Disquieting Rumors From the Interior.--Reconnoitring Party--
Preparations for a Trading Post.--An Unexpected Arrival--A
Spy in the Camp.--Expedition Into the Interior--Shores of
the Columbia--Mount Coffin.--Indian Sepulchre.--The Land of
Spirits--Columbian Valley--Vancouver’s Point.-Falls and
Rapids.--A Great Fishing Mart.--The Village of Wishram.--
Difference Between Fishing Indians and Hunting Indians--
Effects of Habits of Trade on the Indian Character.--Post
Established at the Oakinagan.
WHILE the Astorians were busily occupied in completing their factory and
fort, a report was brought to them by an Indian from the upper part of
the river, that a party of thirty white men had appeared on the banks
of the Columbia, and were actually building houses at the second rapids.
This information caused much disquiet. We have already mentioned that
the Northwest Company had established posts to the west of the Rocky
Mountains, in a district called by them New Caledonia, which extended
from lat. 52 to 55 deg north, being within the British territories. It
was now apprehended that they were advancing within the American limits,
and were endeavoring to seize upon the upper part of the river and
forestall the American Fur Company in the surrounding trade; in which
case bloody feuds might be anticipated, such as had prevailed between
the rival fur companies in former days.
A reconnoitring party was sent up the river to ascertain the truth of
the report. They ascended to the foot of the first rapid, about two
hundred miles, but could hear nothing of any white men being in the
neighborhood.
Not long after their return, however, further accounts were received,
by two wandering Indians, which established the fact that the Northwest
Company had actually erected a trading house on the Spokane River, which
falls into the north branch of the Columbia.
What rendered this intelligence the more disquieting was the inability
of the Astorians, in their present reduced state as to numbers, and
the exigencies of their new establishment, to furnish detachments
to penetrate the country in different directions, and fix the posts
necessary to secure the interior trade.
It was resolved, however, at any rate, to advance a countercheck to this
post on the Spokan, and one of the partners, Mr. David Stuart, prepared
to set out for the purpose with eight men and a small assortment of
goods. He was to be guided by the two Indians, who knew the country and
promised to take him to a place not far from the Spokan River, and in a
neighborhood abounding with beaver. Here he was to establish himself and
to remain for a time, provided he found the situation advantageous and
the natives friendly.
On the 15th of July, when Mr. Stuart was nearly ready to embark, a canoe
made its appearance, standing for the harbor, and manned by nine white
men. Much speculation took place who these strangers could be, for it
was too soon to expect their own people, under Mr. Hunt, who were to
cross the continent. As the canoe drew near, the British standard was
distinguished: on coming to land, one of the crew stepped on shore, and
announced himself as Mr. David Thompson, astronomer, and partner of
the Northwest Company. According to his account, he had set out in the
preceding year with a tolerably strong party, and a supply of Indian
goods, to cross the Rocky Mountains. A part of his people, however, had
deserted him on the eastern side, and returned with the goods to the
nearest Northwest post. He had persisted in crossing the mountains
with eight men, who remained true to him. They had traversed the higher
regions, and ventured near the source of the Columbia, where, in the
spring, they had constructed a cedar canoe, the same in which they had
reached Astoria.
This, in fact, was the party despatched by the Northwest Company to
anticipate Mr. Astor in his intention of effecting a settlement at the
mouth of the Columbia River. It appears, from information subsequently
derived from other sources, that Mr. Thompson had pushed on his course
with great haste, calling at all the Indian villages in his march,
presenting them with British flags, and even planting them at the forks
of the rivers, proclaiming formally that he took possession of the
country in the name of the king of Great Britain for the Northwest
Company. As his original plan was defeated by the desertion of
his people, it is probable that he descended the river simply to
reconnoitre, and ascertain whether an American settlement had been
commenced.
Mr. Thompson was, no doubt, the first white man who descended the
northern branch of the Columbia from so near its source. Lewis and
Clarke struck the main body of the river at the forks, about four
hundred miles from its mouth. They entered it from Lewis River, its
southern branch, and thence descended.
