Molalla Log House research Chapter 7-8

Alexander Henry with the British Northwest Company described some of the Kalapuyans he encountered on the Willamette River in 1814, south of the Willamette Falls near Champoeg.. Although

Precontact Inhabitants of the Willamette Valley:

Kalapuyan and Molalla Indians First Written Impressions by Europeans and Americans

Generally, a clearer picture of land use is formed by determining why past human groups chose

a particular location in the natural environment, by looking at the available resources in the area, and by examining the material remains left behind 1

Comprehending the geography and the landscape of the northwest coast of America and Oregon in the late 18th century gives insight into why settlers may have been drawn there to farm and colonize It is also important to consider the native cultures these settlers would have

encountered in the region Archeologists, historians and scholars of native peoples in Oregon have provided documentation about what is known of pre-historic inhabitants With this

background, and the first written notations of the white men who entered the Willamette Valley,

we have some understanding of the native people encountered by early settlers

Some of the men from the American Pacific Fur Company and the British-Canadian Northwest Company described in their journals what they saw in the first decade of the 19th century The original builders of the Molalla Log House in the late 18th century would most likely have experienced similar impressions They would have found a non aggressive local native population and excellent hunting grounds, in a landscape of rolling hills and grass prairies with stands of Douglas fir and Oregon white oak

Quotations from some of the first white settlers in the Willamette Valley give an idea of their perceptions of the native people living there at the time Alexander Henry with the British Northwest Company described some of the Kalapuyans he encountered on the Willamette River

in 1814, south of the Willamette Falls near Champoeg Henry related that the natives were in fear

of the fur company men’s firearms and that they were not in possession of horses He stated that the natives to the east and south had horses and were a much more aggressive; at times hostile and murderous towards the Kalapuyans Although the south Molalla prairie is twenty five miles southeast of Champoeg, on the Willamette River, historians and archeologists have noted that bands of Ahantchuykuk, or Pudding River Kalapuyans, inhabited this area The fur company man, Alexander Henry, writes in his 1814 journal:

Here I found Mr William Henry in charge of this place and Mr Letan (Seton) with 30 men and two huts of Freeman and Nepisangues as hunters, there of the Natives belonging to this

quarter were at the House they are a called Calipuyowes, they appear to be a most wretched Tribe, diminutive in size and scarcely any covering, similar to those I met this morning in the Portage (of the

1 McCulley Kelly, Cara, Archaeologist Detroit Ranger District, A Revised Cultural Resource Inventory of the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation Area, Overview of American Indian Land Use, September 28, 1999.

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falls) This Tribe is exceedingly numerous extending up to the Head waters of the Willamette and are divided into several distinct Tribes, they are a wandering race who have neither Horses nor Homes, and live in the open air in fine weather and under the shelter of the large spreading Pines and Cedar during foul weather They have no Tents of their, own, indeed their country is well calculated for such roving Savage life as they lead their wants are but few Deer are numerous and roots of various kinds are in abundance, the latter constitutes their principal food.…

… This afternoon three American freemen arrived from Mr Wallace’s house of last

winter .they have been off from here about three weeks, have but six traps and have killed upwards of eighty beaver…They complain much of the Natives being troublesome, stealing their property wherever they find it, they however yet greatly in dread of our fire arms, which causes them to act in a most clandestine manner and prevents them using open violence to pillage The natives along this river have but few horses themselves, indeed they are too wretchedly poor to have anything, but their neighbors from the eastward and south east are well provided with horses, and seem to be a nation who live well, provided with everything necessary for a savage life, they generally pay a visit to the River every Summer

to hunt deer and occasionally murder the natives, they are always on horse back and are provided with bows and arrows and a spear on lance about 6 feet iron shod, they are well dressed in leather shirts and leggings garnished with porcupine quills, they make use of much white clay and red ochre to daub and paint their faces, and their horse also are generally daubed over with these coulours 2

Alexander Henry continued in his journal to describe his impressions of the Kalapuyan way of life:

Some of the wretched Natives were here this afternoon they came to sell Com moss they are not allowed to enter our dwelling Houses and having no trading house built here, they are traded with out doors, they left us about dusk to return to their camp, they are generally in small parties of 2 to 3

families, and frequently during the rainy season they make huts covered with pine branches, their

principal food is roots Although they are excessively fond of deer flesh, and prefer it to any articles of goods we have Their method of hunting the deer is rather singular, they provide themselves with a deer head and horns complete, which they put on and conceal their body, have a stick in their hand, which they occasionally rub the deer’s horns, and in imitation of a deer, the animal senses this and is decoyed near him, when he lets fly an arrow and seldom misses his aim The men wear caps on their heads made

of deer heads (the skin) both men and women are dressed in same scanty robes as those we met in the Portage 3

