FORT VANCOUVER The History of Fort Vancouver and its Physical Structure

¹Robert Carlton Clark, History of the Willamette Valley, Oregon (3 vols., Chicago, 1927), I, 153.

²This account of maritime explorations and the opening of the Northwest coastal fur trade is based upon Charles Henry Carey, A General History of Oregon Prior to 1861 (2 vols., Portland, Ore., 1935-1936), I, 17-99; George Washington Fuller, A History of the Pacific Northwest (New York, 1931), 42-56; Oscar Osburn Winther, The Great Northwest: A History (New York, 1947), 21-32.

³The best general summaries of the operations of the North West Company in the Columbia region are Gordon Charles Davidson, The North West Company (University of California Publications in History, VII, Berkeley, 1918); and, particularly, Marion O'Neil, The North West Company on the Pacific Slope (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1940). Also useful in preparing the above account was Clark, History of the Willamette Valley, I, 121-152. See also A. Kennedy to G. Simpson, "Spokan," April 12, 1823, in Frederick Merk, ed., Fur Trade and Empire; George Simpson's Journal . . . 1824-1825 (Harvard Historical Studies, XXXI, Cambridge, Mass., 1931), 193-194.

⁴Frederick Merk, "Snake Country Expedition, 1824-1825," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXXV (June, 1934), 93-95; J. H. Pelly to Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade, London, February 7, 1838, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 339-344. If the trade did not produce actual losses, at least the profits during those years were so low as to lead Pelly to describe the operations as "unprofitable."

⁵Marion O'Neil, "The Maritime Activities of the North West Company, 1813 to 1821, in Washington Historical Quarterly, XXI (October, 1930), 245, 265-267.

⁶Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 47.

⁷Ibid., 43.

⁸R. Harvey Fleming, ed., Minutes of Council Northern Department of Rupert Land, 1821-31 (Publications of the Champlain Society, Hudson's Bay Company Series, III, Toronto, 1940) (hereinafter cited as H. B. S., III), xxx, 412; E. E. Rich, ed., The Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, First Series, 1825-1838 (Publications of the Champlain Society, Hudson's Bay Company Series, IV, Toronto, 1941) (hereinafter cited as H. B. S., IV), xvi; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 176-177, 339-340; Winther, The Great Northwest, 48.

⁹Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, xi.

¹⁰Hudson's Bay Company, Hudson's Bay Company: Incorporated 2nd May, 1670: A Brief History (London, 1934), 19, 22; Robert Eugene Pinkerton, Hudson's Bay Company (London, 1932), 252.

¹¹H. B. S., III, xi. For a somewhat different appraisal of the situations of the two companies, see Davidson, North West Company, 168-174. See also E. E. Rich and R. Harvey Fleming, eds., Colin Robertson's Correspondence Book, September 1817 to September 1822 (Publications of the Champlain Society, Hudson's Bay Company Series, II, Toronto, 1939) (hereinafter cited as H. B. S., II), c-cvi.

¹²The results of the most recent research on the background of the coalition are utilized by Dr. W. Kaye Lamb in his splendid introduction to H. B. S., IV. See pp. xli-xlvii. There are a number of general histories of the Hudson's Bay Company. Probably still the best is George Bryce, The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company (London, 1900).

¹³The actual terms of the merger were much more involved than can be represented in this summary. As a matter of fact, it took several years to work out all the details of the organization as described below. The texts of the indenture and Deed Poll can be found, among other places, in H. B. S., II, 302-344. Another important document, the Deed of Dissolution of September 15, 1824, is printed in British and American Joint Commission for the Final Settlement of the Claims of the Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies, [Papers] (14 vols., Washington; Montreal, 1865-1869) (hereinafter cited as Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers), [II], 277-312. Summaries of the merger details may be found in H. B. S., III, xi, xiii-xv; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, xi-xviii; William Stewart Wallace, ed., Documents Relating to the North West Company (Publications of the Champlain Society, XXII, Toronto, 1934), 26-34.

¹⁴Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, xii-xiii.

¹⁵Governor and Committee to G. Simpson, London, February 27, 1822, in H. B. S., III, 300-312.

