To set the scene for the notebooks, I offer this synopsis of the times.
Edouard said he was born in France in 1821 and came with his family to Montreal around 1825. The reason for emigration is not clear. France at the time was under the restoration of Louis XVIII. Charles X assumed the crown in 1825. The family name could have been Charbonneau. Dominique and Isabelle Charbonneau of Montreal had a son Edward born in 1829. He grew up in Montreal and left for Buffalo NY around 1837, maybe a result of the Patriot Movement. He wandered as a worker, fiddler and gambler, and came to Oregon with a group of settlers in 1847. In 1852 he married Barbara McBee at Forest Grove. He gambled in mining camps and ran saloons until he got religion in 1875. General O.O. Howard was a church member and employed him as a scout in the winter of 1878.
In 1846, a treaty between the US and Britain had set the current US/Canada border. The population of white settlers in the Oregon and Washington territories then was small. Before this, British and American interests both operated, with almost all white activity being fur trading. Spokane House was established for trading in 1810, and other fur trading posts were built around this time. An epidemic in the early 1830’s (malaria?) decimated the native population that had survived an earlier epidemic (Smallpox?) in the 1770’s. With the native population greatly reduced, the area seemed open and unpopulated. With the treaty of 1846, the uncertain sovereignty was resolved and American settlers started moving in. American settlers had begun arriving in 1834 (Wyeth and Lee). The beauty of the Willamette valley was bruited to eastern America. To encourage settlement, Congress passed the Distribution-Preemption Act of 1841, and the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850. In the 1840’s the population of Oregon shifted from majority native to majority non-native. The British, Russian and French fur traders had dealt and traded with the native tribes as people for 50 years, many taking native wives, but the new settlers (Bostons) took over places where the natives lived without regard as their right. Although Edouard was a settler himself, his French and Canadian background allowed him a better relationship with the natives.
The various tribes in the area had differing life styles in the various habitats in the area. The natives on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, in the steppe country cut with many rivers and streams, had adopted a wide ranging life style after being introduced to Spanish horses around 1730 by tribes to the south and east. The horse had become a fixture of the culture, symbolizing wealth and power. After wintering in warmer areas, they traveled across their area of influence, meeting at seasonal camas grounds, salmon fisheries and hunting areas. Trading extended to tribes across the Rocky mountains. This was their life style in this period. The tribes had been influenced already by trading with whites and the introduction of metal, guns and horses. The Cayuse, Sinkiuse and Nez Perce among others, had adopted the horse culture. The tribes were not organized, and each tribe had their own leaders, and traditional areas, with a tradition of raiding and feuding with their neighbors.
The period from 1847 through 1880 was a contentious one between the settlers and the Indians. The Whitman murders in 1847 and the ensuing Cayuse wars and the confiscation of Cayuse lands set the tone. The increasing number of settlers aggravated the situation. By 1856 more than 7,000 settlers had acquired more than 2.5 million acres of property. In 1871 U.S. Congress abolished the treaty process that recognized tribes as sovereign nations. The US government began a policy to destroy tribal culture and replace it with white culture, or property ownership. The U.S. government then followed a policy of using presidential executive orders to create reservations. The natives dealt with the military, and did not understand the political hierarchy behind it.
Then called Quetalican, Moses, later a Sinkiuse chief, had opposed the Stevens Council treaty of 1855 that ceded most Indian lands on the Columbia Plateau. (for $200000) Moses tribes had ranged in the middle Columbia from the Snake River to Okanogan, and across the plateaus which was rich grazing land for their horses. Quetalican was involved in the Yakama wars that followed the 1855 incursion of miners into Yakima land before the Stevens Council treaty was confirmed. Rapes and theft by whites led to murders and war. The Oregon volunteers struck back at tribes in Walla Walla, further increasing tensions. Washington governor Stevens and Oregon governor Curry objected to General Wool’s refusal to enlist the volunteers, and his plans to place the Indians on reservations in an 1856 campaign, and Wool was replaced by General Harney as Commander of the newly created Department of the Columbia. In 1858, Col. Wright’s punitive campaign and the new springfield rifle ended the tribes hopes of keeping the settlers and miners out. Col Wright hung at least 9 Indians and massacred 700 Indian horses. Quetalican escaped the hangings at Latah Creek. Tribes were now told that they must live on the reservations, or take land titles, but Moses, now chief Sulk-stalk-scosum, and his band remained free in the middle Columbia.
