Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/103



THE CENTENNIAL IIISTOIIY OK OREGON 43

hniacl i-i\iT. Wiiisliiii sclccird ;ik I'liiiit on tlic south side of llic I'iver for a suit- able phire fur a sett Iciiiciil. This was so caMnl I'roiii Ihc oak trees growing- there, Mild it is hicatcd opiMishc Ihc [)hicc now i-alh'il Oak Toint landing in the state of Washiiit;toii. Here Wiiiship cduarod a tract of hiiid, [)ivpai'ed it for a garden, and phmtrd it with a variety of seeds, and set Ins men to work eiittin^' loos I'o;- a house for a dwelling and Iradiiig post, and they had the strueture well up to the roof when the rising waters of the river overflowed their garden, house loeatiou and all. and eoiupelled their removal to a point farther down the Co- linnhia. Here the party stayed in a temporary camp until Julj- 18, 1810, when they sailed from the Columbia river, and having learned at Drake's bay of Astor's contemplated adventure to the river, gave up the project of making a settlement on the Columbia. "Winship's garden at Oak Point was the first culti- vation of the soil in Oregon for garden or agricultural purposes, and his wa.s tiie first attempt to construct a house in Oregon by civilized men.

E.XI'EDITION OF DAVID THOMPSON — 1810

The American fur trade was the first gold mine excitement experienced in the United States. And its profits were so large in the opening of the 19th cen- tury that many venturesome and energetic men were attracted to the business. And by the year 1810. John Jacob Astor, of New York City, had succeeded so well in the new industry, that he was contemplating not only a transcontinental but also a world-around expansion of his activities. To carry out his ideas in the then far west, he thought it advantageous to interest some of the fur traders in Canada who were better informed of the regions of the Rocky mountains and beyond. These Canadians were making money in the business, and on the first mention of Astor's ambitious project they took alarm. They did not want any coiiiiietifiou in the west, and especially they did not want Astor to get a foothold on the Pacific. And this for two reasons : They did not want Astor because he was a very energetic man. with ample capital and he would divide up the busi- ness: and also because he was a citizen of the United States. The Canadians could see. if the.v had not already been informed by the British government. that the location of an American trading post in Oregon could be made the foun- dation of a claim to the country by the United States. And so. upon the first mention of John Jacob Astor in connection with a hew fur company to operate in distant Oregon, the Canadians controlling the Northwest Company took art ion and at once secretly dispatched their surveyor and scientific man, David Thompson, to the Northwest, with instructions to make all possible speed and get into Oregon before Astor or his men, and forestall all of Astor's plans.

Accordingly, in June. 1810, Surveyor Thompson organized a large and well equipped party for this hasty expedition to Oregon, proceeding upon the usual route up the Great Lakes, up the great Saskatchewan river and struck the Rocky mountains and entered the mountains at what is now known as the Yel- lowhead Pass. He ignored the discoveries of Mackenzie and Fraser and kept fartiier south, relying largely on his own judgment of the rivers and mountains. But surveyor and astronomer as he was, he got his party into such a labyrinth of mountains, and where no white man had ever been before him. that he was completely at sea without uuide or compass. Here in the heart of the Rocky