Simpson to Edmonton House

A misty night on the banks of any river or lake that these men might pass by.

In his post I will cover the part of Governor Simpson’s journey from Carlton House to Edmonton House, on the North Saskatchewan river. This is a continuation of the “Rough Notes of Journeys in the Northwest” series, based on a file I found in the BC Archives and was just curious enough to look it. At this time, I had no idea who might have written the notes, but I do know now who it is: Governor George Simpson himself. And of course, all of you know that in 1841 he was going on a journey around the World, something he actually did accomplish. 

But I will have to stop referring to Governor Simpson as “Governor Simpson.” In James Raffan’s book, Emperor of the North: Sir George Simpson and the Remarkable Story of the Hudson’s Bay Company [Harper Collins, 2007], the author tells us that Governor Simpson had just been made a knight bachelor. What’s a “knight bachelor,” you might ask. Well, it is the “basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organized orders of chivalry,” according to Wikipedia. Knights Bachelor may prefix “Sir” to their forenames, and their wives may prefix “Lady” to their surname: “Sir George,” and “Lady Simpson.” The ceremony took place in the throne room of Buckingham Palace on January 25, 1841, and was performed by a young (20-year-old) Queen who had been on the throne for only four years. Queen Victoria had by this time married her German cousin, Albert, and he, as Prince Consort, would also have been at the ceremony.

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And that is how Governor George Simpson became Sir George Simpson in 1841, just before he set off on his round the world journey. A month later, he set off on his celebratory excursion: it this section of his journey we will bring him from Carlton House to Edmonton House. Travelling with him from London was his secretary, Edward Martin Hopkins, who was only 20 years old in 1841 (who knew?) Simpson’s eyesight was failing, and so it is possible that Hopkins wrote the “rough notes” for him, presumably as Simpson dictated it. But Hopkins (who by the time they reached Fort Nisqually was sick, remained behind at that post while Simpson toured the northwest coast posts.)

On their way to Carlton House and Edmonton House and far beyond, Simpson and Hopkins travelled to Boston and then to Lachine, where Simpson met a Mr. McIntyre and invited him on the journey. In 1841, Simpson invited two “young nobles” to accompany him from Lachine to Red River:  George Augustus Phipps, the earl of Mulgrave, and James du Pre Alexander, the earl of Caledon. (Lord Caledon also kept a journal of his voyage to Red River, although I don’t know where it is.) They passed through Sault Ste Marie, Lake of a Thousand Islands (now Lac des Mille Lacs), and Rainy Lake (Lac la Pluie). It is possible to find in the very faded pages of the first part of the journey some of those names. I know Lac des Mille Lacs was there. 

On reaching Fort Garry, the two young noblemen went hunting with Cuthbert Grant while Simpson traveled on to Edmonton House with chief factor John Rowand. John Rowand was there to guide Governor Simpson and his party safely through the lands of the Blackfoot peoples, who roamed south and west of Edmonton House. But Rowand was travelling to Edmonton House by ox cart, for some reason, and so that is how the expedition proceeded as they left Fort Garry. At least, that is what James Raffan says. They did travel in ox-carts, but I don’t know why. Well, part of the reason why, of course, is that Simpson was travelling around the world, and needed a little more luggage than he would normally carry.

So, it is now mid-July, 1841. Continuing on from my first post in this series, https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/simpsons-rough-notes/  Simpson’s party has passed the Broken Arm River, and reached Carlton House on July 17. If you are confused by the “Bow River” in this last entry in his book, remember that the South Saskatchewan River was called the Bow River by some HBC men, as you will know by reading The York Factory Express. 

A smart ride of four or five hours from the Bow River, through a country very much resembling an English park, brought us to Fort Carlton, on the Saskatchewan, where we found…

On July 18, they came up with the emigrants mentioned in the “Rough Notes of journeys in the Northwest,” that is, the document I found in the BC Archives. He went on to describe them as twenty three families, “healthy and happy, living in the greatest abundance, and enjoying the journey with the highest relish.”

It was at this point that I wondered who the emigrants were. The only ones I knew about was the members of James Sinclair’s party of emigrants who were travelling from Red River to Fort Nisqually in 1841, but that doesn’t mean there are not other emigrant parties that I did not know about. So I googled James Sinclair, and came across this document, with a very long title: “Red River Metis. The First Large Settler Group in Oregon Territory. Sinclair Expedition to the Oregon Territory.” Google that title, and you will find the article.

I had no idea at this time that Governor Simpson and James Sinclair’s emigrant party ever travelled together. I had considered Sinclair a possible keeper of this journal, but in truth I hadn’t even come close to considering Governor Simpson as author. But when I read this, on page 2, I pretty much fell off my chair:

The emigration party, led by the “stout-hearted, part Indian James Sinclair,” the 35-year-old son of Chief Factor William Sinclair, left Fort Garry on 3 June 1841. They set out 28 days ahead of HBC Governor George Simpson, who was on the first stage of his round-the-world journey. Sinclair’s party reached Fort Ellice on 22 June. On his 16th day out of Red River, on 19 July, the speedy Simpson overtook the 23 Red River families near the Turtle River in present western Saskatchewan, two days after they had left Fort Carlton.

So, west from Carlton House to Edmonton House — From “Rough Notes:” 19 July. Came up with the Emigrants — 23 families… all healthy and happy living in abundance… 

From the Book, An Overland Journey round the World: 

On leaving Red River, the emigrants had intended to perform the whole distance by land. Hitherto however, they had been so slow in their movements, having taken forty-three days to one third of their journey, that, in this way, they could hardly reach their destination before the commencement of the winter. We therefore proposed, that they should proceed by the Athabasca Portage of the Rocky Mountains to the Boat encampment [at the Big Bend of the Columbia River], and thence descend the Columbia to [Fort] Vancouver. The people agreed to this change of their plan; but they subsequently, in accordance with the original arrangement, followed our track all the way to the westward.

