Adventures on the Columbia River, including the narrative of a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown: together with a journey across the American continent

Front matter

THE COLUMBIA RIVER, &C VOL. I ADVENTURES ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER, INCLUDING THE NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE OF SIX YEARS ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, AMONG VARIOUS TRIBES OF INDIANS HITHERTO UNKNOWN: TOGETHER WITH A JOURNEY ACROSS THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. BY ROSS COX. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1831. PRINTED BY A. J. VALPY, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET. AS TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE LORD FRANCIS LEVESON GOWER, &c. &c. THESE VOLUMES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF RESPECT FOR HIS LORDSHIP'S CHARACTER AS A MAN, HIS TALENTS AS A POET, AND HIS CONSISTENCY AS A STATESMAN ; 1:Y HIS lordship's obedient humble servant, THE AUTHOR.

Preface

. The following Narrative embraces a period of six years, five of which were spent among various tribes on the banks of the Columbia River and its tributary streams ; and the remaining portion was occupied in the voyage outwards, and the journey across the continent. During this period the Author ascended the Columbia nine times, and descended it eight ; wintered among various tribes ; was engaged in several encounters with the In dians ; was lost fourteen days in a wilderness, and had many other extraordinary escapes.

PREFACE.

. He kept journals of the principal events which occurred during the greater part of this period, the substance of which will be found embodied in the following pages. Those who love to read of " battle, murder, and sudden death," will, in his description of the dangers and privations to which the life of an Indian trader is subject, find much to gratify their taste ; while to such as are fond of nature, in its rudest and most savage forms, he trusts his sketches of the wild and wandering tribes of Western America may not be found uninteresting-. They cannot lay claim to the beautiful colouring which the romantic pen of a Cha teaubriand has imparted to his picture of Indian manners; for the Author, unfortunately, did not meet with any tribe which approached that celebrated writer's splendid description of savage life. He has seen many of them before the contamination of white men could have deteriorated their native

PREFACE.

. IX character; and, while he records with pleasure the virtues and bravery of some, truth compels him to give a different character to the great majority. The press has of late years teemed with various " Recollections," " Reminiscences," &c. of travels, scenes, and adventures in well known countries, but no account has been yet published of a great portion of the remote regions alluded to in this Work. They are therefore new to the world ; and, if the Author's unpretending narrative possesses no other claim to the public favor, it cannot at least be denied that of novelty.

Introduction

. In the year 1670 a charter was granted by Charles the Second to the Hudson's Bay Com pany, whose first governor was Prince Rupert, by which the Company was allowed the exclusive privilege of establishing trading factories on the shores of that noble bay and its tributary rivers. Owing to this charter the fur-trade, which forms an important and extensive branch of American commerce, was for a long period monopolised by the Company ; but, from the peculiar nature of its constitution, little progress was made by its officers in extending its trading posts, or exploring the in terior, until the year 1770, when Mr. Hearne was sent on an expedition to the Arctic Sea, for an account of which I beg to refer the reader to that gentleman's simple and interesting narrative.

INTRODUCTION.

. XII While Canada belonged to France the Canadian traders had advanced many hundred miles beyond Lake Superior, and established several trading posts in the heart of the country, some of which the voyageurs still call by their original names; such as Fort Dauphin, Fort Bourbon, and others. The conquest of that province opened a new source of trade to British enterprise ; and while the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company fancied their charter had secured them in the undisturbed possession of their monopoly, an active and enter prising rival was gradually encroaching on their territories, and imperceptibly undermining their influence with the Indians ; I allude to the North- West Fur Company of Canada, which originally consisted of a few private traders, but subse quently became the first commercial establish ment in British America.

It is not here necessary to enter into a detail of the formation and increase of this Company. Its first members were British and Canadian merchants ; among whom Messrs. Rocheblave, Frobisher, Fraser, M'Tavish, Mackenzie, and M'Gillivray were the most prominent. Their clerks were

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII chiefly younger branches of respectable Scottish families, who entered the service as apprentices for seven years ; for which period they were al lowed one hundred pounds, and suitable clothing. At the expiration of their apprenticeship they were placed on yearly salaries, varying from eighty to one hundred and sixty pounds, and according to their talents were ultimately provided for as partners ; some, perhaps, in a year or two after the termination of their engagements ; while others remained ten, twelve, or sixteen years in a state of probation. This system, by creating an identity of interest, produced a spirit of emulation among the clerks admirably calculated to promote the general good ; for, as each individual was led to expect that the period for his election to the proprietary depended on his own exertions, every nerve was strained to attain the long-desired object of his wishes.

