took possession of the River and the Country in its vicinity in His Britannic Majesty's name having every reason to believe that the subjects of no other civilized Nation or State had ever entered this River before; in this opinion he was confirmed by Mr. Gray's sketch in which it does not appear that Mr. Gray either saw or was within five Leagues of its entrance."
According to Lt. Broughton's observations. Vancouver's Point[1] is situated in Lat. 45° 27′ and Long. 237° 50′ computed to be about 100 miles from the mouth of the river.
In 1793. Sir Alexr. McKenzie crossed the Rocky Mountains and reached the coast about Lat. 52½ and soon after[2] that time the North West Company of Montreal established trading Posts in the Country West of the Rocky Mountains on the head waters of the North Branch of the Columbia among the Flathead and Coutouais Tribes, and continued gradually to explore the country and extend their Trade towards the Coast down the Columbia as well as to the Northward.
Capts. Lewis and Clark in the command of an expedition fitted out by the American Government, ascended the Missouri, crossed the Rocky Mountains, descended the South branch of the Columbia called in "Arrowsmiths' map" "Lewis's River" and which falls into the main or North Branch in Lat. 46° 15′; they proceeded to the mouth of the River and passed the winter 1805–6 at Young's Bay, on the South side of the River. At this period,[3] the British fur traders had pushed their trading post nearer to the junction of the Lewis's River with the North Branch of the Columbia River. In 1809 an Association[4] composed of British and American subjects was formed in New York for the purpose of carrying on the fur Trade on
- ↑ As to the true location of Point Vancouver, see Or. Hist. Quar. [[../../Volume 18|Vol. 18]], page 73.
- ↑ The first trading post "established by the North-West Company on Columbia river waters was by David Thompson in July, 1807, near the source of the river and called Kootenais House. In November, 1809, another trading post was established by Mr. Thompson among the Saleesh or Flathead tribe in Montana; and Spokane House on that river in 1810.
- ↑ There were no trading posts at all west of the Rocky Mountains on rivers draining into the Pacific in 1805 but in 1806 Simon Fraser established two trading posts on the waters of the Fraser river at Lake Stuart and Fraser Lake.
- ↑ The organization of the Pacific Fur Company is narrated in Irving's "Astoria" and by Mr. Astor himself in his letter dated January 4th, 1823, and addressed to Secretary of State John Quincy Adams; this is printed in full in the Appendix of Greenhow's History of Oregon. Mr. Astor states that he furnished ALL the capital for the enterprise and that the British subjects connected with it were partners only for a share in any profits. Those subjects were Alexander McKay, Duncan McDougall, Donald McKenzie, David Stuart and John Clarke. They reached the Columbia in March, 1811. (McKenzie in 1812.)
