Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/68

Rh able to cope with these trading companies, his name has been given to a town on the Columbia and his adventures as a mountaineer have been chronicled in history and literature.

Wyeth Journeys Overland to Oregon. Among those who became interested in the Oregon Country through the literature circulated by Hall J. Kelley was Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth of Boston, who organized an overland expedition to Oregon in 1831. Also that year he sent a ship around Cape Horn to Oregon. In the spring of 1832, Wyeth started overland from Boston reaching Vancouver on October 29th of the same year. The ship which was to bring trade supplies having been wrecked, he was compelled to return to Boston to provide another ship and secure another cargo.

Wyeth's Second Visit to Oregon. In the fall of 1833 Wyeth sent the Boston ship "May Dacre" with supplies for the Columbia River. In 1834, he made his second overland journey, reaching Vancouver in September. The "May Dacre," having arrived too late for the salmon fishing season, was sent with a cargo of timber to the Hawaiian Islands. His trading expedition failed, and Wyeth returned to Boston.

Annual Indian Fairs. While Wyeth and other fur traders were putting forth strenuous efforts to traffic with the Indians, the natives were bartering extensively among themselves. We learn from no less authority than Doctor William McKay and Alexander Ross that when the first