# The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811–1912/Volume 1/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV
1640—1824
In opening the great Northwest region of North America to the settlement and occupation by white men the catching of wild animals for the value of their furry skins was the first business that promised trade and wealth. Wholly unlike the experiences of the Spaniards in Mexico and Peru, where the invaders found gold and silver beyond the dreams of avarice, and which they could seize by robbery of the lawful owner and then torture him with flames to discover the mines of the precious metals, the explorers of the great Northern wilderness had to contend with all the forces of nature and tax their physical strength to the utmost limit to secure success. And the remarkable contrast between the ethical results of the fur trade pushed by hardy, vigorous and independent men in the wilderness of the north, and the wholesale robbery of simple-minded Aztecs and Peruvians in the south by the armed freebooters of Spain, is one of the most forcible and persistent lessons of civilization on the American continent. On the one hand is seen the heroic examples of the pioneers of the northwest conquering the wilderness by following a peaceful industry and opening the way for great states that command the respect and dominate the forces of the New World, while on the other hand, is beheld the cancer of unrestrained avarice as the curse of feeble and unstable governments that are rent with bloody strife and unceasing rebellion.
With no other object or ambition than to make large profits, the fur traders, their ship captains and wilderness trappers, have been most effective agents in opening new countries and extending the boundaries of civilization to organize governments. When Captain Cook's ship carried over to China and exhibited to the traders of the world the little pack of otter skins that had been picked up at Vancouver's island, an impulse was given to the exploration of the Pacific coast that never halted until Oregon was secured to the United States and gold discovered in California.. Not the Spanish, the French, the English, or the East India Company's ships would have led the way to the settlement of the country and the founding of states. This region was too far from their bases of ​supplies. But the rich fur trade excited the interest of Boston merchants, and Capt. Gray was sent out to see what he could get for his employers. He got his share of the furs, and he discovered the Columbia river. The Boston merchants sent other ships and the discovery of the Columbia river planted a germ in the brain of a great American statesman (Jefferson) that grew and expanded until expeditions were sent out two thousand miles through the wilderness to connect the expanding nation with Gray's discovery of the great river; and the titanic forces of American pioneering, settlements and Republicanism completed the transcontinental bond of union and made Oregon the pioneer outpost and defender of American commerce and civilization on the great Pacific.
The French founded the city of Quebec on the St. Lawrence in 1608. Two years later, Henry Hudson discovered the great northern bay of the North Atlantic ocean, which bears his name. Then commenced the conquest of the New World on the line of settlement up the St. Lawrence, up the Great Lakes, north to Hudson's Bay and west to the Rocky mountains. This projection of European colonization, trade and laws into the heart of North America, commenced in 1640, and its forerunner was the fur trade. In 1659 two French traders and trappers, Groseilliers and Radisson, working their way up the Great Lakes in the employ of the French Company of One Hundred Associates, reached the head of Lake Superior, and there learned from the Indians that by traveling on northward overland they could reach the shores of Hudson 's Bay where there were vast numbers of fur-bearing animals. The success of these two adventurous Frenchmen in getting so large a catch of rare and rich furs excited the cupidity of their superiors, so that when the men who had braved the perils of the wilderness asked for a concession from the French government to take furs in the Hudson's Bay regions, they found they had been forestalled and the coveted privileges given to another. Disappointed and indignant at the treatment he had received from the Colonial grantees, Groseilliers returned to France and sought to undo the wrong and injustice wrought upon him by an appeal to the king; and failing in this he went over to England and submitted his proposed scheme to the English court. In this he was successful, and under the protection and aid of Prince Rupert, the cousin of King Charles II, Groseilliers was in 1668 outfitted with a vessel, cargo and all necessary arms and supplies and sailed for the Hudson's bay. And the success of this Frenchman led to the formation of the great transcontinental monopoly of the fur trade known as the Hudson's Bay Company, which was granted a royal charter on May 2, 1670. The royal patent reads as follows:
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advantage to us and our kingdom.
"And, whereas, The said undertakers, for their I'urllicr eiicouragciiienl to the said design, have humbly besought, us to iueorporatu them, and grant unto them, and their suecessors, the whole trade and commerce of all those seas, straits and l)ays,rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds in whatever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the straits commonly called Hudson sti-aits, together with all the lauds, countries and territories upon the coasts and confines of the seas, straits, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks and sound aforesaid which are not now actually possessed by any of our subjects, or the subjects of other Christian prince or state.
"Now Know Ye. Tluit we, being desirous to promote all endeavors that may tend to the public good of our people, and to encourage the said undertaking, have of our special grace, and mere motion, given, granted, ratified and con- firmed unto our said cousin. Prince Rupert (and other nobilities and persons named) all and singular the most extensive rights of a private corporation, and also the sole trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, together with all the lands and territories upon the countries, coasts and confines of the seas, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks and sounds aforesaid, together with the fishing of all sorts of fish, whales, sturgeons and other royal fishes in the seas, bays, rivers, within the premises, and the fish therein taken together with the royalty of the sea, upon the coasts, and all mines, royal as well discovered as not discovered, of gold, silver, gems and precious stones, to be found or discovered with the territories, limits and places aforesaid, and that the laud be from henceforth reckoned and reputed as one of our colonies in America, called Rupert's land. And also, not only the whole, entire and only liberty, use and privilege of trading and traffic to and from the territories, limits and places aforesaid, but also the whole and entire trade and traffic, to and from all havens, bays, creeks, rivers, lakes and seas into which they shall find entrance or passage by water or land out of the territories, limits and places aforesaid, and to and with all the natives and peo- ple, inhabitants or which shall inhabit within the territories, limits and places aforesaid and to and with all other nations, inhabitants any of the coasts ad- jacent to the said territories aforesaid. And do grant to the said company, that neither the said territories, limits, and places hereby granted, nor any part there- of, nor the islands, havens, ports, cities, towns, and places thereof or therein con- tained shall ever be visited, frequented, or haunted by any of the subjects of us contrary to the true meaning of this grant, and any and every such person or persons who shall trade or traffic into any of such countries, territories, or limits aforesaid other than the said company and their successors, shall incur our in- dignation and the forfeiture and loss of all their goods, merchandise, and other things, whatsoever which shall be so brought into this realm of England or any dominion of the same country, to our said prohibition. ' '
In all this monopoly of trade and commerce in all the vast region from Hud- son bay west to the Pacific ocean, the charter conferred upon the company and its governors and chief factors, the sovereign rights of civil and military govern- ment of the region. Some people protest against the corporations and mouoiio​
lies in the United States at the present day, not one of which has the sanction or support of the government, but every one of which is under the ban of the law. But here was a monopoly of all the trade in a region a thousand times greater in size than the country whose king created the monopoly, to which was given the right over the lives and liberties of the natives and subordinates of the char- tered corporation. And all this by the grace of his most Christian majesty, King Charles II. The kings of England, two hundred and fifty years ago, had little conception of the rights of the common people. The whole government was run for the benefits of the king's favorites and relations ; and it is no wonder that Macaulay should have said of this king: "That honor and shame to him were scarcely more than light and darkness to the blind. ' '
Those who have not made some investigation of the subject have no idea of the vast powers and dcrminions of this great English corporation. From the At- lantic to the Pacific, three thousand miles, and from the Arctic ocean down to where the southern boundary is now located — a full two thousand miles — the undisputed sway of all living things for a half century, and over half of that region for more than a century. We are now all of us accustomed to think of organized governments with legislatures and laws, sworn officers and courts of justice, in connection with territorial expansion. That has been the rule under all the western extensions of American enterprise and settlement. But here in this great fur company we see an English king and his cousin and courtiers or- ganizing in a private room, a private company, with all the powers of a respon- sible state government in America, and handing over to that private company a region larger than all Europe, to be ruled and exploited for their own private and exclusive use and profit for an unlimited period of time ; and without any limitations or restrictions in favor of any other people or person on the face of the globe. Picture if you can this vast empire of natural wealth in land, and all that the richest land will produce, six million square miles in extent, diversi- fied with beautiful lakes, grand rivers, mountain ranges, fertile prairies, great forests of matchless timber, millions of wild animals, and peopled by probably one hundred thousand native Indians, and you may have some idea of the sort of monopoly that was set down to exploit old Oregon and all the region east and north of it except Alaska.
