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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 


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Z.LS  rrio.orr 


TEZ  V4TfTTJ.i^  ::C;.  C^  OkXATiA. 


330. '/^^ 


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COPTRIOHT,   1912, 

bt  the  macmillan  company. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  October,  191a. 


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«  •  ■  ft 


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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 


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M.     (^vimEanwnf:  w^^ttixnk  4k> 


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Sbsidii. 


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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 


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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 
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"Sl^^i     lin^rii™,  June  l.tol  U.-  »m«  y»r.    Jo«ph  Mor«^    All  «l 

T 

a 

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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 

1 

-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. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


VOLUME  I 
PART  I 

CHAPTER  I.— THE  EXPLORERS 

BanddieTf  A.  F. 

Contributions  to  the  History  of  the  Southwestern  Portion  of 
the  United  States. 
Cambridge,  1890. 

Papers  of  the  Archsological   Institute.    American  Series,  V.    Ex- 
plorations of  Nufies  Cabesa  de  Vaca,  Fray  Marcos,  Villagra. 

final  Rept.  of  Investigations  among  the  Indians  of  the 

south-western  United  States,  carried  on  mainly  in  the  years  from 
1880-1885. 

Cambridge,  1890. 

Papers  of  the  Archsological  Institute  ol  America.     American  Serie< 
III.  IV. 

Castafieda,  Pedro  de. 

The   Journey  of   Coronado,  1540-42.     Edited   by  George 
Parker  Winship. 

A.  S.  Barnes.    Trail  Makers  Series. 
Coronado,  Francesco  Vasquez  de. 

Journey,  as  told  by  Pedro  de  Castafieda.    Edited  by  George 
Parker  Winship. 

A.  S.  Barnes.    Trail  Makers  Series. 
Cox,  I,  J, 
Joutel's  Journal  of  La  Salle's  Joumeyings. 
A.  S.  Barnes,  1905.    Trail  Makers  Series. 
Damieon,  George, 
Drake's  Anchorage  on  the  Coast  of  California. 
Qalif.  Hist.  Soc.  Pubs.,  1888. 

Discovery  of  San  Francisco  Bay. 

Proceedings  Geog.  Soc.  of  Pacific,  1907. 

399 


400 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Drake,  Sir  Francis. 

The  World  Encompassed,  collated  with  an  unpublished  n 
script  of  Francis  Fletcher,  chaplain  to  the  Expedition. 
Hakluyt  Society,  I,  115-133,  1854. 
The  Earliest  Texas. 
Am.  Hist.  Abb.  Pubs.,  An.  lUpt.,  1891,  199-205. 
Harby,  Mn.  Lee. 

The  Tehas. 

Am.  Hist.  Ass.  Pubs.,  An.  Rept.,  1894,  6-82. 
H'iimboldl,  Alexander  vor\. 

Political  Essay  on  the  Kingdom  of  New  Spain.     4  vtJa. 

London,  1814. 
New  Califoniia.  Vol.  II,  239-308. 

JoiUel,  Henri. 
Journal  of  jLa  Salle's  Last  Voyage.    Edited  by  H.  R.  Stiles. 

McDonough,  Albany,  1906. 
Beprint  of  tha  ori^nal  with  full  iDtroduction.  ^m 

The  Journejrings  of  La  Selle.    Edited  by  I.  J.  Cox.         ^| 

A.  8.  Barnes,  1905.    Trail  Makers  Series.  ^ 

Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca. 

Journey  from  Rorida  to  the  Pacific  (1582-36),  together  with 

the  report  of  Fr.  Marcos  de  Nizza. 

A.  S.  Bames,  1905.    Trail  Makers  Series. 

TnuulBted  by  Fanny  Bandelier  from  Che  Spanish  Nau/raoiot  V  rtUui/m 
de  la  Jornada  de  Nufiei  Cabeia  do  Vot^a.  Thin  oitraordinary  journey  ii 
ri^prcscDtcd  in  Ptircbas'  Pilgrima.  Vol.  IX.  also  in  Narraiite  of  A 
Ntihet  Ctibeia  ie  Vaca.  traoBlated  by  Buckingham  Smith. 

