CONTENTdm
The Oregon Territory
British Columbia Historical Books Collection
Nicolay, C. G. (Charles Grenfell)
"Supplement on British Columbia, pp[227]-237: A brief summary of events from the Oregon Boundary settlement to the Palliser expedition."-- Strathern, G. M., & Edwards, M. H. (1970). Navigations, traffiques & discoveries, 1774-1848: A guide to publications relating to the area now British Columbia. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 219.
[1]-237 pages : map, illustration, advertisement ; 15 cm
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OREGON TEREITORY. THE OREGON TERRITORY GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL ACCOUNT OF THAT COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS, WITH OUTLINES OF ITS HISTOEY AND DISCOVEEY. BY THE EEV. C. G. NICOLAY, BRITISH CHAPLAIN AT BAHIA, MEMBER OP THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, AND LATE OP KING'S AND QUEEN'S COLLEGE, LONDON. o*' eeonir ISirttton, fottj Supplement. HODSON AND LONDON: ION, 22, PORTUGAL STREET, LINCOLN'S* INN. I860. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I. OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY . CHAPTER II. DESCRIPTION OF COAST AND HARBOURS . . .41 CHAPTER III. TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS . CHAPTER IV. PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE INTERIOR . ... 87 CHAPTER V. DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR CHAPTER VI NATURAL PECULIARITIES CONTENTS, CHAPTER VII. Page NATIVE TRIBES—MANNERS, HABITS, &c.; . . .139 I"" CHAPTER VIII. SKETCH OF THE FUR TRADE—HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, &c ., f. . . 158 |£e o ^4y''^^ri CHAPTER IX." SETTLERS IN OREGON 177 CHAPTER X. NATURAL PRODUCTIONS—COMMERCIAL CAPABILITIES. 193 CHAPTER XI. , CONCLUSIOxV 211 MAP • • [To face page 102 THE OREGON INTRODUCTION. Not long since a very general ignorance prevailed respecting the western coast of North America, and no less general apathy. With the idea of Nootka Sound was associated only that of some subterraneous habitations, their roofs supported by cylindrical heads of colossal dimensions, festooned with fish and black with smoke, inhabited by mat- covered savages. The valley of the Columbia was but remembered as the abode of famine, separated by the fastnesses of the Eoeky Mountains, guarded by an army of grizzly bears, from the civilisation of the East; or if perchance some note emanating from the diplomatists on either side of the Atlantic appeared in the newspapers, or some notice was given in the national assemblies, the confusion of various statements and conflicting claims left but a very vague notion on the mind as to what the Oregon territory Was—or what it was worth—what its history, its condition, or future prospects. Now the case is altered: not only do solitary travellers and residents entertain us with their experiences, and commanders of exploring expeditions speaking, as it were, ex cathedra, give more positive descriptions, while the untiring pen of the diplomatist ^tlll runs on, making perhaps, by his deep and zea- ,fT~ 8 INTRODUCTION. lous researches after right and title, confusion only worse confounded; but our periodical, nay, our daily literature teems with reviews, paragraphs, letters, leaders, until the Oregon, the Columbia, Vancouver's Island, the Straits of Fuca, the 42 and 49 parallels, Admiralty Inlet, and Bullfinches* Harbour, are familiar as household words, and we seem to have a personal acquaintance with the worthies of the western coast, from old Apostolos Valerianus himself and his Strait of Anian, to the stately Spaniards and persevering Englishmen who more perfectly discovered the coast, and their worthy successors, whether English or American— Why then, it may be asked, increase the number ? Let it be sufficient to reply—the potage, a la Meg Merrilies, which so excited the worthy Dominie's olfactory nerves and gastronomic propensities, derived its savour, not from the virtue of a single ingredient, but from the combined good qualities of many. The peculiar interest arising from the desire of knowledge implanted in the human mind, and the love of novelty consequent upon it, which attaches itself to the idea of a new country as such, exclusive of anything national or personal, make the inquiry into its comparative excellences, whether of climate, situation, or produce, an agreeable occupation to all. But when, in addition to this, there is an interest arising from connection, whether physical or local, such inquiries cannot fail to excite in the mind corresponding emotions. If this be true, there are few countries whose history should command more attention than that of the Oregon territorjr; for to it in its strongest application must connection, as a source of interest, INTRODUCTION. appertain, not less on account of its own intrinsic value, the salubrity, fertility, and beauty of the country, than the superior facilities its situation as well as its character afford for agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. Its circumstances are peculiar. Among the many startling phenomena of modern history, perhaps none is more remarkable than the widely-extended dominion to which the Anglo-Saxon race has attained, and more particularly the development of its energy in that democracy which, arising out of the comparatively small colonies of Great Britain on the east coast of, America, has stretched out her Briarean arms, like those of her own rivers, over the length anol breadth of the land until she embraces in them by far the more valuable part of the entire North American continent; and having reached her utmost limits north and south, there is scope for further progress only towards the west. In the same direction, if not with the same energy, because wanting in the same variety of sources from which it proceeds, the acquired colonies of Great Britain in the north, more essentially English in their character and habits, are following those which, originally of her own planting in the south, but modified by foreign ingredients and local circumstances, have become a nation differing essentially in character and in constitution, until, meeting on the shores of the Pacific, the boundary between them has to be traced across the continent. The connection therefore between England and the United States is of the closest possible kind ; of the same origin, there is scarce one, if there be one, among ns who must not recognise there some ties of kindred and affection; or if this is wanting, at the b2 10 INTRODUCTION. least none can be uninterested in the progress of civilisation, arts, and sciences, which it has been the honoured office of our race to spread over the world, and in the kindred spirit of the institutions which it has established, recognise that relationship where it cannot otherwise be traced, and look forward to the consummation of our destinies as the harbingers of that peaceful reception of the gospel of Christ by the world at large which all long for and all look forward to with hope. The natural intimacy which now exists between the two nations, so well becoming their relationship to each other, quickened as it is by the rapidity of the communication which steam has established, the mutual dependence it must generate, and the social interests it must originate, serves to heighten and expand those feelings; so that it might well have been anticipated that nothing could ever arise with sufficient power to disturb the harmony of their political And commercial relations, but that, encircling the globe, the mother and daughter, hand in hand, should shed over less favoured nations the blessings of their united influence, and, strong in that union, preserve, against all who would infringe it, the peace which it is their interest no less than their duty to maintain —how much desired and striven for by all right- hearted men, but how liable to be broken by the predominance of pride, avarice, and ambition, still so fatally prevalent in the world I It not unfrequently happens that those means which should be conducive to the attainment of any object are, by the perverseness of man, converted into a serious obstacle to it; and so in this case it seems not unlikely that the commercial superiority INTRODUCTION. possessed by England and the United States over all other nations, which should be the means of their spreading religion and civilisation, peace and prosperity over the face of the globe, may interfere to stop their progress, and the very energy which has given them their present position be the cause of its destruction. The progressive propensity of their common nature seeking advance to anything however distant, if only of apparently possible attainment, though doubtless a wise dispensation of the Creator, and, if applied to its proper purposes, as beneficial to others as to themselves, is also one which, bringing with its gratification incitement to many irregular and unnecessary desires, may well feed the flame it should be instrumental in extinguishing. From the earliest ages, before the ships of Solomon traded to Ophir every three years for gold and silver, ivory, apes and peacocks, the trade of the East has raised above its fellows that state which possessed it: in turns it has enriched Phoenicia, Arabia and Palestine, Turkey, Venice, Portugal, Spain, Holland, and England; and in turn all but our own country have fallen in the scale of nations with its loss, and nothing has so frequently been the cause of strife and contention among commercial nations, as indeed the strenuous efforts making at the present time by France and Austria to secure the passage of the high road to the East through their respective territories, sufficiently evidence. It was the desire for the acquisition of this trade that animated the voyagers and travellers of the middle ages with an ardour peculiarly their own, and led to the knowledge of the continent on that account called the New World. 12 introduction. Its possession, which has elevated our merchants to an equality, not in wealth only but in power, with the princes of the earth, that by inflaming the animosity of Napoleon Buonaparte against them, led to his first check and ultimate defeat, may now prove the apple of discord between those whose circumstances no less than their origin should incline them to unity and concord. The success which has attended our endeavours to open the trade of China, round which ignorance and prejudice had erected such apparently impassable barriers, while it has directed the attention of the world to that quarter of Asia especially, has considerably narrowed the interval which separated it not from Europe so much as America, and to this the flood of emigration continually setting towards the west has not a little contributed ; so that the countries which were the extreme limits of commercial intercourse are now in close proximity, and the trade which has till now been carried round the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn must soon find a more direct route across the Pacific, at least for the supply of the interior of America, if the bulk of it do not return to its old channel by the union of that ocean with the Atlantic, a contingency which the possibility of a north-west passage round America, and of crossing the isthmus which unites its north and south continents, either by a canal or rail-road, renders doubly imminent, and which must consequently form an element of all calculations which have any connection with that trade. The initiative having thus been taken by England, may probably have added to the warmth of feeling produced by collision of interests, and the survev of that chain of colonies with INTRODUCTION. which she all but girdles the world, have excite the suspicion that, by securing to herself the westei coast of America, she intended to unite its two ers by a firm and steadfast clasp, and become whait was desired for one of her kings, by a poet moS patriotic than euphonious in his verses— —— that he should be Lord round about and ruler of the sea ; and indeed many things in her former policy misat seem to confirm this supposition; and these cS- siderations have doubtless served to quicken tie desire of the United States for territories in ada| tion to the vast extent of surface they have acquired, and which they have not even now the means of occupying—formed a powerful inducement to purchase Louisiana, and urged them on to the occupation and annexation of Texas, which latter had the more value as it more nearly approached the Pacific—originated their demands on Mexico for an approach to it through her territories, and on Great Britain for the whole of that tract called Oregon, who, with becoming moderation, though asserting at least an equal claim to the whole, is willing, from a sense of justice, to require but an equal share of its soil and an equal participation in the advantages its situation affords. That these circumstances, which unite to give commercial and political importance to the west coast of America, are not exaggerated, may be conceded, when it is remembered that India has contributed her share to the political discussions on the subject, and concentrating in itself, as at does at the present moment, the interests of the United States, the Canadas, and Great Britain; 14 INTRODUCTION. the one for her advancement, the other for self- defence, and, as of necessity concerned in their iltimate decision of the subject (involving as it hust do the peace of the world), the interest of all ivilized nations. The condition and character of the country ind its inhabitants cannot fail to be a subject >f inquiry with all who can appreciate the import- nce of its situation. Nor will the inquiry disappoint their expectations. The Oregon territory 1' not dependent on its locality alone for subjects* •cf interest. It will be found to fall short of but rery few countries either in salubrity of climate, fertility of soil and consequent luxuriance of vegetation and utility of production, or in the picturesque character of its scenery; and not inconsiderable must be the interest attaching to the voyagers and travellers by whose exertions they, have been made known to us, especially when we find the most successful among them not only those of our race, but of our country. Nor is this all:—the course of its history has placed it for a long period under the control of a commercial company, a peculiarity unknown except in British India, and which, incorporated like the East India Company for the purposes of trade, has yet exerted a most benevolent and beneficial authority over dominions larger than many an independent kingdom, and which, consequently, has exercised a great, and doubtless is exercising, and will exercise, a still greater influence not only on the political aspect of North America, but of the islands of the Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and China, reflecting back through them upon every part of the world; and, therefore, whether we look at INTRODUCTION. 15 the original discoveries by which the Oregon territory was made known, its character, past history, or future prospects, there cannot but be found food for much useful and interesting reflection. Induced by these considerations, it is the object of this volume to give a familiar account of the character and history of this territory, with as little reference to the political movements which have been made respecting it as possible; and it is prer sumed the questions—'What the Oregon is ? What it is worth ? and What are its present circumstances ? will find their solution in its pages, and give some indication of what are its future prospects. To the desire, to avoid political discussion must be attributed the absence of notice of diplomatic correspondence, the comparative meagreness of the history of voyages, and the entire neglect of one important branch of history, viz., that which treats of the effect of individual actions upon the world at large; still it is*believed that nothing is omitted which could be instrumental in assisting to a sufficient knowledge of the truth respecting it, whether as regards discovery or occupation, though the uncertain effects of treaties are not more within its province than the labyrinths of diplomatic correspondence. With respect to its final destiny it may be sufficient to remark, that the very amalgamation of interests from which the dispute arises, no less than the daily increasing feeling of dependence on each other which is drawing all parties nearer together, joined to the circumspection this nearer approach of opposite elements must of necessity generate, while it delays action and increases hes| tation as to any course to be pursued, insures at th same time the utmost vigour and energy in accon? b 3 16 INTRODUCTION. plilhing it when oriole determined on; and to this w#inay with confidence look as the security for lie Reservation of Our interests in the West, as it Mas been the source of our present national prosperity, restraining or increasing the power of the* ^^t^ntryl whether%o!itical or commercial, like the !%all-governor of a steam-engine, by its command Over the^sources from whence it proceeds. There %lugft"att%e present day to be no doubt that the principles o#Justiee and equity, not deduced from antiquaied and abstract notions of right, but as between man and man, must ultimately triumph over fraud ted faction; it can scarcely be conceived possible that, Mowing as all do the loss to all which necessarily follows any war, no less than the miseries' it mus% occasion, any civilized nation will wantonly incur them. Peace can, however, only be lasting if based on truth, and even truth must be known to be appre- ^ated ; c€Si@$6lfeg ^ccdunts only create doubt and distrust, and few have time or inclination to balance them,—to refuse the evil and choose the good: if? therefore, the present volume contribute even in a small degree to this so desirable end, it will have^ answered a sufficient purpose; it professes no merits but careful collation, little information but what is derived from sources of general access, but it does profess to set forth the truth, so far as it can be obtained from the conflicting statements of different parties. A predisposition towards one opinion, or bias to one side of an argument, too often warps both the judgment and the understanding; and one man in consequence sees fertile plains where another could see only arid wastes on which even the lizards INTRODUCTION. 17 appear starving, while the other looks forward to their being covered with countless flocks and* herds at no very distant period of time^ Both Cook and Vancouver, having previously made up their minds against the existence of a>|g$er near parallel 46°, passed the Columbia without perceiving it, and the former even declared mosjydecidedly that the strait seen by Juan de Fuca had/ ijs origin only m the fertility of the pilot's Wain^ A|^thev' were, discovered to be in error^M^ipp^ not; impossi^lp 4iliat others not les^poWwe ^ thSirj^sertioMSilx be convicted of the sameCarelessness of examination as those navigators, Sd^enttfkable^M^^^fll^,. respects for their accuracy^|na\^^fti^^^aJMe and minute in the£*^jgE|§fe^^ left to theirsuccesl&rs but^ jcfeck th^worl^ With respect, howey^*, to tffi attrffigted barren^ ness of great part of ^^ ^eJfce^i^^i^Q"perem|ptorily insisted on by many, PftSre i^ffimeexcuse fortifier earlier travellers'^from whom i^^dm^o^yy^jved. Ignorant of the*tpst rout^| aim^fr&t^m^ famishing in the immediate feignoS&hooCQAlenty, they most justly reflect badP|o%ffier^ they received; but in so awn^lnoug^^e^speak truth, they give vify erfB^ous I^^r^T^ie country they think themselve^J|p be d||cribing raqsj| accurately, and of this $3§f pregnant examplej^are found in the travels of Lewis and Clarke, and the party who came overland to Astoria : both struck the head waters of the Sap tin, both continued its course to its junction with the main stream, both suffered — the latter party intensely ; but had they, by the fertile bottoms of Bear and Eoseaux rivers, found access to the valley between the Cas- <jade and Blue Mountains-—or, keeping still further 18 INTRODUCTION. west, crossed the former range into that of the Wallamette, they would have found game, and grass, and wood, and water in abundance, the word sterile would have been banished from their pages, and the Oregon would have appeared in her holiday attire— " A nymph of healthiest hue—| and the depth of ravines and the elevation of rocks and precipices would have been changed into the unerring evidences of fertility and luxuriance of vegetation afforded by the dense forests and gigantic pine-trees of the Coast district. We can scarce estimate the transition of feeling and change which would have been produced in their estimate of the country, if they could have been suddenly transported from their meagre horse-steak cut from an animal so jaded with travel as to be in all probability only saved from death by starvation and fatigue, by being put to death to save overwearied men from famine, and this cooked at a fire of bois de vache, with only the shelter of an overhanging rock, to the fat venison and savoury wildfowl of the woods and lakes, broiled on the glowing hardwood embers under the comfortable roof of sheltering bark, or the leafy shade of the monarch of the forest; while the cheerful whinny of their now well-fed beasts gave joyful token that Nature in her bounty had been forgetful of nothing which her dependent children could desire. While such and so great is the power of circumstances to vary the impressions made upon the senses, some hesitation must be used in their reception until fully confirmed, or they must be limited by other accounts, as unbiassed judgment may direct, especially as the temperament of individuals INTRODUCTION. 19 may serve to heighten the colouring, whether sombre or sunny, in which circumstances may have depicted the landscape. It is not every traveller who can, with Mackenzie, expatiate on the beauty of scenery while in fear of treachery from fickle and bloody savages; or like Tremont, though dripping from the recent flood, and uncertain of the means of existence even for the day, his arms, clothes, provisions, instruments, deep in the whirlpools of the foaming Platte, stop to gaze with admiration on the " fantastic ruins I Nature has " piled " among her mountain fastnesses, while from his bare and bleeding feet he draws the sharp spines of the hostile cacti. Truth from travellers is consequently for the most part relative. Abstractedly, with reference to any country, it mtest be derived from the combined accounts and different phases of truth afforded by many. Such is the endeavour of this work, and such it is hoped may be its result. ml (20 ) CHAPTER I. '? 1 OUTLINE OJF DISCOVERY. The continent of North America may now be di- *vided into five parts— The British dominions on the north-east, The United States on the south-east, The Eussian territory on the north-west, and The territory in dispute between Great Britain and the United States, called the Oregon, on the south-west, And to the south of all, the Californias and Mexico, which unite it to the southern continent. The most remarkable features of both North and South America are the rivers and mountains,—the former for their size and number, and the latter not only for their size, but on account of their position, running in an almost unbroken chain from the northern to the southern extremity, leaving on their east side an immense breadth of country open to the rivers, four of which, the St. Lawrence, with its lakes and tributaries, the Mississippi, the Amazon, and Plate (the Eio de la Plata of the Portuguese), not to mention those flowing into the Northern Ocean, are among the largest in the world; and but a narrow strip to the west, wider in the northern than the southern continent, sufficiently so indeed to give space for several rivers, but still narrow compared to the extended plains to OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY. 21 the west. These mountains are called in the southern continent the Andes, and in the northern by the several names of the Anahuac, Oregon, or Rocky Mountains, of which the term Anahuac applies only to the southern part of the range, while the latter is used throughout its whole length; and that of Oregon must be limited to the part which lies between parallels 42 and 54, and divides the United States and lower part of Canada from the Oregon territory, and is so called from having throughout that distance the sources of the largest river of the West, the Oregon or Columbia, within its rocky bosom. These peculiarities will help to account for the direction taken by the flood-tide of discovery which, at the end of the fifteenth century, bore Columbus to the New World, and which rolling first north and south from the Gulf of Mexico along the coasts of the Atlantic, and then flowing round Cape- Horn and crossing the narrow ^isthmus which divides it from the Pacific, spread along the southern coast of that ocean, and eventually to the northern; but the object which he, as well as the other early navigators and those who sent them forth, had in view, must not be forgotten, as it influenced even to a greater degree the course of discovery. That object was to secure, by means of the seas, the trade of the East Indies, which, hitherto carried on overland, had enriched the west of Asia and east of Europe, and had latterly raised the small republic of Venice to an equality with the great monarchies of the Old World. For this purpose the Portuguese had long been engaged in exploring the coast of Africa to the southward; and having obtained from Pope Niclp1nn ^ j| 22 THE OREGON. .grant of all countries to the east, excluded oth|£ nations from participating in the advantages ejf a route in that direction, if they should discover one. Thus barred from the object of their wishes by an easterly course, the conviction of the rotundity of the earth's surface, which the dawn of science had revealed to some, excited the hope that a way might be found to the west; and when at length, in 1492, the islands known as the West Indies were discovered by Columbus, they were so named on the supposition of their forming part of the continent of Asia, from whence Europe had hitherto procured her precious stones and metals, spices, #jlks, and other valuable merchandise•; and of the extent and riches of the eastern kingdoms, of which travellers had brought back such marvellous accounts as might well,'—in an age when the minds of men were peculiarly open and accessible to novelty, when the arts and sciences were in the vigour of youth, and literature, stimulated by the discovery of printing, making rapid strides, and every indication of expansion and advance being evident ^>n the face of society,—as might well stimulate the exertions and endurance necessary to the outfit and conduct of the numerous expeditions despatched in that day for this purpose. The success of Columbus having secured the centre of America to the Spaniards, and indeed all lands discovered to the west having been granted them by the pope, as those to the east had been to the Portuguese, all who were bold enough to disregard his authority were forced to seek new lands, if not the riches which the East and West Indies produced, in other directions. Foremost among those, the English, under John Cabot and his OUTMNE OF DISCOVERY. 23 son Sebastian, in 1497, first reached the shores of the northern continent of America, which they called Nova Vesta (Newfoundland), and probably the Strait of Labrador, now called Hudson's Strait, the Portuguese navigator, Gaspar Cortereal, having, in 1499 or 1500, first reached its bleak and desolate shores. The partition of the ocean between the Spaniards and Portuguese was limited to a meridian line- passing 370 leagues west of the Cape Verd Islands. In 1499 the latter, sailing round the south part of Africa, now called the Cape of Good Hope, established themselves in the commerce they had thus opened with the East Indies; but having about the same time, in their endeavours to reach those parts by a western course, discovered the Brazils, finding them beyond the meridian prescribed, they took possession, thus establishing themselves also* on the western coast of America, which the Spaniards had hitherto looked upon as their own. The value of the countries thus discovered by them, no less than the constant assurance given* by their inhabitants of a great sea and rich countries toward the setting sun, added new vigour to the adventure of both nations; and in 1513 Vasco Nunez de Bilboa, governor of the Spanish settlement at Darien, beheld for the first time the vast expanse glittering in its golden light. His discovery of the proximity of the two oceans naturally induced the supposition that they were connected, and in the endeavour to ascertain this, the fact of their separation, at least in that quarter, was fully ascertained. The search was now directed north and south, and in 1520 Fernando Magellan, or Magelhaen—a Portuguese, but in the service o§ I 24 THE OREGON. Spain — discovered the strait which now bears his name;,and sailing triumphantly through it to the ocean discovered by Bilboa, continued his voyage to the East Indies. It was named by him, from its state when he entered it, the Pacific Ocean. By the Spaniards under Hernando Cortez, in 1513, the rich and powerful empire of Mexico was discovered, and shortly after Peru by those under Pizarro ; and their attention being absorbed by the value of these acquisitions, the East Indies were left for the present to the undisputed possession of the Portuguese. The energies of the thousands of ardent spirits whom the news of their discoveries attracted to the west, found full employment under these active leaders, and especially under Cortez, who caused diligent examination of the Mexican coasts to be made; and even after having been superseded in his government, he sent several expeditions to the north from his own port, Tehuantepec, one of which he commanded in person. In these California was discovered; and his lieutenant, Don Francisco de Ulloa, traced the gulf on iboth sides, and ascertained that it was not an island. Subsequently the Spaniards discovered the Colorado river, and, traversing the Floridas and soutfy of the Arkansas, descended to the mouth of the Mississippi. Among the leaders of these expeditions, Fernando de Soto was conspicuous. Failing in all these to discover the rich countries that had been anticipated, or a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific, attempts were again made on the coast, and in 1543 Bartolomi Ferrelo reached a cape which he called Cape Perils, or Stormy Cape, in lat. 44° by solar observation, q£ course dependent on the inaccurate computations of these days. The OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY. 25 limit of his discovery is* uncertain. It had, however, the effect of inducing the Spaniards to discontinue the search; but some time after, having -seized the Philippine Islands, and ascertained the practicability of a voyage from Asia through the Pacific by taking a northerly course, they succeeded at length in attaining the object of their endeavours, and opening a trade with Eastern Asia, and their galleons commenced their annual voyages, conveying the produce of the eastern continent to Europe by the path they had opened across the Western. This offered a temptation too strong to be resisted by such as were not sharers in the booty; and the English, encouraged by their Queen, and un- awed by the Papal bull or the power of their adversaries, attacked on all sides the Spanish settlements on the Atlantic, and thus originated Flibus- tiers or Buccaneers, so famous in the naval history of that age, who, at first private adventurers, afterwards united in organised bands under chosen commanders, and spread terror and devastation throughout the new world, and their crimes and cruelties even yet glitter in the meretricious rgilding of their romantic adventures, and their names—better known than the conquerors of later 'date—are still the terror of the people of these ^countries. » But the harvest afforded by the Atlantic did not long content them, and in 1575 they crossed the isthmus of Panama in search of plunder, but without success ; shortly after, the famous Sir Francis Drake, having sailed through the straits •of Magellan, appeared on the Mexican coasts. With the rich booty he had obtained, in 1579 he endeavoured to discover a north-east passage home, 26 THE OREGON. but having reached the 48th, or as some say, only the 42nd parallel, was forced by the cold to return, when, finding shelter in a bay below lat. 38°, he received from the native chief formal cession of the country surrounding it, which he called New Albion. Two things must be taken into consideration in determining how far north Drake1 really sailed; his observations for the latitude, and his account of his voyage. The first could scarcely be depended upon if it stood alone, but it is con* firmed by the narrative, for such cold as is described in the account of his voyage, allowing sufficiently for amplification, would not, probably, be felt in a lower latitude than he asserts. We find the land, from lat. 46, gradually trending westward until the shores of Vancouver's island, in lat. 48 J°,. " run continually to the north-west I—to use his own words, "as if it went directly to meet Asia;" and if in addition we consider that the variation of the compass is there 21° E., it will be apparent that the coast which with that deduction bears north by west, would, without it, be full northwest, thus making good the account of Drake, and confirming to that navigator the honour of discovering the coast of the Oregon territory ; and it may be remarked by the way, as a collateral proof, that Sebastian Viscaino gives the same account of the north-west direction of the land above lat. 42°, in his second voyage; and the Eussians, so late as 1774, in a work published by order of the government, have given a north-west direction to the whole coast from California. The only objection to this determination in favour of Drake arises from the supposition that if so, he must have sailed* through six degrees of latitude in two days; bufe *M" OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY. 27 this is entirely gratuitous, for the " famous voyage*' expressly tells us, " the 5th day of June, being in 43° N. p. e. having sailed about 1 degree in a day and a half), we found the air so cold that our men complained ; and the further we went the more it increased upon us; wherefore we thought it best for that time to seek the land, and did so, finding it not mountainous till we came to 38 degrees toward the line;" where it is obvious that the date is given to show the peculiar severity of the season, for there is no more mention made of the time occupied in sailing the 5 degrees south than in the uncertain distance they proceeded north of 43 degrees. Nor does the unusual cold they, experienced—probably much exaggerated in the accounts, and rendered more severe by their recent cruise between the tropics—-invalidate this, for the proximity of the range of snowy mountains to the coast, throughout its whole length between those parallels, is quite sufficient to confirm it. The account therefore given in the 1 World Encompassed,' " We searched this coast diligently, even to the 48th degree," may be so far relied on. Driven back, however, by the prevailing northerly winds, Drake returned to England by the south. Second only to Drake in the terror his name inspired, was Thomas Cavendish, who circumnavigated the globe in 1587 ; in this voyage, near the southern extremity of California, he took the Spanish Manilla galleon, i Santa Anna,' with a rich cargo, and setting the crew on shore burnt the ship; but she driving on shore, her crew succeeded in repairing and refitting her sufficiently to enable them to reach the opposite coast. . Among these " Confessors of Mammon" were two—Sebastian 28 THE OREGON. Viscaino and the pilot Juan de Fuca, now both deservedly celebrated as discoverers on these coasts— the former making two voyages in 1596 and 1602; and the latter, being sent by the viceroy of Mexico on a voyage to the north, immediately on his arrival there, after this escape, but returning without success, sailed again in a small vessel in which he followed the coast west and north-west until he came to lat. 47°; and then, " finding the land trending north and north-east, with a broad inlet of the sea between 47 and 48 degrees of latitude, lie entered thereinto, and sailed therein more than twenty days, and found that land trending still sometimes north-west, and north-east, and north, and also east and south-east, and very much broader sea than was at the said entrance, and he passed divers islands in that sailing. Being entered thus far into the said strait, and being come into the north* ern sea already, and finding the sea wide enough everywhere, and to be about 30 or 40 leagues wide at the mouth of the straits where he entered, he thought he had well discharged his office, and therefore set sail and returned to Acapulco." Ee- ceiving no further encouragement from the Spaniards, whose interest it now was not to open any path by which other nations might reach the Pacific, Juan de Fuca returned to Europe, being a Cephalo- nian by birth, and by name originally Apostolos Valerianus. At Venice', meeting with Michael Lock, an English merchant of eminence and erudition, he related this his discovery, and his being taken in the (j Santa Anna;' and while he was anxious to be indemnified for his losses at that time, he offered to command an expedition to be sent to examine the said Strait of Anian, of which extra^ ordinary reports had been circulated, as forming a OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY. 29 connection between the Atlantic and Pacific, and which he did not doubt but that he had discovered. Mr. Lock strove hard to interest the English government—through Sir Walter Ealeigh and others —in his favour, but without success, and the old man died; his story was discredited until later discoveries had gone far towards its confirmation, nothing appearing to confute it; the allowance of the variation of the compass being made to account for that westerly trending of the coast which he, like Sir Francis Drake, notices. The anxiety to discover a north-west passage to the Pacific doubtless originated the many false reports prevalent at this time, of such a strait called the Strait of Anian; and Urdaneta, Maldonado, and others did not hesitate to assert that they had sailed through it, the latter even offering a card or chart descriptive of it. But it has been well observed " that, while the accounts of all such voyages yet made public, are now known to be as false, with regard to the principal circumstances related, as those of the discovery of the philosopher's stone, or the elixir vitse, current at the same time in Europe, and the former, like the latter, had their origin, generally, in the knavery or vanity of their authors, though some of them were evidently mere fictions, invented for the purpose of exercising ingenuity, or testing the credulity of the public; yet, as the conviction of the possibility of transmuting other metals into gold, and of prolonging life indefinitely, led to the knowledge of many of the most important facts in chemistry, so did the belief in the existence of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific serve to accelerate the progress of geographical discovery and scientific navi- 30 THE OREGON. i gation." Like the assertions of the empirics in science, the pretended discoveries of Urdaneta and Maldonado, and afterwards of De Fonte, attained a fictitious importance, but for a time only ; while the real discoveries of De Fuca receive an additional lustre from the discovery of their falsity, as the advance in the sciences is estimated the more from the knowledge of the futility of the endeavours which led to it. Yet in his day De Fuca received no help towards prosecuting his discovery, and died unnoticed — an instance of the frequency with which, in this world, posterity affords that tardy justice to men of merit which has been denied them by their contemporaries. The fear of opening a passage to other nations deterring the Spaniards, and the attention of the English, French, and Dutch being turned to the eastern side of the American continent, where they had made permanent settlements, or, as they were called, plantations, and still more by the hope of success in finding a north-west passage to the Indies by Hudson's Bay and Baffin's Bay, both which had been discovered in the course of the voyages which, originating in the false reports before mentioned, had been undertaken with, now at length, every appearance of future success, in a quarter where even till now the hopes and labours of succeeding navigators have been alternately revived and frustrated, and from whence even yet the palm of honour may reward the successful adventurer; for many years consequently the coasts of Western America north of lat, 42° remained unvisited, for though the Jesuit missionaries established themselves in California, they went no further, and the commanders of the Spanish galleons, in their annual OUTLINE OT DISCOVERY. 31 voyages, were too anxious to get into port with their valuable cargoes to think of sailing' north of Cape Mendocino, which was their point for making the coast; but the acquisition of Canada by Great Britain, and her growing power in North America, making the discovery of a north-west passage daily more important to her, and more to be feared by the Spaniards, it became an object of importance to them, if such a passage existed, to be the first to occupy its western entrance ^ as a preliminary step to this they increased the naval power of Mexico, and established settlements on the western coast of California ; of these the principal were at San Francisco, Monterey, and San Diego. In 1774, in pursuance of this design, Juan Perez was sent, and with him Estevan Martinez, as pilot to examine the coast from the 60th degree of latitude southward to Cape Mendocino, but they only succeeded in reaching lat. 54°, when they discovered land, which Jhey named Cape San Margarita : this is supposed to have been the west side of the island now called Queen Charlotte's by the British, and Washington by the American navigators. Sailing southward, Perez again made land, lat. 49° 30', and discovered a deep bay between two high points, which he named Port Lorenzo, supposed to have been that afterwards named by Cook King George's, and now universally termed Nootka Sound. Sailing still southwards, in lat. 47° he observed a lofty mountain covered with snow, which he named Sierra Santa Eosalia, and thence returned home without further discovery. The accounts of this, however, cannot be entirely depended upon, the Spanish government having o £2 THE OREGON. caused the destruction of those officially made, and therefore the discovery of Nootka Sound has been by general consent assigned to Captain Cook in 1778. On the return of Perez, the vicerov of Mexico -immediately despatched another expedition, consisting of two vessels, which proceeded to the north,-^- the Santiago, under the command of Captain Bruno Heceta with Juan Perez as ensign, and the Sonora^ a small schooner, under that of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Passing Cape Mendocino, they entered a roadstead which they named Port Trinidad, and took possession of the country with the usual formalities, erecting a small cross with an inscription, which was found when Vancouver visited the place in 1793. Proceeding north, they again found land in lat. 48°: here seven men belonging to the schooner were murdered by the natives, and the point off which they were at the time named Des Martires, and an island, the only one of consequence on the coast, called " De Dolores," in memory of the event. Near this place part of the crew of "the Imperial Eagle of Ostend were massacred some years later, and the •island obtained the name of Destruction Island: it is in lat. 47° 42', just above Point Grenville. This movent, and the breaking out of the scurvy among 4he crews, induced Heceta to wish to return: this was opposed by the other officers; but taking advantage of a storm which occurred shortly after, Heceta bore up and returned to the south, while Bodega, with insubordinate but perhaps praiseworthy determination, continued his voyage. Heceta proceeding south made Port San Lorenzo, and passing the Straits of Fuca without perceiving, although he is said to have sought them in the I OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY. 3& right direction, arrived opposite an opening in 46° 7', which the outward current prevented his entering ; this he named Assumption Inlet, and it is considered to have been the mouth of the Columbia or Oregon, the largest river of all Western America,.: which is called in the Spanish charts Esenada de Heceta, Heceta's Inlet, or Eio de San Eoque, from the day on which he left it, being the day after its discovery, from which he himself had named it Assumption. This was the 15th of August, 1775. Still proceeding southward, he marked the positions of the principal head lands, and returned to California. Seeking, according to their instructions, to make the 65th parallel, Bodega and his company came in sight of a conical mountain covered with snow, andr landing in a bay to the north, attempted to take possession of the country by erecting, after their custom, a cross; this, however, the natives pulled' down and destroyed; they then proceeded along the coast to the 58th degree of lat., when sickness and violent winds compelled them to return. They now commenced their endeavours after the discovery ofr the river | Des Eeyes," by which de Fonte, in his fabulous voyage, was said to have penetrated far into the continent, and which was one principal object of their expedition. In this they were unsuccessful ; nor do they appear to have examined the* coast with any minuteness; they however landed in a harbour, named by them Port Bucarelli,. in lat* 55^°, where they took possession, and after a few other unimportant observations they returned to California, having for the first time entered the bay of La Bodega, near San Francisco, so named after the commander of the expedition, without c2 34 THE OREGON. having succeeded in the object of their voyage, viz. the discovery of an entrance into the continent towards the east. In 1778 the English appeared again on the coast; and in 1779 another Spanish expedition, under Arteaga and Bodega, was despatched to the newly discovered Port Bucarelli; but, as an American writer naively remarks of this voyage, | a short notice will suffice, as all the places discovered in the course of it had been visited and ■minutely examined in the preceding year by the English under Captain James Cook." To the Eussians we owe much of our early information respecting this coast. While the power of Spain was on the decline, and the attention of England directed to her plantations on the Atlantic coast and her newly opened trade with the East Indies, Eussia having, through the energies of Peter the Great, taken rank among the kingdoms of Europe, and stretched her sceptre over Asia to the Pacific, fully aware of the commercial importance of a direct communication with America, had traced the north coast of Asia for a very considerable distance, and having formed settlements in Kamschatka, had Opened a trade with China; the Empress Kathe- rine, not less alive than her predecessor to the importance of the subject, in 1728 fitted out a small vessel in Kamschatka, which was placed under the command of Alexander Behring, who was instructed " to examine the coast north and east, to find whether they were contiguous to America or not; and then to reach, if possible, some port of the Europeans in the same sea." He sailed, tracing the coast as far as lat. 67° 18', and finding it then take a westerly direction, without -u» OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY. 35 land to the north or east, he concluded he had discovered the north-east point of Asia, and had ascertained the fact of its separation from America. These conclusions time has fully verified, and the? strait has universally been named after him, Behr— ing's Strait. The next year Behring attempted to* reach the American continent, but was driven back; but Martin Spangberg, who had been his lieutenant, passed between the Kurile Islands ten years afterwards, and in the interim the north coast of Asia had been traced in various voyages and journeys to the point whence Behring had returned on his first voyage. This stimulated the Eussians to another attempt towards the east; and in 1740 Behring was commissioned, by the Empress Anne, to search for* the western continent. He sailed in 1741, in two vessels, the St. Peter and St. Paul, built for the purpose in Kamschatka; but the St. Paul was almost immediately separated from her consort, and Behring proceeded on his voyage alone ; and under? the 60th parallel discovered, at a distance of eighty miles, a mountain, supposed to be that now called Mount St. Elias. Here Behr ins: determined to return, which he did, tracing the coast and islands westward, until his course was impeded by the peninsula of Aliaska, where turning south-west, he followed the course of the archipelago to lat. 53, wben storms arising, " they were," he says, " driven about, a sport for the winds, in misery, destitution, and almost despair ;" till at last making land they determined to winter on a small island. Here Behring and thirty of the crew died, and the survivors having made a small vessel with the wreck of the St. Peter, returned to Kamschatka. This island is in lat. 54^ to 55i, about eighty: miles.. 