NANCY MARGUERITE ANDERSON

An Accidental Historian, writing about the people who worked in the Territory West of the Rocky Mountains before 1858 — so many good stories!

Betsy Birnie

By Nancy Marguerite Anderson February 29, 2020 "The HBC Brigades", BC History, Fort Vancouver Stories, James and Charlot Birnie of Cathlamet, WA History

Betsy was the eldest daughter of James and Charlot Birnie, born in 1822 at the North West Company’s Spokane House. She was a toddler at Fort Okanogan. When she was…

John Greig

By Nancy Marguerite Anderson January 25, 2020 "The HBC Brigades", "York Factory Express", BC History, WA History

John Greig worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company for five years, but after his retirement he told stories of his journey across the continent with the incoming York Factory Express,…

The Voyageur’s Fire-Bag

By Nancy Marguerite Anderson January 4, 2020 "The HBC Brigades", "York Factory Express"

The fire-bag was an important piece of equipment to the Canadien voyageur, and to anyone else who travelled in the wilderness. Why? you might ask. Here is the answer, written…

Cheese

By Nancy Marguerite Anderson November 23, 2019 "The HBC Brigades", Hudson's Bay Company

Yes. Cheese. An odd subject, perhaps, for a fur trade blogpost, but I have found cheese mentioned at times in the list of provisions the HBC men carried across the…

Lillooet Lake to Fort Langley

By Nancy Marguerite Anderson October 6, 2018 "The HBC Brigades"

We begin again with Alexander Caulfield Anderson’s journal of his exploration/expedition from Kamloops to Fort Langley, by what later became the Harrison-Lillooet Trail. The year is 1846, and his party…