Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 35/Hawaiians in Early Oregon

by Robert Carlton Clark

HAWAIIANS IN EARLY OREGON

By Robert Carlton Clark

Recent newspaper stories concerning the completion of the Owyhee dam and the launching of the Owyhee irrigation project should be a reminder of the early relation of the Hawaiian Islands with the Pacific northwest and the part played by their people in the history of early Oregon. The eastern Oregon river that gives its name to a dam, which at the time of its completion was hailed as the highest in the world,^[1] and to an important reclamation project was named in memory of two Hawaiians killed by Indians upon its banks in 1819. "Owyhee" was the form of spelling generally used by all early writers for the Hawaii that came later to be the accepted form. The natives of the islands when found in Oregon were called Sandwich Islanders or Kanakas or Owyhees.

In December, 1777, Captain James Cook, who had been sent into the Pacific on a voyage of exploration by the King of England, discovered several islands which he named in honor of the Earl of Sandwich. He later sailed northward and in March of the next year sighted the American coast in the neighborhood of the present Yaquina Bay. He thus became the first to make a contact between the Oregon country and Hawaii. Cook was followed within a few years by vessels that engaged in trading furs from the Indians along the northwest coast of America which they sold in China. The captains of such ships were quick to learn the value of the Hawaiian Islands as a resting place and provisioning station. Their custom was to stop there on the northward voyage, spend a season in trade, return to the islands for the winter, and afterwards sail back to the American coast to complete their cargo of furs before going to Canton.

Two such traders were captains Portlock and Dixon, who on their outgoing voyage in 1786 anchored their ships in a bay on the coast of the island of Hawaii. There the friendly ruler helped them to secure the needed supply of hogs, sugar cane and yams which they purchased for some trivial articles such as nails, trinkets and beads. When the captains returned to Hawaii for the winter they made the acquaintance of an island chieftain named Tianna, of whom Portlock writes with admiration and describes as "six feet, two inches in height and exceedingly well made, that a more perfect symetry and just proportion of shape is rarely met with."^[2] A copy of Tianna's painted portrait is in the book that Portlock wrote to give an account of his voyage. The next year, 1787, Captain John Meares, another of the fur traders, stopped at the islands, and after much pleading on the part of Tianna to grant his desire to see the world, carried him away with him to China, where he resided until Meares had fitted out two vessels for a second voyage to the northwest coast. Tianna sailed on one of these, the Iphigenia, commanded by William Douglas, in January, 1788, to Prince Williams Sound and afterwards joined Meares at Nootka. He was thus, probably, the first Hawaiian to visit America.

While at Nootka Sound Tianna met Maquinna, the Indian chief of that region. When he, with his fine colossal figure stood by Maquinna, who was short in stature, each regarded the other with disgust. Tianna held the customs of the Indians as detestable, as well he might, for, as Meares says, "the Owyhees were far superior in those things which we regard as com forts in life and in their approach to civilization." Meares also expressed a wish "that near half a million human beings inhabiting the Sandwich Islands may one day be ranked among the civilized subjects of the British Empire."^[3]

Tianna looked on with. interest while Meares built his vessel, the North West America, and was on board when it was launched at Nootka. As the props were pulled out from under, the boat shot into the water with Tianna clapping his hands and exclaiming, "Myty, Myty," by which he expressed greatest wonder and delight. In September, 1788, Tianna returned to his island home with Meares who went there for the winter.

In the year 1788 when Portlock and Dixon again stopped at the islands on their way to China they found the natives over joyed to see them. Tyheira, the son of the king, brought his wife and children on board the ship to greet Captain Dixon. He had named his oldest son "Po Pate" after Portlock and the younger son "Dittiana" for Dixon. Both captains testify to many acts of kindness shown them by the natives that proved them far from being destitute of fine feelings.^[4]

In 1789, Meares sent two vessels on which 70 Chinamen were embarked to Nootka to establish a permanent trading post. He planned to provide the Chinamen with Hawaiian wives and thus start a settlement to be named Fort Pitt. The Spaniards, however, seized his vessels before his project could be carried out.