Another description of the Kalapuyans is by Alexander Ross, in his account written twenty years after he first came to the Willamette Valley in the spring of 1812 with a Pacific Fur Company party He believed that the natives in this area were apathetic and indolent and didn’t have to work hard because the land was so productive on its own

… on a beaver-trading excursion, spent some months in that quarter, among the Col-lap-poh-yea-ass These parties penetrated nearly to the source of the Wallamitte, a distance of five hundred miles.

It enters the Columbia by two channels, not far distant from each other; the most westerly is the main branch, and is distant from Cape Disappointment from eighty to ninety miles, following the course of the river

2 Payette, B.C., editor, Oregon Country Under the Union Jack, Henry's Journal (Alexander), Clatsop County Historical Society Museum Archives, Astoria, 1962 and The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society Volume XXV, December 1924, Number 4,”Early Days on the Willamette” by Fred S Perrine

3 Ibid.

The Wallamitte lies in the direction of south and north, and runs parallel with the seacoast; that

is, its source lies south and its course north In ascending the river the surrounding country is most delightful, and the first barrier to be met with is about forty miles up from its mouth.

The natives are very numerous and well disposed; yet they are an indolent and sluggish race, and live exceedingly poor in a very rich country When our people were traveling there, the moment the report of a gun was heard forth came the natives; men, women, and children would follow the sound like

a swarm of bees, and feast and gormandize on the offal of the game, like so many vultures round a dead carcass; yet every Indian has his quiver full of arrows, and few natives are more expert with the bow The names of the different tribes, beginning at the mouth of the river and taking them in succession as we ascend, may be ranged in the following order:— Wa-come-app, Naw-moo-it, Chilly-Chandize, Shook-any, Coupé, She-hees, Long-tongue-buff, La-malle, and Pee-you tribes; but as a great nation they are known under the general name of Col-lap-poh-yea-ass, and are governed by four principal chiefs The most eminent and powerful goes by the name of Key-ass-no The productiveness of their country is, probably, the chief cause of their extreme apathy and indolence; for it requires so little exertion to provide for their wants, that even that little is not attended to; they are honest and harmless, yet there is a singular mixture of simplicity and cunning about them The river, towards its head-waters, branches out into numerous little streams, which rise in the mountains… The beaver is abundant, and the party that went there to trade this year made handsome returns; but the Indians throughout are so notoriously lazy that they can hardly be prevailed upon to hunt or do anything else that requires exertion 4

Two primary Indian groups may have had permanent campsites in the south Molalla prairie area: Ahantchuykuk Kalapuyans and Molallas What is believed to be a Kalapuyan camp

or village in this area was visited by two separate archeologists in recent years at the property owner’s request They both spent time on the site studying artifacts and suggesting further study.5 The Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde

Community of Oregon wrote in a letter to the property owner: “Specifically the property has a high diversity of indigenous species and also a fairly substantial archeological site The site has not been evaluated but any action to support protection of this area is supported by the tribes.”6 They studied the landscape and numerous artifacts and believe that a group of the

Ahantchuykuk, or Pudding River Kalapuyans, had a permanent seasonal camp on the small creek, which also feeds the Pudding River.7 This property is located within two miles to the northeast of the Rock Creek Site, where it is believed the Molalla Log House may have been built The persons who built the hewn log house in the late 1790s may have come to know these native peoples If Russian American Orthodox peasants, with perhaps an accompanying

missionary, encountered these natives, they may have aspired to follow the pattern, which had already been established by fur traders in Siberia and Alaska, of converting and integrating with native peoples to enhance their population and workforce

The Kalapuyan village site, near the Rock Creek Site, continues to yield many of the roots, berries and trees so useful to these early peoples for food, medicine and tools: camas root, tarweed, oak, cedar and yew Property owner Susan Hansen was told that the larger basalt stone bowls and grinding tools found on the site indicate a permanent gathering and processing area, as

4 Ross, Alexander, Adventures of the First Settlers on The Oregon or Columbia River: Being A Narrative of the Expedition Fitted Out by John Jacob Astor, to Establish the "Pacific Fur Company:" With An Account of Some Indian Tribes on The Coast o The Pacific, London: Smith, Elder and Co., 65, Cornhill, 1849.