If we turn to Mitchell's geography, printed in 1842, we find Oregon territory described as the most western part of the United States ; and contains an area greater than that of the whole of the southern states, with an Indian population of eighty thousand. So that the dominions of the Hudson's Bay Company must have been, all told, larger than the whole of the United States in 1842, with a much larger Indian population than is here set down. These facts as to the vast dominions and unrestricted sovereign powers of the Hudson's Bay Company are given as an all-sufficient reason to explain the anxiety of the early pioneers of Oregon as to the course of this great corporation towards these early settlers. These pioneer families of civilization could not believe that any King Charles could sell out this great country to a private corporation monopoly trading com- pany to be held for all time as a game preserve to produce pelts for London prof- its. And hence their early and iinrestrainable resentment.
Considering time and circumstances the Hudson 's Bay Company was the most perfect commercial organization ever operated on the American continent. No ​phase of its vast business was neglected. No element of success, no matter how small or questionable, was forgotten. There was a local governor residing in America with headquarters at York factory, with jurisdiction over all the establishments of the company, together with sixteen chief factors, twenty-nine chief traders, five surgeons, eighty-seven clerks, sixty-seven postmasters, five hundred voyageurs, besides sailors on sea-going vessels, and over two thousand common servants engaged in trapping, mechanic arts, and farming. And besides this army of skilled white men, all armed for war, if war was necessary, was the vast population of native Indians who were at all times subservient to the company, furnished nearly the whole of its business in the furs caught and traded for goods. No exact amount can of course be given of its wide extended business, reaching from Hudson bay to the Pacific ocean, but an accounting by the company to its stockholders for four years commencing with 1834 and ending 1838 is interesting, as showing the vast business, done as follows:
Making a grand total of twenty-three million, four hundred and eighteen thousand, one hundred and nine animals destroyed in four years. If we multiply those figures by ten, we get an approximate estimate of the total destruction of animal life by this great company in the forty years of its hey-day of prosperity. Think of the great natural wealth of a region that could stand the destruction of two hundred and thirty millions of wild creatures by a single fur company in forty years.
As may be readily seen, the power and influence of this company over the condition and future relations of the country it ruled over was absolute and invincible. It was operated for profits solely. The young men were encouraged to take wives from among native women for no other purpose than to give them power and influence with the Indians, to get their furs and prevent anybody else from getting them. Alcoholic liquors were used to a certain extent, and by some factors more than others. Chief Factor, Dr. McLoughlin of the Oregon department has a record of great care and prudence not only in handling the natives, but in not ​in not
demoralizing them with stimulants. And when we consider the wide extended power and influence of this company, the wonder is that the American immigra- tion to this country ever got a foothold at all.
Such was the beginning of trade and commerce in the Columbia river valley. Many people hastih^ conclude that such a trade was a trifling matter. But such a conclusion is not based upon a consideration of the facts. The fur trade is now foreign to the great mass of our people. But not so ninety years ago. It was a great business then, and it is a great business yet. The city of St. Louis is now the headquarters of the fur trade of the United States; and it will strike the reader with surprise to learn that there are over five hundred thousand people in the United States who now, today, make their living trapping and dressing the furs and skins of wild animals.
And no matter how much we may condemn the Hudson's Bay Company for holding the country solely for furs, and working the Indian to discourage Amer- ican fur traders, there is a silver lining to even that cloud, as we shall see later on. The Hudson 's Bay men got along with the Indians, prevented bloody wars, like those that ravaged the Ohio valley, by skillfully turning the sexual instinct of the race to the work of peace with the savages, and profits to the corpora- tion. The company encouraged its employees to take wives from among the native women. There was little thought and less solemnity in but very few ceremonials of that kind. But it served the purposes of the company, satisfied the instincts of nature and formed a bond of confidence and peace between the two races camping in the wilderness. To the phlegmatic John Jacob Astor, or the more refined Wilson Price Hunt, or still more select Lieutenant Bonne- ville, all of whom tried their fortunes at fur trading in this region, such a proposi- tion as promiscuous marriages with the natives would have appeared as an im- practicable proposition. In the settlement of the Ohio, and in fact of all the At- lantic state regions, intermarriages with the natives as a custom was looked upon with horror; notwithstanding the romantic unions of Pocahontas and others equally well authenticated. When the Hudson's Bay traders organized their company, they found the Canadian French already in the business of taking furs from the St. Lawrence to the head of the great lakes. The Frenchmen set the pace with the Indians. And whatever he might have been on the boulevards of Paris, he was not at all fastidious in the wilds of America, when it came to living with, camping with and managing wild Indians, to trap for furs and put the good francs in his pocket. And we very soon see in the history of the French in the fur trade of North America, that the trapper's wife was nearly always a native woman. The custom worked well with the French. They profited in the fur trade and in the main preserved the peace with the Indians; and the Hud- son 's Bay Company adopted the tactics of their rivals for a rich trade and event- ually drove them from the field.
The Hudson's Bay Company produced many forceful, useful and distin- guished men. They had not the culture of the colleges, or the polish of the so- called polite society. But they accomplished far more for mankind and for civ- ilization than all the college men who have walked in their steps since their day.
They governed a wilderness empire filled with more natural wealth than any other equal territory in the world. They successfully managed a population
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THE CENri-;.\NlAL HISTORY OF OREGON 97
aud courage, would have been two liundred thousand iiuu-deriut? savages. And while it is true they did not look forward to the fruits of labor which miglit bestow upon them offices, iiouors aud distinctions, which the wilderness could not confer, they saeriticed self pride and ambition to faithfully and loyally serve their employer, looking only to the present and to their salary for reward ; and still none the less, performed so great a work in moulding and controlling the character and the natural bent of the Indians as to make the eventful settle- ment of the country an easy conquest over uative savagery. The gradual and comparatively easy substitution of civilization in all the vast territory once ruled by the Hudson's Bay Company, as compared with the stern and relentless war- fare which greeted and decimated the Scotch-Irish and Virginian pioneers who settled the Ohio valley sixty years prior is little less than a miracle in the develop- ment of the West. If anyone will turn to the history of the settlement of the states of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee and see with what nameless horrors, inde- scribable tortures and devilish savagery the Indians in that country fought the white settlers, they will sefi that the old Oregon Indians were peaceful men, by comparison. All the Indian wars of Oregon put together would not make three years actual warfare. And in all of it, so far as can be learned, there were but few prisoners put to torture by the Indians. But from the time Daniel Boone crossed over the Alleghany mountains and settled in the lonely wilds of Kentucky in 1769, down to the great battle with the Indians October 5, 1813, when their great leader aud hero Tecumseli was killed, over forty years, there was almost con- tinuous warfare with the Indians of the Ohio vallej'.
