First discovery of the river.—Natives friendly.—British ship.—Brig Jennet.—Snow Sea Otter.—The Globe.—Alert.—Guatimozin.—Atahualpa.—Lewis and Clarke.—Vancouver.—Hamilton.—Derby.—Pearl.—Albatross.—First house built in 1810.—Astor’s settlement.—The Tonquin.—Astor’s Company betrayed to the Northwest Company.

In all countries it is difficult to trace the history of their early discovery and settlement. That of Oregon is no exception. The Spanish claim, and it is generally conceded, that they were the discoverers of the coast, and gave names to the principal capes and to Fuca’s Straits. No evidence can be found in national archives, or among the native tribes of the country, that gives the discovery of the Columbia River to any civilized people but to the Bostons (Americans); so that, so far as civil history or national testimony is concerned, we are without any, except the conjectures of men as ignorant as ourselves. Hence we are left to the alternative of searching the old logs of vessels and such old books as have been written, and, in connection with the legends and statements of the aborigines of the country, form an opinion as to its discovery, and from such dates and conclusions commence its civil history. That of Oregon begins eight years previous to the commencement of the present century.

A ship, owned by Messrs. Barrell, Bulfinch & Co., of Boston, and commanded by Captain Robert Gray, discovered and entered the mouth of the third great river upon the American continent. It then had no name known to the civilized world. This unselfish American, instead of following the example of many contemporary British navigators by giving his own name to the majestic river he had discovered, gave it that of his noble ship, Columbia.

On the 7th of May, 1792, he discovered and ran in abreast of Cape Hancock, and anchored, and on the 11th ran ten miles up this river on the north side, which is now known as a little above Chinook Point, and at 1 P. M. they came to anchor. On the 14th they weighed anchor and ran, according to the ship’s log, fifteen miles, which would bring them up abreast of Tongue Point, where their ship grounded upon a sand bar for a short time, but they backed her off into three fathoms of water and anchored. By sounding they discovered that there was not sufficient water to pass up the river in their present channel. Having filled all their water-casks, repaired, painted, and calked the ship, and allowed the vast numbers of Indians that thronged around them in the most peaceable and friendly manner, to visit and traffic with them, on the 20th of May, 1792, they went to sea again.

On the 20th of October of this year, the Chatham, commanded by Captain Broughton, of the British navy, entered the river. He grounded his ship on what is now called the Sulphur Spit, and found in the bay the brig Jennet, Captain Baker, from Bristol, Rhode Island. Captain Broughton explored the river in his small boat as high up as the present site of Vancouver, and left the river with his ship on the 10th of November.

In 1797, five years later, the snow Sea Otter, Captain Hill, from Boston, visited the river.

In 1798, the ship Hazard, Swift, master, owned by Perkins, Lamb & Co., Boston, visited the river. This same ship visited the river again in 1801.

In 1802, this same Boston company sent the ship Globe, Magee, master, to the river.

During the year 1802, a brisk, and something like a permanent American trade appears to have been in contemplation by this Boston company. They sent the ship Caroline, Derby, master, from Boston, and the ship Manchester, Brice, master, from Philadelphia.

In 1803, Lamb & Company sent the ship Alert, Ebbets, master; also the ship Vancouver, Brown, master. This year, the ship Juno, Kendricks, master, from Bristol, Rhode Island, owned by De Wolf, entered the Columbia River for trade.

In the year 1804, Theodore Lyman sent the ship Guatimozin, Bumsted, master, from Boston. The Perkins Company sent the ship Hazard, Swift, master, to the river the same year.

In 1805, Lyman & Company sent the ship Atahualpa, O. Potter, master, from Boston. Lamb & Company sent the ship Caroline, Sturges, master, from the same place.

On the 15th of November, 1805, Lewis and Clarke, with their party, having crossed the Rocky Mountains under the direction of President Jefferson, of the United States, arrived at Cape Hancock; remaining but a few days, they crossed the Columbia River and encamped near the mouth of a small river still bearing the name of these two explorers. They left their encampment in March, 1806, and returned across the continent and reported the result of their expedition to the government.

This expedition consisted of one hundred and eighty soldiers or enlisted men. On arriving at the Mandan Village, on the Missouri River, in 1804, they encountered the influence of the Northwest British Fur Company, who, on learning their object, at once made arrangements to follow and get possession of the country at the mouth of the Columbia River.

In 1806, soon after Lewis and Clarke left their encampment on their return to the United States, the ship Vancouver, Brown, master, entered the river, having been sent out by Thomas Lyman, of Boston, in expectation of meeting Lewis and Clarke’s party at the mouth of the river. The Lamb Company sent the ship Pearl the same year, under the command of Captain Ebbets. Lyman, in addition to the Vancouver, sent the brig Lydia, Hill, master, to the river, making three American ships from Boston in the year 1806.

In 1807, the ship Hamilton arrived in the river, sent by Thomas Lyman, of Boston, L. Peters, master. The Perkins Company sent the Hazard, Smith, master.

