On the morning of the 6th we ascended this small {110} stream, and

soon arrived at a large village called _Thlakalamah_, the chief

whereof, who was a young and handsome man, was called _Keasseno_,

and was a relative of our guide.[51] The situation of this village

is the most charming that can be, being built on the little river

that we had ascended, and indeed at its navigable head, being here

but a torrent with numerous cascades leaping from rock to rock in

their descent to the deep, limpid water, which then flows through a

beautiful prairie, enamelled with odorous flowers of all colors, and

studded with superb groves of oak. The freshness and beauty of this

spot, which Nature seemed to have taken pleasure in adorning and

enriching with her most precious gifts, contrasted, in a striking

manner, with the indigence and uncleanliness of its inhabitants; and

I regretted that it had not fallen to the lot of civilized men. I

was wrong no doubt: it is just that those should be most favored by

their common mother, who are least disposed to pervert her gifts, or

to give the preference to advantages which are factitious, and often

very frivolous. We quitted with regret {111} this charming spot,

and soon came to another large village, which our guide informed us

was called _Kathlapootle_, and was situated at the confluence of a

small stream, that seemed to flow down from the mountain covered

with snow, which we had seen the day before: this river is called

_Cowilkt_.[52] We coasted a pretty island, well timbered, and high

enough above the level of the Columbia to escape inundation in the

freshets, and arrived at two villages called _Maltnabah_. We then

passed the confluence of the river _Wallamat_, or _Willamet_, above

which the tide ceases to be felt in the Columbia.[53] Our guide

informed us that ascending this river about a day’s journey, there

was a considerable fall, beyond which the country abounded in deer,

elk, bear, beaver, and otter. But here, at the spot where we were,

the oaks and poplar which line both banks of the river, the green

and flowery prairies discerned through the trees, and the mountains

discovered in the distance, offer to the eye of the observer who

loves the beauties of simple nature, a prospect the most lovely and

{112} enchanting. We encamped for the night on the edge of one of

these fine prairies.

On the 7th we passed several low islands, and soon discovered _Mount

Hood_, a high mountain, capped with snow, so named by Lieutenant

Broughton; and _Mount Washington_, another snowy summit, so called

by Lewis and Clarke.[54] The prospect which the former had before

his eyes at this place, appeared to him so charming, that landing

upon a point, to take possession of the country in the name of King

George, he named it _Pointe Belle Vue_. At two o’clock we passed

_Point Vancouver_, the highest reached by Broughton.[55] The width of

the river diminishes considerably above this point, and we began very

soon to encounter shoals of sand and gravel; a sure indication that

we were nearing the rapids. We encamped that evening under a ledge of

rocks, descending almost to the water’s edge.

The next day, the 8th, we did not proceed far before we encountered

a very rapid current. Soon after, we saw a hut of Indians engaged

in fishing, where we stopped to breakfast. We {113} found here an

old blind man, who gave us a cordial reception. Our guide said that

he was a white man, and that his name was _Soto_. We learned from

the mouth of the old man himself, that he was the son of a Spaniard

who had been wrecked at the mouth of the river; that a part of

the crew on this occasion got safe ashore, but were all massacred

by the Clatsops, with the exception of four, who were spared and

who married native women; that these four Spaniards, of whom his

father was one, disgusted with the savage life, attempted to reach a

settlement of their own nation toward the south, but had never been

heard of since; and that when his father, with his companions, left

the country, he himself was yet quite young.[56] These good people

having regaled us with fresh salmon, we left them, and arrived very

soon at a rapid, opposite an island, named _Strawberry Island_ by

Captains Lewis and {114} Clarke, in 1806. We left our men at a large

village, to take care of the canoe and baggage; and following our

guide, after walking about two hours, in a beaten path, we came to

the foot of the fall, where we amused ourselves for some time with

shooting the seals, which were here in abundance, and in watching the

Indians taking salmon below the cataract, in their scoop-nets, from

stages erected for that purpose over the eddies. A chief, a young man

of fine person and a good mien, came to us, followed by some twenty

others, and invited us to his wigwam: we accompanied him, had roasted

salmon for supper, and some mats were spread for our night’s repose.

The next morning, having ascertained that there was no trading post

near the Falls, and Coalpo absolutely refusing to proceed further,

alleging that the natives of the villages beyond were his enemies,

and would not fail to kill him if they had him in their power, we

decided to return to the encampment. Having, therefore, distributed

some presents to our host (I mean the young chief with whom we had

supped and lodged) {115} and to some of his followers, and procured

a supply of fresh salmon for the return voyage, we re-embarked and

reached the camp on the 14th, without accidents or incidents worth

relating.

[43] For a brief account of the formation of the North

West Company, see Preface to J. Long’s _Voyages_,

vol. ii of our series.--ED.

[44] In 1792, Broughton named this promontory Tongue

Point. Lewis and Clark called it Point William, in

honor of the latter explorer. The North West Company

built a subsidiary post here in 1814.--ED.

[45] The Wahkiacum were a tribe first named and described

by Lewis and Clark. They were a branch of the Upper

Chinook, named from one of their chiefs, but now

have no separate existence. Their village was in

the county of Wahkiacum, in the present state of

Washington.--ED.

[46] Coalpo (Calloph) was a Clatsop chief, who had many

dealings with the Astorians and their British

successors. See Coues’s edition, _Henry-Thompson

Journals_ (New York, 1897), _index_.--ED.

[47] Kreluit was Franchère’s spelling for the Indians

designated by Lewis and Clark as Skilloots. They

were a Chinookan tribe, occupying both banks of the

river, and acting as middlemen in trade between

the tribes of the Upper Columbia and those at the

mouth of that river. Lewis and Clark represent them

as superior in intelligence and probity to their

kindred the Wahkiacum.--ED.

[48] Mount Coffin, noted by all early travellers in this

region, is a well-known landmark in Cowlitz County,

Washington, just below the Cowlitz River.--ED.

[49] A party of Cowlitz Indians, no doubt, from whom the

river takes its name. They were a large and powerful

Salishan tribe, less in touch with traders than the

Skilloots (Kreluits). Cowlitz River is an important

northern tributary of the Columbia, through whose

valley the Washington branch of the Northern Pacific

Railway now passes.--ED.

[50] Mount St. Helens (altitude, 9,750 feet), one of the

Cascade Mountains in Washington, was sighted by

Vancouver’s expedition in May, 1792, and named the

following October in honor of Lord St. Helens, then

the British ambassador at Madrid.--ED.

[51] Keasseno (Cassino) was a brother-in-law of Coalpo,

and spoken of by Henry as “chief of the Willamette

tribe.” Two years later, Franchère found him upon

the Willamette River. It would appear that the

village where Franchère’s party now visited him was

upon the Kalama River, a stream in Cowlitz County,

Washington upon which there are cascades some two

miles above the mouth.--ED.

[52] Lewis and Clark speak of the Cathlapotle (Kathlapootle)

Indians as along this northern bank of the Columbia.

They were a tribe of Upper Chinook, and their habitat

was the Washington River, now called Lewis, which

separates Cowlitz County from that of Clark. The

aboriginal name for this river is doubtful. Franchère

appears to be the only one to give the form Cowilkt.--ED.

[53] The Multnomah Indians, whose name is said to signify

“down river,” occupied the region about the mouth

of the Willamette. They were of Chinookan origin,

and divided into a number of smaller tribes. The

villages passed by Franchère were upon Wappato (now

Sauvie) Island. The river Willamette (sometimes

called, also, the Multnomah) was first explored by

Clark on his return journey in 1806. In the valley

of this river grew up the first permanent settlement

in the present state of Oregon.--ED.

[54] Mount Hood (11,225 feet), of the Cascade Range,

lies south of the Columbia in Wasco County, Oregon.

It was seen (October 29, 1792) by Lieutenant

Broughton, who “honoured it with Lord Hood’s name;

its appearance was magnificent; and it was clothed

in snow from its summit as low down as the high

land, by which it was intercepted, permitted it to

be visible.” Lord Hood, later Lord Bridport, was

an English admiral. Lewis and Clark first called

this the “Falls or Timm Mountain;” later, they

recognized its identity with Broughton’s Mount Hood.

Franchère’s “Mount Washington” is in reality Mount

Jefferson.--ED.

[55] Pointe Belle Vue has not positively been identified.

Apparently it was just above the mouth of the

Willamette, on the southwest bank of the Columbia.

Point Vancouver was not at the site of the later

Fort Vancouver, but nearly twenty miles farther up

the river, on the north bank, just above the mouth

of Sandy River.--ED.

[56] These facts, if they were authenticated, would prove

that the Spaniards were the first who discovered

the mouth of the Columbia. It is certain that long

before the voyages of Captains Gray and Vancouver,

they knew at least a part of the course of that

river, which was designated in their maps under the

name of _Oregon_.--FRANCHÈRE.

{116} CHAPTER IX

Departure of the Tonquin--Indian Messengers--Project of

an Expedition to the Interior--Arrival of Mr. Daniel

Thompson--Departure of the Expedition--Designs upon us by the

Natives--Rumors of the Destruction of the Tonquin--Scarcity of

Provisions--Narrative of a strange Indian--Duplicity and Cunning

of Comcomly.

Having built a warehouse (62 feet by 20) to put under cover the

articles we were to receive from the ship, we were busily occupied,

from the 16th to the 30th, in stowing away the goods and other

effects intended for the establishment.

The ship, which had been detained by circumstances, much longer than

had been anticipated, left her anchorage at last, on the 1st of June,

and dropped down to Baker’s bay, there to wait for a favorable wind

to get out of the river. As she was to coast along the north, and

enter all the harbors, in order to procure as many furs as {117}

possible, and to touch at the Columbia river before she finally

left these seas for the United States, it was unanimously resolved

among the partners, that Mr. M’Kay should join the cruise, as well

to aid the captain, as to obtain correct information in regard to

the commerce with the natives on that coast. Mr. M’Kay selected

Messrs. J. Lewis and O. de Montigny to accompany him; but the latter

having represented that the sea made him sick, was excused; and Mr.

M’Kay shipped in his place a young man named Louis Bruslé, to serve

him in the capacity of domestic, being one of the young Canadian

sailors. I had the good fortune not to be chosen for this disastrous

voyage, thanks to my having made myself useful at the establishment.

Mr. Mumford (the second mate) owed the same happiness to the

incompatibility of his disposition with that of the captain; he had

permission to remain, and engaged with the company in place of Mr.

Aikin as coaster, and in command of the schooner.[57]

{118} On the 5th of June, the ship got out to sea, with a good wind.

We continued in the meantime to labor without intermission at the

completion of the storehouse, and in the erection of a dwelling for

ourselves, and a powder magazine. These buildings were constructed

of hewn logs, and, in the absence of boards, tightly covered and

roofed with cedar bark. The natives, of both sexes, visited us

more frequently, and formed a pretty considerable camp near the

establishment.

On the 15th, some natives from up the river, brought us two strange

Indians, a man and a woman. They were not attired like the savages

on the river Columbia, but wore long robes of dressed deer-skin,

with leggings and moccasins in the fashion of the tribes to the

east of the Rocky Mountains. We put questions to them in various

Indian dialects; but they did not understand us. They showed us a

letter addressed to {119} “_Mr. John Stuart, Fort Estekatadene, New

Caledonia_.”[58] Mr. Pillet then addressing them in the _Kristeneaux_

language, they answered, although they appeared not to understand it

perfectly.[59] Notwithstanding, we learned from them that they had

been sent by a Mr. Finnan M’Donald, a clerk in the service of the

Northwest Company, and who had a post on a river which they called

_Spokan_; that having lost their way, they had followed the course of

the _Tacousah-Tesseh_ (the Indian name of the Columbia), that when

they arrived at the Falls, the natives made them understand that

there were white men at the mouth of the river; and not doubting that

the person to whom the letter was addressed would be found there,

they had come to deliver it.[60]

We kept these messengers for some days, and having drawn from them

important information respecting the country in the interior, west

of the Mountains, we decided to send an expedition thither, under

the command of Mr. David Stuart; and the 15th July was fixed for its

departure.

