Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/97



EXI'KDITIONS OF SIMON KlIASER — ISOfi

III iiiiiiiy rcsprcis till' cxpiMlitidiis ol' Siiiiuii l<'r;iscr t(i the west side of the li'iirky iiiouiitaiiis were iiiiirc iiiipdi-tiint tliiiii that nf his more distinguished pred- ecessor, Alexander .Maekeiizie ; and for tliis reason lie more than Mackenzie was better entitled to the honor of naming the great river which his courage and liersistence explored and made known to the world.

The work of exploitation by Fraser on the west side of the Rocky mountains was assumed by him on his own initiative as a partner in and a commander of the emplo.ves of the Northwest Company. He had taken the place of ]\Iac- keiizie in the Fur Company's general business of gathering furs, establishing trading posts, and exploring the unknown western country. He, however, was not the first Scotchman after Mackenzie to reach the west side of the Rocky mountains. James Finlay, an employee of the Northwest Company had, soon after Mackenzie's expedition, ascended Peace river and passed over the summit of the Rocky mountains, made many important discoveries in the lay of the land and gave his name to a branch of Peace river — as Finlay river.

Eraser's expedition to the west side of the Rocky mountains was in the Au- tumn of 1805, when, following in the tracks of Mackenzie and Finlay he ascended Peace river and its Parsnip river branch to the Height of Land. Here the voy- ageurs were compelled to make a portage — take their canoes out of the waters that ran eastward and north to tlie Arctic ocean, and carry them west across the summit of the mountain until they could find a stream running westward to Oregon and the Pacific ocean. Mackenzie describes this mountain pass as fol- lows: — June 12, 1793 : "We landed and unloaded, where we found a beaten path over a low ridge of land of eight hundred and seventeen paces in length to an- other small lake. The distance between the two mountains at this place (The Pass) is about a quarter of a mile, rocky precipices presenting themselves on both sides." Fraser describes the Pass as follows: "We continued to the ex- tremity of the lake about three miles, and there unloaded at the Height of Land, which is one of the finest portages I ever saw, between six and seven hundred yards long, and perhaps the shortest interval of any between the waters that descend into the northern and southern oceans."

Fraser and his companions were so impressed with the grandeur and beauty of the great mountains that they named the country of their first discoveries west of the Rocky mountains "New Caledonia," in honor of what they chose to call their native land of Scotland. Fraser himself was born in the United States in 1776. just at the lireaking out of the Rebellion against Hritish rule; and his father, choosing to remain loyal to the English King, was driven out of Vermont as a Tory and traitor to the colonies.

At what date Fraser returned to the east side of the Rocky mountains in 1805 there seems to be no authentic information. Put in .laniiai>-. 1806, we find Fraser actively employed at the fort on Peace river called the "Rocky Mountain House." preparing- for another expedition over the Rocky mountains. Having been impressed by what he had discovered on his first tyip, that the fur trade possibilities on the west side of the mountains were very good, he determined to make a permanent settlement there in the shape of a fort or trading station with the Indians. And on May 20, 1806, we find Fraser taking an inventorv of