A History of Oregon, 1792-1849. Gray William Henry

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СКАЧАТЬ and the riders, the water was only about three feet deep; water appeared to be preferred to air; they plunged their heads deep in and held their breaths till their thirst was relieved.

      This plain is bounded on the north and east by spurs of the Rocky and Bear River mountains; on the south and west by the high plains of Portneuf and Snake River valleys. There is a range of mountains commencing on the northwest of this plain, extending west and north along Snake River, dividing the waters of the Snake and La Rivière aux Bois (the wooded river.) This whole plain has the appearance of having been one vast lake of lava, spread over the whole surrounding country, appearing to have issued from the three basaltic mountains in the midst of it. I noticed, as we passed between the two, which were probably not more than ten miles apart, that we appeared to be on higher rock than in any direction around us. From this fact I concluded that the three must have been pouring out their volcanic lava at the same time and ceased together, leaving the country comparatively level. The small amount of soil found upon the surface, as well as the barrenness of the rock, indicated no distant period of time when this volcanic plain had been formed.

      At Fort Hall we had another overhauling and lightening of baggage. The Doctor was advised to take his wagon apart and pack it, if he calculated to get it through the terrible cañons and deep, bottomless creeks we must pass in going down Snake Plains. Miles Goodyear, the boy we picked up two days from Fort Leavenworth, who had been assigned to assist the Doctor, was determined, if the Doctor took his wagon any further, to leave the company. He was the only one that could be spared to assist in this wild, and, as all considered, crazy undertaking. Miles was furnished a couple of horses, and the best outfit the mission party could give him for his services, and allowed to remain or go where he might choose. In his conclusions, he was influenced by the stories he heard about the treatment he might expect should he reach the lower Columbia. His idea of liberty was unlimited. Restraint and obedience to others was what he did not like at home; he would try his fortune in the mountains; he did not care for missionaries, Hudson’s Bay men, nor Indians; he was determined to be his own man, and was allowed to remain at Fort Hall. This loss of manual strength to the mission party compelled the Doctor to curtail his wagon, so he made a cart on two of the wheels, placed the axletree and the other two wheels on his cart, and about the 1st of August, 1836, our camp was again in motion. As we reached camp on Portneuf the first night, in passing a bunch of willows, Mrs. Spalding’s horse, a kind and perfectly gentle animal, was stung by a wasp, causing him to spring to one side. Mrs. S. lost her balance; her foot hung fast in the stirrup; the horse made but a single bound from the sting of the wasp, and stopped still till Mrs. S. was relieved from what appeared almost instant death. Next day we continued on down the river till we reached Salmon Falls, on Snake River.

      We found a large number of the Salmon and Digger Indians at their fishing stations. Their curiosity was excited, and overcame all the fears that had been attributed to them by former travelers. All of them came about the camp, and appeared quite friendly, furnishing to the party all the fresh and dried salmon they wanted, at the most reasonable rates, say a fine fresh salmon for two fish-hooks; four for a common butcher-knife; ten dried ones for a shirt; in fact, receiving only such pay or presents for their fish and roots, as the Hudson’s Bay Company’s traders saw fit, or would allow the missionary party to give them. It will be remembered that, in the conversation with Captain Wyeth, the party had been cautioned as to dealing with the Indians, or in any way interfering with the Indian trade, or tariff, as the Hudson’s Bay Company gentlemen call the prices they were in the habit of giving to the Indians, for any article of property they might have to dispose of, or that the company might want. If the Indian would part with it at all, he must receive the price or the article they chose to give him, not as an equivalent for his article, but as a condescension on the part of the trader, in allowing him the honor of making the exchange. The Indian’s property or article, whatever it might be, was of no consequence to the trader, but the article he gave or furnished to him was of great value. The Indian knew no other system of trade; it was that or nothing; hence the wealth of this arrogant and overgrown company, claiming exclusive trading privileges, as also the right to occupy the country in such a manner, and for such purposes as they chose. As a matter of course, the mission party were not in a condition to vary or change this system of trade; neither were they allowed to encourage the Indians in the expectation of any future change, except as to the religious instructions they were at liberty to impart to them.

      The gentlemen of the Hudson’s Bay Company were frank with the mission in giving them their tariff: For a salmon at Salmon Falls, two awls or two small fish-hooks; one large hook for two salmon; for a knife, four salmon; for one load of powder and a charge of shot, or a single ball, one salmon. At Wallawalla the tariff was nearly double, say two balls and powder for one large-sized salmon; a three-point blanket, a check shirt, a knife, five or ten balls and powder, from half a foot to three feet of trail-rope tobacco, the price of a good horse. In short, there was but one single object the Indian could live for; that was to contribute his little mite of productive labor to enrich the Honorable Hudson’s Bay Company, and to assist them, when required, to relieve the country of intruders. That they were in a state of absolute subjection to the control of the company no one that traveled in it at that early day can doubt for a moment. Speak of improving the condition of the Indians to gentlemen of the company, they would insist that it only made them more insolent, demand higher prices for their produce, and be less inclined to hunt for the furs necessary to supply the goods furnished for their use. The idea of improving the condition of the Indian, and raising him in the scale of civilization, and by that means increase his natural wants, and encourage him with a fair compensation for his labor, was no part of their chartered privileges. They found the Indian as he was; they would leave him no better. The country and all in it was theirs; they could not allow any interference with their trade. “If you missionaries wish to teach them your religion, we have no particular objection, so long as you confine yourselves to such religious instruction; as to trade, gentlemen, we will not object to your receiving from the Indians what you may require for your own personal use and subsistence, provided you do not pay them more for the article you buy of them than the company does. We will give you our tariff, that you may be governed by it in your dealings with the Indians. You will readily perceive, gentlemen, that it is necessary for us to insist on these conditions, in order to protect our own interests, and secure our accustomed profits.”

      CHAPTER XVII

      An explanation. – Instructions of company. – Their tyranny. – Continuation of journey. – Fording rivers. – Arrival at Boise. – Dr. Whitman compelled to leave his wagon.

      It may be asked why the writer gives this explanation of trade and intercourse with the Indians and missionaries before they have reached the field of their future labors? For the simple reason that the party, and the writer in particular, commenced their education in the Rocky Mountains. They learned that in the country to which they were going there was an overgrown, unscrupulous, and exacting monopoly that would prevent any interference in their trade, or intercourse with the Indians. This information was received through the American fur traders, and from Captain Wyeth, who was leaving the country; and from Mr. John McLeod, then in charge of our traveling caravan. It is true, we had only reached Salmon Falls, on Snake River, and we only wished to buy of the miserable, naked, filthy objects before us, a few fresh salmon, which they were catching in apparent abundance; and as is the case with most American travelers, we had many articles that would be valuable to the Indian, and beneficial to us to get rid of. But this overgrown company’s interest comes in. “You must not be liberal, or even just, to these miserable human or savage beings; if you are, it will spoil our trade with them; we can not control them if they learn the value of our goods.”

      This supreme selfishness, this spirit of oppression, was applied not only to the Digger Indians on the barren Snake plains and the salmon fisheries of the Columbia River, but to the miserable discharged, and, in most cases, disabled, Canadian-French. This policy the Hudson’s Bay Company practiced upon their own servants, and, as far as was possible, upon all the early settlers of the country. In proof of this, hear what Messrs. Ewing Young and Carmichael say of them on the thirteenth day of January, 1837, just three months after our СКАЧАТЬ