Page:Route Across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California.djvu/47



Company, West of the Rocky Mountains. Their furs are collected from all parts of the Territory, to this place, and shipped once every year, to England; and the vessel returning, brings, annually, a cargo of goods, to supply the trade. They keep constantly on hand, one year's supply in advance, that if any accident should happen to the vessel, either on her outward or homeward bound passage, the trade might not be interrupted.—The Company have some good farms, and several large herds of cattle and hogs, in different places. They have an extensive dairy, on Sophia's Island, at the mouth of the Willammette; where they make, annually, several thousand pounds of butter and cheese; which they send to Sitka, a Russian settlement, to the North, with which the Hudson's Bay Company have also a contract to furnish a large amount of wheat, yearly. In return for which, they are to receive the Russian furs. They likewise furnish the Sandwich Islands, with a considerable amount flour, lumber, spars, and fish; for which they receive, in return, the products of those Southern Islands. The great design of this Company, is to trade with the Indians, and take the beaver; but, after this animal, so unfortunate on account of the rich dress which Providence has given it, as a shield against the cold of the North, had become nearly extinct, in the lower valley of the Columbia; and after the settlement of foreigners in the Sandwich Islands, and citizens of the United States in Oregon, began to create markets, they extended their operations, and began to cultivate the soil, to raise cattle, to build mills, to furnish the settlers with articles of merchandize, and to trade with foreign ports. Having obtained a skiff at the Fort, belonging to Oregon City, we went down the River six miles, to the upper mouth of the Willamette. The lower mouth comes into the Columbia twenty miles below, making Sophia's Island. The hills are very high on the West side of the River; but rise gradually, and are covered with dense forests of Pine. We had but little difficulty in ascending the Willamette, there being not much current until we came within one and a half miles of the Falls, where we found a strong Rapid, at the junction of the Clackamus; a small, but rapid River, coming in from the East. Here we were obliged to get out into the water, and draw our boat by a cord, several hundred yards. Having passed these Rapids, we arrived, in a few minutes, at Oregon City, situated at the Falls of the Willamette, the place of our destination. This was the 13th of November, 1843, and it was five months and nineteen