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Robert Stuart June 29, 1812 Campsite

Historic Campsite

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place:4014948

Probably spread out east of Tongue Point that night were 5 expeditions about to ascend the Columbia River together for their mutual safety (*** 1832; Franchère 1854, 160-61; Irving 1836 2: 110-11; Ross 1849, 194-95).

(1) Robert Stuart’s Expedition was to deliver correspondence to John Jacob Astor in New York City.

(2) John Clarke’s Expedition was to command of all 5 expeditions as they traveled together and then establish a Spokane River trading post.

(3) David Stuart’s Expedition was to supply and reinforce Fort Okanogan and then establish a Thompson River trading post.

(4) Donald Mackenzie’s Expedition which included John Reed’s Expedition was to establish a Snake River trading post.

(5) John Reed’s Expedition was to help Mackenzie establish the Snake River trading post and then retrieve cached supplies near Cauldron Linn.

Robert Stuart Expedition:

Robert Stuart age 27, was expedition leader and a minor partner with 2 shares in the Pacific Fur Company (PFC) bequeathed to him from his Uncle David Stuart (Lavender 1998, 134-35). Stuart was to journey from Astoria to New York City via St Louis and brief owner John Jacob Astor regarding Astoria’s affairs.

Stuart planned to accompany the flotilla as far as the Forks of the Columbia (confluence of Columbia and Snake/Mad River) and then travel by overland by horseback. Ramsay Crooks and Robert McClellan both PFC partners who had quit the company attached themselves to the expedition to return home. Robert Stuart’s Overland Astorians East party was initially comprised Stuart and 6 others:

Ramsay Crooks now age 25 had quit the Pacific Fur Company (PFC) and forfeited his 5 shares as a partner. He like Robert McClellan would tag along back to St. Louis with Robert Stuart’s expedition.

Before joining the PFC, Crooks and Robert McClellan had partnered together their own fur trading enterprise in 1807, which competed with Manuel Lisa’s Missouri Fur Company. However, by 1810 with an everlasting bitterness towards Lisa, Crooks and McClellan ended their failed fur company partnership (Ruckman 1926, 19-22).

Crooks then joined William Price Hunt in recruiting men for Astor’s backed newly formed Pacific Fur Company. He accompanied the Hunt led Overland Astorians West expedition bound for the mouth of the Columbia River departing St. Louis October 21, 1810. That westward expedition and its many stories earned Crooks a place in history for surviving:

(1) the fatal canoe mishap that took the life of Antonie Clappine upstream from Cauldron Linn on the Snake River;

(2) the near fatal starvation that winter with Francois Le Clairc, John Day, and others;

(3) and finally during the Spring of 1812 surviving the Indian encounter along the Columbia River where Crooks and Day were robbed, stripped naked, and cast out to die.

Both emaciated men later hailed Robert Stuart’s canoe party returning back down the Columbia River that spring from Fort Okanagan to Astoria. When Crooks arrived at Astoria with Stuart around May 11th, and would soon after resign as a PFC partner (Franchère 1854, 155; Irving 1836 2: 140; Ronda 1990, 239). Looking for a means home, he joined Robert Stuart’s Overland Astorians East expedition headed back to St. Louis.

Robert McClellan about 40 years old, was another survivor of the Overland Astorians West expedition, and resigned PFC partner with 2.5 forfeited shares joined Robert Stuart’s Overland Astorians East expedition headed back to St. Louis.

After Ramsay Crooks and McClellan disbanded their fur business partnership in 1810, McClellan was an unsuccessful trading post operator near Council Bluffs, and thereafter joined the Pacific Fur Company and old friend Crooks in November at the Nodaway River winter camp (Drumm 1923, 347-48). He traveled with the Hunt led Overland Astorians West expedition.

After the Cauldron Linn incident on the Snake River and subsequent breakup of the Hunt expedition that winter, McClellan and 10 men (Donald Mackenzie, John Reed, and 8 voyageurs) crossed over the Blue Mountain before snow closed travel to the other following groups led by Hunt and Crooks. Just averting starvation and wearing rags, the group arrived at Astoria in January of 1812, Hunt’s party would not arrive until February 15, 1812 (Drumm 1923, 348; Franchère 1854, 150-51; Irving 1836, 2: 76-77).

McClellan being in the first group of Hunt’s now fragmented Overland Astorians West expedition reaching Astoria, feeling slighted with only 2.5 initial shares of the company, and no sufficient redress to 5 shares, resigned as a partner March 1, 1812 in Astoria from the company. McClellan’s first attempt to return St. Louis was the failed attempt led by John Reed get word back to owner John Jacob Astor (Jones 1999, 89; Ronda 1990, 238-39). In addition to the tag along McClellan, Reed’s expedition bound for St. Louis included Benjamin Jones, Andre Valle, and Francis LeClairc. However the party was bushwhacked by Indians at “The Dalles” and returned to Astoria in failure.

