Journey to the Fraser River
In late 1824, a group of HBC men under Chief Factor James McMillan made a boat journey from Fort George [Astoria] to the Fraser River, to find a location for…
Read moreHMS Modeste
“The HMS Modeste was an 18-gun wooden sloop that sailed in Victoria waters from 1844 to 1847.” Well, that’s what the Colonial Despatches says, but we know that she also…
Read moreBits and Pieces
Lately, in my research in other quarters, I have been running across bits and pieces of other gentlemen’s York Factory Express journals. None of them are long enough, nor interesting…
Read moreLocating Fort Victoria
In March 1843, James Douglas was placed in charge of the building of the new post of Fort Victoria, on the southern tip of Vancouver’s Island. Many years of discussion…
Read moreFort McLoughlin
Fort McLoughlin was a Hudson’s Bay Company post, built on what the HBC men called “Milbanke Sound,” on the Northwest Coast, in 1833. Alexander Caulfield Anderson had only just arrived…
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