tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69410113256374635582024-03-18T00:51:08.213-07:00Fur Trade Family HistoryNancy Marguerite Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11287716532307859060noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-35286119392147752292013-10-18T07:21:00.001-07:002013-10-18T07:21:21.899-07:00My new website and Blog<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Good morning, everyone.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have been a little busy lately, as you may know.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have been setting up a new website. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It was such a frustrating job, and I had so little time that I finally hired a professional to do it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's been up and running for a while, and I have enough information on the blog that I feel I can now promote it. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On my new blog I will be writing about the transportation systems used by the Hudson's Bay Company -- the York Factory Express, the Brigades, and the London Ships.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I will put in the rest of the Anderson information I have, including information about the Japanese shipwreck on the Washington coast, 1834.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Will I post anything more on this old blog?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I don't know. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But there's still lots of reading to do on it, so enjoy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It is just not easy to travel around this blog to find the old posts -- and this is the huge advantage I find with WordPress.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You can categorize types of articles, so if anyone is interested in the brigade trails and only the brigade trails (for example) they can click on the brigade trail category and read only articles re: that particular subject.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The website is found at: http://nancymargueriteanderson.com</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My new blog is attached to that website. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://nancymargueriteanderson.com/">Nancy Marguerite Anderson's Website</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Click here for the Website.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The blog is on the right hand side of site.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-76070238617916214952013-08-24T11:55:00.000-07:002013-08-24T11:55:11.473-07:00A little more on some of the men in the Fur Trade -- some of them from the West of the Mountains<br />
I have told you that my new blog is up and running, and its address is at http://www.furtradefamilyhistory.wordpress.com<br />
Much of the information on this blog will be familiar to people who have followed this blog from the beginning -- there will however be more coming that you have not heard of.<br />
I am concentrating on <u>that</u> blog at the moment, and so you might feel a little ignored.<br />
Its decorations are coming....<br />
<br />
Changes are coming to this blog as well: I will probably keep this going as a research blog, and completed information will be transferred onto the Wordpress blog, where appropriate.<br />
<br />
However, to carry on from the previous post, I have learned a few more things about some of the men I have already spoken of.<br />
<b>George McDougall</b>, who built Fort Alexandria about 1821, and who afterward remained in the fur trade on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, was a man I got quite fond of.<br />
It seemed that he was a warm and friendly man who everyone liked.<br />
In a letter from John Rowand of Edmonton House, written from the Saskatchewan District on the 29th of December, 1849.<br />
McDougall went out to York Factory with the express in the command of John Charles.<br />
He returned to Edmonton House and apparently made his way to Fort Assiniboine -- but he never reached his home base at Lesser Slave Lake.<br />
Rowand gave this report: "As the time is approaching for the departure of our annual express, I beg leave to bring under your notice the few incidents that have occurred since my arrival at this place [with the incoming York Factory express].<br />
"The distribution of the Outfit for the several Outposts was completed as early as possible. On the 29th September the several Gentlemen were off for their respective stations. On the 14th October I received intelligence of the death of Mr. Geo. McDougall -- that gentleman died on his way to Slave Lake in the Athabasca River after a short illness of five or six days; in consequence of this unfortunate & unforeseen circumstance on the 16th I was under the necessity of sending Mr. Christie to adjust the Company's affairs of Slave Lake, leaving Louis Chastellain in charge for the time being, as it was necessary for that Gentleman to return hither..."<br />
<br />
So now you know. McDougall had no wife and children (though his brother James, did) and so there will be no descendants to be interested in this story. Its almost a shame. Like I said, I found him a very likable man.<br />
<br />
Here's a new story, and its a gruesome one! You will remember some time ago I blogged portions of the York Factory Express's journeys from the Columbia, to Hudson's Bay and back.<br />
In one of these journals I mentioned the artist, whose name I thought was Hood.<br />
The actual quote is: "We commenced our ascent of the Trout River, which having done for 1 1/2 miles, we arrived at the Trout Falls, one of the most dangerous rapids or falls on the line of Communication.<br />
"We encampt at the Head of these falls, two of our Boats having fallen again in the rear.<br />
"These falls with the surrounding scenery afforded a fine subject for the Pencil of poor [Hood], but the heightening of the Landscape, by the Silver tints of the Moon's rays shooting above a projecting point of wood on the opposite shore & playing upon the agitated surface of these fierce falls, made me regret that they were not similarly presented to him, as they were to me this evening, which added much of their natural grandeur."<br />
<br />
As you see, I wasn't even sure what the artist's name was, which presents quite a challenge.<br />
But I found him immediately.<br />
An article from "Arctic Profiles" tells me his full name was <b>Robert Hood</b>, born in 1797 and dead by 1821.<br />
Hood was a member of the Franklin exhibition, 1819-22 -- a mapmaker who made incredibly accurate maps of the Arctic coastline during this single journey.<br />
But on their return journey, eleven out of twenty members of Franklin's party died -- and Hood was one of them.<br />
From Antony Brandt's book, <i>The Man Who Ate his Boots: the Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage,</i> comes this story.<br />
It is needless for me to tell you that the returning party was in great distress at this time, and separated into various clusters of men were spread over the snowy wastes that surrounded Franklin's Fort Enterprise:<br />
<br />
"Eleven men died in all. Not all of them died of starvation. Four men -- Jean-Baptiste Bellanger, Michel Teroahaute, the Iroquois, followed shortly after by Fontana and Perrault -- had left Franklin's party early in October to struggled the five miles back to the willow grove where Richardson, Hood, and Hepburn were camped. Only Michel arrived. Richardson never wrote up in his journal an actual day-by-day account of what happened after that, but he did prepare an official report to the Admiralty. Those days were spent, he said, hunting for the lichen that poor Hood could not eat and trying to snare partridges. Michel came and went as he wished, keeping himself apart, behaving in a hostile and surly manner. One evening he brought back a piece of what he said was a wolf that a caribou had killed with his antlers, and they ate it, but later Richardson would come to believe that it was a piece of a man he brought back, Belanger or maybe Perrault.<br />
<br />
"No one knows whether he actually killed these men, or whether they collapsed on the way back to Richardson's camp. It is certain that he killed Hood. By the eighteenth Hood was "so weak as to be scarcely able to sit up at the fire-side, and complained that the least breeze of wind seemed to blow through his frame." He gathered the strength nevertheless to argue with Michel, telling him it was his duty to hunt for them and to bring wood to the fire, which Michel refused to do, while threatening at the same time to leave them and go to the fort by himself. On the twentieth, while Richardson was out of the camp looking for <i>tripe de roche</i>, he heard a gunshot, and Hepburn yelled to him to return right away. Hood was in their tent, shot through the head. Michel claimed that Hood had shot himself, but that was impossible. He had been shot through the back of his head, with a rifle. "Although I dared not," Richardson explained, "openly to evince any suspicion that I thought Michel guilty of the deed, yet he repeatedly protested to me that he was incapable of committing such an act, kept constantly on his guard, and carefully avoided leaving Hepburn and me together."<br />
<br />
"The next day they set out for Fort Enterprise. On the twenty-third, as they were struggling south, Michel began threatening them, told them he hated the white people, by whom he meant the French voyageurs, "some of whom, he said, had killed and eaten his uncle and two of his relations." Michel was well armed. He had besides his gun "two pistols, an Indian bayonet, and a knife." Hepburn and Richardson had no strength left and expected him to turn on them at the first opportunity. When they came to a rock where there was some <i>tripe de roche</i>, Michel stayed behind to gather it, and Richardson and Hepburn seized the opportunity, the first they had had, to compare notes. Hepburn offered to do the deed, but Richardson said no, he would do it himself. when Michel came up to them, Richardson put a bullet through his head. Then they looked in his pouch. Michel had in fact gathered no <i>tripe de roche</i>."<br />
<br />
So there you are. In the Arctic Profiles article, mention is made of the cannibalism that occurred on this long foot journey, and Franklin himself said, on his arrival at Fort Chipewyan: "To tell the truth, .. things have taken place which must not be known." It is clearly stated that "Richardson and Hepburn, his two remaining companions in the straggling rearward group, owed their survival in part to eating, knowingly or unknowingly, some human flesh and Hood's buffalo robe."<br />
<br />
All of John Franklin's explorations in the Arctic (except those done by ship, I presume) were done under the auspices and with the help of the Hudson's Bay Company. They are stories of exploration, but they are also fur trade stories.<br />
<br />
Some of you will know that the original quote from whence I started the above story was written by the fabulous failure, <b>Lieutenant Aemelius Simpson</b>, cousin of the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who was travelling to the west coast to take charge of one of the HBC's ships.<br />
In his <i>Lives Lived</i>, Bruce Watson has this to say of him:<br />
He was born in Dingwall, Ross, Scotland, and died at Fort Simpson on the Northwest Coast, in 1831.<br />
It was his grave that the furtraders (including James Birnie and Alexander Caulfield Anderson) removed from the old Fort Simpson and buried in the new, in 1834 (page 47 of my book, <i>The Pathfinder</i>.)<br />
Aemelius Simpson "introduced the first apple trees to the North Pacific Coast and had an HBC post named after him... Aemelius joined the Royal Navy as a voluntary midshipman in 1806 and rose to the rank of Lieutenant before retiring in 1816.<br />
"Upon the recommendation of George Simpson in 1826, he joined the company as a hydrographer and surveyor reaching Fort Vancouver on November 2, 1826 as superintendent of shipping of the west coast.<br />
"The following year, he was given command of the Cadboro when it arrived. That year he took soundings in the Fraser River and helped found Fort Langley. Three years later in 1829 he was involved in trading negotiations with the Russian American Company in Sitka.<br />
"He became a chief trader in 1830 and the following year helped to establish a post at the mouth of the Nass River where he died in 1831. The post was later moved to the Tsimshian Peninsula and renamed Fort Simpson in his honour. His body was also removed to the new site, re-interred and surrounded by a white picket fence."<br />
<br />
There is more information on Aemelius Simpson, and this comes from The Free Library at http://www.thefreelibrary.com<br />
This source tells us that Simpson had seen much of the world before making his transcontinental journey in 1826, when he was a Royal Navy officer on half-pay travelling as a passenger with the HBC brigade and Columbia express. "He was a novice who lacked the authoritative voice of someone who had spent half his life bartering or animal pelts.."<br />
But because he was a novice, he described a part of the world that the fur traders never did. For this reason alone, his journal is important to some researchers.<br />
<br />
Aemelius Simpson's duty on the west coast was to take charge of the little ship <i>Cadboro</i>, which was being delivered to Fort Vancouver from England.<br />
On his death in 1831, Archibald McDonald (then of Fort Langley) wrote: "Among the latter [deaths] we have to lament the loss of poor Lieutenant Simpson who died on board his own vessel .... Independent of his loss to the concern I regret him very much as a private friend. I am sorry to say with you in confidence however, that he was not over-popular with us -- the cause you know as well as I do."<br />
<br />
Chief Factor Duncan Finlayson made a similar remark: "He departed this life ... much lamented and regretted and whatever feelings might be entertained toward him during his career in the past of the country there is now but one of general sympathy for his untimely end."<br />
It appears that Lieutenant Simpson was a misfit in the fur trade.<br />
He attempted to bring the protocol and discipline of the Royal Navy to the unruly fur traders west of the Rocky Mountains, and that did not work!<br />
Historian H.H. Bancroft stated (from information he collected many years later) that Aemelius Simpson had demanded that his sailors' "hands must be incased in kid before he could give an order on his own deck in the daylight, and if the occasion was perilous or peculiar, his gloves must be white kid. Form was nine-tenths of the law with him and the other tenth conformity."<br />
<br />
But Governor Simpson did not criticize his cousin in his infamous "Character Book."<br />
In fact he praised him (something that did not happen often):<br />
"About forty years of age. A namesake and Relation of my own, whom I should not have introduced into the Fur Trade, had I not known him to be a man of high character and respectable abilities. He has occupied the most dangerous posts in the Service since he came to the country, and his whole public and private Conduct and Character have been unexceptional."<br />
<br />
Governor Simpson also later noted that Aemelius was "as good a little fellow as ever breathed, honourable, above board and to the point.<br />
"He may be a disciplinarian but it was very necessary among the Vagabonds he had to deal with.<br />
"The Drunken wretched creature [Thomas] Sinclair could afford him no support, he was therefore under the necessity of doing all the dirty work of cuffing & thunking himself... I have (laying all other claims & feeling aside) a very great respect for his character & high opinion of his worth."<br />
<br />
I can't imagine what the above-mentioned "cuffing & thunking" was, but I think you will agree: There are lots of good stories in the fur trade.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-17528173072633127772013-07-14T11:27:00.001-07:002013-07-14T11:27:12.518-07:00More information re: Ovid Allard, and Jason his son<br />
I have been speaking of Fort Langley and Ovid Allard, so let me tell you a few more stories about the man and the place, collected from various resources including the writing of local historian Bruce McKelvie, and James Robert Anderson, son of A.C.Anderson.<br />
<br />
So here we go, from Mss 001, B.A. McKelvie, BCA, Box 24:<br />
<b>Jason the Fleece Hunter</b>, by Jason Allard, Chapter 3<br />
"My father, Ovid Allard, was a remarkable man in many ways. Although he entered the service of the great fur trading organization at the age of seventeen he had attained a grounding in classical education and useful arts that was uncommon with the majority of young men enlisted in the service from the Canadas. It was customary in those times to recruit the "gentlemen" in Scotland and England, and to engage the "servants" in the Canadas or from the Metis of Rupert's Land....<br />
"It was in 1834 that Ovid Allard and Donald McLean, who was later to achieve prominence as a trader and eventually die in the Chilcotin War, joined the Hudson's Bay Company's service, appending their names to a formidable document that bound them to serve, day or night, and in any part of the continent where the company might direct. For forty years, until his death in 1874, Ovid Allard never faltered in that obligation -- and never once in that time did he revisit his boyhood home....<br />
"It was with high hopes of rising in the company of such men that Ovid Allard and Donald McLean set out from Montreal on their great adventure. the next four years they were constantly on the move. Now at fort Garry; now on the Saskatchewan; now on an expedition to strange tribes in search of new sources of fur supply -- all over the Prairies they wandered, from Hudson's Bay to the Rocky Mountains, and from the sub-Arctic region to the Missouri. They were among those who constructed the fort where Boise, Idaho, now stands, and traveled with hunting parties of Blackfeet and Cree. then in 1839 they were separated. McLean was sent to Spokane, and my father was ordered to Fort Vancouver, where after a few months he was sent overland to Puget Sound to embark for Fort Langley.<br />
"Shortly after his arrival at the fort on the Fraser he was delegated to assist in trading with the Indians. Francis Noel Annance, whom the Indians named "The War Chief" -- a title they later bestowed on my father -- was still occupying the post of Indian trader, a position which he held from the commencement of the establishment. It required patience, courage, tact and a sharp wit to be an Indian trader, and Annance possessed all these qualifications.<br />
"A year after Ovid Allard was taken on to the strength of Fort Langley [sic] the place was destroyed by fire. He often told me of that terrible night; how the men risked their lives to save the property of the fort, neglecting their own meagre belongings.<br />
"There was a Scottish woman by the name of Findlay. She was the wife of one of the men and one of the very few white women in the whole Western country. she was a wonderful butter-maker, and the fame of her butter spread to the far reaches of New Caledonia in the north. Her chief concern when fire broke out was for the safety of the pans of cream from which she planned to churn butter the following day.<br />
""Who will save my cream?" she shouted, ringing her hands and catching at first one and then another scurrying figure. She grasped my father by the arm as he dashed back into the fort to carry out another load of trade goods. "My cream, my cream," she cried.<br />
""Never mind your cream," he answered, "where are your children?" The woman gave a shriek. She had forgotten her two little tots, and it was fortunate that Ovid Allard remembered them, for it was with the greatest difficulty that he managed to get into the burning hut where they were asleep. He carried them to safety, just as some others arrived with the precious cream. And Mrs. Findlay, in her happiness at the recovery of her children, rushed to gather them in her arms and upset the pans of cream over which she had been making so much fuss.<br />
"Immediate steps were taken to rebuild the fort, but a new location was decided upon. Erosion of the river bank was already threatening the ground close to the palisades and on several occasions the floods in the spring had crept through the pickets. So higher ground, on a rise three miles higher up the stream was selected, and here was reared one of the largest forts in the West. Four bastions guarded the sides, and the enclosure was sufficiently large to permit of a substantial fire break between the main buildings. A huge structure of squared logs was erected at the end farthest from the river, for the accomodation of the officers of the establishment, and this became known as "The Big House." ....<br />
"On either side of the main, or river gate, within the stockade, were situated the store houses, while along the length of one was were stretched the cooperage, blacksmith shop, trading store, and several dwellings. On the other side of the square was a row of dwelling. There were fifteen buildings in the fort, all told....<br />
"Very little iron was used in the building of Fort Langley, and in the construction of Fort Victoria three years later, none at all was used. The squared logs were mortised and fitted, and where it was necessary to fasten timbers, wooden pins were utilized.<br />
"It was already apparent, by the time that the fort was reconstructed, that the Hudson's Bay Comapny could not make good its claim to the Oregon Territory, and sooner or later Fort Vancouver must be relinquished to the United States. this would mean that a new outlet for the trade of New Caledonia must be found, and a new depot must be established where the products of the Northern woods could be exchanged for the trade goods brought by ship from England, and the new fort was constructed to meet the requirements of such a depot....."<br />
<br />
And that is where Alexander Caufield Anderson came into the story of Fort Langley.<br />
<br />
From the <b>Memoirs of James Robert Anderson</b>, a description of Ovid Allard. James would have first seen the fort in 1851:<br />
"Mr. James Murray Yale, the gentleman in charge, was a man of retiring disposition, but of unquestioned ability. the rest of the people employed were workmen, one of whom was named Allard, who was usually known by the name of Shortlain. This man was designated as a Post Master. Post Masters mentioned in the Hudson's Bay Company's service were not officers, but workmen, who by their superior ability were put in charge of small outposts, hence the designation of Post Master.<br />
<br />
From: "<b>Jason Allard, Fur-trader, Prince, and Gentleman</b>," by B.A. McKelvie, British Columbia Historical Quarterly, vol. 9, 1945:<br />
""There were gay times at Fort Langley, too, especially when the annual fur brigade would sweet down the river with the furs from New Caledonia," Jason recalled. "Or when the Company's ships would arrive with supplies. then there would be high celebration; bagpipes and fiddles would be brought out, and reels and square dances -- and the inevitable dram -- would be the order of the day. The voyageurs would dance and fight all night and have a mighty good time of it. At the Big House, as the officers' quarters were known, there would be feasting and merriment galore. Dangers and privations were forgotten when there was occasion for a celebration."<br />
"He recalled many noted characters in the Hudson's Bay Service who came to Fort Langley, mentioning such individuals as Chief Factor James Douglas, Donald Manson, and A. C. Anderson, who would never stay at the Big House, but would pitch his tent outside of the fort."<br />
<br />
I have one more piece to write about Ovid Allard, and it has taken me two hours to find it!<br />
Here it is, in James Robert Anderson's papers:<br />
<b>Miscellaneous Historical Inquiries</b>, Mss. 1912, vol. 17, file 13:<br />
"Dear Brenda; You asked me one day to write you some of my recollections of old Fort Langley. You have read Jason Allard's account of the finding of the site and building of the Fort where his father was post master -- that is he had charge of the Indian shop, and the keys of the Fort. Many a time I have heard him calling out the time for the people to go out, and of course all strangers would hurry out. I used to visit him when he was trading with the natives for their cranberries and hazel nuts. the blacksmith's shop was a wonderful place to me. The smith made nails of different sizes and iron hoops for the kegs, barrels and vats that were being made by the Cooper with his three or four assistants, getting ready for the salmon run. Ovid Allard did all the trading with the natives for their salmon. He used to stand at the wharf with two or three trunks full of the Indians' favorite stuffs such as vermillion for the women to give themselves rosy cheeks, and tobacco for the men. Cromarty [was] at the cauldron making brine, and ever so many boys and a man or two would be running from the wharf with the salmon which they piled before the women of the fort and others who were seated in a circle in the shed where they cut the salmon. No rest for the boys -- they had to continued their running this time with the cut salmon to the .. men in the big shed where they were salting the salmon. And so they worked for the week -- early in the morning till late at night, till the salmon run was over. All that old Basil with three or four assistants used to do was to milk the cows, make the butter, and look after the herd in winter...."<br />
<br />
You probably saw in my last post [Sunday, July 7, 2012] that a modern historian criticized Mrs. John Manson for stating that Allard "had boxes filled with things to please [the Natives], beads, vermilion and other knick-knacks."<br />
The historian said that the Natives were shrewd bargainers and knew the value of their labour.<br />
Now another witness is listing the same items that Mrs. Manson listed: vermillion and tobacco.<br />
Historians: Listen to the fur trade descendents!<br />
They were there: you were not.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-78667378969333716832013-07-07T14:16:00.001-07:002013-07-07T14:17:18.673-07:00Ovid Allard, and Jason, his son<br />
It's wonderful to talk to someone who is descended from one of the fur trade people I have researched (to a degree, anyway).<br />
Frankly sometimes I sit down at this blog and say to myself: Well, what will I write today?<br />
Knowing that there is someone out there who is descended from so-and-so always gives me something to write about.<br />
So here you are -- whether you like it or not I am going to tell you what I know about Ovid Allard.<br />
<br />
It's not a lot, but I have told you that I am going to make these posts shorter, haven't I?<br />
I hope to (it doesn't always work that way, though).<br />
<br />
So here is what Bruce McIntyre Watson, author of Lives Lived West of the Divide: A Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858, volume 1 (of 3), has to say of Ovid Allard.<br />
<br />
Any descendant of this man could join two Facebook pages -- that of Children of Fort Langley and Descendants of Fort Nisqually Employees.<br />
<br />
<b>Allard, Ovid [Ovide]</b> (1817-1874) Canadian: French<br />
Birth: St. Roch, Montreal, July 1817. Born to Francois Allard and Suzanne Mercier<br />
Death: Fort Langley, B.C., August 1874<br />
HBC Middleman, Fort Vancouver, 1834-1835; Middleman, Snake Party, 1835-1839; Assistant trader, Fort Langley, 1839-1841; Middleman, Fort Langley,1841-1842; Indian trader, Fort Langley, 1842-1843; Interpreter, Fort Langley, 1843-1846; Labourer and Carpenter, Fort Nisqually, 1846-1847; Interpreter, Fort Langley, 1847-1853; Post master, Fort Langley, 1849-1850; Interpreter, Columbia Dept., 1853-1854; Untraced vocation, Fort Langley, 1858-1859; Clerk, Fort Yale, 1859-1865; Clerk, Fort Langley, 1864-1874; and Post master, Fort Langley, 1864-1874.<br />
<br />
According to oral tradition, a seventeen year old Ovid Allard was articling for a notarial office in Lachine when he joined the HBC from that city as a middleman in 1834. He spent his first five years at Fort Hall [Idaho] and was second in command when Fort Boise was built in 1837. In 1839 the tall competent French Canadian was assigned to Fort Langley, where he helped to build the new fort after it was burned down in 1840 by a careless Jean Baptists Brulez.<br />
<br />
He spent much of his forty year career at Fort Langley, and when the 1846 border was drawn, he established a new Brigade route from Fort Kamloops to Fort Langley [in 1849 or later. A note here: the actual brigade trail never did go over any of the routes that Alexander Caulfield Anderson explored, but followed the route that Blackeye's son showed Henry Newsham Peers in 1848].<br />
<br />
That same year, he along with sixteen others each laid claim to 640 acres of land around Fort Nisqually in an unsuccessful bid to secure PSAC land. In 1847 he established Fort Yale, and the following year, Fort Hope.<br />
<br />
According to Mrs. John Manson, during the salmon run at Fort Langley, Allard did all the trading with the natives for their salmon. "He used to stand at the wharf and had boxes filled with things to please them, beads, vermilion and other knick knacks," perhaps misstating the real situation as the natives were shrewd bargainers and knew the real price of their labour.<br />
<br />
Allard's education and competence posed a problem for an insecure James Murray Yale, who from the 1850s, tried to keep Allard subservient through apparent mean spiritedness and a short temper. In 1853, Yale became so enraged at Allard for shooting his favourite, but vicious dog, and for Allard having provided barrels to a non-Company trader, that Ovid packed his family off in a canoe and went to Fort Victoria to hand in his resignation. James Douglas convinced him otherwise and sent him to Nanaimo where he arrived on March 11, 1854, as "supervisor of outside work." Four years later, on February 4, 1858, he left Nanaimo on the steamer Otter to re-establish a defunct Fort Yale, where he stayed from May 1858 to 1864. At that point he returned to Fort Langley and remained in charge there until his death on August 2, 1874.<br />
<br />
Ovid Allard, whose family life was very complex, had two wives and seven or eight children. In Fort Hall he married a native woman with whom he had Sennie.<br />
According to his granddaughter, Julia Hamburger Apnaut, Sennie was given away at Fort Langley by his second wife, Justine, to a passing Scottish trader, a Mr. McKay, by a jealous wife tired of Allard's doting on the youngster.<br />
Justine, on the other hand, claimed that the baby had fallen overboard and drowned in the river (the baby returned some years later as Marie and became the mother of Julia Hamburger Apnaut, the story of which she chronicled in Indian time.)<br />
On February 22, 1853, Allard formalized his marriage to second wife, Justine Cowichan (c.1823-1907), the sister of a Cowichan confederacy chief T'Soshia.<br />
Their children were: Lucie, Jason Ovide (who worked in the fur trade for many years), Mathilde, Sara, and Joseph.<br />
While at Fort Langley, a young daughter accidentally drank poison, died, and was buried by Ovid in a coffin made from boards in the floor.<br />
<br />
Here is a letter from Ovid Allard to James Murray Yale, written from Fort Hope, 2nd June 1850 [E/B/Al52c, BCA].<br />
The letter may make him appear uneducated -- but he was a French Canadian who wrote English creatively:<br />
"My dear sir; I am sending this canoe down with the furs thats here and in the same time to inquire if you think its necessary for us to go and work uppon the old road, Pahallak says there as been amaney sticks that falld in the roade in the winter of which you would likely wish it should be take off, we cannot do nothing upon the new Road yet for the snow, its trew that its not very deep and yet its likely if this Cold weather continew that it will be some time yet before its gone, it has been snowing on the mountain for three Nights now. We are Clearing ground here the timothy is all sowed, I am near out of all Articles of trade, but I don't ask for Any, the Indians [h]as little now to trade salmon the[y] only catches a few here and the[y] Seems to not have a great wish to trade them. However I have no doubt that the[y] will be glad to get us to purchase them by and by.<br />
I would like to have a canoe here we have none belongs to the Fort the are all Scatter uppon the several Crossing place along the new road that's three in all. I always thought by a letter Mr. Peerse send me by the New Road in the spring that Mr. Manson intended to come by the New Road as he was saying that he was in hope that there was grass enough for to feed the horses here all the time that the brigade should be at Langley, and that it would be injureing the horses very much to send them back across the mountains to feed. Please to Excuse for saying so much, if you wishes me to go and work uppon the old road I am redey. I would like to go all though as far as I would meat them if you approve of it I'll take three Indians & old Pahallak with me and Mr. [George] Simpson, I think that the snow would not hinder the brigade to pass uppon the new road yet about the 20th of the month its was about the times I went with Mr. Peerse last spring on the mountain and the snow was then mid way up the trees its not so now we are able to see all the trees thats been mark along when the where working at the rod.<br />
"Please to exuse of all Errors. Ovid Allard."<br />
<br />
The old road he talks off was the one via Anderson River and Lake Mountain: it was never used again. In fact, when Alexander Anderson came out over the Coquihalla route, he found the snow hard enough that it easily supported the horses' weight.<br />
<br />
The other good story I have is about <b>Jason Ovide Allard</b>, Ovide's son, and this is what Bruce Watson tells us about him:<br />
Birth: Fort Langley, September 1848, mixed race<br />
Death: New Westminster, December 1931<br />
Untraced vocation, Western Dept., 1860-1861; Apprentice post master, Fort Yale, 1861-1865; Post master, Fort Shepherd, 1866-1869; In charge of company store at Wild Horse Creek, 1867<br />
Born into the fur trade, Jason Allard became a later source of information about life in this period. Jason attended school in Nanaimo and at the age of twelve went to work for the HBC as an apprentice post master. As a young lad, he also occasionally interpreted for British Columbia judge Matthew Baillie Begbie. He had many small adventures throughout his short career, but one of the most unusual happened at Fort Shepherd. While he was working at that borderline fort, he ordered the regular two hundred lbs of cheese for nearby Fort Colvile; however a gremlin extra "0" slipped into the order form and was signed by Colvile's Angus McDonald as such.....<br />
<br />
Here's the rest of the story, direct from the BCArchives:<br />
<b>Jason Allard's Ton of Cheese</b> [E/D/Al5s]<br />
A package was opened and it proved to be cheese. Then another 100-pound bale was opened. It was cheese, too. I began to get nervous. The third and the fourth and the fifth proved likewise to be cheese.<br />
"How much cheese did you order?" demanded Angus McDonald.<br />
"Two hundred pounds."<br />
"Are you sure?" And away he rushed for the order book. There sure enough was the duplicate, but instead of the 200 pounds I had intended to order, an extra cipher had been added, and we had been sent 2,000 pounds of it. Macdonald became wrathy. He almost exploded, and fumed and stormed about until I reminded him that he had signed the order. "Get it out of my sight, cheese, cheese, image it, a whole ton of cheese," he shouted.<br />
I looked about for a place to stow the offending cheese, but the warehouse was pretty well filled. At last, over in one corner I spied a number of empty rum barrels, so I had the cheese all unpacked and put into the barrels, and I covered them over with sacking.<br />
Months went by and there was nothing said about cheese, and you can depend on it, I was not going to be the first to mention it.<br />
Then one day, Macdonald complained that the fare was rather scanty. "Let's see," he mused, "isn't there some cheese about? Where is it, Jason?"<br />
"You told me to put it out of your sight, and I always obey orders."<br />
"Well, get some."<br />
So I had a piece brought, and I can assure you that it was without doubt the best cheese that anyone ever tasted. The hot summer sun had melted and mellowed it and the flavour of the rum impregnated it. "Goodness, man! What have you been hiding this for?" shouted Macdonald in glee. After that he wanted cheese for breakfast, lunch and supper, and the odd midnight snack as well. I took the improved cheese out of storage and had it transferred to the store. The officers of the United States army barracks, who used to dine with us frequently, got a taste of it and it recommended itself so highly that soon posts 100 miles away were sending in for "Allard's Cheese." The result was that within two months it was all gone, and then Mr. Macdonald kicked again. this time because I had not saved it. But believe me, I worried more over that cheese, while it was maturing in the rum barrels, than I want to again, and the very mention of cheese for years after was enough to put me off my meals."<br />
<br />
Well, admittedly, Angus McDonald [A.C. Anderson's clerk at Fort Colvile] was a rough character who would have frightened a young man like Jason Allard, who was probably only about twenty years old at the time.<br />
Let's continue his biography: Allard first retired from service on March 17th, 1865 but finally left the service in 1869, angry at being upbraided for his familiarity with the young American army officers at Fort Colvile. He led a full life after retirement (chronicled in "Jason Allard, fur trader, prince and gentleman") and in his later years was still recognized by the Cowichan natives as having inherited rights within the Cowichan group. As he spoke five native dialects plus English and French, in 1871 he was hired for a CPR survey crew. To supplement his income, Allard and his family would walk across the border and pick hops, but after his wife's death, he moved into New Westminster to be closer to the courts for interpreting. Jason Allard died December 16, 1931.<br />
<br />
So there are the stories of Ovid Allard, and his son, Jason -- at least in part.<br />
Ovid especially played a role in the creation of the brigade trails; thus he will be a character in one of my next books.<br />
But it will be a few years before I am able to write Jason's story, so I am recording it now, so that you too can enjoy it.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-46302892665615726822013-06-23T08:41:00.000-07:002013-06-23T08:41:22.082-07:00Alexander Caulfield Anderson, writer<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
From the Introduction to A. C. Anderson's Autobiography: </div>
<div>
This might have been written on his deathbed, and writing this might have kept Anderson from thinking of his impending death.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Two hundred years ago, some ten years after the Restoration of the Second Charles, when England enjoyed a somewhat troubled repose after the agonies of the Civil War; when the nations of the New World were in their non-age; when Commerce was pausing for the gigantic strides which it has since taken; that "merrie monarch" (may we never be afflicted with another of similar stamp!) took at least one useful step. He granted a charter to certain magnates of the land and others, worthy citizens of the good city of London, endowing them with exclusive privileges to prosecute a new branch of traffic in the remote regions of the north, under the style and title of the "Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay" (in more familiar parlance the Hudson's Bay Company). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Fortified by their charter, and with abundant capital at command, this Company for many years carried on unobtrusively a very lucrative commerce. It of of comparatively late years only, under the combination of many outer influences, that its affairs have attracted much public attention; attaining at length to what has become to many a question of absorbing interest in a national point of view. Reft of its almost princely domination, with its territory purchased for a price and thrown open for the spread of a civilized community, the Company, if it still continues its business as a body, will do so only on the footing of any other co-partnership. Its glory, as the last representative of the great chartered bodies of England, will have departed. Such is the order of things, and such -- while admitted all praise and honor for the past -- is the desirable culmination.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"To the departing shade of the Company, with whose interest the events of my own life have been so intimately bound up, I desire to pay a valedictory tribute. I purpose to recount some of my own experiences during a long and uninterrupted sojourn in the wildness of the North West and its immediate frontiers, to show some of the causes that have conduced to the uninterrupted success of the Company in its dealing with the native tribes; perhaps, by implication, to correct many of the misconceptions that may have arisen in regard to the policy pursued, and some of the slanders to which that policy has, at times, been mischievously subjected. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"With this general purpose in view I write without premeditation. Incidentally, I may introduce remarks necessary to the due apprehension of the relations existing between the Company and the Acting partners in the Fur Trade of the Country. Many of my past colleagues may be spoken of, and in a personal narrative such as I contemplate my own individuality will appear; but whether in speaking of myself or others, I trust to do so with proper judgement, in the one case without egotism, and the other with candour and good fellowship."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sadly, he never lived long enough to complete his Autobiography.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nancy Marguerite Anderson, author of <i>The Pathfinder: A. C. Anderson's Journeys in the West</i> [Victoria: Heritage House Pub., 2011]</div>
<div>
Author Page at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nancymargueriteanderson or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/author/nancymargueriteanderson">Amazon Author Page</a></div>
<div>
Twitter handle: @Marguerite_HBC</div>
<div>
Thank you. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-54027677116590495292013-06-22T11:41:00.001-07:002013-06-22T11:43:35.016-07:00A.C. Anderson's Letter to Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew<br />
Years ago I learned that Alexander Caulfield Anderson had written a letter to Kew Gardens.<br />
I emailed them for more information, and Claire Daniel (who was an Archives Graduate Trainee in 2003) sent me a letter that included a copy of A.C. Anderson's letter.<br />
Talk about being floored!<br />
It is easy to be ignored by an archives, especially one of this size and importance.<br />
But they did anything but ignore me.<br />
Thank you, Kew Gardens, and Claire Daniel.<br />
<br />
Many fur traders communicated with Sir William Jackson Hooker of Kew Gardens over the years, and the man who referred A.C. Anderson to Hooker, as a correspondent and plant collector, was Fort Colvile's Archibald McDonald.<br />
From Jean Murray Cole's book, "This Blessed Wilderness," we have McDonald's letter of reference, written 20th April 1844:<br />
"Until this moment I was rather angry that my letter & small package of last year was too late at the mouth of the river for the Cape Horne vessel of the season. By that communication it could not be inferred that I was myself speedily quitting the Columbia, but I fear the state of my health now will oblige me to rise camp and once more recross the R[ocky] Mountains. I have however succeeded in constituting in my stead a very good correspondent, Mr. Alexander Anderson of New Caledonia. By a letter I lately had from this Gentleman he seemed delicate about intruding himself upon your notice, Sir, until he had heard from you, scruples I soon removed, directing him by all means to write forthwith with the very first collection he could make himself, or get in from the young Gentlemen whom I commissioned myself."<br />
<br />
So Anderson overcame his scruples: Here is his letter, written from Fort Alexandria, 30th September 1845, to Sir William Hooker:<br />
"Sir; At the suggestion of our mutual friend Archibald McDonald, Esquire, I have during the past summer been engaged in collecting some seeds and botanical specimens with the view of forwarding them to you.<br />
"The collection, unsatisfactory as I fear it may prove, is accordingly now sent, and will, I trust, reach you in safety.<br />
"The package is well secured; and will be shipped at Vancouver under the care of my friend, Dr. Barclay, there.<br />
<br />
"For the poverty of my collection let me plead that circumstances have in some measure interfere with my own endeavours, while I have been sadly disappointed in the assistance which I had expected from divers quarters.<br />
"Forty-six varieties of seeds are however sent......<br />
<br />
"Our New Caledonia fields have already, I believe, yielded their humble treasures very [fully] to poor David Douglas, who, if my memory fail me not, visited them in 1833, when I was stationed elsewhere.<br />
"Thus I cannot hope that my little collection will possess much novelty to you.<br />
"The Tza-chin or edible Bitter Root of New Caledonia (which by the way appears to me to be nearly identical with the Tiger-lily of our gardens) might perhaps be entitled to some little notice as a <i>bonne-bouche</i> if cultivated in England.<br />
"The mode of preparing it is either in small subterranean kilns, or by steaming until soft and mealy.<br />
"It is easily raised from the seed, of which I have sent a supply; there are also some bulbs, but I fear their germinating principle will be destroyed before they reach their destination.<br />
"A deep, light, black soil, similar to the bog earth used in gardens, is what it delights in; and it thrives best in humid situations.....<br />
<br />
"The Broue (Fr), or Froth-Berry -- seeds of which are sent -- is a fruit having some peculiar properties, and meriting notice for the agreeable bitter which it possess.<br />
"No-ghoos is the name by which the natives distinguish it.<br />
"It is with them an article of luxurious entertainment at their occasional banquets.<br />
"The mode of using it, after it is prepared by boiling and drying in cakes, is by soaking a small piece in a little water, and afterwards whisking the mixture until it froths up.<br />
"By this means a large vessel will after a while [be] filled with a viscid froth of considerable tenacity.<br />
"This product when free from the detestable accompaniment of grass with which the natives frequently incorporate the berries for the convenience of drying, is nowise unpalatable.<br />
"Of this substance I have sent you a cake, as prepared by the natives, by way of specimen.<br />
"There is likewise a small bag containing the dried roots of the Spet-lum.<br />
"Some of these last which have [not] been entirely desiccated in the process of drying might possibly germinate if planted; as from the nature of the plant I should imagine the most to be rather tenacious of life.<br />
<br />
"As my acquaintance with Botany is extremely limited, I have avoided on all costs the endeavour to apply names at random, which could add no possible value to my collection of seeds or flowers.<br />
"Thus they are undistinguished by name or reference, save where necessity has constrained me to be more particular.<br />
"I trust, however, my collection may prove acceptable and shall content myself with hoping that a future day I may be enabled to forward a contribution more worthy of your acceptance.<br />
"I have the honor to be, sir<br />
"Your most obedient & humble servant,<br />
"Alex C. Anderson."<br />
<br />
I have already written about Indian Potatoes and other Native Foods, on Sunday, October 2, 2011.<br />
From that page, I take these descriptions, and please note that they come from Nancy J. Turner's book, "Food Plants of Interior First Peoples," published by the Royal British Columbia Museum.<br />
<br />
This is what she says of the bulb Anderson thought resembled the English Tiger Lily:<br />
"Tiger Lily is a tall perennial with a white ovoid bulb, up to 5 cm in diameter, composed of thick fleshy scales like garlic cloves.<br />
"The stem is slender, the flowers are bright orange, dark spotted near the centre.<br />
"The Natives used the large bulbs of the Tiger Lily wherever they could find them.<br />
"The flavour of the bulb was strong, peppery and bitter, and they were used like pepper or garlic to flavour foods.<br />
"The Tsilhquot'in [Chilcotin] called the bulb 'beaver-stick,' and harvested the bulbs in the early spring; the Okanagan and other southern Natives harvest them in the fall."<br />
<br />
This following is, perhaps, the identification of the plant that Anderson called the "Spet-lum."<br />
The bitter-root "is a low stemless perennial arising from a branching deep-seated fleshy taproot, which is grey-skinned with a white inner core that may turn pink on exposure to the air.<br />
"The plant grows in the driest areas of the B.C. Interior, and is now considered rare.<br />
"But to the Okanagan and the Thompson River Natives, this plant was the most important of all the edible roots."<br />
However, it does not grow in the Chilcotin district, and might not be the plant that Anderson knew.<br />
<br />
However, I can go to Anderson's own writing for a description of these plants and the others mentioned in this letter.<br />
Here is how he describes the "Froth Berry," mentioned above:<br />
The "Froth-Berry" is the Cornus Ferruginia or Shepherdia Canadensis (La Broue of the [French-] Canadians) is described in his unpublished essay, "British Columbia," in this manner: "The Berry is dried for winter use. In its fresh or prepared state it is thus used: A small portion is placed in a large vessel, and a little water added. Then being whisked with branches it gradually expands and becomes converted into a very palatable substance resembling Trifle."<br />
[Sounds good: Today they call this Indian Ice-Cream!]<br />
<br />
Anderson's son, James Robert, gave a better description of the Froth Berry in his book, <i>Trees and Shrubs, Food, Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of British Columbia</i>:<br />
"Soapberry: Brue [Shepherdia canadensis, Nutt]<br />
"This is one of the two representatives of the natural order Elaeagnaceae (which is allied to the Olive family) in this Province. It is a shrub from 3 to 10 feet high. The leaves, from 1 to 2 inches long and half as wide, pointed and quite smooth on the edges and of a dull-green colour, are covered on the under-sides, in common with the young branches or twigs, with shiny reddish specks, giving them a distinctly rusty-red appearance when viewed from underneath.<br />
"The flowers appear very early in the spring, before the leaves, and are of a dull-red colour, very small, and borne in clusters, usually two clusters at the end of a short stem, divided by a small leaflet or bract and with two leaves at the extremity. The buds form in the summer previous and may be seen at any time in the shape of small reddish globules. The fruit is usually red, sometimes orange in colour, resembling a red currant in size, but more elongated. This peculiarity renders it objectionable to some, but very agreeable to many. The juice, when beaten up, forms a beautiful salmon-coloured froth, which when mixed with sugar is greatly esteemed by the natives, and by whites who have acquired a taste for it. It is from this peculiarity that it obtains the name of Soapberry or Soap Oalalie, in the Chinook jargon. The range of this shrub is very wide, inasmuch as it is to be found in all parts of the Province where suitable conditions exist. Its habitat is the hilly and mountainous parts of the Province, usually in rather open situations, and on dry soil. It is common in the vicinity of Victoria and on the Saanich Arm, and very abundant in the Rocky Mountains."<br />
<br />
Nancy J. Turner also identifies this plant as the Soapberry, and gives it the Latin name of Sheperdia canadensis [Nutt.] It is of the Oleaster Family, and might also be called the Russet Buffalo Berry or Foamberry.<br />
<br />
Here's what James Robert Anderson says about the Tiger Lily, from the same source as before mentioned:<br />
Tiger-Lily (Lilium columbianum, Hanson)<br />
"The bulb is used in its fresh state and is cooked by boiling. It is slightly bitter and quite glutinous... Then James quotes from his father's manuscript:<br />
"The Tiger-Lily is found abundantly in the fertile bottoms and extends considerably to the north of Alexandria on the upper Fraser. Under the name of Tza-chin the natives of the latter place use the root as an article of food. Carefully steamed it is an excellent substitute for the potato, its flavour somewhat like that of a roasted chestnut, with a slight bitterness which renders it very agreeable."<br />
<br />
Here is what James Robert Anderson has to say of the Spet-lum mentioned in A.C. Anderson's letter. It is also called the Bitter-Root.<br />
Bitter-Root; Spetlum; Sand-Hill Rose (Lewisia rediviva, Pursh)<br />
