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Arrival of the Brig Pedler at Astoria
Arrival of the Brig Pedler at Astoria.—Breaking Up
of the Establishment.—Departure of Several of the Company.— Tragical
Story Told by the Squaw of Pierre Dorion.—Fate of Reed and His
Companions.—Attempts of Mr. Astor to Renew His
Enterprise.-Disappointment.—Concluding Observations and Reflection.
HAVING given the catastrophe at the Fort of Astoria,
it remains now but to gather up a few loose ends of this widely
excursive narrative and conclude. On the 28th of February the brig
Pedler anchored in Columbia River. It will be recollected that Mr.
Hunt had purchased this vessel at the Sandwich Islands, to take off
the furs collected at the factory, and to restore the Sandwich
Islanders to their homes. When that gentleman learned, however, the
precipitate and summary manner in which the property had been
bargained away by M'Dougal, he expressed his indignation in the
strongest terms, and determined to make an effort to get back the
furs. As soon as his wishes were known in this respect, M'Dougal
came to sound him on behalf of the Northwest Company, intimating
that he had no doubt the peltries might be repurchased at an advance
of fifty per cent. This overture was not calculated to soothe the
angry feelings of Mr. Hunt, and his indignation was complete, when
he discovered that M'Dougal had become a partner of the Northwest
Company, and had actually been so since the 23d of December. He had
kept his partnership a secret, however; had retained the papers of
the Pacific Fur Company in his possession; and had continued to act
as Mr. Astor's agent, though two of the partners of the other
company, Mr. M'Kenzie and Mr. Clarke, were present. He had,
moreover, divulged to his new associates all that he knew as to Mr.
Astor's plans and affairs, and had made copies of his business
letters for their perusal.
Mr. Hunt now considered the whole conduct of M'Dougal hollow and
collusive. His only thought was, therefore, to get all the papers of
the concern out of his hands, and bring the business to a close; for
the interests of Mr. Astor were yet completely at stake; the drafts
of the Northwest Company in his favor, for the purchase money, not
having yet been obtained. With some difficulty he succeeded in
getting possession of the papers. The bills or drafts were delivered
without hesitation. The latter he remitted to Mr. Astor by some of
his associates, who were about to cross the continent to New York.
This done, he embarked on board the Pedler, on the 3d of April,
accompanied by two of the clerks, Mr. Seton and Mr. Halsey, and bade
a final adieu to Astoria.
The next day, April 4th, Messrs. Clarke, M'Kenzie, David Stuart, and
such of the Astorians as had not entered into the service of the
Northwest Company, set out to cross the Rocky Mountains. It is not
our intention to take the reader another journey across those rugged
barriers; but we will step forward with the travellers to a distance
on their way, merely to relate their interview with a character
already noted in this work.
As the party were proceeding up the Columbia, near the mouth of the
Wallah-Wallah River, several Indian canoes put off from the shore to
overtake them, and a voice called upon them in French and requested
them to stop. They accordingly put to shore, and were joined by
those in the canoes. To their surprise, they recognized in the
person who had hailed them the Indian wife of Pierre Dorion,
accompanied by her two children. She had a story to tell, involving
the fate of several of our unfortunate adventurers.
Mr. John Reed, the Hibernian, it will be remembered, had been
detached during the summer to the Snake River. His party consisted
of four Canadians, Giles Le Clerc, Francois Landry, Jean Baptiste
Turcot, and Andre La Chapelle, together with two hunters, Pierre
Dorion and Pierre Delaunay; Dorion, as usual, being accompanied by
his wife and children. The objects of this expedition were twofold:
to trap beaver, and to search for the three hunters, Robinson,
Hoback, and Rezner.
In the course of the autumn, Reed lost one man, Landry, by death;
another one, Pierre Delaunay, who was of a sullen, perverse
disposition, left him in a moody fit, and was never heard of
afterwards. The number of his party was not, however, reduced by
these losses, as the three hunters, Robinson, Hoback, and Rezner,
had joined it.
Reed now built a house on the Snake River, for their winter
quarters; which being completed, the party set about trapping.
