USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 33
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 33
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The passengers immediately disembarked on the shore of Baker's Bay, on the north side of the Columbia, just within Cape Disappoint- ment, where sheds were built for their temporary accommodation. A few days afterwards, the partners set off in search of a place proper for the establishment of a factory ; and they soon selected for that ob- ject a spot on the south bank of the river, distant about ten miles from the ocean, which had received from Broughton, in 1792, the name of Point George. To this place the Tonquin was removed ; and, her goods and materials being landed, preparations were commenced for the erection of a fort and other houses, and for building a small vessel, of which the frame had been brought out from New York. In the course of two months, these works were so far advanced, that the assistance of the ship's crew was no longer needed ; and Captain Thorne accordingly sailed on the 5th of June for the northern coasts, carrying with him Mr. Mackay who was to conduct the trade, and to make arrangements with the Russians, Mr. Lewis one of the clerks, and an Indian who spoke English, to serve as interpreter.
During the ensuing summer, much progress was made in the buildings for the factory, which, in honor of the head of the com- pany, was named ASTORIA. A large piece of ground was elcared and laid out as a garden, in which various vegetables were planted ; the small vessel was finished and launched ; trade was carried on with the neighboring Indians, and also with others from the higher
297
DAVID THOMPSON VISITS ASTORIA.
1811.]
parts of the river, who gave skins, fish, and game, in exchange for manufactured articles ; and every thing, in fine, seemed to promise success to the enterprise.
While the Astorians were thus engaged, they were unexpectedly visited, on the 15th of July, by a party of the North-West Company's men, under the direction of Mr. David Thompson, the surveyor or astronomer of that body. These men had been despatched from Canada in the preceding year, with the object of forestalling the Americans in the occupation of the mouth of the Columbia, which they hoped to effect before the end of that season : but they were so long delayed in seeking a passage through the Rocky Mountains, that they were obliged to winter in that ridge, near the northernmost sources of the Columbia, under the 52d parallel of latitude ; whence they hastened down the river in the spring of 1811, building huts, and erecting flags at various places, by way of taking possession of the country. They were received at the fort not as rivals, but as friends ; and were treated with the utmost respect and hospitality, during their stay, by their old companion, the superintendent, Macdougal, who, moreover, furnished them with provisions, and even with goods, for trading on their departure up the river.
Mr. Thompson and his followers in this expedition were, from all the accounts as yet made public, the first white persons who navigated the northern branch of the Columbia, or traversed any part of the country drained by it. The British commissioners, in the negotiation with the American plenipotentiary at London, in 1826, nevertheless, attempted to place Mr. Thompson's expedition on an equality, not only as to extent of discovery, but also as to date, with that of Lewis and Clarke ; and to represent the establishments which he is said to have founded on his way down the Columbia as prior to those formed by the Pacific Company. In their statement of the claims of Great Britain to territories west of the Rocky Moun- tains, they say *- "The United States further pretend that their claim to the country in question is strengthened and confirmed by the discovery of the sources of the Columbia, and by the exploration of its course to the sea by Lewis and Clarke, in 1805-6. In reply to this allegation, Great Britain affirms, and can distinctly prove, that, if not before, at least in the same and subsequent years, her North-West Trading Company had, by means of their agent, Mr. Thompson, already established their posts among the Flat-head and
* See the British statement, among the Proofs and Illustrations, in the latter part of this volume, under the letter H.
38
298
MARCH OF HUNT, MACLELLAN, AND CROOKS.
[1812.
Kootanie tribes, on the head-waters or main branch of the Columbia, and were gradually extending them down the principal stream of that river ; thus giving to Great Britain in this particular, as in the discovery of the mouth of the river, a title of parity at least, if not of priority of discovery, as opposed to the United States. It was from these posts that, having heard of the American establishment forming in 1811 at the mouth of the river, Mr. Thompson hastened thither, descending the river to ascertain the nature of that estab- lishment." The expression " if not before, at least in the same and following ycars," used here, is rather indefinite. In order to show how it should be understood conformably with truth, it will be proper to repeat - that Lewis and Clarke descended the Columbia and reached its mouth before the middle of November, 1805 - that the North-West Company made their first establishment beyond the Rocky Mountains, at some distance north of any part of the Co- lumbia, in 1806- that American establishments were formed on the Columbia in 1809, 1810, and 1811-and, finally, that Thompson did not arrive among the Kootanie and Flat-head tribes until the spring of 1811, after the foundation of Astoria.
