and after smoking & conversing to about 11 oclock a brisk trade was
commenced and continued on to night, when all their furs & leather was
traded, the Chief got some tobacco for his people to smoke in the night
besides a small present of Ammunition and beads 4 Pluis. A present was
also given to, Bundosh[211], a woman who assumes a masculine character
and is of some note among them, she acted as interpreter for us, she
speaks F. Head well. A little ammunition & Tobacco was also given to
some of the other leading men.--The trade was as follows, 481 Large &
205 small beaver, 8 Otters, 1200 Rats, 6 Fishes, 7 Mink, 10 Martens, 21
Elk skins, 27 Deer Skins, 9 (Pannefliches) & 31 fath. cords, which may
be considered an excellent trade as it is seldom or never that things
come up to it in the fall.--The Chief & indeed the whole of them went
off apparently well pleased, though the trade is very cheap, excpt 12
guns, 3 blankts, and a few Kettles, principaly ammunition & Tobacco.
Wed.y. 14
Blowing a storm with heavy rain in the night. Blowing fresh from the
Northward all day, but fair.
The Kootany Chief with some of his people visited the fort & Traded 15
beaver a few rats & some dressed skins. The beaver traded today make up
the Kootany trade now 488 Large & 213 small beaver.--
C. McKay & Joachim Hubert arrived with the Snake Furs, 17 packs & 4
partons, they had only 4 horses of the Companie's and not being able,
as Mr Ogden expected, to obtain any assistance from the Indians,
McKay, had to get part the furs carried by 4 Freemen who accompany
him. Some of these freemen are in disgrace and will probably have to
be punished for their conduct towards Mr Ogden, but as this gentleman
has not written or sent any instructions on the subject, it was thought
best to give them a dram & a piece of Tobacco and not make it appear
that anything was against them till instructions which are written
for, be received from below regarding how they are to be dealt with.
These steps are necessary in order to endeavour to get the furs out of
their hands so that they may not dispose of them in trade among the
Indians.--The caches were not found all complete a few beaver belonging
to one of the men's wives were missing and a cache of 100 Large beaver
belonging to two of the freemen, Bastong & Gadua, was stolen by the
Indians. The horses are very lean and would have been able to go little
farther. They parted with the Indians some time ago. The F Heads will
not be here for some time yet.
(To be continued.)
FOOTNOTES:
[161] Peter Skene Ogden, then in charge of the Snake Country trapping
expedition and on the headwaters of either the Snake or the Missouri
rivers.
[162] Thos. Dears, a clerk in charge of the building at the new trading
post at Kettle Falls, Wash., to be known as Fort Colville.
[163] The family of John McLeod en route to the Red River Dist. Consult
Note No. 40, p. 103, of April Quarterly.
[164] Dr. McLoughlin visited this place the following summer and the
Fort was built where Gov. Simpson had selected the site.
[165] More recently known as Long Prairie, about 18 miles from the Fort.
[166] This Express boat ascended the Columbia River to Boat Encampment
at the mouth of Canoe river and met there by appointment the H. B. Co.
officer returning from York Factory after the annual summer council
there. The horses that brought that Gentleman's party across the
Athabasca pass returned with these passengers and dispatches, and the
officer came back down the Columbia in the boat. Consult this text Oct.
31st Prox.
[167] A prairie still known by the same name; near Springdale, Stevens
county.
[168] Probably Walkers Prairie, where the Walker-Eells Mission was
located in 1838.
[169] This would be Francois Rivet, an interpreter, who was given some
authority by the traders. He afterward settled on French Prairie below
Salem, Oregon.
[170] That is, by the Snake river route through Boise, Payette, Weiser,
Burnt river and the Grande Ronde in Eastern Oregon. He actually arrived
at Fort Walla Walla on Nov. 9th.
[171] The first vegetables grown in Stevens county, Washington, by
white men.
[172] Good cedar timber suitable for boats is said to have grown above
the mouth of Deep creek four or five miles above the Fort.
[173] The flat where Spokane House was built was a small prairie with
some scattering timber in spots. Gov. Stevens found it so in 1853; see
Part 1, Vol. 12 of Pac. Ry. Reports.
[174] Mr. Kittson's first wife was from the Walla Walla tribe: their
son Peter William, born at Fort Walla Walla in 1830, is still living
(1914) about 25 miles from Portland, Oregon.
