Wyeth's Oregon, or a Short History of a Long Journey, 1832; and Townsend's Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains, 1834

by John B. Wyeth; John Kirk Townsend

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In Harvard University Library, the book is catalogued under Waterhouse as author.

[2] House Ex. Reports, 25 Cong., 3 sess., 101, app. 1.

[3] See Caleb B. Cushing "Discovery beyond the Rocky Mountains" in North American Review, 1 (1840), pp. 75-144.

[4] Quoted from Jefferson's annual message, December 2, 1806. See James D. Richardson (ed.), Messages and Papers of the Presidents (Washington, 1896), i, p. 408.—Ed.

[5] Referring probably to the fact that Bernadotte had in January, 1803, been chosen minister to the United States, and tarried in France during the negotiations for the purchase of Louisiana. After these were concluded, Bernadotte's services being required in the impending war with England, his projected mission to America was abandoned. Wyeth has probably confused Bernadotte's mission with the preparation in Holland of the armament which was, under command of General Victor, intended to take possession of Louisiana.—Ed.

[6] Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth belonged to one of the oldest families of Cambridge, Massachusetts, his ancestor settling there in 1645, on a place held by his descendants for over two centuries. Nathaniel's grandfather, Ebenezer, in 1751, purchased an estate embracing part of the present Mount Auburn, and extending to Fresh Pond. There Nathaniel's father, Jacob (1764-1856), built a summer resort known as Fresh Pond Hotel. Nathaniel, the fourth son, was born January 29, 1802, and was intended for Harvard College, of which his father and eldest brother were graduates; his ambitious spirit, however, made him impatient to begin commercial life, and to his subsequent regret the college course was abandoned. He first aided his father in the management of the hotel, but soon entered the ice trade, in which he remained until his expedition of 1832-36. In 1824 marrying his cousin Elizabeth Jarvis Stone, he shortly before the first expedition moved into a new house on the family estate, in which he resided until his death in 1856. For the Oregon expeditions, see the preface of the present volume. Returning to Cambridge in 1836, he re-entered the ice traffic, and after 1840 was the head of the concern. His highly accentuated qualities of activity and enterprise, added to his strong personality, caused him to be esteemed by his contemporaries.—Ed.

[7] In the centennial years of the Lewis and Clark expedition, their original journals were for the first time printed as written—Thwaites (ed.), Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (New York, 1904-05). For an account of the earlier edition of their journals, edited by Nicholas Biddle, see Introduction to the work just cited. On Mackenzie, consult Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 185, note 4.—Ed.

[8] On the expedition of Captains Kendrick and Gray, consult Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 183, note 1.—Ed.

[9] Hall J. Kelley may properly be called the father of the Oregon emigration movement. Born in New Hampshire in 1790, he left home at the age of sixteen and engaged in teaching at Hallowell, Maine. In 1814 he was graduated from Middlebury College, and the following year removed to Boston, where he was occupied as teacher and philanthropist, assisting in founding the Boston Young Men's Education Society, the Penitent Female Refuge Society, and the first Sunday School in New England. He was also a surveyor and engineer, and in 1828 invested his entire patrimony in a canal project at Three Rivers (later, Palmer), Massachusetts, whither he removed in 1829. This enterprise proved a failure, and his investment a total loss. For many years he had been interested in the Oregon country, and soon after the publication of Biddle's version of the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1814), Kelley began an agitation for the American occupation of the district. He tried to interest Congress, and the first Oregon bills (1820) bear the impress of his thought—see F. F. Victor, "Hall J. Kelley," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, ii, pp. 381-400. Finding his frequent petitions of no avail, he formed a company in 1829 (incorporated in 1831) known as the "American Society for encouraging the settlement of Oregon territory." The winter of 1831-32 was spent in preparation for an emigration movement. Wyeth was a member of this organization, and at first proposed to accompany Kelley; but finding the latter's plans impracticable, organized his own party. Kelley set out in the spring of 1832 with a small company, who all abandoned him at New Orleans. Proceeding alone to Vera Cruz, his goods were confiscated by the Mexican government; but although now penniless, he worked his way through to California. There, in the spring of 1834, he met Ewing Young (see our volume xx, p. 23, note 2), whom he persuaded to accompany him overland to Oregon. Kelley was ill, but was treated with slight respect by the British authorities at Fort Vancouver, and lived without the fort during the winter, exploring the country in the intervals of his fever. In the following spring (1835) he shipped for Hawaii, and returned to Boston, determined, notwithstanding his misfortunes, to further Oregon emigration—see report to Congress, House Reports, 26 Cong., 3 sess., i, 101. Kelley's health became undermined by the hardships which he had endured, his eyesight was impaired, and he passed his latter years in Palmer, Massachusetts, in poverty and obscurity, dying there in 1874.—Ed.

[10] Harvard College was established by act of the general court of Massachusetts in 1636.—Ed.

[11] For partial lists of members of this party, consult H. S. Lyman, History of Oregon (New York, 1903), iii, pp. 101, 108, 254; see also post.—Ed.

[12] Dr. Jacob Wyeth, eldest brother of Nathaniel, was born February 10, 1779, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. After being graduated from Harvard (1820), he studied medicine both in Boston and Baltimore, and settled in New Jersey, whence he set out to join his brother's expedition. After returning from Pierre's Hole—as narrated post—Dr. Wyeth settled in the lead-mine region of northwest Illinois, and married into a prominent family. He died in his adopted state.—Ed.

[13] For the origin of the word Oregon, see Ross's Oregon Settlers, in our volume vii, p. 36, note 4.—Ed.

[14] For further accounts of the preparation and voyage to Baltimore on the brig "Ida," consult F. G. Young, "Correspondence and Journals of Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 1831-36," in Sources of the History of Oregon (Eugene, Oregon, 1899), pp. 42-50. Niles' Register xlii, p. 82 (March 31, 1832), notes their arrival and departure with twenty-two men and all necessary equipment.—Ed.

[15] The line of the Baltimore and Ohio railway was first opened for traffic December 1, 1831, when the road extended as far as Frederick, sixty-one miles from Baltimore. On April 1, 1832, it was extended to Point of Rocks, some forty miles beyond; but by that time the expedition had passed farther west.—Ed.

[16] Taverners are by law to be provided with suitable bedding for travellers, and stables and provisions for horses and cattle. Brownsville is a flourishing town situated on the point, where the great Cumberland road strikes the head of navigation of the Monongahela, and has long been a place of embarkation for emigrants for the West.—Wyeth.

[17] The expedition proceeded by way of Brownsville, and arrived at Pittsburg on April 8, 1832. Pittsburg, as the point of departure for the West, is described by most early travelers. In particular, consult Cuming's Tour, in our volume iv, pp. 242-255.—Ed.

[18] For Fort Duquesne, see F. A. Michaux's Travels, in our volume iii, p. 156, note 20; for Fort Pitt, Post's Journals, in our volume i, p. 281, note 107, and A. Michaux's Travels, volume iii, p. 32, note 11.—Ed.

[19] Thomas Hutchins (1730-89), born in New Jersey, entered the British army at an early age. He served in the French and Indian War, and later as assistant engineer under Bouquet (1764), for whom he prepared a map. In 1779 he was arrested in London, on a charge of sympathizing with the American cause. Escaping to Paris, he finally joined the continental army at Charleston, South Carolina, and was made geographer general by General Greene. The estimate here referred to is in his Topographical Description of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina (London, 1778), p. 5.

For Dr. Daniel Drake, see Flint's Letters in our volume ix, p. 121, note 61.

The length of the Ohio from Pittsburg is estimated by the map of the U. S. corps of engineers, published in 1881, as 967 miles.—Ed.

[20] For Wheeling and the National Road, see A. Michaux's Travels, in our volume iii, p. 33, note 15, and Flint's Letters, in our volume ix, p. 105, notes 51, 52.—Ed.

[21] For a more extended description of Marietta and its antiquities, consult Cuming's Tour, in our volume iv, pp. 123-125. The mounds are now believed to be the work of North American Indians; consult Cyrus Thomas, "Mound Explorations," in U. S. Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1890-91.—Ed.

[22] Referring to Jefferson's account of the degradation of masters under the régime of slavery, in Notes on Virginia (original edition, 1784), pp. 298-301.—Ed.

[23] For the early history of this city, see Cuming's Tour, our volume iv, p. 256, note 166.—Ed.

