An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 8

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172

USA > Washington > Skagit County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 8
USA > Washington > Snohomish County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 8

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"Endowed with an empire over which the com- pany exercised absolute dominion, subject only to

fealty to the crown, its membership, powerful nobles and citizens of wealth residing near and at the court, jealously guarding its every interest, and securing for it a representation in the government itself, is it to be wondered," asks Evans, "that this imperium in imperio triumphantly asserted and firmly established British supremacy in every region in which it operated ?"

Something of the modus operandi of the com- pany must now be given. The chief factors and chief traders were paid no salaries, but in lieu thereof were given forty per cent. of the profits, divided among them on some basis deemed equi- table by the company. The clerks received sal- aries varying from twenty to one hundred pounds per annum. Below these again were the servants, whose term of enlistment ( for such in effect it was) was for five years, and whose pay was seventeen pounds per year without clothing. The servant was bound by indentures to devote his whole time and labor to the company's interests ; to yield obe- dienee to superior officers ; to defend the company's property ; to obey faithfully orders. laws, etc .; to defend officers and agents to the best of his ability ; to serve in the capacity of a soldier whenever called upon so to do; to attend military drill; and never to engage or be interested in any trade or occupa- tion except in accordance with the company's orders and for its benefit. In addition to the pittance paid him, the servant was entitled, should he desire to remain in the country after the expiration of his term of enlistment, to fifty acres of land, for which he was to render twenty-eight days' service per an- num for seven years. If dismissed before the expi- ration of his term, the servant, it was agreed, should be transported to his European home free of charge. Desertion or neglect might be punished by the for- feiture of even the wretched pittance he was to receive. It was, furthermore, the policy of the company to encourage marriage with the Indian women, its purpose being to create family ties which should bind the poor slave to the soil. By the time the servant's term of enlistment had expired, there was, therefore, no choice left him but to re-enlist or accept the grant of land. "In times of peace, laborers and operators were ever on hand at mere nominal wages: in times of outbreak they were at once transformed into soldiers amenable to military usage and discipline."

The system was certainly a fine one, viewed from the standpoint of the company, but while it may command admiration for its ingenuity, it is certainly not to be commended for magnanimity. Its design and purpose was to turn the wealth of the country into the coffers of the English noble- men who owned Hudson's Bay stock, though this should be done at the expense of the manhood, the self-respect and the independence of the poor sons of toil who foolishly or from necessity bound them- selves to its service.

THE NORTHWEST AND HUDSON'S BAY COMPANIES

The Indian policy of the company was no less politic than its treatment of its employees, but it had much more in it that was truly commendable. Its purpose did not bring its employees into conflict with the Indian nor require his expulsion, neither was there danger of the lands of the savage being appropriated or the graves of his people disturbed. The sale of intoxicants was positively and for the most part successfully prohibited. Conciliation was the wisest policy of the company, and it gov- erned itself accordingly ; but when punishment was merited, it was administered with promptness and severity. When depredations were committed the tribe to which the malefactor belonged was pursued by an armed force and compelled to deliver the guilty to his fate. A certain amount of civilization was introduced, and with it came an increase of wants, which wants could be supplied only at the company's forts. Indians were sent on hunting and trapping expeditions in all directions, so that concentration of tribes became difficult, and if at- tempted, easily perceived in time to prevent trouble. Thus the company secured an influence over the savage and a place in his affections from which it could not easily be dislodged.

In their treatment of missionaries, civil and military officers and others from the United States, the company's factors and agents were uniformly courteous and kind. Their hospitality was in the highest degree commendable, meriting the gratitude of the earliest visitors and settlers. The poor and unfortunate never asked assistance in vain. But woe to the American who attempted to trade with the Indians, to trap, hunt or do anything which brought him into competition with the British cor- poration ! All the resources of a company supplied with an abundance of cheap labor, supported by the friendship and affection of the aboriginal peo- ples, backed by almost unlimited capital, and forti- fied by the favor of one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations of the world, were at once turned to crush him. Counter-establishments were formed in his vicinity, and he was hampered in every way possible and pursued with the relentlessness of an evil fate until compelled to retire from the field.

