Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 13/Transmission of Intelligence in Early Days in Oregon
THE QUARTERLY
of the
Oregon Historical Society
Copyright, 1912, by Oregon Historical Society
The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages
By Clarence B. Bagley
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
In these days of wireless and other telegraphs, telephones, railroads and steamships, automobiles and flying machines, those who have no personal recollections of pioneer life cannot realize the privations and dangers, intensified by difficult and often total lack of means of travel and communication, among the people of Oregon in its early years. It is with the thought that a brief recitation of a few incidents connected with the exchange of information between near and remote points in those days would be of interest that this paper is prepared.
The aborigines of the Northwest coast had absolutely no methods of recording events, and no method of communicating intelligence with each other beyond the limits of their voices.
The nomadic or plains Indians on both sides of the Rocky Mountains were skilled in the use of fires, smoke, blankets and gestures to convey to each other information pertaining to their daily affairs, and in the high, clear altitudes have been known to communicate with each other a distance of 60 miles.
Catlin records a rude system of pictographs, marked or burned on prepared skins of animals or bark of trees, whereby many notable feats of Indian chieftains in the matter of horse-stealing, scalp-lifting, or just plain killing, were preserved after a fashion.
A search through the works of Cox, Ross, Gibbs, Dall, Kane and 20 or 30 other early writers about Indians and their daily life does not show that the natives within the present confines of Oregon and Washington used signals to convey informa- tion to a distance, but they undoubtedly must have done so. In a monograph prepared by Colonel Granville O. Haller regarding his campaign into the Yakima country during October, 1855, he remarks: "The Indians evidently possessed some system of telegraphy or signals. At times groups of Indians were observed so near as to be within the range of the howitzer in places where they unconsciously exposed themselves to danger without being able to see into camp; yet the moment the howitzer was moved toward such parties they instantly dispersed, no doubt warned by their friends, through signals." Personally, I do not accept this as conclusive, for on Puget Sound I have been present when Indians were calling to each other intelligibly at a distance of more than 1000 yards, and it may have been that some equally strong lunged savage was directing his comrades orally during the engagement.
From the time the Astor expedition failed, for 10 years few white men penetrated the lower Columbia. About 1824, the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Vancouver and it at once became the center of the vast operations of that company on the Pacific. For a quarter century all communication of intelligence from Sitka on the north to Yerba Buena and Mazatlan on the south, from Fort Hall, and even on to the Great Lakes and to the St. Lawrence, and westward to the Sandwich Islands was conducted by that company. It had ships to and from London, schooners to Honolulu, steamers from Nisqually to Victoria, Langley and Sitka. Expresses were sent in every direction as the needs of the service required. By canoe down the Columbia and up the Cowlitz to a landing near the Cowlitz Farms, and thence to Nisqually by land. The trip usually required six days. From Nisqually, by canoe, to Victoria and Langley, though sometimes the Cadboro served, and after 1836 the steamer Beaver and later the Otter, in place of canoes. COMMUNICATION IN EARLY OREGON 349 There were three ships in the trade between England and Vancouver the Vancouver, Columbia and Cowlitz. Outward bound, they were loaded with machinery, tools, goods and articles of trade not produced on the Pacific Coast. After unloading, they went north to Sitka, or to the Sandwich Islands, in either case carrying lumber and flour and bartered as they went. The round trip took three years, including the return to England carrying the furs and skins collected all over the Pacific slope and making up the cargo with wool, hides, horns and tallow. Of more interest than all else were the let- ters from home, newspapers and books and friends and visitors who came to stay for a time or permanently. Practically all the news from home came that way during the early years after 1824. In 1838, about three years after the establishment of the Methodist Missions in Oregon, it had become apparent that, so far as the work among the Indians was concerned, it had been and must be a failure. To Jason Lee and