5 November 14, 2007, letter to Susan Hansen from Pat O’Grady, staff archeologist with the Museum of Natural and Cultural History, The State Museum of Archeology, University of Oregon.

6 Letter to property owner dated August 10, 2011 from Eirik Thorsgard, Cultural Protection Coordinator, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon.

7 Site visit and interview with Susan Hansen, Molalla, April 2010, by Gregg Olson and Pam Hayden.

opposed to a transient camp, and that the length of the Kalapuyan occupation there was thought

to date back thousands of years Much more study is necessary to understand this site However,

it is of interest to know that there were native people living very close to where the Molalla Log House was originally built

The Kalapuyans made their mark on the landscape in the south Molalla prairie area by field burning This affected the natural ecology and environment, making it prairie like In 1825, the journal of David Douglas describes the Willamette Valley:

Saturday 30th September 1825: Most parts of the country burned; only on little patches in the valleys and on the flats near the low hills that verdure is to be seen Some of the natives tell me it is done for the purpose of urging the deer to frequent parts, to feed, which they leave unburned, and of course they are easily killed Others say that it is done in order the better to find wild honey and grasshoppers, which both serve as articles of winter food (Davies 1980:94) Thursday October 5th: Camped on the side

of a low woody stream in the center of a small plain - which like the whole of the country I have passed through, is burned" (Davies 1980: 96).8

"Prehistorically, the Willamette Valley's native peoples annually burned the valley floor

to maintain a vegetative cover that provided food necessary for their diet This burning created in the valley large meadows interspersed with oak woodlands Dense forests developed only in the foothills and along streams and rivers, where cooler and moist conditions prevailed, limiting the effects of fire (Boag 1992: 1).”9

The Kalapuyans were described by the early fur traders as being very poor and without horses or firearms They may have been killed by small pox, an epidemic introduced by white men in the 1800s, when many of the Columbia River tribes were affected

The area of the south Molalla prairie was also the home of the Molalla Indians, probably sometime after 1780 Some sources indicate that they did not make their home in the Molalla area until after the turn of the 19th century The Molallas were neighbors of the Cayuse It is believed that the aggressive Teninos forced them to migrate to the Willamette Valley from their homelands near the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, near the Warm Springs River The Northern Molalla Indians made their primary home near what is now Dickey Prairie along the east bank of the Molalla River and also claimed the bottomlands in the Willamette country as their hunting grounds, where the more peaceful Kalapuyans lived

“Molallas split into two groups The southern or Lower, Molallas migrated around the headwaters of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers of southern Oregon The northern, or Upper,

Molallas remained primarily in the Willamette watershed, west of Mt Hood in the Molalla River country and on the south in the Santiam River watershed The Molallas lived in mat houses in summer and in mud-covered semi subterranean houses in winter Both the Northern and

Southern Molallas were loosely related to the Klamaths, who called them a name meaning

“people of the service berry tract.”10

Little is known about the Molalla Indians What is known comes from historic accounts, early linguistic studies, notebooks and government correspondence, usually in association with

8 Lee Gilson, archeologist, web site: “Pyroculture- Kalapuya and the Land: What did the Willamette Valley look like when the Indians lived there?” http://www.oregon-archaeology.com/theory/pyroculture/

9 Ibid.

10 Ruby, Robert H and Brown, John A A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest, University of Oklahoma Press, 1986, pg 137.

the Kalapuya, their neighbors.11 The Northern Molalla inhabited the west slopes of the Cascades

in the upper drainage of the Molalla River near Mt Hood Wintering sites of the Molalla were known to be usually west of the Cascades, along streams in the lower elevations These areas are remote; therefore study has been more highly concentrated on the Kalapuya, living in the

Willamette Valley The Molalla were known to be excellent hunters of wild game, particularly in the winter months They also picked berries and other plant food that could be harvested from the uplands of the Cascades They traded these and smoked meat for salmon at the Willamette Falls

“Early observers had a hard time translating the name of the Indian tribe that inhabited eastern Clackamas and Marion counties into written English Joel Palmer called it "Pole Alley." Governor Joseph Lane wrote it "Mole Alley." The spelling finally settled upon for the river, town, and trail is Molalla.”12