In 1863, the Nez Perce had their land promised in the 1855 agreement reduced. Settlers aggressively moving into Wallowa led to the war with the Nez Perce in 1877. The Bannock were also struggling to exist on the small Fort Hall reservation. The Bannock war in 1878 moved from southern Idaho toward the Umatilla reservation. Whites were afraid of the Bannock and Paiutes joining up with the Umatillas, Yakamas and Sinkiuse and other “non-reservation” Indians. Natives were fleeing the conflict and some were heading north across the Columbia to Moses land. Many young native Warriors were anxious to fight back. Newspapers fueled the fear and uncertainty of the settlers. “Oregon style” journalism was rampant. Huge Indian uprisings were storied. Some of Ned’s writings are reactions to newspaper articles he knew to be false.
In July 1878, Captain Wilkinson, having orders from General Howard to prevent the tribes from crossing the Columbia, fired from a gunboat on natives crossing the Columbia and on the shore, killing several. Survivors from this group murdered settlers Blanche and Lorenzo Perkins at Rattlesnake springs a day or two later.
In an 1878 council with General Howard, Moses had traced out a reservation request that included a huge chunk of Central Washington, from the mouth of the Spokane River to the mouth of the Yakima, and the entire Columbia country in between. Howard said he would see about it, and forbade white settlers from entering the area.
In October, the BIA told Yakama reservation indian agent James Wilbur to meet with Moses to try to get him to live on the Yakima reservation. In November there were rumors that Moses was hiding the Perkins murderers, and a posse was arranged in Yakima to hunt down the murderers who were reputed to be near Moses winter camp.
This is where Edouard (Ned) comes in to gather information for General Howard, in December 1878. Moses was at Mu Mu meeting with Wilbur when Ned got to Moses camp at Priest Rapids. He talked with Moses at the camp before the posse Moses had agreed to help arrived. After Ned left, the posse arrived, Moses was arrested and taken to Yakima, and then at Wilbur’s request moved to Mu Mu where he was held until Feb 1879.
In January, Ned was sent to Pendleton to watch out for trouble arising from the hanging executions of White Owl and Quit-it-tumps. From Pendleton Ned went overland to Walla Walla, Frenchtown and Homily’s camp near Wallula
In January 1879, Ned accompanied Captain Winters as he moved about 543 Bannock and Paiute prisoners from the Malheur Reservation to internment at Yakama Indian Reservation. Moses was then being held prisoner at the Mu Mu agency. On Feb 5th Moses request for the reservation is turned down. On Feb 8th, Lt. Woods is sent from Vancouver to inform Moses that his reservation request was denied.
The Perkins murderer Saluskin was captured and held at Colville. He accused Moses of being involved. Ned made the trip to Colville and questioned him there. The others were captured. Moses was cleared of involvement in the murders in November 1879
In May 1879, Ned was sent to Idaho in response to murders and settler claims against the Sheepeater Indians and reports of Bannocks having fled to the area.
Moses went to Washington DC in March, and on April 18, 1879, Moses gave up claims to the central plateau, and the United States set aside the Columbia Reservation for Chief Moses and his tribe. This reservation was west of the Colville reservation from Chelan to the Cascade divide to the Canadian border. Moses had a camp off reservation at Kartar. Settlers were supposed to leave the area, and a fort was established at Chelan. The military, under Captain Cook was ordered to make a census of settlers in the reservation area, and found 17 residents. Ned was sent to Chelan inform the natives of troop movements, and to report if the tribes were locating on the reservations. (This reservation was dissolved after settler dissent in 1883, and after a second trip to Washington DC, Moses moved to the Colville reservation. Some allotments remain).
Ned then went to Yakima to see the Perkins murder prisoners. From there, he continued to Wenatchee, Chelan, Okanogan and Spokane visiting Indian camps
Ned made a third trip to Chelan and Spokane Falls in the early summer of 1880.
The Spokane tribe had not committed to any treaty with Governor Stevens in the 1850’s. In the Coeur d’Alene War the tribes had made the Snake River their southern boundary, but after the defeat at Four Lakes, whites were allowed through the region. Garry told Howard that he owned all the land from Chewelah to the Palouse river, but when Ned was there they tried to keep settlers south of the Spokane River. The area around Spokan Falls was contentious as more settlers arrived.