others, the establishment of civilization with religion and good govern- ment as the foundation of the edifice became the paramount issue. It was agreed that Lee should become the messenger to personally represent to the Church Board, to the authorities at Washington and the public generally the needs and value of the country ; to secure men and means for extended church work and to enlist the attention of those who might wish to migrate to it. He carried with him a petition or memorial signed by three- fourths of the white male population of Ore- gon. It gave an accurate description of the country, its fer- tility, climate and general adaptability for the home of thous- ands of settlers. The document was a literary gem, full of patriotic sentiment more the work of a statesman than a preacher. Late in March, 1838, a party consisting of P. L. Edwards, of the Mission, a Mr. Ewing returning to his home in Missouri, and two Indian boys named William Brooks and Thomas Adams, headed by Jason Lee, began the long and hazardous journey eastward. Going up the Columbia River to The Dalles and Fort Walla Walla and to Whitman Mission, inland about 25 miles, they remained there until April 12. Then eastward by way of Forts Boise and Hall, they left the latter post June 21. After the usual dangers and trials of the over- land route in those days they reached the Shawnee mission near Westport on the first of September, five months on the way. Here Mr. Lee was overtaken by a messenger who had been dispatched for the purpose by Dr. McLoughlin, carrying the sad news that Mrs. Lee and their infant son had died a little more than two months before. Could any deed more fully portray the nobility of character and kindliness of heart than this of John McLoughlin, by sending a courier 2000 miles to apprise a friend of his great bereavement ?
May 6, 1842, an emigrant train, composed of 112 persons, left Independence, Mo., for Oregon. I have always felt that more prominence should have been given to this expedition, as it was the first of its kind, but the notable ride of Dr. Whitman and the voluminous and interminable discussion of matters connected with his errand and the migration to Oregon in 1843 have completely eclipsed the earlier expedition in the minds of the reading public.
Three men who became in later years notably prominent in Oregon affairs were a part of this train Dr. E. White, Medor- em Crawford and A. L. Love joy. The wagons were left at Fort Hall.
February 23, 1842, the prudential committee of the mission board that had control of the Whitman-Spalding-Eells mission passed resolutions discontinuing three of the four stations, re- calling Spalding and Gray to the states and ordering Whitman to dispose of the mission property at the station thus abolished and directing Whitman to join Walker and Eells at Tshimakain.
News of this destructive order was brought to Whitman by Dr. E. White, reaching him about September 10. At once he dispatched messengers to his colleagues and they assembled at Wai-il-at-pu September 26-28. After the objections of Eells and Walker were overcome, H was decided that Whitman should go East by the overland route. October 5 was the time set and the other members of the mission returned to their COMMUNICATION IN EARLY OREGON 351 stations to prepare long- letters to send by him. However, he started two days earlier, or on October 3, 1842. A. L. Lovejoy accompanied him. Usually they would have had little difficulty in getting across the Rocky Mountains before winter set in. They reached Fort Hall in the short space of 11 days. Par- enthetically, I may say that in 1852 it took our Oregon train, using horses, from July 12 to August 20 to drive from Fort Hall to Umatilla so they certainly made good time on this part of the trip. Instead of going by the direct route through the South Pass, they turned south through Salt Lake and Taos, towards Santa Fe. They encountered storms, snow, ice and partly frozen rivers. Their guide lost his direction and only the most heroic efforts and a succession of seeming miracles preserved them from destruction. From Taos they started for Bent's Fort, on the head waters of the Arkansas River. Near that fort they overtook a party en route for St. Louis. Mr. Lovejoy remained at the fort until Spring, but Dr. Whitman pressed on and reached Westport, now a part of Kansas City, February 15, 1843, about 19 weeks on the way. From there to St. Louis he went on horseback and thence by stage eastward, as the winter was unusually severe and the frozen rivers did not break up until April to permit steamboat navigation. He is recorded as being in New York City March 29 and in Boston from March 30 to April 8. His movements between February 15 and March 29 are not recorded, but a winter trip by land from the Missouri River to the