James McDougall was a nineteenth-century

fur trade 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 ...

r and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

, who is remembered for his participation in opening up present-day

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada to European settlement as part of a

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

expedition to the region, led by Simon Fraser. McDougall was third-in-command on Fraser's team, functioning as junior clerk to John Stuart. Fraser and his crew entered the territory they would call

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 ...

in 1805, a foray that would culminate in the successful descent and ascent of 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 ...

in the spring and summer of 1808. During that time, Fraser and his men constructed several fur-trading posts. The first of these resulted from a trip undertaken by Fraser and McDougall up the

Parsnip River The Parsnip River is a long river in central British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally north-westward from the Parsnip Glacier in the Hart Ranges to the Parsnip Reach of Williston Lake, formed by the impounding of the waters of the Peace Rive ...

in the autumn of 1805, in order to determine an ideal route for reaching the Fraser from 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 ...

canyon, which was a major portal at the time into the territory west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. Their travels resulted in the establishment by Fraser of the first post and permanent European settlement west of the Rockies, at present-day

McLeod Lake McLeod Lake is an unincorporated community located on Highway 97 in northern British Columbia, Canada, north of Prince George. It is notable for being the first continuously inhabited European settlement established west of the Rocky Mountains ...

. That winter Connor Swingle, the crew member left in charge of the deserted nascent post, and McDougall were charged with administration of the post while Fraser and Stuart were engaged elsewhere. During that time, McDougall seized the initiative to investigate reports he had received of an important lake and fur region to the northwest, in the heart of the region inhabited by the

Dakelh The Dakelh (pronounced ) or Carrier are the indigenous people of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The "Carrier" name was derived from an English translation of ''Aghele'', the name from the neighbouring Sekani ...

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. He journeyed down the as-yet unnamed Fraser River, becoming the first European to find and ascend the

Nechako River The Nechako River arises on the Nechako Plateau east of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, and flows north toward Fort Fraser, then east to Prince George where it enters the Fraser River. "Nechako" is an angl ...

, a major tributary that

Sir Alexander Mackenzie Sir Alexander Mackenzie (or MacKenzie, gd, Alasdair MacCoinnich; – 12 March 1820) was a Scottish explorer known for accomplishing the first crossing of America north of Mexico in 1793. The Mackenzie River is named after him. Early life ...

, travelling that way twelve years earlier, had inexplicably missed. From there, McDougall ascended the Stuart River to its source at Stuart Lake. McDougall would later go on to explore what has come to be known as British Columbia's "Lake Country", ascending the Nechako beyond

Fraser Lake Fraser Lake is a village in northern British Columbia, Canada. It's located on the southwest side of Fraser Lake between Burns Lake and Vanderhoof alongside the Yellowhead Highway. The small community's population is primarily employed by eithe ...

as far as

Babine Lake Babine Lake ( ) or Na-taw-bun-kut ("Long Lake") is the longest natural lake in British Columbia, Canada. Babine Lake is located northeast of the town of Burns Lake in central British Columbia, some west northwest of the city of Prince George. ...

and Francois Lake. The fruit of McDougall's explorations would be the construction by Fraser of a post at Stuart Lake,

Fort St. James Fort St. James is a district municipality and former fur trading post in northern central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the Omineca Country, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which con ...

, which would become headquarters of the New Caledonia department of the North West Company (merged in 1821 with the

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 ...

). Following Fraser's expedition, McDougall stayed in New Caledonia to assist Stuart as a trader at the Fort St. James' post for a period of some years.

External links

*
A fishing article on the Fraser River article containing a paragraph detailing McDougall's explorations

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDougall, James Explorers of British Columbia Canadian fur traders 19th-century explorers Year of death missing Year of birth missing