[175] See Gov. Simpson's instructions in entry of July 21st ante.
The Pend d'Oreille river between Metaline Falls and its mouth is not
navigable to this day and this route was never adopted.
[176] That is: from Fort Nez Perces or Walla Walla.
[177] From other sources we know that Dr. McLoughlin did not get
further inland than Fort Walla Walla that season.
[178] Spokane or Coeur d'Alene prairie.
[179] A. R. McLeod, a chief trader who remained on the Columbia several
years and commanded expedition against the Clallam Indians In 1828, for
which he was criticised and perhaps censured: Mr. Samuel Black (who was
afterwards murdered at Kamloops) was on the way to take charge of Fort
Walla Walla to relieve Mr. Dease there; Francis Ermatinger remained in
the Columbia District for twenty years, but the brother, Mr. Edward
Ermatinger, retired to St. Thomas, Ontario, in 1828. Consult "Journal
of Edward Ermatinger," published by Royal Society of Canada, Ottawa,
1912. This "Express" brought mail from Hudson's Bay and all Eastern
points. The Forks means the mouth of the Spokane river.
[180] William Kittson and Francis Ermatinger, clerks of the Hudson's
Bay Company, the latter on his way to take charge of Fort Oknaugan for
the winter; Mr. Work and James Birnle, also a clerk, remain in charge
at Spokane House. Mr. Birnie passed his last days at Cathlamet on the
lower Columbia; his descendants reside there.
[181] The prairie pasture between the Spokane Falls and the Coeur
d'Alene lake.
[182] The Kootenay river was originally named McGilllvray's river, by
David Thompson.
[183] Kootenay Falls near Troy, Lincoln County, Montana; the "Old Fort"
referred to stood opposite Jennings, Montana, about 25 miles further up
the river. For mention of that Fort consult Ross Cox.
[184] See letter from Gov. Simpson in Part I of this Journal (p. 98 of
this Quarterly for April 1914).
[185] That is, the house for building cedar batteaux, which were to be
run down to the Columbia river at high water in the spring.
[186] Mr. J. W. Dease, who had been in charge of Fort Walla Walla, but
was being transferred to Spokane House, but is delayed waiting for
Peter Skene Ogden's arrival from the Snake Country of Southern Idaho.
[187] Mr. Work is assigned to spend the winter at the trading post
among the Flathead Indians in Montana. The "portage" refers to the 76
miles over which they must carry the trading goods on pack animals
between Spokane House and the Pend d'Oreille river.
[188] About where Hilyard now is, near city of Spokane.
[189] Rathdrum creek, probably.
[190] That is, at the Spokane Falls.
[191] Now called Hoodoo Lake, in Bonner County, Idaho. The
Spokane-International By. passes by it.
[192] That is at Sina-acateen crossing of the Pend d'Oreille river,
nearly opposite Laclede station of the Great Northern By.
[193] Meaning the Kullyspell House or trading post established in
Sept., 180, by David Thompson, but long since abandoned; it stood not
far from Hope, Idaho.
[194] Sand Point of the present day, very early and properly so named.
[195] Kootenay Falls of the oKotenay river.
[196] Meaning Mr. Finan McDonald, who had resided among the Spokane
Indians for years, but who was absent now on exploring expedition into
southern Oregon.
[197] Probably Cabinet rapids of the Clark Fork river.
[198] Probably Trout creek, of today.
[199] Meaning Thompson Falls, Montana.
[200] Thompson's Prairie or Plain, where David Thompson established his
Saleesh House in Oct., 1809. The H. B. Co. removed the trading post
further up the river. This camp was close to the mouth of Thompson
river.
[201] Peter Skene Ogden. Consult Oregon Hist. Quarterly, Vol. 10, pp.
229-78.
[202] Flathead Fort or House, then located at or near the present R. R.
station of Eddy, in Sanders county, Montana, on main line of No. Pac.
Ry.
[203] The best Mr. Work could make or the Indian family name Saleesh or
Salish.
[204] Probably about 8 miles away on the Horse Plains, of Plains,
Montana, where was usual Indian camping ground.
[205] The portage across from Pend d'Oreille lake north to Bonners
Ferry on the oKotenay river, known as the flat portage because of there
being no high mountain range to cross, and the Kootenay Indians on that
part of the river being designated by the same name.