In July Ned made another trip to Spokane, and in August accompanied General Howard visiting the area.
In the last notebook in October 1880, Fort Spokane is built where the Spokane River meets the Columbia, General Howard makes a trip to Spokane, and Capt. Wilkinson was collecting children to be sent to the Forest Grove school.
General Howard was reassigned at the end of 1880 and General Miles became new Commander of the Department of the Columbia. With the departure of General Howard, Ned’s career as scout was ended.
President Hayes signed the order granting the lower Spokan tribe their own reservation north of the river, west of Chamokane Creek in January 1881.
Ned lived in Portland and died in 1902.
I am descended from Ned’s son Abraham, and when I was living in Portland in 1972, I copied these writings of Ned’s from a box in the archives at Reed College.
--Dennis Chambreau 2020
Page 274
About this time I was one evening in the chapel of the Presbyterian church, Dr. Lindsley's, conducting a social meeting. Many were present, when suddenly there came in, across the room from the desk, a wild-looking man with jet black, disheveled hair and keen eyes. It was a striking figure and attracted quick attention. The man seemed to be beside himself. He cried out: “Is this the house of God?“
I answered: “Yes, that is what we call it.” He said: “May I say something here?” Walking and talking he came up to the desk. I answered him: “Certainly." He turned around and the first utterance he made was: “God bless them women!”, looking at several who sat in front of him. Then he told us that some ladies had entered his saloon a few days before and knelt and prayed in their work to try and stop this evil. Their brave act had affected him strongly. It seems that he had been what they call in the Northwest a “sport.” He, Ned Chambreau, was a Frenchman, and had come from Canada in the early days of Oregon. He had married a young girl who was already, though not more than fifteen years of age, a decided praying Christian. Ned said that she would pray him out of any difficulty he got into, and his difficulties were many. Indeed, his conduct at times was criminal and exposed him to arrest.
Now he was thoroughly in earnest for good and ready to turn over a new leaf. Mr. William Wadhams helped him buy a stock of goods, to go into the hardware business, but he did not succeed in that. Then he undertook the grocery trade, but after a time a second failure distressed him. I shall never forget how he would come to me and ask me to walk up and down the sidewalk with him to comfort him.
One day when matters were at their worst Chambreau received an offer from one of his old gambling friends which was very tempting, and it was accompanied by some apparatus necessary to make the card game safe and sure. His friend said: “Christians don't care for you. You will starve to death. Come back to us and you can have anything you want.”
The night after receiving this apparatus a kind lady was going past his store when she heard a man weeping aloud and praying; she went in and found Ned Chambreau on his knees in terrible distress. "Why, Mr. Chambreau," she said; "what is the matter?" “Oh, dear, I cannot pay my rent and I cannot get ahead in my business, and I have had this tempting offer to go back to my old ways." She said kindly: “I will be your friend," and ran out immediately, and visited several good Christian people who contributed money enough to pay his rent and bridge over the difficulties.
It was not long after, that, finding Ned Chambreau a most efficient Indian scout, I employed him as such. I sent him everywhere, and as he was familiar with the different tribes and spoke fluently the Chinook language, he did the Government good service. He remained an active Christian until his death.
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Levi McBee was born in 1814. He was the son of Thomas McBee and Rachel Riley. Levi was a contracting carpenter. In 1839, Levi moved his family from Stark County, Ohio to Millville, Ray County, Missouri.
In April 1852, Levi, Barbara and their seven children began the trek west on the Oregon Trail. The McBee Wagon Train consisted of extended family. Members of the party were: --Levi and Barbara McBee and seven children. Elizabeth was pregnant with another child; --Susan (Milligan) McBee, widow of Levi's brother Thomas, and her four children; --Rachel (Riley) McBee, Levi's widowed mother; --John and Sarah (Matheny) McBee, Levi's brother, and their four children; --William and Elizabeth (Milligan) McBee, Levi's brother, and their nine children, also David Adams, husband of their daughter, Rachel; --Samuel, Calvin, Margaret, Elizabeth and Martha Matheny, siblings of Sarah Matheny McBee; --Mary/Polly (Milligan) Ringer and her four children.
