Archibald McDonald

Archibald McDonald
Born	1790-02-03 Glencoe, Scotland
Died	1853-01-15 Saint-André-Est, Lower Canada
Occupation	Fur trader, colonial administrator, author
Father	Angus McDonald
Mother	Mary Rankin
Partner	Jane Klyne Princess Raven (Sunday)

Archibald McDonald ((1790-02-03)3 February 1790 – 15 January 1853(1853-01-15) (aged 62)) was a Scottish-born fur trader, colonial administrator, and author who served the Hudson's Bay Company as chief factor in the Pacific Northwest and interior of British Columbia, and who was an early participant in the Red River Colony venture.

Early life

McDonald was born on 3 February 1790 in Glencoe, Scotland, the son of Angus McDonald, tacksman of Inverrigan, and Mary Rankin. In early 1812 he was enlisted by Lord Selkirk to serve as clerk and agent for the proposed Red River settlement, assisting with the recruitment of settlers in Scotland and undertaking some medical training in London during 1812–13.

Red River Colony

In June 1813 McDonald sailed from Stromness aboard the Prince of Wales with 94 Kildonan emigrants. When the ship's surgeon, Dr. Peter Laserre, died of typhus during the voyage, McDonald assumed medical command. He subsequently guided 51 settlers on a 150-mile overland journey southward along Hudson Bay to York Factory on snowshoes over thirteen days, with the party reaching the Red River settlement on 22 June.

During the winter of 1814–15 McDonald served as a principal lieutenant to Governor Miles Macdonell and was appointed to the Council of Assiniboia before leaving Great Britain. When Cuthbert Grant and the Métis, encouraged by the North West Company, openly harassed the colony in spring 1815, the settlers were ultimately forced to abandon the settlement. McDonald and the colonists withdrew to the north end of Lake Winnipeg, where Colin Robertson took charge. McDonald then returned to England, where in 1816 he published an account of the events leading to the colony's abandonment.

Fort William, 1816

In spring 1816 McDonald joined Lord Selkirk in Montreal and published four letters in the Montreal Herald rebutting criticism by Reverend John Strachan. In August 1816, he was present at Fort William when Selkirk arrested North West Company partners there — a direct witness to one of the pivotal confrontations of the Pemmican War era at what is now Thunder Bay. In spring 1817 he took charge of a group of soldiers from the disbanded De Meuron's Regiment recruited by Lady Selkirk. McDonald was indicted in February 1819 on conspiracy charges arising from the Fort William events, but the charges were eventually dropped.

Hudson's Bay Company career

McDonald joined the Hudson's Bay Company as a clerk in spring 1820, posted initially to Île-à-la-Crosse. In 1821 he was sent to the Columbia district under chief factors John Haldane and John Dugald Cameron, where he inventoried North West Company posts following the 1821 merger of the two companies. In 1826 he took charge of Thompson's River Post at present-day Kamloops, exploring the Thompson River to its junction with the Fraser River with the Okanagan chief Nicola and preparing what was described as the first map delineating the drainage patterns and contours of the region.

McDonald was promoted to chief trader in January 1828 and that year accompanied Governor George Simpson on an exceptional canoe journey of some 3,261 miles from York Factory to Fort Langley, completed in ninety days. From 1828 to 1833 he directed Fort Langley, conducting trade with coastal peoples while diversifying the post's activities through agricultural production, salmon drying and packing, and lumber cutting. In 1833 he established Fort Nisqually near present-day Tacoma.

Between 1835 and 1841 McDonald was in charge of Fort Colvile, where he developed extensive farming operations, expanding cultivated acreage to over 200 acres. He was promoted to chief factor in 1841. In September 1844 he discovered a silver deposit on Kootenay Lake that was later developed as the Bluebell Mine.

Scientific interests

McDonald maintained a sustained interest in natural history and scientific correspondence. He met the botanist David Douglas at Fort Vancouver in 1825 and assisted with his plant collections. He corresponded with the British Museum, the Royal Horticultural Society, and Kew Gardens, and hosted the botanist Karl Andreas Geyer during the winter of 1843–44.

Personal life

In 1823 McDonald contracted a country marriage with Princess Raven (also known as Sunday), a daughter of the Chinook chief Comcomly, at Fort George (present-day Astoria). She died in 1824. Their son was Ranald McDonald, who later became notable as the first English-language teacher in Japan. In 1825 McDonald entered a country marriage with Jane Klyne, a woman of mixed heritage; their union was confirmed by Christian rite on 9 June 1835 at the Red River settlement. They had twelve sons and one daughter together.

Retirement and death

McDonald retired from the Hudson's Bay Company in September 1844 and set out for Lower Canada with his family. The family wintered at Fort Edmonton, where in May 1845 three of his young sons died of scarlet fever. After spending approximately three years in Montreal, the family settled on a farm by the Ottawa River near Saint-André-Est (present-day Saint-André-Est) in 1848. McDonald served as justice of the peace and surveyor in the Argenteuil district, and in 1849 he led a delegation protesting the provisions of the Rebellion Losses Bill to the governor-in-chief, Lord Elgin, in Montreal.

Archibald McDonald died on 15 January 1853 at Saint-André-Est after a brief illness.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography