Page:History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana.djvu/33



Attitude of the Hudson's Bay Company — Michael T. Simmons and Associates Proceed Northward — Settle at Budd Inlet — Puget Sound — Highlands — Tumwater — Bush Prairie — Chambers Prairie — Neah Bay — Marriages and Births — The Indians Pronounce AGAINST the WhITE MaN — EfFECT OF CALIFORNIA GOLD DISCOVERY — The Timber Trade — Towns Laid out — Whidbey Island Settled — Occupation of the Coast Country.

Doctor John McLoughlin, autocrat of Fort Van- couver, at the instigation of the London managers of the Hudson's Bay Company, but contrary to his own judgment, exercised his influence to induce the incoming citizens of the United States not to locate themselves north of the Columbia River, as in the partition presently to be made all that region would probably be British territory. To the average Amer- ican emigrant of that day the simple fact that a Britisher should wish him not to settle in any certain part of the undivided territory was of itself sufficient incentive for him to select that spot, provided it was not much worse than any other. There must be some special attraction in the direction of Puget Sound, else the fur company would not so strongly advise people not to go there.

So thought Michael T. Simmons, a stanch Ken-