All was in fact ready on the appointed day, {120} and we were about

to load the canoes, when toward midday, we saw a large canoe, with

a flag displayed at her stern, rounding the point which we called

TONGUE POINT. We knew not who it could be; for we did not so soon

expect our own party, who (as the reader will remember) were to cross

the continent, by the route which Captains Lewis and Clarke had

followed, in 1805, and to winter for that purpose somewhere on the

Missouri. We were soon relieved of our uncertainty by the arrival of

the canoe, which touched shore at a little wharf that we had built

to facilitate the landing of goods from the vessel. The flag she

bore was the British, and her crew was composed of eight Canadian

boatmen or _voyageurs_. A well-dressed man, who appeared to be the

commander, was the first to leap ashore, and addressing us without

ceremony, said that his name was David Thompson, and that he was one

of the partners of the Northwest Company.[61] We invited him to our

quarters, which were at one end of the warehouse, the dwelling-house

not being yet completed. After the usual civilities {121} had been

extended to our visitor, Mr. Thompson said that he had crossed the

continent during the preceding season; but that the desertion of

a portion of his men had compelled him to winter at the base of

the Rocky mountains, at the head waters of the Columbia. In the

spring he had built a canoe, the materials for which he had brought

with him across the mountains, and had come down the river to our

establishment. He added that the wintering partners had resolved to

abandon all their trading posts west of the mountains, not to enter

into competition with us, provided our company would engage not to

encroach upon their commerce on the east side: and to support what he

said, produced a letter to that effect, addressed by the wintering

partners to the chief of their house in Canada, the Hon. William

M’Gillivray.[62]

Mr. Thompson kept a regular journal, and travelled, I thought, more

like a geographer than a fur-trader. He was provided with a sextant,

chronometer and barometer, and during a week’s sojourn which he made

at our place, had an opportunity {122} to make several astronomical

observations. He recognised the two Indians who had brought the

letter addressed to Mr. J. Stuart, and told us that they were two

women, one of whom had dressed herself as a man, to travel with more

security. The description which he gave us of the interior of the

country was not calculated to give us a very favorable idea of it,

and did not perfectly accord with that of our two Indian guests.

We persevered, however, in the resolution we had taken, of sending

an expedition thither; and, on the 23d Mr. D. Stuart set out,

accompanied by Messrs. Pillet, Ross, M’Clellan and de Montigny, with

four Canadian _voyageurs_, and the two Indian women, and in company

with Mr. Thompson and his crew. The wind being favorable, the little

flotilla hoisted sail, and was soon out of our sight.[63]

{123} The natives, who till then had surrounded us in great numbers,

began to withdraw, and very soon we saw no more of them. At first

we attributed their absence to the want of furs to trade with; but

we soon learned that they acted in that manner from another motive.

One of the secondary chiefs who had formed a friendship for Mr.

R. Stuart, informed him, that seeing us reduced in number by the

expedition lately sent off, they had formed the design of surprising

us, to take our lives and plunder the post. We hastened, therefore,

to put ourselves in the best possible state of defence. The dwelling

house was raised, parallel to the warehouse; we cut a great quantity

of pickets in the forest, and formed a square, with palisades in

front and rear, of about 90 feet by 120; the warehouse, built on the

edge of a ravine, formed one flank, the dwelling house and shops the

other; with a little bastion {124} at each angle north and south, on

which were mounted four small cannon. The whole was finished in six

days, and had a sufficiently formidable aspect to deter the Indians

from attacking us; and for greater surety, we organized a guard for

day and night.

Toward the end of the month, a large assemblage of Indians from the

neighborhood of the straits _Juan de Fuca_, and _Gray’s Harbor_,

formed a great camp on Baker’s Bay, for the ostensible object of

fishing for sturgeon.[64] It was bruited among these Indians that

the Tonquin had been destroyed on the coast, and Mr. M’Kay (or the

chief trader, as they called him) and all the crew, massacred by the

natives. We did not give credence to this rumor. Some days after,

other Indians from Gray’s Harbor, called _Tchikeylis_,[65] confirmed

what the first had narrated, and even gave us, as far as we could

judge by the little we knew of their language, a very circumstantial

detail of the affair, so that without wholly convincing us, it did

not fail to make a painful impression on our minds, and keep us in

an excited state of {125} feeling as to the truth of the report. The

Indians of the Bay looked fiercer and more warlike than those of our

neighborhood; so we redoubled our vigilance, and performed a regular

daily drill to accustom ourselves to the use of arms.

To the necessity of securing ourselves against an attack on the part

of the natives, was joined that of obtaining a stock of provisions

for the winter: those which we had received from the vessel were very

quickly exhausted, and from the commencement of the month of July

we were forced to depend upon fish. Not having brought hunters with

us, we had to rely for venison, on the precarious hunt of one of

the natives who had not abandoned us when the rest of his countrymen

retired. This man brought us from time to time, a very lean and very

dry doe-elk, for which we had to pay, notwithstanding, very dear. The

ordinary price of a stag was a blanket, a knife, some tobacco, powder

and ball, besides supplying our hunter with a musket. This dry meat,

and smoke-dried fish, constituted our daily food, and that in very

insufficient quantity for hardworking {126} men. We had no bread, and

vegetables, of course, were quite out of the question. In a word our

fare was not sumptuous. Those who accommodated themselves best to our

mode of living were the Sandwich-islanders: salmon and elk were to

them exquisite viands.

On the 11th of August a number of Chinooks visited us, bringing

a strange Indian, who had, they said, something interesting to

communicate. This savage told us, in fact, that he had been engaged

with ten more of his countrymen, by a Captain _Ayres_, to hunt seals

on the islands in _Sir Francis Drake’s Bay_, where these animals

are very numerous, with a promise of being taken home and paid for

their services;[66] the captain had left them on the islands, to

go southwardly and purchase provisions, he said, of the Spaniards

of Monterey in California; but he had never returned: and they,

believing that he had been wrecked, had embarked in a skiff which he

had left them, and had reached the main land, from which they were

not far distant; but their skiff was shattered to pieces in the surf,

and they had {127} saved themselves by swimming. Believing that they

were not far from the river Columbia, they had followed the shore,

living, on the way, upon shellfish and frogs; at last they arrived

among strange Indians, who, far from receiving them kindly, had

killed eight of them and made the rest prisoners; but the _Klemooks_,

a neighboring tribe to the _Clatsops_, hearing that they were

captives, had ransomed them.[67]

These facts must have occurred in March or April, 1811. The Indian

who gave us an account of them, appeared to have a great deal of

intelligence and knew some words of the English language. He added

that he had been at the Russian trading post at _Chitka_,[68] that he

had visited the coast of California, the Sandwich islands, and even

China.

About this time, old Comcomly sent to _Astoria_ for Mr. Stuart

and me, to come and cure him of a swelled throat, which, he said,

afflicted him sorely. As it was late in the day, we postponed till

to-morrow going to cure the chief of the Chinooks; and it was well

we did; for, the same {128} evening, the wife of the Indian who had

accompanied us in our voyage to the Falls, sent us word that Comcomly

was perfectly well, the pretended _tonsilitis_ being only a pretext

to get us in his power. This timely advice kept us at home.

[57] This schooner was found too small for the purpose.

Mr. Astor had no idea of the dangers to be met at

the mouth of the Columbia, or he would have ordered

the frame of a vessel of at least one hundred tons.

The frames shipped in New York were used in the

construction of this one only, which was employed

solely in the river trade.--FRANCHÈRE.

[58] John Stuart was a well-known “Nor’Wester,” who was

in the Athabasca department as early as 1799. In

1803 he was with David Thompson on Peace River, and

from 1806-08 with Simon Fraser on his voyage of

discovery which resulted in the descent of Fraser

River. Stuart built a fort somewhere west of the

mountains, which he maintained until 1811. The

following year found him upon the Columbia, and he

made part of the North West force at Fort George

until 1814. Remaining in the employ of the company

at different stations until 1821, he then entered

the Hudson’s Bay service, and was their chief factor

at Little Slave Lake (1828). He finally returned to

England, where he died in 1846.--ED.

[59] For the Christinaux (Kristeneaux) Indians, see

J. Long’s _Voyages_, vol. ii of our series, note

75.--ED.

[60] Finnan McDonald was chief clerk, under David

Thompson, (see following note), of the North West

Company at various places on the Saskatchewan, in

the Rocky Mountains, and upon the headwaters of the

Columbia (1806-12). See _Henry-Thompson Journals_.

Thompson and McDonald had several posts on the

upper waters of the Columbia--one on Lake Pend

d’Oreille, two on the Kootenay, and still another

on the Spokane. Fraser River was long known as the

Tacoutché Tessé; but as its upper reaches were at

first thought to be the Columbia, the misuse of

the name was common. The aboriginal name for the

Columbia has not been satisfactorily determined.--ED.

[61] David Thompson was one of the most interesting and

remarkable men of the fur-trading coterie. Born in

London in 1770, and educated at Christ’s Hospital,

he went to America (1789) as employé of the Hudson’s

Bay Company. He was greatly interested in science,

and during his extensive travels made meteorological

and astronomical observations. The company by whom

he was first employed discouraged geographical

pursuits; Thompson therefore went over to the North

West Company (1797) as affording more scope to his

talents. During the winter of 1797-98 he visited the

Mandan Indians, on the Missouri, and the following

summer explored the sources of the Mississippi. By

1801 he had pushed his explorations to the foot of

the Rocky Mountains, whither in 1806 he sought for

the waters of the Columbia. During the next four

years he collected furs and explored on the upper

Columbia, building several posts, and reaping a rich

harvest among tribes hitherto unexploited. After

his failure to seize the mouth of the Columbia for

the British, Thompson went back to his Columbia

posts, but finally abandoned the upper country in

1812. He lived in Lower Canada until his death in

1857, occupied in surveys for boundary lines, and

astronomical pursuits. His last years were spent in

poverty and neglect.--ED.

[62] William McGillivray was a “Nor’Wester” who had been

in the employ of that company from its formation,

and had served his apprenticeship in the field. In

1787-88 he was in charge of the post on English

River, and in 1790 became one of the wintering

partners. Upon the death of Simon McTavish,

McGillivray succeeded to the position of chief

agent of the house at Montreal, frequently coming

up to meet the “winterers” at the rendezvous at

Fort William (Grand Portage), which was named in

his honor. In 1821 he signed the agreements for

union with the Hudson’s Bay Company, and soon after

returned to Scotland, where he died about 1825.--ED.

[63] Mr. Thompson had no doubt been sent by the agents

of the Northwest Company, to take possession of an

eligible spot at the mouth of the Columbia, with

a view of forestalling the plan of Mr. Astor. He

would have been there before us, no doubt, but

for the desertion of his men. The consequence of

this step would have been his taking possession of

the country, and displaying the British flag, as

an emblem of that possession and a guarantee of

protection hereafter. He found himself too late,

however, and the stars and stripes floating over

_Astoria_. This note is not intended by the author

as an after-thought: as the opinion it conveys was

that which we all entertained at the time of that

gentleman’s visit.--FRANCHÈRE.

[64] The strait of Juan de Fuca, separating Washington

from Vancouver Island, was named from a Greek

navigator, in the Spanish service, who claimed as

early as 1592 to have found a large inlet on the

Northwest Coast in latitude 49°. The narrative of

his voyage was published in England in 1602, but is

now discredited by historians. The fact that a great

strait was found near this point by the English

navigator Barclay (1787), revived the old story

of Juan de Fuca’s discovery, and resulted in the

latter’s name being attached to the inlet. Gray’s

Harbor, upon the coast of Washington, was named by

Vancouver in honor of the American Captain Gray (see

note 1, _ante_); this bay must be distinguished from

Gray’s Bay, within the mouth of Columbia River.--ED.

[65] Chehalis (Tchikeylis, Shahalas) is a collective term

for the Salishan tribes of the coast of Washington,

where a large county takes this name. A few of

these Indians are still living upon the Puyallup

reservations, in Washington.--ED.

[66] This Captain Ayres was probably the same officer

who is reported (in 1814, in the sloop “Mercury”)

as engaged in kidnapping Indians as slaves, to sell

to the Russians at Sitka. See Lyman, _History of

Oregon_ (New York, 1903), ii, p. 289.

It is disputed by historians whether Sir Francis Drake,

in his voyage around the world (1577-80), entered

the harbor of San Francisco, or Bodega Bay lying

to the north. The evidence leans to the latter

view.--ED.

[67] The Tillamook (Klemook, Killamuck) Indians inhabited

the sea-coast south of the Columbia, within the

county now bearing their name. They were of the

great Salishan family, separated from their northern

kindred by the Chinook tribe. A few Tillamook

existed upon the Grande Ronde Reservation, Oregon,

within recent years.--ED.

[68] Russian explorations of the Northwest Coast of

America began early in the eighteenth century,

under the lead of Vitus Bering. In 1781 a company

was formed to exploit the fur-trade; but because of

its cruelty to the natives this was dissolved, and

the Russian-American Company organized in 1799. The

headquarters of the latter were established at New

Archangel, or Sitka (Chitka), built 1799.--ED.

{129} CHAPTER X

Occupations at Astoria--Return of a Portion of the Men of the

Expedition to the Interior--New Expedition--Excursion in Search

of three Deserters.

On the 26th of September our house was finished, and we took

possession of it. The mason work had at first caused us some

difficulty; but at last, not being able to make lime for want of

lime-stones, we employed blue clay as a substitute for mortar. This

dwelling-house was sufficiently spacious to hold all our company, and

we had distributed it in the most convenient manner that we could. It

comprised a sitting, a dining room, some lodging or sleeping rooms,

and an apartment for the men and artificers, all under the same roof.

We also completed a shop for the blacksmith, who till that time had

worked in the open air.

{130} The schooner, the construction of which had necessarily

languished for want of an adequate force at the ship-yard, was

finally launched on the 2d of October, and named the _Dolly_, with

the formalities usual on such occasions. I was on that day at

_Young’s Bay_, where I saw the ruins of the quarters erected by

Captains Lewis and Clarke, in 1805-’06: they were but piles of rough,

unhewn logs, overgrown with parasite creepers.[69]

On the evening of the 5th, Messrs. Pillet and M’Lellan arrived, from

the party of Mr. David Stuart, in a canoe manned by two of his men.

They brought, as passengers, Mr. Régis Bruguier, whom I had known in

Canada as a respectable country merchant, and an Iroquois family. Mr.

Bruguier had been a trader among the Indians on the Saskatchewine

river, where he had lost his outfit: he had since turned trapper, and

had come into this region to hunt beaver, being provided with traps

and other needful implements.[70] The report which these gentlemen

gave of the interior was highly satisfactory: they had found {131}

the climate salubrious, and had been well received by the natives.

The latter possessed a great number of horses, and Mr. Stuart had

purchased several of these animals at a low price. Ascending the

river they had come to a pretty stream, which the natives called

_Okenakan_.[71] Mr. Stuart had resolved to establish his post on the

bank of this river, and having erected a log-house, he thought best

to send back the above named persons, retaining with him, for the

winter, only Messrs. Ross and de Montigny, and two men.[72]

Meanwhile, the season being come when the Indians quit the seashore

and the banks of the Columbia, to retire into the woods and establish

their winter quarters along the small streams and rivers, we began

to find ourselves short of provisions, having received no supplies

from them for some time. It was therefore determined that Mr. R.

Stuart should set out in the schooner with {132} Mr. Mumford, for

the threefold purpose, of obtaining all the provisions they could,

cutting oaken staves for the use of the cooper, and trading with the

Indians up the river. They left with this design on the 12th. At the

end of five days Mr. Mumford returned in a canoe of Indians. This man

having wished to assume the command, and to order (in the style of

Captain Thorn) the person who had engaged him to obey, had been sent

back in consequence to _Astoria_.

On the 10th of November we discovered that three of our people had

absconded, viz., P. D. Jeremie, and the two Belleaux. They had leave

to go out shooting for two days, and carried off with them firearms

and ammunition, and a handsome light Indian canoe. As soon as their

flight was known, having procured a large canoe of the Chinooks, we

embarked, Mr. Matthews[73] and I, with five natives, to pursue them,

with orders to proceed as far as the Falls, if necessary. On the

11th, having ascended the river to a place called _Oak Point_,[74] we

overtook the schooner lying at anchor, while Mr. Stuart was taking in

a load of {133} staves and hoop-poles. Mr. Farnham joined our party,

as well as one of the hands, and thus reinforced, we pursued our

way, journeying day and night, and stopping at every Indian village,

to make inquiries and offer a reward for the apprehension of our

runaways. Having reached the Falls without finding any trace of them,

and our provisions giving out, we retraced our steps, and arrived on

the 16th at Oak Point, which we found Mr. Stuart ready to quit.

Meanwhile, the natives of the vicinity informed us that they had seen

the marks of shoes imprinted on the sand, at the confluence of a

small stream in the neighborhood. We got three small canoes, carrying

two persons each, and having ascertained that the information was

correct, after searching the environs during a part of the 17th, we

ascended the small stream as far as some high lands which are seen

from Oak Point, and which lie about eight or nine miles south of it.

The space between these high lands and the ridge crowned with oaks on

the bank of the Columbia, is a low and swampy land, cut up by {134}

an infinity of little channels. Toward evening we returned on our

path, to regain the schooner; but instead of taking the circuitous

way of the river, by which we had come, we made for Oak Point by the

most direct route, through these channels; but night coming on, we

lost ourselves. Our situation became the most disagreeable that can

be imagined. Being unable to find a place where we could land, on

account of the morass, we were obliged to continue rowing, or rather

turning round, in this species of labyrinth, constantly kneeling

in our little canoes, which any unlucky movement would infallibly

have caused to upset. It rained in torrents and was dark as pitch.

At last, after having wandered about during a considerable part of

the night, we succeeded in gaining the edge of the mainland. Leaving

there our canoes, because we could not drag them (as we attempted)

through the forest, we crossed the woods in the darkness, tearing

ourselves with the brush, and reached the schooner, at about two in

the morning, benumbed with cold and exhausted with fatigue.

{135} The 18th was spent in getting in the remainder of the lading of

the little vessel, and on the morning of the 19th we raised anchor,

and dropped down abreast of the Kreluit village, where some of the

Indians offering to aid us in the search after our deserters, Mr.

Stuart put Mr. Farnham and me on shore to make another attempt. We

passed that day in drying our clothes, and the next day embarked in

a canoe, with one _Kreluit_ man and a squaw, and ascended the river

before described as entering the Columbia at this place. We soon met

a canoe of natives, who informed us that our runaways had been made

prisoners by the chief of a tribe which dwells upon the banks of the

Willamet river, and which they called _Cathlanaminim_. We kept on

and encamped on a beach of sand opposite _Deer island_.[75] There

we passed a night almost as disagreeable as that of the 17th-18th.

We had lighted a fire, and contrived a shelter of mats; but there

came on presently a violent gust of wind, accompanied with a heavy

rain: our fire was put out, our mats were carried away, and we could

{136} neither rekindle the one nor find the others: so that we had

to remain all night exposed to the fury of the storm. As soon as it

was day we re-embarked, and set ourselves to paddling with all our

might to warm ourselves. In the evening we arrived near the village

where our deserters were, and saw one of them on the skirts of it.

We proceeded to the hut of the chief, where we found all three,

more inclined to follow us than to remain as slaves among these

barbarians. We passed the night in the chief’s lodge, not without

some fear and some precaution; this chief having the reputation

of being a wicked man, and capable of violating the rights of

parties. He was a man of high stature and a good mien, and proud in

proportion, as we discovered by the chilling and haughty manner in

which he received us. Farnham and I agreed to keep watch alternately,

but this arrangement was superfluous, as neither of us could sleep a

wink for the infernal thumping and singing made by the medicine men

all night long, by a dying native. I had an opportunity of seeing the

sick man make his last will {137} and testament: having caused to be

brought to him whatever he had that was most precious, his bracelets

of copper, his bead necklace, his bow and arrows and quiver, his

nets, his lines, his spear, his pipe, &c., he distributed the whole

to his most intimate friends, with a promise on their part, to

restore them, if he recovered.

On the 22d, after a great deal of talk, and infinite quibbling on the

part of the chief, we agreed with him for the ransom of our men. I

had visited every lodge in the village and found but few of the young

men, the greater part having gone on a fishing excursion; knowing,

therefore, that the chief could not be supported by his warriors,

I was resolved not [to] be imposed upon, and as I knew where the

firearms of the fugitives had been deposited, I would have them

at all hazards; but we were obliged to give him all our blankets,

amounting to eight, a brass kettle, a hatchet, a small pistol, much

out of order, a powder-horn, and some rounds of ammunition: with

these articles placed in a pile before him, we demanded the men’s

clothing, the three fowling-pieces, and {138} their canoe, which

he had caused to be hidden in the woods. Nothing but our firmness

compelled him to accept the articles offered in exchange; but at

last, with great reluctance, he closed the bargain, and suffered us

to depart in the evening with the prisoners and the property.

We all five (including the three deserters) embarked in the large

canoe, leaving our Kreluit and his wife to follow in the other, and

proceeded as far as the Cowlitzk, where we camped. The next day, we

pursued our journey homeward, only stopping at the Kreluit village

to get some provisions, and soon entered the group of islands which

crowd the river above Gray’s bay. On one of these we stopped to amuse

ourselves with shooting some ducks, and meanwhile a smart breeze

springing up, we split open a double-rush mat (which had served as

a bag), to make a sail, and having cut a forked sapling for a mast,

shipped a few boulders to stay the foot of it, and spread our canvass

to the wind. We soon arrived in sight of Gray’s bay, at a distance

of fourteen or fifteen miles from our establishment. {139} We had,

notwithstanding, a long passage across, the river forming in this

place, as I have before observed, a sort of lake, by the recession

of its shores on either hand: but the wind was fair. We undertook,

then, to cross, and quitted the island, to enter the broad, lake-like

expanse, just as the sun was going down, hoping to reach Astoria in a

couple of hours.

We were not long before we repented of our temerity: for in a short

time the sky became overcast, the wind increased till it blew with

violence, and meeting with the tide, caused the waves to rise

prodigiously, which broke over our wretched canoe, and filled it with

water. We lightened it as much as we could, by throwing overboard

the little baggage we had left, and I set the men to baling with

our remaining brass kettle. At last, after having been, for three

hours, the sport of the raging billows, and threatened every instant

with being swallowed up, we had the unexpected happiness of landing

in a cove on the north shore of the river. Our first care was to

thank the Almighty for having delivered us {140} from so imminent a

danger. Then, when we had secured the canoe, and groped our way to

the forest, where we made, with branches of trees, a shelter against

the wind--still continuing to blow with violence, and kindled a great

fire to warm us and dry our clothes. That did not prevent us from

shivering the rest of the night, even in congratulating ourselves

on the happiness of setting our foot on shore at the moment when we

began quite to despair of saving ourselves at all.

The morning of the 24th brought with it a clear sky, but no abatement

in the violence of the wind, till toward evening, when we again

embarked, and arrived with our deserters at the establishment, where

they never expected to see us again. Some Indians who had followed

us in a canoe, up to the moment when we undertook the passage across

the evening before, had followed the southern shore, and making

the portage of the isthmus of Tongue Point, had happily arrived at

Astoria. These natives, not doubting that we were lost, so reported

us to Mr. M’Dougal; {141} accordingly that gentleman was equally

overjoyed and astonished at beholding us safely landed, which

procured, not only for us, but for the culprits, our companions, a

cordial and hearty reception.

[69] Young’s Bay was so named by Broughton (1792), in

honor of an English naval officer. Lewis and Clark

called this Meriwether Bay. Fort Clatsop, the

wintering post of these explorers, was situated

upon the Netul (now Lewis and Clark) River, about

six miles below the present Astoria. They occupied

this structure from December 24, 1805, to March

23, 1806. Upon their departure they presented

it to the Clatsop chief Cobaway (Comowool), who

lived in it the following winter. No traces of the

buildings are now to be found. For a drawing of the

plan of the fort, see Thwaites, “Newly Discovered

Personal Records of Lewis and Clark,” in _Scribner’s

Magazine_, June, 1904.--ED.

[70] Bruguier is a type of that interesting class

known as free trappers, who wandered through the

wilderness hunting, trapping, and trading on

their own account. Most of them were Canadians or

half-breeds.--ED.

[71] Fort Okanagan, built by David Stuart, became the

chief interior post of the Pacific Fur Company.

Stuart made several trips thither, and explored the

Okanagan River beyond. Upon the sale of Astoria,

Fort Okanagan likewise passed into the hands of the

North West Company, who found this so profitable a

site for a post that it became the chief deposit

station for the entire region. The Hudson’s Bay

Company maintained the place until 1859, when they

sold their Columbia posts to the Americans, and

withdrew north of the line. The fort was on the east

bank of the Okanagan River, just above its entrance

into the Columbia, within the present Okanogan

County, Washington.--ED.

[72] One of these men had been left with him by Mr.

Thompson, in exchange for a Sandwich-islander whom

that gentleman proposed to take to Canada, and

thence to England.--FRANCHÈRE.

[73] William W. Matthews enlisted in the Astorian

expedition in New York, and came out as one of

the clerks. He was a man of much enterprise and

activity. After the transfer of Astoria he enlisted

in the North West Company, married the daughter of

the Clatsop chief Cobaway; their daughter Ellen,

born in 1815, is the first recorded white child of

Oregon. Later, Matthews returned to New York, where

he died; his widow became the wife of Labonté. Ellen

Matthews was educated in the East, and married a

wealthy citizen of Montreal.--ED.

[74] Oak Point was a well-known landmark on the Columbia,

so named by Broughton (1792), who saw oaks at this

place. It was on the south bank of the river,

nearly opposite the upper end of Grim’s Island, in

Columbia County, Oregon. The present Oak Point is

nearly opposite, on the northern bank. For the first

settlement at this place, see note 94, _post_.--ED.