"This plant, belonging to the Portulaca family, has its habitat in the arid regions of the Interior in open plains. The thick leaves, some 2 inches in length and shaped like those of Portulaca, come up in bunches in the early spring and are followed later on, when the leaves die down, by the flower, which is a beautiful pink blossom resembling a rose. In places they appear in great profusion and present a lovely sight. The Bitter Root Valley (in Montana, I believe) is named after this plant. When the leaves appear, the women dig up the roots, which are thick and generally bifurcated, with the digging-sticks ..., and after stripping off the skin throw them into a basket. They are then dried and kept for future use. They may be eaten in that state or boiled into a pinkish jelly. As its name indicates, it has a bitter taste, somewhat aromatic, and is, I believe, quite nutritious; personally, I never cared much for it, although it is generally much appreciated. It is well named <i>L. rediviva</i>, as it is most tenacious of life, and I have known herbarium specimens to show flowers developing months after having been pressed."<br />
<br />
As you can see, these fur traders kept active, and like others of their time they learned about the plants and flowers that surrounded them.<br />
Many collected botanical specimens for Dr. Hooker, of Kew Gardens.<br />
We Andersons, of course, went one step further: my cousin, a direct descendant of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, married a woman who was the direct descendant of Sir William Jackson Hooker, of Kew Gardens.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-29056799551213171222013-06-09T10:28:00.000-07:002013-06-09T10:28:59.442-07:00The Fur-traders' "Smess" -- Sumas Prairie<br />
The map below is a small portion of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's 1867 map of British Columbia, CM/F9 in the British Columbia Archives.<br />
The full 6ft x 6ft map (which you will never be able to see) covers all of British Columbia and includes part of the United States (Fort Colvile area) and Alberta (Edmonton House).<br />
In this small section of the big map, I have shown the lower Fraser River between Fort Hope and the mouth of the river itself.<br />
If you look at the map carefully, you will notice many interesting and historical facts: the route of the Collins Telegraph Trail is shown as it travels through the Fraser Valley north of the river.<br />
You can see the bottom of Harrison Lake and the mouth of the Harrison River, where the Fort Langley fur traders had their most important fishery.<br />
To the east is the Chilahayook [Chilliwack] River, where Anderson's Sto:lo guide, chief Pahallak, lived.<br />
Finally, at the bottom of this portion of his map he drew in the route of "Lacey's Trail of 1858," which followed the Lummi River north to the goldfields on the lower Fraser River.<br />
Today, this muddy trail is known as the Whatcom Trail, and its name is commemorated up and down the Fraser River valley.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-igAAjEQ8Log/UbSQIz-7ImI/AAAAAAAAALk/-cvGwZagTzk/s1600/Smess+2+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-igAAjEQ8Log/UbSQIz-7ImI/AAAAAAAAALk/-cvGwZagTzk/s320/Smess+2+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
As I drive up and down the Fraser Valley I often notice these old names.<br />
But one road sign I often noticed was "Sumas," and I had no idea where its name came from.<br />
Then, as I looked at the details of the Fraser River on A. C Anderson's 1867 map, I suddenly understood the origin of the name.<br />
Take a look at the large lake in the middle of the map, and notice that the fur traders, and Natives, called this lake "Smess."<br />
That is what Sumas used to be.<br />
It is no longer.<br />
<br />
"Smess" is a fur trade name, learned from the Natives who lived on what used to be Sumas Lake.<br />
The water was drained from this eleven-thousand-acre lake by the Provincial Government, ninety years ago, to create the place we now call "Sumas Prairie."<br />
But before the Government drained the lake, the Sumas Natives made their homes along its shores.<br />
When the mosquitoes came in the June or July, the people moved into their summer homes built on stilts in the middle of their lake. <br />
They travelled everywhere in their canoes; they fished for sturgeon in the lake and hunted waterfowl.<br />
"There were millions of ducks, geese," a Sumas elder named Ray Silver said.<br />
"The fish would jump right into your canoe there was so many of them, jumping all the time."<br />
Ray Silver did not know the lake, but heard these stories from his grand-father, who had lived while the lake still belonged to the Sumas people.<br />
His grandfather aso told him of the sturgeon left behind when the lake was drained, and how they suffocated and died in the mud.<br />
<br />
The Sumas people moved away from their emptied lake and now live elsewhere in their territory.<br />
Farmers moved in and ploughed the rich land created by the drained lake, sometimes turning up fresh-water clams as they did so.<br />
Now "Smess" is filled with valuable dairy farms and agricultural land that produces thousands of pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables for market every year.<br />
It's history has been drained away with the lake, and its original people have gone.<br />
Even its name, Smess, was forgotten.<br />
<br />
If you want to learn more about what used to be Sumas Lake, the article I am getting the above information from appeared in the Vancouver Sun, April 26, 2013, and contains much more information than I am giving you here.<br />
<br />
I don't know if Anderson was ever at Smess, but he paddled past the lake in his passages up and down the Fraser, many times.<br />
He would also have obtained a map of sorts from his co-worker, Chief Trader James Murray Yale of Fort Langley, and so Anderson's map is probably fairly accurate in spite of the fact he was probably never there.<br />
Smess was a place well known to the fur traders at Fort Langley, and there are a number of mentions of the place in fur trade records in the years after 1848.<br />
James Douglas drove James Murray Yale crazy in those years, with his demands that Yale once again explore for a new trail that would bring the brigaders safely past the dangers of Manson's Mountain, on the Coquihalla Brigade Trail.<br />
Poor Yale; he was so frustrated by Douglas' inability to envision the mountainous land that surrounded Fort Langley, that he complained to Governor Simpson that Douglas, who thought he was a fine geographer, was anything but.<br />
<br />
For those of you who regularly read my posts and now expect me to write seven pages every week, you will be disappointed to find they are becoming shorter.<br />
The reason for this: I am now beginning to write my second book and am still continuing the research on my third.<br />
I have plenty of work to do, and so the blog posts must take up less time.<br />
Do not lose hope: you will have plenty to read still.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-57967057944927780192013-05-25T10:48:00.005-07:002013-05-25T10:48:49.576-07:00Carpet Beetles!<br />
Carpet beetles: I have been thinking about these little buggers a lot lately.<br />
These, I think, are the bugs the fur traders found every spring, when they shook out their furs before packing them for the outgoing brigades.<br />
These tiny beetles emerge as adults every year, in mid-April or early May, and crawl out to die on the windowsills.<br />
They do this even today. If you look on your windowsill, you might well find some small, round, red-striped (or black) beetles there.<br />
These are the oh, so-common-everywhere carpet beetles!<br />
<br />
I first came to know of these bugs when the staff of the seniors facility my ancient mother lived in noticed a "line of bugs" marching down the back of her couch, and moved her out for a few days to have her room fumigated.<br />
She was furious! She believed her care-givers were calling her "dirty!"Her reaction was a complete throwback to her youth in veddy-English Duncan in the 1920's.<br />
This Vancouver Island town had more than its share of English residents, who were very prejudiced against the Natives.<br />
Even though my English grandmother (my mother's mother) was the laziest and dirtiest housekeeper around, she was English, and therefore was accepted in Duncan society. (Well, almost completely accepted -- her own family members would not speak to her after her marriage because she had married "an Indian.")<br />
But my mother's father was the youngest son of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, and Duncan residents knew he carried Indian blood.<br />
Therefore, my mother and all her brothers and sisters grew up with the stain of being called "a dirty Indian."<br />
<br />
But we are not talking of my mother's past and the prejudice she endured: we are speaking of the bugs that upset her so much as a ninety year old.<br />
She was blind; these bugs had probably emerged from her couch every year to march toward the window, but she would never have seen them!<br />
They could have lived forever in that sofa; it was old enough to be made of natural fabrics, and its fibres were plugged with the cat hair her old cat shed.<br />
And that is what carpet beetles live on: wools and other natural fabrics such as cotton, fur, animal hair and bird feathers, leather, silk and linens.<br />
They can destroy expensive clothing and furniture, and devastate museum collections.<br />
They can live on dogs (did my mother's "body-rot" dog have an allergy to fleas as the vet told us, or did Carpet beetles make their home in her hair?)<br />
<br />
I am now occupying the place where my mother used to live before she moved, and once the carpet beetles were discovered in her couch at the seniors' home, my sister and I both knew that the carpet beetles were where I lived too.<br />
But I never saw them, until one day one wandered out onto the piece of paper I happened to be looking at under a strong light!<br />
I caught it and identified it -- and then worried about the damage these "millions of bugs" were doing.<br />
<br />
When I learned how they travelled from one house to another on a person's clothes, I thought I was spreading them to all my friends' houses.<br />
What was worse: when I knew what to look for, I discovered carpet beetles in all their homes too.<br />
But I quickly learned to not worry about my carpet beetles, and theirs.<br />
Let me tell you why.....<br />
<br />
Everyone of my friends had more carpet beetles on their windowsills than I had.<br />
<br />
Almost everyone has a few carpet beetles, and some people have more than a few.<br />
Maybe even you have some: they are the red and black striped beetles [or small black beetles] that appear on your windowsill every spring from mid-April or early May all the way through June and early July, at least.<br />
Apparently there is another rush of carpet beetles in August, but I haven't seen it anywhere here.<br />
The little beetles are probably dead when you find them, and probably you've seen them a million times and have never worried about them.<br />
But these are the adult carpet beetles, and they have left batches of tiny larval beetles behind them.<br />
<br />
Of course, the larvae of the carpet beetles are the beetles that do the most damage.<br />
They are the ones that you do not see -- you do not even know you have carpet beetles until you see the adults dead, on your windowsills.<br />
So, should you be afraid?<br />
<br />
Well, not really.<br />
Everyone has them, and if you have three or four or six or a dozen, don't worry about them too much.<br />
If you have a lot more than that, then start considering getting rid of them before they march in an orderly little line down the back of the couch they have been consuming for years!<br />
<br />
There are four kinds of carpet beetles, or maybe more depending on where you live.<br />
I think the beetles I see here on the west coast are Black Carpet Beetles, and Varied (or variegated) Carpet Beetles -- these appear to be red and black striped beetles but apparently have other colours as well.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Black Carpet Beetles</b> measures about 2.5-5mm long; it is dark brown to black in colour.<br />
It is just a little oblong black beetle, smaller (the ones I have seen, at least ) than the apparently more common Varied.<br />
<br />
<b>The Varied (or Variegated) Carpet Beetles</b> are about 2 to 3mm long and nearly round. Its top body is gray with a mixture of white, brown and yellow scales and irregular black cross bands according to most descriptions.<br />
Still, on the west coast, they look like red and black striped bugs to me. Almost like tiny lady bugs, in fact.<br />
<br />
I don't think I have seen any <b>Common Carpet Beetles</b>, but you might have. They are rounder than the black carpet beetle and about 3mm to 4.5mm long. Its colouration is gray to black with 3 wavy white bands on the wings, and a reddish stripe running down the centre of the back.<br />
<br />
<b>Furniture Carpet Beetles</b> are slightly larger than the varied carpet beetle (and I might have seen these once). They are 2.5mm long with an oval, plump shape. It is coloured yellow, white and black and has a definite wing cleft (the stripe down the middle of the back of the beetle).<br />
<br />
These things fly! I never knew that.<br />
They are said to be very efficient flyers, in fact.<br />
<br />
The larvae of the carpet beetles have visible hairs along their body and may vary from pale to dark in colour, depending on the species. Some are quite big (bigger than the adult) and some very small.<br />
I actually saw one and I can see why no one knows they are there -- this one was tiny, like the tiniest little spiders you see -- and white to almost transparent, similar to those whitish silverfish you occasionally see.<br />
It was almost invisible, and I only saw it because I happened to be kneeling down at a time when it was moving from its food source to its home.<br />
It crossed the tile floor at a good clip, and disappeared under the base board before I even realized what it was.<br />
It was about the size of this semi-colon " <b>;</b> " -- pretty darn small.<br />
<br />
But it makes sense: the adult is about the size of a large bold capital O, or " <b>O</b> " -- again, depending on the species.<br />
The black carpet beetles I see are perhaps this size: " <b>0</b> " or a bit larger -- though the information I have given above says they are the same size as the others.<br />
And that's what taught me not to be terrified of these things -- yes, the larvae can be voracious and is described as a big eater, but it is also very much smaller than pest control companies picture it!<br />
It depends on the numbers, I think. If you have a lot of larvae, you have a lot of problems.<br />
<br />
<b>How do the first carpet beetles get into your house?</b><br />
They come on batches of fresh flowers, and don't leave again.<br />
They fly in your windows!<br />
They walk in your doors.<br />
They are outdoor insects, and may be carried into your house on your firewood.<br />
They come in on dried food or pet food -- yes, very common. They are closely related to the bugs that infest dried foods, in fact, and you can probably bring them home from the grocery store!<br />
They also appear in your house after a rat or mouse infestation; perhaps they live in the coats of rats and mice.<br />
They can live in your attic for years before you know they are there, and slowly spread downstairs.<br />
They can live behind, or beneath, heavy pieces of furniture -- and maybe even inside the furniture!<br />
<br />
They may be in your mattress or pillow.<br />
If you have what appears to be bed-bug bites (especially if one person in the bed is bitten and the other is not), it could be you are allergic to the larvae of the carpet beetle!<br />
<br />
<b>Once they are in your house, the adult females lay eggs</b>.<br />
Depending upon the species of course, the female can lay from 30 to 100 eggs, once a year or more often than that.<br />
One source describes the eggs as small and pearly-white, located near a food source such as the lint around baseboards, or the duct-work of hot-air furnace systems.<br />
Eggs are laid on clothing, in dust-balls or lint in cracks under or behind baseboards, in dusty heating ducts, or on dead insects that have accumulated inside light fixtures! (Obviously, these bugs get everywhere!)<br />
Do you have a dog, and does the dog hair go under your frig? I bet the carpet beetles are there!<br />
<br />
Larvae hatch five or six weeks after being laid (again, that depends on the species) and they feed for about nine months before hibernation.<br />
They feed in dark, undisturbed areas like closets, and in areas under heavy pieces of furniture (couches, pianos) where there is no foot traffic.<br />
Carpet beetle larvae tend to be secretive and only come out in the dark to feed.<br />
They live between 250 to 650 days, depending on the species, and most of their time is spent scavenging for protein rich food in dimly lit areas.<br />
<br />
<b>Yes, I think these fur traders would have had a problem with these bugs!</b><br />
<br />
When you are searching for the source of your infestation, look at the following:<br />
Search your attics, basements and storage places; <br />
Check rugs next to walls; upholstered furniture; closets; shelves; radiators and the space beneath and behind them; registers and ducts, baseboards; moldings, corners and floor cracks (between tiles, for example).<br />
Stored woolen and flannels in wooden chests or boxes, or in dresser drawers or cupboards.<br />
Around the edges of, or underneath, rarely moved furniture.<br />
<br />
If you have holes in your clothes, it could be either carpet beetles, or clothes moths.<br />
The difference between the two seems to be quite apparent -- if clothes moths you will see the adult moths flying nearby, and you will find moths or pupae casings in your clothes.<br />
Carpet beetles are less conspicuous.<br />
They feed, and then they move elsewhere after feeding.<br />
Tell-tale signs of carpet beetle infestation in clothes is: small, irregular holes, especially around the collar!<br />
Why I do not know, but they like soiled or sweat-stained clothing (even if polyester), and so might be attracted to the neckline of the garment.<br />
<br />
I am not going to talk about dealing with a carpet beetle infestation, but I will tell you what I did.<br />
I only had three or four on my windowsill last year -- that is not a lot.<br />
However I panicked: thinking that I was spreading these things on my clothes to all my friends' houses!<br />
I did a bit of research, and put borax on pieces of paper which I slid them under every single piece of furniture I had (if you mix borax with sugar and do the same thing it works on silverfish).<br />
I stuffed all the many gaps behind my baseboards with borax or boric acid powder.<br />
That was last summer.<br />
I haven't done a thing since.<br />
And I haven't seen a single carpet beetle this year, in my place, anyway!<br />
Problem solved, I think.<br />
<br />
<b>Caution:</b> Do not put borax straight on the carpet, it might bleach or stain it. I don't think you have to worry about boric acid, but check first.<br />
You can buy boric acid in a pharmacy: do not breath in the powder!<br />
Do not put either borax, or boric acid, anywhere your child or pet might lick it up -- it's toxic. That's why I put it under all the heavy, immovable pieces of furniture that go all the way to the floor.<br />
<br />
So while this might not sound like a fur trade story, I think it is.<br />
The fur traders shook out their furs every spring to get rid of the bugs: the adult and very visible carpet beetles emerged in the springtime about the same time.<br />
A little research told me that carpet beetles are everywhere in Canada, even in the cities that experience winters much more fierce than Victoria's.<br />
Every article I opened up told me that carpet beetles loved furs -- in fact, furs were at the top of every experts' list.<br />
I have no problem believing that these outdoor bugs moved into Native houses and lived there; they were also in the log houses the fur traders lived in.<br />
I think these bugs, in their larvael stage, were carried in the Natives' furs traded every spring at the various fur trade posts. <br />
I have no problem believing that the red and black adult carpet beetles were the insects that the fur traders spotted every spring, ant that these are the bugs they shook out of their furs every spring. They may have rid themselves of the adults; the larvae, however, remained in the furs to be shipped to England. <br />
<br />
So someone on Twitter called me a nerd the other day; I felt quite flattered.<br />
I later discovered that the definition of a nerd is "a person utterly fixated on a certain subject."<br />
I'm happy with that: I think that when I can take a perfectly common and totally unconnected subject such as modern-day carpet beetles, and turn it into a fur trade post, then I have passed the nerd test.<br />
I accept that I am a fur trade nerd.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-30434237751086770902013-05-19T08:23:00.000-07:002013-05-19T08:23:13.494-07:00My "Story-Teller" talk at St. Stephens Church<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sc4iJGUX7xU/UZjswZCvZWI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/2Hj475hXMww/s1600/Anderson's+grave.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sc4iJGUX7xU/UZjswZCvZWI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/2Hj475hXMww/s320/Anderson's+grave.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
I was invited to speak at an event put on by St. Stephen's Trust Society, called "Exploring the Past."<br />
St Stephens is the old church in Central Saanich, where my great-grandfather Alexander Caulfield Anderson is buried. [His worn tombstone is shown, above].<br />
The St. Stephens Trust Society has been established to prevent the old church from being closed down, and so far they have been quite successful in this.<br />
<br />
I was only one of the invited speakers, and my talk was about ten minutes long.<br />
The evening began with a video of the retiring churchyard guide taking about some of the people who are buried in the churchyard, and telling his stories of what he knew about them.<br />
Many of the people he spoke of were people he had known many years ago, and he told stories about them that no one else knew.<br />
He also told us all that St. Stephens was a country church and that people from many denominations attended the church in its earlier years, before splitting off to build their own churches in the immediate neighbourhood.<br />
I had never thought of St. Stephens Church in that way.<br />
<br />
After the video ran, I was the next speaker, and I was followed by Diana Chown who talked about the neighboring Holy Trinity Graveyard.<br />
Sylvia van Kirk was to close the evening but she had laryngitis, and so the president of the Old Cemetery Society rose to tell the crowd what that organization does in Victoria. <br />
It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and there were lots of conversations after the night was done -- especially as Diana Chown talked about a few people who appeared in my book, <i>The Pathfinder</i>. <br />
<br />
So anyway, here is what I had to say:<br />
<br />
"Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the celebrations we are enjoying here tonight, as we say thank you to St. Stephens Church's resident story-teller.<br />
<br />
"My name is Nancy Anderson, and I am the great grand-daughter of the fur trader and explorer, Alexander Caulfield Anderson, whose worn gravestone stands just outside the front door of St. Stephens Church.<br />
<br />
"So -- who was Alexander Caulfield Anderson, you ask: and why is he important?<br />
<br />
"He was the fur trader who, in 1846 and 1847, explored four routes across the range of mountains that separated the fort at Kamloops, from Fort Langley on the lower Fraser River.<br />
"Those of you who have driven through British Columbia know that means he must have traversed the Coquihalla long before any roads existed there, or he walked around the range of mountains that loomed above Hell's Gate.<br />
<br />
"In fact he did both -- on foot, and in later years on horseback, with the fur traders' brigades.<br />
"His story is told in my book, <i>The Pathfinder</i> -- and from this book you will also come to understand how significant a figure he was in North and Central Saanich's early history.<br />
<br />
"Stories are important, and they are how both family histories, and local histories, are saved.<br />
<br />
"For example: you would probably not consider A. C. Anderson's wife, Betsy Birnie, a significant person -- but she was the probable mixed-blood grand-daughter of the voyageur Joseph Beaulieu, who crossed the Rocky Mountains with the North West Company's explorer David Thompson in 1807.<br />
"But after I say something like this, I have to add the line: -- "Not that we can prove it!"<br />
<br />
"And this is why stories must be told and retold and, also, written down. It is highly likely that our story is true but it wasn't written down, and so we can't prove it.<br />
"We do, however, know, that Anderson's wife, Betsy, was born into the fur trade at Spokane House in 1822, shortly after her mother's marriage to fur trader James Birnie.<br />
<br />
"So, Betsy grew up in the fur trade, and lived a fur trade life until she was forty years old -- she would not have fitted well into the lives of the English settlers who broke land in this valley.<br />
"Still, when she died in March 1872, her funeral at St. Stephens was attended by the many friends of the Anderson family.<br />
<br />
"And so the first generation of Andersons who came to early British Columbia are buried in this cemetery -- the next generation is represented here as well.<br />
"The grave of Anderson's son, Walter Birnie Anderson (and his wife and daughter), stands only twenty feet away from A. C. Anderson's grave.<br />
<br />
"Walter came to Saanich when he was about twelve years old, and he grew up on the Anderson farm on Wain Road.<br />
"He eventually became one of the early British Columbia policemen, and served the force in Comox and Cumberland for many years.<br />
"He returned to Victoria on his retirement, and when he died, he chose to be buried at St. Stephens.<br />
"This was his home.<br />
<br />
"The next two generations are also represented here, in two separate plots.<br />
"The Harveys, who lived on Knapp Island, are descendants of A. C. Anderson's daughter Agnes, who was also born into the fur trade at Fort Colvile, near Spokane.<br />
"Agnes was fortunate, and unlike her older brothers and sisters she adapted well to the civilization at early Fort Victoria.<br />
"She married well, to Captain James Gaudin -- a rather famous man himself, and her grandchildren married into the Dunsmuirs of Nanaimo.<br />
"Hence her family brings representatives of many prominent British Columbia families into St. Stephens Churchyard.<br />
<br />
"The final Anderson family member buried here is my aunt, Claire.<br />
"No one but my sister and I could have identified the infant buried in Walter Anderson's grave, and we only managed to do so because of our ancient mother's many stories about her older sister, Claire -- who she never knew! Claire died before my mother was even born.<br />
<br />
"Both Claire and my mother, Marguerite Flora Anderson, were children of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's youngest son, born in Saanich in 1864.<br />
"His name was Arthur, and he was less than twenty years old when his father died.<br />
"He remained in Saanich for a few years before going to the Kootenays to log and mine.<br />
"Eventually he returned home with money, and purchased a strip of land west and north of this church.<br />
"If any of you live on Salmon Road or the tangle of roads in that immediate vicinity, you are living on Arthur Beattie Anderson's old property. [At that point a few people put up their hands; they lived there].<br />
<br />
"Arthur sold off pieces of his land as his money ran out, and he also rowed across the inlet to work on the Malahat, which was then under construction.<br />
"When he ran out of money in 1917 or so, he sold his last piece of property and moved to Valdez Island to raise sheep.<br />
"Arthur eventually died in Duncan, where he is buried in an unmarked grave.<br />
<br />
"But before Arthur left Saanich, he sold one piece of land to his father-in-law, Reverend Frederick Granville Christmas -- the man church members now know as "Father Christmas."<br />
"This gives my family one more very strong connection to St. Stephens Church.<br />
<br />
"As I have said, stories are important.<br />
"Tonight we are celebrating the work your resident story teller has done in researching your stories and in bringing them to you.<br />
"He might not have known all the Anderson family stories, but he would certainly have understood who Alexander Caulfield Anderson was!<br />
<br />
"In the fall of 1861, Anderson was one of three men who cleared the land so that St. Stephens Church could be constructed the following spring.<br />
"For this reason, if for no other, A. C. Anderson will remain a part of St. Stephens Church's long and wonderful history.<br />
"Moreover, to members of the Anderson family, St. Stephens churchyard continues to hold an important place in our collective memories; it's a special place."<br />
<br />
It's odd, but many people are afraid of public speaking -- and so was I when I first started.<br />
I no longer am.<br />
I have a few tricks that makes it all work for me, and for the all-important attendees.<br />
I write my speech for the audience, and so each talk is aimed at the people I think will be attending -- casual for people who might not know who he is, and more detailed for people who are historians.<br />
The Anderson Island people, for example, got to see all the family pictures that never made it into the book -- the image of the school Anderson attended, the maps of Australia and India and London. They also saw images of Fort Nisqually that no one else has seen.<br />
<br />
I write my speech and print it out, double-spaced and in large letters. I also staple the pages together so I won't drop a page and lose track of where I am.<br />
In this last talk, I hadn't printed the speech in large enough letters, so I found it harder to follow and, on one occasion, lost my place for a bit.<br />
I time the speech with a timer when I am writing it, and stop a little short of the usual 45 minutes.<br />
I re-read the talk a few times just before I am going to give it; that way I know the talk well enough that I can read, to remind myself, and look at the audience.<br />
I pause at important places. People take in what you said in the pauses (so losing your place for a moment or two is not a bad thing as it gives people time to absorb what you just said).<br />
I plan the pauses, and write them into my talk.<br />
[Pause]<br />
And most importantly: I eat a big pasta meal <u>before</u> every talk.<br />
Pasta and other complex carbohydrates are very calming, and though I am nervous at the start, I am rarely if ever <u>terribly</u> nervous.<br />
<br />
At the end of the talk I am willing to answer questions. I carry a "Need to know book" in which I have answers to the questions I might be asked.<br />
At my first talk I was asked the size of A.C. Anderson 1867 map, and I gave the wrong answer.<br />
Of course I should have gone to my book for the answer, but did not, and based my answer on my visualization of the smaller-sized scan I was more familiar with.<br />
I also need to carry a family tree around with me, because someone will always ask about his children.<br />
<br />
If you give talks you will begin to learn what works for you, and what you need to carry around with you.<br />
I hope some of what I said has helped you.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-34632147460997105662013-05-04T15:17:00.000-07:002013-05-04T15:17:43.994-07:00Le Camas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J8Ell82JJ9w/UYWISwKn1rI/AAAAAAAAAIo/F96lG7EEdbM/s1600/third+batch+camas+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J8Ell82JJ9w/UYWISwKn1rI/AAAAAAAAAIo/F96lG7EEdbM/s400/third+batch+camas+002.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In his book, <i>Trees and Shrubs: Food, Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of British Columbia</i>, [Victoria: Banfield, 1925] James Robert Anderson -- eldest son of A. C. Anderson -- described the two kinds of Camas that bloomed every May in the oak meadows that surrounded Fort Victoria:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
"It is commonly called Camas or Le Camas and so the name has degenerated into Lickomas amongst those who are ignorant of the origin of the name. It is a bulbous plant, bearing a spike of beautiful blue flowers, from 6 to 12 inches in height, belonging to the Lily family. The bulb, which is about the size of a small Hyacinth, is a common article of food among the Indian tribes of North America.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"I am not aware of the limits of the territory in which it grows, but certainly in British Columbia, with which I am at present dealing, it is common everywhere where the land is sufficiently clear of trees and the soil rich enough, a rich black loam in open country being its natural habitat. The women go out when the plant is in bloom and with long, sharp, slightly curved and flattened, tough sticks dig up the bulbs, which are from 4 to 5 inches in the ground. These are conveyed to a kiln, 10 feet or less in diameter, and there cooked, after which the bulbs are divided among the contributors, who place them in baskets and store them away for future use. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"In a raw state the Camas is perfectly white, very glutinous, sweet, with an aromatic and pleasant flavour. The kilns of which I speak are hollows in the ground from 2 to 3 feet in depth, the bottoms of which are filled with large stones, on which fires are built until the stone become red hot. Grass is then placed on the stones, on the grass the Camas is heaped, and in turn covered over with grass and mats, and earth heaped over all. The Camas is allowed to remain in the kiln for several days or until it is quite cold, when, as I said before, the bulbs are divided up. This, before the use of iron utensils became known, was a very common mode of cooking. Besides Camas, other roots were cooked in the same way."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Botanist Nancy J. Turner, in her book <i>Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples</i> [Royal BC Museum Handbook], accurately describes these two flowers, see below:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I saw camas in bloom in Beacon Hill Park a few weeks ago, and so I think those are the Common Camas, while the ones that are just beginning to bloom outside my window are the larger Great Camas -- I hadn't know that till now.<br />
Next year I will be sure to get photos of the earlier Beacon Hill Park flowers, so we can, perhaps, see the difference.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But for now, this is how Ms. Turner describes the camas:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"These [two] species of camas are herbaceous perennials with large, glutinous bulbs, 1.5 to 3 cm. thick and 2 to 4 cm. long, covered by a membranous brown skin. The grass-like leaves are basal, 10 to 20 mm broad and 20 to 40 cm long. The flower stems are 30 to 50 cm long, bearing a loose terminal cluster of showy blue blossoms in late spring. Great Camas (C. leichtlinii) is generally larger and stouter than the Common Camas (C. quamash) and blooms two or three weeks later."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Both camas are common to southeastern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Great Camas may also grow on the west side of the Cascade Mountains, but the Common Camas blooms in the Columbia Valley south of Castlegar and in parts of eastern Washington and Idaho.<br />
Young James would have seen the camas there as a twelve-year old, when he lived with his father at Fort Colvile.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Common Camas is the plant that early fur trader David Thompson would have known.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I call these fur traders' flowers, and that is why I use their images on both my Twitter and Facebook page.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I wait for them every spring -- so, too, did the David Thompson and the fur traders in the Kootenays, Idaho and Eastern Washington.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
From Jack Nisbet's book, <i>Sources of the River</i>, I quote:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"On a fall day in 1809, [David] Thompson had stopped at a bend in the Pend Oreille River to smoke with a small group of Kalispel Indians led by a good-natured old chief. In his diary it amounts to nothing more than a brief exchange: "The oldest man according to custom made a speech & a Present of 2 Cakes of root Bread about 12 lb. of roots & 2 1/2 dried Salmon..." The Kalispel chief has presented the surveyor with his first basket of roasted camas bulbs. They would become one of his trail staples, a food that made his belly grumble but kept it full. Thompson had saved some of these roots, and from his desk in 1847, when he was seventy-seven years old, he could take time to savor the moment, to focus his rheumy eye on a few small tubers."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Nisbet continues with the lines that David Thompson wrote: "These Roots are about the size of a Nutmeg, they are ... near the surface, and are turned up with a pointed Stick, they are farinaceous, of a pleasant taste, easily masticated, and nutritive, they are found in the small meadows of short grass, in a rich soil, and a short exposure to the Sun dries them sufficiently to keep for years. I have some beside me which were dug up in 1811 and are now thirty-six years old and are in good preservation ... but they have lost their fine aromatic smell."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"As he sniffed the camas roots, Thompson transported himself back to the blue-petaled meadows of the Pend Oreille, and the shriveled relics on his desk brought back the taste of the whole place..."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Camas bulbs were a staple food for the Coast Salish on southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. "Although the natural range of camas in the interior is extremely limited," Nancy Turner writes in her book, <i>Food Plants of Interior First Peoples</i>, "its distribution was significantly increased through trade with aboriginal groups of Washington, Idaho and Montana, where it was a staple food. Hence it was known not only to the Kutanaxa but also, at least in dried form, to the Okanagan, Nlaka'pamux and southern Secwepemc of British Columbia."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
At one time I had a description of a fire pit for camas in the Thompson River district -- and after quite a search I finally found it.<br />
This description is included in "Notes on the Shuswap People of British Columbia," by George M. Dawson, in Transactions of Royal Society of Canada,<br />
<br />
In the section labeled "Plants used as Food or for Other Purposes," Dawson wrote:<br />
"Several native roots still constitute notable items in the food of the Shuswaps, though their importance in this respect has much decreased since flour and other farinaceous foods have become common, and particularly since the cultivation of the potato has become customary among the Indians.<br />
"Roots are always dug and cooked or cured by the women.<br />
"In digging the roots a pointed stick about four feet in length, with a crutch-shaped handle, is used.....<br />
<br />
"In some places on that part of the Columbia which is included in the territory of the Shuswaps, the camass (Camassia esculenia) is abundant, and forms an important article of diet.<br />
"This following excellent description of the mode of cooking the camass in this district is given by Mr. J. M. Macoun.<br />
"It will serve equally to explain this process of cooking roots of other kinds: --<br />
""The bulbs were collected by the Indians before the seed was fully matured, at which time they consider them at their best.<br />
"The party I speak of had between twenty and twenty-five bushels of them at the lowest estimate.<br />
"For two or three days before cooking was begun, the women of the party were engaged in cutting and carrying to camp branches of the alder and maple.<br />
"Several bundles of the broad leaves of skunk cabbage, and two or three of the black hair like lichen that grows in profusion on Larix occidentalis (Larch?), had been brought with them.<br />
"Everything being ready, the men of the party cut down a huge pine for no other object, apparently, than to obtain its smaller branches, as no other portion of it was used.<br />
"A hole about ten feet square and two deep was then dug in a gravelly bank near the lake shore, which was filled with broken pine branches. <br />
"Upon these were piled several cords of dry cedar and pine, and this was covered over with small boulders.<br />
"The pile was then lighted in several places, and left for some hours to take care of itself.<br />
"When the Indians returned to it the stones lay glowing among a mass or embers.<br />
"The few unburnt pieces of wood which remained near the edge were raked away, and the women with wooden spades banked up the sides of the pile with sand, throwing enough of it over the stones to fill up every little crevice through which a tongue of flame might be thrust up from the coals that still burned beneath the stones.<br />
"Then the whole was covered with the maple and alder boughs to the depth of a foot ore more after they had been well trampled down.<br />
"Over these were placed the wide leaves of the skunk cabbage until every cranny was closed.<br />
"Sheets of tamarac bark were then spread over the steaming green mass, and upon these the bulbs were placed.<br />
"About half of them were in bark baskets closed at the mouth, and each holding about a bushel and a half.<br />
"These were carried to the centre of this pile.<br />
"The lichen of which I have spoken was then laid over the unoccupied bark, having been well washed first, and over it were strewn the bulbs that remained.<br />
"The whole was then covered with boughs and leaves as before and roofed with sheets of bark.<br />
"Upon this three or four inches of sand was thrown, and over all was heaped the material for another fire, larger even than the first one.<br />
"When this was lighted the sun was just setting, and it continued to burn all night.<br />
<br />
"The next morning our camp was moved away, and I was unable to see the results of the day's labour.<br />
"I was told, however, by one of the Indians who could speak a little English, that their oven would be allowed a day in which to cool, and that when opened the bulbs in the baskets would have 'dissolved to flour' from which bread could be made, while those mixed with the lichen would have united with it to form a solid substance resembling black plug tobacco in colour and consistency, which could be broken up and kept sweet for a long time."<br />
This method of cooking differs from others in this post, as you will see.<br />
It also appears that this last, written by J.M. Macoun, was published in Garden and Forest, July 16, 1890.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Turner has much more information in her book <i>Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples</i>, because, of course, the camas grows on the coast more than it does in the BC interior, excepting the Kootenays.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And all this is new to me!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Camas bulbs were a staple article of diet for many indigenous groups of the northwestern United States and were also widely used in British Columbia in areas where they were obtainable. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"They were especially important to the Coast Salish of southern Vancouver Island, but were eaten to a lesser extent by the mainland Halq'emeylem, Squamish, Sechelt, Comox, Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwaka'wakw.....</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Methods of collection and preparation of the bulbs vary according to tradition, but most groups dug up the bulbs during or after flowering, between May and August, and steamed them in pits.... </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Among the Vancouver Island Coast Salish, aboriginal harvesting and crop maintenance practices for camas can be termed semi-agricultural. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Large areas around Victoria, such as the grasslands of Beacon Hill Park, and the small islands off the Saanich Peninsula, were frequented each year by the Saanich and Songhees peoples. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"They divided the camas beds into individually owned plots, passed from generation to generation. "Each season, the families cleared their plots of stones, weeds and brush, often by controlled burning. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Harvesting took several days, with entire families participating. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"The harvesters systematically lifted out the soil in small sections, removed the larger bulbs and replaced the sod.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Even in this century, families would collect four to five potato-sacks full at a time; most of these would be used for a communal feast upon returning to the villages."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Now she describes the pits the camas were cooked in -- and it is the same, but also differs, from the descriptions I have already given you:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Natives "cooked the bulbs in steaming pits usually 1 to 2 metres across and almost a metre deep.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"The cooks lit a fire in the bottom and allowed it to burn until the rocks lining the pit were red hot.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"After removing the ashes, they levelled the bottom of the pit and placed seaweed, blackberry and salal branches, fern fronds or Grand Fir boughs in the pit.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Then they added the camas bulbs -- as much as 50 kg at a time.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Sometimes they mixed them with Red Alder or Arbutus bark to give the bulbs a reddish colour.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Finally, they covered the pit with more branches, then with soil or sand and old mats or sacking.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Water was poured in through a hole made with a stick, and the bulbs were allowed to steam for a day and a half."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"When cooked," Nancy Turner finishes her story, "Blue Camas bulbs are soft, brownish and sweet. They were often used to sweeten other foods, such as Soapberries, in the days before sugar was available.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Contrary to popular belief, the bulbs do not contain starch, but a complex sugar known as inulin -- the same substance found in the roots of the Spring Sunflower and Jerusalem Artichoke. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Slow cooking promotes the conversion of inulin to its component units of fructose, a sweet, digestible sugar.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"This is why cooked camas bulbs taste sweet."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So now you know.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
You can purchase these bulbs for planting in some gardening stores.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
However, I have friends that planted many at great expense on their island property, and not one came up.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In his above mentioned book, <i>Trees and Shrubs</i>, A. C.Anderson's son, James, also talked of the Death Camas, or what he called <i>Zygadenus venenosus</i>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In the Poisonous Plants section of the book, he writes this about the bulb:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"This is the variety which grows about Victoria in company with the real Camas; it also occurs quite commonly in the open parts of the Province... Both have the same grass-like leaves as the ordinary edible Camas, but are to be distinguished by the colour of the flowers, the former being of a yellowish-white, whilst those of the edible Camas are blue. Nevertheless, care has to be exercised by the natives in digging up the bulbs of the edible Camas on account of the resemblance of the bulbs. This is a well-known poisonous plant both to human beings and animals, the poison being contained both in the leaves and bulbs. According to United States reports, in the State of Montana 3,030 sheep were poisoned in 1900, of which 21 per cent died. Experiments in the United States show the poison to be an alkaloid related to the violent poison of hellebore. One-fiftieth of a grain killed a frog in two minutes. The dose of strychnine fatal to a frog is twice that amount. From this some idea of the intensely poisonous nature of the bulbs may be gathered."</div>
<br />
Nancy J. Turner also warns against eating the Death Camas.<br />
She says: "Care must be taken never to confuse the bulbs of the Blue Camas with those of the closely related Death Camas. The bulbs are similar in size and shape... Death Camas has cream-coloured flowers that are smaller and in a tighter cluster than those of the two Blue Camas species. Death Camas commonly grows together with the Blue Camas, and the leaves are difficult to distinguish. Anyone wishing to sample Blue Camas bulbs should dig them up at flowering time to avoid any possibility of misidentification.<br />
<br />
Every year at about this time, I begin to post pictures of the Camas on various Facebook pages where the fur trade descendants gather, and we all tell our stories of Le Camas.<br />
I will do the same this year.<br />
It is our tradition.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-24514719553013756622013-04-28T18:24:00.000-07:002013-04-28T18:24:50.114-07:00William Henry McNeill, and his very old-fashioned conundrums <br />
I found these conundrums in the British Columbia archives, in the front page of William Henry McNeill's sea log.<br />
"Conundrums" are puzzles; and these puzzles are truly a puzzle -- the puzzle being is how anyone could have ever figured out the answers.<br />
But these men were sailors, and long-distance or ocean sailing can be a very boring business (I know, I've been there).<br />
The officers had time on their hands, and they used that spare time to create these terrible quizzes.<br />
Here are the questions, for your enjoyment:<br />
<br />
1. Why is a dandy like a haunch of venison?<br />
<br />
2. Why are pens, Ink & Paper like fixed stars?<br />
<br />
3. What word is that which by taking away the first letter makes you sick?<br />
<br />
4. What is always invisible yet never out of sight?<br />
<br />
5. Why is an empty room like a room of married people?<br />
<br />
6. Where did Noah strike the first nail of the Ark?<br />
<br />
7. What is smaller than a mite's head?<br />
<br />
8. Why is a lover like a gooseberry?<br />
<br />
9. Why is swearing like an old coat?<br />
<br />
10. Where was Moses when his candle was blown out?<br />
<br />
11. Why do ladies talk least in February?<br />
<br />
So, who was William Henry McNeill?<br />
First, he is the man after whom McNeil Island,in Puget Sound, was named.<br />
McNeill was an American sea captain who joined the fur trade of the HBC.<br />
According to Bruce Watson in <i>Lives Lived West of the Divide</i>, he was born in Boston, Mass., in 1801 or 1803.<br />
He "started his sea-going career as an employee of Boston traders sailing between the Sandwich Islands and Boston. On October 16, 1824, he left Boston harbour in command of the <i>Convoy</i>, arriving back in Oahu the following year. By 1826, the command of the <i>Convoy</i> was given to John Dominis who along with McNeill, now in command of the <i>Tally Ho</i> traded at Norfolk Sound for the season. From 1830 he sailed the <i>Lama</i> from Boston and the following year was back on the Northwest Coast.<br />
"In 1832, when McNeill brought the vessel to the Coast and heard from Dr. McLoughlin that the HBC was in search of such a vessel to replace the unservicable vessel, <i>Vancouver</i>, he quickly sailed to the Sandwich Islands where the <i>Lama</i> was purchased by Chief Factor Duncan Finlayson. Following this, on September 1, 1832, McNeill was hired on by the HBC in Oahu, an act to which the Governor and Committee reluctantly agreed, preferring an American to the incompetent English captains.<br />
"In the early summer of 1834, McNeill ransomed three shipwrecked Japanese from the Cape Flattery Makah. In 1837, in command of the steamer, <i>Beaver</i>, he found Victoria harbour, a site which later that year McLoughlin rejected. In January 1838, when the crew of the <i>Beaver</i> mutinied against McNeill's discipline, John Work had to bring the vessel from Fort Simpson to Fort Nisqually with McNeill as a passenger. At that point he was ready to retire in 1838 but a promotion to Chief Trader in November 1839 induced him to stay on. In 1846 in response to the establishment of the international border, McNeill along with sixteen others, laid claim to 640 acres of land around Fort Nisqually, land to which the HBC/PSAC held possessory rights, a claim which never came to fruition.<br />