McClellan now attached himself to the Robert Stuart expedition with hopes of reaching St. Louis.

John Day estimated to be in his 40s, joined Hunt’s Overland Astorians West expedition as a hunter at the Nodaway River winter camp. Day along with Crooks had barely survived 2 events during Hunts’ Overland Astorians West journey

(1) Poor health, winter starvation and separation from Hunt’s expedition along the Snake River

(2) and the infamous Indian robbery along the Columbia River described in the Ramsay Crook profile (Irving 1836, 2: 53).

Day and Crooks were found by Robert Stuart and arrived in Astoria around May11th.

Now a just over a month and half later, Day: was assigned to Robert Stuart’s Overland Astorians East expedition. However, soon after the eastward journey began Day’s health failed him and he would be left in the care of Indians, sparking another chapter in history and his name to many Northwest geographic landmarks.

Benjamin Jones, along with his Upper Missouri trapping partner of 2 years Alexander Carson, floated down the Missouri and met Hunt’s Overland Astorians West expedition in May of 1811 just below the mouth of the Niobrara River (Irving 1836, 1: 182).

Jones and Carson both joined Hunt’s expedition west. After Jones reached Astoria, he was assigned to John Reed’s failed expedition to get word back to owner John Jacob Astor. During that expedition’s Indian fight at “The Dalles”, Jones saved Reed’s life by killing the Indian striking Reed with a tomahawk.

Now Jones was assigned to Stuart’s Overland Astorians East expedition.

François LeClairc was a member of Hunt’s Overland Astorians West expedition and a survivor of the near starvation calamity along the Snake River with Ramsay Crook’s party (Irving 1836, 2: 44-45). He eventually arrived with Hunt at Astoria on February 15, 1812 (Stuart 1812).

André Valle was a member of Hunt’s Overland Astorians West expedition and Stuart’s Overland Astorians East Expedition.

John Clarke Expedition

John Clarke at age 29, Canadian, and possibly a distant relative of owner Astor arrived at Astoria on May 10, 1812 onboard the vessel Beaver (Clarke 1906, 10-11). Clarke a partner, was placed in overall command of all the expeditions departing Tongue Point that day (Irving 1836, 2: 106) . As a matter of mutual safety, they ascended the Columbia River together until each expedition leader split away from the combined flotilla to pursue their predetermined mission. Clarke and his 32 men, which included Ross *** were assigned the mission to build and operate a trading post near the confluence of the Spokane and Little Spokane Rivers. The partners envisioned this new post, Fort Spokane being the fur trading center for the geographic area of now western Montana, northern Idaho, and the eastern portions of both Washington and Oregon.

David Stuart Expedition

PFC Partner, David Stuart had built the Pacific Fur Company’s second trading post (Fort Okanogan) last year (1811) on the south bank of the Okanogan River about a half mile above its confluence with the Columbia River (Franchère 1854, 130-31). Additionally, he scouted north into his competitors the North West Company’s promising fur territory in present day Canada .

Now David Stuart started back to Fort Okanogan to resupply it, resume his northerly explorations, and build another trading post in the Thompson River area, later named Fort She-waps or Fort Kamloops (Wade 1907, 30-31).

Due to Stuart’s discrepancies in miles traveled, Rollins roughly approximated the July 23rd campsite based on journal entries of *** and of Lewis and Clark (Rollins 1935, 72 note 72).

Mackenzie had survived the Overland Astorians West journey to Astoria. Those near death experiences included the canoe mishap near Cauldron Linn on the Snake River followed by the subsequent breakup of the Hunt expedition that winter where PFC partner Mackenzie and 10 men (Robert McClellan, John Reed, and 8 voyageurs) crossed over the Blue Mountains before snow closed travel to the other following groups led by Hunt and Crooks. Just averting starvation and wearing rags, the group arrived at Astoria in January of 1812, Hunt’s party would not arrive until February 15, 1812.

Today Mackenzie’s expedition now headed out to establish fur trading with the Nez Perce Indian’s along today’s southern Idaho Snake River. Mackenzie’s Post which consisted of a store and 2 houses, would be constructed of driftwood in August of 1812, located on the Clearwater River’s north bank somewhere above it’s confluence with the Snake (Confluence Overlook History, NPS; Stanton, Mackenzie’s Post ).

John Reed Expedition

John Reed healed from his earlier tomahawk wounds he received at “The Dalles” (*** 1832, 67-68) would accompany Donald Mackenzie to present day Lewiston, ID and assist in building Mackenzie’s Post. Reed would then lead his own expedition to retrieve Hunt’s cache of supplies hidden last year near the Snake River’s Cauldron Linn a wicked white water rapid with water falls/drops and whirlpools.

