CHAPTER I · Part 3

Messrs. Hunt and M’Kenzie, quitting Canada, {145} proceeded by way of Mackinac and St. Louis, and ascended the Missouri, in the autumn of 1810, to a place on that river called _Nadoway_, where they wintered. Here they were joined by Mr. R. M’Lellan, by a Mr. Crooks, and a Mr. Müller, traders with the Indians of the South, and all having business relations with Mr. Astor.

In the spring of 1811, having procured two large keel-boats, they ascended the Missouri to the country of the _Arikaras_, or Rice Indians, where they disposed of their boats and a great part of their luggage, to a Spanish trader, by name _Manuel Lisa_. Having purchased of him, and among the Indians, 130 horses, they resumed their route, in the beginning of August, to the number of some sixty-five persons, to proceed across the mountains to the river Columbia. Wishing to avoid the _Blackfeet_ Indians, a war-like and ferocious tribe, who put to death all the strangers that fall into their hands, they directed their course southwardly, until they arrived at the 40th degree of latitude. Thence they turned {146} to the northwest, and arrived, by-and-by, at an old fort, or trading post, on the banks of a little river flowing west. This post, which was then deserted, had been established, as they afterward learned, by a trader named Henry. Our people, not doubting that this stream would conduct them to the Columbia, and finding it navigable, constructed some canoes to descend it.

Having left some hunters (or trappers) near the old fort, with Mr. Miller, who, dissatisfied with the expedition, was resolved to return to the United States, the party embarked; but very soon finding the river obstructed with rapids and water-falls, after having upset some of the canoes, lost one man by drowning, and also a part of their baggage, perceiving that the stream was impracticable, they resolved to abandon their canoes and proceed on foot. The enterprise was one of great difficulty, considering the small stock of provisions they had left. Nevertheless, as there was no time to lose in deliberation, after depositing in a _cache_ the superfluous part of their baggage, they divided themselves into four companies, {147} under the command of Messrs. M’Kenzie, Hunt, M’Lellan and Crooks, and proceeded to follow the course of the stream, which they named _Mad river_, on account of the insurmountable difficulties it presented. Messrs. M’Kenzie and M’Lellan took the right bank, and Messrs. Hunt and Crooks the left. They counted on arriving very quickly at the Columbia; but they followed this Mad river for twenty days, finding nothing at all to eat, and suffering horribly from thirst.

The rocks between which the river flows being so steep and abrupt as to prevent their descending to quench their thirst (so that even their dogs died of it), they suffered the torments of Tantalus, with this difference, that he had the water which he could not reach above his head, while our travellers had it beneath their feet. Several, not to die of this raging thirst, drank their own urine: all, to appease the cravings of hunger, ate beaver skins roasted in the evening at the camp-fire. They even were at last constrained to eat their moccasins. Those on the left, or southeast bank, suffered, however, less {148} than the others, because they occasionally fell in with Indians, utterly wild indeed, and who fled at their approach, carrying off their horses. According to all appearances these savages had never seen white men. Our travellers, when they arrived in sight of the camp of one of these wandering hordes, approached it with as much precaution, and with the same stratagem that they would have used with a troop of wild beasts. Having thus surprised them, they would fire upon the horses, some of which would fall; but they took care to leave some trinkets on the spot, to indemnify the owners for what they had taken from them by violence. This resource prevented the party from perishing of hunger.

Mr. M’Kenzie having overtaken Mr. M’Lellan, their two companies pursued the journey together. Very soon after this junction, they had an opportunity of approaching sufficiently near to Mr. Hunt, who, as I have remarked, was on the other bank, to speak to him, and inform him of their distressed state. Mr. Hunt caused {149} a canoe to be made of a horse-hide; it was not, as one may suppose, very large; but they succeeded, nevertheless, by that means, in conveying a little horse-flesh to the people on the north bank. It was attempted, even, to pass them across, one by one (for the skiff would not hold any more); several had actually crossed to the south side, when, unhappily, owing to the impetuosity of the current, the canoe capsized, a man was drowned, and the two parties lost all hope of being able to unite.[78] They continued their route, therefore, each on their own side of the river. In a short time those upon the north bank came to a more considerable stream, which they followed down. They also met, very opportunely, some Indians, who sold them a number of horses.

They also encountered, in these parts, a young American, who was deranged, but who sometimes recovered his reason. This young man told them, in one of his lucid intervals, that he was from Connecticut, and was named Archibald Pelton; that he had come up the Missouri with Mr. Henry; that all the people at the post {150} established by that trader were massacred by the Blackfeet; that he alone had escaped, and had been wandering for three years since, with the _Snake_ Indians.[79] Our people took this young man with them. Arriving at the confluence with the Columbia, of the river whose banks they were following, they perceived that it was the same which had been called _Lewis river_, by the American captain of that name, in 1805. Here, then, they exchanged their remaining horses for canoes, and so arrived at the establishment, safe and sound, it is true, but in a pitiable condition to see; their clothes being nothing but fluttering rags.

The narrative of these gentlemen interested us very much. They added, that since their separation from Messrs. Hunt and Crooks, they had neither seen nor heard aught of them, and believed it impossible that they should arrive at the establishment before spring. They were mistaken, however, for Mr. Hunt arrived on the {151} 15th February, with thirty men, one woman, and two children, having left Mr. Crooks, with five men, among the _Snakes_. They might have reached Astoria almost as soon as Mr. M’Kenzie, but they had passed from eight to ten days in the midst of a plain, among some friendly Indians, as well to recruit their strength, as to make search for two of the party, who had been lost in the woods. Not finding them, they had resumed their journey, and struck the banks of the Columbia a little lower down than the mouth of Lewis river, where Mr. M’Kenzie had come out.

The arrival of so great a number of persons would have embarrassed us, had it taken place a month sooner. Happily, at this time, the natives were bringing in fresh fish in abundance. Until the 30th of March, we were occupied in preparing triplicates of letters and other necessary papers, in order to send Mr. Astor the news of our arrival, and of the reunion of the two expeditions. The letters were intrusted to Mr. John Reed, who quitted Astoria for St. Louis, in {152} company with Mr. M’Lellan--another discontented partner, who wished to disconnect himself with the association,--and Mr. R. Stuart, who was conveying two canoe-loads of goods for his uncle’s post on the _Okenakan_. Messrs. Farnham and M’Gillis set out at the same time, with a guide, and were instructed to proceed to the _cache_,[80] where the overland travellers had {153} hidden their goods, near old Fort Henry, on the Mad river. I profited by this opportunity to write to my family in Canada. Two days after, Messrs. M’Kenzie and Matthews set out, with five or six men, as hunters, to make an excursion up the Willamet river.

[76] But little is known of these two clerks, but what Franchère narrates. Both were Canadians, and served the Pacific Fur Company at Astoria and the interior posts; both returned overland with the party which left Fort George April 4, 1814. Ross Cox found both living upon the Ottawa River in 1817, and Franchère mentions (1854) Pillet as one of the four survivors of the expedition.--ED.

[77] For the overland expedition of the Astorians, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, volume v of our series, and Brackenridge’s _Journal_, _ante_.--ED.

[78] The drowned man was Jean Baptiste Provost, a Canadian voyageur. See Bradbury’s _Travels_, appendix iii, in volume v of our series.--ED.

[79] A thoroughly savage and lazy tribe, inhabiting the plains of the Columbia, between the 43d and 44th degrees of latitude.--FRANCHÈRE.

_Comment by Ed._-See Bradbury’s _Travels_, note 123.

