Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/19

 assorted cargo for the Indian and Chinese trades. Much about the same period a party under the command of Messrs. W. P. Hunt, and Donald Mackenzie, left Saint Louis on the Missouri, with the intention of proceeding as nearly as possible by Lewis and Clarke's route across the continent to the mouth of the Columbia. This party consisted, besides the above gentlemen, who were partners, of three clerks, and upwards of seventy men.

The following year, 1811, another vessel, the Beaver, of four hundred and eighty tons, commanded by Captain Cornelius Sowles, sailed for the Columbia. She had on board one partner, six clerks, and a number of artisans and voyageurs, with a plentiful supply of every thing that could contribute to the comfort of the crew and passengers.

The exaggerated reports then in circulation relative to the wealth to be obtained in the Columbia, induced merchants of the first respectability to solicit for their sons appointments in the new Company; and many of their applications were unsuccessful. The Author, who was at this period