36 THE OREGON, from Kamschatka; it is still called Behring's Island. By this voyage some important geographical information was acquired, and a stimulus to further exertions, for the skins of the animals taken during their winter sojourn on Behring's Island fetched such high prices as to induce many of the seamen to return for more. From this small beginning a trade of some importance sprung up, which, in 1766, claimed the attention of the Eus- sian government, who despatched an expedition of inquiry, and another in 1768, to the north-west coast of America, neither of which produced any important geographical result. The extension of the British dominions in Canada and consequent importance of a communication with the Pacific induced the government to offer a reward of 20,000/. for the discovery of a west passage to the north of the 52nd degree of latitude ; and an expedition was fitted out to make the attempt from the west; the command of this was given to the famous James Cook, and his instructions were to sail for New Albion (which was evidently considered British territory), and then proceeding north to lat. 65°, to endeavour, above that parallel, to discover the wished-for passage, and to take possession of such places as were either uninhabited, or had not been discovered by any European nation. His search was to *be limited towards the south by parallel 65, because, before his departure, the discovery of the Copper- Mine Eiver having its mouth in the North Sea under that parallel had been made by Mackenzie, and consequently the impossibility of any passage to the south of it, across the continent, placed beyond doubt; and this knowledge may account for the OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY,; 61 carelessness with which Cook examined the coast in 46°, 47°, and 48°, for passing the river Columbia and the Straits of Fuca, without perceiving them, he entered Nootka Sound, where he remained to examine and refit his vessels. In passing Cape Flattery, he remarks, " it is in this very latitude that geographers have placed the pretended Strait of Juan cle Fuca; but we saw nothing like it, nor is there the least probability that ever any such thing existed." From this point the discoveries of Cook established the fact of there being no opening into the North Sea until Behring's Straits. But the voyage had another effect, in opening the fur trade with China, for after the deaths of Cook and Clarke, the ships returning to England, put into Canton, and a ready mart was found for the skins which had been collected, to the amount of 10,000 dollars. This becoming fully known at the end of the war, in which Great Britain was then engaged with the United States, France, and Spain, the Eussians were the first to profit by the discovery by forming settlements on the more'northern coasts, the enterprise of the English being fettered by the monopoly of the trade of the Pacific, conveyed by the charters of the South Sea and East India Com- panys; some few voyages were however made under the flag of the latter, and by private adventurers under that of Portugal, and in 1785, by the vessels of a company styled King George's Sound Company, under licence from the South Sea Company, who carried their furs to Canton, to be disposed of by the agents of the East India Company, according to agreement with them. These voyages 38 THE OREGON. however produced no further knowledge of the* coast; but in 1787, Berkeley, an Englishman, commanding the Imperial Eagle, under the flag of the Austrian East India Company, at length discovered that broad arm of the sea, the existence of which, so long before reported by Juan de Fuca, was now, for the first time, placed beyond dispute. He did not, however, enter it, and nothing else worthy of notice occurred during his voyage, except the massacre of his boat's crew on Destruction Island, as before mentioned. From this period the independence of the United States having been acknowledged, the Americans engaged actively in the trade of the North Pacific, and the voyages made on this account have been the origin of the political disputes respecting the Oregon territory, but as the object of this work is a historical and geographical, and not political account of the territory, it will be sufficient to state such particulars respecting them as have direct relation to discovery. In 1789 an American trader named Gray, sailed round the island now named Queen Charlotte's, and gave it the name of his sloop, Washington ; he afterwards entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and sailed in it south-south-east for fifty miles; it is also stated, though on not very satisfactory evidence, that the same sloop, under the command of one Kenrick, subsequently sailed through the whole length of the Strait, and to 55th degree north, ascertaining the insular character of the country in which Nootka Sound is situated.' In 1790, the Spaniards having* taken possession of Nootka and the coast generally, two vessels, the Discovery and the Chatham, under the command of Captain Vancouver and Lieutenant OUTLINE OF DISCOVERY. ;9 Broughton, were despatched, under the authority of a convention with the Spaniards, to receive the cession of them from their officers in the Pacific. They arrived on the coast in 1792, and in the interim the Spaniards made some progress in ascertaining the character of the Strait of Juan de Fuca; one of their officers, Lieutenant Quimper, having, in 1791, proceeded to its eastern limit, and ascertained the-position of the principal openings of the coast in that direction, though it does not appear that he entered them. In the autumn of the same year Captain Gray, in the Columbia, visited the more northern coasts, and explored a canal in lat. 54° 33', which is supposed to have been that afterwards named by Vancouver Portland Canal, and wintering at Clayquot Sound, near Nootka, proceeded southward in the spring, when he fell in with Vancouver and Broughton, after which he discovered Bullfinches' or Gray's Harbour, between the Strait of Fuca and Columbia Eiver in lat. 46° 58', and the day following entered the mouth of that river, and sailed up it about ten miles, from whence he proceeded in boats some fifteen miles further, and after some delay, succeeded in his endeavour to get to sea. He gave it the name it now bears, and which Vancouver continued on that account, being that of his brig the Columbia, she having been altered from a sloop since her "first voyage. Vancouver and Broughton having passed the Columbia Eiver without perceiving it, entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, making a minute survey of the continental shore, the first that had been attempted, and which has been in use among voyagers from that time. Having surveyed the southern branches they proceeded north- c 3 40 THE OREGON. ward, and in the Gulf of Georgia met the Spanish exploring vessels under Senors Galiano and Valdez,, which had been previously despatched from Nootka,. and had surveyed the eastern coast of Vancouver Island ; with them, having surveyed the continental shore to lat. 51° 57' he returned to Nootka; from thence proceeding southward, he caused Mr. Whid- bey to survey Gray's or Bullfinches' Harbour, and Mr. Broughton the Columbia Eiver, which he did for upwards of one hundred miles to a point which* he named Point Vancouver. In 1794 Vancouver completed his survey of the coasts north of 51° 57', and expressed himself well satisfied that the precision with which it had been conducted would remove every opinion of a north-west passage within* its limits, since which time little has been done by succeeding navigators but to substantiate his discoveries. The result of the knowledge of the coast thus obtained will be detailed in the next chapter. u«j ( 41 } CHAPTEE II. DESCRIPTION OF COAST AND HARBOURS. Prom Cape Mendocino, where a spur from the Snowy Mountain range meets the coast line, to lat. 42°, one and a half degree to the northward, the boundary conceded to America by the Spaniards in 1819, and where, according to their authorities, the Oregon territory commences, and from thence to the mouth of the Columbia in lat. 46° 20', the coast presents a range of lofty hills descending to the shore in sandy cliffs and beaches, through an undulating, hilly country, clothed with luxuriant forests. Its line is broken by projecting headlands rising precipitously from the sea, round which numerous rocks are scattered, the principal of which are Cape Orford, Cape Foul weather, and Cape Look-out, and by the mouths of the rivers Clamet and Umqua, and some others of less consequence, which here fall into the sea, but afford no shelter to vessels; so small are the openings which they present, that from the sea the coast appears entirely unbroken, insomuch that Vancouver sailed close to the shore without perceiving any indication of a harbour or the mouth of a river throughout its whole length, and indeed he passed the Columbia itself without being: aware of it. This, however, must have happened more from the peculiarity of its situation and character than its insignificance. It is in truth a noble river, 42 THE OREGON. but from the rapidity of its course through the mountains, and the quantity of debris which its waters carrv with them, its mouth is too much choked with banks of sand to be ever available, as a port of the first class. Its entrance, between Cape Disappointment on the north and Point Adams on the south, is in width about seven miles, spreading north and south, and forms two deep bays; but Chinook Points the eastern extremity of the northern bay, projecting before the entrance, and Point Adams concealing the true entrance of the river, between Point Chinook and Point George, where it is above five miles wide, the estuary belowr being formed by the- on one junction of the mouths of two small rivers, the south and another on the north, with that of the Columbia, gives a continuous appearance to the coast. The bar is, at the deepest point, not. more than from four and a half to five fathoms,, and the banks of sand of which it is composed,, stretching five or six miles into the sea, together with the current of the river, cause a very violent swell, and the water breaking on the height of the banks from each side, one line of breakers overlapping the other, gives the appearance of an unbroken line of foam, rendering the entrance even more dangerous in prospect than it is in reality, although all authorities agree as to its difficulty, and Lieut. Wilkes, who visited it in command of the late exploring expedition from the United States, gives it as his opinion that it is only accessible for three months of the year. It is,, however, for more than this, but the shallowness of the water on the bar, no less than the intricacy of the channel, must always unfit it for the resort COASTS AND HARBOURS. 48 of large vessels. In the two bays above mentioned there is indeed good anchorage in from five to seven fathoms, but being exposed to the run of the sea they are not safe stations for shipping. The entrance of this river has been well known and much frequented both by the vessels of the Hudson's Bay Company and American traders since its discovery, and its principal features have been several times laid down in charts; but as they all differ more or less from each other in the positions of the bar and sand-banks, it is to be presumed that they are of a shifting character, and therefore the continuance of the present capacity of this entrance cannot be depended upon. In this opinion M. Duflot de Mofras coincides. The sandbanks occupy the middle of the river for twenty- five miles above its entrance. On the south side a narrow channel was supposed to terminate at Tongue Point, about ten miles from Point Adams, until Lieut. Wilkes ascertained the existence of one beyond it far better than that generally used, which is on the north, affording a clear though narrow passage for ships to Calumet or Kallamet Island, to which the course of the river is nearly east and west. This island divides the river into two channels for five miles, and Puget's Island extends immediately above it for three more, and for ten miles further the river is impeded by several islands and sand-banks as far as Mount Coffin, a conspicuous eminence on the north shore, and a burial-place of the Indians, above which it receives the waters of the Cowelitz Eiver, about fifty miles from the sea. To this point its course is circuitous; from thence its direction is north-west and south-east for about ten I THE OREGON. SE" v"i; * miles, when it again bends east and west till it receives the waters of the Wallamette or Multo- nomah from the south, upwards of eighty miles from its mouth.* This river enters it in two channels, separated by the Island of Wappatoo (so called from an edible root with which it abounds) : it is about nine miles long and five above the east mouth. On the north side of the river is Fort Vancouver^ the principal settlement of the Hudson's Bay Company, above which the stream narrows in its passage through the mountains, and is broken by rapids and cascades. To this point the river is navigable for large vessels, being 1700 yards wide and six fathoms deep. About ten miles from the mouth of the Columbia, on its north shore, is Eed Eock, the western extremity of Gray's Bay, so named from Gray the American merchant captain who first entered it; protected from the west by this and Point Ellice, it has tolerable anchorage. About Point Adams, at the south of the entrance, the land is low and sandy, but increasing in fertility as it recedes from the shore. On Point George, at the opposite or north side of the bay formed by the mouth of Young's Eiver, bearing E.S.E. six miles, stands Fort George or Clatsop, the Astoria of the Americans. The history of this settlement will be given in another chapter. From this river, called, it is said, by the natives Oregon, and which has thus given its name to the territory ; and by the Spaniards Heceta, from the navigator of that name, who is said to have first * M. Duflot de Mofras says by the river 120. wm COASTS AND HARBOURS. 45 perceived its mouth, as before-mentioned—large exportations of furs have been made yearly by the Hudson's Bay Company to England, and some smaller quantities have been sent by the Americans to China and the United States; there is now also a flourishing trade carried on with the Sandwich Islands and other parts of the Pacific in lumber and shingles, and here the Eussian vessels and others trading on the coast are supplied with provisions ; it has hitherto been the principal if not the only port of this district, because the numerous branches of the Columbia have been the roads by which the peltries (furs), the chief and at one time the only exports of the country, were brought to the sea. With a change of circumstances its position must change also, and the emporium of the West must be looked for elsewhere. Cape Disappointment, to the north of the mouth of the Columbia, is a high rocky bluff covered with pine-trees, joined to the main land by a low narrow strip of sand, to which it slopes gradually: its latitude is 46° 19. From the mouth of the Columbia forty-five miles of unbroken coast reaches Whidbey's Bay, called by the Americans Bullfinches' Harbour, and not unfrequently Gray's Bay, which, with an entrance of scarce two miles and a half, spreads seven miles long and nine broad, forming two deep bays like the Columbia ; here there is secure anchorage behind Point Hanson to the south and Point Brown to the north, but the capacity of the bay is lessened to one-third of its size by the sandbanks which encroach on it in every direction. Like the Columbia, its mouth is obstructed by a bar which has not more than four fathoms water, and as it stretches some three miles to seaward, with breakers 46 THE OREGON. on each side, extending the whole way to the shore, the difficulty of entrance is increased. It lies nearly east and west, and receives from the east the waters of the river Chikelis, having its rise at the base of the mountains, which, stretching from Mount Olympus in the north, divide the coast from Puget's Sound. From Whidbey's Bay to Cape Flattery, about eighty miles, but two streams, and those unimportant, break the iron wall of the coast, which rising gradually into lofty mountains is crowned in hoary grandeur by the snow-clad peaks of Mount Olympus. Cape Flattery, called also Cape Classet, is a conspicuous promontory in lat. 48° 27'; beyond it, distant one mile, lies Tatouches Island, a large flat rock, with perpendicular sides, producing a few trees, surrounded by rocky islets: it is one mile in length,, joined to the shore by a reef of rocks, and a mile further, leaving a clear passage between them, is a reef named Duncan's Eock. Here commences, in lat. 48° 30', that mighty arm of the sea, which has been justly named from its first discoverer, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and which we have seen Cook pass without perceiving it, indulging at the same time in an unworthy strain of confident exultation over the old Greek pilot, who had so long: before opened the pathway for the future fleets of the Pacific to the emporium of Western America. The entrance of this strait is about ten miles in width, and varies from that to twenty with the indentations of its shores, of which the northern,, stretching to the north-west and south-east across the entrance, gives an appearance of continuity to its line on the Pacific. Eunning in a southeasterly direction for upwards of one hundred COASTS AND HARBOURS. 47 miles, its further progress is suddenly stopped by a range of snow-clad mountains, at the base of which, spreading abroad its mighty arms to the north and south, it gives to the continent the appearance of a vast archipelago. The southern shore of this strait is described by Vancouver as being composed of sandy cliffs of moderate height, falling perpendicularly into the sea, from the top of which the land takes a further gentle ascent, where it is entirely covered with trees, chiefly of the pine tribe, until the forest reaches a range of high craggy mountains which seem to rise from the woodland in a very abrupt manner, with a few scattered trees on their sterile sides, and their tops covered with snow. On the north the shore is not so high, the ascent more gradual from thence to the tops of the mountains, which are less covered with snow than those to the south. They have from the strait the appearance of a compact range. Proceeding up the strait about seventy miles, a long low sandy point attracted Vancouver's attention; from its resemblance to Dungeness, on the coast of Kent, he named it New Dungeness, and found within it good anchorage in from ten to three fathoms: beyond this the coast forms a deep bay about nine miles across ; and three miles from its eastern point lies Protection Island, so named from the position it occupies at the entrance of Port Discovery. Vancouver landed on it on the 1st of May, 1792, and thus describes its appearance:—" On landing on the west end, and ascending its eminence, which was a nearly perpendicular cliff, our attention was immediately called to a landscape almost as enchantingly beautiful as the most elegantly finished pleasure- war 48 THE OREGON. grounds in Europe. The summit of this island j)resented nearly a horizontal surface, interspersed with some inequalities of ground, which produced a beautiful variety on an extensive lawn covered with luxuriant grass and diversified with abundance of flowers. To the north-westward was a coppice of pine trees, and shrubs of various sorts, that seemed as if it had been planted for the purpose of protecting from the north-west winds this delightful meadow, over which were promiscuously scattered a few clumps of trees that would have puzzled the most ingenious designer of pleasure-grounds to have arranged more agreeably. While we stopped to contemplate these several beauties of nature in a prospect no less pleasing than unexpected, we gathered some gooseberries and roses in a state of considerable forwardness." Lieut. Wilkes, who visited this spot in April, 1841, writes thus:—j 6i The description of Vancouver is so exactly applicable to the present state of this port, that it is difficult to believe that almost half a century has elapsed since it was written. The beautiful woods and. lawns of Protection Island remain unchanged. The lawns produce the same beautiful flowers and shrubs, and although they are surrounded by dense woods, do not seem to have been encroached upon by their luxuriant growth, although there is no- apparent reason why it should not long ere this have overrun them." He adds, " tins island covers Port Discovery completely to the north, and would render it easily defensible against the most formidable attack." From this island, lying at the entrance of Port Discovery, commences the maritime importance of the territory, with, says Vancouver, as fine a har- COASTS AND HARBOURS. 49 bour as any in the world, though subsequently he awards the palm to its neighbour Port Hudson; and among the many harbours on the coast in more northern latitudes, which afterwards presented to him their varied advantages, it is probable he found others as worthy. But, in truth, little more can be desired than this affords; for in addition to the roadstead, which, protected by the island before named, affords secure anchorage in deep water without rock or shoal, the harbour itself extends above nine miles inland in a partly winding direction north and south, with an average width of something less than two miles, shoaling from thirty- six fathoms at one-half its length to twenty-eight and three-quarters, and thence gradually to seven at its extremity, where it receives the waters of a considerable stream. Its shores and scenery have been thus described by Vancouver. j| The delightful serenity of the weather greatly aided the beautiful scenery that was now presented; the surface of the sea was perfectly smooth, and the country before us presented all that bounteous nature could be expected to draw into one point of view. As we had no reason to imagine that this country had ever been indebted for any of its decorations to the hand of man, I could not possibly believe that any uncultivated country had ever been discovered exhibiting so rich a picture. The land which interrupted the horizon below the north-west and north quarters seemed to be much broken, from whence its eastern extent round to south-east was bounded by a ridge of snowy mountains, appearing to lie nearly in a north and south direction, on which Mount Baker rose conspicuously, remarkable for its height and the snowy mountains <50 THE OREGON. hill that stretch from its base to the north and south. Between us and this snowy range, the land, which on the sea-shore terminated like that we had lately passed in low perpendicular cliffs, or on beaches ol| sand or stone, rose here in a very gentle ascent, and was well covered with a variety of stately forest trees: these, however, did not conceal the whole face of the country in one uninterrupted wilderness, but pleasantly clothed its eminences and chequered the valleys, presenting in many directions extensive spaces that wore the appearance of having been cleared by art, like the beautiful island we had visited the day before. A picture so pleasing could not fail to call to our remembrance certain delightful and beloved situations in Old England." Both the approaches to this port, round the extremities of Protection Island, are perfectly free from obstruction, and about a league in breadth. Separated from Port Discovery only by a narrow slip of land from a mile and a half to two miles broad, which trending to the east protects it from the north and west, is Port Hudson, having its entrance at the extremity of the point on the east side, but little more than one mile broad; from which the harbour extends, in a semicircular form, for about four miles westward, and then trending for about six more, affords excellent shelter and anchorage for vessels in from ten to twenty fathoms, with an even bottom of mud. It is to be remarked that Mr. Wilkes makes this harbour only three miles and a quarter long, but it may be presumed that the measurement refers to the lower part only. Its eastern side presents a very peculiar feature, being formed of two narrow tongues of land en- COASTS AND HARBOURS. 51 closing a narrow canal of equal length with the harbour, and having " a snug little port" at the northern, and a passage for boats at their southern extremity, practicable from half flood to half ebb, but dry at low water. These tongues, projecting into the arm of the sea which bends south from the strait of Juan de Fuca, are almost isolated, being washed on the south side by the water of a deep bay, in which also there is secure anchorage, and forming altogether a combination of maritime advantages rarely, if ever, to be met with elsewhere. Here nature seems to have made meet preparation for the future foundation of the capital of the west, and " here," says an American writer, j whatever course emigration may for the present take, the commercial operations of the territory will eventually centre ;" the great rise and fall of the tides offering unsurpassed facilities for building maritime establishments, and the passage of the strait being never obstructed, while the country affords every inducement to occupation and cultivation, the soil being, for the most part, a light sandy loam, in many places of very considerable depth, and abundantly mixed with decayed vegetables. The vigour and luxuriance of its productions sufficiently attest its fertility ; it abounds with all useful timbers; the woods are filled with game, and the waters teem with fish, and are covered during the season with aquatic fowl; the hills contain iron, and coal is not far distant, so that there is no want even of civilized man which its prolific soil does not supply- In lat. 48° 16' the waters of the strait are divided by a high white sandy cliff, with verdant lawns on each side; this was named by Vancouver Point Partridge. It forms the western extremity of an 52 THE OREGON. island, long, low, verdant, and well wooded, lying close to the coast, and having its south end at the mouth of a river rising in those mountains which? here form a barrier to the further progress of the sea. The snow-covered peak of the most lofty of] these is visible soon after entering the strait. Vancouver named it Mount Baker, from the officer of his ship by whom it was first seen. This mountain, with Mount Olympus, and another further to the south, named by the same navigator Mount Eainier, form nearly an equilateral triangle, and tower over the rest, the giant wardens of the land. From Point Partridge the southern branch extends about fifteen miles below the island before mentioned ; this Vancouver named Admiralty Inlet. Here the tides begin to be sufficiently rapid, to afford obstruction to navigation ; and hence it parts in two arms, one named Hood's Canal, taking a south-west course, and the other continuing a south course for forty miles, and then also bending to the west, terminates in a broad sound studded with islands called by him Puget's Sound. These, as affording a communication with the Columbia, from which the latter is distant only about sixty miles, and with the interior by its tributaries: of which the nearest approaches within thirty, over the undulating prairie country between the < mountains, and with Gray's Harbour by the rive» Chikelis, afford great inducement for settlement, and accordingly the Hudson's Bay Company have established a fort and joint stock cattle farm. Here again nature seems to indicate an advantageous position for the future mercantile industry of man. Of this sound and country M. Duflot de Mofras writes:—" La longueur de la baie de Puget est COASTS AND HARBOURS. 53 d'une demi lieue; ses bords, ainsi que tous les environs du fort, presentent l'aspect d'une longue suite de prairies semees de bouquets de bois et coupees par des ruisseaux; et l'illustre Vancouver avait raison de dire avant nous qu'il laissait & la plume exercee d'un ecrivain habile, le soin de de*- crire cette magnifique contree." Both these arms afford many places of anchorage, and are only inconvenient for navigation on account of their great depth, and the rapidity of the tides in narrow places. Port Orchard in Puget's Sound affords the greatest possible secjirity. On the east coast of Admiralty«Inlet, at the mouth of the river before mentioned (said to be named Samlikamug, but by Wilkes called the Tuxpam), there is a broad sound with very deep water and rapid tides, but affording good anchorage in the mouth of the river. Here Vancouver landed and took formal possession of the country on Monday the 4th of June, in the name of his Britannic Majesty King George the Third, and for his heirs and successors, that day being his Majesty's birthday, from lat. 399 20' to the entrance of this inlet, supposed to be the strait of Juan de Fuca (this he did with the usual solemnities, and under a royal salute from the ships), as well the northern as the southern shores, together with those situated in the interior sea, extending from the said strait in various directions between the north-west, north-east, and south quarters; which interior sea he named the Gulf of Georgia, and the continent bounding the said gulf, and extending southward* to the 45th degree of north latitude, New Georgia, in honour of his Majesty George III. This sound he named, from this incident, Pos* 54 THE OREGON. Ill 11, IB ' i:'!. Ji i 1 B ;i 1 session Sound; and it should be remarked that, though the Spaniards had, the preceding winter, been in Port Discovery, they had from thence proceeded north to Nootka, and not eastward; so that Vancouver was in truth the discoverer of these regions ; and if anything could induce the opinion of their being a desirable appanage to the British- crown, his description might. Of the country round Possession Sound he thus writes:—" Our eastern view was now bounded by the range of snowy mountains from Mount Baker, bearing by compass north, to Mount Eainier, bearing N. 54°* E. This mountain was hid by the more elevated parts of the low land; and the intermediate snowy mountains, in various rugged and grotesque shapes, were seen just to rear their heads above the lofty| pine trees, which appeared to compose an uninter-J rupted forest, between us and the snowy range,; presenting a most pleasing landscape; nor was our west view destitute of similar diversification. The ridge of mountains on which Mount Olympus is situated, whose rugged summits were seen no less fancifully towering over the forest than those of the east side, bounded to a considerable extent our western horizon; on these, however, not one conspicuous eminence arose, nor could we now distinguish that which on the sea-coast appeared to be centrally situated, forming an elegant biforked mountain. From the south extremity of these ridges of mountains there seemed to be art extensive tract of land, moderately elevated and beautifully diversified by pleasing inequalities of surface, enriched with every appearance of fertility. The narrow channel from Possession Sound, at the back of the long island lying at its mouth, COASTS AND HARBOURS. 55 which Vancouver named Whidbey's Island, affords some small but convenient harbours ; its northern entrances so choked with rocks as to be- scarcely practicable for vessels; but its southern is wide, and the navigationunimpeded; here the country wore the same appearance, presenting a delightful prospect, consisting chiefly of spacious meadows, elegantly adorned with clumps of trees. In these beautiful pastures, bordering on an expansive sheet of water, the deer were seen playing about in great numbers. The soil principally consists of a rich black vegetable mould, lying on a sandy or clayey substratum. The country in the vicinity is represented as of the finest description, its natural productions luxuriant, and well supplied with streams of water. The northern arm of the straits commences in an archipelago of small islands, well wooded and fertile, but generally without water; in one of them, however, Vancouver found good anchorage, though exposed to the south, having wood, water, and every necessary; this he named Strawberry Cove, from that fruit having been found there in great plenty, and the island, from the trees which covered it, Cypress Island. About this part the continental shore is high and rocky, though covered with wood; and, it may be remarked generally, that the northern shore of the gulf becomes more rocky and sterile, showing gradually a less and less variety of trees, until those of the pine tribe alone are found. Above the archipelago the straits widen, swelling out to the east in a double bay, affording good anchorage, beyond which the shores become low and sandy, and a wide bank of sand extends along them about one or two miles, closely approaching the opposite side of the gulf, leaving a narrow D 56 THE OREGON. but clear channel. This bank, affording large sturgeon, was named by Vancouver after that fish ; and keeping to the south around it, he did not ob4f serve that here the gulf receives the waters of Frazer's river from the north. It is navigable for seventy miles, but vessels drawing more than twelve feet water cannot pass the bar at its mouth, and its course is, like that of the Columbia, impeded by sandbanks. The Hudson's Bay Company have a fort, called Langley, twenty miles from its mouth. Here the gulf is open, and the navigation unimpeded, except by a few islands on the north shore ; one of them, named by the Spaniards de Feveda, deserves notice ; it is parallel with the shore, narrow, and about thirty miles long. In this part of the gulf, in the month of June, Vancouver saw a great number of whales; and here also he met, as we have seen, the Spanish vessels, Subtil and Mexieana, despatched for that purpose from Nootka Sound, under the command of Senors Galiano and Valdez, who, having already examined the south-western shore of the gulf, proceeded to assist him in prosecuting an inquiry into the character of the north-eastern. The peculiar feature of this continental shore is, the long narrow channels of deep water, from this circumstance called canals, which wind circuitously round the base of its' rocky mountains; towards the north-west they get longer and more intricate ; the gulf becomes contracted and blocked up with islands, and the shores rise abruptly, in high black perpendicular rocks, wearing on the whole so barren and dreary an aspect that this part of the gulf obtained the name of Desolation Sound. It is, however, probable that the general feel- COASTS AND HARBOURS. 57 ing of the dreariness of this region proceeds in a great degree from the contrast it affords to the rich and beautiful country to the south; for it is described as highly romantic in character, cleft by deep dells and ravines, down which torrents rave with foam and thunder, high rocks of every variety of fantastic shape, and, above all, snow-covered mountains of massive grandeur; yet escaping the imputation of being j§ sublime in barrenness," from the number of fir-trees, which, springing from every crevice, clothe wdth dark verdure their rocky and precipitous sides. Among the natural features of this part of the north shore of the gulf, must not be omitted, on account of their singularity, the small salt-water lakes, which are found divided from the sea only by a narrow ledge of rock, having a depth over it of four feet at high-water. They are consequently replenished by the sea every tide, and form salt-water cascades during the ebb - and rise of the tides; some of them, divided into several branches, run through a low swampy woodland country. Here also are streams of water, so warm as to be unpleasant to the hand; and every feature of this district evidences the violent effort of nature in its production. Except the coast and canals, nothing is known of it; but its mineral riches are scarcely problematical. The channels between the several islands which here obstruct the gulf are narrow, deep, and much impeded by the strength of the tide, which is sufficient in some places to stop the progress of a steam-vessel, as has been frequently experienced by the Hudson's Bay Company's steam-boat Beaver; yet Vancouver found no difficulty in working his vessels through Johnstone's Strait, the passage between these islands d 2 58 THE OREGON. Ill • ■ •» and the southern shore, against a head-wind; being compelled, as he says, to perform a complete traverse from shore to shore through its whole length, and without meeting the least obstruction from rocks or shoals. He adds, i the great depth of water, not only here, but that which is generally found washing the shores of this very broken and divided country, must ever be considered a peculiar circumstance, and a great inconvenience to its navigation; we, however, found a sufficient number of stopping-places to answer all our purposes, and in general without going far out of our way." From this archipelago, extending about sixty miles, the strait widens into a broad expanse, which swells to the north in a deep sound, filled with islands, called Broughton's Archipelago. This part was named by Vancouver Queen Charlotte's Sound; and is here fifteen miles broad, exclusive of the archipelago, but it contracts immediately to less than ten, and sixty miles from Johnstone Straits joins the Pacific, its northern boundary, Cape Caution being in lat. 51° 10'. The entrance to the Sound is choked with rocks and shoals. Here, between Broughton's Archipelago and Cape Caution, another mountain, called Mount Stephens, conspicuous from its irregular form and great elevation, and worthy to be named with those to the south, seems to mount guard over the northern entrance to the Straits. The southern shore of Queen Charlotte's Gulf and Johnstone's Straits, and the Gulf of Georgia and the northern shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca proper, are formed by the east and south sides of a large island, of which the Spaniards, having examined the coast in 1792, as we have seen, it COASTS AND HARBOURS. 59 was named by mutual consent of the English and Spanish, after their commanders, the island of Vancouver and Quadra. It is in form long and narrow, in length about 250 miles, and in average breadth 50, with a surface of upwards of 12,000 square miles. A range of lofty hills extends through its whole length, and it is perhaps even more fertile, and has more open glades and land fit for cultivation, than the southern continental shore. Its western side is pierced by deep canals, and has many excellent harbours. Of these, Nootka, Clayquot, and Nitti- nat Sounds are the principal and best known ; but there are others, especially one on the south-east side, of great value. This has been described as formed by two bays, each capable of containing a large fleet. Mr. Dunn describes this country, in point of beautiful scenery and fertility of the plains, though not so large, as even superior to the Walla- mette Valley, south of the Columbia, which, with that of the Umqua and Clamet, are considered the garden of Oregon. It has beautiful rivers of water, and clumps and groves of trees of various kinds, scattered through the level lands; and here, on account of the advantages it affords, and the fertility of the country round it, the Hudson's Bay Company have established a large cattle-farm and fort which is called- Victoria. We have seen that Nootka Sound was discovered by Captain Cook in 1778. His description, which succeeding voyagers have confirmed, is as follows:—It is situated at the bottom of a wide bay, and entered betwreen two rocky points lying east-southeast and north-north-west, distant from each other between three and four miles. Within these 60 THE OREGON. points the sound widens considerably, and extends on to the northward four leagues at the least, exclusive of several branches towards its bottom. In the middle are a number of islands of various sizes: the cove in which our ship lay is on the east side of the sound, and the east side of the largest of them. / The depth of water in the middle of the sound, and even close down to the shore, is from forty-seven to ninety fathoms. The harbours and anchoring places within its circuit are numerous. The land bordering on the sea-coast is of a middling height and level; but within the sound it rises everywhere into steep hills, which agree in their general formation, ending in round or blunted tops, with some sharp though not very prominent ridges on their sides. Some of these hills may be reckoned high, while others of them are of a very moderate height, but even the very highest are entirely covered to their tops with the thickest woods, as well as every flat part towards the sea. He adds, the hills are little more than stupendous rocks, covered with a thin layer of decayed vegetable matter, but qualifies this assertion by stating that the trees in general grow with great vigour, and are all of a large size. The climate is salubrious, and incomparably milder than that on the east coast of America under the same parallel. Clayquot and Nittinat Sounds partake of the same character; indeed the former has been preferred by some navigators. This, though, as we have seen, the first spot on the coast occupied by Europeans, and contested by the English and Spaniards, is now nearly deserted, the trade in furs not being so brisk as along the continental shores and northern archipelago. COASTS AND HARBOURS. 61 At the northern extremity of this island there is a large and excellent field of coal. Spanish naturalists assert that iron, copper, and silver are to be found in its mountains. Separated only by a very narrow channel from the eastern shore, lie the islands of Galiano and Valdez, near the entrance of Queen Charlotte's Sound; of which a group of scattered rocky islands, called Scott's Islands, stretching away to the north, forms the southern limits. From Cape Caution, off which are several groups of rocks to lat. 54° 40', where the Eussian territory commences, the coast has much the same character as that already described between the Gulf of Georgia and the sea, but that its harsher features are occasionally much softened, and its navigation less impeded. Throughout its whole length it is cut up by long and deep canals, which form various archipelagos of islands, and penetrate deeply and circuitously into the land, which is high, but not so precipitous as about Desolation Sound, and generally covered with trees. The islands lying close to the shore follow its sinuosities, and through the narrow channels thus formed the currents are rapid : those more detached are more fertile: they are all the resort of the natives during the fishing, season. Their formation is granite, the prevailing rock north of lat. 49°. Distant thirty miles at its nearest and ninety at its farthest point from the line of islands which cover this coast, and under parallels 52° and 54°, lies Queen Charlotte's Island, called by the Americans Washington. It is in form triangular, about one hundred and fifty miles long, and above sixty at its greatest breadth, and contains upwards of 62 THE OREGON. four thousand square miles. Possessed of an excellent harbour on its east coast, in lat. 53° 3', and another on the north, at Hancock's Eiver (the Port Entrada of the Spaniards), it is a favourite resort of traders. The climate and soil are excellent, hills lofty and well wooded, and its coast, especially on the west side, deeply indented by arms of the sea, among which may be named Englefield Bay and Cartwright's Sound. Coal and some metals are said to have been found on this island. 