USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 79
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CAPT. GEORGE VANCOUVER.
Few men, indeed, at that time, foresaw what Jefferson and Astor foresaw. Thomas H. Benton was one of these men. He saw the coming greatness of the Pacific Coast. He devoted his life to securing the ports of San Francisco and the Columbia river with ownership to the 49th parallel. He was wont to say, pointing across the prairies, "There lies the East-there is the road to In- dia."
Imbued with these ideas, we find As- tor, in 1810, forming the Pacific Fur Company. His own patriotism led him to an error in selecting his partners. All but one of them were aliens and subjects of Great Britair .. This, too, at a time when war was im- minent between ยท England and the United States. Be- fore Astor's broad mind lay the Pacific Northwest. His plan was to pene- trate the country by the same route traveled by Lewis and Clarke; estab- lish a chain of trad- ing posts from St. Louis to the head of the Missouri river and tributaries, cross over the sum :- mit of the Rocky mountains and continue his trading posts from the sources to the mouth of the Columbia river. At the mouth of this great river, Astor projected the building of a great mart of trade. At this center, by means of small coasting vessels, trading up and down the Pacific coast was to radiate therefrom, thence across the broad Pacific for sale and ex- change with China and the East. And besides, he would have a decided ad- vantage over the Hudson's Bay and the Northwest Companies. These English concerns were, by charter of the East India Company, shut out from Asiatic trade.
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So, in 1810, the Scotch partners came from Montreal to New York in a large pierogue. Gaily ribboned and decorat- ed, traveling by way of Lake Champlain and the Hudson river, they conveyed their canoes across the land at each end of the lake, striking up their wild boat- song, they made hill and dale resound with merriment as they swept down the Hudson. They were the sensation of the hour. The enterprise of Astor, even in these primitive days of America, was . novel and bold.
There were to be two expeditions, one to proceed by the way of Cape Horn, the other overland, to the mouth of the Co- lumbia. The ship Tonquin, 290 tons burden was fitted out and stored with supplies and merchandise for barter with the natives. Jonathan Thorn was select- ed as her com- mander. He was honest and cour- ageous, but pos- sessed an ungov- ernable temper, and was proud and haughty in de- meanor. On Au- gust 2, 1810, she set sail. Trouble was brewing be- tween the United States and Eng- land, and the rumble of war could be heard. It was reported that an English man-of-war awaited outside New York harbor to apprehend the expedition. The United States government sent, as a con- voy, the afterwards famous warship Con- stitution. Out upon the seas rode the two vessels. The one going to a fate roman- tic. tragic and terrible: the other soon to cover the Stars and Stripes with the glory of American valor. The one to go down ill-fated, the other to stand forth a talisman of good luck and good fortune.
On the 22nd day of March, 1811, the Tonquin arrived off the Columbia. Just
as the gloom of the cold bleak night of the 24th hovered over the deep, the good ship gallantly rode the roaring breakers and came to anchor just within the river. The wind blew a gale, but the ship rode out the storm and the next day, proceed- ing into a sheltered cove, now called Baker's Bay, again came to anchor. Now the threatened guns of Fort Canby tower above the spot and hardy fisherman reaps a piscatorial harvest which recurs in never failing plenty.
A few days of exploring and they de- termined upon a beautiful spot on the south side of the river. Here they clear- ed a piece of ground, established an em- porium, built a fort and named it, in hon- or of the founder. ASTORIA.
SHIP COLUMBIA. First Vessel to Enter the Columbia River
Ross Cox, ait arrival of 1812. thus describes the fort: The build- ing consisted of apartments for the proprietors and clerks, with a capacious dining hall: extensive warehouses for the trading of goods and furs. a provision store. trading shon. smith's forge, car- penter shop, etc .: the whole sur- rounded by stockade, forming a square, and reaching about fifteen feet above the ground. a gallery running around the stockade, in which deep holes were pierced suffi- ciently large for musketry: each bas- tian had two stories in which a chosen number of men slept every night. A six- pounder was placed in the lower story of each, and they were both provided with: goall arme. Immediately in front was .. gentle declevity sloping down to the riv- er side, which was turned into an excel- lent, kitchen garden: a few hundred vards to the left a tolerable wharf had been run out, by which batteaux and boats, at low water, were able to land
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their cargoes without sustaining any damage. An impenetrable forest of gi- gantic pines rose in the rear; and the ground was covered with thick under- wood of briar and whortleberry inter- mingled with ferns and honeysuckles."
