"Daughters of Time, the hypocritic days,Bear diadems and fagots in their handsTo each they offer gifts after his willBread, kingdoms, stars and sky that hold them all.I, in my pleached garden watched the pomp,Forgot my morning wishes,Hastily took a few herbs and apples,And the day turned and departed, I too late,Under her solemn fillet, saw the scorn!"
"Daughters of Time, the hypocritic days,Bear diadems and fagots in their handsTo each they offer gifts after his willBread, kingdoms, stars and sky that hold them all.I, in my pleached garden watched the pomp,Forgot my morning wishes,Hastily took a few herbs and apples,And the day turned and departed, I too late,Under her solemn fillet, saw the scorn!"
What were America's "morning wishes?" From the beginning of that long westward march of the American people America has never been the home of mere contented materialism. It has continuously sought new ways and dreamed of a perfected social type.
In the fifteenth century when men dealt with the New World which Columbus found, the ideal of discovery was dominant. Here was placed within the reach of men whose ideas had been bounded by the Atlantic, new realms to be explored. America became the land of European dreams, its Fortunate Islands were made real, where, in the imagination of old Europe, peace and happiness, as well as riches and eternal youth, were to be found. To Sir Edwin Sandys and his friends of the London Company, Virginia offered an opportunity to erect the Republic for which they had longed in vain in England. To the Puritans, New England was the new land of freedom, wherein they might establish the institutions of God, according to their own faith. As the vision died away in Virginia toward the close of the seventeenth century, it was taken up anew by the fiery Bacon with his revolution to establish a real democracy in place of the rule of the planter aristocracy, that formed along the Coast. Hardly had he been overthrown when in the eighteenth century, the democratic ideal was rejuvenated by the strong frontiersmen, who pressed beyond the New England Coast into the Berkshires and up the valleys of the Green Mountains of Vermont, and by the Scotch Irish and German pioneers who followed the Great Valley from Pennsylvania into the Upland South. In both the Yankee frontiersmen and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the South, the Calvinistic conception of the importance of the individual, bound by free covenant to his fellow men and to God, was a compelling influence, and all their wilderness experience combined to emphasize the ideals of opening new ways, of giving freer play to the individual, and of constructing democratic society.
When the backwoodsmen crossed the Alleghanies they put between themselves and the Atlantic Coast a barrier which seemed to separate them from a region already too much like the Europe they had left, and as they followed the courses of the rivers that flowed to the Mississippi, they called themselves "Men of the Western Waters," and their new home in the Mississippi Valley was the "Western World." Here, by the thirties, Jacksonian democracy flourished, strong in the faith of the intrinsic excellence of the common man, in his right to make his own place in the world, and in his capacity to share in government. But while Jacksonian democracy demanded these rights, it was also loyal to leadership as the very name implies. It was ready to follow to the uttermost the man in whom it placed its trust, whether the hero were frontier fighter or president, and it even rebuked and limited its own legislative representatives and recalled its senators when they ran counter to their chosen executive. Jacksonian Democracy was essentially rural. It was based on the good fellowship and genuine social feeling of the frontier, in which classes and inequalities of fortune played little part. But it did not demand equality of condition, for there was abundance of natural resources and the belief that the self made man had a right to his success in the free competition which western life afforded, was as prominent in their thought as was the love of democracy. On the other hand, they viewed governmental restraints with suspicion as a limitation on their right to work out their own individuality.
For the banking institutions and capitalists of the East they had an instinctive antipathy. Already they feared that the "money power" as Jackson called it, was planning to make hewers of wood and drawers of water of the common people.
In this view they found allies among the labor leaders of the East, who in the same period began their fight for better conditions of the wage earner. These Locofocos were the first Americans to demand fundamental social changes for the benefit of the workers in the cities. Like the Western pioneers they protested against monopolies and special privilege. But they also had a constructive policy, whereby society was to be kept democratic by free gifts of the public land, so that surplus labor might not bid against itself, but might find an outlet in the West. Thus to both the labor theorist and the practical pioneer, the existence of what seemed inexhaustible cheap land and unpossessed resources was the condition of democracy. In these years of the thirties and forties, Western democracy took on its distinctive form. Travellers like De Tocqueville and Harriet Martineau, came to study and to report it enthusiastically to Europe. Miss Martineau pictures the American "exulting that he has caught the true aspect of things past and the depth of futurity which lies before him, wherein to create something so magnificent as the world has scarcely begun to dream of." "There is the strongest hope of a nation that is capable of being possessed with an idea," she adds, and she adjures the American people to "give perpetual and earnest heed to one point, to cherish their high democratic hope, their faith in man. The older they grow the more must they reverence the dreams of their youth."
Side by side with this westward marching army of individualistic liberty-loving democratic back woodsmen, went a more northern stream of pioneers, who cherished similar ideas, but added to them the desire to create new industrial centers, to build up factories, to build railroads, and to develop the country by founding cities and extending prosperity. They were ready to call upon legislatures to aid in this, by subscriptions to stock, grants of franchises, promotion of banking and internal improvements. Government was not to them so much a necessary evil as it was a convenience for promoting their industrial aims. These were the Whig followers of that other Western leader, Henry Clay, and their early strength lay in the Ohio Valley, and particularly among the well-to-do. In the South their strength was found among the aristocracy of the Cotton Kingdom.
Both of these Western groups, Whigs and Democrats alike, had one common ideal: the desire to leave their children a better heritage than they themselves had received, and both were fired with devotion to the ideal of creating in this New World a home more worthy of mankind. Both were ready to break with the past, to boldly strike out new lines of social endeavor, and both believed in American expansion.
Before these tendencies had worked themselves out, three new forces entered. In the sudden extension of our boundaries to the Pacific Coast,which took place in the forties, the nation won so vast a domain that its resources seemed illimitable and its society seemed able to throw off all its maladies by the very presence of these vast new spaces. At the same period the great activity of railroad building to the Mississippi Valley occurred, making these lands available and diverting attention to the task of economic construction. The third influence was the slavery question which, becoming acute, shaped the American ideals and public discussion for nearly a generation. Viewed from one angle, this struggle involved the great question of national unity. From another it involved the question of the relations of labor and capital, democracy and aristocracy. It was not without significance that Abraham Lincoln became the very type of American pioneer democracy, the first adequate and elemental demonstration to the world that that democracy could produce a man who belonged to the ages.