Such being the conditions, there was not much encouragement for American enterprise in the basin of the Columbia. It is not, however, in the Ameri- can character to yield a promising prospect without a struggle, and several times efforts were made at competition in the Oregon territory. Of some of these we must speak briefly. The operations of William H. Ashley west of the Rocky mountains did not extend to the Oregon country and are of importance to our purpose only because in one of his expeditions, fitted out in 1826, he brought a six-pounder, drawn by mules, across the Rocky mountains, thereby demonstrating the feasibility of a wagon road. In 1826 Jedediah S. Smith, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, encouraged by

some previous successes in the Snake river district, set out for the country west of the Great Salt Lake. He proceeded so far westward that no recourse was left him but to push onward to the Pacific, his stock of provisions being so reduced and his horses so exhausted as to render an attempt to return unwise. He went south to San Diego for horses and supplies, and experienced no little difficulty on account of the suspicions of the native Californians, who were jealous of all strangers, especially those from the United States. Eventually, however, he was able to proceed northward to the Rogue river, then along the shore to the Umpqua, in which vicinity serious difficulty with Indians was experienced. Fifteen of the nineteen who constituted the party were mas- sacred ; indeed, all who happened to be in the camp at the time except one were killed. This man, aided by friendly Indians, reached Fort Vancouver, and told his story to the magnanimous chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, Dr. John McLoughlin, who offered the Indians a liberal reward for the safe return of Smith and his two companions. A party of forty men was equipped at once to go to the Umpqua country, but before they got started, Smith and the men arrived. McLoughlin took steps to secure the property stolen from Smith, and so successfully did he manage the affair that peltries to the value of over three thousand dollars were recovered and the murderers were severely pun- ished by other Indians. Smith was conquered by kindness, and at his solicitation the Rocky Moun- tain Fur Company retired from the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Of various other expeditions by Americans into the Oregon country and of the attempts by Amer- ican vessels to trade along the coast, we cannot speak. Some reference must, however, be made to the work of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, who, in 1831, applied for a two years' leave of absence from the United States army that he might "explore the country to the Rocky mountains and beyond, with a view to ascertain the nature and character of the several tribes of Indians inhabiting those regions ; the trade which might profitably be carried on with them ; quality of soil, productions, minerals, natural history, climate, geography, topography, as well as geology of the various parts of the country within the limits of the territories of the United States between our frontier and the Pacific." The request was granted. While Bonneville was informed that the government would be to no expense in fitting up the expedition, he was instructed that he must provide himself with suitable instruments and maps, and that he was to "note particularly the number of warriors that may be in each tribe of natives that may be met with, their alliances with other tribes, and their relative position as to a state of peace or war : their manner of making war, mode of subsist- ing themselves during a state of war and a state of peace ; the arms and the effect of them; whether

2.2

INTRODUCTORY

they act on foot or on horseback; in short, every information useful to the government." It would seem that a government which asked such im- portant services ought to have been willing to make some financial return, at least to pay the expenses. But Captain Bonneville had to secure financial aid elsewhere. During the winter an association was formed in New York which furnished the neces- sary means, and on May 1, 1832, the expedition set out, the party numbering one hundred and ten men. They took with them in wagons a large quan- tity of trading goods to be used in traffic with the Indians in the basins of the Colorado and Column- bia rivers. Bonneville himself went as far west as Fort Walla Walla. Members of his expedition entered the valleys of the Humboldt, Sacramento and Colorado rivers, but they were unable to com- pete with the experienced Hudson's Bay and Mis- souri Companies, and the enterprise proved a financial failure. The expedition derives its chief importance from the fact that it forms the basis of one of Irving's most fascinating works, which, "in language more thrilling and varied than romance, has pictured the trapper's life, its dangers, its excit- ing pleasures, the bitter rivalry of competing traders, the hostility of the savages," presenting a picture of the fur trade which will preserve to latest posterity something of the charm and fascination of that wild, weird traffic.

Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, of Massachusetts, projected in 1832 an enterprise of curious interest and some historical importance. His plan was to establish salmon fisheries on the Columbia river, to be operated as an adjunct to and in connection with the fur and Indian trade. He crossed overland to Oregon, despatching a vessel with trading goods via Cape Horn, but his vessel was never again heard from, so the enterprise met defeat. The next year Captain Wyeth returned to Boston, leaving, however, most of his party in the country. Many of the men settled in the Willamette valley, and one of them found employment as an Indian teacher for the Hudson's Bay Company.

Not to be discouraged by one failure, Captain Wyeth, in 1834, fitted ont another land expedition and despatched to the Columbia another vessel, the May Dacre, laden with trading goods. On reaching the confluence of the Snake and Port Neuf rivers, Wyeth erected a trading post, to which he gave the name of Fort Hall. Having sent out his hunting and trapping parties, and made arrangements for the season's operations, he proceeded to Fort Van- couver, where, about the same time, the May Dacre arrived. He established a trading honse and salmon fishery on Wapato (now Sauvie's) island, which became known as Fort William. The fishery proved a failure, and the trading and trapping industry could not stand the competition and harassing tactics of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the constant hostility of the Indians. George B. Roberts,

who came to Oregon in 1831 as an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, is quoted as having accounted for the trouble with the red men in this way. He said: "The island was thickly inhabited by Indians until 1830, when they were nearly ex- terminated by congestive chills and fever. There were at the time three villages on the island. So fatal were the effects of the disease, that Dr. Mc- Loughlin sent a party to rescue and bring away the few that were left, and to burn the villages. The Indians attributed the introduction of the fever and agne to an American vessel that had visited the river a year or two previously. It is not there- fore a matter of surprise to any who understand Indian character and their views as to death re- sulting from such diseases, that Wyeth's attempted establishment on Wapato island was subject to continued hostility. He was of a race to whom they attributed the cause of the destruction of their people ; and his employees were but the lawful compensation according to their code for the afflic- tion they had suffered."

