The Columbia River: Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its Commerce

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[Illustration]




  The Columbia River

  Its History, Its Myths,
  Its Scenery, Its Commerce


  By William Denison Lyman
  Professor of History in Whitman College,
  Walla Walla, Washington


  _With 80 Illustrations and a Map_


  G. P. Putnam's Sons
  New York and London
  The Knickerbocker Press
  1909




  COPYRIGHT, 1909
  BY
  G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

  The Knickerbocker Press, New York




  TO MY PARENTS
  Horace Lyman and Mary Denison Lyman
  PIONEERS OF 1849, WHO BORE THEIR PART IN LAYING THE
  FOUNDATIONS OF CIVILIZATION UPON THE BANKS OF
  THE COLUMBIA, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED
  BY THE AUTHOR




    I see the living tide roll on,
    It crowns with rosy towers
    The icy capes of Labrador,
    The Spaniard's land of flowers;
    It streams beyond the splintered ridge
    That parts the northern showers.
    From eastern rock to sunset wave,
    The Continent is ours.
                              HOLMES.




PREFACE


As one of the American Waterways series, this volume is designed to be a
history and description of the Columbia River. The author has sought to
convey to his reader a lively sense of the romance, the heroism, and the
adventure which belong to this great stream and the parts of the
North-west about it, and he has aimed to breathe into his narrative
something of the spirit and sentiment--a spirit and sentiment more easily
recognised than analysed--which we call "Western." With this end in view,
his treatment of the subject has been general rather than detailed, and
popular rather than recondite. While he has spared no pains to secure
historical accuracy, he has not made it a leading aim to settle
controverted points, or to present the minutiae of historical research and
criticism. In short, the book is rather for the general reader than for
the specialist. The author hopes so to impress his readers with the
majesty of the Columbia as to fill their minds with a longing to see it
face to face.

Frequent reference in the body of the book to authorities renders it
unnecessary to name them here. Suffice it to say that the author has
consulted the standard works of history and description dealing with
Oregon--the old Oregon--and its River, and from the voluminous matter
there gathered has selected the facts that best combine to make a
connected and picturesque narrative. He has treated the subject
topically, but there is a general progression throughout, and the
endeavour has been to find a natural jointure of chapter to chapter and
era to era.

While the book has necessarily been based largely on other books, it may
be said that the author has derived his chief inspiration from his own
observations along the shores of the River and amid the mountains of
Oregon and Washington, where his life has mainly been spent, and from
familiar conversations in the cabins of pioneers, or at camp-fires of
hunters, or around Indian tepees, or in the pilot-houses of steamboats. In
such ways and places one can best catch the spirit of the River and its
history.

The author gladly takes this opportunity of making his grateful
acknowledgments to Prof. F. G. Young, of Oregon University, for his
kindness in reading the manuscript and in making suggestions which his
full knowledge and ripe judgment render especially valuable. He wishes
also to express his warmest thanks to Mr. Harvey W. Scott, editor of the
_Oregonian_, for invaluable counsel. Similar gratitude is due to Prof.
Henry Landes of Washington University for important assistance in regard
to some of the scientific features of the first chapter.

W. D. L.

  WHITMAN COLLEGE,
    WALLA WALLA, WASH.,
      1909.




CONTENTS


                                                                      PAGE

  PART I.--THE HISTORY

  CHAPTER I
    THE LAND WHERE THE RIVER FLOWS                                       3

  CHAPTER II
    TALES OF THE FIRST WHITE MEN ALONG THE COAST                        33

  CHAPTER III
    HOW ALL NATIONS SOUGHT THE RIVER FROM THE SEA AND HOW THEY
    FOUND IT                                                            43

  CHAPTER IV
    FIRST STEPS ACROSS THE WILDERNESS IN SEARCH OF THE RIVER            69

  CHAPTER V
    THE FUR-TRADERS, THEIR BATEAUX, AND THEIR STATIONS                  98

  CHAPTER VI
    THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARIES TO THE TRIBES OF THE RIVER          136

  CHAPTER VII
    THE ERA OF THE PIONEERS, THEIR OX-TEAMS, AND THEIR FLATBOATS       159

  CHAPTER VIII
    CONFLICT OF NATIONS FOR POSSESSION OF THE RIVER                    179

  CHAPTER IX
    THE TIMES OF TOMAHAWK AND FIREBRAND                                202

  CHAPTER X
    WHEN THE "FIRE-