[75] This tribe of Indians was designated by Lewis and

Clark as Clannahminnamum, their village being

located upon Wappato (Sauvie) Island--this would,

however, place it upon one branch of the Willamette.

The tribe has been extinct since 1840. Deer Island

is in Columbia County, Oregon, not far below the

town of St. Helens. Lewis and Clark gave it this

name, which is a translation of the Indian name

Elallah, signifying deer.--ED.

{142} CHAPTER XI

Departure of Mr. R. Stuart for the Interior--Occupations at

Astoria--Arrival of Messrs. Donald M’Kenzie and Robert

M’Lellan--Account of their Journey--Arrival of Mr. Wilson P.

Hunt.

The natives having given us to understand that beaver was very

abundant in the country watered by the Willamet, Mr. R. Stuart

procured a guide, and set out, on the 5th of December, accompanied by

Messrs. Pillet and M’Gillis[76] and a few of the men, to ascend that

river and ascertain whether or no it would be advisable to establish

a trading-post on its banks. Mr. R. Bruguier accompanied them to

follow his pursuits as a trapper.

The season at which we expected the return of the Tonquin was now

past, and we began to regard as too probable the report of the

Indians of Gray’s Harbor. We still flattered ourselves, {143}

notwithstanding, with the hope that perhaps that vessel had sailed

for the East Indies, without touching at Astoria; but this was at

most a conjecture.

The 25th, Christmas-day, passed very agreeably: we treated the men,

on that day, with the best the establishment afforded. Although

that was no great affair, they seemed well satisfied; for they had

been restricted, during the last few months, to a very meagre diet,

living, as one may say, on sun-dried fish. On the 27th, the schooner

having returned from her second voyage up the river, we dismantled

her, and laid her up for the winter at the entrance of a small creek.

The weather, which had been raining, almost without interruption,

from the beginning of October, cleared up on the evening of the

31st; and the 1st January, 1812, brought us a clear and serene sky.

We proclaimed the new year with a discharge of artillery. A small

allowance of spirits was served to the men, and the day passed in

gayety, every one amusing himself as well as he could.

{144} The festival over, our people resumed their ordinary

occupations: while some cut timber for building, and others made

charcoal for the blacksmith, the carpenter constructed a barge, and

the cooper made barrels for the use of the posts we proposed to

establish in the interior. On the 18th, in the evening, two canoes

full of white men arrived at the establishment. Mr. M’Dougal, the

resident agent, being confined to his room by sickness, the duty

of receiving the strangers devolved on me. My astonishment was not

slight, when one of the party called me by name, as he extended his

hand, and I recognised Mr. Donald M’Kenzie, the same who had quitted

Montreal, with Mr. W. P. Hunt, in the month of July, 1810. He was

accompanied by a Mr. Robert M’Lellan, a partner, Mr. John Reed,

a clerk, and eight _voyageurs_, or boatmen. After having reposed

themselves a little from their fatigues, these gentlemen recounted

to us the history of their journey, of which the following is the

substance.[77]

Messrs. Hunt and M’Kenzie, quitting Canada, {145} proceeded by way of

Mackinac and St. Louis, and ascended the Missouri, in the autumn of

1810, to a place on that river called _Nadoway_, where they wintered.

Here they were joined by Mr. R. M’Lellan, by a Mr. Crooks, and a

Mr. Müller, traders with the Indians of the South, and all having

business relations with Mr. Astor.

In the spring of 1811, having procured two large keel-boats, they

ascended the Missouri to the country of the _Arikaras_, or Rice

Indians, where they disposed of their boats and a great part of their

luggage, to a Spanish trader, by name _Manuel Lisa_. Having purchased

of him, and among the Indians, 130 horses, they resumed their route,

in the beginning of August, to the number of some sixty-five persons,

to proceed across the mountains to the river Columbia. Wishing to

avoid the _Blackfeet_ Indians, a war-like and ferocious tribe, who

put to death all the strangers that fall into their hands, they

directed their course southwardly, until they arrived at the 40th

degree of latitude. Thence they turned {146} to the northwest, and

arrived, by-and-by, at an old fort, or trading post, on the banks

of a little river flowing west. This post, which was then deserted,

had been established, as they afterward learned, by a trader named

Henry. Our people, not doubting that this stream would conduct them

to the Columbia, and finding it navigable, constructed some canoes

to descend it. Having left some hunters (or trappers) near the old

fort, with Mr. Miller, who, dissatisfied with the expedition, was

resolved to return to the United States, the party embarked; but very

soon finding the river obstructed with rapids and water-falls, after

having upset some of the canoes, lost one man by drowning, and also a

part of their baggage, perceiving that the stream was impracticable,

they resolved to abandon their canoes and proceed on foot. The

enterprise was one of great difficulty, considering the small stock

of provisions they had left. Nevertheless, as there was no time to

lose in deliberation, after depositing in a _cache_ the superfluous

part of their baggage, they divided themselves into four companies,

{147} under the command of Messrs. M’Kenzie, Hunt, M’Lellan and

Crooks, and proceeded to follow the course of the stream, which they

named _Mad river_, on account of the insurmountable difficulties

it presented. Messrs. M’Kenzie and M’Lellan took the right bank,

and Messrs. Hunt and Crooks the left. They counted on arriving

very quickly at the Columbia; but they followed this Mad river for

twenty days, finding nothing at all to eat, and suffering horribly

from thirst. The rocks between which the river flows being so steep

and abrupt as to prevent their descending to quench their thirst

(so that even their dogs died of it), they suffered the torments

of Tantalus, with this difference, that he had the water which he

could not reach above his head, while our travellers had it beneath

their feet. Several, not to die of this raging thirst, drank their

own urine: all, to appease the cravings of hunger, ate beaver skins

roasted in the evening at the camp-fire. They even were at last

constrained to eat their moccasins. Those on the left, or southeast

bank, suffered, however, less {148} than the others, because they

occasionally fell in with Indians, utterly wild indeed, and who

fled at their approach, carrying off their horses. According to all

appearances these savages had never seen white men. Our travellers,

when they arrived in sight of the camp of one of these wandering

hordes, approached it with as much precaution, and with the same

stratagem that they would have used with a troop of wild beasts.

Having thus surprised them, they would fire upon the horses, some of

which would fall; but they took care to leave some trinkets on the

spot, to indemnify the owners for what they had taken from them by

violence. This resource prevented the party from perishing of hunger.

Mr. M’Kenzie having overtaken Mr. M’Lellan, their two companies

pursued the journey together. Very soon after this junction, they

had an opportunity of approaching sufficiently near to Mr. Hunt,

who, as I have remarked, was on the other bank, to speak to him,

and inform him of their distressed state. Mr. Hunt caused {149} a

canoe to be made of a horse-hide; it was not, as one may suppose,

very large; but they succeeded, nevertheless, by that means, in

conveying a little horse-flesh to the people on the north bank. It

was attempted, even, to pass them across, one by one (for the skiff

would not hold any more); several had actually crossed to the south

side, when, unhappily, owing to the impetuosity of the current, the

canoe capsized, a man was drowned, and the two parties lost all hope

of being able to unite.[78] They continued their route, therefore,

each on their own side of the river. In a short time those upon the

north bank came to a more considerable stream, which they followed

down. They also met, very opportunely, some Indians, who sold them

a number of horses. They also encountered, in these parts, a young

American, who was deranged, but who sometimes recovered his reason.

This young man told them, in one of his lucid intervals, that he

was from Connecticut, and was named Archibald Pelton; that he had

come up the Missouri with Mr. Henry; that all the people at the post

{150} established by that trader were massacred by the Blackfeet;

that he alone had escaped, and had been wandering for three years

since, with the _Snake_ Indians.[79] Our people took this young man

with them. Arriving at the confluence with the Columbia, of the river

whose banks they were following, they perceived that it was the same

which had been called _Lewis river_, by the American captain of that

name, in 1805. Here, then, they exchanged their remaining horses for

canoes, and so arrived at the establishment, safe and sound, it is

true, but in a pitiable condition to see; their clothes being nothing

but fluttering rags.

The narrative of these gentlemen interested us very much. They added,

that since their separation from Messrs. Hunt and Crooks, they had

neither seen nor heard aught of them, and believed it impossible that

they should arrive at the establishment before spring. They were

mistaken, however, for Mr. Hunt arrived on the {151} 15th February,

with thirty men, one woman, and two children, having left Mr. Crooks,

with five men, among the _Snakes_. They might have reached Astoria

almost as soon as Mr. M’Kenzie, but they had passed from eight to ten

days in the midst of a plain, among some friendly Indians, as well to

recruit their strength, as to make search for two of the party, who

had been lost in the woods. Not finding them, they had resumed their

journey, and struck the banks of the Columbia a little lower down

than the mouth of Lewis river, where Mr. M’Kenzie had come out.

The arrival of so great a number of persons would have embarrassed

us, had it taken place a month sooner. Happily, at this time, the

natives were bringing in fresh fish in abundance. Until the 30th of

March, we were occupied in preparing triplicates of letters and other

necessary papers, in order to send Mr. Astor the news of our arrival,

and of the reunion of the two expeditions. The letters were intrusted

to Mr. John Reed, who quitted Astoria for St. Louis, in {152}

company with Mr. M’Lellan--another discontented partner, who wished

to disconnect himself with the association,--and Mr. R. Stuart, who

was conveying two canoe-loads of goods for his uncle’s post on the

_Okenakan_. Messrs. Farnham and M’Gillis set out at the same time,

with a guide, and were instructed to proceed to the _cache_,[80]

where the overland travellers had {153} hidden their goods, near old

Fort Henry, on the Mad river. I profited by this opportunity to write

to my family in Canada. Two days after, Messrs. M’Kenzie and Matthews

set out, with five or six men, as hunters, to make an excursion up

the Willamet river.

[76] But little is known of these two clerks, but what

Franchère narrates. Both were Canadians, and served

the Pacific Fur Company at Astoria and the interior

posts; both returned overland with the party which

left Fort George April 4, 1814. Ross Cox found both

living upon the Ottawa River in 1817, and Franchère

mentions (1854) Pillet as one of the four survivors

of the expedition.--ED.

[77] For the overland expedition of the Astorians, see

Bradbury’s _Travels_, volume v of our series, and

Brackenridge’s _Journal_, _ante_.--ED.

[78] The drowned man was Jean Baptiste Provost, a

Canadian voyageur. See Bradbury’s _Travels_,

appendix iii, in volume v of our series.--ED.

[79] A thoroughly savage and lazy tribe, inhabiting the

plains of the Columbia, between the 43d and 44th

degrees of latitude.--FRANCHÈRE.

_Comment by Ed._-See Bradbury’s _Travels_, note 123.

[80] These _caches_ are famous in all the narratives of

overland travel, whether for trade or discovery. The

manner of making them is described by Captains Lewis

and Clarke, as follows: they choose a dry situation,

then describing a circle of some twenty inches

diameter, remove the sod as gently and carefully

as possible. The hole is then sunk a foot deep or

more, perpendicularly; it is then worked gradually

wider as it descends, till it becomes six or seven

feet deep, and shaped like a kettle, or the lower

part of a large still. As the earth is dug out, it

is handed up in a vessel, and carefully laid upon

a skin or cloth, in which it is carried away, and

usually thrown into the river, if there be one, or

concealed so as to leave no trace of it. A floor

of three or four inches thick is then made of dry

sticks, on which is thrown hay or a hide perfectly

dry. The goods, after being well aired and dried,

are laid down, and preserved from contact with the

wall by a layer of other dried sticks, till all is

stowed away. When the hole is nearly full, a hide

is laid on top, and the earth is thrown upon this,

and beaten down, until, with the addition of the

sod first removed, the whole is on a level with

the ground, and there remains not the slightest

appearance of an excavation. The first shower

effaces every sign of what has been done, and such a

cache is safe for years.--HUNTINGTON.

{154} CHAPTER XII

Arrival of the Ship Beaver--Unexpected Return of Messrs. D.

Stuart, R. Stuart, M’Lelland, &c.--Cause of that Return--Ship

discharging--New Expeditions--Hostile Attitude of the

Natives--Departure of the Beaver--Journeys of the Author--His

Occupations at the Establishment.

