USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 5
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 5
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* That differences of opinion should exist as to the quality of lands, is not sur- prising ; but it is not easy to account for the extravagantly erroneous assertions which have been made as to the extent of land in this part of Oregon, possessing a soil superior to any in the United States. Thus, it has been gravely stated, that the valley of the Willamet contains not less than sixty thousand square miles, of the finest land; while this whole valley is, in reality, merely an inconsiderable portion of the westernmost region of Oregon, the superficial extent of which, may be easily shown not to exceed forty thousand square miles. The Strait of Fuca, which bounds this region on the north, is in latitude of 483 degrees ; and assuming the 42d parallel, as its southern limit, its extreme length is 63 degrees, or less than four hundred and fifty miles English ; its breadth - that is, the distance between the Pacific shore and the great chain of mountains which forms the eastern bound- ary of this region - does not average eighty miles ; and by multiplying these two numbers, thirty-six thousand square English miles appears as the utmost super- ficial extent of the westernmost region of Oregon.
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON.
cool ; but the want of moisture in the air prevents the contrast of temperature from being injurious to health, and this country is re- presented, by all who have had the opportunity of judging by ex- perience, as being of extraordinary salubrity. The wet season, as in the country nearer to the Pacific, extends from October to April ; but the rains are neither frequent nor abundant, and they rarely occur at any other period of the year. In the southern valleys there is little snow ; farther north it is more common, but it seldom lies long, except on the heights.
Under such circumstances it will be seen that little encourage- ment is offered for the cultivation of this part of Oregon. On the other hand, the plains and valleys appear to be admirably adapted for the support of cattle, as grass, either green or dry, may be found at all times, within a short distance, on the bottom lands or on the hill sides. The want of wood must also prove a great obstacle to settlement, as this indispensable article can only be procured from a great distance up the north branch of the Columbia, or from the Pacific region, with which the passages of communication through the mountains are few and difficult.
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The country farther east, between the Blue Mountains and the Rocky Mountains, appears to be, except in a very few smal! de- tached spots, absolutely uninhabitable by those who depend on agriculture for subsistence. It is in fact a collection of bare rocky mountain chains, separated by deep gorges, through which flow the streams produced by the melting of the snows on the summits ; for in the lower grounds rain seldom falls, at any time. North of the 40th parallel, the climate is less dry, and the bases of the mountains are covered with wood ; but the temperature in most places is too cold for the production of any of the useful grains or garden vege- tables : the parts which appear to be the most favorable for agri- culture are those adjacent to the Clarke River, and particularly around the Flat-head. Lake, where the hills are well clothed with wood, and the soil about their basis is of good quality. On the borders of the Lewis, and of some of the streams falling into it, are valleys and prairies, producing grass for cattle ; but all the attempts to cultivate the esculent vegetables have failed, chiefly, as it is be- lieved, from the great difference in the temperature between the day and the succeeding night, especially in the summer, which is commonly not less than 30, and often exceeds 50 degrees of Fah- renheit's thermometer .*
The territory north of the 49th parallel of latitude, and north-
* The thermometer was seen by Wyeth, at Fort Hall, on the Lewis, near the 43d parallel of latitude, at the freezing point in the morning, and at 92 degrees of Fahrenheit, in the middle of a day in August. Frosts occur at this place in nearly every month in the year.
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON.
west of that drained by the Columbia river, has been called New Caledonia, by the British fur-traders, who first established posts in it beyond the 56th parallel, in 1806. It is a sterile land of snow- clad mountains, tortuous rivers, and lakes frozen over more than two thirds of the year ; presenting scarcely a single spot in which any of the vegetables used as food by civilized people can be pro- duced. The waters, like those of the country farther south, how- ever abound in fish, which, with berries, form the principal support of the native population. The largest lakes are Babine, commu- nicating with the ocean by Simpson's River, and Stuart's, Ques- nel's and Fraser's Lakes, the outlet of all which is Fraser's River, a long but shallow stream emptying into the Strait of Fuca, at its eastern extremity. The coast of this country is very irregular in outline, being penetrated by many bays and inlets, running up from the sea, among the mountains, which border that side of the continent ; between it and the open Pacific lie the islands of the North-West Archipelago, which will now be described.
