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Title: The Washington Historical Quarterly, Volume V, 1914
Author: Various
Editor: Edmond S. Meany
Release Date: May 27, 2014 [EBook #45779]
Language: English
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The Washington Historical Quarterly
VOLUME V.
1914
THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
UNIVERSITY STATION
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
The Washington Historical Quarterly
Board of Editors
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, Seattle.
W. D. LYMAN, Walla Walla.
J. N. BOWMAN, Seattle.
T. C. ELLIOTT, Walla Walla.
FRANK A. GOLDER, Pullman.
CEYLON S. KINGSTON, Cheney.
EDWARD MCMAHON, Seattle.
THOMAS W. PROSCH, Seattle.
OLIVER H. RICHARDSON, Seattle.
O. B. SPERLIN, Tacoma.
E. O. S. SCHOLEFIELD, Victoria, B. C.
ALLEN WEIR, Olympia.
Managing Editor
EDMOND S. MEANY
Business Manager
CHARLES W. SMITH
VOL V, NO. 1 JANUARY, 1914
_ISSUED QUARTERLY_
Contents
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY George Wilkes 3
LEWIS H. ST. JOHN The Present Status and Probable
Future of the Indians of Puget
Sound 12
THOMAS W. PROSCH The Pioneer Dead of 1913 22
W. J. TRIMBLE American and British Treatment of
the Indians in the Pacific
Northwest 32
DOCUMENTS--An Indignation Meeting Over Chief Leschi 55
BOOK REVIEWS 57
NEWS DEPARTMENT 66
NORTHWESTERN HISTORY SYLLABUS 69
REPRINT DEPARTMENT--George Wilkes: History of Oregon, Geographical,
Geological, and Political (New York, Colyer, 1845) 72
THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
UNIVERSITY STATION
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Entered at the Post-office at Seattle as second-class mail matter.
The Washington University
State Historical Society
* * * * *
Officers and Board of Trustees:
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, President
JUDGE JOHN P. HOYT, Vice-President
JUDGE ROGER S. GREENE, Treasurer
PROFESSOR EDMOND S. MEANY, Secretary
JUDGE CORNELIUS H. HANFORD
JUDGE THOMAS BURKE
SAMUEL HILL
PRINTING DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
_Vol. V. No. 1 January, 1914_
The
Washington Historical Quarterly
GEORGE WILKES
The republication of George Wilkes' History of Oregon, begun in the
Quarterly in October, 1906, is completed in the present issue.
In several ways the book or pamphlet is of much historical importance.
It was prepared by a journalist rather than a historian, and with
a sincere desire to give accurate information regarding the Oregon
Country and the best means of getting there, and without expectation of
gain in its publication.
At a time when railroads and railroading were in their infancy, Mr.
Wilkes was among the first to realize the importance of long and
connecting lines of rail communication, and so far as I have been
able to ascertain was the first to publicly advocate the building of
a line from the Atlantic to the Pacific by the National Government.
He argued against land grants or subsidies to private individuals or
corporations. The government ownership of the proposed road was the
central idea of part I of the book. It was published in New York in
1845. In 1847 he published another pamphlet entitled "Proposal for a
National Rail-Road to the Pacific Ocean, for the Purpose of Obtaining a
Short Route to Oregon and the Indies." The latter repeated many of the
arguments of the earlier work, in fact had little new material. Both
are exceedingly scarce at the present day.
In the preface to the book, Wilkes says: "The second part of the work
consists of a journal, prepared from a series of letters, written by
a gentleman now in Oregon, who himself accompanied the celebrated
emigrating expedition of 1843. They make no pretensions in their
style, but are merely simple, conversational epistles, which in their
familiar, offhand way, furnish a large amount of useful practical
information to the emigrant, and much interesting matter to the general
reader. The author has done scarcely more to this portion than to
throw it into chapters, and to strike from it such historical and
geographical statistics as had been drawn from other sources, and
arranged in the preceding portions of the work. These letters fell into
his hands after the adoption and commencement of his original design;
and adapting them to his purpose, by linking them with his own mss., a
deal of research was saved him by the valuable and peculiar information
they contributed."
Mr. Wilkes did not disclose the name of the writer of the letters, and
in fact their authorship was never formally announced, but internal
evidence proves they were written by Peter H. Burnett.
Mr. Burnett was born in Nashville, Tennessee, November 15, 1807. The
family removed to Missouri in 1817. He was almost entirely self-taught,
as in his childhood and youth he had little opportunity of going to
school. When about 26 years of age he began the study of law, but
continued in other business until in 1839 he abandoned mercantile
pursuits and began the practice of law. In 1842 he determined to go to
Oregon. May 8, 1843, he left his home in Weston, Missouri, with two ox
wagons, one small two-horse wagon, four yoke of oxen, two mules, and a
fair supply of provisions. He had a wife and six children. They arrived
at the rendezvous, some twelve miles west of Independence, just across
the state line and in the Indian country, on the 17th of May. Five days
later a general start was made and this historic migration was begun.
An excellent account of the trip is given in Part II of Wilkes' History.
Mr. Burnett was quite prominent in Oregon affairs until 1848, when he
was attracted to California by its rich gold fields, and after a time
he sent for his family to join him there.
In August, 1849, he was chosen one of the Judges of the Supreme
Tribunal of California, and on the 13th of November of that year he
was elected Governor. The Constitutional Convention had been held in
September and October. California was admitted a state September 9,
1850. Governor Burnett sent in his resignation in January, 1851, and
resumed the practice of law. In 1857-8 he served as a Justice of the
Supreme Court of the State. Later he engaged in the banking business.
In 1880 there was issued from the press of D. Appleton & Co. the
"Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer," written by Mr. Burnett.
It is an extremely interesting narrative of his life in Missouri,
Oregon and California, and valuable for its history of pioneer life on
the Pacific Coast.
In the annual address before the Oregon Pioneers at Portland, in April,
1895, appears the following:
"Perhaps the demise of no one has attracted more widespread attention
nor caused deeper sorrow on the Pacific Coast than the death of the
late Peter H. Burnett, the first Governor of California, and an Oregon
Pioneer of 1843, who had served in the legislature and was one of the
justices of the supreme court."
Jesse Applegate was the only other gentleman who was with the 1843
immigration who might possibly have written the letters, but they
contain dates, locations and facts that make sure the declaration that
Burnett wrote them.
A discussion between William I. Marshall, the author of the
"Acquisition of Oregon," and Professor Schafer, of the University of
Oregon, regarding this book, the authorship of its letters, etc., was
published in the Oregonian in 1903. Both gentleman seem to have agreed
that letters written by Mr. Burnett and by him sent to the New York
Herald for publication formed the basis of Part II of Wilkes' book,
but they disagreed as to the value of the work as an "Original Source"
of history. References to places and affairs in Oregon were quoted in
substantiation of their conclusions. In this connection both gentlemen
seem to have overlooked a paragraph on page 113 that, to my mind, is
more nearly conclusive than the others, as follows:
"The more extended political organization of which I before spoke, is
about to take place, and I was waited upon two or three days ago by a
party from the Falls, to consult upon a plan of general territorial
government, with a legislature of two houses, and a Chief Justice
for its first executive officer. This arrangement will embrace
all the settlements of the valley into one common government, the
representatives of which will convene in general congress, at stated
periods, at Multnomah or Oregon City, and there transact all the
necessary business for our little body politic. When this plan is
adopted, (as it doubtless will immediately be) it will perhaps, be the
peculiar honor of your humble servant, to sit in a curule chair of the
first Republican Government beyond the Rocky Mountains. We shall then
be able to make our own laws, and likewise do our own voting and our
own fighting."
A few months later Mr. Burnett was chosen Chief Justice of Oregon,
under its provisional government, thus fulfilling the prediction in his
letter above quoted.
Wilkes must have written considerable of Part II of his book before
acquiring the letters, and then instead of rewriting it he tried to
work in the letters. In some places this was quite clumsily done.
The first chapter is nearly all fictitious, both in names and facts.
Robbins, Smith, Harris, Baker, Brown, McFarley, Wayne and Dumberton
were not members of the party, and near the bottom of page 65 Burnett
is introduced to Peter H. Burnett. Why Wilkes should have failed to
give the name of the writer is unexplainable. In minor details it
was often inaccurate, but in important facts and in giving intending
emigrants information about Oregon and those on the way there valuable
facts about roads, fords, grass, distances, etc., it was reliable.
Commenting upon the road from the upper waters of the Sweetwater to
Fort Hall, Professor Schafer says: "When we inquire into what motive
could have induced Wilkes to deliberately deceive his readers with
reference to this piece of road, only one natural answer suggests
itself. He evidently was doing it in the interest of his railroad
scheme."
The writer remembers vividly that part of the road in 1852. A lad of
eight years, in common with the women and other children of the party,
he trudged afoot along many weary miles of this road, up and down many
long and, to his mind, interminable hills, through the biting frost of
early morn and the torrid heat of midday, and he can testify to its
roughness and manifold difficulties.
Against Prof. Schafer's comment I wish to protest most emphatically.
Mr. Wilkes was a man of high ideals, of lofty public spirit. It was
impossible for him to "deliberately deceive" anyone. To attempt
deceit carries with it unworthy or dishonest motives. A reader of
Wilkes' writings, his books, pamphlets and newspapers, will find an
entire absence of selfishness or wish for private gain or personal
aggrandizement at the expense of anyone.
One writer has described the style of the book as "flamboyant," which
is doubtless true, but greater faults than this can readily be forgiven
one not more than twenty-seven years of age who devotes his splendid
talents, his time and his money to the exploitation of a colossal
national improvement that for the period of seventy years ago was of
infinitely more importance to the United States, and especially to
the Pacific Coast, than the Panama Canal of today. By most people his
proposal was thought more impossible of achievement than today would
be an effort to establish a line of airships between the earth and the
moon. He was a little more than twenty years in advance of his time.
The first transcontinental line was completed in 1869 and the scandals
that followed its construction served to prove Wilkes' contention about
the unwisdom of subsidizing railroads by land grants or money and still
permitting private ownership of them.
Particular importance attaches to this book for another reason. The
migration of 1843, consisting of about 900 men, women and children,
who brought with them large numbers of horses and cattle, fruit trees,
etc., was the first large one. It strengthened the hands of the men
who had at all times demanded that the claims of Great Britain to any
part of Old Oregon south of latitude 49 degrees should be resisted
at all hazards, by force of arms if necessary. The speeches of Linn,
Benton, Calhoun, Webster, Clay and nearly all the notable men of the
period between 1819 and 1846 show a surprising knowledge of the soil,
climate, productions of land and water, its commercial advantages and
all the varied details of the grazing and agricultural possibilities of
Old Oregon. The record shows that these matters were familiar to these
great men before an American missionary or American settler had reached
Oregon.
Until many years later no member of that migration published an account
of it except these letters to the Herald and fragmentary notes from
others. The journals of Burnett and others, so far as they have been
given to the public, were jotted down from time to time by men wearied
by unremitting toil, who had no time or disposition to record more than
the briefest itinerary of the day. Therefore, with all its faults,
Wilkes' book is of priceless value as a memorial to Congress about the
Oregon of that period and the history of its local events and men of
seventy years ago.
To one familiar, as was the writer of this paper, with the remarkable
editorials appearing in the Spirit of the Times during all the Civil
War period, with their vigorous English, their fervent loyalty and
lofty patriotism, the style of the book is not comparable, but in
giving the salient facts about the migration and the conditions then
existing in the Willamette Valley it is so accurate that an occasional
slip of the pen can be readily condoned.
At the time of his death, which occurred September 23, 1885, the New
York Herald and the Times each devoted nearly a column to his obituary
and other newspapers of that city and other Atlantic cities made more
or less extended mention of him and his life.
The Librarian of the New York Public Library has furnished me with
photostat reproductions of the obituaries of Mr. Wilkes published by
the New York Herald and Times and the Spirit of the Times. The latter
article, dated September 26, 1885, is given in full below:
"We regret to record the death, in this city, on Wednesday, of George
Wilkes, one of the founders and proprietors of The Spirit of The
Times, and for many years its sole editor. Mr. Wilkes joined the staff
of this paper when it was called Porter's Spirit. A division of the
proprietorship having occurred, he continued its publication under
the title of Wilkes' Spirit until 1866, when his name was dropped. He
lived abroad for several years, in the enjoyment of an ample income,
which enabled him to indulge his cultivated tastes, and returned here
a few months ago, as if he felt some premonition of his approaching
death, and desired to rest in his native land, which he loved
enthusiastically and served zealously.
"George Wilkes was, in his way, one of the foremost American
journalists. He not only founded the greatest paper of its class which
this country has ever possessed, but he made it, during the Civil War,
as tremendous a power in national politics as it has always been in
the departments to which it is more particularly devoted. Among such
giants of journalism as James Gordon Bennett, Horace Greeley, Henry J.
Raymond, Charles A. Dana and William Cullen Bryant--of whom only Mr.
Dana now remains to us--Mr. Wilkes held an equal place by virtue of
his remarkable talents. They had daily papers in which to address the
public; his paper was published only once a week; but they all conceded
the vigor and brilliancy of his writing and his articles in The Spirit
were republished so extensively that their circulation may be said to
have been world wide. His editorials during the War were regularly
reprinted in the Tribune and some of them were read in Congress. His
advice was asked and followed by President Lincoln and the members of
his famous Cabinet. Having convinced himself that General McClellan was
inefficient, Mr. Wilkes fairly wrote him out of the command of the Army
of the Potomac. He was largely instrumental in bringing Grant to take
charge of our Eastern armies. He was on most intimate terms with the
leading statesmen and generals of the Union.
"Mr. Wilkes went to the front at the outbreak of the Rebellion and
witnessed and described for The Spirit the battle of Bull Run. In the
concluding words of that report he gave the keynote for all patriots
by stating that the South had fought so well as to be worthy of being
brought back into the Union. Throughout the magnificent series of
letters and editorials which illuminated the pages of The Spirit this
was the text which Mr. Wilkes enforced. He never displayed toward
the misguided men who were trying to break up the Union the bitter
animosity with which he hunted down the incompetent leaders of the
Union side, whose incapacity delayed the restoration of peace and
unity. He never doubted the ultimate salvation of the Republic, but he
was righteously impatient with those who did not share his faith and
agree with him in his opinions of men and measures. He labored ardently
to hasten the triumph of the Union as any soldier in the field--as
General Grant himself. If he made any mistakes they were on the side
of patriotism and were due to his anxiety to hurry on the inevitable
victory. One mistake of his in regard to General Fitz John Porter cost
that officer his condemnation by Court Martial and nearly cost him
his life. But Mr. Wilkes lived to see this error redeemed by the full
justice done to General Porter in The Spirit, by Grant, by Congress
and by the American people. In the fever and fury of a Civil War such
injustices could scarcely be altogether avoided; but Mr. Wilkes went
with our armies, saw personally the matters which he criticised, and,
in McClellan's camp on the Peninsula, caught the disease which has
finally resulted in his decease.
"George Wilkes has been so long absent from editorial connection with
The Spirit that his death will not affect it in any way. But, like all
strong individualities, he has left a permanent impression upon the
paper which he so long conducted. His energetic and splendid style of
writing elevated the journalism of sports from the slipslop methods of
his predecessors. He attempted to banish slang from every department
of The Spirit and he succeeded. In Shakespeare he found a living well
of English undefiled and there he sought for strength and purity of
diction. After his retirement from practical journalism, he wrote a
commentary upon Shakespeare which is remarkable for its original views
and theories. But Mr. Wilkes felt that the work of his life had ended
with the Civil War and that thereafter he might take such enjoyment as
his broken health permitted. He made business arrangements which left
him free to live or travel wherever he pleased and independent of all
cares and responsibilities. Never afraid of death and boldly facing it
a hundred times in the discharge of what he believed to be his duty, he
finally died at home, peacefully and fearlessly."
Allibone's Dictionary of Authors, Vol. 3, p. 2720, quotes the
following: "New York, April 28, 1870.--George Wilkes, the proprietor of
the Spirit of the Times, has received from the Emperor of Russia the
Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stanislas, as a recognition for the
suggestion made to the Russian Government in reference to an overland
railway to China and India by way of Russia. This mark of royal favor
entitles the holder to have his male children at the Military School of
Russia at the expense of the State."
This great honor from the Russian Government came to him about a
quarter century after he had been made the object of jest and ridicule
for a similar suggestion backed by sound argument for a railroad across
the United States. Scriptural comment: "A prophet is not without honor
save in his own country."
The New York Times said of him that when the Civil War broke out Wilkes
wrote a series of newspaper and magazine articles on the burning
question of the hour that attracted wide attention, and gained him the
friendship of many prominent men. Secretary Stanton took a personal
interest in him, and gave him a great deal of literary work to do
in Washington. His articles were very vigorous, well written, and
patriotic. They commanded a wide influence, and besides strengthening
the attachment of the author to people who had heretofore been
his friends, they had the effect of subduing the belligerence and
increasing the caution of his enemies.
In April, 1860, Frank Leslie's "Illustrated Newspaper" published a
photograph of him and a brief but complimentary note about him.
In 1849 Mr. Wilkes went to California with David C. Broderick, who
afterward became U. S. Senator from that State. Wilkes took great
interest in the political fortunes of Broderick, and rendered him
valuable services. In 1851 he returned to New York and resumed his
career as a journalist.
Early pioneers will remember the wave of indignation that swept over
the Pacific Coast when it was known that Broderick had been killed in
a duel with David S. Terry. The latter became widely known as Judge
Terry, whose tragic death while attempting to murder Justice Field is
comparatively recent California history.
The fatal meeting took place September 13, 1859, and Broderick died
three days later. Volumes have been written about this duel. It was
quite generally believed it was the result of a conspiracy among the
leaders of the ultra slaveholding wing of the then dominant party in
the State to get rid of Broderick at all hazards.
Broderick's great friendship became apparent when his will was made
public. An estate valued at $300,000 was all left to Wilkes, except one
legacy of $10,000. Considerable litigation between him and the State of
California ensued. The ultimate verdict was in favor of the legatee,
but the estate had shrunk a good deal on account of the heavy costs of
the law suit.
Under date of Washington, September 9, 1913, the Librarian of Congress
gave me the following list of the writings of George Wilkes so far as
he had been able to find them:
Europe in a Hurry. New York, H. Long & Brother, 1853. 449 pp.
The Great Battle, Fought at Manassas, Between the Federal Forces, under
Gen. McDowell, and the Rebels, under Gen. Beauregard, Sunday, July 21,
1861. From notes taken on the spot. New York, Brown & Ryan, 1861. 36 pp.
History of California. New York, 1845. (Note.--It is doubtful if this
book was published, as it is not in the Library of Congress and I have
never seen a reference to it.--C. B. B.)
The History of Oregon, Geographical and political. New York, W. H.
Collyer, 1845. 128 pp.
The Internationale; its principles and purposes. Being a sequel to the
Defence of the Commune. New York, 1871. 23 pp.
The Lives of Helen Jewett and Richard Robinson. New York, H. Long &
Brother, 1849. 132 pp.
McClellan; from Ball's Bluff to Antietam. New York, S. Tousey, 1863. 40
pp.
"McClellan"; who he is and "what he has done," and "Little Mac; from
Ball's Bluff to Antietam." Both in one. New York, The American News
Company, 1864. 14 pp.
Project of a National Rail-Road from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean
for the Purpose of Obtaining a Short Route to Oregon and the Indies.
2nd ed. Republished from the "History of Oregon." New York, The Author,
1845. 23 pp.
Proposal for a National Rail-Road to the Pacific Ocean, for the Purpose
of Obtaining a Short Route to Oregon and the Indies. 4th ed. Rev. and
repub. from the "History of Oregon." New York, D. Adee, 1847. 24 pp.
Shakespeare from an American Point of View. New York, D. Appleton, 1877.
The Mysteries of the Tombs, a Journal of Thirty Days' Imprisonment in
the New York City Prison for Libel. New York, 1844, 64 pp.
Wilkes, George, vs. John F. Chamberlin. N. Y. Supreme Court. The answer
of John F. Chamberlin to the complaint of George Wilkes in an action
to recover damages for defamation of character. New York, W. J. Reed,
1873. (Diplomatic Pamphlets, v. 16, p. 1.) 15 pp.
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY.
THE PRESENT STATUS AND PROBABLE FUTURE OF THE INDIANS OF PUGET SOUND
The central fact to be observed in dealing with this problem is that
the Indian of today is largely what the white man has made him. The
relationship between the whites and the Indians in the past has done
more than any other thing to bring about the present conditions of life
among the Indians; and it is only as we understand this relationship
of the past that we can fully grasp the present status and can catch a
glimpse of the probable future or learn to apply remedies to eradicate
existing evils. What progress the Indian has made, therefore, toward
civilization can be traced directly to his relations with the whites,
and similarly the evil conditions of life among a great number of our
Indians can be traced to the same cause. It is, then, essential to take
particular notice of some of these relations between the two races.
The Indians of Puget Sound were put on reservations by treaties
concluded between them and Governor Isaac I. Stevens in the latter part
of the fifties. These treaties established eighteen reservations, four
in the Neah Bay agency, nine under the Puyallup consolidated agency
and five under the Tulalip agency. The lands were set aside for the
use of the Indian, to make a home for him, and to protect it from the
encroachment of the whites. Under the federal act of July 4, 1884,
the Indian was allowed to take advantage, without severing his tribal
relations, of the Homestead Act of 1862. In 1887, Congress passed the
General Allotment Act, or the so-called Dawes Act, which had for its
purpose the breaking up of tribal life and establishing the Indians
on private farms according to the customs of the whites. This is by
far the most important piece of legislation enacted in the history of
Indian affairs, because many complications have arisen under it. This
law states, in part: "Every Indian born within the territorial limits
of the United States to whom allotment shall have been made under the
provisions of this Act, or under any law or treaty, and every Indian
born within the territorial limits of the United States, who has
voluntarily taken up, within said limits, his residence separate and
apart from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of
civilized life, is hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States
and is entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of such
citizens." (24 Stat. L. 390.)
It must be noted that this made such an Indian a citizen of the United
States, but not necessarily a citizen of the state in which he resided.
The Constitution of the State of Washington declares that Indians not
taxed shall not vote, and the penal code of the State makes it a felony
to induce an Indian to vote--in spite of the fact that such class
legislation and class restrictions are clearly not in harmony with the
intentions of this federal law.
This Act has worked inestimable harm and has been one chief instrument
of political and pecuniary graft through conferring citizenship under
conditions which in no way required or evidenced the slightest fitness
for citizenship. Charles M. Buchanan, Superintendent in charge of the
Tulalip agency, said: "I know of instances where allotments have been
made to an Indian without his application, without his knowledge, and
without his desire--where in twenty-five years he has never set foot
upon his alleged land, does not know where it is and does not want it.
He is in possession of land that he does not want and a citizenship
that he does not know, much less understand." It is difficult to
attribute mere sympathy for the poor unprotected red man, as the
only purpose for the enactment of such an ignorant, vicious piece of
legislation. This Act, probably more than any other one thing, has
determined the present-day status of our Puget Sound Indians.
Another complication which arose under this Dawes Act was the
conflicting and antagonistic procedure on the part of local courts in
regard to the transfer and sale of lands. Section 6 of that Act states
that allotments shall be held in trust for a period of twenty-five
years and the Indian allottees are to acquire citizenship at the time
of the approval of such allotments. Also the inheritance or entail of
allotments is made subject to the laws of descent and partition in
the respective states where such allotments might be located. This
provision, together with the Act of May 27, 1902 (32 Stat. L., 245),
authorizing and providing for the sale of allotments of deceased
allottees, has resulted in great confusion and conflicting procedure
in local courts, thus making still more difficult the already complex
administration of Indian affairs and impeding the progress of the
Indian as a whole.
These developments of the vicious conditions arising under the Dawes
Act pale into insignificance before the United States Supreme Court
decision, "In the matter of Heff," 1905. This, famous or infamous,
case arose in Kansas from the endeavor to enforce the federal law of
1897 relating to the sale of liquor to the Indians. A man named Heff,
in Kansas, was arrested, tried and convicted for selling two quarts of
beer to an Indian. He was sentenced to a fine and to a term in jail.
He had the case appealed to the United States Supreme Court, and that
body decided that if, under the Dawes Act of 1887, an Indian becomes
a citizen of the United States, he is entitled to all the rights,
privileges and immunities pertaining to such citizenship, and hence to
acquire and consume liquor at pleasure. Therefore, to that extent the
prohibitory provisions of the Act of 1897, affecting such privileges,
were declared to be null and void, and Heff was ordered to be released.
This has been the most vicious piece of legislation in the history of
Indian affairs. The worst enemy of the Indian is his overpowering love
for liquor. Congress has attempted again and again to protect him from
this weakness, and in the Act of 1897 it was thought that this trouble
was at an end with the enacting of such an ironclad law. It practically
prohibited the furnishing of liquor in any form, in any place, and
under any pretense to an Indian. The year following the Heff decision
saw an increase of the liquor traffic among the Indians of Puget Sound
undreamed of before. It spelled almost absolute ruin and prostration
for the Puyallup Indians. Other agencies report a similar striking
increase in the amount of drunkenness, crime, and death, and a marked
lowering of moral standards and civilization. Even some of the more
intelligent men of the Tulalip tribes express their sorrow over the
Heff decision and its results.
On May 8, 1906, Congress attempted to remedy these evil conditions
arising under the Dawes Act by passing the Burke Act. This amends the
Dawes Act to read, "At the expiration of the trust period and when the
lands have been conveyed to the Indians by patent in fee, as provided
in Section five of this act, then each and every allottee shall have
the benefit of and be subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of
the state or territory in which they may reside; Provided, that the
Secretary of the Interior, may, in his discretion, and he is hereby
authorized, whenever he shall be satisfied that any Indian allottee
is competent and capable of managing his or her affairs at any time
to cause to be issued to such allottee a patent in fee simple, and
thereafter all restrictions as to sale, incumbrance, or taxation
of said land shall be removed and said land shall not be liable to
the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the issuing of
such patent." (34 Stat. L. 182). This postpones the acquisition of
citizenship until the termination (instead of the initiation) of the
trust period. This can, however, only apply to such allotments as have
been made, or shall be made, subsequent to May 8, 1906. It cannot undo
the evils resulting from the past.
It would be sad indeed if this were the only aspect of the Indian
question. There is, however, a brighter side. Great progress has been
made in civilization through contact with the whites. The simple,
primitive, uneducated child of Nature is a thing of the past. The Puget
Sound Indian of today has discarded many of his tribal customs and
habits and adopted those of the whites. Reservation reports show that
nearly all have adopted the white man's dress, can speak the English
language more or less, and have adopted a great many American customs,
manners of living, and institutions. The occupations of the men are
practically the same as those of the whites. They engage in fishing,
truck gardening, stock raising, and some work in the logging camps,
lumber mills, and hop fields. They are, however, as a rule, extremely
shiftless, preferring to sell their land outright and get the money
rather than to clear it and make it their home. Each year, however, a
few more homes are made. These are quite like those found among the
whites of a similar social status.
One of the big obstacles with which the Puget Sound Indian is
contending at the present time is found in the conditions of the
fishing industry. Owing to the very rapid increase in importance of
this industry, through the use of traps, together with concentration of
capital and consolidation of the canning plants, the salmon fisheries,
which are the chief means of subsistence of the coast Indians, are
being rapidly monopolized. The means of obtaining a living are,
therefore, becoming daily more precarious, particularly among the older
Indians. The stock of fish is being depleted so rapidly that there is
an increasing demand for more and larger hatcheries. The white man,
with superior intelligence and more capital, is gradually crowding
the unfortunate Indian out of his time-honored occupation. The same
thing may be said in regard to the logging industry. The ignorant
Indian, without capital, cannot compete successfully with the superior
intelligence and greater wealth of his white neighbor. This makes the
matter of employment and subsistence extremely precarious and forms one
of the biggest problems that confronts us today in regard to Indian
affairs.
Perhaps one of the best and most hopeful signs of progress is the
growing interest and rapid improvement in education. Each of the Indian
reservations is provided with one or more day schools and the Puyallup
and Tulalip agencies have industrial training schools. These latter
especially are doing very efficient and creditable work. They are
fitting the new generation of Indians for a life of usefulness. Very
few of the older generations can be induced to clear and farm their
lands, but the time has now come when this is the only practicable
thing for them to do and so the purpose of the schools should be to
fit the rising generation for a life occupation. These two industrial
schools are meeting this task very efficiently. The Tulalip school
ground was cleared mostly by the pupils themselves. Recently the
Government has provided them with a donkey engine. A large plot of
ground is set out to fruit and vegetables. A sufficient amount of
garden products is produced on this to supply the entire school, and
besides a large amount is sold. At the same time, valuable instruction
is given to the boys in fruit raising and truck growing. In 1908 a
large mill and manual training building were erected entirely by school
help. Pupil self-government is used in connection with the discipline
of the school. The officers include mayor, city clerk, city council,
health officer, policeman and judges. The system seems to be capably
managed and good results are produced.
The day schools are experiencing a great deal more difficulty. The
allotments are so far apart that there are, necessarily, but few
families close to the schools. The remainder of the children are
compelled to come a long way. This, together with the bad, rainy
climate of Puget Sound, makes the enforcement of attendance at day
schools a very difficult problem. These factors make the attendance
uncertain and irregular, and when the pupils do go they are often
compelled to sit all day long with wet clothing. Such conditions are
enough to break down the strongest constitutions. What wonder is it,
then, that the death rate is high among the Indian children, who are
often poorly fed, poorly clad and already predisposed. Then, too, to
be efficiently administered these schools require a strong, capable,
well-trained teacher, one imbued with the true missionary spirit. Such
teachers are not, as a rule, found in the Indian service, and the
salaries are not usually large enough to attract them into the service
from outside. On the whole, however, it must be said that progress in
the right direction is slowly being accomplished. Better teachers and a
larger number of well-equipped schools are being supplied.
In a great many cases, it is a difficult undertaking to influence the
older people to change their customs and habits, although the rising
generation do so very readily. Some progress can be noted among the
old people, however. For example, over three-fourths of the families
on the Lummi reservation use the English language exclusively at home,
and in a great many cases the children can speak nothing but English.
The Indians have given up a great many of their forms and ceremonies
and superstitions. Marriage is now performed according to the customs
of the whites. Licenses are obtained usually from the county officials,
seldom from the agency. Each reservation has individual courts of
Indian offenses, officered and administered by Indians. These, on the
whole, have done very careful, conscientious and helpful work, not only
in the administration of justice, but in maintaining law and order and
peaceably adjusting quarrels and disputes.
The morals of the Indians of Puget Sound are as good as could
reasonably be expected when we take into consideration our ignorant,
unwholesome legislation and the fact that, as a race, laxness in this
respect has been only too common. Contact with the lower class of
whites has unfortunately resulted in the copying of a great many of
their vices, as well as virtues. Some progress can be noted, however.
They are observing the marriage tie with much more faithfulness than
formerly, and where man and wife are not living together, they are
divorced by due process of law.
The Heff decision has undoubtedly done much toward sending the Indian
down to destruction. Since then it has been almost impossible to keep
drink and the Indians apart. The Puyallup Indians have nearly all
passed the trust period and become citizens, as, in fact, have a good
many on the other reservations. Since that time they have lost their
property, self-respect, and health to a large degree. The only thing
they haven't been able to get rid of is their citizenship, which has
been largely responsible for their present condition. Superintendent
Buchanan reports in 1907, in speaking of the enforcement of our state
laws in regard to liquor selling, "In thirteen years of life in
this vicinity I have yet to see or hear of the first case of actual
enforcement of any of these provisions. In six years of very vigorous
prosecution I have secured remarkably few convictions in such cases,
and these only on pleas of guilty, and in all of which the minimum
penalty was inflicted. Indeed, the situation is so very extraordinary
that one is not always sure of a conviction even when the defendant
admits his guilt and pleads guilty. In one such case, which went before
the federal grand jury on such a plea of guilt, the jury, with all the
facts before them, and with the defendant admitting guilt and pointing
out and identifying the confiscated bottles and flasks, turned the
prisoner loose as innocent, even though he insisted that he was guilty.
This very extraordinary event occurred in Seattle before the May, 1905,
session of the Federal Grand Jury." (Page 58, Report of Indian Agents
and Superintendents to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1907.) Is it any
wonder, then, that liquor dealers violate the law with impunity when it
is such a difficult matter to secure conviction?
In 1909, the State of Washington passed a very stringent law relating
to the selling of liquor to Indians and since that time, enforcement
has been somewhat stricter. This makes it a felony for anyone to sell
liquor in any form, at any time, and under any pretense, to an Indian,
to whom allotment has been made, while the title is held in the trust
period, or to an Indian who is held under guardianship of an Indian
agent or superintendent, or under the charge of the United States. This
law is being much more rigidly enforced than has hitherto been the
case, yet the Indians still get the liquor. Saloon keepers in towns
bordering on the reservations are wary about selling it to them, but in
towns some distance from the reservations open selling still goes on.
On the whole, our liquor laws are more honored in the breach than the
observance.
The consumption of such a large amount of liquor in the past has, in
a great many cases, absolutely destroyed the health of the Indians.
Their constitutions always have been weak, subject to tuberculosis,
pneumonia, and all pulmonary diseases, and when the consumption of
large amounts of alcohol is added to this, little wonder is it that the
death rate is high among them, and that so many weak, diseased Indian
children come into the world.
In the matter of religion, the Puget Sound Indians are in an
evolutionary stage. On the whole, the old form of religion, called
Tamahnous, in which the evil spirit was worshipped in order to appease
it, and hence not to be visited by it, has been replaced by the
Christian religion, or by a mixture of the Christian and the old.
The Puget Sound Indians are peculiar in one respect, viz: that they
are indolent and lazy, are easily persuaded to accept and follow any
belief, but are usually unwilling to make an effort to think or reason
out a question. They are indolently and willingly superficial. The
result of this has been that while a great many have been converted to
the Christian religion, still that conversion has been very superficial
in character. They have been satisfied with the content that external
forms and actions would make them right with God, and secure to them
a future happiness, and, at the same time, have utterly disregarded
the true inner spirit of religion. Hence, they have readily taken up
anything that appeals to the sensuous in their religious nature.
In 1882 or 1883, a Mud Bay Indian, named John Slocum, who had been
converted to Catholicism, but who had led a rather desultory life, fell
sick and apparently died. The usual death ceremonies took place. But
to the great surprise of the Indians, Slocum came to life again on the
second or third day after his death. He brought with him a wonderful
tale. He affirmed that he had indeed died, gone up to the pearly gates
and there met St. Peter, who refused him entrance on the grounds that
he had led too loose a life. There was one way, however, so St. Peter
informed him, by which he could yet earn his way into Paradise, and
that was to go back to earth and teach his fellow Indians a new form of
religion, which was to be the same as that in the white man's book, but
better adapted to the needs of the Indians. Hence his return to life.
Slocum immediately began to preach his new doctrine, a religion since
named "Shakerism," which has gathered together at least half of the
Indians of Puget Sound, who profess any religion at all. This is
a curious mixture of the old Tamahnous religion and Protestantism
and Catholicism. It is undoubtedly a decided step in advance of the
old religion, since it enjoins a worship of an all-powerful, good
God rather than malicious devils and evil spirits. The beliefs and
ceremonies differ among different tribes, and are more nearly in
harmony with the Christian religion where the missionaries have had
the most influence. The influence of Catholicism is to be seen in the
elaborate forms and ceremonies of worship and the cross and candle
sticks on the altar. Those afflicted with a guilty conscience remain
on their knees during the entire Sunday service, crossing themselves
repeatedly. The songs and prayers are translations into Indian or
Chinook done by the early missionaries.
The retained features of the old Tamahnous religion are to be seen
largely in the conversion ceremonies and the healing of the sick--the
so-called "Night Work." It is difficult for the Indians to give up
their old superstitions and barbaric rites. These still remain in their
minds and crop out with the more modern beliefs in their religion. To
quote from an article by Edwin L. Chalcraft, a teacher in one of the
Indian schools, "Every act tends to excitement. The weird Indian chant,
the dance music, the frenzied dances, the ringing of hand bells and the
rubbing of the patient's body to drive out sickness or the evil spirit,
as the case may be, and let in the new religion, all have a place, and
are sometimes continued through the night, or until the participants
become exhausted."
The introduction of this new belief among the Indians worked havoc in
the churches. From the first the new religion gained a large number
of converts at the expense of the Christian institution. A great many
of the Christian churches have had to close their doors and go out
of business, because of this keen competition. Especially among the
Puyallup reservation tribes is this true. This religion has taken such
a firm hold upon them that Christianity is making no progress at all at
the present time. For thirty-five years, up to 1901, Rev. Myron Eells
worked faithfully and perseveringly among them against innumerable
obstacles, but since his death in that year the work has almost ceased.
The Neah Bay agency is supplied with one Presbyterian mission, but
it is struggling along, fearing to have to go out of business every
day. The missionary work of the Tulalip agency is done entirely by
the Catholic church, and on the whole very good results have been
accomplished. Most of the reservations have churches of their own, and
the priests of neighboring towns minister to their welfare. Shakerism
has a very weak hold among them.
Taken altogether, this religion has had its place in helping the
Indians live better lives, especially where the Bible has been
faithfully taught. Where the old Tamahnous still bears sway, and the
old superstitions are still current, however, the effect has been
noticeably bad, showing itself principally in unfaithfulness in the
family life. As C. L. Woods, Superintendent of the Neah Bay agency,
says, "The Shakers, a peculiar religious sect, are seemingly doing
good, as there has been little or no law breaking by their members, and
no drunkenness whatever. Their professed creed is a model of orthodoxy,
and it would be bigotry to oppose their outlandish and queer manner of
worship."
I think it can be safely assumed that at least assimilation, if not
race fusion, between the Puget Sound Indians and the whites will
take place some time not very far distant. The younger generation
of Indians are showing a very marked capability of taking over our
habits, customs, institutions and manner of living. Nearly all can
speak and read the English language, a good many cannot speak their
native tongue. They come in contact with the white children a great
deal and so copy from them their games and amusements, and ultimately
their ideals and ways of doing things. This is one of the most hopeful
signs for the future of the race. If we can keep the Indian children
interested in their school work and keep them in contact with the
white children, assimilation will quickly be brought about. The closer
the contact with the better class of whites, the sooner will the
Indians reach our plane of civilization, and the easier will become
assimilation and fusion. Already there is quite a noticeable drift away
from the reservations, and I believe the time will come, and not very
long distant, when the reservations will be done away with entirely.
Assimilation will go on more easily and more rapidly because of the
relatively small number of Indians. There are but something less than
four thousand reservation Indians at the present time around Puget
Sound, and statistics show that they are just about holding their
own in numbers. If any change at all, there may be a slight natural
increase in population.
In early pioneer days, intermarriage of the whites and Indians was very
common and no especial social stigma was attached to it; at the present
time, however, intermarriage is commonly discountenanced, especially
among the better classes of whites and somewhat of a social degradation
goes with it. Young married couples of the Indians usually leave the
reservations and go out among the whites to live. Often, however,
they return to their reservations because of the poor social standing
they receive among the whites, and because they long to be with their
kinsmen.
On the part of the whites, two things must be insisted upon, first, a
stricter enforcement of our liquor laws, and, second, a more friendly
and helpful attitude toward the Indian. We have robbed the Indian of
his lands and waters by false and fair means; we have forced him to
live in an atmosphere of totally different customs and ideals; it would
be, therefore, far less than justice if we fail to do all we can to
help him fit himself for his new life.
LEWIS H. ST. JOHN.
THE PIONEER DEAD OF 1913
In the list of departed pioneers following, record is made only of
those that have come to the attention of the biographer. There were
others, no doubt, but of them he had no knowledge. Those are considered
pioneers who lived in the State of Washington, and who were on the
Pacific Coast before 1860. The number of such who died in 1913 was
greater than in any previous year. The average age, and the average
number of years on the coast, were also greater. The information here
presented was obtained principally from the newspapers of the day.
Regret is expressed that it was not in all cases equally full and
complete.
Neely, David A.--Born in 1823, died at Kent, in King county, Dec. 31st,
1912, aged 89 years. Mr. Neely came from Missouri, and in 1854 settled
on the land claim in White River valley, where he lived the following
almost fifty-nine years. In the Indian war of 1855-56 he was driven
from home by the savages, and he at once retaliated by enlisting in the
territorial military service against them. He was second lieutenant of
his company, and for a time was in command, owing to the retirement
of Captain Edward Lander and First Lieutenant Arthur A. Denny. He was
married in 1848. His wife, 87 years of age, survives him; also five
children, fourteen grandchildren, and sixteen great grandchildren.
[Note.--The foregoing went to the printer too late for publication in
the list of deceased 1912 pioneers, and is therefore placed here.--T.
W. P.]
Montgomery, Matilda Ann--Born in Illinois, died at Meyers Falls, Jan.
2, aged 80 years. She came to Oregon in 1850, and for a number of years
lived in Linn county. From there she moved to Dayton, Wash., where she
remained until she went to Meyers Falls in 1906. She is survived by
three daughters and two sons.
Heitman, Henry--Died at Ridgefield, Clark county, Jan. 13, aged 80
years. He came from the Eastern States in 1853. He was a farmer, and by
industry and economy was enabled to acquire 1,800 acres of agricultural
land. Four daughters and two sons survive him.
Darragh, John.--Born in New York State in 1830; died at Edmonds, Jan.
13, in his 83d year. He was an Oregon pioneer of 1851. He remained
there and in Washington until 1883, when he returned to New York. In
1902 he came back to the Pacific and made his home in Edmonds. He
participated prominently in the 1855-56 Indian war. A wife and daughter
were left.
Laws, Andrew Jackson--Born in Illinois, March 13, 1833, died at the old
soldiers' home at Orting, Jan. 15, aged 80 years. In 1852 he came to
Clark county, Washington, where he made his home. Like most other young
men of his time, he served in the Indian war, from Oct. 20, 1855, ten
months, its whole period, in the western half of the territory. Mrs.
Page, a daughter, of Vancouver, was left.
Newell, Therese--Born near Portland, Oregon, June 4, 1856, died at
Seattle Jan. 26, aged 57 years. She was a school teacher and unmarried.
Jaggy, John--Born Jan. 14, 1829, died at Vancouver, Jan. 30, aged 84
years. He came to California in 1857, and after a few months moved
to Washington Territory. He was long a leading citizen of his home
community. A wife, two daughters and a son survive him.
Caldwell, R. P.--Born in Tennessee, June 15, 1834, died at Everett
about Feb. 1, aged 79 years. He came to California in 1856, to Oregon
in 1859, and to Washington in 1901. His wife, two daughters and two
sons survive him.
Blanchet, John B.--Born in 1840, died at Vancouver, Feb. 4, aged 73
years. He came west in 1846, and lived all the following years at
Vancouver. He was a nephew of Bishop Blanchet and also of Archbishop
Blanchet, the two first high Catholic Church dignitaries in this state.
Livingston, David--Born in Pennsylvania, died in Seattle Feb. 5, aged
82 years. He came to Puget Sound in 1853, and thereafter made his home.
His wife died in 1906. They had three children--George W., Clara and
Josephine.
Boyd, Levi--Born in Ohio, September, 1812, died at Walla Walla, Feb. 6,
aged a little more than 100 years. He crossed the continent in 1843,
and remained in Oregon and Washington until 1861. He then went East
and joined the Confederates in their effort to divide the Union. Soon
after the conclusion of hostilities he returned to Walla Walla, where
he continued to reside to the end of his long life. He was a bachelor.
Anderson, Andrew--Died at Walla Walla Feb. 21, aged 85 years. He was a
pioneer of 1856, a farmer and a veteran of the Civil War.
Wood, Mrs. Helen R. M.--Born in Australia, died at Dungeness, March 1,
aged 55 years. She came to Puget Sound when a child one year old.
Tukey, John Fossett--Born in Bangor, Me., Aug. 6, 1830, died in
Jefferson county, March 1, aged 83 years. He came to the Pacific
Coast by ship in 1850, and two years later settled on a land claim on
Discovery Bay, where he made his home for sixty years. He served among
the volunteers in 1855. His wife died a year before him. They had no
children.
Pettygrove, Benjamin Stark--Born in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 30, 1846,
died at Port Townsend, March 7, aged 67 years. His father, Francis W.
Pettygrove, settled on the Portland townsite several years before, and
was one of the town projectors. He suggested the name and bestowed it,
his partner in the enterprise favoring Boston instead. When this boy,
this first white male child born there, came along, the question of
sovereignty in Oregon was not settled between Great Britain and the
United States, as far as known to the people of Oregon, though, as a
matter of fact, it had been settled three and a half months before.
A ship came in having on board a passenger named Benjamin Stark, who
had a newspaper in which was the first report of the conclusion of
the matter on the basis of the international boundary line on the
49th parallel. The Pettygroves were so pleased that they named their
boy after this stranger. Streets in Portland are named Pettygrove
and Stark. Benjamin Stark stayed there, became a prominent citizen,
and represented the state in the U. S. Senate. The Pettygrove family
removed to Port Townsend in 1852, and were among the founders of that
city. B. S. Pettygrove lived there almost sixty-one years. After a
married life of nineteen years, his wife died in 1893. They left one
son.
Watson, Phoebe C.--Born in Illinois, Feb. 19, 1840, died in Chehalis,
March 9, aged 73 years. She crossed the plains in 1848 with her
parents, Jacob Conser and wife. She was married in 1860, and in 1872
the family went upon a farm near Chehalis. She was survived by five
sons.
Sparks, Margaret I.--Born in South Carolina, died at Boisfort in March,
aged 93 years. Her first husband was Wm. A. Brewer. They came to Oregon
in 1853. He died in 1858. In 1860 she moved to Washington Territory,
where she married John G. Sparks. She left six children.
Hardison, James W.--Born in Polk county, Oregon, in 1845, died at
Wahkiakum in March, aged 68 years. His whole life was spent in Oregon
and Washington. A widow and four children survive.
Gale, Joseph Marion--Born in Illinois in 1836, died at Orting, March
17, aged 77 years. He came to Oregon in 1853. He served in two Indian
wars, and also the Civil War. He was a teacher and a newspaper editor.
Moore, A. C. H.--Died at North Yakima, March 29, aged 76 years. He
came overland to California in 1849. From there he moved on to Oregon,
and about thirty years ago came further north, to Long Beach, Wash. A
widow, five daughters and two sons survive him.
Shaw, James O.--Born in Maine, died at White Salmon, March 30, aged
86 years. He came by ship to California in 1849. In 1870 he took a
homestead in Klickitat county. A wife, a son and two daughters were
left.
Andrews, Lyman Beach--Born in New York State, Feb. 10, 1829, died at
San Diego, Cal., March 31, aged 84 years. He came to California in
1859, and in 1860 to Seattle, where his home was ever afterward. He was
a prominent citizen for half a century. Mrs. Andrews died in 1908. He
left one daughter and three sons.
Nelson, John M.--Born in Kentucky, April 14, 1824; died at The Dalles,
Oregon, April 4. He came to California in 1847, a few years later to
Oregon, and still later to Washington, his last home being at Valley,
this state. He was a remarkable linguist, being able to talk with
Indians of sixteen different dialects. Twenty-seven grandchildren and
eight great grandchildren are his living descendants.
McKinlay, David--Born in California in 1854; died at San Francisco,
April 10, aged 59 years. He came to Victoria, B. C., and from there
in 1873 to Seattle, which was his home to the end. Mr. McKinlay left
a valuable estate to found an orphans' home, upon the death of his
surviving wife.
Fisher, Lydia Ann--Born in Oregon, Jan. 30, 1848, died near Fisher's,
Clark county, April 10, aged 65 years. All her life--every hour--was
spent in Oregon or Washington, the last fifteen years in this state.
Three sons and a daughter were left.
Shaw, James O.--Born in Maine, died at White Salmon, April 11, aged
86 years. He was a '49er of California, but in the 1870s settled in
Klickitat county, Washington. A widow and three children survive.
Gatch, Thomas Milton--Born in Ohio, Jan. 29, 1833, died at Seattle
April 23, aged 80 years. He came to California in 1856, and to
Washington Territory in 1859. He was a teacher in the higher branches
of learning and in the higher schools of the country. He was principal
of the Portland Academy, twice president of Willamette University,
president of the University of Oregon, and president of the University
of Washington. Two daughters and one son survive him.
Rose, Alfred Percy--Born in Pennsylvania, died at Metaline, May 1,
aged 76 years. He came to California in 1858, and later lived in every
state and territory west of the Rocky Mountains, and Mexico and British
Columbia besides. A widow, a son and a daughter survive him.
Christ, Philip--Born in Germany, May 24, 1824; died at Vancouver,
Wash., May 6, aged 89 years. As a member of Company L, First U. S.
Artillery, he came by ship to the Columbia River in 1849, and under
Major Hathaway, was one of the men who established Fort Vancouver,
or Vancouver Barracks. Upon discharge he settled there, and there
spent the last sixty-four years of his life. Upon the same ship came
another company,--M, Captain Hill--which was sent to Puget Sound, and
established Fort Steilacoom, the same year, these two being the first
military posts in the State of Washington.
Goodridge, Gardner--Born in Maine, Feb. 28, 1833; died, at Florence,
May 10, aged 80 years. He came to California in 1853, to British
Columbia in 1858, and thence to Washington after a short stay. He left
four children.
Masterson, James--Died in Seattle, May 24. He came to Oregon in 1851,
and to Washington in 1873. He left three children.
Faucett, Rachel A.--Died at Auburn, May 27, aged 88 years. She came
from Missouri to Washington in 1854. The family lived ten years in
Pierce county and forty-nine years in King. She left three daughters,
one son, fourteen grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren.
Cloquet, August--Died June 14, at Toledo, aged 87 years. He came to
Washington in 1851. For sixty years he dwelt in Lewis county. He left
seven children.
Little, Daniel--Born in Maine, died at Castle Rock, June 29. He came to
Washington in 1852, and has resided ever since in Cowlitz county. Six
children were left.
Jaggy, Margaret Wintler--Born in Switzerland, died at Vancouver,
July 4, aged 88 years. She came to the United States in 1852; and to
Washington Territory in 1857. For thirty-five consecutive years she was
treasurer of the Vancouver Methodist Church. Mr. Jaggy died Jan. 30,
1913. They left three children.
Whitworth, James Edward--Died in Seattle, July 11, aged 72 years. He
came to Oregon in 1853 and to Washington in 1854. Married in 1869, his
wife died several years ago. His descendants include ten children and
twenty-one grandchildren.
Loomis, Louis Alfred--Born in New York State, Oct. 9, 1830, died at
Loomis Station, Pacific county, July 19, aged 83 years. He was a
pioneer of 1852. He served among the Oregon volunteers in the Indian
war of 1855-56. Five children were left.
Rhoades, L. H.--Born in Illinois in 1844, died at Bay Center, July 14,
aged 69 years. He came to Oregon in 1850, and to Washington in 1862.
Probably no couple in the state were married younger than Mr. and Mrs.
Rhoades, he being 16 years and she 15 years old in 1860 when united.
She and ten children were left.
Latham, John--Born in England, June 22, 1837, died at Tacoma August 6,
aged 77 years. He came to Oregon in 1856, and to Washington in 1860. He
left a wife, five children and fourteen grandchildren.
Haley, John--Born in New York in 1840, died at Ellensburg, August 20,
aged 73 years. He came to California in 1856, and to Washington in 1879.
Gaillac, Malinda--Born in Missouri in 1837, died at Olympia August 22,
aged 76 years. She came with her parents (Packwoods) to Washington in
1845. Nine sons and daughters were left.
Russell, D. L.--Born in Virginia, died at Vancouver, Aug. 25, aged 78
years. He came to California in 1849. He engaged in the Civil War. In
1864 he came to Washington Territory. A wife and four children were
left.
Bersch, Mary--Born in Switzerland, Dec. 15, 1832, died in Vancouver,
August 27, aged 80 years. Mrs. Bersch came to the United States in
1851 and to Washington in 1853. Her living descendants included six
children, forty grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
Scheule, Josephine--Born at Vancouver, died at Portland, Ore., Aug. 27,
aged 60 years. She was a widow, but had three children.
Dougherty, Thomas A.--Born in Pierce county, Washington, Jan. 3,
1853, died in Seattle Aug. 28, aged 61 years. His wife--born in 1853
and who came to Washington in 1870--died three weeks before him. Mr.
Doughtery's father, Wm. P. Dougherty, came to Oregon in 1843, and his
mother, Mary Chambers, in 1845, both coming to Pierce county before
1850. His mother, a brother and a sister survive him.
Freeman, Rosina--Died in Seattle, Sept. 5, aged 83 years. She was the
wife of Thomas P. Freeman, who came to California from Pennsylvania in
1849. She followed in 1850. They removed to Seattle in 1873. They were
colored people. He died about twelve years ago. A daughter is all that
is left of their family.
Krumm, John--Born in Germany, died at Kent, Sept. 6, aged 86 years. Mr.
Krumm came from Ohio to California in 1849, and ten years later moved
on to Washington, settling in White River valley. He left a wife, two
sons, two daughters and three grandchildren.
Phelps, Susan E.--Died in Seattle, Sept. 22, aged 81 years. She came
to California in 1849, and to Washington in 1889. One daughter was her
only descendant.
Clark, Elizabeth Frances--Born in Missouri, died in Seattle, Sept. 26,
aged 72 years. She came to Oregon in 1853, and to Washington in 1860.
She left eight daughters and two sons, besides sisters, brothers and
other relatives.
Walker, Cyrus--Born in Maine, died at San Mateo, Cal., Oct. 1, aged 86
years. He came to California in 1849, and to Washington Territory in
1853. He was identified as an employee with Messrs. Pope, Talbot and
Keller in the location and erection of the saw mills that have been
operating at Port Gamble for the last sixty years. When Keller retired
Walker took his place as the Puget Sound head, and for almost half a
century so remained. Under him the company acquired other saw mills at
Utslady and Port Ludlow, timber lands, ships and other properties. The
company in its early days built a steamer which it called the Cyrus
Walker, and which had a longer existence on Puget Sound than any other
craft. Mr. Walker acquired large personal properties, and became one of
the wealthiest men in the state. He left a wife and son.
Bagley, Susannah Rogers--Born in Massachusetts, May 8, 1819, died at
Seattle, Oct. 11, aged 94 years. Married in 1840 to Daniel Bagley, who
died in 1905, she and he removed to Illinois, where they remained until
1852, when they came to Oregon. In 1860 they moved on to the north,
to Washington, from Salem to Seattle. He was chiefly instrumental in
building the second church in the city--the Methodist Protestant--and
of the location and building of the Territorial University in 1861. A
son, the well known Clarence B. Bagley, survives them.
Greenlaw, Wilhelmina--Born in Pierce county, died at Tacoma Oct. 18,
aged 59 years. She was the daughter of Frederick Meyer, one of the
soldiers under Captain Hill, who established Fort Steilacoom in 1849.
She left six sons and four daughters.
Charlton, Charles Alexander--Born in Virginia, March 23, 1829, died at
Colville, Oct. 8, aged 85 years. He came to Oregon in 1850, where he
remained until his removal to Washington, a few years ago. He, like
the majority of the other men of the time, served in the Indian War of
1855-'56. His wife remains.
Williamson, John R.--Born in New York State, Feb. 16, 1827, died at
Seattle, Oct. 19, aged 87 years. He came to California in 1851; and
to Washington in 1853, with Cyrus Walker and the others who were here
to build a saw mill at Port Gamble. There he was employed for several
years, and a similar time at Seabeck in a like work, when, in 1863, he
joined with others in a saw mill enterprise at Freeport, now Seattle.
He was an engineer, a machinist, an iron founder--in fact, a master
mechanic. He left a son and a daughter.
Miller, Edward--Born at Syracuse, N. Y., May 25, 1832, died at Shelton,
Oct. 15, aged 81 years. He was a farmer, a trader, an early day Puget
Sound navigator. A widow, two daughters and a son were left.
Cook, James W.--Born Aug. 22, 1833; died in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 25,
aged 80 years. He came to Portland from Chicago in 1855. He was one of
the first men to go into the salmon canning business, more than forty
years ago. He had canneries on the Columbia river and at Blaine and
Port Townsend on Puget Sound. His surviving relatives include his wife
and two daughters.
Stangroom, Marc Lareviere--Born in England, May 22, 1832; died at
Bellingham, Oct. 25, aged 81 years. He came to California in 1855, and
to Bellingham in 1888. A son and two daughters were left.
Stevens, Margaret L.--Born at Newport, R. I., in 1816; died at Boston,
Nov. 4, aged 97 years. Mrs. Stevens was the widow of Isaac Ingalls
Stevens, the first Governor of Washington Territory, 1853 to 1857, and
who, as a Union General, was killed at the Battle of Chantilly, Sept.
1, 1862. She came to Washington Territory in 1854, and the house that
was built for her sixty years ago still stands in Olympia, one of the
oldest buildings in the state. She was in Washington City during his
Congressional and later military careers, but returned to the Territory
in 1867, with her then grown children. After some years the family
removed to Boston. A son, two daughters, five grandchildren and two
great grandchildren are her living descendants.
Bean, Sarah L.--Born at McMinnville, Oregon, Oct. 6, 1851; died at
Seattle, Nov. 9, aged 62 years. She came to Washington in 1875. Her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Bean, came to Oregon in 1845. Miss Bean's
mother and sister survive her.
Titus, Eliza--At La Center, Clark County, Nov. 14, Mrs. Eliza Titus
died. She crossed the plains with her parents, named Rice, who took a
donation claim sixty years ago. Eliza was twice married, first to John
S. Pollock, and in 1875 to M. Titus. She left four children by the
first marriage.
Prosch, Charles--Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, June 25, 1820;
died in Seattle, Nov. 22, in the 94th year of his age. He came to
California in 1853, and to Washington Territory in 1858. He published
a newspaper at Steilacoom and later one at Olympia, during the first
fourteen years of his residence in Washington. His was the first daily
paper in Olympia. He was also engaged in the first newspaper published
in Tacoma. He was a member and officer in four churches in Olympia,
Tacoma and Seattle, two of which, in 1873 and 1889, he assisted in
organizing. He was also more or less engaged in many other enterprises
and works of pioneer days. He left a son, six grandchildren, and two
great grandchildren.
Ross, Eliza Jane--Born in Illinois, Dec. 10, 1830; died at Puyallup,
Nov. 26, aged 83 years. She and her husband, Darius Mead Ross, came
to Oregon in 1851, and lived in that state for twelve years. In 1863
they came to Washington, and made their home on a farm in Puyallup
Valley. Two sons, two daughters, nineteen grandchildren and four great
grandchildren survive her.
Spooner, Thomas J.--Born in Kentucky, May 18, 1836; died near Portland,
Oregon, Nov. 30, aged 77 years. He came to Oregon in 1859. In 1882 he
moved to Tacoma, but in 1893 went back to Oregon. He left a widow and
four sons.
Miller, Eva L.--Born in California in 1859, died at Seattle, Dec. 5,
aged 54 years. She came to Seattle in 1882 as the wife of Dr. P. B. M.
Miller. A son and three stepdaughters were left.
Gendron, Eliza--Born at Nespelem, Washington, in 1821; died at Marcus,
Washington, Dec. 19, aged 92 years. Her father was one of the early
Pacific Coast trappers and fur traders. Her mother was an Indian woman.
All her own life was spent in this state, a longer time than that of
any other white or half white person known. She married Alexander
Gendron in 1844, her husband being a Hudson Bay Company employee. She
was the mother of fourteen children, grandmother of fifty-two and great
grandmother of twenty-one.
Brown, Mrs. Chandler--Born in Thurston County, Washington, Sept. 18,
1855; died at Centralia, Dec. 20, aged 58 years. She was the daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Axtell, immigrants of 1852.
Newhall, William--Died in New York, Dec. 19, aged 84 years. Deceased
was a well-known Pacific Coast navigator, coming around the Horn first
in 1847. The barkentine Amelia was one of his latest and longest
commands. He was a Son of the American Revolution, a Pioneer and a
Mason, all at Seattle. Two daughters and a son are left, in addition to
relatives slightly more remote.
Parker, Gilmore Hays--Born at Sacramento, California, in 1859; died
in Seattle, Dec. 29, aged 54 years. He was the son of Capt. John
G. Parker, who came to Puget Sound more than sixty years ago, and
was one of the first steamboat men and first merchants of these
parts. The son followed the father into the steamboat business. He
was master of several steamers, including the T. J. Potter, Bailey
Gatzert, Greyhound, City of Everett and Telegraph. His ancestors on
the mother's side were the well-known Hays family, than whom none were
more prominent in Washington Territory from fifty to sixty years ago.
Captain Parker left a mother, two sisters and two brothers.
THOMAS W. PROSCH.
AMERICAN AND BRITISH TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
A series of large mining "rushes" during the decade following 1858
brought an energetic population into the interior of the old Oregon
country. Prosperous communities sprang up in eastern Oregon and
Washington. Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia came into being. But
the populating of these regions produced acute problems with regard
to the Indians, and the point of view of this article is that of
attempting to compare the British and American methods of attacking
these problems.
Let us turn our attention first to conditions and developments on the
American side.
To the usual causes of antagonism between the native and the white
man there was added in the interior of the Pacific northwest the
impossibility of any retreat of the former; for the frontier was
closing in from both directions. "An unprogressive being * * * *,
quite well satisfied with the present, unstimulated by the past,
non-apprehensive of the future" was here brought face to face with one
"in all things the reverse, a restless mortal dissatisfied with the
present, with a history pointing upwards, apprehensive of the future
and always striving for individual and social betterment."[1] "Now
that we propose to invade these mountain solitudes," wrote the builder
of the Mullan Road, "to wrest from their hidden wealth, where under
heavens can the Indian go?"[2]
The answer seemed patent enough to a good many thoughtful Westerners,
who were not cruel men. "The experience of those who have seen most
of the Indians," said the Oregonian, "has been neither flattering to
the efforts of the Government, nor consoling to the hopes of the true
Christian philanthropist; but the purposes of the red man's creation
in the economy of nature are well nigh accomplished, and no human hand
can avert his early extermination from the face of the North American
Continent. Silently but irresistibly the purposes of Providence take
their way through the ages, and across the line of their march treaties
would seem but shreds, and the plans of men on the tide of history
but waifs upon the sea."[3] A belief in such predestination, however
exculpatory for white men, would scarcely help in the working out of
any system looking toward the upraising of the Indians. Mullan's type
of predestination was more blunt: "The Indian," he said, "is destined
to disappear before the white man, and the only question is, how it
may best be done, and his disappearance from our midst tempered with
those elements calculated to produce to himself the least amount of
suffering, and to us the least amount of cost."[4]
The writer in the Oregonian, quoted above, held that it was a
fundamental error in the treatment of Indians to acknowledge their
rights to the soil and to make treaties with them as if they were
nations. Governor Ashley, of Montana, also declared that treaty-making
with Indians ought to cease.[5] To the same effect C. H. Hale,
Superintendent of Indian affairs in Washington Territory, wrote as
follows: "I am well satisfied that a radical change should be made
in our mode of treatment towards the Indians. I do not consider the
language as any too strong when I say, that for us to negotiate
treaties with them as it is usually done is little better than a farce.
We profess by such an act to recognize their equality in status and in
power, and to clothe them with a national existence that does not at
all pertain to them. Instead of thus exalting them in mere form, they
should be treated as they really are, the wards of the government."[6]
The rougher element among the whites, who were in contact with the
Indians, bothered themselves not at all concerning theories or treaties
and seldom showed towards Indians even ordinary human feeling. "A d--d
Indian," as was the usual expression, got no consideration at their
hands. Indians were killed by desperadoes in Montana with despicable
wantonness.[7] A farmer Indian of the Walla Walla tribe had taken some
wheat to mill at Walla Walla and had hitched his horses to his wagon
to feed, when a gambler came from a nearby saloon and took one of the
horses. The owner could not recover it, because men feared to testify
against one of the roughs: but the Indian was reimbursed by employes
of the Umatilla agency.[8] In southern Idaho Indian women and children
were killed in attacks made by volunteer soldiers, and it was charged
that many Indian women were violated.[9] In the former case, however,
it was claimed that the Indian women fought as hard as the men and that
they were indistinguishable from the men in a melee.
It is fair to remember, in judging of atrocities committed by whites,
that not a few of the frontiersmen were inflamed by memories of horrid
deeds committed by Indians upon relatives and friends.[10] We of the
present generation, indeed, can scarcely understand how ingrained was
racial hatred in the white frontiersman of that day. "From the cradle
up he was the recipient of folk lore which placed the Indian as his
hereditary and implacable enemy. To the childish request, 'Grandma,
tell me a story,' it was bear or Indian, ghost stories being too tame
for frontier life, and that the bear and Indian did not stand upon
the same plane as objects to be exterminated, seldom entered into the
thoughts of the grandmother or the little one soon to take part in the
conquest of the wilderness. * * * * Granny might bring tears to the
eyes of her little auditors by telling how the bear cubs moaned over
their dead mother, but no tears flowed for the Indian children made
destitute by this perpetual conflict."[11] "On the other hand, there
might have been in an early day a measure of truth in the assertion
that murder is merit; scalps enviable trophies; plunder legitimate; the
abduction of women and their violation, a desirable achievement."[12]
In judging of Indian populations, however, and of the relations of
whites to them, discriminations need to be made. There were within
tribes bad Indians and good Indians, just as there were bad whites
and good whites; and it was generally the bad men on both sides that
made trouble. Moreover, there was a great difference between such
comparatively well ordered tribes as the Coeur d'Alenes or the Nez
Perces and the scattered banditti of southern Idaho and southeastern
Oregon. This difference is dwelt upon in a report of the Committee on
Indian Affairs of the Idaho Legislature, which was made in 1866. In the
northern portion of the Territory, the report said, "the Nez Perces,
Coeur d'Alenes, Pend d'Oreilles, etc., have been for a long time
gradually adopting the pursuits of peace and habits of civilization,
under good influences, acquired property and permanent habitations and
rely for surer subsistence upon the cultivation of the soil and the
raising of stock. But in South Idaho, throughout that portion of the
Territory south of Snake River, your committee regret to say, a far
different condition of affairs has existed from the organization of the
Territory, and still continues. The scattered clans in all this region,
known as the Shoshones or Snakes, inhabit a country for the most
part destitute of timber and game, spreading into wide deserts, and
affording them secure retreats in rugged mountains and deep canyons.
Never having any fixed habitations, they acquire no property except by
plunder, and hold none except for temporary subsistence and plunder.
So, far from cultivating the soil, or any arts of peace, they have
to a great extent ceased to depend for food upon fish, grass seeds,
crickets, roots, etc., and rely upon what they seize by murder and
robbery on the public highways and frontier settlements. * * * * * They
have no recognized head, but simply leaders of clans, and know nothing
of treaty obligations. Nothing, therefore, but vigorous war, that will
push them to extremities of starvation or extermination, can ever bring
peace to our borders and security to our highways."[13]
If one tries to imagine himself in the conditions that then existed in
southern Idaho, he will, perhaps, better understand why even humane
people could have had stern and cruel opinions with regard to the
treatment of some classes of Indians. There was no danger of attack
upon settlements of any size; there was, in fact, no declared war.
But stock was constantly being stolen, lone men murdered, and pack
trains attacked. If a few men pursued the Indians, the latter would
turn and fight like fiends, and with the advantage of knowledge of the
country. To dwellers in secure homes, these enumerations may appear not
particularly significant, but to one with understanding of frontier
conditions they mean much. If travellers, for example, had their
animals stolen, it meant all the discomfort and danger of being left
afoot in a country of great distances. If a rancher had his stock run
off, it meant temporary impoverishment and disablement. For white men
to steal horses was quite generally recognized as a capital crime; why,
then, compunction for Indians? Men, moreover, who looked down upon the
mutilated remains of comrades, cut off in the unceasing assassinations,
were very likely to vow vengeance upon the whole murderous race.
Finally, there were wider considerations affecting the whole community;
Indian attacks deterred packers, freighters, and stage owners,
thereby raising freights, delaying mails, making supplies more scarce
and costly, impeding immigration, and hindering the investment of
capital,--in a word, checking prosperity in a way to which no civilized
community would submit.
The men who went out to find and to kill Indians who were thus damaging
the communities, were not always nice men; but they often showed
self-denial in leaving good-paying employments, and they endured
great privations and did a necessary work for civilization.[14] The
character of the United States troops, likewise, who served in these
regions during the Civil War was sometimes questionable; but frontier
communities were justifiably grateful to men like those of General
Conner's command, many of whom in the Bear River expedition endured
freezing, wounds, and death in corralling and fighting a large band of
predatory Indians.[15]
The exasperation of the southern Idaho communities, under continual
Indian harassment, became extreme. This was especially true in Owyhee.
A meeting of citizens offered rewards for scalps; one hundred dollars
for that of a buck, fifty dollars for that of a squaw and twenty-five
dollars for "everything in the shape of an Indian under ten."[16] When
fifty-five Indians were reported killed in Humboldt, the local paper in
Owyhee rejoiced that these were made "permanently friendly"; the next
item, in contrast, is an announcement of a Christmas Festival for the
Sunday School children at the Union Church, at which there were to be
an address, songs by the children, and distribution of gifts.[17] The
month previous, on report of seventy Indians being killed and scalped
in Nevada, the same paper burst out with,--"Here's seventy more reasons
for those safely-located, chicken-hearted, high-toned-treaty-moral
suasion philanthropists to ignorantly wail about, and we're glad of
it."[18] Since it was so extremely difficult to catch these Indian
marauders, a novel proposal was advanced, possibly not in real earnest:
"If some Christian gentlemen will furnish a few bales of blankets from
a small-pox hospital, well inoculated," the _Avalanche_ announced,
"we will be distributing agent, and see that no Indian is without a
blanket. That kind of peace is better than treaties." "These ideas suit
us exactly," commented the _Idaho World_.[19]
In the case of Indians such as these in southern Idaho, the reservation
system as yet was impossible; but for the more amenable Indians, who
lived farther to the west and north, this system seemed not only
possible, but necessary. For the mining advance was sweeping away the
native means of subsistence. Game was receding into the more remote
localities, and the camass and cous grounds were being continually
devastated by the hogs of settlers. The fish supply, to be sure, still
remained, but the location of the fisheries on the streams along which
most of the travel proceeded made necessary a contact with whites which
brought evil results to the Indians. It was fortunate, therefore, that
arrangements for the establishment of reservations were well under way,
when the mining advance began. For the Indians east of the Cascades
the treaties of 1855 (ratified in 1859) provided five reservations,
each the size of a large county. These were the Yakima, the Warm
Springs, the Umatilla, the Nez Perces and the Flathead. On all of these
reservations agents were to be stationed, mills were to be erected,
farming tools furnished, and schools and teachers provided. The policy
itself was conceived on generous, humane, and enlightened principles,
and it is doubtful if, under the circumstances, a better could have
been devised. But the test came in administration; the difficulties and
weaknesses, as the system worked out, proved to be many and formidable.
Among the first of these obstacles to become apparent was the natural
unfitness of the Indian for civilized life.
It was always a difficult task for a white settler in a new country to
get a start in the cultivation of the soil. He had to be able to gain
support in some manner while he was building his house, breaking up the
soil, and waiting for his crops to mature. Tools were generally scarce
and dear, and many shifts and ingenious devices had to be employed.
To be sure, the American frontiersman had become so expert in this
work, that he went at it with comparative ease; but how difficult such
work is for the untrained white man may be seen today in the case of
Englishmen coming direct from the old country to western Canada.[20]
Much more difficult it was, then, for the Indians. The ordinary Indian
was very poor, ignorant, and conservative. A few, it was true, had
large herds of ponies, but the average Indian might have two or three,
and these worthless for the stern work of breaking prairie sod. The
shrewd Indians who owned large herds, moreover, could see no reason for
raising crops when stock-raising paid better and was vastly easier and
more agreeable. And this was the more true when, as on the Umatilla
reservation, wheat had to be hauled long distances to be ground.
Furthermore, it was not at all the proper thing for a common Indian to
begin a new sort of enterprise without the consent and example of his
chief. Plowing, and like work, again, was for the Indian inexpressibly
awkward and hard to learn, and, moreover, contrary to his ideas and
to the ideas of his women of what a man ought to do. It was entirely
natural that he should prefer to such drudgery, the sport of hunting
and fishing and moving around. It was not his habit to stay in one
place, for when the camass was ripe he needed to be near the grounds
where it grew, and when the salmon were running it was necessary to be
at the fisheries. Moreover, it was not sanitary for those Indians with
their tepee habits to dwell long in one place; when Indians were forced
to do so, filth brought disease and death. So, it was a hard, long
task [the white man had been at it for thousands of years], this task
of settling down to the orderliness and laboriousness and anxiety of
civilized ways,--certainly a task not to be done in a year or decade,
according to the swiftness and impatience of Americans. Under the most
favoring conditions it was a task that demanded time for slow and
painful growth.[21]
The conditions were not the most favorable.
In the first place the Government that was finally responsible was
far away, at its best worked slowly, and was now handicapped by an
absorbing and expensive war. A new party, moreover, was in power, and
new men were at work. The financial problem, which this new party had
to face, was stringent; it was not to be wondered at, therefore, that
funds indispensable to the right working of the reservation system
reached their destinations tardily. On September 25, 1861, for example,
only a portion of the funds appropriated for the Oregon superintendency
in 1860 had arrived, and the remainder had been remitted so far behind
time as seriously to impair efficiency.[22] Agent Bancroft, and some
of his employes, in two years received pay for only one quarter.[23]
Moreover, when funds did arrive for the different agencies, they were
in checks, which were hard to cash and reckoned on a legal tender
basis, while the entire business of the Coast was on a gold basis.
It was, consequently, very difficult to secure and retain efficient
employes.[24] Native employes also, in particular, wanted their pay
promptly on doing their work and felt aggrieved if they did not
get it. Nor could the business of the Department be economically
conducted; merchants naturally asked higher prices for goods when paid
for in vouchers. The practice by agents of issuing vouchers itself
was a most pernicious and corrupting one, but it was the only way in
which the agency business could at times be carried on at all. Goods
which were bought were frequently long delayed for lack of cash for
transportation, or money was borrowed for transportation at the high
rates of interest which prevailed on the Coast.[25] Goods of all
sorts solemnly promised to the Indians, and improvements in the shape
of mills, etc., were delayed for months and years; it was natural,
therefore, for the Indians to feel that the Great Father was not
particular about keeping his engagements, and that they in turn need
not be particular about keeping theirs.
Furthermore, the Government did not provide adequate protection for
Indians who were on reservations. We have noticed before how the
Nez Perces reservation was invaded by miners in defiance of treaty
obligations. A still more conspicuous example of the failure to
provide protection occurred at the Warm Springs reservation, where
repeated raids of the Snakes terrorized and impoverished the agency
Indians and discouraged them from attempting the cultivation of the
soil. The Snakes on one occasion killed or captured many women and
children, drove off the cattle and horses, both of the Indians and
the Government, compelled the employes to flee for their lives,
and plundered the agency. Troops pursued them without effect; and,
moreover, hardly had the pursuers returned, when another raid took the
remainder of the stock.[26]
No feature of the reservation system was the cause of so much
dissatisfaction to Indians, agents, and superintendents as was the
payment of annuities. Not a few of the Indians of some tribes--notably
of the Nez Perces--were men of self-respect and shrewdness, who felt
insulted at being offered gewgaws and calico.[27] Calico and loss of
land became connected in the Indian mind.[28] Among the Yakimas it
was noted that there was great reluctance shown by many at receiving
annuities. A reported speech by Qui-tal-i-can, a Yakima Indian, on the
occasion of distribution of annuities at the Yakima agency, illustrates
the attitude of independence held by some Indians: "The white men
propose to bring all Indians to one land. Not good. Like driving horses
into a corral. Suppose Indians went to Boston and told all the Bostons
to go to one place. Would it be well? I am a poor man, but I will not
say to the Agent, I am a dog. The Great Spirit will take care of us. He
will always cause the grass to grow and the water to run. I am somewhat
ashamed to be here today. My land is not to be sold for a few blankets
and a few yards of cloth."[29] The Indians in general, moreover, quite
rapidly learned to prefer that which was substantial to that which was
trashy.
But the goods which they received were ill adapted to their needs,
since these goods were not sent in accordance with their own expressed
desires, nor according to the requisition of the agents. At the
Umatilla reservation, when Mr. Davenport distributed the annuities,
the total amount of goods had a "pretty fair appearance"; but for 91
men there were provided 59 flannel shirts, 22 coats, 23 pants, 51 wool
hats, 49 caps, and 65 pairs of brogans, and there were 122-1/2 pairs
of blankets for the total of 324 persons.[30] Many of the articles
received by the fishing Indians of the Sound country were those
suitable to the more agricultural Indians of the interior,--consisting
of "pitchforks, sickles, scythes without snaiths, frying pans, and
other loose ends of New York stores."[31] It was not to be wondered
at that the Indians traded off or gambled away these goods. Besides
lack of suitability, there was no telling when the goods would arrive
for distribution, and in consequence the Indians might have to go
without needed clothing in winter time: "Really, the worst part of the
annuity business was the uncertainty as to what kind of goods would be
furnished, and at what time, if at all."[32]
It was held by agents and superintendents that this sort of expenditure
was in itself not wise, since it tended to pauperism and indolence. It
would have been better, they said, to expend the money for improvements
such as would help the Indians to become self-supporting,--in
particular for the planting of orchards,--or to pay the Indians for
doing work, rather than to give them articles outright. At any rate, it
was urged, annuities ought not to be issued to all of each tribe, but
only to such as stayed on the reservation and showed inclination for
work and progress.[33]
The reason why there was so much mal-adjustment, so it was universally
claimed by superintendents and agents, was that the annuity goods were
purchased on the Atlantic coast. A newspaper correspondent said that
the fault lay with the "Great Father in New York who annually gets
contracts for furnishing things to poor Lo."[34] So important does this
aspect of the annuity problem seem, that I quote at some length from
the annual reports of three superintendents. Edward R. Geary reported
in 1860 from the Oregon Superintendency as follows:
"Reference to the several lately ratified treaties made with the
Indians in the interior of Washington and Oregon, shows that
the chief objects to which the large sums embraced in the first
payment for their lands ceded to the United States are applicable,
are such as 'providing for their removal to the reservations;'
'breaking up and fencing farms;' 'building houses;' 'supplying
provisions and a suitable outfit,' etc.
"The aggregate amount of these first payments, to be expended for
such objects as above specified, under the five treaties with
the Indians east of the Cascade mountains, and appropriated by
Congress at its last session, is $231,900. Of this, the sum of
$111,000 was expended in the purchase of drygoods, groceries and
hardware on the Atlantic side. This expenditure does not appear to
be in accordance with the spirit and intent of these treaties;
nor does it meet the just expectations of the Indians."
"The whole amount appropriated for first payment of annuities to
the Indians, embraced in four treaties, in Washington Territory,
west of the mountains, is $26,500; of which the entire amount has
been expended in the same market as above.
"Some of the dry goods are not adapted to the condition and habits
of the Indians on this side of the Rocky Mountains, and one-half
the amount would have sufficed for their present wants.
"Suitable goods of the best quality can be purchased in this
market at prices ranging but little above those paid for similar
articles in New York. Thus the freight might have been saved, and
the risk and exposure avoided, by which many articles have been
damaged in the transportation. * * * *"[35]
The successor to Mr. Geary, William H. Rector, wrote as follows in 1861
to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington:
"Your attention has been heretofore called by my predecessor
to the impropriety of disbursing in the Atlantic States the
appropriations made by Congress for beneficial objects. This
course has been pursued ever since the ratification of the
treaties, and still continues to be faithfully observed,
notwithstanding the objections and remonstrances of the
superintendents and agents thereto.
"The articles forwarded have invariably failed to give
satisfaction to the Indians. They are of inferior quality,
unsuited to their wants or tastes. Besides, it consumes the entire
annuity fund for 'beneficial objects,' and a large portion of
the 'incidental fund' to transport these articles to the place
of distribution. No good can possibly result from such a course,
but, on the contrary, great loss. Better articles can be obtained
in this market at a less price, and such as are adapted to their
wants. This fund should be husbanded and disbursed for objects
calculated to benefit the Indians, and not in such transparent
trash as has usually been received.
"One-half the amount, judiciously invested in the purchase of
articles actually required, suited to their tastes, and applicable
to their wants, would render more satisfaction, and would have a
greater tendency to promote their well-being and advance them in
civilization than the whole amount expended in the manner which it
is.
"The policy adopted at present only tends to embarrass the
operations of the agent, and create in the Indian's mind the
impression that there is a deliberate intention on the part of
the government to defraud them of their lands."[36]
Again, C. H. Hale, at the head of the Washington Superintendency,
reported in 1862 as follows:
"The attention of the department has so often been called, both by
agents and former superintendents, to the mistaken policy which has
so long obtained in the payment of annuities, that I forbear to dwell
upon the subject, being well satisfied that if the abundant evidence
which has heretofore been furnished, and forcible arguments which
have been employed, have not convinced the department of the folly
and injustice, not to say the fraud of the practice, it is useless
and vain for me to attempt it." Mr. Hale then advises that annuities
be paid only to Indians willing to reside at the reservations and as
incentives and aids to work; clothing might be furnished only for the
aged or infirm or children attending school. "Whatever may be furnished
in this way," he continues, "should be selected with the greatest
care, and with due reference to its intended application. Any article
needed, for all the purposes specified, can be obtained on this coast
at rates equally favorable as in the Atlantic cities; thus saving the
very large expenditures which have heretofore been made in the way of
freights."[37]
The local superintendents and agents, of course, might have been
in part influenced by desire to benefit the section in which they
were working, and, perhaps, by the design to get expenditures more
completely into their own hands; and the Government, on the other hand,
may have had good reasons for purchasing in New York. But the unanimity
and earnestness of the local officials indicate here a real and grave
source of trouble.
