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ECONOMIC BEGINNINGS OP THE
FAR WEST
VOLUME I
ECONOMIC BEGINNINGS OP THE
FAR WEST
VOLUME I
ECONOMIC BEGINNINGS OF THE
FAR WEST
VOLUME I
"^/^-
Z.LS rrio.orr
TEZ V4TfTTJ.i^ ::C;. C^ OkXATiA.
330. '/^^
A' /
( y
COPTRIOHT, 1912,
bt the macmillan company.
Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 191a.
\_'y(\(:\^\
« • ■ ft
• • •
• c
• _ •
• *
• • •
J. 0. OQBhiaf Co. — Berwick h Smith Oow
Norwood, MaM^ U.S.A.
TO
THE TRUSTEES OF WELLESLET COLLEGE
WHO HAVB OENBBOU8LT ALLOWED ME FOUR YEARS*
LEAVE OF ABSENCE FOR THE PROSECUTIOIT
OF RESEARCH
AND TO
THE TRUSTEES OP THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING
WHO HAVE RENDERED THESE WANDRRJAHRM
FINANCIALLY POSSIBLE
THIS BOOK
IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED
PEEFACB
Fob three centuries possession of the Far West, the
vast unknown that lay beyond the Mississippi River,
was in dispute. The maritime nations of Europe who
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contended
for control of the north Atlantic coast and the eastern
half of the Mississippi Valley, were engaged at the
same time in a less dramatic but no less fateful tug of
war for the great rivers, the arid plains, and the wind-
swept coasts of western America. France through her
fur traders laid hold on the Mississippi and Missouri
rivers and the net-work of lakes and sluggish streams
that stretch from the Great Lakes to the Canadian
Rockies. Soon after the Peace of Paris had given
Canada to Great Britain, the indomitable Scotch traders
of Montreal carried their enterprises across the Rockies
to the Pacific. Long before this, Spanish conquistadorea
tad Franciscan missionaries had found their way over
the lofty plateaus of northern Mexico to the headwaters
of the Rio Grande and along the western foot-hills of
the Coast Range to the harbors of San Diego, Mon-
terey, and San Francisco. Spanish ships had already
explored the coast well into Arctic waters and, while
[ missing the key to the Northwest, the Columbia River,
they had established tlie title of the most Christian
Prince to all of the Pacific slope south of the Russian
settlements. Unquestionably, Spain and Great Britain
L have been engaged in an unequal controversy
PREFACE
I
for posseBsioD of the richest portion of North Amerii
but for the intervention of a new claimant. The young
Republic that had wrested the eastern half of the Con-
tinent from the British empire and purchased Louisiana
from France, did not long hesitate to demand the
Floridas, Texas, New Mexico, California, the watershed
of the Columbia River, and Puget Sound as her right-
ful inheritance.
As to the political and diplomatic merits and de-
merits of this struggle for possession, a mere economist
will not attempt to decide. Our province is rather to
suggest the underlying economic conditions that de-
termined the outcome of war and treaty and race com-
petition, and to reveal the bread and butter struggle
that must ever result in the survival of the fittest, —
the ablest to utilize the resources of a virgin territory.
The controversies waged between the United States
and Great Britain in Oregon and between the United
States and Mexico in Texas and California were adju-
dicated in advance of diplomatic award by thronging
settlers whose political and economic vision no less
than their superior industrial efficiency made them
masters of the coveted country. The self-employed
and self-supporting farmer took possession of the land
in a sense not to be disputed. The great estates of
the Spanish regime, cultivated by forced labor, and the
trade monoply maintained by the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany stifled normal development; but the American
ideals of free land, free labor, and equal opportunity
struck BO deep root in this propitious soil that they
could not be dislodged.
A goodly number of the men who bore an influential
part in this long and complex contest left diaries,
ic^
PREFACE ix
letters, or journals recounting what they saw and did.
I have endeavored to tell the story as they understood
it without bias or elaboration. For the completion
of this task grateful acknowledgpnents are due to
the officials of the Bancroft Collection at the Univer-
sity of California, of the Public Library at Los Angeles,
the Oregon Historical Society at Portland, the L.D.S.
Historian's Office at Salt Lake City, the Crerar, New-
berry, and Public libraries of Chicago, and the Boston
Public Library, who have rendered me patient and
ungrudging service. I am also deeply indebted to my
brother, Seymour Coman, and to my generous friend,
Katharine Lee Bates, who read the proof and con-
tributed many valuable hints as well as unfailing
sympathy and encouragement.
KATHARINE COMAN.
Thb Scarab,
Wbllbslst, AngoBt 12, 1012.
CONTENTS
VOLUME I
PART I. THE SPANISH OCCUPATION
CHAPTER I
PA6B
The Explorers S-27
Section I. The Route to the Orient .... 7
Section II. The Seven Cities of Cibola .... 16
CHAPTER n
The Colokizers 28-189
Section I. New Mexico 30
Great Undertakings 80
Misgovernment 37
The Pike Expedition 44
A Neglected Province 55
Section II. Louisiana 66
La Salle's Ill-fated Enterprise 66
Louisiana under France and Spain .... 81
Section III. Texas 95
Possession contested by France and Spain ... 95
The Coming of the Americans 106
Section IV. California 118
Colonization Attempted 118
Causes for Failure 143
Success of the Missions 145
Commercial Restrictions 156
Secularization of the Missions 172
The Cattle Kings 183
PART II. EXPLORATION AND THE FUR
TRADE
CHAPTER I
The Northwest Coast 193-221
Section I. Russian Explorers \^*%
QSAFTSK n
L
211
2Sl
!i .
M. (^vimEanwnf: w^^ttixnk 4k>
Fur
Sbsidii.
IT. lore Tj
FiurCcnB^aiif
4f
9)1}
4ur
UL
PAHT ECL THE ADVJlSCE Off XSK
csLiLFm a:
•- «.
CONTENTS xiii
CHAPTER m
PA6I
Thb Santa Fb Trade 76-93
l^w Mexico / 88
CHAPTER IV
Thx Colonization or Texas 94-100
PART IV. THE TRANSCONTINENTAL
MIGRATION
CHAPTER I
The Acquisition of Oregon 113-166
Section I. The Traders 113
Section II. The Missionaries 133
Section HI. Dr. McLoughlin as Colonizer . . . 148
Section IV. American Emigrants 164
Section Y. Congressional Intervention . . • • 161
CHAPTER n
The Mormon Migration 167-206
The Mormons in California 203
CHAPTER in
The Conquest or California 207-319
Section I. Traders and Trappers 207
Section II. Rival Powers 221
Section in. The Advent of the Emigrants ... 227
Section lY. The Acquisition of New Mexico and Cali-
fornia 241
Section Y. The Land Question 248
Section YI. The Age of Gold 255
Section YII. Financial Depression and the Revival of
Normal Industries 284
Agriculture 291
Manufactures 307
Section Ym. The Labor Supply ^\^
COKTENTS
PART V. FREE LAND AND FREE LABOR
CHAPTER I
Tbb Cub8X or SutTKKT 323^331
CHAPTER n
SuLTKXT m THX Tekutouss 332-352
L Fbpalar SoiueigiitT 335
n. The WakBnua War 347
CHAPTER m
ViCTORT OF THX XORTH 353-385
The Railroad to the P^unfie 353
The Hoinestead Act 361
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME I
The Buffalo Hunt on the Great Plains . . . Frontispiece
Linforth, Route from Liverpool.
PAOB
Newhouse's Beaver Trap 2
Morgan, The American Beaver*
Routes of the Spanish Explorers .... <* 18
The Buffalo Hunt " a pied " « 24
Le Page du Pratz, Louufiane.
Pueblo of Taos. « 38
Kaadt, photographer.
Hopi Pueblo, Interior of Family Dwelling . . "40
Ives, Colorado of the West.
Pike's Mountain Journey 47
Cones' edition of the Journals.
Pike's Red River Expedition, 1806-07 54
Sheep on the Open Range. Arizona . . . facing 62
Dane Coolidge, photographer.
JouteFs Return Journey 78
French Louisiana in 1718 83
LeGac, Sur la Louisiane.
French Villages with their Common Fields .... 90
From a recent map of St. Louis.
Texas in 1804 97
Von Humboldt, New Spain.
Mission of San Jos^, Texas facing 102
Toakum, History of Texas.
San Carlos Mission in 1792 "124
Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery.
Indian Balsa or Tule Raft << 124
Choris^ Voyage Pittoresque.
XV
xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
AykU'* Map of San FraDcisco Ba^ ....
faeing
')Mm
Eldridge, Tkt J/«rci o/Portald.
1
Pedro FoDt'a Uap of Cftliforoik ....
i»1
Couea, Trail of a Spanai Pioneer.
1
Map of the Plough Unda of S»n Jos« .
134
Bj conrtesf of the San Jch« Abstract Compan;.
Uopi Pueblos iu tb« Caoon of the Colorado River .
facing
14fl
hfs,Coioradoo/lke Wegl.
The Presidio of San Francisco in 1317 .
••
158
"
lU
"
lU
Photographa bj the .\utlior.
Mision of San Carlos in 18:!0 ....
«
176
Forbes, ffiitory of California.
Hiuion of Sao Luis Rey ia ISU ....
«
176
Doflot de Mofraa.
MinioD Vineyard, San Gabriel ....
-
180
Photograph by the Author.
Ranch Houae, San Gabriel
«
180
Photograph by Parker.
Throwing the Laaso
■
188
Beechey, Voyage to At Paafie.
Fort Ron in 1828
"
203
DuhautCilly, Voynge antour dw Mo-de.
Spanish Exploration on the Pacific Coaat
205
The Palls of St. Anthony
fieing
226
Carver, Traveit.
Carrer'a Map of Western North America
238
Mandan VUlage and Bull-boats ....
facing
240
Maximilien, Prince of Wied, Adat.
Beaver cutting Bruih — Upper Missouri
"
258
Maximilien, Prince of Wied, AOai.
Route of Lewis and Clark
"
284
Captain Clark's Map.
Mouth of the Columbia River . . • •
273
Lyraan, ColMtr^ia River.
■
M
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii
PAOB
Indian Canoes and Tepees on Colombia River . facing 276
Huntington, photographer.
Pike's Mississippi Expedition 284
Cones' edition of the Journals,
Routes of the Fur Traders facing 804
Fort Astoria as it was in 1818 .... « 312
Franch^re, Narrgtive,
The Snake River Desert "< 320
Fremont, Second Expedition,
The American Fur Company's Steamboat Yellowstone " 350
Mazimilien, Prince of Wied, Atlas.
Uintah Post on the Timpanagos .... *' 368
Stansbury, Expedition to Great Salt Lake.
Fort Bridger in 1849 "872
Stansbury, Expedition to Great Salt Lake.
Fort Laramie in 1853 "< 372
Linforth, Route from Liverpool.
VOLUME n
The Ferry at Coimcil Bluffs Frontispiece
Linforth, Route from Liverpool,
A Miner's Rocker in 1848 2
Simpson, Three Weeks in the Gold Mines.
French Louisiana in 1803 4
Acadia facing 16
Photographs by the Author.
FUtboats on the Mississippi "22
Maximilien, Prince of Wied, Atlas.
Settlements in Upper Louisiana 37
The Long Expedition.
DiflKcnlties of Navigation on the Missouri . . facing 62
Maximilien, Prince of Wied, AtUu.
St Louis in 1855 "62
Linforth, Route from Liverpool.
The Santa F^ Trail 79
Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies.
Arrival of the Caravan at Santa F^ . . . /acing %A
LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS
Mexic&n Arrieros facing SO
Gregg, Commerce of the Prairiee.
Bearer Dams on Salt River, Arizona ... "90
Photographs b; Dane Coolidge.
Texas in 1640 — Map of Land Grants 07
Stiff, Texas Emigrant.
Fort Vancouver in 18i6 facing 120
Photograph furnished by G, W. Himes,
Oregon Settlemeuta in 1814 137
Lee and Frost, 7'en Years in Oregon.
Independence Rock "158
Linforth, Route from lAverpool.
Crossing of tlie Platte River " 156
Stanabury, Expedition to Great Salt Lake.
Emigrant Roads in 185S 157
Marcy, The Prairie TraiietleT.
Kanesville, Iowa, aa Winter Quartern . . . facing 170
Linforth, Rovlefrom Liverpool.
First View of Great Salt Lake .... facing 112
Stanabury, Expedition to Great Sail Lai*.
Emigration Cafion " 176
The Wasatch Range "176
Photographs by the Author.
Salt Lake City in 1848 "178
Stansbury, Expedition to Great Salt Lake.
Salt Lake City in 185.') "178
Linforth, Route from Liverpool.
Gathering to Zion "182
Stenhouse, Tell U All.
The Handcart Brigade "182
StenhouK, Rocky Mountain Sainti.
Stakes planted in Zion 188
Wagon Routes across the Wasatch Range . . . .190
Stanabury, Expedition la Great Salt Lake.
Adobe Houses at Spanish Fork and Provo, Utah . facing 202
Photographs furnished by Jennie M. Choever.
vdaon'B Bay Compaay'a Trail to California. . 20(t
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
XIX
PA6S
Sutter's Fort and Sawmill in 1849 .... facing 216
Upham, Scenes from El Dorado.
San Francisco Bay in 1841 facing 226
Dnflot de Mofras.
Sonthem Emigrant Routes to California .... 230
Bartlett, Mexican Boundary Commission.
Wagon Routes across the Sierras 233
Simpson, Explorations.
Fftss in the Sierra Nevada facing 246
Fremont, Second Expedition.
Boutes to California, 1858 261
Seyd, Resources of California.
The Northern Mines 265
The Southern Mines 267
Gold Washing in New Mexico .... facing 274
Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies.
Quartz Mining << 282
Seyd, Resources of California.
San Francisco in 1849 « 290
Upham, Scenes from El Dorado.
San Francisco in 1857 « 290
Seyd, California and its Resources.
Mining with Pan and Long Tom .... '* 298
Upham, Scenes from El Dorado.
Hydraulic Mining "298
Seyd, California and its Resources.
Harresting Wheat in the Sacramento Valley . " 310
Photograph by Dane Coolidge.
Cotton Plantation under the Slave Regime . . " 326
Photographs furnished by Charlotte R Thome.
The Kansas SeUlements, 1855 342
Boynton and Mason, Kansas.
PART I
THE SPANISH OCCUPATION (1542-1846)
CHAPTER I
THE EXPLOEEES
E)MIC BEGINNINGS OF THE FAE
WEST
The men who undertook to carry the Spanish flag
into the vast unknown that lay to the north of
» Mexico were handicapped by certain prejudices or
mental obsessions, i The store of precious metals
discovered in the realms of Montezuma and of the
Incas rendered every less evident form of wealth
unattractive to them. The search for Cibola, for
Quivira, for California, was abandoned when they
became convinced that the fabled riches were not
there. The Iiu'e of gold had blinded the eyes of the
conquistadores to the far greater wealth to be de-
rived from the fur-bearing animals, the schools of
fish, the forests, the fertile soil, the latent mineral
resources of these unexploited lands. Moreover,
the Spaniards, while a maritime people, were not
successful navigators. The Spanish ships that ex-
plored Pacific waters (to say nothing here of the
Atlantic) had for pilots, and sometimes for com-
manders, Italians and Portuguese or even Greeks,
Spanish adventurers preferred terra firma, and their
most important discoveries were made by overland
expeditions. Inured to the saddle, they made ex-
■ifraordinary marches across stretches of desert that
]
I
4 .C£fljOREBS AND COLOMZEEtS
wDoldqaiyc af^iaDed another peopie, but they nrdy
(ook.'.ti^''bo«s. ToUiemain«TwiBBnofaetade,iiot
a Emde, and thsB th^y niisBed Ae BKHt finable loates
k
.-'>.*;- *A laatiDg hancfifp on ^«aiA wiloMtiition pnj-
V-l'ects was the afaort-agjited poG^ thi« nacned wU
•' Sew World revenues to ^lain and bfr "—*■*■**
represectatirc& Tl iiiiiw ii ■ilVi.iiiiliiM jiwiml
gftted by the CouDol of tfae bufin was baaed on the
theory that eolonies existed for the benefit of the
motho' country. Not only moat aD the bullioii ex-
ported be sent to Spain, but also eoiam agiicuttural
products, such as coffee, sugu, ^djcotiiffa, and pre-
etous woods. AH trade must be canied on in SpiniA
veaads and between the ports of Cbifia aad yeia
Cna. No man not of ^lanidi blood lai^t cngaSB
in trade, and any cotooial caught in a eoauneraal
transaction with a ftvcigner was liable to confiscation
of pw^ierty and possiUy death, lltat the ookxiies
mi^t furnish a market for domestic prodncts, manu-
factures and the cultiTation of grapes and otives were
proscribed. This was a far ntore oppressiTe system
than the Britisfa Board of Trade inqMsed on tfae
Atlantic coast colonies at the behest of E"^***
manufacturers. It was Spain's irreparable misfor-
tune that there was no element of resistance in bet
colonial population ; her ruinous mercantile ^rstem
persisted, by eonsequencv. till both motho' country
and colonies wwe exhausted. The natives suffered
in silence, knowing nothing of the rights of man, and
the corrupt Spanish oEScials were ready to eonni\-e
at illicit practices in return for a ^lare in the profits. ^
^m THE EXPLORERS 5
^^The government revenue- dwindled year by year,
until the expense of maintaining control of the de-
pendencies was greater than the income derived.
Spain's colonial empire was precisely the richest
portion of the New World, but it was administered
on a plan so suicidal that all the advantage of these
vast possessions accrued to a few hundred indolent,
selfish, and overbearing grandees. The processes of
decay received a temporary check at the hands of
Charles III and his far-sighted premier, Florida
» Blanco. Laissez-faire economics found a hearing at
eourt, and the policy of the mercantilists was aban-
doned. The monopoly by which a few merchants of
Seville had absorbed all the profits of the trans-
Atlantic trade was broken up, and ten open ports .
competed with Cadiz for this privilege. The regis-
tered fleet sailed down the Guadalquivir for the last
time in 1778, the year of the "free trade" edict.
This law did not accord to the colonies absolute
freedom of trade, but the number of their open porta
was incre-a-sed, the duties levied in legitimate com-
tmerce were reduced, and freer play was given to
c^nial enterprise.
I No less destructive of colonial development was
we practice of granting great estates to Spaniards
and requiring forced labor of the natives. It was
an undemocratic custom that promoted individual
wealth, but sapped the springs of general prosperity.
Spanish enterprise was restricted to agriculture, min-
ing, and such primitive manufactures as could be
carried on by peons. Industries that demanded zeal
^Hud intelligence languished wherever undertakea. \
I
I
i
6 EXPLORERS AISTD COLONIZERS
Finally, the quality of the migration from Old and
New Spain mtist be taken into account. It was
peculiarly non-economic. There was a notable lack
of the merchants and artisans who shaped the in-
dustries of New England. In the Spanish social
order, the soldier and the priest far outranked the
breadwinner. The wisest of the viceroys and gov-
ernors recognized the importance of establishing
colonies of small farmers, men with families to pro-
vide for and homes to defend ; but there were few
such citizens in New Spain. The mother country
sent to her American possessions soldiers, adminis-
trators, friars, adventurers and grandees, but not
laborers.
Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies, Spain was the leading European power in
North as in South America. Cortfes and his succes-
sors subjugated the Aztecs of Mexico with astonish-
ing rapidity and imposed the Spanish language,
rehgion, and a feudal aristocracy upon the realm of
Montezimia. Within the present area of the United
States, Spanish explorers had to do with the regions
most difficult to penetrate. The Colorado Desert,
the arid plateaus of New Mexico and Arizona, the
Uanos estacados of Texas, presented obstacles that
would have seemed insuperable to men of Anglo-
Saxon origin ; but to adventurers from the Iberian
peninsula, desert and mountain and sandy waste were
famiUar and unterrifying phenomena. The Spanish
occupation was practically coincident with that por-
tion of the United States which is moat comparable
to Spain in rainfall, vegetation, and climate. -i
I
THE EXPLORERS
Section I
The Route to the Orient
r
^^ To explorers sailing under the
I Europe owed its earliest knowledge of the vast ocean
that divides America from the Orient. Their achieve-
ments tore apart the veil of mystery that enveloped
the "South Sea" and revealed to the soberer enter-
prise of Holland, France, and England a vast conti-
nent. Belief in a searto-sea passage that should give
Europe direct access to the Indies survived the theory
that the New World was a mere archipelago. Gaspar
Cortereal, the Portuguese navigator, professed to
have sailed through such a strait somewhere above
Labrador (1500), and his vaunted discovery found
place on the earliest maps of the New World as
Fretum Anium. Early in the seventeenth century,
credence in this and like traditions was revived by
the report that a Greek pilot, Juan de Fuca, sailing
under conmaission from the viceroy of Mexico, had
explored a channel on the north Pacific coast which
opened into a wide sea dotted with islands wherein
he cruised twenty days without reaching the bounds
of it, and that he had finally found his way through
to the Atlantic. This notable discovery rested on
the unsupported testimony of an English merchant,
Michael Lock, who published the story (1619) as he
got it from the old pilot and who petitioned Queen
I Elizabeth to furnish him with an outfit with which
to follow up the clew. No record of such an ex-
pedition has been found in the Mexican archives*/
I
I
8 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
but the nairatire was accepted by Raleigh and
Porefaas, and the latitude of the suj^xised channel
and de Fuca's description of it corresptHid with sur-
prising accuracy' to the strait that now bears his
romantic name. Cort&. Mendoxa. Philip II. and
Charles HI were each bent on the discovery of this
great oonmiercia] opportunity; but when Balboa
proposed to cut a ship canal throu^ the narrow
isthmus he had crossed, tbe suggestion was scouted
as impious by the most bigoted of Spanish kings.*
No sooner was Cortfe secure in possession of
Mexico than he began to prepare for the exploration
of tbe west coast, being persuaded that the South Sea
was part of the Indian Ocean and that the Spice
Islands lay not far beyond the setting sun. He was
sure that new lands equally rich in gold and silver
and equally helpless against European weapons must
await him there. The great amquistador devoted
twenty years to this enterprise and sent out four
expeditions at his own expense. In 1522, three
years after his first landing at Vera Cruz, he set
about building caravels at Zacatula, his newly estab-
lished port on the Pacific cotist ; but the machina-
tions of his rival, Guzman, hindered the enterprise,
and not till 1532 did the first ^ips get under way.
Mutiny, adverse winds, and the hostility of the
natives wrecked this and the second expedition, but
the survivors of the latter brought back intelligence
of an island opposite Colima where they had anchored
in a beautiful harbor and found Indians fishing for
pearls. This promising discovery Cortfe deter-
mined to prosecute in person, and in 1535 he marchecl ■
I THE EXPLORERS 9
north to Chiametia with a party of seven hundred
soldiers, settlers, and priests. The colonists were
shipped across to the pearl harbor (Santa Cruz) in the
expectation of founding there a Spanish settlement ;
but the land proved rocky and barren, and the people
perished for lack of food. The great conqueror waa
Dot a colonizer, and the year following he was
obliged to bring away the wretched survivors.
Francisco de Ulloa, who commanded the fourth and
lost expedition (1539), followed the coast of the
mainland to the head of the gulf, then west and
south along the east shore of the peninsula to the
Bay of Santa Cruz, rounded Cape San Lucas and
sailed north again to Magdalena Bay and Cedros
Island. The vast estuary revealed by this voyage
he named the Sea of Cortfe, and the mountain mass
which he failed to circumnavigate, he called CaU-
fomia, in the stubborn faith that it would yet prove
as rich in precious metals as the fabulous island of
Esplandian.'
In 1540, Cort6s sailed away to Spain never to
return to the New World. His project of exploring
the west coast to find the Spice Islands or, better
still, the sea-to-sea passage that should give Spain
direct access to Asia, was espoused by the Viceroy
Mendoza. This powerful statesman fitted out two
ships and commissioned Cabrillo, a Portuguese
navigator of repute, to take possession of all dis-
covered lands in behalf of the king of Spain. The
little fleet covered Ulloa's route to Cedros Island,
but, pushing on to the north, rounded Cabo Bajo
and sailed into a fine harbor, later known as Saa
I
I
i
10 EXPLORERS AM> COLONIZERS d
IKego. As Cabrillo ft^owcd ap the coast, tt3
DkoontaiDs fdl away, and he aDchtsed in an idand-
gJTt cfaannel oppoeate a fotDe vaOey and a popakNU
Indian village, which be caDed the Poeblo de loe
Canoaa beeaose the natives came oat to the shq> in
rode wooden boats (Santa Barbara Canal). Be-
yond the low promontory at the upper end of this
roadstead (Point Conception), CabriHo's shipe were
caught by the northwest winds that i»%Tail along
this coast throughout autumn and winter. Beating
his way in the teeth of the tempest and forced
again and again to take shelter under the lea of the
shore, Cabrillo finally rounded a wooded point (Point
Pinoe) and anchored in a spacious bay which he called
Bahia de los Pinos. As it was now midwinter and
the incessant storms rendered further voyaging
hazardous, the hardy Portuguese turned his weather-
beaten prows south at last and sought a safe anchor-
age in the "Canal." There on San Miguel Island
the daring navigator died (1543). His task was be-
queathed to his loyal pilot, Ferrelo, and he in the
following spring, the winds proving favorable, re-
turned to Bahia de los Pinos, passed Punta Afio
Nuevo and Punta de los Reyes, missing the estuary
that lay between, and so sailed up the coast to a
precipitous headland which, in honor of the "good
Viceroy," was named Mendocino. Here storms
overtook the venturesome explorers, and provisions
ran low ; but Ferrelo pressed on till he sighted Cape
Blanco and then, very reluctantly, gave up the
quest.
Mendoza's second project, no less far-seeing tl
ha^
THE EXPLORERS
ttie discovery of the Strait of Anion and much
more practical, was the occupation of the group of
islands that Magellan had encountered on the edge
of the China Sea. If they could be brought under
subjection, Spain would attain the long-coveted
access to the trade of the Orient, In the same year
that Cabrillo explored the northwest coast, Villa-
lobos was despatched across the Pacific to make
conquest of the Philippines (1542). He failed, but
the task was not abandoned, a seven years' war
broke the spirit of the natives, and by 1573 the
Spanish government was established at Manila.
Soon a considerable commerce was developed be-
tween Macao, Manila, and the Pacific ports, which
persisted throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries and was highly profitable to the merchants
concerned. Every year the Manila galleon set out
from Acapulco or Callao freighted with silver. This,
the staple product of Mexico and Peru, was ex-
changed for spices, porcelains, cottons, and other
Oriental luxuries, suited to the pampered tastes of the
Spanish grandees. West-bound vessels were carried
by the prevaiUng winds and currents directly across
Uirough tropic seas, but the return voyage must be
le far to the northward, in the path of the Jap-
Current, until Cape Mendocino was sighted ;
lence the northeast trades could be relied on to
waft the home-bound galleon to Acapulco. It was
a long voyage, six months at best, and the storm-
driven mariners were often forced to take shelter in
Bome inlet along the coast where they might find
and water. Wrecks were not infrequent, Mi4
^liiroui
Blade
Hnese
^thenct
L
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
the need for a well-provisioned port at some con-
venient harbor became each year more apparent.*
This traffic, so rich and so defenceless, did not
escape the notice of Spain's sworn foes, the English
buccaneers. Drake and Hawkins and other Devon
worthies had been wont to loot towns and capture
treasure ships on the Spanish Main, but to challenge
the dons' monopoly of the South Sea was a task of
greater hazard. Drake, however, was nothing loath.
In his little frigate, the Golden Hind, he rounded
South America, threading the Straits of Magellan
(1578-1579), and, making swiftly up the west coast,
fell upon the unfortified settlements and heavily
laden galleons of Peru and Mexico and easily
stuffed his hold with booty. Not wishing to risk
all by returning the way he came, this glorified pirate
proceeded up the California coast, seeking that open
passage to the Atlantic in whose existence every
mariner of his day firmly believed. He passed Cape
Mendocino andran north to the forty-third or the forty-
eighth parallel ; but encountering head winds and bitter
cold, he came to the conclusion that tliere was no
thoroughfare from west to east, since the coast "was
running continually northwest as if it went directly
to meet with Asia." * Turning south, the Golden
Hind anchored in "a convenient and fit harbor"
below the projecting headland now known as Point
Reyes, and there her commander, fully assured that
no Spaniard had ever set foot upon this shore, took
formal possession in the name of his sovereign,
Queen Elizabeth, and called the land New Albion.
Following a confiscated Spanish map, Drake tl
,hea_
THE EXPLORERS
steered across the Pacific, and so, by way of the
Philippines and the Indies, returned to England
(.1580), having fairly won the knighthood that
awaited him. The horror-struck Spaniards believed
that the Gdden Hind had come and gone through
the Straits of Anian and that Britain had discovered
a secret entrance to the South Sea. Their fear and
w.Tath were intensified by the advent of other Eng-
lish freebooters. In the very year of the Armada,
Sir Thomas Cavendish ravaged the coast towns of
Mexico and even succeeded in capturing the Manila
galleon.
To the masterful mind of Philip II, such adven-
tures as those of Drake and Cavendish were intoler-
able, and he undertook to forestall further encroach-
ment on Spain's monopoly of the South Sea by
strengthening his hold upon the west coast. The
viceroy of New Spain was therefore instructed to
take measures to colonize and fortify the harbors of
California. Vizcaino, the man intrusted with this
important enterprise, had already (1596) and at
his own cost planted a colony, La Paz, on the bay
where Cortes' company had perished, with intent
to prosecute the pearl fisheries. It was shortly
after destroyed by the Indians; but, nothing dis-
mayed, Vizcaino undertook, at the king's behest, a
survey of the outer coast, in the expectation of find-
ing suitable sites for colonization. His chronicler,
Fray Antonio de la Ascension, records that an agri-
cultural community was proposed, together with gar-
rison, mission, and trading post. The Indians were
to be taught to till fields of wheat and corn, dotCLca-
14 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS I
tic animals were to be introduced, and vineyards and
orcharda planted. An experienced pilot, he followed
the course taken by Cabrillo, noting and giving the
present names to the harbor of San Diego, the Santa
Barbara Canal, Point Conception, the Santa Lucia
range, and the Carmel River. The wide bay be-
tween two wooded points, Cabrillo's Bahia de los
PinoB, Vizcaino thought might serve as refuge and
supply station for the Manila fleet and named it, in
honor of the then viceroy, Monterey. Here he
landed his sea-worn crew and erected, under a great
oak, a rude barricade and a wattled enclosure where
mass was said and the ceremony of taking possession
of the country performed. After laying in fresh
provisions and such brackish water as the vicinity
afforded, Vizcaino pursued his northward course.
He anchored a few days under Punta de los Reyes
in a bay indicated on later Spanish maps as Puerto
de San Francisco (now Drake Bay), and then, fol-
lowing up the coast, he rounded Cape Mendocino
and Cape Blanco, but was unable to better Ferrelo's
record. Near the forty-third parallel, he noticed a
passage or river mouth (Coos Bay ?) which he hoped
might be the entrance to the Strait of Anian, and he
named the alluring fiord Martin de Aguilar, after the
lieutenant who attempted to explore it. He was
forced to abandon this clew, for his crew was stricken
with scun-y — that curse of Spanish explorers — ter-
rific gales drove his vessels out of their course, and he
was obliged to return without having discovered the
much-desired passage to the Atlantic. Vizcaino was
deeply impressed with the necessity of founding a
THE EXPLORERS
'' colony at San Diego, San Bemab^, or Monterey as a
halfway station for the Manila fleet, and he urged
this project on the viceroy and at Madrid. Phihp
III sanctioned the enterprise (1G06) and designated
Vizcaino for its execution. But the great na\'igator,
now an old man, died before the arduous prepara-
tions were complete, and, its master spirit gone, the
statesmapjike plan was abandoned.
» Section II
The Seven Cities of Cibda
The third of Mendoza's great enterprises was
airected to the interior of the continent in search of
the seven cities of Cibola and their fabled wealth of
gold and precious stones. Rumors of a populous
country to the north had been brought to Mexico
in strange fashion. A military troop engaged in
kidnapping slaves on the Rio del Fuerte in Sonora
came upon four gaunt and naked men who con-
sorted with the natives, but spoke Spanish. They
proved to be the survivors of Narvaez' ill-fated
voyage along the west Florida coast. They had
escaped the shipwreck and, following up the San
Antonio River, had crossed the wilderness of plain,
moimtain, and desert that lay between the two
gulfs, spending eight desperate years (1528-1536) in
achieving the two thousand miles. Nunez Cabeza
^^^ie Vaca, the leader of the haggard band, told how
^Btfiey had been befriended by nomad Indians who
^^Brought from cities in the north cotton cloth, tanned
^^Htather, turquoises, and emeralds.
16 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
Mendoza surmised that the northern cities ml^tf^
prove as rich in loot as the Mexican pueblos, and he
commissioned Marco de Nizza, a Franciscan friar,
to explore the country and verify the report of its
wealth. Fray Marco's only companion was a negro,
Estevanico, who had been one of Cabeza de ^''aca's
party. They succeeded in reaching one of the com-
munal villages, probably of the Zuni, but were not
admitted by the jealous inhabitants. As the friar
gazed upon the walled town from a distance, he
thought it larger than the city of Mexico and doubted
not it harbored as great treasure. On his return,
Mendoza's emissary reported all that he had im-
agined and the Indians bad told him of the fortified
cities of Cibola. His account was seized upon by
the credulous treasure^eekers and exaggerated as it
passed from mouth to mouth. Wondrous tales of
the wealth of the Seven Cities, their gold and silver
and turquoises, spread throughout all the Spanish-
speaking lands and attracted a swarm of adventurers
to the quest. In 1540, Coronado, then governor of
CuUaean, with the .aid and approval of the viceroy
fitted out an expedition, and three hundred Spanish
cavaliers volunteered to accompany him. Fray
Marco, who had been preaching the new crusade
to enthusiaatie congregations, joined the party as
guide and spiritual counsellor. It was "the most
brilliant company ever collected in the Indies to go
in search of new lands," says Pedro de Castaneda,
the chronicler of the enterprise, and it was equipped
as befitted so worshipful a company. Eight hun-
native allies and one thousand negroes and.
THE EXPLORERS 17
servants followed the cavaliers, and droves
of animals, extra horses and pack mules, oxen, cows,
sheep, and snine by the thousand. Two ships under
'^Alarcon were sent up the coast carrying relays of
Ittovisions and the heavier baggage. They reached
the head of the gulf and anchored at the mouth of
a great river which ^Vlareon called the Buena Guia
(good guide), in the hope that It might guide him to
the Seven Cities. Learning from the Indians, how-
ever, that the land party was thirty days in ad-
vance, he turned back to Acapulco with his cargo
of supplies.
Coronado, meantime, was driving his unwieldy
caravan across leagues of desert. The party sent
forward to reconuoiter the country returned after
an exhausting march and reported that they had
nothing but sand. Fray Marcos, however,
lured the doubters that there was booty enough
to fill every man's hands," and courage waa
ored. The difficulties of the march were en-
hanced by the aristocratic pride of the grandees.
"Mendoza would have liked very well," says Cas-
taneda, himself a foot-soldier, "to make every one
of them captains of an army, but the whole number
was so small, he could not do as he would have
liked."' Jealousy and insubordination weakened
the effectiveness of Coronado's force from start to
finish. It took some time for these titled gentle-
men to learn how to adjust their packs and firmly
cinch the load to the mule's back, and many valu-
able things were abandoned on the road. "In the
necesaty, which is all-powerful, made tVfe'm,
^Lcnd Dec
18
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
skilful, so that one could see many gentlemen be-
come carriers, and any one who despised this work
was not considered a man." The first signs of hos-
tility proved terrifying to the novices. "Some In-
dians in a safe place," says Castaneda contemptu-
ously, "yelled so that, although the men were ready
for anything, some were so excited that they put on
their saddles hindside before ; but these were the
new fellows. When the veterans had mounted and
ridden around the camp, the Indians fled."^ On the
edge of the desert they halted at Chiehilticalli,
which proved to be a ruined pueblo, "summed up in
one tumble-down house without any roof."* Coro-
nado " could not help feeling somewhat down-
hearted," for he knew that his faith In the riches of
the Seven Cities depended wholly on what the negro
and the Indians had said.
Arrived at the goal of his great enterprise, Coro-
nado found Cibola "a little crowded village, looking
as if it had been all crumpled up together," "There
are ranch houses in New Spain that make better ap-
pearance at a distance,"* The disappointed treas-
ure-seekers turned on their unlucky prophet, "Such
were the curses that some hurled at Fray Marcos
that I pray God may protect him from them." The
good father abandoned the expedition at this point
"because he did not think it safe for him to stay in
Cibola, seeing that his report had turned out to be
entirely false, because the kingdom that he had
told about had not been found, nor the populous
cities, nor the precious wealth of gold, nor the
precious stones which he had reported, nor the fine
•••?••
• • ••
• • ••
•• ••
• ••
• •.
• •• •
• "•,
• •.
»THE EXPLORERS 19
clothes, nor other things that bad been proclaimed
from the pulpits." "* Cibola was in fact a communal
pueblo, three or four stories high, just such as may
be seen in Arizona or New Mexico to-day. Built of
stone and adobe with soUd exterior walls and narrow,
tortuous entrance, the pueblo-dwelling was as diflS-
cult of access and easy of defence as a fortress. At
sight of the Spaniards and their horses, the Zuni took
refuge within the walls, and Coronado's little force
proceeded to storm the place. It was defended by
two hundred warriors who hurled stones with con-
Hderable effect from embrasures cut for this purpose;
but they were eventually overcome. Once within
the gate, the Spaniards searched for treasure, but
they found only a little unpalatable food. This was,
however, thought Castaneda, "the thing they were
most in need of."
Meantime the bulk of the army, with the pack
trains, was making its way slowly across the desert.
No serious difficulties were encountered save that
the Indian allies were incapacitated by the cold
and had to be carried on horseback, and that the
Spaniards suffered from severe headaches brought
on by eating the prickly pear preserves offered by
the natives. Our chronicler opined that by this
beverage "the natives might have done much harm
to the force if they had wished" ; '^ but fortunately
for the fate of the expedition there was more whole-
some food to be had. "The country is so fertile
that they do not have to break up the ground the
year round, but only have to sow the seed, which is
iently covered by the fall of snow, and the ears
I
EXFIOOEBS AND OOUOMZEBS
smlB-tienav.*^ "bcneveartfa^ gather
ftr aevA."** Foraed Teqabiliaa on the
S pMbioB wed hililhi, adte, oopi meal,
aad pnlHH (pine nuts), and "a bffiBe ■nanberol' txi^B
«itfa Toy big wattles" (the American ttnfcey). The
"Qoira" had a fittle coCton doth, too, and en»Ilent
bbnkets, wfA-taaned «t— >*■■■«, and the hides of ao
aaimal nev to the Spamarda.** Tliey judged from
the pJctURS drawn oo the daas by the natives that
tins waa a kind of earn (baSslo), hot the "hair was
wooBy and snaried so that we could not tell what
aofi of dins they had." " A soffioeat supply of
food and dothing was thus available, fto' rdusal to
contribute to the necesaties of the eoDq\i«t)Ts was
punished by hanging the offender. The terrified
people made little reastance. Rumors of the hor-
rible strangers "who travelled oo «niniw|q which ate
peofde" qwead throu^mut the region, and presents
were sent in to placate the mii~5terious powers. At
Qbola, Coronado heard of s great river, twenty
days' journey to the westward, and be sent Cdrde-
nas to explore it. The party discovered the Col-
orado of the West, which they called the Tizon or
(Irebrand River. The description Castaneda gives
of the Grand Canon is quite as accurate, though
perhaps less picturesque, as the descriptions of
modem travellers.'^
The approach of winter suggested the necessity of
ampler quarters than Cibola afforded and a new
base of supplies. Tiguex, a pueblo h-ing some dis-
tance to the east on the Rio del Norte, was deter-
and the whole army marched thither.
HE EXPLORERS
"As it was necessary that the natives should give
the Spaniards lodging places, the people in one
village had to abandon it and go to others belong-
ing to their friends, and they took with them noth-
ing but themselves and the clothes they had on." '^
Various outrages, including the burning of a village,
finally nerved the long-suffering inhabitants to expel
their unwelcome guests. The Spaniards laid siege
to the pueblo and displayed such strength as induced
the defenders to surrender on promise of amnesty.
Unfortunately for Coronado's reputation among
them, a captain who had not been informed of the
peace pledges put two hundred of these prisoners to
death. The natives, convinced that the intruders
were not to be trusted, retreated again to their
houses, determined to resist to the uttermost. The
siege lasted fifty days and, although its result was a
foregone conclusion, the loss of the Spaniards was
severe. Many were killed by stones and arrows shot
from the parapets, and all suffered from lack of
food and shelter. Nearly all the Indians were killed.
They were shot down by the soldiers or were drowned
in the attempt to ford the river, or, having succeeded
in escaping the doomed town, perished miserably of
cold and hunger, Coronado was at great pains to
reassure the people of the neighboring pueblos as to
the pacific intentions of the Spaniards; but the
"twelve villages of Tiguez were not repopulated at
all during the time the army was there, in spite of
every promise of security that could possibly be
given to them, nor could any pueblos be persuaded
to receive a Spaniard within their gates." "
H po&aai
toi
b M^ of IMl, vfaa tke nrcrm dor of ioe,
tte aiKjr (CTOfH iht Bis dd Norte im1 staidied
cMtwsfii cmr a ' qHooBS level oooBtiy ' to find
tht gpUoi diy at f^uwv^ Tbe neh ainiig berbAge
of dK "Btaked padns" (Bma* iili-ilii) filled tbe
fHwwii ih with MtafiMJimMit. "Who ooold bdiere
tfaat 1000 bocBcs and 500 of ottr oows sod tiKHe
than 5000 nuns and ewa and more than 1500
friendly TTM««ti« and servants, in txavdlii^ over
those pUina, would leave do more trace where they
had passed than if nothing had been there — ootb-
iog — so that it was necessary to make piles of
bones and cow dung now and then, bo that tbe
rear-gaard could f<^ow the army." ** "It was im-
posnble to find tracks in this country, because tbe
strai^tened up again as soon as it was trodden
Even the native Indian guides were obliged
) mark their trail. "They kept their road in this
way : In the morning they notice where the sun
rises and observe the direction they are going to
take, and then shoot an arrow in this direction.
Before reaching this, they shoot another over it, and
in this way they go all day toward the water where
they are to end the day." ^
There was no lack of food for the invading army.
The plains were traversed by "an incredible number
of cows," who fed on the luxuriant grasses and
moved about in search of water and the salt that
gathered on the surface of stagnant pools. "They
came across so many animals that those who were
on the advance guard killed a large number of bulls.
As these fled they trampled one another in their
haste until they came to a ravine. So many of the
animals fell into this that they filled it up, and
the rest went across on top of them." ^^ From the
Querechos," the "Arabs" of the plains, the Span-
iards learned how to prepare charqui (dried buffalo
meat) to carry on their northward journey. These
Indians told Coronado of a great river to the east-
ward, lined with settlements and thronged with
canoes. A scouting party was immediately sent out
to find the most direct route, but they returned
shortly, saying that "in the twenty leagues they
had been over they had seen nothing but cows and
the sky." The pursuit of this clew was therefore
abandoned.
Arrived at an eastward-flowing river (the Brazos),
Coronado determined to go no farther in this direc-
^Aton. There was no trace of Turk's golden, clt-j, ^
Z5?I#:EE25 AXD OI-Ijl^XIZZK
It J fij" -.: iLr Zi-.-rl^ I: Tis 'Zisrzizc^ d-tcided that
"hi & rd:ie.i -es^'.r: :: tiirrr r^TsSeR set oat on
ii^TT iTi.??- T'-r r^r5i5:c5 T:irk was taken
fcrf'-'LX ii. :iL2iL5- Ef li:e- >:-iieased itsz he knew
iiVtiii-z :: iL-r rr: nisei ?--i- -*-• ^-^ Seen induced
Iv :Le Tlrii? :•: >ii -Ji-t Spiziiris rnio the plains
tiri L:t=e iLeci iLer^ — & rriE&rbery wrich ccet him
A i'Trr^i^'i iaT?" i=^J"?h iir^*:Iy :i->rih thought
C:r::ii.i: :•: :L-r Ir-g-sruzi: ".:;:>-." s wretched
c^,^r-;*::r- .: ::"-:?. c*^. "n^:^^ :: :r.r ••:.*r-::a Indians.
T?-r: ^tr3ir.gers "s^-rrr r*ri.->ricly recTrivei. but '•neither
g'li :l:7 -ilv^r nrr sjiv :ri>:- :: r::*r.rr 'sras found
fcrr.',r.z •.r.^^sr r-=":rle. si:r.:uzr. :'::-: ir Irrd wore a
cr.p]>rT pji:e :i. ni5 n-r^i an:: rr::e- :: highly.
.Srrr.-e :lr-r: wiis sr-rn: ir^ vxrirrlzg :hi5 region, and
v:.'/:rr -^^^r^ srr.: 5^ far nrrrh as the Kansas River,
h-t *']•.?..■:: :Le h:p^i-: :r r>=<ul:. T::e country was
ff-.^rA :•'. h^ f-rrtile ani scilubrlous. reminding the
war:':er«rr= 'i: Spain. PIuzis. crape>. nuts, and mul-
h/irrrlfr- tcTrv.- T^ili. as well as oa:s ar.d Sax: but the
cFjwrr.ir.? prospect had no p>->nuse for these in-
fk.riSilf:<i tr^^a^iire-seeker?. Con\-:r.oed at last that
h*: had b^n duped. Conrnado lurr.cd back to Tiguex.
HL^ Indiari euides led him by a direct route along
r'.e Great Ber.d r: the .Arkansas over what later
\jf:^ixTUfi the .Santa Fe TraiL
The x^inter in the deson had demoralized the
fxrzny. The Tiguas were irret^oncilable and would
fumi.«h no provisions, the soldiers were almost
26 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
army reached Culiacan than the soldiers began to
desert. When he finally arrived at the City of
Mexico, he had only a bodyguard of one hundred all
told. "His reputation was gone from this time on."
Castaneda found difficulty in reconciling himself
to Coronado's inglorious retreat. "It was God's
pleasure that these discoveries should remain for
other peoples, and that we who had been there should
content ourselves with saying that we were the
first who discovered it and obtained any information
concerning it." " But not even Castaneda, with hia
zealous faith in Quivira, had any conception of the
real value of the Great Plains or of the mighty river
to the east. "As for entering from the country of
Florida and from the North Sea, it has already been
observed that the many expeditions which have
been undertaken from that side have been imfor-
tunate and not very successful, because that part of
the country is full of bogs aod poisonous fruits,
barren, and the very worst country that is wanned
by the sun." "
Other Spanish explorers, penetrating this same
region from the east and seeking no less eagerly than
Coronado the rich country described by Cabeza de
Vaca, had no better success. Fernando de Soto,
governor of Cuba, set out from Havana in 1539
and fought bis way to the great river called by
Pineda (1519) El Espiritu Santo. He crossed the
mighty current at a point somewhat below the
Arkansas (Chickasaw Bluffs), visited the hot springs
^ and salt lakes of that valley, and ascended the Missis-
Asippi itself to within a short distance of the Missouri.
^M THE EXPLORERS 27
Finding no trace of treasure cities, he returned to
the Arkansas and there died (1542), a ruined man.
His men, under the leadership of Moseoso, marched
seven hundred miles west, up the Red River to the
neighborhood of Pecos, where they found Indians
who had pottery and cotton cloth and turquoises,
and learned of Coronado's expedition from a slave
who had escaped from his camp. Abandoning all
hope of finding the treasure cities, they turned back.
Once arrived at the Espiritu Santo, they built seven
brigantines, launched them on the river, and made
the two hundred and fifty leagues to its mouth
without accident. Thus De Soto and his Ueutenant
Moscow explored the lower Mississippi over a
thousand miles, from the Missouri to the Gulf of
Mexico, and they knew the Red and Arkansas
rivers ; but these discoveries had no significance for
them. A river was a barrier, not an open highway,
and the Rio del Espiritu Santo was abandoned and
forgotten. It figures on the Spanish maps of this
riod as an insignificant stream.
CHAPTER n
THE COLONIZEBS
•4
^H The decadoice of Spain and the dfantegracioo of
^V her coioEual empire sec in with the Ic^ of the Anoada.
ilea of energy and derotitHi abandoned the service
of the state for that of the chorvh, and the nation
»was boeft of politicaL Iead«-sfaip. Demoralized by
ptonder, the coknual officials ^pcopciated to their
own OSes the fands destined for defence and neg-
lected their administrative duties. The goremment
of New Spain, intent on immediate revenue only,
leased the mines and the pearl fisheries to private
indtvidnals, and converted the production of quick-
mlva, tobacco, and salt into pro&taUe public mo-
nopolies. Large land grants were awarded to
favwed grandees, and with each estate went the
ri^t to command the labor of the native \'illages
■ foond upwn it. The mamtUnda > served a triple
purpose, — it enabled the proprietors to work the
9ofl or the mines, brought the Indians under control
of the political and ecclesiastical authorities, and
famished them with money with which to pay the
I bead tax required of all adult males. The royal
decrees minutely and humanely prescribed the limits
of this labor requisition, but the practical effect of
the system was to reduce the natives to a serfdom
embittered by race antagonism and unmitigated by
cuBtom. Fray Antonio de Ascension denounced the
. !
THE COLONIZERS 29
encomienda as " the total ruin and destruction of all
the Indians," citing Fray Bartolomd de las Casas and
the misery of the Cubans in support of his contention.
The whole financial burden imposed by a costly
colonial administration was borne ultimately by the
conquered peoples. The conquerors, Spaniard, Creole,
and mestizo ^ alike, were privileged to occupy all
places of emolument, to live without industry, and
to exploit the despised natives. Even the negro
slave looked down upon the copper-colored man and
would have felt himself degraded by work in the
fields or in the mines. The Indians, unaccustomed
to strenuous labor, crushed under the intolerable
. burden, sank into the lethargy of despair.
^B The heroic age was past, and the conquest of the
^H^ons to the north, revealed by the explorations of
Coronado, Cabrillo, and Vizcaino, was attempted by
men of far inferior calibre. The later adventurers
lacked the enterprise, the courage, the perseverance
^^|f Cort^ and Fizarro, while they abated nothing of
^Bheir cruelty and their lust for gold. Bereft of the
' prospect of sudden wealth, the colonies languished,
and but for the proselyting zeal of the monks and
friars and their determination to plant the cross at
the remotest reach of the king's dominions, Spain
would have had no valid title to any portion of
the present territory of the United States. When
Alexander VI granted to Ferdinand and Isabella
jurisdiction over all the lands that might be di»-
covered west of the Azores, he stipulated that the
Indians should be converted to the true church.
"Sas the fulfilment of this obligation, the Catholic
so EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
kings were made personally responsible. It was a
task sufficiently congenial to Philip 11 and his im-
mediate successors. The royal treasury assumed the
cost, and the three great religious orders undertook
to send missionary priests to the New World. The
Jesuits — Kino, Salvatierra, and Ugarte — founded
the missions of Lower California. After the expul-
sion of the Jesuits (1767) the Dominicans succeeded
to this task, while the Franciscans carried the gospel
into regions hitherto unknown — New Mexico, Texas,
and Upper California.
Section I ^M
New Mexico
Great Undertakinga. — Forty years after Coro-
nado's bootless journey, an expedition to the Pueblo
Indiana was undertaken by a Franciscan missionary,
Fray Augustin Ruiz (or Rodriguez). He and two
of his brethren, accompanied by a small escort, fol-
lowed the Rio Conchos to the Rio Bravo del Norte
and so to the stone habitations of its upper valley.
The natives seemed friendly, and their conversion to
the true faith was eagerly undertaken ; but no sooner
was the military guard withdrawn than Ruiz and his
companions were murdered at the pueblo which they
had made their headquarters, Puaray (probably iden-
tical with Tiguex). In 1582 Fray Bernardino Bel-
tran undertook to find the lost brethren or at least
to verify their martyrdom. The expedition was
fitted out and commanded by Don Antonio Espejo,
a^wealthy Mexican then sojourmng at the Santa
THE COLONIZERS
31
Barbara mines, who followed Ruiz' route to Puaray
and thence made a tour of the pueblos along the
Bravo and Pecos rivers. His entrada was far more
successful than that of Coronado, though it was
accomplished with but fourteen soldiers. This little
band did not make so heavy requisition of com and
blankets, and their peaceful methods disarmed the
suspicions of the Indians. Espejo visited seventy-
four of the fortressed villages and estimated their
population at 253,000.*
Finding the country fertile and productive and
rich in mines, Espejo was ambitious to add the
region, which he called New Mexico, to the dominion
of Philip II. He proposed to undertake the con-
quest at his own cost, provided he was assured
certain extensive privileges. The governorship of
the new province, a title of nobility, the right to
assign land grants and to make encomiendas of the
native laborers, exemption from taxes, trade mo-
nopoly, — these were the perquisites that should
reward success. Whether the king thought his de-
mands excessive or his ability insufficient does not
appear, but he failed to give the commission. It
was awarded ten years later (1598) to Don Juan de
Onate, a rich mine owner of Zacateeas, who under-
took to found a Spanish colony on the Rio Bravo
del Norte. According to Gregg, who saw the con-
tract in the archives at Santa F&, "Ofiate bound
himself to take into New Mexico two hundred sol-
diers, and a sufficiency of provisions for the first
year's support of the colony; with abundance of
^^cnes, black cattle, sheep, etc., as also merchandise,
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
^ricultural utensils, tools and materials for mechan-
ics' purposes ; and all at his own cost, or rather at
the ultimate expense of the colonists." * The king
was to provide arms and ammunition for the enter-
prise, to salary six priests, furnish the requisite church
"accoutrements," and contribute $20,000 in money.
As compensation for his services, Onate stipulated
for the hereditary title of marquis, the office of
governor and captain-general to rest in his family
for four generations, a grant of thirty square leagues
of land wherever he might choose to locate it, with
control of all the Indians resident thereon, permission
to parcel out native laborers among his officers and
relatives, the privilege of working mines exempt
from the usual royalty, etc. ; privileges and powers
which, with the exception of the encomieTida, were
not unlike those accorded to the EngUsh proprie-
tors who undertook to plant colonies on the At-
lantic Coast.
By the offer of lands and liberties," Onate suc-
ceeded in enlisting one hundred and thirty soldier
colonists with their families. These with eighty-
three wagon-loads of supplies and seven thousand
cattle made up an array hardly less impressive than
that of Coronado. The train turned north from the
Rio Conchos across the desert to El Paso del Norte,
"the ford of the river of the north" discovered by
Espejo, and, ascending the Rio Bravo beyond the
hostile pueblos, came to a fertile valley encompassed
by snow-clad mountains. There Onate built his
town, San Juan de los Caballcros, so called because
[f the courtesy of the natives, some fifteen hundred
THE COLONIZERS
33
of whom were induced to assist in the construction
of a dam and irrigating ditches. The friars who
accompanied the expedition set about the conver-
sion of the Indians, and they succeeded in prevail-
ing upon thirty-four pueblos to accept Christianity.
With the same uncomprehending courtesy, the
Tiguas accepted the suzerainty of Philip II, and the
ceremonies of administering the rite of baptism and
the oath of allegiance were performed with due
solemnity at town after town. There was more
difficulty with Acoma, the rock fortress described
by Castaneda," and with the Moqui pueblos on the
western plateau. Emboldened by the supposed im-
pregnability of their stronghold, the Acomas killed
a party of soldiers sent to obtain supplies. Onate
laid siege to the daring pueblo ; his men succeeded in
securing foothold on the summit and, after three
days of desperate fighting, gained possession of the
place. A wholesale slaugliter followed, and the
remnant of the Acomas were forbidden to return to
their ancestral pefiol.
It soon became apparent that the several factors
in Onate 's company represented diverse and incom-
patible interests. The Franciscans' sole aim wa.s to
convert the natives, and they regarded the military
escort as merely a means to this end, while Onate's
prime object was conquest of the country. Am-
bitious to reach Quivira on the north and that
mysterious sea to the west, on whose shores, accord-
ing to the natives, were mines and populous cities,
he proposed to use the soldiers and supplies in
^ther explorations. The soldiers, on the other
WL.
34 EXPLORERS AND CX>LONIZERS
hand, haviiig been promised a diance to settle in
the new province, wished to live at peace with the
natives and to be left f roe to cultivate the land,
and they hdd that the imptemoits, cattle, and
hones were intended to aid them in founding an
agricultural colony. Among these conflicting pur-
poses^ those of the conunander prevailed perfovoe,
and he set out (1601) towards Quhrira and the gold
counuy. taking with him the pidc of the aoMiets
and aD the provisions collected by the pudilos dur-
ing the six jreaors preceding. As a consequence, the
cokA3s^ were reduced to starvatkxi long beffove the
phnting cune to harness^, and they had no
hHWTwn annihilation a»l xesreat lo San
BiiTtCklesaj. Onate was ir. high dudfKcn when, on
yes^jcizig to San Jraj: esr;ptT-*ba;Dikid. he found the
;ib^^ ahszhioineii. He sesLt a foire^ to braig back
t^ ctfisngtg^ a7>i. hsvii^ T^Kvvfs^ tbe zeu^^ part
tf* Lis xtKsi. n)3esruv^ as e^:;x2s]nT inztkas azid even
ixkT^ ^.isoihr csi^eviitioiz: to the Si^Ect^ Sml AMioQgh
)»: so^v-^wo^ ir. 7f%ar>ii7^ thf noixii^ of t^ Rio
C;"*}:caar IW? .. thr TJihSfd citif^ Tr:>T«eQ to be on^y
waiitt^ -ctju'Hr-w» c*: tJie MShs'w^ Yxtma and Kma
Ib^isob^ * TV skh ^^«i w«: titfw indfwi. bet baring
Tir ^iins; OhMT rtMiii tnakr 7)r xssir nc it. He wvs
ohiip^ Th*^ fijrht his 4(>i^«rc»;r- wi^j- bark aerMS t^
inf u •.hf fria:^' :swi4.isr.i«; 7«rA»Nie£ acnawL By
Ifi:" They bar. biiih i^trx't^r rhiirrlw!? aiu: bsmsxid
14 (Wf liuitans^ Ir IfSf rbcy Srtasj« inrtjMin^it
churrhas am: MAdC hiiT^tism^ ir. iKtfl. uniE^
THE COLONIZERS 35
churches and 86,000 baptisms. To each Christian
pueblo was assigned a, resident priest, and there was
much rivalry as to the size and splendor of their
several temples. Each missionary was salaried by
the crown ($330), but he expected his dusky parish-
ioners to cultivate a corn-field for his bene6t and
to furnish such service as he might require in
the building and maintenance of his house and
the church, while fees for baptism, marriage, and
burials were rigorously exacted. The Franciscans
were for the most part devout, well-meaning men,
but they had little comprehension of the people
among whom they dwelt. They neglected to learn
the native tongues, nor did they teach the Indians
Spanish, preferriug to rely upon interpreters, even
for confession. The natives learned nothing of
Christianity beyond the external ceremonies which
they were taught sedulously to perform. They were
thoroughgoing materialists and supposed the new
religion would bring them more rain, better harvests,
and exemption from disease. When these hopes
were disappointed, their faith slackened. As the
Franciscans came to realize the enormous difl&culty
of their task, the conciliatory policy of the early
missionaries gave way to intolerance and persecu-
tion. Men were flogged for refusing baptism and
enslaved, even put to death, for practising sorcery.
From time immemorial these children of the desert
had worshipped the sun, the god of life and death,
and their fidelity to the requirements and exercises
of their ancient religion withstood all the pressure
brought to bear by the friars. Their cathohciem
I
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
was merrfy a veneer under which the practices and
superstitions of the faith of their fathers persisted
with undimmed vigor.
The Indians of New Mexico were, in reality, little
affected by the Spanish conquest, and they were
aflowed to live on in their tribal pueblos and to cul-
t»'at« their lands in pe-ace, so long as they rendered
the product and labor service required of them.
They were quite the most industrious people of the
province, tilling their fields to com, beans, cala-
bashes, and cotton, and manufacturing cloth and
blankets and earthenware such as the indolent
wbites were glad to buy. For generations they had
practised inigation as a communal enterprise, direct-
ing the flood waters of the rivers on to their fields
throu^ artificial ditches. The Spaniards intro-
duced many desirable improvements on this simfJe
system of husbandr>\ From them the natives
learned to manage f^ch domestic animals as horses
and cattle, sheep and goats. They quickly sur-
passed their instructors in the care of sheep, feeding
great flocks upon the mountain pastures, and wool
soon amcfseded cotton and skins as wearing apparel.
IroB imiilemeots such as the hoe and axe, the laborers
w«n tnined to handle, and oscv yoked to a rude
woudeB ^km^ Tfndfred the tilling of the ground
a 1^ oBBoiis ta^ WbeAl and tobacco w»e in-
tiiaJawd and many of the Eun^wan vr^tables;
feat taees, too, and grape-vines were brought to
Kw Tinifin. and the nativvs wen taui^t how to
fiMit aad fraae than. Tlie Poeblo lodians were
I the scale off drSisatiaa to
THE COLONIZERS
take advantage of these gifts and to adopt many-
desirable additions to their means of subsistence.'
MisgoBernment
It might have been possible for the natives and
the settlers to live at peace but for the scant supply
of water. Only the valleys of the upper Bravo and
the Pecos with their tributary streams, the Charaa,
the San Juan, and the Puerco, were susceptible of
irrigation. The new-comers thought themselves en-
titled to the best of everything, and, notwithstand-
iag that the edicts of the king ' set aside a square
league of cultivated land to each pueblo, there was
considerable encroachment upon these reservations.
Moreover, the encomiendas imposed by the governor
and other officials, and the tribute of corn and cloth
required of each pueblo, while seeming reasonable
and necessary to men accustomed to feudal condi-
tions, struck these aborigines as an unwarranted in-
fringement of their rights. Such exactions, coupled
with the thousand individual wrongs committed by
undisciplined soldiers, made up a sum total of op-
pression that finally drove the natives to revolt.
In 1680 there were twenty-four hundred people
of Spanish origin settled along the Rio Bravo del
Norte in the midst of a population of twenty-two
thousand Christian Indians. The garrison of two
hundred and fifty soldiers at Santa F6 de San
Francisco, the capital of the province, was the only
armed force ; no other was thought necessary.
Suddenly the seeming acquiescence of the natives
, broken. The insurrection began at Taos, the
EXPLORERS AND C0L0N12ERS
northernmost pueblo, and swiftly spread from town
to town. The Indians slaughtered the whites and
destroyed the churches and every vestige of Chris-
tian worship, in their determination to revenge a cen-
tury of cruelty and oppression and to drive the in-
vader from the land. The refugees crowded into
Santa F6. but the place was besieged. After five
days' desperate contest, the Spaniards were forced
to abandon this stronghold and to retreat down the
river to EI Paso del Norte. There they made a
Rtand and built huts for a winter camp about the
rniBnion of San Lorenzo, while reenforcements and
mipplios were collected for the reconquest of New
Mexico. Fifteen years of obstinate fighting were
ppquirod to recover the lost ground. Even so, the
iml)ini»»it>n of the Indians was only feigned, and
thoy Hftisinl every opportunity to attack the weaker
Mttlenientn, carry oEf the cattle, and murder the
(nlanionariea. The Moqui and Zuiii pueblos of the
pliiteau to the west, being too isolated and remote
for iwrioua attack, retained theu- independence.
In 1693 VarRa-H undertook to restore the ruined
Hl^ttU■mpnta. A caravan of fifteen hundred people,
t hree thousand horses and mules, and $42,000 worth
of supplies wan escorted up the river. Santa F6
was repopulated, seventy families were settled at
Santa Cruz de la Canada (1G95) and thirty at Albu-
querque (17081. There was little resistance, for the
long years of war had decimated the Indian popu-
UtJoD. Most of the warriors fled to the mountains
rather than submit again to Spanish domination,
■nd their women and children were captured and
^dsl;
THE COLONIZERS
laved. Intertribal dissensions and repeated fail-
ure of crops completed the disaster. When Vargas
resumed control of the province, only twenty of the
pueblos remained inhabited. The abandoned lands
were distributed among the settlers, and the dejected
remnant of the native population was reduced to a
sullen submission.
The wild tribes of the mountains, the Apaches
and the Utes, had long been the terror of the pueblo
dwellers. They now directed their marauding ex-
peditions against the Spanish settlements. Horses
and fusils were the prime object of these depreda^
tions, but the savages did not hesitate to murder
men and kidnap women of the hated Spanish race.
The slender garrison at Santa F6 was entirely inade-
quate to the defence of villages and ranches scattered
from Taos to EI Paso, and the settlers had to protect
their families and flocks as best they could. In spite
of these depredations, the white population continued
to increase. The number of Spaniards, Creoles, and
mestizos was estimated at four thousand in 1750;
the census of 1800 enumerated eighteen thousand,
not including El Paso, The Pueblo Indians, during
the same fifty years, declined from twelve thou-
sand to nine thousand. The invaders by superior
strength and guile were fast superseding them. Dis-
couragement, poverty, and the diseases consequent
on contact with the white man's civilization, com-
bined to undermine the communal organization, —
a primitive body politic that had preserved these
peoples through centuries of struggle against the ad-
verse forces of nature and the craft of their savage foes.
^^rsf
40 EXPLORERS AND OOLOXIZERS
An inielligect and dismterested observer^ Fray
Juan Auffusiin de Morfi," forwarded to the viceroy
(1792' an ind:£:r.an: proi-esi against the practical en-
sla Yemeni of ihe Indians by the alcaldes^ the very
official? to whom ihe king had intrusted their pro-
t^viion. In spiie of all lecidation to the oontawy,
ihe narive? weiv induced lo run into debt and then
moricage or sell The lands on which they depended
for sub^dstonce. From ea-ch pnelilo in his jurisdictioD,
the al^.i^^di "^lTv."*- was wont to require a weekly con-
tribuTion of i5esh. bu::er. "V'.v^f. and /or/inm. The
m m
labor aboui his bou^? ar.d :be tilling of his fields
were percr.r:e^i by :bese ur.happv dependents, who
were no: :r.:rt'.,ui :.:'y ^-^Miced :o go a day's journey
to :bt:r work. ::*rr/:::*: w::r. :hem their implements
o: hu>l:.r.;lrv. Tw; r.ur..lrc>i '.^'^awis -• of wheat
a::d :'::rof r.u:..iro.i . :" ::rr: wt re recuired from each
pucV': -ivtr^r h:irves:. fir.i :r-c wrmcr- were forced to
grlri. f.r ::.e use ;: :V-C .:r;:".:;'?houstbold. the grain
ihs: sr.:u..: V.iive beer. s:;rt\i in :he pueblo granaiy
s^iir.^: ii tiry yeiir. S::v-c ::" :r.-:se oScisds, whose
i.5i:::es are eve:: : v :V.e ri\:'.:'.05^ informant, were
s::-?:.-!:-?.: :? .:*..:•:: a vl::.-: :: :be f.eeees sheared
"^.'LLL infj" ;\ir->;..;:.:'n. iir..: :? vl:^:r.^•J;:e the wool
sjzirrr :be r..s::vv vr^jv.'fr?. v\r.r were required to
rnii-: :: up ::.:; Vl.s:.k;:>. T:.-* -a-rt-'.obed Indians
w>r^ :ifr. Vlico.i :o :;;rry tb-: prxiu:: ;o a place
i-.<zz.L:^i Vy :bt :r :;\>k:v.:;>:fr :^*r..i :.^ rruder a strict
t -.-.-•--- -• -v^ ,.,-^-:-,. ".-^...-V- ... T^."» '^^f■*1 iir<*rp
2;.^.^ .. . ^_rT ; ... rs; > : • .-..^ V. ...i iiivAij'Uf •
J-* »— * r ' ■:— »* — ■ ; .. »» •v> :...,. V-— .vTrii were
'■;
^B
■
■
^
i
H
fl
i
3
1
1
a
• »
• • ••
•••.
•••V
• ••
•••
•••
KTHE COLONIZERS 41
ually suffering for lack of food. Most of the
governors sent to New Mexico regarded their ap-
pointment as an opportunity for speedy enrichment.