Atlantic seaboard would prob- ably have consumed most of that time. This was almost six months after leaving home. The Provisional Government, June 28, 1845, adopted a reso- lution of about 1000 words, addressed to the United States Congress, which was not printed in the Grover archives. I am sure it would interest all those present, if there were time, to -hear it read, and as it was signed by those who, in later years, played an important part in Oregon affairs, I venture to give their names : Peter G. Stewart, W. J. Bailey, and Osborn Russell, executives; J. W. Nesmith, Judge of Circuit Court; M. M. McCarver, speaker ; Jesse Applegate, Medare G. Foisy, 352 CLARENCE B. BAGLEY W. H. Gray, J. M. Garrison, Abijah Hendricks, David Hill, H. A. G. Lee, Barton Lee, John McClure, Robert Newell, J. W. Smith, Hiram Straight, members of the Legislative Council. Ability on the part of its author and moderation in its prepara- tion are apparent in every paragraph. It recites the condition of the people, "the fact that the temporary government being lim- ited in its efficiency and crippled in its powers by the paramount duty we owe to our respective governments, our revenues being inadequate to its support and almost total absence apart from the Hudson's Bay Company of the means of defense against Indians. . . . The citizens of the United States are scat- tered for a wide extent of the territory without a single place of refuge. We have neither ships of war, nor of commerce, nor any navigation of the rivers of the interior." It asked for a distinct territorial government, for means of protection against Indians, for Indian agents, and the acquire- ment of the lands from the Indians ; for donations of lands to settlers then in Oregon and to come; for navy yards and marine depots on the Columbia River and Puget Sound (this was before an American settler had reached Puget Sound) ; for proper commercial regulations ; for adequate military pro- tection to emigrants or by military escort ; for "a public mail to be established to arrive and depart monthly from Oregon City and Independence, Mo., and that such other local mail routes be established, as are essential to the Willamette country and other settlements." December 23, 1845, it passed "an act to create and establish a Postoffice Department, under which William G. T'Vault became Postmaster-General. February 5, 1846, he advertised in the Spectator for the carrying of mails on the following routes: (1) From Oregon City to Fort Vancouver, once in two weeks by water. (2) From Oregon City to Hill's in Twality County; thence to A. J. Hembree's, in Yamhill County; thence to N. Ford's, Polk County; thence to Oregon Institute, Champoeg County; thence to Catholic Mission and Champoeg to Oregon City, once in two weeks on horseback. COMMUNICATION IN EARLY OREGON 353 The Whitman massacre occured November 29-30, 1847. An express was at once sent to Fort Vancouver, arriving there December 6. Mr. Douglas' letter was read in the Legislature the afternoon of the 8th, and preparations for war with the Indians were begun at once. On the 15th resolutions were passed providing for sending a special messenger overland to Washington. Joseph L. Meek was chosen for the Eastern trip, and $500 was appropriated to pay his expenses, but as it was given him in the form of a draft from the Methodist mission upon the mission authorities in New York City, he had to de- pend upon his own resources in making the trip. He was a member of the Legislative Council, but resigned December 16 and began his preparations for a trip that only a mountain man would have dared to attempt or hoped to accomplish. January 4, 1848, with credentials from the Oregon Legislature and dispatches to the President and Congress, and two traveling companions, John Owens and George W. Ebberts, he set out on the expedition so full of peril by reason of the inclement season and the hostile spirit of the Indians. At The Dalles they overtook the Oregon riflemen. Chafing under the necessity of having to wait the slow movements of the little army, it was almost the first of April before the party began the ascent of the Blue Mountains. In the meantime Meek had assisted at the interment of his old friends, Dr. Whit- man and wife, and his own little daughter, who was being educated at the mission and who died of exposure in the days following the massacre. The well-known emigrant route was followed most of the way. The snows were deep and at times the cold intense. At Fort Boise, at the mouth of the Boise River, near its con- fluence with the Snake River, and at Fort Hall, on the Snake, about 15 miles above where the Portneuf joins the larger stream, they were entertained with generous hospitality and supplied with everything they wished to add to their outfit. After leaving Fort Hall on the