On this #TBT, we return to our series on the adventures of Wilson P. Hunt and the Astorians.
As John Jacob Astor’s agent in the fur trade, Hunt led an 1811 expedition of roughly 60 men to secure a fur trading post at the Columbia River’s mouth. These explorers, dubbed the Astorians, were the first large group of fur traders to strike a trail through the Powder River Basin and the Bighorn Mountains.
In our last post, Washington Irving described some uneasy trading with Crow Indians near the modern-day HF Bar Ranch. He continues:
“The following day [September 1st] was passed in trading with the Crows for buffalo robes and skins, and in bartering galled and jaded horses for others that were in good condition. Some of the men, also, purchased horses on their own account, so that the number now amounted to one hundred and twenty-one, most of them sound and active, and fit for mountain service.
“Their wants being supplied, they ceased all further traffic, much to the dissatisfaction of the Crows, who became extremely urgent to continue the trade, and, finding their importunities of no avail, assumed an insolent and menacing tone. All this was attributed by Mr. Hunt and his associates to the perfidious instigations of [Edward] Rose the interpreter, whom they suspected of the desire to foment ill-will between them and the savages, for the promotion of his nefarious plans. [Robert] M’Lellan, with his usual tranchant mode of dealing out justice, resolved to shoot the desperado on the spot in case of any outbreak. Nothing of the kind, however, occurred. The Crows were probably daunted by the resolute, though quiet demeanor of the white men, and the constant vigilance and armed preparations which they maintained; and [Edward] Rose, if he really still harbored his knavish designs, must have perceived that they were suspected, and, if attempted to be carried into effect, might bring ruin on his own head.”
Sources:
Hunt, Wilson P., and V.A. Malte-Brun. Nouvelles annales des voyages
Irving, Washington. Astoria, Or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains.
