Ovide de Montigny was a French-Canadian

fur trapper Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

active in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

from 1811 to 1822.

Pacific Fur Company

de Montigny was hired by

Alexander MacKay Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in July 1810. McKay and Wilson Price Hunt were in the city recruiting men experienced in the fur trade for the

Pacific Fur Company The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom o ...

(PFC). This recently established

fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most ...

venture was funded largely by

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

merchant

John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by History of opium in China, smuggl ...

. The PFC had a notably diverse workforce. The majority were British subjects of several different cultural backgrounds. The other company partners were either Scottish or American. French-Canadians typically served as

voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including th ...

and trappers, with a number of

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

working in these vital roles as well. The remaining employees were Americans, Anglo-Canadian,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, or Hawaiian Kanaka. de Montigny accompanied the other hired employees and McKay in August and traveled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Once there, the men waited to sail on aboard the '' Tonquin'', which departed in September. After the ship sailed past

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

, it landed at the Kingdom of Hawaii and hired 24 Hawaiian Kanakas. The ship reached the Columbia River in March 1811.

Fort Astoria

In the middle of April, de Montigny and his fellow PFC employees began work on what would become

Fort Astoria Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC). A maritime contingent of PFC staff was sent on board the ''Tonquin (1807 ship), Tonquin'', while another party traveled overl ...

. Reports from near by

Chinookan people Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since at least 4000 BCE Chinookan peoples have resided along the Lower and Middle Columbia River (Wi ...

s made the management aware of fellow fur traders were operating a trading post in the Pacific Northwest interior. This would later turn out to be the North West Company and its stations in New Caledonia. On 2 May 1811, McKay led a small party that included Robert Stuart,

Gabriel Franchère Gabriel Franchère ( 3 November 1786 –12 April 1863) was a French Canadian author and explorer of the Pacific Northwest. Franchère was born in Montreal to Gabriel Franchère (4 March 1752 - 16 May 1832) and Marie-Félicité Morin (20 August 176 ...

and de Montigny up the Columbia River to investigate these claims. They were accompanied by a

Clatsop The Clatsop is a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia R ...

noble, Coalpo, who already had developed ties with Fort Astoria and would guide the party. The party passed

Tongue Point Saltcreeksunset

Tongue Point is an area of the Salt Creek Recreation Ar ...

and passed the night at Coalpo's village, "Wahkaykum." On 4 May, de Montigny and Mackay explored the

Cowlitz River The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens. The Cowlitz has a d ...

with Coalpo. While on the river, they encountered a large canoe force of

Cowlitz Cowlitz may refer to: People * Cowlitz people, an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest ** Cowlitz language, member of the Tsamosan branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages * Cowlitz Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of ...

warriors. McKay was able to negotiate with the armed force and create amicable relations. Members of the Cowlitz leadership explained they were in the middle of strife with a

Chinookan The Chinookan languages were a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples. Although the last known native speaker of any Chinookan language died in 2012, the 2009-2013 American Community ...

Skilloot village nearby. Continuing up the Columbia, the party met the prominent Multnomah Chinookan noble Kiesno. The Multonomah headman had married a daughter of Chinookan noble

Comcomly Comcomly (or Concomly) (1765 – 1830) was a Native American leader of the Lower Chinook, a group of Chinookan peoples Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak ...

, making him a relative of Coalpo. Afterwards they passed the mouth of the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

, an area described by the Clatsop as full of game and hide bearing animals. On 10 May, the party reached the rapids controlled by various Wasco and Wishram villages which included

Celilo Falls Celilo Falls (Wyam, meaning "echo of falling water" or "sound of water upon the rocks," in several native languages) was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River, just east of the Cascade Mountains, on what is today the border between the U.S. ...

. Coalpo would not go further than the borderlands of these people, informing McKay that the Wishram and Wascoes if allowed to would kill him. This was due to a prior military campaign he commanded that destroyed a major settlement in the area. Content to see that the rumored NWC station wasn't at the important fishery, McKay led the party back to Fort Astoria and arrived on 14 May. Late in June 1811, he and three men were sent to

Youngs Bay Youngs Bay, or Youngs River Bay, is located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Oregon. The Youngs River meets the Columbia River at this point, which is situated between Astoria and Warrenton. The bay is named for the Youngs River ...

to collect tree bark in large quantities. The material was used for siding and roofing for the structures of Fort Astoria. de Montigney and the men returned several days later, having not found a satisfactory source of bark.

The ''Tonquin''

Shortly before the ''Tonquin'' departed to trade with various Indigenous nations on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

in June 1811, McKay selected Montingny to accompany him. Montingny however declined, citing an issue with sea sickness. After

Jonathan Thorn Jonathan Thorn (8 January 1779 – 15 June 1811) was a career officer of the United States Navy in the early 19th century. Early life and Naval career Born on 8 January 1779 at Schenectady, New York, during the Revolutionary War, Thorn was ...

insulted an elder Tla-o-qui-aht man by slapping him in the face with a beaver pelt, the ''Tonquin'' was destroyed. The only known survivor of the crew was the Quinault interpreter

Joseachal Joseachal was a Quinault man who lived in the early 19th century. Notably he was the sole survivor of the '' Tonquin'', a trading vessel owned by the Pacific Fur Company (PFC) that was destroyed near Vancouver Island. He was hired to act an inter ...

, who arrived back at Fort Astoria through assistance of prominent Lower Chinookan noble Comcomly.

Fort Okanogan

de Montigny was among the PFC employees dispatched into the interior to establish

Fort Okanogan Fort Okanogan (also spelled Fort Okanagan) was founded in 1811 on the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers as a fur trade outpost. Originally built for John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company, it was the first American-owned settlem ...

. It was here he remained until the North West Company absorbed the Pacific Fur Company. de Montigny worked in various capacities for the NWC in the region until it was in turn merged into the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{Pacific Fur Company Canadian fur traders French Quebecers Hudson's Bay Company people Oregon pioneers Oregon Trail Pre-Confederation Quebec people