From the departure of the last outfit under Mr. M’Kenzie, nothing

remarkable took place at Astoria, till the 9th of May. On that day

we descried, to our great surprise and great joy, a sail in the

offing, opposite the mouth of the river. Forthwith, Mr. M’Dougal

was despatched in a boat to the cape, to make the signals. On the

morning of the 10th, the weather being fine and the sea smooth, the

boat pushed out and arrived safely alongside. Soon after, the wind

springing up, the vessel made sail and entered the river, where she

dropped anchor, in Baker’s Bay, at about 2 P. M. Toward evening the

boat returned {155} to the Fort, with the following passengers:

Messrs. John Clarke of Canada (a wintering partner), Alfred Seton,

George Ehnainger, a nephew of Mr. Astor (clerks), and two men.[81]

We learned from these gentlemen that the vessel was the _Beaver_,

Captain _Cornelius Sowles_, and was consigned to us; that she left

New York on the 10th of October, and had touched, in the passage, at

_Massa Fuero_ and the Sandwich Isles. Mr. Clarke handed me letters

from my father and from several of my friends: I thus learned that

death had deprived me of a beloved sister.

On the morning of the 11th, we were strangely surprised by the return

of Messrs. D. Stuart, R. Stuart, R. M’Lelland, Crooks, Reed, and

Farnham. This return, as sudden as unlooked for, was owing to an

unfortunate adventure which befell the party, in ascending the river.

When they reached the Falls, where the portage is very long, some

natives came with their horses, to offer their aid in transporting

the goods. Mr. R. Stuart, not distrusting them, confided to their

care some bales of merchandise, which they {156} packed on their

horses: but, in making the transit, they darted up a narrow path

among the rocks, and fled at full gallop toward the prairie, without

its being possible to overtake them. Mr. Stuart had several shots

fired over their heads, to frighten them, but it had no other effect

than to increase their speed. Meanwhile our own people continued

the transportation of the rest of the goods, and of the canoes;

but as there was a great number of natives about, whom the success

and impunity of those thieves had emboldened, Mr. Stuart thought

it prudent to keep watch over the goods at the upper end of the

portage, while Messrs. M’Lellan and Reed made the rearguard. The

last named gentleman, who carried, strapped to his shoulders, a tin

box containing the letters and despatches for New York with which

he was charged, happened to be at some distance from the former,

and the Indians thought it a favorable opportunity to attack him

and carry off his box, the brightness of which no doubt had tempted

their cupidity. They threw themselves upon him so suddenly that he

had no time to {157} place himself on the defensive. After a short

resistance, he received a blow on the head from a war club, which

felled him to the ground, and the Indians seized upon their booty.

Mr. M’Lellan perceiving what was done, fired his carabine at one of

the robbers and made him bite the dust; the rest took to flight, but

carried off the box notwithstanding. Mr. M’Lellan immediately ran up

to Mr. Reed; but finding the latter motionless and bathed in blood,

he hastened to rejoin Mr. Stuart, urging him to get away from these

robbers and murderers. But Mr. Stuart, being a self-possessed and

fearless man, would not proceed without ascertaining if Mr. Reed

were really dead, or if he were, without carrying off his body; and

notwithstanding the remonstrances of Mr. M’Lellan, taking his way

back to the spot where the latter had left his companion, had not

gone two hundred paces, when he met him coming toward them, holding

his bleeding head with both hands.[82]

{158} The object of Mr. Reed’s journey being defeated by the loss

of his papers, he repaired, with the other gentlemen, to Mr. David

Stuart’s trading post, at Okenakan, whence they had all set out, in

the beginning of May, to return to Astoria. Coming down the river,

they fell in with Mr. R. Crooks, and a man named _John Day_.[83]

It was observed in the preceding chapter that Mr. Crooks remained

with five men among some Indians who were there termed _friendly_:

but this gentleman and his companion were the only members of that

party who ever reached the establishment: and they too arrived in a

most pitiable condition, the savages having stripped {159} them of

everything, leaving them but some bits of deerskin to cover their

nakedness.

On the 12th, the schooner, which had been sent down the river to the

Beaver’s anchorage, returned with a cargo (being the stores intended

for Astoria), and the following passengers: to wit, Messrs. B. Clapp,

J. C. Halsey, C. A. Nichols, and R. Cox, clerks;[84] five Canadians,

seven Americans (all mechanics), and a dozen Sandwich-islanders for

the service of the establishment. The captain of the Beaver sounded

the channel diligently for several days; but finding it scarcely deep

enough for so large a vessel, he was unwilling to bring her up to

Astoria. It was necessary, in consequence, to use the schooner as a

lighter in discharging the ship, and this tedious operation occupied

us during the balance of this month and a part of June.

Captain Sowles and Mr. Clarke confirmed the report of the destruction

of the Tonquin; they had learned it at Owhyhee, by means of a letter

which a certain Captain Ebbetts, in the employ of Mr. Astor,

had left there. It was nevertheless {160} resolved that Mr. Hunt

should embark upon the “Beaver,” to carry out the plan of an exact

commercial survey of the coast, which Mr. M’Kay had been sent to

accomplish, and in particular to visit for that purpose the Russian

establishments at Chitka sound.

The necessary papers having been prepared anew, and being now ready

to expedite, were confided to Mr. R. Stuart, who was to cross the

continent in company with Messrs. Crooks and R. M’Lellan, partners

dissatisfied with the enterprise, and who had made up their minds

to return to the United States. Mr. Clark, accompanied by Messrs.

Pillet, Donald M’Lellan, Farnham and Cox, was fitted out at the same

time, with a considerable assortment of merchandise, to form a new

establishment on the _Spokan_ or Clarke’s river.[85] Mr. M’Kenzie,

with Mr. Seton, was destined for the borders of _Lewis_ river[86]

while Mr. David Stuart, reinforced by Messrs. Matthews and M’Gillis,

was to explore the region lying north of his post at Okenakan. All

these outfits being ready, with the canoes, boatmen, {161} and

hunters, the flotilla quitted Astoria on the 30th of June, in the

afternoon, having on board sixty-two persons. The sequel will show

the result of the several expeditions.

During the whole month of July, the natives (seeing us weakened

no doubt by these outfits), manifested their hostile intentions

so openly that we were obliged to be constantly on our guard.

We constructed covered ways inside our palisades, and raised our

bastions or towers another story. The alarm became so serious toward

the latter end of the month that we doubled our sentries day and

night, and never allowed more than two or three Indians at a time

within our gates.

The Beaver was ready to depart on her coasting voyage at the end of

June, and on the 1st of July Mr. Hunt went on board: but westerly

winds prevailing all that month, it was not till the 4th of August

that she was able to get out of the river; being due again by the end

of October to leave her surplus goods and take in our furs for market.

The months of August and September were {162} employed in finishing a

house forty-five feet by thirty, shingled and perfectly tight, as a

hospital for the sick, and lodging house for the mechanics.

Experience having taught us that from the beginning of October to

the end of January, provisions were brought in by the natives in

very small quantity, it was thought expedient that I should proceed

in the schooner, accompanied by Mr. Clapp, on a trading voyage up

the river to secure a cargo of dried fish. We left Astoria on the

1st of October, with a small assortment of merchandise. The trip was

highly successful: we found the game very abundant, killed a great

quantity of swans, ducks, foxes, &c., and returned to Astoria on the

20th, with a part of our venison, wild fowl, and bear meat, besides

seven hundred and fifty smoked salmon, a quantity of the _Wapto_ root

(so called by the natives), which is found a good substitute for

potatoes,[87] and four hundred and fifty skins of beaver and other

animals of the furry tribe.

The encouragement derived from this excursion induced us to try a

second, and I set off this time {163} alone, that is, with a crew of

five men only, and an Indian boy, son of the old chief Comcomly. This

second voyage proved anything but agreeable. We experienced continual

rains, and the game was much less abundant, while the natives had

mostly left the river for their wintering grounds. I succeeded,

nevertheless, in exchanging my goods for furs and dried fish, and a

small supply of dried venison: and returned, on the 15th of November,

to Astoria, where the want of fresh provisions began to be severely

felt, so that several of the men were attacked with scurvy.

Messrs. Halsey and Wallace having been sent on the 23d, with fourteen

men, to establish a trading post on the Willamet, and Mr. M’Dougal

being confined to his room by sickness, Mr. Clapp and I were left

with the entire charge of the post at Astoria, and were each other’s

only resource for society. Happily Mr. Clapp was a man of amiable

character, of a gay, lively humor, and agreeable conversation. In

the intervals of our daily duties, we amused ourselves with music

and reading; having some instruments and a {164} choice library.

Otherwise we should have passed our time in a state of insufferable

ennui, at this rainy season, in the midst of the deep mud which

surrounded us, and which interdicted the pleasure of a promenade

outside the buildings.

[81] John Clarke was American born, but when sixteen

years of age entered the employ of the North West

Company. He had seen service in the Athabascan

department from 1804-10. After his connection with

the Pacific Fur Company, narrated in these pages,

he re-entered the North West service and returned

overland to Fort William in 1814. There he joined

the Hudson’s Bay Company, and became associated with

Lord Selkirk, in the Red River Settlement. He was

still living in 1830 or 1831.

Alfred Seton’s later adventures are related by

Franchère, see appendix. His continued interest in

the Western fur-trade is evidenced by the fact that

he furnished financial backing for Captain Bonneville’s

adventure, in 1832.--ED.

[82] We were apprized of this unfortunate rencontre by

natives from up the river, on the 15th of April,

but disbelieved it.--FRANCHÈRE. [It is curious to

observe the want of military sagacity and precaution

which characterized the operations of these traders,

compared with the exact calculations of danger and

the unfailing measures of defence, employed from

the very outset by Captains Lewis and Clarke in the

same country. There was one very audacious attempt

at plunder made upon the latter; but besides that

it cost the Indians a life or two, the latter lost

property of their own far exceeding their booty. It

is true that the American officers had a stronger

force at their disposal than our merchants had, and

that, too, consisting of experienced western hunters

and veteran soldiers of the frontier; but it is not

less interesting to note the difference, because it

is easy to account for it.--HUNTINGTON.]

[83] For a brief account of John Day, see Bradbury’s

_Travels_, vol. v of our series, note 104.--ED.

[84] Franchère tells us all that is known of the first

three of these clerks. Ross Cox, who bore the

soubriquet “Little Irishman,” entered the North

West service and remained upon Columbia waters six

years, ascending from its mouth nine times. In 1831,

he published an entertaining narrative entitled,

_Adventures upon the Columbia River_, compiled from

the journals he had kept.--ED.

[85] The Spokane House of the Pacific Fur Company was

founded by John Clarke near the mouth of the Coeur

d’Alène (now Little Spokane) river, close to the

rival establishment of the North West Company.

Both were near the site of the present Spokane,

Washington.--ED.

[86] Lewis’s River was named by William Clark in honor

of his fellow-explorer, the first white man who had

visited its headwaters. This great southeastern

tributary of the Columbia is now known as Snake

River. The Indian name was Shapatin (Shahaptin).

McKenzie’s party established their post at the mouth

of Reed’s (now Payette) River, and named it Fort

Boisé. Upon their success see Ross, _Adventures on

the Columbia_, volume vii of our series.--ED.

[87] The wappato is the bulb of the _sagittaria

variabilis_, or common arrowhead. For the

Indian method of gathering and preparing this

root, see _Original Journals of Lewis and Clark

Expedition_.--ED.

{165} CHAPTER XIII

Uneasiness respecting the “Beaver”--News of the Declaration of

War between Great Britain and the United States--Consequences

of that Intelligence--Different Occurrences--Arrival of two

Canoes of the Northwest Company--Preparations for abandoning the

Country--Postponement of Departure--Arrangement with Mr. J. G.

M’Tavish.

The months of October, November, and December passed away without any

news of the “Beaver,” and we began to fear that there had happened

to her, as to the Tonquin, some disastrous accident. It will be seen,

in the following chapter, why this vessel did not return to Astoria

in the autumn of 1812.

On the 15th of January, Mr. M’Kenzie arrived from the interior,

having abandoned his trading establishment, after securing his stock

of goods in a _cache_. Before his departure he had paid a visit

to Mr. Clark on the Spokan, and while there {166} had learned the

news, which he came to announce to us, that hostilities had actually

commenced between Great Britain and the United States. The news had

been brought by some gentlemen of the Northwest Company, who handed

to them a copy of the Proclamation of the President to that effect.

When we learned this news, all of us at Astoria who were British

subjects and Canadians, wished ourselves in Canada; but we could

not entertain even the thought of transporting ourselves thither,

at least immediately: we were separated from our country by an

immense space, and the difficulties of the journey at this season

were insuperable: besides, Mr. Astor’s interests had to be consulted

first. We held, therefore, a sort of council of war, to which the

clerks of the factory were invited _pro formâ_, as they had no voice

in the deliberations. Having maturely weighed our situation; after

having seriously considered that being almost to a man British

subjects, we were trading, notwithstanding, under the American

flag: and foreseeing the improbability {167} or rather, to cut the

matter short, the impossibility that Mr. Astor could send us further

supplies or reinforcements while the war lasted, as most of the ports

of the United States would inevitably be blockaded by the British; we

concluded to abandon the establishment in the ensuing spring, or at

latest, in the beginning of the summer. We did not communicate these

resolutions to the men, lest they should in consequence abandon

their labor: but we discontinued, from that moment, our trade with

the natives, except for provisions; as well because we had no longer

a large stock of goods on hand, as for the reason that we had already

more furs than we could carry away overland.