In 1808, the ship Derby, Swift, master, sent by the Perkins Company. Lyman sent the ship Guatimozin, Glanville, master; both made successful trips in and out of the river.

In 1809, the Perkins Company sent the ships Pearl and Vancouver into the river, the former commanded by Smith, the latter by Whittimore.

In 1810, the ship Albatross, from Boston, T. Winship, master, entered the river and sailed as high up as Oak Point, where the captain erected a house, cleared a piece of land for cultivation, and planted a garden. This year, John Jacob Astor, of New York, organized the Pacific Fur Company, in connection with Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey. These two gentlemen admitted as partners in the fur trade, Messrs. McKay, McDougal, and David and Robert Stewart. These four last-mentioned partners, with eleven clerks and thirteen Canadian voyageurs, and a complete outfit for a fort, with cannon and small-arms, stores, shops, and houses, with five mechanics, were all embarked on the ship Tonquin, Captain Jonathan Thorn, master, in September, 1810, and sailed for the Columbia River, where they arrived, March 24, 1811.

The present site of the town of Astoria was selected as the principal depot for this American Fur Company, and called by them, in honor of the originator of the company, Astoria. This establishment was soon in full operation. The timber and thick undergrowth within musket range of the establishment were cleared away, and a kitchen-garden planted outside the stockade.

In the highly-interesting narrative of Gabriel Franchere, we read that, “in the month of May, 1811, on a rich piece of land in front of our establishment [at Astoria], we put into the ground twelve potatoes, so shriveled up during the passage from New York that we despaired of raising any from the few sprouts that still showed signs of life. Nevertheless, we raised one hundred and nineteen potatoes the first season. And, after sparing a few plants to our inland traders, we planted fifty or sixty hills, which produced five bushels the second year; about two of these were planted, and gave us a welcome crop of fifty bushels in the year 1813.”

They were cultivated at Astoria, by the old Northwest and Hudson’s Bay companies, in their little fort gardens. A few Indian chiefs were presented with the seed, but no general distribution was made among them, as they were considered as the Bostons’ root, and no better than those of the Indians, abounding in the country, which required less labor to cultivate. Up to the time of the arrival of the American missionaries, there never was an extra supply of potatoes in the country. In other words, the potato was a luxury enjoyed by none except the highest grades of the Fur Company’s servants and distinguished visitors; its cultivation was not generally encouraged by the company.

In October, 1810, after dispatching the Tonquin, Mr. Astor fitted out the ship Beaver, twenty guns, Captain Sowles, master, with Mr. Clark, six clerks, and a number of other persons, to join the establishment at Astoria. The ship touched at the Sandwich Islands; Mr. Clark engaged twenty-six Kanakas as laborers for the establishments on the Columbia River, where the ship arrived, May 5, 1812.

On the 15th of July, 1813, Mr. David Thompson, under the direction of the Northwest Canadian British Company, arrived at Astoria. I use the word Canadian, as applied to the Northwest Fur Company, that was established by the charter of Louis XIII. of France, 1630, in what was then called Acadia, or New France, forty years before Charles of England gave his charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company. This Northwest Fur Company, in the transfer of the sovereignty of Acadia, or New France, to England, in 1714, at the treaty of Utrecht, was acknowledged as having a legal existence, by both nations, and was allowed to transfer its allegiance and continue its trade under the protection of the British sovereign, as it had done under that of France.

As soon as the government and people of the United States entered upon active measures to explore and occupy the country west of the Rocky Mountains, this Canadian Northwest Fur Company dispatched Mr. Thompson to explore the Columbia River, and make an establishment at its mouth; but, on account of delays and mistaking the course of the various rivers through which the party traveled, Mr. Thompson did not arrive at Mr. Astor’s American establishment till in July, 1813; his object was to forestall Mr. Astor in the settlement of the country. He was received, kindly treated, and furnished with such goods and supplies as he and his party required, by Mr. McDougal, who was then in charge of Fort Astor, and, in company with David Stewart, returned as high up the Columbia as the Spokan,—Mr. Greenhow says Okanagon,—and established a trading-post, while Mr. Thompson went among the Kootenai and Flathead tribes, and established a trading-hut. It is due to those parties to state that as late as 1836, a square, solid, hewed log bastion, erected by Stewart’s party, was still standing at Spokan, while no vestige of the Thompson huts could be found in the Flathead country. At Spokan, garden vegetables were produced about the fort, which the Indians in that vicinity learned to appreciate, and continued to cultivate after the fort was abandoned in 1825, having been occupied by the Northwest and Hudson’s Bay companies till that time.

In the spring of 1811, the chief agent of the Pacific Fur Company, Mr. Hunt, with other partners, Crooks, McKenzie, and McClellen, with a party of sixty men, started across the continent. They were extremely annoyed by the opposition fur traders on their route, and also by hostile Indians. Such of the party as did not perish by famine and hostile Indians, and British fur traders, arrived at Astoria on the 28th of January, 1812.

