Ross's Adventures of the first settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River, 1810-1813

The narrative recounts an early Pacific Northwest commercial expedition to establish a fur-trading post, detailing sea voyages, the erection and daily hardships of a riverside settlement, disputes among leaders and crews, and frequent encounters with Indigenous communities. The author combines travel episodes and vessel incidents with prolonged inland posts, practical weather and logistical notes, and language and ethnographic observations of coastal and interior tribes. Personal reflections and pointed criticism of management decisions appear alongside vivid accounts of danger and survival, and the account closes with the settlement’s transfer to rival interests and appendices including a Chinook vocabulary and weather records.