Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 12/Some Important Results from the Expedition of John Jacob Astor to and from the Oregon Country
SOME IMPORTANT RESULTS FROM THE EXPEDITIONS OF JOHN JACOB ASTOR TO, AND FROM THE OREGON COUNTRY[1]
It sometimes happens that the indirect results of great movements are far greater and more important than the direct results intended. The intentions of the Crusaders to obtain possession of Jerusalem and to establish a permanent European government there failed, but the indirect results were the beginning of the end of feudalism and the new beginning of civilization and culture in Europe. The vanity and luxury of men and women in Europe and in China developed and made to prosper the fur-trade in North America, but the indirect results are the present developments of the Western United States and of Western and Northwestern Canada.
Capt. Robert Gray, looking for furs, when he discovered the Columbia River, May 11, 1792, and also John Jacob Astor, when he organized the Pacific Fur Company in 1810, and founded Astoria, April 12, 1811, had no thoughts of what the great indirect results would be.
In this brief address I cannot go into the details of the growth of the fur-trade in North America. I shall speak of some of its incidents.
Captain Cook's Last Voyage.
Prior to 1766, Russians had established themselves in the fur-trade in what is now called Alaska, but these furs went to China, then the best market for fine furs in the world. It was the eventful third and last voyage of Capt. James Cook, which began in July, 1776, and ended in October, 1780, that the great impetus was given to securing furs in Alaska and in what was afterwards known as the "Oregon Country." This was the indirect result. The object of Cook's voyage was to ascertain whether a northwest passage, i. e., a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, existed. During the times this expedition was at Vancouver's Island and Alaska the officers and sailors had obtained from the natives a quantity of furs, at trifling cost, which were used as clothing and as bedding. On the arrival of the expedition, homeward bound, at Canton, China, in 1779, what was left of these furs were sold for about two thousand pounds, sterling, a large sum of money in those days. After this expedition returned to England, the facts relating to furs on the North Pacific Coast became known and vessels, British, American and Portugese, engaged in the trade for many years.
The Hudson's Bay and Northwest Companies.
The Hudson's Bay Company was granted a Royal Charter in 1670, by King Charles II., and thereafter engaged in the fur-trade in the eastern part of what was then known as British North America. In 1784 Canadian fur- traders, who had been in competition with the Hudson's Bay Company, united their interests, under the name of Northwest Company of Montreal, but usually called the "Northwest Company." The latter was composed of intelligent, forceful and resolute men and took for themselves the fur-trade in the western part of British North America, and extending to the Pacific Coast, excluding the Russian-American possessions.
June 17, 1793, Alexander Mackenzie, one of the partners of the Northwest Company, discovered a large river which he called Tacoutche-Tesse, from the name given it by the Indians. At the time of its discovery Mackenzie did not know of the Columbia River or its discovery. After his return to England and, at the time of the publication of his voyages, in 1801, and, until the exploration of this river to its mouth by Simon Eraser in 1808, it was supposed to be the upper part of the Columbia River. The Tacoutche-Tesse is now called Eraser River in honor of Simon Fraser.
