Joseph Gale
Encyclopedia
- For the U.S. Tax Court judge, see Joseph H. GaleJoseph H. GaleJoseph H. Gale is a judge of the United States Tax Court.He holds an A.B. in philosophy from Princeton University and obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1980...
.
Joseph Goff Gale (April 29, 1807 — December 13, 1881) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
. There he assisted in the construction of the first sailing vessel built in what would become the state of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, sailed the ship to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to trade for cattle, and later served as one of three co-executives in the Provisional Government of Oregon
Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849. Created at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region, this independent government...
. Originally a sailor, he also spent time in the fur trade, as a farmer, and a gold miner in the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
.
Early life
Joseph Gale was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, on April 29, 1807, the son of Mary Gale (née Goff) and Joseph Gale, a sea captain from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Both of his parents died when Joseph was young, but he did receive an education and some training as a sailor. Gale arrived on the Pacific Coast as early as 1828 with the Bean-Sinclair party that had been shipwrecked off the coast of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. From 1830 until 1839, the heyday of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, he was a well regarded trapper and an associate of western legends such as Ewing Young
Ewing Young
Ewing Young was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled Mexican southwestern North America and California before settling in the Oregon Country. As a prominent and wealthy citizen there, his death was the impetus for the early formation of government in what became the state...
, Nathaniel Wyeth, Joe Meek
Joseph Meek
Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek was a trapper, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A pioneer involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek would play a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843...
, Jim Bridger
Jim Bridger
James Felix "Jim" Bridger was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western United States during the decades of 1820-1850, as well as mediating between native tribes and encroaching whites...
, and Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, popularly known as Chief Joseph, or Young Joseph was the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of Nez Perce during General Oliver O. Howard's attempt to forcibly remove his band and the other "non-treaty" Nez Perce to a reservation in Idaho...
of the Nez Perce Indians.
Fur trapper
As early as 1830, Joseph Gale had traveled the Santa Fe TrailSanta Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1822 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...
from Missouri to Taos
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
and was fur trapping in the southern Rocky Mountains. Just how and when he arrived in the west is unclear. In October 1831, he departed Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
as a member of Ewing Young
Ewing Young
Ewing Young was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled Mexican southwestern North America and California before settling in the Oregon Country. As a prominent and wealthy citizen there, his death was the impetus for the early formation of government in what became the state...
's second trip to California. The goal of this expedition was to export horses and mules from California for sale in the Missouri Valley, and do some trapping of beaver and perhaps sea otter on the side. Whether Gale went all the way to California, or remained at the Colorado River to wait for the returning party is unclear. However, Gale likely accompanied David Jackson
David Edward Jackson
David Edward Jackson was an American pioneer, explorer, trader, and fur trapper.He spent his early life west of the Shenandoah Mountains, in what was then part of Virginia and is now in West Virginia: he was born in Randolph County, and his parents, Edward and Elizabeth Jackson, soon moved the...
and the California livestock back to New Mexico, arriving in July 1832.
A year later, in July 1833, Gale was at the fur trapper's Rendezvous at Green River, where he joined Joseph Walker
Joseph Reddeford Walker
Joseph R. Walker was a mountain man and experienced scout.-Biography:Walker was born in Roane County, Tennessee. In the spring of 1833, Benjamin Bonneville sent a party of men under Joseph Walker to explore the Great Salt Lake and to find an overland route to California...
's expedition to California. The fur trappers traveled from the Great Salt Lake to California by way of the Humboldt River
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
, crossing the Sierra Nevada near Yosemite Valley. Traversing the rough mountain terrain in October took a month. In November, Walker and company finally reached the Pacific Ocean. In February 1834, the Joseph Walker party began its return trip to the Rocky Mountains, but Gale stayed behind in California. He instead joined his friend Ewing Young on his cattle drive from California to Oregon in the company of Oregon promoter, Hall Jackson Kelley. The Ewing Young party reached the Willamette Valley in October 1834.
Less than a month later, Gale and a "picked up lot" were hired by Nathaniel Wyeth and were traveling to Fort Hall
Fort Hall
Fort Hall, sitting athwart the end of the common stretch shared by the three far west emigrant trails was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, which eventually became part of the present-day United States, and is located in southeastern Idaho near Fort Hall, Idaho...
