Rough Notes

“The Headwaters of the Canoe River,” painting by James Vanslyk, Valemount Historical Society. Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History, Valemount Historical Society, & Kootenay Gallery of Art, History & Science, image number 0105.0001

I found a file in the British Columbia Archives, labeled “Rough Notes of Journeys in the Northwest,” ca. 1850, Mss-3622. You can see where this story started: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/tiny-stories/ 

The Archives itself has little idea who wrote this set of rough notes, but the notes do mention Edmonton House, Fort Colvile, and Fort Vancouver — plus a journey on the Steamer Beaver to Fort Simpson. So, without having a good notion of what year this might have occurred (but sometime before 1851), I thought I would have a look at this manuscript.

“Rough notes” is exactly right! The only date mentioned in the entire file is on the remnants of an envelope with the following addresses and rough notes:

Addressed to [I think] Mr. Jas. Green, Bedford Street Fox [?] Park Road [looks more like “Tox Park”], Liverpool. The letter is stamped Oct. 25, 1851, Liverpool, and in handwriting across the top of the envelope are the words, “Left Not Known where gone October 27 18[51].

A warning: do we know whether or not the envelope belongs to the remainder of the document? We do not. Its just a clue, or not, as the case may be. 

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Next comes what appears to be a sort of index to whatever is in this collection of papers, written in the same hand as that which forms most if not all of the document. So, presumably, the index is written by the author of the rough notes. Here they are:

Fort Garry. Red River. Lat. 50 Long 97 — 3 July

Fort Ellice — July 8 [Fort Ellice is northwest of Red River and on the route to Carlton House and Edmonton]. 

Fort Carlton. Lat. 53 — 16 July.

Fort Pitt — July 20.

Edmonton X Latitude 54 Long 116 — July 23-28.

Rocky Mountain Summit — 4 August

Fort Colvile. Lat 48 Long… — 17-18 August.

Okanagan — 22 August

WalaWalla [Fort Nez Perces] — 24 August

American Mission — 22 August [Probably a typo on my part, but of course it has to be somewhere around 26 August, not 22.]

I think someone on this route is able to take Latitude and Longitude, so my thoughts go to Warre and Vavasour — especially as immediately below the author of the rough notes appears to be looking for a passage from the Pacific to Fort Alexandria [?] and through Athabasca Pass. In his military report, Vavasour was looking for a route for an Army to access the west — but so far as I know, Warre and Vavasour did not travel north to Fort Simpson in the steamer Beaver. The Journal continues:

By X Fort Alexander [by?] Fort Simpson. (Athabasca Pass).

Or more northerly [route] to cove in Granvile Canal or Millbank Sound — anchorage for Ft. McLoughlin (Athabasca Pass).

Refuge in Safety Cove, Calvert Island? 

Shushady [Shushartie] Harbour in Vancouver excellent for curing Salmon.

Queen Charlotte!!!!

The capital X’s in above rough notes are in the document, but each one has a dot in the space between the hands of the X: is that not a surveying symbol? And date-wise: the fact that this person did not visit Fort Rupert, near Shushartie Bay, on north-east Vancouver Island, confirms the timeline: Fort Rupert was built in 1849, at the same time that Fort Stikine was closed down. But why “Queen Charlotte” with exclamation points? Queen Charlotte Islands is only of interest to anyone after 1851. 

So now we get on with the journal itself. I have omitted a lot of the journal entries for lack of room in the blogpost. In other words, it would make this one blogpost about 40 pages long!

3 July. Left Fort Garry Lat 50 Long 97, Red River or Selkirk Settlement. Halt 20 miles to Breakfast…

The fact they mention Fort Selkirk has nothing to do with the dates of this journal: the Selkirk Settlement was first formed in 1811. On July 17 the writer of this journal was at Fort Carlton, where “Buffalo Plentiful.” To continue the rough notes: 

18 July. Thirty joining. Encamp by a large lake.

19 July. Came up with the Emigrants — 23 families…All healthy and happy living in abundance.

20 July. Again entered the valley of Saskatchewan. Arrive Fort Pitt. Fort Pitt prettily situated on the north bank of the river. 

So, Emigrants. How many families came west with James Sinclair in 1841? And how did they travel? Were they on horseback, or wagons?

Whoever it was who wrote this journal, they reached Edmonton via the Chaine de Lacs on July 23. They travelled, apparently on horseback, across country by a well documented chain of lakes that led them from the North Saskatchewan River to Edmonton House. (Either that, or they followed the North Saskatchewan on its north bank, around the big bend and then south to Edmonton: if I remember, I saw a mention of a big bend in this journal.) Then, on July 28, the writer of this journal crossed the North Saskatchewan River and headed south toward the Red Deer River. On July 30, he crossed Red Deer River, and on August 3 his party was on the Bow River near the mountains. On August 4, they were close to the sources of the Columbia and South Saskatchewan Rivers, and the writer said, “This is better than the Athabasca Pass where there is perpetual snow and no trees, the Punch bowl supplying the Columbia [and] Mackenzie Rivers.”

August 5. Ford the river 23 times… a whole days march only 20 miles.

6 August. Bad roads, rugged and boggy, mountainous with thick and tough forests, prostrate trees. 2 miles in 4 hours. From this labyrinth or clear plain [?] a lofty mountain marks from its base the Kootanais flows to the south & Columbia to the north, uniting a little above Fort Colvile. [Take your pick as to punctuation.]

