Simpson at Fort Vancouver
A Sailing ship in a bottle, from early 1900’s
So we are going to talk about Governor Simpson at Fort Vancouver, and I will attempt to discover what he did there in the week that he stayed at the post. He didn’t really tell us much in his book, An Overland Journey Round the World. But he spent five days at Fort Vancouver, and he never did explain what he had done there. But, first, there is something I forgot to tell you that might help make this journey through the mountains and to Fort Vancouver and beyond, a more sensible journey that it appears to be right now. It gives the trip a reason to be: perhaps that is the best way to say it.
Here is the reason for Simpson’s coming to Fort Vancouver by the route he chose: In 1837, the London Committee instructed Chief Factor John McLoughlin to come to London, and in March 1838, McLoughlin travelled out in the York Factory Express to Hudson Bay. He reached London in late summer 1838, and did not leave for York Factory until March, 1839. McLoughlin’s incoming Express boats returned to Fort Vancouver on October 3, 1839, but his boat ran well ahead of the other boats in the Express.
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When McLoughlin heard that Governor Simpson was coming into the territory in 1841, he wrote a letter to Simpson that advised Simpson to come in by a different route than the Express route down the Columbia. McLoughlin’s letter was dated March 20, 1841, and it said:
I am directed to have two good Boats, with the necesssary Guides, Boutes, & Provisions at Boat Encampment on or before 20 August 1841…but I think you ought not to attempt to come down at that season, as it is too dangerous, and I even doubt if it will be possible to cross the Rocky Mountains. When I came in in 1839, though it was only a few days earlier than usual, we had difficulty to cross the creeks in several places, and we had to cross our people on horseback at the creek at the foot of the Grande Cote, where one of our men falling off his horse was nigh drowned, and in coming down the River, it was with the utmost difficulty our people in several places could prevent the Boats whirling round in the whirlpools.
So, August was still the season of high water (the freshets): not a good time to travel the Columbia River. As a direct result of this letter, Governor Simpson changed his plans, and came through the mountains rather than over them by the more northerly route over Athabasca Pass.
When did McLoughlin cross Athabasca Pass and come down the river in 1839? McLoughlin doesn’t say at any point, but Roderick Finlayson came in with the same Express, and he has lots to say. In fact we have the journal of the incoming Columbia Express for 1839. I will post it separately, and when I have posted it, I will put it here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/1839-express/
But Finlayson’s writings do not answer the question above, except to say that he arrived at Fort Vancouver in about the middle of November, according to his “Autobiography.” But in his “History of Vancouver Island,” Finlayson says, “The month of October the 7th, I believe, was the date of our arrival at Vancouver.” So, if McLoughlin arrived at Fort Vancouver on October 3, as he said, then I think October 7 is the most reasonable of the two dates for Finlayson’s arrival in the incoming York Factory Express for 1839. And that means that McLoughlin came over Athabasca Pass and down the Columbia at an considerably earlier date than the Express normally did. They would normally come over the pass in October, and down the river in late October or early-to-mid-November. McLoughlin’s warning to Simpson was justified.
Anyway, we now find Simpson at Fort Vancouver. He arrived here on August 25, 1841, and left again on September 1, for Fort Nisqually by the Cowlitz Portage. So who arrived at Fort Vancouver with Simpson, and who accompanied Simpson to Fort Nisqually? And who travelled with Simpson on the Beaver? We’ll answer some of these questions in the future, and some now.
Firstly, who travelled with Simpson from London to Lachine or Montreal? From The Letters of John McLoughlin from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, Second Series, 1839-1844, we have this information — footnote page 40: “Simpson, Journey Round the World... “a gentleman in the service of the Russian American Company, on his route from Petersburg to Sitka” who travelled with Simpson’s party from London. Simpson “proceeded to London where I was joined by the remainder of my fellow travellers…the party consisting of Mr. Peter W. Dease, Mr. Donald Manson, M. Nicolas Von Freymann, Dr. A. Rowand, Mr. Alexander Christie & his son, Mr. Edward M. Hopkins and myself…” So that’s why I think Donald Manson was here. But was he?
Well, no, on consideration, I don’t think he was. In 1840 he had gone on furlough to Scotland, and while he was in London he was presented to the Governor and Committee [the London Committee]. He did cross the Atlantic Ocean with Governor Simpson, but he doesn’t seem to have travelled west to Red River with him. However, on his return to Canada, he was assigned the job of running the Kamloops post after Sam Black’s death: but he probably came out with the Columbia Express. In my mind, he is too invisible to have been with Simpson as he made his way to Fort Vancouver.
So what about the others who travelled on the ship to Boston and on to Montreal? Peter Warren Dease was returning from a furlough to London, where he was seeking medical help for eye problems. On his arrival at Montreal he continued his furlough until 1843, when he retired. — Dr. Alexander Rowand was John Rowand’s son, and he did train as a doctor in London, from whence he was returning. His father, Chief Factor Rowand, had gone to Red River to meet him. Dr. Rowand became an officer in the HBC, and later a doctor at Quebec. — Alexander Christie had gone to Europe on furlough and was returning to become a Chief Factor at Moose Factory, on James Bay. He didn’t come west with Governor Simpson. Nor did anyone else, except Nicolas Von Freymann (the Russian gentleman), Edward Hopkins, and Dr. Alexander Rowand. And Dr. Alexander Rowand is also pretty invisible so far.
But there was one man who travelled with Governor Simpson from London to Liverpool to Boston and Lachine — a Mr. McIntyre. Who knows who he is??? McIntyre had joined Simpson’s expedition “on a whim.” All we know about McIntyre was that he was young, engaging, and Gaelic speaking, according to James Raffan’s Emperor of the North: Sir George Simpson and the Remarkable Story of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Simpson and McIntyre travelled from Boston to Lachine, arriving at Hudson Bay House on March 25, 1841. So, McIntyre arrived in Lachine, and, I think, went no further.