Cholera overtook the party in what is now the state of Nebraska. Deaths included Levi and Barbara McBee, their small son, Henry, and the infant son to whom Elizabeth had recently given birth; two children of John and Sarah McBee, John C. and Mary Ellen; and the matriarch, Rachel (Riley) McBee. The dead were buried along the Oregon Trail.
The five orphan children of Levi and Barbara McBee continued on to Oregon with their relatives.
* * *
By Gwen Boyer Bjorkman
On April 1, 1852 Levi and Barbara McBee and their six children set off on the Oregon Trail for a better life in far off Oregon. There were about fifteen ox teams in the wagon train from Ray County, Missouri, most of them owned by their immediate relatives. The day after they crossed the Missouri River a council was called and Levi was elected Captain of the train. While the election was being held, the horses had wandered around a bend in the river and when the men went to look for them they discovered they had been stolen by the Indians.
After crossing the Platte River, Levi McBee took the cholera and died that same day. He was buried at Fort Kearney. His wife, Barbara, contracted cholera several days later and died at Ash Hollow on the North Platte River. She had shortly before delivered a baby and both the baby and three year old Henry McBee died soon after their mother.
The five remaining orphans continued their trip cared for by two paternal uncles and others of the train. After about six months they reached the Cascades where Caroline had the opportunity to stay with a family and care for their children while the rest of her family went on and settled near Forest Grove and Portland. Isaiah, at age 12, went immediately to work in King's tannery in Portland. Two months after their arrival, Barbara married a Frenchman, Mr. Chambreau, that she met at Forest Grove. She was then age 15 and he was 31. They soon moved to Portland where he was a tailor.
Mary and Rebecca McBee lived with relatives near Forest Grove where Mary met George Wilkes and married him at age 13. Rebecca was living with the parents of George Wilkes on the 1860 census and in 1861, at age 13, she married Isaac Knighten. There were not many choices available for five little orphans on the Oregon frontier. How different it was then from today.
Isaiah married in 1868, but did not have a family. In 1904 he owned three quarters of a section of farm land near Goldendale, Washington. Barbara, Caroline, Mary and Rebecca all married happily (though young) and raised large prosperous families in Oregon and Washington. They were typical of the pioneer women of the Oregon Territory who worked very hard to raise and care for their large families. They may not have had a choice, but they did what they had to do.
* * *
born 14 September 1837 in Ray County, Missouri; died 15 April 1927; daughter of Levi McBee and Elizabeth Ream. Married 13 December 1852 in Forest Grove to Edward Emanuel Chambreau, born in 1821 in Canada; died in 1902.
Note: (From the notes of Myra Jones, Portland, Oregon) Barbara Ann McBee went out to Forest Grove Oregon to live after they arrived in Portland. They lived at Barlow Gate Cascade Mountain Oregon for a while in 1866.
Children born to Barbara Ann and Edward Chambreau:
1. Ed Emanuel Chambreau, born 19 July 1854
2. Belle Chambreau, born 6 August 1856
3. Julian Joseph Chambreau, born 1858
4. Mary Elizabeth Chambreau, born 4 October 1859
5. Caroline Davis Chambreau, born 25 May 1863; died 1892
6. Levi Chambreau, born 13 May 1866
7. Charles Henry Chambreau, born 11 March 1867; died 1931
8. Abraham (Luck) Chambreau, born 20 November 1868; died 1937
9. Georgia Maud Chambreau, born 1871
10. William Wadhams Chambreau, born 12 October 1875
11. Helen Howard Chambreau, born 30 May 1878
12. Ned Chambreau, no birth date -died 1875
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ISAIAH MCBEE, born 9 February 1840, Ray County, Missouri; died 5 April 1915; buried Deer Island Oregon.
Note: The following is taken from the book “An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties; with an Outline of the Early History of the State of Washington,” Chicago: Interstate Pub. Co., 1904 P. 421.
Few pioneers came to the shores of the Columbia under more trying difficulties than did the subject of this sketch and his sisters. Isaiah McBee, of Scotch and German descent, was born in Ray County, Missouri, February 9, 1840, and is the son of Levi and Elizabeth (Ream) McBee, natives of Maryland and Ohio respectively, born in 1811 and 1815 respectively. Levi McBee was a carpenter by trade, but gave most of his life to farming. He was among Ohio’s early pioneers and took up his abode most in Missouri in 1836. There he reared a family and lived until the year 1852, when the richness and wonders of far-away Willamette proved too attractive to withstand and he, his wife and little children were soon westward bound.