Washington,  1851. 
5Aea,  J.  S. 
Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi. 
New  York,  1852. 


De  Solo,  Hernando. 

Narrative  of  the  Career  of,  in  the  Conquest  of  Florida. 
1542.    Edited  by  Ed.  G.  Bourne,  in  2  volumea. 
A.  S.  Bames,    Trail  Makers  Series. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  401 

Venegas,  Fray  Miguel, 

Noticia  de  la  California  y  de  su  conquesta. 
Madrid,  1757.    Translation,  London,  1759. 
Winship,  George  Parker. 

The  Coronado  Expedition. 

Castafieda's  Journal  in  the  oriffiDal  Spaniah  and  in  tranalatioD,  with 
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Why  Coronado  went  to  New  Mexico. 

Am.  Hist.  Ass.,  An.  Rept.,  1894,  83-92. 


CHAPTER  II.  — THE  COLONIZERS 

Nbsw  Msxioo 

Bancroft^  H,  H. 
History  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Stat^  of  North  America. 
San  Francisco,  1882-91. 

Vol.  XVII.    Arixona  and  New  Mexico. 

Brackenridgef  H,  M, 
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Pittsburg,  1857. 
Coues,  EUiott, 

On  the  Trail  of  a  Spanish   Pioneer.    The  Diary  of  Fray 
Francisco  Garc^,  1775-76. 

Francis  P.  Harper,  1900. 
Davis,  W,  H.  H. 
Spanish  Conquest  of  New  Mexico,  1527-1703. 
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Moqui  Pueblo  Indians  of  Arizona  and  Pueblo  Indians  of  New 
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Diary  of,  1775-76.    Edited  by  Elliott  Coues.    (On  the  Trail 
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Francis  P.  Harper,  1900. 
2d 


402 


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Betpt,  Sir  Arthvr. 

The  Spanish  Conqueet  and  its  Relation  to  the  Historj  i 
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London,  IS55-61.     4  vols. 

valuable  dUcUBsioQ   ot   encomiendM  —  a 


I 


Hodge,  Frederick  W. 

Spanish  Explorers  id  the  Southern  United  States. 
Charles  Scribnet'a  Sons,  1907. 

Eiccllent  mapa. 
Hotmeg,  Geo.  K. 

Agriculture  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  in  B^ley's  Cyclopsdl&  of 
Agriculture,  Vol.  IV,  Ch.  2. 
Lowery,  W. 

Spanish  Settlements  in  the  United  States,  1513-61. 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1901. 
Lummit,  C.  F. 

Mining  Three  Hundred  and  Fifty  Years  Ago. 
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MS.  in  BuDcroFt  Collection. 
Pattie.  J.  0. 

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Western  Travels,  1905. 
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The  Expeditions  of,  Edited  by  Elliott  Coues.     3  vols. 
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Pike,  Z.  M. 

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Reported  upon  in  Am.  Hist.  Rev.,  July,  1908. 
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Noticias  historicas  y  estadisticas  de  la  antigua  provincia  del 
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City  of  Mexico,  1849. 
Powell,  J,  W. 

Exploration  of  the  Colorado  River  of  the  West,  1869-72. 
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Washington,  1875.     (Under  direction  of  the  Smithsonian 
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Kansas  City,  1883. 
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In  four  quarto  volumes.    Madrid,  1774. 

Libro  VI.  Encomiendas,  obligations  of  encomenderos,  limitatioos 
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Libro  IX.    Regulations  afifecting  the  fleet,  exclusion  of  foreigners,  etc. 

Shea,  John  G, 

Catholic  Missions  Among  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United 
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New  York,  1855. 

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Simpson,  J,  H. 

