The Volcanoes of Wilson Price Hunt |
| Wilson Price Hunt |
The first American fur trading
expedition was formed by John Jacob Astor.
He hoped to cross the continent
overland and by sea, and create a trading post
at the mouth of the Columbia River. William Price Hunt used
the information supplied by the Lewis and Clark
expedition to lead the overland Astorians. They reached the
mouth of the Columbia in February of 1812
where the fort "Astoria" had already been erected by the
seafaring group that had arrived months earlier.
Hunt's journal covers the trip from the Arikara villages on the Missourri River,
to Astoria, Oregon, on the Columbia River.
The part of the journal reproduced here covers the
journey from the Umatilla River down the Columbia River in 1812.
Hunt's journal was first published in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, Paris, 1821.
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| Introduction |
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By July 18, 1811, Donald McKenzie,
Ramsay Crooks, Joseph Miller, Robert McClellan, John Reed, and I [Wilson Price
Hunt], in company with fifty-six men,
a woman, and two children had traveled up the Missouri River from St. Louis
to the village of the Aricaras. We left
there with eighty-two horses packing commodities, munitions, food, and
animal traps. Everyone walked except the
company partners and the woman, a squaw. We took a southwesterly
route and came to the banks of the
Ramparre, a little river that flows into the Missouri below the Aricaras' village.
...... |
| On the Umatilla River |
|
We got under way again on the 15th and reached the village of the Sciatogas on the banks of the Umatilla River.
These Indians told us about a river upstream that they called the Walla Walla. According to Clark's map, I supposed
it to be the little river that he places at a confluence with the Columbia, near some beds of shellfish. From what I
learned, the Canoe River is Lewis's Kemoenoum. (15 miles northwest)
These Indians had some venison, but they wanted to sell it at such a high price that I could not afford it. They hunt deer by chasing them on horseback and surrounding them. They use the bow and arrow with remarkable skill, and are superb horsemen. It rained so heavily during our stay on the banks of the Umatilla that the water rose with amazing speed. We were compelled to break camp in a hurry. Three of our horses tied to stakes in the lowlands were drowned. The Indians also had to move to higher ground. I bought four horses from them. I wanted quite a number because the Indians told me that I could get a canoe in exchange for a horse. They added that in about six nights I would be at the Great Falls of the Columbia. |
| On the 19th we continued downstream along the Umatilla. Beaver must be abundant here, for many places were filled by their dams. Several of my people traveled on horseback, as I did. On the opposite side of the river we saw the lodges of the Akaitehis Indians who live on the Columbia. One of them swam to our camp and gave us some very satisfying details about the white men who had preceded us going downriver. (15 miles northwest) |
| I bought still another horse from the Sciatogas who again had moved their camp below us, and I said good-bye to them. They are the cleanest Indians that I know of and, like all the others, they are very proud. They eat neither dogs nor horses, and they will not allow anyone to bring the meat of these animals into their tents. I pleased them no end when I told them that I would return to their village with merchandise to trade for beaver. They already had some pelts and they told a very confusing tale about some white men who came to trade and who gave them tobacco and smoked with them. One of the white men, they said, had a house on the Columbia. My Canadians thought that the white man in question must be an agent of the Northwest Company. (12 miles west) |
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On the Columbia River
Mount Hood |
|
At last, on the 21st, we reached the banks of the Columbia
, for such a long long time our cherished goal. We had
come 1,751 miles and had lived through unbelievable hardship and privation. I expressed with difficulty our joy at
the sight of this river. It was three quarters of a mile wide here; its banks were bare of trees, were filled with
pebbles and in some places with steep rocks.