¹⁶As a matter of fact, the administration of the fur trade in North America was a bit more complicated than indicated here. For several years after 1821 the trade of the Canadian provinces centering about Montreal—the exact districts covered varied from time to time—was in the hands of the agents of the North West Company. Due to various difficulties, the agents were eliminated from their special position in the new Hudson's Bay Company, and the Montreal Department was placed under the jurisdiction of George Simpson in 1826. For a time thereafter the Montreal trade was under the direction of the Northern Council, although it appears, generally, to have been under the Southern Department. See H. B. S., III, xi, xlvii-liv, 141, 204, 271, 284.

¹⁷H. B. S., II, cxvii; H. B. S., III, lxxiii; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, xv; Edmund Henry Oliver, The Canadian North-West (Publications of the Canadian Archives, no. 9, 2 vols, Ottawa, 1914-1915), I, 630.

¹⁸The text of the Parliamentary act may conveniently be found in Hudson's Bay Company, Charters, Statutes, Orders in Council, &c. Relating to the Hudson's Bay Company (London, 1931), 93-102.

¹⁹The text of the license of 1838 maybe found, among other places, in Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons, Select Committee on the Hudson's Bay Company, Report from the Select Committee on the Hudson's Bay Company [London, 1857] (hereinafter cited as Select Committee, Report), 414-416.

²⁰J. H. Pelley to Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade, London, February 7, 1838, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 339-344.

²¹Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 339-344.

²²Governor and Committee to G. Simpson, London, February 27, 1822, in H. B. S., III, 300-312.

²³H. B. S., III, 300-312.

²⁴Ibid., 399; H. B. S., IV, xv.

²⁵Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 176-177.

²⁶H. B. S., III, 415.

²⁷H. B. S., III, 337-341, 341-357; H. B. S., IV, xvi-xvii.

²⁸H. B. S., III, xxx; H. B. S., IV, xvii-xix.

²⁹H. B. S., III, 300-312, 341-357. For a description of the new route and a brief discussion of the traffic over it, see Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 349-350.

³⁰H. B. S., III, xxx-xxxi, 300-312, 334-335; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 177-178, 191-193, 207-208; O'Neil, The North West Company on the Pacific Slope, 196.

³¹H. B. S., IV, xx-xxi.

³²H. B. S., III, 412-414.

³³Ibid., 302, 334-336, 343, 415.

³⁴Ibid., 334-336.

³⁵Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 240, 252.

³⁶Ibid., 195-196.

³⁷H. B. S., IV, xxi-xxii.

³⁸Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 208. Concerning relations between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Foreign and Colonial offices, see ibid., p. 241, note 54; H. B. S., IV, xvii-xviii.

³⁹H. B. S., IV, xxii.

⁴⁰Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 240-242.

⁴¹Ibid.

⁴²Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 257-260; also Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XX, 25-34. A letter written by Deputy Governor N. Garry to R. W. Hay, British under secretary for colonial affairs, May 7, 1828, repeats the assertion that the move was made "by the desire of Mr. Canning" and to avoid risk of collision with the Americans, whose government claimed the site of Fort George. Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 297.

⁴³T. C. Elliott, "The Surrender at Astoria in 1818," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XIX (December, 1918), 271-282.

⁴⁴Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 210.

⁴⁵Ibid., 240-242.

⁴⁶Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 240-242.

⁴⁷H. B. S., III, xxiii-xxix; H. B. S., IV, xii-xiii; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, xviii-xxi.

⁴⁸A. Colvile to G. Simpson, London, March 10, 1823, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 189-191.

⁴⁹G. Simpson to A. Colvile, York Factory, September 8, 1823, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 204.

⁵⁰A. Colvile to G. Simpson, London, March 11, 1824, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 205-206; Governor and Committee to G. Simpson, London, March 12, 1824, in ibid., 208.

⁵¹Ibid., 242-246.

⁵²H. B. S., III, xxxii; H. B. S., IV, xxiii.

⁵³G. Simpson to A. Colvile, York Factory, August 9, 1824, in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 242-246.

⁵⁴For a brief biography of McMillan see H. B. S., III, 450-451.

⁵⁵Ibid., 16, 71-72, 84.

⁵⁶There are a number of biographies of John McLoughlin, among which may be mentioned Frederick Van Voorhies Holman, Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon (Cleveland, O., 1907); Robert Cummings Johnson, John McLoughlin; Patriarch of the Northwest (Portland, Ore., 1935); and Richard Gill Montgomery, The White-Headed Eagle, John McLoughlin, Builder of an Empire (New York, 1934). All accounts of McLoughlin's career prior to the time he left the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1846, however, have largely been superseded by the splendid introductions written by Dr. W. Kaye Lamb for the three volumes of The Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, edited by E. E. Rich and published by the Champlain Society and the Hudson's Bay Record Society (Toronto; London, 1941, 1943, 1944).