So long as we expected the return of the vessel, we had served out

to the people a regular supply of bread: we found ourselves in

consequence, very short of provisions, on the arrival of Mr. M’Kenzie

and his men. This augmentation in the number of mouths to be fed

compelled us to reduce the ration of each man to four ounces of flour

and half a pound of dried fish _per diem_: {168} and even to send

a portion of the hands to pass the rest of the winter with Messrs.

Wallace and Halsey on the Willamet, where game was plenty.

Meanwhile, the sturgeon having begun to enter the river, I left, on

the 13th of February, to fish for them; and on the 15th sent the

first boat-load to the establishment; which proved a very timely

succor to the men, who for several days had broken off work from

want of sufficient food.[88] I formed a camp near Oak Point, whence

I continued to despatch canoe after canoe of fine fresh fish to

Astoria, and Mr. M’Dougal sent to me thither all the men who were

sick of scurvy, for the re-establishment of their health.

On the 20th of March, Messrs. Reed and Seton, who had led a party

of our men to the post on the Willamet, to subsist them, returned

to Astoria, with a supply of dried venison. These gentlemen spoke

to us in glowing terms of the country of the Willamet as charming,

and abounding in beaver, elk, and deer; and informed us that Messrs.

Wallace and Halsey had constructed a dwelling and trading house, on

a great prairie, about one {169} hundred and fifty miles from the

confluence of that river with the Columbia.[89] Mr. M’Kenzie and his

party quitted us again on the 31st, to make known the resolutions

recently adopted at Astoria, to the gentlemen who were wintering in

the interior.

On the 11th of April two birch-bark canoes, bearing the British flag,

arrived at the factory. They were commanded by Messrs. J. G. M’Tavish

and Joseph Laroque, and manned by nineteen Canadian _voyageurs_.[90]

They landed on a point of land under the guns of the fort, and

formed their camp. We invited these gentlemen to our quarters and

learned from them the object of their visit. They had come to await

the arrival of the ship _Isaac Todd_, despatched from Canada by the

Northwest Company, in October, 1811, with furs, and from England

in March, 1812, with a cargo of suitable merchandise for the Indian

trade. They had orders to wait at the mouth of the Columbia till the

month of July, and then to return, if the vessel did not make her

appearance by that time. They also informed us that the natives {170}

near Lewis river had shown them fowling-pieces, gun-flints, lead, and

powder; and that they had communicated this news to Mr. M’Kenzie,

presuming that the Indians had discovered and plundered his _cache_;

which turned out afterward to be the case.

The month of May was occupied in preparations for our departure from

the Columbia. On the 25th, Messrs. Wallace and Halsey returned from

their winter quarters with seventeen packs of furs, and thirty-two

bales of dried venison. The last article was received with a great

deal of pleasure, as it would infallibly be needed for the journey we

were about to undertake. Messrs. Clarke, D. Stuart, and M’Kenzie also

arrived, in the beginning of June, with one hundred and forty packs

of furs, the fruit of two years’ trade at the post on the _Okenakan_,

and one year on the _Spokan_.[91]

The wintering partners (that is to say, Messrs. Clarke and David

Stuart) dissenting from the {171} proposal to abandon the country

as soon as we intended, the thing being (as they observed)

impracticable, from the want of provisions for the journey and

horses to transport the goods, the project was deferred, as to its

execution, till the following April. So these gentlemen, having taken

a new lot of merchandise, set out again for their trading posts on

the 7th of July. But Mr. M’Kenzie, whose goods had been pillaged by

the natives (it will be remembered), remained at Astoria, and was

occupied with the care of collecting as great a quantity as possible

of dried salmon from the Indians. He made seven or eight voyages up

the river for that purpose, while we at the Fort were busy in baling

the beaver-skins and other furs, in suitable packs for horses to

carry. Mr. Reed, in the meantime, was sent on to the mountain-passes

where Mr. Miller had been left with the trappers, to winter there,

and to procure as many horses as he could from the natives for our

use in the contemplated journey. He was furnished for this expedition

with three Canadians, and a half-breed hunter {172} named _Daion_,

the latter accompanied by his wife and two children.[92] This man

came from the lower Missouri with Mr. Hunt in 1811-’12.

Our object being to provide ourselves, before quitting the country,

with the food and horses necessary for the journey; in order to avoid

all opposition on the part of the Northwest Company, we entered into

an arrangement with Mr. M’Tavish. This gentleman having represented

to us that he was destitute of the necessary goods to procure

wherewith to subsist his party on their way homeward, we supplied

him from our warehouse, payment to be made us in the ensuing spring,

either in furs or in bills of exchange on their house in Canada.

[88] The Columbia sturgeon (_Acipenser transmontanus_)

were first described by Lewis and Clark. They attain

a length of from ten to fifteen feet, and run far up

the Columbia and even Snake River. Their commercial

value is considerable.--ED.

[89] The location of this post has not been definitely

determined. McKenzie explored the river in the

spring of 1812, and his name is given to a large

eastern fork. The trading house which Franchère

mentions would seem to have been somewhere near this

affluent. Ross describes it as among the Kalapuya,

a large tribe from whom both a tributary of the

Willamette and a neighboring mountain range take

their name.--ED.

[90] John George McTavish was one of the wintering

partners of the North West Company, who had been

for several years in the Athabasca department and

the Rocky Mountains. He negotiated the bargain by

which Astoria was transferred to the British, and

afterwards remained for several years at Fort George

(British name for the post). In 1816 he skirted

the coast of California in one of the company’s

schooners, bringing off rich prizes in furs. In

1819, he with other partners of the North West

Company, was captured by agents of the Hudson’s Bay

Company, sent a prisoner to York factory, and later

to England, where he was released.

Joseph Larocque entered the North West Company’s

employ at the age of fourteen, and became so proficient

in the knowledge of Indian languages and character

that his services were highly prized. Lewis and

Clark encountered his elder brother, François, among

the Mandan, in the winter of 1804-05. Larocque the

younger remained upon the Columbia until 1817; after

the union with the Hudson’s Bay Company (1821) he

retained his status of trader-in-chief. Having

amassed a considerable fortune, Larocque retired in

1833, four years later visiting France, where he

remained fourteen years. His money was utilized to

endow St. Joseph’s College, upon the Willamette,

named in honor of the donor. Having returned to his

native land (1851), the aged fur-trader devoted

himself to works of religion and charity, dying at

Ottawa in 1866. For details of his life, see Tassé,

_Les Canadiens de l’Ouest_ (Montreal, 1878), ii, pp.

321-338.--ED.

[91] The profits of the last establishment were slender;

because the people engaged at it were obliged to

subsist on horse-flesh, and they ate ninety horses

during the winter.--FRANCHÈRE.

[92] For notes on Joseph Miller and Pierre Durion

(Daion), see Bradbury’s _Travels_, vol. v of our

series, notes 7 and 72.--ED.

{173} CHAPTER XIV

Arrival of the Ship “Albatross”--Reasons for the Non-Appearance

of the Beaver at Astoria--Fruitless Attempt of Captain Smith

on a Former Occasion--Astonishment and Regret of Mr. Hunt at

the Resolution of the Partners--His Departure--Narrative of the

Destruction of the Tonquin--Causes of that Disaster--Reflections.

On the 4th of August, contrary to all expectation, we saw a sail at

the mouth of the river. One of our gentlemen immediately got into

the barge, to ascertain her nationality and object: but before he

had fairly crossed the river, we saw her pass the bar and direct her

course toward Astoria, as if she were commanded by a captain to whom

the intricacies of the channel were familiar. I had stayed at the

Fort with Mr. Clapp and four men. As soon as we had recognised the

American flag, not doubting any longer that it was a ship destined

for the factory, we saluted {174} her with three guns. She came to

anchor over against the Fort, but on the opposite side of the river,

and returned our salute. In a short time after, we saw, or rather

we heard, the oars of a boat (for it was already night) that came

toward us. We expected her approach with impatience, to know who the

stranger was, and what news she brought us. Soon we were relieved

from our uncertainty by the appearance of Mr. Hunt, who informed us

that the ship was called the _Albatross_ and was commanded by Captain

_Smith_.

It will be remembered that Mr. Hunt had sailed from Astoria on board

the “Beaver,” on the 4th of August of the preceding year, and should

have returned with that vessel, in the month of October of the same

year. We testified to him our surprise that he had not returned at

the time appointed, and expressed the fears which we had entertained

in regard to his fate, as well as that of the Beaver itself: and

in reply he explained to us the reasons why neither he nor Captain

Sowles had been able to fulfil the promise which they had made us.

{175} After having got clear of the river Columbia, they had scudded

to the north, and had repaired to the Russian post of Chitka, where

they had exchanged a part of their goods for furs. They had made with

the governor of that establishment, Barnoff by name, arrangements

to supply him regularly with all the goods of which he had need,

and to send him every year a vessel for that purpose, as well as

for the transportation of his surplus furs to the East Indies.[93]

They had then advanced still further to the north, to the coast of

_Kamskatka_; and being there informed that some Kodiak hunters had

been left on some adjacent isles, called the islands of St. Peter

and St. Paul, and that these hunters had not been visited for three

years, they determined to go thither, and having reached those isles,

they opened a brisk trade, and secured no less than eighty thousand

skins of the South-sea seal. These operations had consumed a great

deal of time; the season was already far advanced; ice was forming

around them, and it was not without having incurred considerable

dangers that {176} they succeeded in making their way out of those

latitudes. Having extricated themselves from the frozen seas of the

north, but in a shattered condition, they deemed it more prudent

to run for the Sandwich isles, where they arrived after enduring a

succession of severe gales. Here Mr. Hunt disembarked, with the men

who had accompanied him, and who did not form a part of the ship’s

crew; and the vessel, after undergoing the necessary repairs, set

sail for Canton.

Mr. Hunt had then passed nearly six months at the Sandwich islands,

expecting the annual ship from New York, and never imagining that

war had been declared. But at last, weary of waiting so long to no

purpose, he had bought a small schooner of one of the chiefs of the

isle of Wahoo, and was engaged in getting her ready to sail for the

mouth of the Columbia, when four sails hove in sight, and presently

came to anchor in _Ohetity bay_. He immediately went on board of one

of them, and learned that they came from the Indies, whence they had

sailed precipitately, to avoid the English cruisers. He also learned

{177} from the captain of the vessel he boarded, that the Beaver

had arrived in Canton some days before the news of the declaration

of war. This Captain Smith, moreover, had on board some cases of

nankeens and other goods shipped by Mr. Astor’s agent at Canton for

us. Mr. Hunt then chartered the Albatross to take him with his people

and the goods to the Columbia. That gentleman had not been idle

during the time that he sojourned at Wahoo: he brought us 35 barrels

of salt pork or beef, nine tierces of rice, a great quantity of dried

_Taro_, and a good supply of salt.

As I knew the channel of the river, I went on board the Albatross,

and piloted her to the old anchorage of the Tonquin, under the guns

of the Fort, in order to facilitate the landing of the goods.

Captain Smith informed us that in 1810, a year before the founding of

our establishment, he had entered the river in the same vessel, and

ascended it in boats as far as Oak Point; and that he had attempted

to form an establishment {178} there; but the spot which he chose for

building, and on which he had even commenced fencing for a garden,

being overflowed in the summer freshet, he had been forced to abandon

his project and re-embark. We had seen, in fact, at Oak Point, some

traces of this projected establishment.[94] The bold manner in which

this captain had entered the river was now accounted for.

Captain Smith had chartered his vessel to a Frenchman named

_Demestre_, who was then a passenger on board of her, to go and take

a cargo of sandal wood at the _Marquesas_, where that gentleman

had left some men to collect it, the year before. He could not,

therefore, comply with the request we made him, to remain during the

summer with us, in order to transport our goods and people, as soon

as they could be got together, to the Sandwich islands.

Mr. Hunt was surprised beyond measure, when we informed him of

the resolution we had taken of abandoning the country: he blamed

us severely for having acted with so much precipitation, {179}

pointing out that the success of the late coasting voyage, and

the arrangements we had made with the Russians, promised a most

advantageous trade, which it was a thousand pities to sacrifice, and

lose the fruits of the hardships he had endured and the dangers he

had braved, at one fell swoop, by this rash measure. Nevertheless,

seeing the partners were determined to abide by their first

resolution, and not being able, by himself alone, to fulfil his

engagements to Governor Barnoff, he consented to embark once more, in

order to seek a vessel to transport our heavy goods, and such of us

as wished to return by sea. He sailed, in fact, on the Albatross, at

the end of the month. My friend Clapp embarked with him: they were,

in the first instance, to run down the coast of California, in the

hope of meeting there some of the American vessels which frequently

visit that coast to obtain provisions from the Spaniards.