They forced the soldiers maintained at the garrisons to
labor on their private estates, and while sending the
viceroy false reports of successful campaigns against
the Apaches, withheld the pay of the troops, sold the
powder and ammunition, and pocketed the pro-
ceeds. They imposed encomiendas upon the pueblos
for which they had no warrant, and monopolized the
Indian trade ; they browbeat the friars and de-
bauched the native women without shame. Far
from laboring for the advancement of the province,
the governors imposed heavy burdens upon the
people and set an example of lawlessness which was
readily followed by the lesser officials. Each alcalde
mayor enjoyed the monopoly of trade within his own
jurisdiction. Without fear of competition, he fixed
the prices at which he bought and sold, and
thus made money on every transaction. Not infre-
quently he compelled the Indians to purchase horses
and cattle for which they had no need, thus involv-
ing them in debt, and then required them to work
out their obligation with the very animals in which
it originated. The natives were thus reduced to a
state of peonage.
No better code of laws for the government of a
subject people was ever framed than that formu-
lated by the kings of Spain for their Indian vassals.
They fully understood that there was no other labor
to be had for the development of the mines and
ntatioDs of New Spain, and that the aboriginal
o^ baft thee
«| ffe bdhv ifid Boi eeMc
Aeconfiag lo de Matfi, the Spnirii pofiidataoii
Kev lladeo wis imrdfy lesB mMtiibh. than Ob
nstmt. Imng in kaaemdat ({um-hooBes) KattavA
tfaron^ the eoaairj, Qmj nae unable to protect
Ifryift— Ito or their oops against the manuiding
raidri of the Apaxiaea and much ptlfermg on the part
ct their white oeighbors. They were more ignorant
of rrii^Q than the natives, and more vicious. Too
timid or too lazj' to cultivate their fields, they were
•ank in poverty, lacking the very necessities of life.
They stored no grain against the dry years, after the
excellent example of the Indians, because they never
bad any to spare. They were always in debt to the
H^^abants of Chihuahua, of whom they bought
THE COLONIZERS
extravagantly. These leechea mortgaged the grow-
ing and even the unsown crops, sometimes as much
as six years in advance. There was no coin in cir-
culation except at El Paso. A money of account
served for commercial transactions, in which the
dollar had four different values — eight, six, four, or
two reals — according to the convenience of the mer-
chant. The unsophisticated rancheros were tricked
into buying in a dollar four times greater than that
in which they sold. By means of this shrewd
artifice, they were usually on the verge of bank-
ruptcy, so that the building of a house, a journey, a
funeral, was sufficient to plunge them into ruin.
They were then likely to take refuge in an Indian
pueblo, ousting some native from his field and tene-
ment, while he, in turn, found an asylum among the
wild tribes of the mountains.
The remedy proposed by de Morfi for the retro-
grade state of New Mexico was that the government
should send artisans into the province to teach the
people trades. Since the mesas were covered with
cattle and sheep, clothing sufficient for the needs of
the province might easily be produced if the Pueblo
arts of weaving and tanning were practised by the
Spaniards. The friar suggested that intelligent but
not incorrigible convicts, who understood carpentry,
tile-making, weaving, dyeing, hat-making, shoe-mak-
ing, etc., should be sent to New Mexico to serve
out their terms as instructors in their several trades.
Raw material for the apprentice shops should be
furnished by the government out of the tithes levied
the province. When New Mexico was selt-
I
44 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
sufficing and began to export manufactures as wdl
as agricultural products, money would flow into tbe
country, prosperity would return, and the inhabit-
auts could free themselves from debt.
' Chihuahua was the only commercial outlet f«
New Mexico, there being as yet no communication
with Louisiana or California. The Chihuahua mer-
chants imported their European merchandise by
way of Vera Cruz ; the Oriental and South Ameri-
can stuffs entered by way of Acapulco. The long
overland carriage from these, the only licensed
ports, doubled the costs and raised prices to a poist
iit which only the wealthy could afTord commoditia
ill common use in more fortunate laods. Evaf
uutumn a caravan '* set out from Santa^T% for the
south, by way of EI Paso, dri\-ing a great bod rf
sheep and carrying tobacco (a provincial i
akina, furs, salt, Na\'ajo blankets, ando
The return caravan brought cott^xi and vooBca AA,
arms and aromunition, confectioDefy, s
wines and liquors and goods for the 1
A cuard of dragoons was furaished bgr tfe |
mtutr for ttiA ApadwB mie woak to t
Ifce BuoBtaas and canjr «ff ftUH
THE COLONIZERS
45
commander-in-chief of the United States army, com-
missioned Lieutenant Pike to explore the sources
of the Red River with a view to defining the water-
shed that divided Louisiana from the United States.
With a squad of twenty men — soldiers and guides —
Pike set out from St. Louis on July 15 and, securing
horses of the Osage Indians, rode across the open
country to the Arkansas River and followed its lead
to the mountains where it takes its rise. Midway
of this journey, he was surprised to come upon the
traces of a considerable detachment of cavalry. The
Pawnees of a neighboring village, who had scarlet
coats, mulea, bridles, and blankets, evidently of Mexi-
can origin, were able to throw some light on this
mystery. An expedition under Lieutenant Mal-
gares, which had been sent from Santa F6 to inter-
cept Pike, with orders to turn him back or take his
party prisoners, had passed that way en route for
Taos. The Spanish party was well equipped, six
hundred dragoons with three times as many horses,
and mules and provisions for six months, made up
a force such as Pike could not hope to withstand ;
but he determined to follow the route taken by the
Spaniards, hoping that it would lead him to Red
River. From Pawnee Rock on the Great Bend of
the Arkansas, he rode along the river until he reached
the Rockies. The plains were covered with droves
of buffalo, deer, elk, and wild horses, and food was
abundant ; but the Americans prudently laid in a
supply of jerked meat, for winter was approaching
and the game animals were all moving south. His
party was ill prepared for cold weather, being, Vi^W^
46 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
clad and inadequately provisioned, but Pike had no
intention of turning back till he had reached his
goal. Arrived at Fontain qui Bouille (the St.
Charles River of Pike's Journal and the site of
Pueblo, Colo.)i a breastwork was thrown up as a
defence against Indians, and Lieutenant Pike, with
three of the men, set out to ascend the "high point
of the blue mountain," the summit we now call
Pike's Peak. Deceived by the clearness of the at-
mosphere, they thought this would be a day's excur-
sion, and carried neither food nor blankets. When
forty-eight hours' cUmb failed to bring them to the
top, they reluctantly returned to camp.
The months of December and January were spent
in a desperate search for that will-o'-the-wisp, the
source of the Red River. The thermometer ranged
consistently between freezing and zero, the mountain
passes were deep in snow, there was no game left but
a few pheasants and rabbits, the guns burst with the
cold, the horses were exhausted, and the men at the
limit of human endurance; but Pike would not give
up his quest. At the foot of the Grand Cafion of the
Arkansas (Grape Creek) he determined to build a
blockhouse and leave there, in charge of two of the
men, the horses and all the luggage that could be dis-
pensed with, while the strongestof the party undertook
to cross the "White Mountains " (Sangre de Cristo
Range). It was a desperate venture. The snow was
deep and the cold extreme ; nine of the men got their
feet frozen; the supply of food in their packs was.
soon exhausted, and game seemed to have abandoned
the country. They had been tour days •«\V\iom^. iooA
I
J
.»J..,i...,
Pieb'b Mount ain Jovmrar.
TTie Bouroe o( the R«ii River was finally learned trora the Spani&rda.
"To o Id 8ta Fe il ig b»t to ucmul ths 3^1 Fork fof tbo Aikauui) to the Mou
hb. thmca alanc ths (oat al nid Mountain to Ihn Pu> at Taoi. u wu Ibe rou
ol Ihc Spaoi^ CSTilry when lelurainj." —Pilu-i Jmimal.
48 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
when Pike managed to shoot a chance buffalo, and
the party was saved from starvation ; but he waa
obliged to leave three poor fellows on the trail with
meat enough to keep them alive until help could be
sent them. Arrived at the summit of the range,
they came upon a brook that led west to a practicable
pass and down into the sand-dunes of San Luis
Valley, and Pike believed that he had come at last
upon the long-sought boundary. He could not
know that this was not the Red River, but Rio
Grande del Norte, and that in crossing the Sangre
de Cristo Range he was trespassing on Spanish
territory. His instructions from General Wilkinson
contained a warning that at the head of the river
he might find himself "approximated to the settle-
ments of New Mexico. There it will be necessary
you should move with great circumspection, to keep
clear of any hunting or reconnoitring parties from
that province, and to prevent alarm or offence ;
because the affairs of Spain and the United States
api^ear to be on the point of amicable adjustment,
and moreover it is the desire of the President to
cultivate the friendship and harmonious intercourse
of all nations of the earth, particularly our new
neighbors the Spaniards." "
Notwithstanding the dangers of the situation, it
was necessary to make here a brief stay to recover
the men, horses, and luggage left behind and to build
rafts for the descent of the river. With this in view,
a stockade was erected on the west bank of the Rio
Grande, five miles above its junction with the Rio
Conejos. The reason for choosing this site to the
THE COLONIZERS 49
west of the Rio Grande, and on any hypothesis in
Spanish territory, is nowhere given. Dr. Robinson, a
civilian who had accompanied the expedition in the
hope of reaching Santa F6 and there transacting
sonae private business, took advantage of this delay
to make his venturesome jom-ney. A detachment
was sent back to Grape Creek after the men and
horses, while Pike remained at the stockade with
four soldiers, two of whom were incapacitated by
frozen feet.
On February 16, while the Lieutenant was out
hunting, he spied two horsemen, one an Indian, the
other evidently a Spaniard. Challenged as to his
errand, Pike indicated that he was preparing to
descend the river to Natchitoches, and asked that
the governor should send an interpreter to whom
he might explain in full. Having examined the
miniature fort and partaken of its frugal hospitality,
the unwelcome visitors departed. Ten days later,
Pike was astounded by the appearance of one hun-
dred mounted cavalry under command of Captain
Salteo, Governor Allencaster's emissary brought
with him two French interpreters, and the serious
nature of the situation was at once apparent. Pike
then learned that the source of the Red River was
eight days' journey to the southeast, and that his
fort was built upon the Rio Grande del Norte. He
immediately ordered his men to haul down the
American flag, but this did not mollify Salteo, who
insisted that Pike and his men should accompany
him to Santa F^. Arguments and protests were of
avail. A guard was left at the fort to await the
^^a
_i
60 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
rescue party, while Pike and the ragged remnant of
his force were hurried south.
Thus began that forced tour of the Mexican prov-
inces which, according to some critics, was undertaken
with treasonable intent. That the young lieutenant
made good use of his eyes and ears during his sojourn
on Spanish soil cannot be denied. He carefully
studied the language, the customs, and the sentiments
of the people, and when denied the liberty of tak-
ing notes or making sketches, he scrawled brief memo-
randa in his diary and concealed the bits of paper in
the gun-barrels of his men. His Obsenations on
New Spain, printed with the Journals, was derived
in good measure from Humboldt's New Spain, but
it contained many shrewd comments of his own upon
the civilization of this jealously guarded land. The
adobe towns of New Mexico, — Ojo Caliente, San
Juan, etc., looked then, as now, mere "square en-
closures of mud walls, the houses forming the walls."
Within, the dwellings were ranged along cross streets,
— low, one-story structures with narrow doors and
small windows, unglazed for the most part, but
occasionally filled with talc Ughts. At each village
was a small stream, sufficient for watering the fields,"
and there were water-mills where the natives made
very good flour. Irrigation was carried so far that
the waters of the Rio Grande were absorbed by the
canals, and the lower river ran dry in the rainless
season. Santa F# was a town of four thousand
souls, largely soldiers, priests, and officials. "Its
appearance from a distance struck my mind with
the same effect as a fleet of the flat-bottomed boats
THE COLONIZERS
^^whieh are seen in the spring and fall seasons, de-
^Boending the Ohio River. There are two churches,
^^me magnificence of whose steeples form a striking
^"contrast to the miserable appearance of the houses." "
The sparse population of New Mexico was nineteen-
twentieths Indian. The few Spaniards were the
priests — very intelligent men and much revered —
and the official class.
k Arrived at Santa F^, Lieutenant Pike, much
ashed by his rags and tatters but determined to
it a bold face on the situation, was received by
Lrovemor Allencaster at the Palace.
AUencasler : "You come to reconnoitre our coun-
try, do you?"
Pike: "I marched to reconnoitre our own." Pike
resented the suggestion that he had been the original
trespasser. "Pray, sir! do you not think it was a
greater infringement of our territory to send 600
miles in the Pawnees' than for me with our small
party to come on the frontiers of yours with an
intent to descend the Red river?""
»The illogical result of this colloquy was the for-
irding of Pike and his fellow-conspirators to Chi-
ahua, there to be examined by General Salcedo.
Protests and explanations had no effect upon the
courteous obstinacy of the Spaniard. A deep-seated
suspicion of all Americans determined the policy of
the Mexican officials — a policy that was inspired at
Madrid — and a citizen of the United States crossed
the boundary at his peril.
At San Fernandez, near Albuquerque, Pike's escort
! up with Malgares, who was waiting to take
k
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
the prisoners to Chihuahua. Here to their joy was
Robinson, hale and hearty. The intrepid doctor
had not proceeded far on his quest before falling
into the hands of the officials. He had consoled
himself by curing several iovaUds, despaired of by
Spanish physicians, and by making such observa-
tions on the customs of the people as might be use-
ful in the prosecution of a trading venture. Mal-
gares informed the captives that his expedition had
occupied ten months and had cost the king of Spain
$10,000, and he was e\idently much gratified that
chance had thrown the quarry in his way, so that
he need not return to Salcedo empty-handed. This
chivalrous warrior was ardently loyal to the king and
"deprecated a revolution or separation of Spanish
America from the mother country." Small marvel,
when he lived luxuriously at the expense of the
government. The Americans thought his "mode
of living superior to anything seen in our army.
Eight mules were loaded with camp equipage, wines,
confectionery," etc. The Mexicans, forced to serve
in the army without pay or to labor as bond-ser-
vants on the estates of the landowners, would, they
believed, tell a different story. Pike visited a wealthy
"planter" of El Paso, who owned twenty thousand
sheep and one thousand cows. In Mexico proper,
he found ranches where the number of cattle, sheep,
and horses amounted to one hundred thousand. One
such cattle king maintained a force of " 1500 troops
to protect his vassals and property from the sav-
" who were fond of stampeding horses and
driving them off for their own use.
THE COLONIZERS
53
tEl Paso was the only flourishing place Pike saw.
lere a bridge was thrown across the Rio del Norte
accommodate the caravans and a well-built canal
(iunducted water from the river on to the fertile
bottoms. "There is a wall bordering the canal the
whole way on both sides, to protect it from the
animals ; and when it arrives at the village, it is
distributed in such a manner that each person has
his fields watered in rotation. At this place were
as finely cultivated fields of wheat and other small
grain as I ever saw ; and numerous vineyards, from
which were produced the finest wine ever drank in
the country, which was celebrated through all the
^^jrovinces, and was the only wine used on the table
^BbC the commanding general." ^^ But the methods of
^^■ultivation were very primitive. "They are, how-
ever, a century behind us in the art of cultivation ;
for, notwithstanding their numerous herds of cattle
and horses, I have seen them frequently breaking up
phole fields with a hoe. Their oxen draw by the
■ns, after the French mode. Their carts are ex-
mely awkward and clumsily made. During the
hole of the time we were in New Spain, I never saw
I horse in a vehicle of any description, mules being
made use of in carriages, as well as for the purposes
of labor." "
^^ Arrived at Chihuahua, the travel-worn suspects
^^Kre received by General Salcedo with the words :
^^Kfou have given us and yourself a great deal of
^^mjuble." "On my part entirely unsought, and on
that of the Spanish government voluntary," '" replied
Pike. His papers and journals were examined and
JHVVL^^V
^
- - - - - - ^- to
■ ■ - .rive
tir^^'V^
''^^■^-^^^C^—vX
"Bs^^^K;
r) ^-^x. ^
VvCC^\>7t^
' 1 \ >>i> if ^
i -j^*v /'~\, ' - • '^^ ■ , K^i^^^^^
ll ~~A/ j^
\^y^Jl
PUB'i Rmd Rm> Emamos. 1906-1807.
moitB of republics and monarchies, etc. The Ueu-
tenaot laughed at these precautions, saying "th^e
were disaffected persons sufficient to serve as guides,
^^^ riunild an enemy ever come within the country." "
&
■ THE COLONIZERS 55
■!Uter due consideration, Saleedo concluded that the
path of prudence was to deport the suspicious
Americans, and that not through Santa F^, but by
way of Texas. Pike protested this decision, although
nothing could better have served his purpose had he
come to Mexico to spy out the land. Escorted by a
cavalry detachment, his party rode southward round
the Bolson de Mapini, and then northeast along the
"Grand Road" to the Presidio Rio Grande and San
Antonio.
■ A Neglecled Province
^m In 1812 New Mexico with other Spanish colonies
^as given an opportunity to send a delegate to the
Cortes of the Revolution, and Don Pedro Pino, a
wealthy gentleman of Santa F^, undertook (at his
own expense) to represent the needs and latent possi-
bilities of his province at Madrid. According to his
report, the population was at that time between forty
and fifty thousand, fully half and by no means the
least prosperous element being the Pueblo Indians.
Every pueblo had land sufficient to maintain its
people, and many of the ancient industries were still
pursued. The Indians ground their grain into flour
and manufactured pottery and copper utensils, leather,
and saddles for their own use and for sale. "Many
Indians know how to read and write, and all are
able to speak Spanish readily and justly with a
natural but persuasive eloquence. They are slow in
coming to a decision, but carry through all labor
with a common accord, and in then- dealings are
^otably honorable and truthful. . . . Rarely do
I
S6 EXPLORERS AM> COLONIZERS
they suffer hunger, for their foresi^t causes 1
to accumulate for the future." ^ The Indian trade
CKitered at Taos, where a nudsummer fair was held.
Thith«' the Apaches, Utes, and other mountain
tribes brou^t deerskins, buffalo robes, furs, imd
slaves to barter for knives, muskets, horses, blankets,
and gewgaws of EuropesB make.
The only considerable Spanish towns were Santa
F£, with a population of five thousand, .\Ibuquerque,
and Santa Cruz de la Canada. The leading products
were com, wheat, and beans — crops j-ielding from
fifty to one hundred fold — cattle and sheep, wool,
cotton, and tobacco. Xew Mexico had the exclusive
privil^e of growing tobacco ; but the leaf must be
sent to Old Mexico for manufacture, a regulation
against which Pino protested as a senseless restric-
tion on what should be one of the principal industries
of the province.
The manufactures carried on by the whites were
at their lowest ebb. hardly sufficient to supply them
with the necessities of life, A few hand-wrought bits
and spurs were made for the ranckeros. Some coars^^a
woollen and cotton stuff's, serapes and ponchos, baii^
cloth, seizes, and friezes, neckerchiefs, cotton stocte
■ ings, and table linen were the only output of the
H loom. A master weaver sent in by the government
H had taught his craft to several apprentices in a re^^
H markably short time, and they had woven some f
^B cotton goods — fine at least by comparison witti
H what had been manufactured before : but it was not*
^B easy to sell them, for there were foreign cloths to be
^^k bad both cheaper and better, and a merchant buy-
!oars9w
baidjfl
f the
ment
a re^^
wii|
■ THE COLONIZERS 57
iDg domestic stuffs ran the risk of not being able to
dispose of them. The only hope for the estabUsh-
ment of home manufactures was in the example set
by certain foreign artisans : ' ' Some Anglo-American
artisans are to be found established here ; and from
them we may hope some improvement of the indus-
tries of New Mexico, since it is to be supposed that
the hijos del pais [sons of the country] will get them-
selves taught these trades in the workshops of the
foreigners, or at least will emulate them, seeing the
excellent achievements of these men. Among these
foreign artisans are tailors, carpenters, excellent gun-
smiths, blacksmiths, hat makers, tinsmiths, shoe-
makers, et cetera."
In the commerce with Chihuahua, the balance of
trade was hopelessly against New Mexico. The ex-
ports for 1812 were $52,000, while the imports
amounted to .'SU2,000. The effect was to denude
the province of coin. Until recently many of the
inhabitants had never known the use of money.
The country did not lack commodities for export, —
peltries, wool, and salt meat ; but the overland
freights to the distant ports of Vera Cruz and Aca-
pulco were prohibitive. If these articles might be
ahipped from Guaimas on the Gulf of Cahfornia. or
San Bernard (Bahia de St. Luis) on the Gulf of
Mexico, the sa%-ing of nine hundred leagues of land
carriage would bring down the costs to a feasible
figure. Even the trade with Chihuahua was con-
ducted at ruinous disadvantage. A good horse sold
tor $11 and a mule for $30, while linen cost $4 and
woollen cloth S20 per yard.
J
58 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
The Mejdcan war for independence (1812-1822)
found hardly an echo in this remote province.
Royal Spanish officials were superseded by repub-
lican Mexican ofBcials, and gentlemen of Spanish
birth, such as the proprietor of the copper mines at
Santa Rita, were sent into exile (1829) ; but the
common people, Creole, meslizo, and Indian alike,
appreciated Uttle change except in the more liberal
commercial poUcy of the Mexican Cortes, All porta
were now open to trade, and caravans began to come
in from St. Louis, the American frontier town far
across the deserts to the east. This meant the sub-
stitution of American cottons and hardw^are for the
high-priced European goods and the still farther
neglect of manufactures. Gregg, the most intelligent
of the St. Louis traders, gives in his Commerce of the
Prairies a careful r&um<5 of the industries of New
Mexico.
"The mechanical arts have scarcely risen above
the condition they were found in among the abo-
rigines. Gold and silversmiths are perhaps better
skilled in their respective trades than any other
class of artisans whatever, as the abundance of
precious metals in former days, and the ruling
passion of the people for ostentatious show, gave a
very early stimulus to the exercise of this peculiar
talent. Some mechanics of this class have produced
such singular specimens of ingenious workmanship
that, on examining them, we are almost unwilling to
beUeve that rude art could accomphsh so much.
Even a bridle bit or pair of spurs it would no doubt
puzzle the 'cutest' Yankee to fashion after a M(
^«^
H THE COLONIZERS 59
can model — such as I have seen manufactured by
the commonest blacksmiths of the country." ^
The New Mexicans were celebrated for the manu-
facture of blankets, coarse and fine, which they sold
to the neighboring Indians, to the southern markets,
and to the St. Louis traders, as well as a coarse wool-
len cloth, checkered black and white, called gerga, the
only stuff worn by the peasants. Their machinery
was still of the most primitive type, a whirligig
spindle, the hitso " or malacate, which was set in a
bowl and twirled by one hand while the thread was
drawn out with the other, and a loom so clumsy
that it could be handled only by men. A fustian
coat, buckskin trousers, gayly colored serape, and
wide sombrero of straw or leather was the universal
costume of the men, while the women wore woollen
of domestic weave. There was no flax nor hemp
in the province, and the growth and manufacture of
cotton was a lost art.
"Wagons of Mexican manufacture are not to be
found ; although a small number of American-built
vehicles, of those introduced by the trading caravan,
have grown into use among the people. Nothing is
more calculated to attract the curiosity of strangers
than the unwieldy carretas or carts of domestic con-
atniction, the massive wheels of which are generally
hewed out of a large cottonwood. This, however,
being rarely of sufficient size to form the actual
diameter, which is about five feet, au additional seg-
ment or felloe is pinned upon each edge, when the
whf*e is fashioned into an irregular circle. A crude
[M**** or Cottonwood pole serves for the axle \,Tee,
(to EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
upon which is tied a rou^ fnune of the same
for a body. In the coostnictioD of these eamlat
the use of iron is, for the most part, wholly diqieieed
with ; in fact, Dothing is more common than a eaiti
a plough, and even a mill, without a particle of ono
or other metal about tbem. To this huge track it is
necessary- to hitch at least three or four yokes of
oxen ; for even a team of six would find it difficult
to draw the load of a angle pair with an ordinary
cart. The labor of the oxen is much increased by
the Mexican mode of harnessing, which appears
peculiariy odd to a Yankee. A roug^ pole ser\-cs
for a yoke and, with the middle tied to the cart
tongue, the extremities are placed across the heads
of the oxen behind the horns, to which they are
firmly lashed with a stout rawhide thong. Thus the
head is maintained in a fixed position, and they pull,
or rather push, by the force of the neck, which, of
course, is kept continually strained upward.
" Rough and uncouth as these carreUis always are,
they constitute, nevertheless, the pleasure carriages
of the Tancheros, whose families are conveyed in
them to the towns, whether to market or to fiestas,
or on other joyful occasions. It is truly amus-
ing to see these rude vehicles bouncing along upon
their irregularly rounded wheels, like a limping
bullock, and making the hills and valleys around
vocal with the echo of their creaking and fri^tful
sounds," "
Agriculture was as primitive as manufacture . and
the output quite as costly in labor. Pattie,
tucky hunter, thus describes Mexican tillagg^g!
,f'en-
■ THE COLONIZERS 61
saw it in 1829. "Their ploughs are a straight piece
of timber, five feet long and eight inches thick, mor-
tised for two other pieces of timber, one to be fitted
to the beam, by which the oxen draw, and another to
the handle, by which the man holds the plough. The
point that divides the soil is of wood, and hewed
sloping to such a point that a hollow piece of iron is
fastened on it at the end. This is one inch thick, and
three inches broad at top, and slopes also to a point.
Their hoes, axes, and other tools are equally indif-
ferent ; and they are precisely in such a predica-
ment as might be expected of a people who have
no sawmills, no labor-saving machinery, and do
everything by dint of hard labor, and are withal
very indolent and unenterprising." ^
The scant water supply was carried to the fields of
com in the ditches originally built by the Pueblo
Indians. "One acequia madre [mother ditch] suffices
generally to convey water for the irrigation of an entire
valley, or at least for all the fields of one town or
settlement. This is made and kept m repair by the
public, under the supervision of the alcaldes; laborers
being allotted to work upon it as with us upon our
county roads. The size of this principal ditch is of
course proportioned to the quantity of land to be
watered. It is conveyed over the highest part of
the valley, which, on these mountain streams, is,
tor the most part, next to the hills. From this, each
proprietor of a farm runs a minor ditch, in like
manner, over Ihe most elevated part of his field.
Where there is not a superabundance of water,
which is often the case on the smaller streams, eajcV
Si EXPLOREBS AMD COLONIZEBS
I
farmer has his day, or portion of a day, sUotted
him for irrigation ; and at do other time is he per-
mitted to extract water from the acequia madre.
Then the cultiTalor, after letting the water into his
minor dittdi, dams this, first at one point and then
at anotbtf, so as to overflow a section at a time,
and, with his hoe, depiiesing eminences and filling
sinks, be causes the wster to spread regulaiiy o\-er
the surface. Though the operation would seem
tedious, an expert irrigates will water in one day his
five- or six-acre fidd, if level, and everything well
arranged; yet on uneven grotmd be will hardly be
able to get o-mt half of that amount." "
The most ;»X)fitable industry was sheep raising,
for to dieep the drj' climate and infrequent streams
offered no difficulty, and pasture mi^t be had the
year round by shifting the herd from valley to moun<
tHD and back again with the cbange of season.
"NoUkin^ periu^is, has bera more systematically
■ttended to in New Mexico than the raising of sKeep.
When the country was at the senith of its prosperity,
foaiAw Ranges for cattle or sheei^ vere to be met
with upon the bordos of evny stream, and in the
vidmty ctf evwy mountain wikere w»t«T was to be
had. Even upcm the arid and desert plains, and
maoy miles away ^mbnxA or pood, immense Socks
were driven oat to pastor^ and only taken to water
ODoe tn two or thne days. Ob these occasions it is
eostocnaiy for the dkepbenb to load their burros with
raapBt Qled with wat^, and return again with thor
foldi to the plains. The {ntojrr b a kind of gourd,
of wUeh there are some beautiful specunens with
I
THE COLONIZERS
two bulbs, the intervening neck serving to retain
the cord by which it is carried.
"These itinerant herds of sheep generally pass the
night wherever the evening finds them, without cot
or enclosure. Before nightfall the principal shepherd
sallies forth in search of a suitable site for his haio,
or temporary sheepfold ; and building a fire on the
most convenient spot, the sheep generally draw near
it on their own accord. Should they incline to
scatter, the shepherd then seizes a torch and performs
a circuit or two around the entire fold, by which
mancEUvre, in their efforts to avoid him, the heads of
the sheep are all turned inwards; and in that con-
dition they generally remain till morning, without
once attempting to stray. It is unnecessary to add
that the fiock is well guarded during the night by
watchful and sagacious dogs against prowling wolves
or other animals of prey. The well-trained shep-
herd's dog of this country is indeed a prodigy; two
or three of them will follow a flock of sheep for a
distance of several miles as orderly as a shepherd,
and drive them back to the pen again at night,
■without any other guidance than their own extraor-
dinary instincts.
"In former times there were extensive proprietors
who had their ranchos scattered over half the prov-
ince, in some cases amounting to from three to five
hundred thousand head of sheep. The custom
has usually been to farm out the ewes to the ran-
cheros [ranchmen; in this case tenants apparently],
who make a return of twenty per cent upon the
wk in merchantable carjteros, — a term appU^
^tftock in
64 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS ■
to sheep generally, and particularly to wethers fit
for market.
"Sheep may be reckoned the staple production of
New Mexico, and the principal article of exportation.
Between ten and twenty years ago, about 200,000
head were annually driven to the southern markets ;
indeed, it is asserted that, during the most flourish-
ing times, as many as 500,000 were exported in one
year. This trade has constituted a profitable busi-
ness to some of the ricos [rich men] of the country.
They would buy sheep of the poor rancheros at from
fifty to seventy-five cents per head, and sell them at
from one to two hundred per cent advance in the
southern markets. A large quantity of wool is of
course produced, but of an inferior quality. Incon-
siderable amounts have been introduced into the
United States via Missouri, which have sometimes
been sold as low as fifteen cents per pound. It is
bought, however, at the New Mexican ranchos at a
very low rate — three or four cents per pound, or
(as more generally sold) per fleece, which will average,
perhaps, but little over a pound. Yet, from the
superiority of the pasturage and climate, New Mexico
might doubtless grow the finest wool in the world.
In conformity with their characteristic tardiness in
improvement, however, the natives have retained
their original stocks, which are wretchedly degenerate.
They formerly sheared their flocks chiefly for their
health, and rarely preserved the fleece, as their
domestic manufactures consumed but a compara-
tively small quantity.
"But the ganado menor, or smaW Wasta o^ ^»^\tte
THE COLONIZERS 65
(that is, sheep and goats in general), have of late
"Ben very much reduced in quantity ; having
buffered to a deplorable extent from the frequent
*Hroad3 of the aboriginal 'lords of the soil,' who,
6very now and then, whenever hunger or caprice
prompts them, attack the ranchos, murder the
shepherds, and drive the sheep away in flocks of
thousands. Indeed, the Indians have been heard to
observe that they would long before this have de-
stroyed every sheep in the country, but that they
prefer leaving a few behind for breeding purposes,
in order that their Mexican shepherds may raise
them new supplies !" ^*
The repubhcan administration did even less than
the viceroy had done to protect the New Mexicans
against their Indian foes. Apaches raided the
ranchos for cattle, sheep, and mules, and the proprie-
tors were driven to the towns for protection, Gregg
thought the Apaches not so good warriors as the
Comanches, and these in turn were less valorous than
the Shawnees and Delawares, who had opposed the
advance of the English in the Ohio valley, yet the
Mexican troops were afraid to encounter them. In
^1837 the governor of Chihuahua offered a money
ward for Apache scalps : $100 for a brave, $50 for
ft squaw, $25 for a pappoose. The only effect of the
offer was to induce scalp-hunting expeditions against
the most peaceful of the Indians, thus inciting them
^^to revenge, and the edict was recalled in a few
^Hffiontbs. Given the backward state of agriculture
^^nad manufactures and the heavy taxes imposed on
^^Krade, it will he readily surmised that there co\Ad,\)ft
H - 'I ^
^1837
^^Bewai
^Basqu
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
DO real prosperity, no rapid increase of populatit
either by immigration or by natural growth.
Gregg estimated the population of New Mexico in
1840, including the Pueblo Indians but excluding the
savage tribes, at seventy thousand souls : one thou-
sand white Creoles, fifty-nine thousand mestizos, ten
thousand Pueblos. The number of naturalized
foreigners was inconsiderable, perhaps twenty, and
there were less than forty alien residents. On the
basis of Baron Humboldt's statement that the popu-
lation of New Mexico in 1803 was forty thousand,
Gregg calculated that the rate of increase for forty
years had barely exceeded one per cent per annum.
His estimate, however, was fifteen thousand in excess
of the official count for 1840, which showed the popu-
lation of New Mexico to be almost stationary. Three
centuries of Spanish occupation had done little for
the arid land of the Pueblos.^
Section II tf
Louisiana
La SaUe's Ill-fated Enterprise. — Meantime great
changes had been taking place along the Espiritu
Santo, the re^on that Castaneda had thought a waste
of bogs. Both Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado had
crowed the plains of Texas and reported the extraor-
dinary fertihty of the buffalo pastures; but six-
teenth-century Spaniards thought no discoveries
worth pursuing that did not lead to mines of gold and
silver and the turquoise-encrusted gates of Quivira.
In the first half of the seventeenth century, Fram
iO^
>cia»
L THE COLONIZERS 67
[can friars made several attempts to reach the Tehas,
the semi-agricultural Indians who dwelt near the
Gulf Coast, yet the Spanish government made no
move in this direction till its monopoly of the Floridaa
was threatened by a French explorer.
Rumors of a mighty river, the Father of Waters,
had reached France through the Jesuits who carried
the cross to the aborigines beyond the Great Lakes.
In 1639 Jean NicoUet, a French interpreter of Three
Rivers, sailed into Green Bay, crossed from the Fox
River to the Wisconsin, and learned from the Indiana
that this water flowed southward to the sea. Little
by little, the learned fathers gathered information
from their converts. In 1670 Father Dablon was
able to state, "To the south flows the great river
which they [the Sioux] call the Messi-sipi, which
can have its mouth only in the Florida sea, more
than four hundred leagues from here. ... It
seems to encircle all our lakes, rising in the north
and running to the south, till it empties in a sea
which we take to be the Red Sea [Gulf of California]
or that of Florida. . , . Some Indians assure us
that this river is so beautiful that more than three
hundred leagues from its mouth it is larger than
that which flows by Quebec, as they make it more
than a league wide. They say, moreover, that all
this vast extent of country is nothing but prairies
without trees or woods, which obliges the inhab-
itants of those parts to use tiu'f and sun-dried dung
for fuel, till you come about twenty leagues from the
sea. Here the forests begin to appear again. Some
riors of this country, who say they have de-
^^ramors
I
68 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
Bcended that far, assure us that they saw men like
the French who were spUtting the trees with long
knives, some of whom had their house on the water;
thus they explained their meaning, speaking of sawed
planks and ships." ^
In 1673 Count Frontenac, governor of New
France, commissioned Louis JoUet and P6re Mar-
quette to attempt the voyage down the Wisconsin
to the Mississippi and thence to salt water. In two
bark canoes, with only five boatmen, they made
their way past the Missouri and the Ohio rivers
to the Arkansas. There the Indians told them it
was but ten days' sail to the sea and the Spanish
settlements. Fearing to fall into the hands of the
Spaniards, they turned back, being convinced that
they had proved that the Mississippi flowed into the
Gulf of Mexico, "since its course was directly south,
not east toward Virginia nor west toward the South
Sea." Frontenac reported to the home government
that Joliet "had found admirable countries, and so
easy a navigation by the beautiful river which he
found, that from Lake Ontario and Fort Frontenac
you can go in barks to the Gulf of Mexico, there
being but one discharge to be made at the place
where Lake Erie falls into Lake Ontario." '^
The court of Louis XIV gave little attention to
these momentous findings, and the record of the dar-
ing achievement was neglected. The narrative of
P&re Marquette was not made public till 1681, and
then by a private publisher. Frontenac had hoped
that the king would take in hand the further ex-
ecration of the great river system now claimed by
THE COLONIZERS
69
I
France; but the project was ultimately carried out
by a private gentleman, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de
La SaUe, then in command at Fort Frontenac, who
liad received a royal graut of a monopoly of the
trade in buffalo iiides and a commission to explore
the interior. He probably learned from Joliet, en
route for Quebec, the details of that first voyage
down the Mississippi, and he may even have seen the
explorer's map. La Salle was doubtless familiar with
the journals of Cabeza de Vaca and Castaneda, and
it was he who first divined the identity of the Espiritu
Santo with the Mississippi. The commercial possi-
bilities of a navigable river that connected the Great
X^akes with the Gulf impressed him as worth develop-
ing, and he determined to prosecute the fur trade in
that direction. He expected to ship buffalo skins
and wool to France by an all-water route, but it
was necessary first to establish intervening trading
posts and to provide an adequate fleet. The diffi-
culties and delays which La Salle encountered by
reason of the jealous opposition of the Jesuits and
of rival fur traders, the loss of his ship, the Griffi.n,
and of his post, Fort Crfevecteur on the Illinois, need
not be rehearsed here. After desertions and disap-
pointments sufficient to discourage a man of less
iron resolve, his party set out (January, 1682) from
the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, crossed
the divide by way of the Chicago, Des Plaines, and
Illinois rivers, and finally launched three canoes in
the Mississippi. A run of sLxty-two days down the
muddy tide brought them to the Delta (April 9, 1682)
and the Gulf. There La Salle erected a crc
70
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
together with the arms of France, and solemnly took
possession of the mighty river in the name of Louis
XIV. Three years previous, Father Hennepin, de-
puted by La Salle to explore the Illinois and the
upper "Mescha-sipi," had been captured by the Sioux
on Lake Pepin and carried to the Falls of St. Anthony
and beyond. The vast valley thus revealed was
named Louisiana for the Grand Monarque, who took
slight interest in the noble acquisition,
Tonti, the only officer who did not abandon La
Salle on this expedition, recorded in his journal an
interesting estimate of the industrial possibilities of
the lower country. There were bogs and cane-brakes
along the banks, but back from the river was the
"most beautiful country in the world."" In the rich
bottom lands were corn-fields and smiling meadows,
mulberry trees and grape-vines, and a great variety
of fruits grew wild in the woodlands; magnificent
pine forests offered an inexhaustible supply of naval
stores, while lead deposits that would yield two
parts of ore to one of refuse only waited the miner's
pick. Beaver were rare, but buffalo, bear, wolves,
and deer abounded. The trade in peltry alone could
be made to yield 20,000 dcus per year. When the
Indians were trained to tend silkworms, that indus-
try also would furnish a valuable article of trade.
In 1683 La Salle returned to France, seeking the
means to plant a colony at the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi. He succeeded in enlisting the patronage of
Colbert, and Louis XIV was induced to finance the
expedition as a demonstration against Spain's design
*ha.t quarter." Four vessels were furnished ; one
■ THE COLONIZERS 71
' from the royal navy, Le Joly, commanded by Cap-
tain Beaujeu, La Salle's ship L'Aimable, which was
provided with eight guns, a store-ship St. Francois,
and a bark La Belle, made up the Uttle fleet. A
company of two hundred and eighty colonists was
collected, — soldiers, priests, artisans, and women,
these last from the purlieus of the cities. La Salle's
brother, the Abb6 CaveUer, and his nephews, Moran-
get and Cavelier, were of the party.
The enterprise was handicapped from the start by
a divided command. The jealous foes of La Salle
had prevailed with the king to give Beaujeu equal
authority with the real leader of the expedition.
Moreover, on the outward voyage, La Salle displayed
the harsh and arbitrary temper which so often angered
his followers and dashed their loyalty. The ceremony
of baptizing the novices as they crossed the Tropic
of Cancer was already dear to the hearts of old salts,
both because of the merriment raised and for the
sake of the penalties usually paid by the cabin
passengers for exemption. This harmless pastime
the commander forbade, thereby forfeiting the affec-
tion of his men. The Uttle fleet touched at Petit
Gofive in Haiti for food and water, and there many
of the crew deserted, and the store-ship was captured
by Spanish pirates ; but La Salle laid in new supplies,
and the remaining vessels proceeded along the Gulf
Coast, looking for the mouth of the Mississippi. In
January, 1685, they actually skirted the Delta; but
the three mouths of the river giant were concealed
by shoals and fog. Suspecting his mistake. La Salle
would have turned back, but Beaujeu protested, and
72
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
the leader was persuaded to run on down the coi
as far as Matagorda Bay. Here nothing was to be
seen but sand bars and dangerous surf. Finally
(February 4, 16S5) Moranget and Joutel were put
ashore, with a small party, and ordered to march
eastward until they should come upon the river,
when they were to signal the following ships. Ar-
rived at a wide and impassable inlet, Joutel hghted a
signal fire, and La Salle came ashore in the bark
La Belle with a trusty pilot to take soundings.
Having discovered a safe passage, he sent back the
pilot to L'Aimable, to bring her into the river. But
the captain refused to be directed, declaring that he
knew his business. La Salle, watching anxiously
from the shore, saw his ship, heavily laden with
supplies, run upon a shoal. The obstinate captain
immediately lowered the sails, thus destroying all
chance of getting her off. Nothing but treachery
could explain such disastrous tactics, and Joutel, the
indignant chronicler of these events, asserts that this
was done "designedly and advisedly, which was one
of the blackest and most detestable actions that
man could be guilty of." " In spite of La Salle's
desperate efforts, only a fraction of the provisions
was recovered. Some mischief-maker, under cover of
the night, scuttled the only lighter and stove in the
ship's side. By morning her hold was filled with
water. Only a little flesh, meal, and grain, and
thirty casks of wine and brandy were saved.
It was now of prime importance to establish
friendly relations with the natives, but, unfortu-
nately, the first encounter was hostile. Lei
•asfl
:i
THE COLONIZERS
73
that the Indians had found some blankets in the
wreckage and made way with them, a small party
volunteered to pm^ue the thieves and bring back
canoes as an offset. The business was badly
managed. A show of force frightened the Indiana,
who ran away; but, returning to the village by
night and finding that the strangers had taken not
only the blankets but two canoes, the wily natives
tracked the party and, coming upon their camp
when even the guard was asleep, sent a flight of
arrows into their midst. Two of the Frenchmen
were killed and two severely wounded. This spilling
of blood was regarded as a bad omen, and Beaujeu,
making much of the disaster, determined to return
to France, taking with him the malcontents. He
refused to leave behind any of the stores from his
ship, even the ainmunition that rightfully belonged
to La Salle, Le Joly set sail on March 14, leaving a
disheartened company on this unknown coast.
La Salle resolutely set about making the best of
the situation. He had a hut built and palisaded
with the wreckage of the ship, where the women
and provisions might be housed in safety. Leaving
Joutel in command at this post, La Salle undertook
an excursion into the interior (October, 1685). Left
to his own devices, Jout«I displayed much common
sense in providing for the conafort of the one hundred
men and women in his charge. He put up a second
building for the accommodation of the men, and
constructed an oven that they might have whole-
some baked bread. Fish and flesh were abundant,
md salt was discovered in the marshes of the nei^-
74 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
borhood. Every man had to serve his turn on
guard, and discipline was enforced by the ancient
penalty of the wooden horse. Only Joutel and one
trusted Ueutenant had access to the ammunition, a
precaution that frustrated at least one mutiny. The
colonists would have been glad to settle here ; but
La Salle, who had gone up the river and found
higher and less malarial ground, determined to build
a fort to the eastward. There being no trees con-
venient to this site, Joutel was ordered to make
a raft of planTcs from the wreck of L'AiTnable and
haul it up the river. With great difficulty a little
lumber was transported to the Rividre aux Bceufs, so
called from the bison that came there for water,"*
while La Belle carried the supplies and the women
to the new encampment. Arrived at the spot,
Joutel was amazed to find the post "so ill begun and
so httle advanced." No shelter had yet been pro-
vided except for the casks of brandy. Rain was fall-
ing, and the seed, on whose harvest La Salle was
counting for food, lay rotting in the groimd. Several
of the men were dead, many sick of fatigue and ex-
posure, and all were exhausted by the task of hauling
timber across several miles of prairie without carts or
draft animals. La Salle's harsh temper contributed
not a Uttle to the general depression. "The uneasi-
ness M. de la Salle was imder to see nothing succeed
as he had imagined, and which often made him insult
the men when there was Uttle reason for it," ** had
driven his people to the verge of mutiny. Within a
few weeks thirty of the men died of overwork and
discouragement, among them the head carpenter.
THE COLONIZERS
1
La Salle was thus forced to be his own master builder,
to go to the forest and select the trees to be felled,
shape them, and fit them to their places. The fort
was completed at last, and formally christened St.
Louis, a name given also to the bay which it over-
looked.
In April of 1686, La Salle set out in La Belle to
explore the coast in search of the Mississippi, and
again Joutel was left in command. The equipment
of this expedition had well-nigh exhausted the sup-
plies, and there were thirty-four persons to feed;
but, thanks to his careful management, they fared
well. The buffalo were made to furnish not only
food but shelter, for the resourceful lieutenant
thatched his cabins with their hides. Of these ani-
mals, the main reliance of the Indians of the plains,
there seemed to be an inexhaustible supply. "There
are thousands of them, but instead of hair they have
a very long curled sort of wool." "
Meantime, La Salle was meeting with his usual
ill fortune. He had not gone far when a quite un-
called-for injury to an Indian village was revenged
by a night attack on the unguarded camp, and three
Frenchmen were killed. Leaving Cavelier and a
Bmall party in charge of the bark and all dispensable
supplies, La Salle departed for the interior with
twenty picked men. After three months of aimless
wandering, he returned to Fort St. Louis ragged and
worn, "his fatal river" not yet discovered. He was
met by disastrous news. A boat load of men, sent
off from La BelU to fill the water barrels, had been
kiBt throng the captain's neglect to keep the U^^
J
I
I
i
OUtf 4i^K BfB. wool ■n dcsertol, oe oIbks ^n^
iMtarkOed br a»VEs or b? the ■■^■Iibi Oi*
ii<Hted the imn. "AU the TiAfe adnatase oT
that joumrf eooHBted in five hones, hdoB nA
IdcBmi wfaest, beans, ■nd some odHT gna* *t>ch «M
put into the Btore." * NotwitfastanArig tlus Tih»
it4MS failure, "the even tai^Mr cf our duef made
all men easy, and be found, by his great viradtT
of ^irit, dpediente which revived the lowe^ ebb
of hope." • He now pn^>osed "to undertake a jour-
ney toward the Illinois, and to make it the nuun
boaiaeBB, by tbe way, to find the Missisdppi." **
La Salle's last expedition set out to northward in
January, 1687. This time the ftuthful Joutel accom-
panied him, together with Monseigneur Cavelier,
the two nephews, Father Anastasius Douay, Sieur
Duhaut and his servant, L'Archev^que, Tessier, the
pilot, Hiens, a German buccaneer, Liotot, the surgeon,
Ija Balle'H devoted Iroquois guide, his footman, and
four servants. Dried buffalo meat, which they
■ THE COLONIZERS 77
called foucannier in imitation of the Indian word,
some grain, and the best of the remaining ammuni-
tion and camp utensils were packed on the horses,
and the little cavalcade set out toward the north-
east. La Salle's objective point was the villages of
the Cenis, where he hoped to secure guides. He
realized at last how important were the friendly
offices of the Indians and was determined to "use
them kindly ... an infallible maxim, the practice
of which might have been fortunate to him had he
followed it sooner." *' The route was rendered diffi-
cult by several large rivers, alligator swamps, and
heavy timber. Whenever possible, they followed
the buffalo trails to avoid the necessity of cutting
paths through the dense underbrush, and a canoe
was constructed of long poles covered with buffalo
hide to carry the men and goods across the rivers,
the horses being made to swim. Notwithstanding
La Salle's best devices, the march was wearisome
and discouraging, and the men began to grumble.
A quarrel broke out between Moranget (the younger)
and Liotot over the disposition of some fresh buffalo
meat. Liotot, Hiens, Duhaut, and L'Archev^que
fell upon Moranget and his two companions, the
Indian and the footman, and beat out their brains
with axes. The murderers then determined to make
way with La Salle, and free themselves, once for all,
of his harsh rule. Uneasy that his nephew and the
others did not come up. La Salle was returning to
seek them, when Duhaut, who had secreted himself
beside the trail, fired and shot him through the
head. The leader fell without a groan. Hiens tWen.
78
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
stripped the body and threw it into the bushes,
some Indians who witnessed the foul deed looking on
silently, "with amazement and contempt of us." **
Joutel was for punishing the murderers, but the two
priests prevailed upon him to attempt no revenge ;
and indeed this was the part of prudence, for they
were in the minority. Joutel held his peace, but
he was determined to part company with the con-
spirators as soon as possible, and to push on to the
JODTaL'S RSTUSH JODRHBT.
Mississippi and the Illinois country. This was diffi-
cult, for Duhaut had assumed command of the party
and controlled the supplies."
As the wanderers approached the Cenis villages,
they saw a man on horseback, dressed as a Spaniard
in blue doublet, straight breeches and stockings, with
a broad-brimmed, flat-crowned hat, and they feared
THE COLONIZERS
79
lest they should fall into the hands of the enemies of
France and be carried off to serve in the mines or
quarries of Mexico. To their relief, the rider proved
to be an Indian who had got his horse and trappings
from some Spanish settlement. The Frenchmen
were cordially received by the Cenis, an agricultural
people, who lived in wooden huts and made rude
pottery and cane baskets. Three of the four men
who had deserted La Salle on his third excursion
were encountered here. They were well content
with savage life, having married Indian wives and
learned to hunt with bow and arrow. The new
arrivals were offered the same privileges. Duhaut
and his accomplices were minded to remain here,
having forfeited a welcome at Fort St. Louis or in
France; but Joutel had learned of a "great river,
which was forty leagues off, towards the northeast,
and that there were people like us who dwelt on the
> banks of it." " Thither he determined to go.
Six of the party held by Joutel ; Father Anastasius,
the two Caveliers, and three others who had not been
concerned in the assassination of La Salle. They
secured six horses and three Indian guides and,
having induced Duhaut to spare them the essential
supplies, pushed on to the north. The Cadodaquia
proved very hospitable. Their chief was tricked
out with a Spanish sword and wore a head-dress of
hawks' bells whose tinklings gave him much pleasure.
He invited the Frenchmen to a solemn ceremony,
new to them, the smoking of the calumet, "a very
long sort of tobacco pipe, adorned with several sorts
,of feathers," ** and urged them to settle there and
I
I
80 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS J
many into the uibe. JoatcL to be rid of his in* J
ostenee, pvomised to return with commodities for
tnde. On the 24th of July they came to an east-
ward-flowing rivo' and saw on the t^posite bank a
great citias with *'a house built after the French
fadiion." Two men clothed in civilized garments
came out and fired a salute. This proved to be the
Poste aux Arkansas, founded by Henri de Tonti, the
devoted friend of La Salle, who had come thus far
with his relief expedition.
Joutel and the futhful remnant made their way
by canoe up the Mississippi and the lUinob and so
by the Great Lakes to Montreal and to France,
carrying the news of the disastrous outcome of the
great colonial enterprise. Tonti undertook to rescue
the survivors at Fort St, Louis, but upon reafdiing
St. Louis Bay he could find no trace of the colony.
Returning by the Mississippi, he voyaged up the
Arkansas as far as his boats would carry him and
then marched across the country to the IntUan
tillage of Natchitoches on Red Ri^'O'. Ascending
this stream to the Cadodaquis, he secured horses and
again rode south to within three da\'s' journey of
the spot where his chief had been murdered. There
his men refused to go farther, and he was forced to
abandon the search.
Such was the pitiful end of a great project. The
causes of La Salle's failure are wisely summed up
by his loyal lieutenant, Joutel. '"Such was the un-
fortunate end of M. de La Salle's life, at a time
when he might entertain the greatest hopes, as the
of his labors. He had a capacity and talent
I
THE COLONIZERS 81
to make his enterprise successful ; his constancy and
courage, and his extraordinary knowledge in arta
and sciences, which rendered him fit for anj^hing,
together with an indefatigable body, which made
him siu'mount all difficulties, would have procured a
glorious issue to his undertakings, had not all those
excellent qualities been counterbalanced by too
haughty a behavior, which sometimes made him in-
supportable, and by a rigidness towards those that
were under his command, which at last drew on him
implacable hatred and was the occasion of his
death." "
Louisiana under France and Spain
La Salle's dream of a settlement at the mouth of
' the Mississippi and a commerce that should connect
the Great Lakes with the Gulf was shared by Iber-
ville, the miUtary genius who, having demonstrated
»his ability in combating the projects of Great Britain
on the New England coast, in the Mohawk Valley,
and on Hudson's Bay, was despatched to Louisiana
to defeat the encroachments of Spain. He and his
brother, Bienville, arrived on the Gulf Coast with a
colonizing outfit just ten years after the death of
La Salle and, landing to the east of the Delta,
founded Fort Biloxi on a sandy beach backed by
virgin forest. In 1701 the post was transferred to a
point still nearer Pensaeola, Mobile, where a deep
bay and navigable rivers gave harborage for vessels ;
^Kl>ut the settlement at Biloxi was maintained. The
^^nardships of the initial years and the hot and humid
^^nliniate proved disastrous to the pioneers. Twenty-
MT
e EXPLOfi£I NTZEBS
fire handRd colonic - - .^r betireen 1699
aod 1712, but ooij foor irandnd vcr Etzd£ in the
httcr Tear. The monopoly of the tzade of Looisuzia
VIS tfaen griBted to AbUmmj Qwafc, ob cowifitioo
of iiilrtiBiiliim, a eolooy.
Duimg ttie fire years tt Idb BDBO|nfy, Chimt
f-tlMiMlfii .^5,000 Imcs OS tlus \gitutc aad mfind
a iCTonie of but 300,000 trrrcs. WbrB be sht-
iVMjavX the ooaee^caxia 1717, there wmaaiywevta
hundred f^cndunoi and foor handled cattle in Loa-
JBiana. Id qicte of these flares, the Regent wis nn-
vil&ng to abandon the claim to tfae MiaMw«|yi Bivcr
■odtheTast valley vhidi it drained ; the opportamty
fv nlmiai expanaoo was made oTcr to the Conqiai^
of tfae West, and Lomsaaa became the pfajaeal baais
for tfae amtatkns fe**"*'**' aeheme to iriueh Jtdm Law
had eonvated tfae VreoA eoart and peofife. Tfae
projectors seemed the mooopoty of tiade, nunea^ aad
furs oa conditMHi that they iiupurt six tfaoaaaad
wiufte eolooists and three tfaoOBand aecro daTce.
Land vac offered to vohrataiy eoagnate. togekber
with free tnnspoctatioit and soBtenanee tmtil tbey
Aoold reach their final ilmtimitinn : but it was not
eaqr to induce men who cotdd cam a liring at home
to tab thev dunces in the wfldemeaB, and the
Cooqiany was obGged to in^veas ctdooists &oid the
jaib and ahnrfmaacB and tfae rieioos resorts of Paris.
E^ himdred people were broo^t otet in three
riq»-loads (1718) and (Estribttted among the several
poats, — Bikm. Mobfle, St. Louis Bay. Natchitoches.
Wkxt RoGalie de Natchez, and the Yazoo. BienviQe
F gjOTemor, and be cleared ground for a
3
THE COLONIZERS
, IV«-o-in
•"vz. K" ^^^
V. "■- i^^?^^-^'"-^—
^ bT ^^^-^-^
W\
V V
\ U. 4 i^ (
^^
2\j/,,„.'«\ /
^\.^
5^fe^^.. V-i
)Ss\ \^^^^^^Lfij^
^^^^
French LoniBiAHA in 171B.
tral settlement on the neck of land between the
Mississippi and Lake Ponehartrain, which, in honor
of the Regent, he named New Orleans (1721).
Le Page du Pratz, a gentleman adventurer who
came over on the first ship with servants and imple-
ments, gives us a detailed account of the colony. His
estate was at Natchez, where he found the soil very
fertile and the climate salubrious ; but so long as his
nearest and largest market was Biloxi, there was no
profit in agriculture. New Orleans promised better
things commercially because the river front was deep
lUgh for sea-going vessels, whereas lighters were
^^101
r
EXTIOBE^ AND O0IjlSIZ££5
^ •>■<■> OK ill
t Hi g— J lli>hji
out kr
bf Ik
tofMoati^tkGirifte'arfrti'. Brai^ Ind
OKd > >>fc tine fat ^ Bd wide OB^ fcr
■ iMiiiW iomI la ti bdt alHg tke «i«t bmt
■da Ike tn^, aad Ab suiul la imtect not uuy
the «hwB»ff hm Um iffii !*■ J hads.
Afks ci^ JOES ipn* at I&Kches. Da FkmU fe-
mmd to Xrv QrinBB sad visiadBml to take daiae
cftUse
I aQ|B — BiKK, ntK, vateEndmS) tobaooo^
lodieD, eottoa. AwHyamoashaaige^qalheligt-
BBDied laodoet mwa the tfiSeidtj of aeparatiae tbe
nod nian Ote fibn:, bal Da ftaii KTCBted a laut
mHA paioRoed this apaatioB mncii noR tfaidiy
tlian it raald be flone by Inod. A voobb fwom
PtavcDce, Mine. HidicTt, was capCTiHifnting with
alkwonns, and die had soooeeded ia FUBBC vorms on
tbe leaves of the red and the whaiB mdbeny that
tpaa a silk finer and ii<mii|.ii than that of Lyons.
Da I^ata bcfieved that yoaa^ negroes eoold be
tan^t to taid the cocoons v><| that a profitable sJIIr
iDdustrr tni^t be estabGshed id this wann and
equable cUmate. He anticipated, moreover, that a
floarishing trade would der^op with the West
Indies and nltimatety with Europe. Lumber, brieks
and tile, maixe, beans, peas, and nc« were already
THE COLONIZERS 85
being shipped to the Islands, and the return cargoes
of sugar, coffee, rum, and slaves were eagerly bought
by the well-to-do among the Louisianians. (Du
Pratz paid £55 for a negro and his wife.) Furs,
deerskins, bufTalo hides, and tallow were coming
down from the upper river; lumber, pitch, and tar
were being sent in from the near-by forests; hemp
and sugar could be grown in the Delta; and there
was no reason why the colony should not build its
own trading vessels. "If the English build ships in
their colonies . , . why might not we do the same
in Louisiana?" "France has found in her lands
neither the gold nor silver of Mexico and Peru, nor
the precious stones and rich stuffs of the East
Indies, but she will find therein, when she pleases,
mines of iron, lead, and copper. She is there possessed
of a fertile soil, which only requires to be occupied
in order to produce, not only all the fruits necessary
and agreeable to life, but also all the subjects [ma-
teriats] on which human industry may exercise itself
in order to supply our wants." "
There was no lack of energy on the part of the
men who undertook to bring to light the latent re-
sources of this rich possession. In 1718 an expe-
dition was despatched to the Illinois Country to
develop the lead deposits described by Tonti. Philip
Renault and La Motte, a mineral expert, prospected
the region from the Kaskaskia on the east of the
Mississippi to the St. Francis River on the west so
thoroughly that their numerous excavations are still
visible. They opened the rich mine at the source
Lthe St. Francis, still called La Motte, also Fourche
: NTZEBS
J. Ac iM <tf tvD
-iied m iiwiAnlifc qHBlite df
aaaau, ABA pi»n-.
W ihwiuiMl with
■ totbf
r^sn. b ins
- s= =ir at Oe
'^^ In
: ^!d
idhl
» f-r
THE COLONIZERS
87
and the places of the dead were filled by more cheap
labor, — beggars, criminals, and slaves. In the first
six years of its administration, four thousand and
forty-four French men and women were transported
to Louisiana and fourteen hundred and forty-one
Africans. The only successful farmers were some
Alsatians forwarded by the canny Law to his own
estates at Arkansas Post, but who later removed to
the Bayou St. John (C6te des Allemands). The
Canadians who came down from the St. Lawrence
showed greater capacity for coping with the vicissi-
tudes of frontier life and made excellent hunters ;
but the "Mississippi Scheme" was doomed from the
start. The Company's feudal requisitions, their
trade monopoly, and the worthless paper currency
sent from France were burdens too heavy for an
infant colony. When the speculative bubble burst
and there was no more revenue to be had, the
fictitious prosperity collapsed. The discredited com-
pany surrendered its charter (1731) and Louisiana
reverted to the crown.
Bienville was continued as governor until 1743,
and under his wise and efBcient management, the
provioce began to prosper. The plantations about
New Orleans bore abundant crops of cotton, rice,
and tobacco; salt was manufactured on Red River;
naval stores came down the Mississippi in huge
rafts. MTien Vaudreuil succeeded Bienville he found
a population of thirty-two hundred whites and two
thousand and thirty lilacks — slaves from Cuba
and San Domingo — and there seemed reason to
Relieve that France might yet reap some profit from
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
Hoping to extend the agricultural area,
TMk<lmiiI offered tracts of the alluvial land on the
htw And adjacent bayous, free of charge, stipulating
cwjy that some portion be cleared and a house built
within a year and a day, and that such proprietora
•s hrid land on the river should maintain a levee and
ft public road along its summit and erect the necessary
MTien Louisiana and the Floridas were ceded to
Spain (1762), the administration of the province was
but little changed. Spanish officials took the place
pf the French, and the seat of authority and source
of supplies was transferred to the City of Mexico.
lAnd grants were given out by the Spanish gover-
nors with a more lavish hand and with less regard
to the development of the country. The terms of
the grants were not rigidly enforced, and the public
was obliged to make good the defects in roads and
levees caused by the neglect of the local proprietors.
Governor O'Reilly offered to each newly arrived
family settling on the river a tract of land extending
from six to twelve arpcnts along the water front and
forty arpeids deep, with indefinite rights to feed cattle
in the cane-brakes and cut fuel in the cypress forests
beyond. Grants were conditioned on the building
of levees, roads, and bridges, and the clearing of at
least three arpents deep along the water front. If
these terms were not met within three years, the land
reverted to the crown. Carondelet (1795) enjoined i
upon the syndics that they should make a survey of
the levees twice a year and require the proprietors
I ur the damages wrought by floods and craw-
J
^]
THE COLONIZERS
th. If the individual planter was unequal to the
work, an impressment of the negroes of the adjoin-
ing plantations was authorized, the negroes working
on Sunday, their one holiday, for foui' escalins
(thirty-six cents) per day. This public-spirited ad-
ministrator built the canal that connected New
Orleans with Lake Ponchartrain and drained the
streets of the city. He provided for the hghting of
the streets and arranged a force of watchmen. The
cultivation of sugar, which had been abandoned since
1766, was revived by Etienne de Bor6, a neighboring
planter, who succeeded in granulating the molasses
and producing a marketable grade.
Emigration from France ceased with the change
of flag, and none but officials came from Spain, so that
the population of the province was fairly stationary.
The settlements made in Upper Louisiana during
the Spanish regime were due to French enterprise.
Maxent, Laclede & Cie., merchants of New Orleans,
had already secured from the French intendant the
trade monopoly of the Missouri and of the upper
Mississippi aa far as the St. Peters, and Laclede
selected as the best site for a trading post the bluff
that overhangs the Mississippi just below the de-
bouchure of the Missouri. Here a palisaded fort
was erected, Auguste Chouteau, then a lad of thir-
teen, overseeing its construction. Laclede named
his post St, Louis and thought it destined to become
"one of the finest cities in America," When the
Spanish governor arrived (1770), he found a town of
one hundred wooden and fifteen stone houses, but
the men that gathered at the post were uoyogeura,
-i3«nc Gbev dmja
z tar tbe
^-ioce for
:--■ Ot
s- hut lii Ut c< ia*K dbaM Ib
- — - -'■^--•^rr "- " - III
THE COLONIZERS
91
in the plough field, his right to pasture cattle and hogs
in the unfenced land and to gather wood in the forest
back of the clearing. At Ste. Genevieve on the
Mississippi, the bottom for five miles along the
river was common field ; at Carondelet, the individual
allotments, while narrow, were more than a mile and
a half in length." They were a simple, unprogressive
people, caring far more for music and dancing and
out-of-door pleasures than for industry and the
making of money. The common fields remained
undivided and were handed down from generation
to generation, and while there was no wealth there
was little poverty among them. Loyal to church
and estabhshed authorities, with few schools and no
manufactures, the French settlers pursued a placid
and unenterprising existence under Spanish rule.
Crime was rare among them, jails were unnecessary,
and courts and lawyers had small employ, St. Louis
was dubbed Pain Court by the corn-growing inhab-
itants, but the traders retorted by nicknaming the
agricultural villages Vide Poche and La Mish-e and
Petite C6ies. At St, Andr^, farther up the Missouri,
some thirty families from Kentucky had established
themselves and were farming the land in a fashion so
superior to that of the habitants as to attract the com-
mendation of the governor-general. On the upper
Mississippi, opposite Prairie du Chien, an enterprising
Frenchman, Julien Dubuque, had secured license
(1788) to work the lead mines he had discovered in
that district."
Laclede's trading post soon became the entrep6t
^a- n'ver trafBc and in 1800 boasted neaiX^ oue
isted near\7 oue ^M
I
92 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
thousand inhabitants, largely Canadians from Mon-
treal and Michillimackinac, The confluence of the
Missouri and the Illinois with the Mississippi gave
the post increasing importance as the centre of the
fur trade, and brought it into direct relation with
New Orleans. Keel boats and barges laden with furs,
buffalo robes, meat, and tallow were despatched to
" the city," as the seaport was known in St, Louis par-
lance, and though the voyage of one thousand miles
down-stream was quickly made, it was not without
its dangers. The risk of capture by river pirates *"
was so great that in 1788 the governor ordered that
no boat undertake the trip alone. Thereupon a
fleet of ten keel boats was assembled by the mer-
chants, the robbers' lair was attacked and destroyed,
and the organized piracy came to an eiid.^* A more
persistent danger was the risk of shipwreck on the
sand bars, shoals, and floating driftwood with which
the Father of Floods was beset. Trees dislodged by
the spring freshets floated down river and, becom-
ing imbedded in the muddy bottom, lay in wait for
the unwary navigator. Many a bateau and pirogue
was capsized on a log or snag that rested just be-
neath the water, or rose and fell with the pressure of
the current.
The forty years of Spanish occupation meant
little for the development of Louisiana. Pursuing
the traditional policy of Spanish colonial officials,
the governor-general at New Orleans confined his
attention to multiplying the perquisites of his post,
and his example was followed by every man in
authority. Bradbury, the English naturalist who
THE COLONIZERS 93
nmde a voyage down the Mississippi to New Orleans
in 1810, writes as follows of the hindrances imposed
OD industry: "The most depressing regulations were
made to shackle the internal trade of the coun-
try ; no man could sell the smallest article, not
even a row of pins, without a license, and those
licenses were sold at the most extravagant rates. A
stranger coming into the province, and offering goods
at a fair price, was certain to be sent to prison and
to have his goods confiscated. All favors from these
governors, all grants of land, or even common priv-
ileges, could only be obtained by bribery. . . .
Under so detestable a system of government the
energies of man must forever remain dormant, and
the most fertile regions eternally unproductive to
the world." "
The effect of the tolls and tariffs imposed on
American goods seeking a market at New Orleans
is a matter of general history. The throttling of
their commerce at its natural and most feasible out-
let drove the exasperated settlers along the Ohio,
the Cumberland, and the Tennessee to the point of
revolt. The Federal govermnent was importuned
to negotiate a treaty with Spain that should secure
< American citizens free navigation of the Mis-
Bippi and rights of deposit at New Orleans. After
■olonged and vexatious parleyings, these privileges
i conceded (1795), but only for a term of three
They were withdrawn in 1798, and the
pioneer farmers of Kentucky and Tennessee, again
threatened with ruin, addressed urgent memorials
The danger was even greater than
^^p Congress
94
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
they knew, for in this same year Napoleon was
pushing to a successful conclusion his negotiations
for the restoration of Louisiana to France. The
transfer of New Orleans from the corrupt but un-
enterprising Spaniards to a ruler so ambitious and
unscrupulous, was regarded with serious apprehen-
Bion by the United States government. Wheo
rumors of the treaty of San Ildefonso reached Jeffer-
Bon, he characterized the change of ownership as
"inauspicious" and "ominous to us." In January,
1803, James Monroe was sent to France as minister
plenipotentiary to assist Livingston in securing and
enlarging our rights and interests "in the river
Mississippi and in the territories eastward thereof."
