Note 90 — Chapter XIII

John George McTavish was one of the wintering partners of the North West Company, who had been for several years in the Athabasca department and the Rocky Mountains. He negotiated the bargain by which Astoria was transferred to the British, and afterwards remained for several years at Fort George (British name for the post). In 1816 he skirted the coast of California in one of the company’s schooners, bringing off rich prizes in furs. In 1819, he with other partners of the North West Company, was captured by agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company, sent a prisoner to York factory, and later to England, where he was released.

Joseph Larocque entered the North West Company’s employ at the age of fourteen, and became so proficient in the knowledge of Indian languages and character that his services were highly prized. Lewis and Clark encountered his elder brother, François, among the Mandan, in the winter of 1804-05. Larocque the younger remained upon the Columbia until 1817; after the union with the Hudson’s Bay Company (1821) he retained his status of trader-in-chief. Having amassed a considerable fortune, Larocque retired in 1833, four years later visiting France, where he remained fourteen years. His money was utilized to endow St. Joseph’s College, upon the Willamette, named in honor of the donor. Having returned to his native land (1851), the aged fur-trader devoted himself to works of religion and charity, dying at Ottawa in 1866. For details of his life, see Tassé, Les Canadiens de l’Ouest (Montreal, 1878), ii, pp. 321-338.—Ed.