Kenneth W. Porter

“ THE CHARACTER of Jane Barnes, [1] the first white woman on the Columbia River, is one of many which may be classed as much more interesting than inspirational. Originally a lively, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed barmaid at a hotel in Portsmouth, England, she caught the fancy of Donald McTavish, [2] who had stopped at the establishment where she was employed a few days previous to his embarkation in the Isaac Todd for the Columbia River, where he was to act for the North West Company as governor of the post which that organization hoped would supersede the American station of Astoria. ”

“ At any rate, he determined that the inevitable break could best come at once, and so proposed in order to protect the woman from the crowd of clerks and voyageurs at the post, to turn her over formally to Henry. ”

“ Mac," thereby casting suspicion on both Donald McTavish and John McDonald, the other proprietor. It is not likely that Alexander and James McTavish and Alexander McKenzie, clerks, who with Alexander Fraser, another clerk, and Mr. Swan, a doctor, made up the male passenger list, could be accused because of the common prefix to their surnames, since their position as clerks would obviate any possibility of being able to afford such an expensive luxury; Ross Cox, Adventures on the Columbia River, chapter XIII, page 139. ”