in celebrating the approaching event, which will be one to be remembered while life lasts and which will pass into history as the first annual grand assembly of Native Sons of Oregon held in the state. The cost of organization has by a recent order of the Grand Body been reduced to a minimum, so that no reputable native son is now precluded from availing himself of the privilege of becoming a member of the order by the cost. Any information desired as to necessary procedure in organizing will be furnished on application to the Grand Secretary. Grand officers stand ready to visit any town in Oregon for the purpose of instituting Cabins and installing their officers whenever they are ready to be formed. Special rates of transportation will be made to all Cabins (and to members thereof) formed and instituted prior

to June 13, 1899, and as much special accommodation provided for members. attending the grand assembly as found practicable by officers and members of the Grand and Abernethy's Cabins at that time.

It has been suggested by the Native Sons that they join with the Pioneer Association in the celebration of "Pioneer day," June 15, doing all they can to assist in making the occasion one of pleasure to those builders of Oregon. The Grand Cabin will move in the matter and notify subordinate Cabins in due season, and no pains should be spared to show our pioneer fathers and mothers. that their sons and daughters not only love and honor them, but are also solicitous that their annual gathering should be one full of cheer and sunshine.

EUGENE D. WHITE.

The Oregon Pioneer Association was organized at Butteville, October 18, 1873. A reading of its constitution reveals that its objects are "to collect from living witnesses such facts relating to the pioneers and history of the territory of Oregon as the association may deem worthy of preservation, and to promote social intercourse among its members," and to "cultivate the friendship of those who had met on a common ground of interest in shaping the history of the state." All comers to original Oregon prior to February 14, 1859, are eligible to membership.

The annual meetings have been held in various portions of the state, though the greater number and nearly all of the later ones have been convened in Portland. The revenue has been derived through fees for membership, dues and donations. For the past fifteen years the number of pioneers has been growing less and less, and the decrease kept reducing the membership fees and the dues; in consequence, greater donations were required. Fortunately for the association it had among its membership such citizens as Wm. S. Ladd, Henry W. Corbett, Henry Failing and C. H. Lewis, some one of whom having been for years past an officer of the association.

They

would find out from the secretary the amount required in excess of membership and dues receipts, which was always over $500; then they would each donate a hundred dollars toward making up the deficit and see that the remainder was collected from the other many who saw fit to lend their assistance. For fifteen years $100 each-have these four pioneers so munificently, though quietly, contributed for the benefit of the associa

tion.

All of them, except Mr. Corbett, have within a short time made their last remove-a transition from an existence where trials abound to one of full joy in the life beyond. As the news of their decease went forth, their associate pioneers wore the face of gloom, and from each heart came an involuntary and earnest "Rest in peace." Since the decease of those named their children have joined Mr. Corbett, as their fathers would have done, in continuance of the donations made subsequently.

[The present secretary of the association, Mr. Geo. H. Himes, has filled such position for the past fourteen years. Upon his shoulders has fallen the greater portion of the detail work of making each annual gathering a success, one which would be an hour for long remembrance by those in attendance. His services, though laborious, have been given fully and without salary. He has for years made it a business to collect all data in relation to the history of Oregon that he could get hold of in order to preserve the deeds of our pioneer fathers and mothers for coming time; their reminiscenses "the plains across"; their battles with the savages and other matters incident to the early struggles to become what we are now-Oregon the great. This information will be placed with the Historical Society and the benefits. thereby will be of great value.-F. H. S.]

June 15 of each year was fixed as Picneer day, and was so selected at the suggestion of the late Governor S. F. Chadwick. Such date commemorates the date of the treaty made in 1846 between the United States and Great Britain, establishing the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude as the boundary between

this country and Canada, an epoch which marks the triumphs of the Oregon pioneer in the contest for the three great states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, a controversy which began in 1818 and continued for twenty-eight years. It is a matter of regret that the anti-expansionists of this period are not on earth so as to look upon their "barren waste" and note the "blossoming as the rose" on every hand.

No parallel is found in all the history of mankind to the record of these state builders. No movement like this has been chronicled since the going forth of our first parents from the garden of Eden. The writings of the historian concerning the migratory movements of man state that peoples marched in large numbers; that they first builded cities. and improved the adjoining lands afterwards. This was not the case with the pioneer to Oregon; peoples before made a gradual move with no complete separation from civilization and friends, their journeys involving no great distance of travel. But with them the usages of the past were no index to their guidance; they had heard of a new country, to reach which over 2,000 miles must be traveled; over unmarked plains and rugged mountains; a country uninhabited except by wild beasts and wilder savages.

