Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/933

Rh where with the squared timbers borrowed of Dr. McLoughlin, he built a dwelling house only a few rods from the cataract, the first home in Oregon City.

In June, 1841, Commodore Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition, entered the Willamette. He says, "We reached the falls about noon, where we found the missionary station under charge of Rev. Mr. Waller. The Hudson's Bay Company have a trading post there and are packing fish which the Indians catch in great quantities.

"There was a petty dispute between Mr. Waller and the company, and he complained of them. It seems the company refused to buy any beaver skins except from the hunters and trappers, and he accuses them of monopoly in consequence.

"The company, on the other hand, says they have no idea of selling goods out of their own stores, for the purpose of enabling others to enter into competition with them, and that they will spare no expense to keep the trade as long as they can, in their own hands.

"Mr. Waller and his wife gave us a kind welcome and insisted on our taking dinner with them. As they have no servants Mrs. Waller prepared the dinner, while Mr. Waller took care of the outdoor business. Though the house was built of rough materials, it was very evident that neatness and order prevailed. Her management of the home-made cooking stove which stood in the room, claimed my admiration. At the same time she made herself quite agreeable, and although she had many, very many things to contend with, appeared quite satisfied with her lot and condition.

"After we had partaken of our dinner, consisting of salmon and tea, with bread and butter, Mr. Waller took us to see the falls. On our way thither, he pointed out a log house that had been built by the agent of Mr. Slacum, in order to secure the right of site or mill privilege. The Hudson's Bay Company have gone to considerable expense in blasting the rock for a mill-race for the same purpose, but from appearances, this work has remained untouched for several years. ... A Mr. Moore, from the western states, whom I saw on the Willamette, informed me that he had taken possession of the west side of the falls, under a purchase from an old Indian chief.

"At the time of our visit to the falls, the salmon fishery was at its height, and was to us a novel as well as amusing scene. ... I never saw so many fish collected together before; and the Indians are constantly employed in taking them. They rig out two stout poles, long enough to project over the foaming cauldron, and secure their large ends to the rocks. On the outer end they make a platform for the fisherman to stand on, who is perched on it with a pole thirty feet long in hand, to which the net is fastened by a hoop four feet in diameter. . . . They throw it into the foam and it being then quickly carried down, the fish running in a contrary direction are caught. Sometimes twenty-five large fish are taken by a single person in an hour. . . . The number of Indians at the falls during the season is about seventy . . . others visit in canoes, raising the number up to not far from one hundred."

Wilkes mentions an Indian village "swarming with fleas" on the west side.

This Mr. Robert Moore mentioned by Wilkes arrived in Oregon in 1840, and by purchase from old Chief Wanaxka, claimed a section of land extending two miles up and down the river, including the whole west frontage of the falls from the beginning up to the Tualatin river, and half a mile back. Perched on the steep hillside directly overlooking the cataract he had built a log cabin, appropriately named the "Robin's Nest."

Across the river, where his trading house stood, Dr. McLoughlin originally claimed from the Abernethy creek to the head of the falls, approximately two miles up and down the river, and a mile back, which he named Oregon City, and in 1841 donated a block for a Catholic church. After measurement, part of McLoughlin's claim was abandoned to Archibald McKinlay of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Moore, as his wife never came to Oregon, subsequently re-