Page:Francis Heron Fur Trader Other Herons.pdf/5

Rh my mother and I stayed on French Prairie in the Williamette and with the Colville tribe near the trading post at Fort Colville.

"I recall passing the mouth of the Little Spokane River on trips to Montana and visiting the fishing grounds at the River's mouth several times a year from the time I was ten years old for probably 40 years. From my earliest recollections, there were no buildings in that vicinity. On the south side of the Spokane River not far from the bank and about a half-mile from the mouth of the Little Spokane the Hudson Bay Company originally built a trading-post; but owing to the difficulty of access, it was abandoned and destroyed and the post moved to Fort Colville where it was in reach or river navigation. I recall the old site of the building; but it was torn down before I visited the place, but the above facts I had from my mother. This building had been a very large one with some smaller ones in the vicinity.

"I knew several men by the name of Finlay. I recall two who were living with women of the Spokane tribe. They were old men then. One moved to the neighborhood of Chewelah afterward. I think some of their descendants are around St. Ingatius Mission in Montana. At a considerably later date than this a Frenchman named Bone built a roadhouse near the mouth of the Little Spokane River. I do not recall any other buildings of note in the vicinity.

"The flat between the two rivers was a great meeting place for Indians-Colville, Spokane, Pend O Reille, Coeur d'Alene, Moses' and Nez Perce tribes. They met and camped here in the greatest friendship. They were not on good terms with the Kootenay and Yakima tribes, and had no intercourse with them. During the summer season there were from a hundred to a thousand Indians camped on the flats by the River catching and drying fish. The principal trap was maintained in the Little Spokane a short distance above the mouth. It was made by setting up piers across the river formed of poles erected in the form of a teepee. Horizontal poles were lashed to these piers and a basket work of willows bound on them. There were two lines of these fences across the River. The upper one was tight; but the lower one had frequent small gates made by lashing sticks to the upper horizontal pole and leaving them loose at the bottom, so the fish could push into the enclosure going up stream; but the current would close the gate after them. The fish came into the trap in countless thousands and were speared by the Indians. They were sufficient for all comers, as long as the