They were empowered to buy New Orleans and the
Floridas for the sum of $2,000,000. After some
haggling over terms, a convention was drawn up
(April 30), and the Province of Louisiana was ceded
to the United States in return for a cash payment of
$15,000,000. The transfer of Lower Louisiana was
formally made at New Orleans in December, but that
of Upper Louisiana and the settlements in the neigh-
borhood of St. Louis was delayed until March, 1804.
The extent of this extraordinary acquisition was
then unknown. To the north lay the dominion of
Great Britain, as yet undefined. To the west, a
range of mountains, uncharted and unexplored, was
believed to delimit the French province. The bound-
ary between Louisiana and Texas was held by Spain
to be the Red River, but the Americans of the Mis-
sissippi Valley were eager to extend their claim to
the Sabine, to the Colorado, to the Kio Grand
Graa^^
k
THE COLONIZERS
Section III
Texas
Possession contested by France and Spain. — When
news of La Salle's expedition was brought to Mexico
by the captors of the supply ship, St. Francois, it be-
came evident that some measures must be taken to
hold the land of the Tejas, if Spanish control of the
Gulf of Mexico was to be maintained. Two vessels
were despatched, therefore, to search the coast for La
Salle's colony (1686-1687). The wreckage of La
Belle and L'Aimable was found in St. Louis Bay,
but nothing more. The overland party had the
good fortune (1689) to discover the ruins of the
fort and captured two of La Salle's murderers. The
rest of the ill-fated colonists had succumbed to privar
tion and disease. In 1690 the missionary occupa-
tion of the country was attempted. Three Francis-
cans with an escort of one hundred soldiers reached
ihe Trinidad River and were received with delight
by the natives. There the mission of San Francisco
de los Tejas was built, a mere log church with
barracks for the padres. Soon horses and cattle were
sent in, and a beginning of tillage was made. The
Tejas were a semi-agricultural people accustomed to
the cxiltivation of corn, beans, melons, and tobacco,
yet they decUned to Hve in houses and, discouraged
by the first failure of crops, began to steal the cattle
and escape into the wilderness. Eight more missiona
had been projected, and that of Santa Maria was
actually started among the Cenis ; but the perverse
I
96 EXPLORERS AXD C0L0X1ZEH3
character of the savages disbearteoed the friars, and
in 1694 the enterprise was abandoned.
The grant of Louis XIV to .\nthony Croiat convey-
ing the monopoly of the trade of Loui^ana indi-
cated the Rio Grande as the natural boundary be-
tween the French and Spanish dominions. Croiat
hoped to discover mines in this region and to open
up a profitable exchange of prwducls between Mobile
and the Spanish settlements, San Juan Bautista and
Monclova, Louis Jucfaereau de St, Denis was sent
on a trial trip in 1714. With 6ve canoes laden with
goods be went up the Mississippi and Red riveis
and, ha\'ing established a trading post at Natchi-
toches, made his way overland as far as San Juan.
He succeeded in establishing friendly relations with
tite eommandante, and thus set on foot the contra-
band trade nith Mexico that per^sted for a century
to come.
St. Denis' bold venture convinced the Spanish
govermnent of the necessity of taking possession of
the land of the Tejas, The A-iceroy got together
seven or eight famihes who were willing to risk their
fortunes in this enterprise, together with some fifty
soldiers and twel^'e friars, and put them in chai^
of Capt^ Domingo Ramon (1716). A train of
pack mules and oxen with one thousand goats com-
pleted the equipment. There were no difficulties en
route. Pursuing an easteriy course through luxuriant
woods and pastures, they found abundant game. —
buffalo, wild turkej-5, and fish. The Tcjas were in
friendly mood and smoked the calumet with the
^Mmish officers, and they allowed the friars to rebuild
THE COLONIZERS 97
the mission of St. Francisco de los Neehes (Nacog-
doches) and that of Purissima Conception for the
Cenis villages. Seven missions in all were founded
between the Trinidad and Red rivers, and one, San
Antonio de Valero, on the San Antonio River. The
adjacent presidio '' of San Antonio de Bejar gave to
this position a special importance.
This brave beginning was brought to an untimely
end by the outbreak of war between France and
Spain (1719). A troop of French and Indians from
O COLON"
The miasacms bev :
sNalchi:.
ibe eotmtry,
7nnidAd aod the cokmistB
: ax San Antonio.
- T dex^and, oolonua-
snm of S250,000
sitd the 3iIarqtMS
----i the Land of the
" :.inT families, and
r:iepp. Additional
■ :■ E^]drita Santo
.h-a. was erected.
- - -■:ftablished,
. garrisoned
_. . ii San Ad-
famio de B^ar wk reteilt in adobe, and a Spanish
jhmUo, Sm Fernando, vms pfojected in the im-
■*tf^<y ndxoty. It was ordeied CIT^) that four
hnndicd f«">»K»^ dmdd be fannght ovtr from the
Caauy Islands at the espense of the crown, whDe
evwy ship (tearing from Havana (1729) was to
bring in twdrv Cuban fanulies. Imnd and fall
#iti— uiUp ^ras proasBsed, and the colonists were
■BByred of mamteoanoe far the initial jear. In con-
tend with trade leKOtbtaans, tfae imnagnuits wen
not to the nci^boriiig baibar of EsfHritu
bat to Vcfa Craz, wfaenee they were obtiged
overland by way of the Oty of Mexico to
Tlussome thirty fanulies were with
tza&Epotted to Sao Antonio to fonn the
de Sbb Fernando. But the imnugiants proved
■JuitriuiB than tfae natives, for they reused
Ae soil, prefening to live by hostix^ and £
idfi^
THE COLONIZERS
ing. A similar colony, San Augustin, with a presidio
attached, was planted on the Trinidad in 1755 with
fifty families ; but they, too, found it easier to live
without work, and neither settlement prospered.
The of&cials were made of no better stuff than the
settlers and neglected their most evident duties ; the
very governor used his authority to impress the labor
of the mission Indians for his own benefit and to the
impoverishment of the friara.
The missionaries sent to the Tejas and the Cenis
were zealous and disinterested men, and their methods
were unusually wise. The native dialects were used
in the instruction of the new converts, but the
Indians residing at the mission were taught Spanish.
The soil was cultivated in common under the super-
vision of the friars, and a garden lot was assigned
to every man who proved diligent and capable.
The government of the mission community was
vested in an alcalde elected by the people and ap-
proved by the governor. The natives were taught
agriculture, carpentering, bricklaying, blacksmith-
ing, weaving, and other trades, in order that the
needs of the mission might be supplied, and they
were well fed and clothed with the double object of
keeping thetti contented and attracting others from
the savage state to this opportunity for Christian
education. Adobe houses were built for their use and
furnished with such domestic utensils as the people
could be induced to employ. Water collected in small
reservoirs was distributed over the fields by means
of irrigating ditches, and corn, beans, pumpkins,
and melons were grown in abundance. Sugar made
fbar BBttre UiQffB were ml cqpil tD f
EbA ammm tmatd eon a^ bav a^dcBt fv its
ovD Meife.'*«Ue Oe iKKMBof flattfeavved far ont-
■detnffie. The faian mi^ teve devdoped a «»-
apinst their seffiag in the wa maifaet. Ktwerer,
cattle were eaU as opportODity allaed. and the se-
etmd btDs teceiTCd in orhany voe forwanfed to
the Kiperiorat the CSty of Hezieo, who laid oat the
proceeds in sopplies for the nnsaoD, — doth, hats,
tobacco, needles, kmres^ pots, netalis,* hatdiets,
erowbais, saddles, and Ixidles. Chocolate far the
•pedal delectatioa ct the hiais, and drugs for the
restoration of the sicfc, togetber with the nmameDts
and fiacred images and other appurteaances of the
chnrch, were famished at cost of the rorat treaeury.
THE COLONIZERS
The Franciscan establishment in Texas never accu-
mulated wealth, and the beautiful churches of San
Antonio, San Jos6, and Piu-issima Conception were
built with funds subscribed by the faithful in New
and Old Spain. The missions suffered very much
from the raids of Comanches and Apaches and
scarcely less from the depredations of the settlers
and officials. The soldiers sent to guard the missions
were usually their worst foes, slaughtering the
cattle and debauching the neophytes without con-
science, while the Indians lost their tribal virtues
and became drunken, vicious, and syphilitic. In the
hundred years of missionary effort the total number
baptized was less than ten thousand, and there were
never more than two thousand reducidos " resident at
any time in the dozen odd establishments. There
were two thousand mission Indians in 1732, four
hundred and fifty in 1785, and no more in 1793.
The secularization of the missions was decreed in
1794, the royal support was withdrawn, secular
clergy were placed in charge of the churches, and the
cultivated lands distributed among the converts.
When Pike passed through San Antonio (180G), he
visited the three missions in its immediate neighbor-
lood and noted that while their prosperity was a
Lg of the past, the church buildings "for solidity,
loramodation, and even majesty were surpassed
by few that I saw in New Spain." He asked the
resident priest at San Antonio de Valero what had
become of the natives. "He replied that it ap-
peared to him that they could not exist under the
Bhadow of the whites, as the nations who formed
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
J
same
they
nt 1^
I
:th^ missions had been nurtured, taken all 1
*oare of that it was possible, and put on the same
footing as the Spaniards ; yet, notwithstanding, they
had dwindled away until the other two missions h
become entirely depopulated, and the one wh(
he resided had not then more than sufficient 1
perform his household labor."
When Louisiana was ceded to Spain, Natchitoches
ceased to be a menace ; but the withdrawal of the
northern garrisons (Pilar, Augiistin, San Luis, 1777)
worked harm to colonists and missions alike. The
Comanches of the plains, waging war against their
hereditary foes, the Lipan Apaches, were incited by
the latter to turn their arms against the Spaniards.
The settlements were attacked, priests and civilians
killed, and cattle driven off, in spite of the punitive
expeditions organized by the commandante at San
Antonio. The pusillanimity of the troops only
served to incite farther raids, and the settlers in
despair abandoned all cultivation. The ^-illage of
San Fernando was io a wretched state. There were
only one hundred and forty houses in the town,
more than half of them mere wooden shacks. The
descendants of the Canary Island immigrants, both
civilians and officials, were lazy and vicious. They
would do no work, but impressed the labor of the
mission Indians and stole the mission cattle for
slaughter and for sale. De Morfi, who visited
Texas in 1778, says of San Fernando: "This villa cost
the king more than 80,000 pesos and to-day, if sold,
would not bring in 80 pesos."" According to de
MorB's estimate, the total white population of Texu
/••J
1
r
^
{5LO"Ki2ERS
103
did not amount to three thousand souls (2600).
The settlements at Nacogdoches and Balua num-
bered three hundred each, that at San Antonio, one
thousand. At the beginning of the nineteenth cen-
tury the civilized population of this vast territory
— Spanish and French creoles, mission Indians, and
half-breeds^ — was but seven thousand, or one to
each square league. The town at San Antonio
reckoned two thousand people, Bahia (GoUad), four-
teen hundred, Nacogdoches, five hundred. The re-
maining three thousand were gathered about the
smaller missions and presidios, while a few great
landowners dwelt in feudal isolation on their ranchos,
or cattle ranges.
The rancheros were a reckless, improvident race
whose wealth consisted in cattle and horses. They
spent the better part of their lives in the saddle,
and their devotion to the buffalo hunt was a ruinous
passion. Governor Cordero (1806) undertook to
restrict the sport to certain seasons and required
each man of family to plant a stated acreage to
corn, but this legislation had little effect. It was
far easier to trade horses and cattle for what was
needed, since these were to be had for the taking.
Pike describes the process of corralling wild horses.
"The method pursued by the Spanish in taking
them is as follows : they take a few fleet horses and
proceed into the country where the wild horses are
numerous. They then build a large strong enclosure,
with a door which enters a smaller enclosure ; from
the entrance of the large pen they project wings out
into the prairie a great distance, and then set up
104
EXPLORERS AXD COLONIZERS
bushes, etc., to induce the horses, when pursued, to
enter into these wings. After these preparations
are niade, they keep a lookout for a small drove,
for, if they unfortunately should start too large a
one, they either burst open the pen or fill it up with
dead bodies, and the others run over them and
escape ; in which case the party are obliged to leave
the place, as the stench arising from the putrid
carcasses would be insupportable ; and, in addition
to this, the pen would not receive others. Should
they, however, succeed in driving in a few, say two
or three hundred, they select the handsomest and
youngest, noose them, take them into the small
enclosure, and then turn out the remainder ; after
which, by starving, preventing them taking any
repose, and continually keeping them in motion,
they make them gentle by degrees, and finally break
them to submit to the saddle and bridle. For this
biisiness I presume there is no nation in the world
superior to the Spaniards of Texas." *'
The prairies teemed with horses and cattle, the
progeny of the early importations, which fattened on
the succulent pasture, untended and unclaimed.
Great numbers were driven off by the nomad Indians
and bartered to the tribes of the far north, and thou-
sands were captured, broken, and driven to Natchi-
toches for sale. An edict of 1778 reserved unbranded
cattle to the crown, and imposed a tax of four reals
for each animal killed ; but this measure, which should
have produced a revenue of ?25,000, brought but
$7000 into the provincial treasury, and nothing
reached the king. In fact, this province, that had
■ THE COLONIZERS
cost the royal exchequer 86,000,000 all told, was on
the verge of ruin. The Spanish residents were ready
to abandon their property because the widely scat-
tered and feebly manned presidios afforded no protec-
tion against their savage foes.
Even while the French were in possession of
Louisiana, the Texans had carried on a brisk contra-
band trade with Natchez, New Orleans, and Mobile.
Horses and cattle were driven along the "contra-
band trace" to Natchitoches, where they brought
good prices and where merchandise was cheaper than
the goods packed overland from the City of Mexico
and Vera Cruz. All classes in the frontier communi-
ties — settlers, soldiers, friars, and officials — were
smugglers. Even the governor had his share in the
illicit profits, although he occasionally arrested French
factors residing in Texas and sent them to the capital
in evidence of his zeal for the public service. When
Natchitoches became a Spanish town, this trade was
no longer illicit, and trains of pack mules laden with
West Indian and European goods followed the San
Antonio road. Natchitoches was also headquarters
For the Indian trade, whence agents were sent to the
native villages with firearms, gunpowder, hatchets,
knives, and liquor to exchange for furs and buffalo
hides. The weapons and liquors quickly foimd their
way to the nomad tribes in the interior, rendering
them yet more dangerous, but there was no attempt
to restrict the sale. Indeed, the Spanish governor
of Louisiana favored the distribution of ardicnte and
inferior ammunition to the savages of the frontier,
U a means to their speedy extinction.
106 EXPLORERS AND COLOXIZERS
The Cominf of the AmericanM
After the peace of Paris extended the British
dominions in America to the ^lis^ssipfH River, the
English began to cross the Appalachians in shoals,
and their oei^boriiood became a menace to the
Spanish possessions far more serious than the
French. These colonizers came on their own initia-
tive and in oppo^tion to the royal decree that
would have held the territory west of the Appala-
chians as a game preserve. They brought wives and
children and were bent upon making homes in the
wilderness of Ken-ta^kee. Flourishing settlements
sprang into existence, and keel boats bearing the
surplus produce of the pioneer farms began to find
their way down the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the
Tennessee to the Mississippi River and New Orleans,
When this avenue of commerce was finally opened,
the "men of the western rivers" were not slow to
avail themselves of the golden opportunity. Philip
11 had decreed (1560) that no foreigner might enter
a Spanish colony without first obtaining the royal
license, and neglect of this precaution was punished
by confiscation of goods and expulsion from the
country. No passport held was good for longer than
two years except those of the merchants, which pei^
mitted three years' residence. But as the mineral
wealth of the Mexican provinces and the profits to
be made in trade became known, many Americans
crossed the Texas border in defiance of the law,
hoping to escape detection, or in any case to obtain
OOncesuons from some venal official.
rTHE COLONIZERS 107
In 1800 a gentleman of Irish birth and a prot6g6
of General Wilkinson, PhiUp Nolan of Natchez, who
had been engaged in the Texan trade since 1785,
undertook to capture horses on his own account.
He entered the country with a party of twenty men,
fourteen Americans — backwoodsmen from Virginia
wand Tennessee — five Mexicans, and one negro.
fcNoIan had an out-of-date passport from the governor
of Louisiana, but his men were unprovided. Having
reached the Brazos River, they built a log camp and
a corral and had succeeded in imprisoning three hun-
dred animals when they were attacked by a party of
Spanish troopers. Nolan was killed in the first fusil-
lade, and the others surrendered on the understanding
that they would be allowed to return to Natchitoches.
They were carried as far as Nacogdoches, but were
thence haled to San Antonio, San Luis Potosi, and
Chihuahua to be examined by Salcedo, captain-gen-
eral of the Interior Provinces. He referred the mat-
ter to Madrid, and the unfortunate men were held
five years in prison awaiting the king's decree. When
at last it was announced, the sentence proved un-
expectedly severe. Every fifth man was to be
hanged. As there were only nine survivors, one life
was thought to be sufficient to meet the royal order,
but the other men were condemned to ten years of
hard labor." Our first-hand authority for this ad-
venture is Ellis P. Bean, who, a Kentucky lad of
seventeen, was coming down the Mississippi to
I Natchez with a scowload of flour and whiskey when
met Nolan and was induced to try his young
rtune in Texas. On recovering his liberty, Bean.
I
108 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
joined the revolutionary foreea in the determination
to strike a blow against that king at whose behest he
had suffered so much,
Mexico was ripe for revolt. Three centuries of
corruption and oppression had created a class an-
tagonism that boded ill for the landowners and the
bureaucracy. Pike was impressed with the contrast
of riches and poverty and the general discontent
prevailing in the northern provinces. The officers
and grandees Uvcd in much state, but "the mass of
the people were naked and starved wretches," while
the inferior clergy and the subordinate officials, usu-
ally Creoles by birth, had no chance of advancement,
"This had soured their minds to such a degree that I
am confident in asserting that they will lead the van
whenever the standard of independence is raised in
the country," Pike was fully convinced that a rev-
olution was not far distant, and that intervention
on the part of his government would become inevi-
table. As Pike's party and its escort neared the Red
River, they met a "number of runaway negroes"
and some French and Irish emigrants from New Or-
leans. There were smugglers, too, engaged in carry-
ing on illicit commerce with the Spaniards, "who on
their side were equally eager." The trade in horses,
though mutually advantageous, was once more con-
traband ; but it was carried on, none the less, and
at very great profit. All the conditions were those
of an ill-regulated frontier. "The American emi-
grants are introducing some little spirit of agri-
culture near Nacogdoches and the Trinity ; but the
oppres^ons and suspicions they labor under prevei
a
THE COLONIZERS
109
_^n
their proceeding with that spirit which is neces-
sary to give success to the establishment of a new
country." "
The troubled state of Mexico had not escaped at-
tention in the United States. The settlers In Ken-
tucky and Tennessee had their otd-tlme grudge
against the exclusive commercial policy of Spain,
while Natchez, Natchitoches, and New Orleans har-
bored many Mexican malcontents. Even at Wash-
ington there were plots to add Texas, possibly
Mexico, to the possessions of the United States.
All this seething discontent and desire for vengeance
centered in the projects of Aaron Burr, ex-vice-presi-
dent of the United States, a man of potent person-
ality and vast ambitions, who gathered about him a
group of hot-headed adventurers, even more talkative
and restless than himself. Burr had purchased a
grant of 400,000 acres on the Red River from Baron
de Bastrop,*^ purposing to found an agricultural
colony on the Louisiana frontier and await events.
At Blennerhaaset Island on the upper Ohio, he was
collecting provisions, agricultural implements, and
boats for the descent of the Mississippi, and there a
score of backwoodsmen joined him for what was,
on the face of it, nothing more than a promising
colonial venture. However, rumors of the enterprise
reached New Spain in exaggerated form. Colonel
Burr was reported to have collected two thousand
men and to be contemplating an attack on New Or-
leans. From that base, aided by the French Creoles,
who had their own reasons for hating Spanish rule,
was supposed to project the invasion of New Spain
I
I
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
and the overtam of the vicerovalty. Protests v
addressed to the United Slates officials, and Burr's
flatboats were stopped at Natchez, his men were
scattered, and he himself toougbt to trial on cbai^
of treason (1806-1S07) by his political adversary,
Preadent JeEfereon.
Meantime, stirring events were taking place on the
Texas frontier. The long controversy between Spain
and the American government over the navigation
of the Mississippi was no sooner terminated by the
cession of Louisiana, than the question of the Mexi-
can boundar>' began to agitate the pioneers. The
Red River, held by the Spanish government to be
both the natural and the historic boundary', did not
satisfy the ardent advocates of American expansion.
They hungered for the fat lands of Texas, and ui^ed
that the purchase rights based on the French occupa-
tion ran to the Sabine or even to the Rio Grande.
While the President and Congress were endeavoring
to negotiate the cession of the Floridas, trans-Alle-
ghany politicians were discussing ways and means
of securing Texas. General Wilkinson, commander-
in-chief of the United States army, General .\dair of
Kentucky, Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, Daniel
Clarke, and the Mexican .Association of New Or-
leans were in sympathy with the project urged by
hot-heads that an expedition be oi^anized in the
western states for the invasion of Texas. The prece-
dent furnished by Miranda's expedition against
Venezuela went far to assure them that a filibustering
enterprise, if successful, would not be discountenanced
by the Administration. Moreover, in the event c
I
I THE COLONIZERS 111
war with Spain, which then seemed imminent, the
movement would be unquestionably patriotic.
The irritation of the Mexican authorities at every-
thing suggestive of trespass on the part of their
northern neighbors was extreme. The rough hand-
ling to which Pike's party had been subjected is
accounted for by the excitement aroused by Burr's
enterprise. Cordero had received information of
Dunbar's Red River expedition as early as July,
1806, and had forwarded the disquieting news to
Salcedo. Under such circumstances the arrest and
deportation of Pike's party seemed quite justified.
BeUeving that the United States government was
ready to countenance uivasion, the Mexican govern-
ment prepared for defence. The viceroy, Iturri-
garay, sent fifteen hundred soldiers to Texas, the
fortifications of San Antonio and Nacogdoches were
strengthened, and in April, 1806, General Herrera
was sent to Arroyo Hondo (Bayou Fimda, seven
miles south of Natchitoches) to forestall aggression.
When the news reached Washington, Wilkinson was
ordered to the front to drive the Spaniards back to
the Sabine. This was the opportunity hoped for by
the conspirators. The West was aflame with zeal to
have it out with the "dons," to drive Herrera's force
beyond the Sabine, — beyond the Rio Grande, — to
the City of Mexico, to expel the Spanish bureau-
cracy from the American Continent, to set free an op-
pressed people, to establish a republican government
in the land of Montezuma. The Creoles of Louisiana
Bent a volunteer force, five hundred strong, to join
[Wilkinson at Natchitoches; Burr's flatboats viexc;
1
112 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS ^
preparing on the Muskingum; Jackson was building '
boats on the Cumberland for the same enterprise.
But the commander-in-chief moved with great cir-
cumspection. He Ungered at St. Louis for three
months after receiving his orders, and did not
arrive at Natchitoches until September 22. Then
he entered into negotiations with Governor
Cordero (then in residence at Nacogdoches) rela-
tive to the withdrawal of the Spanish troops.
The governor protested that he had no authority
to consider so base a desertion of His Majesty's
claims. Then Herrcra cut the Gordian knot by
suddenly, and apparently of his own responsi-
bihty, retreating beyond the Sabine (September
29-30). His troops, less than seven hundred in
nimiber, short of food and badly mimitioned, were
at the point of mutiny. Moreover, he had married
an English wife and travelled much in the United
States, and he was not eager to try conclusions with
an enemy so sure to be reenforced by popular sup-
port. His retreat was later approved both by Cor-
dero and Salcedo, on the ground that armed conflict
would have "jeopardized" the disputed territory.
Instead of following up his advantage, Wilkinson
delayed a full month at Natchitoches, and did not
appear on the Sabine until October 29. Then he
paused upon the left bank and entered into nego-
tiations with Herrera across the river. The result
was the inglorious Neutral Ground Convention by
which the district between the Sabine and the Arroyo
Honda was to be evacuated by both parties, the two
armies retreating to their respective fortifications
THE COLONIZERS
113
"■Bt Natchitoches and Nacogdoches. The details of
these extraordinary negotiations have never been
divulged. Burling served as go-between, and he
kept his master's secrets. The indignant West^
emers believed that their commander had been
bribed by the Spanish government, and certainly
Salcedo was well pleased with the result. He wrote
to Viceroy Iturrigaray, " This treaty insures the
integrity of the Spanish dominions along the whole
of the great extension of frontier."
Then followed that extraordinary series of charges
and countercharges, Wilkinson accusing Bmr of
treason against the United States, and Burr and his
friends accusing the general of being subsidized by
Spain, which culminated in Burr's trial at Richmond
and his final acquittal. Chief Justice Marshall ruled
that, while Burr had not been convicted of treason,
he might suitably be indicted for high misdemeanor
under the Act of 1794, which so designated the
offence of any person who should, within the jiiris-
diction of the United States, begin or set on foot a
military expedition against the territory of any
foreign power with whom the United States govern-
ment was at peace. Wilkinson took great credit to
himself for having frustrated "a deep, dark, and
wicked" conspiracy, "that would have shaken the
government to its foundations," and his high-handed
methods were fully indorsed by Jefferson. Only
recently has the damaging fact come to light that
Burling carried to Iturrigaray (January, 1807) a
letter from Wilkinson, demanding that the Spanish
evemment reward the commander-in-chief of thie
114
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
army of the United States for services rendered
the frustration of Burr's expedition against Mexico^
to the amount of $111,000. When Burling returni
to New Orleans with the information that the claim
would be referred to Madrid, Wilkinson forwarded to
Washington the ostensible result of this secret mission,
a report on the defences of the City of Mexico^
with the request that the expenses of his ambassador,
$1500, be met from the United States treasury !
During the Napoleonic Wars, Spain could do little
for her colonies, and they were abandoned to the
misgovemment and peculation of greedy officials.
Crushed under the triple burden of a shackled com*'
merce, grinding taxation, and military service, the
Creole population rebelled at last (1812) and, aided
by the natives, succeeded in throwing off the hated
dominion. The insurrection led by Hidalgo was
suppressed, but it was the signal for revolts in other
parts of Mexico and a ten years' war. The viceroy
had no troops to spare for the defence of Texas, and'
this rich frontier province lay at the mercy of free-
booters and fiUbusters. The Neutral Ground became
an asylum for criminals, both American and Mexican,
Refugees from justice and desperadoes gathered in
this lawless land and earned an exciting though pre-
carious livelihood by preying upon the commerce
between Texas and New Orleans. Traders along the
San Antonio road, unprovided with miUtary escort,
were forced to pay tribute to these highwaymen.
Moreover, Hidalgo's revolt excited among the hot
bloods of the American frontier new hopes for the
acquisition of Texas. In 1S13 Lieutenant Magee,
THE COLONIZERS 115
commander at Natchitoches, resigned his commission
in the United States army and led a company of
five hundred bandits, recruited in the Neutral
Ground, across the Sabine. He succeeded in getting
possession of San Antonio and declared for the
Mexican republic, but the invaders were soon after
ambushed and cut to pieces. Only ninety-three
returned to Natchitoches, and Texas was well-nigh
depopulated by the royalist revenge.
This unlucky expedition had no countenance in the
United States, and President Madison issued a
proclamation (1815) forbidding such enterprises as
unlatvful and seditious. By the treaty of 1819, our
claim to Texas was formally surrendered in return
for the cession of the Floridas, and the boundary be-
tween the United States and the Spanish possessions
was fixed along the Sabine, the Red, and the Arkansas
rivers to the forty-second parallel, and thence directly
west to the Pacific Coast. The hope of annexing
Texas to the United States was apparently thwarted.
Thenceforward Texas was a no-man's land, un-
defended by the Spanish government and abandoned
to the anarchic elements of a frontier population. In
1816 a Mexican insurgent, Herrera. took possession
of Galveston Island and set up a freebooters' repub-
lic ; but a court of admiralty, with the right to issue
letters of marque and to adjudicate prizes, was the
principal organ of the nascent state. The sounds
and bayous of the Gulf Coast furnished an ideal
refuge for smugglers and pirates, and some thousand
men, outlaws from the West Indies, Louisiana, and
i Neutral Ground, gathered under Herrera's flag.
^Jhe Neutral
lie
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
aDt-
Jay.
Twelve vessels were engaged in privateering in th(
Gulf, and they captured several Spanish merchant-
men and conveyed the spoils to Galveston Baj'.
Slave ships bound for the West Indies were also-
taken, and the helpless human cargo driven to Nei
Orleans for sale. In a few years Herrera was suJ
ceeded by Lafltte, a French ereole driven (1814) from "
Barataria, whose audacity and success won him the
title of Pirate of the Gulf, His subalterns owed
respect to no flag and dared to attack even American
vessels. The Spanish government had protested
against interference from the United States, lest that
dreaded power gain a foothold in Texas; but the
depredations of the pirate commonwealth grew in-
tolerable. In 1821 a United States war vessel was
despatched to Galveston Bay, and Lafitte's colony
was suppressed.
Spain had been unable to colonize Texas, but i
attempt at settlement on the part of alien people
was instantly resented. Lalleraand, a distinguishei
French refugee, undertook (1818) to found a coloi^
on the Trinity River twelve miles above the b^
The colonists were recruited from Napoleonlj
shattered army, and they made small success i
farmers. The settlement was too weak to be
source of danger ; none the less, a Spanish force was
despatched to drive them from the land. In 1819^
an expedition from Natchez, led by James Lon|
who had married a niece of Wilkinson, penetrated t
Nacogdoches and induced the Americans settled""
thereabouts to declare Texas a free and independent
lublic. Their success was shorUived (1819-1821).
onggfl
■dtOM
ttled
dent
J21).
THE COLONIZERS
117
Spanish troops from San Antonio scattered Long's
force and drove the Americana across the Sabine.
Even men such as Barr and Davenport, who had
lived in Texas twenty years and had sworn allegiance
to the king of Spain, were obliged to leave the coun-
try, Nacogdoches and the ranch houses along the
San Antonio road were destroyed, cattle were
slaughtered, and fields laid waste. The whole region
east of the Colorado River relapsed to wilderness.
Bands of Apaches and Comanches, seeking horses,
terrorized the isolated settlements, and Lafitte's
slave gangs passed unchallenged to New Orleans.
By 1830 the white population of Texas had
dwindled to thirty-five hundred, and this dispirited
remnant was gathered about the only remaining
presidios of San Antonio and Bahia de Espiritu Santo.
Meantime the Revolution had been accomplished.
Iturbide, the Spanish commander employed against
the insurgents in the South, becoming convinced that
his task was hopeless, proclaimed the independence
of Mexico, and all classes, even the revolutionary
leaders, flocked to his standard in support of the plan
of Iguala. When it became evident that no Spanish
prince would accept the proffered crown, Iturbide
was declared emperor. But the republican elements
were strong enough to prevent this consummation of
the long struggle for self-government. Santa Anna
succeeded in overturning the empire and a federal
republic was inaugurated (1824). For Texas this
was a bloodless revolution, accepted without enthu-
siasm or protest. The sparsely populated frontier
ivince was united with Coahuila as a federal state.
■I
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
Section IV
California
Colonization attempted. — The reign of Charles III
(1759-1788) was signahzed by a fresh colonizing
impulse. His wise and disinterested minister, Don
Jos6 Galvez, was sent to Mexico (1765-1771) as
visitador general to correct the abuses of adminis-
tration, mitigate the oppression of the Indians, and
extend Spain's dominions in North America. In
spite of strenuous opposition, he succeeded in ousting
the corrupt incumbents and in placing honest men
at the head of the government of New Spain. In
the course of his five years' sojourn, this energetic
and single-minded man set on foot a series of far-
reaching reforms. The enterprise that most con-
cerns this history was one that had the especial
indorsement of the king, the founding of settlements
on the northwest coast that should forestall foreign
intervention and hold the country for the Spanish
crown.
During the first half of the eighteenth century
Great Britain was a menace, for her licensed pri-
vateers and even a ship of the hne scoured the
Pacific in pursuit of prizes. Woodes Rogers, George
Shelvocke, Admiral George Anson, and other British
sea-dogs whose exploits were less picturesquely
chronicled, captured Spanish merchantmen, ravaged
coast towns, and filled the breasts of Spanish com-
mandantes with terror and dismay. Because of these
depredations, every Manila galleon must needs be
I
THE COLONIZERS
tended by an armed frigate, a system of defence
whose cost eventually mined the Philippine trade.
But none of the privateers attempted exploration or
made any pretence of reenforcing Drake's assertions
of British suzerainty. They were content to conduct
their prizes into Puerta Segura and there rifle them
of their silver and such Oriental stuffs as might be
worth carrying away. Much better founded was the
apprehension of danger from the north. Exploring
expeditions, sent out by Peter the Great and his im-
mediate successors, had given Russia a foothold on
the Pacific. In 1728 Vitus Behring discovered the
strait that divides Asia from America ; later explora-
tion revealed the haunts of the sea-otter, and by 1760
Russian fur traders had begun operations in the Aleu-
tian Islands. If Spain's control of the Pacific was
to be maintained, it behooved her to fortify California.
Galvez proposed three frontier posts on the tliree
known harbors, San Diego, the Santa Barbara Canal,
and Monterey, and summoned the Franciscans to
his aid. This order had just succeeded to the Jesuit
missions in Lower California^ and the new venture
was organized on the plan that had proved so success-
ful at Loreto and La Paz, that of a monastic com-
munity in which the natives were the neophytes,"
Since the conversion of the Indians and the defence
of the coast were the dominant issues, and the indus-
trial development of the country was but a secon-
dary consideration, the mission and the presidio were
the important concerns, and the pueblo was but little
considered. Few contemporary Spaniards besides
^^^vez realized that the perpetuation of Spaiuah,
120
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
control in Upper California depended on planting^
there a Spanish population. Costanz6's Journal
(1769) states that the visitador general "felt the
necessity of peopling the explored part of California
with useful folk, capable of cultivating its lands
and profiting by the rich products which it offers in
minerals, grain or other fruits, and likewise capable
of taking Arms in defence of their Houses whenever
the occasion should arrive." " But colonists of this
description were not to be had. The Spaniards who
came to the New World were soldiers, missionaries,
and adventurers ; the peasants staid at home. It
is not surprising, therefore, that the pioneer colonists
of California were four officers, sixty-five soldiers^,
and seventeen Franciscans, with a suitable complq
ment of servants, mule-drivers, and converted Im
dians. The visitador general succeeded in enlisting
for the direction of this sacred expedition a group of
singularly efficient and devoted men — Portold, the
wise and honest governor, Costanz6, the resourceful
engineer, and Pedro Prat, the faithful surgeon ; but
no man counted for so much in counsel or in actioai
as Father Junfpero Serra, the padre presidente
the missions of the two Californias. Ten years'
perience among the Pamis had convinced him that
if the Indians were to be civilized, they should be
taught the white man's industry as well as his reli-
gioD, and he hoped to reclaim the degraded tribes of
the north coasts and make of them self-supporting
farmers. His work for the missions of Aha. California
evinced strong common sense as well as ardent sym-
Dathy for the people to whom his life was consecrated.
ioa»
THE COLONIZERS
^ Galvez presided in person over the preparations
at La Paz. Two barks, the San Antonio and the
San Carlos, loaded with provisions, seeds, plants,
and agricultural implements, besides bells and other
church furnishings, were despatched up the outer
coast. Because the sea voyage was always at-
tended with serious risk, it was determined to
send the cattle and mules, together with the major
part of the people, overland from Santa Maria, the
northernmost mission. At this rendezvous were
collected the live stock and the generous toll of
grain, dried fruits, wine, and olive oil contributed to
this new enterprise by the several missions of Cali-
fornia Baja. Two months were consumed in the
toilsome traverse of the mountains, and when
Father Junipero and Governor Portold arrived at
San Diego Bay (June 28, 1769), they found the
ships already at anchor. The San Carlos had spent
one hundred and ten days on the voyage and the
San AiUonio fifty-nine. Both crews had suffered
terribly from scurvy — of which dread disease two-
thirds later died — whereas the land party had not
Wt a man. No sooner were the forces reunited than
the cross was raised, a mass was said, and the spiritual
conquest of CaUfornia had begun. The presidio was
biult upon a bluff overlooking the native rancheria
Wid the bay, but the mission was soon removed from
this arid spot to a fertile valley three miles back
from the coast, where there was level land that
"light be irrigated from the river. The Indians were
* hnatish lot and could be enticed to baptism only
be wpmei, t«D pr.
I
tbe foaOOa a»i ti ie
viSey fltactdknig far iniuHi. lis iBtakt [liuns were
^dcd by great oaks; and "■■■"—■— qvings, ridag
to the aarfae^ kept Ae hafaagp pcm. Father
Oeipi thongbt tfaiB pleasant tuoepett "one of the
nm II ) III of this void," and ofaned that ''ten or
tmoty laborii^ peoos," " if set to wtA here, could
pnmde saffident grain for all the settlaraeiit& Here
they propoeed to found a misaon dedicated to San
GabrieL Tuniizig west, they passed op the Por-
etoiictila Rxver, wb»e were "exteoave swamps of
bittunen," into aootber promiang ralleT, Santa
Catalina (later San Fernando), and over a precifutous
pMB (Las Castas) into the smiling verdure aloog the
Santa Clara River. This brou^t them to the
§bons of the Santa Barbara Canal, and here they
found a tribe of some ten thousand souls who lived
Mt comfortable wicker huts, planted grain, built
pden boats, made a rude potteiy, and gave Gyi-
THE COLONIZERS
123
^ence of a higher state of civilization than any yet
encountered. Noticing the advantages the place
afforded for a future mission, Portoli pressed on
across the Santa Lucia Range and into the narrow
valley of the Salinas River. The country grew
"more fertile and more pleasing in proportion as
they penetrated more to the north," *' there was
plenty of game, and the weather was perfect. The
only serious danger that attended the march, accord-
ing to Costanz6, was the proneness of the great
caballada (troop of horses) to stampede at the
slightest alarm. In the first week of October, they
reached a wooded point {Point of Pines) in latitude
36° 40'. Here should be Vizcaino's landing, but
since the wide, open bay seemed to afford no anchor-
age, PortoH failed to recognize the harbor and went
on to the sand dunes above Point San Pedro. There
a hunting party, ascending the hills (October 31),
descried Point Reyes and the Farallones, the well-
known landmarks of the Puerto de San Francisco.
To the north and east of the intervening range lay a
broad lagoon communicating, apparently, with the
sea. A reconnoitring party sent out to fathom
this mystery returned after four days and reported
that it was in truth an arm of the sea surrounded by
Ewamps and level glades, where were populous
Indian villages shaded by great oak trees. This was
an important discovery, but PortoM did not pursue
it. There were only fourteen sacks of flour remain-
ing, and the party was subsisting on geese and ducks.
The men were sick and discouraged and clamorous
^Bt retreat. After looking in vain for the supply
124
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
ship that was to put in at Monterey, Portol^ decideo^F
to return to San Diego.
In the year following, a second exjwdition, freshly
provisioned, was sent to found the northern post on
the roadstead now discerned to be Vizcaino's harbor.
The presidio was placed on the "magnificent ampi-
theatre"" above the bay ; but the San Carlos Mission
was soon transferred (1771) to the Carmel River,
south of the Point of Piaes, where a heavy growth
of grass indicated the "feracity of the land," and
the sea teemed with fish. In the four following
years, four more missions were founded at the most
promising sites on the route between San Diego and
Monterey — San Juan Capistrano, San Gabriel, San
Luis Obispo, and San Antonio de Padua. The
proselyting zeal of Father Junfpero quite outran bis
resources in the way of funds, supplies, and military
guard, and he determined (1773) to make the long
and difficult journey to the City of Mexico to inter-
cede for more adequate support in his patriotic task
of securing Cahfornia for the Church and for Spain.
The new viceroy, Bucareli, was an administrator
of unusual energy and foresight. It required little
persuasion to convince him of the importance of
supplying the north coasts with loyal and zealous
friars who should bring the Indians under subjection.
He immediately set about refitting San Bias, the
indispensable base of supplies, and under instruc-
tions from the king despatched a vessel loaded with
provisions to the starving missionaries. This effi-
cient statesman arranged for an annual supply ship,
forwarded mules and cattle to each mission, at the
I
Ibx Mission oi- San Caiu,oh on the Cahuel Kiveu. 1792.
N Balsa or Toi.e Raft on San Kkancibcu Bay.
Baeh rafti were used by the Ancient Egyptlana.
THE COLONIZERS
125
chaise of the Royal Exchequer, and ordered that
goods be furnished at no more than 150 per cent
advance on Mexican prices. The salaries of the
padres ($400 each) were to be paid from the Pious
Fund, the endowment of the Jesuit missions, and six
servants were provided for each settlement at public
cost.** At Father Junfpero's express request, two
blacksmiths and two carpenters were engaged to
teach the natives their respective trades. The men
were under contract for one year, but were offered
inducements to remain as settlers. BucareU further
ordered that four presidios with adequate garrisons
be maintained in Alta California, one at the Santa
Barbara Canal and one at the Puerto de San Fran-
cisco, in addition to the two already in existence.
Serra was bent on building a mission in honor of
the founder of his order, on the port that had long
borne the name of San Francisco. To this end a
land party had been sent out from Monterey (1772)
to explore the lagoon and discover the shortest route
to Point Reyes and the best location in its vicinity.
Lieutenant Fages and Father Crespi followed the
east shore of the bay until they found their progress
blocked by an estuary which they called Estrecho
Carquines, into which flowed an "unfordable" river
(the San Joaquin), dividing them from their goal.
Having no boats, they found the water an insupera^
ble obstacle and returned disheartened to Monterey.
The project of a mission at this northernmost harbor
was discussed in the conference between Bucareli
and Father Junipero, and another effort was deter-
^^jued on. The viceroy ordered a more extensive
128
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
survey to be prosecuted both by land and b^H
Rivera y Moncada, who was intrusted with the
former expedition, did not get beyond Point Lobos ;
but the San Carlos, deputed to examine the Puerto
de San Francisco and ascertain its relation to the
interior basin, sailed without difficulty between the
two headlands and entered (August 5, 1775) the won-
derful harbor, hitherto hidden from the explorers
of the coast by the prevailing fogs. The San Carlos
lay forty days at anchor under Angel Island while
surveys were being made and a map of the three
arms or bays {now denominated San Pablo, San
Francisco, and Suisun) was prepared. Her com-
mander, Ayala, thought he had discovered the best
harbor in Spain's dominions, "not one port but
many ports with a single entrance." " There were
several rancherias along the reedy shores, and the
natives came out in their frail iule rafts (balsas),
bringing tribute of fish to the august strangi
Here Bucareli determined to plant not only a
and a presidio, but a colony,
A young soldier, Juan Bautista de Anza,
mandante of the presidio of Tubac in Sonora, had
asked to be allowed to explore a route across the un-
known stretch of desert and mountain to Monterey.
This he offered to do at his own expense, but the
advantage of overland communication with the
northern post was so evident that the viceroy not
only gave the desired permission, but fitted out the
expedition (1774). Anza was accompanied by Father
Garc6s, who had crossed the De\'irs Highway and
the Colorado Desert three years before, but erea a
itrange^^^
iza, a^^^
ereaa^_
&
'^
^s.-'./7
f5i
-V^
^^
2l\_4^
,1 ..,,-;i^
From the oriBiaal drawing attached to the Log o( the San Carlos, in
the India Office at Seville. This map hod bpen lost sight oF until 190S,
it WBs diacoveml by an ageat of the Commercial Club of Son
THE COLONIZERS
127
they found it a difficult task. Harassed by drifting
sands, alkali water, scant pasturage, and the exhaus-
tion of their animals, they would have perished but
for the hospitality of the Yuma Indians and the
devotion of a neophyte, escaped from San Gabriel,
who served as guide. The trail ascended Coyote^
Canon and, crossing the divide which Anza called
San Carlos Pass, followed the San Jacinto River to
the Santa Ana and so on to San Gabriel Mission.^*
From that point Portolfl's route was followed to
Monterey.
In 1775 the successful emissary was commissioned
by Bucareli to collect a party of settlers and conduct
them to the site of the proposed colony. The task
was accompUshed with an efficiency and despatch
unusual in the officials of New Spain. Recruits were
attracted by the bait of two years' pay, five yeani'
supphes, and land of their own. The money stipend
($120) was to be paid from the date of enlistment,
and the prospective settlers were fitted out with
clothing. Only four civilian families were secured,
but the twenty-nine married soldiers who were to
make up the garrison of the new presidio brought up
the quota of men, women, and children to two hun-
dred and seven. The transportation of the supplies
required one hundred and sixty-five pack mules,
and three hundred and forty horses were provided
for the people. These, with the herds of (320) cattle
destined for food by the way and to stock the settle-
ment, made an unwieldy caravan. Pedro Font ac-
companied the expedition as chaplain. The com-
aiy set out in October, 1775, reached the Colorado
^-paoy set c
I
(m Sib Xanr o^
I
I
i.iii^ oAd. The
Wis {Htiful ; e^'en
uUepenshed with
Ansa acted tiie tiqde part of paie, conunander,
and pfaysdan ; his eouia^ and patience were unfail-
ing, while his prcTious expcneooe enaUed him to
guard against the most acrioos dangers, the failure of
water and pasture. The train was divided into three
eompazues, and the leader of eadi was instructed to
keep a day's march a|xart from the others so that the
scant aguajes (water holes) mi^t not be exhausted.
Where there were no springs to be found, wells were
dug in the sand, and camping places were selected
with a new to shelter as well as to grass and «'atCT.
When possible, wood was collected and fires built for
the comfort of the sick and feeble. Eight children
were born en route, and at each birth the march was
ddayed till the mother should be able to ride on.
Even 80, one woman died ; but it was on the whole a
robust set of people that Anza brought into Coyote
Canon, where water was again abundant. At sight
of the BDOW-covered summits of the San Jacinto
Bange, the women wept for dread of what was to
come; but .\nza assured them that the cold would
abate as they approached the sea, and the des
H
I
130
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
into the valley of the San Jacinto, with its wealth of
woods and pastures, cheered their hearts.
As they neared San Gabriel, a detachment was
sent forward to warn the padres of the approach of
the weary caravan. The men returned in a few days
with seventeen fresh horses from the mission herd
and the news of the massacre at San Diego.'' Anza
determined to leave his charge under the protection
of the padres and join Rivera y Moncada. armman-
danle of the California presidios, in a punitive expedi-
tion against the southern Indians. During the six
weeks thus occupied (January 4 to Febuary 15, 1776),
the San Francisco recruits had time to recuperate
their strength in the hospitable quarters of the mis-
sion. On February 21 the march was again taken
up. The cavalcade was now on the well-worn mis-
sion road (the Camino Real), and there were no more
hardships. The Santa Barbara Indians brought them
fish, and the padres at San Luis Obispo killed a fat
deer for their delectation. At San Carlos the long-
j expected immigrants were received with open arms.
' Anza was delighted with the signs of prosperity at
Carmel and with the promise of greater things. Soil
and climate seemed adapted to the raising of cattle,
grain, and vegetables. Salmon ran up the river and
"sardines" were cast upon the beach. A boat and
seine were all that was necessary to afford abundant
food, but no one had thought fit to provide them.
An important part of Anza's commission was the
exploration of the shores of San Francisco Bay and
the determination of the best site for the presidio
and the settlement. With Lieutenant Josd Mon
Kid
THE COLONIZERS
131
nd Father Pedro Font, a sufficient escort, and pro-
viaons for twenty days, he set out on March 23. The
result was a more thoroughgoing examination of the
peninsula than had yet been made. A high bluff
(Fort Point), overlooking the narrowest part of the
entrance, was selected as the best site for the presidio,
and the irrigable land about Dolorea Lagoon was
noted as the spot best suited to a mission. Follow-
ing the east shore of the bay, Anza came to that
unfordable river which had turned back his prede-
cessors. There the intrepid captain stopped. To
north and south, before his baffled gaze, stretched
the vast interior plain that divides the Sierras from
the Coast Range, verdant and alluring; but to the
desert-bred warrior the San Joaquin was an impas-
sable barrier. Returning to Monterey, Anza gave
over his charge to his trusty Ueutenant, Moraga, and
bade farewell to his little company. As he mounted
his horse in the plaza and waved adieu to the people
who had suffered good and evil fortune so patiently
under his leadership, they crowded about him, es-
pecially the women, weeping and lamenting, more
for his departure than for their own fate. In pas-
sionate Spanish fashion they poured out solicitude,
prayers, praises, and regret, while the brave captain,
protesting that he did not merit such devotion,
assured them of the affection he had felt for them since
the day of their enlistment, and praised their fidelity,
sajing that he had never had occasion to fear deser-
tion on the part of the men who had given them-
selves and their families to this great enterprise. In
A3a> coiiiaazEss
tkarhviltr. -mM^te>ii»aiiiil, I»aw«fa
wa be rar ^rfii Id Ae BBBih;
a«ytM« iii^ljij I li illl ' iifM], «
lliwlij. H< M tkt ttar kU *K>»
ju wowl knnB BB^ lnWg fiov bb *"***** v^Htm
if Aam had beea i iiImmi iI ■■ tHmnamd; bat he
IBiJIilly icf»«l to ii» part rt TWiae, iid Birtt*
y MotMfa bee— e w hmwwHi far tig fatare <rf the
MaoHy. ^ni oBBff WIS absHily jesioos oi Am
aad IB Jiiyuewith the paAn; and be set his fawe
f^^i«i^ tiie ptujectof* aettte—Bt on San RandBco
B^. Forced hy fear of a t*"-^ foMn the vice-
roy, be pnc ntost gnid^DS aid to the binkfiiig of the
firaidio, not, bovercr, at the point nuUcated by
Anxa^bot Butuewbat to the eastward on a semicimi'
lar bay where wood and water were more accessible.
He refused, however, to have anything to do with
Serra's miasion. It was erected, notwithstanding,
and dedicated on Novemb«- 7. Unfortunatdy the
rite proved unsuited to colonization. The baircn
hills and sand dunes of the peninsula, swept by trade
winds and overhung with fogs, offered little promise
for the farmer, and Anza's settles were fain to find
Bhelter within the adobe walls of the fort, whwe they
q>eDt a year in demoralizing idleness.
Bucareli died in 1779, but Filipe de Neve, whom
he had appointed governor of the two Califomias
(1775) as "a man endowed with wisdom and love for
the service," undertook with zeal and intelligence to
carry out the viceroy's purpose of colonizing the north
coaflt with Spaniards. In 1777 de Neve remoxi
I THE COLONIZERS 133
from Loreto to Monterey, thus indicating that Alta
California was regarded as the more important prov-
ince. On his journey north he visited the several
missions and came to the conclusion that, although
wheat and corn were being successfully grown at
San Gabriel and San Antonio, the mission fields
could probably do no more than provide for the in-
creasing number of neophytes. If the presidios were
ever to be provisioned from the country, California
must have agricultural colonies. The Franciscans
had selected the most favored locations, but the
valleys of the Porciuucula and the Guadalupe were
yet available, and colonists for a northern settlement
"were already at San Francisco. Anza's volunteers
"who were still idling about the presidio were glad to
transfer their families to the more promising interior,
and nine soldiers of the garrison who knew something
about farming threw in their lot with the new ven-
ture. In November, 1777, a company of sixty-six
men, women, and children, under Moraga's lead,
took up theh abode at San Jos6 de Guadalupe across
the river from Santa Clara Mission. Each man was
assigned a house lot about a central plaza, and
irrigable land sufficient for the planting of a fanega
com, also live stock and implements for its culti-
He was assured support for the initial years,
i.e. a stipend of ten dollars a month and rations.
The river was dammed at public expense and a canal
built to irrigate the land suited for ploughing,
De Neve carefully watched this initial experiment
and apparently thought it successful, for, in 1781,
ho issued his famous reglamenlo h.\ing the conditions
^fit CI
%s-^^-e<m^.jio^'Uo^^n ciz^q rz;:^ fa
^-«."/-x -i«,« 9. Si. rn:a p*:?' ^,.
Map of Plodoh Landb amwnbd to thb ninb Settlkrh ot B*ii Joai
E«h m.D iKcivod two .«<-<«, two hundr«l v.ru «,uir-, .nd ono Ktor, thlr.
,itt*£;'SiS^£>tof'tEt wb.S'bXrw '-i^h ooe ia,.p U.™] tor U„ U
KHDmud^ot D>« pf«Ldio of Sin Ffno^i.™ in ooiifonnily -|th the order of h
aeeUoiey Uia OoTemar. and >itb n duA ntleplmti to btg d»irB, the 3Srd dmjr
"Sl^^i lin^rii™, June l.tol U.- »m« y»r. Jo«ph Mor«^ All «l
T
a
4
I
't'S'S'em'Si
pubTio'lEiidi). Up io Uiii 'poiol « tbs moMure of & Ibitd part ol the loadu tbe mi>-
Anollodd coIIoU-Airoi-iot theC>yot«. AeequeU nudre-motheiditali. BiB
THE COLONIZERS
135
! Mg
Tor all subsequent colonies. The object stated was
"to make this vast country . , . useful to the State,
by erecting pueblos of gente de razon (people of reason
; in distinction from the savages) who, being united,
may encourage agriculture, planting, the breeding of
^ttle and successively the other branches of indus-
try; so that some years hence their produce may be
'sufficient to provide garrisons of the presidios with
provisions and horses, thereby obviating the distance
of transportation and the risks and losses which the
royal government suffers thereby." '* It was hoped
that "the progressive augmentation" of the popula-
tion of the first pueblos would "provide for the estab-
lishment of other towns and furnish recruits for the
presidio companies," The terms were similar to
those that had been offered to the San Jos^ settlers.
Each poblador (citizen) was to receive an allowance
of $116 for the first two years and $60 for each of the
next three, — not in money, but in supplies at cost. A
soldier's pay was $220 per year ; but since this was
largely met In goods at 150 per cent advance on
Mexican prices, the position of the colonist was not
inferior. To each family was to be allotted, on con-
dition of repayment, ample stock — viz., two mares,
two cows, one calf, two sheep, two goats, one yoke of
oxen, one pack mule, and a variety of tools — one
ploughshare or point, one hoe, one axe, etc. Each
man was furnished with two horses, a musket and a
leather shield, and he must hold himself equipped
to answer the governor's call for the defence of the
country. The community was provided with breed-
animals and with a forge and anvil and "the
I
I
136 EXPLORERS AST) COLONIZERS
■ot^
neceasarj- tools for carpenter and cast work." F(
square leagues of land were assigned to each puMo
and surveyed into village, tillage, and pasture lands.
The house lots, seventy-five varas square," were to
be located about the plaza, and a series of plough fields,
each two hundred varas square, was surveyed in the
area deemed most fitted for cultivation. Every
pobladoT was entitled to a house lot and two suertes
of irrigable and two of non-irrigable land, the total
grant amounting to about twentj--eight acres. Title
was assured at the end of five years, provided the
settler had in the meantime built his own house and
lived in it, planted fruit trees on his land, ten to a
stterte, doubled his original endowment of cattle and
tools, and performed his due proportion of the public
works.
Irrigation was a race heritage of the Spaniards.
The Moors had taught them how to make good an
insufficient rainfall by conducting streams on to the
fields, and much of the central and southern portion
of the Spanish Peninsula had been rendered produc-
tive by artificial canals. These were usually under-
taken by the towns for the benefit of their inhab-
itants, and the common ownership of the source of
supply — spring, well, or river — was the ancient
Spanish usage. De Neve was therefore proposing
nothing new when he made the building of dams
and canals a collective obligation, and intrusted the
town authorities with their maintenance and with the
equable distribution of water. Other common in-
terests were met in this same cooperative fashion. A
common field (proprio) was set aside for the public
I THE COLONIZERS 137
» Bowing. Every pohlador must perform his share of
the common tillage, putting in one almud or twelfth
of afanega of corn, and the crop went to meet munici-
pal expenses. The pasturing of cattle was not only
an individual right, but a common obligation,'* Two
pobladores were delegated to the care of the large
cattle, mares, asses, and cows ; but each proprietor
must see to the marking and branding of his own
stock, and the record of the branding irons was to be
kept by the town authorities." The advances made
to the settlers in money, horses, cattle, seed, etc.,
must be refunded within five years of the first oc-
cupation out of the produce of their lands and the
increase of their stock. The grain and cattle brought
hp} the presidio by each pohlador were to be credited
fto his account at the "just" prices established by
the governor.'*
The pueblo on the Porciuneula, Nuestra Senora
de los Angeles, was founded in 1781. With consid-
erable difBculty twelve families were recruited in
Sonora, Sinaloa, and Guadalajara, and brought
across the desert to San Gabriel. They were a dubi-
ous group. Of the men, but two were full-blooded
Spaniards, one was a mestizo, four were negroes or
lulattoes, and five were Indians, while the women
■e Indians and mulattoes. Not one of the forty
immigrants could sign his own name. The govern-
ment stipend was probably necessary, yet it seems
to have had an enervating effect. The men readily
accepted the loan of cattle and money, but they were
slow to meet the obligations involved. When the
id grants were confirmed in 1786, five of the twelve
opa]
H|iper(
" imrr
^^Jandgran
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
settlers were rejected because of indolence. The San
Jos6 colonists proved no better farmers. Proud of
their Spanish name and lineage, they regarded labor
as degrading, and managed to hire neophytes from the
missions for such work as might not be avoided. Both
pueblos soon degenerated into lawlessness and vice
and became harbors of refuge for broken-down soldiers
and renegade sailors, who married Indian women and
spent their useless lives in gambling and drunken-
ness. The alcaldes were often in league with the
lawbreakers, and the town population, far from being
the strength of the new province, became the most
perplexing problem of the government. By 1790
the niunber of householders in San Jos6 had doubled,
the increase being derived from the neighboring pre-
sidios; but they were still living in miserable shacks
with palisaded walls and sod roofs, and their crops
and cattle had multiplied but slowly. Los Angeles,
in the same year, boasted twenty-eight families, and
their wheat harvest was greater than that of any
California mission save San Gabriel. The houses
were built of adobe, and the town was enclosed
within an ado6e wall.
The third and last of the pueblos was founded by
Governor Borica (1797) near the mission of Santa
Cniz. He besought the viceroy, Branciforte, for
whom the new settlement was named, to send prac-
tical farmers, carpenters, masons, tile-makers, tan-
ners, shoemakers, shipwrights, and sailors ; but
though land and cattle, supplies and money stipend
were offered, the result was very disappointing.
Only nine /amilies were collected, tbc lueii "««itt «^
Spanish blood, to be sure, but they were vagrants
and petty criminals, not farmers and artisans, and
the denizens of Branciforte soon attained a reputa-
tion for mischief-making rather than for hard work.
Boriea was the last of the statesmanlike gov-
ernors. He set himself to correct the vicious ten-
dency of the pueblos by prohibiting the importation
of brandy and mescal (a liquor distilled from the
century plant) and by deposing the corrupt alcaldes.
Neglect of tillage was punished by fines and, in case
the delinquent proved incorrigible, by forfeiture of
land. For the benefit of the oncoming generation,
Governor Boriea ordered that secular schools should
be opened in San Jos6 and in Los Angeles, and that
parents be compelled to send their children, paying
a cent a day for each child." The growing boys of
San Diego were apprenticed to a trade, and night
schools were maintained for the soldiers, one dollar
being withheld from each man's pay on this account.
The governor invaded even the sacred precincts of
the missions, and directed that the Indians be
taught Spanish, in accordance with the royal order.
He sent six masons, two carpenters, and three black-
smiths, at government expense, to teach the Spanish
children and the natives certain useful trades. The
wages offered the weaver were 130 a month, and the
governor directed that if he neglected his duties he
was to be chained at night. These master workmen
were under a five-year contract, and it was hoped
they would remain as settlers, but they all returned
to Mexico within five years. The boys and ^rls of
the garrison families got little benefit from thia vn.-
EXPLORERS AND COLOX1ZER3
mtJM
fitruction, but the neophytes acquired some i
arts. Borica gave assiduous attention to the i
trial possibilities of the countrj'. A flour mill was
put up at Branciforte and a soap factory at Mmt-
terey, while the increase in the number of sheep, as
a foundation for woollen manufactures, he made a
matter of keen concern. His cfTorts were ill requited,
for all industries languished. In 1800 the combined
population of the three towns did not exceed five
hundred and fifty: one hundred and seventy in San
Jos<5, three hundred and fifteen in Los Angeles, and
sixty-six in Branciforte. Of the one hundred families
represented, thirty had been imported from New
Spain, and seventy were those of retired soldiers.
Field labor was for the most part performed by
gentiles (wild Indians), who were paid in grmn
and blankets which the colonists could ill spare.
Nine thousand bushels of wheat were grown each
year, and the herds of the pobladores had multi-
plied to 16,500 cattle and horses and one thousand
sheep." In this same year, while at the three royal
rancAos — San Diego, San Francisco, and Monterey —
there were but 18,000 head, the eighteen missions
ijosscssed 153,000 cattle, horses, and mules, and
88,000 sheep.
Worn out by six years of arduous service, Borica
retired in 1800, with the recommendation that the
administration of the two Califomiaa be divided.
The enormous distances to be traversed and the
vexatious delays involved in transmitting orders,
the diverse industrial and monastic interests, ren-
dered this measure necessary. The suggestion w«l
I THE COLONIZERS 141
adopted, and the first governor of California, Baja,
was appointed in 1805. The southern capital was
placed at Loreto, and the boundary was fixed at
San Miguel.
All the statesmanlike Spaniards who had to do
with California urged colonization as essential to the
defence of the coast and the permanent prosperity
of the province. Witness Costanz6 ; " The first
thing to be thought of, in my opinion, is to people
the country. Presidios to support the missions are
well enough for a time, but there seems to be no end
of them. Some missions have been for a hundred
years in charge of friars and presidial guards. The
remedy is to introduce gente de razon among the
natives from the beginning. Californians under-
stand this, and clamor for industrious citizens. Each
ship should carry a number of families with a proper
outfit. The king supplies his soldiers with tools;
why not the farmer and mechanic as well ? They
should be settled near the missions and mingle with
the natives. Thus the missions will become towns
in twenty-five or thirty years." " De Neve was
animated by a lofty public spirit, and his scheme
of colonization will bear favorable comparison with
that of William Penn or Oglethorpe. That he
ffuled to bring to California a thrifty and industrious
farming population was due mainly to the fact that
there were few such immigrants to be found in New
Spain, and the mother country was too remote to
furnish colonista. The available Spaniards were, for
the most part, discouraged soldiers, unaccustomed to
lustry, and broken-down adventurers, while the
^^fldui
142 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
t.* 1
[
mestizos and mulattoes enlisted had inherited tt»*
vices rather than the virtues of their progenitor^*'
The burden of obligation to the government wa--^
not a light one ($500 for each family imported woulc^
be a fair estimate), and the standard of achievemen**^
Bet was too much to expect of men who were bring- ^
ing an arid soil under cultivation. The climate,.^!
moreover, was dehghtful but enervating, and tht -""^
very ease with which food and shelter might be bad, -^
acted as a deterrent to labor. Finally, the successors ^*
of de Neve and Borica gave slight attention to Indus- —
trial interests, while the padres, far from forwarding
the growth of the pueblos, regarded them with in-
creasing disfavor, disputed their right to pasturage,
forbade intermarriage with the neophytes, and even ■
withheld the rehgious services demanded of the onlyl
clergy in the country, until due compensation i
tendered.
The colonization of California was undertaken by
men of marked ability and devotion. No ]
colony had more far-sighted and disinterested i
vice than was rendered by Galvez, Bucareli, de Nev^^
Borica, Port^Ia, Costanz6, and Anza; but the
prime essential in colonial development, settlers of
resolution and resource, was lacking, and thus all
the heavy expenditure in money and in human
enei^ came to little. Vancouver, the British ad-
miral who visited Monterey in 1792, expressed his
astonishment at the petty results of Spanish enter-
prise in California. "Why such an extent of teni-
tory should have been thus subjugated, and alter all
the expcDCe and labour that \iaa becTi besAowed
I
THE COLONIZERS
upon its colonization turned to no account whatever
is a mystery in the science of state policy not easily
to be explained." ^
^H Causes for Failure
All projects for the colonization of Texas and
New Mexico had failed for like reasons. The
families transported at so great cost to the valley
of the Rio Grande and the land of the Tejas had
neglected the cultivation of the soil and fallen into
idleness and vice with fatal facility. Nowhere, in
fact, did the viceroys succeed in planting self-support-
ing settlements. The failure of Spain to develop
her American possessions shows in marked contrast
to the rapid growth of the English colonies on the
Atlantic seaboard. The contrast is in part to be
accounted for by physical differences. The Spanish
colonies were more remote from the mother country
and less adapted to the method of cultivation fa-
miliar to Europeans, and the initial stages of settle-
ment were more difficult. The population of Spain
was stationary, while that of seventeenth-century
England wm rapidly increasing. So eager were
Englishmen for the new industrial opening that
farmers and artisans were shipped to the Atlantic
coast by planters' associations at the company's cost,
whereas the royal treasury was heavily taxed to
support the Spanish colonies.
Nevertheless, the attitude of the Spanish govern-
ment toward its New World plantations was the
prime cause of failure. Until the last quarter of the
^dghteenth century, the mercantile policy was main-
144 EXPLOKEBS AND COLOMZERS
ivojl
I
I
L
tained with conaBtcnt tborDo^nesE, imd the se^
nUnmrm vcre administeml f«- the benefit of the
mother ooontry and in the interest of the roerchaQts
of Seville. Mcffeover, the grandees who were Is-
trasted with edonial office were not chosen with a
view to dianterested and effectiTe semce, and, with
few exceptions, tbey regarded sucb appointment as
opportunity for the exploitation of their subjects and
the building up of their own fortunes. The same
attitude characterized to a marked degree the priests
and soldiers sent out to the colonies. Ever^' man of
Spanish blood thou^t himself above the necessity
of work and expected to subsist off the forced labor of
the natives. The encomienda was intended to prevent
the en^vement of the Indians, but it led to peonage,
a form of slavery which gave the proprietor all its
profits with none of its responsibilities. The people
imported from the Canarj- Islands, from Cuba, and
from Sonora could not plead race pride as ground for
exemption from labor, but they, too, belonged to the
non-productive classes, being for the most part con-
victs, prostitutes, and abandoned children. Lord
Bacon had early protested against the sending of
such colonists to Virginia. "It is a shameful and
unblessed thing to take the scum of the people, and
wicked and condemned men, to be the people with
whom you plant ; and not only so, but it spoileth
the plantation ; for they will ever live like rogues,
and not fall to work, but be lazy and do mischief,
and spend victuals, and be quickly weary, and then
certify over to their countrj- to the discredit of the
plantation. The people wherewith you plant oi
mjA^^
THE COLONIZERS
145
to be gardeners, ploughmen, laborers, smiths, car-
penters, joiners, fishermen, fowlers, with some few
apothecaries, surgeons, cooks, and bakers." "
^ Success of the Missions
The only flourishing enterprises in California were
' the missions, and here the aspiration of Pope Alex-
ander for the conversion of the aborigines was being
realized. The proselyting zeal of the Franciscans led
them to undertake the most hazardous journeys in
search of farther .fields of conquest, and they hesi-
tated at no labor and no self-denial. Their desire
to found new missions, baptize new tribes, and
thereby add to the glory and extend the power of
their Order and of the Church amounted to a passion
and transformed these friars into fearless explorers.
In 1776 Father Escallante of Santa F6, with a brother
Franciscan and a small party of soldiers, undertook
to find a direct route across the mountains to Mon-
terey. He ascended the Rio Grande to the rivers
that flow westward to form the Colorado, and thence
followed an Indian guide to the land of the Tim-
panagos (Utah Lake). Finding that an impassable
desert lay between this oasis and his goal, Escallante
turned south to the Sevier River. Not until pro-
visions were exhausted and his little party became
mutinous did the resolute padre consent to return
to Santa Fl. The natives conducted them to one
of the few practicable crossings of the vast cailon
of the Colorado, a ford still called in memory of
this exploit, El Vado de los Padres. Father Fran-
cisco Carets, who accompanied Anza on his first
^^f^-'i^JCiC
■am ic Tuna. 1 ^ i*^ nt? iinL iil iiiit ik
Lr:»i. Eli t:m: iiinwi u
• if " "
»W.l
' :-r • r "ue i— ILsffam if ^ae
•i*. -..
