At the close of 1837, the independent population of Oregon consisted of forty- nine souls, about equally divided between missionary attaches and settlers. With but few exceptions the arrivals during the next two years were solely of persons connected with the various missions, whose advent has already been noted. Those coming in 1839 were. Rev. J. S. Griffin and wife, and Mr. Asahel Munger and wife, who made an unsuccessful effort to found an independent mission on Snake river, and Rev. Ben. Wright, Robert Shortess, Sidnej^ Smith, Lawson, Keizer, Geiger, and John Edmunds Pickernell. By adding the following list oC arrivals in 1840, to those previously mentioned, the population of Oregon at that time will be quite accurately listed. Mr. Gray thus summarizes the arrivals of that season : —
"In 1840 — Methodist Episcopal Protestant Mission — Mrs. Lee, second wife of Rev. Jason Lee ; Rev. J. H. Frost and wife ; Rev. A. F. Waller, wife and two children ; Rev. W. W. Kone and wife ; Rev. Gustavus Hines, wife and sister ; Rev. L. H. Judson, wife and two children ; Rev. J. L. Parrish, wife and three children ; Rev. J. P. Richmond, wife and three children ; Rev. A. P. Olley and wife. Lay men — Mr. Geo. Abernethy, wife and two children ; Mr. Hamilton Campbell, wife and one child ; Mr. W. W. Raymond and wife ; Mr. H. B. Brewer and wife ; Dr. Ira L. Babcock, wife and one child ; Miss Maria T. Ware, jMiss Orpha Lankton, Miss Almira Phelps, and Miss E. Phillips. Independent Protestant Missions — Rev. Harvey Clark and wife ; Rev. P. B. Littlejohn and wife ; Robert Moore, James Cook, and James (Travers according to Judge Deady) Fletcher, settlers. Jesuit Priests — P. J. De Smet, Flathead Mission. Rocky mountain men with native wives — ^William Craig, Doctor Robert Newell, Joseph L. Meek, George W. Eb- berts, William M. Doughty, John Larison, George Wilkinson, a Mr. Nicholson, and Mr. Algear, and William Johnson, author of the novel, "Leni Leoti, or The Prairie Flower." The subject was first written and read before the Lyceum at Oregon City, in 1843.
Gray classifies the population as follows : American settlers, twenty-five of them with Indian wives, 36 ; American women, 33 ; children, 32 ; lay members, Protestant Missions, 13 ; Methodist Ministers, 13 ; Congregational, 6 ; American Physicians, 3 ; English Physicians, 1 ; Jesuit priests, including De Smet, 3 ; Canadian French, 60. Total Americ<ins, 137 ; total Canadians, including priests, 63 ; total population, not including Hudson 's Bay Company operatives, within what is now all of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and a part of Montana, was 200.
In 1842 an addition of about fifty Americans over the age of eighteen came in of which a complete list will be given hereafter in this chapter.
The condition of the valley and the settlers, when these emigrants arrived, is thus described by Medorem Crawford : —
"On the fifth day of October our little party, tired, ragged and hungry, ar- rived at the Palls, now Oregon City, where we found the first habitations west of the Cascade mountains. Here several members of the Methodist Mission were located, and a saw mill was being erected on the island. Our gratification on ar- riving safely after so long and perilous a journey , was shared by these hospitable people, each of whom seemed anxious to give us a hearty welcome and render us every assistance in their power. From the Falls to Vancouver was a trackless wilderness, communication being only by the river in small boats and canoes. Toward Salem no sign of civilization existed until we reached the French prairie,
