METHODIST EDUCATIONAL EFFORT IN OREGON TO 1860 71
In the summer of 1840, Dr. J. P. Richmond and family, Dr. William H. Wilson and Miss Chloe A. Clark were sent to Puget Sound to establish a mission near Fort Nisqually. The location chosen was in sight of the fort. Another station was established at Oregon City, with the man in charge there making regular visits to Tualatin Plains.
Thus by the end of 1840, the missionary stage of Methodist education had practically come to an end in Oregon. Jason Lee had given up his original plan of converting, educating, and civilizing the Indians and had substituted a policy cal- culated to make Oregon, an American state. He had planted American colonies at the strategic points at Salem, Oregon City, The Dalles, Astoria, and Puget Sound ; he had memor- ialized Congress to put Oregon under the protection of its laws. He had truly foreseen the destiny of Oregon and laid the foundations for its accomplishment.
Early in 1844, after the provisional government had been organized. Lee resolved to return to the United States and again attempt to get Congress to assume sovereignty over the territory, confirm the title to all the property held by the Missions and furnish an endowment for Oregon Institute.
But the Methodist Board of Missions had not been kept in ignorance of the secularization of Lee's policy, and their vision was not great enough to see the value of his shift in plans. So when Lee reached Honolulu in 1844, he was informed that Rev. George Gary was on his way to Oregon as Lee's successor in the superintendency of the Oregon Missions, with instruc- tions to close them if he thought best.
This he proceeded to do, in a very high handed manner. The property of the Willamette Mission alone was sold for about $26,000, while its actual cost had been nearly $60,000. The only direct benefit to education that came from the Meth- odist Missionary schools was the transfer of the Oregon Mis- sion Indian Manual Labor School, valued at $10,000, to the Oregon Institute. The venture cost the Methodist church about