Courage was an indispensable qualification, not merely for the casual encounters with the In dians, but to intimidate any competitor in trade with whom he might happen to come in collision.

INTRODUCTION.

. Success was looked upon as the great criterion of a trader's cleverness ; and provided he obtained for his outfit of merchandise what was considered a good return of furs, the partners never stopped to inquire about the means by which they were acquired. The Hudson's Bay Company, on the contrary, presented no such inducements to extra exertion on the part of its officers. Each individual had a fixed salary, without any prospect of becoming a proprietor ; and some of them, whose courage was undoubted, when challenged to single combat by a Nor- Wester, refused ; alleging as a reason, that they were engaged to trade for furs, and not to fight with fellowsubjects! Independently of the foregoing circumstances, the North-West Company in the selection of its canoe-men, or, as they are called, engages, had another great advantage over its chartered rival.

These men were French Canadians, remarkable for obedience to their superiors ; and whose skill in managing canoes, capability of enduring hard ship, and facility of adapting themselves to the habits and peculiarities of the various tribes ren-

INTRODUCTION.

. XV dered them infinitely more popular in the eyes of the Indians than the stubborn, unbending, matter of-fact Orkney men, into whose ideas a work of supererogation never entered.* The diminished amount of their imports, joined to the increased demand of goods from their fac tories, at length opened the eyes of the Hudson's Bay directors to the success of their formidable opponents, and induced them to attempt, when too late, to arrest their career. By their charter they now laid claim to the exclusive privilege of trading, not merely on the English River and its various branches, but also on the Saskacha wan, Red River, and all the other streams which empty themselves into the great Lake Winepic, the waters of which are carried to Hudson's Bay by the rivers Nelson and Severn. This territorial claim, unsupported by any phy sical power, had but little weight with their per severing rivals.

They were far beyond the reach of magisterial authority; and an injunction could * The chief part of the boatmen and several of the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company were, formerly, natives of the Orkney Islands.

INTRODUCTION.

. not be easily served, nor obedience to it enforced in a country fifteen hundred or two thousand miles beyond the limits of any recognised jurisdiction. After establishing opposition trading posts ad joining the different factories of the Hudson's Bay Company in the interior, the indefatigable Nor- Westers continued their progress to the north ward and westward, and formed numerous trading establishments at Athabasca, Peace River, Great and Lesser Slave Lakes, New Caledonia, the Columbia, &c. ; to none of which places did the officers of the Hudson's Bay attempt to follow them. By these means the North-West Company became undisputed masters of the interior. Their influence with the natives was all-powerful ; and no single trader, without incurring imminent dan ger from the Indians, or encountering the risk of starvation, could attempt to penetrate into their territories.

A few independent individuals, unconnected with either company, the chief of whom was Mr. John Jacob Astor, a wealthy merchant of New York, still carried on a fluctuating trade with the Indians, whose lands border Canada and the United States ■

INTRODUCTION.

. XVII but their competition proved injurious to them selves, as prices far above their value were fre quently given to the natives for their furs. With the interior thus inaccessible, and the confines not worth disputing, Mr. Astor turned his tnoughts to the opposite side of the American continent ; and accordingly made proposals to the North-West Company to join with nim in forming an establishment on the Columbia River. This proposition was submitted to the consideration ol a general meeting of the wintering proprietors; and, after some negotiations as to the details, rejected. Mr. Astor therefore determined to make the attempt without their co-operation; and in the winter of 1809 he succeeded in forming an as sociation called the " Pacific Fur Company," of which he himself was the chief proprietor.

As able and experienced traders were necessary to ensure success, he induced several of the gentle men connected with the North-West Company to quit that establishment and join in his speculation. Among these was Mr. Alexander M'Kay, an old partner, who had accompanied Sir Alexvol. i. b

INTRODUCTION.