After the war, new national energies were set loose, and new construction and development engaged the attention of the Westerners as they occupied prairies and Great Plains and mountains. Democracy and capitalistic development did not seem antagonistic.
Any survey of Western forces which have affected American ideals, would be sadly defective which failed to take account of the profound influence of immigration. Whether we consider the enthusiasts who came to find in the wilderness the freedom to institute their experiments in religion, or the masses who broke from their Old World habits and customs and turned to America as the land of promise, there is the same note of hope and aspiration. On the dullest faces of the steerage a new light falls as the American gateway is entered. We shall not comprehend the element that are shaping and are to shape our destiny, without due realization of the immigrant's dream.
With the passing of the frontier, Western social and political ideals took new form. Capital began to consolidate in even greater masses, and increasingly attempted to reduce to system and control the processes of industrial development, but of the age of free competition, there came the greatest private fortunes and the most stupendous combination of economic interests in few hands that the world has ever seen. Labor with equal step organized its forces to destroy the old competitive system, it is not strange that the Western pioneers took alarm for their ideals of democracy as the outcome of the free struggle for the national resources became apparent. Prophesied by the Granger movement, these new tendencies came fully into the light with the Populists and from them the new gospel passed to Bryan Democracy, Roosevelt Republicanism and the Progressives.
It was a new gospel, for the Western radical became convinced thathe must sacrifice his ideal of individualism and free competition in order to maintain his ideal of democracy. Under this conviction the Populist revised the pioneer conception of government. He saw in government no longer something outside of him, but the people themselves shaping their own affairs. He demanded therefore an extension of the powers of governments in the interest of his historic ideal of democratic society. He demanded not only free silver, but the ownership of the agencies of communication and transportation, the income tax, the postal savings bank, the provision of means of credit for agriculture, the construction of more effective devices to express the will of the people, primary nominations, direct elections, initiative, referendum and recall. In a word, capital, labor, and the Western pioneer, all deserted the ideal of competitive individualism in order to organize their interests in more effective combinations. The disappearance of the frontier, the closing of the era which was marked by the influence of the West as a form of society, brings with it new problems of social adjustment, new demands for considering our past ideals and our present needs.
Let us recall the conditions of the foreign relations along our borders, the dangers that wait us if we fail to unite in the solution of our domestic problems. Let us recall those internal evidences of the destruction of our old social order. If we take to heart this warning, we shall do well also to recount our historic ideals, to take stock of those purposes, and fundamental assumptions that have gone to make the American spirit and the meaning of America in world history. First of all, there was the ideal of discovery, the courageous determination to break new paths, indifference to the dogma that because an institution or a condition exists, it must remain. All American experience has gone to the making of the spirit of innovation; it is in the blood and will not be repressed.
Then, there was the ideal of democracy, the ideal of a free self directing people, responsive to leadership in the forming of programmes, and their execution, but insistent that the procedure should be that of free choice, not of compulsion.
But there was also the ideal of individualism. This democratic society was not a disciplined army, where all must keep step and where the collective interests destroyed individual will and work. Rather it was a mobile mass of freely circulating atoms, each seeking its own place and finding play for its own powers and for its own original initiative. We cannot lay too much stress upon this point, for it was at the very heart of the whole American movement. The world was to be made a better world by the example of a democracy in which there was freedom of the individual inwhich there was the vitality and mobility productive of originality and variety.
Bearing in mind the far-reaching influence of the disappearance of unlimited resources open to all men for the taking, and considering the recoil of the common man when he saw the outcome of the completive struggle for these resources as the supply came to its end over most of the nation, we can understand the reaction against individualism and in favor of drastic assertion of the powers of government. Legislation is taking the place of the free lands as the means of preserving the ideal of democracy. But at the same time it is endangering the other pioneer ideal of creative and competitive individualism. Both were essential and constituted what was best in America's contribution to history and to progress. Both must be preserved if the nation would be true to its past, and would fulfill its highest destiny. It would be a grave misfortune if these people so rich in experience, in self confidence and aspiration, in creative genius, should turn to some Old World discipline of socialism or plutocracy, or despotic rule, whether by people or by dictator. Nor shall we be driven to these alternatives. Our ancient hopes, our courageous faith, our underlying good humor and love of fair play will triumph in the end. There will be give and take in all directions. There will be disinterested leadership, under loyalty to the best American ideals. Nowhere is this leadership more likely to arise than among the men trained in the Universities, aware of the promise of the past and the possibilities of the future. The times call for new ambitions and new motives.
In a most suggestive essay on the Problems of Modern Democracy, Mr. Godkin has said:
"M. de Tocqueville and all his followers take it for granted that the great incentive to excellence, in all countries in which excellence is found, is the patronage and encouragement of an aristocracy; that democracy is generally content with mediocrity. But where is the proof of this? The incentive to exertion which is widest, most constant, and most powerful in its operations in all civilized countries, is the desire of distinction; and this may be composed either of love of fame or love of wealth or of both. In literary and artistic and scientific pursuits, sometimes the strongest influence is exerted by a love of the subject. But it may safely be said that no man has ever labored in any of the higher colleges to whom the applause and appreciation of his fellows was not one of the sweetest rewards of his exertions.
"What is there we would ask, in the nature of democratic institutions, that should render this great spring of action powerless, that should deprive glory of all radiance, and put ambition to sleep. Is it not notorious, on thecontrary, that one of the most marked peculiarities of democratic society, or of a society drifting toward democracy, is the fire of competition which rages in it, the fevered anxiety which possesses all its members to rise above the dead level to which the law is ever seeking to confine them, and by some brilliant stroke become something higher and more remarkable than their fellows? The secret of that great restlessness which is one of the most disagreeable accompaniments of life in democratic countries, is in fact due to the eagerness of everybody to grasp the prizes of which in aristocratic countries, only the few have much chance. And in no other society is success more worshipped, is distinction of any kind more widely flattered and caressed.