In their garden were planted twelve hills of potatoes. The crop for the first year was one hundred and nineteen po- tatoes. A few were spared to the inland traders ,and fifty-six hills having been planted the second year, a crop of fifty bushels was reaped. And this was the first of agriculture in the Pacific North- west. For the purpose of trade a small vessel was built and christened "Dolly." And this was the first vessel built in the new country. Directly north of the site of Fort Astor, at the present time, is the large dock of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, and adjoining the same on the East is the depot and ter- minal grounds of the Astoria and Co- lumbia River railroad. The site of the fort is now occupied by the residence of an old pioneer, and is in the heart of As- toria, now a city of ten thousand.
On the 5th day of June, 1811, the Ton- quin, with Alexander McKay on board, sailed north on a trading expedition. Near the west shore of Vancouver island the vesel came to anchor, and was soon surrounded by natives bringing furs and offering them for sale. Had the admon- ition of Astor been observed, nothing worthy of note would have been record- ed of this voyage of the gallant vessel and her crew. "All accidents," he wrote as his parting injunction, "arose from too much confidence in the Indians." But Thorn had thrown caution to the winds. The natives were admitted freely to the deck. They were wary in trade and asked twice the price offered by Thorn. One old chief followed the captain about the deck taunting him with being stingy. Thorn ordered the Indian to leave the ship. They relapsed into silence, but made no move toward going. Thorn. now beside himself with anger, rubbed an otter skin in the chief's face and shov- ed him towards the ladder. Immediately every savage left the ship as if it were
pestilence. McKay and the Indian in- terpreter, knowing trouble would follow, urged Thorn to sail away. He was ob- stinate and refused. "Do you think," he said, "I will run from a lot of redskins as long as I have a knife or handspike?"
At daybreak on the following morn- ing ,a canoe came alongside, and the oc- cupants were admitted on board. Other canoes came until the watch, becoming alarmed, called the captain. Thorn now became alarmed and ordered the crew, some to make sail, and some to weigh anchor. The Indians now offering to trade, a hurried barter was commenced. The anchor up, the deck was ordered cleared by Thorn, in a loud, peremptory tone. It was the signal of death. With a yell the savages fell upon their marked victims. In a short time all were dead except the Indian interpreter, who es- caped among the Indians, Mr. Lewis, the ship's clerk, mortally wounded, and four seamen who had slipped down the rigging and gained access to the arsenal. Here, having secured weapons, they suc- ceeded in driving the Indians from the ship.
"For the remainder of the day," says Irving, in his work entitled "Astoria,' "no one ventured to put off for the ship deterred by the effect of the firearms The night pased away without further attempt on the part of the natives. When day dawned the Tonquin still lay at an- chor in the bay, her sails all loose and flapping in the wind, no one apparently on board of her. After a time some of the canoes ventured forth to reconnoiter, taking with them the interpreter. They paddled about her, keeping cautiously at a distance, but growing more and more emboldened at seeing her quiet and lifeless. One man at length made his appearance and was recognized by the interpreter as Mr. Lewis. He made friendly signs and invited them on board It was not long before they ventured to comply. Those who mounted the deck met with no opposition; no one was to be seen aboard. Mr. Lewis, after invit- ing them, had disappeared. Other crew: now pressed forward to board the prize
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The decks were soon crowded and the sides covered 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 mutilated bodies were blown into the air, and dreadful havoc 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 succeed- ed in getting into one of the canoes. Ac- cording to his statement the bay present- ed an awful spectacle after the catastro- phe. The ship had disappeared, but the bay was covered with the fragments of the wreck, with shattered canoes, and In- dians swimming for their lives, or strug- gling in the agonies of death; while those who escaped the danger remained aghast and stupefied, or made, with fran- tic panic, for the shore. Upwards of a hundred savages were destroyed by the explosion, many were shockingly muti- lated, and for days afterwards the limbs and bodies of the slain were thrown up- - on the beach."