"In 1849-1850 he superintended the construction of Fort Rupert and in 1854 he purchased a town lot in Victoria and in 1855, over 250 acres in the Victoria district. He took charge of Fort Simpson for eight years and became Chief Factor in 1856. When in 1861 he returned to the coast after a year's furlough, he was put in charge of Fort Simpson for two years before retiring. He settled on a farm near Gonzales Point, Vancouver Island, and in 1869 added his name to a petition to U. S. President Grant asking for annexation of British Columbia to the United States. for a time before his death in 1875, he commanded the HBC's steamer <i>Enterprise</i>."<br />
<br />
McNeill was an interesting man and I didn't know all that about him.<br />
He was also a man that the other fur traders disliked, and a difficult man to get along with.<br />
At some point in time I uncovered, in the masses of information I have, that he and John Work had some problems working together, and that McNeill was jealous of Work's position in the Company.<br />
On another occasion James Douglas thought of assigning McNeill to the charge of the Sandwich Islands.<br />
That assignment was quickly cancelled on Governor Simpson's orders, and someone else took over the place -- it appears that Simpson did not think McNeill was the best man for the job.<br />
<br />
However, James Robert Anderson, son of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, liked Captain McNeill, and had quite a bit to say about him in his Memoirs, written many years later.<br />
He first met McNeill when he was a student at the school inside Fort Victoria in the early 1850's, and remembered that McNeill returned from the Sandwich Islands with oranges, which he gave out to the schoolchildren as a greatly appreciated treat.<br />
<br />
As a grownup, James wrote: "The late Captain McNeill was born in Boston, Mass., in 1803; he came to the Coast in 1831 as Master of the American brig 'Llama', 144 tons, laden with merchandise for trading with the natives.<br />
"Arriving on the Coast, he found that the Hudson's Bay Company was first in the field, and realizing that opposition to this powerful Corporation would result in possible serious loss, he, after some negotiations, wisely decided to sell ship and cargo to the Company and enter himself into the service of the Company and become a British subject.<br />
"He was retained in command of the 'Llama' until 1837, when he succeeded Captain Home as Master of the 'Beaver."<br />
"He was in Fort Nisqually in 1841, as he was mentioned by the late A.C. Anderson, who was then in charge of the Post, and by Commodore Wilkes, U.S.N of the 'Vincennes', then lying at that port.....<br />
"Whilst in command of the 'Beaver' Captain McNeill made a survey of the southern part of Vancouver Island and reported favourably on the site of Victoria and Esquimalt.<br />
"It was during the year 1833 that the brig 'Llama' under the command of Captain McNeill and the brig 'Dryad', Captain Kipling, conveyed the stores and material for the construction of Fort McLoughlin from Fort Nisqually and Fort Vancouver.....[see pages 34-39 of <i>The Pathfinder </i>for that story and McNeill's part in it.]<br />
"In the year 1843 Captain McNeill resigned the command of the 'Beaver' to Captain charles Dodd and proceeded to England...<br />
"After Captain McNeill's return from England he was for a short time put in charge of Fort Simpson and later given the command of the Hudson's Bay Company's brigantine 'Mary Dare', trading with Honolulu, whither was conveyed some of the products of the country such as salmon, potatoes, etc., bringing back sugar, molasses, etc.<br />
"It was at this period that I, as a small boy, first became acquainted with Captain McNeill, an acquaintance which in later years, despite the disparity in our ages developed into a warm friendship.<br />
"Some time prior to 1850, Captain McNeill was instrumental in rescuing the survivors of a Japanese vessel, which had been wrecked on the Washington coast, south of Cape Flattery. These survivors consisted only of two boys who were taken to Fort Vancouver. Japan being at that time closed to foreign commerce, the Hudson's Bay Company sent these much travelled boys to England for return to their native country.<br />
"A vase of Japanese workmanship, which was salved [salvaged?] after the wreck is now in the possession of Mrs. Dennis Harris of Victoria."<br />
<br />
Has that last line caused you to perk up your ears? It should have.<br />
We brushed up against the Japanese shipwreck story a few weeks ago; I will return to tell you the rest of the story soon.<br />
<br />
But before I do that, I will give you the answers to Captain McNeill's terrible Conundrums:<br />
<br />
1. Because he is a bit of a buck.<br />
<br />
2. They are stationary.<br />
<br />
3. Music.<br />
<br />
4. The letter g.<br />
<br />
5. Because there is not a single person in it.<br />
<br />
6. On the head.<br />
<br />
7. That which enters it.<br />
<br />
8. Because he is easily made a fool of.<br />
<br />
9. Because it is a bad habit.<br />
<br />
10. In the dark.<br />
<br />
11. Because it is the shortest month.<br />
<br />
Ho Ho Ho!<br />
<br />
These "Conundrums" came from the British Columbia Archives Reel No. 7A (1), "Journal of a voyage kept on board Brig Lama bound for the Sandwich Islands & North West Coast of America."<br />
If I remember correctly, they are written on the inside front cover of the sea-journal that begins "Boston Harbour, Wednesday, October 6th, 1830."<br />
I hope you manage to solve a few of them, at least.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-23606760710446337062013-04-21T07:03:00.000-07:002013-04-21T07:03:05.034-07:00Fort Nisqually: many tiny stories from multiple resources I am amazed at how many stories I have about Fort Nisqually, even though Anderson was only there for one year and a half!<br />
Mind you, much of this information comes from my research for the next book -- William Fraser Tolmie and Fort Nisqually will play an important part in that story!<br />
The information also comes from my being a member of the very active Descendants of Fort Nisqually Employees page on Facebook, where we share a ton of information!<br />
<br />
First, I have to tell that people on above Facebook page have informed me that the Fisgard Island [now Anderson Island] map credited to U.S. surveyor James Tilton was <u>not</u> drawn by Tilton -- but by a fellow named Chapman.<br />
Nor was the map published in 1855, which is the date it carries: it was published a few years earlier than that date.<br />
So I am now digging through the Fort Nisqually journals and other papers that I have downloaded, to see if I can figure out and confirm that story!<br />
And sure enough! On Monday, the 19th of April 1852, the journals record that: "J[ohn] Chapman of Steilacoom City having been engaged to survey the lands claimed by the Puget's Sound Co[mpany], he started to commence operations, accompanied by Mr. [Edward] Huggins and also Barnes, G. Dean and 6 Indians."<br />
Saturday 24th April: "A visit from Mr. Huggins, reports about 30 miles of survey finished. Work arduous & fatiguing."<br />
On Saturday May 1st, 1852: "The surveying party came home, their operations having been stopped today by part of the squatters settled on the lands claimed by the P.S. Co., who would not allow them to proceed any farther. The surveying would have been finished in three or four days more if not stopped, more than three parts done."<br />
Monday 3rd: "Mr. Chapman arrived. Commenced making a plan of the portion of the Company's lands he has lately surveyed."<br />
Wednesday 19th: "Both myself, Barnes & Fiander have been since Monday at surveying part of the Comp[an]y's claim, commenced at the corn 1 miles below Steilacoom & finishing at the point where Mr. Chapman was interrupted on Saturday, 1st May."<br />
So Chapman did the survey of the Fort Nisqually lands in 1852.<br />
In April 1853, a note in the Fort Nisqually journals says this: "The extent of land claimed by the Company according to the survey of Mr. Chapman is 15 miles square."<br />
It covers most of Tacoma, in fact, though it does not include the present site of the replica Fort Nisqually in Point Defiance Park, it does extend up to the park and down to include Dupont and the old location of the first fort, directly opposite Anderson Island.<br />
Clearly it was a big piece of farmland that all the American squatters wanted to get a piece of -- which is why the HBC men had such trouble in fighting off the squatters at Fort Nisqually.<br />
But that is a story for the future; I am working on it now.<br />
If you want more information on the Chapman map, read "Deconstructing Chapman," by Steve A. Anderson, <i>Columbia Magazine</i>, Winter 2011-12, Vol. 25, No. 4. You can't view it online unfortunately, you have to go to your library or order a copy of the magazine.<br />
<br />
<b>So who was James Tilton?</b><br />
And why was James Tilton's name so immediately familiar to me, when I saw the map at Fort Nisqually?<br />
James Tilton was the first Surveyor General of the new Washington Territory, from August 1, 1854 to July 17, 1861: I must have run into him in my Fort Vancouver research.<br />
He arrived in Washington Territory, at Olympia probably, in the spring of 1853, with his wife, children and other family members -- and a young mulatto slave boy named Charles Mitchell, supposedly a gift.<br />
Now, here's where James Tilton's story gets really interesting!<br />
On September 24, 1860, the young slave, Charles Mitchell, was smuggled aboard the steamship apparently by the ship's cook, James Allen, and stowed away.<br />
His hiding place was discovered by the ship's captain, who intended to return him to his Washington State master: he locked the boy in his cabin before sailing into Victoria's harbour on the 25th of the month.<br />
Apparently the blacks who lived in Victoria got wind of Charles Mitchell's imprisonment on the steamship, and through legal means got a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i> that forced the captain to release the boy into British custody.<br />
The captain objected for a minute or two, but allowed the boy to be removed. The next day, Chief Justice Cameron ruled that because Charles Mitchell had stepped onto British soil, he was free.<br />
<br />
You've probably heard this story: it just hit the newspapers here in Victoria and in Seattle area.<br />
You can see how recently this story broke by googling, "Charles Mitchell, slave."<br />
<br />
But the Charles Mitchell story happened in 1860: Now we are going back in time -- to sometime before 1821!<br />
<br />
<b>Who was the first fur trader who ventured through the area where Fort Nisqually later stood?</b><br />
It is generally stated that John Work and Archibald McDonald were the persons who founded Fort Nisqually.<br />
But who was the first fur trader to visit the site of future Fort Nisqually?<br />
If you have no answer to that question, than you might be interested in this statement, written by Peter Skene Ogden to Governor Simpson in 1847:<br />
"As I now entertain some serious thought of retiring from the fur trade .... I know it will appear egotistical of me to call your attention to my long and arduous service on the West side of the Mountains.<br />
"....Prior to the junction of the two Companys [NWCo. & HBCo in 1821] I also explored the whole of Puget's Sound and was the first who opened the communication by the Cowlitz River to the former place & in that direction extended my travels to within hail of Fraser River (Point Roberts) but unfortunately the credit... was given to another."<br />
Now, isn't that interesting?<br />
Peter Skene Ogden, the fur trader who explored most of what is now the western United States, also once explored north and west from Fort Vancouver as far as the mouth of the Fraser River.<br />
So much fur trade and exploration history must be uncovered by reading letters written many years later.<br />
<br />
<b>The Fort Nisqually Brigade Trail: a new brigade trail to me, and I'm the expert (well, sort of)</b>:<br />
Brigade trails is my field of interest, but I embarrassed myself by announcing to the members of the Descendants of Fort Nisqually Employees that, in 1855, clerk Angus McDonald brought out the Fort Colvile and Walla Walla brigades by pack-horse, to Fort Nisqually. Did they know?<br />
"Well," they said, "of course we know -- that's the brigade we celebrate every year [dummy!]."<br />
<br />
In the Fort Nisqually journals, on June 3rd, 1855, I read: "It is reported that the Colvile and Walla Walla brigades are at the mountains on their way to this place."<br />
On June 23rd, 1855, Dugald McTavish wrote from Fort Vancouver that: "The returns of Colvile & Walla Walla will this season be taken out to Nisqually with horses and it is my intention to go over there in a few days for the purpose of meeting Mr. McDonald, who I am in hopes will reach Puget's Sound with his brigade by the 1st May."<br />
McDonald definitely did not make Nisqually on the 1st of May -- the Fort Nisqually journals indicate that on Wednesday 17th of June: "Three Canadians from the interior arrived this evening presenting two orders for flour from Mr. [Angus] McDonald, he is expected to be here five days from hence with the Colvile Brigade."<br />
Monday, July 2nd: "Mr. A[ngus] McDonald arrived this day with the Colvile and Walla Walla Brigades consisting altogether of about 200 pack horses."<br />
They travelled out from the Yakima River area, through the Cascade Mountains and over Naches Pass, north of Mount Rainier -- the same difficult trail that Wilkes' Americans had traversed in 1842, and that Anderson had brought his cattle drive only a few months later.<br />
From Fort Vancouver McTavish reported, on July 31st: "that Mr. Angus McDonald arrived at Nisqually on the 2nd Inst with the interior furs (amounting to 173 packs) in order -- he found the road from the Yakima very wet & stony. Twelve horses of the Walla Walla brigade got knocked up and were left en route but they will probably be found on the return of the party."<br />
Although no mention of the fun the brigaders had at Fort Nisqually is made in the journals, Steve Anderson, author of <i>Angus McDonald of the Great Divide: the Uncommon Life of a Fur Trader, 1816-1889</i>, tells us [on page 105] that "Puppet shows, athletic feats of strength, speed and skill, as well as a great deal of betting amongst the men broke up the hard work.<br />
"Angus enthralled everyone with his stories, while late night drunks and early morning pranks were documented by Huggins in his later years."<br />
Finally, on Wednesday 25th of July, "Mr. McDonald with the Colvile brigades started this day with 151 pieces goods."<br />
He arrived back at Fort Colvile "with his brigade from Nisqually on the 12th August and found everything in order."<br />
Apparently, it was hoped that the Naches Pass Road would be a future brigade trail, saving the Fort Colvile men the difficulty of bringing out their furs to Fort Langley over the Coquihalla brigade trail, or downriver to Fort Vancouver as they had done for years.<br />
It was not to be. 1855 was the only year that the Fort Colvile fur traders brought their furs out to Fort Nisqually.<br />
In later years, they carried the furs out through British territory, via the Similkameen Trail to Fort Langley, making plans at the same time to build new posts in British territories north of Fort Colvile.<br />
In 1855 the fur trade of the Columbia district, and at Fort Nisqually, was changing rapidly.<br />
It would never again be what it used to be.<br />
<br />
<b>General Fort Nisqually information, in the words of Alexander Caulfield Anderson:</b><br />
This is how Anderson described the workings of Fort Nisqually when he arrived there in 1840 [the following is edited for clarity]:<br />
"Nisqually was established in 1833 by the Hudson's Bay Co. for the purposes of the fur trade. When the Puget Sound Company was organized it continued to be carried on by the Hudson's Bay post, the business of the P.S.Co. being transacted after the manner of an agency.<br />
"At the time the chief expenses of the establishment were incurred for the P.S. Co., and corresponding charges were made against the P.S. Co by the H.B. Co..<br />
"Large herds of cattle and extensive flocks of sheep were on the gorund when I assumed charge in October 1840, also a considerable band of horses.<br />
"The sheep at that time were in several flocks, and the pasture pounds varied daily. The shepherds lived with their flocks in temporary huts and a moveable house on wheels. The whole were under the direction of a head shepherd -- one Mr. Lewis, an experience shepherd engaged in Scotland for the purpose.<br />
"At certain seasons the flock of imported rams were herded at a distance with great care in order to regulate the period of breeding.the sheep on the ground at that time were, as far as I remember, all of improved breeds -- the product of ewes originally imported from California, crossed by valuable rams from England. I could not state from memory the number; there were some hundreds -- a reference to the inventory made by me in spring of 1841 and forwarded to Vancouver would enable me to do so with certainty.<br />
"The herds of sheep were folded nightly within distinct enclosures for the purpose of manuring the ground for agricultural purposes. These pens were shifted periodically as the ground became enriched. To promote the comfort of the sheep they were washed and shorn in summer, and the wool picked and sent to Vancouver for shipment to England.<br />
<br />
"There were at the same time large herds of cattle. I cannot speak as to the numbers save under the same conditions as before mentioned. I can state, however, that during the summer of 1841 upwards of 100 cows (I think 120) were tamed and milked for dairy purposes at the district dairy, 4 1/2 to 5 miles from the old Fort.<br />
"Other cows were milked for home use daily at the fort. The cows at the dairy were not all milked at once, but as soon as a certain number of the young cattle had been sufficiently habituated to being handled and milked they were discharged, with their calves, and replaced by others. About 1/3 were probably at each period of the division. All the cattle, milk cows excepted, were penned at night in the same way as the sheep, partly to habituate them to being driven and herded, but chiefly to improve the light soil for agricultural purposes. Mounted herders (Indians) were employed to attend to and collect the cattle.<br />
<br />
There were "no settlers at the time, save only the Wesleyan Mission, under Dr. Richmond, established near the present site of the Fort with the aid and concurrence of the Company."<br />
The crops raised were "wheat, pease, oats, turnips, potatoes, colsa for sheep, in addition to the ordinary culinary vegetables -- probably some barley, but if so, not much.<br />
There were "apple trees in growth but not yet bearing.<br />
"The dairy was conducted by an English dairy woman, whose husband (Ancock) superintended the farming operations." It produced "butter, but not cheese, made by the Indians and other assistants."<br />
<br />
The "Fort has been changed to its present [2nd] site, and subsequently to 1841 had been transferred to the P.S. Co." I "visited Nisqually winter 1851 [when] Dr. Tolmie was in charge. Again in January 1852, assuming charge for a few weeks during Dr. Tolmie's visit to Victoria.<br />
"Cattle wild as compared with former years. Settlers troublesome in various ways -- squatting on lands, molesting cattle" but I "cannot speak of any particular act of aggression."<br />
I "witnessed the altered habits of the cattle, and speak of the aggressions of squatters from what I learned generally at the time, but particulars have escaped my memory."<br />
Anderson wrote this in 1865; here and below you can see how much the fur trade at Fort Nisqually had changed in the years after 1842, when he was stationed there.<br />
I "paid a visit of a few days to Nisqually in the winter of 1860" when "I heard general complaints of aggressions by squatters, and formed the opinion that the P. S. Co.'s business there was in a very insecure and unprotected state. There may have been safety but there was not security."<br />
<br />
By the way, the colsa mentioned above was also known by the name of "Rapeseed."<br />
We now know the plant as Canola; canola is colsa which has had the harmful erucic acid bred out of it.<br />
<br />
<b>I have a little more on the killing of Leander Wallace, too, from "History of Puget Sound and the Northwest Coast," by W.F. Tolmie</b> [Mss. 557, Vol.1, File 11, BCA]<br />
I have added a little punctuation so the story is easier to follow.<br />
For further information on the killing of Wallace, go to my Sunday March 31, 2013 post, titled: "More stories about Fort Nisqually and Anderson Island."<br />
<br />
"In May or June 1849 some thirty armed Indians chiefly Snoqualimi [sic] came to Fort Nisqually, ostensibly to see their relative. At this time a large number of other Indians engaged in washing and shearing sheep were encamped around the post. They, at the midday our seeing the armed Indians approaching, rushed tumultuously into the fort with their women and children, making a great din.<br />
<br />
"The chief of the Snoqualimi, Pattakynum, was admitted into the Fort, the gate closed, and a whiteman with an Indian labourer placed to watch it -- this Indian foolishly fired his gun into the air. This caused the Snoqualimi to rush out of the deserted lodge of the working Indians, where they had been smoking. One of them fired between the pickets into the fort yard wounding an Indian lad in the shoulder, another mortally wounding a young American named Wallace who had arrived for the purpose of trade. He [Wallace], with a companion whose shoulder (just below the insertion of the deltoid muscle) was glanced and bruised by a ball, was standing watching the hubbub outside quite unapprehensive of danger.<br />
<br />
"The white gatekeeper (Thibeult, a French Canadian) ran to the bastion, fired amongst the retreating Indians and killed one. Just before the firing began I, who had been out and in previously, was engaged in a daily visit to an invalid Hudson's Bay officer living at Nisqually. I rushed outside to see poor Wallace breathe his last and helped to carry his remains into the Fort.<br />
<br />
"The hostiles, as I was afterwards informed, levelled [their guns] at me -- they were by this time under cover, but a Sinhomish amongst them protested, saying "harm enough had been done for one day."<br />
<br />
"When some time after, the Oregon Indian superintendent, Quinn Thornton came to Nisqually, he by my counsel offered a large reward in blankets to such Indians as would bring for trial the six named men who were observed by native spectators to discharge their guns outside Fort Nisqually gate. I knew who the real culprits were, but in order that their suspicions might not be aroused, six men were named.<br />
<br />
"In course of the summer months, in August or September, three or four companies of U.S. soldiers under Captain (now General) B. F. Hill of the Artillery, were stationed at Steilacoom some six miles north of Nisqually. Indians not friendly to the Snoqualimi managed in course of the autumn to get the six named men to come to Fort Steilacoom, where they were at once disarmed and imprisoned by the military. At a special Circuit Court held at Steilacoom somewhat later -- Cussass who had shot Wallace, and Qullawowt, who had given the Indian lad a wound from which he soon died, were condemned and hung, before the jury left Steilacoom, I think. Several of the jury who dwelt at safe distance from the seaboard were urgent for having the whole six Indians condemned and hung. Others living on the coast opposed this, fearing immediate reprisals from the Snoqualimi."<br />
<br />
And so I have given you a few more stories of Fort Nisqually, loosely strung together and not even in chronological order.<br />
This is what writing history is all about -- you take these bits and pieces of information and put them together, figuring out where each piece fits; sorting out dates and possible situations; and in the end fitting all the pieces into the background of the times.<br />
This, too, a historian must research and understand.<br />
Writing history is not a simple thing to do; any tiny story can present a complex puzzle with many important details and lots of unanswered questions that the writer part of said researcher needs to explain, as best he can.<br />
That is what makes history so much fun -- at least it's fun if you find a story you can eventually explain in a clear and concise manner that allows others to follow it.<br />
It's hard work finding a good story: it's also hard work taking the work that the researcher side of you has done, and "storifying" it.<br />
The writer-side of the researcher/writer must craft a story from many random and often conflicting details, and make the story both believable and readible.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-76505521311776697732013-04-14T11:15:00.000-07:002013-04-14T11:15:26.651-07:00Japanese Junk shipwrecked amongst the Makah, 1834<br />
As the result of a special request, I am writing part of the story of the Japanese shipwreck on the shores of what would become Washington State, in 1834.<br />
Although Alexander Caulfield Anderson never saw the Japanese boys for himself, the fact that he wrote so much about the shipwreck in later years makes him a major resource for all who want to research this story.<br />
<br />
So, from <i>The Pathfinder</i>, I will quote a bit of the story and go on from there:<br />
[p.40] "After spending the winter of 1833-34 at Fort Vancouver, Anderson once again boarded the brig <i>Dryad</i>, along with 40 other men, on May 1, 1834.<br />
"At Fort George [Astoria], Chief Trader Peter Skene Ogden joined the party, and the ship continued its journey downstream to the river's mouth.<br />
"Once there, the captain found the breezes too light to carry the ship safely across the bar, and the <i>Dryad</i> anchored in Baker's Bay."<br />
<br />
"Sometime during the eight days of forced inactivity at Baker's Bay, Queen Sally, a Cathlamet Native who lived near the mouth of the Columbia River, boarded the vessel and told the story of a shipwreck.<br />
"Anderson wrote of this encounter: <i>In 1834, at Cape Disappointment, on our way to the northwest coast, Indians boarded our vessel and produced a map with some writing in Japanese characters, a string of the perforated copper coins of that country; and other convincing proofs of a shipwreck.</i><br />
<br />
"The Hudson's Bay gentlemen examined the drawing and admired the coins, but as they were unable to take any actions, Ogden sent the woman to Fort Vancouver with her message.<br />
"McLoughlin dispatched Captain William H. McNeill to locate the site of the shipwreck, and the <i>Lama</i> eventually returned to Fort Vancouver with three Japanese sailors who had been enslaved by the Natives."<br />
<br />
So let us look at some resources and see where the information for this story comes from.<br />
The first glimpse any fur trader had of the wreck appears in the Journal of Occurrences at Fort Nisqually:<br />
January 1834: [p.22] "Wednesday 29th. Two men employed squaring wood for Bastions.... An Indian arrived with the unpleasant intelligence that a vessel has been lately wrecked at Cape Flattery and that all hands perished except two men who are now with the Indians there.<br />
"Thursday 30th. ... Ouvre getting a canoe in readiness to set out tomorrow to ascertain the truth of the Indian report about the ship wreck. Rained heavily during the day.<br />
"Friday 31st. ... Ouvre set off with an Indian for the purpose above stated. Rained all last night and this day with a hurricane wind."<br />
The wind blew at hurricane force for five more days, and Ouvre finally returned to Fort Nisqually.<br />
February 1834: [p.23] "Friday 7th. ... Late in the evening Ouvre returned and reported that the story about the shipwreck is a mere fabrication which he ascertained at the Chlallum village New Dungeness."<br />
<br />
But the story wasn't a fabrication, and Captain William McNeill was able to rescue the boys and bring them to Fort Nisqually, on his way to Fort Langley and Vancouver.<br />
Hence, in later Fort Nisqually Journals, more mention was made of the Japanese boys:<br />
June 1834: [p.28] "Monday 9th. the men resumed squaring logs for the Store and roofing this building. About 3pm we heard a couple of Cannon shot, soon after I started in a canoe with six men, and went on board the Llama with the pleasure of taking Tea with McNeill who pointed out two Chinese he picked up from the Natives near Cape Flattery where a vessel of that Nation had been wrecked not long since.<br />
"There is still one, amongst Indians inland, but a promise was made of getting the poor fellow on the Coast by the time the Llama gets there."<br />
McNeill remained at Fort Nisqually for three days and then sailed for Fort Langley.<br />
On his return to the west coast of Washington where he found the first two Japanese sailors, he picked up the third and brought them down to Fort Vancouver.<br />
<br />
The source for these following letters is Fort Vancouver Correspondence, B.22/b/10, fo. 13-20, HBCA:<br />
On the 28th of May, 1834, John McLoughlin wrote to the Governor and Committee:<br />
"Last winter the Indians informed us that a vessel had been touched somewhere about Cape Flattery, and I sent a party along the coast to recover the crew from the natives but our people could not reach the place and a few days ago I received through the Indians a letter written in Chinese characters and I have written to the captains of our vessels to do their utmost to recover those unfortunate men from the Indians.<br />
"I am informed that only three of them are alive and that forty of them are either dead of sickness or have been drowned.<br />
"The Indians say the vessel was loaded with China wares."<br />
On June 23rd McLoughlin wrote to William Kittson, who I presume had just taken charge of Fort Nisqually: "If Captain McNeil fails in recovering the Chinese from the Indians you will do your utmost to accomplish the humane object."<br />
But in July he addressed McNeill: "I am happy to find that you have been so successful in procuring the poor Chinese whom it seems the natives were much inclined to keep in slavery."<br />
<br />
On November 15th, 1834 McLoughlin gave instructions to Captain Darby of the brig <i>Eagle</i>, sailing for London:<br />
"The three Japanese you will take to England and I request you will have the goodness to see that they are as comfortable and as well taken care of as their situation will admit. They are supplied with clothing &c sufficient to take them to England but if they should be in want of any little necessary article you will please supply it on the Hudson's Bay Company's account."<br />
<br />
In his report to the Governor and Committee, on November 18th, 1834, McLoughlin reported on the incident:<br />
"A Japanese junk was wrecked last winter in the vicinity of Cape Flattery and out of the crew of fourteen men only three were saved and [rescued] from the Indians by Captain McNeill on his voyage this summer to Fort Langley......<br />
"The Japanese intrusted the letter W to the natives and it was forwarded from tribe to tribe till it came to us.<br />
"I also send a piece of carved wood with Chinese characters on it, and if I understand the Japanese correctly it is the name of the vessel that she was from Yahongau and bound to Yidda, the capital of Japan with a cargo of rice nankins and porcelain ware.<br />
"They were first driven from their course by a typhoon and subsequently a sea unshipped their rudder or broke their rudder irons when the vessel became unmanageable, and that they were about a year from the date they left their home when they were wrecked at which time they had plenty of rice and water yet on board but that a sickness had broke out among the men which carried off all except these three.<br />
"A little after the vessel grounded and before the natives could get any thing worth while out of her a storm arose and broke her up."<br />
<br />
I have previously told you that Alexander Caulfield Anderson was with Peter Skene Ogden when Queen Sally came aboard their ship and showed the fur traders the collection of papers and coins that she carried south, toward Fort Vancouver.<br />
According to Anderson's various writings (all of a much later date), this is what he witnessed at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1834:<br />
<br />
From: "Notes on the Indian Tribes of British North America, and the Northwest Coast," <i>Historical Magazine</i>, March 1863 [this resource is available online]:<br />
"All the tribes of this portion of the Pacific Coast, I look upon as originating from the islands of the West -- from Japan, the Kuriles and elsewhere.<br />
"Nor is it unsupported hypothesis alone that leads me to this conclusion: within the limited period of my own experience on this coast, I have learnt the possibility of a fortuitous immigration, such as we may be justified in assuming to have led to the gradual peopling of this portion of the continent in the earlier ages.<br />
"For instance, in 1834, at Cape Disappointment, on our way to the northwest coast, Indians boarded our vessel and produced a map with some writing in Japanese characters; a string of the perforated copper coins of that country; and other convincing proofs of a shipwreck.<br />
"Rumors of this had been heard before, and after this corroboration, the company dispatched a vessel to the point indicated.<br />
"It was south of Cape Flattery (at Queen-ha-ilth, I believe).<br />
"Three survivors of the crew were ransomed from the natives, afterwards sent to England, and thence to Japan.--<br />
"In as far as could be understood by us, they were bound from some port in the Japanese Island of Yesi, to another port in the Island of Niphon.<br />
"Losing their reckoning in a typhoon, they drifted for many months, at the mercy of wind and wave, until at length stranded at the point of shipwreck.<br />
"The crew had originally consisted of forty, of whom the greater portion had perished at sea during the transit; three only surviving to reach the shore...."<br />
<br />
He gives more information in: <i>The Dominion at the West; a Brief Description of the Province of British Columbia, its Climate and Resources</i> [Victoria: Richard Wolfenden, 1872]:<br />
"Whether the immigration in the remote past has been voluntary or fortuitous, it is of course vain to conjecture: but the possibility of the latter supposition has been convincingly established, even within the limit of my own experience.<br />
"For in 1834, in consequence of Indian rumours which had reached the Columbia River during the preceding winter, a vessel was dispatched from Fort Vancouver to Queen-ha-ilth, south of Cape Flattery, to enquire into the circumstances of a reported wreck.<br />
"Captain McNeill, the Commander, on arriving there, found the remnants of a Japanese junk, and purchased from the natives a quantity of pottery and other articles that had formed portions of her cargo.<br />
"He likewise brought away three Japanese, the survivors of a crew originally consisting, as we understood, of forty; the rest having perished at sea of hunger.<br />
"It appeared that, having been dismasted in a typhoon and lost their reckoning, the junk had drifted for many months until at length stranded....."<br />
<br />
An identical description as above can also be found in Anderson's <i>Guide to the Province of British Columbia. </i><br />
<br />
In addition to these resources, there is a more important one that is a little more difficult to find.<br />
This is Alexander Caulfield Anderson's "Historical notes on the commerce of the Columbia River, 1824 to 1848," in the Beinecke Library, Yale University Library, New Haven, Conn.<br />
The collection consists of an somewhat inaccurate article labeled "Pioneer Ships: History of Early Commerce on the Columbia River," author unknown -- and Alexander Caulfield Anderson's written response when he corrected some of the information contained in the piece.<br />
<br />
In the article itself, the author writes (somewhat inaccurately) about William H. McNeill:<br />
"In March 1833, a Japanese junk was cast away fifteen miles south of Cape Flattery.<br />
"Out of seventeen, three survived the wreck, to be made captive by the Makah Indians.<br />
"Dr. McLoughlin, hearing of the captivity of the wrecked Japanese, sent overland to Nisqually, and thence down the Sound, Thomas McKay, to redeem them.<br />
"Of this trip and its hero, Dr. W. F. Tolmie writes: Dr. McLaughlin had sent the renowned 'Tom McKay' to Puget Sound to endeavour to reach Cape Flattery by canoe, with the view of bringing about the liberation of the Japanese.<br />
"Tom got no further than the Sinahomish camp, Nigwadsooch [Scadjett Head], and idled away time there as it was suspected.<br />
"On being cross-questioned by the late 'hyass Doctor,' as to the cause of his failure, all he could say, that is remembered, was: 'It blowed, sir, it blowed -- my God! How it did blow!"....[end of W.F. Tolmie's supposed quote].<br />
"After Tom Mackay had returned from his unsuccessful mission, the <i>Llama</i>, Capt. McNeil [sic], was sent to Neah Bay to redeem the Japanese captives.<br />
"In June 1834, [McNeill] was at Fort Nisqually with two of them rescued, the third being in the interior.<br />
"McNeil [sic] returned to Cape Flattery, received the third, proceeded to Fort Vancovuer, and in October the three were sent to London, educated in the English language and sent to their native country."<br />
<br />
In Alexander Caulfield Anderson's handwritten letter, not necessarily included with this article, is his response to the above statement:<br />
"From notes in my possession, supplemented by memory, I may state, regarding the Japanese Junk, as under -- Vague memory had reached Ft. Vancouver during the winter 1833/34 of the wreck of a ship upon the coast at some indefinite point between Gray's Harbour and Cape Flattery.<br />
"Mr. Thomas McKay was dispatched in canoe via Baker's Bay and the portage to Shoalwater Bay, with orders to follow the Coast and endeavour to ascertain correct tidings, if not to afford relief.<br />
"The severe storms prevalent in the early spring prevented his accomplishing the object of his mission; and he returned, having penetrated, as I understand, no further than Gray's Harbour (Chehalis) -- and bringing little intelligence beyond what had already [been] received through the Indians.<br />
"It was not till May that direct confirmation was received.<br />
"Mr. [Peter Skene] Ogden was then on his way, accompanied by myself, to establish a fort on the Stikine River (1834), and our vessel, the <i>Dryad</i>, was anchored in Baker's Bay.<br />
"Sally, the widow of Old Chenanium, boarded the vessel on her way from Shoalwater Bay to Chinook Point, bringing with her a number of articles, including perforated copper coins and a rude chart drawn in Chinese or Japanese paper, with writing in their common character, which at once proved to us the fact of the wreck and indicated the probable nationality.<br />
"Mr. Ogden forwarded the articles to Vancouver, and Captain McNeill was afterwards sent with the <i>Llama</i> -- affecting the release of the surviving as stated in the notice.<br />
"Captn. McNeill afterwards told me that the Inds: were averse from giving up the men (3 in number); that he then seized one or two of the Chiefs as hostages, after which the survivors of the crew were brought on board the <i>Llama</i> and ransomed by him.<br />
"He afterwards bought from the Inds a large quantity of crockery-ware saved from the wreck, which was subsequently sold in the sale-shop at Vancouver....."<br />
<br />
The Cathlamet woman Sally was known by the fur traders as Queen Sally, and so I referred to her in that manner in my book.<br />
The crockery-ware mentioned here is an important story in itself, and I will speak of it on a later occasion.<br />
Right now we will continue following Anderson's remarks, in his response to the newspaper article labelled "Pioneer Ships":<br />
<br />
"I think Dr. Tolmie has confused Mr. McKay's visit to the Skatchet, as connected with the Japanese wreck, with another occasion -- probably connected with the murder of McKenzie in 1828.<br />
"I was at Vancouver (after my return from the coast in the <i>Cadboro</i>) when McKay returned from his fruitless attempt to reach the [Japanese] wreck before referred to, and I never heard any imputation cast upon the good faith of his proceedings on that occasion....<br />
"McKay... was a zealous and daring officer; and not likely to be deterred by trivial difficulties or to advance a questionable excuse to cover an obvious failure to fulfill his orders.<br />
<br />
"It may be interesting to know that the spot where the Japanese Junk of whose wreck Mr. McKay was in quest, was stranded very near, if not identical with, the locality in which his father lost his life, on the destruction of the "Tonquin" in 1811."<br />
Thomas McKay's father, Alexander, was one of the first to die when the PFC ship Tonquin was attacked by Natives at Clayquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in 1811.<br />
So Anderson appears inaccurate here, but he does say he believed that the Japanese junk was wrecked at a place the fur traders called Queen-ha-ilth.<br />
In some research I did some years ago, I seem to remember having discovered that Queen-ha-ilth was at Destruction Island, on the Washington coast.<br />
If that was where the Japanese shipwreck actually occurred, Destruction Island is a very good name considering how quickly their ship was destroyed.<br />
<br />
I almost forgot that I said, on Twitter, there was a movie.<br />
It is a Japanese film, entirely in the Japanese language but with subtitles in English for the part of the movie when the sailors are at Fort Vancouver.<br />
Johnny Cash plays Dr. John McLoughlin!<br />
The movie's title is Kairei; it was filmed in the 1980's, and its ISBN is 4-264-02095-6 (Life Entertainment, World Wide Pictures, website: http://wipm.or.jp or http:/www.gospeltv.jp)<br />
But for more information on the film (which I was sure was filmed at Fort Langley, not Fort Vancouver) follow this link to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, NCRI Report, and see page 6, "John McLoughlin and Johnny Cash."<br />
<a href="http://www.nps.gov/fova/parknews/upload/NCRI-Report-8-1.pdf">John McLoughlin and Johnny Cash</a><br />
Just so you know, it is not historically accurate, but it is fun!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-41748754498500681742013-04-07T06:48:00.000-07:002013-04-07T06:48:14.052-07:00My Answers to Questions Asked<br />
In the months after my book, <i>The Pathfinder</i>, was published, readers and historians asked me a few questions that I was unable to give good answers to at the time.<br />
<br />
The first came from an anthropologist and archaeologist who teaches at a local University.<br />
His email said this: "I am really looking forward to your book."<br />
Then he told me a story of a Native man who remembered that, many years earlier, his many-times-great-grandmother had been hidden away for safety, because "some strange person was coming down the [Lillooet] river."<br />
He figured out the generations, and said he thought that the stranger might have been Alexander Caulfield Anderson, on his 1846 journey down the Lillooet River to Fort Langley.<br />
<br />
Great story! But the anthropologist finished his email it with the question:<br />
"Anderson does not seem to mention much in the way of villages as he went down the Lillooet river -- any idea why?"<br />
At the time I did not have the answer.<br />
But while I never consciously thought about the question, it simmered away and eventually answered itself.<br />
I realized that most of what Anderson put in his expedition journals related directly to the business of searching for a suitable brigade trail.<br />
It was, in other words, entirely a business journal, and only things that were important to the business of a brigade trail made it into his journal.<br />
The journal's name tells us that -- his 1846 journal is titled: "Journal of an expedition under command of Alex C. Anderson... undertaken with the View to ascertaining the practicability of a communication with the interior, for the import of the annual supplies."<br />
Like his other journals of exploration, it has a specific purpose: to report back to the Board of Management at Fort Vancouver the route taken and its availability, or non-availability, as a brigade trail for heavily laden pack-horses.<br />
<br />
I figured this out when I learned, from a historical geographer friend, what the requirements were for a good brigade trail.<br />
He gave me the information that I included in my book, and I added a bit to it:<br />
From page 106: "Besides considerations regarding the route itself, the Hudson's Bay men had developed strict requirements for an overland brigade trail, based on experience, good and bad.<br />
"The Company was looking for a trail that hundreds of horses could travel safely without injury.<br />
"A path that might work for a man on foot would not necessarily work for the heavily loaded brigade horses.<br />
"Sharp rocks on the trail bed would damaged the horses' delicate hooves and cut their fetlocks.<br />
"If the ground was too soft, the passage of so many horses would turn the trail into a quagmire that later brigades could not cross.<br />
"Safe fords over rivers and creeks were essential, especially as so much of the travel was done in early summer, the season of high water.<br />
"Gradient was important, but they could accept a steep slope if the hillside allowed room for switchbacks.<br />
"The horses needed food and water, and trail builders could sow alfalfa and white clover along the edges of the horse road if the ground was good, but they could not manufacture streams.<br />
"Anderson would have to keep all these concerns in mind as he explored the potential brigade trails."<br />
<br />
So when I re-read the journals after processing and writing the above, I understood them more fully.<br />
Anderson wrote nothing of the journey along the south shore of Kamloops Lake to modern day Savona, as this road was good and well-known to all the fur traders -- there were no problems here.<br />
When he "found River du Defunt much swollen" because of the rainy spring, he is warning of difficulties future brigaders might have in crossing the river.<br />
Of course, the fur traders would build an easily maintained bridge here.<br />
On the 17th of May he does describe the rock indented with hat-like cavities: rather unnecessarily. But he goes on with a description of the "picturesque valley, richly covered with herbage, and bordered by hills sprinkled with Fir trees."<br />
There was plenty of feed for the horses here, and fresh water only a short distance further on.<br />
<br />
Then at the Lower Fountain, where the Kamloops men traded for salmon, he noted that: "The banks of the [Fraser] river hereabouts are extremely broken and precipitous; and many of the adjacent hills are white with recent snow."<br />
You will remember that I informed you that "Sharp rocks on the trail bed would damage the horses' delicate hooves and cut their fetlocks."<br />
Anderson's next line was this: "One of our horses got his leg cut in crossing a small brook, this afternoon, and is lame in consequence."<br />
It may not have had meaning to us on the first read, but it would have meant a lot to the members of the Board of Management at Fort Vancouver.<br />
<br />
On Tuesday 19th Anderson wrote: "The spot which had been described to me as likely to afford a passage for horses is at the Riviere de Pont, opposite to the Lower Fountain, but to my disappointment I find it quite unsuitable for the purpose -- at least at this season, if indeed at any time practicable with a large band of horses.<br />
"The proposed track passes over a mountain 1,500 to 2,000 feet in height, the summit of which even at this advanced season, is still thickly covered with snow, and obviously impassable save with snow shoes.<br />
"In short there does not exist the slightest probability of a horse road in this direction, suitable for our purposes, from the spot alluded to, to that where I am now encamped...."<br />
When he wrote this, he was on Seton Lake, having crossed the Fraser River to walk down its west bank to the Seton River.<br />
I am looking at this paragraph now, and wondering...<br />
Was he talking about Fountain Ridge, or was he describing the mountain across the Fraser from the end of the ridge?<br />
I haven't been up to that spot since 1993 -- I may have to return and take a good look.<br />
<br />
Whatever route was described to him by John Tod, at Fort Kamloops, was then discarded, and the second choice taken -- an expedition via Seton and Anderson Lakes to the Lillooet River.<br />
He says this in the line: "Finding my views disappointed in the direction at first proposed, I determined on proceeding by the lakes...."<br />
I now believe it was his plan to go down the Fraser River through the canyons, but he chose to travel the second route, by the lakes, when the first did not work.<br />
I also now know that Pahallak, or another Sto:lo guide, was waiting for him at the forks of Thompson's River and the Fraser.<br />
They did not meet that summer.<br />
<br />
Anderson tells no stories of the Salish Wool Dogs, though he certainly saw them on this journey and in his later expedition down the banks of the Fraser River.<br />
He does describe the Natives he found there, and the discomfort the fur traders felt because they were alone amongst all these men who could easily have overwhelmed them.<br />
But the Native name for Seton River -- Pap-shil-qua-ka-meen -- is mentioned only in a later piece of writing, though he can only have learned the name from the guides who accompanied him on this particular journey.<br />
As far as I know, he never returned to the mouth of the Seton River.<br />
<br />
Anderson's party continued on to Lillooet Lake from Anderson and Seton Lakes.<br />
On the Lillooet River, Anderson hired "a fine canoe, with two expert <i>boutes</i>. In the evening... we encamped at the head of a rapid or fall, where it is necessary to drag the canoe."<br />
Then he said: "I find the river very different from what I expected. At this stage of the water it is a perfect torrent; and at a higher stage (it is now at half-water) must afford a very precarious navigation.<br />
"In fact, but for the expertness of our Indian <i>boutes</i>, who are thoroughly versed in the intricacies of the river, we should, I fear, have much difficulty in getting through."<br />
<br />
Anderson had already disqualified this route as a brigade trail for horses.<br />
Clearly, by now, he is now mentally eliminating the travel of this rough river as a possible route for the boats the fur traders used -- if they could make their way downriver (which seemed unlikely), how would they ever come upriver again?<br />
From this point onward, he and his party continued downriver to Fort Langley as quickly as they could: there was no further need to look around.<br />
His work was done, and he spent little time in describing the country he saw.<br />
<br />
But the question was: "Anderson does not seem to mention much in the way of villages as he went down the Lillooet River -- any idea why?"<br />
My answer, at last: This was a business journal, and the Native villages along the lower Lillooet River were not important to the fur traders, especially as he had already mentally disqualified this route as a possible brigade trail.<br />
He was travelling downriver with Native guides who had no reason to dally -- the sooner they reached Fort Langley, the more quickly they would be rewarded for their work.<br />
Anderson also had a reason to reach Fort Langley as quickly as he could.<br />
He wanted to begin his return journey to Kamloops, exploring for an alternate route on the way.<br />
He still had a job to do, and this first trail was not the route he was looking for.<br />
<br />
Anderson never returned to the Lillooet River, and wrote very little about it later.<br />
In his unpublished draft manuscript "British Columbia" he noted that: "The Lakes of British Columbia are a great feature in its geography....<br />
"Harrison's Lake, in the lower portion, I have already referred to.<br />
"This lake is connected with two other lakes, in close contiguity with each other, the united length of which is about 25 miles.<br />
"These lakes, distinguished by their Indian name Lillooet, are connected with Douglas [the town of Port Douglas, at the head of Harrison Lake] by by a wagon road.<br />
"They are navigated by steam boat.<br />
"From the upper end the road is continued through a depression in the Lillooet spur of the coast Range, twenty four miles to Lake Anderson.<br />
"A channel 1 1/2 mile in length connects this lake with Lake Seton, the lower end of which is within three miles of the town or village of Cayoosh, on the bank of the Fraser River, some 40 miles above Lytton.<br />
"The united length of Lakes Anderson and Seton is about thirty eight miles.<br />
"The scenery of the shores, and especially of the latter, is extremely grand.<br />
"These lakes, like the Lillooet, are navigated by steamboats.<br />
"The depth of all is great."<br />
He is describing now the 1858-1859 Harrison Lillooet trail, which was developed over the route of his first exploration down the Lillooet River.<br />
In 1858 he visited what is now called Port Douglas, a town built a year or two later at the mouth of the Lillooet River on Harrison Lake.<br />
He played a major part in naming the future town for his friend, James Douglas.<br />
But he never travelled over the Harrison-Lillooet trail, and so never saw the Lillooet River again.<br />
<br />
The second question I was asked, in person, when I was in Hope, B.C., after my one hour & a half talk there:<br />
My sister and I were in the Blue Moose Cafe (a wonderful place, if you are ever in Hope), waking up with our morning coffee the morning after I had given my talk and slide show.<br />
Two men came in and sat down at the coffee table and chairs where we were reading the newspapers and sleepily drinking our coffee.<br />
They talked to each other, and then they talked to us; they knew who we were.<br />
One, a young Native man who said he came from Spuzzum, asked me whether I thought I would ever write about any person or thing other than my great grand-father, Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
Now, isn't that an interesting question?<br />
I had no answer for him at that time.<br />
My first thought was this: that in order to write about someone else or something else I would have to set aside my ten years of research on Alexander Caulfield Anderson and his fur trade, and begin all over again.<br />
To me, that was a huge objection.<br />
I wasn't ready for that question.<br />
I was still deeply involved in writing talks and articles to promote the current book, published only three months earlier -- a year and a half later I am still involved in promoting the book.<br />
The question came too quickly, and at the time I did not have an answer.<br />
Again, it had to simmer.<br />
<br />
It took me six or more months for the answer to emerge, and in the meantime I wrote two or three more speeches and an article for the Annual Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, 2012.<br />
I fooled around with other ideas, and you can see the result of my blog where I wrote about "The Salmon in the fur trader's New Caledonia," on Saturday, February 18, 2012.<br />
This is Anderson's own writing but it is a merged manuscript -- that is, I took four of his manuscripts and merged the information in them in order to create this future chapter of a book I could write.<br />
And maybe I will write this book, sometime in the future.<br />
I have, however, four missing A.C. Anderson manuscripts I want to find before I do this -- if they still exist.<br />
<br />
I also considered other choices in addition to the "Memoir."<br />
I can write about the years of the Indian Reserve Commission of 1876-1877 -- that's a fascinating story in itself and much of the story is omitted from this book.<br />
I can write a more detailed story of the four explorations and the end result of those expeditions and the crisis that followed, and I am extremely interested in that time period.<br />
I can write about Fort Victoria during those years; but, frankly, of all the things I could write about, Fort Victoria is the one thing that has the least interest for me, in spite of the fact I live in Victoria.<br />
The fur trader Sam Black fascinates me, but that involves a great deal of research and writing with very little information about his later life at Kamloops.<br />
Interesting as his life may have been, his story would be skimpy at best.<br />
<br />
I can write about Peter Skene Ogden or Donald Manson or other fur trade characters, but his descendants are planning to do this -- not that that should stop me.<br />
In a way I am writing about them, because their story will be a part of my next book.<br />
I do now know what I am writing about, and I am already learning things that will add to or change the information I put in <i>The Pathfinder</i>.<br />
There will be many characters in this book; and yes, Alexander Caulfield Anderson will be one of them.<br />
Yes, he will play a major role in a complex story, but he will disappear from the story, too.<br />
Yes, it is a fur trade story: I don't think I will ever move outside the fur trade, or at least, not until I write about the Indian Reserve Commission and that is, in its way, still a fur trade story.<br />
This next book will be a thick book: I think it is possible that it will be two books by the time I am done.<br />
I have a feeling I know which way the book or books will lead me.<br />
However, books sometimes lead the author to some unexpected places.<br />
We will have to see where I end up.<br />
<br />
So anyway, if anyone in Hope or Spuzzum is reading this post, please tell the young Spuzzum artist who designed the stage decorations for the stage play "Where the Blood Mixes," that I have answered his question.<br />
Tell him, thank you for the question!<br />
It was a tough one to answer.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-24319619255028102402013-03-31T14:52:00.000-07:002013-03-31T14:52:13.503-07:00More stories about Fort Nisqually and Anderson IslandI found more stories about Fort Nisqually and Anderson Island than I could actually fit into my talk last weekend (see last weeks' posting).<br />
As a result, I am posting the extra information here, for Anderson Islanders, and others to find.<br />
So this blog posting might be a bit patchy, but I will try to make it all work together.<br />
<br />
By the way, if anyone wants to read more about Anderson Island and its history and early settlers, you should find and read the book, <i>Island in the Sound</i>, by Hazel Heckman [Seattle: UWPress, 1967]. My copy of the book is in its sixth printing, 1997!<br />
<br />
<b>A description of Fort Nisqually, by Missionary Father Modeste Demers:</b><br />
Alexander Caulfield Anderson reached Fort Nisqually, at last, in late autumn 1840.<br />
Sometime before he reached the place, Missionary Father Modeste Demers visited the old fort.<br />
Demers described the post as it was when William Kittson was in charge: It was "an elongated square of about four arpents in area, surrounded like the other forts by a palisade twenty feet high, and flanked by four bastions furnished with firearms."<br />
Unlike other forts in the area, however: "The palisade is crowned <u>on the exterior</u> by a species of circular gallery, as much for serving in the defense of the fort as for observing the acts of the natives and keeping them in check. In this enclosure are grouped various buildings, such as the smokehouse, the trading house... the commandant's house, one for strangers, one for the engages..."<br />
It was not unknown, in these fur trade posts, to have galleries around the inside of the fort walls; but it appears, at first, that Demers says, this one hung on the outside of the walls.<br />
When Lieutenant Wilkes drew his images of the fort shortly after Demers passed through, there were no galleries on the outside of the palisades.<br />
If English was not Demers' first language, it is possible he substituted the word "outside" for "inside."<br />
But I think we're reading it wrong (or at least I am). I think Demers meant that the galleries hung on the outside or exterior walls, but inside the fort itself.<br />
That would be perfectly normal for a fur trade fort of this time, and it makes much more sense to hang the galleries behind the shelter of the log palisades, not in front of them.<br />
But I might be wrong.<br />
<br />
<b>More on Alexander Caulfield Anderson, the farmer</b>:<br />
As I was reading through material to write this talk, I found one more thing to say about Anderson, referencing his time at Fort Nisqually and later.<br />
I found a line in Lieutenant Charles Wilkes' journals, written while he was at Fort Nisqually, to the effect that: "Mr. Anderson informed me he had or was making an experiment with some of [the Nisqually Natives] to till the land, but he found them disinclined to work although they were more apt than he had given them credit for."<br />
<br />
As I have mentioned in other talks, I have run across a number of stories where Anderson is teaching the Natives who live near his residence (wherever it may be) to grow their own food, something that is quite foreign to them.<br />
Only a few years after he left Fort Nisqually, he watched as the Alexandria Natives returned home in an early winter snowstorm, and he knew they had little food to spare because the salmon run had failed.<br />
One year later and after another failed salmon run, Anderson wrote in the Fort Alexandria journals that, "Eleven Indians [are] working the soil [at our] suggestion, and I have promised to supply them seed potatoes."<br />
<br />
And when he lived in North Saanich from 1862 to about 1876, he encouraged the Natives of the Tseycum Reserve to cultivate their clayey soil, and some soon raised pigs and cattle or farmed smaller sections of richer soil. He had a particularly strong interest in grafting fruit trees, and a few of his Native neighbours even learned this agricultural craft from him, and now owned small thriving orchards.<br />
I wonder if, while he was at Fraser's Lake, or at Fort Colvile, he also tried to teach the Natives to grow their own food?<br />
Unfortunately I do not have enough information on these times, and there is, I believe, no where else to look.<br />
<br />
<b>The Royal Navy Ship, Fisgard, off Anderson Island, 1846</b>:<br />
This is an Anderson Island story, and not a story about Fort Nisqually, nor one about Alexander Caulfield Anderson. Yet, it fits here, and I would have told the Anderson Island people this story if I had the time to do so.<br />
I am not aware that they are very familiar with the story, though they might be. They do, however, know that for a little while, Anderson Island was named "Fisgard" Island.<br />
The story came to me from Steve Anderson, retired manager of the replica Fort Nisqually at Point Defiance Park. This is his research, not mine.<br />
<br />
The Royal Navy ship Fisgard was stationed off Fort Nisqually in 1846. Its job was to provide a British presence in the area to support the upcoming Boundary discussions between the United States and Britain.<br />
It was the late afternoon of 26th September, 1846. A rare thunderhead formed in the sky to the west, and by six o'clock that evening, horizontal sheet lightning streaked across the sky.<br />
"The thunder roared in the most awful manner," one man at Fort Nisqually reported, "and its grandeur was greatly increased by the reverberations amongst the neighboring woods, which were set on fire in several places by the vivid flashes of lightning."<br />
<br />
Now you might not know that ships such as the Fisgard were at great risk of lightning strikes in storms like this.<br />
At this time, the Royal Navy ships had no defense against such dangers -- if a bolt of lightning struck the ship's mast, it could splinter the mast and send it tumbling to the decks.<br />
A strike could kill a man; it could find the powder magazine and blow the entire ship out of the water, killing everyone aboard!<br />
<br />
However, before she left London, the Fisgard had installed a new-fangled, untested, experimental lightning conductor consisting of copper rods, plates, and nails on the ships spars and hull.<br />
No one really believed it would work, but as one observer said, "considering the grave number of ships which have been damaged or destroyed by lightning, it is not without considerable interest we witness and record such [events]."<br />
<br />
So, a mile and a half from Fort Nisqually, the tall masts of the Fisgard jutted up toward the sky.<br />
At 7:45 pm, a powerful bolt of lightning struck the ships main spar and shook the Fisgard to its core.<br />
"A sudden report, as if many guns had gone off, threw all hands into the utmost consternation."<br />
The crew watched the lightning follow the trail of copper down the mast -- those who were standing nearest the mast on the upper deck described the effect of the fluid-like "strike" as illuminating the mast with a most beautiful stream of purple light.<br />
The bolt of lightning grounded in the sea, and left the ship undamaged.<br />
When the Fisgard returned to London it was greeted with fanfare, largely due to the fact that she had beaten the lightning strike.<br />
And so that is a piece of British history, made at Anderson Island.<br />
<br />
<b>James Tilton's 1855 map of Puget Sound and Washington Territory</b>:<br />
There is more to the Fisgard Story: When I visited Fort Nisqually in Point Defiance Park, the re-enactor, Lane, showed me a pile of maps and photographs that lay on the table in the Chief Factor's residence.<br />
Amongst them was surveyor James Tilton's map of Puget Sound and Washington Territory, dated 1855.<br />
Anderson Island was clearly indicated on the map, as was McNeil -- but Anderson Island was labelled "Fisgard," and McNeil, "Duntze."<br />
John Alexander Duntze was the Captain of the British ship, Fisgard, when it was stationed off Anderson Island.<br />
<br />
So who was this man, James Tilton?<br />
Tilton was the surveyor General of Washington Territory, and arrived at Olympia in the spring of 1853.<br />
I find to my shock that he is part of the Charles Mitchell story that recently hit the news in Victoria and Seattle.<br />
Charles Mitchell was a young black slave owned by James Tilton: Mitchell was smuggled aboard the ship <i>Eliza Anderson, </i>and freed by the British fur traders at Fort Victoria.<br />
<br />
Presumably when Surveyor James Tilton drew his map of the area in the mid-1850's, Anderson Island still carried the name of Fisgard Island (and McNeil, Duntze) and those are the names he put on his official map of the territory.<br />
But Lieutenant Charles Wilkes had already officially named the islands Anderson and McNeil -- for Alexander Caulfield Anderson and William McNeill, the fur traders in charge of Fort Nisqually when he arrived there in 1841.<br />
He must have gone east and then drawn the maps that contained the names that the American government officially adopted for those two islands.<br />
Still, fifteen years after Wilkes was at Fort Nisqually, surveyor James Tilton drew his official map of Washington territory, and labelled the islands "Fisgard" and "Duntze."<br />
When and how did Lieutenant Charles Wilkes' names for the two islands supersede James Tilton's labels? When and how did the new names (or older, I guess) reach the Puget Sound area, to be officially adopted by the American residents who lived there?<br />
<br />
I am on Twitter, as you know, and I asked the question of a map researcher I was chatting to.<br />
Through a contact she had she got me a copy of this map, labelled: Map of the Oregon Territory by the U. S. Exploring Expedition.<br />
You can find it at this internet site, and at others:<br />
www.davidrumsey.com/maps890027-24331.html<br />
It is on the Oregon History Project site -- but the best is under [google this]: "1850 map of the Oregon Territory [electronic resource]." You can pick the bottom of Puget Sound and enlarge it enough to see that this map does not name any of the islands there.<br />
So this is not the map that labelled Anderson Island.<br />
<br />
Next I took a quick look at "Map of Oregon and Upper California from the Surveys of John Charles Fremont and other authorities, drawn by Charles Preuss..." in 1848. Anderson Island is not named on that map either.<br />
Finally I dug out Derek Hayes' book, <i>Historical Atlas of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest</i> [Vancouver: Cavendish Books, 1999] which I have owned for many years. <br />
On page 120 of this book, I found the answer, and this is what Derek Hayes has to say...<br />
"Wilkes' <i>Narratives of the United States Exploring Expedition</i> was published in five volumes in 1844.<br />
"Also published were a number of maps of the northwest, including one map of the whole Oregon Territory [this is the map I have spoken of, above].<br />
"Another map was of the southern part of Georgia Strait (Map 200). Ringgolds Channel, named after one of Wilkes' Officers, is today's Rosario Strait.<br />
"A map of the southern part of Puget Sound (Map 201) shows the site of today's Olympia."<br />
It is Map 201 which clearly labels Anderson and McNeil Islands, and tells us that these two islands had their official names by 1844, when the book was published -- not that the locals, or even the Washington Territory government officials (ie, James Tilton), seemed to be aware of that fact.<br />
<br />
<b>But all this does not yet answer the question: how did Anderson Island also carry the name "Fisgard Island?</b><br />
Who named it Fisgard -- was it James Tilton, or was it someone else?<br />
A note in the "Washington Geographic Names," by Edmond S. Meany, tells us that Anderson Island "had at least two other names.<br />
"The Inskip chart, 1846, shows it as Fisgard Island, after the British frigate which was on this station, 1844-1847. Inskip sought to carry the honor further by changing the name of McNeil Island to "Duntze Island" for Captain John Alexander Duntze of the frigate.<br />
The Town of Steilacoom site says that "For the Americans, Lt. Charles Wilkes remapped the Sound area almost fifty years after Puget. The desire to Americanize the area showed itself in his renaming every feature after his American crew members and friends stationed in the area.<br />
"The British replied quickly: R. A. Inskip's mapping mission came only five years later.<br />
"Inskip kept the tradition of ignoring his forebears, and made a detailed chart with all-new names -- again mostly taken from his fellow British crewmembers."<br />
<br />
A further search tells me that the Brit was named Robert A. Inskip, and he was here in 1846.<br />
He named Anderson Island for the RN ship Fisgard, which was here -- and McNeil for Duntze, the Fisgard's captain.<br />
In 1847 the name of McNeil Island was restored (and probably that of Anderson, too) -- but that occurred in England, and no one here knew that had happened.<br />
It seems that either the British mariners, or perhaps even the fur traders at Nisqually, kept the old British names alive until the American surveyor James Tilton came here in 1855, to write them down.<br />
Even that was temporary. At some point Lieutenant Wilkes' names took precedence and Fisgard Island officially became Anderson Island.<br />
According to Hazel Heckman, author of <i>Island in the Sound</i>, as late as 1886, a baby named Betsy Johnson Cammon was born on what they called "Wallace Island."<br />
So it's no wonder that Alexander Caulfield Anderson never knew that Anderson Island was named for him!<br />
<br />
<b>Anderson Island had a third name for a short period, when it was called "Wallace Island</b>."<br />
A note in the "Washington Geographic Names," by Meany, also says that Anderson Island has another name -- Wallace Island, in honor of Leander C. Wallace, who was killed by Snoqualmie Indians during their attack on Fort Nisqually in 1849.<br />
I can tell you that story, as it is written in the Fort Nisqually Journals:<br />
Wallace, presumably, had settled on what was then called, in some quarters, Fisgard Island.<br />
<br />
On May 1849: "Tuesday 1st. Cloudy with strong SW breeze. About noon a large party of Snoqualmie & Skeywhamish [Skykomish] armed arrived & took up their position before the watergate, where they had an affray with our people, in which the American, Wallace was killed & Lewis slightly wounded one of the enemy was killed & another slightly wounded, the cause and commencement are nearly as possible as follows:<br />
"As the horn blew for dinner a large party of Skeywhamish & Snoqualmie were reported to have arrived, our working & other Indians immediately commenced running into the Fort bringing with them their movables & when dinner was over a large party of them to the number of about a hundred, were observed advancing across the plain on the NW side of the Fort, when they arrived part went to Lahalet's lodge & the others (the greater part) gathered round the water-gate, where they were soon after rejoined by the others.<br />
"On being asked the reason why they came in such numbers, and making such a warlike demonstration, they replied that they had heard that young Lahalet (who is married to a daughter of one of their petty [Petit or lesser] chiefs) was beating his wife brutally, and that they did not come with the intention of harming any of the whites.<br />
"The Chief Patakynum was then invited into the Fort, and to the others were given tobacco to smoke in the pipe of peace, for which they retired to one of the deserted lodges.<br />
"We took the precaution of placing two armed men at the gate, Thibeault & Gohome with orders to let none of them in.<br />
"I also took My gun and knocked about our Indians, who in fear of the enemy, were engaged in sweeping out the fort.<br />
"I had just taken round them when I heard a shot.<br />
"I repaired immediately to the gate & learned that it had been fired by Gohome in jest.<br />
"I reproved him for his carelessness & told him to take good care.<br />
"Soon after I arrived at the gate, four or five of the worst Snoqualmies came rushing to the gate, provoked no [doubt], by the shot unguardidly fired by Gohome, one of our number.<br />
"Copass, more forward than the rest, rudely pushed Gohome who was standing between the door posts into the Fort and took his place.<br />
"I went to him & demanded why he did that for, and told him to keep quiet, but on answering only with insult, I put him out, upon which he cocked his gun & drew his dagger making two or three threats at me with it.<br />
"Wren was standing a piece off at the time by the gate, he was called in.<br />
"I called out to close the gate which was done, but finding Wren shut out, it was again opened.<br />
"Wren upon Entering, seized one of their guns where upon a scuffled ensued, and the gun falling between the door & the Fort, prevented us from closing, during that time I observed Copass pointing his gun at me.<br />
"I at once presented mine, and as I thought fired first ....<br />
(But it is maintained by the friendly Indians outside that, one of the Snoqualmie, "Qullawowt," provoked by a blow given by Wren, with the butt end of the gun, to one of their chiefs, fired at him but missing, my shot followed. Which is the right way I can't be positive, the noise & excitement being too great.) [edited slightly for readability]<br />
"I thought I fired first ... but missing him wounded another, a good many shots then followed, the gate closed, we took to the bastions, but our people taking some time to get armed (the affair being rather sudden) by the time they were at the stations, most of the enemy were out of shot, running away full speed across the plains toward their canoes.<br />
"Patakynum who was in the Fort at the commencement of the row escaped after the closing of the gate, unperceived by none of our people, young Lahalet showing him the way.<br />
"Wallace & Lewis were unfortunately standing outside when the affray commenced, they did not respond to the call of: "All hands come in and shut the gate" they perhaps thought themselves secure from harm as they were Americans, they did not belong to the Fort, if this was the case they were sadly mistaken.<br />
"They were also beckoned in by Simmons & others there at the time, but unfortunately they either unheeded or did not perceive them.<br />
"Copass is said to be the one that shot poor Wallace.<br />
"Lewis escaped unhurt most wonderfully, one ball went through his vest & trousers, another slightly grazed his left arm.<br />
"Segeass an Indian received a flesh wound in the neck by the ball meant for Wren.<br />
"A Medicine Man, a Skeywhamish is the one killed, and a Snoqualmie wounded in the shoulder.<br />
<br />
"We do not suppose that the War party came here with the purpose of attacking us, but think they had some other objective in view besides the affair with Lahalet, it was probably their design to kick up a row with the Fort Indians and then kidnap as many of the women & children as they could catch, and one circumstance also proves that they thought lightly of quarreling with the whites.<br />
"When the tobacco was handed out to them Qullawowt asked Wren, if it was not poisoned, and one of the Indians would smoke until Wren had previously smoked & chewed the tobacco in their presence.<br />
"A good many yarns are told of them by the Indians here, what they were saying & going to do, but it will be to no purpose to mention any here, being only Indian stories more lies than truth.<br />
"The Snoqualmie & Skeywhamish are the terror of all the tribes south of the Soquamish, and tribes of the Sound would rejoice to see the above chastised by the whites, and would nearly assist if required.<br />
"We sincerely hope they will soon get that chastisement they so richly deserve."<br />
<br />
This was written in 1849 -- only a year and a half after the massacre at Waiilatpu.<br />
The word "poison" rings a bell that the fur traders should have noticed, and perhaps did.<br />
For more information on the Waiilatpu Massacre, go to the first of three posts -- you will read the word "poison" fairly often here:<br />
Sunday, July 8, 2012 -- Waillatpu Mission, Summer to Fall 1847<br />
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/av31ccq/2012/07/waiilatpu-mission-summer-to-fall-1847.html">First of three posts re: Waillatpu Massacre</a><br />
<br />
Saturday, July 21, 2012 -- The Waillatpu Massacre, November 19, 1847, and finally:<br />
Sunday, August 5, 2012 -- Peter Skene Ogden's rescue of the Waillatpu victims.<br />
<br />
These can be a hard read: it was a brutal massacre. If you think you can't handle the middle section, please don't read it.<br />
You might think this did not affect Fort Nisqually -- but it did.<br />
It affected everyone in the fur trade. Even at the Thompson River post, hundreds of miles to the north, the Natives were talking about "poison."<br />
And maybe that should be the title of my next book......Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-17703054761009350252013-03-25T13:22:00.000-07:002013-03-25T13:22:08.464-07:00Alexander Caulfield Anderson at Fort NisquallyI was invited down to Anderson Island, the bottom island in Puget Sound, to give a talk in front of the Anderson Island Historical Society.<br />
As you may or may not know, this island sits west of Fort Nisqually, and was named for Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
Of course I combined the trip with a side-trip to the reconstructed Fort Nisqually: my first visit there and hopefully, not my last.<br />
The reconstructed fort sits far north of its old location opposite Anderson Island, and is now located in Point Defiance Park, Tacoma.<br />
<br />
Nor will it be my last visit to Anderson Island; we were treated very well there (which I will say in the next paragraph when I tell you what I said there).<br />
But I will have to tell you now what I meant by "the parking spot of shame."<br />
<br />
We followed the instructions given us and drove straight through Steilacoom on a road that led us straight to Union Avenue and the Anderson Island ferry dock.<br />
We had our tickets, so when we saw the ferry line ups up the hill from where we were, we took a quick U-turn and headed up the hill.<br />
My sister was driving. She dodged into the end of the first line of stopped cars.<br />
This was a mistake!<br />
The line started off almost immediately, and we passed cars that were sitting in a second line and realized that we had, inadvertently, "jumped" the line.<br />
The ferry staff knew it too, and they pulled us over and made us wait next to the dock, while everyone loaded onto the ferry.<br />
We were the last car allowed on the ferry, and as we drove on, the car deck employees were having some trouble holding their laughter.<br />
We were the last off the ferry, too.<br />
<br />
On Saturday, the Anderson Island resident invited us to a lunch at the Chicken Coop, where I had three reserved spots at three different tables.<br />
I ate my lunch at one table, and then was moved to another where I talked to a batch of Anderson Island Historical Society members and executives.<br />
At the third table I talked to writers and more executives -- it was a great way to talk to everyone and to meet everyone and to ask a lot of questions and get a few questions answered.<br />
Of course this is when I heard the many stories of line-jumping on the ferry dock -- we were certainly not the only persons who accidentally (or intentionally) jumped the line!<br />
<br />
Anyway, my talk now follows.<br />
It was written to be 3/4 long, and to do this I had to leave many stories out.<br />
Those stories will appear in the next post, in a week or so.<br />
<br />
<br />
I began with -- Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming out tonight.<br />
We (my sister and I) have been treated very well here -- for the most part.<br />
We did, inadvertently, jump the ferry line on our way onto the island, and spent a little time in the "parking spot of shame." [everyone laughed, even if they hadn't heard the story].<br />
<br />
I am now going to tell you about my great grandfather, Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
He was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trader and explorer. Today, in British Columbia at least, he is mostly remembered for the four explorations he made across the mountains that separated the fort at Kamloops, from Fort Langley on the lower Fraser River.<br />
<br />
However, those explorations took place in 1846 and 1847 -- five years or more after he left the area around Anderson Island.<br />
And while that is British Columbia's history, what happened the year following those explorations is your American history. It is all connected with what happened at Fort Nisqually, when A. C. Anderson was here in 1840 and 1841.<br />
<br />
So let me tell you Anderson's story.<br />
I will tell you first a little about his childhood in India and London, and how he came to join the fur trade in 1831.<br />
I'll talk about what happened whilst he was in charge of Fort Nisqually ten years later, and how this island got to be named for him.<br />
<br />
Alexander Anderson was born in India, on March 10, 1814. His father, Robert Anderson, had made a mess of his military career in Australia and Tasmania, and rebuilt his life in British India as an indigo planter. By 1810 he was part owner of an indigo plantation near Ruttanpur, north of Calcutta -- the plantation was named Kishinaghaur.<br />
Robert's partner's name was Alexander Gordon Caulfield -- and that is how Robert's third son came to be named Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
<br />
Robert [Alexander's father] was the seventh child of a commoner, a tenant-farmer named James Anderson, and his noble wife, Margaret Seton of Mounie Castle, Aberdeenshire.<br />
How James managed to entice this foolish woman, who came from a wealthy family, to marry him I do not know. But after their marriage, James selfishly forced Margaret to abandon her inheritance and home, and to bring up his children in brutal poverty near Edinburgh.<br />
Margaret Anderson died after giving birth to numerous children, all of whom then grew up in the indifferent care of their father, James.<br />
<br />
Like father, like son, and Robert [A.C. Anderson's father] was also a man who was difficult to get along with. After making a small fortune in the indigo business at Kishinaghaur, Robert argued with his partner and returned to England with his wife and three sons -- a fairly wealthy man.<br />
<br />
I then showed a picture of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's mother (which I don't have permission to post here), and said: Her maiden name was Eliza Charlotte Simpson, and she was the daughter of a high ranking East India Company official. Her father managed the Salsette Mint, near Bombay, and probably minted the gold coin that the East India Company used in India.<br />
<br />
Robert and Eliza Anderson came to England from India with their three sons in 1817, and set up their family home in West Ham, an area in East London then inhabited by the gentry. It was still quite a rural community at that time.<br />
Alexander was only three years old when he arrived in London, and so he grew up in West Ham, and attended services at the West Ham Church. Some of his brothers and sisters, who did not survive their childhood, are buried there.<br />
<br />
Just north of West Ham, on Broadway, stood Rokeby House College, where Alexander and his two older brothers, Henry, and James, were sent to be schooled.<br />
The boys received what they then called "a liberal education" -- an education that meant they studied culture and read books written by intellectuals, old and new.<br />
Their father's receipt for the last year of the children's schooling, which is in the British Columbia archives, shows that the three boys also took elocution and dancing lessons. They were being trained to be gentlemen, not fur traders.<br />
<br />
But wealth that is easily earned is often easily lost, and in London Robert Anderson continued to pursue business interests of his own. He invested much of his fortune in a rope manufacturing company owned, apparently, by his brother, and proceeded to lose his money.<br />
About 1821 -- only 4 years after he had returned to England -- a retired Army officer who had known him in Australia met Robert on the London streets, and wrote of their meeting to a common friend:<br />
"I conclude you have not forgotten Robert Anderson that was at Norfolk Island and went from thence to India.... He made a handsome fortune, say a capital to produce six or seven hundred a year from trading in Indigo. With this property he returned to England & not being satisfied he entered partnerships with a ropemaker who soon failed, whereby he lost pretty much [all his fortune] and he is now drudging along in that line with scarcely business enough to keep his wife & family, consisting of five or six children. I see him frequently & he inquires after you."<br />
<br />
So, as a direct result of his father's gradual (or sudden) impoverishment, young Alexander was forced to abandon his schooling and take a job. This did not happen immediately, but he must have been only thirteen or fourteen years old when he began to clerk at the Leadenhall Street offices of Redman & Co., who, I believe, traded English goods in China, for Oriental teas and silks.<br />
Alexander clerked there for some two and a half years, by which time he was old enough to make a decision on his future.<br />
Harry, the eldest boy, entered the maritime section of the East India Company and worked on one of their ships, the Eden. Eventually he would captain his own vessel.<br />
Several of Alexander's cousins chose careers in the British Army or the Army of the Honorable East India Company. One became famous. A second was assassinated in India and the third drowned off South Africa.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Alexander and his older brother, James, chose the fur trade -- a fairly unusual choice for gentlemen like them, but a choice made because their uncle, Alexander Seton, was heavily involved in business with a prominent member of the Board of Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company.</div>
</div>
Alexander himself noted that he was drawn to the fur trade because of the rousing stories of American writer James Fennimore Cooper -- who wrote, among other books, <i>The Last of the Mohicans</i>.<br />
<br />
So in 1831, Alexander came west for adventure. He was sixteen or seventeen years old when he set out on his life's journey, travelling by ship to Montreal.<br />
He spent a long and boring eight months at Lachine, nine miles west of the city, where he apprenticed under the auspices of the elderly fur trader, James Keith -- a humourless man who an earlier apprentice had described as resembling a "dried spider."<br />
<br />
In spring of 1832, Alexander boarded the brigade boats in Lachine and began his six-months long journey across the continent to Fort Vancouver [Vancouver, WA], via York Factory on Hudson Bay.<br />
He arrived at Fort Vancouver in November 1831. In a letter to his uncle, he described his journey west, and the fort itself:<br />
"I arrived here on the 4th November, after a voyage from York Factory of 3 1/2 months -- partly on horseback -- in boats & in canoe...<br />
"This fort is finely situated on the Columbia River, and the soil is very fertile... The River is huge & navigable for 100 miles from its mouth. Salmon are in immense quantity as well as the moose. I have killed only one Buffalo & one deer since I have been in this country and a great many ducks, geese, partridges, etc."<br />
<br />
From Fort Vancouver, Anderson was sent north to Fort McLoughlin, on the northwest coast of today's British Columbia [Bella Bella, BC]. He went on to Stikine River, in Alaska, and Fort Simpson, just south of the Alaska Panhandle. In 1835 he ended up with Chief Factor Peter Skene Ogden, at Fort St. James and Fraser's Lake, in New Caledonia.<br />
<br />
Peter Skene Ogden was a very easy man to work for; tolerant, joking, friendly, trusting, and a very good fur trader. It was a perfect relationship, because Ogden both mentored his clerk, Anderson, and allowed him his freedom -- but in doing so, he set him up for Anderson's future failure at Fort Nisqually.<br />
I don't have a lot of information about Anderson's five years at Fraser's Lake, but he had his share of adventures there. In 1837 he married, and his wife was Betsy Birnie, daughter of the fur trader James Birnie, founder-to-be of the Washington state town of Cathlamet, on the Columbia River west of Fort Vancouver.<br />
<br />
Anderson wrote: "In the spring of 1840... I accompanied the outgoing brigade commanded by Mr. [Peter Skene] Ogden to Fort Vancouver, and in the autumn of that year was appointed to the charge of Fort Nisqually, on Puget Sound."<br />
<br />
I then showed a picture of Chief Factor John McLoughlin, the man in charge of the entire Columbia district, and Alexander Anderson's superior at the Cowlitz Farm (where he spent a few months) and at Fort Nisqually.<br />
Unlike Peter Skene Ogden, who micromanaged nothing, McLoughlin controlled all aspects of his fur trade. In later years, Anderson politely described McLoughlin as a "man of great force of character, somewhat domineering and of strong opinions."<br />
McLoughlin's letters of instruction were numerous and always terse. For example, this is one note he wrote to Anderson at Fort Nisqually:<br />
"Your ewes you will not allow any of the rams at your place get at them. Please send me an account of the number of sheep at Nisqually and if it does not cause too much delay as diligence ought to be used to send Mr. Arthur across I wish you would count the cattle and send the number at least you can send the number in the books, and let me know if the quantity of what [is] in the ground and how many ploughs you have fit for use."<br />
Whatever McLoughlin ordered done was done, without question, and no deviation from his instructions was allowed, unless there was a very good reason for it.<br />
Of course, Anderson, who had matured in the relaxed and tolerant atmosphere of the New Caledonia fur trade under Peter Skene Ogden, ran into trouble with Chief Factor McLoughlin.<br />
He received one or two <u>dozen</u> of McLoughlin's letters before he snapped, and wrote an angry response.<br />
<br />
The letter Anderson wrote no longer exists!<br />
But Chief Trader James Douglas read it, and rebuked Anderson for his hot-tempered response.<br />
Douglas wrote: "I have read your letter to Dr. McLoughlin and do not approve of the warm expostulatory style, which I regret is neither proper nor respectful.<br />
"It was never, my dear Sir, Dr. McLoughlin's intention to question the propriety of your general conduct -- he merely inquired as a matter of justice equally to himself and to you, why certain specific orders had not been followed to the letter, and I certainly think you would have acted a much wiser part, had your reply to a requisition so simple, been given in a more courteous way...<br />
"We hear of trifling deviations from orders, now there can be no such things as a trifling deviation, for whether in trivialities or in grave matters, the principle in question is, in both bases, equally endangered and equally outraged...."<br />
<br />
And so Anderson learned, the hard way, to obey all orders given to him, and think his time at Fort Nisqually was a difficult time for him.<br />
I believe that when young Anderson arrived in the Columbia district he was pretty cocky; a confident young man with a very high opinion of himself.<br />
He was about twenty seven years old -- in the youthful prime of his life and still young enough to imagine he would accomplish great things.<br />
But life in the fur trade under Chief Factor John McLoughlin knocked that cockiness out of him, and he was a different man in later years.<br />
<br />
So Anderson remained, unhappily, in charge of Fort Nisqually for the winter, and in the early spring, James Douglas addressed a second letter of advice, or of complaint, to him.<br />
Douglas said: "I am informed that it has been said within the circle of Batchelor's Hall that you are unpopular with the Indians of Nisqually. Without reference to the truth of this rumour I wish to caution you against the exercise of any considerable severity towards the Natives.<br />
"In assuming a new charge it has always been my study to act with the utmost circumspection, until I became fairly established in the opinion of the Indians.<br />
"Then but never sooner, I would begin to lecture and reform abuses, having recourse, if necessary to the infliction of moderate punishment, but I always did so with apparent reluctance....."<br />
<br />
James Douglas had hardly been successful in his own negotiations with the Natives while he was in New Caledonia.<br />
In addition to this, Douglas had been situated at Fort Vancouver for many years now, and was probably unaware of what had been happening in distant New Caledonia, under Peter Skene Ogden.<br />
Ogden, and the fur traders who worked under him, had forcibly shut down the old "debt system" which had existed in New Caledonia.<br />
Under that system, the Natives had received guns and ammunition every fall, which they paid for in the spring when they brought in their furs.<br />
But many Natives never brought in furs to pay down their debts, and so the fur traders forced the hunters to trade furs for guns and traps in the fall, and to make payment on their old debts every spring.<br />
<br />
Of course, the Natives objected.<br />
Anderson described the Dakelh at Fraser's Lake as "a peaceful race, yet ... subject to violent though transitory outbursts of passion." Probably he witnessed a few violent outbursts of anger over the four years it took to make such a major change to the fur trade.<br />
The Dakehl hunters who traded at the Fraser's Lake post, and the T'silhquot'in that lived to the south, had earned a reputation for being difficult.<br />
At this time, the T'silhquot'in, especially, caused so much trouble that Ogden ordered the temporary closure of the post that served them.<br />
<br />
But that was in New Caledonia. Here in the Columbia district, and at Fort Nisqually, that debt system had never existed.<br />
There was no need to be forceful with the Natives -- but I think that Anderson had to learn that, and it was a difficult transition for him to make.<br />
He had arrived at Fort Nisqually when the man in charge [William Kittson] was too sick to train him.<br />
He was an absolute stranger in this part of the world, and to these Natives, who were quite different from those in the north.<br />
Yes, he made some errors. Many errors, in fact.<br />
<br />
But Anderson was stuck at the first of the two Fort Nisquallys -- a place that has been described by people who knew its history well, as the "armpit" of the fur trade. No fur trader yet had advanced his career at this post.<br />
Anderson must have considered the possibility that his fur trade career would take the same downhill tracks as others' had done, at this miserable and rotting fort.<br />
But he continued his work at Nisqually.<br />
And because he stayed at old Fort Nisqually, he became a part of a very important piece of history.<br />
<br />
On May 11th, 1841, Alexander Anderson reported to the governor of the Company that "Nisqually Bay was enlivened by the arrival of the Vincennes and Porpoise, two of the vessels attached to the United States Exploring Expedition, under Lieutenant Charles Wilkes.<br />
Their story is told in the book, <i>Sea of Glory</i>, by Nathaniel Philbrick [NY: Viking, 2003], and the red-coat that Wilkes describes is Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
<br />
In another book, titled <i>Puget's Sound</i>, author Murray Morgan describes the first meeting of Lieutenant Wilkes, leader of the expedition, and Alexander Anderson -- as you know, at this time Oregon Territory was jointly occupied by the British fur traders and the Americans, though there were few Americans here yet.<br />
<br />
Morgan wrote: "For the first time, British and American officials faced each other on the water their countries coveted. Alexander <u>Canfield</u> Anderson, the slight, thoughtful chief trader at Nisqually, and Henry McNeill, the burly, short-tempered captain of the Beaver, introduced themselves to Wilkes. They promised the Americans "all the assistance in their power" or, Wilkes added skeptically in his journal, "at least that was their offer. A few days will show the extent of it."<br />
<br />
You will notice that the above author incorrectly listed Anderson's name. Still, Morgan's research was good -- on his Donation Land Claim papers, taken out in the early 1850's, Anderson was listed as "Alexander Canfield Anderson."<br />
<br />
According to one of Wilkes' expeditioners, the Fort Nisqually stockade was oblong-shaped 200 x 250 feet, of "upright posts eight to ten feet high, at each corner a Sentry Box or house large enough to hold fifteen or twenty persons, perforated with holes of sufficient size to admit the muzzle of a musket."<br />
A second crewmember reported that: "the site was never chosen by an Engineer or wasn't calculated to stand a siege, as its inmates are compelled to go nearly a mile to get their water..." He noted, too, that the Stockade "was falling to decay and they are about to build another in a better site," further north and closer to the farm and dairy.<br />
One of Wilkes' men also described Anderson at work, trading for furs:<br />
"I found Mr. Anderson busily employed in trading for a few skins just brought in by the natives; though the value of the whole could have been only 10 or 15 dollars, much time was occupied and many pipes smoked before the bargain was concluded. I was informed that furs of all kinds were every year becoming more scarce and that the prices were also slightly increasing."<br />
<br />
<br />
So, the hundreds of members of the United States Exploring Expedition arrived at run-down Fort Nisqually in May, 1841. They built a log house they called the "observatory" on a hill near the fort, and stored their instruments there.<br />
In short order Lieutenant Wilkes organized surveying parties. The ships' boats set off to explore and survey the coastline, and in their coastal charting they named many of these islands and straits for the American sailors and scientists on the expedition.<br />
Others they named for the fur traders at Fort Nisqually. McNeil Island was named for William Henry McNeill, Captain of the Beaver, while Anderson Island was named for Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
<br />
Did Anderson have any idea the island was named for him? I don't think he did.<br />
I am not even aware that Anderson set foot on Anderson Island.<br />
He never wrote about it and never included on any of his maps -- not even the 1858 Guide to the Goldfields.<br />
I'm not sure the other fur traders ventured over to Anderson Island either; but I do know that when the fort was being constructed in the early 1830's, that they built their chimneys from clay that was obtained from the island.<br />
<br />
Anyway, in May 1841, the first group of Americans had taken off in their boats to chart the islands.<br />
Two other groups would borrow horses from the Natives and explore the interior of the then Oregon Territory.<br />
Wilkes himself took the easier of two explorations; he headed south to Fort Vancouver, where he met Chief Factor McLoughlin, and the governor of the Company who had just arrived there.<br />
He also visited the Willamette Valley, where the few Americans who had already come west to Oregon had settled. The valley impressed him. The Americans did not.<br />
He travelled to the mouth of the Columbia River and saw the waves that blocked its entrance. He realized then that the United States needed to claim Puget Sound as theirs, for its excellent navigation and safe waters.<br />
<br />
The second exploring party arranged for horses and guides so they could cross the range of mountains east of Fort Nisqually (by Natches Pass) on their way to Yakima River and Fort Colvile.<br />
By May 18th they were finally ready to hit the road -- history says they were the first white men to go over the pass, although their French-Canadian guide had probably been there before them.<br />
Certainly they were the first Americans to travel this dreadful route to the interior, and they had a tough time. One expeditioner noted that: "A sailor on shore, is as a Fish out of Water."<br />
<br />
While the Americans were away from Fort Nisqually on their various perambulations through the country, one of the American scientists on the ships described the Meteor shower that occurred above Puget Sound, on May 31st, 1841:<br />
"At ten minutes past 8 o'clock pm, a meteor of immense magnitude and brilliancy shot across the havens in a north-west direction, illuminating the heavens to such an extent that there was a resemblance to a sheet of fire, till it nearly reached the horizon, when it exploded, sending off myriads of coruscations in every direction.<br />
"When it first commenced its flight, it was exceedingly slow in its descent, but as it increased its distance towards the horizon, it increased its velocity considerably, until it burst. Many old seamen on board never witnessed a meteor half so large, nor one whose light remained so long visible. From the time it was first seen until it entirely disappeared, was one hour and twenty five minutes."<br />
<br />
At the end of June, Lieutenant Wilkes and his men returned to Fort Nisqually. On July 5th, the American sailors celebrated the Fourth of July.<br />
First they obtained an ox from Fort Nisqually, and barbecued it all night on a spit in the meadow where they planned to have their party.<br />
Early the next morning, they fired their brass howitzers twenty six times -- one time for each state of the Union.<br />
"The reports of the guns not only astonished the natives," one of the expeditioners remembered, "but waked up the red-coats in the fort, who came running up to the observatory with the Indians, nearly out of breath, to enquire the cause of the racket.<br />
"We pointed to our country's flag, which was so proudly waving in the breeze over the observatory.<br />
"They then called us a crew of crazy Americans."<br />
<br />
At nine o'clock or so the American sailors, dressed in their whites, marched toward the old fort with fife and drum in lead, and gave the British fur traders a loud three cheers. The Brits cheered back, and the sailors were quite amused that there were only three or four men inside the fort to return their cheer.<br />
<br />
They marched to the picnic ground [American Plains] near the missionary station, where everything was ready for their celebration.<br />
The sailors raced across the prairie on horses borrowed from the Indians; others played football or cornerball and some danced on a door to the music of the fiddle. The Nisqually Natives, apparently confounded by the music that came from this tiny box with strings, examined the instrument carefully to figure out how it could make such a racket.<br />
Speechmaking began in the early afternoon, when the sergeant of marines read the Declaration of Independence out loud.<br />
Dinner was finally piped in at four, and Wilkes said: "All the officers present dined with me -- Mr. Anderson, Capt. McNeill & Dr. Richmond, Missionary. All seemed to enjoy themselves and I gave them as good chow as the Oregon Territory afforded."<br />
<br />
Less than a week after that feast, Alexander Anderson accompanied Wilkes on a visit to the Shutes River, intending, Wilkes said, "to visit the Bute Prairies, for the purpose of examining them."<br />
The Bute Prairies is now the Mounds Prairie -- or Mima Mounds, near Olympia.<br />
They sent horses ahead to meet them at the bottom of the Sound, and took to the boats to row to the mouth of Deschutes Creek, at the bottom of West Bay.<br />
"An early start on the 10th of June brought us to the falls by 11 o'clock," Wilkes reported. "The weather had become disagreeable with rain showers... This Arm is about 9 miles deep and the Shutes River falls with its head down a fall of some 65 feet in height. It is here about 10 feet wide and 2 feet deep, it forms a basin of 50 feet diameter at its foot from which the land rises and makes a cool pleasant retreat in summer."<br />
<br />
Anderson and Wilkes continued on to the prairie with two men with shovels and pickaxes.<br />
"The path is an Indian trail & everywhere overgrown with alders &c from 12 to 15 feet high. Pitched our tents & made fires & then chose the Butes which we desired to open, 3 of which were dug into..."<br />
Both Anderson and Wilkes were curious about these mounds, and tried to determine whether or not they were burial sites. As we know now, they are not [although no one really seems to know how these seven-foot tall mounds occurred].<br />
"No kinds of articles, bones, or anything was found in them," Wilkes reported.<br />
"The Indians have no tradition respecting them whatever..... Having finished our examination, I determined to return to my part at the falls, and accordingly parted with my friend, Mr. A., who intended to return to Fort Nisqually," with his employees.<br />
<br />
But back at Fort Nisqually, trouble was brewing for Anderson.<br />
At this time, Fort Nisqually was very cramped, with many farm and fur trade buildings crowded inside the palisades of the fort.<br />
Both Anderson and Captain William Henry McNeill, and their families, lived in the same house -- at least when McNeill was on shore from his ship, the Beaver.<br />
It can't have been pleasant, especially when it appears that the two men did not get along well.<br />
The Captain was a burly man with a fierce temper -- a carrier of grudges, who reported on Anderson behind his back to Chief Factor John McLoughlin.<br />
<br />
On June 5th, 1841, McNeill wrote that: "Very little fur makes its appearance at this place however I have seen some Beaver brought here and taken away again."<br />
On August 4th, he reported: "On the 2nd ulto Mr. Anderson and Andrew [sic] St. Martin had a quarrel together. I did not ascertain at the time the real cause of the dispute but have since learned that it was about some order that st. Martin did not execute cheerfully or with dispatch. St. Martin came to me today and said he would not remain at the place....."<br />
<br />
In early September, when the HBC governor, George Simpson, arrived at the fort on his whirlwind tour around the world, Captain McNeill complained directly to him.<br />
As a result, Simpson wrote a note to McLoughlin, stating: "I learn from Captain McNeill that the Indians usually frequenting this place are in a very disaffected state, arising from Mr. Anderson's want of popularity, & as his recent conduct in reference to St. Martin has been exceedingly unpopular, both Mr. Douglas and myself, likewise Captain McNeill consider it advisable that a change of management should immediately take place."<br />
<br />
Anderson was not at the fort at the time, and he would not return home for another month. He had gone across the Natches Pass to collect a herd of cattle that were being sent from Forts Nez Perces and Colvile, to Fort Nisqually.<br />
I "crossed the Canada Range over the North West shoulder of Mt. Rainier by the Sanahamish (now known, I think, as the Natchess Pass)," he wrote.<br />
I "followed an Indian trail, expending a good deal of labour in parts to render it passable for our return. Met the parties conducting the cattle low down on the Yakima River (on the Swanapum branch)."<br />
I "left the great portion of the party to herd the cattle near the verge of the mountains so as to recruit [others to help]. Returned to Nisqually with one man to procure provisions and further assistance."<br />
We "met the party, and returned with them bringing the cattle through to the Nisqually Plains with some loss by strays on the way, some of which, if not most of them, probably afterwards reached the same locality, following on the trail of the herd."<br />
<br />
In October 1841, Anderson arrived at Fort Nisqually to find the letter that Simpson had written one month earlier. It read:<br />
"For a variety of reasons which it may not be necessary to detail at present, I think a change of management here is likely to be advantageous in several points of view."<br />
I don't know if Anderson was relieved, or worried.<br />
He writes that, "In October I had orders to proceed to Vancouver."<br />
He packed up his belongings and spent the winter at Fort Vancouver under John McLoughlin's disapproving eye.<br />
In the Spring he took the York Factory express across the continent to Hudson Bay, and back to the Columbia.<br />
It must have been a tough journey -- after he left York Factory, the bitchy, gossiping Chief Factor's wife wrote this of him:<br />
"The gentlemen here are too apt to thrash and indeed point their guns at their men and Mr. Anderson, who came across from Vancouver last spring was so detested that they confessed that if he had fallen into the river not one would have held out a stick to him."<br />
<br />
We don't really know what happened at Fort Nisqually, but the voyageurs he travelled with did know, and I think they gave him a very hard time.<br />
On his return to the west side of the mountains, Anderson left the express at Fort Colvile (near Spokane) and rode north and west to take charge of Fort Alexandria, New Caledonia.<br />
<br />
I think he had some hard lessons to learn at Fort Nisqually, but he learned them.<br />
In the following years Donald Manson, at Fort St. James, dealt regularly with argumentative employees who tried to abandon the fur trade -- and often managed to do so. Anderson never had much problem with his employees.<br />
While he was in charge of Fort Colvile his employees remained until their contracts were finished, even though the California gold rush was in full swing at the time.<br />
So Anderson learned a lot at Fort Nisqually, and I believe his time there was pivotal -- at least in his personal history.<br />
What happened here might have disappointed him. He may have felt as if he was a failure.<br />
But what happened here changed him, and taught him to be a better man.<br />
<br />
He did his most important work after he left Fort Nisqually.<br />
I have already told you that in 1847 and 1847, Anderson made four important explorations across the mountains that separated Kamloops from Fort Langley, on the lower Fraser River.<br />
What happened after he discovered his two possible brigade trails is important, and it is tied to the time when both Anderson and Wilkes were at Fort Nisqually.<br />
On Lieutenant Wilkes' return to the east, he published a book called "Life in the Oregon Country before the Immigration."<br />
This publication encouraged the Americans to come west, and they came by the thousands every year afterward.<br />
In 1847 it appears they brought the measles with them.<br />
The measles spread rapidly amongst the Natives on the Columbia River and killed thousands of them.<br />
The hard-hit Cayuse tribe blamed the missionaries at the Waiilatpu Mission, near Walla Walla, for the many deaths in their villages.<br />
They swarmed into the mission house and murdered the missionary, his wife and a dozen other Americans.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
(For more on this massacre, see link at bottom of page. But read the rest first.)</div>
The massacre set off a massive war that closed down the Columbia River to the fur traders and forced them to come out over one of Anderson's unfinished trails.<br />
The first journey out was an unmitigated disaster -- the second year they tried the other trail Anderson had explored and the journey proved to be better.<br />
By the third year Anderson's trail was proving its worth, by bringing the fur traders out to Fort Langley from Kamloops without many difficulties at all.<br />
<br />
And so, you can see that Anderson was here, at Fort Nisqually, at a pivotal time in American history, when Lieutenant Charles Wilkes first saw the beautiful and sheltered waters of Puget Sound and decided to keep them in American hands.<br />
Anderson left Fort Nisqually in time to mature enough to be the man the fur trader chose to explore for the new trails they thought they might need, when the boundary finally went through.<br />
And in 1848, when the massacre of the Waiilatpu Missionaries and the resulting Indian wars closed down the Columbia River to the fur traders, Anderson's rough trails were already in place and available to them.<br />
As miserable as he was at Fort Nisqually, he grew up enough to become the man the fur trade depended on.<br />
And so, Fort Nisqually, and Lieutenant Charles Wilkes' visit, is a very important part of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's story.<br />
<br />
For more on the Waillatpu Massacre, see THREE posts beginning with: "Waiilatpu Mission, Summer to Fall 1847 [July 8, 2012]<br />
<a href="http://www.furtradefamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2012/07/waiilatpu-mission-summer-to-fall-1847.html">1st of Waiilatpu Mission posts </a><br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-36497207672066995222013-03-09T10:12:00.001-08:002013-03-09T10:12:18.508-08:00Fur Trade Farming, at Fort AlexandriaFarming was a very important part of the fur trade under Governor George Simpson, and every fort had a garden that grew its own food. Hungry fur traders did little work, of course, and shipping sacks of flour and other foodstuffs up the brigade trail from Fort Colvile or Fort Vancouver was not an option. So, whether they liked it or not, fur traders in New Caledonia (northern British Columbia) had to garden.<br />
Some gardens were more successful than others, and while Alexander Anderson was in charge of Fort Alexandria, New Caledonia, his gardens and grain crops were for the most part, very successful.<br />
He wrote about the harvesting schedule many years later in one of his manuscripts, and I have taken this from his son's Memoirs.<br />
Anderson is writing this long after he left the fur trade and sometime after the colony of British Columbia was a fact:<br />
<br />
"As the best criterion of the productive powers of British Columbia," he wrote, "I will cite some of the statistics of the Hudson's Bay Company's farm attached to the post of Alexandria, conducted under my own supervision for six years succeeding 1842.<br />
"[In April] Wheat, Barley and Oats were sown in the order mentioned as fast as the ground was prepared; fall wheat having of course been sown the preceding autumn.<br />
"Immediately following, potatoes were planted, generally about the beginning of May. Late in June or the beginning of July refreshing thunder showers, lasting sometimes at intervals for a week or ten days, afforded a favourable opportunity for sowing turnips which the heat afterwards brought on with great rapidity.<br />
"The remainder of time till the commencement of harvest was occupied in attending to the gardens and green crops and laying in a stock of hay for the winter.<br />
"Fall wheat was less to be depended upon than the Spring variety, for the reason that, if frost came on before the fall of snow, the expansion of the surface soil was apt to unroot the growing grain.<br />
"The crops securing during the years I have mentioned were invariably good. I have witnessed forty bushels of the finest spring wheat threshed from the produce of a measured acre (Canadian) of sixty yards square. The yield of barley was invariably heavy; that of oats good, considering the inferior variety we cultivated. All the culinary vegetables throve well....<br />
<br />
"The amount of crop thus annually raised was generally about five hundred bushels of wheat, several hundred of barley and oats, and a thousand or twelve hundred of potatoes besides a large quantity of turnips and a sufficiency of the vegetables usually produced in the Kitchen garden. To grind our wheat we had a small portable mill with stones two feet in diameter. This mill of American manufacture was bought at Fort Vancouver on the Columbia [Vancouver, WA], taken up the Columbia by water to Okinagan and thence packed on horse back, piece meal, to its destination. The mill itself was well made and efficient, but the driving gear constructed at Alexandria was a marvellous piece of workmanship. In those days of make-shifts and dove-tailing, of means and appliances to turn a Canadian voyageur into a millwright was nothing. Hence our mill, of which by the way we were very proud, rumbled round in a most eccentric manner. It did its work though, but with a wondrous strain upon the poor horses who tugged the unwieldy machine around. The flour thus produced was of excellent quality and tasted all the sweeter, I doubt not, as being the result of our own exertions.<br />
<br />
"I have talked however of a thing that was. All, I am informed, has since been suffered to fall into decay; and the little farm on what I used to pride myself has passed away, ...even the very cocks and hens have vanished, and if the mill remains, it must be as the mere ghost of its former imperfect self -- a sad memento of the past."<br />
<br />
So, we will now go to the Fort Alexandria journals and see what Alexander Caulfield Anderson had to say about the farming and harvesting of crops under his care. For those of you who do not know where Fort Alexandria was -- it stood on the banks of the Fraser River north of Soda Creek and Williams Lake, and well south of Quesnel and Prince George.<br />
<br />
Anderson arrived at Alexandria on Sunday November 13th, 1842, so there was little that he could have done for a few months. His first post in the journal said this:<br />
"Monday 21st. Fair and mild. Despatched Mr. Donald McLean for Chilcotins on Saturday last, with Linneard & Marineau & sundry goods & prov[ision]s as per Blotter. Horses as per do. The men are to return immediately, as likewise the horses, except two which are to remain for the drouines to Thleuz-cuz, and a filly for the trade. Three men off for a raft of firewood, as the river is again free of ice. Dubois and another making a travail, hauling timber &c. Gendron, cook -- Trudelle lost the day looking for a horse. The men making a working utensil. Michel Ogden & an Indian boy securing the barley from the deprivation of the rats, and clearing out the accumulation of shavings from beneath the flooring of the carpenter shop. I'm out of breath with this long enumeration and shall in the future confine my remarks to general topics. Meanwhile, I may state that most of the natives about this place, after a little persuasion, are about to depart on a marten hunting excursion. Gave Whaletah his annual present." [B.5/a/5, fo. 33, HBCA]<br />
<br />
For many months after this journal entry the only farming that went on was the hauling of hay the fields at Stonia Lake to the barns near the fort. In early 1843 they had 21 barn loads in all -- we don't know the size of the cart that was used to haul in the hay, but I doubt it was a large wagon. I do know they were short of hay that year. In short order there was none to feed the cattle, which were put out on the grasslands around the fort to feed.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately in spring 1843 Anderson went to Fort St. James to take charge of the place during Peter Skene Ogden's absence. He would return to Alexandria on April 26th, when Donald McLean, who was in charge in his absence, wrote, "Commenced sowing the wheat received from Colvile, 4 bushels sown at the lower field near the barn."<br />
A day later he "set a Turkey hen on 13 eggs, and a domestic hen on 15. Evening cloudy with light showers. 9 1/2 bushels wheat sown."<br />
On Friday: 'Men of the establishment are variously employed. Lenniard, LeFevre, Theriouax & Indian ploughing, harrowing & rolling wheat." On Saturday "a brood of chickens hatched, most of them lived but a short time."<br />
On Monday May 1st, "The New Caledonia brigade of 24 men, under charge Mr. A.C. Anderson, started for the Columbia ...This post is now left with 4 man, including the cooks, for the summer. Men of the establishment busy getting seed into the ground, 30 bushels wheat." Tuesday: "Set 3 hen turkeys on 39 eggs, 20 also Domestic hens, our chickens I am sorry to say do not get on well. Men variously employed ploughing, harrowing, sowing &c."<br />
<br />
On the 25th of May, 1843, Anderson returned to the fort and took charge of the post journal again. "Gendron, who is cook &c, at leisure intervals is employed planing boards. Theriouac wheels. The rest finished yesterday the fence on the way to the Barn.... Today Lefevre & Wentrel hauling pickets with 5 horses. Michel Ogden with Laframboise & Marten, two Indian lads engaged for the summer, digging out stumps in new ground contiguous to fort. Today was warm; but for two or three days preceding the weather was extremely boisterous & ungenial with wind at N."<br />
<br />
In June, Michel Ogden planted turnip [seeds?] near the barn, about half an acre, and the rest was sown near the fort. In mid June the men were "hoeing earth round potatoes in garden, which are now long enough." On the 19th they "transplanted some cabbages, lettuces and Swede Turnips at garden at little river.... Our crops are thriving."<br />
In early July Anderson noted that "our potatoes & turnips which have been duly thinned & hoed are thriving well. The barley is earing fast." By the 19th, "Wheat in ear and flowering, barley the same; but oats, except a little near the barn, yet closed." There is not yet any mention of corn, but I know it was sometimes planted at Fort Alexandria.<br />
<br />
At the end of July, Anderson reported that: "Yesterday there was a heavy thunder shower, and again this afternoon -- a circumstance which will tend to retard our hay making; but I trust fine weather will soon reappear. Quebec and Gendron arranged (or I should rather say made) three cradles, which I intend to employ for harvesting our grain. The barley is ripening fast, and should the weather prove favorable, will be fit to cut in ten days or a fortnight. Lefevre and his companion having carted sufficient grass, as I suppose, for roofing the barn, now begin to transport a quantity for the purpose of re-roofing our boat-shed which was partially uncovered last winter as a last resort to save the lives of our starving cattle. Linneard, Tout Laid & an Indian lade making hay. M. Ogden taking care of calves &c about the fort." August 1st: "Gendron after milking cattle, having breakfast &c, set out with Thirouac to commence covering the barn."<br />
<br />
On Wednesday Anderson describes the fields of grain: "Our wheat is thriving well, but the heavy rains of Sunday & Monday have crushed down some patches in those fields where the straw is longest. Some of the wheat, I should state, was six feet high & upwards; but this remark applies to that sown in good new soil only. That sown upon some patches of old worn out soil is feeble [as] might of course be expected. Generally, however, the [fields] present a most luxuriant & encouraging appearance."<br />
<br />
On the 7th of August the men are still covering the boat shed with grass, and "Linneard came down from the hay this evening, the whole being now cut. Lefevre & the Indian lads remain today & stack what is still on the ground." On the 11th, "Two men cutting barley, of which a small load was housed today. Rain interrupted their harvesting for a few days, and the incoming brigade arrived at the fort which took everyone away from the farming duties.<br />
<br />
By the 29th of August, Anderson wrote that: "... the weather has been favorable for our harvest & the men have been occupied at it without cessation (except of course, the Sabbath). Today, however, the foul weather interrupts our purpose. 800 sheaves of wheat are housed. The [remainder] cut is for the most part in stooks up on the fields. One half of our wheat is now reaped, but our limited [resources] do not admit of our carrying on operations as we might wish. Men variously occupied excavating a cavereau [an ice-box], preparing a thrashing floor &c."<br />
<br />
In early September Anderson reported that: "[Montigny] & Marineau... carting barley of which 10 cart loads were brought home, of about 50 large sheaves each. The others tying wheat. Yesterday at noon the reapers finished the largest piece of wheat & continued at the barn. Today not reaping, being considerably in advance of the tyers [women & children who were tying the wheat?]. ...Threatening weather, with occasional drops of rain but nothing material." Two days later they "finished cutting our barley of which the crop is so copious as to fill our boatshed with the exception of ten feet vacant at each end, say about 40 good cart loads, of 50 sheaves each, more or less."<br />
<br />
[The boatshed, by the way, sheltered the brigade boats over the summer and was emptied when the incoming brigade took the boats upriver to Fort St. James.]<br />
<br />
Problems always occurred. Tuesday 5th: "Cutting wheat at barn. Unfortunately one of the wheels of Linneard's cart got broken, through the upsetting of the cart. This about noon, the vehicle was laid by & Marineau continued alone. Montigny & Indians shearing wheat & M. Ogden pulling up pease [vetch?]. Thirouiac & afterwards Linneard reaping. Having finished the barn patch of wheat, they began upon a piece of oats. The other piece of wheat, though well advanced and in parts perfectly ripe, may be suffered to wait a few days without injury."<br />
<br />
The next morning Linneard repaired the wheel. By this time the boathouse held "..38 1/2 loads contained in one side of barn, being full to the summit... 49 loads now housed of 70 sheaves or more per load. Continued cutting the evening, Oats, &c." On Friday, 8th of September, Marineau took in the remainder of the large field of wheat. "This, with one half of the patch near the barn, fills the barn -- say 72 loads in all. Afterwards all hands at the other wheat fields. The oats are sheaved and stooked."<br />
<br />
The Fort Alexandria men sheaved the last of the wheat in mid September, and on the 18th, "Linneard & others making a stack of white wheat opposite back door of barn, it having been lodged temporarily under cover in the thrashing space of barn. The stack, which is unfinished, is covered with oil cloths in case of foul weather during the night." Anderson's attention then turned to the trading for fish which also brought in food that would feed the men over the winter.<br />
<br />
At the end of August he inventoried the harvest for that year:<br />
"Total of wheat &c Harvest 1843 -- 40 cartloads Barley (50 large sheaves each)<br />
93 loads white, 6 loads red -- 104 cartloads Wheat (50 large sheaves each)<br />
12 loads Oats (with still more to come. They housed the last of their oats on the last day of September).<br />
60 Bushels Potatoes (660)<br />
<br />
There was a long break in his journal at this time. Anderson's journal began on about the 20th of April, 1844, when he wrote:<br />
"Want of ink has interrupted my journal for a time but now by the arrival of Marineau from Colvile, I have received a supply.... The men have been busily occupied for the last week at the farm & today, 19th, we harrowed in and rolled the last of our wheat, say 23 1/4 bushels ... occupying all our disposable land. There were 30 bushels last year; but as the seed was very poor it was sown considerably thicker. The extent of land [remains] the same, but the crops were shifted."<br />
<br />
And so the cycle of farming begins again in April, 1844. On the 22nd they are sowing oats at the barn. A day later they finished harrowing & rolling all the grain, having sown 24 1/2 bushels of wheat. By the 30th of April they finished planting their potatoes. On the 1st of May Lenniard is working in the garden, while others are grinding wheat.<br />
<br />
But 1844 would prove to be a cold and backward season, at least for a few weeks. On the 9th of May, 1844, Anderson noted that: "Our oats in the lower fields sown about a month ago, have been so much inured by the inclemency of the weather" including hard overnight frosts, "that much of the grain will, I fear, not recover. Accordingly I today got part of the two fields resown with the remainder of our oats -- say 5 1/2 bushels, leaving those parts least injured by the frost to take their chance."<br />
<br />
One of the difficulties of farming in the fur trade was that most of the Fort Alexandria men went out with the brigade every summer to Fort Vancouver [Vancouver, WA.], and returned home about the middle of August. Though it was always a necessary task, keeping up with the farming was almost impossible to do when only four men remained at the fort. The women and children were put to work, and everyone at the fort did their share of the farm work. Still, it was heavy and hard work, and often interrupted by other work that also had to be done. In September 1844, Anderson noted in his journal that "with this scanty complement [of men] I can, it is true, manage to scramble through; but it cannot be expected that I shall be able to prosecute the farm with that spirit which can alone ensure success." A more telling complaint is, perhaps, this one:<br />
<br />
"With our multifarious operations at this place it is a difficult matter to go on regularly with any particular job. Like drunken men, we make one step forward & then a half-halt in arrears. I cannot help it."<br />
<br />
I think that says it all.<br />
<br />
I get a lot of questions through this blog sometimes, and some of them are very interesting questions. One reader told me about potatoes, and so I researched the kinds of potatoes that were grown at the fur trade forts: specifically Fort Vancouver.<br />
If you want more information on that subject, find my blog posting, "Potatoes at Fort Alexandria." You might find the post by goggling that name exactly. However, if that does not work, then go to Fur Trade Family History (this blog) and find the posting for the date Sunday, August 14, 2011 -- "Potatoes at Fort Alexandria."<br />
Or try this link: http://www.furtradefamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2011/08/potatoes-at-fort-alexandria.html (live link below)<br />
<a href="http://www.furtradefamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2011/08/potatoes-at-fort-alexandria.html">Potatoes at Fort Alexandria</a><br />
<br />
As I told you a while ago I was also asked about Indian corn being planted at Fort Alexandria, and I did finally find it mentioned. Father Nobili, who passed through the fort on various occasions, wrote that he saw fields of many kinds of Indian corn.<br />
Here, now, is the Fort Alexandria journal posting that is relevant to that occasion:<br />
Because of missing pages, it is hard to tell the exact date this was written. It is probably Monday 4th May, 1845:<br />
"Finishing putting in our seed grain, say in all as under:<br />
29 wheat, 15 Barley, 10 Oats -- Some Pease & Indian corn (for summer use only)."<br />
<br />
And so, by the skin of my teeth I was able to confirm that, Yes, Pere Nobili saw Indian corn at Fort Alexandria. It was planted every spring and eaten over the summer months and, so, never mentioned in the harvests of Fort Alexandria.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-14087799909759407082013-02-23T11:37:00.000-08:002013-02-23T11:37:29.628-08:00The Good Neighbour: Alexander Caulfield Anderson, the Man Behind the HistoryThis is the talk (I dislike the word, speech) I gave in front of a small group of people who decided to come to the Heritage Week event at the Saanich Centennial Library behind Tillicum Mill, here in Victoria, on February 20th.<br />
<br />
Small group, perhaps -- but interested. At the end of the talk they had a lot of questions for me -- one man was taking notes!<br />
<br />
For those of you who have read my talks before, I realize that I have a common introduction for every talk.<br />
But I am talking to people who I have not spoken to before, and these words introduce, first: the importance of the man to British Columbia's history; and second: why I am interested in him.<br />
They need to know this: especially when, as in this case, I am speaking of the man I discovered behind the history that many of us (who read this blog) already know.<br />
<br />
So, here we go (A note here: before I was edited I never considered the word "so" important. But my editor used it, and I, too, have come to realize its importance. Funny how one little word makes such a difference.....)<br />
<br />
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming tonight. I am Nancy Marguerite Anderson, the author of the book, The Pathfinder: A. C. Anderson's Journeys in the West.<br />
<br />
Anderson's full name was Alexander Caulfield Anderson. He was the Hudson's Bay Company fur trader who, in the mid-1840's, threaded his way through mountain passes and down rapid-filled rivers in search of a horse-friendly trail through the mountainous country that separated the Hudson's Bay Company fort at Kamloops, from Fort Langley, on the lower Fraser River. He made four expeditions between the two forts, and discovered two possible horse trails -- both of which by-passed the canyons and rapids of the Fraser River.<br />
<br />
These were exciting times! At this time, the fur traders' traditional route to their headquarters every summer was down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver, which stood only one hundred miles from the mouth of the river. However, only a few months after Anderson returned home from his second set of expeditions, Native uprisings along the lower Columbia River, at Fort Nez Perces (Walla Walla), forced the fur traders to abandon any attempt to down the Columbia River with their furs.<br />
<br />
The furs must come out, however, and the trade goods must come in. But the furtraders had no substitute trail. The HBC men decided to bring out their furs to Fort Langley from Kamloops, by one of Anderson's untested horse trails through the mountains.<br />
<br />
The journey out was chaotic disaster -- the return journey to Kamloops no better. Horses fell from clifftops carrying valuable trade goods with them and frustrated fur traders had fist fights while French-Canadians deserted for the California gold fields, and one man took his own life rather than tackle the return journey home.<br />
<br />
Anderson lived and worked through those turbulent years and the difficult years that followed. Because he played such an important role in those pivotal years -- when the whole history of what would become British Columbia and Washington State was changing -- he is considered by modern-day historians to be one of the most significant figures in British Columbia's history.<br />
<br />
But Alexander Caulfield Anderson was my great grandfather, and I wanted to know who he was. As I researched his story, I learned things that threatened to destroy the historic and heroic fur trade figure that lived inside my head.<br />
<br />
What I learned about my ancestor transformed him into a man, with quirks and flaws and character and kindness and courtesy -- an extraordinary human being.<br />
<br />
And this is the man I am going to tell you about now -- not the fur trader and explorer whose work changed our history, but the man who cared for others. Who helped others, be they man or woman: Native or white or mixed-blood; British Colonists or American gold-miners or Royal Engineers.<br />
<br />
I will begin with a story of potato crops growing wild in the fur traders' New Caledonia, not far from Fort Alexandria where Anderson did his most important work. New Caledonia was the area of north central British Columbia around Fort St. James, and Fort Alexandria was the southern-most post in that fur trade department. The point of land [whose image I then showed] on which the fort once stood, is on the Fraser River just north of Williams Lake and south of Quesnel.<br />
<br />
Potatoes were a staple food of the fur trade, and every post grew them in their gardens. In fur trade journals there is always one French-Canadian employee who camps on the fort's potato fields to prevent theft -- because Natives, too, understood that potatoes were good food. But though the Natives ate the potatoes they stole, they did not usually grow them -- or at least, not at Fort Alexandria.<br />
<br />
Anderson was in charge of this post from 1842 to 1848. The post was far enough north that no one could depend on their wheat crops, though it grew more reliably at Anderson's post than anywhere else in the territory. Barley grew well at some posts, and turnips and potatoes were generally grown in large numbers at all.<br />
<br />
But none of these crops fed the Native population, who depended on their annual root harvests, and upon the salmon that swam up the Fraser River by the hundreds of thousands every summer. In years when the salmon did not arrive, the Natives seemed to starve.... From <i>The Pathfinder</i>: "When winter finally fell and the cycle of fishing was finished, the Company men could asses whether the Natives had enough food to allow them to enjoy a good hunting season. In 1844, it seemed they did not, especially when a storm blew in at the end of October with snow and freezing temperatures. Anderson wrote of his worry about the Natives' starving condition and what he saw as their miserable circumstances in comparison to his relative comfort in the fort:<br />
<br />
""Would I could predict with honest Sir Hugh that there are pippins & cheese to come -- but alas! I fear cold fingers and hunger will be the more probable lot of many in the interior, and we, who are comparatively in comfort, have reason to be thankful that we are so... T'is a glorious privilege to be able to write nonsense now & then, when there is no censor of the press, or rather of the pen, to check one -- Enough! A good fire, a warm house, & divers acceptable concomitants, with a foot of snow around one, are circumstances that may well occasion a momentary glimpse of contentment in a mind not always swayed by cheerful emotions.""<br />
<br />
Honest Sir Hugh was a character in Charles Dickens, and pippins are apples. Anderson made this journal entry shortly after he watched the Alexandria Natives return to their winter houses in an early snow storm. He knew the salmon run that year had been poor and the Natives would starve. Their hunts would suffer as a result, of course -- it was not entirely sympathy for the Natives that made Anderson take this next step. In the Fort Alexandria journals of April 1846, I found that Anderson, without clearly saying so, was intentionally taking steps to teach his Native neighbours how to grow their own food -- something that was, for the most part, foreign to them..... "Eleven Indians [are] working the soil [at our] suggestion, and I have promised to supply them seed potatoes."<br />
<br />
I haven't found this sort of thing in any other fur trade journal, but I have discovered that this one story might continue today. One of the readers of this blog told me the story of a patch of potatoes that grew wild in the interior, at a place only fifty miles from old Fort Alexandria. They were known to have been growing wild at this spot before the gold miners arrived there in 1859 or so.<br />
<br />
So, where did these potatoes come from? Are they descendants of the seed potatoes that Anderson provided the Alexandria Natives in 1846, so they could grow their own food every year? I don't know. They could come from the potatoes the early Spanish explorers dropped off among the Native tribes of the coast, that might have worked their way into the interior via the Grease Trails. I like to think they are Fort Alexandria's potatoes, but it doesn't matter. I passed the information on to the people at the Royal British Columbia Museum (one of whom was growing Nootka (Spanish) potatoes in his backyard). They are trying to figure out what kind of potatoes they are, and how they got there.<br />
<br />
We all know the stories of the 1858 Fraser river gold rush -- Anderson played an important role in this story, too. At the time the gold rush began, Anderson was already retired from the fur trade and living in Cathlamet, Washington Territory -- on the Columbia River west of the headquarters at Fort Vancouver. He was planning to set up a store-keeping business, like his father-in-law James Birnie had done. The Americans had been coming west for some years and were now settling in large numbers around Portland and Oregon City. Business would have been good, had it been allowed to happen.<br />
<br />
But this is a unique time in American history: the new American settlers were driven west by a notion they called "Manifest Destiny." They already owned Louisiana Territory which nudged the east side of the Rocky Mountains and included the Milk River basin, in what is now southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. They had wrestled Texas Territory from the Mexicans. Now they believed it was their "destiny" to occupy the entire North American continent, from sea to sea, and the modern Pacific Northwest and California was theirs for the taking. Some individuals pursued their goals quite aggressively, and for anyone who was of British ancestry, like Anderson, life in the new Washington Territory became "uncongenial," to say the least. [This is a very complicated history and I have shortened it a great deal, believe me!]<br />
<br />
But that was not the worst of it -- in addition to the Americans' bad treatment of the British fur traders, their treatment of the American Indians who lived here sparked one war after another, and Anderson saw his plans to build a store-keeping enterprise evaporate.<br />
<br />
However, one surprising opportunity did present itself -- the California gold rush died down and in 1855 miners began to find gold in Eastern Washington, around modern-day Spokane. Only a few years later, Americans for panning for -- and finding -- gold on the Thompson River near Kamloops. Of course, on their return to American territory they told stories of the gold they had discovered in British territory, and more gold miners clamoured for a route to these northern gold fields.<br />
<br />
Anderson was the only person in the area around Portland, Oregon, who was known to have been to those places. So many Americans came to him for information that he wrote a book, called "Guide to the Goldfields of the Frazer's and Thompson's River," which included a map to the Goldfields.<br />
<br />
This map was printed off by the thousands and sold to all the American gold miners who flooded north and east towards Spokane and the Thompson River. In late 1857 gold was rumoured to be found on the Fraser, and in spring 1858 thousands of San Francisco gold miners sailed north to Fort Victoria. However, because of the seasonally high water along the Fraser River north of Yale, none of the miners could make their way into the gold fields north of the Fraser River Canyons.<br />
<br />
Thousands of miners were stuck in Victoria, and the poor fur traders had no idea of what to do with them. They thought of Anderson. Fur trader John Work wrote Anderson a letter that tempted him north to Fort Victoria, and when he arrived there, Governor James Douglas put him to work.<br />
<br />
Anderson suggested that a good trail could be built over the route of his first expedition of 1846 -- the route he had been guided over could never have worked for the fur traders who needed either a good horse road, or a safe river route for loaded boats. However, Anderson judged that his trail would work well for the gold miners, who would reach the Fraser River north of its barrier of rapids and falls [Hell's Gate and Black Canyons] and who could pack in their supplies and provisions.<br />
<br />
So Governor James Douglas [whose 1835 journals we have been reading for the last 6 months] put Anderson to work supervising the building of the first trail into the gold fields of the upper Fraser River. Note that this was not the Cariboo Road -- the Harrison Lillooet Trail led up the Fraser River to Harrison river and Lake, and the lake's north end where the new town of Port Douglas sprang up.<br />
<br />
The miners themselves built the road that followed the Lillooet River through Pemberton Valley to Lillooet Lake, and over a rugged height of land to the south end of Anderson Lake -- named by Alexander Anderson for his own family. Chinese immigrants from San Francisco set up boating businesses to ferry miners the length of Anderson Lake, to Birkenhead Portage [now Seton Portage] -- named by Anderson for his soldiering cousin, Alexander Seton, who had died in the recent sinking of the HMS Birkenhead off South Africa. Seton Lake -- which Anderson also named for his cousin -- lay beyond Birkenhead Portage, and at the far end of Seton Lake, a three mile long river took the miners to the banks of the Fraser north of Hell's Gate and Black Canyons, and south of modern-day Lillooet.<br />
<br />
And so Anderson's map brought thousands of American gold miners north to the colony of Vancouver's Island -- and Anderson's trail took them over the mountains that separated Fort Langley, on the lower mainland, from the gold fields on the upper Fraser River. Anderson's work was done at the end of the summer, and he would now take charge of the new Custom House for Victoria's free port.<br />
<br />
At this time the walls of old Fort Victoria were still standing, but the first government officials were coming from England to run the two new colonies -- Vancouver's Island, and the separate colony of British Columbia which was being set up across the water, with its headquarters at New Westminster.<br />
<br />
For a few months, Anderson was acting-Collector for the Colony of British Columbia, in the absence of the official Collector. He had kept no separate set of books for British Columbia, and so all of Anderson's records for both colonies were handed to the new British Columbia collector, Wymond Hamley....<br />
<br />
From <i>The Pathfinder</i>: "With limited means and no experience as an accountant, Anderson had set up the Customs House books by himself, and they had worked efficiently during the first busy months. However, Anderson had learned his bookkeeping in the fur trade, where no money existed to tempt men to steal. His system did not allow for dishonesty, but Hamley's examination of the books revealed that eight permits issued by the Deputy Collector Charles Angelo had not been entered in the Customs House books, and the money had disappeared."<br />
<br />
All hell broke loose among the newly arrived British colonists! Angelo was arrested and thrown in jail and Anderson was reported to be responsible for the mess. He was removed from office, but before that was done he arranged with lawyer Henry Crease [later Judge Crease] that One hundred and fifty dollars be paid from the Custom House funds to Deputy Collector Angelo's wife, who was now penniless and could not feed her children. "I do this on my own responsibility," Anderson said, "and to satisfy my own scruples on the score of humanity, for it has been intimated to me that for any payment made under present circumstances I shall be held responsible."<br />
<br />
He <u>was</u> held responsible. This payment -- much of which was actually owed to Mrs. Angelo by the Colonial Government -- would return to haunt him many times over the years. The fur traders no longer ran the colony -- the new immigrants from England did. Anderson lost his job and there was no other employment he would have considered. He was a partner in a new shipbuilding enterprise, and he owned farmland in North Saanich on which he was now having a new house built. He made plans to move out to the remote region in the spring, when the house was completed. In the meantime he imported a herd of 60 cattle from Oregon, and put them out on the grasslands of his farm to feed.<br />
<br />
Anderson kept himself busy trying to make a living, but he still took time out of his busy schedule to work with his Saanich neighbours, clearing land for the church they would construct in the spring. He would not, however, take part in the building of St. Stephens Church. The winter of 1861-62 blew in early with frigid temperatures and deep snow that covered the ground and remained until spring. No one in the area was well enough established to have grown a crop of hay too sell. Cows do not forage under snow for feed, and at the end of the long winter, only a few head of cattle remained alive.<br />
<br />
This was not all. The same cold winter weather froze the waters of the Fraser River all the way from Yale to the river mouth, and by the time the ice melted, Anderson's steamship business was dead -- his large, beautiful warehouse on Wharf Street gone. He was in crisis, with no job, no business, and now no income. The fur trade had no made him wealthy. He owned property in North Saanich on which he had a large mortgage, but no livestock and no way to support himself.<br />
<br />
He wrote for a living, though it brought him little money, of course. At this time, the government of the Colony of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia held writing contests for essays that encouraged immigration to the new colonies.<br />
<br />
But at the same time, the Royal engineers were arriving in Victoria, and they needed information on the interior of the country where they were supposed to be building roads and bridges. They were immediately sent to Anderson for that information, and he gave it to them. He took his old travelling maps and turned them into finished maps -- for example, his old travelling map of the route up the Columbia River from Fort Colvile to Boat Encampment, was transformed into the beautiful finished map of the Columbia River and Athabasca Pass.<br />
<br />
In North Saanich, Anderson became the representative of the people who lived there and in South Saanich -- which was then the community along Mount Newton Crossroad and in Saanichton. Good roads had been a promise made by the Government of the time, and they were now reneging on that promise. There are many letters from Anderson in the records of the Lands and Works Department, wherein he asks for repairs to the rough roads and better bridges across the many deep creeks that flowed through the area. In <i>The Pathfinder</i> I described the road as a morass of tree roots and mudholes -- his son, Walter, later described West Saanich Road:<br />
<br />
"The West Road to Victoria was slowly improving, though still a very bad road as roads go.. At intervals along the road were wayside inns, it being an unwritten law that a stop should be made at each one of these and a little refreshment partaken of. The most northerly of these houses was Henry Wain's [Wain Road and West Saanich Rd]. then after a seven mile drive came the Mt. Newton Hotel, at the junction of the Mt. Newton Crossroad.... Then came the Royal Oak at the junction of the West and East Roads. Beyond that the road, instead of coming in Quadra Street as now, diverged at the far side of Christmas Hill and skirted the shore of Swan Lake, at the far corner of which stood the Swan Lake Hotel, kept by a sister of Henry Wain and her husband.... It may seem strange to many people in this age that stops should be made at all of these places, but I can assure them that it was a boon to be able to get a glass of wine or beer, or something stronger, and very comforting to warm oneself at the big log fire on a cold winter's day while on a long wearying drive over rough roads such as we had then."<br />
<br />
From <i>The Pathfinder</i>: "Even while he worked as a gentleman farmer in North Saanich, Anderson continued to contribute to Victoria organizations. In 1862, the members of the Immigration Committee, which encouraged settlement in British Columbia, named Anderson to its committee... In 1864 he was appointed justice of the peace and acted as coroner for the district, investigating murders and accidental deaths for the colonial government. In 1865 Anderson was called as a witness for the British government in the British and American Joint Boundary Commission hearings held in Victoria, where he gave his occupation as "gentleman." In 1866 the new editor of the Colonist newspaper approached Anderson for information on the route to the Big Bend Gold Mines which were then making the news -- Anderson was one of the few people in Victoria known to have been to that out-of-the-way place."<br />
<br />
I can add to this paragraph that he was one of the Saanich settlers who helped to organize the Saanich Agricultural Fair, which still runs today.<br />
<br />
In 1866, the Colonies of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia merged, using the name "British Columbia." In 1871, the province became a part of the Dominion of Canada, which now called for representatives for the House of Commons. Alexander Anderson announced his intention to run for election.<br />
<br />
One of his competitors was the local brewer, Arthur Bunster. The election itself took place in Harry Wain's roadhouse with Anderson's 10-year old son, Walter, acting as returning officer. On election day, bunster distributed free beer outside the hall while Anderson watched as the tide of voters turned against him. When one of his strongest supporters entered the hall to cast his vote for Bunster, Anderson stood up and, looking the man sternly in his eyes, said, "And you, too, Mr. Blank?"<br />
<br />
"I had never properly grasped the significance of Caesar's dying reproachful question till that moment," young Walter later observed. "Well, the election was over, and Bunster's beer won the day."<br />
<br />
While he resided in North Saanich from 1862 to 1876, Anderson worked on improving the lives of the Natives who lived nearby -- just as he had done when he was a fur trader. For many years he was their self-appointed doctor. He encouraged the residents of the nearby Tseycum Reserve to cultivate their clayey soil, and some soon raised pigs and cattle or farmed smaller sections of richer soil. Anderson had a particularly strong interest in grafting fruit trees, and a few of his Native neighbours even learned this agricultural craft from him, and now owned small thriving orchards.<br />
<br />
His son, James, said that: "In his management of the Indians he was singularly successful, always firm in his dealing with them, he was ever ready to accede to all their just demands, while sternly refusing to abate one job of the rights of the whites, as understood by the then rulers of the land.... Often called upon to relieve sickness or distress he was ever willing to sacrifice his time to the wants of the Natives, and so endeared himself to them so that years after he had left the scene of his active life he was remembered and spoken of in affectionate terms, even by the younger generation who only knew him by tradition. Naturally it gives me a melancholy satisfaction to bear this testimony in the memory of my father."<br />
<br />
The Natives in the interior also remember Anderson, the fur trader. In 1876, Alexander Anderson was appointed the Dominion Representative of the Indian Reserve Commission set up that year to settle Indian Reserves on the Coast and in the interior -- the other members of the Commission were Archibald McKinlay, retired fur trader now cattle rancher, and Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, an immigrant from England. The three Commissioners worked the last part of 1876 on the coast, and in spring of 1877 the Provincial Government hustled them into the interior to settle the tribes around Kamloops who were reported to be almost in a state of war.<br />
<br />
When the Commissioners arrived in Kamloops, they found the Natives all over the region <u>were</u> threatening to go to war. The American Indians across the border were already battling the United States Army, and Native chiefs rode north from the Spokane area to incite their Okanagan cousins to join them in their insurgency.<br />
<br />
The image I showed then is in my book -- it is the picture of Tsilaxitsa, on page 203. [Of course I showed the coloured version, as it is so beautiful.] As nephew of the powerful Chief Nkwala, after whom the Nicola valley is named, Tsilaxitsa had by 1877 become the most prominent Okanagan chief of his time. A few days after the three man Commission's arrival in Kamloops, Anderson reported that:<br />
<br />
"Tsilaxitsa, the chief of the Okanagans, who when a young man travelled with me a good deal... visited our camp to pay his respects to the Commissioners. He afterwards visited me privately at my tent, and after a good deal of conversation imparted to me the [news].. of what has recently transpired among the natives at the General Councils that have been held.... He said that, in talking to me thus privately, he wished to forewarn me, for old friendship's sake, that an unsatisfactory feeling was abroad, but that he would address the Commissioners, as a body, only after we should have visited his lands....<br />
<br />
"Tsilaxitsa is a man of much influence. Like the rest he is astute, and his words must be accepted with caution. Nevertheless, under the influence of an old friendship, he had probably been as frank with me, privately, as his nature will admit."<br />
<br />
The private conversation between Tsilaxitsa and Anderson, in Anderson's tent, infuriated the third Commissioner Sproat. But, as Anderson said, he had known Tsilaxitsa for many years. Thirty years earlier (in 1847) Tsilaxitsa, and a Native I believe is his close relative, the son of the Similkameen chief Blackeye, had been Anderson's guides over what Anderson called the Similkameen trail, up the mountainside from modern day Boston Bar and across the plateau behind to the Nicola Valley.<br />
<br />
And in later years it is likely that both these young chiefs acted as Anderson's Native guides over the Coquihalla brigade trail -- as their uncle N'kwala had done for the fur traders who rode up and down the old Okanagan Trail. This was, after all, one of the long-standing traditions of the fur trade.<br />
<br />
The Indian Reserve Commissioners returned to Victoria at the end of 1877, and Anderson -- who had two jobs for the Dominion government -- continued his work as Fisheries Inspector, travelling up and down the coast from the Nass River, next to the Alaska Panhandle, to the new canneries set up at the mouth of the Fraser River. In his work, Anderson protected both the fish resources, and the fishermen themselves -- including the Natives and their traditional fisheries.<br />
<br />
Here is an example of his work: One year the canneries received so many fish they could not can them all, and the excess fish were discarded on the beach and left to rot. To prevent such waste in future years, Anderson arranged that if the canneries again had an excess of fish delivered to them, they would give the extra salmon to their Native neighbours so that the fish could be smoked and preserved for their winter supply of food.<br />
