Consequently it bent every
effort to hurry English settlers into the country. In October, 1842,
Whitman was dining with a company of Englishmen at Walla-Walla, when a
messenger arrived with news of the approach of a large body of settlers
from Canada. A shout arose: "Hurrah for Oregon! America is too late!
We've got the country!" And Whitman, at a glance, saw through the plan.
Twenty-four hours later, he had started to ride across the continent to
carry the news to Washington. He had caught the import of the news, had
grasped its consequences, and he was determined that Oregon, with its
great forests and broad prairies, its mighty rivers, and its
unparalleled richness, should be saved for the Union. If the Nation only
knew the value of the prize, England would never be permitted to carry
it off. His wife and friends protested against the desperate
venture--four thousand miles on horseback--for it would soon be the dead
of winter, with snow hiding the trail and filling the passes, with
streams ice-blocked and winter-swollen, and last but not least, with the
Blackfoot Indians on the warpath. But he would listen to none of this:
his duty, as he conceived it, lay clear before him; he was determined to
set out at once. Amos Lovejoy volunteered to accompany him, a busy night
was spent in preparation, and the next day they were off.
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