We come now to the important question as to how far the local officials
themselves were honest and capable. The answer to this question is
difficult.
Specific charges of peculation and wrong management are frequent. On
a visit to the Nez Perces reservation in 1861 Superintendent Kendall
found the only evidence of farming operations by the agency to consist
of about three tons of oats in the straw, although the agent had a
full force of treaty employes, and ten laborers besides, at an expense
of seven thousand dollars.[38] As the Superintendent fed his horse,
he sighed to think that each mouthful of the animal's feed cost the
Government at least one dollar. On the Umatilla agency there was an
expenditure called for during the first two years of sixty-six thousand
dollars; as a result there were in sight in 1862 "two log houses,
a half dozen log huts, an open shed for wagons and plows, about a
hundred acres of loamy river bottom fenced and in cultivation, a set of
carpenter's and blacksmith's tools, and farming implements insufficient
for an ordinary half section farm."[39] At the same reservation the
outgoing agent remarked to the special agent appointed to take his
position that the place of agent was worth there $4,000 per year,
although the salary was but $1,500.[40] We could wish, however, in such
cases to hear the accused agent's side of the story. Yet in 1858, Mr.
Dennison, Indian agent for eastern Oregon, according to his own report,
spent $13,500, which "was mostly expended in opening farms upon the
Warm Springs reservation"; the next year there were in cultivation on
this reservation 356 acres.[41] More convincing proof of fraudulent
practices, perhaps, is afforded in the attitude of merchants and others
towards agents. When Mr. Davenport, agent at the Umatilla reservation,
tried to get competitive bids at Portland, dealers were distrustful and
sarcastic, because they thought that he, as was common, was ostensibly
seeking bids while in reality having a deal on with some selected firm.
"The practice of combining against the Government for mutual profit
is so common," comments Mr. Davenport, "that all agents are regarded
in the same unenviable light. I said to one of the older merchants:
'It is easy to say that all the agents pilfer in this way, but what
do you know about it?' His answer was: 'I say all because all that I
know about are guilty.' The agent at Warm Springs, at the Grande Ronde,
at the Umatilla, at the Siletz does so, and I presume that the rest
of them do the same."[42] Another method whereby an agent might line
his own pockets was by allowing substitutions of inferior goods in
government invoices; Mr. Davenport was offered $1000 for the privilege
of exchanging annuity goods for others, item by item.[43]
But, indeed, how could it be expected that these administrators would
be efficient and honorable when we consider the system under which
they were appointed and did their work? No civil service rules were
applied. Men were generally appointed, not because of special fitness
either through natural aptitude or through administrative training, but
because of political partisanship and at the demand of some Senator or
Representative; or, later, they were appointed because of religious
affiliations at the suggestion of some religious body. No national
tests were applied, nor was there a sustaining esprit d' corps. There
could be no right spirit, indeed, when many government officials
considered that the agency system was merely a cheap way of keeping
the Indians quiet, and when the western population in general was
profoundly skeptical as to the possibility of civilizing the Indian.[44]
The outlook was the more discouraging since the great American
panacea--education--seemed a dismal failure when applied to these
Indians according to forms then in vogue. There might be quite a furore
when a reservation school was opened and the novelty was unworn; but
the white child's spelling book or reader soon proved very tame to the
young Indian, the more so because of the difficulties of pronunciation.
But the principal cause of failure of the day schools was the nomadic
habits of the parents; hardly had the Indian child started to school,
when away would go the family to the fishing or hunting grounds or to
the camass fields. Teachers who were in earnest met this difficulty
by establishing boarding schools, where the children could be kept
removed from the parental impulsiveness. The next step was natural.
These schools emphasized practical training, particularly agriculture
for the boys and housekeeping for the girls. This step, taken at a time
when in American educational methods, comparatively little attention
had been paid seriously to this phase of education, was significant and
produced good results.[45] Whatever the shortcomings of the American
method of dealing with the Indians in contrast to that of British
Columbia, in respect to education, at least, the American system
appears to advantage; for the colonial government of British Columbia
did practically nothing for the education of the natives.
There were two terrible evils, prevalent both in British Columbia
and in the territories, which weakened and degraded the Indians and
hindered efforts of every sort for improvement. These were prostitution
and the use of liquor.
No more pitiable condition can be imagined than that of the helpless
Indian women and girls who were devoted by their husbands and fathers
to prostitution among vile whites. The northern Indians brought down to
the Songish reserve at Victoria their young women, many of them girls
from ten to fourteen years of age, and remained all summer as pimps
and procurers.[46] Reports of American Indian agents along the Coast
make frequent mention of this practice. In the interior there is less
evidence of its existence, but wherever Indians had a chance to linger
around towns, they became demoralized. Employes agencies prostituted
Indian women or took them for concubines; the Superintendent of
Washington Territory issued a circular warning all employes from
such acts.[47] The results of prostitution are found in reports of
physicians of the various agencies, who almost always speak of venereal
diseases as common. It should very clearly be understood that these
facts were not true of all tribes in like degree; the tribes in the
interior were more robust physically and morally and farther removed
from contamination. Nor should the chastity of all the individuals
of a tribe be judged by specimens which hung about the towns. In the
interior, particularly, it was probably true that "unchastity among
Indians is the exception, as it is among the whites."[48]
Everywhere, both north and south of the Boundary, Indian welfare was
assailed by the liquor traffic, and everywhere the Government engaged
in a less or more futile struggle to combat it. Many of the Indians
undoubtedly believed, like an Indian orator at Ft. Simcoe, that they
had a right to drink whiskey if they wanted to, especially so long
as the white man made it,--and there were always white men ready to
sell it.[49] Local government took little part in suppressing the
trade in the United States, the work being regarded as belonging to
the officials of the general Government. These were hindered by lack
of summary powers, by the scarcity of jails, and by the reluctance
of juries to convict. Only on the reservations were the powers of
the agents ample, and even here they might, in part, be nullified by
the planting of resorts on the edges. The whole power of Government
in British Columbia, on the other hand, could be utilized for the
punishment of offenders. Magistrates had summary powers, and conviction
entailed heavy fines and, in the case of regular dealers, loss of
license. But the magistrates had the care of immense districts, and
the Indians were not localized as they were in the United States after
the reservation system was completely established. Yet this form of
lawlessness, in common with other forms, was better checked on the
whole in British Columbia than in the territories.
As we turn, now, to consider the efforts to solve the Indian problem
in British Columbia, quotations from two American administrators will
help to set before us the better ordered conditions under British
rule. The first is from General Harney: "Like all Indians they [the
northern Indians] are fond of whisky, and can be seen at all hours of
the day in the streets of Victoria drinking whenever they can get it,
yet they are not permitted to become disorderly. These Indians are
more obedient under British rule, which appears to be kind, but firm,
than their fellow men with us under any of the systems adopted by our
government."[50] The other is from an Indian agent, Mr. Davenport, to
whom we have before referred. "We have only to look across the line
into the British possessions of North America," he says, "to see that
their treatment of the Indian has been more promotive of peace and
good will than ours, and some people are swift to conclude that the
Canadians are of a higher moral tone than the people of the United
States. The true reason lies in the fact that their system has a more
constant and restraining influence upon the lawless class in society.
There is more individual freedom with us, and consequently more room
for departure from the normal line of conduct. This difference is
boldly in evidence to those of our citizens who have lived in mining
regions governed by Canadian officers, whose official tenure does not
depend upon the mood of the populace."[51]
The policy of the Colonial Government of British Columbia with respect
to the Indian population was distinguished by the following principal
features: (1) Title to the soil was not recognized as belonging to
the Indians; (2) No compensation, therefore, was allowed to Indians
either in the shape of payments, annuities, or of special educational
grants; (3) Indians were held to be fellow subjects with white men, and
entitled, as individuals, to the protection of law, and responsible
for obedience to law; (4) Sequestration of the native population upon
large reservations was not followed, but, as settlement progressed,
small reserves were assigned to families and septs, in proximity to
settlements of the whites.[52]
The adoption of this policy, so different to that of the United States,
was not due to differences between the Indian populations north and
south of the line. Some differences, it is true, there were: a great
part of the natives of British Columbia had been more uninterruptedly
under the tutelage of the Hudson's Bay Company than those across the
Boundary, and were somewhat more inclined to work; no one tribe in the
Colony was so powerful or so well organized as the Nez Perces; nor
did the Indians of the Interior of British Columbia possess so many
horses as did those to the south. Yet Kootenays, Pend d'Oreilles, and
Okanogans crossed the Line at pleasure; the Shuswaps were very like
the Coeur d'Alenes or the Cayuses; and the untameability of the nomads
south of the Snake was matched by the wildness and ferocity of the
Indians to the far north. In numbers, organization, and character it
is difficult to see why the natives of the one section were the more
adapted to any certain system than those of the other.[53]
The initiation of this policy (especially with respect to the
non-recognition of Indian title and the withholding of compensation)
was in part due to pressure for funds in the Colony and to the refusal
of the Imperial Government to assume any financial responsibility in
the matter. Governor Douglas before the founding of the Colony had
acted, apparently, on a different principle when, as agent for the
Hudson's Bay Company, he had bought in 1850-51 considerable areas
from various tribes in Vancouver's Island.[54] Compensation of some
sort to Indians on the mainland was at least tentatively endorsed by
the colonial office of the Home Government while it was in charge
of Sir E. B. Lytton; yet Lytton was careful to state that he did
not adopt the views of the Aborigines' Protective Society as to the
means for extending protection to the natives.[55] This society was
an organization in England which had "taken for many years a deep
interest in the welfare of the Indian Tribes to the west as well as
the east of the Rocky Mountains," and it may be looked upon as a
British manifestation of the same sort of philanthropic sentiment in
regard to Indians as existed among certain classes in the eastern
part of the United States. The Secretary of the Society, in a long
letter to Lytton, after quoting a long extract from a New York paper
relative to the extreme cruelty of miners to Indians in California
and characterizing the Indians of British Columbia as a "strikingly
acute and intelligent race of men," "keenly sensitive to their own
rights," and "equally alive to the value of the gold discoveries,"
claimed for them protection against wanton outrages and asked that "the
Native title should be recognized in British Columbia, and that some
reasonable adjustment of their claims should be made by the British
Government."[56] The policy of compensation to Indians was further
endorsed by Governor Douglas in regard to lands on Vancouver Island,
on the occasion of the transmission of a petition from the House of
Assembly of Vancouver Island, "praying for the aid of Her Majesty's
Government in extinguishing the Indian title to the public lands in the
Colony." The money then needed amounted to £3000, and Douglas proposed
that it be advanced by the Imperial Government, payment to be made
from the proceeds of sales of land. But the Duke of Newcastle, then
Secretary of State for the Colonies, replied tersely that he was "fully
sensible of the great importance of purchasing without loss of time the
native title to the soil of Vancouver Island; but the acquisition of
the title is a purely colonial interest, and the Legislature must not
entertain any expectation that the British taxpayer will be burdened to
supply the funds or British credit pledged for that purpose."[57]
Whatever the reason, however, for denying recognition of title to the
Indians both of the Island and of the Mainland, and for withholding
compensation, there can be no doubt of the fact: "The title of the
Indians in fee of the public lands, or any portion thereof," wrote an
eminent colonial official, "has never been acknowledged by Government,
but, on the contrary is distinctly denied."[58]
The beginnings of a positive Indian policy in British Columbia may be
traced in an early letter of Governor Douglas to Sir E. B. Lytton,
March 14, 1859. This letter was in reply to one from the latter (Dec.
30, 1858), in which Lytton inquired whether a plan for settling the
Indians in permanent villages, like the plan used by Sir George Grey
with the Kaffirs in South Africa, might not be feasible.[59]
Douglas endorsed the plan as of advantage both to the Indians and to
the Colony and then sketched the principles upon which he proposed to
establish reserves on the mainland. In the first place, the reserves
should "in all cases include their cultivated fields and village sites,
for which from habit and association they invariably conceive a strong
attachment, and prize more, for that reason, than for the extent or
value of the land."[60]. Such settlements, in the second place, were
to be entirely self-supporting. The Governor here adverted to the plan
pursued in the United States with regard to Indian reservations, but
stated that that plan was expensive to the Government and debasing to
the Indians. The system followed by the Spanish missions in California,
likewise, he regarded as defective, in that it kept the Indians in
a state of pupilage and did not train them to self-government and
self-reliance. He would avoid the evils of both these systems and, in
particular, cultivate the pride of independence. He proposed to that
end, that each family have title to its own plot of ground, but without
power of alienation; that they should be encouraged to add to their
possessions by purchasing property apart from the reserve; "that they
should in all respects be treated as rational beings, capable of acting
and thinking for themselves; and, lastly, that they should be placed
under proper moral and religious training and then be left, under the
protection of the laws, to provide for their own support."[61] "I
have impressed upon the miners," wrote Douglas to Lytton, "the great
fact that the law will protect the Indian equally with the white man,
and regard him in all respects as a fellow subject."[62] "The Indian
population," he wrote to another, "are considered by the laws of
England as fellow subjects, entitled to protection and punishable,
when guilty of offenses, through the sole action of the law."[63]
In a review of the Colonial Indian policy, written in 1875, the
Attorney General stated that that policy "was based on the broad and
experimental principle of treating the Indian as a fellow subject."[64]
It now remains for us to inquire how this Indian policy, so based,
was applied by the Colonial Government to this class of Her Majesty's
subjects; not omitting, as we do so, to notice contrasts to
administration in the United States.
In the administration of justice the courts of British Columbia
treated the Indian as the white man was treated. "When Indians commit
offenses," ordered Governor Douglas, "they are to be dealt with
impartially and to receive a fair trial before the proper authorities,
and not to be treated like the wild beasts of the forest."[65] We get
a glimpse of the way in which the law was administered with respect
to Indians from the terse records of the old Ft. Hope Police Book. An
Indian, for stealing money from another was sentenced to two days in
jail. Two Indians, for being drunk and disorderly, were sent to jail
for twenty-four hours. Simon B. McClure was charged by an Indian with
assaulting him and was fined forty shillings. William Welch, charged
by another Indian with the same offense, claimed that the Indian had
beaten his dog and attacked him with a knife; Welch was let off, and
the Indian was reprimanded. An Indian who struck an Indian woman in the
face with a gun had his hair cut off. J. Spencer Thompson, for selling
about one pint of liquor to an Indian had to pay a fine of $100, with
costs, and lost his license to sell liquor. The sentences, it will be
observed, were generally light for minor offenses, but not for selling
liquor to Indians. Whites and Chinamen, the records reveal, were
treated exactly as the Indians. Of course for grave offenses Indians,
as well as others, were bound over to the assizes. In a number of cases
Indians were hung for murder. This even-handed, carefully adjusted
dealing out of justice to Indians, whites, and Chinese alike, contrasts
plainly with the carelessness, ruthlessness, and lack of system in the
territories. One could scarcely imagine an event like the following
occurring on an American frontier: "May 28, 1862. Chas. Millard, Capt.
of the Ft. Hope (steamboat) appeared to answer the complaint of Jim (an
Indian) for having on the 16th inst. broken and otherwise damaged his
canoe at Union, valued at twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
"Ordered to pay four pounds ($20.00) being the damage sustained by the
Indian as sworn to by C. C. Craigie & Wm. Yates. Paid. P. O'Reilly, J.
P."[66]
It is difficult in the mining regions south of the Line to find
satisfactory records as to how justice was administered to the Indian.
The reservation system, as it was being applied in the Pacific
Northwest, weakened the ancient tribal authority; the "subsidy plan"
tended to alienate the people from the chiefs, and the presence of
Agents lessened their prestige in the eyes of the young or of those
inclined to be bad. The Agents, on their part, had no authority for the
punishment of criminal acts. If they had possessed magisterial powers,
both with regard to whites and Indians, justice might have been better
administered. Local authorities had no jurisdiction over Indians
who were on reservations, although they sometimes punished those who
were off of them.[67] Only United States courts had full power, but
these courts were slow in action, and could not be expected, moreover,
to take cognizance of minor cases. Indian criminals, finally, were
sometimes arrested by army officials and tried by army courts with
scanty consideration.[68] For the Indian, indeed, there seems to have
been at this period practically no real protection before the law in
the American procedure.
In case of Indian outbreak the British Columbia system aimed to punish
offenders as individuals and not to take revenge on tribes. One of
the marked features of the history of the Colony of British Columbia
is that there was but one serious Indian outbreak during the colonial
period.[69] This happened in April, 1864, when some Chilcotin Indians
killed roadmakers and settlers to the number of fourteen. The whole
tribe went on the warpath, but were subdued by volunteers from New
Westminster and Cariboo. Rewards of $250 each were offered for the
individual murderers, the aim being, as Governor Seymour expressed it,
"to secure justice, not vengeance."[70] Too often, south of the Line,
in case of Indian depredations, there was no discrimination between the
tribe and guilty members of the tribe.[71]
In the British Columbia Indian system, as we have before stated there
was no policy of bestowing annuities or subsidies, although gifts were
sometimes made for special reasons.[72] To the student of American
Indian history special interest attaches in this connection to the
judgment of Mr. William Duncan, a man of very great experience, wisdom,
and success in his dealings with Indians. Mr. Duncan wrote as follows
in 1875 from his mission at Metlakahtla: "In no matter affecting the
Indians can the Government do more good or harm than in the matter of
gifts.
"Money may be spent to a large amount upon the Indians and yet tend
only to alienate, dissatisfy, and impoverish them, if wrongly applied;
whereas a small sum rightly administered will yield much good both to
the Indians and the country at large.
"The policy of dealing out gifts to individual Indians I consider
cannot be too strongly deprecated, as it is both degrading and
demoralizing. To treat the Indians as paupers is to perpetuate their
baby-hood and burdensomeness. To treat them as savages, whom we fear
and who must be tamed and kept in good temper by presents, will
perpetuate their barbarism and increase their insolence. I would
therefore strongly urge the Government to set their faces against such
a policy." He recommended, on the positive side, that money be put into
Public Works for the benefit of the Indians. It will thus be seen that
Mr. Duncan held substantially the same views with regard to annuities
as did the Agents and superintendents south of the Line, whose
well-conceived ideas were nullified by the officials and contractors in
the East.[73]
As has before been remarked, the Colony of British Columbia made no
special effort for the education of the Indians. It was averred on
the part of the Government that "the Government merely deferred the
subject, believing that it was far more important in the interests of
the community at large to first reclaim the Natives from their savage
state and teach them the practical and rudimentary lessons of civilized
life."[74] Beyond establishing reserves, however, and placing the
Indians under law, one fails to see how the Government directly tried
to teach them these "practical and rudimentary lessons." Certainly
there was no effort by the Government to teach the Indians agriculture
or any of the practical arts, as there was south of the Line.
There were other ways, however, in which the Colonial Government did
help the Indians at considerable expense. In surveying reserves, and in
keeping whites off of them; in the suppression of the liquor traffic;
in exemptions from tolls, taxes, and customs; and in direct pecuniary
aid for the destitute and the sick, the aggregate expenditures and
rebates were considerable. Moreover, the Magistrates in the several
Districts were to act as Indian Agents, and to advise and protect the
Indian "in all matters relating to their welfare."[75]
We arrive now, finally, at the very important subject of reserves.
These Indian reserves of British Columbia are to be clearly
distinguished from the Indian reservations of the United States. The
latter were very large in area, were assigned to a tribe or to a
number of tribes, were founded on the principle of sequestration from
the whites, and were under the oversight of an agent; the reserves of
British Columbia were small, were assigned to septs or families, were
often contiguous to white settlements, and had no special agents. In
size the reserves of British Columbia varied in all degrees from one
acre to six thousand acres.[76] The total area of surveyed reserves
amounted in 1871 to 28,437 acres.[77] The general principle on which
reserves were assigned was that each head of a family should be given
ten acres, but in practice there was considerable variation.[78] It
seems strange to one accustomed to American reservations, that a
reserve of six hundred square miles for a tribe of 400 members should
have been regarded as entirely too extensive to be allowed.[79]
The principle of assigning land in so small amounts, on what we may
call a village system, may have been adopted with special reference
to conditions of life among the Coast Indians or among those of the
lower Fraser, for whose use (since they made their living by fishing
or working for whites) a small parcel of land was sufficient but for
the pastoral Indians of the interior it seemed manifestly insufficient.
So long as there was plenty of range, the smallness of the reserves
was not felt, but when whites acquired title to vacant lands and, at
the same time, the wants of the Indians increased, the latter felt
themselves unjustly treated.[80] When British Columbia entered the
Confederation, the Dominion Government wanted the Indians to have
eighty acres for each head of family. This the Province refused, but
it did consent to grant twenty. This amount still being considered
insufficient for the Interior Indians by the Dominion Superintendent of
Indian Affairs for British Columbia, he requested that it be raised to
forty acres (in accordance with the principle then recognized in the
preemption laws of British Columbia, which allowed 160 acres west of
the Cascades, but 320 east); but the request was not granted.[81]
In addition to their reserves, however, the Indians of British Columbia
had the right to acquire land outside the reserves on the same terms
as white men,--a right not possessed at that time by their kindred to
the South. This right was clearly stated by Governor Douglas: "That
measure," he said (referring to the reserve system) "is not, however,
intended to interfere with the private rights of individuals of the
future Tribes, or to incapacitate them, as such, from holding land;
on the contrary, they have precisely the same rights of acquiring
and possessing land in their individual capacity, either by purchase
or by occupation under the Pre-emption Law, as other classes of Her
Majesty's Subjects; provided they in all respects comply with the legal
conditions of tenure by which land is held in this Colony."[82] This
right, however, was afterwards modified to the extent that preemption
could be exercised by an Indian only by special consent of the
Government.[83] So late as 1872 an Indian received special permission
to pre-empt one hundred acres.
As to which system, that of British Columbia or that of the United
States, on the whole was the better, is a question difficult, if not
impossible to decide; and it would certainly involve extensive research
in the period subsequent to that of our study and beyond its scope.
W. J. TRIMBLE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Davenport, T. W. Recollections of an Indian Agent. Quar Or. His.
Soc., Vol. VIII, No. 4, Dec. 1907, p. 352.
[2] Mullan--Report on Military Road, p. 52
[3] Id., p. 79.
[4] Id., p. 52.
[5] Con. His. Soc. Mont., Vol. VI, p. 284.
[6] Rpt. Com. Indian Affairs, 1863, p. 442.
[7] Langford, Vigilante Days and Ways, Vol. I, pp. 250 & 318.
[8] Recollections of an Indian Agent. Or. His. Quar. Vol. VIII, No. 1,
March, 1907, p. 389.
[9] The Pioneer Reminiscences of George Collier Robbins, Pacific
Monthly, Vol. 26, No. 2, Aug., 1911, pp. 288-9.
[10] An Incident of this nature is related in Hailey, History of Idaho,
p. 58.
[11] Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quart. Or. His. Soc. Vol. VIII,
No. 4, Dec., 1907, p. 360.
[12] The Montana Post. Feb. 4, 1865
[13] Journals of the Council and House of Representatives of Idaho
Territory, 4th session, 1866-7, pp. 343-4.
[14] For different views of one expedition, contrast the account of the
expedition led by Jeff Standifer in Hailey's Idaho, pp. 49-60, with
that in the Pioneer Reminiscences of George Collier Robbins. Pacific
Monthly, Vol. 26, No. 2, Aug., 1911, pp. 198-9.
[15] General Conner's men marched several days in extremely cold
weather, in order to catch and surprise these Indians. Of the soldiers
in this expedition 15 were killed, 53 wounded, and 75 more or less
seriously frozen. An account may be found in Langford, Vigilante Days
and Ways, pp. 337-354.
[16] The Idaho World, Feb. 24, 1866.
[17] Owyhee Avalanche, Dec. 16, 1865.
[18] Id., Nov. 11, 1865.
[19] The Idaho World, Jan. 27, 1866.
[20] The Canadian Pacific Railway has a special plan for providing
for such settlers, by itself building houses and breaking land. It is
a well-known fact in Western Canada that new emigrants from the old
country find it much more difficult to get a start than do Americans
or people from Eastern Canada. This fact was recently called to my
attention, on a visit to Alberta, by an English farmer of several
years' experience.
[21] I am indebted for a number of the ideas and facts expressed in
this paragraph to Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar. Or. His.
Soc., Vol. VIII, No. 1, March, 1907, pp. 12-18.
[22] Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 1861, p. 160.
[23] Id., 1862, p. 419.
[24] Id., 1863, p. 52.
[25] Id., 1861, p. 160.
[26] Report Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1860, pp. 173-761.
[27] Rpt. Com. Ind. Affairs, 1862, p. 397.
[28] The Weekly Oregonian. Sept. 7, 1861.
[29] San Francisco Daily Bulletin, July 24, 1862.
[30] Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar. Oregon His. Soc., Vol.
VIII, No. 2, June, 1907, p. 108.
[31] Report of Henry A. Webster. Rpt. Com. Ind. Af., 1862, p. 407.
[32] T. W. Davenport. Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar. Or. His.
Soc., Vol. VIII. No. 2, June, 1907, p. 108.
[33] Rpt. Com. Ind. Af., 1863, p. 459.
[34] San Francisco Daily Bulletin, Jan. 28, 1864.
[35] Rpt. Com. Ind. Af., 1860, p. 185.
[36] Rpt. Com. Ind. Affairs, 1861, p. 159.
[37] Rpt. Com. Ind. Af., 1862, pp. 400-401.
[38] Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar. Or. His. Soc., Vol. VIII,
No. I, March 1907, p. 14. {See transcriber notes}
[39] Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar. Ore. His. Soc., Vol.
VIII., No. 1, March, 1907, p. 14.
[40] Id., p. 7.
[41] 36 Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Doc. I, p. 802.
[42] Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar. Or. His. Soc., Vol. VIII,
No 1, March, 1907, pp. 18-19.
[43] Id. No. 2, June, 1907, p. 105.
[44] Cf. on these points Id. No. I, pp. 4 & 5.
[45] Rpt. Com. Ind. Af., 1860, p. 184; 1862, p. 263; 1863, pp. 52, 65,
82-84, 449-451, and 473; 1864, pp. 73-4, 85.
[46] British Columbia Papers Connected with the Indian Land Question,
Report of I. U. Powell concerning the Songish reserve, pp. 121-2.
[47] Rpt. Com. Ind. Af., 1861, p. 77.
[48] Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar. Or., His. Soc., Vol.
VIII., No. 2, June. 1907, pp. 127-8.
[49] San Francisco Daily Bulletin. July 24, 1862.
[50] 36 Cong., 1st Sess., Sen. Doc. 11, No. 2, p. 108.
[51] Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar., Or. His. Soc., Vol. VIII.
No. 4, Dec., 1907, p. 355.
[52] It should be carefully noted that this statement of policy has no
reference to the Canadian policy. The two are clearly distinguishable.
[53] Statements of numbers of population in both sections may be found
in Documents relating to Vancouver's Island Laid Before the House of
Commons, 1849, pp. 9 & 10, and Report from the Select Committee on
the Hudson's Bay Company, 1857, pp. 366-7. Some information as to the
grouping of natives in British Columbia may be obtained from Tolmie
and Dawson--Comparative Vocabularies of the Indian Tribes of British
Columbia.
[54] These conveyances are found in Papers Connected With the Indian
Land Question, pp. 5-11. A clause common to all papers was the
following: "The condition of or understanding of this sale is this,
that our village sites and enclosed fields are to be kept for our
own use, for the use of our children, and for those who may follow
after us; and the land shall be properly surveyed hereafter. It is
understood, however, that the land itself, with these small exceptions,
becomes the entire property of the white people forever; it is also
understood that we are at liberty to hunt over the unoccupied lands,
and to carry on our fisheries as formerly."
It was claimed by Hon. Joseph W. Trutch that these transactions were
merely "made for the purpose of securing friendly relations between
those Indians and the settlement of Victoria, * * * and certainly not
in acknowledgement of any general title of the Indians to the lands
they occupy." Id., Ap, p. 11.
[55] Sir E. B. Lytton to Governor Douglas, July 31, 1858, and Sept. 2,
1858,--Papers relating to Indian Land Question, p. 12: Carnarvon to
Governor Douglas, April 11 and May 20, 1859, Id., p. 18.
[56] Id., pp. 12-14.
[57] Id., p. 20.
[58] Memorandum, 1870, of Joseph W. Trutch, Commissioner of Lands
and Works, Id., ap. pp. 10-13. Cf. also The Indian Land Question in
British Columbia, a lecture delivered April 22nd, 1910, in Vancouver
by Rev. Arthur E. O'Meara, B. A., p. 13. This lecture is in opposition
to the policy which has been pursued. The Roman Catholic missionaries,
as well as some clergymen of other denominations, have been
actively sympathetic with the Indian point of view sometimes to the
embarrassment of officials; Papers Relating to Indian Land Question,
pp. 27-8, 86-91, 145-148.
[59] Id., pp. 16 and 17.
[60] This principle was acted upon, also, with regard to burial
grounds. In the establishment of the reserve system, as, indeed, in
all dealings with the Indians, the officials of British Columbia were
more considerate of the prejudices and attachments of the Indians than
officials in the United States usually were. An interesting example of
this consideration was an "Ordinance to prevent the violation of Indian
graves." This ordinance decreed that anyone damaging or removing any
image, bones, or any article or thing deposited in, on, or near any
Indian grave in the Colony, would be liable to a fine of £100 for the
first offense, and twelve months imprisonment at hard labor for the
second. In any indictment "It shall be sufficient to state that such
grave, image, bones, article or thing is the property of the Crown."
Ordinances of the Legislative Council of British Columbia, Sess.
Jan.-April, 1865, No. 19.
[61] Papers Relating to Indian Land Question, pp. 16 and 17.
[62] Oct. 11. 1858: Papers Regarding British Columbia, I, 39.
[63] Douglas to Mortimer Robertson Miscellaneous Letters, Ms., I, p. 37.
[64] Papers Relating to the Indian Land Question, p. 4.
[65] Miscl. Letters, Ms. I, 37.
[66] The old Police Book is the more trustworthy, because it was
not intended as a report, nor for publication. The officials whose
judgments were recorded were Chief Justice Begbie and Mr. O'Reilly.
[67] Some Indians were tried and convicted for murder in 1861, in the
Wasco County (Oregon) Circuit Court; Oregonian, Oct. 12, 1861.
[68] Two renegade Umatilla Indians on one occasion attempted to rob
a sleeping miner. He awoke, and in a scuffle one of them shot and
wounded him. These Indians called at the lodge of Howlish Wampo, a much
respected Cayuse chief, and then disappeared. Colonel Steinburger, in
command at Walla Walla, had the chief arrested, put in chains, and was
dissuaded from executing him only by the earnest solicitations of the
Indian Agent. The two Indians were afterward arrested and, after a
farcical trial by a military commission were executed. The miner had
not died. Recollections of an Indian Agent, Quar. Or. His. Soc., Vol.
VIII, No. 1, March, 1907, pp. 24-35.
[69] There was a disturbance in 1848 between Indians and miners along
the Fraser, before Government was established. Miners volunteered and
organized in true American fashion and compelled peace.
[70] Government Gazette, May 28, 1864, and Jan. 14, 1865.
[71] When Bolon, Indian Agent of the Yakimas, was murdered in 1855, the
Olympia Pioneer and Democrat said: "Chastisement can now be visited
upon the tribes instead of going to the trouble of ferreting out
individual guilty members." Oct. 12, 1855.
[72] In the Budget of 1864, out of a total of £135,639, there was
specified for gifts to Indian chiefs, £200, (Government Gazette, Feb.
20, 1864); out of a total appropriation of £122,250 in 1869, £100 was
appropriated for Indian expenses. (Papers Relating to the Indian Land
Question, p. 98.)
[73] It might have been well for the enthusiastic Eastern
philanthropists, who were so zealous in inveighing against wrongs
perpetrated by Westerners upon the Indians, to have directed some of
their efforts to their own neighbors.
[74] Papers Relating to Indian Land Question, Ap., p. 4.
[75] Id., p. 4.
[76] Schedule of Indian Reserves in the Province of British Columbia;
Papers Relating to Indian Land Question, pp. 104-5.
[77] Report of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, Id., p. 103.
[78] Id., p. 137.
[79] Id., p. 33.
[80] On this phase consult letter of Rev. Father Grandidier from
Okanogan, Id., pp. 145-147.
[81] Id., p. 124.
[82] Government Gazette, Jan. 30, 1864.
[83] Papers Relating to the Indian Land Question, Ap., p. 4.
DOCUMENTS
The prominence given to the name of the Indian Chief Leschi in the City
of Seattle is sufficient to lend an interest to the following record
of a meeting of pioneers in Pierce County. It was copied from the
Pioneer and Democrat of Friday, January 29, 1858, by Harry B. McElroy
of Olympia. Mr. McElroy has a fine series of old territorial newspapers.
Indignation Meeting
The citizens of Pierce County, W. T., after returning from witnessing
the disgraceful transaction enacted at Fort Steilacoom, the place
appointed for the execution of the murderer Leschi, on the 22nd
January, 1858, assembled at the church in Steilacoom City.
Mr. O. P. Meeker was called to the chair, and N. W. Orr was chosen
Secretary.
The chairman then stated the object of the meeting.
The meeting was addressed by Messrs. Sam McCaw, E. Cady and Henry
Bradley. On motion,
A committee of five were appointed, consisting of A. L. Porter, O. H.
White, W. R. Downey, E. M. Meeker and M. J. West, for the purpose of
drafting resolutions expressing the views of this meeting as regards
the conduct of Sheriff, Geo. Williams, U. S. Commissioner, J. M.
Bachelder, and such of the military officers at the Steilacoom Garrison
as assisted in evading the execution of the law, and likewise the
disgraceful course pursued by Frank Clark.
The committee, after retiring for a short time, reported the following
resolutions which were unanimously adopted.
WHEREAS, at connivance, as we fully believe, of sheriff Williams
and others, an arrest was made of said Williams for the purpose of
preventing the execution of Leschi, who had been tried, convicted of
murder, and sentenced to death, therefore,
RESOLVED, That we, as citizens of Pierce County, denounce the act
as being unworthy of honorable men. That the aiders, abetters and
sympathisers in this high-handed outrage, deserve the unqualified
condemnation of all lovers of good, order, and are no longer entitled
to our confidence.
RESOLVED, That the action of those of the officers of the U. S. A.
at Fort Steilacoom, who have participated, aided and abetted in the
arrest of sheriff Williams at the very hour he was to have executed
Leschi, and, as we believe, solely for the purpose of preventing him
from performing his duty as sheriff, deserve at our hands the severest
condemnation, that we consider it an act unworthy of the officers of
the U. S. Army, it being clearly their duty to assist in enforcing the
law instead of throwing obstacles in the way of its mandates.
RESOLVED, That the action of the U. S. Commissioner, J. M. Bachelder,
in issuing a warrant for the arrest of sheriff Williams, on the
affidavit of an Indian, and, as we believe, with full knowledge of the
object to be effected by the arrest, is without the least shadow of
excuse, and that the interest of the community demands his immediate
removal.
RESOLVED, That we believe that Frank Clark has done all that was in his
power to prevent the execution of the laws, and has been instrumental
in having an affidavit filed, which resulted in the arrest of the
sheriff and his deputy, and we brand the act as being unworthy of a law
abiding citizen of this Territory.
RESOLVED, That the representative of the foreign company in our midst,
W. F. Tolmie, has, by his own officiousness in this matter, rendered
himself more than obnoxious to the citizens of Pierce County, and that
we earnestly desire to see the day when our Country shall be rid of
this incubus on our prosperity.
On motion of A. C. Lowell,
A committee of three was appointed by the Chair, consisting of Henry
Bradley, A. L. Porter and Sam McCaw to circulate the above resolutions
to give such of our citizens as wish, the opportunity to endorse the
same.
On motion of A. C. Lowell, The proceedings [were ordered] published in
the Pioneer and Democrat. On motion the meeting adjourned.
O. P. Meeker, Ch'n
N. W. Orr, Sec.
BOOK REVIEWS
THE STORY OF THE PONY EXPRESS. By Glen D. Bradley. (Chicago, A. C.
McClurg & Co. 1913. Pp. 175. $.75.)
The Pony Express was an incidental enterprise of importance in the
attempts to establish rapid communication between the Missouri River
and the Pacific Coast during the early sixties. Before the middle
of the nineteenth century explorers and traders in the far West had
established three great thoroughfares across the continent. These
were the Santa Fe, the Salt Lake, and the Oregon trails. The Mormon
settlement of Utah and the discovery of gold in California led to
the establishment of mail routes across the country. In spite of
governmental subsidies, the difficulties occasioned by the Indians,
the severe weather, especially in the mountains, irregular highways
and absence of bridges made communication particularly difficult
and uncertain. Railroads and telegraph lines were being pushed east
and west, but had not connected when the Civil War approached, and
with it grave fears lest California be lost to the Union. Rapid
communication was essential and into this gap was pushed the Pony
Express, a thoroughly organized system of riders who carried the
mails on horseback between stations maintained along the route.
For sixteen months the daring men identified with this work with
unsurpassed courage and unflinching endurance kept the two sections
in communication with each other until, in October, 1861, telegraph
wires took the place of flesh and blood as means of communication,
and the Pony Express passed into history, and California was saved to
the Union. The Pony Express failed in a financial way to reimburse
its organizers, but it served the country well and gave another
opportunity for the exercise of "man-defying American pluck and
determination--qualities that have always characterized the winning of
the West." Mr. Bradley's theme has much in it of romance and heroism
and he has lost none of it in the telling.
EDWARD MCMAHON.
* * * * *
THE COMING CANADA. (The World Today Series.) By Joseph King Goodrich.
Sometime Professor in the Imperial Government College, Kyoto. (Chicago,
A. C. McClurg & Co. 1913. Pp. VIII, 309. $1.50 net.)
This book was written not for the specialist in history or political
science, but for the general reader, and should be judged from that
standpoint. It is largely a compilation from satisfactory authorities,
but the author relies upon direct knowledge gained by travel during
the past twenty-five years and he has also received suggestions and
statistics from the various departmental authorities at Ottawa. The
book has no independent historical value, but forms a good guide
for the general reader and is well worth perusal by one who is
contemplating a Canadian tour or desires a bird's view of present
conditions. The range of topics is broad, covering, with the exception
of present party politics and problems of racial and religious
assimilation, all subjects of major interest.
One excellent chapter is devoted to sources of Canadian wealth;
according to the view of the author, the greatness of The Coming
Canada is founded upon agricultural products, live stock and kindred
industries, rather than upon its mineral wealth. This seems to be
the keynote of the book. Subjects worthy of especial mention are
governmental policies for internal development, including the homestead
laws; railway, past, present and future; and brief discussions of the
social and economic relations of Canada and the United States. The
description of local and central institutions of government is adequate
for the purposes of the general reader.
The historical introduction, comprising the first quarter of the book,
is the least satisfactory. It has no independent historical value and
the facts may be obtained elsewhere in briefer and more satisfactory
shape. The notices, however, of official processes by which the present
boundaries of the Dominion were attained, are adequate.
The forty illustrations from photographs add greatly to the
attractiveness of the volume; but the reviewer regrets that at least
one of them could not have been replaced by a good map.
OLIVER H. RICHARDSON.
* * * * *
SUBJECT INDEX TO THE HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND OF ALASKA AS
FOUND IN THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS, CONGRESSIONAL SERIES,
IN THE AMERICAN STATE PAPERS, AND IN OTHER DOCUMENTS, 1789-1881.
Prepared by Katharine B. Judson, A. M., for the Seattle Public Library.
(Published by the Washington State Library, Olympia, 1913. Pp. 341.)
The compiling of this index involved the examining page by page of
over 2,000 volumes of documents. One can readily imagine the deadening
drag of such a piece of work unless it was done by a person with a
historical sense who saw what a help it would be to those making a
study of Pacific Northwest history from its original sources. Those who
have tried by themselves to dig out material from early documents know
how helpless they are and they will readily recognize the usefulness of
such a reference work as Miss Judson has compiled.
It may be interesting to note that the history of no other section of
the United States has been covered by such an index.
There may be some question why the index was not brought down to a date
later than 1881. This was unnecessary, as there are adequate general
indexes to government documents from that year to date.
One might be led to think from the title "Subject Index" that each
document included had been minutely indexed. This is not the case and
it would have been impractical to have attempted to do so, but on the
other hand when a document was found to include material on several
topics, such, for example, as mail service, fisheries, agriculture,
it has been listed under these various headings. Perhaps it is more
nearly a catalogue than an index to documents. Arranged as it is under
broad headings rather than specific ones, the index can scarcely be
considered a ready reference tool, but I am doubtful if it could have
been made so, at least not without greatly increasing the amount of
work entailed in compiling it.
The index covers a much wider range of topics than the word history
usually is taken to include. Banks and banking, missions, mail service,
education, roads, and cost of living are some of the subject headings
which are used. Accordingly it would seem that the index should prove
indispensable to any one who is studying the development of the Pacific
Northwest from a social, political, religious, economic, or historical
point of view.
Although the index is of primary use to the serious student, still it
makes available much thoroughly readable material for those who have
interested themselves in the history of the Pacific Northwest merely
for their own pleasure.
CHARLES H. COMPTON.
* * * * *
GUIDE TO THE MATERIALS FOR UNITED STATES HISTORY IN CANADIAN ARCHIVES.
By David W. Parker. (Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington,
1913. Pp. 339.)
Of the Papers thus far issued by the Department of Historical Research
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, none can prove of greater
service to American historical scholarship than the present volume. As
stated by Professor Jameson in the Preface: "The constant relations
between Canada and the English colonies, or the United States, during
two centuries of conflict and a hundred years of peace, across the
longest international line, save one, that the world has ever known,
have made it inevitable that the archives of Canada should abound
in documents useful, and sometimes highly important, to the history
of the United States." Students of our own regional history will be
astonished to find what a wealth of material is preserved in the
Canadian archives, particularly in the archives of the Archbishopric of
Quebec, that bears directly upon the history of Oregon and Washington.
It will be particularly regretted, by students in these states, that
the Archives of British Columbia located in the nearby city of Victoria
could not have been adequately listed. It is stated, however, that
"A complete annotated catalogue of the documents in the Provincial
Archives [of British Columbia] will be issued as soon as the Department
moves into the new quarters, now being built, and the material will
then be available to the student."
* * * * *
AN AMERICAN HISTORY. By Nathaniel W. Stephenson, Professor of History
in the College of Charleston. (New York, Ginn & Co. 1913. Pp. 604.)
AMERICAN HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. By Willis M. West, Sometime Professor
of History in the University of Minnesota. (New York, Allyn & Bacon,
1913. Pp. 801.)
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By John S. Bassett, Professor of
History in Smith College. (New York, The Macmillan Co. 1913. Pp. 884.
$2.50.)
These three new textbooks appearing within a few weeks of each other
bear eloquent witness of the activity of the teaching and study of
history. Prof. Stephenson's book is intended for use in the elementary
schools, and is eminently fair and well balanced. Very great care has
been exercised in the selection of illustrations and in some cases the
author has very wisely chosen those of representative men not usually
pictured in a textbook. A very large number of small maps are used to
elucidate the text, and in this respect the author has set a new mark
in efficient textbook making.
Bassett's Short History is a textbook for the use of college students
and for readers who desire a reliable account of United States history
in a single volume. In addition to these uses, it will no doubt have
a wide sale as a reference book in schools whose library facilities
are limited. Professor Bassett is always careful about his facts. The
emphasis is well proportioned and the maps well selected. There are
no illustrations. The subject matter of the volume is treated in a
purely conventional way and differs very radically in this respect
from Professor West's History and Government. If one could apply the
terms of politics to history writing Bassett's book is conservative
and West's progressive. Professor West is widely known as a textbook
writer and is just as careful of his facts and proportion as Professor
Bassett, but he has had a different purpose in mind. He views history
not merely as political history. "The growth of our political
democracy has been intertwined with the development of our economic
and industrial conditions. I have tried to make this interaction the
pervading principle in determining the arrangement and selection of
material. * * * [and] I should not have cared to write the book at all,
if I had not believed that a fair presentation of American history
gives to American youth a robust and aggressive faith in democracy.
At the same time, I have tried to correct the common delusion which
looks back to Jefferson or John Winthrop for a golden age, and to show
instead that democracy has as yet been tried only imperfectly among us."
West's selection of material has been well made with this end in
view. The book is stimulating and suggestive and will meet with
hearty approval from those who are disciples of the "new history" and
will throw a flood of new light upon the subject for those who have
studied and taught history in the conventional way. With the spread of
democracy, such books as West's are bound to grow in number and use.
EDWARD MCMAHON.
* * * * *
WRITINGS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Edited by Worthington Ford. (New York,
The Macmillan Company, 1913. Vol. 2, 1796-1801. Pp. 531. $3.50 net.)
Volume 1 of this important set was noted in the Quarterly for April,
1913, page 131. As noted there, the readers in the Pacific Northwest
are awaiting with interest the subsequent volumes containing the record
of John Quincy Adams in the diplomacy of Old Oregon.
* * * * *
DECISIONS, JULY, 1912, TO JULY, 1913. By United States Geographic
Board. (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1913. Pp. 54.)
There are here given 365 decisions on geographic names. Of this total a
surprising number of decisions (107) are devoted to geographic features
of the State of Washington. Of these there are 56 in Whatcom County
in the vicinity of Mount Baker and 49 are found in the Mount Rainier
National Park. The remaining two are Mount Spokane and Portage Bay, the
latter a part of Lake Union, Seattle.
* * * * *
EARLY AMERICAN MOUNTAINEERS. By Allen H. Bent. (Reprint from
Appalachia, Vol. XIII, No. 1. Pp. 45 to 67.)
Western mountains come in for a fair share of attention in this
interesting little monograph. There are a number of portraits, among
which may be seen those of David Douglass, the famous early botanist
who wrought in the Pacific Northwest, and General Hazard Stevens, who
made the first ascent of Mount Rainier with P. B. Van Trump.
* * * * *
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE GREAT PLAINS. Selected and edited by Katharine
Berry Judson. (Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co. 1913. Pp. 205. $1.50 net.)
This is the fourth volume in the series of Myths and Legends edited by
Miss Judson. Earlier volumes covering Alaska, The Pacific Northwest,
and California and the Old Southwest have been noted in previous issues
of this magazine.
* * * * *
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF PEACE. By Henry Cabot Lodge. (New York, The
Macmillan Company, 1913. Pp. 136. $1.25 net.)
This timely book should find a welcome in the State of Washington,
where committees are already at work to celebrate the centennial
of peace by the erection of an arch or some other form of imposing
monument where the Pacific Highway passes from the United States into
Canada.
* * * * *
JAMES HARLAN. By Johnson Brigham. (Iowa City, The State Historical
Society of Iowa, 1913. Pp. 398.)
This latest volume in the very creditable Iowa Biographical Series
(edited by Benj. F. Shambaugh) is the well told story of one of Iowa's
best known sons. James Harlan was a typical Westerner, a man of rugged
sincerity, an orator and debater of no mean ability, an independent and
self-reliant leader of a pioneer people. The years of his political
career were entangled with the anti-slavery agitation, the Civil
War, and the confused and trying periods of Reconstruction. He was
not perhaps a statesman of first rank, but Iowa does well in setting
forth the work of her sons in the very excellent series of which this
volume forms a creditable addition. On the whole, the volume does not
measure up to the standard for fairness set by some of the earlier
volumes. On too many controverted points the opinion of the "Burlington
Hawk-Eye" and "the Iowa State Register" are quoted as if their judgment
was final. A good many states would reflect credit on themselves by
encouraging a similar excellent biographical series.
* * * * *
THE LIFE OF ROBERT TOOMBS. By Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, Ph. D.,
Professor of American History in the University of Michigan. (New York,
The Macmillan Co. 1913. Pp. 281. $2.00.)
This volume from the pen of one of the ablest students of American
history gives in available form an interesting and instructive account
of one of the leading "fire-eaters" of the ante-bellum period.
Professor Phillips treats Toombs as an exponent of the social and
industrial history of his period and section and therefore emphasizes
these factors rather than those that are purely biographical. In
very large measure he allows Toombs to speak for himself through his
speeches and letters.
* * * * *
AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. By
Charles A. Beard, Associate Professor of Politics, Columbia University.
(New York, The Macmillan Company, 1913. Pp. VII, 330. $2.25 net.)
Professor Beard in this work is concerned with the "forces which
condition" a great movement in politics, viz., the making of our
national constitution. Rapidly sketching the economic interests in
1787, the movement for the constitution and the property-safeguards in
the election of delegates, he leads up to the most direct contribution
in the book, viz., a study of the personal and financial interests of
the framers of that document. Biographical sketches of the members
are given from this new angle. The basis being a careful study of
the extant records of the Treasury Department at Washington now used
for the first time in this connection. Emphasis is laid upon the
economic interests represented in "personality in public securities,"
"personality invested in lands for speculation," "personality in
the form of money loaned at interest," "personality in mercantile,
manufacturing, and shipping lines" and "personality in slaves." The
remaining chapters treat of the political doctrines of the "framers"
and the process of ratification. Professor Beard states frankly that
his study is fragmentary, but he has unquestionably made available to
students a body of facts that must be taken into account by anyone
desiring to understand the making of our constitution.
Other Books Received
AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. Proceedings, New Series, Volume 23, Part
I. (Worcester, Society, 1913. Pp. 169.)
AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Publications, Number 21. (N. Y.
Society, 1913. Pp. 304.)
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Annual Report, 1911. Volume 1.
(Washington, Govt. 1913. Pp. 842.)
AMERICAN SCENIC AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY. Eighteenth Annual
Report, 1913. (Albany, Lyon, 1913. Pp. 832.)
ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Transactions for the year 1911.
(Springfield, State Historical Library, 1913. Pp. 151.)
KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Biennial Report, 1910-1912. (Topeka,
1913. Pp. 193.)
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Classification, Class E-F, America. (Wash., Govt.
1913. Pp. 298. 40 cents.)
ONTARIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Annual Report, 1913. (Toronto, Society,
1913. Pp. 78.)
ONTARIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Papers and Records, Volume 11. (Toronto.
Society, 1913. Pp. 81.)
Entire number devoted to a study of "Place Names in Georgian Bay
and North Channel," by James White.
RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Proceedings, 1911-1913. (Providence,
Society, 1913. Pp. 92.)
RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. The Seal, the Arms and the Flag of
Rhode Island, by Howard M. Chapin. (Providence, Society, 1913. Pp. 16.)
SEATTLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. In Memoriam--John Harte McGraw. (Seattle,
Chamber of Commerce, 1911. Pp. 84.)
THEABAUD, AUGUSTUS J. Three Quarters of a Century (1807 to 1882); a
retrospect written from documents and memory. (N. Y. United States
Catholic Historical Society, 1913. Pp. 204.)
VIRGINIA STATE LIBRARY. Ninth Annual Report, 1911-1913. (Richmond,
State Printer, 1913. Pp. 49+335.)
Appendix contains a list of the Revolutionary soldiers of Virginia.
WASHINGTON BANKERS ASSOCIATION. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual
Convention, 1913. (Tacoma, Association, 1913. Pp. 198.)
WASHINGTON STATE FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS. Seventeenth Annual
Report, 1913-1914. (Printed at Sunnyside, Wash. 1913. Pp. 114.)
WASHINGTON STATE HIGH SCHOOL DIRECTORY, 1913-14. (Olympia, Lamborn,
1913. Pp. 126.)
WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Collections, Volume 20. Edited by Reuben
Gold Thwaites. (Madison, Society, 1911. Pp. 497.)
Devoted to a history of the fur-trade in Wisconsin.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Death of Reuben Gold Thwaites
History interests of the Pacific Northwest, as well as those of other
parts of the United States, have sustained a severe loss in the
sudden death of Reuben Gold Thwaites on October 22. As Secretary of
the Wisconsin State Historical Society he worked out an international
reputation as editor and author of extensive works in the field of
history. His will be a most difficult place to fill.
Professor Turner's Visit to the Coast
Professor Frederick J. Turner, formerly of the University of Wisconsin,
but now of the Harvard faculty, will be in the Pacific Northwest next
summer, dividing his time between the Universities of Oregon and
Washington. He will deliver the commencement address at the University
of Washington in June.
Professor Golder Goes to Russia
Professor Frank A. Golder of the Washington State College will leave
for St. Petersburg on January 24, where he will catalogue the materials
in the Russian archives relating to America. This work is being done
for the Carnegie Institution, Department of Historical Research.
Professor Golder is one of the few American historians who is perfectly
at home with the Russian language. His selection for this work is
complimentary to the Pacific Northwest.
Death of Mrs. Isaac I. Stevens
Even the older pioneers of Washington were surprised to read on
November 6, 1913, that the widow of the first Territorial Governor,
Isaac I. Stevens, had just died. Since her husband's heroic death at
the Battle of Chantilly, September 1, 1862, she had been living at her
home, 8 Bowdoin Avenue, Boston. Her son, General Hazard Stevens, who
was with her to the last, writes that, though his mother had passed
the ninetieth milestone of an eventful life, she retained her cordial
interest in the children of men and just quietly went to sleep.
Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association
The Eleventh Annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American
Historical Association met at Los Angeles, November 28-29, as guests
of the University of Southern California. Prof. Frank J. Klingberg,
of the University of Southern California, opened the programme with
a paper on "The Anti-Slavery Movement in England," in which he traced
the history of the movement which led to freedom, but was unaccompanied
by any such upheaval as characterized our anti-slavery movement. In
the second paper, "The Movement of Population in Feudal and Modern
Japan," Prof. Y. Ichihashi, of Stanford University, examined the growth
and decline of Japanese population in the light of the well known
principles of Malthus. Prof. Ichihashi illustrated his statistical
tables by means of charts and concluded that movements of population
were far more intimately connected with economic development than
with the natural checks discussed by Malthus. The concluding paper of
the afternoon session was read by Prof. Robt. G. Cleland of Occident
College. In discussing "The Relation of Slavery to the Early Sentiment
for the Acquisition of California" he pointed out that the agitation
of the slavery question in connection with California came after the
acquisition and not before, and he made it clear to all that there is
abundant need to study Western history from the sources in order to
escape the bias of the more general historians who see the whole field
in terms of the slavery struggle.
The annual dinner was held at Christopher's and was presided over by
that "Prince of Toastmasters," Prof. H. Morse Stephens. President J. M.
Guinn delivered the President's Address, which was a study of the old
municipal archives of Los Angeles. The dry humor and keen wit of the
Nestor of California historians found an admirable field in commenting
on these quaint Mexican archives. Greetings were then heard from
various representatives in attendance "from Seattle to San Diego." No
one who knows Morse Stephens will need be told the dinner was in every
way a complete success.
Saturday morning's session was given over to a wide range of
discussion. Dean Bliss, of the San Diego Normal School, set forth the
contents and value of "The Hayes Collection in the Bancroft Library."
Prof. F. H. White, of Pomona College, summarized the history of "The
Development of the National Land Administration," confining himself
largely to the technique of administration. Professor Herbert E.
Bolton gave the results of his study in sources by tracing some of the
Spanish explorers in the West. At the business session which followed
the officers for the coming year were elected, as follows: President,
Edmond S. Meany, of the University of Washington; Vice-President, E.
B. Krehbiel, of Stanford University; Secretary-Treasurer, William
A. Morris, of the University of California. To membership on the
Executive Council the following were chosen: Edith Jordan, Los Angeles
Polytechnic High School; Robert G. Cleland, Occident College; Dean
Bliss, San Diego Normal; and Edward McMahon, University of Washington.
A complimentary luncheon given by the University of Southern California
initiated the members still further into the boundless hospitality of
that institution, and then the final session was held in cooperation
with the Southern California Social Science Association. Owing to
the absence of Professor Schafer of Oregon, Professor Bolton gave an
excellent talk on the value of local history, which compensated in
large measure for the absence of Professor Schafer. Miss Jane Harnett,
of Long Branch, led the discussion and laid emphasis upon many of
the points touched upon by Professor Bolton. The second paper, "An
Introduction to the Social Sciences," by Professor Emory S. Bogardus,
of the University of Southern California, was a discussion of a course
designed for students in the junior colleges and was reinforced by
Professor Bogardus' experience in giving the course. Professor Edward
McMahon, of the University of Washington, followed with a plea for
emphasis on "The Social Sciences in the High Schools." He contended
that the instruction now given is inadequate to meet the demands of
citizenship placed upon our citizens. Miss Anna Stewart, discussing
both papers dealing with the social sciences, told very interestingly
of the valuable work now being done in the Los Angeles High School with
classes in social problems, and demonstrated the necessity of serious
consideration of these questions by students who are passing out of the
high school to deal with them as citizens.
The meeting at Los Angeles was in every respect a complete success
and the large attendance and hospitality of the people made all the
delegates exceedingly anxious for an invitation to come again.
Marking an Old Historic Site
Led by W. H. Gilstrap, under the auspices of the Washington State
Historical Society, a number of pioneers assembled at Tacoma recently
and repaired to the site on the prairie near that city where a monument
was unveiled. It marks the end of the long journey of that famous party
of pioneers who in 1853 were the first to reach Puget Sound by crossing
the Cascade Range. Only a few of the original party survive, but it
is believed that every one of the survivors were assembled for the
interesting ceremony.
NORTHWESTERN HISTORY SYLLABUS
[The aim of this department is to furnish outlines that will
aid those who wish to study the subject systematically. It is
expected that its greatest use will be as a guide for members of
women's clubs, literary societies, and classes in colleges or
high schools. It will be a form of university extension without
the theses and examinations necessary for the earning of credits
toward a degree.]
VIII. Provisional Government of Oregon
1. Early Settlers.
a. Fur hunters.
b. Seekers for homes and lands.
c. The Oregon trail.
2. Petitions to Congress.
a. Seeking recognition and protection of government.
b. In nature of early census.
3. Death of Ewing Young, Feb. 15, 1841.
a. Possessing property but no heirs.
b. Action proposed at the funeral.
c. Committee to form some sort of government.
d. Property probated.
e. Temporary government abandoned.
4. Wolf Meetings.
a. Seeking united action.
b. Multnomah Circulating library.
c. Lyceum for debates.
d. Bounty for destruction of dangerous animals.
e. Proposal to secure protection for families.
f. Committee to frame temporary government.
g. Plan adopted by meeting in Champoeg field.
h. Legislative committee appointed.
i. Executive committee of three instead of governor.
5. Reorganization.
a. Influence of immigration of 1843.
b. Primitive State House.
c. Earliest laws enacted.
d. Legislative committee becomes a legislature.
e. Executive committee changed to governorship.
f. George Abernethy chosen governor, 1845.
g. Oath of office reveals "joint occupancy."
6. Results.
a. Laws of Iowa Territory adopted.
b. Prohibition.
c. Failure of postoffice.
d. Dwelling.
e. Currency, "Beaver Money" in gold.
f. Dominion up to 54-40 north latitude.
g. Federal organization of Oregon Territory, 1848-1849.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The above outline covers one of the most interesting
portions of Northwestern history. It reveals the natural aptitude of
Americans for self-government and shows a natural evolution of a state
from settlements of pioneers in a wilderness. The literature on the
subject is growing rapidly. The items following are among those most
readily accessible to those wishing to pursue the study:
BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE. Works of. Vol. XXIX, chapters XII, XIV, XVI,
XVIII, XIX, XXII, XXVI. Here is found the story of the provisional
government told at considerable length.
CLARK, ROBERT CARLTON. How British and American Subjects Unite in a
Common Government for Oregon Territory in 1844. In the Quarterly of the
Oregon Historical Society, Vol. XIII, Number 2.
GROVER, LAFAYETTE. The Oregon Archives. This is a rare book, published
in 1853. It contains the early laws of the provisional government and
other source materials of prime importance.
HOLMAN, FREDERICK V. Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon. While
this is intended as a biography of the grand old Doctor, it is a book
of much helpfulness to students of this period. At the end of the
volume there are nineteen documents illustrative of the text.
JOHNSON, SIDONA V. A Short History of Oregon, Chapters XVIII to XXIII.
The title of the book is well chosen, but many may find there the facts
needed.
MEANY, EDMOND S. History of the State of Washington. Chapter XVI deals
in part with the provisional government while Washington was yet a part
of Oregon.
SCHAFER, JOSEPH. History of the Pacific Northwest. In this interesting
and useful book, Chapter XIII is entitled "The First American
Government on the Pacific."
WOODWARD, WALTER C. Political Parties in Oregon, 1843-1868. This
book was published by the J. K. Gill Company of Portland. Oregon, in
1913. It is the newest, as well as the most extensive, work in this
particular field. Those who are collecting books on the Northwest
should not overlook this one. Anyone studying in the field of the above
syllabus will find the book helpful.
REPRINT DEPARTMENT
George Wilkes: History of Oregon, Geographical, Geological and
Political. (New York, Colyer, 1845.)
* * * * *
[The reprint of this rare work was begun in the first number of the
Washington Historical Quarterly and has been continued in portions of
varying lengths. The installment in this issue concludes the reprinted
book.--_Editor._]
* * * * *
But can such charters be considered an acknowledged part of the law
of nations? Were they any thing more, in fact, than a cession to the
grantee or grantees of whatever rights the grantor might suppose
himself to possess, to the exclusion of other subjects of the same
sovereign?--charters binding and restraining those only who were within
the jurisdiction of the grantor, and of no force or validity against
the subjects of other states, until recognized by treaty, and thereby
becoming a part of international law.
Had the United States, thought proper to issue, in 1790, by virtue of
their national authority, a charter granting to Mr. Gray the whole
extent of the country watered, directly or indirectly, by the River
Columbia,[84] such a charter, would, no doubt, have been valid in Mr.
Gray's favor, as against all other citizens of the United States. But
can it be supposed that it would have been acquiesced in by either of
the powers, Great Britain and Spain, which, in that same year, were
preparing to contest by arms the possession of the very country which
would have been the subject of such a grant?
If the right of sovereignty over the territory in question accrues to
the United States by Mr. Gray's discovery, how happens it that they
never protested against the violence done to that right by the two
powers, who, by the convention of 1790, regulated their respective
rights in and over a district so belonging, as it is now asserted, to
the United States?
This claim of the United States to the territory drained by the
Columbia and its tributary streams, on the ground of one of their
citizens having been the first to discover the entrance of that river,
has been here so far entered into, not because it is considered to be
necessarily entitled to notice, since the whole country watered by the
Columbia falls within the provisions of the convention of 1790, but
because the doctrine above alluded to has been put forward so broadly,
and with such confidence, by the United States, that Great Britain
considered it equally due to herself and to other powers to enter her
protest against it.
The United States further pretend that their claim to the country in
question is strengthened and confirmed by the discovery of the sources
of the Columbia, and by the exploration of its course to the sea by
Lewis and Clark, in 1805-6.
In reply to this allegation, Great Britain affirms, and can distinctly
prove, that, if not before, at least in the same and subsequent years,
her North-Western Trading Company had, by means of their agent, Mr.
Thomson, already established their posts among the Flathead and
Kootanie tribes, on the headwaters of the northern or main branch of
the Columbia, and were gradually extending them down the principal
stream of that river; thus giving to Great Britain, in this particular,
again, as in the discovery of the mouth of the river, a _title to
parity_ at least, if not priority, of discovery, as opposed to the
United States. It was from those posts, that, having heard of the
American establishment forming in 1811, at the mouth of the river, Mr.
Thomson hastened thither, descending the river, to ascertain the nature
of that establishment.[85]
Some stress having been laid by the United States on the restitution
to them of Fort George by the British, after the termination of the
last war, which restitution they represent as conveying a virtual
acknowledgment by Great Britain of the title of the United States to
the country in which that post was situated--it is desirable to state,
somewhat in detail, the circumstances attending that restitution.
In the year 1815, a demand for the restoration of Fort George was first
made to Great Britain, by the American government, on the plea that the
first article of the treaty of Ghent stipulated the restitution to the
United States of all posts and places whatsoever taken from them by the
British during the war, in which description, Fort George, (Astoria,)
was included.
For some time the British government demurred to comply with the demand
of the United States, because they entertained doubts how far it could
be sustained by the construction of the treaty.
In the first place, the trading post called Fort Astoria (or Fort
George,) was not a national possession; in the second place, it was not
a military post; and, thirdly, it was never captured from the Americans
by the British.
It was, in fact, conveyed in regular commercial transfer, and
accompanied by a bill of sale, for a sum of money, to the British
company, who purchased it, by the American company, who sold it of
_their own free will_.
It is true that a British sloop of war had, about that time, been sent
to take possession of that post, but she arrived subsequently to the
transaction above mentioned, between the two companies, and found the
British company _already in legal occupation of their self acquired
property_.
In consequence, however, of that ship having been sent out with hostile
views, although those views were not carried into effect,[86] and in
order that not even a shadow of a reflection might be cast upon the
good faith of the British government, the latter determined to give
the most liberal extension to the terms of the treaty of Ghent, and,
in 1818, the purchase which the British company had made in 1813 was
restored to the United States.
Particular care, however, was taken, on this occasion, to prevent
any misapprehension as to the extent of the concession made by Great
Britain.
Viscount Castlereagh, in directing the British minister at Washington
to intimate the intention of the British government to Mr. Adams, then
secretary of state, uses these expressions, in a despatch dated 4th
February, 1818:--
"You will observe, that, whilst this government is not disposed to
contest with the American government the point of possession as it
stood in the Columbia River at the moment of the rupture, _they are not
prepared to admit the validity of the title of the government of the
United States to this settlement_.
"In signifying, therefore, to Mr. Adams the full acquiescence of your
government in the reoccupation of _the limited position_ which the
United States held in that river at the breaking out of the war, _you
will at the same time assert, in suitable terms, the claim_ of Great
Britain to that territory, upon which the American settlement must be
considered as an encroachment."
This instruction was executed verbally by the person to whom it was
addressed.
The following is a transcript of the act by which the fort was
delivered up, by the British, into the hand of Mr. Prevost, the
American agent:--
"In obedience to the command of H. R. H. the prince regent, _signified
in a despatch from the right honorable the Earl Bathurst_, addressed
to the partners or agents of the North-West Company, bearing date
the 27th of January, 1818, and in obedience to a subsequent order,
dated the 26th July, from W. H. Sheriff, Esq., captain of H. M. ship
Andromache, We, the undersigned, do, in conformity to the first article
of the treaty of Ghent, restore to the government of the United States,
through its agent, J. P. Prevost, Esq., the settlement of Fort George,
on the Columbia river.
"Given under our hands, in triplicate, at Fort George, (Columbia
River,) this 6th day of October, 1818.
"F. HICKEY, _Captain H. M. ship Blossom_.
"J. KEITH, _of the N. W. Co_."
The following is the despatch from Earl Bathurst to the partners of the
North-West Company, referred to in the above act of cession:--
DOWNING-STREET, _27th January, 1818_.
"Intelligence having been received that the United States sloop of
war Ontario has been sent by the American government to establish a
settlement on the Columbia river, which was held by that state, on
the breaking out of the last war. I am to acquaint you, that it is
the prince regent's pleasure, (_without, however, admitting the right
of that government to the possession in question_) that, in pursuance
of the first article of the treaty of Ghent, due facility should be
given to the reoccupation of the said settlement by the officers of the
United States; and I am to desire that you would contribute as much as
lies in your power to the execution of his royal highness's command.
"I have, &c. &c.
BATHURST.
"_To the Partners or Agents of the North-West Company, residing on
the Columbia river._"
The above documents put the case of the restoration of Fort Astoria in
too clear a light to require further observation.
The case, then of Great Britain, in respect to the country west of the
Rocky Mountains, is shortly this:--
Admitting that the United States have acquired all the rights which
Spain possessed, up to the treaty of Florida, either in virtue of
discovery, or, as is pretended, in right Louisiana, Great Britain
maintains that the nature and extent of those rights, as well as of
the rights of Great Britain, are fixed and defined by the convention
of Nootka; that these rights are equal for both parties; and that, in
succeeding to the rights of Spain, under that convention, the United
States must also have succeeded to the obligations which it imposed.
Admitting, further, the discovery of Mr. Gray, to the extent already
stated, Great Britain, taking the whole line of the coast in question,
with its straits, harbors and bays, has stronger claims, on the ground
of prior discovery, attended with acts of occupancy and settlement,
than the United States.
Whether, therefore, the United States rest their claims upon the title
of Spain, or upon that of prior discovery, or upon both, Great Britain
is entitled to place her claims at least upon a parity with those of
the United States.
It is a fact, admitted by the United States, that, with the exception
of the Columbia river, there is no river which opens far into the
_interior_, on the whole western coast of the Pacific Ocean.
In the _interior_ of the territory in question, the subjects of Great
Britain have had, for many years, numerous settlements and trading
posts--several of these posts on the tributary streams of the Columbia,
several upon the Columbia itself, some to the northward, and others
to the southward, of that river; and they navigate the Columbia as
the sole channel for the conveyance of their produce to the British
stations nearest the sea, and for the shipment of it from thence to
Great Britain. It is also by the Columbia and its tributary streams
that these posts and settlements receive their annual supplies from
Great Britain.[87]
In the whole of the territory in question, the citizens of the United
States have not a single settlement or trading post. They do not use
that river, either for the purpose of transmitting or receiving any
produce of their own, to or from other parts of the world.
In this state of the relative rights of the two countries, and of
the relative exercise of those rights, the United States claim the
exclusive possession of both banks of the Columbia, and, consequently,
that of the river itself; offering, it is true, to concede to British
subjects a conditional participation in that navigation, but subject,
in any case, to the exclusive jurisdiction and sovereignty of the
United States.
Great Britain, on her part, offers to make the river the boundary;
each country retaining the bank of the river contiguous to its own
territories, and the navigation of it remaining forever free, and upon
a footing of perfect equality to both nations.
To carry into effect this proposal, on our part, Great Britain would
have to give up posts and settlements south of the Columbia. On the
part of the United States, there could be no reciprocal withdrawing
from actual occupation, as there is not, and never has been, a single
American citizen settled north of the Columbia.
The United States decline to accede to this proposal, even when
Great Britain has added to it the further offer of a most excellent
harbor, and an extensive tract of country on the Straits of De Fuca--a
sacrifice tendered in the spirit of accommodation, and for the sake
of a final adjustment of all differences, but which, having been made
in this spirit, is not to be considered as in any degree recognizing
a claim on the part of the United States, or as at all impairing the
existing right of Great Britain over the post and territory in question.
Such being the result of the recent negotiation, it only remains for
Great Britain to maintain and uphold the qualified rights which she now
possesses over the whole of the territory in question. These rights
are recorded and defined in the convention of Nootka. They embrace the
right to navigate the waters of those countries, the right to settle
in and over any part of them, and the right freely to trade with the
inhabitants and occupiers of the same.
These rights have been peaceably exercised ever since the date of
that convention; that is, for a period of near forty years. Under
that convention, valuable British interests have grown up in those
countries. It is fully admitted that the United States possess the same
rights, although they have been exercised by them only in a single
instance, and have not, since the year 1813, been exercised at all. But
beyond these rights they possess none.
To the interests and establishments which British industry and
enterprise have created, Great Britain owes protection. That protection
will be given, both as regards settlement and freedom of trade and
navigation, with every attention not to infringe the coördinate rights
of the United States; it being the earnest desire of the British
government, so long as the joint occupancy continues, to regulate its
own obligations by the same rule which governs the obligations of any
other occupying party.
Fully sensible, at the same time, of the desirableness of a more
definite settlement, as between Great Britain and the United States,
the British government will be ready, at any time, to terminate the
present state of joint occupancy by an agreement of delimitation; but
such arrangement only can be admitted as shall not derogate from the
rights of Great Britain, as acknowledged by treaty, nor prejudice the
advantages which British subjects, under the same sanction, now enjoy
in that part of the world.
(No. 7.)
_Convention between the United States and Great Britain, signed at
London, October 20th, 1818._
ARTICLE 2.--It is agreed that a line drawn from the most northwestern
point of the Lake of the Woods, along the 49th parallel of north
latitude, or, if the said point shall not be in the 49th parallel of
north latitude, then that a line drawn from the said point due north or
south, as the case may be, until the said line shall intersect the said
parallel of north latitude, and from the point of such intersection
due west along and, with the said parallel, shall be the line of
demarkation between the territories of the United States and those of
his Britannic majesty; and that the said line shall form the northern
boundary of the said territories of the United States, and the southern
boundary of the territories of his Britannic Majesty, from the Lake of
the Woods to the Stony Mountains.
ART. 3.--It is agreed that any country that may be claimed by either
party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony
Mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and
the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for
the term of ten years from the date of the signature of the present
convention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects, of the two powers;
it being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to
the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high contracting
parties may have to any part of the said country, nor shall it be taken
to affect the claims of any other power or state to any part of the
said country; the only object of the high contracting parties, in that
respect, being to prevent disputes and differences among themselves.
(No. 8.)
_The Florida Treaty, signed at Washington, February 22nd, 1819_....
ARTICLE 3.--The boundary line between the two countries west of the
Mississippi shall begin on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the
River Sabine, in the sea, continuing north, along the western bank
of that river, to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a line due
north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of
Natchitoches, or Red River; then, following the course of the Rio Roxo
westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London and 23 from
Washington; then crossing the said Red River, and running thence, by a
line due north, to the River Arkansas; thence following the course of
the southern bank of the Arkansas, to its source in latitude 42 north;
and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea; the whole
being as laid down in Melish's map of the United States, published at
Philadelphia, improved to the 1st of January, 1818. But, if the source
of the Arkansas River shall be found to fall north or south of latitude
42, then the line shall run from the said source due south or north,
as the case may be, till it meets the said parallel of latitude 42,
and thence, along the said parallel, to the South Sea; all the islands
in the Sabine, and the said Red and Arkansas Rivers, throughout the
course thus described, to belong to the United States; but the use
of the waters and the navigation of the Sabine to the sea, and of
the said Rivers Roxo and Arkansas, throughout the extent of the said
boundary, on their respective banks, shall be common to the respective
inhabitants of both nations.
The two high contracting parties agree to cede and renounce all
their rights, claims, and pretensions, to the territories described
by said line; that is to say, the United States hereby cede to his
Catholic Majesty, and renounce forever, all their rights, claims,
and pretensions, to the territories lying west and south of the
above-described line; and, in like manner, his Catholic Majesty cedes
to the said United States all his rights, claims, and pretensions, to
any territories east and north of the said line; and for himself, his
heirs, and successors, renounces all claim to the said territories
forever.
(No. 9)
_Convention between the United States and Great Britain, signed at
London, August 6th, 1827._
ARTICLE 1. All the provisions of the third article of the convention
concluded between the United States of America and his majesty the
king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on the 20th
of October, 1818, shall be, and they are hereby, further indefinitely
extended and continued in force, in the same manner as if all the
provisions of the said article were herein specifically recited.
ART. 2. It shall be competent, however, to either of the contracting
parties, in case either should think fit, at any time after the 20th
of October, 1828, on giving due notice of twelve months to the other
contracting party, to annul and abrogate this convention; and it shall,
in such case, be accordingly entirely annulled and abrogated, after the
expiration of the said term of notice.
ART. 3. Nothing contained in this convention, or in the third article
of the convention of the 20th October, 1818, hereby continued in force,
shall be constructed to impair, or in any manner affect, the claims
which either of the contracting parties may have to any part of the
country westward of the Stony or Rocky Mountains.
(No. 10.)
_The Instructions of the Merchant Proprietors, to John Meares_:
"* * * * Should you, in the course of your voyage, meet with any
Russian, _English_, or Spanish vessels, you will treat them with
civility and friendship, and allow them, if authorized, to examine
your papers, which will show the object of your voyage. But you must,
at the same time, guard against surprise. Should they attempt to
seize you, or even carry you out of your way, you will prevent it by
every means in your power, and repel force by force. You will on your
arrival in the first port, protest before a proper officer against
such illegal procedure; and ascertain as nearly as you can the value
of your vessel and cargo, sending such protest, with a full account of
the transaction, to us at China. Should you in such conflict have the
superiority, you will then take possession of the vessel that attacked
you, as also her cargo, and bring both, with the officers and crew
to China, that they may be condemned as legal prizes and their crews
punished as pirates. Wishing you a prosperous voyage, etc.
(Signed) "THE MERCHANT PROPRIETORS."
FOOTNOTES:
[84] These Englishmen are crazy--the Columbia was not discovered by
Captain Gray till 1792. If the above is intended as an illustration
only, the instance is as weak as the previous arguments are
inconclusive.
[85] We have seen that Mr. Thomson came a year too late.
[86] Those views were carried into effect. The place was regularly
taken possession of in the king's name on the 1st December, 1813, and
the British flag was run up with all the formalities of conquest, in
place of the American standard.
[87] Here is an assertion that Great Britain has been accruing title,
through the operations of her Hudson's Bay Company, ever since the
treaty of 1818. This gives an additional significance to her grant
of the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the territory, to that
incorporation. It will be well for our readers here to recollect the
declaration of our Government made in 1823, that thenceforth no portion
of the American Continents were to be considered as subjects for
European Colonization.
The Washington Historical Quarterly
Board of Editors
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, Seattle.
J. N. BOWMAN, Seattle.
T. C. ELLIOTT, Walla Walla.
FRANK A. GOLDER, Pullman.
CEYLON S. KINGSTON, Cheney.
W. D. LYMAN, Walla Walla.
EDWARD MCMAHON, Seattle.
THOMAS W. PROSCH, Seattle.
OLIVER H. RICHARDSON, Seattle.
O. B. SPERLIN, Tacoma.
E. O. S. SCHOLEFIELD, Victoria, B. C.
ALLEN WEIR, Olympia.
Managing Editor
EDMOND S. MEANY
Business Manager
CHARLES W. SMITH
VOL. V NO. 2 APRIL, 1914
_ISSUED QUARTERLY_
Contents
T. C. ELLIOTT Journal of John Work, June-October,
1825 83
ANNA SLOAN WALKER History of the Liquor Laws of the
State of Washington 116
RALPH R. KNAPP Divorce in Washington 121
DOCUMENTS--A New Vancouver Journal 129
BOOK REVIEWS 138
NEWS DEPARTMENT 152
NORTHWESTERN HISTORY SYLLABUS 156
HISTORY TEACHERS' SECTION 158
THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
UNIVERSITY STATION
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Entered at the post office at Seattle as second-class mail matter.
The Washington University
State Historical Society
* * * * *
Officers and Board of Trustees:
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, President
JUDGE JOHN P. HOYT, Vice-President
JUDGE ROGER S. GREENE, Treasurer
PROFESSOR EDMOND S. MEANY, Secretary
JUDGE CORNELIUS H. HANFORD
JUDGE THOMAS BURKE
SAMUEL HILL
PRINTING DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
_Vol. V., No. 2 April, 1914_
The
Washington Historical Quarterly
JOURNAL OF JOHN WORK, JUNE-OCTOBER, 1825
(Introduction and annotations by T. C. Elliott.)
Readers of the Washington Historical Quarterly have already become
acquainted with Mr. John Work, an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company,
through his previous journal--with introductory note--published in
Volume III, pp. 198-228, recording the details of the journey of an
expedition from Fort George on the Columbia river to the Fraser river
and back in November-December, 1824, (in which he remarked among other
things about the "weighty rain" common to the Coast and Puget Sound
localities). Mr. Work's particular duties during January-May, 1825,
we do not know; this was the period during which Governor Simpson and
Chief Factor John McLoughlin selected the site for Fort Vancouver and
the headquarters were removed from Fort George (Astoria) to the new
location, which was on the high ground east of the present city of
Vancouver, Washington, where the buildings of the Washington (State)
Asylum for the Blind and Deaf now stand. Governor Simpson returned up
the Columbia river in March, 1825, with the Express bound for York
Factory on Hudson's Bay, but events indicate that he already had
learned to place much confidence in the young clerk John Work. In June,
Mr. Work finds himself assigned to duty in the interior and accompanies
the "brigade" of officers and voyagers under Mr. John McLeod returning
up the river with goods for the trade at the various interior forts.
Mr. McLeod was then stationed at Thompson River (Kamloops) but had
been given leave to return across the mountains to Hudson's Bay the
following spring.
Readers of the "three synoptical writers of Astoria," as Dr. Elliott
Coues designates Gabriel Franchere, Alexander Ross and Ross Cox, have
had occasion perhaps to tire of the narratives of successive journeys
up and down the Columbia river with the constant encounters with
the Indians at the Cascades and Dalles portages. In this journal we
have another account of the same journey and discover that with the
education of the Indians of the Columbia to the fixed and just policy
of the Northwest and Hudson's Bay Companies in their trade relations,
the hatred and distrust and armed resistance of these Indians has
already ceased to a great extent and that only the natural disposition
to pilfer has to be taken much into account.
Between June 21st and November 1st, 1825, the period covered by part
of this journal, Mr. Work journeys many miles and introduces us to
the regular lines of travel of the fur traders between their forts in
Washington, Northern Idaho and Montana and to some of the routine life
of the forts. He visits the Nez Perces at their trading ground where
the City of Lewiston, Idaho, now stands, the Flatheads at the spot
where the large power plant is now being erected below Thompson Falls,
Montana, and the then active Fort Okanogan, Washington, at the mouth of
that river where now there is only barren waste; but his headquarters
were at Spokane House, then as now the trade center for all the "Inland
Empire." He also tells of the very beginning of building and planting
at Kettle Falls, where the most important of the interior trading
posts, Fort Colvile, was just being started. Only the first part of
the entire journal is given in this issue and the remainder is to be
presented in a later number of the Quarterly, and then to be followed
by a second journal of the same writer.