When the Americans entered the fur trade of the Pacific in 1788 they, like the British, stopped at the Hawaiian Islands. The relations of the traders with the natives were not always friendly. At times there were quarrels in which lives were lost. Simon Metcalf, an American trader, in 1789, after a quarrel with the natives killed 100 of them in the conflict that ensued. Later a son of Metcalf and four of his crew lost their lives in an attack by natives. John Young, a member of the crew of the elder Metcalf, however, entered the service of the Hawaiian king, Kamehameha, became his cabinet counselor and ruler of the island of Owyhee until his death in 1842. When Captain Robert Gray returned to Boston in 1790 from his first "voyage of adventure to the North-West Coast of America" he had on board his ship Columbia a native of the Hawaiian Islands.^[5] On her voyage from Nootka to Canton the Columbia stopped 24 days at the Hawaiian Islands for provisions, having arrived August 24, 1789. At the island of Niihau a young Hawaiian chief named Attoo was taken aboard as servant to Captain Gray and accompanied him, by way of Canton, China, all the way back to Boston, where he arrived August 9, 1790. Attoo also served as Captain Gray's servant when the Columbia, sailing from Boston in September of the same year, made her second voyage to the northwest coast of America and arrived at Clayoquot Sound in June, 1791 . While there he ran away among the Indians who returned him after one of their chiefs had been held as ransom. Attoo received a severe flogging for his attempted desertion. Later in this year he watched the construction by Gray of the sloop Adventure and proved his loyalty by revealing a plot of the Indians to seize the ship and massacre all the crew. This Hawaiian lad was on board the Columbia in May, 1792, when that ship entered the river to which Gray gave her name.

After a cargo of furs had been collected the Columbia sailed away for China by way of the Hawaiian Islands where stops were made at several ports to secure supplies of food. On November 2, 1792, the Columbia ran into the harbor of Attoo's native island where he had come aboard in September, 1789 . When his father and other kinsmen came aboard to greet him he refused to go on shore and "Captain Gray did not think proper to force him."^[6] The Columbia reached Boston July 25, 1793, after her second voyage around the world with Attoo presumably still safely aboard.

Another Hawaiian boy called Jack was not so fortunate as Attoo. He shipped on another Boston vessel, the Margaret, in November, 1792, went to China, and died of the scurvy while still aboard that ship while she was spending her second season on the northwest coast.^[7]

Two Hawaiian maidens about the same time made a voyage to Nootka and returned safely home. They were passengers on the Jenny that sailed from Bristol, England, in June, 1791, with James Baker as captain. After leaving the Hawaiian Islands, probably in May, 1792, the Jenny reached the CaliCalifornia coast in June, voyaged northward trading with the Indians, entered the Winchester Bay of today at the mouth of the Umpqua River, and arrived at Nootka in the October following. There Captain Baker turned the young women over to Captain George Vancouver who promised to return them to their native country.^[8] Vancouver states that they had been carried away from their native island, Niihau, also the home of Attoo, against their will and without consent of friends and kinsmen, but that they testified to kind treatment by Captain Baker. They were taken on board Vancouver's ship Discovery, traveled with him to the Spanish settlement of Monterey in California, and from there to a new home on the most northern of the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai. Vancouver discovered that their native island had been almost abandoned by its people on account of a drought and persuaded one of the chiefs of Kauai to give each of them an estate within his territory. The younger of the girls, named Raheina, about 15 years of age, was of high rank, while the other named Tymarow, was about 20 years old. Vancouver speaks in highest praise of their character and behavior.^[9]

John Jacob Astor in 1810 while planning a post on the Columbia River also had in mind to establish friendly relations with the Hawaiian Islands in the hope of securing special commercial privileges there. When the Tonquin which carried his men and goods to the Columbia stopped at those islands, its captain endeavored without success to make a commercial treaty with King Kamehameha.^[10] He did, however, succeed in securing needed supplies of food and in enlisting 24 Hawaiians for service as sailors and as laborers at the prospective post. The agreement was that they were to receive food, clothing and $100 in merchandise for three years service.

When entering the mouth of the Columbia the Tonquin lost several members of her crew and among the number was one Hawaiian who was buried at Cape Disappointment. The 12 Hawaiians who remained on board were murdered with the other members of the crew when the Tonquin was surprised by Indians while in Clayoquot Sound a few weeks later.

One of the Hawaiians who helped to build the post that was named Astoria was given the name of John Coxe. He later joined the party led by David Stuart that was sent up the Columbia in July, 1811, to establish a post in the interior. Stuart transferred Coxe to David Thompson, of the North West Company, who carried him across the Rocky Mountains to Fort William on Lake Superior. When the Isaac Todd was sent by the North West Company from Quebec to the Columbia by the way of Portsmouth, England, Coxe was on board. On the way he transferred to the British war vessel, the Raccoon, which arrived at Astoria in December, 1813. In August of the next year he started back to his Hawaiian home where he eventually arrived. He returned to Oregon later and be came a swineherd at Vancouver.^[11]

