Jesse Applegate; Pioneer and State Builder - Southern Oregon ...
Jesse Applegate; Pioneer and State Builder - Southern Oregon ... Jesse Applegate; Pioneer and State Builder - Southern Oregon ...
Applegate's significant work of reorganization was now completed,and the government he put in operation remained in force till March,1849, when Oregon was proclaimed a territory of the United States.In all that time it commanded universal respect, secured equal justice,and promoted the prosperity of the colony. The people had gained fullcontrol of affairs, and special interests had to comply with laws passedfor the general good. "Both the Methodist mission and the Hudson'sBay Company ceased to be political powers either to be feared or courtedin the colony, and to the end of its existence the Provisional governmentof Oregon attained all the ends of good government."The verdict of history on the Oregon provisional government, isidentical with the judgment expressed by Applegate himself in thewords just quoted. Yet, so imperfectly has the work of 1845 beendifferentiated, in the popular mind, from earlier and tentative essays atpolitical organization, that Applegate's right to be honored as the truefounder of Oregon's pioneer government is, by the present generation,commonly ignored.In the beginning it was not so. Oregonians of that day gladlyacknowledged him as the sage and law-giver of the colony, while Britishvisitors to the Northwest coast instinctively recognized his leadership.Lieutenant Warre and his associate, Lieutenant Vavasour, paid theirrespects to this extraordinary American frontiersman; and LieutenantPeel, son of the then premier of Great Britain, visited him at his farm,enjoyed the simple bounties of his table, and discoursed with him concerningthe qualities of the men who would cross a continent in orderto make homes in the Oregon wilderness. Dr. McLoughlin's letters tothe Hudson's Bay Company in London afford a complete proof ofApplegate's superior agency in securing the company's adherence tothe provisional government.The record of the sessions of 1845 is preserved, with those of earlierand later proceedings, in the manuscript archives relative to the provisionalgovernment. To the student who will scan patiently the documentsin that mass of unarranged material-reading over resolutions,laws, memorials to congress, and constitutions-so many of which arein Applegate's handwriting, his legislative pre-eminence in this age ofbeginnings will stand revealed. Such a study cannot fail to engender afeeling of profound respect for the pioneer statesmana who, under the conditions,was able to lay such true foundations for America's first commonwealthon the Pacific Coast.Applegate's later career was almost wholly that of a private citizen.In 1857 he represented his Southern Oregon constituency in the conventionwhich framed the State constitution but, owing to a seriousobjection to the policies of those who controlled that body, he refusedto remain till the convention completed its labors. For this he hasbeen much criticised. The incident seems to illustrate some of hisshortcomings as a public man-he lacked that sense of humor whichcharacterizes the "good loser" and he had an almost Jacksonian disinclinationto follow another's lead.After the beginning of the gold rush to California Applegate, in1849, had removed his family to the Umpqua Valley and settled at aplace which he named Yoncalla on the Oregon-California trail. There,under the shadow of the mountains, he tilled his fields and cared forextensive herds of cattle reared for the California market. There hebuilt his great house, a kind of latter-day Shirley or Westover, wherefor many years he dispensed a generous and equal hospitality to visitorsof all grades of social merit. Today it might be a rude woodsmanwanting fodder for his cattle, shelter and food for himself; tomorrowa polished jurist or publicist eager for the sage discourse for which thehost was famed. Occasionally he entertained men of national distinction,12
as in the fall of 1865 when Schuyler Colfax and Samuel Bowles alightedone morning from the California stage to breakfast with him.From his frontier retreat at Yoncalla Jesse Applegate looked outupon the world of politics with the pathetic interest of one whom naturehas designed for leadership and fate condemned to a humdrum existence.Not being in a position to direct public affairs, he scrutinized sharply theconduct of those who were, and always assumed a direct personalresponsibility for the doings of those he had helped to place in office.His opinions on public questions, always luminous and finely wrought,if sometimes suggestive of the closet rather than the council, wereimpressed upon his fellows through hundreds of letters to friends orpublic men, through political platforms, legislative bills and newspaperarticles. The investigator rarely finds in the spontaneous written utterancesof public men such vitality of thought or such blended vigor andfelicity of expression as are to be met with in the everyday familiarletters of this extraordinary pioneer. They reveal a character not unmarredwith idiosyncrasies, not free from pecadilloes or even seriousfaults, yet upright and generous, with broad sympathies and a sensitiveregard for social justice. He was an unselfish, sacrificing, public spiritedcitizen.Applegate was a member of the government commission appointed tosettle the treaty claims of the Hudson's Bay Company and the affiliatedPuget Sound Agricultural Company. In this connection he prepared avoluminous report which is in the nature of a closely reasoned legalbrief. It illustrates his justice to opponents, his scrupulous regard forthe public welfare, and his extraordinary grasp of the principles ofequity which the case involved. He always flattered himself that throughthis report he had saved the American government a large sum ofmoney.In 1865 Applegate wrote at the request of Schuyler Colfax a seriesof letters on the then paramount problem of reconstruction. They wereprinted in the Oregon State Journal, published at Eugene, and also sentto Mr. Colfax. These letters, constituting a treatise, are cast in a pleasingliterary mold, and, although somewhat disappointing from theirimpracticable