History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 21

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

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or in the recesses of the mountains ; or on the borders of lakes and rivers, some num- bers of it return to the fort at the fall, with the produce of the season's hunt, and re- port progress ; and return to the camp with a reinforcement of necessary supplies. Thus the company are enabled to acquire a minute knowledge of the country and the natives ; and extend their power and authority over both."

Such was the hold the Hudson's Bay Company had upon Oregon when Americans attempted to enter the country and exercise their rights under the treaty of joint oc- cupancy. To show how American trappers first extended their operations into the disputed country, requires a short sketch of the American fur trade.

In 1762, while Louisiana was still a province of France, its governor chartered a fur company under the name of Pierre Ligueste Laclede, Antoine Maxan & Co. La- clède established St. Louis the following year, and it became a headquarters for the fur trade similar to Mackinaw and Montreal. The business of this company and many others that engaged along the Missouri in the trapping of beaver became very large. The acquisition of Louisiana by the United States threw this trade into the hands of the Americans. In 1815, congress passed an act expelling British traders from all the territories east of the Rocky mountains, and the American Fur Company, at the head of which Mr. Astor had been for many years, began to send trappers to the head- waters of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. American trappers also penetrated into New Mexico and established a trade between St. Louis and Santa Fè. Up to this time but one attempt had been made by trappers to penetrate the Rocky mountains, and that was in 1808, by the Missouri Fur Company, at the head of which was a Spaniard named Manuel Lisa. Posts were established on the upper Missouri and one on Lewis river, the south branch of the Columbia ; but the failure of supplies and the hostility of the savages caused its abandonment by the manager, Mr. Henry, in 1810.

In 1823, Gen. W. H. Ashley, a St. Louis merchant long engaged in the fur trade, pushed a trapping party into the Rocky mountains. He went up the Platte to the Sweetwater, and up that stream to its source, discovered the South pass, explored the head-waters of the Colorado (or Green) river, and returned to St. Louis in the fall. The next year he again penetrated the mountains and built a trading fort on Lake Ashley, near Great Salt Lake, both of which bodies of water were discovered by him that year, and returned, leaving there one hundred men. From that time the head- waters of the Missouri and its tributaries, the Green and Columbia rivers and their tributaries, were the trapping-ground of hundreds of daring men, whose wild and reckless life, privations and encounters with the savages, make a theme of romance that has occupied the pen of Washington Irving and many authors of lesser note, and been the source from which the novelists of the sensational school have drawn a wealth of material. It was the custom to divide the trappers into bands of sufficient strength to defend themselves against the attacks of savages, and send them out in different directions during the trapping season, to assemble the next summer at a grand rendez- vous previously appointed, the head-waters of Green river being the favorite locality for the annual meeting.

In the spring of 1825, Jedediah S. Smith led a company of this kind, consisting of about forty men, into the country west of Great Salt Lake, discovered Humboldt

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river and named it Mary's river, followed down that stream and crossed the Sierra Nevada into the great valley in July. He collected a large quantity of furs, estab- lished a headquarters on the American river near Folsom, and then, with two com- panions, recrossed the mountains through Walker's pass, and returned to the general rendezvous on Green river, to tell of the wonderful valley he had visited. Cronise speaks of American trappers having penetrated into California as early as 1820, but is evidently mistaken, as there is no record of any party crossing the Rocky mountains previous to the expedition of Mr. Ashley in 1823, save those already mentioned. Jedediah S. Smith must stand in history as the first white man to lead a party over- land into California. The return of Smith with such a valuable collection of furs, and specimens of placer gold he had discovered on his return journey near Mono lake, led to his being sent again the next season, with instructions to thoroughly inspect the gold placers on the way. This time he went as a partner, Mr. Ashley having sold his interest to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, consisting of William Sublette, Jede- diah S. Smith and David Jackson. He passed as far south as the Colorado river, and there had a battle with the Indians, in which all but himself, Turner and Galbraith were killed. They escaped and arrived at the Mission San Gabriel, where they were arrested as filibusters and sent to San Diego, but were released upon the certificate of the officers of some American vessels who chanced to be on the coast, that they were peaceful trappers and had passports from the commissioner of Indian affairs. This certificate bears date December 20, 1826, and in the ensuing May we find them in camp near San Jose, where the following letter was written to Father Duran, who had sent to know what their presence there signified :-