Cholera broke out in the company and before its ravages were finished, both father and mother were sleeping the sleep that knows no waking upon this earth. He was stricken near Fort Kearney, Nebraska, and there buried; his faithful help meet was laid at rest at the mouth of Ash Hollow, on the North Platte river, Nebraska. The seven little orphans continued their weary, lonesome way. Soon two of them dropped from the little company and were buried by the wayside. The remaining fatherless and motherless children, of whom Isaiah was one, were tenderly cared for by two paternal uncles and others of that fearless, saddened emigrant train, and in time arrived safely at their journey’s end. Isaiah immediately went to work in King’s tannery, Portland, where he remained until November, 1854, when he became a resident of Vancouver, across the Columbia.
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CAROLINE MCBEE, born 19 February 1842 in Ray County, Missouri; died 11 June 1935, at Loomis, Okanogan County, Washington. Married 24 February 1856 at Roseburg, Douglas Co. Oregon to RUFUS HORATION BEEMAN, born 3 August 1833, McKean County Pennsylvania; died 11 February 1924 on a farm 8 miles West of Tonasket, Okanogan County, Washington.
Note; The following was submitted by Mrs. Gwen Bjorkman, great-grand-daughter of Caroline McBee, taken from “The Descendants of Thomas Beeman of Kent, Conn.” by Gwen Boyer Bjorkman -1971.
“Caroline McBee came to Oregon in a covered wagon in 1852 in a wagon train composed of McBee relatives from Ray Co., Missouri. Levi and Elizabeth McBee and two children died of cholera on the trail. Caroline stayed with relatives and friends in Oregon until she married at age 14. In 1861 Rufus and Caroline moved to Walla Walla, Washington Territory, where he mined for three years, then moving on the Tucannon River (now Columbia Co.) where he farmed and freighted until 1874. In 1874 Rufus Beeman moved to the Genesee Valley in present day Latah Co., Idaho where he bought 560 acres of land and cultivated it to cereals. He also operated a store and the post office in his large barn which is still standing in perfect condition in Genesee - now owned by Rudolph Noraby. The trade was good at the store, but the collections were poor and the store failed. Mail came on a stage twice weekly, the route being from Lewiston to Paradise Valley. His farming operation in Genesee failed and he sold part of his ranch. In 1883 Rufus had 10,000 pounds of bacon which was worth next to nothing in Genesee. Searching for a market, he made a horseback trip from Genesee to British Columbia, up the course of the Okanogan River. Next year he and his sons loaded the bacon a train consisting of our horse teams and 30 pack horses and transported it to the Hoodoo Mines in British Columbia, Canada. By 1907 Rufus Beeman was 74 years old and was getting near retirement age. Most of is children had moved to Okanogan Co., Washington so he followed and located on a farm West of Tonasket, where he died at age 90, Feb. 11, 1924. Caroline and Rufus would have been married 68 years on Feb. 24th. During his lifetime, Rufus Beeman built and reclaimed out of the wilderness 18 different farms. Henry Beeman wrote to his daughter Media Beeman Boyer on 10 Jan. 1924, “Grand Pa is most dead. He lays and sleeps most of the time and has not taken food for 6 days -- so he can’t live much longer. He does not know anyone.” One the 2 Mar. 1924, “Things have been happening since you wrote. Your Grand Pa passed away on the 11th at 10 p.m. - was buried at Loomis the 13th. I mean in Feb. The Kids were all there but Alie, Ada, and Bert. Aunt Ella came in the night 15 min. after his death. She lives near Shoshone, Idaho and was over here 3 days last week. We moved over to Bill Beeman’s farm 2 miles from where Grand Ma lives, close to where I used to herd sheep for Fred.”
In 1914 the Beeman home had burned including all their books and the big Family Bible. Caroline did send a list of the names and birth dates of her children to the Oregon Historical Society and left a list with her youngest son, Roy (993.) Beeman. She bought a house in Loomis near Roy and spent the rest of her years visiting her family throughout the Northwest until her death in 1935 at age 93.
