Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/179

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ill tlie s|)iiiiii' ol' 180!), uuiubering one hiiiKhrtl and fifty men with niereliandise 10 su|)i)ly MHil equip five or six trading i)sts among tiie Indians. At first the suretl; hut suddenly the Blackfeet Indians swooped down on the unsuspicious trappers. i d a large number of iiien and stole all the I'urs. From this party, Andrew Ileni'y, who was a partner in liir coiiipany and one oT the leaders of this expedition, took part of the men. after the expedition had lieen defeated by the Indians, and crossed over the Rocky mountains and built Fort Henry on the north fork of Snake river in 1809, being the first liouse erected in the territory of old Oregon. The river w-as afterwards named the Henry Fork of Snake river. And thus ended the ilissouri Fur Company.
 * iait.\ was vci-y successful in catching hc'avcr. and great profits seemed to be en-

A uumlu'r of independent fur trading expeditions were afterwards sent out to the Rocky mountains from St. Louis; but the only parties of any importance to reach Oregon was the party of Jedediah Smith, an account of which is given in the chapter on Exploring Expeditions.

When Astor decided to go into the fur trade on the Pacific coast, he looked around for suitable and capable men to manage such an important expedition.

He had been in the course of his business often at Montreal, was acquainted with the Northwest Company proprietors, and had formed a high opinion of their ability as business men ; and in looking around for suitable persons to join him in his venture to the Pacifie he made propositions to some of these Mon- treal Scotchmen that had been fighting the Hudson's Bay Company in the wilder- ness. To the American reader it will appear quite singular that Astor should have gone to ilontreal for partners rather than to St. Louis, where there wei'e men of liis own citizenship interested in the fur trade and who could never have been a subject of embarrassment in case of trouble over the title to the fur trad- ing country. But the explanation is, that Astor was at one time offered an in- terest in a St. Louis company by a minority interest in its ownership ; but that the majority did not favor an Astor connection for some reason not explained, and Astor was kept out. The explanation was, that the St. Louis merchants wanted a ilissouri fur company, with its trade and profit all to themselves and were afraid of the leadership of such an ambitious, broad-minded, energetic man as Astor.

But no sooner had Astor broached his grand scheme of a fur trading post at the mouth of the Columbia river to control the trade of the great Columbia val- ley, and the 'still greater Pacific coast and China trade, than the Northwest Company of Montreal took alarm and secretly rushed David Thompson to the Pacifie coast to head off Astor and claim the country for England, as has already been shown in the account of Thompson's expedition. And wdiile this conduct of the Montreal Scotchmen might be condoned as justified by their loyalty to the British king, yet it was anything but honorable among business men. But when Astor once determined upon a proposition there was no turning back. And when he decided to establish a post at the mouth of the Columbia river it had to be done. After a full survey of the fur trading interests, and their leading men. Astor piektMl out Donald McKenzie, Duncan ;\IcDougal, David Stuart and Robert Stuart, all of Canada, and all of whom had been more or less eonneeted with the Northwest Company: and to this coterie of very able men he added Alexander ilcKay. who had been with .Mackenzie on the first white man's expedition across