. Gale was soon leading a "spring hunt" in the Rockies north of the Great Salt Lake. In the fall of 1835, Gale lead his party of men to the Gallatin River
Gallatin River
The Gallatin River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi , in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana...
, where they had a bloody encounter with Blackfeet Indians
Blackfeet
The Piegan Blackfeet are a tribe of Native Americans of the Algonquian language family based in Montana, having lived in this area since around 6,500 BC. Many members of the tribe live as part of the Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, with population centered in Browning...
. Gale and his party, Kit Carson
Kit Carson
Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a Mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married...
, Joe Meek
Joseph Meek
Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek was a trapper, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A pioneer involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek would play a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843...
, and several others were fortunate to survive the encounter. Joseph Gale continued to work out Fort Hall
Fort Hall
Fort Hall, sitting athwart the end of the common stretch shared by the three far west emigrant trails was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, which eventually became part of the present-day United States, and is located in southeastern Idaho near Fort Hall, Idaho...
for the next few years. With the sale of Fort Hall to the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
in August 1837, he began trapping for the English company.
Family life
While working for Wyeth out of Fort Hall, Joseph married a Walla WallaWalla Walla (tribe)
Walla Walla |Native American]] tribe of the northwestern United States. The reduplication of the word expresses the diminutive form. The name "Walla Walla" is translated several ways but most often as "many waters."...
Indian woman, Eliza, who was a daughter of Old Chief Joseph
Old Chief Joseph
Tuekakas, commonly known as Old Chief Joseph or Joseph the Elder, was a Native American leader of the Wallowa Band of the Nez Perce. Old Joseph was one of the first Nez Percé converts to Christianity and a vigorous advocate of the tribe's early peace with whites...
(Tu-eka-kas) of the Wallowa Nez Perce and a Walla Walla mother. She may have been named after Eliza Spalding, co-founder of the Protestant mission at Lapwai. Eliza Gale was half sister to Young Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, popularly known as Chief Joseph, or Young Joseph was the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of Nez Perce during General Oliver O. Howard's attempt to forcibly remove his band and the other "non-treaty" Nez Perce to a reservation in Idaho...
(Heinmot Tooyalakekt). Joseph Gale and Eliza's first two children (Francis Ellen and Edward) were born at Fort Hall in 1837 and 1838, three more children were born in the Oregon Territory (Susan, Margaret and Mary), and three more girls (Maria Antonia, Clara and Sabrina) were born in California during the 1850s.
Oregon Country
In 1839, Joseph Gale and his family left Fort Hall and moved west of the Cascade mountains. Gale soon had a job working at the Methodist MissionMethodist Mission
The Methodist Mission was founded in Oregon Country in 1834 by the Reverend Jason Lee. The mission was started to educate the Native Americans in the Willamette Valley and grew into an important center for politics and economics in the early settlement period of Oregon.-Foundation:In 1831, several...
sawmill in Mission Bottom. Within a year, the family had settled on the Tualatin Plains
Tualatin Plains
The Tualatin Plains are a prairie area in central Washington County, Oregon, United States. Located around the Hillsboro and Forest Grove areas, the plains were first inhabited by the Atfalati band of the Kalapuya group of Native Americans. Euro-American settlement began in the...
, where they were soon joined by the families of other mountain men, including Robert Newell
Robert Newell (Oregon politician)
Robert "Doc" Newell , was an American politician and fur trapper in the Oregon Country. He was a frontier doctor in what would become the U.S. state of Oregon. A native of Ohio, he served in the Provisional Government of Oregon and later was a member of the Oregon State Legislature...
, George W. Ebbert
George W. Ebbert
George Wood “Squire” Ebbert was a mountain man and early settler in the Oregon Country. Born in Kentucky, he settled on the Tualatin Plains in what would become Oregon and participated in the Champoeg Meetings that created a government prior to the formation of the Oregon Territory...
, Caleb Wilkins, William Doughty, and Joe Meek
Joseph Meek
Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek was a trapper, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A pioneer involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek would play a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843...
. With the collapse of the international market for beaver furs, the fur trappers had quit the business and were settling down in the Oregon Country.
