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of the Willamette, which were then really only Lee and his associates in the Methodist mission, had committed to him, as he discharged every trust, with truest fidelity. Twenty-six months later, at the head of the great reinforcement to his mission, which was really an American. colony, he was again in Oregon, and now with a still broader and mightier initiative in his hand. Dr. Whitman was still in his place; still faithful, as he also ever was. Still both were intent on their pious plans and patriotic purpose. Later Dr. Whitman was in Washington urging the same things that Lee had urged before him; the same things that were so ably presented in the memorial that Lee had already borne to Washington. Still later, on the 22d day of June, 1844, a very important letter, with a synopsis of a bill that Dr. Whitman was suggesting as desirable for congress to pass, was received at the war department at Washington. And now appears another strange coincidence. At the time, and for two weeks before that letter was received at the war department, Jason Lee was in Washington urging in person on the president, on the secretaries of war and of state, and on senators and representatives, the very things in substance that were presented in the letter and embodied in the bill of

Dr. Whitman. He was there with the endorsement and influence of a formal resolution of the Missionary Board of the Methodist Episcopal church, to sustain and reinforce all that he personally could do for the end so much desired. Thus, while these two great missionary statesmen held common sentiments and sought the same action in regard to the great Northwest, Lee, who was by two years first in the field, and who stood at the head of much the largest and most central and influential missionary and American community on the coast, clearly was the most potent personality in shaping the results that history records for the Pacific Northwest. On a careful and candid survey of the whole field of the decade from 1834 to 1844, that really decided the character and position of Oregon in its relation to the United States, and in the elements of its social and intellectual life, it plainly appears that he was first in every movement that deter mined that history. It was a great struggle, and great and good men were, in various ways, agents in it, and even martyrs to it. But a man who stands, as this man stands, at the beginning of a state or nation, and is the moulding and fashioning influence of that beginning, occupies an eminence that no other one can possibly attain.

H. K. HINES.

FIRST SCHOOL IN OREGON.

The first school taught in the Pacific Northwest was in Vancouver, Wash., John Ball being the teacher. Upon his trying to assemble the scholars for lessons he probably understood the difficulties of conversation known to those of the Tower of Babel, for the children neither understood him, and, but few,

each other; their number being made up of Chinooks, Crees, Nez Perces, Klickitats, etc., and they knew no language except their own dialect. With the assistance of Dr. McLoughlin and by persistent effort Mr. Ball succeeded in making considerable progress in the undertaking.

MOUNTAIN LORE.

The mountains of the Pacific Northwest have borne many names, and been quoted at all sorts of elevations, a portion of which are as follows:

named

by

Mount Adams.-Was Americans, in honor of John Quincy Adams. Indians called it Pat-to, a general term applied to various snow-capped peaks, which signifies high up, or very high. Winthrop called it Tacoma the Second. It is located in latitude 46 deg. 12 min. and 14.1 sec.; longitude 121 deg. 31 min. and 8.3 sec. Elevation 12,184 feet.

Mount Baker.-Discovered by Vancouver April 30, 1792, and named in honor of Lieutenant Baker. Called by Winthrop Kulshan, and probably borrowed by him from the Indians. The Spanish called it Montana del Carmelo. Early Americans called it Mount Polk. The Skagit Indians called it Ko-ma. Elevation 10,827 feet.

Mount Hood.-Discovered by Lieutenant Broughton, of Vancouver's party, October 29, 1792, and named in honor of Lord Hood, of England, a friend of Captain Vancouver. Latitude, 45 deg. 22 min. and 24.3 sec.; longitude, 121 deg. 42 min. and 49.6 sec. Called by the Indians Pat-to; by the early Americans Mount Washington. Was in activity in 1846. The elevation was given in early. days as 19,000 but in August, 1867, Lieutenant Williamson measured it very carefully, and reported is as 11,225 feet, which is probably very nearly correct.

Mount Jefferson. - Discovered by Lewis & Clark, and named in honor of President Jefferson, under whose administration their expedition was sent to the Pacific coast. Called by the British Mount Vancouver. Latitude, 44 deg. 40

min. and 26.1 sec.; longitude, 121 deg. 48 min. and 59.9 sec. Elevation, 10,567 feet.

Mount Olympus. Discovered by Juan Perez, a Spanish pilot, and called El Cero de la Santa Rosalia. Named Olympus by Captain Mears July 4, 1788; 8,138 feet high. The early Americans called it Mount Van Buren.

Mount Pitt.-Called McLoughlin in the early days of Oregon; also known as Mount Jackson. Latitude, 41 deg. and 40 min. Elevation, 9,760 feet.

Mount Rainier.-Discovered by Vancouver May 8, 1792, and named in honor of Rear-Admiral Rainier of the English navy. Was called Mount Harrison in the '40s. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company tried to have the name changed to Tacoma, but the government refused to do so. Elevation, 14,528 feet. Was an active volcano in 1843.

Mount St. Helens.-Discovered by Vancouver and named for his British majesty's ambassador at Madrid, October 20, 1792. The Indians called it Louwala-clough, or smoking mountain. In early pioneer days it was called Mount Washington, also Mount John Adams. It was an active volcano in 1831 and 1843. Elevation, 9,739 feet. Latitude, 46 deg. II min. and 52.3 sec.