[80] These _caches_ are famous in all the narratives of overland travel, whether for trade or discovery. The manner of making them is described by Captains Lewis and Clarke, as follows: they choose a dry situation, then describing a circle of some twenty inches diameter, remove the sod as gently and carefully as possible. The hole is then sunk a foot deep or more, perpendicularly; it is then worked gradually wider as it descends, till it becomes six or seven feet deep, and shaped like a kettle, or the lower part of a large still. As the earth is dug out, it is handed up in a vessel, and carefully laid upon a skin or cloth, in which it is carried away, and usually thrown into the river, if there be one, or concealed so as to leave no trace of it. A floor of three or four inches thick is then made of dry sticks, on which is thrown hay or a hide perfectly dry. The goods, after being well aired and dried, are laid down, and preserved from contact with the wall by a layer of other dried sticks, till all is stowed away. When the hole is nearly full, a hide is laid on top, and the earth is thrown upon this, and beaten down, until, with the addition of the sod first removed, the whole is on a level with the ground, and there remains not the slightest appearance of an excavation. The first shower effaces every sign of what has been done, and such a cache is safe for years.--HUNTINGTON.

{154} CHAPTER XII

Arrival of the Ship Beaver--Unexpected Return of Messrs. D. Stuart, R. Stuart, M’Lelland, &c.--Cause of that Return--Ship discharging--New Expeditions--Hostile Attitude of the Natives--Departure of the Beaver--Journeys of the Author--His Occupations at the Establishment.

From the departure of the last outfit under Mr. M’Kenzie, nothing remarkable took place at Astoria, till the 9th of May. On that day we descried, to our great surprise and great joy, a sail in the offing, opposite the mouth of the river. Forthwith, Mr. M’Dougal was despatched in a boat to the cape, to make the signals. On the morning of the 10th, the weather being fine and the sea smooth, the boat pushed out and arrived safely alongside. Soon after, the wind springing up, the vessel made sail and entered the river, where she dropped anchor, in Baker’s Bay, at about 2 P. M. Toward evening the boat returned {155} to the Fort, with the following passengers: Messrs. John Clarke of Canada (a wintering partner), Alfred Seton, George Ehnainger, a nephew of Mr. Astor (clerks), and two men.[81] We learned from these gentlemen that the vessel was the _Beaver_, Captain _Cornelius Sowles_, and was consigned to us; that she left New York on the 10th of October, and had touched, in the passage, at _Massa Fuero_ and the Sandwich Isles. Mr. Clarke handed me letters from my father and from several of my friends: I thus learned that death had deprived me of a beloved sister.

On the morning of the 11th, we were strangely surprised by the return of Messrs. D. Stuart, R. Stuart, R. M’Lelland, Crooks, Reed, and Farnham. This return, as sudden as unlooked for, was owing to an unfortunate adventure which befell the party, in ascending the river. When they reached the Falls, where the portage is very long, some natives came with their horses, to offer their aid in transporting the goods. Mr. R. Stuart, not distrusting them, confided to their care some bales of merchandise, which they {156} packed on their horses: but, in making the transit, they darted up a narrow path among the rocks, and fled at full gallop toward the prairie, without its being possible to overtake them. Mr. Stuart had several shots fired over their heads, to frighten them, but it had no other effect than to increase their speed. Meanwhile our own people continued the transportation of the rest of the goods, and of the canoes; but as there was a great number of natives about, whom the success and impunity of those thieves had emboldened, Mr.

Stuart thought it prudent to keep watch over the goods at the upper end of the portage, while Messrs. M’Lellan and Reed made the rearguard. The last named gentleman, who carried, strapped to his shoulders, a tin box containing the letters and despatches for New York with which he was charged, happened to be at some distance from the former, and the Indians thought it a favorable opportunity to attack him and carry off his box, the brightness of which no doubt had tempted their cupidity. They threw themselves upon him so suddenly that he had no time to {157} place himself on the defensive. After a short resistance, he received a blow on the head from a war club, which felled him to the ground, and the Indians seized upon their booty. Mr. M’Lellan perceiving what was done, fired his carabine at one of the robbers and made him bite the dust; the rest took to flight, but carried off the box notwithstanding. Mr. M’Lellan immediately ran up to Mr. Reed; but finding the latter motionless and bathed in blood, he hastened to rejoin Mr.

Stuart, urging him to get away from these robbers and murderers. But Mr. Stuart, being a self-possessed and fearless man, would not proceed without ascertaining if Mr. Reed were really dead, or if he were, without carrying off his body; and notwithstanding the remonstrances of Mr. M’Lellan, taking his way back to the spot where the latter had left his companion, had not gone two hundred paces, when he met him coming toward them, holding his bleeding head with both hands.[82]

{158} The object of Mr. Reed’s journey being defeated by the loss of his papers, he repaired, with the other gentlemen, to Mr. David Stuart’s trading post, at Okenakan, whence they had all set out, in the beginning of May, to return to Astoria. Coming down the river, they fell in with Mr. R. Crooks, and a man named _John Day_.[83] It was observed in the preceding chapter that Mr. Crooks remained with five men among some Indians who were there termed _friendly_: but this gentleman and his companion were the only members of that party who ever reached the establishment: and they too arrived in a most pitiable condition, the savages having stripped {159} them of everything, leaving them but some bits of deerskin to cover their nakedness.

On the 12th, the schooner, which had been sent down the river to the Beaver’s anchorage, returned with a cargo (being the stores intended for Astoria), and the following passengers: to wit, Messrs. B. Clapp, J. C. Halsey, C. A. Nichols, and R. Cox, clerks;[84] five Canadians, seven Americans (all mechanics), and a dozen Sandwich-islanders for the service of the establishment. The captain of the Beaver sounded the channel diligently for several days; but finding it scarcely deep enough for so large a vessel, he was unwilling to bring her up to Astoria. It was necessary, in consequence, to use the schooner as a lighter in discharging the ship, and this tedious operation occupied us during the balance of this month and a part of June.

Captain Sowles and Mr. Clarke confirmed the report of the destruction of the Tonquin; they had learned it at Owhyhee, by means of a letter which a certain Captain Ebbetts, in the employ of Mr. Astor, had left there. It was nevertheless {160} resolved that Mr. Hunt should embark upon the “Beaver,” to carry out the plan of an exact commercial survey of the coast, which Mr. M’Kay had been sent to accomplish, and in particular to visit for that purpose the Russian establishments at Chitka sound.

The necessary papers having been prepared anew, and being now ready to expedite, were confided to Mr. R. Stuart, who was to cross the continent in company with Messrs. Crooks and R. M’Lellan, partners dissatisfied with the enterprise, and who had made up their minds to return to the United States. Mr. Clark, accompanied by Messrs. Pillet, Donald M’Lellan, Farnham and Cox, was fitted out at the same time, with a considerable assortment of merchandise, to form a new establishment on the _Spokan_ or Clarke’s river.[85] Mr. M’Kenzie, with Mr. Seton, was destined for the borders of _Lewis_ river[86] while Mr. David Stuart, reinforced by Messrs. Matthews and M’Gillis, was to explore the region lying north of his post at Okenakan. All these outfits being ready, with the canoes, boatmen, {161} and hunters, the flotilla quitted Astoria on the 30th of June, in the afternoon, having on board sixty-two persons. The sequel will show the result of the several expeditions.

During the whole month of July, the natives (seeing us weakened no doubt by these outfits), manifested their hostile intentions so openly that we were obliged to be constantly on our guard. We constructed covered ways inside our palisades, and raised our bastions or towers another story. The alarm became so serious toward the latter end of the month that we doubled our sentries day and night, and never allowed more than two or three Indians at a time within our gates.

The Beaver was ready to depart on her coasting voyage at the end of June, and on the 1st of July Mr. Hunt went on board: but westerly winds prevailing all that month, it was not till the 4th of August that she was able to get out of the river; being due again by the end of October to leave her surplus goods and take in our furs for market.

