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Show [ 39 ] 10 ed to accept it, and relinquished the intention of ~oing tlo~vn the Co.Iumbut to its muuth. I am, therefore, dependent on the mfonnatwn ! rece1 ~'ed ~t fort Colville for what l have to say of fort Vancouver; but .hav_wg .an I mphcit rch,ll1cc uu ib truth, I have no hesitation in communtcat.mg It to you. This wrt is on the north stde of the Columbia, nearly opposite the Inoutl~ of the I\lu ltuomah, in the region of tide water, and ncar the head _oi ship 11av1gaLion. It is a grand position, both in a milit~ ry and commerc1al poitJt or view, and furn1ed to command the w~ole regwn watered by th.c {)oltm l>ia antl dl its tributaries. The surroundmg country, both for climate and soiJ, is c'1pahJe of sustaining a large population; a~d its resources in lim ber give arnplt: facilities for ship building. Th.is ~ost 1s strongly fo~ti. ficd \\ ith caunon; and ha\·tng been selected as the pn~1c1pal , or.mastcr pos~tion, no pains have l;cen ~pared to stren~Lhen ~ud Improve 1t. For this purpos~, the o~(l posT near 1t1e mouth oi the nve1~ has b.een. abandoned. .About one hunJred and tvv·enty acres of ground an~ In cultivatiOn; and the pr~HtJcl in wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes,. and ?ther vegetables,. is eq ~1al to v, hat i~ known in the best parts ot the U n 1ted ~tates. Domestic amma1s are nu!PCrons--thc horned cattle haviog been stated lo me at three huudrcd; ho~~, ho:r~es, sheep, goats, in proportion; also, the usual domrstic fowls; every thwg, in htet, illdicating a permanent establishment. Ship building h~s ~ommrnced at this place. Om~ ,·essel has been built and rigged, sent to sc,t, and was tt1cn in t!1e tr::dc of the Pacific Ocean. I also met a gentleman on n.J w:~y L> lake "'\Vinnipec, at the portage between the Columbia and the .:iLhdJ::S('a, \\ho was on his way from Hud~on's bay to fort Colville, with'a :masrer s!up carpenter,whom I 5aw in his comp:ll1y, and who was destined for fort Vancouver, for the purpose of building a ship of considerable burthen- 1 think three or fo ur hundred tous. Both grist ~nd saw mills have been built al fort Vaucouver; w ith the latter they saw the tim bcr, 'rhich is needed for their O\Yn use, and also for ~xportation to the Sandwich islands; upon the for1ner t heir whr:at is manufaelured iuto flour; and, from all that I could learn , l am induced to think 'that this importani post is silently oTowinu· up . I d . l · t) b Jnto a co ony, an ts, per 1:lf':::t> 1ntendeu as <t future military and naval sta-tio~ 1, wl~iLh W:lsnot e:xpcekti lt beyteld~~d to 1he l j ,li ted States al the expiratwn oi the treaty whtch granteJ them a temporary and ·,oint possession . . I set. out fron~. fort Colville the 21st of Septe~..bcr, l829, in company w1th s1~ men ol the JJOSt, <·arrying the a11nual express or packet across the co:1tinent. Our ruute was up the main river Columbia · our conveyance a b1tteau of four or five tons. In th1s battc~Hl we a~cend~d the river about three hundred miles, where the ri\·er div1des into three forks ~ the main one b<.:i~1g still navigaule to its head, which i~sues from a lake in the Rocky 1nc.•unt,11:1s.. At the three for·ks, which is called the Boat Encarnpment, because _It IS the p lace .where the boats arc lert) and the portage across the mountams commence(!, we be.sun our overlanJ journey. We arrived at the boat encam~)mt~n.t on the 4th of October, and remained there till the 2d of No.vember, \Yaltlng for .the .arrival of a party fcom Hudson's bay. They arnvrd at ~h~ en(~ of th1s tllne, and by them I had the happiness to hear from the U ntte;J Slates. The news had of course to be somewhat o ld, a:; they. brought It. fron Hudson's bay. One item of intelliO'cnce was the election of Prestdent .rackson, which had taken place just ;bout one year he. o~e ; and he,re I. met the m;~ster ship carpenter of w·hom I have spol{en, gOL~tl on to _fot.t V,tncouv.er. fhe s~;,Je~an at the head of the party, l\lr. lielou, spoke m terms of agreeable surpr:se of the sentiments contained iP 11 [ SD ] the new P resident's inaugural.address. On the 4lh 've set out. Yv-e were :still six in company, five besides myself, a!l 111 hor'.dinck; we t~kir~ !he hor. es of the party just arrived, and tne.1J 1al< ing the ha1tcnu in ''"hich we had ascended the river. 'l'he weather was still mild, no r~ppe:u·aiH'e of icc) and the river reported by all the company to remain OtJPn the winter through. We followed a marked trail, windi11g up the middle fori of the Columbia, and at the end of three days arrived at the di,·iding ridge of the Rocky 1nountains , where two small ponds within a few yards of each other, SPnding their waters in opposite dircctions, formed the head sources of the Athabasca, and of the middle fork of the Columbia. The snow w:1s here three feet 'deep, and great ditnculty experienced in getting the horses alrmg As soon as \ve turned the ridge, a violent change in the temper1ture \Vas experienced, and a great contrast pcrceivecl in the face of the country. On the 'vest side, the weather was miJd, lind the timber large, and the valley p;rassy: on the east, all was locked up in snow and icc, the timber small and stinted, and the aspect of the country indc:--cribably wi ld, desolate, and dreary. \V e continued clown the A1hab:Jsc::t by land ~b0ut one hundred anJ fifty mile~, \-vhen we got clear of the mountain~, ~nd arrived at a small post of 1he IIudson's Bay Comp1ny, called Jaspe-r's ]louse, kept up principally for the accommodation of the company in cro~~in~ the mountains to and from the Columbia. \Ye arrived ai. t:11s house on the lith of November, and remained till the 26th, when ·we se t out a;;ain . and undertocl- to cross the country in a southeast .Jirection, in order to fall upon the north fork of 1 he Saskatchcw i ne riYer, and follow that do"·n to lake \V in n"pec, rassing the claim of posts which the H udsou's Hay Comp1n \7 haYc on that river. \Ve spe nt seven days in this attempt; but, imp dccl b 1 snow and fallen timber, which rendered the route impracticable for hor~('S, W£~ hatl to retu rn to Jasper's Ilou~e. H.ere we remained till the 17th December, and then recommenced our jonrney on foot, and in snow shoe_, followi :1p; the Athal asca river in a nor1heast direction, abont th1ce hundred miles, to fort Assi naboin. \V e 'valke(l on the river rhid1y, as it was covered with ice. The old man who had chargv of Jar.;per's !-louse now accom] Janied us to fort Assinaboin, his nearest neighbor; he ha\·ing lived :1bove thirty years in that country. .Jasper's l1 ouse, as near as I could ascertain, is be: tween latitude 53 and 54 degrees north. \Y e arri ved at fort .Assinaboin on the 1st of January, 1830, having been ~ixteen days in Jnaking the distance from Jasper' s IJouse 1\ly bnggage was drawn by two dogs on a small sled. Our allowance for provisions was about a pound a day of dried meat, elk, buffalo, Lig horn, &c. dried and bent up fine part of which had to be ~ivcn to our dogs. Fort Assinaboin is a smaJl post, chiefly filled lor accom modation. vYe remained there three days, and then thaving been joined by a ~entleman from Slave lake) set. out on foot, .and ~n snow shoes; lcfl the AihJ.basca, and proceeded about one hnndrcd rmles ill a direction nearly southeast, to Edman!on I-Iouse, or Fm·t de Prairie, on the north fork of the Sask:tlc}W \Vine, having made the di ·tancP in six day~. 'fhis is the principal post in all that region of country. Its position is about latitude 52. It distributes n1crchandise and collects furs 1or se,·cral hundred mil12s around. The Btaclfeet Indians, who ro:Jm along the foot of the Rocky mountai ns, and who arc so numerous and formidable, and so noted for the ir hostility to the people of the U ni tet1 State::;, and whites generally. do most of their trading at thts place. The p;cntleman in charge oft he post, .l\1r. Ro~md, has been there for thirty years The po~t is a strong stockade, with six bastions, ~mel tPn or twPlve p1eces o[ sm~lll ordnance. These pre-- |