And thus ended the Tonquin and her crew, in a tragedy as deep and dark as was ever heralded by tongue or pen.
Of Astor's overland expedition Price Hunt was placed in charge. In the fall of the year 1810 the expedition proceed- ed up the Missouri river 450 miles, and camped for the winter. Owing to the opposition of rival companies at St. Louis trouble had been experienced in procuring men for the expedition. Dur- ing the winter Hunt returned to St. Louis and procured a sufficient number of men and joined the expedition in the spring. Of this number was a unique character, Piere Dorien. His father had been interpreter for the Lewis and Clarke expedition. He required of Hunt that he be permitted to take with him his squaw wife and two children, the youngest of which was but two years old.
As they proceeded up the river they met the great hunter and frontiersman, Daniel Boone, now eighty-five years of age. It is said the old hero looked with longing eyes as the expedition swept
from his view on its perilous journey. In April, 1811, all being ready, the expedi- tion set out. Accompanying it for the purpose of scientific research were two English scientists, Bradbury and Nutall. Through a fertile country, up the river they traveled, surrounded by the beau- ties of spring. They encountered herds of wild buffalo and game of every de- scription, till the fertile lands were pass- ed, and they were among the parched and barren hills. Hearing from some hunters who joined the expedition that the Blackfeet Indians were hostile, they determined to leave the Missouri and follow a more southerly route than that taken by Lewis and Clarke.
At a village of the Ricara Indians they abandoned their boats, and having pro- cured horses, proceeded thence by land. Striking across the dry and barren plains they came at length to the Black Hills. These they skirted for some dis- tance, and having turned northerly, came to the Big Horn mountains. Oft- en they were without game or grass, but the journey was thus far without extra- ordinary hardship. They were now at the summit of the Rocky mountains. Seeing in the distance the Three Tetons. or as they named them, Pilot Knobbs. they wended their way thither on the banks of a turbulent. rushing stream. which they called Mad river. Arriving at the foot of the mountains, the river be- came placid and moved along majestical- ly and calm, under the drooping willows of its banks. They were now at the fountain sources of the Columbia.
Here they constructed canoes,.but re- ports came that the river again became unnavigable, accordingly they crossed over the mountain and came to the waters of Henry river. Again they built canoes and proceeded gaily down . its rushing waters till they came to Snake river. Down the Snake several miles they were again confronted by rapids. A portage, and they were again, in a short time, confronted by dangerous rapids and falls. Men sent ahead brought word that the river was for miles impassable. Here one of their voyageurs was swept away by the current and drowned. The
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place they first named Caldron Linn, but afterwards, Devils Scuttle Hole. The season was now far advanced, and the prospect was dark. Over 1000 miles, over a trackless waste, yet lay between them and Astoria. The mistake of the expedition was this southern route. Far better had they braved the hostile Black- feet, and followed the route of Lewis and Clarke. The latter had found the Clear- water navigable and had proceeded with- out hindrance to the Columbia, and thence to the Pacific. Hunt was, on the contrary, confronted by an unnavigable riter and that too late in the season.