1 It has been remarked that the principal feature of this coast is its canals: these are connected with the sea by sounds, where their channels enlarge between the islands on the coast. Of these, between Cape Caution and Cape Ommany, the southern point of the Eussian territory, there are four, Fitzhugh, Millbank, Nepean, and Chatham Sounds. At the mouth of Fitzhugh Sound lies Calvert's Island, above the Pearl and Virgin Eocks, off Cape Caution. On it there is a mountain which is a conspicuous object from the entrance to Queen Charlotte's Sound. This sound spreads into two canals, the south of which is divided into two channels, called Bentink's Arms, and of these the northern is remarkable as receiving the waters of Mackenzie's Salmon Eiver. Here, after crossing the continent, he found by observation that he must be near the Pacific, and made an inscription on the rock, which was visible when Dunn visited the spot in 1833. Near this place also Vancouver found two good harbours, which he named respectively Ports John and Eestoration. Here the prevailing growth is hard wood, beech, maple, &c, and the feature of the country mueh softened. lu COASTS AND HARBOURS. 63 Millbank Sound lies a little to the north of Fitzhugh Sound, and near it the Hudson's Bay Com- pany have a fort, called Fort M'Loughhn. From Fitzhugh to Nepean Sound the Princess Eoyal Islands extend for about one hundred miles, and are separated from the shore by a very narrow channel. It divides into two arms. About the southern the country is rocky and desolate but round the northern it is well wooded. Into this a river, which has been called Salmon Eiver, falls, and it terminates in a valley of considerable extent, from three to four miles wide, covered with tall forest trees, chiefly of the pine tribe. _ Between Nepean and Chatham Sounds lie Pitt s Archipelago, which follows the coast-line for about one hundred miles, and Banks Island, separated from it by a very narrow channel about forty miles long: the shores are rocky and covered with pine- trees. Inland the country is mountainous.^ At Port Essington, on the continental shore, a variation of 13°, from the observations of the previous day, was observed in the needle by Vancouver, indicating the highly magnetic character of the rocks. From Port Essington another island extends lor about thirty miles parallel to the coast; on its northern point, which Vancouver named Maske- levne, the Hudson's Bay Company have established a fort, called Simpson. This is the northern limit of the coast of this territory. From this point two lono- and wide canals stretch deep into the land m a northerly direction: the western divides the British from the Eussian territory for upwards ot fifty miles; the eastern, terminating in Salmon Cove, receives the waters of Simpson Eiver above two hundred miles north of Mackenzie s Salmon d 3 THE OREGON. Eiver ; and about half way between these another river, called also Salmon Eiver, has been noticed; the three divide the inland country into nearly equal portions. These canals form an inland navigation, called, it was supposed, from its magnitude, Ewen Nass, but more probably after the Nass tribe, who inhabit the coast; unless, indeed, they take their name from it, ewen signifying great. But it is to be remarked that tesse signifies water, and a mistake of nass, or ness, for tesse is not improbable on the part of the voyagers. The country is here well watered and wooded, and abounding with game. North of Chatham Sound is the coast claimed by the Eussians for ten leagues inland to Mount Elias, in lat. 60° 15', the interior being part of the British dominions in North America. Beyond that point the north-western part of the continent belongs solely to that country: its features are similar to those that have been described a's prevailing north of lat. 51°, excepting that the islands are larger, the canals wider and deeper, and the harbours more numerous and important, until lat. 58°, when the coast, bending towards the west, presents an unbroken line to Point Eiou, below Mount Elias, with the exception of one large and deep inlet, named Behring's Bay, where there is a harbour of some capacity. From this description of the principal features of this coast, extending 1100 miles from Cape Mendocino to Cape Ommany, the northern part of Chatham Sound; to the north its iron-bound coasts and Western Archipelago; in the centre, Vancouver's Island; the Straits of Fuca and Puget's Inlet; and to the south the mouth of the Columbia, and the unbroken coast to the north and south of it; the truth of the asser- COASTS AND HARBOURS. 67 tion before made is most evident, viz. that its maritime importance is entirely confined to the strait of Juande Fuca and southern extremity of Vancouver's Island,—the entrance to the ports south of that limit being embarrassed witho^and-banks, and of those to the north impeded by the rapid currents, depth of water, and rocky shores. Here, however, are presented a series of harbours unrivalled in quality and capacity, at least within the same limits; and here, as has been remarked, it is evident the future emporium of the Pacific, in West America, will be found; so that we are not surprised to find M. Duflot de Mofras, in his f Exploration du Territoire de 1'Oregon,' saying of it, with whatever truth, but with especial reference to Admiralty Inlet, " C'est le point h la conservation duquel tendent tous les efforts de la Com- pagnie d'Hudson, dans les negociations du gou- vernement Anglais avec les Etats Unis pour le reglement des frontieres;" or Mr. Wilkes, expressing their character thus briefly but significantly:— || Nothing can exceed the beauty of these waters and their safety; not a shoal exists within the straits of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Puget's Sound, or Hood's Canal, that can in any way in* terrupt their navigation by a 74-gun ship. I venture nothing in saying there is no country in the world that possesses waters equal to these." CHAPTEE III. TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. Although there has been always a prestige in favour of the sailor whose adventurous prow has first tracked the waters and penetrated the harbours of strange lands,—though imagination warms with the delights of the sunny sea, scarce dimpled by the soft breath of the zephyr,—while the gallant vessel, spreading her white canvass to the balmy air, glides swiftly under its influence towards the wished for shores, already beginning to cast their varied and picturesque shadows in the ocean's glassy mirror, while sea and sky are vocal with the notes of their feathered tenants, and dolphins sport their thousand hues before the stranger's eyes, the beaux of the deep waters,*—so that at the thought we exclaim with the poet— " He who hath sailed upon the deep blue sea, Hath seen at times, I ween, a full fair sight g or recurring to the horrors of the lee-shore and midnight gale, the surf-covered reefs and iron- bound coast, or the still more terrific tornado of the tropics, the vessel on her beam-ends, and masts bending like bulrushes and snapping by the board; the sea, boiling like a whirlpool, making a clear breach over all, and yet by " hairbreadth 'scapes | they live to tell the tale, how the wind changing, or the over-strained vessel righting, or perchance in TEAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. 69 open boats they get safe to land, and there in valleys breathing perfume, amid groves loaded with fruit and gladdened with the song of birds, they recruit their wearied bodies, and refit or rebuild their ocean home, to proceed to new dangers and new escapes: although such scenes have thrown a halo round maritime discovery, and led many an ardent spirit to " tempt the briny foam," yet, if the labours and dangers be considered, the traveller may well claim an equal share of glory and admiration with the sailor, although it be not heightened by the poetry of the ocean. Not less are his fatigues, not less his dangers; nay, he carries not with him, snail like, his home and its comparative comforts; nor has he the means of escape from dangers when imminent, nor under difficulty and discouragement so many comrades to assist and assure him; strong in himself alone, he must proceed, independent of circumstances, and prepared to find in the course of his travels those necessaries of life which he is unable to carry with him. Such ideas naturally suggest themselves to the mind when about to review the series of journeys by which the interior, and more especially of the north-west part of America, was opened to the knowledge of the civilized world, and which display not only the dangers and difficulties, but the courage and endurance necessary to meet them in the brightest colours; and numerous are the " moving accidents by flood and field" which the narration of these record. Previous, however, to entering on the series, it is necessary to advert to the causes which led to such undertakings In North-West America. They 70 THE OREGON. Efffi fill 'M*\\ .!;}i|i!: may be stated briefly as springing from the desire to discover a north-west passage, but with respect to the Oregon territory, more especially from the rivalry of the British and American fur traders, which has been continued in that of nations. Canada having been transferred to the former nation, and the United States having become independent, peace let loose the active spirits for which war had found employment; many of them sought excitement in the life of wild adventure which the woods, plains, and mountains afforded, and to which sufficient zest was given by the danger arising from wild beasts, and the natural marauding propensities of the savages, who inhabit them. Inured by such a life to toil and danger, and to such a habit of self-denial as would reduce the sum even of the necessaries of life to a very comparatively trifling amount, the hunters and trappers, into which the soldiers of the war had been converted, spread themselves over the north and west frontiers, and while, in many cases, enriching themselves at the expense of the Indian, and causing fearful scenes of oppression on the one hand, and' retaliation on the other, scenes grateful onlys to the novelist, who had rather paint the conquest of man over his fellow men than over himself— were nevertheless the pioneers of civilization and science; and, to use an expression familiar at least to them, | broke ground" for their successors; whose united efforts completed what their individual strength and energy had begun. Such men have been in all cases the guides of the exploring parties; their unsettled life, consequent on the pursuit of game, giving them the necessary local knowledge,, and their self-dependent existence en- TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. 71 abling them to meet and overcome the difficulties and dangers incident to such expeditions. Of these America produces three classes—the hunter of eastern forests and lakes, the voyageur of the north- ern'rivers, and the trapper of the western mountains and prairies; yet to all these perhaps equally belong the characteristics of the borderer, un- blenching courage, untiring energy, and unerring precision of judgment in case of uncertainty; the characteristics of the borderer not only in the West, but universally, whether, as in days of yore, when, on our own borders, they !fgp " Cheered the dark bloodhound on his way Or with the bugle roused the frayM or, as at present, on the shores of the Baltic, the plains of Africa, or the ghauts of India, modified only by local circumstances and the influence of climate ; in short, a development of the animal faculties resulting from constant cultivation, to the exclusion of all mental, excepting such as are necessary to the cultivation of the other, or, from want of knowledge are evidenced onfy in morbid affections like superstition, the natural result of the solitude and silence which during a great part of their time surround them, and the scenes of natural sublimity among which they pass their days. Another bentury, and their place will know them no more; fthiy will exist but in the pages of history and romance; in productions of the imagination too strange for truth, and truth stranger than* fiction. It will not appear strange that superstition is one characteristic of the borderer, even to paralyzing his courage, weakening his perception, and abridging his powers of endurance. Who 72 THE OREGON. that has passed, if but one night, amid the solitudes of the primaeval forests, and seen the shades gathering slowly around the stately pillars that support their ribbed roofs of Nature's vaulting, but must have acknowledged his own insignificance, and the presence of superior intelligences, whose aspirations might befit so mighty a temple, and rise accepted by its maker,—who, that has listened till his sense of hearing, travelling the deep profound, hath in the lowest depth attained a lower still, until consciousness, tuned to the highest pitch, responds to the rustle of a leaf, or the slightest breath which gives it motion; whose eye, fathoming the gloom, grows conversant with shades of darkness, and measures its depths until imagination peoples its immensity, and establishes a kingdom of shadows, but must have felt the chill power of that undefined fear which acknowledges the connexion of matter with mind, and body with spirit, the visible with the invisible; and even if rebuked by reason and education, his mind rebels ; yet still he feels the icy chain wrapped close around him, paralyzing his attempts at resistance, till he confesses that what is called superstition is inherent in human nature. Who that has felt this, but must acknowledge the mighty influence she must exert over those whose house is of Nature's building, whose associates are her productions, whose communings are of the lessons she teachetl. Who that has watched the broad expanse of a transatlantic lake flinging back from the transparent emeralds which deck her sunny bosom the " level light" of the declining orb of day, till the rosy hues of the autumnal woods deepen into purple, and the hoarse croak of the frog and night- TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. 73 hawk are hushed to silence, as in one broad blush of crimson light the glorious luminary sinks to rest, and as the shades grow deeper and the out lines melt in softer shadows, myriads of fairy lamps, flitting from side to side, enliven without enlightening the scene, till the eye is fixed on one without motion which glistens with softer light and deeper scintillations; and the broad disk of the Queen of Night rising slowly over the darkening^ woods, silvering their leafy sides, and reflected by'the calm depth of the silent lake, pales all the lesser fires, and reveals her harbinger; and as she pours her silver floods on hill and vale, on wood and wave, again revealing all that had been lost— " In fond imaginings, has thought it meet For the abode of rarer spirits, or has deemed In such a world his soul might ever dwell, There rove the everlasting woods, and quench His thirst in founts of immortality V or is it strange that the wilder scenes, where nature's vast convulsions seem to have prepared a I fitting place for the dwelling of wilder habitants, i have been, by the same imaginative process, peopled with darker and fiercer spirits, whose hatred of mankind is emulated by the wild beasts, and natives as wild as they ? or that the spirits of the dead still haunt the scene of murder, and glide ghastly over the grass waving dark and rank from their own blood ? or that from father to son the memory of such deeds is handed down, and the feud bequeathed as a sacred trust to be executed at a fitting opportunity ? or: that so conversant with danger and uncertain of life, the heart should grow harder and the feelings become blunted, and human suffering be but lightly estimated, much less that of 74 THE OREGON. \hm the brute creation ? is it not rather to be wondered at that any sense of responsibility is retained, that any kindly feelings are left, and that not unfre- quently the deeds of generosity and heroic self- devotion should emulate those of bodily endurance and animal courage ? Here is no morality but that of the heart, no religion but that of nature : here no Sabba|h bells awake the soul with joyful harmony to a glad reception of the words of peace and love; in the desert there is no God of grace but as he is so manifested, in the works of nature. If then we read, or have read, of a want of the outward circumstances of religion among the trappers and hunters of the west; if superstition enchains their minds and quenches their manly courage in childish fear; if the fiercer passions are most prominent, and the softer and more amiable less frequently developed, let not the children of civilization and luxury recoil from them as unworthy the name of brothers, but rather consider whether the many vices which prevail among themselves are not a greater disgrace to humanity than the harsher lines which darken the features of the lonely inhabitant of the desert, like the deep shadows of his native rocks and woods, or whether his virtues, which, though perhaps less beautiful than the softer effects of cultivation, are not yet indications of superior energy and strength. On the great plains at the foot of the Eocky Mountains the trapper is equestrian: these are " the Mountaineers " of the romances of the West. With his blanket and traps on his back, his welj^ tried rifle, and his faithful horse, he is perhaps the most independent of human beings; and the ardour with which he will pursue his solitary labour from TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. 75 pear to year in wilds and deserts, through pathless ivoods and over trackless mountains—now stemming the swollen river, now galloping over the fer-extended prairie—at night lying down by the bmbers of his fire, uncertain what the morrow may bring forth, but prepared at all events to overcome its difficulties and dangers by fresh exertions of his indomitable courage and perseverance. Of the trappers there are two kinds; one in the regular pay of the Hudson's Bay Company, now the (usual source of employment in the West; the iother the free trapper. The former is supplied Iwith all necessaries for his sojourn in the desert [from the Company's stores, and returns to them all the skins he procures. The latter is paid so much per skin. These generally leave the fort near or in which they have wintered in parties of fifty or I sixty, who, during their search after the fur-bearing I animals, keep sufficiently near to afford some protection to each other, and, if possible, they return to the fort in the fall. It frequently happens, how ever, that they are obliged to camp out during the winter. In this more regular mode of trapping, the fear of the Hudson's Bay Company is no inconsiderable safeguard, and their hunting-grounds, excepting towards the United States and California, being well defined, and occupied with consent of the Indians, there is not so much of the excitement Which has been spoken of; but about the head waters of the southern branch of the Columbia, the Missouri, and tributaries of me Mississippi, the Colorado, and Eio del Norte, where yet linger the solitary free trappers, relics of the American Fur I Companies, the peculiarities of this life are still to be found in all their lights and shadows. In these 76 THE OREGON. mm>. regions dwell the Blackfeet Indians, the white man's mortal enemies, and, it must be confessed, not without reason; and their hatred should seem to I be continually fomented by numerous aggressions on the part of the Americans, citizens of the United States; for the wholesome discipline of the Hudson's Bay Company prevents this odium attaching to their servants. To rob a Blackfoot trapper and despoil him of his hard-earned stock of furs is no uncommon occurrence when opportunity offers. This is of course retaliated, and not unfre- quently murder is added to robbery, for which a deep revenge is taken in due season. The accounts given by the American travellers, Townsend and Farnham, of the escape of two trappers, will, whatever amount of credit be attached to them, serve to exemplify the character and habits incident to their life. The former of these travellers, perceiving the chief hunter of his party standing aloof from the circle in which some Otto Indians were smoking with their principal men, inquired the reason. The hunter, whose name was Eichardson, and whose tall iron frame and almost child-like simplicity of character rendered him the counterpart of Cooper's Hawkeye, thus explained his conduct. " Why," said he, "that Injun that sat opposite to you is my bitterest enemy. I was once going down alone from the rendezvous with letters for St. Louis, and when I arrived on the lower part of the Platte river, just a short distance bq- yond us here, I fell in with about a dozen Ottos. They were known to be a friendly tribe, and I therefore felt no fear of them. I dismounted from my horse, and sat with them on the ground. It was in the depth of winter; the ground was co- TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. vered with snow, and the river was frozen solid. While I was thinking about nothing but my dinner, which I was then about preparing, four or five of the cowards jumped on me, mastered my rifle, and held my arms fast, while they took from me my knife and tomahawk, my flint and steel, and all my ammunition. They then loosed me and told me to be off. I begged them, for the love of God, to give me my rifle and a few loads of ammunition, or I should starve before I could reach the settlements. No, I should have nothing; and if I did not start off immediately, they would throw me under the ice in the river; and," continued the excited hunter, while he ground his teeth with bitter and uncontrollable rage, " that man that sat opposite you was the chief of them." They had taken his horse, his blankets, and everything he had, except his clothes, and" he only contrived to prevent starvation and reach the settlements by trapping prairie squirrels with nooses made of his own hair; and can we wonder at his declaration, " Several years have passed since this happened, but, if any opportunity offers, I will shoot him with as little hesitation as I would shoot a deer "? More marvellous is the story told by Farnham of a trapper who had separated from his companion, and travelling far up the Missouri by chance dis* covered a most beautiful valley. Here he thought he could remain till his death. | The lower mountains were covered with tall pines, and above • and around, except in the east, where the morning sun sent his rays, the bright glittering ridges rose high against the sky, decked in the garniture of perpetual frosts. Along the valley lay a clear, pure lake, in the centre of which played a number of 78 THE OREGON. fountains that threw their waters many feet above its surface, and sending tiny waves rippling awafjj to the pebbly shores, made the mountains and groves that were reflected from its bosom seem to leap and clap their hands for joy at the sacred quiet that reigned among them. He pitched his tent on the shore, in a little copse of hemlock^ and set his traps. Having done this he explored carefully the valley for ingress, egress, signs, &c. His object was to ascertain if the valley were tenanted, by human beings, and if there were places of escape should it be entered by hostile persons through the pass that led himself to it. He found no other, except one for the waters of the lake, through a deep chasm in the mountain, and this was such that no one could descend it alive to the lower valleys ; for as he waded and swam by turns down its waters he soon found himself drawn by an increasing current, which sufficiently indicated to him the cause of the deep roar that resounded from the caverns below. He accordingly made the shore, and climbed along among the projecting crags till he overlooked an abyss of fallen rocks, into which the stream poured and foamed, and was lost in the mist. He returned to his camp satisfied he had found an hitherto undiscovered valley stored with beaver and trout, and grass forg his horses; where he could trap fish and dream a while in safety. And every morning for three delightful weeks did he draw the beaver from the deep pools, where they had plunged when the?; quick trap had seized them; and stringing then!, two and two together over his pack-horse, bore them to his camp, and with' his long side-knife stripped off tbte skins for fur, pinned them to TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. the ground to dry, and in his camp-kettle cooked the much-prized tails for his mid-day repast. ' Was it not a fine hunt that ?' asked he, ' Beaver as thick as mosquitos, trout as plenty as water. But the ungodly Blackfeet!' The sun had thrown a few rays upon the rim of the eastern firmament when the Blackfeet war-whoop rung around his tent a direful "whoopah hooh," ending with-a *yell, piercing sharp and shrill through the clenched iteeth. He had but one means of escape—the lake. Into it he plunged, beneath a shower of poisoned arrows—plunged deeply—and swam under [while he could endure the absence of air. He irose; he was in the midst of his foes swimming and (shouting .round him: down again and up to breathe, and on he swam with long and powerful sweeps. The pursuit was long, but at last he entered the chasm which he had explored, plunged along the cascade as near as he dared, clung to a shrub that grew from the crevice of the rock, and lay under water for the approach of his pursuers. )n they came; they passed, they shrieked, and plunged for ever into the abyss of mist." But after the summer hunt, with the winter thev return either to the Company's forts or to some hill- embosomed valley, where they may rest safe from its storms; where, although the snow lies thick on the ^mountains, and the winter blasts howl over their rocky sides, their horses can crop the green grass of the river bank, and round the table, smoking with the fat loins of the mountain sheep, they forget the trials they have undergone, and recruit their strength for the next campaign. Such - a place is one called Brown's Hole, situated about lat. 42° north on the Sheetskadee Eiver. I is THE OREGON. elevation is about 8000 feet above the sea, about six miles in diameter, shut in in all directions by dark frowning mountains rising 1000 feet above it. The river sweeps through it in a beautiful curve to the south-west, when it rushes through a narrow; channel of lofty cliffs. The plain is rich with mountain grass, even in the winter, and "dotted with little copses of cotton wood and willow." Around it the Snake Indians often winter, and the trappers collecting pass the time together in animal! enjoyment and wild revelry. In the centre is a little fort, named Fort David Crocket. But the race is giving place to the squatter, and he again will be supplanted by the farmer and mechanic. The cultivation of mind and soil will progress together, and as the country is made more J accessible by their labours, and they become less 1 wanted, they will gradually cease from among men.) The race of trappers, says Fremont, has almost entirely disappeared—dwindled to a few scattered individuals—some one or two of whom are regu-1 larly killed in the course of each year by the In- \ dians. The voyageurs, more fortunate in their extended usefulness, continue their enterprising and active lives. The trappers are of all countries, the voyageurs principally French Canadians ; the former of a solitary and thoughtful forecasting character, cold and immoveable as his Blackfoot adversary; the latter with not less powers of endurance, not less courage: pursuing their contest with floods and rapids in company, are more lively and excitable, and not unfrequently do the lofty rocks and overhanging woods ring with their wild harmony, and the joyous chorus of their boat-songs, «p TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. 81 as their canoes or batteaux dance madly over the foam of the torrent, to the inexperienced eye threatening immediate destruction, and which, indeed, even their skill and courage cannot always prevent. Such a scene has been described by a late traveller, and illustrates not less forcibly the character of the men than of the dangers and difficulties they encounter. It is subjoined in his own words:— 1 We re-embarked at nine o'clock, and in about twenty minutes reached the next canon (this word, pronounced kanyon, is of Spanish origin, signifying a hollow tube). Landing on the rocky shore at its commencement, we ascended a ridge to reconnoitre. Portage was out of the question. So far as we could see, the jagged rocks pointed out the course of the canon, on a winding line of seven or eight miles. It was simply a narrow dark chasm in the rock ; and here the perpendicular faces were much higher than in the preceding pass, being at this end two to three hundred, and further down, as we afterwards ascertained, five hundred feet in vertical height. Our previous success had made us bold, and we determined again to run the canon. Everything was secured as firmly as possible, and having divested ourselves of the greater part of our clothing, we pushed into the stream. To save our chronometer, Mr. Preuss took it, and attempted to proceed along the shore on masses of rock, which in places were piled up on either side; but, after he had walked about five minutes, everything like shore had disappeared, and the vertical wall came squarely down into the water. He therefore waited until we came up. An ugly pass lay before us; we made fast to the stern of the boat a strong rope about fifty feet long, and three E 2 wr~ 82 THE OREGON. Ill men clambered along among- the rocks, and with this rope let her down slowly through the pass. In several places high rocks lay scattered about in the channel; and in the narrows it required all our strength and skill to avoid staving the boat (it was of Indian rubber material, fitted with air-cases at the sides) on the sharp rocks. In one of these the boat proved a little too broad, and stuck fast for an instant, while the water flew over us; fortunately, it was but for an instant, as our united strength forced her immediately through, The water swept overboard only a sextant and a pair of saddle-bags. I caught the sextant as it passed by me, but the saddle-bags became a prey to the whirlpools. We reached the place where Mr. Preuss 1 was standing, took him on board, and with the aid of the boat, put the men with the rope on the succeeding pile of rocks. We found this passage much worse than the previous one, and our con*l dition was rather a bad one. To go back was im- ] possible; before us the cataract was a sheet of foam, and, shut up in the chasm by the rocks, which in some places seemed almost to meet overhead, the roar of the water was deafening. We pushed off again, but after making a little distance the force of the current became too great for the men on the shore, and two of them let go the rope : Lajeunesse, the third man, hung on and was jerked head foremost into the river from a rock about twelve feet high, and down the boat shot like an arrow, Basil following us in the rapid current, and exerting all his strength to keep in the mid-channel—his head only seen occasionally like a black spot in the white foam. How far we went I do not exactly know, but we succeeded in turning the boat into TRAPPEKS AND VOYAGEURS. an eddy below: " 'Ore Dieu," said Basil Lajeu- nesse, as he arrived immediately after us; "je crois bien que j'ai nage un demi mille." He had owed his life to his skill as a swimmer, and I determined to take him and the two others on board, and trust to skill and fortune to reach the other end in safety. We placed ourselves on our knees, with short paddles in our hands, the most skilful boatman being in the bow; and again we com- menced our rapid descent. We cleared rock after rock, and shot past fall after fall, our little boat seeming to play with the cataract. We became flushed with success, and familiar with the danger, and yielding to the excitement of the occasion, broke forth together into a Canadian boat-song. Singing or rather shouting, we dashed along; and were, I believe, in the midst of the chorus, when the boat struck a concealed rock immediately at the foot of a fall, which whirled her over in an instant. Three of my men could not swim, and my first feeling was to assist them, and save some of our effects; but a sharp concussion or two convinced me that I had not yet saved myself. A few strokes brought me into an eddy, and I landed on a pile of rocks on the left side. Looking round, I saw that Mr. Prenss had gained the shore, on the same side, about twenty yards below, and a little climbing and swimming soon brought him to my side. On the opposite side against the wall lay the boat bottom up; and Lambert was in the act of saving Descouteaux, whom he had grasped by the hair, and who could not swim. " Lache pas," said he, as I afterwards learned, ".lache pas, Cher frere." $ Grains pas," was the reply, "je m'en vais mourir avant quede*te l&cher." Such 84 THE OREGON. was the reply of courage and generosity in this danger. For a hundred, yards below, the current; was covered with floating books and boxes, bales of blankets, and scattered articles of clothing ; and so strong and boiling was the stream, that even our heavy instruments, which wrere all in cases, kept on the surface, and the sextant, circle and long black box of the telescope were in view at once. For a moment I felt somewhat disheartened. All our books—almost every record of the journey, our journals and registers of astronomical and barometrical observations—had been lost in a moment. But it was no time to indulge in regrets, and I immediately set about endeavouring to save something from the wreck. Making ourselves understood as- well as possible by signs (for nothing could be heard in the roar of waters), we commenced our operations. Of everything on board, the only article that. had been saved was my double-barrelled gun, which Descouteaux had caught and clung to with drowning tenacity. The men continued down the river on the right side; Mr. Preuss and myself descended on the side we were on ; and Lajeu- nesse, with a paddle in his hand, jumped on the boat alone and continued down the canon. She was now light, and cleared every bad place with much less difficulty: in a short time he was joined by Lambert, and the search was continued for about a mile and a half, which was as far as the boat could proceed in the pass. Here the walls were about five hundred feet high, and the fragments of rocks from above had choked the river into a hollow pass but one or two feet above the surface. Through this and the interstices of the rock the river foufid its way. " Favoured beyond TRAPPERS AND VOYAGEURS. 85 our expectations, all our registers had been recovered, with the exception of one of my journals, which contained notes and incidents of travel, topographical descriptions, and a number of scattered astronomical observations; in addition to these we saved the circle; and these with a few blankets constituted everything that had been rescued from the waters.'' Their dangers by water thus over, they had got others in prospect by land; the story is thus continued:—" The day was running rapidly away, and it was necessary to reach Goat Island, whither the party had proceeded on, before night. In this uncertain country the traveller is so much in the power of chance, that we became somewhat uneasy in regard to them. Should anything have occurred, in the brief interval of our separation, to prevent our rejoining them, our situation would be rather a desperate one. We had not a morsel of provisions—our arms and ammunition were gone, and we were entirely at the mercy of any straggling party of savages, and not a little in danger of starvation. We therefore set out at once. Climbing out of the canon, we found ourselves in a very broken country, where we were not able to recognize any locality. The scenery was extremely picturesque, and notwithstanding our forlorn condition, we were frequently obliged to stop and admire it. At one point of the canon the red argillaceous sandstone rose in a wall of five hundred feet, surmounted by a stratum of white sandstone; and in an opposite ravine, a column of red sandstone rose, in form like a steeple, about one hundred and fifty feet high. Our progress was not very rapid. We had emerged from the water half naked, and on arriving at the top of the precipice 86 THE OREGON. I found myself with only one moccasin. The fragments of rock made walking painful; and I was frequently obliged to stop and pull out the thorns of the cactus, here the prevailing plant, and with which a few minutes' walk covered the bottom of my foot. We crossed the river repeatedly, sometimes able to ford it, and sometimes swimming, climbed over the ridges of two more canons, and towards evening reached the cut, which was named the Hot Spring Gate. Leaving this Thermopylae of the west, in a short walk we reached the red ridge, which has been described as lying just above Goat Island. A shout from the man who first reached the top of the ridge, responded to from below, informed us that our friends were all on the island; and we were soon among them. We found some pieces of buffalo standing round the fire for us, and managed to get some dry clothes among the people. A sudden storm of rain drove us into the best shelter we could find, where we slept soundly, after one of the most fatiguing days I have ever experienced." Amid such scenes and their accompanying difficulties and dangers, and by men so competent to overcome them, was the western part of the interior of North America discovered. ( 87 ) CHAPTEE IV. PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE INTERIOR. The fur traders of Canada having, through their dissensions with the Hudson's Bay Company, and, indeed, among themselves, previous to the establishment of the North-Western Company, reduced the number of fur-bearing animals in the immediate neighbourhood of the great lakes, pushed their operations in all directions into the Indian country, and having established forts on the Sas- catchewan, Athabasca, and Eed Eivers, as well as the head waters of the Mississippi, stretched northward to the Lake of the Hills, where they erected the trading fort, since then so well known as the starting point of expeditions for discovery of the interior and north coast of the American continent, by the name of Fort Chippewayan. Alexander Mackenzie, who had risen to the station of a partner in that Company, and was even among them remarkable for his energy and activity both of body and mind, having, with others of the leading partners, imbibed very extensive views of the commercial importance and capabilities of Canada, and considering that the discovery of a passage by sea from the Atlantic to the Pacific would contribute greatly to open and enlarge it, undertook the task of exploring the country to the north of the extreme point occupied by the fur traders. This he calculated on doing by means of e3 HH THE OREGON. .a river reported by the Indians to*flow from the Slave Lake into the sea, to the west of the Copper Mine Eiver, which had, in 1771, been discovered by Hearne. For this purpose, in the year 1789, he left Fort Chippewayan, in lat. 58° 40' N.; and crossing the Lake of the Hills in a canoe, entered the Peace Eiver, or rather, the river connecting the Lake of the Hills with the Slave Lake, now called the >Slave Eiver, into which the Peace Eiver flows. .Following its course, he passed through the Slave Lake, and entered a river, until this time unknown to Europeans, except by report, which has been called by his name Mackenzie Eiver; and following its course, arrived in the end of July at its mouth, in lat. 69°. Having thus established the fact of the continuation westward of that northern ocean which Hearne had, in 1771? discovered more to the eastward, he returned home. As this journey does not directly affect the country to the west of the Eocky Mountains, a more extended notice is unnecessary. It may, however, be mentioned that in their recent discoveries Mr. Bell and Mr. Isbister have ascertained the source of the Peel and the Eat tributaries of Mackenzie's Eiver. The former, rising near the sources of the northern head waters of the Peace Eiver, in lat. 63° 40', and running in a north-western direction, joins Mackenzie's Eiver near its mouth. The other, .having its sources in a chain of lakes near the Eussian boundary, about lat. 65°, by a northerly and easterly course joins the Peel with one mouth and the Mackenzie, close to the sea, writh the other. The character of the country lying between these rivers il i PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 89 being low and swampy, and covered with lakes, and the continuation of the Eocky Mountain chain here developing itself in limestone strata, all serve to direct us to the west as the continuation of the main line of those mountains. Mackenzie's views of commerce in the northwest of America led him to desire the knowledge of a communication with the Pacific, if one existed (which he did not doubt), equally with the northern ocean ; and accordingly, in Oct., 1792, he left Fort Chippewayan on an expedition for the purpose of obtaining it. In order to commence his discoveries as early in the spring as possible, he had determined to proceed to the most distant settlement of the traders towards the west in the autumn, and accordingly ascended the Peace, or, as it is called by the Indians, the Unijah Eiver, for upwards of two hundred miles, where he built a log house, in lat. 56° 9' and long. 117° 35' W.: here he spent the winter. Leaving this place on the 9th of May, 1793, he continued his course up the river, which he found flowing through a delightful and verdant country ; but as they approached the mountains the banks became higher, the current more rapid, and the forests denser. After not a few difficulties and dangers, which were overcome more by his own courage and self-possession than the constancy of his Canadians, he reached the source of the Peace Eiver in the beginning of the month of June. This he found in a small lake situated in a deep snowy valley, embosomed in woody mountains. The lake is about two miles in length, and from three to five hundred yards wide: he found in it THE OREGON. trout and carp, and its banks were clothed with spruce, white birch, willow, and alder: it is in lat. 54° 24', long. 121° W., by his computation. This is the principal water of Mackenzie Eiver I which, after its junction with the Elk Eiver below the Lake of the Hills, having already run a distance of upwards of five hundred miles, reaches, under the names of Slave Eiver and Mackenzie Eiver, the Arctic Ocean after a further course of one thousand miles. From this lake he found a beaten path leading over a low ridge of land of eight hundred and seventeen paces in length to another lake rather smaller than the last. It is situated in a valley about a quarter of a mile wide, with precipitous, rocks on either side, down which fall cascades, feeding both lakes with the melting snows of thei mountains. Passing over this. lake, he entered a< small river, which, however, soon gathered strength from its tributary mountain streams, and rushed, with great impetuosity over a bed of flat stones: these are the head waters of the Tatouche Tesse, I or Frazer's Eiver. In following its course he met*; with many difficulties and dangers from the extreme rapidity of the current, its many falls and ; rapids. He found the Indians here differing little from the Eocky Mountain Indians, whom he had seen on his first journey, but much from the Chip- pewayans, Knistenaux, and other Indians with whom he had been in communication in Canada: they dwelt in semi-subterranean houses, and are nowr called the Carriers. The country he describes as very beautiful after reaching the more open part of the river : it rose rather abruptly about twenty- five feet, when the precipice was succeeded by an PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 91 inclined plain to the foot of another steep, which was followed by another extent of gently rising ground,— these objects, which were shaded with groves of fir, presenting themselves alternately to a considerable distance. Having received from the natives a description of the river, he continued his journey to lat. 52i°, when, altering his original intention, he returned up its course to lat. 53i°, and prepared to go from thence toward the Pacific by land. Building a log- house to contain his canoe and such articles as could not be carried, Mackenzie and his companions started on their land journey, each carrying a load of pemmican, and having, besides their arms, ammunition, instruments for astronomical observations, and articles for presents. According to the report of the Indians, it did not require more than six days to reach a country where they bartered their furs for iron, and that from thence to the sea required only two days more. Among them he found two halfpence, one the coin of Great Britain, the other of the State of Massachusetts, coined in 1787, six years before. Proceeding westward, he found women clothed in matted bark, edged with the skin of the sea-otter. Here, in July, he found the mountains covered with compact snow; and yet the weather was warm, and the valleys beautiful. Descending from these, probably the main chain of the Eocky Mountains, among the precipitous sides of which two rivers have their rise, and unite at the base, he found the country covered with large trees, pines, spruce, hemlock, birch, and abounding in animals ; and lower down the river he observed the loftiest elder and cedar trees he had ever seen. Following: 92 THE OREGON. the course of the river through a deep ravine, he reached an Indian village, where the river abounded in salmon. Here he commenced his voyage down it towards the Pacific, having obtained a large canoe from the natives.' This he found adorned with the teeth of the sea-otter; and as the chief to whom it belonged affirmed that he had some years before seen on the coast large canoes full of white men, Mackenzie conceived that the similarity which these teeth bear to those of man would account for Cook's report that the natives of the coast decorated their canoes with human teeth, especially as these Indians corresponded in dress and manner with those described by him. On the 19th July he arrived where the river discharges itself into a narrow arm of the sea. On the 21st, continuing his voyage along the coast, and across the sound, to that point which Vancouver, as lately as the 4th of June preceding, had named Point Menzies, he met an Indian, who told him that a large canoe had come into the bay, filled with white people; that one of them called Macubah had fired on him and his friends. This was, perhaps, one of Vancouver's vessels, but the transaction cannot be identified. On the south-east face of the rocks bordering what he subsequently ascertained to be the Cascade Canal of Vancouver, Mackenzie inscribed in large characters with vermilion, mixed in melted grease, this brief memorial:—" Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four." He computed the latitude at 52° 2V N. * On the 23rd he reached the mouth of the river whence he PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 93 had set out, and from thence returned by the Tatouche and Peace rivers to Canada. The results of this journey were important, more especially when taken in connexion with his former discoveries, and Vancouver's and Cook's surveys of the coast, proving beyond doubt that there could be no communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans" from the mouth of Mackenzie's river to Cascade Canal; and as the former lies under the 135th meridian of longitude, it in a great measure confirmed Vancouver's opinion, so decidedly expressed, that none would be found on the N. W. coast. It is to be observed that, from the description of the natives, Mackenzie imagined the Tatouche to be the Columbia, a mistake which, when the contiguity of their sources and channels are considered, need not much surprise us. In 1766, Captain Jonathan Carver of Connecticut, a soldier of the Canadian war, left Boston by way of Detroit and Michilimackinac for the waters of the Upper Mississippi; here he spent two years among the Indians. His avowed object was to cross the continent, and having accomplished this, to induce the government of England to establish a fort on some part of the Strait of Anian, which having, he adds, been discovered by Sir F. Drake, of course belongs to the British. The course he proposed to have taken was by the Lake of the Woods and Lake Winipeg to the liead waters of the great river of the West, which falls into the Strait of Anian. This he mentions more than once as the Oregon, and he appears to have derived his knowledge from the Indians, and, considering its sources, it is not incorrect. He states that the four most capital rivers in America have 94 THE OREGON. their sources near each other—this shows that these parts are the highest in America.