Secondly: who arrived at Red River with Governor Simpson? McIntyre didn’t, for one. Simpson left Lachine in two canoes: in the first travelled Simpson and two noblemen serving in the British Army in North America: George Augustus Phipps, the Earl of Mulgrave; and James du Pre Alexander, the Earl of Caledon. These two young gentlemen were going on a hunting expedition in Red River, and that is exactly how far they travelled.
In the second canoe travelled the Russian, Nicolas von Freymann, and Governor Simpson’s secretary, twenty year old Edward Hopkins. Also in the second canoe were a Colonel Oldfield, an engineer, and a Mr. Bainbridge, both of whom were only going as far as Lake Nipissing on a surveying job of some sort.
Thirdly, why was John Rowand at Red River to meet Simpson? As I said above, I believe John Rowand travelled to Red River to meet his son and bring him home to Edmonton House. Dr. A. Rowand was not listed as a member of Simpson’s party, but he must have travelled with him to Boston, Lachine, and Red River.
So, Simpson at Fort Vancouver. The question is, what did Simpson do at Fort Vancouver while he was there? According to his own writings, in his book, An Overland Journey Round the World, this is what happened at Fort Vancouver:
At Vancouver we found two vessels of the United States Exploring Squadron, under the command of Commodore [Charles] Wilkes, which had come hither with the view of surveying the coast and river, and we here spent a week all the more agreeably on this account. As I should afterwards have a better opportunity of noticing this fort in connection with the neighbouring country, I left my journal untouched till I resumed my voyage, in order to inspect our own parts to the northward, and to visit the Russians at Sitka.
And that is all he said. However, looking at their travel arrangements, and what Simpson said about his journal, I now think that Hopkins did not write Simpson’s “Rough Notes.”
According to Raffan’s book, Simpson inspected all of the HBC installations in the Columbia River valley: With James Douglas he visited the Fort Vancouver dairies. He visited the Cowlitz Farms on the Cowlitz River. And that’s it, according to Raffan. And I don’t know where he got that information. McLoughlin’s Letters have little more information to add to this. But as you can see, above, Simpson did meet Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, of the United States Exploring Expedition, who had originally arrived at Fort Nisqually in May with two ships, Vincennes, and Porpoise, and who also visited Fort Vancouver in August, while Simpson was at the post.
As I said above, Wilkes had already visited Fort Vancouver in May, travelling overland by the Cowlitz Portage. He met John McLoughlin at that time, and he explored Willamette Valley in June, and in early July was back at Puget Sound. His two ships left Fort Nisqually sometime in July, and they surveyed the Sound and explored the San Juan Islands and finally anchored at New Dungeness.
(Someone has marked up my copy of Wilkes Narrative with the wrong dates, and I have to doublecheck everything here! ) “On the 26th, a messenger arrived with letters from Nisqually,” Wilkes wrote in his Narrative, “informing me of the loss of the Peacock on the bar of the Columbia.” On July 18, the Peacock wrecked on the bar of the Columbia River; it was abandoned on July 19. So we must presume that Wilkes’s ships, the Vincennes and Porpoise (who, unlike the other three or so ships, had been in Puget Sound) did not reach the mouth of the Columbia River until the first week in August. And the dates work, I am happy to say.
So the Peacock wrecked on the Columbia River bar on July 18. The Flying Fish, who accompanied the Peacock north from Hawaii, sailed across the bar on July 20. The Flying Fish sailed out of the river again to meet the Vincennes and the Porpoise that had sailed down from Fort Nisqually and Puget Sound: this must have been in early August, when the Vincennes met up with the remaining ships. Because of her much larger size, Wilkes would not risk the Vincennes in crossing the bar, but most of her men came into the river in the Porpoise, which followed the Flying Fish across the bar. The Flying Fish and the Porpoise were much smaller ships than the Vincennes, which lurked outside the river mouth until she eventually sailed for San Francisco. Wilkes was also in the Columbia River, so he must also have left the Vincennes, and sailed across the Columbia River bar in the Porpoise.
So, when Governor Simpson arrived at Fort Vancouver on August 25, 1841, there were two Wilkes vessels, and most of the men of a third, either in the river or at Fort Vancouver, and one ship wrecked on the Columbia River bar, just as Governor Simpson said, above.
Governor Simpson arrived at Fort Vancouver on August 25, and he left it on September 1, 1841. At a social occasion sometime during that week, Simpson met some of the men of the United States Exploring Expedition, one of whom — a midshipman, I am told — told Governor Simpson that he (and perhaps others) considered the Columbia River district American territory. I know this happened but I don’t have the source: and while it is important to the story of Fort Victoria and the settlement of the boundary line, it is perhaps not that important to the story of Simpson’s journey across the continent and (eventually) around the world.
I checked ahead in his book, An Overland Journey, to see whether Governor Simpson ever said where he had been in the Columbia District, and he had not. He described San Francisco, Monterey, and Santa Barbara, in three separate chapters! He goes on to describe the Sandwich Islands and its history in two or three more chapters! But no mention of the Columbia district, even after he reaches London, unless its really well hidden away in a chapter about something else. Try as I might, I can’t tell you what places he visited while he was at Fort Vancouver.
So, there we are. This story will continue with Sir George Simpson’s journey from Fort Vancouver to Nisqually and northward on the steamer Beaver. When it is written, I will post it here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/whatever-i-call-it/
But first, let’s look at the incoming York Factory Express of 1839, because it is relevant to this story. https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/1839-incoming-express/
Copyright, Nancy Marguerite Anderson, 2025. All rights reserved.