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NATURE

· Mammals in Winter

FIRST PEOPLES

· Living In A Storied Land

HISTORY

· Forts and Traders

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FOCUS Northeastern British Columbia -- Cold Forest

Forts and Traders

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Peace River

Hudson's Bay Company traders along the Peace River, 1900. BC Archives A-05953.




		"An excellent situation for a fort or factory, as there is plenty of wood and every reason to believe that the country abounds in beaver." This observation was made by explorer Alexander Mackenzie near the junction of the Pine and Peace rivers in 1793. The next year Rocky Mountain Fort was established there by Mackenzie's North West Company companions. Over the next decade several forts were built along the Peace River in the region of present-day Fort St. John.


Diorama showing trade goods, Royal British Columbia Museum. RBCM.

		The first Fort St. John was built by the North West Company in 1806. By 1820 the Hudson's Bay Company had moved into the Peace Country. Beaver pelts became scarce and both fur-trading companies expanded in competition. Hudson's Bay Company governor George Simpson urged the establishment of Fort de Pinnette "without delay" and instructed his men to "use every exertion to secure the hunts of the free Iroquois in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains." In 1821, after years of bitter conflict, the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged.


Leg-hold animal traps such as this would have been used in the early 1900s. RBCM 965.3631.1, 965.3630.1.


Trade axe head. RBCM 967.46.10.


Glass trade beads. RBCM 984.34.3.

Forts and Traders -


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