[206] These Indians crossed by the "Kootenae Road," shown on David
Thompson's famous map (See Henry-Thompson Journals) from near Jennings,
Montana, south across the Caldnet Mountains to Thompson's Prairie, or
to the Horse Plains.
[207] Both Nez Perces and Flatheads spent the summer and fall hunting
buffalo on the prairie along the Missouri river.
[208] For a graphic description of this custom consult Oregon Hist.
Quarterly for December, 1913; given in Journal of Alex. Ross, who had
charge of this Fort in Dec., 1824.
[209] Mr. McKay was bringing furs from Mr. Ogden's party, which had
been in southern Idaho, but the main party had returned direct to Fort
Walla Walla.
[210] Parflesches or saddle bags.
[211] In 1811 two Indians in men's clothes appeared at Ft. Astoria, as
related by Franchere, Ross and Irving. They returned to the interior
with David Thompson's party that summer. He described them as Kootenays
and one of them as a prophetess and this may be the same Indian.
THE COLUMBIA RIVER UNDER HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY RULE[212]
By his _Astoria_ Washington Irving drew the eyes of the world to the
now far famed Columbia River and perpetuated the story of the late
John Jacob Astor's ill fated enterprise on the Pacific Coast. The name
"Astoria" recalls, not only the trading fort which gave the book its
title, but the varied adventures by sea and land of those who went
forth to plant the Stars and Stripes on the Columbia and to secure for
Mr. Astor's company a share of the rich fur trade of the far West.
If Mr. Astor's great enterprise was, through no fault of his, doomed to
failure, almost from its beginning, it enabled him to supply, from the
correspondence and journals of his co-partners and employees, material
with which Washington Irving was able to shed the halo of a romantic
early history upon the Columbia and the Northern Pacific Coast. Captain
Bonneville's adventures enabled the illustrious author to extend his
chronicles to regions further east.
Among the cherished possessions of the present writer is an old volume,
presented to his father by the author. It was published in Montreal
in 1820. It is written in French by G. Franchere, _fils_, one of the
clerks who sailed in the _Tonquin_ in 1810, on her memorable voyage
round Cape Horn, to the Sandwich Islands and the Columbia, where he
remained to assist in the founding of _Astoria_ and other trading
posts. On the cession of the posts to the Canadian "Northwest Company"
he remained a few months in the employ of the latter, and returned
over the mountains and by way of the Red River settlement and Lake
Superior to Montreal in 1814. His narrative agrees in the main with
that of Irving. Indeed, it is probable that it was one of the sources
from which the latter obtained his account of the _Tonquin's_ trip and
subsequent events on the Columbia. On two points dwelt on by Irving it
is, however, silent--the one, the marriage of Macdougall, one of the
partners in the Astor company, to the dusky princess, the daughter of
King Comcomly--the other, the chief part played by Macdougall in the
transfer of Astoria to the British company. It is probable, however,
that a marriage, after the Indian custom, may have taken place between
these personages, M. Franchere not thinking it worth while to mention
the matter, nor even the fact of the young woman's existence. That
there was treachery toward Mr. Astor in McDougall's dealings with the
North West Company is rather a matter of inference with Irving than a
distinct charge. Franchere--who speaks of the bargain with the North
West Company as participated in by all present at Astoria at the
time--not being a partner, could scarcely know more than appeared on
the surface.
The only sentence in English in Franchere's book is contained in a
footnote. It is the now historic exclamation of Captain Black of His
Majesty's ship _Raccoon_ when he landed at Astoria: "What! Is this the
Fort I have heard so much of! Great God! I could batter it down with
a four pounder in two hours." Franchere evidently thought his French
rendering of these memorable words did not do the gallant captain
complete justice, so he re-translated them, and Irving repeats them in
all their nautical Anglo-Saxon vigour.
Washington Irving's chronicle of Astoria practically closed with
the cession of that post to McTavish, representing the North West
Company--with the running up of the British in place of the American
flag at the Fort in 1813 and the change of name from Astoria to "Fort
George." As the North West Company thus swallowed up the American
Company in 1813, so in 1821 the Hudson's Bay Company practically
swallowed the North West Company--though the settlement of the
irregular warfare, waged for years between these rival British
companies, was termed an association or coalition.