_" TTL- i '^" 12-
■~ Vis. 1 - -.ZZLC :z X 3XEg-
«%.
V
-T '*'> "* '^
I
THE COLONIZERS
attack was made on the two pueblos, and the Span-
iards were killed to a man. Father Garc6s, the fear-
less friend of the Indian, perished, as well as Rivera y
Mon^ada, who had small faith in the wisdom of
attempting to civilize the aborigines. The authori-
ties determined to found no more piieblos that could
not be adequately protected."
The direct route between New Mexico and Cali-
fornia remained a dream throughout the Spanish
occupation. Humboldt noted in 1803 that no trav-
eller had yet penetrated from Taos td Monterey,
and that, because of the inertness of the Spanish au-
thorities, the trade route that would foster commerce
and strengthen both provinces remained to be dis-
covered.
The submissive Coast Indians of California offered
a far more promising mission field than the tierce
tribes of the interior, and the Franciscans gave their
best men to the task of converting them to the faith.
The progress from San Diego to San Francisco had
been Uke a crusade. With the achievement of
success and the attainment of material comfort, mis-
sionary ardor languished. The later padres were
more zealous for the enrichment of existing founda-
tions, the embellishment of existing churches, than
for seeking out new and difficult fields of conquest.
In 1784 Junfpero Serra died, worn out by thirty-
five years of strenuous mission labor — fifteen years
among the Indians of Upper California. Many
times he had journeyed by land or by sea the entire
length of his apostolate, visiting the several stations,
listsring to the needs of priests and soldiers, neo-
^nUDl!
be
I °'
H
L
bees cnKl(r hgaten, tjrioK is tin >:
ItMded down with (AaiM^a^tlK: ie^
■ihiiiiii<iiiiil to the vancB nd 5 tir
cries for mervjr. To tfae ywAc* :_ .tnts
■nimiil II iiiitelili iiiiiiniii mil iiiiiiiliel 111 ihr mlin
taon ol the aoid that had l^ned &am paee ; but Ia
FttooK thoocibt tfae lot of the oeophTte differed
fittle {ran that of the dares f» a West Indiaa sugar
phmtitfion. They were eompeiled to petf cnn aD tiie
labor of the misaoo estaMishmept and reeeiyed k
nUoQ a daily dfde c^ broth and bread and a aeaat
alknraiice of clothing. No Indian was aUowed to
leave the premises without pemuSBmn, and if be
did not return at the stipulated time, a pooe of
aoldierB was put on his trail. When r&u^t, the m-
fortunate man <»* woman was beaten with fif^
stripea. Regarding the atuation throu^ the ligbt
of the teachiogs of Rousseau, La Perouse exclaims:
"But would it be impossible for an ardent zeal auJ
an extreme patience to make known to a small ooffl-
her of families the advantages of a society based on
human ri|^t5; to establish among them the rig^t
of property so attractive to all men ; and by this
new order of things, to induce each one to cultivate
his field with emulation, or else to devote himself to
work of some other kind?""
De Neve believed that the Indians should be
'THE COLONIZERS
iSi
given the normal human inducements to labor and
urged that lands be assigned them. He held that
the Indians would make more rapid progress if they
were less constrained, and he undertook to pro-
vide each Indian village with a tribune who should
represent them before the civil authority whenever
they were maltreated by the soldiers or unduly
oppressed by the friars. Both de Neve and Borica
(1795) remonstrated with Lasuen, the second presi-
dent of the missions, against the "enslavement" of the
Indians, and refused to furnish soldiers to recover
the runaways. There were two hundred and eighty
desertions and two hundred and three deaths — fully
half the neophyte population — at San Francisco de
Dolores in that single year, and the situation had
become intolerable. Borica instanced as causes of
this unprecedented mortality insufficient food, the
filth in which the people lived, the restraints im-
posed on men accustomed to the largest freedom,
the custom of confining the women and ^Is in
crowded and ill-ventilated monjas or female quar-
ters. Lasuen promised that a more humane re-
gime should be introduced — shorter hours and
better food, with a more generous allowance of
recreation — and the- number of lashes that might
be inflicted for a single offence was reduced to
twenty-five. Dolores was probably an extreme
case, but there were serious complaints from the
other missions.*'
The isolated position of the friars and their
absolute power over the neophytes, coupled with
relentless zeal for the conversion of the geniUes,
152 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
bred abuses that were little in keeping with the
saintly devotion of Father Junfpero. Vancouver,
the English explorer, who visited the missions of San
Francisco de Dolores, Santa Clara, Cannel, and
Santa Barbara during his three years on the coast
(1792-1794), was permitted to see little of these
abuses ; but to his Protestant mind the padres
seemed engaged in a hopeless task. The Indians
had profited httle from the teaching given them;
they were still living in frail wicker huts, filthy
and squalid beyond description, and gave few signs
of real progress. At Santa Clara, the fathers were
then building adobe cottages, with garden ground
attached, for the more promising neophytes, in the
hope of inciting them to cleanUness and industry.
But even here, at the most progressive of the mifr
sion farms, the tillage was of the rudest. "By the
help of a very mean and ill-contrived plough drawn
by oxen, the earth is once slightly turned over, and
smoothed down by a harrow ; in the month of
November or December, the wheat is sown in drills
or broadcast on the even surface, and scratched in
with the harrow ; this is the whole of their system
of husbandry, which uniformly produces them in
July or August an abundant harvest." The gran
was threshed out on an open-au- floor by the tread
of oxen. Vancouver noted the herds of cattle and
horses on the hills about the Bay and marvelled tX
their fecundity and the slight cost of rearing thflUt
The Indians made excellent herders, and the fifteen
head of cattle brought to Santa Clara in 1778 had mul-
tiplied a hundred fold in the fifteen years' intervri^
I
THE COLOMZERS
When von Langsdorff ^* \'isitcd Santa Clara in
1806, he found the Indian apprentices weaving a
coarse woollen cloth sufficient for their own clothing.
Besides the shops for blacksmiths and carpenters,
there were soap-works and salt-works and vats for
the refining of tallow, and a considerable traffic was
carried on with Ran Bias in wool, hides, salt, tallow,
eoap, and butter. Von Langsdorff had seen the Kodiak
thralls of the Russian-American Fur Company, and
he marvelled at the excellence of the food furnished
the neophytes; but he was no less astonished when
he came upon a reclaimed runaway who had been
bastinadoed and who hobbled about with an iron
weight fastened to his foot. Kotzebue, the com-
mander of the Russian exploring expedition fitted
out by Count Krusenstem, visited Dolores mission
ten years later and found the Indians housed in
adobe huts, but still wretched and dirty. Both
sexes were obhged to labor to the limit of their
strength. The men did all the work of the fields,
and the harvest was delivered to the missionaries
and stored in magazines, the laborers receiving only
so much as was necessary for their subsistence.
Out of the thousand neophytes, three hundred died
every year, and only vigorous missionary raids on
the interior tribes kept up the quota of laborers.
Ten different tribes were represented at this mission,
speaking as many different languages, and all were
but imperfectly acquainted with Spanish. They
could therefore imderstand little more of the religious
teaching than the forms. "The missionaries assured
;bat it was difficult to instruct them, on account
uajhat it wa
I
I
154
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
^1 gott€
■ had
^^^be I
of thor stupidity ; but I believe that these gentle-
men do not give themselves much trouble ivhout
it." " California is a great expense to the Spanish
government, which derives no other advantage from
it than that every year a couple of hundred heathens
are converted to Christianity, who, however, die very
soon in their new faith, as they cannot accustom
themselves to the different mode of life." The un-
sympathetic Russian thought the fault lay in that
the padres "do not take pains to make men of them
before they make them Christians.""
Junfpero Serra had hoped to make men of the
savages to whom he preached the gospel, and in-
tended that the neophytes should be assigned land
of their own as soon as they were qualified to use it
to advantage ; but the later Franciscans postponed
the emancipation of their charges from time to
time, and it was not easy to convince them that
these childlike people needed any other incentive to
labor than the arbitrary command of their Buperion.
Meantime the natives, gentiU and convert aliktit
protested that they were robbed of the land that
had been theirs from time immemorial. It was
quite true that the Franciscans had no valid title
to anjrthing more than the usufruct of the vset
tracts which were tilled and pastured under their
direction, neither had they any claim to the labor of
the Indians — the law expressly forbade the granting
of encomiendas to ecclesiastics — but they had for
gotten the terms of their tenure. Galvez and Bucardi
had planned that the natives of California should
be led to form self-supporting communitieB like
THE COLONIZERS
155
those of New Mexico. Fages, de Neve, Borka, and
other conscientious officials had protested that justice
and the law required that every neophyte should be
emancipated and placed on land of his own after
serving a ten-year term. But the friars were the
strongest party in the new province, and their poUcy
prevailed. The neophytes were kept in a state of
tutelage that offered few paths of advance.
Such population statistics as are available seem
to show that, although subject to occasional varia-
tions, the neophyte population was practically
stationary here as in Texas and New Mexico. There
were twenty thousand neophytes in Vancouver's
day, and Governor Sola's census for 1818 reported
the same figure. According to Beechey. there were
DO more in 1825. The mission Indians were, in
fact, rapidly dying off, but the labor force was as
rapidly recruited from the wild tribes of the interior.
Proselyting bands, soldiers and Indians, were sent
up the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to bring
in new converts. Since the leaders were rewarded
in proportion to the number obtained, their methods
were often unscrupulous. Foreign visitors heard
shocking tales of these kidnapping expeditions.
The Franciscan regime was no more favorable to
colonization, and the Spanish population increased
but slowly. Von Humboldt's estimate for 1803 was
thirteen hundred whites and mestizos, and he at-
tributed the tardy development of the country to
the rigid military requirements and the opposition
of the friars. "The population of New California
would have augmented still more rapidly if the
^
156 EXPLOREJiS AND COLOXIZEKS
laws by which the Spanish presidios had been
governed for ages were not directly opposite to the
true intereHts of both mother country and colonies.
By these laws the soldiers stationed at Monterey
[for example] are not permitted to live out of their
barracks and to settle as colonists. The monks are
generally averse to the settlement of colonists of the
white cast, because being -people who reason {getdt
de razon) they do not submit so easily to a blind
obedience as the Indians." •' La Perouse thou^t
Alta Cahfornia as promising a country as Virginia,
notwithstanding its remoteness from Europe. In
his opinion, its progress was retarded by celibacy
and despotism. Good government and freedom of
commerce would, in his opinion, "speedily procure it
some settlers." "
Commercial Restrictions
Until ISOO there was no trade between California
and the outside world except that carried on by the
transport which brought the annual consignment of
goods ordered for the missions and presidios, and
these were sold through the appointed agents
exorbitant prices. No commerce was pennitt
with other vessels, even though they bore the Spaniso
flag. Exception was made in favor of the Manil*
galleon, which occasionally put into Monterey fC
supplies; but only under stress of weather and
necessity for repairs or shortage of wood, water, of
food, was a foreign vessel admitted, and even so, Wo
must be refused if, after investigation, the necessity
was not evident. Aliens were never permitted ofl
t 01
and J
:t«t4
THE COLONIZERS
157
shore except by express order. The transports
carried back to San Bias some salt and salted meat
and a few otter skins, the surplus products of the
missions. Borica urged that the government send
goods direct to the pueblos, taking grain in exchange,
and the project was authorized by the crown ; but
through the duplicity or inertia of the officials, it failed
of execution. The effect of these restrictions on indus-
trial development was well-nigh disastrous. Miss-
ing the stimulus of a good market for their produce,
the pobladores cultivated no more land than would
supply their own immediate needs, while the heavy
cost of European goods forced them to get on with-
out the implements and machinery that would have
enabled them to manufacture on their own account.
A mission establishment could store its produce and
await the arrival of a trading vessel, but the isolated
farmer could not avail himself of such a chance.
The needs of the presidios were met by ranchos del
rey at San Diego and at Monterey.
La Perouse and Vancouver were cordially received
at Dolores because they were engaged in scientific
explorations and were therefore indorsed from
Madrid. Both were liberally supplied with pro-
visions from the mission stores, the only payment
permitted being some tools, utensils, seeds, etc.,
which the padres gratefully received and utilized
in the improvement of their gardens. Vancouver
thought the Bay of San Francisco "as fine a port
as the world affords ; failing only in the convenience
of obtaining wood and water." "^ He noticed that
Ipanish commanders were content to take on a
ML
158 EXPLORERS AST) C<JD3XIZERS
very inferior quality of the Ialt«r nec^&iiy, and he
attribated the prevalence of scurvy oa their shipe to
eudesBDess in this regard. The British n&vigstor
was aBtonidied to find no trading vessels in this
"qMcioiis pent." There was literally no ciafc to be
eeen except an old rowboat and the frail rush canoes
of the Indians. Yet there was ever>' incentive for
an extensive trade in tallow, hides, and cattle, in
timber and otter skins. Von Langsdorff was as
much impressed as Vancouver had been with the
D^ect of water transportation. Here were three
mis»ons, Santa Clara, San Jose and Dolores, gathered
about the Bay, and yet the frequent communication
between them and the presidio was carried on by a
circuitous land route. It seemed to him "incredible
that, in not one of them ... is there a vessel or
boat of any kind." ** The Spaniards preferred to
go three times the distance on horseback and to
transport their produce in ponderous, slow-moving
ox carts. At land travel, on the other hand, they
were experts. "From St. Francisco any one may
travel with the greatest safety even to Chili : there
are stations all the way kept by soldiers." ** When
Krusenstem came in through the narrow str^t to
San Francisco Bay in April, 1S06, he was hailed
from Fort Point " through a speaking trumpet and,
Bince by this time the old rowboat had disappeared,
he could not get into communication with the com-
mandante, Don Jose Arguello, until he sent one of
the launches off to fetch him. De Resanoff desired
to procure a cargo of provisions for the posts of the
luasian-American Fur Company, offering cloth,
THE COLONIZERS
leather, shoes, and iron implements ~~ sheep-shears,
whip-saws, etc. — in exchange. The monks were
eager to sell their surplus products for these much-
needed articles ; but neither the commandanle nor
the governor nor yet the viceroy had authority to
allow the trade. After much demur, de Resanoff
was permitted to purchase $24,000 worth of wheat,
flour, salt meat, salt, tallow, and soap from the
monks, the governor consenting to serve as go-
between and becoming personally liable for the tran-
saction. The proposition that a regular trade be
established between the Russian settlements and
CaUfomia was referred to Madrid, where it was con-
signed to oblivion.
Under the Spanish regime, American vessels rarely
visited Californian ports because of the well-known
risk of confiscation. Boston fur traders, bound for
the northwest coast, occasionally put in for supplies ;
but they did not meet with an encouraging reception.
The Otter (Captain Ebenezer Dorr) stopped at
Monterey (1796) to leave some stowaways from
Botany Bay, the first English settlers. The Eliza
was ordered out of San Francisco Bay (1798) after
securing a meagre allowance of providons. The
Betsey (Captain Winship) put into San Diego for
wood and water (1800) ; but the Alexandria and the
Lelia Byrd, smugglers attempting to purchase otter
skins at this port in 1803, were roughly handled.
Cleveland, supercargo on the Lelia Byrd, had circum-
navigated South America, touching at Valparaiso
where he narrowly escaped seizure and at San Bias
where, by the special grace of the viceroy, he secured
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
permission to sell S10,000 worth of goods, Havi
purchased a quantity of sea-otter skins (1600) and
learning that more might be had at San Diego, the
venturesome Yankee made for that port. The com-
maridante had several hundred skins, confiscated from MM
the Alexandria, and private individuals were eager ^^
to dispose of more. In the attempt to get hold of
these, Cleveland came into conflict with the authori-
ties and therefore deemed it best to leave the harbor.
As the Lelia Byrd sailed out of the narrow entrance, ^m
she was fired upon from the fortification at Point ^B
Loma, but passed out uninjured. Her return fire
scattered the garrison and reduced the Spanish bat-
tery to silence. The Lelia Byrd returned to San
Diego in 1804, and other Yankee vessels followed ia^H
her wake. Captain Shaler estimated their annual^H
purchases of furs at $25,000. ^
At the close of the War of 1812, Yankee traders
began to frequent the California coast, and their
goods^ — hardware, ammunition, cloth, and blankets — •
were readily taken by both friars and officials.
conlrcAandistas ran great risks of being captured by
Mexican privateers or by the California comman-
dardes, and more than one cargo was confiscated and
the ship's officers thrown into prison {e.g. Captain G.
W. Ayres of the Mercury, 1814; Captain Smith of
the Albatross, 1816). But the officials grew lax as
the needs of the community increased, and after
1818 foreign traders had no difficulty at any of the
California ports. Governor Sola established a tariff
of duties on exports and imports which he levied
fais single authority.
Thftfl
\ hvTB
i tanff^H
ied oUe^I
I
THE COLONIZERS
161
The struggle for independence had no champions
in California. The white population, being almost
wholly made up of the mission fathers and the pre-
sidio garrisons, declared for the king, and only un-
certain rmnors of the far-away conflict reached their
ears ; but a very apparent and bitterly lamented
effect of the ten years' war was the failure of supplies.
The San Bias transport was captured by the insur-
gents (1811), the hard-pressed viceroy could send no
reenforcementa, and the wages of officers and soldiers
fell far in arrears. Food and clothing were fur-
nished on credit by the mission fathers, the Spanish
officials thereby inciuring a heavy obligation which
was never repaid. Governor Sola had been loud in
his protestations of loyalty to Spain and expressed
unmitigated contempt for the revolutionists; but he
could not defend his position. The presidios were
quite untenable ; a few undisciplined soldiers cower-
ing behind crumbling walls, a dozen rusty howitzers
and some antique muskets liable to explode when
fired, made up the defences of five harbors and two
hundred leagues of scantily peopled coast. Wlien in
March, 1822, a war vessel sailed into Monterey
flying the Mexican colors, Sola was fain to pull
down the Spanish flag and run up the tricolor without
striking one blow for his sovereign.
Luis Arguello, Sola's successor, the first republican
governor, was a kijo del pais and a man of great force
and originality. In 1805, while hardly more than*
a boy, he undertook an expedition into the interior,
hoping to find a route to Santa F^. His horseback
yParty rode up the Sacramento until they faced the
Wl3r pnAr
(U06-U22
tUia. Wi-.:
Bntirit TBSi'
NTZEBS
r.. the saoT-dad
.e barna-, they
: ^>tne man sue-
-". 3&n Francisco
. :zie nimous pr«-
: 'inserted from a
-.r:#d & crew, &nd
Lniber from San
IU£mL Tti> - -J , .^--ply criticised by
GovBiMir Sob, mho Umftml AieimUo irith insob-
onfinatiaB and pwwWf tmaoB. No man could
mat a boat on tlie B^ of Ftmaaaeo except for the
paipoMJofMMgtfngorofqgryiiig OP ilSrit trade •with
&t Roaaiaa ttXOeaeobit The laaodi was seixed
and taken to Mootier^.wbcTe it proved aocooveoient
that it was oenr Rtumed. No sooner was he gov-
enur of Califcunia (1S23-1833) than Argadlo negoti-
ated an agreement with the Russian-Ammcan Fur
Company by wfaidi they were to turn over half the
otter skins takai for the privikige of fishing in the
Bay. The same untrammelfed official opened a
trade with Bodega, which, tboo^ illicit, had great
advantages for both parties. Such a man was not
Gkely to fed bound by trade regulations enacted by
the turbofent government at the City of Mexico."
ForagD Qommerce was a necessity for California, aiul
be wdeoDied the first opportunity to supply his_
people with tbe manufactures they so much i
•In 1823 tbe Rover of Boston. Captain Cooper, c
to Monterey with a cargo of cottons and other Nfl^
England goods, and Governor Arguello, in del
ai the law but with the full approval of the '
THE COLONIZERS
163
fomians, gave him license to trade. The profits on
this transaction were so evident that Arguello under-
took a venture on government account. He pur-
chased the ship, loaded her with otter skins, and
sent her to Canton under Cooper's command. She
brought back a cargo of silks, cottons, etc., valued
at $12,000. The way was open for a commerce with
China that would have rivalled the old Manila trade ;
but Arguello was soon supplanted, and none of his
successors carecjfto follow up the opportunity. Ar-
guello, however, opened a customhouse at Mon-
terey, and his example in admitting Yankee goods
was imitated by his successors.
For years to come, California was provided witlj
manufactures by Boston skippers who, having
learned how to placate the officials, carried on a
highly remunerative trade, exchanging groceries,
cottons, cutlery, and liquors for otter and beaver
skins. These last, carried to China, were sold to
advantage, and a cargo of teas and silks was taken
on for the Boston market. It was a round-the-
world commerce that netted ten and twenty per cent
on the capital invested, but the supply of furs
was soon exhausted. In 1822 W. A. Gale, repre-^
senting Bryant & Sturgis, a Boston firm, opened a
mercantile house in Monterey. He began the col-
lection and exportation of hides, a commodity much
in demand among the shoe manufacturers of New
England, and of which California had superabun-
dance. In this same year John Beggs & Co., mer-
chants of Lima, succeeded in negotiating a three-
ear contract with Arguello under which their vessels
^ear
and Seotd^
r^red fay the nris-
-ipolsted {vices.
~-vie his heAd-
■ -'vk beef
Learning
Lzd hides
- opened
-_T5, Irish
^t and
-.* pickled
Peruvian
lo folfil
r^ failed.
:-j<'ntative
ye^rs maintaiDed
I
H^ rate
^^ that
^^k two
banria neededr >m1 ^
beef were fonrarde.
BPVCRQIieDL liaVlii^
ita part of the c::
fliutaeB tnided in ' .
of Beg^ A Co. and toi m&c;
aa enterprising mairantile establishment, sdling sup-
pUex to the padrtt and tupping to lima the taDow
taken in exchange.** Soon the southern missJons de-
manded a share in this commerce, de^ring to find a
market for their surplus stock, and new concessions
bad to be made. In 1829 ships chartered hj Gale
and Hartneli were accorded license to touch at San
Diego, San Pedro, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco
»for cargoes. Within a few years the five ports were
thrown open to all comers, and the trade in hides and
tallow was well imder way.
/From 1825-1834, the height of its prosperity,
the lion's share of the hide trade was in the hands
of a few Boston mercbajots. Dana's full and accu-
rate description of the traffic is so well known
that no quotations need be given here. Din-ing his
two years on the coast (1835-1836) there were five
t^
THE COLONIZERS 163
American "droghers"'™ engaged in exchanging
goods for hides; three carried Mexican or Peruvian
colors, though their owners were Scotch and Italian,
and three hailed from Oahu. The handicaps on the
trade were aheady becoming apparent. A captain
had to spend two or tliree years soliciting at the
ranchos all the way from San Diego to San Francisco.
The weight of the hides had dwindled to half, because
the rancheros killed the animals too young. They
never took the trouble to cure the skins, so every
shipload must be carried to San Diego to be salted
and dried, California hides, moreover, were more
difficult to tan than those from Buenos Ayres and
brought less in the Boston market. When Sir
George Simpson, governor of the Hudson's Bay
Company, visited the Coast in 1841 there were six-
teen vessels, mostly Americans, engaged in thia
"drogher" trade; but the annual output of hides
had fallen from 100,000 (1838) to 30,000, —not enough
to fill the holds of two first-class ships. The effect
of the consequent competition for cargo was to raise
the price of hides and the costs of the voyage.
The first British whaler put into San Francisco
Bay for provisions in 1820, the Americans followed
in 1823, and this harbor was for some years a favorite
stopping-place on the homeward voyage. The pre-
sidio bay lay directly in the sweep of the tides and
was not a safe anchorage. Merchant ships preferred
Verba Buena, a roadstead that offered shelter from
the west winds and neighborhood to the missions of
Santa Clara and San Jos^ ; but the whalers made for
Sausalito, because the water there was particularly
Mi ESI- _ M2ER3
good, and V\ :: .he ex-mate of k
giiilg^fp]ta]iii2EgaB£i^ fj^xmudLueor by &am which
iMBSBpffiBL iB^te of the abimdaot
cf Ifae Rpo^ <kc wfcilifi'i soon foond the;
liforiapB afe Ibh cart li Ac Sandwich Idaada.
TfceMmaa eBvcnnait a^ovd veatknis restrie-
tJBBgaaJliiagj >fiMgi fcaa^whieashipeQuid enter
tiw port of Okin iMr ^BB^
C^Uin BeedH7, of die Bkitish ship Btoaaom,
TiBted San Ramhro Baj in 1826 in the course of
Ub eipfaiBtiaaB of tbe North I^dfie, and was aa-
tomdMd to Gnd "in a harbor suffiaentlf extensive to
contain all the Britidi navy" no TeBse) except seven
American whalers come in for sappfies. His ship
was chaD^iged from Fort Point by "a soldier who
protruded a speakiog trumpet throu^ rme of tbe
embrasures and haled us in a stentorian voice";
but since there was no boat belonging to the garrison,
the cammcmdante came out to inspect the papers by
Beechey's courteous aid. The Blossom was allowed
to anchor off "a small bay named Yerba Buena," but
the nearest trading establishment was at Monterey.
Provisions vere obtainable from the near-by missions,
— flour, beef, vegetables, and salt ; but the negotiations
must be carried on through the governor, who pock-
eted the profita. The only buildings visible were
the dilapidated adobes of the presidio and Dolorea
Mission. There were no cultivated fields about the
Bay, and the garrison was still dependent on the farms
of Santa Clara and San Jos^ for supplies. Beechey
thought it a great pity that "so fine a country,
^bounding in all that is essentia! to man, should be
THE COLONIZERS
167
allowed to remain in such a state of neglect." "With
the exception of the missions and pueblos, the coun-
try is almost uninhabited ; yet the productive nature
of the soil, . . . and the immense plains of meadow
land, . . . show with how little trouble it might be
brought into high cultivation by any farmers who
could be induced to settle there." "" On the road
between San Francisco and Monterey there were but
three ranch houses and these of the poorest descrip-
tion.
"The trade of Upper CaUfornia at present consists
in the exportation of hides, tallow, manteca [butter],
horses to the Sandwich Islands, grain for the Russian
establishments at Sitka and Kodiak, and in the dis-
posal of provisions to whale-ships and other vessels
which touch upon the coast, — perhaps a few furs
and dollars are sent to China. The importations
are dry goods, furniture, wearing-apparel, agricul-
tural implements, deal boards, and salt ; and silks
and fireworks from China for the decoration of the
churches and celebration of the saints' days." "" The
prices of all imported goods were high, because the
supply was always short of the demand and the costs
of transportation great. To the risks and delays
of the voyage round the Horn must be added, not only
the import duties (forty-two per cent), but the ton-
nage charges (SI. 50 per ton) and the expense of land-
ing the cargo. Under the vexatious navigation act
devised by the Mexican Assembly, every foreign
vessel must put into Monterey, present the required
papers, and pay duty on all goods destined for sale.
Under no circumstances might a trader put into an
^m aavi
■ nqn
die 1
ukd this
fram tiie BiriwiM. -who are mlii«iBa ttpon tfaeir
coast, and are dqaiikig tfatm of a htoatiTe trade;
and &eain, they were paying, two himdred doOais for
carts ol infenar workmaiEiup, wtucfa. with ifae except
tion of the wfaeds, n^it have been equally well
man^etored m thdr own country." "* Calift^nia
eoodnied all the T»«!^tial't of prospenty in climate,
SoQ, forests, plains OTerrun with cattle, excelloit
ports, and navigable m-ers. "Poesessog all these
advantages, an industrious pnpulatioD alone seems
reqtDBlc to withdraw it from the obscurity ua which
it haa ao long slept uod^ the indolence of the petite
THE COLONIZERS 169
and the jealous policy of the Spanish government.
Indeed, it struck us as lamentable to see such an extent
of habitable country lying almost desolate and use-
less to mankind, whilst other nations are groaning
under the burthen of their population." '"^
Beechey expressed his conviction that the Mexican
government must institute an economic reform, or
some other power would take control of this promising
province. It was "of too much importance to be per-
mitted to remain long in its present neglected state."
There was general discontent with the Mexican ad-
ministration. The governor's salary was eleven years
in arrears, and the soldiers' allowances had long been
withheld. By way of meeting immediate necessities,
a cargo of cigars had been shipped to Monterey on
which the men might draw against their back pay I
Under the Spanish regime, soldiers were enhsted for
ten years, at the end of which term they might retire
to one of the pueblos and be assigned a portion of
land for the support of their families. This privi-
lege was now withheld. Retiring soldiers were
allowed to pasture stock on the public lands, but
could acquire no permanent title, ~ a restriction that
effectually prevented their becoming farmers.
The Mexican government was far from apprecia-
ting the value of this northernmost province and,
proposing to utilize it as a penal colony, sent ship-
loads of convicts to Monterey and Santa Barbara to
serve out their terms at public labor. These were
sometimes artisans condenmed for slight offences
and in such case became useful colonists; but the
. greater part added a difficult element to the scant
170
EXPLORERS AXD COLOXIZEES
white population. A formal protest drawn up
the law-abiding citizens and indorsed by the terri-
torial deputation (1829) had its effect. No more
shiploads of criminals were sent from Mexico; but
the soldiers furnished to the garrisons were little
better, being for the most part vagabonds and ne'er-
do-weels, recruited from the slums of the cities. In
these same years a considerable number of found-
lings and destitute children was despatched to the
northern posts in the expectation that the boys would
be bound out to service and the girls married to sol-
diers and ex-convicts. Indeed, more than one gov-
ernor ui^ed that marriageable maidens be furnished
to mate with such dubious characters, as the padres
refused to allow their Indian charges to wed.
No one of the mushroom presidents who rose and
fell at the City of Mexico regarded California as a
possession that was worth the cost of protection.
Fully absorbed in maintaining their precarious hold
on the reins of government, they could sacrifice
neither men nor money to the defence of this remote
territory. In 1829 the military forces of the two
Califomiaa numbered four hundred and seventy
men, and this feeble, undisciplined, and badly armed
garrison was divided among half a dozen pnrsidio*.
The forts had not been repaired nor the ordnance
replenished since Borica's day. In case of foreign
invasion, the people would have no recourse but to
retreat to the interior, carrying their portable pos-
sessions and driving their cattle and flocks before
them. The weakness of the garrison rendered a
political revolution a matter of astonishing
i
THE COLONIZERS
171
The frequent changes of government at the Mexican
capital, the discontent of the ill-paid garrisons in
California, the rivalry of north and south fomented
by the ambitious politicians of Los Angeles and
Monterey, furnished frequent occasion for insurrec-
tion, and an enterprising leader with a score of fol-
lowers had no difficulty in putting to flight three
times the number of regular troops. These battles
were marvellous displays of bluster and musketry
with a minimum of fatalities. All concerned had a
wholesome distaste for bullet wounds, and were ac-
customed to capitulate with a facility and cheer that
proved them pliilosophers rather than heroes, CaU-
fornia should have bred a Cervantes to record these
burlesque encounters. One dominant motive is dis-
cernible throughout the complex history, — dislike of
the unsympathetic Mexican officials and desire to se-
cure the privilege of self-government.
The CentraUst revolution at the City of Mexico
(1834) was keenly resented in the northern states.
A demand for home rule had been gaining ground,
and the attempt to bring the provincials under more
effective control and to impose direct taxes was met
by armed resistance in all the northern provinces.
In California the insurrection was led by Alvarado,
a hijo del pais, and one of the ablest men in the coun-
try. His pohtical ideal was George Washington, and
he seems to have aspired to imitate the American
revolt against arbitrary government. The parallel
was not maintained. Once in possession at Monterey
(1837), Alvarado effected a compromise with the
Mexican government, and affairs were managed
^^lexica
J
172 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
i
much as before. He and his relatives, the VallSjl
arrogated to themselves all the perquisites of power,
but the people had the satisfaction of being plundered
by men born in California, __
Secularization of the Missions ^H
The secularization of missions of more than ten
years standing was ordered by the Spanish Cortes
in 1813. Although this was a project of the Revolu-
tionists, the edict was confirmed by Ferdinand VII in
1820. The order was received with submission by
the padres of Alta California, and they declared them-
selves ready to withdraw as soon as secular priests
were provided to take charge of the neophytes. This
being as yet impracticable, the Franciscans were
permitted to remain. In 1825 the secularization of
the missions was undertaken by the Mexican gov-
ernment. Aside from the large financial considera-
tions involved, it was believed that the Jndians would
be sooner civilized if they were freed from their quasi
bondage and given a property interest in the land
they tilled.
The padres were even more disaffected toward the
Mexican government than the laj-raen of CaUfomia.
The decree of 1829, exiling Spaniards from all Mexi-
can states, had removed the ablest of the Franciscans.
The salaries furnished by the royal government were
withdrawn, the Pious Fund "" which had been de-
voted to the conversion of the Indians was turned
into the republican treasury, while a tithe of the
mission revenue was required in support of the civil
government. The limitless cattle ranges
THE COLONIZERS
173
abridged to an allotment of fifteen square miles to each
mission, and, most grievous innovation of all, Gov-
ernor Echeandia proposed a gradual emancipation of
the neophytes."" The padres opposed the plan, since
it deprived them of their best laborers, and no Cali-
foroian had much confidence in the ability of the
mission Indians to take care of themselves. They
had been so long under tutelage, the "nurslings" of
friars, to use von Langsdorff's phrase, that they had
lost the capacity for self-direction. The few men
already set free from mission bondage had made
unhappy use of their liberty. They would not work,
but idled away their days like boys out of school.
They drank and gambled and ran into debt, forfeit-
ing their clothing and implements and even their
land to sharpers who led them into temptation.
The freed men became so obnoxious that the mis-
sionaries were requested to take them back, and the
most incorrigible were condemned to hard labor on
the wharf at Monterey- Sola thought this experi-
ment in the civilization of the Indians a castly fail-
ure. The neophytes were "lazy, indolent, and dis-
regardful of all authority, costing for half a century
millions of pesos without having made in that time
any recompense to the body politic. '^
In 1833 the Federal Congress ordered that the
missions of the two Californias be secularized. Cu-
I rates were to supersede the padres, their salaries being
paid out of the Pious Fund, and the mission chapel
was to become the parish church. A convenient
residence for the priest was provided, and the
remaining buildings were to be utilized as schools,
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
workshops, court-house, etc. The land and cattle
were to be distributed among the neophytes. This
could hardly be regarded as con6scation, for the
Franciscans had no titles to the mission lands, and
the capital invested had been drawn from the Pious
Fund and from the royal treasury. If labor con-
Btitutes the best claim to possession, the mission
Indians were fairly entitled to the property.
The administration of this decree fell into the hands
of Governor Figueroa, an able and patriotic man,
who, having Aztec blood in his veins, was inclined
to do justly by the natives. He had had some ex-
perience of emancipation, having established three
Indian pueblos (San Dieguito, Las Flores, and San Juan
Capistrano) in connection with the three southern-
most missions. The object of Figueroa's regulations
of 1834 was to render the emancipated neophytes
self-supporting citizens. The mission lands were to
I be apportioned to the resident Indians, each adult
man receiving a plough field from one hundred to four
hundred varas square, according to the size of his
family, a building lot in the pueblo, the right to pas-
ture cattle in the commons, and his due quota of cattle,
implements, and seed. One-half of the cattle and
other movables belonging to each mission was to be
divided among its neophytes; the remaining half
waa left "at the disposal of the supreme Federal
government." These, together with (he unoccupied
land, gardens, orchards, and so forth were to be
worked by the Indians under direction of a major-
domo appointed by the governor, and the revenue
was to be applied to the paymftut. ol l\is Qt.Usp.t.iflQS
THE COLONIZERS 175
of the mission, the salary of the curate and major-
domo, the expenses of pubUc worship, the mainte-
nance of police and schools. A commissioner was
sent to each mission to take a detailed inventory of
the property and a census of the population, to dis-
tribute among the neophytes their portion of the
lands, cattle, etc., and to instruct them as to their
rights and duties. Meantime the friars were for-
bidden to sell any produce or to kill more cattle
than were needed for inmiediate subsistence.
The wealth of the missions had reached its climax
in 1833. The Uve stock exceeded the possibility of
numerical count, but was estimated by competent
men at 424,000 cattle, 62,500 horses and mules,
and 321,500 sheep, including a few hogs and goats.
The annual grain crop was 122,500 Ja-negas, or double
that amount in bushels. The wheat crops alone
amounted to 120,000 bushels. The money income of
the missions was believed to be great, but the padres
endeavored to conceal the facts. Reckoning that
one-fourth the herd was killed each year and that
the value of hide and tallow would average $5 to $6
per animal, the sales from the missions herds alone
must have brought in between $500,000 and $600,000
m the year 1833. The padres, moreover, had an
assured labor force in their thirty thousand neo-
phytes. At San Gabriel, the richest establishment
in the two Californias, there were three thousand
neophytes, 105,000 cattle, 40,000 sheep, 20,000
horses, and the annual grain crop exceeded 40,000
bushels. Two grist-mills and extensive workshops
ipt busy. The vineyards, olives, and oral
176
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
I
orchards more than supplied the needs <rf the fathos,
while a ship was despatched to San Bias every year
laden with oUve oil, jute, and linen, and another to
Lima with a cargo of soap and tallow. To the harbor
of San Pedro and the " droghers," the Indians carted
each year 35,000 hides. In the storehouse belonging
to San Gabriel were $40,000 worth of European goods.
At the beautiful mission of San Luis Rey there were
100,000 sheep and 50,000 cattle and horses, and the
thirty-five hundred Indians were employed in well-
developed industries, — blacksmith shops, tanneries,
soap-works, distilleries, salt-works, woollen, cotton,
and jute factories. Such an industrial centre may
fitly be compared with a monastic establishment of
mediieval Europe or with Hampton Institute. It
might have been as productive for its beneficiaries
hut for two handicaps — the backward character of
the Coast Indians and the despotic nature of the
Franciscan discipline which thwarted individual de-
velopment and rendered the neophyte incapable of
self-direction.
The result of the law of 1834 was far from consist-
ent with Figueroa's admirable plan. Notwithstand-
ing the prohibition, a wholesale slaughter of cattle
was begun for the purpose of converting the
chief wealth of the missions into cash. One hundred
thousand head were killed in a single year (1S34),
and the proceeds from the sale of hides and tallow
was reckoned at $1,000,000. The wastes of this hor-
rible matanza were enormous, and the influence of
the defiance of law reacted to the injury of the
padres. Moreover, the neophjies were quite unequd
^
San ("abwjs Mihhio.s on Tahuel Hivtii, ls;iO.
sseSfc^t,
mimrv
-llL
Mission nr San Luib Key, rut Mu*r Bbal
THE COLONIZERS 177
to the responsibilities thrust so suddenly upon them.
Freedom from restraint gave opportunity for idleness
and vice. Portilla, the commissioner of San Luis
Rey, reported that his people refused to work in the
common fields, neglected even their own crops, and
wandered away to the mountains with their horses
and mules, after having killed the cattle assigned to
them. The improvidence of the Indians soon made
it necessary to forbid them to sell or mortgage land
or cattle and to place them under the tutelage of
major-domos. In 1836, Governor Chico ordered
that every Indian found absent from his pueblo
without a license should be arrested and sentenced
to labor on the public works.
The determination of the Franciscans to save some-
thing from the wreck of their vast possessions and
the incompetence of the Indians were in a large meas-
ure responsible for the ruin of the mission industries ;
but the ultimate failure of the scheme of seculariza-
tion was due to the unscrupulous greed of the com-
missioners. Figueroa himself was free from blame,
but few of his agents neglected the opportunity to
enrich themselves out of this tempting spoil. By
the sale of hides, tallow, wool and other products, by
sequestering cattle, horses, and tools, by contract-
ing debts in the name of the mission, a shrewd
administrator might accumulate a fortune at the
expense of his trust. No one of the twenty-one mis-
sions escaped this systematic looting, "A few years
sufficed to strip the establishments of everything of
value and leave the Indians, who were in conterapla-
of law the beneficiaries of secularization, a shiv-
^w
<1
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
ering crowd of naked and, so to speak, homeless wan
derers." ""
Governor Alvaxado undertook to stay the impend-
ing ruin and to conserve to California the accumula-
tions of seventy years' missionary labor. In 1839
he issued regulations for the control of the adminis-
trators. An annual financial report was required,
stating the revenues and obligations of each mission.
No sales were to be made or debts contracted or paid
without express authorization from the governor;
no cattle were to be slaughtered except what were
necessary for the support of the Indians. The
horses and mules were not to be traded off for woollen
goods, but the neophytes were to be induced to labor
by moderate penalties, —notably in the manufacture
of cloth, lest this important industry perish. A cen-
sus of the emancipated Indians was required, both
those occupied on land of their own and those em-
ployed by the administrator, and no white settlers or
gentiles were to be admitted to the mission pueblos
while the natives remained. Finally, the newer and
less developed missions of the north, San Rafael,
Sonoma, Carmel, Santa Cruz, Soledad, and San Juan
Bautista, were brought under the immediate control
of the government. In the following year, Alvarado
deposed the administrators with their high salaries
and indefinite powers, and appointed a visitador
general to whom the immediate superintendent or
major-domo should be responsible. He selected for
this difficult task W. E. P. Hartnell, the English
merchant of Monterey. Hartnell had been seven-
teen years in California, was a naturalized citizen,
THE COLONIZERS
170
and had travelled up and down the coast many times.
He took a more disinterested view of the situation
than did most Calif ornians, and his report was a mel-
ancholy recital of the cruelty and corruption of the
administrators. The Indians had been deprived of
their lands, their cattle were stolen, and they them-
selves scattered and held in a bondage far more oner-
ous than the tutelage exercised by the padres. Gangs
of the wretched creatures were hired out to private
persons, and the major-domo did not hesitate to pun-
ish the refractory with one hundred lashes. One of
the worst offenders was Alvarado's own uncle, Ma-
riano Guadalupe Vall6jo, who had managed to possess
himself of the mission properties of San Rafael and
Sonoma and, taking advantage of his powers as com-
mander-in-chief of the army, ruled the country north
of the bay like a feudal baron. The mission Indians
whom he had taken over with the land and cattle
were miserable thralls. Too dispirited to marry and
bear children, they were rapidly perishing of want
and disease. Vall^jo, moreover, had won an unen-
viable notoriety by barbarous raids against the gen-
tiles of the Sacramento Valley who were skilful horse
thieves, and these punitive expeditions often brought
back captive Indians. When Hartnell undertook to
visit San Rafael, he was arrested by this lord of the
border and held prisoner till he promised to forbear
investigation. Pio Pico at San Luis Rey was no less
defiant. The baffled visitador general resigned his
office (1840), and Alvarado's reform project failed.
The testimony of foreigners is unanimous in
indemnation of the ruin wrought. Sir Edward
180 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
Belcher, who visited San Francisco Bay id 1837, hsd
great difficulty in securing suppUes, since the missions
of San Jos6 and Santa Clara had been "plundered
by all parties" and were reduced to destitution. He
fltatcH that the administrators had taken about two-
thirds of the revenue for themselves and turned over
but one-third to the government. The Indians, both
Christian antl gentile, were carrying off the horaes
and Buch other property as they thought des
to the mountains. De Mofras, attach^ of the I
ombaHsy at Madrid and later at the City of Men
mmle a tour of the missions in 1841. He grievoui
laiiiontcd the ruin wrought by secularization. In
the nevcn years of political control, the Indian popu-
lation had been decimated, the cattle had been re-
duced to 28,220, the horses to 3800, the sheep to
31,600, and the yield of grain to 4000 /aneffos. At
San Diego, the Indian rancheria was extinct, and the
rancho del rey had passed into private possesEaon.
The mission was crumbling to decay: the great olive
orchard and vineyard, and a fine cotton plantation
were untended for lack of laborers. The workshops
and tanneries of San Luis Rey were empty. The
famous fruit orchards of San Juan Capistrano had
been appropriated by Senors Yorba and Nieto. At
San Gabriel there were but five hundred Indians
left, and the ranckos of San Bernardino, Chino, and
Santa Anita had fallen into private hands. The
Indian pueblo at San Fernando had been broken up
by the brutality of the administrator, Vallej bul
Santa Barbara, which was the seat of the bishoj
had not suffered so severely. The buildings of £
THE COLONIZERS
Luis Obispo were in ruins, and all the able-bodied
neophytes were fled to the mountains ; yet the aged
padre clung to the spot, refusing to take refuge in
Santa Barbara, since he preferred to die at his post
among the remnant of his people. Three years
before, Father Sarrfa had perished of misery and
famine at Nuestra Sonora de la Soledad, whereupon
Governor Alvarado had driven off the remaining
cattle and taken all the ironwork and even the tiles
from the roof to build his own house. The land he had
given to one of his friends in exchange for a ranch
near Monterey. A popular saying, "the governor's
cows calve three times a year, " was a covert allusion
to the source of Alvarado's wealth. Other public
estates had been used to bolster up the governor's
power. The rancho del rey belonging to the presidio of
Monterey he gave to his brother-in-law, Jos6 Estrada.
The property of San Juan Bautista had been made
over to Jos6 Castro as the price of his support.
General Vall6jo had been allowed to devastate the
missions of San Rafael and San Francisco Solano in
order to fit out his ranch and the pueblo of Sonoma.
Another ValI6jo, while serving as administrator of
Santa Clara, had grown wealthy in cattle and land.
Sir George Simpson, the governor of Hudson's
Bay Company, condemned no less severely than
de Mofras the wasteful destruction of the missions
and the wreck of their industries. "In the missions,
there were large flocks of sheep ; but now there are
scarcely any left, the Hudson's Bay Company having,
last spring, experienced great difficulty in collecting
about four thousand for its northern settlements. In
I
I
I
In1
porl
K thai
H to I
^^. salt
182 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS ■
the missioDs, the wool used to be maDufactured infH
coarse cloth ; and it is, in fact, because the Califor-
nians are too lazy to weave or spin, — too lazy, I sus-
pect, even to clip and wash the raw material, — that
the sheep have been hterally destroyed to make more
room for the horned cattle. In the missions, soap
and leather used to be made ; but in such vulgar pro-
cesses the Californians advance no farther than na-
ture herself has advanced before them, excepting to
put each animal's tallow in one place, and its hide in
another. In the missions, the dairy formed a prin-
cipal object of attention ; but now, neither butter
nor cheese, nor any preparation of milk whatever, is
to be found in the province. In the missions, there
were annually produced about 80,000 bushels of
wheat and maize, the former, and perhaps part of
the latter also, being converted into flour ; but the
present possessors of the soil do so little in the way of
tilling the ground, that, when lying at Monterey, we
sold to the government some barrels of flour at the
famine rate of twenty-eight dollars, or nearly six
pounds sterUng, a sack, a price "" which could not be
considered as merely local, for the stuff was intended
to victual the same schooner which, on our first ar-
rival, we had seen at anchor in Whalers' Harbour.
In the missions, beef was occasionally cured for ex-
portation ; but so miserably is the case now reversed,
that, though meat enough to supply the fleets of
England is annually either consumed by fire or left
to the carrion birds, yet the authorities purchased
from us, along with the flour just mentioned, some
salted salmon as indispensable sea-stores for the one
THE COLONIZERS
paltry vessel which constituted the entire line of
battle of the California navy. In the missions, a
great deal of wine was grown, good enough to be sent
for sale to Mexico ; but, with the exception of what
we got at the mission of Santa Barbara, the native
wine that we tasted was such trash as nothing but
poUteness could have induced us to swallow." '"
The destruction of the missions was consummated
by Pio Pico, governor during the last two years of
the Mexican administration. The ruined estates of
the Franciscans were sold at public auction or leased to
the highest bidder with small consideration for the rem-
nant of the friars and neophytes,'" The state real-
ized only sixty-seven thousand pesos from the sale of
the best lands in California, and the purchasers,
newly arrived Americans for the most part, although
the names Pico, Arguello, etc., figure in the list, had
every reason to be satisfied with their bargain.'"
The Cattle Kings
Already, in 1783, the governor of California had
been empowered to grant lands to private persons.
Such grants might be three leagues in extent, but must
not overlap the lands appropriated by mission, pueblo,
or raTicheria. To secure title, the proprietor must
prove that he had built a house of stone and collected
two thousand cattle on his holding. Several such
estates were acquired, notably in the neighborhood
of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles ; but no more than
twenty grants were ratified during the Spanish r6-
ffme. The Mexican administration was more liberal,
; there were but fifty private ranchos in Upper
^nA ther<
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
California in 1830. The secularization of the mis-
sions attracted a crowd of ad\'enturere who managed
by one device or another to get possesion of some
portion of the spoil, and by 1840 there were six hun-
dred of these roTicfteros. The forced sales authorized
by Governor Pico added twenty-five large proprietors
to this number.
Governor Simpson attributed the lack of enterprise
among the Califomians to the ease of acquiring wealth
and absence of "the necessity for relying upon the
steady and laborious use of the axe and the plough."
The rancheros had the proverbial indolence of a pas-
toral people ; with " horses to ride and beef to eat, ftith
hides and tallow to exchange for such other supplies
as they want," there was no incentive to labor. The
Californians, moreover, came of a non-industrial
stock. Spanish America with its sierras of silver
was the asylum and paradise of idlers, and descend-
ants of the men who looted the treasures of Mexico
and Peru had succeeded to the spoil of the missions.
The settlers sent in by the government to till the soil
were little better, being, in the main, "superannuated
troopers and retired office-holders," The puebhi
were places of refuge for invalided soldiers and run-
away sailors, "sinks of profligacy and riot," avoided
by the better sort of Spaniards, who preferred the
neighborhood of the presidios, notably Santa Bar-
bara. "What a splendid country, whether we con-
sider its internal resources or its commercial capabili-
ties, to be thrown away upon its present possessors
— on men who do not avail themselves of their nat-
ural advantages to a much higher degree than the
THE COLONIZERS
savages whom they have displaced, and who are
likely to become less and less energetic from genera-
tion to generation and from year to year."
The rancheros, who succeeded to the lands and prop-
erty of the padres, lived on their estates in ease and
abundance. Their cattle throve on the nutritious
aljUeria "* and wild oats, and needed no shelter nor
winter feed. Unless the pastures failed with a dry
season, the herd doubled every year, over and
above the annual slaughter. Horses ran wild and
multiplied so rapidly that they were occasionally
driven across the hills into the San Joaquin Valley.
The breed, according to de Mofras, had not degen-
erated and was well adapted to cattle-tending. They
were as tall as the English race horse and had the
speed and endurance of the Arabian, Good riding
horses were accustomed to gallop from twelve to fif-
teen hours a day without food or rest, but they had
no acquired gaits. Their ovniers were content to
lasso them and break them to the saddle, turning
them loose again when they were no longer needed.
California horses were highly esteemed in New and
Old Mexico, and on the frontiers of the United States ;
but the rancheros did not take the trouble to export
them, leaving this profitable trade to the Indians
and horse thieves of the Tulares, The redwood
forests of the coast offered another promising export,
but to fell the trees and deliver the timber at the
sea-board exceeded the energy of the Californians.
Gold had been discovered near San Fernando,"*
and it was prophesied that the mineral wealth of
California would yet surpass the dreams of six-
EXPLORERS iND COLONIZERS
teeDtb-ceDtur>' fables ; but the mountains remained
unexplored.
The 9t»p\e a^xurt of Califoniia was still hides and
tallow.''* Hides served as the conunon currency of
the country, and debts were paid in cattle. The
ranchero got from $o to $6 out of each ftnimal killed;
$2 for the hide and S3 to $4 for the tallow. Since one-
fourth of the herd was killed each year, a man's in-
come could be accurately reckoned from the number
of cattle on hJs range. The consignment was some-
times paid for in silver, but more usually in goods, —
calicoes, teas, wines, etc. Although his annual rev-
enue amounted to several thousand dollars and the
expenses of the business were almost nil, the ran-
chero was usually in debt to one or more of the hide
factors. He bought so freely of the high-priced for-
eign commodities that he was not infrequently two or
three years behind in his accounts. W. H. Davis,
an experienced merchant of Yerba Buena, estimated
the "drogher" trade for the twenty years of its con-
tinuance (1828-1848) at 1,068,000 hides exported and
62,500,000 pounds of tallow. The best years were
those immediately following the secularization of the
missions, when cattle were being slaughtered by
the hundreds of thousands. The rancheros never
equalled the padres in the number or quality of the
hides furnished.
The merchants and the ship-owners who reaped
large profits from the California trade were Americans
and Englishmen and even Italians, but never Span-
iards. For trade and manufactures the Califomians
no gift, but all travellers agree that their skill in
THE COLONIZERS
187
riding, in lassoiog and branding cattle, in bull and
bear baiting, in music and dancing, was marvellous.
Theirs was the pastoral age. They lived a free out-
of-door life, with plenty of food, few books, and Uttle
learning, and were content to procure their clothing
and other supplies from the Yankee ships that carried
away the bides and tallow. No attempt was made
to provide by domestic industries the cloth and
leather goods that cost so dear, and even the salt used
by these luxurious gentlemen was brought from Bos-
ton. The wheat crop was rapidly diminishing, be-
cause slight attention was given to tillage. The
ground was merely scratched with a wooden plough,
and the grain was sowed broadcast and covered by
dragging a brush harrow over the field. The reapers
still used the picturesque but ineffectual sickle, and
when threshing time arrived, the straw was thrown
into a shallow pit and the grain trodden out by a band
of wild horses driven round and round by moimted
vagxteros. The yield had fallen to thirty-five and
forty bushels per acre. Some coarse flour was
ground by a domestic grist-mill hardly less primi-
tive than the Indian meiale. It consisted of two flat
stones, of which the nether one was stationary and
the upper was turned by a revolving lever propelled
by a donkey or long-suffering mule."^
Not the least of the economic crimes of the Califor-
nians was the wasteful destruction of the Indian
population. There were in 1833 thirty thousand
mission Indians, docile and teachable, sufficiently
reconciled to the white occupation and admirably
,pted to field labor and the care of cattle. Secu-
MjMaF
^
I
188 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
larization deprived them of their lands and left thes
dependent on the randieros. If Figueroa's policy h
been carried into execution and the natives had h
given farms of their own and encouraged to sell t
surplus products as an incentive to tillage, a peasant
population might have been developed and some of
the old-time arts and manufactures maintained. The
Indians who were so fortunate as to become domestic
servants in the houses of well-to-do Spaniards were
often contented and even happy. Those who suc-
ceeded in getting and holding land have handed down
to their descendants considerable property and the
traditions of industry and Christian morality. Bui
the major part were huddled together in wretched
villages where they died of neglect and starvation.
There were perhaps thirty thousand gentiU In-
dians in the interior, of a mental and physical calibre
superior to the natives of the coast ; but they dis-
trusted and hated the whites and, far from rendmng
any service, preyed upon the outlying ranchoa, steal-
ing theh" horses and, not infrequently, kidnapinoE
women. Commander Wilkes, who visited San Fran-
cisco Bay in 1841, observed that the mission Indians
had relapsed into barbarism. Half of them had been
killed off by the smallpox epidemic of 1838, and n
of the remainder, disheartened by the stni^le 1
maintain themselves in the midst of the white man^
civilization, had joined the wild tribes of the int<
and were leading their raids upon the ranches.
George Simpson compared the reckless cruelty of ths
rancheros with the traditional Indian policy of the
Hudson's Bay Company, muck to tXxe wivwita
T
THE COLONIZERS
189
the latter. By a wise combination of firmness and
justice, the Canadians had conserved the native
races and utilized their skill as himters. The Rus-
sians on Bodega Bay had been equally successful, for
the Indians fled from the thraldom of the missions and
the cruel mercies of the Vall^jos to find food and fair
wages at Fort Ross.
Seventy-five years of Spanish occupation had
failed to develop the latent resources of California.
The hijos del pais were content to subsist off the spon-
taneous products of their fertile soil and genial cli-
mate, taking no pains to improve upon nature, even
allowing the orchards and vineyards and wheat fields
cultivated by the padres to dwindle and perish from
neglect.
PART II
EXPLORATION AND THE FUR TRADE
n
THE NORTHWEST COAST
Section I
Rtissian Explorers
Far into the eighteenth century, the viceroys of
New Spain maintained their monopoly of the South
Sea, the depredations of certain English pirates to
the contrary notwithstanding ; but the region north
of the trade route between Mexico and the Philip-
pines was beyond their ken. The first voyage of
discovery into the north Pacific was undertaken at
the behest of that far-sighted autocrat, Peter the
Great. Speculations of European geographers con-
cerning lands to the east of Japan had come to
his ears, and he proposed that the Russians, who
had recently come into possession of Kamchatka,
should be first in the field. From his death-bed
(1725) he issued a decree ordering that Vitus
Behring, a Dane in his employ, should cross Siberia
to the shores of the unknown sea, build there
two ships and go in search of the fabled passage
to the Atlantic and the still more fabulous mid-
Pacific continent which the Portuguese maps named
Gamaland. Otter hunters of the Kamchatka coast
had seen driftwood floating in from unknown forests,
the bloated bodies of whales struck by harpoons of
unknown workmansliip, and wooden canoes whose
194
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
lank^l
makers did not belong to Asia; but the fog bi
of that stormy sea and the hurricanes that drove
down from the north had discouraged pursuit of
these suggestive clews. Behring's first expedition
consumed three years in crossing the seven thou-
sand miles between St. Petersburg and Petro-
paulovski. The route ran by way of Irkutsk — the
fur mart frequented by the traders of eastern Asia
and merchants from Pekin — and Yakutsk— a frontier
post on the Lena — to Okhotsk, Russia's only port on
Pacific waters. Here boats were improvised to con-
vey men and equipment to the rugged peninsula
that divides the Sea of Okhotsk from the ocean.
At Avacha Bay two sloops were built, spikes, ropes,
and canvas having been brought from Russia for
the purpose, and on July 9, 1728, the enterprise was
launched. Sailing northward, Behring touched at
an island lying about sixty-four degrees north latitude
which he named St. Lawrence and, pressing on to
the Arctic Circle, discovered that the coast bore
continually to the northwest. He was forced to
conclude that there was no new continent in that
direction and no passage through to the Atlantic
that would be practicable for merchantmen. Another
voyage to the southea.st was undertaken, but proved
fruitless because of storms and adverse winds.
The following spring, Behring returned to St. Peters-
burg for new supplies, and early in 1733 he set out for
Kamchatka equipped for a second expedition. This
time the simple sea captain was accompanied by scien-
tists who had conceived learned theories about the
aearto-seapassage and possessed maps of thecontinent
THE NORTHWEST COAST
they intended to discover, and instructions from St.
Petersburg ordained that nothing was to be under-
taken without their approval. So handicapped, the
journey across Siberia occupied seven years, and the
two new ships, St. Peter and St. Paul, did not set
sail from Petropaulovski till June, 1741, The scien-
tists decreed that Gamaland lay to the southeast,
and Behring, who had small faith in the new con-
tinent, steered southeast to the forty-sixth parallel,
then, one theory being exploded, north to the Alaskan
coast. There, at the sixtieth parallel, they came face
to face with a lofty mountain range and named one
gUttering cone, soaring white above the huge mass
of rock and snow, St. Elias. The scientists were
eager to explore ; but provisions were running low,
the crew was stricken with scurvy, and the com-
mander himself was under the depressing influence
of that dread disease. Pausing only to fill the
water casks, Behring ordered immediate return
to Kamchatka. As they coasted along the labyrinth
of islets and rock reefs now known as the Aleutian
Islands, in hourly danger of shipwreck, the bravest
were panic-smitten, and when at last the St. Peter
was driven under the lea of a cliff-girt island and
into a quiet harbor, the crew were for going ashore.
They had lost all reckoning and could not know
that Avaeha Bay was but two hundred miles to the
west, and here, in spite of Behring's protests, it was
determined to winter. The chance for life on this
wind-swept refuge was better than he had hoped.
There was fresh water in abundance, and the rocks
swarmed with animals unknowB to contemporary
PART II
EXPLORATION AND THE FUR TRADE
IM EXPLORQB .tfn> 4
Th« flnrt JmMmi ■'■* ifc hrf, j
tfMi muller tMMta caatU *r i
iittmitlvm tififiimt the Ainie oiL
Itarrnn ul«t rince called hy Vm ■■■i
ilin hrftv(!*it and nwnt unhidby rf
wkili httir hb crew. The
fiiirvtv'l ihi! wint«r, buih m
wnwrltrvKP of th« .S(. /*«ter,
tyi Kftitxrlmtka in the foDonne
rxrtiirnandcr of the St. Paid,
|iaiil(iVHki in the autumn preeeditis- Be had as-
r.n((itt«l over much the same ooorae as Behiift
linvliiK (.(iucIkmI the coast of the mainland at tfcefifty-
wtVnriMi punilld, and dbcovered Mt. Edgeccinbe and
Nirrfnlk Hoiiml. Thus after long years of banUup
and n Mi^kli'tw (-xpcnditure of money and human hfe.
iti« iikiuM- of tlif RToat Czar resulted in the addition
of n viwt. Buharotic waste to the Russian Empire.
hchrliin'" num, rpturning to Petropaulovski in
AiiiiUNt. 1742, broURht with them fure of the se»-
nttiir, wlii(!li they had used for coats and bedding,
and foun<l for them a ready market at S200 a pelt
T\\n "wa-bimvcr" had been taken on the shores of
Japan and Kamchatka, but it did not breed there;
Iho catrh wan rapidly decreasing, and the fur was a
hixury to tho wealthy classes. Now that its wint«r
tiiiuiitrt and breedinR grounds were discovered, and
the eiwe with which the animal might be caught in
the kelp l)edB off the Aleutian Islands, the otter
henlH of the north Pacific became no less important
to Husaiu tlian were the gold mines of Mexico and
THE NORTHWEST COAST
Peru to Spain. The crown renounced its monopoly
of the fur trade, and the opportunity was thrown
oj>en to all Russia's subjects, with the single reser-
vation that one-tenth the skins taken must be sur-
rendered to the customs officers. Thenceforth the
fur trade was the shortest road to fortune for the ad-
venturers of that wild and lawless frontier. Russian
officers and sailors, Siberian exiles, Cossacks, Tar-
tars, Kamchatkans, ventured their all in the otter
hunt. Expenses and profits were divided among the
crew, share and share alike, though sorae merchant
usually furnished the supplies and goods for the
Indian trade, stipulating for half the returns in pay-
ment. Ships were built in mad haste at Okhotsk, —
the "sawed vessels," wrought of green timber brought
down from the mountains, bound together with
reindeer thongs, and caulked with clay and tallow.
The cost of boat and outfit might be $30,000 ; but
since the season's catch would sell for from $50,000
to $100,000, the venture was one in which men were
willing to risk life and limb, and they made slight
inquiry into the hazards. Scurvy, starvation, ship-
wreck, massacre, awaited half the adventurers, yet
among the rude and reckless population of eastern
Aaa, there were always men to fill the places of the
lost. Within five years after the discovery, there
were seventy-seven of these profit-sharing companies
engaged in catching searotter on the storm-beaten
reefs of the Aleutian Islands. Thereafter the gov-
ernment had no need to finance exploring expeditions
to the Pacific, for the frail craft of the fur traders
penetrated every sound and inlet.
H 198
^f The hu
I
^m sucn r
^H be eDf<
^^^^^be me
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
The hunt was carried on with utter disregard of
everything but immediate profit. Driven in by
wind and tide, the helpless animals were clubbed to
death in shallow water or, if found in the open sea,
the herd was surrounded by a cordon of boats, and
the otter were speared as they came to the surface
to breathe. The aid of the Aleuts was enlisted by
the lure of iron bars or cheap trinkets of ci\'Tli2ation,
and since they went to the hunt by hundreds and
thousands under the oversight of a handful of white
men, their good faith was secured by hostages —
women and children left in care of the ship's guard.
The trust was often abused, for the whites were
lawless and brutal men with small fear of retribution
from God or the Czar. If the hunt was unsuccessful,
or if a Russian met with death, the hostages were
not infrequently murdered. Resistance on the part
of the men was sternly dealt with, and whole \-illages
were not infrequently visited with fire and sword.
At last the desperate Aleuts made a concerted
effort to destroy the invader. In the summer of
1761, three crews touching on the island of Una-
laska were massacred or harried to death among
the rocks and caves of the mountainous interior.
The Russian government sent a punitive expedition
which reduced the natives to subjection, and for the
first time an effort was made to regulate the traffic.
No ship might sail to the islands without a license,
and the Indians must be treated with justice. But
such regulations were useless since they could not
be enforced. The labor of the natives continued to
be mercilessly exploited, and they were forced to
THE NORTHWEST COAST
199
^Endergo hardships and to run risks that meant rapid
extermination. In 1792, for example, the hunting
parties were overtaken by storm, and out of seven
hundred btdarkas ' and fourteen hundred Aleuts, only
thirty fndarkas and sixty men returned. Von Langs-
dorff, the physiciaji of Krusenstern's ship, described
conditions as he saw them in 1804, as worse than
slavery. "In the countries that I have seen, where
negro slaves are employed in the labour, great care
is taken to feed them well, and keep them in health,
since they miist be purchased at a high price ; but
the case is otherwise here. The poor, vanquished, and
enslaved Aleutians are ill-fed, ill-clothed, and per-
petually thrown into situations where their lives are
in danger ; they are deprived of all their property,
and are commonly governed by Promuschleniks, who
are for the most part criminals from Siberia : under
all these circumstances the depopulation must ad-
vance rapidly. Scarcely any of the native Aleutians
are to be seen, excepting superannuated old men, with
women and children : the men capable of working
are sent continually on hunting parties for sea-otters,
and are thus separated from their families for months
together." ' On the farm at Kodiak, the wretched
natives were obliged to draw the plough in Ueu of oxen.
Even less mercy was shown to the fxirred prey.
Indiscriminate slaughter of male and female, young
and old, depleted one fishing ground after another
so that new and remoter regions must be found.
The headquarters were always moving farther east
and south, from Behring Island to Unalaska, from
^^nalaska. to Kodiak, and from Kodiak to Sitka;
I
aoo
EXPLOREEri AND COLONIZERS
but the devastatioD went on undiecked, idiile the
Chmece market was flooded with furs, and prices
fell to a ruinous level. Finally, in the last decadetrf
the ei^teenth centurj'. two masterful ^nrits, Sh^
koff and Baranof , undertook to combine the chief rivals
into one great company and so to regidate the catclL
With the aid of Chamberlain dc Resanoff , a nohleman
with influence at court, a charter was secured for
the Ruflsiaji- American Company (1799), giving the
incorporators monopoly of the trade in the Pacific
above fifty-five d^rees north latitude, the limit of
Ruaaian exploration. The year following, a trading
po6t waa built on Norfolk Sound — called Sitka from
the native tribe — and Baranof was appointed gov-
ernor with powers over his motley force extending
to life and death. A supply ship, the Xera, was
deispatched round the Horn in 1804 under the com-
mand of Krusenetem, with Count de Resanoff on
board in the capacity of plenipotentiary. The post
had been destroyed in 1802, and the reenforcemenl
arrived just in time to avert a second massacre of
the garrison. The Kolosh Indians of the .\Iaskiui
coast were a finer race, physically and mentally,
than the Aleuts and not so easily reduced to the
white man's service. They hated the enslaved
islanders hardly less than they feared the Russians,
and they determined to rid their land of both.
Fortunately for Baranof's scheme, their well-devised
ambush was betr^iyed and their palisaded fort de-
stroyed by the guns of the Neva. A, Russian forti-
fication was immediately built on the ruins of the
village and christened New Archar^el.
THE NORTHWEST COAST
^ Finding supplies short at Sitka and the agricul-
tural resources of the region dubious, de Resanoff
determined to have resort to the Spanish missions
made known to Baranof by the Boston fur traders,
O'Cain and Winship, He sailed to San Francisco
Bay and succeeded in purchasing from San Jos€ a
quantity of provisions, but his attempt to negotiate a
regular exchange of products was thwarted by the ex-
clusive commercial policy of Spain. Von Langsdorff
thought that the profits from such a trade could
never be great, since the manufactured goods re-
quired in California must be brought from Europe,
and he therefore proposed that a Russian settlement
be estabhshed at some point on this coast, where
soil and climate were suited to the raising of cattle
and where sea-otters might be taken sufficient to
meet all the expenses involved and pay a handsome
profit beside.* Six years later, Baranof carried out
the California project by the estabUshment of a
trading post at Bodega Bay, a deep cove to the
north of Point Reyes. There a palisaded fort was
built (1813), timber being cut from the heavy forests
of the surrounding hills, Russian soldiers, Finnish
artisans, and Kodiak hunters were imported for the
service of the post, and a considerable number of
domesticated Indians were induced by the prospect
of money wages and fair treatment to work the land
in the vicinity.
