Many of these judges have since won honors in higher spheres. They have aided to establish on the broad basis. of right and universal liberty two pillars of our great republic in the Occident [California and Oregon]. Some of the young men who appeared before them as advocates, have themselves sat upon the highest judicial tribunals, commanded armies, been governors of States, and taken high positions in the Senate of the nation.

"It is now one o'clock; the bugle has sounded and the caravan has resumed its westward journey. It is in the same order, but the evening is far less animated than the morning march; a drowsiness has fallen apparently on man and beast; teamsters drop asleep on their perches and even when walking by their teams, and the words of command are now addressed to the slowly creeping oxen in the soft tenor of women or the piping treble of children, while the snores of the teamsters make a droning accompaniment

the sun is now getting low in the west and at length the painstaking pilot is standing ready to conduct the train in the circle which he has previously measured and marked out, which is to form the invariable fortification for the night. The leading wagons follow him so nearly around the circle that but a wagon length separates them. Each wagon follows in its track, the rear closing on the front, until its tongue and ox chains will perfectly reach from one to the other, and so accurate the measure and perfect the practise, that the hindmost wagon of the train always precisely closes the gateway. As each wagon is brought into position it is dropped from its team (the teams being inside the circle), the team unyoked, and the yokes and chains are used to connect the wagon strongly with that in its front. Within ten minutes from the time the leading wagon halted, the barricade is formed, the teams unyoked and driven out to pasture. Every one is busy preparing fires of buffalo chips to cook the evening meal, pitching tents and otherwise preparing for the night. The watches "begin at 8 o'clock P. M., and end at 4 o'clock A. M."

Each of the two companies, into which this first large emigration was divided, had sixty wagons, which travelled within supporting distance of one another until the danger of Indian depredations was past. On entering the mountains it became increasingly difficult to maintain any sort of order, and the emigration moved forward in smaller squads, much as the individual teamsters were inclined.

More than three months had elapsed when, on the 27th of August, some of the companies reached Fort Hall on the eastern border of the Oregon country. They had encountered many difficulties, from straying cattle, violent tempests, and swollen streams; yet every day for a hundred days they had moved steadily forward. But, although two-thirds of the distance to the lower Columbia had been traversed, the troubles of the emigrants had hardly begun. To Fort Hall they had followed a well-marked trail, which made a most excellent natural road. From this point no path had been broken. It was believed, even on the frontiers, that loaded wagons could not be taken beyond Fort Hall.

It had been customary for the small Oregon parties of preceding years to leave their wagons there, and securing horses from the traders, to continue the journey to the Columbia along the pack trail. This company was so large that such a course was out of the question. It would have been impossible to obtain horses for more than a fraction of the women and children, and there was no alternative except to go forward with the loaded wagons, making the road and trusting to good guidance and the strength and enthusiasm of numbers to overcome obstacles encountered.

Marcus Whitman, the missionary pioneer who had taken the first wagon beyond Fort Hall in 1836, was with this party. He had left his mission early in October, 1843, and after a terrific winter journey, reached the headquarters of his society at Boston at the end of March. Shortly afterward he joined the emigrants to the West. Whitman urged a forward movement with the wagons, and agreed to

act as guide. His services to the emigrants had already been valuable, but from Fort Hall they were very essential to the success of the undertaking.

Pressing on at the best rate possible, with the jaded and footsore oxen, the party passed Fort Boise on the 20th of September, and by the 1st of October reached the beautiful valley of the Grand Ronde. Another ten days of rugged roads and storms brought the caravan to the borders of the Columbia at Whitman's station. Many were in need of food, and took the opportunity to purchase supplies at the mission. But within a few days the party was again on the way, eager to complete the last stage of the journey to the Willamette. Some went down by boat, leaving their cattle at Fort Walla Walla, while others drove their stock overland.

And so the first great movement of American families to the shores of the Pacific terminated successfully; and the heroic achievements of the American pioneer laid the foundations of a new State.

CHAPTER X

SETTLEMENT OF THE OREGON QUESTION

THE emigrants of 1843 were comparatively late comers to Oregon and when the history of the preceding half century is reviewed it may seem that too great honor has been accorded these pioneers. Gray's discovery of the river, Lewis and Clark's visit, Astor's project, the work of the fur traders, Smith, Wyeth, Bonneville, and the rest, the coming of missionaries, the beginnings of settlement in the fertile valley of the Willamette,—all these and other incidents were antecedent to the emigration of 1843, and the men and women concerned in them deserve to be remembered with gratitude. Yet there is a unique significance attaching to the emigration of 1843 that causes the event to stand out in the annals of the Northwest much as the landing of the Pilgrims, or the great emigration of Puritans under Winthrop, distinguished the early history of the Northeast coast. And the reason is the same, because each of these movements was a decisive event of history. Several navigators and a few adventurers had visited the Cape Cod region before the Mayflower anchored off that coast; a considerable number of Puritans and others had settled about Massachusetts Bay prior to 1630. But the mind instinctively fixes upon these two dates as crucial points in the evolution of New England.

So, future generations, in tracing the genesis of American communities upon our western seaboard, will recognize the