way over the divide to Bear River, the soft drifts of new fallen snow compelled them to abandon their horses and proceed on snowshoes, which they 354 CLARENCE B. BAGLEY constructed from willow twigs. Provisions became scarce ; one night they supped on two polecats they were fortunate enough to encounter. Near the headwaters of Bear River they met another historic character, Peg-leg Smith, who supplied their pressing needs and sent them on their way with all the pro- visions they could carry. From Bear River they went over to Green River, and from there to Fort Bridger. Here they found Bridger, who fed them well and supplied them with good mules. In the South Pass the snows were very deep, and two of their mules were lost in it, so they had to ride and walk by turns. Game was scarce, and by the time the party reached Fort Laramie they were nearly starved, as well as almost frozen. From that point to St. Joseph, Mo., the difficulties from cold and snow and lack of food were not so great, but they were in constant danger from Indians, and but for Meek's previous ex- perience in caring for his scalp it is doubtful if they would have got through safely. From St. Joe to St. Louis they went by steamer. Here Meek got in communication with the President by telegraph, and thence to Washington by steamer and stage the remainder of the trip was made in comparative ease. The trip from the westerly slope of the Blue Mountains to the Mis- souri River was made in a little more than a month over two mountain ranges during inclement weather. It was one of the notable achievements in that period of heroic efforts and ac- complishments. After Meek's departure, the Oregon Legislature also re- solved to send a messenger overland to California to notify Governor Mason of the massacre and through him the com- mander of the United States squadron, asking for arms and ammunition for arming the settlers and a war vessel to be stationed in the Columbia River. Jesse Applegate, at the head of a party of 16 experienced men, set out on that errand about the first of February, but encountered such depth of snow they were compelled to return. The letters they carried were deliv- ered to the brig Henry, March 11, and in due time reached their destination, but not in time to do any good. In fact, I do not find COMMUNICATION IN EARLY OREGON 355 that the commander of the squadron made any effort to extend aid to the colonists in their distress. The Oregon and American Evangelical Unionist, the third newspaper published in Oregon, was published at Tualatin Plains, the first number appearing June 7, 1848. Under the heading "Mails," it said, "Probably the greatest embarrassment to the successful operation of the presses in Oregon is the want of mails." It had made arrangement with Mr. Knox to carry the paper on the east side of the Willamette and with Mr. Stoughton on the west side from Oregon City through Tuala- tin, Yamhill and into the upper part of the valley, once in two weeks. Mr. Knox started out with 16 subscribers. It had also made arrangements to receive mails regularly from Portland once each week and oftener by express whenever foreign in- telligence appeared in the river. "June 31st The Hudson's Bay Company's bark Cowlitz from the Sandwich Islands crossed the Columbia bar the 14th and arrived at Vancouver the 20th, and at once began loading wheat for Sitka. She brought news of the death in Washing- ton February 23d of the venerable John Ouincy Adams," just five months before. July 5, the arrival of the Evelyn with Sandwich Island notes to June 3 is noted at length. It copied from the Polynesian of Honolulu, and the Sandwich Island paper had in turn copied from London papers as late as February 26. These papers came by way of Mazatlan on the west coast of Mexico. No regular communication existed between Mazatlan and Aca- pulco in Mexico and San Francisco, or the Columbia River, but a line of schooners plied between the west coast of Mexico and the Sandwich Islands while the Hudson's Bay Company had frequent communication between these islands and Van- couver. Newspapers and letters were carried by water to Eastern ports on the Gulf of Mexico, thence overland to the west coast and in this way information regarding occurrences in the Atlantic States four months previous and in Europe still a month earlier was brought to Oregon and published as news. 356 CLARENCE B. BAGLEY The ratification of the tre'aty with Mexico at Washington on the 15th of March was discussed by the newspaper at length and with much animadversion as being in the interests of the slave holding oligarchy of the South. August 16th, by the Louise regular files of California papers to May 29th received, announcing the discovery of gold "some way above Sutter's fort, about 130 miles from San Francisco." June 17, the Mary