When the Beaver, another of Astor's ships, arrived at Astoria in 1813, she brought with her 12 more Hawaiians. There they were employed as unskilled laborers for the most part though some were used for building small boats at which task they were expert. They were also sent with fur hunting parties into the interior. Several Hawaiians were members of the party of David Stuart that went up the Columbia and built Fort Okanogan in September, 1811. While out on a hunting expedition in 1819 to the Snake River country two of the islanders were killed in the neighborhood of the Owyhee River and thus that stream received its name.^[12]

In 1813 the Astor partners sold to the North West Company all the property and posts of the Astor company in Oregon and its employes for the most part, including the Hawaiians, entered the service of its successor. For some years afterward the North West Company sent ships to the Columbia with supplies and carried furs to China. These vessels visited the Hawaiian Islands and brought away more natives for employment on the Columbia. In 1817, one of these, the Columbia, was instructed to bring as many of the Sandwich Islanders to the Columbia River as it could conveniently accommodate and brought 60 of them to Astoria that year.^[13] These vessels also on the out going voyage to China took home the Hawaiians who had fulfilled their terms of service.

When in 1821 the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company were merged under the name of the latter the Hawaiians entered the employment of the new company. At that time there were about 35 of them and George Simpson, the new governor who was on the Columbia in 1824 recommended bringing 15 more on the first vessel that passed the is lands on her way to Oregon. In his opinion they were useful as guards and for "common drudgery" about the posts and were especially valuable in newly occupied districts "as they can be depended on in cases of danger" from the Indians. Later he recommended the employment to two "good stout active Sandwich Islanders who have been to Sea for 1, 2 or 3 years" as sailors on the company's boat the Cadboro, which was used in the coastwise trade.^[14]

In order to secure the Hawaiians it was necessary to make a contract with their king. One such contract was made in 1840 between G. Pelly, acting as agent for the Hudson's Bay Company at Honolulu, and Kekuanaoa, governor of the island of Oahu. It permitted 60 men to be taken to the Columbia for a term of three years, at the end of which time they were to be returned to Honolulu, with a proviso that $20 must be paid for each man missing from the original number with the exception of those who had died.^[15]

These laborers had been given only food and clothing for their services by the North West Company. In 1823 they were given in addition the wage paid other servants, 17 pounds a year. However, as this occasioned "much dissatisfaction" among the Canadian and European servants as the Hawaiians were "by no means such serviceable people," Governor Simpson in 1824 ordered their annual stipend to be reduced to 10 pounds, "which satisfied all parties."^[16] This wage may have been raised later for in 1841 those who worked in the saw mill were said to receive 17 pounds per year.^[17]

These Hawaiian contract laborers were among almost all the company's crews and forces which were engaged in the fur trade from New Caledonia to the Sacramento Valley and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Their health was often impaired by the damp and, for them, cold Oregon climate. Many of them died on the long sea voyage which sometimes carried them to China before they reached Oregon.^[18] Their services, however, were valuable and much appreciated by their employers. A crew of them manned the Dolly, a schooner that was sent out from Astoria to meet ships coming into the Columbia.^[19] They were expert mill men. Todd, when seeking a site for a saw mill in the Nisqually country, took with him two Hawaiians as expert advisers.^[20] The saw mill located six miles up the river from Vancouver employed 25 to 30 men, "most all of whom," so observed Lieutenant Emmons, "were Sandwich Islanders."^[21] Many of the Hawaiians were employed about Fort Vancouver and the Nisqually post as cooks, gardeners, sheep and swine herders, road men and carpenters. Cowie, the head carpenter at Nisqually was able to construct buildings, boats, wheels, wagons and do all the general repair work about the fort. His helpers were also Hawaiians.^[22]

When Chief Trader Alexander McLeod set out on an expedition to punish the Puget Sound Indians, Sandwich Islanders were among his men.^[23] There was an "Owyhee Church" in the stockade inclosure at Fort Vancouver located between the jail and the kitchen on the north side and not far from the house of the chief factor. It was at one time ministered to by the Reverend Kanaka William who held services there for his fellow countrymen.^[24]

The Hawaiians went out with almost every hunting and trading expedition. They accompanied Ogden or Work to the Snake River country and on the trips that took them into the Humboldt River region. They were with Work and other traders who led the expedition to the Umpqua and to California. On such trips they proved superior hunters as they were able to bring in game when others had failed. They could also act as boatmen when needed.^[25]

Unlike many other employes of the company, the Hawaiians were considered trustworthy and faithful servants. It is said that when John McLoughlin, Junior, was making the fight against his own men at Fort Stikine near the Alaska border in 1842, in which he lost his life, that Owyhees stood by him to the last man.^[26] They were also valued for their wit and humor and gave great amusement by their pantomimes, dances and singing. The performance might be ridiculous but would bring peals of laughter from their audiences.^[27] On the whole it may be said that the Hawaiians were frank and friendly in their behavior, well liked by their associates. Those in Oregon in this early period, now a century ago, showed ability to learn quickly and profited by their intercourse with the white race.

