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27 (continued)
The Fur Trader
27 (continued)
The Fur Trader
The earliest white men to appear in the Big Bend country were the people associated with the fur trade. While they may have been impressed with the geological wonders of the area, their main interest was in finding a route through the region. The Grand Coulee country was simply a part of the wasteland that they had to traverse to reach more profitable pursuits at trading sites. 12 Let us briefly review the series of events that brought fur trading expeditions to the Pacific Northwest.
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12 Herman J. Deutsch, "Geographical Setting for the Recent History of the Inland Empire," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, IL (October, 1958), 150-151.
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Up until 1800 various explorers of Spain, Britain, and the United States searched for the legendary Northwest Passage by land and sea. Captain Cook's third voyage to the Northwest coast in 1776-80 and the publishing of his findings in 1785 closed out this phase of maritime exploration. Cook's crew had traded for a few furs and realized a fantastic profit, thus starting the maritime fur trade. 13 For the next 30 years American and British sea captains competed for this trade along the Northwest coast. Americans had ventured into the maritime trade when a group of Boston merchants sent out two trading ships in the fall of 1787 under the command of Captain John Kendrick and Captain Robert Gray. This first expedition proved financially successful and Gray was sent out on a second voyage in June of 1791. 14 He wintered along the coast and started trading operations in the spring of 1792. While seeking trade with the Indians he discovered the Columbia River on May 11, 1792.
In 1803 the United States purchased Louisiana from France, thus gaining a foothold in the trans-Mississippi West. After the purchase, President Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore and look for trading sites. The expedition was completed in 1806 and within a year fur traders were among the Indians of the Missouri country. 15
The British trading companies were equally interested in pushing the trade westward. the main idea was to be the first
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13 Dorothy O. Johansen and Charles N. Gates, Empire of the Columbia: A History of the Pacific Northwest (2nd ed., New York: Harper and Row, 1967), p. 31.
14 Ibid., p. 56
15 Ibid., p. 81
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to trade in a virgin area and to reap a harvest of furs before the arrival of competition. Since 1790 men of the North West Company had been promoting expansion of activities to the Pacific Ocean. Alexander McKenzie had crossed western Canada in 1793, but not with economic success. Simon Fraser made his way to the Pacific Ocean in 1808 but failed to open up any feasible trade route.
In 1811 John Jacob Astor chartered the Pacific Fur Company hoping to enter the fur trade on the Pacific slope by the way of the Columbia River route. Astor sent out two expeditions to accomplish his objective, one by sea and one by land. The sea expedition arrived at the mouth of the Columbia on the Tonquin in March, 1811. There they proceeded to establish a headquarters, later called Astoria. 16 The overland party did not arrive until February of 1812 after suffering great hardships on their journey. 17 Both the British and American concerns were aware of each other's plans to capture the trade of the Columbia drainage. The British wanted to establish posts on the Columbia before the Americans and thus, secure the region by right of possession for their commercial interests and for Great Britain.
David Thompson, a North West Company field commander and explorer, was directed to cross the Rockies and go down the Columbia to its mouth. Thompson reached the upper Columbia in the winter of 1810-11. The next spring he travelled to Spokane House and then to Kettle Falls. After building a cedar canoe
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16 Ibid., p. 95
17 Ibid., p. 96
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suitable to take the eight-man party down the Columbia, he departed on his voyage July 3, 1811. 18 He passed the mouth of the Grand Coulee in the afternoon of July 4, but made no entry in his journal regarding the Coulee. The members of the expedition reached Astoria on July 15, where they found the Astorians already established and preparing to send a trading expedition up river into the interior. On July 22 the two parties started up-river, with Thompson traveling overland from the mouth of the Snake and returning to Spokane House. 19
The up-river party of Astorians under the charge of David Stuart established Fort Okanogan in the fall of 1811. 20 This was the first American settlement in the State of Washington. Alexander Ross was left in charge of the trade at this post. There is no doubt that the men of these two rival trading concerns started the activities that brought this area into the consciousness of American and British authorities. They also initiated commerce with the Indians of the Big Bend country.
In the spring of 1812, the United States and Great Britain entered war. Because the British, with superior sea power, controlled the sea lanes, Astor did not send out a supply ship to his new-found colony at the mouth of the Columbia. In November of 1813, a British naval sloop, "The Raccoon," arrived at Astoria and the captain took possession of the post. Astor's
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18 Ibid., pp. 97-102
19 David Thompson, Narrative of His Explorations in Western America, 1784-1812, ed. J. B. Tyrrell (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1916), p. 511.