Let the impartial reader contrast the settler's experience in the Ohio valley, with the Indian wars of Oregon, and then thank such a nuin as John McLoughlin and Peter Skene Ogdeu that our pioneer fathers and mothers of Oregon were spared the trials and sufferings which their fathers and mothers passed through in reclaiming Ohio, Missouri and other eastern states from their savage foes.
The Indians of the vast Hudson Bay provinces did not lack the courage or the brains of the Indians of the Ohio valley. Neither did they lack natural resources to make effective opposition to the advances of the white man. They were simplj- managed and kept quiet until effective opposition was impracticable. The men who did this great work for Oregon, no matter what their motives were, deserve a large space in the history of this state. It cannot be pretended that they man- aged the Indians for the purpose of making them accept the rule of the white man in the establishment of civil society. It may be truly said they builded wiser than they knew, but for all they performed, all they accomplished, and all their labors to tame the red ilian, let us give them generous recognition and deserved Iiouors
But the Royal British prerogative favorite of the King was not to have an un- contested monopoly of the fur trade in half a continent. In the year 1783 Simon .MeTavi.sh, Benjamin and Joseph Frobisher, A. McGillivray, Roeheblave, Simon Fraser and other wealthy and influential merchants of Montreal organized the ■'Northwest Company of Montreal," and afterwards admitted to the Company Peter Pond and Peter Pangman, able and successful traders ; and still later on admitted Alexander Mackenzie in the Spring of 1785. The capital of this Com- pany does not appear in any of the sources of history examined. The shares were originally sixteen, and these were increased as new partners were taken, and as
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98 THE CENTENNIAL HISTOKY OP OREGON
all were equal it follows that each partner had an equal interest no matter what the capital, or the profits. This Company was a voluntary organization without charter or Royal patent to legalize it. But it was for the purposes in view a very powerful organization. It was maimed and managed by men who had themselves threaded the forest and wilderness. It had the experience and energy of the great explorers. Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Praser, to guide it ; and it was a foe- man worthy of a princely competitor. The company was ably managed and made enormovis profits. The gross income was $200,000 in 1788, and on the same capital, ran up to $600,000 in 1799.
It is hut a faint idea the reader of history can get of the life of these fur hunters in the Great Northern wilderness one hundred years ago. The men, the times, the manners, the Indians, the wild animals,- and the wilderness itself have all passed away forever. Nowhere on the earth can that unique picture be again reproduced. To the general reader, that fur hunter life and adventure was raw, crude and barbarian. But it was only partly so. The trapper in the boundless woods and plains must of necessity rough it. He lay upon the ground at night under the shelter of some bushy tree or against the lea of a friendly rock. He must get his life from the animals he killed. He could pack little or nothing to eat in addition to his precious furs. Sometimes he had pack animals, or on a stream a frail bark canoe; and then life was a holiday. But the rendezvous brought to the full all the pleasures and happiness a fur hunter could conceive of. It might be once, or even t^^'ice, in the year; but it was sure to come. The " Ren- dezvous " saved the expense of building forts and keeping up an expensive estab- lishment, and was appointed for different places and seasons to suit the conven- ience of the trappers and the demands of the trade. The most noted rendezvous on the American side of the boundary line was in the heart of the Rocky Moun- tains in the North East corner of Utah, where Kit Carson, Ashle.y, Sublette, Lisa and other famous fur hunters would meet the Bannocks, Shoshones, Prench Ca- nadians, half breeds and other nondescripts, for barter and carousal. Here all were free to eat, drink, fight and kill, each man looking out for himself and for his own head. Pree trappers, hired men, and Indians, all, here brought their catch for the year and sold, or got their pay.
And here all had their chance to waste their earnings in a few days' riot of man's three consuming passions — intoxicating drink, women and tobacco. Vile whiskey was sold for four dollars a pint ; tobacco five dollars a pound, and the beauties of the forest came without persuasion to become the wives of the long haired trappers forever, or for a day. The trading, gambling, horse racing, dancing, courting and fighting was the limit of human endurance, and its like will never be seen again.
And this was the American hell-raiser fandango in the wilderness. But across the line at old Port William north of the head of Lake Superior, was a model of the same purpose rendezvous, but regulated by the sterner decrees of Scotch business formality and controlled by frowning cannon in a palisaded fortress. Port William was in fact a palisaded village ; within which was the great council house, store buildings, fur packing houses, armories, soldiers, rifles, cannon, offi- cers' quarters, servants' cottages, doctor's office, powder magazine, jail, work shops, and a garden. And in the midst of it all the council house towered, contain- ing a dining hall sixty by thirty feet, and the walls hung with the portraits of the ​
THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OHE(!0\ 99
jiaitni'i's and iiiaiiiigirs o\' the Ncul Invest (JoiuiJaiiy. Hcit was inajriiifirnicc in •111' wilderness a thousand miles IVmn an organized eoniniunity. And hen' law anil diseii)line was enl'oiTed fn |ir(iiii(ite pt'ofit under the rules of a ,L;i'eal |ii-i\;ate c'cir- poration. Here was in fael a petty soNcreiiiiuty in the- lieai-t ot a Imundless foi'est. with nn limits upon its I'ule liut its i)\\n measure oi' its pi-otits and ahilities -in exart them. Not iine, liut many sui-li petty governments. The same thing existed in neai-ly tin' sanu' t'orui uniler the i'\de ol' the Hudson's Hay ( 'o.. at ^'ork Faetm-y, Fort Churehiil, Fort Garry, cm the .Vssinilioim', Fort Edmonton on the Saskatche- wan, aiul Foi-t Vaneouvei'. nn the Colundiia. Ilei-e in all these establishments I)etty governors tried men loi- their lives, and meted nut punishment aceording to their own ideas of justice, without any of the checks oi' restraints of courts, laws. Juries oi' legislatures.