The NORTH-WEST ARCHIPELAGO is the general name for the remarkable collection of islands, situated in and nearly filling a recess of the American coast, about seven hundred miles in length and eighty or one hundred in breadth, which stretches from the 48th degree of latitude north-west to the 58th ; that is to say - between the same parallels as Great Britain. These islands are in num- ber many thousands, presenting together a surface of not less than fifty thousand square miles : they are, however, with the exception of nine or ten, very small, and the greater part of them are mere rocks. The largest islands are all traversed by mountain ridges, in the direction of their greatest length, from south-east to north-west ; and the whole Archipelago may be considered as a portion of the westernmost chain of mountains, running through the sea, connecting those of Oregon on the south, with the north- ern range of which Mounts Fairweather and Saint Elias are the most prominent peaks.
Of the interior parts of the islands, no accounts have been obtained ; and probably nothing can be said, except that they are rocky and barren. The coasts, like those of the continent in their vicinity, are very irregular in outline, containing numerous bays and inlets ; and the channels among them are nearly all narrow and tortuous, forming a labyrinth of passages. These channels were minutely surveyed during the years between 1785 and 1795, by the navigators of various nations, chiefly with the object of finding some direct northern communication for ships between the Pacific and Hudson's or Baffin's Bays, and their true geo- graphical character was thus ascertained ; before that period, they were regarded as parts of the continent. The British, who,
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON.
under Vancouver, made the latest and most complete examina- tions of the Archipelago, bestowed names on the islands, chan- nels, capes, and bays, which still retain their place on charts ; several of these have, however, already fallen into disuse, and it is not probable that many of them will be retained, when the spots to which they have been assigned are occupied by a civilized population.
It has already been said, that Russia claims all the coasts and islands on the Pacific side of America, north of the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes ; and as this parallel divides the north-west archipelago into two nearly equal parts, the islands south of that line will be considered as attached to Oregon. This southern division of the North-West Archipelago, embraces three groups of islands.
The southernmost group, situated between the 49th and the 51st parallel, embraces the large Island of Quadra and Vancouver, and a number of smaller ones, separated from Oregon on the south and east, by the channel already described as the Strait of Fuca. The main island, which received its present long and inconvenient appellation in 1792, in virtue of a compromise between a British and a Spanish commander, each claiming for himself, or his countrymen, the merit of establishing the fact of its separation from the continent, is the largest on the western side of America, being about two hundred and fifty miles in length, with an average breadth of forty-five miles, so that its superficial extent may be estimated at about ten thousand square miles. On its western side, are several large recesses containing islands, of which the principal are - Nootka Sound, opening to the Pacific in the lati- tude of 49 1-2 degrees - Nittinat near it, on the south-east - and Clyoquot, a little farther, in the same direction, north of the entrance of the Strait of Fuca. These places were formerly the principal rendezvous of vessels engaged in the fur-trade ; at Nootka Sound, transactions occurred, in 1789, which gave to that bay much celebrity, and first rendered the north-west coasts of America the subject of dispute and convention between the governments of civilized nations.
Queen Charlotte's Island, named Washington's Island, by the early American fur-traders, who first ascertained its separation from the main land, forms the centre of another group, situated between the latitudes of 52 and 54 degrees, at a considerable dis- tance from the continent, and from any of the other islands. The principal island is of triangular form, rather less in superficial ex- tent than that of Vancouver and Quadra, though larger than any of the remaining islands of the Archipelago. Its north-western ex- tremity received from the Spaniards, who discovered it in 1774,
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON.