had arrived direct from Boston. All this news was from the Polynesian of June 24, via Sandwich Islands. The treaty between Great Britain and the United States was concluded at Washington June 15, 1846, that fixed the inter- national boundary at latitude 49 degrees and settled the "Ore- gon Question." No item of news of that period possessed a small part of the interest to the white people of Oregon, whether American or foreign born, still it was more than four months before it reached them. In a letter I have from Peter Skene Ogden and James Douglas to Dr. William Fraser Tolmie at Nisqually, under date of November 4, 1846, Vancouver, is the following paragraph : "The barque Toulon arrived lately in the river with very important intelligence from the Sand- wich Islands. It appears that the Oregon boundary is finally settled, on a basis more favorable to the United States than we had reason to anticipate . . . Business will, of course, go on as usual, as the treaty will not take effect on us for many years to come." In early years the Hudson's Bay Company established a house at Honolulu, shipped thence lumber, timber, salmon, grain, flour and such other articles as were in demand in the Sandwich Islands, and in turn brought back such products of the Islands as were serviceable at Vancouver. As early as 1845, the authorities at Washington began mak- ing spasmodic efforts for mail service from the Atlantic States to Oregon, via Havana, Aspinwall, across the Isthmus to Pan- ama, thence up the Coast to the Columbia River, and thence to the Sandwich Islands, but little came of it until the discovery of gold in California. Early in 1847, Cornelius COMMUNICATION IN EARLY OREGON 357 Gilliam, of Oregon, was appointed postal agent for the Oregon Country. He was clothed with plenary powers to appoint post- masters and manage the postal affairs of the then Pacific Northwest. John M. Shively* was appointed postmaster at Astoria, and William G. T'Vault at Oregon City. During the so-called Cayuse War that followed the Whitman massacre, Colonel Gilliam commanded the Oregon forces, and in March, 1848, was accidentally shot and killed at Well Springs, Uma- tilla. In the archives of this society are several very interest- ing official communications from the postal authorities at Washington to Mr. Gilliam. One of them did not reach Ore- gon until several months after his death. After the close of the Mexican war and the cession of California to the United States, a postal agent to reside at San Francisco was appointed by the United States mail authorities and clothed with the same power that had formerly been conferred upon Colonel Gilliam. He appointed postmasters at Portland, Oregon City, Salem and Corvallis, but not until June, 1850, did a mail steamer come up the Coast, but even then the visits of steamers were few and far between until in 1851. The steamer Columbia arrived from New York with mails and passengers in March of that year. Her schedule between San Francisco and Portland was once each month. The carrying of mails in the early days was a matter of great expense and exceeding difficulties and by land was at- tended with danger from storms, floods, wild animals and Indians. On the same steamers that brought the first mails were ex- press messengers. The Adams Company opened an office in Portland in 1852, but gave up the field to Wells, Fargo & Company in 1853. Until the formation of an express company by the managers of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company soon after the completion of that road in 1883, Wells, Fargo & Company had a practical monopoly of the express business of the Pacific Coast. If "safety and celerity" were desired it
- Mr. Shively, the first postmaster west of the. Rocky Mountains, wae appointed
by Jacob Collgmer, Postmaster-General, 358 CLARENCE B. BAGLEY was the rule among business men to transmit their letters under the care of this company. The company bought government stamped envelopes and put its own stamps on them and charged more than one hundred per cent profit for the service, the government mail service at the same time escaping the charge for carrying an immense amount of mail matter that it col- lected full postage upon. Individuals engaged in carrying letters and light packages overland from Oregon to California in the early '50s and as a reward for their arduous and dangerous task received 50 cents an ounce for the contents of their pouches. In January, 1852, the Oregon Legislature passed a resolution asking the delegate to secure the location of a postoffice in each county seat and that a mail route be established to each one of them ; also that he "request" the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to comply with the terms of its contract, obligating it to leave mail at Umpqua City on the upward