This is OREGON COUNTRY: Recent Episodes
Feliks Banel
“This is OREGON COUNTRY” is new recordings of historic materials from the place known as “Oregon Country”—the once-remote part of North America that’s now Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and parts of Montana, Wyoming and British Columbia.
On this episode of “This is Oregon Country,” we hear a log entry first written in 1841 by Captain Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition. Wilkes was born in 1798 in New York City, and died in Washington, DC in 1877.
The entry concerns the celebration of Independence Day near what’s now DuPont, Washington—the first time the holiday was observed west of the Missouri River. The site of the 1841 celebration was honored with a monument in 1906, but the monument is now contained within the boundaries of Joint Base Lewis McChord, and is not accessible by the public.
Wilkes’ observations were collected in the five-volume “Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition,” which was originally published in 1856 by G.P. Putnam in New York. This entry is from Volume IV.
In the selection, read by Feliks Banel, we hear how Wilkes and his men celebrated the nation’s birthday with a barbecue, a parade, patriotic music and the firing of cannons.
On this episode of “This is Oregon Country,” we hear a poem written by Alice Wellington Rollins, an American writer who was born in 1847 in Boston, Massachusetts and who died in Bronxville, New York in 1897.
The poem is called “Whitman’s Ride.” It uses the familiar structure of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1860 poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” to commemorate Marcus Whitman’s 1842 journey from the Oregon Country to the East Coast.
The poem was printed in the book,“How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon” written by Oliver W. Nixon and published in Chicago in 1895. Rollins’ poem is believed to have originally appeared in a periodical called the “New York Independent” and then in the 1886 book “Representative Poems of Living Poets.”
In the poem, read by Feliks Banel, we hear a heroic telling of Walla Walla missionary Marcus Whitman’s much debated and largely discredited role in “saving Oregon”—that is, in convincing the American government in the 1840s to stand firm against the British and acquire the Oregon Country for the United States.
On this episode, we hear from Alexander Ross, who sailed from the East Coast to the Oregon Country in late 1810. Ross, who was nearly 30 at the time, was engaged by John Jacob Astor to travel with a group of men to the mouth of the Oregon (or Columbia) River. There the men established “The Pacific Fur Company,” and founded what’s now Astoria, Oregon.
The passage was printed in the book,“Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River” written by Alexander Ross and based on his journals. Ross’ book was originally published in London in 1849.
In this journal entry, read by Feliks Banel, we hear about the final leg of the voyage to The Oregon Country on a vessel called “The Tonquin.” Also aboard is the challenging Captain Thorn, chief architect of a deadly struggle to identify a safe course and cross what’s now called The Columbia Bar
On this episode of “This is Oregon Country,” we hear from Robert Haswell, who kept the log of the Lady Washington, a vessel that explored and traded in Oregon Country under the command of Captain Robert Gray in the late 18th century. Haswell was just 19 years old in August 1788 when he wrote this account of a visit to what’s now Tillamook Bay on the Oregon Coast.
The passage was printed in the book “Bancroft’s Works, Volume 27, History of the Northwest Coast, Volume 1, 1543 to 1800” which was published in 1886 by the History Company of San Francisco.
In the passage, read by Feliks Banel, we learn about some of the challenges and dangers faced by 18th century explorers who came to the Pacific Northwest.
On this episode of “This is Oregon Country,” we hear from Harvey W. Scott, longtime editor of Portland newspaper “The Oregonian”—during most of the years between 1865 and 1910. Mr. Scott was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1838. He came to Oregon Country in 1852, and died while visiting Baltimore in 1910.
The speech in this episode of “This is Oregon Country” was given at the 18th annual reunion of the “Oregon Pioneer Association,” held in Portland on June 17, 1890. The transcript was printed in the book “History of the Oregon Country, Volume One” which was published in 1924 by the Riverside Press.
In the speech, read by Feliks Banel, we learn about the role played by Hall Jackson Kelley in promoting Oregon Country settlement in the early 19th century, and we hear of the 1832 expedition of Nathaniel J. Wyeth.
On this episode, we hear from Edwin Eells, in a speech he gave on October 28, 1908 at Tshimakain near Spokane, Washington. Mr. Eells was born at Tshimakain in 1841. His parents were the missionaries Cushing and Myra Eells, who came from Massachusetts and lived among the Spokane Indians beginning in the 1830s.
The speech in this episode of “This is Oregon Country” was given at the dedication ceremony for a historical monument. The transcript was printed in the book “Washington State Historical Society Publications, Volume Two” which was published in 1915. The monument still stands, and is located near Ford, Washington northwest of Spokane along State Highway 231.
In the speech, read by Feliks Banel, we hear about Mr. Eells’ childhood in Oregon Country, and his haunting memories of the aftermath of the Whitman Massacre of 1847.