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James Sinclair (fur trapper)
Encyclopedia
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
. He was the son of Hudson's Bay Company factor
Factor (agent)
A factor, from the Latin "he who does" , is a person who professionally acts as the representative of another individual or other legal entity, historically with his seat at a factory , notably in the following contexts:-Mercantile factor:In a relatively large company, there could be a hierarchy,...
William Sinclair, from Eastaquoy in Harray, and his Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
wife, Nahovway. He was a brother of William Sinclair
William Sinclair (fur trader)
William Sinclair was a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. He was a brother of James Sinclair and his father, also William Sinclair, founded the first fort at Oxford House....
. James was born in Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...
and educated in Scotland at Edinburgh University. He twice led large parties of settlers half-way across Canada, from the Red River
Red River of the North
The Red River is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada...
Valley to the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
valley.
The Treaty of 1818
Treaty of 1818
The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, was a...
set the boundary between the United States and British North America along the 49th parallel of north latitude from present day Minnesota to the "Stony Mountains" (now known as the Rocky Mountains). Under the treaty, the boundary in the Columbia District
Columbia District
The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. It was explored by the North West Company between 1793 and 1811, and established as an operating fur district around 1810...
had not been fixed under a policy of "joint occupation" of lands west of the continental divide
Continental divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea...
. The Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
, which controlled much of the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
, discouraged settlement because it interfered with the lucrative fur trade. However by 1838, American settlers were coming across the Rockies. Many left from St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
on the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
; a fairly direct, but difficult route.
British traders, missionaries and settlers used the Carlton Trail
Carlton Trail
The Carlton Trail was the primary land transportation route connecting the various parts of the Canadian Northwest for most of the 19th Century. It stretched from the Red River Colony up to what is today Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan via Fort Ellice...
, which followed the Red River north, then crossed Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg is a large, lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, with its southern tip about north of the city of Winnipeg...
and followed the Saskatchewan River
Saskatchewan River
The Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada, approximately long, flowing roughly eastward across Saskatchewan and Manitoba to empty into Lake Winnipeg...
system west to Fort Edmonton
Fort Edmonton
Fort Edmonton was the name of a series of trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1795 to 1891, all of which were located in central Alberta, Canada...
. They then went on to Jasper House
Jasper
Jasper, a form of chalcedony, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. This mineral breaks with a smooth surface, and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is used for vases, seals, and at one time for...
and the southern leg of the well established HBC York Factory Express
York Factory Express
The York Factory Express, usually called "the Express" and also called the Columbia Express and the Communication, was a brigade operated by Hudson's Bay Company in the early 19th century connecting York Factory and Fort Vancouver. It was named "express" because it was not used only to transport...
route over the Athabaska Pass and down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...
. This route while longer, was easier than the route followed by the Americans.
Belatedly realizing that settlers would ultimately decide who controlled the Columbia district, Sir George Simpson
George Simpson (administrator)
Sir George Simpson was a Scots-Quebecer and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company . His title was Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land and administrator over the Northwest Territories and Columbia Department in British North America from 1821 to 1860.-Early years:George Simpson was born in Dingwall,...
created the Pugets Sound Agricultural Company
Pugets Sound Agricultural Company
The Puget Sound Agricultural Company , commonly referred to with variations of the name using Puget Sound or Puget's Sound, was a joint stock company formed around 1840 as a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company . The purpose of the company was ostensibly to promote settlement by British subjects...
, a subsidiary of HBC around 1840. The purpose of the company was ostensibly to promote settlement by British subjects of land on the Pacific coast of North America. Company operations were centered at Fort Nisqually
Fort Nisqually
Fort Nisqually was an important fur trading and farming post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Puget Sound area of what is now DuPont, Washington and was part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department. Today it is a living history museum located in Tacoma, Washington, USA, within the...
, near present day Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, where the company developed dairy, livestock and produce farms.
Simpson instructed Alexander Ross
Alexander Ross (fur trader)
-Fur trader and explorer:Ross emigrated to Upper Canada, present day , from Scotland about 1805.In 1811, while working for John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, Ross took part in the founding of Fort Astoria, a fur-trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River...
to organize and lead a party of Red River settlers across Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...
and over the Rockies into Oregon country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
, to be settled on HBC farms. Ross felt that he was too old for such an arduous journey and enlisted Sinclair to lead the party.
In 1841 James Sinclair guided a large group of Red River Colony
Red River Colony
The Red River Colony was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company under what is referred to as the Selkirk Concession. The colony along the Red River of the North was never very successful...
settlers west from Fort Garry
Fort Garry
Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company's Fort Gibraltar. Fort Garry was named after Nicholas...
in an attempt to retain Columbia District
Columbia District
The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. It was explored by the North West Company between 1793 and 1811, and established as an operating fur district around 1810...
as part of British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
. Twenty-three families, comprising one hundred twenty-one people, set out on 3 June 1841. Most of the families were of mixed-race (Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...
), headed by men who were well known to Sinclair and who were capable hunters, well-suited to living off the land; while on the trail and as pioneers in Oregon Country.
Governor Simpson caught up with them, in the Red Deer Hills, on his round-the-world trip. He had set off from London on May 3 and was traveling fifty miles a day on horseback and up to one hundred miles a day by canoe. Simpson told Sinclair that instructions had been left at Fort Edmonton as to how he was to cross the Rockies. Simpson wrote in his diary, "Each family had two or three carts
Red River ox cart
The Red River cart was a large two-wheeled cart made entirely of non-metallic materials. Often drawn by oxen, though also by horses or mules, these carts were used throughout most of the 19th century in the fur trade and in westward expansion in Canada and the United States, in the area of the Red...
