r rivalries in the Canadas. To prevent any contest of the kind,
therefore, he made known his plan to the agents of the Northwest
Company, and proposed to interest them, to the extent of one third, in
the trade thus to be opened. Some correspondence and negotiation ensued.
The company were aware of the advantages which would be possessed by
Mr. Astor should he be able to carry his scheme into effect; but they
anticipated a monopoly of the trade beyond the mountains by their
establishments in New Caledonia, and were loth to share it with an
individual who had already proved a formidable competitor in the
Atlantic trade. They hoped, too, by a timely move, to secure the mouth
of the Columbia before Mr. Astor would be able to put his plans into
operation; and, that key to the internal trade once in their possession,
the whole country would be at their command. After some negotiation and
delay, therefore, they declined the proposition that had been made to
them, but subsequently despatched a party for the mouth of the Columbia,
to establish a post there before any expedition sent out by Mr. Astor
might arrive.

In the meantime Mr. Astor, finding his overtures rejected, proceeded
fearlessly to execute his enterprise in face of the whole power of the
Northwest Company. His main establishment once planted at the mouth of
the Columbia, he looked with confidence to ultimate success. Being able
to reinforce and supply it amply by sea, he would push his interior
posts in every direction up the rivers and along the coast; supplying
the natives at a lower rate, and thus gradually obliging the Northwest
Company to give up the competition, relinquish New Caledonia, and retire
to the other side of the mountains. He would then have possession of
the trade, not merely of the Columbia and its tributaries, but of the
regions farther north, quite to the Russian possessions. Such was a part
of his brilliant and comprehensive plan.

He now proceeded, with all diligence, to procure proper agents and
coadjutors, habituated to the Indian trade and to the life of the
wilderness. Among the clerks of the Northwest Company were several of
great capacity and experience, who had served out their probationary
terms, but who, either through lack of interest and influence, or a
want of vacancies, had not been promoted. They were consequently much
dissatisfied, and ready for any employment in which their talents and
acquirements might be turned to better a