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 an immense reserve fund, to be {255} expended in keeping other persons out of the trade.

In 1805 the Missouri Fur Company established a trading-*post on the headwaters of the Saptin.[67] In 1806 the North-West Fur Company of Canada established one on Frazer's Lake, near the northern line of Oregon.[68] In March, 1811, the American Pacific Fur Company built Fort Astoria, near the mouth of the Columbia.[69] In July of the same year, a partner of the North-West Fur Company of Canada descended the great northern branch of the Columbia to Astoria. This was the first appearance of the British fur traders in the valleys drained by this river.[70]

On the 16th of October, 1813, (while war was raging between England and the States) the Pacific Fur Company sold all its establishments in Oregon to the North-West Fur Company of Canada. On the 1st of December following, the British sloop of war Raccoon, Captain Black commanding, entered the Columbia, took formal possession of Astoria, and changed its name to Fort George.[71] On the 1st of October, 1818, Fort George was surrendered