Ross Cox
| Ross Cox | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1793 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 1853 Dublin, Ireland |
| Occupation | Fur trader, author, police clerk, journalist |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Partner | |
Ross Cox (1793 – 1853) was an Irish fur trader and author who served in the Pacific Fur Company and the North West Company during the early nineteenth century, and later wrote a widely read account of life in the Columbia River country.
Early life
Cox was born in 1793 in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Samuel Cox and Margaret Thorpe. He left Ireland as a young man and had reached New York by 1811.[1]
Career in the fur trade
In 1811 Cox engaged as a clerk with John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company at a salary of $100 per year. He sailed aboard the Beaver in October 1811 under John Clarke, arriving at Fort Astoria on the Pacific coast in May 1812.[1]
Cox was soon dispatched to establish a trading post near the North West Company's Spokane House. The journey proved hazardous: he became separated from his companions for fourteen days before finding his way to the Spokane River, where he recuperated at the new post. In the autumn of 1812 he led trading expeditions into the Flathead country.[1]
He returned to Fort Astoria in May 1813. With supplies scarce and conditions worsened by the War of 1812, the company's partners offered on 25 June 1813 to release the clerks from their contracts. Cox accepted and joined the North West Company the following month, working alongside Joseph Larocque to provision NWC posts.[1]
Under NWC employment Cox traveled the Columbia River region with Finan McDonald, James Keith, Alexander Stewart, and James McMillan. He commanded Fort Okanagan from April 1816 until he resigned that summer. In April 1817 he departed with an overland party that included Angus Bethune and Duncan McDougall, traveling to Fort William (now Thunder Bay, Ontario) and on to Montreal.[1]
Writing career and later life
Back in Ireland by late 1818 or early 1819, Cox secured a position as a clerk in the Dublin police office and became the Dublin correspondent for the Morning Herald, a role he held until 1837.[1]
In 1831 he published Adventures on the Columbia, the second published narrative by a Pacific Fur Company employee after Gabriel Franchère's 1820 account. The book went through multiple editions in London and New York. Written in a journalistic style, it offered vivid descriptions of Indigenous cultures and frontier conditions, though scholars have noted some chronological inaccuracies and a tendency to amplify Cox's own role in certain events.[1][2]
Death
Cox died in 1853 in Dublin, Ireland.[1]
References
External links
- ↑ Eric J. Holmgren."Eric J. Holmgren, "Cox, Ross," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1985.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ Gabriel Franchère."Relation d'un voyage à la côte du nord-ouest de l'Amérique septentrionale."[book].1820.Montréal.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ David Thompson."David Thompson's narrative, 1784–1812."[book].ed. R. G. Glover.1962.Toronto.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ H. H. Bancroft and H. L. Oakes."History of the northwest coast."[book].1884.2 vols..San Francisco.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Robert Rumilly."La Compagnie du Nord-Ouest, une épopée montréalaise."[book].1980.2 vols..Montréal.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)