Short History of Oregon Chapter 2

Chapter II

The Northwest Passage and the Hudson’s Bay Company

Early in the seventeenth century several important voyages were made by English mariners on the Atlantic coast in search of the Northwest Passage, all of which bear a close relation to the more direct steps taken on the Pacific side in the discovery of Oregon. Notable among these were the voyages of John Davis in 1588, Henry Hudson in 1608, and William Baffin in 1616. Other explorers followed these more noted ones, and examined the coast carefully as far north as the seventy-fifth parallel; but the Northwest Passage remained undiscovered.

Included in the historical lore covering the long search for the Northwest Passage are many tales which are now considered fictitious. Among these, of passing interest here, is the claim, made in 1609 by Maldonado, a Portuguese, of having in 1588 discovered the Northwest Passage into the South Sea; also the tale bestowing upon Juan De Fuca, a Greek, a similar distinction. The documents purporting to be a description of Juan de Fuca’s voyage, in 1592, through the great straits connecting the Pacific Ocean with Puget Sound attracted wide attention, and although now considered not sufficiently authentic to establish even Juan de Fuca’s discovery of the Straits of Fuca, those straits bear his name.

About this time England became convulsed by civil war, and America was neglected for half a century. Meanwhile an important discovery was made in an opposite direction,-one more disastrous to Spain’s commerce in the Pacific Ocean. This was the discovery by two Dutch navigators, Schouten and Lemaire, of the open sea south of the dreaded Straits of Magellan, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This opened a route to all nations into the Pacific Ocean,-one which Spain could neither monopolize nor defend; and privateers of the three nations hostile to Spain swarmed into the South Sea and plundered her commerce.

When the long fratricidal war in England was over, attention was once more directed toward America.

The belief that the Northwest Passage could be found only through Hudson’s Bay was then a general one, and to aid in its discovery, in 1670 Charles II. granted almost royal privileges in America to a company of his subjects. This charter was granted in consideration of their agreement to search for this passage. The twofold object-that of the king and that of the company-was expressed in the charter which created “The Company of Adventures of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay,” in the following words, “for the discovery of a new passage into the South Sea, and for the finding of some trade in furs, minerals, and other considerable commodities.” The company was granted the exclusive right of the “trade and commerce of all those seas, straits and bays, rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the straits commonly called Hudson’s Straits.”

Of this region, which embraced all that vast territory draining into Hudson’s Bay, this company was given absolute control to the exclusion of all persons whomsoever. It was constituted “for all time hereafter.” The annual rent of this great empire was “two elks and two black beavers,” which the king, if he desired to have it paid, must go upon the land and collect for himself. The company has few rent receipts to exhibit.

This organization known in history as “The Hudson’s Bay Company,” a name vivid in the memory of Oregon pioneers. A splendid thing this charter was to the company, but it became an obstacle in the pathway of England’s progress in America. But for the selfish policy of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Oregon would to-day be a province of Great Britain.

The Hudson’s Bay Company soon learned that its true interests lay, not in finding the Northwest Passage, but in preventing the discovery of it altogether. This it was able to accomplish, and to keep the government and every one else not connected with the organization in complete ignorance of the region in which it was doing a business which assumed gigantic proportions in a few years.

Thus it happened that for a whole century after the granting of this magnificent charter no efforts of consequence were made by England to discover the Straits of Anian, the Hudson’s Bay Company being able to prevent or bring grief all expeditions of this character. Although this greatly desired passage remained undiscovered, it actually appeared on maps in the beginning of the seventeenth century. The origin of the name is not definitely ascertainable, but is probably explained by the fact that “Ania” was the name given on the oldest maps to the northwest part of America.