All of the above works contain descriptions of McLoughlin and estimates of his character. In addition, the present sketch is based upon the following: Neil M. Howison, "Report of Lieutenant Neil M. Howison on Oregon, 1846," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XIV (March, 1913), 22-23; H. S. Lyman, "Reminiscences of F. X. Matthieu," in ibid., I (March, 1900), 95; and Oscar Osburn Winther, Book Review of Douglas MacKay's The Honourable Company, in ibid., XXXVIII (September, 1937), 371-372. See also J. Quinn Thornton, "History of the Provisional Government of Oregon," in Constitution and Quotations from the Register of the Oregon Pioneer Association . . . 1874, 51.

⁵⁷William Fraser Tolmie, "Letter from Dr. Tolmie," in Transactions of the . . . Oregon Pioneer Association for 1884, 30-31.

⁵⁸Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 3-4.

⁵⁹Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 23.

⁶⁰Full details concerning Simpson's journey are available in his journal of the trip, printed in Merk, Fur Trade and Empire.

⁶¹H. B. S., IV, xii.

⁶²Edward Ermatinger, Edward Ermatinger's York Factory Express Journal . . . 1827-1828 [Ottawa, 1912], map facing p. 132.

⁶³Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 43-44, 50-51, 54, 66.

⁶⁴Ibid., 65.

⁶⁵Ibid., 71-72.

⁶⁶Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 58, 66, 87.

⁶⁷Ibid., 47-50, 78.

⁶⁸Ibid., 44-47, 88-89.

⁶⁹H. B. S., IV, xxvii.

⁷⁰Ibid., xxix; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 78-79, 113-118, 248-250.

⁷¹H. B. S., III, xxxv.

⁷²Ibid., xxxv, lxv; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 73, 76-77.

⁷³Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 134-135, 139.

⁷⁴Ibid., 59; H. B. S., IV, xxviii.

⁷⁵Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 5, 210.

⁷⁶Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 65.

⁷⁷See citations in Clark, History of the Willamette Valley, I, 146; H. B. S., IV, xxviii; O'Neil, The North West Company on the Pacific Slope, 178-179.

⁷⁸H. B. S., IV, p. 4, note 2.

⁷⁹Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 87, 105-106; G. Simpson to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, March 1, 1829, as quoted by the Hudson's Bay Company in an enclosure to a letter to Fay G. Peabody, July 5, 1935, which enclosure may be found in Olaf T. Hagen, Report on the Preliminary Inspection of the Proposed Old Fort Vancouver Restoration Project (typescript, National Park Service, 1936), appendix, 48-49.

⁸⁰G. Simpson to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, March 1, 1829, in Hagen, Report, appendix, 48-49.

⁸¹"Copy of a Document Found Among the Private Papers of the Late Dr. John McLoughlin," in Transactions of the . . . Oregon Pioneer Association; for 1880, 46.

⁸²H. B. S., IV, 4.

⁸³Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 92-93.

⁸⁴J. McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, Fort Vancouver, October 6, 1825, in H. B. S., IV, 4-6.

⁸⁵Lewis A. McArthur, Oregon Geographic Names (2nd ed., Portland, Ore., 1944), 39; Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXXV (March, 1934), 85.

⁸⁶Tolmie, "Letter from Dr. Tolmie," in Transactions of the . . . Oregon Pioneer Association for 1884, 31; see also Edmond S. Meany, Origin of Washington Geographic Names (Seattle, 1923), 325.

⁸⁷George Foster Emmons, "Extracts from the Emmons Journal," in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XXVI (September, 1925), 269.

⁸⁸Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, during the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 (5 vols., Philadelphia, 1845), IV, 335.

⁸⁹Br. & Am. Joint Comm., Papers, [II], 51.

⁹⁰Wilkes, Narrative, IV, 335.

⁹¹Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 63-64, 87.

⁹²J. McLoughlin to Governor and Committee, October 6, 1825, in H. B. S., IV, 5.

⁹³H. B. S., IV, 4; Hagen, Report, appendix, 48-49; Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, 86-88, 106.