Eastward from Astoria—The War of 1812 on a Business Basis in
Oregon—Astoria Becomes Fort George—The Pacific Fur Company
Expires—Louisiana Delimited at Last—The Expedition of Major
Long—A Steamboat on the Missouri—The First Man on Pike's Peak—The
Elusive Red River Refuses to be Explored—Closing on the Inner
Wilderness—The Spanish Sentinel Turns Mexican.
The Astoria establishment was now in good order. There seemed to be
no reason why Astor's project at last should not move on to success.
Several trading-posts were founded in the upper Columbia valley, and to
further develop the situation, Hunt, in the supply ship _Beaver_, which
had duly arrived in May, 1812, sailed north along the coast. This was
in accordance with another part of the plan whereby arrangements had
been made with the Russians for supplying their North American trading
posts with merchandise and transporting their peltry. The chief of the
Russian company was the famous Baranof, a man of domineering power
and iron purpose. His home was in the celebrated Baranof Castle, at
New Archangel, now Sitka, a castle that saw grog flow like water, and
where a teetotaler met with no toleration. The castle, a massive log
structure, was accidentally burned only a few years ago. Hunt withstood
as well as he could the power of Baranof's potations, and succeeded in
adjusting his business satisfactorily.
Before he left Astoria, he sent Robert Stuart, a young Scotchman of
integrity, good judgment, and sincere devotion to the company, back
overland on June 29th, with messages for Astor, and this journey
deserves more space than it is possible to give it here, for Stuart
traversed new ground a part of the way, and so may be recorded among
the first Wilderness breakers.[80] With him went McClellan, Ramsay
Crooks, John Day, Ben Jones, Andri Vallar, and Francis Le Clerc. Crooks
and John Day, after having reluctantly been left behind by Hunt, had
finally arrived at Astoria in a desperate condition, from which Crooks
recovered, but Day's health was permanently destroyed and, his mind
giving way, Stuart was obliged to send him back to Astoria, where he
died the next year. His memory endures in the name of a river in Idaho,
as well as in his connection with the second great traverse of the
continent within the limits of the United States. The Stuart party on
its eastward way followed the Columbia and the Snake, meeting opposition
from some natives and assistance from others. They also encountered
near the head of the Snake some of the hunters who had been left to
trap and trade. These men were in a sorry plight, having met with
various disasters and also with robbery at the hands of hostile bands
of natives. At Caldron Linn they found that six of the caches had been
robbed by natives under the guidance of three _voyageurs_ of the Hunt
party who had remained behind and finally had taken up their residence
among some Shoshones. Fitting out several of the men from the three
remaining caches, Stuart left them to once more try their fortunes, and
directed his course on to the East. After a good deal of difficulty,
the 17th of October found him crossing one of the branches of the Green.
Food was limited, and finding no buffalo here the men were at the last
notch. Francis Le Clerc insisted that lots should be cast, as it was
better for one to die than for all, but Stuart threatened to shoot him
on the spot for the suggestion. Food was soon after obtained and the
party saved from extinction.
[Illustration: On the Virgin River, Southern Utah, near where Escalante
Went in 1776. Pine Valley Mountain in Distance.
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.]
Crossing over to the head of the North Platte, which they did not know
at the time, they descended its wide valley for a long distance, and
then made a permanent camp for the winter, November 2d, where there
was abundant game. A visit from a war party of Arapahos caused them to
abandon the place and seek another, where the remainder of the winter
was passed comfortably without interruption, and in the early spring
they continued down the Platte, meeting in April with an Otoe who told
them of the war between the United States and Great Britain. Within a
few miles of the Missouri they bought a canoe from a trader and then
sailed down, arriving at St. Louis April 30th, 1813, ten months after
their departure from Astoria. Their horses had all been stolen on the
way by the natives, which not only caused delay, but deprived them of a
permanent food supply, and was one cause of their descent to the brink
of collapse.
As soon as the news of the war reached the North-west Company, orders
were issued for a party to proceed to Astoria to oust the Americans.
