A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 3

SECTION 14. "And be it further enacted, that nothing in this act contained shall be taken or construed to affect any right or privilege, authority or jurisdiction, which the governor and company of adventurers trading to Hudson's Bay are by law ent.i.tled to claim and exercise under their charter; but that all such rights, privileges, authorities, and jurisdictions, shall remain in as full force, virtue, and effect, as if this act had never been made; any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding."

This act, however just it may have been considered, certainly embodied a large amount of national prejudice against the people of French or Canadian birth, in exempting the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company from its influence. It had a twofold effect: the one, to check feuds among British subjects; the other, to unite them in one vast Indian monopoly,--to license this united company to go forward with their Indian political arrangements unmolested,--to punish and dispose of all intruders upon their supposed, or a.s.serted rights, as they might deem for the interest of their trade, which, according to the charter of Charles II., bearing date May 2, 1670, they were "at all times hereafter to be personable and capable in law, to have, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy, and retain lands, rents, privileges, liberties, jurisdiction, franchises, and hereditaments of what kind, nature, or quality soever they be, to them and their successors."

The whole trade, fisheries, navigation, minerals, etc., of the countries, are granted to the company exclusively; all other of the king's subjects being forbidden to _visit_, _hunt_, _frequent_, _trade_, _traffic_, or _adventure_ therein, under heavy penalties; and the company is moreover empowered to send _ships_, and to build _fortifications_ for the defense of its possessions, as well as to _make war or peace with all nations or peoples_ not Christian, inhabiting those territories, _which are declared to be hence-forth reckoned_ and _reputed_ as one of _his Majesty's_ plantations or colonies in America, called Rupert's Land.

It will be remembered that as early as 1818, a question arose between the United States and Great Britain, as to which was the rightful owner of the Oregon country. The Northwest Fur Company were the only subjects of Great Britain that had competed with the American fur companies in the discovery or trade of the country. To ignore that company altogether would weaken the British claim to Oregon by right of prior discovery and occupancy. Hence, by uniting the two companies under an ancient English charter, combining their united capital and numerical strength, discarding all doubtful subjects, and confirming the absolute power of their own British company, they could easily secure Oregon as British territory. The wisdom and effect of this policy will be developed as we proceed.

By the third article of the convention between the United States and Great Britain, signed October 20, 1818, "it is agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of the signature of the present convention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers; it being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other power or state to any part of the said country; the only object of the high contracting parties, in that respect, being to prevent disputes and differences among themselves."

This convention secured at that time the Northwest Fur Company's existence in the country, by the act uniting the two British fur companies three years later. In 1821, the privileges here secured were transferred and confirmed to the Hudson's Bay Company, who at once took the most active and efficient measures to guard against any future compet.i.tion, by a.s.sessing and setting apart ten per cent. on their capital stock, which was counted at 200,000, as a sinking fund for the special purpose of opposing all compet.i.tion in the fur trade by land or water.

The convention above referred to shows that Great Britain held a watchful eye over her fur traders in this distant country; and the act of her Parliament in 1821, that she was disposed, in a direct manner, to secure to her own people, as traders, the absolute sovereignty of the country. While Great Britain was protecting and strengthening her fur traders in North America, the American government was simply a.s.serting its prior rights to the Oregon country, founded upon its discovery and subsequent purchase in what is termed the Louisiana purchase, from France; the treaties and conventions only serving to encourage and strengthen the British claim, while they used their influence, capital, and power against all American compet.i.tion and settlement in the country.

In 1821, as was to be expected by the union of the two great British fur companies, under the license of the British Parliament, and absolute charter of Charles II., many of the servants, and especially such as were found favorable to the American fur traders, or violently opposed to the Hudson's Bay Company, were thrown out of employment. They naturally sought to continue their wild Indian trade and habits, and formed a company under the name of the Columbia Fur Company, extending their operations up the Mississippi, Missouri, and Yellowstone rivers.

