XI
_THE BRITISH FUR TRADERS_
The movements of Lewis and Clark were watched by the NorthwestCompany, who already had planned a house at the Mandans. Jefferson wasnot an hour too soon.
"Yes," said Larocque, "I will pass the winter there and watch thoseAmericans."
In the midst of the frightful cold, twenty-two degrees below zero, onDecember 16, 1804, Larocque and Mackenzie came over again from FortAssiniboine and with them came Alexander Henry.
"Strangers are among us," said the Indians, "Big Knives from below.Had they been kind they would have loaded their Great Boat with goods.As it is they prefer throwing away their ammunition to sparing a shotto the poor Mandans. There are only two sensible men among them, theworker of iron and the mender of guns."
"Amazing long pickets," remarked Larocque, as they came in sight ofthe new stockade of Fort Mandan.
The triangular fort, two sides formed of houses and the front ofpickets, presented a formidable appearance in the wild.
"Cannon-ball proof," remarked Larocque, taking a good squint at thehigh round bastion in the corner between the houses, defending twosides of the fort. On the top was a sentry all night, and below asentry walked all day within the fort.
"Well guarded against surprise," remarked Alexander Henry, as hetapped at the gate with the ramrod of his gun.
As the party knocked at the gates of Fort Mandan, in their wintercoats of leather lined with flannel, edged with fur, anddouble-breasted, the lively eye of Patrick Gass peeped out.
"Some more av thim Britishers to ascertain our motives fur visitin'this countery, and to gain infurmation with rispict to th' change o'gov'm't," was the shrewd guess of Pat.
The hospitable Captains were more than glad to entertain visitors.They were there to cultivate international amity.
In their hearts Lewis and Clark never dreamed what a commotion thatfriendly letter to Chaboillez had stirred up. It had gone far andawakened many. Immediately upon its receipt Chaboillez sent out arunner.
"Lewis and Clark with one hundred and eighty soldiers have arrived atthe Mandan village," so the story flew. "On their arrival they hoistedthe American flag and informed the natives that their object was notto trade, but merely to explore the country; and that as soon asnavigation shall open they design to continue their route across theRocky Mountains to the Pacific. They have made the natives a few smallpresents and repaired their guns and axes free. They have behavedhonourably toward my people, who are there to trade with the natives."
Such a message as this was enough to bring Alexander Henry down toinvestigate. The cottonwood fires at Fort Mandan roared up thechimneys with unwonted splendour that winter night. The thermometersuddenly fell to forty-five degrees below zero; but warm andcomfortable beside the blaze they talked, American and British, inthis border of the nations.
Charles Mackenzie had been a clerk of the Northwest Company for ayear. Of the same rank as himself was Larocque, and both were popularwith the redmen. In fact, Mackenzie, a Scot from the Highlands, wasalready married to an Indian girl, and Larocque was a Frenchman. Thatwas enough. No nation fraternized with the redmen as the Frenchmendid.
Alexander Henry, fur trader among the American Indians and one of thefamous Northwesters, bore a great name in the north. There were twoAlexander Henrys; the younger was a nephew of the other, and he itwas that had now come to visit Lewis and Clark. He knew more of thecountry than, perhaps, any other man in the northwest. In fact, hisuncle, the elder Henry, was at Michilimackinac in the days of Pontiac,and had penetrated to the Saskatchewan before ever there was aNorthwest Company.
Henry, Jr., wintered on the Red River the very year that AlexanderMackenzie crossed the continent,--1793. As a _bourgeois_ of theNorthwesters, with a fleet of canoes and twenty-one men he had led theRed River brigade of 1800 up into the Winnipeg country.
The scarlet belts, breeches of smoked buckskin, and blue clothleggings of Alexander Henry's old _coureur des bois_ were known forhundreds of miles.
Yes, he knew the Sioux. Their pillaging bands sometimes plundered histraders. "They are not to be trusted," he declared in positive tone.