But the old proposition tiuit two bixiies could not occupy the same space at tint same time tiiudly precipit^ited a violent concussion between the Northwest C'om- pany and its JJritish rival the Hudson's Bay Company. Slowly and finally after the lapse of a hundred and thirty years the old Hudson's Bay Company awoke to the fact that the untitled Scotchmen of Montreal were after all, formidable rivals of a Corporatipn organized by a King. The Scotchmen mu.st be driven out of the fur trade — and the battle began. For every post the Scotchmen built, another must be built alongside of it flying the II. B, C, flag. For every inducement offered the Indians to trade, double should be ofl'ered by the H. B. C. And so the battle began. No Highland Chieftain of Scotia's rock ribbed hills and glens ever ac- cepted the challenge or fought an English army with keener zest than did these fur trading clansmen and their ready allies — the half breed French voyageurs. In vain did the Englishmen plead their Royal Grant, and its British Parliament confirnuition. The Northwest Co. cared not a fig for Royal Grants, This was un- inhabited territory, and was as free to one robber as another. Reprisals were frequent. The hunters of one company would break into the huts and carry off the furs of the rival company. All went armed and ready for a fight wherever they might meet. And the Indians, like the Irishman at the wake, seeing it was a free fight stole furs from both sides, and hit a head whenever convenient. And so the fighting went on in a desultory way for ten years — 1805 to 1815. Men were killed and forts captured on both sides; the Hudson's Bay Co. generally getting the worst of it. The fur trade was ruined. Playing ])oth sides, the Indians got more for their furs than they would sell for in Montreal. In 1816 the fighting a.ssumed a desperate phase. Three hundred half breeds were armed, painted, mounted on ponies, by the Northwest Co., and sent forth to seize everything they could get hold of. The first H. B. Co. settlement they came to was destroyed root and branch and the colonists driven into the forest. At Athabasca the Hudson's Bay men were besieged, and after losing seventeen men by starvation the balance sur- rendered. At Slave Lake the II. B. Co. men fared better, but lost thirteen men by famine. Two of the Northwest forts were captured by H, B. Co, men, and burned. At Fort Douglas, the Northwesters were proceeding to surround it when Governor Semple with twenty-eight men sallied out to deuumd the object of their approach. He was told the Northwesters were simply attending to their busi- ness, and "what are you going to do about it.'" The answer came sharp and quick, and Sample's men fired on the Northwesters killing one umn. The fire was instantly returned by the Northwesters killing the Governor and seven of his ​
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men ; the balance all fled to the fort liotly pursued, and only four men reached the fort alive ; the Northwesters capturing the fort and all its supplies of food, ammunition and stock of furs. At this crisis of affairs, Lord Selkirk (no relation to Robinson Crusoe), a Scotchman who had obtained a grant of laud from the H. B. Co. for the purpose of foimding a Scotch Colony as farmers, and not as hunters, undertook to settle the trouble and started in to suppress the war, but backed out at Port William near the head of Lake Superior, thinking discretion the better part of valor. Selkirk's land grant covered not only a large tract of the Hudson's Bay Co.'s dominions, but ran down into the territory of the United States, and his LordshiiJ had just as much right to dictate to the citizens of this country as to the citizens of Canada. At this juncture of affairs the Governor General of Canada issued his proclamation threatening the peace breakers with dire punishment, and had the cold comfort of seeing his commands treated by the fur hunting fighters on both sides with supreme eontemiDt. Commissioners were then appointed by the Canadian Government to proceed to the Great North- ern wilderness, investigate the murders and robberies and seize the offenders. This looked like dangeroi^s business for the Commissioners, and so they put off their mis- sion to the Spring of 1817 ; and meantime the war continued with unabated vigor, men being killed and foi'ts captured on both sides. But all things, even war, must have an end. The Canadian Courts took judicial notice of the violations of the law in the wilderness. Some of the partners were arrested in Llontreal ; and after ten years of bloody war the subject was worn threadbare in four years' contention in the Courts, which cost each of the rival contesting fur companies the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars hard cash. The fur trade had been ruined, each partj^ got a Scotch verdict and had to compromise in the end.
This much of the history of these two British Fur Companies operating mostly on their own side of the national boundary line on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, is given for the purpose of showing the reader what sort of people, and what sort of a combination the American settlers of Oregon had to contend with in coming into this region from 1811 down to 1846, when the title to the country was finally settled.
There is not much to be added to the historj^ of the fur trade in the Canadian Northwest beyond what has been said of the two gi'eat rivals for a monopoly of the business. There was another British Company, known as the Mackinaw Com- pany, which made its headquarters on the Island of Michilimackicac at the con- fluence of the waters of Lake Superior, Michigan and Huron, and being in fact upon United States territory. The operations of this company were mostly within the boundaries of the United States, and before our government had the disposition or the ability to expel the poachers. And as it is well known that after the Treaty of Peace that closed the Revolutionary War England persisted in holding on to a great many military posts along the Great Lakes, and by their influence over the Indians held back the American settlement and trade for more than ten years after the Treaty of Peace was signed. And owing to this hostile course of the British Cabinet, the fur trade on the American side of the boundary line east of the Rocky Mountains started from St. Louis and under grants and permits of the Spanish Governor of Louisiana. And under these Spanish fur
OLD HUDSON BAY COMPANY'S FORT VANCOUVER — 1827
THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OP OREGON 101
jiliove St. Loviis. and for a considei-a))le distauec out ou the plains towards the Ixoeky Jlountaius. In the order of time, the only exceptions to these sporadic cfrorts to establish the fur trade on American territory was the fur tradiuR ship ventures from Boston to the Pacific Coast, and the Russian Fur Traders to Alaska. The fur trade started the American commerce to the Pacific Coast. The fur trade induced the Russians to cross over from Siberia to Alaska, and establish a colony at Sitka and extend its operations down the coast as far as Puget Sound to catch the sea otters — the finest furs the Russians had ever seen up to that date. And all these elements in the fur trade were in active operation, and every single sailor and trapper was striving to the utmost limit to obtain every pelt he could get hold of down to the year President Jetferson purchased Louisiana from the French. Tills greatest land deal in the history of the Nation made a new alignment of lur trading interests, served notice ou the British to stay on their own side of the 4!)th parallel on the cast side of the Rocky mountains, and put new life, ambi- lion and energy into the operations of Astor and all the rest of the American Fnr Traders.
John Jacob Astor, the founder of Astoria, Oregon was the greatest fur trader, and one of the greatest and best business men America had ever produced. Measured np by all the standards that go to make a really great and good man in the ordinary citizen's life in the world of business, Astor stands at the head of th(> long line of self-made men for sagacity, energy, comprehension, integrity and patriotism. Let every American school boy read his record with deep thought and profound respect. Astor was born in the village of Waldorf near Heide)- berg, Germany. July 17th. 1763. When sixteen years of age he went to London and joined an elder brother in the manufacture and sale of nmsical instruments. .Vfter three years in London he resolved to see if he could not better his for- tunes by going to America. He sailed from London in 1783 with a small stock of musical instruments bound for the United States. Being detained at Chesa- peake Bay en route to Baltimore, he fell in with a dealer in furs who advised him to go to New York, sell out his musical wares and invest the proceeds in furs. Astor took up the idea at once, and as soon as possible converted his goods into a small stock of furs, returned to London with them and sold out to great advantage. Right there the germ was planted that spread the fame of the young man over America, founded Astoria, and helped mightily to save Oregon to the United States. And so clear was his insight to the future, that on this first trip to London, with his first pack of furs, and when he was only twenty-one years of age, he said to his brother, that. "When the Canadian frontiers are surrendered to the LTnited States, I will make my fortune in the fur trade." And he did.
On his return from London in 1784. Astor at once engaged in the fur trade to the Canadian border and out west through Ohio and Indiana to Lake ]Michigan. and pushed his opjiortunities with all his energy. And such was his foresight and ability in managing the business that by the year 1800 he had amassed a for- tune of half a million dollars in sixteen years. By this time both the Monti'eal and St. Louis fur traders had come to regard him as a formidable competitoi- in the trade. The purchase of Louisiana in 180.3 opened u]) a world of opportuni- ties for fortunes and fame to those who had the foresight to see them. Astor beheld the great future of that great territory at a glance. He was more than a match for any of the statesmen of that period in reading the future ​extent of the Louisiana purchase was hardly anybody knew. It was Astor's business to find out; and he did so. He decided that the entire watershed of the Missouri river was now open to Americans, and closed to the Canadians; and that very likely the Americans had a good title clear through the continent to the Pacific ocean. If this was the fact then a trading station at the mouth of the Columbia river would command the fur trade to China. With President Jefferson he was in perfect accord for years; and when Astor founded Astoria, Jefferson wrote him a letter from his home at Monticello, November 9, 1813, in which he says:
"I view it (Astoria) as the germ of a great, free and indeisendent empire on that side of our continent ; and that liberty and self-government spreading from that as well as this side, will ensure their complete establishment over the whole. It must be still more gratifying to yourself to foresee that your name will be handed down with that of Columbus and Raleigh, as the father of the establishment and founder of such an empire. It would be an afflicting thing indeed, should the English be able to break up the settlement. Their bigotry to the bastard liberty of their own country, and habitual hostility to every degree of freedom in any other, will induce the attempt; they would not lose the sale of a bale of furs for the freedom of the whole world."