, together with bands of horses, cattle and dogs. As they marched in single file their cavalcade extended above a mile long. The emigrants were all healthy and happy; living with the greatest abundance and enjoying the journey with great relish."
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
at "Devils Gap" on Lake Minnewanka
Lake Minnewanka
Lake Minnewanka is a glacial lake located in the eastern area of Banff National Park in Canada, about five kilometres northeast of the Banff townsite...
, near present day Banff
Banff, Alberta
Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....
. They crossed the Bow River
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River, and is considered the headwater of the Nelson River....
and then followed its tributary the Spray River
Spray River
Spray River is a short river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a tributary of the Bow River.Spray River originates in the southern area of Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies and flows north between the Spray Valley Provincial Park and the Bow Valley Wildland...
and the Spray's tributary Whiteman Creek over Whiteman's Pass entering into the Columbia Valley
Columbia Valley
The Columbia Valley is the name used for a region in the Rocky Mountain Trench near the headwaters of the Columbia River between the town of Golden and the Canal Flats. The main hub of the valley is the town of Invermere. Other towns include Radium Hot Springs, Windermere and Fairmont Hot Springs...
through Sinclair Canyon, near present-day Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. From there they journeyed south-west down to Lake Pend'Oreille then on to an old fort known as Spokane House
Spokane House
Spokane House was a fur trading post founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company under direction of David Thompson. The post was sited on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River meet. Today this site is in Spokane County in the U.S...
then to Fort Colville
Fort Colville
The trade center Fort Colville was built by the Hudson's Bay Company at Kettle Falls on the Columbia River, a few miles west of the present site of Colville, Washington in 1825, to replace Spokane House as a regional trading center, as the latter was deemed to be too far from the Columbia River...
on the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
and finally to Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading outpost along the Columbia River that served as the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District...
along established trade routes.
Despite such efforts, Britain eventually ceded all claims to land south of the 49th parallel
49th parallel north
The 49th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 49 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....
to the United States by the Oregon Treaty
Oregon Treaty
The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country, which had been jointly occupied by...
in 1846, as resolution to the Oregon boundary dispute
Oregon boundary dispute
The Oregon boundary dispute, or the Oregon Question, arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Both the United Kingdom and the United States had territorial and commercial aspirations in the region...
. This was partly due to John McLoughlin
John McLoughlin
Dr. John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, was the Chief Factor of the Columbia Fur District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest...
, Chief Factor of Fort Vancouver. Known to be friendly towards American settlers, McLoughlin was slow to settle the Sinclair expedition families on Hudson's Bay Company lands; but did not discourage some from settling in the Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...
on the south side of the Columbia River where they could get free land. The other families settled at Cowlitz
Cowlitz County, Washington
Cowlitz County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census its population was 102,410. It forms the Longview, Washington, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. The county seat is at Kelso, and its largest city is Longview...
and Fort Nisqually
Fort Nisqually
Fort Nisqually was an important fur trading and farming post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Puget Sound area of what is now DuPont, Washington and was part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department. Today it is a living history museum located in Tacoma, Washington, USA, within the...
. The Sinclair expedition had successfully journeyed 2000 miles, in 134 days,without the loss of a single life and grew in number by three babies born along the way.
Sinclair returned to the Red River Colony. He then traveled to St. Louis, then California and finally back to what had become the fully American Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
. He also traveled to London where he petitioned Parliament on the rights of Métis for a free fur trade, which angered Governor Simpson. He and Governor Simpson eventually overcame their animosity, and Sinclair rejoined the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1854 led a second large group of Red River settlers on a secret journey to Fort Nez Percés
Fort Nez Percés
Fort Nez Percés, sometimes also spelled Fort Nez Percé , named after the Nez Perce people and later known as Fort Walla Walla, was a fortified British fur trading post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington...
(old Fort Walla Walla
Fort Walla Walla
Fort Walla Walla is a fort located in Walla Walla, Washington. It was established in 1858. Today, the complex contains a park, a museum, and a hospital.Fort Walla Walla should be distinguished from Fort Nez Percés or Old Fort Walla Walla ....
) in what had become the fully the American Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
. He had been promised 200 head of cattle by the HBC for doing so. Upon reaching the Rockies he followed the Kananaskis River
Kananaskis River
The Kananaskis River is a mountain river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a tributary of the Bow River, crossing the length of Kananaskis Country.The river was named by John Palliser in 1858 after a Cree.-Course:...
south and made a difficult crossing following the Elk River
Elk River (British Columbia)
The Elk River is a long river, in the southeastern Kootenay district of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its drainage basin is in area. Its mean discharge is approximately 60 m³/s, with a maximum recorded discharge of 818 m³/s.-Course:...
into the Columbia-Kootenay's. He died in an Indian attack at the Cascades settlement on the Columbia, March 26, 1856.
Mount Sinclair, Sinclair Pass
Sinclair Pass
Sinclair Pass is a high mountain pass in Kootenay National Park between the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers to the northeast of present-day Radium Hot Springs in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was named after James Sinclair...
, and Sinclair Canyon in the Canadian Rockies
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...
are named for him.