Finally the party separated into two main divisions. One, under Hunt, took the east side of the river, and one, under Crooks, the west bank. Another small party, numbering eleven, bade farewell to their friends and struck across the hills, hoping to reach the Columbia by a still more westerly route. Gloomy fore- bodings now filled the minds of all. Now the struggle for life began. On they toil- ed, occasionally coming upon an Indian village of half-starved natives and pro- cured from them now a dog, now a horse, and occasionally feasted upon wolf. wading through snow, and famish- ing for water which tantalized them far down the inaccessible canyon. But they were brave. The poor squaw of Dorien, expecting soon to become a mother, toiled along day after day with the stolid forti- tude of her race. Much of the time she carried the younger child on her back. After a month of hardship the party of Hunt heard a shout from the opposite bank of the river, and looking over saw the party under Crooks. They were in sore distress and called for food. A ca- noe was made of the hide of an Indian horse and horse meat taken to them. They danced for joy, for it had been hours since they had tasted food. The country on their side of the river was even more barren than that on the side of Hunt. Snow had been falling for some time. The emaciated appearance of Crooks and his party struck dismay to the hearts of Hunt. For the first time they realized that grim famine
was pursuing them, and that it would require all their fortitude to brave the coming events. Hence they proceeded several days down the river tili the mountains became impassable. Hunt here determined to retrace his steps to an Indian village he had previously passed. John Day, the hunter, was brought across the river. His plight was pitiful. Famine had done its work. Irving says of him: "John Day was a hunter from the backwoods of Virginia, who had been several years on the Mis- souri in the services of Mr. Crooks and cther traders. He was about forty years of age, six feet two inches high, straight as an Indian; with an elastic step as if he trod on springs, and a handsome, open countenance. It was his boast, that in his younger days nothing could hurt or daunt him; but he had lived too fast' and injured his constitution by ex- cesses. Still he was strong of hand, bold of heart, a prime woodman and an almost unerring shot. He had the frank spirit of the Virginian, and the rough heroism of a pioneer of the West." Soon they were compelled to leave him, and Crooks, refusing to desert his old friend, they, with a Canadian named LaClerc, parted with the expedition. The scene was affecting as they parted from their friends, perhaps for the last time, and bravely set about the fight with death in the wintry solitudes. Hunt and his party having arrived at an Indian vil- lage, procured horses for meat, and in- quired the way to the Columbia. They were informed that by traveling north- westerly they could reach "the big riv- er." But as it was hard to procure a guide, as the Indians shuddered and said they would die. But tempting bribes at length secured one and they ferried the river where is now the town of Hunting- ton. Hence they traveled over the moun- tain to the Columbia. A few days after and the wife of Dorien became a mother. Dorien bade the expedition to proceed and he would join them a few days later. They did so. and on the second day along came the Dorien family, the squaw and her family riding on a crow-bait of
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horse that Dorien had sullenly refused to sacrifice even when the last beaver skin had been eaten.
After a few days' travel they came to a beautiful valley, well watered with a sparkling river. This was the Grande Ronde valley and river, now one of the most prosperous, fertile, farming, stock- raising and mining localities of Oregon. They passed on their journey the present thriving cities of LaGrande, Union and Baker. From a wandering tribe of Indi- ans they procured horses for food, and were overjoyed to hear that a party of white men had preceded them by about a month. From the description they rightly judged it was their eleven friends from whom they had parted in the gloom at Caldron Linn.
Here they passed the first day of Janu- ary, 1812, and celebrated the New Year. The poor fellows, though scarce able to stand, with due ceremony observed the day, and enjoyed a feast of dog and horse. Five days' journey and they came to Umatilla valley. The natives were well clad and quite intelligent. Again they heard tidings of their friends. After recuperating a few days they pro- ceeded to the Columbia, now but a short distance. They crossed the river and proceeded down the north bank. Ar- riving at the Cascades they procured ca- noes and embarking. floated down. The valleys and much of the country they saw is today covered with billows of golden grain And on their eternal hills graze thousands of herds. The dreams of Jefferson, Astor and Benton are being realized.
On the 18th day of January, 1812, as they glided along the broad waters of the river, who can describe the sensations of joy they felt, on rounding Tongue Point, at beholding a beautiful fort in full view. They were met by their companions who had given them up for lost. And the scene of meeting was both ludicrous and affecting as the voyageurs kissed and hugged each other. Deer meat now supplied the place of Indian dog and horse, good enough when no better could be secured, but now quite out of place. They warmed the inner man with
spirits from the stores, and all was joy.
The suffering endured by these poor fellows in the deep solitudes can never be adequately told. Months afterwards, as Stewart and several companions were floating down the Columbia, returning from a trading expedition, they were hailed from the bank. Looking around they found two wretched men, entirely naked and unarmed, beckoning them to come ashore. What was their joy at meeting with John Day and Mr. Crooks? Long since had they been given up for dead. But they had wintered among the Indians on the Snake river, and in the spring had made their way to the Co- lumbia, where they were well-treated by the Walla Walla Indians. But proceed- ing down the river, at the Cascades, they were robbed of everything, stripped nak- ed and turned out to die. The Indians had even refused John Day his flint and steel. John Day never recovered his vigor. Shortly he died, and was buried in Astoria, where his grave is still point- ed out. A river in Eastern Oregon, near which he was rescued, and one four miles above Astoria, bear his name.
