Subject: James Steel Final The James Steel Saga The tale of the adventures of James Steel, my great great grandfather, of Kilbucho Mains, Peebleshire, begins in 1838 when a Chief Factor of the Hudsons Bay Company Of Adventurers (HBC), returned to England on furlough and meetings with his superiors. His name was John McLoughlin and he was responsible for the swathe of country West of the Rockies known as the Oregan country, or The Columbia after the river. It included Fort Vancouver on the Columbia and Fort Nisqually where now stands the modern town of DuPont just south of Seattle in the state of Washington. Interestingly Oregan and Washington did not join the US until 1846 when the border was negotiated at the 49th parallel. Somehow James was recommended to McLoughlin as a shepherd, clerk and farmer, and it has been surmised that he may have had some education in this respect (Pers. comm.) In March of 1839 he signed a lengthy employment agreement which favoured the company in many respects but paid the princely sum of £100 sterling p/a for a period of 5 years. I have a copy of this contract which was, along with other extracts, kindly provided by The HBC Archives at the Library of Manitoba at Winnipeg. James was supposed to have been transferred to the books of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, but that never eventuated because he returned to Scotland before his time was up. The PSAC was a subsidiary of HBC and was set up to prevent HBC from operating in breach of its Charter, which was for trading, principally in furs, but not farming. It appears that HBC was aware that their activities would decimate the donor populations, leading to the demise of the fur trade, but wanted to remain influential in what was very much the Wild West, and which was in danger of falling to the Americans. Which of course it eventually did. The way that the furs were repatriated to the UK and the Forts re-supplied is extraordinary to our eyes. I dont know the name of James and McLoughlins ship, but in the summer of 1839, they sailed into Hudsons Bay and to the major outpost on the southern shore known as York Factory on the Hayes River. Several other figures which rose to prominence in the HBC were also in their company, vis: Angus McDonald, Dugald MacTavish, et al. York Factory was probably the most important of HBCs strongholds as it was the focus of all trade in both directions. The party then set out upstream by canoes and I have a document which places them at the next post, Norway House in June 1839. They remained there for a month until the Saskatchewan Brigade arrived from the west in July. This band of 70 or so employees in canoes were bringing out the furs and thence returned west with supplies and personnel. The next leg of the journey was further up the river to Lake Winnipeg, across the Lake and then up the Saskatchewan River which drains into the Lake, to somewhere near Edmonton, Saskatchewan. They then crossed the Rockies on horses to the headwaters of the Columbia River and then downstream to Fort Vancouver or Cowlitz Portage. At this point, I should acknowledge the wonderful work of Steve A. Anderson: Angus McDonald of the Great Divide where he relates the conduct of this very expedition, but has as his central figure Angus McDonald. The descent of the Columbia very nearly ended in disaster when at least one of the whale boats was swamped in a whirlpool in one of the many cataracts. It is interesting to ponder why the HBC took the route via Hudsons Bay in preference to the St. Lawrence or the Mississippi options, but it seems likely that it was because the French and/or Americans controlled both of these and were in hostilities with the English as per usual. In fact it wasnt long after James departed that Norway House was attacked and besieged by the French from Quebec. James appears to have been given various duties once he arrived at Fort Vancouver. An extract dated May 1840, from the Chief Factor to Simpson at Fort Vancouver suggests he may have sailed on the vessel Columbia to Hawaii in search of sheep. Whether this voyage actually took place will be the subject of further enquiry. Certainly the master of the Columbia was requested to provide enough Sandwich Islanders as to assist Mr Steel in care of the sheep during the voyage. There is a record of a voyage from California to Fort Vancouver in June of 1840 which brought 700 ewes to the operation at Fort Vancouver, so it is possible that for some reason the Hawaii expedition was forestalled to California. There can be no doubt that JS was part of a major land based expedition to California in the spring of 1841, when the HBC purchased 3670 sheep and 661 head of cattle and drove them up to the Columbia. It was a major undertaking and there were plenty of people engaged to protect the party from attacks by the natives. Just what the risk was is perhaps debatable as most accounts have the local First Nation people as being fairly peaceable. Nevertheless, Andersons account of events in Idaho and Utah, just east of the Columbia, suggests that raiding parties were still being conducted. Below, current use of original FN site! By the time James returned home in 1842, the livestock numbers had increased substantially and appear to have also improved in quality. In the summer of 1842, James became so ill that he requested to be let go to return home, and this wish was granted even though he appeared to be making a recovery in the autumn of that year. Just what was the cause of his ill health in 1842 is not clear, but it was described as ague which as far as I can determine was recurrent fever. There are several accounts of his contemporaries suffering similar maladies, but mostly they were undiagnosed. I believe he also suffered a bit of homesickness as there appears to be very little religious observance in the records, indeed the famous Angus McDonald seems to have thrived on his rejection of faith and adoption of native customs. Whatever the cause, James returned, we think to Scotland and not Australia, in October 1843 aboard the Cowlitz. What route this vessel took, by Cape Horn or Good Hope is another question, as is the reason he left from the West Coast and not via York Factory. But he did end up in Australia in 1851or thereabouts and was buried in Walcha Cemetery aged 84 years. Obviously, the climactic change worked well for him. Below, FN artefacts in DuPont museum, shears, HBC secure mail pouch, man with iPad! Above: lock from FN granary, oldest building west of Rockies (DuPont museum) My search for the facts surrounding James adventures was rushed because of travel commitments, but for anyone wishing to take up the thread, I acknowledge the assistance and generosity of the following, mostly in chronological order: 1) Hudsons Bay Company Archives, Library of Manitoba, Winnipeg. The HBC archivists generously hand copied the extracts from their records relating to JS and supplied them free of charge. 2) Roger Newman, descendants of HBC employees association. Roger kindly drove to DuPont one Friday afternoon, just to show me the various incarnations of Fort Nisqually, at DuPont WA. 3) The staff of the DuPont Historical Museum who kindly remained available on the Friday afternoon after closing time so I could get the gist of their fascinating history. 4) The website of the US National Parks Service, which has a historical section relating to Forts Vancouver and Nisqually, which summarises their history and mentions JS a couple of times. 5) Steve Anderson for his book and personal correspondence. 6) My good friend and ex-brother Richard Giles for his keen interest and safekeeping of the HBC documents until my arrival in Quebec in June. FINALLY, even though Richard thinks I am insane, I am planning a trip to York Factory in June or July 2015, which will be 176 years after James did the same thing. As far as I am aware, the building is still standing and is overseen by an aboriginal community. The best way in is by float plane as there are no roads. So any of you who have been infected by curiosity, or who have inherited the gene for adventure from James are welcome to come along. Just let me know so we can start the process. For those of you who are more accomplished historians than me, if I have made any glaring errors in this account, please let me know. Regards, Andrew Burgess
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 02:17:20 +0000
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