The months of August and September were {162} employed in finishing a house forty-five feet by thirty, shingled and perfectly tight, as a hospital for the sick, and lodging house for the mechanics.

Experience having taught us that from the beginning of October to the end of January, provisions were brought in by the natives in very small quantity, it was thought expedient that I should proceed in the schooner, accompanied by Mr. Clapp, on a trading voyage up the river to secure a cargo of dried fish. We left Astoria on the 1st of October, with a small assortment of merchandise. The trip was highly successful: we found the game very abundant, killed a great quantity of swans, ducks, foxes, &c., and returned to Astoria on the 20th, with a part of our venison, wild fowl, and bear meat, besides seven hundred and fifty smoked salmon, a quantity of the _Wapto_ root (so called by the natives), which is found a good substitute for potatoes,[87] and four hundred and fifty skins of beaver and other animals of the furry tribe.

The encouragement derived from this excursion induced us to try a second, and I set off this time {163} alone, that is, with a crew of five men only, and an Indian boy, son of the old chief Comcomly. This second voyage proved anything but agreeable. We experienced continual rains, and the game was much less abundant, while the natives had mostly left the river for their wintering grounds. I succeeded, nevertheless, in exchanging my goods for furs and dried fish, and a small supply of dried venison: and returned, on the 15th of November, to Astoria, where the want of fresh provisions began to be severely felt, so that several of the men were attacked with scurvy.

Messrs. Halsey and Wallace having been sent on the 23d, with fourteen men, to establish a trading post on the Willamet, and Mr. M’Dougal being confined to his room by sickness, Mr. Clapp and I were left with the entire charge of the post at Astoria, and were each other’s only resource for society. Happily Mr. Clapp was a man of amiable character, of a gay, lively humor, and agreeable conversation. In the intervals of our daily duties, we amused ourselves with music and reading; having some instruments and a {164} choice library. Otherwise we should have passed our time in a state of insufferable ennui, at this rainy season, in the midst of the deep mud which surrounded us, and which interdicted the pleasure of a promenade outside the buildings.

[81] John Clarke was American born, but when sixteen years of age entered the employ of the North West Company. He had seen service in the Athabascan department from 1804-10. After his connection with the Pacific Fur Company, narrated in these pages, he re-entered the North West service and returned overland to Fort William in 1814. There he joined the Hudson’s Bay Company, and became associated with Lord Selkirk, in the Red River Settlement. He was still living in 1830 or 1831.

Alfred Seton’s later adventures are related by Franchère, see appendix. His continued interest in the Western fur-trade is evidenced by the fact that he furnished financial backing for Captain Bonneville’s adventure, in 1832.--ED.

[82] We were apprized of this unfortunate rencontre by natives from up the river, on the 15th of April, but disbelieved it.--FRANCHÈRE. [It is curious to observe the want of military sagacity and precaution which characterized the operations of these traders, compared with the exact calculations of danger and the unfailing measures of defence, employed from the very outset by Captains Lewis and Clarke in the same country. There was one very audacious attempt at plunder made upon the latter; but besides that it cost the Indians a life or two, the latter lost property of their own far exceeding their booty. It is true that the American officers had a stronger force at their disposal than our merchants had, and that, too, consisting of experienced western hunters and veteran soldiers of the frontier; but it is not less interesting to note the difference, because it is easy to account for it.--HUNTINGTON.]

[83] For a brief account of John Day, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, vol. v of our series, note 104.--ED.

[84] Franchère tells us all that is known of the first three of these clerks. Ross Cox, who bore the soubriquet “Little Irishman,” entered the North West service and remained upon Columbia waters six years, ascending from its mouth nine times. In 1831, he published an entertaining narrative entitled, _Adventures upon the Columbia River_, compiled from the journals he had kept.--ED.

[85] The Spokane House of the Pacific Fur Company was founded by John Clarke near the mouth of the Coeur d’Alène (now Little Spokane) river, close to the rival establishment of the North West Company. Both were near the site of the present Spokane, Washington.--ED.

[86] Lewis’s River was named by William Clark in honor of his fellow-explorer, the first white man who had visited its headwaters. This great southeastern tributary of the Columbia is now known as Snake River. The Indian name was Shapatin (Shahaptin). McKenzie’s party established their post at the mouth of Reed’s (now Payette) River, and named it Fort Boisé. Upon their success see Ross, _Adventures on the Columbia_, volume vii of our series.--ED.

[87] The wappato is the bulb of the _sagittaria variabilis_, or common arrowhead. For the Indian method of gathering and preparing this root, see _Original Journals of Lewis and Clark Expedition_.--ED.

{165} CHAPTER XIII

Uneasiness respecting the “Beaver”--News of the Declaration of War between Great Britain and the United States--Consequences of that Intelligence--Different Occurrences--Arrival of two Canoes of the Northwest Company--Preparations for abandoning the Country--Postponement of Departure--Arrangement with Mr. J. G. M’Tavish.

The months of October, November, and December passed away without any news of the “Beaver,” and we began to fear that there had happened to her, as to the Tonquin, some disastrous accident. It will be seen, in the following chapter, why this vessel did not return to Astoria in the autumn of 1812.

On the 15th of January, Mr. M’Kenzie arrived from the interior, having abandoned his trading establishment, after securing his stock of goods in a _cache_. Before his departure he had paid a visit to Mr. Clark on the Spokan, and while there {166} had learned the news, which he came to announce to us, that hostilities had actually commenced between Great Britain and the United States. The news had been brought by some gentlemen of the Northwest Company, who handed to them a copy of the Proclamation of the President to that effect.

When we learned this news, all of us at Astoria who were British subjects and Canadians, wished ourselves in Canada; but we could not entertain even the thought of transporting ourselves thither, at least immediately: we were separated from our country by an immense space, and the difficulties of the journey at this season were insuperable: besides, Mr. Astor’s interests had to be consulted first. We held, therefore, a sort of council of war, to which the clerks of the factory were invited _pro formâ_, as they had no voice in the deliberations. Having maturely weighed our situation; after having seriously considered that being almost to a man British subjects, we were trading, notwithstanding, under the American flag: and foreseeing the improbability {167} or rather, to cut the matter short, the impossibility that Mr. Astor could send us further supplies or reinforcements while the war lasted, as most of the ports of the United States would inevitably be blockaded by the British; we concluded to abandon the establishment in the ensuing spring, or at latest, in the beginning of the summer. We did not communicate these resolutions to the men, lest they should in consequence abandon their labor: but we discontinued, from that moment, our trade with the natives, except for provisions; as well because we had no longer a large stock of goods on hand, as for the reason that we had already more furs than we could carry away overland.

So long as we expected the return of the vessel, we had served out to the people a regular supply of bread: we found ourselves in consequence, very short of provisions, on the arrival of Mr. M’Kenzie and his men. This augmentation in the number of mouths to be fed compelled us to reduce the ration of each man to four ounces of flour and half a pound of dried fish _per diem_: {168} and even to send a portion of the hands to pass the rest of the winter with Messrs. Wallace and Halsey on the Willamet, where game was plenty.

Meanwhile, the sturgeon having begun to enter the river, I left, on the 13th of February, to fish for them; and on the 15th sent the first boat-load to the establishment; which proved a very timely succor to the men, who for several days had broken off work from want of sufficient food.[88] I formed a camp near Oak Point, whence I continued to despatch canoe after canoe of fine fresh fish to Astoria, and Mr. M’Dougal sent to me thither all the men who were sick of scurvy, for the re-establishment of their health.

On the 20th of March, Messrs. Reed and Seton, who had led a party of our men to the post on the Willamet, to subsist them, returned to Astoria, with a supply of dried venison. These gentlemen spoke to us in glowing terms of the country of the Willamet as charming, and abounding in beaver, elk, and deer; and informed us that Messrs. Wallace and Halsey had constructed a dwelling and trading house, on a great prairie, about one {169} hundred and fifty miles from the confluence of that river with the Columbia.[89] Mr. M’Kenzie and his party quitted us again on the 31st, to make known the resolutions recently adopted at Astoria, to the gentlemen who were wintering in the interior.