Though Mr. Thompson could be considered as little better than a spy in
the camp, he was received with great cordiality by Mr. M’Dougal, who
had a lurking feeling of companionship and good-will for all of the
Northwest Company. He invited him to head-quarters, where he and his
people were hospitably entertained. Nay, further, being somewhat in
extremity, he was furnished by Mr. M’Dougal with goods and provisions
for his journey back across the mountains, much against the wishes Of
Mr. David Stuart, who did not think the object of his visit entitled him
to any favor.
On the 23rd of July, Mr. Stuart set out upon his expedition to the
interior. His party consisted of four of the clerks, Messrs. Pillet,
Ross, M’Lennon, and Montigny, two Canadian voyageurs, and two natives of
the Sandwich Islands. They had three canoes well laden with provisions,
and with goods and necessities for a trading establishment.
Mr. Thompson and his party set out in company with them, it being
his intention to proceed direct to Montreal. The partners at Astoria
forwarded by him a short letter to Mr. Astor, informing him of their
safe arrival at the mouth of the Columbia, and that they had not
yet heard of Mr. Hunt. The little squadron of canoes set sail with a
favorable breeze, and soon passed Tongue Point, a long, high, and rocky
promontory, covered with trees, and stretching far into the river.
Opposite to this, on the northern shore, is a deep bay, where the
Columbia anchored at the time of the discovery, and which is still
called Gray’s Bay, from the name of her commander.
From hence, the general course of the river for about seventy miles
was nearly southeast; varying in breadth according to its bays and
indentations, and navigable for vessels of three hundred tons. The
shores were in some places high and rocky, with low marshy islands at
their feet, subject to inundation, and covered with willows, poplars,
and other trees that love an alluvial soil. Sometimes the mountains
receded, and gave place to beautiful plains and noble forests. While
the river margin was richly fringed with trees of deciduous foliage, the
rough uplands were crowned by majestic pines, and firs of gigantic size,
some towering to the height of between two and three hundred feet, with
proportionate circumference. Out of these the Indians wrought their
great canoes and pirogues.
At one part of the river, they passed, on the northern side, an isolated
rock, about one hundred and fifty feet high, rising from a low marshy
soil, and totally disconnected with the adjacent mountains. This was
held in great reverence by the neighboring Indians, being one of their
principal places of sepulture. The same provident care for the deceased
that prevails among the hunting tribes of the prairies is observable
among the piscatory tribes of the rivers and sea-coast. Among the
former, the favorite horse of the hunter is buried with him in the same
funereal mound, and his bow and arrows are laid by his side, that he
may be perfectly equipped for the “happy hunting grounds” of the land of
spirits. Among the latter, the Indian is wrapped in his mantle of
skins, laid in his canoe, with his paddle, his fishing spear, and other
implements beside him, and placed aloft on some rock or other eminence
overlooking the river, or bay, or lake, that he has frequented. He is
thus fitted out to launch away upon those placid streams and sunny lakes
stocked with all kinds of fish and waterfowl, which are prepared in the
next world for those who have acquitted themselves as good sons, good
fathers, good husbands, and, above all, good fishermen, during their
mortal sojourn.
The isolated rock in question presented a spectacle of the kind,
numerous dead bodies being deposited in canoes on its summit; while on
poles around were trophies, or, rather, funeral offerings of trinkets,
garments, baskets of roots, and other articles for the use of the
deceased. A reverential feeling protects these sacred spots from robbery
or insult. The friends of the deceased, especially the women, repair
here at sunrise and sunset for some time after his death, singing his
funeral dirge, and uttering loud wailings and lamentations.
From the number of dead bodies in canoes observed upon this rock by
the first explorers of the river, it received the name of Mount Coffin,
which it continues to bear.
Beyond this rock they passed the mouth of a river on the right bank
of the Columbia, which appeared to take its rise in a distant mountain
covered with snow. The Indian name of this river was the Cowleskee. Some
miles further on they came to the great Columbian Valley, so called by
Lewis and Clarke. It is sixty miles in width, and extends far to the
southeast between parallel ridges of mountains, which bound it on the
east and west. Through the centre of this valley flowed a large and
beautiful stream, called the Wallamot, which came wandering for several
miles, through a yet unexplored wilderness. The sheltered situation of
this immense valley had an obvious effect upon the climate. It was a
region of great beauty and luxuriance, with lakes and pools, and green
meadows shaded by noble groves. Various tribes were said to reside in
this valley, and along the banks of the Wallamot.
