As a minister the writer has had wide and varied opportunities in all the Northwest, but more especially in Utah, Oregon, and Idaho. Many a man much more modest has far excelled him in life experiences, but some of them have never told.
This little handful of goldenrod is affectionately dedicated to them of the Trails.
As terrace upon terrace Rise the mountains o'er the humbler hills And stretch away to dizzy heights To meet heaven's own pure blue; From thence to steal those soft and filmy clouds With which to wrap their heads and shoulders-- Bare of other cloak-- Transforming them to rains and snows To bless this elsewise desert world:
So, he who stands God's minister 'mong men, High reaches out above all earthly things And comes in contact with the thoughts of God; Conveys them down in blessings to mankind-- Richest of blessings, Holiest fruit of heaven-- Plucked fresh from off the Tree of Life That springs hard by the Lamb's white throne, And bears the plenteous leaves which grow To heal the wounded nations.
And step by step since time began I see the steady gain of man. --Whittier.
"An overland highway to the Western sea" was the thought variously expressed by many men in both public and private life among the French, English, and Americans from very early times. In 1659 Pierre Radisson and a companion, by way of the Great Lakes, Fox, and "Ouisconsing" Rivers, discovered the "east fork" of the "Great River" and crossed to the "west fork," up which they went into what is now the Dakotas, only to find it going still "interminably westward."
In 1766 Carver, an Englishman, went by the same route up the "east fork" to Saint Anthony Falls; thence he traveled to Canada, to learn from the Assiniboin Indians the existence of the "Shining Mountains" and that beyond them was the "Oregan," which went to the salt sea.
As early as 1783 Thomas Jefferson wrote to George Rogers Clark to tell him he understood the English had subscribed a very large sum of money for exploration of the country west of the Mississippi, and as far as California. He even expressed himself as being desirous of forming a party of Americans to make the trip.
Twenty years later, under the direction of _President_ Thomas Jefferson, General Clark was made a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which went up the "great river" and ultimately crossed through Montana and Idaho to the Columbia (Oregan?) and the "salt sea."