On the 11th of April two birch-bark canoes, bearing the British flag, arrived at the factory. They were commanded by Messrs. J. G. M’Tavish and Joseph Laroque, and manned by nineteen Canadian _voyageurs_.[90] They landed on a point of land under the guns of the fort, and formed their camp. We invited these gentlemen to our quarters and learned from them the object of their visit. They had come to await the arrival of the ship _Isaac Todd_, despatched from Canada by the Northwest Company, in October, 1811, with furs, and from England in March, 1812, with a cargo of suitable merchandise for the Indian trade. They had orders to wait at the mouth of the Columbia till the month of July, and then to return, if the vessel did not make her appearance by that time. They also informed us that the natives {170} near Lewis river had shown them fowling-pieces, gun-flints, lead, and powder; and that they had communicated this news to Mr. M’Kenzie, presuming that the Indians had discovered and plundered his _cache_; which turned out afterward to be the case.

The month of May was occupied in preparations for our departure from the Columbia. On the 25th, Messrs. Wallace and Halsey returned from their winter quarters with seventeen packs of furs, and thirty-two bales of dried venison. The last article was received with a great deal of pleasure, as it would infallibly be needed for the journey we were about to undertake. Messrs. Clarke, D. Stuart, and M’Kenzie also arrived, in the beginning of June, with one hundred and forty packs of furs, the fruit of two years’ trade at the post on the _Okenakan_, and one year on the _Spokan_.[91]

The wintering partners (that is to say, Messrs. Clarke and David Stuart) dissenting from the {171} proposal to abandon the country as soon as we intended, the thing being (as they observed) impracticable, from the want of provisions for the journey and horses to transport the goods, the project was deferred, as to its execution, till the following April. So these gentlemen, having taken a new lot of merchandise, set out again for their trading posts on the 7th of July. But Mr. M’Kenzie, whose goods had been pillaged by the natives (it will be remembered), remained at Astoria, and was occupied with the care of collecting as great a quantity as possible of dried salmon from the Indians. He made seven or eight voyages up the river for that purpose, while we at the Fort were busy in baling the beaver-skins and other furs, in suitable packs for horses to carry. Mr. Reed, in the meantime, was sent on to the mountain-passes where Mr. Miller had been left with the trappers, to winter there, and to procure as many horses as he could from the natives for our use in the contemplated journey. He was furnished for this expedition with three Canadians, and a half-breed hunter {172} named _Daion_, the latter accompanied by his wife and two children.[92] This man came from the lower Missouri with Mr. Hunt in 1811-’12.

Our object being to provide ourselves, before quitting the country, with the food and horses necessary for the journey; in order to avoid all opposition on the part of the Northwest Company, we entered into an arrangement with Mr. M’Tavish. This gentleman having represented to us that he was destitute of the necessary goods to procure wherewith to subsist his party on their way homeward, we supplied him from our warehouse, payment to be made us in the ensuing spring, either in furs or in bills of exchange on their house in Canada.

[88] The Columbia sturgeon (_Acipenser transmontanus_) were first described by Lewis and Clark. They attain a length of from ten to fifteen feet, and run far up the Columbia and even Snake River. Their commercial value is considerable.--ED.

[89] The location of this post has not been definitely determined. McKenzie explored the river in the spring of 1812, and his name is given to a large eastern fork. The trading house which Franchère mentions would seem to have been somewhere near this affluent. Ross describes it as among the Kalapuya, a large tribe from whom both a tributary of the Willamette and a neighboring mountain range take their name.--ED.

[90] John George McTavish was one of the wintering partners of the North West Company, who had been for several years in the Athabasca department and the Rocky Mountains. He negotiated the bargain by which Astoria was transferred to the British, and afterwards remained for several years at Fort George (British name for the post). In 1816 he skirted the coast of California in one of the company’s schooners, bringing off rich prizes in furs. In 1819, he with other partners of the North West Company, was captured by agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company, sent a prisoner to York factory, and later to England, where he was released.

Joseph Larocque entered the North West Company’s employ at the age of fourteen, and became so proficient in the knowledge of Indian languages and character that his services were highly prized. Lewis and Clark encountered his elder brother, François, among the Mandan, in the winter of 1804-05. Larocque the younger remained upon the Columbia until 1817; after the union with the Hudson’s Bay Company (1821) he retained his status of trader-in-chief. Having amassed a considerable fortune, Larocque retired in 1833, four years later visiting France, where he remained fourteen years. His money was utilized to endow St. Joseph’s College, upon the Willamette, named in honor of the donor. Having returned to his native land (1851), the aged fur-trader devoted himself to works of religion and charity, dying at Ottawa in 1866. For details of his life, see Tassé, _Les Canadiens de l’Ouest_ (Montreal, 1878), ii, pp. 321-338.--ED.

[91] The profits of the last establishment were slender; because the people engaged at it were obliged to subsist on horse-flesh, and they ate ninety horses during the winter.--FRANCHÈRE.

[92] For notes on Joseph Miller and Pierre Durion (Daion), see Bradbury’s _Travels_, vol. v of our series, notes 7 and 72.--ED.

{173} CHAPTER XIV

Arrival of the Ship “Albatross”--Reasons for the Non-Appearance of the Beaver at Astoria--Fruitless Attempt of Captain Smith on a Former Occasion--Astonishment and Regret of Mr. Hunt at the Resolution of the Partners--His Departure--Narrative of the Destruction of the Tonquin--Causes of that Disaster--Reflections.

On the 4th of August, contrary to all expectation, we saw a sail at the mouth of the river. One of our gentlemen immediately got into the barge, to ascertain her nationality and object: but before he had fairly crossed the river, we saw her pass the bar and direct her course toward Astoria, as if she were commanded by a captain to whom the intricacies of the channel were familiar. I had stayed at the Fort with Mr. Clapp and four men. As soon as we had recognised the American flag, not doubting any longer that it was a ship destined for the factory, we saluted {174} her with three guns. She came to anchor over against the Fort, but on the opposite side of the river, and returned our salute. In a short time after, we saw, or rather we heard, the oars of a boat (for it was already night) that came toward us. We expected her approach with impatience, to know who the stranger was, and what news she brought us. Soon we were relieved from our uncertainty by the appearance of Mr. Hunt, who informed us that the ship was called the _Albatross_ and was commanded by Captain _Smith_.

It will be remembered that Mr. Hunt had sailed from Astoria on board the “Beaver,” on the 4th of August of the preceding year, and should have returned with that vessel, in the month of October of the same year. We testified to him our surprise that he had not returned at the time appointed, and expressed the fears which we had entertained in regard to his fate, as well as that of the Beaver itself: and in reply he explained to us the reasons why neither he nor Captain Sowles had been able to fulfil the promise which they had made us.

{175} After having got clear of the river Columbia, they had scudded to the north, and had repaired to the Russian post of Chitka, where they had exchanged a part of their goods for furs. They had made with the governor of that establishment, Barnoff by name, arrangements to supply him regularly with all the goods of which he had need, and to send him every year a vessel for that purpose, as well as for the transportation of his surplus furs to the East Indies.[93] They had then advanced still further to the north, to the coast of _Kamskatka_; and being there informed that some Kodiak hunters had been left on some adjacent isles, called the islands of St. Peter and St. Paul, and that these hunters had not been visited for three years, they determined to go thither, and having reached those isles, they opened a brisk trade, and secured no less than eighty thousand skins of the South-sea seal. These operations had consumed a great deal of time; the season was already far advanced; ice was forming around them, and it was not without having incurred considerable dangers that {176} they succeeded in making their way out of those latitudes. Having extricated themselves from the frozen seas of the north, but in a shattered condition, they deemed it more prudent to run for the Sandwich isles, where they arrived after enduring a succession of severe gales. Here Mr. Hunt disembarked, with the men who had accompanied him, and who did not form a part of the ship’s crew; and the vessel, after undergoing the necessary repairs, set sail for Canton.