[24] Wyeth somewhat exaggerates the difficulties of the navigation of the Falls of the Ohio. See our volume i, p. 136, note 106; also Thwaites, On the Storied Ohio (Chicago, 1903), pp. 218-222. For Jeffersonville, see Flint's Letters, in our volume ix, p. 160, note 80; for Clarksville and Shippingsport, Cuming's Tour, our volume iv, pp. 259, 260, notes 170, 171.—Ed.

[25] See our volumes xiv-xvii for James's Long's Expedition.—Ed.

[26] For the foundation of St. Louis, see A. Michaux's Travels, in our volume iii, p. 71, note 138. Fort Crêvecœur was La Salle's Illinois stockade, built in 1680. See Ogden's Letters in our volume xix, p. 46, note 34.—Ed.

[27] Frances Milton Trollope (1780-1863), an Englishwoman of note, came to the United States in 1827 with Frances Wright. She established herself at Cincinnati, and attempted to recuperate the family fortunes by the opening of a bazaar for the sale of small fancy articles. The experiment failed, and the Trollope family returned to England (1831), where Mrs. Trollope issued Domestic Manners of Americans (London, 1832), a criticism of our national customs that gave great umbrage to our forebears in the West. She later became a novelist of note, dying in Florence in 1863. Her sons were Anthony and Adolphus Trollope, well-known English authors.—Ed.

[28] Kenneth McKenzie was born in Rossshire, Scotland, in 1801, of a good family, relatives of Sir Alexander Mackenzie the explorer. Coming to America at an early age, young McKenzie entered the service of the North West Company; but upon its consolidation with the Hudson's Bay Company (1821), he entered the fur-trade on his own account. Going to New York in 1822, he secured an outfit on credit, and for some time traded on the upper Mississippi. Later he formed a partnership with Joseph Renville in the establishment of the Columbia Fur Company. This concern was bought out by its rival, the American Fur Company in 1827, whereupon McKenzie was taken into the latter corporation. He was soon placed in command of what was known as the "Upper Missouri Outfit," and built Fort Union at the mouth of the Yellowstone, where for several years he ruled almost regally. Among his earliest successes—to which Wyeth here refers—was his acquisition of the Blackfoot trade. This tribe, influenced by British traders, had long been hostile to Americans; McKenzie had, however, been known to them in the North West Company, and through one of their interpreters, Berger, he secured a treaty with them and built (1831-32) a post in their country. McKenzie lost the good-will of the American Fur Company, by erecting a distillery at Fort Union, in defiance of United States laws. In 1834 he came down the river, and visited Europe; but at intervals he re-ascended to his old post, until in 1839 he disposed of his stock in the company. He then made his home in St. Louis, until his death in 1861. It does not appear that he had considered retirement as early as Wyeth's visit in 1832, for he was then in the full tide of success. He lived magnificently at Fort Union, ruling over a wide territory, an American example of the "bourgeois of the old Northwest."

For William Sublette, see our volume xix, Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, p. 221, note 55.—Ed.

[29] The "Yellowstone" was the first steamboat to visit the upper Missouri. McKenzie and Pierre Chouteau, Jr., convinced of the utility to the fur-trade of such a craft, persuaded the American Fur Company to secure a steamer. She was built at Louisville, Kentucky, in the winter of 1830-31, departing from St. Louis on her first voyage, April 16, 1831, with Captain B. Young as master. This season she ascended to Fort Tecumseh (near Pierre), and the following year made her initial trip to the mouth of the Yellowstone River. She had left St. Louis about a month before the arrival of Wyeth's party.—Ed.

[30] For Independence, see Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, in our volume xix, p. 189, note 34.—Ed.

[31] This appears to have been an insignificant village of somewhat sedentary Indians, probably of the Kansa tribe, near the northwestern corner of what is now Douglas County, Kansas. Joel Palmer notes it in 1845; see our volume xxx.—Ed.

[32] Thomas Livermore was a cousin of Nathaniel Wyeth, whose home was in Milford, New Hampshire. He was a minor, and his father's consent was essential that he might join the party.

Bell appears to have been insubordinate from the start, and upon his return to the East, published letters injurious to Wyeth's reputation; consult Wyeth, Oregon Expeditions, index.—Ed.

[33] For the River Platte, see our volume xiv, p. 219, note 170. The Oregon Trail from Independence led westward, south of the Kansas, crossing the latter stream near the present site of Topeka; thence up the Big and Little Blue rivers, and across country to the Platte, coming in near Grand Island.—Ed.

[34] The Territory of Missouri was formed in 1812 of all the Louisiana Purchase outside the limits of the newly-erected state of Louisiana. In 1819 Arkansas Territory was cut out, and the following year the state of Missouri. The remaining region was left with no definite organization; but by an act of 1830 it was defined as Indian Territory—south of a line drawn from Missouri River at the mouth of the Ponca, and west to the Rocky Mountains. This vast unorganized region was indefinitely called Missouri Territory, Indian Territory, Western Territory, and even (on one map of the period) Oregon Territory—although the latter name was usually confined to the region west of the Rockies, and north of Mexican bounds.—Ed.

[35] The Oregon trail touched the North Platte at Ash Creek, now an important railway junction in Deuel County, Nebraska.—Ed.

[36] Sweetwater River, a western affluent of the North Platte, rises in the Wind River Mountains, and for over a hundred miles flows almost directly east. The name is supposed to be derived from the loss at an early day of a pack-mule laden with sugar. Wyeth speaks of "crossing over" to this stream, because the trail abandoned the North Platte, which here flows through a formidable cañon, and reached the Sweetwater some miles above its mouth.—Ed.

[37] Lewis and Clark did not pass within hundreds of miles of Independence Rock, having ascended the Missouri to its source. Independence Rock is a well-known landmark on the Oregon Trail—an isolated mass covering twenty-seven acres, and towering 155 feet above Sweetwater River. On it were marked the names of travelers, so that it became the "register of the desert." Frémont in 1843 says, "Many a name famous in the history of this country, and some well known to science are to be found mixed with those of the traders and of travelers for pleasure and curiosity, and of missionaries to the savages."—Ed.

[38] Captain William Sublette was born in Kentucky. His maternal grandfather was Captain Whitby, a noted pioneer of Irish ancestry. The Sublettes were also of Kentucky stock; and if French originally, came early to America. See our volume xix, p. 221, note 55 (Gregg).—Ed.

[39] This attack was attributed to the same band of Blackfeet with whom the Battle of Pierre's Hole occurred some days later. See Wyeth, Oregon Expeditions, p. 158; Irving, Rocky Mountains, i, p. 75.—Ed.

[40] This is South Pass, so named in contradistinction to the northern passes undertaken by Lewis and Clark. It is not known by whom this mountain passage was discovered, but probably by some of Ashley's parties in 1823. The ascent is so gradual that, although 7,500 feet above sea-level, its elevation is not perceived, and in 1843 Frémont could with difficulty tell just where he crossed the highest point of the divide.—Ed.

[41] The upper waters of the Colorado River are now usually termed Green River, from the "Rio Verte" of the Spaniards. This great stream rises on the western slopes of the Wind River Mountains; flowing nearly south, gathering many mountain streams, it next turns abruptly east into the northwest corner of Colorado, and having rounded the Uintah range trends to the south-southwest through Utah, until joined by Grand River, when it becomes the Colorado proper. The first attempt to navigate this formidable waterway was made by Ashley's party in 1825, although Becknell is known to have visited it the previous year. Consult Chittenden's Fur-Trade, ii, pp. 509, 778-781, and F. S. Dellenbaugh, Romance of the Colorado River (New York, 1902).—Ed.

[42] From Green River the caravan crossed the divide between the Colorado and Columbia systems, and came upon a branch of Lewis (or Snake) River, probably Hoback's River. They did not reach the main Lewis until July 6, arriving at the rendezvous on the morning of July 8, after crossing Teton Pass. Consult Wyeth, Oregon Expeditions, pp. 158, 159.—Ed.

[43] More was killed by Indians; see post. Captain Wyeth found his powder flask at Fort Union upon his return in the summer of 1833. Burdett went on to Oregon, where he resided for some years.—Ed.

[44] Pierre's Hole, known more recently as Teton Basin, is a grassy valley trending northwest and southeast, thirty miles long, and from five to fifteen wide, in eastern Idaho, just across the Wyoming border. Pierre (or Teton) River flows through it gathering affluents on the way. The valley was a well-known rendezvous, taking its name from Pierre, an Iroquois employé of the Hudson's Bay Company, who was here murdered by the Blackfeet. The Astorian overland expedition passed through this valley both going and returning (1811, 1812). The most notable event in its history was the battle which Wyeth recounts. It was not on the regular Oregon trail; see Townsend's Narrative, post.—Ed.