Some days after the departure of Mr. Hunt, the old one-eyed chief

Comcomly came to tell us that an Indian of _Gray’s Harbor_, who had

sailed {180} on the Tonquin in 1811, and who was the only soul that

had escaped the massacre of the crew of that unfortunate vessel,

had returned to his tribe. As the distance from the River Columbia

to Gray’s Harbor was not great, we sent for this native. At first

he made considerable difficulty about following our people, but was

finally persuaded. He arrived at Astoria, and related to us the

circumstances of that sad catastrophe, nearly as follows: [95]

“After I had embarked on the Tonquin,” said he, “that vessel sailed

for _Nootka_.[96] Having arrived opposite a large village called

_Newity_, we dropped anchor. The natives having invited Mr. M’Kay to

land, he did so, and was received in the most cordial manner: they

even kept him several days at their village, and made him lie, {181}

every night, on a couch of sea-otter skins. Meanwhile the captain

was engaged in trading with such of the natives as resorted to his

ship: but having had a difficulty with one of the principal chiefs in

regard to the price of certain goods, he ended by putting the latter

out of the ship, and in the act of so repelling him, struck him on

the face with the roll of furs which he had brought to trade. This

act was regarded by that chief and his followers as the most grievous

insult, and they resolved to take vengeance for it. To arrive more

surely at their purpose, they dissembled their resentment, and came,

as usual, on board the ship. One day, very early in the morning, a

large pirogue, containing about a score of natives, came alongside:

every man had in his hand a packet of furs, and held it over his

head as a sign that they came to trade. The watch let them come on

deck. A little after, arrived a second pirogue, carrying about as

many men as the other. The sailors believed that these also came to

exchange their furs, and allowed them to mount the ship’s side like

the first. Very {182} soon, the pirogues thus succeeding one another,

the crew saw themselves surrounded by a multitude of savages, who

came upon the deck from all sides. Becoming alarmed at the appearance

of things, they went to apprize the captain and Mr. M’Kay, who

hastened to the poop. I was with them,” said the narrator, “and

fearing, from the great multitude of Indians whom I saw already on

the deck, and from the movements of those on shore, who were hurrying

to embark in their canoes, to approach the vessel, and from the

women being left in charge of the canoes of those who had arrived,

that some evil design was on foot, I communicated my suspicions to

Mr. M’Kay, who himself spoke to the captain. The latter affected an

air of security, and said that with the firearms on board, there was

no reason to fear even a greater number of Indians. Meanwhile these

gentlemen had come on deck unarmed, without even their sidearms.

The trade, nevertheless, did not advance; the Indians offered less

than was asked, and pressing with their furs close to the captain,

Mr. M’Kay, and {183} Mr. Lewis, repeated the word _Makoke! Makoke!_

‘Trade! Trade!’ I urged the gentlemen to put to sea, and the captain,

at last, seeing the number of Indians increase every moment, allowed

himself to be persuaded: he ordered a part of the crew to raise the

anchor, and the rest to go aloft and unfurl the sails. At the same

time he warned the natives to withdraw, as the ship was going to

sea. A fresh breeze was then springing up, and in a few moments more

their prey would have escaped them; but immediately on receiving this

notice, by a preconcerted signal, the Indians, with a terrific yell,

drew forth the knives and war-bludgeons they had concealed in their

bundles of furs, and rushed upon the crew of the ship. Mr. Lewis was

struck, and fell over a bale of blankets. Mr. M’Kay, however, was

the first victim whom they sacrificed to their fury. Two savages,

whom, from the crown of the poop, where I was seated, I had seen

follow this gentleman step by step, now cast themselves upon him,

and having given him a blow on the head with a _potumagan_ (a kind

of sabre which is described {184} a little below), felled him to

the deck, then took him up and flung him into the sea, where the

women left in charge of the canoes, quickly finished him with their

paddles. Another set flung themselves upon the captain, who defended

himself for a long time with his pocket-knife, but, overpowered

by numbers, perished also under the blows of these murderers. I

next saw (and that was the last occurrence of which I was witness

before quitting the ship) the sailors who were aloft slip down by

the rigging, and get below through the steerage hatchway. They were

five, I think, in number, and one of them, in descending, received a

knife-stab in the back. I then jumped overboard, to escape a similar

fate to that of the captain and Mr. M’Kay: the women in the canoes,

to whom I surrendered myself as a slave, took me in, and bade me hide

myself under some mats which were in the pirogues; which I did. Soon

after, I heard the discharge of firearms, immediately upon which the

Indians fled from the vessel, and pulled for the shore as fast as

possible, nor did they venture {185} to go alongside the ship again

the whole of that day. The next day, having seen four men lower a

boat, and pull away from the ship, they sent some pirogues in chase:

but whether those men were overtaken and murdered, or gained the open

sea and perished there, I never could learn. Nothing more was seen

stirring on board the Tonquin; the natives pulled cautiously around

her, and some of the more daring went on board; at last, the savages,

finding themselves absolute masters of the ship, rushed on board in

a crowd to pillage her. But very soon, when there were about four or

five hundred either huddled together on deck, or clinging to the

sides, all eager for plunder, the ship blew up with a horrible noise.

I was on the shore,” said the Indian, “when the explosion took place,

saw the great volume of smoke burst forth in the spot where the ship

had been, and high in the air above, arms, legs, heads and bodies,

flying in every direction. The tribe acknowledged a loss of over two

hundred of their people on that occasion. As for me I remained their

prisoner, and have been their slave for two {186} years. It is but

now that I have been ransomed by my friends. I have told you the

truth, and hope you will acquit me of having in any way participated

in that bloody affair.”

Our Indian having finished his discourse, we made him presents

proportioned to the melancholy satisfaction he had given us in

communicating the true history of the sad fate of our former

companions, and to the trouble he had taken in coming to us; so that

he returned apparently well satisfied with our liberality.

According to the narrative of this Indian, Captain Thorn, by his

abrupt manner and passionate temper, was the primary cause of his

own death and that of all on board his vessel. What appears certain

at least, is, that he was guilty of unpardonable negligence and

imprudence, in not causing the boarding netting to be rigged, as

is the custom of all the navigators who frequent this coast, and

in suffering (contrary to his instructions) too great a number of

Indians to come on board at once.[97]

{187} Captain Smith, of the Albatross, who had seen the wreck of the

Tonquin, in mentioning to us its sad fate, attributed the cause of

the disaster to the rash conduct of a Captain Ayres, of Boston. That

navigator had taken off, as I have mentioned already, ten or a dozen

natives of Newitty, as hunters, with a promise of bringing them back

to their country, which promise he inhumanly broke by leaving them

on some desert islands in Sir Francis Drake’s Bay. The countrymen of

these unfortunates, indignant at the conduct of the American captain,

had sworn to avenge themselves on the first white men who appeared

among them. Chance willed it that our vessel was the first to enter

that bay, and the natives but too well executed on our people their

project of vengeance.

Whatever may have been the first and principal cause of this

misfortune (for doubtless it is {188} necessary to suppose more

than one), seventeen white men and twelve Sandwich-Islanders, were

massacred: not one escaped from the butchery, to bring us the news of

it, but the Indian of _Gray’s Harbor_. The massacre of our people was

avenged, it is true, by the destruction of ten times the number of

their murderers; but this circumstance, which could perhaps gladden

the heart of a savage, was a feeble consolation (if it was any) for

civilized men. The death of Mr. Alexander M’Kay was an irreparable

loss to the Company, which would probably have been dissolved by

the remaining partners, but for the arrival of the energetic Mr.

Hunt. Interesting as was the recital of the Indian of Gray’s Harbor

throughout, when he came to the unhappy end of that estimable man,

marks of regret were visibly painted on the countenances of all who

listened.[98]

At the beginning of September, Mr. M’Kenzie set off, with Messrs.

Wallace and Seton, to carry a supply of goods to the gentlemen

wintering in the interior, as well as to inform them of the

arrangements {189} concluded with Mr. Hunt, and to enjoin them to

send down all their furs, and all the Sandwich-Islanders, that the

former might be shipped for America, and the latter sent back to

their country.

NOTE by HUNTINGTON

It will never be known how or by whom the _Tonquin_ was blown up.

Some pretend to say that it was the work of James Lewis, but that

is impossible, for it appears from the narrative of the Indian that

he was one of the first persons murdered. It will be recollected

that five men got between decks from aloft, during the affray, and

four only were seen to quit the ship afterward in the boat. The

presumption was that the missing man must have done it, and in

further conversation with the Gray’s Harbor Indian, he inclined to

that opinion, and even affirmed that the individual was the ship’s

armorer, _Weeks_. It might also have been accidental. There was a

large quantity of powder in the run immediately under the cabin, and

it is not impossible that while the Indians were intent on plunder,

in opening some of the kegs they may have set fire to the contents.

Or again, the men, before quitting the ship, may have lighted a slow

train, which is the most likely supposition of all.

[93] It was a part of Astor’s plan to furnish provisions

and articles of trade for the Russians on the

Northwest Coast; that this would have been

practicable, is proved by the later trade between

Oregon and Sitka, when the Willamette Valley

furnished most of the flour used in Alaska. Around

Alexander Baranoff’s actions many legends have

gathered. Born in Eastern Russia (1747), he entered

business at Moscow, later drifted to Irkutsk and

Kamchatka, and about 1790 crossed to America. In

1799 he built Sitka, where for many years he ruled

as governor, with absolute sway. He died at sea, in

1819.--ED.

[94] This adventure of the “Albatross” (1810) was the

first attempt to establish a trading post upon

Columbia River. The Winships, a Boston firm,

fitted out the vessel of which Nathan Winship

was in charge, and William Smith first mate. The

first choice for the establishment proved to be

subject to overflow, whereupon they removed to Oak

Point. The crafty Chinook, however, showed such a

disposition to resent this invasion of their own

trading territory, that the Americans, after a brief

occupancy, were forced to retreat.

Captain William Smith, born in Virginia (1768),

migrated to Boston and in 1790 began a life upon the

ocean, in which he made eight voyages around the world,

on one of which he was absent eight years. Once he

was shipwrecked, and twice taken prisoner--by the

Indians on the Northwest Coast, and by the Spaniards

in California. He was still living in 1820. See

Niles’s _Register_, Aug. 12, 1820.--ED.

[95] It being understood, of course, that I render

into civilized expressions the language of this

barbarian, and represent by words and phrases

what he could only convey by gestures or by

signs.--FRANCHÈRE. [The _naïveté_ of these notes,

and of the narrative in these passages, is

amusing.--HUNTINGTON.]

[96] A great village or encampment of Indians, among

whom the Spaniards had sent missionaries under the

conduct of Signor Quadra; but whence the latter were

chased by Captain Vancouver, in 1792, as mentioned

in the Introduction.--FRANCHÈRE.

_Comment by Ed._--See note 3, _ante_.

[97] It is equally evident that even at the time when

Captain Thorn was first notified of the dangerous

crowd and threatening appearance of the natives, a

display of firearms would have sufficed to prevent

an outbreak. Had he come on deck with Mr. M’Kay and

Mr. Lewis, each armed with a musket, and a couple of

pistols at the belt, it is plain from the timidity

the savages afterward displayed, that he might have

cleared the ship, probably without shedding a drop

of blood.--HUNTINGTON.

[98] All accounts of the “Tonquin’s” fate are based upon

this Indian’s narrative. Ross’s description (see

volume vii of our series) is more circumstantial,

and differs from Franchère’s in many details. Ross

also throws doubt upon the good faith of the Indian

survivor. The other accounts represent that the

men who escaped in the boat were recaptured, and

tortured to death by the savages. The earliest

published narrative was in the _Missouri Gazette_,

May 15, 1813, reprinted by Chittenden, _Fur Trade_,

pp. 909-911.--ED.

{190} CHAPTER XV

Arrival of a Number of Canoes of the Northwest Company--Sale of the

Establishment at Astoria to that Company--Canadian News--Arrival

of the British Sloop-of-War “Raccoon”--Accident on Board that

Vessel--The Captain takes Formal Possession of Astoria--Surprise

and Discontent of the Officers and Crew--Departure of the

“Raccoon.”

