Duelling Historians
This post is a continuation of the series I began a while ago: Fort St. James, as taken from Jamie Morton’s manuscript, “A Century of Fur Trade on Stuart Lake,”…
Read moreFort St. James
Fort St. James was the centre of the fur trade in north-central British Columbia, and played an important role in HBC’s exploration history. It was also where the HBC Brigades…
Read moreIs it a Brigade Trail?
There are a number of old horse trails around the province of British Columbia — but are they all brigade trails? I don’t know if I can answer this question,…
Read moreWicked River
The Rivière Maligne, otherwise known as the Wicked River, earned its ferocious nick-name over the years. The Maligne was, of course, the Sturgeon-Weir River that led the early free-traders, the…
Read moreA Look-Back at James Birnie’s life
So, in 1846, James Birnie retired, a disappointed man, after 28 years of working in the fur trade of the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company. How did…
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