About eight miles above the mouth of the Wallamot the little squadron
arrived at Vancouver’s Point, so called in honor of that celebrated
voyager by his lieutenant (Broughton) when he explored the river.
This point is said to present one of the most beautiful scenes on the
Columbia; a lovely meadow, with a silver sheet of limpid water in the
center, enlivened by wild-fowl, a range of hills crowned by forests,
while the prospect is closed by Mount Hood, a magnificent mountain
rising into a lofty peak, and covered with snow; the ultimate landmark
of the first explorers of the river.
Point Vancouver is about one hundred miles from Astoria. Here the reflux
of the tide ceases to be perceptible. To this place vessels of two and
three hundred tons burden may ascend. The party under the command of
Mr. Stuart had been three or four days in reaching it, though we have
forborne to notice their daily progress and nightly encampments.
From Point Vancouver the river turned towards the northeast, and
became more contracted and rapid, with occasional islands and frequent
sand-banks. These islands are furnished with a number of ponds, and
at certain seasons abound with swans, geese, brandts, cranes, gulls,
plover, and other wild-fowl. The shores, too, are low and closely
wooded, with such an undergrowth of vines and rushes as to be almost
impassable.
About thirty miles above Point Vancouver the mountains again approach
on both sides of the river, which is bordered by stupendous precipices,
covered with the fir and the white cedar, and enlivened occasionally by
beautiful cascades leaping from a great height, and sending up wreaths
of vapor. One of these precipices, or cliffs, is curiously worn by time
and weather so as to have the appearance of a ruined fortress, with
towers and battlements, beetling high above the river, while two small
cascades, one hundred and fifty feet in height, pitch down from the
fissures of the rocks.
The turbulence and rapidity of the current continually augmenting as
they advanced, gave the voyagers intimation that they were approaching
the great obstructions of the river, and at length they arrived at
Strawberry Island, so called by Lewis and Clarke, which lies at the
foot of the first rapid. As this part of the Columbia will be repeatedly
mentioned in the course of this work, being the scene of some of its
incidents, we shall give a general description of it in this place.
The falls or rapids of the Columbia are situated about one hundred and
eighty miles above the mouth of the river. The first is a perpendicular
cascade of twenty feet, after which there is a swift descent for a
mile, between islands of hard black rock, to another pitch of eight feet
divided by two rocks. About two and a half miles below this the river
expands into a wide basin, seemingly dammed up by a perpendicular ridge
of black rock. A current, however, sets diagonally to the left of this
rocky barrier, where there is a chasm forty-five yards in width. Through
this the whole body of the river roars along, swelling and whirling
and boiling for some distance in the wildest confusion. Through this
tremendous channel the intrepid explorers of the river, Lewis and
Clarke, passed in their boats; the danger being, not from the rocks, but
from the great surges and whirlpools.
At the distance of a mile and a half from the foot of this narrow
channel is a rapid, formed by two rocky islands; and two miles beyond is
a second great fall, over a ledge of rocks twenty feet high, extending
nearly from shore to shore. The river is again compressed into a channel
from fifty to a hundred feet wide, worn through a rough bed of hard
black rock, along which it boils and roars with great fury for the
distance of three miles. This is called “The Long Narrows.”
Here is the great fishing place of the Columbia. In the spring of the
year, when the water is high, the salmon ascend the river in incredible
numbers. As they pass through this narrow strait, the Indians, standing
on the rocks, or on the end of wooden stages projecting from the banks,
scoop them up with small nets distended on hoops and attached to long
handles, and cast them on the shore.