In 1826, they transferred their interests to Astor's second North American Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor was the head. This company appears to have been commenced or organized in connection with Mr. W. H. Ashley, in 1823, and under his direction extended its trade to the south and west, along the Platte River, and pa.s.sed into the Rocky Mountains as far as Green River, being the first to discover its sources, making a successful trading expedition that year.

In 1824, another expedition under Mr. Ashley explored the Rocky Mountains as far south as Salt Lake, and built a fort on the borders of a small lake, to which he gave his own name. In 1826, Mr. Ashley transported a 6-pound cannon to his establishment near Salt Lake, through what has since been termed Fremont's, or the south pa.s.s of the Rocky Mountains, in a wagon. This establishment had in its employ over one hundred men, and was remarkably successful and profitable to the partners.

In 1826, Mr. Ashley sold all his interest to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, composed of Smith, Jackson, and Subleth, who extended their trade into California, and as far north as the Umpqua River, in Oregon; where Smith and his party were met by a professedly friendly party of Indians, who murdered his men, seized his furs, and delivered them to a party of men sent by the Hudson's Bay Company, under Mr. John McLeod and Thomas McKay, to receive the furs and pay the Indians for their services--as learned by the writer from eye-witnesses.

During this same year, 1827, Major Pilcher, with forty-five men, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and, in 1828-9, traversed the western portion of them as far north as Fort Colville. This fort had been established, and farming operations commenced, in 1825. This party of Major Pilcher were all cut off but two men, besides himself; his furs, as stated by himself to the writer, found their way into the forts of the Hudson's Bay Company.

In 1828, the brig _Owyhee_, Captain Demenses, and the schooner _Cowrey_, Captain Thompson, entered and remained nearly a year in the Columbia River, trading with the Indians. They were owned in Boston.

In 1830, the British ship _Isabel_ was lost on Sand Island--the second known to have been wrecked on the bar, or in attempting to enter the river. The crew were all saved, and it was the opinion of the company at Vancouver that, had the crew remained with the ship, no great loss would have been sustained.

In 1832, Captain Bonneville, of the United States army, on furlough, started, with over one hundred men, on an expedition into the Rocky Mountains. He crossed the mountains, and reached the Wallawalla Valley, on the Columbia River; but, through the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, his men were nearly all induced to leave him, so that he was obliged to abandon his property, and his expedition was a total failure, except the little scientific knowledge of the country gained by it.

To charge the failure of Captain Bonneville directly to the Hudson's Bay Company would not be strictly true; but their great influence over the Indians was sufficient to prevent them from furnishing his party with food or horses, while he was within reach of their forts. Hence, many of his men became dissatisfied, and left him, till his party became too weak to effect their return to the States with their valuable furs and property. These eventually were lost, or fell into the hands of the Indians, and through them, his furs reached the Hudson's Bay traders'

establishments.

This same year, 1832, Captain Nathaniel Wyeth, of Ma.s.sachusetts, started on an exploring expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River, with a view of establishing a permanent trade in the Oregon country. He traveled across the continent and gathered all the information requisite for the undertaking, and returned to Boston in 1833; and in 1834, having completed his arrangements, chartered the brig _May Dacre_, and dispatched her with his own, and the goods of the Methodist Mission, for the Columbia River.

The same year, some Flathead Indians, from a tribe in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, went to St. Louis, and, through Mr. Catlin, an American artist, made known their object, which was to know something more of the white man's G.o.d and religion. Through the representations of these Indians, the Methodist Episcopal Society in the United States established their missions in Oregon, and the American Board sent their missionaries among the Nez Perces, which, as will be seen, was the commencement of the permanent settlement of the country. It appears from the facts, briefly stated, that there had been eleven different trading expeditions and companies, besides the Northwest and Hudson's Bay companies, that had sought for wealth by making fur-trading establishments in Oregon. All of them, including the Northwest and Hudson's Bay companies, have retired from it, but the American missionaries are residents of the country, and their influence and labors are felt, notwithstanding other influences have partially supplanted and destroyed the good impressions first made upon the natives of the country by them. Still civilization, education, and religion, with all the improvements of the age, are progressing, and the old pioneer missionaries and settlers that were contemporary with them, with a few exceptions, are foremost in every laudable effort to benefit the present and rising generation.

