EXPEDITIONS TO PACIFIC. 113 



stores, merchaudise and buildings to the North- West Compauy. He iuforms us, that after 

 Astoria had remained iu possession of the hxtter compauy for about four weeks, it was 

 taken i^ossessiou of by the oflicer iu command of H. M. S. " Eacoou," iu the King's name, 

 aud changed from Astoria to Fort George. Four mouths later Mr. Ross entered the 

 service of the North-West Company, aud proceeded to the duties assigned him iu the 

 interior. He spent the following twelve years trading with the Indian tribes, amongst 

 whom he had mauy adventures, and not a few hair-breadth escapes. In the spring of 

 1825, iu company with Sir George Simpson, he set out to cross the mouutaius. They 

 followed the Columbia to the Great Bend, kuowu as " Boat Encampment ; " they ascended 

 by the Athabasca pass to a small lake to which the name of the " Committee's Punch 

 Bowl," w-as given. On reaching the main source of the Athabasca, they followed the 

 current of that river to Fort Assiniboine ; here they changed canoes for horses, aud struck 

 south-easterly across the country for Edmonton. At this post they remained two weeks, 

 during their stay a grand ball was given iu honor of Governor Simpson. The party left 

 by a brigade of boats to float down the swift Saskatchewan. They halted at Fort 

 Carleton aud Cumberland House. At the latter place they found the Franklin advance 

 party ; further down the river they met Captain Frankliu and Dr. Eichardson on their 

 overland Arctic expedition. The travellers reached Lake Winnipeg and visited Norway 

 House, then a place of considerable business and activity. At this place the traders, on 

 their return from the posts of the compauy, from Lake Superior on the south, the Rocky 

 Mountains on the w^est, aud Mackenzie River on the north, annually collected the fruits 

 of their labour, to be dispatched to York Factory on Hudson Bay. After remaining 

 two weeks at Norway House, Mr. Ross made the passage of Lake Winnipeg, and early 

 in July, 1825, reached the Red River settlement where after a varied and eventful life 

 he established himself. In 1849 he published a volume describing the career of the 

 Pacific Fur Company, its operations, reverses and final discomfiture ; aud iu 1855 a 

 second narrative of his adventures among the Indian tribes west of the Rocky Mountains. 



(9) Travels of Mr. John McLeod, 1822—1826. 



After the uuion of the Hudson's Bay Company with the North- West Company, in 

 1821, Mr. John McLeod was the first officer to cross the Rocky Mountains from the east. 



Mr. McLeod eutered the service of the old Hudson's Bay Compauy in 1811, and for 

 the ten years previously to the union of the two, he was a zealous participant in the 

 contest with the North- West Company. He was detailed to accompany and assist Lord 

 Selkirk's first brigade of colonists from York Factory to Red River, and he established 

 trading posts at a number of places in the prairie region, to intercept the trade of the rival 

 compauy. Mr. McLeod, when selected by the united companies to proceed to the west 

 side of the Rocky Mountains, was stationed at Green Lake, about 200 miles north of Fort 

 Carlton. He set out in 1822, with his wife and two young children. He reached 

 Athabasca River, and crossed the mountains by the Athabasca pass to the Columbia, 

 and descended the river to its mouth. In the following years he was engaged at 

 different posts in trade operations ; during this time he left Kamloops, followed the 

 Thompson, and descended the Fraser to the Strait of Georgia. Mr. McLeod was in the 

 Columbia district when it was decided to change the headciuarters of the company. Fort 



Sec. II, 1889. 15. 