For brief mention of Mr. Work's career the reader is referred to the
earlier number of this Quarterly--already cited, and to page 464 of
Volume II of H. H. Bancroft's History of the Northwest Coast. It is
sufficient to say here that Mr. Work was of Irish descent, the name
being properly spelled Wark, and that he remained in the service of
the Hudson's Bay Company continuously up to the time of his death
at Victoria, B.C., in 1861. This journal comes to us through his
descendants and is now deposited as a part of the archives of British
Columbia, and Mr. Scholefield, the Provincial Archivist, has kindly
compared this copy for publication. The journal has never before been
published and does not appear to have been examined or used by Hubert
Howe Bancroft, who had access to others of the Work journals in the
preparation of his series of histories.
The parenthetical marks are used to designate words that are doubtful
by reason of the original manuscripts being blurred or faded.
T. C. ELLIOTT.
JOURNAL.
June 21, 1825.
Drizzling rain with some weighty showers. Very little wind.
At 10 o'clock the Interior brigade, consisting of five boats carrying
pieces and manned by 32 men, left Fort Vancouver under the charge
of Mr. McLeod.[88] A sixth boat and 12 men under the charge of Mr.
McKay[89] accompanied the Brigade as a convoy to above the Chutes.[90]
The water is very high and the current strong. Encamped at 4 o'clock
opposite Quick Sand River.[91] We stopped at this early hour to get
some of the boats which were badly gummed. Some of the pieces were put
in Mr. McKay's boat to lighten the others.
Being ordered to proceed to Spokane in charge of the outfit for that
place, I accompany the brigade.
Wed.y. 22
Drizzling rain forenoon. Wind W.
Embarked at 3 o'clock and reached the Cascades at 1, had to carry at
the New Portage,[92] everything was got half way across the Portage
by 5 oclock when the men were employed gumming the boats. There were
a good many Indians, but they were very quiet, 60 to 70 salmon were
purchased from them, principally for Tobacco, at an inch per salmon.
Thursday 23
Dry weather, blowing fresh from the N. W.
Resumed carrying at 3 oclock and by 6 everything was embarked at the
upper end of the portage, where we proceeded up the river under saill
with a fine strong wind till 12 oclock when we put ashore a little
below Cape Horn,[93] Mr. McLeod considering it too rough to proceed.
Friday 24
Dry weather a fine breeze from the N. W.
Continued our journey at a little past 3 oclock with a nice sail wind
and reached the lower end of the Dalles about two and got boats & foods
about half way across the portage. We were detained more than two hours
at breakfast below the portage, as Mr. McKay left his boat with two
men, and the pieces had to be put in the other boats. On approaching
the Dalls the current was very strong and the boats being deep laden
it was difficult getting them up. My boat was caught in a whirlpool
and very near sunk, she was wheeled around three times before the men
got her out. There are a good many Indians on the portage we reckon
from 400 to 500, however they were very peaceable. Gave them a little
Tobacco to smoke and bought as much salmon as we required at equally
as low a price as at the Cascades.
Satd.y. 25
Clear very warm weather a little wind up the river in the morning but
calm afterwards.
Recommenced carrying at 1/2 past 2 oclock, had everything across the
portage[94] & embarked at 6, and were across the Chutes by 11. The
portage at the Chutes was short on account of the high water. Encamped
at 6 in the evening a little below Day's River,[95] to gum the boats.
We lost nearly 2 hours at breakfast below the Chutes. We reckoned 150
to 200 Indians at the Chutes, they were very quiet. Gave them to smoke
and also about an inch of Tobacco each when we were coming off. Mr.
McKay & Mr. Douglas,[96] with the convoy men left us at the upper end
of the Chutes to return to Fort Vancouver.
Sunday 26
Clear weather little breeze of wind from the N. W. in the morning and
evening, but calm and very warm in the middle of the day.
Continued our journey a little past 3 oclock and encamped at 7 in the
evening. Were detained 2 hours gumming the boats,--had the sails up
while the wind lasted in the morning and evening. A good many Indians
along the river.
Monday 27.
Clear, a fine breeze up the River in the morning but calm and
insufferably warm afterwards.
Embarked a little before 3 oclock, passed the lower end of the Big
Island[97] at 1/2 past 4 and encamped at 6 to gum one of the boats, we
were also detained 1-1/2 hours in the day gumming.
Tuesday 28
Clear very warm weather, a little breeze of wind down the river which
prevented the heat from being so oppressive as yesterday.
Continued our route before 3 o'clock and encamped late a little above
the Grand Rapid.[98] In ascending a piece of strong current doubling
a point in the evening, two of the boats got aground and sustained
some injury, one of them put ashore & gummed, the other went on to the
encampment, & had not time to repair. Traded some beaver from the
Indians along the River.
Wed.y. 29
Clear weather and notwithstanding there was a nice breeze down the
river the heat was oppressive.
We were detained gumming the boat till hear 5 o'clock when we embarked
and proceeded to Fort Nez Perces[99] where we remained at 12 o'clock
and had boats immediately unloaded, and the cargoes examined. These
were landed here from the five boats independent of the gentlemen
and mens private baggage 262 pieces, viz. (Laments) boat Mr. McLeod
passenger 47 pieces.--Ignace's boat J. Work passenger 52 pieces.--P. La
(Course's?) boat, Mr. Dease passenger 53 pieces.--Grosse (Chalon's?)
boat 55 pieces and Thomas Tagouche's boat 55 pieces.
Thursday 30th.
Notwithstanding it blew strong from the N. W. the heat was oppressive,
the sand, and wood about the fort were absolutely burning. In the
evening there was a great deal of thunder and lightening with heavy
squalls of wind and a few drops of rain, the wind sometimes quite hot.
Mr. McLeod occupied the greater part of this day separating the pieces
belonging to the different posts.
July 1825 Friday 1
Blowing strong from the N. W.
A party having to make a trip up the South branch[100] to trade
horses, (150 if possible,) the forenoon was occupied in making up an
assortment of goods for that purpose and a 1/2 past 1 o'clock Mr. Dease
accompanied by Mr. Dears,[101] myself and 28 men, embarked in two boats
and proceeded to a little up the South branch where we encamped for the
night.--Several Indians were about the entrance of the river, purchased
a few salmon from them, mostly small ones at about 2 inches of tobacco
each.--Our boats are very light laden, and the men well armed.
Mr. McLeod & 10 men remain at the Fort.
Satd.y. 2
Clear, and notwithstanding a pleasant breeze from the N. W., very warm.
Embarked at 3 oclock and pursued our journey up the river till past
6 when we encamped for the night. Made a good days march, as the men
worked constant and very hard.--The current was uniformly very strong,
and the water high, though it has fallen at least 1-1/2 or 2 feet from
its greatest height this season.--The shores are generally high, some
places steep rocks, at others undulating hills, the vegetation on which
seems to be burnt up with the heat and has a barren appearance. Here
and there along the river, bushes and grass appear green, having not
been deprived of moisture.
Passed several Indian lodges and traded 42 fresh and 9 dry salmon for
1-1/2 yards of Tobacco. The salmon are all of a small size.
Sunday 3
Clear excessive warm weather though there was a little breeze of wind
from the N. W. the heat was oppressive.
Continued our journey at 3 clock and encamped at the Flag River[102] at
2. There are a few lodges of Indians here who have some horses two of
which were purchased from them at 15 skins each. these are the first
horses we have seen in this river.
The general appearance of the river the same as yesterday, the shores
high and clearer. The general course of the river from its entrance to
this place may be about N. E., a little above its entrance it takes a
considerable turn to the Eastward and thus bends back to the Westward a
little below the Flag River.--From this place to Spokane[103] is about
1-1/2 days march on horseback. Nez Perces is about the same distance.
Monday 4
Clear very warm weather, the heat was suffocating.
Expecting that the Indians would bring some more horses to trade we
delayed embarking till 8 oclock when we proceeded up the river a short
distance where we put ashore at an Indian lodge and bought a horse,
which detained us a considerable time.--Two men rode the horses along
shore--made but a short days march. The heat and plenty of musquitos
which were very troublesome, allowed us to have but little sleep last
night. Encamped past 6 oclock.
The current still very strong, the general course of the river from a
little above Flag River a little more to the Eastward. Not many Indians
on the river and but few horses to be seen.
Tuesday 5
Clear a good breeze of wind up teh river which made the heat more
supportable than these days past.--The current very strong, course of
the river nearly E., the shores high with some times a low point, all
parched up with the excessive heat, here there some bushes that are
green are to be seen along the shores and in the little valleys or
creeks.
Embarked at 3 oclock and encamped a little below the La Monte. Made
a very short days march as we delayed a good deal along the river at
Indian lodges, bought 3 young horses at 18 skins each.
The Indians inform us that a large party went off to Spokane yesterday,
and that the Flat Heads and (Pendius?)[104] have been with the Indians
above and bought a number of horses from them.
Wed.y. 6
Stormy in the night and blowing fresh all day, Wind N. W.
In order to get some salmon from the Indians, delayed embarking till
8 oclock when we proceeded up the river, to La Monte[105] where we
encamped at 10--This is a place of rendezvouse for the Indians but only
one lodge is here at present, the others are all off in the plains
digging camass. Some Indians were sent off with Tobacco for the Natives
to smoke & to apprise them that we were here & would remain a few days
to purchase horses from them, and that we would then proceed to the
Forks[106] so that such of the Indians as are in that neighborhood may
be there to meet us.
Thursday 7
Cloudy blowing fresh from the N. W.--pleasant cool weather.
Several Indians of different tribes arrived at our camp from whom ten
horses were traded, 15 to 18 skins each. The most of these horses are
young not more than 3 years old and some of them very small. It would
have been desirable to get ones of larger size, but the great number
required renders it necessary to take such as can be got and not be too
choice.
Friday 8
Weather as yesterday.
Trade going on very slowly. A few Indians visited the camp, but only
6 horses were traded one of which was a wild one and was immediately
killed for the people. The Natives seem not eager to part with their
horses.--Generally young small ones are offered for sale, yet some of
those purchased today are good stout horses.--The articles generally
paid for a horse are a blanket, 3 pt, 6 skins, 4 or 5 skins, 1 yd. each
of green beads, a few skins of ammunition, a skin of Tobacco, a knife,
and sometimes, Buttons and Rings a skin or two.
Satd.y. 9
Cloudy Warm weather, Wind variable, not blowing so much as these days
past.
A few more Indians visited us but only 4 horses were traded & two of
these are young ones not broke in. We learn from the Ind.s. that the
natives above are collecting on the River to meet us.
The Indians at our camp occupy the most of their time gambling. The
River is falling very fast, the water is lowered four to 5 feet
perpendicular since it has been at its height this season.
Sunday 10
Though a fresh breeze from the Eastward the weather was very warm and
sultry.
In expectation that the Indians would trade some more horses we delayed
embarking till one oclock when we proceeded up the River, seeing that
nothing further was to be done. Stopped at the Indian lodges as we
passed and bought two unbroken in young horses one of which a beautiful
animal, lept so when he was haltered & the man not managing him
properly that he tumbled on his head & broke his neck.
The current continues very strong the course of the river from E. to S.
E. The appearance of the country continues much the same, the bank very
high & mostly rocky, the smooth summits & sides of the hills clothed
with dry grass, burnt up with the heat, here and there along the water
edge and in some of the deep valleys or coves tufts of willow and
poplars, and a few bushes of other kinds. Though the hills and valleys,
except on the faces of the steep rocks are well clothed with vegetation
nearly dried up, the country has altogether a barren appearance.
The Indians live (in) sort of houses or lodges constructed of drift
wood split & set on end, they are generally high and very large and
inhabited by a great many Indians. I counted upwards of fifty at one
house the dimensions of which were 40 yards long and 10 wide. These
houses are generally high and flat roofed, the one side is occupied by
the inhabitants who sit and sleep on the ground, and the other side is
appropriated for drying fish which are hung up generally in two tiers
the one above the other the lower ones so near the ground that one has
to stoop to get under them.--The air has a free circulation through
these habitations from the openness of their walls, which makes them
cool & comfortable when there is the least air of wind, but in case of
rain, from the openness of the roof, very little would be excluded.
However, this is an article that seldom troubles them.
The Natives along the River now are generally employed curing salmon
and collecting camass.
Monday 11
Cloudy but occasionally very warm Wind Easterly.
Waiting till the Indians would bring us some horses to trade deterred
us from embarking till 8 clock when seeing that only one horse could be
traded, we proceeded up the river and as usual stopped to smoke at the
most of the lodges which we passed which made our progress very slow,
however only one horse was purchased till we encamped in the evening
when four more were traded, making in all six today.
The appearance of the River and country much the same as yesterday.
The course from E. to S. E. The hills along shore appear less elevated
towards evening. The Indians near whom we are encamped offered a
sturgeon for sale, which shows that these fish ascend this high.
Tuesday 12
Cloudy blowing fresh from the Westward.
The Indians traded two more Horses which detained us till after
breakfast when we proceeded up the River till 11 oclock when we
encamped a little below the Forks at the lodge of an Ind.[107] called
Charly where a good many Indians are expected to assemble. About 70
men collected to smoke in the course of the afternoon. Two horses were
traded from them which makes 4 today.
Charly is considered to have a good deal of influence among the
natives. A present was therefore made him and he afterward harangued
the Indians from which good effects are expected tomorrow.
Wed.y. 13
Though cloudy part of the day, the weather was very warm and sultry.
A brisk trade of horses commenced in the morning and 15 were purchased
during the day, the greater part of which were bought before breakfast.
They are much finer horses and the prices rather lower than those
procurred below.--Horses are more numerous and much better here than
in the lower part of the river.--There were not so many Indians with
us today as yesterday, but they had more horses. The Indians who
visit us are of four different tribes, Chapoples[108] or Nezperces,
Pelooshis,[109] Carooris and Wallawallas. They are very peaceable but
a good deal of Tobacco is required to keep them smoking.--They amuse
themselves gambling in the evening they had a horse race.
In the course of the day a message was received from some Indians
further up the river, requesting us to go to their place, and more
horses would be procured. It seems a kind of jealousy exists among
the natives and the one party does not wish to sell their horses at
the camp of the other, or that they wish to have the honour of being
visited at their own camp.
Thursd.y. 14
Very little Wind, excessively warm, where we are encamped on the stony
sandy beach we are literally next to be roasted.
The trade did not go on so briskly as yesterday, only 8 horses were
bought, one of which was an unbroken in lame mare to kill, as she was
fit for nothing else.
Friday 15
Sometimes a little breeze of wind from the S. E. yet it was clear and
so sultry that the heat was oppresive.
Embarked at half past 5 oclock proceeded up the river and in 2 hours
arrived at the Forks[110] and encamped on the E. side of the North
branch where a few Indians are encamped shortly after we arrived about
40 of them with the old chief Cut Nose at their head visited us in
form, smoked, and were presented with about 3 inches of tobacco each.
A trade of horses was immediately commenced and 8 very good ones were
soon bought from them, though these people have plenty of horses yet
they say they have none, they mean probably that they can spare. This
is not Cut Nose's camp, it is farther up this branch.
In the afternoon a party of upwards of 100 men and a good many women
on horseback with the son of broken or cut arm, as chief at their
head, arrived down the S. branch, the Chief immediately on his arrival
presented a horse to Mr. Dease, and received a gun, 6 yds. of Beads &
Tobacco and ammunition 27 skins as a present in return. After smoaking
and getting about 3 Inches of Tobacco for each of his people, a trade
for horses was opened and 5 very good ones were soon bought which with
the one presented and the eight bought in the forenoon make 14 that
have been procured to day. These are the best horses we have got yet,
they are 18 to 20 skins each.
There is a little short of 200 Indians about our camp now, several of
those from below accompany us as we advance up, and those encamped here
with the band that arrived from the S. branch make about the above
number. They are very quiet and peaceable for so far.
The country about the Forks is flatter and the hills not so abrupt
as farther down. The South branch[111] falls in from the Southward,
and the North one from the S. E. the waters of these latter are quite
clear, while those of the other are white and muddy the North branch
seems not so large as the other, nor does not discharge such a body of
water. It may be about 250 to 300 yards wide.
Charlie the chief who accompanied us from our last encampment crossed
the river with a horse, and in swimming back either was seized or
pretended to be seized with a cramp & called out for assistance. Some
of the Indians brought him ashore, where he became very ill and got
little better, though at his own request he got 2 or 3 drams, untill
evening when he thought he would be the better of an airing and got the
men to paddle him in a boat up and down the river and sing at the same
time, which must considerably contribute, no doubt, to the recovery
of his health.--This man may have some influence among the Indians at
least to do injury, but he is undoubtedly an artful knave.
Saturday 16
Cloudy, a storm of thunder with squalls of wind from the Westward and
a little rain in the afternoon, last night there was a violent storm
of thunder & a great deal of lightening, with squalls of wind and some
rain.
A Brisk trade commenced in the morning and 19 horses were bought during
the day, they are generally good ones and cost mostly 20 skins each.
At noon (Tawerishewa) arrived at the head of a troup of 64 men and
several women with plenty of horses from up the North branch. After
smoaking and each of his people being presented with a piece of Tobacco
he presented a fine horses to Mr. Dease and received a present of
different articles to the amount of 32 skins in return.--The other
chief now here seems not to be fond of this man on account of his being
a doctor or medicine chief.
On account of our articles of trade falling short we will not be able
to answer these people's expectations in the way of Trade.
Sunday 17
Cloudy, gusts of wind from the Westward. A heavy thunder storm with
strong wind and same rain in the afternoon.
Commenced trading after breakfast & bought horses during the day,
four horses were presented during the day by principal men of
(Tawerishewa's) band, but they were dearer than if they had been traded
on account of the quantity of articles that had to be presented in
return. The most of the horses purchased today are very fine ones and
cost mostly 20 skins each.
Our articles of trade got short or we would have got more horses.
Green Beads, Tobacco and blankets are entirely gone, several blankets
were borrowed from the men. The last band of Indians that arrived were
considerably disappointed by these articles being nearly gone when they
came.
There are about our camp near 250 or 300 Indians. they are very quiet
and give us very little trouble, they occasionally get a little
tobacco to smoak. They pass the greater part of their time gambling,
horseracing & foot racing.
We have traded 112 horses, 5 of which have been killed. A fine young
white one was drowned crossing the river today.
Monday 18
Cloudy pleasant weather not too warm. Wind Westerly.
Our trade being finished and everything ready, we took leave of our
friendly Indians and I and six men and an Indian Charlie as a guide,
set out with 106 horses across land to Spokane at 1/2 past 8 o'clock.
two of the horses which were traded had got lame and were not able to
start.--We were detained two hours waiting for Charlie who delayed
after us to make some arrangements with his family. On account of this
delay and not being able to drive quick as one of the finest horses in
the band (Mr. Dease's) being lame which I did not perceive till after
we were off, we made but a short days' march.
We passed through a fine country the course from N. to N. W. On leaving
the river ranges of high hills had to be ascended[112], the country
then was not level but a continual succession of little rising hills
or hummocks and valleys destitute of trees or bushes except along the
margins of little brooks, but pretty well clothed with grass and other
plants though rather dried and parched, in some of the valleys along
little rivers there are a few trees and bushes besides different plants
of an uncommonly luxuriant growth.
A Ridge[113] of high land runs along at a short distance to the
Eastward, thinly wooded, close to a point of this wooded land is a
beautiful situation at a litle spring of water. We encamped in the
evening at about five oclock having to wait for one of the men who
remained behind with the lame horse.--Though the country was dry yet
water was to be found at short intervals the most of the day.
Five Indians with 8 horses also on the way to Spokane joined us in the
day & kept company with us. In the evening we passed a party of women
with a number of horses going off to the plains to collect horses.
My object in accompanying the horses besides seeing them taken care
of principally is to visit Spokane, see how affairs stand there and
consult with Mr. Birnie as to the practicability of getting all the
property, etc., removed at once to the Kettle Falls so that the whole
may be there by the time the boats arrive, by which means the trading
parties to the Flat Heads and Kootenais could be sent off immediately
and meet the Indians at a proper season or at least as early as
possible, while the remainder of the people, when two establishments
are not to be kept up, could be advantageously employed at the building
of the new establishment. This is the only plan which will enable us to
accomplish the objects of removing to the new Fort and attending their
trading excursions at this advanced season without material injury to
the trade. In order to enable us to put the above plan in execution
I got Mr. Dease prevailed upon to supply Spokane with 11 Pack Horses
which are certainly very few considering that there are only eight
at Spokane, and there is little prospect of being able to hire any
from the Indians as removing the Fort is likely to be disagreeable to
them.--I have also brought two men intended to be left at Spokane to
assist. I also wished much that Mr. Dears should accompany me for the
same purpose, so that he might proceed to the Kettle Falls & remain in
charge of the property with one man while the transportation of the
property was going on, but Mr. Dease would not consent to his coming
lest Mr. McLeod would not be satisfied, as he would not have any one
to assist him in taking up the boats from Wallawalla to Okanogan. He
certainly needed no assistance to conduct these boats well manned, when
little danger is to be apprehended from the Indians.--I represented
these things to Mr. Dease but it had no effect. I also pointed out the
inadequacy of the number of horses, but as he had orders to procure a
certain number for New Caledonia and Thompson's River, and no mention
made of any to Spokane, 11 besides 2 saddle horses were all he could
give, after completing the numbers for the other places, and depending
on his own Fort for 60 for the Snake Country.
In case the above plans are found to be practicable I intend to proceed
on to Okanogan to receive the Spokane and Rocky Mountain outfits and
accompany the boats to the Kettle Falls.
One or two more men were also requested but they could not be granted
lest Mr. McLeod would have too few to take up three boats, though there
are 23 for that purpose, of which number 2 certainly might have been
spared.
Tuesday 19
Cloudy pleasant weather. Wind Westerly.
Proceeded on our journey at an early hour but in consequence of having
to delay & drive generally very slow waiting for the lame horse, we
made but a short days march and encamped late in the evening at a small
River or rather sort of swamp. In the morning we crossed the Flag
River.--The lame horse gave up in the afternoon and with reluctance I
was obliged to leave him at a spring in a little valley with plenty of
grass about it. he seems to be otherwise diseased besides the lameness,
his near foreleg is swelled, the outerfilm of the skin and hair is come
off his breast in the shape of a horses foot, where probably he has
received a blow, before leaving him Charlie scarified his foot, he will
be sent for if possible.
The country through which we passed today has much the same appearance
as that passed yesterday and the course nearly the same. Though the
horses have not been driven hard yet some of them are getting fatigued,
many of them are getting very lean.--Last night as the night before the
horses were watched all night by 3 men at a time.
Wed.y. 20
Weather cloudy, but sultry and oppressively warm by turns. These two
nights past were very cold which is a great change from the excessive
heat experienced some time back. This is probably owing to our being in
the vicinity of the high land.
Set out on our journey early in the morning and got out of the plains
into the woods about 1/2 past 7 oclock. At 4 oclock I left 4 of the
men (C. Gregoire.) (A. Laparde.) (I. Levant) and (J. Maria) at the
fork[114] of the road that branches off to Okanogan, and proceeded to
Spokane with 2 men and 16 horses, 12 for this post and 4 with which I
am to go to Okanogan. One of them knocked up by the way & had to be
left to be sent for tomorrow. As the horses were fatigued I ordered
the men to encamp and allow the horses the evening to rest, and to
march at a very slow rate for the future. I left them with 89 horses
but one of them was so much jaded that it could not be expected to be
able to march. I therefore ordered it to be left and it would be sent
for tomorrow.--Arrived at Spokane[115] at 7 oclock and found Mr. Birnie
and his people all well. The country through which we passed today as
we advanced towards the woods and in the woods was in places very stony
which was not often the case these past days. Water was also scarcer
than hitherto.
Thursd.y. 21
Clear very warm weather.
Employed this day examining the property to be transported to the
Kettle Falls and find that the whole amounts to 254 pieces including
trading goods, provisions, stores & sundries. Mr. Birnie has been
actively & diligently employed during the summer, & has almost the
whole tied up and ready to put on horseback.--Had Mr. Dears been
permitted to accompany me I could have returned to Okanogan with an
Indian, and the transportation of the property might have commenced
immediately as Mr. Dears with one man could have remained in charge of
the property at Kettle falls. But now as the horses which I brought
with me must be returned to Okanogan and it being necessary that I
should be at that place to receive the goods and to accompany the
boats up, and no one being here to spare to take charge of the goods
at the Kettle falls, and leave enough to remain here with Mr. Birnie
and attend to the horses on the voyage, the conveying the property must
be deferred until Mr. Dease and some men can be sent from Okanogan
and the first trip will be at the Kettle Falls by the time the boats
arrive.--From the dislike the Indians have to the removal of the Fort,
of which they have heard some vague reports, which they seem unwilling
to believe, there is reason to apprehend that no assistance will be
received from them in the horse way which will very much retard our
business, as the number of horses which we have, about 34, will be a
long time of conveying all these pieces.
Mr. Birnie for so far has been pretty successful in the trade of
provisions, appichimens & saddls, and about a dozen of horses the
latter at a much cheaper rate than those purchased in the Nezperces
River. But the returns in furs are far short of those of last year
at this season the Indians from different places have done very
little.--The garden looks remarkably well, the potatoes are bigger than
eggs. Six kegs which were sowed at the Kettle Falls also looked well
the last time people were there they have been hoed twice.
Paid the Indian Charlie who accompanied us with the horses 20 skins
which he was promised more than he received at the Forks, and also
made him a present of a Buffalo Robe, he has promised to bring the
horse to the Fort. In case any other Indian trapper (should happen) to
take him off he is the only one that would be likely to recover him. I
intended to have sent a man & an Indian for this horse immediately but
Mr. Birnie doubts that it would not be safe as a good many straggling
Nezperces Indians are going & coming who might probably pillage them.
On my arrivel last night Mr. Birnie handed me a note from Governor
Simpson of which the following is a copy.
Columbia Lake 16th Apl. 1825.
Dear Sir
The Dr. will no doubt have informed you of the reasons that induced me
to alter your destination for this season and I trust the change will
be agreeable to you.--
I have lined out the site of a new establishment[116] at the Kettle
Falls and wish you to commence building and transporting the property
from Spokane as early as possible. Mr. Birnie has been directed to
plant about 5 kegs of potatoes--You will be so good as (to) take great
care of them the produce to be reserved for seed, not eat, as next
spring I expect that from 30 to 40 Bushels will be planted.--Pray let
every possible exertion be used to buy up an abundant stock of Fish
and other Provisions counrty Produce, as no imported provisions can
in future be forwarded from the coast.--If you can dispense with the
service of Mr. Dears in the course of the summer I wish him to be sent
with a couple of Indians to examine the Flat Heads River[117] as far
as the Ponderoy Camps at the Camass plain and if Navigable you will be
so good as (to) forward the outfit of that Post by water instead of
land carriage which will save a great expense in horse hire, etc.--The
Cantany[118] River we know to be navigable; it is not, therefore,
necessary to examine it, but you will likewise forward the outfit for
the Post of that name by water--A few long Portages must not interfere
with this plan as the benefits to be derived from the change will more
than counterbalance the additional trouble and personal labour it may
give our people.--If this plan is found to answer of which I have not
the smallest doubt we shall be perfectly independent of the Indians in
regard to horses which will be a great saving of property, and thereby
we shall also avoid the chance of quarrels with the natives in regard
to horse thieving as we shall have few or none to tempt them.--Mr.
Dears appears to be a self-sufficient forward young man, he must
not, however question or dispute your authority, if he does let me
know it, in the meantime show him this paragraph if necessary.--With
Mr. Birnie you will have no difficulty, he is unassuming active and
interested.--Pray use every exertion to trade horses for Thompson's
River and let them be sent in the fall so as to be forwarded from
Okanogan to New Caledonia with all the pack saddles and appichimens
that can be collected.
The cedar canoes brought down this season from Spokane will be the
proper craft for the Cootanies & Flat Head Rivers.
The Spokans will not be pleased at the removal of the Fort but you must
(?) the chiefs with a few presents besides fair words.
Do me the favour to collect[119] all the seeds plants Birds and
quadrupids & mice & rats you can and let them be forwarded by the ship
of next season to N. (Gosny) Esqur. care of Wm. Smith Esqr. Secty. H.
B. Cmy., London.
Wishing a pleasant & prosperous season.
I remain
Dear Sir
Your most obd. servant,
(Signed) Geo. Simpson.
Friday 22nd.
Cloudy, but sultry warm weather.
I deferred setting out for Okanogan, as I intended, in order to allow
the horses which are fatigued another days' rest, and there still
being plenty of time to reach that place before the boats from the
Wallawalla: something more could also be done here. In the course of
the day the business of removing the Fort was broached to the Chiefs
and notice given them that they would be requested to lend some
assistance in horses. They gave no decisive answer on the subject but
seemed to take it better than was expected. It was intimated that the
Fort would be left in their charge and that probably instructions
might be received in the fall for some people to reside at Spokane
with them still. They seem to swallow this notwithstanding its
improbability.--Very few of them are now about the Fort the most of
them being a short distance below it at a fishing barrier where they
are taking 7 or 800 salmon per day.
Satd'y. 23
Cloudy blowing strong from the Westward.
At 1/2 past 9 o'clock set out from Spokane for Okanogan accompanied by
a man and an Indian as a guide with seven horses, that is the 4 that
belong to Okanogan, & 3 to return to Spokane with some people.--At 12
oclock we got clear of the woods & into the plains, except a short time
that we stopped to allow the horses to feed. We drove on at a round
pace all day and encamped at 1/2 past 7 oclock at a little pool of
bad water, some distance from the Key encampment. The clouds of dust
raised by the wind which was right ahead made riding very disagreeable
as we were like to be choaked & blinded. Our guide did not keep the
road but cut from place to place through the plains.--Our course
might be from N. W. to W. Ridges of mountains or highlands run along
at no great distance to the Northward, thinly clothed with wood, the
country through which we passed though not (even) could not be called
hilly but swelling into little knowls, covered with a thin coat of dry
vegetables and generally of a barren & scorched appearance, except some
little valleys where some few bushes & green vegetables are produced in
consequence of there being water in the place or some moisture in the
ground.--The road was in some places good, but in others very stony.
Nothing to be seen to the S. E. but extensive plains bounded by the
horison.
Sunday 24
Weather as yesterday.
Continued our route at 4 oclock and arrived[120] on the opposite side
of the River at Okanagan at 1/2 past 7 after a smart days ride, and our
horses much fatigued, some of them nearly knocked up, this was owing
to their being allowed to drink too much water. If indulged in water
while on the route they ought never to be allowed to take more than a
mouthful or two.--
The appearance of the country course etc were much the same as
yesterday except that we passed through a point of woods, in the
morning we passed along the banks of the Columbia at the Lampoile[121]
River, and before noon crossed the Grand Coolley. Some of the mountains
to the Northward were topped with snow.
The men whom I left to proceed with the horses on the 20th arrived here
about noon with the whole band but one which they lost a little more
than a days march from this place.--It is a small horse 2 yrs. old, and
does not seem well.
Mondy 25
Cloudy blowing fresh from the Northward.
Went with the men for the purpose (of) bringing the horses across the
River, but as it was blowing fresh and several of the horses very lean,
it was deemed advisable to let them remain untill another occasion.
Tuesday 26
Clear warm weather.
Brought the horses[122] across from the other side of the River all
safe.
A little past noon an Indian arrived from Spokane with a note from Mr.
Birnie and a packet which had recently reached that place from Mr.
Ogden[123] dated East branch of the Missourie 10th July. In consequence
of the former coming out at the Flat Heads, the Snake business would
be so much involved with that of Spokane that I deemed it my duty to
open the dispatch which I am sorry to find contains intelligence of a
disagreeable nature. A series of misfortunes have attended the party
from shortly after their departure on the 24th may they fell in with a
party of Americans when 23 of the former deserted, two of this party
were killed one by the Indians and one by accident and the remainder of
the party are now coming out by the Flat Heads.
This occurrence will entirely change all our plans at Spokane,
respecting moving the Fort, as all our time will be occupied in
transporting the Snake outfit from Fort Nezperces to Spokane if the
Snake country business is carried on.--It is indispensably necessary
that these despatches should be sent to Fort Vancouver as soon as
possible, they must be sent either direct to Fort Nezperces from
this place or round by Spokane, by the former rout they will reach
Nezperces in four days, by the latter they will require six.--I shall
wait for Mr. McLeod's arrival when I expect he will furnish a man to
accompany Mr. Dears whom I intend to send for the more safe conveyance
of the packet, and who can return accompanied by an Indian direct from
Wallawalla to Spokane, with all the despatches remaining at that place
for Mr. Ogden, by this route he will reach Spokane as soon as I will
with the boats and the papers can be forwarded by the Trading party
to the Flat Heads & thence to Mr. Ogden by his men who are to come
in with their furs. Mr. McLeods man LaPrade[124] who passed in the
spring and who knows the road from this place to Nezperces can return
accompanied by an Indian and be back at Okanogan in 8 days or if deemed
safe he could come round by Spokane which would occupy 2 or 3 days
longer. If this plan meets Mr. McLeod's approbation it will be the most
expeditious. The route by Spokane will answer equally well, but it will
occupy at least 2 or three days longer to reach Nezperces.
Wed.y. 27
Warm sultry weather.
Sent off two of the men E. Gregoire and J. Moreau to seek the horse
which they lost by the way coming.--La Prade is retained at the Fort to
accompany Mr. Dears to Nezperces, in case Mr. McLeod allows him to go.
Thursd.y. 28.
Cloudy sultry weather.
Mr McLeod arrived with the boats 3 in number at 9 oclock in 8 days or
rather on the 8th day from Nezperces, the day was occupied separating
the cargoes, when I made out an a/c of the pieces which are to be
taken to Spokane Forks.[125]--Some pieces belonging to Nezperces and
the Snake expedition, it is thought advisable to take to Spokane, for
the Nezperces pieces Mr. Dease is to take an equal number of the same
description from the Snake outfit at his place. By taking these pieces
to Spokane it will save the carriage across land from Nezperces.
Friday 29th.
Sultry warm weather.
This day was employed preparing despatches for the sea which are to
accompany Mr. Ogdens letters which are to be sent off tomorrow. I
expected that Mr McLeod would have spared a man to accompany Mr Dears
to Wallawalla, but he cannot. I therefore thought he would have had to
go round by Spokane, but on consulting Robbie Doo[126] the Indian who
came with me, he engages to take him from here to Wallawalla though he
never was that road, this will save the horses, and two or three days
time. Mr Dears is to return straight to Spokane where I expect he will
arive as soon as men with the boats, & have all Mr. Ogdens (documents)
with him.
Though we have not more than full cargoes for two boats and 18 men to
work them to the Forks, yet as the road is very (bad) and Mr. McLeod's
and Mr. Ross's[127] families to accompany us it is the guide's opinion
that we will get on safer and more expeditiously by taking three
boats, 6 men per boat. Three are therefore to be taken.
Satd.y. 30
Clear warm weather.
Left Okanogan with 3 boats at 8 oclock and encamped at 6 in the evening
to gum one of the boats which was leaking though she had been gummed
at the fort. The road was tolerable though the current was very strong
till afternoon, they got on without the poles but afterwards the boats
had to be towed the greater part of the way with lines, sometimes the
united strength of the two crews was required to take up one boat. The
water is high though it has fallen greatly.
Mr Dears & the Indian also set out in the morning for Wallawalla. The
Indian who brought Mr. Ogdens letters from Spokane, also returned to
that place, with a letter to Mr Birnie requesting him to send horses to
meet me at the Forks to take the property up to Spokane, as we know not
whether the Fort can be removed this year untill answers are received
from the sea[128] to our letters.
Sunday 31st.
Clear warm weather.
Embarked before 4 oclock this morning and reached the lower end of
the dalls[129] at 9 oclock and got over there at 1, and encamped at
half past 6 in the evening, having made a better days march than the
common. In the evening we got on a little with the poles, but all the
rest of the day the tow line had to be used, at the dalls it was very
bad, the men had to pass the line over high projecting rocks where had
they missed a foot they would have been killed. At the upper end of the
dalls the boat had to be lightened and the one half of their cargoes
carried a piece, as the boats could not b dragged up with the cargo all
in.
August, 1825.
Mond.y. 1
Clear very warm.
Embarked at 3 oclock and put ashore at 5 to wait for Mr McLeod who
was to come across land with his family to embark for the mountains,
and with some papers which he had not finished when he left the Fort,
and were delayed till 3 oclock, when we proceeded on our journey and
encamped at 1/2 past 6.
Tuesday 2nd.
Cloudy mild weather.
Continued our route at 3 oclock and put ashore near 7 having made a
very good days work.--
Wed.y 3
Cloudy weather.
Embarked at 3 oclock passed the (Lampoile) River at 9 where we
breakfasted and traded a few pieces of dry salmon from the Indians, and
encamped past 6 oclock. A good days march. Tho' our boats are only a
little more than 2/3 loaded yet they are a good deal embarrassed, as we
have four women and ten children passengers.
Thursday 4
Cloudy and very warm afternoon, a great deal of thunder & lightening
and some rain in the night.
Embarked past 3 oclock and arrived at Spokane Forks at 8. The road
this morning was very bad being continual rapids. These two days
past, it was not so bad as the tow line had only to be used at some
strong points. The boats were immediately discharged, at 10 oclock 3
men arrived with the horses horses from Spokane with a letter from
Mr. Birnie. It appears that they had some trouble at Spokane with
the Indians. The scoundrel Charlie with some others was making a
disturbance, about removing the Fort.
Busily employed the after part of the day, distributing the property
among the men who are divided into two pairs and are to take a brigade
of horses each two, and also laying out the goods for Rocky Mountain
that are to go to Kettle falls, and some boxes of tools for the
building at Kettle Falls.--The two boats that are to remain are also
laid up and some guns, 26 pieces, which was sent from Spokane, burried
in the sand, till it be sent below in the fall.--
Sent a little Tobacco to the old chief at the Sampoile bourne and a
message that some salmon were wanted for the people, he brought twenty
fresh ones in the afternoon, which was abundance for the people. Some
dry ones were also traded.
Frid.y 5.
At an early hour, had the horses assembled and divided into brigades,
loaded and set off by 8 oclock and encamped at 1 at the bottom of the
big hill which is a good days march. We have altogether 35 horses
loaded, including baggage, etc. Left the guide P. L. Etang preparing
to start with the boat and cargo destined for the R Mountains, to
the Kettle Falls, where he is to remain until the 20th of next
month, he has 7 men with him, who are to be employed preparing timber
and, if they have time, building a store as a beginning to the new
establishment,[130], tools are sent with him for the purpose.--Intend
sending Mr. Dears who I expect is arrived nearly at Spokane by this
time, to Superintend the people, and L. La Bentie who is a carpenter
to assist & direct in the building. As there is a great demand for
provisions, the salmon can be loaded at the same time, for which
purpose and to feed the people, an assortment of goods is sent up.
Saturday 6
Cloudy, blowing fresh from the Westward.
Proceeded on our journey at 4 oclock and halted to let the horses
rest & feed at 10 and again resumed our journey at three and encamped
for the night before 6 at camp at Cariboo (?) having made a long days
march, the horses are tired.
The cords which fastened a load of traps gave way and the cases fell,
the horse took fright and ran off with the load hanging to him, and
so lamed one of his shoulders and leg that that he is disabled from
carrying his load & scarcely fit to walk.--An Oil cloth which one of
the men Gros Carlo had in charge was also lost through negligence. This
is a serious loss as there in none to replace it and all we had were
required. I sent notice among the Indians to seek it & if found to
bring it to the Fort & they would be paid for their trouble.
Sunday 7
Mild warm weather.
Resumed our journey at a little past 4 oclock and by 10 all the
brigades had arrived at the Spokane Fort and delivered in the cargoes.
The horses were immediately sent across the River to graze and a man to
take care of them.--
Mr. Birnie was like to have some trouble with som of the Indians
shortly after my departure to Okanagan. Charlie, according to
inteligence received by Mr. B., with a few other Nezperces had laid
a plan to cut off the fort, but as this is grounded on report and as
the Inds are very prone to belie each other, there is no knowing what
degree of reliance to place on it. Charlie is doubtly a notorious
scoundrel, when he heard of the Fort going to be abandoned he was much
displeased and declared among the Indians that had he known of it not
a horse would have been got in the Nezperces River if in his power to
prevent it.--The trade of furs has been a little better last month than
the preceding ones, but the whole returns are far short of this time
last year.--In provisions the trade is still increasing, there are now
between 4 and 5000 pieces of salmon in store, besides roots. Saving so
much provisions is a fortunate circumstance as unfortunately almost the
whole of the dry meat is found to be so completely spoiled and damaged
that it is useless.--
Mr. Dears contrary to my expectations is not yet arrived, 9 days are
now elapsed since he left Okanagan for Wallawalla, which is a day later
than I had calculated on his being able to reach this place. Probably
something may have occurred to prevent him from arriving on the day
expected.
Monday 8
Cloudy warm weather
Employed opening & examining the outfit--and making preparations by
packing up the outfit for the Flat Heads.
Mr. Dears and the Indians arrived at noon from Wallawalla with
despatches from that place, they were five days coming and had been
four days going from Okanagan to Wallawalla. however he got through
safe.
Tuesday 9th
Cloudy warm weather.
At 10 oclock sent off 11 men with 10 horses loaded with an assortment
of trading articles for the Flat Heads and a supply of some articles
required by Mr. Ogden. I intend following them tomorrow accompanied by
the old Flat Head chief who has passed the summer here & is now going
to his friends, & another Indian who is to bring back the horses. I was
prevented from accompanying the people today by having some papers to
arrange. After the people had been off some time one of them returned
for anothr horse in stead of one that had thrown his load and ran off
from them.
Wed.y. 10
Clear fine weather.
At 9 oclock I set out after the people accompanied by the old Flat
Head chief and another Indian. Near 6 oclock we came up with the party
encamped at the little Lake[131] in the woods.--Mr McDonald's[132]
horse which the old chief rode had been unwell before he left the fort
though we did not know it, and was so knocked up that we had to leave
him at the little River at this end of the Coer de Alan plains where we
arrived before 3 oclock which (is) a little more than 6 hours though
we stopped to smoke by the way & seldom went past a trot.
Left Mr Dears preparing to go off to the Kettle Falls with L. La Bontie
to to go on with the buildings at that place.
Thursday 11
Showery in the morning, fair afterwards with strong Westerly Wind.
Set out at 4 oclock and arrived at the Flat Head River[133] at noon
& immediately commenced gumming the canoes which occupied the whole
afternoon and is not yet entirely completed. One of the canoes was
taken across the River by the Indians & we had to send across for it.
The Indians had also taken nearly all the poles and paddles which will
cause us a loss of time and labour to replace them with others. We are
very scarce of gum.
An Indian handed the men who crossed for the canoe, a note from Mr
Kittson[134], he has been at the Chutes[135] since the 31st of July,
with the Indians waiting to trade
Friday 12
Cloudy pleasant weather.
Notwithstanding I had the men at work by daylight, they were so long
getting paddles, poles & ready that it was 11 oclock before we started
& then lost nearly an hour crossing (a freeman, the Soteaux & his
baggage.--) So that it was noon when we got off. We got on pretty well
and encamped past 6 oclock in the Lake[136] below the traverse to
the island. One of the canoes had only 2 men & as they found poles &
paddles ready, they went off in the morning & are yet ahead. Two of the
canoes are still very leaky notwithstanding the time that was taken to
gum them.
Sent off the Indians in the morning to the Fort with the horses, and
the appichimens, at the same time I wrote to Mr. Birnie & Mr Dears &
desired the latter if he could to prevail on the Kettle falls Indians
to get a quantity of cedar bark to cover the store. I doubt the season
is too far advanced to raise the bark.
Saturday 13
Cold in the morning blowing fresh from the Southward. Lightening & some
thunder & rain in the night.
Had the men up at 3 oclock but it was blowing too fresh to attempt
crossing the Lak & nearly 2 hours were lost waiting, still it was rough
making the haven, afterwards we got on very well and encamped near 7
oclock below Isle de Pierre.[137] Came up with the two men in the canoe
that was ahead of us, in the afternoon.
Passed a good many Indians at the upper end of the Lake, gave them
a little tobacco to smok, bought a little cammass from them, & then
proceeded.--
Sunday 14
Cold foggy weather in the morning but very warm afterwards.
Proceeded on our journey before 4 oclock and encamped before 6 a good
piece above the Barrier River.--We had to stop early to gum the canoes
which were very leaky.
Passed a few Indians, two accompanied us all day in a canoe.
Monday 15.
Showry in the morning, fine afterwards.
Embarked at 4 oclock and reached the Indian camp at the Chutes[138]
at 11 oclock, where I found Mr. Kittson and two men from Mr Ogdens
party with 38 packs & 6 (Parto....) braves. The Indian chiefs (with)
Snake furs soon visited us and on being asked whether they wished to
trade immediately or wait till tomorrow they preferred the latter.
Some tobacco was given them for all hands to smoake.--And in the
afternoon Mr. Kittson and I visited their principle lodge where the
whole of the Indians soon assembled, when we gave them all the news
from the different quarters of the country when they were enjoying the
pipe & gave us what news they had in return.--The chiefs sent us some
provisions immediately on our arrival.
Tuesday 16
Cold in the morning, very warm afterwards.
At an early hour the Indians began to arrive & a brisk trade was
immediately commenced and by noon nearly the whole trade was finished,
some lodges & trifling things were brought for sale during the
afternoon.--
In the afternoon the men were off in the woods collecting pitch for
the canoes, we applied to the Indians but a sufficiency could not be
obtained from them and the canoes much in want of it as they will be
very deep laden.
Wed.y. 17
Cloudy mild weather.
The men were employed the whole day gumming the canoes & had not the
Indians favored us with the lend of their kettles to boil pitch it
would have taken another day to finish their business.
All the Indians, except one chief who remained with us, took a most
friendly leave of us and departed during the day, there might be
altogether about Indians of four different nations, Flat Heads,
Kootanies, Ponderus and Piegans, of the latter there are but very few.
A considerable number, 30 tents, were coming, but from some cause
turned back. It was from the Flat Heads and Kootenais that the trade
was principally obtained. These are remarkably fine Indians and easily
dealt with. After the trade was over made each of the chiefs a trifling
present of a little ammunition & Tobacco, a look.g. glass & a little
beads.--
Joachin Hubert accompanied the Indians with the horses that brought
the Snake furs and a small supply of articles for Mr. Ogden to whom I
wrote and forwarded a number of letters and despatches addressed to
him. The packet packet was put in charge of Grospied one of the F. Head
chiefs, as being more safe. It was not till I was perfectly satisfied
by Mr Kittson that there was no danger of these documents falling into
improper hands, that I would trust them. The chiefs are directed to
give them to no one but Mr Ogden and in case of any accident having
befallen him to bring them back. It was Mr. Ogden's directions to Mr
Kittson that only one man should be sent back to him.
Our trade amounts to 374 large & 99 small beaver and 1 otter large,
76 bales meat, 44 Robes, 122 appechimans 16 dressed skins & 11
(chevereaux) and 5 lodges and 1 horse, 29 saddles and cords. etc.
Beaver and dressed skins are far short of last year, the deficiency
in beaver is owing to a great many of the Kootanies having gone off
to their own lands before our arrival, the scarcity of leather may be
attributed to the same cause and to their having been at the Buffalo
this season. Every encouragement was given for leather, it being so
much wanted, and very high prices offered and articles given which is
not customary to give for it. A trip will yet have to be made to the
Kootany country to endeavour to get some leather and what beaver they
may have.
Thursday 18
Foggy in the morning, fine weather afterwards.
Having everything ready, commenced loading at daylight and fell down
the river and encamped in the evening a little above the Heron rapid.
The canoes are very full and deep laden, it was so much as we could do
to get the whole into them, they are in fact heaped up in the middle.
We came down the first rapid with half cargo, the other rapids were run
with four men in each canoe, so that having to take only two canoes
down at a time detained us. Two of the canoes were broke by striking on
stones & some time was lost in repairing them, the cargoes fortunately
sustained very little damage as they got ashore before they had time to
be wet.
The old chief La Brash, who remained with us all night, took his leave
and went off in the morning.
Friday 19
Cloudy fine weather.
Continued our rout at daylight, and encamped in the evening at the
lower side of the wide traverse in the lake.[139] We were detained
sometime repairing one of the canoes that was brok, also two hours at
the Lake which was too rough to cross with our canoes so deep laden,
tho there was no wind--Some of the bales of meat were a little wet in
the canoe that was broke.--
Satd.y. 20
Rain in the morning dry afterwards.
Continued our course at daylight and reached the Portage[140] at noon
where three men were immediately sent off to the Fort[141] for horses.
the men that remained employed drying the bales that were wet, and
preparing places to lay up the canoes.
Sunday 21
Foggy in the morning, warm afterwards.
The men laid up the canoes & arranged part of the baggage to be in
readiness when the horses arrive.
Monday 22.
Clear fine weather.
Had all the pieces tied and distributed among them who are divided into
twos, saddles, appichimans & cords were also divided among the men.
Three Indians visited us in the evening from whom we got four ducks and
a little bears meat.
Three bags of balls, & 9 half & 6 small axes which we had over & above
our trade was hid in the woods in the horse pond in the night as it
will save the carriage to the Fort and back in the Fall, and these are
articles that will not injure by being burried under ground a short
time.
Tuesday 23
Cloudy mild weather.
Before noon the men arrived from the Fort with all the Company's horses
and what Mr Birnie could collect from the Indians which was still seven
short of the number required. However an Indian arrived with these in
the evening. The Indians at the Fort it seems are mostly off collecting
roots which renders it difficult to procure horses.--As the horses
require time to feed & as there would not have been time to get out to
the plains where they can be kept without danger of loosing them we
deferred starting till this morning.
Wed.y. 24
Some rain in the night, and wet disagreeable weather morning.
The weather being unfavourable we were detained some time in the
morning, but it clearing up afterwards, the horses were loaded and
we set out & encamped in the evening at the little River at the edge
of the woods. Some of the horses are very weak, and scarcely able to
manage thir loads.
Thursday 25
Showery in the night, but fair weather during the day, blowing fresh
from the Westward.
Proceeded on our journey at 6 oclock and halted at Campment
Bindash[142] at 11, where, as some of the horses are weak, I left the
people, to go to the Fort tomorrow, & proceeded with Mr. Kittson to the
house where we arrived at 4 oclock. I found two of Mr Dease's men who
had arrive with despatches from the sea a few hours before they also
brought 26 horses for the use of the Snake country expedition.
By a letter of instructions to me I am directed to bring half or such
part of the Snake outfit as Mr. Kittson may suppose sufficient, from
Nezperces. Now as it is uncertain whether Mr. Ogden may equip his men
at the Flat Heads or take them to Nezperces, I am at a loss how to
act, as if Mr Ogden takes his peoples to Nezperces it would be lost
labour to bring goods from Nezperces and just have to take them back
again, it is therefore determined to defer sending for any part of
the outfit till the beginning of October, by which time we will have
heard from Mr. Ogden & perhaps from the sea and will be able to act
according to the instructions received.--I am apprehensive we will not
be able to remove to the Kettle Falls this fall as we are uncertain
what what assistance we may have to give the Snake people. by remaining
the trade will be little affected, where as by removing we run a great
risk of having the property, particularly the provisions injured as a
store will not be ready to receive it, the horses would also be so
completely knocked up transporting the property, that they would be of
little service to Mr. Ogden in case he requires them, & probably not
able to bring his outfit from Wallawalla.
Friday 26th Augt. 1825.
Clear fine weather.
The men arrived with the horses before noon when the furs, provisions
&c were all delivered in safe.--In the afternoon the Indians were
settled with for their horses which we hired for the trip.
In the evening I was employed writing letters to Fort Vancouver.
Saturday 27
Clear fine weather.
Sent off Mr Dease's men with dispatches to Nezperces to be
for-forwarded to the sea.
A young Indian was engaged to carry the dispatches to Mr Ogden in the
Snake country he is to have a horse for his trip, and promises to make
the most expeditious he can. Nothing material has occurred since I have
been absent. Trade in furs still slack but a little doing in provisions.
Sunday 28
Weather as yesterday.
Sent off the Indian with the express to Mr. Ogden he expects to reach
him in about 8 to 10 days.
We are living now entirely on dry provisions as nothing fresh is to be
got, not a salmon to be caught in the river.
Monday 29th
Clear fine pleasant weather.
Mr Kittson (&) two men with 6 horses set out for the Kootany
country[143] with an assortment of Goods on a Trading excursion.
Sent off 9 men with some tools etc to the Kettle falls to assist with
the buildings. I intend following them tomorrow or next day, to see
how the business is going on. Getting the store completed is the first
object.
Had the Flat head Furs opened and counted, they are in good order, the
meat which was opened on Saturday is also in fine condition and weighs
about 5500 lbs. The blacksmith Philip made 2 large axes, on Saturday he
made 5 & did not begin early. we have now axes for all the people.--
A fire kindled about the Ind camp & spread about our garden & burnt the
greater part of the fence which was composed of thorn bushes.--
Tuesday 30
Fine pleasant weather.
Several Indians of the Pendant Oreill tribe arrived and traded, some
beaver & roots & berries.
Seventy salmon were taken in our barier which are the first that have
been caught for some time The Indians took 100 in this.
Wed.y. 31
Pleasant weather.
Set out from Spokane accompanied by an Indian with 3 horses & some
articles, required for building and trade, to the Kettle falls at 8
oclock and encamped at an old barn on a little River in the evening
at 5clock. The road lies on the hills & through valleys, some plains
thickly wooded & some places clear & here, & there a plain in the
valleys.
Sept. Thursd'y. 1
Warm weather.
Resumed our journey at 4 oclock and arrived at the New Establishment
at noon.--The road was much the same today as yesterday, it lay
a considerable distance through a plain along side of a little
river[144], the plain is covered with very long grass and reeds in some
places higher than the horse. The course from Spokane is nearly North,
perhaps a little to to E of it.
The men who were sent off from Spokane on Monday arrived yesterday and
are at work.
The men who were here before have made but very little progress in the
work.--7 men of them have been employed since the 13th of Augt. and
have only squared 4 logs 70 Feet long, 4-25 feet long. 16-12 feet long
& 13 Joists 25 feet long. Mr Dears says he could not get them to go
quicker, as same of them were almost always sick.--Two of them are at
present ill with the venereal and fit to do very little, one of them
does nothing. A pretty good stock of provisions is traded, dry fish &
berries sufficient to serve all the peopl here now 18 days. Very few
fresh fish are now to be got the water is fallen so much that the
salmon do not leap into the baskets which the Indians set for them.
Friday 2nd
Very warm in the middle of the day.
The men were at work at an early hour and finished squaring the logs
mentioned yesterday, the pitt saw was also put in order and a pit made
to commence sawing tomorrow. A carriage with two wheels and horse
harness were also furnished that carting the timber to the house may be
begun tomorrow.--
The fort is to be situated in a little nick just above the falls on the
South side of the River. This little nick or valley, is of a horse shoe
form, about 2 miles along the River side and about 2-1/2 or 3 miles
in depth surrounded by steep hills on both sides, a ridge of hills
runs along the opposite side of the River. The Fort is to be situated
on a sandy ridge about 600 yards from the river side. There is not a
sufficiency of wood about it to build the store, that is now under way
there the nearest wood is 1400 yards off on one side, 1500 or 1200
yards, on the other, where a little river is to be crossed.--
I took a ride along the river, through a point where there is some fine
timber. The most expeditious mode of getting the dwelling house and
other houses built will be to have the timber squared a few miles from
the fort and rafted down the river. There seems to be some fine timber
on the opposite shore about the same distance off.
The potatoes look well, but the moles are destroying some of them. the
ground they occupy may be about 35 yards square.--
Saturday 3
Fine pleasant weather.
The men were differently employed, four preparing the frame for the
store, some sawing, some squaring & one carting. there are now fifteen
men fit for duty at work I expect as they are now properly set agoing
they will get on well, and be able to have the store so far completed
that the property can be deposited in it if we can effect a removal
from Spokane this fall. This must in a great measure depend on what
assistance we can give the Snake people.
Two Indians, the old chief's sons, were spoken to and having agreed to
accompany a gentleman up the Pendent Oreille River in case he can be
spared to go, to examine the lower part of it.
An Indian was also engaged to accompany me to Spokane & bring a supply
of some articles of trade & toll that are wanted.
Sunday 4
Pleasant cool weather.
Set out from Kettle Falls at 1/4 past 6 oclock and arrived at Spokane
at 7 in the evening, which was a hard days riding, I was accompanied by
two Indians who were driving ten horses to the (Buffer de Chideu) where
I left them in the evening as some of the horses were giving up. The
Indians changed horses frequently, but I changed only once the one I
rode in the afternoon came from where I left the men in 1-1/2 hours.
Monday 5
Clear fine warm weather.
Three of the freemen belonging to Mr Ogdens party arrived here two
days ago for supplies & say they were permitted to leave the party
to proceed across the mountains to the S. side. But as they had no
writings with them but notes specifying the state of their a/c which
we did not consider sufficient authority to give them any advances and
deeming it necessary to send them back to Mr Ogden, so that he might
keep his party as strong as possible, they were refused any advances
but a little ammunition to take them back to where they would likely
meet Mr. Ogden. These men are (A. Valle). A. (Curvais) and (Wetacass),
they have brought some beaver & have all money coming to them. Mr
Ogden's notes are dated on the 15 Augt. when all the freemen but 6
had parted from him,[145] his party then was only 15 strong, and he
was going through a dangerous country, they had been successful in
their hunting since Mr Kittson left them.--All the freemen but these
three and another, turned back with the Flat Heads.--These men met the
Indians who went off on Sunday week with the despatches to Mr Ogden, he
was getting on well.--
The Indians whom I left yesterday evening arrived with the horses, some
of them are much fatigued.
Nothing material has occured here since I have been absent.
Tuesday 6
Fine weather.
Mr. Kittson arrived from the Kootenais and has made a pretty good
trade, 99 beaver, 62 deer & 34 elk skins & 2 horses, he changed some
of his horses which were jaded for others. The Kootanies desire a
Post[146] to be in their country this season, though some of those we
saw at the Flat Heads said it would not be necessary.
(To be continued.)
FOOTNOTES:
[88] John McLeod, Senior, stationed at Thompson river or Kamloops.
Consult "Peace River," by Archibald McDonald, for his career.
[89] Probably Charles McKay, son of Alex McKay who was blown up with
the Tonquin, and step-son of Dr. John McLoughlin.
[90] Celilo, or the Falls of the Columbia, above The Dalles.
[91] The Sandy river, Multnomah County, Oregon; camp being near
Washougal on opposite shore.
[92] Portage around the Cascades on north bank, where railroad portage
was built in later years.
[93] The Upper Cape Horn, below Klickitat river; see Wilkes' Map of
Oregon.
[94] This was the long portage of about 4-1/2 miles from Big Eddy to
the upper end of Ten Mile rapids. From here they used their boats to
the Falls, or Chutes, where again carried boats and goods a short
distance. Here was the "Wishram" village of Washington Irving. See
"Astoria."
[95] John Day river, Oregon side.
[96] David Douglas, the English botanist, who was then on the Columbia.
Consult Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 5, pp. 218 and 245-6-7.
[97] Now known as Blalock Island but more often referred to by the fur
traders as the Long Island; opposite Cayote station of O. W. R. & N. Ry.
[98] The Umatilla rapids, above mouth of Umatilla river, Oregon side.
[99] Also called Fort Walla Walla, built in July-Aug., 1818, by Donald
McKenzie & Alex. Ross: consult "Fur Hunters of the Far West," chaptres
6 & 7 and frontispiece for picture of the Fort. Location 1-1/2 miles
west of Wallula, of present day.
[100] South branch of the Columbia, that is the Snake river.
[101] Mr. Thos. Dears, a clerk of the H. B. Co., but not attached to
any special Post. Mr. J. W. Dease, a Chief Trader, was then in charge
of Fort Nez Perces.
[102] The Palouse river of today; the Drewyer's river of Lewis and
Clark, and known to the fur traders also as Payton and Pavillon river.
[103] Spokane House, about 100 miles northward; see Ross Cox'
"Adventures" etc for an account of this trail to the Spokane river.
[104] Meaning the Pend d'Oreille Indians.
[105] Almota Whitman county, Wash., always a favorite Indian camping
place, and meaning the hilly or mountainous stream or place. Lewis
and Clark camped here Oct. 11th, 1805 and mention the Indian houses
described by John Work a little further on in this text.
[106] That is, the junction of the Snake and Clearwater rivers.
[107] Red Wolf crossing of the Snake river, at mouth of Alpown creek
Garfield country, Washington. Col. E. J. Steptoe's expedition crossed
here in the year 1858 on its disastrous expedition.
[108] John Work's corruption of the Indian family name Shahaptin.
[109] The Palouse and the Cayuse tribes. Not unlike Lewis and Clark Mr.
Work was "something of a speller."
[110] Where Lewiston, Idaho, now stands. See page 128 of Vol. 2 of
"Trail of Lewis & Clark" (Wheeler) for photo and description of this
site.
[111] That is, the Snake river proper but designated by Lewis and
Clark as the Kimooenim, while the Clearwater from the S. E. was the
Kooskooske.
[112] A very correct description of "Lewiston Hill" and of the famous
Palouse country beyond. Travelers by stage over that road all remember
it. Mr. Dease evidently returned direct to Fort Walla Walla by the
river.
[113] The regular Indian trail northward followed the line between
Washington and Idaho, generally speaking; consult Mauring's "Conquest
of Coeur d'Alene, Spokane & Palouse Indians" for this.
[114] Probably near Phileo Lake between Spangle and Cheney, Spokane
county, Washington.
[115] Spokane House, at junction of main with the Little Spokane
river, nine miles N. W. of City of Spokane, first established by Finan
McDonald in 1810; Mr. James Birnie in charge. Mr. Birnie afterward
settled at Astoria and Cathlamet near the mouth of the Columbia.
[116] This, and previous entries, give us the actual plans for removal
of this trading post to Kettle Falls on the Columbia, as had evidently
been agreed upon during the winter at Fort George. Consult "Fur Hunters
of Far West" (Ross) Vol. 2, p 162 as to this. Also Gov. Stevens large
map in Vol. 12 of Pac. Ry. Reports.
[117] The Pend d'Oreille river, from its mouth to the Calispel river
and flats near Cusick, Washington.
[118] The Kootenay river.
[119] Evidently Gov. Simpson was not without some gift of humor; he was
preparing Mr. Work for David Douglas' expected visit to the Interior to
collect botanical specimens.
[120] After at least 150 miles across the best farming lands of
Spokane, Lincoln and part of Douglas counties, Washington. Fort
Okanagan was then on the Columbia river side of the plateau at mouth of
Okanogan river.
[121] The San Poll river, from the north.
[122] These horses were for use in transporting goods to the Thompson
river and New Caledonia Districts, which from now on were to deliver
furs and get goods at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia. Up to this time
they had shipped everything to and from York Factory to Hudson Bay,
using the Tete Jaune Pass across the Rocky Mts.
[123] Peter Skene Ogden, who was in charge of the Snake Country
trappers that season. Consult Oregon Historical Quarterly Vol. 10, pp.
229-273.
[124] A half breed named La Prate, who afterward was for many years
resident at Fort Okanogan.
[125] The mouth of the Spokane river.
[126] This name should be Robideaux, another half breed.
[127] Alexander Ross, who had proceeded to Red River with Gov. Simpson
this same Spring and whose family now follows: and Mr. McLeod sends his
family preparatory to himself leaving the Columbia river district the
following spring.
[128] Meaning Fort Vancouver.
[129] That is Whirlpool Rapids at the foot of Nespalem Canyon. Consult
Lieut. Thos. W. Symon's Report of Examination of Upper Columbia River
for this journey from Okanogan to mouth of Spokane river.
[130] The trading post to be known as Fort Colville just above Kettle
Falls.
[131] Probably Spirit Lake Northeast of Spokane, and the little river
mentioned a little further on was probably Rathdrum creek.
[132] Mr. Finan McDonald, who built Spokane House in 1810 and had but
recently left there.
[133] Pend d'Oreille river at Sineacateen crossing, the north end of
David Thompson's "Skeetshoo Road"; later known as Markham's Ferry,
Kootenay County, Idaho.
[134] William Kittson; see "Fur Hunters of Far West" Vol. 1, p. 207.
[135] Thompson Falls, Montana.
[136] Lake Pend d'Oreille.
[137] Probably the Cabinet Rapids in Clarks Fork river. Barrier river
next mentioned is probably Trout Creek of today and maps.
[138] Thompson Falls, Montana, where the Indians would be gathered for
the summer trade and to fish. Mr. Ogden's party was either on head
waters of Jefferson's Fork of the Missouri in Montana, or on the Snake
or Salmon rivers in Idaho.
[139] This wide traverse or crossing of Lake Pend d'Oreille was from
near Hope, Idaho westward across the Lake.
[140] That is at Sinecateen again. During mining days this was the
principal crossing of the Pend d'Oreille river and is well known to all
early settlers of Idaho and Montana and the Kootenay country.
[141] Spokane House.
[142] Probably they had camped for the night at the Hoodoo lake
and this Bindash Campment at Spirit Lake, but impossible to locate
certainly.
[143] Mr. Kittson goes as far as Bonners Ferry, Idaho, near which
David Thompson's "Lake Indian House" had been, for a summer trade with
Kootenays there.
[144] The Colville river and valley, and we now get a glimpse of the
beginnings of actual settlement and trade in that valley. The "little
nick" mentioned further on is Marcus Flat, just above Kettle Falls,
where Fort Colvile (so named after one of the H. B. Co. officials) was
maintained until about 1872.
[145] This refers to the desertions of the H. B. Co. Free-hunters under
inducement from the American traders, concerning which there has been
some reflection cast upon Gen. W. H. Ashley, but without real evidence
to support it.
[146] Probably meaning the rebuilding of the Post or Fort near Bonners
Ferry; a regular Post had been maintained further up the Kootenay river
about opposite Jennings, Montana. See Ross Cox' "Adventures." p. 233.
HISTORY OF THE LIQUOR LAWS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
The State of Washington passed through three forms of government
before attaining statehood. The present state was first a part of the
"Old Oregon" under the provisional government. In 1840 the American
population sent a petition to Congress enumerating reasons for a
territorial government. This petition closed with these words:
"We pray for the high privilege of American citizenship. The peaceful
enjoyment of life, the right of acquiring, possessing and using
property and the unrestrained pursuit of rational happiness and for
this your petitioners will ever pray."
In 1848 Congress approved the "Oregon Bill" and for four years longer
Washington continued a part of the territory of Oregon. The region was
then, in 1853, organized as a separate territory and for thirty-six
years the "Organic Law." with added amendments, served as the
territorial constitution. Washington then became a state in 1889. It
is under these different forms of government and through the different
stages of growth and development, therefore, that the question of
legalizing or prohibiting the sale of alcoholic liquors becomes
interesting: Provisional government, 1843-1849: Oregon territory,
1849-1853; Washington territory, 1853-1889; Washington state, 1889.
The first territorial legislature of the present state of Washington
convened in 1854. During this session of the legislature there was
an effort made to pass a state-wide prohibition law. There had been
widespread agitation upon temperance and prohibition throughout the
country, by such reformers as John B. Gough and Neal Dow. In the
state of Maine Dow's work had resulted in the Maine prohibition law.
The effort for prohibition in the territory in 1854 failed but in
1855 a general liquor law was passed entitled "An act to prohibit the
manufacture or sale or Ardent Spirits in the Territory of Washington."
It is interesting to note the language of this law in the light of the
present.
Sec. 1 says "The manufacture, sale or gift of intoxicating liquors is
prohibited."
Sec. 2 says "A public agent may be appointed to sell spirituous
liquors for certain purposes, such agent to conform to the rules and
regulations of the appointing power and receive a compensation."
There is further provision in this law for bond, for punishment, for
violation and for fines under the law to go to the public school fund.
In addition to this there were two general liquor laws and much minor
legislation which we wish to notice.
This law passed June 30, 1855. Five days previous to this date, January
25, there was an enactment prohibiting the sale of liquor to Indians.
The penalty for violation was a fine of from $25 to $500. These fines
also went into the school fund.
In 1858 another law was passed making it a crime to sell to the Kanakas
(Hawaiian Islanders). This law was re-enacted in 1860.
In 1863, as there came to be more respect for law and community life
was more firmly established, we find the first provision of a jail
sentence for the violation of a liquor law. This was under an act
to prevent the sale of adulterated liquor, which made provision for
inspectors and defined the duties thereof. The penalty for violation of
this law was $500 and six months in jail.
The first law to prohibit the sale to minors was passed on November
9, 1877. For violation of this law there was a jail sentence and fine
not to exceed $500, one or both. At the same session on the same
day there was a law passed to protect those who sold to a minor who
misrepresented his age. Any minor misrepresenting his age was liable to
fine of $25 to $100, and jail sentence of not to exceed three months.
Two years later we find the first law for the recovery of damages for
injury by use of intoxicating liquors. The law holds the owner of the
building liable jointly with the seller. This law was enacted November
14, 1879.
An interesting bit of legislation is a law passed in 1879 restraining
the sale of intoxicating liquor in certain counties, Spokane, Stevens
and Whitman, within one mile of the Northern Pacific Railroad, during
construction. For violation of this law there was provided a fine of
$300 or three months in jail or both.
In 1881 a second damage law providing for damages for one who suffered
injury in person, property or means of support. This law says no
license shall be granted without the consent in writing of the owner
of the building for his property to be used for saloon purposes. The
property then becomes liable and the owner may be held for damages. The
money for damages may be recovered by civil action.
No further legislation of notice follows till the year 1885, just
thirty years after the first general liquor law was passed--thirty
years of attempted control which had not been very successful. The
agitation for teaching the effects of alcohol and narcotics in the
public schools resulted in the passage of such a law in this state
December 23, 1885. This law applies to all schools supported wholly or
in part by money from the territorial treasury. "The County Treasurer
shall withhold the county funds from any school not complying with
the provisions of this act." A fine of $100 is assessable against any
county or state superintendent who fails to enforce the provisions of
the law. This law, passed December 23, 1885, went into effect in July,
1886, and provided that teachers must take an examination in this
subject after 1887.
In the year 1886 a second general liquor law was passed. This law is
known as, "An act to prohibit the sale of Intoxicating Liquors in
Election Precincts of Washington Territory, Whenever a Majority of
Legal Voters of Any Such Precinct, at any election to be held for that
purpose, shall vote in favor of the prohibition of such liquors." This
is quite a lengthy law beginning with Section 1 which defines the terms
used, stating the singular shall include the plural and the plural the
singular. Nouns and pronouns of the masculine gender shall include the
feminine. The term intoxicating liquor shall include all liquor of any
nature. We may infer from this clause that there had been some dispute
over the interpretation of previous laws. Through court cases under
this law an incorporated town or city shall be a voting precinct. This
law contained eighteen different sections.
In 1887 there was a license law passed. This law permits the county
board to license outside of cities and towns. The license fee was from
$300 to $1000 divided as follows: 10 per cent goes to the state; 35 per
cent goes to the school; 55 per cent goes to the county. In cities the
council may grant the license. Then 10 per cent goes to the state, 90
per cent goes to the city. Bonds are fixed at $1000. It was approved
February 2, 1888, to be in force sixty days after approval.
In 1893 there was a law passed amending municipal incorporation liquor
tax regulation.
In 1895 a law was passed making it a nuisance to sell liquor contrary
to law.
Another law was passed in the same year, 1895, which is of interest.
This was an act prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor on or
within two miles of the University Grounds, making an exception of a
small corner of ground in Madison Park on Lake Washington. This law was
drawn by Professor Edmond S. Meany, Department of History, Washington
State University. Illinois has a law similar to this one, but the
limit in that state is one mile while in Washington it is two. In 1903
a law passed prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquor within the
proscribed limit (of 2000 feet) of state institutions. This applied to
state institutions, not educational as well, and contained a clause
stating that this law would not affect the law concerning the State
University. The fine for violation of this law was a fine of $200 to
$1000. Another law in 1903 was for the search and seizure of liquor.
In 1905 a law passed providing for the license to be endorsed by the
treasurer of the state when he received his share of the license fee.
This law would lead one to believe that there might sometimes be some
irregularity in handling license monies.
Another act in 1905 was an amendment to the act providing for the right
of action for damages.
In 1907 there was passed "An act relating to sale of intoxicating
liquors," fixing a state license fee of $25 and providing punishment
for violation thereof.
A number of measures were passed in 1909; An act to prohibit a
wholesaler from holding an interest in a saloon or acting as bondsman.
The fine for the violation is from $100 to $500 or a jail sentence for
thirty days to six months. Monies loaned for such purposes in violation
of this law are forfeited to the city or state. An act prohibiting the
sale of liquor to Indians or mixed bloods and fixing a penalty for the
violation thereof. The state board of tax commissioners are empowered
to regulate the enforcement of the law of 1907.
The Military Code gives the commanding officer of the National Guard
authority, saying, "He shall prohibit or prevent the sale or use of all
intoxicating liquors. The sale of intoxicating liquor is prohibited
within 2000 feet of State institutions, Normal, Agricultural Colleges,
etc., and provides a fine of $200 to $1000 for the violation of this
act."
In this same year, 1909, the third general liquor law of this state was
passed. This is known as the "Local Option Law." The unit of territory
under this law shall be each city of the first, second, third or fourth
class each unclassified city having a population of 1000 inhabitants
and each county having no first, second, third or fourth class city.
Under this law the question shall be submitted at the general election
or at special elections by the petition of 30 per cent of the electors
at the last general election. This is quite a lengthy law and would
appear to cover almost every point of regulation of the traffic. One
clause of the law says, "No provision is intended or shall be construed
to violate or contradict the laws of the United States." The text of
this act contains twenty-three sections. This local option law passed
the Senate February 18, 1909; passed the House March 4, 1909, and was
approved March 12, 1909.
We are now close to the present time and it may be well to notice that
in 1911 an effort was made to amend the law of 1909. The amendment was
introduced in the Senate by Mr. Falconer and known as Senate Bill No.
121. The bill was read the first and second time and was referred to
the Committee an Morals--evidently an effort was made to kill the bill
in committee. There was two reports, a majority and a minority report.
The former was accepted. The bill was advanced to third reading. Eight
amendments were offered but all were lost. It passed the senate by a
vote of 24 to 16. The measure did not fare as well in the house. Here
also it was House Bill 121. It was read the first time, referred to the
committee on rules of order, reported back without recommendation, then
indefinitely postponed.
The legislature in 1911 did at least pass one measure. This law made it
a gross misdemeanor to permit minors in saloons.
The general law of 1909, which is known as the Local Option Law, was
secured through the temperance forces of the state. The strongest
and most active organizations are the Independent Order of Good
Templars and the Anti-Saloon League. The Good Templars of this state
have in addition to the American order a branch society among the
Scandinavians, which numbers several thousand voters. Much credit for
the advance in temperance and anti-saloon sentiment in Washington
must be given to George F. Cotterill, the former mayor of the city of
Seattle. Mr. Cotterill has not only been active among the American and
Scandinavian Good Templars of which he is the national head in America,
but he has been fully as diligent in the circles of organized labor.
Labor organizations have been active in temperance agitation. They
realize that sober men command a higher wage than drinking men and are
quite as zealous as the church in training their members to stay sober.
The question of "State Wide Prohibition" will be submitted to a
referendum vote of the people of the state in 1914.
We have the same question confronting us today that we had 59 years ago.
ANNA SLOAN WALKER.
DIVORCE IN WASHINGTON
In the matter of divorce, the commonwealth of Washington has passed
through a social evolution. In the early part of the territorial period
it was a common practice for the legislature to enact private laws,
granting divorces. The first of these divorces on record was granted
by the Oregon territorial legislature as far back as 1845. The ease
with which divorces could be obtained resulted in a wholesale abuse
of this legislative privilege. According to Arthur A. Denny, Fayette
McMullin accepted the office of governor of the territory and came
to Olympia for the expressed purpose of obtaining such a legislative
divorce. Mr. Denny was plied to vote for the measure but refused. He
never would vote for a divorce bill, and always told the applicants
to go to the courts for their divorces. Mr. Denny's attitude on the
question was shared by many others, as the constant opposition to the
practice shows. As for Governor McMullin, he was successful in getting
his divorce. It was granted on the 25th day of January, 1858. Two other
such divorces were granted at the same session. One was granted at the
following session and fifteen at the next. The average at the next
few sessions was between ten and fifteen. McMullin afterwards married
Miss Mary Wood of Olympia. The fact that he was removed from office
for incompetency in July, 1858, will serve to give one an index to his
personality. His term of office was from 1857-59 and Charles H. Mason,
secretary of the territory, filled out the unexpired term.
A more sturdy type of man, who served as war governor, was William
Pickering. His views on the granting of legislative divorces is
but a voicing of the general sentiment. Prior to his arrival in
the territory, unhappy married people had usually applied to the
legislature for the granting of divorces. At nearly every session
one or more acts had been passed and the divorce business had been
particularly active during the two preceding sessions, at one of which
fifteen and the other seventeen such acts had been passed. Secretary
Turney, as acting governor, had declared against this practice in the
message he sent to legislature in December, 1861, but no attention
was paid to his recommendation that it be discontinued. Turney's
attitude on the question was expressed as follows: "All good citizens
acknowledge and respect the marriage relation. Yet, the interests of
society are often stabbed and stricken down, and public sentiment
outraged and insulted by disregarding that sanctity, in severing those
who have been united in wedlock's holy bands. Those ties should be
sundered only by courts of competent jurisdiction, and only for one
cause--the scriptural ground for a writing of divorcement."
Pickering's message was but a renewal of this recommendation and his
principal points were that the law declared marriage to be a civil
contract, all breaches or violations of which were proper subjects
for the judiciary alone. The courts alone could hear the testimony of
the parties and they alone could render final judgment and decree for
alimony and determine which of the parties should have the care and
custody of the minor children. Although sixteen divorces were granted
at this session, an act was passed at the succeeding session which
practically committed the granting of divorces to the courts, and the
practice of applying to the legislature was soon discontinued.
Pickering's position on the question, as brought out in his first
gubernatorial message to the legislature on December 17, 1862, was
as follows: "I should be recreant to the duty I owe to society, if I
failed to call your serious attention to the sad and immoral effects
growing out of the readiness with which our legislative assemblies
have heretofore annulled that most solemn contract of marriage.
Let me earnestly invoke you to stay the evils, which result from
the legislature granting divorces, thereby destroying the sacred
responsibilities and duties of husband and wife merely upon the
request, or petition, of one of the parties.
"Without intending to trespass upon your law making province, permit
me to suggest for your consideration the fact, that the present laws
declare marriage to be a civil contract; therefore all breaches or
violations of its conditions are proper subjects for the judiciary
alone, and not for legislative enactment on one side, or ex parte
statements.
"The law as it stands upon the statute books of the territory has
conferred full jurisdiction upon the courts, in all cases belonging to
divorces, which is the only tribunal that can deliberately hear and
examine all the witnesses on both sides of those unfortunate domestic
difficulties of the parties applying for a dissolution of the marriage
contract.
"The legislature seldom has the opportunity of hearing any witnesses,
even on the side of the complaining party, and never can have before
them all the witnesses connected with both parties, especially
necessary to the proper adjudication of these cases. It will also be
well to remember, that in the divorce cases the legislature cannot
decree or enter judgment for alimony, division of property belonging to
the married parties, nor legally decide whether the separate husband or
wife, shall lawfully continue the possession, care and control of their
children.
"The court alone can have full power to render final judgment and
decree of alimony, division of property and direct who shall have the
care and control of the minor children.
"Many of the legislatures of the states, for several years past, have
positively refused to grant divorces. Eminent lawyers are agreed in
the opinion that all divorces granted by the legislature are entirely
unconstitutional, and therefore null and void, for the reason that
no act of the legislature can destroy, annul, violate, or set aside
the said civil contract nor the sacred and religious bonds and mutual
obligations entered into by man and wife at the solemnization of
marriage. It is at all times a very serious and delicate matter for any
person or persons to interfere in any manner in the unhappy quarrels
and family difficulties of man and wife. There are few subjects brought
before the courts of our country requiring to be treated with more
deliberate care and caution than divorces.
"Whenever a legislative body takes an action in cases of divorces, it
is not improperly regarded as an infringement upon the legislative
provinces of the courts. For these reasons I trust your honorable body
will firmly refuse to interfere with the rights of husband and wife.
Applicants, seeking separation, should be directed to the courts of our
territory where they can receive all the relief and remedy for their
grievances which the laws of our country afford."
In spite of this protest that same session enacted sixteen such
private bills, and at the following session the governor renewed his
objections. In January, 1866, the legislature enacted a law declaring
marriage to be a civil contract which would throw the consideration of
divorce into the courts. In 1871 another divorce bill was passed but
this was the last and subsequent efforts to revive the practice failed.
The attempted constitution of 1878, which was drawn up at Walla Walla,
declared against such legislative divorces, as did the approved
constitution of 1889.
The causes of this dissatisfaction in the method of granting divorces
are apparent. The people realized that marriage is the institution at
the basis of our social existence. An undoubted reaction against the
laxity of the divorce laws was springing up, not only in Washington,
but throughout the United States. This action ultimately resulted
in two reforms. It diminished the grounds on which a divorce may be
granted and it extended the period necessary to establish a legal
residence. Today there is no state in which an action for divorce may
be brought without a preliminary residence of at least six months. The
drift of legislation in the last twenty years has been almost wholly
in the direction of greater restriction. In spite of this the national
ratio of divorce is 1:12.
Although most states have but a single provision in their constitution
regarding divorce, Washington has two. They are: Article II, Section
24. The legislature shall never authorize any lottery or grant
any divorce. Article IV, Section 6. The superior court shall have
jurisdiction of all matters of divorce and for the annulment of
marriage. These provisions have removed, beyond all doubt, the granting
of legislative divorces.
