Numbers of these
men were employed by the Northwest Company as trappers, hunters, and
canoe men, but on lower terms than were allowed to white men. Ignace
Shonowane had, in this way, followed the enterprise of the company to
the banks of the Spokan, being, probably, one of the first of his tribe
that had traversed the Rocky Mountains.
Such were some of the motley populace of the wilderness, incident to
the fur trade, who were gradually attracted to the new settlement of
Astoria.
The month of October now began to give indications of approaching
winter. Hitherto, the colonists had been well pleased with the climate.
The summer had been temperate, the mercury never rising above eighty
degrees. Westerly winds had prevailed during the spring and the early
part of the summer, and been succeeded by fresh breezes from the
northwest. In the month of October the southerly winds set in, bringing
with them frequent rain.
The Indians now began to quit the borders of the ocean, and to retire
to their winter quarters in the sheltered bosom of the forests, or
along the small rivers and brooks. The rainy season, which commences in
October, continues, with little intermission, until April; and though
the winters are generally mild, the mercury seldom sinking below the
freezing point, yet the tempests of wind and rain are terrible.
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