Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 12.djvu/221

RESULTS FROM ASTOR EXPEDITIONS 213 The British flag was then formally lowered, and that of the United States was hoisted, in its stead, over the fort or post, and the American flag was saluted by the Blossom.

(Greenhow's "History of Oregon and California" (1845 Ed.), pages 306-310.)

I cannot here discuss the legal effect of this possession surrendered by Great Britain to the United States. It gave added weight to the contentions of the United States in the final settlement of the Oregon Question.

I have purposely reserved, to this point, mention of the overland parties of the Astor expeditions to and from Astoria.

In 1810 Astor had determined to send to the mouth of the Columbia River not only a party by vessel, around Cape Horn, but also a party overland. In June, 1810, Wilson Price Hunt, one of the partners of the Pacific Fur Company, began organizing the overland party. He first went to Canada, engaged some Canadian voyageurs and trappers there, and then went, with his party, to St. Louis, Missouri, where additions were made to the party. They wintered near a small stream, called the Nadowa, a short distance above what is now St. Joseph, Missouri. April 21, 1811, Hunt and his party, left the Nadowa on their long journey. They ascended the Missouri River, by boats, to the villages of the Aricara Indians, where they arrived June 12, 1811. These villages were situated a distance of about 1,325 miles above the mouth of the Missouri. Hunt had intended to ascend the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, following substantially the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but the great danger of attempting to pass through the country of the Blackfeet—the Ishmaelites of the Western Indians—induced him to leave the Missouri River at the Aricara villages and to travel the rest of his journey to the Columbia by land. To that end he tried to procure sufficient horses for his whole party and for the transportation of his goods and supplies. In this he was only partially successful. On the Missouri River Hunt was able to procure only 82 horses,