west Company had already penetrated the passes of the Rockies and were trading and exploring both on the Fraser and the upper Columbia, and a line of trading connections down to tide-water was their coveted goal. The Astorians at the mouth of the Columbia knew when they came out that the Northwesters were operating on the west side of the continental divide, and had been for a number of years, but apparently they knew this only in a general and indefinite way. They had no exact information as to the extent of the Northwest trading operations west of the Rockies, nor how far to the westward of those mountains that company's men had penetrated, but they were soon to learn. The first direct intimation that the Northwesters were close at hand came to the Astorians about two months after they had landed, and while they were just getting well started with the construction of the buildings at "Astoria," when two strange Indians from the interior appeared. They bore a letter addressed to "Mr. John Stuart, Fort Estekatadene, New Caledonia." They explained that they had been sent by Mr. Finnan M'Donald, a clerk in the service of the Northwest Company, who was in charge of a post recently built on the Spokane, and were commissioned to deliver the letter to Mr. Stuart on the Fraser. That while en route they had heard from the Indians up the Columbia, that there were white men at the mouth, and thinking that Mr. Stuart would probably be found among them, they had come to deliver the letter. The Astorians derived much information from these Indians in regard to the interior and also in regard to the operations of the Northwesters, and it was decided to send an expedition into the interior under the command of the partner, David Stuart, to establish a competing post, and July 15th was fixed upon as the date when it was to start. The above is Franchere's version as to when and how it was first determined to send a trading party into the interior. Alexander Ross, however, makes it appear that it was not decided to send out such expedition till after July 15th. Anyhow about noon on July 15th, 1811, the Astorians were considerably surprised by the unexpected arrival of a canoe flying the British

flag, manned by five French-Canadians and two Iroquois Indians, and bearing Mr. David Thompson, a partner in the Northwest Company.

This famous termination of Thompson's "dash" or "race" down the Columbia from its headwaters in the interests of his company, has been the theme of much historical mention, and we have quite generally been led to believe, that ever since the previous autumn, when he left the Saskatchewan for the Columbia, he had been striving and straining every nerve within him for the sole object and purpose of getting through to the mouth of the great river in advance of the Astorians. History appears to have accepted it as a fact, that Thompson came racing down the Columbia bent on the sole and exclusive purpose of forestalling the Astorians in the mouth, and arrived there only to find himself beaten in the attempt and the purpose of his efforts thwarted by the American company's previous arrival. But a careful reading and consideration of his journals now available, together with other contemporaneous writings, has lately caused students of Thompsonian history to doubt if there is anything to substantiate or justify any such positive statements. The frequent stops to confer with Indians, examine the country along the way, take observations, repair boats, recruit the men, catch fish, etc., make it appear to the reader of his original journal that the most of the time he was not hurrying along at all, but had more in mind, the gathering of all possible information about the country and the tribes occupying it.

The record that Thompson wrote on the ground from day to day in 1811, makes it very clearly appear that he was seeking to open out a trade route to the sea at the mouth of the Columbia, and the amount of time he spent in stopping to visit and get acquainted with the Indians along the way, and also to inquire about the fur and food producing possibilities of the various sections, shows that the establishment of trade relations with the tribes occupied an important position in his mind, and that he certainly was not sacrificing it in order to rush down the Columbia to seize a strategic point in advance

of the Astorians. To be sure he was traveling with great vigor, when he did travel, but that was the way of the Northwesters. Taking his original journal for our guidance, it begins to look as if it would be more proper to say that his arrival at Astoria was merely the culmination of a plan that he had been for several years endeavoring to carry forward, as fast as his opportunities and the means supplied him would permit, viz. To open out as soon as possible for the Northwest Company, a trade route and chain of posts on Columbian waters to the sea. The work of exploring, and at the same time occupying with self sustaining trading stations, that vast and rugged country filled with unknown tribes of Indians whose confidence and friendship had to be won, was a task that took a great deal of time, hence the four years and over that elapsed from the time when he first reached Columbian waters, till he was finally able to push through to the mouth.

