Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/51

History of the Counties of Oregon 45 Multnomah tribe had 800. All these tribes were practically exterminated by the epidemics of 1829-32. Daniel Williams Harmon was a partner in the Northwest Company. He left Montreal in 1800, in the employ of that Company, and did not return until 1819. From the autumn of 181 1 until the spring" of 1819 he was in charge of the North- west Company's affairs in what was then called New Cale- donia, in the northern interior of British Columbia. While Harmon did not keep a continuous journal, he made many entries in a book, of incidents occurring during the time he was in the Indian Country. These were published at Andover in 1820, under the title of "A Journal of Voyages and Travels in the Interiour of North America." In the original edition of this book is a map of North America. On it is shown a river, called Multnomah River, rising at a lake, in what is now the State of Nevada, and flowing northwesterly into the Columbia at a point about where the Willamette flows into the Columbia. In connection with Multnomah River, as set forth on the map in Harmon's book, I call attention to Report number 213 of the House of Representatives, dated May 15, 1826, of the 19th Congress, 1st Session, being a supplemental report of the Select Committee on the bill to authorize the establishment of a military post or posts within the Territory of the United States, on the Pacific Ocean, and to provide for the explora- tion of its Coasts and Waters. This Report sets forth some fictions as well as facts. In this Report particular attention is called to the fact that the Committee "has obtained some interesting information respecting the geographical character of the Territory of the United States on the Pacific Ocean. This information was derived from Samuel Adams Ruddock, who, in the year 182 1, performed a journey by land from the Council Bluffs to the mouth of the Columbia River. Ruddock was one of a trading party, which left the Council Bluffs after the 12th of May." In this Report it is said that, after reaching Lake Trinidad,