<br />
Anderson also collected and shipped to London, England, samples of cans of salmon now produced in British Columbia, and many pieces of Native art, canoes, and fishing gear. All items that survived the watery journey to England were exhibited in the massive International Fisheries Exhibition held in London in 1883. This Exhibition provided a tremendous boost for the British Columbia salmon canning industry, and the Minister of the Canadian Marine and Fisheries Department reported to Anderson on the many gold awards the province won:<br />
<br />
"Some specimens certainly received much attention," the Minister wrote. "The salmon for their huge size -- the tinned salmon for the fine display made by the Government... and the Indian fishing gear for its grotesque appearance... Our Indian from New Brunswick who has his birch bark canoe did not like the fancy cedar canoe you sent. I put him in it one day in his pond and he came near upsetting and could not paddle it like his own "birch." He soon came ashore and said, "only damn fool Indian use that kind of canoe."<br />
<br />
How many of you like to walk in Beacon Hill Park? Did you know that Alexander Anderson is one of the men who is responsible for preserving the park as it is -- a non-commercial park? In 1883, Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie wrote the trust that outlined the rules for the use of the park, a trust which prohibited profit making activities, including the erection of sponsorship signs.<br />
<br />
Anderson's son, James, said this about his father: "He was always in the front rank in raising his voice against any invasion of the rights of the public. Just prior to his death he warmly opposed the erection of an Agricultural Hall in Beacon Hill Park, which was being advocated by some ill-advised people and he took up the question with the government." On April 10th, 1884, the Daily Colonist published Anderson's letter: In it he declared that constructing an agricultural hall in the park was "a barbarous proposal" that "will be strenuously opposed by many who have the improvement of the city and the conservation of its natural attractions sincerely at heart."<br />
<br />
However, not everyone is happy about this today. I have an article from a 2005 newspaper titled: "The Land that Fun Forgot." Again, a modern group is fuming because they cannot raise funds in the public park... So thank Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie, who drew up the original trust in 1883, and Alexander Caulfield Anderson, who defended it a year later -- for keeping Beacon Hill Park a park. This is history. I've said this many times. History doesn't just happen and then go away: it's always still here. We are surrounded by it.<br />
<br />
I told you at the beginning of this talk that Alexander Caulfield Anderson was my great grandfather, and I wanted to know who he was. One of the questions I continually asked myself while I was writing this book was -- Was he a drunk? Did he drink too much?<br />
<br />
You will remember the story I told you of Anderson stopping at every road house for a restorative drink on his way into town from North Saanich? I have another story that didn't make it into the book, where Anderson tripped and fell one one of the rough boardwalks that Victoria had at that time, and suffered a bad cut on his face. Bystanders picked him up and carried him into a drinking house -- but did he trip because he was drunk?<br />
<br />
Fur traders were supplied, at every post, with a generous supply of good liquors and wines which they certainly drank. There were many instances where fur traders drank too much, and few stories of fur traders that did not drink.<br />
<br />
I considered that, because of his fur trade past, Anderson probably drank more than most of us today consider reasonable. Perhaps more than the new English immigrants considered wise -- after all, Indian Reserve Commissioner Gilbert Malcolm Sproat criticized both Anderson and McKinlay for "being drunk in front of the Indians they represented," at Savona's Ferry in 1877.<br />
<br />
In the stories that follow I found the answer to my question. In the late 1870's San Francisco historian, Hubert Howe Bancroft, arrived in Victoria to research the history of the territory, and interviewed many retired HBC men. He described Anderson: "In personal appearance... Mr. Anderson was of slight build, wiry make, active in mind and body, with a keen, penetrating eye... In speech he was elegant and precise, and by no means so verbose as in his writings, and in carriage, if not so dignified as [Roderick] Finlayson, his manner would do him credit at St. James [London]."<br />
<br />
In another publication Bancroft wrote this -- and in writing this he answered all my important questions, including the one about his drunkenness. This will also give you a very good idea of the kind of man that Alexander Caulfield Anderson was:<br />
<br />
"But more than to any other in Victoria, I feel myself indebted to Mr. A. C. Anderson, a man not only of fine education, but of marked literary ability, of poetic temperament, chivalrous in thought as well as in carriage, of acute observation and retentive memory he proved to be the chief and standard authority on all things relating to the country. He had published several works of value and interest, and was universally regarded as the most valuable living witness of the past. Tall, symmetrical, and very erect, with a long narrow face, ample forehead, well brushed white hair, side whiskers, and keen, light blue eyes, he looked the scholar he was. Scarcely allowing himself an interruption, he devoted nearly two weeks to my work with such warm cheerful and gentlemanly courtesy as to win our hearts... He took luncheon with us every day, smoked incessantly, and drank brandy and soda temperately."<br />
<br />
It was my project to discover who Alexander Anderson was, and I think I accomplished this. I found a man who cared for his Native neighbours, by ensuring that they could grow crops, such as potatoes, to support their families during those long, cold, Cariboo winters. Was this unusual among the fur traders? I believe so.<br />
<br />
As to the gold rush: his map brought the gold miners north to British Columbia, and his trail took them into the interior more or less in safety. The road served the miners well until the better Cariboo road was built. Later it was more or less replaced by the Duffy Lake Road, still in use today. But years after the original Harrison-Lillooet trail was abandoned, a cattle drive plodded over it -- and today it is a functioning hiking trail.<br />
<br />
Anderson ensured that a woman, whose husband was in jail and whose children would have starved without his assistance, received money that was owed to her -- enough money that would support her and her family if she were careful. He helped to clear the land to build the local church. He acted for his Saanich neighbours in getting roads improved and burned out bridges replaced. He helped the Royal Engineers by drawing maps that would lead them into the interior that he knew well and where they had to build new roads and bridges. His later maps led a new batch of gold miners to the mines in the Omineca, and on the Big Bend of the Fraser River.<br />
<br />
He tried, unsuccessfully, to represent Vancouver Island district in Ottawa. I think he would have been a very good representative -- perhaps better than some we have today.<br />
<br />
As we know, relations between the Natives of today are not as friendly as they used to be, when the fur traders were in the interior. I have been told of a letter to Queen Victoria from a Native chief, that said that the good white men were the fur traders, and the bad white men the settlers who came later. I have not seen this letter and so don't take this as the truth, but you can see that Tsilaxitsa apparently considered Anderson a friend -- as far as it was possible for a Native man of his time to be friends with a white man that represented a government that was trying to take the land from his people.<br />
<br />
Anderson's final neighbourly act still lives today in his defense of keeping Beacon Hill park a park, rather than allowed agricultural buildings to be constructed in it. Would the park have resembled the PNE grounds in Vancouver? I doubt it. But Anderson died 129 years ago, only a month or so after his wrote his letter. He had no interest in whether or not Beacon Hill Park remained a park, and he would probably never walk through it again. But you will. And as you do, you can remember that Alexander Anderson helped to keep this park safe for you.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-19399131166534027522012-11-11T13:25:00.004-08:002012-11-11T13:25:58.462-08:00From Fort William to Norway HouseWe are going to begin this posting with a quote from David Lavender's book, "Winner Take All":<br />
"Those who had crossed the Height of Land that hemmed in Lake Superior were acknowledged as members of a select brotherhood by being baptized with water sprinkled from an evergreen bough. From then on they had the right to don gay sashes at Grand Portage or Kaministiguia, put feathers in their caps, and strut down to the camp of the porkeaters from Montreal, stand spraddle-legged in front of them and invite a fight with the boast, "Je suise un home du nord.""<br />
<br />
He was a man of the north -- he had travelled the route between Fort William and Lake Winnipeg and beyond; he was a true adventurer and far better than any of the "porkeaters" who had brought the Montreal canoes up from Lachine.<br />
He was a permanent employee in the fur trade; he was wiry and short and averaged five feet in height but was enormously strong and apparently inexhaustible.<br />
His pace was breathtaking; he paddled at 40 or 50 strokes a minute and averaged about 100 kilometers a day, even while travelling upriver.<br />
On the innumerable portages along these rivers north of Lake Superior, he carried two or three ninety pound packs at a time, at a dogtrot over the rough trails, using, as aids, leather tumplines that circled his forehead and passed over his shoulders.<br />
He waded his canoe through the various obstacles, or carried it across the portage on his shoulders.<br />
And from Lavender's "Winner Take All," another quote:<br />
"Another bond came from the way they travelled together month after month, each proud of his own canoe, his fellows, his brigade. On the trail they were under the charge not of one of the "gentlemen," but of one of their own class who had risen, because of superior ability, to be a guide. It was he who chose each camping place, announced the rest pauses when the men could fire up their clay pipes, and decided how each rapid should be met. The guide was also responsible for the property in the canoes under his supervision. His was the almost impossible task of making sure that liquor kegs were not surreptitiously tapped during the march (all travel was called a march) and that goods were not harmed by rough handling."<br />
<br />
Aha -- there is a story in that last line, which I will tell you eventually.<br />
But first, let us talk about Fort William, which was built at the mouth of the Kaministiguia River in 1801-1803, by the men of the North West Company.<br />
The actual fort stood on the north bank of the Kiministikwia River, opposite where the middle channel broke off. (I see my spelling here varies -- I am not sure which spelling is correct).<br />
Its south side faced the river, and its east side Lake Superior; it was surround by fifteen foot tall palisades and its interior was 490 feet square. <br />
Two blockhouse or bastions stood, one in the south west corner and one in the south east; the main gate was cut into the south wall and it, too, had a guard house or turret overhead.<br />
The gardens were west of the fort; inside the fort was the cooperage, the canoe building yard, and shops for tinsmiths and blacksmiths and carpenters and more.<br />
The counting house stood along the west wall, the fire pump and stone store on the south wall.<br />
Along the east wall was the lookout, where men stood to watch for the brigades coming along the lake. <br />
In the centre of the enclosed fort grounds was the "court," a square formed by warehouses, clerks' quarters and other storehouses.<br />
The Grand Hall stood on the north side of the court; it was a wooden building with a large central hall that help two hundred celebrants at one time.<br />
This was where the gentlemen congregated at the NWC's summer rendezvous every year.<br />
The voyageurs themselves camped outside the fort walls, where their bragging and fights would be less disruptive to the business of the fur trade.<br />
<br />
The modern day replica of Fort William is built further upriver than the original fort stood; its old location is apparently buried under the modern-day site of the Canadian Pacific Railway yard in Thunder Bay.<br />
<br />
From old Fort William, let us now travel north and west from Lake Superior, to and through Lake Winnipeg to Norway House. <br />
I have told you the fort stood opposite the place where the middle channel broke off.<br />
From here, the canoes went upriver for thirty miles, where there were shallow riffles of fast water and one decharge.<br />
The first portage was called the Mountain portage, and it passed the 120-foot-tall Kakabeka Falls on the right or west bank.<br />
It was not an easy portage; nor was any part of the route easy.<br />
It followed a convoluted waterway with numerous portages all the way to Lake Winnipeg.<br />
But it was a beautiful route, and for the westbound voyageurs the journey was downstream almost all the way to Lake Winnipeg.<br />
<br />
Generally the Nor'Westers saved time by transporting goods by road to a place above the Kakabeka Falls -- almost certainly the HBC men continued this practice.<br />
Above the falls the river dropped a difficult ten feet to the mile with seven portages and one decharge.<br />
At Dog Lake -- named for an Indian effigy of an outsized dog lying at the top of a 400 foot high hill that overlooked the beautiful Kaministikiwia Valley -- the gentlemen climbed the hill to enjoy the view while the voyageurs packed their goods and canoes over the trail below.<br />
They paddled fifty miles across Dog Lake, and followed the marshy Dog River, Jordain Creek, and Cold Water Creek, to Cold Water River.<br />
Three boggy portages on the west side of the cold lake brought them to Land Lake and Lac de Milieu (now Savanne Lake).<br />
They followed the winding Savanne River to island studded Lac des Mille Lacs, and portaged over a divide at Baril Portage, into another river -- the Pickerel.<br />
From the west end of Pickerel Lake they crossed over the Pickerel and Deux Rivieres portages into Sturgeon Lake, then down the Maligne River to Lac la Croix.<br />
<br />
Before 1830 the voyageurs followed the Loon River from the west end of Lac la Croix, through Vermillion and Sand Point Lake into Lake Namakan.<br />
After 1830, it appears that they preferred another route, which left Lac la Crois from a bay on the north shore and stroke directly for Namaken Lake, by what they called the Michan River.<br />
I presume that the Michan River is the route that Alexander Caulfield Anderson travelled when he went over this river route in 1832.<br />
<br />
Namaken Lake has two outlets, and the North West Company men followed a smaller waterway that flowed from the east side of the lake and headed directly for Rainy Lake, passing just below Kettle Falls.<br />
Two small portages brought them into wild and beautiful Rainy Lake.<br />
As they begin their descent of the Rainy River, they leave behind them the rocky Canadian Shield, and begin to travel through a gentler, softer country.<br />
A two day journey down this rapid river, uninterrupted by portages of any sort, brings them into Lake of the Woods -- a large rocky lake filled with small islands.<br />
Here the voyageurs could get lost, and on occasion, they did.<br />
<br />
The north and east part of the Lake of the Woods had deep water, rocky shores and thousands of islands; but the shores on the southwest were shallow and marshy, while the south shore had sand dunes.<br />
The voyageurs entered the lake on its south shore, and headed straight north across the open lake, making what they called "la grande traverse" across what is now called Traverse Bay.<br />
Normally the voyageurs skirted the west side of Big Island -- but if the treacherous wind they called La Vieille ("Old Woman") blew, they paddled through sheltered narrows east of both Big Island, and Bigelow Island.<br />
At the north end of the lake they entered the Winnipeg River by one of three channels.<br />
They almost always used the shortest portage at Portage Bay, though lighter HBC canoes used a longer portage to the east.<br />
Another historian says they headed "to the western tip of Aulneau Peninsula, a more direct and nearly north-south route, seventy five miles long. At the tip of the pininsula they had a portage in the middle of the lake at low water."<br />
Though descriptions differ, it is probable that both writers are talking of the same place.<br />
This is the famous Rat Portage.<br />
We are now close to modern day Kenora, and Eric Morse says here that another portage might have been used.<br />
<br />
At Rat Portage, the voyageurs entered the wild and beautiful waterway called the Winnipeg River. Eric Morse says the Winnipeg River is "unquestionably the grandest and most beautiful river the Montreal Northmen saw on their whole journey from Lake Superior to Lake Athabasca."<br />
It ran through "tortured rock" and "dropped quickly with spectacular rapids and falls."<br />
It was a downhill journey and over its 225 kilometer length the river dropped 100 meters.<br />
Canoeing the entire length of the river to Lake Winnipeg required twenty six portages, or carrying places!<br />
First came the Dalles, eight miles downriver.<br />
Next an island which the voyageurs passed on its rapid filled north side, using five portages at least.<br />
Some they passed on the right side, some on the left; it took an experienced guide to know the best route, as you can see.<br />
There was yellow rock at Terre Jaune, white clay at Terre Blanche, and a dark hollow in the rock beside La Cave rapid.<br />
Portage de l'Isle followed nineteen miles later, and the voyageurs portaged across a small island in the rapid.<br />
Over the next sixty miles the Winnipeg River continues to drop rapidly, and at Lac du Bonnet has lost 160 feet in altitude.<br />
There were 14 additional portages -- Sturgeon Falls being one of them.<br />
<br />
The Winnipeg River comes to an end at a large island, where a channel to the north splits off and becomes the Pinawa River.<br />
The river to the left -- the Blanche River -- was much rougher, and so the voyageurs preferred the shallow, rocky Pinawa.<br />
Eight more portages brought them all the way into massive Lake Winnipeg, where the voyageurs took a course straight across Traverse Bay to a low spot in the narrow neck just south of modern-day Victoria Beach.<br />
They portaged over the neck and, paddling the the mouth of the Red River, went down it as far as Fort Garry.<br />
<br />
When Alexander Caulfield Anderson came over this route in 1832, he arrived at the half constructed lower Fort Garry -- the Stone Fort.<br />
There he met John Stuart -- yes, the same John Stuart who was clerk in New Caledonia with Simon Fraser, after whom Stuart Lake was named.<br />
When I tell you that Alexander Caulfield Anderson knew everybody, this is what I mean -- he met Simon Fraser at Lachine, and John Stuart at the half-built Stone Fort, or Lower Fort Garry.<br />
John Stuart and Alexander Anderson would have a later conversation, which I will write about sometime -- it is a story that, I believe, will surprise a few historians and archivists.<br />
<br />
The Stone fort was built on the west bank of the Red River a few kilometers below St. Andrew Rapids, high above the reach of the floodwaters of the Red River.<br />
Despite its advantages for the brigades, Lower Fort Garry was never really viable and in 1836 the HBC re-built their old fort at the "Forks", where Winnipeg now stands.<br />
<br />
From my book, <i>The Pathfinder</i>:<br />
"At that time, the original Fort Garry, which had been flooded out so many times the wooden buildings were rotten, was in the process of being replaced by a stone fort closer to Lake Winnipeg. The new fort was only half finished, but the brigaders stopped here to pick up the Red River fur returns, which they were to carry north to York Factory. At Fort Garry, the chief factor arranged for Anderson to travel by canoe ahead of the brigade so he could catch up to the boats from the Saskatchewan District to the west, as they passed through Norway House, at the north end of Lake Winnipeg, on their way to York Factory.<br />
"Anderson arrived at Norway House on the morning of June 27, and by five o'clock that evening he was travelling east toward York Factory, with the men from Edmonton House and the Columbia District. The Fort Vancouver men had crossed the Rocky Mountains in the early spring, carrying the papers and records of the Columbia district east to the annual meeting of the Company at Norway House. While the chief factors attended the meeting, the men of the Columbia express continued on to York Factory to help the Saskatchewan men off-load their furs for shipment to England, and pick up the thousands of pounds of supplies and trade goods to be carried back to Edmonton House. As Anderson had been assigned to the Columbia district, he would now travel with the Columbia express wherever it went -- first east to York Factory; then west to Edmonton House and beyond."Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-38236822985113079642012-11-02T22:15:00.000-07:002012-11-02T22:15:54.676-07:00The journey from Lachine to Fort William [Thunder Bay]It is not likely we will get all the way to Norway House in this single posting, and so this post will probably be divided into two postings.<br />
If you are researching these river roads or want to learn more, the best sources (and the ones I will be using) are these two books:<br />
<i>Exploring the Fur Trader Routes of North America; Discover the Highways that Opened a Continent</i>, by Barbara Huck et al, and<br />
<i>The Fur Trade Routes of Canada: Then and Now</i>, by Eric W. Morse.<br />
Both books are available in your local library and the first will still be in bookstores, I expect.<br />
<br />
We will begin with a quote from my own book, <i>The Pathfinder</i>, which speaks of young Anderson's arrival in Montreal, in 1831.<br />
"In the summer of 1831, Alexander Anderson disembarked in Montreal and clambered into a lumbering, two wheeled, horse drawn cart -- called a caleche -- for the nine mile trek west to Lachine. The post stood at the head of the Lachine rapids, which blocked marine traffic on the St. Lawrence River west of Montreal. As headquarters of the North West Company, Lachine House had once been the busiest place on the continent, its stone warehouse bulging with rich furs from the interior. But the HBC's headquarters was now at York Factory, on Hudson Bay, and Anderson soon realized that his dreams of adventure in Indian country would never occur at this quiet post......<br />
<br />
"In Spring 1832, the governor and council of the Hudson's Bay Company assigned Anderson to the Columbia district, where Chief Factor John McLoughlin would put him to good use. In April, two flotillas of canoes paddled away from Lachine. The express boats travelled light and fast with papers and accounts for the annual meeting of the Company at Norway House. Behind them came the slower canoes of the brigade, heavily laden with the outgoing provisions and passengers for the interior. One of these brigade canoes carried Anderson away from Lachine House.<br />
<br />
"From Lachine House, the canoe route followed the traditional river road used for hundreds of years by the coureurs de bois (early French fur traders), and more recently by the voyageurs of the NWC. David Thompson had travelled this route many times, as had Simon Fraser and Alexander Mackenzie. Now 18-year-old Anderson followed the same route his predecessors had travelled, westward into the territory they had opened to the fur trade."<br />
<br />
In this part of the world -- that is, between Montreal and Fort William [Thunder Bay, Ontario] they used 40-foot Montreal canoes made of white or silver birch, with seams tightly sewn with spruce fibres called <i>wapete</i>, and waterproofed with many applications of spruce gum.<br />
These were tough, strong, canoes, ideally suited for the rough river passages, and they carried four tons of freight and passengers.<br />
About the first of May, when the Ottawa River was finally free of the ice that had drained out of the interior lakes, these big canoes started off from a position on the river bank, just upstream from the old Stone Shed -- a large warehouse built in 1803 by Alexander Gordon, a merchant who had served as a clerk for the HBC.<br />
Interestingly enough, though Gordon had worked for the HBC, while at Lachine he was in what was mostly North West Company country!<br />
But even after the HBC absorbed the NWC, Lachine continued to be part of the fur trade -- primarily because Governor George Simpson chose to make his home there.<br />
<br />
From the beach at Lachine, the voyageurs travelled west, sixteen miles, to Ste. Anne's, where they stopped at a church, that was part of a convent, for their traditional blessing for their long journey west.<br />
At this point they were still travelling the St. Lawrence River, but at the Lake of Two Mountains they headed for the mouth of the Ottawa River.<br />
They generally timed their voyage to be able to make their first camp near the upper end of the Lake of Two Mountains, where they received their regale -- a keg of rum.<br />
Then the voyageurs drank and partied and fought and sang far into the night while the gentlemen tried to get a little big of sleep.<br />
<br />
On a brigade such as this, the voyageurs did all the work -- this was their journey.<br />
They woke up the next morning a little hung-over, and paddled up the Ottawa until they reached twelve miles of rapids, in three sets -- called the Long Sault.<br />
Generally they tracked their boats through the rapids of the Long Sault, along the north side of the river, though on quieter stretches of the river they could paddle their canoes half-loaded.<br />
On this stretch of the river were three carrying places, which varied with the height of the water.<br />
Today's Ottawa River, with its twelve dams and reservoirs, does not in any way resemble the rough, fast-flowing river that the voyageurs paddled up two hundred years ago.<br />
<br />
By travelling up the Ottawa River and crossing the height of land by various streams the voyageurs cut some five hundred kilometers of travel of the route they would have travelled had they continued to follow the St. Lawrence River west.<br />
<br />
At the place where Ottawa now stands they came up to the Chaudiere Falls, named so because it resembled a cauldron of boiling water.<br />
Portaging was the only way around these boiling falls, and in springtime the portage began downstream from the falls.<br />
From <i>The Pathfinder</i>: "... as the gentlemen kept an eye on the freight at the head and foot of the trail, the voyageurs carried 90-pound bundles, two at a time, at a dogtrot over the rough trail, so close to the riverbank they were sprayed with the windblown water. Finally they brought the canoes over the portage on their shoulders, and the gentlemen followed them over the trail."<br />
<br />
Next came the Little Chaudiere Falls, and Barbara Huck et al says this about this place:<br />
"Those tracing the route today will have no trouble finding this historic trail, for the city of Hull has created a park -- Parc des Portageurs -- complete with biking and hiking trails, to commemorate it.<br />
"One section of the original trail, which lies just below Brebeuf Park, is particularly interesting.<br />
"Here, a set of low stone steps -- built by the voyageurs according to canoe historian Eric Morse -- can clearly be seen mounting a bank from a submerged stone shelf at the water's edge."<br />
<br />
From the head of the portage, the voyageurs paddled across the bay to begin tracking and poling up the Deschenes Rapids.<br />
My other source says the Deschenes Rapids was passed by portage, on the north shore.<br />
At Chats Falls, or the Sault des Chats Sauvage, the river spread out and flowed through a line of beautiful waterfalls a mile wide.<br />
The voyageurs portaged past these falls on the second island from the north.<br />
Chats Falls was named, not for the cats, but for the raccoons that were common here at one time.<br />
They were called les chats sauvage.<br />
They travelled this part of the river, and others, at the slow speed of four miles an hour!<br />
When portaging, of course, their speed was reduced to half a mile an hour.<br />
This was a long, slow journey when you compare it to modern-day travelling.<br />
<br />
Above Chats Falls there was still fast water through the top end of Lac des Chats, called the Chenaux.<br />
There were four sets of rapids here -- the Decharge du Derige, the Mountain Portage, the Decharge du Sable, and Portage du Fort; they probably passed on the Quebec side of the river, using poles.<br />
At Portage du Fort, where the river cascaded down through many channels among big trees, the voyageurs landed and carried their loads along the portage path on the right hand side.<br />
<br />
After they rejoined the river once again, they reached Calumet Island which was surrounded by rapids.<br />
The island's name comes from the dense white limestone, soft enough to be whittled into pipes or calumets.<br />
This was the longest portage of the Grand Portage, a little over a mile long.<br />
they began their portage at a little cove, and followed an easy trail that ascended the hill through a forest of cedar trees, though the trail took the voyageurs past two steep ravines before rejoining the river.<br />
Beyond was Lac Coulonge, and when Anderson travelled this river, Fort Coulonge stood on this lake.<br />
In one of his later manuscripts he mentioned this fort, and so we know he was there.<br />
<br />
Next came the Allumette Island and the rapids that surrounded it, and the channel taken by the voyageurs was the narrower channel on the main Ontario shore.<br />
Travelling up these rapids was like pushing through a tunnel.<br />
At the upper end of the peaceful Lac des Alumettes beyond, the voyageurs came up to the granite of the Precambrian shield which rose straight from the river.<br />
The old name of the lake was Riviere Creuse [Deep River]; today the town of Deep River stands here.<br />
From <i>The Pathfinder</i>: "When at last the cliffs opened up again, the voyageurs set up camp on a sandy point of land on the west shore. Across the river from their camp loomed a black-stained cliff, a special place for the Natives, who tied tobacco to the arrows they shot at the cliff face as an offering.<br />
"It was a special place for the voyageurs, too. New voyageurs were baptized in the river off the sandy point, and gentlemen who crossed this height of land for the first time also took part in the ceremony. Almost certainly, Alexander Anderson received a splash of water in his face from a branch dipped in the river, along with a playful request that he never kiss a voyageur's wife without her permission. When the mock baptism was finished, the voyageurs celebrated by firing their guns in the air. The fur trade was a mixture of cultures, and while the mock baptism mimicked the religious practices of the Roman Catholic voyageurs, the firing of guns into the air was a Native tradition."<br />
<br />
This is what Carolyn Podruchny has to say about this ceremony, from her book: <i>Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade</i>:<br />
<br />
"At several points of geographical significance along the transport routes in the pays d'en haut, novices who had never before passed that point were obliged to participate in a ceremony of mock baptism. the ceremony of baptism, representing the purification from original sin, is usually performed on infants and involves putting water on the individual's head through immersion or sprinkling. In the case of voyageurs in the fur trade, it represented primarily the initiation of neophytes into the occupation. As the first of Catholic sacraments it was recognized as the door to church membership and to spiritual life, but ironically the ritual baptism marked voyageurs' departure and increasing separation from the settled Christian world. At the same time, the ceremony marked voyageurs' entrance or initiation into the occupation, and it represented the continuing practice of Catholicism, albeit in modified form, in the interior..<br />
<br />
"The point of baptism along the Grand, or Ottawa, river was the first place on the route out of Montreal where the bedrock or Precambrian shield could be seen. It was located about two hundred miles northwest of the modern city of Ottawa, where the Deep River, or the Riviere Creuse, entered the Ottawa River, at the upper end of Lac des Allumettes. Here canoe brigades passed through a narrow, deep, and swift part of the river, where towering cliffs of granite provided a significant visual marker for the entrance into a new land. Immediately after this difficult passage, brigades stopped at a sand point, where canoes could be easily grounded and the crew could pause for a rest. Known as "point au bapteme," it was the oldest and most well established site of ritual baptism along fur trade routes. As early as 1686, the Chevalier de Troyes mentioned the practice as an established custom: "Our French have the custom of baptizing at this place those who have not passed before." The "Pointe aux Baptemes" is today marked on maps."<br />
<br />
To continue the journey: their next portage upriver was at Des Joachims, where the Ottawa River did a big S-turn and there were two miles of thundering rapids.<br />
They portaged there, making use of two bays and a little lake which cut down the carrying distance.<br />
<br />
Beyond that point they abandoned the Ottawa River, and entered the Mattawa River which led them west.<br />
The forty mile long Mattawa was rough and rocky and narrow, and it had a small rapid at its mouth where it flowed into the Ottawa, called the Mattawa Rapid.<br />
It was generally run, not portaged.<br />
Next came the Plain Camp Rapid (Flat Field) and eleven other portages or rapids.<br />
At Rapide des Perches near Pimisi Lake, the voyageurs threw away their poles and took up their paddles.<br />
This was the end of their upriver push.<br />
<br />
Eric Morse, author of <i>Fur Trade routes of Canada</i>, says that the Mattawa River route might have gone through Robichaud Lake rather than following the Mattawa River above Talon Lake.<br />
You who live in this part of the world might have a better notion of where it goes.<br />
<br />
The voyageurs had to make their way over a height of land and into Lake Nipissing over a series of granite ridges and bogs.<br />
First there was a 1500 yard long winding portage over a low height of land, after which they put their canoes into a beaver-dammed stream and followed it down, through a succession of ponds and over two portages, into Lake Nipissing.<br />
The entire distance of this portage and shallow stream paddling was about seven miles.<br />
<br />
Lake Nipissing was a shallow lake and so dangerous choppy in high winds, and the followed a course along its south shore among many protecting islands.<br />
At the portage called Chaudiere des Francois they reached a flat rock in still water where the French River began.<br />
The seventy mile long French River gave the voyageurs a rushing downriver day voyage to Lake Huron, and they entered the lake by the most protected westernmost channel, making a short portage around a curved rapid at the river mouth.<br />
At this point they were in massive Lake Huron, where they had a choice of routes.<br />
If it was windy, they stayed inside the sheltered line of islands that graced the top of Lake Huron, and travelled 200 miles west to Sault Ste. Marie.<br />
If it wasn't windy, they might have paddled or sailed west across the lake, outside the curving line of islands.<br />
The inside route sounds most interesting, and was probably the route they usually travelled.<br />
Just west of the mouth of the French River they passed a point they called "Grondine," or "groaning," for the sound of the waves that moaned as they swelled over the rocks.<br />
West of that they passed through a narrow channel, just wide enough for a canoe, where the rocks rang like a bell when struck by the waves in the lake.<br />
This place, often mentioned in fur trade journals, was called "La Cloche."<br />
<br />
At this point, the brigade was 430 miles from Lachine House.<br />
From <i>The Pathfinder</i>: "On the Great Lakes, the voyageurs often travelled early in the morning and made camp when the dangerous afternoon winds blew. They followed Lake Huron's north shore to Sault Ste. Marie, where they paddled through a narrow canal built many years earlier by the men of the NWC. Their next major stop would be at Fort William, on the north shore of Lake Superior, a few hundred miles to the west."<br />
<br />
On Lake Superior, the canoes kept close to shore -- for a good reason.<br />
In June there are frequent heavy fogs on the lake, in July and August there is less fog but the heavy, sudden squalls make the lake unsafe for small, heavily loaded canoes.<br />
To beat the wind, the voyageurs often travelled at night and rested during the day -- they would certainly be on the water by three every morning.<br />
If the wind was blowing in a favorable direction, they might raise a sail and travel at 8 to 10 knots.<br />
But they were often pinned down by high winds for several days at a time; in a normal month for one day out of every two!<br />
And the lake is four hundred miles long.<br />
<br />
But they were almost at Fort William, and so I will refer to the Fort William Journals to let you know what happened:<br />
<b>Journal of Fort William Establishment, Outfit 1831</b> -- Donald McIntosh, C.T., B.231/a/11, HBCA<br />
May 1832 -- Tuesday 15th -- It continues still raining and blowing from north east from which quarter it has blown with little variation for this month past.<br />
Thursday 17th -- We had several showers of rain in the afternoon. Wind southwest.<br />
Saturday 19th -- Thermometer below the freezing point this morning. Weather cloudy and very cold for the season.<br />
Monday 21st -- Blowing a furious gale from north west attended with heavy showers of rain in course of day.<br />
Thursday 24th -- Hard frost last night. We had several showers of rain and hail in course of the day. Blowing a heavy gale from the eastward.<br />
Friday 25th -- I cannot conceive what detains the Express canoe from Canada so long. It rained all the afternoon, wind north east.<br />
Saturday 26th -- Two men arrived here from Lake Nipigon in a small canoe. They say that they walked across the lake on the ice, from which circumstance I am inclined to think that it is owing to the backward spring the express canoe is so late.<br />
Tuesday 29th -- The men were variously employed. The express canoe from Montreal arrived about 6 o'clock P.M. Mr. C.T. Robert Cowie is the Gentleman in charge of the Packet. Blowing very fresh from the north.<br />
<br />
Aha! Remember that Alexander Anderson is not travelling in the Express canoes, but in the slower brigade canoes.<br />
<br />
<b>Journal of Transactions and Occurrences at Fort William from 1st June 1832 to 1st June 1833</b>, B.231/a/12, HBCA:<br />
June 1832. Saturday 2nd -- It rained throughout the night and all the morning attended with a heavy gale from North East.<br />
Sunday 3rd -- A light canoe arrived from Red River. We are much disappointed to find that the Governor was not on board of her. The backward spring prevented his coming hither. The ice in Lake Winipic [Winnipeg] he found too weak to walk on, and too strong to get through with a boat or canoe.<br />
Tuesday 5th -- Weather clear.<br />
Wednesday 6th -- Fine weather. The Montreal brigade arrived on board of which were Messrs. Lane, Anderson, and Perreyere, an Eclesiastic. Also Mr. C. T. Christie's family. Fine warm weather for the season.<br />
Thursday 7th -- The Montreal Brigade went off this afternoon in five north canoes which they exchanged for the Montreal canoe. One canoe remained today waiting for the Dispatches.<br />
<br />
You see that they have already departed Fort William and left their Montreal canoes behind them.<br />
From <i>The Pathfinder</i>: "At this post, the brigade men clambered into five North canoes. Smaller and lighter than the vessels they had been travelling in to this point, these were the only canoes that could be use on the small rivers and difficult portages north of Lake Superior. Their next destination was Lake Winnipeg, hundreds of miles to the northwest, and their immediate route led them through Dog Lake and along many marshy rivers and lakes to wild and beautiful Rainy Lake...."<br />
I will leave that part of the journey to the next post.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-67152787079357759472012-09-12T06:11:00.000-07:002012-09-12T06:11:01.655-07:00George Traill Allan, HBCASome of you have noticed I have sneaked into my last post, an express journal written by George Traill Allan of the HBC.<br />
This express journal, and another by him, is in the British Columbia Archives, under A/B/40/AL5.2A and A/B.40/AL5.3A.<br />
I am delighted to have found them, and I will tell you why:<br />
First, I found the journals a delightful read, and Allan a wonderful character who I would like to know more about.<br />
I knew that he was in the Fort Vancouver area and was later connected to Thomas Lowe and Archibald McKinlay in the merchantile business they set up after they, too, retired from the fur trade.<br />
But I did not consider Allan an important man, though I knew I eventually had to know a little about him.<br />
But now I will look forward to writing about him when it comes time, because I read his journals.<br />
I discovered his light-hearted, generous, and fun loving personality.<br />
I laughed my way through his writings, and I hope you laughed your way through the piece of journal I have already posted.<br />
But you will laugh even more when you read Bruce Watson's description of him, in <i>Lives Lived West of the Divide</i>:<br />
<br />
Allan, George Traill, British: Scottish<br />
Birth: Perthshire, Scotland, c. 1807<br />
Death: Cathlamet, Washington, 1890<br />
Passenger: Prince Rupert IV (ship), 1830; Clerk, Fort Vancouver general charges, 1831-1842 [he would have been at Fort Vancouver whenever Alexander Caulfield Anderson spent any time there, excluding the summer of 1841 when he travelled out in the York Factory express.]<br />
On his return in the fall he was assigned to Honolulu, and was there until 1847. Afterward he was Chief Trader disposable in the Columbia Department, 1848-1850.<br />
<br />
Bruce Watson continues: "It would seem natural that George Traill Allan, a slight, five foot tall, even delicate person of about one hundred pounds, seemingly not at all cut out for the rough and tumble fur trade, would start his career selling books and stationery in Glasgow.<br />
"However, his brother, Dr. Allan, who had been Lord Selkirk's attending physician in North America, secured a position for him in 1830 in the HBC as a writer at York Factory.<br />
"He was more needed at Fort Vancouver and so made his way overland to the Columbia River post.<br />
"During his ten year stay at Fort Vancouver, he had a name exchange with a Cascade native and was nicknamed "Twahalashy," or coon."<br />
And this is about the time we met him in his York Factory express journal, as he travelled out of the Columbia district.<br />
He returned.<br />
"Around 1841, he was appointed joint agent with George Pelly in the Hawaiian Islands post.<br />
"In 1845 he was promoted to the rank of Chief Trader and during his stay on the islands he found the visiting American commodores much more arrogant than the English admirals.<br />
"The bias may have worked against him for, in 1847, when he was replaced by Dugald McTavish, Simpson explained Allan's recall to him in a letter dated June 28, 1847."<br />
<br />
Simpson's letter said, "I hope you may not be disappointed by your recall from the Island.<br />
"The plain matter of fact is that we consider MacTavish a better man of business and accountant than you are, and politics and party spirit have been so high of late that, we think it as well a stranger, who can have no bias, should be associated with Pelly, instead of you and that Gentleman continuing longer together."<br />
(Source: D.4/36, p. 59d)<br />
<br />
"In October 1848, after going on furlough for one year, he gave notice to retire and settle in San Francisco.<br />
"Using his acquired skills, he became a commission merchant in a partnership with Archibald McKinlay and Thomas Lowe and was in 1850 listed as a merchant living in the house of McKinlay, where he stayed until 1851, at which point he went to Scottsburgh at the mouth of the Umpqua River.<br />
"Under the name Allan, McKinlay and Co., he carried on business until about 1861 when he settled in Cathlamet.<br />
"He was still alive in 1888."<br />
<br />
At the bottom of the description Bruce Watson notes that George Traill Allan was a relative of James Allen Grahame of Fort Vancouver, who married Susanna Birnie, daughter of James and Charlot Birnie.<br />
So somehow, even if we don't know how, George Traill Allan is in our family tree -- and I am delighted to welcome him to the Birnie tree.<br />
<br />
But now that you know how small and delicate George Traill Allan is, picture him crossing the Athabasca Pass with Dr. Tolmie!<br />
No wonder the two men laughed their way across the mountains!<br />
<br />
I have more information for you: His journal did begin at Fort Vancouver, and though it proceeds quite rapidly through the first part of his cross country travels, it is still an interesting read.<br />
I will include it here, and some of you will especially be amused by the information it contains.<br />
In this post we will go only as far as the Boat Encampment:<br />
<br />
<b>Journal of A Voyage from Fort Vancouver Columbia to York Factory, Hudson's Bay, 1841, by Geo. T. Allen:</b><br />
I left Fort Vancouver on the 22d of March 1841, by the Express, accompanied by the following gentlemen -- Messrs. [Francis] Ermatinger, [Archibald] McKinlay, [Francois?] Payette, and Dr. [William F.] Tolmie -- in four boats -- and twenty eight men chiefly Canadians; all the gentlemen of the Establishment, as usual upon such occasions, accompanying us to the River to see us start.<br />
Mr. Ermatinger, being the oldest Clerk of the party in the Company's Service, the command of conducting the party, so far as he went, of course, devolved upon him.<br />
After a voyage of nine days, during which nothing worth recording took place, we reached Fort Walla Walla [Endnote #1], situated in the midst of a sandy plain upon the Banks of the Columbia & in charge of my friend, Mr. Ch. Trader [Pierre Chrysologue] Pambrun, who received us most kindly, and presented us to dinner a couple of fine roast Turkies -- a rather unexpected sight in this quarter of the world.<br />
April 1st. Having arranged everything for my trip on horseback from Walla Walla to Fort Colvile, I started today at noon accompanied by a man, a boy and an Indian, as Guide, with a band of forty six Horses, the Boats having gone off the day before with the other gentlemen; my object in going across land being to get a-head of the Boats & so gain time to close all the accounts at Fort Colvile [#2] (the last past on this side of the Rocky Mountains) before their arrival.<br />
As the country through which I now passed was all much of the same description, I may here mention, that its general appearance was not particularly pleasing, consisting principally of hills without a stick of wood to adorn their summits or relieve the eye from the sameness of the landscape which now presented itself to an immense extent, the surface of the ground over which we rode at no tardy pace was so covered with badger holes that it required the utmost caution to guide our riding horses clear of them; as for the light horses, we allowed them to look out for themselves.<br />
After a ride of four days we reached Fort Spokane, an old establishment, abandoned some years ago, situated upon the banks of the River of that name in a beautiful spot.<br />
On crossing the River, which we did by the assistance of the two Indians in a small Canoe, I was very much surprised, when gaining the opposite bank, to hear my name distinctly pronounced by one of a band of Indians assembled there to greet our arrival; but on looking in the direction from whence the voice came I immediately recognized my old friend, a young Indian Chief called Garry, who had entered the Columbia with me ten years before.<br />
He had been educated at Red River at the expense of the Company and when I had known him was well clothed and could both read and write; now, however, the march of improvement had apparently retrograded, as he made his appearance wrapped up in a Buffalo Robe <u>a la Savage</u>.<br />
Having presented some Tobacco to the Indians I requested Garry to send for one of our horses which I had been obliged to abandon that morning, he being too much fatigued to come one, and to forward him to Colvile, all which he promised to do, and I have no doubt has already performed.[#3]<br />
The evening before our arrival at Spokane we encountered a very severe snow storm, but we were fortunate enough, that very evening to find abundance of wood, an article of which we had hitherto only procured a sufficiency to boil the tea kettle.<br />
We were therefore enabled to make a very large fire and managed with the aid of my bed oil-cloth to erect a kind of shelter from the pelting of the pitiless storm during the night.<br />
On the night of 7th April we reached Fort Colvile about 10 o'clock to my great pleasure, where I was received with the utmost kindness by my old acquaintance, Mr. Chief Trader Arch[ibald] McDonald & his amiable wife.<br />
Being very desirous, if possible, to reach Fort Colvile to day (the 7th) I had ridden very hard -- so much so, that another of our horses gave in, within a few miles of the Fort.<br />
I had, however, no alternative but to ride hard or go supperless to bed as our provisions were entirely out.<br />
This I do not regret, because it gave me an opportunity of proving the correctness of two old adages, viz. put a hungry man on horse back and he'll ride to the Deil [Devil?]; & keep a thing seven years & you will find a use for it.<br />
To understand however the allusion to the latter of these wise sayings, it will be necessary here to state, that on leaving Fort Vancouver, Mr. Ermatinger, a veritable John Bull and our caterer for the grub department of the voyage, had prevailed upon Captain Brotchie, whose vessel was then laying at Vancouver, to get made for us, a couple of large plum puddings, & the same puddings upon being tried on the voyage from Vancouver to Walla Walla, had been found wanting, not in quantity but in quality, and until our arrival at the last mentioned post had layen neglected and almost forgotten.<br />
While seeing me equipped for the trip on horseback from Walla Walla to Fort Colvile, Mr. Ermatinger had slipped in amongst my eatables a piece of those identical puddings; being this morning therefore pressed by hunger, I had, I presume, dived deeper than usual into the recesses of my haversack and finding poor Brotchie, I made, sans ceremonie & cannibal-like, a most hearty Breakfast upon his remains.<br />
As already mentioned, we reached Colvile on the night of the 7th April about 10 o'clock; for two hours previously we had ridden in the dark, through woods, across River, & over hill & dale, so anxious was I to reach my destination -- not, I beg it to be understood, from the paltry motive of procuring a supper, but from the desire of gaining upon the trip of last year.<br />
<br />
On the 23rd of April, having received the last despatches from Fort Vancouver & having finished the accounts, I started, accompanied by Dr. Tolmie with two Boats and fourteen men; the other gentlemen having dispersed during the route to their different departments.<br />
Fort Colvile is a very neat and compact little establishment and nothing I have yet seen in the Indian Country can equal the beauty of its situation -- placed on a rising ground in the midst of a very pretty plain encircled by an extensive & well cultivated farm -- the fields & fences laid out with a neatness which does credit to the taste of their projector -- here and there a band of Cattle to enliven the prospect and at a considerable distance surrounded on all sides by high mountains covered from the base to the summit with beautiful pines.<br />
Nor does the inside of the establishment yield in any respect to the exterior, for when seated at table with Mr. and Mrs. McDonald & their family, one cannot help thinking himself once more at home enjoying a tete-a-tete in some domestic circle.<br />
<br />
After a voyage of ten days up the most rapid & almost most dangerous part of the Columbia River, the country very rugged and rocky, we arrived on Tuesday the 4th of May at the Boat Encampment, which is the highest point that a Boat or Canoe can navigate the Columbia....<br />