The harvest of furs in this unexploited region was
a rich one. Von Langsdorff had noted that seal was
abundant and that "the valuable searotter was
ning in numbers about the bay, nearly un-
^Mrmumni
202
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
ehuiwB
heeded." * The Russians were able to i
seven to eight hundred otters per week in the c
and inlets of San Francisco Bay, while at the i
ii^ station on the Faiallones, eighty thousand skins
were secured in one season. Foreigners were pro-
hibited by Spanish law from taking sea-otter within
thirty leagues of the coast, but this obstacle was
overcome by a friendly arrangement with the com-
mandanle. For a time the shiploads of gnuD,
jerked beef, and tallow sent to the northern poste
were purchased from the missions, payment being
made in silver or in European goods ; but before
many years had passed, a farm and stock ranch
were installed on the San Sebastian River (where
Santa Rosa now lies) which furnished food in abun-
dance for all the Russian settlements. In 1820 a
larger post, known to the Spaniards as Fort Ross,
was built about twenty miles up the coast. A
strong palisade, eighteen feet high, enclosed the sol-
diers' quarters, two octangular block hoiases frowned
upon intruders, and four brass howitzers stood
guard at the gate. Fort Ross was far more formi-
dable than any Spanish presidio and was regarded by
the Califomians as a real menace. The device of
establishing two missions to the north of San Fran-
cisco Bay was adopted. San Rafael was founded
on San Pablo Bay (1817) and San Francisco Solano
in the fertile Sonoma Valley (1823).
For the next twenty years, the operations of the
Russian-American Fur Company extended from
Santa Barbara and the Farallones to Unalaska and
the Cbinmander Islands, a wWd at\A rv^ttwj ^toiXjSb.
THE NORTHWEST COAST
203
^m coast, four thousand miles in extent. Thirty
fortified posts guarded its property, and twelve
vessels were engaged in transporting furs and sup-
plies. Russians were excluded from Chinese ports,
so the furs collected at the various stations were
conveyed to Okhotsk, whence they were carried over-
land by dog sledge and camel train to Irkutsk,
where the Chinese merchants loaded the precious
bales on camel trains for Pekin. The tea and silks
and muslins for wliich the furs were exchanged were
loaded on pack animals and sent to Nishni-Novgorod,
Moscow, and St, Petersburg. Sitka, the centre of
this trade, was the principal port on the northwest
coast. Eight hundred white families were estab-
lished there, and the dark-skinned servitors num-
bered thousands. Its beautiful church was furnished
with gifts from the stockholders and others of the
Russian nobility. In its shipyard, sea-going vessels
were built, while its bell-foundry cast chimes for
the missions of California and Mexico. The settle-
ment at Bodega was hardly less imposing. Lieu-
tenant Slacum of the United States navy visited
the post in 1839 and found it well maintained.
Four hundred men were in the employ of the com-
pany, — sixty Russians, eighty Kodiaks, and two hun-
dred and sbtty native Indians. There were fifteen
hundred head of cattle, eight hundred horses, five
hundred sheep, and three hundred hogs on the
ranch in charge of Indian herdsmen, and the yield
of the wheat fields tended by these unprotesting
laborers was seventy-two hundred bushels. Two
^^ups came annually from Sitka for the grain, tallow,
204
EXPLORERS AXD COLONIZERS
setH
r
^H and dried beef without which the Dorthem
^H ments could not have been fed; but the har^'est of
^H fuiB was exhausted. The otter herds of Caiiforma
^1 had been exploited in the same reckless fashion that
^1 had reduced the northern fisheries. The catch had
^1 fallen off to one hundred skins per year, and, mnce
^H the fur was inferior to that taken in Arctic waters
^M and not worth carrj-ing to China, the skins were
^r sent to the City of Mexico and sold for from $60 to
$70 each. There was no longer any profit in the
otter hunt. Land otter were to be had, and beaver
and deer, but this involved trapping expeditions into
the interior, and the pelts would bring no more
than $2, $3, and $4 apiece. By 1840 the Rusaan-
American Fur Company was ready to withdraw
from California, and offered its property for sale to
the highest bidder.
Section II
Spanish Explorers
I
It was Bucareli, the able viceroy of Charles
who renewed the endeavor to discover the Straits
of Anian and so to forestall Russian aggression on
the northwest coast. In 1773 he despatched an
exploring expedition under Perez with instructions
not to turn back till the sixtieth parallel had been
attained. The prevailing northwest winds, so favor^
able to the Siberian trade, rendered approach from
the south difficult. Bafiled by head winds, Perez
turned back at 54° 40' ; but not before he had dis-
covered a sheltered C-shaped bay which he called
Drake's landfall. Uxj deamei tie fiw «f dSi
adled by ibe flpamanb CUw McBdocva; brt Ae
rii^ were driren out to na by a InKnaae if hd
and mow. I^nd wai s^ted aem ej^ Agau
fartlier north (Cape Flanerrhbot ^nO^voe
driren off by perverae vinds. The emqitnAed ^
irforer recorded his cont'tcUoa that no bdA <
an Joan de Fuea's strait bad ever existed,
on to the north, Cook was soon rewarded by a A-
covery not in his instructions, but destined to be
far more profitable to En^ish merchants than the
much-sought eea-to-sea chanoel could hare been.
Becalmed oFT a mouDtmn-girt coant, the vesetk
came to anchor in Perez' C-shaped harbor (named
by CxMk King George's Sound), and there a com-
mercial El Dorado was disclosed. Hundreds of
shapely wooden canoes came out to vi^t the ships,
whose painted occupants were eager to barter tbear
otter skin clothing for the merest trifles (a dx-
penny knife would buy a skin worth $100), and a
stock of furs was laid in that later sold in China
for JIO.OOO. Here the Resolution and the Discovery
were repaired and supplies of wood and water taken
on. Toward the end of April, 1777, the expedition
was again moving north. Skirting the chain of
islands that guarded the secret he hoped to pene-
trate. Cook gazed astonished upon snow-capped
mountains that loomed higher and higher as they
approached the Arctic Circle. The Fairweather
Range and Mt. St. Elias seemed to bar the way to
the eastward, but still the dauntless explorer pushed
The estuary called by geographers Coolts
THE NORTHWEST COAST
209
Inlet gave promise of penetrating the continent, but
it proved to be an impasse, and Turnagain Arm
marks the abandonment of this clew. The stanch
British ships threaded the Aleutian Islands, rounded
Cape Prince of Wales, sighted East Cape, and so
north to Icy Cape where Cook finally abandoned his
quest. It was hazardous to battle farther against
deadly cold in pursuit of a geographers' dream.
The exploration of the Arctic Ocean having been
abandoned, Cook returned to the "Paradise of the
Pacific" in January, 1779, and there the great ex-
plorer met his death at the hands of the natives.
The chivalrous Englishman gave the name of
Behring to the strait discovered by the Ruflsian ex-
plorer fifty years before.
Cook's geographical discoveries along our north-
west coast were of minor importance since he failed
to find De Fuca's strait or Haceta's river, but his
report of the wealth of furs to be had from the
Indians set on foot a movement that was destined
to have vast consequences. The nearest and most
profitable market was the Orient, but here the
East India Company held an undisputed monopoly
which Englishmen might evade only by sailing under
a foreign flag. The first ship sent out from London
(Captain James Hanna, 1780) carried Portuguese
colors, and her success was such as to encourage
farther ventures. In 1785, the King George's Sound
Company was chartered for the Nootka trade and
sent out two vessels under Captains Portland and
Dixon, who explored the islands to the north and
^^cured a load of furs but, being denied access to
210
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
eJ9
Chinese ports, reaped no great profit. The
India Company sent out a ship in 1781 and again
in 1788, under Captain Robert Meares. On his
second voyage, Captain Meares sailed into the
strait between Vancouver Island and the Olympic
Range and gave the long-sought channel the name
of its traditional discoverer. Hoping to find Haceta's
river, Meares neared the coast again at latitude
46" 10', but he was discouraged from entering the
promising inlet by a line of huge breakers that
stretched from headland to headland. He con-
cluded that San Roc was a myth,* and contented
himself with naming the promontory Cape Disap-
pointment and the baffling roadstead of tempestuous
water, Deception Bay.
Jealous of these new interlopers, the Spanish
viceroy sent out a vessel (1788) under orders to
collect a cargo of furs and carry them to Canton ;
but this official enterprise was not a success, for the
Bale of peltry did not cover the costs of the ex-
pedition. The next year Martinez and de Haro were
commissioned to explore the northern coasts and to
determine on sites suited for Spanish colonies.
They found the Russians strongly intrenched on the
northern islands, and a protest against these en-
croachments was addressed to St. Petersburg, but
with no effect. When they arrived at Perez's land*
locked harbor, the Spanish envoys found even more
formidable competitors in control. Two vessels fly-
ing the Portuguese flag, but financed by British
capital, and two American sloops, the Columbia and
the Lady Washington, lay at anchor in the sheltered
THE NORTHWEST COAST 211
bay, and two English ships, sent out from Macao
by Meares and equipped with materials to build a
trading post at Nootka Sound, were soon added to
the array of foreign traders. Meares' enterprise was
overt trespass, and Martinez arrested the British
officers and confiscated their cargoes, pending a
final settlement of the questions at issue. An inter-
national erabroglio was averted by the Nootka
Convention (1790), wherein the right of English-
men and Spaniards to navigate the Pacific, fish in
Arctic waters, and trade with the Coast Indians
was fully recognized ; but neither power was to
found colonies north of Spain's northernmost settle-
ment nor to claim sovereign rights. Vancouver met
Bodega y Quadra, the Spanish commissioner, at
Nootka Sound in the summer of 1792, but they
failed to reach an agreement as to the property
rights in question. All difficulties were finally ad-
judicated in the treaty of 1794.
At this time there were eight American vessels '
' engaged in the fur trade on the northwest coafit,
but since they appeared to have no settlement in view,
there was no interference. The right of citizens
of the United States to trade in these waters was
recognized in the treaty negotiated with Spain in
1795, and Nootka became a neutral port.
^ Section IV
The AmericaTi3
Ledyard's Journal of Cook's Last Voyage was
printed at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1783.'" It found
eager readers. The War of the Revolution at an
I
I
212
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
I
end and independence achieved, American merchants
were under no obligation to respect the East India
Company's monopoly and might avail themeelves
of the profitable trade between China and the north-
west coast. A group of Boston merchants, Charles
Bulfinch at their head, formed a partnership, with a
capital of $50,000, and sent out two vessels round the
Horn to this far-away wilderness. The Columbia, &
full-rigged two-decker of two hundred and twelve tons,
was commanded by Captain John Kendrick, a retired
naval officer. The Lady Washington, a sloop of ninety
tons, had a much younger man, Robert Gray, for
captain. The commanders had no experience of
Pacific waters, but Woodruff, first mate of the_
Columbia, had been to Alaska with Cook.
The ships sailed from Boston the first of Octd
1787, in abundant time tomaketheStraitsof MagelU
durmg the Antarctic summer ; but Kendrick timidly
delayed at Cape Verde until the stormy season set
in, and the vessels had a rough experience rounding
the Horn. In the Pacific, new dangers awaited them.
The jealousy of the Spanish government was evi-
denced in the orders given to the commandanie at
San Francisco to stop the American vessels, should
they enter the harbor, and to arrest the officers and
crew. Kendrick did put into Juan Fernandez for
repairs and fresh provisions. The governor of the
islands was afterward severely reprimanded by the
viceroy of Chili for rendering aid to the invader
of the South Seas. Meantime Gray pushed ahead
toward the goal of their enterprise. He first sighted
the coast of North America at Cape Mendocir
of the
>ctofa|l
ageltai^^
endocinOb
Jl
^fegl
THE NORTHWEST COAST
213
fflgust 2, 17SS. Twelve days' ran up the cliff-
girt shore brought him to Tillamook Bay, where
the scurvy-infected crew was given a few days'
respite, and fresh food was laid in. A treacherous
onslaught from the Indians gave to this inlet the
ominous name of Murderers' Bay. The sloop
reached Nootka Sound on September 17, 1788,
well-nigh a year after her departure from Boston,
only to find that British traders had got in ahead.
Two English ships under Captain Meares and
Douglas were anchored in the harbor and already
well loaded with furs, while a third vessel, the North-
west Amcrica,^^ was rising from the stocks. The
Yankees were received with much courtesy by the
Englishmen, and there was great show of hospitality ;
but they were regarded as interlopers, none the less,
and Captain Meares resorted to all the tricks of the
trade in the endeavor to dishearten his unwelcome
rival. Skins were scarce, he said, and their quality
much overrated ; the Indians moreover were un-
friendly and treacherous. Gray assisted in the
launching of the Northwest America and furnished
some much needed supplies for the China voyage ;
but he indicated quite clearly his determination of
sticking to his task. Toward the end of October,
the British vessels sailed for Hongkong, and the
Americans were left to their own devices. The
Columbia had arrived at last, battered by hurricanes
and ravaged by scurvy, and the two vessels spent the
winter of 1788-1789, cruising from one Indian village
to another in the purchase of furs. The Americans
^JlBcame thoroughly familiar with the islands from the
'NTZEEa
I
I
EJitraoce and the
. f5 krew nothing of the
ir.d AsUL &Qd astonishiDg
- •—"'hijndred otter skins,
rosty iron chisel.
- :ok of furs, the
1 far China .JJy 30, 1789), there to
' tea, a conuiKMlitf even more
in New *^T;k*^ Kutdrick returned to
Nootka Soyad in tbe Laig WaAington, while the
Cahtmtia b^^ the bnnrwvrd voyage across the
Inifian Ocean and around the Cxpe of Good Hope.
On August II. 1790. she dropped down Boston
Harbor, and was received with great rejoicing.
Govwnor Hancock gave a puUte reception to the
commander of the first American vessel to circum-
na^igate the ^be.
The voyage of fifty thousand miles, though a
^orious achievenient, was financially unprofitable,
and several of the partners withdrew their capital ;
bat Bulfinch was not discouraged. Under Gray's
command the gains would not be eaten up in
needless delays, and if he could succeed in getting
to Hon^ong before the English, he could forestall
a glut of the market. The Columbia was again
fitted out, and within six weeks of her arrival in
Boston set sail for the northwest coast. Only
eight months were consumed in the outward voy-
age, and Gray arrived at Nootka (June 5, 1791),
bent on prosecuting a vigorous campaign. Having
experienced some rough treatment at the hands of
"M, the Nootkans had grown suspicious, and
THE NORTHWEST COAST 215
they now gathered courage to attack the white
man's doating house. A strong body of warriors
boarded the Lady Washington and got possession
of the powder magazine, and but for Kendrick's
quickness and resolution, ship and crew would
have been blown to atoms. It was deemed wise
therefore to build a log fort for the protection of
men and furs. At Clayoquot (called Hancock Point
by Gray) a little to the south of Nootka, barracks
were erected, and a stout palisade, furnished with
loopholes and surmounted by two cannon, frowned
defiance upon all comers. They built this same
winter (1791-1792) a sloop, the Adventure, out of
timber cut from the best spruce forests in the world.
Gray and Kendrick were destined to be not mere
fur traders but discoverers as well. Cruising the
channels back of Nootka, Kendrick found his way
into the archipelago, later named Puget Sound, and
sailed through de Fuca's strait back to Nootka
again, proving the traders' headquarters to be placed
on an island. Wliat we know as Vancouver Island
was called Washington Island by the fur traders, in
honor of the brave little vessel in which Kendrick
made this cruise. Gray, meantime, was sailing south
along the coast in search of new tribes less sophisti-
cated in the price of furs. Near the forty-sixth paral-
lel he sighted Cape Disappointment and directly
after encountered a current so strong as to carry his
vessel out to sea. For nine days he battled with
wind and tide, and not till May 11 did he discover
the channel through the breakers. Once over the
there opened up before his delighted eyes a
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
large river of fresh water flowing swiftly between
forested shores." He sailed up the channel some
thirty miles, trading with the natives who followed
in canoes, and then, convinced that this was the
long-sought river, named it, after the first ship that
had ploughed its current, the Columbia. Being a
loyal son of Massachusetts, Gray renamed the north
headland Cape Hancock and the south, Adams
Point. On May 20, the Columbia recrossed the
bar and returned to Nootka for the summer's trade.
There Gray showed to the Spanish commander
a sketch of the bay and the river chamiel
above. In October he sailed for Canton, where his
season's catch was sold to good advantage. In
July of 1793, Gray and his good ship were once
more in Boston Harbor, but no ovation was given
him. Few men understood the significance of his
discovery, and the government was in no position
to follow up the claim thus established. The dis-
coverer of the River of the West died, poor and
unknown, some time between 1806 and 1809, yeara
in which the value of his achievement should have
been recognized.
In this same year, a British squadron was sent
to the northwest coast to enforce the terms of the
Nootka Convention. Captain George Vancouver,
the commander, who liad some knowledge of the
Pacific since he served as midshipman on Cook's
third voyage, was instructed to "acquire information
as to the nature of any water passage which might
serve as a channel of communication between that
side of America and the ten-itories on the Atlantic
THE NORTHWEST COAST
217
side occupied by British subjects," e.g. "the sup-
posed strait of Juan de Fuca." Arriving off Cape
Disappointment (April 27, 1792) Vancouver noted
the current of "river-colored water"; but having
Meares' experience in mind and convinced that no
battleship should venture into that stretch of boil-
ing breakers, he concluded that the discoloration
was caused by some small streams falling into the
bay, and so withdrew. "Not considering this open-
ing worthy of more attention, I continued our pur-
suit to the N. W. being desirous to embrace the
advantages of the now prevailing breeze and pleasant
weather, so favorable to our examination of the
coast." '^ Next day the British commander hailed
the Columbia, and learned from Captain Gray that
he had been "off the mouth of a river in the latitude
of 4^6° 10', where the outlet, or reflux, was so strong
as to prevent his entering for nine days." " "This,"
concludes Vancouver, "was, probably, the opening
passed by us on the forenoon of the 27th ; and was,
apparently, inaccessible not from the current, but
from the breakers that extended across it." The
Discovery and the Chatham pursued their northward
course, while Gray turned south to have another
try at that difficult passage. His persistence was
rewarded as we have seen.
Vancouver devoted the summer of 1792 to the
exploration of the network of sounds and passages
already disclosed by the operations of the fur traders.
He was bent on proving that the northwest passage
was a myth, and this he did with English thorough-
HiB officers traced the coast in all its involu-
^MB8. HlB
21S
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
tions with such detail and exactness that their
charts may still be used. They saw and named Mt.
Baker, as it soared, a white cone without viable
base, far above the wooded shores of the Gulf of
Georgia, and they exhausted the roll of the ship's
officers in the designation of the various geographical
features noted. At Point Possession, Vancouver
landed his crews and with due ceremony claimed
the country from New Albion to the Strait of Juan
de Fuca for Great Britain (June 4, 1792). Not till
he reached Nootka Sound did he learn that the
Columbia had crossed that tumultuous line of breakers
at 46° 10' and sailed up a great river, and not till
mid-October did he undertake to verify Gray's chart
of the discovery. On October 21, Vancouver was
again off Cape Disappointment and agaiu the omi-
nous line of breakers deterred him from risking an en-
trance with the Discovery. The smaller ship Chatham
actually rounded the bar and managed an anchorage
in the inner harbor ; but Vancouver sailed away to
the safe port of San Francisco, leaving Lieutenant
Broughton to complete the survey. The commander
justified his withdrawal with characteristic caution.
"My former opinion of this port being inaccessible
to vessels of our burthen was now fully confirmed,
with this exception, that in very fine weather, with
moderate winds, and a smooth sea, vessels not ex-
ceeding four hundred tons might, so far as we were
enabled to judge, gain admittance." " When the
Chatham rejoined the Discovery in San Francisco
Bay a month later, Vancouver reluctantly accepted
the fact that Broughton had proven the despised
THE NORTHWEST COAST
219
river navigable for at least one hundred miles above
its debovcheTTient. The persistent lieutenant had
made his way up the river in a launch, only turning
back when his week's supply of provisions was ex-
hausted. He saw and named Mts. Hood, St. Helen,
and Rainier, and reached the wooded knoll called
Point Vancouver. Here the Indians indicated in
sign language that farther up the river was a fall of
water that would prevent the boats from passing.
Even Broughton thought the river unpromising,
and so, estimating its possibilities as a sea to sea
channel, it doubtless was. He contented himself
with taking possession of the adjacent territory in
the name of His Britannic Majesty, "having every
reason to believe that the subjects of no other
civilized nation or state had ever entered this river
before." ' It was Broughton's theory that Gray had
not penetrated to fresh water ; but he considerately
named the outer harbor Gray's Bay, and accepted
the name given the river by the Yankee skipper.
When Broughton returned to the Chatham, he found
an American schooner rid ng at anchor within the
capes, the Jenny from Bristol, Rhode Island, and he
gratefully followed her lead to the open sea. The
adventurous little craft was the first of a long series
of Yankee vessels whose safe entry and exit over
the dreaded bar was to belie Vancouver's extraordi-
nary caution. For twenty years thereafter New
England merchants enjoyed the lion's share of the
fur trade between the northwest coast and China.
Nootka Sound and the Columbia River were visited
by some forty American vessels annually, and bo
^r 220
W pre<
EXPLORERS AKD COLONIZERS
I
immd^^l
^m white
^H More
preeminent was Massachusetts in this com
that all white men came to be known among the
Indians as "Bostons."
From 1796 to 1814, the maritime energies oi
England, Spain, and France being absorbed in the
Napoleonic wars, Yankee whalers and fur traders en-
joyed the lion's share of Pacific commerce. Vessels
were fitted out in New York or Boston or New Bed-
ford with goods suited for the Indian market. Setting
out in August or September, they romided the Horn
during the Antarctic summer and, stopping at the
Sandwich Islands for fresh supplies of food and
water, arrived off the Columbia in the following
spring. The summer was spent in collecting fare.
If the coasting trip was successful, the vessel put
off before the autumn rains set in, stopped again at
the Sandwich Islands to make good luiy deficiendw
in her cargo by a supply of sandalwood, and so on
across the Pacific to China, The valuable com-
modities secured from the Coast Indians and the
Hawaiians for scraps of old iron and tawdry finery
were disposed of in the Canton market for many
times their purchase price. Bales of tea and silks and
muslins were there taken aboard, and the sea-worn
ship set out for home with a cargo that might net one
thousand per cent on the original costs. The com-
merce had its heavy risks. Many a brave sliip was
wrecked in Magellan Straits or on some coral reef
in the South Seas. The Coast Indians coveted the
white man's goods and had little fear of reprisals.
More than one vessel was looted and her crew maft-
sacred as she lay at anchor surrounded by patiw j
THE NORTHWEST COAST 221
canoes. The fate of the ship Boston (1803) of
whose crew only two men survived, has been graphi-
cally told by her armorer, John R, Jewitt." Not-
withstanding such disasters, Yankee skippers pur-
sued the trade with zeal and success, rejoicing in its
wild hazards ; but the business was soon demoralized
by unscrupulous competition. Rival traders vied
with one another in offering whiskey and firearms,
and the savages grew bold and quarrelsome. The
price of the furs advanced on the fishing grounds
and declined in China till the margin of profit dis-
appeared. Two brothers. Captain Nathan and
Jonathan Winship, contracted with the Russian-
.\merican Fur Company (1804) to take sea-otter on
the coast north of the Spanish settlements. Fifty
bidarkas and one hundred Aleuts were furnished
them and the furs were to be turned over at Sitka at
half the Canton price. These same enterprising
Yankees projected a base of operations on the
Columbia. Their post at Oak Point and the plantar
tion immediately about was carried away by a
summer flood, but the notion was entirely practical.
The northwest coast was a no-man's land where
might made right and where the first comer was
free to exploit Indian tribes and fur-bearing animals
at will. Spain, Russia, Great Britain, and the
United States had established defensible claims to
the fur country, but no power cared to go to war in
behalf of so remote a possession.
k.
i
CHAPTER n
THE OVERLAND SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA
Section I wM
French Explorers ^M
The fur traders of Montreal were no less
zealous than the Jesuit missionaries for the ex-
ploration of the region drained by the St. Law-
rence and the conciliation of the aborigines. While
the Jesuits were establishing mission stations at
Sault Ste, Marie, Michillimackinac and St. Xavieis,
the traders were driving a brisk traffic with the
friendly Hurons and Algonquins who brought canoes
full of furs down the Ottawa qnd the St. Lawrence
every spring. But they were not long satisfied
merely to purchase the peltry brought to Montreal.
It was evident that there were more numerous tribes
and richer beaver grounds in the unknown regiooa
beyond the Great Lakes, whence the trading Indians
got their furs. Indeed, the Algonquins had learned
from the Sioux of a "forked river" to the west,
country barren of trees, which led the way to
less hunting grounds, and their tales of this remot<
source of wealth lured to new adventure. Two
young men of Three Rivers, Pierre Uadisson and Jean
Groseiller, detemuned (1659) to return with the Al-
>DquinB to their winter quarters and learn for them-
tarned
:, iitfl|
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 223
selves what lay beyond. From Michillimackinac,
already the fur mart of the Great Lakes, the adven-
turous young townsmen paddled up Jean Nicollet's
river, the Fox, and down the "Ouisconsing" till they
came to the ea-st branch of the great "forked river,"
and then, passing through the land of the lowas to
the west fork, they made their way up the Missouri
to the Mandan villages. They had found the land
where no trees grew and whence mountains could be
descried toward the setting sun ; but their guides
would venture no farther west, and, supplies being
exhausted, the gallant explorers turned their faces
eastward and found their way back across the plains
to the head of Lake Superior. Thence they readily
returned by way of the lakes and the Ottawa to Mon-
treal. This great adventure was barren of result,
because in his endeavor to develop the vast territory
he had discovered, Radisson quarrelled with the
French governor, gave umbrage to the all-powerful
Jesuits, and excited the hostility of rival traders who
reaped the fruit of his labors. His Journal, sup-
pressed by the authorities, was lost in the archives
of Paris and never brought to light until it was printed
by the Prince Society of Boston in 1885. It is prob-
able, however, that his account of the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers and the region beyond the Great
Lakes had much to do with the undertakings of Mar-
quette, Joliet, and La Salle.
The farther the French explorers penetrated the
unknown, the farther the mystery opened out before
them. Rumors of a river beyond the mountains,
lat flowed to a sea whose waters were bitter to the
&at Ho^
224
EXPLORERS AKD COLONIZERS
I
iroi^^l
taste, were gathered from the MandaDs and brc
back to Montreal, where they excited much interest.
There was good reason to suppose that an overland
route across America might be known to the Indians.
In 1731, two years before Behring set out on his great
adventure, Sieur Varennes de la Verenderye imder-
took to find a route from the Great Lakes to the
Western Sea, His expedition was fitted out by the
fur merchants of Montreal, and Algonquin canoes
conducted the party to the head of Lake Superior,
where the Creos guided them to the Lake of the
Woods and Lake Winnipeg. There Verenderye
built a fort for the winter's sojourn, and endeavored
to establish friendly relations with the neighboring
tribes. The Assiniboins were finally induced to
guide the party to the Mandans who knew a people
who had seen the westward flowing rivers. Up the
Souris River and across the buffalo plains that di\ide
the Assiniboin from the Missouri was a weary march
and one that taxed the endurance of the Frenchmen
to the utmost. Arrived at last on the Missouri, it
proved that the Mandans could tell little more of the
Western Sea than the Algonquins and the Hurons
knew ; but the chief was induced to receive a French
flag and the country was claimed as an appanage of
the French crown (December 3, 1738). Then the
man who had carried the French colors to the heart of
the Continent was summoned to Montreal to make
good his failure to recoup in furs the expenses of the
expedition, and his sons were left to carry on the quest.
Following the lead of the Little Missouri, they
rrached the Big Horn Mountains and were able J
! able i^^
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 225
journey thence, in company with a war party of Crows,
to the foothills of the Rockies {January 1, 1743).
There the continental divide loomed before them, a
seemingly impassable barrier, the Crows abandoned
the war-path, and the explorers had no choice but to
return. Tliough they failed to find a practicable
route to the Pacific, the Verenderyes had discovered
the beaver tlams of the Saskatchewan Valley, and
their apparently bootless wanderings opened up the
commercial empire from which a wealth of beaver
and other peltry was collected and shipped to Mon-
treal. The fur trade was the one profitable industry
of the new world dominion that France ceded to
Great Britain in the treaty of 1763.
^^The first Englishman to attempt the exploration
of the Far West was a certain Jonathan Carver, cap-
tain of a company of provincial troops in the French
and Indians wars. The importance of exploring
Britain's new territory was impressed on the mind of
this young soldier, and he undertook (1766-1768), ap-
parently on his own responsibility, a tour of investi-
gation by way of Niagara, the Great Lakes and
the Fox and Wisconsin river portages to the Missis-
sippi, up the Mississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony,
and on to the St. Francis, the farthest point reached
by Father Hennepin. He made this voyage in an
open canoe with but two servants, a French Cana-
1 and a Mohawk Indian. It was a picturesque
Section II
English Explorers
^^an a
EXPLORERS AND COLOXIZERS
and significant enterprise. His dugout canoe, with
the calumet of peace fixed in the bow and the Union
Jack floating at the stem, traversed wat^s hitherto
unknown to Englishmen and hardly yet penetrated
by the French fur traders. Returning to the falls, he
ascended the St. Pierre (the Minnesota) two hundred
milestothe village of the" Naudoweses of the Plains "
— a tribe afHUated with the .\ssiniboins — where
be spent seven months learning their language and
collecting information as to what lay beyond. With
coals drawn from the embers of the camp fire, the In-
dians made maps on sheets of birch bark. They said
that the St. Pierre took its rise in a plateau bordered
on the west by the "Shining Mountains," From
its source, the distance was not great to the "Mes-
sorie," while from the head of the Missouri one might
cross the mountains to the River of the West, the
"Oregan," which ran down to the salt sea. It was
an alluring prospect but one not to be ventured with
so sUght an outfit. Carver returned to England and
succeeded in interesting several London capitalists in
his daring scheme. He contemplated no less an enter-
prise than the crossing of the Continent, somewhere
between the forty-third and forty-sixth parallels, and
the building of a trading post on Pacific waters. It was
conceived that a commercial route giving direct access
by sea to China and the East Indies would be even-
tually profitable. Meanwhile it was most fitting
that Englishmen should follow up Drake's discover-
ies on the west coast by such actual occupation as
should guarantee British possession of the intervening
territory. From such a post, moreover, the searcli
.^*<
n
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 227
for the northwest passage might be prosecuted with
better hope of success than through Hudson's Bay.
Government sanction for the expedition was secured
by one Richard Whitworth, M.P., of Staffordshire, a
gentleman of influence and public spirit. The party
— Whitworth, Carver, and Colonel Rogers of Michil-
limackinac, with fifty or sixty men — was to have set
out in 1774; but, unfortunately for British interests
on the Pacific, the rupture with the colonies and
the seven years' War of Independence delayed the
enterprise and ultimately gave control of the upper
Mississippi to the United States.
Carver was bitterly disappointed ; but he found
some consolation in writing an account of his travels
and describing the marvellous resources of the region
he had broached, in the hope that some more fortu-
nate adventurer might realize his dream of an English
commonwealth on the Pacific coast. From his In-
dian informants, Carver inferred that the four great
rivers of the Continent, the Missisippi, the St. Law-
rence, the Bourbon (Red River of the North), and
the Oregan, all rose in this central plateau — indeed
within thirty miles of each other, though the head
waters of the Oregan might be "rather farther west."'
The coraracrcial significance of so vast a transporta-
tion system he deemed of prime importance to the
future development of the region. The mineral
wealth of the subsidiary territory was no less aus-
picious. At the head of Lake Superior was "abun-
dance of virgin copper" which an English company
had been successfully working when the outbreak
of hostilities interrupted all business ventures. The
I
AST) C0D3NT2ERS
ore was to be Anp|<ed (finct to Quebec, and tfaecee
abroad.* The Winnebagoes told Cwrer of tbe mule
L
caravans by which the Spaniards conveyed aim
from their mines on the Rio Colorado to their settle^
ments farther south. These Indians, who had ap-
parently been driven north by the Spaniards, said
that in Mexico the trappings of the horses and their
very shoes were of silver. The Pacific Coast In-
dians, who had also been expatriated by the Spanish
conquest, "have gold so plenty among them that
they make their most common utensils of it." * Car-
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 229
ver believed that the Shining Mountains "may be
found to contain more riches in their bowels than
those of Hindoostan and Malabar." The immediate
wealth of the Mississippi region, represented in the
fm- trade, seemed very great. At Prairie du Chien,
an Indian village of some three hundred families, an
annual fair or mart was held in the month of May, to
which came traders from the St. Lawrence and from
the lower Mississippi. The place was neutral ground
by Indian usage, and the chiefs of the neighboring
tribes were wont to discuss whether to dispose of the
season's hunt here or to take the packs on to Michil-
limackinac or to New Orleans.
Alexander Mackenzie, a partner in the North West
Company and factor at Fort Chippewyan on Lake
Athabasca, next took up the quest for the Western
Sea. The duties of his remote post were not so exact-
ing but that he had leisure to dream of the future pos-
sibilities of the region that lay beyond. From the
west came the Peace River, whose sources no man
knew, while to the north ran the Great Slave, flowing
none knew whither. Either might lead to the Pacific
and prove to be the route to a new fur country.
Moreover, the British government had offered a
prize of £4000 to the discoverer of the Northwest
Passage. This, at least, Mackenzie determined to
win. In the summer of 1789 (June 2 to July 14) his
canoe, manned by Indians of the post, voyaged down
river and lake to the Arctic Sea. The partners at
Montreal received the announcement of this exploit
with no enthusiasm, since they saw small chance of
profit in the discovery, but they consented that the
b
230
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
daring young factor should try his luck on Peace
River. After the trading season closed in the spring
of 1793, Mackenzie's party set out in two well^tocked
canoes. As they approached the mountains, naviga-
tion grew difficult, and the river was beset with
cascades and canons whose precipitous walls shut out
the day. The men grew frightened and mutinous, but
Mackenzie forced them on by threats and promises,
himself setting the example of hardihood, and at last
succeeded in attaJning the summit of the continental
divide. On the western slope they came upon a river
(the Frazer) flowing directly south, and this they
followed in the belief that it would guide them to the
Pacific. Fortunately some Indians were encountered
who warned them against the dangers of this turbulent
stream and assured them that a march of eleven days
directly west would bring them to salt water. On
July 22, 1793, the exhausted party reached an arm of
the Pacific near Cape Menzies, where the leader in-
scribed his name and the date and the words "from
Canada by land" on a great rock on which the mm
had taken refuge from the hostile natives. Mackenzie
returned immediately to his duties at Fort Chippe-
wyan, and not till nine years later did the English
government offer the tribute of knighthood to the
man who had twice crossed the Continent and deter-
mined the boundaries of British America.
i
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA
American Explorers
John Ledyard. — It was doubtless Carver's en-
terprise that Jefferson had in mind when he wrote to
George Rogers Clark in 1783, "I find they have sub-
scribed a very large sum of money in England for
exploring the country from the Mississippi to Cali-
fornia, they pretend it is only to promote knolege.
I am afraid they have thoughts of colonizing into
that quarter, some of us have been talking here in a
feeble way of making the attempt to search that coun-
try, but I doubt whether we have enough of that
kind of spirit to raise the money. How would you
like to lead such a party ? tho I am afraid our pros-
pect is not worth asking the (luestion." * That the
hope of extending American influence to the Pacific
had taken firm hold on the potential mind of Jeffer-
son became evident during his sojourn in Paris
(1786-1787) where he discussed a similar project
with a visionary Connecticut Yankee, John Ledyard.
Ledyard was bom with the wanderlust in his
blood. Despaired of by his family because he would
not study law, disapproved by the faculty of Dart-
mouth College becaiise he preferred live facts to
books, at twenty-five years of age he took his life in
his own hands and got a berth as common sailor on
a schooner bound for England. Reacliing London
just as Cook was enhsting men for his third voyage
round the world, the Yankee boy had the good luck
to secure appointment as corporal of marines. What
I
I
"If it » ■iiiMij Ami a EvDfmn
r tke enrtcwr of lihe eoaAiBait, in tbe
' Pmtnm lei a natiis eqilare its re-
ies. It is ^r nA to be the
Retmriiv to the Uailed States. Ledyard
k of Cook'a bst mjt^fL, by way of
aitraetiiig atteotian to tlie lidi ponifaifities of the
Dortfawat coast, and ke actmUr meeeeded in io-
ducioK BO aumy a tiiwiiMwi man as Bobert Monis of
Fhiladdpina to propoee the fitth« oat of a trading
vtmA ; but the merrfaants of Boston and Xew YoA
diBtnistcd the dreamer.
Concfaidiiig that Aroerica was not ripe for SDcfa
so enterpnae as be had cooceiTed, Ledyard turned
to France for financial backing and, arriving in
Paris in I7S1, be found there two American sj'mpa-
thiz^s, Paul Jones and Thomas Jeflfersoo. The
fonner was ready to take part in a trading ven-
ture, provided the French government would fur-
ni^ aid. This, however, was not forthcoming.
The latter saw a chance to re^ze a daring dream.
Jefferson tells the storj- of his relations with Ledj^aid
in his life of Captain Lewis (printed as introduc-
tion to Biddle's Leicis and Clark): "I proposed to
him to go by land to Kamschatka, cross in some of
the Russian vessels to Nootka Sound, fall don*n into
the latitude of the Missouri, and penetrate in and
through that to the United States." This was a
nmple progranmie on paper, but practically impoa-
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 233
sible, since Ledyard had no capital, the permit that
Jefferson had hoped to secure through the French
embassy was refused, the Russian hunters did not then
go so far south as Nootka Sound, and the latitude
of the upper Missouri was quite unknown. How-
ever, neither of these devoted optimists was wont
to be daunted by cold facts. Ledyard went to Stock-
holm and, unable to secure a sledge, tramped the
whole distance to St. Petersburg {via Lapland, Fin-
land, and Tornea), twelve hundred miles around the
Gulf of Bothnia. There a passport was grudgingly
vouchsafed (June 1, 1787) and Ledyard joined an
emissary of the Empress Catherine— Dr. William
Brown — for the journey to Barnaul midway of his six-
thousand-mile journey. Thence the indomitable
Yankee travelled with the Cossack mail carriers
across Siberia to Irkutsk and thence to Yakutsk.
Here he encountered an old acquaintance of Cook's
company, one Billings, sent by the Russian govern-
ment to chart the islands of the North Pacific. The
realization of his hopes seemed at hand, and Ledyard
was readily induced by the rival explorer to accom-
pany him back to Irkutsk. There Cossack police,
sent express by the empress, arrested the American
and carried Mm post haste five thousand miles back
across Siberia and Russia and deposited him in Po-
land, west of the frontier. The importunities of the
Russian fur traders, determined to maintain their
monopoly of the Aleutian Islands, had raised an im-
passable barrier between Ledyard and his goal. It
was a crushing blow. Broken in health and utterly
leartened, the dreamer, bereft of his hope, le-
^^Mi<
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
tiirned to London. "I give up," said he to
English friends. "I give up,"* he wrote to Jef-
ferson. His reputation for courage and resource
was such as to secure for him the leadership of
the expedition that was being sent out by the Afri-
can Association to discover the source of the Nile ;
but his life was spent. He died (1788) at Cairo on
the way out.
Undiscouraged by this tragic failure, Jefferson ven-
tured a new project. In 1792, he induced the Ameri-
can Philosophical Society, of which he was then
vice-president, to undertake the financing of an ex-
pedition that "should ascend the Missouri River,
cross the Stony Mountains, and descend down the
nearest river to the Pacific," for the purpose of finding
a feasible trade route. Andr6 Michaux, the botanist
and explorer, was selected to head the enterprise;
but unluckily the French consul, Genet, had need of
Michaux, and he was despatched to Louis'ville to
confer with George Rogers Clark as to the prospect
for detaching the aggrieved Kentuckiaos from their
allegiance to the United States. Thus Jefferson's
second scheme came to nought. Meantime another
member of Washington's Cabinet, Attorney Gener^
Knox, was moving in the same direction. He in-
structed General Harmar, then in command on the
Ohio, to send a party up the Missouri to its source.
Captain John Armstrong was selected for this haz-
ardous duty. Alone, in a dug-out canoe, he set
out to paddle up the alluring river (1790). He bad
proceeded some distance when he encountered fur
traders descending, who told him that the Indiuu
M
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 335
were on the war-path and that no white man would
be allowed to pass. Rightly deeming that discre-
tion was the better part of valor, Armstrong returned
to St. Louis.
The authorities of this frontier post of the Spanish
dominions had been by no means negligent of the
great possibilities of the mysterious river that poured
its muddy tide into the Mississippi within their juris-
diction. Zenon Trudeau, the ambitious governor of
Spanish Illinois, had organized the "Commercial
Company of the River Missouri" for the purpose of
developing the fur trade, and he hoped to find a route
to the South Sea. Three expeditions were sent up
the Missouri. The first (1794) was led by J. B.
Trudeau, the schoolmaster of St. Louis, but he was
attacked and robbed by the Sioux and got no farther
than the Pawnee villages. The second effort under
Lecuyer was no more successful ; but the third
under James Mackay, a Scotchman from Montreal
who had become a Spanish subject, had better for-
, tune. Mackay founded three trading posts between
the Platte and the Niobrara, and John Evans, a
Welshman of the party, succeeded in reaching the
Mandan villages. The result in furs was so slight,
however, that the Commercial Company decided to
abandon the enterprise, and the expedition was re-
called. Evans died soon after, crazed by drink and
exposure, but Mackay was adequately rewarded by
the far-seeing Carondelet, who assigned him a land
grant of 55,000 arpents on the north bank of the
Missouri and the position of commandante at St.
Andr^.«
i of ife l^itad 9atm- Md «k
«t i^ffia tf ta> a^ pd-
be dmrted to St. Loin. Duvn-stRam tnaqtort*-
tioo by riras opoi for aAvigation the year laand of-
liEnd adriatigi iriiidt most oltiniatair pRTsfl.
MfriiKtfaer Levis* JeffoscKi's private secretaiy,
WIS appotDted to cornmaid the expeifitiott. Thaa
nawrioiUe man was then baretr thirty yeais (^ age.
Born in Albennaiie County, Mrpnia. unckr the
Aadow of the Blue Ridge, he had inb»ited the best
tnits of a race of patriots and pioneerB. His father
aod ancle bad served in the Revolutionary War,
on the Cherokee frontier. From boQ^
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 237
hood he had been accustomed to the life of
the hunter and woodsman, and he had seen mili-
tary service in the Northwest Territory, having
fought under Mad Anthony Wayne. That his im-
agination was captivated by the possibiUties of the
vast realm beyond the Mississippi is evidenced in the
fact that he had applied for this adventurous post
when it was offered to Michaux. Lewis lacked the
technical training in botany and astronomy required
for such scientific observations as were proposed,
and with a view to making good this lack, he went to
Philadelphia, where the savants of the Philosophical
Society gave him all the assistance in their power.
While in this city, he superintended the manufacture
of the arms for his party in the arsenal at Lancaster.
With Captain Lewis in this arduous enterprise was
associated his friend and companion in arms, William
Clark of Louisville, Kentucky, a younger brother of
George Rogers Clark and an experienced backwoods-
man. Besides distinguishing himself at the battle of
Fallen Timbers, Clark had shown marked ability in
conducting large trains of pack horses through a diffi-
cult country, and had given evidence of tact and good
judgment in the negotiations carried on with the
Spanish posts beyond the Mississippi.
The news of the ratification of the treaty of pur-
chase, signed May 2, 1803, reached the United States
early in July. On the fifth of that month, Captain
Lewis left Washington for Pittsburgh. There he
learned to his delight that William Clark had con-
sented to serve as his aid and would join the party at
^Ijouisville. He proceeded down the Ohio, stopping
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
ourteo^l
at the various garrisons to find his men. Foxii
soldiers were enlisted and two French boatmen.
Qark brought with him nine Kentuekians and his
body servant York, a faithful friend who proved
useful in more ways than one.' Thirty picked men
were secured, Kentuekians for the most part, men of
courage, resource, and endurance. All were carefully
tested as to physical fitness, and some hundred
volunteers were rejected as unequal to the strain
likely to be imposed. All were young men and single.
One, George Shannon, was a mere boy of seventeen
when he met Captain Lewis, caught the fever of
adventure, and ran away from home to join the
party. He proved by no means the least depend-
able man of the force. The pecuniary inducements
held out by the recruiting officers were army pay and
the soldier's portion of public lands with which a
needy government was wont to meet its obligations.
The party arrived at Cahokia in the autumn of
1803, too late to ascend the Missouri before ice
formed. It was therefore determined to go into
winter quarters on a little stream emptying into the
Mississippi opposite the Missouri, the Dubois or
Wood River. Here in United States territory, as
Jefferson shrewdly opined, the soldiers' pay and
winter rations might be charged to the War Depart-
ment. A far more important consideration, and one
that must have appealed to the commanders, was
separation from the dissipating influences of the trad-
ing post across the river.
The delay was necessitated not only by the late-
ness of the season, but by the fact that the purchase
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 239
had not been ratified in Upper Louisiana, and the
Spanish officials were still in authority; but it
proved a most fortunate postponement. The winter
was spent in drilling the men and inculcating a
corps d'esprit that proved an all-important factor
in their ultimate success. This body of "robust,
healthy, hardy young men" accustomed to the free-
dom — not to say hcense — of the frontier, were
led with a tact and firmness that evoked their
steadfast loyalty. Plenty of muscular exercise was
provided by the emergencies of camp life. Men like
Gass, who had some skill as carpenters, sawed planks
and raised the cabins ; John Shields, the blacksmith
of the party, manufactured the nails and rough tools ;
other men were sent out to hunt ; others still made
sugar from the maple trees, pioneer fashion. Tar-
get practice made an important part of every day's
programme, and guard duty was ri^dly maintained.
V The Uttle company was divided into three squads of
^ e^t men each, and each squad was under the com-
mand of a sergeant elected by the group. Ordway,
Floyd, and Pryor were the men thus honored. Cap-
tain Lewis insisted that as ready obedience be ren-
dered to the sergeant in command as to himself or to
Captain Clark. The camp regulations were at first
galling to these backwoodsmen. No one was to
absent himself from camp without express permission,
and no whiskey was to be served from the contractor's
store except the legal ration of a half gill per man
each day. The winter's discipline brought the Uttle
force to the highest point of efficiency. Each man
i Uie tempered steel, a tool wrought for its task.
^jtas like u
EXPLORERS AXD COLONIZERS
The equipment was provided no less carefully Uian
the nKn, and the meagre appmpriatioD of S2500 was
expended with the strictest ecooomy. Lewis esti-
mated that there would be required for "mathematical
instruments, $217 ; arms and accoutrements ex-
traordinary, $81 ; camp equipage, 5255 ; medecin
A packing, $55; means of transportation, $430;
Indian presents, $696; proviaioDs extraordinary,
$224 ; materials for making up the various articles
into portaUe packs, $55; for the pay of hunters
guides A Interpreters, $300 ; in silver coin to defray
the expences of the party from Nashville to the last
white settlement on the Missisourie, $100," '
There remained barely SS7 for the contingencies
that might arise in the coiuse of a journey of four
thousand miles by an unknown route to a destination
far beyond the limits of the United States authority.
Never was so momentous an enterprise so thriftily
furnished ! Strict attention was given to the pre-
vention of waste, and provisions were of the simplest
description, "Parchmeal," commeal, hulled com,
flour, biscuit, pork, coffee, beans, peas, and lard were
laid in at St. Louis. These, with seven barrels of salt
and the sugar made at Wood River camp, did not ad-
mit of much luxury."
The ceremony of the formal transfer of Upper
Louisiana to the United States (March 10, 1804),
Lewis attended as the official representative of the
American government. It was a strangely symbolic
occasion. The change of allegiance from Spain to
France had not yet taken place, and so the mingled
Spanish and French population of Laclede's vil-
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 241
lage watched the Spanish flag lowered to give
place to the French, and that in turn to give way to
the Stars and Stripes. Contending emotions of cha^
grin and hope must liave swayed the aliens present.
The traders probably approved the change, but the
habitants who had left their farms in the Illinois Coun-
try to escape EngUsh rule could not see the American
flag floating over St. Louis without dismay.
At St. Louis boats were secured for the transpor-
tation of the party to the Mandan villages, the farthest
known point on the Missouri. A keel boat carrying
a large square sail and twenty-two oars, and two pi-
rogues, one of six and one of seventy oars, were deemed
sufficient. The keel boat was fifty-five feet long
and drew three feet of water. A ten-foot deck at the
bow served as a hold for the luggage, while the stern
boasted a cabin and forecastle. A swivel gun was
mounted amidships. For propelling power the main
reliance was the wind, which served admirably in
smooth stretches of water; but when the current was
narrow and tortuous the navigators had recourse to
the cordelle, a taut rope attached to the mast with
which the boat was towed up-stream by a Uoe of men
walking along the bank. When the cordelle was im-
practicable, they were obUged to pole or row, forcing
the craft over shallows and rapids by means of these
more laborious devices. Seven bales and one box
contained the supplies, clothing, implements, am-
munition and medicine, while there were fourteen
bales and one box of articles to be used in traffic with
the Indians. The goods were carefully distributed
song the several packages so that the loss of any
^Mjong 1
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
one would be less felt. The powder, a necessity
life in the wilderness, was packed in leaden canisters
of such size that there was just enough powder in
each package to fire the bullets that could be made of
the lead. The canisters were tightly sealed so as to
be water-proof. Sixteen more men, soldiers and
voyageurs, were engaged at St. Louis to accompany
the party as far as the Mandans, bringing the total
force up to forty-five. Two horses were provided to
be led along the bank as an assistance in bringing in
game.
On Monday, May 14, 1S04, the little flotilla set
out on the long voyage up the Missouri. Captain
Clark was in command, Lewis being detained in
St. Louis, and he proceeded but a short way up the
river, meaning to test the balance of his lading.
Three times the keel boat ran upon sunken drift-
wood, and it became clear that the luggage must be
shifted to the stem, so that the boat might sur-
mount these obstacles. At St. Charles, Captain
Lewis overtook the party, bringing with him some
interested visitors, several officers of the United
States army, A. Chouteau, C. Gratiot, and "many
other respectable inhabitants of St. Louis." The
people of St. Charles were no less desirous of doing
honor to the explorers. Clark describes them as
"pore, polite and harmonious"; but poverty did not_
prevent their giving a-ball, which proved somewl
too exhilarating to the men. In spite of the nol
posted on May 16: "The commanding officer is fully'
assured that every man of his Detachment will have
atnie respect for their own dignity, and not make it
not
tiofl
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 243
necessairy for him to leave St. Charles for a more
retired situation," Captain Clark was "compelled to
punish for misconduct" next day, A court-martial
was organized to hear and determine the evidence
adduced against Warner, Hall, and Collins "for
being absent last night without leave, behaving
in an unbecoming manner at the ball last night,
and speaking in language tending to bring into dis-
respect the orders of the commanding officer," The
sentence, fifty lashes for Collins and twenty-five for
the other two, must have seemed severe to these
young blades from Kentucky ; but the lesson was
not heeded. On June 20 the two last were again
court^martialled, Collins "charged with getting drunk
this morning out of whiskey put under his charge
as a sentinel and for suffering Hall to draw whiskey
out of the said barrel intended for the party." This
time Collins received a hundred lashes and Hall
fifty. A few days later Willard was tried for lying
down and going to sleep at his post. He pleaded
"guilty of lying down but not guilty of going to
sleep." He was, however, found guilty on both
counts and sentenced to one hundred lashes, twenty-
five to be administered in the evening of four succes-
sive days. Two more eases of discipline occurred
early in the voyage. For some mutinous words
uttered in a bad humor, John Newman was sen-
tenced to receive seventy-five lashes and to be dis-
banded. An even more serious defection was that
of Moses B. Reed, who deserted (August 4) in com-
pany with two of the voyageurs. Being recovered,
he was sentenced to "run the gauntlet four times
I
I
I
SM
EXPLORERS AXD COLONIZERS
n^B
thiou^ the party, and that each man with
switches ^ould punish him, and for him not to be
coD^dered in future us one of the partj-." This was
the last caee of discipline. The company had been
thoroughly ^ted, and thereafter every man served
with the steadfast devotion that befitted their high
mis^n. The Journals contain frequent allusioos
to the loyalty and courage of the men. The general
health of the party and the absence of serious illness
was due in large measure to the thorough training
they had undergone. But one man was lost during
the exposure and unexpected vicissitudes of fourteen
months in the wilderness."
Id accordance with Jefferson's instructions, Lewis
made such observations of the fauna and flora, the
soil and mineral wealth, as might be managed from
the ^-icinity of the river. Missouri looked to him a
land of promise. The bottoms were well wooded with
walnut, hickorj-, ash, oak, and cottonwood. Thickets
of wild plum, crab-apple, grape-^Hne, and honey-
suckle adorned the banks, and there were great
plantations of mulberry trees. Back from the river
lay fertile pnuries covered with native grass, grow-
ing like timothy but flowered like a hop vine. The
French hunters reported lead deposits on the lower
Missouri, but Lewis was unable to verify their state-
ments. On the upper river, pit-coal was in frequent
evidence, horizontal strata from one to five feet in
depth of "carbonated wood'" showing in the ri\'er
bluffs. At some points, pumice-stone and a kind of
lava indicated that these surface deposits had been
on fire. On the voyage through the plains then
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 245
was no lack of subsistence. It was the "constant
practice" to send the hunters o£F into the wooded
bottoms where game abounded. Deer and wild
turkeys were always to be had on the lower Missouri,
plenty of elk were found near the Kansas, while in
the Dakotas vast herds of buffalo appeared. Meat
that was not needed for immediate consumption was
"jerked" against a day of scarcity. Buffalo humps,
elk steaks, venison, beaver tails, wild pigeons,
turkeys, geese, and fish in great variety afforded a
luxurious menu, so that the salt pork remained un-
touched among the stores. Yet one man came near
starving to death in this land of plenty, for the want
of ammunition. George Shannon, who was sent
to look for missing horses (August 22), had pushed
on ahead of the party, thinking to overtake them.
He was discovered on September 1 1, well-nigh
famished. "He had been 12 days without any
thing to eate but Grapes & one Rabit, which he
Killed by shooting a piece of hard Stick in place of
a ball." '^ Another kind of game, even more abun-
dant but less appreciated, was a winged creature
recorded by Captain Clark as "musquiters" or
"musquetors" or "misquetors" indiscriminately; but
they were always "verry bad" or "verry trouble-
some" and rendered the night camps along the
Missouri veritable torture.
At this season of high water, the river offered no
serious difficulties even to large boats, but the man
at the bow had always to keep a sharp lookout. A
muddy current, five hundred yards wide, swirling
xid eddying among the islands and sand bars, and
^md edc
irdthe
vtfDOt
■MUfe of tfcr m-r
TWhli^fcHi
Ike tkfe. It WW Orrxeicr
loo near the diore cr to ■&
NotwiOstaiMfiiiK these rtHUfrttiw. tbe Missoori
was abeadf the far tmkn* hqg|nny. Tbe mi^ty
tirer with its great tribataiies, the Osage, tbe Kansas,
the Fhtte, the Niobrata, etc., penetrated to tbe very
heart of the beavo-. eouatry. Our traveDers fre-
qnaitlj came upon fortified trading poets, some o(
them abandoned long since and some tq>pareQt]y in
use the year previous. Trappers and voj/ageun were
floating down tbe tortuous cbannel in batttaux and
dugout canoes, heavily laden with peltr>', furs, aod
buffalo hides, the fruit of their season's traffic among
the Otoes, the Pawnees, the Kansas, or the Sioux-
One 8uch party had been twelve months in the
Om^ia country. Their catch was worth $900, but
they were "out of provisioas and out of powder"
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 247
and heartily glad of the hospitality proffered by
the captains. Pierre Durion, a Frenchman who
had lived twenty years among the Sioux, was en-
countered coming down the river to St. Louis, and
he was easily persuaded to return with the exploring
expeditioD.
On the lower Missouri there was serious danger
of a brush with the Kansas, — "dissolute, lawless
banditti," as Lewis terms them. Fortunately for the
expedition, the "Kaws" were off on a buffalo hunt
at this season. In general the Indian tribes were
quite friendly to the whites because they brought
goods in exchange for their furs, but they were fre-
quently at war among themselves. The nomad
tribes, the "Kites" of the western mountains who
had acquired horses from the Spaniards, and the
Sioux of the northern plains who had secured guns
from the British, were the scourge of the agricultural
villages of the Osages, Otoes, Cheyennes, Aricaras,
and Mandans. An important part of Lewis' mission
was to establish peaceful relations between the
Indian tribes and the newly established government.
He therefore was at great pains to convene repre-
sentative assemblies of the Indians and to impress
upon their chiefs the power and friendly inten-
tions of the United States and the importance of
arbitrating their intertribal differences.
On October 21, the explorers reached Heart
River, the Mandans' land (Bismarck, N.D.). Here
on the bluffs overhanging the east bank were the
ruins of nine villages surrounded by earthworks, but
abandoned since the smallpox epidemic of 1782.
I
MS EXPLORERS AXD COLONIZERS
The surviving Mandans had their dwellings and
ooro-fields a few miles farther up the river, and here
(47° 21' 27") the captains determined to cstabUsh
their winter quarters. The weather had turoed
ver>' cold, snow was falling, and the men were begin-
ning to siififer from rheumatism. A council was held
with the Mandans, peace was negotiated between
that nation and the Ricaras, and a friendly under-
Btanding was established so that a regular supply of
food mi^t be obt^ned. Captain Clark, who had
been looking up and down the river for a suitable
camping ground, reported a good position about
three miles below the villages, where there was
plenty of timber and a spring of good water. There
on a point of low ground (Elm Point, heavily timbered
to-day), sheltered by bluffs from the dreaded north-
east storms, the cabins were built of heavy cotton-
wood, elm, and ash, stone for the chimneys being
brought in the pirogues. The men were divided
into squads, some to fell timber, others to bum
charcoal and shell corn, others still to hunt the deer
and buffalo and lay in a good stock of meat. The
northern winter was approaching fast, there was a
hard frost every night, and the geese were flying
south. By the middle of November, ice began to
float down the river. Then the keel boat was un-
packed, and its contents deposited in the store-
house. The huts were completed by the twentieth of
the month, and not a whit too soon. By the end of
November, there was a foot of snow on the ground,
and the river was frozen over so that it could be
<3t)ssed without risk.
p
► SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 249
Fort Mandan was sixteen hundred miles from
the mouth of the Missouri, and the expedition, being
well on its way, could afford some relaxation. A
Dakota winter, moreover, was a foe before which
the Indians retreated to their lodges, and its severity
was quite beyond the experience of these Ken-
tuckians. By the middle of December the thermom-
eter fell to forty-five degrees below zero, and several
men were suffering from frozen hands and feet, snow-
blindness, and pleurisy. The fort was snug enough
and capable of prolonged defence against savage
foes. Larocque, a North West Company trader who
visited the Mandans that winter, thus describes it:
It was "constructed in a triangular form, ranges of
houses making two sides, and a range of amazing
long pickets, the front. The whole is made so
strong as to be almost cannon ball proof. The two
ranges of houses do not join one another, but are
joined by a piece of fortification made in the form
of a demicircle that can defend two sides of the
Fort, on the top of which they keep sentry all
night; ... A sentinel is likewise kept all day
walking in the Fort." " To guard against annoy-
ance from the Mandans, the gates were locked at
sunset, and no Indian was allowed to remain in the
fort over night except by express permission.
The storehouse was well stocked with venison and
buffalo, and the Indians brought plenty of corn
which they had cached for winter use in pits near
their lodges. One by one the chiefs visited the fort,
each attended by a squaw laden with corn or frash
The women would sometimes present for
Kt. J
EXPLORERS AND COLOMZKBS
I
Moo^l
L
the white man's delectatioQ the favorite
dish, — "a kittle of boiled Cimnina [pumpkiiH},
beens, com and choke cherries with the stones,
which was palitable." '* Such donations were scru-
puloualy rewarded in trinkets or tobacco. The par
of exchange was very unequal, if cost of production
be the measure of value. For example, a fillet of
deerskin two inches in width was regarded by these
people, who knew nothing of the tanner's art, as
equivalent to a fine horse. Even so, the supply of
Indian goods might have been exhausted, but for
the labors of John Shields, the blacksmith, whose
forge was regarded as "great medicine." To him
were brought tomahawks and kettles to be mended,
and he wrought battle-axes and knives after a pattern
of his own that gave great satisfaction to the Mandao
braves who coveted the white man's weapons.
" Had these Whites come amongst us," said the
chiefs, " with charitable views they would have
loaded their ' Great Boat ' with necessaries. It is
true they have ammunition, but they prefer throwing
it away idly than sparing a shot of it to a poor
Mandan." The Indians admired the lur-gun, aa it
could discharge forty shots out of one load, but they
dreaded the magic of the owners, " Had I these
white warriors in the upper plains," said the Gros
Ventres chief, "my young men on horseback would
soon do for them, as they would do for so many
'wolves,' for," continued he, "there are only two
sensible men among them, the worker of iron and
the mender of guns.""
At the Mandan villages were found sevad
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 251
French Canadians, voyageurs and trappers, who had
taken native wives and settled down at this remote
trading place. Their knowledge of Indian languages
and cuatome, together with the friendly status
accorded them, rendered them indispensable as
guides and interpreters, although they often proved
tricky and unreliable. Lewis at first engaged Jes-
saume, a crafty fellow, who had lived fifteen years
in the region ; but he was later dismissed as un-
trustworthy. Chaboneau, who had lived among
the Minnetarees and had married a Shoshone woman,
was finally secured. Personally, he was not a great
acquisition; but it was thought that his squaw,
Sacajawea, might render valuable service when the
expedition should reach the land of her people, the
Snake Indians of the Rocky Mountains. From the
Indians and trappers, the captains obtained much
information concerning the country as far as the
Rocky Mountains. Beyond the great divide no
man of them had ventured.
Not only Mandan chiefs and French voyageurs,
but British fur traders, were hospitably entertained
at the captains' chimney corner. Fort Mandan was
not more than one hundred and fifty miles from
the North West Company's post on the Aseini-
boin, and during the winter three or four trading
parties arrived, bringing tobacco, beads, guns, and
blankets, to be exchanged for furs and horses.
McCracken of the North West Company was on his
return trip to the Assiniboin factory (November 1),
and to him Captain Lewis intrusted the passport
oven him by the British Minister at Washington
d ^^^pr to see us.
! dispo-
. at leaet in om
c^c^ ■■ !■ «loqptf t, O^lMM Cfaik was eqiully
«dl miatmtd, bnk hb coBvosBtioa wss alwavs
pkaaanl^ Ear he aeeMed to iBnifcr ^rmg oSence an-
neteam^J* " Tbe frntta aecm to be that Lewis,
ttttrgfr^ with the c^iiaaaatk naponsibilities of tbe
entoprise and hearing that I^rocque had attempted
to diattflwite Briti^ Sa^ and medals among the
Xn^aiis, told him firmly that this would cot be pe^
Dotted OB United States territory. Larocque haTing
denied soy such intention, he was permitted to use
one of Lewis' bteipreters in the prosecution oi his
business, on the express undet^anding that he would
not discusa any subject but that of his traffic and
wotild sell DO liquor to tbe Indians. This same
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 253
Larocque was eager to accompany the party on their
journey up the Missouri, but Lewis thought it best
to decline his proposal.
Other indications of national rivahy contributed
to justify Lewis' caution. The interpreter, Cha-
boneau, visited the lodges of the Minnetarees, acme
ninety miles to the north of Mandan, and brought
back word that "the Clerk of the Hudson Bay
Co. with the Me ne tar res has been Speaking Some
fiew expresss-^ unfavourable towards us, and that it
is Said the NW Co : intends building a fort at the
Mene-tar-r^s." '* When Fort Mandan was visited
by the Minnetaree chiefs (January 15) they were
received with special attention, and their friendship
was secured. The hostile influence of the traders
was particularly evident in the case of the Yankton
Sioux, who had been armed against the Chippeways
by Mr. Cameron, an independent trader, from his
factory on the St. Peters. They had declared their
intention of destroying Lewis' party as "bad medi-
cines," but they dared nothing more than the theft
of some horses taken down river by a hunting party.
The explorers were destined to experience a farther
instance of the deleterious effect of the fur trade on
the Indians in the hostihty of the Assiniboins, the
hereditary foes of the Mandans and Minnetarees,
Their neighborhood to the British factories meant
that they were well supplied with liquor and fire-
anns, which they doled out to the more distant tribes
at their plea.'iure, Lewis refused to furnish the
Mandans with firearms, advising them to keep the
) and await the time when American traders
i:
254
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZEBS
M
would bring them supplies of evoy kind.
as on other barbarous frontiers, refugees from justice
found asylum and added their defiance of law and
order to the Indians' instinctive distrust of the
whites.
By the middle of February the winter had mod-
erated, and the party began to make preparations for
the voyage up the Missouri. Spring came none too
soon, for the stock of meat laid in during November
and December was exhausted, and it was difficult to
procure more. The hunters went sixty miles in
pursuit of game, but the deer and elk and buffalo
they brought back were so lean as to be poor nourish-
ment. On February 18 the men were reduced for
the first time to a vegetable diet, — the com and
dried squashes brought in by the squaws. The
pirogues were soon chopped and pried out of the
ice, and dragged to the shore with a windlass and
elkskin ropes. The barge proved unwieldy for these
devices, and it was decided, moreover, that she was
too large for the upper Missouri, Canoes enough to
take her place were built by a gang of men sent out to
a Cottonwood grove under direction of Sergeant
Gass. By the first of March the river began to
break up, and swans, ducks and wild geese were seen
flying toward the northeast. The boats and pi-
rogues were ready on the twenty-first. On the
twenty-ninth the river, which had been rising for
several days, broke through the ice, and the water
came down in floods. The men were set to getting
out the stores and Indian goods that they might diy
in the sun, and the supplies were packed
migbt aij I
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 255
duplicate divisions "so as to preserve a portion of
each in ease of accident."
From Fort Mandan, Lewis sent to President Jeffer-
son a letter reporting the journey up to date, together
with a map of the region still to be traversed, based
on "testimony of a number of Indians who have
visited that country, and who have been separately
and carefully examined on that subject, and we
therefore think it entitled to some degree of confi-
dence." " On the same day that the expedition set
out up the Missouri, the barge started back to St.
Louis, with seven soldiers, two Frenchmen, and Mr.
Gravelines as pilot. Lewis' letter, together with the
journals kept by himself and Captain Clark, were
communicated to Congress (February, 1805), and
furnished the first authentic information to reach
Washington concerning the party. Plans for the
future were more or less hypothetical, but the cap-
tains anticipated tittle difficulty in reaching the
Great Falls of the Missouri. There the pirogues
were to be abandoned, and the voyage pursued in
skin canoes to the head of navigable water. Beyond
this "any calculation with respect to our daily prog-
ress can be Uttle more than mere conjecture." It
was hoped that the journey overland from the sources
of the Missouri to the Columbia might be greatly
facilitated by horses to be purchased of the Indians
for the transportation of luggage.
On the seventh of April, 1805, the little fiotilla,
two pirogues and six dugout canoes, set out on its
great adventure. Lewis wrote to Jefferson, "At
this moment, every individual of the party are in
eyea;
^m nhand
^H eating
^1 raptni
^H fortun
IT. Tbe wattf wan afaallow a&*i
d bszs -m^x fmjoaft; but the
amaKbaaks aad beadMmas driftwDod that bea^
the lower mcr had wdiaj^ <fiEappeared. Sub
eoald be osed for loog stietdes, and the eordeOe
wm readily woiked from the low basks. The only
■erioDs difficulties were the occasioDal strong head
winds and tbe sudden squalls that threatened an
tlBwary steeiBnian with capsize. The ever present
ilKMqtdtaes besieged the night camps, and dust
stonas arising in the waterless plains blinded the
eyes ; but, with these exceptions, the voyage was a
plftBsure excursion. Traces of Indians were seen,
abandoned lodges and empty whiskey casks, indi-
cating the recent presence of Assiniboins. The
raptttina were on their guard, but by great good
fortunn they had no encounter with this "vicious,
dUpoKd nation,"
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 257
■^ The little Missouri was passed on April 12, and
here two Frenchmen, who had accompanied the
party up the river, stopped, thinking the prospect
for beaver excellent. They were the first white
men to trap in this region. A few miles above they
passed a stream (Indian River) which they called
Chaboneau's Creek because this man had once
camped there. It marked the limit of his knowl-
edge of the Missouri. Lapage, one of the voyageurs,
had penetrated a little farther ; but beyond Mussel
Shell Creek, the great waterway was unexplored.