. ander Mackenzie in his perilous journey across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. It was intended in the first instance to form a trading establishment at the entrance of the Co lumbia, and as many more subsequently on its tributary streams as the nature and productions of the country would ad/nif It was also arranged that a vessel Jaden with goods for the Indian trade should sail every year from^New York to ♦Jfe Columbia, and after discharging her cargo at the establishment, take on board the produce of the year's trade, and thence proceed to Can ton, which is a ready market for furs of every de scription. On disposing of her stock of peltries at the latter place, she was to return to New York freighted with the productions of China. The first vessel fitted out by the Pacific Fur Company was the Tonquin, commanded by Cap tain Jonathan Thome, formerly a lieutenant in the service of the United States.

She sailed from New York in the autumn of IS 10, and had on board four partners, nine clerks, with a number of mechanics and voyageurs, with a large and well assorted cargo for the Indian and Chinese trades.

INTRODUCTION.

. Much about the same period a party under the command of Messrs. W. P. Hunt, and Donald Mackenzie, left Saint Louis on the Missouri, with the intention of proceeding as nearly as possible by Lewis and Clarke's route across the con tinent to the mouth of the Columbia. This party consisted, besides the above gentlemen, who were partners, of three clerks, and upwards of seventy men. The following year, 1811, another vessel, the Beaver, of four hundred and eighty tons, com manded by Captain Cornelius Sowles, sailed for the Columbia. She had on board one partner, six clerks, and a number of artisans and voyageurs, with a plentiful supply of every thing that could contribute to the comfort of the crew and pas sengers. The exaggerated reports then in circulation re lative to the wealth to be obtained in the Columbia induced merchants of the first respectability to solicit for their ' sons appointments in the new Company; and many of their applications were unsuccessful. The Author, who was at this period in New York, captivated with the love of novelty, XX

INTRODUCTION.

. and the hope of speedily realising an independence in the supposed El Dorada, exerted all his inflO ence to obtain a clerkship in the Company. He succeeded, and was one of those who embarked on board the Beaver. With what success his golden anticipations were crowned, together with all his "travels' history," will be amply detailed in the following Narrative. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

Singularly luminous appearance of the ocean — The Equator — Magellanic clouds — Falkland islands — Storm, and loss of two men — Cape Horn — Dreadful storm — Islands of Juan Fernandez and Massafuero — Trade-winds in the Pacific — A shark — Arrival at Sandwich Islands . . . 1

Chapter II

Whoahoo — Visit from a chief — Nocturnal excursion — King and queens — Invasion of the ship — White men — Gardens — Foot race, and summary justice — Throwing the spear — Royal residence, and body guard — Mourning for a chief's wife — Billy Pitt, George Washington, &c 23

Chapter III

Tamaahmaah — The Eooranee — Curious custom — Fickleness in dress — Character of natives — Important position of the islands — Cow hunting — Complete our supplies — Take a num ber of natives — Departure — New discovery — Arrival at the Columbia CONTENTS.

Chapter IV

Account of the Tonquin — Loss of her chief mate, seven men, and two boats — Extraordinary escape of Weekes — Erection of Astoria — Mr. Thompson of the N. W. Company— Arrival of Messrs. Hunt and Mackenzie, and sketch of their journey over-land ......... 74

Chapter V

Particulars of the destruction of the Tonquin and crew — Indians attack a party ascending tlie river — Description of fort, natives, and the country . . . . .96

Chapter VI

Departure from Astoria — Description of our party, lading, &c. — Appearance of river and islands — Fleas and musquitoes — First rapids, dangerous accident — Indian cemetery — LTgly Indians — Gibraltar — Cape Horn — The narrows and falls — Change in the appearance of the country — Attempt at robbery — Mounted Indians ....... 117

Chapter VII

Party commence eating horses— Remarkable escape from a rattlesnake— Kill numbers of them — Arrive among the Wallah Wallah tribe — Description of the country — The Pierced-nose Indians — Author's party proceeds up Lewis River Purchase horses for land-travelling — Prickly pears — Awkward accident — Leave the canoes, and journey inland . . 139

