History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 18

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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The Tonquin anchored in a small harbor on Vancouver island, and Alexander Mckay, one of the partners, landed upon the island. During his absence the vessel

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was surrounded by a host of savages in their canoes, who soon swarmed upon the decks. They were eager to trade, but had evidently had considerable experience in dealing with the whites and were well posted upon the value of their furs, for they resolutely demanded a higher price than Captain Thorn was willing to pay. Provoked beyond measure at their stubbornness, Thorn refused to deal with them, whereupon they be- came exceedingly insolent. The captain at last completely tost his temper, and seizing the old chief, Nookamis, who was following him about and taunting him with his stinginess, rubbed in his face an otter skin he had been endeavoring to sell. He then ordered the whole band to leave the ship and added blows to enforce his command. The tragic ending of this adventure is thus related by Irving :

" When Mr. M'Kay returned on board, the interpreter related what had passed, and begged him to prevail upon the captain to make sail, as, from his knowledge of the temper and pride of the people of the place, he was sure they would resent the indignity offered to one of their chiefs. Mr. M'Kay, who himself possessed some ex- perience of Indian character, went to the captain, who was still pacing the deck in moody humor, represented the danger to which his hasty act had exposed the vessel, and urged upon him to weigh anchor The captain made light of his councils, and pointed to his cannon and fire-arms as a sufficient safe-guard against naked savages. Further remonstrances only provoked taunting replies and sharp altercations. The day passed away without any signs of hostility, and at night the captain retired, as usual, to his cabin, taking no more than the usual precautions. On the following morning, at day-break, while the captain and Mr. M'Kay were yet asleep, a canoe came alongside in which were twenty Indians, commanded by young Shewish. They were unarmed, their aspect and demeanor friendly, and they held up otter skins, and made signs indicative of a wish to trade. The caution enjoined by Mr. Astor in respect to the admission of Indians on board of the ship, had been neglected for some time past, and the officer of the watch, perceiving those in the canoes to be without weapons, and having received no orders to the contrary, readily permitted them to mount the deck. Another canoe soon succeeded, the crew of which was likewise admitted. In a little while other canoes came off, and Indians were soon clambering into the vessel on all sides.

" The officer of the watch now felt alarmed, and called to Captain Thorn and Mr. M'Kay. By the time they came on deck, it was thronged with Indians. The inter- preter noticed to Mr. M'Kay that many of the natives wore short mantles of skins, and intimated a suspicion that they were secretly armed. Mr. M'Kay urged the cap- tain to clear the ship and get under way. He again made light of the advice ; but the augmented swarm of canoes about the ship, and the numbers still putting off from shore, at length awakened his distrust, and he ordered some of the crew to weigh an- chor, while some were sent aloft to make sail. The Indians now offered to trade with the captain on his own terms, prompted, apparently, by the approaching departure of the ship. Accordingly, a hurried trade was commenced. The main articles sought by the savages in barter, were knives ; as fast as some were supplied they moved off and others succeeded. By degrees they were thus distributed about the deck, and all with weapons. The anchor was now nearly up, the sails were loose, and the captain, in a loud and peremptory tone, ordered the ship to be cleared. In an instant a signal 18

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yell was given ; it was echoed on every side, knives and war clubs were brandished in every direction, and the savages rushed upon their marked victims.

" The first that fell was Mr. Lewis, the ship's clerk. He was leaning, with folded arms, over a bale of blankets, engaged in bargaining, when he received a deadly stab in the back, and fell down the companionway. Mr. M'Kay, who was seated on the taffrail, sprang to his feet, but was instantly knocked down with a war-club and flung backwards into the sea, where he was dispatched by the women in the canoes. In the meantime, Captain Thorn made desperate fight against fearful odds. He was a pow- erful as well as resolute man, but he had come upon deck without weapons. Shewish, the young chief, singled him out as his peculiar prey, and rushed upon him at the first outbreak. The captain had barely time to draw a clasp-knife, with one blow of which - he laid the young savage dead at his feet. Several of the stoutest followers of Shewish now set upon him. He defended himself vigorously, dealing crippling blows to right and left, and strewing the quarterdeck with the slain and wounded. His object was to fight his way to the cabin, where there were fire-arms ; but he was hemmed in with foes, covered with wounds, and faint with loss of blood. For an instant he leaned upon the tiller wheel, when a blow from behind, with a war-club, felled him to the deck, where he was dispatched with knives and thrown overboard.