It is not necessary to discuss here what happened during the seven days that Thompson remained at Astoria more than to say that considerable sparring in the way of fur trade diplomacy was indulged in by both sides, each endeavoring to represent its strength to the best advantage, and likewise to find out as much as possible from the other, without disclosing too much to the other, but on the whole it appears that both parties were fairly frank in most respects, and very courteous. The Astorians being determined to send an expedition up the Columbia to establish an inland post, it was agreed between them and Thompson that the brigade made up for that purpose should start out with the Thompson party on its return up the Columbia for mutual assistance and protection, as the Indians along the river in the vicinity of the Cascades were a plundering, predatory lot of miscreants. Accordingly on the 22nd day of July, 1811, the two parties started up the Columbia from Astoria. Old David Stuart was in charge of the Astor party, with him were the clerks, Ovide de Montigney, Francis Pillette, Donald McLennan and Alexander Ross, two or three Canadian voyageurs whose names are not specified in any of the accounts and two Sandwich Islanders. It should be under

stood that when the "Tonquin" stopped at the Hawaiian Islands on the way out, quite a number of the natives from those islands were employed and brought along on the ship. These proved very efficient boatmen and packers, especially during hot weather. Alexander Ross in his "Adventures" gives us a very full and complete account of the trip up the river, of the establishment of the post at the mouth of the Okanogan, and the course of events there during the first two years of its existence; and in a subsequent book entitled "Fur Hunters of the Far West," he gives us a history quite complete of Fort Okanogan and surrounding country up till about 1816, for Ross was in charge of the post off and on pretty much all the time between 1811 and 1816, when he was transferred, first down to Fort George as staff clerk, afterwards to Kamloops and still later to the establishment on the Walla Walla. For our narrative of the first trip of the Astorians up the Columbia in July and August, 1811, we will very briefly follow the chronicle left by Ross in his "Adventures."

The joint parties of Stuart and Thompson did not continue far together. The Thompson party was traveling light. Their canoe was not loaded with any merchandise for trade. On the other hand Stuart and his men were not only laden, but they did not have canoes suitable for up-river work. They had merely obtained from the Indians at the mouth of the Columbia, two ordinary big dug-outs, such as were commonly used by the natives of that quarter. Ross says that the Stuart party traveled in "two clumsy chinook canoes, each laden with fifteen or twenty packages of goods of ninety pounds weight." By July 24th the combined parties had reached the mouth of the Willamette. On the 28th they reached and passed the cascades of the Columbia. On the 31st, Mr. Thompson's party finding themselves able to travel faster than the canoes of Mr. Stuart, proceeded on by themselves. On August 6, Thompson reached the mouth of the Snake river (he called it Chapaton river). From this point he dispatched a letter to the Spokane establishment, directing that horses be sent to meet him, as he proposed to return across country instead of going around up the Columbia on his way back.

He then proceeded up the Snake to the mouth of the Palouse river, where he obtained horses from some Indians, and went overland to Spokane House, arriving there August 13th, missing the horses sent to meet him. A few days later he went on to Kettle Falls and shortly afterwards, another dash took him up through the Arrow Lakes, and thus during the spring and summer of 1811, Thompson traveled every mile of the Columbia river from its sources to the sea. As he and his party on the way down the Columbia were the first white men to reach the mouth of the Okanogan, and were several weeks in advance of the Astorians amongst those scenes along the Columbia in the vicinity of the place where it was shortly to transpire that old Fort Okanogan was to be established, we will drop for the time being, the narrative of the progress of the Stuart party, toiling up the river and briefly mention a few of the interesting details recorded by Thompson as he was passing through this section on his way down. He left Kettle Falls July 3rd, 1811, at 6:30 A. M., in a canoe built there especially for the purpose. It was manned by seven men besides himself, five of whom were French-Canadians and two Iroquois Indians. They also had two San Poil Indians with them as interpreters and guides. These are the opening entries for the trip as the same appear in his journals:

"July 3rd, 1811. Voyage to the mouth of the Columbia, By the Grace of God, By D. Thompson and 7 men on the part of the N. W. Company.

Wednesday. After arranging several small affairs, we in number 8 men with 2 Simpoil Indians, set off on a voyage down the Columbia River to explore this river in order to open out a passage for the interior trade with the Pacific Ocean. My men are Michel Beaudreau, Pierre Panet (or Pariel), Joseph Cote, Michel Boullard, Francois Gregorie, with Charles and Ignace."

With a small assortment of goods to buy in provisions, etc., our course down the river from the Ilthokayape Falls at 61⁄2 A. M. course S. 15 degrees W. 2-3 mile. S. 8 degrees E. 1⁄2 a mile.-4 of a mile. The brook of our late portage on the left about 30 yards wide. Course plus 1 mile &c &c."