With this ending of the overland ex- pedition Astor had carried American commerce and the American flag from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the Pa- cific Northwest, by right of both original discovery and occupation, was now fully in the grasp of the United States.
The traders found a mine of wealth. There were the beaver, the seal and the otter of the far North, and the fur-bear- ing animals of the Pacific Northwest.
That the plans of Astor were not a success was due to no fault of his. The war of 1812 broke out, and the enterprise that had been planned so well came to grief. The choleric Thorn was totally unfit for the part that fell to his lot. Hunt was true to the last and when the alien partners betrayed Astor he protest- ed in vain. The alien partners were not loyal to the United States government. They found ready excuse for selling. for a trifle, the property of Astor, and for hauling down the Stars and Stripes and therunning up of the English Jack. And what was before Fort Astor was now
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Fort George, named after the tyrant hat- ed by all liberty-loving people. In a let- ter to John Quincy Adams, then secre- tary of state, Astor wrote: "McDougal transferred all my property to the North- west Company, who were in possession of it by sale, as he called it, for the sum of forty-eight thousand dollars, of which he retained fourteen thousand dollars for wages said to be due some of the men. From the price obtained from the goods, etc., and he having himself become in- terested in the purchase and made a partner in the Northwest Company, some idea may be formed of the man's correctness of dealing. He sold to the . Northwest Company eighteen thousand and one hundred and seventy quarter pounds of beaver at two dollars, which was selling at that time in Canton at five and six dollars per skin. I estimate the whole property to be worth nearer two hundred thousand than forty thousand dollars, about the sum he secured in bills on Montreal."
For years the United States' govern- ment remained inactive and refused to restore to Astor that which was his, or to assert its unequivocal ownership in the Pacific Northwest. In fact the govern- ment appeared to fear Great Britain and so they whiled away the time in "joint occupancy," all in the interest of the English companies.
It was during this time that Senator Benton championed the cause of this ter- ritory so nobly. In 1847 he wrote a let- ter to the people of Oregon and sent it by John M. Shively, who then owned a Do- nation Land Claim, embracing the site of Fort Astor. The senator reminded the people of Oregon that many of them were his personal friends, and concluded the letter by saying: "In conclusion., I have to assure you that the spirit that made me a friend of Oregon for thirty years-which led me to denounce the joint-occupation treaty the day it was made and to oppose its renewal in 1828, and to labor for its abrogation until it was terminated: the same spirit that led me to reveal the grand destiny of Ore- gon in articles written in 1818, and to support every measure for her benefit
since-the same spirit still animates m and will continue to do so while I live- which I hope to be long enough to se an emporium of Asiatic commerce pour ing into the valley of the Mississipp therough the channel of Oregon."
The Tonquin found an unique charac ter in the person of the Chinook chie Con-com-ly. His tribe dwelt on th north shore of Baker's Bay on the site the present village of Chinook. He wa possessed of but one eve, but it was sai the shrewd old chieftain saw more wit that one eye than most people could wit two. McDougall. Astor's factor, wa his favorite. He saved the trade from drowning soon after the arrival the ship. Afterwards he gave, in ma riage. to the fur trader, his favorit daughter, the Princess Con-com-1 Con-com-ly was exceedingly fond of h distinguished son-in-law. When th English came to take possession of Fo Astor the wily old chief assembled h warriors and, hurrying across the rive offered to assassinate the English. M Dougall refused his offer, and Con-con ly conceived a supreme disgust for hi he never forgot. He declared his daugl ter had "married a squaw," and ev afterwards refused to have anything do with his disgraced relative.
The story is told that the traders on discovered that the Indians were plottir a massacre. McDougall assembled tl chiefs and informed them that he w aware of their intended treachery. "Yo imagine," he said, "that because we a a few you can easily kill us, but it is n so: or if you do, you only bring great evils upon yourselves. The medicine the white man dead is mightier than tl red man living. It is said that twen men aboard our ship were killed; but this be true did not the ship alone k two hundred of the murderers, ten f one? But what is the white man's shi compared with the white man himsel Listen. I am the small-pox chief and this bottle I have it confined. All I ha to do is to pull the cork, and send forth among you, and you are dead me But this is for my enemies, and not f my friends."
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