USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 32
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 32
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On the 23d of March, 1806, the Americans commenced the ascent of the Columbia in canoes, on their return to the United States. Proceeding slowly up the river, they carefully examined
287
RETURN OF LEWIS AND CLARKE.
1806.]
its shores, and discovered a large stream, called by the natives the Cowelitz, flowing into it from the north, at the distance of sixty miles from the ocean. Thirty miles higher up, they found another and much larger stream, joining the Columbia on the south side, the Indian name of which was supposed to be Multonomah ; it is now, however, universally known as the Willamet, and on its banks are situated the most flourishing settlements as yet formed by citi- zens of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains.
In the middle of April, the exploring party reached the foot of the great rapids, below the Falls of the Columbia, where they aban- doned their canoes, and began their journey by land, on horses purchased from the Indians. In this way, they traversed the gap or defile in the mountains through which the river pours its floods, and then, pursuing their course over the elevated plains east of that ridge, they arrived, on the 8th of May, at the point on the Koos- kooskee River, where they had left their horses, and first embarked on the waters of the Columbia, in the preceding year. From this place, they continued on horseback due eastward, through the Rocky Mountains, to the Clarke River, which flows for some dis- tance in a northerly direction from its sources, before turning southward to join the other branches of the Columbia ; and there it was agreed that the chiefs of the expedition should separate, to meet again at the confluence of the Yellowstone with the Missouri.
The separation took place on the 3d of July, near the point at which the Clarke River is crossed by the 47th parallel of latitude, due west of the Falls of the Missouri. Captain Lewis and his party proceeded some distance northward, down the Clarke, and then, quitting it, crossed the Rocky Mountains to the head-waters of Maria River, which empties into the Missouri just below the falls. There they met a band of Indians belonging to the numerous and daring race called the Black-foot, who infest the plains at the base of the mountains, and are ever at war with all other tribes ; these savages attempted to seize the rifles of the Americans, and Lewis was obliged to kill one of them before they desisted. The party then hastened to the Missouri, which they reached at the falls, and thence floated down to the mouth of the Yellowstone.
Meanwhile, the others, under Clarke, rode southward .up the valley of the Clarke River, to its sources; and, after exploring several passes in the mountains between that point and the head- waters of the Yellowstone, they embarked in canoes on the latter
288
IMPORTANCE OF THE DISCOVERIES.
[1806.
stream, and descended it to the Missouri, where they joined Lewis and his men on the 12th of August.
From the point of confluence of the two rivers, the whole body moved down the Missouri ; and, on the 23d of September, 1806, they arrived in safety at St. Louis, having travelled, in the course of their expedition, more than nine thousand miles.
The preceding sketch of the long and difficult expedition of Lewis and Clarke will serve to show the general course of their routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific. As to the priority and extent of their geographical discoveries, a few words will suffice. The Missouri had been ascended, by the French and Spanish traders, to the mouth of the Yellowstone, long before Lewis and Clarke embarked on it; but ample proofs are afforded, by the maps drawn prior to their expedition, that no information even approximating to correctness had been obtained respecting the river and the countries in its vicinity. With regard to the territory between the great Falls of the Missouri and those of the Columbia, and the branches of either river joining it above its falls, we have no accounts whatsoever earlier than those derived from the journals of the American exploring party. The Tacoutchee-Tessee, navi- gated by Mackenzie in 1793, and supposed by him to be a branch of the Columbia, was afterwards discovered to be a different stream, now called Fraser's River, emptying into the Strait of Fuca; and no evidence has been adduced of the passage of any white person through the country between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, north of California, from the time of Mackenzie's journey to that of the expedition of Lewis and Clarke .*
Politically, the expedition was an announcement to the world of the intention of the American government to occupy and settle the countries explored, to which certainly no other nation except Spain could advance so strong a claim on the grounds of discovery or of contiguity ; and the government and people of the United States thus virtually incurred the obligation to prosecute and carry into
* The journal of the expedition of Lewis and Clarke was not published until 1814, when it appeared nearly in the same state in which it came from the hands of Lewis, shortly before the melancholy termination of his existence. It affords abundant proofs of the powers of observation possessed by those who were engaged in the enterprise ; and the mass of facts, geographieally, commercially, and politically important, which it contains, causes it still to be regarded as the principal source of information respect- ing the geography, the natural history, and the aboriginal inhabitants, of the portions of America traversed by the Missouri and the Columbia.
