DEFENCES AND IMPROVEMENTS.



25



magnificence. Back of the fort the land rose gently, covered with forests
of fir;
and away to the east swelled the foot-hills of the Cascade range, then the
moun-
tains themselves, draped in filmy azure, and over-topped five thousand feet
by-
the snowy cone of Mt. Hood.
  In this lonely situation grew up, with the dispatch which characterized
the
acts of the Company, a fort in most respects similar to the original one
at
Astoria. It was not, however, thought necessary to make so great a display
of
artillery as had served to keep in order the subjects of Comeomly. A stockade
enclosed a space about eight hundred feet long by five hundred broad, having
a bastion at one corner, where were mounted three guns, while two eighteen.
pounders and two swivels were planted in front of the residence of the Gov-
ernor and chief factors. These commanded the main entrance to the fort,
besides which there were two other gates in front, and another in the rear.
Military precision was observed in the precautions taken against surprises,
as
well as in all the rules of the place. The gates were opened and closed at
certain hours, and were always guarded. No large number of Indians were
permitted within the enclosure at the same time, and every employee at the
fort
knew and performed his duty with punctuality.
  The buildings within the stockade were the Governor's and chief factors
residences, stores, offices, work-shops, magazines, warehouses, &c.
  Year by year, up to 1835 or '40, improvements continued to go on in and
about the fort, the chief of which was the cultivation of the large farm
and
garden outside the enclosure, and the erection of a hospital building, large
barns,
servants' houses, and a boat-house, all outside of the fort; so that at the
period
when the Columbia River was a romance and a mystery to the people of the
United States, quite a flourishing and beautiful village adorned its northern
shore, and that too erected and sustained by the enemies of American enter-
prise on soil commonly believed to belong to the United States: fair foes
the
author firmly believes them to have been in those days, yet foes nevertheless.
   The system on which the Hudson's Bay Company conducted its business was,
the result of long experience, and was admirable for its method and its justice
also.
When a young man entered its service as a clerk, his wages were small for
sev-
eral years, increasing only as his ability and good conduct entitled him
to advance-
ment. When his salary had reached one hundred pounds sterling he became
eligible to a chief-tradership as a partner in the concern, from which position,
he was promoted to the rank of a chief factor.  No important business was
ever intrusted to an inexperienced person, a policy which almost certainly
pre-
vented any serious errors. A regular tariff was established on the Company's
goods, comprising all the articles used in their trade with the Indians;
nor was
the quality of their goods ever allowed to deteriorate. A price was also
fixed
upon furs according to their market value, and an Indian knowing this, knew
exactly what he could purchase. No bartering was allowed. When skins
were offered for sale at the fort they were handed to the clerk through a
win-
dow like a post-office delivery-window, and their value in the article desired,
returned through the same aperture. All these regulations were of the high-
est importance to the good order, safety, and profit of the Company. The
con-