On the 5th of May following the arrival of Mr. Hunt’s party, the ship Beaver arrived with the third installment of traders, clerks, and Kanaka laborers. In consequence of the loss of the ship Tonquin, and all on board except the Indian interpreter, in the Cliquot Bay, near the entrance of the Straits of Fuca, by the treachery of the Indians in the vicinity, Mr. Hunt embarked in the Beaver for the Russian establishment in August, 1812, effected an arrangement of trade with them, and dispatched the ship to China. He continued in her till she reached the Sandwich Islands, where he remained until June, 1813, when the ship Albatross arrived from Canton, and brought the news of the war between the United States and Great Britain, and also that the ship Beaver was blockaded at Canton by a British ship of war. Mr. Hunt at once chartered the Albatross and sailed for the Columbia River, where he arrived on the 4th of August, 1813.

On his arrival at Astoria he learned that it was the intention of his partners, all of whom claimed to be British subjects (McDougal and McKenzie having formerly been in the employ of the Northwest Company), to sell to McTavish, of that company. Hunt embarked in the Albatross for the Sandwich Islands, and from thence to the Washington Islands, where he learned from Commodore Porter, then at those Islands, in the frigate Essex, of the design of the British to seize all American property on the Pacific coast. From thence he returned to the Sandwich Islands, and chartered the brig Pedler, and arrived at Astoria in February, 1814, and learned that soon after his departure in the Albatross, in August, 1813, McTavish, with a party of the servants of the Northwest Company, had arrived at Astoria, and, in connection with McDougal, McKenzie, and Clarke, on the part of the American Pacific Fur Company, and McTavish and Alexander Stewart, on the part of the Canadian Northwest Company, had completed the sale of Astoria to that company, and secured for themselves important positions in the service of the latter company.

As a matter of fact and general historical interest, the amount and value of property thus transferred is here given: Eighteen thousand one hundred and seventy and one-fourth pounds of beaver, at two dollars per pound, selling in Canton at that time at from five to six dollars per pound; nine hundred and seventy otter skins, at fifty cents each, selling at that time in Canton for five and six dollars per skin.

The expense of building Mr. Astor’s establishment at Astoria, including those at Okanagon and Spokan, with boats, bateaux, tools, cannon, munitions, goods, transportation and salaries of clerks and men, etc., etc., was near two hundred thousand dollars, for which he received in bills on Montreal about forty thousand, including the appraised value of the furs at the fort, which was thirty-six thousand eight hundred and thirty-five dollars and fifty cents; this would leave less than three thousand one hundred and sixty-four dollars and fifty cents for the improvements, boats, munitions, cannon, etc., for which the Hudson’s Bay Company, in 1865, claims of our government, for the old, rotten, and abandoned post at Okanagon, nineteen thousand four hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents; the post at Colville, still held in place of the one built by Astor’s company at Spokan, eighty thousand three hundred dollars; the post at Fort George (Astoria), abandoned in 1849, four thousand one hundred and thirty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents; in all, for the three establishments, one hundred and three thousand nine hundred and three dollars and thirty-four cents—quite a contrast between the valuation of American property when in possession of British fur traders, having been used for forty years by British subjects, and abandoned as of little or no use to their trade, and that of American property but lately brought into the country. It will be remembered that Mr. Astor’s Pacific Fur Company was commenced in 1810; that at the time it was betrayed into the possession of this Canadian Northwest Fur Company it had been in operation but two years, hence was new, and but just ready to commence a profitable trade in the country.

The contract transferring this valuable property from American to British owners, was signed on the 16th day of October, 1813, by Duncan McDougal, J. G. McTavish, and J. Stewart, and witnessed by the principal clerks of the establishment. On the 1st of December following, the British sloop of war Raccoon, Captain Black, arrived in the river, and proceeded to take formal possession of Astoria, by lowering the American flag and hoisting that of Great Britain in its place, and changing the name of the fort to that of Fort George.

Previous to the landing of the British soldiers, or King George’s warriors, an interview took place (as related by Ross Cox) between the Indian warriors, with Concomly, their chief, at their head, and McDougal and McTavish. On the arrival of the British war vessel in Baker’s Bay, the Indians, having learned that there was war between the King George people and Bostons (Americans), they said, as they had always found the Bostons friendly and liberal toward them, they were their friends, and were ready to fight for them, to prevent the King George men from making them slaves. They proposed to conceal themselves behind the rocks and trees outside of the fort and to kill the King George soldiers with their arrows and spears, while the men of the fort fought the ship and small boats which they came in, with their big guns and rifles. McDougal assured them that the King George warriors would not hurt them, and advised them to be friendly with them, as they would do the people of the fort no harm. Concomly and his warriors were only convinced that the Bostons would not be made slaves by the King George warriors when they saw the sloop leave the river without taking any of them away as prisoners or slaves.

The treachery of the Canadian part of Astor’s company, which was not known to Mr. Astor, but provided for by the Northwest Canadian Company before the party left Montreal, and consummated by McDougal and his associates, in the absence of the American partners from the post, is proved by journals, letters, and facts still extant.