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This story was dictated to Vic Snyder by Caroline McBee Beeman for a school assignment that he did while a child.
CROSSING THE PLAINS IN 1852
The following are some of the experiences of Mrs. Caroline Beeman while crossing the Plains in 1852 and after arriving on this side. “We started on April 1 in the year of 1852 from Ray County, Missouri. There were about fifteen ox teams in the train, most of them being owned by my immediate relatives. Most of the people in the train were my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. My father owned two of the teams and my uncles owned one or two teams each. It was but a few days journey until we reached the Missouri River, It was there that I saw the first Indians that I had ever seen and there was one little girl that didn’t get much sleep that night because she was afraid of being scalped by the redskins. The day after we crossed the Missouri a council was called to elect a captain of the train. My father, Levi McBee, was elected captain. While the election was being held the horses we had brought with us had wandered around a bend in the river and when the men went to look for them they discovered that they had been stolen by the Indians. After this slight experience with the Indians they did not bother us much because the Calvary was out on the Plains most of the summer and the Indians were somewhat afraid of them.
The next important river we crossed was the Platte. It was shortly after we crossed this river that Father took the cholera and died of it. It was noon and we had stopped for dinner that Father for the first time began to complain about being sick. He kept complaining all the rest of the afternoon and that night he became very sick and died. The next day he was buried on the Plains much in the same manner that the other unlucky ones were buried who died while crossing the Plains.
Several times on the way over we had to make “dry camp” because of the scarcity of water to camp by and sometimes the water supply that we had with us was so low that part of the men would have to go on ahead and hunt for water. This water was usually gotten for the stock and horses. One time several of us girls went with the men to get the water and when we returned there were quite a number of foot sore girls in the party because of the lack of shoes and we had to walk about twelve miles through the hot sun. We hardly ever had any trouble about getting wood for the fires as there was usually plenty of sage brush on the Plains and in the more arid sections. Along the rivers and the streams we could find plenty of willows and cottonwood trees. If neither of these were available we could always find “buffalo chips” which were plentiful on the Plains at that time although we saw very few herds of buffalo. There were many large herds of Indian ponies on the Plains. Some of us children thought they were about the most beautiful animals we had ever seen. We came by the way of Fort Boise and from there to the Cascades taking about six months to reach the Cascades from Missouri. My aunt was in charge of us children since Father’s death. When we got to the Cascades we had a chance to stay with some folks just on the other side of the mountains and we decided to stay there awhile. The rest of my relatives went on and settled around Forest Grove, Portland and Corvallis, Oregon Territory.
Early in the Spring of 1853 we went on to the Columbia River and we planned to go to Portland by way of boat. At that time there was only one steamboat in this part of the country. We had to carry our packs of personal belongings over a pack trail about five miles long. We reached the boat just after the boat had left for its trip to Portland. When we reached the boat landing we discovered that the boat only made the trip twice a week. For a time we were at a loss as to what we were going to do or where we were going to stay until the boat should come back again. Finally a man came up to us and told us that we had better go to a hotel about a quarter of a mile away. Another man standing nearby invited us to come and stay with him; he said the hotel was probably full. When time came to continue on with the trip, Mr. McNall asked me to stay with him and this I did, partly because he had potatoes which he cooked with “the skins on”, (this was the first time I had eaten any potatoes since we had left Missouri and they were very appetizing) and partly because they had a little baby of which I was very fond. Mr. Wells, the captain of the boat, had sent for his wife to come out to Oregon. At the last of the journey she became sick. Her husband hearing of this sent McNall to meet her and to see that she arrived safely. When Mrs. Wells arrived she persuaded me to go on to Oregon City and live there with her. On my arrival in Portland I saw one of my brothers-in-law on the street and he took me up to the house to see my sister, Mrs. Chambreau. She coaxed me to stay with her and go to school instead of going on to Oregon City with Mrs. Wells. In the Spring of 1853 Portland was a typical frontier town. It had one main street that ran along the Willamette River. It had a few stores, and plenty of saloons and gambling halls. There was one church and one school house; the church was Catholic. The school was a little one-room building. The timber grew very near the water’s edge and as soon as a little space was cleared off a new house would go up in this spot. As stated before the school house was a small one-room structure. It wasn’t very much to brag about although it was of frame structure and it served the purpose very well. We had a woman teacher and as for knowledge it would not have taken a very smart person to be as intelligent as she. We used the much-famed slates that you hear some of the old-timers telling about. For desks we had some wide boards with legs nailed on them. We sometimes thought that the wood the seats were made of was mighty hard. Portland had the total enrollment of thirty in their public schools at that time. In the late Spring after school was out I got in a quarrel with my sister’s husband, Mr. Chambreau, because he said that I did not wash the water bucket as clean as I should have. When Mr. McNall came along later in the day and asked me if I wanted to go home with him I gladly accepted. I told him that I would be ready in the morning. That night Mr. Chambreau said I couldn’t go. I was very determined and when Mr. McNall came the next morning before the rest of the family was awake, I left without even taking any clothes with me. I sent for them later.
