Joseph Schafer
they should arrive in the course of the month of August. From
Fort William they would be forwarded in light canoes to Red
River, each canoe taking ten men, who would have to work
their passage, experienced bowsmen and steersmen being pro-
vided in the country.
The Company's agents at Red River would conduct the
commisariat department better than strangers.
For the protection of British interests on the Columbia and
N. W. Coast, I would moreover suggest that two sailing ships
of war and two steamers should be stationed there. It would
be highly important to get possession of Cape Disappointment
and to erect thereon a strong battery, which would efifectually
command the mouth of the river, as unless the southern chan-
nel may have been found practicable since I was there,* ships
entering the river must pass so close under the Cape that shells
might be dropped almost with certainty upon their decks from
the battery.
The Columbia River, owing to the difficulty of ingress and
egress, cannot be depended upon as a harbor ; and to the south-
ward there is no good harbor nearer than the Bay of San
Francisco in about 40 degrees N. Lat., but in the Straits of de
Fuca, Puget Sound, Hood's Canal, and the Gulf of Georgia
there are many excellent harbours of easy access. Although
it might be unsafe for sailing ships of war to enter the Co-
lumbia River, steamers would find frequent opportunities of
going in and out, even in winter, and in summer the weather
is so uniformly fine they could make certain of crossing the
bar almost any time.
There should be a large body of marines attached to the
ships of war, for boating and land service ; and a force of
about 2000 men, half breeds and Indians, might be collected
on both sides of the mountains that could on a short notice
be rendered disposable for active service in any part of the
Oregon territory. It would be necessary, however, that suffi-
- In the fall of the year 1841. See Simpson Letters, Am. Hist. Rev., XIV,
p. 70, and ff.----
