Range, which forms the southern boundary of the Willamette Valley, and being deserted by four of their number on the border of the hostile Indian country, which left them not men enough to stand guard, they returned for reinforcements.
The head of the first company had been Levi Scott, a native of Illinois, who came to Oregon in 1844 from near Burlington, Iowa, a man of character and determination. He appealed to the patriotism of the Polk County settlers, and secured the cooperation of Jesse and Lindsey Applegate, who had privately promoted the expedition from the first, but who now left their homes and families with the fixed resolve never to retrace their steps, never to abandon the enterprise, until a good wagon-road should be found, if such existed, as they did not doubt, from what they knew of Fremont's expeditions, and the accounts given by the lost emigrants of 1845, of the level appearance of the country to the south of their route in the lake-basin.[1] The company as finally organized consisted of fifteen men, well supplied for a protracted expedition, who set out from La Créole settlement June 22d.[2]
- ↑ Nathaniel Ford, in Or. Spectator, July 9, 1846.
- ↑ They were Levi Scott, Jesse Applegate, Lindsey Applegate, John Scott, Moses Harris, Henry Bogus, John Owens, John Jones, Robert Smith, Samuel Goodhue, Bennett Osborne, William Sportsman, William Parker, Benjamin Burch, and David Goff, From notes and reminiscences by Lindsey Applegate, in Portland West Shore from June to September 1877, the following biographical facts are taken: John Scott accompanied his father, Capt. Scott, to Oregon in 1843. He resided at Dallas in Polk County. Benjamin F. Burch emigrated from Missouri, his native state, in 1845. He has long occupied positions of trust in Oregon, and resides at Salem. David Goff was an immigrant of 1844. He settled in the neighborhood of the Fords, and one of his daughters was the wife of J. W. Nesmith. He belonged to that class of pioneers whose patriotism extended beyond a desire to secure a grant of land. He died in Polk County in 1875, aged 80 years. William G. Parker was a native of Missouri, and an immigrant of 1843. He left Oregon for California, where he resided many years; but returned finally to Lake County, Oregon, and long resided in the country he assisted to explore in 1840. He was a brother of Mrs Jesse Applegate. Robert Smith was born in Virginia, and came to Oregon in 1843. He married a daughter of Charles Applegate, and was brother-in-law of S. F. Chadwick. Samuel Goodhue was a native of New York, and an immigrant of 1844. He