"In domestic societies, in fact excellence is the first title to distinction; in aristocratic ones there are two or three others which are far stronger and which must be stronger or aristocracy could not exist. The moment you acknowledge that the highest social position ought to be the reward of the man who has the most talent, you make aristocratic institutions impossible."
All that was buoyant and creative in American life would be lost if we gave up the respect for distinct personality, and variety in genius, and came to the dead level of common standards. To be "socialized into an average" and placed "under the tutelage of the mass of us," as a recent writer has put it, would be an irreparable loss. Nor is it necessary in a democracy, as these words of Godkin well disclosed. What is needed is the multiplication of motives for ambition and the opening of new lines of achievement for the strongest. As we turn from the task of the first rough conquest of the continent there lies before us a whole wealth of unexploited resources in the realm of the spirit. Arts and letters, science and better social creation, loyalty and political service to the commonweal,—these and a thousand other directions of activity are open to the men, who formerly under the incentive of attaining distinction by amassing extraordinary wealth, saw success only in material display. Newer and finer careers will open to the ambitious when once public opinion shall award the laurels to those who rise above their fellows in these new fields of labor. It has not been the gold, but the getting of the gold, that has caught the imaginations of our captains of industry. Their real enjoyment lay not in the luxuries which wealth brought, but in the work of construction and in the place which society awarded them. A new era will come if schools and universities can only widen the intellectual horizon of the people, help to lay the foundations of a better industrial life, show them new goals for endeavor, inspire them with more varied and higher ideals.
The Western spirit must be invoked for new and nobler achievements. Of that matured Western spirit, Tennyson's Ulysses is a symbol.
"I am become a nameFor always roaming with a hungry heart,Much have I seen and known—I am a part of all that I have met;Yet all experience is an arch, where thro'Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fadesForever and forever when I move.How dull it is to pause, to make an end.To rest unburnished, not to shine in use!And this gray spirit yearning desireTo follow knowledge like a sinking starBeyond the utmost bound of human thought.* * * Come my friends.'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.Push off, and sitting well in order smiteThe sounding furrows; for my purpose holdsTo sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf all the Western stars until I die—To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield."
"I am become a nameFor always roaming with a hungry heart,Much have I seen and known—I am a part of all that I have met;Yet all experience is an arch, where thro'Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fadesForever and forever when I move.How dull it is to pause, to make an end.To rest unburnished, not to shine in use!And this gray spirit yearning desireTo follow knowledge like a sinking starBeyond the utmost bound of human thought.* * * Come my friends.'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.Push off, and sitting well in order smiteThe sounding furrows; for my purpose holdsTo sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf all the Western stars until I die—To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield."
Frederick Jackson Turner.
FOOTNOTES:[245]Commencement Address, University of Washington, June 17, 1914.
[245]Commencement Address, University of Washington, June 17, 1914.
[245]Commencement Address, University of Washington, June 17, 1914.
(Introduction and Annotations by T. C. Elliott.)
The publication of this journal was begun in Vol. 5, No. 2 (April, 1914) of this Quarterly and has been completed in three parts instead of two as first intended; the introductory statements in the previous numbers will be of assistance to readers. For the sake of those who may not see the earlier numbers some of the annotations are repeated. The journal ends rather abruptly just before the arrival of Mr. Work at Fort Vancouver in June, 1826, almost an even year after it began with his departure from that same Fort.
This third part of the journal begins with Mr. Work in charge of the winter trade, 1825-6, at Flathead Fort or House located near the present Eddy Station of the Northern Pacific Railway in Sanders County, Montana. He remains there until February and returns to Spokane House and is on duty there with Mr. Dease, the chief trader, during the dismantling of that establishment in the spring of 1826. He then proceeded to Fort Okanogan for a short time and joins the annual "brigade" going down the Columbia river to Fort Vancouver, in June, 1826.
I have been asked to explain the meaning of the term "gummed," which is used quite often in these traders' journals. It means the smearing of the seams of the canoes or boats with pitch or gum gathered from the forest trees.
Reference has been made (note 2, p. 85) to C. McKay, as a son of Alex. McKay of the Astor party, but there appears to be doubt as to that relationship; quite likely C. McKay belonged to another family. There is also a question as to when the furs from the New Caledonia district began to come down over the Okanogan trail for shipment to Fort Vancouver; that trade route was probably opened earlier. The Thompson river (Kamloops) furs had come that way from the very beginning, in 1812.
Research as to the identity of the actual builder of the trading post called Spokane House has progressed a little farther since the beginning of this publication; meaning the original Northwest Company post and not that of the Pacific Fur Company. There are reasons to believe that Mr. Jacques Finlay built it rather than Finan McDonald, as stated in notes No. 28 and 45.
This journal furnishes the source of our information for the beginning of occupation of the trading post on Marcus Flat, above Kettle Falls, and itis well to emphasize the correct spelling of the name of that post, namely Fort Colvile; not Colville as corrupted. It took the name from one of the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, Mr. E. Colvile.
Doubtful words and expressions are enclosed in brackets.
(Continued from Page 191, Vol. V., No. 3.)
December 1825. Thursday 15
Stormy with sharp frost in the night. Mild pleasant weather during the day.
Had the men employed with Mr. Kittson opening and examining the Snake[246]furs, they are generally in good order but of a very inferior quality, they also do not answer the description given of them as many small beaver have been called large, the sums are as follows; 744 Large & 298 Small beaver and 15 otters.—
Friday 16th
Mild soft weather.
