John Work’s journey from Moose Lake to the Red Deer River
John Work and Peter Skene Ogden have been stuck, without provisions, at the Moose Portage, on Lac d’Orignal or Moose Lake. At Lac d’Original, the Beaver River approached the North…
Read morePeter Skene Ogden’s Illness
In 1823, Peter Skene Ogden traveled west with John Work to Spokane House. We have been following John Work’s journal in the Two Canoes series: in the last of John…
Read moreBrigade Journey North, from the Similkameen Forks
The junction of the Similkameen River with the Okanogan was, from the early days of the HBC in the Canadian Okanagan, known as the Similkameen Forks. In later years, Anderson…
Read moreTracking: Using the Lines, and Using the Poles
“Rowing.” “Tracking.” “Portage.” “Tracking Lines.” “Lining the Boats.” “Tracking the Boats.” “Use the Poles.” I use these words and phrases all the time, both in my tweets, and in my…
Read moreBuilding Fort Shepherd
In this April 1856 letter to Angus McDonald of Fort Colvile, James Douglas described the HBC buildings that were to be erected at the new Fort Shepherd, on the Columbia…
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