In 1855 Mr. McNall moved to Douglas County, Oregon and I went there with him. A year later I married Mr. Rufus Beeman and in 1860 we moved to Walla Walla where we lived for five years or until 1865.
* * *
Earlier in the year as the Bannock war was ending, Capt. Wilkinson killed some Palouse crossing the Columbia near Umatilla, and the Perkins were murdered toward Yakima. Moses’ tribe was on the Columbia. Efforts were being made to get him on the Yakima reservation, but also, Moses was accused of being part or complicit in the Perkins murders and the settlers were after justice and revenge. Moses left his camp on the Columbia and went with messengers from Agent Wilbur to the agency at Mu Mu. Ned arrived at Moses camp before he returned. In Yakima Moses, confronted by the settlers, made a deal to send a few men with them to search for the guilty Indians. Ned talked to Moses at his camp, and went back through Yakima to telegraph what he knew to General Howard from the Dalles.
White Owl and Quit-it-tumps were to be executed in Pendleton for the murder of George Coggan and as trouble was anticipated the army was involved. Ned was sent to observe. He then went to Walla Walla and visited around Frenchtown, Wallula and Homily’s camp.
This is a continuation of trip two. Ned left Frenchtown for Yakima with Captain Winters who was taking Bannock prisoners to Mu Mu. Lt. Woods was carrying to Moses the news that the reservation through Moses lake country was denied.
Saluskin, one of the suspected Perkins murderers, was in jail in Colville and was said to implicate Moses in the murders. General Howard sent Ned to check it out. Continuing trip Two, Ned left Frenchtown and went to Colville via Spokane Falls. Moses goes to Washington DC in March.
Ned was sent to the Salmon River to check on reports of escaped Bannocks and murders said to be done by Sheep Eater Indians.
This may be a personal religious trip to the Klamath agency. Also these notebooks detail the beach trip made with family.
Moses was given the Columbia reservation in April. Ned went up the Columbia to inform the Indians concerning the movement of troops, and also to gather any information that might be of interest to the government. Ned went from Walla Walla to Whitestone and down the Columbia to Moses Coulee.
After visiting the Perkins murderers in the Yakima jail, Ned went to Wenatchee, Chelan and Okanogan, then to Spokan country visiting many Indians. Came back through Colfax and Walla Walla
Ned heads for Mu Mu, then to Chelan. He seems to be checking on how the Indians are working on Moses new reservation. He is reporting to a General O.D. Greene. From Chelan he went up the Columbia to Whitestone and to Spokane Falls, then back to Chelan. After a couple of weeks visiting the Indians around Chelan he returned to Portland by way of Crab Creek, White Bluffs and Wallula. Ned then visits the Indian school at Forest grove, being organized by Capt. Wilkinson.
Ned goes to Spokane Falls via Walla Walla, and talks with many of the middle and lower Spokans in the area
Ned takes the boat up the Columbia and Snake, then to Colfax and Deep Creek, where he meets Gen Howard. He travels with Howard as he visits with the Spokans all the way to Coeur d’Alene. He then is at the Dalles and the Warm Springs agency.
Ned travels with General Howard, Capt Eladen and Capt Wilkinson to the new Fort Spokane. Moses comes to talk to Howard. Howard leaves and Ned and Capt Wilkinson go to Okanogan where Moses says he won’t send his children with Wikinson to the Forest Grove school. They return to Fort Spokane and to Wellpinit. Wilkinson gathers children to take to the school. Ned comes back though Ritzville and Wallula.
* * * * * * *