or Nez Percés but went on to the Willamette Valley. In 1835 Marcus Whitman and Samuel Parker were sent out by the Presbyterians to investigate the field,and upon arriving at Green river were so favorably impressed that Doctor Whitman returned to report to the Board and recommend the forming of missions. While at home he married, and in the following year himself and bride, with Reverend H. H. Spalding and wife, started for their remote field of work. Doctor Whitman established himself among the Cayuses at Waiilatpu, near the Walla Walla river, while the Reverend Mr. Spalding commenced work among the Nez Percés at Lapwai.
Considered simply on the basis of evangelizing the Indian tribes, the Protestant missions in these parts were not a success. To the clear-sighted men who had founded them, it was apparent that they never could succeed. In one of his letters written from the mission Doctor Whitman said: "I have no doubt our greatest work is to be to aid the white settlement of this country and help to found its religious institutions. Providence has its full share in all those events. Although the Indians have made, and are making, rapid advancement in religious knowledge and civilization, yet it cannot be hoped that time will be allowed to mature the work of Christianization or civilization before white settlers will demand the soil and the removal of both of the Indians and the missions.
"What Americans desire of this kind they always effect, and it is useless to oppose or desire it otherwise. To guide as far as can be done, and direct these tendencies for the best, is evidently the part of wisdom."
Such was likewise the feeling on the part of the Lees on the Willamette. So it resulted that these men became rather the forerunners of American civilization in Oregon than successful missionaries to the Indian tribes. Marcus Whitman in particular looked with a jealous eye upon his country's rights in that great region. In no other light can his famous journey back to the States in the winter of