No diary of that remarkable journey was kept by Dr. Whitman, but most of
its incidents are known. Terribly severe weather was encountered almost
at the start, for ten days they were snowed up in the mountains, and
long before the journey ended, were reduced to rations of dog and mule
meat. But they struggled on, more than once losing the way and giving
themselves up for lost, and on March 3, 1843, just five months from
Walla-Walla, Whitman entered Washington.
His spectacular ride rivetted public attention upon the far western
country, and the information which he gave concerning it opened the
Nation's eyes to its value. When he returned, later in the year, to the
banks of the Columbia, he took back with him a train of two hundred
wagons and a thousand settlers--a veritable army of occupation which the
British could not match. Three years later, so steadily did the tide
continue which Whitman had started, the American population had risen
to over ten thousand, there was never any further real uncertainty as to
whom Oregon belonged, and the treaty of 1846 settled the question for
all time.
The new territory was soon to be the scene of a terrible tragedy. The
white man had brought new diseases into it, measles, fevers, and even,
smallpox; they spread rapidly among the Indians, aggravated by their
imprudence and ignorance of proper treatment, and many died.
Pages:
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266