289
PIKE'S EXPEDITION.
1806.]
fulfilment the great ends for which the labors of Lewis and Clarke , were the first preparatory measures.
During the absence of Lewis and Clarke, other persons were engaged, under the orders of the government of the United States, in exploring different parts of the interior of Louisiana. Lieutenant Pike ascended the Mississippi to its head-waters, near the 48th degree of latitude, where he obtained much useful information respecting the course of that stream, and the numbers, characters, and dispositions, of the Indians in its vicinity, as well as concerning the trade and establishments of the North-West Company in that quarter. Having completed this expedition, Pike, in 1806, under- took another, in the course of which he travelled south-westward from the mouth of the Missouri, to the upper waters of the Arkan- sas, the Red River, and the Rio Bravo del Norte : on the latter river, he and his party were made prisoners by the Spaniards of Santa Fe, who carried them southward as far as the city of Chi- huahua, and thence, through Texas, to the United States. The Red and Washita Rivers were at the same time explored, to a con- siderable distance from the Mississippi, by Messrs. Dunbar, Hunter, and Sibley, whose journals, as well as those of Pike, subsequently published, contain many interesting descriptions of those parts of America.
Thus, within three or four years after Louisiana came into the possession of the United States, it ceased to be an unknown region, and the principal features of the territory drained by the Columbia were displayed.
37
290
CHAPTER XIV.
1806 TO 1815.
First Establishments of the North-West Company in the Countries north of the Columbia - Pacific Fur Company formed at New York - Plan of its Founder - First Expedition from New York in the Tonquin - Foundation of Astoria near the Mouth of the Columbia River -Destruction of the Tonquin by the Savages - March of the Party under Hunt and Crooks across the Continent - Arrival of the Beaver in the Columbia - War between the United States and Great Britain fatal to the Enterprise - Establishments of the Pacific Company sold to the North- West Company - Astoria taken by the British - Dissolution of the Pacific Company.
THE expeditions of Lewis and Clarke, and Pike, did not fail to attract the attention, and to excite the jealousy, of the British government and trading companies. Pike had restrained the incur- sions of the North-West Company's people into the territories of the Upper Mississippi, and had lessened their influence over the Indians inhabiting those regions. From the moment when Lewis and Clarke appeared on the Missouri, their movements were watched by the agents of the British Association; and, so soon as it was ascertained that they were ordered to explore the Colum- bia, preparations were made to anticipate the Americans in the settlement of that portion of the continent, for which the expedition of those officers was evidently intended to open the way. A party of the North-West Company's men was accordingly despatched, in 1805, under the direction of Mr. Laroque, to establish posts and occupy territories on the Columbia; but this party proceeded no farther than the Mandan villages on the Missouri. In the following year, 1806, another party was despatched from Fort Chipewyan, under Mr. Simon Fraser, who crossed the Rocky Mountains near the passage of the Peace River, and formed a trading establishment on a small lake, now called Fraser's Lake, situated in the 54th degree of latitude. This was the first settlement or post of any kind made by British subjects west of the Rocky Mountains. Other posts were subsequently formed in the same country, which, in 1808, received from the traders the name of New Caledonia ; but it does
291
FIRST BRITISH POSTS IN NEW CALEDONIA.
1806.]
not appear, from any evidence as yet adduced, that any part of the waters of the Columbia, or of the country through which they flow, was seen by persons in the service of the North-West Company until 1811 .*
In the mean time, several establishments had been formed by citizens of the United States on the Columbia and its branches.