The numbers of Hawaiians in old Oregon and employed by the Hudson's Bay Company at the height of its activity can not be definitely stated. Of the 250 and more employes listed by the company for 1846, as dairymen, carpenters, shepherds, gardeners and laborers, a large proportion were probably these pleasant tempered island people.^[28] The Hawaiian strain, however, quickly disappeared after the period of settlement had begun in earnest and left few traces. Some intermarried with the Indians, cast their lot with them, and were assimilated by them.^[29] In 1891, there was living among the Kootenai tribe an Indian named Kanaka.^[30] The territory of Washington in 1858 found it necessary to pass a law prohibiting the sale of liquor to Kanakas.^[31] The mining laws of Jacksonville, Oregon, 1858–67, show that Kanakas were not only employed as miners but sometimes also occupied small claims of their own.^[32] While many Hawaiians may have thus remained to make permanent homes in Oregon it is more probable that the great majority were merely temporary residents and were ultimately taken back to their native land in fulfillment of the labor contract by the terms of which they had been permitted to depart.

From the data here given it is clear that the Hawaiians rendered important services in the economic development of Oregon. The islands from which they came were a source of supply for the common labor not easily secured elsewhere and so necessary to the exploitation of virgin territory. The negroes rendered a like service for the southland of the United States as did the Chinese for the Pacific coast in the period after 1850, in building railroads and in the performance of many servile tasks distasteful to the white race.

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1. The dam is 405 feet from foundation to crest, 835 feet long and forms a reservoir 52 miles long with an area of 13,000 acres and a capacity of 1,170,000 acre feet. It was built at a cost of $6,000,000; Reclamation Era, August, 1932.
2. Portlock, Voyage, 1785-89 (London 1789), 360.
3. Meares, Voyages, (London, 1790), I, 332, 337, 339.
4. Dixon, Voyage, (London, 1789), 252-59.
5. Howay, "Voyages of Kendrick and Gray in 1787-90," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXX, 93.
6. Boit, "Log of the Columbia," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXII, 278, 299, 300, 333.
7. Howay, "The Ship Margaret," Hawaiian Historical Society, Report, XXXVIII, 38.
8. Howay and Elliott, "Voyages of the Jenny to Oregon, 1792-94," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXX, 197.
9. Vancouver, Voyage, (London, 1801), II, 381; III, 381-400.
10. Irving, Astoria, (New York, 1849), 55-56, 73-74, 82-84.
11. Barry, "An Interesting Hawaiian in Old Oregon," Hawaiian Historical Society, Report, XXXVIII, 20-24.
12. Ross, Adventures of the First Settlers on the Columbia, (1849), 97.
13. Barry, "Peter Corney's Voyages, 1814-17," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXXIII, 364-65.
14. Merk, Fur Trade and Empire, (1931), 91, 298.
15. Blue, "A Hudson's Bay Company Contract for Hawaiian Labor," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXV, 72.
16. Merk, 91.
17. Emmons, "Journal," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXVI, 268.
18. Ross, Adventures, 81; Barry, Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXXIII, 361.
19. Barry, same, 358.
20. "Nisqually Journal," Washington Historical Quarterly, XI, 60.
21. Emmons, "Journal," 268.
22. "Nisqually Journal," 137, 139, 140–41.
23. Ermatinger, "Hudson's Bay Company on the Columbia," Washington Historical Quarterly, V , 197.
24. Vavasour, "Plan of Vancouver," Oregon Historical Quarterly, X, March, 1909]]; Anderson, "Vancouver Reservation Case," same, VIII, 223.
25. Work, "Journal," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XIV, 295, 308.
26. Ermatinger, 200.
27. Ross, Adventures, 123, 124; Kane, Wanderings of an Artist, 258-59.
28. Clark, History of Willamette Valley, 871.
29. "Nisqually Journal," 146.
30. Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, I, 539.
31. Walker, "Liquor Laws of Washington," Washington Historical Quarterly, V, 117.
32. Blue, "Mining Laws of Jackson County," Oregon Historical Quarterly, XXIII, 139.