Rezner, Le Clerc, and Pierre Dorion went about five days' journey
from the wintering house, to a part of the country well stocked with
beaver. Here they put up a hut, and proceeded to trap with great
success. While the men were out hunting, Pierre Dorion's wife
remained at home to dress the skins and prepare the meals. She was
thus employed one evening about the beginning of January, cooking
the supper of the hunters, when she heard footsteps, and Le Clerc
staggered, pale and bleeding, into the hut. He informed her that a
party of savages had surprised them, while at their traps, and had
killed Rezner and her husband. He had barely strength left to give
this information, when he sank upon the ground.
The poor woman saw that the only chance for life was instant flight,
but, in this exigency, showed that presence of mind and force of
character for which she had frequently been noted. With great
difficulty, she caught two of the horses belonging to the party.
Then collecting her clothes and a small quantity of beaver meat and
dried salmon, she packed them upon one of the horses, and helped the
wounded man to mount upon it. On the other horse she mounted with
her two children, and hurried away from this dangerous neighborhood,
directing her flight to Mr. Reed's establishment. On the third day,
she descried a number of Indians on horseback proceeding in an
easterly direction. She immediately dismounted with her children,
and helped Le Clerc likewise to dismount, and all concealed
themselves. Fortunately they escaped the sharp eyes of the savages,
but had to proceed with the utmost caution. That night they slept
without fire or water; she managed to keep her children warm in her
arms; but before morning, poor Le Clerc died.
With the dawn of day the resolute woman resumed her course, and, on
the fourth day, reached the house of Mr. Reed. It was deserted, and
all round were marks of blood and signs of a furious massacre. Not
doubting that Mr. Reed and his party had all fallen victims, she
turned in fresh horror from the spot. For two days she continued
hurrying forward, ready to sink for want of food, but more
solicitous about her children than herself. At length she reached a
range of the Rocky Mountains, near the upper part of the
Wallah-Wallah River. Here she chose a wild lonely ravine, as her
place of winter refuge.
She had fortunately a buffalo robe and three deer-skins; of these,
and of pine bark and cedar branches, she constructed a rude wigwam,
which she pitched beside a mountain spring. Having no other food,
she killed the two horses, and smoked their flesh. The skins aided
to cover her hut. Here she dragged out the winter, with no other
company than her two children. Towards the middle of March her
provisions were nearly exhausted. She therefore packed up the
remainder, slung it on her back, and, with her helpless little ones,
set out again on her wanderings. Crossing the ridge of mountains,
she descended to the banks of the Wallah-Wallah, and kept along them
until she arrived where that river throws itself into the Columbia.
She was hospitably received and entertained by the Wallah-Wallahs,
and had been nearly two weeks among them when the two canoes passed.
On being interrogated, she could assign no reason for this murderous
attack of the savages; it appeared to be perfectly wanton and
unprovoked. Some of the Astorians supposed it an act of butchery by
a roving band of Blackfeet; others, however, and with greater
probability of correctness, have ascribed it to the tribe of
Pierced-nose Indians, in revenge for the death of their comrade
hanged by order of Mr. Clarke. If so, it shows that these sudden and
apparently wanton outbreakings of sanguinary violence on the part of
the savages have often some previous, though perhaps remote,
provocation.
The narrative of the Indian woman closes the checkered adventures of
some of the personages of this motley story; such as the honest
Hibernian Reed, and Dorion the hybrid interpreter. Turcot and La
Chapelle were two of the men who fell off from Mr. Crooks in the
course of his wintry journey, and had subsequently such disastrous
times among the Indians. We cannot but feel some sympathy with that
persevering trio of Kentuckians, Robinson, Rezner, and Hoback, who
twice turned back when on their way homeward, and lingered in the
wilderness to perish by the hands of savages.
The return parties from Astoria, both by sea and land, experienced
on the way as many adventures, vicissitudes, and mishaps, as the
far-famed heroes of the Odyssey; they reached their destination at
different times, bearing tidings to Mr. Astor of the unfortunate
termination of his enterprise.
That gentleman, however, was not disposed, even yet, to give the
matter up as lost. On the contrary, his spirit was roused by what he
considered ungenerous and unmerited conduct on the part of the
Northwest Company. "After their treatment of me," said he, in a
letter to Mr. Hunt, "I have no idea of remaining quiet and idle." He
determined, therefore, as soon as circumstances would permit, to
resume his enterprise.
