The Parties Thus United Formed A Squadron Of Two Boats And Six
Canoes, With Which They Performed Their Voyage In Safety Down The
River, And Arrived At Astoria On The 12th Of June, Bringing With
Them A Valuable Stock Of Peltries.
About ten days previously, the brigade which had been quartered
on the banks of the Wollamut, had arrived with numerous packs of
beaver, the result of a few months' sojourn on that river.
These
were the first fruits of the enterprise, gathered by men as yet
mere strangers in the land; but they were such as to give
substantial grounds for sanguine anticipations of profit, when
the country should be more completely explored, and the trade
established.
CHAPTER LIV.
The Partners Displeased With M'Dougal.- Equivocal Conduct of That
Gentleman- Partners Agree to Abandon Astoria.- Sale of Goods to
M'Tavish.- Arrangements for the Year.- Manifesto Signed by the
Partners- Departure of M'Tavish for the Interior.
THE partners found Mr. M'Dougal in all the bustle of preparation;
having about nine days previously announced at the factory, his
intention of breaking up the establishment, and fixed upon the
1st of July for the time of departure. Messrs. Stuart and Clarke
felt highly displeased at his taking so precipitate a step,
without waiting for their concurrence, when he must have known
that their arrival could not be far distant.
Indeed, the whole conduct of Mr. M'Dougal was such as to awaken
strong doubts as to his loyal devotion to the cause. His old
sympathies with the Northwest Company seem to have revived. He
had received M'Tavish and his party with uncalled for
hospitality, as though they were friends and allies, instead of
being a party of observation, come to reconnoitre the state of
affairs at Astoria, and to await the arrival of a hostile ship.
Had they been left to themselves, they would have been starved
off for want of provisions, or driven away by the Chinooks, who
only wanted a signal from the factory to treat them as intruders
and enemies. M'Dougal, on the contrary, had supplied them from
the stores of the garrison, and had gained them the favor of the
Indians, by treating them as friends.
Having set his mind fixedly on the project of breaking up the
establishment at Astoria, in the current year, M'Dougal was
sorely disappointed at finding that Messrs. Stuart and Clarke had
omitted to comply with his request to purchase horses and
provisions for the caravan across the mountains. It was now too
late to make the necessary preparations in time for traversing
the mountains before winter, and the project had to be postponed.
In the meantime, the non-arrival of the annual ship, and the
apprehensions entertained of the loss of the Beaver and of Mr.
Hunt, had their effect upon the minds of Messrs. Stuart and
Clarke. They began to listen to the desponding representations of
M'Dougal, seconded by M'Kenzie, who inveighed against their
situation as desperate and forlorn; left to shift for themselves,
or perish upon a barbarous coast; neglected by those who sent
them there; and threatened with dangers of every kind. In this
way they were brought to consent to the plan of abandoning the
country in the ensuing year.
About this time, M'Tavish applied at the factory to purchase a
small supply of goods wherewith to trade his way back to his post
on the upper waters of the Columbia, having waited in vain for
the arrival of the Isaac Todd. His request brought on a
consultation among the partners. M'Dougal urged that it should be
complied with. He furthermore proposed, that they should give up
to M'Tavish, for a proper consideration, the post on the Spokan,
and all its dependencies, as they had not sufficient goods on
hand to supply that post themselves, and to keep up a competition
with the Northwest Company in the trade with the neighboring
Indians. This last representation has since been proved
incorrect. By inventories, it appears that their stock in hand
for the supply of the interior posts, was superior to that of the
Northwest Company; so that they had nothing to fear from
competition.
Through the influence of Messrs. M'Dougal and M'Kenzie, this
proposition was adopted, and was promptly accepted by M'Tavish.
The merchandise sold to him amounted to eight hundred and fifty-
eight dollars, to be paid for, in the following spring, in
horses, or in any other manner most acceptable to the partners at
that period.
This agreement being concluded, the partners formed their plans
for the year that they would yet have to pass in the country.
Their objects were, chiefly, present subsistence, and the
purchase of horses for the contemplated journey, though they were
likewise to collect as much peltries as their diminished means
would command. Accordingly, it was arranged that David Stuart
should return to his former post on the Oakinagan, and Mr. Clarke
should make his sojourn among the Flatheads. John Reed, the
sturdy Hibernian, was to undertake the Snake River country,
accompanied by Pierre Dorion and Pierre Delaunay, as hunters, and
Francis Landry, Jean Baptiste Turcotte, Andre la Chapelle, and
Gilles le Clerc, Canadian voyageurs.
Astoria, however, was the post about which they felt the greatest
solicitude, and on which they all more or less depended. The
maintenance of this in safety throughout the coming year, was,
therefore, their grand consideration. Mr. M'Dougal was to
continue in command of it, with a party of forty men. They would
have to depend chiefly upon the neighboring savages for their
subsistence. These, at present, were friendly, but it was to be
feared that, when they should discover the exigencies of the
post, and its real weakness, they might proceed to hostilities;
or, at any rate, might cease to furnish their usual supplies. It
was important, therefore, to render the place as independent as
possible, of the surrounding tribes for its support; and it was
accordingly resolved that M'Kenzie, with four hunters, and eight
common men, should winter in the abundant country of Wollamut,
from whence they might be enabled to furnish a constant supply of
provisions to Astoria.
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