Mr. Thompson and his people were accompanied, on their return, by a party from the factory, under Mr. David Stuart, who established a post at the confluence of a stream, called the Okinagan, with the north branch of the Columbia, about six hundred miles above the mouth of the latter river, and remained there during the winter. The situation of those left at Astoria was, in the mean time, very un- pleasant, and their spirits were depressed by various circumstances. Their supplies of provisions were scanty and uncertain, and nothing was heard, for some months, of the party who were to come over land from the United States ; the Tonquin, which was expected to return to the river in September, did not appear, and rumors were brought by the Indians of the destruction of a ship, and the massacre of her crew, by the natives near the Strait of Fuca. Nothing, however, occurred at the factory, worthy of note, until the 18th of January, 1812, when a portion of the detachment sent across the continent arrived there in the most wretched condition.
This detachment, consisting of about sixty men, under the chief agent, Hunt, and the partners, Crooks, Mackenzie, and Maclellan, ascended the Missouri River in boats, from its mouth to the country of the Arickara Indians, distant about fourteen hundred miles higher ; during which voyage they were constantly annoyed by their rivals of the Missouri Company ; and, there quitting the river, they took a
·
299
MARCH OF HUNT AND HIS PARTY TO THE COLUMBIA.
1812.]
westward course to the Rocky Mountains, which they crossed in September, 1811, near the head of the Yellowstone River. On the western side of the ridge, they found a large stream, probably the main branch of the Lewis, on which they embarked in canoes, with the expectation of thus floating down to the Falls of the Colum- bia ; but ere they had proceeded far in this way, they encountered so many dangers and obstructions, from falls and rapids, that they were forced to abandon the stream and resume their march. It would be needless here to attempt to describe the many evils from hunger, thirst, cold, and fatigue, which these men underwent during their wanderings through that dreary wilderness of snow-clad moun- tains, in the winter of 1811-12 : suffice it to say, that, after several of their number had perished from one or more of these causes, the others reached Astoria in separate parties, in the first months of 1812, having spent more than a year in coming from St. Louis. At the factory they found shelter, warmth, and rest; but they had little food, until the fish began to enter the river, when they obtained abundant supplies of pilchards, of the most delicious flavor.
On the 5th of May, 1812, the ship Beaver,* commanded by Cap- tain Sowles, arrived in the Columbia, from New York, bringing the third detachment of persons in the service of the Pacific Com- pany, under the direction of Mr. Clarke, and twenty-six natives of
* Ross Cox, who arrived at Astoria in the Beaver, in May, 1812, gives the follow- ing account of the establishment as it then appeared : -
"The spot selected for the fort [Astoria] was a handsome eminence, called Point George, which commanded an extensive view of the majestic Columbia in front, bounded by the bold and thickly-wooded northern shore. On the right, about three miles distant, a long, high, and rocky peninsula, covered with timber, called Tongue Point, extended a considerable distance into the river from the southern side, with which it was connected by a narrow neck of land ; while, on the extreme left, Cape Disappointment, with the bar and its terrific chain of breakers, were distinctly visible. The buildings consisted of apartments for the proprietors and clerks, with a capacious dining-hall for both ; extensive warehouses for the trading goods and furs, a provision store, a trading shop, smith's forge, carpenter's shop, &c .; the whole surrounded by stockades, forming a square, and reaching about fifteen feet above the ground. A gallery ran around the stockades, in which loopholes were pierced, sufficiently large for musketry ; two strong bastions, built of logs, commanded the four sides of the square ; each bastion had two stories, in which a number of chosen men slept every night ; a six pounder was placed in the lower story of each, and they were both well provided with small arms. Immediately in front of the fort was a gentle declivity, sloping down to the river's side, which had been turned into an excellent kitchen garden ; and, a few hundred rods to the left, a tolerable wharf had been run out, by which bateaux and boats were enabled, at low water, to land their cargoes with- out sustaining any damage. An impenetrable forest of gigantic pines rose in the rear, and the ground was covered with a thick underwood of brier and whortleberry, intermingled with fern and honeysuckle."
