Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/411

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Peter Skene Ogden 379 May his memory be cherished until time shall be no more.* DEDICATORY ADDRESS BY T. C. ELLIOTT Nearly seventy years have passed since the mortal remains of Peter Skene Ogden were laid away beneath the sod upon which we now stand. At the time of his death he was sixty years of age, and had been closely associated with the history of Oregon almost from the beginning of its actual occupation by English-speaking people. With humility of conscience and sadness of thought because of our long neglect, we are gathered today to dedicate a monument, which now has been of- ficially erected over his previously unmarked grave. The crowning glory of woman is motherhood. The crowning glory of man, in the finest analysis, is loyalty to country and respect for woman ; love to a mother, and love and protection to wife and children. It is known to many that Peter Skene Ogden was an indefatigable explorer of unknown parts of the Old Oregon Country, and an active trader for furs in all the wide expanse of territory from Great Salt Lake to the Fraser River, from the Sacramento to Southern Alaska, and on the head- waters of the Columbia and Missouri Rivers. It is known that he was a trusted official of the NorthWest Company, and then of the powerful Hudson's Bay Company in their business in all parts of the basin of the Columbia River, and that he had the widest acquaintance with the events and the people, both Indian and white, of this Pacific Northwest from 1818 to 1854. It is known that he was an intelligent observer and narrator, a linguist who con-

  • Those wishing to know more of the life of Peter Skene Ogden are

referred to an article written by Mr. T. C. Elliott, of Walla Walla Washington, one of the Directors of Oregon Historical Society, entitled "Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader," published in Volume XI, No. 3, September, 1910, of The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society.— Editor of the Quarterly.