 S
Q: How many
of these explorations did Simon Fraser embark upon?
i
m
A: If Simon Fraser was involved in other reconnaissance missions for the North West
o his descendants apparently didn't consider them significant enough
Company, he and
to record them. nWith regard to explorations in what's now British Columbia, the
answer depends upon how you wish to consider what occurred. You could argue there
F consider the expedition to McLeod Lake, the expedition up the
were three, if you
Nechako River rto Stuart Lake and the other lakes of the Interior Plateau and the
expedition downa the Fraser River to tidewater as separate events - they occurred over a
three-year span.sOr you could argue just as strongly that there was just one, if you
e part of the same mission to expand trading west of the Rockies and
consider them all
r
find a commercially-viable
route to the sea.
H
Q: How long would it have taken Simon Fraser and his men to cross the reservoir
o
behind the Bennett Dam by canoe?
m
e
A: In 1806, there was no dam and therefore no reservoir, so Simon Fraser's voyageurs
were paddling upstream against the powerful currents of the spring runoff that had put
the Peace, Parsnip and Pack rivers in spate. Fraser's journal for that year records him
leaving Rocky Mountain Portage Fort near present Hudson's Hope on May 21 bound
up the Peace River. He arrived at the Parsnip River on May 28 with "men very much
o
fatigued and some of them near giving up." On June 5, he entered the Pack River. On
June 7, he arrived at Trout Lake Post, later Fort McLeod. The journey had taken 17
days. Today, with a road around the former Peace River Canyon and the smooth
paddling afforded by a deep reservoir extending from there to the mouth of the Pack
River, I estimate Fraser's canoes would make the same journey in about eight-and-ahalf days. Here's how I calculate: A generous two days for the portage around Peace
River Canyon, since the first day they would stay within a half day of the fort to allow
the opportunity to return for any overlooked equipment or supplies. With clear
paddling in good weather, a canoe might cover 50 kilometres per day across water no
adverse current. At 220 kilometres of linear distance, allow four and a half days
paddling. Then the same two days paddle upstream on the Pack River documented in
his journals.
Q: Was Simon Fraser interested in the fur trade or was his goal exploration?
A: His instructions were to expand the fur trade operations of the North West
Company beyond the Rocky Mountains and to find a navigable route to the sea. It was
assumed that the large river Alexander Mackenzie had partially travelled on his way to
the first overland crossing of the continent in 1793 was the Columbia River. Fraser
first secured the northern part of the province for his company, then looked for the
navigable waterway that would have created an enormous commercial advantage. If
furs from the far west could be shipped to Europe and Asia by sea instead of
transporting them across North America by canoe, costs could be drastically reduced
and those savings would go directly to the company's bottom line. In that sense, his
exploration mission was of paramount importance and was a failure - as had
Mackenzie's search for a maritime connection more than a decade before him.
Q: How much batter could one of his well made canoes take before it was beyond
patching and fixing and completely fell apart?
A: Contemporary builders of birchbark canoes say that with careful use and adequate
maintenance they can last for many decades. However, the canoes of the fur trade were
roughly used and were subject to much abuse in the normal run of events. They could
be holed or broken on rocks, punctured by floating debris and submerged snags, seams
could be sprung by stress on the frame - if they were dropped during a portage, for
example, or battered running a rapid. Simon Fraser's journal from 1806 records many
delays to repair damaged canoes with materials either carried by the expedition or
gathered from the surrounding bush. Judging from the importance of canoe builders to
fur trading establishments -- as important as hunters -- it appears that the replacement
of canoes was a constant task from season to season.
Q: If Tse-Khene was made into a historic site/tourist spot, how successful do you
think it would be? Are many interested in the travels of Simon Fraser?
A: I'm not a tourism marketer and thus can't venture a valid opinion regarding the
likely success of such a venture if it were undertaken. Obviously, the response from a
potential market would depend upon the quality and cost of the experience offered.
However, it is clear from other places that there is an up-swing in interest in cultural
tourism world wide. And given the quality of the outdoor recreational values in the
region that comprises the Tse-Khene's traditional homeland, I'd say there is likely
some outstanding potential there, particularly if it were available as part of a broader
regional network of tourism experiences. For example, it would seem to be a natural
adjunct to the national historic site at Fort St. James, to the recreational opportunities
afforded by the Williston Reservoir and by access to the wilderness regions of the
Northern Rockies.
Q: Is there a family tree for Simon Fraser?