Mr. Hunt had then passed nearly six months at the Sandwich islands, expecting the annual ship from New York, and never imagining that war had been declared. But at last, weary of waiting so long to no purpose, he had bought a small schooner of one of the chiefs of the isle of Wahoo, and was engaged in getting her ready to sail for the mouth of the Columbia, when four sails hove in sight, and presently came to anchor in _Ohetity bay_. He immediately went on board of one of them, and learned that they came from the Indies, whence they had sailed precipitately, to avoid the English cruisers. He also learned {177} from the captain of the vessel he boarded, that the Beaver had arrived in Canton some days before the news of the declaration of war. This Captain Smith, moreover, had on board some cases of nankeens and other goods shipped by Mr. Astor’s agent at Canton for us. Mr. Hunt then chartered the Albatross to take him with his people and the goods to the Columbia. That gentleman had not been idle during the time that he sojourned at Wahoo: he brought us 35 barrels of salt pork or beef, nine tierces of rice, a great quantity of dried _Taro_, and a good supply of salt.

As I knew the channel of the river, I went on board the Albatross, and piloted her to the old anchorage of the Tonquin, under the guns of the Fort, in order to facilitate the landing of the goods.

Captain Smith informed us that in 1810, a year before the founding of our establishment, he had entered the river in the same vessel, and ascended it in boats as far as Oak Point; and that he had attempted to form an establishment {178} there; but the spot which he chose for building, and on which he had even commenced fencing for a garden, being overflowed in the summer freshet, he had been forced to abandon his project and re-embark. We had seen, in fact, at Oak Point, some traces of this projected establishment.[94] The bold manner in which this captain had entered the river was now accounted for.

Captain Smith had chartered his vessel to a Frenchman named _Demestre_, who was then a passenger on board of her, to go and take a cargo of sandal wood at the _Marquesas_, where that gentleman had left some men to collect it, the year before. He could not, therefore, comply with the request we made him, to remain during the summer with us, in order to transport our goods and people, as soon as they could be got together, to the Sandwich islands.

Mr. Hunt was surprised beyond measure, when we informed him of the resolution we had taken of abandoning the country: he blamed us severely for having acted with so much precipitation, {179} pointing out that the success of the late coasting voyage, and the arrangements we had made with the Russians, promised a most advantageous trade, which it was a thousand pities to sacrifice, and lose the fruits of the hardships he had endured and the dangers he had braved, at one fell swoop, by this rash measure. Nevertheless, seeing the partners were determined to abide by their first resolution, and not being able, by himself alone, to fulfil his engagements to Governor Barnoff, he consented to embark once more, in order to seek a vessel to transport our heavy goods, and such of us as wished to return by sea. He sailed, in fact, on the Albatross, at the end of the month. My friend Clapp embarked with him: they were, in the first instance, to run down the coast of California, in the hope of meeting there some of the American vessels which frequently visit that coast to obtain provisions from the Spaniards.

Some days after the departure of Mr. Hunt, the old one-eyed chief Comcomly came to tell us that an Indian of _Gray’s Harbor_, who had sailed {180} on the Tonquin in 1811, and who was the only soul that had escaped the massacre of the crew of that unfortunate vessel, had returned to his tribe. As the distance from the River Columbia to Gray’s Harbor was not great, we sent for this native. At first he made considerable difficulty about following our people, but was finally persuaded. He arrived at Astoria, and related to us the circumstances of that sad catastrophe, nearly as follows: [95]

“After I had embarked on the Tonquin,” said he, “that vessel sailed for _Nootka_.[96] Having arrived opposite a large village called _Newity_, we dropped anchor. The natives having invited Mr. M’Kay to land, he did so, and was received in the most cordial manner: they even kept him several days at their village, and made him lie, {181} every night, on a couch of sea-otter skins. Meanwhile the captain was engaged in trading with such of the natives as resorted to his ship: but having had a difficulty with one of the principal chiefs in regard to the price of certain goods, he ended by putting the latter out of the ship, and in the act of so repelling him, struck him on the face with the roll of furs which he had brought to trade. This act was regarded by that chief and his followers as the most grievous insult, and they resolved to take vengeance for it. To arrive more surely at their purpose, they dissembled their resentment, and came, as usual, on board the ship. One day, very early in the morning, a large pirogue, containing about a score of natives, came alongside: every man had in his hand a packet of furs, and held it over his head as a sign that they came to trade.

The watch let them come on deck. A little after, arrived a second pirogue, carrying about as many men as the other. The sailors believed that these also came to exchange their furs, and allowed them to mount the ship’s side like the first. Very {182} soon, the pirogues thus succeeding one another, the crew saw themselves surrounded by a multitude of savages, who came upon the deck from all sides. Becoming alarmed at the appearance of things, they went to apprize the captain and Mr. M’Kay, who hastened to the poop. I was with them,” said the narrator, “and fearing, from the great multitude of Indians whom I saw already on the deck, and from the movements of those on shore, who were hurrying to embark in their canoes, to approach the vessel, and from the women being left in charge of the canoes of those who had arrived, that some evil design was on foot, I communicated my suspicions to Mr. M’Kay, who himself spoke to the captain. The latter affected an air of security, and said that with the firearms on board, there was no reason to fear even a greater number of Indians.

Meanwhile these gentlemen had come on deck unarmed, without even their sidearms. The trade, nevertheless, did not advance; the Indians offered less than was asked, and pressing with their furs close to the captain, Mr. M’Kay, and {183} Mr. Lewis, repeated the word _Makoke! Makoke!_ ‘Trade! Trade!’ I urged the gentlemen to put to sea, and the captain, at last, seeing the number of Indians increase every moment, allowed himself to be persuaded: he ordered a part of the crew to raise the anchor, and the rest to go aloft and unfurl the sails. At the same time he warned the natives to withdraw, as the ship was going to sea. A fresh breeze was then springing up, and in a few moments more their prey would have escaped them; but immediately on receiving this notice, by a preconcerted signal, the Indians, with a terrific yell, drew forth the knives and war-bludgeons they had concealed in their bundles of furs, and rushed upon the crew of the ship. Mr. Lewis was struck, and fell over a bale of blankets. Mr.

M’Kay, however, was the first victim whom they sacrificed to their fury. Two savages, whom, from the crown of the poop, where I was seated, I had seen follow this gentleman step by step, now cast themselves upon him, and having given him a blow on the head with a _potumagan_ (a kind of sabre which is described {184} a little below), felled him to the deck, then took him up and flung him into the sea, where the women left in charge of the canoes, quickly finished him with their paddles. Another set flung themselves upon the captain, who defended himself for a long time with his pocket-knife, but, overpowered by numbers, perished also under the blows of these murderers. I next saw (and that was the last occurrence of which I was witness before quitting the ship) the sailors who were aloft slip down by the rigging, and get below through the steerage hatchway. They were five, I think, in number, and one of them, in descending, received a knife-stab in the back. I then jumped overboard, to escape a similar fate to that of the captain and Mr.

