Simon Fraser
| Simon Fraser | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1776 Mapletown (near Bennington, Vermont) |
| Died | 1862-08-18 St Andrews, Stormont County, Canada West |
| Occupation | Fur trader, explorer |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Partner | |
| Siblings | |
Simon Fraser (1776 – 18 August 1862) was a Scottish-Canadian fur trader and explorer, best known for his descent of the river that now bears his name and for establishing the first permanent European settlements west of the Rocky Mountains in what is now British Columbia.
Early life
Fraser was born in 1776 at Mapletown, near Bennington, Vermont, the eighth and youngest child of Simon Fraser senior and Isabella Grant. His father's family were Frasers of Culbokie and Guisachan, a cadet branch of the Frasers of Lovat, who had immigrated to New York in 1773. His mother Isabella was the daughter of the laird of Daldregan. During the American Revolutionary War, the family remained loyal to the Crown; his father was captured and died in an Albany prison in 1777 or 1778. The family subsequently relocated to Canada in 1784.[1]
In 1790, at about the age of fourteen, Fraser moved to Montreal under the guardianship of Judge John Fraser, receiving limited schooling before entering the fur trade. In 1792 he became an apprentice clerk with the North West Company, likely serving in the Athabasca Department for much of the 1790s. He was confirmed as a clerk in that department by 1799.[1]
Career in the fur trade
On 30 June 1801, Fraser was admitted as a partner in the North West Company, receiving one forty-sixth share of the enterprise at the age of twenty-five.[1] Following the 1804 merger of the North West Company and the rival New North West Company (known as the XY Company), Fraser was assigned responsibility for extending NWC operations beyond the Rocky Mountains into the territory that the partners called New Caledonia.[1]
In the autumn of 1805, Fraser built Rocky Mountain Portage House at the eastern end of the Peace River Canyon. That winter of 1805–1806, he established Fort McLeod at Trout Lake — described as the first permanent European settlement west of the Rocky Mountains in what is now Canada. In 1806 he discovered Stuart Lake and constructed Fort St James and Fort Fraser, and also established Fort George at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser rivers (present-day Prince George).[1][2]
Exploration of the Fraser River
Between 28 May and 6 August 1808, Fraser led an expedition down the full length of the river subsequently named for him, accompanied by John Stuart, Jules-Maurice Quesnel, and a party of nineteen voyageurs and two Indigenous guides — twenty-four persons in total. The journey was extraordinarily arduous; the river canyon forced the party to abandon their canoes for stretches and descend sheer rock faces on Indigenous rope ladders. Fraser wrote of the canyon: "I have been for a long period among the Rocky Mountains, but have never seen any thing equal to this country."[1]
Near the river's mouth, the party encountered hostile Cowichan people and was pursued at length. At one critical moment, when some of the men threatened to turn back, Fraser led the entire party in a collective oath: "I solemnly swear before Almighty God that I shall sooner perish than forsake in distress any of our crew." The party reached the mouth of the river at approximately 49° north latitude, but Fraser was disappointed to find the river unsuitable as a trade route and to realize it was not the Columbia River that Alexander Mackenzie had speculated might give access to the Pacific. He wrote of "great disappointment in not seeing the main ocean," unaware the Pacific coast lay some 140 miles further beyond Vancouver Island.[1][3]
Red River conflict and trial
After returning east in 1810, Fraser served in the Athabasca Department until 1814, when he was assigned to the Red River Colony district. He became embroiled in the violent contest between the North West Company and Lord Selkirk's colonists and the Hudson's Bay Company. In the summer of 1815, Fraser escorted the arrested governor Miles Macdonell from Red River to Fort William — the NWC headquarters at the head of Lake Superior in what is now Thunder Bay — as a prisoner.[1]
On 19 June 1816, the confrontation between NWC men and colonists resulted in the Battle of Seven Oaks, in which twenty settlers were killed. Fraser later testified that he had "arrived judiciously late" and thus avoided direct involvement. Nevertheless, in September 1816, the Earl of Selkirk arrested Fraser at Fort William along with several other NWC partners, and Fraser was briefly imprisoned in Montreal before being released on bail.[1]
In 1818, Fraser and five fellow partners were tried at York (present-day Toronto) on charges of treason, conspiracy, and accessory to murder. All were acquitted.[1]
Later life
Following his acquittal, Fraser settled permanently in Canada West on 240 acres along the Raisin River near St Andrews, Stormont County, where he farmed and made unsuccessful attempts at sawmill and gristmill operations. On 7 June 1820, he married Catherine Macdonell, daughter of Captain Allan Macdonell; they had five sons and three daughters who reached maturity.[1]
During the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838, Fraser served as a captain in the 1st Regiment of Stormont militia and sustained a severe knee injury. He subsequently petitioned Governor General Charles Bagot for relief, informing him that the injury had been "the cause of reducing him from a state of comparative affluence to penuery." The 1861 census valued his farm at $4,000. Fraser died on 18 August 1862, and his wife Catherine died the following day. Both were buried in a single grave at St Andrews Roman Catholic cemetery.[1]
Legacy
Recognition of Fraser's explorations grew over time. At the British Columbia centennial celebration in 1908, an exhibition was held and a memorial column erected at New Westminster; a bust by sculptor Louis-Philippe Hébert was added in 1911. The Hudson's Bay Company placed a grave marker at St Andrews in 1921. In 1958, a party retraced his 1808 journey to mark its 150th anniversary.[1]
References
External links
- ↑ W. Kaye Lamb."W. Kaye Lamb, "FRASER, SIMON," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1976.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ W. K. Lamb (ed.)."The letters and journals of Simon Fraser, 1806–1808."[book].1960.Toronto.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ L.-F.-R. Masson (ed.)."Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest: récits de voyages, lettres et rapports inédits relatifs au Nord-Ouest canadien."[book].1889.2 vols., vol. I; reprint New York, 1960.Québec.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Alexander Mackenzie."History of the Frasers of Lovat, with genealogies of the principal families of the name."[book].1896.Inverness, Scotland.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ A. G. Morice."History of the northern interior of British Columbia."[book].1905.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ John Spargo."Two Bennington-born explorers and makers of modern Canada."[book].1950.Bradford, Vermont.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ E. O. S. Scholefield."Simon Fraser."[newspaper].Westward Ho! (Vancouver).1908.Vol. III (1908), pp. 217–31, 440–45; Vol. IV (1909), pp. 61–76, 138–44.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)