In 1805 the Northwest Company sent a party to establish its first posts west of the Rocky Mountains on the TacoutcheTesse and in its vicinity. By the year 1806 some of these posts were established. These were the first settlements by 208 FREDERICK V. HOLMAN white men in the Oregon Country, i. e., north of latitude 42 degrees and south of 54 degrees and 40 minutes. These posts were established in what Eraser named "New Caledonia," being in the northern interior of what is now British Columbia. Undoubtedly these posts were established so early and the Eraser River explored to its mouth because of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and to forestall occupation by American fur-traders. But, in addition, along the Columbia and its tributaries, there were sure to be quantities of fur-bearing animals. Goods and supplies could be brought by sea, at least to the mouth of the Columbia, and furs shipped by the returning vessels. The discovery by Eraser that the Tacoutche- Tesse is not a part of the Columbia River merely delayed these plans of the Northwest Company. John Jacob Astor and His Enterprises. I shall not, in this address, go into the matter of John Jacob Astor and his various enterprises prior to the time he thought of engaging in the fur-trade on the Northwest Pacific Coast. At that time he had a great knowledge of the fur-trade and had become, what was then considered, a very wealthy man. He had engaged in trade with China and also in the Indian countries, west of the Mississippi River, and in Canada. The Expedition of Lewis and Clark arrived at St. Louis, Missouri, on its return, in September, 1806. Astor then learned that the Columbia River and its tributaries abounded in fur-bear- ing animals, including great numbers of beaver. Prior to 1810, John Jacob Astor saw the great opportunity and elaborated a great, comprehensive scheme, which resulted in the founding of Astoria, as a part of his enterprise. His plans, in brief, were the organization of a company which he would control and furnish the capital for. It would have trad- ing-posts on the Columbia River and its tributaries, and also on the upper Missouri. Some furs would be shipped, prob- ably, down the Missouri to St. Louis. But most of the furs would be taken to the Columbia River and transported to a post or fort at or near its mouth. Vessels would carry goods RESULTS FROM ASTOR EXPEDITIONS 209 and supplies to the Columbia; thence they would be taken to the interior. These vessels would also furnish supplies to the Russians in Alaska and would trade with the Indians on the Northwest Pacific Coast. These vessels would then return to the Columbia to obtain supplies of furs procured there and transported from the interior. These vessels would then sail to China, sell their cargoes of furs, purchase Chinese teas and merchandise and return to New York. Thus three profits would result on each trip. Of course, there would be great risks, but probably great profits. It would require busi- ness skill and large capital to conduct the enterprises, but Astor was a man who had accumulated his fortune by his ability and by his willingness to dare and to do. Astor obtained from the Russian government the right to trade with the Russian posts on the northwest coast of Amer- ica. He obtained the moral support of President Madison and his administration to Astor's plans. At that time there was friction between the United States and Great Britain, which resulted in the war of 1812. Had President Madison had the foresight and political sagacity and courage of Thomas Jefferson, the present northern boundary line of the United States, west of the Rocky Mountains, would probably be much further north than it now is. The discovery of the Columbia by Gray ; the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804- 1806, followed by the occupation by an American Company, as proposed by Astor, and protected by the Government of the United States, would have established its rights to the country and joint-occupancy would probably never have been even thought of. Astor endeavored to interest the Northwest Company in his undertakings, but it declined and began preparation to anticipate Astor and to secure for itself alone what he had planned for his company. As I have stated, the Northwest Company then had trading posts on the Fraser River. David Thompson, one of its partners, had discovered the head- waters of the Columbia in 1807 or 1808, and was the first white man to explore the part of that river which had not been explored by Lewis and Clark. 210 FREDERICK V. HOLMAN As I have said, Astoria was founded April 12, 1811. The Tonquin, the vessel which brought the party around Cape Horn to the Columbia River, left the river June 5, 1811, on a trading expedition to the north. Shortly afterwards she was captured by Indians at Clayoquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver's Island, and was totally destroyed by the explosion of her powder magazine, caused probably by one of the survivors of the massacre, when the Tonquin was cap- tured. July 15, 1811, David Thompson arrived at Astoria, from the upper Columbia, too late to establish a post near the mouth of that river for the Northwest Company prior to Astor's party. He had been dispatched, in 1810, for that pur- pose. Unforeseen difficulties had prevented his earlier arrival. The prior arrival of Astor's party was of great importance. The War of 1812. The war of 1812 frustrated all of Astor's plans. He