Appendix

Appendix

Nathaniel J. Wyeth, and the Trade of the Far West

WE HAVE BROUGHT Captain Bonneville to the end of his western

campaigning; yet we cannot close this work without subjoining

some particulars concerning the fortunes of his contemporary, Mr.

Wyeth; anecdotes of whose enterprise have, occasionally, been

interwoven in the party-colored web of our narrative. Wyeth

effected his intention of establishing a trading post on the

Portneuf, which he named Fort Hall. Here, for the first time, the

American flag was unfurled to the breeze that sweeps the great

naked wastes of the central wilderness. Leaving twelve men here,

with a stock of goods, to trade with the neighboring tribes, he

prosecuted his journey to the Columbia; where he established

another post, called Fort Williams, on Wappatoo Island, at the

mouth of the Wallamut. This was to be the head factory of his

company; whence they were to carry on their fishing and trapping

operations, and their trade with the interior; and where they

were to receive and dispatch their annual ship.

The plan of Mr. Wyeth appears to have been well concerted. He had

observed that the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the bands of free

trappers, as well as the Indians west of the mountains, depended

for their supplies upon goods brought from St. Louis; which, in

consequence of the expenses and risks of a long land carriage,

were furnished them at an immense advance on first cost. He had

an idea that they might be much more cheaply supplied from the

Pacific side. Horses would cost much less on the borders of the

Columbia than at St. Louis: the transportation by land was much

shorter; and through a country much more safe from the hostility

of savage tribes; which, on the route from and to St. Louis,

annually cost the lives of many men. On this idea, he grounded

his plan. He combined the salmon fishery with the fur trade. A

fortified trading post was to be established on the Columbia, to

carry on a trade with the natives for salmon and peltries, and to

fish and trap on their own account. Once a year, a ship was to

come from the United States, to bring out goods for the interior

trade, and to take home the salmon and furs which had been

collected. Part of the goods, thus brought out, were to be

dispatched to the mountains, to supply the trapping companies and

the Indian tribes, in exchange for their furs; which were to be

brought down to the Columbia, to be sent home in the next annual

ship: and thus an annual round was to be kept up. The profits on

the salmon, it was expected,