35-xx-xx ep07Marcus Whitman

From there, fighters, there fighters, monumental incidents in the adventurous journeys westward of the American pathfinders and pioneers who led a life of almost continual hardship and

peril in their quest for excitement and fortune. In recounting the Enterprise and Valor of those who explored and helped build the far west, we must not overlook the heroic roles that the missionaries played in this epic drama of wilderness conquest.

One of the first and most noted of Northwest missionaries was Dr. Marcus Whitman, the Yankee Physician and Missionary, who sacrificed his life to bring the Christian religion to the painted red savage of the western mountains and plains and to save the Pacific Northwest to America.

1834 Boston, Massachusetts, the foreign mission board of the Presbyterian Church, is publicly examining young men for service in the Northwest. Now that we've approved the application of Reverend Samuel Parker for missionary service in the Oregon country, we will discuss yours, Dr. Whitman.

And what are your special qualifications? Well, sir, I'm a graduate doctor of the Berkshire Medical College of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. I am an elder in the communion of our faith, the Presbyterian Church. And what are the qualifications? Have you, Dr. Whitman?

For several years, I've been preparing myself for missionary service by performing practical tasks and many lines. Hard labor, most of it. The sponsors in Rushville, New York, your home, speak highly of you, Dr. Whitman, for which I'm grateful and humble.

Spoken as befits a doctor of medicine and probably a missionary to the red savages of the Northwest. Then you will approve my application? Yes, I'm sure I will. I shall recommend that you become the companion of Reverend Parker to investigate religious conditions in the Oregon country.