On April 26, the beautiful river, known to the
French as the Rochejaune, was reached. The
Indians had assured them that this tributary took
its rise in the mountains, near the source of the
Platte and Missouri rivers, Lewis suggests in his
journal that the plateau on the right bank of the
Missouri, two miles above the mouth of the Yellow-
stone, would be a good point for a government
trading post. Building stone was at hand and fresh,
sweet water, and the two rivers gave access to rich
fur country. "The beaver of this part of the Mis-
souri are larger, fatter, more abundant and better
clad with fur than those of any other part of the
country that I have yet seen ; I have remarked also
that their fur is much darker." " The first con-
siderable river flowing in from the north or left
bank was called the Milk, because of "the peculiar
whiteness of its water, which precisely resembles
tea with a considerable mixture of milk." ** Ex-
ploration proved that this great river drained a
beautiful valley, with wide, fertile bottom lands of
258 EXPLORERS AXD COLONIZERS
rich loam. It was surmised that the source might
be near the Saskatchewan and that the !MUk might
afford communication with British waters. On
May 9, they pa^ed "a most extraordinary river,"
which they decided to call the Bigdry ; " It is as wide
as the Missouri is at this place or half a mile wide
and not containing a single drop of runing water;
some small standing pools being all the water that
could be perceived," ^ although there were indica-
tions that in the rainy season the river bed was
filled with a mad torrent. Here, too, the ravages of
the beaver were evident. "In [one] place particu-
larly they had cut all the timber down for three
acres in front and on nearly one back from the river
and had removed a considerable proportion of it,
the timber grew very thick and some of it was as
large as a man's body." **
As the explorers entered the foot-hills, the tem-
perature fell, and ice appeared along the river's
edge ; pines and cedar trees began to supplant the
Cottonwood, and the air was astonishingly dry and
pure. As the stream grew more rapid, "riffles and
rocky points" rendered navigation difficult. The
current was too strong for oars and too deep for the
pole, and the canoes had to be dragged along by
the cordftle. The men were frequently obliged to
jump into the water to stave the boats off the
rocks, and the strain on their endurance was great.
"The men are compelled to be in the water even to
their arm-pits, and the water is yet very "Bonta, and
so frequent are those point[s] that they are one
fourth of their time in the water, added to this ^e
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 259
banks and bluffs along which they are obliged to
pass are so slippery and the mud so tenacious that
they are unable to wear their mockersona, and in
that situation draging the heavy burthen of a canoe
and walking acasionally for several hundred yards
over the sharp fragments of rocks which tumble
from the elifts and garnish the borders of the river." '*
On May 25, Captain Lewis ascended some hills
near Windsor Creek, Elk Rapids, and descried the
snowy peaks of the "Rock Mountains." The
sources of the Missouri must be near at hand as well
as that pass over the great divide which would lead
to westward-flowing rivers, and Lewis was keenly
aware that the difficulties of his journey had begun.
On June 3, they came upon a river Sowing in from
the north, as large as the Missouri and so similar in
general character that the captains were at a loss
to determine which was the real Missouri. "To
mistake the stream at this period of the season,
two months of the traveling season having now
elapsed, and to ascend such stream to the rocky
Mountain or perhaps much further before we could
inform ourselves whether it did approach the Co-
lumbia or not, and then be obliged to return and
take the other stream would not only loose us the
whole of this season but would probably so dis-
hearten the party that it might defeat the expedi-
tion altogether." '"
The men, notably the voyageurs, held that the
northern fork, a shallow, muddy stream, was the
course to follow ; but the captains were inclined
to think that the south branch, being clearer and
I
I
EXPLORERS .\ND COLONIZERS
more rapid, came more directly from the moun-
tains. Reconnoitering parties were therefore sent
out up the two rivers and into the hills in the
hope of getting some definite clew. The first day's
effort bringing no decisive result, the two cap-
tains set out, Lewis up the north fork and Clark
along the south, two days' journey. The result
confirmed them in their first opinion. Lewis fol-
lowed his river fifty-nine miles and, observing that
the mountain range was trending to the northwest,
concluded that the stream must drain the vast
intervening valley and could lead to no divide. He
named it Maria's River for a cousin back in Vir-
ginia. Clark, on the other hand, after working his
way with great difficulty forty-five miles up a narrow
valley with precipitous sides, was fully convinced
that the south branch had its source in the snow-
clad mountains to the southwest. Meantime the
men, relying on the views of Cruzatte, the most ex-
perienced of the boatmen, held to their contrary
opinion. There was one sure criterion. The Man-
dans had been positive that on the Missouri, a little
to the south of the setting sun, there was a great
waterfall not to be confused with any rapids. Lewis
therefore determined to push up the south fork until
he should reach the falls or encounter the moun-
tain barrier so dreaded by the men. He set out
on June 11, taking with him four men. Captain
Clark, meantime, employed the others in dressing
elkskins for the light canoes and in caching the
pirogue and all the luggage that could be spared,
together with some provisions, tools, and powder,
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 261
to await the return journey. After three days'
march, Captain Lewis' heart was gladdened by the
roar of a distant waterfall, and from a point of high
land he saw "the spray arrise above the plain like a
collumn of smoke which would frequently dispear
again in an instant caused J presume by the wind
which blew pretty hard from the S.W." " Seven
miles' rough walking brought him to the Great Falls
of the Missouri. Shields was despatched down the
river to direct Captain Clark to bring the party to
this point, while Lewis, seating himself on a rock
under the centre of the falls, surrendered himself to
enjoyment of "this truly magnificent and sublimely
grand object which has from the conamencement of
time been concealed from the view of civilized
man." *^ The mighty rush of water was more to
him than a natural wonder; it was the vindication of
his foresight, the assurance that he was on the right
trail to the mountain pass that should lead him to
the Columbia.
The eighlecn-mile portage round the Great Falls
occupied a fortnight and seriously taxed the en-
durance of the men. A rude wagon was constructed
for transporting the canoes and heavier luggage,
sawed sections of Cottonwood trees serving for
wheels. Never was a more awkward cart trundled
over a rougher road by human muscle. The im-
provised vehicle broke down again and again, and
finally the load had to be transferred to the men's
shoulders. Lewis spent the two weeks in making
a full and exact description of Giant Spring, the
Falls, and the ten miles of cataract above and below.
262 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
His word picture, together with Captain Clar^rf*
map, make up an account of the region that is still
standard, notwithstanding the changes wrought by
the Great Northern Railroad, the smelters, and thfi^
town of fifteen thousand inhabitants that rendtffl
Great Falls a centre of prosperous industry. ^
Elk and buffalo were still abundant, and the
hunters were engaged in bringing in game, jerking the
meat for the mountain journey and tanning the skins
for the covering of the iron boat frame. This was
now set up and the hides carefully fitted on. Elk-
skins were preferred because stronger and more
durable than bufTalo, and less hable to shrink.
Having no tar to calk the seams, they used a com-
position of charcoal, beeswax, and buffalo tallow;
but this unfortunately cracked off when the boat
was placed in the water, and "the Experiment" that
had cost so much time and labor was regretfully
abandoned. The beeswax and tallow composition
held to the untanned buffalo hides, and the captains
were forced to the conclusion that these would have
served the purpose better; but it was too late to
make the change. The buffalo were fast retreating
to the plains, the season was advancing, and the
party must be over the divide before winter set in.
Resort was had to the cottoowood, and two addi-
tional dugouts were manufactured. The men, mean-
time, had repaired their clothing and made new
moccasins with double soles, calculated to resist the
spines of the prickly pear.
It had been the original intention to send back a
eoDoe from the Falls with iournals, etc., to inform
^ J
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 263
the President of the safety of the party ; but that was
now thought unwise. "Not having seen the Snake
Indians or knowing in fact whether to calculate on
their friendship or hostility we have conceived our
party sufficiently small and therefore have concluded
not to dispatch a canoe with a part of our men to St.
Louis as we bad intended early in the spring."*' The
decision was a wise one, but the failure of the expected
report occasioned Jefferson much anxiety.
On July 15 the canoes were launched in the up-
per Missouri, and the mountain journey was begun.
The river wound through a narrow valley, well
wooded and radiant with bloom. Sunflowers, wild
cucumbers, and lambs-quarter covered the banks,
while the levels were beset by the prickly pear, "one of
the greatest beauties as well as the greatest incon-
veniences of the plains." Navigation grew laborious
as the velocity of the current increased, and the
men walked, to lighten the canoes. Parallel to the
river ran an Indian road, evidently much used, and
this it was hoped would guide them to the encamp-
ments of the Snake or Shoshone Indians. From
these people Lewis expected to get horses and infor-
mation as to the most practicable route ; hence it
was of the utmost importance neither to miss them
nor to encounter their hostility. Horse tracks in the
road, willow huts recently abandoned, and signal
fires lighted to warn stragglers of the neighborhood
of their inveterate foes, the Minnctarees, indicated
that the Shoshones were not only near, but were on
their guard. To prove that his people were white
^Uen and friends, Lewis directed that pieces of cloth,
3M
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
I
Hnen, ind paper be left along the trail.
dark foUowed the toad with three of the men^
while the canoes were poled and towed through the
focturesque canoD. then first seen by white men and
l^>propriate]T named the Gates of the Rock>- Moun- '
tains. Arrived at White Earth Creek, Sacajawea
recognised the day banks vhere ho- people were
aorustomed to eome for the paint with which they
tattooed the boffiesof their braves, and ^»e said that
the Three Forks oS the Missouri was at no great
distance. Thb was the point of r«idexvous where
the caDoes were to awut the walking part>'. Levis
vtaptd for sercnl days at a spot where Saoajawea
8ud sbe bad been captured fire years before, and
ItfaBtbnenras, which they named after the
Bof that d«y, Jcffersoo, Madison, and
GaHatin; bat iltlkoa^ three Iixfian tnikc
bwe, they f wbd to find the SboAooes.
On the thirtieth of Jik(j> Lnra took ti
ngCbikf wbo was vdtnigh exbansted, t
the canoe party. T^TdlKqE was labanoiiB a
1^ both caaoe and tnJL Bewerwciee
afatindant, damiut dw aCnaas and ifivefting flK '
water in a w^ that was so—rtntg iiKDo\'enieBt
Tbe linr was sd tartoMB that Aey h«] to trarH
twdre nBas to Mske loMr, aad tiwy were in eon-
alaaft daagBr oC capne. Hams had become a ll^
Puahii( OB vp tihe Jafcrooa, they paatd
thrr mmmtd fVksophy. Wbdoai.
aad ntaaBtibn^. alfear A« "ishBbhj rirtues of
that justly liBBniarii fhamrter* (wanes loa$ aoce
from
- '•
'•-
;tis
.L.
OF THE Co
w SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 265
Stinking Water). Lewis, determined to find the
Indians at any cost, pressed on by forced marches
to the Two Forks of the Jefferson (Beaverhead
River). After a careful reconnoissance, he decided
to take the south branch (Trail Creek), and fol-
lowed it to its source in Lemhi Pass. Crossing the
divide, they found a stream flowing to the west, "a
creek of the Columbia" (Lemhi Creek or Lewis
River). Here the jubilant pioneers camped for the
night (August 12) and, building a fire of dry willow
brush, cooked their last piece of pork. They were three
thousand miles from the mouth of the Missouri and out
of provisions, but happy with the prospect of success.
The next morning "very early," Lewis and his
companions followed the Indian road down the
valley of the Lemhi, hoping to come upon an Indian
camp. They were soon rewarded by the sight of
two women, a man, and some dogs, but the people
ran away in terror. To disarm their suspicions and
to get speech of them required all the diplomacy of
which Lewis was master. Some women were finally
persuaded, by presents of beads and vermilion
paint, to lead the white men to their camp. Cameah-
wait, their chief, was induced to smoke the pipe of
peace, and a United States flag was presented to
him as an emblem of alliance. The hungry travellers
were then feasted on cakes made of dried berries, the
only food in the lodge, and the important business
of securing horses and guides was undertaken.
Cameahwait feared that the strangers might be in
league with his dreaded foes, the Minnetarees; but
Lewis assured him that they were an adva.i\te ©iasd
I
266 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
of a large party of white meD who had crossed the
mountains to find the road by which to bring the Sho-
shones arms and merchandise in trade, that the
rest of the party were now waiting on the Jefferson
River, and that he could prove the truth of this
statement by accompan>'ing them back to the
Forks. To this proposal the chief assented, and set
out next day accompanied by eight warriors. The
success of the negotiations now depended on the
prompt arrival of the m^ party. Lewis reached
the Forks on the sixteenth to find no trace of Clark.
Cameahwait's suspicions were allayed with diffi-
culty, while Drewyer was despatched down the river
to hasten the coming of the canoea. Captain Clark's
party came in sight next day, and the fears of
the Shoshones were set at rest, once for all, by the
appearance of Sacajawea. In true fairy tale fashion,
Cameabvait recognized her as h^ long-lost sister.
and she was welconaed to the tribe with every token
of joy and affection. Henceforth the Shoshones
were ready to serve the white men to the extent of
thftir ability.
The chief wealth of the Shoshones was in their
horses. Camoaliwait's tribe possessed some seven
hundntl, as well sf a few mules which were prized
PNTn more Ixighly. Both horses and mules were
iMtmiRH] by trade with the Spaniards, from whose
MitOcntents they were ten days distant via the
Yt»H»w\Titrtne route," Cameahwait complained bit-
\pv\y IhAt the Sfxuiiards would sell no gims, and
\\vn{ Ihry wvre liofenceless i^ainst the Minnetareee.
whit vnfv i>tip|4k\i by the British factors and theie-
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 267
fore invincible. The Shoshones were no less war-
like by nature. "If we had guns, instead of hiding
ourselves in the mountains and hving like bears
on roots and berries, we would then go down and
live in the buffalo country in spite of our enemies,
whom we never fear when we meet them on equal
terms."
Lemhi Pass is comparatively easy of access, but
it leads to some of the most difficult territory in tlie
Rocky Mountains. Cameahwait drew on the ground
a map of the mountain chains and rivers that lay
between his country and that of the Chopunnlsh
(Nez Perces), and said they had told him that the
streams he knew flowed into a river that "ran a
great way toward the seting sun and finally lost
itself in a great lake of water which was illy taisted,
and where the white men lived." ^' The Indians
reported the mountain streams so dangerous for
canoes and so difficult of navigation that it was
evident the luggage must be transferred to pack
horses. Thirty-two animals were purchased at a
cost of one hundred dollars in trinkets, and pack
saddles were put together out of oar handles and
rawhide. An old man who knew more of the region
than any other Shoshone was engaged as guide, and
on August 30 the expedition set out in quest of the
Pacific. The two weeks' sojourn had given the men
time to recruit their strength and to repair their moc-
caans and deerskin clothing. Little food had been
accumulated, for deer and mountain goats, the only
game in the mountains, were scarce and shy. The
a. Indians had nothing to eat but salmon, berries, and
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
I
I
roots, dried for winter use, and were about to migrate
to the buffalo ranges on the upper Missouri. There
was plenty of trout and mullet in the creeks, but
to supply so lat^e a party with so small a fish re-
quired more time than the approach of winter allowed,
and they were forced to depend on the pork, flour,
and parched corn brought out from St. Louis. The
Indians having assured them that the route directly
west, along the Salmon and Snake rivers, was too
rough to be practicable for horses, the party fol-
lowed the guide, "over the worst road that ever
was travelled," back across the divide directly north
by the Nez Perces Pass to a branch of the Bitter
Root River which they called Clark's in honor of
the second in command. On September 3 the first
snow fell, a plain warning that delay was dangerous.
Yet they were obliged to halt two days at Traveller's
Rest Creek {Lou Lou Fork) in order to rest, mend
their moccasins and collect food, their scant store of
provisions being almost exhausted. The utmost ef-
forts of the four hunters could not feed the company,
however, and they were forced to have recourse
the colts, three of which had followed the horses,
Lolo Pass led them from the Bitter Root Vi
to the Kooskooskee, the south fork of the Clearwater
River. They were now on the Columbia watershed,
but travel was increasingly difficult. The mountains
overhung the river, and the road, often covered with
snow, was only "a narrow, rockey path generally on
the side of [a] steep precipice, from which in many
places if e{i]ther man or horse were precipitated they
would inevitably be dashed in pieces." Horses and
se j^^
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 269
men were suffering for lack of food. The record for
September 18 reads; "We took a small quantity
of portable soup, and retired to rest much fatiegued.
several of the men are unwell of the disentary.""
Captain Clark pushed ahead in the quest of game
and arrived on September 20 at an encampment of
Nez Perces. The Shoshone guide could not speak
their language, but by signs he made them under-
stand the friendly intentions of the white men and
their famished state. The Indians offered what
food they had, some jerked buffalo meat, dried
salmon, berries, and roots, "all of which we eate
hartily,"" Clark succeeded in buying some of this
food to send back to Lewis and his men, who had
exhausted their provisions and were reduced to
crow's flesh. The unaccustomed luxury of sufficient
food made them ail ill. Even the captains were
thrown out of commission for a few hours ; but they
cheerfully dosed one another and the men with
Rush's pills, and were soon fit for travel. Twisted
Hair, the Chopunnish chief, drew a map of the river
on a white elkskin with a charred coal. Accord-
ing to this, they were still two days' journey from
the point where the Kooskooskee emptied into the
Snake River and seven days' from the great river
that flowed from the northwest ; thenee it was five
days by boat to the falls where the whites came to
trade. The junction of the Kooskooskee and Snake
rivers was reached on the twenty-seventh, and there
all the able-bodied men set to work building the
canoes that were to transport them to the sea.
horses were branded and left in charge of
^u,
L
270 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
Twisted Hair, while the saddles and part of the
ammumtioD were cached for the retiuti journey.
The Coimnbia itself was not reached till October
16. The dowD-stream voyage 'm the canoes was
luxurious after the four months of strenuous moun-
tain travel, and relaxation came none too soon, for
nearly all the men were ill: The only serious diffi-
culty still to be encountered was scarcity of food
and fuel. Dogs, purchased of the Flathead Indians,
made more wholesome eating than dried fish and
roots, but the lack of fire-wood often occasioned real
suffering. Fortunately the salmon season was at
hand, and the Indians from far and near had come
to lay in their winter food. Their lodges and fish-
flakes were frequently seen along the shore, and
plenty of fresh salmon was to be bad for a song, b
spite of rapids and sand bars, the canoes made fnOQ
thirty to forty miles a day. On October 19 they
came in view of a snow-clad peak to the west which
they rightly surmised to be the mountain named
St. Helens by Vancouver. On the twenty-third they
portaged round "the Great Falls," called Timm by
the Indians in imitation of the rushing torrent.
Below the Great Falls, a new type of Indians, the
Escbeloots, were in possession. They dwelt in
houses built of split timber, wove baskets of cedw
roots, and wore well-made garments of skin. Their
trade with the Skilloots of the lower river had sup-
plied them with British muskets and kettles and the
cast-off clothing of British sailors. One brave cut i
ridiculous figure in a pea-jacket and a round hat
beneath which he wore his hair in a queue. The
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 271
dangerous passage of the Dalles was made in the
canoes, to the astonishment of the natives, to whom
the expertness and daring of Cruzatte were a marvel.
On the first of November they portaged round the
Great Shoot or Cascades and launched their boats
in tide-water at last. The banks of the lower
Columbia and the slopes of the mountains were
well wooded with pine, spruce, white oak, cotton-
wood, and alder, and there was no longer any scar-
city of fuel. Game and wild fowl were abundant.
Canvasback duck and red char were the delicacies
with which these' way-worn travellers were regaled
on their voyage down the river. Indian villages
were frequent, and the trading canoes of the Skilloots
were passing to and from the Great Shoot. The
mountain tribes had been timid, but hospitable and
honest. The Skilloots proved to be altogether too
familiar with white men, and their overtures were
even annoying. "We soon found them to be very
assuming and disagreeable companions." They stole
whatever they could lay their hands on, even the
pipe which they were smoking in token of amity.
Association with the traders had demoraUzed the
Coast Indians, and it was necessary to impress them
with the necessity of keeping their distance.
The Cascade Range once passed, the dry air of
the mountains gave way to fog and rain. On the
seventh of November, the spirits of the party were
greatly cheered by the sound of distant breakers,
the tumultuous uproar made by the tide as it meets
the outflowing current, — the terrible bore at the
mouth of the Columbia. The much-dcaired Pacific
272
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
gave them a most inhospitable welcome. The caDoea,
not built for rough water, were tossed about like
corks in the wa^es, and the little flotilla was obliged
k?
to put ashore ai the first feaable landing. A i
beach with orslianpng bhiffs barely gave
room to dmw themsdvea azid their lavage free
from tbe suzf , and m sooA wiiKi drove the driftwood
over tbe wmtcrJogpd caaocB. After spending tbe
u^t in saf eguaidiDg titeir beloB^iigB, tbe men were
^adi to move. A aeeand canqi, ton miles farther oo,
prarcd sonnrtiat afcr.Uioni^ oo less nnoomfortable-
A ta^ ««ak wind, coBtMBOMS rain, and heavy surf
ImM tfam stonD-boond kn from Xos^ober 16
to 2^ Meantime, the two hwiwn were ei^Ionng
both banks of tbe tmr for a pout of hi^ groand,
aocenible to mod, fivsh vater, and game, and suit-
•U* inr » vteter caMp. Kot till tbe eighth of
•B te InatioB danded upon, but the
wwnlhaiw of tt» dto jajlifiinl the ddi^. On a littie
ao«ia( tato Mamnthv^ B^ (later Touog'sJ
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 273
about three hundred feet back from the Columbia
and thirty feet above the level of the high tides, in
a grove of lofty pines, they detennined to erect their
fort. Here were built seven cabins and a store-
house, and a strong palisade surrounding all. A
secondary camp was established on the near-by coast,
where a detachment of men was employed in the man-
iifacture of salt. They moved from the leaky tents
into the huts on the twenty-fourth, and Christmas
Day^was celebrated by a very Ught-hearted company.
Fort Clatsop seemed to be as well built and as
well provided with the necessities of life as Fort
Mandan ; but the contrast between a camp in the
dry cold of North Dakota and one at sea level,
imder the sway of the Japanese Current, soon be-
came evident. The journals record rain, rain, rain,
day after day. In the five months spent at the
mouth of the Columbia, there were but twelve days
free from rain. The effect upon the health of the
party soon became apparent. Working and sleep-
ing in soaked leather clothing, a week at a time,
the men sickened and grew discouraged. The salt
makers gave out first, but they succeeded in putting
by twelve gallons of salt for the return journey before
the works were abandoned. The Clatsop Indians
of the coast were a demoralized set. Smallpox had
ravaged their villages in 1775 and 1800, and fa-
miliarity with the whites had broken down their
native virtues. They were amazingly shrewd at a
bargain, and were ready to sell anything, from
wappatoo to women, to the highest bidder. In
.|ipite of their friendly bearing, the commander,
I
I
I
^^^ IOC
ML
274 EXPLORERS AXD C0L0NIZEK3
asBured that tbeir fidelity was not to be d^jended
on, ordered the men to be always on their guard
gainst treachny. The Indians woe never allowed
within the fort in large numbers, and they were
regularly excluded at night. The men were kept
busy indoors dressing flWHriR and fashioning the
clothing that was to serve for the return journey,
and Gass records that they made three hundred and
thirty-eight pairs of "mockaaons," for their own
use and to trade with the Indians. The captains
employed the long winter months in making care-
ful studies of the race traits and customs of tiie
Indians, and in compiling minute descriptions of
the fauna and flora of the region ; but to the
men, the depressing weather and comparative in-
activity were more trj'ii^ than the hardships of
that forced march across the moimtains. They
suffered much from rheumatism and general debility,
and, though they were systematically dosed with
Rush's and Scott's pills, saltpetre, sage tea, and
laudanum, they did not readily recover tone. So
many had not been ill at one time ^noe leaving
Woods River. Toward the end of February, the
hunters reported that elk were retreating to the
mountains some nine or ten miles to the eastward,
a distance to which it was practically impossible to
follow them through the dense forest and bring the
meat back to camp. This was most unwelcome
news, "for poor and inferior as the flesh of this ani-
mal is, it is our principal dependence for subsistence"
The flagging strength of the men required better
food than the dried salmon and wappatoo root^
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 275
which was all the Indians had to sell. The record for
February 26 reads: "We have three days' provi-
sions only in store, and that of the most inferior
dryed elk, a little tainted. A comfortable prospect
for good living!" On March 5 there was no more
elk meat, fresh or dried, and but two days' supply
of other food. The captains began to discuss the
advisability of breaking camp and moving slowly
up the river, procuring subsistence by the way.
Just this emergency had not been foreseen. Jeffer-
son had provided Lewis with letters of credit that
might be drawn against the president of the United
States in any part of the world ; but they were of no
avail to entice elk from the mountains and could not
be converted into food and clothing and goods for the
Indian barter until the arrival of the trading vessels,
and these did not usually put into the Columbia
before April. The government should have sent a
supply ship to meet the expedition at the mouth of
the Columbia, but such a measure might have
entailed international complications. By the end
of March the situation had become intolerable, and
they only awaited suitable weather to set out for
the mountains. Lewis' journal states {March 20),
"We have accomplished every object which induced
our remaining at this place except that of meeting
with the traders who visit the entrance of this river.
... It would have been very fortunate for ua
had some of those traders arrived previous to our
departure from hence, as we should then have had
it in oxu" power to obtain an addition to our stock
of merchandize which would have made our home-
276
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
ward bound journey much more comfortable.""
Their stock in trade was indeed lamentably reduced.
All the small articles, says Lewis, "might have been
tied up in two handkerchiefs." There were, beside,
half a dozen blue and scarlet robes, Captain Clark's
artillery coat and hat, five robes made of the United
States flag, and some ribbons. Little enough to pay
their way back to St. Louis !
With great difficulty they secured two of the
Indian canoes, which, with the three pirogues,
served to accommodate the party. The price paid
for one of these beautiful boats, equal in value to a
wife in Clatsop estimation, was Captain Lewis'
uniform laced coat and half a carotte of tobacco.
"I think," says the despoiled owner, "the U'States
are indebted to me another Uniform coat, for that ot
which I have disposed on this occasion was but little
woam." ^ A rostrum of the party was posted at the
fort with a brief statement of the objects and achieve-
ments of the expedition and a sketch of the connection
between the upper branches of the Missouri and the
Columbia rivers and of the route by which they pro-
posed to return. Several copies of the statement were
left with the Indians, in the expectation that one mi^t
fall into the hands of some trader and so find its way
back to the United States. Two at least of the French
voyageurs elected to remain with the Clatsops, Philip
Degr^ and Louis Rivet took to themselves Indian
wives and built cabins on French Prairie, an open
meadow on the Willamette River.
If Lewis' party had been able to hold out a 1
night longer, they would have been relieved. J«w
I
•-•
I
■ SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 277
Narrative records that the Lydia of Boston, the
ship by which he was rescued, put into the Colum-
bia in April, 1806. "When about ten miles up the
river at a small Indian village, we learned from the
inliabitants that Captains Lewis and Clark from
the United States of America had been there about
a fortnight before, on their journey overland, and
had left several medals which they showed us." Cap-
tain Hill carried away one of the written statements ;
but since he was bound for Canton, his news did
not reach the United States until January, 1807.
Oddly enough, on the very day (March 14, Old Style)
that the captains broke camp, de Resanoff's ship,
the Neva, attempted to run into the Columbia, but
was prevented by the sudden shifting of the wind
from northwest to southeast. Von Langsdorff entered
Gray's Bay in a hidarka and saw the smoke of the
Indian villages, but had no communication with the
inhabitants.
All arrangements being complete and the weather
partially clearing, the canoes started up the Colum-
bia on March 25. The Multnomah (Willamette),
unnoticed hitherto, was explored by Captain Clark
for a few miles to the falls and a map of this river
secured from an aged Indian. From the point where
the city of Portland now stands, Clark descried four
snow-covered peaks — Jefferson, Hood, St. Helens,
and Adams. Mt. Rainier he does not seem to have
distinguished from St. Helens, with which it lies
almost in line. "At this place I think the width
of the river may be stated at 500 yards and sufl&-
ciently deep for a Man of war or ship of any
SS EX7UDBEBS AKD COLONIZERS
ImiWh " ■ Ib ifKle of tte pffiering propensitieB
<rfliKftfcTiriiii , the hgpigi^MMfely portaged
Tomd Ae CJTMfcwi, bat lae of tfae ptrogoes vu
bit. At the Ddha, the cvRirt pnrred too stroi^
ftr ■nri^tiDa. The boiAB were theief ase exchanged
iorhonmwiwgjito«Brfthehigiee, and the journey
IHHBBBd by kBiL The fky, pve air of the ptaina
fRprad HIT Btv^onfenft and the invalids rapidly
leeoffond. Ths pac^ was moak hospitably received
fay tte TTaHah -afchr. aMi hoe additioaal hones
md a dotn do^ veie pMchtd for cmemng the
' • Ctfta^ Caatk was able to defray Uie
*«|Miii— * of the jmuaej by his medical services to
die natncB. Bnifcca aivB and sore eyes and stdn
■*"— were the ■*■—**» treated by this empirical
On Chopnnni* (Toocfaet) Rirer ih^ came upon
Twisted Hur and found, to thdr reliel. that the
boKses left with him were in good condition. Sixty-
five animals, the pack-eaddle$, and the ammunition
were recovered witboai difiieal^ trom this honorable
chief, and a stock of do^ and Indian bread was a^
comidated. The party had c»me to eonader dop'
Sesh very good eating, more nutritious than elk or
sahnon. In the moontuns the situatioo wits far more
difficult. The Indians themselves had exhausted
their winter supply of provisions, and could offer
httle more than dried roots, a diet that made the men
in. Recourse was again had to horse-flesh, and the
colts proved not bad provMidef, yet the march up the
Kooekooskee was seriously hampered by lack of food
The hunters went so far afield as to be in freqiiieat
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 279
danger of being lost, yet brought in nothing but
pheasants and a sand-hilt crane. All hope of laying
in dried meat for the journey across the mountains
had to be abandoned, and the stock in trade was
divided among the men, that each might purchase
roots at his own discretion.
The snow lay deep, but the Indian guides kept the
road so skilfully that wherever the ground appeared,
the track was clearly discerned. The caches were
found in good condition, and the supplies of powder,
salt, and medicine fortunately reenforced. At Travel-
ler's Rest Creek, beyond the Bitter Root Range, the
party divided. Captain Lewis, with nine men, under-
took to cross the divide by the usual Indian trail
over Lolq_PaBs to Medicine River and the Great
Falls, for the purpose of exploring Maria's River and
ascertaining whether it might not afford a practicable
trade route to the Saskatchewan. The remaining
men and Chaboneau's family went with Captain
Clark by way of the Big Hole or Gibbons Pass to the
V^sdom River, and thence down the Jefferson and up
the Gallatin to the Yellowstone and the Missouri.
A better plan to render the return trip serviceable to
fuller knowledge of the region could hardly have been
devised. The two parties were to reunite at the
mouth of the Yellowstone.
Once on the buffalo ranges east of the mountains,
all danger of starvation was at an end. Clark under-
took to shorten his road by striking directly across
from Clark's (Salmon River) to the head of Wisdom
River, the practicability of the route being indicated
by buffalo paths and Indian trails. The other party,
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
meantiiDe, bad no difficult)' in reacfaing the 4
Falls, whence Lewis set out to explore the Mari&'s.
Gass and Ordway, with six men, he sent to White
Bear Island to build canoes, with instructions to start
down the Missouri in case he himself did not return
by the first of September, Lewis, with Drewyer and
the two Fields, set out on horseback directly north.
They had got to Battle River, within one hundred and
fifty miles of the British trading post (as far as where
the town of Cut Bank now stands) when they fell in
with the dreaded Minnetarees of Fort de Prairie, and
were forced to turn back. These treacherous mis-
creants attempted to steal the gims and horses, and
in the scuffle that ensued, in spite of Lewis' endeavor
to avoid bloodshed, two of the Indians were killed.
To avoid meeting the larger band, as well as to warn
Ordway *s party of the neighborhood of hostile In-
dians, the four men mounted their horses and rode at
a desperate pace to the mouth of Maria's River, one
hundred and twenty-five miles to the southeast.
There they arrived in safety on July 28, a full weel
before they were expected ; but the canoes were fo^
tunately ready, and the whole force embarked im-
mediately and thus avoided farther difficulty. They
overtook Clark's contingent on August 12 at the
junction of the Missouri with the Yellowstone, and
here two hunters — Dickson and Hancock of the I
nois country — joined the party, intending to a
pany them as far as the Mandans.
The voyage to St. Louis was uneventfuL
canoes made from eighty-five to one hundred milcG »
day, and the mosqmtoes were the only serious foes
one, and
theBL
P
id. TBe
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 281
encountered. At the Mandan villages they pur-
chased a supply of corn and dried squash with beaver
skins taken on the Yellowstone for this purpose.
There they left Chaboneau and the faithful Sacajawea
and picked up a deputation of Indian chiefs — Minne-
tarees and Mandans ■ — - who were to visit Washington.
Several trading parties were pushing up the river,
eager to profit from the new fur regions revealed by the
explorers. John Colter, one of Lewis' men, obtained
permission to return with them as guide to the Yel-
lowstone country. Early in September, the party
reached the first white settlements and noticed that
there had been a marked increase during their two
years' absence. The sight of cows grazing on the
bank caused the men to raise a shout of joy. At La
Charette, they fired a salute and, landing, were re-
ceived with all courtesy by the inhabitants. "Every
person, both French and americans seem to express
great pleasure at our return, and acknowledged them-
selves much astonished in seeing us return, they
informed us that we were supposed to have been lost
long since, and were entirely given out by every per-
son " " except the president. The night of the
twenty-first was spent at St. Charles ; the twenty-
second, with a cantonment of United States troops
on Coldwater Creek. On the morning of the twenty-
^ird, the expedition "deeended to the Mississippi
and down that river to St. Louis at which place we
arrived about 12 o'Clock. we suffered the party to
fire off their pieces as a Salute to the Town, we were
met by all the village and received a harty welcome
from it's inhabitants, &c." ** The two captains im-
J
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
:y-fifth
mediately ordered civilized garments, that they r
be equipped for polite society. On the twenty-£
they paid some formal calls and attended a dinner
and a ball given in their honor. The final record
for September 26 states, "We commenced wright-
ing" ; apparently the journals were now elaborated
from the rough notes taken en route.
Lewis' first concern was to secure adequate com-
pensation for the men who had so faithfully followed
his lead. They were rewarded by a generous grant
of bounty lands in addition to their arrears of pay;
but the journals state that most of the men disposed
of their claims within ten days. They preferred hunt-
ing to farm Ufe. Clayk was appointed sugerintend-
ent of Iqdian affairs, a most suitable position and
one which he ably filled for many years. In one
capacity or another he administered justice in Loui-
siana Territory until 1824. His wide knowledge of
the Indian tribes, their languages and customs, and
his reputation for decision and courage, gave him
great influence everywhere on the frontier. His word
was law with the Indians, from the Mississippi to the
Pacific, while his fearless integrity made him the
terror of evil-doers, both red and white. Lewis' later
career was not so fortunate. He was immediately
appointed governor of Louisiagajlerritory, a post for
which his experience at Washington as well as his
knowledge of the Missouri country rendered him
eminently fit. Summoned to Washington in 1^09,
he was journeying thither on horseback along the
Natchez Trace, when he met with a violent death at
Grinder's Stand, a rough frontier inn in the Chickasaw
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 283
country. Jefferson accepted the statement of
Grinder's wife that her distinguished guest shot him-
self in the night, and he cited a tendency to fits of
depression as adequate explanation of the act. But
nothing short of mental aberration could account for
suicide on the part of a man who was returning home
to an aged mother and many friends, and who had
every reason to expect an appreciative reception both
from his friend and patron Jefferson and from the
government officials; who had, moreover, still to per-
form a highly important task — the editing of those
journals that were to give to the world the full results
of the most successful expedition yet achieved by an
American explorer. Quite another story was currently
believed by the settlers along the Natchez trail.
Grinder's reputation for rascality was such that they
made no doubt he had killed Lewis for the money he
carried.
Pike; Expedition to the Sources of Ike Mississippi
No less significant for the future of the fur trade was
the expedition to the head waters of the Mississippi
carried through by Lieutenant Z. M. Pike imder the
auspices of the War Department, —* August 9, 1805,
to April 30, 1806. The voyage up the Father of
Waters was by no means so difficult as the ascent of
the Missouri. A keel boat was used to Prairie du
Chien and there exchanged for a flat-botton;iP-d ba-
^eaij " which transported the party to the Falls of St.
Anthony, and thence a light barge, more practicable
for the portages, was used as far as Little Falls.
.Here the bulk of the party was left in winter camp,
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
while Pike and two raen pushed on with canoes and
sledges over the seven hundred miles between this
point and Cass Lake. He found the North West Com-
pany in full possession of the beaver grounds of Minne-
sota. They had trading posts at Sauk Rapids, Sandy
Lake, and Leach Lake, whence they transported the
furs by easy carries to Lake Superior and Montreal.
Their Indian trade extended as far south as Prairie
du Chien, while theu- bateaux descended the Mis-
sissippi to St. Louis and New Orleans. On the river
St. Peters, Murdoch Cameron was prosecuting an
independent business.
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 285
It was an important part of Pike's mission to assert
the autliority of the United States in this border
country and to enforce the regulations in respect to
the fur trade. The law of 1786 required that every
trader should obtain a Ucease from the territorial au-
thorities, and imposed heavy penalties for the sale of
liquor to the Indians. Jay's treaty (1794) permitted
British subjects to trade within American territory
so long as they conformed to the law, but their in-
fluence over the Indians was thought to be danger-
ous. It was to keep these British agents in check
and to convince the aborigines of the good-will and
resources of the United States that Congress had in-
dorsed the policy of maintaining government trading
posts at strategic points along the Canadian frontier
— such as Fort Wayne, Detroit, and Chicago — where
goods were sold at cost and furs received at fair and
even liberal prices. Pike recommended that such
factories be established at the mouth of the Ouis-
consing, at the Falls of St. Anthony, on the St. Peters,
and on the St. Louis River at the head of Lake Su-
perior, in the belief that the trade via the Mississippi,
the Red River of the North, and the Great Lakes
might thus be brought under control. The represen-
tative of the United States government made it his
business to see that the laws were enforced. Finding
that Murdoch Cameron "had taken liquor and sold
it to the Indians on the river St. Peters, and that
his partner below had been equally imprudent, I
pledged myself to prosecute them according to law ;
for they have been the occasion of great confusion
and of much injury to the other traders." " W^-kg.
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
La Jeunesse was detected in the same underhi
practice, this energetic disciplinarian sent him 1
restrictions in writing and demanded his license.
The accused could show only a tax certificate indicat-
ing that he bad paid the required fee on the goods
sold in Indiana territory.
With the representatives of the North West Com-
pany, our young lieutenant was no less firm. This
ambitious association had pushed its commerce from
Athabasca to the head of Lake Superior and across
the St. Louis River portage to the rich beaver coun-
try about the sources of the Mississippi. While
maintaining the most cordial relations with the fac-
tors, Pike insisted that they should respect the au-
thority of the United States and abstain from dis-
tributing British medals among the Indians and
disseminating among them ideas hostile to the
rightful government. At Sandy Lake, the famished
explorers were received by Mr. Grant {agent for Mr.
Dickson of Sauk Rapids) in his very comfortable
quarters and treated to a sumptuous repast of bread,
tea, and fresh venison ; but the British fiag was
floating over the fort, and Pike could not forbear a
protest. "I felt indignant, and cannot say what my
feelings would have excited me to do, had he not in-
formed me that it belonged to the Indians. This
was not much more agreeable to me."" At Leech
Lake, Hugh McGillis, of the North West Company,
was no less hospitable. The wayworn traveller "had
a good dish of coffee, biscuit, butter, and cheese for
supper," and was entertained for the fortnight (Feb-
ruary 1-12} of his stay; but no considerations of
SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA 287
courtesy could deter Pike from asserting the sover-
eign rights of his government. "Mr. McGillis asked
if I had any objections to his hoisting their [British]
flag in compliment to ours. I made none, as I had
not yet explained to him my ideas." " A few days
later (February 10), however, the record reads:
"Hoisted the American flag in the fort. The Eng-
lish yacht [jack] still flying at the top of the flagstaff,
I directed the Indians and my riflemen to shoot at it.
They soon broke the iron pin to which it was fas-
tened, and brought it to the ground." " Against
this exhibition of frontier diplomacy, McGillis had
nothing to say. During his sojourn at Leech Lake,
Lieutenant Pike drew up a careful statement in writ-
ing of the limitations under which a foreign trader
might operate within the boundaries of the United
States, and McGillis accepted the justice of his rul-
ings. Pike stipulated that British traders coming
into United States territory were amenable to the
jurisdiction of our government. They must obtain
licenses of oiu- agents, pay duties at the frontier on
goods imported from Europe (this would have
amounted to $13,000 in 1806), abstain from giving or
selling liquor to Indians, from distributing British
flags and medals to the natives, and from flying the
British flag over forts. These measures were cal-
culated to put the Americans on a par with the British
traders and to check the southward extension of the
North West Company's operations." On the down-
stream voyage, the expedition frequently encountered
traders from St. Louis coming up the river in barges,
bateaux and dugout canoes, eager to avail them-
2SS EXPLORERS AXD COLONIZERS
selves of the new opportunities opened up by the
explorcre.
Pike's expedition bad no lasting influence how^
ever. Congress and the men of the East were pre-
occupied in the contest with Great Britain that
ciUminated in the War of 1812. The fur trade of the
Mississippi continued to be exploited by the North
West Company, which maintained posts at Mackinac,
Fond du Lac, and Prairie du Chien. The Union
Jack floated at the latter post until 1815.
CHAPTER III
THE FUR TRADE
Government Control vs. Laissez-faire
Spanish Poliqj. — During the Spanish occupation
of Louisiana Territory the fur trade was prosecuted,
although under heavy handicaps, along the Missouri,
Osage, and Kansas rivers. The firm of Maxent,
Laclede & Cie., chartered by the French intendant
in 1762, continued to carry on business from St.
Louis throughout the Spanish regime. Other lesser
houses were granted licenses to trade in restricted
areas, on terms varying with the state of the market.'
Permits were put up at auction and knocked down to
the highest bidder. The small trader, who had
usually offered more than the normal yield of his dis-
trict, was forced to make good his obligations to the
governor and to the merchants of New Orleans by
extortionate dealings with the Indians from whom the
furs were purchased. Goods were sold them at ex-
orbitant prices, liquor and firearms were offered as
the most enticing bait, and the unbusinesslike red-
man was tricked into the trader's debt by the credit
system. Supplies for the winter's hunt were fur-
nished with the stipulation that the advance be
repaid in skins the following spring. The unsophis-
ticated Indians regarded these advances as tribute
290 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
(pven for permission to pass through their territories
unharmed. They brought the trader such furs as
they could spare, to induce him to return with another
cargo of goods, but they did not understand the ne-
cessity of balancing accounts. Any attempt to force
a fulfilment of obligations was met by reprisals.
Having the advantage of superior numbers, the
braves attacked the trading posts, plundering and
maltreating the unlucky occupants. They had httle
fear of destroying the trade that brought them the
much coveted fire-water and blankets ; for one
trader mined, a new man was sure to appear, with
wares even more alluring. The Missouri tribes were
wont to say: "The white men areUke dogs, the more
you beat them and plunder them, the more goods
they will bring you, and the cheaper they will sell
them." ' Occasionally, when their outrages passed all
bounds, when some man of importance was killed or
some frontier settlement attacked, the governor
would sally forth on a punitive expedition; but the
slow-moving Spanish force was no match for the
cunning of the natives. The only effect was to
deepen their contempt for the white man's authority.
The war, notwithstanding, was reported to Madrid
with due solemnity, and the expenses charged to the
king's treasury at several times the actual cost,
Under a government so demoraUzed by "graft,"
no business could flourish. Manuel Lisa, who had
enjoyed the monopoly of trade on the Osage River
under the Spanish administration, wrote General
Clark (1817) of his satisfaction in the change of mas-
ters : "I have suffered enough in person and property,
I.
THE FUR TRADE
291
ider a different government, to know how to ap-
preciate the one under which I now live." *
The Spanish governors could not even protect their
licensees against foreign interlopers. British traders
from Montreal despatched their bateaux down the
Mississippi and up the St. Peters and Desmoines
rivers, quite undisturbed by the cumbrous galleys
sent to intercept them ; and rich cargoes of furs, col-
lected at their trading mart, Prairie du Chien, passed
up the Wisconsin and Illinois portages every spring.
British Fur Traders
The policy of the British government had always
been to foster this pioneer industry without regard
to public revenue. The Hudson's Bay Company,
through its century-old monopoly of trade on all
waters emptying into its ice-guarded sea, had waxed
stronger than the colonial government and enjoyed
sovereign powers within its vast territory. Exempt
from the fear of competition, its policy had been to
send no more furs to European markets than the con-
dition of trade might warrant and to husband the
resources of Prince Rupert's Land for future gen-
erations of merchant adventurers. Factories were
built at convenient points where navigable rivers
emptied into the bay, and the Indians were taught
to bring their season's catch to these depots, to which
the goods for trade were brought direct from London.
By this system the heavy costs of river transportation
were met by the redmen, and the whites were spared
the labor and the risks of voyages into the interior.
Under the guns of the forts, moreover, the factor had
292
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
the Indians completely in control. Int^ixicatir^
liquors and firearms were withheld, and the demoral-
ization of the natives prevented. Since the fur-laden
canoes could make their way down to the factory only
in the months when the rivers were free from ice, I
beaver meadows and deer parks were left imdigturb<
during the breeding season, a circumstance that "
meant much for the conservation of the industry.
The dams and the young were free from molestation
till the winter's hunt, so that the propagation of each J
season made good the season's kill, and the skinaif
were taken only when the fur was in prime condition.
The Hudson's Bay Company had authority to expel
from its territory all unlicensed traders and persons
who were deemed prejudicial to peace. Its control
of the market enabled it to carry out a policy of fixed
prices and standard goods ; its employees — factors, |
clerks, and engages — were well paid and well fed
They were assured of continuous service and of pro
vision against sickness and old age. The British
government stipulated that an employee who had
faithfully fulfilled his contracted term must be reeo- _
gaged or returned to his home. He might not 1
abandoned in the wilderness. The result was to a
tach to the Company's service a body of devoted men *
who had no other ambition than to deserve well of
the great business organization to wliich they be-
longed.
Toward the end of the eighteenth century I
placid monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company ?
rudely broken. The treaty of Paris opened the r
possibilities of the St. Lawrence River and the C
only
;,tllj
irbeinf
•Ht"
■f-
n
'J
cl
18
>1
Qxed
ton, ^
pro^
itisb I
bad
reeo-^
THE FUR TRADE 293
Lakes to the Scotch merchants of Montreal. These
upstarts sent then- trading parties along the routes
discovered by the French and reaped a rich harvest.
Restrained by no licenses, regulations, or traditions,
they intercepted the Indians on their way to the
Hudson's Bay Company factories, offered them
higher prices or more attractive goods ~ liquor and
firearms if need be — and succeeded in wheedling
away the stock of furs intended for the great
company. To secure their season's complement of
pelts, the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company
were obliged to adopt the methods of their com-
petitors. Coureurs de bois were despatched up the
Albany and Nelson rivers and the lakes to which they
lead, where they came into conflict with the unU-
censed traders from Montreal. Bloody encounters
followed. The rivals did not hesitate to rob and
even murder one another in the prosecution of their
business interests, and there was no authority strong
enough to prevent. The fur trade rapidly degener-
ated into a lawless ruffianism in which the most un-
scrupulous carried off the spoils, in which the Indians
were demoralized by the white man's worst vices,
and all profits were swallowed up in the costs of
armed defence.
At this melancholy juncture (1781) an epidemic of
smallpox decimated the tribes, carrying off whole
villages and putting a sudden stop to both hunt and
trade. The merchants of Montreal, on the verge of
ruin, determined to pool their interests. A combina-
tion was achieved in the years 1783-1805 which, under
the name of the North West Company of Merchants
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
ane«^
of Canada, organized the western fur trade
and on a scale that overshadowed the great company
of the north. The partners of the North West Com-
pany were for the most part Highland Scotch, men of
strenuous strain and far more forceful and enterpris-
ing than the officials of the Hudson's Bay Company.
The business was organized on a profit-sharing basis
that enlisted the best efforts of every man on the
force, from chief factor to newly apprenticed clerk.
The capital (£40,000 in 1788 and £125,000 in 1798)
was furnished by the partners resident at Montreal.
The personal contribution made by the wintering
partners, whose headquarters were at the several
posts, was regarded as a fair equivalent, so that to each
one of the twenty to forty partners was accorded an
equal share in the profits. Men entering the business
must first serve a seven years' apprenticeship with a
fixed salary; but they were sure of promotion more or
less rapid in proportion to their skill and devotion, as
evidenced in returns. The North West Company
employed two thousand voyageurs at £40 per year and
an equal number of free trappers and coureurs de
hois, who were paid according to the number of skins
brought in. The wages were high, but exorbitant
charges for supplies brought most of the money ba<k
into the Company's coffers. Whiskey, for example,
which cost $2 per gallon, was sold for $8 a quart, while
the "Northwest currency" used throughout the fur
country was reckoned at double the value of legal
coin.
The Northwesters pursued the policy of carrying
the trade to the Indian villages, but the trading par<
THE FUR TRADE
295
ties were protided with recruiting stations in a series
of fortified posts along the lakes and rivers from Fort
William at the southern end of the Grand Portage be-
tween Superior and Winnipeg to the Kocity Moun-
tain House on the upper Saskatchewan. Alexander
Macltenzie even projected a transcontinental trade.
With the prestige of his overland expedition fresh
upon him, he went to London to promote the estab-
lishment of a Fishery and Fur Company that should
exploit the fur trade of Nootka Sound and the Co-
lumbia River and the whaling grounds of the Arctic
Sea. Trading goods and supplies were to be sent
from Montreal, while the skins and oil were to be
shipped to the East India Company's factories in the
Orient.* It was a daring proposition, quite beyond
the conception of contemporary Londoners; more-
over, the Hudson's Bay Company had sufficient
influence at Westminster to defeat the project.
For a generation to come the Northwest Company
swayed the destinies of the stretch of wilderness be-
tween the Great Lakes and the Pacific coast. In the
relentless pursuit of wealth, they explored the rivers,
traversed the plains, and planted new posts, and thus
established trade relations with the remotest tribes.
Fort Assiniboin, Fort Athabasca, the Rocky Moun-
tain House, Fort Kootenai on the upper Columbia,
Spokane House at the junction of the Spokane River
with the Cceur d* Alene, marked the westward reach
of the Scotch trader.
These operations brought the Northwesters into
conflict with the Hudson's Bay Company on the
north and within the jurisdiction of the United States
I
I
I
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
govextUDeQt oo the south. The boundary of
British dominions was fixed at the {orty-ninth paral-
lel by the treaty of 1794, and it became necessary to
ascertain the precise limits of their hunting grounds.
In 1798 Da\id Thompson, a self-taught surveyor and
geographer, was sent to determine the relative loca-
tion of the North West Company's posts. Thomp-
son had served his apprenticeship with the Hudson's
Bay Company; but when ordered by his superiors
to forego discovery and devote his time to the pur-
suit of furs, he transferred to the North West Com-
pany where exploration was encouraged. He had
already mapped the Saskatchewan and Assiniboin
rivers and found his way up the Souris to the
Mandan villages when intrusted with this larger
commission. He now followed the Red River of
the North to the headwaters of the Mississippi, and
ascertained that Fort Pembina on Red River and the
trading establishments on Sandy and Leech lakes
lay south of the proposed boundary and well within
American temtorj". However, since the priv*ileges of
British traders were expressly conceded in the treaty,
the posts were not removed. In 1805 ThompsoD
ag^ vidted the Mandan villages on the upper Mis-
souri and bespoke the friendly offices of that theo
important tribe.
The faults of the Northwesters — and faults they
had in plenty — arose from excess of zeal. The factors,
being partners and profit sharers, worked under the
keenest incentive. Wherever they had to meet com-
petition, they resorted to underhand methods. They
bad no scruple about rum selling, and the prices foi
4
THE FUR TRADE
297
goods and furs were determined by the necessities of
the situation. The Journals of Alexander Henry,
the experienced factor of Fort Pembina, bear witness
to the rapid deterioration of the natives under this
reckless regime. The Assiniboins had no buffalo to
hunt and were readily reduced to complete depend-
ence upon the beaver trade. The annual journey to
the factory being no longer required, they were able to
trap through the summer, — the season when the fur
was inferior. Thus the market was glutted with low-
grade skins, while the animals were butchered, young
and old, until the richest hunting grounds were ex-
hausted.
The Hudson's Bay Company was forced to use
similar methods or quit the field. Its traders were
sent up the rivers to compete with the Northwesters,
and posts were planted in the interior. The sale of
liquor was permitted in the contested districts, and
the Indians were cajoled or threatened by the rival
traders until they lost their original respect for the
British name. In defence of its prior claims to the
Saskatchewan traffic, the North West Company did
not scruple to use force, and posts were burned and
traders murdered in that no-man's land under the
shadow of the Rockies. The long warfare culmi-
nated in the struggle for possession of the Red River of
the North. The Hudson's Bay Company undertook
to found an agricultural colony in this fertile valley,
the beaver being extinct, with a view to developing
the latent resources of the territory. To this end a
considerable grant of land (one himdred and sixteen
lusand acres) south of Winnipeg was allowed by
^^hoi
I
I
I
I
FarliameDt to Lord Selkirk, a Scotch philanthrc
who proposed emigration as a solution for the dis-
tressed peasants of the Highlands. A colony was
sent out in 1812 with suppHes and agricultural im-
plements, and a promising beginning was made.
But, unfortunately, the lands lay in the path of the
North West Company. Its partisans attacked the
settlement and scattered the colonists, burning and
killing as if there were no law but their own interest.
The home government was forced to interfere at last,
and the only feasible solution, "the consolidation of the
two companies, was reached in 1821. The new Hud-
son's Bay Company was stronger than ever before,
having undisputed monopoly of the fur trade
throughout British America. ^H
The American Policy ^H
As early as 1796 Congress passed an act for the
regulation of the Indian trade, restricting licenses to
persons of good character and requiring heavy bonda
for the observance of the law against the sale of liquor;
but the law was never thoroughly enforced because
the fur country was remote from official centres and
evidence of infractions was difficult to obtain. Sub-
sequent legislation considerably abated the rigor of
the law. Fees and penalties were reduced, while the
bond and the certificate of good character were al-
together remitted. It was hoped that the mainte-
nance of government factories at the several Indian
posts where standard goods should be offered at
reasonable prices and a fair rate paid for furs, would
keep the private traders within bounds. One after
THE FUR TRADE
another, government stores were opened, as new and
remoter regions were reached by the fur trade, — at
Arkansas Post and Natchitoclies and on the Sulphur
Fork of Red River, Belle Fontaine at the mouth of
the Missouri, Fort Osage, Marais des Cygnes, and
Desmoines in the interior. The government offi-
cial, however, found great difficulty in competing
with the independent traders, whether British or
American. He was handicapped by the requirement
that supplies must be bought and goods sold in the
home market, where goods were higher in price and
inferior in quality to those of foreign manufacture
and where the supply of furs was in excess of the de-
mand and prices correspondingly low. Advances on
credit were not permitted because the practice was
thought to be pernicious, but without these advances
the Indian could not start on the season's hunt. The
government factor, moreover, was usually stationed
at a post distant from the beaver meadows, and the
hunters were expected to bring their catch to him.
This they were not likely to do while the North-
westers and coureurs de bois, Scotch, French, and
American, followed the tribe to the hunting grounds
and offered them blankets, whiskey, and firearms on
credit for the season's take. The plan adopted by
the United States government was admirable, but its
non-enforcement left private traders pretty much to
their own devices.
b.
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
Section II
The Fur Traders of St. Louis
4
Louisiana Territory was rich in furs. The moun-
tain rivers, not only those traversed by Lewis and
Clark, but the sources of the Platte and the Arkansas
and the numerous streams that spring from that
core of the continent, the Wind River range, abounded
in beaver meadows. The aborigines placed little
value on the pelts and were glad to trade such as
they had for whiskey, firearms and gewgaws ; but
they could rarely be induced to engage in systematic
trapping expeditions. A Northwester familiar with
the Assiniboins complained that the Indians of the
Missouri would not take the trouble to hunt for
beaver. "They often remarked to me that tbey
would think it a pleasure to supply us with beavers if
they could be secured the same as buffaloes by a
chase on horseback, but they considered the opera-
tion of searching for them in the bowels of the earth,
to satisfy the avarice of the Whites, not only trouble-
some, but very degrading, ' White people,' said
they, 'do not know how to live, they leave their
houses in small parties, they risk their lives on the
great waters, among strange nations, who will take
them for enemies. What is the use of beaver ? Do
they make gun powder of them ? Do they preserve
them from sickness? Do they serve them beyond
the grave?'"' In default of native hunters, the
fur traders were obliged to employ wMte trappers.
The Great Plains from the Missouri to the KJo
THE FUR TRADE
Grande made one immense buffalo range. The herds
migrated with the season from north to south,
seeking out the water courses which furnished them
food and' drink and the salt licks of the open prairie.
With them moved the bands of Indian hunters, who
depended upon the buffalo for existence. Gregg,
the Santa 'F6 trader, describes the havoc wrought
among the herds. "This animal furnishes almost
the exclusive food of the prairie Indians, as well as
covering for their wigwams and most of their cloth-
ing ; also their bedding, ropes, bags for their meat,
&c. ; sinews for bow-strings, for sewing moccasins,
leggins, and the like." "The continual and wanton
slaughter of them by travellers and hunters, and the
still greater havoc made among them by the
Indians, not only for meat, but often for the skins
and tongues alone (for which they find a ready mar-
ket among their traders), are fast reducing their
numbers, and must ultimately effect their total
annihilation." *
• Throughout the first half of the nineteenth cen-
tury, the fur trade was the dominant industry of
the Far West. The annual value of its operations
at St. Louis rose from 3200,000 to $300,000, and the
returns netted the trader from fifteen to fifty per
cent. Great fortunes were amassed in this business,
until the animals upon which it thrived and the
Indians who had served its ends vanished together
from the vast regions exploited by its agents.
By its advantages of location, St. Louis was
destined to be the primary market for the American
fur trade. Lying at the confluence of the rivers
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS I
along whose reach lay the beaver haunts and
the buffalo plains, all water transportation centered
there. Thence, too, the Mississippi conveyed the
precious packs to the fur merchants at New Orleans
and by sea to the profitable markets of the east, or by
way of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers to Green Bay,
or via the Illinois and Chicago rivers to I.ake Michi-
gan, Detroit, Buffalo, and Montreal. Spring and
fall, the wharves "under the hill" were thronged
with craft bound to or from the Missouri: the keel
boat of the licensed trader, laden with Indian goods
for the out voyage; the Mackinaw or flat-bottom
scow, weighted to the water's edge with packs of
beaver and buETalo ' skins ; the dugout canoe of the
free trapper, who had paddled in from some name-
less mountain or prairie stream with his season's
catch of furs, robes, tallow, and buffalo meat.
During the great days of this industry the number
of white men employed by the St. Louis traders grew
from five hundred to one thousand. They were
French or Spanish Creoles, young habitants bent on
adventure, Canadian voyageurs who had drifted down
from the north, or ^Vmerican frontiersmen, ^ — restless
spirits like Daniel Boone whom the restraints of civili-
zation had driven into the new wilderness beyond
the Mississippi. Working as engages, at a stipulated
wage and keep, or as free trappers, relying on a
competitive market to recompense them for the
season's outlay, they spent their hard-earned money
in drink and carousal,' and rarely realized more than
a bare subsistence from a life of extraordinary hard-
ship. Frenchmen, w\\elYiet Itom CwaaA*. (^t '^am
THE FUR TRADE
303
Biana, made up three-fourths of the engages on the
Missouri. Gay and volatile, readily assimilating
with the Indians, ilhterate, unenterprising, content
with the scantiest fare, they were the "cheerful
slaves of the fur trade."* The Americans, on the
other hand, hailing from Kentucky or the Illinois
country or even from far Virginia, were blood-kin
to the Long Knives. Resourceful, intelligent, cour-
ageous, and self-reliant, scorning subservience and
prone to desert under discipline, they were always
dependable for self-determined service and usually
preferred the position of free trapper to that of a
hireling. From this class the ranks of the traders
were recruited. A shrewd employer was governed
by these race traits in the assignment of labor.
The Canadians were the boatmen and the dressers of
skins and performed the menial duties of the camp
or post. At trapping or fighting or seeking out new
fields of enterprise, they were less to be relied on.
If Aster judged rightly that in river service one
Canadian was worth three Americans, it was no less
true that in the wilderness one American was worth
three Canadians.
No sooner were the fur traders of St. Louis assured,
by the observations of Lewis and Clark, of the rich
resources of the upper Missouri than they made
preparations to reap the golden harvest. The first
considerable expedition was fitted out by Manuel
Lisa, a man of Spanish antecedents, whose experience
on the Osage had given him intimate knowledge of
the Indian character and customs. In the spring of
1S07 he left St. Louis in a keel boat laden with goods.
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
ouilli^^^
His first assistant was the same George Droui
whom Lewis had found bo valuable as hunter and
interpreter. At the mouth of the Platte, they met
a white man descending alone in a canoe. He
proved to be none other than the intrepid John
Colter, returning from a rather disastrous experience
on the Yellowstone. Lisa induced him to join the
party and venture his life a third time in the wilder-
A vivid account of Lisa's outfit is given in
Brackenridge's Journal. Brackenridge was a young
lawyer from Pittsburgh who had begged the privilege
of accompanying Lisa's party in order to see for
himself the possibilities of the Louisiana Purchase.
He describes with enthusiasm the keel boat, tie
voyageurs, and the equipment, "Our barge was the
best that ever ascended this river, and manned with
twenty stout oars-men. Mr. Lisa, who had been a
sea-captain, took much pains in rigging his boat
with a good mast, and main and topsail ; tliese being
great helps in the navigation of this river. Our
equipage is chiefly composed of young men, though
several have already made a voyage to the upper
Missouri, [a feat] of which they are exceedingly
proud, and on that account claim a kind of pre-
cedence over the rest of the crew. We are in all,
twenty-five men, and completely prepared for de-
fence. There is, besides, a swivel on the bow of the
boat, which, in case of attack, would make a formi-
dable appearance ; we have also two brass bIunde^
busses in the cabin, one over my birth, and the
other over that of Mr. Lisa. These precautions
were absolutely necessary from the hostility of the
THE FUR TRADE 305
Sioux bands, who, of late had committed several
murders and robberies on the whites, and manifested
such a disposition that it was believed impossible
for us to pass through their country. The greater
part of the merchandise, which consisted of stroud-
ing, blankets, lead, tobacco, knifes, guns, beads, &c.,
was concealed in a false cabin, ingeniously contrived
for the purpose ; in this way presenting as little as
possible to tempt the savages. But we hoped that
as this was not the season for the wandering tribes
to come on the river, the autumn being the usual
time, we might pass by unnoticed." * Parties of
traders were met coming down the river with the
winter's catch of beaver and buffalo skins. They
floated with the current on rafts made of "two canoes
lashed together, and a platform raised upon them"'*
or in bull-boats such as the Indians used, a frame
of willow boughs covered with buffalo skins, stretched
tight and dried in the sun. They reported a pros-
perous season and the Indians peaceably disposed.
Lisa was none the less wary, and his precautions
were not taken in vain. He was soon apprised that
the Sioux had learned that a number of traders were
ascending the Missouri and in consequence remained
on the river instead of going into the plains as
usual and were determined to let no boats pass.
The operations of the initial year were highly satis-
factory, however, and Lisa returned to St. Louis in
the following spring with a rich cargo of furs.
For many years thereafter, this daring pioneer of
the fur trade made annual trips up the Missouri,
carrying goods for the Indians and supplies for the
I
I
^h firm to
306 EIO'LORERS AND COLONIZERS
trappers, wintering at one of his various posts, and
returning in the spring with his fur-laden boats.
His was the best known figure in the Missouri Terri-
toiy, and to Indian and v^yageur alike he was Uncle
Lisa or, more famiiiariy, Uncle Manuel. With the
facility of the Latin for bridging race barriers, he bad
married into the Omaha tribe and his policv was to
treat the Indian as a human being. He thus ex-
plained his own success in fur trade: "Firet, I put
into my operations great activity ; I go a great
distance, while some are considering whether they will
start today or tomorrow. I impose upon myself great
privations ; ten months in a year I am buried in the
forest, at a vast distance from my own house. I ap-
pear as the benefactor, and not as the pillager, of the
Indians. I carried among them the seed of the large
pompion, from which I have seen in their possession
the fruit weighing one hundred and sixty pounds.
Also the large bean, the potato, the turnip; and
these vegetables now make a comfortable part
of their subsistence, and this year flSlT] I have
promised to carry the plough. Besides, my black-
smiths work incessantly for them, charging nothing.
I lend them traps, only demanding preference in
their trade. My establishments are the refuge of
tiw weak and of the old men no longer able to follow
their lodges ; and by these means I have acquired
the confidence and friendship of these nations, and
the consequent choice of their trade." "
The Missouri Pur Company, the first American
firm to enter this fidd, had for incorporators Manud
the Chouteaus — Pierre Sr. and August© Jr.—
THE FUR TRADE 307
William Clark, Benjamin Wilkinson, and Andrew
Henry ; but the inspiring genius was Manuel Lisa.
Its capital amounted to $40,000, and its operations
were conducted on a scale hitherto unknown. In
1809, this company sent out a brigade of one hundred
and fifty men, with abundant supplies. Trading
stations were established among the Aricaras, Man-
dans, Minnetarees, and Crows, and a fortified post
was built at the Three Forks of the Missouri in
defiance of the hostile Blackfeet (1810). The
trappers found plenty of beaver, but they worked
at the risk of their lives. In three different on-
slaughts, twenty men were killed, among them
George Drouillard. Before the summer was over,
the main party returned to St. Louis, leaving Henry
with a small guard at the post. He was driven by
the Blackfeet across the divide to the north tribu-
tary of Snake River (called thereafter Henry's
Fork). There he built a log fort and secured forty
packs of beaver, but his little force well-nigh perished
of cold and hunger. In the following spring, Henry
niade his way back to the Aricara Villages where he
met Lisa and reported his misfortunes. It was then
determined to abandon all the posts above the
Mandan Villages and a new Fort Lisa was built at
Council Bluffs.
Section III
B Astoria
The Missouri Fur Company was made up of St.
Louis men. Their jealousy of outside influence was
evidenced in their refusal to sell stock to the New
I
I
EXI'LORERS AND COLONIZERS
York merchant, John Jacob Astor, who had bou^t
out the Mackinaw Company and acquired complete
ascendency in the Lake trade. This financial genius
had discerned in the fur trade of Louisiana Territory
a commercial opening of extraordinary promise,
and he projected a scheme of operations that should
eclipse the achievements of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany. He made overtures to the North West Com-
pany as well as to the St. Louis house, but failing
to secure cooperation, he entered the field as s
remorseless competitor. The American Fur ^m-
pany was chartered in 180S as a holding corporation
through which were to be managed Astor's several
undertakings in this hne. The depot of supplies for
the Indian trade and the central accounting house
were in New York ; but the principal trading estalA
lishments were to be at Mackinaw, the old-time 1
market of the Lake tribes, and St. Louis, the point
of departure for the Missouri River traffic. Astor
projected nothing less than a transcontinental and
trans-Pacific trade route. Posts were to be located
at strategic points along the trail blazed by Lewis
and Clark, and a seaport at the mouth of the Colum-
bia. Supplies and goods suited to the Indian trade
were to be shipped from New York round the Horn
and deposited at Astoria. An agreement was nego-
tiated with Baranoff whereby Astor's ships were to
carry supplies to the Russian posts, receiving in
exchange the furs which American vessels could
convey direct to Chinese port-s. The shiploads (rf
furs were there to be traded for tea and spices, s
and nankeens^ goods that would bring a high pn
THE FUR TRADE 309
in the New York market at the end of the return
voyage.