A: Determining lineage is difficult because of the turbulent times, the nature of recordkeeping and the fact that many informal liaisons on the frontier produced offspring that
were not formally recorded. A partial family tree for Simon Fraser can be constructed
thanks to two decades of indefatigable research by Barbara Rogers in Vancouver. She
notes that we have some evidence in Fraser's own handwriting. His father, Simon
Fraser Sr., was thought to be the third son (and fifth child, three others not named,
perhaps because they died young, may have preceded him) of William Fraser III of
Culbokie, Scotland, and Margaret MacDonell.
Fraser identified uncles and aunts include Margaret, Hugh (the record is confused in
his regard), William, Ann, John (who became paymaster for the British Army and later
a judge in Montreal), Archibald, James, Alexander, Donald, Peter, and Roderick
Fraser. Simon Fraser Sr. married Isobel (or Elizabeth or Isabella) Grant, the daughter
of Aneas Grant of Duldreggan and Hannah Grant of Sheuglie. Simon Sr. and Isobel
(Or Isabella? Or Elizabeth?) had at least nine children. I say "at least" because
sometimes infants who were stillborn or died at birth might not be recorded. The
known children were: Margaret, William, Hannah, Angus, Isabella, Nelly (Helen? Or
Ellen?), Peter, Nancy, Simon Jr., and perhaps Jane (Or Jeanne? Or Jenny?).
Simon Jr. had at least two wives, possibly three. The first (there may have been one
other), was apparently married on the frontier "in the fashion of the country." She bore
several children (some suggest as many as six). The known children from these
relationships are Peter John and Charles James born in 1815 and 1817 at Athabasca.
However, a letter from Fraser dated Jan. 31, 1807, to James McDougall, then clerk at
Stuart Lake, requests that anything for which "the Children are in want of and can be
had please give it to them & Charge the same to my acct.," a pretty clear suggestion
that he may have been involved in another, earlier liaison. Some other accounts
suggest that a Simon Peter was also a son from one of these marriages and that there
were also three daughters.
On his return to Upper Canada, Simon Jr. married Catherine MacDonnel of Leek. He
was 44 and she was 29. She bore at least nine children. They were: Simon William,
Isabella, Allan, Margery, Catherine Harriet, Helen (who died an infant), Roderick,
James Ambrose and John Alexander.
Q: Were the voyageurs' canoes really 11-metres long?
A: Yes, they were. Some were actually 12-metres long. They were constructed with
cedar ribs and a skin of birch bark that was stitched together with a special twine made
from spruce root. The seams and hull were waterproofed with the gummy sap of the
spruce tree. This meant that virtually everywhere the canoes travelled in the northern
bush there were repair materials readily available. They were capable of travelling
thousands of kilometres in a season. Canoe building, which took about two weeks to
complete, was one of the important skills that set some fur trade employees off from
others and got them additional pay or privileges, much like acquiring an industrial first
aid ticket or other special skill sets some trades people off from other employees on a
job site today.
Q: How did Fraser get from Summit Lake to the Fraser River at Prince George?
A: He didn't. Fraser backtracked from McLeod Lake down the Pack River then
travelled south up the Parsnip River to Arctic Lake, made a portage of about 700 paces
to Portage Lake, passed into Pacific Lake and thentravelled down James Creek to the
McGregor River which carried him to the Fraser River (which he thought was the
Columbia), entering about 60 kilometres upstream from present day Prince George.
Q: You referred to Sleeping Giant Island on the horizon in one story. Isn't it
actually a peninsula?
A: The reader is right and the writer was wrong. The Sleeping Giant is indeed the
rugged highlands of the Sibley Peninsula which projects southwest into Thunder Bay
at the western end of Lake Superior. Againstthe horizon in the evening twilight, it
looks like an island but in fact it is not, as I'd have known if I'd consulted my maps
more carefully before leaping to a conclusion. It's now a 24,400 hectare provincial
park maintained by the Ontario government.
Q: Are you planning to set up those articles in book form which would be much
easier reading?
A: About a third of those who wrote to me about Simon Fraser asked variants of this
question. However, it's not easily answered by me since it's a policy decision that's the
prerogative of the publishers and senioreditors of the newspaper. Publishing a book is
a much different and in some ways more complicated prospect than printing the
articles in the first place. It comes with much different cost-recovery and revenuegenerating structures, for example, so such a decision would require careful
consideration and wouldn't -- and shouldn't -- be taken quickly or lightly.
Q: While visiting Scotland I was told that Simon Fraser was raised in Scotland at
Lovat Castle but you say he was born in what's now the United States. Which is
correct?
