Page 4
Portland Observer
Section II Thursday, February 23, 1978
the trail.
Harris left the Willamette Val
ley on May 5. 1847, travelling to
South Pass in the Rocky Moun
tains where he met a party of
Morman pioneers. William Clay
ton. a journalist with the party,
wrote: "He appears to be a man
of intelligence and well acquaint
ed with the Western Country..."
Harris then met Commodore Ro
bert Stockton and accompanied
him to St. Joseph.
Accolades from the .iress
Picture: Library of Congress
rendezvous was held in 1840.
traveller.
The statements of
Harris left the fur trade but put
Farnham are well calculated to
his great knowledge of the west
fling a discouraging influence
to work guiding immigrants.
over the adventurous throngs of
He acted as guide to the
immigrants now preparing to
Gilliam wagon train of 1844, one
start for that country in the
of the largest, with approximate
spring; and, though we by no
ly 500 persons. This train travel
means wish either to encourage
led along the Oregon Trail, over
or discourage these people, yet,
South Pass, to Fort Hall and over
knowing the contradiction of Mr.
the Blue Mountains to reach the
Harris be correct, we are bound
Willamette Valley in October. On
to second him in advancing the
this wagon train were George
truth...Let the immigrants se
Washington Bush, a Black and
cure a good guide and they are
the first American to settle north
safe enough.”
of the Columbia; Nathaniel Ford
Harris lived for three years in
and his slaves; and many others
Oregon, staking a claim in the
who became the developers and
Willamette Valley. When Dr.
the law makers of the new
Elijah White was selected to go
Territory and eventually the
to Washington, D.C. to seek
State of Oregon.
territorial status, he asked Har
The Picayune carried the fol
ris
to guide him. Harris took
lowing item on January 7, 1844.
horses to The Dalles to wait for
“Major Harris, the same
White, but decided not to go
'Black. Harris', who has been
East.
mentioned among our mountain
While in The Dalles, he met
sketches, and a famous old tra
Steven Meek. Meek had attem pt
veller, is now at Independence,
ed to lead the "Blue Bucket"
preparing for a great expedition
wagon train south from Fort Hall
to Oregon next spring. He is
to the Willamette but had be
connected with Major Adams,
come lost in the desserts of
who gives some excellent advice
Eastern Oregon. Leaving the
to immigrants wishing to join
train
behind he rode to The
them. Major Adams says that
Dalles for help. Fred Lockley,
notwithstanding 'large bodies
whose parents were members of
move slow,’ he can easily move
the lost train, later wrote, "The
his expedition even to the shores
Missionaries were either unwill
of the Pacific, in four months."
ing or unable to do anything, so
And on March 13th:
Moses Harris, or the ‘Black
"A communication has appear
Squire' as he was usually called,
ed in a paper published in Inde
an old mountain man and com
pendence. Missouri, from Moses
panion of Joe Meek, secured
Harris, contradicting certain
supplies from the Indians and set
statements made by the traveller
out to rescue the lost immi
Farnham in relation to Oregon
grants.”
and the road to that important
Several attempts had been
and. at this crisis, very interest
ing region. Farnham had pro
made to find a southern route to
mulgated some just and very
the Willamette, to avoid terri
tory controlled by the Hudson's
valuable information in regard to
Bay Company. In 1846, Harris
the extrem e W est, but as far as
his representations refer to the
and fourteen others including
nature of roads from the States,
Jesse Applegate, were able to
and in some other particulars, he
find a route up the Umpqua
has most assuredly fallen into
River to the Rogue River Valley
error, and Mr. Harris has seized
(roughly following the present
upon just the point, with which
15 freeway). After exploring the
he is himself thoroughly ac
Klamath, Tule Lake, Goose Lake
quainted by long years of exper
area they made their way to Fort
ience, to set the public right. He
Hall, mapping out the ' Apple
has travelled the route over and
gate Trail." Later that year it
over again, and knows every
was up to Harris to rescue the
tree, creek, spring, hill and hoi
Thornton wagon train which be
low that lies in the way of the
came lost attempting to follow
An article appeared in the St.
Joseph Gazette of December 3,
1847; “We believe that Mr. Har
ris intends returning to Oregon
next spring, and if so, his ser
vices as pilot should by all means
be engaged by the immigrants.
“We will remark that we know
Mr. Harris, and know him to be
not only intelligent in regard to
those far off regions, but very
polite and accommodating, and
we sincerely recommend all who
are in search of reliable informa
tion to call upon and converse
with him.”
Whether or not Harris led a
train is unknown, but he did go to
the mountains in 1848, because
he returned to St. Joseph in the
spring of 1849 and the Gazette
says, “Major Harris, better
known as Black Harris, arrived
in St. Joseph on Wednesday last
from Fort John (Laramie). He
reports that the traders have
been very successful in trapping
this winter, and have procured a
large number of robes, skins, etc.
The Indians had several fights
this winter, which resulted in the
loss of a few lives. The snow at
Fort John is deeper than it has
been for many years. The Major
will leave for California in a few
weeks."
Harris contracted to guide a
company to the West, but in
Independence, he suddenly got
cholera and died.
The story
appeared in the Independence
Daily I'aioo of May 14, 1849:
"Within the last 24 hours I
have seen the eyes close in death
of three individuals at the hotel
where I stop - all victims of
cholera, after but a few hours
warning. The first was ‘Black
Harris', the well known moun
tain guide. He had been chosen
to lead us across the Rocky
Mountains, but poor fellow, he
goes before us on another jour
ney. He seemed to everyone who
knew him to be a ‘bird alone' in
the wild world, without ‘kith or
kin’ to care for or leave behind,
no lament his death. But in past
moments he whispered to a by
stander that away in the moun
tain vastnesses, far from the
haunts of any other white man,
among some unknown tribe of
Indians, he had a wife and two
children, the only objects on
earth for which he could desire to
live.
He would communicate
nothing further on the subject,
only the request to spread the
news as we passed on, that Black
Harris was dead and his family
would soon learn his fate. This it
appears the life of this simple
mountaineer like that of other
men if it were but known was
chequred by its share of unchro
nicled romance."
Harris was described as “me
diuni height, black hair, black
whiskers, dark brown eyes and
very dark complexion" by W.H.
Gray (1870:125) Alfred Jacob
Miller, an artist who made the
only known drawing of Harris,
described him. “This Black Har
ris always created a sensation at
the camp fire, being a capital
raconteur, and having had as
many perilous adventures as any
man probably in the mountains.
He was of wiry form, made up of
bone and muscle, with a face
apparently composed of tan lea
ther and whip cord, finished off
with a peculiar blue black tint, as
if gunpowder had been burst into
his face.'*
Harris was known as a great
story-teller, as were many moun
tain men, as they amused them
selves with stories around the
campfires during the long winter
nights.
Harris is believed to be the
model for the character “Black
George" in George F. Ruxton's
"Prairie Flower”. Oregon's first
novel.
Charles Clyman wrote on a leaf
in one of his journals:
“Here lies the bones of old Black
Harris
who often travelled beyond the
far west
and for the freedom of equal
rights
He crossed the snowy mountain
heights
was free and easy kind of soul
Especially with a Belly full."
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