commerce which could relieve this plethora of production; and to make matters worse, these lands were about to come into market, and their occupants could not pay for them. This state of affairs among a body of men whose fathers had emigrated step by step from the Atlantic seaboard to the Missouri frontier; who had fought the savages and the British, and feared neither man nor devil; who were democrats or whigs upon principle, loved politics, and were intensely patriotic; who would march across a continent to assert American rights, and rather sought than avoided a contest—to men so strong, restless, aggresive, the condition of affairs on the Mississippi and Missouri borders from 1841 to 1845 was intolerable. And to these, statesmen addressed themselves through Linn's bill, by talking of lands which should be ample and free in Oregon.
The land in itself might be little temptation after their experience in mid-continent, but the idea of seaboard was attractive, including as it did the dream of commercial relations with the islands of the Pacific and with China. To found a new state on these shores, in direct communication with the most populous nations of the globe, was the ambition awakened in them by the frequent reports received from travellers and missionaries of the natural resources and favorable situation of the Oregon Territory.[1]
- ↑ In evidence of this is a letter from P. L. Edwards at Richmond, Missouri, to J. M. Bacon of Liberty, dated September 1842. Edwards begins by apologizing for not having sooner replied to Bacon's inquiries concerning Oregon, and deprecates taking upon himself the responsibility of giving advice in a matter of so much importance as that of the emigration of a colony across the plains to the shore of the Pacific. He then proceeds: 'You ask for information in regard to the route and outfit of emigrants. In reply, I can recommend no other than that usually taken by traders and trappers, with occasional deviations which it would be useless to endeavor to point out on paper. I mean the route up the south Platte, a short distance above the junction of the north and south forks; thence up the north fork until you have travelled some 6 or 8 days within the first range of mountains, called the Black Hills; thence to the Colorado of the West; and thence to Fort Hall on Lewis River by the way of Bear River.' In answer to the question if the journey could be made in wagons, he said that wagons could be taken two thirds of the way, but not farther; and that he should always prefer horses; and gave some advice about provisions, and the size of the