The Kootenasy Chief paid us another visit and after trading a lodge and some Deer skins, got a small present and in the evening took his final departure for the winter. He is going with his people to hunt in their own lands not far from the fort[247]on their own river, where they intend to live on deer and endeavour to get a few beaver. On account of the snow they are apprehensive that they will not be able to go sufficiently far off to make a great hunt.—
In different conversations with the Kootanies since their arrival they express a particular wish to have a fort in their own country, and represent the communication by water much less difficult than the Indians whom Mr. Kittson saw stated it to be,[248]and say that the part which Mr. Kittson saw is the worst of it. They were told that they might depend on having an Establishment on their lands next season either by land or by water. Every means should be adopted to keep them on their own lands as they make much better hunt there than elsewhere. Their unprecedented trade this fall is to be mainly attributed to their hunting in the summer & fall on the upper waters of their own river and the Columbia. It is out of our power to send people & supplies with them at present forwant of horses, the six we have here, some of them from the Snake Country are so lean that they are totally unfit for the journey.—
Old LaBuche the F. Head chief paid us another visit.—
Saturday 17th
Heavy rain in the night & the greater part of the day. The Flat Head Indians to the number of 60 to 70 arrived headed by three chiefs, they were all on horseback and came singing and firing guns with a flag flying.[249]We answered their fire with a volley of Muskets. The Chiefs & some of the principle men smoked in the gentlemens' house, & all the others in the Indian House: The weather is so very bad that we cannot well put them out and they will have to sleep through the houses the best way they can. It is too late to trade today.
After dark the men arrived from below bringing letters from Mr. Dease[250]dated on the 4th & 10th inst. and five guns & 4 doz. gun worms which we requested, but no Tobacco is sent which is unfortunate as it is an article which is in great demand and of which I am apprehensive we will be short.—Mr. Dease informs us that we will require to be down in time to meet the Express at the Forks about the 5th of April. Without injuring the trade we cannot reach Spokane so early as our Indians will not have arrived with their spring hunts.
Sunday 18
Sharp frost in the morning.
Commenced trading with the F. Heads and by noon had traded all the articles they had for sale when a present of 20 Ball & Powder & 2 feet of Tobacco was made to each of the Chiefs and a remuneration made two of them at the request of Mr. Ogden, per note, for services rendered the Snake Expedition & assisting in bringing home the Snake furs.—Some others of the principal men got also a present of a few balls & Powder and in the afternoon they all went off apparently well pleased. On account of the bad road and weakness of the horses the greater part of the Flat Heads are not going to (hunt) the Buffalo this winter but are going to pass the winter hunting beaver. This will probably occasion a small quantity of Provisions being procured in spring than usual, but I expect it will be the means of an increase in the more valuable articles of furs.
I have not yet been able to ascertain the amount of the Trade.
Monday 19th
Overcast mild weather.
Had the men busily employed packing the Snake furs and also those traded here, in order to send off two canoes to the Coeur de Alan Portage[251]as soon as possible, so that the men may get the canoes back before the ice takes.
Examined yesterdays trade and find it to amount to 222 Large and 107 small beaver, 1 Otter, 4 Robes, 72 Appichimons, 1 Elk Skin, 18 pack saddles, 113 fath. cords, 4 Hair Bridles, 52 Bales, 3122 lbs. dry meat, 119 fresh Tongues, 23 dry Tongues, 2 bosses & 10½ lb. castorum, which is much less than we expected. The greater part of the summer was occupied in pursuit of Buffaloes, which prevented them from hunting beaver, and as they are not going back to the Buffalo at present, they kept a considerable part of their meat to subsist on during the winter.
Some freemen paid us a visit, they were told to come tomorrow with the furs and get some supplies.—
Tuesday 20th.
Soft mild weather.
The freemen A. Paget. C. (Loye), C. Gras Louis, J. Beauchamp & J. B. Gadwa delivered in their furs & received a little advance to enable them to pass the winter. These men would not accompany Mr. Ogden and were not to have received any supplies, but Mr. Dease directed them to get a little in case they delivered in the furs. Paget & Gadwa were unfortunate in losing a cache of 100 beaver which was stolen by the Indians.—Gadwa was ordered to be sent to Spokan. He denies that his engagement was only to be free[252]as long as the Company thought proper and seemed unwilling to go, but on being told that he must comply he submitted, but with reluctance. The Indians traded a few appichimans. The men employed finishing out the packs.
Wed.y. 21
Cloudy cold weather.
The men employed gumming & repairing the canoes. We had no gum till the Indians were employed to gather it, or the canoes would have been repaired yesterday.
The Kootany chief & 6 of his men visited us, and after smoking traded a horse & a few saddles and appichimans.
Thursd.y. 22nd
Some snow in the night, cloudy cold weather. Wind N. W.
Sent off 2 canoes 5 men each to the Schachoo[253]Portage laded with the following articles for Spokan viz 27 packages containing 762 Large and 376 Small beaver, 11 Martens. 10 Mink, 1385 Rats, 8 Elk Skins, 12 deer Skins, 70 Appichimans. 22 Saddles & 90 Salt tongues, of the F. Heads and Kootenay returns, and 21 Pieces containing 881 Large & 381 Small beaver, 16 Otters, 2 Rats & 7½ lbs. Castrum, Snake Returns, besides 1 Bale private property, rivits and 5 bales meat 60 lbs. each for the peoples voyage down and back. The above part of the Snake returns is all that was brought here by C. McKay & delivered in by the Freeman.—I wrote to Mr. Dease informing him of the state of affairs of this place and requesting ½ Roll Tobacco and a few awls for the trade.—I wrote for the Tobacco the last time the Canoes went down but was refused it on the plea that it was more required below. I have now urged the necessity of its being sent here where it will be much required in the Spring.—The Men are directed to make all the expedition in their power so that they may get back before they are stopped by the ice, no danger is apprehended of ice stopping them before they reach the portage. Three Men Ignace, Martin & Gadwa are ordered to start for the Fort with the letters immediately on their arrival at the portage.
Friday 23rd
Cloudy cold weather.
The Indians are encamping about the Fort where there are now 21 Lodges. Some are going off to the Buffalo. The Pendent Oreilles are blamed for stealing some of the Kootany horses. It is reported likewise that the Piegans have stolen 7 of the best horses from the Pendent Oreilles that went first off to the Buffalo.
Two Beaver Skins, the carcass of 2 deer & a few appichimans[254]were traded.
