Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival (39 page)

“The spring, usually so tardy in this latitude”
: Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 102.

191
“Much time was often spent in this desultory manner”
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 73.

191
“[T]he great pasha”
: Ibid., p. 75.

liquor rations three times a day
: See McDougall journal, July 26, 1811, in Robert F. Jones, ed.,
Annals of Astoria: The Headquarters Log of the Pacific Fur Company on the Columbia River, 1811–1813
(New York: Fordham University Press, 1999), p. 36.

sixty feet long by twenty-six feet wide
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 81.

192
“ ‘You see,’ said [McKay], ‘how unfortunate we are”
: Ibid.

193
“A well-dressed man”
: Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 120.

194
“I intended to have paid you a visit at Montreal”
: Nisbet,
Sources of the River,
pp. 173–74.

“[I]n such forests what could we do”
: Ibid., p. 178, quoting Thompson journal.

195
Thompson planted a British flag
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 128.

Had he hoped to raise the British flag
: See Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 122 fn. According to Franchère, everyone at Astoria was of the opinion that Thompson intended to arrive first and plant the British flag at the mouth of the Columbia, claiming it for the North West Company, but he was too late. Instead he found the Astorians’ fur post flying the American flag.

196
“[T]he wintering partners had resolved”
: Ibid., p. 121.

“This is more than probable”
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 86.

198
In a frenzied six days of work
: Franchère,
Narrative,
pp. 123–24.

199
“[W]ithout wholly convincing us”
: Ibid., pp. 124–25.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

201
Captain Thorn carried on his ship
: Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 117.

Joseachal, who spoke the Coastal dialects
: Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
p. 59. The interpreter’s identity remains a topic of some question. He is variously described as Lamazee (and other spellings of the same), Jack Ramsay, and Joseachal. See Robert F. Jones, “The Identity of the
Tonquin’
s Interpreter,”
Oregon Historical Quarterly
98, no. 3 (Fall 1997): 311–12.

202
Indians of Newetee
: Irving,
Astoria,
p. 107.

Captain Thorn made an offer
: McDougall journal, August 11, 1811, and June 18, 1813, in Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
pp. 41, 194.

Nookamis wanted five blankets
: McDougall journal, June 18, 1813, in ibid., p. 194.

203
“pestering” him to trade
: Ibid.

McKay and Joseachal returned
: Irving,
Astoria,
p. 109.

“You pretend to know a great deal”
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 162.

204
through the giant mouths
: Description from John Meares in Valerie Sherer Mathes, “Wickaninnish, a Clayoquot Chief, as Recorded by Early Travelers,”
Pacific Northwest Quarterly
70, no. 3 (July 1979): 111.

205
bald eagle or a human face
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 98.

ritualized purification
: For a general description, see ibid., pp. 311–12.

206
on the Chinese market
: Dolin,
Fur, Fortune, and Empire,
pp. 138–43.

207
The Aleuts
: Letter to the editor, “Russian and American Settlements on the North West Coast of America,”
North American Review,
c. 1, vol. 2 (1815): 301–3.

by force or threat of violence
: James R. Gibson,
Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods: The Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785–1841
(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992), pp. 163–64.

another unfortunate incident
: Franchère,
Narrative,
pp. 126–27.

208
“If you find them kind”
: Irving,
Astoria,
p. 52.

209
“a parcel of lazy, thieving Indians”
: Ross Cox,
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
(New York: J. & J. Harper, 1832), p. 63.

one blanket and one knife
: Alfred Seton,
Astorian Adventure: The Journal of Alfred Seton, 1811–1815,
ed. Robert F. Jones (New York: Fordham University Press, 1993), p. 92.

With a smile of contempt
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 163.

“would be more than a match”
: Cox,
Adventures on the Columbia River,
p. 64.

210
a Clayoquot chief on deck
: Ibid.

Who first fell to the deck differs with various accounts
: The account that follows is based partly on testimony and, to a lesser degree, partly on conjecture and reconstruction. Accounts of the battle aboard the
Tonquin
appear in the following sources: Seton, McDougall, Irving, Franchère, Cox, Ross, and a
Missouri Gazette
article of May 15, 1813. This last account is not based on the testimony of the interpreter, Joseachal, but on some earlier unknown source. Howay gives a discussion of the different sources. Howay, “The Loss of the
Tonquin,” Washington Historical Quarterly
13, no. 2 (April 1922): 83–92. There were also clearly a number of accounts of the incident, which is still remembered today in Clayoquot Sound, from the Indians themselves who made their way to the Astorians. The account I use here generally follows Irving’s version, supplemented with these other accounts, as Irving had most complete access to both interviews with Astorians and the records of McDougall, Seton, and others.

bending over a bale of blankets
: Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 183.

a pair of pistols
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 162.

211
the only weapon he carried
: Ibid., p. 164.

“Covered with wounds, and exhausted from the loss of blood”
: Cox,
Adventures on the Columbia River,
p. 65.

212
they seized with calloused hands
: Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 184.

There were five or six survivors
: Irving,
Astoria,
pp. 111–12; Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 184.

212
The survivors then opened fire
: Irving,
Astoria,
p. 112.

213
take McKay hostage
: Cox,
Adventures on the Columbia River,
p. 65.

“favourite among the Indians”
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 161.

214
“The last time the ill-fated gentleman was seen”
: Cox,
Adventures on the Columbia River,
p. 65.

a headwind blew into the cove
: Irving,
Astoria,
p. 113.