and downward trips of its steamships between San Francisco and the Colum- bia River. For 40 years that company observed no law, regu- lation or contract that was not to its liking. In January, 1853, the Honorable Matthew P. Deady, mem- ber from Yamhill, introduced a resolution that "the regular transportation of the mails from all parts of the territory and the states is a matter of vital importance to the whole people, and six weeks having elapsed since the meeting of the Legis- lature during which time but one mail has arrived at the capital, our delegate be requested to obtain such instructions from the Postmaster-General as would compel the Postal Agent in the territory to see that the mails are faithfully and punctually conveyed." To this Stephen Waymire added an amendment, "or that the present Postal Agent be removed." On this there was only one negative vote. My father lived in and near Salem from 1852 to 1860, and I retain vivid recollec- tions of many similar long delays. One winter the Columbia River was frozen for many weeks, so that the wooden steamers of that period could not break their way through and we were without news from the states for three long months. I am of the opinion it was this winter of 1852-3. COMMUNICATION IN EARLY OREGON 359 Construction of the railroad across the Isthmus of Panama was begun in 1850, and on January 30, 1855, the first train was run from Aspinwall to the City of Panama. From that time the mails to and from the Pacific Coast were carried on steamers plying regularly between New York and Aspinwall on the Atlantic side, taking seven to nine days for the run, and on the Pacific side between Panama and San Francisco, con- suming from 12 to 15 days. Steamers usually went into Aca- pulco on the Mexican coast for fresh water and sometimes re- plenished their supply of coal. The trip across the railroad was but a matter of a few hours' run. An advertisement appearing in the Columbian at Olympia, September, 1852, attracted my attention. It tells of the sail- ings in April of that year of the United States mail ship Georgia, commanded by David D. Porter, U. S. Navy (Ad- miral David D. Porter, of Civil War fame), to leave New York via Havana to Aspinwall. It said : "The Panama Rail- road is now in operation and the cars running to within a few miles of Gorgona. Passengers will thus be enabled to save about 35 miles of the river navigation, and also the expense and danger heretofore attending the landing of boats off Chagres. The following will be the rates of fare to San Fran- cisco: First cabin, $315; second cabin, $270; steerage, $200." In 1855 the construction of a telegraph line from Portland to San Francisco was begun. The line was actually completed as far as Corvallis, and a few messages transmitted, at least as far as Salem. It went through Oregon City and to Salem on the east side, and at the latter place crossed over to the west side, and thence to Corvallis. The wire was light iron and the insulators the necks of common 'junk' bottles placed around straight iron pins or nails in the tops of poles. The gathering of bottles and sale to W. K. Smith, who then had a drugstore in Salem, was a flourishing industry among the small boys of the village until the supply was exhausted. After that saloon- keepers found it necessary to keep their bins of empty bottles under lock and key. About the first spending money the writer ever earned was for these bottles. They were legal tender at 360 CLARENCE B. BAGLEY 10 cents each, and that was the smallest coin known in Oregon in those days. The line was a failure, technically and finan- cially. The wires soon began to break down. Animals and men got tangled in them, and runaways and serious injuries became so frequent that the adjacent farmers were compelled to make common cause and strip the wire from the poles. Coils of it were seen for years on fence stakes and other places where it could be kept out of the way.* The telegraph line was completed from Sacramento to Yreka October 24, 1861, but it was not until March 5, 1864, that it reached Portland. September 4 of that year it reached Olympia, and October 26, Seattle. From that time until the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad across the conti- nent, in 1883, while the telegraph served the newspapers and business needs of Oregon and Washington, the mail service was a never-ending source of frauds, injustice and hardships to the general public. The Oregon Railroad was begun in 1868, but not completed until 1887, and the Northern Pacific, begun at Kalama in 1871, reached Tacoma in 1873. Those sections of railroad, joined to steamboat service on the Columbia River and Puget Sound, helped to better mail and passenger service, but one reading the newspapers of the Northwest will find the mail service under discussion and complaint year in and year out from 1849 to 1883. In Portland and the lower Willamette Valley, served by sea and gradually by stage, it was bad enough, but as practically all the mails for Washington came by way of Portland and the wagon road from the Columbia River to Olympia was, in winter, notoriously the worst in the world, the trouble of Ore- gonians were but a drop in the bucket compared to ours on Puget Sound. The last link in the telegraph line from St. Louis, Mo., to Yreka, in Northern California, was completed October 24, 1861. This cut off from the Pony Express its most profitable business, and it was at once discontinued, and in commenting
