It has been a popular tale that Lewis and Clark discovered the Falls of the Multnomah, but their records as above, disprove this fallacy.
With the passing of Lewis and Clark, the name of the river changed from Multnomah to Willamette, for the next authorities, Gabriel Franchere,[1] Alexander Ross[2] and Ross Cox,[3] call it the Willamette.
In his "Narrative," published at Montreal in 1820, Franchere gives us the best and earliest record of the activities of the Pacific Fur Company on the Willamette. Ross Cox follows with his "Adventures on the Columbia River" in 1831, while Alexander Ross' "Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River" was not published until 1849.
From Franchere we glean more facts than from either of the others. The first record regarding the Willamette
- ↑ Gabriel Franchere, born Montreal, Nov. 3, 1786. Signed on as Clerk for five years with Pacific Fur Co., May 24, 1810 - Left Montreal with Alex. McKay in canoe for New York, via Lake Champlain, July 26, 1810, arrived N. Y . Aug. 3, 1810. Sailed in Tonquin, Sept. 6, 1810, arrived Columbia River Bar March 22, 1811. Left Fort George April 4, 1814. Married early sweetheart in Canada in 1815. Reentered Astor's employ as Montreal agent in 1815. Few years later moved to Sault Ste. Marie, lived here for several years. Entered employ of Pierre Choteau, St. Louis, after liquidation of American Fur Co. Later removed to N. Y. Establshed a fur trading firm under his own name. Invited to Washington on Oregon question by Thomas H. Benton, in 1846. Died St. Paul, Minn., in 1863.
- ↑ Alexander Ross, born Scotland 1783. Left for Canada 1804. First man to join Astor's Pacific Fur Co., in May, 1810. Sailed in Tonquin, Sept. 6, 1810, arrived Columbia River, March 22, 1811. Served with Astor's Co., N. W . Co., and H. B . Co., west of Rocky Mountains till 1825, when he left for Red River where he located and where he died in 1856.
- ↑ Ross Cox, "the little Irishman," sailed on Beaver, Oct. 10, 1811, arrived Columbia River, May 10, 1812. Entered N. W . Co. service after sale of Pacific Fur Co. Left Ft George April 16, 1817, arrived Rocky Mountain House June 6, 1817, Ft. William Aug. 16, 1817. On Sept. 17, 1817, met his old Astorian friend, Donald McGillis, on the Ottawa River, and on the 19th met Francis Benj. Pillett, another Astorian at Lake of Two Mountains. Arrived at Montreal Sept. 19. 1817.
