and industrious man, and at the end of Ms service with the company had to his credit the respectable sum of 400, was finally well satisfied with these representations. All the settlers of the Prairie he found to be hospitable in the extreme; they were willing to share with the stranger anything they had. The most of them had native wives, or at least of mixed blood; a number of whom were from Clatsop or Chinook. They were an industrious people and entirely honest. The incident is related that by some mistake as to ownership three sacks of potatoes were once left on the river bank at the portage at Oregon City. There they remained three months, no one disturbing them. The following story also is told of McLoughlin and his wheat buyer: It was the custom of the agent who bought wheat to strike the measure—the wheat not being very well cleaned requiring to be settled in order to give full weight. Seeing him give the measure a number of slow, gentle taps, McLoughlin exclaimed, "Tut, tut,' and gave it one heavy blow; but to his chagrin, and the vast enjoyment of the bystanders, the doctor's heavy stroke instead of settling the grain only shook it up, and he instantly admitted that the buyer's way was the best, and with that the farmers were all well pleased, because thereby they sold the best weight—which illustrates not only their simplicity, but their desire to act on the square with the great chief factor.
Names of French-Canadians on French Prairie when Mr. Matthieu first went there, and who all, as he remembers, took part in the provisional government meeting they are collected from his ledger of the business carried on by him with George Le Roque, at Butteville, beginning in 1850:
