1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910782733603321

Autore

McDonald Archibald <1790-1853.>

Titolo

This blessed wilderness [[electronic resource] ] : Archibald McDonald's letters from the Columbia, 1822-44 / / edited by Jean Murray Cole

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Vancouver, BC, : UBC Press, c2001

ISBN

1-283-11151-9

9786613111517

0-7748-5000-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (310 p.)

Collana

The pioneers of British Columbia

Altri autori (Persone)

ColeJean Murray

Disciplina

971.2/01/092

Soggetti

Fur trade - Northwest, Canadian - History - 19th century

Fur traders - Northwest, Canadian

Northwest, Canadian Biography

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [283]-285) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Illustrations; This Blessed Wilderness; Introduction; PART 1 Fort George and Thompson River, 1822- 28; PART 2 Fort Langley, 1829- 33; PART 3 Fort Colvile, 1834- 44; PART 4 Envoi, 1845- 49; Appendix; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

The twenty-five years between 1821 and 1846 were turbulent but important years in the history of the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest: 1821 saw the merger of the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, and 1846 saw the signing of the Oregon Treaty, which established the Canada-U.S. border. Archibald McDonald was a man who experienced these changes first hand. As a senior HBC officer, he was sent to the Columbia District headquarters at Fort George in 1821 to oversee the recently absorbed NWC posts and assets. After the merger, McDonald went on to direct operations at Thompson River (1826-28), Fort Langley (1828-33), and Fort Colvile (1833-44). During his tenure in the Pacific Northwest, letters were McDonald's only link with the outside world. Collected here for the first time by Jean Murray Cole, these public and private letters to friends, business colleagues, missionaries, botanists, and many others provide a fascinating narrative of the expansion of the fur trade at a critical time in its



history. McDonald's witty and ironic style make these informative letters highly readable and entertaining. They are an invaluable primary resource for historians of the fur trade and the Pacific Northwest, anthropologists, geographers, and specialists in native studies. More general readers will be fascinated by these amusing snapshots of early settlement in the Pacific Northwest.