A brief survey of the laws at the present time reveal the following
information:
_Jurisdiction._
Jurisdiction shall lie in the district court in the county where the
petitioner resides.
The act of February 21, 1891 provides that divorces shall be granted by
the superior court.
_Residence._
The petitioner must have been a resident of the state for one year next
before the filing of the petitions. This is an amendment of the act of
January, 1864, which required only three months.
_Service of Process or Notice._
Legal notice shall be personal or by publication.
Like process shall be had as in all other civil suits.
By the laws of 1893 it is provided that when the defendant cannot be
found in the state, a copy of the summons and complaint shall be mailed
to him at his place of residence, but if the residence is not known,
service may be by publication. Publication must be once each week for
six consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county where the
action is brought or, if there be none there, in an adjoining county,
or if there be none there, in the capital of the state.
_Causes for Absolute Divorce._
1. When the consent to the marriage of the party applying for the
divorce was obtained by force or fraud and there has been no subsequent
voluntary cohabitation.
2. For adultery on the part of the wife or husband, when unforgiven,
and application is made within one year after it shall come to his or
her knowledge.
3. Impotency.
4. Abandonment for one year.
5. Cruel treatment of either party by the other.
6. Personal iniquities rendering life burdensome.
7. Habitual drunkenness of either party.
8. Neglect or refusal of the husband to make suitable provisions for
his family.
9. The imprisonment of either party in the penitentiary, if complaint
is filed during the term of such imprisonment.
10. Any other cause deemed by the court sufficient, when the court
shall be satisfied that the parties can no longer live together.
11. In the discretion of the court, in case of incurable, chronic mania
or dementia of either party, the same having existed for ten years or
more.
The above causes were in effect in 1887.
By an act approved Feb. 24, 1891, cause 6, as given above, was amended
so as to read as follows: "Personal indignities rendering life
burdensome."
_Limited Divorce._
There is no limited divorce in Washington.
_Special Provisions for Defence._
Whenever a petition for divorce remains undefended, it shall be the
duty of the prosecuting attorney to resist such petition, except where
the attorney for the petitioner is a partner of or keeps his office
with, such prosecuting attorney, in which case the court shall appoint
an attorney to resist the petition.
_Temporary Alimony._
During the pendency of an action for divorce, the court may make such
orders relative to the expenses of the suit as will insure to the wife
an efficient preparation of her case, and a fair and impartial trial
thereof.
_Permanent Alimony._
In granting a divorce the court shall make such disposition of the
property of the parties as shall appear just and equitable, having
regard to the respective merits of the parties, and to the condition in
which they will be left by such division and to the party through whom
the property was acquired, and to the burdens imposed upon it for the
benefit of the children.
_Refusal of Divorce._
No divorce shall be granted in case of adultery, if the offense has
been forgiven by the petitioner, or on the ground of force or fraud, if
there has been subsequent voluntary cohabitation of the parties.
In case of adultery the action must be commenced within one year after
petitioner shall have knowledge of the act.
_Answer or Cross-complaint._
The defendant may, in addition to the answer, file a cross complaint
for divorce, and the court may grant a divorce in favor of either party.
_Change of Name After Divorce._
In granting a divorce, the court may, for just and reasonable cause,
change the name of the wife, who shall thereafter be known and called
by such name as the court shall in its order or decree appoint.
_Trial by Jury._
Practice in civil actions govern all proceedings in the trial of
actions for divorce, except that trial by jury is dispensed with.
_No Divorce on Confession._
When the defendant does not answer or, answering, admits the
allegations in the petition, the court shall require proof before
granting the divorce.
_Custody of Children._
On granting a decree, the court shall make provision for the
guardianship, custody, support and education of the minor children of
the marriage.
Pending an action for divorce the court may make such orders for the
disposition of the children of the parties as may be deemed right and
proper.
_Remarriage._
When a divorce is granted, a full and complete dissolution of the
marriage as to both parties follows: Provided, That neither party
shall be capable of contracting marriage with a third person until the
period has expired within which an appeal may be taken, or until the
determination of such appeal, if taken. The act approved March 9, 1893
in addition, makes such a marriage unlawful under any circumstances
within six months, and requires that the judgment or decree must
expressly prohibit such a marriage within six months.
Thus we have a summary of past and present conditions. In conclusion,
a few statistics will clearly show whether or not the laws have
accomplished their purpose.
Divorces granted in Washington.
1867-86. 1887-1906.
996 16,215
Average annual divorces per 100,000 population.
1900 1890 1880 1870
184 190 75 88
Per 100,000 married population.
1900 1890
513 316
Rank according to average number of annual divorces per 100,000
population.
1900 1890 1880 1870
1. Wash. Colo. Colo. Wyom. & Ind. Terr.
2. Mont. Mont. Mont. ...
3. Colo. Wash. Utah Rhode Is.
4. Ind. Ore. Wyo. Wash.
11. Wash.
In city counties In other counties Excess of city rates
1900 1890 1900 1890 1900 1890
266 140 162 103 104 37
Number and cause of divorces granted from 1867-1906.
Desertion 6,446
Cruelty 4,026
Neglect to provide 3,087
Adultery 699
Drunkenness 674
Combinations of preceding causes 1,388
All other causes 891
Thus we have the most recent government statistics. However, a review
of conditions in King County during the last year will give us a more
accurate idea of conditions. The records show that almost 25 per cent
of the total number of cases filed in the superior court were divorce
cases. The figures show a total of 6,710 cases filed, of which 1,539
were divorce cases. The increase in the number of divorces over 1912 is
approximately ten per cent.
Of the total number of divorce cases filed decrees were granted in 986
cases, and nearly 200 cases are now pending. The majority of applicants
for divorce are wives, the larger number asking for divorce on the
grounds of cruelty. The ratio of marriage to divorce in this county for
1913 is 3.5:1.
Judges of the superior court, while ascribing different causes to the
increase of divorce, all deplore it. One judge holds that a change in
the laws would tend to decrease the number of divorces. Other judges
hold that divorce is a social matter that is entirely outside of the
particular form of law and arises from personal and local surroundings.
The total number of divorces, it is held, should not be taken as an
indication of local domestic trouble, for the reason that 20 per cent
or more come from British Columbia. Of the remainder a large number
arise in the cases of people who have arrived from the East during the
past two years.
The fact remains, however, that it is not easy to account for the wide
variation in the divorce rates in the different states. The results
are affected by a wide variety of influences: the composition of the
population as regards race or nationality; the proportion of immigrants
in the total population and the countries from which they came; the
relative strength of the prevailing religions and particularly the
strength of the Roman Catholic faith against divorce; the variation in
divorce laws and in the procedure and practice of the courts granting
divorces; the interstate migration of population, either for the
purpose of obtaining a divorce or for economic or other reasons not
connected with divorce--all these, and doubtless many more, are factors
which may affect the divorce rate.
The states with the highest ratio are generally those in the western
part of the country. The west is a progressive country. But this is
one path along which we would prefer to progress less rapidly. Let
us not, in our mad rush for wealth, honor and pleasure, forget the
religion of our fathers and the sacredness of the marriage bond.
Remember that marriage is the foundation of the state and divorce is
the torrent which is rushing madly forward in an ever-increasing effort
to undermine it. Let each one do his part to divert this ruthless enemy
to progress.
RALPH R. KNAPP.
DOCUMENTS
A NEW VANCOUVER JOURNAL
Vancouver was one of the greatest explorers who visited the shores of
Northwestern America. Any new document that can throw light on his work
is therefore important.
The known history of this present document is very brief. In 1907, the
Macmillan Company published Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound, by
Edmond S. Meany. The relatively few copies printed travelled widely
over the earth. Among the letters received by the author was one from
A. H. Turnbull of Wellington, New Zealand.
He said Vancouver's work was of great interest to the people in that
part of the world because of his explorations there. The armed tender
Chatham, consort of Vancouver's ship Discovery, had discovered and
named Chatham Island, which was later associated with New Zealand
in government. In his search for books bearing on explorations, Mr.
Turnbull had located in an old book stall in London the manuscript of
a journal kept by a member of the Chatham's crew. He purchased it and
placed it in his private library in Wellington.
Finding that part of the journal related to the Northwest coast of
America he had that portion carefully copied and it is from this copy
that the present publication is made, Mr. Turnbull entered "(sic)" in a
few doubtful places and these are allowed to stand. He also omitted a
portion descriptive of a tragedy in Hawaii.
This journal is by no means as full or as finished in style as that of
Vancouver, but it will certainly be cherished as a companion to the
larger work.
Probably one reason for the name of the writer being unknown is that it
was a government expedition and no private journals were permitted.
The present editor is responsible for the annotations.
EDMOND S. MEANY.
* * * * *
March, 1792.
_From the Sandwich Islands to the No. We. Coast of America._
After leaving Ooneehow we had the wind from the Northward and
Eastward, with which we stood to the N. W. close hauled. At daylight
Ooneehow[147] bore East 7 or 8 leagues, Atooi Eb N 1-2 N, and Tahouru
S E b S. As the morning advanced we got the wind from the N. Wrd.
and the Signal was made to steer NNE. The wind blew fresh in squalls
attended with rain all day and at night, and we lost sight of the
Discovery, in the morning she was perceived a considerable distance to
Leeward with only her head sails set, and we bore down to her, and as
we came nearer we judged from what we saw going forward on board her,
that she had sprung her Main Mast, indeed we could observe clearly
that they were fishing it. This disagreeable weather continued several
days, the wind chiefly from the Nd. & NbE. On the 23rd our Latitude:
was 24.49 Nd. and the Longe: 209° Et. We now began to feel a very
considerable change in the weather, and from the thin linen clothes
that we were used to wear at the Islands, we were obliged to change to
our warmest dresses. The Sandwich Island fowls though fed on their own
country food all died.
The 24th in the afternoon being calm Capt. B. went on board the
Discovery, and Mr. Paget[148] returned and dined on board the Chatham,
when we learnt that their Main Mast was not only sprung, as we
conjectured but that they had found the head of the Foremast also
sprung, and had carried away both the Fore & Main Top Gallant Yards
on the night of the 19th. In the evening we had the wind again from
the N Erd. which continued and with it continued also very gloomy
disagreeable weather. On the 27th our Lat: was at noon 24.21 N and
the Longe: 215.5 Et. Tack'd and stood to the N W. We kept tacking
occasionally, and on the 31st we were no further to the Nd. than the
Lat. of 28°.
The 1st of April being the Anniversary of our leaving England, double
allowance of Grog was served to the Ship's Company to commemorate the
day and drink the healths of their old friends at home. We made but a
very poor hand of working through the Trade Wind and from the 1st to
the 4th made scarce anything. We then got the breeze pretty fresh with
fair weather at N. E. and steered N. N. W. the Lat: 30.26 N. this fine
weather continued till the 6th when we were in Lat: of 33.59 N. and the
Longe: of 216.30 Et. It was not till the 8th in the Lat: of 36° N. that
we lost the N E trade, to carry it so far is uncommon; we then had it
calm, and two gentlemen from the Discovery who had been shooting some
marine Birds came on board. They had kill'd a very large bird call'd by
the sailors Mother Carey's Goose, it measured 7-1/2 feet from tip to
tip of the wings. They told us they had seen a duck fly past the Ship
the day before, which is somewhat surprising as we know of no land
very near us. This day and yesterday observed the surface of the water
to be covered with a species of what is call'd the Medusa Vanilla.[149]
The weather became now very thick & foggy with drizzling rain, and it
continued for the most part calm till the 10th. When a breeze began
to freshen from the W b S we made all sail steering E N E. In the
morning of the 11th it veer'd to S E b S where it made a stand with
fine pleasant weather. Our Lat: that day was 36.10 and the Longe:
221.8 Et. We had this fine weather till the 16th when the wind veer'd
to E S E blowing in hard squalls attended with rainy dirty weather,
that at night increased to a hard gale and brought us to close reef'd
Topsails. We wore occasionally, and our Lat: at Noon was 38.50 N.
The gale settled at S. E. increasing in volume, and in the course of
the night, we were oblig'd to hand the Topsails. Moderating a little
by the morning, we let out the reefs and stood to the E N E. At noon
the 17th the Lat: was 39.23 N and the Longe: 234.50 Et. The weather
was very thick and Hazy, and about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the
Discovery who was two mile ahead of us made the Signal for seeing the
Land. At this time we had vast numbers of Shags, Divers, Ducks & other
Birds of the Seashore about us, but from the thickness of the weather
it was not till near 5 o'clock that we saw the Land, when the Coast
of New Albion[150] was seen bearing from N b E to E b S. not many
miles distant. The haze over the Land clearing up a little gave us
an opportunity of seeing it. It had a very pleasing appearance, high
and covered to the top with tall pines with here and there some rich
verdant lawns. We tack'd early and stood off and on during the night
and in the morning stretch'd in again for the shore. We had no wind
till towards noon when a fine breeze from S. S. E. sprung up and we
bore away along shore with all sail set. As we had now entered upon
our Station, and the survey of the Coast, we were obliged to haul off
at dark and spend the night in short boards, that we might take up the
Land in the morning where we left off the evening before. The 19th we
had a fine moderate Breeze at S. E. with which we run along shore. Our
Lat: at Noon 40.2 N & Long: 235.22 Et. It freshened in the evening
with rainy hazy weather and by midnight we had a very hard gale which
continued all the 21st. In the morning of the 22nd it fell calm with
thick, foggy unpleasant weather and it was not till the following day
that we were enabled to get in with the Land and run along shore. Our
weather was now clear and pleasant with the wind from the Sd: & S.
Eastd. At noon on the 24th our Lat: was 42.31 N and it falling calm
soon after, with a Current setting us fast on Shore we anchor'd per
Signal in 37 fm: in a deep Bay, the N Extreme of which is a remarkable
Cape, which Captn: Vancouver named Cape Orford[151], in honor of the
Earl of that name.
We presently found that this place was inhabited, for two Canoes
appear'd (the first on this Coast we had seen) one of which went to
the Discovery, the other came to us. In this one there were five men
who after making fast their canoe came on board with great confidence,
and did not shew much surprise on entering the Vessel. Though they
had brought nothing purposely to sell yet they were perfectly well
acquainted with bartering, and their Cloathing which was Deer Skins
with one or two Fox Skins, and a few Bows & Arrows that they had, they
readily sold for trifles, nor wou'd they part with anything till they
got what they conceived an equivalent. They were fond of metal of any
kind and Bits of Iron & Yellow Buttons they eagerly took. One of them
had a thin bit of old Iron fixed into a piece of wood as a knife. Some
of them had ornaments of Necklaces, composed of a small black berry
and shells, intermixed with small tubes of copper. Their Ears and the
Septum of the Nose were perforated and ornamented in the same manner.
They were perfectly naked except two of them that had deer skins
thrown loosely over their shoulders. Their colour was not easily to
be found out from the quantity of dirt and paint with which they were
besmeared, but were they clean I should suppose they are something of
an Olive colour. They had very bad teeth, their hair was black and grew
long behind, and their Language was the most uncouth I ever heard.
Their Bows were small and made from the Ewe Tree and their Arrows were
strait and even of about two feet and a half long, feathered at one
end and barbed and pointed with flint at the other. Some of them had
also Knives of Flint. Their canoes were extremely rude and unwieldy
and little calculated for any distant embarkation, they were about 17
feet in length, 4ft. 6in. in breadth at the Gunwales, and 3 feet deep,
roughly hewn out of one solid tree, flat bottom'd and square at each
end. After selling every little thing they had they took their leave.
This Canoe had no Sea Otter skins in her but the one that went to the
Discovery had a couple of small Cub Otter Skins.
25th. At night with the land wind we weigh'd and stood out to the
Wd. and at daylight with a fair Soly: Breeze bore away along shore.
The fair and pleasant weather continued, and on the 27th at noon we
observed in the Lat: of 46.10 N. Just then the Discovery made the
Signal that we were standing into Danger, we haul'd out, this situation
is off Cape Disappointment from whence a very extensive Shoal stretches
out and there was every appearance of an opening there, but to us the
sea seem'd to break entirely across it.[152] On the 28th at Noon our
Lat: was 47.32 N and in the Evening the 29th falling calm, we came to
an anchor with the Discovery near Destruction Island, the place where
a Boat's Crew of the Imperial Eagle commanded by Mr. Berkley[153] were
barbarously murdered by the Natives as mention'd in Mears' Voyage.
None of the natives came off to us but we observ'd two canoes entering
a small Bay abreast of us. At about 3 we weigh'd per Signal and at 5
set Studding Sails with a moderate Soly: Breeze, but rainy weather. At
daylight a strange Sail was seen in the N. W. quarter standing towards
us, she hoisted American Colours. About 7 we spoke her, she proved to
be the Ship Columbia of Boston commanded by a Mr Grey,[154] on the
Fur trade. She had wintered on the Coast in Port Clynquot[155] in
Berkley's Sound. This Mr. Grey being the man who Mr Mears[156] in his
Chart has published having entered the Streights of De Fuca, and after
proceeding a considerable distance up, return'd to sea again by another
passage to the Northward of that by which he entered--Captn: Vancouver
was desirous of obtaining from him some information respecting the
Streights, he therefore hoisted a boat out, and sent an officer on
board the Columbia. Mr Grey very civilly offered him any information he
could possibly give him, but at the same time told him that Mr Mears
had been very much misled in his information and had published what
never had happened; for though he (Mr Grey) did enter the Streights
of De Fuca, and proceeded a considerable distance, where he still saw
an unbounded horizon, he return'd, but return'd by the same way he
entered. He had been two & twenty months from Boston, and had obtained
a valuable cargo of Furs. He had built a small sloop of about 45 tons
at Clyoquot which was now trading to the Northward.
He gave no very favourable account of the Northern Indians whose daring
and insolent spirit had carried them to very unwarrantable lengths.
Several attempts had been made by them to seize his, and other Vessels
on the Coast. Several people of different Ships had been treacherously
murdered, and Mr Grey's Chief Mate with two of the seamen were in
this manner murder'd while fishing round a point of Land, a small
distance from the Ship. This happen'd somewhere about the Lat: of
54-1/4°. After the Boat with the Officer return'd we made sail to the
Nd. and the Columbia stretched in for the Shore. About noon we were
nearly abreast of the much talked of Streights of Juan De Fuca, the
Discovery made our Signal to lead in. The weather was thick and Hazy
and prevented our having an observation. Cape Classet[157] at Noon bore
N 20 E 2 miles. This Cape is settled by Captn: Vancouver in the Lat: of
48.23 N and the Longe: 235.38 Et.
At one o'clock we haul'd round Green Island,[158] and as we pass'd had
a view of the Spiral Rock,[159] which is remarkable. On Green Island
is a very large Village, and from it and the Villages on the Main, a
number of canoes came off. The Natives brought a number of Otter Skins
to sell, but wou'd part with none for anything but Copper & Blue Cloth
Cloathing with Metal Buttons they were very eager after and we saw
several with Blue Coats & round Hats. Mr Mears is very much out in the
distance he makes the entrance of these Streights, he says they are
15 leagues wide, whereas the Entrance is no more than 12 leagues in
breadth. In the Evening having but little wind and it coming on thick
we brought up on the S. shore in 12 fathoms water and then observed the
Columbia following us. She had just entered the Streights. After we
came too a few fish were caught with the hook & line.
May. The following morning the 1st of May with a fine breeze at West
and clear pleasant weather we got under weigh and proceeded up the
Streights, and left the Columbia off Green Island laying too, bartering
with the Natives for Skins. Several canoes follow'd us with skins,
fish &c., to sell but the rage was copper; next to this article Cloth
& wearing apparel with Brass Buttons, Copper wrist bands, Musquets &
Swords were chiefly in demand.
Among other articles offered for sale was their children, several
were offered for a Musket or a Sheet of Copper. The women being the
first we had seen since leaving the Sandwich Islands, had not a few
attacks of Gallantry made on them by the Sailors though they were by no
means inviting. But however great the difference between them and the
Sandwich Islanders in point of Beauty much greater was it in point of
behaviour, for here the smallest degree of indelicacy towards one of
these Ladies, shock'd their modesty to such a degree, and had such an
effect on them, that I have seen many of them burst into tears, they
would endeavour to hide themselves in the bottom of their canoes and
discover the most extreme degree of uneasiness and distress.
Some of the canoes were very large and contain'd a whole family of men
& women and a considerable part of their Household furniture, large
Bladders full of their delicious Whale Oil was in every canoe and the
little Infants in their Cradles were plied with large quantities of it
by their Mothers. As we got the Breeze fresher, the canoes soon dropp'd
off.
About 6 o'clock in the evening having run about 20 leagues from the
Entrance in a Bite on the S. side in 8 fathoms, from this the Streights
appear'd to widen, but we saw some very distant land in which there
were many apparent large openings. So far as we had yet proceeded
up these Streights, we had seen no opening, nor the appearance of
any Harbour, on the Southern, or Continental Shore; now two or three
openings presented themselves, and as the great object of the voyage
was if possible to discover a communication by water between this Coast
and the Lakes situated on the other side of America, the Continental
Shore must of course be kept always aboard and all openings minutely
explored.
Captain Vancouver was now anxious to get the Vessels into a Harbor,
and while the Vessels were refitting it was intended that the boats
should be sent to explore the openings now in sight. Accordingly the
next morning he went himself in the Pinnace, accompanied by our Cutter
(both well arm'd) to look for a Harbour. This they found at a short
distance from us, and the next morning we weigh'd and made sail for it.
The Harbour was a very complete one and shelter'd from all winds but
the water was deep and we anchor'd in 25 fathoms water not a quarter of
a mile from the Shore. This place at first was named Port Discovery,
conceiving ourselves the first that had been in it, but we afterwards
found ourselves mistaken, it having been visited by two Spanish
Vessels, and call'd Port Quadra,[160] by which name it was continued
and we settled its Lat: to be 48.2.30 N and the Long: 237.22.19 E.
Opposite to where the Vessels lay a low Point of Land run out,
where there was an excellent run of Freshwater. Here the Tents and
Observatory were set up, and there being plenty of Spruce Pine here
a party from each Ship was sent on shore to brew Spruce Beer for
the Ships' Companies. As this Beverage was well known to be a great
Antiscorbutic, the people were allow'd to drink freely of it in lieu
of their Grog. As the Chatham was very open in her upper works the
Carpenters of both Vessels were employ'd in Caulking her.
Not having met the Store ship at the Sandwich Islands as was expected
and fearing that we might probably not see her till the next Season at
those Islands, and possibly not then, should any unfortunate accident
have happen'd to her in which case we should have been somewhat
distress'd for Provisions particularly Bread & Flour, it was only
proper to guard against such disappointments and delays. The Ships
Company was therefore on the 5th put to two-thirds allowance of Bread
only. This on the coast of America cou'd be no hardship as Fish is
always to be got. We haul'd the Seine here generally every day, and in
general with success, and we frequently got Salmon Trout in it.
On the 17th Captn: Vancouver, with Lieut: Paget, and Mr. Johnstone our
Master set out in 3 Boats well Mann'd and arm'd, and victuall'd for
a week, to explore the openings between this and our last anchorage
which I spoke of. In the meantime the Vessels were refitting for sea.
The Powder was sent on shore to dry, and being in want of Plank the
Carpenters were employ'd, after the Caulking was finished, in sawing
up a fine large tree, of which there were plenty, and very convenient.
As there were no Inhabitants here we carried on all our operations
with facility; now and then a couple or 3 canoes wou'd come in with a
little Fish to sell, but this was not often, and they were very quiet
and inoffensive. They were evidently a tribe that visited the Sea Coast
but seldom, as they were generally clad in skins of Land animals, and
during our stay here, they brought but one Sea Otter skin to sell.
Once or twice they brought some fresh kill'd Venison which was very
acceptable to us, for though we could everywhere observe the track of
Deer, and shooting excursions were frequently made, we were never so
fortunate to shoot any here.
When the time arrived for the expected return of the Boats we began
impatiently to look out for them, but it was not till the 16th that
they return'd to the Ships, after nine days absence. They had examined
several arms or openings, which after running some distance inland
closed, and they had left some extensive openings unexplored to the
Eastward of this Port, where it was now intended to proceed to with
the Ships. Having got everything ready for Sea, on the 18th we sail'd
out of Port Quadra. The weather was fair and pleasant, indeed we had
enjoy'd much fine weather in Port. After getting outside, by desire of
Captn: Vancouver, we parted company with the Discovery, in order to
examine an opening in the N. W. quarter, whilst she proceeded up an arm
to which the Continent had been brought, to the Eastd. of Port Quadra.
We cross'd the Streights with a fine Breeze, and entered the opening
about 6 o'clock in the evening and came to an anchor for the night.
In the morning boats were dispatched to examine the branches which
run within this opening, which employ'd us till the 23rd. It is very
extensive being full of Islands.[15] The land is delightful, being in
many places clear and the soil so rich that the grass in several parts
grew to man height. We were surprised in such a fine country to find
scarce and inhabitants, not a smoke or a village was seen, and only two
small canoes with 3 people in each were met by the Boats in all their
cruizing; from these, three young Fawns just kill'd were purchased. We
saw several Deer on the sides of the rising grounds, but could never
kill any. The navigation in this place so full of Rocks and small
Islands was intricate and dangerous. On the 21st we touch'd a Rock on
one side, whilst at the other we had twenty-two fathoms water.
On the 23rd we again entered the Streights but a different opening to
that we came in at. We cross'd over and about Noon got into the arm
up which the Discovery went when we parted from her. Here we met with
a small tribe of Indians who came off to sell a little fish, Bows &
Arrows, and some few skins of Land Animals. We observ'd among them
some articles we knew they must have got our of the Discovery, and
they soon made sufficient (sic) that she was up the arm. The people
spoke a different language from the Indians we saw at the entrance of
Dufuca's Streights though little else about them appeared different for
they were equally as dirty. It seemed evident that their intercourse
with Ships had been limited (if indeed they ever had any) from their
surprize and astonishment at many things, and their not having about
them any European articles whatever except it might be a knife, but
they had a very good idea of bartering and wou'd not part with anything
without the value of it. Copper was yet the rage.
(To be continued.)
FOOTNOTES:
[147] The names here given of the Hawaiian Islands are not all
recognizable, but this one is evidently the modern Oahu.
[148] This officer is always referred to as Mr. Paget. Captain George
Vancouver, chief of the expedition, used the more familiar spelling and
the world has long known him as Lieutenant Peter Puget.
[149] A form of jelly-fish. Other common names are sun-fish,
sun-squalls and umbrella-jellies.
[150] This name was given to the Northwest coast of America by Sir
Francis Drake two hundred years before this voyage.
[151] This name is still in use on the Southern coast of Oregon.
[152] Here is seen the reason why the expedition doubted the existence
of a river there until Captain Robert Gray discovered and named the
Columbia River during that same year.
[153] The family and the British Columbia map-makers are particular
about this name being spelled Barkley. See Captain John T. Walbran's
British Columbia Coast Names, Pp. 33-35.
[154] This name is also misspelled throughout. He refers to Captain
Robert Gray.
[155] He refers to Clayoquot Sound but errs in making it a part of
Barkley Sound.
[156] Like errors in other names, he leaves out a letter in that of
Captain John Meares.
[157] A former name for Captain Cook's Cape Flattery. Vancouver
mentions "Classet" as the Indian name, but in a footnote gives the name
Cook had written on his chart.
[158] In 1788, Meares named this island "Tatoosh" after the Indian
chief he found there. Vancouver calls it Tatooche. See Vancouver's
Voyage (2nd Ed.), Volume II, p. 46. It is not clear where the writer
got this name of Green Island.
[159] This rock was supposed to be the one referred to in the De Fuca
record now supposed to be a myth. Vancouver refers to it in doubtful
terms.
[160] The crew may have continued the use of this older Spanish name,
but Vancouver in text and chart retained the name Port Discovery, which
continues to the present time.
BOOK REVIEWS
THE CANOE AND THE SADDLE, OR KLALAM AND KLICKATAT. By Theodore
Winthrop, to which are now first added his Western Letters and
Journals. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by John H.
Williams. With sixteen color plates and more than one hundred other
illustrations. Royal 8vo. half vellum. (Tacoma, John H. Williams,
Publisher, 1913. Pp. XXVI, 332. $5.00 net; express 30 cents extra.)
The number of books properly classed as "Northwest Americana" is
surprisingly small.
Through the instrumentality of Mr. John H. Williams, of Tacoma,
Winthrop's "Canoe and Saddle" enjoys the distinction of recently
appearing in new form, enlarged, annotated and illustrated. The new
book retains all we older men and women have prized for half a century,
and, in addition, the author's complete Western travels are presented
to us in a volume to delight every lover of good and beautiful books.
Mr. Williams' previous work had been good preparation for this still
more important undertaking. A lifelong student and newspaper editor,
he is not only an experienced writer, but also an enthusiast for the
Northwest, to which he has given two notable books of his own, "The
Mountain That Was 'God'" and "The Guardians of the Columbia." No other
volumes so well and so briefly tell so much of the scenery, physical
geography and Indian lore of our North Pacific Wonderland. It was
natural that he should see in Winthrop's graphic story the foundation
for an artistic book, which would, by reason of its added Winthrop
material and its editor's notes and illustrations, be largely a new
work.
Mr. Williams has restored in a sub title Winthrop's own name for the
book, "Klalam and Klickatat."
Two survivors of that early period, Gen. Henry C. Hodges, who, as
a lieutenant of the Fourth U. S. Infantry, was adjutant of Capt.
McClellan's railway reconnaissance in the Cascades, and Col. E. Jay
Allen, builder of the famous "Citizens' Road," which Winthrop describes
with much humor, contribute interesting recollections of the brilliant
young adventurer, and of events in which he and they played a part in
that eventful summer.
In the spring of 1853, Theodore Winthrop, then only twenty-five, came
to the Pacific Coast from Panama. Five years earlier he had been
graduated from Yale, with honors in languages and history. Not of
robust constitution, he sought health by life in the open air. Two
years were passed in the south of Europe, mainly in travel on foot
amid the Alps and in the Mediterranean countries. Study of the scenery
and historical monuments of those lands developed a naturally poetic
and imaginative mind, and prepared him to appreciate the vast panorama
that spread before him as he traveled from the Isthmus to California,
thence, after a brief stay in San Francisco, up the coast by steamer to
the Columbia, overland from there to Puget Sound, and finally across
the Cascades and through our great "Inland Empire," homeward bound, to
Salt Lake and Fort Laramie. This journey of half a year, then almost
unprecedented, is fully recorded in his letters and journals which Mr.
Williams has recovered for us.
In these wanderings Winthrop visited the young communities of the
Northwest, Portland, Salem, Vancouver, The Dalles, Olympia, Nisqually,
Steilacoom, Port Townsend, Victoria. He studied its scenery, resources
and people. He quickly won the regard of pioneer leaders, army
officers, Hudson's Bay Company factors, and of the humbler settlers as
well, by a hearty democratic appreciation of the meaning of their work
in founding future states. It was just this quality, as Mr. Williams
has well shown, that enabled Winthrop to understand the raw west. To
a real liking for people add his well trained powers of observation,
unfailing humor, a vivid imagination and a tireless love of adventure,
and we have the secret of his success as a painter of the frontier and
its life.
In his delightful introduction Mr. Williams points out and emphasizes
these qualities:
"Winthrop was probably better fitted to study and portray the West
than any other Eastern man who attempted to describe it. His books
and still more his private letters and journals show him wholly
free from that tenderfoot superiority of tone found in most of the
contemporary writings of Eastern men who visited the frontier. In
an age when sectionalism was fast driving toward civil war, his
point of view was broadly national. His pride in his country as
a whole had only been deepened by education and foreign travel.
He had come home from Europe feeling the value to humanity of the
struggle and opportunities presented by the conquest of the new
continent. In the rough battle with the forest, in the stumpy
farms on the little clearings, in the crude road that would link
the infant settlements with the outside world, he recognized
the very processes that had laid strong the foundations of the
republic to which later he so gladly gave his life. Ungainly
as was the present, this descendant of the great governors of
Massachusetts and Connecticut saw in it the promise of a splendid
and beneficent future.
"Most of our writers in the years preceding the Civil War were
either occupied with sectional discussions and local traditions,
or were looking to Europe and the past for their inspiration. * *
* For fiction, our people read 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and reprints
of the English novelists. Our literature had not yet discovered
the West. Winthrop's Western books, 'The Canoe and the Saddle' and
'John Brent,' minted new ore."
George William Curtis, who was Winthrop's neighbor on Staten Island
and his closest friend in the years just before the war, bore similar
testimony, in a conversation with Mr. Williams more than twenty years
ago:
"Winthrop's death was as great a loss to American letters as was
that of John Keats to English poetry. He was far ahead of his time
in thinking continentally. Cut off before his prime, his books,
brilliant as they are, are the books of a young man. But he had
vision and power, and had he lived to improve his art, I have
always believed that he might have become the strongest, because
the most truly American, of our writers."
Readers of Books of Old Oregon are all familiar with the early
"Canoe and Saddle." It was the only work in lighter vein descriptive
of conditions on the ultimate frontier, when we had here a white
population vastly outnumbered by the Indians. The new volume will
appeal to surviving pioneers, to Native Sons and Daughters, and to all
who are genuinely interested in Northwestern history.
The original "Canoe and Saddle" tells only of its author's last days
in Washington Territory. It recounts his swift trip by boat, with the
celebrated Clallam chief, the "Duke of York," from Port Townsend to
Fort Nisqually, and thence under other Indian guidance across Naches
Pass to The Dalles. For the second part of his journey he had as his
guide a treacherous young Indian whom he calls "Loolowcan the Frowsy,"
but who was in real life, as Mr. Williams discovered from an entry
in the old "Journal of Events" kept by the Hudson's Bay Company at
Nisqually, no less notorious a character than Qualchen, son of the
chief Owhi. Both of these Klickitats, father and son, are remembered
as trouble-makers in our territorial history, and both paid with their
lives for the parts they took in the great Indian war of 1855-7. The
role played by Qualchen in murdering the Indian agent, A. J. Bolon, and
thus starting that war, is now well known.
It is proof of Winthrop's nerve that even after he saw the shifty
nature of his guide, he refused to heed the warnings of Allen and his
fellow road-builders, whom he met in the Cascades, but pushed ahead
with him over the mountains to the Yakima country, where white men
were scarcer even than on the Sound. Later, he may have realized that
but for the presence of McClellan's soldiers on the Naches, and for
the long arm of the Hudson's Bay Company, which had outfitted him for
his trip, he probably would have anticipated the fate of Bolon. But he
tells of his adventure as gaily as if he had felt no danger, and with
a zest that make his own enjoyment of its incidents contagious.
"The Canoe and the Saddle" was the first book to put our Northwestern
scenery into literature. Its account of Puget Sound, of the Cascades
with their forests, canyons, ranges and snow-peaks, and of the Columbia
basin, stamps Winthrop as a true poet and lover of nature. No better
descriptive writing has yet been inspired by the Northwest.
The original "Canoe and Saddle" had a supplement describing Panama
as Winthrop saw it in 1852 and 1854. Mr. Williams has very properly
omitted this, since it had no relevancy to the book; and he has
substituted Winthrop's letters and journals, which, with other new
matter already mentioned, make up more than a third of the volume. This
part of the book is of especial value to students of Western history,
and of absorbing interest to the few remaining pioneers who, like the
writer, crossed the plains in a "prairie schooner."
In 1852, our wagon train was part of the great migration westward
over South Pass in the Rockies. From Fort Hall we came across the
Blue Mountains to The Dalles. A year later Winthrop traveled homeward
practically over the same route. His journals, with their brief
but illuminating descriptions of people and scenes that presented
themselves as he rode swiftly eastward, bring back memories of our five
months' journey along the old "Oregon Trail." Most of his names of men
and places, his notes of the great army of settlers pushing forward
to California and the Northwest, his accounts of the British recruits
for Mormonism, which he later expanded in his stirring Western novel,
"John Brent," and his pen-pictures of the wild lands that are even
now just beginning to yield to irrigation and settlement,--all this
will be appreciated by every immigrant of that early day. Allowing for
their personal appeal to me as a pioneer, I still feel that Winthrop's
letters and journals add as much to the value of Mr. Williams's edition
as they do to its scope.
Winthrop's monologues in Chinook are idiomatically correct, but the
proof-reading of the original was done by persons unfamiliar with the
"jargon," and a number of typographical errors occurred. Unfortunately,
some of these have been perpetuated in the new edition. The Chinook
vocabulary however, has been revised and materially improved by Dr. C.
M. Buchanan, Indian agent at Tulalip.
The editor's notes are accurate, succinct and interesting. He has
happily kept in view the Eastern reader who knows little of the West,
but he has not on that account overloaded the book with notes. Several
passages, indeed, would bear further annotation. The appendixes are
valuable for the light they throw on the methods of McClellan, the
building of the heroic road across the Naches, our Indian place names,
and other matters of historic interest.
Mr. Williams's success in selecting the illustrations testifies to
experience and much study, and would alone make the volume noteworthy.
The pictures are of great historical value, and they really illustrate
the text. There are sixteen magnificent plates in color and forty-eight
half-tones. These show the Sound, the Columbia, the Cascades with all
their snow-peaks from Mt. Hood northward; many scenes of Indian life,
our coast cities in their infancy, the army posts and Hudson's Bay
forts. More than sixty line etchings in the text give us portraits of
the important personages of the book, white and Indian. Several of the
illustrations are from celebrated paintings, others from rare books,
or from early photographs treasured by our Northwestern historical
societies and museums, the National Museum at Washington, and the
great American Museum of Natural History in New York. Mr. Williams
himself made a trip with a photographer across Naches Pass and obtained
splendid views of Winthrop's route through a region now rarely visited.
This book is of the highest value to students of our Western history,
and of such beauty and interest as make it a joy to all readers.
I bespeak for it a place in every public and home library in the
Northwest.
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY.
* * * * *
EARLY HISTORY OF IDAHO. By ex-Governor W. J. McConnell. (Caldwell,
Idaho, The Caxton Printers, 1913. Pp. 420.)
It has been somewhat the fashion (and a very good fashion it is) of
late years by retired public men, Governors, Senators and others, to
leave in the form of reminiscences or histories the record of the
events in which they were participants.
Among recent volumes in this field we find that W. J. McConnell, twice
honored and Honorable, as Governor and Senator, has given the world a
view of the Idaho of which he was one of the builders.
This volume may be considered as having official endorsement, for it is
authorized by the Idaho legislature.
Governor McConnell is well qualified for the work. Long residence in
the great state so well styled the "Gem of the Mountains," an intimate
acquaintance with affairs from the days of the Vigilantes to date, an
accurate memory, and a clear, simple and vivid style, all qualify the
author to tell the story of Idaho.
Broadly speaking, we may note that the book consists of two main
features. The first is a series of events in the days of the "bad
man," the mining and Indian era. The second is largely composed of
extracts from legislative sessions and judicial proceedings. In this
material and the handling of it are both the strength and weakness
of the book. For the account of the desperadoes, though vivid,
interesting, and no doubt characteristic of that period, occupies
so much space as to give a disproportionate importance to it. The
extensive extracts from legislative and court proceedings, though
valuable, lack the introductions and explanatory connections desirable
for a continuous story. They therefore lack perspective and give a
fragmentary impression. Moreover the two types of matter are rather
incongruous, one being so much of a "Wild West" type of narrative and
the other suggesting a small volume of session laws.
There are occasional slips in names and statements indicating imperfect
proof-reading. On page 31 we find _William_ P. Hunt. It should be
_Wilson_. On page 32 it is stated that the Hunt party was near the site
of old Fort Boise on Dec. 24. This could not be possible for they were
in the Grand Ronde on New Year's Day and had been struggling for many
days along Snake River in the vicinity of the present Huntington and up
Powder River into the present Baker Valley. On page 33 we find _Worth_
for _Wyeth_. We find Spalding spelled Spaulding, and De Smet appears as
Demet.
But these and other slips are relatively of little moment and do not
detract from the general interest and value of the volume.
Among the many items of interest in the history of legislative acts
is the mention on page 370 of the fact that the Idaho Territorial
Legislature acted as a divorce court and that a number of discordant
couples were separated by act of legislature. One historical matter of
much interest, which has almost drifted from the remembrance of the
present time is the effort made in both Idaho and Washington, as well
as Congress, to attach Northern Idaho to Washington, in 1885-6, and the
final failure of the congressional bill to go into effect.
This book of Governor McConnell may certainly be regarded as a valuable
contribution to the historical literature of our section.
W. D. LYMAN.
* * * * *
FOLLOWING OLD TRAILS. By Arthur L. Stone. (Missoula, Montana, Morton J.
Elrod, 1913. Pp. 304.)
The author of this book has been for some years and still is the editor
of "The Missoulian," the leading daily newspaper of the Bitter Root
Valley in Montana. From personal experiences and acquaintances he
gradually accumulated the material for a series of articles entitled
Old Trails, or Trail Stories, which appeared in the Sunday editions of
his paper during the years 1911 and 1912. These articles, written in
free newspaper style and without claim for historical accuracy, have
now been gathered together in book form and published by Prof. Elrod of
the University of Montana, this at the request of numerous residents
of Western Montana, who recognized the value of the contributions and
the wisdom of preserving them. In his foreword the author frankly
states his reluctance to grant the request and the unworthiness of the
material for book form, but has wisely refrained from any revision or
amplification.
Mr. Stone has made good use of his acquaintance with localities and
men and events prominent in the exploration and settlement and growth
of Western Montana, and his book furnishes the reader with a glimpse
of the wealth of historic material to be had for the digging in that
comparatively new state. It has not been appreciated by many that in
point of time the Indian trade near the head waters of Clark Fork
of the Columbia antedated that at Astoria, and that the railroads
traversing Montana follow for miles the lines of travel early in use by
explorer, fur trader, missionary, prospector and immigrant. Many tracks
of these various periods of pioneering have been actually traveled
by Mr. Stone, in some instances with the very men who had used them
during the fifties and sixties; of others he has learned from the lips
of those yet living to tell the story, and of others he has read the
authoritative sources. With Dr. Elliott Coues he personally followed
the trail of Lewis and Clark through the Bitter Root Valley, with Judge
Woody (a Montana pioneer of 1857 who contributed to this Quarterly in
No. 4 of Vol. 3) he climbed Gibson Pass, the main range of the Rockies,
with Duncan McDonald, who was born on the Salish reservation in 1849,
he has traveled along the Jocko, and of the deeds of the Vigilantes he
had the facts from the very men who took active part in that movement.
There are numerous errors apparent to the close student of history
but these may be overlooked in an appreciation of the actual value of
such a contribution, to the pioneer families of Montana to whom it
is dedicated and to the large number of casual readers who get their
first incentive for further reading and study from such a source.
The book is plainly but well bound and illustrated. Doubtless the
suggestion for its publication came from the meeting of the Society of
Montana Pioneers at Missoula in September, 1913, which meeting it was
the privilege of the writer of this review to attend, and its early
appearance is an example of how they do things in Montana when they set
out to.
T. C. ELLIOTT.
* * * * *
PIONEER TALES OF THE OREGON TRAIL. By Charles Dawson. (Topeka. Crane
and Company. 1912. Pp. 488.)
This book relates almost entirely to the Oregon Trail and other matters
and people in Jefferson county, Nebraska. In fact, Jefferson county is
made a secondary part of the title. It is full of incidents connected
with the early settlements of that locality, in the 1850s, 1860s and
into the 1870s. It goes back of those dates in telling of the coming
of the Spaniards in the 1500s, of the French in the 1700s and of the
Americans in the first years of the 1800s. The wars of the Indians
and with the Indians occupy considerable space, and also the lawless
acts of the white frontiersmen. The Trail is mentioned continually
in connection with these events, and with the great movements of
immigration to Oregon, Utah and California before the completion of
the Union Pacific Railroad. The book contains a great number of short
biographies, and sightly illustrations, chiefly portraits. No doubt
this work is highly prized in its home locality, and in future years
will there be looked upon as a first service historical authority.
The reviewer somewhat depreciates the use of "Trail" in connection
with the magnificent highway referred to. "Trail" is a recent day
appellation. It was the finest and greatest road in the United States,
and probably in the world, being two thousand miles in length, of great
width, six or eight teams driving abreast; of easy grades and of good,
surface--in nowise resembling the ordinary understanding of a trail.
How truthful and reliable these Nebraska tales are it is, of course,
impossible for one at this distance to say. We will suppose they are
all right. Some other statements are not. What will be thought, for
instance, of this sentence, taken from page 22: "Prior to Dr. White's
band of colonists, a Dr. Whitman, who was a missionary in the Puget
Sound country, where he had settled in 1835 with a colony of Americans,
and where there were only about 150 white people living at this early
date, was sent to Washington. D. C., to place the situation of that
section before Congress, setting forth the fears of the American
residents that England had intentions of forcibly adding this vast
country to her domain."
THOMAS W. PROSCH.
* * * * *
CONTEMPORARY HISTORY, 1877-1913. By Charles A. Beard, Associate
Professor of Politics in Columbia University. (New York, The Macmillan
Company, 1914, Pp. 397.)
Professor Beard, whose work in opening new paths in historical study
ranks him among the most virile writers and thinkers, breaks another
historical tradition in the present volume. Constantly being confronted
by the facts that students know almost nothing of the elementary facts
of American history since the Civil War, Professor Beard concluded
to break down one reason for it--by presenting a handy guide to
contemporary history.
This volume like all Professor Beard's writings is vigorous,
stimulating and incisive. It is not meant to be the final word, but it
is hoped that it will stimulate "on the part of the student some of
that free play of mind which Matthew Arnold has shown to be so helpful
in literary criticism." The work was well worth doing and has been
exceptionally well done.
* * * * *
VIRGINIA UNDER THE STUARTS, 1607-1688. By Thomas J. Wertenbaker, Ph. D.
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1914. Pp. 271.)
Doctor Wertenbaker presents a neatly printed volume in which the story
of Virginia's history is rewritten in the light of the results of
modern research into the documentary side of Virginia's early colonial
history. He has made no claims of originality but appreciating the need
of a history of Virginia which takes into account the newer discoveries
of manuscripts, legislative journals and letters, and the work put
forth in monographs, he has rewritten the account. Students of Virginia
history who have not had access to this new material, or the time to
digest it will thoroughly appreciate Doctor Wertenbaker's services. May
his good example be followed by others.
* * * * *
LES ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE. By Baron D'Estournelles de Constant. (Paris,
Librairie Armand Colin, 1913. Pp. 536. 5 fr.)
This volume of observations upon the United States is based upon the
author's extended trip through this country in the year 1911. While on
his journey he wrote a series of letters for publication in "Le Temps"
of Paris and these letters have been revised and printed in book form.
The volume forms a most interesting study of American characteristics
as seen by this distinguished foreigner. With rare discernment he has
caught the spirit of all that is best in our American life and the
book should go far toward cementing the friendly relations existing
between France and the United States. While written primarily for his
own countrymen, it will be read with great pleasure by those whose
activities are so appreciatively described. Particularly complimentary
are the author's impressions of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
* * * * *
THE POWER OF IDEALS IN AMERICAN HISTORY. By E. D. Adams, Ph. D.
Professor of History, Leland Stanford, Jr. University. (New Haven, Yale
University Press, 1913. Pp. 159.)
Five lectures delivered at Yale University on The Responsibilities
of Citizenship are collected by Professor Adams into a handsome and
stimulating little volume. In a sense they are an offset to the
prevailing emphasis in American History upon economic and geographic
influences, for Professor Adams, without denying the influence of these
factors, emphasizes the power of five ideals that have played a large
part in American History. These ideals are nationality, anti-slavery,
manifest destiny, religion and democracy.
* * * * *
LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS OF NORTHWEST HISTORY. By Glenn N. Ranck.
(Vancouver, Washington, 1914. Pp. 152.)
The title does not fully cover this book and it is doubtful if any
title could do so. It comprises a collection of Mr. Ranck's writings in
prose and verse. Mr. Ranck was born in the city of Vancouver where he
still lives. He served in the Spanish American war and has held many
public offices including that of legislator and register of the United
States Land Office. He has a lively interest in the dramatic incidents
of Northwestern history and these he has tried to catch in the meshes
of his verse and colorful prose.
The book makes an interesting addition to the growing literature of the
Northwest. Future writers are sure to find helpful suggestions here of
fact and fancy. Present day readers will find the book entertaining as
it springs from one of the most historic portions of the Pacific Coast.
* * * * *
ANNUAL REPORT, 1911. VOLUME II. By American Historical Association.
(Washington, 1913. Pp. 759.)
This is an important addition to Americana. It does not, however, touch
the Northwest and therefore will receive no extended notice in this
Quarterly. It comprises the correspondence of Robert Toombs, Alexander
H. Stephens, and Howell Cobb.
* * * * *
LIST OF REFERENCES ON THE HISTORY OF THE WEST. By Frederick Jackson
Turner. (Cambridge, Harvard University Press. 1913. Pp. 129.)
Professor Turner will participate in the summer sessions of the
University of Oregon and the University of Washington during 1914. Thus
the pamphlet, prepared for Harvard University, will have a distinct
interest for many on the Pacific Coast. Aside from that peculiar
interest it has an important value for all students and writers of
Western history for he cites a wealth of authorities which he has
grouped in handy workable form.
* * * * *
A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN MODERN TIMES. By Frank Pierreport Graves.
(New York, The Macmillan Company, 1913. Pp. 410. $1.10 net.)
This book does not particularly relate to the Pacific Coast, but it
deserves mention here because the author was for a number of years
President of the University of Washington. Dr. Graves now has five
volumes to his credit mostly in this field of the history of education.
His work is attracting favorable attention and has led to repeated
promotions from one university to another, the last being to the
University of Pennsylvania.
* * * * *
A HUMANITARIAN STUDY OF THE COMING IMMIGRATION PROBLEM ON THE PACIFIC
COAST. By Charles W. Blanpied. (San Francisco, 1913, Pp. 63.)
This is a digest of the proceedings of the Pacific Coast Immigration
Congress held in San Francisco, April 14-15, 1913, and of the
Immigration Congress held in Tacoma, February 21-22, 1912. The chief
value of the pamphlet lies in its reflection of the effort by the
awakened citizenship of the Pacific Coast to prepare for problems that
are sure to arise on the completion of the Panama canal.
* * * * *
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF LANDS FOR THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
FOR 1913. By William R. Ross. (Victoria. William H. Cullin, Printer to
the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1914. Pp. 505.)
With maps, illustrations, tables of statistics and voluminous
descriptive matter, this book is useful to students as it covers what
was once a part of the Old Oregon Country. The province of British
Columbia does many things in this line and it always does them well.
* * * * *
THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION OF 1904. By David R. Francis. (St. Louis,
Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, 1913, 2 Volumes. Pp. 703 and
431.)
Since there have been two expositions in the Pacific Northwest and
another, much larger one, is being built in San Francisco for the year
1915, these books have a distinct interest for the Pacific Coast.
There is another and more intimate reason for such interest. The
Western states participated in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition which
facts are revealed in the letter press and the beautiful illustrations
of the two large volumes. The books are sent with the compliments of
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company and bear the autograph of its
President, David R. Francis.
* * * * *
THE MOUNTAINEER, SECOND OLYMPIA NUMBER. (Seattle, The Mountaineers,
Incorporated, 1913. Pp. 87.)
MAZAMA. (Portland, Oregon, The Mazamas, 1913. Pp. 85.)
SIERRA CLUB BULLETIN. JANUARY, 1914. (San Francisco, Sierra Club, 1914.
Pp. 125-220.)
These three publications cover the last year's mountaineering
in Washington, Oregon and California. They are all beautifully
illustrated. With the exception of one article the contents of The
Mountaineer are devoted wholly to the mountains, flowers, glaciers and
rivers of Washington. The other two publications deal with their own
localities and yet each of them carry articles also about mountain
explorations in Washington. Readers of this Quarterly will therefore
find valuable material in all three of these beautiful mountain books.
* * * * *
JOURNAL FROM DECEMBER, 1836, TO OCTOBER, 1837. By William H. Gray.
(Walla Walla, Whitman College Quarterly, Volume XVI, No. 2. June, 1913.
Pp. 79.)
Mr. Gray was the lay member of the famous Whitman mission. This
fragment is all that is now known to be in existence of Gray's journal.
It is here published for the first time. The manuscript was obtained
from Mrs. Jacob Kamm (nee Caroline Gray) of Portland, Oregon. The major
portion of the journal tells of a journey "back to the states" from the
mission. But it also tells of doings at the missions of Whitman and
Spalding and mentions a number of the Hudson's Bay Company men of that
day. Whitman College is to be congratulated for giving the Northwest
this interesting piece of source material.
* * * * *
THE VANISHING RACE, THE LAST GREAT INDIAN COUNCIL. By Dr. Joseph K.
Dixon. (New York. Doubleday, Page & Company, 1913. Pp. 231. $3.50.)
This is a most beautiful book of the Indian. The author had charge of
Rodman Wanamaker's three expeditions to study the Indian. On these
expeditions the author made some wonderfully good pictures of the
Indian. Eighty photogravures of these pictures illustrate this book.
They would tell the story without words. The frontispiece is "The Last
Outpost" and the last picture is "The Empty Saddle." The letter press
tells the story of a great, intelligent effort to help the Indian
enter upon a new career as a citizen of the United States. The author,
while passing through Seattle on his last expedition, told the present
reviewer that he believed that if the United States had spent half as
much time and effort on the citizenship of the Indian as had been spent
on the negro half of our National Congress would now be composed of
Indians. He is enthusiastic over the possible future of the Indian and
his enthusiasm pervades the pages of this attractive and valuable book.
* * * * *
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR LOCAL HISTORICAL
SOCIETIES AND WRITERS IN MICHIGAN. By George Newman Fuller, Secretary.
(Lansing, State Printers, 1913. Pp. 41 and 45.)
These are the first two bulletins of the Michigan Historical
Commission. Their titles show how sensibly that state is proceeding in
this important field of work.
* * * * *
Other Books Received
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY. Alabama Official and
Statistical Register. Compiled by Thomas M. Owen. (Montgomery, Brown,
1913. Pp. 344.)
CLODD, EDWARD. The Childhood of the world. A simple account of man's
origin and early history. (N. Y. Macmillan, 1914. Pp. 240. $1.25.)
DWIGHT, MARGARET VAN HORN. A Journey to Ohio in 1810. Edited by Max
Farrand. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1913. Pp. 64.)
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. Annual Report for the year 1913.
(Chicago, Field Museum, 1914. Pp. 273-363.)
HENGELMULLER, LADISLAS BARON. Hungary's Fight for National Existence;
or, The History of the Great Uprising Led by Francis Rakoczi II,
1703-1711. (N. Y. Macmillan, 1913. Pp. 342. $3.25.)
INNES, ARTHUR D. History of England and the British Empire. To be in
four volumes. Volume 1, to 1485; Volume 2, 1585-1688. (N. Y. Macmillan,
1913. Pp. 539; 553. Each, $1.60.)
INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION. Progress Report On the Reference by
the United States and Canada in re Levels of the Lake of the Woods.
(Washington Govt. 1914. Pp. 186.)
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Report for the year ending June 30, 1913.
(Washington, Govt. 1913. Pp. 269.)
MACAULAY, LORD. History of England From the Accession of James II.
Edited by Charles Harding Firth. To be in six volumes. (London,
Macmillan, 1913. Volume 1. Pp. 516. $3.25.)
MORLEY, JOHN. On History and Politics. (N. Y. Macmillan, 1914. Pp. 201.
$1.)
OGILVIE, WILLIAM. Early Days on the Yukon. The Story of its Gold Finds.
(London, Lane, 1913. Pp. 306. $1.50.)
SEATTLE BAR ASSOCIATION. Annual Report, 1913. (Seattle, Association,
1913. Pp. 72.)
TAFT, WILLIAM HOWARD. Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence
and Its Perils. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1913. Pp. 283.
$1.15.)
VEDDER, HENRY C. The Reformation in Germany. (N. Y. Macmillan, 1914.
Pp. 466. $3.)
WASHINGTON STATE BAR ASSOCIATION. Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth
Annual Convention, 1913. (Olympia, Association, 1913. Pp. 204.)
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Course in Current Events
The Department of History in the University of Washington has begun a
course on Contemporary History running the second semester. The course
is given by various men on problems of historical import of the last
decade. Among the questions handled are: The Monroe Doctrine; China
as a Republic; the Mexican Situation; the Undoing of Ireland; The
Balkan Question; the Growth of a Religion of Democracy; the Economic
Interpretation of History; the Relation of Natural Science to History;
German Imperialism; etc. The course is open to all classes except the
freshman; about one hundred students have elected the course. While
the public increased the audience to about two hundred persons at each
lecture.
History Teachers' Club
On Saturday noon, March 21st, at the Good Eats Cafeteria, Seattle,
twelve history teachers of the grades, high schools and University
met and discussed the need and desirability of the formation of a
History Club. Such a club has had a successful life of six years
at San Francisco dealing with history in the different trades and
professions--men from these walks give the history men the value of
history to their lines of work. This idea was accepted by those present
on Saturday; and another question was urged as a worthy and vital
question for mutual discussion: the relation of the three parts of the
public school system to history teaching on the basis of the belief
that a better understanding among the three sets of teachers would
result in good to the pupils. It was unanimously voted to attempt such
a club to deal in the beginning with these two subjects. The question
of time, place of meeting, organization, and the first program was left
to Mr. Flemming, Seattle, and his committee of three. He hopes to have
the first meeting early in May in Seattle. It was also the hope that
the Club could serve the interests of the teachers in the grades and
high schools of Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, and other cities about the
Sound, and the University. Professor J. N. Bowman, of the University,
was elected temporary chairman.
Seattle Historical Society
A number of ladies, mostly of pioneer families, have organized and
incorporated the Seattle Historical Society. The first officers
selected are as follows: President, Mrs. Morgan J. Carkeek;
vice-president, Mrs. William Pitt Trimble; secretary, Mrs. Redick H.
McKee; treasurer, Mrs. William F. Prosser; historian, Mrs. Thomas W.
Prosch; trustees, Judge C. H. Hanford, Judge George Donworth, Judge R.
B. Albertson, Miss M. L. Denny, Lawrence J. Colman and Professor E.
S. Meany. Manuscript records of the old pioneers are being collected,
as also are pictures, books, diaries and relics. Cooperation has been
cheerfully extended by Librarian W. E. Henry and Curator of the Museum
F. S. Hall, of the University of Washington. That cooperation has been
accepted and for the present, at least, the Society's collections will
be cared for at the University. There is every indication that this new
organization will do much toward awakening interest in the luring field
of local history.
Death of an Efficient Man
While going home on the evening of November 1, A. F. Muhr dropped dead
in the street car. The event proved a shock to a wide circle of friends
and acquaintances. For many years Mr. Muhr had been in charge of the
photographic studio of Edward S. Curtis. It was he who gave personal
attention to the development of the negatives made in the field by Mr.
Curtis for his monumental work on the North American Indian. In the
prefaces of those great volumes, Mr. Curtis has frequently commended
the skill, patience and efficiency of his prized assistant. Before
coming to Seattle, Mr. Muhr had made a name for his own photographs of
Indians, many of which received high awards at exhibitions. With all
his talent he was a very modest man and was loved by all who knew him.
History of Thurston County
A brief prospectus from Olympia announces the fact that the Thurston
County Pioneer Association plans to publish a volume in 1914 to contain
the proceedings of the organization from its inception four years ago.
There will be included personal reminiscences of old-time residents
and other data, "the whole to form a beginning and foundation for
the future permanent and reliable history of the county." The little
prospectus is issued for the association and is signed by Allen
Weir, secretary, and Mrs. G. E. Blankenship, treasurer. The scope of
the proposed book will depend upon the response received from the
prospectus.
Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association
There are several matters pertaining to the twenty-ninth annual meeting
of the American Historical Association which should be of interest to
the historians of the Pacific Coast.
In the first place, notwithstanding the great distance to Charleston,
South Carolina, there were three delegates from the Pacific
Coast--Professors H. Morse Stephens and R. F. Schloz of the University
of California and Professor Edmond S. Meany of the University of
Washington.
During the last year efforts have been made to get a fuller expression
of sentiment from the general membership as to the selection of
officers. On a committee for that purpose Professor E. B. Krehbiel
of Stanford University represented the Pacific Coast. At his request
the members of the Association in the University of Washington held a
meeting and by unanimous choice selected Professor George Lincoln Burr
of Cornell for the position of second vice-president to be promoted, as
is the custom, to the presidency. Others must have had the same thing
in mind, for Professor Burr was regularly nominated and elected.
Professor H. Morse Stephens of the University of California was
promoted to the first vice-presidency and will become president in
1915. That is especially fortunate as the Association will hold
an extra meeting in San Francisco during the summer of that year.
President Stephens will then be the chief host to the organization at
his own home.
Similarly, Professor A. C. McLoughlin of the University of Chicago will
serve as president during 1914, when the regular meeting will be held
in Chicago.
Preparations are already under way for the special meeting in San
Francisco in 1915. The chairman of the general committee is Rudolph
Julius Taussig, Secretary of the Panama Pacific International
Exposition Company, and Professor E. D. Adams of Stanford University
is chairman of the programme committee. The programme will deal wholly
with historical problems of countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean.
At the Charleston meeting the Pacific Coast was recognized further by
having Professor H. E. Bolton of the University of California placed on
the Historical Manuscripts Commission; F. J. Teggart of the University
of California on the Committee on Bibliography; Professor William
A. Morris of the University of California on the General Committee;
Professor Joseph Schafer of the University of Oregon on the Committee
on Nominations.
A citizen of the State of Washington on passing through Virginia will
see much of interest to remind him of the great American for whom his
State is named. The Virginia State Historical Society is housed in
Richmond in the building used by General Robert E. Lee as a residence
during the Civil War. Among the prized collections there is a musket
carried to the Pacific Coast and back by a member of the Lewis and
Clark Expedition.
Probably the most interesting portion of the programmes at the South
Carolina meetings was that devoted to military history. There were
several papers relating to Charleston's part in the Civil War and
during the same afternoon the entire convention was taken on an
excursion to Fort Sumter, a memorable event for the northern visitors.
NORTHWESTERN HISTORY SYLLABUS
[The aim of this department is to furnish outlines that will aid those
who wish to study the subject systematically. It is expected that its
greatest use will be as a guide for members of women's clubs, literary
societies, and classes in colleges or high schools. It will be a form
of university extension without the theses and examinations necessary
for the earning of credits toward a degree.]
IX. Territory of Oregon
1. Treaty of 1846.
a. Northern boundary fixed.
b. Accepted as a compromise.
c. Really a diplomatic triumph.
2. Organic Law of Oregon.
a. Congress passed the act, 14 August, 1848.
b. Boundaries from 42 degrees to 49 degrees and from Rocky
Mountains to Pacific Ocean.
3. First Officers.
a. Governorship refused by Abraham Lincoln.
b. Accepted by General Joseph Lane.
c. Joseph Meek, United States Marshal.
d. Samuel R. Thurston, Delegate to Congress.
4. Laws.
a. Anti-slavery laws.
b. New counties created.
5. Gold Excitement.
a. Settlers diverted to California.
b. Gold-dust currency.
c. California precedes Oregon into Union.
6. Division of Oregon.
a. Washington Territory created, 1853.
7. Indian Wars.
a. Rogue River War.
b. Other wars and treaties.
8. Oregon Attains Statehood.
a. Date, February 14, 1859.
b. First United States Senators
c. Other officers of new state.
* * * * *
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Books for the above outline are easily available in most
of the libraries in the Northwest. New ones are appearing continually,
but the ones cited below will cover the field satisfactorily.
BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE. Works of. Vol. XXX. This is Vol. II. of his
History of Oregon. It starts with "Condition of Affairs in 1848" and
carries the narrative to the year 1888.
COMAN, KATHARINE. Economic Beginnings of the Far West. Vol. II. Pp.
113-166. This is one of the newer books. The chapter cited is entitled:
"Acquisition of Oregon," the latter part of which bears especially on
this outline.
DEADY, M. P. The Organic and Other General Laws of Oregon, 1845-1864.
The official publication of Oregon laws, compiled by Judge Deady and
published by H. L. Pittock, Public Printer, 1866, is a convenient form
in which to study the laws of Oregon Territory.
JOHNSON, SIDONA V. A Short History of Oregon. Part Four of this
compact little book deals with the portion of Oregon history under
consideration.
MEANY, EDMOND S. History of the State of Washington. Consult chapter XV
and the first part of chapter XVI.
SCHAFER, JOSEPH. A History of the Pacific Northwest. Chapters XIV, XV,
and XVI will be helpful for this study.
WOODWARD, WALTER C. Political Parties in Oregon, 1843-1868. This
new book should be in all Northwestern libraries. Its title conveys
its true usefulness for a study of Oregon in territorial and early
statehood days.
HISTORY TEACHERS' SECTION
The History Teachers' Section, inaugurated in this number, will be
edited by various members of the editorial staff. The Section will be
devoted to questions and problems of interest to the teacher of history
in the high schools and colleges. This first number will be given to
a survey of the magazines edited in the interest of the teaching of
history.
* * * * *
The HISTORY TEACHERS MAGAZINE is edited by the McKinley Publishing
Co., Philadelphia, under the supervision of a committee of the
American Historical Association. The first number appeared September
1909, under the sole editorship of Dr. Albert E. McKinley; financial
difficulties arose and caused the suspension of publication from June,
1911, to February, 1912, when it came under the present supervision of
the American Historical Association. The contents cover a wide range
of interests: Articles of a general character on subject matter or
methodology of history; Reports from the Historical Field; Periodical
literature; Book Reviews; and Recent Historical Publications. In the
January, 1914, number, Waldo L. Cook, of the Springfield (Mass.)
Republican, published the address he gave before the New England
History Teachers' Association last April on The Press in its Relation
to History. He discussed in full the "cause of the reporter," and
concluded that the case "might also be said to be in the hands of you
teachers of history; your ennobling influence upon the press of the
future, and consequently upon the history which shall be born of the
future, may become incalculable if your teaching is aflame with the
ideal that facts are sacred and that truth is holy." In the next number
Dr. Jameson, of the Carnegie Foundation, has an article on the Typical
Steps of American Expansion wherein he traces through the expansion
of American territory his contention that "the processes we have
been following were mainly the fruit, not of artificial intrigue and
political conspiracy, but of natural economic and social development,
on the part of men chiefly engaged in the great human occupation of
making a quiet living." Perhaps the most important article in the March
number is A Hidden Cause of the Mexican War, by Moses W. Ware. In
this article he brings out the fact of the Northern holdings of Texan
securities, which joined with Southern interest in slavery; and these
two independent interests were "each equally potent in involving the
United States in the war with Mexico." Another article, in the February
number, it is hoped will be read by every history teacher in the
state: Edwin E. Slosson's A Stranger at School. It has been reprinted
from _The Independent_. It must be read to be appreciated.
A series of articles have been appearing through several numbers
dealing with the teaching of Greek History from several points of view
of both subject matter and methods. The book reviews are of passing
interest, while the recent historical publications are especially
valuable. In the latter the announcements of the books of the month are
classified according to American, Ancient, English, European, Medieval,
Miscellaneous, Biography, Government and Politics.
* * * * *
The University of Texas is now publishing a "Texas History Teacher's
Bulletin." The first number was issued November 15th, 1912; and four
numbers have appeared so far. It is published quarterly by the History
Department of the University and contains "brief, practical articles
and suggestions, discussions of local problems, occasional reprints
from The History Teachers' Magazine * * * and other educational
journals, outlines, book lists and notes, and news of history teachers
in Texas and elsewhere." The articles are of a very practical nature,
dealing with the use of maps in the class work: Local History in
various schools; use of note-books in high school work; parallel
readings; efforts to improve history teaching; is questioning essential
to good teaching; Historical Geography; sources; etc. It reprints for
its readers the book publications of the History Teachers' Magazine.
* * * * *
The English "Historical Association," formed a few years ago, does
not have as yet a regular publication. It publishes instead a series
of leaflets on subjects of interest and value to the teachers. The
following titles will give an indication of the nature: Source-books;
some books on the teaching of History in Schools; the addresses
of James Bryce on Teaching of History in Schools; Text-books;
Supplementary Reading; the address of Thomas Hodgkin on the Teaching
of History in Schools; The Teaching of Local History; Historical
Maps and Atlases; Civics in the Schools; Recent British History; The
Methods of Teaching History in Schools; Schools Historical Libraries.
The publications of the Association may be secured through the History
Teachers' Magazine.
* * * * *
In January, 1913, the Germans began the publication of a History
Teachers' Magazine called _Vergangenheit und Gegenwart_. It is edited
by Fritz Friedrich and Dr. Paul Ruhlmann, and is published by the
Teubner house in Leipzig. It is issued bi-monthly and costs 6 marks
a year. The character of the general articles may be seen from the
following titles of some of the articles: The French Peasant before
the Revolution; the new Munich history course of study; the history
teaching in France; the colonization of North America; political
training through the teaching of history; the burning of Rome and
Nero's persecution of the Christians; the eastern border of German
culture; the newspaper in the upper schools; the evolution of types
of war-ships from Trafalgar to the present; State and Church; the
History of Civilization in the teaching of History in the upper
classes; and in the last number, March, 1914, there was published
the translation of the presidential address before the Pacific Coast
Branch of the American Historical Association at Berkeley, November,
1912, given by Professor A. B. Show, of Stanford University, on The New
Culture-History in Germany. It was published in full in the History
Teachers' Magazine for October, 1913.
Of especial value are the book reviews; practically half of the pages
of each number are given to this subject. In the last number, for
instance, the running comments and criticisms on books and historical
literature are arranged in the following manner: Pre-historic and
Ancient Archaeology, under which are grouped the new books on
Ethnology, Races, German Antiquities, etc.; Methodology and Didactics;
History in the Pedagogical Press. Another issue, May, 1913, arranged
the reviews in this manner: Renaissance and Reformation; History of
Religion and the Church; Methodology and Historiography. The number of
books reviewed in the March, 1914, number was 108. The number of books
reviewed in the various numbers run from 49 to 154: the average being
about 90 books.
In the first issue of the magazine there was published a call, signed
by 34 gymnasium and university teachers of the Empire, to the German
history teachers for the formation of a German History Teachers'
Association. The call was answered by 53 teachers and on September
29th, 1913, at the University of Marburg the Association was organized.
Dr. Neubauer, of Frankfort am Mein, was elected president; Professor
Ernst Bernheim, of Greifswald, vice-president; and Mr. Behrendt, of
Leipzig, secretary. The principal address was given by Professor
Bernheim on The Preparation of the History Teacher which ended in a
lengthy discussion. The next important address was on the Teaching of
History in "Prima," and this also resulted in an animated discussion.
The whole proceedings of the Marburg convention was published as a
special number of the Vergangenheit and Gegenwart in October, 1913.
The Washington Historical Quarterly
Board of Editors
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, Seattle.
J. N. BOWMAN, Seattle.
T. C. ELLIOTT, Walla Walla.
FRANK A. GOLDER, Pullman.
CEYLON S. KINGSTON, Cheney.
W. D. LYMAN, Walla Walla.
EDWARD MCMAHON, Seattle.
THOMAS W. PROSCH, Seattle.
OLIVER H. RICHARDSON, Seattle.
O. B. SPERLIN, Tacoma.
E. O. S. SCHOLEFIELD, Victoria, B. C.
ALLEN WEIR, Olympia.
Managing Editor
EDMOND S. MEANY
Business Manager
CHARLES W. SMITH
VOL. V NO. 3 JULY, 1914
_ISSUED QUARTERLY_
Contents
T. C. ELLIOTT Journal of John Work, Sept. 7th-
Dec. 14th, 1825 163
C. O. ERMATINGER The Columbia River Under Hudson's
Bay Company Rule 192
EDMOND S. MEANY Three Diplomats Prominent in the
Oregon Question 207
DOCUMENTS--A New Vancouver Journal 215
BOOK REVIEWS 225
NEWS DEPARTMENT 232
NORTHWESTERN HISTORY SYLLABUS 235
HISTORY TEACHERS' SECTION 238
THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
UNIVERSITY STATION
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Entered at the postoffice at Seattle as second-class mail matter.
The Washington University
State Historical Society
* * * * *
Officers and Board of Trustees:
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, President
JUDGE JOHN P. HOYT, Vice-President
JUDGE ROGER S. GREENE, Treasurer
PROFESSOR EDMOND S. MEANY, Secretary
JUDGE CORNELIUS H. HANFORD
JUDGE THOMAS BURKE
SAMUEL HILL
SEATTLE
DEPARTMENT OF PRINTING, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
1914
_Vol V., No. 3 July, 1914_
The
Washington Historical Quarterly
JOURNAL OF JOHN WORK, SEPT. 7TH-DEC. 14TH, 1825
(Introduction and annotations by T. C. Elliot)
That part of this Journal covering the period from June 21st to
Sept. 6th, including the introduction thereto, is already familiar
to readers of Vol. V., No. 2 (April, 1914), of this Quarterly: a
second installment is now given, and the third and last will appear
in the October number. From September 7th to November 14th Mr. Work
is in charge of Spokane House, the Hudson's Bay Company Trading Post
located near the present city of Spokane, and his journal relates
the day-to-day occurrences there, the arrival of the express from
across the Rocky Mountains, the starting off of the clerk going to the
Kootenay District for the winter, etc. On the 14th of November Mr.
Work leaves Mr. Birnie at Spokane House and himself starts off for
his winter station at Flathead Post or Fort on the Clark Fort of the
Columbia. This journal enables us to identify positively the location
of this Flathead Fort at this time, it being several miles further up
the River than the original Saleesh House built on Thompson's Prairie
or Plain by David Thompson in 1809. The parenthetical marks are used to
designate words that are doubtful because indistinct in the original
manuscript, of which this is a copy.
JOURNAL
(Continued from Page 115, Vol. V., No. 2.)
Wed.y. 7
Fine warm weather.
The three freemen got a small supply of articles to enable them to
reach Mr. Ogden[161] and went off to join him.--I wrote to him by them.
Sent a man & an Indian off to the Kettle Falls with a supply of tools
and articles of Trade for Mr. Dears.[162]
Some of the men were employed clearing out the store and opening &
arranging some of the furs.--
Thursday 8
Sharp cold weather in the mornings but warm in the middle of the day.
The men employed about the store.--I am busy making out a (scheme) to
take an inventory and get the papers arranged.--
Little doing in the way of Trade, a few fish and roots but no beaver
worth mentioning--A horse was traded today.
Friday 9
Overcast weather.
The men were employed airing and beating the Snake furs.--
Mr. Birnie & Kittson & I taking an inventory of the goods &c in the
store.--
Saturday 10
Thunder & heavy showers of rain.
The Store is in such bad order that the least rain pours in through the
roof that scarcely anything can be kept dry except it is covered. Part
of the Snake beaver were put out in the morning to air and be beat but
the rain coming on they had to be taken in.
We are getting a few bad salmon in the barrier, but the most of them
are so bad that they can scarcely be eaten.
Sunday 11
Clear fine weather.
Monday 12
Clear fine weather.
The men employed airing and beating the beaver.--Some Pendent Oreille
Indians arrived and traded about 20 beaver.
Tuesday 13
Overcast lowering weather.
The men employed about the store.
Wed.y. 14
Clear fine weather.
The people employed about the store, the remainder of the furs were
aired and beat, they are now all piled bye in excellent order.
Getting very little fresh provisions, the barrier is producing nothing
even of the bad salmon.
Thursd.y. 15
Sent a man and an Indian off to the Kettle Falls with some provisions
& other articles required for the Express. Mr. McLeod's family[163]
accompanied them.--
The smith & one man employed making Axes. The other man cleaning up the
store & about the Fort. A few Nezperces Indians with a large band of
horses arrived from the plains, they had been collecting roots and came
on a visit. No furs.
Friday 16
Thunder & heavy showers of Rain.
The smith making Axes, the other men differently employed about the
Fort.
Satd.y. 17
Pleasant weather.
Had horses brought from the plains to set out to the Kettle Falls
tomorrow accompanied by Mr Kittson to send off the canoe with the
Express to the Rocky Mountains & see how the people are getting on with
the buildings.
After dark a man and an Indian arrived from Wallawalla in three days
with letters from Fort Vancouver dated on the 5th inst. Some for Mr
Ogden & some for the (mountain), with instructions to forward the
former by a trusty person to meet Mr Ogden at the Flat Heads or carry
them to him if it can be done with safety. I am also directed by Mr
McLoughlin to stop the buildings at Kettle Falls till the arrival of
the Express from across, because the site[164] pointed out for the Fort
is on the South side of the River.--
I wrote to Mr Dease as I have to be off early in the morning, though
the man will not get off for a day or two as his horses are fatigued.
Sunday 18
Foggy weather in the morning. Mr Kittson & I set out at 1/2 past 5
oclock from Spokane and arrived at the Kettle Falls at 1/2 past 6 in
the evening which is good days ride. We had two horses each, we left
the ones which we rode in the fore part of the day about half way,
though they were not knocked up. We were only two hours from the South
end of the long plain[165] to the Kettle Falls. The men who left
Spokane on the 15th arrived last night.--
Monday 19
Cloudy weather.
Set the Express men to work to gum the boat and sent them off[166] at 4
o'clock in the afternoon. The crew consists of 8 men. The boat is not
deep laden but a good deal lumbered on account of the passengers, Mr
McLeod's wife & 2 children, Mr Ross's wife and 4 children & St. Martin
& 1 child. The men have provisions, corn, pease, dry meat & dry salmon
for 36 days. The despatches are in Pierre L'Etang's charge.--Two of the
Express men were sick one with venereal, two others had to be sent in
their place.--
Since I have been here last very little progress has been made in the
building. Not a stick of the house is up yet nor will the timber be
in readiness for some time, I expected the frame at least would have
been up. The causes assigned for this slow progress is principally the
want of a proper hand to lay out the work for the men. L. La Bonta it
appears is quite unfit for this duty, the whole of the posts (14) were
squared too small & others of a proper size had to be taken out of the
woods.--J. B. Proveau is now laying out the work & the business is
going better on. The timber for the frame is now pretty well advanced
in readiness to put together, but only about the 1/3 of the filling up
pieces are squared. Sawing also has gone on very slowly, only about
93 boards & planks are yet cut--the saw at first was badly sharpened,
& some time was lost putting it in proper order. Some of the men were
also often sick, or pretended to be so, & unfit for work. Certainly
there is little work done for the number of men & times they were
employed.
7 men since the 10th or 12th August and 9 more men since the 1st inst.
Tuesday 20th
Raining in the forepart of the day.--
Set out at 11 oclock on our return to Spokane & encamped at 7 at the
Big Camass plain.[167]
Left directions with Mr Dears to keep the men at work a few days
longer to have the timber for the store all in readiness to be put up
in the spring if another situation does not be fixed upon. There is no
other convenient spot near the fishing at the falls on which to build
a fort. It will be necessary to call home the men to put the houses,
etc., at Spokane in order to pass the winter.--Mr Dears is to be in
readiness to proceed up the Pendent Oreville River when the men are
called home.
Wed.y. 21
Foggy in the morning, fine weather afterwards.
Proceeded on our journey at 6 oclock and arrived at Spokane before 11.
Mr. Kittson & I crossed the point from the (Buffau de Chaudin[168]), in
50 minutes.
Nothing material has occurred during our absence. By an Indian arrival
lately from the Flat Heads it is reported that the Blackfeet have
stolen the most of our peoples' horses which were in company with the F
Head Indians. It seems the horses & some of the freemen who last left
Mr Ogden were ahead of the Flat Head camp with some of the chiefs and
that the women & people had stopped to gather berries while the horses
went on a short distance ahead with (Revit)[169] & crossed a small
River where the Blackfeet were lying in wait and drove them off. The F.
Head chiefs, on the alarm being given, instantly pursued but could come
up with only a few of the horses, and killed one of the thieves, and
it is now reported that the F. Head chiefs are so exasperated that war
is determined upon & that the Blackfeet will be attacked immediately.
however this is only Indian reports.
The young Indian who was sent off with the despatches to Mr Ogden on
the 28th Augt. is supposed to have reached the Flat Head camp some time
ago.--
Thursday 22nd
Clear fine weather.
Part of the men here employed covering the store with mats, the others
getting firewood.
Fresh provisions are now very scarce scarcely a sufficiency of trout
and a small kind of salmon can be procured for on our table, and very
few of the bad salmon are got so that the people are mostly fed on dry
provisions.
Friday 23
Clear fine weather.
The people employed as yesterday, two covering the store with mats &
two getting firewood.
Saturday 24
Clear fine weather.
Men employed as yesterday. Finished covering the store with mats.
Sunday 25
Weather as yesterday.
Part of the Nezperces Indians went off today. they have been here some
time.
Monday 26
Fine weather.
Late last night Faneant one of Mr Ogden's men arrived from the Missouri
with letters dated on the 11th inst--Mr. Ogden is now on his way with
20 men to Wallawalla by the Snake Country[170] and has sent orders here
for the part of his outfit that is at this place, with about 50 horses,
20 saddles and appichimans, leather, cords, etc., to be forwarded to
meet him at Wallawalla. he expects to reach that place about the 20th
October. He also requests Mr Dears to be sent to meet him with the
horses.--There will be only about 20 horses left, and the most of them
unfit for any duty.--
Tuesday 27th
Clear fine pleasant weather.