7 August. Ascent of the mountain rugged and difficult. First track on the edge of a [plain] down which a tributary of the Columbia goes. Sombre pines. An abrupt descent brought us to a level prairie. The river course serpentine. 20 miles. Here the only two routes converge, the Emigrants finding a pass superior to ours fell upon our track again…

So are there are two groups of people, and they separated and then rejoined. So if this is not James Sinclair’s party of emigrants (and I don’t know it isn’t), who is writing this journal? The journey continues: On August 8, at 2 pm, they were at Kootenay Lake for supper. On August 9, at Kullyspell Lake, where the writer “encamped with the Kootenais Indians on McDonald’s River.” Here the writer indicates it has taken or it will take them, 6 weeks and five days to make their way from Edmonton to Fort Colvile. On August 15, they are on the Pend-d’Oreille River. On August 16 they encamped at the foot of a mountain 50 miles from Fort Colvile. They reached Fort Colvile on August 17, where the author wrote,

Four or 500 company [calves?] grazing by a stream. Pretty valley. Colvile in a prairie, small lake & Columbia River at one end.

Fort Colvile — a wooden fort of large size with pickets and bastions. Houses of cedar neatly built a mile from the Columbia. 2 Miles from Chaudiere Falls where salmon is so abundant. Soil sandy, climate hot & dry. Farm production of cattle thrives well — wheat 65 [?] per bushel. Winter many degrees milder than on the east side of the Mountains. Lat. 48.37 North, 18 August.

If the writer was travelling with the emigrants and their wagons, would they have made 50 miles in one day and reached Fort Colvile? When I re-read this, it does not actually say there were wagons on this journey across the mountains. From Fort Colvile, this writer’s journey is down the Columbia River in boats. 

20 August. Embarked on the Columbia in canoes with Six oars and glided quickly down 100 miles in 15 hours…

22 August. Called at the Company’s post Okanagan. Wood scarce.

14 August. Walla Walla falls into Columbia. Company’s establishment a distant spot in a sandy desert climate, dry & hot. Subject to high winds. Missionary looked upon as imposters. Caravans come from St. Louis. 

27 August. American Mission of Whaspicam [Wascopam] where we saw growing timbers, the first since leaving Okanagan. 

Vancouver, mouth of the Columbia, 5,000 miles in 12 weeks. 

Dr. Whitman’s Waiilatpu Mission outside Fort Nez Perces [Walla Walla] was constructed in 1836, and destroyed by the Cayuse in late November 1847. The first caravans arrived at Fort Hall in 1834, and in 1840 the Oregon Trail was completed all the way to Fort Nez Perces. The American mission at Wascopam operated from 1838 to December 1847. Al this places the timeline for this story between 1838 and 1847. 

So: James Sinclair, who brought in the Emigrants from Red River in 1841. James Sinclair arrived at Fort Vancouver on October 12, 1841, after a 130-day journey. The man above, who kept these rough notes, reached Fort Vancouver about August 29, and left it again September 1 (see below.)

However, in 1854, Sinclair guided a different group of emigrants to the Columbia region and they established residences near Fort Walla Walla. Is this James Sinclair’s journal of that trip? No. In October 1854, James Sinclair reached the Kootenay River: these emigrants reached that place in the month of August. At the end of October Dugald Mactavish planned to meet Sinclair at Fort Nez Perces, but couldn’t make it. Sinclair passed through Walla Walla and arrived at Fort Vancouver at the very end of the year. Also, in 1854, both the Waiilatpu Mission and the Wascopam Mission had been abandoned. So, no: Not James Sinclair in 1854.

So, Warre and Vavasour. They came west with a party of HBC men twelve strong, plus Peter Skene Ogden and Richard Lane. They left Red River June 15, 1845, and reached Fort Colvile on August 12, 1845. The mysterious man who kept these rough notes left Red River on July 3, and reached Fort Colvile on August 17. Warre and Vavasour arrived at Fort Vancouver on August 26, by boat. The man who kept this journal arrived at Fort Vancouver about August 29, and left for Fort Nisqually on September 1. Close, but not close enough. There is no point in time when this writer’s travels matched Warre and Vavasour’s travels to Fort Nisqually and Fort Victoria. So, not Warre and Vavasour.

Now comes the travel from Fort Vancouver to Fort Nisqually and on the steamer Beaver north as far as Sitka! This is written on different paper, it might be the same handwriting but it might not be. The handwriting is larger and not so cramped. Here goes:

1st Sept. Vancouver

Roguoir’s [?]

Cowlitz Farm 178

Puget Sound. 

5 September Nisqually — beautiful scenery.

6 Sept. Embarked in Beaver Steamer. 

12. Quickilthes ?? & Fort McLoughlin.

18. Fort Simpson. Port Essington [in Skeena River Estuary]. New Archangel Lat. 57 [Sitka].

Fort Simpson [no dates given].

Fort McLoughlin. 

17 Oct. Whidbey’s Isle, 40 miles

Nisqually. [Soil?] gone.

Fort Vancouver.

Al this is followed by a number of pages, very faint, and again a different kind of paper. But in these pages the writer is talking about Lac a Pluie [Rainy Lake] and Lake of the Woods, so it might come earlier, on his way to Red River. In fact, I think it does, because the journal ends at Red River. This is, I think, his journey from Montreal to Red River. In the middle of one page there is another clue, perhaps. It is a name, written clear as a bell, overwriting some of the pencil notes below: the name is W Fisher Jr. Esqu. This is, perhaps, the writer of the journal, or else it has nothing at all to do with the journal and its author. Another clue, maybe. 

So, are you ready to tackle this little mystery? Have fun, and let me know what you discover or uncover. And if this completes anyone’s story, I have told you, above, where this Rough Notes is to be found, so you can download your own information from it. 

As you see, from the comments below, I figured out who it belonged to — and the next entry in this series is found at: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/simpsons-rough-notes/

Copyright, Nancy Marguerite Anderson, 2025. All rights reserved. 

• ← John Kirk Townsend & the 1836 Brigade
• Simpson’s rough notes →