Index :: 1866 400 Women

Emigration to Washington Territory of Four Hundred Women on the Steamer "Continental."

No more curious or more suggestive Exodus ever took place than the Exodus of Women to Washington Territory under the leadership of Mr. Asa S. Mercer. The scheme proposed by Mr. Mercer is in every way original and praiseworthy. This gentleman the Moses of this Exodus from New England to the West, is a graduate of Franklin College, Ohio. He went to the Washington Territory five years ago for recreation. He found the Territory rich in resources, which it required a vast population fully to develop. The actual population of the Territory was meagre, owing in great part to the small proportion of women.

Mr. Mercer saw that there were nine men in the Territory to one woman. His official position as President of the Washington Territory University—an office to which he was chosen soon after his arrival in the Territory—brought him into direct contact with the people. He saw that the emigrants from Eastern States had been for the most part respectable young men who sought the more promising opportunities for business which a new and fertile country always offers. His survey of the social condition of the Territory led Mr. Mercer to come to New England to find women for teachers. This was two years ago. He succeeded in inducing twelve ladies to emigrate for that purpose. This was an experiment, and it proved a success. He found that the ladies were soon married, and there were none to take their places.

Mr. Mercer therefore determined to undertake the transportation of women on a larger scale. He traveled over the North, from Kansas to Maine, in search of intelligent women willing to emigrate, and willing to labor at sewing or teaching. He chartered a steamer, expecting that the Government would pay the expense. Here he was disappointed, and this caused so great a delay that many of the young ladies (he had induced about 750 to enter upon the expedition) returned to their homes. Some friends advanced the necessary funds, and Mr. Mercer persevered in his undertaking. Although he takes but about four hundred women with him, we wish him success in his undertaking, hoping that this first Exodus may not be the last.