One of the old Freemen, Paget, father-in-law to Gadwa who was sent to Spokan, has come & encamped at the Fort he is an old man & having only Gadwa to depend on, he did not go off with the others. he is a very old servant and always bore a good character. After what little provisions he has will be done, he will probably become a burden on the Fort.—
Saturday 24
Cloudy cold weather. Wind N. W.—Some ice along the edge of the River.
The Indians[255]traded a few Appichimans and Saddles, to obtain a little ammunition as some of them are going off.
Sunday 25th
Cloudy. Raw cold weather. Masses of ice running pretty thick down the River.
This being Christmas Day the two men here had a dram, and we served out extra each a ration of fresh meat, a tongue, & a quart of Flour. For the old freeman Bastang the same.
Five Kootany Indians of the Au platte tribe arrived and traded 14 Large and 4 Small beaver, 1 Otter, 17 dressed Deer Skins and 3 (parrefliches), principally for ammunition & Knives & a little Tobacco. Two Pendent Oreilles traded the carcasses of 2 sheep, females, the one weighed 62 & the other 60 lbs.
Monday 26
Overcast mild weather. the river clear of ice, except some patches along its edge.
The men employed cutting firewood.
Tuesday 27th
Overcast stormy weather. Wind Northerly.
The men employed assorting and bailing up meat.
The Indians are still trading a few appichimans, saddles &c. but few furs.
Wed.y. 28th
Cloudy cold weather. Ice running pretty thick in the River.
The Men finished assorting and baling up the meat. We have now in store 67 Bales, 84 lbs. net each, viz 36 of lean, 19 Back Fat & 12 Inside Fat, or 3024 lbs. Lean Meat 1596 lbs. Back fats & 1008 lbs. Inside fats, in all 5628 lbs. Some of the Indians moving a little further down the River, but as some others are coming up in their place the number of lodges still keeps about 20. Those Indians that remain here employ the most of their time gambling.—
Thursday 29th
Overcast, Snowed thick the afterpart of the day. Ice running in the River.—
The River below will probably freeze over with this weather and prevent the Canoes from getting up.
Friday 30th
Overcast mild weather, some snow. Ice running in the river but not so much as yesterday. Nothing doing in the way of trade except a chance appichiman, (parrefliches) etc. The Indians occupy the greater part of their time gambling, even where it is snowing they are playing out of doors and a group sitting about the parties engaged watching the progress of the game.
Saturday 31st
Snowed thick in the night and the forepart of the day. The snow lies nearly 6 inches thick on the ground. Very little ice running in the River. The men who were sent off to Spokan on the 22nd arrived in the evening with letters from Mr. Dease and ½ Roll of Tobacco & ½ gross of awls. The men had to leave the canoes yesterday below the Chutes as the Navigation was stopped by ice. They have made a very expeditious voyage.—
Mr. Dease in one of his letters expresses a wish that Mr. Kittson or I would pay him a visit.—Nothing material has occurred at Spokan since we heard from it last.
Jan.y. 1826. Sunday 1st
Stormy with heavy rain the greater part of the day, the snow has nearly all disappeared.
This being the first day of the new year, according to custom, each of the men got an extra ration of 6 lb. fresh venison, 2 lbs. back fat, 1 Buffalo tongue, 1 pint of Flour and 1 pint of Rum.—At daylight they ushered in the new year with a volley of muskerty, when they were treated with 4 glasses each of Rum, cakes & a pipe of Tobacco. With this and the pint given to each of them, they soon contrived to get nearly all pretty drunk. They appeared to pass the day comfortably enjoying themselves without quarreling. An Indian brought us a female (Chiveaux), Round, Skin & all.—
Monday 2nd
Wind N. W. and stormy during the night and all day, but not cold, the snow has all disappeared except on the mountains. No ice driving in the River.
The men doing little today.
The Indians women were sent off to gather gum to repair one of the canoes to make another trip below if the weather continues favorable.—
Tuesday 3rd.
Blew a perfect storm in the night, but calm overcast mild soft weather during the day.
Had part of the men repairing and gumming a canoe & making paddles, the others packing up Appechimons, dressed leather, Robes, Saddles &c making in all 18 pieces or about 2/3 a canoe load, which is all in readiness to start tomorrow, for the Coeur de Alan portage. I intend going myself, with 6 men, to proceed to Spokan. I expect we will reach the portage before the River freezes but we will probably have to walk back.—I am induced to take this trip in consequence of Mr. Dease expressing a wish that either Mr. Kittson or I would visit him.—Mr. Kittson remains in charge of the place.
Wed.y. 4th
Some frost in the night. Cloudy fine weather during the day.
Left F. Head haven 20 Minutes before 8 oclock in a canoe with 8 Men. Iroquoys, reached the Chutes[256]20 minutes past 10. Making the portage, which is 1380 yds. long, took more than 2 hours.—At 2 oclock we reached the canoes the men left a few days ago and encamped to change our canoe for a better one. The men were employed till it was dark gumming the canoes we are going to take. The canoe though not deep laden is a good deal lumbered, the saddles & appechimons take up a good deal of room.
There is not much snow. a little ice along the edge of the River & on the banks. The ice that stopped the men going up is all gone.
Two parrefliches & a little meat which the men left in cache is stolen by the Indians.—
Thursday 5th
Overcast soft weather.
Proceeded on our journey at ½ past 6 oclock, reached Stony island portage at 10 & ½ past 10 got across it, the canoe taken down by water, by one oclock we reached the Heron Rapid,[257]the portage here also occupied half an hour. the canoe & part of the baggage got down by water. At ½ past 3 encamped near the Lake. A good days work. The snow is deep at the portage we passed, and also where we are encamped but it is soft and thawing.—It is difficult making the portage as the track is through rough stones & the hollows being filled up with the snow, the men with the loads tumble into the holes before they are aware.
Friday 6th
Stormy weather with heavy rain, rained hard in the night. Embarked at day light and in an hour reached the Lake[258]where we encamped and had to remain all day it being it being too rough to attempt crossing it.