And thus, through President Thomas Jefferson, John Jacob Astor and the fur trade. Old Oregon is connected and brought into relations with the United States in the year 1812—one hundred years ago—and the history of this country from that year down to the present is the purpose of this book.
Astor was a dealer in furs, and never sent out trappers or trapping expeditions after the manner of the Canadian companies, or the expeditions of the French from St. Louis. The establishment at Astoria, if it had not been betrayed and destroyed by the British, would have engaged in the fur business of sending its own trappers into the wilderness as well as purchasing furs from the Indians and independent trappers. But his plans were on a still greater scale than anything ever attempted by any other American. He entered into correspondence with the Russian government and had arranged all the details of a large business with the Russian posts and people in Alaska, and through which, if he had not been driven out by the British warships, he would have built up a great commerce and effectively kept the British out of the fur trade on the Pacific coast.
Returning again to Astor 's operations on the Atlantic coast, he is found in 1808 endeavoring to form a business alliance of some sort with the independent fur traders and trappers at St. Louis. A large number of St. Louis venturers into the boundless west had been making money in the fur trade, the leading man of whom was jManual Lisa, a Spaniard. The return of Lisa from the Rocky mountains in the summer of 1808 with very flattering reports on fur trading prospects had induced the leading business men of St. Louis to go into a fur trading enterprise under the name of the St. Louis, Missouri, Fur Company, but commonly called the Missouri Fur Company. The partners in the company were Benjamin Wilkinson, Pierre Chouteau, Sr., Manual Lisa, Augusta Chouteau, Jr., Reuben Lewis, William Clark (of the Lewis and Clark expedition), Sylvester Labadie. all of St. Loiiis; and Pierre Menard and William Morrison, of Kaskaskia, Illinois; Andrew Henry, of Louisiana, Missouri, and Dennis Fitzhugh, of Louisville, Ky. This company sent its first expedition into the Indian ​country
ill the s|)iiiiii' ol' 180!), uuiubering one hiiiKhrtl and fifty men with niereliandise 10 su|)i)ly MHil equip five or six trading i)sts among tiie Indians. At first the |iait.\ was vci-y successful in catching hc'avcr. and great profits seemed to be en- suretl; hut suddenly the Blackfeet Indians swooped down on the unsuspicious trappers. i<ilh>d a large number of iiien and stole all the I'urs. From this party, Andrew Ileni'y, who was a partner in liir coiiipany and one oT the leaders of this expedition, took part of the men. after the expedition had lieen defeated by the Indians, and crossed over the Rocky mountains and built Fort Henry on the north fork of Snake river in 1809, being the first house erected in the territory of old Oregon. The river w-as afterwards named the Henry Fork of Snake river. And thus ended the ilissouri Fur Company.
A uumlu'r of independent fur trading expeditions were afterwards sent out to the Rocky mountains from St. Louis; but the only parties of any importance to reach Oregon was the party of Jedediah Smith, an account of which is given in the chapter on Exploring Expeditions.
When Astor decided to go into the fur trade on the Pacific coast, he looked around for suitable and capable men to manage such an important expedition.
He had been in the course of his business often at Montreal, was acquainted with the Northwest Company proprietors, and had formed a high opinion of their ability as business men ; and in looking around for suitable persons to join him in his venture to the Pacifie he made propositions to some of these Mon- treal Scotchmen that had been fighting the Hudson's Bay Company in the wilder- ness. To the American reader it will appear quite singular that Astor should have gone to ilontreal for partners rather than to St. Louis, where there wei'e men of liis own citizenship interested in the fur trade and who could never have been a subject of embarrassment in case of trouble over the title to the fur trad- ing country. But the explanation is, that Astor was at one time offered an in- terest in a St. Louis company by a minority interest in its ownership ; but that the majority did not favor an Astor connection for some reason not explained, and Astor was kept out. The explanation was, that the St. Louis merchants wanted a ilissouri fur company, with its trade and profit all to themselves and were afraid of the leadership of such an ambitious, broad-minded, energetic man as Astor.
But no sooner had Astor broached his grand scheme of a fur trading post at the mouth of the Columbia river to control the trade of the great Columbia val- ley, and the 'still greater Pacific coast and China trade, than the Northwest Company of Montreal took alarm and secretly rushed David Thompson to the Pacifie coast to head off Astor and claim the country for England, as has already been shown in the account of Thompson's expedition. And wdiile this conduct of the Montreal Scotchmen might be condoned as justified by their loyalty to the British king, yet it was anything but honorable among business men. But when Astor once determined upon a proposition there was no turning back. And when he decided to establish a post at the mouth of the Columbia river it had to be done. After a full survey of the fur trading interests, and their leading men. Astor piektMl out Donald McKenzie, Duncan ;\IcDougal, David Stuart and Robert Stuart, all of Canada, and all of whom had been more or less eonneeted with the Northwest Company: and to this coterie of very able men he added Alexander ilcKay. who had been with .Mackenzie on the first white man's expedition across ​
the Rocky mountains in 1793. and invited them into the new company. Tliese men were undoubtedly selected not only for their knowledge of the fur trade, but also for their knowledge of all the schemes of the Northwest Company and their acquaintance with Canadian trappers and hunters. In addition to these men, Astor took into his new company Ramsay Crooks, formerly in the employ of the Northwest Company, but then an independent trapper along the upper Missouri 'river. Also Joseph Miller, of Baltimore, formerly an officer, but since engaged in the fur trade ; Robert McLellan, a fearless, energ-etic man with large experi- ence in handling and fighting Indians ; and lastly, his most important and faith- ful man, Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey. Forty Canadian boatmen and hunters were engaged, together with, as foremen, John Day, a Virginia back- woodsman, John Colter, who had been over to Oregon with Lewis and Clark, and Pierre Dorion, son of Lewis and Clark 's interpreter ; and with this mate- rial the new Astor company was formally organized on June 23, 1810, and named the Pacific Fur Compan.y. It must be said, as any judge of human nature might foresee, that Astor had risked a most dangerous experiment in taking into his confidence and business control of his affairs a lot of misfits from his rivals in. business. It could hardly be otherwise but that former associations, diverse na- tionality and clannish prejudices would lead to want of confidence and secret, if not open treacherj', whenever the temptation offered.
Astor had planned well to succeed if not betrayed or destroyed bj^ superior power. He organized two parties ; one to proceed overland from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia river, and the other to sail by the ocean around Cape Horn in a well-provisioned ship. The rendezvous of the land party under the com- mand of "Wilson Price Hunt, was on the Missouri river in the autumn of 1810; and all the trials and sufferings of that party to reach Oregon in 1811 have been related in Hunt's expedition to Oregon in the chapter on Overland Expeditions. For the ocean expedition, the Tonquin, a ship of two hundred and ninety tons burden, Jonathan Thorn, commander, was provided with all necessary supplies, tools, merchandise, gams, ammunition and equipment of every sort to establish an armed fort and trading post in the Oregon wilderness. Thorn was a lieuten- ant in the United States navy and was allowed to go on this expedition on leave of absence, to favor Astor and help make a success of the great undertaking.