- An insulator, a piece of wire, and a stamp used to stamp the dispatches, is
in the possession of this Society. COMMUNICATION IN EARLY OREGON 361 on this fact the Sacramento Union said : "It is with regret we part with the Pony, but it seems to be considered by those who established the Express that it has accomplished its mission. It effected an important and sudden revolution in the reception of news from the Atlantic side and has proved of great benefit to the people of California. During the year 1860 the trips by pony were made with astonishing regularity rarely varying more than a few hours from the time expected. The Pony Express also developed the Central route ; it directed public attention to it; and by its regular trips in Winter as well as summer, demonstrated to the world the practicability of the route for mail purposes. The result was a contract for carry- ing the Pacific mails overland daily. As that mail is, or ought to be, delivered daily, the proprietors of the Pony seem to have concluded that the Express is no longer needed." The Pony Express was a remarkable enterprise of semi- official character, and for a couple of years served to bridge over the link of nearly 2000 miles between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Cal. It was started April 18 ? 1860, and the first trip was made in 10 days, lacking seven minutes. More than $250,000 were wagered on the result. Miller, one of the partners, attended to the details of the inauguration of the service. He bought 300 of the fleetest horses he could find in the West and employed 125 men, 80 of whom were post riders. Men of light weight but known courage and experience on the plains were selected. It was necessary that some portions of the race against time should be run at the rate of 20 miles an hour. The horses were stationed from 10 to 20 miles apart and each rider was supposed to ride 60 miles, though it hap- pened more than once that when the rider arrived at the end of his run he found the other man sick or injured or dead, and then the tired rider ran out the other man's stunt. Only two minutes could be spared for shifting mails and changing steeds. At first, where there were no permanent stations, tents for one man and two horses were set up. Single miles were recorded as being done in one minute and 50 seconds. The dangers and difficulties, fights with Indians, dare-devil feats and hair362 CLARENCE B. BAGLEY breadth escapes of these wild riders have furnished themes for countless stories during the past 50 years. The "star mail routes" and expresses by stage, on horse- back and on foot across the plains and all over the Pacific Coast would require a separate paper to describe them. Horace Greeley, Albert D. Richardson, Schuyler Colfax, Bret Harte, "Mark Twain," Joaquin Miller and a host of notable writers have perpetuated the memory of notable stage drivers, and the route over which they drove. As soon as the constantly diminishing space between the ends of the Central and Union Pacific railroads made it feasible, stages were run carrying passengers and mails. This was also true between Roseburg and Yreka, over the Siskiyou and Shasta ranges ; from Monti- cello, on the Cowlitz near its mouth, over the Cowlitz Moun- tains and to Olympia, on Puget Sound; from The Dalles to Goldendale, Yakima and Ellensburg; from Wallula to Walla Walla, Waitsburg, Colfax, Spokane and Colville; from Boise City to Florence and the mining towns of Idaho and Montana and to Salt Lake City. Baker City and the whole of Eastern Oregon were for many long years served only by stage. All the little towns of the Willamette Valley nestling near the foot- hills of the Cascades and the Coast ranges got their mail by stage or on horseback, once a week sometimes ; once a month at others. All over this whole region of today the daily mail and the rural mail delivery are accepted as a matter of course, and only a gray-haired man or woman here and there remem- bers the old days and the isolation and privations of pioneer life.
- ↑ Read before the annual meeting of the members of the Oregon Historical Society, held at Portland, December 21, 1912.