Paul Kane's Journal of his Western Travels, 1846-1848 - History and ...

Coulitz R. The Cowlitz River, a tributary of the Columbia,
flows from north to south, joining it fifty-five miles from the
Pacific Ocean. It fonned the inland route from the Columbia
River to Puget Sound. The name, from a tribal name of
Salishan derivation, means "power," or "catching the
spirit. "
Coupmont de Barge. See boat-incampment.
Cour de lane The Coeur d' Alene Roman Catholic mission was
founded in 1843 (see jochet, Father) on the Spokane River
in what is now the Idaho panhandle. A fort of the same name
was situated on the Coeur d' Alene River. The Skitswish tribe
came to be known by this French tenn ("heart of an awl")
because one of its chiefs used it to describe the size of a fur
trader's heart.
Crack farm See garden island.
Crey ICree/Creese Descriptive of a wide range of hunting
groups speaking the Algonquian language, Cree inhabit, as
they did in Kane's day, most areas of present-day Quebec,
Ontario, Manitoba (Swampy Cree), Saskatchewan (Woods
Cree and Swampy Cree), and Alberta (Woods Cree and
Plains Cree). Kane came into contact with all three divisions
and their dialects. The Plains Cree adapted successfully from
woodland trappers to warriors and bison hunters, but were
ruined by smallpox and the destruction of the bison herds.
Cmtey , Mr. Alexander Christie ( 1792 -1872) joined the
HBC in 1809, rising to Chief Factor and administrator before
traveling on furlough in 1848, the year of Kane's return trip,
to Scotland, where he retired in 1853. He served as Governor
of Assiniboia in 1833-1839 and 1844-1848. During his
second term, the time of Kane's visit to Red River, he was
attempting to keep American free-traders from cutting into
the HBC's monopoly on the lower Red River. Governor Simpson's
"Character Book" describes him as "one of our best
characters, an honourable, correct, upright good hearted man
as can be found in any Country" (180).
Columba/Columba/Columbia Originally the Rio de San
Rock, in 1792 the Columbia River was explored by the
American Captain Robert Gray, who named it for his ship.
Most of its 1225 miles and 2700-foot drop to sea level were
first paddled in 1811, by David Thompson's North West
Company brigade. Although Thompson discovered it as the
only practicable fur trade route to the Pacific, he met the
Astorians (see Astoria) at the river's mouth, who had anticipated
his arrival by some six weeks. Today, thirteen power
dams have altered the river from its character in the midnineteenth
century .
Cumberland Cumberland House (est. 1774) was visited by
Kane June 10, 1848. The first inland trading post of the HBC,
named for Prince Rupert, Duke of Cumberland (1619-1687),
Cumberland House was situated on Cumberland Lake, a few
miles north of the Saskatchewan River, just west of the
modem Manitoba/ Saskatchewan border.
Cwnberland river Rowing southeast out of Cumberland Lake,
this river noticeably increases the size of the Saskatchewan
River where it enters it from the north, west of the modem
Saskatchewan I Manitoba border. The Cumberland fonned
70
part of the fur trade route to the north, up the Sturgeon-weir
and Churchill River, eventually taking the brigades to the
Athabasca and Mackenzie river districts.
daD de more I rapped of deth /DaD de More On the upper
Columbia River, above modem Revelstoke, British Columbia,
the Dalle de Mort takes its name from the incident fully
related by Kane.
the DaDs Not to be confused with those on the upper Columbia
River, The Dalles of the lower Columbia (at present-day The
Dalles, Oregon) were eight miles of rapids named from the
French word for "flagstones." The meaning transfers from
the use of such stone to line gutters. To the voyageurs, many
rapids on the fur trade routes resembled such gutters, and the
river's rock walls the sides of those gutters. The principal
falls and rapids below The Dalles were the Little Dalles,
about one mile long, and the Cascades. The head of The
Dalles was the Great Falls at Celilo; then followed, in upstream
order, Hell Gate Rapids (Kane's La Shute [see La
Shute/Shutes/Shoots]) and John Day Rapids. It is uncertain
when Kane passed these features during his downriver
trip in 1846, but it is known that on his return in 1847 he was
at the Cascades July 3-5, at Hell Gate/Chutes July 8-9, and
at John Day Rapids July 10 (when WA describes the technique
of "tracking" boats up a rapids [184] ).
David Thompson, who descended and ascended the Columbia
in the summer of 1811 , offered the following succinct
description of The Dalles:
These Dalles were ... steep high walls of Basalt Rock,
with sudden sharp breaks in them, which were at right
angles to the direction of the wall of the River, these breaks
formed rude bays, under each point was a violent eddy, and
each bay a powerful, dangerous, whirpool; these walls of
Rock contract the River from eight hundred to one thousand
yards in width to sixty yards, or less: imagination can
hardly fonn an idea of the working of this immense body of
water under such a compression, raging and hissing, as if
alive.
Days Incampment A camp on the Columbia River, ten miles
upriver from Fort Colville.
de gurlay, Frances No further infonnation has surfaced about
this Metis. WA refers to him only as Kane's "guide" (64).
de Merse/de Merce, Mr. Modeste Demers (1809-1871) had
gone west from Lower Canada as a Roman Catholic missionary
to Red River in 1837. In 1838, he continued on to Oregon,
working with both voyageurs and Indians. After extensive
work in the interior of present-day Washington and British
Columbia, he was appointed bishop of Vancouver Island in
1'844. When he met Kane in 1848, Demers was on his way to
France to raise funds and find missionaries suitable for work
in a territory still with an almost entirely native population.
de Shombo, Mr. George D'Eschambeau1t (1806- 1870) joined
the HBC in 1819 and was the Chief Trader stationed atCwnberland
House from 1847 to 1849. He did not distinguish himself in
the service and never took command of an important post. In his
"Character Book," Governor Simpson judged him "a well
meaning, well disposed, heavy dull slovenly man, who is deficient
in Education and can never be particularly useful. Under-
Guide