M’Kay: the women in the canoes, to whom I surrendered myself as a slave, took me in, and bade me hide myself under some mats which were in the pirogues; which I did. Soon after, I heard the discharge of firearms, immediately upon which the Indians fled from the vessel, and pulled for the shore as fast as possible, nor did they venture {185} to go alongside the ship again the whole of that day. The next day, having seen four men lower a boat, and pull away from the ship, they sent some pirogues in chase: but whether those men were overtaken and murdered, or gained the open sea and perished there, I never could learn. Nothing more was seen stirring on board the Tonquin; the natives pulled cautiously around her, and some of the more daring went on board; at last, the savages, finding themselves absolute masters of the ship, rushed on board in a crowd to pillage her. But very soon, when there were about four or five hundred either huddled together on deck, or clinging to the sides, all eager for plunder, the ship blew up with a horrible noise.

I was on the shore,” said the Indian, “when the explosion took place, saw the great volume of smoke burst forth in the spot where the ship had been, and high in the air above, arms, legs, heads and bodies, flying in every direction. The tribe acknowledged a loss of over two hundred of their people on that occasion. As for me I remained their prisoner, and have been their slave for two {186} years. It is but now that I have been ransomed by my friends. I have told you the truth, and hope you will acquit me of having in any way participated in that bloody affair.”

Our Indian having finished his discourse, we made him presents proportioned to the melancholy satisfaction he had given us in communicating the true history of the sad fate of our former companions, and to the trouble he had taken in coming to us; so that he returned apparently well satisfied with our liberality.

According to the narrative of this Indian, Captain Thorn, by his abrupt manner and passionate temper, was the primary cause of his own death and that of all on board his vessel. What appears certain at least, is, that he was guilty of unpardonable negligence and imprudence, in not causing the boarding netting to be rigged, as is the custom of all the navigators who frequent this coast, and in suffering (contrary to his instructions) too great a number of Indians to come on board at once.[97]

{187} Captain Smith, of the Albatross, who had seen the wreck of the Tonquin, in mentioning to us its sad fate, attributed the cause of the disaster to the rash conduct of a Captain Ayres, of Boston. That navigator had taken off, as I have mentioned already, ten or a dozen natives of Newitty, as hunters, with a promise of bringing them back to their country, which promise he inhumanly broke by leaving them on some desert islands in Sir Francis Drake’s Bay. The countrymen of these unfortunates, indignant at the conduct of the American captain, had sworn to avenge themselves on the first white men who appeared among them. Chance willed it that our vessel was the first to enter that bay, and the natives but too well executed on our people their project of vengeance.

Whatever may have been the first and principal cause of this misfortune (for doubtless it is {188} necessary to suppose more than one), seventeen white men and twelve Sandwich-Islanders, were massacred: not one escaped from the butchery, to bring us the news of it, but the Indian of _Gray’s Harbor_. The massacre of our people was avenged, it is true, by the destruction of ten times the number of their murderers; but this circumstance, which could perhaps gladden the heart of a savage, was a feeble consolation (if it was any) for civilized men. The death of Mr. Alexander M’Kay was an irreparable loss to the Company, which would probably have been dissolved by the remaining partners, but for the arrival of the energetic Mr. Hunt. Interesting as was the recital of the Indian of Gray’s Harbor throughout, when he came to the unhappy end of that estimable man, marks of regret were visibly painted on the countenances of all who listened.[98]

At the beginning of September, Mr. M’Kenzie set off, with Messrs. Wallace and Seton, to carry a supply of goods to the gentlemen wintering in the interior, as well as to inform them of the arrangements {189} concluded with Mr. Hunt, and to enjoin them to send down all their furs, and all the Sandwich-Islanders, that the former might be shipped for America, and the latter sent back to their country.

NOTE by HUNTINGTON

It will never be known how or by whom the _Tonquin_ was blown up. Some pretend to say that it was the work of James Lewis, but that is impossible, for it appears from the narrative of the Indian that he was one of the first persons murdered. It will be recollected that five men got between decks from aloft, during the affray, and four only were seen to quit the ship afterward in the boat. The presumption was that the missing man must have done it, and in further conversation with the Gray’s Harbor Indian, he inclined to that opinion, and even affirmed that the individual was the ship’s armorer, _Weeks_. It might also have been accidental. There was a large quantity of powder in the run immediately under the cabin, and it is not impossible that while the Indians were intent on plunder, in opening some of the kegs they may have set fire to the contents. Or again, the men, before quitting the ship, may have lighted a slow train, which is the most likely supposition of all.

[93] It was a part of Astor’s plan to furnish provisions and articles of trade for the Russians on the Northwest Coast; that this would have been practicable, is proved by the later trade between Oregon and Sitka, when the Willamette Valley furnished most of the flour used in Alaska. Around Alexander Baranoff’s actions many legends have gathered. Born in Eastern Russia (1747), he entered business at Moscow, later drifted to Irkutsk and Kamchatka, and about 1790 crossed to America. In 1799 he built Sitka, where for many years he ruled as governor, with absolute sway. He died at sea, in 1819.--ED.

[94] This adventure of the “Albatross” (1810) was the first attempt to establish a trading post upon Columbia River. The Winships, a Boston firm, fitted out the vessel of which Nathan Winship was in charge, and William Smith first mate. The first choice for the establishment proved to be subject to overflow, whereupon they removed to Oak Point. The crafty Chinook, however, showed such a disposition to resent this invasion of their own trading territory, that the Americans, after a brief occupancy, were forced to retreat.

Captain William Smith, born in Virginia (1768), migrated to Boston and in 1790 began a life upon the ocean, in which he made eight voyages around the world, on one of which he was absent eight years. Once he was shipwrecked, and twice taken prisoner--by the Indians on the Northwest Coast, and by the Spaniards in California. He was still living in 1820. See Niles’s _Register_, Aug. 12, 1820.--ED.

[95] It being understood, of course, that I render into civilized expressions the language of this barbarian, and represent by words and phrases what he could only convey by gestures or by signs.--FRANCHÈRE. [The _naïveté_ of these notes, and of the narrative in these passages, is amusing.--HUNTINGTON.]

[96] A great village or encampment of Indians, among whom the Spaniards had sent missionaries under the conduct of Signor Quadra; but whence the latter were chased by Captain Vancouver, in 1792, as mentioned in the Introduction.--FRANCHÈRE.

_Comment by Ed._--See note 3, _ante_.

[97] It is equally evident that even at the time when Captain Thorn was first notified of the dangerous crowd and threatening appearance of the natives, a display of firearms would have sufficed to prevent an outbreak. Had he come on deck with Mr. M’Kay and Mr. Lewis, each armed with a musket, and a couple of pistols at the belt, it is plain from the timidity the savages afterward displayed, that he might have cleared the ship, probably without shedding a drop of blood.--HUNTINGTON.

[98] All accounts of the “Tonquin’s” fate are based upon this Indian’s narrative. Ross’s description (see volume vii of our series) is more circumstantial, and differs from Franchère’s in many details. Ross also throws doubt upon the good faith of the Indian survivor. The other accounts represent that the men who escaped in the boat were recaptured, and tortured to death by the savages. The earliest published narrative was in the _Missouri Gazette_, May 15, 1813, reprinted by Chittenden, _Fur Trade_, pp. 909-911.--ED.

{190} CHAPTER XV

Arrival of a Number of Canoes of the Northwest Company--Sale of the Establishment at Astoria to that Company--Canadian News--Arrival of the British Sloop-of-War “Raccoon”--Accident on Board that Vessel--The Captain takes Formal Possession of Astoria--Surprise and Discontent of the Officers and Crew--Departure of the “Raccoon.”