For the prosecution of this brilliant enterprise,
a subsidiary company was formed, the Pacific
Fur Company. The capital of $400,000 was fur-
nished by Mr, Aster, who assumed all financial
risks. The personal risks were to be borne by the
ten active members of the firm. These were for the
most part experienced traders, drawn from the ranks
of the North West Company and attached to the new
association by the hope of profits, but Scotchmen
and British subjects." Astor's object in choosing
so many Northwesters as partners was to secure
men who knew the Rocky Mountains at first hand
and who, being Canadians, would give less umbrage
to Great Britain. Among his acquaintance in Mon-
treal he easily found traders who were disaffected
in the North West Company's service and ready to
risk something in a new venture. They undertook
to go out to the Columbia and prosecute the busi-
ness to the best of their ability for half profits. Two
expeditions were made ready, a vessel to carry men
a,nd supplies by sea and an overland party to ascer-
tain the best sites for trading posts. In September,
1810, the Tonquin, Captain Jonathan Thorn, sailed
from New York with thirty-three passengers, — four
partners (Alexander McKay, Duncan McDougall,
and David and Robert Stuart), five clerks, five
mechanics, and fourteen Canadian voyageura. Cap-
tain Thorn proved to be a martinet who succeeded
in reducing the whole ship's company to the verge
of mutiny by his petty tyrannies. A full hunting
I
I
I
I
310 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
and trapping equipment, merchandise for the Indian
trade, the frame of a coasting schooner, blacksmiths'
and carpenters' tools, made up the bulk of the cargo.
We owe to two of the clerks, Gabriel Franchdre and
Alexander Ross, our knowledge of the course of this
six months' voyage. The Tonquin stopped at the
Sandwich Islands for fresh supplies and a comple-
ment of Hawaiian sailors, who should prove useful
in the coast cruises.
Arrived at the mouth of the Columbia, they
were at a loss to find the channel. "The entrance
of the river, which we plainly distinguished with
the naked eye, appeared but a confused and agitated
sea; the waves, impelled by a wind from the
offing, broke upon the bar, and left no perceptible
passage." " Captain Thorn sent a rowboat to
seek out the entrance, but it was swamped in the
tumult of waters. This disaster did not deter him
from despatching another and another. --I^ot till
eight men were lost did the Tonqyin finally hit upon
the right channel and come to anchor within the
bar (May 25, 1811). A month was spent in fixing
upon a site for the fort and in discharging the tools
and a portion of the supplies. Then {June 1) the
impatient captain set out upon his trip up the coast
in pursuit of furs. Alexander McKay, who had
accompanied Mackenzie on his voyage to the Arctic
Sea and was the ablest man in the party, went with
him as supercargo. A week's voyage brought the
Tonquin to Nootka Sound in advance of the English
traders, and the Indians swarmed about the ship,
offering their wares. In spite of the instructions of
THE FUR TRADE 311
Mr. Astor, the suggestions of his interpreter, and
the earnest warnings of McKay, Thorn took none
of the usual precautions to prevent an uncontrol-
lable number of natives coming on board. So little
comprehension had he of the nature of the tribe
with whom he had to deal that he got into a con-
troversy with the chief and struck him a blow
in the face. Next morning the ship was sur-
rounded by canoes filled with warriors, who thronged
on board, offered bales of furs, and would take
nothing but knives in exchange. Alarmed at last,
Thorn ordered the crew to set sail ; but all too late.
With a hideous warwhoop, the Indians fell upon
the captain and McKay and struck them down.
The imarmed crew could make no defence, and all
were killed but five men who fled to the cabin and,
seizing firearms, succeeded in clearing the deck.
But even so, their case was hopeless. They were too
few to manage the vessel, and escape by the long
boat would mean certain death either by capsize
in the open sea or at the hands of the natives
should they attempt to land. All that day the
survivors remained below decks, and the Indians
could only surmise their intentions, but on the
morrow, when, tempted by the chance for plunder,
the chief again boarded the Tonquin, an explosion
of the powder magazine blew the ship to atoms and
hurled captors and captives dead and dying into
the waves.
To the party left at the mouth of the Columbia,
the loss of the Tonquin was an irremediable disaster.
The major part of their stock in trade had gone
THE FUR TRADE
313
3iet proved unwholesome for all but the Hawaiians,
and before the summer was over, half the force
was on the sick list. No physician had been pro-
vided and few medicines, and the men complained
bitterly of neglect. Ten of the more enterprising
attempted desertion, but they were captured and
brought back by the Indians, a misadventure that
doubtless saved them from a worse fate. The frame-
work of a coasting schooner, the Dolly, was put
together, but she proved too small to risk the channel
and so useless. Alexander Ross, a seasoned North-
wester, grumbled over the trading stock as quite
unsuitable. "Instead of gims, we got old metal
pots and gridirons; instead of beads and trinkets, we
got white cotton ; and instead of blankets, molasses.
In short, all the useless trash and unsalable tnmipery
which had been accumulating in his [Astor's] shops
and stores for half a century past, were swept
together to fill his Columbia ships. That these
cargoes were insured need not be told ; sink or
swim, his profits were sure." '*
It soon became evident that the North West
Company did not intend to leave the Americans un-
disputed possession of the outlet of the river that af-
forded their best means of transportation to the west
coast. Alexander Ross shall tell the story. "On
the 15th of July, we were rather surprised at the un-
expected arrival of a North West proprietor [partner]
at Astoria, and still more so at the free and cordial
reception given to an opponent. Mr. [David] Thomp-
son, northwest^like, came dashing down the Colum-
bia in a Ught canoe, manned with eight Iroquois
I
314 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
and an interpreter, chiefly men from the ^cinity of
Montreal. McDougal received him like a brother;
nothing was too good for Mr. Thompson ; he had
access everywhere; saw and examined evCTything;
and whatever he asked for he got, as if he had been
one of om^lves." '' This reception seemed no
more than was due to so distinguished a representa-
tive of the rival house, especially as Thompson
announced that his was an exploring not a trading
expedition.'* The others thought him "but httle
better than a spy in the camp." " Franchfire be-
lieved that the brilliant Northwester had intended to
take possession of the country in behalf of Great
Britain and that he was ill pleased to find the
Astorians installed at the mouth of the Columbia.
Mr. Thompson said that he had crossed the Conti-
nent during the preceding season, but that the
desertion of a portion of his men had comjwlled him
to winter at the base of the Rocky Mountains, at
the head waters of the Columbia. In the spring he
had built a canoe, the materials for which he had
brought with him across the mountains, and had
come down the river to this establishment. He
added that the wintering partners had resolved "to
abandon all their trading posts west of the moun-
tains, not to enter into competition with us, provided
our company would engage not to encroach upon
their commerce on the east side : and to support
what he said, produced a letter to that effect, ad-
dressed by the wintering partners to the chief of
their house in Canada, the Hon. William M'Gil-
livray." **
THE FUR TRADE
315
The unsuspecting McDougal set about exploits
ing the interior, his especial province. A trading
party, fitted out as well as the scanty supplies would
admit, was sent up Clark's River (the east branch
or main stream of the Columbia), and a trading
post was built at the junction of the Okanagan.
Here Ross spent the winter and succeeded in collect-
ing fifteen hundred and fifty beaver skins from the
Indians. He estimated that his stock of furs,
worth £2250 in the Canton market, cost in mer-
chandise only £35! David Stuart, who pushed far-
ther north up the Okanagan, was no less successful.
The Flathead country was well stocked with buf-
falo ; the Kootenais had plenty of beaver, deer, and
mountain sheep, and they knew so little of the value
of fur that twenty beaver skins worth £25 could
be bought for a gun worth twenty-seven shillings.
These tribes were peaceful, honest, clean, and chaste,
uncontaminated as yet by the white man. Astor's
representative agreed with McMillan, the factor at
the Spokane House, that no liquor should be sold
to the natives, lest they be degraded to the condi-
tion of the Chenooks of the lower Columbia."
The overland expedition, meantime, had been in
desperate straits. The party embarked from Mon-
treal on July 6, 1810, a full month before the Tonquin
had sailed from New York, and it was hoped that
the two companies would arrive at the mouth of the
Columbia at about the same time. Wilson Price
Hunt, who was intrusted with the command of this
venture, was from New Jersey, an excellent mer-
chant and devoted to Astor's interests, but unfa-
I
316 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS H
miliar with the ways of the wilderness. The partner^
who were associated with him were experienced men
and naturally jealous of his authority and critical
of his decisions. Donald Mackenzie, an old North-
wester, was "bold, robust, and peculiarly qualified
to lead Canadian voyageurs through thick and
thin." " Ramsay Crooks was a young Scotebman,
who had been four years (1807-1811) on the Missouri
prosecuting the fur trade from Council Bluffs. He
was then a member of the Missouri Fur Company,
but now cast in his lot with the Astorians. McLellfm
was an American whose Ufe had been spent on the
frontier. He was one of Wayne's runners and won
distinction even among those valorous scouts for
courage and resom-ee. According to Ross, McLel-
lan was "one of the first shots in America," "hardy,
enterprizing and brave as a lion." ^ He had been
associated with Crooks in the Missouri River trade
and joined the expedition at Nadowa, Joseph
Miller, who joined the party at St. Louis, was also
famihar with the frontier and with the Indians.
Having engaged at Montreal a sufficient number of
voyageurs to manage their boat, Hunt and Mackenzie
made their way by the Ottawa River to Mackinaw,
the chief Astor post, and thence by Green Bay, the
Fox and Wisconsin rivers to the Mississippi and
St, Louis. Here the majority of the boatmen and
hunters were collected. Mackenzie had urged that
Canadians whom he knew and trusted be brought
from Montreal, but to Hunt this seemed a needless
"xpense. Moreover, he discounted the gay and
ilatile Frenchmen. He picked up a few voytn
'yagem^m
THE FUR TRADE
317
at Mackinaw, to the infinite disgust of the North-
westers, who observed that the Canadians were
expert canoemen, while the Mackinas were expert
bottle men.
At St. Louis the difficulty of recruiting the force
was even greater. The men who lounged about
the wharves of this river port were "a medley
of French Creoles, old and worn-out Canadians,
Spanish renegades, with a niixture of Indians and
Indian half-breeds, enervated by indolence, debauch-
ery, and a warm climate." " True, some Americans
presented themselves, attracted by the prospect of
adventure in a new and untried field. Several
Yankees, "sleek and tall as pines of the forest,"**
engaged as hunters and trappers, but they would
not put up with the meagre fare accorded the Cana-
dians, and Hunt refused to make any improvement.
So these lordly backwoodsmen abandoned the ex-
pedition at Nadowa, their advance pay in their
pockets. One Kentuckian who stayed by the en-
terprise, John Day, proved a tower of strength. In
the autumn of 1810 the party went into camp at the
mouth of the Nadowa River, four hundred and fifty
miles up the Missouri, where the penny-wise-and-
pound-foolish Hunt, having wasted the summer re-
cruiting his party, ordained they should spend the
winter to save the cost of a sojourn at St, Louis.
The best men deserted, Hunt was obUged to return
to St. Louis for substitutes, and the expedition did
not finally embark until March 12, 1811.
The preparations for the Astor expedition had
been watched with jealousy and suspicion by the
313
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
h:
Missouri Fur Company, and it is probable '
Hunt's difficulty in securing fit men had been i
mented by the wiles of the opposition. No i
had he set off than Lisa attempted, by a device E
infrequent in the annals of the trade, to deprive
him of his boatmen. A marshal was sent to St.
Charles to arrest Pierre Dorion on the charge of an
unpaid debt, but the man took to the woods and
rejoined Hunt higher up the river. Balked of his
prey, Lisa hurried his preparations for the spring trip
to the Mandans, meaning to overtake and if posable
forestall the Astorians. Hunt had three weeks' start,
and was two hundred and forty miles up the river
when his rival left St. Louis. He suspected that
the wily Spaniard meant to defeat his enterprise by
some despicable intrigue, and his fears were reen-
forced by a tale Crooks and McLellan had to tell
of the way in which they had been betrayed into
the hands of the Sioux. Consequently the cautious
New Jerseyan made all possible speed, Lisa, mean-
while, was driving his patient voyageurs to desperate
exertions. Brackenridge tells the story of this ex-
citing chase. He overheard the poor fellows com-
plaining: "It is impossible for us to persevere any
longer in this unceasing toil, this over-strained exer-
tion, which wears us down. We are not permitted
a moment's repose ; scarcely is time allowed us to
eat, or to smoke our pipes. We can stand it no
longer, human nature cannot bear it ; our bourgeois
has no pity on us." *' In such moments of depres-
sion, Lisa's coiu-age flashed out like fire. He would
seize the helm, pass round the grog, raise a song
THE FUR TRADE
loved of the men, or make an encouragiDg speech,
promising them rich reward at the end of this mad
chase. In spite of head winds and almost continuous
rain, he covered eleven hmidred miles in two months,
an average of eighteen miles a day, a feat unparalleled
in keel-boat days on the Missouri.
Just beyond the Niobrara, the Astorians were
overtaken, and none too soon, for the country was
infested by bands of hostiles, who were only deterred
from attack by this exceptional show of force.
Hunt's suspicions were not allayed, however, and he
and Lisa were on the point of fighting a duel over
poor Dorion when Bradbury and Brackenridge inter-
vened and patched up a peace. There is no evi-
dence that the chief of the Missouri Company had
any evil designs against the Astor party. The
Columbia lay so far beyond his territory, actual or
prospective, that he had no desire to compete.
Arriving at the Aricara villages, Hunt determined
to strike directly west across the plains of the Little
Missouri, hoping to find a route better furnished
with game than that traversed by Lewis and Clark,
and free from the murderous Blackfeet. For this
enterprise, horsea were indispensable, and here Lisa
proved helpful and generous. He negotiated the pur-
chases from the treacherous Aricaras, and brought
animals of his own from the Mandans, takuig
Hunt's boats and superfluous luggage in exchange.
A month was spent in effecting these purchases, but
by the middle of July all was ready, and the party
set out by the Grand River. They were sixty-four
^^persons all told, Dorion's squaw and her two chil-
320 EXPLORERS AND COLONTZERS
dren being the only dependents. Seventy-^ hoises
were loaded with the gcxxls deemed necessary for
the undertaking, and since the riding horses were
Dot sufficient to accommodate all, the men had to
take turns in waUdng.
The route chosen skirted the northern slopes of the
Black Hills and the Bighorn Mountains, a maze of
river and fell, through which Edward Rose, a rene-
gade white man who had attached himself to the
Crow Indians, ser^'ed as guide. Leaving the Crow
country and pushing up Wind River, the party rode
along an Indian trail across the continental divide,
and rounding the Three Tetons — a lofty landmark
well known to Henry's men — they arrived at last
(October 12) at his ill-starred fort on the north fork
of the Snake River and there camped on westward-
flowing water .'^ Here the road-worn party clamored
to be allowed to build boats and embark upon the
river, and Hunt, knowing nothing of the character of
the stream he had to deal with, foolishly complied.
The horses were turned loose, and goods and men
were packed into fifteen "crazy and frail" canoes.
It proved an almost fatal mistake. For eight daj-s
they glided down with the current, congratulatbg
themselves that their hardships were at an end, but
on the ninth they were swept into a whirlpool, Cal-
dron Linn,^ where Crooks' boat capsized, and c
the voyageurs was lost. Then and not until I
did Hunt bethink him to explore his "Mad i
The parties despatched down-stream returned all«
a few days to report that navigation was impossible.
The river flowed between precipitous basalt wrib
>Di, uai-
d one^^
tu oH
Im^l
^P^
■
is
Ml
'! 1
;i| PB^wB
s •"'•-.•
^^^Pl«
''"''BS^^U
s ■'.-'.'
' '--jt!p^j^afc;"^H ' ^H
i
> v^^^&tfl
^
m
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-i ,«■
1
s
1
1
1
THE FUR TRADE
321
over a bed so rocky and beset with rapids that no
boat could live, even in the hands of the most expert
boatman. A party sent back to Fort Henry to
recover the horses retm-ned without them. The
situation seemed desperate and was in reality more
ominous than they knew. Before them lay the
Snake River Desert, one thousand miles of rock,
ledge, and sage-brush, where game was scarce and
water could be gotten from the river with diificulty.
Winter was upon them, and there was no time to
be lost. They cached all but the most necessary
luggage and divided the men into four companies
under the leadership of the four partners, thinking
that by distributing their force they should be more
likely to find whatever supplies the desert afforded.
Hunt and Crooks took the left or south bank ;
McLellan took the right. "They counted on arriv-
ing very quickly at the Columbia; but they fol-
lowed this Mad river for twenty days, finding noth-
ing at all to eat, and suffering horribly from thirst.
The rocks between which the river flows being so
steep and abrupt as to prevent their descending to
quench their thirst (so that even their dogs died of
it), they suffered the torments of Tantalus, with
this difference, that he had the water which he
could not reach above his head, while our travellers
had it beneath their feet. ... To appease the
cravings of hunger, they ate beaver skins roasted in
the evening at the camp fire. They even were at
last constrained to eat their mocea.''ins." ** Hunt
and Crooks were so fortunate as to find a wretched
—Indian camp. The Shoshones fled at the sight of
322 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS ^M
white faces, but left their horses behind them, l^|
the starving Astorians shot them for food, leaving
some trinkets in payment. Soon after Maekeniie
and McLellan appeared on the opposite bank and
made Hunt understand that their people were in
desperate straits. Hunt had a canoe constructed
nf horse hide and managed to send them a little
meat ; but the attempt to bring the parties over
was defeated by the capsizing of the fragile craft.
Several of the Canadian boatmen, despairing of ever
reaching civilization, abandoned the enterprise and
found refuge with the Indians.
In this wilderness Mackenzie's party came upon a
young American, Archibald Pelton of Connecticut,
who had been crazed by its terrors. In his lucid in-
tervals he told his story. He had come out «ith
Henry, had escaped from the massacre at Three
Forks, and had been wandering about for three years
with no human company but that of the Snake In-
dians. The destitute wanderers gave him what help
they could afford, and he was glad to join their forloni
hope. The north bank party, under Mackenzie,
forged ahead, crossed the Blue Mountains by the
Indian trail and, descending to the Walla Walla,
reached at last a great river that they rightly deemed
could be no other than the Columbia. Here they
purchased boats of the natives and, making their way
past the Dalles and the Cascades, finally arrived
at Astoria on the tenth of January, 1812. Hunt and
his people, handicapped by Dorion's wife and two
boys, did not get through till February 15. In l«te
April, as David Stuart's brigade was coming c
ng doTOij
THE FUR TRADE 323
the river from the Okanagan post, they were hailed
near the mouth of the Umatilla by a shout in
English, ^" Come on shore." They steered to-
ward the sound and saw two white men "standing
like two specters." They proved to be Ramsay
Crooks and John Day, but " so changed and ema-
ciated were they, that our people for some time could
scarcely recognize them to be white men." "^
Once reunited at the mouth of the Columbia, the
lAstorians had little to congratulate themselves upon.
Food was still scarce, and there would have been
Buffering but for the supply of fresh salmon brought
in by the natives. The Chinooks on the lower river
were well accustomed to trade, but the Falls Indians
and the "robber barons" at the Dalles were sus-
picious and hostile. An expedition sent up the river
to recover the goods cached on the Snake and to carry
despatches to New York was attacked at the long
narrows, "that noted resort of plunderers, where few
can pass without paying a heavy tax," " and forced
to turn back. The arrival of the supply ship Beaver
(May 12, 1812) cheered the hearts of the adventurers,
for she brought not only a valuable cargo, but a con-
siderable reenforcement of men : John Clarke, a new
partner, half a dozen clerks (among whom was Ross
Cox, an inexperienced New Yorker), Canadian and
American engages, and the usual complement of
Sandwich Islanders.
Hunt organized the season's campaign with zeal and
discretion. David Stuart returned to his Okanagan
post, John Clarke undertook to establish a trading
house on the Spokane in competition with the North
321
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
4
West Company's factory, Mackenzie was sent b«
Snake River where he built a fort at its junction mS
the Bois^, while Robert Stuart started overland witii
despatches for Mr. Astor. With him went three
Canadians and McLellan and Crooks, who had had
enough of the wilderness and wished to return to St.
Louis. Hunt, himself, set out on the Beaver to trade
up the Alaskan coast (August 14, 1812), leaving
McDougal in charge at Astoria, All these enter-
prises except the last were reasonably successful.
Young Stuart led his party across the Blue Mountains
to the Snake River, where he fell in with Joseph Miller
and took him and his trapper in tow. Turning south-
east from Caldron Linn, they came to Bear River,
but instead of striking east where they might have
found the South Pass and the Sweetwater, they appar-
ently lost sense of direction and turned north till
they were on Snake River again and then east through
the Tetons, a hazardous and difficult journey, and
finally came out upon the north fork of the Platte
(October 30) into a" bleak andboundless plain, "which,
"destitute both of animals and firewood, appeared
like an ocean of despair." " From this point, they
might easily have reached St. Louis before snowfall ;
but they were entirely at sea as to their whereabouts
and thought best to go into winter quarters in a shel-
tered valley where a herd of buffalo promised suffi-
cient food. In the following spring they made their
way down to the Missouri and reached St. Louis in
April of 1813, after ten months of wandering.
Stuart's despatches gave Mr. Astor his first news
of the safe arrival of the overland party and of the
THE FUR TRADE
325
various trading ventures. He was highly pleased.
"That will do," said he; "I have hit the nail on the
head." ^ There was still, however, grave reason for
anxiety as to the ultimate fate of Astoria. War with
Great Britain had been declared on June 19, 1812,
and the Atlantic ports were blockaded by the British
navy. Moreover, English men-of-war were follow-
ing our whaling ships into the Pacific and might get
as far as Astoria. Influential as was Astor in Wash-
ington, the prospect of getting the government to
send aid to the trading post seemed more than dubi-
ous. News of the war reached the Astorians from
Montreal, but not till December, 1812, when two
partners of the North West Company, J. G. McTavish
and Joseph LaRoque, arrived at the Spokane House
and communicated to the Americans there this start-
ling intelligence. Mackenzie had come over from the
Bois^ to consult with Clarke as to the advisabiUty of
abandoning his station, and the war news clinched
his decision that the position was untenable. He
hastened back to collect his men and furs, and reached
Astoria on January 15, 1813, having voyaged down
the Columbia with the jubilant Northwesters, bring-
ing with him the seven voyageurs who had abandoned
Hunt on Snake River. He readily convinced Mc-
Dougal that the part of wisdom consisted in aban-
doning a desperate imdertaking and dissolving the
partnership. The two canny Scots foresaw the prob-
ability that they could make comfortable terms with
the North West Company. The defection of Crooks,
McLellan, and Miller, and the absence of Hunt left
the Montreal men in control. Franchfire clearly
1^
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS i
indicatea the prevailing state of mind. " When wm
learoed this news, all of us at Astoria who were
British subjects and Canadians, wished ourselves in
Canada ; but we could not entertain even the thought
of transporting ourselves thither, at least immedi-
ately; we were separated from our country by an im-
mense space, and the difficulties of the journey at this
season were insuperable ; besides, Mr. Astor's inter-
ests had to be consulted first. We held, therefore,
a sort of council of war, to which the clerks of the fac-
tory were invited pro formd, as they had no voice in
the deUberations. Having maturely weighed our
situation; after having seriously considered that
being almost to a man British subjects, we were
trading, notwithstanding, under the American flag;
and foreseeing the improbability or rather, to cut the
matter short, the impossibility that Mr. Astor could
send us farther supplies or reenforcements while the
war lasted, as most of the ports of the United States
would inevitably be blockaded by the British, — we
conclu<ied to abandon the establishment in the ensu-
ing spring, or, at latest, in the beginning of the sum-
mer. We did not communicate these resolutions to
the men, lest they should in consequence abandon
their labor ; but we discontinued, fromthat moment,
our trade with the natives, except for pwvisions ; as
well because we had no longer a large steck of goods
on hand, as for the reason that we had already
furs than we could carry away overland,
In April, McTavish and LaRocque arrived at
toria with the announcement that they har- come to
awtut the arrival of their supply ship, the Tspac Toddt
gOOQB
THE FUR, TRADE 327
bearing letters of marque and accompanied by a frig-
ate of the line under orders to seize the American fac-
tory. When Stuart and Clarke came down the river,
a formal council was held, and the vote stood three
to two for dissolving the partnership. Stuart and
Clarke, the Americans, vigorously opposed this pusil-
lanimous surrender of the results of two years' strenu-
ous labor ; but McDougal claimed Mr. Aster's proxy
and cast the deciding vote. A manifesto was drawn
up July 1, 1813, stating the reasons for terminating
their contract with Mr. Astor. In the first place,
supplies had run short, the Beaver, due November,
1812, had not returned from her trading trip, and the
war would prevent another supply ship being sent
round the Horn. Secondly, the trade at theintefior
posts had fallen short of expectations. Finally, the
Pacific Fur Company could never expect to compete
with the Northwesters, already intrenched in several
well-equipped posts on the upper Columbia.
When Mr. Hunt finally returned to Astoria {August
20, 1813), more than a year after his departure in the
Beaver, the fatal decision had been taken, and he
could do nothing but comply. His own misadven-
tures marked the culmination of the run of bad luck
to which Astor's enterprise seemed fated. Trade
with the Russians had proved remunerative but in-
tolerably slow. The Beaver was injured in a gale off
St. Paul, and the captain would not consent to brave
the bore of the Columbia until his ship had been re-
paired. He sailed for the Sandwich Islands and
thence to Canton, where, learning of the war, he
remained in port till peace was declared, thus sacrifio
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
ing the profits of the voyage. Hunt, meantime, wm*
waiting at Lahaina for a ship in which to return to
the Columbia. His first news of hostilities was
brought by the AlbaJross (June 20, 1813) just a yeai^
after war had been declared. He promptly '
passage on this vessel and reached Astoria {Augt
21) only to learn that the Northwesters had succec
by threats and promises, in inducing the Scotohm
to betray his interests. Finding protests useless, 1
returned to the Islands with the Albatross, hoping to
secure a disengaged vessel in which to recover the
Pacific Fur Company's property. There he learned
that a supply ship, the Lark, had been sent out by
Mr. Astor with instructions to remove men and goods
to the Russian settlements until the outcome of the
war should be apparent ; but she unfortunately had
gone to wreck on a coral reef with only the crew saved.
Chartering another ship, the Pedler, the indefatigable
Hunt again reached Astoria (February 28, 18H)
only to find the British flag floating over the fort and
the North West Company in possession. McDougal
had accepted a proposition from Montreal for the
purchase of the establishment for $80,500, a sum far
below its actual value. The goods were reckoned at
ten per cent of cost, plus transportation charges.
Beaver skins were estimated at S2 and land otter at
fifty cents apiece." Hunt was "confounded" wbw
he heard these terms and "censured in strong t
the precipitate (not to say dishonest) manner
which the sale had been effected." *' His protesU
came too late, however, and he could do nothing but
return to the United Staves wixXx^MaVci-jBiTfe-amasA.*'
" wfaen^
jtenij
mer iH
irotesU^
THE FUR TRADE
Franchfire, Canadian though he was, thought Buch
a financial sacrifice^quite uncalled for. "From the
account given in this chapter the reader will see with
what facility the estabUshment of the Pacific Fur
Company could have escaped capture by the British
force. It was only necessary. to get rid of the land
party of the North West Company, — who were
completely in our power, — then remove our effects
up the river upon some small stream, and await the
result. The sloop-of-war arrived, it is true ; but as,
in the case I suppose, she would have found nothing,
she would have left, after setting fire to our deserted
houses. None of their boats would have dared follow
us, even if the Indians had betrayed to them our lurk-
ing-place. Those at the head of affairs had their own
fortunes to seek, and thought it more for their inter-
est, doubtless, to act as they did, but that will not
clear them in the eyes of the world, and the charge of
treason to Mr, Astor's interests will always be at-
tached to their characters." ^*
McDougal accepted a partnership in the North
West Company. McLennan, Ross, and Cox entered
that service as clerks on advantageous terms, but
Mackenzie, Stuart, Clarke, and the indignant Fran-
chfere returned with the spring brigade to Montreal.
The free trappers, Americans for the most part, re-
treated to the Willamette Valley to hunt and fish and
live at ease. They had become so wonted to the life
of the wilderness that they were willing to settle
there with their Indian wives. They refused to take
service with the Canadian Company, but trapped on
their own account.
THE FUR TRADE 333
are also numerous, will not bunt them." They
isted in digging wappatoo, and "could not be
luaded of the benefit they would reap from work-
beaver." Indeed, the inconsiderate aborigines
the Willamette Valley showed a disposition to re-
it the ntrusion of the hunters. "They said they
id not wish white people to come up this river ; that
guns had driven away the deer or made them so
Id that they could no longer be killed with bows
id arrows." After the departure of the Racoon, the
itish sloop of war, Henry felt considerable trepi-
iition as to their chances of survival. "Left at the
mercy of chance among hostile natives, with no goods
to trade and scant provisions," an Indian uprising in
behalf of the "Bostons" or the arrival of an Ameri-
can man-of-war would have quickly turned the tables
and restored Oregon to the United States. The be-
lated supply ship, the Isaac Todd, arrived toward the
end of April, and trading parties were sent to the
upper posts with plentiful stocks of English goods ;
but the business did not prosper. McDougal, who
had been rewarded for his compliance with McTav-
ish's plans by the office of chief factor of the Colum-
bian district, was incapable of effective organization,
and his timid counsels stood in the way of active
prosecution of the trade. The freedom permitted
in liquor-selling and credit advances demoralized the
engagis, while the Indians were fast dying out under
the influence of the white man's vices.
The North West Company had three hundred en-
gag^s west of the Rockies — a reckless, nondescript lot,
Iroquois hunters, Hawaiian sailoxs, an^ tccia-eAt.
I
334 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
whites. They came into frequent conflict with tlie
natives, whose notions of tribal property in land, tim-
ber, rivers, game, and fish the parventia were not in-
clined to respect. The Dalles Indians were strong
enough to extort tribute, but the Chenooks and
Clatsops submitted meekly to the invasion, while the
Chehallis on the Cowlitz and the Umpquas to the
south were rendered hostile by wanton massacres.
The only new post built was Fort Walla Walla (1818),
which Donald Mackenzie deemed essential to the secu-
rity of his trappers on Snake River. Alexander Ross,
another Astorian, maintained his post on the Okana-
gan and carried his trading expeditions as far as the
Yakuna Valley, the resort of the Nez Perces.
With the merging of the interests of the North West
and Hudson's Bay companies (1821), a new r^me
was estabhshed on the Columbia. John Mcl-ough-
Un, a Canadian of Scotch and French .parentage and
formerly a partner in the North West Company, was
appointed chief factor of the Columbia district in
1824, and under his strong and wise administration,
an epoch of peace and prosperity was inaugurated.
The principal factory was removed from Astoria,
now called Fort George, to Bellevue Pomt, a whole-
some elevation ninety miles up the river and nearly
opposite the debouckemenl of the Willamette. The
new post, Fort Vancouver, was equally aceesable
from the sea and a far less troublesome landing-place.
Situated at the junction of three rivers, it com-
manded the canoe trade to north, south, east, and
west. Fort George was thereafter maintained mereljr
as a lookout station to furnish pilots to vessels conung
THE FUR TRADE
335
up the river aod to forward the intelligence of arri-
vals by sea to the chief factor. The Klackatucks
who inhabited the north shore of the river from the
CowUtz to the Cascades were the best of the native
hunters and brought in quantities of game and peltry.
The soil was well suited to agriculture, and a neigh-
boring stream furnished water-power for a sawmill.
Here three thousand acres of fertile land were gradu-
ally brought under cultivation, and a sufficient quan-
tity of grain was grown to supply the Columbia River
force after 1828, and the interior posts after 1840.
The hogs and goats brought from the Hawaiian Is-
lands by the Tonquin had multiplied rapidly, and
the four head of Spanish cattle imported on the Isaac
Todd were carefully nourished. The chief factor
allowed no cattle to be killed except one bull calf each
year for rennet, and the only meat furnished to the
force at Vancouver was elk and venison. This thrifty
policy was rewarded by the accumulation of a fine
herd. In 1828, there were 200 cattle, 50 horses, and
300 swine in the woods and pastures about the Fort,
but not till 1838 was the embargo on slaughter re-
moved. Three hundred people were employed on the
farm and in the various industries of the establish-
ment. Then* dwellings, the bams, cowsheds, grists
mill, threshing-mill, and workshops, the dairy and the
salmon house, gave to the Fort the appearance of an
agricultural village. The post itself was an imposing
affair, — a stockaded enelosm-e, 250 by 150 yards
square, surrounded the governor's house, the clerks'
quarters, and the storehouses where the stock of furs,
^^le suppUes, and the goods for the season's trade
i
336 EXPVO&EBi AXD GOLOKIZ^tS
ven kept (mdtfloAaad bey. FlowefsandviDc-did
Mfaop,*goiirWiiiigTrffiUhtpg»rdBt«ad«|»iMnisBie
<nhani 9*b Uk post an air of eomfart and ic&e-
ment thai made itseema-vnypuadiae to thcwm;
tnTcDcT from tfae iiMNBrtains or ban aeniaB the sea.
The amral trf the siqi|)ly sliip from Loodon was a
great erei^ smce it bnia^t not ocdj the aD-impor-
tant stock ia tiade, butoevsof the great worid Ukd,
not inCiequartir, datingiii^ied viators from afar.
The annual "hriffdf" fmn the mtenor came down
the riva in the month cf June, a brave Aow of well-
man"—* canoes, heavil j Iad»i with beaver padcs aad
wildenieGS-w<om bttnters dreased in tbor gaoifiest
deenidna and eager ftx the si^t of wi\-es and cfaU-
dioi. The tnutscDDtiDental "Express" made its
annoal joume}' np the Columbia to Fort Colvilk
and over the "height of land'' (Saskatchewan Pas)
to the Saskatcbevan, lAke^Winnipeg. and York Fm-
t<»y, leaving Vancour^ in March and returning tba
fdlowing autumn, iritb the regularity of an ocean
liner. The mails for Canada and the United Statci
were carried by this route as well as supplies for the
intexKV poets.
Dr. McLou^ilin'a enexgetie personality waa felt
not cmly at Fort Vancouver, but throughout the vaat
fur re^on west of the Rockies. He reenforoed tlw
trading posts of Walla Walla and Okanagan, bnilft a
new and important depot. Fort ColviUe (1S25), on the
uppn Columbia to supersede Spokane Hoiue aa
cooneetii^ link with Xew Caledonia, and planted
ptoneer establishments on the Flathead and Umpqua
rivers and on Hood's Canal. Fort Bo)s6 and Fort
THE FUR TRADE 337
Hall (1835) marked the easternmost reach of this
commercial empire, but trading parties were de-
spatched southward into the desert wastes of the
Great Basin (1826) and along the Pacific Coast as far
as the Sacramento Valley (1829). In 1835, the Co-
lumbia district could boast six trading posts on the
sea (none, however, south of the forty-ninth parallel)
and sixteen in the interior, while six armed vessels
and one small steamer managed the coastwise trade.
The season's accumulation of furs, whether gathered
in the coast trade or collected in the interior, was
brought to Fort Vancouver and stored to await the
advent of the ship from London. The cargo of
furs sent out annually brought from $500,000 to
81,000,000 in the London market. A year's supply
of goods was always stored at the central depot to
guard against the possible loss of this vessel. In
accordance with an agreement effected with the Rus-
sian-American Fur Company in 1839, New Arch-
angel was supplied with wheat flour (at $15 to $20
per barrel) and other provisions, in exchange for the
seal, fox, and otter skins taken about the "Frozen
Ocean." Pickled salmon and sawed lumber (at $60
to $100 per M.) were shipped to the Sandwich Islands
in exchange for sugar and salt, and this trade was
worth $60,000 a year.
The best traditions of the Hudson's Bay Company
were observed at Fort Vancouver. Prices were fixed
and reasonable, the quality of wares and supplies was
as good as the English market afforded, strict justice
was enforced for Indian and white man alike. No
liquor was sold to the natives, and only a sparing
I
I
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
trvanl^H
measure was dealt out to the Company's sen
the treat being reserved for festive occasions, as
Christmas and the return of the brigade. Such was
the chief factor's reputation for fair dealing that he
was known among the tribes far and near as the
"Great White Chief," and the "White-headed
Eagle." His influence with the redmen seemed un-
boimded. There were no Indian wars so long as Dr.
McLoughlin was in command of Fort Vancouver,
for his refusal to trade with a troublesome tribe was
sufficient to bring the mutineers to terms. A school
was maintained at the Fort for the benefit of the half-
breed children of the officers and servants of the Com-
pany, and of the many orphan children of Indians
who had been in the Company's employ. They
were taught English (sometimes French), writing,
arithmetic, and geography ; and were subsequently
either apprenticed to traders in Canada or kept in
the Company's service. The expenses of a resident
physician and a hospital were also met by the Com-
pany.
The resources of the vast region covered by the
Columbia district were developed with zeal and effi-
ciency, but with a concern for the preservation of the
men and animals involved that was characteristic
of the Hudson's Bay Company. The trappers were
sent out under trained leaders and amply suppbed
with food and pack-animals. A trapping party is
thus described by John Dunn, one of the clerks at
Fort Vancouver. "The party generally consists of
about fifty or sixty men — most of them the Com-
pany's servants, — others, free himters. The aer-
THE FUR TRADE
vants have a stated salary, while the freemen receive
so much per skio. Previous to leaving the Fort for
their arduous adventure, they are allowed a small
quantity of rum per man ; and they generally enjoy
a grand hohday and feast the night previous to
starting. Each man has a certain number of horses,
sufficient to carry his equipment. The free trappers
generally provide their own animals. Both the Com-
pany's servants and the freemen frequently take
their wives and families with them ; the women are
very useful on the expedition, in preparing meals and
other necessaries for their husbands dm-ing their
absence from the camp. In summer and winter,
whether they have a sort of travelling camp or a
fixed residence, they select the localities that most
aboimd in fur-bearing animala.
"Though a party may be obliged, from a variety
of circumstances, to winter in the plMns, or in the
recesses of the mountains, on the borders of lakes or
rivers, some numbers of it return to the fort at the
fail, with the produce of the season's hunt, and report
progress ; and return to the camp with a reinforce-
ment of necessary suppUes. Thus the Company are
enabled to acquire a minute knowledge of the country
and the natives; and extend their power and au-
thority over both.""
One of the most notable of the Hudson's Bay
Company servants was Peter Skeene Ogden, son of a
Tory judge of Newark, New Jersey, who, bereft of
home and property by the American Revolution, took
refuge in Canada. Young Ogden entered the fur
business as a clerk in the North West Company,
340
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
I
but transferred to the Hudson's Bay Company with
the consolidation and was soon after appointed
chief trader to the Snake River country. His first
party (1824) was made up of two gentlemen, two in-
terpreters, seventy-one men and lads, eighty guns,
three hundred and sixty-four beaver traps, three hun-
dred and seventy-two horses, and was " the most for-
midable party that had ever set out for the Snakes.""
Since the average catch per trap in this rich district
was twenty-six beavers, the return anticipated from
the hunt was fourteen thousand one hundred skins.
For five successive winters, Ogden searched the new
and difficult district between the Three Tetons and
the Cascades, trapping every discoverable stream and
returning each spring to the Nez Perces post with
his take of peltry. The money return from these
unexploited beaver meadows was gratifying, but a
more permanent result was the contribution to geo-
graphic knowledge. Ogden followed the John Day
River to the Blue Mountains and the Deschutes to
its source in the Sierras. Harney and Malheur
lakes in the wastes of eastern Oregon were familiar
ground to this tireless hunter. Farther south, in the
edge of the great desert, he came upon his "un-
known river" later denominated the Humboldt,
but which the fur traders more appropriately called
the Ogden. Making his way across the Sierras,
Ogden discovered the Klamath and Shasta rivers and
confirmed for these as for snow-capped Mt. Shasta
their wonted Indian names.v The information be v
able to give concerning this trackless waste of TVg
and desert and mountain was used by the Ion!
THE FUR TRADE
341
map maker, Arrowsmith, as the basis for the maps
prepared for the use of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Thus did the fur trader, bent only on profit, supple-
ment, even anticipate, the work of the explorer.
Section V
Rivalry of the American Companies
The war of 1812 had a demoralizing effect upon
the fur trade of St. Louis. The foreign market
being cut off, the price of furs fell to a ruinous point.
At the same time, war duties raised the prices of
foreign goods and their domestic substitutes far
beyond the rate which British traders had to pay.
Thus the profits of the business were wiped out
while at the same time its risks greatly increased.
Open hostilities were confined to the operations on
the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and on the Great
Lakes, but the animosities engendered bred trouble
on the Upper Mississippi and the Missouri. Under
the tutelage of the agents of the North West Com-
pany, the Sacs and Foxes of Illinois, the lowas to the
west of the Mississippi, the Sioux, the Mandans and
the Aricaras along the Missouri, even those Bedouins
of the Plains, the Crows and the Arapahoes, had
learned to despise the Americans. \ The collapse of
Astor's enterprise on the Colimibia and the with-
drawal of the Missouri Fur Company to the region
below Council Bluffs confirmed the impression that
the government at Washington was too remote or
too feeble to protect its traders. American parties
were attacked and robbed and the stolen furs
342 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
forwarded to British posts. The fact that
marauding Indians were armed with British musket^
lent color to the assertion, current at St. Loub, that
trade rivalry had much to do with the hostiUty of tbe
Indians. Fortunately for the river settlements, the
diplomacy of "Uncle Manuel" and General Clark
averted disastrous conflict, but, notwithstanding the
treaties of peace negotiated with the leading chiefs
(1815), traffic on the upper Missouri was unsafe. The
several tribes still held that traders on the river
owed them tribute and they ambushed such parties
as seemed too weak to offer resistance. Their depre-
dations grew so annoying that Congress was in-
duced (1819) to send an expedition to overawe the
insubordinate aborigines. Colonel Henry Atkinson
with a regiment of United States troops was directed
to proceed up the Missouri to the mouth of the
Yellowstone and there erect a fort adequate to the
protection of trade, while a party of scientists in
charge of Major Stephen H. Long was to explore
the region between the Missouri and the Rockies.
The attempt was made to send the troops up the
river in steamboats, although no experiment in
steam navigation had yet been made on the Missouri.
LThe undertaking was thwarted by the clumsy char-
acter of the boats provided, and the troops got no
farther than Council BlnfTs, where they were obliged
to winter and where one hundred men died of
scurvy. A march of three times the distance might
have been made with half the loss in life and one-
tenth the money expenditure. The project of going
on to the Yellowstone was abandoned perforce,
4
THE FUR TRADE
343
and the only persons benefited by the expedition
were the contractors, who pocketed handsome
profits. In the year following, Long's party went up
the Platte River to the foothills of the Rockies,
verified Pike's discoveries in that region, and return-
ing by way of the Canadian River, proved that this
misleading stream was not the Red River but a
branch of the Arkansas.
The Arieara campaign was a mihtary fiasco,
which could have no other effect on the Indians
than to render them even more contemptuous of the
authority of the United States government. It is
not surprising, therefore, that the trading party
organized by William Ashley in the spring of 1823
was attacked and cut to pieces by the Aricaras and
that another party of trappers and voyagears operat-
ing for the Missouri Fiu- Company was destroyed
by the Blackfeet on the Yellowstone. Colonel
Leavenworth, in command of the military detach-
ment at Council Bluffs, determined to forestall
farther outrage by striking a stunning blow at the
Arieara fortress. William H. Ashley and Joshua
Pilcher, the able successors of Lisa at the head of
the Missouri Fur Company's affairs, brought one
himdred and twenty of their best men to his assist-
ance, and four hundred Sioux warriors sided with
the Americans. Such a force should have reduced
the Aricaras to submission and guaranteed the se-
ciirity of the river road for years to come. Unfor-
tunately Colonel Leavenworth was not accustomed
to Indian diplomacy, and he made the mistake of
suspending hostilities to consider offers of peace.
L
344 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
The treaty he negotiated was not worth the paper
it was written on, and the perfidious .\ricaras escaped
punishment. * Thereafter, in spite of the treaties
negotiated by the second Yellowstone expedition
(1825), the tribes of the upper Missouri regarded the
traders as legitimate prey, frequenting the posts when
they had furs to sell and robbing the trapping parties
whenever they were strong enough to be sure of
success.
The fur trade of the Far West, nevertheless, offered
golden opportunities to whomsoever had courage
and resources sufficient to overcome Its inevitable
hazards. In the years 1820 to 1830, the Missouri
Fur Company " made determined efforts to get
control of the upper Missouri. A new post, Fort
Benton, was built at the mouth of the Big Horn,
and a force of three hundred men was sent to this
region, where the annual catch amounted to from
$25,000 to $30,000. But the Company was finally
ruined by the persistent hostility of the Blackfeet.
These banditti of the plains ranged the high country
from Judith Basin to the Three Forks, and they
were determined not to surrender to the whites their
rich beaver meadows. They fought the interlopers
with British rauskets and traded their booty of
beaver skins at the North West Company's posts.
Congress had been induced (1816) to take advantage
of the silence of the peace of Ghent on this vexed
subject by prohibiting foreigners from trading with
the Indians within the boundaries of the United
States, This exclusive legislation was largely due
to the influence of John Jacob Astor, who was thua
THE FUR TRADE 345
able to turn the tables on the North West Company,
to purchase the posts that were located south of
the forty-ninth parallel at bargain prices, and so to
secure control of the rich Minnesota territory.
Fort Pembina was abandoned and the operations of
the Canadian traders on the Red River of the North
ceased. In 1821 the British government excluded
American traders from the Canadian field, and interna-
tional competition was transferred to the Columbia.
Even more bitter than the jealousy of foreign
rivals was the opposition to government interven-
tion, whether in the form of fees, bonds and penal-
ties, or of official competition. The attack on the
government trading houses was led by Thomas H.
Benton, the newly elected senator from Missouri
and the faithful ally of the St. Louis traders. Astor's
influence also was actively hostile. The charges of
inefliiciency and corruption brought against the
government factors were substantiated by such
witnesses as Ramsay Crooks, Astor's rightrhand
man, and the agent for Indian Affairs on the Mis-
souri, Benjamin OTallon, who owed his appoint-
ment to Astor's influence with the War Depart-
ment. It was urged that the goods furnished the
Indians were inferior to those offered by private
traders, that the prices charged were exorbitant,
that for these reasons the Indians had ceased to
trade at the government factories, and finally, that
the impression made on the savage mind by the
official factors was far from contributing to the in-
fluence of the United States government on the
frontier. The superintendent , of Indian Trade,
846 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
Thomas L. McKinney, protested that the competi-
tion of private traders, not the disinclinatioD of the
Indians, thwarted the effort of his factors to further
the humane purposes of the government and that
the latter could not compete against the credit
advances permitted the private trader and his
clandestine sale of whiskey. The license fee, he
argued, should be raised to $200 and the bond to
$10,000 in order to eliminate the small trader who
peddled whiskey and firearms and otherwise de-
moralized the trade. The superintendent made out
a good case, but the importunities of the fur traders
prevailed. The government factories were abolished
(March, 1822) and the trade was thrown open to all
American citizens who could secure a license, no
endorsements being required. The system of fees
and penalties was not revived, and the bond, fixed
in proportion to capital invested, was never to ex-
ceed $5000. The result was a regime of cut-throat
competition. The less scrupulous traders practised
unblushing frauds upon the Indians and upon each
other. The savages were incited to ignore the
credit obligation and turn over the proceeds of the
winter's hunt to the party first on the ground in
the spring, a pernicious practice that was mutually
destructive. The fur trade was given over to un-
bridled license.
Twenty years later (1842), Fremont described
the conditions then prevailing at Fort Laramie.
"The articles of trade consist, on the one side,
almost entirely of buffalo robes ; and, on the other,
of blankets, cahcoes, guns, powder, and lead, with
THE FUR TRADE 347
such cheap ornaments as glaas beads, looking-
glasses, rings, vermilion for painting, tobacco, and
principally, and in spite of the prohibition, of
spirits, brought into the country in the form of
alcohol, and diluted with water before sold. While
mentioning this fact, it is but justice to the Ameri-
can ¥\ii Company to state that, throughout the
country, I have always found them strenuously
opposed to the introduction of spirituous hquora.
But, in the present state of things, when the coun-
try is supplied with alcohol, when a keg of it will
purchase from an Indian everything he possesses —
his furs, his lodge, his horses, and even his wife and
children, — and when any vagabond who has money
enough to purchase a mule can go into a village and
trade against them successfully, without withdraw-
ing entirely from the trade, it is impossible for them
to discontinue its use. In their opposition to this
practice, the company is sustained, not only by
their obligation to the laws of the country and the
welfare of the Indians, but clearly, also, on grounds
of policy; for, with heavy and expensive outfits,
they contend at manifestly great disadvantage
against the numerous independent and unhcensed
traders, who enter the country from various avenues,
from the United States and from Mexico, having
no other stock in trade than some kegs of liquor,
which they sell at the modest price of thirty-six
dollars per gallon. The difference between the
regular trader and the coureur de hois (as the French
call the itinerant or peddling traders) with respect
to the sale of spirits, is here, as it always has been,
1
I
348 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
fixed and permanent, and growing out of the nature
of their trade. The regular trader looks ahead,
and has an interest in the preservation of the Indiana,
and in the regular pursuit of their business, and the
preservation of their arms, horses, and everything
necessary to their future and permanent success in
hunting. The coureur de bois has no permanent
interest, and gets what he can, and for what he
can, from every Indian he meets, even at the risk of
disabling him from doing anything more at himting."**
The American Fur Company
Disinterested observers most conversant with the
situation had repeatedly recommended that the
Missouri River trade should be made over for a
term of years to an exclusive corporation adequately
financed, which, under suitable regulation, should be
trusted to develop the region in the conservative
fashion practised by the Hudson's Bay Company;
but this proposal was regarded as antagonistic to
the genius of American institutions and therefore
unpatriotic. The only business organization equal
to such an enterprise was the American Fur Com-
pany, and jealousy of the New York financier was
so great that no congressman could be induced to
propose so unprecedented a monopoly. Astor, how-
ever, had by no means abandoned his purpose of
invading the Missouri territory, and in 1822 he
established a branch of the American Fur Company
at St. Louis. The opposition of his western conh
petitors he overcame by joining forces with the
most important of the old houses, e.g.
THE FUR TRADE 349
Pratte & Co., the Chouteaus, the Columbia Fur
Company, — so that the ablest men in St. Louis were
enlisted in the service of the new enterprise. Besides
the old-time Astorians, Ramsay Crooks, Robert
Stuart, Russell Farnham, several agents of the
Canadian companies, Kenneth Mackenzie, Etienne
Provost, Vanderburg, were enlisted. The fusion of
the North West with the Hudson's Bay Company
had thrown some nine hundred clerks, traders, and
trappers out of employment, and these, Scotchmen
for the most part, were glad to try their luck with
the great American company. Fully conversant
with the Missouri country and on excellent terms
with the Assiniboins and the Blackfeet, they were
able to secure the trade of the northern rivers for
their new patron. The Western Department of the
American Fur Company (the term Northern De-
partment was henceforth applied to the business
centring at Mackinaw) soon developed a trade
that quite overshadowed its operations along the
Great Lakes, and so far preempted the fur trade
of the Missouri region that it was commonly known
as "the Company," while all outside traders were
designated collectively "the Opposition." A post,
Fort Union, was built at the mouth of the Yellow-
stone to intercept the trade with the Assiniboins,
which, since it commanded both routes to the
beaver grounds, became the depository of the
season's catch. Fort Piegan (later Fort Mackenzie
and finally Fort Benton) was placed at the mouth
of Maria's River to control the Blackfeet country,
while Fort Cass, at the junction of the Big Horn,
secured the adherence of the Crows.
350 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
The limitless resources of the parent company ren-
dered possible experiments and losses which would
have ruined any or all of the St. Louis houses. In 1830
a startling innovation was determined on. The keel
boat was to be supplanted by steamers for the trans-
portation of goods and furs. Steamboats had been
used on the lower river since 1819, but no vessel of
such proportions had ventured above the Kansas
since the costly experiment of the government in the
Aricara campaign. Pierre Chouteau contended, how-
ever, that the upper river could be successfully navi-
gated by stern-wheelers, such as the Long party had
used with entire success, and that the saving in time
and in operating force would be great. Under his
auspices, the Yellowstone made her virgin voyage in
the spring of 1831, achieving the round trip from St.
Louis to Fort Tecumseh, at the mouth of the Kansas,
in three months, two months up-stream and one
down. In the following year, the httle craft ascended
the river as far as Fort Union. The saving in time
and labor was sufficient to justify the adoption of
steam, but the impression produced upon the In-
dians was perhaps the most significant gain. They
said that "the British might turn out their dogs
and bum their sledges, as they would no longer be
useful while the Fire Boat walked on the waters." "
They began bringing their furs to the Americans by
preference, and thenceforth the loss of trade fimfl
Hudson's Bay Company competition was no loogsr
dreaded.
By these means the American Fur Company hid
succeeded in monopolizing the trade on the uppet
I
THE ¥\m TRADE
351
Missouri, the Yellowstone, and their tributaries, —
the apparently inexhaustible beaver meadows re-
vealed by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Rivals -^
were induced to combine forces, were bought off, or
were driven from the field by craft or violence, as
the situation might suggest. The methods used
to crush out competitors were quite comparable to
the practices of certain industrial combinations of
to-day. The natives were incited to waylay, rob,
and even murder trading parties who dared invade
the territory covered by the operations of "the
Company," prices of furs were advanced and prices
of goods lowered when the presence of a rival
threatened to seduce the Indians, agents being
given carte blanche to depart from the established
schedules in such business emergencies. Whiskey,
though forbidden by law, was freely sold to the
Indians in the contested districts, and when the diffi-
culty in getting the contraband stuff up the river
past the government inspector at Fort Leavenworth
proved too serious, a distillery was set up at Fort
Union, and fire-water, "as fine a Uquor as need be
drunk," was made from the com grown by the
natives, Mackenzie, Crooks, and Chouteau justified
this practice on the ground that so long aa their ir-
responsible rivals smuggled Uquor into the territory
and enticed the Indians away from their posts,
they must offer whiskey in trade or abandon the
field."
The methods of the American Fur Company
were no more reprehensible than those employed by
its competitors, but, because of its greater resources.
352
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
L
the warfare waged by its agents was far more
and effective. For this reason the sympathy of the
public was always with the independent trader.
Under Astor's shrewd management, the business was
highly systematized and placed on a basis that in-
sured the principal against loss. The stock in trade,
whether imported or purchased in tlie home market,
was collected at New York and forwarded thence in
the early spring via New Orleans and the Mississippi.
From St. Louis the goods were despatched to the
interior posts by keel boat or steamer as the cafie
might be. The furs collected during the winter
hunt were returned over the same routes to New
York, the primary market, where they were as-
sorted, made up into bales, and shipped to Europe
and China, The resident agent at Kansas Post,
Fort Union, Fort Benton, or Fort Cass was charged
for his season's suppUes at fixed prices that covered
the initial cost plus duties and transportation and
stiU allowed a considerable margin of profit, while
the price paid for furs was determined each season
by the conditions of the foreign market. Whether
the year's operations left the local trader with a sur-
plus or a deficit depended on the terms he was able
to make with the Indians and trappers on Whom he
relied to bring in the furs. The credit system still
held. In the autunm, after the corn was gathered
in, the native hunters came to the post for the sup-
plies without which they could not live through the
winter, much less trap beaver. Taking advantage
of their necessity, the trader furnished blankets,
kettles, firearms, flints, powder and lead, beaver
THE FUR TRADE 353
and muakrat traps, needles, thread, and gewgaws
at double the price charged to him. When the
braves returned in the spring with the proceeds of
the season's hunt, the situation was reversed, the
trader was in straits, and the Indians paid as little
as they dared of the accumulated debt. The cus-
tomary rate of account was $2 a pound for beaver,
$3 for a land otter skin, from 81 to $1.50 for a
buffalo hide, one buckskin, two doeskins, four
muskrat or raccoon skins for $1 ; " but often no
more than one-half, one-third, or one-fourth the debt
would be made good. Moreover, the prices the
goods could command had dwindled to half those
prevailing in the autumn, so that the trader was
hard put to it to clear himself and rarely reaped
any considerable profit. These spring settlements
were accompanied by acrid altercations which not
infrequently resulted in bloodshed, and many a
trader lost his life in the service of the far-away
commercial potentate popularly known as "Grand-
papa."
The engages and free trappers employed by " the
Company" endured far more hardships and took
greater risks, but their remuneration was hardly
more secure, A free trapper on the Missouri con-
tracted to fiomish one man and one-half the supplies
for the season's hunt. Mackenzie furnished on
behalf of the Company two men and half the sup-
pUes, was entitled to half the catch, and expected
to purchase the remainder, — beaver skins at from $3
to $4 per pound, " castorum " at $3 per poimd. An
account between Mackenzie and a free trapper.
3M
EXPLOREBS AND COLONIZERS
I
I
John Gardner, cited by Chittenden,'* ^ves
balance due for thirteen years' service, after supp!
had been deducted from credits against beaver and
otter skins brought in, as $930, — not a muuificeDt
reward for half a Ufetime of strenuous labor. U^y
stories were current to the effect that even this
pittance was sometimes withheld and that em-
ployees who ventured to St. Louis to present their
claims had been murdered en route. The white
trapper was hardly better off than the Indian, for he
paid the same inflated prices for advances {e.g. one
blanket $12, one axe 36, one kettle $5, the shoeing
of a horse $3, etc.), and he, like the Indian, spent
one-third his returns in Uquor and feasting. The sy^
tem was a demoralizing one to all concerned. The
Indians were induced to abandon the occupations
that had made them self-supporting, in order that
they might devote their energies to the hunt. In
fact, the advantage of the trader increased as his
tribe became dependent upon the post for a liveli-
hood. The white men employed earned a bare
subsistence, while in the lonely life of the post or
the inevitable brutalities of the hunt they degen-
erated to a status hardly to be distinguished from
that of the savage.
Astor's contribution to the success of the Ameri-
can Fur Company was that of entrepreneur. The
first financial genius of the age, he determined the
markets in which to buy suppUes and sell furs, and
his world-wide commercial operations gave him every
advantage. Supplies were sent out with imfaihng
regularity, and the disasters of one department were
)!i^
THE FUR TRADE
offset by the successes of another. In trade competi-
tion thia plenitude of resources rendered victory sure,
for the gi-eat Company could ruin a rival by the
manipulation of prices. The influence Aster exercised
at Washington was used unhesitatingly to promote
favorable and defeat adverse legislation, as well as
to protect his agents against the too zealous espionage
of government officials. For example, the right of
Astor's Mackinaw boats to descend the Mississippi
was challenged by St. Louis traders on the ground
that they were manned by Canadians. One boat
was captured and the bourgeois arrested. Astor's
influence secured the vindication of the right of the
American Fur Company's agents to navigate the
Mississippi rivers, and the appointment of an Indian
agent (Benjamin O'Fallon) less amenable to the
St. Louis houses. The same astute genius did
much to placate public criticism by politic favors to
scientists and men in position; e.g. Bradbury and
Nuttall were carried up the Missouri by Hunt's
party; Catlin, the painter, ascended the river in the
Company's steamboat in 1832; and a similar service
was rendered to Maximilien, Prince of Wied, in 1833.
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company
In 1821 a new company was organized by the
St. Louis traders, Americans and pioneers all of
them. General W. H. Ashley, the prime mover,
was a Virginian who had come to Missouri in 1802
and borne a prominent part in the development of
the territory. His second, Andrew Henry, was the
fearless trapper who had crossed the continental
356 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
divide and built a post on westward-flowing water
in advance of Hunt's party. Returning from that
disastrous experience, he had accumulated some
property in the lead mines, but was now ready to
join this new venture in the fur trade. With these
veterans were associated on a profit-sharing basis a
number of younger raen, Jedidiah S. Smith (a New
Yorker), William L. and MCton G. Sublette, Solo-
mon P. Andrew (a Kentuckian), David E. Jacksoo,
James Bridger (a Virginian), Thomas Fitzpatrick and
Robert Campbell (Irishmen), — frontiersmen whose
courage and resourcefulness no less than their unscru-
pulous daring recalled the best days of the North
West Company. The first expeditions up the Mis-
souri were unfortunate. Henry's party was robbed
by the Assiniboins, and he pushed on to Great Falls
only to be driven back by the Blackfeet (1822).
The following year, Ashley's boats were attacked
by the Aricaras and forced to retreat down the
river. After the Leavenworth campaign, a more
aggressive enterprise was projected, no less than
the founding of a fort for protection of the trappers.
Henry proceeded up the Yellowstone with a large
party and built a post at its junction with the Big
Horn ; but a band of hostiles killed several of the
trappers and carried off the horses.
In this same year, a more successful expedition
under Henry, Bridget, and Etienne Provost fol-
lowed the North Platte River to the South Pass
and beyond to Green River. This, the easiest of all
the passes across the Rockies, had been used for
ages by the buffalo and the Indians, but was now
THE FUR TRADE
357
for the first time utilized by the traders. It led to
beaver-bearing streams hardly less profitable than
those of the upper Missoiu"i, and the party returned
with a fine take of furs. The operations of the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company were immediately
transferred to this uncontested field. In 1824 Ash-
ley went out in person to explore the new terri-
tory, followed the South Platte into the labyrinth
of mountain ranges that make up western Colorado,
and forced his way through to the Green River.
In an attempt to follow down this dangerous stream
his boat was wrecked, but the indomitable leader
made his way on foot to Sevier Lake (called Ashley
Lake by the traders) and, later, north to Great Salt
Lake. The Hudson's Bay Company's trappers had
come as far south aa Bear Lake that year, and Peter
Skeene Ogden, their patron, had cached his first
season's take in a lovely mountain valley, long
famous as Ogden 's Hole. Ashley appropriated the furs
as treasure trove and thereby recouped his desperate
fortunes."
For ten years, thereafter, the Rocky Mountain
Fur Company justified its name, being in full con-
trol of the bleak desert between the Snake River
and the Colorado. The Digger Indians could not
be depended on to bring in furs, and Ashley was
forced to rely on free trappers. Every stream and
mountain park that harbored beaver was diligently
searched out by the intrepid men who summered
and wintered in this inhospitable region. Supplies
were brought out by the spring brigade, up the
North Platte and over the South Pass to the deeig-
I
358
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
nated rendezvous. Ashley did not attempt to bi
trading posts, but brought his whole force together'
at an appointed time and place, where the trappers
exchanged their season's catch of furs for pork,
flour, sugar and tea, clothing, ammunition and
whiskey. Irving's description of the reruiezvom at
Green River is too well known to require quoting
here." The return trip was made by pack train or,
when the rivers served, by boat. From South Pass
the preferred route was by way of the Big Horn,
Yellowstone, and Missouri rivers, — streams always
navigable for the bull boats which the traders bad
adopted. The first wheeled vehicles to cross the
plains north of the Santa F6 Trail were sent to
Ashley's rendezvovs on Lake Utah in 1826 or II
Ashley's success in this unexploited country was
mediate and highly satisfactory. The return fi
the hunt of 1824 was one hundred packs of beai
that of 1826, one hundred and twenty-three, that
1827, one hundred and thirty. In the latter yea^
he made over the business to Smith, Sublette, and
Jackson and settled at St. Louis, where he realized
a very comfortable income by supplying goods
the traders in the field, receiving their furs in
ment.
The new firm did not prosper financially, for the
heyday of the fur trade was past. Their great
achievements were geographical, the unwitting result
of the search for fresh hunting-grounds. An obscure
hunter, taking a daring wager, followed the cireuitoi
course of the Bear River and launched his
oD the treacherous waters of Salt Lake.
'"^S
lized
Is t^
P<4^
CU'CUltOU^^
his canQ^^I
£tiea^H
^
THE FUR TRADE
359
Provost rediscovered Utah Lake, coming in by way of
the Provo River, to the north of Eseallante's trail.
In 1824 Jedidiah Smith, turning north from South
Pass, followed up the Green River to the Snake and
came upon the Hudson's Bay Company's post,
Fort Bois^. In the summer of 1826 he set out from
Salt Lake with a party of fifteen men to explore the
country to the southwest. He ascended the Sevier
valley to the mountainous land of the Pah Utes and
thence foUowed the Virgin River to the Colorado,
where he found Indians cultivating com, beans,
melons, and even cotton. Here he purchased fresh
horses out of a herd stolen from the Spaniards and
undertook to cross the desert that lay west of the
Colorado. A runaway neophyte served as guide
and brought the party after three weeks' desperate
march to San Gabriel and San Diego. The alarm
of the commandante at this undreamed of invasion
had nearly thwarted Smith's hopes. He and his
men were detained for a time and his journal was
confiscated and despatched to the City of Mexico.*'
Forbidden to visit the Spanish settlements along
the coast, the Americans turned directly north and
crossed Tehatchepi Pass into the San Joaquin
valley, where they found plenty of beaver. Here
they trapped during the winter of 1826-1827, and
in the spring the fearless leader set out with two
men, seven horses, and two pack-mules loaded with
hay and food, to seek fresh supplies at the rendez'
voiis. He made his way over the Sierras by the
Merced River and Sonora Pass. (Smith called the
^eira Range Mt. Joseph.) The snow lay in heavy
EXFLOUIBS AND COUBOZEBS
B torn IB a^ fcxt dnp lad mat wi
irfiiiil icKRir, b« Oe hat vm acBOB-
■ OC^dqi. He BKik MKJB the Gntf
I
ras iBMde id I soil) dj(j&. Rou
the ndkT- iid|^ that emv the waste of smmI nd
■i^B-lnrii, iiiuklB of pnd water flowed, bat onif
to be imnedatelr racked down br ttie tfaikstT' cartL
It was uif— JiIp to cany miuli higga0e and the
paiiy was lometiinps witboQt water for two daji^
marefa. No fae^ eoold be had £raat the Digger
TiafiaiiB, the most wietdied of human bdngs, wfaoae
food was snakes and fiiards taken with tbe hands
and whose only afariter was the wkkiup of sage-
Ivn^ When the daring party arrived at Salt
Lake, but ooe horse and one mule remamed afire,
and the men were so exhausted that they could
hardly stagger under the meagre remnant of their
equipment. Stopping at Salt Lake only long enou^
to secure a new outfit, Smith again set out for CaU-
fomia to recover his trappers and their accumulation
of furs. WhQe crossing the Virgin River the party
was attacked by Lidians, and ten of the men and all
the supplies were lost ; but this dauntless pathfinder
made his way across the desert to San Gabriel Mis-
flion and, leaving there two wounded men, proceeded
by ship to Monterey. He was again arrested as a
dangerous character, and again American sea-cap-
tains were found to stand sponsor for his good in-
tentions. He was released (November, 1827), oo
condition that he should withdraw from Californit
— 'thin two months.
tTHE FUR TRADE 361
Smith was a man of his word ; but instead of
attempting to cross the Sierras, an impossible
feat in midwinter, he went north to the first tribu-
tary of the Sacramento (thereafter called American
Fork) and trapped along that valley until the
floods had subsided. Then in April, 1828, the
party followed an Indian trail up the Shasta River,
over Siskyou Pass, and down Rogue River to the
Umpqua. There, during Smith's absence, the party
got into trouble with the Indians, the camp was
attacked, the men killed, the horses stolen, and the
luggage carried away. Smith and the two men with
him found their way down the Willamette to Fort
Vancouver, Dr. McLoughlin received the survivors
with characteristic generosity, gave them quarters
at the Fort, and despatched Ms stepson McKay with
an adequate force to punish the Umpquas and re-
cover the stolen property. With characteristic jus-
tice, he paid the American trader the current price
for the furs, traps, and horses, deducting only the
actual cost of the punitive expedition. With business
shrewdness equally characteristic, the chief factor
stipulated that one of Smith's men should remain to
serve as guide to the beaver grounds of the Sacra-
mento valley. In the autumn of 1828, McLeod was
sent south to prosecute the trade in this promising
district.