Before the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the trade of the Missouri and the adjacent countries inhabited by the Indians, had been granted by the Spanish government to Manuel Lisa, a merchant of St. Louis, who continued to conduct it almost exclu- sively until 1806. After the return of Lewis and Clarke, other individuals engaged in the business, the competition between whom occasioned many and serious disputes ; until at length, in 1808, an association, called the Missouri Fur Company, was formed among
* Many interesting details respecting the proceedings of the North-West Com- pany, and the geography of the parts of America in which its establishments are situated, may be found in the journal of D. W. Harmon, a native of Vermont, who was a partner in that company, and the superintendent of all its affairs beyond the Rocky Mountains for several years. This journal was published at Andover, in Massachusetts, in 1819, but is now nearly out of print: a review of it, containing many curious extracts, may be seen in the London Quarterly Review for Janu- ary, 1822.
With regard to the dates of the earliest establishments of the North-West Company beyond the Rocky Mountains, the following extracts from Harmon's journal may be considered as decisive evidence : -
" Saturday, November 24th, 1804. - Some people have just arrived from Montagne la Basse, with a letter from Mr. Chaboillez, who informs me that two captains, Clarke and Lewis, with one hundred and eighty soldiers, have arrived at the Mandan village, on the Missouri River, which place is situated about three days' distance from the residence of Mr. Chaboillez. They have invited Mr. Chaboillez to visit them. It is said that, on their arrival, they hoisted the American flag, and informed the natives that their object was not to trade, but merely to explore the country, and that, as soon as the navigation shall open, they design to continue their route across the Rocky Mountains, and thence descend to the Pacific Ocean.
" Wednesday, April 10th, 1805. - While at Montagne la Basse, Mr. Chaboillez in- duced me to consent to undertake a long and arduous tour of discovery. I am to leave that place about the beginning of June, accompanied by six or seven Canadians, and two or three Indians. The first place at which we shall stop will be the Mandan village, on the Missouri River; thence we shall steer our course towards the Rocky Mountains, accompanied by a number of the Mandan Indians, who proceed in that direction, every spring, to meet and trade with another tribe of Indians, who reside on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. [This journey I never undertook: a Mr. La Roque attempted to make this tour, but went no farther than the Mandan village.]"
At page 281, Harmon says, "The part of the country west of the Rocky Moun- tains, with which I am acquainted, has, ever since the North-West Company first made an establishment there, which was in 1806, gone by the name of New Cale- donia," &c. And in many places he speaks of Mr. Simon Fraser as having led the first company of traders beyond the Rocky Mountains, in 1806.
292
FIRST TRADING POSTS ON THE COLUMBIA.
[1810.
the principal traders in that part of America, by which posts were established on the Upper Mississippi, the Missouri, and even beyond the Rocky Mountains. The trading post founded by Mr. Henry, one of the agents of the Missouri Company, on a branch of the Lewis River, the great southern arm of the Columbia, appears to have been the earliest establishment of any kind made by people of a civilized nation in the territory drained by the latter stream ; the enmity of the savages in its vicinity, and the difficulty of obtaining provisions, however, obliged Mr. Henry to abandon it in 1810.
In that year, an attempt was made by Captain Smith, the com- mander of the ship Albatross, from Boston, to found a post for trade with the Indians at a place called Oak Point, on the south bank of the Columbia, about forty miles from its mouth. For this purpose a house was built and a garden was laid out and planted there; but the site was badly chosen in all respects, and the scheme was aban- doned before the close of the year.
In the same year, 1810, an association was formed at New York, for the prosecution of the fur trade in the central and north-western parts of the continent, in connection with the China trade, of which a particular account will be presented, as the transactions attend ing the enterprise led to important political results.
This association was called the Pacific Fur Company .* At its head was John Jacob Astor, a German merchant of New York, who had been for many years extensively engaged in the commerce of the Pacific and China, and also in the trade with the Indian coun- tries in the centre of the American continent, and, by his prudence and skill, had thus accumulated an immense fortune, ere he passed the meridian of life. He devised the scheme; he advanced the capital requisite for carrying it into execution, and he directed all
* The following account of the proceedings of the Pacific Fur Company is derived chiefly from - Adventures on the Columbia River, &c., by Ross Cox. London, 1831. - Relation d'un Voyage à la Cote Nord-Ouest, de l'Amérique Septentrionale, dans les Années 1810-14, par Gabriel Franchère. Montreal, 1820. [Franchère went out with the first party in the Tonquin; Cox went out in the Beaver, and they both returned to Canada by way of the lakes.] - Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains, by Washington Irving, Philadelphia, 1836; the latter author gives the most complete account of the circumstances, particularly of the adventures of the parties under Hunt, Crooks, and Stuart, derived from their state- ments and the papers in the possession of Mr. Astor, to which he had access. In addi- tion to these authorities, several letters and papers, addressed by Mr. Astor to the execu- tive of the United States, have been examined, and some communications have been personally received from that gentleman. One of his letters, containing a summary of the circumstances connected with his enterprise, will be found among the Proofs and Illustrations, at the end of this volume, under the letter G.
