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Article: "Shameful Mismanagement, Wasteful Extravagance, and the Most Unfortunate Dissention" : George Simpson's Misconceptions of the North West Company.
- Article from:
- Oregon Historical Quarterly
- Article date:
- December 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Oregon Historical Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ABOVE THE NORTH BANK AND SOME ninety miles east of the mouth of the Columbia River, surrounded by the modern city that has borrowed its name, stands a reconstructed Fort Vancouver. For nearly a quarter of a century, from 1824 to 1849, the original buildings on this site served as the Hudson's Bay Company's principal emporium west of the Rockies. Its very name is now inseparable from any discussion of the continental beaver trade in the Columbia Department; yet, when Governor George Simpson christened this newly built company depot in 1825, Euro-Americans had been trading along the lower Columbia River for nearly fifteen years.
First, in 1811, came the Pacific Fur ...