Carpet Beetles
It is time, once again, to talk about the little bugs that would have plagued fur traders everywhere — carpet beetles! The story begins with my mother, who at 90…
Read moreLittle Fort, on the North Thompson River
It delights me to find people who are interested in the history of the little place they came from — and I have heard from someone who is from one…
Read moreHenry Newsham Peers’ Journal
James, son of Alexander Caulfield Anderson, described Henry Newsham Peers — who kept the journal of the incoming 1848 brigade — as a man of “quite a gay temperament, handsome…
Read moreThe fur trade “Harangue”
In Alexander Caulfield Anderson’s journal of exploration, 1847, the explorer writes about a fur trade harangue. He doesn’t call it that, of course. But he harangued the Natives who accompanied…
Read moreFabulous Sam Black
I know I have used the word “fabulous” before when I describe a fur trader. But some are fabulously interesting, and Chief Trader Sam Black is certainly a member of…
Read more