110 SANDFOEB FLEMING ON 



ton years iu the neighbourhood of Red River, visiting from time to time the posts at 

 Pembina, Assiniboine and Missouri. He made almost annual visits to Fort William on 

 Lake Superior until 1809, when he started for the Saskatchevran, and iu 1810, passed up 

 that river to Rocky Mountain House. In May, 1811, he set out to reach the water 

 flowing westerly to the Pacific. He reached one of the sources of the Columbia, and 

 returned to Rocky Mountain House. From 1811 to 1813, the journal of Mr. Henry is 

 wanting. It may, however, be said that during this period he proceeded in 1812 to Fort 

 Vermilion, and it is inferred that he spent the following year at Henry House near the 

 janction of the Myette and the Athaba.sca. In 1813, he crossed tlie Rocky Mountains a 

 second time, on this occasion following the river Columbia to its mouth. 



On December 13th, 1813, Mr. Henry was present at Fort Astoria, when the Ca^jtain and 

 crew of H. M. S. " Racoon " landed in uniform, and with some ceremony broke a bottle of 

 Madeira on the large flag staff carrying the Union Jack. They took possession of the 

 country in the name of His Britannic Majesty and named the establishment, which was then 

 owned by the North-West Company, "Fort George." Mr. Henry remarks in his, journal, 

 " the officers of the Racoon are famous fellows for grog." The year following, he was 

 drowned in a heavy storm when about two miles out in the stream of the river Columbia, 

 near the fort. The last entry in his journal, which is preserved in MS. in the Parliament- 

 ary Library, Ottawa, is dated Saturday, May 21st, 1814. Mr. Alexander Ross refers to 

 the incident in his narrative of the "The Fur Hunter," (I, p. 38.) "On May 22nd, 

 some time after the arrival of the Isaac Todd, a boat containing Messrs. Donald Mc- 

 Tavish and Alexander Henry, two partners of long standing and high reputation in the 

 service, with six men, was swamped, all hands perishing, in crossing the river, wàth the 

 exception of one man. Although the accident took place in broad daylight, and in front 

 of the fort, the circumstance was not perceived or known, for some hours after, w^hen John 

 Little, the man who was saved, arrived at the fort, and communicated the intelligence." 



(5) Journey of Mr. Gabriel Franchere, 1814. 



The ship " Tonquin " crossed the bar at the mouth of the river Columbia, March 25th, 

 1811. She had on board thirty-three passengers, thirty of whom were British subjects, 

 and of these twenty-eight were from Canada. They had passed round Cape Horn from 

 New York; their object was to carry on the fur trade on the Pacific coast, under the 

 name of the " Pacific Fur Company " ; of which company, Mr. John Jacob Astor, a German 

 by birth, residing iu New York, was the principal promoter. The Canadian partners had 

 among them some of the traders who at one time had been in the service of the North-West 

 Company, including Alexander McKay, who had accompanied Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 

 on his overland travels. Qa April 12th they selected a site for a building in which 

 the business of the company could be carried on. The establishment broke up two years 

 afterwards, and on October 16th, 1813, the Canadian North-West Company purchased the 

 effects and accepted the transfer of Fort Astoria. Some of the clerks who had been engaged 

 by the Pacific Fur Company were reengaged during the winter by the new company. 

 The others returned to Canada, among whom Gabriel Franchere started overland the 

 spring following, and described the journey in a narrative published on his return.' 



' Narrative of a voyage to the North-West Coast of America in the year 1812-13-14, by Gabriel Franchere. 



