Here the troops had a free and easy life, seeing much of the gold hunters as they went and came in the numerous vessels trading between San Francisco and the Columbia River, and much too of the most degraded population in Oregon, both Indian and white. A more ill-selected point for troops, even for artillery, could not have been hit upon, except in the event of an invasion by a foreign power, in which case they were still too far inside the capes to prevent the enemy's vessels from entering the river. They were so far from the real enemy dreaded by the people it was intended they should defend—the interior tribes of Indians—that much time and money would be required to bring them where they could be of service in case of an outbreak, and after two years the place was abandoned.
The mounted riflemen, being transferred to Vancouver, whither the citizens of the Willamette saw them depart with a deep sense of satisfaction,[1] celebrated their removal by burning their old quarters.[2] At their new station they were employed in building barracks on the ground afterward adopted as a military reservation by the government.
The first reservation declared was that of Miller Island, lying in the Columbia[3] about five miles above Vancouver. It contained about four square miles, and was used for haymaking and grazing purposes, in connection with the post at that place. This reserve was made in February 1850. No reservation was declared
- ↑ Says the Spectator, Nov. 1, 1849, 'the abounding drunkenness in our streets is something new under the sun,' and suggests that the officers do something to abate the evil. But the officers were seldom sober themselves, Hathaway even attempting suicide while suffering from mania a potu. Id., April 18, 1850.
- ↑ Strong's Hist. Or., MS., 3.
- ↑ Much trouble had been experienced in procuring grain for the horses of the mounted troops; only 6,000 bushels of oats being obtainable, and 100 tons of hay, owing to the neglect of farming this year. It was only by putting the soldiers to haymaking on the lowlands of the Columbia that the stock of the regiment was provided for; hence, no doubt, the reservation of Miller Island.
had a right to build houses in Oregon except military officers, or that the ground belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company, I am unable to determine from the record. See 32d Cong., 2d Sess., H. Ex. Doc. 1, i. pt. ii. 123.