" While this was transacting upon the quarterdeck, a chance medley fight was going on throughout the ship. The crew fought desperately with knives, handspikes and whatever weapons they could seize upon in the moment of surprise. They were soon, however, overpowered by numbers and mercilessly butchered. As to the seven who had been sent aloft to make sail, they contemplated with horror the carnage that was going on below. Being destitute of weapons, they let themselves down by the running rigging, in hopes of getting between decks. One fell in the attempt, and was instantly dispatched ; another received a death-blow in the back as he was descending; a third, Stephen Weekes, the armorer, was mortally wounded as he was getting down the hatchway. The remaining four made good their retreat into the cabin, where they found Mr. Lewis still alive, though mortally wounded. Barricading the cabin door, they broke holes through the companionway, and, with muskets and ammunition which were at hand, opened a brisk fire that soon cleared the deck. Thus far the Indian interpreter, from whom these particulars are derived, had been an eye-witness of the deadly conflict. He had taken no part in it and had been spared by the natives as being of their race. In the confusion of the moment he took refuge with the rest, in the canoes. The survivors of the crew now sallied forth and discharged some of the deck guns, which did great execution among the canoes and drove all the savages to shore.

"For the remainder of the day no one ventured to put off to the ship, deterred by the effects of the firearms. The night passed away without any further attempt on the part of the natives. When the day dawned the Tonquin still lay at anchor in the bay, her sails all loose and flapping in the wind, and no one apparently on board of her. After a time, some of the canoes ventured forth to reconnoitre, taking with them the interpreter. They paddled about her, keeping cautiously at a distance, but grow- ing more and more emboldened at seeing her quiet and lifeless. One man at length made his appearance on the deck and was recognized by the interpreter as Mr. Lewis.

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He made friendly signs and invited them on board. It was long before they ventured to comply. Those who mounted the deck met with no opposition ; no one was to be seen on board, for Mr. Lewis, after inviting them, had disappeared. Other canoes now pressed forward to board the prize ; the decks were soon crowded and the sides cov- ered with clambering savages, all intent on plunder. In the midst of their eagerness and exultation, the ship blew up with a tremendous explosion. Arms, legs and muti- lated bodies were blown into the air, and dreadful havoc was made in the surrounding canoes. The interpreter was in the main chains at the time of the explosion, and was thrown unhurt into the water, where he succeeded in getting into one of the canoes. According to his statement the bay presented an awful spectacle after the catastrophe. The ship had disappeared, but the bay was covered with fragments of the wreck, with shattered canoes, and Indians swimming for their lives or struggling in the agonies of death ; while those who had escaped the danger remained aghast and stupefied, or made with frantic panic for the shore. Upwards of a hundred savages were destroyed by the explosion, many more were shockingly mutilated, and for days afterwards the limbs and bodies of the slain were thrown upon the beach.

"The inhabitants of Neweetee were overwhelmed with consternation at this as- tounding calamity which had burst upon them in the very moment of triumph. The warriors sat mute and mournful, while the women filled the air with loud lamentations. Their weeping and wailing, however, was suddenly changed into yells of fury at the sight of four unfortunate white men brought captive into the village. They had been driven on shore in one of the ship's boats, and taken at some distance along the coast. The interpreter was permitted to converse with them. They proved to be the four brave fellows who had made such desperate defense from the cabin. The interpreter gathered from them some of the particulars already related. They told him further that, after they had beaten off the enemy, and cleared the ship, Lewis advised that they should slip the cable and endeavor to get to sea. They declined to take his advice, alleging that the wind set too strongly into the bay, and would drive them on shore. They resolved, as soon as it was dark, to put off quietly in the ship's boat, which they would be able to do unperceived, and to coast along back to Astoria. They put their resolution into effect ; but Lewis refused to accompany them, being disabled by his wound, hopeless of escape and determined on a terrible revenge. On the voyage out he had frequently expressed a presentiment that he should die by his own hands- thinking it highly probable that he should be engaged in some contests with the na- tives, and being resolved, in case of extremity, to commit suicide rather than be made a prisoner. He now declared his intention to remain on the ship until daylight, to de- coy as many of the savages on board as possible, then to set fire to the powder maga- zine and terminate his life by a signal act of vengeance. How well he succeeded has been shown. His companions bade him a melancholy adieu and set off on their pre- carious expedition. They strove with might and main to get out of the bay, but found it impossible to weather a point of land, and were at length compelled to take shelter in a small cove, where they hoped to remain concealed until the wind should be more favorable. Exhausted by fatigue and watching, they fell into a sound sleep, and in that state were surprised by the savages. Better had it been for those unfortunate men had they remained with Lewis and shared his heroic death ; as it was, they perished in