[45] For the Flatheads, see Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 340, note 145.—Ed.

[46] According to Nathaniel Wyeth's journal, it was July 8 before his party arrived in Pierre's Hole. They found that Drips, the American Fur Company agent, had, with many independent trappers, reached there before them.—Ed.

[47] Milton G. Sublette was a younger brother of William L.—for whom, see our volume xix, p. 221, note 55 (Gregg). He was a partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and an able trader; but disease in one of his legs obliged him to abandon the expedition of 1834. See Townsend's Narrative, post. The ailing leg was twice amputated, but to no avail, and he died at Fort Laramie, December 19, 1836.—Ed.

[48] The Salmon is entirely an Idaho River—one of the largest and most important affluents of the Lewis (or Snake). Its sources are in the central part of the state, nearly one hundred and fifty miles west of Wyeth's present position. It flows north, then directly west, and again makes a long northward sweep before losing itself in Lewis River. It is a mountainous stream, not navigable for any great distance. Lewis and Clark (1805) first saw Columbian waters upon the Lemhi—an eastern affluent of the Salmon. Later, Captain Clark made a reconnaissance some fifty miles down the Salmon, hoping to find the way thence to the Columbia; but he was turned back by the rocky cañons and rapids, and the expedition thenceforth took its way by land across the mountains. On the return journey (1806) a party of Lewis and Clark's men advanced to the lower Salmon in search of provisions. The river has since been of note in fur-trading and trapping annals.—Ed.

[49] Antoine Godin was a half-breed whose father, of Iroquois origin, had been killed by Blackfeet upon a creek bearing his name. Antoine went out with Wyeth's company, that built Fort Hall in 1834; while in camp there, he was enticed across the river, and treacherously shot (see Townsend's Narrative, post).—Ed.

[50] Carl Bernhard, duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1792-1862), visited America, and published Travels in North America in the years 1825 and 1826 (Philadelphia, 1828).—Ed.

[51] According to Irving (Rocky Mountains, i, p. 85), who had conversed with several of the participants, the Blackfeet left ten dead in the fort, and reported their loss as twenty-six. Irving also makes the number of dead and wounded whites and allied Indians smaller than Wyeth's estimate.—Ed.

[52] Of this company William Nudd and George More were afterwards killed in the mountains; the others reached the settlements.—Ed.

[53] Three of this number—Solomon Howard Smith, John Ball, and Calvin Tibbitts—became prominent in Oregon life. Trumbull died at Fort Vancouver during the winter of 1832-33. Wiggin Abbot accompanied Nathaniel Wyeth on his return (1833) and aided in preparing for the latter's second expedition. He was later murdered by the Bannock—see Townsend's Narrative, post.

Solomon H. Smith, from New Hampshire, was employed as school-teacher at Fort Vancouver, and afterwards settled in the Willamette Valley. Having married Celiast, daughter of a Clatsop chief, he made his home at Clatsop Plains with the missionaries, and there lived until his death. His son, Silas B. Smith, was an attorney at Warrenton, Oregon.

John Ball came from Troy, New York, and remained in Oregon until the autumn of 1833, teaching at Fort Vancouver, and raising grain on the Willamette. After returning to the United States, he contributed an article on the geology and geography of the region, through which he had travelled, to Silliman's Journal, xxviii, pp. 1-16. Ball left Troy in 1836, and removed to Grand Rapids, Michigan. See his letter in Montana Historical Society Collections, i, (1876), pp. 111, 112.

Calvin Tibbitts was a stone-cutter from Maine. He settled at Chemyway and later removed to Clatsop Plains, where he lived with a native wife, and aided missionary enterprise. He made two successful journeys to California for cattle, and later was the judge of Clatsop County.—Ed.

[54] Alfred K. Stephens had participated in the Santa Fé trade, and had in the summer of 1831 led a party of twenty-one men in a free trapping excursion along the Laramie River. Discouraged by ill success, he made an agreement with Fitzpatrick to serve under the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. After this attack in Jackson's Hole, Stephens returned to Pierre's Hole, and rejoined Sublette, only to fall victim to his wound, dying July 30, 1832.

It would appear from John Wyeth's narrative at this point, that he remained with William Sublette at Pierre's Hole, while More and those more eager to set forth had gone on under the leadership of Alfred Stephens.—Ed.

[55] Nathaniel Wyeth crossed to the Columbia, arriving at the Hudson's Bay Company post of Walla Walla, October 14, and at Fort Vancouver later in the same month. Here the remainder of his men left his service.—Ed.

[56] The reference is to James's Long's Expedition, reprinted as volumes xiv-xvii of our series. The illustration here referred to is in our volume xvi, p. 107.—Ed.

[57] Referring to Kelley's Geographical Sketch of that part of North America called Oregon (Boston, 1830). Subsequent information has justified most of Kelley's statements, here derided by Wyeth.—Ed.

[58] What is known as the Biddle version of the Lewis and Clark journals was issued at Philadelphia in 1814. For the history of this version consult Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (New York, 1904-05), i, introduction.—Ed.

[59] This was the well-known mountain rendezvous instituted to take the place of established forts, by General Ashley of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Each year a caravan went up from St. Louis, carrying articles for trade, while parties of trappers and their Indian allies gathered at the appointed place. The first of these gatherings was in 1824; the institution flourished only for about a decade.—Ed.

[60] Creasing may be derived from craze, or the French ecraser, or the Teutonic krossa, or the English crush, to bruise, overwhelm, or subdue without killing. It may be Spanish; for it is said that the modern South Americans practice the same device. It would seem as if it jarred the vertebræ, or bony channel of the neck, without cutting any important vessel or nerve. But let the fact be established before we reason upon it.—Wyeth.

[61] Andrew Sublette, younger brother of William and Milton, was born in Kentucky, but early removed to the frontier. After the discovery of gold he emigrated to California, settling finally near Los Angeles, where he died from wounds received in an encounter with grizzly bears.—Ed.

[62] Boonville was the successor of Franklin as the metropolis of central Missouri. The site was first settled by the Cole family in 1810, laid out as a town in 1817, and made the seat of Cooper County upon the latter's erection in 1818. Its period of greatest prosperity was before the building of the railroad (1830-40), when it was the shipping point for northern Arkansas and southwest Missouri. It had a population in 1900 of 4,377.—Ed.

[63] These statements in regard to the Lewis and Clark expedition are taken verbatim from the published edition (Biddle's, 1814) of the journals. For recent light on the personnel of the party, consult O. D. Wheeler, On the Trail of Lewis and Clark (New York, 1904).—Ed.

[64] See New-England Magazine for February and April, 1832, under the signature of W. J. S.—Wyeth.

Comment by Ed. The New England Magazine was published monthly (1831-35) by J. T. and E. Buckingham, Boston.

[65] The Abbé Clavigero, a native of Vera Cruz, who resided forty years in the Provinces of New Spain, spoke the language of the natives, and has written the History of Mexico.—Wyeth.

[66] For sketch of Thomas Nuttall, see preface to Nuttall's Journal, our volume xiii.—Ed.

[67] For the early history of the Sauk Indians, see J. Long's Voyages, in our volume ii, p. 185, note 85. By the treaty of 1804 they ceded a large portion of their lands (in the present Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois) to the United States. Upon removing to the west of the Mississippi, as per agreement with the federal government, they broke into several well-defined and often quarrelsome bands. This division was intensified by the War of 1812-15, when part of the tribe aided the British against the American border. The so-called Missouri band, dwelling north of that river in the present state of the name, in 1815 made with the United States a treaty of friendship, which was kept with fidelity. In 1830 a second land cession was made by the Sauk, and after the Black Hawk War (1832), in which the Missouri band took no part, they were desirous of moving to some permanent home south of the Missouri River. It was in pursuit of this intention, doubtless, that the visit recorded by Townsend was made. The final treaty therefor was not drawn until 1836.

Jefferson Barracks, just south of St. Louis on the Mississippi River, were built for the federal government (1826) on a site secured from the village of Carondolet (1824). General Henry Atkinson was in charge of the erection of the fort to which the garrison was (August, 1826) transferred from Bellefontaine on the Missouri. The post has been in continuous occupation since its erection.—Ed.

