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John Work of the Hudson's Bay Company - Leader of the California Brigade of 1832-33 (June 1943) (16 pages)
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Page: of 16
John Work of the Hudson’s Bay Company
Leader of the California Brigade of 1832-33
By Auice Bay MALoNEy
-OHN WORK was an active participant in the fur trade of the Pacific
slope during its peak years.’ His geographical range was wide, and he
served the Hudson’s Bay Company in many capacities: from his enrollment in 1814 as a writer he advanced through the ranks of steward, clerk,
trader, and factor, and finally served as a member of the Legislative Council
of Vancouver Island.”
From York Factory, headquarters of the company on Hudson’s Bay, John
Work’s progress continued westward until he reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean in 1824.° As leader of trapping and exploring parties he traveled
with his men east to the Rocky Mountains and as far south as the Stanislaus
River in central California. For many years he was stationed at Fort Simpson
on the Northwest Coast. He explored the Queen Charlotte Islands and the
Skeena River‘ and other mainland streams in pursuit of his duties. His travels
by canoe and horseback through numerous friendly and hostile Indian tribes
gave him an intimate knowledge of a vast terrain and schooled him in the
rough diplomacy which characterized the dealings of a great fur company
with savage peoples drawn by the fur trade into the international network of
world commerce.
The fur trade of the Pacific Northwest had a maritime inception, but from
1793, when Alexander McKenzie, of the North West Company of Montreal,
broke through the barrier of the Rocky Mountains and spanned the continent from coast to coast, the land fur trade began its slow development
toward the high point reached in the 1830’s. Simon Fraser and John Stuart
established posts on the lakes of New Caledonia, in what is now British Columbia, in 1807, and heard from the Indians stories of the Americans, Lewis
and Clark, who had reached the mouth of the Columbia River in 1805. Fraser
descended, in 1808, the river which bears his name but found the stream unnavigable and with no site suitable for a fur trade post.
Two great fur companies, the North West Company and the Hudson’s
Bay Company, were competitors for the furs of the northern portion of the
North American continent, but prior to 1821 the Hudson’s Bay Company
did not extend its activities west of the continental divide. The North West
Company sent David Thompson on several trips of exploration and trade
promotion, and his maps and journals are witnesses to the extent of his
travels and knowledge of the region now covered by the states of Washington, Montana, and Idaho. He traced the course of the Columbia River to its
mouth, which he reached in 1811.
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