The Tonquin sailed for the Columbia river on the 8th day of September, 1810, with a crew of twenty-one men and thirty-three passengers, all connected with the Pacific Fur Company. And after an uneventful voyage of six months and two weeks arrived oiif the mouth of the Columbia in a storm on March 22, 1811. Capt. Thorn had made himself very disagi-eeable to his passengers and crew, and now exhibited his real character as a heartless wretch and iinmitigated brute. He had taken a dislike to his first mate. Fox, and instead of standing out to sea until the storm abated he ordered Fox to take a crew of inexperienced Kanakas and an old leaky boat and make soundings of the Columbia bar. Feeling that his life was being placed in jeopardy out of spite, Fox appealed to the captain to give him sailors and a chance to save his life. This the captain refused. Fox then appealed to the passengers, and they remonstrated with the captain upon the danger of sending the men on to such a dangerous bar, but all to no purpose ; Fox and the poor Kanakas took the boat, headed for the bar, were soon lost to
fTHiNE^^
scut out to sound the entrance, and two more white mm wn-r IdsL l-'iinilly tlio ship itself tried the bar, and as if by a miracle the Tonquiii (liiltcd in over the Columbia bar and into Baker's bay on the 24th of March, 1M1. Here the live slock which had been purchased at the Sandwich Islands, was hinded and eon- fined in pens of poles, and from this point an exploring party was sent out to find and select a point to build a fort. This exploring party was composed of Cajitain Thorn, Alexander McKay, David Stuart, three clerks and members of the wcw well armed, provisioned and manned for the occasion to fight if necessary, i-'ive days were occupied in examining the north bank of tiie river, when the party re- turned to the ship without agreeing on a location. McDougal and Stuart deter- mined to try the south bank, although Captain Thorn bitterly objected, saying that it was nothing but a sporting excursion and he would land all the goods right where they were on the south bank unless they returned in two days. Mc- Dougal and Stuart encountered a heavy squall on the river, their boat was upset and they were saved from drowning only by the timely succor of the Chinook Indians who came to their rescue in canoes. But they finally agreed upon a ]:)oint for the fort. Point George, and on which the fort was built, which is now llie city of Astoi'ia. To Duncan ilcDougal and David Stuart is the honor due for founding the city of Astoria. And on the 12th day of Ajjril, 1811, twelve men of the Tonquin Astor party landed on Point George with tools and provisions and began the erection of the fort, a picture of which is given on another page. Trading, fort building and sliip building now- commenced in earnest. The Chinook Indians, under the chieftaincy of Concomly, were friendl.y and lent the white men what assistance tlicy could and supplied them with fish and game. For this the white men were grateful, and especially jMcDougal, who in a few weeks took a wife, a comel.y daughter of the hospitable chief, Concomly.
Turning now to the ship Tonquin that carried the adventuresome party around the world and founded American civilization at the mouth of the great Columbia, it is to be regretted that either damned by the evil eye and splenetic temper of Commander Thorn, or doomed b.v the irony oi fate, the ship sailed out of the Columbia and north to Clayoquot on Nootka sound on the west coast of Vancouver island, and here put in for trade with the Indians. Astor warned Thorn before he sailed from New York to beware of the Indians at this place, saying, "All accidents which have as yet happened there arose out of too much confidence in the Indians." The interpreter also warned Thorn, but all to no purpose. The Indians came on board the ship with furs to trade in great numbers, unrestrained by the precautions enforced bv other ship masters of allowing only a few Indians at one time on the ship. And Thorn being unable to trade with them on his own terms, quarreled with them and drove them off the ship in anger, striking a chief in the face with his own furs. This started the trouble. The next day the In- dians came back in still greater numbers and with more furs, conducting them- selves in most peaceable st.vle. They would trade one roll of furs but keep back another which they would not part with. They crowded the deck of the ship fore and aft. Finally, to get rid of them, and now alarmed himself. Thorn or- dered the sails unfurled and the anchor raised : then ordered the Indians to leave the ship. Each Indian arose, picked up his roll of furs, thrust his hand within it, and upon a prearranged signal out came knife and club, and with a demoniac yell they fell upon the few white men — captain and crew — and killed every man ​
106 THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OP OREGON
that could be reached in a few miuutes. The five meu who had been ordered into the rigging to unfurl the sails, seeing the slaughter droppeJ through the steerage hatchway, one being stabbed to death as he dropped down ; the other four closed the hatches over their heads, then broke through into the cabin, seized fire arms and attacked the Indians who fled from the ship in dismay. The next day the four men took a ship 's boat and piit out to sea and were never heard from after- wards. Now all the men were dead or gone in this boat with the possible excep- tion of Jaines Lewis, who was supposed to have been the first man killed, but who fell into the hold of the ship and might not have then died. At all events, the Indians believed that all were gone or dead ; and from the report of the in- terpreter whom the squaws hid and protected when he jumped over the side of the ship when the carnage commenced, and which report he made to Pranchere two years after, the Indians approached the ship next day with great caution, sailing round and round to see if any man was alive ; and finally encouraged by increasing numbers they, swarmed over the boat side until there were five hun- dred Indians aboard. Then. without premonition, with a terrible explosion the ship blew all to pieces and two hundred Indians were killed and drowned in- staiitly. The powder magazine had been reached by fire in some way, and whether it was the wounded man Lewis, having no hopes of his own life, and knowing he would surely be killed if found alive, or whether it was spontaneous combustion that fired the magazine will never be known.
Returning again to Astoria, and while the building of the fort was in progress, faint rumors were carried in by the Indians that a company of white men were building a fort far up the Columbia at a great waterfall. It was decided to find out the truth of this story ; but before a party could be spared to go up the river any great distance, two strange Indians were brought to the fort by Concomly's men, whose dress was that of the Indians on the east side of the Rocky mountains. They said they had been sent to carry a letter from Finnan McDonald, a clerk of the Northwest Company at a fort on the Spokane river, to John Stuart in New Caledonia, and losing their way, and hearing from other Indians of the white men at Astoria had come there thinking that was the place to gO to. This gave the Northwest Company away. They had rushed their men over into Old Oregon to Forestall Astor. This was discouraging news to the Astor men, for they had but slight resources to found their new posts in the interior. But they resolved to accept the challenge, hold the country, and plant post for post alongside the Nortiiwesters as long as their means would hold out. David Stuart was selected with men and Indians to start for the interior on July 15, 1811. But about noon of that day, while loading their canoes to start, a large canoe with eight white men flying the British flag swept around Tongue Point and made straight for Astoria. The Astorians were thunderstruck ; here was war and rumors of war. As the canoe touched the little wharf a distinguished gentleman stepped ashore and announced himself as David Thompson. He was politely received and hos- pitably entertained, but distinctly informed that he could not raise his flag at Astoria, for this was American territory. Thompson freely explained how he had, with a large party, been rushed to the Rocky mountains, with instructions to come over the mountains and down to the mouth of the Columbia and take pos- session of the country ; but having been snowed in at the mountains had failed to get through to the mouth of the Columbia in 1810. How little things change the ​
THE CENTKjNNIAL history of OlfEGOX 107
ciuiisr (if riiipiiT ! Had Thompson got tliroiifili in 1Sl(l. (irral lirilain wdiild have iiiailc war (in llic I'liitcd States bcfori' Kivin^' np the iiuinlli of the Colniidiia river.