Wyeth eventually returned to Massachusetts disheartened. Fort Hall ultimately passed into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, and with its acquisition by them, practically ended American fur trade west of the Rocky mountains. But though Wyeth's enterprise failed so signally, his account of it, published by order of congress, attracted the at- tention of Americans to Oregon, and did much to stimulate its settlement.

It will readily be seen then that whatever ad- vantage the establishment of fur-trading enterprises might give in the final settlement of the Oregon question was with the British. We shall attempt a brief and succinct account of the "struggle for possession" in a later chapter, but it will here be our task to determine in some measure what the political mission of the Hudson's Bay Company might be and what part that association was playing in inter- national affairs. In 1837 the company applied to the home government for a new license, granting enlarged privileges. In enforcing its request, it pointed forcibly to its efficient services in suc- cessfully crushing out American enterprise and strengthening British title to the territory, contrary to the spirit and letter of the Joint-Occupancy treaties of 1818 and 1821.

In presenting the petition, the company's chief representative in England, Sir John Henry Pelly, called the attention of the lords to the service ren- dered in securing to the mother country a branch of trade wrested from subjects of Russia and the United States of America; to the six permanent establishments it had on the coast, and the sixteen in the interior, besides the migratory and hunting parties ; to its marine of six armed vessels; to its large pasture and grain farms, affording every species of agricultural produce and maintaining large herds of stock. He further averred that it

THE NORTHWEST AND HUDSON'S BAY COMPANIES

was the intention of the company still further to extend and increase its farms, and to establish an export trade in wool, hides, tallow and other prod- uce of the herd and the cultivated field, also to encourage the settlement of its retired servants and other emigrants under its protection. Referring to the soil, climate and other circumstances of the country, he said they were such as to make it "as much adapted to agricultural pursuits as any other spot in America ; and," said he, "with care and pro- tection, the British dominion may not only be pre- served in this country, which it has been so much the wish of Russia and America to occupy to the exclusion of British subjects, but British interest and British influence may be maintained as para- mount in this interesting part of the coast of the Pacific.'

Sir George Simpson, who was in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's affairs in America, in making his plea for the renewal of the license, referred to the international import of the com- pany's operations in this language: "The posses- sion of that country to Great Britain may be an object of very great importance; and we are strengthening that claim to it (independent of the claims of prior discovery and occupation for the purpose of Indian trade ) by forming the nucleus of a colony through the establishment of farms, and the settlement of some of our retired officers and servants as agriculturists."

One might almost expect that Great Britain might utter some word of reproof to a company which could have the audacity to boast of violating her treaty compacts with a friendly power. Not so, however. She was a party to the breach of faith. Instead of administering merited reproof, she rewards the wrongdoers by the prompt issuing of a new license to extend and be in force for a period of twenty-one years. This renewed license, the date of which is May 31, 1838, granted to the company "the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians in all such parts of North America, to the north- ward and westward of the islands and territories belonging to the United States of America, as shall not form part of any of our ( British) provinces in North America or any lands or territories belonging to the said United States of America, or to any European government, state, or power. Without rent for the first five years, and afterward the yearly rent of five shillings, payable on the first of June."

The company was again required to furnish a bond conditioned on their executing, by their authority over the persons in their employ, "all civil and criminal process by the officers or persons usu- ally empowered to execute such process within all territories included in the grant, and for the produc- ing or delivering into custody, for the purpose of trial, all persons in their employ or acting under their

authority within the said territories, who shall be charged with any criminal offences."

The license, however, prohibited the company "from claiming or exercising any trade with the Indians on the northwest coast of America west- ward of the Rocky mountains to the prejudice or exclusion of any of the subjects of any foreign state, who, under or by force of any convention for the time being between Great Britain and such foreign states may be entitled to and shall be en- gaged in such trade." But no provision could be framed, nor was it the wish of the grantors to frame any, which should prevent the Hudson's Bay Company from driving out by harassing tactics and fierce competition any American who might enter the Oregon territory as a trader.

