Re-enforcement to the Methodist Mission.—Re-enforcement to the mission of the American Board.

We will leave Gray and party on their way down the Missouri River, and return to Oregon to introduce to the reader a re-enforcement to the Methodist Mission, consisting of Dr. Elijah White, a man that few who have dealt with can speak well of, utterly destitute of all morality and genuine piety, assuming the garb of religion to cover his baseness of heart and meanness of life. He arrived at the Columbia River in May, 1837. He entered upon his professional duties, and in a few months boasted of the liberties he had taken with most of the ladies of the mission who were so unfortunate as to receive his medical attention. It was easy to see the influence of such a man. His words were smooth and brotherly, his acts were poison and infamy. He never had a friend but he betrayed or swindled him in some deal. He would tell a lie when the truth would answer his purposes better. This man for a time had considerable influence; his calling as a physician was necessary and indispensable to the mission. Rev. Jason Lee soon found out the character of this wolf in sheep’s clothing, and presented charges against him for his immorality, and expelled him from the mission. Previous to leaving the country, he called a public meeting and made his statements, and attempted to mob Mr. Jason Lee and get the settlers to give him a character, in both of which he failed, and left the country to impose upon the government at Washington, as he had done upon the mission and the early settlers of Oregon. We will leave Dr. White for the present, and give him all the credit due to his bad deeds and exhibitions of folly in his capacity as sub-Indian agent.

Mr. Alanson Beers, a blacksmith by trade, was a good honest man, a devoted Christian, a man whose moral worth was above price. True as steel, and honest as he was faithful, he was slow to believe others to be less true than himself. He was a pattern of honesty and piety, as well as industry and economy; the opposite of White in every respect, as was his wife when compared to Mrs. White. Though Mrs. Beers never claimed or aspired to shine or display more than she really was, yet her goodness of heart was manifested in her kind and generous treatment of all. If this man and his wife did not leave a handsome competency for their children it was no fault of theirs. Others may have felt it their duty to appropriate the orphan’s portion and receive the miser’s paradise. Mr. Beers came to the country full-handed, with a handsome competency to commence any business he might choose, independent of missionary patronage. He was more faithful in his department than most of his brethren.

He was considered by the early settlers an honest and sincere man; by the ruling spirits of the Methodist Mission, a faithful servant of their cause.

With this company came W. H. Wilson, an assistant missionary, of whose early life we have but little knowledge. From his own statements we learn that he had been connected with a whale ship as cooper. On arriving in Oregon as an assistant missionary, he was licensed as a preacher, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. White, and, in later years, received the title of doctor instead of reverend. The doctor was a cheerful, whole-souled, good-sort of a fellow, with a greater abundance of interesting and funny yarns than profound medical skill, which always made him agreeable, and served to gain friends and popularity in a community that, as a general thing, would prefer a tincture of humbuggery.

The Misses Ann Maria Pitman, Susan Downing, and Elvira Johnson were also of this party. The first became the wife of Rev. Jason Lee, the second of Cyrus Shepard, the third of Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, who came to the country with the second re-enforcement to the mission, consisting of Rev. David Leslie, wife, and three daughters; H. K. W. Perkins; and Miss Margaret Smith, who afterward became the wife of an Englishman called Dr. Bailey. This gave to the Methodist Mission, on the 21st of November, 1837, Rev. Jason Lee (superintendent of the mission) and wife, Mr. C. Shepard and wife, Rev. Daniel Lee, Mr. P. L. Edwards, Rev. David Leslie and wife, Dr. Elijah White and wife, Rev. H. K. W. Perkins and wife, Mr. A. Beers and wife, Mr. W. H. Wilson, and Miss Margaret Smith,—nine men and seven women,—with three daughters of Rev. D. Leslie. From causes already mentioned, the moral strength of these early missionaries was neutralized. The larger portion of them had no knowledge of the influences that were sapping the foundation of their Christian effort, and tending to destroy the confidence of such as were considered ungodly outsiders. Instead of meeting sin, and vice, and lust which could not be hid, and condemning and banishing it, the attempt was made to excuse and cover up a fault in a professed brother, and reprove others for less faults,—the mote and the beam. The legitimate result followed,—though slow, yet certain. Here was a noble field, had all the men sent to occupy it been of the right stamp! Still they toiled on, or rather continued to occupy a place in the country, to form a nucleus for a settlement. In this position they are entitled to much credit. The roving sailor and the wild mountain hunter looked to this wilderness for a home. The shrewdness of these men soon detected the assailable points in the mission’s character, and adapted themselves to circumstances, and found it easy to profess compliance and receive the benefits of the association. There were few or none among this early set of missionaries that displayed much knowledge of human nature. They were totally ignorant of savage life, manners, and customs; hence were easily made the dupes of all.

