Banguet in the Wilderness
Oases along the Oregon Trail were few, and Fort Boise was one
of them. Emigrants stopping at Fort Boise in the 1830's were
greeted and assisted by friendly Indians; they were also afforded
hospitality that only the Hudson's Boy Company could provide.
Sydney Smith, emigrant of 1839, feasted at a table laid with "fowls,
Ducks, Bacon, Salmon, Sturgeon, Buffalo & Elk... Turnips Cabbage
& and Pickled Beets..." The banquet was hosted by the clerk of the
Fort, Francois Payette, a gentlemen who could make an emigrant
temporarily forget the privations of the wilderness.
Mr. Payette, the person in charge at Boissais
received us with every mark of kindness; gave
our horses to the care of his servants, and
introduced us immediately to the chairs, table,
and edibles of his apartments. He is a French
Canadian; has been in the service of the
Hudson's Bay Company more than twenty
years, and holds the rank of clerk; is a merry,
fat old gentlement of fifty, who, although in hte
wilderness all the best years of his life, has
retained that manner of benevolence in trifles,
in his mode of address, of seating you and
serving you at table, of directing your attention
continually to some little matter of interest, of
making you speak the French language.
Thomas Jefferson Farnham,
September 13, 1839
