FORT McMURRAY NEWS

The H.B.C. motor tug "Nechemus," left McMurray for the north on May 12th, laden with horses and wagons together with the season's first shipment of freight for FitzGerald.

The H.B.S.S. "Fort McMurray" sailed on May 13th on her second trip, bound for FitzGerald with a hundred and twenty tons of supplies for the northern posts. Passengers on the steamer included: J. G. M. Christie and wife, who are going to McPherson and back. Mr. Christie is a retired employee of the Company and is looking forward to renewing old acquaintances with H.B.C. men along the Mackenzie. Mrs. C. C. Sinclair, with Miss Sinclair, are going down to McPherson, and will join Mr. Sinclair, Manager of Athabasca-Mackenzie District.

Bishop Lucas, of the Anglican diocese of Mackenzie, was on his way to the land of the Midnight Sun. The bishop spent the winter in the old country, and is bound for his headquarters at Chipewyan.

H.B.C. Fur Trade Post on San Francisco Bay, 1824
Company Did Not Own Million Acres of California Land, as Reported, but Had Two Fur Posts and Farms, Closed in 1832-49.
By C. H. FRENCH

NOTE.—In a leading Western Canadian newspaper we read: "It is not commonly known that at one time the Hudson's Bay Company owned a million acres of land in California surrounding the present site of the City of San Francisco. The importance of the great harbour now known as the Golden Gate was not recognized and the area was sold for one dollar an acre."

When in 1824, shortly after the amalgamation of H.B.C. with the Northwest Company, the fur brigades under Sir George Simpson swept to the verge of the Pacific, north, west and southwest, the flag of H.B.C. was carried far down the California coast. One new fur trading establishment was planted by the Company at the Golden Gate San Francisco Bay; another was erected at Umpqua, not many miles to the northward.

Up to 1820 the only fur post on the Pacific coast between Sitka, Alaska, and southern California was Fort George. This post had been first opened by Astor of New York, but was taken over by H.B.C. at the time of the amalgamation with the Nor'westers. Meanwhile it had been re-christened "Fort George" by Captain Black of H.M.S. "Raccoon" in 1813.

From Fort William at the head of the Great Lakes came Dr. John McLaughlin, James Douglas and John Work, ordered by the Company to Fort George to take charge of the newly created Western Department of the H.B.C. fur trade. Dr. McLaughlin was in charge, James Douglas was accountant and John Work was what might be termed an explorer.

Dr. McLaughlin was a versatile man, but leaned towards the development of farming and stockraising, while John Work's only interest was in fur trading.

In 1824 they arrived at Fort George and at once mapped out plans for development of their department.

It was decided to abandon Fort George because the farming possibilities of the neighbourhood were not so promising as those of the country further up the river. A new site was selected just below the Willamette River, and the construction of Fort Vancouver (Washington) was commenced.

At that time the whole territory was known as Oregon Territory. The country was also known as Columbia District, and when the boundary line between Canada and the United States was established, the part to the north of the line was named British Columbia District, and still retains this name in the Company's organization.

In order to stock the newly established farms, the Company sent men south for sheep, cattle and horses, and I believe that it was on this account that Posts were opened at Umpqua and San Francisco Bay in 1824 or 1825, and operated until 1832, when they were abandoned and there is nothing in the records to indicate that the Hudson's Bay Company ever afterwards claimed one foot of soil in or around San Francisco.

In fact, there is information that would make it appear that the San Francisco Bay Post alone was closed in 1832 and Umpqua not until a later date, as a letter written by Sir George Simpson to Captain J. Sheppard, R.N., dated 28th May, 1849, mentions Umpqua as being still in existence. Sir George said the names of Posts west of the mountains were at that time:

American Territory, South of 49°

British Territory, North of 49°

Europeans employed at these posts numbered six hundred, besides hundreds of Indian laborers.

There were seven vessels employed in the service:

3 barques, carrying goods to and from Europe,

In order to take care of the Russian American Company's and the H.B.C. Posts' requirements, large farms and dairies were necessary, and suitable land was plentiful between the Puget's Sound and the Columbia River. When the negotiations between the Hudson's Bay Company and the United States government were under way to settle the Oregon dispute, the Company claimed 160,000 acres of land as being farmed and grazed by them.

There has undoubtedly been a tendency on the part of historians and newspaper writers to confuse the Company's Oregon land claim with the lands at the H.B.C. San Francisco Bay post, but there is absolutely no connection.