Fort Assiniboine
Governor Simpson has just reached Fort Assiniboine in his journey west from York Factory in 1824. In his journal of a year earlier, clerk John Work described this post, which…
Read moreBeaver River
In September 1824, Governor George Simpson and his paddlers reached the Ile-à-la-Crosse post, headquarters of the English River Department. At this place, he was given a letter left behind by…
Read moreConnecting Stories
Sometimes, quite by accident, a writer is able to connect one story to another in ways that makes two little stories into a bigger story that is much more important.…
Read more1839 Incoming Express
I know of two people who travelled into the territory west of the Rocky Mountains in the incoming 1839 York Factory Express (now called the Columbia Express.) One man was…
Read moreOtter skins
This story has on odd beginning: you would not think that a story about Otter Skins would have anything to do with the construction of a fur trade fort, would…
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