Smith remained at Fort Vancouver throughout
the winter of 1828-1829 and accompanied the spring
brigade to Spokane House and Flat Head Post ;
there, turning south, he followed the Indian trail to
^Henry's Fork of Snake River. By lucky chance,
I
I
I
362 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
the rendezvous for that year was appointed at
Pierre's Hole, and there the wanderers found Sub-
lette and Jackson and the Rocky Mountain men in
full force. Smith insisted that henceforth the hunt
should be carried on east of the divide so that they
should not trench upon the territory claimed by the
Hudson's Bay Company. The operations of 182^
1830 were restricted to the Big Horn, Yellowstone,
and upper Missouri valleys and were highly success-
ful in spite of severe weather, hostile Blackfeet, and
the jealous machinations of the .American Fur Com-
pany. In the spring of 1830, Sublette went to St.
Louis for supplies and returned in the following
spring up the North Platte and over South Pass
to the rejidezvous on Green River with cattle and
milch cows and a train of ten wagons. In the
autumn of 1832, the partners came back fco St. Louia
with one hundred and ninety packs of beaver, worth
$95,000, and realized a profit that enabled them to
retire from the business. William Sublette followed
Ashley's example and opened a wholesale supply
business, while Jackson and Smith went into the
Santa F^ trade, an enterprise that promised to
reaUze better returns with less labor and risk to life
and limb.
Younger men succeeded to the direction of the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Milton G. Sub-
lette, Thomas Fitzpatrick, and James Bridger led the
brigades to the annual rendezvous, and their free
trappers explored every beaver-bearing stream be-
tween Green River and the Missouri, overlapping
the region claimed by the American Fur Company,
THE FUR TRADE
363
and the Missouri River posts retaliated by sending
their men to the Big Horn. The fame of Ashley's
winnings attracted adventurers from the eastern
states, who entered the arena hopefully, with Uttle
conception of its hazard. At the rendezvous held at
Pierre's Hole in 1832, Fitzpatrick encountered Van-
derburg and Drips — Astor's agents — Nathaniel J.
Wyeth, who had brought out a band of raw recruits
from New England, and Captain Bonneville, also
a novice in the trade, whose elaborate equipment was
highly amusing to the experienced men.**
The movements of mere adventurers could be ig-
ROCKT MonNTilMB. 1837,
nored, and Wyeth and Bonneville were not molested;
but the two great companies locked horns in a life
and death combat. Vanderburg attempted to fol-
I
I
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
low Fitzpatrick and find out his hunting-grou;
and the latter led him astray into the Blackfeet coud-
try where he and his party fell into an ambush and
were destroyed. Fitzpatrick, in turn, was robbed by
the Crows at the instigation of the American Fur
Company's men, and his furs were restored to him
only on payment of the price paid the Indians. The
natives were demoralized by the unscrupulous meth-
ods of the whites, and the engages were taught
reckless knavery. The rival agents spied upon each
other's business operations with all the zeal of a mod-
em "trust," and a man transferring from one service
to another ran the risk of persecution, even murder.
In spite of its brilliant achievements and the supe-
rior eahbre of the men in its service, the Rocky Moun-
tain Fur Company was the loser in this cut-throat
competition. Ashley had been the organizing genius
of the business, and there was no one to take his place.
The courage, resourcefulness and ingenuity of Smith,
Fitzpatrick, Bridger, and other brave men could make
little headway against the limitless financial resources
of Astor's company. Losses which meant ruin to
them were a negligible quantity in the balance-sheet
of a great corporation whose deficits in one field were
sure to be offset by gains in another.
Chittenden estimates that during the twelve years
of its career the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
shipped to St. Louis one thousand packs of beaver
worth $500 a pack." The losses in goods and furs
and horses injured or stolen he estimates at 5100,000,
the human loss at one hundred lives. The bulk of the
profits accrued to General Ashley and W. L. Sublette
Sublette,
THE FUR TRADE
365
even after they had withdrawn from the partQership,
for they manipulated the prices of goods and furs
BO as to skim the cream off the returns. None of
the other partners made money, and most of them,
as well as the major part of the free trappers and
engages, were eventually wrecked in health and
fortune.
The great and permanent achievements of the
Rocky Mountain men were quite independent of
financial success or failure. They opened up a new
fur country at the head waters of the Snake, the
Green, and the Big Horn rivers, — streams that, rising
in the Wind River Mountains, the core of the conti-
nent, diverge to east, south, and west, and empty into
the Pacific, the Gulf of California, and the Gulf of
Mexico. They first explored that vast tract of moun-
tain and desert, the Cordilleran area; they discov-
ered the Great Salt, the Utah and Sevier lakes; they
traced the Snake, the Green, and the Colorado rivers
from mountain source to the sea; they demonstrated
the practicability of the South Pass, Walker's Pass,
and other routes over the Rockies and the Sierras.
When the United States government undertook to
explore the Far West, the topographical engineers
were fain to enlist the services of "mountain men"
like Kit Carson and James Bridger. Finally, the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company cleared the way for
settlers by the long and relentless warfare they car-
ried on with the nomad Indian tribes, the Blackfeet,
Aricaras, Crows, Comanches, and Pah Utes, between
whom and the traders there was never a truce. Not
the United States army nor the treaties so carefully
I
rfaite
4
386 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
n^otiated by the Indian Department, but the t
peis' rifles, taught the redman respect for the white
man's capacity for self-defenae.
SscnoN yi
Dedine of the Fur Trade
By 1840, all profit had vanished for the indepen-
dent trader. The beaver dams were practically
exhausted, and even the less important furs, as otter,
mink, fox, and lynx, were hard to get. The buffalo
herds, which had seemed limitless, were fast diminisb-
ing, yet they kept the fur trade alive for twenty yeais
after the beaver were trapped out. The ori^nal
range of the bison was from the Alleghanies to the
Rocky Mountains, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf;
but they had disappeared from the eastern side of the
Mississippi by the end of the eighteenth century and
were rarely found east of the Missouri after the first
decade of the nineteenth. For fifty years thereafter,
they ranged the Great Plains. They varied their
feeding grounds with the season, pushing far to the
north in the summer when the bunch grass was rich-
est, retreating before the snows across the rolling
prEuries of the Platte and the Kansas, to winter on
the "staked plains" of Texas. To the Indian the
buffalo was the staff of life ; to the white man he fur-
nished important articles of commerce. The hide,
the tongue, the tallow were in great demand, and the
fur traders exercised their utmost ingenuity to supply
the market. The annual yield for the decade from
XS40 to 1850 was estimated at ninety thousand rol
>b^^_
THE FUR TRADE 367
that from 1850 to 1860, at one hundred thousand.
Not more than one-third the buffalo killed were rep-
resented in the trade, for there was enormous waste.
The hides of the bulls were never used, and those of
the cows were fit for dressing during the winter
months only.
When Fremont crossed the Plains (1842), the buf-
falo range was confined to "the eastern base of the
Rocky Mountains, sometimes extending at their
southern extremity to a considerable distance into
the plains between the Platte and Arkansas rivers,
and along the eastern frontier of New Mexico as far
south as Texas." Fitzpatrick told him that some
twenty years before there were immense numbers of
buffalo in the Green and Bear river valleys, but the
hunters had driven them from this retreat to the up-
per reaches of Snake River. Fremont describes the
"great highways, continuous for hundreds of miles,
always several inches, and sometimes several feet in
depth, which the buffalo have made in crossing from
one river to another, or in traversing the mountain
ranges,"** Stansbury adds: "When the emigration
first commenced, travelling trains were frequently
detained for hours by immense herds crossing their
track, and in such numbers that it was impossible
to drive through them." *" As white men increased,
slaughter augmented with reckless glee. Burton, who
followed the mail route in 1859, estimated that the
annual destruction amounted to two or three hundred
thousand. By that time the buffalo was rarely seen
on the trail, and the hunters followed the herds
into the wild country ; but buffalo steaks, always
and wi
_ St. Lo
^ Subleti
H Thei
H^ full CO
m
388 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
regarded as more nutritious and wholesome than beef,
were furnished at the wayside inns.
The annual take of the American Fur Company in
1832, according to MaximilieD, Prince of Wied, was
twenty-five thousand beaver skins worth $8 apiece,
from forty to fifty thousand buffalo hides worth $4
each, from twenty to thirty thousand deerskins worth
$1 each, from one to two thousand lynx, two thousand
mink, two to three thousand fox, of which only the sil-
ver fox was valuable {twenty to thirty skins at $60
each) , and as many muskrats as they chose to accept,
from one thousand to one hundred thousand. The
total value of the furs received amounted in the
early thirties to $500,000 a year. It was evident to
any one acquainted with the situation that this yield
could not long be maintained. In 1834, John Jacob
Astor, then in London looking into the European
markets, became convinced that the profitable daj-s
of the fur trade were past. The beaver meadows were
nearing exhaustion, and the market for the fur was
declining, "It appears that they make hats of silk
in place of beaver." He returned ready to sell his
interest in the Anaerican Fur Company, and it was
taken over by Ramsay Crooks, who had for some
time been in charge of the New York department
and was now backed by Pratte, Chouteau & Co., of
St. Louis. The new firm bought out Fitzpal
Sublette, and Bridger this same year and the U]
Fur Company in 1845.
Thenceforth the American Fur Company was in
full control of the Rocky Mountain trade, but the
industry was declining, as Astor had foreseen, and
THE FUR TRADE
369
ablest men of the frontier were turning to other
pursuits. Even in the Hudson's Bay Company's ter-
ritory beyond the divide, the receipts from the trap-
ping expeditions were dwindling. According to N. J.
Wyeth, the revenue from sales of peltry taken in the
western district of the Hudson's Bay Company, the
region between the forty-second and the forty-ninth
parallel, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, did not
amount to more than $138,000 a year, — not a large
gross return considering the heavy expenditures {e.g.
$20,000 on goods shipped from London, the vessels re-
quired to transport goods and furs, the services of three
hundred and fifty employees, and two years' interest
on the capital). The annual net profit of the Hudson
Bay Company, did not, he believed, exceed $10,000.
"My impression is, notwithstanding the great dispar-
ity of the money value of the objects exchanged in this
trade, that it has been less profitable than any other
in which as much danger of life and property is in-
curred." This experienced and disinterested ob-
server anticipated a steady decline in revenue from
this source. "The furs produced in this country
have heretofore been of considerable value, and
doubtless will furnish a means, to a small extent, for
supplying the wants of a new country ; but that busi-
ness has been carried to its full limit ; it may for a
few years be kept up to its present point of produc-
tion, but must soon decrease, especially if the coun-
try is thrown open to emigrants, most of whom will
become dealers to a greater or less degree in it, and
many will turn to the more exciting and immediate
profits of the hunter, rather than to the slow labors
p
of the farmer." ■■' After viaiting the posts in 1ft
Governor Simpson wrote: "I am concerned to say
the returns are gradually diminishing from year to
year ; this arises from no want of attention to the
management of the district, but from the exhausted
state of the country, which has been closely wrought
tor many years without any intermission." *'
The trappers and traders were dying out quite aa
rapidly as the beaver. Exposure, drink, and the
hostility of the Indians were destroying them one by
one. Their wages were spent in the carouses that
disgraced the rendezvous and, the trading posts.
Few had accumulated property enough to return
to the civilized world. Alexander Ross, who had
long experience with the Hudson's Bay Company
and knew the American traders, estimates the com-
parative chances of success as follows; "In the fur
trade of the north many have attained to a compe-
tency, not a few to independence, and many have
realized fortunes after a servitude of years ; but in
the slippery and ruinous traffic of the south many
fortunes have been lost, and an awful sacrifice made
of human life ; so that of all the adventurers en-
gaged, for half a century past, in the fur trade of that
licentious quarter, few, very few indeed, ever left it
with even a bare competency." '*
The best of the "mountain men" settled down in
some fertile valley or mountain meadow, built a cabin
for the Indian wife and half-breed children, and man-
aged to provide food, clothing, and whiskey by trap-
ping during the winter and farming during the
Bummer months. Famham describes such a man, one
THE FUR TRADE
371
Joseph Meek, whom he met on Bear River. "He
came to the mountains many years ago — and has
so long associated with Indians, that his manners
much resemble theu-s. The same wild, unsettled,
watchful expression of the eyes ; the same unnatural
gesticulation in conversation, the same unwillingness
to use words when a sign, a contortion of the face
or body, or movement of the hand will manifest
thought ; in standing, walking, riding — in all but
complexion he was an Indian. . . . Meek was evi-
dently very poor. He had scarcely clothing enough
to cover his body. And while talking with us the
frosty winds which sucked up the valley, made him
shiver like an aspen leaf. He reverted to his desti-
tute situation, and complained of the injustice of his
former employers ; the little remuneration he had
received for the toils and dangers he had endured on
their account, &c.; a complaint which I had heard
from every trapper whom I had met on my jour-
ney," "
In his Forty Years of a Fur Trader, Charles Larpen-
teur has given a graphic account of the vicissitudes
of the life for a man distinctly above the average men-
tally and morally. A Frenchman of good birth, he
went from Baltimore to Missouri to seek his fortune,
and entered the service of Sublette & Co, in 1832,
at a yearly salary of .$206 and supplies. His descrip-
tion of the sufferings of horses and men on the long
marches to the rendezvous bears internal evidence of
authenticity. When his patron sold out to Fitz-
patrick, Larpenteur found a berth with the American
^Fur Company and served under Kenneth Mackenzie,
EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
"the king of the Missouri," for the next fifteen years.
He was assistant clerk at Fort Union at a salary of
$350 a year, with food and living quarters and one
Buit of broadcloth furnished. Larpenteur was not
only intelligent but temperate, and he won the con-
fidence of his superiors mainly by his ability to keep
sober during the wild carousals which left every other
man, white and red, engage, trapper, clerk, and factor,
dead drunk for days at a time. Strong drink was,
according to this Frenchman, the curse of the trade.
Etjually destructive from a business point of view was
the competitive warfare waged by the upstart com-
panies that endeavored to invade the territory long
monopolized by the "big house." Fox, Livingstone
& Co., of New York, set up a post. Fort Mortimer,
on the Yellowstone in 1S46, and for four yeare
maintained a precarious existence through enticing
the American Fur Company's trappers to desert by
promises of higher wages, and secured first innings
in the Indian trade by lavish dispensing of liquor.
No sooner had this firm sold out than a new "op-
position" arose, Harvey, Pruneau & Co., former
clerks of the Great Company, and the business dtMH
generated from bad to worse. ^H
At forty years of age, Larpenteur, grown pig-
headed and captious, quarrelled with his superiors
and determined to quit the fur trade and take his
Assiniboin wife and half-breed children to the Flat-
head mission of which Father de Smet had told him.
In company with another trade-weary Frenchman
(1847), he set out up the Missouri, meaning to cross
the mountains by the Lewis and Clark Paas. The
J
• ' •
• ••
r
THE FUR TRADE
little caravan of two wagons, two carts, and eight
pack horses succeeded in reaching Sun River with
no serious mishap, but there a brush with the Black-
feet and the approach of winter turned them back.
The two families made a second attempt the following
year, mounted this time on horseback, and got as far
as Great Falls ; but they were a second time forced
back by hardships too severe for even Indian women
to endure, and Larpenteur returned to the service of
the American Fur Company. Two years' experience
convinced him that "there was nothing more to be
made in the Indian trade," " and he bought a claim
on the Little Sioux River, meaning to " open a small
farm." The place lay in the path of the Mormon
migration, and realizing that "settlers were coming
in fast," the old trader thought he saw a chance to
make money more rapidly than by growing com.
He built a store and a blacksmith shop for the use of
emigrants and ran a ferry across the river, borrowing
heavily to finance these improvements. He might
have succeeded had not the crisis of 1857 ruined his
credit.
The resources of civilization having failed him,
Larpenteur again turned to the wilderness and joined
a party that proposed to hunt buffalo in the Assini-
boin country. To avoid the hostile Sioux, the eight
wagons and eleven men travelled far north by way of
St. Paul and the Red River of the North, which they
crossed on the bridge at Pembina, and so up the
Souris River to the Missouri. The hunt was success-
ful, and they were returning well satisfied, with two
thousand robes, when the news that the outbreak of
J
I
374 EXPLORERS AND COLONIZERS
the Civil War had shut off the foreign market and
halved the price of furs balked their expectations of
profit. Turning again to his old employers, Larpen-
teur found the Great Company disintegrating. As
a sympathizer with the Confederacy, Chouteau was
refused a license to trade with the Indians and was
obUged to sell his interests to a Chicago firm (Hul-
bard, Hawley & Co. ; A. B. Smith, manager) which,
imder the title of the North West Company, carried
on the languishing trade. All the old loyalty lost,
Larpenteur worked first for this house and then for
" the Opposition," and again on his own account,
and finally died a pauper.
More fortunate were some of the traders who, by
the aid of engagis and Indians, converted their posts
into productive farms and raised supplies for the fast-
coming emigrants. Colonel A. P. Chouteau had a
large farm in the Osage country (1831), "where be
raises every article of necessary food and in greater
abundance than is necessary for himself, his very
numerous family and followers." " Lupton's trading
post at Fort Lancaster on the South Platte is described
by Fremont. " His post was beginning to assume the
appearance of a comfortable farm ; stock, hogs, and
cattle were ranging about on the prairie ; there were
different kinds of poultry ; and there was the wreck
of a promising garden, in which a considerable variety
of vegetables had been in a flourishing condition, but
it had been almost entirely ruined by the recent high
waters." *' The most important of these attempts of
the fur traders to adjust themselves to the new order
was Fort Bridger, the palisaded post built by James
THE FUR TRADE
375
Bridger on the Black Fork of Green River. This
famous frontiersman knew at first hand the vast
Cordilleran wilderness from the Missouri River to the
Rio Grande and from the Gila to the Columbia.
''With a buffalo-skin and a piece of charcoal, he will
map out any portion of this immense region, and
delineate mountains, streams, and the circular valleys
called 'holes,' with wonderful accuracy." ^ Their
intimate knowledge of the Far West gave the ''moun-
tain men" an advantage in the selection of settlement
sites, and when the pioneer farmers arrived on the
ground they usually found some old trapper or trader
squatting on the most fertile and best watered land.
NOTES
■Homboldt, Nete Spain. II. 248.
■ VeDegoa. writiDg ia IT6S. is quite in doubt as to whether the ttniti
of Anian are not "altogether imaginary" and concludes: "We must
wait [or the aolutioa till the Bame spirit of discovery that brought us
first acquainted with the Indies and with America, reveals to us with
oquaJ certainty, whether it ia aea or land, or a miiture o[ both, that in-
tervenes betweeu these two mighty coatinents." Veoegaa, Hiitor)/ of
Caiifomia, I, Preface A 4.
■ Edward Everett Hate first pointed out the relation between Montal-
VOb' romance, the Deeds of Elsplandian, and Cortfia' discovery. loAUantic
MonltUv. XIII. 266 ; d. Bancroft, Ct^ifomia. I, 66 ; Vencgae, Cali/omia.
I, 131-132.
< Lyman (Bitlory o/ Oregon. I, Chap, V) giveti several Indian traditions
of such wrecks that antedate Gray's discovery of the Columbia, t.g. A
■hip wB* driven ashore at Nehalem River, the crew saved their lives, but
were later killed by the Datives. The ahip'a caigo of beeawai drifted in
■nd waa scattered on the sands. Some of the cakes which were prs-
oerved ahowed the mark I. H. S.. which indicated that they were in-
tended for a miMion church. From another vessel wrecked off the south
shore, two men escaped and were hospitably received by the Clataopt.
One of them, called Konapee by the ladians. faahioned iron koivea from
the wreckage and poaaeesed bright pieces of silver like Chinese cath.
One ship came close inshore and landed a boat bringing a box which waa
buried on the ctiff.
FranehSre. Narrativt, 248, describes a man of Spanish antecedents
whom the Aatoriana found on the Columbia.
"We found here ao old blind man, who gave ua a cordial reception.
Our guide said that ho was a white man, and that hia name was Solo. We
learned from the mouth of the old man himself that he waa the ton of K
Spaniard who bad been wrecked at the mouth of the river : that a part of
the crew on thia occasion got safe ashore, but were all massacred by the
Clataops, with the eiception ot four, who were spared and who married
native women ; that tbcae four Spaniards, of whom his father was one,
disgusted with the aavage life, attempted to reach a settlement of thedl
own nation toward the south, but had nsTer been heard ol since ; and that
when hia father, with his companions, left the country, he himself WH
yet quite young."
379
30 NOTES
' Drake, Tht World Eruompaued, 118.
*WiiiHhip, Joumej/ ofCoronado, 11.
iWinsliip, Conmado, 22.
■ TheSpuiiHh word pueblo meant town, la American
haZulLi,Moqi^H
letoaignify those peculiar " j oint tenemeata " built bytiu
uid Tigua ludiBoa.
• Wioahlp, CoroTuido,
" Winahip. Coronado, 26.
" Winehip, Coronado. 30. Tbu may have been the jtilat/a eociia. a
preserve atill made by the Mexicans Trom the fniit of the «Juiro (gUnt
cactus), or the tulapai, a fennetited drink which the Apache* diidl llvn»
the BBinB luscious fruit. ^B
u Winship. Coronado, 99. ^M
^M thi
I
" Winship, Coronado. 3S. The Pueblo Indians had no aheep bctote ths
SpaniBh conquest. According to Baodclier. their bisnketa were prabkblT
made of strips of rabbit akin woven into a heavy fabric. — Band^ir.
Final Rtporl.
i> "This country was elevated and fuQ of low twisted pinea, voy cold,
and lying open towards the north, so that, this being the warm si up in.
no one could live there on account of the cold. They spent thrM days
on this bank looking for a passage down to the river, which laoked boa
above as if the water was sii feet across, although the Indians aaid it was
half B league wide. It was impoeaible to descend, for after those thn*
days Captain Melgosa and one Juan Galeras and another compamon.
who were the three lightest and most agile men, made an attempt to go
down at the least difScult plaee, and went down until those who were
above were unable to keep sight of them. They returned about four
o'clock in tlie Bttcmoon. not having succeeded id reaching the bottom on
aecount of the great difficulties which they found, because what ■eemed
to be easy from above was not so. but instead very hard and diUJTi^l'
They aaid that they had been down about a third of the way and that the
river seemed very large from the place which they reached, and that
from what they saw they thought the Indians had given the width ««-
recUy. Those who stayed above had estimated that some huge rocks on
the sides of the cliffs seemed to be al>out as tall as a man, but those who
went down swore that when they reached these rocks they were hiu"
than the great tower of Seville. They did not go farther up the river,
because they could not get water." — Winship. Coronado, 35-36. '
Winship, Corimodo, 41,
CastaGeda estimated that there were nxty-aii viUagea "in the eouD-
try of the terraced houses." twenty thouaaod fighting men. and some hun-
dred thousand people. Of the jnubUu seen by Coronado' spaKy, Acona
NOTES
381
a[oDe remaioB BlandiiiE. Full account, pveu \a Winship, Corcmaia,
Port III, Chap. VII ; Baadelier, final RnpoH. Part I, 34.
" Wbibip, CoTonada, 43.
" Winship, CoTonado. 139-140.
" Winahip, CoTonado. 7S-76.
" Winship, Coronado, Q6.
" These IqIIib live in tents made ol the tanned Bkim of the cows. Tbey
traveJ around nei
65. Bsndclier ii
" Rumors oF the martyrdom of these missionBries of tbe faitb Gtled the
Franciscans with leal to undertake the conversion of tbe nortbem
heathen.
»• Winsbip, Coronado, 1 IB.
■> Winehip, Coronado. 140.
Cbapthr II
■ The encomienda was an institution allied to the feudal practice of
commendation. The viceroy aaJ uuvernors were empowered to assisn
the native viljaijes or Tancheriaa to the nearest landowners. The en-
comendcro waa under obligalion to instruct, sustain, and protect bis Indian
vswials, to dciend tbe province asainst nttaclc. and render other military
service at the gummona of the governor. He was entitled to a certain
amount of personal service from the people on his estate, but he miaht
not legally extort tribute, sell or give away bis dependents or take them
out of tbe province, nor might they be forfeited in payment for debt.
Tbey might not be forced to work in minea or manufactures, and tha
viceroy was commanded to punish severely any maltreatment. In case
of abuse ao Indian had tbe right ol appeal to tbe Ao^ AiuJencia. — Lej/f
de Uu Indna, Libro SertO.
' The Spanish eiplorors greatly exaggerated the population of tho
pucbfoi. Bandclier thinks it cannot havs exceeded 2G,000 at the time of
the conquest. — final Rtporl, I. 121.
, -^^' Gregg, Commerce of the Prairita. I, 260.
command tbe s(
•"The village was very strong, because it was up on a ruck out of
reach, having steep sides in every direction, and so high that it was a very
good musket that could throw a ball aa high. There was a broad stair-
way for about 200 steps, then a stretch of about 100 narrower steps, and
M the top they bad to go up about three times aa high as a man by means
I
I
I
383 NOTES
of bol« in the net, tn <ri)icb they put the pcunta ol Uieir feet, holdioi oe
U the auue time by their h&ods. There wai » wall o( large uid nuU
noDca si the top, which they could roll down without ahowine themidTn,
M that DO uiny could poaibly be stroDg enough to c«ptm« the viUac'-
Od the lop they had room to aaw and nore a large amount of com. and
aattma to collect snow and water." — Wiaabip. Coranada. 39.
' The term applied to an Indian village.
' Gregg, writing in 1S39. says that the Pueblo Indiana were than "odo-
ndered the best borticulturiata in the country, furaishioB loaM of the
[ruita and a large portion ol the vegetahle nipplies that an to be taaad in
the markelB. They «er« until very lately the only people in New iitnro
who cultivated the grape. They also maintain at the present time cod-
■iderable herds ol cattle, horses, etc. They are. in short, a remarkably
sober and industrious race, conspicuous lor morality and booeMy. and
very littl? given to quarreUiog or diadpation. eic^it wh«n they hare hid
much familiar intercourse with the Hispano-Meiiean population." —
Commtrce of the Prairies. II, 55. Cf. Preaideot's Meaaage, ISU, 439.
• The decrees of Charles V (1523. 1533. I5S1) dictated that Mch Indiao
village should begranted as much cultivated land as might be necessary far
its sustenance, and that tberaountaio Forests and paatuns abould be used
jn common by Indians and Spamarda. The extent of the purblo land)
' was Ister deGned (1682) as four square leagues for each community, but
these grants were not formally ttssiBiied till the eighteenth centoiy. Tbii
aiaUe land was to remain a tribal pooBesaion, and no individual was at
liberty to sell or alienate to outaideia except by express permiBionol ths
Prolwforsi tU Un Indiot,
" Dstordtnei que m advier en el Nuero Mexico. De Hotfi mmm Io
have been a man oF affairs. He acoompaniad Croix to Teiaa in 1778 and
wrote the Diaru. also Memoriaa para la Httlona de Texat.
" A /antgo, the cc
re for grain, is equivalent to two bi
1 of "the c
thus described by a oontoa-
porary: "Forty leagues from Santa F( in the pariah called Joya da
Sevilteta. all those participating come together in the last daya of No-
vember, with freight, firearms, ammunition, arrows, shid da, horses, etc.
Everything ia passed in review, and when the number of men (five hun-
dred) for the trip ia made up, they indicate those who are to take turn)
on the journey, in the vanguard, rear and centre ; those who are to tak*
oare of the horses and mules ; those who have to serve as sentinels (the
number regularly eicesda one hundred) ; the night guards who must ksqi
M the ground on dark nights to make sure whether they bearstqis
ivoid the surprises they arc accustomed to suffer. As to the proin-
which are necessary, they exceed ail hundred /aneoos of wheat Sour
bread which they call biactKhot. more than one hus-
dred steers converted Into Uu»aaii (pemican). one hundred and fifty /bimi^
of pinole (parched com), a correaponding quantity ol frijoUM, parftoaaM.
•one mutton ; also the barrels to carry the water in the deserts, like that
oalled Jomado dd Muerto (Journey of Death), where one m
NOTES 383
than thirty leagues without finding any water. All these preparations
have been insufficient in some years to enable them to escape from the
cunning of the gentiles (Apaches)." — Pino, NoUciae, 71-72. j
» Coues. Pike, II, 563.
i« Coues, Pike, II. 606.
» Coues. Pike, II. 607.
M Coues. Pike, II. 608. 611.
«? Coues. Pike, ILJSS.
M Coues. Pike, II. 740.
M Coues. Pike, II. 740-741.
» Coues, Pike, II. 656.
« Coues. Pifce, II. 675.
Pedro Pino. Notieiaa hietorioas y estadtsHcaa de la onHqua pnmneia dei
Nuevo Mexico.
" Gregg, Commerce of the Prairiea, I. 333.
** That this was an Indian contrivance is proved by the discovery of the
uso in the extinct villages of the Gila River valley*
" Gregg. Commerce of the Prairiea, I, 338.
M Pattie. Personal Narratwe, 145.
^ Gregg, Commerce of the Prairiea, I. 280.
« Gregg. Commerce of the Prairiea, I. 322^24.
* The first census taken in New Mexico, that of 1827, reported a popu-
lation of 43,433. and the following category of occupations : agricultural
laborers. 6588; day laborers, 2475; artisans, 1237; merchants, 93;
schoolmasters. 17; scholars. 18.
The wealth of the province was estimated in its cattle as follows:
cattle, 5000, valued at $40,000 ; sheep and goats, 240,000, valued at $120,-
000 ; horses, 550, value $5500 ; mules 2150, value $53.750 ; mares, 300,
value $2400.
In 1840 the population was reckoned at 55.403. — Pino. Revised
Notieiaa,
^ Shea. Diacotery and Exploration, 26, 28.
" Joliet's journal was lost by shipwreck as he descended the St. Law-
rence.
« Cox. La 8aUe, I, 26.
"The king's commission empowered La Salle to explore "the western
part of New France." ** through which it was probable a road may be
found to penetrate to Mexico." The ultimate aim of the expedition
may have been the silver mines of New Biscay (Nueva Viicaya).
I
384 NOTES
•■ Cot. La SaUt. II, 47.
• The atrcam uii3 bay are itill known u Lav&ca, from the Spuudi
equivtUeDt.
"Coi, LaSaiU. 11.66.
■> Coi, La SaOt. II. 60. .
> Cox. La SaUt. II. M.
» Coi. La SalU. II, S5.
«Coi, LoSoUe, II. 9S.
" Coi. Z^ So/ic. II, 101.
" Coi. La SoHe. II. 128.
" Duhsut and Liotot were tsier ahot by HicDB. with wbom they bid
quarrelled over the diBtributiou of tbo acsaty stock of food.
•• Cox, La SalU. II. IGl.
« Coi, La SaUt. II 1S5.
•> Coi, La SalU, II. 127-128.
" Du PraU, Lmiisiana, London Edition. 19S-200.
• These common fields were donated to every colony by both Fnodl
and Spanish governments, the grants were confirmed by the United
States CoDgresfl. and this primitive system ol land tenure has been per-
petuated to the present day. Edward Flagg, who viaited several of these
viUages in 1838. noted that " A singlo encloaure waa erected and kepi in
repair at the expense of the village*, and the lot of eveiy individual was
separated from his neighbor's by a double furrow." — Flags. Far Wtii,
Pt. I. 96. Cf, Bradbury, Travets. 269-281.
• Pike found him stiU at work there in 1805, when his annual output
was from twenty to forty thousand pounds. The ore was easily omelted,
and yielded seventy-fivo per cent metallic lead. After Dubuque'i
in 1810, the works were abandoned.
" Culbert and Magilhay, who were eatabliabed near Cotton
" L'annie dea Batt«aui.
X Bradbury. Tratelt in the InUrior of America, 240-270.
i applied to soy fortiSed post,
o the
lo's dMtli^^
MdCN^H
" For first hand account of the mission o( La Conception. San Antonio,
■ee the report of 1762 quoted in Garrison's Texas. 56-60.
■■ The mOait. the stone mortar in universal use among the aborigines
of the southwest.
" Rtducviot. the tCTDi used \a designate the converted or auhiunlsd
t
NOTES
3S5
Altamira eatiniBted in 1744 tliat the colonuBtion of Texas had coat
0,000 ptioi up to that date, and that the buduoI charge must con-
i &t 63,000 ptto:
estimated at Iourt««u thouMUtd.
f Tho number of aavagei wi
" Cough, Pikt, II, 783.
" Pike found one of Nolan'fl
F6 and another (David Ferro)
with Salcedo on their behalf.
" CouM, Pike, II, 785.
*■ Bastrop was a Freoch £migrS who liad been sent to Texas by the
BpaDieh government on a secret mission. He had been recompensed by a
laud Erant of thirty square miles between the Mississippi and Red rivers.
*■ The term was applied to all baptiied Indians dependent on the
"CoBtanifi, Hitloncal Journal, Out Wat, 14 : 4S8.
" Costani6, the scientist of the party, carried Venega's Notidat de laa
Coli/orntoi and a manual of navigation by the ciperieDccd pilot, Cabrera
•* Creapi, Jmimal.
" Costanid, Journal, Out Wat, IS : 39.
•• CoBtHni6, Journal, Out Wett. 15 : 43.
' The revenue from the salt works at San Bias was devoted to this
puriKise.
" Palou, Noticiat, IV, 103.
" Bancroft assumes that Ania entered the 9an Gabriel Valley by San
Oorgonio Pass, foUuwing the present route of tho Southern Pacific Rail-
way, but recent researches favor the pass west at tho San Jacinto Moun-
tains. The trai! was rough and steep, but there was abundant water.
— Z. S. Eldridgo. in Journal of Ameritaji HUlory, 1908.
" In 1774, roused by the rumor that they were all to bo forcibly bap-
tiied, the Indians had attacked the mission buildings and murdered
Father Jaime and some of the garrison. All the force Alta California
could muster was required to suppress the revolt.
" Ansa. Journal.
" Reotamtnlo dt Ntrt. Section V, in Rockwell's Spaniih and Mtxican
Law, I, 445. Of. RteepHacion de Leyn. Lib. IV. Tit. V. Ley VI. Philip
n.
" The tara (331 inches) was the universal unit of survey.
" "The Dew colonists shall enjoy, for the purpose of maintaininE their
cattle, the common privilege of the water and the pasturage. Grcwood
and timber, of the common forest and pasture lands [ejtdoil. to be (l«t.uk-
Jilted according to law to each new pu«blo . . . vai W ucA- \>6xl% -gsn-
386 NOTES
■ible that emh one cui de<licBtc himself to the takioK core of Um null
Mock eoamgiied to tbem — aeby ao doini! they would be unable to ittoid
to Bsriculture and the public works — (or the preecut. the anuU «llle.
and the tbrep and goata of the community, must Teed together, tad the
■hepberd miut be paid by Buuh community." — Rockwell. Spanuk onJ
Mtriean Laa, I. 446.
" " No eolomjit is to posseaa more than fifty head of the same kind of
cattle, ao that the utility produced by cattle be distributed uDoocit the
whole of them, and that the true riches of the pueblo be not moiwpidiMd
by a few inhatdtunta."
» The Bohedule of prices filed by Governor Fages (1782-1791) *u *■
just as de Neve could have deaired ; via. horsee, S9 each ; mule. S14-20;
oi or cow. $5 : heifer or steer. (4 ; aheep, St-2 ; an a>To6a C^ lb.) ol
wool. %2 : oi-hide. 37t« : /anega of wheat. %2 ; faneoa of peaa, S3. — Hit-
teU, Bittoni 0/ Calijomia, I, bit.
" The teachers at Ban Francisco anil Monterey rendered vohmtaqr
■* Hogs and gonta did not Sourish under the new conditioiia. ^U
" CostaawS. la/ormt. 1794. ^
■ Vaaoouver, Voj/agt o/ Ditcatery, 11, 501.
" Bacon, Enaj/ on Planlalion, 1625.
■■ Garete left a full account of his journey up the Colorado, and it Ins
been carefully edited by Elliott Coucs. On the Trail of a Spaniik Pmnv.
Bscallante's briefer journal baa never found a publisher.
* tu 1785 the French government ordained an exploratioli cf the
northwest coast of America with a view to "opening a commuiucatieii
with some part of Hudson's Bay " and ascertaining whcthfT Franw iui(fat
profitably estabiiah a trading post to the north of the Spanish domizuona.
Comte de la Perouss recormoitcred the coast from the Fairweatber Moun-
tains to Mootcrey. where he spent sixteen days. The expedition ns
wrecked off the New Hebrides on the homeward voyage, and ail haodi
perished. Perouse's journals, which were forwarded to Paris from ?>■
tropBulovski, are all that remain to us of his gallant adventure.
K De la Pcrouse. Voj/ao' aulaur du Monde. II. 288-289.
*• In IS06 the herds of the San Francisco neighborhood
nuraeroua that the governor ordered 20.000 killed, lert the
be exhausted.
■* Von LangsdorB was the journalist of the eipeditioa at de
who visited the Pacific coast (1803-1800) in the iuterMt of the
American Fur Company.
■• Kotsebue, Vouaet of DitcoMni. I, 283.
NOTES 387
" Humboldt, jVctd Spain, 11, 239.
■■ Sola (1818) Tockoned the Spaninli population of tJppm Cslilomia at
three thouannd. In 1841 (according to dc Mofraa). there warn four
tbousaod four hundred and fifty Indians and seven thousand wbitea.
•• Vancouver. II. 27.
•• Von Lsngsdorft, Vouago and TraveU. II, 187.
" Von Langsdotff, II, 207.
" The fortress built by Borica on the bluff solseted hy Ania.
*' All ports at California were thrown open to Mexican vessels in 1822,
•nd customs duties imposed averBK<DB 25 per cent. The four preaidial
ports were "open" to foraigo vosBelB in 1829, and this favor wsfl some-
timea extended to San Pedro. Later Monterey and San Diego were the
only open ports, and the duties were raised to 42.5 per cent.
>■ Tallow was in requisition for lighting the mines of Peru.
*■ The tariff of prices fixed by the governor: Hidoa, $1 each; wheat,
53 per fanega; tallow, $2 par armba; soap, Slfl per eenl/d; piokled beef,
54 per cenlaC.
1" Drogher was tho West India term applied to these slow and clumsy
coasting vessels.
"' Beechcy, II, Voyaga to the Pacific, 60.
>" Beechey, II, 68.
i«Beechey, II, 08.
i« Beechey, II, 69.
'■ Beechey. II, 66-er.
'°> The Pioua Fund was estimated at tbis time to amount to S500,000
with an annual revenue of (50,000. It was finally confiscated by Santa
Aona in 1842, when tho value was estimated at 12,000,000.
1" Echeandia is known in the annals of tho Franciscans as the™ scourge
of the iniHaionH." Ho proposed a plan of scculariiotioD whioh was
adopted by the Territorial Deputation (1830), but never carried iiFto eie-
cutioD. The several missions were to be converted into putbUa and the
land distributed to the neophytes (one lolar and one tuerf< to each),
and they were to be supplied, acording to tho Teglamenlo, with live stock
and tools. The padres might remain as curates, but it was hoped they
would go to the Tularea to found new missions among the oentiia. The
church and its fumishinKS and the residence of Che missionary were re-
served, but all other buildings were to be devoted to the usee of the
jntobloi for schools, hospitals, and so forth. Mills, orchards, vineyards,
and gardens were to be administered by the ayuTUamientot (councils) for
the public benefit, Echeandia was superseded, before this scheme was
put into operation, by Victoria, a reactionary goyernor; but seculariaa-
tion was soon given the sanotion ot the Uexicaa government.
388 NOTES
"* Quoted by Richman, California under Spain and Mexico,
"» Hittell, II, 2DS-207.
»* 1S41 wu a year of drought.
»i SimpsoD, Joumev nmnd IA« World, I, 204-295.
"t According to William C. Joaes. the dispositioa of tlie remnuit o( Uh
miaaion property woa aa follows : —
San Diego. BOld to Saatiaso Arguello, June 18, 1846.
San Luis Rey, Bold to Aotonio Cot and Aodrcs Pico. May 13. IMS-
San Juan Capristrauo. sold to John Foater and Jamca McKiolay.
December, 1845,
San Gabriel, Hold to Julian Worlcinaa and Hugo Reid, June, 1&(6.
San Feroando, rented to Andres Firo for nine years, but sold to Juu
Celia. 1840.
Bon Buenaventura, sold to Josef Armai.
Santa Barbara, rented to Nicholaa Dan for nine yean.
Santa Inei, rented to Joaquin Correlo.
ha PurisBima, sold to John Temple, December. lSi6.
San Luia Obispo, made over to puMo,
Son Miguel, sold to Captain Cooke, an Engljahman, for S300. (A«-
cording to Jules Eemy.)
San Aotonio and Santn Crux, vacant.
Soledod. sold to Sobranes, January, 1S46.
Cormel, San Juan Bautiata, and Dolores made ovet to ptuUet.
Santa Clara. San Jos^, and San Francisco Solano ; miasJODS in chargBl'
priest, but property made over to the ValKjos.
I" See Richman, Cati/nrnia under Spain and A'«w Mtxico. for a lull
aeaount of the ultimate destination of tbe misaion property.
I" AlfiUria, a species of herb robeft brought lo Calitomia in the flwM
of sheep imported from Spain. It still growa luxuriantly on mountaia
slopes and is popularly known as " filarcc."
'" De Mofras found a Frenchman, M. Barie. working a plaCAt there.
Be was taking out onu ounce of pure gold per day.
"' In 1641 these itema amounted to 1365.000 out of a total of S28anlO
(de Mofras), although the export of hides had dwindled to 30.000 pat
<" The contrivance is described by Wilkes and is still used in Loww
California.
Part 11
CaAPTEn I
1 The btdarla was i
walniaskin. Oolya
and they were tied ti
anoe eonatructed of wbale bones nxA Dt
ui-holo waa left for the bodies of the twotiUDtcn
iritb oilxkins so that the boat would not leak if
' VoQ LoBgsdorff. Foi/offw oni Tnueb.'lt. 228-229.
' Db ReeaQoII projected an agrieultural colony on the Columbia River,
but his ship nas driveo off tbe oatraare by adverse wiads. His untimely
daatb prevented tbo GiecutJoD of thin and other purposes be had in hand.
• Von Langsdorfl, II, 180.
• GteenhoK. 433-433.
■ The charts and log-books ol Bodeea Quadra proved of great use to
Captain James Cook and also to Von Humboldt.
• The Coljimbia, the Wofhinglon, tbe Hancock, the Jefferion, and the
Hope From Boston: tbe Eleanora, the fair Amtrican. the MargartI
froni New York,
"The publication of Cook's owi
" This little schooner of thirty t
Journal was delayed until 17S4.
ins was the first ship built on the weet
" "They discovered a harbor in latitude 48° 53' and longitude 122'
61'. This is Gray's Harbor. Hera they were sttacked by the natives,
and the savages had a considerable slaughter among them. They next
entered tho Columbia River, and went up it about thirty miles and
doubted not that it was navigable upwards of a hundred. Besidoa *ca-
otter skins, they purchased a great number ol land furs of very consider-
able value." — Haswell, Logbook, printed as appendix to Bancroft, tforth-
iDuf Coast.
" Vancouver, I, 210.
" Vancouver, I, 215.
II Vancouver, I, 420.
"Vanoouvor, 11, 66.
" Narrative of the Advenlurt
and Bufferings of John R. Jnritt.
» Carver. Travelt, 102.
■ "The cheapness and ease with which any quantity of it may be pro-
cured, will make up for tbe length of way that is neccasary to transport it
before it reaches tbe saa-coaat, and enable the proprietors to send it to
toreigD markets on as good terms as it can be exported from other coun-
triea." — Carver. TraetU, 139-140.
I
L
■ Carver. TraceU, 76. ^H
' Thwaites, LeaU and Clark. VII, 193. ^
■ Quoted by Laut, VikiTioi oj the Padjie, 369-
' Mackay'B map of the Missouri irai evidi-Dtly famiUai to Lairii and
Clark, Bod his iniitnjcIioDS to Jobn Evbdb for the tour of exploratioD bm
A marked similarity botli io spirit and ia detail to the imrtmctioiu Jeffer-
■on BCDt to Meriwether Lewis. Cf. Teggart, Notes Bupplemeutarir to
any Edition of Lewis and Clark.
' Thwaitea, tacts and dark. VII. 208.
• In a letter to Lewis (from Louisville, July 24, 1803) Clwfc writes :" Sev.
oral youDg men (gent! emeu's soiu) have spptyed to accompany ua. Ai
they are not accuBtomcd to latwux and as that is a verry oaaential part o(
the services required of tbe party, I am cautious in giving tbem auy *bJ
couragement." — Thwaitea. Leiru and Clark, VII, 263. ■
•Thwaites, Ltmt and Clark, VII, 210. V
"Themfnuwas thus set forth by Captain' ■ orders : "The day aFler
to-morrow lyed com and greca will be iseued to the party, the next day
Poark and flour, and the day following indian meal and poark : and b
conformity to that rotiene, provisions wilt contiDuc to be isaued to tbi>
party untill further orders. . . . No poark is to be issued when we have
freahmcat on hand," — Thwaitea, Lturia and Clatk, I, 33.
" Sergeant C. Floyd died of a sudden chill coDtracted after an-
usually violeot exercise (August 16. 1804).
"Thwaitea. J>i™ and Clark. I, 145. J
" MassoQ, Baurgtaia de la CompagnU du Nord-Oaai. I. 307-308. H
■I Thwaites, Lcviis and Clark. I, 240. ^
<• Thwaites, Ltmt and Clark, t. 330.
" Harmon, of tbe North West Company, records the arrival at the
Mandan villages of Lewis aud Clark and the reception of their letter of
October 31. Also that M. Chaboillei writes him that "they behave
honorably toward his people, who are there to trade with the nativM."
>' Maason, Bourgeou dt la Compaonie du Nord-Oaat, 1, 330.
" Thwaitea, LtiaU and Clark, I. 246. (This post waa projerted ■
Turtle Mt. on the forty-ninth parallel, and hence on the bound&ry Ui
" Thwaites, Levtia and Clark. VII, 330.
■ Thwaitea, LwM and Clark. VII, 320, 321,
" Thwaites, Lttcis and Clark, I, 322.
n Thwaites, LrwU and Clark, II, 14.
"Thwaitea, Lemia and Clark, II, 14.
>■ Thwaites, Lemi and Clark. II, 17.
" Thwaitea. Uaii* and Clark. II, lOO.
I
NOTES
• Thwaitca, Lctni and Clark , II, IIS.
^ Tb-naitCB, Lewis and Clark. II. 147.
• Tbwaitea, Lacin and Clark. II, 14&-IS0.
• Thwaitea, Leuriii and Clark, tl, 209.
"Tbere were do wild horses in this regioa. The few which seemed
u bore maiks of bnviog been trained to the saddle, some al them
ehowing the brand of tha Spanish raochmaD from whom tbey were bought
or atoleo. Spanish biU, bridles, and saddles were not unconiinoD omonE
the ShoshoQea. though saddles and Htirnips were reserved for the oao of
women and old mou. A baiter of twisted hair and a small leather pad
secured by a leather girth were aufficieot equipment for a warrior.
1 Tbwaitea. Lfwii and Clark, II, 360.
■Thwaites, LexcU and Clark. III. 73, 74.
" Thwaites, Lewia and Clark. Ill, 78.
•• Thwaites. Letain and Clark. IV, 192-193. An Indian, Hunter John,
who remembered seeing the Lewis and Clark party, lived near Fort
Angeles until 1912.
'•ThwaiteH, Lewis and Clark. IV, 178-177.
"Thwaites, Leiois and Clark. IV, 238.
•' Thwnitai, Lewis and Clark. V. 390.
» Thwaites, Lewis and Clark. V, 394.
" Clark's description of a Schenectady boat, i.e. bateau : Length,
thirty feet, width eight feet, pointed bow and stem. Sal bottom, rowed by
six oars only. "Being wide and flat they are not Subject to the dMigeM
of rulcing Sands." — Thwaites, Lads and Clark, V, 390.
• Coues, Fike. I, 302.
"Couea. Pike. I, 133.
•• Coura. Pike, I. 156.
" Couee, Pike, I, 166.
- CouM, Pikt, I. 247-264.
CBAITIin III
' E.g. AugUBte Chouteau of St. Louis was granted exclusive right to
trade with the Osages, and built a post on the Missouri in 1796 which ha
called Carondelet.
• Biddle, Lewis and Clark. III. 290.
' Chittenden, III, Appendix B. 902.
• He argued that this flourishing commerce should not be "left to the
adventurers of the United States, acting without regularity or capital or
the desire of conciliating future confldence. and looking only to the in-
terest of the moment," See also Archibald Campbell, "A Voyage round
the World" (1806-1812), London Quartartv Bemw, October, 1316.
of (Ac fTuintt, II. 264. Cf. Bnitoa'a CUy qf d
* Irviss'i phraK.
> BiBckemidEe, JoumaJ, 31-32.
>* BnckeDridge, 66.
" Chittcodeo, III. Appendix B, 901.
» The Scotch partDcn were McEfty. Mackeaiie. MoDovEeii, Dntt
kdA Robert Stuart, and Itamsay Crooks. The Americana n
Miller, McLellan. and CIsik.
" Fraochire. Narrative, 230.
>• Rosa, First StiSa* in Oregon, 89.
" Franehftre, tfarraliiie. 259.
" RoSB. Firtl SaUxTt in Oreoon, 161,
" Robs. 101. Cf. FraochSre. 353.
" Id 1807, Tbompaun crotacd the mouDtaisa by Saakatchewan Vtm
BDd asceaded the Columbia River to ita source. Id 1S10, he attaanptcd
to deseeod thia river to the sea, but the project, which IT sueeeasful mifht
have giveD Great BritaiD title to the whole course of the River of the
West, was ddayed till the foUowiog year when the Astoriatis had giiD«<l
poBMSaion. The two or three j-eBTS Huhsequent Thompson devoted to
the production of that ilfap of the North Wat TerriloT}/ of the Prama
of Canada which has furnished the basis of all later cartography in tbia
region. In 1813. David Thompson was the official auTveyor trf the
Britiah government for the determination of tie boundary tiae betweeo
the United States and Canada. J. J. Bigsby of the InternatioDal Boun-
dary Commission wrote of Thompsoa, " No living peraon piinnnaim a
tithe of bis information reapeeting the Hudson's bay countries, which
from 1793 to 1820 he was conataiDtly ttaveraing." LieuteDant Pike re-
fers to the exploration of the source of the Mississippi, und^lakan by
the North We«t Company. " They have had a gentleman by tbe name at
Thompson making a geographical survey of the northwest part of tbc
continent ; who for three years with an oMonishing spirit of eoterpTiH
and peraeverance. passed over all that extensive and unknown country."
Coues, Pike, I, 279.
" "Mr. Thompson Iccpl a regular journal, and travelled, I tboughl,
more like a geographer than a fur-trader. Ho was provided with a Kl-
tant. chronometer, and barometer, and during a week's aojoum which be
made at our place, had an opportunity to make several aatroDomieal ob-
servations."— Francb^re, 254.
NOTES
» That these saauranpca were not to bo reliod upon ia clear (rom tbo
fact later discovered, (hat on hja return jourocy, Thornpsoo placed s
British Sag at the junction of Lewis' or Snake River with the Columhis,
together with a legend forbidding the subjects of other powers to trada
north of that point. The legend read: "Know hereby that this coun-
try ia claimed by Great Britain as part of its Territories, & that th«
N. W. Company of Merchants from Canada, Scding the Factory for this
People inconvenient for them, do intend to erect a Factory in this Place
for the Commerce of the Country around. — D. Thompson." — Ross, 138.
"Robs, 174.
•"Rosa, 181.
»■ RoBB, 178.
" Rosa, 179.
" Bracbenridge. 72.
*' At Henry's Fort and lower down the river two parties ol ttappeni
rere left : one under A. Carson, the other under J. Miller. The latter
lad announced bis intention of absodoiiiag the expedition.
*■ Caldron Linn has been idontiGed with the rapids at Milburn. Idaho.
■ Franchf re, 269-270.
> Robs. 138. ISO.
" Ross, 187.
"Ross, 227.
"Robs, 228.
"FranehSre, 280-281.
to J. Q. Adams, quo ted by Lyman, Hiitory o/ Oregim,
" Rom Cox, Adtenlura on tht Columbia. I, 278.
" Astor's enterprise seemed pursued by misfortune. The PtdUr was
wrecked off the coast of California, and the men made their way with
great difficulty through Mexico to the United States. Hunt recovered
bis fortunes and became a prosperous merchant at St. Louis. Russell
Famham and Alfred Seton attained distinction, the one as traveller and
writer, the other as a New York financier.
" Franobire. 303.
" Ross. 279, states the loss of life as follows: On the bar of the Co-
lumbia, eight ; on the overland expedition, five ; on the Tompiin. twenty-
seven ; on the Lark, eight ; in the Snake country, nine ; at Astoria, three ;
at the Snal departure, one.
> Coues, Gmltr Nortkaeit. II, 880.
" Dunn. Oreorm. 108-109.
* Citation by A. C. Laut from the Ms. ioumalB of Alaiaiidai R
*■ Manuel Liita died ia 1820, an-d ao aucceesor waa found t
in darinii or resource. The ailairs o[ the MioBouri Fur CompaiiT wi
wound up until 1830.
*• Fremont. First ExptaHiim. 3S-40.
•' Chittondon. I. 341. quoted from the MiaeouH Republia
■* Wyeth learned of Mackeniio'a diatillery when be TiBited Fott Uniag '
<1833>. He reported to GoDoral Clarlt at St. Louis, who promptly l»-
portad to W&shingtoa. It ivaa proposed to withdraw the license o( lit
onandi&g rompany. and but for Beoton's good offices the openCkoaof
the Amnrican Fur Company might have b«en brought to a halt. AiJIi
was, Maokoniie, the offending agent, was obliged to withdraw li
" Buffalo hides, scraped and softonod and ready for ui
the Plains at from SI to 11.50 each; at from 95 loSlOin tb« States. '
elaborately decorated with paint and porcupine quilla, a robe h
>3S,
'•CWttenden. Pur Trade, Vol. Ill, 944.
"Some accounts indicate that Ashley found hla British c
out of supplioi and was therefore able to putchasa hia (ura for a ■
others, that he enticed his men away by the lure ot whiskey and ll
made advantageous terms with the helpless leader. In either use Oflln
rmild not complain, for his own stem maxim was "Noceoeity knawi dd
law." OgdoD was trapped a second time at this same spot by Rti-
Patrick five years later and relieved of all his furs. — Ross Cos. 11. 311;
Eltiott. Feier Skeene Ogden, 20. Cf. Chittenden, I, 277, 203. WysAjJ
Bittory of Oregon, I, 74.
" Adtenlura of Captain Bonneeille, Ch. V. Cf. Appendix D, C
■I So Bancroft, but the effort to find it made by the Academy of Pi
Coast History was fruitlesa. Portions of the later joumaJs a
poasession of Smith's descendants and may soon be published.
" Captain Bonneville was an ofCcer in the United States army «!»
secured perroitaion from the War Dcpartmoot to eiplore the Far Wist
and report on the Indian tribes, economic resources, etc. The expeditioD
was financed by Alfred Seton of the Astorian party and other New York
merchants who hoped for a rich return in (urs. During his throe ysan
in the west (1832-lg3G} BonncviUe explored Salt Lake and the Wind Rjvw
Mountains more thoroughly tboii had yet been undertaken. He (d-
luwod the Snake and Solmoo Rivers to the Columbia and made two
bootless attempts to establish a trading station in Hudson's Bay Cost-
pany territory. Joseph Walker, who was sent on a trapping cxpeditkin
to California (1S33), crossed the dosart to Humboldt Sink and tlisnea to
^. NOTES 396
Sonora Pass and the Merced River made his way to the Pacific. The
furs taken in Bonneville's various expeditions were not sufficient to pay
the wages of his men and he presented no report to the War Department.
He made no discoveries, since the country he traversed was well known
to the fur traders ; but his map of the Rocky Mountains, while not so
accurate as that already published by Gallatin, is of great interest and
far better known. Bonneville's chief claim to fame is the delightful
and B3rmpathetic account of his wanderings transcribed for the press by
Washington Irving.
** A pack was made up of sixty pelts and weighed approximately one
hundred pounds. The fur sold for $5 a pound in St. Louis and $7 to 18 in
New York.
M Fremont, Second Expedition, 144-145.
M Stansbury, Expedition to Great Salt Lake, 35.
•• N. J. Wyeth, Report on the Fur Trade, 1839.
*^ American Historical Review, 14 : 73.
M Robs, Firet Settlere in Oregon, 177-178.
** Famham, Travels in the Oreat Western Prairies, 69.
* Larpenteur, Journal, II, 289.
« Forsythe, Letter to Lewis Cass, Chittenden ; III, 933-934.
* Fremont, Second Expedition, 111.
* Gunnison, Valley of the Oreat Salt Lake, 151.
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CHAPTER I.— THE EXPLORERS
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Bancroft, H. H.
The Northwest Coast, Vols. XXVII, XXVIII.
Bancroft & Co. San Francisco, !
History of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Sampson, Low, Maraton & Co. London, 1900.
Bryce, George.
Lord Selkirk's Colonists.
Sampson, Low, Marston & Co. — London, 1910 (?)
Cook, Captain James.
Three Voyages to the Pacific Ocean.
Boston, 1797.
A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, 1776-80. 4 vols.
London, 17S4.
Coues, EUioU.
The Greater Northwest, Manuscript Jounialfl of Alei
" "T and David Thompson, 1799-1814. 3 vote,
■ands P. Harper, 1897.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 411
Caxe, Wm,
Discoveries of the Russians between Asia and America.
London, 1787.
Disooveries smce 1746 and ooznmeroe with China, Pt. Ill, Ch. III.
Douglas, Sir James.
Journal, 184(HL1.
Ms. in Bancroft Collection.
Intereiting information on H. B. C. operationfl in Oregon and Cali-
fornia.
Dunn, John.
Oregon and the History of the British North American Fur
Trade.
Philadelphia, 1S46.
Franchh'e, Gabriel.
Narrative of the Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America,
1811-14.
Translated by J. V. Huntingdon. Redfield, New York, 1854.
Early Western Travels, Vol. VI.
Oreenhow, Robert,
History of Or^on and California.
Boston, 1845.
See appendices for Michael Lock's account of the voyage of Juan de
Fuca, Haceta's report on San Roque River, 430-433 ; Gray's Logbook,
434-436.
HaeweWs Log Book.
Printed as appendix to Bancroft's North-west Coast, 1-729.
Henry, Alexander (the younger), and Thompson, David.
Manuscript Journals, edited by Elliott Coues as "The Greater
Northwest."
Francis P. Harper, 1897.
Vol. ni, Pt. III. The Columbia, Nov. and Dec, 1813.
Jewitt, John R,
Narrative of the Adventures and Su£fering8 of the only sur-
vivors of the crew of the Ship Boston (1803).
Ithaca, N.Y., 1849.
KoUs^nte, Otto von.
Voyage of Discovery. 3 vols.
London, 1821.
^H I^^^^^^H
^
412 BIBLIOGRAPHY ^H
Langsdorf, 0. ton. ^^H
Voyages and Travels, 1803-07. ^^^^H
Philadelphia, 1S17. ^^^^^1
Laul, Agnes C. ^^^^H
The Conquest of the Great Northwest. 2 vola. ^^^^^"
" Being the story of the Adventurers of England known as The
Hudson's Bay Company. New pages in the history of the Cana-
dian Northwest and Western States." The Outing Piihliahim^
Company, New York, 1908. .^J
Vikinp of the Pacific. ^H
The MacmiUan Co., 1905. ^^
Lews, Meriwether.
Report on Louisiana, 1808.
iDtercstiDg thougb unSuiahcd account of tho Tur trade uader 3p«udl- _
aUHpicea. Reprmted in Biddle'a Journal oF Lewis and Clark. ^J
hedyard, John. ^H
Journal of Cook's Last Voyage. "
Hartfoid, 1783.
Ledyard wrote a short aecoimt o( the voyaga two yeara aftor, mtm
Lyrmn, H. S. V
History of Oregon in 4 vola.
Edited by H. W. Scott, Chas. B. Billingcr and Frederick G.
Young.
North Pacific Pub. Society. New York, 1903.
Manning, W. R.
The Nootka Sound Controversy. University of Chicago
dissertation.
Printed by Government, Washington, 1905. ^J
Tikhmeneff. H
Historical Review of the Russian American Fur Compan^^H
^H
St. Petersburg, 1861 . J^B
^H
Translation by Ivan Petrof. ^^H
^B
VancouKT, George. ^^^H
^^L
Voyage of Discovery. Vol. III. ^^^^^H
1
^^ ^^^^^H
BIBLIOGRAPHY 413
CHAPTER II. — OVERLAND SEARCH FOR THE
WESTERN SEA
Biddle, Nicolas,
Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Philadelphia, 1814.
Carver f Jonathan,
Travels in North America.
London, 1777.
EUioU, T. C.
David Thompson, Pathfinder.
Walla WaUa, 1912.
GasSf Patrick,
A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of a Corps of Dis-
covery.
Matthew Carey. Philadelphia, 1810.
Harmon, Daniel WiUiams.
Voyages of a Partner in the Northwest Company, 1800-06.
A. S. Barnes. New York. Trail Makers Series.
Hennepin's New Discovery.
Edited by R. G. Thwaites in 2 vols.
A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903.
LaiUf Agnes C,
Pathfinders of the West.
The Macmillan Co. New York, 1904.
Ledyardf John,
Travels and Adventures.
London, Second Edition, 1834.
Biography with full quotationa from Ledjrard'B letten and Joximal.
Lewis and Clark,
Journals, edited by R. G. Thwaites, 1904.
Arthur H. Clark, Cleveland, in 7 vols.
Comprises all the original joumab of Lewis, Clark, Pryor, Ordway,
Floyd, together with many reproductions of maps, sketches, etc., and
much valuable editorial matter.
Journals, edited by Elliott Coues. 3 vols.
Francis P. Harper.
An ably edited reprint of the Biddle Edition.
Voyagn bom MoahMl Uuoo^ the CBntioMt at North
K to the tnmai aad VmaBe oetaw in 178B sad 1793.
. 1800. N«w AiMlPniiin Book Co., N. Y.,
AlaoTtMSiiakeaSaita.
2mk.
1
BodTgecoB de la Coipaffiie dn Noid-OiMBt.
QaiA)ec, 1S89.
NiuOet, J. A'.
Report oa ExphnOaa of the Miamsin» aod Afiasooii
Wasliington, 1843.
Porhaan, Francis.
DJacoveriea at the Great West.
LitUe, Brown, & Co. BosKw, ISSO.
Raditeon, Pierre.
VoyagM, 1652-1684. Edited by G. D. Scufl.
Prince Sodety, Borton, 1805.
Sdioolcr<^t, H. R.
NaiTsUve of &n Expedition throu^ the Upper &GGaSBQ)(n
Valley to Itasca Uke, 1820. New York, 1854.
Spar)u, JitTfd.
Life of John Ledyard, in Spaii's library of American Biognflij.
Cambridge, 1829.
Teggart, F. J.
Notes Supplementary to any Edition of I^wis and ClariLC.
Am. Hist. Abb. An. Kept., 1908, I, 183-195.
Canful QiamiiiatioD of tbe operation of the Spaoish Campania lb
ttteubridora del AfuuK. RelntioD of achipTemeut* of Mftcksy &iid E*sa*
to the later explorationi of Lewis nod Clark.
Thompton, David.
Journals.
In preparation by the Champlain Society of C
BIBUOGRAPHT 415
Tkwaiie9,R,G.
Lewis and Gaik, JoamilB.
Clevelaiid, 1904.
William Claik ; Soldier, Ezpkver, SUtesmui.
IklisBOiiri HisUvical Society CoUectioos, VoL U, No. 7.
Father Marquette.
D. Appktan A, Co., 1902.
Rocky Mountain Explonition.
D. AppletoD A Co., 190L
Tyrrea, /. B.
David llKxnpHKL
Canadian Institate Pn>oeedingB. Toronto, 1888.
David Thompson, a Great Geographer. In Geogn^jhical
Journals, 1911, 37, 49.
The Royal Gec^raplucal Society.
Wheder, (Xin D.
Trail of Lewis and Clark. 2 vcJs.
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904.
Whiting, Henry,
Life of Z. M. Pike. Spark's lib. erf Am. Biog., Vol. V, 219-317.
little. Brown, & Co. Boston, 1848.
CHAPTER m. — THE FUR TRADE
Amenean State Papers.
Indian Affairs.
Vols. I and n under thlee ''Indian trade,*' "Factories,** "Agents** —
fcv goveniment factories and opposition of private traders. 1796-1822.
Vol. n, 64-66, Schoolcraft's report on fur trade on Missouri, 1815-1830.
Public Lands, VoL III — see index for salt mines, lead mines, ete.
Beekworth, James P,
Life and Adventures of, as dictated to S. D. Bonner.
New York, 1856.
First hand account of adventures of a trapper who became a guide and
a pioneer settler. ReSdited by C. S. Leland. New Yoric, 1892.
Bilwn,B,
The Hunters of Kentucky.
New York, 1847.
A poor reproduction of Pattie*B Narrative, bat more widely read than
theoriffi]
I
I
BBUOGRAPHY
Bradctnriilgi. H. U.
Journal of B Voytigc up the Rivtr MtaKNtri, ISll.
Early WeotcTD Travels, Vol. VI.
Bradbury, John.
TrevGla Into tho Interior of Ameritt.
Early WMtcm Travels, Vol. V.
ChiUerukn, H. Af.
Ilintory of the Early Weatem Fur Trad& 3 vsls. ■
Francis P. Harper, New York, 1902.
Coman, Kalherine.
The Government Factory : an Attempt to TCgifaAi
tjon in the Fur Trade,
American Economic Association, Pohe-, mi-
Cta, Roil.
Adventures on the Columbia River.
LoodoD, 1831.
VtL I. Ch*. IT, X. Ontoa.
Omb, JbDMoy.
Letten. Pristed in the Wisoanmn Hisucits] ?
vMi leltcts et other fur traders in chrotkologicxl dnioc
DikTid TliooqKoB, P&tfafinda-, and the C
Krttk FiBa, WaA.. 1911.
— PrtM Sfceoc Ogdeo.
Portland, Oregon, 19!a
A MMonir bBsed nu atifiiai d
A* futnUy, ti» Huaaoo'i Bar ~
r«naa<«, T. J.
IVands in tJw Qraal W«
Xloontains ai>d in Oregon 1
EM-ly Wosiern Travels, Vol XSTIIL
FtirtyOi, Tknn»«,
Rflport to IxMTis Cmb, 8m~ cf War. en 'hr fTll i i
Trade in IS31.
I*«»«h» I* • Voyv«» to the Xarftww O^
»<• Ttmnriatioai. ?if» Ta*. tm^
» TwvBli, Vol n
._■*
BIBLIOGRAPHY 417
FftmofU, J. C.
Journal of the Second Expedition.
Washington, 1845.
Irving, Washington.
Adventures of Captain Bonneville.
Philadelphia, 1837.
Astoria.
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1867. Philadelphia, 1836-37.
A new edition of this admirable account, with historical and geograph-
ical notes, is now needed.
Scenes in the Rocky Mountains.
Philadelphia, 1837.
Larpenteur, Charles.
Forty years of a Pur Trader on the Upper Missouri, 1833-72.
Edited by Elliott Coues.
Francis P. Harper.
LatUy Agnes C.
Story of the Trapper.
D. Appleton & Co.
Maximilien, Prince of Wied.
Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-34.
English edition, 1843.
Early Western Travels, Vols. XXII, XXIII, XXIV, and atlas.
Morgan, Lewis H,
The American Beaver.
Philadelphia, 1868.
Peters, De WiU C.
Life and Adventures of Eat Carson. New York, 1859.
Ross, Alexander.
Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon.
Early Western Travels, Vol. VII.
Scharf, J. T.
History of St. Louis.
Philadelphia, 1883.
Schoolcraft, H. B.
Report on Fur Trade on the Missouri, 1815-30.
Senate Doc. No. 90, 22d Cong. First Series.
Smith, Jedidiah S.
Letter of Oct. 11, 1827, describing traverse of Mohave Desert.
Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, Tome XXXVII.
418
BIBLIOGRAPHy
SwiUUr, Wm. F.
ffit Carson.
Missouri Historical Society Collectioos, Vol. II, No. 1, 35-45.
Thompson, David.
Journals.
Pub. by the Champlain Society of Canada. (In preparation.)
WiUson, Beckles.
The Great Company (H. B. C).
Dodd, Mead & Co., 1900.
Youngman, Anna.
Fortune of John Jacob Astor, The Fur Trade,
Journal of Pol. Econ., XVI, 345-368.
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