Voyages and Discoveries Along the North
Pacific Coast-Conflicting Claims of Various Nations to the
Country--Expeditions of Lewis and Clarke--Contest for
Possession of the Country-Early Settlements-Efforts of
Americans to Establish Trading Posts John Jacob Astor and
Astoria--Growth, Power and Purposes of British Fur
Companies-Period of Joint Occupancy of the Territory-Oregon
in Control of Hudson's Bay Company-Efforts to Secure
American Settlers-Labors of Bonneville, With and
Kelley-Advent of the Missionaries-Their Influence in Behalf
of American Interests-Arrival of the Home
Builders-Establishment of a Civil Government-Value of the
Labor of the Oregon Pioneers-Creation of Oregon Territory
Before the first white
settler had sought to secure a habitation in
the forest which marked the site of the
present city of Portland, the region of
which it is now the commercial center had
passed through the most interesting period
of its history. The progress of civilization
in this portion of the New World, covering a
period of nearly half a century antedating
the founding of the city, after many heroic
sacrifices and struggles, had led to the
peaceful conquest of a vast area and to the
establishment of American supremacy. The
successive steps which contributed to these
results give to this region a unique place
in our national annals, and it seems proper
that a brief historical review of the period
should pre-cede the story of the city whose
foundations were laid after the self-denial,
energy and endurance of many men and women
had opened the forest to the sunlight, and
brought the country bordering on the Pacific
under the influence of American
institutions. When a little more than a
century ago the United States sprang into
being as a nation, Oregon was known in name
only, and that name was applied simply to a
great river, which, from vague and
indefinite reports, obtained from Indians
and Spanish navigators, was said to flow
westward from the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific Ocean. This river was known to
Americans and Englishmen as the Oregon or
River of the West, while the Spaniards
called it variously Rio de Aguilar and Rio
de las Reyes. At this time, the country
north of California had no name by which it
was distinctively known, and there is no
certain record that any civilized man had
ever placed foot on the soil of either
Oregon or Washington. The North Pacific
coast, however, had been visited as early as
1535 by a Spanish naval explorer, and from
that time between long intervals down to the
beginning of the present century, other
Spanish, Portugese, English and French
navigators had sailed along the Pacific
Coast, but the information they obtained was
of the most vague and uncertain character.
It was left for an American to give the
first information of value concerning the
country north of California. This was
Captain Robert Gray who, in May, 1792, in
the American ship Columbia,
discovered and entered the River of the
West, which he ascended some twenty-five
miles, bestowing on it the name of his
vessel. This was the first discovery of the
river and according to the custom of nations
was a strong element in the title of the
United States to all the country drained by
it. A few weeks later Captain George
Vancouver, in command of an English
exploring expedition, having heard of
Captain Gray's discovery, appeared at the
mouth of the river, and sent one of his
vessels, the Chatham, under the
command of Lieutenant W. R. Broughton, into
the river, and this officer ascended the
river in a boat a distance of one hundred
and twenty miles. The same year, Alexander
MacKenzie, a member of the Northwest Company
- a Canadian fur company - made the first
overland journey from the East to the
Pacific, reaching the ocean on the present
coast of British Columbia. He discovered
Fraser River, down which he passed in canoes
a distance of two hundred and fifty miles.
Upon his return home, learning that the
Columbia had been discovered, he supposed
that the large river which he had followed
so far southward must be that great stream.
This error was not corrected until twenty
years later, and the stream was then named
in honor of Simon Fraser, who, in 1805, had
established a post in that region for the
Northwest Company.
These various sea and land explorations had
proved three very important facts: First,
that there was no water passage for vessels
across the continent. Second: that by
following the courses of streams and lakes,
the overland journey could be nearly
accomplished in boats. Third: that this vast
unexplored region abounded in fur-bearing
animals, a fact which led in a few years to
its occupation by rival fur traders, both
English and American.
At the beginning of the present century the
territorial claims of the various nations to
the Pacific Coast were exceedingly
conflicting. Russia alone had a valid claim
to Alaska, both by discovery and occupation,
although no definite southern boundary had
been fixed. Spain's claim to California was
also undisputed, extending to the
forty-second parallel. Between these two,
England and Spain claimed title by right of
discovery only, while the United States by
reason of Gray's discovery of the Columbia,
had laid the foundation for a claim to the
whole region drained by that mighty river, a
claim as yet unasserted, but which was
pressed with much vigor a few years later.
Besides these discovery rights, the
Louisiana Province, which France had
transferred to Spain in 1192 was construed
by its possessor, or more accurately
speaking, its technical claimant, to cover
the whole region west of the Mississippi not
claimed by the same nations as portions of
Mexico and California. This title was
reconveyed to France in 1800, thus putting
that nation again in the field as a claimant
of territory in the western portions of
North America.
President Jefferson gave the first impulse
to the movement to explore and perfect the
title of the United States government in the
region drained by the Columbia. He had been
at Versailles when John Ledyard, who had
accompanied Captain Cook's expedition in
1780 attempted to interest American and
French capitalists in the Pacific fur trade.
Jefferson, with his profound sagacity,
became deeply interested in the brilliant
pictures of the wealth of this region as
related by Ledyard, and he naturally
preferred that to his own country should
fall so magnificent an inheritance. Upon his
return to America, in 1792, he endeavored to
interest his countrymen in the project, but
the United States were then perfecting their
government and the regulations of national
affairs required immediate and careful
attention. Thus engrossed with great
political questions, more than a decade
passed before the people began to think of
future acquisition of territory. When
Jefferson became president in 1801, he had
lost none of his former interest in the
northwest territory and was more than ever
convinced of the expediency of making
explorations in the remote west, and of
obtaining more valid claim to the region
than then existed. Under his administration
was negotiated, in 1803, the purchase from
France of Louisiana and all of the
territorial rights of that nation in North
America. It is questionable, however,
whether the French title added much strength
to the claim of the United States to that
region bordering on the Columbia River. From
the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains it
was good enough as far north as the
headwaters of the Mississippi, but west of
the continental divide, the French claim
rested upon the uncertain plea of
contiguity." This, however, the successors
to the French claim made the most of in the
subsequent controversy with Great Britain.
Immediately after the purchase of Louisiana,
Congress, at the urgent request of President
Jefferson, dispatched an exploring
expedition under the command of Captain
Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark.
They left St. Louis in 1804 and returned in
1806, having twice traversed the distance
between that city and the mouth of the
Columbia. The result of their explorations
had been awaited with much anxiety, and
their return caused great rejoicing.
"Never," says Mr. Jefferson, "did a similar
event excite more joy throughout the United
States. The humblest of its citizens had
taken a lively interest in the issue of this
journey and looked for-ward with impatience
to the information it would bring." The
journal of these explorers was soon
published and widely read and for the first
time something definite was known of the
character of the country and the native
tribes occupying it. The interest it
awakened, especially among the brave and
daring Rocky Mountain trappers, hunters and
traders was great, and gave them the first
proof of the feasibility of making the
journey to the Pacific shore by land.
When Great Britain became aware that the
territory claimed by France in North America
had been ceded to the United States, anxiety
was felt by that government and such of its
subjects as were personally interested, as
to the policy to be pursued to establish the
British title to the country on the Pacific
Coast north of California. The Northwest and
Hudson's Bay Companies were especially
anxious as to the future of their interests
in that region. The French and Spanish
claims to the territory had been regarded as
of little importance, but when they were
transferred to a nation both able and
anxious to perfect the title by reducing the
country to actual possession and moreover
were supported by the mere claims of
discovery and occupation, the matter
presented an entirely new aspect.
The race for possession by right of
occupancy from this time on was prosecuted
with vigor. Great Britain secured the first
advantage in this direction. Simon Fraser,
an English subject and agent of the
Northwest Fur Company, established a trading
post in 1805 at Fraser Lake, a few miles
west of the point where Fraser River turns
southward, bestowing the name of "New
Caledonia" upon that region. At this time
the Fraser, as before stated, was considered
to be identical with the Columbia and the
post was supposed to be on the great stream,
for the possession of which America and
England a few years later were to become
vigorous contestants. This idea was soon
afterwards proven to be erroneous, but the
fact re-mains that the post was the first
established by the subjects of either
country west of the Rocky Mountains. The
first American settlement was made by a man
named Henry who, in 1808, founded Fort Henry
on the headwaters of Lewis or Snake River,
the first of any kind on a tributary of the
Columbia. The next was made by Nathan
Winship and William Smith, representatives
of a Boston Company, who, in June, 1810,
selected a spot on the south bank of the
Columbia, forty-five miles from its mouth
which they called "Oak Point." Here they
made some preparation to found a settlement,
but the annual freshet of the river forced
them to abandon the undertaking. They then
selected a higher site further down the
river, but signs of hostility on the part of
the Indians led them to give up the effort,
and they returned to Boston. Thus it will be
seen that the first settlements on the
Columbia were made by Americans, but they
were unimportant links in the chain of
evidence which proved the original occupancy
of the territory by Americans, compared to
the settlement established by the Astor
party in 1811.
After the independence of the United States
was acknowledged by Great Britain, American
ships were for many years practically barred
from British ports. In seeking new haunts of
commerce they sailed into the Western Ocean
and during the early part of the present
century took the lead in the fishing and fur
trade of the Pacific. They sailed along the
entire northwest coast, collecting furs to
exchange for the fabrics of China, having a
monopoly of this business long before the
Hudson's Bay Company had established
headquarters in this region. In addition to
the fur trade they supplied the Spanish and
Russian settlements along the coast with
American manufactured goods. In dealing with
the natives, the conduct of certain of these
traders brought them into disrepute. For
furs they exchanged with the Indians whisky
and fire arms. In this way several fierce
tribes in the vicinity of the Russian
settlements were furnished with deadly means
of warfare and rendered dangerous and
troublesome. Numerous complaints were made
by the Russian government to the State
Department, but the American traders were
violating no law or treaty and the
government could not interfere.
At this time John Jacob
Astor was the central figure of the American
fur trade, and being consulted about the
matter, he pro-posed as a remedy that a
permanent trading post be established at the
mouth of the Columbia, that would be the
headquarters for trade within the interior
and along the coast, and that the business
be concentrated in the hands of a company
powerful enough to supersede the independent
traders who had been the cause of irritation
to Russia. To this plan President Jefferson
and his cabinet gave their hearty approval.
Thus encouraged by the government, Mr. Astor
organized the Pacific Fur Company to carry
out the enterprise which, while he believed
it would be a highly profitable undertaking,
he
intended should be purely American in
character and of deep political
significance. Although he was actuated by
the idea of financial gain, there can be no
doubt he was also animated by a patriotic
desire to see the United States gain control
of the region, and that he believed this end
could be more surely gained by the
establishment of a permanent trading
settlement. He dispatched two expeditions to
the mouth of the Columbia; one by sea, in
the ship Tonquin, which arrived March
22, 1810, and one by land, under Wilson
Price Hunt, which did not arrive until
nearly a year later.
So on after the arrival of the Tonquin,
the erection of a fort was begun on the
south side of the river at a spot named
"Point George" by Lieutenant Broughton. This
they christened "Astoria" in honor of the
founder and promoter of the enterprise. The
name is perpetuated by the rise and growth
of the thriving city which marks the spot
where America first planted her foot upon
the disputed territory of Oregon.
The Northwest Fur Company upon learning of
Astor's plans, and realizing the strong hold
the American Government would have upon the
territory in dispute, should those plans
succeed, sent a party overland to counteract
them. But this party did not arrive until
three months after the fort was built, and
at once returned. The war of 1812 gave the
English company another opportunity. A
second party was dispatched overland, which
reached Astoria in the spring of 1813,
bringing intelligence of the hostilities and
the disheartening fact that an English war
vessel was on the way to capture the fort.
Under stress of circumstances the entire
stock of furs was sold to the agent of the
Northwest Company. Three months later the
fort was surrendered to the commander of the
Raccoon, who had come for the purpose of
capturing it. The American flag was lowered
to give place to the British colors, and the
name of Astoria was changed to Fort George.
The failure of Mr. Astor's plans in a
national point of view was of much
significance. It retarded the settlement of
Oregon for many years. The maintenance of
Astoria as a commercial point, such as Astor
designed it should be, would have given the
United States so strong a claim upon the
country that little ground for contest of
title would have remained for any other
nation.