As Oregon began to attract people, the lack of a sustainable economy became a problem. Moreover, settlers were suffering from an acute livestock shortage. In 1840, a group of settlers began construction of a ship
Star of Oregon (event)
The Star of Oregon episode of American history began in 1840 and ended in 1843. This enterprise by pioneers in the Willamette Valley of present-day Oregon consisted of building a ship they named Star of Oregon and then sailing it to California in order to bring back cattle to Oregon Country...
with the goal of sailing the vessel to San Francisco, and trading it for cattle to bring back north. Ship building commenced on the Star of Oregon
Star of Oregon (ship)
The Star of Oregon was a schooner sailing vessel of the mid-19th century used on the west coast of North America. It was the first American sailing ship built in what is now the U.S. state of Oregon. Pioneer settlers built the ship from 1840 to 1842 in order to sail it to California and exchange it...
(as it was later to be named) on Swan Island (Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
) with Felix Hathaway
Felix Hathaway
Felix Hathaway was an American carpenter and pioneer in what became the state of Oregon. A native of New England, he settled in the Oregon Country where he helped construct the first American-built ship in what became the state of Oregon...
hired as the ship builder. A year later, Joseph Gale was offered command of the ship and a share of the ownership. To raise capital and free his labor for its construction, Gale sold his Tualatin Valley
Tualatin Valley
The Tualatin Valley is a farming and suburban region southwest of Portland, Oregon in the United States. The valley is formed by the meandering Tualatin River, a tributary of the Willamette River at the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley, east of the Northern Oregon Coast Range...
farm and moved his family to Champoeg
Champoeg, Oregon
Champoeg is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the Willamette Valley in the early 1840s. It is positioned halfway between Oregon City and Salem and the site of the first provisional government of the Oregon Country...
. All summer and fall he worked on construction of the schooner at Oregon City
Oregon City, Oregon
Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon...
, where it had been relocated, which came after Hathaway quit the project and left the completion up to the remaining partners. During the winter and spring of 1841 to 42, Gale worked for the Methodist Mission
Oregon Mission
The Oregon Mission began as an effort by the Methodist Episcopal Church to convert the native Indians of the far west to Christianity. This mission, under the leadership of Jason Lee, largely failed in its initial goal, but played a significant role in the westward expansion of the United States...
, running its sawmill.
In August 1842, the Star of Oregon - the first ocean-going vessel built in Oregon - left Oregon City for two weeks of practice runs on the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
. In September, the ship left for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with a crew of five inexperienced men and an Indian boy with Gale as captain. On reaching San Francisco, the ship was sold for 350 cows. The following spring, Gale and 42 others drove 1,250 cattle, 600 horses and mules, and 3,000 sheep back to Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
Partly in recognition for his accomplishment, Joseph Gale was named to the first executive committee
Executive Committee (Oregon Territory)
An Executive Committee was the title of a three-person committee which served as the executive Branch of the Provisional Government of Oregon in the disputed Oregon Country. This arrangement was announced on July 5, 1843, after three months of study by the Provisional Legislature at Champoeg...
of the Provisional Government of Oregon
Provisional Government of Oregon
The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It existed from May 2, 1843 until March 3, 1849. Created at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region, this independent government...
. Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
’s first form of government, as implemented by the citizens’ meeting
Champoeg Meetings
The Champoeg Meetings in Oregon Country were the first attempts at governing in the Pacific Northwest by United States European-American pioneers. Prior to this, the closest entity to a government was the Hudson's Bay Company, mainly through Dr...
at Champoeg
Champoeg, Oregon
Champoeg is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the Willamette Valley in the early 1840s. It is positioned halfway between Oregon City and Salem and the site of the first provisional government of the Oregon Country...
on July 5, 1843, favored an Executive Committee instead of a single executive. The Executive Committee of 1843 was made up of David Hill
David Hill (Oregon politician)
David Hill , was an American pioneer and settler of what became Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. He served in the Provisional Government of Oregon in both the executive and legislative branches, and later as a legislator in the first Oregon Territorial Legislature...
, Alanson Beers
Alanson Beers
Alanson Beers was an American pioneer and politician in the early days of the settlement of the Oregon Country. A blacksmith by trade, he was a reinforcement for the Methodist Mission in what would become the state of Oregon...
, and Gale.
