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Wilson P. Hunt January 20, 1812 Campsite

Historic Campsite

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place:4043083

place:4043082

The Astorians continued following the Umatilla River trading and getting information from the Cayuse Indians as they went. Somewhere possibly between present day Echo and Stanfield, Oregon the travelers left the Umatilla and headed westerly to reach the Columbia River before camping somewhere between the two rivers. (Hunt 1821; Irving 1836; Rollins 1935, 303, 354-55)

Hunt noted in his diary:

I bought still another horse from the Sciatogas [Cayuse Indians] who again had moved their camp below us, and I said good-bye to them. They are the cleanest Indians that I know of and, like all the others, they are very proud. They eat neither dogs nor horses, and they will not allow anyone to bring the meat of these animals into their tents. I pleased them no end when I told them that I would return to their village with merchandise to trade for beaver. They already had some pelts and they told a very confusing tale about some white men who came to trade and who gave them tobacco and smoked with them. One of the white men, they said, had a house on the Columbia. My Canadians thought that the white man in question must be an agent of the Northwest Company. (12 miles west) (Hunt 1821)

— Hunt

Washington Irving added the following details:

These Indians had a vague story that white men were coming to trade among them; and they often spoke of two great men named Ke-Koosh and Jacquean, who gave them tobacco, and smoked with them. Jacquean, they said, had a house somewhere upon the great river. Some of the Canadians supposed they were speaking of one Jacquean Finlay, a clerk of the Northwest Company, and inferred that the house must be some trading post on one of the tributary streams of the Columbia. The Indians were overjoyed when they found this band of white men intended to return and trade with them. They promised to use all diligence in collecting quantities of beaver skins, and no doubt proceeded to make deadly war upon that sagacious, but ill-fated animal, who, in general, lived in peaceful insignificance among his Indian neighbors, before the intrusion of the white trader. On the 20th of January, Mr. Hunt took leave of these friendly Indians, and of the river on which they encamped, and continued westward. (1836, 2: 65-66)

— Irving

Attribution of Source Material

The preceding summary for the approximated January 20, 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)

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Historic Campsite