the name of Cape Santa Margarita, but it is now generally known as Cape North ; the north-eastern end was called Cape Invisible, by the Spaniards, and by the Americans Sandy Point ; the south- ern termination is Cape Saint James, in latitude of 52 degrees. This island presents a number of good harbors, which received names, first from the American traders, and afterwards from the naval commanders of Great Britain and Spain ; the principal of them are - on the northern coast, Hancock's River or Port Es- trada, near Sandy Point, and Craft's Sound or Port Mazaredo, a little farther west - on the eastern side, Skitikis, in latitude of 53 degrees, 20 minutes, Cummashawa, near the 53d degree, and Port Ucah and Port Sturges, farther south -on the west, or Pacific coast, are Magee's Sound, in latitude of 52 1-2 degrees, and Port Ingraham, near the north-west extremity of the island. The country around some of these harbors, particularly Hancock's River, and Magee's Sound, is described as fertile and beautiful, and the climate as much milder than that of other places situated farther north .*
The Princess Royal Islands, Burke's Island, and Pitt's Islands, form the third division of the north-west Archipelago, lying near to each other, and to the coast of the continent, between the 51st and the 54th parallels, immediately east of Queen Charlotte's Islands. They are all inconsiderable in extent, and nothing is known of them worthy of mention here.
Of the three above described groups, no part is at present oc- cupied by any civilized nation, with the exception of Douglas Island, the northernmost of the Pitt group, on which the Hudson's Bay Company have a trading post.
To the aboriginal inhabitants of Oregon, it would be incon- sistent with the plan of this work to devote much attention. They make no figure in the history of the country, over the destinies of which, they have not exerted, and they probably never will exert, any influence. They are all savages ; different tribes differing from each other in habits and disposition only so far as they are affected by the mode of life, which the nature or the country oc- cupied by them respectively, compels them to adopt. Thus, the people of the sea-coasts, who venture out upon the ocean, and attack the whale, are much bolder and more ferocious than those of the middle country, who derive their subsistence by the quiet and unexciting employments of fishing in the river, and digging
* Many curious particulars respecting this island, not to be found elsewhere, are contained in the interesting Journal of the voyage of the brig Hope, from Bos- ton to the North Pacific, in 1791-3, which still remains, in the manuscript of her commander, Joseph Ingraham, among the archives of the Department of State, at Washington.
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON.
for roots. Among the peculiar habits of some of these tribes should be mentioned, that of compressing the heads of their infants by boards and bandages, so as materally to alter their shape; which induced the discoverers of the country, to apply to those people, the name of Flathead Indians. This custom appears to have pre- vailed chiefly among the tribes of the lower Columbia, and but little among those dwelling on the northern branches of the river, to whom the appellation of Flatheads is, however, at present con- fined.
The principal tribes or nations of Indians inhabiting the Columbia region, are - or rather were, for many of them are extinct - the Clatsops and Chenooks occupying the country on both sides of the lower part of the great river ; the Killamucks of the Umqua ; the Classets, of the territory on the Strait of Fuca ; the Enishurs, ma- rauders infesting the passes about the falls of the great river ; the Chopunish, or Nez-perces of the Wallawalla, and Kooskooskee countries ; the Kootanies of Clarke's River ; and the Shoshones or Snakes of the Lewis. In the part of Oregon north-west of the Columbia, are the Chilcotins and Talcotins, between which tribes mortal enmity has always subsisted. The Blackfeet, so much dreaded by travellers in the middle region, belong to the country east of the Rocky Mountains, on the Yellow Stone, and the Mis- souri above its falls ; and annually make inroads upon the Sho- shones and the Chopunnish, whom they rob of their horses, their only wealth. The numbers of all these tribes and of all other persons inhabiting Oregon together, is supposed not to exceed twenty thousand.
Among these people missionaries of various Christian sects have long been laboring, with little profit, as it would seem, from all ac- counts. The Roman Catholics appear to content themselves with the administration of baptism, in which their success has been as great as could possibly have been expected ; whole tribes submit- ting at once to the rite. The Methodists and Presbyterians are assiduously engaged in imparting a knowledge of the simplest and most useful arts, and have thus induced some of the natives to engage regularly in agricultural pursuits ; but the poverty of the soil generally renders their efforts, in this way, unavailing. The last-mentioned missionaries also endeavor to convey religious and literary instruction to their pupils, through the medium of their own languages, into which books have been translated, and even print- ed in the country. It would, perhaps, be better to teach the na- tives to speak and read English. The other system has, however, been generally adopted, by the British and American missionaries, in all parts of the world.