l'.ul ndt willislaiidiiit; this 1 lii'calened opposilion I'l'dni the Xdrlliwest ('(Uii pany. it was decided llial S1uai1 willi liis pai'tv slumld l;(i up llie Cdlniiiliia and eslalilisii Iradinji' posts llie same as if 'I'lionipsoii had made im appearance. And accordingly on the 2:5(1 ot .lnl\. isll, David Stuart, with foMr clerks— I'cMct. l\(iss. .Montigny and .MeljclJan, with Idiir hoatmen, sailed out oi' theort ol' Astoria and np the Coliimhia aeeompanied hy Thompson and his crew, all in their light canecs and under sail, making a i)art\' ol' thirteen men, with Indian goods. |)r(i \isi(ins. arms and canoes, and Iteing the tirst small germ of the ])ri'sent vast cmn mcrce (in the great Columbia ri\'er. Stuart and Thompson kept company with each dtiiei' until they passed the Dalles, when Sttiart dropped behind Thompson and prdcecded more lcisurel\- that he might more earerully examine the eountr\ . l'ro( ding u]i the ( 'olumhia to the mouth of W'hat the Indians called the Okano- gan river. .Stnart here sto])]ied and built a fort out of drift wood logs gathered out of the river, and as a eomineneement erected a log house sixteen by twenty feet in size, and here stored his goods. From this point he sent back Pellet and .M( Lilian to Astoria ; and taking ^lontigny and two boatmen made a winter expe- dition t(i the north, leaving Alexander Ross entirely alone to spend the winter by himself as best he could. Here is courage and heroic character for history. Ross lived alone for 188 days and traded with the Indians that winter until his stock of goods was exhausted; and the net gain of his trading was 1,550 beaver skins worth in China .'til 1.250. 00 and costing his company only $165.00 in Indian goods. This was tile first expedition of white men into the Okanogan country. The As- torians were by no means idle: for the sum of their explorations in their first year in Oregon amounted to over ten thousand miles of travel. Hut their very activi- ties incurred opposition. The Chinooks that had been so friendly fell away and tired of the novelty; and besides that they disliked to hunt beaver and otter and give their skins for goods that it seemed they might take by force. So they con- cocted a plan to nuirder all the Astorians and take their goods. Indians had Clime over from Xootka and told about killing all the white men. .McDougall's royal fathei'-in-law, Concomly, absented himself from the fort; all the Indians dis- appeared in the forests; no lieaver were brought in and no fish were caught. There was a Judas in the Indian camp, and for a red shirt he gave the grand scheme away. The white men strengthened their defenses and mounted their ea'nnons. and kept guards on watch at night. But to put an end to the uprising -McDougal devised a stratagem. He sent word to the Indians that he had a great secret to tell them, something nobody knew of, and it was for their benefit alone. He knew the mortal terror the Indians had of the small-pox, and resolved to make the most of it. The Indians came by their chiefs and were admitted to the grand council chamber. Here McDougal craftily let out the .secret which the.v had been concdcting td kill the white men, saying: "White men read the stars, and Ilea)' the news in the winds, and it is dangerous to think though the white men are few they can he easily killed. .\nd although Indians killed twenty white men at Nootka, dead white man blew up the ship and killed two hundred In- ili;nis."' Then taking it I' rum the interior nf his vest with great cereiiiiiny he exhib- ited a little bottle saxing with a shuihler: "Vou have all heard uf the awftil ​
108 THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OP OREGON
small-pox. Listen to me now ; I am the Small-pox Chief. I have the small-pox liere in this bottle. If I should pull out this cork, and send it forth among you, you would all be dead men in a minute. But this is for my enemies and not for my friends." The trick was a charm. The Indians begged that the-cork be not pulled; the threatened attack on the fort was not made, and beaver pelts came in the next day in vast quantities.
And now is reached the last chapter in Astor's ill-fated venture to Astoria. After planting trading posts at many available points in the interior and doing a large and profitable business with the Indians for two years throughout much of the territory of the present states of Oregon, "Washington and Idaho, together with a large trade with the Russians in Alaska, Astor's partners and managers in Oregon were compelled to take the alternative to fight, fly or sell out to their rival, the Northwest Company. The firet overture came from John George McTavish, who came down the Columbia river flying the British flag on April 11, 1813. ^Yar had already been declared by the Congress of the Uuited States on June 17, 1812, and several battles had been fought. The representatives of the Northwest Company in Oregon had been promptly notified bj' express runner from Canada, which information had been by them passed on to the Astorians. It was impossible for Astor to send his company in Oregon any relief, and Hunt and the other partners were compelled to act wholly on their own responsibility. There can be no doubt that the Northwest Company were cpiite ready to drive a hard bargain not only to get rid of the Astor competition in Oregon, but also get the Astoria stock of furs at a big profit. But they had also to take their chances in the game so far as getting the furs were concerned. The British government had set afloat a fleet of privateers to prey on American commerce, and the cap- ture of Astoria would have made a British privateer sea captain a very rich man. Privateers were already on their way to the mouth of the Columbia river to seize Astoria ; and McTavish of the Northwest Company was aware of the fact. The Astorians could not stand out against a war vessel and must surrender if one ■ came ; or thej' must ship all their goods away to the interior, hide and take the chances of the Indians, led by white men, massacring their whole party to get the rich plunder. The Scotchmen of the Northwest Company being sub.iects of Great Britain, the British privateer could not take their property. So that the Northwest Company was put to the test of making such an offer to the Astorians as they would accept c|uiekly, or see a British privateer captiire the post and get the Astoria plunder for nothing. Nothing worries the real genuine Scotch trader so much as to have a chance to make a profit and then see another step in and take it. Every time he will take a small profit on a stire thing rather than run the risk of gaining a large profit on a gamble. Tlie British war vessels may come at any time; the chances are all in favor of their coming; if they do come they will take everything as their lawful prize. These considerations laid heavy on the hearts of the men on both sides of the bargain counter. Finally they agreed, and the whole stock of goods, furs and equipment at Astoria, and at all interior points belonging to the Pacific Pur Comi^anj' was sold to the Northwest Com- pany on October 16, 1813, for actual cost and ten per cent advance thereon. The sale amounted to $80,500.00 and the Astor people got drafts on Canada for their money. The Astor Company lost nothing but the profits on its furs, and the
THE CEXTKNNIAL HISTORY OF ORRfiOX lO'.l
This loss w:is not cluii'gi'iiljle to the coiupetiiig; comitiiny, l)ut to the «;ii' fur wliirli the foiiipaiiy was not responsible. The canny Seotehnien ol' the Xorthwcst ( nin- pan\ inadr a pnillt of ahout sixty thousand dollars on the pui'diase besides get- ting rid ('if a roiiipcl iior ; and it ran be easily imagined Imw they cracked theii' dry jokes in every i)ost Irom Astciria to Montreal as they (piatt'ed the real old Scotch whiskey and I'elatt'd Imw Ihcy got in ahead of the Hi'itish jirivatccr and beat him out of a snug fortune. The British privateer, Raccoon, entered I be ( 'o- lumbia ri\<r on the 29th of November, forty-three days after the sale to the Scotchmen, but found not a rag of American property to seize, but contented himself by running up the British flag over Port Astoria.