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a more painful and protracted manner, being sacrificed by the natives to the manes of their friends with all the lingering tortures of savage cruelty. Some time after their death the interpreter, who had remained a kind of prisoner at large, effected his escape and brought the tragical tidings to Astoria."

Meanwhile affairs were progressing at Astoria. On the fifteenth of July the partners were astonished by the appearance in the river of a canoe manned by nine white men, who proved to be representatives of the Northwest Company, under the leadership of David Thompson, a partner in that powerful organization. When the company had learned the year before of the projected enterprise of Mr. Astor, it dis- patched Mr. Thompson from Montreal with a large party to hasten across the conti- nent and forestall the American trader by taking possession of the mouth of the Co- lumbia. Many of his party had deserted him, and now after ruinous delay and with but these few faithful ones to aid him, he had arrived at the goal of his journey too late to accomplish his purpose. Thompson was received with great cordiality by Mr. McDougal, the partner in charge at Astoria, who had a kindly feeling for all represen- tatives of the Northwest Company ; and though he was but a spy upon his hosts, he was bountifully supplied with provisions for his return journey. He set out upon his return to Montreal on the twenty-third day of July, bearing a letter to Mr. Astor tell- ing of the safe arrival of the vessel, and accompanied by a party of nine, headed by David Stuart, who were instructed to establish a post on the upper Columbia. Mr. Stuart selected a spot near the mouth of the Okinagan river, and establishing a post there opened trade with the natives.

On the second of October the schooner was completed and launched. She was named the Dolly, and was the third vessel built on the Northern Pacific coast, and the first in the Columbia river. A few days later half of Stuart's party returned, having been sent back for the winter because of a lack of provisions to subsist them. The winter months were passed without fresh disasters flowing in upon them.

When the Tonquin sailed from New York Wilson P. Hunt was preparing to cross overland with another party. He finally left St. Louis with a party of sixty men, among whom were Donald Mckenzie and three other partners, Ramsey Crooks, Joseph Miller and Robert Mclellan. With them went John Day, a noted Kentucky hunter, and Pierre Dorion, a French half-breed, to act as an interpreter. The party arrived at Fort Henry, on Snake river, October 8, 1811. Small detachments were, from time to time, sent out in the Rocky mountains to trap in various localities, who were to use Fort Henry as a supply station, and for concentration with their furs. The remaining members of the party, after a temporary halt, moved on down Snake river enroute for the general rendezvous at the mouth of the Columbia; and a continued succession of hardships and disaster seemed to follow them. First, the unfortunate Antoine Clappin was drowned in passing a rapid, then famine came to rob them of human instincts, as they were led to the verge of starvation. They were finally forced to separate into small detachments, one party going under Ramsey Crooks, another with Donald Mc- Kenzie for leader, while a third remained with Mr. Hunt, hoping by such division to increase their chances of finally reaching the Columbia.

Once the parties under Crooks and Hunt camped with the narrow, deep waters of Snake river only separating them. The Hunt party had killed a horse and were

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cooking it, while their starving companions on the opposite side of the stream, with no means of crossing it, were forced to look on as they starved. Not a man in Mr. Hunt's camp would make an effort to send them food, until the arrival of Mr. Crooks, who, discovering the condition of his men on the opposite side, called to the forlorn band to start fires for cooking, that no time might be lost while he constructed a canoe out of skins, in which to take meat across to them. In vain he tried to shame the more for- tunate into helping to succor their famishing companions, but : " A vague, and almost superstitious terror," says Irving, " had infected the minds of Mr. Hunt's followers, enfeebled and rendered imaginative of horrors by the dismal scenes and sufferings through which they had passed. They regarded the haggard crew, hovering like spectres of famine on the opposite bank, with indefinite feelings of awe and apprehen- sion, as if something desperate and dangerous was to be feared from them."

