Page:Voyages in the Northern Pacific - 1896.djvu/109

Rh direction of a partner and several young clerks. When they arrive in the fall, the boatmen encamp outside the fort; they are each served out with a half pint of rum, and their year's clothing, and orders are issued, that those men who do not get drunk, must go to the wood and cut timber. The liquor shop is then opened, and kept by one of the clerks; a scene of drunkenness and all manner of vice follows. A frolick of this kind will cost them a year's pay and upwards; they generally agree for two years, at the end of which time they find themselves in debt, are therefore obliged to agree for two years longer, and in this manner are kept in the service till they are gray-headed. The Company have a train of posts from the Columbia River to the rocky or stoney mountains, and from thence to Montreal; all the furs that are collected at the west side of these mountains are brought to the Columbia, and sent from thence to China; and all that are collected on the east side are sent to Montreal, and from thence to England. At this settlement they have cleared about 200 acres of ground, and planted about 20 acres with potatoes for the use of the gentlemen, their object being to collect furs, and not to cultivate or improve the land. They have about twelve head of cattle with some pigs and goats, imported here from California; their stock does not increase, for want of proper care, the wolves often carrying off goats and pigs.