CORRESPONDENCE 463
prairie to Salem, the present capital of our Territory. 271 Found three or four Baptist members near this place, but hastened to the place of my appointment twelve miles up Mill creek through one of the most delightful prairies and surrounded by one of the most picturesque sceneries in North America, if not in the world. In this valley, about two and a half miles from the north fork of the Santiam and six miles east from the Willamette, is a log school house, about 20 by 22 feet, where the Shilo church meet to worship the God of Heaven. Here I spent the Saturday and Sab- bath and preached each day, on Sabbath to a full house. The church consists of 12 members, and pays $100 for the preach- ed word one Sab. each month. Their position is good. The members of the church, although a few, are among the most substantial citizens and sustain a Sabbath school, yet are surrounded by Methodists, Campbellites, Anti-missionary Baptists and unbelievers. A good minister would find this one of the most important country locations in any new country. On the twelfth I passed through the fork of the Santiam, a fine prairie country, eighteen miles, stopping and preaching at three P. M. Spent three days with the Santiam church visiting, and preached once. This is a small and af- flicted church on the south side of the south fork of the Santiam, under the pastoral care of Rev. Richmond Cheadle, and situated in a rich, level, prairie country near the only soda springs in the Willamette Valley, which are acquiring some celebrity for their medicinal properties. This church is thirty miles south of Salem and 15 east of Albany, Lynn County seat.
Sept. 12, at Lebanon, Marion County. Passing through an open prairie country, 24 miles, I came to Marysville, the county seat of Benton County, standing on the west bank of the Willamette River 70 miles by land above this place.
271 The capital was ordered transferred to Salem in 1851 and has remained there until the present time with the exception of a few months in 1855, when it was at Corvallis. Bancroft, Hist, of Ore., II 1146, 147. See also W. C. Winslow, Contest Over the Capital of Oregon, in Ore. Hist. Soc. Quar., VIII: 173- 178.