When the American flag was hauled down at Astoria on December 12, 1iSl:i. the name of the place was changed to Fort George, and John McDonald, a senioi- pai'tner in the Northwest Company, and who came in on the British privateer as a passenger, was made governor of the post. He also at the same time as- sumed general control of the affairs of the Northwest Company west of the Rocky ninnntaius. Governor JMcDonald did not approve of the location at Fort George, anil after making a survey of the river on both sides, decided to build a fort on Tongue Point above Astoria, and immediately commenced work thereon, Gov- ernor McDonald declaring that this Tongue Point should be made the Gibraltar of the Pacific coast — a pointer which the Astorians of 1912 should keep in mind. The governor proposed a great many other reforms in matters on the Columbia river a hundred years ago ; but not being approved by his company he returned to Canada in the Spring of 1814. ' The whole country west of the Rocky moun- tains from the California line up to Alaska was now, so far as the fur trade was concerned, under the control of the Northwest Company of Canada, and so re- mained until it was amalgamated with the Hudson's Bay Company on March 26, 1821. At that date an agreement of partnership w'as entered into between these rival British companies whereby they should share equally the profits of the fur trade in Oregon for tweut3--one yeai-s, beginning with the combined capitals and outfits of both companies then in hand in 1821. Each company was to furnish an additional equal amount of capital, and profits were to be divided eciually. Upon this basis each company contributed one million dollars to the capital stock ; and all profits over ten per cent, annual dividends on the stock were to be added to the capital until it should amount to two and a half million dollars. This capital was divided into one hundred shares, forty of which were held by the chief factors and traders, and the balance by shareholders in Canada and England. This com- bination being consummated, the king of England by royal patent, dated Decem- ber 21, 1821, granted to the united companies exclusive trade with the Indians of North America according to the provisions of the Act of Parliament of July 2, 1821, which provides for and authorized this monopoly. And in addition to this monopoly of trade, the agents of the compan.y were commissioned as justices of the peace, with the jurisdiction of the courts of upper Canada extended from the head of Lake Superior to the Pacific ocean ; and whereby everj' British sub- ject west of the Rocky mountains was guaranteed the protection of the Britisli laws. As the boundary line between the United States and Great Britain had not then been settled, the British officers under the above Parliamentary grant claimed the rights to rule the country from the California line clear up to Alaska. And under this law and authority Dr.- John McLoughlin came to Oregon in 1824 ​
as chief factor and governor of this Old Oregon country for and on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company. Under this royal grant the Hudson's Bay Comjjany as- sumed the control and monopoly of the fur trade in Oregon, and held it until ousted by the treaty of 1846 which settled the boundary line. There were a few independent trappers like Jedediah Smith, but they amounted to nothing, and had to sell their furs to the Hiidson's Bay Company.
This history of the fur trade, commencing in Canada and working across the continent to the Pacific ocean, is thus given in detail of dates and acts of the British government to show how securely and carefully the subjects and officials of the king of P]nglaud had proceeded to get and hold possession of this country under the forms of law. Secretly, stealthily, cautiously, they proceeded year by year, post by post, fort by fort, to occupy, surround, fortifiy, claim, nail up and batter down every avenue of possible access to the country, so that no Ameri- can citizen dare enter therein save at the risk of starvation or a violent death. The only mistake they made was in the selection of a broad-minded, humane man (John McLoughlin) to enforce their royal decrees. And when the tremendous odds against them is considered, the heroic examples of Jason Lee. Marcus Wliit- man, Robert Newell, Joe Meek, W. H. Gray, Medorem Crawford, Le Breton and the fifty-two immortals at Champoeg, in bearding the British lion in his Oregon den, and successfully organizing an American government in the face of this gigantic power, their acts and success seems to be more like the supernatural and miraculous than sober history.
It remains, and deserves to be considered, what, if any, services the fur com- panies have rendered to civilization and progress. The first and most patent influence observable in the great Northwest which is traceable to the fur traders, was their influence on the native races. There was some, but not a characteristic greater difference between the Indians of the great valley of the St. Lawrence reaching as it does far north of Lake Superior, and the Indians of the British and Spanish colonial settlements of the present United States. Fur trading com- menced in one section about as early as in the other. Furs were in fact about the first thing that the hard-pressed Colonists in America could sell for money. But mark the difference which history must record in the management of the Indian in these two great rival regions of North America. The French in the valley of, the St. Lawrence recognized the Indian as a man, not exactly their equal, but worthy of and deserving humane consideration. And, although the French woman would not marry an Indian, the French man would not hesitate to take the Indian woman for a wife when a woman of his own race was not available. And this practice of miscegenation of the French and Indian blood, commencing at the first white settlement on the St. Lawrence, was carried far north over upper Canada, west over the great valleys of Red river and the Saskatche\vau, over the Rocky mountains and into Oregon. And whether this proclivity of the bourgeois Frenchman to intermarry with the native Indian can be ascribed to the teachings of the early Catholic priests, to the necessities of the situation in a new and unpopulated countrj', or to the selfish interests of his employer matter but little in this review, the great fact stands out clear and incontrovertable that it was the French voyageur and trapper — the hiisband of and with his squaw — that traversed the wilderness in safety, that made and kept the peace between
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THE CENTENNIAL IIISTOin' oKi;K(;\ 111
(if |iliiiiis. I'oiTsI ,'inil uiduiilains and lirou^Hil to the kiiowli-dge ol' civili/cil mi'ii tlic wrallli (if a ciint iliclil . It was tllr lui- trade that in'odiu-l'tl this roiiiliinal inn of instinctive intelligences, and that used the same to promote its own scllish piii-- poses of gain, and w hi<'h iudifectly ojiened tile whole of Noflhwcst Amerira tn the light and tlevelopincnt of American civilization.
Now mark the tiitfcrciice. Fur trading was not yet eonlined 1o Canada and the Hritish American i)ossessious west thereof. There were fur traders from the earliest times, trading with the Indians from Plymouth Rock, Hudson river, Jamestown, St. Louis, and on west to the Rocky mountains. But these were men of a dift'erent blood and lineage. The Puritan, the Hollander, the Cavalier and the Spaniard could preach and pray the gospel of salvation to red, black and white man alike; but marry an Indian squaw ; never! The Indian was not the native fool the con(|uering races took him to be. He was not slow to see that the lordly superiorit.y affected by the men of New England and the Ohio valley was in world-W'ide contrast to the free and easy manners the Frenchman extended to him on the St. Lawrence. The Englishman and the Spaniard made the Indian feel that "between me and thee" there is a great gulf fixed. So it was a fight with the Indian on the south side of the Great Lakes from the beginning; while peace and trade flourished on the north side of those inland seas. The same feel- ing of ill-suppressed hatred for each other w^as carried w'est and over the Rocky mountains into Oregon, The English, Americans and Spaniards had continual wars with the Indians, while the Canadian, French and Scotch worked them for all they were worth and could produce in the fur trade and had no wars at all. Indian wars have cost the LTnited States people thousands upon thousands of lives, five hundred million dollars, and a century of dishonor. Trouble with the Indians never cost the Canadians a thousand dollars, and scarcely a life.
That the fur trade has lieen a civilizer on the North American continent, can- not l)e denied. While it carried fire-arms, and intoxicating liquors, and the knowledge of these death-dealing instrumentalities to a benighted, simple-minded and barbarian race, it carried also the knowledge of the power and superiority- of trade, education and religion over ignorance and barbarism.
And although the furry skins of wild animals were never an indispensable ne- cessity to civilized man in four-fifths of the earth's inhabited area, yet the idea that dress or trappings of fine furs were the distinguishing marks of wealth and nobility, made a market for these coats of the wild animals roaming in distant and almost impenetrable forests. The vanity of pride and position on one side, and the love of gain upon the other, sent the trapper into far distant wilds, over frowning cliffs and rock-ribbed mountains, traversing lonely marshes and pad- dling his canoe upon torrential streams, even nnto —
"The continuous woods, where rolls the Oregon. And hears no sound, save its own dashings. "
That the pride and vanity of the rich might be gratilied on one side to the gain of the trader and the subsistence of the trapper on the other side. And by all this strife, labor and worry new lands were discovered, settlements made pos​
112
THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON
sible, commerce developed, schools and churches established, and what is called civilization evolved.
It may be stated substantially as the truth of histoiy, that otter skins and beaver pelts opened Oregon to civilization, while the discovery of gold performed a like service for California.
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