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“ In considering the path of duty I see no field of labor which I can contemplate with so much satisfaction, or concerning which I have so little doubt of duty as an attempt to lay the foundation for an interest in Oregon. Our countrymen will go, and they will go too, without the Bible and the Sabbath, unless these are carried by the good and self-denying. Hundreds are crossing the mountains this year. ”

“ The Society in whose employ he labored so indefatigably for nearly twenty-five years has placed the name of Ezra Fisher high on the roll of its missionary heroes. Many words of praise from men who have guided its affairs might here be quoted. But from a most unexpected source came a simple testimony from one who crossed the plains with him, and, since no better test of character could well be imagined than the trials and vexations which attended the journey by ox team to Oregon, it is here given. ”

“ If they could sit down at night as they come in from their daily labor, take up a religious periodical and read their half-clad families some interesting accounts of the triumphs of grace over depravity instead of meditating and teaching the principles of revenge, how would the family circle be cheered and the lowering cloud of our Western solitude be dissipated ! The question is settled that Oregon is destined to be numbered among the states of our great American Republic ”

“ When the time comes that a fair competition in trade takes the place of oppressive monopoly, industry will probably be as amply rewarded in this as in any other part of the nation, and we all hope that day is near. None but those who have experienced it can tell the inconveniences and privations of a new country so far removed from civilization. But really our early settlers have performed their part nobly, and are still contending undis- mayed with obstacles which would be regarded almost in- surmountable in the old states. ”

“ You can have no conception of the manner in which we are clad in our ordinary business. We are still wearing old clothes which we had laid aside as unfit for use in the Western states, and have purchased but a few of the most common articles, and those of the coarse and substantial kind when they could be obtained. We still prefer to practice this kind of self-denial to the abandonment of our enterprise, while we have the hope left that we may be made instrumental in laying the foundation of the cause of Christian civilization where it is so much needed. ”

“ When you learn that I walked further than would cover the whole distance of the journey, bearing my full proportional part of the services of the company, and that neither myself nor family laid off our clothing more than four or five nights during the whole journey, always sleeping in our tent on the ground, you will not be surprised that we were worn down with protracted fatigue and care. ”

“ Our brethren will not forget to send us files of religious periodicals. We have now been cut off from all the blessings of religious periodicals and literally shut out of the religious world for 17 months except that we find occasionally an angel visitor of this kind in a Pedo-baptist paper. We trust it is our love for the cause of Christ in Oregon which has led us to forego, with our young families, all these privileges. Shall our wants meet with a response from the hearts and hands of our brethren in the Atlantic states? ”

“ Our reasons are, First, the benefit of my lungs and health of my family. Second, it will probably be more difficult to persuade men to go to Oregon than to Iowa, especially at first, while the demands will be greater in three years. We hear of companies forming in various portions of our country to go out the present year and numbers of them are Baptists. Third, I have been a pioneer for more than ten years and have no desire ever to settle over a church in the old states, while the field is the world in the new and rising portions of our country. ”

“ We find presented almost daily opportunities of contributing to the formation of the moral character of the people of our Territory. Yet we find everything so dissimilar to anything we ever experienced that we often feel placed almost beyond religious privileges as you are wont to enjoy them in the States.
The population as yet must, from the nature of the case, be very sparse and, as the settlements are somewhat remote from each other, it renders the labors of a missionary difficult, sit- uated as we are at this time many thousands of miles from home and with exhausted funds. ”

“ The church at Rock Island appear solicitous to obtain my services the ensuing year, provided we do not cross the Rocky Mountains, and it may be my duty to comply with their request, yet the irritable state of my lungs admonishes me of the importance of finding a milder climate, and, as we are now broken up, we feel inclined to get as far south as we can, and be useful in a free state, if we shall find the way to Oregon closed. ”

“ I have repeated the request for books and clothing through fear that any former letters may have never reached you. I know it will afford many a sister pleasure to collect a few com- forts for those of us who are laboring in these ends of the earth. We make not these appeals because we think we could not meet the wants of our families should we give ourselves entirely to secular pursuits. But this we cannot do. God will have his ministers feel a necessity laid upon them and a woe too, if they preach not the Gospel. ”

“ Ezra Fisher entered upon his last year as Exploring Agent, April 1, 1855, with the request that the Board of the Home Mission Society should be on the look-out for a suitable man to take his place, and at its close resigned. His work and the hard conditions attending it had told on his strength and he felt the necessity of a less arduous life. Wishing to settle near the center of the Valley within easier reach of the churches most needing ministerial aid, he accepted the pastorate of the Santiam church, located at what is now Sodaville, Oregon. ”

