Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/32



24 JUDGE WIILIAM C. BROWN

"My father was succeeded at Fort Okanogan by my half- brother, who was much older than me. His name was Fran- cois. He was not called La Fleur. He was called Francois Deswauchette. Francois remained in charge till the last. I think that was about six years after my father left. The Hudson Bay company then moved away everything.

Question. They moved it to Kamloops, didn't they?

Answer. No, to the Similkameen.

Question. Can you tell us where on the Similkameen?

Answer. No, I did not go with them there and I don't know.

Question. Do you know the name of the place?

Answer. No, I don't know the name, except that the In- dions called it Keremeos. The Hudson Bay company kept a store there for quite a long time and Francois stayed there till he died I am told. That place was on the Similkameen trail which the Hudson Bay people used in going over to Fort Hope on the Fraser.

Question. Did you know a Frenchman at Ft. Okanogan named La Pratt? Answer. Yes I knew La Pratt. He was there in charge when I was about ten years old I think. Sometimes one man was in charge, sometimes another. They were always travelling up and down. Sometimes they went, to Vancouver, sometimes to Colville, sometimes to Kamloops and sometimes to other places, but La Pratt was there in charge for awhile.

Question. Did you know Mr. Anderson? Answer. Yes he was there at Okanogan many times.

Question. Did you ever know of Samuel Black? Answer. Oh, yes I knew of Black. He was killed at Kamloops by an Indian. My father was there at the time and I was there too. I was a very young boy then but I was old enough to know that Black was killed. It was a man by the name of William Peon that went out and got the Indian, afterwards the Indian was killed.

I came down from Kamloops with a big pack train once when my father was in charge. I made several trips with pack trains between Okanogan and Kamloops. My father most always took all the family when he went to Kamloops, and sometimes we stayed at Kamloops several years at a time. Those big pack trains that carried the furs down in the summer and carried the goods up in the fall travelled about fifteen miles a day. When we left Okanogan the train usually got a late start and we did not go far the first day, probably about six or seven miles above the mouth of the