Very Reverend and Dear Father Provincial.'
By my last letter to the distinguished Prelate of New York, in which I gave my different missionary excursions during 1845-6 among several tribes of the Rocky Mountains, you have learned that I had arrived at the base of the Great Glacier, the source of the river du Trou, which is a tributary of the Athabasca, or Elk river." I will now give to your Reverence the continuation of my arduous and difficult journey across the main chain of the Rocky Mountains and down the Columbia, on my return to my dear brethren in Oregon.
Toward the evening of the 6th of May, [1846] we discovered, at the distance of about three miles, the approach of two men on snow-shoes, who soon joined us. They proved to be the forerunners of the English brigades which, in the spring of each year, goes from Fort Vancouver to York Factory, situated at the mouth of the river Nelson, near 58° north latitude. In the morning my little train was ready early; we proceeded, and after a march of eight miles we fell in with the gentlemen of the Hudson Bay Company. The time of our reunion was short, but inter esting and joyful. The great melting of the snow had already begun, and we were both obliged to be on the alert
e Letter dated Boat Encampment on the Columbia, May io, x846. "Fr. riviere a la Biche.
s The actual work of collecting furs necessarily took place at points remote from civilized markets. The American Fur Company and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company operated in the far-off country on the headwaters of the Missouri and to the south. Their base of supplies was at St. Louis. The Hudson Bay Company operated in the valleys of the Columbia and its tributaries. Their base of supplies was at Montreal. Annually, expeditions traveled the long distances from these bases to the fields of operation, carrying out supplies and bringing back the furs, and transacting the year's business between the companies and the partners in the field. The American Fur Company conducted its expeditions by steamboat; the Rocky Mountain Fur Company overland by caravan; and the Hudson Bay Company by lake, river, and land by what they called the annual " brigade."