[68] Black Hawk whose Indian name was Makataineshekiakiah (black sparrow-hawk) was born among the Sauk in 1767. A chief neither by heredity nor election, he became by superior ability leader of the so-called British band, with headquarters at Saukenak, near Rock Island, Illinois. He participated in Tecumseh's battle (1811), and those about Detroit in the War of 1812-15, and made many raids upon the American settlements, until 1816 when a treaty of amity was signed with the United States. The chief event of his career was the war of 1832, known by his name. Consult on this subject, Thwaites, "Black Hawk War," in How George Rogers Clark won the Northwest (Chicago, 1903). At its conclusion this picturesque savage leader was captured, sent a prisoner to Jefferson Barracks, and later confined at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. After an extended tour of the Eastern states, Black Hawk returned to Iowa, where he was placed under the guardianship of his rival Keokuk, and where in 1838 he died. His wife was Asshawequa (Singing Bird), who died in Kansas (1846).—Ed.

[69] Florissant is an old Spanish town not far from St. Louis, founded soon after the latter. At first it was a trading post and Jesuit mission station, whence it acquired the name of San Fernando, which still applies to the township. Later it was made the country residence of the Spanish governors, and in 1793 was by their authority incorporated and granted five thousand arpents of land for a common. The titles were confirmed by the United States in 1812. In 1823 there was established at Florissant a Jesuit novitiate, among whose founders was Father Pierre de Smet, who was buried there in 1873. Florissant had (1900) a population of 732.— Ed.

[70] For St. Charles, see Bradbury's Travels, in volume v of our series, p. 39, note 9.—Ed.

[71] Loutre Lick appears to be the hamlet now known as Big Spring, on Loutre Creek, in Loutre Township, Montgomery County. The settlement was made between 1808 and 1810, and was on the highway between St. Charles and Côte sans Dessein.—Ed.

[72] Fulton is the seat of Callaway County, laid out in 1825, and originally christened Volney; but its appellation was soon changed in honor of Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat. The first settler and proprietor was George Nichols. In 1832 the population was about two hundred; by 1900 it had increased to nearly five thousand.—Ed.

[73] Columbia, seat of Boone County and of the Missouri State University, was organized first as Smithton. Later (1820), when made the county seat, the name was changed, and a period of prosperity began. The location of the university was secured in 1839. In 1900 the population was 5,651.

Rocheport, on the Missouri River, at the mouth of Moniteau Creek, was laid out in 1832 on land obtained on a New Madrid certificate. At one time the place rivaled Columbia. Its present population is about six hundred.—Ed.

[74] For Boonville, see note 59, p. 89, ante. Townsend is in error in attributing its founding to Daniel Boone, although named in his honor.—Ed.

[75] For the appearance of paroquets in this latitude, see Cuming's Tour in our volume iv, p. 161, note 108.—Ed.

[76] For Independence, see our volume xix, p. 189, note 34 (Gregg).—Ed.

[77] For Milton Sublette, see note 44, p. 67, ante.—Ed.

[78] The establishment of the Oregon mission was due to the appeal published in the East, of a deputation (1831) of Flathead chiefs to General William Clark at St. Louis for the purpose of gaining religious instruction. The leaders of the Methodist church, thus aroused, chose (1833) Jason Lee to found the mission to the Western Indians, and made an appropriation for the purpose. Jason Lee was born in Canada (1803), of American parents; he had already taught Indians in his native village, and attended Wesleyan Seminary at Wilbraham, Massachusetts. After several efforts to arrange the journey to Oregon, he heard of Wyeth's return, and requested permission to join his outgoing party. Arrived at Vancouver, he determined to establish his mission station in the Willamette valley, where he labored for ten years, building a colony as well as a mission. Once he returned to the United States (1838-40) for money and reinforcements. In 1844, while visiting Honolulu, he learned that he had been superseded in the charge of the mission, and returned to the United States to die the following year, near his birthplace in Lower Canada.

Daniel Lee, who accompanied his uncle, seconded the latter's efforts in the mission establishment. In 1835 he voyaged to Hawaii for his health, and in 1838 established the Dalles mission, where he labored until his return to the United States in 1843. The other missionaries were Cyrus Shepard, a lay helper and teacher—who died at the Willamette mission, January 1, 1840—C. M. Walker, and A. L. Edwards, who joined the party in Missouri.—Ed.

[79] For these Mormon troubles, see Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, in our volume xx, pp. 93-99.—Ed.

[80] Townsend is here in error. It would be impossible to reach the Big Blue River the first day out from Independence, and before crossing the Kansas. The former stream is a northern tributary of the latter, over a hundred miles from its mouth. The Oregon Trail led along its banks for some distance, crossing at the entrance of the Little Blue.—Ed.

[81] For the first stretches of the Oregon Trail and the crossing of the Kansas, see note 30, p. 49, ante. The Kansa Indians are noticed in Bradbury's Travels, our volume v, p. 67, note 37.—Ed.

[82] These are mats made of rushes, used for building wigwams, carpets, beds, and coverings of all sorts. The early Algonquian term was "apaquois;" see Wisconsin Historical Collections, xvi, index. "Apichement" is the usual form of the word.—Ed.

[83] For the Kansas River, see James's Long's Expedition, in our volume xiv, p. 174, note 140.—Ed.

[84] For these skin canoes, see illustration in Maximilian's Travels, atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.

[85] Now usually known as the Red Vermilion, a northern tributary of Kansas River in Pottawatomie County, Kansas.—Ed.

[86] I have since learned that his limb was twice amputated; but notwithstanding this, the disease lingered in the system, and about a year ago, terminated his life.—Townsend.

[87] For biographical sketch of William Sublette, see our volume xix, p. 221 note 55 (Gregg). His haste to reach the rendezvous in the mountains before the arrival of Wyeth's party, was connected with the arrangements for supplies; see preface to the present volume.—Ed.

[88] For the Oto, see Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 74, note 42.—Ed.

[89] On the different branches of Pawnee, see James's Long's Expedition, in our volume xiv, p. 233, note 179.—Ed.

[90] For the Pawnee Loup (Wolf) Indians, consult Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 78, note 44.—Ed.

[91] Noted German phrenologists. Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) was founder of the school of phrenology; his chief work was Anatomie et Physiologie du système nerveux (1810-20). Kasper Spurzheim (1776-1832) was a disciple of Gall's, publishing Physiognomical System of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim (1815). He died in Boston.—Ed.

[92] There were two fords to the South Platte, both of which led toward the North Platte at Ash Creek. Wyeth's party took the lower ford, eight miles above the forks.—Ed.

[93] See note 32 (Wyeth), ante, p. 52.—Ed.

[94] These are called "Scott's Bluffs;" so named from an unfortunate trader, who perished here from disease and hunger, many years ago. He was deserted by his companions; and the year following, his crumbling bones were found in this spot.—Townsend.

Comment by Ed. See this story in detail in Irving, Rocky Mountains, i, pp. 45, 46.

[95] Wyeth relates in his journal that he found thirteen of Sublette's men building a fort at this place. Such was the origin of the famous Fort Laramie, first known as Fort William, then Fort John, and in 1846, removed a mile farther up the stream, and re-christened Fort Laramie. It became a government post in 1849.—Ed.

[96] The trail continued along the North Platte until it reached Red Buttes, described by Townsend. They form the western end of what is known as Caspar range, in Natrona County, Wyoming.—Ed.

[97] For Sweetwater River and Independence Rock, see notes 33, 34 (Wyeth), ante, p. 53.—Ed.

[98] In fur-trade parlance the bourgeois was the leader or commander of an expedition or a trading post. See J. Long's Voyages in our volume ii, p. 75, note 35.—Ed.

[99] For Captain Bonneville, see Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, in our volume xx, p. 267, note 167.

Michael Lamie Cerré belonged to a French family of note in the annals of the West. His grandfather, Gabriel, was an early merchant at Kaskaskia, and acquired a fortune in the fur-trade. Later he removed to St. Louis, where one of his daughters married Auguste Chouteau. Pascal Cerré, father of Michael, was also a fur-trader of note. The son had been employed in the Santa Fé trade, and was persuaded to act as Bonneville's business agent in his expeditions of 1832-35.

For Lucien Fontenelle, see our volume xiv, p. 275, note 196.—Ed.

[100] The Wind River Mountains, in Fremont County, Wyoming, trend nearly north from South Pass to the Yellowstone. They are covered with snow during all the year, and were credited by the early explorers with being the highest chain of the Rockies. In 1843 Frémont ascended the peak named for him, which has an altitude of 13,790 feet.—Ed.

[101] Sandy River is a northern affluent of the Green, rising just beyond South Pass and flowing southwest into the main stream, through Fremont and Sweetwater counties, Wyoming. The Little Sandy was the first stream beyond the divide, but eight miles from the pass. The trail followed the Big Sandy almost its entire length.—Ed.