This detachment under McTavish and La Roque reached the place in a
famishing condition, but as McDougall, one of their countrymen, was in
charge, Hunt being absent, they were cordially received. For various
reasons Hunt's return was delayed, the next annual supply ship, the
_Lark_, failed to come, having been wrecked on the way, and altogether
the project was again deeply overshadowed. McDougall negotiated a sale
with the North-west representatives, and when the British man-of-war
_Raccoon_, on December 1, 1813, arrived to capture the American post,
all the disgusted captain could do was to substitute the British for
the American flag, as, of course, he had no power to molest property of
the North-west Company. He re-named the place Fort George, and sailed
away, without the rich prize money he had anticipated. When Hunt, who
had been back and again gone off to secure a ship for the removal of his
company's property, once more arrived on February 28, 1814, he found the
place a North-west Company post with McDougall in charge. He accepted
drafts on Montreal for the settlement of the account of the Pacific Fur
Company, and this part of the War of 1812 was thus a purely business
transaction. It would be cheaper if all wars could be settled on the
same basis.
McDougall has been roundly denounced for selling out in this manner.
Astor himself considered it disgraceful. But it is probable that in
the end, this procedure was the best, and there is nothing to indicate
that McDougall acted in bad faith. The Astoria enterprise was ended.
It had been well planned, but circumstances were against it. It did not
expire in a blaze of glory to make the close romantic, but merged into
the North-west Company as one day melts into another, and for years
thereafter this company was the dominant power of the whole region. But
while the scheme as a fur-trading venture had failed, as a part of the
history of breaking the Wilderness it takes a front place. Had those in
authority then fully appreciated the importance of the proceedings of
the Pacific Fur Company to the future of the United States, they would
have bent their energies to its successful promotion instead of taking
but a languid interest. Nevertheless the bearing of the disastrous
operations of the Pacific Fur Company on the boundary of Louisiana and
the claims of the United States in the Oregon country was of the first
importance.
When the treaty concluding the war was signed, December 24, 1814, it
stipulated that all territory and all places taken from either party,
with a few exceptions, were to be restored, and on this basis, though
the Oregon country was not mentioned, the United States claimed Astoria.
But the British, while finally agreeing to yield the post, although
they claimed it had never been booty of war, refused to allow any right
of possession of the region to go with it, asserting that Astoria had
merely been established in British territory. Captain Biddle in the
United States ship _Ontario_ took formal possession August 9, 1818, and
somewhat later J. B. Prevost went there on the British ship _Blossom_
and received the actual transfer as agent for the United States. Great
Britain was firm in its claim for the mouth of the Columbia and as no
settlement could be reached it was agreed, October 20, 1818, that for
a period of ten years the whole region eastward to the Rocky Mountains
should remain free and open to both nations. East of the Rocky Mountains
the forty-ninth parallel was at the same time adopted as the division
between Louisiana and British territory, an adjustment which had nearly
been arrived at eleven years earlier.
[Illustration: An Arizona Thistle.
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.]
The Spaniards now once more came forward with their claim to all Pacific
territory up to the fifty-fifth degree, while Russia demanded everything
down to the fifty-first. The United States yielded nothing in this
direction, and, still claiming Texas to the Rio Grande as a part of the
Louisiana Purchase, was finally able, in February, 1819, to negotiate
a treaty with Spain whereby that country ceded Florida, and its rights
north of latitude forty-two, in the Oregon region, for the claims of
the United States to Texas. Spain desired to extend its boundary to
the Mississippi, but in this did not succeed. The line between all
Spanish territory and Louisiana was also definitely fixed, and the
Louisiana Purchase now had limits for the first time, except on the
west between the forty-second parallel and the forty-ninth, and no line
could be drawn here till the United States and Great Britain settled
their difference over the Oregon region. These various agreements
delimited Louisiana as it is usually given on maps, except north from
the forty-second parallel, where there never was a boundary, except that
the Rocky Mountains were temporarily recognised as the eastern limit
of the disputed region. The lines of Louisiana on the west followed the
Sabine River to latitude thirty-two, thence north to Red River and west
along it to the one hundredth meridian, thence north on this to the
Arkansas, and west on the Arkansas to its source, thence due north to
the forty-second parallel. See map on page 154, in which the dotted part
shows the original state of the claims. All north of the forty-second
parallel claimed by Spain fell to the United States. These claims in
themselves were not very strong, except as to original discovery on the
coast, but, united to those acquired from France, from Gray's discovery,
from Lewis and Clark's exploration, from the Astoria establishment and
its subsidiary posts, and from the journey of Wilson Price Hunt, they
presented a better title to the region than any other nation could show.
