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Alexander MacKay (fur Trader)
Alexander MacKay ( 1770 – 15 June 1811) (also spelled McKay in some records) was a Canadian fur trader and explorer who worked for the North West Company and the Pacific Fur Company. He co-founded Fort Astoria near the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific coast. Early life MacKay was probably born in the Mohawk Valley area of central New York, where his father Donald MacKay had brought the family after the Seven Years' War. Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War, the family departed the area and first lived in the Trois Rivières area of Lower Canada. They settled in the Glengarry region of Upper Canada about 1792. Alexander MacKay married Marguerite Waddens or Wadin ''Descendants of Alexander McKay'' http://museum.bmi.net/Picnic%20People%20M.Z/mckay,%20WC.htm Retrieved: 5 September 2015 and had one son, Thomas McKay, and three daughters: Annie Nancy McKay, Catherine McKay and Marie Wadin McKay. His natural son Alexander Ross MacKay was born by another woman. ...
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Mohawk Valley
The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, the region's counties have a combined population of 622,133 people. In addition to the Mohawk River valley, the region contains portions of other major watersheds such as the Susquehanna River. The region is a suburban and rural area surrounding the industrialized cities of Schenectady, Utica and Rome, along with other smaller commercial centers. The area is an important agricultural center and encompasses the heavily forested wilderness areas just to the north that are part of New York's Adirondack Park. The Mohawk Valley is a natural passageway connecting the Atlantic Ocean, by way of the Hudson Valley, with the interior of North America. Native American Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy lived in the region. In the 17th century, Dutch ...
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Fort Fork
Fort Fork a North West Company (NWC) trading post on the Peace River, established in 1792. From 1 November 1792 to 9 May 1793, Alexander Mackenzie wintered there prior to his expedition to the Pacific Ocean. The fort was used until the NWC merged with the XY Company in 1805, after which it was replaced by Fort Dunvegan, further upstream. The fort was located southwest of the present-day town of Peace River, Alberta. No known physical remains of the fort have survived, but there is an archaeological site there marked by a semi-circular depression and a cairn. The site was declared a National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ... in 1928. References North West Company forts Forts or trading posts on the National Historic Sites of Canad ...
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Tonquin (1807)
''Tonquin'' was a 290-ton American merchant ship initially operated by Fanning & Coles and later by the Pacific Fur Company (PFC), a subsidiary of the American Fur Company (AFC). Its first commander was Edmund Fanning, who sailed to the Qing Empire for valuable Chinese trade goods in 1807. The vessel was outfitted for another journey to China and then was sold to German-American entrepreneur John Jacob Astor. Included within his intricate plans to assume control over portions of the lucrative North American fur trade, the ship was intended to establish and supply trading outposts on the Pacific Northwest coast. Valuable animal furs purchased and trapped in the region would then be shipped to China, where consumer demand was high for particular pelts. ''Tonquin'' left New York City for the Columbia River in late 1810. From there the vessel sailed across the Atlantic Ocean until reaching the Falkland Islands in December. Captain Jonathan Thorn marooned eight PFC employees there, tho ...
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Robert Stuart (explorer)
Robert Stuart (February 19, 1785 – October 28, 1848) was a Scottish-born, Canadian and American fur trader, best known as a member of the first European-American party to cross South Pass during an overland expedition from Fort Astoria to Saint Louis in 1811. He was a member of the North West Company (NWC) until recruited by John Jacob Astor to develop the new Pacific Fur Company, which was based at Fort Astoria, on the coast of present-day Oregon. Astor intended the venture to develop a continent-wide commercial empire in fur trading. Life Family history states that Robert Stuart was born in Strathyre, in the historic parish of Balquhidder, but grew up in Callander, both towns in Perthshire, about northwest of Stirling, Scotland. Around 1807, he joined an uncle, David Stuart, in Montreal to work as a clerk in the fur trade for the Canadian North West Company. In 1810, three years later, he and his uncle had been recruited into Astor's Pacific Fur Company.James P. Ronda, ''A ...
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David Stuart (fur Trader)
David Stuart (1765-1853) was a fur trader who worked primarily for the North West and Pacific Fur companies throughout his varied career. Fort Astoria In the official Fort Astoria logbook maintained by station manager Duncan McDougall, Stuart was recorded in May 1811 as suffering overexertion and potentially a hernia from clearing timber. In the same month, the Chinookans reported sighting a merchant vessel near their settlements on the coast. Rather than lose the beaver skins to rival Maritime fur traders, McDougall sent Stuart on 22 May to Comcomly's village across the Columbia River. The reported vessel never actually appeared after its existence was announced by Chinookan traders. This episode has been suggested by historian Robert F. Jones to have been a Chinookan "stratagem" to "secure better prices, perhaps for inferior skins." Stuart returned the following day with only 20 beaver pelts. Throughout June, Stuart and Gabriel Franchère cleared, planted and maintained a ga ...