Sent off an Indian to Wallawalla with Mr Ogden's disptaches, so that
they may reach Mr Deane as soon as possible, that he may forward them
to the sea if he deems it necessary & also have time to purchase horses
for Mr Ogden.--An Indian with some horses was sent off to Kettle Falls
with instructions for Mr Dears to get the potatoes put in a pit and
well covered up so that the frost cannot injure them, that they may
serve for seed next year. He is also to get the timber laid up in a
proper manner, & come home as soon as possible with the men and all the
tools.--We will have plenty of work for all the men here, preparing
material for boats, & providing fuel for the winter and repairing the
houses. These jobs require to be done before the Express arrives as the
number of men allowed for this place will have plenty to do attending
to the boat building and other necessary jobs during the winter. My
object in having them at Kettle falls when I was last there was to save
provisions & to have the material for them ready to set up. Mr Dears
is directed to leave strict injunctions with the old chief to see that
nothing that is left there be injured by the Inds. The tools are all to
be brought home.
Wed.y. 28
Clear fine weather.
A few Indians coming & going, but very little doing in the way of
trade. I am busy arranging the accounts, but the Inventory was so
incorrectly taken in the spring and the goods disposed of in the
beginning of the season so badly accounted for that, I cannot get any
kind of a satisfactory account made out out.--
Thursday 29
Fine weather.
Had a man employed these two days past cutting (?) (?) into cords. An
Ind. was employed, boiling gum.--Scarcely any fresh provisions. Nothing
for the people, and but very little for our own table.
Friday 30th
Cloudy mild weather.
Visited the hay makers they will require a day or two yet to have a
sufficiency made.
Octr. Satd.y. 1
Some rain in the night, cloudy mild weather afterwards.
Mr Dears and the men under his charge arrived from Kettle Falls with
all their tools baggage etc. They were sent for in good time as they
would have been obliged to come home or have had provisions sent to
them as no more could be got there.--He took up the potatoes and put
them bye in a little house that was built there by one of the men, the
produce is only 13 kegs[171] from six that were sowed. they burried &
(put) a good thickness of earth over them that the frost may not injure
them so that they may serve for seed next year if the Indians do not
steal them in the winter. The old chief is directed to take particular
care of them. The timber &c is also left under his charge, and he
promised to take good care of it as well as the potatoes.
It would require ten men, 8 or 10 days yet to have the store up and
ready for covering the roof. The frames are now all ready for setting
up and about the one half of the filling up pieces ready, of the
covering planks 18 feet long are ready plank of ten feet for doors &c
and boards of two feet for the gable ends are also ready.--There have
been 7 men at work from the 10 or 12 of Augt. to the 30th. 16 & part
of the time 17 from the 1st to 19th Sept. and 9 men from the 19th of
Sept to the 28th were employed doing this work.--had there been an
experienced hand to lay out the work for the men much more would have
been done.--
We will have full employment for all the men now till the Express
arrives preparing material for boats, making cor(r)als, getting
firewood, and putting the houses in order for the winter, these works
will require to be done now, as there will not be enough of people here
to attend to them in winter.--
Sunday 2nd.
Heavy rain in the night & forepart of the day.--
The Indian who was sent to Kettle Falls with the horses did not return
till today. One of his horses which he had to leave by the way was
stolen by an Indian & taken to the Chutes, he said he had taken him in
revenge for a quarrel he had with one of the women of the fort from
whom he got a bloody face, this happened only a few days ago.
Monday 3
Fair mild weather.
Had four of the men off seeking timber to saw for boats, they felled
nine trees none of which would serve, they are a good distance up along
the River seeking it.[172] Wood of the dimensions required, 40 feet
long & 14 inches square, is difficult to find.
The most of the others were employed getting firewood, they tried to
raft in the morning but the wood is so far from the water side and the
river so shallow that they could make nothing of it & had to commence
cutting cord wood which will have to be carted[173] home by horses.
Tuesday 4
Fine pleasant weather.
The men employed as yesterday, those in search of the boat timber found
three trees suitable for the purpose & have made some progress in
squaring them.
Wed.y. 5th.
Clear fine weather.
Two more men were sent to assist the squarers. The others were employed
taking up the potatoes, the crop is but very indifferent only about 28
kgs from 5 that were sowed, they had begun to grow again & some of them
were budded several inches.
Prepared & tied up sundry articles to be sent off tomorrow to
Nezperces for the Snake expedition, the horses were brought home in the
evening to be ready.--
Thursday 6
Sharp frost in the morning.--
The Indian Charlie who is to accompany the people to Nezperces did
not arrive as he had promised and one of the men's horses being lost,
deferred sending the party off till tomorrow.
The men were sent off to assist in getting home the timber, they got
it in and down part of the way. The River is very shallow & it is
difficult getting it down the rapids.
Friday 7
Weather as yesterday.
Sent off the party to Nezperces at 8 oclock, it consists of Messrs.
Kittson, Dears, their wives[174], six men & 2 Indians, with 50 horses
18 of which were loaded, the loads are not heavy. Mr Kittson, 4 of the
men and 1 Indian are to return, some of the horses are to be brought
back if they can be spared. Mr Dears & the other two men who belong to
the Snake expedition are to remain.--The party are well armed and I
think sufficiently strong to pass through the Indians with safety.
The men at the Fort got home the timber and were afterwards employed
getting wood for a sawpit.
Trade has been improving a little for some time past, a few beaver are
coming in daily.--No fresh provisions, this will likely be a starving
winter with the Indians, they are getting no bad salmon, formerly at
this season they used to be abundant.
By the old Kettle Falls chief I sent a note to be handed to the
Gentlemen coming in with the Express.--It was intended that some one
would, in compliance with the Governors orders, would have gone up the
Pedent Oreille River to examine it. Mr Dears was to have gone, but
his having to go to Nezperces prevented it. Mr Kittson in consequence
of a hurt in the foot received by a fall last winter of which he is
not yet thoroughly recovered & which prevents him from undertaking
any journey on foot of any extent he was incapable of going, moreover
it was considered necessary that for the more safe conveyance of the
property to WallaWalla & the safe return of the people who have to
come back, that he should (mak) (an effort to?) accompany the party.
Mr. Birnie declared himself totally incapable of embarking in a small
Indian canoe & could not undertake the trip but in a large canoe
with at least four men, from the press of business at present, & a
great deal of work being absolutely necessary to be done before winter
commences it is impossible to spare the men, the examining the River
must, therefore be deferred until next season. I am sorry it is out of
our power to execute the Govrs instructions[175], though as we are at
present situated, not having been able to remove the Fort, the trade
can sustain no injury by the river not being examined this season, for
even were the River navigable, the old rout would be preferable.
Satd.y. 8
Cloudy cold weather.
Some of the men employed finished the sawpit & getting everything in
readiness to commence sawing on Monday.--The others cutting firewood.
Sunday 9
Weather as yesterday, some rain in the night.--
Monday 10
Cloudy cold weather, showers of rain & hail, rain in the night.
Men employed as follows.--Two sawing wood for boats, 2 seeking stem and
stern posts, and six cutting wood for coals. The sawyers got on pretty
well. The wood for stem & stern posts was also found.
Tuesday 11
Cold showery weather.
Sent off 4 men with 6 horses to seek cedar for boat timber. 4 were
employed cutting wood for coals & 2 sawing.
Wed.y. 12
Heavy rain the greater part of the day.
Men employed as yesterday, but on account of the bad weather, both
the wood cutters and sawyers were stopped a considerable time.--A
sufficiency of wood is cut for the coals, but they have yet to build it
into a pit or furnace.
Thursday 13
Heavy rain the greater part of the day. The rain kept the people idle a
considerable part of the day. With this unfavourable weather the work
is getting on very slowly.
Friday 14th
Cloudy fair weather.
The woodmen finished arranging the wood for the coals, they are now
ready to set fire to. Those who went off on tuesday returned with the
wood for boat timber sufficient for 4 boats they would have been back
sooner had it not been for the bad weather. The sawyers got on pretty
well, but unfortunately one of the logs which we had so much trouble
getting, turns out to be rotten in the heart, it was sound at both
ends. It will not answer the purpose & finding trees of a proper size &
getting them home is attended with a good deal of difficulty.
Satd.y. 15
Cloudy fair weather.
Four men employed squaring a piece of timber 40 feet long, 12 inches
wide and 6 thick to make up for the boards that are deficient in the
one that was rotten. Two others of the men brought home some white
earth to whitewash the houses. The sawyers made about 120 feet today.
Sunday 16
Wather as yesterday.
Monday 17
Cloudy fair weather.
The men brought home the log which was squared on Saturday.--Afterwards
6 were employed cutting firewood, 2 cutting wheels for a truck, to cart
home wood & 2 sawing. It requires all hands to be employed at firewood
as none was cut in summer it being supposed that the fort was going to
be removed.
Tuesday 18
Cloudy pleasant weather, frost in the night & foggy in the morning.--
Men employed as yesterday. The sawyers made about 110 feet. The Indians
had taken away the canoe so that the men could not get home the wheels
after they were cut.
Old Philip occasionally catches a few little fish with the scoop net
which with a choice trout got from the Indians serves on our table but
the people are fed entirely on dry provisions.
Wed.y. 19
Cloudy weather.
Men employed as yesterday. Mr Kittson and his party arrived from
WallaWalla[176] in 5 days. All the property &c reached that place safe.
He has letters from Dr McLaughlin and Mr Dease, the former had just
arrived at WallaWalla and intimates that he will probably visit[177]
this place to meet the Express.--Mr Kittson brought five horses &
four men back with him, two of the men which were sent (Cender) and
(Laduoite), were exchanged for Wagner and Pierre, the former is sent
here by way of punishment for disobedience of orders.--Mr. Kittson had
six horses with him but he had to leave one of them by the way, which
the Indians promised to take back. So that 5 will have to be deducted
from the number sent.
Thursday 20
Fine weather.
The four men who arrived yesterday employed packing up saddles.
appichimans, cords &c for N. Caledonia & Thompson's River, which are to
be sent to the Forks to be forwarded to Okanogan by the Express boat.
Our men employed white washing the Fort, the others employed sawing &
cutting wood as yesterday.
Friday 21
Weather as yesterday.
Men employed as yesterday. Finished packing the saddles appichimans
&c--and sent a man & an Indian off to the Plains[178] for the horses to
send off to the Forks tomorrow.
One of the (?) Soteaux who has been here some time set off in the
evening to the Flat Heads with several of the Spokane Indians. he got
a small supply of ammunition and other necessary articles. Mr. Ogden
requested this man to be sent to him to Wallawalla but we could not get
him prevailed on to go, he is an Indian and it is useless to withhold
these supplies as he would have gone off without them & in sulks &
probably hunted more during winter. We endeavored to detain him till
the arrival of the Express but he would not stop.--
Saturday 22
Cloudy fine weather.
Part of the men employed cleaning about the Fort, the others as before.
Sent off J. B. Proveau, Louis (Shaegockatsta) and two Indians (one of
them the chief of this place.) to the Forks with 16 horses loaded with
the appichimans saddles &c for New Caledonia & Thompsons River. The
people are to remain at the Forks till the Express arrives.
Sunday 23
Clear pleasant weather.
Some Nezperces Indians are now driving towards the Fort.
Monday 24
Pleasant weather.
Two men employed sawing, 2 beating & changing the furs to another
place, 5 cutting wood, 1 making wheels & arranging a carriage for wood,
2 sundry jobs.--The sawyers finished the wood for 3 boats, in all 73
boards 6 Inches wide and 40 feet long & 3 broad pieces for keels 40
feet long & 14 Inches wide, and 6 pieces for gunwales 40 feet long &
2 Inches wide in 15 days, they worked well, they were retarded a good
deal by bad weather when they commenced.
Sunday 25
Clear pleasant weather.
The sawyers squaring two trees for plank to make a stern box for the
boat timber. 1 man carting home wood, the other employed as yesterday.
Wedy 26
Frosty in the morning fine weather afterwards.
Two of the men employed covering the dwelling house with mats, the
sawyers squared a log for boards to make a stearing box, the others
cutting cord wood.
Thursday 27
Weather as yesterday.
The sawyers sawing, the others employd as yesterday--The horse keeper
came home & reported that three of his horses have strayed.--
Friday 28
Weather as yesterday.
The men employed as yesterday.
Old Philip & another man finished covering the dwelling house with
mats,--and afterwards commenced burning a pit of coals.
Saturday 29th
Overcast mild weather.
Men employed as before. The sawyers brought home another log for a few
more boards.--
Sunday 30
Clear mild weather.
Employed all day taking an Inventory of the goods in the store.
Monday 31
Mild pleasant weather. At midnight last night, A. R. McLeod[179] Esq.
C. T. & Mr. F. Ermatinger arrived from the Forks with the Express. Mr.
Black & Mr. E. Ermatinger remained at the Forks.--Towards evening Mr.
McLeod with three men and an Indian on horseback set out for Nezperces
to meet Mr McLaughlin with the despatches. Three men were also sent
off with provisions for the people at the Forks and to bring up some
property that has been brought back from the Rocky mountains.
One of the passengers St. Martin who was going out, was drowned
crossing a small creek near the mountains. By Mr. McLeod I wrote to Mr
McLaughlin and to Mr Dease, apprising them that it will be incumbent
on Mr Dease who is to come & take charge of this District, to make all
the Expedition in his power that the Flat Head people may get off in
sufficient time not to be stopped by the ice.
Tuesday 1st (November)
Overcast mild weather.
Messrs. Kittson[180] and Ermatinger left for the Forks the former to
return with the horses and property, the latter to accompany the boats
to Okanagan.
The men remaining at the Fort were employed cutting & carting home
wood. Mr Birnie & I finished taking the invtry.
Wed.y. 2
Overcast cold weather.
The men employed as yesterday. Two attending the coal pit that is
burning, (charcoal) 3 cutting wood and 1 carting.
Thursday 3
Overcast cold weather, some snow in the night and the morning.
Mr. Kittson arrived from the Forks. he left the men behind they will
not arrive till tomorrow.--The Express gentlemen also left the Forks
yesterday. From some misunderstanding between Mr. McLeod & Mr.
Black respecting a man P. Wagner who was exchanged for one of the
Spokane men at Wallawalla by way of punishment for disobedience of
orders, & was to be taken to Okanagan taken in his place, and the
Spokane man's place supplied by one of the new hands coming in, instead
of which Wagner is taken on & no one left in his place. altho' Mr
Kittson explained how it stood yet he said he had no orders, tho' mr.
McLeod mentioned the circumstance to him in his letter. We will be a
man short unless one is sent from Wallawalla.
Friday 4
Stormy cold weather, snowing.
The men arrived with the property from the Forks. they were so benumbed
with cold that they could scarcely untie the loads.--the outside of
some of the Bales were wet with soft rain & snow.
Satd.y. 5th
Snowing & raw cold weather, winter like weather.
Dilivered the Kootany outfit to Mr Kittson.--
The men that arrived yesterday not employed. The carter had to stop
work, the snow clogged so to the wheels that he could not work.
Sunday 6th
Stormy, cold, snowing weather.
There is a good thickness of snow on the ground.--
Monday 7
Disagreeable weather soft snow and sleet.
The horses were brought home from the plains[181] & all the Kootany
outfit prepared to be sent off tomorrow.
The Coer de Alan chief brought home three of our horses which have been
missing some time. One of them was thought had been stolen.--two or
three more have been missing some days.--
Tuesday 8
Some showers of rain and sleet & overcast foggy weather.
Mr. Kittson sent off his people, five men with nine horses and the
Kootany outfit on horses to the Forks where they are to embark in
a canoe or small boat and proceed up the Columbia to the entrance
of McGillivrays Kootany[182] River, up which they are to continue
to a place called the falls[183] about half a days march below the
Old Fort, where they are to build. This road is taken in obedience
to orders received from Governor Simpson.[184] By this route a
considerable deal of horse carriage will be avoided, and the Fort
being situated farther down the river will be the means of keeping the
Indians in a part of the country, where beaver are more numerous than
where they usually hunt near the Flat Head lands. Another advantage
attending this track is that if necessary they will be able to put out
much earlier in the spring. The only objection to this road is running
the risk of being taken by the ice on account of the lateness of the
season, as the River is not known but very imperfectly except from
Indian reports, but as they will not be deep laden being only 14 or 16
pieces including baggage & provisions and as there are five men (an
additional one being sent on account of the road not being known, &
buildings to be erected) it is expected they will still arrive before
the ice sets in calculating by the other road the distance cannot be
very long.
Wed.y. 9
Foggy soft mild weather.
One man employed repairing & making horse harness, one filling up a pit
in the boat house,[185] and one working about the store, two men are
still attending the coal pit, which is not yet burnt out.
Put aside the greater part of the Outfit for the Flat Heads.
Thursday 10
Weather as yesterday--The snow has not all disappeared off the hills &
very hollow places yet--
One man employed cutting wood, the other as yesterday--
Mr Kittson started for the Forks after his men, where he expects to
arrive this evening, and embark tomorrow, the men will probably arrive
a little before him and be employed gumming the boats.--Mr Kittson is
not certain until he arrives at the Forks, whether he will take a canoe
or a small boat, the men proposed taking the boat as it would be able
to sustain much more injury than the canoe, and they thought they would
be able to carry it, when it was necessary to carry it. I recommended
Mr Kittson to be certain before he left the Forks whether they will be
able to carry it.
Friday 11
Excessive heavy rain in the night, overcast mild weather during the day.
Two men cutting wood & 1 carting it home to fill up the sides of the
house where the boats are to be built. Philip came home from his coal
pit having finished it, he and another man have been employed at this
job 15 days. Late last night an Indn. arrivd from Okanagan for a horse
that was promised Mr Ermatinger, with which we sent off the Indn. this
morning.
Satd.y. 12
Mild pleasant weather during the day. Sharp frost in the night.
Three men employed at wood for the boat house as yesterday--Philip
doing little jobs in the forge, & Canotte tieing up the pieces of the
Flat Head outfit.
An Indian arrived from the Forks with the horses that took down the
Kootany outfit and brought a letter from Mr Kittson in which he informs
us that the men were perfectly able to carry the boat and that he was
going to take it, & expected to get on well--he would be off about noon
yesterday.
In the evening the men who accompanied Mr McLeod arrived from
WallaWalla, and brought letters from Mr Dease[186] informing us that
in consequence of Mr Ogden not having yet arrived he was prevented
from setting out for this place but directing me to to lose no time in
setting out for the F. Heads and to leave Mr Birnie in charge of this
place.--And also with directions to leave him any notes that may be
useful to him.--
The horses from both places are much fatigued. Sent them off late in
the evening to the plains.--
Sunday 13
Overcast mild weather.
Busy employed getting everything ready to set out to the Flat
Heads[187] tomorrow. The horses were brought home in the evening
they are so very lean & weak that we will scarcely get 12 the number
required to carry the outfit and baggage across the portage able to go.
I have all the papers &c in readiness to give Mr Dease all the
information I can on his arrival, and requested Mr Birnie who is well
acquainted with the place and the routine of the business to explain
everything to him.
We will be compelled to take 8 men up as fewer would not be able to
work the canoes, this will leave only 2 men here, but as many as
possible must be sent down from the F. Heads as soon as we arrived.
Monday 14
Foggy soft weather.
Set out with the people before noon for the Flat Heads, and encamped at
the Horse Plains,[188] which is but a short journey but, as the horses
are very lean & did not feed last night they require to feed.
The Horses that remain except the 2 (carters) and 6 that are missing
were put under charge of the Senchos chief who is to keep them during
the winter.
Tuesday 15
Proceeded on our journey at 8 oclock and encamped at the little
River[189] at the farthest end of the Coer de Alan plain at 3, the
horses much fatigued.
Found four of our horses that were missing in the plain & 1 where we
slept last night, the other is in the plains at the Chutes,[190] which
is the whole that was missing.
(Le Course's) horse strayed in the night, he was searching for him all
day without success, it was dark when he arrived at the camp.
Two of the men Paul and Felix were about all night. Paul was on a
marrying excursion and had bargained with an Indian for his sister and
paid him the articles stipulated for, but on coming a little further
on passing the lodge of the girl's mother, who it seems had received
nothing, she objected to the girl going and Paul much disappointed had
to come away and leave her & the property too.
Wed.y. 16
Soft mild weather, heavy fog like drizzling rain.
Continued on journey before 8 oclock and encamped at 3 at the rat
Lake[191] though but a short journey the horses much fatigued.--
In the evening Conoth one of the men killed 2 geese.--(Charlo) the
Iroquoy was off seeking Deer but without success.
Thursd. y. 17
Sharp frost in the night fine clear weather all day.
Resumed our journey before 8 oclock and reached the end of the
Portage[192] after 10 when the canoes were immediately got out of the
woods and the men distributed into crews and busily employed repairing
the canoes arranging paddles poles &c. The saddles appichimans &c were
tied up ready to send off with an Indian who came to take home the
horses.
I had intended to take four canoes as they would be all required to
bring down the fall trade & for the spring, but on account of the
lateness of the season and the length of time it would take going up
with two men per canoe, I am induced to alter my plans & take only
three, we will then have 3 men per canoe including an Indian who is
going up.
A woman who is going this road to join one of the Cootenay men ( ),
very shortly after arriving at the camp brought forth a child, and
seemed attending to her little affairs during the day afterwards as if
nothing had happened.
Friday 18
Some sleet and rain in the morning. foggy soft weather afterwards.
Everything being ready & the canoes loaded, we embarked before 8
oclock, and made a good days work, as we encamped at the old Fort[193]
at the upper end of the Lake, it was past 4 oclock when we encamped,
fortunately it was calm when we crossed the lake, we were retarded a
little at the sandy point[194] by the shallowness of the water.
I had first intended to take four canoes with two men in each, but
considering that it would take a long time to get up so weakly manned
at this late season. I altered my plan & took only three, we have now
three men in each and an Indian that it going up with us making the 9th
man.
Passed some Indians only one of whom we spoke to him we induced to tell
all he knew, that Mr. Kittson had taken another rout that the Kootenies
would find him below the Chutes[195] at the place appointed.
Before we embarked in the morning sent off the Indians who came from
the Fort for the purpose, with the horses saddles, appichimans, cords,
in all 20 horses including the Company's 13. Messrs. McDonald[196]
Kittson & myself 3 Men 4 & Indian 3, besides he is to take 5 by the
way, 4 from the Coeur de Alan plains & 1 from our first encampment,
these are the horses that were strayed, three are now missing now.
Satd.y. 19
Soft foggy weather cold in the morning.
Embarked a little past six oclock & encamped a little past 3 above the
(Lower) Rapid[197], to get the canoes gummed as they had become very
leaky.--This is a pretty good days work at this late season.
Sunday 20
Blowing fresh in the night some rain. Mild foggy weather during the day.
It was near 7 oclock when we embarked owing to the bad road we had to
pass--it required to be broad daylight--We were detained two hours
gumming Chala's canoe, which retarded us considerably, yet we got over
the Stony Island portage & encamped near 4 oclock at its upper end
where all the canoes were gummed.
Monday 21
Soft weather but raw and cold.
Embarked past 6 oclock, and were detained an hour gumming Charla's
canoe again, and again encamped a little below the barrier Rivers[198]
a little past 2 oclock to get the canoes thoroughly gummed, it was
night by the time this business was completed.--Saw 2 deer but could
not approach them.
Tuesday 22
Raw cold foggy weather.
Embarked a little past 6 oclock and encamped before 4, (in order to
join the canoes), a little below the Chutes. Notwithstanding that the
canoes were gummed yesterday evening an hour was lost gumming Chala's
one shortly after we started. had it not been for these delays we would
have been past the Chutes.
Wed.y. 23
Foggy in the morning, cloudy pleasant weather afterwards. This is the
only day the sun shone occasionally since we left Spokane.
Continued our route at 6 oclock reached the Chutes[199] at, had
canoes and all carried across & the canoes gummed & reembarked at 12
and encamped at the upper end of Thompsons[200] near 4.--We took up
some goods a barrel of powder, 2 traps and two bags of ball and shot
mixed that were burried at a rapid a little above the Chutes. Though
these things were burried in a dry place the bags that contained the
ball were completely rotten, and the hoops on the keg so rotten that
it hardly held together till the powder was got emptied into a bag.
Property hidden this way ought to have wood all round it on every side
so that the earth could not touch it, otherwise it will in a very short
time be rotten and spoiled.
Some Indians and a freeman visited us shortly after we encamped. From
the former we got 4 small trout and a bale of meat which was very
acceptable to the men as they have had nothing but dry salmon since
they left the Fort. By these people we learn that the Flat Heads are
not yet arrived, but that the Pendent Orielles are a little above the
Fort. The two men whom Mr Ogden[201] sent with the F Heads to take up
the beaver which he hid found them all safe and are on their way in
with them.
Gave the Indians a little Tobacco.
Thursday 24
Sharp frost in the forepart of the night rain afterwards,--foggy in the
morning cloudy in the afternoon.--
Embarked at a little past 6 oclock and arrived at the Fort[202] at
11. The houses are all standing but without doors or windows & all
the floors torn up by the Indians scouting for anything that might be
under them. Some of the pieces were burned & marks of where a fire had
been made in the dwelling house that had the wood been dry would have
destroyed all the buildings.--Some of the doors could not be found &
several empty kegs which had been left here were brok to pieces. The
men were employed the afterpart of the day fixing doors to the store
and laying the floors. The store was got temporarily closed and the
goods stowed in it.
Two Indians who were here went off to the Pendant Oreille camp with
whom a piece of Tobacco was sent to the three principal men.--And
notice sent them that we would be ready to trade tomorrow or next day
when they chose to come.--
Friday 25
Snow in the night & morning the most of which had thawed & disappeared
on the low grounds towards evening.
The men employed arranging their axes and afterwards squaring planks
for doors &--.
An Indian one of the Pendant Oreille chiefs arrived to enquire when we
would be ready to trade, though word had been sent to them yesterday
that we were ready when they chose to come. Gave him a little tobacco
when he set off & a few balls and Powder to send some of his young men
to get some fresh meat.
A young man also came with a present of 4 fresh buffalo tongues.
Saturday 26
Disagreeable weather with snow and sleet the forepart of the day but
fair in the afternoon.
Had the men employed making doors and putting the houses in order.
The Indians began to arrive about noon and a brisk trade was
immediately commenced and continued on till it was getting dark. I am
unable to ascertain exactly the amount of the days trade, but there are
upwards of 340 beaver skins and nearly 40 bales of meat. There was a
great demand for guns and Tobacco.--The Indians as is the case still
when a stranger arrives among them, complain about being harder dealt
with than heretofore, however they seemed well pleased notwithstanding
that (not?) a single item of their (prices) demanded would be abated.
Sunday 27
Sharp frost in the night. Mild pleasant weather during the day.
The Indians arrived in the morning & trade was resumed and continued on
nearly all day, but not so brisk as yesterday. The Indians say their
trade is nearly finished.--Some parchment skins were traded to make
windows for the houses and some mats to cover them of which they are in
want as the wet drips through the roofs.
A present of 16 inches of Tobacco to each of the 3 F. H. chiefs was
given to an Indian to carry to them and to apprise them of our arrival.
The Indians with whom we have been trading these two days are
principally Pendent Oreilles or Collespellums, with a few Flat Heads,
or Asschesh,[203], and some Spokans.--
Monday 28
Thin frost in the night, fine mild weather during the day.
Two men employed assorting & examining the meat, the others finishing
the doors putting in windows, & covering the house with mats.--
A few straggling Indians traded a little meat and a few Beaver Skins
and appichimans. The Indians are all encamped at some distance[204]
from the Fort, there is only one lodge here.--
Tuesdy 29
Frost in the night. Pleasant mild weather during the day.
The men differently employed as yesterday. The meat is not all yet
assorted.
La (Broch), one of the principal F. Head chiefs arrived with 8 or 9 men
who traded 16 bales meat & 13 Beaver skins, & a few appichimans.
A Kootany Indian arrived in the morning from the camp of a small
party of that tribe that is at a short distance and told us that they
intended to visit us and trade what furs they had in a few days. I did
not wish that these Indians would come here at all as a Fort is on
their own lands expressly for them, but as it is likely it would be
well on in the season before they might see Mr. Kittson & that perhaps
they would not exert themselves hunting while they have furs on hand
I thought it most advisable not to prevent them from coming in and
that after trading they would hunt briskly on their way to Mr Kittsons
Fort & that although more furs would be obtained for the Company I
understand there is only a few lodges of them here which separated from
the Pendent Oreilles & Flat Heads a short time ago.
The carcasses of 3 Deer and 2 Beaver were traded from the Indians.
Wedy. 30th
Sharp frost, clear pleasant weather.
The men differently employed.
A few Indians visited the Fort and traded a little meat & a few beaver
and appichimans.--I sumed up the trade since our arrival on the 24th
Inst. and find it to amount to 310 large & 202 small beaver, 11 otters,
76 Rats, 4 fishes, 1 mink, 1 Robe, 6 dressed, deer skins, 17 pacht,
do. 4 dressed Elk skins, 11 saddles, 111 fathoms cord, 97 appichimans,
69 bales, 4094 lbs. net wt. dry meat, 170 fresh Tongues, 103 dry do,
342 lbs. 5-1/4 (dry) fresh venison, 4 Bushels Roots, 50 (?), 14 Horns
buffalo, 4 Hair Bridles and 2 dogs.
The Expenditure for the above trade including presents of Tobacco & am.
to the chiefs, smoaking &c is as follows 4 doz. Inds. awls, 6 half &
4 small axes, 1-2/3 doz. (hawk balls), 2-1/4 lb. N. W. 5 lb. canton,
and 2-1/2 yds. green Transparent Beads, 115 lbs. Ball, 1 (Eyed Dog),
2 Files 7 Inch. 14 guns, 78 flints, 3-1/2 doz. gun (?), 11 Looking
Glasses, 37 lbs. gun Powder, 11 Kirby hooks, 18-1/4 lbs. brass & copper
kettles, 4-1/6 doz. scalpers & 11/12 doz. Folding Knives, 3-1/2 yds
Red Strands, 3 pr. (?), 2 lbs. Beav. shot 3-1/2 doz. Thimbles, 72 lb.
Tobacco, 3 Beaver Traps and 1/2 lb. Vermillion--The awls, Flints and
gun (worms) were generally given for nothing and also some of the
Tobacco. The bales of dry meat cost on an average 3-1/2 (Pluis) and was
paid for principally with ammunition, a little Tobacco & some knives.
The bales as bought from the Indians average about 60 lbs. net each. Of
the above 4094 lbs. meat, there are 2314 lb. Lean, 1340 Back fat, and
440 Inside fat.
Decr. Thursday 1st.
Overcast frosty weather.
The men employed splitting planks cutting firewood, &c.
An old Flat Head chief Le Buche, the only one yet arrived visited the
Fort with 8 or 9 attendants, who traded in the course of the evening
13 bales of meat and a few beaver skins.--The old chief has taken up
his quarters with me and says he intends to stay three nights. He has a
good deal of influence with the Indians.
Friday 2
Weather as yesterday. Snow in the night.
A few Indians still visiting the house but little to Trade. 1-1/2 Deer
were purchased.
Saturday 3
Overcast milder weather than these days past. Some snow in the night.
The men splitting planks.
A Kooteany Indian arrived yesterday evening and went off only this
morning. With him I sent a letter to Mr Kittson which I supposed might
be nearly at his fort by this time, but as I had learned from Soteaux a
freeman that the road was very difficult & that probably he would have
to return I sent word to the Indians that in case of their not hearing
of his arrival, to come in here and trade their furs immediately, but
if heard of his arrival to go to their own Fort & by no means come
here. The sooner the furs can be got out of the Indians hands the
better, as they will then exert themselves to collect more.
Mr Kittson and his people arrived in the evening in a canoe with their
supplies for the Kootenais. It seems that on entering the Kootany River
after mounting the Columbia they found the Navigation so difficult
that it was deemed impracticable to reach their destination with the
craft they had (a small boat) or indeed with any craft except one that
two men could carry. Mr Kittson therefore determined to return to
Spokan and make his way by the old rout[205] across Au Platte Portage,
but reaching Spokan the Company's horses were so lean that a sufficient
number (only 8 or 9) were totally incapable of undertaking the journey
and would not have been able to perform it. He, therefore proceeded on
to this place with the canoe that I left at the Coeur d Alan portage,
and sent a man across land to the Kootenais to apprise them of his
failure in attempting to get to their country and to make the best of
their way to this place to Trade.
Not succeeding in getting to the Kootany country in time will be
attended with some loss in beaver as a part of the fall hunt will be
lost, however as things are now situated there is no means of remedying
it, the supplies cannot be sent to meet them and detain them in their
own country for want of horses, which cannot be procured here.
The Governor was certainly misinformed regarding the navigation when he
ordered the Kootany supplies to be sent by water.
Sunday 4
Foggy mild weather, but still freezing.
Eight young men from the Kootany camp arrived and traded 15 small
beaver skins for Tobacco with which they set off in the evening to
regain the camps. A little Tobacco was sent to the chiefs.--The young
men report that seeing no whites arrive, the chiefs had raised camp
to come here[206] & trade, and that the man whom Mr Kittson sent came
up with them & is now with the Chief.--The camp is not far off but it
will be some time before they reach this as they make but short days
marches. They have plenty of beaver.
Monday 5th
Some snow in the morning. Overcast mild weather afterwards.
The Old Chief La Buche paid us another visit. A few other Indians
visited the Fort but had little to trade.
The man whom Mr Kittson sent round by the Kootanies arrived in the
afternoon accompanied by an Indian. He was very well treated by
the Indians. The whole tribe are on their way here and at no great
distance, but it will still be some days before they arrive as they
make but slow marching.
The men employed packing up what beaver and appichimans we have
already traded, for the purpose of sending off two canoes. The furs,
appichimans, saddles &c will not more than load 1 canoe the other
we will have to load with provisions though by so doing we subject
our silves to the chance of being in want before the spring in case
any mischance should befall the Flat Heads so that they have been
unsuccessful and do not bring in a supply. I much wished to detain the
canoes till the F. Heads arrived but being anxious to get La Course to
Spokan to commence the boat building as soon as possible, and being
apprehensive that the Navigation might be stopped by the ice it is
deemed necessary to send them off immediately, specially as the men
have to go to Spokan for some supplies, and on account of the canoes it
is very disirable that they get back by water.--
Tuesday 6th
Rain in the night & snow towards morning and snow & sleet during the
day.
Sent off the two canoes 5 men each 7 of whom are to return and 3 to
remain below. The canoes are not deep laden having only 22 pieces each
besides the people's provisions.--
Th Old Chief La Buche took his departure in the evening. Some Indians
traded a few beaver & appichimans.
Wed.y. 7
Rained hard in the night and all day.
Some Indians Pendent Oriells & Spokans traded nearly 40 beavers & some
appichimans.--
With the constant rain the water is dripping through the houses in
every direction. Sent word to the Indians to bring some mats to cover
them.
Thursday 8
Continued raining all night & the greater part of the day.
Some Indian women arrived in the morning with mats which were traded
and the men immediately set too to cover the houses with them which
nearly completed befor night, at least the trading shop & store. We
have only two men & the cook since we sent the people off.--
Received news from the F. Head camp they are still at a considerable
distance and will be some time before they reach us, as their horses
are very lean & they make but slow marching. It is said they have
plenty of meat, but no amount of furs.--
Friday 9th.
Foggy with showers of rain.
A party of about 20 Nezperces arrived in the evening from the
Buffalos[207] but deferred trading till tomorrow. Gave them to smoke.
These peoples horses are very lean, & from them we learn that the Flat
Heads horses are still worse in consequence of which it will still be
some time before they come away. These Indians fired a salute to the
Fort on their arrival.[208] It has been hitherto the custom to return
the salute as I had omitted to do so to Old La Buche (from not knowing
their customs,) when he arrived with a few young men and also fired,
lest it would cause jealousy, however, as the old gentlemen again paid
us a visit this evening, & was smoking with the chiefs we explained to
him the cause of our not firing, and told thse people we would give
them a round on their departure, which La Bouche said would give him
no offense. I understand it is pleasing to the Indians to receive this
mark of respect. As the expense is but trifling we intend returning
their salutes when they arrive in future.--
Saturday 10th
Foggy in the morning, Sun shining occasionally during the day.
The Nezperces that arrived yesterday traded 18 beaver, 23 Appichimans,
2 Robes, 5 Saddles, 4 dressed skins, 97 Tongues, 10 (Bosses), & 11
Bales of Meat 665 lbs net., principally for Tobacco & ammunition.
Some other Indians visited the Fort but had little to trade.
Sunday 11
Overcast soft mild weather.
The Nezperces chief & his men went off for the Flat Head camp. A few
shots were fired on their departure. A little Tobacco was sent with the
chiefs to C. McKay[209] who is coming in with the Snake furs.--A young
man arrived from the Kootany Chief who is encamped with all his people
at a short distance & will be here tomorrow. A small piece of Tobacco
was sent to the Chief.
Had 113 Buffalo Tongues salted in bags made of (pannefliches)[210]
having no kegs, we expect they will keep in the bags.
Monday 12
Foggy raw cold weather, drizzly rain in the evening.
The Kootany chief with about a dozen of his men arrived and smoked
but brought no furs with them as they said they intended to trade
tomorrow. The Chief it seems has been occasionally accustomed to get
a dram on his arrival, and on asking for it got a glass of rum mixed
with water, which, little as it was, with the smoking took him by the
head and made him tipsy. A woman who goes in mens clothes[111] & is a
leading character among them was also tipsy with 3/4 of a glass of the
mixed liquor and became noisy, some others of the leading men who got
a little were not affected by it. Gave them some tobacco to smoke when
they went off in the evening.
When it was dark 3 Au Plattes, another band of Kootenais, arrived for
some Tobacco to smoke, these people are all afoot and were not able to
keep up with the main band who have horses. They are all said to have
plenty of beaver.
The men employed sorting and baling up meat.
Tuesday 13
Weighty rain in the night, soft mild weather during the night.
The Kootenay chiefs with 60 to 80 of his people arrived in the morning,
and after smoking & conversing to about 11 oclock a brisk trade was
commenced and continued on to night, when all their furs & leather was
traded, the Chief got some tobacco for his people to smoke in the night
besides a small present of Ammunition and beads 4 Pluis. A present was
also given to, Bundosh[211], a woman who assumes a masculine character
and is of some note among them, she acted as interpreter for us, she
speaks F. Head well. A little ammunition & Tobacco was also given to
some of the other leading men.--The trade was as follows, 481 Large &
205 small beaver, 8 Otters, 1200 Rats, 6 Fishes, 7 Mink, 10 Martens, 21
Elk skins, 27 Deer Skins, 9 (Pannefliches) & 31 fath. cords, which may
be considered an excellent trade as it is seldom or never that things
come up to it in the fall.--The Chief & indeed the whole of them went
off apparently well pleased, though the trade is very cheap, excpt 12
guns, 3 blankts, and a few Kettles, principaly ammunition & Tobacco.
Wed.y. 14
Blowing a storm with heavy rain in the night. Blowing fresh from the
Northward all day, but fair.
The Kootany Chief with some of his people visited the fort & Traded 15
beaver a few rats & some dressed skins. The beaver traded today make up
the Kootany trade now 488 Large & 213 small beaver.--
C. McKay & Joachim Hubert arrived with the Snake Furs, 17 packs & 4
partons, they had only 4 horses of the Companie's and not being able,
as Mr Ogden expected, to obtain any assistance from the Indians,
McKay, had to get part the furs carried by 4 Freemen who accompany
him. Some of these freemen are in disgrace and will probably have to
be punished for their conduct towards Mr Ogden, but as this gentleman
has not written or sent any instructions on the subject, it was thought
best to give them a dram & a piece of Tobacco and not make it appear
that anything was against them till instructions which are written
for, be received from below regarding how they are to be dealt with.
These steps are necessary in order to endeavour to get the furs out of
their hands so that they may not dispose of them in trade among the
Indians.--The caches were not found all complete a few beaver belonging
to one of the men's wives were missing and a cache of 100 Large beaver
belonging to two of the freemen, Bastong & Gadua, was stolen by the
Indians. The horses are very lean and would have been able to go little
farther. They parted with the Indians some time ago. The F Heads will
not be here for some time yet.
(To be continued.)
FOOTNOTES:
[161] Peter Skene Ogden, then in charge of the Snake Country trapping
expedition and on the headwaters of either the Snake or the Missouri
rivers.
[162] Thos. Dears, a clerk in charge of the building at the new trading
post at Kettle Falls, Wash., to be known as Fort Colville.
[163] The family of John McLeod en route to the Red River Dist. Consult
Note No. 40, p. 103, of April Quarterly.
[164] Dr. McLoughlin visited this place the following summer and the
Fort was built where Gov. Simpson had selected the site.
[165] More recently known as Long Prairie, about 18 miles from the Fort.
[166] This Express boat ascended the Columbia River to Boat Encampment
at the mouth of Canoe river and met there by appointment the H. B. Co.
officer returning from York Factory after the annual summer council
there. The horses that brought that Gentleman's party across the
Athabasca pass returned with these passengers and dispatches, and the
officer came back down the Columbia in the boat. Consult this text Oct.
31st Prox.
[167] A prairie still known by the same name; near Springdale, Stevens
county.
[168] Probably Walkers Prairie, where the Walker-Eells Mission was
located in 1838.
[169] This would be Francois Rivet, an interpreter, who was given some
authority by the traders. He afterward settled on French Prairie below
Salem, Oregon.
[170] That is, by the Snake river route through Boise, Payette, Weiser,
Burnt river and the Grande Ronde in Eastern Oregon. He actually arrived
at Fort Walla Walla on Nov. 9th.
[171] The first vegetables grown in Stevens county, Washington, by
white men.
[172] Good cedar timber suitable for boats is said to have grown above
the mouth of Deep creek four or five miles above the Fort.
[173] The flat where Spokane House was built was a small prairie with
some scattering timber in spots. Gov. Stevens found it so in 1853; see
Part 1, Vol. 12 of Pac. Ry. Reports.
[174] Mr. Kittson's first wife was from the Walla Walla tribe: their
son Peter William, born at Fort Walla Walla in 1830, is still living
(1914) about 25 miles from Portland, Oregon.
[175] See Gov. Simpson's instructions in entry of July 21st ante.
The Pend d'Oreille river between Metaline Falls and its mouth is not
navigable to this day and this route was never adopted.
[176] That is: from Fort Nez Perces or Walla Walla.
[177] From other sources we know that Dr. McLoughlin did not get
further inland than Fort Walla Walla that season.
[178] Spokane or Coeur d'Alene prairie.
[179] A. R. McLeod, a chief trader who remained on the Columbia several
years and commanded expedition against the Clallam Indians In 1828, for
which he was criticised and perhaps censured: Mr. Samuel Black (who was
afterwards murdered at Kamloops) was on the way to take charge of Fort
Walla Walla to relieve Mr. Dease there; Francis Ermatinger remained in
the Columbia District for twenty years, but the brother, Mr. Edward
Ermatinger, retired to St. Thomas, Ontario, in 1828. Consult "Journal
of Edward Ermatinger," published by Royal Society of Canada, Ottawa,
1912. This "Express" brought mail from Hudson's Bay and all Eastern
points. The Forks means the mouth of the Spokane river.
[180] William Kittson and Francis Ermatinger, clerks of the Hudson's
Bay Company, the latter on his way to take charge of Fort Oknaugan for
the winter; Mr. Work and James Birnle, also a clerk, remain in charge
at Spokane House. Mr. Birnie passed his last days at Cathlamet on the
lower Columbia; his descendants reside there.
[181] The prairie pasture between the Spokane Falls and the Coeur
d'Alene lake.
[182] The Kootenay river was originally named McGilllvray's river, by
David Thompson.
[183] Kootenay Falls near Troy, Lincoln County, Montana; the "Old Fort"
referred to stood opposite Jennings, Montana, about 25 miles further up
the river. For mention of that Fort consult Ross Cox.
[184] See letter from Gov. Simpson in Part I of this Journal (p. 98 of
this Quarterly for April 1914).
[185] That is, the house for building cedar batteaux, which were to be
run down to the Columbia river at high water in the spring.
[186] Mr. J. W. Dease, who had been in charge of Fort Walla Walla, but
was being transferred to Spokane House, but is delayed waiting for
Peter Skene Ogden's arrival from the Snake Country of Southern Idaho.
[187] Mr. Work is assigned to spend the winter at the trading post
among the Flathead Indians in Montana. The "portage" refers to the 76
miles over which they must carry the trading goods on pack animals
between Spokane House and the Pend d'Oreille river.
[188] About where Hilyard now is, near city of Spokane.
[189] Rathdrum creek, probably.
[190] That is, at the Spokane Falls.
[191] Now called Hoodoo Lake, in Bonner County, Idaho. The
Spokane-International By. passes by it.
[192] That is at Sina-acateen crossing of the Pend d'Oreille river,
nearly opposite Laclede station of the Great Northern By.
[193] Meaning the Kullyspell House or trading post established in
Sept., 180, by David Thompson, but long since abandoned; it stood not
far from Hope, Idaho.
[194] Sand Point of the present day, very early and properly so named.
[195] Kootenay Falls of the oKotenay river.
[196] Meaning Mr. Finan McDonald, who had resided among the Spokane
Indians for years, but who was absent now on exploring expedition into
southern Oregon.
[197] Probably Cabinet rapids of the Clark Fork river.
[198] Probably Trout creek, of today.
[199] Meaning Thompson Falls, Montana.
[200] Thompson's Prairie or Plain, where David Thompson established his
Saleesh House in Oct., 1809. The H. B. Co. removed the trading post
further up the river. This camp was close to the mouth of Thompson
river.
[201] Peter Skene Ogden. Consult Oregon Hist. Quarterly, Vol. 10, pp.
229-78.
[202] Flathead Fort or House, then located at or near the present R. R.
station of Eddy, in Sanders county, Montana, on main line of No. Pac.
Ry.
[203] The best Mr. Work could make or the Indian family name Saleesh or
Salish.
[204] Probably about 8 miles away on the Horse Plains, of Plains,
Montana, where was usual Indian camping ground.
[205] The portage across from Pend d'Oreille lake north to Bonners
Ferry on the oKotenay river, known as the flat portage because of there
being no high mountain range to cross, and the Kootenay Indians on that
part of the river being designated by the same name.
[206] These Indians crossed by the "Kootenae Road," shown on David
Thompson's famous map (See Henry-Thompson Journals) from near Jennings,
Montana, south across the Caldnet Mountains to Thompson's Prairie, or
to the Horse Plains.
[207] Both Nez Perces and Flatheads spent the summer and fall hunting
buffalo on the prairie along the Missouri river.
[208] For a graphic description of this custom consult Oregon Hist.
Quarterly for December, 1913; given in Journal of Alex. Ross, who had
charge of this Fort in Dec., 1824.
[209] Mr. McKay was bringing furs from Mr. Ogden's party, which had
been in southern Idaho, but the main party had returned direct to Fort
Walla Walla.
[210] Parflesches or saddle bags.
[211] In 1811 two Indians in men's clothes appeared at Ft. Astoria, as
related by Franchere, Ross and Irving. They returned to the interior
with David Thompson's party that summer. He described them as Kootenays
and one of them as a prophetess and this may be the same Indian.
THE COLUMBIA RIVER UNDER HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY RULE[212]
By his _Astoria_ Washington Irving drew the eyes of the world to the
now far famed Columbia River and perpetuated the story of the late
John Jacob Astor's ill fated enterprise on the Pacific Coast. The name
"Astoria" recalls, not only the trading fort which gave the book its
title, but the varied adventures by sea and land of those who went
forth to plant the Stars and Stripes on the Columbia and to secure for
Mr. Astor's company a share of the rich fur trade of the far West.
If Mr. Astor's great enterprise was, through no fault of his, doomed to
failure, almost from its beginning, it enabled him to supply, from the
correspondence and journals of his co-partners and employees, material
with which Washington Irving was able to shed the halo of a romantic
early history upon the Columbia and the Northern Pacific Coast. Captain
Bonneville's adventures enabled the illustrious author to extend his
chronicles to regions further east.
Among the cherished possessions of the present writer is an old volume,
presented to his father by the author. It was published in Montreal
in 1820. It is written in French by G. Franchere, _fils_, one of the
clerks who sailed in the _Tonquin_ in 1810, on her memorable voyage
round Cape Horn, to the Sandwich Islands and the Columbia, where he
remained to assist in the founding of _Astoria_ and other trading
posts. On the cession of the posts to the Canadian "Northwest Company"
he remained a few months in the employ of the latter, and returned
over the mountains and by way of the Red River settlement and Lake
Superior to Montreal in 1814. His narrative agrees in the main with
that of Irving. Indeed, it is probable that it was one of the sources
from which the latter obtained his account of the _Tonquin's_ trip and
subsequent events on the Columbia. On two points dwelt on by Irving it
is, however, silent--the one, the marriage of Macdougall, one of the
partners in the Astor company, to the dusky princess, the daughter of
King Comcomly--the other, the chief part played by Macdougall in the
transfer of Astoria to the British company. It is probable, however,
that a marriage, after the Indian custom, may have taken place between
these personages, M. Franchere not thinking it worth while to mention
the matter, nor even the fact of the young woman's existence. That
there was treachery toward Mr. Astor in McDougall's dealings with the
North West Company is rather a matter of inference with Irving than a
distinct charge. Franchere--who speaks of the bargain with the North
West Company as participated in by all present at Astoria at the
time--not being a partner, could scarcely know more than appeared on
the surface.
The only sentence in English in Franchere's book is contained in a
footnote. It is the now historic exclamation of Captain Black of His
Majesty's ship _Raccoon_ when he landed at Astoria: "What! Is this the
Fort I have heard so much of! Great God! I could batter it down with
a four pounder in two hours." Franchere evidently thought his French
rendering of these memorable words did not do the gallant captain
complete justice, so he re-translated them, and Irving repeats them in
all their nautical Anglo-Saxon vigour.
Washington Irving's chronicle of Astoria practically closed with
the cession of that post to McTavish, representing the North West
Company--with the running up of the British in place of the American
flag at the Fort in 1813 and the change of name from Astoria to "Fort
George." As the North West Company thus swallowed up the American
Company in 1813, so in 1821 the Hudson's Bay Company practically
swallowed the North West Company--though the settlement of the
irregular warfare, waged for years between these rival British
companies, was termed an association or coalition.
The industrious beaver and his less industrious neighbour, the Indian,
saw little or no change. It will, however, be remembered by readers
of _Astoria_ how disgusted was the worthy one-eyed monarch, King
Comcomly, chief of the Chinooks, at the sudden change of flag at
Astoria, brought about by his son-in-law, McDougall, whom he finally
concluded to be a squaw rather than a warrior. Yet Comcomly lived on
and, making a virtue of necessity, cultivated friendship and amity
with the British as he had before with the Americans. His poor opinion
of his whilom son-in-law may have subsequently been confused by the
fact of the latter's leaving the princess, his wife, behind when he
left the country--though, as a rule, both the wife and her family in
such cases preferred her remaining among her own people to venturing
into the haunts of civilization. The divorced princess in question,
too, we reserved for higher honours; as we are told by Paul Kane, a
Canadian artist and traveller, who visited the country in the forties,
that she subsequently became the favourite wife of a powerful chief
named Casanov, who could previously to 1829 lead into the field 1000
men--leaving at home, at the same time, ten wives, four children and
eighteen slaves. Casanov is described as a man of more than ordinary
talent for an Indian, and of great influence with the people whom he
governed, in the vicinity of the British fort, Vancouver--Chinooks
and Klickitats. He possessed, among other luxuries, a functionary,
known as his "Scoocoone" or "evil genius"--a sort of Lord High
Executioner--whose duty it was to remove persons obnoxious to his lord
and master, by assassination. This functionary had the misfortune to
fall in love with one of Casanov's wives, who eloped with him--with the
result that, though they at first eluded his search, Casanov at length
met and "removed" his errant wife on the Cowlitz river and procured
also a like fate for her lover, the whilom executioner himself.
It was the belief of the chiefs that they and their sons were
personages so important that their deaths could not occur in a natural
way, but were always attributable to the malevolent influence of some
one, whom they selected in an unaccountable manner and unhesitatingly
sacrificed. One most near and dear to the deceased was as likely to be
selected as another. The former wife of McDougall, now favourite wife
of Casanov, was thus selected by him, to accompany her own son, who
died of consumption, to the great beyond, but she escaped and sought
and was accorded protection at Fort Vancouver. Mr. Black, an officer of
the Hudson's Bay Company in charge of their Fort on Thompson's River,
fell a victim to the same superstitious custom--shot in the back by the
nephew of an old chief with whom Black had been on the most friendly
terms, at the instigation of the dead chief's widow. Regard for Mr.
Black, however, impelled the young man's tribe to ignore the sanction
of the custom and hunt down and put him to death.
The company chartered by gay King Charles II--"the company of gentleman
adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay," or "the Honourable the Hudson's
Bay Company"--as it was and still is styled--was undoubtedly the
dominant partner in the new coalition. Newspaper and pamphlet warfare
occasionally broke out between partizans or admirers of the former
rival corporations during the next half century--an occasional flow
of ink of controversy instead of the flow of blood which sometimes
characterized their collisions in former days--but the North West
Company had ceased to exist, while the Hudson's Bay Company ruled
almost half a continent.
On the Columbia their chief post was established ninety miles up the
river from the sea and was called Fort Vancouver--which must not be
confused with the flourishing young city at the western terminus of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. Fort George or Astoria became thereafter
a subsidiary post, utilized as a place from which a watch could be
kept on the movements of American traders. Though the territory now
comprising Oregon and Washington was claimed by the United States ever
since Captain Gray with his good ship _Columbia_ passed the dreaded bar
and gave the river a name, the Hudson's Bay Company was, under a series
of ten-year treaties between the two nations, leaving the question of
ownership open--providing indeed for a joint occupation--in practical
possession of the country and its trade, until the boundary question
was finally settled in 1846--not long after which the company withdrew
its headquarters to the north of the 49th parallel. The company
gradually obtained control by lease of a number of the Russian posts as
well, maintaining also vessels to trade along the seashore. The country
tributary to the Columbia was rich in furs in those days. Even as late
as 1840, one trader, for example, was able to bring out of the Snake
country 3300 beaver and otter skins, the result of his season's work
for the company.
Though Sir George Simpson was the governor in chief of the Hudson's
Bay Company after the coalition, the dominant spirit west of the Rocky
Mountains for some twenty-five years was Dr. John McLaughlin--the "Big
Doctor," as he was familiarly termed. "He was the partner in charge
of the whole Columbia department, to which is attached that of New
Caledonia and Fraser River, for more than a quarter of a century,"
wrote an old Hudson's Bay clerk[213] who knew the doctor, "a more
indefatigable and enterprising man it would have been difficult
to find. With an energetic and indomitable spirit, his capacious
mind conceived and pushed forward every kind of improvement for
the advancement of commerce and the benefit of civilization. With
only seven head of horned cattle and others which he imported from
California, by good management and perseverance, he stocked the whole
of the Oregon territory, until they had increased to thousands. He
built saw mills and cultivated an extensive farm on the beautiful
prairie of Fort Vancouver. Subsequently he laid the foundation of
Oregon City, where he built a splendid grist mill. The machinery of
the mill he imported from Scotland and from the same country a good,
practical miller. * * * By every means in his power he promoted trade
and commerce with other countries. To Sitka, the principal Russian
establishment, the company exported produce--chiefly wheat--to the
Sandwich Islands lumber and salmon, and to California, hides and
tallow. In short, under Dr. McLaughlin's management, everything was
done to develop the resources of the country." Two military officers,
Warre and Vavaseur, who visited Oregon on the part of the British
government, reported that the doctor favoured the Americans. While his
correspondence shows a sympathy with the advanced political party in
Canada, which at that time would have been there regarded as proof
positive of "Americanism," the fact is that the doctor's mind was of
that liberal cast which favoured everyone who could be useful to the
country. Britisher or foreigner. This is borne out by his actions as
well as his unpublished correspondence.
Not only was there an extensive farm established at Fort Vancouver,
but others at Fort Colville and on the Cowlitz, while a large grazing
company or association was formed, to raise sheep, near Puget's
Sound. The doctor was, moreover, anxious to wean the red man from his
savage life to agricultural pursuits, as well as to promote in every
way the settlement of the country. He succeeded in making cattle
plentiful by forbidding the killing of any for a considerable period.
At last he wrote in 1837, "I killed forty head of cattle last summer,
so, you see, the taboo is broken." He hailed with satisfaction the
arrival of missionaries, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, and did
much to inculcate temperate habits among the people, both whites and
natives. Indeed, in 1843 he rejoiced in having for a number of years
successfully enforced a prohibitory law for both Indians and the French
settlers on the Willamette, at that time numbering 200, ninety per cent
of whom were old voyageurs and American Rocky Mountain trappers, yet
with few exceptions temperance men, "which," quaintly wrote the doctor,
"I think may be said to be unique of its nature in such a number." The
American traders seem to have been his chief foes in the region of the
Columbia, in regard to the liquor traffic--as the Russians were in the
regions farther North.
The doctor was a firm believer in exemplary punishment for crime,
especially in territories where such punishment only would act as a
deterrent on savages, who might at any time be tempted to outrage. One
instance of his method of dealing with such cases may be referred to.
From an old manuscript report of one of the Company's traders, who
took part in the proceedings detailed, the following particulars are
gleaned. In January, 1828, Mr. Alexander McKenzie and four men under
his charge were murdered on Puget's Sound, on their way from Fort
Langley, and an Indian woman of the party carried off, by the tribe
known as the Clallums. All the effective men at Fort Vancouver were
mustered and told by Chief Factor McLaughlin of the affair and of the
necessity for an expedition being sent off in search of the murderous
tribe, to make a salutary example of them if possible. A call for
volunteers brought a ready response and on the 17th June a force of
upwards of sixty men under Chief Trader Alex. R. McLeod set forth, with
a salute of cannon from the fort and cheers from the officers and crew
of the _Eagle_--presumably an American vessel. The voyageurs having
enjoyed their customary _regale_ and the Iroquois their war dance,
on the previous evening, no delay for these ever necessary functions
occurred and the expedition proceeded down the Columbia and up the
Cowlitz to the _portage_, where their boats were _cached_, and horses
obtained. Then the motley army, consisting of Canadians, half-breeds,
Iroquois, Sandwich Islanders and Chinooks, with Scotch and English
officers, mounted, set forth, looking, as the chronicler thought,
more like a band of gypsies than a force collected for the purpose in
view. At the end of the _portage_ the force again embarked in canoes
and on 1st July, coming upon a couple of lodges, one, understood to be
occupied by Clallums, was at once attacked and death immediately dealt
out to its inmates, ruthlessly, regardless apparently as to whether
they were concerned in the murder of McKenzie and his party or not,
while in the semi-darkness of evening men, women and even children
appear to have shared the same fate.
Off Cape Townsend the company's vessel _Cadboro'_, Captain Simpson,
was sighted. Thereafter the land and naval forces co-operated--so
far, at least, as the somewhat divergent views and orders of their
respective commanders permitted. A day or two was spent off one of
the Clallum villages, near New Dungeness, in apparently fruitless
negotiations for the return of the Indian woman, whose father was a
man of great influence in his own tribe. Not until a chief and eight
others had been slain by shots from the vessel's guns and a bombardment
of a village, where some articles of Mr. McKenzie's were found, had
taken place, was the woman brought on board. A second village, from
which the murderers of McKenzie's party were said to have set out,
was burned. The force then parted from the _Cadboro'_ and returned to
Fort Vancouver. The Indians stated that seven people had been killed
at the lodge fired upon on the 1st, and that the friends of these had
at once avenged their deaths, by putting to death two of the principal
murderers of McKenzie. In all, they reported 25 people killed in these
various affrays, to avenge the original crime, not to speak of a very
considerable quantity of Indian property destroyed.
It would be unjust to charge Dr. McLaughlin with the responsibility
for the entire proceedings of this merciless expedition. What his
instructions to _Mr. McLeod_ were that gentleman kept pretty well to
himself. Unfortunately the latter showed vacillation and timidity, at
the moments when firmness and promptness were required, disputed and
quarrelled with Captain Simpson on board his own vessel, assumed too
much authority at one time, too little at another, with the result
that indiscriminate slaughter and destruction of property seem to have
taken the place of just and merited punishment. It is to be presumed,
however, that the deterrent effect was produced, at any rate as to the
Clallums.
The population, native and foreign, of the Columbia district, at this
period, was of a wonderfully heterogeneous character. The number of
small tribes into which the native population of the Pacific Coast and
islands was divided is well known to have been large. Yet Indians from
the plains and Iroquois from the far East had come in as servants of
the company, while Sandwich Islanders--or Owhyhees (Hawaiians) as they
were termed--were among almost all the company's crews and forces.
French half-breeds and others of varying tints and gay costumes lent
picturesqueness to the Hudson's Bay posts and campfires. Sir George
Simpson gives a striking instance of the variety in colour and language
afforded by a single boatload. "Our batteau carried as curious a
muster of races and languages as perhaps had ever been congregated
within the same compass in any part of the world. Our crew of ten men
contained Iroquois, who spoke their own tongue; a Cree half-breed of
French origin, who appeared to have borrowed his dialect from both his
parents; a North Briton, who understood only the Gaelic of his native
hills; Canadians who, of course, knew French; and Sandwich Islanders,
who jabbered a medley of Chinook and their own vernacular jargon. Add
to all this that the passengers were natives of England, Scotland,
Russia, Canada and the Hudson's Bay Company's territories; and you have
the prettiest congregation of nations, the nicest confusion of tongues,
that has ever taken place since the days of the tower of Babel. At
the native camp near which we halted for the night, we enriched our
clans with one variety more, by hiring a canoe and its complement of
Chinooks, to accompany us."
Sir George Simpson was at this time on his famous overland journey
round the world, having the previous day, Sept. 1st, 1841, left Fort
Vancouver, where, by the way, his party found two vessels of the United
States exploring squadron under command of Lieutenant (afterward)
Commodore Wilkes, which contributed much to the enjoyment of their
week's stay there. The circumnavigators had parted on the beach at
Fort Vancouver with Lieutenant Wilkes and party and had added to their
number another Hudson's Bay officer, Mr. Douglas (afterwards Sir James
Douglas, governor of Vancouver Island) and had visited the company's
extensive dairy on the delta or island of Multnomah or Wapatoo.
Thence down the Columbia and up the Cowlitz, across to Fort Nisqually
and Puget's Sound, visiting the Cowlitz farm and the sheep ranch--a
four days' journey from Fort Vancouver brought them to the company's
steamer, the _Beaver_, on which they set out for the posts of the
Pacific coast and Sitka--that coast trip now familiar to thousands of
gold-seekers.
At the Stikine (or Stickeen) River--a place much in the world's eye
during the past year or two--Sir George found young John McLaughlin, a
son of the big doctor, in charge of the company's post, with a force
of twenty-two men. The governor next proceeded to Sitka, and, after a
somewhat protracted side trip to California and the Sandwich Islands,
returned in the Spring of '42 to Stikine on board the company's ship,
the _Cowlitz_, in tow of a Russian steamer loaned him by Governor
Etholine of Sitka--to find that young McLaughlin had just been murdered
by his own men, who were in a state of mingled mutiny and intoxication
within the fort, while about 2000 Indians were gathered without, in
readiness to take advantage of the insurrection within! The opportune
arrival of Sir George, with two ships' crews at his disposal, enabled
him to speedily quell the disturbance and disperse the Indians, after
preparing their minds for a measure which the company was anxious here
as elsewhere to enforce--the discontinuance of the liquor traffic. It
may here be remarked that the one good result of this most unhappy
tragedy at the Stikine was the agreement arrived at soon after with the
Russian company--whose bad example had been held to necessitate the
British company's fighting "firewater" with "firewater" at competitive
trading posts--under which agreement both companies inaugurated a
prohibitory liquor law on this coast.
Doubts as to his powers and the best policy to pursue led Sir George to
take the man who fired the fatal shot with him to Sitka, whither he was
returning _en route_ to Siberia and Europe. For a less comprehensible
reason he sent another man--a supposed participant in the affair--to
Fort Vancouver, accompanied by a letter to Dr. McLaughlin, apprising
him of the tragedy and casting some blame upon the murdered son for the
insurrection. The letter the big doctor had, of course, no alternate
but to receive, but the man he would not see nor so much as suffer to
set foot on shore at Fort Vancouver--but had him kept a prisoner on
board the _Cadboro_. On a trip of that vessel to Vancouver Island, this
man saw Mr. Douglas and at once made a confession to him, implicating
all the people at Stikine in a plot to murder John the younger. He even
stated that an agreement to that effect had been drawn up by the man
who was acting as a temporary assistant or clerk to the murdered man.
The confession absolved the young trader from the charge of drunkenness
and contradicted the depositions taken by Sir George in every material
point. Little wonder is it that the doctor, smarting under the blow
received, was not satisfied with the apparently easy methods pursued
by Sir George, with whom he had moreover recently exchanged some angry
words in California on matters of business; nor that he sent an officer
of the company to Mr. Manson, with a complete new complement of men, to
the Stikine to re-open the investigation--with no known retributive
result, though the evidence taken tends to justify the doctor's summing
up--his vigorous penmanship adding strength to his words--"The short
and the long of the affair is, these fellows wanted to impose on my
son, to which he would not submit"--true chip of the old block it
seemed!--"They, finding they could not make him bend, conspired and
murdered him."
It is worthy of note that at the last the young man seems to have
relied upon his Owhyhees (Hawaiians) to make a stand against the whites.
The doctor's subordinate officers at these various and remote posts
eagerly scanned all news of the affair which reached them and
sympathized with the afflicted father--but they could scarcely grasp
the situation in all its details of doubt and difficulty as to criminal
procedure, territorial jurisdiction, etc. "I fear we have got ourselves
into a hobble and that it will turn out we are more _au fait_ in our
humble occupation as Indian traders than as the dispensary of Her
Majesty's criminal law," wrote one. But the big doctor's feelings were
still aroused--he attributed, whether rightly or wrongly, his son's
death to Sir George indirectly, as a result of the governor's having
removed a trusted man, Mr. Finlayson, from the post of assistant to the
young trader, substituting a labourer in his place--and he carried the
matter before the heads of the company in England--"wrote a thundering
epistle to their honours at home, concerning Sir George, ripping up old
grievances," as another old trader, John Tod (1 Sept. 1842) put it. Yet
Sir George remained at the head of the company, while the old doctor
continued to mourn the unavenged death of the son he evidently loved
much.
The witnesses who were examined by Mr. Manson at Stikine testified that
the document referred to by their former comrade in his confession,
as an agreement to murder the trader, was simply a formal complaint
against him, which they intended presenting to Sir George Simpson, as
head of the company, on his expected arrival--but that it was never
presented, but destroyed, because it was too dirty to be presented to
the governor. Not only was Sir George a man whose examples as to soiled
documents had to be considered, but he seems to have had a prejudice in
favour of clean linen as well--as the following less tragic incident
would seem to indicate: Sir George at one time wrote Dr. McLaughlin to
remove the officer in charge of Fort George (Astoria), with a seven
years' pension. The doctor declared the governor "must do his dirty
work himself," and took no decisive steps to interfere with the officer
in question, who was described as youthful in appearance, though fat
and indolent, but with "children enough far a colony." The officer
nominated to succeed him enquired of the condemned, what he had done
to offend the governor. He stated that Sir George had sent two cotton
shirts ashore to be washed and while they were being taken, under the
fat officer's charge, from the fort to the ship, one of them fell
overboard, but he declared his intention of sending another to London
and hoped his offense would be forgiven. His propitiatory offering, or
Sir George's better feelings, it is presumed, prevented his becoming
the victim of another "tale of a shirt," by an ignominious expulsion
from office, for such a cause.
On December 8th, 1846, there arrived at Fort Vancouver a person whose
errand was of a novel character to dwellers upon the Columbia--Mr.
Paul Kane, to whom reference has already been made, was a native of
Toronto, who had adopted painting as the profession of his choice
and, after spending some four years in Europe qualifying himself in
his art, conceived the idea of making an overland trip across the
continent, making sketches, as he proceeded, of the representative
Indians of the various tribes and of the scenery of the country
through which he passed, then an almost unbroken wilderness. He spent
nearly four years in these wanderings, to and from the Pacific,
sketching portraits of chiefs, medicine men, warriors, their wives and
daughters--also fishing, hunting and other scenes, illustrative of the
customs, occupations and amusements of the red men and the physical
features of the country. From these sketches he subsequently executed
many paintings, some of which are on the walls of the embryo Canadian
national gallery at Ottawa, but a much more extensive and elaborate
series in oils--numbering about 100 canvasses--is among the valued
possessions of a Toronto gentleman, the Hon. George W. Allen, Canadian
senator.[214] The artist's Journal, published in London in 1859,
with specimens of his work--now unfortunately out of print--gave an
interesting narrative of his travels and adventures, with much of the
history and folklore of the various people of the Northwestern regions.
Kane reached the height of land on November 12th. His voyage down
the Columbia to Fort Vancouver he accomplished in little more than a
fortnight--including stoppages at Forts Colville and Walla Walla _en
route_--whereas it took him four months to cover the same distance on
his return the following year.
It may well be imagined that the advent of such a character excited
no little interest. At Fort Vancouver two chief factors, Messieurs
Douglas and Ogden, now reigned, in place of Dr. McLaughlin, with eight
or ten clerks and 200 voyageurs. Her Majesty's warship _Modeste_, with
her complement of officers, lay in the broad river, opposite the fort.
Outside the stockade was the village with its motley population of
English, French, Iroquois, Sandwich Islanders, Crees and Chinooks,
and its confusion of tongues. The artist enjoyed the hospitality of
the officers at the fort for about a month and on 10 January, 1847,
in company with Mr. MacKenzie, a chief trader, proceeded up the
Willamette to Oregon City, passing "two cities that are to be," one of
which contained but two houses and the other not much more advanced.
Oregon City, located by Dr. McLaughlin, who owned the chief mills,
contained then about ninety-four houses and two or three hundred
inhabitants, a Methodist and a Roman Catholic church, two grist mills
and as many hotels. A lawyer and "doctors ad libitum" were already
on the ground. That it would be rivalled, if not eclipsed, by a city
to be built where Portland now is, was even then predicted, owing to
intervening impediments to navigation. A few weeks at Oregon City and
a few days at the Roman Catholic missions further up the Willamette,
and Kane returned to spend the balance of the winter pleasantly with
the Hudson's Bay and naval officers at Fort Vancouver in riding,
and in fishing and shooting the waterfowl and seal with which the
neighbourhood abounded. In the Spring he made a trip to Vancouver
Island and adjacent coasts and islands, returning to Fort Vancouver in
June, and on July 1st began his homeward journey.
The artist was regarded as a great "medicine man" by the natives,
who sometimes gathered in great numbers to watch him manipulate his
supposed implements of magic--insomuch that at one village on the coast
of De Fuca Straits, so great was the crowd gathered in the head chief's
lodge that it was filled, and those outside climbed to the roof and,
tearing the mats from their supports, to which they slung one upon
another, peered down at him from above. He experienced much difficulty
everywhere, however, in prevailing upon the natives to sit for their
portraits, owing to their superstitious fear that the possessor of
their likenesses would have some mysterious power or evil influence
over them. In addition to entreaties and bribes, he had sometimes to
resort to various strategies and arguments to attain his end--as, for
instance, that the pictures were to be shown to their "great mother,"
the queen, who would no doubt be much disappointed on missing his
proposed subject's portrait. On one occasion he allayed the fears
of a repentant sitter, who continued to pursue him only by hastily
preparing a duplicate sketch of him and destroying the duplicate in
his presence--on another occasion he was in great peril owing to the
unexpected death of one of his subjects--a woman--whose demise was
attributed to his malign influence.
Kane, notwithstanding, had many interesting subjects. Among others he
met at Fort Victoria the great Yellow-cum, head chief of the Macaws
at Cape Flattery and the wealthiest man of his tribe in slaves and
iaquas, the shell money then in circulation there. His father was
the pilot of the _Tonquin_, who escaped destruction by the terrible
explosion, which blew in pieces Mr. Astor's ship, with the man who
fired the magazine and all the savage horde on her deck. On his
way home he paid a four days' visit to Dr. Whitman, the well known
missionary, and his family at their home on the banks of the Walla
Walla. The doctor took him to see an Indian named To-ma-kus that he
might take his likeness--his appearance being the most savage, Kane
says, he ever beheld. The Indian, a prey to superstitious fears,
endeavoured to burn the sketch made of him by Kane, who snatched
it from him and fled, the man appearing to be greatly enraged.
The circumstance is referred to, as it must have been peculiarly
distressing to the artist to hear when at Colville of the massacre
of Doctor and Mrs. Whitman and a dozen others and that the ferocious
To-ma-kus was the man who had tomahawked his late host, while another
Indian, whom he had sketched, was present when the deed was done. Kane
had, however, done all he could to warn Dr. Whitman of his danger and
endeavoured to persuade him to seek safety at Fort Walla Walla--having,
indeed, taken a three hours' ride back from the fort, where he had
heard and seen enough to arouse his fears for the missionary, to the
missionary--but in vain. The devoted man said he had lived so long
among these Indians that he had no apprehension of their injuring
him--yet they attributed, it seems, to him various ills which
Providence and their enemies visited upon them, with the lamentable
result just mentioned. Rev. H. Spalding and family were made prisoners
by another tribe, from whom, however, Mr. Ogden, chief factor of the
Hudson's Bay Company, who had at once repaired to the scene on hearing
of the trouble, purchased their release.
The light of the gospel had first been brought to the natives of the
Columbia some 14 years before this sad occurrence by a young Indian
lad, christened Spaganbarry, by the English missionary at Red River,
where he with some other sons of chiefs, had been sent in 1825, through
the instrumentality of Governor Simpson. He returned in 1832 and
subsequently spent some time in instructing his people, but afterwards
himself lapsed into a profligate and savage life, according to the
testimony of Governor Simpson himself. The Methodist Episcopal mission
on the Willamette was begun by the Lees in 1834. In 1836 Dr. Whitman
and Rev. H. Spalding with their wives--said to have been the first
white women to cross the mountains--had begun their work among the
Indians, as did also two Roman Catholic missionaries in 1838--while
a chaplain, Rev. Mr. Beaver, and his wife, had come from England to
supply the spiritual wants of Fort Vancouver. More than a decade
of Christian teaching, it will be seen, had failed to eradicate
superstition and savagery from the native character; yet the same
spirit which has imbued those who have suffered similarly in Africa and
China, in more recent years, has inspired the soldiers of the Cross on
the Columbia and its tributaries to persist in their self-sacrificing
labours, with what success the present residents of Oregon and
Washington can best attest.
The difference in appearance and customs, as well as language, between
the Indians of the plains east of the mountains and those of the coast
was great. Washington Irving attributed--no doubt correctly--the bent
legs, corpulent bodies and generally squat appearance of the latter, as
compared with the tall, straight figures of many of the natives of the
East, to their life as fishermen and mariners, constantly squatting in
canoes, while the aborigines of the plains scoured the prairies in the
chase. Their disposal of their dead also reflected the character of the
coast Indian's life--their cemeteries being collections of elaborately
decorated canoes, containing the corpses, and finished with all manner
of paraphernalia and provision for the deceased in their future state,
in happy _fishing_, rather than _hunting_, grounds.
Slavery was rife among the aborigines of the coast, the number of a
man's wives and slaves being the two chief items in estimating his
importance. The lives of these slaves were completely at the mercy of
their owners, who killed them without compunction whenever the occasion
seemed to them to call for such a sacrifice.
The custom of flattening the head in infancy was a characteristic of
certain of the tribes in the region of the Columbia and Puget's Sound,
especially of the Chinooks and Cowlitz Indians. The process, which is
well depicted, as well as described by Paul Kane, commenced with the
birth of the infant and continued for a period of from eight to twelve
months, in which time the head had lost its natural shape and acquired
that of a wedge, the front of the skull flat and higher at the crown,
giving it a very unnatural appearance. The infants are said to have
shown no signs of suffering while subjected to the treatment, but on
the contrary to have cried when their bands were removed--nor was
their health or acuteness of intellect apparently impaired by it. The
Flatheads took their slaves from among the roundhead tribes, the former
looking with contempt even upon the whites, whose heads had grown in
the natural shape which served to distinguish slaves from their masters.
The fondness of the Indian for arraying himself in the white man's
garments, especially if they be of a showy or striking appearance, has
been often remarked, and the Indians of the Columbia were no exception
to the rule. "I remember old King Comcomly," said the old Hudson's Bay
clerk quoted in the earlier part of this article[215], "once marching
into Vancouver, with all his naked aides and followers, rigged out
in a British general's uniform. But His Majesty had thrown off the
pantaloons before he marched out--considering that they impeded his
progress"--a scene which reminds one somewhat of the visit of the
founder of the late Hawaiian dynasty and his suite to the _Tonquin_,
while she lay at the Sandwich Islands.
The lot of the officers and clerks at the more remote posts of the
Hudson's Bay Company was, in most cases, by no means an enviable one.
Their letters to their friends and to each other--usually long and
neatly written documents--contained many a tale of dangers surmounted
and hardships endured. One wrote from Colville, in 1835, "we had five
or six hundred Blackfeet upon us and fought some hours"; another,
speaking of Fort Simpson in the same year, said: "A winter voyage on
that rugged stormy coast is both dangerous and unpleasant and, when
arrived, the matter is not much mended. The natives are very numerous,
treacherous, daring, savage and ferocious in the extreme." Separated
from his family, whom he would not expose to the dangers of the voyage,
he exclaims against the country of his exile. Such instances might be
multiplied and it is little matter of wonder that the burden of the
trader's letter was at all times an expression of longing for the time
when he hoped to "go out" to the far away civilized world and that he
invariably looked upon one already there as in a situation akin to
Paradise. The hope of promotion--which could not begin until after many
years of service--the heartburnings at sometimes being passed over, the
long waits of twenty or even thirty years for their "parchments," as
they termed their commissions as chief factors or chief traders--were
the subject of ceaseless thought and some grumbling. Now and again the
bullet, knife or tomahawk of some treacherous foe would put an end to
the earthly solitude of the trader at a remote post. In spite of all
their drawbacks, however, the Hudson's Bay factors, traders and clerks
formed a brotherhood of men, who, for courage, loyalty to the service
and good comradeship, were unexcelled perhaps anywhere. In Eastern
Canada, the Red River settlement and Vancouver Island, which formed
the chief havens of their retirement from service, the old Nor'westers
and Hudson's Bay men formed a confraternity of large-hearted and often
opulent veterans, full of affection for their families and old comrades
and of thankfulness to God for mercies vouchsafed them. That not only
the highest position in the company's service, but the highest imperial
honours as well, were open to the Hudson's Bay clerk possessing the
necessary ability, tact, vigour and perseverance is evidenced by the
case of the Hon. Sir Donald A. Smith, who, entering company's service
as a lad from Scotland, 18 years of age, has risen, step by step, to
the highest position in that service, has amassed great wealth, held a
seat for many years in the Canadian parliament, and occupies now the
important position of High Commissioner for Canada at London, where he
holds a seat in the House of Lords as Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.
As already stated, the Hudson's Bay Company withdrew headquarters
to the north of the present boundary after it became fixed in 1846.
Meantime settlement, especially in the Willamette valley, was going on
apace and cities and towns arose. Though the fur trade departed, the
fisheries have remained and the city of Astoria has been reared chiefly
on a diet of fish--for the salmon and sturgeon, as well as smaller
fish, of the Columbia, were ever justly celebrated. Ships of all
nations found their way in increasing numbers across that bar which has
ever been the chief drawback to navigation to and from the Columbia.
Across the broad river down which the express boat propelled by the
light-hearted, gaily-singing voyageurs, made its way in former times,
the swift express train now travels with passengers who mayhap have
crossed the continent in less time than would, in the early days, have
been consumed in a trip from Spokane to Fort Vancouver.
C. O. ERMATINGER.
FOOTNOTES:
[212] Mr. C. O. Ermatinger, of St. Thomas, Ontario, the writer of this
paper, is the son of the E. (Edward) Ermatinger and a nephew or the F.
(Francis) Ermatinger who are mentioned in the entry on Monday, October
31st, 1825, of the Journal of John Work, which is printed in this
Quarterly. Judge Ermatinger is a prominent member of the Elgin (County)
Historical and Scientific Institute of Ontario, Canada. This paper was
prepared for use in the East some years since; its publication in this
Quarterly has now been kindly permitted.--T. C. Elliott.
[213] The present writer's father.
[214] Now deceased. The paintings were purchased I believe by Mr. C. B.
Estes, M. P., of Toronto.
[215] The writer's father.
THREE DIPLOMATS PROMINENT IN THE OREGON QUESTION[216]
English-speaking people throughout the world are preparing to celebrate
the century of peace which was begun on Christmas Eve, 1814, by the
signing of the Treaty of Ghent. It is especially appropriate that here,
in the Pacific Northwestern part of America, we should join in such a
celebration, for it was by the Treaty of Ghent that the Oregon Question
first entered the realm of diplomacy. There remained thirty-one years
of struggle for sovereignty, during which war seemed imminent on more
than one occasion, and yet, at the end of that period, the case was
settled by diplomacy.
Many men took part in that struggle, but it is the present purpose to
call attention to three eminent American statesmen who were brought
into contact with the diplomacy of the case at each important stage of
its evolution. As a group, they deserve more credit than is usually
accorded to them in Northwestern annals. Their names are John Quincy
Adams, Henry Clay and Albert Gallatin.
It is not necessary to trace their early careers, except to point out
that they fairly represented the United States in the critical year
of 1814. Adams of Massachusetts was a New Englander. Clay, though
born in Virginia, removed to Kentucky, at the age of twenty, to
begin the practice of law. He thus represented the West as well as
the South. Gallatin, born in Geneva, Switzerland, came to America, a
boy of nineteen years, and passed through remarkable experiences in
Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania and Virginia, settling finally in
New York City, a man of fame and wealth.
