An Oregon History Lesson...

This past weekend was full and busy. Just how it should be when the weather is absolutely perfect outside. We had temperatures that broke 80 degrees in places! First on Saturday, while Josh was at work, Sarah and I headed out east to Jen's. It was clean up day in Lyons (aka Free Dump Day). Jen's father-in-law arrived and I helped Jen load up the back of the pick-up with yard debris, etc. Jen looked so cute with her cleaning apron on. Jen can look so vintage and adorable while taking out the trash. Then, Jen showed me how her garden was growing. It sure is starting to look beautiful with the flowers all beginning to bloom. Ethan was in a super mood once he saw we were coming over to play for awhile.

We ended the day eating Josh's barbecued tri-tip on the back patio. We chatted in between reading chapters of our books. I love sitting outside in the evenings when the weather is nice. We watched the sun set and it was the perfect end to a perfect day. As the weather continues to improve, we enjoy seeing new things and enjoy having new experiences together.
Since Sunday was to be just as nice out as Saturday, we planned a picnic lunch and hike for after church. I picked up my handy little guide book and picked out a hike close to home and only a few miles from church. A jewel practically in our own back yard! The Willamette Mission State Park has over 1,000 acres of trails and picnic areas right along the Willamette River. The park is a testament of the Willamette Valley's beauty and rich history. I love that we have so much of Oregon to still explore and in the process, we are learning about Oregon's history.

The park occupies land where the first mission, founded by Methodist Reverend Jason Lee for American Indians, was built in 1834. The story about the first missionaries to Oregon is an interesting one. The Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church appointed Rev. Jason Lee as a missionary to the Northwest. The decision was made not long after a story of four Pacific Northwest Indians caused a sensation. "In 1831, four Flathead Indians from The Oregon Country walked to St. Louis "seeking a book containing directions on how to conduct themselves in order to enjoy" the favor of "the Great Spirit." Their story, was told in a letter which appeared in The Christian Advocate and Journal. (The United Methodist Church's archives website)" Jason Lee along with a small party of his co-workers, headed west with a fur trading expedition.

Rev. Lee was sent to minister to the natives but was surprised to find that most of the Flathead Indian tribes had died of white man's diseases that had arrived earlier on sailing ships. In effort to help the local people in the Willamette Valley, Rev. Lee built The Mission House, which served as a one room school house, chapel, and living quarters. "The Methodists tried hard. They built a station, fenced and tilled fields, opened a school, and ministered to the Kalapuyans, whose villages had been ravaged by a horrendous fever starting in 1829. By the mid-1830s as many as 70 percent had perished. Lee and his associates thus coped with orphans, solitary survivors of families or entire villages, and the aged. To cope with the challenges, Lee ambitiously planned to increase his crew of workers. He sent back positive reports and in 1838 returned to the East to seek money and recruits.(Oregon Blue Book)" While he recruited, he tried to convince the United States to make Oregon a territory, with little success. He instead, after raising an estimated $100,000, headed back to Oregon leading 51 people in the largest party, to date, of settlers to head west and start farms. "The expanded staff opened a mission on the Clatsop Plains, another among the Clackamas Indians at Oregon City, a third at The Dalles, and yet another at the southern end of Puget Sound. In spite of their efforts, the Methodist laborers were not good linguists nor effective missionaries. (Oregon Blue Book)."

The new settlers wrote home about their success in raising crops and livestock. They wrote of the Willamette Valley's fertile soil, wildlife and fish, as well as the tall forest trees and valleys. The people back east were starting to hear the potentials of the Oregon Country and it was those positive accounts which started the overland emigration on The Oregon Trail.

A statue of Rev. Jason Lee sits in the lawns just outside the Oregon Capitol. A reminder of the man who is now recognized as the founder of Oregon's capital city of Salem and the founder of the famous Willamette University. We took the above picture last fall.

None of the original buildings are on the original Mission Bottom site. Due to flooding soon after it's establishment, Lee decided to relocate The Mission House more inland in today's modern Salem. None of the other buildings survived. The following year, after the school's relocation inland, "a school for the white population was started at this location. The Oregon Institute, as it was known, was the first school for white Americans established west of Missouri. It later grew to become Willamette University, the first college in the Oregon Territory (End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Museum Dictionary of Oregon History)."

"Historically, the mission site has both spiritual and secular significance. The missionaries' leadership in education, farming, and manufacturing made an important difference in Oregon's social, cultural, and economic future. Lee's support of United States ownership of The Oregon Country, ownership which was contested by Great Britain, made him an important early political figure as well. (United Methodist Church's Archives Website)".

I was amazed at how well the park is kept up. You can tell that this location is one of the state's pride and joy. The park is filled with paved bike trails as well as equestrian and hiking trails. After our picnic lunch in the Filbert Grove, we left the map in the car and headed towards the trails. We got turned around a bit, many times actually, so we got to see all of the park's highlights. The bike trails are covered with filbert trees which, at this time of year, drops white fluff. It looked as though it was snowing outside.

As Cocoa would walk, she would kick up the fluff with her legs so at times we had it coming below as well as above. Like us, Cocoa has been in training for our serious backpacking trips (our first one is this coming Memorial Day weekend) and has started, what Josh calls, "carrying her own weight." In other words, she hauls her water and treats. The little bit of extra weight slows her spring like walk to more of a trot. It is cute. Josh said because the sound of her paws on the paved bike path, her legs reminded him of fingers clicking away on a typewriter keyboard.

A race was taking place and from time to time our peace and quiet would be interrupted briefly by the sound of a runner's fast feet (or dragging feet which ever be the case) and a greeting. Instead of breaking off the paved trail which leads to the hiking trail, we continued along the river until we reached the entrance to the Wheatland Ferry. I read somewhere that the ferry is the original site where settlers used rafts to cross the Willamette River. This ferry is 5th in line to the original ferry started in 1850.

After our ferry ride over and back across the river, we continued the hike until we reached the original historic site. There sits a marker memorial of The Mission. Just beyond, are very old and large rose bushes, which are the original bushes given to Rev. Jason Lee's wife on their wedding day.

Just beyond is a lake which isn't very viewable from the trail with the over growth. We stopped for a break before we decided to head back trying to cut through shorter trails back to the car. Instead we took a wrong turn and had to take the main road back to the car. All in all it was an eventful day!

http://www.salemhistory.net/people/jason_lee.htm