The aborigines of the North-West Archipelago, are universally
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON.
described, as daring and ferocious in the extreme ; but possessing great self-command, by means of which they conceal their inten- tions, until they are prepared to act. The history of the fur-trade in the North Pacific, presents innumerable instances of their cru- elty and treachery, towards foreigners visiting their coasts ; and many vessels have been taken by them, and all on board murdered in an instant, without the previous occurrence of anything calcu- lated to excite suspicion. There are, also, many reasons for be- lieving that these people are cannibals ; though it seems probable, that they only eat the bodies of their enemies killed in war.
The civilized inhabitants of Oregon are, as shewn in the gene- ral view, all cither citizens of the United States, or servants of the Hudson's Bay Company : the latter body enjoying, by special grant, the use, exclusive of other British subjects, of all the territo- ries claimed by Great Britain west of the Rocky Mountains, and exercising jurisdiction, in virtue of an act of parliament, over all British subjects in those territories ; * while the citizens of the United States are, as yet, independent of all authority or jurisdic- tion whatsoever. The Hudson's Bay Company's establishments in Oregon have been, until recently, devoted entirely to the collec- tion of furs ; but within a few years past, many farms have been laid out and worked, and large quantities of timber have been cut and sawed, and exported to the Sandwich Islands and to Mexico, for the benefit of the Company. The settlements of the Ameri- cans are all agricultural, and are on a very small scale ; more than a thousand emigrants have, however, gone to that country from the United States, during the years 1842 and 1843, of whose move- ments and establishments no exact accounts have been yet re- ceived.
The Hudson's Bay Company's establishments west of the Rocky Mountains are called forts, and are all sufficiently fortified to re- sist any attacks which might be expected. They are, by the latest accounts, twenty-two in number, of which several are situated on the coasts. The furs are obtained partly by hunters and trappers in the regular service of the Company, but chiefly by trade with the Indians, who take the animals : they are sent, at stated periods, to one of the great depositories, either on the Atlantic or on the Pacific, whence they are carried to London in the vessels of the Company. The goods required for trade and for the sup- ply of the forts, are received in the same manner ; the interior transportation being performed almost entirely in boats on the rivers and lakes, between which the articles are borne on the backs of the voyageurs, or boatmen. In 1838, the Company em-
* See Proofs and Illustrations in the latter part of this volume, letter I, No 3.
5
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON.
ployed six sail vessels, and one steamer, all armed, on the coasts of the Pacific, besides three large ships engaged in the transporta- tion to and from London .* Of the persons in the regular service of the Company, the factors, traders, and clerks are, for the most part, Scotchmen or Canadians ; the voyageurs are generally Ca- nadians or half-breeds. The number of these servants, in the country beyond the Rocky Mountains, does not, probably, exceed four hundred ; many Indians are, however, constantly employed in hunting and trapping, and as boatmen or porters.
Fort Vancouver, the principal establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company, west of the Rocky Mountains, is situated near the north bank of the Columbia, at the distance of eighty-two miles in a direct line from its mouth, and about one hundred and twenty miles, following the course of the stream. The fort is simply a large, square, picketed enclosure, containing houses for the resi- dence of the factor, traders, clerks and upper servants of the Com- pany, magazines for the furs and goods, and workshops of various kinds ; immediately behind it are a garden and orchard, and be- hind these is the farm, of about six hundred acres, with barns and all other necessary buildings. West of the fort are the hospital and houses for the voyageurs and Indians; about two miles lower down the river, are the dairy and piggery, with numerous herds of cattle, hogs, &c. ; and about three miles above the fort are water- mills for grinding corn and sawing plank, and sheds for curing salmon. The number of persons usually attached to the post is not less than seven hundred, of whom more than half are Indians of the country, the others being natives of Great Britain (princi- pally from Scotland and the Orkney Islands), Canadians and half- breeds. The whole establishment is governed nearly on the plan of one of the small towns of Central Europe during the middle ages ; the stockade fort representing the baronial castle, in which the great dignitaries of the Company exercise almost absolute authority over their dependants.