REVEREND FATHEI: :- I understand, through the medium of one of your Christian Indians, that you are anxious to know who we are, as some of the Indians have been at the mission and informed you that there were certain white people in the country. We are Americans on our journey to the River Columbia ; we were in at the Mission San Gabriel in January last. I went to San Diego and saw the general, and got a passport from him to pass on to that place. I have made several efforts to cross the mountains, but the snows being so deep, I could not succeed in getting over. I returned to this place (it being the only point to kill meat), to wait a few weeks until the snow melts so that I can go on ; the Indians here also being friendly, I consider it the most safe point for me to remain, until such time as I can cross the mountains with my horses, having lost a great many in attempting to cross ten or fifteen days since. I am a long ways from home, and am anxious to get there as soon as the nature of the case will admit. Our situation is quite unpleas- ant, being destitute of clothing and most of the necessaries of life, wild meat being our principal subsistence. I am, Reverend Father, your strange but real friend and Christian brother.

J. S. SMITH.

May 19th, 1827.

Smith had united himself with the party he had left in 1825 on the American river, and who had been very successful during his absence, and now that he could not cross the Sierra Nevada, decided to penetrate north to the Columbia and follow up that stream to the Rocky mountains, expecting to join his partners at the Green river rendezvous. Near the head of the Sacramento valley the. party crossed the Coast Range to the west, reaching the ocean near the mouth of Russian river, and con- tinued up the coast to the Umpqua. While stopping here to construct a raft for the purpose of ferrying their effects across the stream, their camp was suddenly attacked by Indians with whom they were holding friendly intercourse, and all but three were slain. Smith, Daniel Prior, and an Indian were on the raft at the time of the attack,

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and when the signal yell was given the Indian seized Smith's rifle and sprung into the water; but the old mountaineer grasped his companion's gun, and as soon as the treacherous rascal thrust his head out of water to catch a breath, sent a bullet through his brain. The two men then landed on the opposite side of the river and started on foot for Vancouver, which they eventually reached in safety. The third one who escaped was Richard Laughlin, who seized a burning brand from the fire and with vigorous blows upon the naked bodies of the savages cleared a passage for himself through the assailants and escaped uninjured. After enduring many hardships he, too, reached the company's headquarters on the Columbia.

The Hudson's Bay Company had made it an inflexible rule to treat the natives justly and even liberally, to give them no cause of offense or complaint ; but to main- tain respect for their power and authority and to show the natives that their conduct was not inspired by fear, they never failed to punish offending tribes or individuals in such a manner as would be a perpetual warning to them in the future. It happened that Governor Simpson was at Fort Vancouver at the time Smith arrived in such a forlorn condition, and he sent out a party under Thomas Mckay, son of Alexander Mckay, the partner of Mr. Astor who perished on the Tonquin, to punish the Indians and recover the captured property, both as a necessary step to maintain the company's authority and as an act of courtesy to the despoiled trader. Accounts vary as to the degree of punishment inflicted, but at all events the furs were recovered and conveyed to Vancouver, and since he could not carry them, having no means, and since the company, from a business point of view, could not afford to provide him with facilities for carrying on opposition to it, he sold the whole lot to the company for $40,000. Though this was much below the market price in St. Louis, it was a pretty fair valu- ation for them on the Columbia. The most minute account of this transaction is given by Rev. Gustavus Hines, to whom it was related by Dr. Mclaughlin, chief factor of the company, a few years subsequently. But one writer has seriously questioned the correctness of these statements. Gray's History of Oregon states that the property was recovered " by giving them presents of blankets and powder, and such things as the Indians wished, as stated to us by a Frenchman, a servant of the company, who was one of Mr. Mckay's party that went to get the furs. They found no bodies to bury, and had no fight with the Indians about the property, as stated by Mr. Smith, also. But, as the Hudson's Bay Company tells the story through Mr. Hines, they ' spread terror through the tribes.' * * Mr. Hines says his Umpqua party ' returned in triumph to Vancouver.' And well they might, for they had made the best season's hunt they ever made, in getting those furs and the property of Smith, which paid them well for the expedition, as there was no market for Smith, except London, through the hypocritical kindness of Mr. Simpson. By this time, Mr. Smith had learned all he wished to of this company. He preferred giving them his furs at their own price to being under any further obligations to them. Mr. Sublette, Mr. Smith's partner, did not speak as though he felt under much obligation to Mr. Simp- son or the Hudson's Bay Company, which was not long after the transaction referred to. I do not know how the company regard these statements of Mr. Hines, yet I regard them as true so far as Mr. Hines is concerned, but utterly false as regards the

