Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/107



Thompson had reac?hed Astoria, received a visit from two Indians (one of which turned out to be a white woman in disguise), clothed in the dress of Indians of the east side of the Rocky mountains, bearing a letter from Finnan McDonald, a clerk of the Northwest Company at a post on the Spokane river. This letter was addressed to John Stuart in New Caledonia; but the bearers of the letter, getting lost, wandered around among Indian tribes until they finally turned up at Astoria, having learned from other Indians that there were white men at that point. Defeated in the main object of his expedition, Thompson made the best excuse possible and proposed to Astor's representatives that he would leave the fur trade west of the Rocky mountains to Astor's company, pro- vided Astor would not interfere with the trade of the Northwest Company on the east side of the mountains. And if this offer was declined then the North- west Company could do nothing less than to press western occupation of the whole region, and to that end had already dispatched a large force of men to the new field, freely distributing the British flag to the natives along the route.

Right here the contest between England and the United States for the posses- sion of old Oregon commenced in earnest. The English had sought through the cloak of their fur company to seize the country by strategy. Thompson had performed a wonderful feat crowded with perils, mishaps and treachery of his own men. But he was nearly four months too late. The agents of Astor were beforehand. They had built their fort, mounted their cannon and run up the stars and stripes. The country and its great river was secured for the United States for all time, with the added inestimable value of a foothold on the great Pacific ocean. The services of these valiant Americans were worth more to the nation than that of a thousand President James K. Polks.

A more extended notice of the building of this Astoria fort will be given in connection with the chapter on fur companies.

THE ASTOR, PRICE HUNT EXPEDITION — 1811

On the 23d of June, 1810, John Jacob Astor, the founder of the wealthy Astor family of New York, a native of Heidelberg, Germany, and a citizen of the United States, then residing at New York City, organized the Pacific Pur Company; and while a private corporation in name, it was nothing more than a general partnership. Astor had been very successful in the fur trade in the regions east of the Rocky mountains, and this latest venture was planned on a scale far more extensive than any other American enterprise. A ship was to be dispatched from New Y'ork to the Columbia river at regular intervals with all the necessary goods for the Indian trade and supplies for a fort and corps of outfield trappers. And after discharging cargo at the fort and station to be established at the mouth of the Columbia, the ship was to take in the furs there on hand and then proceed up the northwest coast visiting all the stations of the Russian Fur Company, cultivating their friendship, trading for their furs, and after securing a ship's cargo, proceed to Canton, China, sell their furs, and take in a cargo of tea and China goods for New York city. It was a grand scheme; and here was the commencement of the present vast ocean-going com- merce of the state whose history we are now recording. It is worth considering