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Philadelphia,  1852. 
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WiUcineon,  General  James. 
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D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1902. 
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St.  Louis,  1901. 
Le  Gac,  Charles, 

Sur  la  Louisiane;   sa  geographic,  la  situation  de  la  colonic 
frangaise  du  26  Aoust  1718  au  6  Mars  1721  et  de  Moyens  de 
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Le  Page  Du  Pratz, 
Histoire  de  la  Louisiane.    3  vols. 
Paris,  1768. 


BIBLTOGRAPHY  ■ 

Le  Page  Du  PtoU.  ^M 

Louisiana  under  the  Company  of  the  West.    Tmnelation. 
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The  trscslaUoti  published  in  LoudoD  in  1763  in  two  vols,  ia  the  better 
book. 
MascrieT,  M.  L.  L. 

M6noires  historiques  sur  la  Louifiiane  —  c 
mfimoirea  de  M.  Dumont. 

Paris,  1763. 
RtAtrteon,  J.  A. 

LouJiuana  under  the  Rule  of  Spain,  France,  ajid  the  T 
States,  1785-1807.    2  vo!a.    A.  H.  Clark  &  Co.,  Clevel 

Documents  in   tramlatiaD,   political  in  the  main,   with   i 
Bidelishts  oo  social  and  ecoDomic  conditiona. 

Sloddarl,  Amos  M. 
Sketches  of  Louiaana. 
PMladelphia,  Carey.  1812.  _ 

VaudTeuil,  P.  S. 
Letters  on  the  Trade  of  Louisiana. 
London,  1744. 
WaUace,  Joseph. 
Ilhnois  and  Louisiana  under  the  French  Rule. 

Cincinnati,  1893. 
From  origiiud  narratives. 


Caufobnu 

Adam,  Rev.  J. 

Life  of  Padre  Jimipero  Serra. 
San  Francisco,  1884. 

An  abridgement  ol  Pulou's  Vida. 
Ama,  Juan  BauliBla. 

Diario  de  una  expcdicion  deade  Sonera  a  San  Francisco,  1 
1776.  Mb,  in  Bancroft  Collection.  Publications  of  theAca 
of  Pacific  Coast  History.  Vol.  VI  in  preparation. 
Bancroft,  H.  H. 

Pacific  Coast  States. 
San  Francisco,  1882-91. 

Vols.  XVUI-XX.    California.  16«-IB4a 


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Beechey,  Captain  F,  W. 
Voyage  to  the  Pacific,  in  2  vols. 
London,  1831. 

Vol.  U.    ChB.  I,  U,  III.    California. 

Belcher,  Sir  Edward. 
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Vol.  L    California. 

Blackmar,  F,  W. 
Spanish  Institutions  of  the  Southwest. 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Series,  1891. 
Choris,  Louis. 
Voyage  Pittoresque  autour  du  Monde. 
Paris,  1822. 
Cleveland,  R.  J. 
Narrative  of  Voyages  and  Commercial  Enterprises. 
Cambridge,  1842. 
Costamdy  Miguel. 

Historical  Journal  of  the  Expedition  by  sea  and  land  to 
Northern  California,  1768,  1769,  1770. 
Dalrymple,  London,  1790.    (Scarce.) 
Publications  of  the  Academy  of  Pacific  Coast  Histoiy. 
Vol.  VII.    In  preparation. 
Crespi,  Fray. 
Letter  to  Costanz6,  May  2,  1772. 
Out  West,  Vol.  XVII,  56-69. 
Dana,  Richard  H. 
Two  Years  Before  the  Mast.     (1835-36.) 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  1911. 
Davis,  Wm.  Heath. 
Sixty  Years  in  California. 
A.  J.  Leary.    San  Francisco,  1889. 
Dwinelle,  John  W. 
Colonial  History  of  San  Francisco. 
San  Francisco,  1863. 
Eldridge,  Zoeth  8. 
Journal  of  Anza's  First  Expedition. 
Journal  of  American  History,  Vol.  II,  Nos.  1,  2,  3. 


