Peter Skene Ogden reports on the California gold rush
Peter Skene Ogden, Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver in 1848, was definitely a character, and his private letters prove that. However, the hard part of reading Ogden’s letters is his…
Read moreJohn Lee Lewes, the fop of the fur trade
In 1848, Alexander Caulfield Anderson left Fort Alexandria forever, and took over the supervision of Fort Colvile, on the Columbia River just south of the 49th parallel. The man in…
Read moreNative Bridges in the Fraser Canyon
At Fort Alexandria, the first days of April 1847 came in pleasant and warm, though snow still lay on the ground. On April 23, Montrose McGillivray arrived at the fort…
Read moreFabulous Sam Black
I know I have used the word “fabulous” before when I describe a fur trader. But some are fabulously interesting, and Chief Trader Sam Black is certainly a member of…
Read moreAnderson’s Tree
In 1846, the British and American governments negotiated the placement of the new Boundary line through Hudson’s Bay Company lands west of the Rocky Mountains. The HBC’s governor, George Simpson,…
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