300
DESTRUCTION OF THE TONQUIN BY SAVAGES.
[1812.
the Sandwich Islands, who were engaged as seamen or laborers. The Beaver, moreover, brought from Owyhee a letter which had been left there by Captain Ebbets, of the ship Enterprise, contain- ing positive information of the destruction of the Tonquin and her crew by the savages on the coast near the Strait of Fuca; the particulars of this melancholy affair were not, however, learned until August of the following year, when they were communicated at Astoria by the Indian who had gone in the Tonquin as inter- preter, and was the only survivor of those on board the ill-fated ship.
According to this interpreter's account, the Tonquin, after quit- ting the river, sailed northward along the coast of the continent, and anchored, in the middle of June, 1811, opposite a village on the Bay of Clyoquot, near the entrance of the Strait of Fuca. She was there immediately surrounded by crowds of Indians in canoes, who continued for some days to trade in the most peaceable manner, so as to disarm Captain Thorne and Mr. MCKay of all suspicions. At length, either in consequence of an affront given to a chief by the captain, or with the view of plundering the vessel, the natives embraced an opportunity when the men were dispersed on or below the decks, in the performance of their duties, and in a moment put to death every one of the crew and passengers, except the inter- preter, who leaped into a canoe, and was saved by some women, and the clerk, Mr. Lewis, who retreated, with a few sailors, to the cabin. The survivors of the crew, by the employment of their fire-arms, succeeded in driving the savages from the ship; and, in the night, four of them quitted her in a boat, leaving on board Mr. Lewis and some others, who were severely wounded. On the following day, the natives again crowded around and on board the Tonquin ; and while they were engaged in rifling her, she was blown up, most probably by the wounded men left below deck. The seamen who had endeavored to escape in the boat were soon retaken, and put to death in the most cruel manner, by the Indians; the interpreter was preserved, and remained in slavery two years, at the end of which time he was suffered to depart.
The loss of this ship was a severe blow to the Pacific Company ; but the partners at Astoria were consoled by the reflections, that their chief could bear pecuniary damages to a far greater extent without injury to his credit, and that, if their enterprise should prove successful, ample indemnification would soon be obtained. It was therefore determined that Mr. Hunt should embark in the Beaver, to superintend the trade along the northern coasts, and visit the
301
WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND G. BRITAIN.
.1813.]
Russian establishments, as Mr. Mackay would have done, but for the destruction of the Tonquin ; and he accordingly took his de- parture in that ship in August, 1812, leaving the superintendence of the affairs at the factory, as before, in the hands of Mr. Mac- dougal. A party was at the same time despatched to the upper country, by which another trading post was established on the Spokan, a stream joining the northern branch of the Columbia, about six hundred and fifty miles from the ocean ; and accounts of all the transactions, to that period, were transmitted to the United States, under the care of Messrs. Crooks, Maclellan, and Robert Stuart, who recrossed the continent, and reached New York in the spring of 1813, after encountering difficulties and dangers greater, in many respects, than those undergone in their journey to the Pacific.
The trade with the Indians of the Lower Missouri was, in the mean time, going on prosperously ; provisions were abundant at Astoria, and a large quantity of furs was collected there, in expecta- tion of the arrival of the Beaver, which was to take them to Canton in the ensuing spring. The hopes of the partners were thus revived, and they had daily additional grounds for anticipating success in their undertaking, when, in January, 1813, they learned that the United States had declared war against Great Britain in June previous. This news spread an instantaneous gloom over the minds of all, which was increased by information received from a trading vessel, that the Beaver was lying at Canton, blockaded by a British ship of war : and soon afterwards, Messrs. Mactavish and Laroque, partners in the North-West Company, arrived near Astoria, with sixteen men, . bringing accounts of the success of the British arms on the northern frontiers of the United States, and of the blockade of all the Atlantic coasts of the latter country by British squadrons.
Notwithstanding these circumstances, Laroque and Mactavish were received and treated by Macdougal and Mackenzie, the only partners of the Pacific Company then at Astoria, with the same attention and hospitality which had been shown to Thompson in the preceding year ; and were supplied with provisions and goods for trading, as if they had been friends and allies, instead of com- mercial rivals and political enemies. A series of private conferences were then held between the chief persons of the two parties, at the conclusion of which, Macdougal and Mackenzie announced their determination that the company should be dissolved on the 1st of July, and sent messengers to communicate the fact to the other
302
HUNT'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH BARANOF.