—He calls them the Shining Mountains, and his description of them, excepting in regard to latitude, which must have been wdth him only estimated by guess, is sufficiently accurate to identify them with the Snowy and Eocky Mountains. It is certain, however, that his is the first account of the river, and that it offered a stimulus to further discovery. The cession of Louisiana to the United States by the French directed the attention of the government of that country to the head waters of the Missouri and Mississippi, with the view, doubtless, of extending their territories as far to the west as possible. For this purpose President Jefferson organised an expedition of discovery to those regions, which he placed under the command of Captains Lewis and Clarke, with instructions to proceed from thence across the Eocky Mountains to the Pacific. In May, 1804, they "were afloat on the Missouri, their party consisting of forty-five; and having traced its waters to lat. 47° in the country of the Mandan Indians, they built a fort in which to pass the winter. In April, 1805, they left Fort Mandan, and ascending the stream, passed the Yellowstone Eiver, the Eoche Jaune of the French traders. Above this they came to the great Falls of the Missouri, where for many miles it forms a continuous series of rapids, and in one place throws itself in an unbroken sheet over a shelving rock, which crosses the whole breadth of the river. On the 19th of July they came to the pass which PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 95 they called the Grand Gates of the Eocky Mountains. Here the rocks for five miles rise perpendicularly from the water's edge, and for three miles there is no possibility of passage on either side. The river is here 350 yards wide, and forms one of the most sublime scenes in nature, the dark rocks which overhang its mighty waters frowning fearfully on the daring intruder. Delayed by the rapidity and windings of the river, Capt. Clarke went forward on foot to explore the route, and pierced into the recesses of the mountains, until the stream became so small that One of the party, in a fit of enthusiasm, " thanked • God he had lived to bestride the Missouri." At length they reached a chasm in the mountain, from one side of which welled out the springThead of the mighty river whose course they had traced for more than three thousand miles. " They had now reached the hidden sources of that river which had never yet been seen by civilized man; and as they quenched their thirst at the chaste and icy fountain, as they sat by the side of the little rivulet, they felt rewarded for all their labours and difficulties." Crossing the rocky barrier that was before them, they soon descended into the country west of the mountain. Here they fell in with some women of the Shoshones or Snake Indians, and conciliating them by presents, gained the confidence of the tribe. Having smoked the calumet with them, Capt. Lewis succeeded in prevailing on some of them to go to the assistance of his companions, whom he had left with the canoes. A great inducement to them to render this assistance was found in the knowledge that with them there was a black man with curled hair. 96 THE OREGON. From hence they struck the waters of the Koos- kooskee, and proceeding down for about four hundred miles, reached to the main branch of the Snake, which they called Lewis Eiver. They suffered much from the roughness of the mountain side, over which their path lay, and the want of food, which compelled them to kill and eat their horses and purchase dogs of the natives for food. From this they obtained the sobriquet of dog-eaters from the Indians, who, however, were not long in acquiring a preference for it over the usual food of dried fish. On the Lewis Eiver they built canoes, and soon arrived at the Great Falls. The first descent was twenty feet, round which they carried their canoes. A mile below the river shot rapidly over a ledge eight feet in height: down this they dropped their canoes by ropes. They had now passed the first pitch of the falls. The next day they came to the. second, where the river forces itself through a narrow passage of only forty-five feet, having a huge wall of black rock on either side. Seeing no possibility of carrying the canoes and luggage over this precipice, they determined to shoot the fall, and, to the astonishment of the Indians, piloted their frail barks in safety through its foaming whirlpools. Below they passed another bad rapid; and at length they arrived at the Great Narrows, where the river is compressed for three miles in a channel of from fifty to one hundred yards wide. They, had, however, gained confidence by their former success, and though the current rushed over its rocky bed with fearful rapidity and terrible noise, they succeeded in passing safely through. As they descended the river its channel widened PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY 9T ; gradually, and shortly they perceived the tides. Ascending a hill, they enjoyed a view of that ocean which they proudly imagined was to be the only barrier to the spread of American dominion towards the west. It took them, however, a fortnight more to reach the river's mouth and establish themselves for the wdnter. They first landed i at Cape Disappointment, but finding this not suit- i able, from the rise of the water3 crossed the river to Port Adams. Here they built a fort, which they called Fort Clatsop. From this point they only succeeded in reaching the coast thirty miles below the mouth of the river, near Cape Look-out, and in March, 1806, commenced their homeward journey by the same route as they had arrived. On reaching the Koos-kooskee at the point where they had embarked, they took a due easterly course, and struck the waters of the Flat-head Eiver, which they named Clarke's Eiver, near where the forty-seventh parallel crosses it; and Capt. Clarke proceeded up the river and across the Eocky Mountains to the sources of the Yellowstone Eiver, down which he floated in canoes to its junction with the Missouri; while Capt. Lewis, descending the river for some distance, crossed the mountains in lat. 47^-° to Maria's Eiver, one of the sources of the Missouri; and following its course, found his companions at the mouth of the Yellowstone, when they proceeded home together. The account of this journey abounds in romantic incidents, and is generally well known. It was important in a geographical point of view, as affording correct information of the source of the Missouri and Yellowstone, and more particularly of the Columbia, and the territories through which they flow. Three passes were also ascertained as existing in 38 THE OREGON. that part of the Eocky Mountain Chain, not, indeed, now of any great importance, but sufficient to prove the practicability of reaching by them the shores of the Pacific. The spirit of enterprise induced by the fur trade now began to extend a knowledge of the country to the west of the Eocky Mountains, and in 1806 Mr. Simon Frazer, in the employ of the North West Company, crossed that chain and established a trading fort on a lake at the head of the Tatouche Tesse, called from him Frazer's Lake and river, one hundred miles to the north of Mackenzie's track. This was consequent on the compelled cession of Forts Detroit and Michilimackinac to the American Fur Company, and the consequent contraction of the North West Company's operations towards the south. In 1808 the Missouri American Fur Company established a fort on the Snake Eiver by their agent, Mr. Henry, but the enmity of the savages and difficulty of procuring provisions rendered the attempt abortive. In 1810 another attempt, which also proved a failure, was made to establish a trading fort on Oak Point, about forty miles up the Columbia Eiver, on its south bank. But the competition of the American traders with their Canadian rivals did not stop here; a scheme for monopolizing the whole trade of the territory west of the Eocky Mountains, and extending it across the ocean to China and Eussia, was the same year broached at New York by Mr. John Jacob Astor, a German merchant residing there, who had for many years been engaged in the trade of the Pacific, and in it had accumulated a large fortune. In pursuance of this plan, he engaged the assistance of several British subjects accustomed to the PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. 99 fur trade, three of whom had belonged to the North West Company, and the English Consul at New York agreed that in the event of war their property should be respected as that of British subjects* Voyageurs and others were also engaged, many from the rival company, others American citizens, and in September, 1810, the ' Tonquin,' under the command of Captain Eous, proceeded with the first detachment to the mouth of the Columbia, and in the January following another party started for the same point by way of the Missouri and Eocky Mountains, j The \ Tonquin' arrived at the mouth of the river and crossed the bar on the 24th of March. This was not effected however without much danger and difficulty, and the loss of three men, who tried to find the entrance in the ship's boat. They immediately commenced building a fort and wharf at Point George, intending to establish the chief factory of the company there. They named it Astoria in honour of Mr. Astor, and commenced trade with the Indians. The North West Company was not much behindhand in its exertions. Aware of the importance of the object of the Americans, Mr. David Thompson, their astronomer, was sent with a party across the Eocky Mountains, but the severity of the winter delayed him there, and he did not reach Astoria till July. He had followed the course of the Columbia from the 52nd parallel, and was the first white man who navigated its northern branch: having accomplished the purpose of his mission, he returned almost immediately. The party which had been despatched overland 100 THE OREGON. eils did not arrive at Astoria till the beginning of 1812, having been more than a year in their journey from the Mississippi. Their progress had been Tetarded not only by the usual difficulties, but by the Missouri Fur Company before mentioned, who seem to have been more directly opposed to them than the fSt^th West Company. They took a different route from Lewis and Clarke, bearing to the south for fear of the Blackfeet Indians to lat. 40°, whence proceeding with a north-west course, they struck one of the head waters of the Snake. Here some of their party quailed before the difficulties which presented themselves and returned to the States. Now only thirty in number, " they commenced their voyage downwards, but from the rapidity of the current and number of rapids, they determined, after having lost one man. and a portion of their baggage, to abandon such perilous navigation, and undertake the remainder of the journey on foot. Some of them however determined still to keep the river." They were under a strong impression that a few days would bring them to the river Columbia, but they were miserably disappointed ; for three weeks they followed the course of the river, which was one continued torrent, running between precipitous rocks. Their sufferings were intense, being frequently obliged to broil the leather of their shoes to sustain nature ; " while to complete their misfortunes, they were often unable to descend the declivities of the rocks for a drink of the water which they saw flowing beneath their feet." The Canadians, in the bitterness of their recollections, denominated this river " la maudite ri viere enragee. 99 PROGRESS OF x)ISCOVEicY. 101 The other party did not suffer so much, from occasionally meeting the natives, who however always fled from them, leaving their horses behind; some of these they killed for food, leaving goods in payment. After a separation of some days the two parties came in sight of each other on different banks of the river; in attempting to unite by means of a canoe formed of a horse's skin, one vovageur was drowned, and the attempt was given up; subsequently, however, both parties reached Astoria in safety by the help of the Indians. The sufferings experienced in this journey gave a bad name to the head waters of the Snake river. In June, 1812, a party from Fort Astoria, among whom was Mr. Eoss Cox, who has left an account of these transactions, proceeded up the river in batteaux and wooden canoes to the fork, and thence up the Snake river; subsequently they established a fort on the Spokane river, and at the mouth of the Okanagan, from whence they explored a considerable portion of the country in that direction. But war with Great Britain breaking out, and a party of the North West Company's servants, headed by Messrs. MacTavish and Baroque, arriving with the news, the head partners at Astoria agreed to the sale of the Pacific Company's stations and furs to the North West Company, and their establishments were eventually broken up. This measure has been animadverted upon as unnecessary, but it appears to have offered the only indemnification for the expenses of the expedition, as the English were masters of the Pacific, and had despatched a vessel to destroy the settlements on the Columbia. All trade therefor© "" "fv 102 THE OREGON. was at an end, and although the Company was in a great measure composed of British subjects, yet the vessels sailing under the American flag, as well as the forts which hoisted it, were liable to seizure^ After this, although at the end of the war Astoria was provisionally restored to the United States^ yet they never took possession of it, and the whole country remained under the influence of the North West Company, which was much extended after its union with the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Americans did not appear in Oregon for fifteen years. In 1827, Mr. Pilcher, an American trader, entering the south pass proceeded northward by the Lewis river to Flathead Lake. On this beautiful water he remained during the winter, and proceeded to Fort Colville, then a recent establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company on the Columbia, a little below the union of Flathead Eiver with the main stream. In 1832, Captain Bonneville with a large party passed some time in the Oregon; but little geographical knowledge is to be obtained from these sources or from the missionary or emigrant expeditions which have of late frequently crossed the Eocky Mountains. The path is open, but the only information of any value respecting it is to be derived from the accounts of Messrs. Spalding, Town- &end, and Farnham, from 1834 to 1840, and from the recent expeditions to the Eocky Mountains and down the Columbia to Fort Vancouver, and thence into California, undertaken by Mr. Fremont, for the government of the United States. One important feature the latter traveller has developed, viz., the isolated character of the table connecting links with the Texas and Oregon dis- trusts. ( 104 ) CHAPTEE V. DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. 'Bounded on the south by the Snowy Mountain range, on the north by the Babine and Peak mountains and the spurs which incline from the latter to the coast; on the west bv the Pacific; and on the east by the Eocky Mountains; the natural district of the river of the west lies compact and clearly de-1 fined by those great land-marks which the Author of Nature has placed around it. Politically, with the same boundaries east and west, it is limited by the 42nd parallel to the south, and by that of 54° 40' to the north; but these arbitrary land-marks maybe varied, while the natural are unchangeable. On entering on a geographical account of the territory, it should be described as nature has left it; and it; may be remarked by the way that, with whatever labour and cost arbitrary boundaries may be for a time maintained, it will always be found at length to have been without profit, and must of necessity have a speedy termination. Taking, then, these natural boundaries, and commencing from the south, we find the Snowy Mountains—the Sierra Nevada of the Spaniards—dividing, by a somewhat circuitous south-west course, the head-waters of the river Colorado, falling into] the Gulf of California, and the Sacramento, xwhich_ empties itself into the harbour of San Francisco, from those of the south branch of the Columbian DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. md the Clamet rivers, which fall into the Pacific; they approach the Eocky Mountains near the south pass from the United States, about which are the sources of six great rivers, the Missouri, the Platte, the Arkansas, the Rio Bravo del Norte, the Colorado, and the Snake, or south branch of the Columbia river, near the 42nd parallel, and are the most lofty mountains of the northern continent; and here also are some detached but lofty ranges, jutting out into the lower country, among which the most remarkable are the Wind Mountains, Long's Eange, and the White Mountains, which separate the river Bravo from the Arkansas. South of this range, and separated from North California by a continuation of it parallel to the coast, there is a great natural basin, 5000 feet above the level of the sea, of about 300 miles in breadth, stretching east and west, and about 500 in length, north and south, forming a triangle, and filling a space between the mountain barrier of the Sacramento and Colorado on the east and west, and the Snake river on the north, containing its own system of lakes and rivers, [having no outlet or communication with the sea, [and forming an almost impassable barrier between the Oregon and California in that direction. The road between the Snowy Mountains and the coast line is not, however, difficult. Having passed the Blue Mountain chain in lat. about 42^-°, it then abuts on the sea at Cape Mendocino, in lat. 40°, while another branch takes a south course to the east of the waters of the Sacramento. . Eunning north from their junction with the Snowy Mountains, the Blue Mountains bound the valley of the Saptin or Snake or Lewis river on the west, and terminate at the upper falls of the river Columbia. f2 I 206 THE OREGON. HI Here open plains extend between the two main branches of the river, but to the north a chain of mountains runs in the same direction between the main branch of the Columbia and its tributary the Okanagan, and unites with the Eocky Mountains near the source of Frazer's Eiver. The Blue Mountains are united to the Cascade or Presidents' range on the west by spurs between the head-waters of the Clamet and Umqua and the Wallamette and Cascade rivers, tributaries of the Columbia, between which the Cascade range runs north to that river, and thence past the inland navigation of the branches of Juan de Fuca Straits, till it loses its identity in the confusion of the mountainous region north of Frazer's Eiver. This range obtains its name from the difficulties it opposes to the passage of the Columbia to the sea, breaking its course in a succession of rapids and falls. It has also been called the President's range by the citizens of the United States, who have given to its principal peaks the names of the chief magistrates of that commonwealth. From lat. 42-J-0 to about the 47th parallel, these keep the line of the coast, at about 150 miles distant, and spurs fro™ them and the Eocky Mountains occupy the territory of New Caledonia about the head-waters of the Columbia and Frazer's river, and a branch striking out of the confusion north of the Gulf of Georgia, Broughton's Archipelago, and Queen Charlotte's Sound, and running in a north-west direction, divides the head-waters of the tributaries of Frazer's Eiver from those of the Salmon and Mackenzie rivers, falling into the Canals of the coast of the Great Western Archipelago, under the parallels 52° and 54° north lat., and then trending eajst round DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. 107 those of Simpson's Eiver, joins the Babine and Peak ranges, which stretch north and west beyond the limits of the territory. These, from recent discoveries of the course of the west tributaries to Mackenzie's Eiver, may justly be considered the main branch of the Eocky Mountains, dividing the waters of the rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean from those falling into the Pacific. The consideration of these mountain ranges will, in some measure, indicate the course of the rivers, the two principal of which, the Columbia and Frazer's river, having their rise in the Eocky Mountains east, and fed by tributaries from the Blue and middle ranges on the west, and from the Babine and Snowy Mountains on the north and south, by the united forces of their hundred streams, breaking for themselves a passage through the giant barrier of the Cascade or Presidents' range, find their way respectively into the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Georgia; there is, however, another range of mountains which runs close to the coast, as far as Mount Olympus, and passing through the entire length of Vancouver's Island and the West Archipelago, unites with the north-east branch of the Cascade or Presidents' range, which is joined by the Babine and Peak Mountains, at Mount'Fairweather, in lat. 59°, and continues thence north-east to Mount St. Elias, from which the various ranges seem to originate, and whose Cyclopean rocks and snow-covered summits afford a fitting barrier between the two mighty empires of Britain and Eussia, the dominions of which, embracing the globe from the east to the west, unite at its base. Wherever the head-waters of the rivers on the east and west sides of the Eocky Mountains approach nearest each other, there have 108 THE OREGON. been found passes through them : of these perhaps* the most important is the south pass, where the- Snowy Mountains are joined by the Wind Eiver Mountains and Long's Eange, between the head waters of the rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, the California, and the Pacific Ocean. Through this is the common road, rendered daily more practicable, by which the emigrants from the United States bring their families and property in waggons to the Oregon territory across the great prairies; the highest peak at this pass was calculated by Mr. Fremont in his recent journey to be about 13,570^ feet above the level of the sea. There are two passes a little to the north, between the head-waters- of the Missouri on the west, and Flathead and Waptiacoos or north branch of the Saptin to which the name of Lewis, originally given to the whole, is usually now confined, which were the routes taken by Lewis and Clarke, on their homeward journey; and again between those of the* Saskatchewan on the east, and Macgillivray's Eiver and the Columbia on the west; and more* northerly still, between Mount Brown and Mount Hooker, in lat. 52^°, another very important pass, offering great facility of communication between the Oregon and Canada, by the waters of the Columbia and north branches of the Sarsatchawan,, which, flowing into Lake Winnipeg, gives easy access to Hudson's Bay and the great lakes. Farther north still, the Unijah or Peace Eiver gives access by the Slave Lake and Mackenzie's Eiver to the Arctic Sea. These two latter break what is usually esteemed the Eocky Mountain range; but the flow of the rivers would rather induce the opinion which has been before expressed, that it does DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. 109 not run from Mackenzie's Eiver northward, but is continued in the Peak and Babine ranges more to the west, that which is usually esteemed the continuation forming a branch of them, and separating the waters which run by various courses into the Frozen Ocean, like the White Mountains on the south those that fall into the Gulf of Mexico. They may be called the Chippewayan range. The highest point of the Eocky Mountains is probably Mount Brown, said to be 16,000 feet high. Mount Hooker has nearly the same altitude. The height of the Snowy Mountains has never been accurately tested, but they are considered by Mr. Fremont to be higher than the Eocky Mountains, the pass by which he crossed them to the valley of the Sacramento being 2000 feet above the south pass of the eastern range. Pitt Mountain, or, as it is called by the Americans, Mount Jackson, or as by the trappers Mount Shaste, is said to be 20,000 feet above the level of the sea: the snow line of these mountains has been calculated at 6500 feet. From Mount Pitt the Presidents' range or Cascade Mountains are broken into many lofty I peaks, distinguished by the names of the Presidents of the United States. They are not, however, very generally known by them. Three of the most remarkable have already been mentioned in describing the coast, under the names given them hy Vancouver, Mounts Hood, Baker, and Eainier. Mount St. Helen's is perhaps the most beautiful, if not the highest; it is of a conical form, about 17,000 feet high: it is the Mount Washington of the Americans. The intricate courses of the mountain chains THE OREGON. indicating, as they must do, those of the rivers, it will not appear strange that for the most part they should be found very irregular also. This is to be particularly remarked of the Columbia. It has two principal branches, the southernmost of which has been mentioned as having its sources under the 42nd parallel, not far from those of the great waters of South America. It is called the Nezperces, Saptin, or Snake River, and bending to the wrest and north flows with a serpentine course for nearly 800 miles, to lat. 46°, where it joins the north branch, and their united course is continued for upwards of 250 more to the sea, forcing a passage through the Cascade Mountains to about half that distance, up to which point, not far above Fort Vancouver, the river is navigable, and the tides of the ocean are apparent. The principal tributaries to the south branch are the Malheur Eiver, having its rise in the Blue Mountains, and flowing under parallel 44°, about half-way from the source, the Waptiacoos or north branch, now usually called Lewis' Eiver, having its sources not far north of those of the main branch, and the Kooskooskee or Salmon Eiver, whose head-waters closely approach those of the Flathead or south arm of the northern branch of the Columbia. Besides these, there are numerous others descending from the Snowy Mountains on the south, the Blue Mountains on the west, and the spurs of the Eocky Mountains on the east, among which should be mentioned the Boisais, flowing into the Snake a little above the Malheur, but from the east side. The Hudson's Bay Company have a fort situated near its mouth. The course DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. Ill of the north branch is very peculiar; it has its source under the 50th parallel, whence flowing north along the base of the Eocky Mountains, in about lat. 52° 10', it unites with the water of Canoe I Eiver, which rises to the north in lat. 53°, near i the head-w7aters of Frazer's Eiver; and another branch, which rises in the north-west between ! Mounts Brown and Hooker, having its'source near the head-waters of the Athabasca, which flows into the chain of lakes through which the Mackenzie river discharges its waters into the Arctic Sea. Here, as before mentioned, among the most lawful features of mountain scenery, lies the great northern outlet of the territory, resembling the i southern in many of its features, with even more sublimity of character, but especially in having the sources of several great rivers within a very short distance of each other. Here are the headwaters of the Athabasca and north tributaries of \the Saskatchawan, which falls into Lake Winnipeg, land on the east the northern waters of the Columbia and the eastern branch of Frazer's Eiver, [near a deep cleft in the mountains, which has been Icalled by the British traders " The Committee's Punchbowl." From the point of union of these three streams, iwhich has been called Boat Encampment, this, .which may be considered the main branch of the Columbia, flows in a course nearly due south for upwards of 250 miles, in the northern part of [ which it rushes through defiles of the mountains, but under the 50th parallel it spreads into a large lake or chain of lakes; and lower still another, ;below which it receives the waters of M'Gilliv- ray's Eiver, which having its rise to the north-west f3 112 THE OREGON. of the head-wraters of the main branch running south as it does north along the base of the Eocky Mountains, bends to the wrest, below parallel 42°, whence taking a semicircular course to the north, through a large lake, it joins the main branch about four hundred miles from its source. To these, not far to the south, are added the waters of the Flathead, or Clarke's Eiver, which, from its sources in a great bend of the Eocky Mountains, a little to the north of those of the Lewis River, under the forty-sixth parallel, skirts the base of that range in a north-westerly direction to Fort Flathead, in lat. 47° 40', when it continues the same course through a great lake till it joins the northern branch of the Columbia, about thirty miles below M'Gillivray's Eiver. Their united waters take a westerly course for upwards of one hundred miles, from Fort Colville to Fort Okanagan, receiving by the way the Spokain Eiver from the Great Plain to the south, and, at Fort Okanagan, a river of the same name, the outlet of a chain of lakes which runs north one hundred and fifty miles parallel to the great north branch; and from hence, with a southern but sinuous course, perhaps two hundred miles, to its junction with the south branch at Fort Nezperces. Below the junction of the main branches the Columbia receives, among others of less note, the waters of the Falls Eiver, flowing from the south between the Blue and Cascade ranges, and below the cascades of the Wallamette, or Willamette, watering with its tributaries the vallevs to the south of the latter mountains: lower still it receives the Cowelitz from the north, having its source at the foot of Mount Eainier, from which DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. 113 also spring the Chekelis, which falls into Bullfinches' or Gray's Harbour, and those flowing into Puget's Sound, and which thus, in a measure, unite the Pacific and the Columbia with Admiralty Inlet in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The mountainous country through which, for the most part, all these rivers flow, contracts their channels and quickens their currents, frequently breaking them into falls and cascades: in many places they run in deep clefts worn in the solid rock, and in others are compressed between walls of rock. Such features, though contributing to the picturesque, do not add to the navigable quality of these waters: they are, however, generally navigable by canoes and batteaux, which are carried round the falls and rapids. The other rivers of South Oregon, besides the tributaries of the Columbia, are the Umqua and Clamef* These, having their sources at the foot of the Cascade and Snowy Mountain ranges, flow through fertile and fragrant valleys to the sea, in latitudes respectively 43° 50' and 42° 40', the one close to Cape Gregory, and the other immediately south of Cape Orford, the two most remarkable promontories of the coast. The district watered by these and the Wallamette has been esteemed the Garden of the West. The head waters of Frazer's Eiver, or Tatouche Tesse, have been mentioned as rising near those of Canoe Eiver, the most northern branch of the Columbia, in lat. 53^° : their united waters flow with a western course about one hundred and fifty miles, when they receive the Salmon Eiver frornthe north. To the sources of which, those of the Unijah. or Peace Eiver closely approach, in one place being only three hundred and seventeen yards 114 THE OREGON. distant; this river having its rise, as has been remarked, within the limits usually assigned |H the Oregon territory, breaking the chains of the Eocky Mountains, falls into Lake Athabasca, and then, by Mackenzie's Eiver, unites with the Arctic Ocean. A little below Salmon River the waters of; Strait's Eiver are added from the north-west, after j which it flows in a circuitous course till it unites with the northern branch, or Thompson's Eiver, which, rising near the source of Quesnel's Eiver, flows at the base of the mountains which bound the Columbia to the west: this receives the waters of several lakes in a course of above three hundred miles. The principal of these is Thompson's, above which it is joined by the Shouschwap, which has its rise between the Okanagan Lakes and main streams of the Columbia. Below parallel fifty, bending to the west, it breaks through the Cascade Eange and falls into the Gulf of Georgia. Its whole course, though frequently stated at only three hundred and fifty, probably exceeds six hundred miles in length. Its character differs from the Columbia generally, though assimilating partially with the northern branch of that river, flowing through marshy lands and lakes, among which Stuart's, on the tributary of that name, and Quesnel's, on one from the east, and Chilcotin on the west, under parallel fifty-three, Thompson's on the North Eiver, and Shouschwap on a branch of the same, are the most remarkable. The river is navigable for seventy miles up to Fort Langley. Its character near the Cascade Eange is similar to that of the Columbia. Of the two rivers to the north, the Salmon and Simpson, little is known. As the mountain ranges indicate bv their courses DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. 115 those of the rivers, separating them from each other, so they divide the Oregon territory into districts as essentially different in character as they are distinct in locality. The number of these has I usually been stated as three, but it is to be presumed this is with reference almost exclusively to the Lower Oregon, or at most to the valleys of the Columbia and its tributaries. It is only below lat. 49° that they may be distinctly traced. Of these the first, and by far the best, lies between the Cascade Eange and the sea: in it the land is fertile, the forests of the most gigantic growth, single pine-trees occurring more than two hundred feet without a branch, and upwards of three hundred feet high, while prime sound trees from two hundred to two hundred and eighty feet in height and forty feet in circumference are by no means uncommon: it is richly diversified with hill and dale, well watered by numerous streams, abounding in game and fish, and backed by the lofty peaks of the snow-covered mountains, offers a prospect no less delightful for the luxuriance of its productions than the beauty of its scenery, heightened as both are by the fragrance of the myrtaceous plants, whose slightest movement in the summer breeze perfumes the valleys. This district extends from the Clamet on the south to Vancouver's Island, and, indeed, may be said to be continued through the whole length of the western archipelago, but gradually losing its fertility as it reaches the higher latitudes. The opinion of that great navigator respecting the district about Ad- Siniralty Inlet has been recorded, and that to the Isouth is in no way inferior. Its superficial extent may be forty thousand square miles, exclusive of 116 THE OREGON. Vancouver's Island. Among the northern islands Queen Charlotte's partakes most strongly of the character of this region. Of the southern part of this district Lieut. Wilkes, who commanded the late exploring expedition under the United States government, says, " Few portions of the globe are so rich in soil, so diversified in surface, or so capable of being rendered the happy homes of an industrious and civilized community. For beauty of scenery and salubrity of climate it cannot be surpassed. It is peculiarly adapted for an agricultural and pastoral people, and no portion of the world beyond the tropics can be found that will yield so readily with moderate labour to the wants of man." It may be added that cattle increase spontaneously, .swine multiply rapidly in the woods, and the character of the country and climate is admirably suited to European constitutions, the latter being subject to no violent extremes, though it is dry, but little rain falling from April to November, while the other three months form a rainy 4 season. With all its fertility it has not probably more than one person for every five square miles of soil. Into this district also extend the maritime inlets and harbours which have been described in the Strait of Fuca, and the mouths of the rivers, though in the lower part, south of the Columbia, it has no maritime or mercantile advantages to boast of, the value of the country for these purposes being centred in Admiralty Inlet. The whole of this district is naturally connected with the volcanoes of the Cascade Eange, and appears as rich in minerals and metals as it is in vegetable and animal productions: of all of these notice will be taken in a subsequent chapter. DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. ur The second region lies between the Cascade and the Blue Mountains on the south of the Columbia, and the Cascade and spurs of the Eocky Mountains on the north-west. Its lower part, through which runs the Fall river, consists of terraced plains^ projecting from the mountains, the sides of which are covered with thick forests. It is a beautiful and fer- tile district. Its upper part, north of the Columbia, expands, and the plains occupy the entire space between the Flathead and Snake rivers, forming a triangle upwards of two hundred miles in length, and about one hundred in breadth, and extend to the west of the main branch, and north between it and the Okanagan to lat. 49°. The soil is chiefly a sandy clay, and is covered with grass, and would afford food to innumerable flocks and herds. The undulations are however covered with small shrubs and prickly pears; the bottoms near the rivers are richer, having good grass; these are found principally in the south parts of the district, where the usual sandy clay is mixed with vegetable mould. The climate is dry, the days warm and the nights cool, and the absence of moisture renders it even more salubrious than the western district. The rainy season, though as long, is not so severe ; snow seldom lies in this region. It has, however, one serious want, viz., wood, of which its northern part is in a great measure destitute. Eoss Cox, who built Fort Okanagan, at the junction of the river of that name with the Columbia, at the northern extremity of this district, found there a large tract of very fertile soil, sufficiently watered by the heavy dews ; there is also good land about Fort Colville, more to the west; also on the Spokain river, and westward near the base of the Eocky Mountains, 118 THE OREGON. tie land is generally fertile and well wooded, especially round the lakes in which the tributaries of the Columbia have their rise. Farnham, however, a more recent traveller, seems to have been wearied by what he calls " the monotonous desolation" into a not very pleasing description of the plairiH but he admits1 the fertility of the valleys as well to the south as near the rivers of the Okanagan and Columbia. Of the Spokain river and its valley he speaks in higher terms | the upper part he describes as flowing among high and bold mountains, " sparsely covered with pines and cedars of a fine size," spurs from the Eocky Mountain chain; indeed this might almost be considered as belonging to the third district, but around the Pointed Heart Lake, through which it flows about fifty miles from its source, are some grass lands, many edible roots, and wild fruits. This lake is twenty-five miles long by twelve broad. I On all the remaining course of the stream," he adds, " are found at in- : tervals productive spots, capable of yielding moderate crops of grain and vegetables; there is considerable pine and cedar timber on the neighbour-; ing hills, and near the Columbia are large forests growing on sandy plains; in a word, the Spokain valley can be extensively used as a grazing district, but its agricultural capabilities are limited. This district is continued to the east of Snake river, which is a buffalo country, and the hunting-ground of the Snake Indians. The third or highland district of Oregon is formed by rocky mountain chains and deep gorges, through which the upper waters and tributaries of the main rivers rush with great rapidity over ledges of solid rock to the main valley. However, thcff DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. 119 bases of the hills are generally partly covered with trees, and present spots affording pasturage and capable of cultivation; this we have seen to be the case about Pointed Heart Lake, as it is also on Clarke's or Flathead river and lake; inpleed above parallel 45 the character of this district is in comparison much ameliorated. Some notion of its features may be derived from the description afforded by travellers of the great Northern and Southern Passes. Eoss Cox thus describes the Goj^ntry round Canoe river:—" On the morning of the 29th of May, ;a thick mist still enveloped us, and rendered ithe awful solitude of this gloomy valley peculiarly impressive; it appeared never to, have been trodden ^by the foot of man untij the enterprising spirit of British commerce, after having forced its way over 'the everlasting snows of the Eocky Mountains, ipenetrated into the anti-sQicial glen, and from thence entered the mighty waters of the Columbia. As the mists gradually ascended into the higher regions, we obtained a more distinct view of the surrounding scenery. On the northern side tiers of mountains, thickly covered with large pine and I cedar trees, towered to an immeasurable height; ! while the southern presented dark perpendicular rocks of immense altitude, partially covered with moss, stunted pine, &c, over which at intervals I cascades of seven or eight hundred feet high forced a passage to swell the torrent below. The sun, except in the intervals between the rocks, wras invisible, and with the exception of our own party, no trace of animated nature could be distinguished over the magnificent solitude." This grand cote, or principal belt, over which inn 120 THE OREGON. the north pass ascends, he thus describes:—" At" its base were cedar and pine trees of enormous magnitude; but in proportion as we ascended they decreased in size, and at the summit of the hilt- their appearance was quite dwarfish. We completed the ascent in about four hours and a half. A short time before we reached the summit, and from thence to the table-land, our progress lay through a wilderness of snow, which we had to beat down, to form a pathway for the loaded men. At one p.m. we arrived at two small lakes, between which we encamped. They are only a few hundred feet each in circumference, and the distanced between them does not exceed twenty-five or thirty feet; they lie on the most level part of the height. of land, and are situated between an immense cut} of the Eocky Mountains. From these two rivers take their rise, which pursue different courses, and fall into separate oceans; the first winds into the valley we had lately left, and after joining the Columbia, empties itself into the North Pacific, while the other, called the Eocky Mountain Eiver, a branch of the Athabasca, follows first an eastern and then a northern course, until it forms a junction with the Unijah or Peace Eiver. This falls into the Great Slave Lake, the waters of which are ultimately carried by M'Kenzie's river to the Arctic Ocean. The country round our encampment presented the wildest and most terrific appearance of desolation that can well be imagined ; the sun, shining on a bright range of stupendous glaciers, threw a chilling brightness over the chaotic mass of rocks, ic<*, and snow, by which we were surrounded ; close to our encampment one gigantic mountain of a conical form towered magnificently DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. 