While the agents of the American Fur Company, a rival organization controlled and managed by Mr. John Jacob Astor, were preparing to extend their limits northwards from their headquarters at the mouth of the Columbia, the Northwest Company was pushing southward through British Columbia, and had already established a colony called New Caledonia near the headquarters of the Fraser River. Thus Mr. Astor’s scheme of gaining control of the head waters of the Columbia River was anticipated. The war of 1812 completely frustrated his plans, when the post of Astoria fell temporarily into the hands of the English.
A very good idea of the hardships of life at one of these western posts, together with a brief account of the first exploration of the Fraser River, may be obtained from a letter written in 1809 by Jules Quesnel to a friend in Montreal. The letter is dated New Caledonia, May 1st, 1809, and after a few remarks on other matters, Mr. Quesnel goes on to say: “There are places in the north where, notwithstanding the disadvantages of the country in general, it is possible sometimes to enjoy one’s self; but here nothing is to be found but hardship and loneliness. Far away from every one, we do not have the pleasure of getting news from the other places. We live entirely upon salmon dried in the sun by the Indians, who also use the same food, for there are no animals, and we would often be without shoes did we not procure leather from the Peace River.
“I must now tell you that I went exploring this summer with Messrs. Simon Fraser and John Stuart, whom you have met, I believe. We were accompanied by twelve men, and with three canoes went down the river, that until now was thought to be the Columbia. Soon finding the river unnavigable, we left our canoes and continued on foot through awful mountains, which we never could have passed had we not been helped by the Indians, who received us well. After having passed all those bad places, not without much hardship, as you may imagine, we found the river once more navigable, and got into wooden canoes and continued our journey more comfortably as far as the mouth of this river in the Pacific Ocean. Once there, as we prepared to go farther, the Indians of that place, who were numerous, opposed our passage, and we were very fortunate in being able to withdraw without being in the necessity of killing or being killed. We were well received by all the other Indians on our way back, and we all reached our New Caledonia in good health. The mouth of this river is in latitude 49°, nearly 3° north of the real Columbia. This trip procured no advantage to the company, and will never be of any, as the river is not navigable. But our aim in making the trip was attained, so that we cannot blame ourselves in any manner.”
This letter throws some light on the history of this period, and shows whence the names of certain rivers and lakes of British Columbia were derived. It would be in place here to say that when Mackenzie first came to the Fraser River, after crossing the watershed from the Peace River, he entertained the idea that he was on the Columbia.
A few years later, the agents of the fur companies had established certain routes and passages across the mountains, which they were accustomed to follow more or less regularly in their annual or semi-annual journeys. One of the largest of these early parties to traverse the Rockies was under the management of Mr. Ross Cox, who was returning from Astoria in the year 1817. There were, in all, eighty-six persons in his party, representing many nationalities outside of the various Indians and some Sandwich Islanders.
A striking incident in connection with this expedition illustrates the hazard and danger which at all times attended these journeys through the wilderness. The party had pursued their way up the Columbia River, and were now on the point of leaving their canoes and proceeding on foot up the course of the Canoe River, a stream that flows southward and enters the Columbia not far from the Athabasca Pass. The indescribable toil of their passage up the Columbia, and the many laborious portages, had sapped the strength of the men and rendered some of them wellnigh helpless. Under these circumstances, it seemed best that some of the weakest should not attempt to pursue their journey farther, but should return down the Columbia. There were seven in this party, of whom only two were able to work, but it was hoped that the favorable current would carry them rapidly towards Spokane, where there was a post established. An air of foreboding and melancholy settled upon some of those who were about to depart, and some prophesied that they would never again see Canada, a prediction that proved only too true. In Ross Cox’s Adventures on the Columbia River the record of their disastrous return is thus vividly related:
“On leaving the Rocky Mountains, they drove rapidly down the current until they arrived at the Upper Dalles, or narrows, where they were obliged to disembark. A cod-line was made fast to the stern of the canoe, while two men with poles preceded it along the banks to keep it from striking against the rocks. It had not descended more than half the distance, when it was caught in a strong whirlpool, and the line snapped. The canoe for a moment disappeared in the vortex, on emerging from which it was carried by the irresistible force of the current to the opposite side, and dashed to pieces against the rocks. They had not had the prudence to take out either their blankets or a small quantity of provisions, which were, of course, all lost. Here, then, the poor fellows found themselves, deprived of all the necessaries of life, and at a period of the year in which it was impossible to procure any wild fruit or roots. To return to the mountains was impossible, and their only chance of preservation was to proceed downwards, and to keep as near the banks of the river as circumstances would permit. The continual rising of the water had completely inundated the beach, in consequence of which they were compelled to force their way through an almost impervious forest, the ground of which was covered with a strong growth of prickly underwood. Their only nourishment was water, owing to which, and their weakness from fatigue and ill-health, their progress was necessarily slow. On the third day poor Maçon died, and his surviving comrades, though unconscious how soon they might be called to follow him, determined to keep off the fatal moment as long as possible. They therefore divided his remains in equal parts between them, on which they subsisted for some days. From the swollen state of their feet their daily progress did not exceed two or three miles. Holmes, the tailor, shortly followed Maçon, and they continued for some time longer to sustain life on his emaciated body. It would be a painful repetition to detail the individual death of each man. Suffice it to say that, in a little time, of the seven men, two only, named La Pierre and Dubois, remained alive. La Pierre was subsequently found on the borders of the upper lake of the Columbia by two Indians who were coasting it in a canoe. They took him on board, and brought him to the Kettle Falls, whence he was conducted to Spokane House.”
“He stated that after the death of the fifth man of the party, Dubois and he continued for some days at the spot where he had ended his sufferings, and, on quitting it, they loaded themselves with as much of his flesh as they could carry; that with this they succeeded in reaching the upper lake, round the shores of which they wandered for some time in vain, in search of Indians; that their horrid food at length became exhausted, and they were again reduced to the prospect of starvation; that on the second night after their last meal, he (La Pierre) observed something suspicious in the conduct of Dubois, which induced him to be on his guard; and that shortly after they had lain down for the night, and while he feigned sleep, he observed Dubois cautiously opening his clasp knife, with which he sprang on him, and inflicted on his hand the blow that was evidently intended for his neck. A silent and desperate conflict followed, in which, after severe struggling, La Pierre succeeded in wresting the knife from his antagonist, and, having no other resource left, he was obliged in self-defence to cut Dubois’s throat; and that a few days afterwards he was discovered by the Indians as before mentioned. Thus far nothing at first appeared to impugn the veracity of his statement; but some other natives subsequently found the remains of two of the party near those of Dubois, mangled in such a manner as to induce them to think that they had been murdered; and as La Pierre’s story was by no means consistent in many of its details, the proprietors judged it advisable to transmit him to Canada for trial. Only one Indian attended; but as the testimony against him was merely circumstantial, and was unsupported by corroborating evidence, he was acquitted.”
Meanwhile the greater part of this expedition continued their way through the mountains by the Athabasca Pass. Here, when surrounded by all the glory and grandeur of lofty mountains clad in eternal snow and icy glaciers, and amid the frequent crash and roar of descending avalanches, one of the voyageurs exclaimed, after a long period of silent wonder and admiration—“I’ll take my oath, my dear friends, that God Almighty never made such a place.”
On the summit of the Athabasca Pass they were on the Atlantic side of the watershed, and here let us take leave of them while they pursue their toilsome journey across the great plains of Canada to the eastern side of the continent.