Archeological evidence suggests that “Indian peoples traveled along the ridge tops and valley floors to access high elevation meadows, huckleberry fields and other important resources such as cedar groves and big game from lowland winter settlements….Dramatic population decline in the Molalla and neighboring groups took place with the influx of white contact The Bureau of American Ethnology estimates that the pre-contact number for the Molalla and Cayuse was 500 (Toepel 1987).” By 1851, only 58 members of the “Santiam Molalla” were listed as present during the signing of the unratified treaty by Crooked Finger, Qui-eck-e-te, and Yal-kus.13

The Klamath Trail was part of a vast network of trails It was used to travel to and from specific resources such as obsidian pits or fishing areas Goods and slaves were traded and transported along the trail system The first non-aboriginal or white people, to arrive in Oregon were the explorers, trappers, traders, and emigrant settlers They used the trail networks

established by native peoples Some Indian trails were developed into wagon roads and remain today as rural roads and even highways Other Indian trails continue to exist as recreational hiking trails.14

The following map is of the Klamath Trail in the 19th Century.15 Note that the main branch of the Klamath Trail splits To the west, the trail splits again near present day Molalla The western branch leads northward to the Willamette Falls and the Columbia River The small eastern branch leads to a crossing on the Clackamas River, near Philip Foster’s Farm,16Eagle Creek This trail most likely continued eastward through the Mt Hood area The Barlow Road,

built by Sam Barlow, Phillip Foster and others, followed an old Indian Trail Sam Barlow's road, originally called the Mount Hood Toll Road, began at what is now Third Street in The Dalles.17

11 McCulley Kelly, Cara, Archaeologist Detroit Ranger District, A Revised Cultural Resource Inventory of the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation Area, Overview of American Indian Land Use, September 28, 1999.

12 Munford, Kenneth The Molalla Trail originally published in the Horner Museum Tour Guide Series, 1979

http://www.bentoncountymuseum.org/research/MolallaTrail.cfm.

13 McCulley Kelly, Cara, A Revised Cultural Resource Inventory of the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation Area, Overview of American Indian Land Use, 1999.

14 Oregon Historic Trails Fund, http://www.oregonhistorictrailsfund.org/trails/showtrail.php?id=10#sig.

15 Ibid.

16 Phillip Foster’s Farm (1840s DLC in Eagle Creek, Oregon) was a stop over for pioneers in the late 1840's They took the road Foster helped to build, the Barlow Road, as an alternative to the treacherous Columbia River route and stopped at his farm for a respite before their last leg into the Willamette Valley and a new life.

As seen on both maps included here, one branch of the Klamath Trail led northward to The Dalles from the east of the Cascades Western branches of the Klamath Trail crossed over the Cascades and into the territory of the Molalla Indians, who occupied the western Cascades from the upper Rogue River in the south to the upper Clackamas River in the north There are three recognized sub-groups of Molallas: the Southern Molalla, occupying areas west of Crater Lake, the Santiam Band, living in the upper regions of the North and Middle Santiam rivers, and the Northern Molalla, who were focused in the drainage of the Molalla River The Molalla and the Klamath intermarried, hunted together, traded, and were allies in war

“A primary branch of the Klamath Trail over the Cascades was located in the region of the Santiam Pass and crossed into the slopes drained by the North Santiam River Here the Indian trail system merged with the Molalla Trail, a major north-south route that skirted the foothills of the eastern Willamette Valley from Oregon City to the distant region of the Southern Molalla From the North Santiam River, the Molalla Trail went north through the Waldo Hills,

on to the villages of the northern Molalla, and then to the Willamette Falls trading mart.” 18

The following map 19 shows that the Klamath Trail was used as a trade route between Klamath Lakes in southern Oregon and the trading center at Celilo Falls (Dalles) on the

Columbia River One branch of the trail crosses from the east over the Cascade Mountains to the western foothills of the Cascades into the Willamette Valley Then two trails split in the vicinity

of Molalla: one headed westward to Oregon City and the Willamette Falls and one traversed northeast towards the Clackamas River Trails through the Molalla area during pre-historic times traveled from southern Oregon to the Willamette Falls and the Columbia River