One of the strangest ruses of this wonderfully shrewd and resourceful company must now receive notice. It was not in the power of the British government to convey lands in the Oregon country, neither could the Hudson's Bay Company in any way acquire legal title to realty. It therefore de- termined upon a bold artifice. A co-partnership was formed on the joint stock principle, the person- nel of the company consisting largely of Hudson's Bay Company stockholders. The name adopted for it was the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. The idea of this association was to acquire a pos- sessory right to large tracts of rich tillable and grazing lands, use these for agricultural purposes and pasturage until the Oregon controversy was settled, then, should the British be successful in that controversy, apply at once for articles of in- corporation and a grant. It was, of course, the purpose of the promoters, from motives of self- interest as well as of patriotism, to strengthen the claim of the mother country in every possible way. Great Britain never acquired title to the lands in question ; the Puget Sound Agricultural Company never gained a corporate existence; it never had anything more than a bare possessory right to any lands, a right terminating on the death or with- drawal from the company of the person seized therewith. Logically, then, we should expect the absolute failure of the scheme. But it did not fail. So forceful was this legal figment and the Hudson's Bay Company behind it, that they had the power to demand as one of the conditions upon which peace might be maintained between the two gov- ernments chiefly concerned in the Oregon contro- versy, that "the farms, lands and other property of every description belonging to the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia river, shall be confirmed to the said company. In case, however, the situation of those lands and farms should be considered by the United States to be of public and political importance, and the United States government should signify a desire to obtain possession of the whole or a part

INTRODUCTORY

thereof, the property so required shall be trans- ferred to the government at a proper valuation, to be agreed upon between the parties."

The Puget Sound Company laid claim under the treaty to two tracts-the tract of the Nisqually, containing two hundred and sixty-one square miles, and the Cowlitz farm, containing three thousand five hundred and seventy-two acres. When the matter came up for settlement, the company asked five millions of dollars in liquidation of its claims. So the United States was forced, in the interests of peace and humanity, into an illogical agreement to

purchase lands, the claim to which was established in open violation of the Joint-Occupancy treaties of 1818 and 1827. She was forced by a provision of the treaty of 1846 to obligate herself to purchase lands which the same treaty conceded as belonging to her. More humiliating still, she was compelled to reward a company for its acts of hostility to her interests in keeping out her citizens and break- ing up their establishments. But the sacrifice was made in the interests of peace and civilization, and who shall say that in conserving these it lacked an abundant justification ?

CHAPTER V

PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT

Already, it is hoped, there has been conveyed to the mind of the reader as clear an impression as the limits of this volume will permit of the first faint knockings of civilization's standard-bearers upon our western shores, of some of the expeditions by which the land so long a terra incognita was robbed of its mystery and the overland route to it discovered, and of the regime of the trapper and fur trader. It remains to treat of missionary occu- pancy, of the advent of the pioneer settler, of the diplomatic struggle for the possession of the country and of that second struggle for possession which cost so much hardship and sacrifice on the part of both the white and the red race and left so tragic a stain on our earlier annals.

With Wyeth's overland expedition, previously mentioned, were Dr. Nuttall, a naturalist, and J. K. Townsend, an ornithologist. both sent out by a Boston scientific society ; also Rev. Jason Lee and his nephew, Rev. Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepherd. Courtney M. Walker and P. L. Edwards, a mis- sionary party sent out by the Methodist Missionary Board of the United States. This body of unpre- tentious evangels of gospel truth were destined to exert an influence of which they little dreamed upon the imperial Hudson's Bay Company and the struggle for sovereignty in Oregon. The scientific men and the missionaries left Wyeth, who was delayed in the construction of Fort Hall, and were guided the remainder of the way by A. R. McLeod and Thomas Mckay, Hudson's Bay men, to old Fort Walla Walla, which they reached September 1st. The journey from that point to Vancouver

was accomplished in two weeks. Little did these devoted servants of the British fur monopoly realize that the unassuming missionary party they so kindly piloted from Fort Hall to Vancouver would prove so potential in antagonizing their interests, and those of the imperial power whose patronage they enjoyed. The missionary party, it has been said, "was but another Trojan horse within whose ap- parently guileless interior was confined a hostile force, which would, within a decade of years, throw wide open the gates of exclusive privilege and intro- duce within the jealously guarded walls a host of foes, to the utter destruction of intrenched monopoly and the final overthrow of British dominion and pretension on the Pacific coast ! Well might Gov- ernor McLoughlin, the autocrat of the Pacific Northwest, when he welcomed this modest party of meek Methodists, and assigned them land near Salem, have recalled the misgivings of the Trojan prophetess : 'Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes' -- 'I (listrust the Greeks, though they offer gifts.' The American missionary was an advance agent of Yankee invasion."

About the time Wyeth's main party arrived at Vancouver came also the ship on which were his goods for the fur trade, and the furniture and supplies of the missionary party. On October 6th the goods of the missionaries were landed at Wheat- land, as they named the place where the mission was to be established. By November 3d a log house was advanced sufficiently for occupation, but before the roof was on Indian children had been admitted as pupils, and by December 14th twenty-one

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An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 8

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1906 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1172

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172