A: The historic record is confused by the fact that a number of individuals went by the
name Simon Fraser. However, the Simon Fraser who travelled to what's now British
Columbia in 1805 was definitely born in North America and grew up in up-state New
York and later Montreal before signing on as a clerk with the North West Company
and travelling west with the fur brigades.The explorer's father was also named Simon,
doubtless after clan chief, Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, who was executed for supporting
Charles Stuart in the rebellion of 1745. In clan societies, the clan head was considered
its "father" and so the popularity of the first name Simon among late 18th Century
Frasers reflects an expression of clan loyalty. Thus, while there was indeed a Simon
Fraser raised at Lovat Castle, it was not the same Simon Fraser who founded what
would become modern British Columbia.
Q: Who were the first non-aboriginal people to see what is now British
Columbia?
A: Some claim the first visitor was Huishen, a travelling monk mentioned in Imperial
Chinese records as having travelled far to the east in the year 458. Most scholars
consider it a fabulous tale. Sir Francis Drake was off the West Coast in 1579 but how
far north he ventured is a matter of scholarly debate. Apostolos Valerianos, a Greek
pilot for the Spanish, was reported as having sailed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca in
1592. This too is disputed. However, it is known that Russian explorer Vitus Bering's
expedition reported seeing what are now known to be the St. Elias Mountains roughly
where the Alaska, Yukon and B.C. boundaries intersect. So the Russians get credit for
being the first non-native people known to have laid eyes on what's now B.C. Captain
James Cook landed at Nootka Sound in 1778, so the British get credit for being the
first Europeans known to have set foot in what is now B.C.
Q: Fort St. James is celebrating its bicentennial this year. Isn't that the first
permanent settlement in B.C.?
A: No, that distinction belongs to its neighbour, McLeod Lake, formerly known as
Fort McLeod and before that Trout Lake Post. It was established in late 1805, about
six months before Fraser reached Stuart Lake where Fort St. James is located.
However, Fort St. James soon eclipsed Fort McLeod in importance, serving as the
capital of New Caledonia for many decades.
Q: What was the average lifespan of a man in Simon Fraser's day? Did he
experience any major illnesses or injuries?
A: It's generally thought, based on studies of mortalities in seven countries including
the United Kingdom and the United States, that life expectancy in 1805, the year
Simon Fraser founded Fort McLeod, was 36 years. Fraser's journal doesn't appear to
record any serious illnesses. He did suffer a serious injury to his knee when he turned
out with a local militia regiment during the rebellion of 1837 and it troubled him for
the rest of his life.
Q: All the accounts of explorers seem to be written from their point of view. Are
there any aboriginal accounts of first contact that could counter the biases of
these literary accounts?
Yes, there are, but getting them is easier said than done because so much aboriginal
history is recorded in an oral tradition rather than a written one, and often is rendered
in mythical or metaphorical rather than literal terms. However, a number of early
ethnologists did record stories from elders they interviewed about first contact. Modern
scholars like Wendy Wickwire and Andrea Laforet have brought some fascinating
accounts of Simon Fraser's first encounters with aboriginal people in B.C. into the
mainstream. Wickwire's paper To See Ourselves As Other's Other: Nlaka'pamux
Contact Narratives, published in the Canadian Historical Review, Vol. LXXV, No. 1,
pp. 1-20, March, 1994, is an interesting account of how aboriginal people interpreted
the arrival of Simon Fraser in 1808.
Q: Which of the MacDonell's was Simon Fraser's wife descended from?
A: According to historian W. Kaye Lamb, Simon Fraser married Catherine Macdonell
on June 7, 1820, at St. Andrew's West near Cornwall, Ontario. She was the daughter of
Allan MacDonell, who lived about 50 kilometres away. He was a prominent military
man. Simon was 44 and his bride was 29. They had nine children that we know about.
Vancouver researcher Barbara Rogers notes that Catherine's father was the son of John
MacDonell of Leek, one of three brothers who organized the voyage of the Pearl
which brought Simon Fraser's parents,siblings and fellow Highlanders to New York in
1773. The other two brothers were Allan of Collachie and Alexander of Aberchalder.
Most of the Macdonnel families in Ontario are descended from these three brothers.
Q: While visiting Scotland I was told that Simon Fraser was raised in Scotland at
Lovat Castle but you say he was born in what's now the United States. Which is
correct?
A: The historic record is confused by the fact that a number of individuals went by the
name Simon Fraser. However, the Simon Fraser who travelled to what's now B.C. in
1805 was definitely born in North America and grew up in up-state New York and
later Montreal before signing on as a clerk with the North West Company and
travelling west with the fur brigades.
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