A few days after Mr. M’Kenzie left us, we were greatly surprised by

the appearance of two canoes bearing the British flag, with a third

between them, carrying the flag of the United States, all rounding

Tongue Point. It was no other than Mr. M’Kenzie himself, returning

with Messrs. J. G. M’Tavish and Angus Bethune, of the Northwest

Company.[99] He had met these gentlemen near the first rapids,

and had determined to return with them to the establishment, in

consequence of information which they gave him. Those gentlemen were

in _light_ canoes {191} (i. e., without any lading), and formed the

vanguard to a flotilla of eight, loaded with furs, under the conduct

of Messrs. John Stuart and M’Millan.[100]

Mr. M’Tavish came to our quarters at the factory, and showed Mr.

M’Dougal a letter which had been addressed to the latter by Mr.

Angus Shaw, his uncle, and one of the partners of the Northwest

Company.[101] Mr. Shaw informed his nephew that the ship _Isaac Todd_

had sailed from London, with letters of _marque_, in the month of

March, in company with the frigate _Phœbe_, having orders from the

government to seize our establishment, which had been represented

to the lords of the admiralty as an important colony founded by

the American government. The eight canoes left behind, came up

meanwhile, and uniting themselves to the others, they formed a camp

of about seventy-five men, at the bottom of a little bay or cove,

near our factory. As they were destitute of provisions, we supplied

them; but Messrs. M’Dougal and M’Kenzie affecting to dread a surprise

from this British force under {192} our guns, we kept strictly on

our guard; for we were inferior in point of numbers, although our

position was exceedingly advantageous.

As the season advanced, and their ship did not arrive, our new

neighbors found themselves in a very disagreeable situation, without

food, or merchandise wherewith to procure it from the natives;

viewed by the latter with a distrustful and hostile eye, as being

our enemies and therefore exposed to attack and plunder on their

part with impunity; supplied with good hunters, indeed, but wanting

ammunition to render their skill available. Weary, at length, of

applying to us incessantly for food (which we furnished them with

a sparing hand), unable either to retrace their steps through the

wilderness or to remain in their present position, they came to the

conclusion of proposing to buy of us the whole establishment.

Placed, as we were, in the situation of expecting, day by day, the

arrival of an English ship-of-war to seize upon all we possessed,

we listened to their propositions. Several meetings and discussions

{193} took place; the negotiations were protracted by the hope of one

party that the long-expected armed force would arrive, to render the

purchase unnecessary, and were urged forward by the other in order

to conclude the affair before that occurrence should intervene; at

length the price of the goods and furs in the factory was agreed

upon, and the bargain was signed by both parties on the 23d of

October. The gentlemen of the Northwest Company took possession of

Astoria, agreeing to pay the servants of the Pacific Fur Company

(the name which had been chosen by Mr. Astor), the arrears of their

wages, to be deducted from the price of the goods which we delivered,

to supply them with provisions, and give a free passage to those

who wished to return to Canada over land. The American colors were

hauled down from the factory, and the British run up, to the no small

chagrin and mortification of those who were American citizens.

It was thus, that after having passed the seas, and suffered all

sorts of fatigues and privations, I lost in a moment all my hopes

of fortune. I {194} could not help remarking that we had no right

to expect such treatment on the part of the British government,

after the assurances we had received from Mr. Jackson, his majesty’s

_chargé d’affaires_ previously to our departure from New York. But

as I have just intimated, the agents of the Northwest Company had

exaggerated the importance of the factory in the eyes of the British

ministry; for if the latter had known what it really was--a mere

trading-post--and that nothing but the rivalry of the fur-traders of

the Northwest Company was interested in its destruction, they would

never have taken umbrage at it, or at least would never have sent a

maritime expedition to destroy it. The sequel will show that I was

not mistaken in this opinion.

The greater part of the servants of the Pacific Fur Company entered

the service of the Company of the Northwest: the rest preferred

to return to their country, and I was of the number of these

last. Nevertheless, Mr. M’Tavish, after many ineffectual attempts

to persuade me to remain with them, having intimated that the

establishment {195} could not dispense with my services, as I was

the only person who could assist them in their trade, especially

for provisions, of which they would soon be in the greatest need,

I agreed with them (without however relinquishing my previous

engagement with Mr. Astor’s agents) for five months, that is to say,

till the departure of the expedition which was to ascend the Columbia

in the spring, and reach Canada by way of the Rocky Mountains and

the rivers of the interior. Messrs. John Stuart and M’Kenzie set off

about the end of this month, for the interior, in order that the

latter might make over to the former the posts established on the

Spokan and Okenakan.

On the 15th of November, Messrs. Alexander Stuart[102] and Alexander

Henry,[103] both partners of the N. W. Company, arrived at the

factory, in a couple of bark canoes manned by sixteen _voyageurs_.

They had set out from _Fort William_, on Lake Superior, in the

month of July. They brought us Canadian papers, by which we learned

that the British arms so far had been in the ascendant. {196} They

confirmed also the news that an English frigate was coming to take

possession of our quondam establishment; they were even surprised not

to see the _Isaac Todd_ lying in the road.

On the morning of the 30th, we saw a large vessel standing in under

_Cape Disappointment_ (which proved in this instance to deserve its

name); and soon after that vessel came to anchor in _Baker’s bay_.

Not knowing whether it was a friendly or a hostile sail, we thought

it prudent to send on board Mr. M’Dougal in a canoe, manned by such

of the men as had been previously in the service of the Pacific

Fur Company, with injunctions to declare themselves Americans, if

the vessel was American, and Englishmen in the contrary case. While

this party was on its way, Mr. M’Tavish caused all the furs which

were marked with the initials of the N. W. Company to be placed on

board the two barges at the Fort, and sent them up the river above

Tongue Point, where they were to wait for a concerted signal, that

was to inform {197} them whether the new-comers were friends or foes.

Toward midnight, Mr. Halsey, who had accompanied Mr. M’Dougal to the

vessel, returned to the Fort, and announced to us that she was the

British sloop-of-war _Raccoon_, of 26 guns, commanded by Captain

Black, with a complement of 120 men, fore and aft. Mr. John M’Donald,

a partner of the N. W. Company, was a passenger on the Raccoon, with

five _voyageurs_, destined for the Company’s service.[104] He had

left England in the frigate _Phœbe_, which had sailed in company

with the _Isaac Todd_ as far as Rio Janeiro; but there falling in

with the British squadron, the admiral changed the destination of

the frigate, despatching the sloops-of-war _Raccoon_ and _Cherub_

to convoy the Isaac Todd, and sent the Phœbe to search for the

American commodore Porter, who was then on the Pacific, capturing

all the British whalers and other trading vessels he met with.[105]

These four vessels then sailed in company as far as Cape Horn,

where they parted, after agreeing on the island of _Juan Fernandez_

as a _rendezvous_. The three {198} ships-of-war met, in fact, at

that island; but after having a long time waited in vain for the

_Isaac Todd_, Commodore Hillier (Hillyer?) who commanded this little

squadron, hearing of the injury inflicted by Commodore Porter, on the

British commerce, and especially on the whalers who frequent these

seas, resolved to go in quest of him in order to give him combat;

and retaining the _Cherub_ to assist him, detailed the Raccoon to

go and destroy the American establishment on the River Columbia,

being assured by Mr. M’Donald that a single sloop-of-war would be

sufficient for that service.

Mr. M’Donald had consequently embarked, with his people, on board

the Raccoon. This gentleman informed us that they had experienced

frightful weather in doubling the Cape, and that he entertained

serious apprehensions for the safety of the Isaac Todd, but that if

she was safe, we might expect her to arrive in the river in two or

three weeks. The signal gun agreed upon, having been fired, for the

return of the barges, Mr. M’Tavish came back to the Fort {199} with

the furs, and was overjoyed to learn the arrival of Mr. M’Donald.

On the 1st of December the Raccoon’s gig came up to the fort,

bringing Mr. M’Donald (surnamed _Bras Croche_, or crooked arm),

and the first lieutenant, Mr. Sheriff. Both these gentlemen were

convalescent from the effects of an accident which had happened

to them in the passage between Juan Fernandez and the mouth of

the Columbia. The captain wishing to clean the guns, ordered them

to be scaled, that is, fired off: during this exercise one of the

guns hung fire; the sparks fell into a cartridge tub, and setting

fire to the combustibles, communicated also to some priming horns

suspended above; an explosion followed, which reached some twenty

persons; eight were killed on the spot, the rest were severely burnt;

Messrs. M’Donald and Sheriff had suffered a great deal; it was

with difficulty that their clothes had been removed; and when the

lieutenant came ashore, he had not recovered the use of his hands.

Among the killed was an American named _Flatt_, {200} who was in

the service of the Northwest Company and whose loss these gentlemen

appeared exceedingly to regret.[106]

As there were goods destined for the Company on board the Raccoon,

the schooner _Dolly_ was sent to Baker’s bay to bring them up: but

the weather was so bad, and the wind so violent, that she did not

return till the 12th, bringing up, together with the goods, Captain

Black, a lieutenant of marines, four soldiers and as many sailors. We

entertained our guests as splendidly as it lay in our power to do.

After dinner, the captain caused firearms to be given to the servants

of the Company, and we all marched under arms to the square or

platform, where a flag-staff had been erected. There the captain took

a British Union Jack, which he had brought on shore for the occasion,

and caused it to be run up to the top of the staff; then, taking a

bottle of Madeira wine, he broke it on the flag-staff, declaring in

a loud voice, that he took possession of the establishment and of

the country in the name of his Britannic Majesty; and changed the

name {201} of Astoria to _Fort George_. Some few Indian chiefs had

been got together to witness this ceremony, and I explained to them

in their own language what it signified. Three rounds of artillery

and musketry were fired, and the health of the king was drunk by the

parties interested, according to the usage on like occasions.

The sloop being detained by contrary winds, the captain caused an

exact survey to be made of the entrance of the river, as well as

of the navigable channel between Baker’s bay and Fort George. The

officers visited the fort, turn about, and seemed to me in general

very much dissatisfied with their fool’s errand, as they called it:

they had expected to find a number of American vessels loaded with

rich furs, and had calculated in advance their share in the booty

of Astoria.[107] They had not met a vessel, and their astonishment

was at its height when they saw that our establishment had been

transferred to the Northwest Company, and was under the British

flag. It will suffice to quote a single expression of Captain

Black’s, in order to show {202} how much they were deceived in

their expectations. The captain landed after dark; when we showed

him the next morning the palisades and log bastions of the factory,

he inquired if there was not another fort; on being assured that

there was no other, he cried out, with an air of the greatest

astonishment:--“What! is this the fort which was represented to me as

so formidable! Good God! I could batter it down in two hours with a

four-pounder!”

There were on board the Raccoon two young men from Canada, who had

been impressed at Quebec, when that vessel was there some years

before her voyage to the Columbia: one of them was named _Parent_, a

blacksmith, and was of Quebec: the other was from Upper Canada, and

was named M’Donald. These young persons signified to us that they

would be glad to remain at Fort George: and as there was among our

men some who would gladly have shipped, we proposed to the captain an

exchange, but he would not consent to it. John Little, a boat-builder

from New York, who had been on the {203} sick list a long time, was

sent on board and placed under the care of the sloop’s surgeon, Mr.

O’Brien; the captain engaging to land him at the Sandwich Islands. P.

D. Jeremie also shipped himself as under clerk. The vessel hoisted

sail, and got out of the river, on the 31st of December.

From the account given in this chapter the reader will see with what

facility the establishment of the Pacific Fur Company could have

escaped capture by the British force. It was only necessary to get

rid of the land party of the Northwest Company--who were completely

in our power--then remove our effects up the river upon some small

stream, and await the result. The sloop-of-war arrived, it is true;

but as, in the case I suppose, she would have found nothing, she

would have left, after setting fire to our deserted houses. None

of their boats would have dared follow us, even if the Indians had

betrayed to them our lurking-place. Those at the head of affairs had

their own fortunes to seek, and thought it more for their interest,

doubtless, to {204} act as they did, but that will not clear them

in the eyes of the world, and the charge of treason to Mr. Astor’s

interests will always be attached to their characters.

[99] Angus Bethune appears as one of the chief members of

Alexander Henry’s party in the Saskatchewan country,

first mentioned under date of September 17, 1810.

After reaching Astoria with McTavish in 1813, he

remained in the Columbia country until April, 1817,

when he left Fort George with the brigade which set

out for Fort William. Later he was supercargo on the

North West Company’s vessel “Columbia,” sailing to

China from the Columbia River.--ED.

[100] This is probably A. McMillan, member of a party

organized at Fort William by John McDonald (1808

or 1809) for the relief of David Thompson, the

scientist of the North West Company, then in the

Rocky Mountains. McMillan was with Thompson until

the spring of 1810, when he joined Alexander Henry.

July 9, of the same year, McMillan set out for

the Columbia to watch the operations there of the

Hudson’s Bay Company, but was prevented by the

Indians from establishing a post, and rejoined Henry

the following January. In 1812 he was in charge

of the North West Company’s house near Spokane

Falls.--ED.