When the canoe was finished, Mr. Crooks attempted to navigate the impetuous stream with it, but found his strength unequal to the task, and failing to reach his companions on the opposite bank, made another appeal to Hunt's men. Finally, a Kentuckian, named Ben Jones, undertook and made the passage, conveying meat to them, and then came back. Irving, in describing the sad scene, says : " A poor Cana- dian, however, named Jean Baptiste Prevost, whom famine had rendered wild and desperate, ran frantically about the banks, after Jones had returned, crying out to Mr. Hunt to send the canoe for him, and take him from that horrible region of famine, de- claring that otherwise he would never march another step, but would lie down there and die. The canoe was shortly sent over again, under the management of Joseph Delaunay, with further supplies. Prevost immediately pressed forward to embark. Delaunay refused to admit him, telling him that there was now a sufficient supply of meat on his side of the river. He replied that it was not cooked, and he should starve before it was ready ; he implored, therefore, to be taken where he could get something to appease his hunger immediately. Finding the canoe putting off without him, he forced himself aboard. As he drew near the opposite shore, and beheld meat roasting before the fires, he jumped up, shouted, clapped his hands, and danced in a delirium of joy, until he upset the canoe. The poor wretch was swept away by the current and drowned, and it was with extreme difficulty that Delaunay reached the shore. Mr. Hunt now sent all his men forward excepting two or three. In the evening, he caused another horse to be killed, and a canoe to be made out of the skin, in which he sent over a further supply of meat to the opposite party. The canoe brought back John Day, the Kentucky hunter, who came to join his former commander and employer, Mr. Crooks. Poor Day, once so active and vigorous, was now reduced to a condition even more feeble and emaciated than his companions. Mr. Crooks had such a value for the man, on account of his past services and faithful character, that he determined not to quit him ; he exhorted Mr. Hunt, however, to proceed forward and join the party, as his presence was all important to the conduct of the expedition. One of the Canadians, Jean Baptiste Dubreuil, likewise remained with Mr. Crooks."

The occurrences at this starvation camp were on the twentieth of December, 1811, both parties being on their way back up Snake river after having found the descent of that stream impossible. It was now their intention to strike across the country for the Columbia, as soon as it was practicable to do so. On the twenty-third of December,

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Mr. Hunt's followers crossed to the west side of the stream, where they were joined by Crooks' men, who were already there. The two parties, when united, numbered thirty- six souls, and on the next day they turned from the river into a trackless country; but, before starting, three more of their number had concluded to remain among the sav- ages rather than face the hardships and trials that lay before them. December 28, 1811, the head waters of Grand Ronde river were reached, and the last day of that year found them camped in the valley of that name. Through all their perils and wanderings since leaving St. Louis, one woman, the Indian wife of Pierre Dorion, a guide, interpreter and trapper, had accompanied them, bringing with her two children, and, as the party entered the Grand Ronde valley, she gave birth to another. The next day she continued the journey on horseback as though nothing had happened, but the little stranger only lived six days.

Mr. Hunt, after halting one or two days to enable his followers to celebrate, in their forlorn way, the advent of a new year that had presented to them the Grand Ronde valley, a kind of winter paradise in the mountains, continued his course to the west. The Blue mountain ridge was passed, and January 8, 1812, an Indian village on the Umatilla river close to the mountains was reached, where they were hospitably received. From there their route was down this stream to the Columbia river, thence to the mouth of the latter, arriving at Astoria February 15, 1812.