[102] This is the mountain mocking bird, (Orpheus montanus), described in the Appendix [not included in our reprint].—Townsend.

[103] For this river see note 38 (Wyeth), ante, p. 60. The term "Siskadee" signified Prairie Hen River.—Ed.

[104] I am indebted to the kindness of my companion and friend, Professor Nuttall, for supplying, in a great measure, the deficiency occasioned by the loss of my journal.—Townsend.

[105] The rendezvous for 1834 changed sites several times; see Wyeth's Oregon Expeditions, p. 225. The Rocky Mountain men were first met on Green River; the twentieth, they moved over to Ham's Fork, which was on the twenty-seventh again ascended a short distance for forage.

Thomas Fitzpatrick was one of the partners in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, whose daring exploits and explorations of the mountains filled the thoughts of the men of his day. He was known to the Indians as "Broken Hand," from having shattered one of those members. He joined Ashley on his early expeditions, and was in the Arikara campaign of 1823; but his chief operations were between 1830 and 1836. In 1831, he went out on the Santa Fé trail, barely escaping when Jedidiah S. Smith was killed. From 1832 to 1835, he conducted the trade at the mountain rendezvous, once (1832) being lost some days in the mountains. In 1833 he was robbed by the Crows, probably at the instigation of a rival fur company. Upon the decline of the fur-trade, he continued to dwell on the frontier, acting as guide for government exploring expeditions, being commissioned captain, and later major. In 1850 he was agent for all the upper region of the Platte, and of great use in Indian negotiations.—Ed.

[106] For the Shoshoni, see Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 227, note 123; for the Nez Percés, Franchère's Narrative, vi, p. 340, note 145.

The Bannock are a Shoshonean tribe, whose habitat was midway between that of the Shoshoni proper and the Comanche, about the upper Lewis River and Great Salt Lake. They had the reputation of being fierce and treacherous, and next to the Blackfeet, were dreaded by white travelers. Lying athwart both the California and Oregon trails, they occasionally were formidable, although usually on trading terms with the trappers. They are now concentrated on the Fort Hall and Lemhi reservations in Idaho, intermingled with Shoshoni.—Ed.

[107] Sir William Drummond Stuart, Bart., of Perthshire, Scotland, who was rumored to have served under Wellington, came to the United States (1833) to hunt big game in the Rockies. He sustained his share of the caravan's work, mounting guard and serving in the skirmishes against the Indians, and was highly respected by the mountain men. He went as far as the Columbia, on this expedition. See also Elliott Coues, Forty Years a Fur-Trader on the Upper Missouri (New York, 1898), index. Townsend is, so far as we are aware, the only contemporary traveller who mentions Ashworth in a published work.—Ed.

[108] Ham's Fork is a western affluent of Black Fork of Green River, in south-western Wyoming. It was an important stream on the Oregon Trail, which later bent southward from this point to Fort Bridger, going by Muddy Creek, another affluent of the Green. The Muddy Creek of Townsend, however, is a different stream, flowing into Bear River; it is not now known by this name. The Oregon Short Line railway, which follows Ham's Fork and crosses to the Bear, approximating Townsend's route, follows the valley of Rock Creek to the latter river.—Ed.

[109] Bear River rises in the Uintah Mountains of northeastern Utah, and flows north and slightly northwest along the borders of Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho; until in Idaho, it takes a sudden bend southwest and south, and after a course of more than a hundred miles, enters Great Salt Lake. The trail struck this river near the southeastern corner of Idaho, following its course northwest to its bend—almost the identical route of the present Oregon Short Line railway.

Great Salt Lake had probably been seen by white men before the explorations of Ashley's party; but no authentic account of its discovery has been found before that of James Bridger, who in the winter of 1824-25 followed Bear River to its outlet. Finding the water salt he concluded it to be an arm of the ocean; but the following spring some of the party explored its coast line in skin-boats, finding no outlet. Captain Bonneville gave it his own name, but this is applied only to the geological area occupied by the lake in the quaternary era.—Ed.

[110] This is what is now known as Soda Springs, at the upper bend of Bear River. Irving describes it (Rocky Mountains, ii, p. 31) as an area of half a mile, with a dazzling surface of white clay, on which the springs have built up their mounds It is, in miniature, what is found on a large scale in Yellowstone Park. One geyser exists in the form that Townsend describes. See Palmer's account, in our volume xxx.—Ed.

[111] This is the son of Mr. Alexander McKay, who was massacred by the Indians of the N. W. Coast on board the ship "Tonquin," an account of which is given in Irving's "Astoria." I have often heard McKay speak of the tragical fate of his parent, and with the bitter animosity and love of revenge inherited from his Indian mother, I have heard him declare that he will yet be known on the coast as the avenger of blood.—Townsend.

Comment by Ed. For Alexander McKay, consult Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 186, note 9.

Thomas McKay was born at Sault Ste. Marie, and when a lad (1811) came with his father to Oregon. After the failure of the Astoria enterprise, he entered the North West Company, and fought under their banner in the battle on Red River in 1816. Returning to Oregon, he became an important agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, under his step-father's management, usually in charge of the Snake River brigade. He was brave, dashing, a sure shot, and the idol of the half-breeds. He had a farm in Multnomah valley, and became a United States citizen, raising a company of militia which did active service in the Cayuse War of 1848.

[112] Compare Irving's account of this meeting, in Rocky Mountains, ii, pp. 175-182.—Ed.

[113] Blackfoot River is an eastern affluent of Lewis (or Snake) River, next above Portneuf. Its general course is northwest, entering the main river at Blackfoot, Idaho. Wyeth passed only along its upper reaches.—Ed.

[114] Townsend probably refers to the Three Buttes of the Lewis River plain, about forty miles west of their camp. The Three Tetons—a magnificent group of snow-clad mountains—were sixty miles northeast, in the present Teton Forest Reservation, Wyoming.

Portneuf is an eastern affluent of Lewis River, and a well-known halting pace on the Oregon Trail.—Ed.

[115] Ross's Creek is in reality an affluent of Portneuf. The usual route from Soda Springs, on Bear River, was by way of the Portneuf; the route by Blackfoot and Ross's Creek was somewhat shorter, although rougher.—Ed.

[116] This statement concerning the site of Fort Hall does not agree with that of later writers; possibly the fort was removed later, for Frémont in 1844 describes it as being nine miles above the mouth of Portneuf, on the narrow plain between that and Lewis River. The fort was named for Henry Hall, senior member of the firm furnishing Wyeth's financial backing. Wyeth sold this fort to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1836. The present Fort Hall, a government post, is forty miles northeast of the old fort, on Lincoln Creek, an affluent of Blackfoot River. It was built in May, 1870, and there, since that time, a garrison has been maintained.—Ed.

[117] I have repeatedly observed these exhibitions of feeling in some of our people upon particular occasions, and I have been pleased with them, as they seemed to furnish an evidence, that amid all the mental sterility, and absence of moral rectitude, which is so deplorably prevalent, there yet lingers some kindliness of heart, some sentiments which are not wholly depraved.—Townsend.

[118] For the Chinook, see Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 240, note 40; for the Cayuse, Ross's Oregon Settlers, our volume vii, p. 137, note 37.—Ed.

[119] According to Wyeth's journal his name was Kanseau, and the services were Protestant, Catholic, and Indian—"as he had an Indian family; he at least was well buried."—Ed.

[120] Upon leaving Fort Hall, the usual trail followed the valley of the Lewis (or Snake) to Fort Boise. Wyeth, however, struck directly northwest across the Snake River Desert, past the Three Buttes. Godin's Creek was what is now known as Lost River, from having no outlet.—Ed.

[121] These mountains—in Custer County, Idaho, between the different branches of Lost River—have apparently no local name that has been cartographically recorded; they lie between the Sawtooth and Lost River ranges.—Ed.

[122] The expedition apparently followed the east fork of Lost River, into a maze of mountains known locally as the "Devil's Bedstead."—Ed.

[123] We afterwards learned, that only three days before our arrival, a hard contested, and most sanguinary battle, had been fought on this spot, between the Bannecks and Blackfeet, in which the former gained a signal and most complete victory, killing upwards of forty of their adversaries, and taking about three dozen scalps. The Blackfeet, although much the larger party, were on foot, but the Bannecks, being all well mounted, had a very decided advantage; and the contest occurring on an open plain, where there was no chance of cover, the Blackfeet were run down with horses, and, without being able to load their guns, were trampled to death, or killed with salmon spears and axes.