company. * * According to the testimony given in the case of the

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Hudson's Bay Company vs. United States, the amount of furs seized by the company at that time was forty packs, worth at the time $1,000 each, besides the animals and equipments belonging to the party, a large portion of which was given to the Indians, to compensate them for their services rendered to the company, in destroying Smith's expedition and killing his men."

When it is known that the author of the above bears such bitter hatred towards the Hudson's Bay Company and the officers who represented it in Oregon that he can- not even hear the name mentioned without bristling up in anger, and that this feeling grew out of early missionary feuds, the hated company having supported the Catholic missionaries, opponents of this gentleman and his associates in the Protestant missions it will be understood how, having been thus carried beyond the verge of reason, he could make such deliberate charges of inhumanity against men well known to have been possessed of more than ordinary integrity, benevolence and morality That the company's policy was to break down all opposition, is true; that in order to do this they strictly enjoined all Indians over whom they exercised any control from dealing with independent traders or selling them supplies, and instructed the agents at their various posts to refuse supplies and ammunition to them, except when it became a case of pure humanity, is also true ; but that it ever encouraged the thought among the na- tives that it would be pleased by the murder of Americans is not susceptible of proof, and the idea is as inconsistent with well known facts as it is with the character of the men who administered the company's affairs in Oregon. Dr. John Mclaughlin was one of nature's noblemen, kind and benevolent in character and in manners a thor- ough gentleman. Undeserved abuse has been heaped upon his head by his enemies without stint, many of whom display the basest ingratitude in so doing. Though instructed by the company to oppose the settlement of Americans and to refuse to sell them supplies, his kind heart would not permit him to carry out the injunction. The needy pioneer never applied to him in vain He not only sold them supplies but gave them credit, many of them never settling their scores, and for this he was in later years dismissed from his position and compelled by the company to pay from his own pocket all that was owing from these ungrateful men who at that very time were vili- fying his name, being thus brought to the verge of bankruptcy. It is needless to go into further details, for all, save a few whom blind prejudice holds in chains, bear testi- mony to the grandeur of Dr. Mclaughlin's character. As for Tom Mckay he was universally respected by whites and Indians for his sterling integrity, and because of this held greater influence over the Indians of this region than any man before or since. He took up land in the Willamette valley and lived as an American citizen, loved and respected to the day of his death. To ascribe such conduct to men like this is to show that judgment has been so distorted by prejudice as to be valueless.

Smith's party was the first band of American trappers to visit this region, and as their presence was unsuspected by the company it is impossible that the Indians could have been stirred up against them. A few years later, when the American traders were better known here and settlers began to arrive, the distinction between the Bostons (Americans) and King George men (Englishmen), became better known, and the In- dians became prejudiced against the former for reasons that will be given in speaking of American settlements. Dunn relates an incident which shows this spirit in after 16

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years among the savages, and which also shows that it was not fostered by the company, He says :

" On one occasion an American vessel, Captain Thompson, was in the Columbia, trading for furs and salmon. The vessel had got aground, in the upper part of the river, and the Indians, from various quarters, mustered with the intent of cutting the Ameri- cans off, thinking that they had an opportunity of revenge, and would thus escape the censure of the company. Dr. M'Laughlin, the governor of Fort Vancouver, hearing of their intention, immediately dispatched a party to their rendezvous; and informed them that if they injured one American, it would be just the same offense as if they had injured one of his servants, and they would be treated equally as enemies. This stunned them ; and they relinquished their purpose ; and all retired to their respective homes. Had not this come to the governor's ears the Americans must have perished."

