Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/285

 John Work's Journey to Umpqua River, 1834 263 Indians give of beaver being numerous it is expected that they will get a good many. An Indian who is ac- quainted with that place & speaks the language of the natives there, the Melilish is engaged to accompany the people. Two men remain with the families to hunt for them, & take care of the horses. These men are to have a share of the hunt the same as those who have gone off. Champaigne who is ill with the fever also remains but he is not concerned in the partnership. Gave Kanota a few articles to trade any beaver he may find and make trifling presents to the Indians. Some Indians arrived in the afternoon from McKen- zies fork & brought a few pieces of salmon. Traded 2 beaver. June 30. Fine. Proceeded 10 miles N. W. to Mr. McKay's old house where I left the three men & Cham- paign & the men's families that are gone up the river, as this is said to be a better place for deer than where the canoes were made. [215] I then continued down the river 12 miles W. to the plain accompanied by De Champ, an Owyhee & an indian on the way to the fort with the Comments West and Hudson's Bay companies in 1821, he became governor of the Red River colony. He accumulated prop- erty in the fur trade and died at Mayville, New York in 1840. He was a kinsman of Alexander Mackenzie. He was a remarkable rifle shot, skilled in woodcraft and Indian warfare and was an able Indian trader. June 30. "McKay's old house" probably was at or near the confluence of Willamette and McKenzie rivers, some six miles north of the site of Eugene. From this place the canoes would ascend McKenzie River. John Work then continued the day's journey to a place appar- ently west of the site of Harrisburg. "McKay's old house" indicates that an earlier trading party under leadership of Thomas McKay had a temporary trading post there.