This was not the first time that we narrowly escaped a contest with this savage and most dreaded tribe. If we had passed there but a few days earlier, there is every probability to suppose that we should have been attacked, as our party at that time consisted of but twenty-six men.—Townsend.

[124] According to Wyeth's account, the expedition retraced their steps to the forks of the river, then followed the south branch, passing over the mountains which form the boundary between Custer and Blaine counties, Idaho, and emerging on Trail Creek, the affluent of the Malade, which joins the main stream at Ketchum, the present terminus of the Wood River branch of the Oregon Short Line railway.—Ed.

[125] Malade (or Wood) River is a northern tributary of Lewis in Blaine County, Idaho. The mining town of Hailey is upon its banks. It was named Rivière des Malades (Sick Men's River) by Alexander Ross, who trapped upon it in 1824, and whose men fell ill from eating beaver that had fed upon a poisonous root. See Ross, Fur Hunters (London, 1855), ii, pp. 114-116.—Ed.

[126] After crossing the Malade, the expedition moved along one of its several western branches until reaching Camas Prairie, in Elmore County.

Camas (quamash) is a bulbous root much used for food by the Indians of the Columbia. Its Shoshoni name is passheco. For further description consult Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, p. 78.—Ed.

[127] This root is probably the one usually spoken of by the French-Canadian trappers as "white-apple" (pomme blanche), or "swan-apple," and well known to scientists as Psoralea esculenta.—Ed.

[128] Boise River is an important eastern affluent of Lewis, rising in the mountains of Blaine County, through which Townsend had just passed; it flows nearly west for about a hundred miles. Boise, the capital of Idaho, is upon its banks. Of the two forks which unite to form the main stream, Wyeth's expedition encountered the southern.—Ed.

[129] Malheur River rises in a lake of that name in Harney County, Oregon, and flows east and northeast into the Lewis, being one of the latter's important western tributaries.—Ed.

[130] Lewis River here makes a considerable bend to the east, hence the short cut across country. The mountains are apparently the Burnt River Range, with Powder River beyond. Wyeth identifies this as the same place at which he encamped two years previous—near the point where the Oregon Short Line railway crosses Lewis River.—Ed.

[131] I afterwards ascertained that this lameness of my "buffalo horse," was intentionally caused by one of the hopeful gentry left in charge of the fort, for the purpose of rendering the animal unable to travel, and as a consequence, confining him to the fort at the time of our departure. The good qualities of the horse as a buffalo racer, were universally known and appreciated, and I had repeatedly refused large sums for him, from those who desired him for this purpose.—Townsend.

[132] Burnt (Brulé) River rises in Strawberry Mountains of eastern Oregon, and flows northeast, then southeast, through Baker County into Lewis River. The Oregon Trail left the latter river at the mouth of Burnt River, and advanced up that valley to its northern bend.—Ed.

[133] Powder River rises in the Blue Mountains and flows first east, then north, then abruptly southeast into the Lewis; the trail followed its north-bearing course. These western affluents of the Lewis (or Snake) were explored (1819) and probably named by Donald McKenzie, then of the North West Company.—Ed.

[134] Grande Ronde, a noted halting place on the Oregon Trail, was so called from its apparently circular shape, as the traveller wound down the precipitous road into its level basin; it really is an oval twenty miles long, containing three hundred thousand acres of rich land. It is in the present Union County, and Grande Ronde River flows northeasterly through it.—Ed.

[135] For a brief sketch of Bonneville consult Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies in our volume xx, p. 267, note 167.—Ed.

[136] Blue Mountains are a continuation of the chains of western Idaho, trending southwest, then west, toward the centre of the state of Oregon, forming a watershed between the Lewis and Columbia systems. Frémont suggests that their name arises from the dark-blue appearance given to then by the pines with which they are covered. The trail led northwest from Union into Umatilla County, following the present railway route, only less circuitous.—Ed.

[137] Umatilla River, whose earlier name appears to have been Utalla. Consult Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 338.—Ed.

[138] Fort Walla Walla (or Nez Percés) was built by Alexander Ross of the North West Company in July, 1818—see Ross, Fur Hunters, i, p. 171, for description and representation. It passed into the possession of the Hudson's Bay Company upon the consolidation of the corporations, and being rebuilt of adobé after its destruction by fire, was maintained until 1855-56, when it was abandoned during an Indian war. It was near the sight of the present Wallula, Washington, on the left bank of the Columbia, about half a mile above Walla Walla River.—Ed.

[139] Lieutenant Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun was born near Quebec in 1792. In the War of 1812-15, he was an officer in the Canadian light troops, and soon after peace was declared entered the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. At the Red River disturbances (1816) he was taken prisoner, but soon released. Later he served at several far Western fur-trade posts, and coming to the Columbia was placed in charge at Fort Walla Walla (1832). He showed many courtesies to the overland emigrants, but refused supplies to Captain Bonneville as being a rival trader; he appears, however, to have had no such feeling with regard to Captain Wyeth. Pambrun was severely hurt by a fall from his horse (1840), and died of the injury at Walla Walla.—Ed.

[140] For the Walla Walla Indians, see Ross's Oregon Settlers, in our volume vii, p. 137, note 37.—Ed.

[141] This must have been a roving party, far from their base, for the Chinook were rarely found so high up the Columbia.—Ed.

[142] The first obstruction in the Columbia on descending from Walla Walla consists of the Falls and Long and Short Narrows frequently called the Dalles. See descriptions in Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 146-173; Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 337; and Ross's Oregon Settlers, our volume vii, pp. 128-133.—Ed.

[143] On this matter consult Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 166-210, 217, 221, 256, where the Indians are represented as venturing forth into rough water that no white man dared breast.—Ed.

[144] The cascades are the last obstructions on the Lower Columbia. Consult Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 179-185; Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 336; and Ross's Oregon Settlers in our volume vii, pp. 121-125.—Ed.

[145] I could not but recollect at that time, the last injunction of my dear old grandmother, not to sleep in damp beds!!—Townsend.

[146] Dr. John McLoughlin, born near Quebec, October 19, 1784, was educated as a physician, and for a time studied in Paris. Early in the nineteenth century he entered the North West Company's employ, and was stationed at Fort William, on Lake Superior, where he knew Sir Alexander Mackenzie and other frontier celebrities. In 1818 he married Margaret, widow of Alexander McKay, who perished in the "Tonquin" (1811). In 1824 McLoughlin was transferred to the Columbia, as chief factor for the Hudson's Bay Company in all the transmontane region. Making his headquarters at Fort Vancouver, he for upwards of twenty years ruled with a firm but mild justice this vast forest empire. On the great American emigration to Oregon, McLoughlin's humanity and kindness of heart led him to succor the weary homeseekers, for which cause he was reprimanded by the company and thereupon resigned (1846). The remainder of his life was passed at Oregon City, and was somewhat embittered by land controversies. He became a naturalized American citizen, and after his death (September 7, 1857) the Oregon legislature made to his heirs restitution of his lands, in recognition of the great service of the "Father of Oregon." Brief sketches from his life are included in E. E. Dye, McLoughlin and Old Oregon, a Chronicle (Chicago, 1900).—Ed.

[147] Fort Vancouver was the centre of the Hudson's Bay Company's operations in Oregon, and the most important post in that country. Built in 1824-25 under the supervision of Dr. John McLoughlin, who decided to transfer thither his headquarters from Fort George (Astoria), its site was on the north bank of the Columbia, a hundred and fourteen miles from the mouth of the river, and six miles above that of the Willamette. It was not a formidable enclosure, for the Indians thereabout were in general peaceful, and a large farm and an agricultural settlement were attached to the post. After McLoughlin resigned (1846), James Douglas was chief factor until the American possession. In 1849 General Harney took charge, and by orders from Washington destroyed part of the trading post, and established a United States military post now known as Vancouver Barracks.—Ed.

[148] I have given this notice of the suburbs of the fort, as I find it in my journal written at the time; I had reason, subsequently, to change my opinion with regard to the scrupulous cleanliness of the Canadians' Indian wives, and particularly after inspecting the internal economy of the dwellings. What at first struck me as neat and clean, by an involuntary comparison of it with the extreme filthiness to which I had been accustomed amongst the Indians, soon revealed itself in its proper light, and I can freely confess that my first estimate was too high.—Townsend.

[149] Jason Lee had intended to settle among the Flatheads; but upon the advice of McLoughlin, reinforced by his own observations, the missionary decided to establish his first station in the fertile Willamette valley. He proceeded to the small settlement of French Canadian ex-servants of the company and built his house on the east side of the river, at Chemyway, in Marion County.—Ed.

