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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1878)
114 THE WEST SHORE. neso'ta) river, anJ from thence up a branch of the river Messorie, (Mis souri), till, having discovered the source of the Oregon, or River of the West, on the other side of the summit of the lands that divide the waters which fall into the Gulf of Mexico from those which fall into the Pacific Ocean;" they should sail down that river to the place "where it is said to empty itself, near the Strait of Anlan." Nothing further, however, ever came of Carver's ex plorations. The next land expedition in the in terests ot Great Britain was under taken in 1769 by Mr. Samuel Hearnc, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's Agents This gentleman discovered the Great Stave La&eand the Copper mine river, which he traced to the sea; but his explorations destroyed the hope of finding any passage from Hudson's Hay across the continent, though it did inspire the English Government to hope that a passage might be found to exist between the two oceans through the sea lo the north of the continent. It was this new hope that suggested the Second odor of a reward of twenty thousand pounds for the discovery of any passage by sea between the At lantic and Pacific, and which led to the voyage of Captain James Cook to the Pacific Coast Meanwhile the fur-trade was prose cuted with great success both by the Hudson's Hay Company and the free and independent traders of Canada. These latter penetrated as far into the northwest as the country drained by the Saskatchewan and Athabasca riv en, finding their enterprise well re warded by the value of the peltries ob tained. They. could not, however, es cape the annoyances placed in their way by the Hudson's Hay Company, w!io claimed all the territories drained by streams emptying into Hudson's It. i , as granted them by their charter. The better to enable themselves to con tend with these difficulties, a number of Montreal merchants, in 1 784, formed themselves Into an association (or the prosecution of the fur-trade, under the name and style of the " Northwest Company of Montreal." The organi zation of tliis company was In every way very efficient and thorough) like that of the older one of Hudson's Hav, BO that, thpuglt the two companies often came in conflict, no material in jury was sustained by either. Like the Hudson's Bay, the North west Company were ambitious to be come discoverers of a more extended field for tiu- prosecution of their bust Hess, rather than to open the country lo genera! commercial operations; and yet were 11 t averse to the honor to be obtained by explorations, SO long as the to the country traversed, as we shall have occasion to mention by and by. In 1794, Mr. Alexander McKenzie, a gentleman of the Hudson's Bay Com pany, lett-Fort Chipewyan on Athabasca Lake to continue the discoveries com menced by Ilearne twenty years previ ous, lie descended the blave river to the Slave Lake, and there searched for the large stream supposed to he its out let. Such a stream was found at the northwest extremity of the lake, and was explored to the sea, by McKenzie, who gave it his own name. He further explored the country to the cant of Mi Kcnzie's river, and returned to Fort Chipewyan; but two years later he re newed his efforts at discovery, and this time ascended Peace river, which flows into Lake Athabasca, until he came to the Rocky Meuntains, at whose base he spent the first winter in camp. The following summer, McKenzie resumed his voyage, and ascended Peace river until he came to its springs, in latitude about 54 deg. Within a a short distance of these, were also dis covered the sources of another river, which the natives called Tacoutchee 'esse, on which McKenzie embarked his oanocs, and floated down a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. Here he disembarked, and proceeded over land in a westerly direction, for about two hundred miles more, until he reached the shores of the Pacific at Cascade Canal Inlet, which had been surveyed by Vancouver, only a few weeks before. From this point Mc Kenzie returned home, having crossed the continent at its widest part, and with Vie belief that the Tacoutchee Tesse, whose headwaters he had dis covered, was the river entered by Capt. Gray, four years previously, and named by him the Columbia. This impression of the British explorers was not removed until 1S12, when the Tacoutchee Tesse, now known as lrazerys River, was traced to its mouth in the Gulf of Georgia, where Vancouver, with all Ins careful survey ing, had failed to discovered it. Taken in conjunction with the coast surveys of Vancouver, the land ex plorations of McKenzie determined the question of any water passage across the continent, and was believed to de termine in the negative, the practica bility of navigation between the At lantic and the Pacific by the way of the North Sea. With a foresight worthy of his nation, McKenzie urged that the British government should as sist in establishing commercial commu nication across the continent, ami that the Fast India Company should open a direct trade between China and the northwest coast of America ; giving as one argument in favor of the Country remained exclusively under 1 nniuediale adoption ot tins pohev, that their control. Large parties of traders this commerce was "left to adven sometimes pushed then enterprises far' tnrer ol the United btfttct, acting r capital, or the future confidence, to the west and northwest, dhidintr t' -t forces so as to cover the largest extent of country possible, ami bring ing the result of their traffic or their discoveries to (he general rendezvous, which hftd been previously agreed upotti On one of the editions, in 17S0, a parly of one hut bed Canadians pen cilled to the foot of the Rocky Moun tains, but were tillable to proceed further on Recount of the warlike char acter of the tribes inhabiting there, and returned to wlntei 01. the Atslnibolnc liver, which empties into Winnipeg Like. Such othei of these expeditions of the Northwest Company as were made, up to 1805, were purely in the Interest of the fur-trade, and with the hope of extending theii traffic With the Indians. Great Britain, however, afterward founded upon the widely cx tetulod rovluds, of th. .company, a claim benevolence of the British government failed to take it in charge. During the remaining years of the eighteenth century, very little was ef fected toward the discovery of coun tries immediate east of, or tying to the west of the Rocky mountains. The Northwest company's agents once made an expedition to the foot of the Rocky mountains, near the head waters of the Missouri; and the French and Spanish traders of St. Louis some times voyaged up that river for some distance above Council Bluffs; but, ex- pt that every nation visiting the in terior claimed it tor that nation's sovereign, the country remained ab solutely in the hands of the native chiefs. Meanwhile, the citizens of the United States continued to trade from the