In the month of March, 1833, a j.a.panese junk was wrecked near Cape Flattery, in the then Territory of Oregon, and all on board, except three men, were lost. Those three were received by Captain McNeal on board the British ship _Lama_; taken to Vancouver, and thence sent to England. Rev. Mr. Parker gives this, and another similar wreck on the Sandwich Islands, as evidence of the origin of the natives of those countries. But we give it for another object. The three j.a.panese were taken to England, and, during their stay, learned the English language, were sent back to Macao, and became the a.s.sistant teachers of Mr.

Gutzlaff, the English missionary at that place, and were the means of opening their _own_ country to missionary and commercial relations with other nations.

Captain Wyeth, with Revs. Jason and Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, and P. L.

Edwards, the first missionary party, together with Doctor Nutall, a naturalist, and J. K. Townsend, an ornithologist, sent out by a literary society in Philadelphia, all under the escort furnished by Captain Wyeth, crossed the mountains and reached the plain formed by the Portneuf and Snake rivers. At their junction Captain Wyeth stopped, and established Fort Hall, while the missionaries and scientific men of his party, in company with an Englishman by the name of Captain Stewart, and a party of Hudson's Bay traders, under the direction of Mr. McLeod and McKay, proceeded to Fort Nez Perces (present name, Wallula). Thence they traveled in Hudson's Bay _bateaux_ to Vancouver.

Captain Wyeth established his post on the Snake River, by erecting a stockade of logs, and quarters for his men, and then proceeded to the lower Columbia to receive his goods, which arrived in the _May Dacre_, Captain Lambert, from Boston, about the time he reached Fort William, on what is now known as Sauvies Island, a few miles below the mouth of the Multnomah River, now called the Wallamet.

Rev. Mr. Lee and party made their first location about sixty miles from the mouth of the Wallamet, near what is now called Wheatland, ten miles below Salem.

Captain Wyeth received his goods, and commenced his trading establishment, but found that, notwithstanding he was personally treated by the princ.i.p.al officers of the Hudson's Bay Company with great courtesy, yet it was evident that every possible underhanded and degrading device was practiced, both with the Indians and with his men, to destroy, as much as was possible, the value and profits of his trade.

In the spring and summer of 1835 he supplied his Fort Hall establishment with goods.

During the year 1835, the Hudson's Bay Company erected a temporary post about twelve miles up the Boise River, designed to counteract and destroy as much as possible the American fur trade established by Captain Wyeth, who continued his efforts less than three years; and, having lost of the two hundred men who had been in his employ _one hundred and sixty_ (as stated to Rev. Samuel Parker), and finding himself unable to compete with this powerful English company, he accepted Dr. McLaughlin's offer for his establishments, and left the country in 1836.

In 1835, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent Rev. Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman to explore the Oregon country, with a view of establishing missions among the Indians west of the Rocky Mountains.

These two missionaries reached the American rendezvous on Green River, in company with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company's traders, under the direction of Captains Drips and Fitzpatrick. From the American rendezvous Mr. Parker continued his explorations in company with, and under the protection of the Nez Perce Indians, till he reached old Fort Wallawalla, now called Wallula; thence he continued in canoes to Vancouver, while Dr. Whitman returned to the United States to procure a.s.sociates to establish the Nez Perce mission.

CHAPTER V.

Extent and power of Hudson's Bay Company.--Number of forts.--Location.--Policy.--Murder of Mr. Black.--McKay.--Manner of dealing with Indians.--Commander of fort kills an Indian.--Necessity of such a course.--Hudson's Bay Company not responsible for what their servants do.

Having briefly traced the operations of the two foreign fur companies in Oregon, a knowledge of the location of their several trading establishments will enable the reader to comprehend their power and influence in the country.

Fort Umpqua was located in the extreme southwestern part of Oregon, near the mouth of the river bearing that name. It was a temporary stockade built of logs, overlooking a small farm in its immediate vicinity, was generally occupied by a clerk and from four to eight Frenchmen.

Fort George (Astoria) already described.

