CHAPTER III 

 THE NOR WESTERS COUP 



&quot;It had been decided in council at Fort William 

 that the company should send the Isaac Todd to the 

 Columbia River, where the Americans had established 

 Astoria, and that a party should proceed from Fort 

 William (overland) to meet the ship on the coast 

 wrote MacDonald of Garth, a North-West partner, for 

 the perusal of his children. 



This was decided at the North- West council of 1812, 

 held annually on the shores of Lake Superior. It was 

 just a year from the time that Thompson had discov 

 ered the American fort in the hands of former Nor 

 Westers. At this meeting Thompson s report must 

 have been read. 



The overland party was to be led by the two part 

 ners, John George MacTavish and Alexander Henry, 

 the sea expedition on the Isaac Todd by Donald Mac 

 Tavish, who had actually been appointed governor of 

 the American fort in anticipation of victory. On the 

 Isaac Todd also went MacDonald of Garth.* 



The overland expedition was to thread that laby 

 rinth of water-ways connecting Lake Superior and the 



* A son of the English officer of the Eighty-fourth Regiment 

 in the American War of Independence. 

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