EARLY HISTORY OF OREGON. 271 



Having at last arranged his plans, he dispatched in Septem- 

 ber, 1810, four of his partners, with twenty-seven subor- 

 dinate officers and servants, in the ship, cc Tonquin," com- 

 manded by Jonathan Thorne, a lieutenant in the United 

 States Navy, to establish a settlement at the mouth of the 

 Columbia River. They arrived at their destination in March, 

 1811, and erected a fort and other necessary buildings on the 

 south side of the river, about ten miles from the mouth, to 

 which the name of Astoria was given. The Tonquin proceeded 

 in June on a trading voyage to the northward, and was de- 

 stroyed, with her crew, by the Indians in the Bay of Clyoquot, 

 near the entrance of the Strait of Fuca. 



In the following month of July, Mr. Thomson, the agent of 

 the Northwest Company, descended the northern branch of the 

 Columbia, and visited the settlement at the mouth of the Co- 

 lumbia. He was received with friendly hospitality by the 

 Superintendent of the Pacific Company, and shortly took his 

 departure again. Mr, Stuart, one of Mr. Astor's partners, 

 accompanied him up the river as far as its junction with the 

 Okinagan, where he remained during the winter, collecting 

 furs from the natives. The Factory at Astoria, in the mean- 

 time, was reinforced in January, 1812, by a further detach- 

 ment of persons in the service of the Pacific Fur Company, 

 who had set out overland early in 1811, and after suffering 

 extreme hardships, and losing several of their number, at last 

 made their way in separate parties to the mouth of the Colum- 

 bia. A third detachment was brought by the ship " Beaver" 

 in the following May. All the partners of the Company, ex- 

 clusive of Mr. Astor, had now been dispatched to the scene 

 of their future trading operations. Mr. Mackay was alone 

 wanting to their number ; he had unfortunately proceeded 

 northwards with Captain Thorne, iu order to make arrange- 