Mount Shasta.-So named by the early trappers. Called Pitt by the British, Jackson and Monroe by the Americans, and referred to sometimes as Shasta butte. Elevation 14.440 feet.

Mount Thielsen. So named by the late Hans Thielsen of Portland, who did a great deal of engineering work in that country in early times. It is often referred to as the Lightning Rod of the Cascades. Elevation, 9,250 feet.

Three Sisters.--Elevation, 10,060 feet. We have not been able to ascertain how these peaks received their name.

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OREGON WITHOUT A SEAL OF STATE.

OREGON

No. 1.

The caption to this article may be looked upon as one not worthy of belief; still, investigation in the premises will convince doubters

that the statement is true.

Oregon has had three kinds of government from 1843 to the present time: provisional, territorial and state. During the life of each a seal was used, and under the last two forms acts were passed descriptive of the official seal. It will be the purpose of this article to briefly outline the evolution of the seal and its descriptions. In doing so, dates cannot be given at all times, as documentary evidence of action is lacking; evidence of use, however, will substantiate assertions. made.

There is no record obtainable showing that the provisional government ever prescribed the form of or adopted an official seal by any act of its legislature. Those who trust to memory, and others writing upon the subject, state that Hamilton Campbell made in 1846 what is known as the "salmon seal" (No. 1), which was used by Governor Abernethy as an official seal until it was superseded by a territorial one. This seal contained two objects, wheat and salmon, which have since made famous the word above them. Before its use began, it is said that Colonel Joe Meek, the sheriff of the commonwealth, made the service of official documents impressive by accompanying their delivery with words something like "d—, d-, dashes!" Be this true or false, the older pioneers will admit that it is not an unlikely statement,

for a recall to mind of many incidents in the colonel's career will be evidence that such was at times just his style of expression.

On August 14, 1848, the act creating Oregon a territory was passed, and the author of the bill therefor, Judge J. Quinn Thornton, who was in Washington in the interests of the provisional government, had a territorial seal made (No. 2), which he sent to Governor Lane in 1849, but he declined to accept it. In 1850, Mr. Thornton tendered it to Governor Gaines, and it was by him adopted and afterwards used as the seal of the territory. The territorial legislature did not, however, consider the matter until January 18, 1854, when by act it was made the seal of the territory. Its description is as follows:

"In the center, a shield, two compartments. Lower compartment-in the foreTERRITORY

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No. 2.

ground, a plow; in the distance mountains. In the upper compartment-a ship under full sail. The crest, a beaver. The sinister supporter-an Indian with bow and arrows, and a mantle of skins over his shoulder. The dexter supporter, an eagle, with wings displayed. The mottoalis volat propriis-"I fly with my own wings". Field of the lower compartment, argent; of the upper blue."

The seal was made and was in use for several years before this description became a law, and no doubt its impres

sion was before those who framed the act. But a glance at No. 2, which is a good fac-simile of the seal adopted as stated, does not show a dividing line on the shield which makes two compartments therein, nor does the description specify in what manner the division is to be made. The perspective would indicate as much, though, and it is presumed that the division was left to the sense of imagination. It was directed that it "be deposited and recorded in the office of the secretary, to remain a public record," but, so far as can be ascertained, this was never done. In the description no provision is made for a legend; the seal bears "Seal of the Territory of Oregon." Subsequently an attempt at fac

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simile making of the territorial seal was made (No. 3), for imprint upon matter printed "by authority." If the reader will notice, this attempt falls far short of near approach in the reproduction of the original design, and that the plow is left out altogether. A study of the territorial seal will show progressive ideas as well as an inclination to retrograde. The motto is a sentiment most true, for Oregon has flown so far by her own wings to prominence noticeable, and can wing her way to heights which only the great can reach, if her people will give heed to the upbuilding of the many and varied industries which can be conducted with profit within its borders. No objection

can be made to the beaver, as it commemorates our earliest home industry, the coining of beaver money; nor to the ship, a prospective of the forest of masts that come to our harbors for articles of export; nor to the mountains, as the beauties of the snow-capped sentinels on every hand are unsurpassed for grandeur in the world. But the warrior, pictured as if he had on a pair of gum boots, a creature so much in evidence for treachery, cruelty and murder, to say the least,

No. 4.

could be improved upon by substitution. of more fitting object. Leave the eagle as it is, put the sheaves of wheat where the redskin stands, and paint a royal chinook over the plow, and the seal would be a more appropriate one for a state seal than our present one.

By 1857 the husbandman among the pioneers had been crowded out in the management of affairs of state by an influx of politicians, and the mistakes in seal-making were much greater than during territorial infancy. The prophetic vision of the real builders of Oregon was largely disregarded, and supplanted by party creeds and desire to boast over departing force of other power, and the seal of state is an index of the ideas of the newer element.

In 1856 congress passed an enabling act, by virtue of which a constitutional convention was held in 1857. This convention adopted a seal of state to be as follows:

"An escutcheon, supported by thirtythree stars, and divided by an ordinary, with the inscription, 'The Union.' In chief,-mountains, an elk with branching antlers, a wagon, the Pacific ocean,

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