Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/74

 66 DOCUMENTS. Stone Lake, then, by a short portage, through open woods and a level country, to his stations; or, taking the route by; the Missouri to the Mandan villages, thence, by a portage of ninety miles, to his place of destination. The exports of this company, for a short time past, have been very little less than that of the Northwest Company. The Committee, from carefully examining all the facts con- nected with the subject referred to them, are well persuaded that the situation of the United States is such as to enable it to possess all the benefits derived from this trade, which, in the hands of others, amounts to millions; many of whose trad- ing establishments east of the Rocky mountains, are within the acknowledged limits of the republic, as fixed by the Conven- tion of London of the 20th of October, 1818 ; and, it is believed that no power, with the exception of Spain, has any just claim to territory west of them, or on the Pacific. The dependence for subsistence of many of those establishments, is upon the buffalo beef hunted by the Assiniboin Indians, who inhabit the country between the river of that name and the Missouri ; their hunting ground is far within our boundary. To succeed in procuring to the people of the United States all the wealth flowing from this source, it is only necessary to occupy with a small trading guard the most northeastern point upon the Missouri river, and confine the foreigners to their own terri- tory; at the same time occupying, with a similar guard, the mouth of the Columbia. The great profit derived from this trade by the Canadian companies, when we know the distance and obstructions in their rivers, and in the various streams they ascend in carrying it on, the advance of price consequent upon it becomes rather a matter of amazement than otherwise, and inclines us to examine our own rivers with a view to the same object. Instead, however, of those formidable obstruc- tions, we find a smooth and deep river running through a boundless extent of the most fertile soil on this continent, containing within its limits all those valuable furs which have greatly enriched others ; a certain, safe, and easy navigation, with a portage of only two hundred miles, uniting it with