121 into the clouds far above the others, while at intervals the interest of the scene was heightened by the rumbling noise of a descending avalanche,, which, after being detached from its bed of centuries, increased in bulk in its headlong career downwards, until it burst with a frightful crash, more resembling the explosion of a magazinej than the cfispersion of a mass of snow." Such are the Alpine scenes of the north part of this region, as described by one of the earliest travellers in it; and it may be appropriately followed by the account of Captain Fremont, the last who has described the scenery around the South Pass. Eespecting the general character of the mountains he thus expresses himself:—" It is not by the splendour of the far-off views, which have lent such a glory to the Alps, that these impress the mind, but by a gigantic corridor of enormous masses, a savage sublimity of naked rock, in wonderful contrast with innumerable green spots of a rich floral beauty shut up in their stony recesses." The correctness of the impression thus conveyed is borne out by his description of the mountains below the South Pass. "We entered directly on rough and rocky ground, and had a glimpse of a wraterfall as we rode along ; and crossing in our way two fine streams, tributary to the Colorado, in about two hours' ride we reached the top of the first row or range of the mountains. Here again a view of the most romantic beauty met our eyes. It seemed as if, from the vast expanse of uninteresting prairies we had passed over, Nature had collected all her beauties [together in one chosen place: we were overlooking a valley which was entirely occupied by three lakes, and from their brink the surrounding ridges 122 THE OREGON. rose precipitously five hundred or a thousand feet, covered with the dark green of the balsam pine, relieved on the border of the lake by the light foliage of the aspen. They all communicated with each other, and the green of their waters, common to mountain lakes of great depth, showed it would be impossible to cross them. Descending the hill, we proceeded to make our way along the margin to the southern extremity. A narrow strip of angular fragments of rock sometimes afforded a rough pathway for our mules; but generally we rode along the shelving sides, occasionally scrambling up, at a considerable risk of falling back into the lake. The slope was frequently 60° ; the pines grew densely together, and the ground was covered with branches and trunks of trees. The air wa§ fragrant with the odour of the pines; and I re$ alized this delightful morning the pleasure o| breathing that mountain air which makes a constant theme of the hunter's praise, and which how made us feel as if we had all been drinking som| exhilarating gas. The depths of this, unexplored forest were a place to delight the heart of a bo< tanist; there was a rich undergrowth of plants anC numerous gay-coloured flowers in brilliant bloom We reached the outlet at length, where sonu freshly barked willows that lay in the water showec the beaver had been recently at work. The hills oi the southern end were low, and the lake looked liki a mimic sea, as the waves broke on the sandj beach in the force of a strong breeze. In searcl of smoother ground we rode a little inland, an« passing through groves of aspen, soon found our selves among the pines; emerging from these, w struck the sumrnit of the ridge above the uppe DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR. 123 end of the lake. We reached a very elevated spot; and in the valley below, and among the hills, were a number of lakes of different levels, some twro or three hundred feet above others, with which they communicated by foaming torrents; even to our great height the roar of the cataracts came up, and we could see them leaping down in lines of snowy foam. From this scene of busy waters we turned abruptly into the stillness of a forest, where we rode among the open bolls of the pines, over a lawn of verdant grass, having strikingly the air of cultivated grounds : this led us, after a time, among masses of rock which had no vegetable earth but in hollows and crevices, though still the pine forest continued. Towards evening we reached a defile, or rather a hole in the mountain, entirely shut in by dark pine-covered rocks. A small stream with; a scarcely perceptible current flowed through a level bottom of perhaps eighty yards' width, where the grass was saturated with water; ascending a peak, we saw that the little defile in which we lay communicated with the long green valley of some stream, which, here locked up in the mountains, far away to the south found its way in a dense forest to the plains. We made our bivouac among the pines: the surrounding masses were all of granite. Among all the strange places on which we had occasion to encamp during our long journey,, none has left so vivid an impression on my mind as the camp of this evening; the disorder of the masses which surrounded us, the little hole through which we saw the stars overhead, the dark pines where we slept, and the rocks lit up with the glare of our fires, made a night picture of wild beauty worthy the pencil of Salvator Eosa. ( 12* ) CHAPTEE VI. NATURAE PECULIARITIES. The whole territory west of the Eocky Mountains, having been subject to volcanic action, presents, as has been observed, great diversity in surface and the quality of its soil. To this cause it owes the picturesque magnificence of its general outlines, the lofty mountain peaks, the precipitous ravines, the rapid torrents which characterise its romantic scenery, and perhaps not less the fertility of its valleys, the gigantic growth of its forests, and the verdure of its plains. Consequent also upon this are many curious natural features and phenomena which should not be passed over unnoticed. And first, among those as more particularly indicative of their origin, may be mentioned the Soda Springs, or, as they are called from their acid taste and effervescence, the Beer Springs, near the* southern pass. They are situated at the bottom of a deep valley formed by a circular bend of the mountain, at tlijs foot of which the river flows, and close to a grove of cedars, at the source of Bear Eiver, a tributary of the Great Salt Lake, known only by reports of *he trappers until lately visited by Mr. Fremont. The principal springs lie in six circular hollows, sunk about two feet in the ground, and seven or eight feet in diameter, each containing a number of NATURAL PECULIARITIES. 12S fountains discharging gas and water with a noise resembling the boiling of immense caldrons. In these pools the water is clear, though some are- tufted with coarse grass, among which the water wells up continually. They are also very abundant in the bed of the river, and for the space of several hundred yards its surface is agitated by the effervescing gas into countless little bubbling- columns. About a quarter of a mile lower down the river the most remarkable of these springs is found. It is called the Steam-boat Spring, having been so named by different parties at different times, from recalling to the recollection of each individually the noise and appearance of a steam-boat in motion : the gas, pent up in a cavernous receptacle below,, escapes from a small hole in the surface, in intermitting jets, with much the same sound as steam from the escape-pipe of a high-pressure engine. Above from the rock—which, gathered up in an urn-like form, with a small basin at the top, appears to have been formed by continual deposits, and is coloured bright red with oxide of iron—the water is discharged in a scattered jet of some three feet high, at irregular intervals, dependent on the temperature of the spring, which is usually about blood heat. The gas from the orifice produces a. sensation of giddiness and nausea when smelt. The following analyses of the deported rock are given by Mr. Fremont:— Carbonate of lime 5> magnesia Oxide of iron Silica, alumina, water . 92-55 0*42 1-05 5-98 100*00 126 :HE OREGON. The water contains, by his computation. Sulphate of magnesia. | of lime Carbonate of lime „ magnesia Chloride of calcium . „ magnesium „ sodium . Vegetable matter 12*10 grains. 2-12 3-86 3*22 1-33 1-12 2*24 0-85 The carbonic acid, escaping before the analyses, could not betaken into consideration. He thought them less highly flavoured than those at the foot of Pike's Peak, more to the eastward, which are also of a much higher temperature. Near this place is another very remarkable spring, contained in a basin about fifty yards in circumference, the sides of which are of calcareous tufa, composed principally of the remains of mosses, rising from three to ten feet in height, and supporting the water above the surface of the ground about it. It is clear and pure, and about three or four feet deep. At the base of a small hill in this neighbourhood is another peculiar feature, consisting of numerous small limestone columns, tapering towards the top, from whence the water welling over is| constantly increasing the height of those natural obelisks. They are from three to four feet high, and about one foot in diameter at the base. This valley is wildly beautiful, walled in on all sides with darfc mountains rearing their craggy peaks high into the air, and between their sombre walls the verdant valley and limpid river wind in soft and mellow beauty. The scenery and phenomena of the place inspired Mr* Farnham with prophetic visions, and in the dim futurity of second-sight he saw the springs surrounded by the lofty architecture NATURAL PECULIARITIES. 127 of baths and assembly-rooms, among which the rank and fashion of the Oregon and Missouri, Texas and California, flitted like gay insects in the sunbeam, seeking in the various modes of excitement offered a refuge from ennui, or in the vigour-bestowing properties of the water an escape from the lassitude and indolence of body and mind which the same debilitating vanities in their own countries had induced, and seait them there to alleviate, if not to cure. And that some such fate may await this locality is not unlikely: situated in the direct road from the United States to the Columbia and California, and at the head of the valleys of the Arkansas, Eio Bravo del Norte, and Colorado, and not far from the coast, it must ultimately form the nucleus of four great roads connecting the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico with the United States. What may happen in the meantime is perhaps less easy to foretell. Bear Eiver flows through a level plain about twenty-five miles in length, which it enters through a, Canon Gap, opposite where! it receives the waters of the Eoseaux or Eeed Eiver, which rises in ground filled with saline* springs. This plain is Situated about four thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea, between rocky mountains whose snowy peaks are lost in the clouds four thousand feet above; below, the river, winding through grassy bottoms for fifteen miles, almost loses itself among small pools and swamps abounding in wild-fowl and fringed with stunted willows and rushes; in these extensive marshes which form its mouth, the ground is covered with saline efflorescences, with only a narrow strip of vegetation, where sunflowers, roses, and flowering trees spring from the G 128 THE OREGON, verdant grass, which is fringed on the marsh with saline plants. Near its mouth Mr. Fremont found a stream of remarkably clear water flowing into Bear Eiver, and from this place he directed his course to a lofty hill having the appearance of a peninsula, where he hoped to gain the shores of the lake; near this, in a gorge of the mountains, he found a well-timbered stream about a hundred and fifty yards wide, with high banks and clear water, without any indications of salt; at the foot of the mountains, however, he found hot saline springs, where the thermometer rose above 130°, and which stood in pools on the ground, coloured bright red with oxide of iron, and having one- fiftieth of its "components" carbonate of lime| From the top of this peninsula he saw for the first time the waters of the Great Salt Lake " stretchings in still and solitary grandeur far beyond the limits of vision ; several islands raised their rocky heads- out of the waves;" along the shores was not the, semblance of tree or bush, and but little appearance of grass, and even on the river they had just left the timber gathered into groves, and at last disappeared entirely as they approached the lake. A sudden squall, however, rushing down from the mountains, entirely shut out from their view distant objects, and left them still a prey to the excitement of imagination. Having left some of his party in charge of the horses and baggage, Mr. Fremont with the rest embarked on the lake in an India-rubber canoe eighteen feet long, and provided with air-tight cylinders to increase its buoyancy. Sitting by their camp-fire—the summer frogs chirping round them—under a mild autumn sky, glowing with the NATURAL PECULIARITIES. 129 brilliant orange and green of the setting sun, they had the evening before been speculating on the events the morrow would bring forth; in these busy conjectures they fancied they should find every one of the large islands a tangled wilderness of trees and shrubbery, teeming with game of every description that the neighbouring region afforded, and which had never been violated by the foot of White man or Indian. Frequently during the day clouds had rested on the summits of these lofty mountains, and they indulged in anticipations of the luxurious repast with which they should be indemnified for their past privations, among their verdant groves and limpid streams. % Nor were the mysterious dangers with which, in Indian traditionary story, its shores are haunted, nor the mighty whirlpool which, terrible as Charybdis— % imo barathri ter gurgite vastos Sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras Erigit alternos, et sidera verberat unda"— lessened by the discovery that their boat, instead of being strongly sewed (like that which had the preceding year rode triumphantly through the Canons of the Upper Great Platte Eiver), was only pasted together, and this added to the impression of danger arising from the prospect of an undertaking which had never before been attempted, naturally gave a serious turn to the conversation; and the view they had obtained of the lake the day before, its great extent and mountainous islands dimly seen among its dark waters in the obscurity of a sudden storm, was well calculated to heighten the lidea of undefined danger with which it had been usually associated. At night the trappers had . g2 130 THE OREGON. ominous dreams, and with gloom on their countenances but gaiety on their tongues they prepared for the adventure. Having passed a ridge of fetid mud dividing the fresh water of the river from the salt water of the lake, they steered for one of the islands; but as the water deepened, and the waves rose, the spray dashed over them, and in the distance the white breakers rising high above the surface recalled to their minds the whirlpool tradition ; and their frail boat, having burst two divisions of its cylinders, requiring a constant supply of air to keep it afloat, their efforts at gaiety became subdued. Their bark, however, floated over the waves like a water-bird, and they slowly reached an island, the shores of which they found covered with salt deposited by the spray of the^ waves. At noon they landed on a broad beach; here they found a bank from ten to twenty feet in breadth and one foot in depth, composed of the larvae of insects about the size of a grain of oats, which had been washed up by the waters of the lake, and ascertained that the insects which had inhabited them formed an article of food among the Indians. On the summit of this island, eight hundred feet high, they enjoyed an extended view of the lake enclosed in a basin of rugged mountains, sometimes projecting in bold precipitous bluffs, at others separated from the lake by marshy flats; towards the south several peninsular mountains, of from three thousand to four thousand feet high, entered the lake, appearing to be connected by flats or low ridges with the mountains in their rear. These are probably the islands usually indicated on maps of this region; and as it is possible that NATURAL PECULIARITIES. 131 during the high waters in the spring the low grounds and marshes are overflowed, they may then bear that character. Their day-dreams of fertile islands entirely vanished in the prospect of the rugged rocks which alone broke the surface of the lake; yet, as they gazed on the vast expanse of its waters they could hardly resist their desire to continue their explorations; the lateness of the season, however, compelled them to\desist. The waters of this lake are highly Impregnated with salt, and those which flow into the lake from the east, as well as those which are tributary to the Colorado, pass through cliffs of rock-salt. Mr. Fremont in returning to the shore was unable, from the strength of the gale which opposed him, to obtain the depth of the water of the lake, or the character of its bed in deep water, which, however, was of clay near the shore. The mountains to the north of the lake seem principally of blue limestone and granular quartz. The bottoms by the rivers are verdant and extensive, soil good, and timber sufficient. The mountain sides bear good grasses. The salt-mines which might be opened in this district would make it as valuable, in a commercial point of view, as Mr. Fremont's description would lead to the opinion of its eligibility for the habitation of a pastoral people. Its connexion with the United States is easy, and the pass in the mountains dividing Bear Eiver from the head-waters of the Snake Eiver, though steep, s not difficult, being not more than two thousand feet above the lake, which he estimated as six thousand five hundred feet above the Gulf of Mexico. *;.'« r 132 THE OREGON. Not far from the Beer Springs, on the plains to the north of Fort Hull, are the Trois Butes or Buttes, which form another very remarkable feature in the country, and evidence of volcanic action. The river here enters those apparently hewn channels in the rock which can be traced gradually increasing in depth from hence to the Dalles. It runs througn a high plain, bordered on the south by the range of the Snowy Mountains. To the north the plain is so rent and broken up by these channels, as to be, according to Mr. Fremont, altogether impassable: it is eight thousand feet- above the level of the sea. Here the Snake Eiver is nearly nine hundred feet broad, but suddenly contracted by jutting "piles of scoriaceous basalt," in the form of a lock, over which the water is precipitated. The plain to the south is bounded by the Salmon Eiver range, in front of which* but standing prominently out from it, the " Trois Buttes," three pyramidal peaks, probably volcanic in their origin, rise some two thousand feet above the level of the ground around them. Their bases! are richly clothed with evergreens, and small rills, bursting from their summits irradiate their dark sides with verdant strips, which are continued along the plain: their tops are usually covered with snow. The whole scene is peculiar; in an elevated mountain region the sensation of flatness, existing to a very great degree, diversified only by these three huge masses rearing themselves out of the plain, and they, standing there immovable, more like works of art than nature,—gigantic tumuli fit to have received the ashes of the Indian chieftains, who, before the intrusion of the white men, roved the undisputed masters of the plains. NATURAL PECULIARITIES. 13a The French word " butte," which has been naturalised among these rocky mountains, serves fully to identify the objects to which it refers; its peculiarities of use are similar to the English butt, which is no doubt derivable from it. Its local application is to the detached hills or ridges which rise abruptly, reaching too high to be called hills and not high enough to be called mountains. Mr. Fremont thinks the word knob, as applied in the Western States, is the most descriptive term in English, forgetting our application of the very word to the mounds which formerly were the marks for practice with the long-bow, and which have afforded local names to many places in England. "Cerro," he says, "is the Spanish term, but thinks no paraphrase or translation would preserve the identity of these picturesque landmarks, familiar to the traveller, and often seen at a great distance." On the south side of the Snake Eiver, below its junction with the Salmon or Lewis Eiver, is another very remarkable natural feature, called the " Grande-ronde;" it is a mountain valley surrounded by a wall of basaltic rock, as its name intimates, circular, having a diameter of about twenty-five miles, forming a beautiful level basin covered with luxuriant grass, and well watered by a tributary of the Snake Eiver, which has its rise within its circuit, and takes its name from it. The soil is rich, and the hills above covered with magnificent timber, principally larch; at its northwest side is also a " heavy body of timber," descending into the plain about the head of a very deep and still creek. From Grande-ronde the stream flows through a fertile valley of the same 134 THE OREGON. character, but well wooded, till it falls into the Saptin. Here the Cayuse, Nez Perce, and Walla-walla Indians meet the Shoshones or Snake tribe every year to barter salmon and horses in exchange for roots, skin lodges, and elk and buffalo meat; and here also a transaction took place which is worth recording. When Messrs. Lewis and Clarke were among the Cayuse or Skyuse tribe, they presented them with an American flag, calling it an emblem of peace: how far it has ever proved such to Indian nations need not now be inquired into; as such, however, the Cayuse tribe received it. They had, with their allies, been before this continually at wrar with. the Shoshones, but the latter hearing that such a flag was in their possession, it was by mutual consent brought and placed in the Grande-ronde, and a lasting peace was established between those tribes^ the consequence of which was the annual meeting above mentioned: perhaps this accident has been the most salutary consequence to the natives of the journey of those officers, their general communications with them not having had, to all appearance, either a pacific or.moral tendency beyond what was essential for their own safety and the progress of their expedition. The narrow chasms into which the rivers of Western America are frequently compressed have been noticed in the account given of the journey of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke and Fremont; they are called by the Canadians Dalles: those of the Columbia are very remarkable; the river is compressed into a very narrow channel, which Lieut. Wilkes computes to be three hundred feet wide <and half a mile long: the walls are of basalt, per- i NATURAL PECULIARITIES. 135 pendicular, and flat at the top; above this narrow #iannel the river swells in a semicircular form, filling the basin of a basaltic amphitheatre extending several miles to the north-west. The accumulation of water thus heaped up causes a fall of about fifty feet in the distance of two miles; and the black rocks, rushing stream, and tremendous roar of the pent up waters struggling to escape, may be more readily imagined than described. Indian tradition would lead to the conclusion that in former times the whole body of water passed over the rocks, until having gradually worn its present deep channel, it sunk below their level. This is confirmed by the appearance of the country, and by the additional smaller channels on each side of the main stream, through which the water flows during the freshets: indeed its whole surface evidences the original character of the Columbia to to have been rather that of a chain of lakes than a continuous river; this is especially to be remarked above John Day's river, not far from the Dalles, where the country is flat, sandy, and the river broken by sandy islands. It is entirely destitute of trees, and produces grass and a small sort of cactus, in many places mixed with pebbles rounded by the action of water ; it abounds in large hares and the pin-tailed grouse, which are so tame as to permit a very near approach. There are also on the north branch of the river two similar but smaller passages, called the Upper and Lower Dalles; and below its junction with the Flathead Eiver are the Kettle Falls, one of the greatest natural curiosities in the country. A flat bed of quartz rock crosses the river, and being harder than the rocks above and below, has formed a g 3 THE OREGON. basin, which renders the name not inappropriate, The main fall at this place is about fifteen feet high; where, boiling and foaming in the hollow rock, it gives additional force to the application. Above, the water falls fifty feet in a series of rapids, sufficiently broken to permit the passage of boats. The river here is above two thousand feet wide,' and the current runs four miles per hour; the land is about two thousand two hundred feet above the level of the sea. Some miles lower down the river is another remarkable place, denominated the " Grande Coulee :" this is a broad chasm between basaltic palisades, of from seven to eight hundred- feet in height; it varies from two to three miles in width, and is about forty-five miles long, running' nearly north and south. The cliffs in some places are broken in with tributary valleys of the same character. The bottom is a plain, in appearance perfectly level, but having some irregularities; in the north part there are several granitic knolls resembling islands, above seven hundred feet high, capped with basalt: they are called Isles des• ierres. There are in it three lakes; one on the top of the mountain side, another lower down, and| a third between two of the knolls | this is the largest, and may be about a mile in length by three hundred feet in breadth; they have no visible outlet, and though the country around is covered with saline efflorescences, they are perfectly fresh, and abound in wild-fowl. From thej| Grand Coulee a gently undulating prairie country, affording pasture for sheep, leads to the Coulee des Pierres, the features of which are very similar to those of the Grand Coulee, but on a smaller scale, running for two miles in the same direction; it NATURAL PECULIARITIES. 137 turns off at right angles to the Columbia. Their course has doubtless given rise to the opinion of the original passage of the river having been through this channel, an opinion in some measure countenanced by the boulders of granite found at its southern extremity, there being no rock of that character nearer than its northern ; the rocks however afford no signs of the abrasion consequent on the passage of a river, and it seems more probable that it was connected with or contained a system of lakes, whose barriers being burst by some convulsion, found a passage for the waters through the southern channel into the Columbia. In corroboration of this opinion, it may be remarked that the entrance of the Grande Coulee is so choked with granite hills as to leave no room for the pases Jr sasre of water. The character of the district is volcanic, the ground covered with saline incrustations, and without further examination it is impossible to say what elevation or depression of the ground in any part may have left it in its present condition : at least this is Mr. Wilkes's opinion. Many places occur on the banks of the Columbia where portions of pine-trees stand not only on the shore, but in the waters, and to a considerable depth below the surface. These have been called the submerged forests, and supposed to be the effects of some convulsion which, by damming up the river, placed these trees under water and destroyed them. It is evident, however, that their position has been the result of immense land-slides, when the river, closely hemmed in by the mountains, has probably undermined some part of the base on which the soil that the forest grew in was^ placed, or the water percolating between it and lOli1 138 THE OREGON. the strata upon which it lies, has produced the same effect, that, from whatever cause, is evident; for Mr. Fremont observed in one place on the right bank a portion of one of those slides, which seemed to have planted itself with all the evergreen foliage| and vegetation of the neighbouring hill directly amid the falling and yellow leaves of the river trees. All their peculiar features, indicative of great convulsions and volcanic action, serve to show the great alteration the face of the country^ may have undergone within, perhaps, no very remote period : they impress it with the evidence of mighty energies in nature, and afford the prospect of the equal operation in the development of its natural resources and the physical and moral energy! of its future population. 1S9 ) CHAPTEE VII. NATIVE TRIBES—MANNERS, HABITS, ETC. It is a sad reflection, that before the advance of bivilization, savage life melts away like snow before the beams of spring,—that the forces of the two are so antagonistic, that, instead of imparting mutually Vigour and intelligence, instead of the development of the functions of the body assisting the progress bf the operations of the mind, the animal sinks before the mental, and that not by its direct operation, but, by the extraneous force it imparts to the ame animal development in others, it gives it for the time the mastery, to be displaced in its turn by that from which it received its power; thus the trapper and hunter teaching the Indians the wants bf civilization, open also a market for its luxuries, and with the introduction of artificial wants mgraft the vices of civilization and their fruits on hose of nature, until, having engrossed the profits >f Indian labour, the squatter and emigrant occupy ;hat soil which should have yielded its produce o him, and, thus oppressed by the arts, not of var, but of peace, he is overwhelmed in the flood, low different from the end he would have chosen, low self-destructive his confidence, how parasitical he embrace of his concealed enemy, how surely, instead of smoking the peaceful calumet with the vise men from the sun-risiner—the Sagamores of he East—would the war dance and death song m 140 THE OREGON. have been the prelude to a war of extermination and despair. But wisely does the Providence of God withhold from us the knowledge of the end, while employing man as a means to that which was pur-; posed from the beginning—the greatest and mosti evident reflection of the Deity must take the placej of the least—civilization must be the pioneerl of Christianity till the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the water covers the sea. Yet is this reflection modified and softened not only by this general but by its more particular effects as well. Though the nations which had reigned undisturbed lords over the land are^ disappearing, the scarce perceived amalgamation! of their races has frequently resulted in the ad- \ vancement of the descendants of the aborigines and many occupy places of honour and trust among the abodes of civilization, wealth, and intellectual! refinement, whose fathers dwelt under the canopy of heaven, to whom the riches of Croesus would have had no more value than so much tinsel, and| who expressed in the intuitive rhetoric of nature the wants which they felt and the passions which excited them. This is a source of consolation when we recur to the extinct races of the eastern shores of America, the glory of her forests and waters, when, in traditionary recollection, we hear again the soft dove-like sounds which floated softly over the council-fires of the chivalric Delawares, breathing love and friendship to those who so soon were to be the exterminators of the race, why should we not say of heroes? heroes indeed, if judgment be ruled by poetry or romance, and in the strictest justice not inferior to many to whom even NATIVE TRIBES. 141 modern intelligence and morality have awarded the title. Stripped, however, of all fictitious ornaments, savage life, though it has natural beauties, yet the darker shadows of its vices overcome the lustre of its virtues; and though we may regret individual loss, we cannot but rejoice in the universal advantage and progress. The mill and the factory of the white* man may be less picturesque than the deer-skin lodge of the red; the smoky steamer, as, panting and rattling, she cuts through the lakes or rivers, less in harmony with their features than the undulations of the buoyant canoe—the blackened clearing less grateful to the eye than the woodland glade, the dusty road than the forest trail—but the perfection to which they lead, the bright day of peace and love, of which they are the harbingers— though but faintly discernible in the long pei- spective of years to come—is too pregnant with the happiness of the human race, and the glory of the Deity, to leave any serious pain, from the means by which it is of necessity to be obtained, upon the mind which looks forward to it. The rapidity of the advance of civilization to the west has, in the rapid development of its vices, obscured the poetry of its savage life, insomuch that the very knowledge of the existence of the tribes inhabiting it was coupled with that of their demoralization and degradation. Even the gentlemanly Mandans of Catliri were found by Lewis and Clarke, among the earliest of their visitors, far inferior to many of the eastern tribes, as described by the earlier travellers and in the annals of history; while of the Sioux, Blackfeet, and the great majority of the tribes of the west, the 142 THE OREGON. darker and fiercer passions ruling with unbridled sway, that character which might have had the sublimity of terror or fear, if possessed by them only, was rendered hateful and disgusting by the addition of the meaner propensities,—pride, anger, and revenge being joined to lust, avarice, and deception, and their mutually attendant vices. This might also have been the case to the wesji of the Eocky Mountains, as indeed it has in some measure, had not the peculiarities of their situation not only geographically but politically separated the native inhabitants of that territory from those of the east, and made their interest identical with that of the " avant couriers " of civilization, who have taken up their abode among them; and although before this was understood much of the evil which is flagrant in the east made rapid progress in the west, at length comparative peace, order, and their attendant, prosperity, have settled down over the length and breadth of the land. Yet even here, where the red man is the useful servant of the white, the deadly effects of their union are not wanting, and are not less evident in the vices than the diseases which it has brought among them, whole districts having been depopulated and whole tribes destroyed. The small-pox has made dreadful ravages among them, and as it is related that, after his own recovery from that malady, a chief on the Missouri survived his family, children, and his whole tribe, but to find the same fate from despair—so, in the valley of the Columbia is to be seen one, like him a chief, the sole survivor of his race—not the least numerous of the forest clans,—a solitary lingerer among their tombs, but a r«w NATIVE TRIBES. 143 frequent and welcome, guest at the hospitable board, and supported under his trials by the sympathy of that race by whose unwilling instrumentality they met their destruction — Casinove, friend of the white man, last of the Klachatah, ranges the woods and hills of the Columbia, and the halls of Fort Vancouver, the type of his race and its destiny. The principal Indian tribes, commencing from ihe south, are the Callapuyas, Shaste, Klamet, Umqua, Bogues'Eiver, and Chinooks, between the Californian boundary and Columbia, to the west of the Cascade Mountains. The Shoshones or Snake and Nezperces tribes about the southern branch of the Columbia, and Cascade Indians on the river of that name ; between the Columbia and the Strait of Fuca, the Tatouche or Classet tribe; and the Clalams about Port Discovery; the Sachet about Possession Sound; the Walla-walla, Flat-head, Flat-bow Indians, and Cour d'Aleine or Pointed Heart, about the rivers of the same names; the Chunnapuns and Chanwappans between the Cascade range and the north branch of the Columbia; the Koootanie to the east, between it and the Eocky Mountains; and to the north about Okanagan, various branches of the Carrier tribe. Of those on the coast to the north and on Vancouver Island not much is known. Their numbers may be stated at a rough estimate OLZ On the coast below the Columbia About the Cascades ..... On the Snake Eiver and its tributary . Between the Columbia and Strait of De Fuca About Fort. Vancouver .... Wall a-walla , . . ' . Flat-head, &c. • 2,500 1,500 2,500 3,000 1,500 1,500 1,200 r 144 THE OREGON. Okanagan • • • • • Northward • • • • • Vancouver's and Queen Charlotte's Island Possession Sound .... Frazer's River • . . • On the coast of the Gulf of Georgia • 750 2,500 5,000 650 500 500 23,600 This is, however, six thousand less than was reported to the Congress of the United States, and four thousand more than Mr. Wilkes's calculation. That there are errors in his there can be no doubt; and it is probable that some smaller tribes4 may be omitted in the above calculation; the number, therefore, between parallels 42° and 54° 40*; may be roughly estimated at thirty thousand. Through the care of the Hudson's Bay Company and the semi-civilised habits they have adoptedj the number of Indians to the north of the Columbia! is not on the decrease; to the south it is; and thai total must be very considerably less than it was| before the settlement was made among them. The Indian nations in Oregon may be divided into three classes, differing in habits and character according to their locality and means of sustenance? —the Indians of the coast, the mountains, and the! plains. The first feed mostly on fish, and weave cloth for clothing from the wool or hair of the^ native sheep, having to a great extent settled resi-| dences, though these last characteristics are rapidly disappearing; the second, trappers and hunters, wandering for the most part in pursuit of game jl and the third, the equestrian tribes, who, on the great plains about the waters of the rivers, chase on their fleet horses the gigantic bison, whose flesh supplies them with food, and whose hide covers NATIVE TRIBES. 145 them. The former bear some resemblance to the native inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific. The two latter are in every respect Eed men. Those on the coast were first known, and when visited by the early voyagers had the characteristics which, from contiguity to White men, have deteriorated in the south, but which have been retained in the north—high courage, determination, and great ingenuity, but joined to cruelty and faithlessness; and as in the south Destruction Island obtained its name from their savage cruelty, so does the coast throughout its length afford the same testimony. Cook, who first discovered them, says, " They were thieves in the strictest sense of the word, for they pilfered nothing from us but what they knew could be converted to the purposes of utility, and had a real value according to their estimation of things." Their form is thick and clumsy, but they are not deficient in strength or activity; when young, their colour is not dark nor their features hard, but exposure to the weather, want of mental culture, and their dirty habits soon reduce them all to the same dark complexion and dull phlegmatic want of expression which is strongly marked in all of them. In Cook's time, and till the White men settled among them, their dress was a flaxen mantle ornamented with fur above, and tassels and fringes, which, passing under the left arm, is tied over the tight shoulder, leaving the right side open: this is aastened round the waist by a girdle: above this, which reaches below the knee, a circular cape, perforated in the centre to admit the head, made bf the same substance, and also fringed in the 146 THE OREGON. lower part, is worn: it covers the arms to the elbows. Their head is covered with a cap, conical but truncated, made of fine matting, ornamented at the top with a knot or tassels. Besides the above dress, common to both sexes, the men frequently throw over their garments the skin of a bear, wolf J or sea-otter, with the fur outwards: they wear the hair loose, unless tied up in the scalping-lock: they cover themselves with paint, and swarm with vermin; upon the paint they strew mica to make it glitter. They perforate the nose and ears, and put various ornaments into them. But besides these common habits, they have official and ceremonious occasions, on which they wear beautiful furs and theatrical dresses and disguises, including large masks ; and their war-dress, formed of a thick doubled leathern mantle of elk or buffalo skin, frequently with a cloak over it, on which the hoofs of horses were strung, makes an almost impervious cuirass. Their love for music, general lively dispositions, except from provocation, but determination in avenging insult or wrong, is testified by all. Cook also gives a full description of their houses and manner of life. Of the former, he says they are made of split boards, and large enough for several families, who occupy small pens on each side of the interior. They have benches and boxes, and many of their utensils, such as pipes, &c, are frequently carved; as are also gigantic human faces on large trunks of trees, which they set up for posts to their dwellings. In their persons and houses they were filthy in the extreme; in their habits lazv; but the women were modest and industrious. Their principal food NATIVE TRIBES. 147 was fish, but they had edible roots and game from the land. A favourite article of food was also the roe of herrings, dried on pine-branches or sea-weed. Their weapons were spears, arrows, slings, and clubs, similar to the New Zealanders; also an axe, not dissimilar to the North American tomahawk, the handle of which is usually carved. They made garments of pine-bark beaten fine; these were made by hand with plaited thread and woollen, so closely wove as to resemble cloth, and frequently had worked on them figures of men and animals ; on one was the whole process of the whale-fishery. Their aptitude for the imitative arts was very great. Their canoes were rather elegantly formed out of trees, with rising prow, frequently carved in figures. They differ from those of the Pacific generally, in having neither sails nor outriggers; they had harpoons and spears for whale-fishing. Vancouver, when at Port Discovery, saw some long poles placed upright on the beach at equal distances, the object of which he could not discover, and it was not till the last voyage of discovery despatched from the United States under Commodore Wilkes, that they were ascertained to have been used for hanging nets upon, to catch wild-fowl by night; their ingenuity in this and in netting salmon is very remarkable. They have two nets, the drawing and casting net, made of" a silky grass found on the banks of the Columbia, or the fibres of the roots of trees, or of the inner bark of the white cedar. The salmon-fishing on the Columbia commences in June, the main body, according to the habit of this fish, dividing at the mouth of the tributary streams to ascend them to their sources. At the rapids and falls the work J 48 THE OREGON. of destruction commences; with a bag-net, noaj unlike to an European fisherman's landing-net, on a pole thirty feet long the Indians take their stand on the rocks, or on platforms erected for the purpose, and throwing their nets into the river above their standing-places, let them float down the rapids to meet the fish as they ascend. By this means many are caught; they have also stake- nets and lines with stones for leads; they also catch many with hook and line, and sometimejH now they have fire-arms, shoot them. Their mode of fishing for sturgeon is also peculiar. The line, made of twisted fibres of the roots of trees, is attached to a large wooden hook and let down over I the side of a canoe; those used for this purpose are small, having only one or two men at most in them : having hooked a fish, they haul him gently up till he floats on the water, then, with a heavy mallet, with one blow on the head they kill him; with singular dexterity they contrive to jerk a fish of three hundred pounds over the lowered side of the canoe by a single effort. They catch whales also by the means of harpoons with bladders attached. The oil is sold to the Hudson's Bay Company. It has been said that their houses were made of boards, but some constructive art is displayed in their erection; as was much ingenuity in procuring the materials before axes were introduced among them; for they contrived to fell trees with a rough chisel and mallet. The houses are made of centre-posts about eighteen feet high, upon which a long pole rests, forming the ridge of the roof, from whence rafters descend to another like it, but not more than five feet from the ground ; to these again, cross poles are attached, NATIVE TRIBES. 149 and against these are placed boards upright, and the lower end fixed in the ground; across these again, poles are placed, and tied with cords of cedar-bark to those inside of the roof, which are similarly disposed; the planks are double. These houses are divided on each side into stalls and pens, occupied as sleeping-places during the night, and the rafters serve to suspend the fish, which are dried by the smoke in its lengthened course through the interstices of the roof and walls. In their superstitions, theatricals, dances, and songs they have much similarity to the natives of Polynesia. Debased now, and degraded even beneath their former portrait—fast fading: awav before the more genial sun of the fortunes of the white man-— the Indians on the southern coast are no longer free and warlike, and being in subjection to the Hudson's Bay Company, English manufactures are substituted for the efforts of their native industry. The mode of burial practised among the tribes on the coast is very peculiar. The corpse is placed sometimes in a canoe raised a few feet from the ground, with arms and other necessaries beside it. These are not unfrequently spoiled beforehand, to prevent their being stolen, as if they thought they might, like their owner, be restored to their former state in a new world. Sometimes they are put in upright boxes like sentry-boxes—sometimes in small enclosures—but usually kept neat, and those of the chiefs frequently painted. Mount Coffin, at the mouth of the Cowelitz, seems to have been appropriated to the burial of persons of importance: it is about seven hundred feet high, and quite isolated ; on it were to be seen the canoe-coffins of the natives in every stage of decay; they were 150 THE OREGON. hung between the trees about five feet from the ground. This cemetery of the Columbia is, however, destroyed, for the American sailors under Wilkes neglecting to put out their cooking-fire, it spread over the whole mountain and continued to rage through the night till all was burnt. A few small presents appeased the Indians, who but a few years before could only have drowned the remembrance of such a national disgrace in the blood of those who caused it. Among the tribes about the lower part of the Columbia the singular custom of flattening the head still prevails, though not to the extent it did formerly; Mr. Dunn thus describes the operation :— " Immediately after the birth the infant is laid in an oblong wooden trough, by way of cradle, with moss under the head; the end. on which the head reposes is raised higher than the rest; a padding is then placed on the infant's forehead with a piece of cedar-bark over it; it is pressed down by cords, which pass through holes on each side of the trough. As the tightening of the padding and pressure of the head is gradual, the process is said not to be attended with much pain. The appearance of the infant, however, while under it, is shocking: its little black eyes seem ready to start from their sockets; the mouth exhibits all the appearance of internal convulsion; and it clearly appears that the face is undergoing a process of unnatural configuration. About a year's pressure is sufficient to produce the desired effect; the head is ever after completely flattened;" and as slaves are always left to nature, this deformity is consequently a mark of free birth. The Indians on NATIVE TRIBES. 