They would never have made it had they taken that route!

Onward: “Rough Notes,” 20 July. Again entered the valley of Saskatchewan. Arrived at Fort Pitt. Fort Pitt prettily situated an the north bank of the river. 

From An Overland Journey:

It was noon of the next day before we found water, the grass along our route being completely withered; and as a general rule, any neighbourhood that refused drink to our horses, yielded them very little food. By five in the afternoon we again entered the immediate valley of the Saskatchewan, for the first time since leaving Carlton, and at this spot we came upon the only pines that we had seen after our departure from Red River. We reached Fort Pitt about dark; and, before passing through the gates, we were saluted by a volley from eleven lodges of Crees — an honor which our nags by no means appreciated, for, tired as they were, they evinced their terror by kicking and plunging.

Continuing the journey west to Edmonton House: “Rough Notes.” 21 July. Bold scenery. Sharp post at sunside..{?} plain 25 miles. Raspberries. Chaine des lacs or small lakes.

From An Overland Journey: It is important to note that the HBC men were always careful to not run into the members of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Also, its Blackfoot in Canada, and Blackfeet in the United States. 

Though we were now on the safer side of the Saskatchewan, in the country of the Crees, yet in order to save a day’s march on the distance between Fort Pitt and Edmonton, we resolved to cross the river into the territory of the Blackfeet, merely taking care to move in somewhat closer order than usual. Starting accordingly from the establishment about eleven in the morning, we had hardly gained the opposite shore, when an Indian dog on the track, whose master could not be far off, excited our vigilance, if not our fears. On passing the spot where the hunters had seen the Blackfeet, we halted to make a search, but discovered no trace of an enemy whether living or dead. We traveled about thirty miles through bolder scenery than that which we had previously traversed, breaking the axle of one of our carts, and replacing it by a rough kind of make-shift in the encampment.

According to Simpson’s book, they encamped for the night of July 22 at the “commencement of the Chaine des Lacs, a succession of small lakes, stretching over a distance of twenty or thirty miles.” In 1847, I think, Thomas Lowe rode through the Chaine des Lacs, on his return with the other gentlemen of the homecoming York Factory Express. In 1841, Rowand’s horse stepped in a badger hole and John Rowand took a hard fall, scraping his face and breaking his breast bone (something they did not realize until later.) That must have hurt a lot, but he had no choice. He had to go on with the journey.

So from “Rough Notes,” 22 July. An extended forest. Le Grande Point encamped.” And from An Overland Journey:

Towards sunset we encamped on the confines of an extensive forest, a tongue of which, stretching away to the northward, is known as La Grande Pointe…

“Rough Notes.” 23 July. Vetch with pease crisped fine cents [who knows what this means?] Edmonton on the Saskatchewan. Cool & …. [?].

Next morning, being anxious to reach Edmonton before night, we proceeded in advance of our heavy baggage. For the first three or four leagues the country appeared to have been the bed of some large lake… The whole plain was covered with a luxuriant crop of the vetch or wild pea, almost as nutritious a food for cattle and horses as oats. As we drew near to the Saskatchewan, we had to cross as many as five creeks with steep and lofty banks, the last in particular being a stream of scarcely twenty feet in span between rugged declivities of about two hundred feet in height…

On arriving in front of Edmonton, which was on the opposite bank of the Saskatchewan, we notified our approach by a volley of musketry, which was returned by the cannon of the fort. A boat was quickly dispatched to convey us across the river; and on landing, we found the residents of the establishment, and more particularly Mrs. Rowand and her daughters, assembled to receive us. 

Edmonton is a well built place, something of a hexagon in form. It is surrounded by high pickets and bastions, which with the battlement gateways, the flagstaffs, &c, give it a good deal of the martial appearance; and it occupies a commanding situation, crowning an almost perpendicular part of the bank of about two hundred feet in height. The river is nearly as wide as at Carlton, while the immediate banks are well wooded, and the country behind consists of rolling prairies.

And so we have reached Edmonton House with Governor Simpson (technically, Sir George Simpson) and Chief Factor John Rowand. This is according to his journal, on the date of July 23. He will remain at Edmonton House for a week, and on July 28, his party will begin their journey south and west, toward the Rocky Mountains. As this is Blackfoot Territory, they will be taking care and travelling in a big group, until they reach the Bow River and the Rocky Mountains. We will follow them along in this next post: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/to-the-mountains/ 

I want to let you know that Simpson seems to confuse his dates in the latter part of his journal. We all know that Simpson and party arrived at Fort Vancouver on August 25, 1841. The “Rough Notes” seems to indicate that he arrived August 24 at Walla Walla, and then came downriver. He couldn’t have made the journey between Walla Walla and Fort Vancouver in one day, I believe, no matter how fast he travelled.

Then, in doing a little research to answer a question, I discovered that Peter Skene Ogden, accompanied by Henry James Warre and Mervin Vavasour, arrived at Fort Vancouver on August 26, 1845. Of course I panicked a little: was I wrong about who this was? (How embarrassing would that be?) But as it happens, I know that Peter Skene Ogden left Red River June 15, 1845 (Henry James Warre  is the source for that information.) The “Rough Notes” says that this author left Fort Garry, in Red River, on July 3, 1845. Ogden, Warre, and Vavasour came through the Rocky Mountains, alright. But the dates are wrong for this journal being theirs: and there were no emigrants travelling with them.

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

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