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Wilson P. Hunt February 3-4, 1812 Campsite

Historic Campsite on Overland Astorians West in Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Gifford Pinchot NF, Cascade Range near Lyle, WA

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Wilson P. Hunt February 5-9, 1812 Campsite

Wilson P. Hunt February 2, 1812 Campsite

The Astorians camped “at a Indian village at the mouth of the Klickitat River” and spent an extra day there due to high winds, snow, and rain. Hunt again traded horses for three more canoes, but unfortunately Pierre [Young] Dorion lost his horse to Indian thievery (Hunt 1821; Irving 1836; Rollins 1935, 306, 326 note 271).

Hunt put in his diary:

I met my people at a village at the mouth of the Klickitat River that enters the Columbia from the north bank. I bought three canoes, each costing one a horse; but while I traded, the Indians stole a tomahawk and our last axe. They also made off with Dorion’s horse that grazed near his tent. The Canadian had unwisely raised his tent some distance from our camp. (9 miles)

— Hunt

On the 4th the violence of the wind compelled me to remain, in spite of myself, in this den of thieves. (Hunt 1821)

— Hunt

Irving described the two days at Klickitat River as:

Mr. Hunt now endeavored to procure canoes, of which he saw several about the neighborhood, extremely well made, with elevated stems and sterns, some of them capable of carrying three thousand pounds weight. He found it extremely difficult, however, to deal with these slippery people, who seemed much more inclined to pilfer. Notwithstanding a strict guard maintained round the camp, various implements were stolen, and several horses carried off. Among the latter, we have to include the long-cherished steed of Pierre Dorion. From some wilful caprice, that worthy pitched his tent at some distance from the main body, and tethered his invaluable steed beside it, from whence it was abstracted in the night, to the infinite chagrin and mortification of the hybrid interpreter.

— Irving

Having, after several days’ negotiation, procured the requisite number of canoes, Mr. Hunt would gladly have left this thievish neighborhood, but was detained until the 5th of February by violent head winds, accompanied by snow and rain. (1836, 2: 73)

— Irving

Attribution of Source Material

The preceding summary for the approximated February 3-4, 1812 Wilson P. Hunt Campsite location is used with thanks for the public domain sources of Hunt 1821 and Irving 1836. 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 Rollins 1935. Errors regarding unintended and improper copyright usage will be corrected immediately following notification.

Primary Sources

Hunt, Wilson P., and V.A. Malte-Brun. Nouvelles annales des voyages. v. 10. Paris: Bertrand, 1821. English translation available at Mountain Men and the Fur Trade AMM Virtual Research Center Project http://www.mtmen.org/mtman/html/wphunt/index.html.

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

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: Appendix A: Wilson Price Hunt’s Diary. Bison Book Edition reprinted from the original 1935 edition by Edward Eberstadt and Sons. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

Further Research and Reading

Irving, Washington. Astoria, Or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, 1836. https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/oKk-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.

Illustrations and Maps

Chittenden, Hiram Martin. “Map of the Trans-Mississippi of the United States during the Period of the American Fur Trade as Conducted from St. Louis between the Years 1807 and 1843.” Image. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, 1902. https://lccn.loc.gov/99446195 (accessed February 25, 2022).

Kmusser. “Columbia River Watershed with the Columbia River Highlighted.” April 7, 2008. self-made, based on USGS and Digital Chart of the World data. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Columbiarivermap.png. (accessed March 31, 2022)

Taxonomy

Classified As

Historic Campsite

Wilson P. Hunt February 3-4, 1812 Campsite