The Simmons-Bush party spent all of November 1844 pushing through the Blue Mountains in northeastern Oregon. They assumed that this would be the last stretch of their journey, and although the way was steep and rocky and they were running out of provisions, they must have been excited at being so close to their destination. They sent John Minto, a young Englishman who had traveled with them, ahead to Fort Vancouver. He was to purchase supplies at the fort and meet the rest of the party at The Dalles, Oregon, where they would rest for a few days and then push on down the Columbia River to their final destination, the Willamette River Valley.
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The Simmons-Bush party thought their journey would end in the area that is present-day Oregon. Instead, they would have to push on further north to New Market, later named Tumwater. |
When the exhausted travelers finally made it to The Dalles on December 7, they found John Minto waiting for them with terrible news. He told them that the citizens of Oregon Country had recently passed exclusionary laws. These laws said that Black people were not allowed to live there. The penalty for Blacks who did attempt to stay was a public whipping every six months until they left. These exclusionary laws were not enforced north of the Columbia River, in British territory. |
The Simmons-Bush party, especially George Bush and his family, must have been horrified. They had come a long way only to be confronted with the very thing they had tried to escape: racial prejudice. George Bush was determined to move on to a new place. If he was not afraid for himself, he certainly didn’t want to raise his children under such hostile conditions. |
It was winter, however, and there was no possibility of moving on just yet. The bedraggled party would have to rest, gather more supplies, and decide on a plan. George Bush and his family decided to stay at The Dalles for the winter. Michael T. Simmons and the rest of the party continued on to Fort Vancouver, on the north side of the Columbia River. They decided to meet up in the spring.
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