215
he would prefer suicide
: Ibid., p. 114.

“The wounded man showed himself over the railing”
: Howay, “The Loss of the
Tonquin.
”

216
Shattered bits of wood
: This eyewitness account below of the explosion of the
Tonquin
is from Kevin Robinson and David W. Griffiths, “Investigations of a Potential Shipwreck Site, Templar Channel, Clayoquot Sound, B.C.,” Tonquin Foundation, May 2005, p. 60: “In the 1860’s Ten-ta-coose, a former slave of the Tla-o-qui-aht, told Jason Allard of Fort Langley that he had been at Clayoquot when he had seen a large ship attacked and blown up. ‘
Ten-ta-coose, the slave . . . saw the tall masts break and crumble . . . bodies thrown into the air to fall broken into the water, and wood, and iron and tattered fragments of sailcloth and humanity he saw blasted high into the sky.
. . .’
”

Joseachal apparently heard
: Irving,
Astoria,
pp. 113–114.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

218
Knowing this history, McDougall invited
: McDougall journal entry, July 1, 1811, in Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
p. 30.

“I have but to draw the cork”
: Irving,
Astoria,
p. 117.

52 of the 102 original Plymouth colonists
: Nathaniel Philbrick,
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
(New York: Viking, 2006), p. 90.

named
Dolly
, after Astor’s effervescent teenage daughter
: Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
p. 52.

219
reach the Spanish settlements
: McDougall journal entry, November 14, 1811, in ibid., p. 58.

Known to the natives
: The origins of the name of the Willamette River are controversial. Writing in 1947, Howard Corning claimed the river had no name among the Indians. Rather, the tribes named each stretch after its inhabitants. The modern spelling came to prominence when Charles Wilkes brought his exploring expedition to Oregon in 1841. Howard McKinley Corning,
Willamette Landings: Ghost Towns of the River
(Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1947), pp. 8–10.

as the
Cathlanaminim: Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 135.

220
“It rained in torrents and was dark as pitch”
: Ibid., pp. 134–36.

The downpour leaked into the fort’s cellars
: McDougall journal entry, October 11, 1811, in Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
p. 52.

220
particularly rich in beaver
: Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
p. 90. See footnote regarding Mackenzie’s report that led to a fur post on the river near Salem.

222
The sick list showed six men
: McDougall journal, in ibid., p. 68. Franchère indicates that McDougall was also suffering illness around this time, badly enough to confine him to his quarters. Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 144.

“
but in a pitiable condition”
: Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 150.

Crossing mountains northward and struggling
: Rollins,
The Discovery of the Oregon Trail,
pp. 80–82.

223
Wilson Price Hunt and his party
: McDougall journal entry, February 15, 1812, in Jones,
Annals of Astoria
, p. 72; and Stuart journal.

“The emaciated, downcast looks”
: Ross,
Adventures,
pp. 182–83.

voyageurs embracing voyageurs
: Irving,
Astoria,
pp. 325–26.

the several struggling voyageurs
: McDougall writes that the Overland Party left behind Crooks and five other men. Journal entry, February 15, 1812, in Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
p. 72.

teenager by the name of Archibald Pelton
: J. Neilson Barry, “Archibald Pelton, the First Follower of Lewis and Clark,”
Washington Historical Quarterly
19, no. 3 (July 1928): 199–201.

225
His name would eventually enter the Chinook trade jargon
: Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
p. 86, and Ruby and Brown,
The Chinook Indians,
p. 150. Two dictionaries of the Chinook jargon by George C. Shaw and Edwin Harper Thomas indicate
pelton
means “crazy.” George C. Shaw,
The Chinook Jargon and How to Use It: A Complete and Exhaustive Lexicon of the Oldest Trade Language of the American Continent
(Seattle: Rainier, 1909), p. 45; Edwin Harper Thomas,
Chinook: A History and Dictionary,
2nd ed. (Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1970), p. 113.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

227
trading less than $200 worth
: Jay H. Buckley, “Life at Fort Astoria: John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company post on the Columbia River,”
Proceedings of the 2012 Fur Trade Symposium,
ed. Jim Hardee (Pinedale, WY: Sublette County Historical Society/Museum of the Mountain Man, 2013). Ross relates that the Indians at Okanagan were so eager to trade that he need only give five tobacco leaves per pelt, and one of the chiefs gave twenty beaver skins for one yard of white cotton. Ross,
Adventures,
p. 200. According to Franchère, the Okanagan trade produced 140 packets of furs that Stuart and McKenzie transported back to Astoria. Franchère,
Narrative,
p. 170. McDougall wrote in his journal that Stuart “gave a very satisfactory account of the country, as abounding in Beaver, etc.” McDougall journal entry, January 27, 1812, in Jones,
Annals of Astoria,
p. 69.

228
Hunt sent two clerks
: Rollins,
The Discovery of the Oregon Trail,
p. 67 fn. 29.

“zeal of a true Irishman”
: Irving,
Astoria,
pp. 344, 348.

229
The three parties set out
: Ross,
Adventures,
p. 184.

On a good day
: Stuart,
Robert Stuart’s Narratives,
p. 52.

230
“saucy, impudent Rascals”
: Stuart journal entry, July 14, 1812, in ibid., pp. 51–52.

The shiny metal box
: Irving,
Astoria,
p. 348.

according to Stuart’s account
: Stuart journal entry, July 20, 1812, in
Robert Stuart’s Narratives,
p. 56.