The Illinois free trader and LaSalle County commercial advertiser. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1841-1843, 1843-04-21

attention 10 agriculture and lumber. The
factors have cultivated large farms in con-
nec,ion with all their establishments.
That at Vancouver produced, five years
ago, over eight thousand bushels of wheat,
SIX thousand bushels Of barley, six thou
sand bushels of oats, nine thousand bush
els Of peas, fifteen thousand bushels Of
potatoes, and immense quantities of tu'-
nips, pumpkins, melons, and all the Gull
nary vegetables. The orchard is filed
with apples. pears, ounces and plums.
Ii has also fine grspery, which yields
fruit equal TO those in France. In fact, il
produces all that want or luxury could
desire. A garden of five acres is laid out
in beautiful order, as well as stored with
almost every variety of vegetables and
flowers. In it are figs, citrons, oranges,
pomegranales, cotton plants, and all the
more common fruits. They have large
stock of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs,
which multiply abundantly, and require
very little attention. Connected with the
farm is a large Touring and saw-mll a
few miles above, close on the bank Of the
Columbia, so near that vessels can load
directly from it.
The treatment of American riSitors by
DR.. Mclaughlin, the chief factor, was
formerly very gentlcmanly and hospila-
BILE. Recent movements have somewhat
changed his feelings and conduct, as well
as that of all the factors of the company.
They are now very watchlul of strangers,
though in their presence they still profess
friendliness, if only pisiting. Mr.. Kelly
says: Before had been long in the
country, learned that the factor and his
agents were preparing, in every arIsul way.
to render my abode there uncomfortable
and unsafe. The most preposierous ca
lumnies and ISLANDERS were set on foo, in
regard TO my character, conduct, and de-
signs. All my movements were watched,
and, IN some instances, was threatened
with violence, by persons who had been
instigated, as | had reason to believe, by
the company. Had been willing to
place myself under the control and direc-
ton Of the company, all would have been
peace; but SO long as | was resolved to
act independently, as on American on
American soil, seeking authentic informa-
ton, for general diffusion, and pursuing
an avowcd purpose of opening the trade
of the territory to general competition,
and the wealth Of the country TO general
participation and enjoyment, so long was
an object of dread and dislike to the
grasping monopoliss Of the Hudson Bay
Company"
The testimony of all Americans who
have visited Oregon for trade agrees in
charging upon the company direct and
hostility 10 their success. Mr..
Kelly says again: =" While | was At Van
couver, in that year (ls3i,) the American
ship Europa, Capt, Allen, Of Boston, was
on the coast. The Hudson Bay Com
pany, in pursuance OF their regular policy,
Immediately fitted ont the brig Llama, and
instructed her captain, Mcneil, (as he
himself informed me, TO follow the Euro
pa from port TO port, and harbort TO harbor,
and drive her of the coast at any sacri-
flee, by underseling her, no matter what
her prices, wherever she should open a
trade. 1t has been declaredby Mr.. Simp-
son, who is at the head Of the company's
marine, that they are resolved, even at a
cost of haadred thousand pounds, to
expcl the Americans from the coast"
Mr.. Slacum tells MS that " the Indians
are taught to believe that no vessel but
the company's' ships is allowed to trade
in the river, and most Of them are afraid
to sell their skins but at Vancouver or
Fort George; Of this have positive evil
dence from the Indians themselves, as
well as from the remark made by the chief
trader Mcleod, aboard the Llama in
Bakers Bay"
AS soon as the company learned that
the Americans had established n trading
post at Fort Hall, just west of the Rocky
Mountains, and hundreds Of miles "south"
of the Columbia they dispatched party
to counteract their operations by building
a fort Of the mouth Of the Big Wood River,
not far below them. Nowhere can an
American attemptto trade with the natives
without meeting competitors in the agents
of that company.
The reason why American enterprise
canno, establish direct commerce with
Oregon is perfectly plain. No individual
can compete with such vast and thorough
ly organized monopoly, which has SCI,
apart and consecraled TO It's unholy pur-