17 Oregon Trails Association, The Dalles Oregon,

http://www.octa-trails.org/learn/people_places/articles_the_dalles.php

18 Ibid.

19 End of Oregon Trail Interpretive Center web site, 2009.

Map of the Klamath Trail

In the late 1790s, Russian hunters and peasant farmers and craftsmen would have found the Willamette Valley accessible via overland trails and water routes They would have also found a prairie landscape conducive to growing crops The area, rich in natural resources and hunting grounds, was ideal for an agricultural colony, with non-aggressive natives nearby who could potentially be converted to the Russian Orthodox faith and enticed to join the settlers’ working community

Map of Klamath Trail (yellow line) Barlow Road from Oregon City to the Dalles (green dotted line)

American and English Fur Companies, French Canadians and Freemen Trappers

In Astoria and the Willamette Valley (1811-1845)

Possible Occupants of Molalla Log House-Fox Granary

The notion of Russian builders having constructed the Molalla Log House was not imagined by the authors until the winter of 2010, a year ago as of this writing.20The initial dendrochronology, which began in the first months of 2010, yielded findings indicating that the log structure may have been built prior to 1820; perhaps as early as 1812 That the building might predate the pioneer and settlement era in Oregon history by at least 30 years was startling Nearly a year of research followed, to determine who might have been in the Willamette Valley

at that early date with the motivation and capacity to create the cabin

So began an extensive study of the fur companies and free trappers operating in the Pacific Northwest prior to 1846 Pacific Fur Company employees were studied extensively and a list of potential builders was made These men were French, British and Scottish Canadians as well as Americans, originally from the east coast including: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Kentucky Based on the craftsmanship and design of the building, the builder/s was thought

to be of European influence

Log building design was studied extensively worldwide and the nature and design of fur posts, forts and blockhouses were closely examined Could the Molalla Log House have been built by someone associated with one of these Fur Companies operating in the Willamette Valley between 1811 and 1845? Could it have been built in association with a trading post or wintering house for trappers?

The term fort was applied indiscriminately to all fur trading establishments having any

pretensions to permanency, whether a bastioned fortress of stone or wood, or a square stockade,

palisade, or picketed enclosure consisting of poles or slabs, a block house of squared logs with apertures,

or a house of round unhewn logs…or the little log cabin thrown up in the heart of a far distant wilderness

by the aid of sharpened steel, as if by magic before the eyes of wondering savages, and stocked only with the articles necessary for temporary traffic…these were the fort, fortress, factory, post, house,

establishment or head-quarters … In selecting a site for a fort, water and wood were first considered, then hunting or fishing.21

20 Dendrochronology work in late 2010 and 2011 yielded an earlier date of construction, than initial analysis had indicated which in turn focused study towards Russian American history However, the historic research conducted for the time period of 1811 – 1845 has proved useful in understanding the possible continuum of use of the Molalla Log House during that thirty-four year period.

8

The Pacific Fur Company, Northwest Company, Hudson Bay Company and Willamette Valley Freemen were studied It is believed, and documented through primary sources and history books, that the first white men to reach the Willamette Valley were from John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company The men who came overland from Missouri in 1810-1811 and the

men who came on Astor’s ship, the Tonquin, from New York and arrived on the Columbia in

1811, were individually examined Many of the men who first explored the Willamette Valley during the years of the Pacific Fur Company stayed and hunted, trapped and traded as freemen into the 1840s

The early journals of some of these company men as well as an extensive literature search led to the identity of several individuals who may have lived part or full time in the Willamette Valley between 1814 and the 1840s Although some residents still living in the south Molalla prairie area speak about ‘hearing’ that trappers were in the area a long time ago, nothing concrete is known No written reference has been found about the Molalla area specifically as being a home to these free trappers A list of these men was compiled and, although they are not believed to be the builders of the Molalla Log House, it is possible that some of these men and their native wives and families could have occupied the log house, with no windows, for a period

of time in the first half of the 19th century

The geographic connection can be made between Champoeg, the site of the first

Northwest Company post on the Willamette in 1814, the French Prairie, the Pudding River and Rock Creek in the south Molalla prairie Fur company men and freeman trappers were scouring the countryside and the plentiful creeks and streams of the Willamette River watershed for years,

in search of beaver, elk, deer, bear and other land animals If an abandoned and well-built log house was found on the banks of Rock Creek, it would make sense it could easily have been found and used 22

Between 1811 and 1814, the Willamette Valley was a coveted resource for those worn

out Pacific Fur Company men, who had spent endless months at sea on the Tonquin from New

York, and for those who had come on the arduous overland journey of deprivation and starvation from Missouri.23 Supplies at Fort Astor were short and food was at a minimum Almost as soon

as the Pacific Fur Company was established at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1811, parties were sent to the Willamette River for exploration Most surely they had been informed that the Willamette Valley was a ‘land of plenty.’