[150] Warriors' Point is at the lower end of Wappato (or Sauvie) Island, the eastern boundary of the lower Willamette mouth. Probably it received its name from a party of Indians who in 1816 fired upon a trading party from Fort George and drove them back from the Willamette; see Alexander Ross, Fur Hunters, i, pp. 100, 101.—Ed.

[151] This large island across the mouth of the Willamette valley was by Lewis and Clark named Image-Canoe, later Wappato Island. It is now known as Sauvie for Jean Baptiste Sauvé, who was for many years a faithful servant of the Hudson's Bay Company, and maintained the dairy farm on this island.—Ed.

[152] The falls of Willamette were not discovered by Lewis and Clark, who explored that river only to the site of Portland. Probably the first white men to visit them were a party led by Franchère and William Henry in 1814; see Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 313. McLoughlin staked out a claim around these falls in 1829, and made some improvements. Later (1840) his claims were contested, but in 1842 the land was laid off in lots and entitled Oregon City. The falls are now passed by locks, in order to facilitate navigation on the upper Willamette.—Ed.

[153] The Klikitat were a Shahaptian tribe, near kin to the Yakima. Their habitat was on both sides of the Cascade Range, north of the Columbia. Early in the nineteenth century they made a futile attempt to settle in the Willamette valley. They were probably the Wahhowpums of Lewis and Clark.—Ed.

[154] For the Kalapuya and Multnomah tribes of the Willamette valley, consult Ross's Oregon Settlers, in our volume vii, p. 230, note 80, and Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 247, note 53, respectively.—Ed.

[155] Consult Franchère's Narrative, notes 39, 40, 49, 65, 67, and Ross's Oregon Settlers, pp. 102, 103, note 13.—Ed.

[156] For the use of Flathead as a generic term, consult Franchère's Narrative, p. 340, note 145. Lewis and Clark noted that instances of the custom of flattening the forehead by pressure diminished in frequency from the coast east: among the tribes of eastern Oregon and Washington, only an occasional female appeared with flattened head, while among the coast tribes the custom was universal for both sexes.—Ed.

[157] See illustration in Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iv, p. 10.—Ed.

[158] The brig was the "May Dacre;" Captain Lambert had been in command of Wyeth's earlier vessel, the "Sultana," which was wrecked on a South Pacific reef. He later made many voyages in command of various vessels, the last of which sailed from Hawaii to New Bedford, Massachusetts. He died at "Sailor's Snug Harbor" on Staten Island. See F. H. Victor, "Flotsom and Jetsom of the Pacific," in Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, ii, pp. 36-54.—Ed.

[159] See Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 239-242.—Ed.

[160] For Baker's Bay, and the origin of its name, see Franchère's Narrative, our volume vi, p. 234, note 38.—Ed.

[161] For Mount Coffin see both Franchère and Ross, volume vi, p. 244, and volume vii, pp. 117, 118, respectively.—Ed.

[162] Compare Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 241, note 42, and Ross's Oregon Settlers, our volume vii, pp. 243-247, 250. The fort had been abandoned in 1824, but later was restored as a post of observation.—Ed.

[163] For Cape Disappointment, and Point Adams, consult Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 233, notes 36, 37.—Ed.

[164] Peter Skeen Ogden was the son of Isaac, chief justice of the Province of Quebec—originally a loyalist from New York. Early entering the fur-trade, young Ogden was sent out to Astoria, arriving after its transference to the British. He thereupon entered the North West Company, and spent his life in the Oregon country. A successful trapper and trader, he led for many years parties into the interior, where he explored the Yellowstone and Lewis River countries, and Utah, giving his name to Ogden's Hole and the Utah city therein. In 1825 he had a disastrous encounter with Ashley, and from that time onward competition with American traders was keen. He followed Jedidiah S. Smith west to California, trapping on the upper Sacramento and discovering Ogden River—which Frémont renamed Humboldt. In 1835 Ogden was appointed chief factor of New Caledonia, and made his headquarters at Fort St. James, on Stuart Lake. Ogden married Julia, daughter of a Flathead chief, and her intrepidity and understanding of Indian nature aided her husband's undertakings. He died at Oregon City in 1854, aged about sixty years.—Ed.

[165] Nass Bay and Harbor, in upper British Columbia, near the Alaska boundary.—Ed.

[166] This date is April 15, 1835. The interval between this and December 11, 1834 (the part omitted) was spent in a visit to the Hawaiian Islands. Townsend returned on Wyeth's vessel, the "May Dacre."—Ed.

[167] For a brief account of Oak Point, see Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 261, note 74.—Ed.

[168] Captain Wyeth returned to Fort Vancouver February 12, 1835. The journal of his hardships during this trapping expedition is in his Oregon Expeditions, pp. 234-250.—Ed.

[169] According to Wyeth's statements, Fort William was eight miles from Vancouver, on the southwest side of the island. Built in the spring of 1835, it was upon Wyeth's return to the United States (1836) left in charge of C. M. Walker, who came out with Jason Lee. Walker was given instructions to lease the place, but no tenant offering, it was soon abandoned, and the Hudson's Bay Company established a dairy farm near the site.—Ed.

[170] Clackamas River rises in the Cascade Range, between Mounts Hood and Jefferson, and flows northwest through a county of the same name into the Willamette, at the present Oregon City.—Ed.

[171] On the Chinook jargon—the medium of communication between the whites and Indians of the Northwest coast—see Franchère's Narrative in our volume vi, p. 240, note 40.—Ed.

[172] This was a party arranged by John Turner, who had previously visited Oregon with Jedidiah S. Smith. For Ewing Young, see our volume xx, p. 23, note 2. The wounded man was Dr. William J. Bailey, an Englishman who, after being educated for a physician, enlisted as a sailor, and after much roving had been a year or two in California. On recovering from his wounds, he settled in Willamette valley, married Margaret Smith, a mission teacher, and had a large farm and an important practice. Bailey became a man of note in early Oregon history, was a member of the executive committee of the provisional government in 1844, and died at Champoeg in 1876.—Ed.

[173] Called by the inhabitants of this country, the "rascally Indians," from their uniformly evil disposition, and hostility to white people.—Townsend.

[174] The Loloten or Tototen tribe of Klamath Indians. From their hostile and thievish disposition, their habitat was styled Rogue River, and they are usually spoken of as Rogue River Indians. The river is in southwestern Oregon, and the tribe related to those of northern California. Trouble arose between this tribe and the miners, lasting from 1850 to 1854, in which several battles were fought. There were in 1903 but fifty-two survivors, on Grande Ronde Reservation, in western Oregon.—Ed.

[175] Dr. Gairdner was a young English physician and scientist who had studied with Ehrenberg, in Germany, and Sir William Hooker, in Scotland. Under the patronage of the latter he had come as physician to Fort Vancouver. He died in Hawaii, whither he had gone for his health. His name is perpetuated in that of one of the Columbia salmon.—Ed.

[176] When Lewis and Clark visited the Columbia (1805-06), they noted signs of a declining population, and thought it due to an epidemic of small-pox that a few years before had decimated the native population. In 1829, shortly after the ground had been broken for a farm at Fort Vancouver, a form of intermittent fever broke out among both white men and Indians. To the latter it proved deadly, and for three years raged without abatement. This epidemic had occasioned the desolation noted by Townsend.—Ed.

[177] Reverend Samuel Parker was born in New Hampshire (1779); educated at Williams and Andover, he settled at Ithaca, where he died in 1866. At the meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1834), the subject of an Oregon mission was discussed and Parker appointed to make investigations. Arriving at St. Louis too late for the annual brigade, he returned home, only to come out the succeeding year in company with Marcus Whitman. At the Green River rendezvous, Whitman went back for reinforcements, but Parker pushed on, with Nez Percés as his sole companions, as far as Fort Walla Walla, where he arrived October 6, 1835. He remained in Oregon until June, 1836, then embarked for Hawaii, reaching home in May, 1837.—Ed.

[178] Mr. Parker has since published an account of this tour, to which the reader is referred, for much valuable information, relative to the condition of the Indians on our western frontier.—Townsend.

Comment by Ed. The Journal of an Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains (Ithaca, 1838). Five American editions and one English appeared. The popularity of the work was considerable, and it spread information concerning the Oregon country.

[179] This was Wyeth's vessel, the "May Dacre."—Ed.

[180] Probably an individual of what Lewis and Clark call the large brown wolf of the wooded regions of the Columbia (canis lupus occidentalis).—Ed.

[181] This appears to be the chief mentioned by Franchère in our volume vi, p. 246, and by Ross in our volume vii, p. 118.—Ed.