A party of trappers was then sent out from Vancouver to penetrate into California, headed by Alexander Roderick McLeod and guided by one of the survivors of the Umpqua massacre. They passed through Rogue river valley, over Siskiyou mountain, and entered California by the way of the Sacramento river, trapping along the streams that course through the valley. In the early part of the winter they were caught in a severe snow storm on one of the tributaries of the Sacramento, in Shasta county, and narrowly escaped starvation. They lost their horses and were in a sad plight. Joe Mclaughlin, son of the chief factor, set out on foot with a companion to procure aid from Vancouver, and reached that place after much hardship and privation. McLeod did not wait, however, but cached his furs, which were extremely valuable, and strug- gled through to Vancouver with the remainder of his men. Another party was then dispatched to recover the peltries, but found them spoiled. The stream which wit- nessed his misfortune was ever afterwards called McLeod (now improperly spelled Mc- Cloud) by his companion trappers.

Before the return of this unfortunate party to the fort, another, under Peter Ogden and accompanied by Smith, started for the new trapping grounds by another route. They passed up the Columbia and Lewis rivers to the source of the latter, at which point Smith left them and returned to the rendezvous on Green river, to report his manifold misfortunes .. He sold his interest in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1830, and the next year was treacherously killed by Indians while digging for water in the dry bed of the Cimeron river, near Taos, New Mexico, and was buried there by his companions. After Smith took his leave on Lewis river Ogden's party continued south to Mary's or Humboldt river, which was thereafter known as Ogden's river by the English, continued down that stream to the sink and crossed over the mountains to California through Walker's pass. They trapped along the Sacramento and followed McLeod's trail back to Vancouver. From that time till it became a por- tion of the United States in 1846, California was one of the regular trapping grounds of the Hudson's Bay Company.

The second party of American trappers to enter Oregon was that of Major Pilcher. They left Green river in 1828, and passed along the western base of the Rocky moun- tains to Flathead lake, where they wintered. In the spring they descended Clarke's Fork and the main Columbia to Colville river, up which they ascended to its source and started on their return eastward. Gray says: "This party of Major Pilcher

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were all cut off but two men, besides himself; his furs, as stated by himself to the writer, found their way into the forts of the Hudson's Bay Company." The writer, though not stating it positively, intends to convey the impression that these men were murdered at the instigation of the Hudson's Bay Company, or at least with its sanction. That the captured furs were sold to the company is true, but as that was the only mar- ket open to the Indians it is a very small foundation upon which to lay a charge of murder against the purchasers. The next band of American trappers was that of Ewing Young, who had been for years a leader of trapping parties from Santa Fè to the head waters of the Del Norte, Rio Grande and Colorado rivers. He entered Cali- fornia through Walker's pass in 1829, and returned the next year. In 1832 he again entered California and followed Smith's route into Oregon as far as the Umpqua, when he turned eastward, crossed the mountains to the tributary streams of the Columbia and Snake rivers, entered Sacramento valley again from the north, and finally crossed out by the Tejon pass, having been absent from Santa Fe two years. Mr. Young soon returned, and became one of the first and most energetic of the American settlers in Oregon.