20 Caywood, p. 3.
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partners were disheartened by this time and sold out to the North West Company before all was lost. The employees of the Pacific Fur Company had the opportunity to stay with their new employer, the North West Company. Alexander Ross was one of those who elected to stay and work for the North West Company when Fort Okanogan changed hands on December 15, 1813. 21
Ross was appointed chief factor at Fort Okanogan and retained that position until 1816. He travelled overland from Okanogan to Fort Spokane in the fall of 1812. In his account of his journey of 160 miles southeast of Fort Okanogan to Spokane, he made mention of the Grand Coulee. On another trip along a similar route in 1814, he mentioned camping in the Grand Coulee. He was impressed by the geological wonders that he saw and called the Coulee one of the most romantic picturesque marvellously formed chasms west of the Rocky Mountains. He estimated the Coulee to be 80 to 100 miles long and lying in a north-south direction. The cold springs in the coulee are mentioned along with the superstitions of the Indians. 22
From 1814 to 1821, the North West Company was in control of the inland fur trade and the only white men to view the Grand Coulee or the site of Coulee City were people associated with the trade. In 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged and the business of the inland trade was administered by the Hudson's Bay Company, with headquarters at Fort
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21 Caywood, p. 3
22 Ross, pp. 31-31
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Vancouver under the direction of Dr. John McLoughlin, chief factor. This gigantic commercial concern held a virtual monopoly on the trade and control of the interior for the next 20 years. In 1825 John Work, a clerk of the Hudson's Bay Company, referred to the Grand Coolley in his journals. David Douglas, the Scottish botanist, mentions the Grand Coulee in his journals of travel down the Columbia in 1826. 23
The fur trade had a potent influence on the history of the West. It was the trader and trapper who first explored and established routes of travel. One of these routes pioneered by the fur trade became what is known as the Okanogan Trail. The Northwest Company had started trading operations north of Fort Okanogan into the interior of British Columbia. After the merger, the Hudson's Bay Company placed greater emphasis on developing the trade in that area. This resulted in the abandonment of Fort Spokane, and construction of Fort Colville by 1826. Now a two-pronged advance could be made on British Columbia -- one from Okanogan and one from Colville via the Kettle River and westward.
After the furs were gathered in the interior they were sent by brigade to the headquarters at Vancouver. The inland brigade traveling overland from Fort Okanogan to Kamloops in New Caledonia (British Columbia) depended on pack horses to bring the bales of furs down to meet the down-river brigade from Colville. Many of these horses were secured from the Nez
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23 Edmond S. Meany, "The Grand Coulee in History," Washington Historical Quarterly, XV (April, 1924), 86-92.
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Perce and driven overland to Fort Okanogan. 24 This overland trail from Fort Okanogan to Fort Walla Walla is the southern part of what was called the Okanogan Trail. In later years, after the gold rush started, the name was changed to the Cariboo Trail. It is probable that this trail crossed the Grand Coulee within a few miles of Coulee City, as the middle crossing was the only place feasible without great hardship and difficulty.
From 1822 to 1832 the supremacy of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Oregon country want unchallenged. The following two decades found American interest aroused and eventually the region was obtained by the United States by treaty in 1846. During the transitional period when the region changed hands, the active promoters of American settlement were missionaries who were part of the surge of religious awakening that was evident in the United States between 1820 and 1840.
The missionary interest began in the Northwest in 1832, after a delegation of four Indians made a journey to St. Louis seeking the "white man's Book of Heaven." The American press printed some emotion-charged stories relating to this event which helped to inspire religious groups and individuals to answer this "Macedonian cry." Jason Lee, a Methodist, was the first to respond, and with a small party of Christian workers he journeyed to the West in 1834. 25
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24 William C. Brown, "Old Fort Okanogan and the Okanogan Trail," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XV (March, 1914), 1-38.
Also, Bruce A Wilson, "Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail," Okanogan County Heritage, IV (Sept., 1966), 6-8.
25 Johansen and Gates, p. 161.
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Lee canvassed the region and conferred with Dr. McLoughlin, who advised him to locate in the Willamette Valley south of Fort Vancouver. In 1836 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and Henry and Eliza Spalding to carry on the work of spreading Christianity among the Indians. McLoughlin, hoping to retain the region north of Fort Vancouver for the fur trade, shrewdly advised the Whitmans not to locate at Waiilatpu, near Fort Walla Walla, their choice for a missionary center. Whitman did not respond to this advice and located among the Cayuse Indians at Waiilatpu. Spalding picked a more favorable location among the Nez Perce east of Walla Walla, near Lapwai, which eventually was to be part of Idaho. 26 The American Board sent out a second group of workers in 1838 which included the Reverend Elkanah Walker and Reverend Cushing Eells. These two men and their wives found a suitable site for a mission at Tshimakain on the old Colville Trail about 25 miles west of the present city of Spokane. 27
Due to conflicting personalities, unsuitable backgrounds, and commercial interests, the missionaries were not very successful in their assigned task. their greatest contribution lay in the fact that they brought their families, they farmed, taught school, and advertised the country to attract settlers. Thus, they succeeded better as colonizers than as missionaries. In 1838 the Catholic missionaries entered the field and by 1850 had seven missions operating in the Northwest. On the whole,
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26 Ibid., p. 165
27 Ibid., p. 171
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they were more successful in working with the Indians than were the Protestants. 28 They did not encourage settlement that was to bring trouble with the Indians at a later date.