293
1810.] ASTOR'S PLANS FOR MONOPOLIZING THE CHINA TRADE.
the operations. His first objects were to concentrate in the hands of the company the fur trade of every part of the unsettled territo- ries of America claimed by the United States, and also the supply of the Russian establishments on the North Pacific, which was to be conducted agreeably to arrangements made with the Russian Amer- ican Company, similar to those proposed by the government of St. Petersburg to the cabinet at Washington, as already mentioned ; and by the attainment of these first objects, he expected to be able to con- trol, if not exclusively to possess, the whole commerce between the ports of China and those of America, and of a large portion of Europe.
For these purposes, posts were to be established on the Missouri, the Columbia, and the coasts of the Pacific contiguous to the latter river, at which places the furs were to be collected by trade with the Indians, or by hunters in the employ of the company. The posts were to be supplied with the merchandise required, either by way of the Missouri, or by ships despatched from the ports of the United States to the North Pacific ; and the furs collected were to be carried either down the Missouri to the Atlantic ports of the Union, or westward to the establishments of the company on the Pacific. The merchandise sent to the Pacific would be discharged, in the first instance, at a principal factory, to be founded at some point most convenient for distributing the articles among the interior posts, and for receiving the furs from those places; and the vessels would then take in cargoes of furs, which they would transport to Canton. Vessels would also be sent, either directly from the United States, or from the principal factory on the Pacific, to the Russian American establishments, with provisions and other articles, for which furs were to be received in payment; and from Canton these vessels would bring to Europe or America teas, silks, and other Chinese goods, procured in exchange for their furs. It is scarcely necessary to ad !, that all these movements were to be conducted with order and regularity, and at stated periods, so as to prevent loss of time and labor, or injury to the various articles transported.
The number of shares in the company was to be one hundred : of these half were retained by Mr. Astor, who was to advance the funds necessary for the first operations, and to manage the con- cerns at New York ; the remaining shares being divided among the other partners, who were to conduct the business in the western territories, on the Pacific, and at Canton. The association, if prosperous, was to continue twenty years, after which it might be prolonged; but it might be abandoned by any of the partners, or -
294
PACIFIC FUR COMPANY'S OPERATIONS. [1810.
dissolved, within the first five years, Mr. Astor bearing all the losses incurred during that period.
This was certainly an extensive and complicated scheme ; but it appeared, at the time when it was devised, to be perfectly practicable. The territories in which the new establishments were to be formed, had never been occupied : there could be no doubt that the Russians would gladly agree to the proposed arrangements for the trade with their factories ; the demand for furs at Canton was regular, and suf- ficiently great to insure the superiority, in that market, to those who could control the supply ; and the Americans would possess, in China and on the Pacific, a decided advantage over the British, whose flag was then rarely seen in the Pacific, in consequence of the monopoly enjoyed by the East India Company. Moreover, there was then no prospect of a material change in the political positions of the principal nations of the world.
The only party from which the Pacific Company could apprehend any immediate and serious difficulties, was the North-West Company of Montreal. The resources of that body were in every respect inferior to Mr. Astor's ; but, in order to prevent rivalry, he communi- cated his intentions confidentially to its directors, and offered them an interest to the extent of one third in his enterprise : they, how- ever, rejected his proposal, and took measures, as will be shown hereafter, to forestall him. Was Mr. Astor - a citizen of the United States - justifiable in thus offering to an association of British sub- jects, noted for its enmity to his adopted country, a share of the ad- vantages to be obtained under the flag of the United States, from ter- ritories exclusively belonging to the United States, or of which the exclusive possession by the United States was evidently essential to the welfare and advancement of the republic ?