151 the north coast possess the characteristics of the southern, but harsher and more boldly defined— they are of fiercer and more treacherous dispositions. Indeed, those of the south have a disposition to merriment and light-hearted good humour. Their mechanical ingenuity is more remarkably displayed in the carving on their pipes, and especially in working iron and steel. The Indians of the coast are doubtless all from the same stock, modified by circumstances and locality. Those, however, to the south of the Columbia, about the waters of the rivers Klamet and Umquah, partake largely of the characteristics of the Indians of the plains, their country having prairies, and themselves possessing horses: they are remarkable for nothing but their determined hostility towards the whites. Idleness and filth are inveterate among all three, but among the Indians of the plains there is a marked difference; there, their food consists of fish, indeed, and dried for winter, but not entirely, being more varied by venison than on the coast, and in the winter by rootsj which they dig up and lay by in store. They live more in moveable tents, and to the south their great wealth is their horses; they are not, like the coast Indians, of small stature and inelegantly made, but remarkable for comeliness of person and elegance of carriage. They are equestrian in their habits, and show to great advantage on horseback. The principal tribes are the Shoshones and Walla-walla, between whom, as between the former and the Blackfeet, there has been continual war. The Shoshones dwell between the Eocky and Blue Mountain ranges, the Walla-walla about the river of that name, the Blackfeet at the foot of the Eocky Mountains, H 152 THE OREGON. principally, but not entirely, on the eastern side. Warlike and independent, the Blackfeet had for a long time the advantage, having been earlier introduced to the use of fire-arms; but by the instrumentality of the Hudson's Bay Company they have been of late years more on an equality: they are friendly to the whites, but the Blackfeet, their mortal enemies, and their hill-forts overhanging the passes of the Eocky Mountains, make the future safety of the journey to the Unified States depend on the temper of this fickle and bloodthirsty nation, who have been well termed the Arabs of the West, for truly their hand is against every man, and every man's hand against them, and though seriously lessened in number by war and disease, they still dwell in the presence of all their brethren. The Shoshones feed frequently on horse-flesh, and have also large quantities of edible roots, which stand them in great stead during the winter. When the men are fishing for salmon, the women are employed in digging and preserving the roots. There is indeed one tribe inhabiting the country of the salt lakes and springs to the south of the headwaters of the Snake or Saptin Eiver, who have no wish beyond these roots, living in the most bestial manner possible; these, from their single occupation, have been named Diggers. Above the Walla-walla also there is a tribe called the Basket people, from their using a basket in fishing for salmon. The apparatus consists of a large wicker basket, supported by long poles inserted' into it, and fixed in the rocks; to the basket is joined a long frame, spreading abovej against which the fish, in attempting to leap the falls, strike and fail* into the basket; it is taken up three times a day. NATIVE TRIBES. 153 and at each haul not unfrequently contains three hundred fine fish. The Flatheads dwelling about the river of that name are the most .northern of the equestrian tribes; their characteristics are intelligence and aptitude for civilization, yet in the early history of tfie country their fierceness and barbarity in war could not be exceeded, especially in their retaliation on the Blackfeet, of which Boss Cox gives a horrible account. The usual dress of these tribes is a shirt, leggings, and moccassins of deerskin, frequently much ornamented with fringes of beads, and formerly in the " braves" with scalps; a cap or handkerchief generally covers the head,' but the Shoshones twist their long black hair into a natural helmet, more useful as a protection than many artificial defences: in winter a buffalo robe is added to the usual clothing. Horses abound among them, and they are usually well armed. Through the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, these tribes are becoming amalgamated by intermarriage, and will doubtless, from their pliability of disposition, readiness of perception, and capability for improvement generally, no less than their friendship for the whites and devotion to the Company, gradually lose their identity in acquired habits and knowledge, and become the peaceful proprietors of a country rich in flocks and herds, even very much cattle. The more northern Indians inhabiting the mountainous country round the head-waters of Oregon Eiver and the branches of the Columbia evidence an origin similar to the Chippewayan tribes on the east of the Eocky Mountains. Mackenzie found but little difference, when travelling from one to the other, and his guides THE OREGON. were generally well understood; like them, they have exchanged their shirts and robes of skins for European manufactures, and their bows and spears for fire-arms. Among them the greater part of H the furs exported by the Hudson's Bay Company are procured, and the return of the traffic supplies ■ all their wants: they differ, however, in manners and habits; for among them is found the tribe of Carriers, whose filthiness and bestiality cannot be exceeded; whose dainties are of putrid flesh, and are eaten up with disease; nevertheless they are a tall, well-formed, good-looking race, and not wanting in ingenuity. Their houses are wen formed of logs of small trees, buttressed up internally, frequently above seventy feet long and fifteen high, but, unlike those of the coast, the roof is of bark: their winter habitations are smaller, and often covered over with grass and earth ; some even dwell in excavations of the ground, which have only an aperture at the top, and serves alike for door and chimney. Salmon, deer, bears, and wild-fowl are their principal food; of the latter they procure large quantities. Their mode of taking salmon is curious. They build a weir across the stream, having an opening only in one place, at which they fix a basket, three feet in diameter, with the mouth made something like an eel-trap, through which alone the fish can "find a passage. On the side of this basket is a hole, to which is attached a smaller basket, into which the fish pass from the large one, and cannot return or escape. This, when filled, is taken up without disturbing the larger one. Of the religion and superstitions of the Indians little need be said; the features of polytheism being NATIVE TRIBES. 155 everywhere as similar as its effects. Impudent conjurors are their priests and teachers, and exerted once unlimited sway; but under the satisfactory proofs of the value of scientific medial practice and the tuition of the missionaries, it is to be hoped both their claims to respect will be negatived; and as they have evinced great aptitude to embrace and profit by instruction, it may perhaps happen $iat secular knowledge may combine with religious to save them from the apparent necessary result. There are among the Indians Wesleyan and JBaptist from the United States., and Eoman Catholic missionaries. They were the first American 'settlers in the valleys of the Columbia, excepting those who had formerly been, engaged in the fur trade, and becoming, with the exception of the Eoman Catholics, at the same time farmers, and in one case trading or endeavouring to trade in fur. It is understood, on the best authority, that lately some of them have been recalled on this account. Yet notwithstanding this division of their labours, much good has been done by them: of this the ipcetoh of his Guide given by Mr. Farnham will he sufficient evidence. " Creekie, so he was named, was a very kind man; he turned my worn-out qjmimals loose, and loaded my packs upon his own; gave me a splendid saddle-horse to ride, and intimated, by significant gestures, that we would go a ffhort distance that afternoon. I gave my assent, and we were soon on our way; having made about ten miles, we encamped for the night. I noticed, during the ride, a degree of forbearance towards each other winch I had never before observed in that race. When we halted for the night the two boys were behind; they had been frolicking with 156 THE OREGON. their horses, and as the darkness came on, lost the trail. It was a half-hour before they made their appearance, and during this time the worthy parents manifested the most anxious solicitude for them. One of them was but three years old, and was lashed to the horse he rode; the other only seven years of age—young pilots in the wilderness at night! But the elder, true to the sagacity of his race, had taken his course, and struck the brook on which we were encamped within three hundred yards of us. The pride of the parents at this feat, and their ardent attachment to the children, werS perceptible in the pleasure with which they received them at their evening fire, and heard the relation of their childish adventures. " The weather was so pleasant that no tent was pitched. The willows were beat, and the buffalo robes spread over them. Underneath were laid other robes, on which my Indian host seated himself with his wife and children on one side, and myself on the other. A fire burned brightly in front. Water was brought, and the evening ablution having been performed, the wife presented a dish of meat tb her husband and one to myself. There was a pause. The woman seated herself between her children. The Indian then bowed his head and prayed to God. . A wandering savage in Oregon calling upon Jehovah in the name of Jesjjjl Christ. After the prayer he gave meat to his children, and passed the dish to his wife. While eating, the frequent repetition of the words Jehovah and Jesus Christ, in the most reverential manner, led me to suppose they were conversing on religious topics, and thus they passed an hour. Meanwhile the exceeding weariness of a long day's travel NATIVE TRIBES. 157 admonished me to seek rest. I had slumbered, I knew not how long, when a strain of music awoke me. " The Indian family was engaged in its evening devotions. They were singing a hymn in the Nez Perce's language. Having finished, they all knelt and bowed their faces upon the buffalo robes, and Creekie prayed long and? fervently. Afterwards they sang another hymn, and retired. To hospitality, family affection, and devotion Creekie added honesty and cleanliness to a great degree, manifesting by these fruits, so contrary to the nature and habits of his tribe, the beautiful influence of the work of grace on the heart. How acceptable that prayer and praise must have ascended to the Creator, though poured forth beneath the silent heaven from the lips of one so-called savage, and how the honour rendered by him to God was returned into his own bosom a hundredfold in peace and prosperity, let those say whose ideas of prayer and praise are coupled to sanctified places and conventional rites, and who would confine the presence of the omnipresent Creator to their temples of stone, and not the living temple of the heart of bis ifaithful people." ( 158 ) CHAPTEE VIII. SKETCH OF FUR SCRAPE—HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, ETC. The fur of animals has from the earliest periods been used by men for clothing, and t|iose found in the more northern regions, from the thickness, softness, length, and consequent warmth or.delicacy of their furs, have been more sought after as articles=of commerce; indeed most furs now used for warmth or ornament by civilized nations are brought from countries north of the fortieth parallel of latitude. The value of furs depends not only on the above-mentioned useful qualities, but also on the more arbitrary distinction of colour. First in value for both reasons stands the royal ermine; its dazzling whiteness set off by the glossy black of its tail, gives it a richness of contrast not to be found in any others; then follow the marten, sable, foxes, red, silver, and black, the beaver, sea-otter, racoon, weasel, and muskrat; of these the last is collected in the largest quantities, and with the beaver and otter used in the manufacture of hats. In civilized nations generally fur is an article of comfort, fashion, and luxury, according to its quality or beauty; but in Eussia, China, and Turkey they form part of the official costume of officers of state and government (as indeed they do in some sort even among ourselves), and are the distinguishing characteristic of the rich and noble, SKETCH OP FUR TRADE. 159 even of the male sex. The gradual assimilation of Eussia and Turkey to the dress and manners of the west of Europe has sensibly decreased the demand for furs, as no doubt will also the entrance now obtained for European manufactures, a thing to be desired, as the supply has long been on the decrease. This supply is kept up principally by Ithe Hudson's Bay Company, the Eussian Fur Company, and the individual traders in the western part of the United States, through the ports of London, Canton, and New York, and the Eussian settlements in Northern Asia. All these draw some of their supplies from the north-west part of North iainerica, but the trade of the citizens of the United jptates, excepting on the border of California, has been snatched from them by the giant grasp of the Hudson's Bay Company. Of the Eussian Fur Company mention has already been made in the account given of Voyages of Discovery. Their trade is entirely carried on through the native Indians, and their supplies are obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company by contract. Their principal settlement is at Sitka, called New Archangel,—at the Norfolk Sound of Cook— in King George the Third's Archipelago, lat. about 57^°. The Eussians having received much annoyance from the intrusion of American vessels, they are carefully excluded from their limits, i. e* north of 54° 40'. They have, however, leased the continental shore to the Hudson's Bay Company, whose territories extend from Hudson's Bay on the east to Mount Saint Elias on the west, from the Arctic Ocean to lat. 54° 40', and for all trading purposes unimpeded by any rival to lat. 42°. This Company was established in the reign of h 3 ill r '160 THE OREGON. Charles II., a.b. 1669, by royal charter, granted to Prince Eupert, the first governor, the Duke of Albemarle, Lord Craven, and Lord Arlington, who, with other persons of note, in all seventeen, constituted the first committee. The objects for which this charter was granted are clearly defined:—the discovery of a new passage to the South Sea, and for the finding e£ some trade in furs, minerals, and other consicbrable commodities. But in addition to these commercial intentions, for the benefit of Great Britain and their own profit, the good of the natives was not forgotten. The propagation of the Gospel, the civilization of the Indians, and the establish- ment of trade on terms of equity and mutual advantage, were leading features in the original intentions of the Company; and although it is to be wished they had been more particularly attended to, it must be confessed that the rule over the vast territories occupied by that Company has been far more beneficial to the natives of them than that of any other body or nation engaged in the same traffic in Western America, as is evidenced by the peaceful character and ready obedience of the Indian tribes around their settlements, when compared with the results of the iron rule of the Eussians or the exterminating system of the Americans. The effect of the latter has been already noticed in the fate of their trappers, and is evidenced also in the determined hostility of the Blackfeet and Camanches, and bordering tribes to the westward, generally. The powers the Company received were most ample. By the charter were granted to them and their successors the whole trade and commerce of SKETCH OF FUR TRADE. 161 all those seas, straits and bays, rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the straits, commonly called Hudsosfs Straits, together with all the lands, countries, and territories upon the coasts and confines of the seas, straits, bays, lakes and rivers, creeks and sounds aforesaid, which are not now actually possessed by any other Christian prince or state. Of these lands and territories the Company was proprietor by free and common soccage; had power, as such, to receive and enjoy all rents, and possess and retain all privileges, fibertffes, and! franchises thereto belonging %. and to have jurisdiction over such their territories, being empowered to make such laws and regulations for the government of their possessions as may be reasonable, and are not repugnant to the laws, statutes, and customs of England. The Company was also empowered to send ships and build fortifications for the defence of its possessions, and to make war or peace with all nations, not being Christian, inhabiting those territories; and all others of the king's subjects were forbidden to " visit, haunt, frequent, trade, or traffic " therein, under heavy penalties. According to the strict letter of this charter, tMe Company's dominions extend from Hudson's Bay, south of lat. 50° W. to the sources of the jttiiabasca and Saskatchawan, and the Unyah or Peace Eiver beyond the Eocky Mountain Eange, and to the Arctic Sea on the north, besides the country lying east of Hudson's Bay; and the area may be roughly estimated at 2,250,000 square miles: by the union with the North-west Company the trade of the Oregon district has been added to this. 162 THE OREGON. It was styled the Honourable Company of Adventurers of England trading to Hudson's Bay, and its management was vested in a governor, deputy governor, and committee of seven members. Their original stock was, in 1676, 10,500/. This! was trebled in 1690, and in 1720 this was again increased by subscription to 103,950/.: the clear profits of the trade for ten years amounted toj 63,646Z. 155. Ad., realizing a dividend of about 6 per cent. Notwithstanding this, the progress of the Company was slow and heavy—jealousy, the true characteristic of monopoly, paralyzing all its proceedings; nor, if we may trust contemporary accounts, were the dealings of the Company's servants with the Indians altogether in accordance with the purposes of its incorporation. It is not on record that they took any care to introduce the Indians to the knowledge of Christianity, but they very soon did to the use of ardent spirits, consequent on which much evil and disease resulted. Nor was, the mixture of its servants with the Indian race productive of just ideas of morality, more than their mode of traffic, which, by introducing a commercial medium of arbitrary value, and reducing all others to it, left the Indian completely at their mercy. This standard measure of the Company was the beaver-skin: and the comparative value of this may serve to show the source of the Company's profits and its manner of dealing, by wdiich it put the Indians at the mercy of the factors and traders. In a table given by Umfraville, we find the following equivalents for a beaver-skin:—half a pound of glass beads, one pound of powder, one comb, one small burning-glass, twelve needles, one file, SKETCH OF FUR TRADE. 163 one ice-chisel, and one quart of brandy. Now, taking the last as an instance, one quart of brandy of the usual strength was worth one beaver-skin ; but by being half water, the price is made two. Now for spirits the Company pay at the rate of 20s. a gallon: this produces eight beaver-skine, weighing about ten pounds, which, at the medium of exchange, supposing it to be 12.?. per pound, amounts to 6L sterling; if the brandy were traded for other skins, the return would be about 8/. This calculation is considerably below the present prices. A fourpenny comb, says that writer, will barter for a bear's-skin wrorth 21. The absence of competition and the absolute dependence of the Indians for what had, by the Company's means, become to them necessaries — fire-arms and ammunition,— not to say blankets, beads, and spirits, enabled its traders to keep up these prices. This state of things did not, however^ long continue. The conquest of Canada by the English had opened a new field of commercial enterprise and speculation; and it being presumed that the Hudson's Bay Company's charter could not affect that territory, an association, principally consisting of Scotchmen, was formed at Montreal, numbering among its original members the names of Mackenzie and Frazer. Perceiving the want of spirit in the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company, arising from the absence of interest, the employes, having no prospect of advancement in the service, they established their new Company on a very different footing. The ranks of the North-west Company were recruited from respectable families in Canada by offering to the clerks a salary of 50/., exclusive of maintenance, during their apprenticeship of seven years; then 164 THE OREGOIV. an increase to 80/. and 160/.; and by permitting partners, on their retiring, to name junior members to fill their places; thus giving a stimulus to the whole body, which was entirely wanting to the older sociely, whose writers, when out of their apprenticeship, received only 15/., their assistants only 25L9 and the ultimate but most uncertain object of their hopes being the obtaining the situation of governor of a fort at 150/. per annum. The North-west Company thus established in 1805, proceeded on a system of trade as opposite from the Hudson's Bay Company as their constitutions were different. The old Company induced the Indians to resort to the factories for trade, whereby they made the risk of hunting and carriage of skins fall on them; but the Canadian traders followed the Indians to their lodges and hunting-grounds, and traded with them there. A general meeting was held every summer near the Grand Portage, at the north-western extremity of Lake Superior, when the partners decided on the plan of operation, and the clerks and traders received their instructions, and, after some days' festivities, proceeded to put them in execution. " It has been remarked that no system could have been better devised to infuse activity into every department, and so extend the Influence of the Company." This its members succeeded in doing to such an extent, that it employed two thousand voyageurs at 40/. a year each, whose knowledge of the frontier and connection with the Indians enabled it to be of much service to Great Britain during" the war with America Mackenzie gives the following account of the number of skins collected in one year:— SKETCH OF FUR TRADE. 165 106,000 beaver 2,100 bear 1,000 fox 4,000 kitt fox 4,600 otter 17,000 musquash 32,000 marten 1,800 mink 500 buffalo robes and 6,000 lynx 600 wolverine 1,650 fisher 100 racoon 3,800 wolf 700 elk 750 deer 1,200 deer dressed a quantity of castorum. And comparing this with the table given by Bliss in 1831, the increase appears to be chiefly in the smaller animals, and not so great as might have been expected:— 126,994 beaver 375,731 musk rat 58,000 lynx 5,947 wolf 3,850 bear , 8,765 fox 34 weazel 9,298 mink 325 racoon 2,290 tails 1,744 wolverine 645 deer The total of these has been reckoned at 203,316/. 9s. Od. There has been, however, a great increase in the buffalo robes. This account is no doubt incorrect, for in the average of its first ten years the Company purchased seventy thousand bear-skins and nineteen thousand marten-skins, an item not mentioned in it. Notwithstanding the closeness which marked the dealings of the Hudson's Bay Company with the Indians, there had been much regularity and good faith, so that a corresponding fidelity was generated in them; but, by degrees, the new mode of trading introduced by the North-west Company, and the unlimited use of spirits, changed the face of things. The Indian, passionately fond of gambling, and, indeed, of excitement of any kind, supplied the demand by all or any means, r 166 THE OREGON. even to killing the young animals, so that the new system became as injurious to the trade as to the Indian; and, indeed, equally so to the trader himself, for the life thus led offered to young ardent men every inducement to excess; and the Company afforded the greatest possible inducement for those who had no other recommendation than courage and ability to join its ranks; allowing credit to its servants for goods supplied, until, in many cases, there was but one step from the Company's service to the debtor's prison: it was truly in all its features most demoralising. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that, when the two companies came into collision, serious outrages were perpetrated. In 1806 we have seen the North-west Company stretching across the Eocky Mountains, and establishing a fort on Frazer's Lake. In the same year at Bad Lake, near Albany factory, and in the Hudson's Bay territory, the North-west Company, having established a fort, attacked one belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, situated very near it, and carried off all the furs contained in it: the same thing happened at Eed Lake. From robbery they proceeded to personal violence, and a succession of excesses ended in a skirmish near Eagle Lake, in which some of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants were wounded, and the leader of the Northwest Company's party shot, while in hot pursuit, by a man whom he was about to cut down. This affair happened in the year 1809. The servant of the Hudson's Bay Company was taken to Montreal, tried, and finally condemned, after eighteen months' imprisonment, to six months more, and to be branded in the hand with a red-hot iron. In all these the SKETCH OF FUR TRADE. 167 North-west Company's servants were aggressors, and the interest of the partners at Montreal appears to have operated invariably in behalf of the servants. The character of the operations of the two Companies may be imagined from Eoss Cox's (afterwards intheir service) description of the essentials for the Northwest Company's service:—" Courage was an indispensable qualification, not merely for casual encounters with the Indians, but to intimidate any competitor in the trade with whom he might happen to come in collision. Success was looked upon as the great criterion of the trader's fitness, and provided he obtained for his outfit of merchandise what was considered a good return of furs, the partners never stopped to inqu$ce about the means by which they were acquired." He adds: " The Hudson's Bay Company, on the contrary, presented no inducement to extra exertion on the part of its officers. Some of them, whose courage was undoubted, when challanged to single combat by a Nor-wester, refused, alleging as a reason that they were engaged to trade in furs and not to fight with their fellow-subjects. The character of the " engages," as the canoemen were called, gave the new Company a decided advantage over the old, the Canadian voyageurs having been initiated into the mysteries of the Indian trade from early youth, and the Scotch and Orkneymen, who formed the greater part of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants, having to learn them after their arrival in the country. This more than counterbalanced the advantages derived by the Hudson's Bay Company from age and chartered rights. The North-west Company in 1812 carrying the trade to the mouth of the Columbia, their activity was soon manifested by the 168 THE OREGON purchase of the forts of the citizens of the United States at Astoria, Spokain, and Okanagan. In 1811, Lord Selkirk having obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company a grant of 100,000 square miles for the establishment of agricultural colonies, made a settlement on the Eed Eiver. This the North-west Company resisted, and the colonists retreated in alarm | they however returned next year, and open war broke out between the parties, which ended in the dispersion of the colonists. This was brought before the British parliament some time after, and resulted in the amalgamation of the two bodies, the extension of the jurisdiction of the Canada Courts to the Pacific, or, as it is worded, " other parts of America not within the limits of either of the provinces of Upper or Lower Canada, or of any civil government of the United States." Having thus given consistency to the united bodies, their trade rapidly spread, and the American traders and trappers, excepting such as enlisted under their banners, were driven from the country west of the Eocky Mountains, and they reigned in undisturbed security for many years. The amalgamation took place in 1824, and afterwards a new charter was given for the period of twenty-one years, by which the same privileges were confined to the united Company under the old name of the Hudson's Bay Company, but containing a reservation to the Crown of power to colonise in or annex any portion of their territories to any existing province or colony, but not of right to the Indian trade. This last Act, however, was not passed till May 30, 1838. It confirms all the privileges of the former grant, with the above reservation. SKETCH OF FUR TRADE. 169 Tt fully carries out the spirit of the original charter, making provision not only for the good order and government of the territory, having an express stipulation | for gradually diminishing and ultimately preventing the sale and distribution of spirits among the Indians, and also for their moral and religious improvement, as well as for the remedy of any evils which had before been known to exist." The Company entered into a bond of 5000/. with the government of Great Britain for the due exercise of their powers under their charter, especially with respect to the right of arrest and imprisonment granted to it in cases of debt under 200/., as well as in more serious offences. The union of the two Companies, the authority thus given them by government, and the weight of public opinion in England—for the quarrels of the opposing parties had brought the evils of the existing system of trade to light, by rendering it no less dangerous than unnecessary—combined to introduce more of the spirit of the original charter into the Company's proceedings; and the result was shortly apparent in a return to good order and regularity not only among their own servants, but among the natives; and their system being now one of fair trade and reciprocal advantage, the use of ardent spirits as a bribe, or even the sale of them to the Indians, was discouraged and gradually discontinued. Among the standing orders of the Company is the following:— " That the Indians be treated with kindness and indulgence, and mild and conciliatory means resorted to, in order to encourage industry, repress vice, and inculcate morality; that the use of spi- 170 THE OREGON. rituous liquors be gradually discontinued in the fur districts where it is yet indispensable, and that the Indians be liberally supplied with requisite necessaries, particularly with articles of ammunition, whether they have the means of paying for them or not." That the interest of the Company is evidently studied in this order, do*s not detract from its justice. To it indeed may be attributed the present power of the Company over the Indians, and the peace and plenty which generally reign through their territories. Mr. Dunn bears the following testimony to their recent exertions since these general orders were issued:—The Company, finding the success of their humane and judicious policy gradually answering the proposed end, has at last adopted the bold and decided course of abolishing altogether the use of spirituous liquors as an article of trade with the natives. They have not only done this in the territories within their jurisdiction, but have, by a new article introduced into the treaty of commerce entered into with the Eussians by Sir G. Simpson, stipulated that the Eussians should act in their trading with the natives on the same principle, so that henceforth one source of demoralization wdll be dried up. It is to be wdshed that all other objects of their charter had been as much attended to; but in the matter of religion especially we may discover much remissness; there have been, it is true, occasional chaplains at the principal stations in Hudson's Bay and the Oregon, and they have assisted the Church Missionary Society at their stations of Eed Eiver and Cumberland House, and are prepared to do so to a still further extent if that Society should be enabled to accomplish its present SKETCH OF FUR TRADE. intentions, as also the missionaries of the various dissenting denominations, and those from the United States in the Oregon, and more especially of the Eoman Catholic church both in the Oregon and Upper Canada, or perhaps properly Eupert's Land ; but these efforts have been desultory and unconnected ; nothing has been done yet by the Company for the conversion of the Indians, and little, very little, for the instruction and protection from the temptations with which they are surrounded, of their own servants, and consequently their moral, not to say spiritual condition, as well as that of their Indian dependants, is at best at a low ebb. Schools have however been established for the education of the half-breed and orphan children of the Indians. But although much remains to be done, still much has been done by the Company; and it has been well observed, that no stronger proof of tjie salutary effect of their injunctions can be adduced than that, while peace and decorum mark the general conduct of the northern (and, it may be added, the western) tribes, bloodshed, rapine, and unbridled lust are the characteristics of the fierce hordes of Assinaboines, Piegan, Blackfeet, Circees, Fall and Blood Indians, who inhabit the plains between the Saskatchawan and Missouri riveiss, and are without the pale of their influence and authority; and this is not less applicable to those living still farther south, at the head-waters of the Yellowstone and Arkansas, the Klamet and the Umqua. In the territory west of the Eocky Mountains the Company has now the following forts and trading-posts:— 1. Fort Vancouver and its dependencies:— Forts George (1#)? the Astoria of the Americans i72 X THE OREGON. near the mouth of the Columbia; and Umqua {lb), at the mouth of that river, both on the south side of the Columbia. Forts Hall (le) in the Snake country, {at the head-waters of the south branch, and Boisee (Id), on the tributary of that name. Forts Cowelitz (le), on the river of that name, about fifteen miles from its mouth on the north side, Nisqually (If), on Puget's Sound, and Nezperces (lg), near the great fork of the Columbia. 2. Fort Victoria, a settlement fast rising into importance, at the south-east point of Vancouver's Island. 3. Fort Langley, on Frazer's Eiver. 4. Fort Simpson, on Chatham Sound, in lat. 54° 35', and its dependencies; Forts M'Loughlin (4a), in Millbank Sound; Stikeen (46), and Ta- kow (4c), in the Eussian territory. 5. Fort Colville, below the junction of the Flathead river with the main stream, with its dependent posts, Kootonais (5a), Spokain (5b), and Flathead (5c), on the rivers of the same names. 6. Fort Thompson, on the east branch of Frazer's Eiver, with its dependencies. Fort Okanagan (6a), at the mouth of that river ;• Alexandria (6b), on Frazer's Eiver, lat. 52°; Chil- cotin (6c), and Frazer (6d), on the lakes of the same names; Fort George (6V), at the junction of Stuart's Eiver with the main stream, and St. James (6f), M'Leod (6g), Conolly (6h), Babine (6i), about the head-waters of Frazer's and Peace Eivers, and Fluscuss near the Eussian territory. Of all these, Fort Vancouver is now the principal ; here Dr. M'Loughlin, the governor of the territory, resides, and here is the principal dep6t of the Company, in which all the goods brought SKETCH OF FUR TRADE. 173 from England and furs collected in the interior are warehoused ; it is indeed the emporium of trade from Kamschatka to California. The fort is in shape a parallelogram, about two hundred and fifty yards long by a hundred and* fifty broad, enclosed by a sort of wooden wall, made of pickets or large beams firmly fixed in the ground, and closely fitted together, twenty feet high, and strongly secured on the inside by buttresses; the area is cultivated, and surrounded by houses and offices, the governor's residence being in the centre: there is a chapel and school. The officers of the Company dine together in the common hall, the governor presiding; but it has been remarked, that the absence of their wives and the females of the establishment from the table does not contribute to the refinement of manners. There is also a public " batchelors' hall," where after dinner the time is passed in conversation and smoking, but the latter is said to be declining as a habit. The hospitality of Fort Vancouver and its governor has been highly praised, especially by American writers, it should seem not without good reason; and the general feeling of regret at leaving the society it affords speaks much in praise of the officers of the Company, not less than the good cheer of the governor. Beyond the fort are large granaries and storehouses ; and before it, on the bank of the river, is the village in which the servants of the Company reside; in all, the residents may be seven hundred. In the village is an hospital. Attached to Fort Vancouver is a magnificent? farm, of more than three thousand acres; saw-mills cutting many hundred thousand feet per annum; 174 THE OREGON. grist-mills, and every other requisite for commerce and agriculture. Vessels of fourteen feet draught can come abreast of it at low water (says Lieutenant Wilkes), and at the store of the Company every necessary can be supplied as cheap as in the United States ; this however must be taken with considerable limitation, and refers probably to the English goods in particular. From hence the Company carries on a lucrative trade with California, the Sandwich Islands, and the Eussian settlements, besides its exports to England; but of this notice will be taken in another chapter. The Company's servants are principally Scotch and Canadians, but there is also a great number of half-breeds, children of the Company's servants and Indian women. These are generally a well- featured race, ingenious, athletic, and remarkably good horsemen ; the men make excellent trappers, and the women, who frequently marry officers of the Company, make clever, faithful, and attentive wives; they are ingenious needlewomen, and good managers. They frequently attend their husbands in their trading excursions, in which they are most useful; they retain some peculiarities of their Indian ancestors, among which is the not unfre- quent use of the moccasin, though usually it is made of ornamented cloth, instead of deer-skin. The approach to this the principal establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company in the west gives the stranger a high idea of its prosperity and importance ; the thickly peopled village, the highly cultivated fields, the absence of all guards and defences, the guns of the fort having long since been dismounted, the civilized appearance of its interior, and the activity and energy which every- SKETCH OF FUR TRADE. 175 where prevail,—the noble river, here seventeen hundred yards wide, on which perhaps some of the Company's vessels, brigs, or steamers, well appointed, manned, and armed, are at anchor ; and these are heightened in their effect by the magnificent scenery by which it is surrounded; the noble woods flanking the mighty stream, and backed by lofty mountains, the snow-covered peaks of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens towering over all; while the wild flowers and fruits in their season carpet the ground in wild luxuriance. This fort was established by Governor Simpson in 1824, and its present importance justified his selection of its site. Here is, and doubtless will continue, the chief trade of Western America, until the increasing demands of commerce and national industry transport it to the shores of Juan de Fuca Straits and Admiralty Inlet; yet even then, as the only naval and mercantile station in South Oregon, and as receiving the trade of all branches of the Columbia, and having immediate and rapid connection with Puget's Sound by the Cowelitz and Nisqually, and with Gray's Harbour by the Chikelis—thus connecting the great fresh-water with the great salt-water navigation; the Columbia with the Strait of Fuca—it will occupy only the second place. Sir H. Pelly, in his letter to Lord Glenelg, in 1837, gives this account of the state of the Company :-~The Company now occupy the country between the Eocky Mountains and the Pacific by six permanent establishments on the coast, sixteen an the interior country, besides several migratory and hunting parties, and they maintain a marine |of six armed vessels and a steam-vessel on the coast. [Their principal establishment and dep6t for the 176 THE OREGON. trade of the coast and interior is situated ninety miles from the Pacific, on the northern banks of the Columbia river, and called Vancouver, in honour of that celebrated navigator ; in the neighbourhood they have large pasture and grain farms, affording most abundantly every species of agricultural produce, and maintaining large herds of stock of every description: these have been gradually established, and it is the intention of the Company still further not only to augment and increase them, and to establish an export trade in wool, tallow, hides, and other things, but to encourage the settlement of their retired servants and the emigrants under their protection; and he asserts further, that the soil, climate, and other circumstances of the country, are as much, if not more adapted to agricultural purposes than any other spot in America. ( 177 ) CHAPTER IX. SETTLERS IN OREGON. The presence of missionaries among the natives of the territory has already been mentioned, and some notice taken of their success. One result, however, remains to be considered. It seems but the right and proper order of things that the missionary in uncivilized lands should be the harbinger not only of the blessings of the Christian religion, but of civilization also, and therefore that he should be followed in his track by the settler and farmer, the mechanic and artisan, who obtain as' the reward of their superior intelligence and knowledge the weaifli and independence which in their own country their simple equality with others could not expect; and this, is just, the benefit they confer is incalculable : it does not decrease its value that others in distant lands possess the same, but rather inoreases it as the means whereby they may be raised to the same eminence. Now though this is to be expected and desired, it has ever been thought a just ground of complaint against men whose lives are devoted to the service of God and the spread of his Gospel, if they let Ol&er occupations interfere with that which ought wK>e their primary one, or seek to make " a gain of goutiness;" and still more if the influence accorded to them, in consequence of their important duty and sacred office, be converted into an engine for I 2 178 THE OREGON. political purposes, or they teach other doctrine with respect to our neighbours than the words of the Apostle—" Follow peace with all men." In reviewing the history of the settlers in Oregon, all this will appear by their own showing to lie at the door of the American missionaries who have established themselves there ; and the necessity for drawing attention to it is this, that no satisfactory account of Oregon could be given without some notice of the Wallamette Settlement, and certainly no true statement of affairs there can be given without these facts being referred to. In their settlements at Okanagan, Walla - walla, Cowelitz, and Nisqually this charge is so far true, that their principal attention, as Lieut. Wilkes testifies, is devoted to agriculture, but on the Wallamette they sink into political agents and would- be legislators. This the history of that settlement will sufficiently evidence. When the Hudson's Bay Company had established their authority over the Oregon by the expulsion of American traders, the country began to be esteemed by their servants residing there as British. The peculiar mode of life to which they are of necessity subject, renders the inhabitants of the west scarcely fit to return to the abodes of refinement or civilization, and these considerations induced many, whose engagements with the Company were at an end, to determine on settling in that country, for existence in which they were fully qualified, and to which they had become in a manner naturalized. For this purpose they selected the valley of the Wallamette as most eligible, and received every assistance from the Company in promoting their intentions. Their success led SETTLERS IN OREGON. 