vainly sought to have the United States Government send a war vessel to protect Astoria or to send troops overland for the same purpose. In October, 1813, the exact day is uncertain, Duncan McDougal, acting for the Pacific Fur Company, in the absence of Wilson Price Hunt, the chief agent for Astor, treacherously sold all the property of that company to the Northwest Company. McDougal's virtue was of a kind which needed constantly to be guarded. In the Message of President Monroe, of January 25, 1823, to the House of Representa- tives, a copy of which, printed at Washington in 1823, I have in my library, there is set forth at length, a copy of a letter, dated New York, January 4, 1823, from John Jacob Astor to John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State. In this letter Astor wrote : That when Hunt returned to Astoria (February 28, 1814), "He then learnt that McDougall had transferred all my prop- erty to the Northwest Company, who were [then] in posses- sion of it, by a sale, as he called it, for the sum of about $58,000, of which he retained $14,000, for wages said to be RESULTS FROM ASTOR EXPEDITIONS 211 due to some of the men. From the price obtained for the goods, &c., and he having himself become interested in the purchase, and made a partner of the Northwest Company, some idea may be formed as to this man's correctness of dealings. It will be seen, by the agreement, of which I trans- mit a copy, and the inventory, that he sold to the Northwest Company, 18,170 1-4 Ibs. of beaver, at $2, which was at about that time selling at Canton at $5 and $6; 907 otter skins, at 50 cents, or half a dollar, which were selling in Canton at 5 to $6 per skin. I estimate the whole property to be worth nearer $200,000, than $40,000, about the sum I received by bills on Montreal." Thus ended these great enterprises of John Jacob Astor. November 30, 1813, about six weeks after this sale to the Northwest Company, the British sloop-of-war Raccoon, of 26 guns, commanded by Captain Black, entered the Columbia River, to capture Astoria. To the chagrin of its officers and crew, they learned that the rich booty they had intended to make their own had become the property of British subjects. National Possessions of Astoria. December 12, 1813, Capt. Black took formal possession of the establishment and country, in the name of His Britannic Majesty, causing a British Union Jack to be run up to the top of the flag pole, at Astoria, and changing its name to Fort George. Had Capt. Black known what would be the result of his grandiloquent actions he would have hesitated, if he had not wholly refrained from attempting to take pos- session for his sovereign. In consequence of Capt. Black's action the claim of the United States to the Oregon Country was strengthened. It is true that this capture of Astoria was not known to the American plenipotentiaries when the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814. But on March 22, 1814, James Monroe, Secretary of State, under President Madison, knowing that Astoria might have been captured, out of excessive caution, gave the following instruc- tions to the American Plenipotentiaries, appointed to nego- tiate the treaty : 212 FREDERICK V. HOLM AN "Should a treaty be concluded with Great Britain and a reciprocal restitution of territory be agreed on, you will have in mind that the United States had in their possession at the commencement of the war a post at the mouth of the River Columbia, which commanded the river, which ought to be comprised in the stipulations should the possession have been wrested from us during the war." Henry Clay, of Kentucky, one of these plenipotentiaries, on February 7, 1838, then an United States Senator, said in a debate on Oregon in the Senate, that he himself had intro- duced the word "possessions" in this stipulation for mutual surrender for the express purpose of securing the restoration of Astoria, if it had been captured. (Marshall's "Acquisition of Oregon," Part I, pages 143, 144.) In the first article of the Treaty of Ghent it was agreed that: "All territory, places, and possession, whatsoever, taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty, excepting only the islands hereinafter mentioned [in the Bay of Fundy] shall be re- stored without delay." Without going into the diplomatic details it is sufficient to say that J. B. Prevost, an agent for the United States, was taken to Astoria in 1818, by the British frigate Blossom. October 6, 1818, Capt. Hickey, the Captain of the Blossom, and J. Heath, of the Northwest Company, as joint-commis- sioners on the part of Great Britain, presented to Prevost a paper declaring that, in obedience to the commands of the Prince Regent and in conformity to the first article of the treaty of Ghent, they restored to the Government of the United States, through its agent Prevost, the settlement of Fort George on the Columbia. Prevost thereupon, in return, gave these joint commissioners another paper, signed by him, which is as follows : "I hereby acknowledge to have received, in behalf of the Government of the United States, the possession of the set- tlement designated above, in conformity to the first article of the Treaty of Ghent. Given under my hand, in triplicate, at Fort George (Columbia River), this 6th of October, 1818." The British flag was then formally lowered, and that of the United States was hoisted, in its stead, over the fort or post, and the American flag was saluted by the Blossom.
(Greenhow's "History of Oregon and California" (1845 Ed.), pages 306-310.)
I cannot here discuss the legal effect of this possession surrendered by Great Britain to the United States. It gave added weight to the contentions of the United States in the final settlement of the Oregon Question.
The Overland Journeys of Astor Parties.
I have purposely reserved, to this point, mention of the overland parties of the Astor expeditions to and from Astoria.
In 1810 Astor had determined to send to the mouth of the Columbia River not only a party by vessel, around Cape Horn, but also a party overland. In June, 1810, Wilson Price Hunt, one of the partners of the Pacific Fur Company, began organizing the overland party. He first went to Canada, engaged some Canadian voyageurs and trappers there, and then went, with his party, to St. Louis, Missouri, where additions were made to the party. They wintered near a small stream, called the Nadowa, a short distance above what is now St. Joseph, Missouri. April 21, 1811, Hunt and his party, left the Nadowa on their long journey. They ascended the Missouri River, by boats, to the villages of the Aricara Indians, where they arrived June 12, 1811. These villages were situated a distance of about 1,325 miles above the mouth of the Missouri. Hunt had intended to ascend the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, following substantially the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but the great danger of attempting to pass through the country of the Blackfeet—the Ishmaelites of the Western Indians—induced him to leave the Missouri River at the Aricara villages and to travel the rest of his journey to the Columbia by land. To that end he tried to procure sufficient horses for his whole party and for the transportation of his goods and supplies. In this he was only partially successful. On the Missouri River Hunt was able to procure only 82 horses, 214 FREDERICK V. HOLMAN of which 76 were packed with goods and supplies. The whole party, consisting of 64 persons, left the Aricaras July 17, 1811. Early in August he was able to procure 36 more horses from a camp of friendly Cheyennes, which enabled Hunt to allot one horse to each two of the party, excepting those who had previously been given a horse apiece. The party arrived on the Snake River, September 26, at the abandoned Fort Henry, established by Andrew Henry, of the Missouri Fur Company, in the fall or winter of 1810, and abandoned by him in the spring of 1811. Hunt, yielding to the importunities of his party, decided to abandon his horses, make canoes and en- deavor to descend the Snake River to its confluence with the Columbia. October 19, 1811, the party with its goods and supplies embarked in 15 canoes. A short time afterwards, owing to the difficulties of navigating the Snake River, they were compelled to abandon their canoes, cache their goods and most of their supplies, and endeavor to go, on foot, down the almost impassable Snake, running through a region so barren that but few Indians were able to exist there. The party was separated into two main smaller parties, going on each side of the river. I cannot here recite their privations and suffer- ings. One of these parties reached Astoria January 18, 1812 ; the other, led by Hunt, arrived at Astoria February 15, 1812. Ramsay Crooks, one of Astor's partners, and John Day arrived at Astoria May 11, 1812. A few, who had separated from their parties, did not arrive at Astoria until January, 1813. Although the misfortunes and disasters of Hunt's main party were great, it had established that there is a feasible route overland from the Missouri River to the Snake River, south of the route of Lewis and Clark. The Overland Party from Astoria to St. Louis. After the arrival of the Astor ship Beaver at Astoria, in May, 1812, it became necessary to send a party overland to carry dispatches to Astor, at New York, giving reports of the affairs of the Pacific Fur Company, on the Pacific Coast. The party of six, under the command of Robert Stuart, left RESULTS FROM ASTOR EXPEDITIONS 215 Astoria June 30, 1812, with a larger party, who were bound for the interior posts of the Company. July 31, the Stuart party set out, from near the mouth of Walla Walla River, on its overland journey. After being- robbed by the Indians of its horses and supplies and staying all winter in temporary quarters, the party arrived at St. Louis, Missouri, April 30, 1813. The important result of this trip, by the Stuart