Saturday 7
Stormy with rain in the night.
Moderate mild weather with some rain during the day.
Embarked at 8 oclock and reached the portage[259]at 3 in the afternoon when the goods were laid up & covered, but it being too late deferred starting for the Fort till tomorrow.
Killed a small deer crossing the River.
Sunday 8
Soft weather with disagreeable sleet & snow showers.—
Set out an hour before day light with 4 men to cross the portage on foot for the Fort and encamped at sun setting at the little River[260]at the edge of the plains after a hard days walking. Two of the mens feet got sore and I sent them back from Rat Lake.[261]Part of the road in the middle of the woods the snow is deep &? with the thaw but not sufficiently hard to bear ones weight, and walking through it is very fatiguing on the other parts of the road there is little snow.—Met two Indians in the afternoon & got a horse from them but having no saddle & he being very poor it was a most fatiguing job to ride any distance. We rode turn about.
Monday 9th
Soft weather Snow showers. Resumed our journey before 3 oclock in the morning and reached Spokan[262]at 1 in the afternoon, and received a cordial reception from Mr. Dease who with his people were found well. There is little snow on the ground during this day's march.—
Tuesday 10th
Snowed thick the forepart of the day but soft weather & rain in the evening so that the most of the snow had disappeared by night.—
Wed.y. 11
Overcast mild weather some light snow.
Thursday 12th
Weather as yesterday, some light snow and rain showers.
Friday 13
Sharp frost in the night but cloudy mild weather during the day.
Have made preparation to return to F. Heads tomorrow.
Sad.y. 14th
Snowing and raining all day. Having every thing ready left Spokan at 10 o'oclock for the F. Heads accompanied by my own two men, & La Bonte & an Indian with 9 horses for the baggage that I left at the other end of the Portage. On account of the very bad weather and having to go round by the Chutes[263]where we were detained some time in the plains catching two of the Inds horses, we only reached the Fountain[264]in the plain where we encamped for the night. Every one of us completely drenched to the skin.—There is very little snow on the plains.
Sunday 15th
Overcast mild weather some light snow & rain showers.
Some of the horses strayed off in the night, & it was 8 oclock before they were all collected, when we proceeded on our journey and only reached the W. end of Rat Lake. The snow in the woods takes the horses up over their knees so that they were able to make very little way through it. Where we are encamped, the poor horses can eat but very little. Saw the tracks of several deer and some martens.
Monday 16
Overcast mild foggy weather.
Three of the horses strayed off in the night owing to the Indian having neglected to hobble them. I sent a man & the Indian after them, while I with the other men & horses proceeded to the portage[265]where we arrived before noon, the man and Indian with the other horses did not arrive till sun setting. Had all the pieces arranged & ready to send off the horses in the morning. & at the same time set out myself with the canoe. The snow is not so deep at this end of the portage as yesterday.
Tuesday 17
Except a short interval in the afternoon, rained without intermission all day and blowing fresh part of the day.
Had the horses collected at day light and the man and Indian commenced loading them. At the same time I embarked & we proceeded upthe River, and encamped a little Above the lake, a good days march considering the very bad weather. Very little more wind would have prevented us from crossing the Lake. The snow has in several places disappeared but on the hills and along the shores it is still thick.
Wed.y. 18
Overcast fair mild weather.
Proceeded on our journey at daylight and encamped late above the Stony Island Portage.[266]The snow along the shore and particularly at the portages, was very deep.—
Thursday 19
Weather as yesterday but colder.—
Continued our rout at an early hour, and encamped below the Chutes in the evening. About noon we passed the Crooked rapid after which there was very little snow to be seen.
Found some Indians at the Barrier River[267]& traded some Venison from them which made us a good supper.
Friday 20
Snowing and raining all day, very disagreeable weather.
Embarked before sunrising and reached the F. Head House near dark. We were delayed some time at the Chutes gumming the canoes.—Found Mr. Kittson and the people all well.—Nothing material has occurred since I went off. Little done in the way of trade except of fresh provisions, some Inds. from above arrived with 14 deer which has served the people & saved dry provisions for some time back on account of the mild soft weather it is difficult to keep it from spoiling. The men have been employed, getting wood for a canoe, making troughs to (beat) meat & make pimmican, cutting cords, & putting an upper flooring in the house, etc.—
Satdy. 21
Cloudy fine pleasant weather, thawing.—
An Indian brought the carcass of a deer.
Sunday 22
Mild pleasant weather.
Monday 23
Cloudy cold weather sharp frost in the night.
Six men with some horses were sent off for canoe timber with which they returned in the evening. The road was very bad as they had to ascend the mountains.—It is difficult to procure wood for canoes here now.
Tuesday 24
Overcast soft weather. C. McKay and six men were sent up the river in a canoe to an Indian camp in expectation that they will be able to trade some fresh provisions. It is supposed they will be two days reaching the camp.[268]If we be able to procure some venison it will save the dry provisions.—
The Old freeman Paget and a man Pierre, were sent down to Thompson's Plain with the horses where the grass is better.
Wed.y. 25th
Overcast soft mild weather.
Two men employed dressing canoe wood, the others cutting wood &c.—
Thursday 26
Weather as yesterday, some light snow.
The men employed as yesterday. Two Kootany Indians arrived and traded Deer skins principally for ammunition.
Friday 27
Disagreeable cold weather blowing fresh from the Northward. The men bent the timbers for the canoe.
Sata.y. 28
Soft weather some snow.
Had the provisions examined, a little of it was mouldy. put 5 bales on the loft to dry, to beat for pimican.
Sunday 29
Raw cold overcast weather.
C. McKay and the men who went off on tuesday returned. The River is so shallow above that they could not get the canoe to the Indians camp but two men were sent. The Indians have had no provisions and the people were starving when they got a little. Only about two animals are brought home. They brought home the skin of a ram, horns and all, for stuffing.
Monday 30th
Snowed in the night and snowing thick the greater part of the day. Men differently employed.
Tuesday 31
Snowing part of the day, but soft weather & thawing. There is now nearly a foot deep of snow.