“ At present we have here only two American families besides my own, and a few bachelors, and besides the Hud- son Bay Company's servants, and it is not probable towns will improve much in Oregon beyond the absolute necessities in business transactions, should our Government make grants of lands to the first settlers and require each family to reside for a term of years on his land to perfect his title. ”

“ We are sure we do not covet the softest raiment for ourselves or families, but we do greatly desire to be able to give ourselves wholly to the work, and something in this way might lighten the expense of our support and add greatly to our usefulness. The subject of education, too, allow me to say, rests with great weight on my mind. Judging charitably, with all the laudable efforts of our citizens, it is beyond their power to do much by way of educating their children while they have so much to provide for present animal wants, and are placed beyond the reach of books. ”

“ EZRA FISHER. P. S. I still feel impressed with the importance of establishing a mission in Oregon and, should the God of missions spare our lives and give us health and we learn that the way is practicable with wagons as far as the Walla Walla, we hope to be ready to go out next spring, if we can have assurance of being sustained till churches can be raised up to support the gospel in that new territory. ”

“ The three churches now organized are most favorably located, being organized so that their future place of worship must unavoidably be at the county seats of three important counties on the Willamette river. But our brethren are in a new country and have everything to do to render their families comfortable, and have not been formerly trained to the principles so happily carried out by our Pilgrim fathers in the settlements of Plymouth and Boston. I preach every Sabbath. ”

“ Our settlers are generally industrious, and should the Government grant them 'their lands, they are laying the foundation for wealth despite the temporary monoply in trade with which they are op- pressed. 112 As before stated, we have very few Baptist brethren who have been accustomed to see a minister sustained by the church, and those few are scattered so as to prevent anything like a systematic effort to aid in the support of the ministry. They love the gospel sound and delight in its ordinances ; but ministers must travel far from settlement to settlement to preach. ”

“ She knew how to make the most of everything. On scraps that many would have thrown away she could get up an attractive meal. If her home was sometimes a rough log cabin, it was a clean one and a most pleasant place to be.
Her death was the cause of a revival, in which about twenty-five were converted, most of them uniting with the Baptist church in Oregon City. Among the number were three of her own children and three from the family of Hezekiah Johnson.
Old pioneers of Oregon who knew Ezra Fisher well have said that he was a pleasant man to meet and converse with. ”

“ Soc. and the religious periodicals of our denomination both for young and old. We are almost in a heathen land so far as relates to the circulation of religious intelligence, while there is a readiness and eagerness on the part of citizens generally to read anything late from the States. Some of our numerous brethren in New York and Boston could easily send to Br. Johnson and myself the files of their own religious periodicals, after reading, without increasing their expenses. I know of no country where religious tracts would be read with more interest than in Oregon. ”

“ In view of all the circumstances, should your Board censure the course which we have pursued respecting the Oregon mission, you will have the faithfulness to administer affectionate reproof as becomes the responsible station you occupy. The church in Rock Island formed themselves into a Sabbath School society, on the 5th of March, and resolved to make application to the American Sunday School Union for an appropriation of S. S. books from the special appropriation made for destitute Sunday Schools in the Valley of the Mississippi. ”

“ When I look to the people and see them left in ignorance of all the great religious movements in the world, except for a few packages sent to the Methodist and Presbyterian missions, my feelings are often left to wander between despair and that indifference occasioned by the care and fatigue incident to meeting our temporal needs. Our whole country is oppressed by an excessive mon- opoly of our merchants, so that most of the people are unable to meet the pressing wants of their families. ”

“ Yet I have some reason to suspect them of selfishness. We trust the Lord will soon remove our doubts. I can truly say my mind is strongly inclined to preach the gospel in Oregon.
We came all the way (from New York) with our own conveyance, which was the cause of our reaching Iowa so late. I commenced my labours immediately on our arrival, and preach part of the time in this place and Rock Island, Illinois, and the remainder of the time in the surrounding country, where we hope there will be a church constituted before long. ”

“ In anticipation of the needs of California and of Puget Sound his first letter from Astoria had this: "Should the settlement of the Oregon question be what we anticipate, we shall greatly need a missionary stationed at Puget Sound before you can commission a suitable man and send him to the field. And should Upper California remain under the United States government, a missionary will be greatly needed at San Francisco Bay immediately upon the settlement of the Mexican War. ”

“ A country is now settled, at favoured points, about as large as half the state of Illinois, and we are expecting large accessions the coming fall. Then the most important points will be seized upon with great eager- ness, if it is true, as we fondly hope, that the notice bill 105 is passed by both branches of our National Legislature and become a law. We see Romanism taking root in our soil and special effort being made to secure the influence of the leading men in our colony, and to establish schools for the education of our children and youth. ”