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Gabriel Franchère
Gabriel Franchère ( 3 November 1786 –12 April 1863) was a French Canadian author and explorer of the Pacific Northwest. Franchère was born in Montreal to Gabriel Franchère (4 March 1752 - 16 May 1832) and Marie-Félicité Morin (20 August 1760 - 28 September 1807). He later joined the Pacific Fur Company as a merchant apprentice, arriving at Fort Astoria on the '' Tonquin''. After Astoria was sold to the North West Company, Franchère returned to Montreal overland in 1814. He was employed for a time by John Jacob Astor in Montreal. He wrote ''Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America'', which was published in 1819. This work was translated into English and edited in 1851, and later rereleased as part of the General Series of the Champlain Society in 1969. The untranslated version was one of Washington Irving's sources for his book ''Astoria''. The mountain Franchère Peak in the Canadian Rockies was named in his honor in 1917. References External links Gabriel ...
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John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and by investing in real estate in or around New York City. He was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States. Born in Germany, Astor emigrated to England as a teenager and worked as a musical instrument manufacturer. He moved to the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Seeing the expansion of population to the west, he entered the fur trade and built a monopoly, managing a business empire that extended to the Great Lakes region and Canada, and later expanded into the American West and Pacific coast. Seeing a decline in demand due to changing European tastes, he got out of the fur trade in 1830, diversifying by investing in New York City real estate. Astor was highly wealt ...
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Duncan McDougall (fur Trader)
Duncan McDougall was a native of Scotland who first appears in history as a clerk with the North West Company (NWC) in 1801. This position was likely as a result of his uncles, Angus Shaw and Alexander McDougall, who were both partners in the NWC. In 1803 McDougall was in charge of building a post at Fort George River on the east coast of Ungava Bay at the mouth of the George River, Quebec. By 1810, Duncan had gone to work for John Jacob Astor and the Pacific Fur Company. He led the party that established Fort Astoria in Oregon, married Ilchee Moon Woman, daughter of Chief Comcomly of the Chinook Confederacy, and left her in 1813. By 1813 the Nor'westers had purchased Astoria and McDougall became a partner in the NWC in 1816. In 1817 he returned east to Fort William with Angus Bethune and others. He agreed to take charge of the Winnipeg River district of the NWC and travelled there later in the year. He died at Fort Bas de la Rivière A fortification is a military con ...
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Donald Mackenzie (explorer)
Donald McKenzie (16 June 1783 – 20 January 1851) was a Scottish-Canadian explorer, fur trader and Governor of the Red River Colony from 1821 to 1834. Early life Born in Scotland, McKenzie emigrated to Canada about 1800. He and 2 or three of his brothers became involved in the fur trade and were engaged with the North West Company. In 1810, he left the employ of the North West Company to become a partner in the Pacific Fur Company (PFC), financed solely by John Jacob Astor. Pacific Fur Company McKenzie traveled west from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Northwest with an expedition of fellow PFC employees. The group divided after experiencing hard times in southern Idaho. McKenzie’s fraction, consisting of twelve total, struck north, eventually finding the Salmon River and Clearwater River. They proceeded down the lower Snake River and Columbia River by canoe, and were the first of the Overland Astorians to reach Fort Astoria, on January 18, 1812. McKenzie spent two ...
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Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as ''Fort Ville-Marie, Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill around which the early city of Ville-Marie is built. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal, which obtained its name from the same origin as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard. The city is east of the national capital Ottawa, and southwest of the provincial capital, Quebec City. As of 2021, the city had a population of 1,762,949, and a Census Metropolitan Area#Census metropolitan areas, metropolitan population of 4,291,732, making it the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest city, and List of cen ...
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Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the United States, U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota. Saskatchewan and Alberta are the only landlocked provinces of Canada. In 2022, Saskatchewan's population was estimated at 1,205,119. Nearly 10% of Saskatchewan’s total area of is fresh water, mostly rivers, reservoirs and List of lakes in Saskatchewan, lakes. Residents primarily live in the southern prairie half of the province, while the northern half is mostly forested and sparsely populated. Roughly half live in the province's largest city Saskatoon or the provincial capital Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina. Other notable cities include Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Swift Current, North Battleford, Melfort, Saskatchewan, Melfort, and ...
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Churchill River (Hudson Bay)
The Churchill River () is a major river in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. From the head of the Churchill Lake it is long. It was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1685 to 1691. The Cree name for the river is ''Missinipi'', meaning "big waters". The Denesuline name for the river is ''des nëdhë́'', meaning "Great River". The river is located entirely within the Canadian Shield. The drainage basin includes a number of lakes in Central-East Alberta which flow into a series of lakes in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The main tributary, the Beaver River, joins at Lac Île-à-la-Crosse. Nistowiak Falls—the tallest falls in Saskatchewan—are on the Rapid River, which flows north, out of Lac la Ronge into Nistowiak Lake on the Churchill just north of La Ronge. A large amount of flow of the Churchill River after Manitoba–Saskatchewan border comes from the Reindeer River, which flows from Wollaston ...
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