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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
98 California Historical Society Quarterly
Upon his arrival there Thompson found competitors in possession of the
field. Americans sent out by John Jacob Astor had established a post, which
they had named Astoria, and were engaged in trapping furs for shipment by
sea. The Oregon Country, extending from the Spanish land of California
northward, was claimed by both the United States and England, and the race
to secure the furs of the region was stimulated by. international rivalry which
was sharpened by the threat of still another participant, the Russian American Company, now well established in Alaska and looking toward the south.
As a concomitant of the War of 1812 Astoria was purchased by the North
West Company, and was renamed Fort George. This company thereby
gained trade supremacy in the area. In 1818 a treaty of joint occupation was
signed by England and the United States. This agreement was extended in
1827, and it was not until 1846 that a boundary line between the lands of the
two countries lying west of the Rocky Mountains was definitely fixed.
In 1821 the long and bitter rivalry of the North West Company and the
Hudson’s Bay Company terminated in a coalition of the two firms under the
name of the latter. George Simpson was named Governor of Rupert’s Land,
with jurisdiction extended to the fur posts of New Caledonia and the Columbia District. Under his energetic management the establishments of the Pacific Northwest became the scene of renewed activity. Headquarters were
removed from Fort George to a more advantageous site on the north bank of
the Columbia River, 112 miles upstream. The new post, Fort Vancouver, was
the fur capital of the region. The brigades of trappers were increased in size
and number, and each year saw the fur hunters ranging farther afield in an
effort to secure the harvest before American rivals should arrive at the
trapping grounds. The two nationalities clashed first in 1824, when Peter
Skene Ogden and his Snake brigade encountered American trappers in the
Rocky Mountains. Subsequently the English brigades were instructed to
remain west of the continental divide. International boundaries at this time
had not yet been surveyed and in some cases had not yet been determined
upon by the disputing nations. The line between California, then a province
of Mexico, and the Oregon Country was stipulated as the 42nd parallel of
latitude. Gradually the Hudson’s Bay Company brigades encroached upon
Mexican territory, as the streams near the posts in the Columbia District
e eports were not exaggerated. McLeod came to 0 prief i in “the mountains on his way home and lost his
furs. A portion of his journal has appeared in print, but the section published
deals exclusively with Oregon.*° Ogden also met disaster when his boat capThis content downloaded from 128.195 .64.2 on Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:39:20 UTC
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