408 


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r 

^H  EldruJue,  ZoeA  S. 

^M  The  March  of  Poatola.    San  Francisco,  1910. 

^1  Engelhardt,  Father  Z. 

^H  The  Franciscans  in  California. 

^M  Harbor  Springs,  Mich.,  1S97. 

^H  Missions  and  Missionaries  of  California. 

^P  San  Francisco,  1908. 

I 


dM.   LowerCaliTonua.    Pt.UI,  Chs.2.3.Galvei.    Ch.  9,  Edieudu. 
Ch.  10.  PiouB  FuDd. 
Vol.  II.    Upper  CalifomiB  in  preparation. 

Font,  Padre  Pedro. 

Diary  of  Expedition  to  CaJifornin. 
Publications  of  Academy  of  Pacific  Coast  History,  Voi.  6. 
In  preparation. 
Forbee,  Alsxawkr. 
History  of  California,  Upper  and  Lower. 
London,  1839. 
Hall,  Frederick. 
History  of  San  Jos£  and  Surroundings. 
San  Francisco,  1871. 
iniUll,  John  S. 
History  of  San  Francisco. 
San  Francisco,  1878. 
mtldl,  T.  II. 

History  of  Califomin,  in  4  vols. 
Ocddental  PubUslung  Co.     San  Francisco,  IS85. 

The  first  two  volumes  of  Hittctl'a  History  have  a  unique  v  

tbcy  are  baaed  on  the  Ctdifornia  arcliivca,  300  volumes  ol  dooumeatMy 
material,  all  of  which  perished  in  the  Suu  Friuiciaco  fii«.  Thtn  ara 
eonaidorabte  tranacripta  in  the  Bancroft  Library. 

KoUebue,  Otto  von. 

Voyage  of  Discovery  into  the  South  Sea  and  Behring  StraiU, 
for  the  purpose  of  exploring  a  Nortlieast  passage,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  Count    Romanzoff,  in  the  ship   Rurik,  1815-18,  t 


que  Talu^  ll^^l 


London,  1821. 
La  Perouse,  J.  F.  de  G. 
Voyage  Round  the  World,  1785-88,  i 

London,  1779, 
Vol.  I,  43THl5e.   California. 


Ivola.        ^^^^H 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  409 

Langsdorf,  0,  von. 
Voyages  and  Travels,  1803-07. 
London,  1813.    Philadelphia,  1817. 
lAtfy,  Daniel, 
Les  Frangais  en  Califomie. 
San  Francisco,  1884. 
Mofraa,  Duflot  de. 

Exploration  au  Territoire  de  TOregon,  des  Califomies,  et  de 
la  Mer  Vermeille. 

Paris,  1844. 
PcdoUt  Fray, 
Vida  de  Padre  Junipero  Serra.    1787. 
P.  E.  Dougherty  &  Co.    San  Francisco,  1884. 
Portold,  Gaspar  de. 

Diary  —  during  the  Calif omia  Expedition  of  1769-70;  also. 
Official  Account  of  the  Expedition. 

Publications  of  the  Academy  of  Pacific   Coast  History, 
Vol.  I,  Nos.  2  and  3. 

Origiiud  text  and  traDBlation. 

Richman,  I,  B. 
Califomia  under  Spain  and  Mexico. 
Houghton  Mifflm  Co.,  1911 
Rohinsonf  Alfred, 
Life  m  Califomia,  1829-46. 
Putnams,  N.Y.,  1846.    San  Francisco,  1891. 
Rockwell,  John  A, 
Spanish  and  Mexican  Law. 
Voorhees.    Albany,  N.Y.,  1851. 

p.  445.    Reglamento  of  de  Neve. 

p.  455.    Law  of  1833  for  secularisation  of  missions. 

p.  456.    Provisions  imi>06ed  by  Figueroa. 