No doubt the Willamette Valley had been discussed pro and con, for on December 5,

1811, Robert Stuart, Francis Benj Pillet, and Donald McGillis, clerks, and a few of the men, accompanied by a guide, set out for the Willamette The Indians told them that the country abounded in beaver They were accompanied by a Canadian Freeman, Regis Brugiere, who came

to the area to trap They portaged the Willamette Falls and paddled their canoes up river into the lower Willamette Valley By 1812 a post was established just north of Salem on the Willamette River, called the Wallace House During the winters of 1812-1813 and 1813-1814, hunters and fur company men were sent to the valley of the Willamette to sustain themselves hunting game The Willamette Valley had a reputation as a “gourmand’s delight” or a “veritable hunter’s paradise,”

21 The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Vol XXVII, History of the Northwest Coast V I 1543-1800, San Francisco, A.L Bancroft and Comp., Publishers, 1884, Chapter XV “Forts and Fort Life”, pg 382.

22 Gregg Olson: “This was the best log house in Oregon at the time.”

23 Franchere, Gabriel, Franchere’s Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast, 1811-1814; Reprint of J V Huntington's English translation.

the opinion of Donald McKenzie, Pacific Fur Company head of the Willamette District,

regarding the river valley in 1813:

McKenzie’s enthusiasm for the region above the falls of the Willamette River was

unrestrained The country, he is reported to have said, was 'delightful beyond expression.' The 'incredible' number of beaver which he found along the river was believed to exceed anything yet found on the entire continent; and he painted glowing pictures of rich prairies covered with innumerable herds of elk and of uplands teeming with deer and bear.24

Another example of how highly regarded the Willamette Valley was by members of the Pacific Fur Company, referring to the winter of 1813-1814, was expressed by Donald

McDougall in his journal:

M’Kenzie, with four hunters, and eight common men, would winter in the abundant country of Wollamut, from whence they might be enabled to furnish a constant supply of provisions to Astoria…The summer of 1812 passed away without any hostilities….it now became necessary to guard against other evils The season of scarcity arrived, which commences in October, and lasts until the end of January To provide for the support of the garrison, the shallop was employed to forage about the shores of the river

A number of the men, also, under the command of some of the clerks, were sent to quarter themselves on the banks of the Wollamut, a fine river which disembogues itself into the Columbia, about sixty miles above Astoria The country bordering on the river is finely diversified with prairies and hills, and forests

or oak, ash, maple and cedar It abounded, at the time, with elk and deer, and the streams were well stocked with beaver Here the party, after supplying their own wants, were enabled to pack up quantities

of dried meat, and send it by canoes to Astoria 25

There are numerous references in literature about the Pacific Fur Company about the scarcity of food, men and the need to hunt and winter in the Willamette Valley because of its abundant game

So long as we expected the return of the vessel, we had served out to the people a regular supply

of bread: we found ourselves in consequence, very short of provisions, on the arrival of Mr M’Kenzie and his men This augmentation in the number of mouths to be fed compelled us to reduce the ration of each man to four ounces of flour and half a pound of dried fish per diem: and even to send a portion of the hands to pass the rest of the winter with Messrs Wallace and Halsey on the Willamet, where game was plenty 26

When two clerks of the Pacific Fur Company returned from the Willamette River in March of 1813, Gabriel Franchere wrote:

Reed and Seton, who had led a part of our men to the post on the Willamet, to subsist them, returned to Astoria, with a supply of dried venison These gentlemen spoke to us in glowing terms of the country of the Willamet as charming, and abounding in beaver, elk, and deer; and informed us that Messrs Wallace and Halsey had constructed a dwelling and trading house, on a great prairie, about one hundred and fifty miles from the confluence of that river with the Columbia.

24 Hussey, J.A., Champoeg: A Place of Transition, Oregon Historical Society in cooperation with Oregon State Highway Commission and the National Park Service, U.S Department of Interior, Portland, OR, 1967, pg 25.

25 Jones, Robert F., Editor, Annals of Astoria, The Headquarters Log of the Pacific Fur Company on the Columbia River 1811- 1813, (Duncan McDougall’s Journal).

26 Franchere, Gabriel, Franchere’s Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast, 1811-1814; Reprint of J V Huntington's English translation.