Fort George consists merely of two or three log houses, situated on the south side of the Columbia, ten miles from its mouth, and occupying the place of a trading establishment called Astoria, which was founded in 1811 by the Pacific Fur Company of New York.t Fort Umqua is near the mouth of the Umqua River, which enters the Pacific about one hundred and eighty miles south of the Columbia, and affords a harbor to vessels drawing not more than eight feet. Fort Nasqually is at the mouth of a little river emptying into Puget's Sound, the southernmost part of the great
* For particular accounts of the Hudson's Bay Company's system, see page 392 of the History ; and the Proofs and Illustrations under the letter I.
t For accounts of this enterprise see Chap xiv. of the History.
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON 1185623
arm of the Strait of Fuca, called Admiralty Inlet ; near this place the Company has a large agricultural establishment, which is said to be in a prosperous condition. Fort Langley is at the entrance of Fraser's River, into the eastern extremity of the Strait of Fuca, in latitude of 49 degrees 25 minutes. Besides these, the Hud- son's Bay Company has several forts on the channels separating the islands of the north-west Archipelago from the continent; the northernmost of which is near the mouth of the Stikine, a large river emptying into Prince Frederick's Sound, in the latitude of 56 degrees 50 minutes.
On the Columbia, above its falls, the Company has Fort Walla- Walla or Nez-Percé, near the confluence of the great northern and southern branches; Fort Okinagan, at the entrance of the Okina- gan River into the north or main branch ; Fort Colville, near the Kettle Falls ; and some others, of less consequence. On the Lewis, or great southern branch, are Fort Boisé, at the mouth of the Boise, or Reed's River, and Fort Hall, at the entrance of the Portneuf. North of the Columbia country, are Fort Alexandria, on Fraser's River, and others on the lakes which abound in that part of the continent. All these are, however, on a very small scale, and seldom contain more than two or three clerks or traders and a few Indians or half-breed hunters.
Of the American settlements in Oregon, no exact accounts have been obtained of later date than the beginning of 1843, at which time they were few and small, being indeed little more than mis- sionary stations. The principal are those in the valley of the Willamet, then containing about a hundred Americans ; another station is on the south side of the Columbia, near the Cascades ; and others are at the Walla-Walla, and near Fort Colville. The whole number of citizens of the United States, thus established, did not probably exceed two hundred ; they were all apparently prospering, in consequence, there is reason to believe, rather of the industry, economy, and morality of the settlers, than of any particular advantages offered by the country. The thousand and more emigrants who have since arrived in Oregon, will succeed, if any can ; having been from their childhood accustomed to the labors and privations to which all must be subjected in the colo- nization of a new country.
The American hunters and trappers generally pursue their busi- ness, in California, near the head-waters of the Colorado River, and about the Utah Salt Lake. In the summer of cach year, they assemble at one of the places of rendezvous, near the South- ern Pass, where they exchange their furs for money and goods with the traders from Missouri.
Before terminating this sketch of the Geography of Oregon, it
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GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON.
will be proper to devote a small space to the regions east of the Rocky Mountains, included between that chain, and the settled parts of the continent bordering upon the Atlantic.
It has already been said, that the portion of these regions, be- tween the 38th and the 50th parallels of latitude, near the Rocky Mountains, are almost as arid and barren as those on the other side of the chain ; presenting, except in the immediate vicinity of the rivers, little else than bare rocks and sand. Across these ter- ritories flow the Missouri, and its great tributaries, the Yellow Stone and the Platte, and the upper streams of the Arkansas, fall- ing directly into the Mississippi; all of which rise in the Rocky Mountains, near the 42d degree of latitude. Unfortunately, how- ever, none of them seem calculated to serve as channels for trans- portation between the Atlantic and the Pacific territories. The Missouri and Yellow Stone each take a devious course ; so that after ascending them to the furthermost parts at which they are navigable, the distance to the Oregon countries is nearly as great as from the month of the Platte, and the difficulties of crossing the mountains are far greater. The Platte is the most shallow of all large rivers : it passes through a country nearly level, and the annual overflow of its waters only serves to render it wider, with- out any increase of its depth. This is unfortunate, as its course is precisely that which should make it the most direct and advan- tageous line of communication between the Missouri and the Co- lumbia : its northern branch runs from the South Pass in the Rocky Mountains, in latitude of 42 degrees 20 minutes, six hun- dred miles nearly due east, to its junction with the south branch ; beyond which the river continues in the same course, three hun- dred miles further to its union with the Missouri .*
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