The industrious beaver and his less industrious neighbour, the Indian,
saw little or no change. It will, however, be remembered by readers
of _Astoria_ how disgusted was the worthy one-eyed monarch, King
Comcomly, chief of the Chinooks, at the sudden change of flag at
Astoria, brought about by his son-in-law, McDougall, whom he finally
concluded to be a squaw rather than a warrior. Yet Comcomly lived on
and, making a virtue of necessity, cultivated friendship and amity
with the British as he had before with the Americans. His poor opinion
of his whilom son-in-law may have subsequently been confused by the
fact of the latter's leaving the princess, his wife, behind when he
left the country--though, as a rule, both the wife and her family in
such cases preferred her remaining among her own people to venturing
into the haunts of civilization. The divorced princess in question,
too, we reserved for higher honours; as we are told by Paul Kane, a
Canadian artist and traveller, who visited the country in the forties,
that she subsequently became the favourite wife of a powerful chief
named Casanov, who could previously to 1829 lead into the field 1000
men--leaving at home, at the same time, ten wives, four children and
eighteen slaves. Casanov is described as a man of more than ordinary
talent for an Indian, and of great influence with the people whom he
governed, in the vicinity of the British fort, Vancouver--Chinooks
and Klickitats. He possessed, among other luxuries, a functionary,
known as his "Scoocoone" or "evil genius"--a sort of Lord High
Executioner--whose duty it was to remove persons obnoxious to his lord
and master, by assassination. This functionary had the misfortune to
fall in love with one of Casanov's wives, who eloped with him--with the
result that, though they at first eluded his search, Casanov at length
met and "removed" his errant wife on the Cowlitz river and procured
also a like fate for her lover, the whilom executioner himself.
It was the belief of the chiefs that they and their sons were
personages so important that their deaths could not occur in a natural
way, but were always attributable to the malevolent influence of some
one, whom they selected in an unaccountable manner and unhesitatingly
sacrificed. One most near and dear to the deceased was as likely to be
selected as another. The former wife of McDougall, now favourite wife
of Casanov, was thus selected by him, to accompany her own son, who
died of consumption, to the great beyond, but she escaped and sought
and was accorded protection at Fort Vancouver. Mr. Black, an officer of
the Hudson's Bay Company in charge of their Fort on Thompson's River,
fell a victim to the same superstitious custom--shot in the back by the
nephew of an old chief with whom Black had been on the most friendly
terms, at the instigation of the dead chief's widow. Regard for Mr.
Black, however, impelled the young man's tribe to ignore the sanction
of the custom and hunt down and put him to death.
The company chartered by gay King Charles II--"the company of gentleman
adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay," or "the Honourable the Hudson's
Bay Company"--as it was and still is styled--was undoubtedly the
dominant partner in the new coalition. Newspaper and pamphlet warfare
occasionally broke out between partizans or admirers of the former
rival corporations during the next half century--an occasional flow
of ink of controversy instead of the flow of blood which sometimes
characterized their collisions in former days--but the North West
Company had ceased to exist, while the Hudson's Bay Company ruled
almost half a continent.
On the Columbia their chief post was established ninety miles up the
river from the sea and was called Fort Vancouver--which must not be
confused with the flourishing young city at the western terminus of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. Fort George or Astoria became thereafter
a subsidiary post, utilized as a place from which a watch could be
kept on the movements of American traders. Though the territory now
comprising Oregon and Washington was claimed by the United States ever
since Captain Gray with his good ship _Columbia_ passed the dreaded bar
and gave the river a name, the Hudson's Bay Company was, under a series
of ten-year treaties between the two nations, leaving the question of
ownership open--providing indeed for a joint occupation--in practical
possession of the country and its trade, until the boundary question
was finally settled in 1846--not long after which the company withdrew
its headquarters to the north of the 49th parallel. The company
gradually obtained control by lease of a number of the Russian posts as
well, maintaining also vessels to trade along the seashore. The country
tributary to the Columbia was rich in furs in those days. Even as late
as 1840, one trader, for example, was able to bring out of the Snake
country 3300 beaver and otter skins, the result of his season's work
for the company.