The area was inhabited by the Akaitchis Indians, a wretchedly poor tribe that have neither moccasins nor leggings. Their clothing consists of only a robe of buffalo, deer, rabbit, fox, or even duck skin. To this meager equipment, they sometimes add wolf-skin sleeves. Their huts are well constructed of matting with roofs like the roofs of houses. These structures are very light and warm. Holes scooped out of the ground and lined with mats are living quarters for the women, who are usually naked. Some have a fragment of robe to cover their shoulders, but all of them wear around their waists a leather belt that passes between their thighs and indicates that they aim to be modest. These Indians are better stocked with food than the Snakes, for it seems that dried salmon is plentiful in their homes. They gave us many fresh salmon trout that they had caught at the mouth of the Umatilla River. This is excellent fish. Their canoes are made of pine trunks split in half, and consequently they are not raised at either bow or stern. Since they have no special tool, they use fire to hollow out their trees. We crossed the river because the Akaitchis told us that the trail passed along the right, or north, bank. |
| We left on the 23rd after purchasing some fresh fish and nine dogs. The route along the river was very good. We camped that night close to a village of Indians who had about 50 canoes. I bought nine dogs that were quite fat and made a delicious dinner. Their meat seemed most savory to us, both wholesome and strengthening; on the other hand, horsemeat, however well prepared, is not nourishing, no matter how much of it one eats. The weather was beautiful and very mild, much like the beautiful days of the month of October. (12 miles) |
| From the 24th to the 28th we followed the river which flows almost directly west. Its banks are generally bare. Frequently we came upon Indian lodges and the Indians sold us dogs, but they put such a high price on elk or deer meat that I could not afford it. Moreover, they caused us much trouble by stealing the ropes by which our horses were tethered. The animals ran away and we lost a great deal of time rounding them up. Sometimes the Indians stole the horses and hid them. The natives here ate acorns and told me that a short distance from the river we could find many white oaks. (57 miles west) |
| On the 28th the countryside again became quite mountainous. The Indians seemed to be less wretched. They told me of some white men who had built a large house at the mouth of the river, surrounding it with stakes, etc. They themselves had not gone to the river mouth, but they insisted that the white men were concerned and were waiting for a large number of their friends. They watched constantly from the banks of the Columbia, these Indians said, and when their friends arrived, those at the river's mouth would dry their tears and sing and dance. |
| On the 29th the mountains and rocks along the riverside became more numerous. The Indians whom we saw had many horses, and we began to set up a watch at night. (15 miles) |
| We camped on the 30th opposite the mouth of the Deschutes, called Tou-et-ka by the Indians. They came in great numbers to dance in honor of our arrival, but their multitude worried me. I pretended to be ill and asked that I be left alone. In a short time they complied with my wishes. (14 miles) |
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On the 31st we passed Celilo Falls that we had viewed in the distance the day before. I could not see the largest of
them which was on the south bank. The river course is dammed by rocks over which the water rushes violently
through several channels.
A village called Ouaioumpoum is situated on the north river bank at that spot where the Falls begin. The Indians give a special name to each village that has more than one lodge in it, and they love to talk about their villages to strangers. At an early hour we reached the village of Wishram. It is at the entrance to a long gorge through which the river has carved a channel of from 200 to 240 feet wide and several miles long. This is the great fishing ground of the Columbia. It looks like one of the seaport villages on the east coast of the United States. On both sides of the river we saw large platforms made of carefully woven stakes. On these the Indians dry their fish. The ground around them is covered with bones and heads of fish. In the spring when the river waters are high, the salmon arrive in schools so large that the Indians can catch them in purse nets attached to the ends of poles. To accomplish this they stand on the edges of those rocks that extend farthest in to the river. The Indians in this area are the most intelligent that I have met so far. One of them who knew a few English words told me that Mr. David Stuart had gone to one of the northern tributaries of the Columbia to spend the winter; he had, in fact, seen Stuart's trading post. And he recounted for me the disaster that overtook Mr. McKay and the ship Tonquin. Today we saw some little white oaks. The countryside became more rugged and the mountains higher. Not far below the Falls, on the south bank, we saw a snow-covered peak that I had first seen on the 20th of this month and that I guessed was Vancouver's Mt. Hood. (12 miles) |
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February 1. A great number of Indians gathered this evening near our camp. Since they found no opportunity to
steal our horses or baggage, they planned a unique stratagem in order to get something. They told us that about
forty Indians were coming from downriver to attack us and take our horses. We paid little attention to their
narrative and later some chiefs of their village arrived, armed with knives, spears, etc., telling us the same story,
and saying that they wanted to stay with us. I received them most coldly, though we smoked a pipe together. Then
I assembled everybody in our camp and placed watches at several spots. This procedure produced the effect that I
had hoped for. The Indians soon left and brought to me a man who they said, was chief of the village that had
planned to attack us. They gave him credit for having dispersed the crowd. I smoked with them again, and a little
before daylight they returned to their homes. These rascals thought that by frightening us I would give them two or
three horses to assure the safety of the rest. As one of our horses had got loose on the evening before and was
not to be found in the morning, I sold him for two packs of pounded and dried salmon I each weighing seventy
pounds. We camped that night on the hills in the midst of bushes, pines, and oaks. (10 miles)
I could find only one canoe, that I could get in exchange for a horse. The Indians have large numbers of them, strongly made of pine and raised at both bow and stern, some of them capable of carrying three thousand pounds. Despite my injunctions that we keep close watch, the Indians stole an axe. |
| Encouraged by their success, several of them followed us on the 2nd. They snatched two guns from us and, although our horses were in our camp, made off with one of them at eleven o'clock at night. |
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On the 3rd I embarked in a canoe and sent my horses ahead.
