feared some such results from the employment of preacher-mechanics, and had insisted on bringing out a majority of laymen; but the board had thought preachers were wanted for missionary work, and missionary work was their first consideration, while the dominant idea in the mind of Jason Lee was now material development.
As soon as possible the manual-labor school was removed to the new location, that the Indian boys might be made useful on the farm. This school now numbered twenty-five, and the colonists were too busy to instruct these young natives, had they so desired.[1]
It was impossible to complete the work of removal the first year, or even the second, or until a saw-mill should be in operation, it being the intention to build larger and better houses than those at French Prairie. Of those at the latter place the largest and the best was the hospital, now completed, a frame edifice two stories high, with a double piazza, in which the Mission steward, Abernethy, and three other families, were comfortably domiciled.
After starting the new settlement of Chemeketa plain, which went by the name of "The Mill," for want of a better, Jason Lee set out to select a location among the Umpquas, intending even yet to make a settlement at the mouth of their river. In company with White and Hines he proceeded without difficulty or adventure as far as Fort Umpqua, at the junction of Elk Creek and the Umpqua River,[2] where they were entertained at the house of Gagnier, agent in charge
- ↑ Wilkes says that in 1841 no fixed plan of operations had yet been digested, and that the boys, nearly grown up, were ragged and half-clothed, lounging about under the trees. Wilkes Nar., U. S. Explor. Ex., iv. 378–9.
- ↑ White relates that on arriving at the top of Elk Mountain, a very sharp and rough ridge, Hines arose in his stirrups, and exclaimed in a very earnest manner: 'My wife never climbs this mountain!' White's Ten Years in Or., 127.
They knew nothing about the hardships of a new country; and the hardships were such that they could not endure them.' He pays a handsome tribute to the women, saying that they were 'noble, splendid women, who stood right up to their duties as well as the men.' Having to eat boiled wheat for a year was nothing compared to the loss of society, which was their greatest trial. Or. Anecdotes, MS., 26.