In the winter of 1837-8, Gray is in the States giving an account of his trip across the Rocky Mountains in company with Messrs. Spalding and Whitman, and of his explorations of the country; the present and future prospects of the missionary efforts; the influence of the Hudson’s Bay Company and of the missions; the fact that a wagon had been taken by Dr. Whitman and his party to Fort Boise, and that it could be taken to the Wallamet settlement. Said one man in the audience at Utica, New York: “How do you get through the timber on the route?” “My dear sir, the traveler is compelled to use the buffalo chips to cook his food for a large part of the route, for want of wood; there is not twenty-five miles of timber on the route from the Missouri to the Columbia.” Of course a description of the vast plains and mountains had to be given, and the manner of travel and subsistence.

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent with Gray and wife, Rev. E. Walker and wife, C. Eells and wife, and A. B. Smith and wife, to re-enforce their mission. There was with this company a young man from Cincinnati, Ohio,—Cornelius Rogers,—active and useful in every department, respected and beloved by all who knew him. After remaining with the mission a few years, he received an appointment from the Board, but he had made up his mind to become a settler in the Wallamet, and made his arrangements accordingly. Captain Sutter came with this party to Wallawalla.

They reached Whitman’s station the first of September, 1838, bringing with them to Fort Hall some fourteen cows. A majority of the party were made to believe that these could be replaced at Fort Colville with a better stock of cows, and thus be saved the trouble of driving them further, and accordingly made an even exchange of the choicest and best stock that could be found in Missouri for such California stock as the Hudson’s Bay Company might have at Colville. This was considered by the greenhorns that made the bargain a good trade, till they came to receive the wild, furious, untamable California stock at Fort Colville, that required a Spaniard with his lasso to catch and hold, to get the milk for family use.

Rev. E. Walker was a tall, rather spare, stoop-shouldered, black-haired, brown-eyed, rather light-complexioned man, diffident and unassuming, always afraid to say amen at the end of his prayers, and requiring considerable effort to speak with confidence or decision upon any subject. This might arise from habit, or want of decision of character, or fear of offending. He had no positive traits of mind, yet he was studious, and kind as a friend and neighbor; faithful as a Christian, inefficient as a preacher. His efforts among the Indians were of the negative cast. The Indians respected him for his kindness, and feared him for his commanding appearance. Not at all adapted to fill the position he undertook,—as an Indian missionary in Oregon,—yet, as a citizen and settler, one of the best.

Rev. C. Eells, a short, slim, brown-haired, light-brown eyed, fair-complexioned man, with a superabundance of self-esteem, great pretensions to precision and accurateness of statement and strictness of conduct; very precise in all his actions, and about all his labors and property; with no soul to laud and admire nature, no ambition to lift his thoughts beyond the sphere of his own ideas of right, he was made to move in a small circle; his soul would be lost outside of it. There were but two instances on the trip from Boston to Oregon in which he ventured outside of himself. The first was at Soda Springs. The day the party arrived, notwithstanding they had made a long day’s drive to reach that camp, the four ladies—Walker, Eells, Smith, and Gray—wished to go round and see the springs and drink of the water, and look at the Steamboat Spring, a place where water and gas issue at intervals of about a minute, like the blowing of steam. These places the ladies, tired as they were, must look at and admire. Rev. Mr. Eells puts up his saddles, buckles, and tents, and takes his Testament and reads his chapter, as usual, and after prayers retires to rest. Next morning all were up and admiring the grand display of nature around, drinking of the water, and enjoying its exhilarating influence. Camp all ready, on they move. Nothing would satisfy the ladies but another look at the Steamboat. All mounted their horses and rode down to it. Eells mounts his horse as usual, and comes along down where all stood watching and admiring the phenomenon, dismounts from his horse, and in utter astonishment exclaims: “Well, this is really worth coming to see!” The other instance in which he lost himself was in admiring the grandeur of the great fall on Snake River. He had no poetry or romance in his soul, yet by dint of perseverance he was a good artificial singer. He lacked all the qualities requisite for a successful Indian missionary and a preacher of the gospel in a new country. As citizens and neighbors, Mr. Eells and his family were highly respected; as a teacher he was unreasonably strict.

Rev. A. B. Smith, a man whose prejudices were so strong that he could not be reasonable with himself. He attempted to make himself useful as a missionary, but failed for want of Christian forbearance and confidence in his associates. As to literary ability, he was superior to his associates, and probably excited their jealousy; so much so, that his connection in the mission became unpleasant, and he found an excuse to leave the country in 1841; not, however, till he and Mr. Rogers had, with the assistance of the Lawyer, completed a vocabulary and a grammar of the Nez PercÉ language, which was the cause of Ellis’s jealousy of the Lawyer and Mr. Smith, and also of an extra effort through the Jesuits and the company to get rid of him.