The men employed cutting and melting down talow.—
Wed.y. 1 Feby. 1826
Overcast soft weather. Some some sleet and rain showers.
Part of the men employed cutting and melting Tallow, & part, pounding meat to make pimican.
Thursday 2
Sharp frost in the night, and cloudy cold weather during the day. The men employed as yesterday.
Friday 3
Frost in the night. Overcast soft weather thawing during the day. Blowing strong in the evening.
The men employed as yesterday except those that were pounding the meat, who are making a trough as the one already made is broken. Some Indians arrived from above & traded the carcasses of 2 deer & the skin of a (byson). The meat is a seasonable supply as our stock of fresh meat was nearly out.—
Saturday 4
Some snow in the night but clear mild weather during the day.
Had the men employed melting down fat.
Yesterday evening. I gave one of the men Togonche, a boxing for making too free with my wife[269]but being in a passion he got out of my hands before he got enough & to avoid getting another which I promised him he ran off to the woods.
Sunday 5
Clear mild weather.
Monday 6th
Snowed hard in the night and snowing part of the day.
Part of the men employed pounding meat and part, dressing canoe timber.
Tuesday 7th
Stormy in the night with very heavy rain, rain & snow the greater part of the day.
Part of the men employed melting fat the others at the canoe timber.
T. Toganche came to the fort in the night and took away his things, and the other provisions, the others deny that they knew of his going off or where he is gone too. I bilieve they are telling lies.
Wed.y. 8
Rain in the night & rain & snow during the day.
The men employed as yesterday. Nothing doing in the way of trade except a little gum.—
Thursday 9th
Rain & very stormy in the night, mild weather during the day.—The snow is disappearing very fast, there is now very little on the ground.
The men employed at the canoe, the wood is all dressed.
Friday 10th
Fair mild weather.
Men employed at the canoe and other jobs about the Fort.
Late last night three Kootanies arrived from Flat Head Lake & traded 3 small beaver and few ribs of dried venison, they report that the Kootanies & Flat Heads at the Lake are employed hunting Beaver.—A little Tobacco was sent to the Kootany Chief & some of the principal men, word was also sent for them to be here about the middle or 20th of next month so that we may be ready to get off in good time.
Saturday 11th
Soft mild weather.
The canoe was put on the stocks & the head and stern formed.
Last night another Kootany arrived from the Kootany Fort, & traded 2 large Beaver & 9 deer skins. He reports that the Aue platts & Kootanies in that quarter are also employed hunting beaver.
The Pendent Oreilles arrived from up the River & brought the carcasses of 7 deer & an Otter Skin. The Venison is a timely supply as our stock of fresh meat was nearly done.
None of these Indians can give us any account of Toganche who deserted some days ago.
Sunday 12
Sharp frost in the night & bleak cold weather during the day.
The Indians who arrived yesterday with the venison went off.
Monday 13th
Sharp frost in the night. Cloudy cold weather during the day. Four men employed at the canoe & two pounding meat.
An Indian arrived from Spokan, with letters dated on the 3rd Inst. Mr. Dease sends me orders to proceed to Spokan to make out the a/c & leave Mr. Kittson in charge of this place. As I have a particular wish to see the years transactions of this Post finished so that I might be able to make some observations on it, that perhaps might have been useful, I certainly do not like the trip, and think Mr. Dease[270]might have made more judicious arrangements, especially when it is only to make out the Accounts.
Tuesday 14
Sharp frost in the night & very cold all day.
The men employed as yesterday, finished pounding the meat and we are now ready to make it into Pimican to take below to Spokan.
Wed.y. 15
Keen frost in the night, and cold freezing weather all day. The river driving full of ice, which is an unusual thing at this season of the year.
Two of the men employed repairing a canoe to to below to the Le (?) Portage if the River keeps open. Five more men making Pimican. They made 14 bags 80 ls. each.
Five of the Au platte Indians arrived late last night, & today traded 2 Otters, about 500 Rats, and some dressed leather and (Parrefliches).[271]
Thursday. 16
Cold frosty weather but milder than yesterday. A good deal of ice driving in the River.
Two men employed repairing a canoe to go below.—The others at the Pimican, Made 6 more bags & filled 2 bags of Tallow 90 lb. each.
A Flat Head Indian arrived for a little tobacco for his tribe who are now on their way coming in, but still far off.—several are daily arriving from different quarters principally from the Fd. H. Lake and encamping about the fort, they bring nothing except a little dry Venison.—
Friday 17
Overcast freezing weather. Some ice still driving in the River & ice fast along its edges. The water is rising considerably some days past.
Three men employed repairing the canoe.—The others tying up the Pimican & making packs of cords, to go below & doing other jobs about the fort.—
The Flat Head Indian that arrived yesterday went off, he got a little Tobacco for each of the principle men. He made us to understand that his tribe were still in pursuit of buffalo but would soon come off for the fort. They were likely to have a good deal of provisions but he could not say what success they had in the fur way.—
A band of 13 Kootanies principally Auplattes arrived in the evening with some furs.—It was too late to trade.
Saturday 18
Cloudy mild weather, frost in the night. Ice still driving in the River.
The Kootanies that arrived last night, traded 19 Beaver large & small, 1 Otter, 5 martens & 1 fish, 210 Rats, 4 Elkskins, 114 dressed & 5 parchment Deerskins and some (parrefliches), principally for ammunition.—
Part of the men employed at the new canoe, and three finishing repairing the one they were at these two days past, it is now ready and I intended to start tomorrow for Spokan with a load of provisions but the people arriving from the horse guard[272]informed me that part of the River there is frozen over and of course, impassable, a piece of the River above the fort has also been fast some days. In order to ascertain exactly the state of the River below so that we might be able to ascertain whether a passage is practicable or when it is likely to be so, C. McKay & Canotte, who is a good judge of the River, were dispatched to take a view of the water below at different places from which they will be able to judge of the state of the River farther down, they are to be back tomorrow, so that I must defer starting for another day. As Mr. Dease wants two men down also, by taking a canoe & cargo down at present is the only means by which they can be spared. The canoe is also the most expeditious mode of conveyance. We cannot attempt taking down the horses as Mr. Dease suggests, without running the risk of making a very tedious journey, and perhaps losing some of the horses, on account of the great depth of the snow along parts of the road. The journey on foot must also be tedious.—Performing the journey in the canoe is decidedly preferable, as it can be done much quicker, & the cargo can be taken down at once & probably not more than three canoes will require to be taken down in the Spring. So that the men wanted below can now be spared which they otherwise could not.