Chapter VIII

Author loses the party— Curious adventures, and surprising escapes from serpents and wild beasts during fourteen days CONTENTS. XXIII in a wilderness — Meets with Indians, by whom he is hospitably received, and conducted to his friends .... 158

Chapter IX

Remarkable case of Mr. Pritchard, who was thirty-five days lost — Situation of Spokan House — Journey to the Flat-head lands, and description of that tribe — Return to Spokan House — Christmas day — -Horse-eating — Spokan peculiarities — Articles of trade — A duel 184

Chapter X

Execution of an Indian for robbery — War between Great Britain and the United States — Dissolution of the Pacific Fur Company — Author joins the North-West Company, and proceeds to the Rocky Mountains — Meets a party, and returns to the sea — Robbery of goods, and successful stratagem to recover the property — Attack at night — Dog-eating^Author and three men pursued by Indians — Narrow escape . 202

Chapter XI

Author proceeds to Oakinagan, and thence to the Flat heads, where he passes the winter — Cruel treatment of the Black-feet prisoners by the Flat-heads — Horrible spectacle — Buffalo the cause of war between the two tribes — Women — Government — Peace and war chiefs — Wolves — Anecdote of a dog — Syrup of birch — Surgical and medical knowledge of the Flat-heads — Remarkable cure of rheumatism — Their ideas of a future state ; and curious tradition respecting the beavers — Name of Flat-head a misnomer — A marriage . . 228

Chapter XII

Effect of snow on the eyes — Description of a winter at Oakinagan — News from the sea — Capture of Astoria by the CONTENTS. Racoon sloop of war— Offer of Chinooks to cut off the British —A party attacked ; Mr. Stewart wounded ; two Indians killed — Arrival of Mr. Hunt— Shipwreck of the Lark — Massacre of Mr. Read and eight of his men— Extraordinary escape of Dorrien's widow and children . . • 260

Chapter XIII

Arrival of the Isaac Tod — Miss Jane Barnes, a white woman — Murder of one of our men by Indians— Trial and execution of the murderers — Death of Mr. Donald M'Tavish and five men ........ 284

Chapter XIV

Sketch of the Indians about the mouth of the Columbia — Process of flattening the head — Thievish disposition — Treat ment of their slaves — Suggestions to the missionary societies — Dreadful ravages of the smallpox — Jack Ramsay — Their ideas of religion — Curious superstition — -Marriage ceremonies — -Anecdote — Aversion to ardent spirits — Government — W ar — Arms and Armour — Canoes and houses — System of cooking — Utensils — Gambling — Haiqua — Quack doctors — Mode of burial 301

Chapter XV

Voyage to the interior — Party attacked, aud one man killed — Arrive at Spokan House — Joy of the Indians at our return — The chief's speech— Sketch of Mr. M'Donald— Duel prevented between him and a chief— Kettle Indians ; their surprise at seeing white men — Curious account of an hermaphrodite chief — Death of Jacques Hoole ..... \ SIX YEARS' RESIDENCE ON THE BANKS OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER, &c.

Chapter I

Singularly luminous appearance of the ocean — The Equator — Magellanic clouds — Falkland islands — Storm, and loss of two men — Cape Horn — Dreadful storm — Islands of Juan Fernandez and Massafuero — Trade winds in the Pacific — A shark — Arrival at Sandwich Islands. On Thursday the 17th of October, 1811, we sailed from New York, with a gentle breeze from the northward, and ina few hours lost sight of the high lands of " Never Sink." Our cabin passengers were, Messrs. Clarke, Clapp, Halsey, Nicolls, Se ton, Ehninger, and self; with Captain Sowles, VOL. I. A APPEARANCE OF THE OCEAN. and Messrs. Rhodes, Champenois and Dean, officers of the ship. Nothing particular occurred until the night of the 7th of November, when we were gratified with observing the ocean assume that fiery appearance mentioned by several of our circumnavigators ; to account for which has not a little perplexed the most erudite inquirers into marine phenomena.