Campsite Description by Ross ***

Ross *** a member of the flotilla had a colorful narrative of the flotilla’s campsite events:

About three miles above the fort a long and narrow point of land, rather high, runs near half a mile into the river from the south side: it is called Tongue Point, and in boisterous weather is very difficult to double. On quitting Astoria it blew pretty fresh, and we took in a good deal of water in doubling this point.We stopped for the night about six miles above Tongue Point, on the south side, close to an old uninhabited village, but having no lack of animated beings of another description - I mean fleas, with which the place was completely alive; and we had not been on shore five minutes when we were obliged to strip, get a change of clothes, and drown the invaders of our late suit by dipping them in the river. We had to pitch our tents on the sandy beach to avoid their attacks; but this was only “out of the frying pan,” & c. ; for about midnight the tide came on us unawares; and the first intimation we received of our danger was the noise of the water beating against the canoes and baggage; and when the alarm was given, it was nearly up to our knees on the beach. It was a spring-tide, on which the men did not calculate, and therefore kept no watch; added to which, every man was nearly drunk on quitting the fort. We had immediately to set about getting the goods on the grass, and dressing ourselves. On examination the following morning, we found several bales were wet, which we were obliged to open for the purpose of drying. (1832, 73-74)

— Ross Cox

Attribution of Source Material

The preceding summary for the approximated June 29, 1812 Robert Stuart Campsite location is used with thanks for the public domain sources of *** 1832, Franchère 1854, Irving 1836, Ross 1849, and Stuart 1821. Additionally, appropriate parenthetical citations are used with thanks and credit in specific summary passages and quotes for sources that are not in the public domain. Errors regarding unintended and improper copyright usage will be corrected immediately following notification.

Primary Sources

***, Ross. Adventures on the Columbia River Including the Narrative of a Residence of Six Years on the Western Side of the Rocky Mountains, Among Various Tribes of Indians Hitherto Unknown : Together with a Journey Across the American Continent. New York: J. & J. Harper, 1832. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Adventures_on_the_Columbia_River/Li8TAAAAYAAJ?hl=en.

Franchère, Gabriel. 1854. Franchère’s Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the Years 1811-1814. Translated by J. V. Huntington. Reprint of J. V. Huntington’s English translation (New York. 1854). Cleveland, Ohio: The Arthur H. Clark Company. https://www.loc.gov/item/04036133/.

Irving, Washington. 1836. Astoria, Or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Astoria_Or_Anecdotes_of_an_Enterprise_Be/t6k-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.

Jones, Robert F., ed. Annals of Astoria: The Headquarters Log of the Pacific Fur Company on the Columbia River, 1811-1813. New York: Fordham University Press, 1999.

Rollins, Phillip A., ed. 1935. The Discovery of the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart’s Narrative of His Overland Trip Eastward from Astoria in 1812-1813. Bison Book Edition reprinted from the original 1935 edition by Edward Eberstadt and Sons. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

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 of the Pacific. Smith, Elder and Company, 1849. https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/AoEFAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQr9CDrurxAhWVXc0KHdHOAa4Q8fIDMAB6BAgDEB4.

Stuart, Robert. 1821. “Voyage from the Mouth of the Columbia to St. Louis, on the Mississippi, by Mr. R. Stuart.” Text. Nouvelles Annales de Voyages, Paris, 1821, Tome 10 et 12. AMM Virtual Research Center. 1821. http://mtmen.org/mtman/html/nouvelle/stuart_fr.html.

Secondary Sources

Clarke, Adele. Old Montreal: John Clarke: His Adventures, Friends and Family. Montreal: Herald Publishing Company, 1906. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Old_Montreal/p9YOAAAAYAAJ?hl=en.

“Confluence Overlook History - Nez Perce National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service).” Accessed July 21, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/nepe/learn/historyculture/confluence-overlook-history.htm.

Drumm, Stella M. “More about Astorians.” The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society 24, no. 4 (1923): 335–60. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20610257.

Lavender, David. The Fist in the Wilderness. Bison Book Edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Ronda, James P. Astoria and Empire. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.

Ruckman, J. Ward. “Ramsey Crooks and the Fur Trade of the Northwest.” Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society, 1926. http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/7/v07i01p018-031.pdf.

Stanton, John. “Fort Kamloops.” Accessed July 24, 2021. http://fortwiki.com/Fort_Kamloops.

Stanton, John. “MacKenzie’s Post - FortWiki Historic U.S. and Canadian Forts.” Accessed July 21, 2021. http://www.fortwiki.com/index.php?title=MacKenzie%27s_Post&oldid=125843.

Stark, Peter. Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival. New York: HarperCollins, 2014.

Wade, Mark Sweeten. The Thompson Country, Being Notes on the History of Southern British Columbia, and Particularly of the City of Kamloops, Formerly Fort Thompson. Kamloops, Inland Sentinel Print, 1907. https://archive.org/details/thompsoncountryb00wadeuoft/page/30/mode/2up.

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Historic Campsite