During the War of 1812, these three men were in public service as
follows: John Quincy Adams was United States Minister to Russia; Henry
Clay was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Albert Gallatin
was rounding out his twelfth year as Secretary of the Treasury. When
Czar Alexander offered to end the war by mediation, President Madison
took the proposal very seriously. He appointed Clay and Gallatin as
commissioners to join Minister Adams in the negotiations. The two
resigned their important positions to accept the new duty. When they
arrived at St. Petersburg, it was learned that Great Britain had
declined the Czar's offer of mediation.
There followed months of weary waiting. The victories over Napoleon
relieved the pressure on Great Britain, but she finally made the
proposal for commissioners of the two powers to meet in a neutral port.
Ghent was chosen and the United States added James A. Bayard and
Jonathan Russell to their commission.
The long and tedious record of the negotiation reveals many a discord
between the two sides but, much more unfortunate, it also reveals many
clashes between Adams and Clay within the American commission. Adams
insisted on protecting the fishing rights off British American shores
and Clay wanted to deprive England from the use of the Mississippi
River. Clay even tried to stop negotiations at the last moment. Adams
says: "Gallatin and Bayard, who appeared not to know where it was
that Clay's shoe pinched him, were astonished at what they heard, and
Gallatin showed some impatience at what he thought mere unseasonable
trifling."[217] Yet Gallatin surely did know where the shoe pinched and
he was determined that the larger interests should not be jeopardized.
His biographer says: "Far more than contemporaries ever supposed, or
than is now imagined, the Treaty of Ghent was the special work and
the peculiar triumph of Mr. Gallatin."[218] The biographer of Clay
also refers to Gallatin's resources as a peacemaker, adding: "At the
very last, just before separating, Adams and Clay quarreled about the
custody of the papers, in language bordering upon the unparliamentary.
But for the consummate tact and the authority of Gallatin the
commission would not seldom have been in danger of breaking up in
heated controversy."[219]
These quarrels of the pinching shoes had little to do with the
Oregon Question. They reveal, however, some of the qualities of the
men destined to cling to the question for many years. Oregon is not
mentioned in the completed treaty. In general terms it is included
in the following language of Article 1: "All territory, places and
possessions whatsoever, taken by either party from the other during
the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty,
excepting only the islands hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored
without delay, and without causing any destruction or carrying away any
of the artillery or other public property originally captured in the
said forts or places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange
of ratifications of this treaty, or any slaves or other private
property."[220] The islands mentioned were those in Passamaquoddy Bay
and Gallatin suspected that the British commissioners desired to pave
the way for securing in the future a part of Maine "in order to connect
New Brunswick and Quebec."[221]
That Oregon was included in the treaty's general terms is shown
by the instructions from Secretary of State Monroe to the American
commissioners under date of March 22, 1814: "Should a treaty be
concluded with Great Britain, and a reciprocal restitution of
territory be agreed on, you will have it in recollection that the
United States had in their possession, at the commencement of the
war, a post at the mouth of the river Columbia, which commanded the
river, which ought to be comprised in the stipulation, should the
possession have been wrested from us during the war. On no pretext
can the British Government set up a claim to territory south of the
northern boundary of the United States. It is not believed that they
have any claim whatever to territory on the Pacific Ocean. You will,
however, be careful, should a definition of boundary be attempted, not
to countenance, in any manner, or in any quarter, a pretension in the
British Government to territory south of that line."[222]
The American commissioners were therefore informed as to the determined
attitude of the United States as to Oregon and Adams declares that
the British understood that Oregon was included in the provisions
of Article 1 of the Treaty of Ghent. He says that Anthony St. John
Baker, Secretary of the British Commission, was to go to America with
the ratification of the treaty and, later, he says that Baker showed
in a letter to Secretary of State Monroe that the British understood
that Astoria was included in he terms of Article 1 of the Treaty of
Ghent.[223] Subsequently (21 February, 1822) it was revealed by the
publication of the report of the American commissioners, dated at
Ghent, 25 December, 1814, the day after the treaty was signed, that an
attempt had been made to settle the boundary from the Lake of the Woods
westward along the forty-ninth parallel of latitude. That would have
settled the Oregon controversy then. It was rejected because it was
involved with "a formal abandonment on our part, of our claim to the
liberty as to the fisheries, recognized by the treaty of 1783."[224]
That Oregon was included in the provisions of the Treaty of Ghent was
recognized in 1818 by the formal transfer of Astoria (Fort George of
the British) to J. B. Prevost, representing the United States for the
purpose of that transfer.
In the same year, 1818, was signed by Great Britain and the United
States an agreement that has since been known in the Oregon country
as the Treaty or Convention of Joint Occupancy. The official title
is Convention Respecting Fisheries, Boundary and the Restoration of
Slaves. Article III of this convention provided that "any country that
may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America,
westward of the Stony Mountains" should for the term of ten years
be free and open to "the vessels, citizens and subjects of the two
Powers."[225] There were no American settlers in Oregon then. The
Northwest Company of Montreal had a number of trading posts. The
convention was a mutual confession that the future would have to solve
the question of actual sovereignty. When that convention was signed,
John Quincy Adams was Secretary of State, Henry Clay was Speaker of
the House of Representatives, and Albert Gallatin was United States
Minister to France. But he was directed to go from Paris to London
to join United States Minister Richard Rush in the negotiations and
Gallatin's name is the first signature on the completed document.
On 22 February, 1819, John Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State,
signed with Luis de Onis, Spanish Minister to the United States, an
agreement known as the Treaty of Friendship, Cession of the Floridas,
and Boundaries. Just exactly two years elapsed before the treaty was
ratified and proclaimed. The delay was caused by Spain's fear that the
United States was about to recognize the independence of the revolted
Spanish American colonies. Article III of this treaty affects the
Oregon case in two ways. It fixes the southern boundary of the Oregon
country along the forty-second parallel of latitude and it passes
to the United States a quitclaim to any title that Spain may have
in lands lying north of that boundary.[226] Adams surely sensed the
importance of this item at the time. It was frequently cited and urged
in subsequent negotiations.
In 1821, the Czar of Russia claimed the coast of America from the
frozen seas in the North to the fifty-first parallel of latitude.
On 17 July, 1823, Secretary of State Adams told Baron Tuyl, Russian
Minister to the United States, that the time had passed for further
colonization by European powers in the lands of America. On the first
Monday of the following December, President Monroe gave to Congress
the famous message that embodies the Monroe Doctrine. Russia's claim
to part of Oregon provoked a part of that Doctrine. Henry Middleton,
United States Minister to Russia, was directed to begin negotiations
which resulted in the convention as to the Pacific Ocean and Northwest
Coast of America, bearing the date of 17 April, 1824. Article III of
this convention fixes the northern boundary of the Oregon country
at fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude. At this
juncture, Gallatin had returned to private life, but Clay was still
Speaker of the House and Adams was Secretary of State.
When the ten-year limit of the joint occupancy feature of the
Convention of 1818 was about to expire, our three diplomats were
sharply confronted with the Oregon Question once more. John Quincy
Adams had become President, Henry Clay was his Secretary of State, and
Albert Gallatin, who had refused a cabinet position and a nomination
for vice president, now consented to serve as United States Minister to
Great Britain. In sending Minister Gallatin instructions under date of
19 June, 1826, Secretary of State Clay said: "You are then authorized
to propose the annulment of the third article of the Convention of
1818, and the extension of the line on the parallel of 49, from the
eastern side of the Stony Mountains, where it now terminates, to the
Pacific Ocean, as the permanent boundary between the territories of
the two powers in that quarter. This is our ultimatum, and you may so
announce it."
There still were no American settlers in the region. The fixing of
the boundary was apparently impossible, but Gallatin succeeded in
concluding on 6 August, 1827, a convention to continue indefinitely
the joint occupancy feature and providing that either side could
terminate the agreement by giving the other side twelve months'
notice. President Adams felt that it was a compromise, but a good
one. Said he to Congress: "Our conventions with Great Britain are
founded upon the principles of reciprocity."[227] In the course of the
negotiations there was submitted a declaration prohibiting both sides
from "exercising, or assuming to themselves the right to exercise,
any exclusive sovereignty or jurisdiction over the said territory,
during the continuance in force of the present convention."[228] That
declaration was not made a formal part of the convention except so far
as it is covered by Article III, which provides that nothing in the
convention shall impair the claims of either party "to any part of the
country westward of the Stony or Rocky Mountains."[229]
Oregon was projected into the struggles of joint occupancy. It remains
to follow the interest of the three diplomats. Clay could not have
forgotten Oregon wholly during his campaigns for the presidency or
during his great fight for the Compromise of 1850, including the free
constitution of California. He did not, however, come into definite
contact with the Oregon case after his term as Secretary of State.
Gallatin entered permanently upon private life in 1831. For about eight
years he was a banker and then devoted himself to literature. There
is abundant evidence that he remembered Oregon. He wrote in the field
of ethnology about Indians of the west and, in 1846, when Oregon was
reaching toward a final struggle in diplomacy, he wrote his well known
pamphlet on The Oregon Question, beginning: "I had been a pioneer
in collecting facts and stating the case."[230] When he wrote that
pamphlet he was eighty-five years old and within three years of his
death.
Adams continued longest in the public service; indeed, his wish to die
in the harness was gratified. The ex-President entered Congress in
1831 and represented the same district in the House of Representatives
until his death in 1848. He knew the Oregon Question from end to end.
He knew how Doctor Floyd and others had tried, in 1821, to persuade
Congress to establish a settlement on the Columbia. He knew about
William A. Slacum's investigation and report, in 1837, as well as the
report of the Wilkes Expedition, in 1841. On returning from church on
24 July, 1842, he called on Lord Ashburton and spent an hour with him
learning about the negotiations with Secretary Webster for a treaty in
which, as he found, the "Oregon Territory and Columbia River question
remains open."[231] The Webster-Ashburton Treaty was concluded on 9
August, 1842, but there were further negotiations, for in March, 1843,
after an illness of eight days, Adams got to the State Department and
had a three hours' talk with Secretary of State Daniel Webster. He was
displeased. Webster seemed frank enough with him about some points,
but he admitted with apparent reluctance that Great Britain would not
object to the United States extending southward from the Columbia River
to San Francisco, at the expense of Mexico, if Great Britain was given
a free hand north of the Columbia. Remembering the Puget Sound region
as a part of such a sacrifice, Adams wrote in his diary: "What an abime
of duplicity!"
On 16 February, 1843, as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
he reported unfavorably Senator Linn's bill for the occupation of
Oregon Territory. For this he has been criticized, but no one knew so
well as he what lay behind that Article III in the Convention of 1827.
After the election of 1844, with its successful battle-cry of
"Fifty-four, Forty, or Fight!" Congressman Adams watched the Oregon
Question closely. He got through the House a call on the President
for papers in the case and his diary of 14 December, 1845, says: "My
chief occupation was to read the discussion between the successive
Secretaries of State, Daniel Webster, Abel P. Upshur, John C. Calhoun,
and James Buchanan, with the British Ministers Henry S. Fox and
Ricard Pakenham, concerning the contest of title between the United
States and Great Britain to the Oregon Territory. The most remarkable
reflection to which this correspondence gives rise in my mind is that,
notwithstanding the positive declaration of Mr. Polk in his inaugural
speech of the unquestionable title of the United States to the whole
Oregon country to latitude 54.40, notwithstanding a repetition of the
same declaration in his recent message to Congress, and notwithstanding
the constant professed inflexibility of his official newspaper in
support of this claim, he has actually repeated the offer heretofore
made by Mr. Monroe, and repeated by me, of continuing the boundary-line
between the British possessions and the United States in the latitude
of 49 from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean, and that it has again
been rejected by Great Britain."[232] He was of opinion that the offer
ought not to be repeated or accepted if made by Great Britain, but he
felt that Mr. Polk "will finish by accepting it."
He was right, Mr. Polk did accept it. The treaty was concluded on
15 June, 1846, and it is a great blessing that the end came through
diplomacy without an appeal to arms. Few realized at the time how
close we had come to war. The cry of "Fifty-four, Forty, or Fight!"
was looked upon as mainly bluster for campaign purposes. But what of
the other side? Within the last five years were published for the
first time the Warre and Vavasour papers,[233] by which it is revealed
that the British Government had sent the two secret agents into the
Oregon country and they had shown how feasible would have been a war
of conquest in that region. Instead of war, Great Britain renewed the
offer of the forty-ninth parallel as a compromise boundary and it was
accepted.
Each of our three diplomats lived beyond the Biblical allotment of
years. Adams died in 1848 at eighty-one years of age, Gallatin in 1849
at eighty-eight, and Clay in 1852 at seventy-five. Grand old men, all
of them! The public annals of their day are shot through and through
with the records of their thoughts and deeds. Inadequate collections of
their works have been saved, the greatest of which is the monumental
diary of John Quincy Adams. He, himself, has written of that diary;
"There has perhaps not been another individual of the human race, of
whose daily existence from early childhood to fourscore years has been
noted down with his own hand so minutely as mine."[234]
It has not been possible to search every document for this occasion,
but enough has been gleaned to show something of the debt of gratitude
which the Oregon country owes to the diplomatic triumphs achieved by
the brains and hands of these three great men.
When the century of peace shall be rounded out on next Christmas eve,
it would be well to send to Quincy, Lexington, and Trinity churchyard
in New York wreaths of evergreens from the Oregon hills,--memorial
tributes to Adams, Clay and Gallatin.
EDMOND S. MEANY.
FOOTNOTES:
[216] Presidential address for the special meeting of the Pacific Coast
Branch of the American Historical Association, Seattle, 22 May, 1914.
[217] Charles Francis Adams: Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, 111, 121, 22
Dec., 1814.
[218] Henry Adams: Life of Albert Gallatin, 516. Quoted by John Austin
Stevens: Albert Gallatin, 335.
[219] Carl Schurz: Henry Clay, I., 113.
[220] William M. Malloy: Treaties, Conventions, International Acts,
Protocols and Agreements between the United States of America and Other
Powers, 1776-1909, I., 613.
[221] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, IV., 811. (Mr. Gallatin
to the Secretary of State, 25 December, 1815.)
[222] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, III., p. 731. The copy
of this document was submitted to Congress in response to the Senate's
request of 15 February, 1815. The statement was made that it was one
of only two documents that had been withheld from Congress. In a
former document under date of 21 March, 1814, there appears the line:
"(Confidential paragraph omitted.)," which may be the same as that
given above, though the date is one day later.
[223] John Quincy Adams: Memoirs, IV., 93-94; (15 May, 1818).
[224] American State Papers, Foreign Relations, IV., 808-811.
[225] Malloy: Treaties, I., 632.
[226] Malloy: Treaties, II., 1652-1653.
[227] James D. Richardson: Messages and Papers of the Presidents, ii.,
380.
[228] Public Documents, Serial No. 173; 30 Congress. 1st session. House
of Representatives. Documents 199, p. 77.
[229] Malloy: Treaties, I., 644.
[230] Albert Gallatin: The Oregon Question (New York. Bartlett &
Welford, 1846); reprinted by Henry Adams: Writings of Gallatin, III.,
489-553.
[231] John Quincy Adams: Memoirs. XI., 219.
[232] John Quincy Adams: Memoirs, XII., 220-221.
[233] The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society. X., 1-99 (March,
1909); also the Washington Historical Quarterly, III., 131-153 (April,
1912).
[234] John Quincy Adams: Memoirs, XII., 276-277. (31 October, 1846.)
DOCUMENTS
A New Vancouver Journal
Taking up the Journal from where it left off in the April Quarterly we
find the party approaching Restoration Point, opposite the present city
of Seattle. The record here given is much briefer than in Vancouver's
own official Journal, but it should prove of interest in spite of
that fact. It retells the discovery of this region in the style of a
mariner. In years to come this brief record is sure to be preserved by
the side of the larger official record.
EDMOND S. MEANY.
THE JOURNAL
(Continued from page 137, April Quarterly.)
We were detained by the Tides, which were rapid, from joining the
Discovery before the 26th when we found her at anchor off a Point of a
small opening called by Captn: Vancouver Restoration Point.[235] Here
there was a small village, containing, I shou'd suppose, about 60 or
70 Inhabitants.[236] It was situated on a fine rising ground, and the
Country round it was extremely pleasant to appearance and clear. The
Natives had brought a good supply of Venison to the Discovery. Two of
her boats with Lt: Paget & Mr Whidby were now absent on a surveying
expedition up the continuation of this & the Arms round us, and the
morning after our arrival Captn; Vancouver with Mr Johnstone set out
with two Boats on another expedition. Though I have but just before
mentioned that I conceived the Natives hereabouts had but little
intercourse with Europeans, we had here a proof that they were not
entirely unaccustomed to Trading Vessels for two very good Sea Otter
Skins were brought off for sale, and the price was copper. However they
took so reasonable a price, and their having no more than these two
skins among them makes me think that the knowledge they have of Trading
Ships is acquir'd by their own commerce with Tribes between them and
the Sea.
On the 27th at night Mr Whidby & Lt. Paget return'd from their
cruize having closed up the Arms.[237] In one place they met with a
considerable tribe of Indians from whom he had nearly met with some
trouble, but by early good management nothing material happened. After
being very well treated by the Boats party the Natives seized the
opportunity of their stopping at a Beach to Dinner, to attack them.
They were observed to string their Bows & sling their Quivers and were
making for the Wood behind the party at Dinner from whence it was no
doubt their intention to fire on them but as this was observ'd Mr
Menzies & Mr Manby catching up their Muskets ran up and drove them back
to their Canoes. As there were some opening to look into the Northd. we
weigh'd anchor and quitted this place the next day the 28th and as Mr
Johnstone was still absent in our Cutter with Captn: Vancouver we took
Mr Whidby and the Discovery's Launch with us to carry on the survey
and when we came abreast of the opening she was dispatched along with
our Launch in which went Ltd: Hanson with a week's provisions. In the
meantime we anchored off a place called Rose Point from the numerous
trees of that name that were on the low ground; besides this there were
plenty of currant, Gooseberry, & Raspberry bushes, and large beds of
Strawberries but very little if any of these Fruits were yet ripe.
June. On the 30th we were join'd by the Discovery and we proceeded
with her on the further examination of this tedious Inland Navigation.
Nothing remarkable occurred till the 2nd of June when sailing up a
place called Port Gardner in Possession Sound, by the negligence of the
man in the chains about one o'clock in the afternoon we run aground
upon a Muddy Bank. We immediately gave the Discovery the alarm and at
the same time made the Signal for assistance. She was astern of us and
directly anchor'd and dispatched her Boats to our relief. On sounding
astern of the Ship it was found that we had run a considerable distance
over a Shoal and before we could carry an anchor out into water
sufficiently deep we veer'd away four Hawsers on end. At Highwater we
hove off without any damage whatever and brought up in 9 fam. water.
As we found this place like all the others shut up, we weigh'd the
next morning and sail'd out of the Port and the following day anchor'd
in a Bay to wait the return of Lt Hanson & Mr Whidby and to celebrate
His Majesty's Birthday. The Boats return'd on the 4th and on that day
possession was taken on shore[238] by Captn: Vancouver in His Majesty's
name of all the Land in the Streights, and the part in which we now
were call'd Gulf of Georgia. On this occasion the Discovery fired 21
guns on the Flag of possession being hoisted and as the King's Birth
Day the Ship's Companies were served double allowance of Grog to drink
his health.
There was in this Bay a fine Sandy Beach where the Seine was haul'd
with pretty good success. We saw no Village nor Inhabitants near this
place but on the point of the beach there stood a remarkable high pole,
strongly supported by props at the Bottom, and at the top of it was
fixed a human skull. What the reason of so curious a thing could be no
one could divine. Many such had been seen in different parts of the
Inland Navigation and in Mr Hanson's late cruize. No less than three of
these Poles with skulls on them were seen at one place contiguous to
which was a very large burying Ground. Some bodies were wrapp'd up in
Mats & Skins and laid in canoes, whilst some that appear'd but recently
dead were thrown into a deep hole in the earth and not covered.
On the 5th we left this Bay and proceeded on our exploration, crossing
over to the opening out of which we came the 23rd of May, having to
that place carried the Continent. We found Tides here extremely rapid
and on the 9th in endeavouring to get round a point to a Bay in which
the Discovery had anchor'd, we were swept to Leeward of it with great
impetuosity. We therefore let go the Stream anchor in 28 fathoms water
but in bringing up, such was the force of the Tide that we parted the
Cable. We immediately let go the Bower with which we brought up. On
trying the Tide we found it running at the rate of 5-1/2 miles an hour.
At slack water we swept for the anchor but could not get it, after
several fruitless attempts to get it we were at last obliged to leave
it and join the Discovery in Strawberry Bay. This Bay obtain'd its
name from a tolerable quantity of Strawberries we found there. As the
Discovery had only been waiting for us here we left it the following
day and steered for a very extensive opening trending about N. and came
to an anchor in a very pleasant Bay which was called Birch Bay.[239]
From this place two Boat expeditions were undertaken one by Captain
Vancouver and the other by Mr Whidby. In the meantime the Observatory
was set up for the purpose of regulating the watches and Spruce Beer
brew'd for the Ships Companies. Our operations on shore were carried
on in a very convenient place there being a fine Grass plot of nearly
a mile in length with a fine fresh water River at the back of it.
Captn: Vancouver set out with his two Boats and 10 days provisions
on the 12th to the Westward and Mr Whidby with two Boats and a weeks
provisions towards an opening to the Eastward of us. The same Evening
we were surprised to see Mr Whidby's Boats return but much more so
when we learnt from them that they had seen two Vessels, a Brig and a
Schooner coming down the Arm which lay round the point of the Bay. It
was immediately conjectured from the improbability of trading vessels
being in this inhospitable part of the Coast and the distance from the
entrance of the Streights that they were foreign Vessels employed on
the same service as ourselves and which conjecture we afterwards found
to be right. A lookout for them was kept during the night and nothing
been seen of them. In the morning a boat was dispatched to the Entrance
of the arm but she returned without seeing them. It was thought they
had pass'd during the night. Mr Broughton therefore got under weigh
in the Chatham and the boats were re-dispatched on their examination.
Whilst the Chatham was getting under way the Vessels were observed by
the help of the Glasses a considerable way to the Westward of us so
that they must have pass'd in the night.
We soon came up with them and they hoisted Spanish Colours. A Boat
with an officer was sent on board the Brig where he was very politely
received by the Commander. They proved to be His Catholic Majesty's
Brig Soutile commanded by Don Dionisio Galiano and the Schooner
Mexicana, Don Cayetano Valdez, Commander; both Captains of Frigates in
the Royal Navy of Spain and employed in surveying these Streights to
complete the parts left unfinished by Seigr. Malespini with whom these
two gentlemen had been Lieutenants. They left Nootka late in May where
there were at that time lying 3 Frigates and a Spanish Brig of War, Don
Quadra, Commodore.
Don Galiano offered us every information & civility in his power and
sent on board some milk & cabbages that he had brought from Nootka. The
Vessels were very small, the Brig not being more than 45 tons Burthen.
They had each a Lieutenant, a Pilot, and twenty men and carried two
Brass Guns each. After receiving the necessary information we parted
from them and made for our old anchorage, whilst they continued their
route to the West. From this time to the 23rd we were employed in
taking the necessary observations for determining the rates of the
watches, and in other ways and Mr Whidby's party having returned after
an absence of six days, closing the places up which he went to explore.
We cut here some remarkably fine Plank, of the Pine tree, and there was
a good deal of Alder & Birch here. We had had tolerable good luck with
the Seine, the Bay affording plenty of Flat fish, some Salmon Trout and
a small kind of Bream and we now and then shot some Ducks. Though there
was no village near us and we were but very seldom visited by canoes,
Mr Whidby in his last Cruise,[240] at no great distance from the Ships,
met with a numerous Tribe of Indians, not less than 300, that were just
shifting their Village. They had very little connexion with them as
the Indians shew'd no desire for their landing near them. On the 23rd
Captn:
Vancouver returned after an absence of twelve days; he had met with the
two Spanish Vessels and been on board them and now was by agreement
going to join them as our destination was much the same as theirs and
as we shou'd be obliged to visit at the place to which Captn: Vancouver
had carried the Continent during a further expedition of the Boats[241]
we shou'd have an opportunity of being sociable.
On the 24th we quitted the Bay which is in the Lat: of 48.53.30 N and
the Long: 237.32 Et. and stood to the Westward. About Noon we came up
with the Spanish Vessels with whom we kept company till the 26th when
we came to the situation from whence our next surveying cruize was to
commence, and late at night the whole Squadron anchored, in a place
which from its uninviting shore and the few refreshments beyond water
which it produced was call'd by us Desolation Reach, its Lat: is 50.11
N and Longe: 235.27 Et.
In this dreary place (the first place that deserves that name that
we had been since we entered De Fuca's Streights) we lay about three
weeks in the course of which time no less than three Boat expeditions
were undertaken from us and two by the Spaniards. In the last of ours
by Mr Johnstone a passage to sea was discover'd by an extensive Arm
that led into Queen Charlotte's Sound and to which the continent had
been carried. Mr Johnstone's situation in this Arm of the Sound was
once or twice rather critical, for coming into it unexpectedly he was
surprised to find himself among several villages, populously inhabited
and well arm'd with Musquets, and they had endeavoured to decoy him to
a place where he observed, as he proceeded on, several large canoes
well mann'd, he however did not go near them, and prevented them from
following him.
July. On the 13th of July we took our leave of the Spaniards and made
the best of our way to where Mr Johnstone left off, and on the 17th
entered the Arm which is called in Captn: Vancouver's chart Johnstone's
Arm. When we got near the Villages, which chiefly lye on the Southern
Shore several canoes came off with Otter Skins to sell. Their demand
was here as at Cape Classett-Copper or Blue Cloth, Musquets and
Powder. Several of the Indians were habited in European Cloathes on
most of which was a profusion of Metal Buttons, and of Musquets, there
was scarce a canoe that we saw that had not two or 3 in it, and in
excellent order. On the 18th by desire of Captn: Vancouver we parted
from the Discovery to look into an Arm to the Northwd. This opening
led us into many small arms & Branches among a cluster of Islands that
ended all in Low Land. One of these Arms, and the most extensive, Mr
Broughton called Knight's Canal, and the whole was named by Captn:
Vancouver, Broughton's Archipelago.[242] In this business we were
employed upwards of a week. We met with but few Indians (the populous
part of this Sound being the So. side) they had all of them skins and
for the first time we got from them plenty of excellent Salmon. On the
29th we again join'd the Discovery, she had since we left her, been at
anchor off a very large Village call'd by the natives Whanneck, the
chief's name was Cathlaginness, it was numerously inhabited but they
were subject to Maquinna the chief of Nootka Sound; they as well as
all the people we had seen since entering the Sound spoke the Nootka
Language. Thus far and no further North does that Language extend and
its limits to the Southwd. is about Cape Classett. At this Village were
a great number of Sea Otter skins, and not less than two hundred was
purchased on board the Discovery, chiefly for old Cloathes and some
Copper.
As it is impossible to point out the boundaries of Defuca's Streights
I have carried on that name till we came into a place to which we know
there is a name and as all our examination continued Inland in Arms
& Branches of the Sea I have now begun to entitle this "The Inland
Navigation on the N. We. Coast of America."
August. We continued our survey of the Continent in the usual way
without any material circumstance happening till the 7th of August,
being still in the Sound, when the Discovery got aground on a ledge
of sunken rocks, we immediately brought up as near to her as we could
with safety, and sent the boats immediately to her assistance. The Tide
unfortunately was ebbing so that nothing could be done till High Water,
when she was hove off with out receiving any apparent damage, for while
she lay on the rocks the water was very smooth and she did not thump.
We continued our course to the Nd. The very next evening, having but
little wind and a strong Ebb tide running we were hustled upon some
Rocks and stuck fast. The Discovery was ahead of us and on our making
the Signal of Distress sent her Boats to our assistance. At High water
we hove off but we had every reason to suppose that her Copper (at
least) must have been much rubb'd, from her striking on the Rocks, as
there was a good deal of swell, and indeed when we came to lay her
ashore at Nootka, we had we found been right in out conjecture for
besides the Copper being much rubb'd her Gripe and part of her false
keel were carried away.
On the 11th we came to an anchor in Port Safety in Calvert's Island
and the following day dispatched two Boat expeditions, one to the S.
& E. to some opening we had pass'd and the other to the Nd. Here we
endeavoured to lay the Chatham ashore, for to look at her bottom, but
after frequent trials we found the Tide did not rise sufficiently. The
Seine was haul'd here with very great success, the First haul we took
120 large Salmon. The weather that we hitherto enjoyed since entering
the Streights of Defuca was remarkably fine having had in all that
time not a weeks bad weather but now the scene was changed and we had
nothing in this port but heavy rain & gloomy weather. On the 17th a
Brig entered the Harbour who shew'd English Colours. An officer was
immediately dispatched on board her. On his return we learn'd the
Vessel's name was the Venus, commanded by a Mr Shepherd from Bengal,
on a trading voyage to this Coast for skins, after she came to an
anchor the Master of her waited on Captn: Vancouver with his papers and
brought the agreeable news of our Storeship's being at Nootka waiting
for us. He delivered Captn: Vancouver a letter from the Master of her,
which had been given him in case of his falling in with us. This letter
merely said that they had been lying at Nootka ever since the beginning
of July and had heard of our being on the Coast from Mr Grey Master of
the Columbia whom we had spoke the day we entered Defuca Streights. The
news of her arrival threw everybody in high spirits which however was
soon damp'd and in no small degree by hearing the remaining part of the
letter, which mention'd that the King's Agent of the Transport, Lieut.
Hergest, and the Astronomer that was sent out in her to the Discovery
had been unfortunately murdered by the Natives of Woahoo (one of the
Sandwich Islands). The Spanish Commandant, Don Quadra, Mr Shepherd
inform'd us was anxiously looking out for us as he had been sent there
for the purpose of giving up the Port to us.
These circumstances, together with the unfavorable weather that still
continued and which we imagin'd was the commencement of the bad season,
induced Captn: Vancouver to alter his intentions and he now determined
on giving up any further examination this year and to make the best of
his way to Nootka. The 18th we all left the Port, the Venus standing
to the S. E. whilst we proceeded to sea round the N. side of Calvert's
Island: the Boats having joined us after their examination about Noon.
They had carried the continent up an extensive arm to a place called by
Captn. V. Cape Menzies, in the Lat: 52.19 N. & Long: 232.57 Et. they
were obliged to return their provisions being out but the arm seemed
to run a considerable distance beyond where they left off. Our Lat: at
Noon was 51.57.
We had now spent three months and a half in exploring an Inland
Navigation between the Lats: 48.23 N & 52.19 N. and the Long: 235.38
& 232.57 E. having kept the continental shore on board ever since our
entering the Streights of Defuca. The most Southern situation that we
were in, in the Streights was in the Lat: 47.3 N call'd Paget's Sound
and our most Eastern situation 238.2 E. long.
The Land in the Southernmost parts of these Streights was in several
places exceedingly pleasant, there were many extensive plains where
the soil was extremely rich and the verdure luxurious. Gooseberrys,
Currants, Raspberrys & Strawberries were to be found in many places,
and at the most of them, the Raspberrys & Strawberries were well
tasted. Onions were to be got almost everywhere, as was also Samphire
and a plant call'd by the Sailors Fat-hen, both of which when boil'd
eat remarkably well, the former being not unlike French Beans and the
latter but little inferior to Spinach.
In the Northern parts two kinds of what is call'd Huckleberries, Red &
Black, were found; these were excellent in Pies.
The Trees were of all kinds. Oak, Ash, Elm, Alder, Pine, Birch & Cedar.
Of Oak & Cedar we did not see so much as of any of the other kinds, but
as to the Pine Tree, the whole Coast is a Forest of it[243] and of it
and the Oak we saw trees of an immense size and calculated for any uses.
For such an extent as we travers'd over in Defuca and in so grateful
a part of America, from what we saw, it cannot be said to be very
populous, & tho' there were few that had not some European ornaments,
metals &c., about them, yet there were the most considerable number
of them that I shou'd suppose never saw a Ship before. The European
articles they possess being got I suppose by bartering with one another
between them and the Sea Coast. They appeared in general very quiet
people and the only weapons I ever saw among them were Bows & Arrows &
some few knives (but I shall have occasion to mention some accounts of
the Natives in general before I leave the Coast).
The Skins they had about them and what they brought to sell were all of
Land animals, Moose, Deer, Bear, Fox, Raccoon, Wild Cat, Martin, Land
Otter, Weasel, Rabbit &c. but no Sea Otters, these animals never being
found so far inland.
After we got to Sea we were harrassed with a foul wind from the S. E.
attended with Rain & Haze till the 25th (7 days) when at last we had
the wind from the pleasant quarter N. W. and pass'd to the Westward of
Scott's Islands, but what with calms and more foul winds it was not
till the 28th that we came in sight of Nootka Sound.
_Transactions in Nootka Sound_
On the 28th about 11 o'clock in the forenoon we enter'd the Sound with
a fair fresh Breeze, but so very foggy that we had lost sight of the
Discovery, nor did we see her when the Fog cleared away which was about
Noon.
As we approach'd the Cove we observed a Boat coming out to us with
the Spanish Colours flying, she came on board us, and proved to be
the Guard Boat. The Officer in her, on hearing who we were, and that
we were come out in company with the Discovery to receive this place
of them, discovered much satisfaction and the people in the Boat were
ready to leap overboard for joy, for it seems we were so long expected
that they had now given up all hopes of seeing us at all this season.
We found lying in Friendly Cove His Catholic Mjs. Brig. Activa of
twelve guns wearing Seigr. Quadra's Broad Pendant, the Doedalus
Transport, with Stores and Provisions for us; and the Three Bs, a
Brig commanded by a Mr Alder, on the Fur Trade from New Castle. The
Discovery was not here. Seigr. Quadra sent off an invitation to Captn.
Broughton to dine ashore which was accepted, and after the usual
ceremonies of demanding: gun for gun we saluted the Fort with 13 guns
which were returned with an equal number from the Activa. The Master of
the Storeship, Mr New, waited on Captn. B. and brought some Packets of
Letters for us from our friends in England.
About 4 o'clock the Discovery hove in sight and shortly after enter'd
the Cove and took her berth close to us. She likewise saluted the Fort
with 13 Guns, which was returned and in the evening Captn. Vancouver
waited on Seigr. Quadra ashore.
The next day (the 29th) Seigr. Quadra gave a grand dinner at his house
on shore to the two Commanders and their officers. After the dinner was
over (which by the bye was given in a style but little expected in such
a place as Nootka) Seigr. Quadra gave the Healths of the Sovereigns of
England & Spain accompanied by 21 guns fired from his Brig and also
Captn. Vancouver's health with 13 guns.
In the evening the Governor sent a couple of fine sheep with a large
stock of Cabbages &c. on board each of the vessels and also a cask of
Rum to the Ship's Company. The live stock on shore belonging to the
Governor consisted of about ten head of cattle, some sheep & goats,
Pigs, and Poultry of all kinds. Their stock, we were informed, had been
much larger, but expecting that we should have been much earlier with
them they had been very liberal with it and as it was supposed that on
receiving the Port one of our vessels would stay here the remainder
of the stock was intended to be left with us. There were besides
several large gardens well stocked with vegetables of all kinds.
All the Vessels in the Cove were regularly supplied with Hot Rolls,
Milk & Vegetables every morning--such was the Hospitable and friendly
attention of Seigr. Quadra.
Except the Governor's House,[244] which is large, and built of wood
and has a second floor, there are none other except some sheds for
Artificers and two or three storehouses. In one of these was now living
a Mr Magee, Master of the Margaret, merchant ship of Boston. She was
now trading to the N. for Furs but had left Mr Magee here on account
of ill health, his Surgeon and a gentleman of the name of Howell (a
passenger) was residing on shore with him. But before we were here long
we found that ill-health was not Mr Magee's only motive for remaining
on shore here, for he was carrying on a most profitable trade with
the Spaniards & Seamen in Spirituous Liquors, generously charging
only four Dollars a gallon for Yankee Rum that cost him most probably
about 2/--or half a crown per gallon. Indeed the ill effects of this
shameful trade was soon too great to pass without taking notice of
it, and endeavouring to put a stop to it. Our Seamen were continually
drunk which from the badness of the liquor threw them into fits of
sickness; and Captn. Vancouver was at last oblig'd to take measures
that prevented any further trade of that nature with our people.
On the Fort which is at the S. pt: of entrance of Friendly Cove there
were now but two guns mounted: there had been 18 but the Frigate which
had sailed for San Blas about a month before had taken the remainder of
the guns with her.
As we expected to remain here some time the Tents & observatory were
taken ashore and set up in an advantageous spot behind the Governor's
house in a garden fronting the entrance of the Sound. The new
observatory with the circular instrument, Astronomical Clock, three
Timekeepers & the other Astronomical Instruments that were sent out
by the Board of Longitude with the unfortunate Astronomer Mr Gooch
were also sent on shore here. We now heard the particulars of the two
unfortunate gentlemen, Lieut. Hergest the Agent, and Mr Gooch and the
poor seaman who were cut off by the Natives of Woahoo, one of the
Sandwich Islands.
(Description of the massacre of these men is omitted as of no interest
for the present purpose. A. H. T.)
(To be continued.)
FOOTNOTES:
[235] Opposite the present City of Seattle and near the entrance to
Port Blakeley.
[236] Chief Seattle, then a boy of about six years, was undoubtedly
with the natives mentioned.
[237] When Captain Vancouver rejoined the party he reviewed the work
of his lieutenants and wrote upon his chart in honor of the quality of
that work the well known name of "Puget's Sound." Puget had gone on one
side and he, himself, had gone on another side of a large body of land
which he called Vashon Island, in honor of Captain James Vashon of the
British navy.
[238] On that shore there now stands the beautiful and prosperous City
of Everett.
[239] Just south of Semiahmoo Bay on which stands the City of Blaine.
[240] During this cruise Whidby had found a narrow passage connecting
with Port Gardner. Vancouver called it Deception Pass and he gave
Whidby's name to the large island thus made known.
[241] Vancouver's boat expedition had traversed much of the waterway
between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The Spaniards reported the
probability of a large river. Vancouver declared it impossible. Later
the Fraser River was discovered from the land side and traced to its
mouth where the Spaniards had thought it to be.
[242] William Robert Broughton was associated with Vancouver as
commander of the armed tender Chatham on which consort this journal
written.
[243] Reference is here made to the red fir, which has been called by
many names from the first time the trees were seen to the present time.
[244] From sketches published by Vancouver, the present editor was able
to locate the site of this house or fort in 1803 and several fragments
of Spanish tile-like bricks were found where the foundation corners had
rested.
BOOK REVIEWS
THE INDIAN HISTORY OF THE MODOC WAR AND THE CAUSES THAT LED TO IT.
By Jeff C. Riddle, the Son of Winema, the Heroine of the Modoc War.
(Klamath Falls, Oregon, D. L. Moses, 1914. Pp. 295. $2.74.)
At the time of the advent of the white man, the Klamath Lake country,
an elevated plateau in southeastern Oregon interspersed with numerous
lakes and extending across the boundary into California, was occupied
by a number of bands of Indians commonly regarded as being of a
single stock, but having little intercourse with one another and
that not always friendly. But one characteristic they had in common,
the suspicion and dislike of the white man and the pertinacity and
fierceness with which they resisted his attempts to occupy their
country. When Ewing Young and his party, as early as 1837, brought the
first herd of cattle from California to Oregon, he was attacked by
Indians in this region, and from that time forward hardly a year passed
without depredations on one side or the other, until the close of the
Modoc war in 1873. The Indian who felt himself wronged by a white man
revenged himself according to Indian custom upon the first white man
that fell in his way. In like manner, if a white man was robbed or
murdered, his associates or neighbors were but too apt to avenge him
by attacking the first party of Indians they might encounter. It thus
happened that oftener than otherwise the punishment for undoubted
outrages fell upon those who were entirely guiltless, and in this way,
too, every act of aggression became the source of an additional feud.
The usual consequences followed, of constantly increasing bitterness
between the races, and of reprisals that were simply ferocious in
their cruelty. Nor were these by any means confined to the side of the
Indians.
One of the smallest of the bands inhabiting the region mentioned was
the Modocs, who dwelt along the shores of Rhett Lake, better known
locally as Tule Lake, on both sides of the boundary between Oregon
and California. There were different bands of these, under different
chiefs, but we are here more particularly concerned with what is known
as Capt. Jack's band. These were even more turbulent and warlike than
the neighboring tribes, and from the earliest appearance of the whites
in that region had been in frequent collision with them.
The government, in the beginning of 1870, succeeded in getting them to
settle on a part of the reservation which was assigned to them with the
consent of the Klamaths, but they got along no better with the Klamaths
than with the whites, though it appears quite certain that the fault
was altogether with the latter Indians.
Various attempts were made to compose their troubles without success,
and the Modocs after a short time abandoned the reservation and
returned to their former home. The authorities ignored this action
until, about two years later, complaints began to be made by the white
settlers that the Indians had become menacing and were committing
frequent depredations. These complaints resulted in an order from the
head of the Indian department in September, 1872, to the Superintendent
of Indian Affairs in Oregon, to return the Modocs to the reservation
"peaceably if you can, forcibly if you must." The Indians, on being
informed of the order, flatly refused compliance. Thereupon Mr.
Odeneal, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, applied to the military
authorities in command at Fort Klamath, to compel obedience. Maj.
Jackson with a detachment of some thirty-five men marched to Captain
Jack's camp and after a parley asked the Indians to lay down their
arms. The Indians, on Capt. Jack's advice and following his example,
were doing so when an affray arose between Lieut. Boutelle and the
Indian known as Scar-face Charley, who each at the same moment fired
at the other. A general fight ensued, in which some twenty whites,
soldiers and citizens, were killed or wounded, but, as is claimed, no
Indians except a squaw and her baby.
Lying around the southern end of Tule Lake is a region known as the
"Lava Beds," a vast field of congealed lava intersected in every
direction with a labyrinth of fissures and caves and abrupt walls of
rock. The place is a natural fastness of such extraordinary defensive
strength that a handful of resolute men could hold it against an army
so long as provisions and ammunition held out. To this place the
Indians fled, numbering, with those who afterwards joined them of
fifty-three men with their families. And here took place during the
next year the most remarkable defense of which the annals of Indian
warfare afford any account, and the most unparalleled act of treachery,
the murder of Gen. Canby and Dr. Thomas, and the attempted murder of
Mr. Meacham and Mr. Dyer, who as commissioners had met the Indians
under a flag of truce to negotiate a treaty of peace.
The volume before us is a narrative of the events of this war and a
sketch of the history of the tribe during the preceding quarter of a
century. The author is the son of a Modoc mother and a white father.
His father and mother acted as interpreters in the negotiations
between the Indians and the peace commissioners, and had and deserved
the confidence of the best informed on both sides. The mother was a
woman of remarkable character, and is in fact the most heroic Indian
figure of the Modoc war. With such an ancestry it is not surprising
that the author should exhibit strong sympathy for the Indians. In
fact, he avows, as a reason for his book that "the Indian side has
never been given to the public yet." To the credit of his fairness it
must be said that his account of actual occurrences is hardly more
favorable to the Indians than that of others who witnessed and have
written of them. If fault can be found anywhere it is in an occasional
lack of details where details would lend a darker color to the facts
given.
The author modestly says of himself and his book:
"I have one drawback, I have no education, but I have tried to write
as plain as I could. I use no fine language in my writing, for I lack
education."
The book itself fully sustains this statement. But at times the very
lack of art and skill betrayed lends a certain pathos to the story.
The volume can hardly be called a valuable contribution to the history
of the war. Its chief interest will be to the pioneer of the locality
who will turn to it as he would to a newspaper of the time, or an old
letter written from the midst of the scenes it describes, and thus live
over again the scenes of this stirring period.
JULIUS A. STRATTON.
* * * * *
TEN THOUSAND MILES WITH A DOG SLED. By Hudson Stuck, D. D., F. R. G.
S., Archdeacon of the Yukon. (N. Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914.
$3.50.)
This is a most interesting narrative of winter journeys with dog team
into many remote corners of the Yukon basin in Alaska from 1905 to
1913, connected primarily with the administration of the extensive
mission work of the Episcopal church among the natives of interior
Alaska.
It is the work of a man of trained mind who describes clearly and
entertainingly his own experiences from day to day in traveling through
drifting snow, over frozen rivers and lakes and across mountain ranges,
in temperatures as low as 70 degrees below zero, making camps in the
open plains, on mountain sides, in log huts, and with Eskimos in their
igloos, and cooking his meals for himself and his helpers, and for his
dogs as well, under all the trying conditions of a subarctic climate in
mid-winter. Thousands of Alaskans go through similar experiences every
winter, but few have the ability to tell their experiences so clearly
and faithfully as Archdeacon Stuck has done.
The special value of this work, aside from its popular interest as a
narrative of winter travels in the interior of a new territory about to
be opened to development by the building of government railroads, is
threefold:
First--He calls attention very forcefully to the bad effects on the
natives of contact with a class of whites whom he calls "the low
down whites." He compares the good results of the mission work in
settlements remote from army posts and saloons, and the discouraging
results of the same kind of work in settlements where the natives are
preyed upon by immoral whites with bad whiskey as their principal
agency. He does not overdraw the facts. His words burn, but they are
true.
Second--He shows, from familiarity with the native languages, that
the Indians of the upper Yukon valley, above the mouth of the Tanana,
and of the entire Tanana valley, are Athabascans, speaking the same
language and having the same traditions as the Indians of the Mackenzie
river, while the Indians of the lower Yukon as far as Nulato, and of
the upper Kuskokwim, are of a wholly different primal stock, speaking
a language in no way related to that of the Athabascans. The Eskimos
along the coast, in the interior, and in the lower Kuskokwim, he
describes as all of one race with the Eskimos of the Arctic ocean
clear to the east of Greenland. He speaks highly of the Eskimos,
describing them as superior in character and in possibilities of mental
development to any of the tribes of American Indians.
Third--The different breeds of dogs, so invaluable to Alaska as the
universal friend and helper of prospectors and travelers in every part
of the territory, are described in a manner that will help to clear up
many of the long standing myths among Alaskans as to the origin of the
"Malamute," the "Huskie," and the "Siwash." The "Malamute," he shows,
is the typical Eskimo dog, the same in Alaska as in northern Labrador
and in Greenland. The "Huskie" is not a cross with a wolf, he avers,
contrary to the belief of many Alaskans, but was originally a cross
between hardy dogs like the Scotch collie and others with the Malamute
itself. The "Siwash" is simply one of the many kinds of native Indian
dogs, pure or mixed with other stocks.
It would have been better for Archdeacon Stuck if he had stopped with
telling what he knows from long experience among the natives, and had
not devoted a chapter in opposition to the building of government
railroads in Alaska. Here he prognosticates. He urges the building of
a system of wagon roads instead, which, in this twentieth century, is
strange advice from a man of his keen powers of observation in other
respects. Of course, not ten men in all Alaska will agree with him on
this point. His argument against railroads in Alaska is the same as
that advanced for many years by the big trading companies, which desire
above all things to prevent Alaskan development for their own good.
In dealing with the agricultural possibilities, which he minimizes,
he omits mention altogether of the great Susitna valley, which all
Alaskans know to be the best in Alaska from an agricultural standpoint.
It is very clear that Archdeacon Stuck is not an authority on
agriculture in any of its branches, and that he never lived a day on a
farm.
Aside from his opposition to government railroads in Alaska and his
doubts as to agricultural possibilities there, on which subjects a
minister of the gospel is not necessarily good authority, his book is
one of the best of the many recent popular works on Alaska.
JOHN E. BALLAINE.
* * * * *
THE COMING HAWAII. By Joseph King Goodrich. (Chicago, McClurg, 1914.
Pp. 329. $1.50.)
Like the author's earlier books on China, Mexico and Canada, The Coming
Hawaii is based partly on the writer's own experience and partly on
other authorities, which he cites in footnotes throughout the book.
Like his earlier works, also, it is written in a popular style and is
intended for the reader whose interest in Hawaii is a general one.
Mr. Goodrich made his first visit to Hawaii in 1866. A second and
longer one was made after the government there had become republican.
His residence in Japan as professor in the Imperial Government College
at Kyoto has enabled him to speak authoritatively on the attitude of
that country toward Hawaii.
In The Coming Hawaii, Mr. Goodrich sketches the history of the islands,
surveys present conditions and considers the relation of Hawaii, in the
future, to other countries.
The historical outline includes some notice of the myths and legends
which are interwoven with the early history of the Hawaiians, the rule
of native monarchs, the transition to American control, and the present
administration of the islands by the United States.
The discussion of present conditions is sufficiently broad in its
scope as to include almost everything of general interest. Among the
subjects presented are the origin of the Hawaiian race, the Hawaiians
as laborers, native arts, manners and customs, social life, natural
resources, volcanoes, the missionary movement, literature, and
immigration.
A most interesting chapter is the one on Agriculture in the Islands.
Mr. Goodrich commends the government for the interest it has taken in
this pursuit, as shown by valuable experiments with soils and crops,
and by its efforts to induce a desirable farming class to settle in
the islands. He believes that upon the development of its agriculture,
more than upon anything else, depends the economic future of Hawaii. It
is of special interest to us that Hawaii turns to the United States,
particularly to the Pacific states, to find a market for her products.
In considering the future of the Islands, Mr. Goodrich does not
overlook the opportunities they offer all for pleasure, to which
the scenery, the equable climate and the fine beaches, especially,
contribute.
The reader's enjoyment of the book is increased by the reproductions
of attractive photographs. It contains also a good bibliography and an
index.
MARY HUBBARD.
* * * * *
TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION, 1765-1865; TOGETHER WITH A LIST OF COUNTY
HISTORIES, ATLASES, AND BIOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS AND A LIST OF
TERRITORIAL AND STATE LAWS. By Solon J. Buck. (Springfield, Ill.
Illinois State Historical Library, 1914. Pp. 514.)
This book, published as volume nine of the Illinois Historical
Collections, is a product of the Historical Survey conducted by the
University of Illinois. It forms the first part of a comprehensive
bibliography of Illinois history, which is being prepared by Solon J.
Buck. An attempt is here made to list all works of travel covering
any part of the territory of Illinois during the period 1765-1865.
Full items of imprint and collation are given, followed by annotations
and references to notices and reviews. Such a thoroughgoing piece of
bibliography covering description and travel in America becomes of
general interest to all students of the Western Movement.
* * * * *
GUIDE TO THE MATERIALS IN LONDON ARCHIVES FOR THE HISTORY OF THE
UNITED STATES SINCE 1783. By Charles O. Paulin and Frederic L. Paxson.
(Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1914. Pp. 642.)
This is the third volume to be issued by the Department of Historical
Research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in the series of
Guides relating to the London Archives. The two previous volumes relate
to the History of the United States preceding 1783. The present volume
covers the period from 1783 to 1860. It therefore becomes of great
interest and value to students of Pacific Northwest History from the
time of the Nootka Sound Embroglio to the Acquisition of the Oregon
Territory. A glance at the index reveals more than sixty references to
Oregon with nearly as many to the Hudson's Bay Company and a goodly
number to Washington Territory.
* * * * *
ANNUAL PUBLICATION OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA,
1912-1913. (Los Angeles, J. B. Walters, 1914. Pp. 158.)
This volume marks the thirtieth anniversary of the organization of the
Historical Society of Southern California. In addition to articles
of direct bearing upon the local field are several papers of a more
general interest. Among the latter may be noted: "Events leading
to the Chinese exclusion act"; "Drake on the Pacific Coast"; and
"Anti-Japanese legislation in California."
* * * * *
Other Books Received
CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Annual Report, 1913. (Chicago, The Society,
1914. Pp. 173.)
DOUGHTY, ARTHUR G., and MCARTHUR, DUNCAN A. Documents Relating to the
Constitutional History of Canada, 1791-1818. (Ottawa, Government, 1914.
Pp. 576.)
FAXON, FREDERICK W., _editor_. Annual magazine subject-index, 1913.
(Boston, Boston Book Company, 1914. Pp. 278.)
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION. First Annual Report, 1913. (Lansing,
Public Printer, 1914. Pp. 63.)
NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL COMMISSION. North Carolina Manual, 1913.
(Raleigh, Public Printer, 1913. Pp. 1053.)
PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY. Yearbook, 1914. (New York, The Pennsylvania
Society, 1914. Pp. 256.)
TREXLER, HARRISON A. Slavery in Missouri, 1804-1865. (Baltimore, The
Johns Hopkins Press, 1914. Pp. 259.)
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Professor Turner in the Northwest
All those in the Pacific Northwest who are interested in history have
received inspiration and uplift by the presence and work of Professor
Frederick Jackson Turner, formerly of the University of Wisconsin and
now of the faculty of Harvard University. He gave the Commencement
address at the University of Washington and continued at work there
with two courses of lectures during the first half of the Eleventh
Summer Session. He will later serve the University of Oregon in a like
capacity at the Summer Session of that institution. Professor Turner
has achieved an elevated and abiding position among the historical
scholars of America by his work on the influence and meaning of the
expanding West. His students are now scattered all over the country
transmitting the impulse received in his classes.
Researcher in Northwestern History
Victor J. Farrar has arrived from the University of Wisconsin to take
up his new work as Research Assistant in the University of Washington.
At Work on Russian Archives
Professor Frank A. Golder of the State College of Washington reports
success at St. Petersburg, where he is at work on the Russian archives
for the Historical Research Department of the Carnegie Institution.
Mountaineers' Lodge
The Mountaineers dedicated on June 21 a log-cabin lodge in the Cascade
Range near the Snoqualmie Pass, probably the most historic pass through
that range. The ceremonies were participated in by Professor Frederick
J. Turner, Major E. S. Ingraham, A. H. Denman, Sidney V. Bryant, Sofie
Hammer and Professor Edmond S. Meany.
History Convention
The Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association held a
special meeting at the University of Washington on May 21-23, 1914, as
a part of the Pacific Association of Scientific Societies. The history
programmes were expanded to give representation to the Northwest
Association of Teachers of History, Government and Economics and
the proposed Pacific Coast Branch of the American Political Science
Association.
The programmes were as follows:
Thursday Morning.--Literature of the Northwest, Professor J. B. Homer,
Oregon Agricultural College; Spanish Voyages on the Pacific Coast,
Professor F. J. Teggart, University of California; Fur Trading Posts of
the Columbia River Basin, T. C. Elliott, Walla Walla.
Thursday Afternoon.--Schleiden's Diplomacy in Connection with the
American Civil War, Dr. Ralph H. Lutz, University of Washington;
Spanish-American War and the War of 1812, C. A. Sprague, Assistant
State Superintendent of Washington; The Basis of Interest in History,
Professor Joseph Schafer, University of Oregon; Natural Law and the
American Homestead Act, Professor John P. O'Hara, University of Oregon.
Friday Morning.--History of the Oxford Press, Professor Alice E. Page,
Willamette University; Holbach and the French Revolution, Professor M.
P. Cushing, Reed College; The Fundamental Factor in the Renaissance,
Professor Edward M. Hulme, University of Idaho.
Friday Afternoon.--Direct Government in Oregon, Professor W. F. Ogburn,
Reed College; The Teaching of Latin-American History and Institutions
in American Universities, Professor R. C. Clark, University of Oregon;
Commonwealth Legislatures, Professor L. B. Shippee, State College of
Washington; Law and Opportunity, Professor W. G. Beach, University of
Washington.
Annual Dinner, Friday Evening.--Professor O. H. Richardson, University
of Washington, Toastmaster; Presidential Address, Professor Edmond
S. Meany, University of Washington, President of the Pacific Coast
Branch of the American Historical Association; Professor R. C. Clark;
representing the proposed Pacific Coast Branch of the American
Political Science Association.
Greetings were voiced by the following: Professor Alice E. Page
of Willamette University, Professor W. F. Ogburn of Reed College,
Librarian E. O. S. Scholefield of the Provincial Library of British
Columbia, Assistant State Superintendent C. A. Sprague of Olympia,
Professor William A. Morris of the University of California, T. C.
Elliott of Walla Walla, Professor Young of the University of Utah,
Professor Leroy F. Jackson of the State College of Washington,
President C. J. Bushnell of Pacific University.
Saturday Morning.--Perspective in History, President C. J. Bushnell,
Pacific University; Training for Citizenship--What to Do? How to Do It?
Professor Leroy F. Jackson, State College of Washington; Discussion
opened by Miss Adella M. Parker, Broadway High School, Seattle; What
Shall Be the Treatment of Pacific Coast History in the American History
Course? Principal H. N. Gridley, Daniel Bagley School, Seattle.
Political Science Section.--State Administration of Health, Professor
U. G. Dubach, Oregon Agricultural College; Unemployment, Professor A.
R. Wood, Reed College: Discussion: The Report of the Committee of the
American Political Science Association on Instruction in Political
Science in Colleges and Universities.
The Programme Committee consisted of Professor William A. Morris,
University of California, Secretary-Treasurer of the Pacific Coast
Branch of the American Historical Association; Professor Edward
McMahon, University of Washington; Miss Rose Glass, Franklin High
School, Seattle; Ellis H. Rogers, Stadium High School, Tacoma; Leo
Jones, University of Washington, representing the Proposed Political
Science Branch.
In addition to the above programmes, the allied associations were
represented on the one general programme of the Pacific Association
of Scientific Societies in the person of J. Allen Smith, Dean of the
Graduate School of the University of Washington. His theme was The
Citizen and the State.
NORTHWESTERN HISTORY SYLLABUS
[The aim of this department is to furnish outlines that will aid those
who wish to study the subject systematically. It is expected that its
greatest use will be as a guide for members of women's clubs, literary
societies, and classes in college or high schools. It will be a form of
university extension without the theses and examinations necessary for
the earning credits toward a degree.]
X. Review of Boundaries
1. Louisiana Purchase.
a. France cedes to Spain, 1763.
b. Spain cedes back to France, 1801.
c. Lucien Bonaparte's Diary.
d. Treaty of 30 April, 1803.
e. Indefinite boundaries.
2. Treaty of Ghent, 1814.
a. Instructions to American Commissioners.
b. Ante-bellum conditions as to territory.
c. Astoria included.
3. Joint Occupancy Treaty.
a. Signed 20 October, 1818.
b. Article III provides for joint occupancy.
c. Limit of ten years.
4. Purchase of Florida, 1819.
a. Fixes southern boundary of Oregon country.
b. Spain gives United States quitclaim to Oregon.
5. Fifty-four, Forty.
a. Ukase of Russian Czar, 1821.
b. Europe too disturbed to notice.
c. England and United States object.
d. Part of Monroe Doctrine, 1823.
e. Russian Treaty with United States, 1824.
f. Russian Treaty with Great Britain, 1825.
g. Boundary fixed at 54-40.
6. Joint Occupancy Renewed.
a. Treaty with Great Britain, 1827.
b. Term indefinite.
c. May be terminated by twelve months' notice.
7. Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842.
a. Northern boundary adjusted.
b. Ended at Rocky Mountains.
c. Oregon not included.
8. Treaty of 1846.
a. Compromise boundary fixed at 49th parallel.
b. Skirting Vancouver Island sowed seed of further trouble.
* * * * *
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Former citations will in many cases apply to this
syllabus. The following works will, however, bear directly on the
subjects and will also point to other works as needed.
BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE. Works of. See the two volumes on the Northwest
Coast, the two on Oregon and the one on Alaska. The indexes will guide.
HERMANN, BINGER. The Louisiana Purchase and Our Title West of the
Rocky Mountains, with a Review of Annexation by the United States.
Mr. Hermann was United States Commissioner of the General Land Office
and his book was issued as a public document in 1898. It should be
found in all libraries of the Northwest. He shows that Oregon was not
included in the Louisiana Purchase, although his predecessor had issued
a government map showing that it was so included.
HOSMER, JAMES KENDALL. History of the Louisiana Purchase. This work was
issued in 1902 as a timely book on account of the approaching Louisiana
Purchase Exposition of 1904. Here may be found an extract from Lucien
Bonaparte's Diary.
JOHNSON, SIDONA V. A Short History of Oregon. This little book,
cited heretofore, will touch upon most of the points covered in this
syllabus. The table of contents and index will guide.
MALLOY, WILLIAM M. Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols
and Agreements between the United States of America and Other Powers,
1776-1909. This prime source book in two volumes is a government
publication and ought to be in every public library. The treaties are
arranged in alphabetical order as to countries and there is an adequate
index as well as abundant explanatory notes. Every student of our
boundaries should become familiar with this work.
MARSHALL, WILLIAM I. Acquisition of Oregon, Vol. I., Pp., 142-143. Here
the author shows that Astoria was included in the antebellum conditions
of the Treaty of Ghent. If the student has access to a large library he
may go to the source quoted by Marshall: American State Papers, Foreign
Relations, Vol. III., Documents 269 and 271.
MEANY, EDMOND S. History of the State of Washington. The table of
contents and index will guide to the various topics and footnotes will
point the way to original sources.
SCHAFER, JOSEPH. A History of the Pacific Northwest. This is another
work which will help the student working on such a syllabus as the
above by applying the index to each of the topics.
HISTORY TEACHERS' SECTION
The HISTORY TEACHERS' MAGAZINE for April, May and June contain several
articles of general interest to all history teachers. The Teaching of
Greek History series continues through all three numbers. In the April
Number Professor Sill of Cornell writes on the Two Periods of Greek
Expansion; in the May number Professor Fling of Nebraska has an article
on the Use of Sources in Teaching Greek History; and in the June number
Professor Botsford of Columbia writes on The Choice and Use of Books
Relating to the History of Greece.
In each number also is the excellent announcement of the Recent
Historical Literature.
The leading article in the May number is by Professor Hull of
Swarthmore College on the International Interpretation of United States
History. He makes a plea for a wider view of American history, wider
even than that which has recently rebelled from the traditions of
the New England interpretation. The great number of immigrants into
this country, and the great acceptance of culture and civilization
from the different European countries leads him to make a plea for
an interpretation from the point of view of all of these countries.
The substance of his article may be seen in the following paragraph:
"The great founders of our Republic besought their fellow-countrymen
to think _continentally_; to realize that their individual and their
local welfare was wrapped up in the creation and preservation of the
national Union. Today we teachers must appeal to our fellow-countrymen
of our own and the growing generation to think _internationally_; to
realize that our national history, in its origin and in every step of
its growth, is the world's most striking object-lesson in the virtue of
internationalism; to realize that as a cosmopolitan nation our history
and the very substance of our being bind us to the duty of making our
ideals of _American Internationalism_ prevail in the Family of Nations."
In the same number also is a survey of The Teaching of History in
Maine, which does for that State what the same kind of a survey by
Professor Sprage did for Washington--and which was published in the
History Teachers' Magazine some time ago.
The most interesting article in the June number is an article by
Professor Marshall of the Alameda (Cal.) High School on Present
Tendencies in High School History Teaching. After discussing the
question of pedagogy and the child-study for the high school he goes
on to say regarding the tendencies of teaching that "the increased
emphasis upon economic and social history is sound, for it broadens
the view of the child, increases his understanding of the human kind,
and gives him the substance for the forming of judgments. But when it
comes to the shifting of emphasis, the pendulum begins to swing the
other way. In ancient history I would push back the borders to the
earliest dawn of civilization, broadening rather than contracting its
limits. Greek history should not be curtailed to give more time to
the Roman Empire. The Hellenic contribution to mankind is as vital as
that of the Roman." For the European and English history he would also
be conscious of the long past on which they rest, stating that all
questions of the day thread their way far into the past. For American
history he would push the colonial periods into their respective
European settings and see them also as part of that great movement of
Europe as a whole for colonial expansion. His view of the teaching
of local history is interesting--and he is speaking for California
conditions. Local contracts rather than broadens the vision of the
child; too often the pupils can see no further than the boundary of
his state, forgetting the general movement of which his state is only
an incident. He also points out the scarcity of suitable and worthy
texts on local history; and closes with the belief that "There are two
places in the wide field of education where California history has
its place; namely, in the grammar school, where a technical knowledge
of the subject is unnecessary, and in the post-graduate work of the
university, where the subject is a fruitful field for investigations."
In the same number is also a thoughtful article: Suggestions for
Beginners in the Teaching of History.
* * * * *
The TEXAS HISTORY TEACHERS' MAGAZINE for May contains an article by
Professor Riker of Texas on The Art of Studying the Text-Book. High
school teachers of European history will very likely find many valuable
suggestions in it.
Of special value is the article by Professor Kellar of Texas on Some
Suggestions for Equipment in History Teaching in the High School.
In the thirty-three pages he gives an excellent selection of books
for high school purposes on Ancient, Medieval and Modern, English,
American, History and Civics. The lists are arranged in separate lists,
costing, respectively, $5, $10, $25, $50 and $100.
* * * * *
VERGANGENHEIT UND GEGENWART for May has its leading article on The Epic
Principle in History Instruction. Another interesting article describes
the attempts of Krupp and Zeiss at Essen and Jena to increase the
educational advantages of their employees.
The usual excellent bibliographical notices, covering twenty-five pages
in number, covers the field of ancient and art history. In the section
given to the auxiliary sciences is an excellent review of the new
edition of Aloys Meister's Principles of the Historical Science.
In the last number of the Quarterly reference was made to an article
in the Vergangenheit und Gegenwart by Professor Show of Stanford--his
presidential address before the Pacific Coast Branch of the American
Historical Association in 1912. The translation elicited much comment
in Germany and in this number of the magazine are printed three replies
to Professor Show and his criticisms of the Lamprecht school of history
at Leipzig. One is written by present and former students under
Lamprecht at Leipzig: another is written by Lamprecht himself: and the
third is from the editors of the magazine.
* * * * *
On June 2nd the Seattle History Teachers' Club held its second meeting
at the Good Eats Cafe. Professor Fleming of the Franklin High School
presided, while Professor Bowman of the University spoke on the
history work of the high school as seen in the freshman class in the
University. There was pointed out the usual laxness on the part of
the students to read a sentence with care and understanding, also the
inability to hold to a question and do only what the question calls
for. Dr. Lutz of the University also spoke. The speakers urged that
the high school teachers and the university instructors get together
and see to what extent they could come to an understanding as to the
elementary work in doing history so that the university could begin
where the high schools leave off. Certain activities should be secured
in the high schools so that when the student goes to the university
these steps could be taken as the beginning of the work there. After
a discussion of the talk a committee was authorized to work on the
problem of the "power method" in the high schools and the point to
which it could be carried in the schools.
This was the first of a general discussion of the relation of the
several phases of the school system history teaching. The next meeting
of the club will consider the history work of the university from the
point of view of the high school; later the same relation will be noted
between the high schools and the grades.
Professor O'Conner was elected chairman of the next meeting. A
constitution was reported by Professor Fleming and was adopted. The
name of the club is to be The Seattle History Teachers' Club. It will
meet two or three times each year with a changing committee in charge
of each meeting. It is also intended to urge the participation of the
history teachers around the Sound.
The Washington Historical Quarterly
Board of Editors
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, Seattle.
J. N. BOWMAN, Seattle.
T. C. ELLIOTT, Walla Walla.
FRANK A. GOLDER, Pullman.
CEYLON S. KINGSTON, Cheney.
W. D. LYMAN, Walla Walla.
EDWARD MCMAHON, Seattle.
THOMAS W. PROSCH, Seattle.
OLIVER H. RICHARDSON, Seattle.
O. B. SPERLIN, Tacoma.
E. O. S. SCHOLEFIELD, Victoria, B. C.
ALLEN WEIR, _Olympia_.
Managing Editor
EDMOND S. MEANY
Business Manager
CHARLES W. SMITH
VOL. V. NO. 4 OCTOBER, 1914
_ISSUED QUARTERLY_
Contents
FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER The West and American Ideals 243
T. C. ELLIOTT Journal of John Work, December
15, 1825, to June 12, 1826 258
EDWIN EELLS Elisa and the Nez Perce Indians 288
DOCUMENTS--A New Vancouver Journal 300
BOOK REVIEWS 309
NEWS DEPARTMENT 320
NORTHWESTERN HISTORY SYLLABUS 322
HISTORY TEACHERS' SECTION 325
INDEX, VOLUME V. 327
THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
UNIVERSITY STATION
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Entered at the postoffice at Seattle as second-class mail matter.
The Washington University
State Historical Society
* * * * *
Officers and Board of Trustees:
CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, _President_
JUDGE JOHN P. HOYT, Vice-President
JUDGE ROGER S. GREENE, Treasurer
PROFESSOR EDMOND S. MEANY, Secretary
JUDGE CORNELIUS H. HANFORD
JUDGE THOMAS BURKE
SAMUEL HILL
SEATTLE
DEPARTMENT OF PRINTING, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
1914
_Vol. V., No. 4 October, 1914_
The
Washington Historical Quarterly
THE WEST AND AMERICAN IDEALS[245]
True to American traditions that each succeeding generation ought to
find in the Republic a better home, once in every year the colleges
and universities summon the nation to lift its eyes from the routine
of work, in order to take stock of the country's purposes and
achievements, to examine its past and consider its future.
This attitude of self examination is hardly characteristic of the
people as a whole. Particularly it is not characteristic of the
historic American. He has been an opportunist rather than a dealer in
general ideas. Destiny set him in a current which bore him swiftly
along through such a wealth of opportunity that reflection and
well-considered planning seemed wasted time. He knew not where he was
going, but he was on his way, cheerful, optimistic, busy and buoyant.
Today we are reaching a changed condition, less apparent perhaps, in
the newer regions than in the old, but sufficiently obvious to extend
the commencement frame of mind from the college to the country as
a whole. The swift and inevitable current of the upper reaches of
the nation's history has borne it to the broader expanse and slower
stretches which mark the nearness of the level sea. The vessel, no
longer carried along by the rushing waters, finds it necessary to
determine its own directions on this new ocean of its future, to give
conscious consideration to its motive power and to its steering gear.
It matters not so much that those who address these college men and
women upon life, and give conflicting answers to the questions of
whence and whither. The pause for remembrance, for reflection and for
aspiration is wholesome in itself.
Although the American people are becoming more self conscious, more
responsive to the appeal to act by deliberate choices, we should
be over-sanguine if we believed that even in this new day these
commencement surveys were taken to heart by the general public, or that
they were directly and immediately influential upon national thought
and action.
But even while we check our enthusiasm by this realization of the
common thought, we must take heart. The University's peculiar privilege
and distinction lie in the fact that it is not the passive instrument
of the State to voice its current ideas. Its problem is not that of
expressing tendencies. Its mission is to create tendencies and to
direct them. Its problem is that of leadership and of ideals. It is
called, of course, to justify the support which the public gives it,
by working in close and sympathetic touch with those it serves. More
than that, it would lose important elements of strength if it failed
to recognize the fact that improvement and creative movement often
come from the masses themselves, instinctively moving toward a better
order. The University's graduates must be fitted to take their places
naturally and effectually in the common life of the time. But the
University is called also to justify its existence by giving to its
sons and daughters something which they could not well have gotten
through the ordinary experiences of the life outside its walls. It
is called to serve the time by independent research and by original
thought. If it were a mere recording instrument of conventional opinion
and average information, it is hard to see why the University should
exist at all. To clasp hands with the common life in order that it
may lift that life, to be a radiant center enkindling the society in
which it has its being, these are primary duties of the University.
Fortunate the state which gives free play to this spirit of inquiry.
Let it "grubstake" its intellectual prospectors and send them forth
where "the trails run out and stop." A famous scientist holds that the
universal ether bears vital germs which impinging upon a dead world
would bring life to it. So, at least it is, in the world of thought,
where energized ideals put in the air and carried here and there by the
waves and currents of the intellectual atmosphere, fertilize vast inert
areas.
The University therefore, has a double duty. On the one hand it must
aid in the improvement of the general economic and social environment.
It must help on in the work of scientific discovery and of making
such conditions of existence, economic, political and social, as will
produce more fertile and responsive soil for a higher and better life.
It must stimulate a wider demand on the part of the public for right
leadership. It must extend its operations more widely among the people
and sink deeper shafts through social strata to find new supplies of
intellectual gold in popular levels yet untouched. And on the other
hand, it must find and fit men and women for leadership. It must
both awaken new demands and it must satisfy those demands by trained
leaders with new motives, with new incentives to ambition, with higher
and broader conception of what constitute the prizes in life, of what
constitutes success. The University has to deal with both the soil and
sifted seed in the agriculture of the human spirit.
Its efficiency is not the efficiency which the business engineer is
fitted to appraise. If it is a training ship, it is a training ship
bound on a voyage of discovery, seeking new horizons. The economy
of the University's consumption can only be rightly measured by the
later times which shall possess those new realms of the spirit which
its voyage shall reveal. If the ships of Columbus had engaged in a
profitable coastwise traffic between Palos and Cadiz they might have
saved sail cloth, but their keels would never have grated on the shores
of a New World.
The appeal of the undiscovered is strong in America. For three
centuries the fundamental process in its history was the westward
movement, the discovery and occupation of the vast free spaces of the
continent. We are the first generation of Americans who can look back
upon that era as a historic movement now coming to its end. Other
generations have been so much a part of it that they could hardly
comprehend its significance. To them it seemed inevitable. The free
land and the natural resources seemed practically inexhaustible. Nor
were they aware of the fact that their most fundamental traits, their
institutions, even their ideals were shaped by this interaction between
the wilderness and themselves.
American democracy was born of no theorist's dream; it was not carried
in the Susan Constant to Virginia, nor in the Mayflower to Plymouth.
It came stark and strong and full of life out of the American forest,
and it gained new strength each time it touched a new frontier. Not the
constitution, but free land and an abundance of natural resources open
to a fit people, made the democratic type of society in America for
three centuries while it occupied its great empire.
Today we are looking with a shock upon a changed world. The national
problem is no longer how to cut and burn away the vast screen of
the dense and daunting forest; it is how to save and wisely use the
remaining timber. It is no longer how to get the great spaces of
fertile prairie land in humid zones out of the hands of the government
into the hands of the pioneer; these lands have already passed into
private possession. No longer is it a question of how to avoid or
cross the Great Plains and the arid desert. It is a question of how
to conquer those rejected lands by new method of farming and by
cultivating new crops from seed collected by the government and by
scientists from the cold, dry steppes of Siberia to the burning sands
of Egypt, and the remote interior of China. It is a problem of how to
bring the precious rills of water on to the alkali and sage brush.
Population is increasing faster than the food supply.
New farm lands no longer increase decade after decade in areas equal
to those of European States. While the ratio of increase of improved
land declines, the value of farm lands rise and the price of food
leaps upward, reversing the old ratio between the two. The cry of
scientific farming and the conservation of natural resources replaces
the cry of rapid conquest of the wilderness. We have so far won our
national home, wrested from it its first rich treasures, and drawn
to it the unfortunate of other lands, that we are already obliged to
compare ourselves with settled states of the Old World. In place of
our attitude of contemptuous indifference to the legislation of such
countries as Germany and England, even Western States like Wisconsin
send commissions to study their systems of taxation, workingmen's
insurance, old age pensions and a great variety of other remedies for
social ills.
If we look about the periphery of the nation everywhere we see the
indications that our world is changing. On the streets of Northeastern
cities like New York and Boston, the faces which we meet are to a
surprising extent those of Southeastern Europe. Puritan New England,
which turned its capital into factories and mills and drew to its
shores the vast army of cheap labor, governed these people for a time
by a ruling class like an upper stratum between which and the lower
strata there was no assimilation. There was no such evolution into an
assimilated commonwealth as is seen in Middle Western agricultural
states, where immigrant and old native stock came in together and built
up a homogeneous society on the principle of give and take. But now the
Northeastern Coast finds its destiny, politically and economically,
passing away from the descendants of the Puritans. It is the little
Polish or Jewish boy, the Greek or the Sicilian, who takes the
traveller through historic streets, now the home of these newer people
to the Old North Church or to Paul Revere's house, or to Tea Wharf,
and tells you in his strange patois the story of revolution against
oppression.
Along the Southern Atlantic and the Gulf Coast, in spite of the
preservative influence of the negro, whose presence has always called
out resistance to change on the part of the whites, the forces of
social and industrial transformation are at work. The old tidewater
aristocracy has surrendered to the up country democrats. Along the line
of the Alleghanies like an advancing column, the forces of Northern
capital, textile and steel mills, year after year extend their invasion
into the lower South. New Orleans, once the mistress of the commerce of
the Mississippi Valley, is awakening to new dreams of world commerce.
On the southern border, similar invasions of American capital have
been entering Mexico. At the same time, the opening of the Panama Canal
has completed the dream of the ages of the Straits of Anian between
Atlantic and Pacific. Four hundred years ago, Balboa raised the flag
of Spain at the edge of the sea of the West and we are now preparing
to celebrate both that anniversary, and the piercing of the continent.
New relations have been created between Spanish America and the United
States and the world is watching the mediation of Argentina, Brazil
and Chili between the contending forces of Mexico and the Union. Once
more alien national interests lie threatening at our borders, but we no
longer appeal to the Monroe Doctrine and send our armies of frontier
men to settle our concerns off hand. We take council with European
nations and with the sisterhood of South America, and propose a remedy
of social reorganization in place of imperious will and force. Whether
the effort will succeed or not, it is a significant indication that
an old order is passing away, when such a solution is undertaken by
a President of Scotch-Irish stock, born in the fiery state of South
Carolina.
If we turn to the Northern border, where we are about to celebrate
a century of peace with England, we see in progress, like a belated
procession of our own history the spread of pioneers, the opening of
new wildernesses, the building of new cities, the growth of a new and
mighty nation. That old American advance of the wheat farmer from the
Connecticut to the Mohawk, and the Genesee, from the great valley of
Pennsylvania to the Ohio Valley and the prairies of the Middle West, is
now by its own momentum and under the stimulus of Canadian homesteads
and the high price of wheat, carried across the national border to the
once lone and vast plains where the Hudson Bay dog trains crossed the
desolate snows of the wild North Land. In the Pacific Northwest the
era of construction has not ended, but it is so rapidly in progress
that we can already see the closing of the age of the pioneer. Already
Alaska beckons on the North, and pointing to her wealth of natural
resources asks the nation on what new terms the new age will deal with
her. Across the Pacific looms Asia, no longer a remote vision and a
symbol of the unchanging, but borne as by mirage close to our shores
and raising grave questions of the common destiny of the people of this
Ocean. The dreams of Benton and of Seward of a regenerated Orient, when
the long march of Westward civilization should complete its circle,
seem almost to be in process of realization. The age of the Pacific
Ocean begins, mysterious and unfathomable in its meaning for our own
future.
Turning to view the interior, we see the same picture of change. When
the Superintendent of the Census in 1890 declared the frontier line
no longer traceable, the beginning of the rush into Oklahoma had just
occurred. Here where the broken fragments of Indian nations from the
East had been gathered and where the wilder tribes of the Southwest
were being settled, came the rush of the land hungry pioneer. Almost
at a blow the old Indian territory passed away, populous cities came
into being and it was not long before gushing oil wells made a new
era of sudden wealth. The farm lands of the Middle West taken as free
homesteads or bought for a mere pittance, have risen so in value that
the original owners have in an increasing degree either sold them in
order to reinvest in the newer cheap lands of the West, or have moved
into the town and have left the tillage to tenant farmers. The growth
of absentee ownership of the soil is producing a serious problem in the
farmer centers of the granger and the populist. Along the Old Northwest
the Great Lakes are becoming a new Mediterranean Sea joining the realms
of wheat and iron ore, at one end with the coal and furnaces of the
forks of the Ohio, where the most intense and wide-reaching center of
industrial energy exists. City life like that of the East, manufactures
and accumulated capital, seem to be reproducing in the center of the
Republic the tendencies already so plain on the Atlantic Coast.
Across the Great Plains where buffalo and Indian held sway successive
industrial waves are passing. The old free range gave place to the
ranch, the ranch to the homestead and now in places in the arid lands
the homestead is replaced by the ten or twenty acre irrigated fruit
farm. The age of cheap land, cheap corn and wheat, and cheap cattle
has gone forever. The federal government has undertaken vast paternal
enterprises of reclamation of the desert.
In the Rocky Mountains where at the time of Civil War, the first
important rushes to gold and silver mines carried the frontier backward
on a march toward the East, the most amazing transformations have
occurred. Here, where prospectors made new trails, and lived the wild
free life of mountain men, here where the human spirit seemed likely
to attain the largest measure of individual freedom, and where fortune
beckoned to the common man, have come revolutions wrought by the demand
for organized industry and capital. In the regions where the popular
tribunal and the free competitive life flourished, we have seen law and
order break down in the unmitigated collision of great aggregations
of capital, with each other and with organized socialistic labor. The
Cripple Creek strikes, the contests at Butte, the Gold-field mobs, the
recent Colorado fighting, all tell a similar story,--the solid impact
of contending forces in regions where civic power and loyalty to the
state have never fully developed. Like the Grand Canon, where in the
dazzling light in the huge geologic history is written so large that
none may fail to read it, so in the Rocky Mountains the dangers of
modern American industrial tendencies have been exposed.
