William Morrison (March 7, 1785 – August 7, 1866) was a Canadian fur trader and explorer who established numerous trading posts throughout

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and is claimed to have been the first white person to discover

Lake Itasca Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake, approximately in area. Located in southeastern Clearwater County, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota, it is notable for being the headwater of the Mississippi River. The lake is in Itasca Sta ...

in 1804.

Morrison County, Minnesota Morrison County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,010. Its county seat is Little Falls. Camp Ripley Military Reservation occupies a significant area in north-central Morrison County. His ...

is named after him and his brother, Allan.

Biography

Morrison was born in

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 ...

. His parents were Allan Morrison, Sr. and Jane Wadin. Wadin's father was

Jean-Étienne Waddens Jean-Étienne Waddens (also Vuadens, Wadin) was born in 1738 to Adam Samuel Waddens (Vaudin) and Bernardine Ermon. He was killed during an argument with Peter Pond in 1782 at Lac La Ronge. He came to Canada as a soldier then worked in the fur tr ...

, a fur trader who was killed by

Peter Pond Peter Pond (January 18, 1739 – 1807) was an American explorer, cartographer, merchant and soldier who was a founding member of the North West Company and the Beaver Club. Though he was born and died in Milford, Connecticut, most of his life ...

in 1782. He entered the fur trade in 1802, with the

XY Company The XY Company also known as the New North West Company was a joint-stock fur trading enterprise based in Montreal that conducted business chiefly in the Canadian Northwest between 1798 and 1804. Leech Lake Leech Lake is a lake located in north central Minnesota, United States. It is southeast of Bemidji, located mainly within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, and completely within the Chippewa National Forest. It is used as a reservoir. The lake ...

and spent the winter at a post on the

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

of the

Crow Wing River The Crow Wing River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed November 29, 2012 tributary of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, United States. The river rises at an elevation ...

. The following winter, in 1804, Morrison discovered

. In a letter written to his brother in 1856, Morrison said he had left

Grand Portage Grand Portage National Monument is a U.S. National Monument, United States National Monument located on the north shore of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota that preserves a vital center of fur trade activity and Anishinaabeg Ojibwe heritag ...

in 1802 and reached Leech Lake in September or October of that year. He then wintered at Rice Lake the following winter. Along the way, he had passed Cass Lake and followed the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

up to Lake Itasca. He claimed that no traces of white men before him. Since he followed the Mississippi, he would've also been the first to identify the lake as the headwaters of the Mississippi, as

Henry Schoolcraft Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (March 28, 1793 – December 10, 1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnology, ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native Americans in the United States, Native American cultures, as well as for his 1 ...

's discovery was made decades later. The XY Company merged into the

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 ...

in 1805. Morrison continued to work for the company, with his yearly wages from 1812 to 1816 being reported at 1,200 livres. Morrison's territory of operations was bought by

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 ...

American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was founded in 1808, by John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant to the United States. During the 18th century, furs had become a major commodity in Europe, and North America became a major supplier. Several British co ...

. While a member of this company, Morrison was listed as a superintendent of the department and developed a reputation for starving competition out of existence. George Simpson of 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 ...

considered Morrison as one of the best and most experienced traders in the region. Morrison retired in 1826 and went to

Berthier, Quebec Berthierville ()(also called Berthier-en-haut, and legally called Berthier before 1942) is a town located between Montreal and Trois-Rivières on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada. Berthierville is the seat of D'Autray ...

. The aforementioned letter was sent to

Alexander Ramsey Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815 April 22, 1903) was an American politician. He served as a Whig and Republican over a variety of offices between the 1840s and the 1880s. He was the first Minnesota Territorial Governor. Early years and fam ...

in 1856. Ramsey would give it wide publicity, which influenced the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decennia ...

to name a county after him when it was organized on February 25, 1856. He died in Sorel, Quebec on August 7, 1866. Morrison had at least four wives. He married Me-she-pe-she-quay in 1808, Sah-quon-dah-gah-equay , Julia Roussain in 1827, and Elizabeth Ann Kittson in 1831. He was the father of at least 16 children. In addition to the county, Morrison is the namesake of Morrison Island in

L'Isle-aux-Allumettes L'Isle-aux-Allumettes is a municipality in the Outaouais region, part of the Pontiac Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada. The municipality consists primarily of Allumette Island (in French ''Île aux Allumettes''), and also includes Morri ...

, with the

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Québec's place names and their origins according ...

saying he established a residence there in 1826.

References

External links

William White-Bear “Little Englishman” Morrison
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, William 1785 births 1866 deaths Canadian fur traders North West Company people American Fur Company people Morrison County, Minnesota Canadian expatriates in the United States