Though Sir George Simpson was the governor in chief of the Hudson's
Bay Company after the coalition, the dominant spirit west of the Rocky
Mountains for some twenty-five years was Dr. John McLaughlin--the "Big
Doctor," as he was familiarly termed. "He was the partner in charge
of the whole Columbia department, to which is attached that of New
Caledonia and Fraser River, for more than a quarter of a century,"
wrote an old Hudson's Bay clerk[213] who knew the doctor, "a more
indefatigable and enterprising man it would have been difficult
to find. With an energetic and indomitable spirit, his capacious
mind conceived and pushed forward every kind of improvement for
the advancement of commerce and the benefit of civilization. With
only seven head of horned cattle and others which he imported from
California, by good management and perseverance, he stocked the whole
of the Oregon territory, until they had increased to thousands. He
built saw mills and cultivated an extensive farm on the beautiful
prairie of Fort Vancouver. Subsequently he laid the foundation of
Oregon City, where he built a splendid grist mill. The machinery of
the mill he imported from Scotland and from the same country a good,
practical miller. * * * By every means in his power he promoted trade
and commerce with other countries. To Sitka, the principal Russian
establishment, the company exported produce--chiefly wheat--to the
Sandwich Islands lumber and salmon, and to California, hides and
tallow. In short, under Dr. McLaughlin's management, everything was
done to develop the resources of the country." Two military officers,
Warre and Vavaseur, who visited Oregon on the part of the British
government, reported that the doctor favoured the Americans. While his
correspondence shows a sympathy with the advanced political party in
Canada, which at that time would have been there regarded as proof
positive of "Americanism," the fact is that the doctor's mind was of
that liberal cast which favoured everyone who could be useful to the
country. Britisher or foreigner. This is borne out by his actions as
well as his unpublished correspondence.
Not only was there an extensive farm established at Fort Vancouver,
but others at Fort Colville and on the Cowlitz, while a large grazing
company or association was formed, to raise sheep, near Puget's
Sound. The doctor was, moreover, anxious to wean the red man from his
savage life to agricultural pursuits, as well as to promote in every
way the settlement of the country. He succeeded in making cattle
plentiful by forbidding the killing of any for a considerable period.
At last he wrote in 1837, "I killed forty head of cattle last summer,
so, you see, the taboo is broken." He hailed with satisfaction the
arrival of missionaries, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, and did
much to inculcate temperate habits among the people, both whites and
natives. Indeed, in 1843 he rejoiced in having for a number of years
successfully enforced a prohibitory law for both Indians and the French
settlers on the Willamette, at that time numbering 200, ninety per cent
of whom were old voyageurs and American Rocky Mountain trappers, yet
with few exceptions temperance men, "which," quaintly wrote the doctor,
"I think may be said to be unique of its nature in such a number." The
American traders seem to have been his chief foes in the region of the
Columbia, in regard to the liquor traffic--as the Russians were in the
regions farther North.
The doctor was a firm believer in exemplary punishment for crime,
especially in territories where such punishment only would act as a
deterrent on savages, who might at any time be tempted to outrage. One
instance of his method of dealing with such cases may be referred to.
From an old manuscript report of one of the Company's traders, who
took part in the proceedings detailed, the following particulars are
gleaned. In January, 1828, Mr. Alexander McKenzie and four men under
his charge were murdered on Puget's Sound, on their way from Fort
Langley, and an Indian woman of the party carried off, by the tribe
known as the Clallums. All the effective men at Fort Vancouver were
mustered and told by Chief Factor McLaughlin of the affair and of the
necessity for an expedition being sent off in search of the murderous
tribe, to make a salutary example of them if possible. A call for
volunteers brought a ready response and on the 17th June a force of
upwards of sixty men under Chief Trader Alex. R. McLeod set forth, with
a salute of cannon from the fort and cheers from the officers and crew
of the _Eagle_--presumably an American vessel. The voyageurs having
enjoyed their customary _regale_ and the Iroquois their war dance,
on the previous evening, no delay for these ever necessary functions
occurred and the expedition proceeded down the Columbia and up the
Cowlitz to the _portage_, where their boats were _cached_, and horses
obtained. Then the motley army, consisting of Canadians, half-breeds,
Iroquois, Sandwich Islanders and Chinooks, with Scotch and English
officers, mounted, set forth, looking, as the chronicler thought,
more like a band of gypsies than a force collected for the purpose in
view. At the end of the _portage_ the force again embarked in canoes
and on 1st July, coming upon a couple of lodges, one, understood to be
occupied by Clallums, was at once attacked and death immediately dealt
out to its inmates, ruthlessly, regardless apparently as to whether
they were concerned in the murder of McKenzie and his party or not,
while in the semi-darkness of evening men, women and even children
appear to have shared the same fate.