northwest coast to China, in the manner which McKenzie thus truth fully describes: "These adventurers set out on a voyage with a few trinkets of very little value. In the South Pa cific they pick up some seal-skins, and perhaps a few butts of oil; at the Gal lipagos they lay in turtle, of which they preserve the shells; at Valparaiso, they raise a few dollars in exchange for European articles; at Nootka and other ports on the northwest coast, they traffic with the natives for furs, which, when winter commences, they carry to the Sandwich Islands, to dry and pre serve Irom vermin; here they leave their own people to take care of them, and in the spring embark, in lieu of them, the natives of the islands, to assist in navigating to the northwest coast in search of more skins. The remainder of the cargo is then made up of sandal, which grows abundantly in the woods of Atosi and Owyhee; of ablone shells, shark s fins, and pearls of an inferior kind, all of which are ac ceptable in the China market; and with these and their dollars, they pur chase cargoes of tea, silks and nankins, and thus complete their voyage in the course of two or three vears." Thanks, Mr. McKenzie. for this encouraging bit of commercial history! It shows from what small beginnings may grow up in eighty years, a great national commerce like that ot the tinted States. With such an historical ex ample before him, let no young man despair of the success that belongs to Industry ami enterprise. While the Americans monopolized this trans-Pacific trade, they were pretty effectually excluded from the central portion of the continent by the fact of the failure of Great Britain to surrender several important posts south of the great lakes, though belonging to the United States by the treaty which concluded the war of Independence, in 17S3. However, by asubsequent treaty in 1794, these posts were surrendered, to the great inconvenience of the Xorthwcst Company, and the propor tionate benefit of the Americans, who wished to engage in fur-hunting. Stilt, Louisiana, which was held by lent policy of wishing 1 the Trench or Spanish alternately, up to I0O3, WO I very extensive domain, stretching from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and interfered with the ex pansion of commerce in that direction. Notwithstanding the restrictions, large quantities of furs were gathered in the countries about the great lakes, and shipped annually to London or Canton. Yet another competition for the pos session of the west coasts of Amercia, was Russia. For half a century she wns content with holding the coast north of the 55th parallel; but having it WM because it had but one great been very successful in the fur trade, post On its whole coast, and that one I she attempted, in 1S10, to drive Amer esuiy secured by American enterprise,! ican commerce from the North Pacific, and held by the indomitable will of ' affecting to claim the whole coast from American settler, that the customary BehringN Strait to the Columbia river, Upon the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States, and after the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States gov ernment, Russia intimated to its min ister, John Quincy Adams, she intended to assert this claim; but Mr. Adams signifying that his government would not overlook the wholesale "jumping" of its claims, acquired both by dis covery, and by the recent purchase from France of its territory acquired from Spain, and known as the Louisiana ter ritory, the subject was dropped not to be again nrongnr up in mat manner. But though Spain and Russia ceased to be troublesome as claimants on the northwest coasts of America, Great Britain through her powerful fur com panies continued to dispute possession with the United States for another half century. It was a race between those two kindred nations for the coun try west of the Rocky mountains; how it ended, we all know; hut how it was conducted it is our purpose to consider in the following chapter. SCHOOLS OF IDAHO TERRITORY. Idaho is a new country, full of enter prise, and much interest is paid in promoting the cause of education. School districts are being organized in all parts of the territory, and school houses are being built, and many schools are now in session. Last May Thorn Creek had but thirteen scholars enrolled on the census roll; it now numbers thirty-two, and we have a good school in operation, though we have no school house as yet, but occupy a private house at present. The com ing spring we intend to build a house, 1SX26, as part of the money is now ready for use. Other districts are tak ing similar interest in building and pre-, paring to educate the youth. I would say to my fellow teachers who may read this article, that there is a good chance yet in this part of the country to get Government land, 'and one can spend his time profitably teaching school and at the same time hold and improve his farm. Wages are from $30 to $s;o per month. There is no time to spare if you desire a farm, as immigration is immense. Yours, etc., G. M. Nichols. Tiiohn Cheek, Nez Perce ) county, I. T. i witbiiut retrularttv desire of conclllattnj and looking only l the interests of the moment. M This bene to do well) that which, the I nited States were only capable ol" doing badly, continued to animate the British Fur companies and the British govern ment, half a century later. It Inspired them to wish to take the port of Nootka out of Spanish hands, and the Colum bia river out of American hands; and even as laic as the Ashburton treaty, inspired them to the indefinite post ponement of the boundary question in the northwest. The history of the Oregon territory discovers the fact that Waitsiu'kg and Dayton. A coi Spondent of the Willamette Fanner, writes as follows: " We came to the Touchet at Waits- burg. This is a lively little place and has enough good country tributary to it, to reward the enterprise that is dis played by the business men of the place. Along the little river are to be seen some good farms, but the wealth that is building up Waitsburg and makes Dayton, twelve miles above, a town of no little importance, is back toward the Blue Mountains. This rich and well watered section is thickly settled and produces an immense quan tity of grain." DESIKAUI.K HOMES. Immigrants in search of homes would do well to take a look at the country situated in and about the great bend of the Snake river, where thousands of acres of rich rolling prairie lands yet lie vacant. The town of Pomeroy, centrally located, has a good flouring mill, thus affording I home market for grain. The settlers in this section have nearly all located here within the past year, are very hospitable, and will do all in their power to assist new-comers in obtaining desirable locations. Those afflicted with neuralgia will find relief in the following : Prepare horse-radish, by grating and mixing in vinegar, the same as for table purposes, and apply to the temple when the face or head is affected, or the wrist, when the pain is in the arm or shoulder.