As we crossed the Cascades on our way to Seattle, one of the passengers
was moved to explain his feelings on the excellence of Puget Sound in
contrast with the remaining visible Universe. He did it well in spite
of irreverent interruptions from those fellow travellers who were
unconverted children of the East, and at last he broke forth on the
passionate challenge, "Why should I not love Seattle! It took me from
the slums of the Atlantic Coast, a poor Swedish boy with hardly fifteen
dollars in my pocket. It gave me a home by the bountiful sea; it spread
before my eyes a vision of snow capped peaks and smiling fields; it
brought abundance and a new life to me and my children and I love it, I
love it! If I were a multi-millionaire I would charter freight cars and
carry away from the crowded tenements and noisome alleys of the eastern
cities and the Old World the toiling masses, and let them loose in our
vast forests and ore-laden mountains to learn what life really is!" And
my heart was stirred by his words and by the whirling spaces of woods
and peaks through which we passed. But as I looked and listened to this
passionate outcry, I remembered, the words of Tallyrand, the exiled
Bishop of Autun, in Washington's administration. Looking down from an
eminence not far from Philadelphia upon a wilderness which is now in
the heart of that huge industrial society where population presses
on the means of life, even the cold-blooded and cynical Tallyrand,
gazing on those unpeopled hills and forests, kindled with the vision
of coming clearings, the smiling farms and grazing herds that were to
be, the populous towns that should be built, the newer and finer social
organization that should there arise. And then I remembered the hall in
Harvard's museum of social ethics through which I pass to my lecture
room when I speak on the history of the Westward movement. That hall is
covered with an exhibit of the work in Pittsburgh steel mills, and of
the congested tenements. Its charts and diagrams tell of the long hours
of work, the death rate, the relation of typhoid to the slums, the
gathering of the poor of all Southeastern Europe to make a civilization
at that center of American industrial energy and vast capital that
is a social tragedy. As I enter my lecture room through that hall,
I speak of the young Washington leading his Virginia frontiersmen
to the magnificent forest at the forks of the Ohio. Where Braddock
and his men, "carving a cross on the wilderness rim," were struck by
the painted savages in the primeval woods, huge furnaces belch forth
perpetual fires and Huns and Bulgars, Poles and Sicilians struggle for
a chance to earn their daily bread, and live a brutal and degraded
life. Irresistibly there rushed across my mind the memorable words of
Huxley:
"Even the best of modern civilization appears to me to exhibit a
condition of mankind which neither embodies any worthy ideal nor
even possesses the merit of stability. I do not hesitate to express
the opinion that, if there is no hope of a large improvement of the
condition of the greater part of the human family; if it is true
that the increase of knowledge, the winning of a greater dominion
over Nature, which is its consequence, and the wealth which follows
upon that dominion, are to make no difference in the extent and the
intensity of Want, with its concomitant physical and moral degradation,
among the masses of the people, I should hail the advent of some
kindly comet, which would sweep the whole affair away, as a desirable
consummation."
But if there is disillusion and shock and apprehension as we come to
realize these changes, to strong men and women there is challenge and
inspiration in them too. In place of old frontiers of wilderness, there
are new frontiers of unwon fields of science, fruitful for the needs of
the race; there are frontiers of better social domains yet unexplored.
Let us hold to our attitude of faith and courage, and creative zeal.
Let us dream as our fathers dreamt and let us make our dreams come true.
"Daughters of Time, the hypocritic days,
Bear diadems and fagots in their hands
To each they offer gifts after his will
Bread, kingdoms, stars and sky that hold them all.
I, in my pleached garden watched the pomp,
Forgot my morning wishes,
Hastily took a few herbs and apples,
And the day turned and departed, I too late,
Under her solemn fillet, saw the scorn!"
What were America's "morning wishes?" From the beginning of that long
westward march of the American people America has never been the home
of mere contented materialism. It has continuously sought new ways and
dreamed of a perfected social type.
In the fifteenth century when men dealt with the New World which
Columbus found, the ideal of discovery was dominant. Here was placed
within the reach of men whose ideas had been bounded by the Atlantic,
new realms to be explored. America became the land of European dreams,
its Fortunate Islands were made real, where, in the imagination of old
Europe, peace and happiness, as well as riches and eternal youth, were
to be found. To Sir Edwin Sandys and his friends of the London Company,
Virginia offered an opportunity to erect the Republic for which they
had longed in vain in England. To the Puritans, New England was the
new land of freedom, wherein they might establish the institutions of
God, according to their own faith. As the vision died away in Virginia
toward the close of the seventeenth century, it was taken up anew by
the fiery Bacon with his revolution to establish a real democracy in
place of the rule of the planter aristocracy, that formed along the
Coast. Hardly had he been overthrown when in the eighteenth century,
the democratic ideal was rejuvenated by the strong frontiersmen, who
pressed beyond the New England Coast into the Berkshires and up the
valleys of the Green Mountains of Vermont, and by the Scotch Irish
and German pioneers who followed the Great Valley from Pennsylvania
into the Upland South. In both the Yankee frontiersmen and the
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the South, the Calvinistic conception of
the importance of the individual, bound by free covenant to his fellow
men and to God, was a compelling influence, and all their wilderness
experience combined to emphasize the ideals of opening new ways, of
giving freer play to the individual, and of constructing democratic
society.
When the backwoodsmen crossed the Alleghanies they put between
themselves and the Atlantic Coast a barrier which seemed to separate
them from a region already too much like the Europe they had left,
and as they followed the courses of the rivers that flowed to the
Mississippi, they called themselves "Men of the Western Waters," and
their new home in the Mississippi Valley was the "Western World." Here,
by the thirties, Jacksonian democracy flourished, strong in the faith
of the intrinsic excellence of the common man, in his right to make his
own place in the world, and in his capacity to share in government. But
while Jacksonian democracy demanded these rights, it was also loyal
to leadership as the very name implies. It was ready to follow to the
uttermost the man in whom it placed its trust, whether the hero were
frontier fighter or president, and it even rebuked and limited its own
legislative representatives and recalled its senators when they ran
counter to their chosen executive. Jacksonian Democracy was essentially
rural. It was based on the good fellowship and genuine social feeling
of the frontier, in which classes and inequalities of fortune played
little part. But it did not demand equality of condition, for there
was abundance of natural resources and the belief that the self made
man had a right to his success in the free competition which western
life afforded, was as prominent in their thought as was the love of
democracy. On the other hand, they viewed governmental restraints
with suspicion as a limitation on their right to work out their own
individuality.
For the banking institutions and capitalists of the East they had an
instinctive antipathy. Already they feared that the "money power" as
Jackson called it, was planning to make hewers of wood and drawers of
water of the common people.
In this view they found allies among the labor leaders of the East, who
in the same period began their fight for better conditions of the wage
earner. These Locofocos were the first Americans to demand fundamental
social changes for the benefit of the workers in the cities. Like
the Western pioneers they protested against monopolies and special
privilege. But they also had a constructive policy, whereby society
was to be kept democratic by free gifts of the public land, so that
surplus labor might not bid against itself, but might find an outlet in
the West. Thus to both the labor theorist and the practical pioneer,
the existence of what seemed inexhaustible cheap land and unpossessed
resources was the condition of democracy. In these years of the
thirties and forties, Western democracy took on its distinctive form.
Travellers like De Tocqueville and Harriet Martineau, came to study
and to report it enthusiastically to Europe. Miss Martineau pictures
the American "exulting that he has caught the true aspect of things
past and the depth of futurity which lies before him, wherein to create
something so magnificent as the world has scarcely begun to dream of."
"There is the strongest hope of a nation that is capable of being
possessed with an idea," she adds, and she adjures the American people
to "give perpetual and earnest heed to one point, to cherish their high
democratic hope, their faith in man. The older they grow the more must
they reverence the dreams of their youth."
Side by side with this westward marching army of individualistic
liberty-loving democratic back woodsmen, went a more northern stream
of pioneers, who cherished similar ideas, but added to them the desire
to create new industrial centers, to build up factories, to build
railroads, and to develop the country by founding cities and extending
prosperity. They were ready to call upon legislatures to aid in this,
by subscriptions to stock, grants of franchises, promotion of banking
and internal improvements. Government was not to them so much a
necessary evil as it was a convenience for promoting their industrial
aims. These were the Whig followers of that other Western leader, Henry
Clay, and their early strength lay in the Ohio Valley, and particularly
among the well-to-do. In the South their strength was found among the
aristocracy of the Cotton Kingdom.
Both of these Western groups, Whigs and Democrats alike, had one common
ideal: the desire to leave their children a better heritage than they
themselves had received, and both were fired with devotion to the ideal
of creating in this New World a home more worthy of mankind. Both were
ready to break with the past, to boldly strike out new lines of social
endeavor, and both believed in American expansion.
Before these tendencies had worked themselves out, three new forces
entered. In the sudden extension of our boundaries to the Pacific
Coast, which took place in the forties, the nation won so vast a
domain that its resources seemed illimitable and its society seemed
able to throw off all its maladies by the very presence of these vast
new spaces. At the same period the great activity of railroad building
to the Mississippi Valley occurred, making these lands available and
diverting attention to the task of economic construction. The third
influence was the slavery question which, becoming acute, shaped the
American ideals and public discussion for nearly a generation. Viewed
from one angle, this struggle involved the great question of national
unity. From another it involved the question of the relations of labor
and capital, democracy and aristocracy. It was not without significance
that Abraham Lincoln became the very type of American pioneer
democracy, the first adequate and elemental demonstration to the world
that that democracy could produce a man who belonged to the ages.
After the war, new national energies were set loose, and new
construction and development engaged the attention of the Westerners as
they occupied prairies and Great Plains and mountains. Democracy and
capitalistic development did not seem antagonistic.
Any survey of Western forces which have affected American ideals,
would be sadly defective which failed to take account of the profound
influence of immigration. Whether we consider the enthusiasts who came
to find in the wilderness the freedom to institute their experiments
in religion, or the masses who broke from their Old World habits and
customs and turned to America as the land of promise, there is the same
note of hope and aspiration. On the dullest faces of the steerage a new
light falls as the American gateway is entered. We shall not comprehend
the element that are shaping and are to shape our destiny, without due
realization of the immigrant's dream.
With the passing of the frontier, Western social and political ideals
took new form. Capital began to consolidate in even greater masses, and
increasingly attempted to reduce to system and control the processes
of industrial development, but of the age of free competition, there
came the greatest private fortunes and the most stupendous combination
of economic interests in few hands that the world has ever seen. Labor
with equal step organized its forces to destroy the old competitive
system, it is not strange that the Western pioneers took alarm for
their ideals of democracy as the outcome of the free struggle for the
national resources became apparent. Prophesied by the Granger movement,
these new tendencies came fully into the light with the Populists
and from them the new gospel passed to Bryan Democracy, Roosevelt
Republicanism and the Progressives.
It was a new gospel, for the Western radical became convinced that he
must sacrifice his ideal of individualism and free competition in order
to maintain his ideal of democracy. Under this conviction the Populist
revised the pioneer conception of government. He saw in government no
longer something outside of him, but the people themselves shaping
their own affairs. He demanded therefore an extension of the powers
of governments in the interest of his historic ideal of democratic
society. He demanded not only free silver, but the ownership of the
agencies of communication and transportation, the income tax, the
postal savings bank, the provision of means of credit for agriculture,
the construction of more effective devices to express the will of the
people, primary nominations, direct elections, initiative, referendum
and recall. In a word, capital, labor, and the Western pioneer, all
deserted the ideal of competitive individualism in order to organize
their interests in more effective combinations. The disappearance of
the frontier, the closing of the era which was marked by the influence
of the West as a form of society, brings with it new problems of social
adjustment, new demands for considering our past ideals and our present
needs.
Let us recall the conditions of the foreign relations along our
borders, the dangers that wait us if we fail to unite in the solution
of our domestic problems. Let us recall those internal evidences of the
destruction of our old social order. If we take to heart this warning,
we shall do well also to recount our historic ideals, to take stock of
those purposes, and fundamental assumptions that have gone to make the
American spirit and the meaning of America in world history. First of
all, there was the ideal of discovery, the courageous determination to
break new paths, indifference to the dogma that because an institution
or a condition exists, it must remain. All American experience has gone
to the making of the spirit of innovation; it is in the blood and will
not be repressed.
Then, there was the ideal of democracy, the ideal of a free self
directing people, responsive to leadership in the forming of
programmes, and their execution, but insistent that the procedure
should be that of free choice, not of compulsion.
But there was also the ideal of individualism. This democratic society
was not a disciplined army, where all must keep step and where the
collective interests destroyed individual will and work. Rather it
was a mobile mass of freely circulating atoms, each seeking its own
place and finding play for its own powers and for its own original
initiative. We cannot lay too much stress upon this point, for it was
at the very heart of the whole American movement. The world was to be
made a better world by the example of a democracy in which there was
freedom of the individual in which there was the vitality and mobility
productive of originality and variety.
Bearing in mind the far-reaching influence of the disappearance of
unlimited resources open to all men for the taking, and considering
the recoil of the common man when he saw the outcome of the completive
struggle for these resources as the supply came to its end over most of
the nation, we can understand the reaction against individualism and
in favor of drastic assertion of the powers of government. Legislation
is taking the place of the free lands as the means of preserving the
ideal of democracy. But at the same time it is endangering the other
pioneer ideal of creative and competitive individualism. Both were
essential and constituted what was best in America's contribution to
history and to progress. Both must be preserved if the nation would
be true to its past, and would fulfill its highest destiny. It would
be a grave misfortune if these people so rich in experience, in self
confidence and aspiration, in creative genius, should turn to some Old
World discipline of socialism or plutocracy, or despotic rule, whether
by people or by dictator. Nor shall we be driven to these alternatives.
Our ancient hopes, our courageous faith, our underlying good humor
and love of fair play will triumph in the end. There will be give and
take in all directions. There will be disinterested leadership, under
loyalty to the best American ideals. Nowhere is this leadership more
likely to arise than among the men trained in the Universities, aware
of the promise of the past and the possibilities of the future. The
times call for new ambitions and new motives.
In a most suggestive essay on the Problems of Modern Democracy, Mr.
Godkin has said:
"M. de Tocqueville and all his followers take it for granted that the
great incentive to excellence, in all countries in which excellence
is found, is the patronage and encouragement of an aristocracy; that
democracy is generally content with mediocrity. But where is the proof
of this? The incentive to exertion which is widest, most constant, and
most powerful in its operations in all civilized countries, is the
desire of distinction; and this may be composed either of love of fame
or love of wealth or of both. In literary and artistic and scientific
pursuits, sometimes the strongest influence is exerted by a love of the
subject. But it may safely be said that no man has ever labored in any
of the higher colleges to whom the applause and appreciation of his
fellows was not one of the sweetest rewards of his exertions.
"What is there we would ask, in the nature of democratic institutions,
that should render this great spring of action powerless, that should
deprive glory of all radiance, and put ambition to sleep. Is it not
notorious, on the contrary, that one of the most marked peculiarities
of democratic society, or of a society drifting toward democracy, is
the fire of competition which rages in it, the fevered anxiety which
possesses all its members to rise above the dead level to which the
law is ever seeking to confine them, and by some brilliant stroke
become something higher and more remarkable than their fellows? The
secret of that great restlessness which is one of the most disagreeable
accompaniments of life in democratic countries, is in fact due to the
eagerness of everybody to grasp the prizes of which in aristocratic
countries, only the few have much chance. And in no other society
is success more worshipped, is distinction of any kind more widely
flattered and caressed.
"In domestic societies, in fact excellence is the first title to
distinction; in aristocratic ones there are two or three others which
are far stronger and which must be stronger or aristocracy could not
exist. The moment you acknowledge that the highest social position
ought to be the reward of the man who has the most talent, you make
aristocratic institutions impossible."
All that was buoyant and creative in American life would be lost if we
gave up the respect for distinct personality, and variety in genius,
and came to the dead level of common standards. To be "socialized into
an average" and placed "under the tutelage of the mass of us," as a
recent writer has put it, would be an irreparable loss. Nor is it
necessary in a democracy, as these words of Godkin well disclosed. What
is needed is the multiplication of motives for ambition and the opening
of new lines of achievement for the strongest. As we turn from the task
of the first rough conquest of the continent there lies before us a
whole wealth of unexploited resources in the realm of the spirit. Arts
and letters, science and better social creation, loyalty and political
service to the commonweal,--these and a thousand other directions of
activity are open to the men, who formerly under the incentive of
attaining distinction by amassing extraordinary wealth, saw success
only in material display. Newer and finer careers will open to the
ambitious when once public opinion shall award the laurels to those who
rise above their fellows in these new fields of labor. It has not been
the gold, but the getting of the gold, that has caught the imaginations
of our captains of industry. Their real enjoyment lay not in the
luxuries which wealth brought, but in the work of construction and in
the place which society awarded them. A new era will come if schools
and universities can only widen the intellectual horizon of the people,
help to lay the foundations of a better industrial life, show them new
goals for endeavor, inspire them with more varied and higher ideals.
The Western spirit must be invoked for new and nobler achievements. Of
that matured Western spirit, Tennyson's Ulysses is a symbol.
"I am become a name
For always roaming with a hungry heart,
Much have I seen and known--
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch, where thro'
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
Forever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end.
To rest unburnished, not to shine in use!
And this gray spirit yearning desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
* * * Come my friends.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the Western stars until I die--
To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield."
FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER.
FOOTNOTES:
[245] Commencement Address, University of Washington, June 17, 1914.
JOURNAL OF JOHN WORK, DEC. 15TH, 1825, TO JUNE 12TH, 1826
(Introduction and Annotations by T. C. Elliott.)
The publication of this journal was begun in Vol. 5, No. 2 (April,
1914) of this Quarterly and has been completed in three parts instead
of two as first intended; the introductory statements in the previous
numbers will be of assistance to readers. For the sake of those who may
not see the earlier numbers some of the annotations are repeated. The
journal ends rather abruptly just before the arrival of Mr. Work at
Fort Vancouver in June, 1826, almost an even year after it began with
his departure from that same Fort.
This third part of the journal begins with Mr. Work in charge of
the winter trade, 1825-6, at Flathead Fort or House located near
the present Eddy Station of the Northern Pacific Railway in Sanders
County, Montana. He remains there until February and returns to Spokane
House and is on duty there with Mr. Dease, the chief trader, during
the dismantling of that establishment in the spring of 1826. He then
proceeded to Fort Okanogan for a short time and joins the annual
"brigade" going down the Columbia river to Fort Vancouver, in June,
1826.
I have been asked to explain the meaning of the term "gummed," which is
used quite often in these traders' journals. It means the smearing of
the seams of the canoes or boats with pitch or gum gathered from the
forest trees.
Reference has been made (note 2, p. 85) to C. McKay, as a son of Alex.
McKay of the Astor party, but there appears to be doubt as to that
relationship; quite likely C. McKay belonged to another family. There
is also a question as to when the furs from the New Caledonia district
began to come down over the Okanogan trail for shipment to Fort
Vancouver; that trade route was probably opened earlier. The Thompson
river (Kamloops) furs had come that way from the very beginning, in
1812.
Research as to the identity of the actual builder of the trading
post called Spokane House has progressed a little farther since the
beginning of this publication; meaning the original Northwest Company
post and not that of the Pacific Fur Company. There are reasons to
believe that Mr. Jacques Finlay built it rather than Finan McDonald, as
stated in notes No. 28 and 45.
This journal furnishes the source of our information for the beginning
of occupation of the trading post on Marcus Flat, above Kettle Falls,
and it is well to emphasize the correct spelling of the name of that
post, namely Fort Colvile; not Colville as corrupted. It took the name
from one of the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, Mr. E. Colvile.
Doubtful words and expressions are enclosed in brackets.
JOURNAL
(Continued from Page 191, Vol. V., No. 3.)
December 1825. Thursday 15
Stormy with sharp frost in the night. Mild pleasant weather during the
day.
Had the men employed with Mr. Kittson opening and examining the
Snake[246] furs, they are generally in good order but of a very
inferior quality, they also do not answer the description given of them
as many small beaver have been called large, the sums are as follows;
744 Large & 298 Small beaver and 15 otters.--
Friday 16th
Mild soft weather.
The Kootenasy Chief paid us another visit and after trading a lodge and
some Deer skins, got a small present and in the evening took his final
departure for the winter. He is going with his people to hunt in their
own lands not far from the fort[247] on their own river, where they
intend to live on deer and endeavour to get a few beaver. On account
of the snow they are apprehensive that they will not be able to go
sufficiently far off to make a great hunt.--
In different conversations with the Kootanies since their arrival
they express a particular wish to have a fort in their own country,
and represent the communication by water much less difficult than the
Indians whom Mr. Kittson saw stated it to be,[248] and say that the
part which Mr. Kittson saw is the worst of it. They were told that they
might depend on having an Establishment on their lands next season
either by land or by water. Every means should be adopted to keep them
on their own lands as they make much better hunt there than elsewhere.
Their unprecedented trade this fall is to be mainly attributed to their
hunting in the summer & fall on the upper waters of their own river and
the Columbia. It is out of our power to send people & supplies with
them at present for want of horses, the six we have here, some of them
from the Snake Country are so lean that they are totally unfit for the
journey.--
Old LaBuche the F. Head chief paid us another visit.--
Saturday 17th
Heavy rain in the night & the greater part of the day. The Flat Head
Indians to the number of 60 to 70 arrived headed by three chiefs, they
were all on horseback and came singing and firing guns with a flag
flying.[249] We answered their fire with a volley of Muskets. The
Chiefs & some of the principle men smoked in the gentlemens' house, &
all the others in the Indian House: The weather is so very bad that we
cannot well put them out and they will have to sleep through the houses
the best way they can. It is too late to trade today.
After dark the men arrived from below bringing letters from Mr.
Dease[250] dated on the 4th & 10th inst. and five guns & 4 doz. gun
worms which we requested, but no Tobacco is sent which is unfortunate
as it is an article which is in great demand and of which I am
apprehensive we will be short.--Mr. Dease informs us that we will
require to be down in time to meet the Express at the Forks about the
5th of April. Without injuring the trade we cannot reach Spokane so
early as our Indians will not have arrived with their spring hunts.
Sunday 18
Sharp frost in the morning.
Commenced trading with the F. Heads and by noon had traded all the
articles they had for sale when a present of 20 Ball & Powder & 2 feet
of Tobacco was made to each of the Chiefs and a remuneration made two
of them at the request of Mr. Ogden, per note, for services rendered
the Snake Expedition & assisting in bringing home the Snake furs.--Some
others of the principal men got also a present of a few balls & Powder
and in the afternoon they all went off apparently well pleased. On
account of the bad road and weakness of the horses the greater part of
the Flat Heads are not going to (hunt) the Buffalo this winter but are
going to pass the winter hunting beaver. This will probably occasion
a small quantity of Provisions being procured in spring than usual,
but I expect it will be the means of an increase in the more valuable
articles of furs.
I have not yet been able to ascertain the amount of the Trade.
Monday 19th
Overcast mild weather.
Had the men busily employed packing the Snake furs and also those
traded here, in order to send off two canoes to the Coeur de Alan
Portage[251] as soon as possible, so that the men may get the canoes
back before the ice takes.
Examined yesterdays trade and find it to amount to 222 Large and 107
small beaver, 1 Otter, 4 Robes, 72 Appichimons, 1 Elk Skin, 18 pack
saddles, 113 fath. cords, 4 Hair Bridles, 52 Bales, 3122 lbs. dry meat,
119 fresh Tongues, 23 dry Tongues, 2 bosses & 10-1/2 lb. castorum,
which is much less than we expected. The greater part of the summer was
occupied in pursuit of Buffaloes, which prevented them from hunting
beaver, and as they are not going back to the Buffalo at present, they
kept a considerable part of their meat to subsist on during the winter.
Some freemen paid us a visit, they were told to come tomorrow with the
furs and get some supplies.--
Tuesday 20th.
Soft mild weather.
The freemen A. Paget. C. (Loye), C. Gras Louis, J. Beauchamp & J. B.
Gadwa delivered in their furs & received a little advance to enable
them to pass the winter. These men would not accompany Mr. Ogden and
were not to have received any supplies, but Mr. Dease directed them to
get a little in case they delivered in the furs. Paget & Gadwa were
unfortunate in losing a cache of 100 beaver which was stolen by the
Indians.--Gadwa was ordered to be sent to Spokan. He denies that his
engagement was only to be free[252] as long as the Company thought
proper and seemed unwilling to go, but on being told that he must
comply he submitted, but with reluctance. The Indians traded a few
appichimans. The men employed finishing out the packs.
Wed.y. 21
Cloudy cold weather.
The men employed gumming & repairing the canoes. We had no gum till
the Indians were employed to gather it, or the canoes would have been
repaired yesterday.
The Kootany chief & 6 of his men visited us, and after smoking traded a
horse & a few saddles and appichimans.
Thursd.y. 22nd
Some snow in the night, cloudy cold weather. Wind N. W.
Sent off 2 canoes 5 men each to the Schachoo[253] Portage laded with
the following articles for Spokan viz 27 packages containing 762 Large
and 376 Small beaver, 11 Martens. 10 Mink, 1385 Rats, 8 Elk Skins,
12 deer Skins, 70 Appichimans. 22 Saddles & 90 Salt tongues, of the
F. Heads and Kootenay returns, and 21 Pieces containing 881 Large
& 381 Small beaver, 16 Otters, 2 Rats & 7-1/2 lbs. Castrum, Snake
Returns, besides 1 Bale private property, rivits and 5 bales meat 60
lbs. each for the peoples voyage down and back. The above part of the
Snake returns is all that was brought here by C. McKay & delivered in
by the Freeman.--I wrote to Mr. Dease informing him of the state of
affairs of this place and requesting 1/2 Roll Tobacco and a few awls
for the trade.--I wrote for the Tobacco the last time the Canoes went
down but was refused it on the plea that it was more required below.
I have now urged the necessity of its being sent here where it will
be much required in the Spring.--The Men are directed to make all the
expedition in their power so that they may get back before they are
stopped by the ice, no danger is apprehended of ice stopping them
before they reach the portage. Three Men Ignace, Martin & Gadwa are
ordered to start for the Fort with the letters immediately on their
arrival at the portage.
Friday 23rd
Cloudy cold weather.
The Indians are encamping about the Fort where there are now 21 Lodges.
Some are going off to the Buffalo. The Pendent Oreilles are blamed for
stealing some of the Kootany horses. It is reported likewise that the
Piegans have stolen 7 of the best horses from the Pendent Oreilles that
went first off to the Buffalo.
Two Beaver Skins, the carcass of 2 deer & a few appichimans[254] were
traded.
One of the old Freemen, Paget, father-in-law to Gadwa who was sent to
Spokan, has come & encamped at the Fort he is an old man & having only
Gadwa to depend on, he did not go off with the others. he is a very old
servant and always bore a good character. After what little provisions
he has will be done, he will probably become a burden on the Fort.--
Saturday 24
Cloudy cold weather. Wind N. W.--Some ice along the edge of the River.
The Indians[255] traded a few Appichimans and Saddles, to obtain a
little ammunition as some of them are going off.
Sunday 25th
Cloudy. Raw cold weather. Masses of ice running pretty thick down the
River.
This being Christmas Day the two men here had a dram, and we served out
extra each a ration of fresh meat, a tongue, & a quart of Flour. For
the old freeman Bastang the same.
Five Kootany Indians of the Au platte tribe arrived and traded 14
Large and 4 Small beaver, 1 Otter, 17 dressed Deer Skins and 3
(parrefliches), principally for ammunition & Knives & a little Tobacco.
Two Pendent Oreilles traded the carcasses of 2 sheep, females, the one
weighed 62 & the other 60 lbs.
Monday 26
Overcast mild weather. the river clear of ice, except some patches
along its edge.
The men employed cutting firewood.
Tuesday 27th
Overcast stormy weather. Wind Northerly.
The men employed assorting and bailing up meat.
The Indians are still trading a few appichimans, saddles &c but few
furs.
Wed.y. 28th
Cloudy cold weather. Ice running pretty thick in the River.
The Men finished assorting and baling up the meat. We have now in store
67 Bales, 84 lbs. net each, viz 36 of lean, 19 Back Fat & 12 Inside
Fat, or 3024 lbs. Lean Meat 1596 lbs. Back fats & 1008 lbs. Inside
fats, in all 5628 lbs. Some of the Indians moving a little further down
the River, but as some others are coming up in their place the number
of lodges still keeps about 20. Those Indians that remain here employ
the most of their time gambling.--
Thursday 29th
Overcast, Snowed thick the afterpart of the day. Ice running in the
River.--
The River below will probably freeze over with this weather and prevent
the Canoes from getting up.
Friday 30th
Overcast mild weather, some snow. Ice running in the river but not so
much as yesterday. Nothing doing in the way of trade except a chance
appichiman, (parrefliches) etc. The Indians occupy the greater part
of their time gambling, even where it is snowing they are playing out
of doors and a group sitting about the parties engaged watching the
progress of the game.
Saturday 31st
Snowed thick in the night and the forepart of the day. The snow lies
nearly 6 inches thick on the ground. Very little ice running in the
River. The men who were sent off to Spokan on the 22nd arrived in the
evening with letters from Mr. Dease and 1/2 Roll of Tobacco & 1/2 gross
of awls. The men had to leave the canoes yesterday below the Chutes as
the Navigation was stopped by ice. They have made a very expeditious
voyage.--
Mr. Dease in one of his letters expresses a wish that Mr. Kittson or I
would pay him a visit.--Nothing material has occurred at Spokan since
we heard from it last.
Jan.y. 1826. Sunday 1st
Stormy with heavy rain the greater part of the day, the snow has nearly
all disappeared.
This being the first day of the new year, according to custom, each
of the men got an extra ration of 6 lb. fresh venison, 2 lbs. back
fat, 1 Buffalo tongue, 1 pint of Flour and 1 pint of Rum.--At daylight
they ushered in the new year with a volley of muskerty, when they were
treated with 4 glasses each of Rum, cakes & a pipe of Tobacco. With
this and the pint given to each of them, they soon contrived to get
nearly all pretty drunk. They appeared to pass the day comfortably
enjoying themselves without quarreling. An Indian brought us a female
(Chiveaux), Round, Skin & all.--
Monday 2nd
Wind N. W. and stormy during the night and all day, but not cold, the
snow has all disappeared except on the mountains. No ice driving in the
River.
The men doing little today.
The Indians women were sent off to gather gum to repair one of the
canoes to make another trip below if the weather continues favorable.--
Tuesday 3rd.
Blew a perfect storm in the night, but calm overcast mild soft weather
during the day.
Had part of the men repairing and gumming a canoe & making paddles,
the others packing up Appechimons, dressed leather, Robes, Saddles &c
making in all 18 pieces or about 2/3 a canoe load, which is all in
readiness to start tomorrow, for the Coeur de Alan portage. I intend
going myself, with 6 men, to proceed to Spokan. I expect we will reach
the portage before the River freezes but we will probably have to walk
back.--I am induced to take this trip in consequence of Mr. Dease
expressing a wish that either Mr. Kittson or I would visit him.--Mr.
Kittson remains in charge of the place.
Wed.y. 4th
Some frost in the night. Cloudy fine weather during the day.
Left F. Head haven 20 Minutes before 8 oclock in a canoe with 8 Men.
Iroquoys, reached the Chutes[256] 20 minutes past 10. Making the
portage, which is 1380 yds. long, took more than 2 hours.--At 2 oclock
we reached the canoes the men left a few days ago and encamped to
change our canoe for a better one. The men were employed till it was
dark gumming the canoes we are going to take. The canoe though not deep
laden is a good deal lumbered, the saddles & appechimons take up a good
deal of room.
There is not much snow. a little ice along the edge of the River & on
the banks. The ice that stopped the men going up is all gone.
Two parrefliches & a little meat which the men left in cache is stolen
by the Indians.--
Thursday 5th
Overcast soft weather.
Proceeded on our journey at 1/2 past 6 oclock, reached Stony island
portage at 10 & 1/2 past 10 got across it, the canoe taken down by
water, by one oclock we reached the Heron Rapid,[257] the portage here
also occupied half an hour. the canoe & part of the baggage got down by
water. At 1/2 past 3 encamped near the Lake. A good days work. The snow
is deep at the portage we passed, and also where we are encamped but it
is soft and thawing.--It is difficult making the portage as the track
is through rough stones & the hollows being filled up with the snow,
the men with the loads tumble into the holes before they are aware.
Friday 6th
Stormy weather with heavy rain, rained hard in the night. Embarked at
day light and in an hour reached the Lake[258] where we encamped and
had to remain all day it being it being too rough to attempt crossing
it.
Saturday 7
Stormy with rain in the night.
Moderate mild weather with some rain during the day.
Embarked at 8 oclock and reached the portage[259] at 3 in the afternoon
when the goods were laid up & covered, but it being too late deferred
starting for the Fort till tomorrow.
Killed a small deer crossing the River.
Sunday 8
Soft weather with disagreeable sleet & snow showers.--
Set out an hour before day light with 4 men to cross the portage on
foot for the Fort and encamped at sun setting at the little River[260]
at the edge of the plains after a hard days walking. Two of the mens
feet got sore and I sent them back from Rat Lake.[261] Part of the road
in the middle of the woods the snow is deep &? with the thaw but not
sufficiently hard to bear ones weight, and walking through it is very
fatiguing on the other parts of the road there is little snow.--Met two
Indians in the afternoon & got a horse from them but having no saddle &
he being very poor it was a most fatiguing job to ride any distance. We
rode turn about.
Monday 9th
Soft weather Snow showers. Resumed our journey before 3 oclock in the
morning and reached Spokan[262] at 1 in the afternoon, and received a
cordial reception from Mr. Dease who with his people were found well.
There is little snow on the ground during this day's march.--
Tuesday 10th
Snowed thick the forepart of the day but soft weather & rain in the
evening so that the most of the snow had disappeared by night.--
Wed.y. 11
Overcast mild weather some light snow.
Thursday 12th
Weather as yesterday, some light snow and rain showers.
Friday 13
Sharp frost in the night but cloudy mild weather during the day.
Have made preparation to return to F. Heads tomorrow.
Sad.y. 14th
Snowing and raining all day. Having every thing ready left Spokan at
10 o'oclock for the F. Heads accompanied by my own two men, & La Bonte
& an Indian with 9 horses for the baggage that I left at the other end
of the Portage. On account of the very bad weather and having to go
round by the Chutes[263] where we were detained some time in the plains
catching two of the Inds horses, we only reached the Fountain[264] in
the plain where we encamped for the night. Every one of us completely
drenched to the skin.--There is very little snow on the plains.
Sunday 15th
Overcast mild weather some light snow & rain showers.
Some of the horses strayed off in the night, & it was 8 oclock before
they were all collected, when we proceeded on our journey and only
reached the W. end of Rat Lake. The snow in the woods takes the horses
up over their knees so that they were able to make very little way
through it. Where we are encamped, the poor horses can eat but very
little. Saw the tracks of several deer and some martens.
Monday 16
Overcast mild foggy weather.
Three of the horses strayed off in the night owing to the Indian having
neglected to hobble them. I sent a man & the Indian after them, while
I with the other men & horses proceeded to the portage[265] where we
arrived before noon, the man and Indian with the other horses did
not arrive till sun setting. Had all the pieces arranged & ready to
send off the horses in the morning. & at the same time set out myself
with the canoe. The snow is not so deep at this end of the portage as
yesterday.
Tuesday 17
Except a short interval in the afternoon, rained without intermission
all day and blowing fresh part of the day.
Had the horses collected at day light and the man and Indian commenced
loading them. At the same time I embarked & we proceeded up the River,
and encamped a little Above the lake, a good days march considering the
very bad weather. Very little more wind would have prevented us from
crossing the Lake. The snow has in several places disappeared but on
the hills and along the shores it is still thick.
Wed.y. 18
Overcast fair mild weather.
Proceeded on our journey at daylight and encamped late above the Stony
Island Portage.[266] The snow along the shore and particularly at the
portages, was very deep.--
Thursday 19
Weather as yesterday but colder.--
Continued our rout at an early hour, and encamped below the Chutes in
the evening. About noon we passed the Crooked rapid after which there
was very little snow to be seen.
Found some Indians at the Barrier River[267] & traded some Venison from
them which made us a good supper.
Friday 20
Snowing and raining all day, very disagreeable weather.
Embarked before sunrising and reached the F. Head House near dark. We
were delayed some time at the Chutes gumming the canoes.--Found Mr.
Kittson and the people all well.--Nothing material has occurred since I
went off. Little done in the way of trade except of fresh provisions,
some Inds. from above arrived with 14 deer which has served the people
& saved dry provisions for some time back on account of the mild soft
weather it is difficult to keep it from spoiling. The men have been
employed, getting wood for a canoe, making troughs to (beat) meat &
make pimmican, cutting cords, & putting an upper flooring in the house,
etc.--
Satdy. 21
Cloudy fine pleasant weather, thawing.--
An Indian brought the carcass of a deer.
Sunday 22
Mild pleasant weather.
Monday 23
Cloudy cold weather sharp frost in the night.
Six men with some horses were sent off for canoe timber with which they
returned in the evening. The road was very bad as they had to ascend
the mountains.--It is difficult to procure wood for canoes here now.
Tuesday 24
Overcast soft weather. C. McKay and six men were sent up the river in a
canoe to an Indian camp in expectation that they will be able to trade
some fresh provisions. It is supposed they will be two days reaching
the camp.[268] If we be able to procure some venison it will save the
dry provisions.--
The Old freeman Paget and a man Pierre, were sent down to Thompson's
Plain with the horses where the grass is better.
Wed.y. 25th
Overcast soft mild weather.
Two men employed dressing canoe wood, the others cutting wood &c.--
Thursday 26
Weather as yesterday, some light snow.
The men employed as yesterday. Two Kootany Indians arrived and traded
Deer skins principally for ammunition.
Friday 27
Disagreeable cold weather blowing fresh from the Northward. The men
bent the timbers for the canoe.
Sata.y. 28
Soft weather some snow.
Had the provisions examined, a little of it was mouldy. put 5 bales on
the loft to dry, to beat for pimican.
Sunday 29
Raw cold overcast weather.
C. McKay and the men who went off on tuesday returned. The River is so
shallow above that they could not get the canoe to the Indians camp
but two men were sent. The Indians have had no provisions and the
people were starving when they got a little. Only about two animals are
brought home. They brought home the skin of a ram, horns and all, for
stuffing.
Monday 30th
Snowed in the night and snowing thick the greater part of the day. Men
differently employed.
Tuesday 31
Snowing part of the day, but soft weather & thawing. There is now
nearly a foot deep of snow.
The men employed cutting and melting down talow.--
Wed.y. 1 Feby. 1826
Overcast soft weather. Some some sleet and rain showers.
Part of the men employed cutting and melting Tallow, & part, pounding
meat to make pimican.
Thursday 2
Sharp frost in the night, and cloudy cold weather during the day. The
men employed as yesterday.
Friday 3
Frost in the night. Overcast soft weather thawing during the day.
Blowing strong in the evening.
The men employed as yesterday except those that were pounding the meat,
who are making a trough as the one already made is broken. Some Indians
arrived from above & traded the carcasses of 2 deer & the skin of a
(byson). The meat is a seasonable supply as our stock of fresh meat was
nearly out.--
Saturday 4
Some snow in the night but clear mild weather during the day.
Had the men employed melting down fat.
Yesterday evening. I gave one of the men Togonche, a boxing for making
too free with my wife[269] but being in a passion he got out of my
hands before he got enough & to avoid getting another which I promised
him he ran off to the woods.
Sunday 5
Clear mild weather.
Monday 6th
Snowed hard in the night and snowing part of the day.
Part of the men employed pounding meat and part, dressing canoe timber.
Tuesday 7th
Stormy in the night with very heavy rain, rain & snow the greater part
of the day.
Part of the men employed melting fat the others at the canoe timber.
T. Toganche came to the fort in the night and took away his things, and
the other provisions, the others deny that they knew of his going off
or where he is gone too. I bilieve they are telling lies.
Wed.y. 8
Rain in the night & rain & snow during the day.
The men employed as yesterday. Nothing doing in the way of trade except
a little gum.--
Thursday 9th
Rain & very stormy in the night, mild weather during the day.--The snow
is disappearing very fast, there is now very little on the ground.
The men employed at the canoe, the wood is all dressed.
Friday 10th
Fair mild weather.
Men employed at the canoe and other jobs about the Fort.
Late last night three Kootanies arrived from Flat Head Lake & traded
3 small beaver and few ribs of dried venison, they report that the
Kootanies & Flat Heads at the Lake are employed hunting Beaver.--A
little Tobacco was sent to the Kootany Chief & some of the principal
men, word was also sent for them to be here about the middle or 20th of
next month so that we may be ready to get off in good time.
Saturday 11th
Soft mild weather.
The canoe was put on the stocks & the head and stern formed.
Last night another Kootany arrived from the Kootany Fort, & traded 2
large Beaver & 9 deer skins. He reports that the Aue platts & Kootanies
in that quarter are also employed hunting beaver.
The Pendent Oreilles arrived from up the River & brought the carcasses
of 7 deer & an Otter Skin. The Venison is a timely supply as our stock
of fresh meat was nearly done.
None of these Indians can give us any account of Toganche who deserted
some days ago.
Sunday 12
Sharp frost in the night & bleak cold weather during the day.
The Indians who arrived yesterday with the venison went off.
Monday 13th
Sharp frost in the night. Cloudy cold weather during the day. Four men
employed at the canoe & two pounding meat.
An Indian arrived from Spokan, with letters dated on the 3rd Inst. Mr.
Dease sends me orders to proceed to Spokan to make out the a/c & leave
Mr. Kittson in charge of this place. As I have a particular wish to see
the years transactions of this Post finished so that I might be able
to make some observations on it, that perhaps might have been useful,
I certainly do not like the trip, and think Mr. Dease[270] might have
made more judicious arrangements, especially when it is only to make
out the Accounts.
Tuesday 14
Sharp frost in the night & very cold all day.
The men employed as yesterday, finished pounding the meat and we are
now ready to make it into Pimican to take below to Spokan.
Wed.y. 15
Keen frost in the night, and cold freezing weather all day. The river
driving full of ice, which is an unusual thing at this season of the
year.
Two of the men employed repairing a canoe to to below to the Le (?)
Portage if the River keeps open. Five more men making Pimican. They
made 14 bags 80 ls. each.
Five of the Au platte Indians arrived late last night, & today
traded 2 Otters, about 500 Rats, and some dressed leather and
(Parrefliches).[271]
Thursday. 16
Cold frosty weather but milder than yesterday. A good deal of ice
driving in the River.
Two men employed repairing a canoe to go below.--The others at the
Pimican, Made 6 more bags & filled 2 bags of Tallow 90 lb. each.
A Flat Head Indian arrived for a little tobacco for his tribe who are
now on their way coming in, but still far off.--several are daily
arriving from different quarters principally from the Fd. H. Lake
and encamping about the fort, they bring nothing except a little dry
Venison.--
Friday 17
Overcast freezing weather. Some ice still driving in the River & ice
fast along its edges. The water is rising considerably some days past.
Three men employed repairing the canoe.--The others tying up the
Pimican & making packs of cords, to go below & doing other jobs about
the fort.--
The Flat Head Indian that arrived yesterday went off, he got a little
Tobacco for each of the principle men. He made us to understand that
his tribe were still in pursuit of buffalo but would soon come off for
the fort. They were likely to have a good deal of provisions but he
could not say what success they had in the fur way.--
A band of 13 Kootanies principally Auplattes arrived in the evening
with some furs.--It was too late to trade.
Saturday 18
Cloudy mild weather, frost in the night. Ice still driving in the River.
The Kootanies that arrived last night, traded 19 Beaver large &
small, 1 Otter, 5 martens & 1 fish, 210 Rats, 4 Elkskins, 114 dressed
& 5 parchment Deerskins and some (parrefliches), principally for
ammunition.--
Part of the men employed at the new canoe, and three finishing
repairing the one they were at these two days past, it is now ready and
I intended to start tomorrow for Spokan with a load of provisions but
the people arriving from the horse guard[272] informed me that part
of the River there is frozen over and of course, impassable, a piece
of the River above the fort has also been fast some days. In order to
ascertain exactly the state of the River below so that we might be able
to ascertain whether a passage is practicable or when it is likely
to be so, C. McKay & Canotte, who is a good judge of the River, were
dispatched to take a view of the water below at different places from
which they will be able to judge of the state of the River farther
down, they are to be back tomorrow, so that I must defer starting for
another day. As Mr. Dease wants two men down also, by taking a canoe &
cargo down at present is the only means by which they can be spared.
The canoe is also the most expeditious mode of conveyance. We cannot
attempt taking down the horses as Mr. Dease suggests, without running
the risk of making a very tedious journey, and perhaps losing some of
the horses, on account of the great depth of the snow along parts of
the road. The journey on foot must also be tedious.--Performing the
journey in the canoe is decidedly preferable, as it can be done much
quicker, & the cargo can be taken down at once & probably not more than
three canoes will require to be taken down in the Spring. So that the
men wanted below can now be spared which they otherwise could not.
Sunday 19th
Cloudy mild weather.
Some ice still driving in the River.
C. McKay & Conotte returned & reported that the River is frozen in 4
places where, Portages will have to be made, not very long ones, & that
only one place farther down is likely to be frozen at the Cobias. I
therefore have determined on starting tomorrow, it will require longer
time but it is the only means we now have of performing the journey.
From all that we can learn there is too much snow for the horses to be
sent down with safety.
Monday 20
Left the Flat Heads early, in a canoe with 7 men & an Indian and 22
pieces Pimican & fat, 1 box candles & my baggage, besides provisions
for the voyage, in all about 27 pieces. A little below the Fort we were
stopped by ice & had to make a portage at least 3/4 of a mile, after
which we proceeded to the Chutes, made the Portage & a little farther
down the River was again frozen over & we had to make another portage
about the same length as the last, but over a much worse road. The ice
is too weak to carry upon it & it is difficult to get ashore and a bad
road along shore. If we find obstructions of this kind tomorrow the
canoe will probably have to be sent back & I will have to proceed on
foot, as it would occupy a long time to carry over some of the portages
below.--Very disagreeable weather. Snow & sleet heavy in the evening so
that it wets everything.
Tuesday 21
Cloudy overcast weather, drizzling rain, sleet & snow the greater part
of the day.
Proceeded down the river at an early hour & again soon found our road
barred with ice in two places of considerable length, it was, however,
so soft that we got our way broken through it with a great deal of
labour & damage to our canoe. We crossed the Stony island portage &
encamped below it at a late hour. In the forepart of the day there
(was) little snow along the River but towards evening it was very deep.
At our camp it is not less than three feet. In the morning when I was
away with the foreman examining the ice one of the men (Bonufont)
deserted and ran off with my old gun and Powder horn. The others said
they thought I had sent him for them. This man is almost out of his
senses about our peril at the F. Heads which is probably the cause of
his running off--I had no idea that he ran off entirely or I certainly
would have pursued him with the people & caught him although it would
be difficult to find him as there is little snow in the woods and we
had no time to spare.--He will probably go no farther that the fort
where Mr. Kittson will stop him.
Wed.y. 22
Snow & rain the most of the day. We were detained some time in the
morning gumming the canoe, after which we continued our route &
encamped in the evening near the lower end of Pendent Oreilles Lake. We
just got across the lake in good time as it began to blow immediately
afterwards. We met no more obstructions from the ice, but in several
places it had very recently broke up.
Thursday 23rd
Very disagreeable cold weather, thick snow & sleet all day.
Embarked at an early hour & reached the portage at noon,--where we got
the property all safely laid up & the canoe gummed for for me to return
with her tomorrow morning while I start with one man & an Indian to the
fort & leave one man to take care of the property, till people & horses
come for it.--I am afraid the horses will have a bad job of it as the
snow here is very deep. The ice in different parts of the river has not
been long broke up.
Passed two Indian camps and lodges and loaded 3 pr. of small snow shoes
from them.--The badness of the weather prevented me from setting out
for the fort immediately.
Friday 24th
Overcast cloudy weather, snow showers.
At daylight set out for Spokan accompanied by an Iroquoy & an Indian,
and encamped at 4 oclock in the afternoon between the big hill and the
Lake. The snow on the portage is generally from 3 to 4 feet deep and
very soft and on account of the smallness and badness of our snowshoes
walking through it is very fatiguing, when we encamped we were very
tired, & had no water, however, by melting snow on a piece of bark at
the fire we soon obtained a sufficiency.--We stopped early having only
a small axe to cut firewood.
I am afraid, there is so much snow, it will be a bad job getting the
property across.
Saturday 25
Overcast, snow and sleet the greater part of the day.
Proceeded on our route at daylight and reached the plain at 11
oclock and encamped at sunsetting at Campment de Bindash, with J.
Finlays[273] sons who were hunting fortunately we fell in with them or
we would have had little fire during the night.
The snow continued the same deapth to near the edge of the woods where
it was not so deep. There was not much snow on the plains and on the
South end we walked without snowshoes.--
Sunday 26
Clear cold weather in the night and mild weather during the day.
Continued our journey at 3 oclock in the morning and arrived at Spokan
at 11. Not much snow in the woods & it was so hard that we walked the
most of the way without snowshoes. We were well tired. There were some
horses on the opposite side of (Schuihoo)[274] plain but we thought it
too far to go for them yesterday evening.
Found Mr. Dease & his people all well.
Monday 27
Snowed in the night and the greater part of the day.
It being deemed impracticable to get the property across the portage
at present on account of the depth of the snow, without, the risk of
losing some of the horses, Mr. Dease had determined to let it remain
some time till the snow thaws.--But a man (Chilifaux) was sent off to
give the man who was left behind instructions & leave an Indian with
him--and at the same time to bring home some of my things, particularly
the box containing the papers.--The Indians would not trust their
horses to cross the portage.--
Tuesday 28
Cloudy mild weather, some snow. A good deal of the snow that fell
yesterday thawed.
Wed.y. 1
Overcast mild weather. The snow thawing.
Mr. Birnie[275] & the men busy packing beaver these two days.--
Thursday 2
Overcast cold weather.
The people still employed packing furs.
Friday 3rd
Overcast cold weather, the snow thawing a little about the Fort but
diminishing very little in the woods.
Saturday 4
Weather as yesterday. Keen frost in the night.--
Sunday 5
Cloudy mild weather in the middle of the day, but cold in the night
morning & evening. Snow dimishing very slowly.--
The men finished packing the furs. I am employed arranging the accounts.
Monday 6th
(Monday, Sunday & Tuesday here given in exact order of original M. S.)
Keen frost in the night. Cloudy cold weather during the day.
The Chiefs we spoke to about horses to carry off part of the furs and
property to the Forks,[276] they engaged to furnish 80 horses.
Sunday 7
Clear fine weather but cold & the snow wasting very little.
Tuesday 7th
Cloudy cold weather keen frost in the night.
The men busy tying up the pieces & preparing to go off tomorrow. The
Indians collecting the horses.--
Mr. Birnie with 3 men, 13 Indians and 80 loaded horses set out for
the forks the first trip. Mr. B. is to remain in charge of the furs &
property. Only 4 or 6 pieces of this is private property.
Tuesday 7th
In the evening Cholefaux arrived with my trunk & blankets about 100
lb.--The other things he left.--The snow on the Portage is now very
deep, more so than when I passed it is now not less than 4 feet. There
is no knowing when horses may be able to pass through it.
The night before Cholefaux arrived at the other end of the Portage some
Inds slept there with the man who was left in charge of the goods, &
stole a small bag 25 lb. fine pimican.--
Wed.y. 8
Cloudy cold weather, sharp frost in the night.--
Chalifaux was sent off to the Forks to remain with Mr. Birnie.
Thursday 9th
Sharp frost in the night. Cold bleak weather during the day.--The snow
wasting very little to be this season of the year.--
Friday 10
Keen frost in the night, Raw cold weather. Snow in the afterpart of the
day.
The men[8] employed with two Indians pressing the fur packs, but had to
give it up on account of the snow.
Saturday 11th
Froze keen in the night. Light clouds fine weather though cold during
the day.
The people above mentioned employed pressing the furs which was
finished in the evening having done 36 packs in the day.
In the evening an Indian with part of the horses that went off to the
Forks on tuesday, arrived, the whole reached their destination safe, &
the property all in good order, having had dry weather.
Sunday 12
Frost in the night, cloudy cold weather during day.
All the rest of the horses & Indians & men returned from the Forks.
Monday 13
Keen frost in the night.
The men employed tying up and arranging the pieces for the next trip.
Busy all day paying the Indians for their horses for their last trip.
Tuesday 14
Frost in the night, light, cloudy, cold weather during the day.
The Snow is disappearing about the Fort, but going off very slowly.
Wed.y. 15
Cloudy cold weather. The men employed cutting firewood.
Thursday 16
Heavy rain in the night some time in the morning, which has diminished
the snow considerably, the valley round the fort is nearly all bare
except patches here and there but in the woods and higher ground snow
still lies pretty thick & is wasting very tardily.--Mild, soft foggy
weather, & the first spring like day we have had this season.--
The men employed cutting firewood in the forepart of the day,
afterwards arranging and separating the furs & property to be sent off
to the forks on Saturday, in all 60 loads.--The Indians were engaged to
furnish sixty horses on that day, for the trip.--
Pere de Jolie Fille was also engaged to cross the (Schuihoo) portage
for the property that remains there, he is to go as soon as the road
is passable through the snow, which he expects will be in two or three
days.
Friday 17.
Raw cold weather in the morning, mild afterwards.--
Had provisions &c., tied up for the party going off tomorrow.--The
Indians collecting their horses.
Saturday 18th
Cloudy, snow & sleet the forepart of the day, snowed in the night, the
snow in the morning was nearly 2 inches deep, but it had nearly all
disappeared during the day, on the low ground, but on the high ground
that faces the north, the snow still remains.
On account of the bad weather the departure of the horses with the
property was deferred until tomorrow.
The water in the river has risen considerably, these few days past.
Sunday 19.
Frost in the night & fine weather in the forepart of the day but
disagreeable weather with rain and sleet afterwards.
Three men and ten Indians, with the Interpreter Rivit,[277] were
sent off to the Forks with 62 horses loaded with Furs, Provisions &
Sundries. The after part of the day turned out very unfavorable which
was not expected in the morning as the weather was fine.--There is very
little property of any kind now remaining.[144]--The women and children
also went off today.--
Monday 20
Overcast fair weather in the morning some light showers during the
day.--
Tuesday 21
Rain and sleet in the night, but fair weather during the day. The River
continues much the same, the water is rising very little.
The Blacksmith & cook, the only two men we have now here, employed
collecting all the iron about the place, stripping hinges off
doors[278] &c. The Indians much regret our going off, and frequently
complain that they will be pitiful when the whites leave them.[279]
The Indians are getting a few trout and suckers in their barrier, a
part of which they give us.
Wed.y. 22
Light showers.--
The men employed as yesterday.
Thursday 23.
Sleet & rain showers, rained hard in the night.
The greater part of the Men and Indians that went to the Forks on
Sunday last, returned. Notwithstanding the bad weather their property
got down safe.--
Friday 24.
Showery weather and cold, notwithstanding the advanced season the snow
still lies on the North side of the hills and banks.--
The rest of the people arrived from the Forks.
Late last night two Indians arrived from Coeur de Alan Portage with
letters from Mr. Kittson dated F. Head 9th Inst.--The trade was then
completed and preparations making to start. The provision trade has
been excellent but the returns in furs less than was expected.--War has
broken out between the F. Heads and (Piegans.) C McKay is at the other
end of the Portage with the horses that were at the F. Heads, he had a
bad journey down on account of the depth of the snow, the horses were
five nights without eating. The snow on the portage is still near 3
feet deep.--Mr. Kittson was to have proceeded to the Pendent Oreilles
Bay but as it is supposed from accounts that that portage is impassable
with the depth of the snow, a man was sent off immediately with letters
to Mr. Kittson to stop him at the Coeur de Alan portage.--
Some people were sent off to fetch home our horses from the Coeur de
Alan plain to be ready to start for the F. Head property. Le Course
caulking his boats.--Paid off part of the Indians for their trip to the
Forks.--
Saturday 25
Raining the greater part of the day.
The horses were brought to (Birnie's)[280] plains. Paid some more of
the Indians for their horses.
Sunday 26th
Rain in the night and the most of the day.
The water in the River rising considerably these few days.--Some snow
still lies on the banks and hills that face the North.
Monday 27
Overcast weather.
Martin arrived from Coeur de Alan Portage, in place of Charles who went
off on the 23rd who was so fatigued that he could not come back. Martin
can also scarcely walk, though he came part of the way on horseback.
Mr. Kittson had not arrived at the Portage 2 days ago.--By Indian
report he had started from the F. Heads but was detained at Thompsons
plains, seeking after one of his men (Benifont) who had deserted.
There is still a great deal of snow on the Portage. Some places it is
said to be 3 feet deep.--
The horses were brought home, & the Indians engaged to furnish some
more, to go off for the F. Head property tomorrow, as Mr. Kittson is
expected to have arrived by the time they reach the Portage.
Tuesday 28
Overcast mild weather.
Rivit, 2 men & some Indians went off to meet Mr. Kittson with about 70
horses.
Wed.y. 29th.
Fine weather, sharp frost in the night.
Old Philip was sent off to the Forks to send home Chalifaux who is
there.--
Thursday 30th
Fine weather, but keen frost in the night.
La Course busily employed caulking and gumming the boats.
Friday 31st.
Frost in the night, Overcast mild weather during the day.
Notwithstanding the weather is rather cold, Vegetation is making
considerable progress, the ground about the fort is getting quite
green, and the bushes are putting forth their leaves and some small
plants flowering. The snow, nevertheless still keeps possession of the
banks that Front the north.--The River has risen considerably for some
days past. The Indians are hungry as they have little to depend upon
but moss. They have for some time past got a good many trout from the
Barrier but last night it was broken by the height of the water, & they
will not be able to repair it.
April 1826 Satd.y. 1
Heavy rain the greater part of the day.
The men employed gumming the boats.
Sunday 2
Overcast mild, soft weather. Mr. Kittson arrived from the F. Heads. he
left his people yesterday.--One of the men (Bonenfant) who deserted
from me on the 21st. Feby. but was afterwards secured, ran off a second
time, when Mr. Kittson sent two men in pursuit of him. One of these
Ignace (Astaryan), also staid away & is supposed to have deserted also.
Bonenfant made his escape from an Indian lodge before the men got up.
Three of the canoes were broke 2 two of the them sunk, & though none of
the property was lost a great deal of it was wet, & though pains was
taken to dry it, it is feared from the witness of the weather that a
deal of the meat will be much damaged.--
Monday 3rd
Overcast fair weather.
C. McKay & Canotte arrived & left Rivit and the Men this morning, they
are to stop the most of the day opening and airing the provisions.
Tuesday 4.
Overcast, weather drizzling rain.
The Men employed tying up some things that were loose in the Store.--
Wed.y. 5
Overcast fair weather.
The people with horses loaded with Flat head returns arrived. The men
immediately employed opening and examining the Provisions. A good deal
of it is wet & getting mouldy. Some of the Bales of leather were also
wet, indeed scarcely anything in the canoes missed.--
Busy the after part of the day settling with the Indians for their
horses.
Thursday 6th
Fine weather.
Busy settling with the Indians & paid them up for all their horse hire
& services for so far.--
Mr. Kittson & the men drying and packing up the meat.--
Friday 7th
Fair weather.
Had the Indians & Companys horses collected and the property taken to
below the Forks,[281] in the boat, the river being too high to cross
it on the horses. At past noon I set out with 59 loaded horses and
encamped late at the Kettle encampment.[282] Our loads are principally
provisions, a few packs of furs & leather.--All Indians but one white
man that are with the horses, they are very careful of the property.
Saturday 8th
Clear pleasant weather.
It was some time in the morning before the horses were all collected
after which they were all loaded and proceeded on the rout. Mr. Dase
and Mr. Kittson shortly come up with us. I accompanied them & we
proceeded on ahead and arrived at the Forks in the evening. We had some
difficulty crossing a small River[283] that was swelled by the snow
melting in the mountains, the current was very strong & the water deep.
My horse was carried a considerable distance down the stream. I was
completely wet up to the middle it was with difficulty I kept his back
as he was different times nearly upsetting by getting on branches or
trees.
Sunday 9th
Clear fine weather.
The boats,[284] three in number, which left Spokan yesterday arrived
at the Forks this evening, they loaded the cargoes above the little
Dalles & the light boats were run down. La Courses boat struck a stone
near the mouth of the Spokan river in a dangerous rapid and was broken.
She very nearly upset, had she done so everyone on board would have
perished. Yesterday the boats fell in with the horses & transported all
the property past the little river.
Monday 10
Cloudy weather, sun shining occasionally.
The horses and property all arrived at the Forks safe in the morning
where the loads were received.--The Bales of meat were opened to be
aired, several of them were a little wet.--Busily employed in the
afterpart of the day paying off the Indians for the lend of their
horses and their own labour coming to the Forks.--
Tuesday 11
Cloudy weather.
The meat was again all opened & spread out to air.--
The Express arrived in the evening. Messrs. McLeod.[285] Ermatinger &
Douglas.--They brought 3 pigs & 3 young cows for Fort. Colvile[286]
Wed.y. 12--
Mr. A. McDonald[287] arrived from Okanagan by land.
Thursd.y. 13.
Two boats sent off to Okanagan landed with furs.--And afterwards 20 of
the Spokan horses for the same place to go on to Kamloops to meet the
New Caledona people.--
F Rivit. Old Philip & old Paget & Pierre with a number of women and
children & all the horses & the young cows, were sent off to Kettle
falls. They have a quantity of seed potatoes with them & tools to
commence farming immediately.[288]
Friday 14th
Nothing particular,--All busy finishing the account.
Saturd.y. 15th
do do.
Sunday. 16.
The Express for the Mountains. Mr. McLeod & Mr. Birnie, set off in the
evening.--One boat 8 men.
Monday 17--
A Cargo was prepared for a boat to Okanagan.--
Tuesday 18
A boat loaded with Packs of furs, appichimons, leather &c. Messrs.
McDonald, Ermatinger & myself passengers. Set out in the morning for
Okanagan.--
Wed.y. 19th
Arrived at Okanagan in the morning with all safe.--
Met the man that left the forks on the 12th returning yesterday
morning. They would reach the forks in the course of the day.--
Thursday 20
Overcast mild weather. Messrs. A McDonald, E. Ermatinger and
Annance,[289] 12 Men and 2 Indians took their departure for Nezperces
& thence to Fort Vancouver in a boat, with 12 Packs furs, 15 bales
salmon, 4 Bales Appichimons, 1 bale Saddles, 1 Bale leather, 1 Bale
Cords & 3 (caffetes). They are to proceed from Wallawalla by land with
horses.
I remain in charge of Okanagan till the Brigade goes down. Five men
remain with me, two of whom are shortly to go off to Kamloops with
horses to meet the N. Caledonia people, and two of them are invalids.--
(No journal kept from Apr. 21 to May 31 inclusive, unless in separate
book.)
June 1826 Thursd.y. 1st
Cloudy fair weather.
The men employed gumming the boats.--Yesterday I gave up the charge of
the store &c. to Mr. F. Ermatinger[290] who is to remain at this place
during summer.--
Friday 2nd
Fair weather.
Men employed as yesterday.--Mr. Connolly[291] arrived about 5 oclock
in the evening.--He left his people this morning, they are expected to
arrive with the horses tomorrow.
Satd.y. 3
Cloudy, Showery weather.
Mr. Connollys people under the charge of Messrs. Pambin[292] &
Douglas[293] arrived late in the evening, 60 loaded horses 85 packs
furs & 6 Kegs Castorum.--They have been 25 days from Alexander 10 of
which were from Kamloops to Okanagan.--
Sunday 4th
Cloudy mild weather.--
An Indian traded a salmon.--
Monday 5th
Cloudy Showery weather
Tuesday 6th
Sultry warm weather, some Showers.
Mr. Connolly being very anxious for the arrival of Mr. Deases people,
and apprehensive that letters which he sent some time ago had not
reached their destination an Indian and a man were dispatched with
letters to Fort Colville.--About 1 oclock 2 boats & 11 men with Mr.
Douglas[294] & Kittson arrived from Ft. Colvile, with some appichimons,
cords, Provisions, &c.--The sending off in the morning is unnecessary.--
Everything made ready to start tomorrow.
Wed.y. 7th
Cloudy Sultry weather.
Departed from Okanogan with 6 boats, Men loaded with pack furs & other
baggage.[295] All under the charge of Mr. Conolly, Messrs. J. Douglas,
Pambin, Kittson, D. Douglas, & myself passengers.--Started at 8 oclock
& encamped to gum the boats at 6 a little above Priests Rapid.--Saw but
few Indians on the River, traded some roasted salmon.--The Current is
very strong & the water high.
Thursday 8th
Cloudy showery weather.
Continued our journey at 3 oclock and arrived at Nezperces[296] at 7 in
the afternoon.--A few Indians along the river.--Traded 6 fresh salmon.--
Friday 9th
Cloudy weather, excessively warm in the middle of the day. In
consequence of the rain yesterday evening, the boat and additional
cargoes to be taken from Nezperces could not be arranged. Some time
was, therefore, occupied doing that business this morning. Near noon
the boats all started 8 in number with 45 packs furs in addition to
those brought from Ok: and some other property.--Messrs. D. Douglas &
Kittson remained.--Our party now consists of 8 boats, 51 men, & 1. C.
F. & 3 clerks.--We got on well during the day.--Shortly after leaving
Nezperces at Grand Rapid[297] we met an Indian with dispatches from Ft.
Vancouver dated 3rd Inst., announcing the Arrival of the Ship. Encamped
in the evening below J. Day's River. A good many Indians along the
river.--Mr. Black gave the people a horse to eat.
Satd.y. 10
Cloudy fine weather, very warm though there was a little breeze of
wind.--
Proceeded on our journey at daylight, Passed the Portage at the
Chutes[298] and to near the lower end of the Dalles where we encamped
to get the boats gummed.--The men had a hard days labour carrying
across the two Portages.--There were about 100 Indians at the Chutes, &
from 200 to 300 at the Dalles. They are very peaceable. Traded salmon
from them to serve the people 2 days.--
Sunday 11
Cloudy, Blowing fresh part of the day.
All hands were in motion at daylight, and after proceeding down a small
channel & making a portage at its lower end,[299] continued our rout,
but it blew so fresh that we had to put ashore before noon and could
not proceed during the day.--The Indians were very quiet during the
night, but before they could be all sent off from the camp they made
a hole in the sand under the edge of one of the boats & stole a capot
from under one of the mens heads when he was sleeping.--There was some
trouble getting through the rapids and whirlpools below the Dalles.
Traded some more salmon.--
Monday 12
Continued blowing fresh all night and all day, storming in the
afternoon. It being a little moderate we embarked at daylight, but had
proceeded only a few hours when the wind reversed so that we had to put
ashore & remain all day a little below Cape Heron.[300] Some Indians
visited us from whom part of a sturgeon was purchased & some other
little things.--
A canoe of Indians on their way from the fort below visited us.--
Two Indians who had solicited a passage from the Dalles to Fort
Vancouver returned in the afternoon. One of them had the misfortune to
lose his gun. It was lying in the oil cloth which being blown up by the
wind tossed the gun overboard.
FOOTNOTES:
[246] That is, the furs sent from the Snake river country where Peter
Skene Ogden's party had been trapping during winter and summer of 1825.
[247] The trading post known as Fort Kootenay had been located nearly
opposite the present town of Jennings, Montana, but was not being
maintained this year.
[248] This refers to attempt of Mr. Kittson to ascend the Kootenay
river from the Columbia in a batteau, mentioned on pages 178-9 of this
quarterly.
[249] See note 108 on page 189.
[250] Mr. John Warren Dease, Chief Trader, in charge at Spokane House
during this winter.
[251] The portage mentioned in note 86, page 179, of this Quarterly.
[252] Free trappers nominally owned their horses, guns, traps and
lodges, but usually were in debt to the Company for everything and
obliged to turn in their furs to pay the indebtedness. The regularly
employed servants were called the engages.
[253] The same as the Coeur d'Alene portage mentioned in note 117,
this being Mr. Work's spelling or "Skeetshoo," the name given by David
Thompson to the Coeur d'Alene lake and river and Indians.
[254] Saddle blankets, made of skins.
[255] The Indians residing along the lower Kootenay river; see note 104
on page 187.
[256] Thompson Falls, Clark's Fork river, Montana.
[257] The name still remains and is said to have its origin from
numerous small fish resembling herring that were common there.
[258] Pend d'Oreille lake.
[259] North end of Skeetshoo Road and in later years called Sineacateen
Crossing.
[260] Rathdrum creek, probably.
[261] Hoodoo lake, Kootenay County, Idaho.
[262] Spokane House, at forks of Little Spokane and Spokane rivers.
[263] Spokane Falls.
[264] Some large spring on Spokane prairie; perhaps where Antoine
Plante afterward lived.
[265] Sineacateen again.
[266] Previously mentioned as Isle d'Pierre and impossible to locate
with certainty; possibly Cabinet rapids, Clark Fork river.
[267] Possibly the Trout creek, Montana: on main line of No. Pac. Ry.
[268] The large camp of the Flatheads near the lake of that name.
[269] Mrs. Work was of Spokane blood and a very Intelligent woman.
[270] Mr. Dease was suffering from some chronic disease from which he
died a few years after at Fort Colvile.
[271] Saddle bags.
[272] Herders at Thompson's Prairie, where the horses were pastured.
[273] Jacques Finlay, clerk of David Thompson, who was in charge of
Spokane House in 1811, and after whom Jocko creek, Missoula county,
Montana, is named.
[274] Another attempt to spell the name Skeetshoo.
[275] See note 79, page 176. Mr. Birnie came to the Columbia about 1820.
[276] The mouth of the Spokane river where the boats were loaded to
proceed either up or down the Columbia.
[277] See note 68, page 167.
[278] Mr. Work and Mr. Dease remain until the arrival of Mr. Kittson
with the furs and provisions from the Flathead trading post.
[279] This marks the end of Spokane House as a trading post. For
glimpse of this place in July, 1826, consult David Douglas' account in
Oregon Hist. Quarterly, Vol. 5.
[280] Evidently some prairie near the House, possibly the Five Mile
Prairie of present day.
[281] Meaning the Forks of Spokane and Little Spokane rivers about
three-fourths mile below the House, where the ford usually was. See map
in Pac. Railway Reports, Vol. 12.
[282] Uncertain but probably where the main trail Walla Walla to Kettle
Falls crosses the Spokane River.
[283] One of several creeks entering Spokane river from the south. The
road from Spokane House to the Forks evidently followed the south side
of Spokane River very closely.
[284] The boats that had been built at Spokane House during the winter;
the Little Dalles are the gorge at Miles. Lincoln County, Wash.
[285] John McLeod. Chief Trader, on his way to cross the Rocky Mts.,
Francis Ermatinger, a clerk, and David Douglas, the botanist from
England. For contemporaneous mention of this meeting consult pp. 334-5
of Vol. 5 of Oregon Hist. Quarterly, being Journal of David Douglas.
[286] This marks the beginning of the pork, beef and dairy business in
Stevens county, Washington, in particular, and all the Inland Empire in
general.
[287] Archibald McDonald, then a clerk; the father of Ranald McDonald.
[288] These people are to become the first residents at Fort Colvile,
then being completed on Marcus Flat above Kettle Falls.
[289] Mr. Annance, Chief Trader, had been in charge of Fort Okanogan
that winter and Mr. Edward Ermatinger had probably been at Thompson
river.
[290] See note 78, page 176.
[291] Chief Factor William Connolly from Fort St. James in New
Caledonia en route for Ft. Vancouver to exchange his furs for trading
goods.
[292] Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun, a clerk under Mr. Connolly, afterward
in charge of Fort Walla Walla; consult Irving "Capt. Bonneville."
[293] James Douglas, clerk under Mr. Connolly, whose daughter he
married, and afterward Sir James Douglas, Chief Factor and Governor of
British Columbia.
[294] David Douglas, the botanist, again.
[295] Constituting what was known as a fur brigade.
[296] Fort Nez Perce or Walla Walla; Mr. Samuel Black then in charge.
[297] Umatilla rapids.
[298] Ceillio Falls and the Upper and Lower Dalles, now charted as Ten
and Five Mile Rapids.
[299] Three Mile Rapids.
[300] Upper Cape Horn. See note 6.
ELIZA AND THE NEZ PERCE INDIANS
Seventy-six years ago a little six-months old baby sat in her mother's
lap in an humble home in the eastern part of what was then known as
Oregon. (Oregon then comprised all that section of country lying west
of the Rocky Mountains and north of the California line.) The baby was
a dark-haired, dark-eyed little girl, and was the joy of her parents,
who had peculiar reasons for being attached to her. She was not
different from other children of like age, but had the distinction of
being the second white American child born on this Northwest Coast, and
the first who grew to years of maturity. She is still living, and has
been for years a resident of this state, though now living in Idaho.
Her parentage and environment were unusual. On the banks of a swiftly
running stream, called Lapwai, which empties into the Clearwater
river a dozen miles or so east of the City of Lewiston, in the State
of Idaho, was the place of her birth. Their home was a nondescript
building, made of logs, eighteen feet wide and forty-eight feet long. A
partition, also made of logs, divided it into two rooms, one eighteen
feet square in which the family lived, and the other eighteen by thirty
feet, which was used for a school and assembly room. It had been a
great task to erect that house. There were no teams, and all the logs
had to be carried four miles by the Indians. It took thirty men to
carry one log. The parents were missionaries, and had lived there about
eighteen months, with no white neighbors nearer than one hundred and
twenty miles and the only means of communication between them was on
horseback.
Now let us go back thirty years or more. In the spring of 1806, when
Lewis and Clark were returning back across the continent in their most
wonderful exploring expedition, they passed through this section of
the country. On arriving at a place called Kamiah, sixty miles east of
Lapwai, they found the snow too deep to allow of their crossing the
mountains, and were obliged to remain there about a month. They found
the Indians of this tribe very friendly and accommodating. They were
really a superior race of people. Most of them had never seen any white
people before, and none of them had ever seen a black man, like York
of that party. Their curiosity was greatly aroused. They even tried to
wash the black off from his face. The thirty days or more spent there
was mutually very enjoyable, and the memory of it was treasured up in
their minds for very many years. It is not known that there were any
very religiously inclined men among them, but all knew of the existence
of a God, and Mr. Clark at least is said to have been a church member.
It is more than probable that some seeds of Divine truth were dropped
into their darkened minds at the time, for twenty-five years later they
sent a delegation of four men to St. Louis to get further knowledge of
the white man's God, and the book or guide to Heaven. Two of these were
elderly men, and two were younger. On arriving at St. Louis, then the
emporium of the West, they were cordially received by General Clark
who was then Superintendent of Indian Affairs, having charge of all
Indians living in the far West. He remembered well the hospitality he
and his company had received at the hands of their tribe a quarter of
a century before, and took great pleasure in requiting it in a fitting
manner. They arrived in the fall. During the following winter the two
elderly men sickened and died. There is a tradition, that just before
starting, one of the survivors made the following speech: "I came to
you over the trail of many moons from the setting sun. I came with one
eye partly open for more light for my people who dwell in darkness. I
made my way to you through many enemies and strange lands that I might
carry back much to them. I go back with both arms broken and empty. The
two fathers, who came with us, the braves of many winters and wars,--we
leave them here asleep by your great waters and wigwams. My people
sent me to get the book of Heaven from the white men. You make my feet
heavy with the burden of gifts, but the book is not among them. When I
tell my poor blind people after one more snow that I did not get the
book, no word will be spoken. One by one they will arise and go out in
silence. My people will die in darkness. No book from the white men to
make the way plain. That is all."
There has some doubt been expressed whether the Indian used this exact
language. But Mr. Catlin, the Government painter of Indian portraits,
and who traveled with them on the steamer going up the Missouri
river, and who painted their portraits which are now in the museum at
Washington City, is authority for the statement that this was their
object. At any rate, their very unusual mission became known among the
missionary societies in the east, then in their infancy, and awakened a
deep interest in their call for help.
In 1834 the Methodist denomination sent out four single men, two
ministers, the Reverends Lee, uncle and nephew, and two laymen, Messrs.
Shepherd and Edwards. These men established a mission in the Willamette
Valley nine or ten miles from where the City of Salem now stands. Two
years later Messrs. Spalding and Whitman followed in their footsteps.
They were accompanied by their brides, who, with indomitable pluck,
heroism and devotion faced that long and terrible journey from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, and accomplished it successfully. Of their
privations and sufferings on that long and toilsome journey there is
not now time to dwell. Week after week, and month after month, they
traveled on horseback, sleeping on the ground at night, with no house
but a tent, and no mattress but skins and blankets; fresh buffalo meat
their principal diet, and through tribes of Indians who had never seen
a white woman. After many delays and dangers, in November, 1836, Mr.
and Mrs. Spalding located among the Nez Perce Indians, the tribe who
had sent the messengers east. Doctor and Mrs. Whitman had settled in
the Walla Walla Valley, among the Cayuse Indians.
For the first three weeks the Spaldings lived or rather camped in an
Indian lodge, the poles of which were covered with buffalo skins with
the hair taken off, called parfleches, until their cabin was prepared.
The two missionary couples were one hundred and twenty miles from each
other; and neither woman saw the other or any other white woman for a
year after their separation.
The following year, 1837, witnessed the birth of two girls, the first
white American children born in the Northwest. Alice Clarissa Whitman
was born March 4th, and was the first, and Eliza Spalding, born
November 15th, was the second. In November, 1837, Mrs. Whitman made her
first visit to Mrs. Spalding, bringing her little girl with her, when
each child beheld for the first time a white baby. On the 23rd of June,
1839, little Alice was accidentally drowned in the Walla Walla river,
leaving Eliza as the first white American child who grew to years of
maturity.
Mr. and Mrs. Spalding pursued their labors for the benefit of the
Indians; she collecting the women and the girls in the assembly room,
and teaching them the simple arts of domestic life. Being somewhat of
an artist, she also drew pictures representing events recorded in the
New Testament, and also the alphabet, which they readily learned. The
room was often crowded to its utmost capacity. Men as well as women
of mature age, as well as the young people, applied themselves with
eagerness. Mr. Spalding would often collect a crowd about a campfire
and tell them Bible stories, often somewhat embellished, and he held
their attention until long into the night. The interest of the Indians
was very encouraging.
The next year, 1838, brought them fresh cheer and assistance in the
arrival of a reinforcement to the mission, of which they got Mr. W. H.
Gray and his wife, and a Mr. Rodgers, besides which a Mr. Smith and
his wife went to Kamiah to establish a mission there. For some reason,
Mr. Smith did not succeed at Kamiah and soon left the country. But
with the help of Mr. Gray and Rodgers, Mr. Spalding built a grist mill,
bringing the stones forty miles down the Clearwater river. One of those
stones is in the collection of curios of the Historical Society in
Tacoma. This little mill was very much appreciated by the Indian women,
who before that time had to pound their grain and roots in a mortar
with a pestle. This was very laborious work for them. In later years a
sawmill was also built there.
Messrs. Walker and Eells, who also came at that time, located among the
Spokane Indians, where they remained about ten years.
In the year 1839, three years after they commenced teaching the
Indians, their hearts were gladdened by the receipt of a printing
press, a gift from the native Christians of the Sandwich Islands. With
it came a printer by the name of E. O. Hall, who, with his wife, made
things brighter for the Spaldings. They immediately went to work with
fresh vigor to prepare books and pamphlets for the use of the Indians.
A primer, an elementary spelling book, a book of songs, a translation
of the book of Matthew, and some other books were prepared. These the
Indians learned to use. In their lodges and around their campfires
they studied them, and the air often resounded with their songs, they
using the books that had been prepared for them. The printing press
remained there seven years, when it was taken to The Dalles. It is now
in the rooms of the Historical Society of Oregon at Portland. It is
interesting to note in this connection the fact that the first printing
press was brought to the Atlantic Coast in 1639, just exactly two
hundred years prior to the arrival of this one which was brought to the
Pacific Coast in 1839.
There were lights and shadows in their work. Sometimes the Indians got
tired of their books. At other times they got cranky and lazy. Then
there were outside influences that they had to contend with. Some of
the missionaries got discouraged and left the mission; but Mr. and Mrs.
Spalding labored on. The important results of their work were seen in
later years, when a large proportion of the Indians were found to be
nominally Christians.
Eleven years passed by when a tragedy occurred, which shocked the whole
Northwest, and drove the missionaries from their work and their homes.
Many immigrants had come across the plains with their teams, and most
of them went on down to the Willamette Valley. In the fall of 1847,
however, some fifty or sixty, who for various reasons had found it
impracticable to go any further, were stopping temporarily at Walla
Walla, at Dr. Whitman's place. There were in all about seventy-five
stopping there, including the mission family and attaches. So many
white children were among them that a school of English speaking
children was established. It seemed an opportune time for Eliza
Spalding, who was then ten years old, to be there, where she could
associate with children of her own race, and her father took her down
to spend the winter with the Whitmans. Arriving the latter part of the
week, Mr. Spalding decided to remain a few days, and on Saturday he
accompanied Dr. Whitman to the Umatilla, some forty miles to the south,
where there were some sick Indians that the Doctor wished to visit.
Dr. Whitman returned the next day, as the calls for him at home were
urgent; while Mr. Spalding remained a few days to hold services with
the Indians there and do missionary work among them.
On Monday, the 29th of November, 1647, shortly after noon, while Dr.
Whitman was sitting in his house, two Indians came in and asked for
some medicine, which was given them. While the Doctor was explaining to
one of them something about the use of it, the other stealthily slipped
up behind him, drew his tomahawk out from under his blanket, and struck
him a blow on the top of the head which stunned him. A second blow and
he fell to the floor insensible. This was the signal for a general
attack. The screams of the women and children, the rapid discharge of
firearms, and the yells of the savages made pandemonium let loose.
During this affray little Eliza was almost the only one who understood
the Indian language, and her terror was increased by knowing what they
were saying. At one time, when she heard the order to shoot all the
children, she turned her back so she could not see it done, and leaning
over the sink, put her hands over her face and listened in terror. But
better counsels prevailed and they were saved. During that and the few
following days thirteen men and one woman, Mrs. Whitman, lost their
lives, a few escaped, and more than fifty women and children were taken
prisoners.