Each little company severed the ties which bound it to loved ones and friends, for they knew not how long it would be; abandoning home comforts, institutions of learning, and the marts of trade, and with firm resolve set their faces westward to reach a region whose location, advantages and possibilities were but little known. To exile themselves across such a wide and dangerous expanse called for a faith most sublime, a heroism sterling, and a spirit daring even to the verge of madness.

The undertaking schooled them in lessons of forbearance, energy and leadership never to be forgotten, and where they fixed their roof-tree and set up a hearthstone, their neighbors found. a latch-string hanging on the outside of the door. From a few at first, then to less than 50,000 in 1859, when statehood was inaugurated; from thence to over 350,000 at present; yet from out of that pioneer band has come the greater number of our merchant princes, bankers and men and women in every profession and trade in our midst. During all the years of changing scenes, the stability, business capacity and statesmanship of the pioneer

men and their sons have been excelled

only by the self-sacrifice, unfailing devotion and spotless purity of character of their wives and daughters. In the successive steps from wilderness to empire, incidents are extremely rare where a trust has been betrayed by these pioneers of Oregon. A number of them have held highest offices of the nation; in the cabinet, diplomatic, and have graced the halls of congress, and have administered the foremost stations within the gift of not only our own state, but in those of others. Of our fourteen governors, all but three were pioneers; of these three, one is a Native Son, and two are worthy of honorary membership by long residence and faithful services as citizens in their adopted state. Of that band one has honorably discharged the duties of attorney-general of the United States, two have been ministers to foreign countries, one became an advisor to a king, another the editor of a great daily; while two others have been appointed judges of the United States court, the survivor still holding that exalted position; one was governor of California, another of Utah, two of Idaho, one of Alaska, and one of Washington. Of the fifteen sena

tors, all but three were pioneers; of the three, two of them have been here so long and have been SO prominently identified with the state's political history that they may be well included in the list; and the third is a Native Son. Of the nineteen representatives to congress, seventeen of them came here before 1859, and another is a Native Son. In the field of caricature a Native Son is the leader of the world; in that of rhyme, three have become famous-two were pioneers, the other a Native Son. Some of our pioneer mothers and daughters, to the manor born, are known as writers of history, fiction, poetry, in the lecture field, as journalists, on the stage, and various other honorable avocations, in all of which they have acquitted themselves with credit to themselves and honor to the state.

Whatever Oregon is today is the work of the pioneers. Whatsoever things are here beholden of learning, advancement and of domestic or public worth, are owing to them. If our work shall speedily be forgotten, theirs is safe from the touch of time. The present and the future cannot forget them, for, even to the farthest generations, the evidences of their lives and the munificent fruits of their labors shall be before the beholder.

The circuit of the earth has been completed by the descendants of Japheth traveling westward to a meeting with those of Shem who departed to the eastward. No more shall the pioneer blaze the way for the palace-car which now wheels in glittering splendor over the once wild and trackless expanse between their starting-place and their point of greeting in later hours.

GEO. H. HIMES.

Alice C. Whitman, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Marcus Whitman. Born

March 14, 1837. Drowned June 22, 1838, in the Walla Walla river. Her birth antedates that of any other white child born west of the Rockies.

Jason Lee White, son of Dr. and Mrs. Elijah White. Born July 22, 1837. Drowned August 23, 1838, in the Columbia, at the lower cascades.

Joseph Beers, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alanson Beers. Born September 1837. Died when about 3 years of age.

15,

Eliza Spalding, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. H. H. Spalding. Born November 10, 1837. Is a survivor of the Whitman massacre, being about 10 years of age at

such time. Was married to Mr. Andrew Warren. Lives at Waterville, Wash.

Lee, son of Rev. and Mrs. Jason Lee, nee Annie M. Pitman. Born June 6, 1838. Lived 10 days. Lived 10 days. His mother died the day following his death, and both are buried in the same grave, the first to be dug in Oregon for the reception of a white mother. The parents of this native son were the first white people to be married west of the Rocky mountains.

Cyrus Walker, son of Rev. and Mrs. Elkanah Walker. Born December 7, 1838. Lives at Albany.

J. H. D. Gray, son of Hon. Wm. H. and Mrs. Grav. Born March 20, 1839. Lives at Astoria.