"A very sensible, intelligent man," said Lewis and Clark to themselvesas the great Northwester talked of the country and the tribes.
But time seemed pressing. Questions of cold or of comfort weighed notwith these dauntless Northwesters when the interests of their companywere at stake. They had come on horseback. To return that way was outof the question; and so sleds were fitted up with Jussaume's Eskimodogs, the "Huskies" of the fur traders.
"They seem happy to see us," remarked Mackenzie from under hismuffler, as they rode away. "They treat us with civility and kindness,but Captain Lewis cannot make himself agreeable. He speaks fluently,even learnedly, but to me his inveterate prejudice against the Britishstains all his eloquence."
"Captain Clark is more cordial," rejoined Larocque. "He seems todislike giving offence unnecessarily. Do you recall his thoughtfulnessin sending for our horses when we feared they might be stolen? He lethis men guard them with his own."
With the thermometer thirty-two degrees below zero, the dogsleds flewswift across the snow, bearing news not alone to Assiniboine, but toFort William on the northern shore of Lake Superior where theNorthwesters had built their trading centre.
Fort William, built in 1803 and named in honour of WilliamMcGillivray, was the great distributing point, where "the lords of thelakes and the forests" came to hold their rendezvous. In front rolledSuperior, the great Canadian Sea. Schooners, laden with merchandise,peltries, and provisions, plied between Fort William and Sault Ste.Marie.
One of the honoured names of the Northwest Company was Philip deRocheblave. Captured by George Rogers Clark at Kaskaskia, sent toVirginia and there let out on parole, he broke faith and fled to NewYork, to turn up at Montreal in the winter of 1783-4 along withMcTavish, McGillivray, the Frobishers and Frasers, founders of theNorthwest Fur Company. Pierre de Rocheblave had now succeeded to hisuncle's honours. Would he be apt to let the United States get ahead ofhim? And by means of a _Clark_ at that?
"I must go down to the American fort to get my compass put in order,"said Larocque again, in January. "The glass is broken and the needledoes not point due north."
He found Captain Clark sketching charts of the country, Lewis makingvocabularies; Jussaume and Charboneau, the Frenchmen, interpreting anddisputing on the meaning of words.
"They write down our words," whispered the suspicious Indians. "Whatwicked design have they on our country?"
Captain Lewis spent a whole day fixing Larocque's compass.
"I hardly get a skin when the Hudson's Bay trader is with me," saidLarocque. "He is known by all the Indians, and understands and talkstheir language. I must get Charboneau." And the two went awaytogether.
"Of what use are beaver?" inquired the Indians. "Do you make gunpowderof them? Do they preserve you from sickness? Do they serve you beyondthe grave?"
Alexander Henry went to Fort William.
"A new rival has arisen," said the Northwest traders at their hurriedconference. "We must anticipate these United States explorers andtraders. They may advance northward and establish a claim to ownershipby prior right of discovery or occupation. We must build a chain ofposts and hold the country."
"But whom can we send on such a monumental enterprise?"
There seemed but one man,--Simon Fraser.
Simon Fraser was the son of a Scottish Tory who had been captured bythe Americans at Burgoyne's surrender and had died in prison. Hiswife, with Simon a babe in arms, removed to Canada, to rear her sonbeneath the banner of her King. At sixteen, young Fraser became aclerk of the Northwest Company and a _bourgeois_. But the Frasers weregreat-brained people; young Simon was soon promoted; and now at theage of twenty-nine he was put in charge of the greatest enterprisesince the incomparable feat of Alexander Mackenzie.
"You, Simon Fraser, are to establish trading-posts in the unknownterritory, and in this
way take possession for Great Britain."
Over at Sault Ste. Marie a young doctor by the name of John McLoughlinwould gladly have accompanied his uncle Simon on that perilousundertaking. But his day was to come later. Both of their names arenow linked with the Old Oregon.
Young men of the two most progressive modern nations were to be pittedin this race for Empire,--Lewis and Clark, and Simon Fraser.