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merits. There is no doubt that he expressed to his missionaries on the "Lausanne" during the long trip around the Horn in 1839, the idea which was already taking root in his mind, viz., that the missionary period was to be merely a transition stage, that ultimately, Oregon was to be won for the United States that the Indians of the Willamette Valley were a "melancholy doomed race." At any event, somewhere on the east coast of South America, on board the good ship "Lausanne," October 25, 1839, the Methodist missionaries cele- brated the one hundredth anniversary of Methodism by taking up a collection to start a school for white children in the Willamette Valley. Gustavus Hines preached the sermon. The sum of six hundred and fifty dollars was collected and con- secrated to the task of starting education in the American state of Jason Lee's vision and Hall J. Kjelley's dream.
The next step in the genesis of Willamette has to do with the Mission school. In 1841, Lee had moved it from near pres- ent Wheatland to the present site of Salem. Here, he had under construction, a new building, three and a half stories high, which cost $10,000.00. Lee had moved his own house to Salem, or Chemeketa, as they called it, where a grist mill already had been built. It was this new Mission school at Salem which was to become the first home of that school for white children which had been proposed on board the "Lausanne" in 1839. This came about as follows :
On Jan. 17, 1842 ? there was a meeting at Lee's house in Salem to undertake the organization of the school. A com- mittee consisting of Dr. Ira L. Babcock, Gustavus Hines and David Leslie was selected. A meeting was held near the first of February at which a committee on location was selected. They decided to proceed at once. They chose "Oregon In- stitute" as a name and selected the first board of trustees : Jason Lee, chairman ; David Leslie, Gustavus Hines, J. L. Parrish, L. H. Judson, Alanson Beers, George Abernethy, Hamilton "Cow" Campbell, 18 and Dr. Ira L. Babcock. Webly Hauxhurst was added in a short time.
18 Hamilton Campbell was known by no other name than "Cow" Campbell thruout the whole Willamette Valley. When Gary sold the Mission property, Camp- bell bought the cattle. His herds prospered and he became the cow king of Oregon. He almost literally had "cattle on a thousand hills." Hence, the name.