recommendations and their innocence of research, theywill not fail to charm the reader who appreciates original thinkingon political questions or a unique restatement of time-worn principles.His views on the race question, on negro enfranchisement, and the generaldiffusion of political power are highly suggestive. His theory that theright of suffrage should be regulated by the nation on a uniform basiswas logically consistent but it was destined to make little impressionupon the reconstruction committee of congress.Samuel Bowles, who possibly as an eastern man was unpreparedfor such a phenomenon, marvelled to find a political sage in the Umpquaforests and wrote it as his opinion that the people of Oregon ought tosend Jesse Applegate to the United States Senate. Applegate, however,had none of the politician's arts and his frontier individualism was ofthat militant cast which rather repelled than encouraged the assistanceof friends who sought his elevation to high office. Once, it is said,he could have had a senatorship at the behest of the reigning "boss"and in declining to receive it on such terms he honored his manhoodmore than any office could honor it.Jesse Applegate died in 1888, having suffered during life's finalspan crushing reverses and bitter sorrows. His bones rest under a lonefir tree on a gentle slope of Mt. Yoncalla, a plain slab of native sandstonemarking the grave. The lusty commonwealth nurtured to vigorby his fostering hand would honor itself and win the blessing of reverencewell bestowed by erecting on that spot or elsewhere a suitablememorial to this prince among Oregon pioneers.-JOSEPH SCHAFER.13
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<strong>Applegate</strong>'s significant work of reorganization was now completed,<strong>and</strong> the government he put in operation remained in force till March,1849, when <strong>Oregon</strong> was proclaimed a territory of the United <strong>State</strong>s.In all that time it comm<strong>and</strong>ed universal respect, secured equal justice,<strong>and</strong> promoted the prosperity of the colony. The people had gained fullcontrol of affairs, <strong>and</strong> special interests had to comply with laws passedfor the general good. "Both the Methodist mission <strong>and</strong> the Hudson'sBay Company ceased to be political powers either to be feared or courtedin the colony, <strong>and</strong> to the end of its existence the Provisional governmentof <strong>Oregon</strong> attained all the ends of good government."The verdict of history on the <strong>Oregon</strong> provisional government, isidentical with the judgment expressed by <strong>Applegate</strong> himself in thewords just quoted. Yet, so imperfectly has the work of 1845 beendifferentiated, in the popular mind, from earlier <strong>and</strong> tentative essays atpolitical organization, that <strong>Applegate</strong>'s right to be honored as the truefounder of <strong>Oregon</strong>'s pioneer government is, by the present generation,commonly ignored.In the beginning it was not so. <strong>Oregon</strong>ians of that day gladlyacknowledged him as the sage <strong>and</strong> law-giver of the colony, while Britishvisitors to the Northwest coast instinctively recognized his leadership.Lieutenant Warre <strong>and</strong> his associate, Lieutenant Vavasour, paid theirrespects to this extraordinary American frontiersman; <strong>and</strong> LieutenantPeel, son of the then premier of Great Britain, visited him at his farm,enjoyed the simple bounties of his table, <strong>and</strong> discoursed with him concerningthe qualities of the men who would cross a continent in orderto make homes in the <strong>Oregon</strong> wilderness. Dr. McLoughlin's letters tothe Hudson's Bay Company in London afford a complete proof of<strong>Applegate</strong>'s superior agency in securing the company's adherence tothe provisional government.The record of the sessions of 1845 is preserved, with those of earlier<strong>and</strong> later proceedings, in the manuscript archives relative to the provisionalgovernment. To the student who will scan patiently the documentsin that mass of unarranged material-reading over resolutions,laws, memorials to congress, <strong>and</strong> constitutions-so many of which arein <strong>Applegate</strong>'s h<strong>and</strong>writing, his legislative pre-eminence in this age ofbeginnings will st<strong>and</strong> revealed. Such a study cannot fail to engender afeeling of profound respect for the pioneer statesmana who, under the conditions,was able to lay such true foundations for America's first commonwealthon the Pacific Coast.<strong>Applegate</strong>'s later career was almost wholly that of a private citizen.In 1857 he represented his <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Oregon</strong> constituency in the conventionwhich framed the <strong>State</strong> constitution but, owing to a seriousobjection to the policies of those who controlled that body, he refusedto remain till the convention completed its labors. For this he hasbeen much criticised. The incident seems to illustrate some of hisshortcomings as a public man-he lacked that sense of humor whichcharacterizes the "good loser" <strong>and</strong> he had an almost Jacksonian disinclinationto follow another's lead.After the beginning of the gold rush to California <strong>Applegate</strong>, in1849, had removed his family to the Umpqua Valley <strong>and</strong> settled at aplace which he named Yoncalla on the <strong>Oregon</strong>-California trail. There,under the shadow of the mountains, he tilled his fields <strong>and</strong> cared forextensive herds of cattle reared for the California market. There hebuilt his great house, a kind of latter-day Shirley or Westover, wherefor many years he dispensed a generous <strong>and</strong> equal hospitality to visitorsof all grades of social merit. Today it might be a rude woodsmanwanting fodder for his cattle, shelter <strong>and</strong> food for himself; tomorrowa polished jurist or publicist eager for the sage discourse for which thehost was famed. Occasionally he entertained men of national distinction,12
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