From a few mountain men and a small group of missionaries that may have numbered 26 in 1935, the American settlement of Oregon grew to 1,200 by 1843. In 1850 more than 13,000 settlers called themselves Oregonians. 29 The presence of free land, patriotic duty, the slavery issue, and the possibility of improving their fortunes drew Americans westward.
The Oregon country was considered by some Americans to be part of the natural domain of the United States, but in the early 1840's this region was held in joint occupancy by both the United States and Great Britain. The Oregon emigrants were frustrated by the slow process of diplomacy which delayed settlement of the boundary, thus hindering the organization of a government to handle pressing local problems. To meet local needs the settlers organized the region from the 42nd parallel to the 54th parallel, lying west of the Rockies, into counties. Eastern Washington was placed in Clackamas County. 30 Settlement of the Oregon boundary question would not be attained until the national and diplomatic interests of the United States and Great Britain made the settlement desirable.
The interest of the United States Government was apparent in 1841 when an official exploring expedition under the
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28 Ibid., p. 175
29 Ibid., p. 151
30 Ibid., p. 233
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command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes completed some survey and appraisal work in the region. 31 Wilkes urged that the government hold out for the 49th parallel as a northern boundary in order to save Puget Sound, which he believed had great military and commercial value. Wilkes also sent an expedition into the Inland Empire.
This group was under the command of Lieutenant Robert Johnson and it travelled from Wenatchee along the Columbia River and overland to Fort Okanogan. Then the party proceeded from Fort Okanogan to Fort Collville by way of the Grand Coulee. it is a little unclear as to where they entered the Coulee, but the author believes that it was via Barker Canyon on the north rim near Steamboat Rock. The party travelled down the Coulee south and crossed over the east rim at a place that appeared to be stained with sulfur. The author believes that this is where the east rim monocline begins, about five miles northeast of Coulee City. There are two places where Johnson could have climbed the wall in this area and the rocks are covered with a yellow lichen growth that makes them appear to be stained. In his report, Johnson states that "the Coulee was too impregnated with Saline matter to permit crops of grain to be raised on it, but with an abundance of water and good grass could be suitable for livestock." 32
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31 Ibid., p. 185
32 Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition during the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842 (Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1845), pp. 430-450.
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From 1818 to 1846 the territory under diplomatic discussion was that part of present-day Washington lying north and west of the Columbia River. After a number of diplomatic exchanges, settlement was reached and the Oregon Treaty was signed June 15, 1846, establishing the boundary on the 49th parallel. By this time there were approximately 7,000 Americans in the Oregon country. 33 The resulting pressure of settlement was instrumental in creating a series of events that led to the Whitman Massacre in 1847 and the Cayuse War that followed.
The California Gold Rush of 1849 and subsequent rushes in the Southwest provided a ready market for Oregon lumber and agricultural products. These exports kept the economy prosperous and encouraged over 30,000 Americans to come to the Pacific Northwest between 1850 and 1855. 34 By 1853, the settlers in the northern part wanted separation from the domination of the Willamette Valley. They organized and sent a memorial to Congress requesting the creation of the "Territory of Columbia." 35 Their request was granted on march 2, 1853, when a bill was signed creating, not Columbia, but Washington Territory.
Isaac Stevens, who was appointed the first Territorial Governor, arrived at Olympia in the fall of 1853, holding also the office of Superintendent of Territorial Indian Affairs and leader of a Northern Pacific Railroad survey party. Governor Stevens sent a survey party from Fort Colville across the Big Bend to the Columbia River. This party was under the command of
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33 Johansen and Gates, pp. 207-212.
34 Ibid., p. 236.
35 Ibid., p. 247.
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Lieutenant Richard Arnold. Arnold and his men camped at the present site of Coulee City on November 20, 1853. 36 While carrying out his various duties during 1854, Stevens traversed most of eastern Washington, which he called the "Great Plains of the Columbia." After making treaties and assigning reservations, Stevens saw his work undone by the discovery of gold at Fort Colville in the late summer of 1855. 37
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36 Coulee City News, May 20, 1949, p. 8.
37 William J. Trimble, The Mining Advance into the Inland Empire (Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1914), p. 16.
38 Ibid., p. 25.
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