Serra,  Fray  Junipero, 
Diary  of,  March  28-June  30,  1769. 
Translated  in  Out  West,  Vol.  XVI,  293,  399,  513,  635; 
Vol.  XVII,  69. 
Shaler,  Captain  of  the  Lelia  Byrd. 

Journal  of  a  Voyage  between  China  and  the  Northwestern 
Coast  of  America. 

American  Re^er,  HI,  137-175,  1809. 


410 

Simpson,  Sir  George. 
Journey  Round  the  World,  1841-42.    2  vols. 
London,  1847. 
Torres  Campoi,  D.  Rafael. 
Espafla^en  Califorma  y  en  el  Noroeste  de  Americft. 
Ateneo  de  Madrid,  1892. 
Vancouver,  George. 
Voyage  of  Discovery. 

London,  1801.    Firet  edition,  London,  1798. 
Vol.  Ill,  8-400. 

Wilkes,  CharUa. 
Exploring  Expedition,  1833-42,  in  5  vols. 

Philadelphia,  1845. 
Vol.  V.  Ch,  V.     CaUforda. 


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. 


n 


^T^HE  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of 
books  by  the  same  author  or  on  kindred  subjects. 


I 


BOOKS  BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 
The  Industrial  History  of  the  United  States 

Clalh,  illaslrakd.  JJJ  pasei.  Jl.jj  nd 
Coman's  "Industrial  Hiatory  a!  the  United  States"  is  particularly  stiong  in  lo 
alatiog  industrial  facts  and  conditions  as  to  piace  dearly  bdore  a  r«ider'i  mind 
the  reliLtioti  of  those  lacts  and  conditions  lo  coatemporaiy  historical  and  politiod 
conccptiona.  It  ia,  too,  a  mini  of  useful  information  and  inlctesting  facta  which 
are  ulrandy  difficult  to  ublain  eliiewhere,  and  which  arc  presented  in  a  fonn 
which  stimulates  interest  and  invites  continuous  reading.  Consequently  it  is 
one  of  the  few  books  which  may  not  only  be  used  lo  advantage  as  texts  but 
whici  ace  also  interesting  lo  the  general  reodor.  The  final  chapter  on  Conser- 
vation is  particularly  interesting  and  is  probably  the  best  brief  presentation  of 
the  subject  DOW  in  print. 

"  Primarily  a  text-book  for  class-room  work,  it  none  ihe  less  furnishes  much  sug- 
gestive material  for  a  more  profound  study.  No  subject,  aurcly,  could  be  more 
fascinating.  ...  As  a  whole,  this  is  a  most  excellent  guide-book  for  a  region  of 
history  that  has  been  as  yet  but  little  studied.     1  Is  poiptsof  excellence  ate  many." 


A  Histoiy  of  England    For  High  Schools  and  Academies 


Sn>:  haljleatker;  maps;  muilraHons;  xxriU  +  s°7  Pot"!  /"i".  ti^'S  nti 
Unieersily  tj  MickifaH.  Ann  Arboi.  Mich.  "  It  is  io  my  judgment  by  far  the 
best  history  of  England  that  has  yet  been  published.  The  otlier  books  in  the 
field  are  either  too  menf^e  or  loo  advanced.  This  book  is  just  what  has  long 
been  needed  and  ought  to  be  largely  introduced,"  —  PtoCeasor  Richard  Hudian. 


A   Short  History  of  England     For  School  Use 

By  Katdakine  Couan  and  Elijabeth  Kendall.    Revised  edition. 
Half  lealhir ;  iiriii  +  446  pagrs;  iUuilraliaiu ;  cohrtd  naps;  inia;  iim 


East  Side  Sikoot.  Columbus,  O.  "  I  have  given  Coman  and  Kendall's  histoiy  a 
very  careful  examination,  and  find  it  to  be  a  text-book  worthy  the  careful  peiusat 
of  every  teacher  of  history.  /( is  Ihr  bal  kislory  0/  fiaj/aiii,  suitable  for  High 
School  work,  with  which  I  am  acquainted."  —  Professor  Join  U.  Muifard. 

n  English  history  for 
-  Professor  ilarihaU  S.  Brawn. 


