Significant first-hand account of the earlier years of the fur trade in the far west and the beginnings of settlement in the Oregon Country. "Cox arrived in Oregon on May 9, 1812, having sailed on board the Beaver from the Sandwich Islands. When the Astoria operation was sold to the North West Company, he joined the latter organization where he remained for five years. On April 16, 1817, he left for Montreal in a party of eighty-six persons. The party ascended the Columbia, crossed the Rockies to the Athabasca River and Rocky Mountain House. Cox met Peter Skene Ogden at Fort Ile de la Crosse and eventually arrived at Fort William on August 14, by way of Cumberland House and the Winnipeg River. His book describes the rivalry between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest Company as well as the Indian Tribes along the Columbia" - Wagner-Camp. Howes notes that "the narratives of Cox, Alexander Ross and Franchere are chief sources for fur trading history in the early Oregon country." Hill remarks that "His narrative gives an excellent account of the Indian tribes in Montana, Idaho, and eastern Washington; and of the fur trade of the Columbia basin...." (Hill 390); Howes C822; Sabin 17267; (Tweney 10); Wagner-Camp 43:2.