Sunday 19th
Cloudy mild weather.
Some ice still driving in the River.
C. McKay & Conotte returned & reported that the River is frozen in 4 places where, Portages will have to be made, not very long ones, & that only one place farther down is likely to be frozen at the Cobias. I therefore have determined on starting tomorrow, it will require longer time but it is the only means we now have of performing the journey. From all that we can learn there is too much snow for the horses to be sent down with safety.
Monday 20
Left the Flat Heads early, in a canoe with 7 men & an Indian and 22 pieces Pimican & fat, 1 box candles & my baggage, besides provisions for the voyage, in all about 27 pieces. A little below the Fort we were stopped by ice & had to make a portage at least ¾ of a mile, after which we proceeded to the Chutes, made the Portage & a little farther down the River was again frozen over & we had to make another portage about the same length as the last, but over a much worse road. The ice is too weak to carry upon it & it is difficult to get ashore and a bad road along shore. If we find obstructions of this kind tomorrow the canoe will probably have to be sent back & I will have to proceed on foot, as it would occupy a long time to carry over some of the portages below.—Very disagreeable weather. Snow & sleet heavy in the evening so that it wets everything.
Tuesday 21
Cloudy overcast weather, drizzling rain, sleet & snow the greater part of the day.
Proceeded down the river at an early hour & again soon found our road barred with ice in two places of considerable length, it was, however, so soft that we got our way broken through it with a great deal of labour & damage to our canoe. We crossed the Stony island portage & encamped below it at a late hour. In the forepart of the day there (was) little snow along the River but towards evening it was very deep. At our camp it is not less than three feet. In the morning when I was away with the foreman examining the ice one of the men (Bonufont) deserted and ran off with my old gun and Powder horn. The others said they thought I had sent him for them. This man is almost out of his senses about our peril at the F. Heads which is probably the cause of his running off—I had no idea that he ran off entirely or I certainly would have pursued him with the people & caught him although it would be difficult to find him as thereis little snow in the woods and we had no time to spare.—He will probably go no farther that the fort where Mr. Kittson will stop him.
Wed.y. 22
Snow & rain the most of the day. We were detained some time in the morning gumming the canoe, after which we continued our route & encamped in the evening near the lower end of Pendent Oreilles Lake. We just got across the lake in good time as it began to blow immediately afterwards. We met no more obstructions from the ice, but in several places it had very recently broke up.
Thursday 23rd
Very disagreeable cold weather, thick snow & sleet all day.
Embarked at an early hour & reached the portage at noon,—where we got the property all safely laid up & the canoe gummed for for me to return with her tomorrow morning while I start with one man & an Indian to the fort & leave one man to take care of the property, till people & horses come for it.—I am afraid the horses will have a bad job of it as the snow here is very deep. The ice in different parts of the river has not been long broke up.
Passed two Indian camps and lodges and loaded 3 pr. of small snow shoes from them.—The badness of the weather prevented me from setting out for the fort immediately.
Friday 24th
Overcast cloudy weather, snow showers.
At daylight set out for Spokan accompanied by an Iroquoy & an Indian, and encamped at 4 oclock in the afternoon between the big hill and the Lake. The snow on the portage is generally from 3 to 4 feet deep and very soft and on account of the smallness and badness of our snowshoes walking through it is very fatiguing, when we encamped we were very tired, & had no water, however, by melting snow on a piece of bark at the fire we soon obtained a sufficiency.—We stopped early having only a small axe to cut firewood.
I am afraid, there is so much snow, it will be a bad job getting the property across.
Saturday 25
Overcast, snow and sleet the greater part of the day.
Proceeded on our route at daylight and reached the plain at 11 oclock and encamped at sunsetting at Campment de Bindash, with J.Finlays[273]sons who were hunting fortunately we fell in with them or we would have had little fire during the night.
The snow continued the same deapth to near the edge of the woods where it was not so deep. There was not much snow on the plains and on the South end we walked without snowshoes.—
Sunday 26
Clear cold weather in the night and mild weather during the day.
Continued our journey at 3 oclock in the morning and arrived at Spokan at 11. Not much snow in the woods & it was so hard that we walked the most of the way without snowshoes. We were well tired. There were some horses on the opposite side of (Schuihoo)[274]plain but we thought it too far to go for them yesterday evening.
Found Mr. Dease & his people all well.
Monday 27
Snowed in the night and the greater part of the day.
It being deemed impracticable to get the property across the portage at present on account of the depth of the snow, without, the risk of losing some of the horses, Mr. Dease had determined to let it remain some time till the snow thaws.—But a man (Chilifaux) was sent off to give the man who was left behind instructions & leave an Indian with him—and at the same time to bring home some of my things, particularly the box containing the papers.—The Indians would not trust their horses to cross the portage.—
Tuesday 28
Cloudy mild weather, some snow. A good deal of the snow that fell yesterday thawed.
Wed.y. 1
Overcast mild weather. The snow thawing.
Mr. Birnie[275]& the men busy packing beaver these two days.—
Thursday 2
Overcast cold weather.
The people still employed packing furs.
Friday 3rd
Overcast cold weather, the snow thawing a little about the Fort but diminishing very little in the woods.
Saturday 4
Weather as yesterday. Keen frost in the night.—
Sunday 5
Cloudy mild weather in the middle of the day, but cold in the night morning & evening. Snow dimishing very slowly.—
The men finished packing the furs. I am employed arranging the accounts.
Monday 6th
(Monday, Sunday & Tuesday here given in exact order of original M. S.)