<br />
Endnotes to above:<br />
[1] 200 miles from Fort Vancouver. River here 3/4 of a mile wide<br />
[2] About 700 miles from the Pacific by the travelled route<br />
[3] N.B. Upon my return from Hudson's Bay I found Garry had returned the Horse. G.T.A.<br />
<br />
To continue George Traill Allan's story:<br />
In a document held by Oregon Historical Society Archives, written by a descendant of James Birnie, we have a little more information about George Traill Allan.<br />
The author of the piece copied out a letter Allan wrote in April 1885, telling a descendant a little about James and Charlot Birnie; its a nice letter but has no information new to us Birnie descendants.<br />
But a few pages later, the author of the document tells us more about George Allan:<br />
"Mr. Allen [sic], an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company had become super annuated and was cared for by James Birnie, and his wife after James Birnie's death.<br />
"After the decease of Mrs. Birnie, Mr. Allen was cared for by Alec. D. Birnie in a cottage built on the latter's property and still standing (1922) until Mr. Allen's death."<br />
And so it appears that the entire Birnie family valued George Traill Allan, and were fond enough of him that he was treated as if he was almost a family member -- even if he did not marry one of the Birnie girls.<br />
His good humour and kindness kept Allan in safe hands until his death.<br />
It sounds as if he remained single his entire life.<br />
But what can a five-foot tall, one hundred pound, delicate dynamo like George Traill Allan do to attract a wife?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-61111934251263207522012-09-02T09:15:00.000-07:002012-09-02T09:15:36.588-07:00James Birnie, Laird of CathlametI think now that I have mentioned my great-great-grandfather, James Birnie, in a recent posting (he planted the first potatoes at Fort Colvile and was in charge of nearby Spokane House), I can now publish his full story -- the result of many years of research and numerous accidental discoveries.<br />
The best discoveries are, of course, always accidental...<br />
<br />
If anyone who stumbles on this posting is a descendant of James and Charlot Birnie -- there are many of us scattered around -- by all means, please get in touch with me and I will give you access to the large family tree on ancestry.ca.<br />
<br />
<b>James and Charlot Birnie, Laird and Lady of Cathlamet</b><br />
<br />
The Hudson's Bay Company took over the Columbia district from the North West Company in 1821, and for the next two decades the British traders and their Chinookian neighbours remained relatively undisturbed by the Americans, who by agreement between the British and American governments, jointly owned the territory the fur traders occupied.<br />
The HBC men knew their business would eventually be threatened by American settlers, but it was not until the men of the United States Exploring Expedition returned home from Puget's Sound, that the settlers came in larger numbers.<br />
By the mid-1840's Americans had settled the territory in sufficient numbers to negatively affect the fur traders' business, but one trader saw opportunity.<br />
James Birnie, a Scottish born company clerk with 28 years of anticipation and disappointment in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, retired to build a home at a place he called "Birnie's Retreat." The Retreat became Cathlamet, and the settlement's founder thrived and became relatively rich.<br />
The self-satisfied James Birnie considered himself to be the Laird of Wehkaikhum and Charlot his lady, but they were unlikely royalty.<br />
Neither James nor Charlot had begun their lives at the top of the social heap -- anything but, in fact.<br />
<br />
Born in Scotland in late 1796 James Birnie was baptized in St. Nicholas' parish, City of Aberdeen, on December 18 [Endnote #1 below].<br />
The baptismal certificate recorded that James' father was a tanner named Robert, and Robert's birth record stated he was born in the City of Aberdeen in 1765 [#2].<br />
Robert's father, James, was a shoemaker when he married Isabel Moir in Old Machar, Aberdeen City, on February 9, 1763[#3].<br />
Cathlamet's founding father was descended from three or more generations of labourers who worked with leather and hides in the old part of Aberdeen City.<br />
<br />
The younger James Birnie chose no such career as shoemaker or tanner, but joined the fur trade of the North West Company.<br />
It is possible that, at that time, the NWC was hiring men familiar with tanning and leather, and that Birnie's future job in the NWC might have been to tan and stretch the beaver pelts trappers brought into camp.<br />
Whatever his fur trade job may have been, James Birnie would have been optimistic about his chances of success: one line of the song he and his shipmates supposedly sang on board the ship included the line, "There's wealth in honest labour."<br />
Local historians say Birnie wrote down and kept the words of the song: <br />
"Cheer, boys, cheer! No more of idle sorrow<br />
Courage, true hearts, shall bear us on our way<br />
Hope points before, and shows us the bright tomorrow<br />
Let us forget the darkness of today!" [#4]<br />
<br />
There is no record of the date Birnie arrived at the NWC headquarters in Lachine, but it was probably in summer or fall, 1816.<br />
Family stories say he stayed in Lachine for two years, learning the French language of the fur trade from a priest.<br />
It is likely he left Lachine in spring 1818 with the outgoing canoes for the interior, and entered the Columbia district at Boat Encampment in early November of the same year. [#5]<br />
Birnie may have travelled all the way downriver to the company's headquarters at the mouth of the Columbia River, but it is more likely he left the canoes at Donald McKenzie's newly constructed Fort Nez Perces, on the Walla Walla River.<br />
<br />
The primary purpose of McKenzie's Fort Nez Perces was to serve as headquarters for his trapping expeditions into the Snake River basin.<br />
On the banks of the Boise River McKenzie's trappers found beaver, and a month later they hunted the fur-rich territory between the Snake and Green Rivers.<br />
James Birnie arrived at Fort Nez Perces too late to join the first party of trappers, but by the time clerk William Kittson reached McKenzie's Boise River camp in May 1819, he found Birnie already there. [#6]<br />
<br />
In spring 1820, Birnie accompanied the men who delivered the beaver pelts to the company's headquarters at Fort George [Astoria].<br />
With Birnie travelled the then fourteen-year old daughter of an ex-North West Company employee named Beaulieu.<br />
At Fort George, the gentleman in charge (likely James Keith) married Birnie to Charlot Beaulieu. [#7]<br />
<br />
Charlot Birnie's gravestone in Cathlamet's Pioneer Cemetery indicates she was born in Red River in 1805.<br />
Her children recorded her mother was Cree, and her father a French Canadian free-trader named "Bolio," [Beaulieu] who trapped in the North West Company's Kootenae district for many years.<br />
Historian T. C. Elliott suggested that this Beaulieu might have been David Thompson's engage who remained in the district when Thompson returned to Montreal in 1812. [#8]<br />
No primary sources identify David Thompson's Beaulieu as Charlot's father, but a number of secondary sources strongly suggest the possibility.<br />
<br />
Firstly, a genealogy written by a Birnie descendant states that "the only sister of Charlotte Beaulieu married a [Joseph] Rondeau and lived at or near St. Paul, Minn., supposed to be very well to do." [#9] No records exist for the sister Josephine's birth, but census indicate she was born around 1808-1810, and her son's death certificate records she was born in Montana. [#10]<br />
Montana was not a state until 1889, but David Thompson's Beaulieu traded for furs in the area around Saleesh House, now known to be near present day Thompson Falls, Montana.<br />
<br />
Another secondary record states the belief, or knowledge, that Charlot's father was Thompson's engage. Along with Joseph and Josephine Rondeau's descendants, other residents in St. Paul, Minnesota, included descendants of Basile and Paul Hudon dit Beaulieu, two French Canadian brothers who worked in the North West Company's fur trade south of the Great Lakes.<br />
Clement Hudon dit Beaulieu (1811-1893), son of Bazile, noted that the Beaulieu who accompanied Thompson in 1807-11 was a man named Henri, a member of the Hudon dit Beaulieu family.<br />
It is important to know that Clement did not know his close relative, the Henri Beaulieu who entered the fur trade; Clement received correspondence, perhaps, that stated Henri worked in the NWCo's fur trade, and he did not know where Henri was employed, other than somewhere along the Saskatchewan River. <br />
There was at least one Henri Beaulieu in the fur trade records of that time, and it is impossible to prove that Henri Hudon dit Beaulieu was the Beaulieu who accompanied Thompson [and I think he did not] -- but a handwritten note in the same file strengthens the argument that Josephine (Beaulieu) Rondeau, of St. Paul, understood she was a descendant of David Thompson's Beaulieu:<br />
"The Christian name of Saskatchewan Beaulieu was Henry H -- The Rondeaus of St. Paul are his descendants on the maternal side." [#11]<br />
Clement Hudon dit Beaulieu could only have received that last piece of information from Josephine Rondeau.<br />
<br />
Between 1810 and 1820, the North West Company men west of the Rocky Mountains had little competition from the Hudson's Bay Company, but it was a different story for the fur traders on the prairies, and in the Athabasca district to the north.<br />
For ten or more years a fierce competition for furs raged among the competing traders of the NWC and HBC, who had its headquarters at York Factory, on Hudson's Bay.<br />
Because of its long supply lines between Montreal and Red River, the NWC eventaully lost the competition and, in 1821, the two companies merged under the name of the Hudson's Bay Company.<br />
At this time, Chief Factor John Haldane shared with J. D. Cameron the command of the Columbia Department, with Haldane posted at Spokane House and the other man at Fort George.<br />
After 1821, the Governor of the new company, George Simpson, made severe cuts in the numbers of men employed in the forts west of the mountains, and Haldane gave his opinion that, of the men who worked in his district, five clerks and two apprentice-clerks might be re-engaged when their contracts expired, and the rest released from the Company's service.<br />
Apprentice-clerk James Birnie was one of the men who Haldane chose to re-hire at 75 pounds a year. [#12]<br />
<br />
In April 1822, clerk Finan McDonald recorded in the Spokane House journals that Birnie had left for Fort George with seventy-five packs of furs. [#13]<br />
On July 16, Birnie returned to Spokane House, and on July 23 he took over the Spokane House post journals.<br />
Now twenty-six years old, James Birnie expected that the HBC's fur trade would provide him with a rewarding career, with promotion to chief trader in time.<br />
Each HBC clerk anticipated being made chief trader -- a position that not only offered a marked increase in wages but included a share in the company's profits.<br />
<br />
James Birnie's Spokane House journal entries noted that the men constructed new buildings and maintained a fish trip, or barriere, that sometimes provided them with fresh fish.<br />
The express men passed up the Columbia River near the fort, and horse brigades arrived from the Snake River district.<br />
Birnie's spelling is sometimes creative, but his notes are well written and give a good deal of information on the life of a fur trader -- for example:<br />
"The men in the woods have cut & squared on two sides 175 pieces of 11 feet long & 80 pieces 13 feet long. The sawyers have cut 60 pieces which makes 120 palisades. The two men employed cutting hay. Dephance was sent out to assist them in drying it. Today a party of young Spokans left this for to join a war party at Okanagan. Before leaving this, they went round the fort thrice for to show that they included us among their friends. They were all equipt in warlike array & now and then giving the war whoop." [#14]<br />
<br />
On August 15, 1822, Charlot Birnie gave birth to their first child, Betsy.<br />
Birnie's Spokane House journal ends eight months later, though there is no indication he is leaving the fort.<br />
However, the Birnie family was at Fort George in February 1824, when Charlot gave birth to their second child, Robert. [#15]<br />
Birnie was employed at Fort Okanagan when, on November 1, 1824, George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Chief Factor John McLoughlin arrived at the post. [#16]<br />
McLoughlin had crossed the Rocky Mountains to take charge of the Columbia district, and Simpson travelled with him to assess what was happening in this district so new to the HBC.<br />
Simpson noted the expensive imported provisions the ex-NWC men had become used to, and ordered that the forts west of the mountains grow more of their own food.<br />
There was good farming land one hundred miles inland from Fort George, and Simpson decided that the new HBC headquarters should be built at that spot, and Fort George abandoned.<br />
As other posts in the interior would also be required to grow more of their own food, Simpson instructed that the inconveniently placed Spokane House be replaced with a new post built near the Ilthkoyape (Kettle) Falls, where there was more good farmland.<br />
McLoughlin placed Birnie in charge of Spokane House in summer 1825, and Birnie planted the first crop of potatoes on the plains that surrounded the place where John Work was to begin construction of Fort Colvile later that summer.<br />
<br />
In August 1825, McLoughlin moved Birnie back to Fort Okanogan, and in the spring of 1826, Birnie crossed the Rocky Mountains with the outgoing express to Edmonton House, where they joined the Saskatchewan brigade that carried the year's furs to York Factory.<br />
By July. Birnie was at the HBC headquarters on Hudson's Bay.<br />
A literate young man, named Lieutenant Aemelius Simpson, travelled west with the Saskatchewan boats on his way to Fort Vancouver. [#17]<br />
Simpson reported that the Saskatchewan brigade crossed the top of Lake Winnipeg to the mouth of the Saskatchewan River on August 1st, 1826.<br />
Twenty days later the boats arrived at Carlton House.<br />
At the end of August, James Birnie and others took to horseback across the plains, expecting to reached Edmonton House in four days time, while the slower brigade boats arrived on September 9.<br />
Three days after the boats' arrival the usual party was thrown for the expressmen at Edmonton House. On September 13 the men of the Columbia express started their journey over the horse portage with eighty loaded horses, and a day later James Birnie rode away from Edmonton House with the remaining gentlemen.<br />
On September 18, Simpson's party reached Fort Assiniboine, but Birnie's party was delayed by rain and mud for five additional days.<br />
Two days after the latter party's arrival, the Columbia express headed upriver in boats toward the Rocky Mountains, and on October 6 reached Jasper's House.<br />
The express-men crossed the mountains on foot to Boat Encampment; on October 21 they arrived at newly constructed Fort Colvile.<br />
Further downriver they traded with Nez Perces Natives for horses, and Birnie left the express boats behind to help drive the horses overland to the newly constructed headquarters of Fort Vancouver.<br />
<br />
Fort Vancouver had just been built on the north shore of the Columbia River opposite the mouth of the Willamette, and was completed in April 1825.<br />
In the 1825 Minutes of Council Birnie was assigned to the Thompson's River [Kamloops] post, but remained at Fort Vancouver to help finish construction. [#18]<br />
In the same Minutes of Council, Birnie's name appeared on the list of clerks permitted to retire the following spring.<br />
Whether or not Birnie knew his name was on that list of men is not known, but he apparently remained optimistic he would receive a promotion.<br />
He signed a new contract with the company, and in November 1826 McLoughlin sent him with dispatches for Chief Trader A. R. McLeod, leader of the first trapping expedition south to the Umpqua River.<br />
In mid-December, McLeod returned to the old Umpqua establishment to find Birnie waiting for him, and on December 20, Birnie and two men set off on their return journey to Fort Vancouver, riding their horses northward through heavy west-coast rain. [#19]<br />
On his return journey to Fort Vancouver, Birnie met the naturalist David Douglas and they shared a meal. [#20]<br />
<br />
In October 1827, Birnie was sent to Fort Nez Perces to assist and strengthen the express party as they travelled down the Columbia River to headquarters. [#21]<br />
One of the two Upper Chinookian tribes who lived at the Dalles -- the Wascos or the Wishram -- had been more hostile than usual, and McLoughlin worried for the safety of the express.<br />
There appears, however, to have been no trouble between the fur traders and the Natives, and the express reached Fort Vancouver in safety.<br />
<br />
In July 1828, Birnie's contract with the Company again expired, but Birnie was rehired at a wage of 75 pounds.<br />
By this time, he was thirty years old and had enough experience in the HBC's fur trade to anticipate a promotion.<br />
In September 1829, John Warren Dease met Birnie at Fort Vancouver. [#22]<br />
By October 4 Birnie was building a new post at the Dalles of the Columbia River, with the goal of preventing the Natives' furs from falling into the hands of an American competitor.<br />
As the best trading place at the Dalles was amongst the Wishram Natives, who tended to be more hostile to traders than the neighboring tribes, the nervous American trader set up his camp close to Birnie's post for protection.<br />
Because of the presence of the competing HBC post, the American was forced to pay high prices for his furs, which his employers disapproved of.<br />
By April 1830, it appeared the American planned to quit the post and join the HBC. [#23]<br />
Probably Birnie closed down his Dalles post at about same time the American left; he was at Fort George in summer 1830 when he was kept busy doctoring the men sick from an illness the fur traders called "intermittent fever."<br />
The unidentified fever hit the district hard that year, and dozens of men fell ill.<br />
It was probably a form of malaria, which appears to have come in on the American ship <i>Owyhee</i>.<br />
<br />
On March 14, 1833, Birnie boarded the ship, <i>Dryad</i>, with the other gentlemen heading north to Fort Simpson, on the Northwest coast close to Russian-owned territories (now Alaska). [#24]<br />
At the mouth of the Columbia, heavy breakers falling across the bar stopped the Dryad -- not an uncommon occurrence as ships were often delayed for weeks by weather.<br />
In this case, the ship was delayed a month before the winds and seas calmed enough so that she could sail across the sandbars that almost completely blocked the river's mouth.<br />
On April 24, 1833, Birnie reached his new posting at Fort Simpson, far up the wide estuary of the Nass River.<br />
This tree-bound fort was located on a rocky point deep in the forest, in a dreary location where the fierce north winds whistled around the fort walls for nine months of every year.<br />
No post journals survive for the time Birnie spent at Fort Simpson, but his next adventure began the following summer, when Peter Skene Ogden sailed north to build a fort on the Stikine River.<br />
<br />
To get to where Ogden wanted to construct his new post, the HBC men must sail up the Stikine River through the ten-mile wide strip of land the Russian fur traders occupied.<br />
On May 15, 1834, James Birnie brought his entire family on board the <i>Dryad</i> for the journey north from Fort Simpson. [#25]<br />
When the HBC men arrived at the mouth of the Stikine River, they were astonished to find that the Russians had recently established a post on the point of land at the river's mouth.<br />
The Russians did not want their lucrative trade with the interior Natives interrupted by an HBC post up the Stikine, nor did the Tlingit people appreciate have their position as middlemen to the Russians interfered with.<br />
The Russians blustered and threatened; the Tlingit intimidated.<br />
The alarmed HBC men remained as long as they could to argue for access, but after a month at anchor off the Russian post, Ogden finally abandoned his scheme. [#26]<br />
<br />
By mid-June the <i>Dryad</i> was back at the Nass River where Ogden had decided to build a new Fort Simpson in a warmer and more convenient location than the old.<br />
On July 15, Birnie and the other fort builders offloaded their supplies at the location of the new fort in the estuary of the river, while Ogden sailed eastward to begin tearing down old Fort Simpson.<br />
By September 6 the palisades of the new fort were complete and the gates locked for the first time.<br />
On September 13 the men erected one of the two houses removed from old Fort Simpson, and on September 30 Birnie moved his family into their new house.<br />
Already the Natives camped outside the fort walls and traded for goods in the Indian store.<br />
On October 17, the flag was raised for the first time inside the post, and the <i>Dryad </i>sailed away from new Fort Simpson. [#27]<br />
<br />
There is, again, little information on Birnie's two years on the northwest coast.<br />
Charlot gave birth to a son in November 1834, and a few months later John Work arrived at the fort to find Birnie suffering from a liver complaint. [#28]<br />
By the end of February, Birnie recovered enough to return to work.<br />
At last, on February 26, 1836, James Birnie and his young family embarked on the <i>Cadboro</i> and sailed with a fine, fair wind away from Fort Simpson. [#29]<br />
<br />
The so-called "liver complaint" that Birnie suffered from at Fort Simpson could have been caused by abuse of alcohol -- not unusual in these northwest coast forts where a substantial part of the supplies was good quality wines and cognacs.<br />
But alcohol consumption was not the only possible cause of the illness the fur traders labeled liver disease.<br />
Presuming that jaundice was the symptom from which Birnie suffered, there were many other illness that might cause jaundice -- and food poisoning was one.<br />
Jaundice was also a side effect of the intermittent fever or malaria, an illness that might travel up and down the coast with the sailing ships.<br />
Another condition that might cause liver disease (without jaundice) in a man who carried excess weight, as James Birnie did, was the fur-traders' diet of fatty meats and sugary potatoes that the liver turned into fat.<br />
However, though no contemporary fur trader ever complained of Birnie being a drunk, Birnie was certainly not an abstainer and there were a few occasions when he was described as "clumsy," or acted as if he was under the influence of strong drink.<br />
<br />
On his return to Fort Vancouver, Birnie was reassigned to Fort George [Astoria] and remained there for many years.<br />
In the summer of 1837, Birnie's 15-year old daughter, Betsy, prepared to travel north with Peter Skene Ogden's New Caledonia brigade to be married.<br />
Her husband-to-be, Alexander Caulfield Anderson, was a young Scottish clerk who had accompanied the Birnie family north to Fort Simpson in 1833, and who was also aboard the Dryad when it was delayed by the Russians in 1834.<br />
Anderson was now clerk-in-charge of Fraser's Lake, hundreds of miles to the north; Betsy must travel north with Peter Skene Ogden's brigade to meet her husband-to-be.<br />
<br />
At Fort Vancouver, Ogden asked the new missionary, Reverend Herbert Beaver, to baptize Betsy Birnie before her journey north to be married.<br />
But the disapproving missionary refused to approve the marriage and argued that any marriage not performed by him would be illegal.<br />
Beaver also expressed shock that Betsy was marrying a man she had not seen in four years, and declared she was not "acquainted with the principle of religion." [#30]<br />
This last accusation was as true for Betsy as it was for everyone who grew up in a fur trade fort, and Ogden mildly stated he would have Betsy baptized by the missionaries at Fort Nez Perces and that he, a justice of the peace, would perform the marriage.<br />
<br />
The enraged Beaver refused to end the argument.<br />
He had brought his old-country values with him to this new world, and he argued with everyone at the fort.<br />
After a final fierce argument with Chief Factor McLoughlin, Beaver stormed away from Fort Vancouver and returned to England.<br />
His ship stopped briefly at Fort George, where Beaver confirmed James and Charlot Birnie's marriage. Charlot could not sign her own name; she wrote an X in the register, and Beaver noted her name beside it. [#31]<br />
<br />
Birnie continued his work at Fort George, the recipient of many of John McLoughlin's terse letters.<br />
The post commanded an excellent view of the mouth of the Columbia River and Birnie acted as McLoughlin's eyes.<br />
He reported to McLoughlin any incident in the terrritory; he made purchases from ship captains and collected debts from those who were attempting to escape by ship.<br />
Birnie shipped out salmon and salt and furs and potatoes, he delivered messages to the sea captains and traded for furs with the Natives, but not the free-traders.<br />
In one terse letter, McLoughlin gave Birnie instructions on how to make caviar, and told him to "make as much as you can." [#32]<br />
<br />
Finally James Birnie oversaw the salting and pickling of the hundreds of barrels of fine Columbia salmon processed at Fort George and exported to the Sandwich [Hawaiian] Islands and elsewhere.<br />
It was unlikely that Birnie took an active part in the work; Birnie's son reported that "Father was a good trader, a great reader and an expert at accounts, but when it came to shooting or rowing or other work of that nature he let his employees take care of it." [#33]<br />
Salting and preserving salmon was work that Charlot might have done, however.<br />
The method of preserving salmon was an old HBC recipe, used everywhere in the northwest.<br />
The women cut off the head of the fish and removed the backbone, and the "salter" placed the salmon in a large hogshead and covered them with coarse salt [and presumably, water].<br />
After a few days the flesh firmed up and the women drained off the pickle and boiled it in a large kettle, skimming off the blood that rose to the surface.<br />
The salmon themselves were packed in 42-gallon kegs, which were sealed and laid on their sides with the bunghole left open.<br />
The boiled pickle was poured in until the keg was filled; when no more fish-oil rose to the surface of the pickle, the keg was sealed and stored. [#34]<br />
<br />
Everyone at a fur trade post had work to do, and Charlot's work also included making dozens of pairs of moccasins from leather, and sewing the caps, mittens, and leggings worn by everyone in the fort and sold in Fort Vancouver's store.<br />
Women hand-sewed their own dresses and their husband's clothes as well; they gathered and dried berries, snared small game such as rabbits and martens, and caught fish for the table and for salting. They weeded the company's gardens and planted and harvested the potatoes that grew outside the fort and scrubbed and washed down the fort every spring.<br />
<br />
Men's work varied more than women's, and took them away from the fort more often.<br />
In May 1840, Birnie acted as pilot for the ship <i>Lausanne</i> as it made its way upriver from Baker's Bay, just inside the mouth of the Columbia.<br />
The Lausanne carried Methodist missionaries, including one who later returned to Fort George to set up his mission on the Clatsop Plains nearby.<br />
Missionary John Frost met with a kind reception from the Birnie family; Birnie and Frost put up boards in the Birnie residence so the Frosts would have a private room, and Mrs. Frost began a school for the Birnie children.<br />
Only two days after Frost's arrival, a man salting salmon near Pillar Rock, five or six miles from Fort George, was found murdered in his bed.<br />
Birnie, concerned for the safety of the residents at isolated Fort George, sent across the river to the local Chinook chief for protection.<br />
The Natives responded promptly, also travelling to Fort Vancouver to bring word to John McLoughlin. The murderer was soon captured and hung, and James Birnie was part of this rough justice. [#35]<br />
<br />
In 1841 the United States Exploring Expedition visited the area.<br />
When their ship <i>Peacock</i> was destroyed on the bar of the Columbia River, Birnie and the Clatsop missionaries rushed to the crew's rescue. [#36]<br />
In thanks for the help given them, the appreciative crew presented Birnie with some of the fine silver cutlery carried aboard the little ship; the silver spoon now in the Wahkiakum Museum at Cathlamet is likely one of the pieces of silver from the Peacock. [#37]<br />
A few years later, James Birnie attempted a rescue of another group of Catholic missionaries who somehow safely entered the river mouth in spite of ignoring Birnie's attempts to guide them into the safe channel, with bonfires, cannon-fire, and waving flags.<br />
At Baker's Bay, Birnie boarded the ship and agreed with the Catholic missionaries that "God had saved them," he added "but in order that a second miracle might not be necessary he would... guide them through the banks that lay between them and the fort [Vancouver]. [#38]<br />
He also told the missionaries that "Mrs. Birnie would be expecting all the passengers as soon as they landed." The Notre Dame sisters found "Mrs. Birnie and her seven fine-looking daughters waiting to receive them.<br />
One in all, the girls were quite captivated by the Sisters, who in turn were delighted with the cordiality of this Protestant family."<br />
The missionaries enjoyed two meals at the Birnie house, and commented on Birnie's "hospitable Canadian wife, whose French was very good."<br />
But they were surprised by one custom; the Birnie women declined to drink wine, and the Sisters, unwilling to offend, also denied themselves their usual wine.<br />
<br />
The missionaries would have described 40 year old Charlot Birnie as a pretty woman with bright eyes and dark, glossy hair, as another pioneer woman described her. [#39]<br />
Like other women in the fur trade she would have worn a loose shapeless dress over common wool leggings and moccasins, with a blanket over her shoulders and her hair in a braid down her back. Unlike the other Native women in the territory, Charlot appeared "quite self contained, and she invited me through to room to a sheltered porch in which was a number of seats ... from which was a clear outlook over the bay of the Columbia." [40]<br />
<br />
James Birnie was a big man; a broad-shouldered and deep-chested man who stood six feet tall. [41]<br />
He spoke in a broad Scottish brogue and was called "Scotty" by his co-workers who, though of Scottish ancestry, were for the most part from Canada or the Eastern States.<br />
In his position at Fort George, Birnie earned the respect of the Chinook Natives that surrounded him, who trusted him and gave him the name Keets-Keets-we-aw-Keet, or the Great Chief. [42]<br />
Birnie was fair, but he could be tough too.<br />
When dealing with the Natives, James Birnie's motto was "Never show the white feather to an Indian." [43]<br />
<br />
Birnie's life at Fort George remained peaceful and quiet.<br />
By this time, the old pre-Fort-Vancouver headquarters was grown over with brush except for a small patch of ground that produced fine white potatoes.<br />
The Birnie home was a log house that stood one story tall, 60 feet long and 20 wide.<br />
It had a stone chimney, two rooms and an entry room, and there may have been sleeping apartments under its roof.<br />
Close by stood some log and plank buildings, and the largest of these outhouses was the salmon-house that stored the salt and the hundreds of barrels of salmon produced at this place.<br />
<br />
Though John McLoughlin always appeared to appreciate his work, James Birnie was disappointed every year when the list of men who received their chief trader's commission was delivered to the fort.<br />
Clerks often waited for their chief trader commission for years before it was awarded, and each year they did not attain it was a year of disappointment and, in some cases, humiliation.<br />
In 1847, another HBC clerk described his disappointment when he did not received his expected promotion.<br />
Although he had never had a complaint lodged against him, he had been superseded in his department by three junior officers -- men who in his opinion could never have run a fur trade fort.<br />
He was so angry at the slight that he considered leaving the Company's service, and so humiliated he could hardly show his face in the fort. [#44]<br />
Birnie must have felt these emotions many times over.<br />
As early as 1835 Birnie had wondered why he was unsuccessful in obtaining a promotion.<br />
His friend Peter Skene Ogden addressed the issue with Governor Simpson, in a letter dated March 30, 1835: "I have also my cause to be well pleased with Mr. Birnie's arrangements, and whom from his long services I beg leave to recommend as justly deserving of promotion." [#45]<br />
By the early 1840's, Birnie had already put in more than twenty years of service, suffering anticipation and disappointment every summer.<br />
Eventually he saw he had no chance of success in Governor Simpson's fur trade, and quietly made his decision to retire.<br />
Birnie's actions even before he left the fur trade showed his determination to leave the Company.<br />
In 1845, when Birnie purchased a quarter-share in a sawmill owned by Albert Wilson, one of the many Americans now flooding into Oregon Territory, Chief Factor James Douglas wrote: "Whenever a man comes to that way of thinking the sooner he goes the better, as lukewarm supporters are worse than open enemies. I do not however mean to cast reflections on Birnie's zeal, as I believe he took the plunge, in sheer despair of any thing being done for him in the service. I would advise you to treat him leniently..." [#46]<br />
<br />
On March 7 1845, Birnie sadly penned his letter of resignation to Dr. McLoughlin.<br />
"After waiting patiently for a long time and seeing a number of my juniors promoted over me," he wrote, "I am under the necessity of retiring from the service of the Hon. Hudson's Bay Company, Spring 1846, however painful this step may be to my feelings after 28 years servitude with a large family to provide for and with slender means before me. But I have no other alternative." [#47]<br />
<br />
But long before James Birnie realized he was getting nowhere in the Company, his friends knew he would never make Chief Trader.<br />
In 1843, Francis Ermatinger described Birnie in a letter to his brother, Edward -- "Birnie remains at Fort George, and has children enough for a colony. He looks as young as ever, and is as fat and lazy as a man ought to be, when he is thought no more of than he is by Sir George [Governor Simpson]." [#48]<br />
Ermatinger recorded that Birnie believed he had offended the Governor by dropping a bedsheet in the water -- "He [Birnie] told me that Sir George sent two cotton sheets to be washed, and while taking them to the ship one fell overboard, but he intended to send another to London and hoped his offence would be forgiven -- poor fellow." [#49]<br />
The last two words indicate that Ermatinger knew something that Birnie did not -- that in 1842, Governor Simpson had demanded John McLoughlin retire James Birnie with a pension of 60 pound per annum for seven years.<br />
McLoughlin had refused to do so, saying privately that the Governor should do his dirty work himself, and informing the Governor that he had no good replacement for Birnie. [#50]<br />
<br />
Birnie's misfortunes had begun years earlier, when the HBC Governor met him at Fort Okanagan in 1824.<br />
Six years after that first meeting, Governor George Simpson wrote in his Character Book:<br />
"No. 10. Birnie, James. A Scotchman about 35 years of age. 14 years in the Service. Useful in the Columbia as he can make himself understood among several of the Tribes and knows the country well; but not particularly active, nor has be much firmness: deficient in point of Education; a Loose talking fellow who seldom considers it necessary to confine himself to the truth. Has no pretension to look forward to advancement indeed is very well paid for his Services at 100 pound per annum." [#51]<br />
<br />
The first impression Simpson would have obtained from Birnie was his speech -- the Scottish brogue that Birnie was so fond of.<br />
Birnie's rough speech would only remind Simpson of his own humble beginnings as an illegitimate child in the north-eastern Scottish town of Dingwall.<br />
Simpson was sixteen when he left Dingwall for London, but in years afterwards he did everything he could to conceal his humble roots.<br />
Secondly, Simpson always held a poor education against a man, and Birnie's speech clearly indicated a lack of a good education.<br />
Birnie's father and grandfather were tanners and shoemakers who could never have sent their child to university, nor would they have understood a reason for doing so.<br />
Reading suited Birnie's lazy nature, but his reading was limited to Scottish writers such as Sir Walter Scott -- light reading in comparison to that enjoyed by his educated son-in-law, Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
Moreover, in the absence of school-teachers most fur traders schooled their own children, but Birnie's son, Robert, always mourned the fact that he was never a well-educated man. [#52]<br />
That statement, alone supports the argument that James Birnie did not have an education to pass on to his children.<br />
<br />
That James Birnie's wife was Native (half or quarter-breed) cannot have affected Birnie's career in Governor Simpson's eyes, as every man in the fur trade had a Native wife.<br />
But Charlot might have affected Birnie's career by the simple birthing of children that Governor Simpson viewed as a drain on the provisions of his fur trade.<br />
When Simpson visited Fort Okanagan in 1824, he seriously considered having the fur traders' many children turned off to the "Indian relatives." [#52]<br />
In 1824 Birnie already had two infant children; by 1840 he had seven daughters and two sons.<br />
<br />
When James Birnie finally retired from the Company in June 1846, he had a choice of properties to build on.<br />
He had been offered property in the new settlement of Portland, now springing up across the river from Fort Vancouver, but refused it.<br />
"Malaria, mosquitos and a swamp," Birnie scoffed. "I've chosen a place that will be my Retreat that's high enough on the river bluff to be out of all danger of flood. There's good water, pasture for cattle, space for an orchard. Keep Portland. I'll take the Retreat." [#53]<br />
His new choice for a home was thirty miles east of Fort George on the north side of the Columbia River.<br />
Here it was cooler in summer than Fort Vancouver, but warmer than the foggy summer coastline. <br />
<br />
As early as 1844 and during the time he was still employed by the HBC, Birnie sent men to clear a piece of land and erect a little store on the river bank at Cathlamet.<br />
On the curve of the hill above the store, Birnie built his house.<br />
The finished residence was substantial, with window-sills 12 or 14 inches wide and windows that had 9 or 12 panes of glass per sash. [#54]<br />
The lumber for these buildings came from Albert Wilson's sawmill on the south side of the river.<br />
<br />
In the summer of 1846, Birnie and his family left Fort George in a small fleet of boats.<br />
He brought with him a lock for his new store, a band of Spanish cattle which he had pasturing on the Plains at Clatsop, and sixteen Native employees he had rescued from the slave trade that flourished among the Natives from the Queen Charlotte Islands to California.<br />
Birnie settled his family into the house on the top of the hill, and opened his store to business.<br />
He had chosen well.<br />
The American settlers who now flooded into the territory settled near Fort George and Portland, and American soldiers constructed their new camp outside Fort Vancouver.<br />
Birnie's Retreat became a stopping place halfway between the new settlements of Upper and Lower Astoria, and Portland.<br />
Dried salmon sold for $20 a barrel, butter was $1.00 a pound while lard was 60 cents. Fine shirts sold for $2.50, whiskey for $3.00 a gallon, and gin, $3.50.<br />
<br />
It did not take long for Birnie to gather neighbours at the Retreat.<br />
In 1850, the new circuit judge, William Strong, arrived in the territory and Birnie offered him a piece of property to the west of his house.<br />
Thomas Lowe, clerk at Fort Vancouver, married a Birnie daughter and built his house to the east of Birnie's own residence.<br />
Soon Birnie's on-in-law, Alexander Anderson, retired from the Hudson's Bay Company and, purchasing Lowe's house, brought his family to live in the village, now named Cathlamet.<br />
The little town quickly grew, but the aging James Birnie unhappily grumbled about the many changes he saw happening around him.<br />
<br />
At Cathlamet, Charlot became a confident, self-assured woman who welcomed visitors into her house and entertained them on a sheltered porch that offered a spectacular view up and down the Columbia River, and a bookcase filled with James Birnie's volumes of Scott's novels. [#55]<br />
Charlot bore herself with "all the self-assurance of an English dame of long pedigree." [#56]<br />
She owned an enormous canoe which was the wonder of the lower Columbia River, and every fall she loaded it with provisions and paddlers and set out from Cathlamet to pass over the portage to Shoalwater Bay, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, where they spent a few weeks hunting, fishing, and clamming. [#57]<br />
<br />
James Birnie began to show signs of aging and possibly dementia when, in July 1852, his son-in-law, Thomas Lowe, wrote about the confusion that existed between Birnie and Judge Strong as to an exchange of land.<br />
Birnie had returned the deed to Lowe unsigned.<br />
In a letter to his business partners, Lowe warned, "In any transactions you have with Mr. Birnie endeavour to have everything put in black and white, and for God's Sake leave nothing to be understood, as I have always found that these understandings are looked upon by him as the principal part of the bargain, and generally prove a fruitful source of misunderstanding afterwards. Try to settle everything amicably, as any trifling dispute is sure to worry him." [#58]<br />
Whether this confusion came from alcohol, illness, or the natural decline of aging is unknown -- in 1852 Birnie was still a few years away from his sixtieth birthday.<br />
However, he has often been described as corpulent and, if so, may well have been suffering from a disease such as diabetes, or another illness we know nothing of.<br />
<br />
In Lowe's correspondence it became obvious that both James Birnie and Charlot were becoming less able to live on their own.<br />
In 1853, Thomas Lowe wrote that Charlotte, Birnie's daughter, was dying.<br />
"Poor old people," he wrote of James and Charlot, "Theirs is a sad prospect." [#59]<br />
The Birnie girl died in July 1853 and was buried in the cemetery at the top of the hill, and Lowe wrote to Anderson, "The old people are sincerely to be pitied, I assure you, I feel for them very deeply. I know you do all in your power to comfort them, but I also know how difficult it is to reason with Mrs. Birnie. Her grief is most poignant at times and in these paroxysms it is fruitless to endeavour to console her." [#60]<br />
But James and Charlot had many losses to mourn.<br />
By 1854, two daughters (including Lowe's wife La Rose) and one son were buried in the little churchyard at the top of the hill behind the house; and three Anderson children -- Birnie's grandchildren -- were also buried there.<br />
<br />
Life went on, however, and Cathlamet continued to be the social centre of the district.<br />
General Ulysses S. Grant was an occasional visitor from the military post outside Fort Vancouver, and he drank too much whiskey and borrowed blankets from the Birnie store to sleep of his drunks in the bushes on the river bank. <br />
Another occasional visitor was Dr. John McLoughlin, now unhappily retired from the Company and living at Oregon City.<br />
Steamboats chugged up and down the river and brought many visitors and new residents.<br />
On some occasions, visitors found the Birnie house decorated from top to bottom with evergreens and tables loaded with food.<br />
The Birnies hosted many fashionable parties, celebrations that were attended by everyone of importance in the district, and on these occasions Charlot confidently took her place at the head of the table.<br />
<br />
When the artist James Madison Alden arrived on the coast on the ship <i>Active</i> in 1854, he visited the Birnie residence and described Birnie as a full-bearded man with a brood of small children who scurried timidly away. [#61]<br />
Two of those children might have been the half-Native children of Captain James Scarborough, who James and Charlot Birnie raised after their father suddenly died.<br />
Captain Scarborough worked for the Hudson's Bay Company for many years before retiring to Chinook Hill, west of Cathlamet.<br />
Following his retirement, he exported salted fish to England, and it was rumoured that he was paid for the fish in gold ingots that were buried on his property. [#62]<br />
On Scarborough's death, James Birnie became guardian of the Scarborough children while Birnie's son-in-law, Alexander Anderson, administered the estate.<br />
Anderson gained control of Scarborough's funds and invested the money in one of Thomas Lowe's companies, which paid interest on the money for many years after. [#63]<br />
Later Birnie was questioned about the money but, because his health and memory were fading, he could not explain where it had gone.<br />
Anderson had by that time moved north to Fort Victoria, and because Birnie had no answers, it was suspected for many years afterwards that Anderson had absconded with the funds. [#64]<br />
<br />
From early days at Cathlamet, Birnie had flown a handmade American flag above the store, which he dipped cheerily at every passing ship. [#65]<br />
He was sixty-eight years old when he died in December of 1864.<br />
It was Birnie's last wish that he be wrapped in that handmade flag on his death.<br />
Auld James Birnie, Laird of Cathlamet, died at home and was buried in the little churchyard at the top of the hill, carefully wrapped in the homemade American flag.<br />
<br />
Even though she was now without her husband of forty years, Charlot was surrounded by her children, and her house was comfortably furnished with furniture of a better quality than found elsewhere in the territory.<br />
She died twelve years later, on July 7, 1878, and her surviving children buried her in the little cemetery at the top of the hill behind the house.<br />
James and Charlot's shared gravestone is the tallest stone in the Pioneer Cemetery, befitting of their standing as the Laird and Lady of Cathlamet.<br />
<br />
<b>Sources:</b><br />
1. General Register Office for Scotland, Registration of Birth in Old Parochial Register, Parish of Aberdeen (Co. Aberdeen). Record 168/A000080 0562, December 18, 1796, at http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk<br />
2. Ibid, Record 168/A000080 0533, December 18, 1765<br />
3. Ibid, Record 168/B000070 0222, February 9, 1763<br />
4. Irene Martin, <i>Beach of Heaven: A History of Wehkiakum County</i> (Pullman, WA: Washington State UP, 1997), p.109<br />
5. Affidavit for Donation Land Claim, Washington Territory, in David K. Hansen's private Collection of James Birnie's records. Birnie recorded he arrived in the territory on November 1, 1818<br />
6. E.E.Rich, ed. <i>Ogden's Snake Country Journals, 1824-26</i> [London: HBRS, 1950], Appendix A, "Journal of Occurrences in a trapping Expedition to and from the Snake Country in the years 1824 and (25) kept by William Kittson," p. 224<br />
7. Affidavit for Donation Land Claim, WT<br />
8. T.C. Elliott, "David Thompson's Journeys in the Spokane Country," <i>Washington Historical Quarterly</i>, Vol. VIII, 1917, p. 185<br />
9. Ben Holladay Dorcy, OHS Manuscript 1092, Transcript, p.126, Oregon Historical Society Archives<br />
10. State of Minnesota Certificate of Death #10858 lists Louis Rondeau's father as Joseph Rondeau, born in Canada, and his mother as Jeanette Beaulieu, born in 'Mont.' The official form asks for birthplace 'State' or 'Country;' if Josephine was born in Montreal her birthplace would have been listed as Canada, as her husband's was, on the same form.<br />
11. Handwritten note [1920?], Clement H. Beaulieu and family papers, 1857-1932, Mss. #P60, Minnesota Historical Society Archives<br />
12. Governor Simpson to Dugald Cameron, July 18, 1822, D.4/1, fo. 62, HBCA<br />
13. Fort Spokane District Journal, 1822-23, B.208/a/1, fo. 1, HBCA<br />
14. Ibid, August 8, 1822, fo. 16<br />
15. Birnie Family Bible, Wehkiakum Historical Society Archives, Cathlamet, WA<br />
16. Frederick Merk, <i>Fur Trade and Empire -- George Simpson's Journal</i> (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1968), p.49<br />
17. Lieut. Aemelius Simpson, Journal from York to Fort Vancouver -- Journey of a voyage across the Continent of North America in 1826, B.223/a/3, HBCA<br />
18. John McLeod Papers, Mss. 1715, fo. 9, BCA<br />
19. Appendix C, "Journal of a Hunting Expedition to the southward of the Umpqua under command of A.R. McLeod, C.T., Sept. 1826," in <i>Peter Skene Ogden's Snake Country Journal, 1826-7</i>, ed. K. G. Davies (London: HBRS, 1961), p. 199-200<br />
20. I have this source amongst my papers somewhere, when I find it I will post it properly.<br />
21. Journal of a voyage from York Factory to Fort Vancouver, Columbia River, 1827, Edward Ermatinger's York Factory Express Journal, being a record of Journeys made between Fort Vancouver and Hudson Bay in the years 1827-28, (Ottawa: Royal society of Canada, 1912), p. 112<br />
22. "Memorandum Book of John Warren Dease," B.A. McKelvie Mss 001, Box 8, file 2, BCA<br />
23. Dr. Burt Brown Parker, <i>Letters of Dr. John McLoughlin written at Fort Vancouver, 1829-1832</i> (Portland: Binsford & Mort, 1948) p. 57, 62, 69, 103-4<br />
24. The Ships Log of the Dryad (brig), 1833-34, c.1/281-2, fo. 86, HBCA<br />
25. Ibid, fo. 187<br />
26. Archie Binns, <i>Peter Skene Ogden, Fur Trader</i> (Portland: Binsford & Mort, 1967) p.251-61; Mitchell, H.T., ed., <i>Tolmie: Physician and Fur Trader, the Journal of Dr. Tolmie</i> (Vancouver: Mitchell Press, 1963), p. 281-6; and "P.S. Ogden's Report of Transactions at Stikine, 1834," in E.E. Rich, ed., <i>Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, First Series, 1825-38</i> (Toronto: Champlain Soc, 1941-4) Appendix A, p.317-8. Birnie's future son-in-law, Alexander Caulfield Anderson, was also there.<br />
27. Fort Simpson (Nass) Post Journals, 1834-38, B.201/a/3, fo. 2-10, HBCA. Alexander Caulfield Anderson sailed away from Fort Simpson in the Dryad, as did Peter Skene Ogden.<br />
28. "Journal of John Work, January to October 1835, Part 1," in <i>British Columbia Historical Quarterly</i>, vol. 8, April 1944, p. 137; and Fort Simpson (Nass) Post Journals, 1834-38, fo. 21-22<br />
29. Fort Simpson (Nass) Post Journals, 1834-38, fo. 54a<br />
30. Rev. Beaver to P.S. Ogden, June 17, 1837, B.223/b/19, fo. 4, HBCA<br />
31. Beaver's original Fort Vancouver Church Register, Christ Church Cathedral Archives, Victoria, BC<br />
32. J. McLoughlin to James Birnie, March 7, 1841, B.223/b/27, fo. 137, HBCA<br />
33. Martin, <i>Beach of Heaven,</i> p. 26-27<br />
34. Murray C. Morgan, <i>Puget's Sound, a Narrative of Early Tacoma and the Southern Sound </i>(Seattle: UofW Press, 1979) p. 50<br />
35. Nellie B. Pipes, ed., "Journal of John H. Frost, 1840-43," <i>Oregon Historical Quarterly</i>, vol. 35, 1934, p. 57-61<br />
36. Edmond S. Meany, "Last Survivor of the Oregon Mission of 1840," <i>Washington Historical Quarterly</i>, vol. II, October 1907, p.13-14<br />
37. Fiddle Thread and Shell design, T. Fletcher, Philadelphia<br />
38. Sister Mary Dominica, <i>Willamette Interlude</i> (Palo Alto, CA: Pacific Books, 1959) p. 129<br />
39. Lulu B. Heron, "Cathlamet in the Early Days," in <i>Wahkiakum County Eagle Newspaper</i>, Special Edition, May 3, 1973<br />
40. John Minto to Eva Emery Dye, October 31, 1903, Mss. 1089, Box 1, Oregon Historical Society Archives<br />
41. Irene Martin, <i>Beach of Heaven</i>, p. 26<br />
42. Heron, "Cathlamet in the Early Days"<br />
43. James Robert Anderson, "Notes and Comments on Early Days and Events in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, Memoirs of James R. Anderson, p. 218," Mss 1912, Box 9, BCA. James Anderson was James Birnie's grandson, son of Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
44. James Anderson to A.C. Anderson, December 24, 1846, A/B/40/An32, BCA<br />
45. P.S. Ogden to Governor Simpson, March 30, 1835, D.4/127, fo [gotta find it, sorry], HBCA<br />
46. J. Douglas to Governor Simpson, April 4, 1845, D.5/14, fo. 391, HBCA<br />
47. James Birnie to McLoughlin, March 7, 1835, B.223/c/1, fo. 231, HBCA<br />
48. Lois Halliday, <i>Fur Trade Letters of Francis Ermatinger, written to his brother Edward during his service with the Hudson's Bay Co., 1818-1853</i> (Glendale, CA: A.H.Clark, 1980) p. 256<br />
