Leaving the Columbia
I find Sir George Simpson’s book, An Overland Journey Round the World, an interesting read, partly because of what he says of the reasons he made the plans for the…
Read moreSimpson to Fort Durham
“This very neat establishment was planned in 1837, by Mr. [Duncan] Finlayson, of Red River,” Simpson said of Fort McLoughlin in his book, An Overland Journey Round the World. Finlayson…
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 moreThomas Lowe: the London Ship
In our last Thomas Lowe blogpost, we ran with his account of the 1844 Fort Vancouver fire. This was not the only time that a fire threatened Fort Vancouver: there…
Read moreThomas Lowe’s Summer 1844
It is summer 1844, and Thomas Lowe, who has faithfully kept up his private journal until September 1843, has now picked up his journalling again. He is still at Fort…
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