Two days later Mr. Spalding started back from the Umatilla, knowing
nothing of what had occurred. The same day a party of three, a Catholic
priest, a half-breed and an Indian, left Walla Walla to go to the
Umatilla. The latter went for the purpose of killing Mr. Spalding.
Eliza heard of this, and having learned in some way that the half-breed
was friendly, managed to have a little private conversation with him,
and implored him to do what he could to protect her father. This he
promised to do. They met on the road; but a short time before meeting
the Indian had discharged his gun at some game, and stopped to load,
and was otherwise engaged, so that he did not see Mr. Spalding. When
he overtook his companions nothing was said about having met Mr.
Spalding for some time, so that he had quite a start to get away. In
the meantime they had given Mr. Spalding the warning, and he had hid
in the brush, and although the Indian and his party passed close to
him, they did not discover that he was there. He hid there till it
was dark, and then traveling by night, and hiding by day, made his way
toward his home, but by a very circuitous route. He was near a week on
the way. In the meantime he lost his horse, his shoes gave out, he had
but little food, and crazed with grief for the fate of his comrades,
tortured with fear for the fate of his daughter, and terribly anxious
about what should befall his wife and three small children whom he had
left at home, he staggered along until he reached an Indian village in
his own neighborhood. Uncertain whether they were friends or foes he
listened intently, when he heard them singing. Creeping slowly along,
he discovered that they were singing the songs that he and his wife
had taught them. A wave of relief swept over him. He was now among his
friends. The next day, accompanied by a strong guard, he reached his
home, which he found deserted.
It had been looted that very morning. But where were his wife and
children? At length they were found secreted in an Indian lodge with
some friendly Indians ten miles distant. When he finally found them,
all were overcome with emotions too deep to be described. They then all
returned to their home under a sufficient guard, where they remained
for several weeks, protected by friendly Indians.
In the meantime an express had been sent to Vancouver, the headquarters
of the Hudson's Bay Company, apprising the chief factor of what had
occurred. He immediately dispatched Factor Peter Skeen Ogden, one
of the most tactful men, who made all possible haste to Walla Walla
to rescue the prisoners. He was successful. For about four hundred
dollars' worth of blankets, beads and other trinkets the Indians
delivered to him all at the fort, which was located at what is now
Wallula. Negotiations were also entered into for the delivery of Mr.
Spalding and family. They, under a guard of forty Nez Perces, finally
rode into the fort. There little Eliza fell into her mother's arms with
transports of joy too deep for utterance. The last days of December
witnessed the departure of all these people from the upper country, who
arrived at Oregon City December 31, 1847.
Soon after this, the provisional governor of Oregon, George Abernethy,
called for a regiment of volunteers, who went up and fought the
Indians. That is what is known as the Cayuse Indian war, the first
Indian war in the Northwest. After a campaign of six months, the
Indians were driven out of their country and large numbers of their
horses were captured. Eventually, through the kind offices of the Nez
Perces Indians, five of the murderers were delivered up, and taken
to Oregon City, where they were tried, convicted and executed by the
authorities.
Mr. Spalding then settled in the Willamette Valley, where he lived for
a number of years. Governor Abernethy had issued a proclamation warning
all Americans not to settle east of the Cascade Mountains, and for
nearly ten years that section of the country was closed to settlement.
Three years after they went to lower Oregon, Mrs. Spalding passed away.
Never a strong woman, the excitement, fatigue, and exposure, incident
to the breaking up of the mission, and moving to the Willamette Valley,
had been too much for her. After a lingering illness, she closed her
labors for the cause of her Master, whom she so much loved.
Eliza was now left at the age of thirteen at the head of the household
with the care of the family. She had one brother and two sisters. The
burden was a heavy one for her young shoulders to bear. In a few years,
her father having married, she also married, and for a time disappears
from our narrative.
Now let us return to the Nez Perce Indians. After the close of the
Cayuse war, for years they were left to themselves. They did not,
however, forget the worship of the true God. The books that had been
distributed among them, and which they had learned to read, were
used continually, and served to strengthen them in the belief and
practice of the truths that had been taught them. Seven years passed
away, during which time the Territory of Oregon, and later that of
Washington, were organized. Governor Isaac I. Stevens had arrived. He
was also Acting Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory.
With his accustomed impetuous energy, he had made treaties with most of
the Indians west of the Cascade Mountains. In May, 1855, he assembled
a large council of Indians in the Walla Walla Valley, to try to make
treaties with them. He had with him less than one hundred men. The Nez
Perces were the first to arrive, who came, twenty-five hundred strong.
While waiting for the others to arrive, Sunday intervened. Governor
Stevens relates that the tribe held religious services in their camp,
conducted by one of their own number. He commends the good order,
interest and devotion manifested by them.
When all had assembled, it was estimated that there were five thousand
present. A large proportion were opposed to selling any of their land.
There was much angry discussion, and it looked as though the effort
would be a failure. Late one night, Lawyer, the head chief of the Nez
Perces, came unattended into the tent of Governor Stevens and disclosed
to him the fact that a conspiracy had been formed to kill him and his
whole party. He proposed that he move his own family into the midst of
Governor Stevens' camp; and although it was now past midnight it was
immediately done, and word was circulated that he was there for their
protection. The plot failed by this bit of strategy, and their lives
were saved.
Matters then took a turn, and in a few days the terms of the treaties
were agreed upon. Lawyer was the first to sign, and the others then
followed. This result was largely due to the teachings of Mr. and Mrs.
Spalding, whose instructions had made Lawyer, who was the head chief,
a Christian, as well as so large a following that they controlled, for
the time being, the other bands who were there.
However, a few months later the general Indian war broke out, in which
a large proportion of all the Indians in Oregon and Washington took
part, led by many of the very Indians who had signed the treaties above
mentioned. During all of these hostilities, which lasted about two
years, the Nez Perces Indians remained friendly to the whites and saved
many valuable lives.
By the year 1859, peace had been declared, the Indians having been
conquered, and the country east of the Cascade Mountains was opened
up to settlement. The next year Mr. Spalding moved his family into
the Walla Walla country, and attempted to renew his work among his
former Indians. The Indian Service at that time was very corrupt, and
he encountered such strong opposition on the part of the agent and
employes that he had to desist and await further developments. The
influences about these Indians during the next ten or twelve years
was very bad. The White Salmon River and the Oro Fino mines had been
discovered, and thousands of miners, many of whom were of the worst
class, passed through their country.
In 1871, however, the Indian Service had been reconstructed, and what
was commonly known as the peace policy was adopted by the government.
In accordance with its principles, all religious work among the Indians
of the United States was to be encouraged. The way was now open for
Mr. Spalding to return to his former field of labor. Twenty-three
years had passed since he was driven away, during which time no work
had been done by white men to encourage the best, while much had been
done to encourage the worst, in them. The Indians received him with
open arms. They thronged about him, and a more joyous welcome could not
have been given him. The old church organization was resuscitated and
during the next three years, while he still lived, he baptized nearly
seven hundred of this tribe, and more than two hundred and fifty among
the Spokanes, a smaller tribe, where Messrs. Walker and Eells had been
stationed. During his last days, not being able to travel about as he
had done, he established a boys' school in Kamiah, in which he taught
and trained young Indian men to be preachers. But he had not much
longer to live. He was worn out. In August, 1874, he was brought down
to Lapwai, where he laid down to die, at the ripe age of seventy-one.
He was buried near the same spot where, thirty-eight years before, he
had commenced his labors which had accomplished so much for the tribe
and the country.
Another chapter in the good work done for the Nez Perces was the advent
of the McBeth sisters. Nearly a year before Mr. Spalding's death, Miss
Susan L. McBeth arrived at Lapwai under appointment as a teacher in the
Indian school. As subsequent events will show, hers was a remarkable
Christian character, in every way worthy to be the successor of Mrs.
Spalding. The following year she went to Kamiah, and took up the work
begun by Mr. Spalding, the training and education of young men to do
missionary work among their own people. In addition to her work as a
teacher, she was also a missionary, and held services among the Indians
there. Although afflicted with partial paralysis, she performed her
duties with a heroism and success that was remarkable. For three years
she was there alone. When the breaking out of the Chief Joseph Indian
war made it unsafe for her or any of the whites to remain there, she,
in company with two other white families, fled hastily to Lapwai under
guard of forty of the Christian Indians. The war closed in the fall of
that year, 1877, but there were still stragglers about, and the agent
felt it would be unsafe for her to remain there alone, and under his
direction she remained in Lapwai for two years. Some of her students
followed her down to Lapwai to receive the benefit of her instruction
at that place.
She had now been on that reservation for six years, when in the fall
of 1877 her sister, Miss Kate C. McBeth, arrived, and joined her in
her work. Together they went back alone to Kamiah, where Miss S. L.
McBeth resumed her work teaching the young Indian men, and her sister,
Miss K. C. McBeth, opened a school especially for young women. It had
been found that however well the young men were instructed and trained,
when they wished to marry, they could not find young women fitted to
be help-meets for them; and they deteriorated so much as greatly to
impair their usefulness. This new school soon became popular, and was
very useful and important. Those were happy days for the two sisters.
The church work, the Sunday school services, the Women's Missionary
Society, the hearty cooperation, and I had almost said the adoration of
the Indians, was very enjoyable. For six years they continued there,
supported by the Presbyterian Missionary Society. A part of the time
a government school was kept near them, and the intercourse between
the teachers of the different schools was mutually enjoyable. About
this time the health of Miss S. L. McBeth gradually failed, and there
were changes in the management of affairs on the reservation which
did not help the McBeth sisters in their work. At first, during the
hot weather, and later permanently, Miss S. L. McBeth removed to Mt.
Idaho, fifteen miles distant and across the reservation line. She went
there first in 1885. She bought a little home there, and lived in it
until her death. Many of her pupils followed her and built little
houses in which to live while attending her school. In addition to her
other duties, during all these years, she prepared a dictionary of
the Nez Perce Indian language, containing upwards of fifteen thousand
words, which she left as her legacy. It was a most valuable one. For
nearly twenty years she had lived among and for the benefit of the Nez
Perces Indians, when her end came. In May, 1893, at the age of sixty
years, she passed away. Born on the banks of the Doon, in Scotland,
hers was a strong character, and a long and useful life. Loving hands
bore her fifteen miles to the little church at Kamiah, near which, on
the banks of the Clearwater, she was buried. Her influence, even after
her death, was most potent. The young men she had taught and trained
lived and labored for others for many years thereafter. Some of them
went to preach to the Spokane Indians, some to the Umatillas, some to
the Shoshones, and some even followed the prisoners taken in the Joseph
Indian war to the Indian Territory, where so many of them died. They
were of great comfort to the suffering ones, and finally returned with
some of the prisoners to the home land. The high moral tone of the Nez
Perces Indians, as well as those living in that vicinity, is largely
due to her influence.
As has been said, six years after Miss S. L. McBeth came to the Nez
Perces Indians, Miss Kate McBeth, her sister, followed her, and also
took up a similar work, especially among the young Indian women. Upon
her shoulders has fallen the mantle of her elder sister and now for
a third of a century she has been among them. "Miss Kate," as she is
familiarly called, is to them the little mother to whom they come for
advice and counsel. She has written a book, covering the principal
events of their history during the past century, which is valuable, and
intensely interesting to any one who cares for information regarding
the Indian tribes of the Northwest. From this book I learn that there
are now six churches among the Nez Perces, two among the Spokanes, a
smaller tribe, and where Messrs. Walker and Eells were for nearly ten
years, one among the Umatillas, where was the remnant of the Cayuse
tribe who remained friendly during the Cayuse war. Old Istychus, who
had led the first wagons across the Blue Mountains, in 1843, when Dr.
Whitman was called away to visit the Spauldings, when so many were
sick there, who with his band of forty-five Christian Cayuses always
remained true to the faith taught them by Dr. and Mrs. Whitman. There
were two other real mission churches, one among the Shoshones, and
one among the Shivwits in Utah, eleven in all. These are the results
of the work of the early missionaries, among whom the Spaldings and
the McBeths were the most fruitful. All of these churches are self
supporting, and conduct their own affairs with so much wisdom that at
present they do not need a superintendent to care for them. In the
Christian Endeavor Convention, held in the Presbyterian church of
Tacoma, in 1912, half a dozen well dressed Indian men were there as
delegates sent by those churches.
The Nez Perce tribes originally numbered about three thousand,
approximately. Their country is especially well adapted for their
needs. Consequently they were always well supplied with the necessities
of life, and were, compared with the other tribes, well off. They were
an unusually high-minded, noble and intelligent tribe. About two-thirds
are what are called the Treaty Indians. About half of these are
nominally Christian Indians, and all are and always have been friendly
to the whites. About one-third are called non-treaty or wild Indians.
It was from these that Chief Joseph collected his band, and made war
on the whites in 1877; and whom General Howard followed across the
Rocky Mountains to near the British line, where they were surrounded,
and taken prisoners. They were then taken to the Indian Territory and
given land. Many of them died there. Most of the children could not
endure the climate of the hot land, as they called it, and wilted away.
After eight years of captivity, they were permitted to return. Those
who were willing to come on the reservation were given lands and homes.
The others were sent to the Colville Reservation. Among these was Chief
Joseph, who steadily refused to return to his own tribe. He felt that
those Indians had sold his country without his consent, and he could
never forgive them. Perhaps two hundred stuck by him as long as he
lived, and since then they have been gradually drifting back. Something
like half of the non-treaty Indians joined Chief Joseph in the war.
They have now dwindled, so that scarcely one hundred are left who have
not come on the reservation. Joseph, himself, died in 1904.
And now let us come back to our Eliza, the first American white child
born in the Northwest who grew to years of maturity. We left her
married, and living in the Willamette Valley. About the year 1861, she
was living with her young family on the Touchet in what was then Walk
Walla county. There we met her, being neighbors, although living twenty
miles apart, but I saw more of her younger sister, then unmarried,
living a mile or so from her home, than I did of her. She soon after
returned to the Willamette Valley and our paths diverged, so that we
did not meet each other for a long time. Three years ago we again met
at her beautiful home on Lake Chelan. Fifty years had elapsed since we
last met. She was then a widow, but well preserved for one of her age.
She had been active in religious work, having been superintendent of
one or more Sunday schools; and "Grandma Warren," as she is familiarly
called, is universally respected and esteemed. She has since sold her
attractive home, and is at present living with one of her sons at
Dudley, Idaho. She intends soon to return to Spokane and purchase a
small home. She is an honor to her family, and to our state, where she
has lived for many years, and where she expects to end her days.
EDWIN EELLS.
DOCUMENTS
A New Vancouver Journal
In this portion of the new Vancouver journal (continued from the July
Quarterly) we find the party arriving at Nootha and participating in
the diplomatic negotiations there with Bodega y Quadra.
It is gratifying to note that the publication is attracting attention.
One who has manifested an especial interest is Judge F. W. Howay of New
Westminster, British Columbia. He is well known as a student and writer
in the field of Northwestern history. He has kindly sent the following
notes applicable to the portion of the journal which appeared in the
April Quarterly:
"The conventional spelling of the name of Lieutenant John Meares
is 'Meares;' and it is thus spelled by all parties to the famous
controversy between Meares and Portlock and Dixon (Meares' voyages,
p. XXXIV _et seq._, Portlock's Voyage, p 218 _et seq._, and Dixon's
Voyage, p. 154 _et seq._) This is also the form in Dixon's Remarks and
in Vancouver's Voyage, Vol. 1, Pp. 208-9. Yet in the official copy of
the Memorial ordered to be printed 13th May, 1790, Meares repeatedly
spells it 'Mears' and so does Duffin; Douglas, on the other hand uses
both forms. A comparison of this document with the copy appended to
Meares' Voyages shows many alterations in the spelling, doubtless for
the sake of uniformity.
"As regards Classet: this is shown on Duncan's chart as 'Cape Claaset.'
Vancouver had this chart with him; on page 216 of Volume I, he speaks
of it as an 'excellent sketch of the entrance into this inlet.'
In the same volume, page 416, he states that he had been given to
understand that this was the Indian name; 'but now finding that this
name had originated only from that of an inferior chief residing in
its neighborhood, I have therefore resumed Captain Cook's original
appellation of Cape Flattery.'
"The name 'Green Island,' so far as I know, first appears in Duncan's
sketch dated 13th August, 1788, above referred to. In the legend
therein it is stated: 'Green Island or To Touch es is about 1/4 mile in
length; covered over with green grass; on the West Side is a small Cove
very narrow and only navigable for Boats; I saw some Canoes go in and
out and many Indians on the Beach; on the East Side is a large village,
and from the number of Canoes that come to us from thence, I suppose it
to be well inhabited.'
"On that sketch Duncan says of the 'Spiral Rock': 'Pinnacle Rock
appears to be about 34 fathoms high; its Base in front about 10
fathoms, the Top projects over the rest of it: The sides appear
steep; it stands about half way between the Cape & Green Island; the
distance between the Cape and the Island is 1/4 mile, not navigable to
appearance.'"
The Journal will be continued in the subsequent issues and the present
editor will welcome any additional information from Judge Howay or
other readers. Especially welcome would be information that might help
to determine the probable author of the Journal. Mr. A. H. Turnbull
of Wellington, New Zealand, who owns the original manuscript has not
learned the author of it. The text leaves no doubt that he was a member
of the Chatham's crew. That seems all that is known of him so far.
EDMOND S. MEANY.
THE JOURNAL
(Continued from page 224, July Quarterly.)
August 30th. Seigr. Quadra, the Commandant, visited both ships this day
when he gave a general invitation to all the officers to his table.
The agency of the Doedalus being vacant by the death of Lieut: Hergest,
Captn. Vancouver appoint'd Mr. James Hanson, Lieut: of the Chatham to
fill the vacancy, in consequence of which he promoted Mr Johnstone
Master of the Chatham to Lieutenant of her in the room of Mr Hanson and
a Mr Swaine (one of the mates of the Discovery) to be Master in the
room of Mr Johnstone.
The Three Bs. Brig were now building a small vessel here which they had
brought out from England in frame, Mr. Alder, the Commander of her, had
two other vessels in this expedition under him, one of these was now
to the Northward for Furs, the other he expected to meet at the end
of this season at the Sandwich Islands. They belong'd to a company of
merchants at New Castle.
There was now here a Mr Wetherell, Master of the Matilda, one of the
Botany Bay Transports, who was unfortunately wrecked upon some Rocks in
the Lat: ---- and Long: ----. The crew, except the Chief Mate, were all
saved and got safe to Otaheite about a month after we left that place.
They had not remained long there before the Jenny, Captn: Baker of
Bristol stopped there on his way to this Coast whither he was bound for
Furs. The very confined size of his vessel, and the large crew he had,
together with his not being provided with a superfluity of Provisions,
would not admit of his taking more on board than Wetherell, his nephew
and 4 or five seamen all of whom he brought to Nootka. The rest of the
shipwrecked crew remain'd at Otaheite except three who took their boat
and proceeded for Botany Bay., Captn. Baker having fitted out their
Boat with different necessaries and provided them Provisions &c.
The Matilda had been at Botany Bay from whence after leaving her cargo
of convicts she was bound on the Southern Whale Fishery and in her way
call'd at Otaheite to refresh her crew, when about a week after leaving
the Island, in the dead of night, she struck upon the Rocks where
she was unfortunately wrecked, the Rocks had never been seen before.
Seigr. Quadra with all that Benevolence & humanity that those who know
him, knows he possesses, on hearing poor Wetherell's lamentable tale
immediately took him under his protection, he supplied with money,
invit'd him to make use of his house and Table as his own and at the
same time offered to take him, a passenger, when he went himself to San
Blas and provide him with an ample sum of money &c. to carry him home
to England. Surely there cannot be a greater proof of the goodness of
this man's character. Mr Wetherell wisely accepted these offers.
Everything being now got ready for hauling our vessel on the Beach, to
look at her bottom, as we conceived she must have received some damage
when she was on the Rocks in Queen Charlotte's Sound, the Yards and
Topmasts were struck and at high water she was hauled upon the Beach,
at this she had everything in her, it being conceived that the Tide
wou'd Ebb sufficiently for what we wanted to do to her without taking
anything out of her. At low water she was left nearly dry when we found
that part of her stern and false keel was knocked off and some copper
torn off her bottom so that it was necessary to get her on blocks to
repair her and that she must be lightened something in order to do
this. Accordingly Blocks were prepared and laid down, the Guns and
all the Lumber were sent on shore together with Hawsers & Cables, and
some few casks of Provisions and part of the Water in the Forehold was
started. The next day the 31st at high water we hove her head on shore
but could not get her on the Blocks. More Provisions were now got out
of her and the following days, September the first, at high water we
hove her on the Blocks. At low water the carpenters repaired that part
of the Stern that was knock'd off, which done, the Blocks were shifted
forward to get at the False Keel but the next Tides not being high
enough, could not get her upon the Blocks.
'Twas now found that it would be necessary to get everything out of the
Vessel, in order to get her high enough on the Blocks to repair the
False Keel, we therefore on Tuesday the 4th, at high water hove her off
and moored at a short distance from the Beach to be ready to get on
next Spring Tides.
It being supposed that the business between Captn. Vancouver and Seigr.
Quadra, on the parts of the respective Courts as to the giving up and
receiving this place, _was only a matter of course_, that could produce
no difficulties nor differences on either side, and that everything
would be settled in due form; the Storeship shifted her berth nearer
the shore and the Spanish Storehouses being emptied, parties were sent
from the two vessels to help to unload her and house the Cargo in these
Storehouses and Captn. Vancouver appointed Mr Orchard his clerk,[301]
_Naval and Ordinance Storekeeper_.
About this time a party was made, of which I was one, to pay a visit
to Maquinna the King of the Sound at his Village at Tashees, about 15
miles up the sound.[302] Four boats well mann'd and arm'd in case of
accident set out on this expedition. The party consisted of Seigr.
Quadra and his officers, Captns. Vancouver and Broughton and some of
their officers. The weather was fine and the expedition was productive
of much variety and amusement. Maquinna received us with all the
welcome and Hospitality of a Prince and seem'd much pleased with the
honor done him. On entering his house we were conducted up to the end
of it where there were seats placed in a long range covered with clean
mats. His wives (for he had no less than four) & his children all clean
dressed were seated near this end of the house ready to receive us and
along the sides within the house were ranged crowds of his subjects.
Maquinna had prepared an entertainment for us which was to be exhibited
after Dinner, in the meantime the two Captains made the Royal family
some handsome presents consisting of Copper, Blue Cloth. Blankets &c.
The frame of Maquinna's house was amazingly large but only the
habitable part of it was roof'd, this part was thirty yards long and
eighteen broad. The roof was about 10 or 12 feet distant from the
ground, and composed of large planks of Fir the ends of which were laid
on Beams and were moveable at pleasure. But the size of the Beams and
their supporters was what raised in us more surprise and astonishment
from the labour they must have cost in placing them in their present
situation than any thing else we saw among them. In this house were
three of these Beams that run along the whole house, one along each
side and the other in the middle. They were of an equal length and
thickness. We measur'd one of them, and the dimensions were, in length,
sixteen fathoms (or 32 feet) and in circumference twelve feet. They
were supported at each extremity by Trees of much the same size on
which were carved figures resembling (from the formation of the
features) human figures but so large, and so horribly preposterous that
they were frightful to appearance. The Beams were solid Trees without
a Knot in them and varied very little in thickness at either end. At
one end of this house were piles of Boxes and Chests, containing their
Property and about a foot from the ground was a kind of Platform raised
for the purpose of sleeping on & sitting on. It ran along one side of
the house and across the ends and was about a yard wide. In a corner of
the house was the Royal Kitchen, where the Cooks were busily employed
in boiling Oil of different kinds, preparing Stews and Fricassees of
Porpoise, Whale, Seal, and such delicious Meats. But the Cooks' trouble
& skill was thrown away upon us for we had a far better dinner to sit
down to. It was agreed on setting out that Don Quadra shou'd furnish
the Eatables and Captn. Vancouver the Drinkables but one would have
imagined that Seigr. Quadra's whole Household had been there. A Table
was soon raised which was one of the broad planks from the roof of
Maquinna's House and we were served up two Courses, _on Plate_, in a
style little inferior to what we met with at the Governor's own house.
After dinner Maquinna's Entertainment began. It was performed by men
and chiefly consisted of a display of Warlike Evolutions. They were
most fantastically dressed and I suppose in their best and most showy
apparel which was for the most part all of English manufacture, such
as Woolens, Blankets, Helmets and a number of other different wearable
articles; indeed Maquinna's Brother was habited in a complete suit of
Stage Armour that very likely was often the property of Hamlet's Ghost.
Their faces were ludicrously painted in all colours among which Red
& Black were the predominant and their Hair was richly perfumed with
Fish Oil, powdered with Red Ochre & profusely adorned with the down
of Birds' feathers. About twenty men, one after the other, and each
waiting till the one before him had finished his part, and retired,
first appear'd, every one having a musket in his hand. They entered
running furiously, making horrid gestures, hallooing & dancing. After
these, came in the same manner an equal number of men having long
spears in their hands. Each performer was summoned by a signal given
by a number of men who sat near the door and who with small bits of
sticks smartly struck a long plank of wood, this was the signal. After
each man had made a circuit before the place where we were seated they
retired to the opposite end of the house and being now all assembled
there they joined in a song which they executed with great exactness
in keeping time and beating the ground together with their different
weapons. Some of their songs were not devoid of Harmony. They were
all of the Fierce & Warlike style and subject and one or two of them
ended with a frightful Yell that to a strangers ear was truly terrific.
Maquinna, dancing, now entered, dressed in a very rich garment of
Otter skins with a round Black Hat, and a Mask on, and with a fanciful
petticoat or apron, around which was suspended hollow tubes of Copper
and Brass and which as he danced, by striking against each other made a
wonderful tingling noise. After dancing thus some time in the course of
which he play'd some dextrous Pantomimical tricks with his Hat & Mask,
he retired and two more songs were sung by the Performers, to which
they danced. A man then came forward holding up a Sea Otter Skin and
after most pompously and vociferously proclaiming that it was a present
from the King Maquinna to Captn. Vancouver, laid it at his feet, then
retiring and producing another skin went through the same forms[303]
at the conclusion of which they all set up the Finale song and thus
ended this Entertainment in which there was something grand & curious
and well worth coming the distance from Nootka to see alone. As it
was by this time late in the Evening, and it would not only have been
imprudent but unpleasant to pass the night here we took our departure
from Tashees and after pulling a few miles down the arm stopped to pass
the night at a clear convenient spot on the Northern short where we
erected the small Marquee and other Tents we had brought with us, and
with an excellent supper, and much conviviality & pleasantry concluded
the day. The following (day) after Breakfast we set out for the Cove,
after stopping to dinner on a very pleasant point of an Island and
drinking Tea at Mowinna, the Village of Clyquawkini, a chief of the
Sound, we got to the Cove about dusk in the evening.
This trip was productive of much amusement, pleasure & variety, every
person contributed what they could to render it pleasing, which with
the good cheer provided by Seigr. Quadra and Captn. Vancouver made it
to be regretted that it was not of longer continuance.
On our arrival at this place it was settled that we (the Chatham) were
to winter here, and Mr. Quadra intended to leave the Houses, Gardens
&c., in good order for us, but just about this time it was reported
that some difference had arose between Captn. Vancouver & Mr. Quadra
respecting the right of possession of the English to Nootka, but
in so trifling a light was it considered and so very little was it
thought 'twould effect the settlement of the business in the manner we
conceived that scarcely any notice was taken of it and business still
went on the same as ever. Mr. Quadra was making preparation for his
departure with all dispatch, and considerable progress had been made
in unloading the Doedalus. I had forgot to mention that Seigr. Quadra
spoke no language but Spanish nor Captn. Vancouver any but English.
All business was carried by an interpreter, a gentleman of the name
of Dobson, one of the Mates of the Doedalus who fortunately spoke and
wrote tolerable good Spanish. I say fortunately for there was not any
other person in the Cove that understood both Spanish and English
except a servant of Mr. Quadra's and he could only _speak_ them.
Maquinna came down from Tashees on the 7th and Captn. Vancouver
according to his promise to him exhibited in the evening some Fireworks
on shore, that astonished the natives though in a much less degree than
I expected, for such is their frigid inanimate disposition that nothing
will alter the Muscles of their Countenances, and the greater part of
those that were present at this sight showed as much unconcern and were
as little moved by it as if nothing of the kind was going on.
8th. This morning arrived here the Spanish Ship (or as they call them)
Frigate, Aransasu, commanded by Seigr. Don Camaano,[304] a Lieut. in
the Royal Navy, one of His Catholic Majesty's Ships belonging to the
Establishment at San Blas, their only Arsenal on the N. Western Coast
of America. She came last from the Charlotte's Islands, which, together
with some part of the Streights of Defonte they had this last summer
employed surveying.
This Vessel was like all the other vessels in the Service of the King
on this Coast to the Southward. They are used for little else than
carrying stores &c., from San Blas to their settlements up the River
Colorado & on the Coast of California. They are from two to five
hundred Tons Burthen, built of Cedar, large, clumsy & ugly, carrying
from about 16 to twenty Guns & from 100 to 130 men. They were formerly
commanded by Pilots in the Spanish Service _of New Spain_, but since
the Nootka disturbance, when Martinez (who then was only one of
these Pilots) captured the British vessels, the Spanish Government
understanding that the English were surprised, and displeased that a
business of so important a nature should have been put in the hands of
an officer of such low rank made an alteration in the establishment
of the officers of these vessels, they sent out Lieutenants of the
Royal Navy to command these Vessels, and the Pilots that before were
the commanders became then the second in command on board, there are
besides in the establishment two more Pilots, a Padre (or Priest) and
a Surgeon. The Aransasu being on an expedition something out of their
usual track had a Botanist on board her.
11th. This day arrived an American Brig call'd the Hope, commanded by a
Mr Ingram,[305] on the Fur Trade. She had been one summer on the Coast
and was now going strait to China with about 450 Skins. Mr Magee own'd
a considerable share of this vessel.
The return of the Spring Tides, now fast approached and we began again
to prepare for hauling on shore, the remainder of our water, which was
of Thames river was started, the Spirits, Provisions, and in short
every thing was landed out of her, and the Blocks were again laid down.
On the 14th we endeavoured to get her on the Blocks but we found the
water would not flow high enough for some days so that we again haul'd
off. The same day the English Sloop Jackal arrived, a Mr. Stewart,
Master, she is one of a Squadron of three vessels belonging to a
company of London Merchants, the principal of which is Alderman Curtis,
employ'd on this Coast on the Fur Trade, and afterwards intended to
go on the Southern Fishery. The Commander of this expedition, a Mr
Brown in a large ship call'd the Butterworth, was now, together with
the third Vessel the Prince Lee Boo (a small sloop) to the Northward
collecting their cargo. This was their first season, but they had as
yet not been very successful. The Jackal came last from the Queen
Charlotte's Islands.
On the 15th a very melancholy business[306] was discover'd. A fine
little Spanish Boy--one of Mr Quadra's servants, who had been missing
about eight & forty hours, was found most barbarously murdered in a
small bight within the Cove where the Ships lay. A bloody knife was
found lying near him. It is supposed he was decoyed thither by some of
the Indians, under the pretence of gratifying an illicit intercourse
with one of their women, but no reason could be assigned whatever for
the taking away his life. No quarrel was known of that had happened
between the Indians and him or any of the Spaniards, on the contrary
the Indians enjoyed a happier time since the arrival of Mr Quadra among
them that they had ever done since the Spaniards had been first there.
None of his Cloathes were to be found but he was left naked with his
throat cut in a dreadful manner from ear to ear. He had several stabs
and cuts in his arms and on the backs of his hands, and the calves of
his legs, and the fleshy parts of his thighs were most Butcherly cut
out and supposed to be eaten by the savage perpetrators of this act.
When he was carried to the house, and the Indians heard of his being
found, those that were in the Cove took instantly to their Canoes, and
made out of the Cove, and in a few minutes not a canoe was to be seen,
except one, which with four Natives happened to be on board the Hope
Brig, but hearing the alarm, and observing the Spanish Boats coming in
haste towards them, three of them jump'd into the canoe and got off,
the remaining poor fellow had jump'd overboard from the Brig, and was
endeavouring to escape by swimming, but he was taken up and carried on
shore where he was detained a very short time being supposed innocent
of the affair. Maquinna was sent for and Mr Quadra questioned him as to
the murder, but declaring his total innocence of the transaction and
his ignorance of it at all till he was sent for, nothing more was done
and the matter rested. It is surely to be regretted that Mr Quadra's
mildness and lenity would not suffer him proceeding further, and with
more rigour in this inhuman affair, as it was thought by many, and
even by all his own officers he ought, and might have done. But though
I myself have not the most distant idea that the murder was committed
by any persons but of the Native Indians, and that those parts of
the Flesh cut out of the Legs & Thighs were eaten by them, it seems
some of the Spaniards had their doubts of this, and did not think it
improbable but that it was committed by a Mexican Indian, that had
formerly belonged to the Spanish Brig but had deserted some time back
and had not been heard of a good while. But this was far from being the
general opinion, for the accounts of all that saw the Boy last pretty
generally agreed that he was walking along the Beach towards the corner
of the Cove with two Indians, and some of these said they saw him
embark in a canoe from that place with these Indians and a woman and
paddle towards the little Cove where he was afterwards found. But these
good qualities, mildness and Lenity, that I have observed Mr Quadra
possessed so considerable a share of, are often too mistaken, and are
as frequently carried to as great extremes by some as the opposite
qualities are by others. Here we may say Mr Quadra was _too good_ a
man, he even treated the Indians more like companions than people that
should be taught subjection. His house was open to them all and a
considerable number of them were fed there every day. But such goodness
is thrown away on these wretches, they are possessed of no affection,
nor gratitude and the man that would profess himself your warm friend
today would cut your throat & dine off you tomorrow.
(To be continued.)
FOOTNOTES:
[301] This clerk had been honored by having Port Orchard named for him.
[302] The Indians moved from one village to another according to the
season. At present they live mostly at the village in Friendly Cove
where the transactions referred to took place. The present chief
proudly wears the same name Maquinna.
[303] Evidently the writer here left out some such phrase as "for
Seignor Quadra." It may be depended upon that the Indians knew the
equal rank and different nationality of the two white leaders and would
treat them the same on such an occasion.
[304] His name is perpetuated by that given to the island lying between
Whidby Island and the mainland. American geographers conferred the
honor transferring the name from the waters explored by the Spaniard to
the land he never saw.
[305] Reference is here made to Captain Joseph Ingraham, who had been
at Nootka in 1788 as a mate with Kendrick and Gray. With the latter he
returned to Boston in the Columbia and then accepted command of the
Hope, sailing from Boston September 16, 1790. He was successful in the
fur-trade, wintered in China and returned to Nootka as stated in 1792.
[306] Vancouver's brief account of this strange murder is not much
different in conclusion. Both accounts leave the case shrouded in
mystery.
BOOK REVIEWS
THE MINING ADVANCE INTO THE INLAND EMPIRE. By William J. Trimble,
Professor of History and Social Science in North Dakota Agricultural
College. (Madison, Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin, 1914. Pp.
254.)
This monograph, which was written as a thesis for the doctor's degree
while Mr. Trimble was a fellow at the University of Wisconsin, is
an epic in spirit, though a work of historical and economic science
and expressed in prose. It is the thrilling and romantic story of a
movement which, because it eventuated in the creation of civilized
society and political order, is of kin with the swarming of the
Teutonic peoples into the Roman Empire.
Specifically, it is a study of the beginnings of mining for precious
ores in the territories now known as the Inland Empire, and also in
parts of the regions adjoining this territory. In addition, it studies
laws and institutions originating from the mining industry. It is
a significant symptom of appreciation of the Pacific Northwest and
especially of this inland district by old institutions of learning east
of the Rockies.
Investigation of the subject was rendered feasible through use of such
libraries as those of the University of Wisconsin, the University of
California, the Province of British Columbia, the Historical Society
of Oregon, the Historical Society of Montana, the University of Idaho
and the private collections of Mr. Bagley of Seattle, Mr. Howay of New
Westminster, Mr. Justice Martin of Victoria and others; and through
the generous cooperation of personal authorities on our northwestern
history as Professor Frederick J. Turner of Harvard University, Judge
Howay of New Westminster, Mr. Elliott of Walla Walla and others. It
opens with the statement that the decade following 1858 brought the
expansion of American mining on a large scale for gold and silver into
many parts of our mountainous area.
Who first discovered gold here is not known. But the vicinity of Fort
Colville, Washington, saw the occurrence of a movement in 1855 which
ushered in the golden age of the Inland Empire. The miners labored
under measureless disadvantages. Supplies were scant. From Puget Sound
there were no suitable roads. Steamboating on the Columbia had only
begun. The Indians frequently proved a baffling obstacle at first. But
the friendship of the Nez Perces for the whites and the policy of
peace pursued by this tribe became a determining factor in the wars
with the natives and the development of this new country. In justice
to the Indians it is due to admit that conditions for which they were
not responsible made the situation ripe for desperate measures on their
part.
On November 23rd, 1857, the miners in the neighborhood of Colville
effected a rude governmental organization. In 1858 the stern measures
of Colonel George Wright brought just and lasting peace to the
Indian country and cleared the way for pushing forward the frontier
of civilization. In 1861 the final fixation of the boundary between
British Columbia and Washington drew clearly the artificial line of
different governments where, as Professor Trimble exhaustively and
conclusively demonstrates, nature had made one country. Consequently,
the political differentiation contributed to making the construction of
the famous old Mullan Road in every way an important matter. This noble
highway of empire, not unworthy of comparison with Rome's Appian Way,
was completed in 1862 at a cost of $230,000 for its 624 miles of length.
In a few years the carriers on the Columbia enjoyed an immense and
profitable traffic in the transportation of miners and their supplies.
Professor Trimble's description of steamboating on the rivers of
the Inland Empire is intensely vivid and interesting. In 1861 came
the great movement of miners into these new fields. Among the most
important of the localities they entered were the Nez-Perce and
Salmon-River districts in northern Idaho.
A swiftly accelerating stream of travel started in 1861 for the
new mines. A new era of development began. The Portland Oregonian
then predicted that there would follow "tremendous stampedes from
California, a flood of overland immigration and vastly increased
business on the Columbia." The shrewd forecast of the sagacious editor
was fulfilled to the foot of the letter.
Of the total yield from the mining districts in northern Idaho it is
impossible to secure exact figures. A conservative estimate would
put the production from the time of discovery until 1900 at about
$50,000,000, of which probably $35,000,000 were obtained before 1870.
In this connection Dr. Trimble rightly directs attention to the fact
that the mines of eastern Oregon have not yet received the study that
their importance as builders of that part of the state would warrant.
The mines of the Boise basin in Idaho not only were rich and easily
worked, but were so situated as to encourage homemaking and the
up-building of a permanent community. Soon towns with stable interests
and staple industries arose. The mining founders of Boise showed
themselves to be exceptionally enterprising and farsighted men.
As the Caribou, British Columbia, mines had shown that in placer fields
the individual, once a camp was established, could do little except
labor for some one else or in lieu of this prospect for new fields,
some form of organized or cooperative effort being essential to the
development of mining, even in its simpler stages; so now the War-Eagle
quartz-mines of Idaho, remote and newly born, called for outside
capital and for science.
The mining advance gave occasion for the creation of British Columbia,
Idaho and Montana as political units. In considering the societies that
owe their origin to mining it is essential to remember that almost from
the moment of discovery cooperation is indispensable in the development
of gold-fields and also that the individualism of placer-mining
frequently is greatly exaggerated. In the period now under review "the
lone prospector" was much of a myth. This and similar seemingly small
matters are among the many observed by Dr. Trimble's microscopic eye,
which also is not wanting in telescopic range, that show how thoroughly
he has surveyed his field and with what scrupulous science he has
interpreted all his facts.
Prospecting generally was done by organized parties numbering anywhere
from five to fifty men. These companies consisted of experienced
miners, who usually had already mined in California. Careful
preparation in advance was made. An expedition might travel for weeks
or even for many months, studying the geology of the land as carefully
as professors from great universities and prospecting wherever
promising indications presented themselves. When diggings that seemed
to afford reasonable likelihood of profit were found, claims were
staked out. The plan of the miners' camp corresponded more closely
to that of a town than to that of a country district. This feature
is another of several which prove that combination, cooperation and
organization formed basic features in the work of the miner. It is not
the least of the merits of Dr. Trimble's monograph that it enables and
in fact compels the lay reader unacquainted with the ways of miners to
see that their social and governmental activities were a seed of the
political commonwealth and rendered its existence and growth inevitable.
The discoverers of pay-dirt as a rule had to return for supplies to
some commercial center. Here the news of a find invariably leaked out
and generated a stampede to the new field. Merchants and packers pushed
freight-caravans ahead with strenuous but reasoned energy. The man who
rushed a well supplied set of teams into a new community was certain
to reap great profits. Before much work was performed by the miners at
their Eldorado they held a mass-meeting and organized the community.
A judge, recorder and sheriff were elected, and laws for the camp
enacted. The political instinct of the English and the Americans for
government and ordered society was prompt to manifest itself.
Men who had been schooled in the Californian camps not only had learned
to mine skillfully, but turned spontaneously to the form of political
organization that the mines of that golden commonwealth had developed.
This was the case no less in British than in American communities.
Work on claims ceased and universally or almost universally in winter,
but might stop at other times, such as seasons of drouth, when want
of water handicapped operations. The arrangement gave the miners an
opportunity to visit home or to pass the winter at such towns as Boise,
Lewiston or Portland. Men seldom thought of making homes for themselves
at the Mining camps. But a considerable number would usually remain
there through cold weather, and in deep diggings actual mining could
still be carried on.
The miner's lot was a most laborious life. It did not consist in
picking large, loose nuggets from streams and in spending most of the
time on fun or adventure. There were cabins to build--and the skill
of American axmen, especially of the Missourians, was greatly admired
by English observers--ditches to be dug, flumes and sluices to be
constructed, and lumber to be obtained.
The skill of the pioneer Californians in every industry stood out
preeminently. Everywhere their methods and judgment were held in high
esteem. At Orofino they superciliously sneered that the Willamette
farmers in the mines did not know how to sift gold from the dirt, but
the Oregonians could have retorted that they were not Californian
experts at losing their gold in gambling. But placer mining then, in
spite of such skill as that of the Californians, was wasteful work. Men
mined to make the maximum of money in the minimum of time. The enormous
expensiveness of operation and transportation rendered it profitable
to work only the richest gravel. In 1868 Ross Browne, who knew mining
conditions better than any other American then living, declared that
"since the discovery of our mines there has been an unnecessary loss
of more than $300,000,000 of precious metals. The question arises
whether it is not the duty of government to prevent, so far as may be
consistent with individual rights, this waste of a common heritage in
which not only ourselves but posterity are interested."
The early mining communities whose economic basis was placer mines were
unstable, and this is a fact of social importance. For the purpose of
overcoming this instability business men, the more substantial miners
and governmental authorities everywhere turned their attention to
quartz. Working quartz claims and building quartz mills required the
use of capital and of corporate methods. The significant development
of mining in the Inland Empire during 1860-70 consisted in the
supersedure of the surface methods of the placer by quartz mining and
in the working of deep placers by corporations. The individual working
in informal organization had free play, but his day was passing.
Individualism began to become submerged, capital to become foremost and
corporate methods to enter.
What was the total of the product from the labor and capital
invested in the mining advance? Until 1867 there was no governmental
attempt in the Inland Empire, though there was in British Columbia,
to gather statistics. Express companies, however, especially the
Wells-Fargo, were a fairly trustworthy source of information. George
M. Dawson's estimate for British Columbia and Ross Browne's for the
Inland Empire are regarded by Dr. Trimble as falling well inside the
truth. British Columbia during 1858-67 inclusive is believed to have
produced $26,110,000 of the precious metals; Idaho, Montana, Oregon
and Washington together from the beginning of mining to the close of
1867 to have yielded $140,000,000. Montana led with $65,000,000. Idaho
followed with $45,000,000 and Oregon with $20,000,000. Washington
brought up the rear with $10,000,000. After deducting the probable
production in western Oregon, because this territory lies outside the
regions considered by Professor Trimble, the grand total for British
Columbia and these four American commonwealths during the decade of
1858-67 appears to have aggregated $156,110,000.
In order to value this stupendous yield aright, it must be borne
in mind that nearly all of it was an economic surplus and also in
such shape as to be transformed with ease into the commodities of
civilization. Consequently civilization's material body sprang forth
full panoplied from those early mining communities. This aspect of
the mining advance--a phase too frequently forgotten these days--gave
the first civilization in the Inland Empire a compelling power and
a vitalness that were out of all proportion to the relatively small
number of the miners who originated that civilization. This life and
energy contributed greatly to the swift development of this Inland
Empire after the railroads arrived. The production of so huge and
mobile an economic surplus as $156,110,000 of the precious metals helps
to explain the greatness of the immigration in the eighties into these
mining commonwealths. The farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant and
the banker of the Pacific Northwest during the past generation owe a
great debt to the miner of the sixties of the last century.
Nor these only. The nation also is deeply indebted to the economic
development wrought here by mining in those far days. The Inland
Empire's production of gold during the terrible years of 1861-5, when
the republic was pouring out blood and treasure like water to save its
life, had great effect in supplying those financial sinews of war on
which so largely depended the credit of the United States.
Thus Dr. Trimble threshes out to the last straw the bearings of mining
upon government in the Inland Empire, upon agriculture, grazing,
transportation and many other interests. What he has done is really
to write a history of civilization in these states during their
intermediate era.
Every page presents evidence of his competence and trustworthiness. He
inspires confidence thro his candid confession that "the student of
the history of a section may overrate its importance. * * * It may be
that revaluation by comprehensive historians will be necessary." There
speaks the historical conscience that rates loyalty to the fact as the
supreme good in writing history. But this student has done his work so
judicially and with such scholarship, that it will not require to be
done again. It is an honor to him and his university and an invaluable
service to the Pacific Northwest.
FREDERIC PERRY NOBLE, PH. D.
Spokane, Wa., June, 1914.
* * * * *
MASTERS OF THE WILDERNESS. By Charles Bert Reed, M. D. (Chicago, The
University of Chicago Press, 1914. Pp. 144.)
This beautifully printed and illustrated little book should find
many readers among those who care for the beginnings of American
history. Its scope and purpose are well revealed by the brief
table of contents as follows: The Masters of the Wilderness, a
study of the Hudson's Bay Company from its origin to modern times;
The Beaver Club, some social aspects of the fur trade; A Dream of
Empire, the adventures of Tonty in old Louisiana.
Dr. Reed has assembled his material in very readable and
entertaining fashion. For the benefit of those who wish to
pursue the subjects further he appends a brief but serviceable
bibliography. The book is one of the Chicago Historical Society's
Fort Dearborn Series.
EDMOND S. MEANY.
THE UNITED STATES FEDERAL INTERNAL TAX HISTORY FROM 1861 TO 1871. By
Harry Edwin Smith, Ph. D., Instructor in Economics, Cornell University.
(Boston, and New York; Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914. Pp. XIX, 357.)
This useful and valuable volume is one in the series which owes its
existence to the generosity of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, of Chicago,
and the one which received the first prize of $1,000 for the year 1912.
Dr. Smith came to the University of Washington this fall to take up
work in connection with the newly established courses in commerce.
His book is a carefully worked out and scholarly presentation of a
difficult and involved subject. The treatment of the subject by Dr.
Smith has made easy for the student to get access to the facts for they
are all grouped about the separate and single phases of the subject.
Following an introduction a chapter is devoted to each subject, as for
example the "Direct Tax," "The Income Tax," "The Inheritance Tax," and
"Stamp Taxes."
The closing chapters, XI and XII, present concretely "The Influence
of Internal Taxes on the Import Duties," and the "Administration" of
the whole system. Students interested in these subjects owe a debt of
gratitude to Dr. Smith for the masterly and painstaking way he has made
available a world of badly scattered material. Nineteen statistical
tables give in graphic way the statistical side of the study. An
exhaustive bibliography and an adequate index complete the volume.
EDWARD MCMAHON.
* * * * *
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT IN CALIFORNIA, 1846-1850. By
Cardinal Goodwin, M. A. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1914. Pp.
359. $2.00.)
This book covers the period of California history from 1846 to
1850, dividing the period into three parts. It deals first with
the period from the American acquisition of the territory to the
meeting of the constitutional convention; then follows the history
of the constitutional convention; and the last part deals with the
organization of the State government.
Much new material has been used and consequently many accepted facts
and interpretations have been proven fallacious. One of these errors
was the great influence of New York on the constitution; but Goodwin
finds that Iowa contributed about seventy of the hundred and thirty-six
articles and New York only twenty. He also has found new material which
explains the entrance of the slavery question into the State: a Texan
using his slaves for mining claim registry.
The book is well written; it is, however, a bit broken and irregular
in its story through following carefully the chronology of events. The
conclusion is very disappointing as a resume of the whole book, of the
valuation of the new material and of the events.
J. N. BOWMAN.
* * * * *
PROCEEDINGS OF THE WASHINGTON BANKERS' ASSOCIATION. NINETEENTH ANNUAL
CONVENTION, 1914. (Spokane, Shaw & Borden, 1914., Pp. 232.)
This volume, compiled by W. H. Martin, the Secretary of the
Association, gives the Proceedings of the 1914 Convention, held in
Walla Walla. All similar records of the proceedings of Washington
associations become a part of the institutional history of the state.
Of special interest in the present volume is an article on the History
of the Walla Walla Valley by Allen H. Reynolds.
THE SEATTLE MUNICIPAL WATER PLANT; HISTORICAL, DESCRIPTIVE,
STATISTICAL. By John Lamb. (Seattle, Moulton Printing Company, 1914.
Pp. 316.)
This report upon the Seattle Municipal Water Plant is a model for
clearness and completeness. It is well printed and well bound and
contains many excellent illustrations. It gives a surprisingly full
account of the early water systems antedating municipal control.
THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. A PHILOSOPHICAL INTERPRETATION
OF AMERICAN HISTORY. By Roland G. Usher, Ph. D.. author of
"Pan-Germanism," Etc. (New York, The Century Co. 1914. Pp. 413.)
An attempt by a well known writer to present for the general reader a
lucid account of the results of American History without over-burdening
him with the details and processes by which these results were obtained.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES. (Urbana,
Illinois, 1913-1914.)
Three of these Studies have been received: The West in the Diplomacy of
the American Revolution by Paul Chrisler Phillips, Ph. D., Assistant
Professor of History in the University of Montana; The Development
of Banking in Illinois, 1817-1863, by George William Dowrie, Ph. D.,
Assistant Professor of Economics in the University of Michigan; A
History of the General Property Tax in Illinois by Robert Murray Haig,
Ph. D., Instructor in Economics in Columbia University.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By Matthew Page Andrews, M. A.
(Philadelphia and London, J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. XVII. 378,
XLVIII.)
A text book for schools in which the subject matter is up to date but
the arrangement, proportions and printing are decidedly behind the
times.
WRITINGS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Edited by Worthington C. Ford. (New
York, The Macmillan Company, 1914. Vol. 3, 1801-1810. Pp. 555. $3.50
net.)
Volume I of this important work was noted in this Quarterly for April,
1913, page 131 and Volume 2 in the issue for January, 1914, page 61. At
the chronological rate followed it is likely that the next volume will
reach the time when the distinguished statesman began his work on the
Oregon question.
THE BALKAN WARS, 1912-1913. By Jacob Gould Schurman. (Princeton,
Princeton University Press, 1914. Pp. 140. $1.00 net.)
This timely work by the distinguished President of Cornell University
is divided into two parts: Turkey and the Balkan States and The War
Between the Allies. Each part is supplied with a map and the book
carries an adequate index. Interest in the work will, of course, be
enhanced by the present war in Europe.
THE PHYSICIAN IN ENGLISH HISTORY. By Norman Moore, M. D., Fellow of the
Royal College of Physicians. (Cambridge, England, University Press,
1913. Pp. 57.)
This is the Linacre Lecture, 1913, in St. John's College, Cambridge. It
is issued in the same attractive form that characterizes all the works
from the Cambridge University Press. Those in the medical profession
will find the book illuminating.
WRITINGS OF WASHINGTON RELATING TO THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. (Washington,
The Columbia Historical Society, 1914. Pp. 258.)
This may be called a source book on the subject indicated as there is
no attempt at narrative or connective matter. The letters are simply
reproduced. However, the source of each letter is shown and there is
a preface by the compiling committee. The book is Volume 17 of the
society's records.
THE YEAR BOOK OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1911-1914. By R. E. Gosnell.
(Victoria, B. C., by authority of the Legislative Assembly, 1914. Pp.
406.)
This is a reprint of the elaborate Coronation Edition of 1911.
Statistics for the years 1911, 1912, and 1913 have been added, bringing
those useful features down to date. In the beautiful pictures, as well
as in the compiled facts, there is much to serve the historian of the
Pacific Northwest.
AN ARTILLERYMAN'S DIARY. By Jenkin Lloyd Jones. (Madison, Wisconsin
History Commission, 1914. Pp. 395.)
This extensive work gives the rich details of one part of Wisconsin's
remarkable participation in the Civil War. The book is embellished
with portraits, the frontispiece being a portrait of the distinguished
author. The work is listed as Wisconsin History Commission: Original
Papers, No. 8.
A HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. By Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan. (New
York, The Macmillan Company, 1914. Pp. 669. $5.00.) This elaborate
history of Washington City carries maps and plans and a copious index.
All citizens are interested in this subject, and this new work will
undoubtedly find its way to the reference shelves of all the best
libraries.
THE BIRDS OF EL PASO COUNTY, COLORADO. By Charles E. H. Aiken and
Edward R. Warren. (Colorado Springs, Colorado College, 1914. Pp. 455 to
496 and 497 to 603.)
These two pamphlets are in the College's General Series, Numbers 74, 75
and 76. Besides maps, the illustrations show a fine use of the camera.
Other counties of the west would do well to follow the example set in
these pamphlets.
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTION FROM THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR OF BRITISH
COLUMBIA. By Harlan I. Smith, (Ottawa, Government Printing Bureau,
1913. Pp. 40.)
When Harlan I. Smith was associated with the American Museum of Natural
History in New York he did much work on the archaeology of the Pacific
Northwest. This new publication shows that he is continuing his work
for the far west, though now for the Canadian Government. The book is
beautifully printed and is enhanced in value by sixteen full-page
plates, mostly of stone implements. Future students will find the work
of prime value.
Other Books Received
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Annual Report,. 1912. (Washington.
Government, 1914. Pp. 734.)
CANADIAN ANNUAL REVIEW, 1913. (Toronto, Annual Review Publishing Co.
1914. Pp. 766.)
CROSS, ARTHUR LYON. History of England and Greater Britain. (New York.
Macmillan, 1914. Pp. 1165. $2.50.)
FRANK, TENNEY. Roman Imperialism. (New York, The Macmillan Company,
1914. Pp. 365. $2.00 net.)
ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Transactions, 1912. (Springfield,
Society, 1914. Pp. 233.)
NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Manual, 1914. (Printed for the
Society, 1914. Pp. 62.)
RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Proceedings. 1913-1914. (Providence,,
The Society, 1914. Pp. 66.)
ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. Proceedings and Transactions, Third series,
Volume 7, 1913. (Ottawa, Hope. 1914.)
SONNECK, OSCAR G. T. The Star Spangled Banner. (Washington, Government,
1914. Pp. 115. Pl. 25.)
WASHINGTON STATE GRANGE. Proceedings of the Twenty-sixth Annual
Session, 1914. (Olympia, The Society, 1914. Pp. 196.)
WASHINGTON STATE FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS. Eighteenth Annual Report,
1914-15. (Hoquiam, The Society, 1914. Pp. 135.)
WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Proceedings, 1913. (Madison. The
Society, 1914. Pp. 238.)
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Lewis County Organized
On September 26 the executive committee of the Veterans and Pioneers'
Association of Lewis County met in the Chehalis Citizens' Club rooms,
Chehalis, and perfected their organization by adopting the constitution
and by-laws and by electing the following officers: President, William
West, affectionately known as the "Father of Chehalis"; Vice President,
I. W. Schultz of Toledo; Secretary and Treasurer, Peter Sommersett
of Chehalis; Chaplain, J. R. Buxton of Centralia. The objects of the
association are set forth in the constitution as the compilation of
historical data of the early days of Lewis County, the preservation of
historical relics, the marking of historical places in the county and
to further the social relationship among old timers.
One by one each county of the State is forming such organizations.
Death of Curator Gilstrap
On August 2, William Henry Gilstrap died at his home in Tacoma. He
was Curator of the Ferry Museum and Secretary of the Washington State
Historical Society. He was sixty-five years old at the time of his
death. In his younger days he had gained considerable fame in his
chosen profession of portrait painting. Later he used his talent in the
field of landscape architecture. In later years, however, he was wholly
devoted to history. With unusual industry he sought to have the early
records preserved and also to have historic sites appropriately marked.
He was a quiet Christian gentleman held in high esteem by those with
whom he worked.
In Honor of Professor Turner
While Professor Frederick Jackson Turner of Harvard was in the
Northwest he was the recipient of many courtesies and honors. One of
these took the form of a dinner at the New Washington Hotel, Seattle,
on the evening of July 8. The hosts were Professors Richardson and
Meany of the University of Washington. Some of the guests had been
students of Professor Turner at the University of Wisconsin, while all
were, of course, interested in history. Those present were Frederick
Jackson Turner, Samuel Hill, General Hazard Stevens, Scott C. Bone,
General H. M. Chittenden, Mayor H. C. Gill, Winfield R. Smith, Victor
J. Farrar, Edward McMahon, George W. Soliday, J. N. Bowman, Ralph H.
Lutz, Charles W. Smith, Oliver H. Richardson and Edmond S. Meany.
The after-dinner talking took the form of suggestions and plans for
improving the work of historical research in the Pacific Northwest.
Good Trails as Well as Roads
Mr. Samuel Hill, long recognized as a leader among good roads advocates
in the United States and especially in the Pacific Northwest, has
launched on a new campaign to supplement the roads with trails in
the mountains. This is a splendid idea and one of the first things
necessary is to compile a list of the present trails. This will be
helpful to historians for by those trails may many threads of early
settlements be traced.
Northwestern History in Congress
The Congressional Record, Sixty-third Congress, Second Session, pages
16571 and 16584, shows that interesting passages of Northwestern
history were given to members of the House of Representatives during
the debate on coal leases. Congressman Albert Johnson of Washington
made a convincing speech to set other Congressmen right as to the
acquisition of Oregon through discovery, exploration and settlement and
not by purchase.
A Survivor of Many Wars
Mr. Thomas W. Prosch has lately been in receipt of a number of letters
from his old pioneer friend, Major Junius Thomas Turner of Washington,
D. C. Mr. Turner served in the Mexican War of 1846-47; in 1853 in the
Rogue River Indian War; in 1855-56 in the Indian War on Puget Sound,
and in 1863-64-65 in the Civil War. He located on Whidby Island in
1853, where he took a donation land claim and where he also served as
Auditor, Treasurer and County Judge. He was Chief Clerk at different
terms of both branches of the Territorial Legislature. He enlisted in
the California Battalion of a Massachusetts Regiment, from which, after
a year's service he was discharged that he might accept a proffered
Lieutenancy in a Maryland regiment, followed soon by a Captaincy.
After the war he engaged in clerical service in the Land Office at
Washington, D. C., and later in the practice of law, where he has since
remained except for a period in Olympia as Secretary to Gov. Alvan
Flanders in 1869-70. Major Turner is now in his 88th year. His other
pioneer friends in Oregon and Washington will be pleased to learn that
the present Congress has considerably increased his pension, taking
into account his advanced age; his disabilities and his services in
four wars. Major Turner has a son in the Artillery branch of the U. S.
Army, who also has served in the Corps of Engineers.
NORTHWESTERN HISTORY SYLLABUS
[The aim of this department is to furnish outlines that will aid those
who wish to study the subject systematically. It is expected that its
greatest use will be as a guide for members of women's clubs, literary
societies, and classes in college or high schools. It will be a form of
university extension without the theses and examinations necessary for
the earning credits toward a degree.]
XI. Old Oregon Subdivided
1. Treaty of 1846.
a. Northern boundary at 49th parallel.
b. Remnant extended from 42nd to 49th parallel and from
Rocky Mountains to Pacific Ocean.
2. New Territories Created.
a. Washington Territory, 2 March, 1853.
b. Idaho Territory, 3 March, 1863.
c. Montana Territory, 26 May, 1864.
i. Western portion was part of Old Oregon.
d. Wyoming Territory, 20 July, 1868.
i. Western portion was part of Old Oregon.
XII. Organization of Washington Territory
1. Two Previous Forms of Territorial Government.
a. Under the Provisional Government of Oregon.
b. Under the Territorial Government of Oregon.
2. Agitation for Separate Government.
a. Long distance to capital of Oregon.
b. Fourth of July celebrations at Olympia, 1851, 1852.
c. D. R. Bigelow's oration.
d. New Territory to be called Columbia.
e. First Newspaper--The Columbian.
i. Published at Olympia 11 September, 1852.
ii. Printed Bigelow's Fourth of July Oration.
f. Convention at Monticello, 25 October, 1852.
g. Memorial by Oregon legislature, 4 November, 1852.
3. Action by Congress.
a. Bill introduced by Delegate Lane of Oregon.
b. Interesting debate.
c. Name changed from Columbia to Washington.
d. Bill passed, 2 March, 1853.
e. Bill signed by President Fillmore just two days before end of
his term.
4. First Governor Appointed.
a. President Pierce appointed Isaac Ingalls Stevens, 17 March,
1853.
b. Stevens also given charge of northern route of Pacific Railroad
Survey.
i. In this work he explored a zone 2,000 miles long and
from 200 to 400 miles wide and examined nine passes
through the Rocky Mountains demonstrating the practicability
of a railroad to the coast.
c. Stevens also obtained appointment as Superintendent of Indian
Affairs for Washington Territory.
i. In this capacity he made ten treaties with the Indians.
5. Other Officers.
a. Secretary, Charles H. Mason.
b. United States Marshal, J. Patton Anderson.
c. United States District Attorney, John S. Clendenin.
d. Judges of United States District Court, Edward Lander, Victor
Monroe, O. B. McFadden, William Strong.
e. Delegate to Congress, Columbia Lancaster.
6. Government Begun.
a. Governor Stevens selects temporary capital.
b. Calls for election of legislature.
c. Fixes time of meeting.
* * * * *
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The following works will be found helpful and most of
them ought to be accessible in the better libraries. In addition there
are to be found a number of books published for which prices have been
paid for the inclusion of biographies. Some of them contain helpful
information.
BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE. Works of. See Volumes 29 and 30 for Oregon and
Volume 31 for Washington, Idaho and Montana. Indexes will guide the
reader.
CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. Thirty-second Congress, December 1852, page 6 and
following. Here under the dates of December, 1852, 8 February, 1853
(p. 540), 10 February (p. 555) and 2 March (p. 1020) may be found the
debate and action on the bill to establish Washington Territory.
JOHNSON, SIDONA V. Short History of Oregon. Pages 263 to 296 cover the
Oregon record here outlined.
MEANY, EDMOND S. History of the State of Washington. Chapters XVI and
XVII are devoted to the period of Washington Territory's organization.
SCHAFER, JOSEPH. A History of the Pacific Northwest. Consult chapter
XVI entitled "Progress and Politics, 1849-1859."
HISTORY TEACHERS' SECTION
The first article in the June number of VERGANGENHEIT UND GEGENWART
deals with the Historical Teaching and Research Institute. It deals
with a present-day controversial question in Germany regarding the
organization of a school for the better training of professional
historians. The Germans recognize that they do not train their men as
do the French Ecole des Chartes at Paris or the Austrian Institute
for historical research at Vienna. Another article considers the
Importance of the Philosophy of History Teaching. It is in a way a
review of Fritz Munch's book on Experience and Evaluation. This book
as a transcendental philosophy deals with man in his present position
in society and the world; it is the business of history teaching to
have the next generation grow into this condition so that the condition
may continue. "Civilization is activity. And just because philosophy
as science does not create the values is there something in the world
to do." The German Land and its Importance for People and State as an
article considers the land question for the territories wherever the
Germans are located. The last of the articles--History teaching in the
United States--is a good interpretation of the high school history
subject. It is illustrated with two schedules of the four years'
history work. The usual excellent book reviews are in this number.
* * * * *
THE HISTORY TEACHER'S MAGAZINE for September indicates by its articles
that it is to continue the consideration of the Ancient History
teaching. A good article deals with the European War and History
Teachers, and holds that this war must have a deep interest "for every
teacher whose mind is at all trained to grasp the true significance
of events. The history teacher has now the opportunity to stand as an
expert guide for his school community and for the larger community
about the school." Two articles consider from different points of view
the question of the ends for which history is studied and taught in
the grades and high schools. One of them is on the Early Teaching of
History in Secondary Schools giving the reasons for this study as seen
in texts and books of instruction since 1743. The reasons are arranged
as follows: moral training; provision for leisure hours; religious
training; patriotism; overcoming international prejudice; training for
citizenship; discipline. The second article is on The Reconstruction of
History Teaching. Here Professor Gathany analyzes the question under
the heads of Point of view, subject matter and results. The old school
of history teaching, as he calls it, taught the subject as a body of
knowledge and stopped there. The new school does this and goes further
to ask other questions. In his own words he puts it: "This newer school
says: study the past, but don't stop _right_ there. Study the past not
simply to know the past _because_ it is the past, but study the past
so as to know how the present has come to be. Don't stop right there
even, says this recent school, but go a step further, and study the
_present_, so as to understand the life that now _is_. Study the past
and the present so that we may intelligently analyze the present and
its problems. This school believes that historical facts or events
are comparatively of little value unless they have a bearing upon the
present world of thought and action. The real function of history
teachings according to the new school is to develop _constructive_
and _interpretative power_ in order that we may rightly judge
contemporaneous problems, movements, institutions, and public leaders.
We are to study history not for history's sake, but for our sake and
for our children's sake."
The book reviews in this number of the History Teacher's Magazine
are of their usual poor quality; while the list of recent historical
publications is of its usual excellent quality.
INDEX TO VOLUME 5, 1914
Adams, John Quincy, and the Oregon Question. (Meany), 207-214
Adams, John Quincy. Writings. Edited by W. C. Ford. (Note), 61, 217
Adams, E. D. The Power of Ideals in American History. (Note), 147
American and British Treatment of the Indians of Puget Sound. By W.
J. Trimble, 32-54
American Historical Association. Meeting, December, 1913, 153-155
Anderson, Andrew. Death, 23
Andrews, Lyman Beach. Death, 25
Andrews, Matthew Page. History of the United States. (Note), 317
Bagley, Clarence B. George Wilkes, 3-11
Bagley, Clarence B. Review of William's Edition of Canoe and the
Saddle, 138-142
Bagley, Susannah Rogers. Death, 28
Ballaine, John E. Review of Stuck's Ten Thousand Miles With a Dog
Sled, 227-229
Bassett, John S. Short History of the United States. Reviewed by
Edward McMahon, 60-61
Bean, Sarah L. Death, 29
Beard, Charles A. Contemporary History, 1877-1913. (Note), 145-146
Beard, Charles A. Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the
United States. (Note), 63
Bent, Allen H. Early American Mountaineers. (Note), 62
Bersch, Mary. Death, 27
Blanchet, John B. Death, 23
Blanpied, Charles W. Coming Immigration Problem on the Pacific Coast.
(Note), 148
Bowman, J. N. Review of Goodwin's Establishment of the State
Government in California, 315-316
Boyd, Levi. Death, 23
Bradley, Glen D. Story of the Pony Express. Reviewed by Edward
McMahon, 57
British Treatment of Indians in the Pacific Northwest. (Trimble),
32-54
Brown, Mrs. Chandler. Death, 30
Bryan, Wilhelmus Bogart. History of the National Capital. (Note)., 318
Buck, Solon J. Illinois Travel and Description, 1765-1866. (Note), 230
Caldwell, R. P. Death, 23
(The) Canoe and the Saddle (Winthrop). New Edition. Reviewed by C. B.
Bagley, 138-142
Canadian Archives, Material for United States history in (Note), 59-60
Charlton, Charles Alexander. Death, 28
Chief Leschi. (Document), 55-56
Christ, Philip. Death, 26
Clark, Elizabeth Frances. Death, 26
Clay, Henry, and the Oregon Question (Meany), 207-214
Cloquet, August. Death, 26
Colorado College Publications. (Note), 318
(The) Columbia River Under Hudson's Bay Company Rule. (Ermatinger),
192-206
(The) Coming Hawaii (Goodrich). Review by Mary Hubbard, 229-230
(The) Coming of Canada (Goodrich). Reviewed by O. H. Richardson,
57-58
Compton, Charles H. Review of Judson's Subject Index to the History
of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, 58-59
Constant, Baron D'Estournelles de. Les Etats-unis D'Amerique. (Note),
146
Cook, James W. Death, 29
Current Events Course in University of Washington, 152
Darragh, John. Death, 22
Dawson, Charles. Pioneer Tales of the Oregon Trail. Reviewed by
Thomas W. Prosch, 145
Divorce in Washington. By Ralph R. Knapp, 121-128
Dixon, Joseph K. Vanishing Race. (Note), 149-150
Daugherty, Thomas A. Death, 27
Early Oregon Diplomacy (Meany), 207-214
Early History of Idaho (McConnell). Reviewed by W. D. Lyman, 142-143
Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the U. S. Beard
(Note), 63
Eells, Edwin, Eliza and the Nez Perce Indians, 288-299
Eliza and the Nez Perce Indians. By Edwin Eells, 288-299
Elliott, T. C. Review of Stone's Following Old Trails, 143-144
Elliott, T. C. Editor. Journal of John Work:
June-September, 1825, 83-115
September-December, 1825, 163-191
December, 1825-June, 1826, 258-287
Ermatinger, C. O. The Columbia River Under Hudson's Bay Company Rule,
192-206
Establishment of the State Government in California (Goodwin)
Reviewed by J. N. Bowman, 315-316
Farrar, Victor J. Appointed Research Assistant in the University of
Washington, 232
Faucett, Rachel A. Death, 26
Fisher, Lydia Ann. Death, 25
Following Old Trails (Stone). Reviewed by T. C. Elliott, 143-144
Freeman, Rosina. Death, 27
Gaillac, Malinda. Death, 27
Gall, Joseph Marion. Death, 24
Gallatin, Albert, and the Oregon Question (Meany), 207-214
Gatch, Thomas Milton. Death, 25
Gendron, Eliza. Death, 30
George Wilkes. By Clarence B. Bagley, 3-11
Gilstrap, William Henry. Death, 320
Golder, Frank A. Leaves for Russia, 66
Goodrich, Joseph King. The Coming Canada. Reviewed by Oliver H.
Richardson, 57-58
Goodrich, Joseph King. The Coming Hawaii. Reviewed by Mary Hubbard,
229-230
Goodridge, Gardner. Death, 26
Goodwin, Cardinal. The Establishment of the State Government in
California. Reviewed by J. N. Bowman, 315-316
Gosnell, R. E. Yearbook of British Columbia, 1914. (Note), 318
Graves, Frank Pierrepont. History of Education in Modern Times.
(Note), 148
Gray, William H. Journal from December, 1836, to October, 1837.
(Note), 149
Greenlaw, Wilhelmina. Death, 28
Haley, John. Death, 27
Hardison, James W. Death, 24
Harlan, James. Life of, by Johnson Brigham. (Note), 62-63
Heitman, Henry. Death, 22
Hill, Samuel, Launches Trail-building Campaign, 321
Historical Society of Southern California. Annual Publication,
1912-13. (Note), 231
History of the Liquor Laws of the State of Washington. By Anna Sloan
Walker, 116-120
History Teachers' Club. Seattle Meeting, 152
History Teachers' Section, 158-160; 238-240; 325-326
Hubbard, Mary. Review of King's The Coming Hawaii, 229-230
Hudson's Bay Company Rule on the Columbia, 192-206
Idaho, Early History of (McConnell). Reviewed by W. D. Lyman, 142-143
Immigration Problem on the Pacific Coast (Blanpied), 148
Indians in the Pacific Northwest, British and American Treatment of,
32-54
Indians of Puget Sound (St. John)., 12-21
Indignation Meeting Over Chief Leschi. (Document), 55-56
Jaggy, John. Death, 23
Jaggy, Margaret Wintler. Death, 26
Johnson, Albert. Speech in Congress on the Acquisition of Oregon, 321
Jones, Jenkin Lloyd. An Artilleryman's Dairy. (Note), 318
Journal of John Work. Edited by T. C. Elliott, 83-115; 163-191;
258-287
Judson, Katharine B. Myths and Legends of the Great Plains. (Note), 62
Judson, Katharine B. Subject Index to the History of the Pacific
Northwest and Alaska. Reviewed by C. H. Compton, 58-59
Knapp, Ralph R. Divorce in Washington, 121-128
Krumm, John. Death, 27-28
Lamb, John. Seattle Municipal Water Plant. (Note), 316
Latham, John. Death, 27
Laws, Andrew Jackson. Death, 23
Leschi, Indignation Meeting Over Chief. (Document), 55-56
Lewis County Veterans and Pioneers' Association, 320
Liquor Laws of Washington. History of (Walker), 116-120
Little, Daniel. Death, 26
Livingston, David. Death, 23
Lodge, Henry Cabot. One Hundred Years of Peace. (Note), 62
Loomis, Lewis Alfred. Death, 26-27
Lyman, W. D. Review of McConnell's Early History of Idaho, 142-143
McConnell, W. J. Early History of Idaho. Reviewed by W. D. Lyman,
142-143
McKinlay, David. Death, 25
McMahon, Edward. Review of American Histories by Stephenson, West and
Bassett, 60-61
McMahon, Edward. Review of Bradley's Pony Express, 57
McMahon, Edward. Review of Harry E. Smith's United States Federal
Internal Tax History, 315
Masters of the Wilderness (Reed). Reviewed by E. S. Meany, 314
Masterson, James. Death, 26
Meany, Edmond S. Three Diplomats Prominent in the Oregon Question,
207-214
Meany, Edmond S. Review of Reed's Masters of the Wilderness, 314
Meany, Edmond S. Editor. A New Vancouver Journal, 129-137; 215-224;
300-308
Miller, Edward. Death, 29
Miller, Eva L. Death, 30
Mining Advance Into the Inland Empire (Trimble). Reviewed by F. P.
Noble, 309-314
Modoc War, Indian History of (Riddle). Reviewed by J. A. Stratton,
225-227
Moore, A. C. H. Death, 25
Moore, Norman. The Physician in English History. (Note), 317
Montgomery, Matilda Ann. Death, 22
Mountaineering Publications, 1913. (Note), 149
Mountaineer's Lodge, Dedicated June 21, 1914, 232
Muhr, A. F. Death, 153
Neely, David A. Death, 22
Nelson, John M. Death, 25
(A) New Vancouver Journal. Edited by E. S. Meany, 129-137; 215-224;
300-308
Newell, Therese. Death, 23
Newhall, William. Death, 30-31
Nez Perce Indians, Eliza and (Eells), 288-299
Noble, Frederic Perry. Review of Trimble's Mining Advance Into the
Inland Empire, 309-314
Northwest History, Legends and Tradition of (Ranck). (Note), 147
Northwestern History Syllabus. See Syllabus of Pacific Northwest
History.
Obituaries, 1913, 22-31
Oregon Question (Meany), 207-214
Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. Meeting
at Los Angeles, November, 1913, 66-68
Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. Meeting
at Seattle, May, 1914, 232-234
Parker, David W. Guide to Canadian Archives. (Note), 59-60
Parker, Gilmore Hays. Death, 31
Paulin, Charles O., and Paxson, Frederic L. Guide to the London
Archives Since 1783. (Note), 230-231
Pettygrove, Benjamin Stark. Death, 24
Phelps, Susan E. Death, 28
Pioneer Dead of 1913. By Thomas W. Prosch, 22-31
Pioneer Tales of the Oregon Trail (Dawson). Reviewed by T. W. Prosch,
145
Present Status and Probable Future of the Indians of Puget Sound. By
Lewis H. St. John, 12-21
Prosch, Charles. Death, 30
Prosch, Thomas W. The Pioneer Dead of 1913, 22-31
Prosch, Thomas W. Review of Dawson's Pioneer Tales of the Oregon
Trail, 145
Puget Sound Indians (St. John), 12-21
Ranck, Glenn N. Legends and Traditions of Northwest History. (Note),
147
Reed, Charles Bert. Masters of the Wilderness. Reviewed by E. S.
Meany, 314
Richardson, Oliver H. Review of Goodrich's coming of Canada, 57-58
Riddle, Jeff C. Indian History of the Modoc War. Reviewed by Julius
A. Stratton, 225-227
Rhoades, L. H. Death, 27
Rose, Alfred Percy. Death, 26
Ross, Eliza Jane. Death, 30
Russell, D. L. Death, 27
St. John, Lewis H. Present Status and Probable Future of the Indians
of Puget Sound, 12-21
Scheule, Josephine. Death, 27
Schurman, Jacob Gould. The Balkan Wars. (Note), 317
Seattle Historical Society. Organized, 152-153
Seattle Municipal Water Plant; Historical, Descriptive, Statistical.
By John Lamb. (Note), 316
Shaw, James O. Death, 25
Smith, Harlan I. Archaeological Collection From the Southern Interior
of British Columbia. (Note), 318-319
Smith, Harry Edwin. The United States Federal Internal Tax History
From 1861-1871. Reviewed by Edward McMahon, 315
Sparks, Margaret I. Death, 24
Spooner, Thomas J. Death, 30
Stangroom, Marc Lareviere. Death, 29
Stephenson, Nathaniel W. An American History. Reviewed by Edward
McMahon, 60
Stevens, Mrs. Isaac I. Death, 66
Stevens, Margaret L. Death, 29
Stone, Arthur L. Following Old Trails. Reviewed by T. C. Elliott,
143-144
Story of the Pony Express (Bradley). Reviewed by Edward McMahon, 57
Stratton, Julius A. Review of Riddle's Indian History of the Modoc
War, 225-227
Stuck, Hudson. Ten Thousand Miles With a Dog Sled. Reviewed by John
E. Ballaine, 227-229
Subject Index to the History of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska as
Found in United States Government Documents (Judson). Reviewed by
C. H. Compton, 58-59
Syllabus of Pacific Northwest History:
Provisional Government of Oregon, 69-71
Territory of Oregon, 156-157
Review of Boundaries, 235-237
Old Oregon Subdivided, 322-324
Ten Thousand Miles With a Dog Sled (Stuck). Reviewed by J. E.
Ballaine, 227-229
Three Diplomats Prominent in the Oregon Question. By E. S. Meany,
207-214
Thurston County History, 153
Thwaites, Reuben Gold. Death, 66
Titus, Eliza. Death, 29
Toombs, Robert, Life of. By U. B. Phillips. (Note), 63
Trimble, William J. American and British Treatment of the Indians in
the Pacific Northwest, 32-34
Trimble, William J. Mining Advance Into the Inland Empire. Reviewed
by F. P. Noble, 309-314
Tukey, John Fossett. Death, 23-24
Turner, Frederick Jackson. Dinner in Honor of, 320-321
Turner, Frederick Jackson. List of References on the History of the
West, 147-148
Turner, Frederick Jackson. Visit to the Coast, 66
Turner, Frederick Jackson. The West and American Ideals, 243-257
Turner, Frederick Jackson. Work in the Northwest, 232
Turner, Junius Thomas. News Note, 321
United States Board on Geographic Names. Decisions July, 1912, to
July, 1913. (Note), 61-62
United States Federal Internal Tax History, From 1861 to 1871
(Smith). Reviewed by Edward McMahon, 315
University of Illinois Studies in the Social Sciences. (Note), 316
Usher, Roland G. Rise of the American People. (Note), 316
Vancouver, Capt. George. A New Journal Kept by a Member of the
Chatham's Crew. Edited by E. S. Meany, 129-137; 215-224; 300-308
Vanishing Race. By J. K. Dixon. (Note), 149-150
Walker, Anna Sloan. History of the Liquor Laws of the State of
Washington, 116-120
Walker, Cyrus. Death, 28
Washington. Divorce in (Knapp), 121-128
Washington. Liquor Laws (Walker), 116-120
Washington State Bankers' Association. Proceedings, 1914 (Note), 316
Watson, Phoebe C. Death, 24
Wertenbaker, Thomas J. Virginia Under the Stuarts, 1607-1688. (Note),
146
(The) West and American Ideals. By Frederick Jackson Turner, 243-257
West, Willis M. American History and Government Reviewed by Edward
McMahon, 60-61
West, References on the History of (Turner). (Note), 147-148
Whitworth, James Edward. Death, 26
Wilkes, George. History of Oregon, Geographical and Political
(Reprint). Concluded, 72-80
Wilkes, George (Bagley), 3-11
Williams, John H. Editor. The Canoe and the Saddle (Winthrop).
Reviewed by C. B. Bagley, 138-142
Williamson, John R. Death, 28-29
Winthrop, Theodore. The Canoe and the Saddle. New Edition. Reviewed
by C. B. Bagley, 138-140
Wood, Helen R. M. Death, 23
Work, John. Journal Edited by T. C. Elliott, 83-115; 163-191; 258-287
Transcriber's Notes:
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Simple typographical and spelling errors were corrected except
for Journal of John Work entries which were apparently printed
as they were in the original manuscript. The Journal entries
inconsistencies were also not changed.
Italics markup is denoted by _underscores_.
Bold markup is denoted by =equals=.
Footnotes on pp. 42, 89, 192, 243, 263, and 279 had no anchors.
Placed anchor at best guess to what the footnote is referring to.
Deleted footnote anchor 8 on p. 278 with no corresponding footnote.
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