49. Ibid, p. 256<br />
50. Ibid, p. 255-56<br />
51. G. Williams, "The Character Book of Governor George Simpson," in <i>Hudson's Bay Miscellany, 1670-1870</i> (Winnipeg: Hudson's Bay Record Society, 1975) p. 202<br />
52. "Personal Adventures of Robert Birnie, born at Astoria, Oregon, 1824, Feb. 7," Mss C-E65:33, Bancroft Library<br />
53. Frederick Merk, <i>Fur Trade and Empire -- George Simpson's Journal, </i>p. 131<br />
53. Julie Butler Hansen, "James Birnie refused lots in Portland to begin Cathlamet Settlement in 1846," <i>Longview Daily News [newspaper]</i>, Centennial Edition, August 19, 1946<br />
54. Heron, "Cathlamet in Early Days"<br />
55. John Minto to Eva Emery Dye, October 31, 1903, Mss 1089, Box 1/15, OHSA<br />
56. Thomas Nelson Strong, <i>Cathlamet on the Columbia</i> (Portland: Metropolitan Press, 1930) p. 99<br />
57. Ibid, p. 99-100<br />
58. Thomas Lowe to Messrs. Allan & McKinlay, July 30, 1852, Thomas Lowe, Letters outward May 14, 1852 to December 10, 1859, E/B/L95A, BCA<br />
59. Thomas Lowe to David Lowe, April 9, 1853, Thomas Lowe, Letters outward<br />
60. Thomas Lowe to A.C. Anderson, August 3, 1853, Thomas Lowe, Letters outward<br />
61. Franz Stenzel, <i>James Madison Alden: Yankee Artist of the Pacific Coast, 1854-1860</i> (Fort Worth: Amon Carter Museum, 1975) p. 24<br />
62. Ruby El Hult, <i>Lost Mines and Treasures of the Pacific Northwest </i>(Portland: Binsford and Mort, 1957)<br />
63. Thomas Lowe to A.C. Anderson, December 10, 1859, Thomas Lowe, Letters Outward<br />
64. "Statement in support of Bill for the Relief of the Heirs at Law of James Allan Scarborough and Ann Elizabeth Scarborough," in David K. Hansen's collection of James Birnie material.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-81527129861631698622012-08-26T07:34:00.000-07:002012-08-26T07:34:57.437-07:00The mysterious Fallardeau who died at Kamloops, 1855In the unpublished memoirs of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's oldest son, James Robert Anderson, the boy tells a story that talks of one of the men who worked, first at Fort Alexandria, and later at Kamloops.<br />
Here's James' story: There are a number of other fur traders mentioned in the story but it is the French Canadian employee, who appears at the end of the story, that we are interested in.<br />
<br />
In 1848, "my father had been transferred to the charge of Fort Colvile and we all moved to Kamloops where we, mother and family, spent the summer whilst my father was absent on his journey to Fort Langley...<br />
"We were quite a large party on leaving Alexandria, as besides ourselves, Mr. Manson, his wife and family were in the party....<br />
"I have a good cause to remember Lac la Hache for it was in that vicinity the following incident took place.<br />
"I was riding my spirited little horse Petit Cendre ...; we were on a level plain, my sister by my side, when an eagle's nest distracted my attention, and carelessly dropping the reins, my horse in stooping to take a bite of grass stepped on them and throwing up his head snapped them.<br />
"In an instant with one bound he cleared the space in front where the elders were riding and set off at a mad race across the plain.<br />
"My horse was by odds the swiftest in the whole brigade so that when I looked behind the last of them were seen far behind, my father alone was scouring across the plain in a vain effort to head me off.<br />
"A hill on my left, I fervently hoped was in my line of travel, but no, the road took through a dense wood and I realized that my danger was imminent....<br />
"Two Indian women whom I met scurried away in terror instead of making any attempt to stop my horse, evidently believing I was from another world.<br />
"Shortly after entering the wood the trail was blocked by a fallen tree, which had jammed about six or seven feet from the ground, and the road had therefore deviated and been made round the stump.<br />
"My horse never hesitated but rushed madly up to the obstacle; holding to the pommel of my saddle I threw myself to one side and instantly had safely passed the obstruction...<br />
Before I realized the cause of a wild yell, found myself in the middle of a cavalcade of Indians who instantly captured my horse.<br />
"As luck would have it, amongst the Indians was a French Canadian, Fallardeau by name -- how he came to be here I do not to this day know, but it was through him I was enabled to make known my plight.<br />
"A few minutes after my father came racing through the woods having made a detour, and after a time everybody else, the women folk in tears.<br />
"Provided with a hair rope bridle I continued the journey on my now winded horse...."<br />
<br />
This "Fallardeau" is the man we are interested in in this posting.<br />
As James knew him, I must presume he is the Fallardeau who worked at Fort Alexandria under Alexander Caulfield Anderson.<br />
Bruce Watson lists three Fallardeaus in his book, Lives Lived..<br />
Louis Fallardeau was a French Canadian who spent most of his time in the northwest coast posts, and at Fort Victoria, but by 1860 was in New Caledonia -- it cannot be him.<br />
Michel Fallardeau supposedly died in 1855, but he was in New Caledonia and was the man that Bruce Watson says was at Fort Alexandria.<br />
Narcisse Fallardeau was a French Canadian who spent most of his time at Fort Langley as James Murray Yale's cook or servant -- clearly it was not this man.<br />
There are no more Fallardeau men listed in his book -- but that doesn't mean there were no more.<br />
<br />
Here's what Bruce Watson says about Michel Fallardeau:<br />
Birth: 1806, Mixed descent<br />
Death: 1855<br />
Michel Fallardeau joined the service of the HBC in 1827 and came west with the returning York Factory Express in the fall.<br />
For the next twenty-four years, he worked at mainland interior posts as a middleman and likely spent most of his time at Thompson River.<br />
He appeared to have transactions with the Company until about 1854.<br />
The records are not clear but, around 1855, Michel Fallardeau may have been beaten so severely by Paul Fraser that he died two days later.<br />
Morice reports an apparent exchange between the builder of Fallardeau's coffin and Paul Fraser two days after the event, when Fraser indicated that rough boards would be too good for the rascal Fallardeau.<br />
The coffin builder, Baptiste, the Iroquois, replied that rough boards would be too good for Fraser.<br />
A short time later, as the story goes, Paul Fraser was killed by a falling tree.<br />
This does not square with the records, for Michel Fallardeau goes off the records around 1851 but continues on the Sundries accounts which could mean that he may or may not have died.<br />
However, there is no mention of his death.<br />
Morice obviously got this information through oral tradition and the facts of the actual occurrence have yet to be sorted out.<br />
Michel Fallardeau had one wife and one recorded child.<br />
Most likely when he was in the Thompson river area he married Jenny Lucy Shuswap.<br />
On June 30, when Jenny was at Fort Langley, daughter Angelique was baptized.<br />
Another son may have been Louis."<br />
<br />
So, with the new information I have just acquired I am interested to find that Michel Fallardeau was dropped from the records in 1851.<br />
This tends to confirm that it was Michel Fallardeau who caught young James' horse, and that it was the same man that worked under Anderson at Fort Alexandria.<br />
It is likely there is no other Fallardeau in New Caledonia.<br />
<br />
I have heard this story many times over, and when in my book I wrote about an argument between Paul Fraser and Alexander Caulfield Anderson in 1850, I wondered if Anderson had heard about the beating death of Michel Fallardeau:<br />
From The Pathfinder:<br />
"Fort Langley buzzed with the news of the gold rush in California. To deter desertions, the gentlemen allowed a shorter break than was usual, and the work of the return journey soon began. There was no disagreement between Anderson and Manson this year, but Douglas reported to Governor Simpson that Anderson and Paul Fraser had argued:<br />
"Fraser as usual promises great things, more I fear than can be reasonably expected from him. He had an unfortunate tongue, which is a never failing source of trouble to himself and all around him. Anderson was very bitter with him at Langley about some reports to his prejudice and was disposed to go to great lengths with him but I advised him to drop the matter and patched up a reconciliation on Fraser's solemn promise of amendment for the future -- which I fear was forgotten as soon as the parties separated.""<br />
<br />
I now know that it was not Fallardeau's death that sparked the argument.<br />
From records I collected after I wrote The Pathfinder, I can guess what the argument was about -- but I still did not know when Fallardeau died.<br />
Now I do....<br />
<br />
This line, taken from the Fort St. James post journals in HBCA, will help to clear up the mystery:<br />
On Friday, March 7th 1851 ... "Fallardeau, one of the Cos Servants, died at Alexr this latter end of last month otherwise all well there."<br />
This is a primary source, and Morice's quotation a secondary.<br />
It would be interesting to know who Paul Fraser thought rough boards were good enough for, but it appears to be another man than Michel Fallardeau.<br />
His son, perhaps?<br />
Michel Fallardeau would have been in his forties when he died -- old enough to have had a son in the fur trade.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-55559153243874063522012-08-25T07:17:00.000-07:002012-09-06T18:19:29.575-07:00Montrose McGillivrayI have a little news for the McGillivray descendants I have talked to in the past -- I have discovered the records of Montrose McGillivray death in the Fort St. James post journals.<br />
Monrose McGillivray was one of the men who accompanied Alexander Caulfield Anderson on his second exploration down and up the Fraser River, in 1847.<br />
<br />
First, here is his story from Bruce Watson's Lives Lived West of the Divide:<br />
McGillivray, Montrose, 1822-1850, Mixed Descent<br />
Birth: British North America, 1822. Born to Simon McGillivray and a Native woman<br />
(I can add that he was grandson of William McGillivray of the North West Company)<br />
Death: probably Fort St. James, January 22, 1850<br />
Montrose McGillivray was baptised late at the age of thirteen at Red River on April 19, 1835, and, after being hired by the HBC in 1838 as a native apprentice, was attached to the Columbia District. His family status held him in good stead for, in 1841 at Fort Vancouver, he travelled with Sir George Simpson's round the world expedition for a short time. He worked at the HBC California post until he was dismissed by William Glen Rae in California for excessive drinking. McGillivray, who by this time had spent his father's legacy, felt this unfair as Rae was an even heavier drinker. The twenty-two year old then ran up a large debt and left the Company to go to Red River in 1846, but rejoined in 1847. That year he was a member of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's party searching for a north-of-49 parallel route from New Caledonia to the coast. In January 1849 in the New Caledonia area (near Quesnel, BC) McGillivray headed a punitive group of fifteen men on a search for Tlhelh, who, to avenge the death of Tlhelh's wife, had shot a "white man," Alexis Bellanger, who may or may not have had anything to do with her death. When McGillivrary arrived at Tlhelh's Quesnel village, Donald McLean shot dead Tlhelh's uncle, Nadetnoerh, as well as Nadetnoerh's son-in-law and the son-in-law's child. The mother, possibly a daughter of Simon Plomondon, was injured in the should. Both McGillivray and McLeod were exonerated for this unnecessary carnage of three innocent people. Later Tlhelh was killed by another uncle, Neztel, who no doubt trying to stop the carnage and restore peace, very much regretted doing it.<br />
Montrose McGillivray died January 22, 1850 of an inflammation of the lungs, likely tuberculosis. Members of a McGillivray family have not been traced.<br />
<br />
Firstly, I am fascinated on reading this to find that Montrose McGillivray was a part of that slaughter of three innocent persons in New Caledonia -- I always heard the story was attributed to Donald McLean, with no mention of other persons present. So, Montrose's part in the story is news to me. Just so you know I have checked it out, and this happened after Alexander Caulfield Anderson left Fort Alexandria -- it was not he who forgave these men for their behaviour.<br />
<br />
Secondly, in Fort Vancouver letters I have found the letter that Montrose McGillivray carried north to Fort Alexandria, to AC Anderson. It reads, in part:<br />
"Vancouver, January 12th 1847 to A.C.Anderson,<br />
"Dear sir; We have to acknowledge the receipt of your different communications from Langley and Alexandria with your report and Sketch of the different routes you examined, and we have now to convey to you our approbation of the zeal manifested by you in the performance of your arduous duty and the success that attended it.<br />
"Recent information received by chief Factor Douglas a short time since induces us to hope that a route can be opened from Langley to Thompson's River even more favourable than the one you returned by. A great objection to it appears solely to arise from the depth of snow that the Brigade might be liable to meet with and while there is a prospect of another route being found preferable we feel most anxious to ascertain if it be so ere we decide on commencing operations.<br />
"We consider it highly expedient that it should be explored and we see none more fit or suitable for the Expedition than yourself and we have therefore to request you will take the necessary measures to carry the same into effect. The enclose instructions and Sketch will [fully] explain to you the route and every particular connected with it......<br />
"Montrose McGillivray and Michael Ogden are appointed to accompany you and as they do not form any part of the interior Brigade their loss will not be felt.... Peter Skene Ogden and James Douglas."<br />
<br />
Now, from the Fort St. James post journals, 1846-1851, in HBCA:<br />
"Monday, 20th January 1850.... in the evening an Indian arrived from Fraser's Lake and gave me information of the melancholy intelligence of the death of Mr. Montrose McGillivray. This [poor] young man has been considered dangerously ill some time ago and Mr. McKenzie was sent to remain with him. He then recovered much and was considered by Mr. McK as [per not in danger]."<br />
The words is square brackets were hard to read and may not be correct.<br />
"Wednesday, February 20... Mr. McKenzie returned to Fraser's Lake accompanied by James Boucher, who has been sent to bring hither the widow & family of the late Mr. McGillivray....<br />
"Thursday, May 18th ... in the morning the property of the late Mr. Montrose McGillivray was disposed of by auction & sold very high indeed, several of the articles notwithstanding their having been much worn, fetched three times the original price."<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6941011325637463558.post-2311102889165719532012-08-19T17:51:00.001-07:002012-08-19T17:51:40.451-07:00Fort Nez Perces (Walla Walla)Fort Nez Perces was a fur trade post that differed from every other post in the HBC's domain.<br />
It was constructed in 1818, by the North West Company's wintering partner, Donald McKenzie, cousin of Sir Alexander Mackenzie (not the different spellings of the names).<br />
Donald McKenzie was a member of the famous McKenzie clan of Inverness, Scotland, and he emigrated to Montreal about 1800.<br />
He had been given a liberal education (that means, one centered on culture and the arts) and was supposedly to go into a ministry, but in 1810 he joined the fur trade, working as a clerk for the North West Company.<br />
Ten years later he was still a clerk, and very discontented with the Company.<br />
In 1810, John Jacob Astor organized the Pacific Fur Company, and Donald McKenzie immediately joined that company.<br />
Astor's goal was to make a fortune in furs in the west, and towards that end he proposed to build a strong trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River, to take advantage of the North west coast fur trade and that of the Columbia Basin, and the valuable China market.<br />
If you want to know how valuable the China market was to both the Americans and the British traders of the North West Company, you need to read the book: <i>Otter Skins, Boston Ships and China Goods: the Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785-1841</i>, by James R. Gibson [McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992].<br />
But I am getting off subject here...<br />
<br />
The Pacific Fur Company proceeded to the Pacific coast by two routes: one by ship, the other by land.<br />
Donald McKenzie shared the command of the overland party with Wilson Price Hunt, until they reached the Lower Missouri -- after that, by arrangement with Astor, Hunt assumed sole command of the expedition.<br />
By October 1811 they had reached Andrew Henry's abandoned post on the Snake River, and leaving their horses there they continued down the Snake in canoes.<br />
Disaster overtook them, and they broke up into several parties, each making its own way toward the Columbia River.<br />
Donald McKenzie with five men reached Astoria "a full month in advance of Mr. Hunt, having succeeded in forcing his way through the rough mountains along the east bank of the Snake river and across the Salmon river to the Clearwater and thence to the sea in canoes." [T.C. Elliott, The Earliest Travelers on the Oregon Trail, Portland, 1912, p. 8]<br />
In 1812 McKenzie established a trading post among the Nez Perces -- this was not Fort Nez Perces but another, the location of which cannot be positively identified unless more recent researchers have figured out where it was.<br />
Later that year McKenzie learned of the war between the British and Americans, and hastened downriver to Astoria with the news.<br />
It was decided to abandon the entire enterprise, and on October 16, 1813, Astoria was sold to the Nor'Westers and renamed Fort George.<br />
Hunt returned to New York by sea, and Donald McKenzie and others travelled with the North West Company's brigade to Montreal, where they arrived in September, 1814.<br />
He returned to New York with Astor's papers, but the American refused to rehire him.<br />
<br />
From 1813 to 1816 the Snake river remained untrapped, except by Natives and perhaps freemen who worked the area.<br />
But in October1816, Donald McKenzie was back at Fort George in the employ of his old employers, the North West Company.<br />
They needed a man like him to set up a post in the interior and to traps the wealth of furs in the Snake River district.<br />
His plans called for his setting up a post among the Walla Wallas, and James Keith, who was in charge at Fort George, reluctantly gave him 40 men.<br />
He left Fort George in the fall but once past the Cascades found the Columbia River blocked with ice, and spent the winter with the Natives there.<br />
In the spring he set out again; and on his return to Fort George that fall the fur traders were delighted by the wealth of furs he brought downriver with him.<br />
<br />
It appears he made another expedition into the interior the next summer, but he had not yet built Fort Nez Perces.<br />
He would not construct his post until the summer of 1818, when orders came from Fort William to get the new inland post constructed.<br />
Without further delay, McKenzie was sent upriver with one hundred men and instructions to build a new post at the mouth of the Walla Walla River.<br />
By July 11, he and his men were camped about half a mile north of the river mouth.<br />
As there was no timber anywhere around, some men went upriver one hundred miles or more to cut timber and float it downstream, where other fur traders fished it out of the Columbia.<br />
The fort was built; friendships were built with the local Natives and a brisk trade set up -- McKenzie purchased almost three hundred horses in the first few days of trade.<br />
Fifty five men then set out on the first expedition inland, where they camped and trapped as far south as the Boise River.<br />
Many of David Thompson's men were also there -- it is likely that free-trader Joseph Beaulieu was there with his family; Jaco Finlay, James Birnie, and William Kittson was there too.<br />
So were many other unnamed fur traders.<br />
<br />
They enjoyed many hair-raising adventures out there in the wilderness and a few men died and were scalped.<br />
But in the end the trapping expeditions were very successful, and Donald McKenzie and his men brought many rich furs back to their base camp at Fort Nez Perces.<br />
<br />
Like the other posts in the district, Fort Nez Perces passed into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821.<br />
Donald McKenzie was made Chief Factor in the Columbia district; the next year he was on the Bow River and after that at Fort Garry.<br />
He retired in 1835, and the fort he built still stood on the Columbia River.<br />
The men placed in charge of the post over the years were many and varied: John Warren Dease, Samuel Black, George Barnston, Pierre Pambrun, and Archibald McKinlay.<br />
<br />
Pierre Pambrun was in charge of the post when the missionaries established their missionary at Waiilatpu; in 1841 he was thrown from his horse and severely injured.<br />
After lingering for a few days in the care of Dr. Marcus Whitman, Pambrun died a painful death.<br />
[His horse ended up at Fort Alexandria, by the way].<br />
Archibald McKinlay replaced Pambrun, and he said that he warned Whitman to leave his mission on many occasions, but Whitman would not leave.<br />
On one occasion a Cayuse chief insulted Whitman by throwing his cap into the water, and McKinley told the Cayuse they "acted like dogs."<br />
Shortly after that insult, a fire swept through Fort Nez Perces, destroying much of it.<br />
It was determined to be an accident -- fire was always a hazard in these fur trade posts.<br />
When McKinlay rebuilt the post, he built it with adobe, rather than wood.<br />
<br />
I have several Fort Nez Perces stories to tell, and I think I will tell you the story I collected about George Barnston.<br />
You might not know that when Alexander Caulfield Anderson left Lachine in 1832, he travelled in the brigade with George Barnston, who had just re-entered the fur trade after a short retirement.<br />
He was still a young man.... I think he was just not impressed with the fur trade.<br />
I have told you he was in charge of the post in 1830-31 -- one year before Anderson passed through that post for the first time, on his incoming express journey.<br />
Here's the story:<br />
Barnston had bought a fine horse from one of the Natives who lived near the fort; the horse was shortly afterwards stolen.<br />
The following year the same Native man returned to the fort and tried to resell him the same horse!<br />
Barnston immediately recognized both horse and man -- he seized his gun and shot the horse dead!<br />
The Native (who had given up his gun at the gate) sprang on Barnston, who fought back.<br />
A bigger and heavier man, Barnston easily outfought the Native and pummelled him out of the fort.<br />
The fight continued all the way to the Indian camp some distance from Fort Nez Perces, where Barnston was set upon by a dozen Natives.<br />
One Native came up with a large stone and smashed Barnston's face, knocking him unconscious.<br />
At that moment the men from the fort rushed to Barnston's rescue and drove the Natives away.<br />
They carried him to the fort, unconscious.<br />
He recovered, but retired from the fur trade and returned to Montreal.<br />
He rejoined the following year and travelled inland with Anderson as far as Albany (on Lake Superior); for some years he was in charge of Norway House and so Anderson might have rekindled their friendship there as he passed through in 1842.<br />
He must have told Anderson many of his stories, and the two remained correspondents for years afterward; Anderson's daughter, Rose, collected botanical samples for Barnston many years later.<br />
This is what Alexander Anderson had to say about his friend Barnston, many years later:<br />
"George Barnston: This gentleman who was in 1827 attached to the party under Mr. McMillan, who in 1827 founded Fort Langley, entered the service of the NW Co. at an early age.<br />
"Up to the Spring of 1831, he was in charge of Fort Nez Perces on the Columbia (Walla Walla) and retiring from the service in 1831 proceeded to Lachine, Montreal, in company with Chf. Factor Connolly.<br />
"He re-entered the service in the following spring; we ascended the Ottawa River, and navigated the Great Lakes together in the spring of 1832 as far as Michipicoton on Lake Superior, where he diverged having been appointed to the Southern department.<br />
"He afterwards was in charge for some years of Norway House, and subsequently of Tadousac below Quebec.<br />
"He is now settled in Montreal and when I last heard from him, a year or two ago, had recently been elected president of the Natural History society of Montreal.<br />
"He was a native of Edinburgh -- a man of great energy of character, of high education, and universally esteemed."<br />
For those of you who might be researching George Barnston, there is a letter of his in Alexander Caulfield Anderson's fonds in BCA.<br />
So that's one of my Fort Nez Perces stories: for now let us continue our express journey upriver toward Fort Colvile.<br />
<br />
<b>York Factory Express Journal (1827) by Edward Ermatinger</b>:<br />
[March] 29th. Heavy shower of rain in the evening. Day fine. Start at 5am. Pole all day. Encamp 8 or 9 miles up what is now termed the Marle Banks at the head of an island.<br />
30th. Rain nearly all day. Embark at 1/2 past 4am. Encamp at 6pm about 2 miles above the Marle Banks 2 geese and 1 rabbit killed to day by the walking party.<br />
31st. Fine weather. Proceed at 1/2 past 4am. at 11 o'clock Mr. A[rchibald] McDonald meets us with letters from N. Caledonia informing that their people go out by the new route. He returns with us. Proceed 1/2 way up the Priest's Rapid and encamp at 1/4 past 6pm.<br />
April Sunday 1st. Fine weather. The Boat continues her progress up the Rapids (which are very bad this year, the water being remarkably low) at 1/2 past 5am. Clear the Rapids by 11 o'clock. Proceed up the River and encamp at 1/2 past 6pm. about 12 or 15 miles above. Hire an Indian canoe to carry some of the passengers.<br />
2nd. Light rain in course of the day. Start 1/4 past 5am. Proceed as usual and encamp above Rapids a Potein [Paquin rapid] at 1/2 past 6 o'clock.<br />
3rd. Fine weather. Start at 1/2 past 5am. Clear Isle des Portage [Rock Island] and take breakfast by 11 o'clock. (Hauled our boat up without discharging; gummed). Encamp 5 miles above the Piscouhoose River [Wenatchee River] at 1/2 past 6pm. Trade a little meat and a few roots (or canoe proceeds no farther).<br />
4th. Fine weather. Embark at 1/4 past 4 o'clock. encamp a league above Clear Water Creek [probably Chelan River] at 8pm. The gentlemen afoot found a good deal of snow on the hills today.<br />
5th. Fine weather. Resume our journey at 5 o'clock. Arrive at Okanagan at 5pm.<br />
Friday 6th. Send off the Boat Manned by 12 men (4 being additional to return with the Doctor [McLoughlin], etc.) and Mr. [David] Douglas, Passenger, in order that they may pass the Dalles while the gentlemen remain behind to settle the accts. of this place.<br />
7th. Fine weather. At 10 o'clock McLoughlin, McLeod, and E. Ermatinger leave Okanagan on horseback in order to join the Boat at the Grosse Roche whither they arrive at 3pm. having met with a great deal of snow the first half of the distance on the hills. The Boat only arrives at 7pm. Encamp.<br />
8th. Fine weather. Embark at 5am. Reach nearly the upper end of the Grand Coulee and encamp at 7pm.<br />
9th. Slight rain afternoon. Start at 5am. and encamp at 1/2 past 7pm. Perrault falls sick and is unable to work.<br />
10th. Rain afternoon. Embark 1/2 past 4 o'clock. Pass the Spokane river at noon. Encamp from 12 to 15 miles above at 7pm.<br />
Wednesday 11th. Fine weather. Start at 1/2 past 2 o'clock am. Pole and paddle all day. Encamp 4 miles below the Grand Rapid at 7pm. 4 pheasants killed to day.<br />
12th. Fine weather. Proceed at 1/2 past 4am. Make 2 portages on the Grande Rapide which is extremely bad on account of the shoalness of the River. Arrive at the Kettle Falls at noon. Leave our Boat below the Portage for the Doctor's return. Get all our baggage up to Fort Colvile by 4pm. Mr. Dease only arrived yesterday from Flat Heads.<br />
Sunday 15th. Laprade arrives from Okanagan in the afternoon with Mr. McDonald's dispatches, this being his third on horseback.<br />
<br />
<b>Express Journal, Spring 1828 [Edward Ermatinger]</b><br />
Saturday 29th. Fine weather. Embark at 1/2 past 4am. and proceed the fore part of the day sailing with a light breeze. Afternoon the wind becomes ahead blowing fresh. Encamp at 1/2 past 7pm. a short distance above the Marle Banks. See a few Indians along the River in a miserable starving condition. One of our boats last night half filled, having been hauled up upon a stone which, the boat being very old, opened her seams. Some of our stores got wet.<br />
31st. Fine weather, but sharp morning and evening. Start at 4am. Wind strong ahead. Arrive at the Priest's Rapids about noon and reach the head of them only at 8 o'clock pm. Encamp.<br />
April 1st. Weather as yesterday. Start at 4am. Proceed all day against a head wind and encamp at 7 o'clock opposite the lower end of what is called the Grand Coulee.<br />
2nd, Wednesday. Fine weather. Embark at 1/2 past 4am. Breakfast below Isle des Pierres. Haul up these Rapids, then hoist sail with a light breeze which continues to assist us occasionally the rest of the day -- pole and haul up many rapids. encamp at 1/2 past 6pm. above the River Episcouhouse. find ice and snow in many places along the banks of the Columbia. country begins to assume a more fertile appearance than since we have left the Chutes. Scattered trees now seen upon the mountains and much snow.<br />
3rd. Fine weather. Started at 1/2 past 4am. Head wind. Encamped 2 or 3 miles above Clear Water Creek.<br />
4th. Fine weather. Started at 4am. Snow and ice very thick along the banks of the River. Met an Indian with a note and horse from Mr. A[rchibald] McDonald, Okinagan. Set off to the fort. Boats arrive at 5pm., find Messrs. [Joseph] McGillivray, McDonald and Ermatinger here.<br />
5th. Fine weather. Remain at this place all day collecting the accts. of the District and settling other matters relative to men.<br />
6th. Fine weather. Start with the Boats about noon. Our number of men are now increased to 20 -- 2 from New Caledonia and 1 from this place. Passengers J. McGillivrary, Esq., Messrs. A. McDonald and E.E. Left at Okanagan for the voyage down of Mr. Connolly and Mr. [Thomas] Dears voyage to N. Caledonia: 1 bag flour; 1 keg sugar; 3/4 keg pork; 2 hams; 2lb. Hyson and 2 Twankey; 2 gallons butter. Encamp at 7pm.<br />
Monday, 7th. Fine weather. Start at 1/2 past 4am. Passed the Gros Rocher at 1pm. Here Messrs. McGillivray and McDonald embark, having ridden across from Okanagan. Encamp at 7pm.<br />
8th. Fine weather. Embark at 5am. Patches snow on the hills. Encamp at 1/2 past 7pm a few (2 or 3) miles above Riviere a cens Poiles (San Poil River).<br />
9th. Day very warm. Started at 4am. Pass the Spokane Forks at 3pm. Encamp a few miles above at 1/2 past 6.<br />
10th. Fair weather. Embark at 4am. Afternoon a light breeze favours us. Encamp about 3 miles above the Grand Rapid.<br />
11th. Fine weather. Start at 4am. Make a Portage at the Grand Rapids. Arrive at Kettle Falls at 11 o'clock. Find Messrs [John] Work and [William] Kittson at Fort Colvile. Mr. [John Warren] Dease not yet arrived.<br />
<br />
<b>James Douglas, Diary of a journey from Fort Vancouver in 1835</b>:<br />
Wed. 11 March. The boats left Fort Nez Perces at 11 o'clock, and I departed soon afterwards with a small party of 3 men on horseback to proceed direct across land to Colvile. During the first 9 miles we followed the banks of the Columbia to the entrance of Lewis and Clarke's River which we crossed by means of a wooden canoe borrowed from a native resident there. Our route during the remainder of the day never diverged from the North bank of that river. We encamped at 6 o'clock in the evening. Two of our horses having become fatigued we left them at an Indian camp and procured 2 better ones in their stead.<br />
Thurs. 12. Nothing unusual occurred during the day. Our road continues to follow the North bank of the river. Passed several camps of Indians.<br />
Fri. 13. Left Lewis & Clarkes River and proceeded direct across the country. Passed Flag river and halted, the horses at a small river 2 hours march from the former and encamped at a small lake.<br />
Saturday 14. Favoured by a bright moonlight we continued our march at half past 3 o'clock and after five hours walk halted at a small lake to feed and refresh the horses. They are very poor and require to be managed with the utmost care in order that their strength may hold out to the journey's end. The country through which we are passing is not possessed of many attractions either in point of beauty or utility. Three varieties of soils have come under my observation which I will attempt to describe. The first and best quality is found in the vicinity of water and is evidently composed of decomposed vegetable matter, as in these situations the abundant moisture is highly conducive to vegetable life. This soil is of a glossy black colour and is thickly covered with grasses. I did not examine the subsoil but if it equals the surface in quality it will answer exceedingly well for agricultural purposes. The next in quality is a vegetable mould alloyed with a large mixture of sand of a reddish colour, and a subsoil of pure unmixed sand. It produces a kind of grass with a slender stalk bounded with pointed extremity, a number of stalks rising from a connected bunch of roots with spans between each, leaving nearly 2/3 of the whole surface quite unproductive and perfectly bare of vegetation. The grass is very succulent and nourishing and of so elastic a quality as to resist the weight and pressure of snow and moisture, and stands erect on its stalk throughout the winter which preserves it from speedy decay, and renders it as it were a kind of natural hay. This variety [is] susceptible of improvement and will I doubt not improve of itself by the annual decomposition of its own productions. the third kind is merely sand which produces the largest specie of the wormwood, with very little of anything else. Encamped in the Spokan woods. Between Nez Perces and these woods have not seen a single tree.<br />
Sun. 15. Encamped at Spokane House.<br />
Mon. 16. Little Falls.<br />
Wed. 17. L. Fool's River.<br />
Wedy. March 18. Adsieve (?)<br />
Thurs. 19. Colvile.<br />
Wednesday 25. Received letters from Fort Vancouver dated 14th March, and Nez Perces 21st March; 7 days to Nez Perces, 4 1/2 days to this. Total 11 1/2 days including stoppages.<br />
Friday 27. Boats arrived from Okanagan this evening.<br />
<br />
<b>Thomas Lowe, Journal of a Trip from Vancouver to York Factory, Spring 1847</b>:<br />
[April] Friday 2nd. Fine warm day. The two Boats started this afternoon for Colvile, in charge of Mr. [John Lee] Lewes. Mr. Burke also passenger. Martineau left at this place sick and I have taken .... to accompany me overland. The Fort fired a salute this morning, and another when the Boats started.<br />
Saturday 3rd. Fine day. Started from Walla Walla at 3pm. to proceed overland to Colvile. We have 9 horses, including two light ones, and I have with me Mungo Marouna as guide, Alexis .[?]. and an Indian, besides J. Jentz.[?]. from the Fort, to take back the horses when we come to the snow. The Fort fired a salute when we started. Encamped at the Toosha River, having come about 25 miles.<br />
Sunday 4th. Fine warm weather. Got as far as Pelluse [or Kelluse?] River, when it falls into the Nez Perces and encamped on the opposite side, having swam our horses, and crossed ourselves & property in a canoe. Found a large camp of Indians at this place, who have small patch of land under cultivation. Days march about 40 miles.<br />
Monday 5th. Push on until 9 o'clock at night, and encamped near the lower end of the Big Lake, as there was no intermediate encampment. Made today about 60 miles. Fine in the fore part of the day, but snowing in the afternoon and all night. [One] of the horses gave out, and had to be left.<br />
Tuesday 6th. Shortly after starting this morning, met with a party from Colvile, consisting of David Finlay and two Indians, on their way to Walla Walla for a Band of horses, as the Horses at Colvile have nearly all died this winter. Camped early, as there was a good deal of snow in the road, and no other encampment for a long distance. Made only about 15 miles.<br />
Wednesday 7th. Fine day. Much snow on the road, and could only proceed with the [horses] about 15 miles, when we encamped and sent the horses back in charge of Wm. Mintzell. Got the snow shoes ready and the loads arranged. Slept about a couple of hours & walked the whole night. Engaged one of D[avid] Finlay's Indians to carry a load to Colvile. The snow was hard, and we walked fast.<br />
Thursday 8th. Walked the whole day, and arrived at the Spokan River after sundown, having come upwards of 50 miles since we left the horses. Cross the River in a canoe, and encamped on the opposite bank, where were several lodges of Indians. Fine day.<br />
Friday 9th. Started again this morning, and arrived in the forenoon at Messr. Walker & Eels, about 5 miles from the River. They supplied us with what provisions we required... Remained there until the moon got up, and walked the whole night.<br />
Saturday 10th. Went on until 10am. when we encamped having come 20 miles since leaving the Mission. Started again at dark, but as it rained much, and the snow was too soft, we had to encamp about midnight.<br />
Sunday 11th. Started early this morning, and got to the Colvile Mill Stream in the afternoon. Hired a canoe from an Indian, and went down in the canoe as far as [Alexander?] Dumond's, about 5 miles, at whose house we slept for the night, having come 20 miles today.<br />
Monday 12th. Started this morning on foot, but without snow shoes, as the road is pretty clear between Dumond's and the fort. In the afternoon I had to leave Mungo and the two Indians behind, as they could proceed no farther & pushed on ahead with .... Galin, who carried the Packet Box. The road between the Farm and the Fort was very bad, and we did not reach the Fort until 10 o'clock at night. From Dumond's the distance is about 30 miles.<br />
Colvile, Tuesday 13th. Fine weather. In the afternoon Mungo and the two Indians arrived with our luggage.<br />
Wednesday 14th. Cloudy. The forenoon the Accounts arrived from the Kootanies.<br />
Thursday 15th. Showery. The after Express arrived this evening from Vancouver. The English ship arrived at Victoria on the 21st March.<br />
Friday 16th. Fine warm weather. This evening Marineau & the retiring servants arrived with the Accounts from New Caledonia. Michel Ogden likewise arrived with the Thompsons River accounts.<br />
Saturday 17th. Cloudy but no rain. this morning before breakfast the two Boats arrived, in charge of Mr. Lewes. The pieces were carted across in the forenoon, and the boats were likewise hauled across the Portage.<br />
Sunday 18th. Cloudy, with occasional showers of rain.<br />
Monday 19th. Fine weather. Had the boats gummed.<br />
Tuesday 20th. Very warm. The snow has now all disappeared from the [ground] although it was covered when I arrived here on the 12th inst.<br />
Wednesday 21st. Cloudy, and some distant thunder. Marineau started to return to New Caledonia.<br />
<br />
<b>Thomas Lowe, Journal from Vancouver to York Factory with Express, Spring 1848</b>:<br />
April 1st, Saturday. Still blowing very strong but made a start in the afternoon, and encamped within sight of the Fort on the opposite side of the River. I have to take up 30 horses from this place to Colvile and as no men can be spared from the Fort, and no Indians can be procured, I have been obliged to give one man from each boat, who are to assist Mr. Peers and Robert Logan to drive them. The party with the horses are to encamp every night with the boats, for mutual protection against the Indians.<br />
<br />
A pause, to remind you that this was only four months after the massacre at Waiilatpu, and three months after the rescue of the hostages -- the whole territory was in a state of war!<br />
<br />
April 2, Sunday. Strong head wind, so that we could not start until noon. Got about 3 miles above the Nez Perces Forks.<br />
3rd, Monday. Fine weather, and the wind has fallen. Breakfasted at the mouth of the Yackima River, and encamped near the commencement of the Grande Ecores.<br />
4th, Tuesday. Fine weather, and calm. All the passenger got ashore today, and ride along in company with the boats. Made a good days work, considering that the River is at present remarkably low. Encamped about 10 miles below the Priest's Rapids.<br />
5th, Wednesday. Breakfasted about 5 miles below the Priest's Rapids. when we got to the foot of the Rapid, it began to blow strong ahead, and increased so much, that we only got about half way up, although it was dark before we encamped. [It sounds as if there were no Indians to help them this year].<br />
6th, Thursday. Blew very hard all night, and did not moderate until noon, so that we were unable to leave our encampment until this. During the forenoon employed drying some Bales for Colvile which got wet in Joe's boat. Encamped at the head of the Priest's Rapid.<br />
7th, Friday. Had a strong aft wind before breakfast, which carried us a good distance, but afterwards it changed, and came right ahead with a little rain. Got to the travers below the Rocher de Bois about noon and crossed the horses to the South side of the River. There I left the boats to proceed overland to Okanagan with the horses, in company with Mr. Peers and two men, having placed Mr. Robert Logan in charge of the Boats during my absence. The boats started immediately after we had crossed, but we only went about 5 miles, as there was no other places for the horses.<br />
8th, Saturday. Fine warm weather. Travelled over rough rocky ground during the fore part of the day, but in the afternoon had a much better road. Made a good distance, and encamped where the road falls into the Grand Coole.<br />
9th, Sunday. Very warm. The road led through the Grand Coole most of the day, but in the afternoon we struck out towards the River, after having followed the Coole until abreast of the Fort. Encamped a good distance above Okanagan, near the bank of the Columbia.<br />
10th, Monday. Beautiful day. Arrived at Okanagan before noon, but did not cross the horses. Mr. Peers and his two men are to remain here until the boats arrive. Having been about two hours at the Fort, and transacted what little business I had to settle with [Joachim] Lafleur, I started on horseback for Colvile accompanied by an Indian as Guide. As the South side of the River is too dangerous at present, party of Cayouse being scattered here and there along the road, I intend following the North bank. Took one horse to carry the Paper Box, bedding &c. Rode hard, and encamped where the path takes the River.<br />
11th, Tuesday. Beautiful warm weather. Our road today led through a very ... country where there was not a tree to be seen. As there is yet too much snow in the Mountains, we had to follow the river, not being able to take the direct road which strikes inland from our last nights encampment. Considering the nature of the country, we made a good days work, and encamped at the mouth of the Sans Poile River, where there were 3 lodges of Indians, who were very friendly.<br />
12th, Wednesday. Remarkably warm. In the forenoon crossed the Spokan Mountain, where there is yet a good quantity of snow, but not enough to retard us much. Having rode so hard from Okanagan, my horse got completely fagged in the afternoon, and we had to proceed very slowly afterwards in consequence. Encamped about 20 miles below Colvile at the crossing place.<br />
13th, Thursday. Clear warm weather. Crossed over to the South side of the Columbia this morning having procured a canoe from the Indians. Proceeded very slowly, on account of our horses. It was an excellent road through clear open woods, a delightful contrast to the bare and rocky country through which we pass before coming to the Spokan Mountains. Arrived at Colvile about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Here I found that C.T. [Paul] Fraser had arrived from New Caledonia with the accounts and retiring Servants, and Michel Ogden from Thompson's River. The Revd. Messrs. Walker & Eels with their families have likewise been here for the last 6 weeks, having been obliged to abandon their Mission at Tchimakain on account of the Indians who were threatening to murder them, as they had done Dr. Whitman & his people.<br />
14th, Friday. Beautiful day. I have not yet begun to work with the Accounts, not feeling in proper trim after so hard a ride.<br />
15th, Saturday. Splendid weather. In the forenoon the Revd Mr. Eels arrived from Tchimakain, with some property he had left behind there.<br />
16th, Sunday. Beautiful warm weather. The Revd. Mr. Walker read prayers this forenoon in the Hall.<br />
17th, Monday. Cloudy but no rain. Mr. Eels started after breakfast for Spokan, intending to return about Thursday. the river has been rising considerably for some days past.<br />
18th, Tuesday. Warm weather. Working hard at the Accts.<br />
19th, Wednesday. Cloudy and sultry. Mr. Peers arrived with the horses after breakfast. The boats got to Okanagan on the 12th and started the next day. He left Okanagan on the same day as the boats and came up on the North bank of the River. Having got amongst the snow in the Spokan mountains, he had to make towards the river where the road was clear and lost upwards of two days in consequence. He has brought 5 additional horses from Okanagan, but left one of those from Walla Walla on the road.<br />
20th, Thursday. Fine weather. This morning at breakfast time the two boats arrived, and we had them and the property brought across at once. In the afternoon Berland arrived from the Kootanies with his returns, his own Indians driving the horses.<br />
21st, Friday. Good Friday. Warm oppressive weather. Our men did nothing today, as I will not be able to start until Monday.<br />
22nd, Saturday. Overcast. Mr. Eels returned from Spokan today, and has received letters from below where everything is going on quietly. The large bands of Cayuse and Pelluse Indians who were within a couple of days ride of this place have dispersed. Gummed the boats.<br />
23rd, Sunday. Oppressively warm. the Rev. Messr. Eels & Walker had Divine Service in the fort, and Bishop Demers was in one of the houses outside with the Canadians. This is Easter Sunday.<br />
<br />
And the final journal is, of course, one of the most interesting ones, it belonging to John Charles --<br />
At the front of the journal [typscript] was a list of items that Charles had to bring back, from York Factory, for the various gentlemen in the Columbia district. Here it is:<br />
<b>Memo for York Factory</b>:<br />
Per Messrs. Barclay and Grahame -- 13 3/4 yds. worsted furniture fringe<br />
Per Mr. Kenneth Logan -- 2 sets Fiddle Strings<br />
Per A.C. Anderson, Esq. -- 2 Pepper Castors and 1 Vinegar Cruet<br />
Per Thomas Hett [Flett?] -- 6 buns. assorted seed Beads, 1 bun. aqua marina necklace, 4 pieces colored Ribbon on a/c<br />
Per Mr. Thomas Charles -- 6 bunches small seed Beads a/c Mr. Thomas Lowe<br />
Per James Goudie -- 1 set Fiddle Strings and 1 box percus[sion] Caps<br />
Memo per Jasper's House -- To speak to Mr. Colin Fraser about getting some Mocassins made for Mr. Thomas Lowe, payment to be brought up from York Factory.<br />
<br />
<b>John Charles, Journal of the Columbia Express Party, 1849</b>:<br />
March 30th, Friday. Everything being ready for our overland journey to Colvile, we started from Walla Walla at 1pm. with twelve horses, five of which were loaded, the remaining seven being mounted by Michel, Louis, Indian Guide, Mr. [Thomas] Lowe, Mr. Menetrez and myself. We reached the Touchee where we camped about 7pm., the distance from Walla Walla is computed at twenty miles. Fine weather.<br />
31st, Saturday. Had breakfast the first thing in the morning. The sun was near about setting when we reached the Nez Perces River. Camped on the beach, but soon regretted having done so, for the Wind having suddenly sprung up the sand was blown about in such clouds that we were obliged to hurry to bed for fear of being blinded by it.<br />
April 1st, Sunday. Crossed the Nez Perces river about 10am., Indians assisting us. Encamped at an early hour. Travelled about five and twenty miles to day. Had a passing shower of hail towards the evening.<br />
2nd, Monday. Had breakfast, and started, before sunrise. Gave the horses a rest at a small stream. Camped pretty early, in consequence of no firewood had we proceeded further to day.<br />
3rd, Tuesday. Travelled about 15 miles to day. The Horses being very poor and in a weakly condition we were under the necessity of camping early. Met with a great deal of snow on our route. Passed a good many small lakes and springs. Wild fowl, very numerous. Passed the night under a large red pine tree.<br />
<br />
Pause for a note here: Remember that the winter of 1848-1849 was very severe and great amounts of snow fell on the interior forts, causing havoc to the fur traders in general!<br />
<br />
4th, Wednesday. Left our encampment about two hours after sunrise, but were obliged to return to it almost immediately as the horses were utterly unable to proceed in the great depth of snow, which lay around us. Towards evening two Indians arrived from Walla Walla with the accounts of the Snake Country.<br />
5th, Thursday. Not being able to proceed to Colvile with horses, Mr. Lowe, Michel myself and the Indian started on foot about 10 pm. leaving Mr. Menetrez and Louis Aruihunta to take charge of the horses and property until the Indian with a few others were sent to relieve them. We travelled the whole night and a greater part of the following day. Encamped on a hill, in sight of Spokan river. Sent our Indian Guide to the Spokan lodges to procure snow shoes for us. About sunset, three Indians arrived at our fire with the much longed for snow shoes, they slept at our fire.<br />
6th, Friday. Blowing very hard all night. Left our encampment one hour before daylight for the Spokan lodges which we reached a little after sunrise and where Mr. Lowe procured three Indians, 2 to bring my property as also Michel from where we left the horses and 1 to remain with Tatae our Guide to take charge of the horses until the snow disappeared. Snowshoes were also taken by them, for the Rev. Mr. Menetrez and Louis. We crossed the Spokane River after breakfast, having previous engaged two Indians to accompany us, one to carry the Express and the other our provisions, shoes etc. Passed the night at Walker's and Eel's deserted Mission. Road tolerably good.<br />
7th, Saturday. Left the Mission about two hours before sunrise. Encamped at 1pm. the snow being much too soft for us to proceed much further to day. Travelled about 18 miles. Beautiful weather.<br />
8th, Sunday. Arrived at Dumond['s] in time for breakfast which we found uncommonly good. We continued our journey on foot having failed to procure horses from the Freemen. We arrived at Louis' Brown's [sic] (18 miles from the establishment at Fort Colvile) about 4pm. where we passed the night comfortably.<br />
9th, Monday. Left Brown's at broad daylight -- breakfasted at Eneas' or Terre Blanche and arrived at Fort Colvile about half past 3pm.<br />
10th, Tuesday to 14th, Saturday. Mr. Lowe and I employed in closing the Snake Country and Fort Colvile accounts. On the 12th, Louis Aruihunta arrived. Momentarily expecting the New Caledonia express which ought to have arrived at this place some days ago.<br />
15th, Sunday. Dull day. Divine service held by C.T. [Alexander Caulfield] Anderson. No arrivals from New Caledonia or elsewhere.<br />
16th, Monday. Cloudy weather. A party of Colvile Indians gone to the lakes to hunt deer. Ploughing commenced.<br />
17th, Tuesday. Cloudy weather. Pere Menetrez with Pere de Voss paid us a visit in the morning. Michel the Guide getting the boats ready for the Mountain.<br />
18th, Wednesday. Sultry weather. Indian arrived from the Kootanies with the accounts of that place.<br />
19th, Thursday. About 5pm. Joachim Lafleur from Okanagan, and Marineau with five other men from New Caledonia arrived with the accounts. Warm weather.<br />
20th, Friday. Beautiful weather. About noon, Tatae the Indian that we left the horses in charge of arrived with all the horses, property etc. Report among the Indians here that the Company's barque Columbia and an american steam vessel have arrived in the Columbia River.<br />
21st, Saturday. Fine weather. Snow disappearing from the Hills. Mr. Lowe and I using the utmost despatch to get the accounts closed.<br />
22nd, Sunday. Cloudy weather. Prayers read by C.T. Anderson.<br />
<br />
I think it appropriate that we end, here, at Fort Colvile with Chief Trader Alexander Caulfield Anderson leading the prayers.<br />
We will continue the upriver journey next week.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13380302097169132586noreply@blogger.com0