Jason Lee and Marcus Whitman

   The first missionary group to take action after the interest of Christian people had been aroused was the Missionary Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who sent the Rev. Jason Lee and his nephew the Rev Daniel Lee on their way to the west.  They reached Fort Hall not far from where Pocatello, Idaho now stands, on the 26th of July, 1834.  Jason Lee conducted the first public service of a Protestant Church west of the state of Missouri and the Missouri River.
    Reverend Lee reached Fort Vancouver in September, where he was graciously welcomed by Dr. Mc Loughlin.  After a few days they proceeded to Sauvies Island (then called Wappato Island) and then proceeded across the hills and selected a place some sixty miles south of Portland as the location of the first Protestant Mission in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains on Oct. 6, 1834.  Here in the Willamette Valley, a school was opened and from here Jason Lee went every where preaching the Gospel.
    The Presbyterians too were stirred to activity on behalf of the unevangelized Indians and sent out Missionaries.  In the spring of 1835, Dr. Marcus Whitman and the Rev. Samuel Parker left St. Louis, Missouri, for the western frontier.  A mission station was established near were Walla Walla, Washington, now stands.
So were the beginnings of missionary work in the Oregon Country.

These accounts and others following, were written by Harley Hallgren for the 1934, Temple's Golden Jubilee Celebration.
    

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