CORRESPONDENCE 155
the commercial town will be near the mouth of the river. These considerations have exerted no small influence in the decisions I have made. At this time we have no other min- ister in the county and there is labor sufficient to occupy the time of one man, although we are farther from the main settlements on the Willamette than is desirable. We need practical, active, common sense preachers, with warm hearts and sound minds, and the churches will soon be able and willing to contribute something for their support.
March 25th. The indications of divine favor appear to wear a favorable aspect and another of my neighbors seems not far from the Kingdom of Heaven. Tomorrow is the Sab- bath and we hope and pray that the Spirit's power may accom- pany the preached Word.
Br. Johnson is making some efforts to build a meeting house in Oregon City. I have not yet learned with what suc- cess. He will probably write you the particulars. 147 Br. Vincent Snelling should be aided, if your Board can make an appropriation for him to labor with the Yam Hill church and the churches in that part of the Valley. Should our next immigration be large, as it probably will, we shall greatly need help in the ministry and a colporteur to travel, preach, sell books, visit and address Sabbath schools. The present and a few coming years are of very great importance in re- lation to all coming time in Oregon. They will constitute the formative period of our Territory, both civilly and moral- ly. Small, immediate results will probably control interests of vast importance to all coming years. Our influence as a denomination should not be lost on the Pacific for the want of a few men and a little means. Your Board will not neg- lect Upper California. There can be little doubt but two mis- sionaries should be sent, as soon as you can find the men, to labor in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay, should that sec-
147 This building, the first Baptist meeting house west of the Rocky, Moun- tains, was completed late in 1848, or early in 1849. Mattoon, Bap. An. of Ore. 1:6. See also the diary of the author dated July 2, 1848, and enclosed in the letter of March i, 1849. The building was situated on Thirteenth and Main streets.
