Donald Manson’s Retirement
Donald Manson was born in 1800, in Scotland, and worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company until 1857, when he retired. This is what Bruce Watson says of him in his…
Read moreSouth of Fort Colvile, on the Columbia River
This post is the twenty first leg of the York Factory Express journey, and we are “falling down” the Columbia River south of Fort Colvile. The gentlemen who were keeping…
Read moreThe Grande Dalles in the NWC’s Long Narrows
The Long Narrows of the North West Company was a “five mile stretch of fast water 194 river miles from Fort George,” or Astoria, their then headquarters on the Pacific…
Read moreCharlot Birnie
It will shock the descendants of James and Charlot Birnie to know this: that on James Birnie’s return to the Columbia district in 1826 with the incoming York Factory Express,…
Read moreFort Vancouver
In my book, The Pathfinder, I included a caption that indicated the size of Fort Vancouver over the years, and how it changed in size. The caption appears on page…
Read more