During our passage through these liquid flames we had what sailors term a " smacking breeze " of eight knots. The captain declared that he had never witnessed so luminous an appearance of the sea; and so great was the light afforded by the waves, that we were thereby enabled to peruse books of a moderate sized print ! On the following day, the 8th, we made the Cape de Verds, at which place it was the captain's intention to stop for a day or two ; but the wind being favourable he relinquished the idea, and kept under way. We had fine gales and pleasant weather until the 17th, on which day we crossed the Equator, in longitude 30° west, with a light northerly breeze, which on the following day subsided into a dead calm : this calm con- THE EQUATOR — MAGELLANIC CLOUDS. tinued eight days, during which period we did not advance ten miles.

On the 26th a smart breeze sprang up, which drove us on nobly at the rate of from seven to ten knots an hour. The 28th we spoke a Portuguese brig bound from Rio Grande to Pernambuco. The captain and crew of this vessel were all negroes, the lowest of whom was six feet high. We inquired from the sable commander what was his longitude ; but he could not give us any in formation on the subject ! After setting this un fortunate navigator right we pursued our course ; and the wind still continuing fresh, we were quickly emancipated from the scorching influence of a vertical sun. On the 10th of December, in latitude 39°, we spoke the American ship Manilla, Captain M'Lean, on her return from a whaling voyage, and bound to Nantucket, Rhode Island. The captain came on board, and politely waited till we had written a few letters, of which he took charge.

A few days after this we lost sight of the celebrated Magellanic clouds, which had been visible almost from the time we crossed the Equator. That FALKLAND ISLANDS. these nebulæ should be so immutable in their form and station, has been a source of no trifling per plexity to our natural philosophers. As so much ink has already been consumed in speculations respecting these phenomena, and such various and conflicting opinions elicited from the most learned astronomers of the last and present age, I con ceive it would be presumptuous in me to offer a single word on the subject. These clouds are white, and in shape nearly resemble an equilateral triangle, rounded at each angular point. On the 21st of December, at five a. m., land was -discovered on our weather bow. The captain pronounced it to be the coast of Patagonia ; and acting on this opinion, we kept -along-shore, in order to pass between the Falkland Islands and the mainland ; but, strange to tell ! at noon, when he obtained a meridian observation, he discovered that what he previously conceived to be the Pata gonian coast was in reality a part of the Falkland Islands.

To account for this mistake, it is proper to mention, that during the preceding ten days the haziness of the weather precluded the possi bility of our obtaining either a solar or lunar FALKLAND ISLANDS. observation ; we therefore were compelled to sail entirely by dead reckoning. To this may be added, the effect of a strong westerly current : and had the obscure weather continued but a day longer, the consequences might have proved fatal. As the wind was fair, and we had proceeded so far, the captain abandoned his original intention, and determined to sail round the eastern extremity of the islands, and from thence to shape his course for Cape Horn. We coasted along the shore until the 24th, with light westerly and south-westerly breezes. Albatrosses, penguins, and pintado birds were very numerous around the ship. .We shot several, and took others with a hook and bait.

One albatross which we caught in this manner received but little injury. It had an enormously large bill, measured eleven feet from wing to wing when extended, and kept a fierce English bull-dog at bay for half an hour. Although the Falkland Islands occupy in the southern hemisphere a similar degree of latitude to that of Ireland in the northern, still they possess none of the characteristic fertility of the " Emerald Isle." Of grass, properly so called, A STORM, AND there is none in those islands. In vegetable and animal productions they are also deficient ; and the climate, generally speaking, is cold, variable, and stormy : yet for such a place the British empire was on the point of being involved in a war, the preparations for which cost the nation some millions !* On the 24th we took leave of the islands with a gentle breeze right aft, but this changed ere we had cleared the Sea-lion rocks to a violent head gale.

All the lighter sails were instantly furled ; in the hurry of doing which, the gaskets or small ropes which bound the flying jib gave way, and two sailors were sent out to adjust it. While they were in the act of performing this hazardous duty a tremendous wave struck the forepart of the ship, carried away the jib-boom, and with it the two unfortunate men who were securing the sail. The ship was immediately hove to, and every piece of timber, empty barrel, or hen-coop on deck was thrown over to afford the unfor- ' It may be remembered that our ejection from these islands by Buccarelli, a Spanish officer, brought the celebrated Samuel Johnson in collision with Junius. LOSS OF TWO MEN. tunate men a chance of escape. Unhappily all our efforts were unavailing ; the poor fellows re mained in sight about ten minutes, when they disappeared amidst the raging billows.

