OCR Text |
Show [ 39 ] back was over the same ~round nearly as in ~oing out, and we arrived at St. Louis on the lOth of October, bringing back the ten .wagons, the dear· horns bci ng left behind ; four of the oxen and tlw. milk cow were also hroucrht back to the settlements in Missouri, as we d1d n~t need then for provision. Our men were all healthy during the whole time: we suife:ed nothing bv the In<lians, and had no accident but the death of one_ man~. bcwg buried un~ler a bank of earth that fell in upon him, and a~other hew~ cnppled at the same time. Of the mules, we lof't but one by fatigue, and two ho~ses stolen by the K~nzas Indians; the ~rass being, along the whole route g01ng and coming, suflicient for the support of the hor~es and mules. The usual weight in the wagons \Vas about one thousand CI ~ht hundred r.ounds. The usual progre -·s of the wa2;ons was from fifteen to _t\~enty fiv~ mtles per ?ay. The country being almost all open, level, .and prai:Le, the ~htcf obstrnctwns were ravines and creeks, 1 he banks of whtch reqUired cuttll1g down, an~l f~r thi:' purpo _e a few pioneers were generally kept ahead of the ~a1:avan. fh1s is the f1rst time that wagons ever went to the Rocl~~ mountmns: a~d ~he case and safety with which it was clone prove the facility of communicatlllg over land wit}; the Pacific ocean. The route from the Southern Pass. where the wagons stopped, to the Great Falls of the Columbia, being easier and better than on this Eide of the mountains, with ~rass enonp;h for horses and mules, but a scarcity of 1ramc for the support of men. One of the under signed, to wit, J cclcdiah S. Smith, in b is excursion west of the tnountain s~ arrived at the post oft he Hudson's Bay Company, called Fort V anc.ouver, near the mouth of 1\1u1tnomah river. I-Te arrived there in August, 1828, and left the 12th of March, 1829, and made observations which he deems it material to communicate to the Government. Fort Vanr.ouver is situated on the nort l1 side of the Columbia, five miles above the mouth of the lVlultnomah, in a handsome prairie, and on a second bank about three quarters o£ a mile from the river~ This ts the fort as it stood when he arrived there; but a large one, three hundred feet square, about three quarters of a mile lower down, and within tw() hundred yards of the river, was commenced the spring he came away. Twelve pounders were the heaviest cannon which he saw. The crop of 1828 was seven hundred bushels of wheat~ the grain full and plump, and making good flour; fourteen acres of corn, the same number nf acres in peas, eight acres of oats, four or five acres of barley, a fine ~arden, some small apple trees and grape vines. The ensuing spring eighty bushels of seed lvheat were sown: about two hundred head of cattle, fifty horses ar.d breeding mare~, three hundred head of hogs, fourteen goats, the usual domestic fowls. They have mechanics of various kinds, to wit, blacksmiths, ~un· smiths, carpenters, eoopers, tinner and baker; a good saw mill on the bank of the river five miles above, a grist mill worked by hand, but intended to work by water. They had built two coasting vessels, one of which was then on a voyage to the Sandwich islands. No English or white woman was at the fort, but a {!;reat number of mixed blood Indian extraction, sueh as belong to the British fur trading establishments, who were treated as wives, and the families ?f children taken care of accordingly. So that every thing seemed to combme to prove that this fort was to be a permanent establishment. At Fort Vancouve: th: goods for th.e Indian trade are imported from London, and ente~ the terntor1es of the U mted States. pay ing no duti es; and from the same pmnt the furs taken on the other si,Je of the 1nountai n~ are shipped. The .annual ~uantity ~f t?ese furs could not be (~xactiy ascertain-d, but Mr. Sm1th was mformed 1nd1rectly that they amounted to about thirty 23 [ 39 ] thousand beaver skins, besides otter skins and small furs. The beaver skins alone, at theN ew York prices, would be worth above two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. To obtain these furs, both trappirw and tradin<r are resorted to. VariOus parties, provided with traps, spreacl over the c~untry south of the Columbia to the neigborhoo<l of the Mexican territory; and in l t\2£1 an~l 5, tJ:ef crosse~ the Rocky mountains, .and_ trapped on the waters of thr M1ssoun nver. 1 hey do l)Ot trap north of lat1tude 40 de,rrces but couhne } b . t'l ' t 1at liSir1ess to the t~rrit?ry of the United States. Thus this territory, h ·ing trapped by both parties, IS nearly exhausted of beavers; and unless the British car~ be s~opped, will soon be entirely exhausted, and no place left within the Un1ted ~tates ,, here beaver fu r in any quantity can be obtained . The mequnlity of the convention with Great Britain in 1818 is most ,r]aring and apparet t, al!d its continuance is a crrcat and manifest injury to'O the United Stat?s. The privileges granted by it have enabled the British to !ake P?sscsston of ~h e Columbia ri vcr, and ~prcad over the country south of 1 ~; wht~e no. A men cans have ever gone, or can venture to go on the British s1de. fhc Interest of the United States and her citizens encracred in the fur trade requires that the convention of 1818 should be termi~afcd and each nation confin~'J to ~ts own territories. By this commercial int~rest there are other constderatwns requiring the same result. These arc the influ~nce ·which the British have _a!ready acquired over the Indians i~ that quarter, a~d the _Prospect .of_ a Bn hsh colony, auu a military and naval station on the Columbta. Their mfluence over the Indians is now decisive. Of this the A:mcricans ha\:~ co1:stant and ~tr~king proofs, in the preference which they gtve to the Bnttsh 111 every partiCular. In saying.this, it_ is an act of justice to ~ay, also, that the treatment r eceived l?y l\1r. Smtth at I1 ort Vanco~ver was kmcl and hospitable ; that, personally, he owes thanks to Gover.nor S1mpson and the gentlemen of the 1-lud~on's Bay Company, for .u~e hospitable entertainment which he received from them, ~nd_ for the clitcwnt a?d successf~l aid which they gave him in recovering tro1~ the U mquah Indians a quanttty of fur and many horses of which these Ind1ans had rubbed him in 1828. ' ~~ to t~e injury which must happen to the U nitecl States from the ~nllsh gettu:g; the ~ontrol of all the Indians beyond the mouutains, buildlng a~cl repatru:g shtj~S in .the tide water region of the Columbia, and haviuoa statio? the~·e for their pnvateer::; and vessels of war, is too obvious to need a rec~pttulatwn. The object of this con1munication bein o· to state facts to tl;e (lovernm.ent, ~nu to ~ho\~ the facility of crossing th~ continent to the f.xreat Falls o~ ~he Columbm With wagons, the ease of supporting any number of men by dnv1ng cattle to supply them where there was no buffalo, ancl also to show the true n?turc of the British e~tablishments on the Columbia, and the unequal operatiOn of the convention of 1818. These facts b~ing ~mnmunicated to the Government, they con. icier that they hav.e ~om~hed w1th their duty, and rendered an acceptable service to t~1c admmistratwn; and respectfully request you, sir, to lay it before PreSident Jackson. We have the honor to be sir, Yours, respectfully, JEDEDIAII S. SMITH, DAVID E. JACKSON, W. L. SUBLETTE. To the Hon. JouN H. EATo~, Secretary of War. |