179 some of the Company's officers to establish farms there also, still retaining their connexion with it, and thus the germ of a colony of some prospective importance was formed. Indeed tne situation selected was highly advantageous, as well for present cultivation as for future mercantile connexion not only with other districts of Oregon, but with the Pacific generally. The Wallamette river, having its rise below the 44th parallel, flows in a northerly course between the Cascade Mountains and the coast range, and falls into the Columbia five miles below Fort Vancouver, forming by the two channels into which it separates, as has been stated, a large island, called by the natives Wappatoo from an edible root of that name growing there in great quantities. This river is navigable for about twenty-five miles to the mouth of a small tributary, the IQackamus, for vessels of moderate size: here there is a rapid when the water is low, and in addition this river rushes with such rapidity from its mountain source as to create a heavy and dangerous swell; the Wallamette is here five hundred yards wide. Three miles above this it is broken by three separate falls, in which the water is precipitated through deep channels worn in the black trap rocks, and crossing the river diagonally; the resistance thus given produces columns of spray, the effect of which is beautiful in the extreme ; they are about twenty feet in height. The banks of the river to this point are irregular and rocky, but beyond undulating table-land, covered with luxuriant oak-groves of a white species, very hard and elastic; and above for about fifteen miles the mountains rise precipitously from the river's bank, clothed with 180 THE OREGON. the largest pine-trees in a dense forest, but beyond this again the country opens, the banks fall gently towards the river, and rich verdant undulating plains spread to a great extent on either side. At this point, about fifty miles from the mouth of the river, the Wallamette settlement was established. The success of the experiment spread through the territory, and was not long in passing the Eocky Mountains, by means of the free trappers who still kept up their communication with the States, and shortly reached the seat of government, and the principal cities of the east coast. It may be remembered that hitherto all efforts made by American citizens to get a footing in Oregon had proved abortive, because they had entered into competition with a body to whose capital and organization they could offer no sufficient opposition. A new line was now open, and as they had retired from the country foiled, but ready to take advantage of any opportunity to return, a new plan of operations was prepared to accord with the new and favourable circumstances which had thus arisen. And in saying this no blame is attached to the parties who originated it, but rather to those who took advantage of it to divert from its primary intention a work of Christian benevolence and charity. The destitute state of the country, and even of the Company's servants, with respect to the means of attaining not only religious but secular knowledge, was well known; and to remove this missionaries were sent: on their arrival they received every assistance and encouragement from Dr. Mac- Loughlin—as became their professed object; but, as it has been observed, " in accordance with their SETTLERS IN OREGON. 181 true purpose, they commenced resident farmers, teaching, it is true, the natives the great elements of Christianity and forms of prayer, but using their gratuitous labour in the cultivation of their fields." The reports sent home by them induced others to follow their example, which led to the establishment of other missionary stations, and the accession to the Wallamette settlement of some few American farmers and others to whom the Oregon offered advantages not to be found to the east of the Eocky Mountains, or the excitement necessary to the irritable and roving disposition of the inhabitants of the back settlements. From this beginning the colony increased, till, when Lieutenant Wilkes visited it in 1841, it counted sixty families, who, he says, consisted of American missionaries, trappers, and Canadians, who were formerly servants of the Hudson's Bay Company; and that the origin of the settlement has been fairly stated, may be gathered from the conclusion he arrived at concerning it. All of them appeared to be doing well; but he was, he says, " on the whole disappointed, from the reports which had been made to me, not to find the settlement in a greater state of forwardness, considering the advantages the missionaries have had ;"—thus making the prosperity and advancement of the settlement depend in a great measure, if not entirely, upon them: but that their missionary intentions have merged in a great measure in others more closely connected with ease and comfort, is still more plainly evidenced by the following account given by him of the Wesleyan Mission there : "The lands of the Methodist Mission are situated on the banks of the Wallamette river, on a rich 182 THE OREGON. plain adjacent to fine forests of oak and pine. They are about eight miles beyond the Catholic Mission, in a southern direction. Their fields are well enclosed, and we passed a large one of wheat which we understood was half sown by the last year's crop which had been lost through neglect. The crop so lost amounted to nearly a thousand bushels, and it is supposed that this year's crop will yield twenty-five bushels to the acre. About all the premises of this mission there was an evident want of the attention required to keep things in repair, and an absence of neatness that I regretted much to witness. We had the expectation of getting a sight of the Indians, on whom they were inculcating good habits and teaching the word of God, but, with the exception of four Indian servants, we saw none since leaving the Catholic Mission. On inquiring I was informed that they had a school of twenty pupils some ten miles distant at the mill, that there were but few adult Indians in the neighbourhood, and that their intention and principal hope was to establish a colony, and by their example to induce the white settlers to locate near them, over whom they trusted to exercise a moral and religious influence." At the mills, which were badly situated and managed, he saw twenty lay members of the Mission under the charge of a principal, and about twenty-five Indian boys, who, he was told, wrere not in a condition to be visited or inspected. They were nearly grown up, ragged, and half clothed, and lounging about under the trees. He might well add, " Their appearance was anything but satisfactory, and I must own I was greatly disappointed, for I had been led to ex- SETTLERS IN OREGON. 183 pect that order and neatness at least (he could scarce have expected less) would have been found among them, considering the strong force of missionaries engaged here. From the number of persons about the premises this little spot wore the air and stir of a new secular settlement. It was intended to be the home and location of the mission, and the missionaries had made individual selections of lands to the amount of one thousand acres each, in prospect of the whole country falling under the American dominion." Holding these views, and with such interests to incite them, it is not surprising to find these missionaries among the first to excite political changes, and to introduce the consequent discussions and dissensions. A committee of five, principally lay members of the mission, waited on Mr. Wilkes to consult him and ask his advice relative to the establishment of laws (it will be remembered that some of the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company exercised the authority of magistrates under the government of Canada). The principal reasons which induced them to this step appeared to Lieutenant Wilkes to be, j- That it would give them importance in the eyes of others at a distance, and induce other settlers to flock in, thereby raising the value of their farms and flocks." He could not view the subject in this light, and differed from them entirely as to the necessity or policy of adopting the change, for reasons among which may be numbered the following:— 1. On account of their want of right, as those wishing for laws were in fact a small minority of the settlers. i 3 r 184 THE OREGON. m 2. That they were not necessary even on their own account. 3. The great difficulty they would have in enforcing any laws, and defining the limits overj which they had control, and the discord this might occasion in their small community. It appears that the Eoman Catholic Missionaries were placed in advantageous contrast to their Protestant brethren ; for he was satisfied from observation, as well as information, that they, though the larger body, had neither any inclination nor necessity for a penal code. Mr. Wilkes therefore suggested that they should wait until the United States should throw its mantle over them. His view then expressed determined a postponement of their intention, but it was a postponement only. The number of the citizens of the United States has increased rapidly and favoured their purposes; they have accordingly established a territorial, and, it is presumed, provisional government. This consists of two legislative bodies and a chief justice, with the necessary officers to enforce their decisions. The two houses meet at stated periods of the year for the transaction of business, and already there is a rumour, of an intention to establish an independent state, heard over the more reasonable and more generally expressed opinion of the necessity of union with the North American commonwealth. The authoB|ties of the Hudson's Bay Company have in some measure sanctioned the arrangement by accepting, through the chief factor and governor, Dr. MacLoughlin, the grant of exclusive right to a canal to be constructed by him around the Wallamette Falls, on condition that it should afford passage for boats thirteen feet in width, and SETTLERS IN OREGON. 185 be completed in two years; but it has been well remarked that " the recognition of the legislative confederacy would be a politic course in the resident Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, even though he were ever so averse to it, for such recognition would not affect the interests of his association in case it were overthrown by his own government, and it would afford him meanwhile an opportunity for the quiet pursuit of his plans; it is but just, however, to bear in mind that the jurisdiction exercised by the Company over all the citizens in the territory previous to the legislative convention was not their own arrogation, but the investiture of the British Government, for its own special ob- joct % and it is no less just to say that this powrer I was exercised by the gentleman above named during his rule with a temperance and fairness but seldom found in those who have no immediate superior to account to." Various reports have of late given a strong impression of the flourishing progress of this settle- ;ment. The Doctor has by this time finished his canal, and in addition erected a grist-mill with I four run of burrs ;" and Dr. MacCarver, at present Speaker of the Lower House of Oregon, writes thus concerning it:—" The harvest is just at hand, land such crops of wheat, barley, oats, peas and I potatoes, are seldoin if ever to be seen in the United I States—that of wheat in particular, the stalks being I in many instances as high as my head, the grains I generally much larger;"—stay, gentle reader; not, I as might appear at first sight, than the general's I head;—but he would not much exaggerate, he tells I us, " to say that they are as large again as those grown east of the mountains. ni m g< 186 THE OREGON. and the climate most superior, being mild the year round, and very healthy, more so than any country I ever lived in the same length of time. Produce bears an excellent price: pork, ten cents; beef, six cents; potatoes, fifty cents; wheat, one dollar per bushel. These articles are purchased at the above prices with great avidity by the merchants for shipment generally to the Sandwich Islands and Eussian settlements on the continent, and are paid for monthly in stores and groceries, particularly sugar and coffee (both products of the Sandwich Islands), of which abundant supplies are furnished. Wages for labourers are high ; common hands are getting from one to two dollars a-day. It is with difficulty men can be procured at these prices, so easily can they do better on their own farms. The plains are one perpetual meadow, furnishing two complete new crops every year, spring and tfall, the latter remaining green through the winter. Beef is killed off the grass at any season of the year; and," adds the gallant general, || if you have any enterprise left, or if your neighbours have, here is the place for them;"—thus corroborating the opinion of Mr. Wilkes, who says | The wheat of this valley yields thirty-five to forty bushels for one sowing, or from twenty to thirty to the acre. Its .quality is superior to that grown in the United States, and its weight nearly four pounds to the bushel heavier. The above is the yield of the new land, but it is believed it will greatly exceed this after the third crop, when the land has been broken up and well tilled. In comparison to our own country, I should say that the labour necessary to acquire wealth and subsistence is in the proportion of one to three, or in other words, a m'an must work SETTLERS IN OREGON. 187 (through the year three times as much in the United (States to gain the same competency. The care of stock, which occupies so much time with us, requires mo attention here, and on the increase alone a man imight find support." And although this has been animadverted on by Mr. Farnham and others, it must be remembered that he at least held, at the time when he drew up and subsequently presented to Congress the memorial of the settlers in the Wal- ilamette, a very different opinion from that which he has lately expressed; it moreover agrees with ithe account given by Sir George Simpson, the Inspector-General of the Hudson's Bay Company's forts and settlements. The Wallamette settlement, and its younger sister, Oregon city, begin to wear some little appearance of civilization, having chapels and school- ihouses, an hospital (though this is used for missionary purposes), besides public buildings. The extent of land, however, under cultivation does not probably exceed the Company's farm at Fort Vancouver, and certainly cannot be compared to it in ■management and appearance, or comparative produce ; and when estimated by the amount of their [farming and grazing establishments put together, it is but insignificant. The farm at Vancouver is about nine miles (square; on this there are two dairies and above lone hundred cows; here are one thousand acres fenced into fields, sprinkled with dairy-houses and ! cottages; by the labour of one hundred half-breeds and Iroquois, with twenty or thirty ploughs and (an equal proportion of harrows j thirty or forty acres are tilled in a day; there are ten acres of i apple-trees at the north of the fort, and a large 188 THE OREGON. garden abounding in every edible necessary and luxury; on Wappatoo Island there are also two dairies, where butter and cheese are made for the Eussian settlements from a hundred and fifty cows. On the farm at Vancouver there are above three thousand head of cattle, two thousand h've hundred sheep, and three hundred brood mares. The milk and butter are excellent; the fleeces heavy, but not very fine. In 1841 the yield of wheat was three thousand bushels, averaging sixty-three pounds to the bushel. m The cattle thrive on natural hay ; for the grass, which in the beginning of the summer grows rapidly, is afterwards converted by the heat and drought into hay; it is very nutritious, all its juices being preserved. The prairies along the river have two luxuriant growths of grass, as General M'Carver describes in the Wallamette; the first in the spring, and the second soon after the overflowing of the river subsides, which is generally in July and August. This last remains through the season. The cattle require no shelter, though they are penned for protection against the wolves, and to manure the land. Of the scenery of this farm Lieutenant Wilkes speaks in terms of the highest admiration; he says it was one of the most beautiful rides he had yet taken, through fine prairies adorned with large oaks and pines; these are of gigantic dimensions, with their branches drooping to the ground. The prairies have such an appearance of being artificially kept that they never cease to create surprise, and it is difficult to believe that the hand of taste and refinement has not been at work upon them. The ground is covered with columbine, lupins, and cammass flowers. e SETTLERS IN OREGON. 189 The scene from this place is truly beautiful; the Etoble river can be traced in all its windings for a long distance through the cultivated prairie, with its groves and clumps of trees beyond; the eye sweeps over an interminable forest melting into a blue haze, from which Mount Hood, capped with its eternal snows, rises in great beauty; the purple tints fa the atmosphere seem peculiar to tiie country. The Company's farm at Fort Colville is situated on a peninsula containing about two hundred acres of rich soil, the only alluvial on the course of the Columbia, except at the missionary settlement near the Dalles. One hundred and thirty acres are in [cultivation in wheat, barley, and potatoes; and iupon this farm the northern forts of the Company (depend for provisions. Here are two hundred head of cattle, thirty brood mares, and sixty horses fit for iwork. It may be remarked, that the country between the main branch of the Columbia and the Ivooskooskee is very suitable for rearing sheep and horned cattle. There is another farm on the Cowelitz Eiver, which, rising below Mount Eainier, in the Cascade Bange^ flows with a tortuous course into the Columbia, near Mount Coffin, forty miles below Fort Vancouver. The farm is about fifteen bniles up the river. Here are six or seven hundred acres enclosed and under cultivation; large farmhouses, granaries, dairy, and cattle-sheds. Wheat grows luxuriantly, producing twenty bushels per acre: besides the dairy, as at Fort Vancouver and Colville, are a grist and saw-mill. At the head of Puget's Inlet there is a farm, pear Fort Nisqually, where also there is a large dairy, many hundred cattle, with seventy milch r iii M 190 THE OREGON. cows; large crops of wheat, peas, oats, and potatoes. On the 15th of May Lieut. Wilkes saw peas a foot high, strawberries and gooseberries in full bloom, and some of the former nearly ripe, with salad that had gone to seed. This is the principal establishment of the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, as has been already mentioned. On the Fallatry Plains, near the mouth of the Wallamette, and at Fort Langley, there are also farms. From these comparative accounts it will be seen that the Hudson's Bay Company have many times more land under cultivation than at Wallamette, and that putting the Fur Trade out of the question, their stake in the country is so much larger. Having been obliged to show the consequence of this departure of the missionaries on the Wallamette from their proper sphere of duty, it is both pleasant and profitable to offer, in concluding this subject, an example of the effects of another and more suitable line of conduct. At Lapwai, on the Kooskooskee, Mr. Spalding, an American missionary, has established himself. We find him, indeed, in a two-story house with board floors (a great advance in civilization for the back settlements), with a grist and saw-mill, and that these are the work of his own hands; that he has twenty acres of fine wheat and potatoes, pumpkins, corn, melons, peas, and beans in fine order; but we also find him instructing the Indians in agriculture, lending them ploughs and other implements, and assisting them to cultivate farms of their own, so that on one was raised, in 1840, four hundred bushels of potatoes and forty-five bushels of wheat; and Mrs. Spalding teaching their wives SETTLERS IN OREGON. 191 (squaws no longer) to spin, to knit, and assist in household work. Both he and his wife are in the winter constantly engaged in teaching. They appear to have made considerable progress wh% the natives—so far indeed, that with a map they could comprehend the course of the United States Exploring Expedition. Still the progress of the people in religious knowledge does not seem great, and their expressions of it being principally through prayers and hymns, are not very satisfactory; still it may be hoped that something is done—as much, perhaps, as this union of occupations will allow. At the Walla-walla station, however, more success is apparent; about forty or fifty families may be under instruction, and assemble regularly for worship on the Lord's Day, while residing near the mission, but their wandering propensities are not yet entirely overcome. At the Dalles also, on the Columbia, the missionaries have occasion to exercise much self-denial, and are said to live in constant fear, this being the resort of all the worst characters among the Indians. But they are located on a rich alluvial plain of some two thousand acres, where they raise good crops of wheat and potatoes : of the former they had two hundred bushels. The harvest is in the month of June. During the past year the number of settlers on the Wallamette must have increased considerably, for we hear, through the medium of the public press, not only of Oregon city, but of the city of Multonomah and the town of Linton, of buildings worth seven thousand dollars, raised by individuals, of a court of justice and academical building, THE OREGON. while a military corps is being organized. This might well excite a smile did we not know from how small beginnings great things arise in the far west: but whatever opinion may be formed on such reports of the Oregon cities and towns, at least one thousand five hundred bushels of wheat, seventy head of cattle, fifteen horses, and nine hundred hogs, are tangible results to the settlers from a few years' labour. By a census taken last year, the population of the Wallamette valley is given as three thousand. ( 193 ) CHAPTEE X. NATURAL PRODUCTIONS—COMMERCIAL CAPABILITIES. Of the natural productions of the Oregon territory only a general idea can be given, and this may be formed from what has been already said. In the early days of its discovery scientific men were seldom travellers, and since they have been an essential branch of every expedition of discovery, few but those residing in the district have visited the interior, besides the United States' expedition, commanded by Mr. Wilkes, and the particular information collected by him has not as yet been made public. The animals found to the west of the Eocky Mountains do not differ essentially from those immediately to the east. The elk, several species of deer, antelopes, mountain-sheep, goats, and the different fur-bearing animals, lynxes, foxes, red, cross, and silver, minks, musquash, marten, wolverine, beavers, otters, marmots, and, above all, the ermine. In Southern Oregon a species of leopard spreads terror and destruction among the flocks; and throughout the middle and western region wolves are numerous; the black and brown bear are common, and especially in the Eocky Mountains the terrible grizzly bear, whose strength, ferocity, and tenacity of life form the theme of so many romantic incidents in the lives of the trappers, and have been 194 THE OREGON. rendered familiar by the accounts of so many travellers. The dog is the companion, and not unfrequently the food of the Indians; it is of the same species as the Esquimaux dog, but not, as by them, trained to useful purposes. Snakes are numerous; the principal of them is the rattle-snake: they are not, however, found either on the coast or mountainous districts. On the plains of the middle district horses abound; they are a fine race of animals, of a moderate height, but with good shoulders, muscular loins, fine limbs and small feet, strong action, of immense powers of endurance, considerable speed, and equalling the mule in sureness of foot. Every variety of colour is found among them; not only the more uncommon mixtures, roan, piebald, and spotted, but these again varied with other colours. Mr. Farnham saw a roan with bay ears and white mane and tail; and some spotted with white on a roan or bay or sorrel ground, with tail and ears tipped with black. The Indians, and especially the Cayuse or Sky use, possess large herds, even the poorest having several. The same writer thinks them better trained to the saddle than those of civilized countries. He thus describes the process of catching and taming the wild animals:— " When an Indian wishes to increase the number of his working horses, he mounts the fleetest he has, and, lasso in hand, rushes into the band of wild animals, throws it upon the neck of the chosen one, and chokes him down, and while in a state of insensibility ties the hind and fore feet firmly together. When consciousness returns, the animal NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 195 struggles violently, but in vain, to get loose. His fear is then acted upon by throwing bear-skins, wolf-skins, and blankets at his head, till he becomes quiet; he is then loosened from the cords, and rears and plunges furiously at the end of a long rope,, and receives another introduction to bear-skins, &c. After this he is approached and handled, and if still too wild, he is again beat with blankets and bear-skins as before, until he is docile. The captive is then initiated into the mysteries of the bridle and saddle, and, after the same mode practised in South America, frequently forced at full gallop " by the armed heel" until thoroughly " subdued." In this mode of horse-breaking the Indians are most admirably proficient, and by it they make of" the wild horse the most pleasant, docile, and fearless animal in existence. Of their speed and powers of endurance some estimate may be formed from the following story, related by Mr. Cox:— " In the spring of 1813, before the dissolution of the Pacific Fur Company, while I was stationed at Spokane House, with Mr. Clarke, he received a letter from Mr. Farnham, who had charge of the party sent to the Flatheads, stating that he had arrived at the Flathead -portage, a distance of seventy-two miles from Spokane House, where he should be obliged to remain a few days to recruit his horses; that his trading goods were exhausted, and that he was entirely out of tobacco; that a party of Flatheads were following them with a quantity of valuable skins; that his rival, Mr. McDonald, was also unsupplied with tobacco; that whichever of them got the first supply of that article would, by treating the Indians to a grand smoking match, succeed in getting the produce of 196 THE OREGON. their hunt, and that in order to attain their object it was absolutely necessary the tobacco required should be with him that night, lest the natives should go over in a body to Mr. McDonald, with whom they had been longer acquainted. 1 It was eleven o'clock in the forenoon when this letter reached us, and Mr. Clarke thought it impossible for any horse to go a distance of seventy- two miles during the remainder of the day ; at all events he knew thaf none of the Company's horses were fit for such a task, and was about giving up the idea as hopeless, when I offered to undertake it with a celebrated horse of his own, named I Le Bleu.' The case was important; a blow was necessary to be struck; and although he prized the liorse above all his chattels in the Indian country, he at once determined to sacrifice his private feelings to the interests of the Company. Two men were selected to accompany me, and orders were given to catch f Le Bleu.' He was a noble animal, between fifteen and sixteen hands high, seven years of age, admirably built, and derived his name from his colour, which was dappled white and sky-blue. He was also a prime racer, and had beaten all his competitors on the turf. Owing to the delay occasioned by catching the horses, we did not start till twelve o'clock. I remained in com? pany with the men the first two hours at a slight canter; after which I took the lead at a hand- gallop, and quickly lost sight of them. I followed an excellent and well-beaten pathway for upwards of sixty miles through the Pointed Heart plains, but late in the evening it brought me to a wood, through which it runs for a distance of ten miles, when it terminates at the portage." NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 197 " Shortly after entering the wood night overtook me, and I several times lost the pathway, which, owing to the darkness and a quantity of fallen trees and brushwood, became exceedingly intricate. The sagacity of my horse, however extricated me from these "egaremens," and a little after eight o'clock I emerged from the forest, and was delighted at the cheering appearance of a range oF fires along the banks of the river. Le Bleu, which had been for some time drooping, on seeing^ the light, knew his task was at an end, and galloped up in fine style to Mr. Farnham's tent, when he was immediately let loose to regale himself on the prairie. I had brought a few fathoms of thick twist tobacco with me, on hearing which the Indians crowded round us, and in a few seconds each man's head was enveloped in clouds of smoke* They promised that we should have all their skins; but in order to make assurance doubly sure, we requested them to bring their respective packages to the tent and deposit them therein until morning* This was at once complied with, after which smoking recommenced. About two hours after, two of our rivals came in with a quantity of tobacco ; they had started from Spokane House shortly after us, but were never able to overtake the gallant Bleu. They were much better acquainted with the intricacies of the pathway through the wood than I was, and if their horses had been equal to mine, it is very probable the result would have been different: they were much chagrined at our success, and on taxing the Indians with having- deserted them for strangers, they replied, that being the first to satisfy their hungry cravings after tobacco, they could do no more than give us the § i\ 198 THE OREGON. preference; but added that they would punctually pay them any debts which they had contracted with Mr. M'Donald, which promise they faithfully kept. About midnight the two men whom I had left behind me reached the encampment; they also were for some time lost in the wood, and, like myself, were obliged to depend on the sagacity of their horses to set them right. I We returned to Sopkane House by easy stages, but I did not ride the Bleu. In less than a week after he was perfectly recovered from the fatigue of his journey, and in the summer of the same year beat the fleetest horses of both Companies on the race-course." It should be remarked that the Indian horses are not shod, and owing to this circumstance the hoofs, particularly of such as are in constant work, are nearly worn away before they are ten or eleven years old; they are never taught to trot, but their pace is a canter or hand-gallop. The Indians ride them with hair-rope bridles and padded deer-skin saddles, which are not only severe, but cruel in their operation. Their average price may be stated at 21., and they unite in herds of sometimes three or four thousand. In the south their increase is so rapid, that in 1812 the Spaniards at San Francisco were obliged to kill thirty thousand to procure grass for the buffalo, the fat of which is a staple commodity. It is killed in immense numbers for the sake of its skin, and on the great prairies still more for food, where the skin and bones and inferior parts are left for the birds and the wolves. The rapidity with which the buffaloes are disappearing is remarked by all travellers in the western prairies; two circumstances combine NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 199 to their destruction;—the Indians every year making fresh lodges of their skins, and the business of the American trading posts being almost exclusively confined to them. The average annual number of skins traded is given by Mr. Fremont, as follows:—j Robes. American Fur Company . 70,000 Hudson's Bay Company . 10,000 Other Companies . . 10,000 90,000 But to this number must be added those killed without their skins being taken. The Camanchees, whose country abounds in buffalo, do not trade in skins, and the greatest number killed on the prairies is during the summer months, when their skins are valueless to traders, as it is only from November to March that they are fit for dressing: the skins of bulls are never taken or dressed. From these data some notion may be attained of the number killed annually. West of the Eocky Mountains, the buffalo is now only found to the south of the Great Pass; formerly the hunting- grounds extended over all the south and west head- waters of the Columbia as far as the Dalles. It is probable, however, that the period of their first crossing the mountain is not very remote, as in the region to the west the " great highways" made by them in passing from river to river or across the mountain ranges are never met with. The >Snake Indians attribute their crossing to the American trappers. To the south, on the Colorado and head-waters of Eio del Norte, they never extended any considerable distance. At the present time they are for the most part confined to a K 200 THE OREGON. very limited range along the east base of the Eocky Mountains, sometimes extending into the plains of the Platte and Arkansas, and along the eastern frontier of Mexico as far as Texas. Of the animal productions of Oregon the fur-bearing animals are at present of most importance, their skins forming the staple trade of the territory ; but many considerations combine to induce the conclusion that it will not long continue so : indeed the operations of the Company by which it is carried on impress this forcibly upon the mind ; for while in its conduct economy is the order of the day, and the receipts are said to be on the decrease, insomuch that the expense of procuring the fur is not much exceeded by the proceeds of its sale, the farming and grazing operations of its offspring, the Puget's Inlet Agricultural Society, are carried on with much spirit, and it has its agents not only in England, but in California and the Sandwich Islands. Latterly, however, the Company has reduced the expenses of collecting furs by supplying the trapping parties with food from the Company's farms. The present annual value of the furs exported from the Columbia has been very differently stated; it may, however, safely be reckoned as between forty and fifty thousand. This is, however, a large amount when the smallness of the means employed is considered. The number of the Company's forts has been already stated as about thirty. It has on the coast six vessels and a steamer, and its immediate servants and dependants do not probably exceed' fifteen hundred. But whatever be the state of this branch of trade at present, it cannot continue long in it. Every NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 201 new settler, every fresh location, reduces, if but a little, the number of fur-bearing animals; and though the marten tribe, frequenting principally the mountainous districts, especially New Caledonia, may continue to be, for some time, of importance in commerce, the beaver and all animals inhabiting the more fertile districts must soon become extinct. That this is the inevitable consequence of the occupation and cultivation, the constant occurrence of deserted beaver-dams and entire absence of the animal itself from the eastern shores of the continent, sufficiently prove, and it therefore becomes probable that at no distant period the fur- trade of the Oregon will be carried on in the smaller animals only. It is, however, obviously the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company to prevent this, and accordingly great care is taken not to exhaust any district by over hunting; so that, when the fur-bearing animals have become scarce in any particular locality, the post established there is temporarily relinquished; and so strictly is this policy adhered to, that Lieut. Wilkes exonerates even their migratory trapping parties in Lower Oregon and the borders of California, and round Fort Hall, from the blame which has usually attached to them of killing all fur-bearing animals without respect to age, although they cannot hope to retain those districts long in their own hands. One source from which skins may be obtained has been as yet comparatively untried. The coast swarms with amphibious animals of the seal kind, known by the vulgar names of sea-lion, sea-elephant, and sea-cow; but, above all, with the common seal: the traffic to be derived from these in k2 202 THE OREGON. skins, oil, &c, could not but be lucrative. To this may be added the whale-fishery, both the black and spermaceti whales being found in the North Pacific, and from wThich large supplies of oil and cetine may always be obtained. Great advantages would be derived by carrying on this trade from the shores of the Pacific: not only would the demoralizing effect of so long an absence from home, usually three years, to which the whale-fishers are now subject, be avoided, but also the expenses attending the outfit and maintenance of such large vessels as are necessary for the trade at present; for by building them on the spot, a great proportion of their first cost would be saved. About twenty whales are killed annually in the straits of Juan de Fuca. Vancouver, in the month of June, met with numbers in the Gulf of Georgia • and De Mofras places the new whaling-ground from the equator to the Aleutian Archipelago, parallel to the coast of North America. Lieut. Wilkes makes the parallels 30° south and north the principal grounds in the Pacific in direct lines from Asia to America; the coast of South America from lat. 5° S. to 40° N. off California; and the entire line of Japanese and Aleutian Islands; so that the harbours of the Oregon are most admirably situated with respect to the northern grounds, as New Zealand is to the southern. The causes which he assigns for the choice of these localities by the whale are important, as they go far to prove that these grounds will never be deserted. He thinks he has established as a fact, " that the course of the great currents of the ocean, sweeping with them the proper food of the NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 203 great cetaceous animals, determines not only the places to which they are in the habit of resorting, but the seasons at which they are to be found frequenting them." His theory, based upon observations made during his extended and circuitous exploring voyage, is this, that towards the western sides of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, streams of heated water, making their way from low to high latitudes, prevail. Those in the two northern oceans become easterly, setting towards the opposite continent, causing, beyond all question, the comparatively equable and elevated temperature that is found on their western coasts, and which so peculiarly distinguishes the climate of the British Islands. To keep up the equilibrium of the ocean, the body of water thus thrown from the equator towards the poles must, after being cooled and rendered more dense in higher latitudes, return towards the equator ; and the mode in which at first sight it might be expected to do this is b^ currents wholly submarine, but the influence of the returning water is felt on the surface also: the meeting of these currents form nuclei, by checking, modifying, and changing their rapidity and progress. By this method it would appear that the Creator has made provision for regulating the fluid mass of the ocean " in its endless gyrations, seeking to attain an equilibrium it never reaches," at the same time, and by the same course, distributing the excess of the tropical heats throughout the whole surface of the globe, and bringing towards the equator the icy masses which would otherwise accumulate in the frozen zones. But the favourite food of the sperm-whale is the gelatinous medusae; and experience proves that the temperature of water around KB 204 THE OREGON. the ice in the Arctic Seas makes them their favourite abode. Their powers of locomotion are feeble, and confined principally to rising and sinking at pleasure. If, therefore, currents exist, they will be carried by them from it; and in their passage through lower latitudes, will exert this power to continue in the low temperature of water which they prefer- In fact, the natural laws which govern the medusae and the denser water coincide. When this happens, the sperm-whale leaves the high latitudes, and follows in quest of food. Upon inquiry we find that the currents commence at the period when the moluscae are most numerous, and also that the nuclei of the currents correspond closely with the known whaling grounds. The time of the whales appearing in the North. Pacific, off Japan and California northward, is from May to November. Now the route indicated by this theory for whaling vessels from the United States is, in the beginning of summer, to take the route round Cape Horn, and taking the various " grounds " in their route, will spend the ensuing summer on the North Pacific ground above mentioned. Now, it is obvious that the plan to be adopted is to follow the current; therefore any accidental delay may be of serious consequence, and so it is often found. The advantage, therefore, of being on the spot, and subject to no delay, cannot be over estimated ; and when it is considered that out of the first eighteen months of the cruise two months are probably spent recruiting at Peru or Chili, and perhaps three at the Sandwich Islands, the expense so incurred must be a serious deduction from the profits, besides the benefits derivable to the masters and NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 20& owners from having a moral and trustworthy crew, one indeed which cannot be too highly estimated. The advantage to the sailors themselves, by depriving them of their chief incentive to immorality, and releasing the natives of the islands of the Pacific from their evil influence, and removing a great scandal from the profession of Christianity—considerations that combine to persuade that a whaling station on the western coast of America would be most Valuable, especially to the nation which may first establish it. Of this profitable trade the citizens of the United States possess at present all but a monopoly. Their whaling fleet consists of six hundred and seventy- five vessels, most of them of four hundred tons burden, and amounting in all to one hundred thousand tons. The majority of them cruize in the Pacific. . It requires betwreen fifteen thousand and sixteen thousand men to man them. Their value is estimated at twenty-five million dollars, yielding an annual return of five million, or twenty per cent. The quantity of oil imported is about four hundred thousand barrels, of which one-half is sperm. Eespecting the importance of this trade, Mr. Wilkes remarks—" The number of those on shore to whom this branch of business gives employment will readily be admitted to be twice as great as that of the crews." When we add to this profitable occupation for many persons, the value of the domestic products consumed by them, and the benefit that is thus conferred upon both our agricultural and manufacturing interests, the importance of this branch of business will appear greatly enhanced. 