The Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail, sometimes referred to simply as the Brigade Trail, refers to one of two routes used by

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

fur trader The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

s to transport furs, goods and supplies between coastal and

Columbia District The Columbia District was a fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold ...

headquarters at

Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th century fur trading post that was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was located on the northern bank of th ...

and those in

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

and also in

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

. Importantly the route was that used by the annual " Hudson's Bay Express", a shipment of the company books and profits to company headquarters. The older of the two routes, and the most used, was from

via the Columbia and

Okanagan River The Okanogan River (known as the Okanagan River in Canada) is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 115 mi (185 km) long, in southern British Columbia and north central Washington. It drains a scenic plateau region called th ...

s to

Fort Shuswap Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

(aka

Fort Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

, today's City of Kamloops, then via the Bonaparte and

Cariboo Plateau The Cariboo Plateau is a volcanic plateau in south-central British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Fraser Plateau that itself is a northward extension of the North American Plateau. The southern limit of the plateau is the Bonaparte River alth ...

s to the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

Fort Alexandria Alexandria or Fort Alexandria is a National Historic Site of Canada on the Fraser River in British Columbia, and was the end of the Old Cariboo Road and the Cariboo Wagon Road. It is located on Highway 97, north of 100 Mile House and south of ...

). From there the Express used river travel via the

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

to the

Prairies Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

and

. Another route used by the Express was the direct to Rupert's Land

York Factory Express The York Factory Express, usually called "the Express" and also the Columbia Express and the Communication, was a 19th-century fur brigade operated by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Roughly in length, it was the main overland connection between ...

via the Columbia River to

Boat Encampment Boat Encampment is a ghost town in the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The locality was at the tip of the Big Bend on the north shore of the Columbia River. The general vicinity, on the former Big Bend Highway, was by road a ...

on that river's Big Bend (beneath today's

Kinbasket Lake Kinbasket Lake (or Kinbasket Reservoir) is a reservoir on the Columbia River in southeast British Columbia, north of the city of Revelstoke and the town of Golden. The reservoir was created by the construction of the Mica Dam. The lake includes tw ...

reservoir) and then via

Howse Pass Howse is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Joseph Howse (1774-1852), English explorer, linguist, and scholar * Hilary Ewing Howse (1866–1938), American businessman and politician * Neville Howse (1863–1930), Australian ...

or Athabaska Pass . The route from Fort Kamloops to Fort Alexandria later featured prominently in the migration to the Cariboo goldfields and was known to miners using it as the Brigade Trail. The southern part of the trail, between Forts Vancouver and Kamloops, was at this time known as the

Okanagan Trail The Okanagan Trail was an inland route to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush from the Lower Columbia region of the Washington and Oregon Territories in 1858–1859. The route was essentially the same as that used by the Hudson's Bay Company fur brigad ...

. In anticipation of the division of the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...

, the company established a new fort just north of the future boundary at

Fort Langley Fort Langley is a village community in Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of approximately 3,400 people. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company. ...

on the lower reaches of the Fraser River and the exploration of alternate routes via British territory for the company fur brigades from the seacoast to the Interior was undertaken. Considered among the new routes were what later became known as the

Lakes Route The Douglas Road, a.k.a. the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route, was a goldrush-era transportation route from the British Columbia Coast to the Interior Plateau, Interior (NB another route known as the Lillooet Trail was the Lillooet Cat ...

and passes in the southern

Canadian Cascades The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in the U.S. and Canada as the Cascad ...

later used by the

Dewdney Trail The Dewdney Trail is a trail in British Columbia, Canada that served as a major thoroughfare in mid-19th century British Columbia. The trail was a critical factor in the development and strengthening of the newly established British colony of Bri ...

and the Crowsnest Highway, but the most viable route was decided to be a difficult crossing of the Canadian Cascades, over the east wall of the

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

just above

Spuzzum Spuzzum is an unincorporated settlement in British Columbia, Canada. Because it is on the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately north of the community of Hope, it is often referred to as being "beyond Hope". Environment Spuzzum lies in a constrict ...

onto the

Thompson Plateau The Thompson Plateau forms the southern portion of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia, Canada, lying to the west of Okanagan Lake, south of the Thompson River and east of (although never adjoining it) the Fraser River. At its most southern p ...

, then to

. A great deal of money was spent on the route, which was steep and narrow and carved into the mountainside, rising from Kequaloose, which lies opposite Spuzzum on the east bank of the Fraser near today's

Alexandra Bridge The Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge, also known as the Alexandra Bridge or Interprovincial Bridge, is a steel truss cantilever bridge spanning the Ottawa River between Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. In addition to carrying vehicl ...

, and was only used a few times by fur brigades because of its difficulty for

pack animal A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is an individual or type of working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back, in contrast to draft anim ...

s. Most shipments by this route were disastrous. It had fallen into disuse by the time of the

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

. Portions of the Fraser Canyon route along the Canadian Cascades are maintained as hiking trails by the

Fraser Valley Regional District The Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) is a regional district in British Columbia, Canada. Its headquarters are in the city of Chilliwack. The FVRD covers an area of 13,361.74 km² (5,159 sq mi). It was created in 1995 by ...

, including the first main ascent from Kequaloose."1858 Gold Rush Trail", Outdoor Recreation Guide, fvrd.ca
/ref>

References

* {{cite book , last= Gibson , first= James R. , title= The Lifeline of the Oregon Country: The Fraser-Columbia Brigade System, 1811-47 , year= 1997 , publisher= University of British Columbia (UBC) Press , isbn= 0-7748-0643-5 , url= https://archive.org/details/lifelineoforegon0000gibs, url-access= registration

External links

detailed history on "Crowsnest Highway" website history page
Pre-Confederation British Columbia Historic trails and roads in Washington (state) Historic trails and roads in British Columbia Fur trade Hudson's Bay Company

See also

References

External links