They had a farm and small establishment at the mouth of the Cowlitz, and a more extensive farm some twenty-five miles up that river.

Fort Vancouver,--a stockade, six miles above the mouth of the Multnomah, or Wallamet River. This fort was the general depot for the southwestern department, at which their goods for Indian trade were landed, and their furs and peltries collected and shipped to foreign markets. There was also a trading-house at Champoeg, some thirty-five miles up the Wallamet River.

On the left bank of the Columbia River, near the 46 of north lat.i.tude, stood Fort Nez Perces, called Wallawalla, now Wallula,--a stockade, accidentally burned in 1841, and rebuilt with adobes in 1841-2.

On the left bank of the south branch of the Columbia, or Snake River, at the junction of the Boise, was located Fort Boise, built formerly, in 1834, with poles; later, with adobes.

Continuing up Snake River to the junction of the Portneuf, on its left bank we find Fort Hall, built by Captain Wyeth; a stockade in 1834; rebuilt by the Hudson's Bay Company, with adobes, in 1838.

Thence up the Columbia, Fort Okanagon, at the mouth of Okanagon River, formerly a stockade, latterly a house or hut; and up the Spokan some twenty miles, was the old Spokan Fort, built by Astor's Company, a stockade with solid bastions.

Continuing up the Columbia to Kettle Falls, and two miles above, on the left bank is Fort Colville, formerly a stockade, still occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company.

Thence up the Columbia to the mouth of the Kootanie River, near the forty-ninth parallel of lat.i.tude, is the trading establishment called Kootanie House. Thence returning south, and ascending the Flathead (Clark's) and Kootanie rivers, into what is now Montana Territory, is, or was, the hut called Flathead House. Still higher up on the Columbia was a small establishment, called the boat encampment, or Mountain House.

Entering the country by the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, we find Fort Nasqualla, formerly a stockade. Proceeding up Frazer River to near the forty-ninth parallel, upon the left or south bank of the river is Fort Langley, an extensive stockade. Thence up that river about ninety miles, half a mile below the mouth of the Coquehalla, is Fort Hope, a stockade. On the right bank of the Frazer, sixteen miles above, is Fort Yale, a trading-house.

Thence proceeding up the Frazer, and on to the waters of Thompson River, is Fort Kamloops; still further north and east, extending into New Caledonia, are Forts Alexander, William, Garey, and Abercrombie.

On the southeastern part of Vancouver Island is Fort Victoria, formerly a stockade. On the north side of the island is Fort Rupert, a stockade, still in good repair.

On the mainland, near Portland Channel, is Fort Simpson. At the mouth of the Stiken River, on Dundas Island, was formerly Fort Wrangle, a stockade. Recently the establishment has been removed some sixty miles up the Stiken River, and called Fort Stiken.

This, as will be seen, gives the company twenty-three forts and five trading-stations. In addition to these they had trading-parties extending south to California, southeast to Fort Hall and into Utah and Arizona, east into the Blackfoot country (Montana) and the Rocky Mountains, and north into New Caledonia and along the northwestern watershed of the Rocky Mountains.

They also had two steamers, the _Beaver_ and _Otter_, to enter all the bays, harbors, rivers, and inlets along the western coast of our country, from Mexico on the south, to Russian America on the north, employing fifty-five officers and five hundred and thirteen articled men, all bound, under the strictest articles of agreement, to subserve the interests of that company under all circ.u.mstances; being strictly forbidden to acquire any personal or real estate outside of their stipulated pay as servants of the company, and were subject to such punishment for deficiency of labor or neglect of duty as the officer in charge might see fit to impose, having no appeal to any source for redress, as the original charter of Charles II., confirmed by act of Parliament in 1821, clearly conferred on the company absolute control over the country they occupied, and all in it.

As a matter of romance and adventure, many statements are made of conflicts with Indians and with wild animals, all terminating favorably to the interests of the company, confirming and strengthening their absolute power over all their opponents; but as they do not properly belong to a work of this character, they will be omitted, except where they may be brought to ill.u.s.trate a fact, or to prove the principles and policy of the company.