Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/262

 240 T. C. Elliott. George and harmony did not prevail there, if the few accounts we have are correct. The Columbia river immediately below Wallula passes through what is now known as the Gap, formed by high cliffs on either side. Just below the Gap, in fact in it, a small island is located. The two rocky cliffs were known to the fur traders as McKenzie's Head and Ross's Head, so called after the two* men who built Fort Nez Percees, or Fort Walla Walla as more gen- erally called, in July and August, 1818. Passing down the river that spring, Mr. Ogden camped at the mouth of the Walla Walla river, but was attacked by the natives and com- pelled to take refuge on this island, "where he made a stand and completely routed the Indians." (Lieut. Drayton, of the Wilkes Expedition, visited the spot in company with Mr. Ogden in 1841 and the Wilkes account is our authority.) This occurrence was one of the deciding factors to deter- mine the immediate erection of the new Fort along the middle Columbia river and the selection of that particular place for its location. According to one authority, Mr. Ogden was one of the party who assisted to build it, but we think this incorrect.. There are but few records of that day to refer to, but it can with reasonable certainty be said that during the years 18 18- 19 Mr. Ogden's headquarters were at Fort George (Astoria), and that he led trapping parties from there into the country between the Columbia and Puget Sound and around the har- bors north of the Columbia. We have as authority for this his own conversations as reported by Lieut. Wilkes; there is also the family tradition that his second son, Charles, born September 19th, 1819, first saw the light of day on the lower Columbia. There were a good many Iroquois Indians in the country at that time, employed by the Company or free trap- pers. The Iroquois were a troublesome lot to get on with. Mr. Ross in his "Fur Hunters" relates one experience of the Fall of 1 81 8 that took place in the Cowlitz neighborhood when Mr. Ogden and a band of Iroquois were compelled to flee for