When Smith sold his interest in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1830, William Sublette and David Jackson retired also, and the new partners were Milton Sublette, James Bridger, Robert Campbell, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Frapp and Jarvais. In 1831 the old American Fur Company, which had been managed so long by Mr. Astor but was now directed by Ramsey Crooks, began to push into the trapping grounds of the other company. Great rivalry sprung up between them, which was the following year intensified by the appearance of two other competitors in the persons of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville and Nathaniel J. Wyeth. Captain Bonneville was a United States army officer, who had been given permission to lead a party of trappers into the fur regions of the northwest, the expedition being countenanced by the govern- ment only to the extent of this permit. It was supposed, that, by such an undertaking, sufficient additional information of the region explored would be obtained to warrant authorizing an officer to engage in a private venture. The captain first reached the Rocky mountains in 1832. In 1833 he sent Joseph Walker with forty men to Cali- fornia over the route formerly pursued by Smith, and on Christmas of the same year started with three companions from his camp on Portneuf river, upon an expedition to Fort Walla Walla. His object, as given by Irving, was: "To make himself acquainted with the country, and the Indian tribes ; it being one part of his scheme, to establish a trading post somewhere on the lower part of the river, so as to participate in the trade lost to the United States by the capture of Astoria." He reached Powder river on the twelfth of January, 1834, whence his journey was continued down Snake river and by the Nez Perce trail to Fort Walla Walla, where he arrived March 4, 1834.

This journey, in mid-winter, was attended with its accompanying detail of hard- ships incident to the season, including the absence of game and presence of snow in the mountains. At one time, they had wandered among the Blue mountains, lost amid its canyons and defiles east of the Grand Ronde valley, for twenty days, nearly frozen and constantly starved, until they were at the verge of despair. At length, a Nez Perce chief was met, who invited them to his lodge some twelve miles further along the trail they were traveling, and then galloped away. So great had been the strain

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upon the captain's system in sustaining these successive days of unnatural exertion, that when the chief disappeared, he sunk upon the ground and lay there like one dead. His companions tried in vain to arouse him. It was a useless effort, and they were forced to camp by the trail until he awoke from this trance the next day and was enabled to move on. They had hardly resumed their tedious journey, when some dozen Nez Perces rode up. with fresh horses and carried them in triumph to their vil- lage. Everywhere, after this, they were kindly received by this hospitable people, fed, cared for and guided on their way by them.

Bonneville and his two companions were kindly received at Fort Walla Walla by Mr. P C. Pambrun, who, with five or six men, was in charge of that station at the mouth of the Walla Walla river. This Hudson's Bay Company representative was a courteous, affable host, but when asked to sell the captain supplies that would enable his return to the Rocky mountains: "That worthy superintendent, who had extended all the genial rights of hospitality, now suddenly assumed a withered up aspect and demeanor, and observed that, however he might feel disposed to serve him personally, he felt bound by his duty to the Hudson's Bay Company, to do nothing which should facilitate or encourage the visits of other traders among the Indians in that part of the country." Bonneville remained at the fort but two days, for his destitute condition, combined with the lateness in the season, rendered it necessary for him to return im- mediately ; and he started on the back trail with his Nez Perce guide, and finally reached the point of general rendezvous for his various expeditions. This is a true statement of the position assumed by the Hudson's Bay Company ; its agents would not . themselves, nor would they permit the Indians under their control to deal with or in any manner assist opposition traders; but that Bonneville traversed the country in safety with but three companions after the company was aware of his intention to re- turn and found a rival establishment on the Columbia, is convincing evidence that assassination was not one of its methods of overcoming competition, however much such charges may be reiterated by its enemies.

In July, 1834, Bonneville started on a second expedition to the Columbia, with a formidable number of trappers and mountain men, well equipped, and with an exten- sive stock of goods to traffic with Indians. He still contemplated a restoration of American trade in this country, and designed establishing a post for that purpose in the Willamette valley. This time he passed the Blue mountains by way of Grand Ronde valley and the Umatilla river, and upon his arrival at the mouth of that stream, was surprised to find the natives shunning him. They ran from his men, hid them- selves, and when intercepted, refused to have anything to do with the Americans. Not a skin, a horse, a dog, or a fish could be obtained from them, having been warned by the Hudson's Bay Company not to traffic with these new comers. It now seemed a question of immediate evacuation or starvation, and Bonneville decided to abandon his attempt at joint occupancy. Once more he turned his back upon the Columbia and left the English company in undisputed possession of the field.

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History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 21

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

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