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The Bluffton News
Bluffton, Allen County, Hancock County, Ohio
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In 1842-43, missionary doctor Marcus Whitman endures a perilous 3,000-mile horseback ride from Oregon to Boston with Asa Lovejoy to prevent the abandonment of his Indian mission, facing extreme hardships and succeeding in saving Oregon from British control.
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By Elmo Scott Watson
A 3,000-Mile Ride
Men have done strange things to hold their jobs. Marcus Whitman rode a horse from Oregon to Boston, a distance of 3,000 miles to hold his,
Whitman was a doctor who started doing missionary work among the Indians of the Oregon region in 1835. After seven years. he received word that his mission was to be abandoned. Since he wanted the situation explained personally to the mission board at Boston, he mounted his horse on October 3. 1842. and. together with Asa Lovejoy, started a ride that did not end until spring of the following year.
They had to go south by a roundabout route to avoid hostile Indians along the usual way which was through South pass. By way of Fort Uintah in Utah, then away down into New Mexico to Taos and Santa Fe, they then followed the Santa Fe trail to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas.
Several times they lost their way and barely escaped freezing to death. Whitman was nearly drowned swimming his horse across the Colorado river. Their supply of food ran out and they had to kill their pack mules to keep from starving.
Whitman eventually reached Boston, March 30, and convinced the board of missions that their work was needed in Oregon. Many credit Whitman's ride with saving Oregon from abandonment to the British colonizers.
© Western Newspaper Union
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From Oregon To Boston Via Fort Uintah In Utah, Taos And Santa Fe In New Mexico, Santa Fe Trail To Bent's Fort On The Arkansas
Event Date
October 3, 1842 To March 30, 1843
Story Details
Doctor and missionary Marcus Whitman, after seven years in Oregon, rides 3,000 miles with Asa Lovejoy to Boston to convince the mission board not to abandon the Oregon mission, facing hostile Indians, freezing, near-drowning, and starvation by killing pack mules, ultimately succeeding and credited with saving Oregon from British colonizers.