Pike had reported the country he traversed to be no more than a barren
desert, and it was his opinion that it would be a permanent and an
effectual barrier to the western movement of the Americans. This
discouraging view, together with the War of 1812, retarded for several
years operations in the Wilderness on the part of Americans. The British
companies, however, were constantly active, the North-west holding all
the country west of the Rocky Mountains and a large part east of them.
Trappers operated along the Missouri and its tributaries, some few
entered the mountains, and the energetic Lisa was particularly active
in pushing his trade. In 1813 he was made sub-agent for all tribes on
the Missouri above the Kansas River, with instructions to prevent them
from going over to the British. He seems to have been a useful man in
many ways, and Brackenridge, who was with him for a considerable time,
has given a glowing picture of his enterprise and bold energy. He made
his last voyage in 1820, and died August 12th within the limits of the
present St. Louis.
In order to gain further knowledge of the vast western possessions,
another expedition was sent out by the Government in 1819 under Major
Long, to go to the Rocky Mountains by way of the Platte and return by
Red River. This party left St. Louis on June 21st, with the advantage
of a steamboat.[81] Fulton's experiments having achieved success
in 1807, steam propulsion had been extensively introduced for river
navigation and had brought a great change in transportation facilities.
Long's steamer, the _Western Engineer_, proved to be even better than
was expected, and they made their way up the Missouri easily against
the strong current, where by the old method of towing the keel boats,
enormous labour was involved. It was also a source of great interest to
the natives. The region was rapidly settling along the Missouri east
of the mouth of the Kansas so that supplies were there much easier
to obtain than formerly, and altogether the new order of things made
progress for Major Long quicker than that of any of his predecessors.
By September 17th, he had arrived at Fort Lisa and went into winter
quarters near Council Bluffs, naming the place Engineer Cantonment.
Long, himself, went East again from here by way of St. Louis, returning
on the 28th of May, 1820. Lieutenant Graham then took the steamboat
back, while Long mounted his party on horses for the trip across the
plains. There were twenty-eight horses and mules, one for each man,
and eight for carrying packs. The absurdity of having only eight pack
animals for a party of twenty men starting on a long exploring tour far
from any base of supplies, seems not to have struck any of the party,
not even Major Long. It was the same old story over again, inadequate
preparation, a story, too, that was often to be repeated in the future.
For such a party there should have been no fewer than twenty pack
animals, and thirty would have been nearer the right number. The list of
supplies was equally absurd. There was no flour, and only five hundred
pounds of biscuit, one hundred and fifty pounds of pork, and three
bushels of parched cornmeal, twenty-five pounds of coffee, and thirty
of sugar.
[Illustration: A Full Larder.
From _Wonderland _, 1904—Northern Pacific Railway.]
They left Engineer Cantonment on June 6, 1820. The chief members of
the party were, besides Major Long, Captain J. R. Bell, T. Say, and Dr.
Edwin James,[82] the last afterwards writing the account of the journey
from the note-books of the leading members, and at one place mentioning
the inadequate outfit. They were well received at a village of the
Pawnees, and the chief said, "You must have long hearts to undertake
such a journey with so weak a force, hearts that would reach from the
earth to the heavens." He urged them not to go on, but of course no
heed was paid to this. They passed other Pawnee villages along the
Platte, and went up the Loup Fork, to the Grand Pawnee village, then
across from the Loup Fork to the main Platte again, and followed that
stream up to the junction of its two great branches. Here they chose
the south branch, and on the 30th of June had their first glimpse of
the mountains lying like clouds on the horizon and gradually developing
till their snowy summits were plainly seen, especially a prominent peak
since named after Long. This first view of the great range is always
thrilling, and as one sights the heavy masses lying so mysteriously soft
in the clear light, he remembers the exclamation of the good bishop, who
as he stepped in this region off a railway train, deeply breathed the
sparkling air and fervently cried, "Well! I have never been out-of-doors
before!"