[182] Dr. William Fraser Tolmie was born in Inverness, educated at Glasgow, and joined (1832) the Hudson's Bay Company as a physician. The following spring he arrived at Vancouver by way of Cape Horn, and was sent north to the Puget Sound region with a party engaged in planting a new post. There he remained until the return noted by Townsend. He lived at Fort Vancouver and vicinity until 1841. A visit to England (1841-43) was made in the interest of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, of which Tolmie was superintendent at Fort Nisqually (1843-59). Upon the final cession of all the territory to the United States Dr. Tolmie removed to Victoria, British Columbia, where he was still living in 1878.

Fort Langley was founded in 1827 upon the left bank of the Fraser River, about thirty miles above its mouth.—Ed.

[183] For the habitat of this tribe, see Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 245, note 49.—Ed.

[184] Archibald McDonald was a Hudson's Bay officer who had been in charge of forts in the Thompson River district (1822-26), when he became chief factor for Kamloops. In 1828 he was chosen to accompany Sir George Simpson in a transmontane tour, and his diary thereof was published as Peace River: A Canoe Voyage from Hudson Bay to the Pacific (Ottawa, 1872). On this expedition he was left in charge of the newly-built Fort Langley, where he remained about eight years, constructing Fort Nisqually on Puget Sound (1833). In 1836 he was appointed to Fort Colville, where he remained for many years. This post was on the upper Columbia, not far from Kettle Falls, in the present state of Washington; built in 1825, it was maintained by the Hudson's Bay Company until the discovery of gold in that region (1858), whereupon the stockade was removed across the border into British Columbia, to avoid United States customs duties.

Samuel Black had been a North West Company trader; but later was placed in charge of Hudson's Bay posts at Fort Dunveyan (1823) and at Walla Walla (1828). He commanded at Fort Kamloops (see our volume vii, p. 199, note 64), on Thompson's River for some years, before his murder (1841) by a neighboring native.—Ed.

[185] Cape Horn is a high basaltic cliff towering two thousand five hundred feet above the river bank, not far above Vancouver, in Skamania County, Washington. It was so named because boats were frequently wind-bound in passing this point.—Ed.

[186] This is the son of old Pierre Dorion, who makes such a conspicuous figure in Irving's "Astoria."—Townsend.

Comment by Ed. Consult Bradbury's Travels in our volume v, p. 38, note 7; also Ross's Oregon Settlers, our volume vii, pp. 265-269, wherein the murder of the elder Dorion and the escape of his wife and children are related.

[187] The direction appears to be wrong, as a northeast course would be directly away from the Blue Mountains; moreover it would necessitate crossing Walla Walla River before reaching Umatilla. It should therefore, obviously, be read "S. E. over the sandy prairie." Morro River must be an upper affluent of Walla Walla (or Umatilla).—Ed.

[188] A long white shell, of the genus Dentalium, found on the coast.—Townsend.

[189] John McLeod had for some years been with the Hudson's Bay Company. He was in charge at Kamloops from 1822 to 1826, and in the latter year built Norway House. In 1832 he founded, in conjunction with Michel La Framboise, Fort Umpqua, the only establishment of the company south of the Columbia. At the time Townsend met him he appears to have headed the Snake country brigade.—Ed.

[190] Henry H. Spalding was born in Bath County, New York, in 1803. He studied at Western Reserve, and afterwards at Lane Theological Seminary, which latter school he left to join Dr. Whitman (1836) in a mission to Oregon. Settled at Lapwai, in western Idaho, among the Nez Percés, he maintained the mission at that place until the Whitman massacre in 1847. Narrowly escaping therefrom, he accepted in 1850, at the solicitation of the missionary board, the position of United States Indian agent, and served also as commissioner of schools (1850-55). In 1862 he returned to Lapwai to re-commence mission work, and died among the Nez Percés in 1874.

Dr. Marcus Whitman was born in Rushville, New York, in 1802. Graduating as a physician he was appointed to the Oregon mission in 1834, actually reaching his station in September, 1836, as Townsend narrates—see note 112, p. 335, ante. He established his mission at Waiilatpu among the Cayuse, and there labored until 1842, when news from the mission board, advising abandonment of his station, caused his return to the United States. This was the journey regarding which so much controversy has arisen. According to some writers, Whitman's object was to awaken the United States authorities to the necessity of occupying Oregon, and how "Marcus Whitman saved Oregon" to the United States has been much discussed. Recently exceptions have been taken to this view, and eminent historical scholars have minimized Whitman's national services. The first stage of the controversy began about 1883. See Myron Eells, Marcus Whitman, M. D., Proofs of his work in Saving Oregon to the United States (Portland, 1883). Later Professor Edward G. Bourne took up the subject and presented a paper at the American Historical Association meeting of 1900 (published in American Historical Review, vii, pp. 276-300); this has been expanded into "The Legend of Marcus Whitman" in Essays in Historical Criticism (New York, 1901). William I. Marshall of Chicago, discussed Professor Bourne's paper (see American Historical Association Report for 1900, i, pp. 219-236) offering additional evidence. Marshall has since published History vs. the Whitman Saved Oregon Story (Chicago, 1904). Myron Eells also issued A Reply to Professor Bourne's "The Whitman Legend" (Walla Walla, 1902). William A. Mowry essays a defense in Marcus Whitman and the early days of Oregon (New York, 1901) which contains a good bibliography. See also additional evidence in articles by William E. Griffis and others, contributed to the Sunday School Times, Philadelphia, August 9, November 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, December 3, 1902; January 10, 29, 1903. Whitman returned to his mission, and despite threatening aspects, remained at Waiilatpu until 1847, when suddenly in October the Cayuse arose and massacred most of the members of the mission, including both Dr. Whitman and his wife.—Ed.

[191] William H. Gray (born in Utica, New York, in 1810) joined Dr. Whitman as business manager and agent of the expedition. In 1837 he went East for reinforcements, and married Mary Augusta Dix, with whom he returned to Oregon in September, 1838. They labored at Lapwai and Waiilatpu until 1842, when Gray resigned and retired to the Willamette, where he was instrumental in establishing the provisional government. In 1849 Gray went to California during the gold excitement, but returned to Oregon, settling first at Clatsop Plains, and later in Astoria, where he died in 1889. His History of Oregon (Portland, San Francisco, and New York, 1870) is a main source for the early decades.—Ed.

[192] See reference to this fact and to the meeting with Townsend, in Mrs. Whitman's "Journal," published in Oregon Pioneer Association Transactions (1891), pp. 57, 63.—Ed.

[193] Mrs. Narcissa Prentice Whitman was a native of Pittsburgh, Steuben County, New York, and married Dr. Whitman just before his journey across the plains (1836). She was of much assistance to him in the mission work, and perished in the massacre of 1847. See her letters and "Journal" in Oregon Pioneer Association Transactions (1891). She and Mrs. Spalding were the first white women to cross the plains to Oregon.

Mrs. Spalding (née Eliza Hart) was born in Connecticut (1807) and reared in Ontario County, New York. She was less strong than Mrs. Whitman, and her journey at first fatigued her so greatly that it was feared she would not reach its end. Her health improved after passing the mountains, and she was an efficient aid in the mission, learning the Indian languages with great aptitude. After the Whitman massacre she never recovered from the shock, and died in 1851.—Ed.

[194] For the pioneer in whose honor this river was named, see Bradbury's Travels in our volume v, p. 181, note 104. The John Day River rises in the Blue Mountains and flows west and northwest, entering the Columbia a few miles above the falls. It is an important stream for central Oregon, forming the boundary, in part, of several counties.—Ed.

[195] James Birnie was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland. Coming early to America he entered the North West Company's employ and was on the Columbia before 1820, when he was in charge of the post at the Dalles. He was then retained by the Hudson's Bay Company, and given command at Fort George (Astoria) where he remained many years. Later he became a naturalized American, and resided at Cathlamet.—Ed.

[196] For Young's Bay, see Franchére's Narrative, our volume vi, p. 259, note 69.—Ed.

[197] This is an interesting description of the place, seen thirty years later, where the explorers passed the dismal winter months of 1805-06. For a ground plan of the fort, known as Fort Clatsop, see Thwaites, Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 282, 283, 298.—Ed.

[198] A close description of the medals carried by the expedition. See engraving in O. D. Wheeler, On the Trail of Lewis and Clark (New York, 1904), ii, pp. 123, 124.—Ed.

[199] The site of this Chinook village opposite Astoria, was probably that of the present Fort Columbia, built to protect the entrance to the river.—Ed.