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 of July, 1815, she made another trip, picking up eight deserters from the previous trip and four from the Isaac Todd. August 29, 1816, saw the Colonel Allan at Monterey. During July of 1817, the Columbia made an unsuccessful trip along the coast, and thereafter trade seems to have been discontinued until subsequent to the reorganization.

Dr. McLoughlin, former Northwesterner, was sent by the Hudson's Bay Company to take charge of the district of the Columbia. With Governor George Simpson he came to Fort George in 1824, and moved the headquarters 110 miles inland to a site six miles east of the junction of the Willamette River with the Columbia. He called the new factory Fort Vancouver. As soon as affairs were organized at the fort, plans for the opening up of trade with California were undertaken. The schooner Cadboro came from England in 1827 to engage in the fur trade. She made a trip to California in December of that year. By 1832 the company had acquired the Llama, and in 1835 the Beaver, first steam driven vessel to ply Pacific waters, came around the Horn to the Columbia.

It was with the Cadboro, in 1836, that a young clerk of the fort, William Glen Rae, explored the lower coast and possibly found Humboldt Bay. This young Scot was to play a tragic part in California history.

Lumber was being shipped by 1828 from Fort Vancouver to the Spanish settlements. November 24, 1830, John McLoughlin, chief factor, wrote Captain Aemilius Simpson, of the Cadboro:

"We are informed a considerable quantity of beaver is collected at Monterey ... You will endeavor to ascertain if there are any settlers on the Bonaventura. You will also endeavour to learn if we could be allowed to take Cattle, Horses and Mules out of California. You will demand, if you think it safe, the debt due the late N. W. Company by the Government of California."