Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/98



all the property of the company at the Rocky Mountain House, writing letters to his friends, turning over the command of the fort to McGillivray. and mak- ing a start on his new venture into the Great Western Wilderness. And although Eraser was far better equipped for the expedition than had Mackenzie been, and although he had all the benefits of the discoveries, landmarks and reports of both Mackenzie and Finlay who had preceded him, he was forty days on the route from the Rocky Mountain House to the summit of the Rocky mountains — a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles. During this trip Eraser 's jour- nal shows that he put in much of his time in abusing Alexander Mackenzie for alleged misrepresentation of the route.

After reaching navigable water on the west side of the summit, and repair- ing their canoes, Eraser and his men commenced the laborious and perilous de- scent of the rapid stream forming the head of Eraser river on July 2, 1806. These dates are given here for the purpose of showing their relation to the Brit- ish claim of title to the Oregon country. Both Mackenzie and Eraser believed at the dates of their explorations of the headwaters of the Eraser river that they were in fact on the headwaters of the Columbia river. If such had been the case, then the British government would have had a better claim to all the country drained by the Columbia river than they were ever able to show. Neither Mackenzie nor Eraser ever reached "the watershed of the Columbia be- fore Lewis and Clark ; nor did Eraser reach the watershed of the Eraser river before Lewis and Clark reached the headwaters of the Columbia. On the 18th of August, 1805, Capt. Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, reached the headwaters of the Columbia river in what is now the state of Idaho. But put- ting the most favorable interpretation on the journals of Eraser and his aid, Stuart, Eraser did not cross the Rocky mountains into the New Caledonia coun- try until the first of October, 1805.

Returning now to Eraser 's second expedition across the Rocky mountains ,we find him in Augi;st, 1806. establishing a trading post on Eraser lake in a com- manding position, which in time came to be called Eort Eraser. And in addi- tion to this post Eraser commenced the erection of ^another fort at the conflu- ence of the Stuart and Eraser rivers, which he named Eort George in honor of the King, and which has remained an important trading post to this da.v.

Eraser did not return back over the mountains to the headquarters of the fur company at the end of 1806, as might be supposed ; but he remained in New Caledonia, not a large district, during the winter of 1806-7, and continued his work for the company in gathering furs and in completing the building of the forts. And by the spring of 1807 the British government had learned of the successful expedition of Lewis and Clark to the mouth of the Columbia river as a militar,y expedition, and its safe return to the United States. This aroused the British lion to action, and orders were dispatched to Canada to have Simon Eraser complete the exploration of the Eraser (as they supposed the Columbia) from Port George to the Pacific ocean. Eor if Mackenzie or Eraser, either, were upon the headwaters of the Columbia river prior to Lewis and Clark, Eng- land intended to claim the whole entire Columbia river valley from the Rocky mountains to the Pacific ocean as British territor.y by right of both discovery and settlement. Accordingly orders were dispatched to Eraser in the autumn of 1807, two years after he had crossed the Rocky mountains, to make all due