A few days after Mr. M’Kenzie left us, we were greatly surprised by the appearance of two canoes bearing the British flag, with a third between them, carrying the flag of the United States, all rounding Tongue Point. It was no other than Mr. M’Kenzie himself, returning with Messrs. J. G. M’Tavish and Angus Bethune, of the Northwest Company.[99] He had met these gentlemen near the first rapids, and had determined to return with them to the establishment, in consequence of information which they gave him. Those gentlemen were in _light_ canoes {191} (i. e., without any lading), and formed the vanguard to a flotilla of eight, loaded with furs, under the conduct of Messrs. John Stuart and M’Millan.[100]

Mr. M’Tavish came to our quarters at the factory, and showed Mr. M’Dougal a letter which had been addressed to the latter by Mr. Angus Shaw, his uncle, and one of the partners of the Northwest Company.[101] Mr. Shaw informed his nephew that the ship _Isaac Todd_ had sailed from London, with letters of _marque_, in the month of March, in company with the frigate _Phœbe_, having orders from the government to seize our establishment, which had been represented to the lords of the admiralty as an important colony founded by the American government. The eight canoes left behind, came up meanwhile, and uniting themselves to the others, they formed a camp of about seventy-five men, at the bottom of a little bay or cove, near our factory. As they were destitute of provisions, we supplied them; but Messrs. M’Dougal and M’Kenzie affecting to dread a surprise from this British force under {192} our guns, we kept strictly on our guard; for we were inferior in point of numbers, although our position was exceedingly advantageous.

As the season advanced, and their ship did not arrive, our new neighbors found themselves in a very disagreeable situation, without food, or merchandise wherewith to procure it from the natives; viewed by the latter with a distrustful and hostile eye, as being our enemies and therefore exposed to attack and plunder on their part with impunity; supplied with good hunters, indeed, but wanting ammunition to render their skill available. Weary, at length, of applying to us incessantly for food (which we furnished them with a sparing hand), unable either to retrace their steps through the wilderness or to remain in their present position, they came to the conclusion of proposing to buy of us the whole establishment.

Placed, as we were, in the situation of expecting, day by day, the arrival of an English ship-of-war to seize upon all we possessed, we listened to their propositions. Several meetings and discussions {193} took place; the negotiations were protracted by the hope of one party that the long-expected armed force would arrive, to render the purchase unnecessary, and were urged forward by the other in order to conclude the affair before that occurrence should intervene; at length the price of the goods and furs in the factory was agreed upon, and the bargain was signed by both parties on the 23d of October. The gentlemen of the Northwest Company took possession of Astoria, agreeing to pay the servants of the Pacific Fur Company (the name which had been chosen by Mr. Astor), the arrears of their wages, to be deducted from the price of the goods which we delivered, to supply them with provisions, and give a free passage to those who wished to return to Canada over land. The American colors were hauled down from the factory, and the British run up, to the no small chagrin and mortification of those who were American citizens.

It was thus, that after having passed the seas, and suffered all sorts of fatigues and privations, I lost in a moment all my hopes of fortune. I {194} could not help remarking that we had no right to expect such treatment on the part of the British government, after the assurances we had received from Mr. Jackson, his majesty’s _chargé d’affaires_ previously to our departure from New York. But as I have just intimated, the agents of the Northwest Company had exaggerated the importance of the factory in the eyes of the British ministry; for if the latter had known what it really was--a mere trading-post--and that nothing but the rivalry of the fur-traders of the Northwest Company was interested in its destruction, they would never have taken umbrage at it, or at least would never have sent a maritime expedition to destroy it. The sequel will show that I was not mistaken in this opinion.

The greater part of the servants of the Pacific Fur Company entered the service of the Company of the Northwest: the rest preferred to return to their country, and I was of the number of these last. Nevertheless, Mr. M’Tavish, after many ineffectual attempts to persuade me to remain with them, having intimated that the establishment {195} could not dispense with my services, as I was the only person who could assist them in their trade, especially for provisions, of which they would soon be in the greatest need, I agreed with them (without however relinquishing my previous engagement with Mr. Astor’s agents) for five months, that is to say, till the departure of the expedition which was to ascend the Columbia in the spring, and reach Canada by way of the Rocky Mountains and the rivers of the interior. Messrs. John Stuart and M’Kenzie set off about the end of this month, for the interior, in order that the latter might make over to the former the posts established on the Spokan and Okenakan.

On the 15th of November, Messrs. Alexander Stuart[102] and Alexander Henry,[103] both partners of the N. W. Company, arrived at the factory, in a couple of bark canoes manned by sixteen _voyageurs_. They had set out from _Fort William_, on Lake Superior, in the month of July. They brought us Canadian papers, by which we learned that the British arms so far had been in the ascendant. {196} They confirmed also the news that an English frigate was coming to take possession of our quondam establishment; they were even surprised not to see the _Isaac Todd_ lying in the road.

On the morning of the 30th, we saw a large vessel standing in under _Cape Disappointment_ (which proved in this instance to deserve its name); and soon after that vessel came to anchor in _Baker’s bay_. Not knowing whether it was a friendly or a hostile sail, we thought it prudent to send on board Mr. M’Dougal in a canoe, manned by such of the men as had been previously in the service of the Pacific Fur Company, with injunctions to declare themselves Americans, if the vessel was American, and Englishmen in the contrary case. While this party was on its way, Mr. M’Tavish caused all the furs which were marked with the initials of the N. W. Company to be placed on board the two barges at the Fort, and sent them up the river above Tongue Point, where they were to wait for a concerted signal, that was to inform {197} them whether the new-comers were friends or foes. Toward midnight, Mr. Halsey, who had accompanied Mr. M’Dougal to the vessel, returned to the Fort, and announced to us that she was the British sloop-of-war _Raccoon_, of 26 guns, commanded by Captain Black, with a complement of 120 men, fore and aft.

Mr. John M’Donald, a partner of the N. W. Company, was a passenger on the Raccoon, with five _voyageurs_, destined for the Company’s service.[104] He had left England in the frigate _Phœbe_, which had sailed in company with the _Isaac Todd_ as far as Rio Janeiro; but there falling in with the British squadron, the admiral changed the destination of the frigate, despatching the sloops-of-war _Raccoon_ and _Cherub_ to convoy the Isaac Todd, and sent the Phœbe to search for the American commodore Porter, who was then on the Pacific, capturing all the British whalers and other trading vessels he met with.[105] These four vessels then sailed in company as far as Cape Horn, where they parted, after agreeing on the island of _Juan Fernandez_ as a _rendezvous_. The three {198} ships-of-war met, in fact, at that island; but after having a long time waited in vain for the _Isaac Todd_, Commodore Hillier (Hillyer?) who commanded this little squadron, hearing of the injury inflicted by Commodore Porter, on the British commerce, and especially on the whalers who frequent these seas, resolved to go in quest of him in order to give him combat; and retaining the _Cherub_ to assist him, detailed the Raccoon to go and destroy the American establishment on the River Columbia, being assured by Mr. M’Donald that a single sloop-of-war would be sufficient for that service.

Mr. M’Donald had consequently embarked, with his people, on board the Raccoon. This gentleman informed us that they had experienced frightful weather in doubling the Cape, and that he entertained serious apprehensions for the safety of the Isaac Todd, but that if she was safe, we might expect her to arrive in the river in two or three weeks. The signal gun agreed upon, having been fired, for the return of the barges, Mr. M’Tavish came back to the Fort {199} with the furs, and was overjoyed to learn the arrival of Mr. M’Donald.