By 1844, Joseph Gale and his family had settled on Gales Creek
Gales Creek (Oregon)
Gales Creek, is a tributary, long, of the Tualatin River in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The headwaters of Gales Creek are on the north side of the mountain Round Top in the Northern Oregon Coast Range...
in Washington County, Oregon
Washington County, Oregon
- Major highways :* Interstate 5* Interstate 205* U.S. Route 26* Oregon Route 6* Oregon Route 8* Oregon Route 10* Oregon Route 47* Oregon Route 99W* Oregon Route 210* Oregon Route 217* Oregon Route 219-Demographics:...
, where he established a grist mill and sawmill, perhaps using profits gained from the California cattle drive.
California and the gold rush
With news of the California Gold RushCalifornia Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
, Joseph Gale moved from the Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
to California, where he lived first at Mission San Jose
Mission San José
Mission San José was founded on June 11, 1797 on a site located in the "Mission San Jose District" of Fremont, California in the "Valley of San José." The settlement was the site of the first Ceasarian section childbirth in Alta California...
and later near Fort Tejon
Fort Tejon
Fort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon area of Tejon Pass along Interstate 5, the main route through the mountains separating the Central Valley from Los...
in Los Angeles County where he ran a sawmill. On January 9, 1857, Joseph Gale and family suffered the effects of the Great Fort Tejon earthquake
Fort Tejon earthquake
The Fort Tejon earthquake occurred at about 8:20 AM on January 9, 1857. It ruptured the San Andreas Fault for a length of about 225 miles , between Parkfield and Wrightwood. The average slip along the fault was 4.5 meters , and a maximum offset of 9 meters was recorded in the Carrizo Plain area...
. "Mr. Gale, whose dwelling is situated..(approximately 1.5 miles from) the Fort experienced a severe injury during his exertions to rescue his children from the ruins of his falling house".
In August 1859, Gale received a permit to run a ferry over the Kern River
Kern River
The Kern River is a river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for...
(at Gordon's Ferry, Tulare County). Located on the main stage route from Los Angeles to San Francisco, this venture was potentially profitable. However, Gale's business activities were badly damaged with the demise of the Butterfield Overland Mail
Butterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...
service in March 1861 and the closing of Fort Tejon in June 1861. In January 1862, a record flood
Great Flood of 1862
The Great Flood of 1862 or Noachian Deluge was the largest flood in the recorded history of Oregon, Nevada and California, occurring from December 1861 to January 1862. It was preceded by weeks of continuous rains that began in Oregon in November 1861 and continued into January 1862...
washed away the ferry, stage station, and much of the road connecting San Francisco with Los Angeles. Gale abandoned the ferry and moved to Walla Walla
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
.
Return to Eastern Oregon
By late 1862 Gale and his family had moved to Walla WallaWalla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
, Washington Territory, where his daughter Frances and husband Thomas Page had settled. By 1868, Gale had relocated to Eagle Valley in Eastern Oregon, where he engaged in farming and other business activities related to the gold strikes in the Eagle Cap mountains
Wallowa Mountains
The Wallowa Mountains are a mountain range located in the Columbia Plateau of northeastern Oregon in the United States. The range runs approximately 40 mi northwest to southeast in southwestern Wallowa County between the Blue Mountains to the west and the Snake River to the east. The range is...
. Before the Nez Perce War
Nez Perce War
The Nez Perce War was an armed conflict between the Nez Perce and the United States government fought in 1877 as part of the American Indian Wars. After a series of battles in which both the U.S. Army and native people sustained significant casualties, the Nez Perce surrendered and were relocated...
(1877), Young Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, popularly known as Chief Joseph, or Young Joseph was the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of Nez Perce during General Oliver O. Howard's attempt to forcibly remove his band and the other "non-treaty" Nez Perce to a reservation in Idaho...
and the Wallowa Nez Perce would often come and stay with Joseph and Eliza during visits to Eagle Valley, a traditional Nez Perce hunting and fishing territory.
Joseph Gale died on his farm on December 13, 1881, and is buried in the Eagle Valley cemetery, Richland, Baker County, Oregon. After Gale's death, Eliza moved to the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Umatilla Indian Reservation
The Umatilla Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in eastern Oregon in the United States, mostly located in Umatilla County, with a very small part extending south into Union County...
, where she died in 1905. She is buried in the Weston Cemetery in Weston, Umatilla County, Oregon, where her tombstone reads "1819-1905 d/o Old Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Chief. w/o Joseph Gale, Provisional Governor of Oregon 1843-1844."