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The  Purchcising  Power  of  Money 

A  STUDY  OF   THE   CAUSES   DETERMINING  THE  ■ 
GENERAL   LEVEL  OF   PRICES 

AN  EXPLANATION  OF  THE  RISE  IN  TBE  COST  OF  LIVIIJG 
BETWEEN  1896  AND   iqio 


Bv    IRVING    FISHER 

Yale   Untvebsttv 

Author  o(  "The  Rale  of  Inferat."  "The  Nature  of  CKintal  and  Incnne," 
"  A  Brief  Introduoion  to  the  Infioitesimal  Calculu*."  etc. 

Ctolh,  8vo,  SOS  pos",  ijoo  "d;  h  "*»'.  t3.ti 

Tlu  Bcmwnut,  London,  En^and, 
January  6, 1912.    Supjdemcnt. 

"  It  is  one  of  the  most  important  books  of  the  year  on  tconomli 

WtdmitislerGaieile,  London,  EiiKland, 

November  15,  iqii. 

"  To  the  economist,  to  the  geiieral  re&der,  most  of  all,  perbaps,  to  Hi 
leciuRT  aod  the  student  we  can  recommend  tbe  book  very  wanoiy." 

Canadiam  Finatce,  Vot.  UI,  No,  3, 

Feb.  7.  19". 


lf#atfv't  jtf«£u>iM,  October,  1911,  ^H 

N«w  York  City.  H 

"His  sugs*stion  of  ■  new  and  more  stable  standard  of  value  it^| 
important,  tbou;^  he  saj^s  that  yean  of  education  of  the  public  mart 
precede  any  attempt  to  put  it  into  practice,  that  we  have  obtained 
pennis&ion  of  the  MaaniiUa  Compuiy.  publishers  of  the  book,  to 
pment  hew  an  atetiact  of  the  professor's  proposal. 
"Pwl»bly  no  moden  writier  lus  studied  this  question  more  deeply 
thuk  riii<i»>w  FUmt,  aad  his  niggesIMn  of  a  aen  standard  of  vilue 
dnKW  tbecMtM  Aoi^i  of  cvojrbaaker.iDvesioc.aad  business  maa.'' 


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BOOKS  ON  ECONOMICS,  FINANCE,  Etc. 

Practical  Problems  in  Banking  and  Currency 

Being  a  number  of  selected  addresses  delivered  in  recent  years 
by  prominent  bankers,  financiers,  and  economists.    Edited  by 
Walter  Henry  Hull.    With  an  Introduction  by  the  Hon.  C.  F. 
Phillips,  of  New  York. 
Published  in  New  York,  1907.  Clotk,  8vo,  596  pp,,  %3,50  net 

A  oorapilation  of  addresses  delivered  since  1900  before  associations  of 
bankers  throughout  the  country.  The  addresses  are  grouped  under  the  fol- 
lowing heads:  General  Banking;  Banking  Reform  and  Currency;  Trust 
Companies. 

Outlines  of  Exonomics 

By  Richard  T.  Ely,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Political  Econ- 
omy in  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  Revised  and  enlarged  by 
the  Author,  and  Thomas  S.  Adams,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Political 
Economy  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin ;  Max  O.  Lorenz,  Ph.D., 
Assistant  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin; Allyn  a.  Young,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Political  Economy 
in  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  University. 

Cloth,  700  pp,f  t2.oo  net 

Economics 

By  Scott  Nearing  and  Frank  D.  Watson,  Instructors  in 
Political  Economy  in  the  Wharton  School  of  Finance  and  Com- 
merce, University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Clotkf  493  pp.,  I2m0f  %i.go  net 

Economics 

By  Frank  W.  Blackmar,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Economics  and 
Sociology  in  the  University  of  Kansas. 