[1813.
partners, Stuart and Clarke, at the Okinagan and Spokan posts. The latter gentleman, on receiving this news, hastened to the factory, and there strongly opposed the determination to abandon the enterprise ; and it was at length agreed among them, that the establishments should be maintained a few months longer, at the end of which time, the company should be dissolved, unless assist- ance were received from the United States. Three of the clerks, including Ross Cox, however, immediately quitted the concern, and, entering the service of the North-West Company, took their departure for the upper country with Laroque and Mactavish, in July.
From the United States no assistance came. The ship Lark was despatched from New York, in March, 1813, with men and goods for the Columbia ; but she was wrecked in October following, near one of the Sandwich Islands, on which the captain, Northrup, and crew succeeded in effecting a landing. The American government also determined, in consequence of the representations of Mr. Astor, to send the frigate Adams to the North Pacific, for the protection of the infant establishment ; but, just as that ship was about to sail from New York, it became necessary to transfer her crew to Lake Ontario, and the blockade of the coasts of the United States by the British rendered all further efforts to convey succors to Astoria unavailing.
In the mean time, Mr. Hunt, the chief agent, who had sailed from the Columbia in the Beaver, in August, 1812, as already men- tioned, visited the principal Russian establishments on the north- west coasts of America, and the adjacent islands, and collected a large quantity of furs, besides concluding arrangements highly advantageous to the Pacific Company, with Governor Baranof,* at Sitka. It was then agreed between Mr. Hunt and Captain Sowles, that the Beaver should proceed, by way of the Sandwich Islands, to Canton, instead of returning to the Columbia, as had been previous- ly determined ; and this was done, though Hunt went no farther in her than to Woahoo, one of the Sandwich group, where he remained several months, waiting for some vessel to carry him to Astoria. At length, in June, 1813, the ship Albatross, of Boston, arrived at
* An amusing account of the negotiations between Hunt and Baranof is given in Mr. Irving's Astoria. The chief agent of the Pacific Company appears to have been in as much danger from the " potations pottle deep" of raw rum and burning punch, which accompanied each of his interviews with the governor of Russian America, as from hunger, thirst, savages, or storms, during his whole expedition.
303
ASTORIA SOLD TO THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY.
1813.]
Woahoo, from China, bringing information of the war between the United States and Great Britain, and also that the Beaver was blockaded by a British ship at Canton ; on learning which, Mr. Hunt chartered the Albatross, and proceeded in her to the Colum- bia, where he arrived on the 4th of August.
Mr. Hunt was astounded on learning the resolution adopted by the other partners at Astoria during his absence, which he endeav- ored to induce them to change ; but, finding them determined, he reluctantly acceded to it himself, and, after a few days, he re- embarked in the Albatross, for the Sandwich Islands, in search of some vessel to convey the property of the Pacific Company to a place of safety. At the Sandwich Islands no vessel could be found ; and Hunt accordingly continued in the Albatross until she arrived at Nooahevah, (one of the Washington Islands, discovered by Ingraham, in 1791,) where he learned from Commodore David Porter, who was lying there in the American frigate Essex, that a large British squadron, under Commodore Hillyar, was on its way to the Columbia. This news caused Hunt to hasten back to the Sandwich Islands, which he reached in December, soon after the wreck of the Lark ; and, having there chartered a small brig, called the Pedler, he sailed in her to Astoria, where he arrived in February, 1814.
The fate of the Pacific Company, and its establishments in North- West America, had, however, been decided some time before the Pedler reached Astoria.
Soon after the departure of Hunt, Mr. Mactavish and his followers of the North-West Company again appeared at Astoria, where they expected to meet a ship called the Isaac Todd, which had sailed from London in March, laden with goods, and under convoy of a British squadron, charged " to take and destroy every thing Amer- ican on the north-west coast." They were received as before, and allowed to pitch their camp unmolested near the factory ; and private conferences were held between Mactavish and Macdougal, the results of which were, after some days, communicated to the other partners, and then to the clerks of the Pacific Company. These results were set forth in an agreement, signed on the 16th of October, 1813, between Messrs. Mactavish and Alexander Stuart, on the one part, and Messrs. Macdougal, Mackenzie, and Clarke, on the other; by which all the "establishments, furs, and stock in hand," of the Pacific Company, in the country of the
304
ASTORIA TAKEN BY THE BRITISH.