When the accident occurred, two of the ship's com pany jumped into the jolly-boat, and with all the thoughtless good-nature of sailors, were about cutting away the lashings to go to the assistance of their ill-fated messmates, when the captain observing them, ordered them out of the boat, exclaiming, " D — n you, have you a mind to go to hell also?" This was the most gloomy Christmas eve I ever spent. The above melancholy accident had thrown a cloud over every countenance ; and when to this was added the darkness of the cabin (the dead-lights being all in), with the loud roar ing of the storm, and the Alpine waves threat ening every instant to ingulf us, our situation may be more easily imagined than described. Home, with all its mild and -social endearments at this season of general festivity involuntarily obtruded itself on our recollections.

The half expressed wish of being once more on terra firma CAPE HORN. was unconsciously communicated from one to an other. But when we looked upon the weather^ beaten face of our veteran captain, and observed the careless, if not contented air of his officers and crew, when we felt that they were enduring the " pel tings of the pitiless storm" unmoved and without a murmur ; and when we reflected on the immense expanse of ocean through which we had to plough our way, and how fruitless would be the indulgence of unmanly apprehen sion, — " to the wind we gave our sighs," ascended to the deck, and tendered our feeble assistance to the captain. The gale continued with much violence until the 29th; when, at two p. m., we made Staten Land. At four p. m. we perceived the " snow topt" mountains of Terra del Fuego, rearing their majestic heads above the clouds, and surveying with cold indifference the conflict of the contend ing oceans that on all sides surround them.

As we approached Cape Horn the weather moderated, and the captain ordered all the lighter masts and yards again to be rigged. January 1st, 1812, at two p. m., on this day, we CAPE HORN. bade adieu to the Atlantic, and sailed round the long-dreaded southern extremity of America, with a gentle breeze from the N.N.W., at the rate of one mile per hour, and under top-gallant studding sails ; a circumstance I believe unparalleled in the history of circumnavigation. Towards evening the wind died away, and Not a breeze disturb'd the wide serene. Our entrance into the great Pacific was marked by none of those terrible concussions of the " vasty deep," the frequency of which have given such a fearful celebrity to Cape Horn. It seemed as if the two mighty oceans had ceased for a period their dreadful warfare, and mingled their waters in the blessed calm of peace.

On our right rose the wild inhospitable shores of Terra del Fuego; on the left lay the low desert islands of Diego Ramarez ; while all around myriads of whales, porpoises, and other marine monsters, emerging at intervals from the deep, and rolling their huge bodies over the placid surface of the surrounding element, agreeably diversified the scene. This calm was of short duration. On the sol- CAPE HORN. lowing day the wind shifted once more ahead, and drove us as far as 61° S. before we cleared Cape Noire, the south-western point of Terra del Fuego. During this period we had a succession of cold boisterous weather, and occasionally came in collision with large masses of floating ice, from which we however escaped without injury. It is unnecessary to mention to my geographical readers that the period at which we doubled the cape is the summer season in the high southern latitudes ; and if such be its attractions in the balmy season of the year, what a region must it be on the arrival of Barren Winter, with his nipping colds !

We are informed by the early geographers that Terra del Fuego was so called from several volca noes which contrasted their vivid flames with the surrounding icy wastes : and from the same au thority we learn that Patagonia, which is on the opposite side of the Straits of Magellan, was in habited by a race of people of immense stature. Modern travellers, however, have obtained a more correct knowledge of that country, and have re- DREADFUL STORM. duced the wonderful altitude of the supposed giants to the common standard of humanity. Young travellers should not make rash assertions, particularly if opposed to the received opinions of the world. I cannot however avoid saying, that it is my belief there is no better foundation for the volcanoes than there was for the accounts of the giants. For several days that we were in sight of this supposed land of fire we did not observe the smallest appearance of smoke ; and our captain, who had made many voyages round Cape Horn, declared he had never perceived the slightest volcanic appearance in its neighbour hood.