Clotkf  546  pp.,  i2mo,  %i.40  net 

Economics 

By  Edward  Thomas  Devine,  Schiff  Professor  of  Social  Econ- 
omy in  Columbia  University,  General  Secretary  of  the  Charity 
Organization  Society  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Cloik,  404  pp.,  i2mo,  %i.oo  net 


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BOOKS  ON  FINANCE,  Etc.— G>«ft«wJ 

The  Nature  o(  Capital  and  Income 

By  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Political  Econon;  ia 
Yale  University.  chlM,  Svo,  427  fp.,  tj.00  ad 

The  Rate  of  Interest 

//s  N^ature,  Dtterminatioti,  and  Relation  to  Ecotwmie  Pkenoima^. 
By  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Politica]  Economy  in  Yak 
Umversily.  ctoik.  Svo.  44J  pp..  tjm  Ml 

International  Commercial  Policies 

With  Sptcial  Reference  to  the  United  Slates.  A  Text-book,  by 
George  Mvgatt  Fisk,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Commerce  in  ihe  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois.  ijal/  Ualher,  iimo,  z88  pp.,  ti.ij  >a 

Socialism  before  the  French  Revolution 

A  History.     By  William   B.  Guthrie,  Ph.D.,  Insirui 
History,  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Cloth,  tzma,  jjg  pp. 

Socialism  in  TTieory  and  Practice 

By  Morris  Hilquit.  cloth,  litno.  361  pp.,  $i.p 

A  History  of  Political  Economy 

By  John  Kells  Ikgrau,  LL.D..  Fellow  of  Trinity  Colkge, 

Dublin.  Clolh,  t2mo.  25"  PP-  tt.fo  ltd 

An  exposition  of  the  historic  development  of  economic  thcnf  fat 
in  its  relations  with  general  philosophic  ideas,  rather  Ihaa  ui  a- 
haustive  account  of  economic  literature,  although  all  the  >i^^| 
importanl  works  on  the  science  are  noticed.  ^^M 

The  Principles  of  Economics  ^* 

A  Frat^ent  of  a  Treatise  on  the  Industrial  Mechanism  itfSMUtf 
and  Otkir  Papers.  By  the  late  W.  Stanley  Jevons,  LL.D-, 
M.A.,  F.R.S.,  with  a  Preface  by  Henry  Higgs.  ^^ 

Cloth,  Svo,  373  pp.,  tj.^^^1 

THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY       H 

PabtiibBri  64-66  FifUi  Avanna  Haw  Tork  ^H 


icte^^l 

'f 


BOOKS   ON    FINANCE,  Etc.  —  Continued 
An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Political  Exonomy 

By  LuiGi  CossA,  Professor  in  the  Royal  University  of  Pavia. 
Revised  by  the  author,  and  translated  from  the  Italian  by  Louis 
Dyer,  M.A.,  Balliol  College. 

Cloth^  i2mo,  s^7  PP'f  ^'^o  nd 

Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History 

By  W.  Cunningham,  D.D.,  Fellow  and  Lecturer  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  and  Tooke  Professor  of  Economic  Science  in 
King's  College,  London,  and  Ellen  A.  McArthur,  Lecturer  of 
Girton  College,  Cambridge. 

Clotht  I2m0f  274  pp.,  %i.so  net 

Outlines  of  Economic  Theory 

By  Herbert  Joseph  Davenport,  Ph.D.,  Associate  Professor 
of  Economics  in  the  University  of  Chicago. 

Clothf  8vo,  381  pp.,  %2.oo  net 

Economic  Eissays 

By  Charles  Franklin  Dunbar,  late  Professor  of  Political 
Economy  in  Harvard  University.  Edited  by  O.  M.  W.  Sprague, 
Assistant  Professor  of  Economics  in  Harvard  University.  With  an 
Introduction  by  F.  W.  Taussig,  Henry  Lee  Professor  of  Economics 
in  Harvard  University.  ^^^^  ^  ^^^  ^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^ 

Principles  of  Exonomics.    Vol.  I 

By  Alfred  Marshall,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the' 
University  of  Cambridge. 
Published  in  London,  1890.    Fifth  Edition,  1907. 

