Robert Carlton Clark

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”