Slacum then spent time interviewing Hudson's Bay Company officials such as Dr. John McLoughlin and James Douglas at Fort Vancouver. After this he then spent four days on French Prairie with the missionary Jason Lee examining the settlements. Here Slacum helped to convince pioneer Ewing Young to give up his efforts to build a distillery and travel to California in order to purchase cattle that would then be driven overland back to Oregon. After this brief stay and information gathering, Lt. Slacum prepared to leave. On February 10, 1837, Slacum left the Columbia and sailed for California. By February 19, the "Loriot" with Slacum and some settlers in tow arrived at Fort Ross in California. Here the settlers and Slacum parted ways.