Since leaving Fort Henry, October 19, 1811, out of Mr. Hunt's party, two men had been drowned on Snake river, and poor Michael Carriere, when exhausted, had straggled behind in Grand Ronde valley and was never heard from afterwards. Ram- sey Crooks, John Day and four Canadian voyageurs, had been left half dead on Snake river to remain in the Indian country, die, or reach the Columbia as they best could. Eleven men, among whom were Donald Mckenzie, Robert Mclellan and the unfortu- nate John Reed, had been detached on Snake river, and following that stream until its waters mingled with the Columbia, had reached Astoria a month in advance of Mr. Hunt. Mr. Stuart, when returning from his post on the Okinagan, during the first days of April, found Mr. Crooks and John Day on the banks of the Columbia river without weapons, nearly starved, and as naked as when born, having been robbed and stripped by the Dalles Indians. They had wintered in the Blue mountains about Grand Ronde valley, and had reached the Walla Wallas in the spring, who had fed, succored, and sent them on their way rejoicing down the river. When found, they were making their way back to these early friends of the Americans, who never failed to assist our people when in trouble. At length all but three of those starting from the head waters of Snake river for Astoria had reached that place except the four voyageurs, and later they, too, were found by a return party. On the ninth of May, after Mr. Hunt's arrival, the ship Beaver, with reinforcements and supplies, anchored at Astoria, and the Pacific Fur Company was in condition to enter upon a vigorous fur gathering campaign.

Mr. Hunt, who was at the head of affairs, set out in July for Alaska to fulfill the mission upon which the ill-fated Tonquin had sailed, and his departure left Duncan McDougal in charge. Prior to this, however, the various expeditions to trap waters and trade with natives between the Rocky and Cascade mountains had started, sixty- two strong, up the Columbia. Among the number was the unfortunate John Day,

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and, as the party approached the scenes of his former sufferings his mind became delirious, and the mere sight of an Indian would throw him into a frenzy of passion. He finally attempted his own life, but was prevented from taking it, after which a con- stant guard was kept over him. It was at length determined to send him back to Astoria, and being placed in charge of two Indians, he was delivered by them at the fort where he died in less than a year. His old compeers and staunch friends, who had shared perils and privations with him, were forced to continue their journey with a sad memory of this companion, whose brain had been shattered by his many mis- fortunes. The stream which had witnessed his many sufferings still bears the heroic trapper's name.

The arrival of trappers at the present site of Wallula, on the twenty-eighth of July, 1812, was the signal for general rejoicing among the friendly Walla Wallas, who greeted them with bonfires, and a night dance, in which they sang the praises of their white friends. Here the four expeditions were to separate, Robert Stuart to cross the continent by Hunt's route; David Stuart to go up the Columbia to Okina- gan ; Donald McKenzie to establish a post in the Nez Perce country ; and John Clarke to locate one among the Spokane Indians. Of these several expeditions, Robert Stuart, with his party, including Crooks and Mclellan, reached St. Louis eleven months later, bearing news to Mr. Astor of his enterprise on the Pacific coast. Mckenzie's opera- tions were a failure; David Stuart's success was equal to his most sanguine hopes, and Mr. Clarke's efforts resulted second only to those of Mr. Stuart.

On the twenty-fifth of May, 1813, Mr. Clarke started from his post on the Spo- kane to reach the Walla Walla, the place agreed upon as a general rendezvous, where the different expeditions were to meet and return to Astoria with the furs obtained in their operations during the past season. On his way up, Mr. Clarke had left his canoes in charge of a Palouse chief, living at the mouth of the river of that name, with whom he found them on his return. He had twenty-eight horse packs of furs, and all his men were in high spirits because of the success that had attended their year's work. While stopping at the mouth of this stream to repair their canoes, in which to embark upon the river, an incident happened that cannot well be passed in silence.

Mr. Clarke was a strong disciplinarian, something of an aristocrat, and disposed to inpresss those with whom he came in contact with the dignity of his presence and per- son. He was in the habit of carrying a silver goblet to drink from, and its glittering presence, carefully guarded by its possessor, became an object of strange and strong attraction to the superstitious Indians. In all their land, no such wondrous device had been seen before. They talked to each other concerning it, watched its appearance, and the care with which its lucky possessor laid it away after using. Possibly it was a great medicine, like the spotted shirt and the white quilt among the Cœur d'Alenes, or a powerful talisman to ward off danger or shield its owner from harm, a sort of ark near which the great Manitou dwelt. One night it disappeared, and Mr. Clarke was enraged. He threatened to hang the first Indian detected in stealing, and the next night an unfortunate one was caught in the act. A hasty trial followed, and the prisoner was condemned to die, when Mr. Clarke made the assembled savages a speech. He recounted the numerous gifts that had been bestowed, the benefit the white man's

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History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 18

Author: David D. Fagan Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: