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Show [ 39 J 16 3. 'J:'HE PRESEN'r STATE 011 THE .PUR 'l'RADE~ As early as the year 1805, the N01_'1hwe~t Company had extcndt~cl its tJperations to the waters of the Colum bw; and an agent_ or part ne~' of. that concern passed the winter on Clark'~ fork, ah~uL 250 t:11les above 1ts JUnction with the main Columbia, at the time Captams Lew1s and Clark were at the Puci fie:. A short time after the-ir return to the U ni tccl State~, a com pany W:JS or(raniscd and fitted out by Mr. Astor, of New York, unrlcr tht! snverintendc~ 1ce of \V. P. Hunt, Esquire, of St Loui~~ for the purpose of pr~~ ccu tin<r the fur trade on the Columbia. Th~ ch1cf establ1sh ment of tl11s compaoby was made at the mouth of the Columbia, and called Astoria; and, notwithstandino- the opposition it haJ to encounter from the Northwest Company, the ~untry being then rich in furs, the proprietors of the American Company had good grounds to hope for the most favorable results. .A circumstance, however, ::;o0n occurred, which bla. ted their expectations~ and made it necessary for them to clo~e their business and abandon the country. The commencement of the war with EnglanJ in 1812 presented difficulties in the prosecution of their business which they had not cx} Jccted; and th ey were, 1n consequence, induced to dispose of t heir interest in that country to the .Korthwest Company, aud abandon it. From that t ime until about the yea r 1821, the Northwest Cornpany remained in the quiet possession of the country, unopposed in a trade from which they must haYe derived immense profits It is true, that, in the year 181R, the eslabli 8 hl~J ent at the mouth of the Columbia, which had been sold by the Amei ca11 Cl·mp.auy to the Northwest. was de1ivere(: to an agent of the' Arr1erican Government, conform:1hly to the stipubtions of the treaty of Ghc·nt, respecting all parts which have fallrP iuto the h:.,nd•' of the Briti~h during the war. This may have been cor~sidc red :1~ ~ form al d{ livery of the whole country; but it appears to .havc bl-'cn undctstood h\- all partief' at d1e t ime as a mere nomin::ll tlan. actiou, as that con pany remnined in possession, and continued to prosecute thc tr businel's; [lnd the r ifrht to occupy that country for the term of ten years was securcLl 1o them by a treaty entered into by our minister at Loudon, and subsequeutly rat ificd by the proper authorities. They accordingly continued their operations until the year I 821, free from all cou.pet ;tion-thcir great rival in the fur tr· cic, the Hudson's Bay Company, ncvc·r having. ext<'lHlecl its operations to 1 he west of the mountains in tha! quarter. About this time, these two riv~l s found it necessary to put an end to an unprofitable stnfe, from ·which tl1cy h:td 110 longer any thing to expect but a waste t)f mcan:-;, and an iucreasl' ol tha1 hol'tile ~pir~t vvltich had frequently proaL,Ct.c; the mos1 inYeterate r<'n r.ouoler:.~, and resulted in the loss of many lives. Vv ith tbi~ v 1ew they. 1ormed a unio1 ' ·' the North,vest Com- vany sold ou.t its ~tock 3 ' 11 1 establishme nt~ to that of the Bud ·on's Hay ' and eeasecl to ex1st a·[\ CO"L j1any; and, in this sale, their establishments on the Colun1bia were of course i~:c luded. ~rom that until the pre ~nt time, tnc Hud ·on's Bay Company have remallled the sole cccu p:mts of the Colu m hi a river. It is true that they hnvc sometimes met with a transient opposition from some hnnters from this country , who arP. probably licen'"'ed to trade on the Columbia, but whose real pursuits arc tha~ _of trapping; but the Hudson's Bay Company may, nevertheless, be cunsl~ercd the sole occupa~tts, as they arc the only perso11s who_have any pretcnsrous to a regularly _settled system of business, or whs 17 [ 39 J have any establishments in that country. Both the Hudson's Bay Company and citizens of the United States enga!!:c~ in trap pin~, and eaeh suffer fH~c asionally from the attacks of the Indian . ,\ncl here I take occa ·io,1, as an act of justice to the gentlemen of the HudsJn's Bay Company, to say that I saw nothing to just,fy the opinion that they excited the Inrlian' to ki!J nnd rob our citizens. Our laws prohibit the practice of tl'ap~)inl2; and huntin J!;; but it would seem to be the very height of injustir.c to prohibit our own citizens from doing upon our own territories what the British are allowed to do, and equally absurd to suppose that the same tre1ty which covers their operations will not cover ours also. About three hundred men who may be considered citizens of the United States arc now engaged in the business, somP- with much profit to themselves, others with great loss; but all with advantage to the United States, a., from their cxPrtions, the supply of furs arc obtained, which are indisp~nsab lc to the hatting manufactories As for the fur trade itself, it is laboring under the most serious rlifficultie~, and calls loudly upon the aid and sympathy of the Federal Government. In the first place, the woollen goods used in the trade arc loaded with duties to the amount of about ~ixty per cent., which gives an ~ dvanta12;e to that amo·mt to the British traders along the northern wilderness front icr, without be~.t g of any advantage, that I ran sec, to domestic manufacturer;\, as thry m·t;~c no ~oods of the same kind. These duties ought, f·hcrefnre in my Oj)inion, to be abolished; and it is difficult to ronceive of any advanta~c dt"rived from the revenue obtained from this source, equal to the injury do1w to the fur trarlP by their continuance. In the next pbce, American furs ha t'e to pay duties in every foreign country to which they are exporter!, while furs from every country in the world arc imported duty free. U ndcr such cirrum- 3tances, it is no wonder that the trade has been a perilous one in the United States. I-Iav!no- abandoned the trade myself, I can now express my sentiments upon thi; subject without fear of incurring the imputation of having acted from interested moti vcs. 4. FACE OF THE COUNTRY. The country must be viewed under three distinct regions- 1st. The mountain reo-ion} drained by the upper waters of the l'vlultnomah, Lewis's river, Clarlc's river, and l\fcGilvray's river; all of which fa II into the Columbia on its south side. 2d. The plains which lay between the foot of the mountains and the head of tide water. 3d. The tide water region, which extends from the foot of the plains to the sea. lVIy personal observation was chiefly confined to thP- iirst of these :egions, over \Vhich I travelled from south to north, and spent about a year Jn makin< r six or seven degrees of latitutle which f traversed iu many directions. L~wis's river, where I crossed it, 'atl'ords some very extensive fertile low grounds, which appeared suitable for any ki~·Hl of culture. The val le~s were well covered with such o-rass as is common In all parts of the Columbw; and besides these I found the white clover in great abundance. This was so unexpected that I was induced to make 5omc inquiries~ and wns informed that blue <Trass timothy and clover were common ll1 the country, 3nd among its sbp onb' ncous pro' ductions. Th' e northern br~nches o fL ew1.1 ' ' s n.v cr · ssue from rugged mountains) covered with almost Impenetrable forests of 3 |