They had expected to celebrate the Fourth of July on some cool summit,
but on that day the peaks were still far distant and they were forced
to content themselves with an extra pint of maize and a small portion
of whiskey, on the common plain. Provisions were alternately scarce and
plenty according to locality and the success of the hunters; sometimes
buffalo hump-ribs, tongues, and marrow bones were abundant; again there
was starvation diet. At last, on the 10th, they were before the great
Backbone, with Pike's "highest peak" in full view from a hill. On the
12th they camped on the Fontaine qui Bouille near the present site of
Colorado City, and Dr. James, with four men started out to climb the
great peak. Two of the men were left at the base to care for the horses,
while the others went on. About noon they came to the Boiling Spring,
the present well-known soda spring of Manitou, which gives name to the
stream of which it forms a source.[83] This beautiful spring was of
great interest to James and they had their lunch beside it. Through its
crystal waters could be seen on the bottom the offerings of beads and
trinkets by the Amerinds.
Before this no attempt to climb the mountain had ever been successful,
but as in many other similar matters, no serious effort seems ever
before to have been made. The night of the 13th, James and his two
companions spent in a most uncomfortable place, and on the next morning
started early with the hope of making the round journey before dark.
About noon, timber line, 11,720 feet, was reached, and by four o'clock
they stood on the mighty summit, 14,108 feet above the sea, and 8000
above the plains, and could see on the east the prairie ocean melting
into the limitless distance, while on the other hand spread away a
broad chaos of peaks, canyons, valleys, fading into the depths of the
unknown Wilderness. Vast clouds of grasshoppers were flying over the
peak, sometimes so dense as almost to obscure the light. After about
half an hour on the majestic summit, now reached by a prosaic railway,
the descent began. Losing their course, they failed to reach the camp of
the previous night, and were forced to sleep out with no food or shelter
or comfort of any kind; not after all so awful as it sounds. As soon as
light came in the morning they continued, and reached their camp only
to find it ablaze; the fire had spread and consumed everything except a
few scraps of food, on which they greedily breakfasted. A heavy bison
and Amerind trail passed the Boiling Spring going into the mountains.
This is now a road to South Park.
Long rightly named this peak after James, and it should have retained
the name of the man first to surmount it, but geographical names are
sometimes singularly acquired, and so the peak which Pike saw from some
miles away, and was not the first to see, received his name without his
intention, or that of any one else. Indeed, no one can tell just how it
came to be called after Pike, except that it simply grew; and Frémont
finally put it on record.
Leaving Boiling Spring Creek, as the Long party called it, translating
the original French name, they struck south-west on July 16th, to the
"Arkansa," thus properly pronouncing (Arkansaw), and also correctly
writing it. The river takes its name from the Arkansa tribe, and how
it came to be designated by the plural is another of the curiosities of
geographic nomenclature. They looked for Pike's "blockhouse," but could
not find a trace of anything resembling work of white men, which is not
strange when we remember that what Pike built on or near the site of
Pueblo, was an extremely rude affair and not a house at all. Some of
the Long party went up the river to the deep canyon by which it cuts a
passage through the mountains, where Pike had already been, and where
to-day the railway follows the torrent out of the tangled rock masses
to the plain.
On July 19th they turned east down the Arkansas. Two parties were then
formed. One under Bell was to explore the Arkansas to Fort Smith, and
there await the others, who under Long's own command were to travel
south in search of the sources of Red River, with the intention of
descending that stream. Their guide all the time had been Joseph Bijeau,
who knew the country between the Arkansas and the Platte perfectly,
but that below the Arkansas he was not familiar with. He had often been
in the Rocky Mountains for some distance and gave a description of the
region, so far as he knew it, which was correct.