I met my people at a village at the mouth of the Klickitat River that enters the Columbia from the north bank. I bought three canoes, each costing one a horse; but while I traded, the Indians stole a tomahawk and our last axe. They also made off with Dorion's horse that grazed near his tent. The Canadian had unwisely raised his tent some distance from our camp. (9 miles) |
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On the 4th the violence of the wind compelled me to remain, in spite of myself, in this den of thieves. I bought still
another canoe for a horse; and on the next day when I reached another village, I traded our last three horses for
two canoes. It seemed to me that the trail by land ended at this village. Hills became snow-covered mountains on
which we saw pines. They bordered the river on both sides. Cottonwoods, oaks, and ash trees grew on the
waterside, oaks on the nearby hills.
The rain increased greatly and the wind held me for several days opposite an Indian village. A Clatsop Indian came to see us and spoke to me about the establishment at the mouth of the Columbia - as well as about the tragic loss of Mr. McKay. He was the third man to relate to me this grievous story. He knew a few English words and asked me for news about Mr. Lewis and Mr. Clark and some of their companions. However, he had learned of the death of Mr. Lewis. (26 miles) |
| The wind subsided on the 10th and we got under way early. When we arrived at the beginning of some large rapids (15 miles), I examined the portage on the north bank. The trail was only good for something over a mile. We therefore landed all our canoes at ten o'clock and within an hour we were below the rapids which are very large. In dashing against the rocks, the water produces some unusually high waves. No boat could ride through them, at least in the present condition of the river which narrows formidably between hills and rocks. From this point on downriver, oaks and ash become more common. We saw quantities of hazelnut trees, too. At these rapids we found a second salmon fishery, a village on the north bank, and three lodges on the opposite side. The Indians here have a penchant for blue glass beads. Numerous rivulets that plunge down from the mountains above add to the beauty of the countryside. (16 miles) |
| On the 11th rapids covering space of miles forced us again to land our canoes. Finally about eight miles from the great rapids we encountered the last of them. Below this the river spreads to its usual width, which is about three-quarters of a mile wide. The hills diminish in size and retreat from the river banks. The intervening space is covered with pine, oak, ash, cottonwood, maple, hazel, and willow trees. (12 miles) |
| On the 13th I passed the confluence of the Sandy River, which rushes from the south bank of the Columbia through two mouths, thereby forming a great sandbar. Twenty miles farther downstream the Columbia is joined by another river [the Willamette] that is nearly 1,800 feet wide. A large island [Sauvie Island] stands before its mouth and several small islands below it. The Columbia at this point is about a mile and a quarter wide. On both sides we found vast rush-covered areas, some small prairies, and often some ponds. Seals were numerous here. We could see more distinctly than before the mountain that I mentioned earlier and that I have no doubt is Vancouver's Mt. Hood. For two days the wind blew with great force. Rain, hail, and snow fell. (52 miles) |
| On the 14th the mountains once more drew close. We camped at the mouth of a small river on the north bank [the Cowlitz]. Indians spoke to us about the establishment of our compatriots, adding that we had one more night before arriving. (36 miles) |
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On the 15th we passed several large islands. The terrain on the north bank was covered with oak and ash trees but
all were inundated. I stopped by some Indian huts where I found four of our Fort Astoria men who were trading
sturgeon and fishing for some excellent little fish that are about six inches long. The Indians call them othlecan
[candlefish] and catch many of them in the spring. We made camp on two low islands near the south bank. (27
miles)
During our trip on the river we had frequently come to the lodges of Indians who sold us dogs, dried salmon, beaver pelts, wapatoo roots - which are the ouapasippin of Mississippi - finally some Othlecan. |
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On the 16th we departed early. It had rained during the night and the fog was so thick that we could see only the
lowlands and some small islands. All were inundated. The fog dissipated in the afternoon at high tide. I realized that
we were paddling through a large bay and soon afterward I saw Fort Astoria on the south bank. (30 miles)
I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. McKenzie and Mr. McClellan once again. They had arrived a month earlier after suffering unbelievable hardships. In my diary I had noted February 16. At the fort it was counted the 15th. It was a great delight for travelers overcome with weariness to rest comfortably, surrounded by friends, after such a long journey in the midst of savage people of whom it is always wise to be wary. We had covered 2,073 miles since leaving the village of the Aricaras. |
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