On the 1st of December the Raccoon’s gig came up to the fort, bringing Mr. M’Donald (surnamed _Bras Croche_, or crooked arm), and the first lieutenant, Mr. Sheriff. Both these gentlemen were convalescent from the effects of an accident which had happened to them in the passage between Juan Fernandez and the mouth of the Columbia. The captain wishing to clean the guns, ordered them to be scaled, that is, fired off: during this exercise one of the guns hung fire; the sparks fell into a cartridge tub, and setting fire to the combustibles, communicated also to some priming horns suspended above; an explosion followed, which reached some twenty persons; eight were killed on the spot, the rest were severely burnt; Messrs. M’Donald and Sheriff had suffered a great deal; it was with difficulty that their clothes had been removed; and when the lieutenant came ashore, he had not recovered the use of his hands. Among the killed was an American named _Flatt_, {200} who was in the service of the Northwest Company and whose loss these gentlemen appeared exceedingly to regret.[106]

As there were goods destined for the Company on board the Raccoon, the schooner _Dolly_ was sent to Baker’s bay to bring them up: but the weather was so bad, and the wind so violent, that she did not return till the 12th, bringing up, together with the goods, Captain Black, a lieutenant of marines, four soldiers and as many sailors. We entertained our guests as splendidly as it lay in our power to do. After dinner, the captain caused firearms to be given to the servants of the Company, and we all marched under arms to the square or platform, where a flag-staff had been erected. There the captain took a British Union Jack, which he had brought on shore for the occasion, and caused it to be run up to the top of the staff; then, taking a bottle of Madeira wine, he broke it on the flag-staff, declaring in a loud voice, that he took possession of the establishment and of the country in the name of his Britannic Majesty; and changed the name {201} of Astoria to _Fort George_. Some few Indian chiefs had been got together to witness this ceremony, and I explained to them in their own language what it signified. Three rounds of artillery and musketry were fired, and the health of the king was drunk by the parties interested, according to the usage on like occasions.

The sloop being detained by contrary winds, the captain caused an exact survey to be made of the entrance of the river, as well as of the navigable channel between Baker’s bay and Fort George. The officers visited the fort, turn about, and seemed to me in general very much dissatisfied with their fool’s errand, as they called it: they had expected to find a number of American vessels loaded with rich furs, and had calculated in advance their share in the booty of Astoria.[107] They had not met a vessel, and their astonishment was at its height when they saw that our establishment had been transferred to the Northwest Company, and was under the British flag. It will suffice to quote a single expression of Captain Black’s, in order to show {202} how much they were deceived in their expectations. The captain landed after dark; when we showed him the next morning the palisades and log bastions of the factory, he inquired if there was not another fort; on being assured that there was no other, he cried out, with an air of the greatest astonishment:--“What! is this the fort which was represented to me as so formidable! Good God! I could batter it down in two hours with a four-pounder!”

There were on board the Raccoon two young men from Canada, who had been impressed at Quebec, when that vessel was there some years before her voyage to the Columbia: one of them was named _Parent_, a blacksmith, and was of Quebec: the other was from Upper Canada, and was named M’Donald. These young persons signified to us that they would be glad to remain at Fort George: and as there was among our men some who would gladly have shipped, we proposed to the captain an exchange, but he would not consent to it. John Little, a boat-builder from New York, who had been on the {203} sick list a long time, was sent on board and placed under the care of the sloop’s surgeon, Mr. O’Brien; the captain engaging to land him at the Sandwich Islands. P. D. Jeremie also shipped himself as under clerk. The vessel hoisted sail, and got out of the river, on the 31st of December.

From the account given in this chapter the reader will see with what facility the establishment of the Pacific Fur Company could have escaped capture by the British force. It was only necessary to get rid of the land party of the Northwest Company--who were completely in our power--then remove our effects up the river upon some small stream, and await the result. The sloop-of-war arrived, it is true; but as, in the case I suppose, she would have found nothing, she would have left, after setting fire to our deserted houses. None of their boats would have dared follow us, even if the Indians had betrayed to them our lurking-place. Those at the head of affairs had their own fortunes to seek, and thought it more for their interest, doubtless, to {204} act as they did, but that will not clear them in the eyes of the world, and the charge of treason to Mr. Astor’s interests will always be attached to their characters.

[99] Angus Bethune appears as one of the chief members of Alexander Henry’s party in the Saskatchewan country, first mentioned under date of September 17, 1810. After reaching Astoria with McTavish in 1813, he remained in the Columbia country until April, 1817, when he left Fort George with the brigade which set out for Fort William. Later he was supercargo on the North West Company’s vessel “Columbia,” sailing to China from the Columbia River.--ED.

[100] This is probably A. McMillan, member of a party organized at Fort William by John McDonald (1808 or 1809) for the relief of David Thompson, the scientist of the North West Company, then in the Rocky Mountains. McMillan was with Thompson until the spring of 1810, when he joined Alexander Henry. July 9, of the same year, McMillan set out for the Columbia to watch the operations there of the Hudson’s Bay Company, but was prevented by the Indians from establishing a post, and rejoined Henry the following January. In 1812 he was in charge of the North West Company’s house near Spokane Falls.--ED.

[101] Although the son of an independent trader, Angus Shaw was from an early date connected with the North West Company. In 1789 he built a trading house on Lac d’Original, Beaver River waters, and in 1792 built Fort George, one of the Saskatchewan posts better known as “Fort des Prairies.” As one of the wintering partners of the North West Company, he signed by attorney the Montreal agreement of 1804, by which the X Y Company was absorbed. In 1819 he was one of the North West partners captured by the agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company; after some months’ imprisonment he was sent to England, and there released. Shaw was nicknamed “Monsieur Le Chat,” apparently a pun on his name.--ED.

[102] Alexander Stuart was in charge of a post on Lesser Slave Lake in 1806 or earlier. During the summer of 1814 he brought his family to the Columbia. He was at Spokane House, Okanagan, and Fort George until September, 1815, when he again took charge of the Lesser Slave Lake station.--ED.

[103] Alexander Henry--called “the younger” to distinguish him from his uncle of the same name--was for fifteen years a winterer of the North West Company, chiefly in the Saskatchewan country. From the time of his first venture (1799) until the day preceding his death by drowning in the mouth of the Columbia (May 22, 1814), he kept a journal, which is valuable as a source of information in regard to the Indians and traders of that period in the Western regions of Canada. See _Henry-Thompson Journals_ (Coues, ed.).--ED.

[104] John McDonald of Garth--nicknamed “Bras Croche” (Crooked arm), from a deformity due to an accident--was a Scotch Highlander who came to Canada in 1791, at the age of seventeen. He was in the Western country, chiefly in the Saskatchewan, almost continuously from 1791 to 1812. In the latter year he returned to England, but left in February, 1813, for the Columbia River. He was in the party, with Franchère, which left Fort George April 4, 1814 (see chapter xxi, _post_). In 1816 McDonald retired from the company and settled in Upper Canada, where he lived until 1860. In 1859, he wrote a brief sketch of his life. See Masson, _Les Bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest_ (Quebec, 1890), ii, pp. 1-59.--ED.

[105] David Porter was born in Boston, February 1, 1780. In 1799, when a midshipman on the “Constellation,” he took part in her combat with the “Insurgente.” In 1799 he became lieutenant, and served in the West Indies. During the Barbary War he led the expedition which destroyed several vessels in the harbor of Tripoli. In the War of 1812-15, he commanded the Essex on her famous cruise. After the peace treaty, he was a member of the board of navy commissioners until 1823, when he resigned to command an expedition against the West India pirates. From 1826 to 1829 Porter was commander-in-chief of the Mexican navy, and later became United States consul general to the Barbary states. From that position he was transferred to Constantinople, first as chargé d’affaires and then as minister, dying there in 1843.--ED.

[106] For a contemporary account of the voyage of the “Isaac Todd” and the “Raccoon,” see McDonald’s “Reminiscences” in Masson, _Bourgeois_, ii, pp. 43-49.--ED.

[107] McDonald contradicts this testimony of Franchère, saying: “I heard of no expectation of prize money, nor disappointment in any respect. The force was sent to fulfil a duty to the North-West Company; it was no government measure.”--ED.

{205} CHAPTER XVI

Expeditions to the Interior--Return of Messrs. John Stuart and D. M’Kenzie--Theft committed by the Natives--War Party against the Thieves.