A Heritage Worth Keeping

The Northwest's Christian roots remembered in four-hour tours

By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher
    SALEM — Blessed with abundant natural beauty, the Pacific Northwest is often called “God’s Country."

     And if the region’s unmistakable Christian roots are made known, that title could perhaps even apply more to the Northwest way of life, says Vaughn Longanecker.
    An Aloha resident who works full time as a health agency nurse, Longanecker has in recent years pursued a separate interest — researching the Christian heritage behind the Northwest. It began when he and his wife, Lara, were teaching the region’s history to their three home-schooled children, now grown.
    What he discovered about the region’s spiritual roots had a tremendous impact on him personally, and he is eager to share his findings. He regularly conducts tours, which last about four hours, of historic points in the mid-Willamette Valley that played a significant role in the Christian history of the Northwest.

   The tour focuses heavily on a personal hero of Longanecker’s — Jason Lee, American missionary and pioneer who lived from 1803 to 1845. A Methodist, Lee was the first of the Oregon missionaries and helped establish the early foundation of a provisional government in the Oregon Country.         Longanecker notes that in 1965 the state Legislature recognized Lee as the most important individual in Oregon history and chose his statue to stay in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. Another statue is on State Capitol grounds in Salem.
     The fact that Lee was recognized as so important is a no-brainer, according to Longanecker. He said Lee founded what became the state capital, and was instrumental in the establishment of four other communities in the Northwest, among them The Dalles and Oregon City. Lee founded the region’s first saw mill and organized church, brought salvation to hundreds of the region’s Natives and petitioned the President and Congress to recognize the Oregon Territory under the U.S. government.
     Lee established the Willamette Mission in 1834 to teach the Native Americans in the Oregon Country. According to Longanecker, despite the fact that Lee faced a very difficult journey westward, he had responded to a “Macedonian Call to the West” that took place when four Indians ventured to St. Louis, Mo., seeking to find the “white man’s book of Heaven” — the Bible — of which they had heard.
       The mission stood in what is now Willamette Mission State Park near Brooks. Plaques at the park describe Lee’s venture there as having ultimately failed to Christianize the Native population.
     But Longanecker strongly disputes any suggestion that Lee’s efforts fell short.
      “In God’s eyes, not at all,” he said. Citing the example of I John 5:1-3, Longanecker says Lee was faithful to heed God’s call in his life, and that God’s purposes at that point in the region’s history were fulfilled.
       Indeed, on one of his recent tours — held on a sunny Saturday last month — Longanecker stands in the park and speaks with a reverent tone as he views the “ghost structure” that depicts the mission site.
“This is the place where we can trace our roots of church, family, government, education — all of our culture,” he says. “This is our foundation — our Plymouth Rock, as it were.”
         The tour, which starts at the park, goes on to Salem. First destination is the Oregon State Capitol grounds, where Longa-necker talks about the Christian foundations of Oregon’s government. While there, he points out both the statue of Lee and a separate sculpture, The Circuit Rider, which commemorates the labors and achievements of the re-gion’s early ministers of the Gospel who traveled on horseback. That artwork is also incorporated into the logo for Christian News Northwest.
      The tour then crosses the street to Willamette University. Founded by Lee in 1842 as the Oregon Institute for the purpose of educating the missionaries’ children, it is the oldest university in the West.
      Standing outside Waller Hall, built in 1867 and the oldest building on today’s campus, Longanecker reads Scripture and comments on the Christ-centered focus of education in the early days of the region.
        The tour then moves four blocks to Salem’s Mission Mill Museum.
This historic five-acre site interprets the vibrant red structures of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, which operated from 1889 to 1962, and the simple white frame houses of the devout Methodist missionaries, the founders of Salem..
The historic houses are not original to the site, but were moved to the property during the 1960s and 1970s.
       The Jason Lee House, the Parsonage, John D. Boon House and Pleasant Grove Church, dating from the 1840s and 1850s, are restored and furnished in period. The Lee House and Parsonage are said to be the oldest remaining frame houses in the Pacific Northwest.
     The Lee House is said to have housed planning for Oregon’s Provisional Government and the actions of the first judiciary, first post office, and second store. The Pleasant Grove Church is said to be the oldest remaining Presbyterian church in the state of Oregon.
      The tour’s last stop is about two miles away, at a pioneer cemetery in Salem where the remains of Lee, who was originally buried in Canada, were moved in 1907 and reburied next to his family members.
       Closing at Lee’s gravesite with a reading from Luke 24, which describes Christ’s triumph over death, Longanecker says that victory is a motivation for all believers to labor for Him, just as the earliest pioneers here did.
“That’s the faith that is a founding stone, a reminder of what God has done here and would like to do again,” he said.
       Through his Christian Heritage Ministries of the Northwest, Longanecker hopes eventually to fulfill speaking engagements and offer videos and materials in addition to giving tours.
        For more information on the tour schedule and prices, contact Longanecker at 503-709-0779 or vdlonganecker@earthlink.net.