party, is that it traveled south of the route taken by the Hunt party, in 1811, and along the Platte River, and practically discovered the Oregon Trail, or at least a large part of it. As to whether it discovered the great South Pass, by which wagons were able to cross through the Rocky Mountains, there is some ques- tion. Marshall, in his "Acquisition of Oregon," says the Stuart party discovered South Pass ; Chittenden, in his work, "The American Fur Trade of the Far West," says this party passed near but did not discover it. This question is not material, for, as Chittenden wrote of the Stuart party (Vol. I., page 214): "The route pursued on the return journey was, with three exceptions, that of the Oregon Trail of later years. Stuart's party kept south of Snake River, instead of crossing and fol- lowing the line of the Boise. They also missed the line from Bear River to the Devil's Gate, although near it a good deal of the way. From Grand Island to the mouth of the Kansas they followed the rivers, instead of crossing the angle between them, as the Trail afterwards did. All of these variations from the true route would have been avoided on another journey. The two Astoria expeditions, therefore, are entitled to the credit of having practically opened up the Oregon Trail from the Missouri River at the mouth of the Kansas to the mouth of the Columbia River." The importance of this discovery, of what became the Ore- gon Trail, is great. It is true it would have been discovered some time, probably by trappers or fur-traders. It appears to have been first used, after its discovery, by W. H. Ashley, of the Missouri Fur Company, with his party, in 1824. The 216 FREDERICK V. HOLMAN |^ Stuart party, which was an Astor expedition, is entitled to the credit of the discovery of the Oregon Trail, as Capt. Robert Gray is entitled to the credit of discovering the Columbia River. It is only a question of time when the Columbia would have been discovered. It was over this route that the Oregon immigrants traveled. It was over it that the immigrants of 1843 home-seekers the first real Oregon immigrants, brought their wagons to The Dalles. The other Oregon immigrants up to, and including that of 1846, were a great factor in causing the settlement of the Oregon Question by the boundary treaty of 1846. The route of Lewis and Clark was impracticable for the establish- ment of permanent settlements in Oregon by immigrants with their wagons. The route of Hunt's party would have pre- vented the early settlement of Oregon, as was accomplished over the Oregon Trail. While small parties from Canada traveled, overland to, and from Montreal and Fort Vancouver, north of the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, that route was not practicable for immi- grants to use to settle the Oregon Country. But one party of immigrants came from Canada to Oregon in those early days. It left the Red River Settlement June 5, 1841, and reached Fort Vancouver about October 4, 1841. They were compelled to abandon their carts and pack their goods on oxen and other animals. This is the Canadian immigration, which the inventors of the myth that Whitman saved Oregon, largely base their fictions on as having arrived in Oregon in the fall of 1842. (Marshall's "Acquisition of Oregon," Part I, page 341.) Authorities Consulted. I have been compelled to write this address somewhat hur- riedly, owing to other duties. I have not had time to consult many original sources. I have consulted and relied on Fran- chere's "Narrative" (Translation of 1854), Greenhow's "His- tory of Oregon and California" (Edition of 1845), Chittenden's "The American Fur Trade of the Far West," and Marshall's RESULTS FROM ASTOR EXPEDITIONS 217 "Acquisition of Oregon." I have made some small use of the original journals of Bradbury and of Brackenridge. I have also been aided by some knowledge of the history of Oregon and of the Pacific Northwest, which I have acquired from a somewhat desultory study, for many years, and from reading original journals, books, pamphlets, and reports, many of which I have in my library. Review of Astor's Enterprises. In reviewing Astor's enterprises at Astoria, and in the Pa- cific Northwest, it must be conceded that they were conceived in sagacity, skill, boldness, and with rare business sense. The plans were admirable and, but for the war of 1812, would probably have been very successful. The selection of Thorn as the captain of the Tonquin was most unfortunate. The