At the return of peace, Astoria, with the adjacent country, reverted
to the United States by the treaty of Ghent, on the principle of
status ante bellum, and Captain Biddle was despatched in the sloop
of war, Ontario, to take formal possession.
In the winter of 1815, a law was passed by Congress prohibiting all
traffic of British traders within the territories of the United
States.
The favorable moment seemed now to Mr. Astor to have arrived for the
revival of his favorite enterprise, but new difficulties had grown
up to impede it. The Northwest Company were now in complete
occupation of the Columbia River, and its chief tributary streams,
holding the posts which he had established, and carrying on a trade
throughout the neighboring region, in defiance of the prohibitory
law of Congress, which, in effect, was a dead letter beyond the
mountains.
To dispossess them would be an undertaking of almost a belligerent
nature; for their agents and retainers were well armed, and skilled
in the use of weapons, as is usual with Indian traders. The
ferocious and bloody contests which had taken place between the
rival trading parties of the Northwest and Hudson's Bay Companies
had shown what might be expected from commercial feuds in the
lawless depths of the wilderness. Mr. Astor did not think it
advisable, therefore, to attempt the matter without the protection
of the American flag; under which his people might rally in case of
need. He accordingly made an informal overture to the President of
the United States, Mr. Madison, through Mr. Gallatin, offering to
renew his enterprise, and to reestablish Astoria, provided it would
be protected by the American flag, and made a military post; stating
that the whole force required would not exceed a lieutenant's
command.
The application, approved and recommended by Mr. Gallatin, one of
the most enlightened statesmen of our country, was favorably
received, but no step was taken in consequence; the President not
being disposed, in all probability, to commit himself by any direct
countenance or overt act. Discouraged by this supineness on the part
of the government, Mr. Astor did not think fit to renew his
overtures in a more formal manner, and the favorable moment for the
re-occupation of Astoria was suffered to pass unimproved.
The British trading establishments were thus enabled, without
molestation, to strike deep their roots, and extend their
ramifications, in despite of the prohibition of Congress, until they
had spread themselves over the rich field of enterprise opened by
Mr. Astor. The British government soon began to perceive the
importance of this region, and to desire to include it within their
territorial domains. A question has consequently risen as to the
right to the soil, and has become one of the most perplexing now
open between the United States and Great Britain. In the first
treaty relative to it, under date of October 20th, 1818, the
question was left unsettled, and it was agreed that the country on
the northwest coast of America, westward of the Rocky Mountains,
claimed by either nation, should be open to the inhabitants of both
for ten years, for the purpose of trade, with the equal right of
navigating all its rivers. When these ten years had expired, a
subsequent treaty, in 1828, extended the arrangement to ten
additional years. So the matter stands at present.
On casting back our eyes over the series of events we have recorded,
we see no reason to attribute the failure of this great commercial
undertaking to any fault in the scheme, or omission in the execution
of it, on the part of the projector. It was a magnificent
enterprise; well concerted and carried on, without regard to
difficulties or expense. A succession of adverse circumstances and
cross purposes, however, beset it almost from the outset; some of
them, in fact, arising from neglect of the orders and instructions
of Mr. Astor. The first crippling blow was the loss of the Tonquin,
which clearly would not have happened, had Mr. Astor's earnest
injunctions with regard to the natives been attended to. Had this
ship performed her voyage prosperously, and revisited Astoria in due
time, the trade of the establishment would have taken its
preconcerted course, and the spirits of all concerned been kept up
by a confident prospect of success. Her dismal catastrophe struck a
chill into every heart, and prepared the way for subsequent
despondency.
Another cause of embarrassment and loss was the departure from the
plan of Mr. Astor, as to the voyage of the Beaver, subsequent to her
visiting Astoria. The variation from this plan produced a series of
cross purposes, disastrous to the establishment, and detained Mr.
Hunt absent from his post, when his presence there was of vital
importance to the enterprise; so essential is it for an agent, in
any great and complicated undertaking, to execute faithfully, and to
the letter, the part marked out for him by the master mind which has
concerted the whole.
The breaking out of the war between the United States and Great
Britain multiplied the hazards and embarrassments of the enterprise.
The disappointment as to convoy rendered it difficult to keep up
reinforcements and supplies; and the loss of the Lark added to the
tissue of misadventures.
That Mr. Astor battled resolutely against every difficulty, and
pursued his course in defiance of every loss, has been sufficiently
shown. Had he been seconded by suitable agents, and properly
protected by government, the ultimate failure of his plan might yet
have been averted. It was his great misfortune that his agents were
not imbued with his own spirit. Some had not capacity sufficient to
comprehend the real nature and extent of his scheme; others were
alien in feeling and interest, and had been brought up in the
service of a rival company. Whatever sympathies they might
originally have had with him, were impaired, if not destroyed, by
the war. They looked upon his cause as desperate, and only
considered how they might make interest to regain a situation under
their former employers. The absence of Mr. Hunt, the only real
representative of Mr. Astor, at the time of the capitulation with
the Northwest Company, completed the series of cross purposes. Had
that gentleman been present, the transfer, in all probability, would
not have taken place.
It is painful, at all times, to see a grand and beneficial stroke of
genius fall of its aim: but we regret the failure of this enterprise
in a national point of view; for, had it been crowned with success,
it would have redounded greatly to the advantage and extension of
our commerce. The profits drawn from the country in question by the
British Fur Company, though of ample amount, form no criterion by
which to judge of the advantages that would have arisen had it been
entirely in the hands of the citizens of the United States. That
company, as has been shown, is limited in the nature and scope of
its operations, and can make but little use of the maritime
facilities held out by an emporium and a harbor on that coast. In
our hands, besides the roving bands of trappers and traders, the
country would have been explored and settled by industrious
husbandmen; and the fertile valleys bordering its rivers, and shut
up among its mountains, would have been made to pour forth their
agricultural treasures to contribute to the general wealth.
In respect to commerce, we should have had a line of trading posts
from the Mississippi and the Missouri across the Rocky Mountains,
forming a high road from the great regions of the west to the shores
of the Pacific. We should have had a fortified post and port at the
mouth of the Columbia, commanding the trade of that river and its
tributaries, and of a wide extent of country and sea-coast; carrying
on an active and profitable commerce with the Sandwich Islands, and
a direct and frequent communication with China. In a word, Astoria
might have realized the anticipations of Mr. Astor, so well
understood and appreciated by Mr. Jefferson, in gradually becoming a
commercial empire beyond the mountains, peopled by "free and
independent Americans, and linked with us by ties of blood and
interest."
We repeat, therefore, our sincere regret that our government should
have neglected the overture of Mr. Astor, and suffered the moment to
pass by, when full possession of this region might have been taken
quietly, as a matter of course, and a military post established,
without dispute, at Astoria. Our statesmen have become sensible,
when too late, of the importance of this measure. Bills have
repeatedly been brought into Congress for the purpose, but without
success; and our rightful possessions on that coast, as well as our
trade on the Pacific, have no rallying point protected by the
national flag, and by a military force.
In the meantime, the second period of ten years is fast elapsing. In
1838, the question of title will again come up, and most probably,
in the present amicable state of our relations with Great Britain,
will be again postponed. Every year, however, the litigated claim is
growing in importance. There is no pride so jealous and irritable as
the pride of territory. As one wave of emigration after another
rolls into the vast regions of the west, and our settlements stretch
towards the Rocky Mountains, the eager eyes of our pioneers will pry
beyond, and they will become impatient of any barrier or impediment
in the way of what they consider a grand outlet of our empire.
Should any circumstance, therefore, unfortunately occur to disturb
the present harmony of the two nations, this ill-adjusted question,
which now lies dormant, may suddenly start up into one of
belligerent import, and Astoria become the watchword in a contest
for dominion on the shores of the Pacific.
Since the above was written, the question of dominion over the vast
territory beyond the Rocky Mountains, which for a time threatened to
disturb the peaceful relations with our transatlantic kindred, has
been finally settled in a spirit of mutual concession, and the
venerable projector whose early enterprise forms the subject of this
work had the satisfaction of knowing, ere his eyes closed upon the
world, that the flag of his country again waved over "ASTORIA."
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Astoria; Or Anecdotes Of An Enterprise Beyond The
Rocky Mountains
Astoria |