Dugald Mactavish
Who was Dugald Mactavish, who took over Fort Vancouver after Peter Skene Ogden’s death in 1854? Bruce McIntyre Watson, in his book “Lives Lived,” tells us he was born in…
Read moreAlexis L’Esperance
Alexis L’Esperance appears regularly in the journals of the York Factory Express, but he never is traveling in their boats. His full name is Alexis Bonamie dit L’Esperance — and…
Read moreProvisioning the York Factory Express
I am writing about the York Factory Express — the annual journey the traders from the West side of the Rocky Mountains made to the HBC headquarters on Hudson Bay…
Read moreThe York Factory Express leaves Hudson Bay
I have played around a little with this section of the York Factory Express journey, writing several posts that covered this part of the world. For the first of these…
Read moreJames Birnie, 1826
My great-great-grandfather was a member of the 1826 York Factory Express journey that crossed the Rocky Mountains from the Columbia River to Hudson Bay and return. I have known this…
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