George Traill Allan
In 1841, George Traill Allan took out the York Factory Express to Hudson Bay, ten years after he had come into the territory in the 1831 Columbia Express. He is…
Read moreWe are still Here: the Métis in the West
As many of you know, I am descended from Joseph Beaulieu, who crossed the Rocky Mountains in 1807 with David Thompson. My DNA test tells me that he is a…
Read moreMurder at Pillar Rock
James Birnie played a role in the punishment of the murderers of the HBC fisherman at Pillar Rock in August 1840. This is the story that I promised you a…
Read moreShipwrecks on the Columbia River
The mouth of the Columbia River was crisscrossed with dangerous sandbars, and shipwrecks were relatively common. On many occasions, James Birnie was there to help in the rescue of the…
Read moreArtifacts
Many are the historical artifacts that can be found among descendants of Hudson’s Bay Company employees, but for James Birnie and Alexander Caulfield Anderson descendants, our ancestors’s fur trade artifacts…
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