On the 24th of July the parties separated. The thermometer stood at
100° in the shade, when there was any, and the water being either
bad or lacking entirely, the journey south from the Arkansas was not
exhilarating. Wood was also scarce or absent, and fires had to be made
of "buffalo chips." They then followed up the Purgatoire and finally
passed to the head of another stream which they concluded must be Red
River. They crossed more than twenty well-beaten parallel trails, and
though they did not know it then, they were within a few miles of the
Metropolis of the Far Wilderness, Santa Fé, and could easily have gone
there by this road, had they so desired. There was suffering for food,
but from time to time this was relieved by the killing of a wild horse,
a buffalo, or some other game. On August 9th they met a large band of
"Kaskaias," who, while not exactly hostile, were not hospitable, and it
was with difficulty that any food was obtained from them. Water they
carried in paunches of bison, and in camp hung them on tripods. Long
did not discover from these people, strangely enough, that the river
he was following was not Red River, as he supposed, but the Canadian,
and it was not till they had consumed seven weeks and travelled down
the valley of the stream 796 miles, that on September 10th they came to
the Arkansas and learned their error. Two days later they met a trader,
Robert Glen, the first white man seen since the 6th of the preceding
June. He gave them coffee, biscuit, and some other supplies, and told of
the safe arrival at Fort Smith of the other division of the expedition.
Fort Smith, which they soon reached, was on the Arkansas just below
the Poteau, and had been established by Major Long in 1817. He was now
again on familiar ground, and nothing of note remains to be mentioned
concerning his expedition.
Red River seemed to evade the American explorer. Pike had failed to
find it; Long now had a similar disappointment, due to the same cause as
Pike's, neglect to reconnoitre properly before proceeding; and in 1806
Captain Sparks, attempting to explore westward from its mouth, met with
a greatly superior Spanish force and was compelled to retire.
[Illustration: Standing Rocks, Common in the Wilderness.
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.]
From the Arkansas to the northern border of the United States the
country was now fairly understood, the Columbia was no longer a mystery,
Garces and other Spaniards had traversed Arizona, New Mexico had long
been flourishing, the California Missions were quietly growing rich,
and the unbroken Wilderness was narrowing approximately to the region
between the thirty-sixth and the forty-second parallels and the Sierra
Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. Not that all outside of these bounds was
well known, for it was far from it, but it could no longer be regarded
as Wilderness absolute, while the area above outlined, except for the
entrada of Escalante, was a blank. It was all the property of Spain,
hence Americans had no right to enter, but when the War of 1812 was
well disposed of hunters began again to pour into the Wilderness, and
Long's expedition seemed to mark the beginning of another important
attack upon the mountain fastnesses, where the beaver by thousands
and tens of thousands were enjoying a busy life and holding forth
unwittingly an alluring bait that was now to induce a great invasion of
Spanish territory notwithstanding the challenge of the sentinel. Spain's
hold, too, on her Mexican possessions was loosening. Iturbide in 1821
proclaimed Mexican independence, and the next year Santa Aña unfurled
the flag of the Republic. For some time Mexico had her full attention
occupied with internal affairs.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[80] Recently a manuscript diary of Robert Stuart's was discovered,
and a typewritten copy of it has been added to the New York Public
Library.
[81] _Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky
Mountains in 1819-20_, compiled by Edwin James from the notes of
Major Long, Mr. Say, and other gentlemen of the party.
[82] James took the place of Dr. Baldwin, who had become ill and
remained behind at the village of Franklin, where he died on August
31, 1819. Dr. James came out in the spring of 1820 with Major Long.
[83] Dr. Coues states in his _Pike's Journal_ that the proper name
for this stream, as applied by Frémont, is _Fontaine qui Bouit_,
but as it was named before Frémont's time from the celebrated
"boiling" springs, Dr. Coues's statement is an error.
[Illustration]