Having matured his scheme, Mr. Astor engaged as partners, clerks, and voyageurs, a number of Scotchmen and Canadians, who had been in the service of the North-West Company, and afterwards a number rather greater, of other persons, principally natives of the United States. The partners first admitted were Alexander Mackay, who had accompanied Mackenzie in his expedition to the Pacific in 1793, Duncan Macdougal, and Donald Mackenzie, all Scotchmen, formerly belonging to the North-West Company: these persons signed the constitution or articles of agreement of the Pacific Com- pany, with Mr. Astor, on the 23d of June, 1810; having, however, previously communicated the whole plan of the enterprise to Mr. Jackson, the minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain in the United
295
PARTNERS IN THE PACIFIC COMPANY.
1810.]
States, who quieted all their scruples as to engaging in it, by assur- ing them that, " in case of a war between the two nations, they would be respected as British subjects and merchants." The partners sub- sequently admitted were David and Robert Stuart, and Ramsay Crooks, Scotchmen, who had also been in the service of the North- West Company, and Wilson Price Hunt, John Clarke, and Robert Maclellan, citizens of the United States. The majority of the clerks were Americans ; among the others were Ross Cox, an Englishman, and Gabriel Franchère, a Canadian, each of whom has written an interesting history of the enterprise. The voyageurs were nearly all from Canada. Mr. Hunt, a native of New Jersey, was chosen as chief agent of the company, to superintend all its concerns on the western side of America for five years.
Thus it will be seen that, although the chief direction of the con- cerns of the Pacific Fur Company, in New York and on the western side of the continent, were at first intrusted to American citizens, yet the majority not only of the inferior servants, but also of the partners, were British subjects, nearly all of whom had been in the service of a rival British association.
The preparations for commencing the enterprise having been completed, four of the partners, Messrs. Mackay, Macdougal, David Stuart, and Robert Stuart, with eleven clerks, thirteen Canadian voyageurs, and five mechanics, all British subjects, took their departure from New York for the mouth of the Columbia River, in September, 1810, in the ship Tonquin, commanded by Jonathan Thorne. In January following, the second detachment, conducted by Mr. Hunt, the chief agent, and Messrs. Maclellan, Mackenzie, and Crooks, set out for the same point, by way of the Missouri River ; and in October, 1811, the ship Beaver, under Captain Sowles, car- ried out from New York, to the North Pacific, Mr. Clarke, with six clerks and a number of other persons.
Mr. Astor had already, in 1809, despatched the ship Enterprise, under Captain Ebbets, an intelligent and experienced seaman and trader, to make observations at various places on the north-west coasts of America, and particularly at the Russian settlements, and to prepare the way for the new establishments. He, also, in 1811, sent an agent to St. Petersburg, by whose means he concluded an arrangement with the Russian American Company, to the effect that his association should have the exclusive privileges, of supplying the Russian establishments on the North Pacific with merchandise, receiving furs in payment, and of transporting to Canton such
296
THE ASTORIA ENTERPRISE BEGUN.
[1811.
other furs as the Russians might choose to ship for that port, on their own account, provided that the Americans should visit no other parts of the coast north of a certain latitude.
The Tonquin passed around Cape Horn, and in February, 1811, arrived at Owyhee, where Macdougal, who was to superintend the affairs of the company on the Pacific and its coasts until the arrival of Hunt, endeavored to conclude a treaty of amity and commerce with King Tamahamaha : but that aged chief, whom experience had rendered distrustful, refused to bind himself by any contract with the white men ; and he would only promise to furnish the vessels of the company with provisions on the same terms with other vessels - namely, on payment of the value in Spanish dollars. Having obtained the necessary supplies in this way, and taken on board a dozen of the islanders, who were permitted by their sovereign to engage in the service of the Pacific Company, Captain Thorne sailed for the mouth of the Columbia, where he effected an entrance on the 24th of March, with great danger and difficulty, after losing three of his men, who attempted to reach the shore in a boat.
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