couraged and prevented as far as possible. Religious services were conducted on Sundays at the fort in Vancouver. Foremost among the impulses to a high standard of moral life must be mentioned the coming of the missionaries. Seeking in the first place to serve the native races they were equally effectual in preparing a condition more favorable to the white man. Strong and zealous they exerted a lasting influence upon the life of the community. Without distinction of denomination their influence was beneficial. It is true there was much of conflict between the Catholics and Protestants in the early days, but the conflict that grew from a zeal to secure for the community the things that each thought essential was a better foundation upon which to build than the moral lethargy which characterizes the beginning of many communities. It is true that the efforts of the religious leaders to direct affairs of the community life favorably to the interests in which they believed, were often annoying to the settlers who cared little for religion, but it nevertheless sufficed to prevent many of the abuses which so easily creep into a community where there is too little watchfulness.
With the organization of the first Catholic Church at Champoeg in 1839, and the Protestant churches by the Methodists and Congregationalists at Oregon City in 1842 and 1844, began an organized movement which, regardless of tenets of belief, was to be a potent factor in the development of that moral fibre in community life which is its most valuable possession. Various denominations arose among the population, and there was not always the unity most favorable to best results. Centers of influence, however, were started, which later development has ever been striving to unify. Though the moral foundations were firmly laid, conditions of a growing community have not been most favorable to a development
