Otter 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…
Read moreThe Missionaries
The HBC men had been settled at Fort Vancouver, on the banks of the Columbia River, for decades before the first of the Missionaries came west to establish permanent settlements…
Read moreMcLoughlin and the Willamette
For me, at least, I have a lot of difficulty in sorting out the story of Chief Factor John McLoughlin’s time at the Willamette Falls, a set of falls on…
Read moreConnolly’s Brigades and McLeod’s Express
In 1826, the expresses and brigades had different, but similar experiences as they passed through the range of mountains that separated the Pacific Coast from the interior of what is…
Read more