destruction of the Tonquin stopped any trade on the coast until the arrival of the Beaver. It also caused the accumulation of furs at Astoria, a part of which were sold to the Northwest Company by McDougal. There is no excuse for the treachery of McDougal. The furs on hand, at the time of the sale, could have been sent easily up the Columbia to a point inaccessible to any war vessel or its officers and crew. The Indians were friendly to the Astor party. But for the war there was an opportunity to make the great profits which were made by Dr. John McLoughlin for the Hudson's Bay Company after his arrival in the Oregon Country in 1824. It is true the Pacific Fur Company might have been forced into a commercial war with the Northwest Company, and later with the Hudson's Bay Company, after the coalescence of these two companies in 1821, but Astor's wealth and business skill should have been a match for any opposition by either of those companies. He had made his fortune in spite of opposition. His choice of his Canadian partners was unfortunate, con- sidering the chance of war with Great Britain, when his en- terprises were inaugurated. A majority of those partners, and of the employees and servants of the Pacific Fur Company, 218 FREDERICK V. HOLMAN % were British subjects. Had the majority of the partners been American citizens, especially at Astoria, there would have been no sale to the Northwest Company. It is to the credit of some of the Canadian employees that they refused to enter the service of the Northwest Company after the sale. Among these was Gabriel Franchere, whose private journal was printed, in French, at Montreal in 1820, and the English translation of it was printed in New York in 1854. This journal is simply, but charmingly written and is the first book written and printed on Settlements in Oregon. It should be read by every one desirous of obtaining information concerning early Oregon from original sources. As to whether these Canadian partners would have remained true to Astor's interests in a contest for supremacy with the Northwest Company or with the Hudson's Bay Company, after their consolidation, that is merely a matter of conjecture. Probably they would have been true, but their exceedingly friendly treatment of the visiting parties of the Northwest Company, prior to the sale, raises a doubt. But this matter is really outside the scope of this address. Important Results from Astor's Expeditions. Although these enterprises of Astor's were business failures, there were certain results which were of great national im- portance to the United States. Notwithstanding the discovery of the Columbia River by Gray, the time had come when the mere discovery of the mouth of a river or the exploration of the river itself, as was done by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, should be followed by some kind of actual occupation by the nation or its people who claimed by right of discovery or of exploration. This occupa- tion, in part, at least, of the country drained by the Columbia River, was had by Astor's American Company. The loss of occupancy by the sale to the Northwest Company and by the theoretical capture of Astoria, by the Raccoon, was largely, if not more than completely, offset by the formal restoration of possession to the United States, October 6, 1818. RESULTS FROM ASTOR EXPEDITIONS 219 But the greatest result, to the benefit of the United States, was the discovery by the Stuart party of an easy and conven- ient way of passage from the Missouri River to the Columbia, that became the Oregon Trail, by means of which the Oregon of today was peopled by citizens of the United States, prior to the year 1847, and the Oregon Question amicably and final- ly settled. Fortunately the enmity and bad feeling between the United States and Great Britain, which caused the war of 1812 and which resulted therefrom, and which nearly caused a war be- tween them over the Oregon Question, have long since passed away and are now of historic interest only. By common con- sent and by mutual feeling, which are stronger and more enduring than any written treaties, these two nations and their peoples are united in a motive and in an endeavor that the genius, the traditions, and the institutions of the English- speaking peoples shall be foremost in the world.
Notes edit
- ↑ Address by Frederick V. Holman, President of the Oregon Historical Society, before the Teachers' Historical Institute, at Astoria, Oregon, September 5, 1911.