206 THE OREGON. By a large majority of persons it is believed that the whale fishery is a mere lottery, in which success is more owing to good luck than good management. Those, however, who entertain such an opinion are in error. There is perhaps no employment on the ocean where a sound judgment is more necessary, and no business whose success depends more on the experience, enterprise, and industry of the commander, than that of whaling. The whaling fleet of the United States has been stated as six hundred and seventy-five vessels. That of England and her colonies may be considered as not exceeding one hundred and fifty. The remarks of Mr. Alexander Simpson on the subject, with reference to the Sandwich Islands, are equally appropriate to the west coast of America. " The formation of a British colony in the very centre of the fishery, which would serve as a starting point for the cruising vessels, and whence the oil could be shipped to market soon after it has been taken, would secure for England a large share of this valuable branch of trade, and obviate many of its present evils. Thirteen whaling vessels (of whose fishings I have a record), which sailed from the port of Houolulu, in the spring of 1842, procured, during their summer cruize, four hundred and twenty-four tons of spermaceti, and eight hundred and fifty-five tons of black oil; these cruises averaged one hundred and sixty-five days, and the value of their fishings 4500/. per vessel." These thirteen include English and American, and are rather below than abdve the usual success. The evils to which he refers, and which have been already alluded to, are consequent on the distance of the ship's port from the fishing grounds, NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 207 and the time which on that account the vessels are absent, and perhaps not a little on the share which all hands take in the interest and profits of the voyage; giving it all the excitement, as well as the uncertainty of gambling, and in consequence personal skill is all that is required in the officers; and among them are many reckless characters, who, in the excitement of the voyage and dissipation of the time spent on shore, seek to dissipate the recollection of their former lives. Besides the whale fishery, that on the banks and coast is important. Cod, halibut, and herring are found in profusion, and sturgeon near the shore and mouths of rivers. Already the salmon fishery,, which, among the Indians, has been described, affords not only. a supply for home consumption, but is an article of commerce, being sent to the Sandwich Islands; they are also supplied to the Eussian settlements, according to contract. The land affords even now exports of cattle, wool, hides, and tallow, as well as salted meat, beef and pork, wheat, barley, and Indian corn, apples and timber. Of these, all are sent to the Sandwich Islands, some to California, and hides and wool have been sent to England. Those exports are principally in connection with the Puget's Inlet Agricultural Society, of whose farms some account has been given. This Company, originally formed of servants of the Hudson's Bay Company—its charter, and consequently its capital, being confined to trade with the Indians — nominally, it has a capital of 500,000/., but its available capital is only 200,000/. The Company has imported cattle from California, and live stock from England, and is laying the k. 3 208 THE OREGON. foundation of a profitable trade through the medium of the Hudson's Bay Company with the Eussians at Sitka, in supplying their settlements with flour, butter, cheese, &c.; as well as with the Sandwich Islands and California. The woods of Oregon present another fertile source of national wealth, not less important from the size than variety of the timber they contain. Pine of several kinds, cedar, spruce, oak, ash, birch, beech, maple, arbor vitse, and others. The hard wood is sufficient for ship-building, but the enormous pines of the western districts have excited universal admiration, although it must be confessed that the wood of the larger trees is of a coarser texture and much less durable than the comparatively smaller growth of the mountains. The growth of timber of all sorts in the neighbourhood of the harbours in the de Fuca Straits adds much to their value as a naval and commercial station, and there can be no doubt that the western coast will supply the islands of the Pacific with timber of all kinds, as the eastern does the Bermudas and West Indies, and no one acquainted with the value of that trade can doubt the advantages to be derived from this. But the necessity wrhich is gradually developing itself for steam-fleets in the Pacific will open a mine of wealth to the inhabitants of the west coast of America, in the rich measures of coal with which it abounds. It is found in the whole western district, but principally shews itself above the surface on the north part of Vancouver's Island. Mr. Dunn gives a curious account of its discovery,, at least by white men. It happened when he was trader and interpreter in the Beaver, theCompany's NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 209 steam trading vessel, under Mr. Finlayson, as chief factor. He says: " The cause of the discovery was as curious as the discovery itself was important. Some of the natives at Fort M'Loughlin having, on coming to the fort to traffic, observed coal burning in the furnace of the blacksmiths; and in their natural spirit of curiosity made several inquiries about it, they were told it was the best kind of fjiel, and that it was brought over the Great Salt Lake, six months' journey. They looked surprised, and in spite of their habitual gravity, laughed and capered about. The servants of the fort were surprised at their unusual antics, and inquired the cause. The Indians explained, saying that they had changed in a great measure their opinion of the white men, whom they thought endowed by the Great Spirit, with the power of effecting great and useful objects, as it is evident they were not then influenced by his wisdom in bringing fuel such a vast distance, and at so much cost. They then pointed out where it could be found of the richest quality close to the surface, rising in hillocks, and requiring very little labour to dig it out. This intelligence having been reported at Fort Vancouver, we received instructions to make the necessary inquiries and exploration. Mr. Finlayson, with a part of the crew, went on shore, and after some inquiries, and a small distribution of rewards, found from the natives that the original account given at Fort M'Loughlin was true. The coal turned out to be of excellent quality, running in extensive fields, and even in clumpy mounds, and most easily worked all along that part of the country. The natives were anxious that we should employ them to work the coal; to this we M 210 THE OREGON. consented, and agreed to give them a certain sum for each large box,—the natives being so numerous and labour so cheap, for us to attempt to work the coal would have been madness.". To these sources of commercial and national wealth must be added the minerals. These we have described as lying generally to the west of the Cascade Eange,—iron, lead, tin, and to the north, near the Eussian settlements, copper, but as the veins have never been worked, little can be said either as to quality or quantity. The mountains and sea coasts produce granite, slate, sandstone, and in the interior oolites. Limestone is plentiful, and to the north most easily worked, and very rich in colour. Add to this the salt mines which might be opened near the Snowy Mountains, and it may be said with truth that nothing can be wanting to civilized life which is not found in profusion in this favoured district. ( 2U ) CHAPTER XL CONCLUSION. Although it is not the intention to enter on the thorny paths of political controversy, yet, in accordance with the objects of this work, it may be expected that some notice should be taken of the geographical relations and consequent comparative value of the different parts of the Oregon territory in connection with the propositions that have been made for the settlement of the dispute by the parties concerned. It is much to be wished that such considerations entered more frequently into treaties respecting boundary lines, and that they were not so commonly formed according to mere temporary or extraneous interests; or, as if to save the trouble and thought such a course would require, and forgetful of the abiding character of the geographical, i. e., the natural features of a country, by running an arbitrary line across the map, severing, as is almost certain to be the case, interests most closely connected by nature, and reducing, if not entirely destroying, the value of perhaps otherwise important tracts of country. Such a line on the east of the Eocky Mountains now separates the sources of the northern tributaries of the Missouri from their mouths, and consequently from all connection with that river; while with still stranger perversity it cuts off not only the Moose Eiver from the main stream of the 212 THE OREGON. Assiniboin, but far the more considerable portion of the Eed Eiver from their united waters, which fall into Lake Winnipeg—an example forcibly illustrative of the absurdity of a system which it is desired to perpetuate in the west, and which, if carried out, would be followed by perhaps even greater inconveniences and inconsistencies. As an illustration of this, it may be observed that the value of water power, which is more frequently found on the head-waters of the tributaries of the larger rivers, is, especially if used for sawing, entirely dependent on the facility which the streams themselves afford for carrying the produce of the mills to market. This every one who has travelled in America must be fully aware of. In such cases, therefore, the cutting off the upper waters of a stream from the lower by a boundary line must neutralize any advantage to be derived from their possession ; and if, as is most probable, the floods which some years since did so much damage in the Eed Eiver district were caused by the overflowing of the Missouri into the Moose Eiver, it is easy to conceive that hereafter, on the occurrence of such a calamity, it might cause a collision of interests, one party desiring that the surplus waters should find an outlet in that direction, and the other naturally anxious that they should be kept in their proper channel. It may be concluded, from the description already given of the Oregon territory, that Sir George Simpson's opinion, as expressed in the account given by him in his letter to Sir Henry Pelly on the renewal of the Hudson's Bay Company's charter, respecting the state of the country at that time, and which has been printed by order of parliament CONCLUSION. 213 with the other papers relating to it, is substantially correct, vfe., that the only part of it north of the Columbia at present valuable for any purpose except the fur trade is between that river and Frazer's, including, of course, the lands surrounding Admiralty Inlet, Puget's Sound, &c. In this tract is contained all the land in the country fit for cultivation, the more northern parts of New Caledonia affording little else but mountain and flood, rock and water; and although they may hereafter support a hardy population similar to that of other highland districts, they offer no advantages to tempt the settler, and must ever be in a great measure dependent on the more favoured districts to the south, where we have seen fertile land of every description is not wanting, whether rich arable, as on the coast district, or abundant pasture on the plains, not to mention the tobacco to be found on the more elevated table-lands, the heavy growth of the forests, or the universality of edible roots. Already exporting-, as it does, a considerable quantity of the produce of the soil, its fertility is beyond doubt; and although there may be disputes as to its comparative amount—whether we, with Mr. Wilkes, esteem it more fertile by three times than the United States, or with others, consider it less so than Canada—there can be none as to its capabilities for supporting a large population in ease and comfort, with the enjoyment of every necessary, and not a few of the luxuries of life. It has been remarked, also, that the maritime advantages of the country are concentered in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet; and that Puget's Sound, from its contiguity to the Columbia by the Cowelitz, and to Gray's Bay by 214 THE OREGON. the Chikelis, as well as to the strait, must form the centre of the commercial as well as the agricultural energies of the west; and nothing so satisfactorily establishes this importance of the southern waters of the inland navigation as the inconvenience, to say the least, of the northern channels, blocked up, as we have seen them to be, by rocks and islands, and impeded by the rapidity of the tides. The situation of Ports Discovery and Hudson, in the angle between the Strait and Admiralty Inlet, over which they have consequently the entire command, should also be remembered. The value of these ports as a naval station has already been stated ; but it may be remarked, that though Mr. Wilkes fully confirms Vancouver's opinion of Port Discovery, he is all but silent respecting Port Hudson, which our great navigator preferred before it. This silence may be significant, for he not only corroborates Vancouver's expressions generally, but asserts particularly that he ventures nothing in saying that no other country" possesses such waters: and it should be observed that the only remark he makes is, that on the table-land opposite the entrance, and consequently between Ports Discovery and Hudson, is an admirable site for a town : but observing, with respect to Port Discovery, that Protection Island is so situated as to make good its appellation, having the entire command of both entrances to it. It follows, therefore, that the cession of the country south of Frazer's river would include that which contains within itself both the commercial and agricultural importance of the territory; and it remains to be inquired how far these considerations have formed an element of the calculations which CONCLUSION. 215 have resulted in the offers made by the contending parties for the settlement of their dispute; and although this is presented naturally to the mind as connected immediately with the objects of the present work, its importance as a general consideration should not be overlooked: for, as abstract right appears to have been abandoned as a means of deciding the question, how can it be settled except on a basis of reciprocal advantage ? The truth, therefore, which is now involved is, not one of right or title, but of commercial necessity and national interest. It may be remarked, however, that the claims of the two countries are distinct,' both in quality and extent; for while the United States now claim the entire territory, Great Britain has never (though professing a belief in her just title to the whole) made any endeavour to obtain more than a part. The difficulty is to apportion it. All the former offers of the diplomatists who have at various times attempted a settlement of this question, resolve themselves into those which were last made by Messrs. Gallatin and Canning, and to them the moderate men in both countries seem desirous to recur, and of them alone therefore will it be necessary to take any notice, more especially as the entire political aspect of the question, wrhether of right by discovery, treaty, international law, or custom, has been so ably argued by Messrs. Falconer and Wallace, and now also by Dr. Twiss, that the moderation, to say no more, of the British Government in its demands, no less than its desire - to preserve peace, and permit every reasonable advantage to the United States (even at much sacrifice), must be most evident to all. 216 THE OREGON. The original offer of Great Britain was to carry the boundary along the 49th parallel of latitude, which separates the territories of the two nations from the Lakes to the Eocky Mountains, until it should strike the waters of MacGillivray's river, and then follow the course of that river and the Columbia to the sea, retaining the freedom of navigating the Columbia; and as by this arrangement it was considered that the United States would have no harbour on the coast—that at the mouth of the Columbia being, as has been shewn, of very little value—a detached territory, from Bullfinches' Harbour to Hood's Canal, of course including Ports Discovery and Hudson, was subsequently added. On the part of the United States it was proposed that parallel forty-nine should be the boundary across Vancouver's Island to the Pacific, and that the navigation of the Columbia should be common to both nations ; but, in order to give Great Britain a harbour in the Strait of Fuca, the south part of Vancouver's Island, which that line would have cut off, was offered to her in addition ; but, subsequently, the navigation of the Columbia was reserved to the United States. These offers respectively Great Britain could not, and the United States would not, accept. The reasons will be apparent, on a geographical consideration of their several tendencies. It will be seen, by reference to the map, that by her own offer Great Britain would deprive her subjects of the posts and farms occupied by them south of MacGillivray's and the Columbia rivers, viz. Forts George, Umqua, Hall, Boisee, Nezperces, Colville, Kootonais, Spokane, and Flathead, all of which are of considerable relative importance. CONCLUSION. 217 The land under cultivation at Fort Colville, which supplies all the northern posts ; the farms at Wap- patoo Island ; the Wallamette and Fallatry plains, the value and extent of which have already been described; and, in addition to those already in occupation, the fertile vallies of the Flathead and Spokane Eivers and Lakes, as well as the plains between the main fork of the Columbia,—concessions which might be thought sufficient, when it is considered that she never hesitated to allow to the United States the possession of the southern— the richest part—the so-called Garden of Oregon, viz., the fertile valleys of the Wallamette, Umqua, and Clamet, resigning, as she would thus do, of her own accord, by far the greater part of the cultivate- able land in the country; but when to this is added the detached territory which she subsequently offered, it may well excite surprise that any government should be willing to add to the loss of the agricultural that of the commercial advantages which its possession would afford. A glance at the position, and remembrance of the opinions expressed respecting Ports Discovery and Hudson by Vancouver, and confirmed by others, will afford sufficient proof that they are the keys of the inland navigation, commanding not only the entrance to Hood's Canal, but of Admiralty Inlet, and consequently Puget's Sound, and neutralizing any advantages to be derived from its possession; and that it was not without some, if not sufficient knowledge of this, that the offer was made, is evident from the expressions used by her Commissioners, Messrs. Huskisson and Addington, in their statement. " Great Britain, on her part, offers to make the 218 THE OREGON. river the boundary, each country retaining thm bank of the river contiguous to its own territories, and the navigation of it remaining for ever free and open, upon a footing of perfect equality to both nations." " To carry into effect this proposal, on one part Great Britain would have to give up ports and settlements south of the Columbia. On the part of the United States there could be no reciprocal withdrawing from actual occupation, as there is not, and never has been, a single American citizen settled north of the Columbia (this was in a.d. 1826). The United States decline to accede to this proposal, even when Great Britain has added to it the further offer of a most excellent harbour and an extensive tract of country on the Straits of Juan de Fuca—a sacrifice tendered in the spirit of accommodation, and for the sake of a final adjustment of all differences; but wrhich, having been made in this spirit, is not to be considered as in any degree recognising a claim on the part of the United States, or as at all impairing the existing right of Great Britain over the port and territory in question." Such being the losses which would have been consequent on the acceptance of the British offer, those which wrould have been added to them by adopting the proposal of the United States are sufficiently evident. Let the expression used by Sir George Simpson be borne in mind, that all the cultivateable land lies south of Frazer's Eiver, and then let the eye be carried along the forty-ninth parallel, and it will be seen how much of it would be left to Great Britain. Fort Okanagan, with its little fertile district of alluvial soil, would be CONCLUSION. 219 added to the list, and the only harbour retained on the continental shore would be the mouth of Frazer's Eiver, in itself of no importance (the river being, as has been observed, too rapid and too much obstructed for navigation), and that accessible only by the narrow and difficult, if not dangerous, northern entrance to the Gulf of Georgia, while not only would the Columbia Eiver be under the control of the Americans, from Fort Okanagan, which commands the northern branches, to the sea, but the entire harbours of the south of Juan de Fuca Strait. Ports Hudson and Discovery, Possession Sound, Port Orchard, Puget's Sound, as well as Hood's Canal and Bullfinches' Harbour, would, with the fertile plains adjoining them, be in their hands, and the British and their Canadian brethren be virtually excluded from all connection with the Pacific south of latitude fifty-two. Of what value the intermediate countrv would be to her, ex- cept as a sufficient separation from such neigh-, bours, it would be difficult to say. It is not surprising, therefore, that the monopoly thus claimed by the United States over the entire valuable part of the Oregon territory should have put an end for the present to all negotiations concerning it, though it may well excite our admiration that this country and her ministers should, after such moderation, have been insulted by expressions and insinuations with which American publications on the subject so much abound, and of which the following is a very moderate example:— " The consideration of the maritime advantages of the southern coast of the Strait of Fuca and Puget's Sound suggests a pretty forcible view of the remarkable liberality of Great Britain's offer 220 THE OREGON. of the Columbia as a line of compromise. This, while it secures to her every navigable harbour, does not leave us one." With reference to the country east of the main fork of the river, it may be remarked, that on the plains of this district it is that the horse more particularly abounds; and that, with respect to the abandonment of them, and especially of the Flathead country, a question of morality as well as of interest is involved. We have seen that the Indians inhabiting it are of a far more civilized character, *or, at least, far more capable of civilization, than those of the coast or northern districts; and that under the influence of American missionaries they are improving in social condition, if in nothing else: nevertheless: they are yet in a great measure dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company for many necessaries of life, and still consider them the rulers of the country, if not its lawful possessors; they therefore trust to them and in them to Great Britain (perhaps not unmindful of the conduct of the United States to their brethren on the east of the Eocky Mountains) for protection and support; they have prospered under our rule, and seem to afford a prospect of being exceptions to the general rule of their race, and likely to preserve their identity, even under the supremacy of the white man. How then shall we leave them to the uncertain fate attendant on the cession of their country to the United States, the probable chances of a war of extermination, and the certainty that individual settlers, seeking each his own livelihood from agriculture, can ever be to them, in the day of adversity, what the Hudson's Bay Company has CONCLUSION. 221 been, relieving their wants and supplying their necessities when a return was impossible. Nor should the enmity be forgotten, which, lurking in their bosoms against the American free trappers, breaks out when opportunity offers, as we have seen Fremont witnessing, and which has so essentially contributed to render any attempt to establish trading ports in the Oregon by them always abortive; nor the probability that in despair they might unite with the Blackfeet and other border tribes in a war of retaliation and revenge, in which the inhabitants of our own frontiers might in the end be considerable sufferers. But on higher considerations, surely if St. Paul was debtor not to the Jews only, but to the barbarians, how much more are we debtors to those who have so long considered themselves the allies, if not the subjects, of Great Britain. It is not then impossible that had these things been taken fairly into consideration no such offer as that alluded to would have been made by the British Government; but in addition to these particulars there are some general geographical considerations which militate strongly against it. It has been shewn that north of Broughton's Archipelago, perhaps from Mount Stephen, a confused mountain chain runs north-west to the southern points of the Babine and Peak Eanges, separating Frazer's Eiver and its tributaries, as they do the Unijah or Peace Eiver, its tributaries, and the head waters of the Mackenzie Eiver, from the rivers falling into the Pacific, thus dividing the country through which they flow from the Oregon territory, properly so called, excepting at the Table Lands, in which all these rivers have /! 222 THE OREGON. their sources, and affording no access to the sea between the parallels 494° and 51^°, so that it must be a considerable period before any intimate connexion can exist between settlers in these districts ; and it may well become a question whether there is any probability of their being inhabited, if disconnected by any circumstance from the more fertile districts of the south, and the supplies which may so easily be conveyed to them from thence by sea. It is remarkable, also, that on the south, as has been observed, the Great Salt plains between the Snowy Mountain ranges confine the culti- vateable part of California to the comparatively narrow strip between their western range and the Pacific, so that it is cut off from all connexion with the east, except by the valley of the Colorado, while it is most intimately connected with Southern Oregon by that of the Sacramento. Its excellent harbours, especially San Francisco, seem to offer a more fitting outlet for its produce than those to the north. This the Americans perceiving, are not remiss in their endeavours to annex that country as they have already done the Texas; and if political speculations could here be indulged in, it would not be difficult to show that an arrangement which reserved the ports north of the Columbia to Great Britain, giving those of California to the United States, would be most advantageous to both parties, and might probably be effected without trouble or opposition from Mexico, whose hold on that province has long since been relaxed. This would, however, be out of place here; but the intimate connection of the future destinies of the Oregon and California may excuse the remark that the value of San Francisco as a naval station CONCLUSION. 223 has probably been very much overrated: indeed, if Vancouver may be credited—and his opinion should be sufficient authority—it would seem that the united harbours of Port Discovery and Hudson have some considerable advantages over it; its very size, some thirty miles long by ten in its widest and four in its narrowest part, renders it inconvenient, especially as its enormous area of some two hundred square miles is two-thirds of it unavailable, being choked with sand and mud, reducing it to about seventy miles, extended over its whole length; while from the same cause, no less than the marshy character of its shores, they are in many places unapproachable, and the deep-water channel consequently much exposed; and for all these reasons it must prove difficult of defence,—a difficulty much enhanced by the necessarily isolated position of the settlements around it: it moreover is connected with nothing except the Oregon, and* the valleys watered by the rivers flowing into it, of which the Sacramento has a course of not more than three hundred miles, and the others of much less; the anticipated produce of gold-mines and pearl-fisheries are not now to be considered, because, according to the old proverb, a mine of gold has never equalled in value one of copper, and the latter are, from their very nature, most uncertain ; but the harbours at the angle of the Strait of De Fuca not only form the key of that extensive inland navigation, but connect it with the Columbia and Frazer's Eiver, the latter of which has a longer course than the Sacramento, if it does not water so valuable a country ; while with respect to the Columbia, its comparative importance cannot be i 224 THE OREGON. doubted; and, in addition, presenting an available area of fifty miles, lying close and compact in two channels, affording perfect security for vessels, and without rock or shoal, besides the extensive facilities and advantages offered by the various harbours of Admiralty Inlet, without mentioning those on the opposite shore of Vancouver's Island, one of which at least, viz., that on which the Hudson's Bay Company have established their Fort Victoria, is of a very high character. It is worthy also of remark, that if San Francisco were in the hands of the British, as some desire it should be, it would be totally isolated, and destitute in itself of any means of defence except at its entrance, and must, therefore, cause great expense in protecting it artificially; but possessed by the Americans, and resting to the right on their part of the Oregon, it could be supported on the left by the Valley of the -Colorado, which, by the Gulf of California, would connect the Texas with the Pacific; while the facilities of defence at Ports Discovery and Hudson have been the theme of universal praise, and if surrounded by a British territory, must render them impregnable. These considerations force themselves upon us after a survey of the position and natural features of the country. It may be asked, If so, what do we ? Already the American settlers number their thousands, while the servants of the Hudson's Bay Companyr are principally Indians and half-breeds. We have at home a superabundant population, subject to a very rapid increase on any reduction of the price, if but of the necessaries of life: how can it be better employed than in seeking with its CONCLUSION. 225 own advance in social position and means of acquiring its comforts, if not its luxuries, the spread of our free institutions, equal laws, and holy religion ? We desire an enlarged sphere for commercial enterprize, new markets for our manufactures: these every fresh colony supplies in its measure. If then the Oregon be what it appears to be—if its climate, soil, agricultural and commercial capabilities be as represented-1—why leave its future destiny to time and circumstances ? Where, it may well be asked again, is the enterprizing spirit of our Ealeighs and Grenvilles ?—where the feeling of responsibility which prompted the disinterested Bray ? To stimulate us to follow the former if not the latter example, let us hear what Mr. Wilkes says on this matter, and draw our own conclusions:— " It is very probable that this country will become united with Oregon, with which it will perhaps form a state that is destined to control the destinies of the Pacific. This future state is admirably situated to become a powerful maritime nation, with twro of the finest ports in the world, that within the Straits of Juan de Fuca and San Francisco. These two regions have, in fact, within themselves everything to make them increase and keep up an intercourse with the whole of Polynesia, as well as the countries of South America on the one side, and China, the Philippines, New Holland, and New Zealand on the other. Among the latter, before many years, may be included Japan. Such various climates will furnish the materials for a beneficial interchange of products, and an intercourse that must in time become immense; while 226 CONCLUSION. this western coast, enjoying a climate in many respects superior to any other in the Pacific, possessed as it must be by the Anglo-Norman race, and having none to enter into rivalry with it but the indolent inhabitants of warm climates, is evidently destined to fill a large space in the world's future history." THE END. SUPPLEMENT. BRITISH COLUMBIA. The political question of the boundary between the British possessions in America and those of the United States, was amicably settled in 1846, between the Government of Sir Eobert Peel and that of President Polk, by the British yielding their right to the Oregon, and accepting the boundary of the 49th parallel, which, pursuing the boundary line by convention of 1818, towards the west, makes its debouche on the coast a few miles north of Birch Bay, in the a:ulf of Georgia. Thus the British gave up the whole of the most valuable, because most fertile, possessions ; besides those posts and farms mentioned above (p. 216), Forts Okonagan, Vancouver, Wallawalla and Nisqually, must be added to the list ; the fertile districts of Clalans, Nisqually, Chickelees, Admiralty Inlet, Hood's Canal, Paget's Sound, and the Islands in the neighbourhood. The right of navigating the Columbia from its mouth, belongs to Great Britain. The district, thus newly apportioned, by Great Britain is now called British Columbia. To have pursued 49° beyond the main- 22i o SUPPLEMENT. land, would have cut off a considerable portion of the island of Vancouver. This would have led to endless difficulties, on account of the division of occupation Vhich would thus take place. It was therefore conceded, that the boundary line, after arriving at the coast should be continued, says the treaty, " To the middle of the Channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, thence southerly, through the middle of the said Channel, and of Fuca's Straits to the ocean." Out of this clause in the treaty a difficulty has now, in 1859, arisen, in this way :—In the middle of the channel, divided from Vancouver's Island by the small straits, called Haro's Sound, is the island of San Juan. This has, since 1846, been considered British property, not only on account of its being nearer to the larger island than it is to the Continent; but also because of its position, as commanding the whole trade with Vancouver and with Frazer Eiver, and the gold regions about Fort Langley. The treaty was intended to secure to the British the trade of their North American possessions. The occupation by any foreign power of this little island, would jeopardize it immediately ; and for this reason also, it has been considered British property hitherto, both by Americans and English. Had the Haro Straits, or the strait of Eosario, which runs between San Juan and the mainland, been specified in the treaty, the difficulty would never have occurred. In the month of June, 1859, however, the island was forcibly taken possession of by the BRITISH COLUMBIA. 229 Americans under General Harney. The General visited Victoria, Vancouver's Island, where he was received with the usual honours ; after which, without the slightest intimation of his intention, he proceeded to the island, and asserting the sovereignty of the United States, claimed it as a part of the Washington territory. This was bringing matters to a crisis. Mr. Douglas, governor of Vancouver's Island, who is also the chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, acted with great prudence and moderation on the occasion. In his message to the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of Vancouver's Island, he says, " Having received no information from any quarter, that the United States ever contemplated taking possession of any part of the disputed territory while the boundary line remained unsettled; I am forced to believe that the late unwarrantable and discourteous act, so contrary to the usages of civilized nations, has originated in error, and been undertaken without the authority of that government;" and he wisely enjoins the duty of leaving the question for settlement by the governments of Great Britain and the States ; in the mean time, avoiding every course which might unnecessarily involve the suspension of amicable relations. It is to be hoped that this question will be speedily and for ever set at rest. Of the goodness of the British claim there seems very little doubt. The island, except on account of the position, and for the reasons before mentioned, would not be worth any serious consideration. It would be far better to gjve up the disputed 230 SUPPLEMENT. territory to the rapacity of our American brethren, than risk a war on such a slight pretext. The justifiable fear entertained by many, that the more accommodative and yielding the British are, the more aggressive the Americans would become,need not be entertained; for the boundary being once fairly decided, as no doubt it will be in the present juncture, further attempts would meet with a steady and determined resistance. Should San Juan be sacrificed, the result will be a more perfect plan of fortifications for Vancouver's Island at the point opposite, and a protecting force when necessary for the mouth of the Frazer Eiver. After the boundary of 1846 was settled, the British Government granted Vancouver's Island to the Hudson's Bay Company, viz., in 1849. This grant was determinable at the expiration of eleven years, and it w7ill then be concluded. The governor, Mr, Douglas, is appointed by the Crown. The Legislative Council consists of seven members: they are authorized to call a meeting of representatives, called the House of Assembly, and somewhat answering to our House of Comm ons. The electoral districts are formed by the Legislative Council. Not many months ago the whole settlement consisted of a fort, within which the governor and his principal officers resided ; about 60 log huts, and a few farms in their vicinity. The west coast (that bounded by the Pacific) is less inviting than the north-east, bounded by the gulf of Georgia, and little is at present known of the interior, except that the district between the Blue and Eocky mountains BRITISH COLUMBIA. 231 is partly desert. Coal formations have been discovered running the whole length of the island, along the north-east, as well as on the mainland from Fort Langley to Desolation Sound. Mr. Blake, of the United States, a geologist of considerable experience, who devoted the summer months of 1858 to an exploratory tour in Western America, states, that one of the most interesting results of his researches, is the determination by fossils, of the existence of the veritable coal measures in the west slope of the first range of the Great Eocky Mountain chain. Hitherto there has been much doubt respecting the age of the coal beds in these mountains. Mr. Blake's observations tend to prove that true coal occurs there. The fossils are identical specifically with those of the Missouri coal measures. The coal fields are thus shewn to extend 1090 miles west of the Mississippi, and to crop out at an altitude of from 6000 to 7000 feet above the sea. Colonel Colquhoun Grant, a member of the Geographical Society of London, gives an interesting account of the natives of Vancouver's Island. He says—I Whatever difference there may be in the languages of the various tribes of Vancouver's Island, and however great their hostility one towards another, in one characteristic they almost universally agree, and that is in the general filthiness of their habits. No pigsty^ could present a more filthy aspect than that afforded by the exterior of an Indian village. They are always situated close to the water-side, either on a harbour or some sheltered nook of /I 232 SUPPLEMENT. the sea-coast, or, as in the case of the Cowit- chins, on the banks of a river. They are generally placed on a high bank, so as to be difficult of access to an attacking party; and their position is not unfrequently chosen, whether by chance or from taste, in the most picturesque sites. A few round holes, or sometimes low oblong holes or apertures in the palisades, generally not above three feet high, constitute their means of egress and ingress. They seldom move about much on terra firma, but, after creeping out of their holes, at once launch their canoes and embark therein. A pile of cockle-shells, oyster-shells, fishbones, pieces of putrid meat, old mats, pieces of rags, and dirt and filth of every description, the accumulation of generations, is seen in the front of every village ; half-starved curs, cowardly and snappish, prowl about, occasionally howling ; and the savage himself, notwithstanding his constant exposure to the weather, is but a moving mass covered with vermin of every description. Generally speaking, when not engaged in fishing, they pass the greater portion of their time in a sort of torpid state, lying inside beside their fires. The only people to be seen outside, are a few old women, cleaning their wool or making baskets. Sometimes a group of determined gamblers is visible, rattling their sticks ; and occasionally some industrious old fellow mending his canoe, all the canoes being invariably hauled up on the beach in front of the village. The firing of a shot, or any unusual sound, will bring the whole crew out to gaze at you. They first wrap their blankets round them, and then sit down on their \ BRITISH COLUMBIA. 23; truncus in a position peculiar to themselves-— they are doubled up into the smallest possible compass, with their chin resting on their knees, and they look precisely like so many frogs, crouched on the dunghill aforesaid." As to the last geographical discoveries made since this work was first published, the most interesting as well as most authentic account is that given by Mr. Palliser, the details of whose expedition have been communicated to the Eoyal Geographical Society. Sir Eoderick Murchison, in his address at the Anniversary Meeting of this Society in 1857, pointed out a region including at least 112,000 square miles, extending from the Head Waters of the Assiniboine Eiver to the foot of the Eocky Mountains, and from the northern branch of the Saskatchewan to the 49th parallel, which had remained completely unexplored. " It was the intention of Mr. Palliser, one of those Nimrods which Great Britain sends occasionally out to those regions, and whose bear- shooting exploits are well known, to proceed at his own expense, in order to explore this region. He therefore made application to the Eoyal Geographical Society for advice and information as to what was desirable to be known—the result of which was, that the Council strongly recommended Her Majesty's Government to aid the undertaking. The consequence of this application was, a grant of 5000/., so as to enable Mr. Palliser to be accompanied by Lieut. Blakiston, of the Eoyal Artillery, on the recommendation of the President of the Eoyal Society, to conduct i 234' SUPPLEMENT. thq astronomical and physical observations—Mr. Bourgeau, an experienced botanist — and Dr. Hector, who, besides a knowledge of his profession, has that of geology and zoology. Mr. Palliser was the leader of the expedition, from his previous success in dealing with the Indians ; and the chief objects of the exploration were set down as follows :— | I First. | To survey the water parting between the basins of the Missouri and Saskatchewan; also the course of the south branch of the Saskatchewan and its tributaries. I | Secondly. To explore the Eocky Mountains, for the purpose of ascertaining the most southerly pass across to the Pacific within the British territory. | Thirdly, j To report on the natural features and general capabilities of the country, and to construct a map of the routes.' " The expedition was delayed some time in consequence of the illness of Mr. Palliser—but at length he sailed on the 9th of May, with his companions, and, after arriving at New York, proceeded to Lake Superior, which on the 11th of June they found covered with masses of floating ice, which would have jammed their frail canoes, but they engaged to be taken in a steamer, through the ice floating about, to about four hours' distance from the Isle Eoyale, and arrived at Fort William. The following day, the 13th of June, they recommenced their journey in canoes, and then went up the White Fish Eiver, where they found the scenery magnificent, but very difficult navigation, and the labour severe; the rain fell in: BRITISH COLUMBIA. 235 Corrents: and on the second day a tree fell upon the canoe of Mr. Palliser, and he escaped by j umping out, and they encamped during the night in rain. I They then sent the two boats down the river with one of the Indians to the main camp at the mouth of the White Fish Eiver, to go round to the Falls of the Kakabaka, while Mr. Palliser and Dr. Hector, accompanied by two Indian lads, started to make their way across the forests by compass course for the Falls, which journey was accomplished without material difficulty—the swollen rivers being crossed by cutting down trees and stepping along them. They arrived at the Falls guided by the loud roar of the water, and pushing through the wood, climbed on a high ledge, from which they saw them to the greatest advantage. The height was measured very accurately, which proved to be 171 feet 9 inches; and these falls, although not so extensive as those of Niagara, are according to Mr. Palliser's correspondence, much wilder and a great deal higher. He thinks them far finer than those of the American side of Niagara, which have too much the appearance of an overgrown milldam. On this tableland they were surprised to find two glaciers of hard snow on the 18th of June. The camp was very picturesque, surrounded by torrents and mountains, and in the midst of evergreens. " They then began their arduous canoe route, rising at three in the morning, paddling till eight, then camping for breakfast, going on till one, then camping for dinner, and at the paddle again from three eight in the evening- -the navigation ■:;■ r 236 SUPPLEMENT. being often prevented by severe portages, where everything must be carried, canoe and all, which is done by two men at a time, relieved every eight or ten minutes, and this sometimes for a space of three or four miles. Mr. Palliser was shewn one place where a man fell with the bow end of the canoe on%is shoulder, and his head was completely severed from his body. Thunderstorms were also severe; one on the 17th of July struck an Indian tent close to their camp, and killed a man, three women, and a cat—one body being fearfully burned, actually charred, but the others not externally injured. Nor is human life entirely safe from the Indians—two instances of men with French Canadian names having been given, who had been shot by the Sioux Indians. The Eed Eiver settlement is pronounced to be a curious example of the impossibility of assisting people who will do nothing for themselves. The people, who are of Indian origin, are starving in a fertile country from sheer indolence. From the Eed Eiver they went to Pembina with difficulty by horses used to running buffaloes, but not to draught. At Pembina, which is a wretched place on the frontier, Mr. Palliser found an American post-office. A wooden post driven into the ground marked the frontier, and was found to be correct in latitude by the expedition. The further route was to be to the Saskatchewan Eiver, previous to wintering at Carlton House fort. The summer of 1858 is to be employed in traversing the country of the Blackfeet and Blood Indians, between the northern and southern Saskatchewan, and in tracing the southern branches up to its sources, in BRITISH COLUMBIA. 237 order to get a knowledge of the practicable passes in the Eocky Mountains, with a view to access to the Pacific, independent of what is within the American frontier or inconveniently to the north on our own territory. The time must come when the coast opposite Vancouver's Island will be connected with Canada overland. A thorough knowledge of the facilities or difficulties offered by the Eocky Mountains is, therefore, one of the greatest desiderata of North American physical geography." THE END* London: Printed by Hodson and Son, 22, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn* PUBLISHED BY H0DS0N" AND SON 22, PORTUGAL STREET, W.O. 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Alternative title from cover page. Edition: Second edition, with supplement. Other Copies: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/68005860
Books
II-0403-i
English
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
London : Hodson and Son
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Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. F880 .N64 1860
Oregon--Description and travel
West (U.S.)--Description and travel
British Columbia--Description and travel
The Oregon Territory : a geographical and physical account of that country and its inhabitants, with outlines of its history and discovery
Text