They are then cured and packed in a peculiar manner. After having
been opened and disemboweled, they are exposed to the sun on scaffolds
erected on the river banks. When sufficiently dry, they are pounded fine
between two stones, pressed into the smallest compass, and packed
in baskets or bales of grass matting, about two feet long and one in
diameter, lined with the cured skin of a salmon. The top is likewise
covered with fish skins, secured by cords passing through holes in the
edge of the basket. Packages are then made, each containing twelve of
these bales, seven at bottom, five at top, pressed close to each other,
with the corded side upward, wrapped in mats and corded. These are
placed in dry situations, and again covered with matting. Each of these
packages contains from ninety to a hundred pounds of dried fish, which
in this state will keep sound for several years.**
**(Lewis and Clarke, vol. ii. p. 32.)
We have given this process at some length, as furnished by the first
explorers, because it marks a practiced ingenuity in preparing articles
of traffic for a market, seldom seen among our aboriginals. For like
reason we would make especial mention of the village of Wishram, at the
head of the Long Narrows, as being a solitary instance of an aboriginal
trading mart, or emporium. Here the salmon caught in the neighboring
rapids were “warehoused,” to await customers. Hither the tribes from
the mouth of the Columbia repaired with the fish of the sea-coast, the
roots, berries, and especially the wappatoo, gathered in the lower parts
of the river, together with goods and trinkets obtained from the ships
which casually visit the coast. Hither also the tribes from the
Rocky Mountains brought down horses, bear-grass, quamash, and other
commodities of the interior. The merchant fishermen at the falls acted
as middlemen or factors, and passed the objects of traffic, as it were,
cross-handed; trading away part of the wares received from the mountain
tribes to those of the rivers and plains, and vice versa: their packages
of pounded salmon entered largely into the system of barter, and being
carried off in opposite directions, found their way to the savage
hunting camps far in the interior, and to the casual white traders who
touched upon the coast.
We have already noticed certain contrarieties of character between the
Indian tribes, produced by their diet and mode of life; and nowhere are
they more apparent than about the falls of the Columbia. The Indians
of this great fishing mart are represented by the earliest explorers as
sleeker and fatter, but less hardy and active, than the tribes of the
mountains and prairies, who live by hunting, or of the upper parts of
the river, where fish is scanty, and the inhabitants must eke out their
subsistence by digging roots or chasing the deer. Indeed, whenever an
Indian of the upper country is too lazy to hunt, yet is fond of good
living, he repairs to the falls, to live in abundance without labor.
“By such worthless dogs as these,” says an honest trader in his journal,
which now lies before us, “by such worthless dogs as these are these
noted fishing-places peopled, which, like our great cities, may with
propriety be called the headquarters of vitiated principles.”
The habits of trade and the avidity of gain have their corrupting
effects even in the wilderness, as may be instanced in the members of
this aboriginal emporium; for the same journalist denounces them as
“saucy, impudent rascals, who will steal when they can, and pillage
whenever a weak party falls in their power.”
That he does not belie them will be evidenced hereafter, when we have
occasion again to touch at Wishram and navigate the rapids. In the
present instance the travellers effected the laborious ascent of this
part of the river, with all its various portages, without molestation,
and once more launched away in smooth water above the high falls.
The two parties continued together, without material impediment, for
three or four hundred miles further up the Columbia; Mr. Thompson
appearing to take great interest in the success of Mr. Stuart, and
pointing out places favorable, as he said, to the establishment of his
contemplated trading post.
Mr. Stuart, who distrusted his sincerity, at length pretended to adopt
his advice, and, taking leave of him, remained as if to establish
himself, while the other proceeded on his course towards the mountains.
No sooner, however, had he fairly departed than Mr. Stuart again pushed
forward, under guidance of the two Indians, nor did he stop until he had
arrived within about one hundred and forty miles of the Spokan River,
which he considered near enough to keep the rival establishment in
check. The place which he pitched upon for his trading post was a point
of land about three miles in length and two in breadth, formed by the
junction of the Oakinagan with the Columbia. The former is a river which
has its source in a considerable lake about one hundred and fifty miles
west of the point of junction. The two rivers, about the place of their
confluence, are bordered by immense prairies covered with herbage, but
destitute of trees. The point itself was ornamented with wild flowers
of every hue, in which innumerable humming-birds were “banqueting nearly
the livelong day.”
The situation of this point appeared to be well adapted for a trading
post. The climate was salubrious, the soil fertile, the rivers well
stocked with fish, the natives peaceable and friendly. There were easy
communications with the interior by the upper waters of the Columbia and
the lateral stream of the Oakinagan, while the downward current of the
Columbia furnished a highway to Astoria.
Availing himself, therefore, of the driftwood which had collected in
quantities in the neighboring bends of the river, Mr. Stuart and his men
set to work to erect a house, which in a little while was sufficiently
completed for their residence; and thus was established the first
interior post of the company. We will now return to notice the progress
of affairs at the mouth of the Columbia.