[1813.
Columbia, were sold to the North-West Company, for about fifty- eight thousand dollars.
Whilst the business of valuing the furs and goods at Astoria, and of transferring them to their new owners, was in progress, the British sloop of war Raccoon appeared at the mouth of the river, under the command of Captain Black, who had been despatched from the South Pacific, by Commodore Hillyar, for the purpose of taking the American forts and establishments on the Columbia, and had hast- ened thither in expectation of securing some glory, and a rich share of prize-money, by the conquest. On approaching the factory, however, the captain soon saw that he should gain no laurels ; and, after it had been formally surrendered to him by Mr. Macdougal, he learnt, to his infinite dissatisfaction, that its contents had become the property of British subjects. He could, therefore, only haul down the flag of the United States, and hoist that of Great Britain in its stead, over the establishment,* the name of which was, with due solemnity, changed to Fort George ; and, having given vent to his indignation against the partners of both companies, whom he loudly accused of collusion to defraud himself and his officers and crew of the reward due for their exertions, he sailed back to the South Pacific.
The brig Pedler arrived in the Columbia, as before said, on the 28th of February, 1814, and Mr. Hunt found Macdougal super- intending the factory, not, however, as chief agent of the Pacific Company, but as a partner of the North-West Company, into which he had been admitted. Hunt had, therefore, merely to close the concerns of the American association in that quarter, and to receive the bills on Montreal, given in payment for its effects ; after which he reembarked in the Pedler, with two of the clerks, and proceeded, by way of Canton and the Cape of Good Hope, to New York. Of the other persons who had been attached to the Pacific Fur Company's establishments, some were murdered by the Indians on Lewis River, in the summer of 1813; some, including Mr. Franchère, the author of the narrative of the expeditions, re- turned over land to the United States, or to Canada ; and some remained on the Columbia, in the service of the North-West Com- pany. The long-expected ship Isaac Todd reached Fort George on the 17th of April, thirteen months after her departure from Eng-
* See the account of the capture of Astoria, extracted from Cox, in the Proofs and Illustrations, under the letter G, No. 3.
305
TERMINATION OF THE ASTORIA ENTERPRISE.
1814.]
land, bringing a large stock of supplies ; by the aid of which the partners of the North-West Company were enabled to extend their operations, and to establish themselves more firmly in the country.
Such was the termination of the Astoria enterprise; for no attempt has been since made by any of the persons who were en- gaged in it to form establishments on the western side of America. It was wisely planned : the resources for conducting it were ample ; and its failure was occasioned by circumstances, the principal of which could not have been reasonably anticipated at the time of its commencement. That ships might be lost at sea, or that parties might be destroyed by savages, or perish from cold or hunger, -casualties such as these were expected, and provisions were made for the con- tingencies. But, in 1810, when the Beaver sailed from New York, no one believed that, before the end of two years, the United States would be at war with the greatest maritime power in the world. By that war the whole plan was traversed. Communications by sea between the United States and the Pacific coasts became diffi- cult and uncertain, whilst those by land were of little advantage, and were always liable to interruption by the enemy ; and there was, in fact, no object in collecting furs on the Columbia, when those articles could not be transported to China.
The Pacific Company, nevertheless, might, and probably would, have withstood all these difficulties, if the directing partners on the Columbia had been Americans, instead of being, as the greater part of them were, men unconnected with the United States by birth, or citizenship, or previous residence, or family ties. Mr. Astor de- clares that he would have preferred the loss of the establishments and property by a fair capture, to the sale of them in a manner which he considered disgraceful; yet, although the conduct of Macdougal and Mackenzie, in that sale, and subsequently, was such as to authorize suspicions with regard to their motives, they could not have been expected to engage in hostilities against their compatriots and former friends. Being thus restrained from defend- ing the honor of the Pacific Company by force, they may have con- sidered themselves bound to take care of its interests, by the only means in their power, as they did in the sale. American citizens would have resisted the North-West Company, and would doubt- less have maintained their supremacy, in the country of the Co- lumbia, for some time, possibly until peace had been made between Great Britain and the United States.
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