employ of Rev. H. H. Spalding, missionary. Ellis, with most of the chiefs, was absent, having gone to meet the immigrants, then in the vicinity of Fort Boise, with a view to furnish them provisions, and trade them horses for cattle. You are aware of their eagerness to obtain domestic stock with all farming utensils, which I regard as one of the most interesting facts connected with Indian affairs west of the Rocky Mountains. Avarice is doubtless the ruling passion of most Indians, and forms a capital upon which those engaged in Indian affairs may operate for good or evil. With the Nez Percés, it has thus far been turned to good account, effecting results as beneficial to the whites and more salutary to the natives themselves, on this side the mountains, than has been effected on the other side by military force. Such is the prevalence of this “love of gain” among the Indians, that all efforts to control them by motives held out to any other passion, must prove ineffectual, at least, while we are unable to awe them by martial parade.
The individual difficulties existing between James, Timothy, and others, in relation to their claims on the valley, about the Clearwater Mission, are, for the time, put to rest, by the promise that you will visit them soon, and have the matter properly adjusted. Their crops this year have been abundant, and they have furnished the immigrants large supplies of provisions, which, I am happy to say, were bartered in good faith, and the trade conducted with much amity and good feeling on both sides, while I have to regret that Ellis and his people were unable to procure cattle to any extent worthy of notice. The presents were received, and the advice heard with a most respectful attention.
2. The Cayuses are also manifesting a spirit of enterprise, highly commendable. They too, have raised much grain and potatoes, and are trading freely with the immigrants. A number of their chiefs and principal men were absent at the time, having gone, in company with a party of Wallawallas, to California, with horses to trade for cattle. They have since returned, and I sincerely regret to learn the failure of this, their first expedition of the kind. The Spaniards and other whites treated them badly; murdered one of the most promising young men of the Wallawallas, and the party returned without effecting the object of their trip. What influence this affair will have upon the conduct of these two tribes in reference to the next immigration passing through their countries, time alone must determine.