Chth,  8vo,  8yo  pp,,  $j.75  nei 
Contents 

Book     I  —  Preliminary  Survey. 

Book    H  —  Some  Fundamental  Notions. 

Book  III  — Of  Wants  and  Their  Satisfaction. 

Book  IV  —  The  Agents  of  Production. 

Book   V  —  General  Relations  of  Demand,  Supply,  and  Value. 

Book  VI  —  The  Distribution  of  the  National  Income. 


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BOOKS    ON   FINANCE,  Etc.  —  Co«tt«w^ 
A  History  of  Socialism 


By  Tkowas  Kirkuf.     Published  in  London,   1892.    Fod 

edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  1909. 

Chtk,  i2mo,  436  pp.,  t^.ij 

Elements  o(  Elci 


I 

lb 

ersity  or^^ 


i  oE  Industry 

Being  the  First  Volume  of  EUments  of  Economic!.     By 
Marshau.,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the  University 
Cambridge.  Cioik,  iimo,  44a  pp..  %s.oo  «( 

Essentials  of  Economic  Theory  as  Applied    to  Modem 
Problems  of  Industiy   and  Public  Policy 

By  John  Bates  Clark,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Political  Economy 
in  Columbia  University.  ciolh.  I2me,  ^66  pf.,  %i.oo  « 

An  Introduction  to  the  Industrial  and  Social 
History  of  England 

By  Edward  P.  Ckevney,  Professor  of  European  History  ii 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Published  in  New  York,  1901.     Sixth  reprint,  1909. 

Ctoth,  i3mo,  317  pp.,  $1^^ 

The  Industrial  History  of  the  United  States 

By  Katharine  Coman,  Ph.B.,  Professor  of  Economics  a 
Sociology  in  Wellesley  College. 

Cloth,  itmo.  343  pp.,  %t.is  mt 

The  Distribution  of  Wealth 

By  John  R.  Commons,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  the 
University  of  Wisconsin.  ciotk,  i2mo,  3sS  pp.,  Jwj 

A  concise  summary  of  the  practical   outcome    of  the 
theories  of  distribution. 


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BOOKS   ON   FINANCE,  Etc.  —  Continued 

Principles  of  Political  Exonomy 

By  J.  Shield  Nicholson,  M.A.,  D.Sc.,  Professor  of  Political 
Economy  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 

Published  in  London.    Second  edition,  1902.    In  three  volumes. 

Vol.     I  —  Production  and  Distribution. 

Clotkf  8vOf  451  pp.,  %j.oo  net 

Vol.    II  —  Exchange. 

Cloth,  8vo,  328  pp.,  %2.2S  net 

Vol.  Ill  —  Economic  Progress  and  the  Economic  Functions  of 
Government. 

Cloth,  8vo,  460  pp.,  %3.oo  net 

Dictionary  of  Political  Exonomy 

Edited  by  R.  H.  Inglis  Palgrave,  F.R.S. 

Published  in  London,  1894-9.  Corrected  edition,  with  appendix, 
1906-9. 

Three  volumes,  cloth,  8vo,  %is.oo  net 

Vol.  I  —  A-E,  800  pages. 
Vol.  II  —  F-M,  848  pages. 
Vol.  Ill  —  N-Z,  881  pages. 

A  scholarly  work  covering  the  entire  field  of  political  economy, 
containing  ample  and  trustworthy  information,  an  abundance  of 
verified  documents,  and  a  bibliography  of  inestimable  value. 

Introduction  to  Public  Finance 

By  Carl  Copping  Plehn,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Finance  in  the 
University  of  California. 

Cloth,  i2mo,  468  pp.,  %i.7S  net 


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330.<f79 

V.  I 


I 


in'" 


Stanford  Unlnerslty  Ubraiy 

Stanford,  CaliEoraia 


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