The S.S.Beaver sails to the Columbia River
In 1836, the S.S. Beaver sails east from the Sandwich Islands to the mouth of the Columbia River and, eventually, Fort Vancouver, the HBC headquarters on the Pacific Slopes. Here…
Read moreLog of the Steamship Beaver, 1835
The steamship Beaver left the London docks on August 27, 1835, and reached Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, on April 10, 1836. The log itself has been lost in…
Read moreBetsy Birnie
Betsy was the eldest daughter of James and Charlot Birnie, born in 1822 at the North West Company’s Spokane House. She was a toddler at Fort Okanogan. When she was…
Read moreJames Birnie, Alexander Caulfield Anderson, and Reverend Herbert Beaver
In this section of the James and Charlot Birnie thread, we left Birnie’s story as he and his family were sailing south from his posting at Fort Simpson in 1836.…
Read moreJohn McKenzie Simpson
My book, The HBC Brigades: Culture, Conflict, and Perilous Journeys of the Fur Trade, was published by Ronsdale Press in July 2024. You can order this book through your favorite…
Read more