Everything about Joseph Gale totally explained
» For the U.S. Tax Court judge, see Joseph H. Gale.
Joseph Goff Gale (
April 29 1807-
December 131881) was an
American pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the
Oregon Country. There he assisted in the construction of the first sailing vessel built in what would become the state of
Oregon, sailed the ship to
California to trade for cattle, and later served as one of three co-executives in the
Provisional Government of Oregon. Originally a sailor, he also spent time in the fur trade, as a farmer, and a gold miner in the
California Gold Rush.
Early life
Joseph Gale was born in
Washington, D.C. on
April 29 1807, the son of Mary Gale (nee Goff) and Joseph Gale, a sea captain from
Pennsylvania. Both of his parents died when Joseph was young, but he did receive an education and some training as a sailor. However, Gale likely accompanied
David Jackson 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's expedition to California.
The fur trappers traveled from the Great Salt Lake to California by way of the
Humboldt River, 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.
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, where they'd a bloody encounter with
Blackfeet Indians. Gale and his party,
Kit Carson,
Joe Meek, and several others were fortunate to survive the encounter. Joseph Gale continued to work out
Fort Hall for the next few years. With the sale of Fort Hall to the
Hudson's Bay Company in August 1837, he began trapping for the English company.
Family life
While working for Wyeth out of Fort Hall, Joseph married a
Walla Walla Indian woman, Eliza, who was a daughter of
Old Chief Joseph (
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 (
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 Mission sawmill in Mission Bottom.
Within a year, the family had settled on the
Tualatin Plains, where they were soon joined by the families of other mountain men, including
Robert Newell,
George W. Ebbert, Caleb Wilkins, William Doughty, and
Joe Meek. 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 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 (as it was later to be named) on Swan Island (
Portland, Oregon). 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 farm and moved his family to
Champoeg. All summer and fall he worked on construction of the schooner at
Oregon City, where it had been relocated. During the winter and spring of 1841 to 42, Gale worked for the
Methodist Mission, running its sawmill.
In August 1859, Gale received a permit to run a ferry over the
Kern River (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 service in March 1861 and the closing of Fort Tejon in June 1861. In January 1862, a record flood 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.
Return to Eastern Oregon
By late 1862 Gale and his family had moved to
Walla Walla, 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. Before the
Nez Perce War (1877),
Young Chief Joseph 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, 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."
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